Guy Contact – Guy Contact [BF001]

Bitterfeld is most known for their production of drain-pipes, paper-roofing and it’s amazing chemical production industry but it’s a little known fact that Bitterfeld are also responsible for the production of amazing music. Some 900 years after the city’s foundation they’ve finally found the time to establish a music label to reflect the city’s rich musical heritage. The first release comes from Guy Contact. Expect chemical influenced electro, acid and house.

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Guy Contact – Guy Contact [BF001]

Younger Rebinds – Retro7 EP [RB067]

Younger Rebinds is a new project and imaginary band by the inimitable and unstoppable Benny Rodrigues. Maybe best-known for his Rod moniker and releases on Klockworks, Rodrigues embodies and keeps the candour, spirit and curiosity that made techno music stand out in its start-up years – and that’s exactly what we have here. The “Retro 7 Ep” makes the most of the classic 707 drum machine, gnarly synths, ambient soundscapes, pianos and organs. Done in a way that is as much new wave, as it is electronic disco. Spread out over a double-pack with eight tracks (8!, get it), the Younger Rebinds hit the sweet spot between vintage DJ Hell aesthetics, Sterac Electronics and Trevor Jackson’s Metal Dance dogma, if its choir would be muted. Loud pressing and hypnotic artwork included. Please don’t look at it for more than 5 minutes.

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Younger Rebinds – Retro7 EP [RB067]

Domenic Cappello – The Intruder EP [NR04]

Alongside long-term DJ partner Harri, Domenic Cappello has been a Sub Club resident since 1994. He has released many records under many guises yet this is his first EP under his own name. 2017 also marks 30 years of Sub Club and it feels fitting for such two landmarks to dovetail as they have. The Intruder EP is 3 brilliant tracks that come from a lifetime spent in music.

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Domenic Cappello – The Intruder EP [NR04]

Lone – Saturday Night EP [K7353EP]

Following on from his intimate entry into the DJ-kicks mix series, Lone is putting out a vinyl only EP of all the unreleased tracks from it. The horizontal mix tapped into all of Lone’s influences, from hip-hop to house, IDM to techno. It also showcased some producers signed to his own Magic Wire label, and of course the back bone was built from some of the Nottingham man’s freshest new productions. They come after celebrated releases on Werk Discs, R&S and Dekmantel, and include dance floor aligned EPs and more rounded full lengths designed for close listening. Here he sits in between the two across three thrilling cuts. Opener ‘Saturday Night’ is a breezy bit of deep house with crisp boom-baps and swirling pads that lend it a dreamy, ethereal feel. Spoken word snippets are stitched into the groove and the whole thing is as frictionless and feel good as house comes. Next up, ‘Arc’ is a little more direct, with scattered snares flapping over dry wooden kicks. It’s a punchy bit of house latest DJ-kicks mix star Kerri Chandler would be proud, and comes overlaid with spring time flutes and luscious pads as a classically inclined bassline powers things along. Last but not least is ‘Alpha Wheel 4’ (Ambient Mix), a kaleidoscopic passage of suspensory sound scuffed up glassy surfaces trapping you in rays of refracted light from start to finish. All three tracks exhibit Lone’s authentic, lived in and lo-fi aesthetic, and as a result slip perfectly into his ever more essential discography.

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Lone – Saturday Night EP [K7353EP]

Nick Simoncino – Early In The Morning EP [THUG019]

Italian artist Nick Anthony Simoncino alongside his best friend Giulio return to Thug Records with a stunning 12”. Driven by dark drums and harmonized by humid synthesizers this record is made for the intensity of the club floor.

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Nick Simoncino – Early In The Morning EP [THUG019]

Achterbahn D’amour – Acid Test 13 [ASD030]

Acid Test continues their journey with the return of Achterbahn D’Amour. On their first proper release in three years, Jool & Iron Curtis patiently craft an intricate sound world – with the opening track, major-key pads hearken towards a bright future, hi-hats rustle like leaves and on “Dehaveland,” percussive elements fall into beautiful, random unison like factory machines staging an after hours dance. Samuel Van Dijk’s vaunted VC-118A project steps up for a remix, turning in a taut techno version that unfurls smoke pillars of ghostly ambience. The duo wraps up the four-tracker with an unexpected dreamy electro turn, “Don’t Talk To Me.” Throughout Acid Test 13, they remain in lockstep with the label’s ethos – to bend, hammer and flatten acid lines into new, imaginative shapes.

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Achterbahn D’amour – Acid Test 13 [ASD030]

Legowelt – Legendary Freaks In The Trash Of Time [CWCS009LP]

Five years after the illustrious Paranormal Soul LP, techno derelict Danny Wolfers aka Legowelt returns on Clone with “Legendary Freaks In The Trash Of Time”. A vivid collection of twelve genre-defying tracks: from late-night hermit house to Memphis rap influenced slowjam electro, from Amiga 1200 technorave to cosmic spaceweed trance, including the whole universe in between. All blended together in a mix of subdued sensuality and psychedelic splendour, this album is flavoured with Legowelt’s typical crunchy LO-FI sampler and synthesizer aesthetic. Wolfers’ own hand-drawn sleeve artwork illustrates the album’s mood without the need for much further promotional blurb… colourful stories embodying societal malaise and its dwellers – yet with a dash of aspiration. Music for misfits, witches, dreamers, cyberpunks, outsiders, geeks, and freaks. Legowelt’s people.

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Legowelt – Legendary Freaks In The Trash Of Time [CWCS009LP]

Donato Dozzy – Afterhouse 01 [AFHS01]

Forward thinking futuristic house cuts on this new project by Donatto Dozzy called Afterhouse. Four driving dj tools that go deeep. Although renowned as a maker of dark, intense, doom-laden techno, Donato Dozzy has been known to dabble in house from time to time. That’s the idea behind his new Afterhouse label. Of course, nobody would expect Dozzy to deliver fluffy deep house or slick U.K garage. Typically, the four cuts here – from the brilliantly broken, analogue-rich wonkiness of “B”, to the hypnotic, Chicago-influenced late-night jack of “D” – all tend towards the dark and clandestine, with the producer’s usual murky aural textures present throughout. There’s a slightly more positive feel to the clattering drum machine hits and simple, otherworldly synth lines that mark out closer “E”, while the thrusting, loopy “C” feels like a pitched-down take on his usual techno sound.

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Donato Dozzy – Afterhouse 01 [AFHS01]

Playgroup – Previously Unreleased Volume 2 [YW002X]

Following the success of last years Playgroup ‘Previously Unreleased’ album and its critically-acclaimed run of nine weekly 12′ vinyl EPs, Trevor Jackson has compiled a second volume of 20 tracks (11 unheard and 9 previously vinyl only) released as a Limited Edition Double CD and 6 track vinyl sampler on Nov 3rd via Yes Wave records. The music featured is a collection of reworked demos and unreleased recordings. A hedonistic mix of raw Disco, Dub, Funk, Dancehall. Electro, New Wave & Post Punk that all still sound as relevant today as they did when initially recorded for the debut PLAYGROUP album during 1997 – 2001.

vinyl sampler / CD

Playgroup – Previously Unreleased Volume 2 [YW002X]

VA – Italian Dance Wave Sei [SLOMO033]

Four slow-burning bombs that perfectly encapsulate how far that Slow Motion, slo-mo sound can be stretched. Featuring artists old as Alien Alien (Rodion & Hugo Sanchez) and Lerosa and new as Stoned Immaculate (Leo Mas & Fabrice) and Kassiel, Slow Motion drop the energy down a notch or two but not the emotion. Just as suitable for an early morning run as they are for a Balearic sunset, this four tracker has got essential written all over it.

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VA – Italian Dance Wave Sei [SLOMO033]

VA – Italian Dance Wave Cinque [SLOMO032]

First part in a brace of new chapter of Italian Dance Wave Compilation Serie. Ma Spaventi, Sauvage World, 2000 and the hardest working man in disco, Slow Motion label head Franz Scala. A trippy selection of proper after hours jams, to keep feet moving and heads spinning till the sun comes up.

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VA – Italian Dance Wave Cinque [SLOMO032]

VA – 001 [XK010]

Number ten for X-Kalay is kicking off a series of Various Artist EPs. Whilst taking in 3 continents brings a certain geographical diversity, the aim of this record was to create a cohesive release bound by the common themes of electronic music they love at the label. On the A side Zurich based Douala lights it up with a perfectly crafted dubbed out house jam; awash with tape delays and spacey reverbs ‘The Mysteries of Life’ is an excellently understated piece of work. Next up Chilean Mucho Sueno utilisies some big drum workouts and tense atmospherics to turn in a tough 4×4 house track. Baked in the concrete streets of Santiago, the rough percussive interplay and strong bass grooves of ‘Yungelita’ quickly becoming a signature of this promising South American producer. On the flip it’s an all Australian affair with E.Davd contributing a deliciously lazy, boogied out electro number full of iced out pad work and a truly hypnotic groove. Finally, fellow Australian Escape Artist closes things off with a massive stripped back cut aimed squarely at the floor; the jagged electro bass and moody pad work of Archipelago upping the ante perfectly.

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VA – 001 [XK010]

Smersh – Sideways [DE187]

Dark Entries returns to the New Jersey basement studio of Smersh to unearth an 18-minute jam session from 1989, backed with two contemporary remixes. “Sideways” was taken from a cassette titled ‘100’, which refers to a 100-minute jam session the band recorded to tape on June 12, 1989 in Piscataway. A frenetic hybrid of techno and acid with driving EBM style beats, “Sideways” weaves intricate industrial noises with synth melodies that drift in and out of phase. On the flip are two fresh remixes by different aliases of prolific Ann Arbor producer Tadd Mullinix. As JTC, he expands the sound palette, adding organ stabs and lush pads, drawing on Detroit deep house and UK garage. The Charles Manier remix features chanted vocals on top of an array of pulsating synths, stark percussion, and post-punky guitar effects.

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Smersh – Sideways [DE187]