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Joey Beltram

Classics

R&S

Few producers have had the same seismic impact on techno and rave music as Joey Beltram. Hailing from Queens, New York, Beltram was a key architect of the early '90s rave explosion and responsible for some of the most influential electronic records of the era - and it was Belgium’s R&S Records that gave many of these tracks their first home.

Originally compiled and released by R&S in 1996, Classics brings together the core of Beltram’s groundbreaking early output - namely the Beltram Vol. 1 (1990) and Beltram Vol. 2 (1991) EPs, alongside the legendary Second Phase productions ‘Mentasm’ and ‘Mind To Mind’ (1991), plus a selection of aliases and collaborative work from the same period, including tracks under Mental Mayhem, Open Mind, and Disorder.

Now remastered and reissued as a 2LP set for 2025, Classics is available on vinyl for the first time since 2006, offering a long overdue opportunity to own these timeless cuts in their purest form. Across the 13 tracks, you'll hear the sheer force and innovation that made Beltram a household name in underground techno.

Integral to this collection are ‘Jazz 303’ and ‘Psycho Bass,’ co-produced with Norwegian techno innovator Per Martinsen (aka The Alien), which stand out for their experimental, forward-facing sound - highlighting a futuristic edge even within Beltram’s already pioneering catalogue. Elsewhere, his Second Phase project with Mundo Muzique delivers the seminal ‘Mentasm’ and ‘Mind To Mind,’ two foundational tracks that introduced the infamous “hoover” sound to dancefloors worldwide. Rounding out the set are deeper cuts under his aliases Mental Mayhem, Disorder, and Open Mind, capturing the breadth of Beltram’s restless creativity and technical command during his peak R&S years.

‘Classics’ by Joey Beltram is available on R&S Records from 25th July 2025.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Joey Beltram - Energy Flash
A2. Joey Beltram - Jazz 303
A3. Joey Beltram - Subsonic Trance
A4. Joey Beltram - Psycho Bass
B1. Joey Beltram - My Sound
B2. Joey Beltram - The Melody
B3. Joey Beltram - Sub-Bass Experience
B4. Joey Beltram - The Reflex
C1. Second Phase - Mind To Mind
C2. Second Phase - Mentasm
D1. Mental Mayhem - Joey's Riot
D2. Open Mind - The Trance
D3. Disorder - Groove Attack

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Paul White

Peace In Chaos

R&S

Multi-instrumentalist and synth wizard Paul White readies his third album for R&S Records, offering up a cinematic journey on ‘Peace In Chaos’ that captures the current mood with its shadowy electronic prowess. With an unabashed love of 80s synth music and film scores, the South London based producer presents an album of perhaps his most pop leaning tracks yet, following on from 2018’s ‘Rejuvenate’ and 2014’s ‘Shaker Notes’. Across eleven tracks, White delves into a world of esoteric electronic pop, as waves of melodic synths wash over towering drum patterns and majestic bass, with White adding his own enigmatic vocals to many of the productions.

Paul explains the themes he was looking to capture when producing ‘Peace In Chaos’; “I’ve always heard music in a very visual way. I’d like to put this album out there as film, or game scenes, and it’s a movie or game about trying to find peace in a chaotic world”. Having previously written & produced for many artists, including Danny Brown, Sudan Archives and Jessy Lanza, White puts himself centre stage on ‘Peace In Chaos’, writing, performing, producing and recording entirely on his own, flexing his prodigious studio skills and keen ear for a powerful and engaging tune. None more exemplified than on this new album.

TRACK LISTING

1. Supernova
2. Glory In Stories
3. Humble Beginnings
4. My Lips Silenced
5. Surreal
6. First Sight
7. The Big City
8. In The Heart
9. Sky Castles
10. Burnt A Picture
11. Runway

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Aphex Twin

Digeridoo (Expanded Edition)

R&S

“It’s just too easy to make a standard dance track,” Aphex Twin said of his mindset back in 1992. “You’ve got to put a bit of thought into it to get something a bit different.”

‘Digeridoo’ was released on the Belgian R&S Records label in 1992, and originally peaked at #55 in the UK singles chart in May of that year. Over the last 32 years the track has become one of the essential Aphex Twin tracks in a gargantuan catalogue that continues to amaze and inspire.

“I wanted to have some tracks to play to finish the raves I used to play in Cornwall, to really kill everybody off so they couldn’t dance,” Richard D James, AKA Aphex, told Select magazine back in the 90s. “Digeridoo came out of that.”

Released as a 4 track EP that also included early Aphex productions (now classics) including the industrial, acidic clang of ‘Flap Head’ and hyperbolic futurism of ‘Isopropanol’, the release cemented a relationship with the R&S label that went on to release the ‘Xylem Tube’ EP and the pivotal album ‘Selected Ambient Works 85-92’ in the same year. The label’s owner & A&R Renaat Vandepapeliere reflected “When I first heard Aphex Twin’s music I said, ‘This is it!’, and everybody else said, ‘You’re crazy!’ …a lot of the hardcore R&S fans dropped us. To them it wasn’t music.”

‘Digeridoo’ (Expanded Edition) is the first time the EP has been re-issued with extra material. Whilst digging in his DAT archive (allegedly stored in an airtight military ammo box), Richard James revisited the recordings, encoding them through a Nakamichi CR7e cassette deck, using the customised deck with vari-speed to encode at speeds “felt right at the time”. Alongside these CR7e versions, the original mixes have been remastered by Beau Thomas at Ten Eight Seven Mastering, offering a dilated insight into one of electronic music’s most endearing releases.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Causing a whole stampede with electronica fans born in the early to mid 80s. One of the most pioneering and inventive releases from the psyche of a young Richard D James who would go onto to become a kind of UK demigod of underground electronica. Expanded with TASTY new bits ("Digeridoo" live in Cornwall!!) - this is a rightly treasured high watermark of what can be achieved when machines and genius combine.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Digeridoo
A2. Flap Head
B1. Phloam
B2. Isoprophlex
C1. Digeridoo (Cr7e Version)
C2. Digeridoo (Live In Cornwall) (Cr7e Version)
D1. Isoprophlex (Slow) (Cr7e Version)
D2. Phloam (Cr7e Version)

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