Back catalogue: All genres

Review: After a remarkable project launch last year - the red ribbon cutter DJ Friction Presents Ground Control for Sedsoul - the d&b uberlord DJ Friction now lifts the lid on his new and very different label Soulsonic, with the aid of soul companions Soulkitchen, cracking the safe with a vibrant 7" single ahead of his second full-length. 'Step Into The Light' is a vimmy slice of funk-disco, with powerhouse vocals from David Whitley on the A, whose body-power could only manifest in counterpart to a stripped back B on the flip. The track's gospel inflections recall the electrified optimism of early 80s dance music, thought it also grafts on robo handclaps and tight modern production.

Review: James 'Burnski' Burnham already runs about 7398 labels but recently kicked off another, Gravitate. The mission is simple - to put out club-ready cuts that have plenty of character. All of these come under the same name as the label and artist which indicates how much it is a label all about the music. The first one has a JayDee-style dark bassline, the second one brings old school house rawness that brings to mind the MAW sound and the third one is a more roomy cut with space for the synths to encourage a bit of introspection. The closer is the best of the lot, a silky deep house groove with real drive and trippy synth details.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


Volume One of a label retrospective of pioneering early 90s Prog House label Interactive Test Compiled by Alex from Utopia Records and enigmatic Interactive Test founder Franco Falsini. Falsini, responsible for many of the underground classics on the label he founded in Florence in 1991 was first known for his 70s Italian Prog / Cosmic group Sensations Fix. A trailblazer who continued to push the boundaries of electronic music two decades later with Interactive Test, accompanied by the up-and-coming talents of Trance hero DJ Miki the Dolphin, his brother Riccardo and an host of cult Italian music producers. Here we start with 5 tracks from the archive, all highly collectable, remastered for DJs and psychedelic music enthusiastic alike from the best sources possible. Authentic and original dance sounds still hitting the spot in our times.

Review: Indiana singer-songwritern Lisa Germano's 1994 moody dark indie rock masterpiece has been remastered at Abbey Road Studios in London. This expanded edition - released as part of 4AD's Record Store Day spread - includes 'The Mirror Is Gone' and the five-track EP 'Inconsiderate Bitch', making it a bumper version of one of the key albums of the 90s. Germano's voice is a thing of wonder with lyrics that cut through the noise. The sonics underpinning her voice are often sparse and atmospheric, allowing us listeners to really feel the intimacy of feeling. It's no wonder the likes of Eels, Bowie and Iggy Pop called her in to guest on their records.

Review: Originally released in 1981 via Bronze Records, Hit & Run would serve as the sophomore full-length from London's Girlschool. Reaching No. 5 in the UK Albums Chart with the title-track charting at No. 32 in the UK singles, the album was the band's biggest success, even landing them an obligatory mime performance on Top Of the Pops. Returning to London's Jackson's Studios to work with producer Vic Maile, who handled desk duties on their 1980 debut Demolition, the project saw the group ramp up their speed and melody, ultimately cementing their place as somewhat retrospectively overlooked pioneers of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWBHM). Reissued or rather "revisited" for Record Store Day 2025, this lush, limited red wax pressing features cuts such as the iconic opening banger 'C'mon Let's Go', which appeared in the Gemini Award winning 2005 documentary Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, as well as their much adored rendition of ZZ Top's 'Tush'.

Review: Seattle-raised, New York-based singer and pianist Eliana Glass releases one of the most arresting debuts of the year, finding her own nuanced style after years training as a jazz vocalist and being in steeped in records by Nina Simone. Glass' love of more indie influences, such the ethereal Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins means she fuses technical excellence with a more emotional led timbre that, in turn, brings you closer to her soul. 'On The Way Down' is a great place to start as it's a stunning marriage of piano and vocal but when she just plays piano the hairs stand on the back of your neck, too. Check out 'Song for Emahoy' and try not to cry.

Review: Recorded at Portland's Type Foundry studio i where American instrumental experimental rockers Grails' earliest records were born i Miracle Music is the band's 12th long player and weaves acoustic and electric guitars, synths, brass, woodwinds, percussion and samples into an expansive, cinematic tapestry. Drawing from early industrial textures, classical elegance and psychedelic ambiance, the album crafts a heavy yet ethereal mood. Tracks like 'Silver Bells' pulse with vintage electro urgency, while others invoke a sense of reflection and grandeur. This balance of boundary-pushing intensity and airy melodicism reflects Grails' quarter-century commitment to reinvention. As both a nod to their origins and a bold step forward, Miracle Music stands as one of Grails' most personal and profound releases i a key to their ability to transform eclectic influences into something singular and deeply moving.

Review: Following the success of Lo-Fi Ghibli in 2022, underground hip-hop head Grey October Sound is back with a new cover album that finds him reimagining iconic Japanese city-pop tracks through lo-fi hip-hop. It is another gem from P-VINE that features laid-back reinterpretations of classics such as Miki Matsubara's 'Mayonaka no Door,' Yasuha's 'Fly-Day Chinatown,' and Taeko Onuki's 'Tokai' alongside songs by Tatsuro Yamashita, Mariya Takeuchi and Yumi Arai. It's. Lush world of carefully hinted at nostalgic melodies with relaxed beats soothing mind, body and soul, all with a lo-fi and retro city-pop charm.

Review: Oskaa-born but truly otherworldly producer Daichi Furukawa, aka Ground, is back with a new album that is here to bend your mind and distort your reality with his fourth world follow-up to 2018's cult favourite Sunizm. This experimental odyssey truly defies genre, logic, and linearity as it assembles a chaotic yet mesmerising fusion of organic samples, synthetic textures, tribal rhythms and cosmic noise that are fantastic and freaky. Yaoyorozoo is one of those records that feels both ancient and futuristic as it taps into beautiful and unsettling, inviting and disorienting rhythms and sample sources. Across 73 minutes, it mutates like a dream-always shifting, never settling, so it makes for a cerebral collage for wide-open minds and ears only.

Review: German pair Markus Guentner and Joachim Spieth rightly got plenty of acclaim for their 2023 ambient album Overlay and now it gets revisited with a top selection of remixes that breathe new life into the original compositions. Prominent ambient and experimental artists such as Hollie Kenniff, Rafael Anton Irisarri and Pole all show their class while newer names like Abul Mogard smears synths into a misty wonder on 'Scope', Galan/Vogt layer in angelic vocal tones to 'Valenz' and Leandro Fresco brings a lightness of touch that fills with optimism on opener 'Apastron. Guentner and Spieth themselves provide two alternate versions of their originals that bring new emotional and sonic depth.

Review: UK rapper Sonnyjim and producer Giallo Point deliver a cinematic masterclass in street rap on their new collaborative album. Sonnyjim's razor-sharp wit and sardonic charm cut through every bar of No Vi$ible Means of Income 3 while weaving tales of crime, luxury and survival with grit but also lyrical elegance. Giallo Point crafts lush, noir-inspired backdrops full of moody strings, dusty loops and crisp drums that feel ripped from a gangster flick. The album stays proudly UK-rooted with top-tier guest spots from Jehst, P4VAN, Juga-Naut, Farma G and Beny Laylo, all of whom help make an immersive world of suspense and swagger. British hip-hop at its most refined and raw.

Notes: Existing for a few short years (1984 - 1988), El records was perhaps the most 'cult' of the UK so-called 'indie' labels. El records was created in 1984 by Mike Alway. Alway was A&R man for Cherry Red, signing artists such as Everything But the Girl, The Monochrome Set and Felt. Alway left Cherry Red to help run Blanco Y Negro (an offshoot of WEA) but soon felt constrained by the conservativism of the commercial music sector and left to set up his own label. El was once described as 'the most innately English record label there has ever been' and yet had a global appeal. Alway must be the only record label boss to have had four songs written about him.

Alway's mercurial approach was to take complete control of the repertoire, the philosophy of the label's releases and even the titles of songs in the manner of pop impresarios of the past. Alway became a curator, selecting, shaping and overseeing the records issued on El. He employed songwriters proficient in classical pop techniques such as Nicholas Currie (AKA Momus) and Philippe Auclair (AKA Louis Philippe) who in addition to issuing their own records wrote, arranged and performed for other el artistes and used creative talentssuch as photographer Nick Wesolowski and designer Jim Phelan to create the El "look".

El had a unique flavour eschewing the traditions of rock and indie music of the mid 1980s, exhibiting instead a taste for 1960s bubblegum and chamber pop, the European chanson tradition, Latin rhythms and film scores (one of El's key players was child prodigy Simon Turner who wrote music for the films of Derek Jarman).

The ethos of the label was decidedly un-macho and many of El's key artists were female. El's first single "I, Bloodbrother Be" by Shock Headed Peters was an uncompromising gay anthem. Alway saw El as a celebration of elegance and beauty, in his own words, "a pop world beyond leather jackets and jeans". While record sales were disappointing, this unique blend was critically acclaimed in the UK and popular in America and mainland Europe while in Japan El had a profound effect, directly influencing the Shibuya-kei phenomenon that included Pizzicato Five, Cornelius and Kahimi Karie.

Bright Young Things is the first book to tell the fascinating story of El, one of the most influential indie labels of all time.