Vince Void lands on Haws with 'Mind Illusion' - four tracks that bend time, drifting between the haze of ‘90s progressive and a future still taking shape.

Gliding amid dreamy euphoria and shadowy introspection, the record moves with purpose but never in a hurry - warm chords dissolve into swirling pads, basslines pulse with quiet determination, and hypnotic rhythms stretch out like half-remembered dreams. A soundtrack for open skies and late-night reflections, built on the idea that the best things can’t be forced.

Good things take time - just let it unfold.

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What lies on the terrain for which no map exists? Tifra has volunteered to take the plunge and find out. For the 28th record on Haws, the Dutch DJ/producer steps up to the frontline with ‘Terra Incognita’ - a primitive force to be reckoned with that reveres the hypnotising, ominous unknown. Four investigational tracks unify the checkpoints, wandering through themes of 00s/90s leftfield house, prog, and continuous, undulating grooves.

The EP sets sail with ‘Invoke Hysteria’, scavenging through malevolent, hostile waters and a caution of pad synths, drums and agitated melodies.

Relenting onwards, ‘Serpent’ slinks into a mellow respite, moving slowly and deliberately like a snake in the moonless dark. Deep, resonant synths coil around the percussive heartbeat of the track, weaving together velvet layers of bass, wind instruments and steady, surrendering exhalations of breath.

The titular ‘Terra Incognita’ hoists up the anchor and yields to the trance of the summoning liquid night. Repetitive melodies form the contours of its shifting course, moulding a ritualistic rhythm under the dissolving face of the sky.

Admo steps up to the wheel for the remix, smoking out the initial perfume of the atmospherics into a new, tough brutality. Hauling the track out of its initial spacey orbit, he re-embellishes it with dour synths, drums and a primal, subterranean growl.

Some say that there is no worse poverty than that of connection, so why not be the first to take the risk, break the divide and find out what lies beyond the veil? Otherwise, make your own guesses, and then let them guess who you are.

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Germany
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Belgrade-based Laars marks his first solo vinyl release over a sensual 4-track tale honouring the merits of faith, discipline, and the satisfaction of taking your sweet time. Drawing from the vibrant sounds of the 90s and 00s progressive trance and house scenes, he discovered a kindredship with those who have since then primed and perfected their own modern takes on the definitive genres.

The proggy trance/house opener “Breath Control” sighs into existence, emerging like the head-rush of euphoria that accompanies surfing the sadistic tease between suspense and bliss. High resonance and acid sounds punctuate the track, supplying a dominant bodily cue amidst the melodies, gated vocals and loops. “What If You Fly” observes the void below and decides to jump anyway, finding its faith rewarded in a free-fall through chords and synths that knit into a dark, groovy soundscape - soaring over an underscore of conga drums as though caught in exhilarating flight.

On the B-side, “Concur” looks up from the void back into the ether, embracing the danger of the pale blank space above. At 135BPM it glitches and dances through a cyclone of atmospheric synths, pads and cult sci-fi film samples, grinding like a serrated blade under a soft-focus lens. For the close, “Delight” flirts with the comfort of another, tantalising its approach before erupting in slow-motion from its amniotic state. It blisters, bubbles and gasps - and then takes a roll-eyed descent into breakbeats and arps that glide like menacingly slow fingertips over hot skin.

The record from Laars has a precious message: when was the last time that you really let go and listened to the steady rise and fall of your own breath, or sank into the discomfort of not knowing, but continued anyway? The outcome is still the same: jump.

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Germany
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Run since the fall of 2012, Evanton is the italo/synthwave project of Greek electronic producer Evangelos Zacharopoulos (aka Binalog Frequency, Bionic Breaker etc.). With numerous releases under his belt over the years, Evanton has established himself as a leading force on the current new retrowave scene.

On this EP Evanton delivers 5 fresh, unreleased tracks, ranging from modern italo-disco and hi-NRG to 80s-style electrofunk and (surprisingly) downtempo 90s balearic-style sounds. This is definitely the most diverse release of this artist and surely an EP you just can't miss!

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Germany
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Thump! Check your periphery, because a heretofore entity has arrived on this earthly plane. Asphalt DJ has added another notch to the Haws bedpost, with the actualisation of his ‘Eternal Flower’ EP. The prolific DJ has really turned his attention to production of late, churning out a slew of sumptuous releases and features, neatly coalescing with his excellent mixes and underlining his clear-cut talent. His wizardry and acute ear for high-octane beats knows limitless bounds, and the majesty of ‘Eternal Flower’ continues his cartographic foray into pumping prog.

The EP begins with ‘In My Mind’, a cataclysmic cut channelling late 90s trance and acid techno, defined by incessant 303 lines and raging percussive force. A2 is the title track, ‘Eternal Flower’. This one edges back into the realm of house, with the shuffling drums beautifully accentuated by balearic vocal chops, sustained classic trance keys reminiscent of the legendary Manuel Goettsching and a surging bassline. Re-progging the EP is the wonderfully named ‘2 De Wave’, continuing the thematically crystalline sonic vision of the Asphalt DJ. Thudding kicks and dreamily programmed chords fluctuate conduct and distil the rave monster, forming a foot-stomping creation of ceaseless energy. B2 is ‘Sonic Endeavour’, an EP closer of the funkiest order. Retaining all the unequivocal elements from its forebears, the weighty concoction effervesces and erupts into a dancefloor demon of 4 x 4 glory.

Now, next time you step off the kerb and onto the asphalt, remember that intimacy is always on the edge. Do not fear the unknown, as music is our eternal flower.

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DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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Haws are 20 deep. No longer in their shy teens, just a real life sonic entity with (almost) no adolescent trappings and the requisite fortitude and experience to really unleash upon the world. Having said that, they truly have released some amazing music since their inception and the world can’t wait for the next one, and the many ones and twos after that.

The duo Laars and Cosmic G have proudly given them their milestone #20. The Belgradian boys have cooked up a storming 12” 4-tracker assembled with a production style eloquent of distinct perspicacity.

‘Flotation Agent’ is an accelerated, acid-enveloped pumper, combining the nostalgic and contemporary with an effortless design. Next is ‘Irregular Minds’, a more pensive, stunted concoction, emboldened by the continued and ever present acid permeation. Not one, but ‘5 Atoms’ brings the meditative, techno-aligned pace back, whilst echoic arpeggios arrive and dissipate within the cosmic milieu. Finally we reach ‘Equilibrium’, bridging the gap between its forebears and encapsulating the EP as part of a dancefloor equation.

Drawn from the depths of the infinite mind, Laars and Cosmic G’s creation is the sum of all its parts. So remember, no running in the Haws…… but dancing is fine!

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Germany
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Solar Suite has something to say about liminal spaces. It’s that eerily familiar transitory state between here and there, where a shift occurs and the thrill of the change perforates through the atmosphere like a dreamy fog. Some find this anticipatory realm uncomfortable, but some find it as the means for creative inspiration. For the 17th release on Welsh imprint Haws, Naarm-based DJ/producer Solar Suite explores the playful liminality of dusk and dawn, taking locked grooves and prog sounds as the tools to transform the strange into something exhilarating.

‘Clear Skies’, ‘Tasman Transmission’ and ‘Still Life’ comprise the record’s club-ready tracks. The EP’s opener is expansive and uplifting, with an elated stride and synths that roll away like sheets of clouds finally departing a new-born sky. Meanwhile, ‘Tasman Transmission’ and ‘Still Life’ sink into lower, stubborn grumbles, signalling the spontaneous bursts of energy for those who haven’t quite yet chosen to head to bed yet.

Balancing out the up-tempo rhythms, ‘Subtropique’ and ‘Contact’ deliver the slow chuggers of the release. The former heralds the wide-eyed expectancy of a memorable night ahead, while the closing track preserves the threshold moment where night and day make brief, electrifying contact for all but an instant.

Five tracks with dedicated circumstances to be plucked out from record bags and presented to a willing crowd. The only question left: what occasions personal to the selector will they rear their heads?

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Germany
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Always open to experimentation, Welsh imprint Haws welcomes Wyatt to the family. Comprising five evocative, glossy cuts, the ‘Netherwood’ EP is a time capsule back to his hometown, turning memories into alchemical moments experienced under a blazing sun or by the light of a full moon.

The opening ‘Sewell’ sails through a sensory voyage of stripped-back breakbeat, travel intercom samples and earworm melodies. ‘Netherwood’ snakes into a trippy pace, carving an indefinable sculpture of synth melodies nestled between weightless ambient.

On the B-side, ‘Mousehold’ launches into a peak-time club number, its initial drive of drums and bass tempered down by emotive accents that feel like a coy dance between yin and yang. ‘Tombland’ slinks into a shadow-cast realm of melancholy and introspection, joining the hands of broken beat and synth lines into a melodic collaboration drunk on its private thoughts. To close, ‘Heathgate’ retreats into a hopeful murmur, reflecting its quiet, percussive optimism back at itself through tear-stained melodies and a glassy bass.

Sometimes, existential introspection happens through external movement. ‘Netherwood’ is a catalyst for those epiphanies.

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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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