Pressure is a new garage project produced by Dusky. Still typically resemblant of their trademark sound, this musical excursion looks back to their formative years and early productions that were heavily influenced by UK and US garage. Covering everything from murky 2 step sounds to uplifting vocal bubblers and soulful US influenced 4x4, the project includes collaborations with Manchester's garage revivalist Interplanetary Criminal, two-step pioneer El-B and London-based songwriter Mariella. "When we were writing our most recent album JOY we really enjoyed the process of creating 'Eros', one of the more garage influenced tracks on the album. It reignited our interest in the genre's sound world, so once JOY was complete we got stuck into writing a load of similar material and this project is the result.” - Dusky More

Dusky’s music has always been built on the pleasure principle, but JOY – as the title makes absolutely clear – takes that to new levels of purity and intensity.
Looking back to more innocent times and to rave music’s halcyon days, the duo of Alfie Granger-Howell and Nick Harriman have tapped into that special moment when raving was still a voyage into the unknown.

This project is a distillation of the spirit of people coming together in hard times, forgetting their troubles and celebrating life. All of the core elements here are familiar from the peak rave era and the birth of hardcore – the cascading pianos, the infectious bleep melodies, the Chicago and Detroit grooves, the rugged Belgian techno riffs, and the proto-jungle break beats – but retooled, rewired, and refreshed for this brave new world.

It’s both a natural development and noticeable evolution from the pair’s previous work. Natural, because these musical elements have always been apparent in Dusky’s sound, but a clear evolution in they way they are presented, with such an unreserved and joyous tone.

The result is a celebration - and expression - of the communal ecstasy of the dance floor experience. An expression of 18 months yearning to be back out there communing and celebrating. An expression of everything that dance music - and dance culture - is about at its very best.

JOY brings together all the finesse and subtlety that Dusky have honed while traversing the various corners of clubland over the past decade, all their understanding of fundamental dance floor dynamics, and channels it all to a single, unified purpose. At a time when we’ve all suffered, we’ve all struggled, and we’re all uncertain, we’ve never needed this sense of unity more. All the release we’ve so badly wanted is here: we all need JOY.
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Dusky are back with a new EP as we move towards the back end of summer. Following up on the massive release that was Life Signs Vol. 1 on Gerd Janson's Running Back Records, the duo now return to their own imprint, 17 Steps. The 'Imagine What' EP is their first 17 Steps release since the Aset Forever EP at the end of 2018 and marks the 25th release on the label. In their own words - "Imagine What is a personal journey through shimmering melodies, proto-rave vocals and shuffling drums, arriving at a deep, eyes-closed peak. L.I. takes classic electronica as it’s main inspiration, along with the deeper side of D&B. A chance experiment with an arpeggiator led to the main melody, while a solid wall of low frequencies and electro leaning beats propel the rest of the track. And Cedar uses sampled breakbeats combined with ambient soundscapes that touch on early Speedy J and Warp vibes.” More

Following their recent remix of KiNK’s ‘Perth’ for Running Back, 17 Steps bosses Dusky present their first original productions of 2018 in the five-track Aset Forever EP. Aset Forever is named in tribute to Jan Francis, a friend of Nick & Alfie who tragically lost his life late last year. Founder of the ATG graffiti crew and School Records (alongside Loefah) - Jan was responsible for Dusky's first London gigs both at ATG Warehouse parties and their Staunch residency at Corsica Studios. Covering hard synth driven grooves, tranced-out Italo, proggy techno and blissed out breakbeat house, the five track EP keeps things strictly dancefloor focused - again showcasing the duo’s unique ability to take a myriad of influences and wrestle them into new hybrids that sound their own. Lead track ‘Amongst The Gods’ has been a standout across their sets this year. Taking shuffling breakbeat house rhythms, classic sunrise melodies and 90s rave vocals, it builds to an understated but infectious warehouse crescendo. The EP swiftly moves onto ‘The Ace’ - Striking at 130 BPM, ‘The Ace’ is a hard hitting surge of twisted sonics and clipped rave samples. A dark slab of warehouse tech, ’Staunch' follows, with rolling Reese basslines, ‘ecstasy’ samples and eerie sci-fi chords. The second half of the EP sees Dusky take things deeper. ’Angles’ is a blissed out wash of Detroit techno stabs and vintage house textures, before ‘The Captain’ rounds off the EP with punchy Italo basslines and icy synths. More

UK House & Techno heavyweights Dusky return to their 17 Steps label with the classic house indebted ‘Square Miso’, picking up swiftly where this summer’s hugely successful ‘Cold Heart’ EP left off - the lead track an ever present in Gerd Janson’s summer DJ sets.
Already recognisable to many from Dusky’s festival sets as well as Jackmaster’s recent Circo Loco terrace recording, ‘Square Miso’ draws on the swing of classic NYC house with soulful, cut-up vocal samples and tightly programmed beats, whilst paying tribute to the ‘90s Italian House classics with its distinctive piano melodies - with a dash of Shades Of Rhythm-era UK Rave for good measure. As well as the club-ready original, a beat less piano and strings ‘reprise’ is also included.
A darker, Detroit-nodding club tool, ‘LF10’ blends heavy-hitting stabs, atmospheric melodic textures and House grooves. An immersive roller, like ‘Square Miso’ it serves as another example of the duo’s ability to blend different influences into unique hybrids.
With 2017 releases from B.K.R & Jamie Jones, Christian Piers, Bwana and Kiwi, Dusky’s 17 Steps has become an increasingly prolific outlet of forward thinking House and Techno - with support from Gerd Janson, Midland, Len Faki, Maya Jane Coles, Tiga and George Fitzgerald among others.

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Dusky present the latest 17 Steps release with the ’Cold Heart EP’, a four track package that cements their ability to craft a unique range of house and techno soundscapes. Having spent last year releasing their ‘Outer’ LP, as well as delivering their second acclaimed Essential Mix and touring a new live show, the ‘Cold Heart EP’ sees the prolific duo return to their roots in textured house and techno with four powerful DJ tools. With a nod to vintage New York house through a carefully sourced vocal sample, lead track ‘Cold Heart’ is a blissed out, atmospheric house epic that blends crisp percussion, soulful hooks, washing pads and a hypnotic lead organ melody. A favourite from the duo’s recent DJ sets, ‘Psychic Life Coach’ shuffles with dubby grooves, skippy drums and ethereal vocal cut-ups, before ‘Bowed’ offers a high energy dose of cosmic disco and ravey techno flavours, Rounding things off, closing track ‘Balfour Betty’ is built around warm, swirling synth textures that meet at the intersection of Detroit techno and vintage progressive trance. More

UK production duo Alfie Granger-Howell and Nick Harriman aka Dusky drop 4 of the finest remixes from their Outer album campaign of last year on heavyweight white label vinyl.
T. Williams’ cult grime alias Dread D alias and Livity Sound mainstay Kowton lend their hand to 2 heavyweight remixes for the Wiley collaboration ‘Sort it Out Sharon’ whilst the talents of Bwana and techno don shed take to the buttons on ‘Ingrid is a Hybrid’ More

Having recently played an eight hour set to a sold-out crowd at London’s Oval Space, the prolific Dusky drop a trio of moody club tool tracks on 17 Steps as they continue their European Autumn/Winter tour. A club tool in the most effective sense, lead track ’Lydia’ is dark, nagging acid groover that builds and builds throughout its 6 hypnotic minutes. With all the melodic material based around the Lydian scale, ‘Lydia’ was originally inspired by a bizarre, trippy dream Alfie had in which everything was all based on the Lydian scale. A homage to classic techno, ‘Bitter Lake’ is a hard-hitting surge of looping, percussive energy and Detroit-nodding rave stabs that build to a hoover-fuelled breakdown release. Rounding off the trio, the brilliantly titled and uniquely composed ‘Infinite Libido’ again explores Dusky’s more percussive tendencies and has been a regular feature in their DJ sets for the past year.
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It’s safe to say that Detroit, a city steeped in economic, cultural and musical history, will soon weave its way into your soul should you spend any sustained time there. This rings all too true for Monty Luke. He has immersed himself in Detroit’s scene since moving to the Motor City in 2008. His new eight track LP, released via Dogmatik, showcases the style of a new generation of Detroit producers carrying the beacon for a deep, Detroit sound that blends analogue weight and punchy drum programming together with masterful synth work and raw emotion. More

DJ Aakmael brings 4 classic house cuts to Dogmatik. His trademark sound is infused with infectious melodies, hard hitting rhythms and soulful vocals, and with this debut EP he doesn't disappoint. Stepping effortlessly from one beat to the next, Aakmael brings the sound of Virginia to life on this standout EP. More

Babylon is the debut 4 track EP on Dogmatik from Okain. Title track Babylon opens the EP with its rolling bass, claps and gritty rhodes, followed by the mainframe processed beats of Radio Therapy, signal processed, countercultural, surveilled. Permeable delivers another trademark Dogmatik elastic bass groove hovering above its classic pads, and the EP closes with the secret weapon, r4r5r6, reprising the same sticky groove, but backed up with a killer bass riff.
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Dogmatik kick start the year with a solid 12" from Steve Mc Cready that includes remixes from Gwen Maze & Kuba Sojka.

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Dogamtik deliver a quality EP from Detroit's Monty Luke, who gives us three killer tracks in a moodyman/theo vein. Tip!

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Dogmatik label owner Alex Arnout delivers a quality release with the Touch EP that includes a remix from Abe Duque.

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Dogmatik records deliver the goods once more with a quality release from Berkson & What with 'The Psychedelic Underground'. The 12'' comes with the original mix and a remix from Neville Watson, as well as another fine Berkson & What original production 'Back to me'.

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Dogmatik records deliver the goods once again with Maya Jane Coles 'Watcher' getting the remix treatment from Burnski and Vakula. More

The Dogmatik imprint returns with a fresh four-track EP from Lumina, entitled 'Long Time Coming' and backed with Rndm and Jimmy Clanfield remixes. Alison Marks and Helen Copnall aka Lumina met during studies at Manchester University where the pair embraced the diverse and thriving rave scene the city has to offer. Soon after meeting the duo begun to craft compositions together, Marks focuses on the sound design, mixing and vocal aspects of the productions, much like she does in her other project Wallflower, while Copnall works the synthesizers with an acute attentiveness for programming. Here we see Lumina offer up a stunning debut under this title via the Dogmatik imprint, following the footsteps of now established artists such as Maya Jane Coles, Dusky and of course label-head Alex Arnout. The original mix of title cut 'Long Time Coming' opens up the release, a charming, understated record led by dreamy arpeggiated synth lines and soft ethereal atmospherics. Wh ile the rugged rhythms and throbbing sub bass tones generate a powerful dance-floor focused edge to contrast the hypnotic textures. Following we're provided with a remix of 'Long Time Coming' from the ever on-point Rndm, a producer who maintains a quality over quantity release schedule, as expected we're treated to a raw and gritty workout fuelled by punchy offkilter drums, infectious low-end grooves and an ever-evolving dynamic laid out over seven minutes, yet another intelligent and dexterous piece of work here from the German producer. On the flip side we have a second offering from Lumina entitled 'Gina X', once again taking on a dreamy feel with jazz-tinged synth lines, swirling, shuffled percussion and tension building strings as the bumpy bass hook carries the groove with ease throughout the tracks duration. The package is then rounded off with a 'Long Time Coming' rework from London based producer Jimmy Clanfield, who tips the focus over to a more reserved, stripped-back feel, bringing penetrating rhythms, heady bass and processed vocal snippets to the forefront, while the subdued synth sounds simmer away in the depths of the background.

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Chris Lattner & East End Dubs deliver the next release on Dogmatik Records with a quality EP of deep house cuts, perfect for the early hours...

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London's Dogmatik label return with remixes of Dusky's massive 'Flo Jam EP'. 4 remixes coming on 2 ep's. Part one comes with a heavy A side with "Eats Everything" under his Mange Tout alias remix 'Flo Jam', whilst the flip see's 'Numerical' getting the remix treatment from the extremely talented Kris Wadsworth!!! Worthy remix ep on one of 2012 biggest club releases!

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Some proper peak time house tracks on UK's Dogmatik label blending Uk garage vibes with traditional US house. One of London’s finer house imprints (the label introduced some fine works by the talents of Maya Jane Coles, Stojche and Alex Arnout)!. They deliver the goods once more with talented London producers Dusky, with the “Flo Jam EP”, four tracks of quality house already gathering support from the likes of Lee Foss, Maya Jane Coles and Huxley, to name a few.

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