After the bacchanalian feast that was Fluo V, a label-wide celebration of the maximalist energy set deep in Kindergarten's DNA, the imprint returns to its well-trodden split EP format, the clearest distillation of the label's collaborative spirit. On "Final Drive," new ground is broken as Sobolik and georg-i release music together for the first time. Born of longstanding mutual admiration and a budding friendship between the two artists, this project's story began when the internet pen pals met for the first time at a London studio to form the initial ideas for these tracks. Both artists already had a sizable body of collaborative works, and had been fans of each other for several years, trading dubs for touchstone sets at Honcho Campout and Feudal Festival. Their styles slotted together seamlessly, while their contrasting creative temperaments, Sobolik's haphazard flair and georg-i's frenetic precision, fused alchemically as they pushed the music forward in the ensuing months. The resulting tunes are propulsive, intense club tracks with a refreshing embrace of hefty bass-drops. "Forced Induction" pairs insistent, rhythmic synths with big, stompy bass and drums while buried vocal chops and secondary melodies worm their way around the soundscape. "Overtorqued" starts in glassier space, building in intensity around distorted horn sounds before slamming home a huge morphing bassline, stalagmite stabs and a pummelling beat. Higher frequencies make way for the nostril-rattling drum charge as the track progresses before a yearning lead melody folds back into the mix. A proper "let's have it" dancefloor moment at full throttle. Their individual tracks offer a kind of map key for discerning which ideas and elements may have come from who. With "Surface Tension" georg-i leans into a trancy sound palette and a nervous, staccato energy. Filters roll over the mix in a satisfying dance with squelchy, almost tactile, sound design ooze into every corner of the track. Sobolik's "Short Shift", on the other hand, is a big bompty stepper with a blown-out and somehow jaunty bassline, chimes and bells ringing around an illegible robotic vocal sample like a corrupted answer machine message and a recurring swelling of bright light that threatens to swallow up the track. When this falls away at the bass drop's satisfying thwack, the various flourishes shimmer and dance around each other in a mechanical ballet. A meeting of minds and ears to satisfy the cerebral and the somatic in equal measure.

Celebrating not just Ryan Elliotts faith in a vital new generation of producers and DJs, but five years of his own meticulously curated Faith Beat imprint, Have Faith is a bold new chapter for the Panorama Bar veteran. Before relocating to Berlin, Elliott cut his teeth spinning Detroit, so he pays it forward on this 34-track compilation, shining a dazzling spotlight on the local scenes and breaking new artists that promise to keep American dance music moving as it lurches towards a new era. When he was based in the US, Elliott realized how distant Europe felt for homegrown artists not just philosophically, but physically. Two years ago, he set about excavating the USs underground architecture, pooling contacts and tracks, and urging his wide network of friends to send over their best recommendations. The compilation coalesced organically, and pulls together a diverse canon of producers, offering them the global exposure they urgently need. Eighty percent of the tracks are from up-and-coming US-based artists from the Midwest and beyond, so with the 10th release on his label, Elliott lays down a glimpse of a possible future of underground house and techno that counters the scenes contemporary Eurocentricity. This music was born in the US, and its evolution might still be in American hands.

Celebrating not just Ryan Elliotts faith in a vital new generation of producers and DJs, but five years of his own meticulously curated Faith Beat imprint, Have Faith is a bold new chapter for the Panorama Bar veteran. Before relocating to Berlin, Elliott cut his teeth spinning Detroit, so he pays it forward on this 34-track compilation, shining a dazzling spotlight on the local scenes and breaking new artists that promise to keep American dance music moving as it lurches towards a new era. When he was based in the US, Elliott realized how distant Europe felt for homegrown artists not just philosophically, but physically. Two years ago, he set about excavating the USs underground architecture, pooling contacts and tracks, and urging his wide network of friends to send over their best recommendations. The compilation coalesced organically, and pulls together a diverse canon of producers, offering them the global exposure they urgently need. Eighty percent of the tracks are from up-and-coming US-based artists from the Midwest and beyond, so with the 10th release on his label, Elliott lays down a glimpse of a possible future of underground house and techno that counters the scenes contemporary Eurocentricity. This music was born in the US, and its evolution might still be in American hands.

5 years after the New York label launched into the uncertain world of the COVID pandemic, Kindergartens place in the New York landscape is secured. Today, the label releases its most laser-focused collection of tracks to mark the anniversary, punctuating a deep catalogue of heaters that have pushed a unique take on bass music marked by a fervent futurism and scattergun rhythmic flourish. Kindergarten has acted as a nursery of creativity for a core crew of artists discovered through physical proximity and online connection alike, and always through shared appreciation for tough and ready dancefloor sounds and genuine friendship. Fitting then, that every one of the Kindergarten alumni returns with quintessential rhythmic intricacy and head-spinning quirk, reaching for what now feel like classic Kindergarten touchpoints. Whether its knotty, muscular techno (Zipper, Tidal Bore, Lips Loose), weapons-grade sound-design (FBchord, Blah), somersaulting 160 (Mushin, splattertek, Dash You) or gnarled nods to trance (rAin, Aether Wounds, what the body does) the essence of Kindergarten is here in all its amorphic glory. Helmed by a queer woman amid the traditionally cishet and hypermasculine bass music milieu, Kindergarten helped pioneer these sounds in a city that had yet to fully adopt them as its own. Inclusivity and a family feel is at the heart of the label: witness any of Kindergartens monthly mega b2bs on The Lot Radio and you can feel how much fun the crew have playing together and how freely ideas bounce around. As ever, these tracks are bound by the same wild abandon at their core. Five years is a long time in club music, and its no easy feat to build a catalogue of music and a tight-knit community of people, all with disparate influences, and remain committed to experimentation and play while the results retain a crystallized identity. But listen to any of the eleven tracks in here and you will know what makes a Kindergarten record.