Ronan lands on nascent X-Kalay sub-label Another Place with renewed focus and a new EP. Musing on personal crossroads, ‘Leaves of Life’ is a highly evocative contemplation on the tides of life. It’s the culmination of a personal arc having sat with the material for six years, further refining the lush, introspective sound that’s characterised his output to date.

The outcome feels similarly unhurried; a pristine, genre-spanning exploration rendered with meticulous attention to detail. Soul-bearing stuff interspersed with words of reassurance through quietly spoken vocals.

The opener strives for utopia. Carried away on a warm current, ‘Song of Surrender’ initiates with a gorgeous unfurling of life-affirming trance that begs repeat immersion. Comparatively direct, ‘Cure for Toxicity’ comes on a breaks-driven flex before a fleeting switch-up into 2-step territory.

Supple groove and jazz modalities fuel airily introspective D&B as we shift focus to title track ‘Leaves of Life’. Then, finally, Ronan closes things out with a ritual purification of sorts. Deploying more breaks but bordering on new age, ‘Sacral Dub’ exudes a soothing, massaging quality with dubby tendencies in full effect. More

Ronan’s journey has seen him move between Boston and New York, Washington State, Bogota, and most recently Mexico City. Rarely in one place for too long, his energy and enthusiasm for his craft carry that same roving sense of adventure, whether in his own expressive productions welding hyper-speed techno and classic hardcore into a dynamic whole, or through his Eternal Ocean imprint, which has notched a string of impressive releases from close friends and like-minded producers. Throughout, a sense of wide-eyed wonder and joy is the constant, an awe for its ability to transport and transcend, to become a calling in its own right, through sound and soul, a grounding force that becomes the guiding path through the world.

It’s that sense of possibility that dominates the sensibility of Vision Quest, Ronan’s second outing on Eternal Ocean, a four track offering recorded in Ridgewood, Queens just before he headed west in 2018. The tracks echo this awareness of a road stretching out before him. These are tunes about the journey, best exemplified by the snaking routes and pathways they pull the listener through: half-time breakdowns, sudden vocal stabs, hard-left turns and sudden shifts of tempo. Where previous Ronan EPs found their strength in meticulous mixing and track-craft, these embrace technique and arrangement as means to an end, resulting in lyrical, ever-evolving tunes that show an artist embracing the time given to create worlds unto themselves. More

For his debut release, Ronan delivers ‘Prolongez La Magie’, a 4 track EP that explores both the cerebral and somatic sectors of modern dance music. Touching on his influences as a classically trained instrumentalist and jazz improviser he uses the forms of club music to create sonic environments that envelop the listener with layers of narrative depth and idiosyncratic character. From the whipcrack bass pressure of ‘Internal Revelation’ and the broken beat trance of ‘Surface Dive’ to the aqueous and narcotic take on UK techno found in ‘Cellular Matrix’ and ‘Tracheal Impulse’ he finds himself in a singular space, setting up a strong and unique foundation from where there’s no telling what he’ll come up with next. More

Acclaimed Italian Producer / DJ Matisa cements her ’one to watch’ credentials with the ‘Peace Building’ EP, released via On Loop on October 29th.

Having studied political science for 5 years, the concept of peacebuilding is close to Matisa’s heart and a mantra to live by. With this in mind, Matisa wrote ‘Peace Building’ EP. Matisa says: “The world would have been different today if we would have united for love, peace, construction, and to support each other in building as allies to one another making this world a better place. I hope my music can pass on some of this ethos and we can create a better world.”

With ‘Peace Building’ EP, Rome-born and now Florence-based Matisa follows up on acclaimed releases on Optimo Music, Permanent Vacation, Biologic Records, along with a forthcoming remix for Kim Ann Foxman. Her releases have been supported by Jennifer Cardini, DJ Seinfeld, Ivan Smagghe, Dusky, Zombies in Miami, John Digweed and many others.

As well as her productions Matisa’s Sub Club SensuCast Mix from
February 2021 was chosen by Resident Advisor as ‘Mix of the Day’. Outside of the music realm, in 2018, Matisa started Fashion design and received a Masters degree in ‘Fashion Product Management’ at Polimoda; one of the top ten fashion institutes in the world.

Early support coming in from Ben UFO, Carista, Midland, Peach, Nicola Cruz, Shanti Celeste, Sally C, Midland, Moxie & Job Jobse. More