As Dense & Pika, Alex Jones and Chris Spero have garnered an enviable reputation for making devastating club ordnance that finds the sweet spot between dark, mysterious house and roaring, brawny techno. With over a decade of material under their belt, Jones and Spero are set to release their first studio length debut album, ‘Colour Burn’ via London major imprint BMG on 4th December, home to the likes of Leftfield, The Prodigy, Holy Ghost and Faithless. ‘Colour Burn’ is a 13-track composition crossing through downtempo house and electronica, built as a conceptual sonic representation of the pair’s live audio and visual set up. The album is a step away from harder and faster material and a move towards a more leftfield sonic trajectory, featuring a handful of impressive heavyweight features of Jones & Spero’s musical heroes who have informed the Dense & Pika output. Released today, album moment ‘Honey’ features the master of sensual, slow-burn techno, Matthew Dear whose contribution to ‘Honey’ arrives in vocal form – a breathy, brooding ensemble of spoken word that glues perfectly with the duo’s trademark rough and textured sound palette. It helps turn what Alex calls “a headsy, dusty piece of housey tech” into something sensual and otherworldly. Dark and smouldering, it seems to the suck the air out of the room like a tightly packed subterranean dancefloor deep in the throes of night. Glitched out percussion and fizzling hi-hats feel caustic against the track’s low-end frequencies. The thumping bassline and kick drum combination delivers punch and pressure to the mix in a true Dense & Pika format. Matthew’s sauntering vocal contribution guides the track into a deep and hypnotic groove well equipped for any late-night excursion. “The boys sent over a lengthy jam, but there was that simple loop that stood out and had me hooked. I put it on repeat and let the mind and pen wander. It’s a bit of cosmic abandonment, brazenly sung by a professional of the night.” Matthew Dear Elsewhere on the LP, standout track ‘Hidden’ features the drums of Sepultura’s legendary metal icon Igor Cavalera resulting in a fabulous frenzy of percussion and driving rhythm. The equally momentous and unforgettable ‘Control’ features the heavily robotic vocoder of Leftfield’s Neil Barnes aiding and abetting in its quest to be a high-octane, twisted rave jam. The impressive features on ‘Colour Burn’ are an insight into the hugely artistic and visionary A&R skills of Alex and Chris and the start of a new chapter for Dense & Pika kicking off with the long-awaited release of their first studio length album. More

Set for release next month, Chris Spero (otherwise known as UK house and techno producer Glimpse) and Hypercolour co-founder and producer, Alex Jones, return once again as Dense & Pika to the Hotflush fold with ‘Move Your Body Back.’ Having crept out of the shadows back in 2011 with a collection of white labels released through their own eponymous imprint, Dense & Pika went on to bolster their rising profile with the release of their Hotflush debut (‘Crispy Duck') which landed late last year as well as with their memorable live set at Hotflush's recent Boiler Room Takeover.
There is nothing chin-strokingly complicated or needlessly over-worked about their productions. They make interesting techno aimed at the dance floor and ‘Move Your Body Back,’ continues with this central aesthetic. The three track EP plunders percussive depths by way of stern machine rhythms, swollen low-end grit and the echoing, anthemic elements of warehouse rave techno. The title track of the EP may already be familiar to many having appeared on their Resident Advisor podcast in March and is already being played out by Maya Jane Coles, Boddika and Adam Beyer, amongst others. More

hand]stamped white label 12-inches, anonymous duo Dense & Pika re]emerge for their debut on Scuba's Hotflush Recordings. 'Crispy Duck,' their 3] track take on modern underground techno, kicks off with a chugging A side, giving serious nods to Detroit and beyond with it's deadly shuffle. On the flip, Dense and Pika claim the dancefloor with 'Coil' a tripped out up]tempo techno track, abound with hihats and fist-] pumps, followed by '31', a rough and ready tune that melds 4/4 with acid and dub grooves. Doing their best to remain incognito, the duo are on course to make 2013 their year. Huge early support from Dubfire, Adam Beyer, Midland, Will Saul.... More

Release no.4 for the mysterious Dense & Pika. 'Who Cares Wins' is another slice of grimey warehouse rawness, the kinetic drums and synths combing for a peak time cacophony of sound. Flipsides 'Morse Mode' ups the tempo whilst still keeping the duos signature rough vibe whilst 'Crackling' rounds things off nicely, more streamlined than the previous tracks with a touch of dub techno thrown in for good measure to make a brilliant end to a superbly balanced package.
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After the supremely well received first release 'Vommee' which featured on Sven Vath's recent 'Cocoon' mix CD, the mysterious Dense & Pika's next release well could be one of 2012s biggest - 'Buttplug' is the lead track (already Dj Mag's 'Killer Tune' in it's recent December issue) - a kinetic powerhouse ride of roughed up beats & bass complete with a jacked up female vocal from an anonymous source. If that wasn't enough, flip side track 'Cartoon Heart' continues the high octane thrills with a phunked up house number, the duos tight production giving the track an edge over legions of derivative here today, gone tomorrow fillers. More

The third release from mysterious double act Dense & Pika sees them returning to the more low slung techno vibes of their first release. '31' is a slow burner; submerged beats shuffle along before the tracks off kilter Millsianesque riff is introduced which gradually oscillates in intensity throughout. A truly heady experience all wrapped up in D&P's super skilled production, it was a feature in Jackmaster's recent RA Podcast and has gained further support from a wide range of djs from DJ Koze to Sven Vath. Flip sides 'Bad Ink' ratchets up the tension with a serious warehouse style jam, big booming cavernous kicks and twisted fx stamp their mark before dropping into a raw melancholic bass riff that takes the track to epic heights. DJ Support from. DJ Koze, Scuba, Peason Sound, Maya Jane Cole, Craig Richards, Untold, Midland, Mosca, Ame, Dexter, Sven Vath, Agoria, Jackmaster, George Fitzgerald, Paul Woolford, Will Saul, Comix, Carl Craig More

High quality rough n'ready warehouse techno from two established producers (who have produced on planet E among others) coming together under the mysterious Dense & Pika alias. 'Vomee' launches the label, all guns blazing with a grimey bass led groove. Flip sides 'Bad Back' continues the low slung vibe but injects more of a fucked up lo-fi feel with a crunched up kick and metalic shards of sound. First in a series...

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Full of bounce and experimentation in equal measure, ‘Triple Transit,’ Braille’s new album for Hotflush is about leaving his Sepalcure project (with Machinedrum) in the rear mirror, moving back to New York and using its energy to fuel new moves, confronting our hyper layered world and overcoming personal difficulties by being creative.Focused squarely on utilising modular synthesis in sprawling studio sessions, the album covers a wide stylistic range and draws on the artist’s formidable battery of experience to craft a body of work that packs real emotional punch as well as a dancefloor sensibility.We had a quick chat with him to wet your appetite…Praveen Sharma aka Braille:Moving on from Sepalcure“That period of time when Sepalcure was at its peak was really inspiring. I’m still really in awe and humbled by the fans. It’s always amazing to hear about how music you’ve made has brightened up other people’s lives in some way, but ‘Triple Transit’ is really about transitioning from that period to something new. I’m intentionally not using many vocal samples on this album. That became quite a crutch for Sepalcure and I wanted to try and find ways to evoke those emotions and connect with the audience in other ways.”The roots of his Bounce‘Sour Patch Kiss’ and ‘While We’re Free’ are inspired by classic house and some early Detroit stuff. Songs like ‘Big Fun’ (Inner City), ‘I Wanna Be there’ (Model 500) and slowed down ‘Sex on The Beach’ (DJ Assault) have stuck with me since the beginning. I used to listen to this slowed down and doubled version of ‘Sex on The Beach’ on an early Juan Atkins mix cd on REPEAT when I was in high school.Getting ambientTriple Transit slows down and transitions through a bit of sadness and eventually acceptance at the end of the album. A lot of the music I’m making these days is trying to recreate that manic feeling so many of us have in 2024. Between social media, ridiculous hustle culture expectations and depressing global and national political events, it’s hard to not feel overwhelmed. I feel like Triple Transit is kind of a parabolic curve from mania to joy to a sober realization that yeah, actually the world is just fucked but somehow we carry on. More

Welcome to ‘Hardcore Heaven III’, the third in Scuba's series of classic hardcore-inflected vinyl EPs further develops the themes, from acid house to jungle, established on the first two installments.

Hardcore Heaven III ups the tempo from the first two EPs, with a focus on early Jungle on ‘Truth’ and ‘Give Up Everything’. Meanwhile, ‘Riding Hi’ and ‘Pocket Rocket’ add a 4/4 kick and samples possibly best described as… borderline?

Scuba has also announced D:U:LIVE, a series of live shows inspired by his acclaimed ‘Digital Underground’ mixtape and ‘Hardcore Heaven’ vinyl EPs from last year. More

Hotflush continues its celebratory 20th anniversary year with a vinyl-only sequel to Scuba’s Record Store Day UK release, “Hardcore Heaven”. ‘Hardcore Heaven II’ develops the theme of that first release back in April. Taking influence from producers like Top Buzz, Nookie, and Foul Play, the familiar collision of hard-edged beats, euphoric breakdowns, and helium vocals gets a Scuba-in-2023 update. The tracks on this EP add a twist of twisted breaks, early 2-step, and classic broken beat to the mix, as well as some moody vocal rubs and the customary dancefloor flavours. The six tracks included here are presented on red and black splatter vinyl, limited to 500 copies with definitely no represses. More

Hotflush - the label founded by Scuba in 2003 - continues its celebratory 20th anniversary year with a debut contribution to the institution that is Record Store Day UK. ‘Hardcore Heaven’ is a collection of six fresh Scuba takes on the classic era of hardcore. Taking influence from producers like Top Buzz, Nookie, and Foul Play, the familiar collision of hard-edged beats, euphoric breakdowns, and helium vocals gets something of a 2023 update from one of the UK’s most versatile and prolific producers. The tracks on this collection will appear ONLY on this release - a Neon splatter-look, 500-unit press vinyl special with no streaming platforms, no represses, and definitely no Youtube rips. OK, there will probably be Youtube rips but we will do our best to get them taken down! More

Hotflush Recordings celebrates 20 years in the game this year, with a triple pack vinyl compilation featuring some of the key musical events in the label’s catalogue .Born in 2003, Hotflush stands as one of electronic music’s most influential labels. A multi-dimensional imprint that helped define the development of bass music throughout the mid-2000s, in the last decade it would evolve towards the liminal spaces between house, techno, and beyond - a journey which has given the dancefloor some of its true underground classics. This celebratory release covers every era and stylistic area of the Hotflush output. 2005’s proto-dubstep face melter ‘The Knowledge’ by Toasty kicks off Side A, with the key sides of bass music development all covered with tracks from James Blake, Loefah, Sepalcure, and Scuba. UK techno legend Surgeon appears with his seminal remix of Scuba’s ‘Ruptured’ (2008), while the early Paul Woolford classic ‘MDMA’ reminds us of how ended up working with Diplo. George FitzGerald and Recondite reprise some of their key formative material, while newer names Lawrence Hart, OR:LA and breakout Seoul artist Closet Yi also make appearances. Canadian mastermind Jacques Greene rounds off the release with his slamming remix of Kiimi’s Breaking My Mind. This is a compilation 20 years in the making, containing some of the key tracks from the electronic underground - curated and compiled by label boss Scuba. More

Hotflush Recordings presents a brand new production duo that eludes classification: Mount Kimbie. Based in London, they have developed a truly unique sound whose experimental rhythms lend themselves to the fringes of dubstep, wonky and hip hop, but ooze with emotion and echoing ambient soundscapes that take the listener to an entirely different place. Due for release in the beginning of 2009, this first release features four tracks which capture their evolving sound. The minds behind Mount Kimbie, Dominic Maker and Kai Campos, both 22, met at university and began making music together in a home studio in Peckham. Hints of their influences from hip hop, jazz, dubstep and experimental electronica can be heard in their productions.
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Scuba begins a new project with London vocalist and producer DOMiNii, who makes his debut with ‘Diivorce’. Paul Rose (aka Scuba) has long since explored cross-genre sounds, blending disparate elements and mining nostalgia to create cool moods and moments of pure escapism. Over four critically acclaimed albums and mix CDs for DJ Kicks, fabric, and Ostgut Ton, he’s established himself as one of the industry’s most respected artists and tastemakers. He’s continued to evade musical pigeonholing over the course of his career, never hesitating to challenge himself with new creative endeavours. The fresh sonic direction expressed on ‘Diivorce’ is one he’s been developing since 2018, when he took an indefinite break from the full-time DJ circuit. ‘Diivorce’ is a collaboration with debut artist DOMiNii, a vocalist and producer who takes influence from the likes of Wang Chung, David Newman, Arthur Russell, and The Blue Nile. Although he appeared uncredited with backing vocals on Scuba’s ‘Forgive Me’, which initially came out last summer, ‘Diivorce’ marks his first official release. fCovering areas as varied as power pop, indietronica, exuberant house, and classic rock, the project seemingly touches as many points as it can think of, something Rose acknowledged in a recent interview where he stated that “we made so many tracks, with no real set direction, so with this record I just wanted to pick a limited number that kind of showed where we’d been. We are working on something now that I’d call a ‘proper album’, which I think will come out in 2022, Diivorce is something I see as a documentation of a period of time.” The project includes illustrations by French artist Virginie Kypriotis who tells the story of ‘Diivorce’ through the eyes of DOMiNii, detailing a world of abandonment and separation against a backdrop of a faded paradise. Rose was first acquainted with Kypriotis’ work through her iconic illustration ‘A Night at Berghain’, which was later used by the club as their official flyer artwork in December 2017. The vinyl edition of ‘Diivorce’ includes previously unreleased (and vinyl-exclusive) track ‘Tricks’, and is packaged in a limited edition, numbered, screen-printed sleeve. More

In 2010, Mount Kimbie released their debut album, Crooks & Lovers, to widespread acclaim. Perfectly capturing the heady atmosphere of the moment, the album melded the wide-eyed mentality of what had become known as ‘Post-Dubstep’ with an open-minded musical sensibility that produced an instant classic. Ten years later, the album is reissued on Hotflush with a bonus disc of the band’s first ever release. Dom and Kai met whilst at Southbank University, pushed together in a student halls that was previously a mental asylum – where the ceilings were still ridiculously high to stop patients hanging themselves: “a cold, joyless, concrete building – the sort of building where you’d drop a pen and the sound would just go on and on in an echo.” Armed with found sound snips and a siege mentality, on Crooks & Lovers Kai and Dom set about turning London’s ambience into rhythm, its chaos into coherence. Traces of influence remained – the hard-earned spaces of Burial and The Bug vie with the berserk melodrama of Xiu Xiu and Grouper’s sad-eyed glow, D’Angelo’s pervert soul was cleansed in the intimacy of Phil Elvrum’s Microphones, Angelo Badalamenti’s swollen ‘Twin Peaks’ atmospheres found a cradle in Madlib’s lax lope. Sceneless and untethered from etiquette and genre codes, "Crooks & Lovers" floats through dubstep and hip-hop, jazz, techno and ambient, post-rock, UK garage and film scores to startling effect. On this special vinyl edition, the first ever Mount Kimbie transmission, the Maybes EP, is included. Originally released on Hotflush in February 2009 and out of print on vinyl for many years, it’s a crucial snapshot of the band developing their sound. More

Mind Against return to Hotflush with a four-track EP of spiralling, hypnotic techno. Delving further into their sparse brand of dark, meditative techno, the Italian duo forge an understated but emotive EP of swirling textures and subtle harmonies. Drawing upon elements of trance, ambient and IDM, Explorer? is a refined package of introspective sonic wanderings. B2. Forevermore (Dub) is vinyl exclusive. More

'Caibu' is Paul Rose's first album as SCB. The album builds on material from the 'Below The Line', 'Old Media New Society', and 'Engineered Morality' EPs which explored a fictional narrative in which a hypothetical timeline is corrupted by a climate-related disaster. The title of the album itself refers to an imagined surgical procedure where cognitive ability is augmented through transplant from one brain to another. As such, 'Caibu' invites the listener to forge their own ideas on the development of society in the context of crisis. More

Scuba drops another four cuts as SCB on Hotflush Recordings this December. Paul Rose first launched his SCB moniker in 2010, going on to appear on labels like Ostgut Ton, Aus Music and Nonplus until 2014. This year saw the pioneering British producer revisit his darker alias with a dystopian themed release on Hotflush – he now returns with four more twisted and ominous productions. More

Scuba refocuses his SCB project with ‘Below the Line’, coming this October on Hotflush Recordings. ‘Below The Line’ inaugurates a fictional timeline of events set in a hypothetical future. A climate-related disaster acts as a catalyst for a complete overturn in society, the repercussions of which will be explored subsequently.
The British producer has become one of modern dance music’s most pioneering figures, having produced four full-length albums, various EPs and contributed mix albums to renowned series such as DJ Kicks, Fabric, and for Berghain's Ostgut Ton label over the last decade. Donning the SCB name in 2010, Paul Rose’s pseudonym for esoteric techno found home on labels like Aus, Nonplus and Hotflush Recordings, not to mention its own eponymous imprint. More

A breakthrough artist who has had a massive 2017 to date, Or:la returns to Hotflush with three new tracks and a remix of Limbosoup (from her debut Hotflush EP last year) by Detroit’s FIT Siegel. Following the launch of her own label, Deep Sea Frequency, and a standout Boiler Room appearance, this new batch of fresh material cements Or:la’s position in the UK underground. Taking cues from influences ranging from classic jungle to post-dubstep, Farewell 24 offers more evidence as to why so many have tipped the Derry producer for great things. And to round things off, we are very excited to include a razor sharp remix from the one and only FIT Siegel, one of our absolute US favourites. More

The fourth Hotflush release of 2017 comes from Minneapolis-based DJ and producer, TML. He made his debut in 2014 with One Inch of Water, an album in cassette form via Always Human Tapes. His style takes cues from the bass and jungle halcyon days of yore, yet in his hands these influences are pestled into anything but nostalgia.
No Memory looks forward to a place where pigeonholes don’t exist; where past, present and future boil an amalgamated stew; where ‘experimental' and ‘clubby' aren’t effective antonyms. It’s an album in miniature - six tracks spanning a broad range. The unmistakable taste of jungle pervades side A, becoming increasingly less abstract as it goes: from the fractured opening of 'Face Pads’, through the dub of ‘Cold Sleep’, to the sunrise head bang that is ‘Crying’. Side two moves inside. It’s darker there. The tunes - ’Strainer’, ‘RHU’ and ‘Code Library’ - share a paredbackness. Their beats look askance as they shuffle big and bold. More

Foreboding title, foreboding sounds. Berlin’s redoubtable Oliver Deutschmann joins the Hotflush roster with "In The Moment of Death We Have No Regret”. 3 club-ready weapons, one blissed-out ambient cut. Do we really need to describe them in flowery prose? No. Just listen and play. Loud. More

Hotflush welcome Lara Wehbie aka Blursome to the ranks with her debut EP “Rendition of You”. Raised in North Carolina and currently residing in Brooklyn, Wehbie has come a long way since beginning to work on music in 2011 as a way of channeling her diagnosed depression and anxiety. She describes her work as a transitional darkness, something she says defined her sound even before she could manage the software she uses to make it. In her own words, “Rendition of You EP signifies major transitions in my life over the past year and how my environment truly played a role in handling situations. It's a testament to how much happier I am now than I used to be. I still struggle but I'm truly thankful for the influences I have around me that have made me a better individual and artist.” Along the way she has attended the Red Bull Music Academy Bass Camp in 2015, and after an appearance on Scuba's 2016 fabric mix, she debuts on the label with an experimental six track EP. Side A of "Rendition of You" introduces listeners to her experimental use of vocals and heavy percussive influences from the left field genre. Side B dives straight into dance floor material with pounding kicks and and interjecting vocals, but then slowly winds down into a more melancholic ending with piercing synths rattling through to the last drop. More

Brazillian-born Daniela Caldellas returns to Hotflush Recordings with ‘Misantropicalia’, a three track EP, with each one showing different facets of her influences, further enriching her identity as TERR. Picking up where last April’s ‘Burn The Past’ EP left off, TERR continues to develop what is becoming her retro-futurist signature. The unmistakable footprint of electro, as well as a palpable nostalgia for the early ‘80s, is present throughout. The title track perhaps even betrays a whiff of italo or hi-NRG with its Moroder-esque bass and silky guitar licks, before moving into pure body-popping, linoleum dancefloor territory on the B-side. OutRun is an invitation to do the robot worm best heard on a portable ghetto blaster, while Don’t Look Around rounds off the 12” in galvanizing style with hints of electroclash in fractured, fleeting vocals and beats of the fat variety. ‘Misantropicalia’ shows TERR with her influences on her sleeve, and her gaze fixed firmly forwards. More