A brittle metronome in a delirious tension landscape, Women’s Hour are a Glasgow based experimental post-punk duo featuring Contort Yourself head honcho Murray CY and artist Jenny Wicks. Creating noise, harmony and disquiet washed in synth and repetitive guitar, rough beats and distorted vocals, Women’s Hour are constantly trying to embrace the shouting in their heads. LIES presents their debut release, a 12 track LP, a true to form jagged 80s post-punk affair, the two piece bring to life the day to day in the grim North through their music.
Tom Carruthers back in full form on L.I.E.S. with a massive 18 track tripple LP set. This has everything you could possibly want on it, going in heavy with the 88-92′ vibes all the Bleeps, Detroit strings, shuffling 909s, and Chicago 727s one can possibly want. Every track is a winner, full dancefloor fodder you’ll swear are lost classics unearthed from the grave. Carruthers has consistently proved he has mastered the formula to create perfect old school tracks that will have you jackin on the floor all nite long. This collection is what dance music is about and explores the full range of formative styles in all their intricacies from top to bottom. Undoubtedly his most comprehensive and definitive work to date.
Lipelis makes a welcome return to L.I.E.S. with his TMO project and lines up a huge release with this four track ep, housed in a killer picture sleeve. Massive anthem alerts here as Lipelis teams up with keyboardist Eugene Piankov with epic results. From the absolutely soaring and melodic 303+909 driven opener, to the pensive mid tempo “Bright Jam” Everything comes to a head with the B1. cut that is a huge piano house anthem, this will save the party or bring it to the next level… solos, chord progressions, 303’s, phased claps….everything going exactly how it should be…clean as a whistle, rockin the floor like mad. Absolutely recommended for connoisseurs of real dance music.
Italian House Music producer, Fabio Monesi, delivers a smoking 8 track double LP of old school bombs for L.I.E.S. Records. You’d be forgiven for thinking these were produced in the ’80s as all the classic and authentic elements are intact; catchy Yamaha DX basslines, crunchy TR-707 and Juno strings. Eight cuts all primed for the disco tech and nights of pure hedonism. These tracks go right back to the essence, hitting the full spectrum with stripped back classic New York and Chicago House cuts that wouldn’t seem out of place in a BMX or WBLS mix from back in the day. Catchy dx basslines, slammin reverb drenched drum programming, and deep strings are on order for this one.
After her debut on Mannequin in 2019, Dissemblance now arrives on L.I.E.S. with her second full length of somber, cold wave and emotional bedroom pop infused songs. This time around we hear the Parisian artist add a new arsenal of instrumentation to her repertoire, incorporating live drumming and a wide array of synthetic instrumentation on top of her drum computers providing a backdrop to showcase her stark vocal performances throughout the album. Meticulously constructed, this record displays the full range of Dissemblance’s musical dynamics as she pulls the listener into her universe where dreams and reality tread a thin line, one blurring into the next with no beginning nor end. She expertly brings together a diverse group of styles and sounds from different areas of the electronic spectrum making them her own. An extremely unique and strong display of modern minimal synth pop that pulls equally from the past whilst propelling towards the future.
L.I.E.S. Records founder, Ron Morelli, makes a rare appearance on his own label with his eagerly anticipated double LP, “Heart Stopper”. Heart Stopper is undoubtedly the “dance” record that reaches back to the early days of his L.I.E.S. Records label where artists such as Delroy Edwards, Steve Summers, Traxx, and Svengalisghost all came together digging into the primitive, foundational sounds of original Chicago, New York, and Detroit House music putting it through a contemporary lens. Recorded between 2019-2022, this LP is the culmination of many years of Morelli honing his craft, from digging and studying old records, to focusing and sharpening his production techniques, the L.I.E.S. boss has delivered an album that is a testament of his true love and obsession of the genre, with “Heart Stopper” being the record to cement the now iconic L.I.E.S. legacy even further. In the often shapeshifting world of modern dance music, “Heart Stopper” is what a House record should be. Full of passion and unfiltered emotion, uplifting at moments, pensive at others; with raw, jakin’ drum programming, big basslines, and anthemic synths driving the release throughout.
Hot off his debut for L.I.E.S. young music prodigy Tom Carruthers delivers a new 6 track LP of total Transmat worship. Jam packed with huge DX basslines, slamming 909s, and catchy melodies – this LP is made for the floor and would be hard pressed not to be thought of as a lost relic from ’89. Where as his last LP channeled more bleep elements, this one goes right to Detroit and moves the crowd as it should be…anthem after anthem.
L.I.E.S. Records boss, Ron Morelli, makes a rare appearance on his own label with a new limited edition “promo only” 12 inch. While some may be familiar with his gnarled techno releases on such labels as Hospital Productions and BITE, this new release reaches back to the early days of his L.I.E.S. Records works, where artists such as Steve Summers, Delroy Edwards, Traxx, and Svengalisghost banded together digging into the raw core of original Chicago and New York dance music, using these early sounds for inspiration and turning them upside down.
DJ Overdose delivers again for L.I.E.S. Miami Bass party rockin floor shakers, and high speed, blade sharpened, trunk popping electro madness ran through his trusty sp-1200, programmed impeccably and ready for the club.
Prolific and often nomadic label boss, producer, and studio engineer, Tony Price (Maximum Exposure) has been making a name for himself over these last years, as he’s lurked in the shadows while moving from city to city around the world, leaving a unique and wide-spanning musical mark in his wake. On his 14 track IBM-CONTRA LP, Price conjures up a wild melange of free jazz and high speed electro funk next that sits next to dusty ambient, street tough house, and even Bill Conti-esque dark alley rainy street jams featuring saxophone work from Alex Zhang Hungtai and Colin Fisher. The album is unmistakably Tony at his best, as he weaves in and out of these genres making them make sense next to each other. Whether it’s providing a shady saxophone driven backdrop for the next inevitable worldwide bio-warfare crisis or tapping into the roots of stripped down classic electro and house for the floor, this is the artist at peak creativity flexing his skills.
Mannequin Records boss Alessandro Adriani lands on L.I.E.S. with a new four track ep of his melodic and driving signature italo-ebm-electro fusion. A master of machine music, Adriani lets them do the talking throughout the ep, with heavy arpeggios, big Juno basslines, and slamming 808s bringing the tracks to a head. Go directly to the symphonic and epic opener “Ecstatic Feeling” with its beautiful melodies, dramatic arpeggios and reverb saturated snares, all reminiscent of Yello meets Robotnik with pent up tension waiting to explode. This is an anthem to say the least! The remainder of the ep follows suit laced with traditional EBM and electro stylings being manipulated by the hands of Adriani in his studio
Los Angeles’ Silent Servant returns to the fold with his first solo offering since his 2018 ”Shadows of Death and Desire” LP for Hospital Productions. Mendez wastes no time on the opener ”Cyber Luminescence” featuring Cabaret Voltaire’s Stephen Mallinder on vocals, with a modern take on classic synthwave displaying a heavier production style, with fluttering kr-55 hi-hats, synthesized snares, and a chaotic punk energy. This is not without melody and catchiness, as Mallinder drives the track full on; masterfully singing about a dystopian future which we very well may be living in at this moment. “Raw Optics” is Silent Servant in true form layering an atmospheric backdrop over driving raw sequences and vicious drum programming. “Solitude Illuminated” is the real centerpiece of the record though, as Mendez goes into a new territory finding a balance between uplifting slow house music and his signature shadowy techno. Where his classic “Lust Abandon” was more Distant Dreams pt. II, “Solitude Illuminated” is more akin to something like Dearborn’s house classic “New Dimension” but taking a fresh production approach on this bassline driven seven minute anthem.
Adam X returns to L.I.E.S. under his slowbeat industrial guise as ADMX-71.Through this nine track 2xLP we get a master class in hi-def bleep infused psychedelic industrial. Made for urban terrain, this is the definition of cyber war gear grinding street techno…head directly for the absolutely tense rhythmic noise track “Catch Me If You Can” and have your head explode. More end of the world anthems from a master on this long player.
Karl O’Connor (Regis) and Simon Shreeve (Kryptic Minds/Osirus Music/Downwards) team up again for a menacing four song EP of broken beat electronics. The perfect amalgamation of O’Connor’s and Shreeve’s solo works merged.. absolutely heavy dubbed out dark Birmingham electronics. Distinct, singular and subtly soul crushing music from masters of an uncategorizable genre.
Blinding double pack of heavily old school influenced bleep, direct from the depths of England by prolific young producer, Tom Carruthers. These are heavily sample based MPC productions that harken to the carefree days when the pills were pure and the music was fresh and never stopped. When house was techno and techno was house, this long player takes the best elements from say Chill Records, early-Warp and the best Nu-Groove creating timeless dance tracks made for the warehouse dj.
Steve Summers delivers his long anticipated debut double LP for L.I.E.S. Stepping up with 13 tracks, Summers goes across the board exploring all ends of the long lineage of Chicago House music. As a member of Mutant Beat Dance with Traxx and Beau Wanzer or under his Rhythm Based Lovers alias Summers has always managed to tread the line between classic Chicago styles and modern psychedelic Jakbeat floor beaters. On the aptly titled “Generation Loss” we get the the full spectrum; from the old school 80s acid of “Who Knows” to the long form lysergic blackhole of “Boxed In” or the dx funk of “Unknown Origin” Summers cements his signature style which he has refined over years throughout this LP.
Two Dogs in a House is Jason Letkiewicz and Ron Morelli. This is a collection of Two Dogs in a House tracks from the archives spanning 2009-2013. Tracks 1-5 previously unreleased, track 6 released on vinyl on Lets Play House Records, track 7 unreleased remix of Black Deer and tracks 8-10 recorded in 2013, released on vinyl in 2015 as Doomsday Initiative II, with blessed permission from Nation.
The Hipodrome Of Music 