After a first EP of the year from STL, the Solar Phenomena label now welcomes Romania's Romansoff. The Raw Tools label boss hails from Bucharest and has also released his gritty, stripped back house and techno on Creme Organization and Sportiv. Here he offers four new tracks, with one remix from Timedance man Ploy completing the package. 'Halo' epitomises Romansoff's style with its slow, heavy drums and sparse, scattered perc sounds. A lo-fi melody adds colour, while 'Coach Jacket' ups the ante with busier claps and crashing hits laid over a turbulent, unsettled bassline. Increasing the pressure further, 'Graded' grows manic with punchy drums, layers of fuzzy synths and bass and distant cries that are dark and unsettling. Ploy flips this one into a prickly and atmospheric drum track that keeps you on edge and Romansoff's digital exclusive 'Michigan Lake Tapes' is a slow motion workout with unsettling synths and tortured pads that grows ever more unhinged. It rounds out a leftfield house EP in style. More

Raw Tools label boss and Bucharest based producer Romansoff is making his debut on Creme Organization in 2016. His Wrath of Zeus EP features four tracks of the sort of frayed and authentic house music that the label is known for around the world. Romansoff mostly releases on his own label but has also served up plenty of rawness on Machine Records, Mork and Bitter Moon. Bundle of Acid is the opener and is a heavy but mystic track with grainy claps and plodding drums undermining bubbling synths. It's crunchy and spooky and really comes alive with some squiggly acid lines. The title track is more stripped back and trippy, with corrugated drums and nervy chords trapping you in a suspenseful groove before Who You Gunna Call is another rough hewn analogue monster that manges to take you down into some cavernous underworld at the same time as offering up some angelic emotions. Lastly, She Owns The Game is the most melodic of the lot, with a far sighted ripple of keys, spaced out atmospheres and muttered vocal lines all making for something that is truly from another world. More

Tudor Gheorghe, also known as Romansoff, is a DJ, producer & vinyl collector form Bucharest', Romania. Heavily influenced by the small local underground parties on the electronic music scene in Buchares tRomansoff started collecting vinyl, dj'ing and later on headed in to production. In 2013 he started releasing music on his own imprint, Raw Tools. A vinyl only series with a raw, analogue, sound which was charted by known artists such as Ben Sims, Mark Henning and Serge. Now picked up by Machine Music's Diesel we bring you two great tracks from Romansoff's dark vaults in Romania 'Rage Machine' and 'In My Heart' More

Cottam's Ruff Draft label reaches release number 9 with a stunning double drop from Milo Johnson AKA DJ Nature. Always one of our favourite artists, we've loved Milo's music for years at Ruff Draft and his tracks on Golf Channel, Sound of Speed and Jazzy Sport never leave the box, so we are blown away to present to you two future classics. 'Alfred' is a masterclass in raw rhythmic production, kicking off with popping old school drums and builds into an uptempo jack track with a melancholy and depth missing from a lot of modern club tracks. 'Blood On Your Hands' is sonic bliss, a stunning polemic using a speech from a 60s episode of The Twilight Zone that still resonates today, about the futile loss of life in wars run by people who don't fight them and monetary interests placed over lives. Brooding sub bass and dub techno sensibilities combine with a lolloping shuffling groove for a darker head nodder with a serious and sadly still pertinent message.
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Ruff Daft returns, and after a various artist EP for number 7, number 8 on the label goes back to the founder, with three new tracks from Cottam 'Washed Out' kicks things off, at the cross roads between Mood Hut & Basic Channel where dub techno sensibilities meet dreamy chords for a delectable deep house track. 'Horns' harks back to Cottam's earliest releases, with an afro-ish horn loop teased out over four minutes until the full loop and bass kick in to devastating effect. 'A Ruff Draft' sees Cottam look back towards his techno roots, with a killer kick drum and raw acid lending an abrasive edge to a well rounded EP of varied styles.
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The man behind the End Of Level Boss label, Cyclonix, delivers 2 club tracks just the way we like them. Already tried and tested in the clubs by our man Cottam, who fell in love with the tracks on first listen. They demand to be played in the early hours of the morning in dark basements from Nottingham to Leyland and beyond. Label boss Cottam takes over the B side with a leisurely walk back from the supermarket taking the scenic route for no apparent reason.
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Number 3 on Ruff Draft comes from Louis Guilliaume. Having met Louis back in 2009 and followed his music since way before then, it was an exciting day when we received these tracks from him. Known more for his harder edge techno productions on labels such as Soundtravels, Bio Rhythm Holland, Teng, SD Holland and a remix on Skudge, here he edges slightly away from that harder sound. The tracks vary from deep, groovy and meandering house to a beatless soundscape reminiscent of early Larkin and Pullen to a powerful kick drum driven sermon.
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Cottam is proud to present the first release on his new label, Ruff Draft. Paul Cottam came to wider attention with a series of limited edition blank-label 12s released from 2009 onwards, showcasing his production talents by re-working afro-beat, neo-soul, funk & hip-hop into deep house burners, but Ruff Draft is all about original tracks, and the first release sees three tracks from the man himself. 'Lost In My Brain Fog' comes in two versions, the super deep original is an ethereal trip of shimmering strings and delayed percussion, but with a kicking distorted thump at the bottom end to still work the floor - a real trip. The Medicated Mix has a mystery vocalist mixing with dub techno chords and jacking percussion for a late night trip to the back room of a dark warehouse. The EP is completed with 'A Variation on a Theme', a gem of a deep house groover with beautiful chords and acid that creeps up and sidles its way behind and around you before pinching your wallet and necking your drink. The first release on Ruff Draft sets a high standard, pressed on 180 gram vinyl and cut loud. Keep a look out for further transmissions in the near future, from Cottam and other artists as they keep it deep and keep it Ruff.
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