Collection: New Releases

The Fuori Orario label is back after making a fine debut with another notable EP. This one fuses electro, acid and breaks into something fresh and comes from Trascendance, who you might better known as Riccardo from fine EPs on labels such as Imprints, Metropolita and Elma Rivaga. 'Ultraverse' is the sleek and serene opener with its gurgling acid lines and progressive melodies over tight, pent up beats. 'Glifico' then ducks and dives with a spooky and haunting late night feel and 'Sonicsenses' layers in all manner of freaky vocal whirs. 'Temporaton' is last up and has a dark heart and real menace.

Passport is the inter-Atlantic duo of George Btp Dan Piu and Roger K. Versey and their all-new album is a truly global voyage of musical adventure. Wonderful Elixir is all about seeking the deeper grooves in dance music from a range of different genres. It's a seamless fusion of jazz and acid, deep house and street beat with special appearances from DJ Nata, Jesus Gonsev, and Grant. The likes of 'Prelude Turismo 97' is a Balearic beauty, 'Oceans of Emotional Wealth' is a shimmying groove with sensuous vocals and lush keys and 'Dream Delivery' is more prickly for those late-night dances.

Off The Grid unveils the second chapter of its label, this time with two tracks (A1 and B1) from Mataemon, an alter ego of Tolga Fidan, who puts his years of experience into forging two powerful cuts that balance the strengths of the past with the visions of the future, laying driving, deep and playful elements over steady grooves, raving straight from the heart.

For this release we decided to go back to the golden era of house, where we found an old misterious producer called Zeno Pisu. You might know him from his obscure EP called “Electric Voyage” made in 1995, but we decided to dig a bit deeper then that. The track A1 “Waiting For A Train (Crystal Edge) is a reissue from the Train Driver record made by Zeno in 1996, a super weapon that we have been playing for some time now, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to see this remastered specially for our label. We also went through old cassete tapes and some lost files to find the tracks A2, B1 and B2, which are some of Zeno’s unreleased productions made in the 90s, that are now finally seeing the light.

SAIS005.5 — a companion piece to the PMA EP by B-2DEP’T released on SAISEI earlier this year — is a unique one-sided 10” EP featuring a remix by Uruguayan producer Z@p. The Phonoteque resident reworks ‘BSMH’ with a classic 80s electro beat and bassline, funking up the groove for all the breakdancers in the crowd. The original vocodered lyrics — “Body/Sonic/Mental/Health” — resonate today as much as they did back in 1993, acting as a mantra for a new rave generation.

Japan will always be a source of great wonderment to us over the rest, as well as being a hugely inspirational land when it comes to all manner of cultures. Take electronic music, and specifically house and techno, which have always had their own distinctive take on the genre and that is now tapped into as Alex From Tokyo Presents Japan Vibrations Vol. 1, a tasteful compilation that transports you to the Far East and some of its finest moments from the 80s and 90s. Each tune comes from a trailblazer of the time and elements of ambient, downtempo, dub, world beats, deep house, new jazz and techno are all fused together into a faultless and tasteful collection.

There's no shortage of gems in Larry Heard's authoritative deep house legacy worthy of a fresh airing, and his Alleviated label embarks on a reissue campaign to bring some perennial classics back in arms reach. Heading to the turn of the millennium, this particular 12" pulls together a couple of tunes from different releases. 'Another Night' originally landed on the 2001 album Love's Arrival, and it sounds utterly timeless as it tenderly bumps out in a configuration of hazy chords and infectious groove, capped off by Shelby Johnson's smouldering vocal. 'Time Machine' came out the same year as a B side to the single release of 'Direct Drive', and it shows Heard's mellow tones set to a tougher beat when you want to bring a little bite to deeper-than-deep scenarios.

The American Midwest is of course the homeland of the house and techno scene that has since gone global, and now its two main cities of Chicago and Detroit are represented on this Midwest Rhythms Vol.1 from Windy City mainstay Mark Grusane partners up with 313 area man Eric Schwab. As such we're presented with five irresistible cuts that tick all the right boxes - dusty analogue production, fresh grooves and great synths and vocal samples that are sure to blow up any party but never resort to tired old tropes. There are slower and more mysterious cuts like 'Hot Pursuit' and tripped-out late-night jams like 'Dusk Drive' and plenty in between.