Repress!

More than ten years since he first emerged on Skull Disco, Appleblim presents his debut album. The label he co-founded with Shackleton was the first the world heard of his productions, but Laurie Osborne’s innate relationship with electronic music culture reaches back much further than those groundbreaking early days of dubstep. Early days spent soaking up hardcore, jungle, techno and plenty more besides were fundamental foundations from which to spring into the then-unknown realms of sub-low half-step club music. At that time FWD>> and DMZ were the church for this ritualistic sound, and Appleblim was a regular fixture at both.

As dubstep matured, magnified, mutated and meandered, so Appleblim moved beyond Skull Disco to explore different avenues of expression in the new many- layered club music landscape. His own Apple Pips imprint was a natural vessel on which to explore the emergent fusions of hardcore-derived sounds and the US-born house, techno and electro, while labels such as Aus Music equally provided a home for his work (often alongside Komonazmuk). Meanwhile long-standing collaborations with Alec Storey (Al Tourettes / Second Storey) finally manifested in the hyper-modern mind-twist of ALSO, captured as an album on legendary rave label R&S.

More recently it’s been possible to hear Appleblim delve into electro-acoustic and ambient production alongside bassweight sounds on Tempa, one of the original bastions of dubstep culture. As the existing boundaries between genres, cultures, eras and scenes continue to dissolve, on his debut album Appleblim offers up a fresh approach that brings some of the foundational sound ethics of rave culture into a modern framework.

Hardcore breaks are still a regular sound source in contemporary club tracks, but on Life In A Laser it’s instantly apparent that Appleblim has moved beyond choosing popular drum samples to truly tap into the elusive feeling engendered by the music of the era. It’s a tricky feat to manage, but in the pie-eyed chords of “Ignite”, the subby 808 tom basslines on “NCI” or the Mr. Fingers synth flex on “Manta Key” the sonic finish sports the same understated grit and grime that made those early records so timeless. There’s still space for modernism, not least on snaking 2-step killer “I Think We'll Let The Gas Sort This One Out”, but it’s offset by a layer of dust, not to mention an inherent moodiness that can’t be faked.

This fine balance of rave romanticism and future-minded approaches binds together in a cohesive conceptual statement. First and foremost it’s Appleblim’s personal reflection on the music that has moved him on countless dancefloors since his first flirtations with soundsystem culture. At the same time the canny influx of modern ideas into the soundworld of the 90s genuinely results in a new proposition, making for a perfect fit on the modern-day ‘ardcore fetishists label of choice, Sneaker Social Club. Many may claim to draw on old-skool influences in their modern trax, but take one listen to “Flows From Within” and you’ll feel the same time-slipping surge of future-shock as the ravers at Lost, Dreamscape, The Dungeons, Clink Street, Blue Note and all those other iconic spots.

Newton aka Nick Newton aka Nick Rhythm Section. You know this EP is going to hit the spot when you have one of the original members of the first rave super group on production!

Originally released on Rhythm Section Recordings in 1992, this EP will be well known to many who use to got to the big raves of the early 90’s. Every track captures that moment of history, erupting into peak time rave anthems with hooks and riff that imprint into your brain!

The tracks go from the darker side of the scene into full on rave anthems for the hands in the air crew. You know if it came out on RSR back in the day that it will tick every box and more.

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Brace yourselves for a heavy dose of hi-tech futurisms from a long time Sneaker associate. Laurie Osborne has held true to his free-spirited musical demeanour since his breakthrough dubstep years, springing across tempos and styles while holding fast to a deep-rooted raver's instinct. His profound appreciation and knowledge of vast oceans of music injects his sound with a boundless, playful enthusiasm. As was evident with his 2018 LP Life In A Laser and his ALSO collaboration with Second Storey, Osborne speaks fluently in the techno and electro vernacular as much as UK soundsystem gear, channeling a sparkling, melodic energy which typified those genres at their inception. On Infinite Hieroglyphics, Osborne trips into expansive imagined vistas and fizzy furrows with a pervasive sub-bass footing.

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Fresh off his album release on Sneakers Social Club, Appleblim links up with the Boogie Box Records crew to deliver two EPs on the Middle Eastern based label. First up. Two original tracks by the Bristolian artist, Vurstep and Dream Wisdom. Signature Appleblim crossover sound, floating betwee Bass, Breaks and House influences. On the B Side, Vurstep gets a rework by Shed and Forest Drive West. Always on point, Shed does what he does best. A grooving old school flavored bass and break remix. Followed by Forest Drive West's stripped down, mind humping, feet tapping basement flavor."


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Appleblim's third 12" for Tempa touches on the sonic territories explored on his first 12" (the experimental and amorphus 'Wandered' from Tempa101) while expanding on those ideas. The first track 'Minus Degree' is Appleblim at his most experimental. A beatless affair of sparse soundscapes and atmospheres. Full of tension, and crucially no release, you are swept away by the waves of synths and sub bass. Next track 'Move Them' is more traditional Appleblim - 4x4 and dub techno chords build a sense of momentum over the space of 7 minutes. A traditionally leaning techno tune with a UK twist, Appleblim's use of space and tension will keep any raver entranced. Final track 'Twist It Down' rounds out the EP with a subtle roller. Broken drum patterns and bright synths help in stripping away some of the darker undertones prevalent in the previous tracks.




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Manchester native Alex Coulton has nurtured a reputation for creating sub-heavy rollers thanks to 12"s for the likes of Black Acre, Livity Sound and Bloc. With Gamma Ray Burst, the next in his series of releases on London low-end specialists Tempa, Coulton consolidates his sound to deliver some of the most sparse, rhythmic work of his career. With the record's title track, Coulton weaves from hard-hitting kicks, through to dizzying tribal polyrhythms the whole time maintaining a minimal, space driven atmosphere that remains omnipresent throughout the track's most intense moments. 'Ground Zero' revels in its spaciousness, allowing reverb to flood into the negative space between flashes of heavyweight techno percussion and saturated ripples of synth while the pulsating kicks that underpin 'Alpha Decay' are punctuated with bleak, discordant bells, rhythmic bass hits and hypnotic filtered percussion. Showing his diverse abilities, 'Phase Two' is an exercise in measured restraint, as a cacophony of clicks and hisses come together to disorientate before forming a driving rhythm section before Coulton maximises his expansive elements on the fog-tinged 'Ascent'. Closing with the steady flowing, brighter-hued melodic work of 'Distant Resonance', Alex Coulton has created a masterful collection of experimental tech-focused electronica that bewilders, intrigues and will draw the listener in with each play.



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Appleblim's third 12" for Tempa touches on the sonic territories explored on his first 12" (the experimental and amorphus 'Wandered' from Tempa101) while expanding on those ideas. The first track 'Minus Degree' is Appleblim at his most experimental. A beatless affair of sparse soundscapes and atmospheres. Full of tension, and crucially no release, you are swept away by the waves of synths and sub bass. Next track 'Move Them' is more traditional Appleblim - 4x4 and dub techno chords build a sense of momentum over the space of 7 minutes. A traditionally leaning techno tune with a UK twist, Appleblim's use of space and tension will keep any raver entranced. Final track 'Twist It Down' rounds out the EP with a subtle roller. Broken drum patterns and bright synths help in stripping away some of the darker undertones prevalent in the previous tracks.




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Appleblim's third 12" for Tempa touches on the sonic territories explored on his first 12" (the experimental and amorphus 'Wandered' from Tempa101) while expanding on those ideas. The first track 'Minus Degree' is Appleblim at his most experimental. A beatless affair of sparse soundscapes and atmospheres. Full of tension, and crucially no release, you are swept away by the waves of synths and sub bass. Next track 'Move Them' is more traditional Appleblim - 4x4 and dub techno chords build a sense of momentum over the space of 7 minutes. A traditionally leaning techno tune with a UK twist, Appleblim's use of space and tension will keep any raver entranced. Final track 'Twist It Down' rounds out the EP with a subtle roller. Broken drum patterns and bright synths help in stripping away some of the darker undertones prevalent in the previous tracks.




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Kosheen member Markee Ledge, making the most of the groups hiatus, brings forward three solo productions for his debut release on Tempa.



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Appleblim and October - two key figures in the Bristol electronic music scene - reunite forces to deliver 'Other Side of The Sky' for Tempa. A melodic and cycling kick drum and sub-bass pattern propels the spectral, white-noise hiss of the Original Mix forward on side A. Appleblim breaks apart and refixes the track for his remix found on the flip, in a style reminiscent of label mates Horsepower Productions - all dubbed-out tape echo and amped up paranoia.



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From across the pond, US producer Andrew Howard a.k.a AxH lines up another 12" on Tempa after his lauded first outing on the label back in February in 2014. Having also released records on Elk Beats and Dubs Alive - his latest 'Numbskull' 12" charters a familiar murky territory to his previous and features a brawny collaboration with Toronto based Gremlinz. The title track kicks things off with a lively melodies set tumbling over driven kicks, dramatic ride pings and fierce, roaring bass tones before 'Gem Tone' melds off-kilter and vaguely arabesque tones over capacious percussion that sits the tone comfortably in big room spaces. 'Hacker' then shoots off the blocks with mangled feedback signals and sharp, effective rim shots, while dense subs tremble beneath spectral reverberated atmospherics


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Manchester born Alex Coulton has steadily garnered a following throughout a slew of lauded 12”s on Hype LTD, Black Acre, Idle Hands, Livity Sound sub Dnous Ytivil and Bloc’s new imprint. Derivative of the sound championed by Bristol’s Hodge and Peverelist, Coulton has nestled himself in amongst the ranks
and successfully branded his own stamp on the tougher strands of UK-centric Bass music. Now - in the follow up to his Freefall EP on Bloc, Coulton lines up his next 12” on Tempa, his second outing on London’-s stalwart institute that comes in the form of a burly two-tracker titled Hand To Hand Combat / Concealed Weapon. Packed with pugnacious bass tones and dystopian drones - ‘Hand To Hand Combat’ kicks things off. Driven, steely toms and pellucid rim shots scatter across the mix in a high pressure affair before ‘Concealed Weapon’ demonstrates the droit management of atmospherics that’s propelled Coulton’s production path thus far. Dense, throbbing subs form an underbelly whilst menacing growls are intertwined with reverberated claps and snares that work to dial an urgent sense of tension and wrap up another fine addition to Tempa’s ever-expanding catalogue.

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Next on Tempa comes the label's landmark 100th release -- a double pack of essential classics to mark the occasion. 500 COPIES ONLY Founded in London in 2000, Tempa swiftly evolved to become one of the most vital and influential labels in the last 15 yearsof UK dance music. At the epicentre of dubstep as it evolved from a mutant offshoot of garage into its own unique sceneand sound, Tempa has fostered many of the genre's best-known names and some of its most powerful So for our 100th release, we're marking that legacy by casting an ear back into our rich archives. Across two 12"s we're re-pressing a selection of pivotal tracks from Horsepower, Skream, Digital Mystikz, Benga & Coki, DJ Abstract and SP:MC,which together chart the history of dubstep's emergence. Tempa100's first disc gathers together the heady, dark percussivesounds of the genre's early years, rich in smoky atmosphere. It opens with a track from the very first Tempa 12", the slinkilyrobotic freakout of Horsepower Production's 'When You Hold Me', before drifting through DJ Abstract's humid and romantic'Touch', High Plains Drifter's 'Sholay (Epic Mix)' and Digital Mystikz's ultra stripped-back early roller 'Give Jah Glory'. Thesecond plate ups the ante with a clutch of dubstep's most iconic dancefloor bruisers - Skream's seminal 'Midnight RequestLine', Benga & Coki's anthemic 'Night', the cybernetic halfstep of SP:MC's 'Trust Nobody' and the dub disorientation ofCoki's 'Tortured'. Just as powerful as when they were first released, the music on Tempa100 is both a celebration and a reminder of thelabel's ten-tons-heavy contribution to UK music history. Designed by long time collaborator and art director Give Up Art, the packaging contains two unique printed inner sleeves, and includes previously unpublished photos from the archives of photographer Shaun Bloodworth


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gigantic resonant spaces rich enough in detail to reach out and touch. The former's gently plucked strings and trickling water summon up a contradictory tangle of atmospheres, with meditative warmth mingling with inescapable creeping anxiety, all underpinned by seething sub-bass. 'To The Sky' is a beautiful, vast abyss of a track: Iustina's vocals drift through space amid reedy drones and environmental sound, conjuring up an unlikely nexus point between British electronic dark masters Coil and the rugged sound system intensity of Digital Mystikz. Finally, Nomine ratchets up the club energy for closer 'Nomine's Robot', a sleek, broken techno slow-burner built around an entire echo chamber's worth of reverberating drums - hypnotic dancefloor manna for the very early hours.



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The next release on Tempa marks the return of J:Kenzo, with Urban Gorilla, the dubstep firebrand's first release since last year's crushing Magneto 12". Kenzo remains one of the leading lights of the genre's current generation: his tracks are thrilling exercises in futuristic, synapse-scrambling minimalism, but still deeply rooted in the community-led sound system attitude that inspires them. Lead track 'Urban Gorilla' epitomises that aesthetic - it features the tough, ruffneck yet dextrous vocals of Ghost crew member Juiceman, famous for his loping chat on El-B's perennial 'Buck 'n' Bury'. Here he's on incendiary form with a beat to match, with his deep baritone looping around percussion and bass that slinks and scuttles - equal parts dub soundboy fury and tense dystopian nightmare. 'Expansion' trips still further into the dark, with its whiplash bolts of sub-bass and eerie, two-note refrain instantly recalling the characteristic immersive, physically powerful sets of scene lynchpin Youngsta. The EP closes with the instrumental version of 'Urban Gorilla' recast as 'Technoid', drawing out the track's contours in sharp, brusquely metallic relief. Tough yet fluid, they're potent reminders of the force coiled within J:Kenzo's music.





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Recall/Wiretap, from Manchester's Alex Coulton, follows on from his stark, atmospheric contribution to the recent Tempa Allstars Vol. 7 compilation. Across acclaimed 12"s for labels including Livity Sound, Black Acre and Mistry, in recent years Coulton has honed an ultra stripped-back, rhythm-driven aesthetic that refracts techno through a sub-heavy sound system prism. This makes him a natural ally for Tempa, which has always focused on music that draws maximum club impact from a bare handful of elements. Both tracks on Coulton's Tempa 12" roll out around hypnotic, sidewinding rhythms, packing intense, percussive energy for peak-time 'floors. 'Recall' is a gradually unfurling firestorm of distorted kickdrums, reverb and molten sub-bass, which repeatedly dies away to near-silence before returning with twice the impact. On the flip, 'Wiretap' is lighter but no less intense: a whirling assembly of drums, warping bass and freakily catchy struck melodies that's as tough yet elastic as tensile steel.




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Bristol's Facta and Hodge are a pair of rising young producers who, more than most, have absorbed the influence of Tempa's early music and wielded it to create something defiantly their own. Hodge has been on a powerful run of form over the last two years, with a string of acclaimed 12"s for Livity Sound, Idle Hands and Hotline striking a unique balance between brutalist sub-bass muscle and vortex-like whirls of voice and percussion. Facta's releases for Soundman Chronicles and Idle Hands have been equally striking - dark, hypnotic and dread-filled rollers for the moodiest of dancefloors. You can hear both producers' approaches vying for attention on this collaborative 12", and the resulting tension turns the atmosphere electric. 'Spheres Of Costa Rica' draws a glancing sample of traditional chanted music into a dubbed-out, sidewinding riddim that seems to sink deeper and deeper as it plays, drawing your mind and feet along with it. Flip the record and 'Visions' mesmerises you further still: its swung drums summon the ghosts of UK garage, but blast them out into deep space, where fragmentary whorls of noise and firestorm sub-bass erupt all around you. As an EP it's a bold statement from all parties: dark, unerringly forward-thinking new music that takes Tempa's legacy in a vital new direction.



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Proxima begins the launch of his debut album 'Alpha' with the release of 'Trapped', a lean halfstep monolith that ranks as one of his toughest and most minimal tracks so far, and which has been a deadly fixture in the arsenal of the scenes leading DJ's in recent months. Released two weeks after Trapped, 'Alpha' follows on from a string of blistering singles for Tempa, which found the Dutch producer carving out a stark and synthetic vision of 140bpm club music. Alpha gathers Proxima's most fully realised music to date - widescreen in sound but packing intense sound system force. Next to the tinny grind that's characterised some of dubstep's harder side in recent years, its tracks are rendered in full 3D, with percussion lines moving in snakelike coils around firestorm distortion, and icepick melodies that cut sharply into the foreground. Its self-contained vision and frosty evocations of deep space recall the interstellar techno voyages of Detroit pioneers like Jeff Mills, Dopplereffekt and DJ Stringray. While its rhythmic intricacy and steely poise recall both Shogun Audio's wiry funk and the machine soul of dBridge and Exit Records.


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Proxima's debut album, Alpha, released on December 1 through Tempa, follows on from a string of blistering singles for the label, which found the Dutch producer carving out a stark and synthetic vision of 140bpm club music. Across its eleven tracks, Alpha sharpens his already distinctive aesthetic while significantly broadening in scope. It's a manifesto of sorts, centred firmly around his characteristic, titanium-hard dubstep mutations, yet comfortable taking spaced out voyages through melody-soaked electronics, freaked-out sci-fi funk and vocal-led songs.

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