For ALT014, Altered Circuits presents its first Various Artists release. In addition to the label's co-founder, three friends of the label appear on this heterogeneous, club-oriented 12". "Portal", with its breakbeat layered drum section and spartan bass hook, sounds like classic Innershades from the start. When the angular leads and slowly phased, ominous chords hit, we are reminded of the artist's fondness for the new beat genre and his ability to translate its tropes and conventions to the present. On "Show You Love", Mr. Ho combines skippy two-step drums with an MS20 type of flat bass. After introducing a one-bar mid-bass arpeggiator, gently swelling pads, leisurely spread side riffs and reverb-drenched musings join, calibrating the vibe to lush and groovy. On the other side, Oshana treats groove as the focal point with her "Hey Kiss Kiss" contribution. Over its 6-minute course, the snappy 909 kick rarely relents while a bunch of often short, many a time looped sequences emerge and disappear, unfolding a hypnotic tapestry of textures. Rising talent Salom?e closes the VA with "Late Night Summer", a track capable of setting the floor in motion at any moment. It revolves around a portamento-heavy, neon-tinged lead that lingers long after the track ends and a sturdy, efficient one-note bass pulse.

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Repress!
New label by Innershades, presenting banging house tracks with a raw edge!

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After recent explorations into ambient and pop under his full name, Sacha Renkas switches back to his Antenna moniker for ALT013. The Kiev-born, longtime Rotterdam-based artist uses a rough-around-the-edges, hiss-laden palette to construct his intricate, pensive club tracks. Often recording on the fly, he embraces the limitations and quirks of the hardware he works with, curating the happy accidents that come with them and that help make his music feel as alive as it does. It is emotional and imaginative in spirit, yet raw, almost instinctive in its rendering. Renkas cites the new wave and synth-pop from his youth and the sounds coming from Chicago and Detroit, as well as the Dutch West Coast he encountered later on, as inspirations. The sensitivity and hands-on approach associated with these are also tenets throughout his work. The "Another Wave EP," a selection of tracks created over nearly a decade, further substantiates this approach. Made on multiple MPCs, Juno synthesizers, and an Akai S900, and mixed on a Mackie 16-channel mixer, it blends, among others, elements of first-wave techno and European proto-trance. Opener "Alisa" stacks angular sine melodies and formant basslines one upon another yet flows like silk, its balance immaculately kept in check. On "Everyone M1," the bass organ patch from which the track derives its title finds itself amidst a lo-fi flux of capricious arpeggiators, ethereal pads, and decocted drums. "Another Wave" is a carefully sculpted slow burner, collected in its unfolding. Wisps of melody, gated pads, and whisper seem to wind between its drum patterns; the tension looming beneath this patchwork never entirely reveals itself. "Quasar" blends signature dramatic chords and off-rhythm bells with a creeping acid bassline and more kaleidoscopic drum patterns. It closes an EP distilled in its form, confident in its intent, and nowhere too bothered by genre boundaries or other formal constraints.

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Two years after the release of the Polarius EP Inner Voices Of A Clown, Danny Wolfers returns to Altered Circuits, this time under his best-known alias Legowelt, for Ruins Of Cracktopolis: a collection of "hymns to survive the dystopian circus of today's techno scene" in the artist's own words. On Do You Know Who You Never Be, a short staccato lead and dark chords revolve around a monolithic kick drum pattern that takes care of the cadence and bass. A mysterious vocoder and a laser sequence that gets torn and twisted to the max join, but the track never loses its steady pace - it gets help from shakers so much mixed to the front they could be lifted from a B'more track. Amidst the effervescing 303 lines and bold drum sequences of In A Trance Dance All Night" Wolfers finds a canvas for a stretched synthesizer jam with eighties breaking allure. This melody, together with the pads and vocal, are drenched in reverb - they float like mist ascending from the The Hague dunes. Throughout Ruins Of Cracktopolis, more vintage Dutch West Coast, the hiss-laden broken beat that guides the bass sequences and ominous blippy synth patterns switches to a 4/4 structure and back. These make for captivating shifts in pace while the minor progressions continue unfolding. Like Twin Peaks targets prime energy once the arpeggiator sequence present from the start lowers an octave. The track runs smooth like a pomade slick-back; it's only tempered slightly when the crunchy kick and tom change place for a moody chord sequence break. Even if these four tracks target the club, they are equally suited for - quoting Wolfers again - "leisurely home listening". Their greatest strengths are, as so often, their melodic aspects. The artist is known to be a synthesizer aficionado, but his unique personal touch immediately shines through no matter which gear he works with. The machines never seem to dominate the composing process; quite the opposite: it's as if he isn't programming or registering as much as trying to teach them his take on electronic music.

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B.AI has been quickly rising to prominence within contemporary electronic music, and, arguably, one of her most enticing feats is her ability to make the minimal, electro and tech house genres she navigates her own by injecting them with a unique sense of melody. On "The Best EP", the Chengdu based artist shows she can not only write memorable hooks but can do so while covering a broad array of registers. "Nightdreaming" is a moody builder: although new, sturdily patched layers keep being introduced and the pace never slows down, a sense of restraint remains. This atmosphere quickly changes on "Satisfy", which, with its tapestry of indeterminate arpeggios and EBM-evoking vocals, takes a nervous turn. "The Best" on the B-side is a slab of vigor tailored for the peak time. Set to an effective bass groove, modulated chords, white noise sweeps, delicately mixed moans and bright pads nearly trip one over another. On "Crash Landing On Nimas" B.AI , together with Diego Santana, unleashes a batch of detuned and portamento heavy square wave patterns. The EP, diverse yet balanced, ends on a note so ominous... the contrast with how bright we imagine the future for this maverick talent could not be starker.

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Repress from Innershades & Betonkust's 2018 NEW BEAT superhit Forever In Boccaccio! Comes fully remastered and in a new sleeve. Limited to 300 copies.

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- coming soon -

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"bio coming soon"

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Paolo Mosca makes intricate, multi-layered electronic music. Inspired by the early club sound pushed by the pioneers from his home region Veneto, he fuses house, trance and ambient - and moves forward. The Metaphysics EP displays the artist's passion and ingenuity, unfolding technical skill that makes clear his studio clock is set to 2023 and not 1993. On "Luciddreams" a statically charged beat and organ bass work up a groove. Accompanied by a misty pad and a slow, pensive arpeggiator, it pulses towards the break: there an acid line emerges, finds its spot in the mix, and refuels the track. "Energia" draws from a bolder, more euphoric range. Hand drums, a glittering lead and airy yet restrained chords float soaked in reverb and delay. A lean bass sequence tightly keeps the rhythm as flanged claps and subtly positioned sweeps create extra movement. The second side's opener, "Under the sea" features a formant filter lead meandering within the sweaty framework of heavily gated choir pads and a frugal bassline that eventually gets layered with an M1. Modulated vocals and strokes of additional melody ensure the stereo field again gets used to its full capacity. "Acqua" is a fitting coda. Some familiar patches are deployed over a tumbling beat that takes charge of the pace from the get-go. The palette might seem bright and blissful, but as always, the track's latticework contains enough contrast for a slight feeling of melancholy to keep simmering beneath. Mosca cited his meditation routine, how it helps him materialize ideas and thoughts, as a main drive upon finishing this record. The Metaphysics EP is a ruminative work. Comprised of four explorations in deftly manipulating energy with due attention to balance and momentum, it easily flows between genres, details darting in and out, showing the artist's understanding of composition and dance music history. It is a deep-dive selection of club-oriented cuts we are excited to release on Altered Circuits.

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Altered Circuits dives deeper in the world of playful and versatile club music with roots in the early 90's! There's an obvious parallel between Ildec's DJ performances and his own music. Part of a scene with a focus on extended, broad-minded sets, the Ibiza-based artist lets his yearning to unearth and play obscure gems flood into his production process. The "Ahora Si EP" is testament to this adventurous spirit as it tackles a wide array of tempos, styles and moods. Opener "El Principio" and closer "Grt Plschr" display Ildec's fondness of hazy, recondite atmospherics. With its sustained ambient chord, delay-washed newsreader samples and manipulated themes, the former sounds like a fever dream radio bulletin. On the latter, a broody motif meanders alongside loosely played drums, while a buried bass guitar occasionally reveals itself. "El Break Del Dia" furtherly explores some of these elements, but this time with the dance floor front of mind. Languidly morphing bass sequences and staccato synth salvos build up anticipation. When a slowly emerging, ceaselessly arpeggiating organ lead finally materialises, the track explodes. Natural flow is partly traded for sturdier form on the remainder of the EP. "El Break De La Noche" lets an ever-modulating lead groove alongside rigid, dry drum beats. Descending tom fills, truncated squeaks and a top layer LFO gone haywire complete this sparse yet exciting cut. "La Nueva Version" has a similarly efficient bassline as its bedrock. An interplay of zaps, risers, transposed percussion, and other dusty cartridge samples pulls it left and right while subtle disorienting hints of speech thicken the mix. On "Modificacion", Ildec moulds his take on progressive and tech house into its toughest shape. A druggy, bleepy lead twirls in and out of the track, carried by the road-tested combo of a taut drum pattern and a piercing backbeat bass. Ominous chords and equally menacing vocals mark its aim: to create tension in the club. It is a standout on a diverse, daring EP we are delighted to present as the fifth release on our label.

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Over the last years a rehabilitation of the New Beat genre has taken place. Short-lived it succumbed under its own immense popularity at the beginning of the nineties, watered down once producers with an eye for commercial success - and not quality control - joined in on its seemingly easy recipe. Below the surface a lot of highly original tracks remain to be enjoyed however: the sound, with its unique mix of amongst others Chicago acid house and Belgian EBM, reveals itself to be an essential node in electronic music's Trans-Atlantic trajectory. Innershades has been a longtime enthusiast of the genre and made it a focal point of attention on "Heritage Vol. 1", the first part of a series that celebrates his inspirations and influences. Rather than making a selection of style exercises, he opts to subtly inject his tech and progressive productions with some of its tropes. It is a blend that comes naturally as menacing melodies and throbbing pulses are vital to his sound. Monolithic drum sequences, consisting of propulsive four to the flour kick drums and gated snares, run throughout the EP. On "This Is Belgium" this clear-cut rhythm structure leaves ample space for the bassline to glide and glint against the frantic SH-101 leads, while a deadpan vocal points out the release's theme. In a similar way a 303 runs havoc on "Eternal Voices". Hazy pads and understated dashes of melody furtherly infuse the track with a sense of emotive call and response. Just like most of its source material, it aims for high NRG via a low BPM. "The After Hours Club" lets a gnarled square bass line and a resonance intensive lead interplay until they get interrupted by a possibly familiar sounding news bulletin sample. "Rave Signal" finally combines an ever-modulating, hypnoid lead, silky string layers and a slab of trusty solid bass. The energetic track epitomizes Innershades's contemporary palette - it is a fitting conclusion to a record that renders regard for its precursors into current day dancefloor fervor.

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DMX Krew has been turning out electronic music from his analog-laden studio since 1994. He has built a discography nothing short of prolific. He mixes tech savvy with a firm understanding of club music and a penchant for catchy and clever hooks. The Powerplay EP forms a great display of this, and we are elated to offer it as our third release. On the A-side, "House Twerp" works up the sparks as a gentle bassline, bubbly synths and bright chords rub against one another. "I love Kevin" continues along the opener's groovy tone, but with the tempo pitched up a notch, a cheerful brass lead and vintage transposed vocal samples, it full on targets the floor. It is a slab of feel-good machine funk, ideal for brightening a room that is far from having its lights turned on. "Masked Man" on the B-side is the most bare-bones club track of the collection. The twitchy lead is modulated left and right: set to a subtly crushed drum track, its tension is continuously building and falling backwards. Closer and title track "Powerplay" is a sparse and subtle slow-builder. Flanged percussion, menacing chords and a classic roving bass sequence are the central ingredients for this muggy and eerie house cut. ALT003 provides a diverse selection, entirely in correspondence with the artist's ability to create within a wide array - from rude electro to synth pop and a lot of the space in between. Ed DMX never really cared much about how his music is categorized, though. And rightfully so, as, even if it indeed tackles many genres, in the end it only sounds like him.

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After a 20 year hiatus, Polarius a.k.a Legowelt is back with 5 banging house/techno tracks!

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There's a reason that Future Sound of London's 1991 debut single, 'Papua New Guinea', is periodically reissued: it's a stone-cold classic that sounds unlike anything else. In its original mix form, the track combines traits borrowed from early breakbeat hardcore (booming bass, house-tempo breakbeats) with saucer-eyed vocal samples, twinkling pianos and sounds more often found in ambient house and chill-out tunes from the period. This remastered, hand-numbered vinyl reissue boasts all of the 1992 remixes (as well as the original mix), including a suitably psychedelic, tribal-tinged Andrew Weatherall revision, the duo's own spaced-out ambient style 'Dub' mix, and a sax-sporting Manchester re-wire courtesy of 808 State's Graham Massey.

Tracklisting:
A1. Papua New Guinea - 12" Original
A2. Papua New Guinea - Andrew Weatherall Mix
A3. Papua New Guinea - Dub Mix
B1. Papua New Guinea - Journey To Pyramid
B2. Papua New Guinea - Monsoon Mix
B3. Papua New Guinea - Graham Massey Mix
B4. Papua New Guinea - Dumb Child Of Q Mix

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Vacanze di Natale! Four party jams by Alberto Melloni, Luca Bacchetti and Modula feat. Carmen Lubrano from Italy and Red Woodchuck, the Dutch cherry on top. Every record comes with a different sticker sleeve.

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Repress end of April 2024!

2 tracks. 45 RPM. It's a steal!
Compiled by Rey Colino.
Mastered and Cut by Marco Pellegrino.
Design by AJAM.

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1995 UK Battle Electro classic remastered. Also know from Dave Clarkes seminal late 90s Electro Boogie mix release.

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Tracklisting
A1 DJ Sofa - Missing You
A2 DJ Sofa - Give Me 93
B1 DJ Sofa - Sleepwalker
B2 DJ Sofa - Peoples Choice

Sales Note
DJ Sofa has been growing to be one of the greats in the new jungle scene over the past few years, working with some of the great people like Tim Reaper, Dwarde, Coco Bryce, and being played by almost every DJ on every party including Sully, Double O and too many others to count.
I myself have been working lots with her as well on collaborative tunes, so it was only a matter of time and the obvious choice to have her do a solo EP on the label.

A 4 choice cut of melodic, melancholic & ruff hardcore jungle selections sure to make the dancefloor nice but also for the home listeners looking to vibe out.

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The Don is back to round off the series with maybe his most sought after release, Remember EP.

Reaching crazy prices online, the two tracks have been lost for some time. Now being remastered, ready for any dark club or after party.

300 copies.

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Bonafide boingtastic. Release your release.

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For his debut solo release on Not An Animal, label co-pilot Andy Bainbridge serves up a raw, late-night house dub, accompanied by sizzling remixes from Donald’s House & Komodo for good measure.

Up Too Much starts simply, evoking house classics of old. Dubby percussion sets the genre but don’t be fooled, the Buchla synth wobbles that form the track’s melody, delicately placed acid sprinkles and a vocal garnish A-typical to the host label bring the track squarely into the modern day to form a tough yet gentle roller.

Next off the pass is the Donald’s House remix, finely weaving the essence of the original mix into a proggy sidewinder, highlighting the acid arps previously lurking in the background and slowly melting the track into a delicious trancey mess.

Meanwhile Komodo kicks things off in a classic Chicago style; claps, stabs and all, with vocal samples adding that extra texture for the knockout punch.

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- Spec: 2 x LP in paper inners, in 5mm outer sleeve with download card insert.

Tucked away in the great depths of the Warp catalogue is this elegant, liquid heartache of a record. An album credited to the late James Stinson, one half of cult-Detroit techno unit (alongside Gerald Donald) Drexciya, Lifestyles... stands as one of the remarkable records of the genre. Stinson died a year after release, lending this already beautiful work endless resonance.
Where the dystopian aqua-tronics of previous Drexciya were often jet-black, cold, brittle and abrasive this is a yearning soul music, played out down rain soaked streets, the buzzing lights of industry flickering in the darkness, the warm blue of a new day ready to break. This is a record where techno reached its raw, most emotive peak... Sustained pads paint minor-key melodies while electroid-vocals are buried deep in the hydrothermal mass of squelching bass-clusters and funky-filtered bleeps. At its skittering percussion core, a stripped back 808 tapestry, sequenced into myriad jazz-inflected shapes, a pulsing kick drum the snapping heartbeat, ticking hi-hats bursting from every angle.

All this tingles with the ghosts of records past, of Kraftwerkian humanoids, of first-wave Detroit, of refracted Hancock and Ayres, but as Stinson intones on the fifth track, ‘let me be what I wanna be’, Lifestyles is a creation all of its own special making, a sound that would inspire the latter day deep-house machinations of Omar S, Jus-Ed, Moodymann and influence –however indirectly- a wealth of current UK/US bass operators including Actress and Kyle Hall. More importantly it remains a beguiling epitaph to Stinson’s sadly distinguished life.

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For their 9th release, AGT Records is happy to present a highly sought after two-tracker from Eric Spire. Originally released in 2003 on his own Silver Pearl Records, the ‘Big Brother’ EP provided the perfect blend of tech house, acid and progressive house that took the US scene by storm.

Each side has its own time and place at the party. The A Side is a peak time percussive workout, with drums and acid lines flying around the constant pulse of a big old bassline. The B Side is designed for the more horizontal after-hours, with a psychedelic melody and groove that keeps on swirling round and round and round.

AGT Records is excited to get this one back onto turntables, all in good time.

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Repress on black vinyl!
OFFICIAL 2022 REISSUE

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