Velvet Velour
Wonderful World Of You

V World is Vitess AKA Vytamin’s second album. It follows on from Cyber Zone, the Frenchman’s first LP that was released to widespread industry acclaim last year. Eight months have passed since, with several releases springing up in between. From Up The Stuss to Locus, to Pont Neuf, Shall Not Fade and more, his musical footprint is plain to see.Now the latest step will be placed in March with the release of his second LP: V World.“My first Retrofutura album, Cyber Zone, was inspired by nocturnal cities, like the progressive house side of the ‘90s. V World represents the brighter side. The LP features a strong electronic sound, with tech house touches and robotic voices that symbolise the universe of the album.” – Vytamin.Critical Battery gets proceedings underway, with four-four drum patterns forming a groove-fuelled, club-ready backbone. The near seven-minute cut feels spacey and dream-like in one, opening into the similarly ethereal world of TSD. Wavey synth pulses converge on acid-esque soundscapesthroughout, before Fake Planet arrives next.Shimmering key patterns transport us to worlds far removed from our own, leading us deep into heads down, hands up territory, whilst thick kicks marry up alongside. Unatural comes next and manifests as a fizzing, no-nonsense club cut to begin, with dreamy melodies brought in as the trackunfurls.Playful and bouncy, it sets the stage for Kangoo, a more breakbeat-esque number that draws inspiration from the French car of the same name. Robust percussion gives the track a hardened edge, paving the way for V World to come soon after.Starry female vocals help us drift into a surreal musical landscape, whilst Insane ratchets up the pace courtesy of low-slung, echoing bleeps right the way through. We’re then treated to the penultimate cut on Twister, an out-and-out club piece that swings neatly into the closing sounds of Final Warning, rounding off proceedings on a hazy, blissed-out note.Vitess is the genre-hopping DJ and producer leading the charge for France’s underground renaissance. Known under several pseudonyms, including Vytamin, Grand V and Flamant Rouge, his musical output has caught the attention of some of dance music’s leading publications, one being Resident Advisor.2022 was a particularly fruitful year for the Frenchman, with a slew of releases landing on several of the scene’s most well-known labels. Be it Shall Not Fade, Locus or Chris Stussy’s Up The Stuss, his productions prove that quality and quantity can come in equal fashion.Now V World ushers in a new era for his own Retrofutura Records imprint, picking up where Cyber Zone left off and setting the tone for a highlight year ahead.

XOLOT is a mexican-french duo composed of Vica Pacheco and Apulati Bien, both sound and visual artists based in Brussels. They present on Promesses their debut release: 'XOLOT', an eponymous 6 track EP where Vica’s warm voices and neo-bolero flow melt with Apulati’s cold and evolutive beats. The result is 6 ovni songs somewhere between de-construct dancehall, minimal trip-hop and glacial R’n’B. XOLOT creates music in order to celebrate love, life and death. Their debut EP will be out on the 11th of June in digital and limited edition white vinyl (with a handmade silk-screened cover, designed by Eliott Grunewald).

Obvious Transfer are back with a killer third release from QNTM CTRL. The super limited OBTRAN003 EP delves further into the wormhole, with a heady mix of dub and techno on 'Smokehouse Shift', followed by experimentations into outlandish abstract electro, in a King-Tubby-meets-Autechre trip through outer space and beyond. An unmissable, otherwordly release from the new Cultivated Electronics-born experimental collective!

Francesca returns to Pleasure Club with yet more excursions into the ethereal with the Homology EP, touching on dub techno, ambient soundscapes and electro futurism.As the name suggests this record explores the concept of similarity of a structure, or function of parts of different origins, based on their descent from a common evolutionary ancestor. Following on from her ‘The Inside Out’ LP of 2020, this time Francesca explores the outer realms of electronica whilst always coming back to the core essence of her vision.

N-gel is back on Memento with his brand new 4-track “Wild” vinyl, plus an exclusive extra track for the digital release. Following up to his 2020 EP “No matter who I’m” that saw him debuting to much acclaim on Idriss D’s label, the talented producer returns to what he does best. “Control” is an energetic, stripped down groovy Chicago House-inspired number, with an infectious bassline and robotic vocal samples. “Dance” opens with a steady beat and flows with a crescendo of synth arpeggios that create a hypnotic mood. “Dreaming” speeds up the tempo with plenty of jacking snares and sounds from outer space. Title track “Wild” is upbeat and pumping, its swinging melody a catchy ear candy for the most discerning dance floor connoisseurs. “The night is my house” closes off the release as the digital bonus: loopy vocal snippets and an old school big room melody take it up a notch, ending the EP on a high note

While digging for music at Snickars records in Stockholm, local producer, DJ and promoter Maya Lourenco aka Parallax Deep came across two classic goa/psy tracks. These were ‘Gobi Desert’ by 100th Monkey & Tristan (released on Matsuri Productions in 1995) and ‘Bunker’ by Four Carry Nuts (released on Aurinko Records in 2000). She took the records home and began working on creating her own edits by expertly slicing and re-arranging different sections of the tracks and coming up with her own unique versions staying true to the original identity, giving new life to two classics from decades past.