Currently based in Los Angeles, Laurel Halo has spent over a decade stepping into different towns and cities for a moment or more, to the point where everywhere almost became nowhere. Atlas, the debut release on her new imprint Awe, is an attempt to put that feeling to music. Using both electronic and acoustic instrumentation, Halo has created a potent set of sensual ambient jazz collages, comprised of orchestral clouds, shades of modal harmony, hidden sonic details, and detuned, hallucinatory textures. The music functions as a series of maps, for places real and imaginary, and for expressing the unsaid. More

Currently based in Los Angeles, Laurel Halo has spent over a decade stepping into different towns and cities for a moment or more, to the point where everywhere almost became nowhere. Atlas, the debut release on her new imprint Awe, is an attempt to put that feeling to music. Using both electronic and acoustic instrumentation, Halo has created a potent set of sensual ambient jazz collages, comprised of orchestral clouds, shades of modal harmony, hidden sonic details, and detuned, hallucinatory textures. The music functions as a series of maps, for places real and imaginary, and for expressing the unsaid. More

The 68th edition of the DJ-Kicks mix series is another landmark one, with experimental producer Laurel Halo taking the reins. The American's adventurous 28 track trip features seven exclusives, including two of her own plus those from Rrose, Machinewoman, FIT Siegel, Nick León and Ikonika. An electronic outlier, Halo hails from Ann Arbor, Michigan, but has been based in Berlin for a number of years. Landing on labels like Hyperdub, Honest Jon's and Latency, Halo has released a body of work ranging in style, yet cohered by production and compositional tendencies that sound distinctly her own. Her studio work tends to be a multi-layered mix of the electronic and the acoustic, the organic and the synthetic. As a DJ, meanwhile, she lays down more floor focussed mixes of techno, bass and worldly drum rhythms, and her live sets are similarly visceral and direct. Halo's DJ-kicks packs a lot in to just 60 minutes. It kicks off with the first of two of her own exclusives, 'Public Art', a tactile piano loop that sets the melodic tone of the mix in focus. Crunchy drums soon take over and begin what is a blistering ride through electro, trippy minimalism and textures that range from icy and dubby to steel plated and sharp from the likes of Red Axes, Parris and an exclusive from Rrose. Another exclusive, rough and ready cut from Machinewoman follows, before the mid section twists and turns on surging drum patterns, frantic industrial textures and spaced out gqom sounds from the likes of Griffit Vigo, Dario Zenker and Final Cut. This is a mix forever on the move: one minute its tightly coiled and kinetic, the next it's loose and joyful before switching into more cerebral and insular passages that keep you intrigued. Fusing together so many disparate sounds and textures is no mean feat, but like everything Halo does, here they all add up to something as thrilling and edgy as it is unpredictable and compelling.
CD Tracklisting
01 Laurel Halo - Public Art ** 02 Stallone the Reducer - Always Hate 03 Red Axes - 5 min (feat. CAR) 04 Parris - Puro Rosaceae 05 Rrose - Cricoid Pressure ** 06 Machinewoman - Just Made Some Jazz Music ** 07 WCC - Ana 08 FIT Siegel - Pennyrut ** 09 Yamaoka - Plastic PQ 10 Siete Catorce - Canto 11 Facta - Poliwhirl 12 Laurel Halo & Hodge - The Light Within You 13 Ikonika - Bodied ** 14 Griffit Vigo - A.C.I.D (Electronic Gqom Mix) 15 Panda Lassow - Lachowa 16 Dario Zenker - Koraimer Bro 17 Final Cut - Temptation 18 Aos - Violent Light 19 Geoffrey Landers - Brian's Having a Party 20 Via Maris - Side Effects 21 Laurel Halo - Oneiroi 22 Nick León - Pelican Dub ** 23 Stefan Ringer - Lust 24 Kirk The Flirt - Loser 25 Laurel Halo - Sweetie (DJ-Kicks) ** 26 Blake Baxter - Funky World (Blake Baxter Remix) 27 Kiki Kudo - Freakey Keke 28 Group A - Ketabali 29 Whitefield Brothers - Ntu More

The 68th edition of the DJ-Kicks mix series is another landmark one, with experimental producer Laurel Halo taking the reins. The American's adventurous 28 track trip features seven exclusives, including two of her own plus those from Rrose, Machinewoman, FIT Siegel, Nick León and Ikonika. An electronic outlier, Halo hails from Ann Arbor, Michigan, but has been based in Berlin for a number of years. Landing on labels like Hyperdub, Honest Jon's and Latency, Halo has released a body of work ranging in style, yet cohered by production and compositional tendencies that sound distinctly her own. Her studio work tends to be a multi-layered mix of the electronic and the acoustic, the organic and the synthetic. As a DJ, meanwhile, she lays down more floor focussed mixes of techno, bass and worldly drum rhythms, and her live sets are similarly visceral and direct. Halo's DJ-kicks packs a lot in to just 60 minutes. It kicks off with the first of two of her own exclusives, 'Public Art', a tactile piano loop that sets the melodic tone of the mix in focus. Crunchy drums soon take over and begin what is a blistering ride through electro, trippy minimalism and textures that range from icy and dubby to steel plated and sharp from the likes of Red Axes, Parris and an exclusive from Rrose. Another exclusive, rough and ready cut from Machinewoman follows, before the mid section twists and turns on surging drum patterns, frantic industrial textures and spaced out gqom sounds from the likes of Griffit Vigo, Dario Zenker and Final Cut. This is a mix forever on the move: one minute its tightly coiled and kinetic, the next it's loose and joyful before switching into more cerebral and insular passages that keep you intrigued. Fusing together so many disparate sounds and textures is no mean feat, but like everything Halo does, here they all add up to something as thrilling and edgy as it is unpredictable and compelling.

A1 Laurel Halo - Public Art ** A2 Parris - Puro Rosaceae A3 Rrose - Cricoid Pressure ** B1 Machinewoman - Just Made Some Jazz Music ** B2 FIT Siegel - Pennyrut ** B3 Siete Catorce - Canto C1 Ikonika - Bodied ** C2 Panda Lassow - Lachowa C3 Nick León - Pelican Dub ** D1 Stefan Ringer - Lust D2 Laurel Halo - Sweetie (DJ-Kicks) ** D3 Group A - Ketabali More

Laurel Halo returns with ‘Behind The Green Door’, a stripped back, rhythmic, and sonically absorbing EP. While re-injecting rhythm as the central focus, Laurel's compositional senses of elevated flow and ambient detail remain intact, harking back to earlier releases like ‘Hour Logic’ on Hippos In Tanks, and the ‘Spring’ 12" under the King Felix alias. However, the rugged, minimal grooves on display point to a new direction and shift in sound; these four tracks are hardware-only affairs developed from her live set, built from a kit focused on dancefloor-ready rhythms, enveloping bass, psychedelic detail and lush harmony. On 'Behind The Green Door', Detroit Techno influence from her Michigan upbringing shines in tandem with stylistic nods towards contemporary UK club music; at times cold, lush, sinister and elated, the EP is a meditative rush of exploratory dancefloor electronics More

Following on from her much-lauded debut album ‘Quarantine’ on Hyperdub released earlier in the year, Laurel Halo concludes both the year and the drama explored in ‘Quarantine’ with this new single 'Sunlight On The Faded'. Where ‘Quarantine’ was dense and beatless, layered and visceral with vocals cutting through intense soundscapes, 'Sunlight On The Faded' is energized and geometric, with lush chords built around hard, sparse drums and Laurel's harmonized vocals. The claustrophobic motifs explored on ‘Quarantine’ remain, but here they are turned inside out, incandescent and fleeting. Choked samples and illusory FX support the vocal phrases, the lyrics hinting at a resolution from the pain of the album’s themes, and a hopefulness too. The b-side dub is a deep exploration, again reflecting the soundscapes of ‘Quarantine’ but ramping up the intensity with simultaneously tense and lithe drum patterns. The chords of the original are broken by gaseous blooms, distortion detail work and rhythmic FX, allowing them to breathe and bounce in and out of the track, pivoting around a sinister, bassy dub techno pulse. Like the original take, the dub version is equal parts dark and positive, both ideal for late nights and early mornings.

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Multidisciplinary artist, rapper, producer, and performer Ojay Morgan who performs as Zebra Katz is a first-generation Jamaican-American who burst onto the scene with the likes of Azealia Banks, Angel Haze and The House of Ladosha, when his runaway hit single “Ima Read” paved the way for his distinctive genre-defiant sound. LESS IS MOOR, the debut album due out March 20, announces a deeper look into his sonic universe. Sexually charged and abrasive, the collection is a bold, sonic experiment that meshes industrial hip-hop with drum ‘n’ bass and unidentifiable sonic territory. More

Cult Berlin club night and label African Acid is the Future returns with the second release in their Ambiance trilogy. Taking listeners into the unique spirit of their club night. For their second release they offer a series of live recordings from the heat of the party itself. The release features two tracks from both Les Filles de Illighadad and Edmony Krater as well as remixes from Dauwd, Maryisonacid and DJ Oil. Les Filles de Illighadad come from a secluded commune in central Niger, far off in the scrubland deserts at the edge of the Sahara. Best known for their guitar performances, this recording from AAITF finds them at their percussive best on the simply titled “Tende I” and “Tende II”. Edmony Krater is an avant-garde percussionist, singer and trumpet player, as well as a native of Guadeloupe. For his performance, Krater performs a duo of tracks separated by three decades, but united by Caribbean rhythms. “Gwadloup” was originally released in 1988 as part of the album “Edmony Krater Et Zepiss – Tijan Pou Velo,” while “Lagé” is taken from 2018’s album “Edmony Krater– An ka sonjé” More

Soundwalk Collective was given unprecedented access to the halls of the emblematic nightclub Berghain, Berlin. A re-incarnation of the legendary Ostgut club, the focal point of Berlin’s techno subculture. The Berghain building is a former East German power plant that is remarkable for its enormous dimensions, 18m high dance floor and minimalist constitution of steel, glass and concrete. An architectural space that facilitates experiences of sacredness, collective oneness and egalitarianism, Berghain is known for its impressive sound system, extended after hours, and the defining sound of Berlin techno. For Oscillation, the collective placed 147 contact sensors on all surfaces inside and outside of the club: concrete walls, steel staircases, water pipes, ventilation tunnels, air ducts, metal frames, cages, fences, dark rooms, toilets, engine rooms, industrial glass windows, pillars, DJ booths, ceilings and more. Over the course of multiple club nights they mapped out the whole structure, and progressively recorded the entire movement of the building under the impact of the hammering music. More

New compilation Untitled collects seven collaborations inspired by the life and work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, pairing emerging and established musicians to create a genre-defying compilation of new music. * Shabaka Hutchings, Kojey Radical, Wu-Lu, Nubya Garcia, Lex Amor, Ego Ella May, LayFullstop, Moroka, AJ Kwame, Lord Tusk, Roxanne Tataei, Kz, Mala, Joe Armon-Jones, Confucius MC, Kwake Bass, Maxwell Owin & Coby Sey. More

Lavascar is a sound and music project by creative instigator and provocateur Michèle Lamy, multi-disciplinary artist Nico Vascellari and Lamy’s daughter, the artist Scarlett Rouge. Following the release of their debut album A Dream Deferred in 2017 – which was inspired by Langston Hughes’ poem Montage Of A Dream Deferred, the trio will release new album Garden Of Memory through The Vinyl Factory label. Drawing on the work of Lebanese-American poet, journalist and artist Etel Adnan, Garden Of Memory explores the tension between the organic and industrial, layering both Rouge and Lamy’s idiosyncratic delivery over Vascellari’s ambient and EBM-influenced electronics. After Vascellari described the debut LP as “an evocation of Michèle Lamy sitting in a cave, surrounded by wild beasts ready to devour her”, Lamy says the new record has loftier concerns: “So far it seems like we are more in the cosmos… We are coming out of the hole!” Lamy continues: “I like poetry, I don’t like when there is sentence that tells you everything, I like suggestion.” It was for this reason that Lamy was drawn to the 93-year-old Adnan – “a woman explaining what’s going on in life. We can say everything is political, this is especially important.” It’s a sentiment that Scarlett Rouge echoes: “She wrote political poetry, and she is a journalist, so that’s why I think when Michèle discovered her there was an immediate sense that this is now what needs to be felt and said.’ More

Berlin-based collective African Acid Is The Future inaugurates its new label partnership with The Vinyl Factory by releasing the first in a three-part 2×12? series Ambiance. The first instalment, Ambiance I, captures two extraordinary live performances in Berlin, backed by remixes from AAITF members Dauwd and Wolfonacid on the second 12?. The live performances feature Kenyan dodo singer Ogoya Mengo & The Dodo Women, and the woman once described as Zimbabwe’s mbira queen Stella Chiweshe. The former was recorded live in Romain’s Azzaro apartment, while Chiweshe’s performance was captured in front of an enraptured crowd at Berlin’s iconic Funkhaus venue. More

German producer and DJ Boys Noize has announced the release of his much-anticipated cover version of Adamski and Seal’s 1990 rave classic ‘Killer’ on 12? vinyl, via The Vinyl Factory and Boysnoize Records.
Featuring vocalist Steven A. Clark, the original 12? version is backed by an instrumental, both of which you can listen to below:
As Boys Noize says: “Being a ’90s kid I kind of grew up with this song which later became one of these tunes I’d play out at the end of the night. When I met Steven and heard his voice for the first time I immediately thought of that track and the idea of doing a cover version was born. It was initially just for fun but it turned banging and lit the dance floors wherever I’d drop it.”
Adamski and Seal’s original represented something of a breakthrough for both the producer and vocalist, spending four weeks at the top of the UK Singles Chart in the summer of 1990.
Speaking to journalist Dave Simpson in The Guardian in 2013 Seal explains the impact the song had on his career: “Within a week, I went from being a relative nobody – this weird guy at raves, with silver bits in my hair – to a household name.”
Boys Noize’ ‘Killer’ is out now digitally and on 12? vinyl, limited to 500 copies. More

British artist Gazelle Twin presents her new audio visual performance show for two vocalists, 'Kingdom Come'. Three tracks from the AV show, created in collaboration with video directors Chris Turner and Tash Tung, are now available on limited edition vinyl via The Vinyl Factory. Artwork by Jonathan Barnbrook.
The conceptual performance for two vocalists is staged in six chapters, incorporating electronics, film, and the brand new soundtrack from Gazelle Twin, created from samples and live vocal manipulation. With the piece set on treadmills against a manic, illusory landscape, Kingdom Come places heightening physical demands on the performers, resulting in an exhausting, otherworldly climax. More

Following the collaboration between Elysia Crampton, Kelela and Adrian Piper, ‘Final Exam’, The Vinyl Factory join with Elysia on her next solo release. ‘Spots y Escupitajo’. The release braids legacies from both American club culture and sonic miniature compositions in the form of a 12” sample pack. The LP honours classical American composers such as William Gran Still & John Adams, as well as Central/South American club producers like DJ Rodini, DJ Saiber & Mega DJs from Cochabamba More

Toxe exhibits her relentless creativity as she edits and produces her own videos designs her visuals, exhibiting her relentless creativity which has lead to the excitement for the upcoming audio visual collaboration. The work, ‘Morning Story’, was created in collaboration with artist Niclas Hille. Released on limited edition vinyl and also digitally in May 2017. The Swedish musician crafts some of the most stomach-churning music productions, innovative drum patterns and lovelorn melodies in the scene. Her debut EP ‘Muscle Memory’ was released on Staycore in October 2015. On the five tracks of this release she clashed boulder-heavy rhythms against intricate details painting a picture very human and emotional, developing a very distinctive sound. The artist concluded 2016 with her first ever South-American tour. More recently, Toxe played at Berlin's CTM Festival and MeetFactory in Prague. The Swedish experimentalist has just been announced for a Gucci x Club To Club night in Milan, Best Kept Secret and Wiener Festwochen's new Hyperreality festival. More

N.M.O. is the project of North Sea drummer / producer Morten J. Olsen and the Mediterranean synthesis-aficinado, Rubén Patiño. The title of the project, N.M.O., is an ever-changing acronym that incorporates club music, performance, miltary drumming, fitness and absurdity. This EP unfolds the latest, Nassau Molasses Office and also the bands new deviation, Deutsch am Fuß (DaF). The duo combine performative aspects into their percussive patterns and synthetic sounds that explode during their short and intense live shows. N.M.O. recently performed at CTM Festival and also created a musical chairs performance with NTS. For this new EP the Nordic-Mediterranean duo, Nassau Molasses Office, set off on an "excursion of possible caribbean Youtube islands” for the A side. On the B side, sees the band-in-a-band blend transatlantic rhythmic club interludes with a retroesque West Germany flavo More

NYC-based duo Jasmine Golestaneh and Eddie Cooper write songs through a telepathic kinship they’ve developed since they started making music together. "We have these sort of unspoken criteria when we're writing music. We never really need to explain what that is but we both know when it's missing or when we've hit it.” The pair, AKA Tempers, are set to release their ‘Fundamental Fantasy’ EP via The Vinyl Factory on 24th February. Creating an emotional and tonal tension of sensual and mechanical impulses, their brand of dark electronica sets haunting song writing to a sinister disco beat, pop melodies floating in an almost industrial soundscape. It follows the band’s 2015 debut full-length ‘Services.’ “‘Fundamental Fantasy’ is about exploring the creative scenery of romantic illusions. Our need for them, how we justify them to ourselves, that moment when the imagined story line collides with reality. The ways we fictionalize people to fit into the narratives we have about love - to reflect our own beliefs, virtues and flaws. It is about celebrating fantasies swelling and getting undone, so we can pick up the pieces and craft new ones that serve us better’ Tempers Musically, ‘Fundamental Fantasy’ is an evolution in both song writing and process, while still tracing a clear line to their earlier output. Many of the EP's melodies were born of live improvisation, which helped them create an instinctive, natural immediacy within their electronic arrangements. The cover of the EP depicts the duo on the volcanic island of Stromboli, where they performed at The Volcano Extravaganza, an art and music festival curated by The Vinyl Factory. “It is a perfect landscape to mirror the mood of ‘Fundamental Fantasy.’ A seemingly idyllic place that is isolated from the outside world.” More

The first of the three creatives brought together by Total Freedom is musician and visual artist FATIMA AL QADIRI. Al Qadiri is a Kuwaiti music producer and artist. She has released music as a solo artist on Tri Angle, UNO, Fade to Mind, Hyperdub and as a member of Future Brown on Warp. Al Qadiri is also a member of the Gulf-based collective GCC, whose work has been exhibited at MoMA PS1 and others. Joining Fatima on the project is award-winning, Berlin-based artist and writer, HITO STEYERL whom is one of the most critically acclaimed artists working in the field of video today. Steyerl’s work focuses on contemporary issues such as feminism and militarisation, as well as the mass proliferation and dissemination of images and knowledge brought on by digital technologies. JULIANA HUXTABLE, the third creative involved in ‘Nothing Forever’, is an American poet, artist, and DJ living in New York. Huxtable is co-founder of the queer party in New York City called #ShockvalueNYC and is a member of the House of Ladosha. 'Nothing Forever' is now available to pre-order now and will be released here and on site at the 9th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art and The Store, Berlin at the end of the month. More

Following the Avonmore remix EP, Bryan Ferry now collaborates with Leo Zero, Ray Mang, Leftside Wobble and Justin Robertson to release the new ‘Avonmore’ (Dub) EP. Pressed on 180g heavyweight vinyl and housed in a screen-printed sleeve, this record is an edition of 500. The Dub EP contains a broad pallete of sounds, scenes and genres which are traversed along the course of this four track vinyl. Kicking off in style with a version of ‘Loop Di Li’. Leo Zero’s take is sun-kissed and breezy, with trilling riffs and sweeping synths. UK disco-don, Ray Mang then offers a more pumping, groove driven effort that wraps Ferry’s unique vocals up in a neo-Balearic cool. Flip over to the B side two listen to two fascinating versions of ‘Driving Me Wild’, both hosting that lush 80s nostalgia. Mastered on the EMI 1400 and pressed to 180g heavyweight vinyl, Avonmore Dubs features both a bespoke screen printed thick card outer sleeve and a bespoke inner sleeve. More

Kim Ann Foxman realigns her vision as a producer in a welcome return to her own New York based Firehouse Recordings label with her '?It's You That Drives Me Wild EP ’ Kim Ann Foxman featured in Pitchfork’s 7 Best Mixes of May 2016 Kim Ann Foxman Fact Mix June 2016. The title track spins an intoxicating groove over Kim Ann’s vocals full of desire and lust, while '?Give It All You Got' ?fuses raw energy and dextrous percussion through h?er confident, evoca?tive words. Close ally and regular cohort Maya Jane Coles seamlessly remixes ‘I?t's You That Drives Me Wild’?w?ith her signature sound. The mood suddenly becomes much tougher during ‘ Magic Window ’ ? wrapping up the latest offering from New York’s finest lady of electronic music. Since creating Firehouse Recordings in conjunction with T?he Vinyl Factory two years ago, Kim Ann has released sporadically on her label, resulting in only highly thought­out and credible music from the imprint. A long standing figure in the New York dance scene, Kim Ann has remixed The XX and collaborated with Anthony Simoncino ´s alias Ron Jason. A regular at Panorama Bar, she continues to tour relentlessly with her high voltage signature style that is both remarkably original and infectious. More