Population One, also known as Terrence Dixon, offered a first remix of his mysterious, minimal Detroit track ‘Rush Hour’ for the celebration of the label’s 10th anniversary and now blesses us with new takes on five ‘Hippnotic Culture’ album tracks. Five dazzling remixes of Population One’s ‘Hippnotic Culture’ 2LP by the Detroit minimalist himself. Kicking off with a 20th Anniversary Mix of ‘Rush Hour’, the track that inspired our company name.
Late 80s South African dance floor winners only. Selected by DJ Okapi and Antal, the compilation holds tracks by Jivaro, The Hard Workers, Ayobayo Band, S.Y.B. & many more. This is the sharp electronic music that fuelled the local Pantsula dances during the 80s and 90s . A must have for fans of Bubblegum and Kwaito music. The 12 tracks selected for Pantsula! come from a very unique, very different time and place. They represent the birth of electronic dance music in South Africa, through the songs of one particular independent label from the time: Music Team. The sound represents the culmination of the bubblegum era, when South Africa’s disco artists outgrew their American influences and forged an increasingly electronic and ‘local’ pop sound. Evolving over time since long before the 80s, the distinctly South African subculture of Pantsula is more closely associated with an attitude, a style and a signature dance, rather than any specific sound. In the late 1980s and early 90s, Pantsula was also the name given to a new type of dance music taking over the streets of South Africa, influenced by earlier bubblegum and the rise of Shangaan Disco, but with a far broader appeal and a harder, purely electronic sound.
Some things are just too good to be hidden from view. That’s certainly the case with Things To Think About, the first album from Dutch electronic music legend Steve Rachmad’s lesser-known Sterac Electronics project. It’s a while, though, since the public has been treated to a heavy dose of Sterac Electronics material. He first established the alias at the turn of the millennium, primarily as an outlet for hardware-driven electro music shot through with funk and soul. Recently, Rachmad and Tom Trago decided to revisit the Sterac Electronics archive, discovering a killer collection of cuts created at different points over the course of the last 15 years. Now 9 of those spellbinding hardware jams have been gathered together for the first time on Things To Think About, a warm, rich and evocative collection of electro-fuelled workouts that giddily pay tribute to the music of Rachmad’s youth.
Another side of Steve Rachmad. Preceeds and album of archive tracks that shows the far reaching talents of this master producer. Some things are just too good to be hidden from view. That’s certainly the case with ‘Things To Think About’, the first album from Dutch electronic music legend Steve Rachmad’s lesser-known Sterac Electronics project.
Amongst those on the Amsterdam club scene, Tom Ruijg is highly regarded as a DJ and producer. “Skyfall” is his first 12” for Voyage Direct, following a fine contribution to the First Mission compilation back in 2015. More pertinently, the EP marks the first time he’s used the Tracey moniker for a release. Perfect balance between head-in-the-clouds melodiousness – delivered via cascading, new age influenced synthesiser motifs, starry electronics and crystalline lead lines – and serious dancefloor grunt.
Terrence Dixon returns as Population One, offering an unrivaled, dazzling excursion of late… “The Move” comes with an illustrious, energetic Orlando Voorn rework on the flip. Two esoteric portals into the Motor City mindset.
Copenhagen based conceptual music act Design A Wave returns with ‘Snakeface’, a document of surprise within the composition process. Specifically, Design A Wave uses the computer to create several beats and then utilises the mutated results as building blocks for several new compositions. Interest in computer-synthetic snakes, beyond all networks of communication and agency art, centres on placing these formless serpents into existing genres, such as music. Snakeface is a timely exploration of the infectious qualities of music, and how it too, as a carrier, makes it’s way through neural networks, irreducible to bits and designed to infiltrate and replicate.
The return of the returner. 6 track Mini LP. Esoteric electronix produced By William Burnett, New York
A compilation of highly collectable and rare Surinamese 45’s and LP cuts. Compiled by Antal Heitlager & Thomas Gesthuizen this is the follow up to the Kindred Spirits released Surinam! compilation. This volume goes even deeper into the field of 70ties and 80ties funk music from the Surinamese dance floors.
“The Digital Afterlife” is a live workout recorded in Amsterdam, early 2016. The second track is a tribute to the beautiful Northen French town of Arras. “Akashic Energie” prime Gherkins straight out the Hieroglyphic pickle jar.
As part of the label’s mission to champion Dutch talent, Voyage Direct has always promoted new, up and coming, and little-known producers. Here the debut 12” from a mysterious young producer known only as Darling.
Reissue of one of Amsterdam’s most respected producers Steve Rachmad aka Sterac ‘s essential 1996 Detroit techno classic. On the A side you’ll find Osirion, a track built on a classic drumloop layered with Rachmad style arppegiators and euphoric strings. The B side features a more abstract 909 Detroit infused loop, full of heavy synths and percussion. Both tracks have stood the test of time and still sound fresh as ever.
Lengthy and weighty “Hunch Music” remixes by Mick Wills and DJ Fett Burger. After Hunee’s celebrated debut album “Hunch Music”, it’s time for these two remixes here… DJ Fett Burger inserts “Crossroads” into Boss Brian’s computer and takes it to an extraordinary new level, Mick Wills transforms “Hiding The Moon” into a throbbing and grinding floor cracker.
“Electric Park Square” is Interstellar Funk’s debut EP on the Rush Hour label. The mystical six tracker takes you on an adventurous multidimensional journey. Part of a new breed of young Dutch producers and DJs, Interstellar Funk crafts magical melodies and textured tracks that look to the future whilst taking cues from the past.
Jordan “Jordash” Czamanski doesn’t put out many solo records, but when he does, they tend to be rather special. Certainly, that is the case with Lushlyfe II, the Rush Hour released collection of ambient and experimental downtempo. He begins with the drowsy ambience and watery sound effects of “Sweet Dreams” – a kind of experimental, instrumental lullaby – before capturing the weary confusion of early morning stumbles back from the party on the soothing, guitar-laden “Yetghua”. Even better is the oddly exotic, jazz-flecked fluidity of “Sus”, while closer “Bol” is little less than a mood-enhancing horizontal treat.
Tom Trago’s Voyage Direct label returns to action with a brand new 12” from Amsterdam scene stalwart Simon Weiss. The gloriously positive ‘Tele-Vision’, and it’s cyber-house fusion of darting synthesizer arpeggios, Detroit-influenced percussion, and thrusting acid bass – that heads up Weiss’ first EP for Voyage Direct. Dutch veteran and longtime friend of the family Dexter turns in a stunning remix, putting a well-placed boot up the backside of Tele-Vision.
The Hipodrome Of Music 