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Pinchy & Friends

Erased Tapes

Theiz returns to EPM in their 25th year with his sixth release on the label. A heartfelt EP of emotional electronics, dedicated to his late father in law. Dutch producer Mathijs Schippers (aka Theiz), now Belgium-based, while honouring his early 90s roots, has gained steady traction through the 2020s with releases on Belgium's Crossfadesounds, Iceland's Moatun7, Canada's Stasis Recordings and a steady home at EPM Music. He continues crafting evocative music blending soulful techno with ambient, dub and broken beat influences. The EP starts with the uncoiling, dappled warmth of Sunrise Dub before Play The Game takes us even deeper into the calming embrace of Theizs machines. Then we up the tempo with the more dancefloor focussed Its Raining Stars and finally the title track When The Machines Are Unplugged: Finally Rest injects a sharper edge into the glowing sonic palette. When The Machines Are Unplugged; Finally Rest is my way of processing the passing of my father in law, who found peace after decades of psychological suffering and a final coma. My music often transforms what happens around me into soundnot to impose that emotion on the listener but to offer a space where others might find something they need, just as I did while creating it.

Boom Records LLC

Bright morning. To noon and into afternoon. To dusk and the inky night. A major new exhibition of Mammos music spread across a triple disc, twelve track album. Call it a compendium or summary, a network of sparking neurons and painted landscapes in techno. It folds in all the aspects of his other identities (self-)released over the last few years into an ultimate package ~ Heaven Smile, Ax, CoA-A, E35, Puddlerunner; really any other project Fabiano has assumed an identity under. It all finds its way into the code and format of Lateral in some way or another. Here the ground is given for the listener to hear just how much range and individual language there is in the music hes been making. Fully immersive, inventive and detailed while also elegant and light of touch. Its quite a package from one of the most talented techno producers right now, gesturing towards different genres and novel ideas in beautiful and intuitive fashion. Break the pack down for your preferred disc of the day if you like. Its designed with that modularity in mind. Disc one sparkles with vitality and a buoyancy. The middle disc has more drive and harder bites that you may want to amplify and split out to slot in a DJ bag. Sides five and six move into deeper, dreamier and more emotional techno in twilight. Each one is a little distinct and has its own orbit. But give it your full attention on the turntable platter too. A listen from beginning to end. Theres lovely dynamics and interplays in the narrative, and its a remarkable new body of work to let your time dilate to.

Y-3, the pioneering sports-fashion collaboration between adidas and Yohji Yamamoto, has for three decades dwelled calmly within the tensions of existence. In conceiving the brands long-awaited return to runway format at Paris Fashion Week, these codes laid the groundwork leading up to the Spring/Summer 2025 season. Whilst the focus for runway is traditionally placed on garments, models, styling, environment, and the pageantry in between it was crucial that music play an integral role in the conversation. Three seasons later, sound has informed creative direction from the very earliest phases of ideation. Commissioning all-original compositions has become a natural part of this ideology. The return to runway has invited the opportunity to define a new sonic palette for the brand, and beyond that, to usher in a new era of sound for Y-3 that echoes across music & culture. Following this ethos, and with a mandate to support obscure talent, Montreal duo Solitary Dancer have emerged as the first collaborators in shaping the intimate brand architecture of noise & feeling. With a body of work now spanning over a trilogy of seasons, the genre-defying Y-3000 imprint provides an outlet to disseminate & recontexualize the original compositions beyond the traditional runway. The label embodies Y-3s enduring commitment to explore innovation within opposing cultural forces. The works, originally released on Y-3000 as a series of white labels, are now being featured as a 612 vinyl compilation. Designed by Trevor Jackson and limited to just 99 examples, the recordings will also be made available both digitally and on streaming services for the very first time.

Cristian Vogel reprises his NEL alias for his sixth outing on EPM as he presents NEL and The Instrument of Shapes, an EP featuring two new tracks from the electronic maverick. Cristian Vogel is a long-term innovator in the composition, mixing and performance of electronic sounds. Spanning over 30 years in the vanguard of international electronic music, his work has been acknowledged as an outstanding influence in the fields of composition for stage, club culture and studio. His numerous album releases have graced such esteemed labels as Tresor, Mille Plateaux, novamute, Shitkatapult, Sub Rosa and more recently his own Endless Process label. His studio work as NEL is a departure from his more experimental album and sound design compositions and while these will continue, NEL tracks bear a closer resemblance to Cristians earlier production style, delivering tougher beats and rhythmic textures primarily using Modular synths in a hands on, improvised live-to-tape process. The Instrument of Shapes sees Cristian bury himself back into the deep grooves of dub techno with wonderful subtlety and sound craft to create a slow burning cavern of sound whilst Stepping Stones is a more carefree and loose modular affair that flits across bass and dark electronica with scant regard for a regular beat.

Circus Company

Greco-Roman

Bassy, percussion-driven excursions by Tartelet affiliate Nelson of the East. Super Deception dives into the uncanny beauty within the everyday, drawing inspiration from M.C. Eschers idea of super deception: the art of creating the impossible without illusion. Nelson of the East translates that concept into sound: deep, tactile basslines and intricate percussion twist familiar rhythms into hypnotic new forms. Textures and samples are lifted from their origins and reimagined, creating tracks that feel both ancient and futuristic, physical and dreamlike. The result is an electronic landscape where sound folds in on itself: a timeless, shape-shifting exploration of rhythm, resonance and perception. Nelson of the East is a Berlin-based sound artist, producer and educator. He operates at the intersection of experimental composition and club culture, shaping his craft both as a music teacher and behind the scenes as an experienced ghost producer.

.Vril and Rødhåd return with the third chapter of their ongoing collaboration OUT OF PLACE ARTEFACTS - A COMPLEX INTERPLAY OF ZEROS AND ONES will be released via WSNWG on the 20th of February. Featuring GiGi FM, Sara Clarke and Peryl the album moves toward calmer soundscapes and more deliberate compositions. While the preceding volumes laid out the duo's ongoing investigation into the numinous aspects of sound and texture, this chapter can be conceived as a clearing of sonic space. Yet beneath the surface, the familiar tension between disorder and clarity shapes the record's structural framework. What emerges is an album of uncanny cinematic melancholia, the traces of which were already present in the earlier volumes, now coming to full bloom.

Following her acclaimed 2023 release Flood City Trax, a dreamy, lo-fi take on footwork inspired by the crumbling rust-belt city she calls home, Nondi returns to Planet Mu with her second self-titled album, Nondi… While Nondi… retains some of the hazy, nostalgic atmosphere of Flood City Trax, it pushes her sound in bold new directions. I made this album to capture the sense of freedom I used to get from music when I was first discovering it all, Nondi says. Its meant to be cute, fun, kinda weird and emotional — but most of all, its a presentation of some of the prettiest tracks Ive made. Though she hasnt really experienced club culture where she lives, her impressionistic productions evoke the surreal, lingering sounds of a night out — the melodic haze that hums in your ears as you drift off to sleep. Lo-fi and melodic, yet fluid and free, her music carries a sense of flight and intuitive logic. Nondis influences range widely — Actress, Aphex Twin, footwork, and the stranger edges of dub techno are all felt, yet she hallucinates them through her own weathered, dreamlike lens. Her tracks often build from clashing loops that evolve and transform organically, or from familiar genre elements reshaped by her instinct for misty, heart-wrenching melody. Some moments stay closer to genre, like Broken Future 175, a drum-and-bass tear-out that dissolves into lush, blurred chords, or Just Hanging Out, a bruised and beautiful take on 2-step. Lead single Tree Festival feels like a blown-out fusion of rave energy and sped-up new-age bliss, while Death Juke drifts through off-beat vocal samples, pulsing drums and 8-bit FX, reminiscent of early Steve Reich reimagined through a Game Boy. Nondi… is a uniquely moving and exploratory album that expands her sonic world even further. Lo-fi yet luminous, playful yet profound.

Oathcreations

Making a welcome return nine years on from his last outing on Dekmantel, Makam offers up a generous helping of wayward grooves that take his curious spirit even further into unmarked territory. With a strong dub sensibility grounding his rich tapestry of percussion and instrumentation, Guy Blanken follows his own path to arrive at an album that embodies house music as a launchpad for experimentation. Blanken says himself he was determined to approach his first Makam productions in years from a place of total freedom Its not a single direction, but rather a landscape of sounds, moments, and textures. TARP feels like a new beginning, a free project that just had to happen naturally. The steady pulse of the club remains a guiding principle boldly manifested on heads down roller Static Shade, but even in the lilting organic loops and tumbling percussion of Forgive there is a funkiness thats beholden to continuous movement. At times the direct thump of 4/4 disco juts out as a call to dance, not least on Flying Birds and La Tuna, but elsewhere the rhythms are more slippery. Dub In Loen plots a delicate path through dub techno and Lummel Spirit casts off into pattering Balearic bliss. The pervasive dub mood of the record comes to the fore on expertly crafted stepper Diagonal Rain and crooked album opener Clear Skies. Jackie B lands as a love letter to quintessential deep house, and yet still theres a left-of-centre charm that gives the track a personality that is pure Makam. Exuding warmth and imagination at every turn, TARP is the perfect example of how to make a groove-oriented album a rich home listening experience. There are ample moments primed for the spectacle of the dancefloor, but the mellow hue and broad sweep of approaches make Makams welcome return utterly compelling from end to end.

Mule Musiq

MusicsystemM grew out of SUPERFLEX Music, a label focused primarily on animal-sound-based works. Founded in 1997, MusicsystemM was established as a collaborative project by SUPERFLEX, Copenhagen Brains, August Engkilde, B9, and KRUSHEM. With a primary focus on electronic music, the label was active for five years and released fewer than ten records.

Apollo (Belgium)

Tartelet Records

NAFF