Techno, Disco, Italo, Electronics, House, Library, Cosmic and Ambient frequencies - These are the bedrocks of the Midnight Drive ethos and sound. A label shining a light on overlooked or unheralded creations and respectfully reissuing them for the contemporary audience. A label that respects and understands the connection between these disparate and sometimes forgotten forms of musical expression and celebrates them. Midnight Drive are extremely proud to reintroduce the world to the sublime after-hours, cult downtempo sounds of Belgian duo Pieter Kuyl and Jan Van Den Bergh aka Mappa Mundi.

Mappa Mundi's sole release 'Musaics' was released on Belgium's legendary USA Import label in 1990, riding on the wave of early trance and ambient house sounds and exploring the same sonic terrain and worlds as The Orb, The KLF, Sun Electric and other like minded outfits. A wonderful swirling collage or mosaic of breakbeats, samples and new-age synth stylings, 'Musaics' is indeed a real trip. A spontaneous late night studio concoction borne of endless takes and experimentation between Kuyl and Van Den Bergh who both display a deep knowledge and a shared love of different sounds from around the world. The end result is a meditative, sprawling journey that touches on many different styles from languid widescreen techno to frantic drum machine driven machine-funk, all while retaining a feeling of post-rave atmospherics and psychedelia. This is a very special record indeed, and is somewhat of a lost gem from a very fertile and interesting period in sample based music. Undoubtedly the perfect soundtrack to numerous late nights and early mornings to come, remastered and spread across 2 discs for maximum sonic playback.

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Mysterious Dutch outfit Doxa Sinistra have been operating on the fringes of the industrial-experimental and sound collage tape scenes since the very early 1980s. Their output has long been coveted by fans of DIY and left-field music since their earliest transmissions, and this featured 1983 recording 'The Other Stranger' might well be one of their most known. A truly strange offering, the track is a cascading acidic and minimal stripped piece, bathed in disparate resonant sample sources that could possibly have been recorded straight from the TV set. Nobody really knows what it all means, but it doesn't matter as the end result is an engaging mesmerising hypnagogic masterpiece of sampling and rhythmic free sound. A true classic from the outer reaches of electronic music. Midnight Drive label owner Brian Not Brian featured 'The Other Stranger' on his now infamous 'Holywell Session' cassette tape for the sadly missed Blackest Ever Black ever label in 2014, and the track was also a highlight of Boards Of Canada's cult 'Societas X Tape' for NTS in 2019. This special 7" vinyl only edition also features the more stripped back rhythm track version entitled 'Strange' on the b-side that is a slightly longer mix with a different arrangement and no samples, letting the minimalist acid and drum machine workout unfurl at its own steady woozy pace. This is the first time both versions have been remastered and have appeared together as a single and it is presented here with the blessing and involvement of Doxa Sinistra.

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Tarenah was one of only two singles pressed under the nom de plume of Psychedelic Research Lab - a collaboration between Scott Richmond and John Selway which began while the pair were attending music conservatory at SUNY Purchase College, in upstate New York. Scott produced the first version of the track for a modern dance performance in 1993. A mix of electronics and room full of live musicians, the session featured an afro-cuban percussionist, a Bangladeshi vocalist / tabla player, a classical flautist, and a reggae guitarist, with Scott on keys and engineering, and John on multiple TB-303s. The duo played the piece to a pal, who said, “Listening to your music is like being in a psychedelic research lab” and the moniker was born. DJ Jonathan Kadish, the chill out resident at pioneering NYC rave, NASA, championed the track and subsequently commissioned four remixes for his label, Gyroscopic Recordings The tune has been elevated to legendary status in certain circles - due to it being a firm favourite of “The Godfather Of Chill-out”, the late DJ Jose Padilla. Jose at this time had a penchant for “ambient breaks / breakbeats” - seminal stuff like the work of San Francisco's Hardkiss crew and other Bay Area artists. According to close friend Phil Mison, drawn to the Chill Mix, Jose Padilla played and played Tarenah at Ibiza`s Cafe del Mar. It was a daily constant in Jose`s sets for several seasons, and he eventually included the track on the second volume of his essential compilation series honouring said White Isle shrine - put together in the mid-90s for the label React. Sealing the tune`s fate and making Tarenah forever synonymous with Jose and the golden, halcyon, San Antonio, Cala Des Moro, sunsets he soundtracked.

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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
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Techno, Disco, Italo, Electronics, House, Library, Cosmic and Ambient frequencies - These are the bedrocks of the Midnight Drive ethos and sound. A label shining a light on overlooked or unheralded creations and respectfully reissuing them for the contemporary audience. A label that respects and understands the connection between these disparate and sometimes forgotten forms of musical expression and celebrates them. Midnight Drive are extremely proud to present a long out of print and highly sought after NYC ambient techno classic - Code 6's 'Untitled' EP from 1993.
In the early 1990's, Code 6 was a side project by Joey Beltram. A name that is extremely well known and respected in the world of dance music, a true techno stalwart with a hugely impressive catalogue of music, including more than a few classics and with a DJ and production career that spans almost 3 decades.Recorded in 1993, this 4 track EP is a departure from the style Joey was most associated with during this time period, favouring a more ambient, breakbeat driven and esoteric aesthetic. Contained within is 4 wide-screen snapshots of sci-fi drenched emotion, a raw, melodic tour de force that leaves the listener wanting more. It's easy to make lazy comparisons with other sonic emanations of the time from Sheffield, Belgium, London and Cornwall in terms of feel, but the 'Untitled EP' is very much it's own planet, a truly original set of short but effective techno-vignettes that still captivate today in 2018. All of the tracks on this reissue have been remastered from Joey's DAT archive, with the exception of 'Tempest' which was transferred from his mint personal copy of the record. All efforts were made to respectively maintain the sonic integrity of this fantastic, lost record.


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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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Techno, Disco, Italo, Electronics, House, Library, Cosmic and Ambient frequencies - These are the bedrocks of the Midnight Drive ethos and sound. A label shining a light on overlooked or unheralded creations and respectfully reissuing them for the contemporary audience. A label that respects and understands the connection between these disparate and sometimes forgotten forms of musical expression and celebrates them. Midnight Drive are extremely proud to present this most beautiful and unique of records - Makers 'Don't Challenge Me' - A truly idiosyncratic early 70's electronic oddity that has long been a coveted and highly prized piece of music by obscure music lovers for many years. Makers was the moniker for another studio project by legendary euro-disco pioneer Boris Midney. Midney, a Russian ex-pat, explored his own sonic world and in the process crafted some of the biggest records during the most fertile times in the disco period, he created numerous projects including Beautiful Bend, USA-European Connection, Caress and many more. A classically trained musician and jazz artist, his trail-blazing studio work meant he was one of the first producers to embrace the capabilities of multi-track mixing in a most creative way. Listening to this 45, a limited release on his own 'Midney' micro label, you can certainly hear genius at work, it's mind boggling that this record was crafted when it was (1972) as it sounds totally ahead of it's time and sounds exciting and original to this day. Truly one of the scarcest records of it's kind we were extremely humbled to be able to work with Boris and his organisation on this very special reissue that has been a collaborative effort all the way.

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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
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The third release on Midnight Drive takes us back to the heady days of 1984, New York City. We find Clive Stevens, a UK born saxophonist, producer, writer and poet whose career has seen him collaborate with artists like Manfred Mann, Gilberto Gil and Billy Cobham has assembled a truly staggering cast of international musicians known as 'Brainchild' to record an LP entitled 'Semjase' for Brazilian label Vôo Livre. The LP featured incredible session musicians whose CV's include work with some of the biggest names in popular music including Chic, Kate Bush, Miles Davis, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty and more (the list is endless). One track from this fairly obscure LP - 'Mystery Man' - somehow managed to find it's way into the hands of one of modern dance music's most intrepid DJ's and selectors, the legendary Daniele Baldelli. 'Mystery Man' , now looked back on as a 'Cosmic classic' , was a special track that Baldelli favoured and can be heard in his self-distributed mixtapes from the time, it's a truly unique record melding electro-style programming with live percussion, synthesizers and vocals into a blistering slow motion Disco jam that stays with you for a long time afterwards and is the perfect example of the 'Cosmic sound'.Velvet Season & The Hearts Of Gold they turned in their 'Ever evolving ever transforming' remix using original 84 session parts with Clive's blessing.

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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
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Techno, Disco, Italo, Electronics, House, Library, Cosmic and Ambient frequencies - These are the bedrocks of the Midnight Drive ethos and sound. A label shining a light on overlooked or unheralded creations and respectfully reissuing them for the contemporary audience. A label that respects and understands the connection between these disparate and sometimes forgotten forms of musical expression and celebrates them. For the latest instalment of the Midnight Drive story we look to our own rich and fertile home city of London. Formed on the Southside of the city in the late 80's Carl Grant and Tony Gallagher's long running LA Synthesis project has given us some of the most forward looking, modern and compelling Electro and Techno over the span of the last 3 decades. 'Harmonic Disassembly / Skyline' was originally released in 1997 on the cult Evolution label and made a lot of noise with the brilliant futuristic B-boy video for 'Harmonic...' getting regular airings on MTV's Chillout Zone among others. Both tracks are sleek, cutting edge examples of electronic music that is as much inspired by Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock and Steve Reich as it is Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream and Jonzun Crew. Now, almost 20 years after it's original release we see a full repress of one of the jewels in the LA Synthesis crown, a truly cult record that stylistically transcends time and space and sounds every bit as groundbreaking and fresh as it did in 1997. This is the first time 'Harmonic Disassembly / Skyline' has been reissued. This high quality repress has been made possible with the full involvement of Carl Grant and Tony Gallagher aka LA Synthesis from their personal DAT masters. Remastered by Curvepusher. Artwork and design by Atelier Superplus.

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DE - 22113 Hamburg
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Techno, Disco, Italo, Electronics, House, Library, Cosmic and Ambient frequencies - These are the bedrocks of the Midnight Drive ethos and sound. A label shining a light on overlooked or unheralded creations and respectfully reissuing them for the contemporary audience. A label that respects and understands the connection between these disparate and sometimes forgotten forms of musical expression and celebrates them. DRIVE001 sees us step back to 1998 and into the hands of the duo of Damon Wild and Mederic Nebinger, recording together as Blue Maxx they quietly unleashed some of the finest futuristic widescreen Techno and Electro to emanate from NYC in the late 1990's. Utilising a small sub-label of Wild's seminal Techno imprint Synewave called Deja Vous the pair embarked on a slew of EP's released over the space of a couple of years with 'Private Life' being one of the last. Across 3 tracks 'Private Life' opens up a new sound world, from the driving, tool-like qualities of the A-Side cut - all swinging drum programming, synth stabs and deranged metallic percussions to the deeper, more clandestine leanings of the B-Side tracks, mining a more musical and Electro infused vein, the whole EP stands out as something truly original. A hallmark of the Blue Maxx sound. This is the first time 'Private Life' has been reissued, almost 20 years has passed and somehow Wild and Nebinger's style remains utterly fresh and contemporary. A truly rare and essential piece of hi-tech Techno expression that could easily have been released this week. Such is the quality on display within these grooves.

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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore