The Amsterdam based booking agency, Voyage Select, is launching it’s label. The first release is a digital compilation released on bandcamp and includes 14 tracks by artists from the agency’s rooster. Cover photo by Interstellar Funk, graphic design by Dazion. 100% of the profit will be divided equally among the artists.
Compression and expansion, focus and surrender, tension and release – the elusive state of balance is less of an inert, perfect condition than it is an interaction or moderation over time between polarized points. Rarely is it defined nor clearly prescribed. Through careful examination of the factors and conditions involved can a possible pathway be uncovered, in any particular scenario. The attached transmission is not a declaration of balance, nor a prescription towards it. But rather, it is like a snapshot captured of an object in motion.
Four tracks of robust drums, sharp melodies and acid doused bass is what Muzikalist brings to Chem Club’s seventh release to date. The title track, Bizarre Feeling, swirls with layered squelch while ample grit and build progress throughout. The A2, Polizei, is a paranoid acid number that opens up into multiple melodies and a muddled eurodance vocal that’ll leave you looking over your shoulder. The opening B side, Short Track for Sad Lovers, takes a more reflective approach combining a blinking lead with rich pads without resigning itself from being danceable. The final track, Marine, uses these persistent elements and ramps them up to close out the release with tense form.
Key Clef launches her own imprint Ipnotica Erotica with ‘Mental Groove’ EP. In her own world music is a continuous dialogue between styles and hybridation. Her music productions as well her live performances include synth, drum machines and analogue effects reflecting her ethereal trajectory while her dj sets show the full prism of her music taste and knowledge of the dance floor.
‘Radar’ by Parisian DJ and producer NiKiT is Electronic Emergencies’ first release in 2020. Two years after his debut, NiKiT has once again delivered a stunning mini-album. His idiosyncratic and particular style within the realm of techno flirts with electro, and sometimes even has a dubby touch. Compared to his debut ‘Arcanes’, NiKiT’s sound has expanded and is more spacey, while staying powerful and very danceable.
Fear-E makes his Dark Entries debut with ‘Grey Skies In A Dear Green Place’. Fear-E is the moniker of Scott McKay a Glasgow based DJ and producer. ‘Grey Skies In A Dear Green Place’ contains six club-ready tracks to “smash sound systems and illuminate sweaty warehouses.” The title is a reference to a nickname that Glasgow has, coming from Cumbric, means ‘green hollow’ or (dear) ‘green place’. Layering cut-up vocals with warm thumping beats, Scott creates a stripped-back yet deeply jackin’ vibe.
Delroy Edwards keeps the old school fire burning, returning to L.I.E.S. with a new 8 track lp titled “Slap Happy”. Once again this is back to basics, no punches pulled Chicago House worship, hitting all ends of the dance specturm. Sparse beat tracks, 80s synth stabs, 727 latin percussion…the elements are all there and put together in perfect form…many try but few can execute the vintage sound like this. What may even be Edward’s most mature release, it comes in a time when the roots of dance music have been forgotten to the grotesque trends of the day. This is a reminder of why we were drawn to this music in the first place and what it can sound like.
Paradise Industrial Complex is the incubation against greed and exploitation. Your imagination springs to life as Sansibar draws a mysterious map to his subconscious. He kept his ideas secret until bolstering them with additional observation and experiments. The result is an avalanche of detail—there seems to be no corner of his mind that he did not enter. The world of Sansibar evokes an electrifying sense of discovery where fragile sound waves evolve into something beautiful and powerful leading to trigger chills.
Better Sound 05 produced by the Maestro Franco Falsini! Original tracks from Franco’s own seminal label Interactive Test. 1990 – 1991 period.
New hot stuff from Detroit. Pablo R. Ruiz returns for his sophomore release for Portage Garage Sounds with some serious 707-infected goodness.. “Estados Criminales” features 5 tracks, playful yet sinister, like the chaotic energy of a carnival ride falling off it’s hinges.
Introducing Earth Plates’ second pressing, Gnork’s latest EP, Lost in X. The Budapest based producer takes his signature sound further, deeper, and more refined. Wonder how that would sound like? Imagine underwater infused with outer space, chunky electro beats with dusty organs, dark wharehouse vibes with soul wrenching satellite bleeps, 707 drums with cheesy synth solos.
Italian proto house vibes on this new Clone Royal Oak 12”. An elegant Mystic Jungle & Whodamanny production that’s ready to be a regular force on dancefloors from Rimini to NYC and the Chitown. The classy vocal heavy club mix is backed up by the re-mix and freak-appella.
Tassilo Vanhöfen with his first ever solo EP on Neubau. Three subtle but dancefloor-aimed tracks that many have been waiting for will be included on the much-anticipated ”War Manual Of Gear EP”
Innershades returns to Time Passages. He hits the ground running with “It’s Time”, a warehouse-ready throb-job full of new beat riffs and creepy electronics, before offering up another funky Euro techno cut that sounds like it could have been played at an after-party in 1990 (“Forum”). Elsewhere, “Euphoria In Ginza” is a deliciously chiming and melodious breakbeat-house workout, while “No Romantic” is another retro-futurist romp full of squelchy synth bass and rushing, turn-of-the-90s style nostalgic riffs.
From the chaos of our rapidly changing world, Swiftness was born to provide a constant in our lives: timeless agile music from the hidden corners of Bucharest’s electronic scene. Swiftness’ first release is Stuffz – the debut EP of rising local talent FILIPP. Comprised of 3 spacey house tracks, Stuffz will make any turtle put on its fastest dance moves in no time.
Antinote and Dizonord present Studiolo. Northeastern Italy, at the beginning of the 1980s, an entire local scene gathered around a handful of DJs who put their dancefloors in a trance to the sounds of ”rare, new, and singular” music, under the strong influence of ethnic and world music. Mixes where German Kosmische clashes with space disco, along with the most experimental side of British new wave, industrial music, creepy funk, deviant rock and pop. All this mixed with Brazilian and Afro music, reggae, ragga, percussions and bhangra… A kind of mixing in total rupture with that of a dying disco for which it is intended as an alternative. A way of playing songs often at the wrong speeds, at 33RPM instead of 45RPM and vice versa, and always the obsession of a slow tempo, between 95 and 110 BPM, while the cruising speed of disco mixes goes up to 125/130 BPM… A haunting rhythm, accelerated or slowed down voices, with experimental and ethnic approaches. This fusion of styles was named “Cosmic Style” by Daniele Baldelli, resident of the Cosmic Club in Rimini, and ”Afro Style” by Beppe Loda, resident of the Typhoon in Gambara. It is in this last period that this compilation will immerse you, through 8 tracks from the Italian, German and Austrian scenes.
Part one of Hivern Discs’ Fragments compilation. While compilations tend to look backwards, ‘Fragments’ is far from being a retrospective. Since its launch in 2008, Hivern Discs has favoured a documentary approach, capturing the most vital and exciting sounds within its orbit at each particular moment. In keeping with the ethos of the label, this extensive compilation, comprising 29 new tracks across six 12″s, offers a panoramic glimpse of Hivern’s present and gives indications as to its near future. This is the first part and includes five tracks by Arthur Evans, Benedikt Frey, Epsilove, John Talabot and Walden.
Bristol-based dancefloor futurists Innate return with a third multi-artist EP – shot through with melody, warmth and soul. A quartet of timeless-sounding tracks full of stargazing sounds, undulating acid lines, far-sighted electronics and crackling beats. Tracks by Perseus Traxx, Ewan Jansen, Reedale Rise and label co-founder Owain K.
The Hipodrome Of Music 