Since completing his two-decade-long hip-hop trilogy as Dabrye in 2018, Ann Arbor-based artist and Bopside label head Tadd Mullinix has engaged his arsenal of aliases with renewed heat. First came the debut of X-Altera, a new project flexing a wildstyle hybrid of drum & bass and deep techno. Now, he returns to James T. Cotton, a moniker which dates back as far as Dabrye and helped define Spectral Sound, the dance imprint of Ghostly International. While historically tagged as Mullinix’s acid house alias, JTC has always expressed with a more pliable sense of genre, freely fusing an eclectic blend of classic electronic sounds; helpings of Chicago acid, Belgian New Beat, and the leftfield techno stylings popularized both in Berlin and Detroit. With Indigo, Flesh and Fire, Mullinix moves closer to the latter city, adopting a bright, optimistic tone informed by minimalism and futurism. The EP is packed, but still playfully ambiguous; a club-ready set built to max out mixing boards with spacious and nuanced melodies and motorized percussion. Five tracks, each with roughly five-minute run-times, offering all but a few breaths in a quest for highly operative dancefloor hypnosis. The record wastes little time locking in; on the first track, “Innerloire Rendezvous,” a dense square kick plows through a brisk four-on-the-floor routine phasing over harmonious synth stacks of rubbery fifths and sevenths. The title track splatters a lenticular static spray between thumping kick, billowy melodic swells, and staticky clicks, snaps, and claps. More

A group discovers a community of outsiders engaged in a ritual that invokes an inexplicable celestial event.
Mastered by Beau Thomas at Teneightseven.
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Following hot on the heels of Tadd Mullinix’s ‘Skein’ - Bopside’s second album release for 2016 comes from label owner Tadd Mullinix’s dancefloor destroying nom de plume who needs little introduction: JTC An 8 track concise body of work perfectly calibrated for DJ use and home listening alike, where the beats hit hard and the melodies linger in your brain. The self-titled LP starts with ‘Caskadia’ - a call to arms for dancers with call and response synth lines and broken beats. ‘Atmospheres Pt.2’ takes things out into deep space, and ‘Nexus Ship Core’ is an acid drenched burner with glacial synths. ‘Infoline’ then makes it’s first appearance in a remixed guise by Rephlex alumni Ed DMX, then closing out the album with its recognisable lead line in its original form. Things take a deeper turn with ’Dusselmorph’ before the full on breakbeat assault of ‘Blitz Puff (High Position Mix) takes things up a gear, then dropping you off safe and sound, though a little shaken with ‘Atmospheres pt.5 (Hemi Mix). More

Not content with a rich and flawless back catalogue of releases under a plethora of monikers such as Dabrye, JTC and Charles Manier spanning multiple genres on a wide variety of labels such as Ghostly International, Rephlex amongst many others, and a career spanning 15 years, 2014 seemed like the right time to make plans to create an imprint with the aim of releasing the the rich flood of music that flows forth from Tadd Mullinix’s Ann Arbor studio. Those plans have come to fruition and the first release this year is a 3 track 12” from JTC. More

4x LP and Zine (ft. photos, historical text and track narrations by the artist) set. Nation bring it.
An essential delve in to the retrospective works of SSPS. Limited edition. No repress. HUGE TIP ON THIS!

" You can't fake the funk, as they say and SSPS is pure funk embodied in all he does, the man oozes the funk 24-7!
One of my earliest encounters with SSPS was at one of the infamous Rubulad parties out in Brooklyn....
the man was decked out extravagantly...a cross between Blowfly and some futuristic being zapped
down to earth directly from the P-Funk mothership. Who was this masked man?
The disco vampire, was beating fast disco tracks relentlessly while slamming in his 707 over the records in real time...
not an easy feat, the beauty of the imperfections making it that much more exciting hearing the gallop and wild energy
he was bringing to the crowd, we were eating it up. This is SSPS, fearless in his approach and execution,
a modernist looking to the future but rooted in the past, an artist committed to his art...
all presented with unhinged emotion. It's all or nothing...everything on the table....do or die...the true epitome of style!!!!

Declaring someone a "cult figure" or a "legend" is a huge weight to carry and is often a term that is carelessly thrown around,
but those of us who have dwelled in this "underground" over the last 30 years can say with confidence that SSPS is just that
to many of us, no questions asked, it's not up for debate.

Now, many years later we see the culmination of his electronic works from 2002-2021 committed to record in this 4xlp,
16 track boxed set (plus 45 page booklet) titled SSPS, "The Life and Times of GiGi Black" thus solidifying
Mr. Nicholson's place in the secret world of dance not dance music.

The only way to describe this offering is "full spectrum electronic musical madness" not to be categorized,
never to be pigeonholed, full of surprises and straight from the gut with a direct hit to the heart.
We could go on about the production processes, about his Furr City studio space or his cross country excursions
for work with a truck packed with paintings (but also his music equipment) plugging in and recording during his
pit stops in Motel 6's across the US. But again it doesn't do justice to simply have a small peek inside the man's mind...
the music is beyond the mind. The process is the process and nothing has or can stand in the way of what the SSPS
has done in his long musical life. Punk Rock, Hardcore, House, No-Wave, Industrial, Jakbeat/Slow-Beat and Noise.
it's all there for the taking, it's all intertwined. If you want it, you will find it within SSPS's works.

Nicholson's path is the embodiment of true culture within "dance music" cultivated from years of learning, experimenting,
and pushing the limits with total commitment and immersion. "The Life and Times of GiGi Black" is true life experience,
it is a reflection of someone delving deep into his craft and presenting it with care in opposition to the fast, disposable,
self gratifying click bait culture we see dominating the pages today. The proof is here, drop the needle, enter the world of SSPS.

-Ron Morelli, 2023" More

This 28 minute documented performance will be released on Nation as the next level sound of Jakbeat in passionate craftsmanship as Kindcaid recorded in one take using a sequencer, with improvised keyboards, electronics & metallic percussion, and guitar playing LIVE! More

Beau Wanzer (Mutant Beat Dance) doing his own thing again...this time for NATION, Chicago and way further down the experimental song route than we've heard from him before. Super super heavy business on the format that suits best...Love this man's stuff! TIP! Nation has returned... A label designed to push the underground to a new level of electronic sound through experimental styles of musical consciousness. In our recent releases the idea is to never go with the same formula twice... This is why we emerge for our second release of 2014 with a 10" by long-time Nation affiliate Beau Wanzer. Four sedated tunes. Subtle and not so subtle frequencies drag aside gloomed out rhythms and beat less malfunctions. 'Power Outage' slithers along a marching waltz undercurrent of frizzled out electronics accompanied by broken spectral voices. 'Fabrics' is a malformed hollow arpeggio interlude that worms across the floor. 'Lotraf' is a demented rhythm track with an odd sense of urgency, underneath blankets of weird home movies. 'Thurston Moog' is a contorted synth jam, built upon various recordings and manipulating them into a mesh of guttural tones. More

new Charles Manier (double vinyl only) album on Chicago's, Nation. We've not heard of this guy since his impressive Ghostly International 12" some years back. This self titled album takes that noise and cranks it right up over tipping point! Thunderous stuff!!!! Seriously decent electronics with the pulse of CHBB/Liaisons Dangereuses/DAF running it's veins...! TIP! Nation is On The Move! A label designed to push the underground to a new level of electronic sound thru experimental styles of musical consciousness. In our recent releases the idea is to never go with the same formula twice... Jakbeat introduces a new concept of productions,music with a sense of novelty that can be accentuated in a certian setting a state of mind.. This is a rare assemblage of recordings and live performances from the archives of the Ballard and Ridgewood-Cantullinix Studios in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Recorded 2001-2012, these are the solo visions of Charles Manier. He summons the spirit of early industrial music and breathes in it's corpse again. Not unlike his previous releases on Ghostly International,here are virtigo endusing arpeggios that twist around a futuristic pulse, and occasionally sting. Here are ritual themesongs for the heathen cyberpunk and experimental landscapes, built from old metal and old plastic,that were designed for a lost future recommended for people who dance to Esplendor Geometrico, Severed Heads,Suicide Liaisons Dangereuses,DAF,Psyche,Executive Slacks & Das Ding.

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Nation returns to the forefront - compiling a SERIOUS arsenal of exclusives. Ammunition. Their motto: RWTHO = Rollin’ With True Heads Only. Traxx unleashes an array different styles that make up the elements of the Jakbeat sound. A line-up that's not for the faint of heart! This is the 2nd in the The Modern Electronic Element series. TIP! A label designed to push the underground to a new level of electronic sound through experimental styles of musical consciousness. Nation celebrated it‘s 5th anniversary this year with J.T.C.‘s “Creep Acid“ album, marking the 10th release in the history of our movement. To follow up in our endavour to bring new sounds to the masses, we are proud to present “The Modern Electronic Element Serie 2“ This series was designed to show different aspects within Jakbeat through the mind and conceptional artistry of Traxx and the whole Nation movement. It‘s a state of mind where everything comes together as one! No boundaries... More

Now only 150 Copies Only.... Nancy Fortune on NATION, Chicago....TIP! Nation has Returned! More

KILLER KILLER Nation! Saturn V (Traxx & James T Cotton) turn out a sick Wave dipped bomb (live playing / no samples!), while Traxx/DMC enter Bleep warehouse style territory with dark acid vocals... immense More