DISCO EDITS More

In a scene sometimes too polluted by clout and thirst for instant social media stardom, it's people like Mark Grusane that anchor our minds in truth, a north star that won't budge, operating outside and beyond the standards imposed by “the industry”, he is his own industry. The kind of truth and honesty minimal techno could barely dream of delivering, this is it, the culmination of so much understanding and knowledge in music. Not unlike what Mondrian did for the fine arts, so simple but so powerful. Mark Grusane condenses in sound a feeling for the dancefloor that could never be described in words, and as simple as it may sound, the driving force behind it is the product of a rich scholarship in the underground. In a time where everything has been done and creating a uniqe style of one's own, Mark Grusane achieves it so effortlessly - every single track on this EP can unmistakably only have been produced by Mark Grusane during those off-hours at his Chicago record store, Mr. Peabody.
We hope you understand. For any further inquiries, please direct your calls to the party hotline.

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Mark Grusane's latest offering, A House of My Own is a testament to his long-standing discipleship to the craft of producing hard-hitting house tracks with authenticity and depth. The title-bearing opener on A1 strongly demonstrates this notion with a slew of raw bass stabs and emotive pads leading through a battery of driven percussion in a manner that calls to mind those early 90's Mr. Fingers records. While A2's Essence of Life (Afterhours Mix) takes us further into the darkness with a spiraling timber of percussions lain over distorted vocal arrangements, the "Daytime Mix" of A3 builds on the momentum of its predecessor with a robust uplifting synth lead and sounds of atmospheric ambiance added to the mixture, effectively taking the composition to an entirely new level. B1 kicks off punching and swinging with the track Knock knock, Who's there?, a ferocious gut-puncher of a track that sees classic Chicago "beat-track" style 909 arrangements lay over an intense saturated 303 bassline that relentlessly worms its way throughout the mix with a booming urgency. B2 sees a turn for the naughty on the track Love And Lust with a xxx-rated vocal line slithering its way through the track, sandwiched in between high-pitched keys and a slinky drumline. Finally, Jack Your Ass Off closes out the album and ties it all together on B3 showcasing the full-fledged insanity of the classic trademark Chicago "jack" style that sees the title of the track frantically screamed over and over though a sampler amid hard hitting drums and 303s engineered to make you dance like a freak. A serious 'must have' for any selector or music enthusiast.

(Words by Steve Hoffman) More

Repress!

3 tracks for the club. F***in’ jack it!! More

"Napoli based Gigi Testa brings the heat yet again on his third Rush Hour Store Jams release with some spicey Sichuan flavours, straight from the Dragon Temple... Milk not included..." More

Daniel Monaco returns on the Rush Hour Store Jams imprint with another disco heavy two tracker, with vocals from TK daMonza. Two feel good songs, to calm and comfort your soul...

Written by Daniele Labbate aka Daniel Monaco, additional production and Mixing by Whodamanny
Voice and Lyrics by TK daMonza
Alessandro Cinelli: Drums
Yannick van ter Beek: Percussion
Sergio Dileo: Saxophone
Simone Cesarini: Guitar
Alberto Melloni: Additional Guitars
Daniele Labbate: Bass, Synths, Backing Vocals
Recorded at Daniel Monaco Studio in Amsterdam
Mixed at West Hill Studio Napoli More

Two-tracker from Indonesian group Precious Bloom. 'Flashlight' on the A side is inspired by Euro disco with a touch of Indonesian city pop. The track 'Mojo' on the B-side explores a rhyme of witchery... More

Reissue of early Japanese house outing by Junichi Soma, Shuji Wada and Katsuya Sayo. Comes with insert with liner notes.

All musical movements require a spark to set them alight; in the case of Japanese house music, that spark was provided by the forward-thinking resident DJs of The Bank in Roppongi, Tokyo. In 1989, to celebrate the ground-breaking club’s first birthday, the venue released a 12” EP featuring first-time productions from three of its DJs, Junichi Soma, Shuji Wada and Strong Katsuya AKS Katsuya Sayo.

Widely considered to be one of the first ever EP of house music produced in Japan, 1st Unit was never officially released. Instead, 500 of the 1000 copies pressed were given away at The Bank’s first birthday party, with the rest initially being sold not in local record stores, but rather the venue’s own in-house shop. Three decades on, the 12” is finally set to get its first worldwide release via Rush Hour’s Store JPN Series.

The record has its roots in The Bank’s willingness to give its ever-changing roster of DJs a free hand to play what they liked – at the time a rarity in Tokyo nightclubs, whose musical offerings usually revolved around strictly defined playlists. At The Bank in 1989, it was not only common to hear European body music and the kind of post-disco New York productions associated with Larry Levan’s sets at the Paradise Garage, but also acid house – something not offered at the time by other clubs in the city.

This cutting-edge blend of sounds, combined with the venue’s unique decor (it was modeled on the inside of a London bank, complete with a cashier’s window to take entrance fees), made The Bank a go-to spot for young party-goers, celebrities and forward-thinking Japanese musicians (Ryuichi Sakamoto was reportedly a weekly visitor).

When it came to celebrating the club’s birthday by cutting a unique record, it made sense for The Bank’s owners to turn to three of their most exciting resident DJs, who were assisted by Heigo Tani and Jun Ebi. The collective name, 1st Unit, was chosen to reflect the fact that all three resident DJs were debutants with no previous studio experience.

As this reissue proves, the music remains timeless, magical, and authentic to the sound of American house productions of the period – albeit with occasional twists,. Katsuya Sano’s EP opener, ‘I Need Love’, sounds like a twist on Larry Heard productions of the period – all jacking TR-909 drums, undulating analogue bass, dreamy JUNO synthesizer chords and evocative vocal samples.

The influence of Chicago acid house is also evident on Junichi Souma’s ‘Ubnormal Life’, whose unusual title contains what he says was an intentional misspelling. Driven forwards by restless drum machine handclaps, sweet chords and rising and falling melodic motifs, the track is an energetic and uplifting treat.

Perhaps the most influential of the three tracks at the time – within Japan at least – was Shuji Wada’s similarly misspelled ‘Endless Load’. Deeper and more melodic with a more expansive arrangement, the track’s combination of marimba-style lead lines, tribal drum patterns, dreamy chords and jazz-funk influenced bass offered a loose blueprint for the more successful and better-known Japanese deep house tracks that followed. More

Amsterdam based musician/producer Djosa (long time band member of Arp Frique & The Family) joins the Rush Hour Store Jams imprint with two uplifting songs. The legendary Ronald Snijders is featured on ''Vampiro" with whom he (together with Arp Frique) made the documentary Easy Man and the album The Nelson & Djosa Sessions. TIP!

*Please note* Due to an unfortunate production mistake, the tracklisting on the labels and sleeve are in the wrong order. The correct order is: A. Botanica Obscura and B: Vampiro (feat. Ronald Snijders). More

Amsterdam and Naples based bassist Daniel Monaco (bass player for Nu Genea, Mystic Jungle & Capinera) joins the Rush Hour Store Jams imprint with a strong disco heavy two tracker featuring vocals from Mame N'Diack Seck Thiam and a wink to Cerrone, including instrumental versions. Released in conjunction with Utopia records London. More

Gigi Testa, a bona fide Neapolitan hero whose work draws inspiration from local music of the last four decades – think Pino Daniele, Tullio de Piscopo, Tony Esposito, James Senese & Napoli Centrale, Nu Guinea, Mystic Jungle Tribe and rising stars such Fabrizio Fattore, Daniel Monaco and Raffaele Attansio – but also deep house and owes a lot to African music in all its forms.

Credits:
Written Arranged & Programmed : Gigi Testa
Mixed & Engineered : Gigi Testa & Paolo Convertito
Synths, Keyboards,Drum Machines,Effects,Live & Electronic Drums : Gigi Testa
Fender Bass,Live Guitars & Additional Keyboards : Paolo Convertito More

Artwork insert, in PVC outer sleeve

Awanto3 (Rednose Distrikt) returns to Rush Hour with "Party". Featuring Jos De Haas (New Cool Collective) on percussion and Stefan Schmid (Zuco 103) on the keys.

Party was born in a small village located in Wallonia during a period of house-sitting for a family on holiday. Initially my mother was asked to take care of the chickens, goat, dog and donkey but eventually I decided to take care of them to relieve my mother. This week turned out to be a small nightmare, because I think the house was being possessed by a spirit that I had to deal with night and day. The vibe of the house was so grimy, due to the fact that there were calendars with all kinds of weapons and dark oak furniture, interspersed with a huge flatscreen and blinds at the ready to be rolled out when the sun started to go down (by request of the paranoid owner). This setting affected my sketches; a dark side that was looking for contra light weight. After I took care of the animals, I had an energy to escape to my MPC to make the basis for a possible new album. When I got back in Amsterdam, I started to work out some of the sketches I’ve made in the ghost house together with Stefan and Jos in Studio K at Sloterdijk. More

Tracklist:
1. (Earth In) Blue
2. (Earth In) Blue (Instrumental)

‘(Earth in) Blue’ by rogue Japanese producer Hiroshi Matsui aka Royal Mirrorball. Including a previously unreleased instrumental! Comes with obi.

While still in high school, Matsui started studying multi-recording synthesizer composition. His fascination for electronic music quickly became an obsession and in 1985 the eighteen year old Matsui took part in The famous Parco department stores-organized Organ-Zaka competition to win the grand prize, beating such luminaries as Towa Tei (of Deee-Lite fame) and Zabadak and kickstarting his career as a professional musician scoring jingles and commercials.

In 1992 Matsui’s ‘Samba de Howa Howa’ was released as a Japan-only promo. The song nevertheless garnered the attention of Tony Humphries, became a fixture on Kiss FM and was eventually featured on the first volume of King Street’s infamous ‘Sounds of Far East Dance Music’ compilation.

At the end of the nineties Matsui established his own Royal Mirrorball production company and label, kicking off with the EP that featured the wonderful ‘(Earth in) Blue’. Matsui: “the name ‘Royal Mirrorball’ was inspired by the gay clubs of the 80's. That’s what I had in mind whenever I made music, whether it was house music, J-pop, noise or contemporary music.” Quantities of the EP that spawned ‘(Earth in) Blue’ were extremely limited as they were originally intended only as a gift for friends and colleagues. Matsui: “But it was also an issue of cash on hand and production costs. Funds were limited back then.” More

Rush Hour-affiliate and Amsterdam local Relmer is back with what may well be his best work so far. ‘H2O’ expertly displays the vibrant energy he’s known for around these parts with two Amazon-inspired deephouse groovers, a melancholic walk through the jungle, a Detroit-infused progressive anthem and a hypnotic midtempo floorwarmer. Absolutely stellar stuff from A to Z.

“Super nice versatile EP by Relmer, Bummers Paradise has been a firm favourite this summer”
Esa Williams

"Blissful sounds, dancefloor material, and most of all, all very fun music to listen to. 10/10"
Fatima Yamaha More

Napoli has long been one of Italy’s most musically vibrant cities – a metropolis famed for colourful, atmospheric and vivid dance music, with a rich and diverse sonic history stretching back to the disco era. For the last 36 years, it has been home to Gigi Testa, a bona fide local hero whose work not only draws inspiration from Neapolitan music of the last four decades – think Pino Daniele, Tullio de Piscopo, Tony Esposito, James Senese & Napoli Centrale, Nu Guinea, Mystic Jungle Tribe and rising stars such Fabio Fattore, Daniel Monaco and Raffaele Attansio – but also high-quality deep house and African music in all its forms.

Testa remains largely unheralded outside his home city, where he’s long been a regular fixture behind the decks at events such as Neuhm and at renowned audiophile club Basic, despite winning plaudits for a string of singles and EPs on his own World Peace Music and Freedom Dance imprints. Now Testa has become the latest artist to contribute to the Rush Hour Store Jams series, delivering a four-track EP that takes his self-proclaimed world music-meets-club music approach in kaleidoscopic new directions.

Inspired by a mixture of 1980s, post-boogie African music, the sounds of the Caribbean, Testa’s love for dance music from New York and his own Neapolitan musical roots, the Esoteric Paradise EP is an entertaining, each-catching collection of cuts the effortlessly blurs existing musical boundaries. Rich in synthesizer and drum machine sounds, it should delight all those who love melodic, tropical-tinged electronic music.

Testa sets out his stall with the EP-opening title track, a squelchy slab of electro-fired musical joy whose dreamy pads and synthesized marimba melodies recall the mid-80s work of legendary South African musician Hugh Masekela and the delay-laden proto-house jams of the late Boyd Jarvis. He opts for a deeper, sweeter, and more laidback sound on the gently jazz-funk-tinged warmth of ‘Blue Ocean’, where layered percussion, ethereal chords and morning-fresh melodies catch the ear, before doffing a cap the spacey electrofunk and obscure Trinidadian synth-pop records on the wonderfully picturesque ‘Guayaba’.

Testa’s own love of house music comes to the fore on future Balearic dancefloor classic ‘Moments in Time’, a sublime fusion of cowbell-driven club grooves, sun-splashed guitars, jazz-funk bass and alluring new age chords. Retro-futurist in tone but pleasingly hard to pigeonhole, with electronic and acoustic instruments high in the mix, it offers a fitting finale to an endlessly entertaining EP from one of Napoli’s most talented producers.

Written Arranged & Programmed : Luigi Testa
Mixed & Engineered : Luigi Testa & Paolo Convertito
Acoustic Guitar,Electronic Guitar,Fender Bass & Additional Keyboards : Paolo Convertito
Synths, Keyboards, Drum Machines,Effects,Live & Electronic Drums : Luigi Testa More

*warehouse find** pressed in a small qty for the RH physical store in 2015.. More

Limited 7 inch for Recordstore day 2021 (July 17th drop). Taken from Arp Frique's upcoming album "The Seed"! More

Three dance floor hitters by the Dutch Arp Frique. "Nos Magia" holds collaborations with Nigerian funk originator, Orlando Julius, and Cape-Verdea legend, Americo Brito. New cuts that could easily have been made in the 70s! Big tip! Arp Frique is Niels Nieuborg from the city of Rotterdam, who has been actively involved in the Dutch live music scene for years, working with Cape Verdean & Surinamese musicians especially. After all these years, he finally presents his own true musical output. "Nos Magia" is a classic sounding, but unheard Cape Verdean funana song featuring the old skool Americo Brito on vocals. The b-side holds two collaborations with afro-beat protagonist Orlando Julius.....enjoy!! More

Repressed!
A lost Japanese house classsic! EP of tracks is taken from the rare Kino-Moderno album originally released in 1990 (tracks from this were used for the video game "Video Drug 2"). It's a cool collection of sounds that are reminiscent of Dan Curtin, Soichi Terada or Harumi Hosono's "Super Xevious" proto techno bomb. Features remix work (recorded in 93) from British soulful house DJ Frankie Valentine who had a record on Chez Damier's Balance records. As a bonus this set includes an unreleased version of Into The Future. More

12inch release of highly sought after Colored Music edits by Tokyo's Chee Shimizu (Organic Music). The two cuts originally featured on the band's seminal self titled album from 1981 and 'Heart Beat' remained a cult DJ secret weapon, for many years all over the world. This heavy EP includes an alternative version of 'Heart Beat' that featured on the Japan only "Individual Beauty" LP of 2018 (also compiled by Shimizu). More

Sought after boogie tunes from Japan now reissued in limited 12inch format. More

Sought after boogie tunes from Japan now reissued in limited 12inch format. More

2LP including insert with liner notes. Chapter 1 out of 3. Including classic tracks with music from DAF, Throbbing Gristle, Nitzer Ebb, Mary Möör...'Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX' is a return to the dark romantic of the past, present and future. An undying passion for all things post-punk/wave/body music and beyond.


TRACKLISTING

A1. Throbbing Gristle - Distant Dreams, Pt. 2
A2. Mary Möör - Pretty Day
A3. Sad Lovers & Giants - Things We Never Did
A4. Malcolm McLaren - Madam Butterfly (Un Bel Di Vedremo)
B1. Big Audio Dynamite - The Big V
B2. Cabaret Voltaire - Blue Heat
B3. Nitzer Ebb - Hearts and Minds (Mix Hypersonic)
B4. Clan Of Xymox - Obsession

C1. In Sotto Voce - In Sotto Voce
C2. Psyche - Prisoner To Desire (Single Mix)
C3. Propaganda - The Murder Of Love
C4. DAF - Brothers (Gabi Mix)
D1. Book Of Love - Modigliani (Lost In Your Eyes) (I Dream Of Jeanne Mix)
D2. Vicious Pink - Cccan't You See
D3. Absolute Body Control - Total Control

INFO

Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX is the second compilation for Eskimo Recordings compiled and curated by Berlin-based Musician and DJ Luca Venezia, aka Curses, to explore the darker side of club music. Spread across 3CDs and three 2LPs Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX features a mammoth 49 tracks that join the dots between early industrial pioneers Throbbing Gristle, EBM legends like Nitzer Ebb and the post-punk experiments of people like Malcolm McLaren and Big Audio Dynamite with some of the most exciting artists around today, such as Boy Harsher, Nuovo Testamento and Years of Denial.

Where the first Next Wave Acid Punx compilation was a personal journey for Luca, a lockdown inspired exploration of his record collection to find the thread that ran through the music that had soundtracked much of his life, DEUX is a celebration of that music let loose on the world, the thrill of music performed live, the smoke and strobe filled clubs you'll hear it in and the artists you'll find on those stages.

"After our enforced break, getting back out there and playing live again really brought home to me so much of what I love about the scene I'm in but also just how important live music has been and is to club culture over the years," Luca explains. "Too often we think of club nights and live gigs as these separate things, but throughout the years it's where the two meet, the friction that can cause, that you'll find the most vibrant scenes."

"There's an energy, an atmosphere that you get with live music, an unpredictability where at any moment something can go wrong or even better right in a way you never expect. I think about a live set we played at a Lebanese festival where our MPC drum machine froze up because of all the dust and sand trapped in the pads. We had to improvise half our set, jamming bass and guitar and pedal FX and vocals, embracing this surreal environment and experience, something that could only happen in the moment."

"With Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX I wanted to celebrate those bands and artists, past and present who, to me, represent that spirit. Both full live bands and makeshift electronic duos alike, the kind of acts that you might have found wedged between DJs back in the day at The Hacienda in the 80s, Trash in the 00s or today at nights like Berlin's MILK ME, EXBTN in Paris, Night Terrors + SC&P in London, New York City's Synthicide or Ukraine's Worn Pop.

So I've put this compilation together much like my favourite kind of night, going out to see some bands play, hitting up a club where live music and DJs blur together, before the serious business of the after party. On Chapter 1 you'll find bands like Vicious Pink, DAF and Cabaret Voltaire, some of these acts are more obscure than others, some flirted with pop and even the charts but they were all embracing new ways of working in the late 70s and 80s that both set them apart and set the scene for much of what we think of as club music.

Chapter 2 moves the night on, and this is the sound of the clubs I love to both play and just hang out in these days, clubs where the people involved put a lot more time into digging through the crates than working on their Instagram Reels. These are places where you're as likely to find a band on stage as you are a DJ, where 80's German electro pop by a band like Boytronic seamlessly flows into tracks like Silent Servant's Non Fiction. Timeless music that can be romantic, dreamlike and ethereal one moment, then veer into dark, industrial sounds the next.

Then finally we get to that part of the night where you probably should go home but if it's too late for good decisions there's still time for good music. Things are a bit wilder here, the drums a bit harder, the synths are more aggressive, tracks like The Hacker's Monopoly, Zanias' Tryptamine Palace or EVA's Industrial Hope that don't let up, don't let you go, just subjugate you to the beat and keep you there till you stumble out blinking into a new day." More

2LP including insert with liner notes. Chapter 2 out of 3. Including 13 unreleased tracks! With music from Boytronic, Years of Denial, Patriarchy, The KVB...'Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX' is a return to the dark romantic of the past, present and future. An undying passion for all things post-punk/wave/body music and beyond.


TRACKLISTING

A1. Boytronic - Voloczny *
A2. The KVB - Still Warm (2023 version)
A3. Cardinal & Nun - Freak And Weak *
A4. Jennifer Touch - Altars *
A5. Matrixxman - Assembly Line *

B1. Silver Tears - Always Shine (Wait For The Rain) *
B2. Essaie Pas - Retox
B3. Aili x Transistorcake - Dansu
B4. Years Of Denial - It Sucks



C1. Dina Summer - Darkness *
C2. Patriarchy - Suffer
C3. Maelstrom & Louisahhh - Hate Machine *
C4. Dame Area - Buon Cittadino *
C5. Kris Baha - Into The Dark

D1. Desire - Love Races On *
D2. Blind Delon feat. I Hate Models - Flashback *
D3. Poison Point - Altered Beats *
D4. Roe Deers - Muscles *



*previously unreleased


INFO

Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX is the second compilation for Eskimo Recordings compiled and curated by Berlin-based Musician and DJ Luca Venezia, aka Curses, to explore the darker side of club music. Spread across 3CDs and three 2LPs Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX features a mammoth 49 tracks that join the dots between early industrial pioneers Throbbing Gristle, EBM legends like Nitzer Ebb and the post-punk experiments of people like Malcolm McLaren and Big Audio Dynamite with some of the most exciting artists around today, such as Boy Harsher, Nuovo Testamento and Years of Denial.

Where the first Next Wave Acid Punx compilation was a personal journey for Luca, a lockdown inspired exploration of his record collection to find the thread that ran through the music that had soundtracked much of his life, DEUX is a celebration of that music let loose on the world, the thrill of music performed live, the smoke and strobe filled clubs you'll hear it in and the artists you'll find on those stages.

"After our enforced break, getting back out there and playing live again really brought home to me so much of what I love about the scene I'm in but also just how important live music has been and is to club culture over the years," Luca explains. "Too often we think of club nights and live gigs as these separate things, but throughout the years it's where the two meet, the friction that can cause, that you'll find the most vibrant scenes."

"There's an energy, an atmosphere that you get with live music, an unpredictability where at any moment something can go wrong or even better right in a way you never expect. I think about a live set we played at a Lebanese festival where our MPC drum machine froze up because of all the dust and sand trapped in the pads. We had to improvise half our set, jamming bass and guitar and pedal FX and vocals, embracing this surreal environment and experience, something that could only happen in the moment."

"With Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX I wanted to celebrate those bands and artists, past and present who, to me, represent that spirit. Both full live bands and makeshift electronic duos alike, the kind of acts that you might have found wedged between DJs back in the day at The Hacienda in the 80s, Trash in the 00s or today at nights like Berlin's MILK ME, EXBTN in Paris, Night Terrors + SC&P in London, New York City's Synthicide or Ukraine's Worn Pop.

So I've put this compilation together much like my favourite kind of night, going out to see some bands play, hitting up a club where live music and DJs blur together, before the serious business of the after party. On Chapter 1 you'll find bands like Vicious Pink, DAF and Cabaret Voltaire, some of these acts are more obscure than others, some flirted with pop and even the charts but they were all embracing new ways of working in the late 70s and 80s that both set them apart and set the scene for much of what we think of as club music.

Chapter 2 moves the night on, and this is the sound of the clubs I love to both play and just hang out in these days, clubs where the people involved put a lot more time into digging through the crates than working on their Instagram Reels. These are places where you're as likely to find a band on stage as you are a DJ, where 80's German electro pop by a band like Boytronic seamlessly flows into tracks like Silent Servant's Non Fiction. Timeless music that can be romantic, dreamlike and ethereal one moment, then veer into dark, industrial sounds the next.

Then finally we get to that part of the night where you probably should go home but if it's too late for good decisions there's still time for good music. Things are a bit wilder here, the drums a bit harder, the synths are more aggressive, tracks like The Hacker's Monopoly, Zanias' Tryptamine Palace or EVA's Industrial Hope that don't let up, don't let you go, just subjugate you to the beat and keep you there till you stumble out blinking into a new day." More

2LP including insert with liner notes. Chapter 3 out of 3. Including 14 unreleased tracks! With music from The Hacker, Boy Harsher, Nuovo Testamento, Buzz Kull...'Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX' is a return to the dark romantic of the past, present and future. An undying passion for all things post-punk/wave/body music and beyond.

TRACKLISTING

A1. Boy Harsher - Machina (feat. Mariana Saldaña) (Dark Remix) *
A2. Silent Servant - Non Fiction *
A3. J.W.B. Hits The Beat - Body On Body (Curses Revamp) *
A4. Hungry Boys - Toi *
B1. Nuovo Testamento - Heartbeat (Curses Remix - Edit) *
B2. Autumns - Repeat Prescription *
B3. Buzz Kull - A Place (That’s Meant To Be) *
B4. Soft Crash - Dolce Morte *



C1. Dame Bonnet & Mufti - Pleasure Dreams *
C2. Ultra Sunn - Night Is Mine
C3. Neu-Romancer - Burning Eyes *
C4. EVA - Industrial Hope *
D1. Andi vs Randolph & Mortimer - Formidable Truths *
D2. Zanias - Tryptamine Palace *
D3. The Hacker - Monopoly *
D4. Paradox Obscur - Evo-Devo



*previously unreleased


INFO

Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX is the second compilation for Eskimo Recordings compiled and curated by Berlin-based Musician and DJ Luca Venezia, aka Curses, to explore the darker side of club music. Spread across 3CDs and three 2LPs Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX features a mammoth 49 tracks that join the dots between early industrial pioneers Throbbing Gristle, EBM legends like Nitzer Ebb and the post-punk experiments of people like Malcolm McLaren and Big Audio Dynamite with some of the most exciting artists around today, such as Boy Harsher, Nuovo Testamento and Years of Denial.

Where the first Next Wave Acid Punx compilation was a personal journey for Luca, a lockdown inspired exploration of his record collection to find the thread that ran through the music that had soundtracked much of his life, DEUX is a celebration of that music let loose on the world, the thrill of music performed live, the smoke and strobe filled clubs you'll hear it in and the artists you'll find on those stages.

"After our enforced break, getting back out there and playing live again really brought home to me so much of what I love about the scene I'm in but also just how important live music has been and is to club culture over the years," Luca explains. "Too often we think of club nights and live gigs as these separate things, but throughout the years it's where the two meet, the friction that can cause, that you'll find the most vibrant scenes."

"There's an energy, an atmosphere that you get with live music, an unpredictability where at any moment something can go wrong or even better right in a way you never expect. I think about a live set we played at a Lebanese festival where our MPC drum machine froze up because of all the dust and sand trapped in the pads. We had to improvise half our set, jamming bass and guitar and pedal FX and vocals, embracing this surreal environment and experience, something that could only happen in the moment."

"With Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX I wanted to celebrate those bands and artists, past and present who, to me, represent that spirit. Both full live bands and makeshift electronic duos alike, the kind of acts that you might have found wedged between DJs back in the day at The Hacienda in the 80s, Trash in the 00s or today at nights like Berlin's MILK ME, EXBTN in Paris, Night Terrors + SC&P in London, New York City's Synthicide or Ukraine's Worn Pop.

So I've put this compilation together much like my favourite kind of night, going out to see some bands play, hitting up a club where live music and DJs blur together, before the serious business of the after party. On Chapter 1 you'll find bands like Vicious Pink, DAF and Cabaret Voltaire, some of these acts are more obscure than others, some flirted with pop and even the charts but they were all embracing new ways of working in the late 70s and 80s that both set them apart and set the scene for much of what we think of as club music.

Chapter 2 moves the night on, and this is the sound of the clubs I love to both play and just hang out in these days, clubs where the people involved put a lot more time into digging through the crates than working on their Instagram Reels. These are places where you're as likely to find a band on stage as you are a DJ, where 80's German electro pop by a band like Boytronic seamlessly flows into tracks like Silent Servant's Non Fiction. Timeless music that can be romantic, dreamlike and ethereal one moment, then veer into dark, industrial sounds the next.

Then finally we get to that part of the night where you probably should go home but if it's too late for good decisions there's still time for good music. Things are a bit wilder here, the drums a bit harder, the synths are more aggressive, tracks like The Hacker's Monopoly, Zanias' Tryptamine Palace or EVA's Industrial Hope that don't let up, don't let you go, just subjugate you to the beat and keep you there till you stumble out blinking into a new day." More

Repress!

3 tracks for the club. F***in’ jack it!! More

Chicago has always been a place that had talented musicians. It has been a hub for soul, funk, blues, and jazz for generations. The significance of the Real Sound of Chicago release in disco compilation terms is that many Chicago private disco labels never made it out of the city. Just like Chicago house music. That is why in many cases the records here are higher priced on a collectors market generally. Some Chicago artists never had the resources to have their music distributed properly on a global scale.
The contribution of Chicago to popular black American music has always been immense from accomplished soul, blues, hip hop, house and jazz musicians from Herbie Hancock, Larry Heard, Benny Goodman, Sam Cooke, Quincy Jones, Curtis Mayfield, Common, Minnie Ripperton, Marshall Jefferson and many more who no doubt shaped The Real Sound of Chicago.

TRACKLISTING
A1 Premonition - Your Love Is In The Pocket [Mr. Peabody's Edit]
A2 Fantasie - The Composer [Mr. Peabody's Edit]
B1 Carmen Amez - Never Gonna Fall In Love Again [Mr. Peabody's Edit]
B2 LaJohn and Sheela - Too far gone [Mr. Peabody's Edit]
C1 Pick Of The Litter - Running To A Disco [Mr. Peabody's Edit]
C2 Billy Hinton - The Challenge [Mr. Peabody's Edit]
D1 Brighter Side Of Darkness - Disco Ball [Mr. Peabody's Edit]
D2 The Moore Brothers - Bass Come Back


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Mark Grusane's latest offering, A House of My Own is a testament to his long-standing discipleship to the craft of producing hard-hitting house tracks with authenticity and depth. The title-bearing opener on A1 strongly demonstrates this notion with a slew of raw bass stabs and emotive pads leading through a battery of driven percussion in a manner that calls to mind those early 90's Mr. Fingers records. While A2's Essence of Life (Afterhours Mix) takes us further into the darkness with a spiraling timber of percussions lain over distorted vocal arrangements, the "Daytime Mix" of A3 builds on the momentum of its predecessor with a robust uplifting synth lead and sounds of atmospheric ambiance added to the mixture, effectively taking the composition to an entirely new level. B1 kicks off punching and swinging with the track Knock knock, Who's there?, a ferocious gut-puncher of a track that sees classic Chicago "beat-track" style 909 arrangements lay over an intense saturated 303 bassline that relentlessly worms its way throughout the mix with a booming urgency. B2 sees a turn for the naughty on the track Love And Lust with a xxx-rated vocal line slithering its way through the track, sandwiched in between high-pitched keys and a slinky drumline. Finally, Jack Your Ass Off closes out the album and ties it all together on B3 showcasing the full-fledged insanity of the classic trademark Chicago "jack" style that sees the title of the track frantically screamed over and over though a sampler amid hard hitting drums and 303s engineered to make you dance like a freak. A serious 'must have' for any selector or music enthusiast.

(Words by Steve Hoffman) More

Having originally featured on RNTR034 Elia y Elizabeth Remixes De Oro / Alegría RAZOR-N-TAPE RESERVE release.

Elia y Elizabeth were a sister duo who in a brief yet dazzling career during 1972 and 1973 achieved great success in their native Colombia. Their concise and natural mix of styles sways between soft-pop with a touch of tropical-pastoral funk, singer-songwriter sweetened by the subtle perfume of Caribbean music and gentle psychedelia.

This 7-inch release features ‘Alegría’, one of the highlights from their back catalogue.

On the other side, the original much sort after Elia y Elizabeth song ‘Soy una nube’ is given the light of day. More