Trent Voyage Elena Moroder
Aquamarine

Amsterdam based DJ and producer Mayo joins the Fides family with her Frenemies EP marking the 15th release of Fides Records.Mayo showcases 5 cuts of finely crafted electro and EBM-influenced Techno, it's impossible not to be drawn by her distorted voice that defines each track.Unrelenting grooves and a deeper look into her analog sound design flair, these tracks are timeless in sound and production quality.“Tell me how you die” kicks it off as the A1 with stomping analog kick and drums, a dark jumping bassline pushing the groove with ethereal synths.“Not your shadow” as the A2 strips it back into a 303Acidbass-based track marked by singular industrial sounds and Vocal Shots that are lost in the groove carried by a background synth sequence that follows throughout the track.The last track of the A Side is “Frenemies” a pulsing, meditative composition featuring label owner and Tresor resident Z.I.P.P.O, who added to Mayo's energetic, analog and eventually dark sense, a more mental, deep and intense face typical of the Italian artist. The B Side starts with Miami Legend Danny Daze’s Hell Mix of “Frenemies” in which he exhibits his unique sound design techniques, combining tribal-tinged rhythm, sharp FX that pops up from the corners of the soundscape with stretched vocals in order to highlight the track's protagonist: a modulated brass bass.Mary Lake’s Remix of “Tell Me How you Die” closes the EP with a deep kick drum driven forward with rolling and modulated closed hats that run through the track while atmospheric sounds carry the filtered Brass before dissolving into the end of the track.

Altered Circuit kicks off the year strong with a new release by Innershades himself. The label's head honcho takes a dive into the dephts of the sea and delivers a solid four-tracker on that sweet electro tip!

The second release to come out of Sound Metaphors’ collaboration with the Italian electronic music Don, Gianpiero Pacetti aka JP Energy. “I Have A Pessimistic Outlook Of Life E.P.” showcases a considerably more mature and polished sound relative to the previous release as the artist moves into the end of the 90’s and seems to shed the naive playfulness one could still hear in “Strano E.P.” with it's Italo-disco influences. Here things get more serious and even more “industrial” with a darker and perhaps more cynical tone, not unlike the title of the EP. A 3 track record, very much oriented towards the dance floor, “Fantastic Machine” comes in at over 130BPM with a very metallurgical flavour, something one could imagine hearing at a moving assembly line for car engine parts in a factory somewhere in Brescia, yet with an overlaying eerie nuance. “Automatic Sun” comes in with a very driving beat, the secret weapon of the release by all means, very effective employment of electronic percussive elements. And finishing the EP, Gianpiero’s Requiem to the format, a once record store owner who by 1999 might have already been feeling the tides of change brought in with the early CDJs (one could imagine) “The End Of Vynil” goes into full on electro territory with the beat and very much in tune with the title expresses a funerary darkness with the melodic elements. All in all, no need to put on sunscreen for this one. Remastered with new full cover artwork.

The first VA release from Scottish rave Headset, showcasing unsung Scottish artists making sound system music in any tempo.LWS opens with a broken UK techno tool. Kamus follows with a halftime 90bpm techy stomper.On the B-side, Aggregate Culture go hardcore jungle rave. With Delahunt closing the EP with a unique, dubbed out 160bpm number.

Limited to 150 copies! Huge remixes by L.F.T., Olivia, Charlie and Marco Segato of Chino's Common Oddity EP.