Brazen
Strung Out

Re-issue of the long out of print Virtual Geisha album by Japanese Telecom (aka Dopplereffekt / Der Zyklus) first released in 2001. A further exploration of the culture and technologies from the land of the rising sun by Heinrich Mueller on the successor to the Japanese Telecom EP. This time the inspiration is more adult and Manga orientated and even goes a little more 'poppy' with Y.M.O insprired tracks. On Virtual Geisha there's also a first glimpse of the directions he'd take his other projects in the future on tracks like 'Enter Mrs. Suzuki' and 'Japanese Matrix'. While still keeping true to his Detroit Hi-Tech Machine Funk roots with Electro anthems like 'The Making Of Ultraman' and 'Beta Capsule'. Remastered and re-issued for the first time since its original release. Essential!!!

The Zru-esque adventure takes its suite with a full-length LP recorded in adventurous (avant) times. No time left for the deliverance of these melodious flights, playful tribalistic cadences and surrealistic lyrics. Art-Funk duo Zru Vogue tackles avec grand-chic inner themes in order to let the listener get lost in the domain of dreams and spirituality. Surfing on Californian rocks, Andrew L. Jackson & Rick Cuevas affirm here their heretic talent in an non-angular form. Zru is a (post) 'beat' poet.

A Colourful Storm launches a series of 12″ singles focusing on lesser spotted dancefloor gems: the first, two classics from the golden era of bleeps’n'bass techno with nods to Sheffield but apparently originating closer to Miami. Bassline monsters properly remastered by Mike Grinser at Manmade Mastering, Berlin. Watch those speakers!

The Alias Sessions by MurcofMurcof, the primary project of producer Fernando Corona, returns to The Leaf Label for the first time in thirteen years with a mammoth and visionary double album, The Alias Sessions. This collection brings together all the elements incorporated into the project to date - meticulous sound design, ghostly samples, forceful beats, diaphanous atmosphere - but pushes the sound even further in terms of both abstraction and beauty. This is electronic music of exquisite tension and ecstatic release, moving from barely audible details to explosive peaks, much of it delivered by earth-moving bass.Murcof first emerged during an exciting period of electronic music, operating at its cutting edge. Debut album Martes appeared on Leaf in 2002, when alternative possibilities enabled by advancing technology were just starting to come into focus. By combining stark beats - minimal techno, microhouse and glitch were all entering their heyday - with carefully layered sampling drawn in part from modern classical music, Martes was compelling in its moment but also looked to the future. It refused classification, even as its parts had clear antecedents. It grooved, but wasn’t quite dance music; it experimented with tonality, but each track was memorable. And it sounded like no-one else.

For Those That Knoe · Carl Finlow - A Selection Of Works Part 1 [KNOE 7/1]

Young Marco mines deep into the 90s era Italian house underground and strikes absolute gold... Part 2 of 2..This spring, Safe Trip will release Welcome To Paradiso, an expansive retrospective of the Italian dream house sound co-compiled by label founder Young Marco.At the tail end of the 1980s, a new take on deep house began to emerge from Italian studios. 'Dream house' drew inspiration from key U.S deep house records of the period � the spacey melodiousness of Larry Heard's productions, and the rich jazziness of tracks originating in New Jersey in particular � but sounded distinctly different. Its' 'head-in-the-clouds' feel � all rich chords, tactile basslines, fluid piano lines and starry electronics � made 'dream house' a uniquely Italian proposition.First and foremost, the style echoed the wavy, glassy-eyed positivity of the period more than any other. While music in the UK and the low countries was getting faster and heavier, Italy's 'dream house' producers continued to create music shot through with warmth and colourful musicality until 1993. While few 'dream house' records were made after then, its' sounds and loose aesthetic influenced subsequent styles such as trance and progressive house.During its' peak, dream house � or, as it was tagged by leading Italian label DFC, 'ambient house' (echoing the similarly minded work of UK pioneers such as The Orb and The KLF) � could be heard blaring from club sound systems across Europe. The style's popularity was fuelled, in part at least, by the runaway international success of "Sueno Latino".Welcome To Paradiso gathers together some of the finest examples of the style for the first time since the turn of the 90s. It includes a smattering of scene anthems � Key Tronics Ensemble's peerless "Calypso of House", Morenas's "Sonnambulism", the ambient mix of Last Rhythm's Italo-house classic "Last Rhythm" � alongside a swathe of hard-to-find, in-demand and forgotten gems.There are cuts from key players in the movement � the likes of Don Pablos Animals, Sasha (later to find fame with a strong of bouncy, piano-heavy Italo-house cuts), and Dreamatic � plus a string of lesser-known names whose contribution to the evolution of the sound should not be overlooked. Young Marco has also found space for Leo Anibaldi's "Elements", a rare deep house outing from a producer who later helped define the sound of Roman techno.Over the course of two double-vinyl compilations (and one extended digital download package), Welcome To Paradiso celebrates one of the most evocative and imaginative musical styles of electronic music's golden era. Kick off your shoes, turn your gaze skywards, and immerse yourself in the music.