Subtle & singular, explorative, leftfield House journey

More

Dubbed out, unique, leftfield House blends More

Captivating, cinematic, side-long Electronica & leftfield House extravaganza. More

Crafty dubbed out & carefully drifting House / Downtempo excursions, luxury gatefold cover More

Blinding, warm grooving, pure House elegance - Tip! More

Acclaimed Canadian electronic producer Francis Latreille, known as Priori, unveils his new singles "Learn To Fly" and “Segue” today, marking the first releases from his upcoming third album, This But More. "Learn To Fly" offers a taste of the album's lush, dubby techno soundscapes, while "Segue" showcases the album's ambient side. Arriving May 24th via NAFF, This But More marks a sonic departure for the artist, exploring a richly textured landscape of electroacoustic compositions inspired by literature, cinema, and the transformative power of nature.

Priori delved into This But More from September 2023 to March 2024, drawing upon archival recordings and fresh ideas. "This album is about healing," Priori explains. "Not necessarily 'music that heals', but about the process in its ups and downs, its beauty and uncertainty." Themes of protection, healing, sleep, and decay naturally emerged during the creative journey.

To craft this immersive world, Priori collaborated extensively. Writer and musician Devon Hansen penned a series of "Suggested Stories" to accompany the album, adding depth to its lore. Musically, Priori teamed up with James K, Ben Bondy, Sabola, Adam Feingold, and Jesse Osborne-Lanthier, infusing the album with diverse instrumentation, including violin, guitar, software instruments, and field recordings.

This collaborative spirit extends to the album's striking visuals. Jesse Orsborne Lanthier designed the main and single artworks, while Ulysse De Lezenne crafted a unique jewel, both pieces seamlessly connected to the album's narrative.

The intricate world-building sets This But More apart. "It's the biggest collaborative project I have tackled so far," Priori notes. This spirit of exploration extends to the second single, “Wake”, featuring Priori's first vocal collaboration with close friend Jamie Krasner (James K).

Priori's artistic process is grounded in self-awareness and intuition, asking vital questions about how each element serves the greater purpose of the music. Swimming sessions between studio work provided clarity and focus throughout the album's creation. These meditative moments reflect in the music, inviting listeners into a contemplative, dreamlike state.

Beyond music, Priori draws inspiration from the literary worlds of Gene Wolfe, Ursula K LeGuin, China Mieville, Brian Caitlin, the evocative games of Hidetaka Miyazaki and Yoko Taro, as well as the ever-evolving beauty of myths and nature. More

Research Records indicate their inclination for cosmic instrumentation and kraut pervaded polyrhythms once again with an introduction to newcomer Glass Beams. Recorded at the beginning of 2020, Mirage is the first release from the artist, issuing four compositions that lend from a profusion of sounds and influences. The album's opener and title Mirage arrives with a coiling vocal mantra that conspires with a sliding bassline and transcendent synthwork, reminiscent of early 70's prog jams yet inverted and futuristic. Taurus is a brisk arrangement, steeped with spaghetti-western elements and space-jazz to pave the way for the agile Kong. Rife with psych-fusion guitar phrases and instrumentation, Kong unfolds like a forecast lysergic voyage. The finale Rattlesnake nudges the serpent with intergalactic scales and spellbinding riffs. We may not know much about the enigmatic Glass Beams but Mirage is one epic inauguration, leaving the listener with more questions than answers. More

Leon Vynehall’s critically acclaimed ode to the formative cassette mixtapes of his youth, Music For The Uninvited, celebrates 10 years with a reissue on his Studio Ooze imprint, and comes with 2 previously unreleased bonus tracks, ‘Peaces’ and ‘Blue’, recorded during the same sessions.

There’s a stirring musicality of nostalgic disposition at the heart of Leon Vynehall’s ‘Music From The Uninvited’. Originally released on Martyn’s 3024 imprint in 2014, its premise across seven tracks was sincere yet simple; a strikingly personal tribute to the flow and textures of the cassette mixtape through the sounds of modern dance music. Specifically, it was influenced by Vynehall’s early childhood memories of listening to his Mum’s funk, soul, and hip-hop tape collection while she drove him to and from school. This conceptual infrastructure, paired with its wide-eyed dancefloor inclinations, helped elevate the release beyond its immediate club surroundings into something much grander and widely celebrated.

A warbling textural continuum of tape hiss, aided by the record’s mastering from tape, and Vynehall’s unrivaled knack for melody and hooks forms the celebrated core of Music For The Uninvited. It’s rousingly immersive as a result, enhanced by a symphonic soul courtesy of Laurie Ross (aka Eagle For Hands) and his cello playing on tracks like Inside The Deku Tree

and Be Brave, Clenched Fists. The influence of sampling also looms large, with the record’s anthemic centrepiece It’s Just (House Of Dupree) showcasing this best in its famous inclusion of Willi Ninja’s dialogue from the documentary ‘Voguing: The Message’. Tracks like Goodthing and Pier Children offer the release’s most club-focused moments in their bump’n’swing house moods and grooves. In contrast, the swooning balearia of Christ Air and St. Sinclair offer a gorgeous two-part conclusion to its original tracklist. The previously unreleased Peaces and Blues are both included here for the first time to commemorate the record’s decade anniversary, two tracks recorded in 2013 during the same sessions that are lovingly complementary to the original collection in their warm and low-slung house grooves.

Reflecting on Music For The Uninvited a decade on offers us a wonderful opportunity to celebrate Vynehall’s perennial talent within the modern electronic music landscape, offering a highly personalised glimpse into the early origins of his now singular style. While his output has transformed gloriously since its release, this reissue gives us a timely reminder of the immovable power of music from the heart. More

Tracklisting
A1 Coco Bryce - Slow Motion
A2 Coco Bryce - Light Works
A3 Coco Bryce - Blossom
A4 Coco Bryce - Excursions
B1 Coco Bryce - Running Away Towards Me
B2 Coco Bryce - Idle Minds
B3 Coco Bryce - I M 4 U
B4 Coco Bryce - You're Mine
B5 Coco Bryce - Blow Me Over

Sales Note
At age 18, after flunking all but two classes, Coco Bryce (ne Yoel Yair) attempted to take a sabbatical from uni.

What was supposed to have been a mere twelve-month orientational period turned into two and a half decades of hard graft, culminating in this here album: City Pop.

The results are stunning, tho that's hardly surprising given the fact it took nearly a quarter of a century to finish.

More

Higher Intelligence Agency was founded in 1992 by Bobby Bird during the heady days of Birmingham's legendary Oscillate nights, where he improvised & performed live, developing HIA's signature sound, as well being a resident selector . In 1993 HIA released the ambient dub classic 'Colourform' LP on Beyond Records.

This record is a reissue of HIA's 1993 Ambient Dub classic 'Colourform' album, originally released on Beyond Records, now re issued on Headphone as 2 x 12" vinyl, with a fresh new cut by the legendary mastering engineer & elecronic music producer Stefan Betke (Pole / Scape Mastering). Colourform received critical acclaim and favourable reviews on its release, and continues to be widely played to this day, with new generations discovering the music of HIA via digital platforms as well as through occaisional live HIA performances. These have included perfromance at the Detroit Electronic Music festival in 2007, at Beyond The Tracks Festival Birmingham 2017 , O.Z.O.R.A. festival Hungary 2018, and Oscillate Club 2019. More live dates are planned for 2020, including at Houghton Festival, Glastonbury and O.Z.O.R.A. 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

Building on the buzz around his dynamic techno releases of the past few years, Sam Goku makes a welcome debut on Dekmantel with four striking set pieces which subvert the rules of the average floor fodder.

Through his steady stream of output on the likes of Atomnation Berlin-based Robin Wang has established himself as a must-check artist with an instinct for the unconventional. That comes through in jaw-dropping fashion on Radiants’ opening cut ‘Tides (Under The Moonlight)’, a swirling, mystical thumper which rises with graceful restraint to a thunderous peak. By way of contrast ‘Tanggu FM’ brings things up close and claustrophobic, using slippery sound design and stuttering vocals to create a different kind of maverick energy on top of the rugged low end. Even when he does reach for anthemic hooks on the EP’s title track, there’s a fundamental otherness to the sparkling chords and a toughness to the beat which edges out the competition.

This is just a snapshot of the versatility at work across Radiants, a record which will cement Goku’s position as a standout producer taking a less obvious path to truly distinctive, devastatingly original showstoppers. More

Legowelt returns to L.I.E.S.Records with a new album full of ultra-RAW hypnagogic lo-fi electrofunk. Classic, murky, cold as ice Hague-style slammers from the king of Smack. These eight tracks go back to the essence of the Legowelt sound, cutting through the noise of modern dance music charlatans, taking them to school with his undeniable signature stamped all over this release. A dancefloor classic in the making. More