Deep experimental dubbed out electronics and electro from Notte Infinita -
Tip!

Like trudging through viscous air, "I Lost All My Data" is a blissed-out barrage of sub-bass that nods to a long-lasting passion for sound system culture.

Uploading turbo-charged wubs with molten glass melodies, the debut EP of Giovanni Bonelli (aka Notte Infinita) is a welcomed update for UK style broken-techno conventions. Booting-up with its title track, the record quadrisects the fabric of digital music, each cut a sonic reprogramming of its predecessor. "Slippery Tuff" references off-kilter club, while on the flip, "Ecstatic Dub (Roller Mix)" climaxes in an ultra-sensory faux-organic whorl. Unplugging the whole thang, "Oxygen" manipulates post-dubstep textures, into a data-roused jungle tunnel.

Deciphering glitched-out signal processing and harmonic warps, "I Lost All My Data" is the software upgrade that every system needs

Support from Bambounou, Madam X, Special Guest DJ, Opium Hum/Michail Stangl (Boiler Room), Lurka, Bruce, orson (version)

TRACK LISTING

A1. I Lost All My Data
A2. Slippery Tuff
B1. Ecstatic Dub (Roller Mix)
B2. Oxygen

Repress of this Bicep killer from 2013. The London-based duo of Andrew Ferguson and Matthew McBriar had a breakthrough year in 2012, four years after the pair's Feel My Bicep blog first began.2013 saw them play in more than a dozen countries, including major gigs across the US, China and, more recently, Australia, with particular highlights including a peak time set at Berlin’s haloed Panorama Bar and capacity crowds at both Sub Club and Trouw.

This EP showed a deeper and more focussed musical direction from the pair: abandoning their 90s house rivaval and adopting a more sophisticated and technology driven aesthetic. Highly electronic and with enough thrust for the big stages, it begam to form what would become the incredible Bicep live show - now famous across the world for its rich, highly kinetic feel and futuristic vibe. 

TRACK LISTING

A1: Stash
A2: Courtside Drama
B1: Rise
B2: The Game

Lvcchesi stings hard with his second release of the year. Taking influence from that juke energy, swirling it up with ultra-psychedelic flurries and at times merging it with ambient textures and blurred moods on this 3 tracker full of club heat and reflective mirror soundscapes.

Standing proudly out on it's own, with a reckless production aesthetic full of time switches, miss/re-sampled vocal snips and meticulous, precision drum engineering. For a unique blast of technically engineered club-focussed brilliance which is loads of fun to boot, look no further! 

TRACK LISTING

A1. Esci
A2. Guanti Estivi
A3. Vetro 

Chicago's Jana Rush returns with "Painful Enlightenment", an intense emotional rollercoaster of disfigured samples, quivering electronics and vagrant percussion. As implied by the title, the album is a document of her own personal growth through struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts, a glimpse into a dark period of her life amid learning the art of letting go. Her debut for Planet Mu is the follow-up to her twisted "Pariah" LP on Objects Limited. It's euphonic and uplifting, even blissful, yet equally chilling, and at times a difficult listening experience. Jana says "This album is not a footwork album. It's more like dark experimental listening music, an opportunity to be myself without judgement!"

The album opens up with the pessimistic "Moanin’", its gorgeous, blazing sax solo pulled back and forth like it was being played through a possessed tape recorder. Baneful bass pulsates over dozens of maniacal vocal samples on "Suicidal Ideation", an absolutely mesmerizing collage of beauty and terror with a runtime of nine minutes. Moody guitar plucks cry over an intricate bed of micropercussion and erratic low-end blasts on the title track, one of the more sombre moments of the album. At the halfway mark, the record takes a dark, twisted turn, as "Disorientation" well, disorients, with its thick layers of untraceable alien sounds unfolding and contracting back into themselves. Thick layers of time-stretched textures and bewildering rhythms meet masterfully placed snares on "Intergalactic Battle", featuring Teklife’s DJ Paypal. On "Drivin’ Me Insane", Jana and collaborator Nancy Fortune stretch three words back and forth and inside-out over the course of three minutes, using every last gasp and sibilance possible. The album closes with Paypal making his second appearance. "Just a Taste" is an encore featuring many of the fundamental sonics that make up the LP, haunting horns and paranoid voices struggle to speak over fluctuating low-end harmonics.

An established veteran from the world of ghetto house and juke who cut her teeth on Dance Mania records in the late nineties, Jana has the stripes, so to call her an outsider would be fictitious, yet she is a true unicorn within the history of that realm and becomes more and more alienated from formulas and trends on each new record she creates. "Painful Enlightenment" is full of dense, intricate abstractions, paired with rapidly moving structures and is unlikely to sound the same twice, as every listen exposes new layers of its vibrant, transcendental details.

TRACK LISTING

A
01/ Moanin'
02/ Suicidal Ideation

B
01/ Painful Enlightenment
02/ G-Spot
03/ Disturbed

C
01/ Disorientation
02/ Mynd Fuc
03/ Intergalactic Battle (ft. DJ Paypal)

D
01/ Drivin' Me Insane (ft. Nancy Fortune)
02/ 3
03/ Just A Taste (ft. DJ Paypal)

*REPRESS*

OK, here it is folks, the undeniably infectious saccharin-laced future-proof jam that is "Lemonade" by Sophie. Love it or hate it, I guarantee you won't be able to get these sickeningly sweet hooks outta your head after just one listen! "Lemonade" will surely be looked at in years to come as a sonic symbol of post-modern, digital culture as we search for that ADHD-proof 'hit' riddled with novelty and stimulation. I think Pitchfork put it best with '"Lemonade" is a bouquet of ephemera, and we shouldn't be surprised that Sophie hid a firecracker in the bundle.’ At around four minutes long, this radio-friendly piece of crazed production is the crucial point in which bass music hit the masses, and watch it start a fire all over the internet and radio over the next month or so. On the flip "Hard" is even more frenzied, deploying rattling percussion, glistening motifs and machine-gun drum programming while a quick-fire female vocal talks about difficulties getting by for the modern club girl. With a massive future-rave breakdown towards the end, it’s another synthesized moment of legal-high goodness wrapped up in a succinct, concise, well executed package. Massive.

60k+ and counting Soundcloud plays over the first 24 hours
Currently charting #2 on Billboard’s ‘Emerging Artists’ chart
'You'll not hear anything else like this today' Zane Lowe BBC R1 show premiere (covered by Huw Stephens) (@ 47m15s)
‘SOPHIE's Lemonade is the most bonkers track we've heard all year’ Guardian
‘song of the day’ Diplo on Twitter
‘one of the best things I’ve heard all year’ Stereogum
‘"Lemonade" is a bouquet of ephemera, and we shouldn't be surprised that Sophie hid a firecracker in the bundle.’ Pitchfork
‘impossibly infectious’ Gorilla vs Bear

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Available once again. The first four Sophie EPs have become cult artefacts of leftfield-dance-pop. Last chance saloon if you missed 'em the first & second time!

TRACK LISTING

A. Lemonade
B. Hard

Sounds of Pamoja is Nyege Nyege Tapes' latest foray into the world of Tanzania Singeli, the breakneck dance strain that's quickly moved from Dar es Salaam throughout the world. Following "Sounds of Sisso", a compilation that focused mostly on the Tanzanian capital's Sisso Studios, this set highlights recordings from Duke's Pamoja Records. And while its predecessor brought attention to the producers, "Sounds of Pamoja" showcases the wide variety of MC talent under the Pamoja Records umbrella, with production mostly handled by Duke. Tanzania is a country of young people almost half of its population is under 15 years old and singeli is a young genre.

Duke started making music when he was 13 years old, and by the time he was 18 he had opened the Pamoja Records studio. He's joined on the compilation by a talented cast of young local talent: 20 year old Pirato MC, 19 year old Dogo Kibo, 20 year old MC Kuke, Dogo Lizzy, MC Dinho, MC Kidene and MCZO, the versatile rapper who accompanied Duke on a selection of global tour dates. The music is fresh and unpredictable, switching beats every few bars and rattling through hyper-local dance styles with jagged, joyful ease. But it's the MCs that push "Sounds of Pamoja '' to the next level, capitalizing on the vitality of Dar es Salaam's musical landscape as they trade bars, switch flows and somehow keep up with Duke's lightning-fast productions. It's breathtakingly unique dance music that recalls the youthful spirit of Detroit techno or footwork, with rapid body movement, social combustion and tongue twisting lyrical one upmanship guiding the rudder.

TRACK LISTING

1 Pigo La Moyo - Dogo Kibo
2 Nakupenda - Dogo Lizzy
3 Angekuwepo - Dogo Lizzy
4 Kamatia Chini - MC Dinho
5 Il Jini Song Wapi - MC Kono
6 Kwa Ajiri Yao - MC Kuke
7 Sherehe - MC Kuke
8 Ganja - MC Pilato Ft Mczo
9 Mama Ashura - MC Pilato
10 Wamenichoma - MC Pilato
11 Ushauri Wa Bure - Mczo