Forgemasters
Skies Over Sheffield EP

Varuna return to amenthia recordings with a fresh batch of their trademark hypno trips. Slow paced syncopated techno energy entangled in their iconic mystical dreaminess.

Album / LP Nor (pronounced “noolj") is DJ Sotofett’s Braindance album for SUED with music produced between 2002-2020. It was originally intended as a playlist for SVN between his studio sessions but quickly took the shape of this snappy LP balancing frenetic breaks and beautiful synthetics. The almost 20 year old tracks that pre-date all the Sex Tags projects are either made with one drum machine, one synthesizer and no sequencer – or Minidisc sample based collages pasted together on Qubase, while newer productions are partly programmed on Finnair.

Kreggo on Furthur Electronix!

XK025 sees a fresh label debut in the form of Cloudsteppers - a collaboration between Toronto based artists Ciel and Dan Only. Born out of an impromptu jam session at Dan Only's NDG 208 Studio in late 2019, the pair quickly hit it off. Ciel brought her trusty Korg ESX-1 sampler, and alongside Dan Only's arsenal of vintage synths and samplers, they quickly wrote the first two cuts of what would eventually turn into the first Cloudsteppers EP. After getting great feedback from playing them on tour and sharing with friends, the pair wrote the last two cuts when lockdown restrictions loosened during the summer of 2020.Both artists are instinctively melodically-inclined producers, so for this release they tried to focus more of their attention on the drums and fx, while limiting the amount of melodic parts in each track. Working within those parameters resulted in what is now their debut EP.Title track, “The Limit”, is a huge undulating cut of 160bpm energy - it shimmies effortlessly between skittish jungle, breakbeat and techno rhythms, centred around a tripped out sample of Manchester’s finest physicist, Brian Cox. “Slinky Bork” brings a distinctly UK Tech House flavour reminiscent of Housey Doingz, Get Fucked and others of the Wiggle/Euka House era - underpinned by a solid 4x4, subtle rhythms and spacey atmospherics abound.On the flip, “Diva Loops”goes in hard with a pounding kick, warbling bass and some massive clattering drums before breaking out into a playful melodic refrain. Closing things out, “Trigger Happy” is another functional 4x4 club cut full of skippy tech styles and punchy rhythms. A dreamy melody floats along into a tension building crescendo, complete with massive reese-ish bassline. Big!

12th Isle quickly follow on from the double LP 'Athenian Primitivism' by Christos Chondropoulos with two recordings from performance, voice and sound artist Lucy Duncombe. Cut to 10" vinyl and mastered by Morgan Buckley (Wah Wah Wino), 'Brace / Mend' are collaborative works exploring an early musical fascination with theatrical vocal transposition and its duality with machinic interference and technologies. Lucy recently expanded upon this practice with a joint tape release with DJ Crud (Al White) entitled THE RAPTURE OF CELLULAR ACCRETION. This limited run single continues 12th Isle's on-going relationship with musicians in their city of Glasgow.

After one year of break, Amam are back with nostalgic yet groovy beats by one of their oldest friends. Four enveloping tracks signed Difid that will put you in the dance mood.