Sunny Crypt reaches double digits on their release catalogue with a fully remastered new edition of the now
sought after debut EP from Most Significant Beat.
M.S.B. is an electronic music project active since the early 90s, formed by Maurizio Martinucci and Saverio
Evangelista; their first record - originally released by Marco Passarani’s Nature Records in 1994 - is a
masterclass in hypnotic patterns, pulsating rhythms and mind-bending leftfield techno. While “Heart Thinks
Wide” and “A Flux To Follow” on A side give more breath to lushy textures and classy, dreamy pads, B side
reflects more carefully another aspect of the duo’s background with a rawer, electro leaning, percussion
driven sound palette; in fact, both Martinucci and Evangelista have deep roots in the industrial and
experimental music scenes. Martinucci has been a member of Clock DVA since 2010, while also working on
a wide array of projects including The Anti Group and his solo Pragma alias. Evangelista, on the other hand,
has been a core member of the cult industrial outfit Esplendor Geométrico since 1990.

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The next installment of MFM's popular multi-artist compilation Virtual Dreams: 'Virtual Dreams - Ambient Explorations In The House And Techno Age, Japan 1993-1999'. As with Part One, released in 2020, 'Virtual Dreams II' shines a light on house and techno-adjacent music that helped redefine the definition of ambient music during the 1990s.

The focus of Part One heavily fell on music from techno and house producers in Europe, eagerly exploring new soundtracks for chill-out rooms and re-imagining the potential future of club culture from new perspectives. For Part Two, we narrow the lens to focus on a unique time and place, namely Japan between 1993-1999. Despite missing out on the 'Acid House Fever', club culture was beginning to take shape in Japan during the early '90s. In contrast to the rest of the world, where ambient techno / IDM emerged as a by-product or response to the scene, 'listening techno', as it is known in Japan, was a central pillar of the culture right from the start.

'Virtual Dreams II' aims to shine a light on this unique moment in time where the thread of ambient music weaved its way through the music of an emerging club culture. This period saw the birth of many great Japanese techno labels such as Sublime Records, Transonic Records, Syzygy Records, Frogman Records, and Form@ Records, following in the late '90s. 'Virtual Dreams II' features ambient, chill-out, and intelligent techno from these leading labels alongside other lesser-known but equally influential imprints, as well as ambient deviations from Japanese house producers. Much of the music featured has only ever been released on CD.

'Virtual Dreams II' is compiled by Eiji Taniguchi and Jamie Tiller, who have worked closely together on previous Music From Memory releases such as 'Heisei No Oto' and 'Dream Dolphin - Gaia'. It is also the final project Jamie Tiller worked on before his tragic passing in 2023. Jamie had been researching, planning, and compiling this version of Virtual Dreams even before the first chapter was released, believing that there were many great tracks in Japan that fit the concept of the series. Knowing how much love and energy he put into compiling it gives it an extra special place in our hearts.

Compiled by Jamie Tiller and Eiji Taniguchi with artwork by Kenta Senekt, design by Steele Bonus and liner notes by Itaru W. Mita,

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Originally released in 1988 as a side project from members of Münster rock band The New Colours. New Harbours was produced by Graziano Mallozzi, member of influential Italian darkwave group Kirlian Camera. The result is an irresistible melancholic synth pop anthem. Due to an extremely limited pressing, the track never received the attention it deserves aside from within Discogs digger circles or in the bags of a few virtuous DJs, including JD Twitch of Optimo who introduced us to the record.The 2025 reissue features a stunning club remix from Berlin’s own Italian darkwave master Curses.

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Blurring the lines between fiction and documentary, the seminal film Wild Style, directed by Charlie Ahearn and developed alongside Fred Braithwaite aka Fab Five Freddy, offered an iconic snapshot of the emerging New York hip hop scene in the early ‘80s. Considered one of the first hip hop films, it documents the styles, culture, attitudes, and most importantly, the music of this evolving era. The accompanying soundtrack remains one of the most influential in hip hop history, featuring a who’s who of artists who stood out during the movement’s nascent block party days.

“Making hip hop’s first and most beloved feature film, Wild Style, with Charlie Ahearn and creating the original music is one of my proudest accomplishments.” - Fab 5 Freddy

In celebration of Arrow Films restoring the original Wild Style film in 4K, Mr Bongo is proud to present this special-edition reissue package. The release comes as a double LP pressed on transparent blue and orange vinyl, offering a freshly curated tracklist that brings together the finest songs from previous editions, the full sought-after instrumental album, and Kenny Dope’s top edits. Also included are an A2 colour poster, five film set photos, a flexi disc containing Fantastic Freaks Live at the Dixie, and a Wild Style sticker sheet.

Originally released on Animal Records, founded by Chris Stein of Blondie fame, the soundtrack focuses on the hip hop scene as it evolved from the streets to the recording studio. Co-produced by Stein and Braithwaite, it features the Double Trouble pairing of Rodney Cee and KK Rockwell, The Chief Rocker himself Busy Bee, and the mighty line-ups of both The Cold Crush Brothers and The Fantastic Freaks, to name but a few. The music offers a transportive glimpse into the streets of the South Bronx, capturing the free-form, roaming nature of the film - it’s rough around the edges, but utterly absorbing.

Behind those foundational voices of hip hop’s first wave was a selection of backing beats that have underpinned and influenced the genre ever since. Easily mistaken for lifted breakbeats from old records, the songs on the Wild Style soundtrack are all unique creations. Overseen by Braithwaite and Stein, with Stein also on guitar and effects, they were intended as a homage to those early breakbeats. Drummer Lenny “Ferrari” Ferraro, who played for Aretha Franklin before emerging on the punk scene, and bassist David Harper laid down many of the iconic grooves, two somewhat forgotten participants in shaping a legendary sound.

Over time, the Wild Style soundtrack, with its Charlie Chase and Grand Wizard Theodore scratches, recurring sounds and motifs, and indelible lyrics, has become a hip hop touchstone: endlessly sampled and referenced, the bedrock of so much music to follow. It perfectly encapsulated the essence of the film, the scene, and hip hop’s emergence from the Bronx to the attention of the wider world. It was, and remains, the blueprint.

The reissue package features:

Vinyl 2LP (Transparent Blue + Orange Vinyl) in gatefold Sleeve
A2 Colour Poster
5 x Film Set Photos
Flexi Disc ‘Fantastic Freaks Live At The Dixie’
Wild Style Sticker Sheet


VINYL:

Side A
Grand Wizard Theodore and D.J. Kevie Kev Rockwell - Military Cut (Scratch Mix)
The Chief Rocker Busy Bee vs Lil Rodney Cee & D.J. Grand Wizard Theodore - M.C. Battle
The Cold Crush Bros. vs The Fantastic Freaks - Basketball Throwdown
Kevie Kev (Waterbed Kev), Master Rob, Prince Whipper Whip, M.C., Rubie Dee, Dota Rock, D.J. Grand Wizard Theodore, D.J. Kevie Kev Rockwell - Fantastic Freaks At The Dixie
D.J. Grand Wizard Theodore - Subway Theme
Grand Master Caz, JDL, Easy AD, KG , and D.J. Charlie Chase, D.J. Toney Tone - Cold Crush Bros. At The Dixie

Side B
Rodney Cee, K. K. Rockwell, D.J. Stevie Steve - Double Trouble At The Amphitheater
Grandmaster Caz - South Bronx Subway Rap
Busy Bee - Street Rap (Subway Mix)
Busy Bee - Busy Bee At The Amphitheater
Fantastic Freaks - Fantastic Freaks At The Amphitheater
D.J. Grand Wizard Theodore - Gangbusters
Rammellzee and Shock Dell With The Grand Mixer DST - Rammellzee & Shockdell At The Amphitheater
Fab 5 Freddy - Down By Law

Side C
Fab 5 Freddy (Fred Braithwaite) - B Boy Beat (Instrumental)
Fab 5 Freddy (Fred Braithwaite) - Yawning Beat (Instrumental)
Fab 5 Freddy (Fred Braithwaite) - Crime Cut (Instrumental)
Fab 5 Freddy (Fred Braithwaite) - Gangbusters (Instrumental)
Fab 5 Freddy (Fred Braithwaite) - Cuckoo Clocking (Instrumental)
Fab 5 Freddy (Fred Braithwaite) - Meetings (Instrumental)
Fab 5 Freddy (Fred Braithwaite) - Military Cut (Instrumental)
Fab 5 Freddy (Fred Braithwaite) - Razor Cut (Instrumental)
Fab 5 Freddy (Fred Braithwaite) - Subway Theme (Instrumental)
Fab 5 Freddy (Fred Braithwaite) - Busy Bees (Instrumental)
Fab 5 Freddy (Fred Braithwaite) - Down By Law (Instrumental)
Fab 5 Freddy (Fred Braithwaite) - Baby Beat (Instrumental)
Fab 5 Freddy (Fred Braithwaite) - Jungle Beat (Instrumental)

Side D
Kev Luckhurst - Wildstyle Scratch Tool
Fab 5 Freddy (Fred Braithwaite) - Baby Beat (Kenny Dope Edit)
Fab 5 Freddy (Fred Braithwaite) - Jungle Beat (Kenny Dope Edit)

FLEXI DISC:

Fantastic Freaks - Fantastic Freaks Live At The Dixie

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After a feature on last year’s VA Family Affair comp, Tokyo-based producer Yuu Udagawa drops her first solo EP on Razor-N-Tape. With releases on Freerange and Compost under her belt, Yuu has been developing a subtle and moody deep house sound that she displays across the 3 original songs of the Urban Physicality EP. Each track vibrates with dark chordal textures, pulsating drums and chopped vocal samples, beautifully layered to develop and slowly build. To round out the record, Tokyo producer Takuya Matsumoto turns in a throbbing late-nite remix of the EP’s title track, with a tougher drum profile, cavernous bass and masterful sound design.

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ONE SIDED / B-SIDE ETCHED
Anthemic Drum & Bass production from the UK's Overmono. Limited copies.

" Overmono reimagining of High Contrast’s legendary drum & bass anthem “If We Ever” has become the defining sound of summer. First unveiled during their headline Love Saves The Day show, the track became a viral highlight following their Glastonbury set, with clips racking up millions of views on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, and fans flooding comment sections demanding an official release. The groundswell of energy caught High Contrast’s attention, prompting him to reach out. Its latest huge moment came at Boomtown, where it confirmed its status not just as the festival anthem of 2025 but as a track destined to echo through clubs and dancefloors long into the autumn, winter, and beyond.

Now, after months of anticipation, Overmono & High Contrast’s If We Ever gets a global release via XL Recordings’ iconic housebag series. The single premiered Tuesday 26 August - as BBC Radio 1’s Hottest Record where Tom and Ed said on the track:

“High Contrast used to work in this record shop in Cardiff called Catapult Records. We lived on the other side of the city, but Tom would go and buy records from him there all the time. I’m pretty sure it was the first record shop I went to after I bought Tom a voucher for his birthday one year. ‘Tough Guys Can’t Dance’ was one of those records that was just everywhere, we were all battering it, and “If We Ever” was the anthem. Ahead of Love Saves The Day this year, we started working on our own version of If We Ever, just thinking it would be something fun to play for that show, but the reaction was wild, so we just kept playing it all summer.”

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Continuing his refraction of the rave continuum into pointedly dislocated, delicately bruising sound system meditations, Low End Activist returns to Peak Oil with a second instalment in his Airdrop series. This time around, he channels the ghosts of foundational tech-step and the quantum leaps of late-90s D&B to provide the inspirational fuel for his skeletal, astral constructions. A strong stylistic thread continues to weave through the LEA output from his earlier self-released EPs and Sneaker Social Club albums, where haunted atmospherics, blown out subs and snatches of breaks dart around each other in empty dancehalls, but the finer point of the sound design and synthesis makes very specific references to landmark moments in hardcore's evolution.

By weaving his own autobiography into the music, the Activist maintains a fundamental theme of his work to date. 'Colin's Golf', 'Smithy's Porsche,' 'Merv's Lazy Eye' and 'Brillo's Teeth' are all personal codes harking back to the formative Oxford rave scene. With the framework in place, he uses textures, timbres and studio tricks from scene-leading pioneers and local heroes of the era as ingredients in thoroughly modernist concoctions. None of the reference points are deployed as literal callbacks — they're waymarkers for the creative process and faint triggers bedded deep into Airdrop II's strange formations. Fleeting sonics might trigger latent memories for those who were there. For everyone else, Airdrop II is another step further along rave's eternally unspooling odyssey, guided by decades of precedents on a path into the future.

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Another essential US 90s bit from Tom Chasteen and Michael Kandel originally on the Exist Dance portfolio. Well ahead of its time, this exposé of ceremonial grade psychedelic nuances featuring South Asian vocal samples interlaced with electronic music production methods takes the originally more fast passed trance-like direction of the label’s first 3 years and re-directs things towards a new more downtempo/trip-hop route. With the BPM counter cruising in the low 100’s steadily throughout the first 3 tracks and ending on a full on ambient beatless 8 minute meditative journey, this EP marks a new aesthetic plateau for the Exist Dance catalogue, with “Cantamilla” even crossing over to Balearic radars and being played by Ibiza legends like Jose Padilla.
“Recorded in Heaven”. Take a trip.

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Following the completion of the Pulse EP series, Peverelist invites four producers to present their own refreshing takes on choice cuts from his most recent phase of club exploration.

Fadi Mohem channels the bright angles of 'Pulse IX' into a buoyant, sleek run of uptempo dub techno with an unmistakable Berlin focus. Huey Mnemonic takes the crafty, curious swerve of 'Pulse XX' and sets it to a 4/4 rush of exuberant, steady-climbing techno informed by his Detroit surroundings. Munich-based artist Polygonia's snaking electronica response to 'Pulse VII' capitalises on the swooning melody of the original's second half and matches it with vibrant sound design. Rounding off an especially invigorating round of remixes, the stark jack of 'Pulse V' becomes a twinkling, dreamy Motor City reverie in the hands of the legendary Optic Nerve, aka Keith Tucker.

The end result is a collection of remixes bursting with the same vibrant, uplifting energy that courses throughout the Pulse series.

Livity Sound is a label set up by Peverelist in 2011 as a vehicle for a raw and exploratory strain of UK techno, rooted in the heritage of UK dance music and sound system culture. It has since become one of the UK's foremost protagonists for cutting edge underground electronic music.


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As he continues a pointed thread of mutant rave manifestation, Low End Activist makes a double-quick jump back onto Peak Oil to lay out the third instalment in the Airdrop series. Once again focusing on a very specific period within UK rave, this time he's zeroed in on the specific crossover zone between UK garage and grime around 1999-2001. In the Activist's hands, the musical codes of past scenes become half-hidden deep in the sound design, bent to the will of the soundboy as he creates sparse, compelling soundscapes for the faraway dance. Grime has been a consistent presence in his toolkit since the first LEA transmissions in the late 2010s, making the concerted transition into this era a natural one.

The presence of skipping 2-step structures are a distinct pivot that gives Airdrop III its own unique flavour, while the signature LEA icy pads draw from the kind of stark synths rinsed out of Fruity Loops and Korg Tritons when grime was first finding its feet. The ghosts of MCs in full flow dart in and out of the mix, burrowed into the shadowy mix downs and teasing their bars like unfinished conversations. The minimalist arrangements have a Ghost-like pallor, all the better to savour the craftiness of the grooves. The scene-setting is as dramatic as the most evocative outliers in the dubstep canon, but it's matched by sublow's ruff and ready swagger and the nimble hooks of chart-ready garage crossovers. As ever, the concentrated spread of reference points is only half the story — Low End Activist fills in the gaps in his inimitable style. Like all the music he draws on, he's simply metabolising his own musical education and throwing down something new in the process.

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