Netherlands

The exceptionally gifted Lars Bartkuhn (Needs/The Astral Walkers) debuts for Rush Hour with the excellent double A-sider Transcend’/‘Every Morning I Meditate’.‘Transcend’ is a wonderfully deep dancefloor floater centered around a brilliantly conceived electric piano theme that’s impossible to get out of your head, while ‘Every Morning I Meditate’ reaches into the depths of ambient house - a deep and dreamy Balearic-tinged sunrise workout destined to take you to higher plains.

gatefold 2xLP

Back in 2019, Safe Trip delivered a much-needed reissue of Trans-4m’s previously overlooked 1992 debut album, Sublunar Oracles, an ambient house and ambient techno masterpiece from Belgian brothers Stefan and Dimitri Van Elsen. Now the label has dived into their archives again to present an expanded edition of their sought-after 12” single Dencity, complete with a previously unheard cut.While the original album version of ‘Dencity’ was a meandering journey through spacey ambient house full of ultra-dreamy ambient textures twinkling melodies and languid deep house grooves, the alternative takes originally featured on the 1992 12” were far more club-focused and dancefloor-ready.This new edition boasts both of those gloriously kaleidoscopic and tactile revisions in freshly remastered form. There’s the EP opening ‘Urban Tribe Mix’, a bolder and heavier take featuring crunchier, weightier drums, gently psychedelic electronics and New Jersey garage style organ stabs, and the ‘Club Mix’, where saucer-eyed chords, echoing bleeps and energetic piano riffs help drive the track forwards.Over on side B there’s a chance to check an alternative version of the Sublunar Oracles album version, as well as previously unreleased track ‘Butterflies’. Recorded during the same period as the album at the Van Elsen brothers’ home studio in Antwerp, it’s a starry, slowly unfurling ambient delight in which waves of attractive, undulating synthesizer sounds, yearning chords and deep space electronics dance away atop a shuffling, soft-touch drum machine beat. While it may have been shelved way back in 1992, it’s every bit as immersive and tactile as anything on Sublunar Oracles.

Repress of this really hard to find Chicago classic from 1988..

Music From Memory are excited to introduce another new group for 2021, this time presenting the self-titled debut album from Loveshadow.Currently based in San Francisco, the duo of Anya and Izaak initially met whilst working in an Oakland cafe in 2016. The two Californians quickly bonded over a track by the ’80s disco band Aurra which was playing over the radio and almost immediately their separate journeys in music became interwoven. They soon began to write music and creating their own work would become a way for the pair to get closer to the sound they were searching for, as well as enabling them to discover the healing power of making and listening to music.‘Loveshadow’ was recorded predominantly in the Bay Area between 2017-2020 as well as whilst traveling to NYC, Chicago and around Portland. Having released previously as the outfit ‘S Transporter’ alongside Detroit friend Ryan Spencer, Loveshadow is formed of Anya as singer and song writer alongside Izaak on synthesizers, bass and percussion. This eight track album is the duo’s first release; exploring emotive Pop and DIY Funk leanings it stands as a joyful homage to the music they bond over, as well as an ode to their own love and friendship.

Gatefold 180 gram vinyl 2xLP + booklet with obi-strip