To mark the first astonishing chapter of his career, Seth Troxler is presenting ‘This is Then’, an essential ten track compilation album taken from his ever impressive discography. In the ten years since Michigan born Troxler relocated to Europe, he has become one of dance music’s most recognizable figures. As a solo producer, collaborator and founding member of Visionquest, he has set the global techno agenda both in the DJ booth and studio. He’s served up landmark mixes for the likes of Boogybytes and DJ-Kicks, released on key labels from No.19 to NRK, Circus Company to Crosstown Rebels, and now runs his own label Play It Say It, and Tuskagee with The Martinez Brothers. ‘This Is Then’ is a compilation which serves to bookend the first part of his ongoing story, and also highlights how unique a producer he truly is. The album takes in many of Troxler’s different aliases, including an opener from Young Seth which was first released on Omar S’s FXHE in 2005. It’s a dark and involving track with real depth in the drums and atmosphere in the sparse synth work. From there ‘Satisfy’ is a freaky and eerie track of stripped back minimal funk, ‘Friend of Mine’ is a bumping and pared back house cut and ‘Oogity Boogity’, as Thrill Cosby, is another hugely inventive offering of machine made grooves. The second half takes in more singular sounds in the form of the slippery and seductive ‘Still Hot’ with long time friend Shaun Reeves, the colourful and cosmic house of ‘Jus Your’ with Baby Prince, perfectly dreamy and hypnotic depths of ‘Aphrika’ plus the huge Visionquest remix of Kiki’s modern classic ‘Good Voodoo.’ Things close out with a remix of Fever Ray’s ‘Seven’ that shows another side to Seth with its pressured drums and expertly treated vocal. This broad and brilliant compilation is a vital reminder of Seth’s wide ranging studio skills and always innovative musical mind and perfectly encapsulates the range of his productions to date. More

The inimitable Seth Troxler is next up on his own influential label with something of a milestone release: His ‘Finally Physical EP’ is a precursor to a compilation album, ‘This Is Then’, due in May this year. Up first is the brilliant ‘Blackclap’, which was used by Audion on his fabric mix in 2006. It’s a twisted techno bumper with hiccuping synths and skewed pads bleeding out from a tightly programmed drum line. Warm chord smears bring a sense of soul to the druggy groove and ensure this one will work as well in an intimate club as it would on a larger stage. The deliciously dark ‘Aggression’ is a freaky late-night cut with minimal drums and alien lifeforms scurrying all over. It’s trippy and otherworldy, with a rubbery groove carrying you deeper down the rabbit hole through a wonderfully weird spectrum of sound. On the flip is a Thrill Cosby remix of Hearthrob’s ‘Signs’ which Seth included on his Boogybytes mix from 2010. A pressure cooker of white noise, whispers, synth drones and tension building sequences it eventually breaks into a supple and slippery groove that makes you want to pop your body. Last but not least is the skeletal techno funk of Stefan Tretau’s ‘Chittagong’ (Seth Troxler Jack Moves Remix). It’s synthetic and abstract, with watery droplets and coarse claps wrapping round the restless drum line. More

Seth Troxler & The Martinez Brothers’ Tuskegee Music welcomes a standout dance music innovator with a new EP from Chicago great Jamal Moss. Moss is best known as Hieroglyphic Being, an artist who cooks up raw, inventive, rule breaking tracks and live sets of techno, house, and acid. His uncompromising style is informed by having grown up seeing the likes of Ron Hardy play at the legendary Muzic Box in his native Chicago. He runs the esteemed Mathematics label and is hugely prolific as well as being an artist who very much does things on his own terms, much to the delight of global press and his hardcore fanbase alike. This double pack vinyl release opens up with the uniquely raw deep house of ‘Salvation is the Cure’, featuring icy hi hats and jacking drums which all have a live and authentic sound. A skewed acid line sprays about for extra ruggedness and distant chords bring a sense of futurism to the whole thing. ‘The Bad Blood’ is a majestic track of tumbling drums and off kilter percussive sounds all backed by exquisite synth work that exudes a pained sense of soul. It’s loose limbed and dynamic, always evolving and featuring the sort of killer bassline that will send clubs wild. Title track, ‘R-Spirits Will Not Be Broken’ then ups the ante with knackered, hard hitting drums that are frazzled and lo-fi, spinning hi hats that teeter on the edge of all out chaos. It’s a bristling, edgy brew of in your face sounds that will blow the roof off whenever it’s dropped. Last of all, ‘The Low End Theories’ is six more minutes of impressively instinctive, scuffed up drums, hits and twisted cosmic melodies. It sounds like chaos at first, but over time patterns emerge and you cannot help but be consumed by the strange beauty of it all. This is a typically unique and expressive house offering from one of the most innovative names in the game. More

Seth Troxler & The Martinez Brothers’ Tuskegee Music welcomes Chicago legend K- Alexi Shelby for a new EP that features some essential solo cuts as well as two great collaborations with Tony Lovlesss. Excellent opener ‘Cherry K Moon’ is a raw slice of deep and soulful tech. The driving bassline melts your mind as afro percussion and driving drums make for a solid groove below. It’s one for the late-night hours that will twist and turn any crowd inside out. The superb ‘Dark Smile’ is less tense and more house oriented in nature, with preacher style vocals up top and busy kicks down low. Live, chattery hand claps bring an organic feel and synth stabs inject looseness that will get hands in the air. The pressure then builds through the manic Tony Lovlesss collab ‘Anal Probe’, a powerful techno track with hi tech drums and taught synths freaking you out as they ride up and down the scale. Their second track together ‘Fly Shit’ is more playful with radiant synths opening it up to the skies and lively, funky drum programming bringing a real sense of a sun kissed terrace party. Last of all, the standout ‘Run With Jackals’ feat. A.D.M is another heavily percussive track with rattling toms, vocal chants and hammering hits all adding up to a compelling afro-house rhythm.

These are all innovate tracks that explore various different moods and grooves with a real sense of quality. More

After a lengthy hiatus, Tuskegee Music is back with a heavyweight release indeed: it features tracks written by Detroit heavyweights Seth Troxler—under his Young Seth alias— and cult FXHE boss Omar S. Amazingly they were written 11 years ago and have been long forgotten until recently being unearthed. The first track here was inspired by a trip Seth made to Berlin’s Club Der Visionaere in 2005. “It basically was me returning to Detroit and telling Omar about this crazy music I heard Ricardo play during the day.” The result, ‘Deep’(CDV 2006 Mix), is a spine tingling atmospheric deep house track. The drums are lo-fi and loose, the bassline is a meandering thing that really sucks you in and soft, gentle toms tumble around the groove and encourage you to cut loose. Then comes the experimental slow motion drum shuffle of ‘Detroit After Midnight’ which the pair made after “finding loads of weird records in his basement sampling them and making a classic MPC Detroit cut.” It has the sounds of people talking as if coming from the room next door laid over a lazy and undulating bassline, and is brilliantly weird and sketchy. Last of all, Young Seth goes solo on ‘Luiza’s Inferno’ five minutes of him jamming on Omar’s MS20 with a warbling synth line coated in warm tape hiss and layers of dust. It’s a beatless piece that shows how inventive and ahead of his time Troxler was even as a young man. This is a brilliantly unusual EP and another winner for Seth Troxler and The Martinez Brothers’ Tuskegee label.

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Seth Troxler lines up the next 12" on his label of cultural heritage Tuskegee Music. In the follow up to stellar output from Butch and Bas Ibelleni as well as Phil Moffa, The Martinez Brothers & Jesse Calosso collaborating under Soundview - the next in the series comes courtesy of the mighty D-Knox. Those in the know will know what to expect: rich atmospheres, potent drums and a healthy measure of spacey synthesis. Throughout recent records on EPM and his own label Sonic Mind as well as his charitable 12” on French label D3 Elements alongside Terrence Parker, Techelectro and Dan Curtin for the benefit of children of Detroit - D-Knox has continued to refined these sounds and his recent 12” for ‘His 'Mind Your Reality' EP combines all in abundance. 'All Energy' - a celestial trip lead by flexing synth chords and tight, icy percussion before the masterfully crafted 'Fornicate' demonstrates D-Knox's knack for sound design as reverb builds a capacious space for feedback signals and dissonant, interweaving melodies. 'Chosen Goals' then renders a harsh landscape as punching drums rattle through glowing sweeps and a menacing bass groove. 'Intentions' then follows up as softened melodies are set rebounding off of distant pads. Subtle tension broods throughout as a set of interplanetary excursions are brought to a close. Now a cemented member of the EPM roster with a contribution to a future 15-year comp on the way - D-Knox brings depth and experience to Tuskegee as another coup is capped of. More

After a stellar 2015 that included 12”s from Bas Ibellini, Kool D and the newly formed collaborative trio of The Martinez Brothers, Jesse Calosso and Phil Moffa Seth Troxler and The Martinez Brothers ready the next record on Tuskegee Music the first of 2016 which comes from good friend Butch. The adroit production skills of Bu¨lent Gu¨rler are no secret. As the co-owner of Otherside Records and as a regular on Villalobos’ Sei Es Drum, Visionquest and one of Seth Troxler’s other imprints Play It Say It he has consistently delivered his own brand of hallucinogenic, Disco-tinged House records that simply send floors into rapture. Now in the follow up to his ‘Dope’ EP on Play it Say It Butch readies ‘Yellow Sunshine’: a warped and burly EP guaranteed to send some winter dance-floors wayward. ‘Jack The System’ kicks things off with a bubbling acid groove laced under nifty panning and brave, pacey drum work. ‘The Message’ then rolls out a pensive, burning groove that is suffused with rich texture and propelled by a truncated acid line and flexing hat sequences that cap off another fine addition to Tuskegee’s catalogue and a solid start to 2016.
Please note: included 2 a’cappella’s on the vinyl only. More

Seth Troxler and The Martinez Brothers’ Tuskegee Music continues to deliver the goods behind releases from Kool D, ex-Trouw resident William Kouam Djoko and Seth himself. Now on their 6th release, Tuskegee present a new collaborative effort between The Martinez Brothers, Jesse Calosso and Phil Moffa who - operating under their new production alias ‘Soundview’ - piece together a tribute to Rob Fernandez. Beginning his career as a doorman at Tracks, Rob Fernandez went on to become a true stalwart of New York’s scene throughout and beyond the 90’s who - throughout, played a primary role in keeping the spirit and love for dance music alive in the city. Now - in keeping with the 90’s indebted ethos of Tuskegee Music - Soundview present their homage to a legend in the form of the ‘The Method: a 2-track EP brimming with live analogue drum work and hustling acid lines. ‘Nex Legends’ kicks things off with a tight, bubbling groove that glides under wildly pitched percussion and mangled vocal signals. An olio of effects drive progress forwards alongside an urgent organ stab before ‘Do You Miss Brooklyn’ sets a sordid acid line under freely sequenced 909 drums. A minor-key melody gently pushes through alongside trippy spoken vocals that cap off another fine addition to the Tuskegee catalogue. More

Launched in May of 2014, Tuskegee Music is a ‘label of cultural heritage’ run by House luminaries Seth Troxler and The Martinez Brothers. With previous releases from the label heads themselves as well as William Kouam Djoko, Ibellini, Filsonik and Jesse Colosso the next installment comes from a new addition to the Tuskegee fold - a veiled, Berlin based legend operating under the guise of Kool D. Across an extolled catalogue, the man behind Kool D has refined his sound and stamped his own unique brand on House that is consistently interjected with a degree of energy that stand his productions apart from those of his peers. This - his first under this alias - is no exception: a twisted and elongated meld of nifty sound design, tightly swung rhythms and trippy, syncopated bass lines that are guaranteed to send the floor into rapture. ‘Casablanca Sessions’ kicks off with a series of off-kilter loops set tumbling over a whittled kick drum and creeping tom pattern. African vocals interject and whip up fervour while short, sharp percussive flashes keep momentum rolling. Contorting throughout, tension is astutely lifted throughout while the Dub version on the B-Side offers a more stripped yet effective tool that rounds off yet another solid addition to the Tuskegee series and keeps us guessing where they’ll be turning to next! More