Sons Of Slough
Live EP

Wound Without A Tear is a compilation of “Australian” Ambient and Experimental Music; an area so often overlooked and misunderstood because it does not easily fall into historical context. However, the fifteen years (1993-2008) the collection cites–a period of early 90s post-rave ethereality defined by pleasure-centred spaces (chill-out rooms) and the personal computer’s emergence as a popular tool for file-sharing and secondary-living in the 00s–is befitting of closer examination.The recordings were sourced from artists, labels, corrupted disk drives, CD-Rs, the WWW and archives of Melbourne’s 3RRR community radio station.During the 1990s, as new technologies emerged and mass digital culture flourished, artists explored the emergent possibilities of the Internet with a utopian fervour, viewing the web and its plethora of images and information as a site of boundless potential. In the 2000s, file sharing connected people around the world directly to one another, and this incorporation of online experience into material objects, meant there was an increasingly porous border between the online and offline worlds–if there remained a border, at all.What is remarkable from this collection is that so many people, working (mostly) on their own came up with such remarkably similar ideas. In most cases these similarities can be related to the inherent qualities of the medium, though often any distinction is decidedly blurred at the edges.The compilation seeks to make the works of these various artists available as a means of “demystification”. No specific destination is intended upon. Perhaps by the time you have reached the end, you will have forgotten where you began.Endnotes:How do you pronounce the title? Wound /waʊnd/ Without /wɪðˈaʊt/A /eɪ/ Tear /teə(r)/1. Wound. Furl. Twist. Wrap. Surround. To Move Back orForwards to a Desired Point.2. Tear. Interruption. Disruption. Imperfection. Rupture.3. Two words evoke a chain of events.

From the label SEQUALOG run by TC80. It's 9th release by ILDEC.

Detroit mainstays Soiree Records return with a new compilation featuring label boss Drivetrain, Cloudmaster Weed & more.

After a short break, renowned underground label Bass Culture is back. The outlet has been a source of high quality electronic music since 2009, building a solid reputation over the past 13 years. Label boss D’Julz leads the charge with the first Bass Culture EP since mid-2021.The Est. 1992 EP sees the seasoned Parisian delving into his own history to produce four cuts that epitomise the sounds present in the early nineties, all wrapped up in contemporary packaging, so they sound fresh, polished and vibrant.The EP kicks off with ‘Highway’, which merges a 4×4 beat with rolling breaks. A funky bassline drops in along with a vintage melody. As the track develops, D’Julz adds more layers to create a symphony of retro sounds, all bouncing off each other to produce a delightful, uplifting cut.Next up, ‘Your Mom’s Fav DJ’ also utilises breakbeats to drive the track forward, with a solid groove undulating in the low end. Sultry pads add depth, while Rhodes keys usher in the jazzy second half after a short breakdown. A smooth, mesmerising cut full of flavour. The title track begins with a mysterious riff, gradually introducing that iconic nineties organ to form the bassline. The atmosphere is enchanting, D’julz building the tension and energy with a considered approach. A cut that has a relatively simple arrangement, which creates maximum impact as it hypnotises the listener with its mystical allure.Lastly, ‘SFUMATO’ closes the EP with a touch of high class funk. This is deep house with funkadelic rhythms straight out of the seventies era. The track emanates warmth, wrapping you up in its smooth, comforting composition. A great finale for an EP that epitomises the depth and range of Bass Culture… And we’re back.

Over the past year or so I have watched as the releases on Holding Hands got more and more intense. Don’t get me wrong, I love it. Intense and straight to the face was always the plan for the label. At the same time I do have slightly more varied taste and I had been getting sent a decent amount of incredible music that didn’t quite fit on the original outlet. My first love when it comes to electronic music is dark, eyes down, bass heavy and so it seemed like now was the perfect time to create a label with a slightly deeper angle to accommodate this sort of thing.