Klasse Wrecks' sub-label GRAFITI TAPES is back for its 12th instalment and features music and artwork from one of the most important and formative writers in early UK graffiti history, in fact Coma (or Richard Sen as he's also known) has the accolade of being one of the first ever writers to paint the London Underground system in the mid 1980s. His iconic 'Bottleneck' style train panel (which features on the sleeve artwork of this release) caused quite a storm in the national press and served as a landmark for the countless writers that came after him. Richard put down the spraycans in 1988 and has since had a flourishing and long career in music as a DJ and talented producer, his productions sonically capturing the 'boilingpot catch-all' style of Hip Hop culture. Richard's release for GRAFITI TAPES comes on two formats (vinyl and tape cassette) and serves up a total of 6 tracks. Included within is a melange of post-punk basslines, clattering breakbeats, trancey pads and a unique atmosphere that many writers will recognise from a legacy of graffiti video soundtracks, dusty 45s and boombox funk. More

Richard Sen's sound has always been influenced by black dance music and European electronic music and these two tracks carry on the vibe - dark, electronic funk! 'Flow Master" is inspired by old school New York house combined with European industrial body music. Sen calls it 'muscle house'. 'Bad Meaning Good' is a lighter, deep groove that takes inspiration from African percussion artists like Kongotronics. More

Former Padded Cell and Bronx Dogs man Richard Sen has made some great records in his time, and "Songs of Pressure" is up there with the best of them. Joining the dots between murky dub disco, horror soundtracks and EBM, it layers spooky, delay-laden synthesizer motifs and wonky vocal samples atop a heavy dub rhythm and punchy machine drums. Pals Andrew Weatherall and Timothy J Fairplay deliver a bongo-laden, dubbed-out revision (part wayward exotica, part humid Balearic dub), while Acca strips the track down to its' nare bones for a ket-addled Dub.
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Graffiti artist, graphic designer, music curator, DJ and producer, Richard Sen has been around the block and back several times. Now he comes up solo with the Ghost Train EP - a dark and brooding release of old school meets new school house jack. Taking inspiration from the late 80s NYC, British and Italian house records that exploded on our consciousness and changed many lives, Ghost Train is both a homage and totally new take on what club music is about. After curating the amazing "This Ain't Chicago: The Underground Sound Of UK House & Acid 1987-1991" compilation in 2012, Richard now shows how it's done. Taking those influences running deep and melding the sounds of a mispent youth into an EP that has been moving dancefloors from LA to Berlin since appearing late last year as a limited white label. Chugging, brooding, deep but with a low slung groove and (can you name them?) samples underpinning the classic feel of Ghost Train and it's minimal sibling, Ghost Dub, the EP could end here and be killer. However, Richard shows his skill of soaking up his clubbing years in to new musical directions with Meteor Shower. Steppers kick, discoid bass and tranced out keys are go. Hype and demand has been interesting to see with support from Andrew Weatherall, Dominic Capello, Cosmo Vitelli, Mark E, Metro Area, Soft Rocks, The Glimmers and Trevor Jackson to name a few.
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At the dawn of 2024, Earth Boys, the collaborative force of Michael Sherburn and Julian Duron, reemerges on Public Release with their latest EP, 'In the Sun.' Their signature raw and smoke-infused sound is as rugged as ever, reaffirming the unmistakable Earth Boys touch. The lead single gets a hypnotic tweaky groove courtesy of an Eden Burns remix—perfect for setting the stage for a peak-time build—while Tokyo's Mayurashka offers a deep and contemplative atmospheric chugger. This 5-track EP is perfect for a spectrum of cheeky activities on and off the dance floor. More

The venerable Philip Lauer (aka “Lauer”) makes his debut on Public Release this Fall with his latest EP Otto Zero. One half of T&P, another half of Tuff City Kids, and a full two halves of Lauer, we're thrilled to welcome him to the Public Release family. I’ve been rinsing his tracks in my sets over the years; a sound so recognizably his, warm and fleeting emotions — yet simultaneously cold and rigid— he masterfully toes this line. The EP is serious party music for any room, whether it be the dance floor or the kitchen... It hits wherever, whenever. More

Metropolitan Soul Museum are Nick Woolfson and Filippo Rocco. The UK based duo have storied history as individuals; Nick having been half of legendary Mock & Toof and later on running the iconic Teng record label. Filippo, also with significant history at Teng and a former drummer, now focussing on MSM and related avenues. Following up on their hypnotic contribution “Stoneman" to the 2020 Public Release VA compilation, this is their first EP on Public Release. Moody with a significant weight behind every note, rays of sunshine beam through all the right places, giving their tracks a distinctly unique emotional response. 4 deep-cuts of impeccable brooding lushness. More

The much anticipated Remix EP of “415-PR22” finally arrives from pressing hold ups. A truly international roster of remixers and co-conspirators, topped off with graphics by UK legend Fergus “Fergadelic” Purcell. Abstract Dance: London new school Kolago Kult, remixes London old school Richard Sen. EBoys 2020: SF/NY based Earth Boys, get flipped via Tokyo icon Licaxxx. Summer into Winter: Old friends share a track; Eric Duncan gives Tokyo’s Mild Bunch member Fran-Key an offering. 8th & Broadway: The great white north; Jex Opolis drops his trademark touch on Tim Sweeney's first solo production. Slice the Top: SF/BE friends Vin Sol and Matrixxman produce this blissed out version for Greek brothers Tendts. More

Every so often Public Release takes a snapshot along their discography timeline, to pause and recognize the various artists that represent the past, present and future of where the label sits. The last such release was in 2016, and four years, twelve releases later it’s time for another marker. This EP pools together six exclusive tracks from their global family, some on the PR roster for the very first time. From the beautifully addictive melodies by Tendts and Metropolitan Soul Museum, brooding baselines and synths from Richard Sen and Tim Sweeney, to the ecstatic floor energy produced by Fran-key and Earth Boys, the range presented here is impressive. Equally enjoyable as an abbreviated album, or as singular tracks at your service. TRACK LISTING: A1. Tendts - Slice the Top, A2. Richard Sen - Abstract Dance, A3. Tim Sweeney - 8th & Broadway, B1. Earth Boys - Eboys 2020, B2. Fran-key - Summer into Winter, B3. Metropolitan Soul Museum - Stoneman More

Public Release once again plunges into the deep well of dance music talent its hometown of San Francisco has long fostered for Moon Replacement, the debut single by Anderson Chase, two originals wrapped around a couple remixes of its titular track. Clocking in at over eight minutes, “Moon Replacement” is a tense, drawn-out affair. It coaxes you onto the dance?oor with hardedged drums that slap with a metallic clang, a steely bass throb that de?nes its backbone, and spindly synth noodles that creep around the crust on top. Chase’s previous life as a punk and metal drummer seeps through; this is a tenacious house boogie that trundles along at that Goldilocks BPM of 118, fast enough to snap you to attention, slow enough that you don’t lose stamina as you give into the groove. Japanese house producer Gonno, known for his ability to graft scalpel-sharp minimal techno loops onto out-there, mindexpanding arrangements, puts his own spin on the song for the A2 slot. He darkens the mood while zapping it with a static charge to quicken its pace. On the reverse is Mark E’s take, which goes in the opposite direction, applying some heat so the square structure’s joins start to melt, wiggle, wobble. The bottom is still stocky, a molten mass of heavy-duty bass energy, but the melody that dances around the top is airier and lighter, glints of sunshine through storm clouds. And then “Between Us” arrives to stick the landing, get us back to where we started. Like “Moon Replacement,” it’s a blocky foot-stomper that directs you forward with its tireless rhythm section, though this time with an even longer shadow cast behind it. More

The 12-inch starts on a bone-chilling note with the titular track, a spartan warm-up that’s a creeping bass on the low end, wispy pads in the mids, and a scratchy looped vox sample on top designed to haunt your dreams. A freaky intro that unnerves as it allures. On the move now, Mark burrows deeper into a hypnotic groove with “Shelter,” a midtempo cyborg cut, half round, warm, organic percussion, half cold-tothe-touch synth chord sustains. The energy and urgency feels like new territory, but the execution is signature Mark E. On the reverse is a pair of more melodious tunes, the shuf?ing cyberpunk groove that is “M-54,” then the prickly “Shinkansen,” which has a sputtered and bleary-eyed thrust to make feet jitter and hips shake. A twist on the man's disciplined studio workmanship that we've come to know—arrow-straight arrangements, celery-crisp drums—that’s spiced with a few pinches of psychedelic, inside-out wickedness, devilishness to keep you wired, buzzing More

For its newest record, Public Release soars over the Atlantic and glides into Greece to convene with two brothers from Thessaloniki, Christos and Fotis Papadakis, for Cosmic Swimmer, a gentle, lilting sunbleached house escapade. The 12-inch opens with their soft and cushy original mix of “Cosmic Swimmer”, a charmed layer cake of round, full-bodied hand drums, airy pads, and washed-out vocal harmonies. A breezy, wide-open endless groove that ambles along at a not-too- slow, not-too-fast Goldilocks pace that will easily keep you undulating on the floor or in your head. Another pair of brothers, the Soulwax boys, making a very rare, celebrated appearance here, take the reigns and fill out the arrangement by wrapping it all up in some stone-cathedral euphoric resonance and injecting it with their trademark finger-plucked bass struts. One of their top remixes ever? Perhaps. The hot potato is then passed to New York City’s Kim Ann Foxman for her take, a more urgent and pressed affair that swaps the organic elements for jittery programmed percussion, strobed effects, and brittle synth licks, all the while somehow keeping the dusting of Balearic feel-good presence intact. Finally, Eric “Dr. Dunks” Duncan jumps into the frame with a tough love acid- flecked interpretation that thrusts the record into peak-hour rave territories. More

Public Release maintains its coast-switching lifestyle with what is perhaps its most ambitious project—and inarguably its longest —yet, Earth Boys’ debut full-length, The eboys LP, the logical conclusion to a chain of collaborations that began, a little over a year ago, with the release of their Trail Mix EP. The two-disc, twelve-track album represents a new high for the pair comprised of Michael Sherburn and Julian C. Duron both creatively and technically; ideas they’ve been stewing and simmering since their splash of a debut in 2015 are now presented fully baked here. Eboys was conceived as a classic long-player, with the majority of the tunes having a runtime of about four minutes and the whole thing feeling most satisfying when inhaled with one big tug that gets you from the A1 all the way to the D3. More

In early 2017, Public Release dropped a four-tracker by Brooklyn’s Earth Boys, a duo comprisedof Julian Duron and Michael Sherburn, and now it’s being followed by a collection of remixes by some formidable names from around the world. Where the EP of originals fell squarely in the category of vibey, shuffling, laid-back house grooves, Trail Remix is decidedly made for the after-midnight parts of club sets. The 12-inch begins with a T&P - that's Beats in Space's Tim Sweeney and Phillip Lauer's version of 'Trail Mix'. Acid-flecked and hard-edged, and tongue-in-cheek at heart yet seriously functional, it's the original red-lined and shot down the highway at ninety miles an hour. (Worth noting that this is the transatlantic unit's first remix to be released.) After that is Earth Boys' own redo of 'Highwa 1' a juiced-up re-imagining of the first version, filled out with chunkier kicks and fatter synth washes that completely envelope any sense of direction. The flip leans towards the ethereal, stretchy, abstract, though it, too, is tracky and driven. The B1 slot goes to Canadian wunderkind Khotin, of 1080p and Normals Welcome, who blows some stardust into the tune, enveloping it in a blanket of sharp drums and icy pads. NYC mainstay Mike Simonetti, formerly of Trouble Man and Italians Do It Better, currently of 2MR, caps the record with his beefy overhaul of 'Trail Mix' a compression of industrial percussion, tribal rhythms and sub-bass undulations. More

If you’re familiar with Public Release’s sibling, FACE, a series of parties, you’ll already know that Jee Day, né Dennis McNany, has been in the Bay Area label’s orbit for some time; as half of the DFA act Museum of Love, he joined the inner circle years ago. Here, with Amot Herga Laxy, he makes his bold debut on Public Release itself. The single begins with “Crocodile Tears,” an abstract, impressionistic tapestry of African rhythms, meditative synth washes, Vangelis-esque horns and pads. It recedes and Jee Day plunges deeper into the jungle with “Communication Masterbation,” a propulsive number built around a psychedelic, droney bass that’s wrapped with gritty, distorted effects and layers of topline keyboard licks stacked high. A raw club track cut from transcendentalist cloth that’ll lift you off the dance floor. The B-side is a dub of “Communication Masterbation,” with an emphasis being placed on pulling out, unraveling, extending the rhythmic elements and emphasizing the electronic veil the piece is shrouded in. A trancey, menacing sprawl that could be an extended Sonic Youth live jam if they swapped their stringed instruments for Roland and Korg gear—and dusted the whole thing in an unknown psychoactive slime. More

Time for something a little different from Public Release. EYE O is the convergence of a few Bay Area stalwarts—Kevin Woodruff, formerly of Tussle, and Jason Schwartz—and “Deux O & Debut" is their first studio-recorded public offering. The five-track, fifty-minute- long LP is a weaving journey through a pastiche of styles that’re all nephews, cousins, brothers, sisters of one another. Kraut-rooted motorik drums reconfigure into more complicated math-y patterns; razor-sharp dance-punk guitars stretch out and dissolve into dubby post-rock atmospherics; synth loops you’d more commonly find in house tracks get grafted onto fuzzy psychedelic breakdowns; hard rock licks lock into chunky industrial grooves. Less for dancefloor destruction and more for trippy weekenders, the instrumental record manages to both be a focused, cerebral, conceptual hunk of fat to chew on and a spaced-out, intuitive ride through the cosmos. For use during those off-kilter small hours of the night just as much as it is vision quests and introspective weekends. It’s rare that an outpouring of so much can feel so simple and sublime. More

Public Release’s lucky thirteen and second release of 2017 is by another kindred spirit newcomer to the label; Earth Boys, a Brooklyn-based duo that’s all dreamy keys, soft pads, peace frogs, throwback vibes, and deftly futuristic house rhythms, though not necessarily in that order. With Trail Mix, Mike Sherburn and Julian Duron have built four gloriously friendly, oddball house cuts— cheeky, choppy vocal samples juxtaposed against schmaltzy piano licks and punchy tribal rhythms rubbing against smooth bass figurations. Their ironic sense of humor intersects with precisely crafted productions in a way that underscores both, making the EP a brilliant concoction of bouncy, energetic dance music that teases the genre as much as it revels in it. If that messes with your head, just shut down your left brain, drop the needle, take a big ol’ rip, and see where a microdose of Earth Boys will take you. More

Public Releases hits the lab for some aural alchemy and to turn out its first release of 2017. A four-tracker from Moscow’s Phil Gerus, Scenes—or, in the producer’s native Russian, ?????—manages to have a makeup that’s both peculiar and magnetic. The title’s a fitting one; every track feels like a vignette in a collection of short stories. Separately, they’re self-contained, but a rich narrative arch is added when they’re sewn together. If there is a theme here, it’s of viewing the future through the dusty lens of the past, and each of the songs explores this in its own fashion. The kick-off, “Ohashi Sky Garden,” starts as a hyped-up Italo space epic, pumped full of swirling synth licks and sharp, tight drums, but it mutates into something completely its own when vocal samples (90s R&B?) and warm keys (prog rock Rhodes?) enter. After the original’s brisk five minutes, the legendary Richard Sen—graffiti guy, breaks guy, house guy, disco guy, half-of-Padded-Cell guy—steps in to give it a trance-y tinge while doubling its runtime and adding a dancefloor-destroying Hi-NRG coloration. The B begins with “Naha Swim,” a crunchy funk foot-stomper that might as well be an unreleased Idjut Boys or Ray Mang ditty dug up from the Noid catacombs. Fiery and furious, yet utterly cheeky. Serving as a sort of coda to “Naha” is “Kiss of a Kind,” a Gerus take on 80s adult contemporary, replete with sleazy sax and sensual pads. A gentle nightcap to a zigzagging, antic 12-inch. More

Landing straight after 415-PR10, Public Release’s first in a loose series of San Francisco-centric compilations, this three-track 12-inch is a further exploration of the Bay Area’s sounds and aesthetics, though here it’s explored via remixes produced by friends from abroad. The A-side is a complete overhaul, reimagining, and extension of Anonstop’s “Seaside” by Thee Loving Hand, Tim Goldsworthy’s solo moniker of choice these days. The ex-DFA Records co-founder and former member of UNKLE took the tune’s Balearic foundation and used it as a bed for what one might mistake as a lost Arthur Russell cut from the World of Echo era. Joel Wells lent his airy, light, sweet vocals to the track, while Darren Morris added synth work to bolster Tim’s usual production genius. It’s carefree and emotive, the aural equivalent of a big, toothy smile. The flip features a mix that’s a whole helluva lot more intense and uptempo, though no less positive than it’s original. Chida’s remix of “Domination” is squarer and housier than Be´zier’s piece, which was glitzy classic disco dunked in Italo, but enough of it remains to be unmistakably a spinoff. Fiery and propulsive in the way a Gulfstream jet is, it’s a ball of thunder that will electrify any set, any dance floor. More

Seeing as Public Release is a San Francisco label and sister to Face, a long-running local party, you could say it was inevitable the label would put out a record that candidly celebrates its hometown’s talent, color, character. 415-PR10, whose name is an ode to S.F.’s first, emblematic area code, is exactly that: a frenetic survey of some of Northern California’s finest producers— and a blueprint of sorts for more similarly-minded and -themed EPs in the future. The 12-inch gets warmed up with an uncharacteristically brief yet captivating nugget of West Coast-tinted Balearica by Anonstop, a mysterious entity whose debut release was a pair of edits on the cult imprint Blackdisco that came out five years ago. Then, 40 Thieves, a collective of some of the region’s most lauded and sought-after diggers, rev things up and settle into cruise control with Cage & Aviary’s dubby, drifting mix of “Lower Haighter.” It has a peculiar, crooked patience that sounds like an invitation to seek out all that goes bump in the night. The strobes begin to flash on the flip with Be´zier’s “Domination,” a swinging Italo disco riot that’s as sweaty and frisky as it is focused and no-nonsense. It’s a subtly twisted jam that you’ll swear played for hours when it sharply ends in a bass-and-hi-hat reprise, which is probably exactly what it was made to do; Be´zier, a.k.a. Robert Yang, is one fourth of Honey Soundsystem, the San Francisco DJ crew that’s been throwing parties for over a decade. The EP calls it with the Beat Broker’s “Trade Secrets,” a glittery shuffler that almost serves as a medley of the three cuts it’s preceded by. A dollop of velvety kosmische, a cup of slow-mo disco, and a sprinkle of underspoken piano house, it’s a freeing way to wrap the four-tracker.

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The last of Public Release’s single-digit records is the first from the British West Midlands’ most famous DJ and producer, Mark E. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. If anything, the fact it didn’t happen earlier should; Mark appeared as a remixer on Jeffrey Brodsky’s 2014 Public Release EP, which has earned him the status of esteemed member of the outfit’s inner circle and prime candidate for an extended play of his own. That little bit of context behind us, let’s move on to the actual music that’s been pressed to Sky Horn. The 12” kicks off with the titular track, an abrasive number built around a meaty, sawtoothed synth line that sits snugly atop a hypnotic beat. Happy Family’s remix—Happy Family, for the uninitiated, is Eric Duncan and Justin Van Der Volgen—is a more psychedelic reimagining of the original cut that’ll knock you into an exhilarating stupor. Speedy and demented, it’s an explosive, tantalizing cap to the first record. The second begins with “Midnight Equatic,” a tense yet propulsive number that’s somehow paranoid industrial, tropical disco, and prototypical synthwave all at once. The duo comprised of Dennis McNany and LCD Soundsystem’s Pat Mahoney, Museum of Love, wrap the four-tracker with their remix of the song, which zeroes in on the electro component so elemental to the original and runs with it, taking it into Depeche Mode Violator territories—before making a sharp left turn and exploring the wild sounds of the early 90s UK rave scene. A final hoorah for the party that is this record. More

Southern California producer Jeffrey Brodsky's "I'll Be Strong" is the latest EP to appear on San Francisco based label Public Release. Its comprised of four tracks, with Brodsky's original joined by three wide ranging remixes, which complement its energetic feeling with deeper material aimed at late nights and early mornings. The title cut is a prime time house number, which recalls the genre's underground roots through spiralling arpeggios, tweaked-up vocals, and chiming organs. But this isn't just some nostalgic memory, instead Brodsky gives the track some modern muscle via a clean production aesthetic and energetic structure, that locks the vibe in a more contemporary direction. Mark E provides the first remix -- it's a move towards the hypnotic, with tribal drums and cascading bells that ought to provide a worthy complement to late night epiphanies, and memorably euphoric moments spent under the mirror ball. Then comes Richard Sen's take, which runs the whole thing through a filter of '80s-style acid house, with a big raw 303 bassline and dubby vocals accented with delays. The final remix duties fall on Mike Simonetti, whose version teases out the song's atmospheric space through tight, heavy drum programming and monolithic washes of synthesizer. More