tender games ist das brandneue projekt von bbc radio 1 future-star marlon hoffstadt und hrrsn, chef des well done! imprints aus berlin. die beiden etablierten, eigenstaendigen produzenten haben ihre house-basierte soundpalette um eine lp erweitert, die alle voraussetzungen fuer einen kuenftigen soulklassiker aufweist. der sound von tender games trieft vor satten harmonien und warmen grooves und ist damit viel staerker der britischen clubszene verhaftet, als den duesteren, schwereren klaengen, mit denen man ihre heimatstadt berlin normalerweise verbindet. aus ihren ungleichen musikstilen heraus entwickelte das duo gemeinsam einen markanten eigenen und neuen sound, beim 20 jahre alten hoffstadt stechen seine house-tendenzen sofort ins auge, waehrend hrrsn eher aus der garage-, blues- und sogar folkecke kommt. das album entstand im laufe eines knappen jahres im studio der suol labelheads chopstick & johnjon und kann mit einer fuelle von gaststimmen und einer live-instrumentation durch hrrsn aufwarten. heraus kam dabei ein opulenter, organischer und vor allem frischer sound. moegen auch vergleiche zu kollegen wie disclosure und konsorten zu erwarten sein, die vielzahl an unterschiedlichen stilrichtungen, die auf diesem longplayer angerissen werden, verleiht tender games in ihrer vielseitigkeit einen eigenen, spezifischen sound. und wer fuehlt sich von so guter musik nicht angeregt?

roger shah, der zusammen mit partner pedro del mar auch die erfolgreiche -mellomania--compilation veršffentlicht und mit topstars wie tiesto und armin van buuren zusammenarbeitet, liefert wieder zwei komfortable sets aus midsummer-sounds und relaxten beats ab. der perfekte soundtrack fŸr entspannte nachmittage, sonnenuntergŠnge, laue sommerabende und atmosphŠrische clubnŠchte!

with *my love is a bulldozer*, venetian snares first new album since 2010s *my so-called life*, aaron funk surprises yet again, drawing on new ideas and on moods that have only been touched upon in his previous work. the album seems to have a flowing sense of narrative, something akin to an opera, and unusually aaron sings songs on it, which reinforces the sense of an emotional journey. sonically he meshes together sometimes thunderous yet complex drum programming with delicate musical structures, creating, in places, a sense of haunted, atmospheric jazziness, as well as spiky autumnal strings recalling the gothic orchestral beauty of his previous work.

just a masterpiece! 2nd part of omar s vinyl mix

after the announcement of kerri chandlers the watergate files ep, which also includes a remix of our agencies and labels recent addition la fleur, she attends to be in charge for our 16th watergate compilation. with 15 tracks, including 6 exclusive ones, the swedish producer and dj gives proof of her skills on 78 minutes playtime. her musical spectrum extends from old house-classics to contemporary techno-pearls - mixed with love and intuitive feeling.

down paris after being the main artist on dirt crew recordings for over seven years and with a staggering 13 eps in that period either solo or with his buddy till von sein, the berlin based alexander krueger has finally concluded a full album for us. he is one of germanys most consistent producers an has an huge release list on discogs ranging from the mid nineties when he started out as korsakow and dub taylor on classic labels like force tracks, mueller and raum musik to date.

mika vainios first solo album for blastfirst sees him return to his classic power electronics, heavy beats approach that made his pansonic duo with ilpo vaissanen garner a world wide reputation. the album developed from vainios recent live sets to make ten tersely titled tracks apprently inspired by the shipping container industry. four stars in mojo > heavy-freight< the wire complained of the album being >too rock< the quietus described it as >fearsome<. vaino continues to tour the world Ð an army of one.

jk soul had a new vision for his new album take me higher. he wanted to show the world his wide range of production skills and his capability of moving through the different styles of electronic music with class. not a lover of sticking to any stylistic niche to mark his territory. electronic music was always his playground so now house, dubstep, drum & bass, together with touches of reggae and soul are equal parts in his new creations all of which are there to enrich his unique and famous hip hop based beats and soul influenced trip hop trademarks. lala pumpkins voice moves the listener far away, across the european borders and in the west side of the atlantic, sounding so fresh and full of emotion but at the same time strong and certain of the capabilities that carries like a funk diva.

fokuz recordings presents fifty five a release that displays a wide variety of drum and bass styles by various artists around the globe! expect the freshes beats from fokuz residents command strange, dj clart, incident, talented newcomers like soligen, type-2, joakuim and rising stars hybrid minds, paul sg, pennygiles & mr joseph.

40 neue, oftmals exklusive und hammerstarke tracks & remixes - von den top-protagonisten und den hei§esten newcomern des genres. ueberflieger wie alex clare und the prodigy (in remixes von noisia und distance) treffen auf die bewaehrtesten szenegroe§en wie magnetic man, benga, skream, mala, coki, nero, drumsound & bassline smith, rudimental (feat. alex clare), foreign beggars, icicle, joker

der kanadische dubstep-artist excision liefert hier eine remixversion seines 2011er albums >x rated<. check!

m=minimal released the vinyl of this classic record last year and as the cd has been unavailable for a long time too, we decided to make a special edition.

ewan robertson aka offshore meldet sich nach zwei gro§artigen eps nun mit seinem debŸtalbum auf big dada zurŸck. musikalisch Ÿberzeugt offshore auf ganzer linie. ob 90s electronica a la boards of canada, post-dubstep bis hin zu hip hop, grime und minimal funk, mit bake haus lŠsst er keine wŸnsche offen. mit dem album gelingt robertson der sprung vom geheimtipp in die erste liga der post-dubstep produzenten. ein vorzŸgliches album!

the annual! one year. one album! 3 cds incl. example, rihanna, wiley, david guetta, jessie j, dj fresh, avicii, otto knows, discosure, jeessie ware, mosca, and many many more! 3 cds - 60 tracks!!

its all too easy for nostalgia to tip into something negative. at its best its a celebration of the best the past has to offer while putting it into a contemporary context, at its worst its moaning that things arent as good as they used to be. hercules & love affair have always been firmly in the first category. main man andy butler takes classic house and disco sounds and uses them to craft dance music that has one foot in the past, the other cutting a rug on dancefloors right now. its a well-judged and expertly executed balance.

gilles peterson praesentiert vierzehn neue exklusive electronic-geheimtipps aus seinen playlists & dj-sets! die kuenstler bewegen sich im spannungsfeld zwischen hip hop, house, techno, dubstep und drum & bass sowie allen subgenres dazwischen. brownswood electric veroeffentlichte als eine der ersten samplerserien schon fruehzeitig tracks der heute erfolgreichen acts mount kimbie, 16bit, shlohmo und mosca!

the first live performance of the steve hillage band in 25 years!

mit neneh cherry hŠtte wohl kaum noch jemand gerechnet. erst recht nicht damit, dass die stimme von 7 seconds an der seite eines free-jazz-trios suicide covert. zwischen neneh cherry und the thing hat es offenbar gefunkt. vor zwei jahren trafen die prominente sŠngerin und das radikale free-jazz-trio erstmals zusammen, nun haben sie gemeinsam ein album eingespielt. angesichts der hits von neneh cherry, die sich zwischen hiphop, soul und ethno bewegten, mutet ihr comeback-projekt abwegig an. betrachtet man jedoch die familiŠren hintergrŸnde, liegt die kollaboration eigentlich auf der hand: neneh cherry ist die tochter des jazzmusikers don cherry, der the thing mit einem seiner stŸcke zu ihrem namen inspiriert hat. der renommierte schwedische saxophonist mats gustafsson und das norwegische rhythmus-duo ingebrigt hŒker flaten und paal nilssen-love transzendieren das spektrum herkšmmlicher jazz-trios. neben einem cover von don cherry finden sich darauf songs von the stooges, mf doom, martina topley-bird und ornette coleman. wenn nicht alles tŠuscht, steht mit diesem album die †berraschung des jahres ins haus.(78sfm)

for a short period in 1981 and with brand-new equipment such as roland 808, sh 101, gr 500, we made some 8-track just for fun jam tapes. mainly just to experiment for our own pleasure. from those sessions, only white horse made it to a final treatment. the rest of the material was left behind, as our record company at the time found it too different. after white horse being a track indeed defining our sound, we thought it would be interesting to dig out left-overs to fulfill a documentation of that period - crucial for us at the time. we were still innocent newcomers, without actually knowing to be creating a new sound! recently, that left-over material was transferred from analogue to digital and, to stay as true as possible to original intentions, we only added vocals, bass and drumbeats ahead of a final mix. we hope that you will enjoy listening to it. good vibes from laid back copenhagen 2012.

rough trade shops annual report on the music that passed over the shops counters during 2011 has arrived in the form of a double cd, comprising of 42 tracks and full colour sleevenotes entitled rough trade shops:counter culture 11. the tracks chosen were either a favourite with our customers, a big seller on the shop floor or a recommendation by a member of the rough trade staff.the top ten of the rough trade shops annual chart features heavily as you would expect and this year we have tracks from josh t. pearson, kurt vile, nicolas jaar, zomby, veronica falls, john maus, white hills and the head and the heart from that list, giving you an idea of the diverse range of styles present.the collection begins with a set of ten beautifully crafted works from pearson, vile and the head and the heart alongside mara carlyle, lanterns on the lake, the decemberists, drive-by truckers, king creosote & jon hopkins, richmond fontaine and still corners.

come take a journey down memory lane with us on back 2 the old skool garage classics, the greatest collection of garage anthems ever compiled!this essential album retrospectively maps out a journey through garage with over 60 vocal anthems across 3cds and provides a documentary of the seminal tracks which have shaped clubland and beyond. just some of the anthems on this epic anthology include shola ama imagine, monsta boy sorry and tina moore never gonna let you go alongside chart favourites like artful dodger movin too fast, dj luck & mc neat masterblaster, pied piper do you really like it and shanks & bigfoot sweet like chocolate. not forgetting the darker side of the bassline - those with a penchant for mcs can get their fix on early grime foundations from so solid crew 21 seconds,ms dynamite boo and oxide & neutrino bound 4 da reload.

hailing from perth, australia, this talented and prolific producer is no stranger to the music scene. following his first taste of an akai sampler to drop film samples on the intros of songs in his metal band, the dirty whittler, rregula eventually found himself drawn into the world of drum and bass and formed one half of bad robot in 2003, a monster collaboration with future technique and viper superstar, phetsta.with a number of releases on subsonik sound, black sun empire, and drumsound & bassline smiths popular technique recordings as bad robot, followed by solo projects on vampire records, dsci4, citrus recordings, icarus audio, climate recordings, and too many others to name, rregula has been scaling new heights with his output in the past year. having just released an album project in 2011 on trust in music entitled echoes from the future with dementia and collaborations from the likes of smooth, trei and optiv, one might think of calling it a year.. rregula is not one of those people.now set to unleash his highly anticipated debut lp on climate recordings, rregula presents:the barramundi experiment. an album extraordinaire, with over 30 tunes of deep and dirty rolling drum and bass, halftime and drumstep.

electro !!

big 3s three-disc set buddy holly & the rock n roll giants devotes two of its discs to buddy s classic recordings and gives the last disc over to the rock n roll giants - a collection of sides from the likes of fats domino, elvis presley, jerry lee lewis, gene vincent, little richard, carl perkins, eddie cochran, bill haley, roy orbison, and the everly brothers that also finds space for bobby charles, johnny burnette, big joe turner, lloyd price, the robins, and tommy scott, among others. not every song selection here is spot-on, either for buddy or for the giants...

electronic duo cage & aviary are set to release their debut album >migration< on prins thomass internasjonal imprint this coming january.part man,part machine,part cockatiel,cage & aviary take flights of fancy whenever they can.jamie paton is a dj,a one-finger keyboardist,and a pot-tickler.nigel of bermondsey is a musician,south londons finest oscillator,and a dedicated dabbler.together they are winners of the cosmic lottery.having put out releases to much acclaim on the ltd editions that are dissident distribution,cage & aviary have since spread their wings with releases on dfa, tiny sticks and astro lab.their own label,the walls have ears,is slowly carving out a reputation for quality dubbed-out dance music too - the cage & aviary remix series has met with great critical acclaim thus far,with the likes of andy blake,prins thomas,horse meat disco,mock n toof,bill brewster, tim sweeney, james murphy,tiga,erol alkan and other such luminaries counted amongst fans of their work!

wit, wisdom and soul from the king of calypson 1960 - 1976!

in kooperation mit skiinfo.de praesentiert das renommierte black hole-label die compilation -snow dance 002- mit einem stilsicheren und hochkaraetigen mix aus progressive, trance & electro auf cd1 (mit tiesto, deadmau5, ferry corsten, bt, ronski speed u.v.a.), sowie dubstep und drum & bass auf cd2 (mit noisia, drumsound & bassline smith, serial killaz, metrik, the crystal method, freestylers u.v.a.). die moderne art von apres-ski als 2cd!

once again, finders keepers records are given unparalleled access to the emi pakistan vaults to bring -life is dance-, the follow-up to 2010s critically acclaimed groundbreaking lollywood cinematic pop compendium -the sound of wonder!-. licensed exclusively through the emi pakistan archives in lahore and re-mastered from the original reels. here you ll find fuzzy, scuzzy, twang-happy, spaced-out and funked up urdu-grooves complete with harmonium melodies and driven by some of the most random, freakish, finger numbing percussion that the south east asian mainstream has ever had to offer.

this collection documents the two-decades-plus recording career of r&b icon luther vandross. even before he started putting out records under his own name, he was a first-call session singer (hes the one who created and sang the chorus hook on david bowies -young americans,- for just one example). throughout the 80s and the 90s, he was (both commercially and aesthetically) one of the most consistently successful r&b singer/songwriter/producers. this healthy two-disc selection of highlights from the impressive vandross catalogue moves deftly from heartfelt ballads (-a house is not a home-) to percolating, poppy numbers (-never too much-), spotlighting the mans mellifluous voice and tasteful phrasing at each turn. this is quite clearly the definitive career summary for this deeply influential r&b titan.

deluxe edition - includes previously unreleased tracks...

the album is just a few seconds under an hour long, consists of seventeen tracks and covers every style from wonky reggae through pop-funk, street spitting, straight up hip hop, sung ballads and epic death-disco. it deepens much of what mr manuva has already achieved over a glorious decade of innovation, but also throws in enough new ideas and adventures to last most creative artists a lifetime. we think it is his very best work since run come save me. we re wondering (whisper it) whether it might be his best album ever.

the cocoon label presents the cocoon morphs tokyo cd, previously released exclusively in japan. presenting exclusive work by artists of the highest cocoon-caliber, cocoon morphs tokyo also celebrates the aesthetic partnership between world-renowned german photographer and artist andreas gursky and cocoon-head sven vaeth. gursky has published a cycle of large-sized pictures with -cocoon- as the central theme: the -cocoon- pictures reference current club culture, with gursky using the big techno events cocoon stages as inspiration. the architectural frame of his work refers to the design of the cocoonclub in frankfurt. the spatial concept was developed by v„th, together with the design agency 3deluxe. in gurskys cover art, you can see the idealized approach to the original cocoon club in all its fervent glory. here, excellent electronic music meets the work of the most important contemporary german artist worldwide - again, cocoon explores new frontiers and combines art forms of the 21st century. artists include: gerber & kalbata, tiefschwarz, pig & dan, vaeth vs. rother, schneider & galluzzi, ricardo villalobos, david k, and patrick zigon.

after what seems like a thousand years of blood, sweat, tears, and a lot more blood, your zombified disc disciples at finders kreepers unveil one of their most essential collections yet. this musical mausoleum of malformed freak funk and dreadful discoth�que pop has been resurrected from the maligned cinematic subculture of bombays bloodthirsty horror film industry and witnesses the cognoscenti of the bollywood pop scene at their most creative, destructive and experimentally effective. tip!

gem club is an exclusive society: two people, a piano, and a cello. vocalist christopher barnes sings in a quivering whisper, and these minimal accompaniments assure that their sound never becomes louder than a hush. but the massachusetts duo s debut ep, acid and everything, showed just how much emotional intensity you could pack into compositions so spare, and how much could be suggested with so little. everything on breakers, their first full-length, sounds frozen over: icy, quiet, austere. you know that eerie feeling when you find yourself alone in a huge public place that s usually crowded-- maybe a shopping mall or a playing field- but at that moment is totally empty? this record sounds like a sustained version of that feeling. -i heard the party- juxtaposes echoing piano chords and a general sense of unease (-no one could have told you / your body would fail you-) with the refrain -i heard the partys here- floating across the track like the sound of dried up laughter. the word -party- feels so out of place in a song so pensive and lonely that there s something jarring about the experience. the feeling crops up repeatedly on breakers: a sense of slow-motion detachment, a suggestion that there were signs of life here once, but you ve arrived a couple of hours- or maybe a couple of weeks- too late.

seit ihrem debuet lungs, das 2009 rund um den globus die charts stuermte und millionenfach verkauft wurde, zaehlt die charismatische florence + the machine zu den begehrtesten newcomern. eine nominierung fuer einen grammy award, der darauf folgende, hoch gelobte auftritt bei der verleihung des wichtigsten internationalen musikpreises gemeinsam mit christina aguilera und jennifer hudson: ihr auftritt bei den oscars 2011: ein mehrseitiges feature in der vogue deutschland - interviewt wurde florence hierfuer von elton john, fotos machte karl lagerfeld. florence welch fasziniert die ganze welt und gilt bereits als neue britische ikone. ihre pop-elektro-mischung gepaart mit smarten texten und viel atmosphaere ueberzeugt, ihr glamouroeser stil fasziniert die groe§ten designhaeuser, wie u.a. yves saint laurent oder gucci, die die letzte tournee mit eigens fuer florence kreierten buehnenkostuemen ausgestattet haben. florence ist in aller munde. deluxe edition erscheint als doppel cd. die 2. cd beinhaltet zusaetzlich acht bonus songs darunter brandneue aufnahmen, unveroeffentlichte demos und akustik-versionen von -heartlines-, -shake it out- und -breaking down-.

the sound of the late great fitzcarraldos is like sand between your toes. bittersweet love songs paying homage to otis redding, brian eno, john cale and luther vandross. this is sophisticated melodic luxury music for a generation that has the history of music up their sleeve, but really just want to meditate.

the embassy are far too often overlooked in the uk. they more or less engineered the goeteborg scene, and have been hugely important in shaping the swedish independent music landscape over the past 10 years. their influence is second to none. so, to help those who havent been paying attention to catch up, fredrik lindson and torbjoern hŒkansson have announced a retrospective release, life in the trenches, the other side of 2001-2011. the album compiles a bunch of rarities from the duos career, among them b-sides and previously unreleased tracks.

raise the curtain once more on a very special orchestral performance. how could highgrade records better celebrate its 100th release than with twelve tracks from the highgrade disharmonic orchestra? the creative combo featuring both label bosses tom clark and todd bodine, alongside philip bader, daniel dreier and dale, began over a year ago with the intention of celebrating the tenth birthday of the berlin label. and the resulting gift: a musical experiment. the five artists have bundled their creativity together into a symphony unparalleled in the techno scene. every performance is like a jam session: all five laptops are interconnected, so each of the artists has the opportunity to react to the others and modify each track as desired. thus, new arrangements are created and constantly re-interpreted. drum machines and synthesizers are also in play, to further stretch the improvisational possibilities. no wonder then, that the 100th release follows in this creative vein. the highgrade disharmonic orchestra, with multilayer, kiddnaps us away into vastly different musical worlds: from deep influences and custom recorded vocals to an array of technoid sounds and effects. then back to groovy, swinging beats reminiscent of a balmy summer evening on the beach. therefore the record is something of a rollercoaster ride, where we never know what might be waiting behind the next curve. typically highgrade

ex-harry pussy guitarist bill orcutt s 2009 side a new way to pay old debts was an instant classic for those attuned to his brand of stomach-scrapingly raw, hoary blues improvisation. few could have expected the album to be subsequently issued on cd by editions mego, but the more you thought about it the more it made sense - though all-acoustic, orcutt s music is every bit as extreme, violent and threshold-testing as that of, say, florian hecker, russell haswell or mika vainio. as if to prove it wasn t a token gesture towards eclecticism, mego boss peter rehberg has signed a brand new album from orcutt, and what an album it is. for the most part it s in that visceral, coruscating style that he s best known for, all finger-bleeding fretboard assaults that manage to sound at once virtuoso and completely out-of-control, reaching a psychotic climax on the visible bosom: but there are some more reflective passages too, hell, the title track might even be the most chilled thing he s ever recorded. the album was cut at d+m in berlin, which really teases every last drop of blood, sweat and tears out of the recording, which took place at orcutt s home studio in san francisco in spring of 2011. brutal, bludgeoning but incurably romantic, how the thing sings demands your steadfast attention. mind-blowing.

in keb darges own words: i ve done many a compilation in my day, mostly based around the tunes i played at my long running deep funk nights in madame jo jos. that night is no longer on the go, possibly due to a growing lack of interest on my part, (sorry). in the last few years the lost & found: nights at the club have been my real passion, and indeed little ediths and andy smiths passion too. what a marvelous era this is for good music. we may still have pure stuff like dub step: pulling in large numbers of sheep, but an equal number of youngsters are being attracted to retro, or at least retro sounding music. people tell me it is because the youth are fed up with computerized music, or men with drug problems angrily shouting at them over a dull repetitive beat, but i know lots of teenagers who have bypassed this muck all together. must be the internet that is helping kill off the demand for empty music. you no longer need to go to a retro club night, or indeed search out rare records to be exposed to good music, the internet is full of the stuff. my fifteen year old daughter is a marc bolan fan who while researching the poor fellows influences discovered chuck berry, sun records, etc, etc. i dont really know or understand why so many are at last getting into the good stuff, but they are, and it is wonderful for the likes of me.

being a product of the age it was written, slow clubs 2009 debut, yeah so, dealt with the all too familiar space between adolescence and the oncoming storm of adulthood. a boy-girl duo who played a flower-adorned chair live, they were the polar opposite of what was coming out of post-arctic monkeys sheffield. slow club were fun, cute, whimsical and all manner of other words just shy of twee - and they hate being called twee. paradise, however, is where the duo grows up. two years on, it stumbles out of a trivial, self-indulgent teenage malaise (where sexual adventure was priority for most) and carries itself with a sense of perspective that only adulthood can give - a darker, more thoughtful view of the world. for instance, on the poignant you, earth or ash, a song about rebecca taylor s granddad, her melancholic vocals (beautiful, as always) evoke an awareness of mortality for those around her: singing -and i know, soon you ll go,- her voice seemingly breaks under the weight of premature grief. whereas even love-wise (an inspiration every band draws from) slow club s lyrical output is glossed with a more mature and detached sense of sauce, with taylor crooning on where i m waking: -i can see you looking at me / you got the brains i ve got the body-.

aplphabetical & phoenix live! thirtydaysago...

tripper, the fifth fruit bats full-length, was recorded at wacs studio in los angeles with thom monahan. for the first week of recording, fruit bats leader eric d. johnson brought in a full band to capture some of the live excitement of 2009s the ruminant band. however, having recently worked alone on soundtracks for an extended period, johnson knew that he wanted tripper to be more of a solitary pursuit than his previous album. the resulting album, a bittersweet meditation on hitting the road, leaving the familiar behind and reinventing yourself, is a reinvention itself.