Visions of Light For Visions of Light, finishing an album does not seem to provide much reason to stop making one. The Belfast trio of Simon Sheldon, Muzka and Dan Dub Lounge only introduced their full-length vision with 2025 debut The Mandala Vortex, before returning with Dedications, an EP that dismantled records by NJOI, New Order, Liquid, De’Lacy and Underworld and rebuilt them through the group’s Balearic and dub-informed language. Now, second album Mycelium Bloom pushes considerably further outwards. Their familiar deep bass, spacious electronics and live instrumentation remain, but acidic details, psychedelic textures and increasingly strange atmospheres have begun spreading through the spaces between them. The speed of that evolution is not the result of a particularly prolific album campaign. Visions of Light simply never stopped. “We operate as a continuously producing trio, driven by our shared love for creating and sharing ideas,” they explain. “We were completing the bones of our next project before the previous one was even released.” “We never stop.” That constant exchange provides Mycelium Bloom with both its name and its underlying philosophy. Mycelium exists beneath the surface as an interconnected fungal network, and the trio saw parallels with a creative process built around ideas continually travelling between them. More broadly, the title reflects their belief in reconnecting with one another and the natural world at a point when they see increasing social disconnection around them. “We likened our collaborative process – where we travel back and forth, editing each other's input across various styles – to underground networks and natural mycelium systems that create life in bloom.” Where The Mandala Vortex represented a journey through “fractal beauty”, its successor is about “connecting with each other and nature via a network of pulses, rhythms and light”. It would be easy to read the album’s deeper psychedelic character as a deliberate change in direction. The reality is considerably less calculated. Visions of Light have operated from the beginning without fixed rules, genre targets or individual egos dictating the destination. One member might establish the bones of a track before passing it onwards, while several other ideas remain in circulation simultaneously. “We pass ideas back and forth to add, reduce, chop and change parts, allowing tracks to be completely transformed from what they originally sounded like.” The stranger electronics, acidic details and psychedelic edges of Mycelium Bloom emerged through that process rather than being imposed upon it. “The Mycelium network grew, and we followed.” That willingness to transform existing ideas had already been tested from another angle on Dedications. Taking culturally significant dance records and translating them into Visions of Light’s slower, spacious world required the trio to consider what actually survives when the familiar architecture of a track is removed. The exercise taught them about “how listeners connect with songs in different contexts” and how a musical story can be retold while transporting its audience somewhere entirely different. They initially saw little direct connection between that project and Mycelium Bloom. Looking back, the relationship is clearer. “Pushing past initial doubts by collaborating and combining our ideas helped everything click into place, without us realising that this also impacted the way Mycelium Bloom turned out. Everything is connected.” That final phrase could almost function as the album’s manifesto. Connection extends beyond the three musicians themselves to the places in which their ideas originate. Visions of Light do not exclusively create together in one studio. Tracks can begin in a winter cabin in Poland, on a train, in a back garden, a bedroom studio or somewhere deliberately removed from everyday life. Those environments inevitably find their way into the music. “Experimentation and familiarity combine to hopefully create something of interest that allows the listener to switch off and join our narrative for a few minutes.” Tracks such as ‘Split The Scene’, ‘All The Best Things’ and ‘Holding Jupiter’ make that invitation particularly vivid. Rather than simply moving through arrangements, they establish environments of their own, using low-slung rhythms, deep bass, guitars and electronics to create the sensation of being somewhere rather than merely listening to something. On ‘Perfect You’, the network expands again. Actor Richard Dormer contributes words and an emotive spoken performance, first shared with the trio in Ibiza, while Luis Vilca adds flute. Rather than placing those contributions on top of an already completed production, Visions of Light stripped away beats and complexity to create room around Dormer’s voice. The approach says something important about how they view collaboration. “We think building connections through other artists is as important as building connections with listeners, helping to extend the reach of the Mycelium Network.” The same philosophy has increasingly moved Visions of Light beyond the studio. A 75-minute sunset performance at Word of Mouth in Santa Eulària proved particularly significant. With the ocean behind them and friends gathered in front, Sheldon and Dub Lounge played live keys, guitar and melodica while Muzka filled the spaces between with carefully selected samples. There was no rigid plan. Instead, the set unfolded according to many of the same principles as their records: different elements interacting in real time, leaving enough space for the unexpected. “The combination of the ocean backdrop, the crowd of friends and our combined live approach […] unfolded perfectly and showed us how meaningful our live dynamic can be.” For music capable of conjuring Ibiza sunsets and imaginary psychedelic landscapes, Visions of Light nevertheless remains deeply connected to Belfast. All three members arrived at the project carrying different histories within the city’s musical culture. Electronic music, dub reggae, hip-hop, drum & bass and rock bands all sit somewhere in their collective past, alongside connections to local nightlife and community projects including Plan B and 5th Element. “Our diverse connections to Belfast […] heavily influence our work and reinforce our belief that good things grow from strong connections.” Once again, the language returns to networks. That might ultimately be what distinguishes Visions of Light more clearly than any genre description could. The Mandala Vortex, Dedications and Mycelium Bloom have progressively established a recognisable identity, yet the trio seem increasingly uninterested in defining the music itself. It is an apparent contradiction that suits them. Rather than protecting a formula, they continue drawing from a substantial backlog of ideas while introducing new instruments, effects, sonic palettes and visual elements. Each member can propose another route, and the collective decides whether it belongs. “We want to keep surprising ourselves and our listeners.” There is no predetermined destination attached to that philosophy, which is precisely the point. From three musicians exchanging unfinished ideas to collaborators entering the process, environments leaving their imprint and audiences completing the connection, Mycelium Bloom presents Visions of Light less as a fixed band than a continuously expanding network. Wherever that network spreads next, they seem perfectly happy to follow it. “Wherever we end up next, we will embrace it and be thankful to be there.” Grab your copy of ‘Mycelium Bloom’ here. Visions Of Light https://www.instagram.com/visionsoflight_music https://open.spotify.com/artist/5QJnnb9PGev2yM9aPzYCQH

Medlar Medlar has spent much of his career resisting the advantages of being easily defined. Since breaking through with ‘Terrell’ in 2011, the UK producer has moved freely through deep house, disco, broken rhythms, garage and jazz-inflected electronics, building a catalogue across labels including Wolf Music, Razor-N-Tape and Make A Dance. Rather than settling into one particular corner of that spectrum, curiosity has continued to pull him elsewhere. His latest EP follows the same instinct, although its different strands share an unexpected geographical connection. ‘Solar’, ‘Destino’ and ‘Rigel’ were all produced following Medlar’s move from London to the Caribbean, with outdoor dancefloors providing a loose conceptual thread that only became apparent afterwards. “I think the connections formed later and wasn’t too forced as all 3 tracks were inspired by outdoor dancefloors, produced shortly after a move from London to the Caribbean.” Rather than arriving in the studio with a fixed idea for the record, its identity gradually emerged from a change in environment. That openness is immediately apparent on ‘Solar’. Built around swung percussion, warm keys and a spacious groove, the track features South African vocalist mtsjungles, although their musical relationship had been waiting considerably longer than the record itself. “The instrument came first but we’ve spoken for over a decade about collaborating and she’s an old friend. I sent a loop at first and mtsjungles came back with an amazing full vocal!” The space within Medlar’s original idea gives that vocal room to become the track’s emotional centre. Around it sit several sounds that have become recurring features of his productions, particularly Rhodes, Solina-style strings and textures associated with the 1970s. Asked where the warmth so often present in his records comes from, Medlar gives a characteristically straightforward answer. “Boring answer but I think just sound selection.” It is deceptively fundamental. Rather than relying on processing to introduce character later, much of the record’s personality is already present in the instruments and textures being chosen at the beginning. New York producer JKriv subsequently takes those ingredients somewhere different with his remix of ‘Solar’, pushing the track towards a brighter Italian house feel while retaining the warmth of the original. The pairing was not assembled specifically for this release. Medlar and JKriv had already discussed exchanging remixes, with Medlar’s admiration for both JKriv’s productions and Razor-N-Tape making the relationship an obvious one once the right track appeared. “The remix exceeded my expectations and takes it in a different direction.” That willingness to let existing ideas mutate becomes even more apparent on ‘Destino’. Featuring spoken word from For Mankind, the finished record was not initially conceived as a single piece of music at all. “The collaboration started as a dub type tune which was 100bpm or something, and the instrumental was an unrelated project, sometimes something great is born out of combining 2 disparate projects!” There is something revealing in that process. For a producer whose catalogue regularly moves between styles, unexpected combinations are less a disruption to the workflow than part of it. ‘Destino’ brings a Balearic openness and brighter energy before ‘Rigel’ moves into deeper territory. Moog lines, restrained acid and a stripped-back groove evoke classic ’90s house, but Medlar avoids treating the period as something to replicate wholesale. “I think updated drums and structure but with similar melodies and sonics is a good way to bring a vintage sound a bit more up to date.” It allows familiar musical language to remain present without turning the track into a historical exercise. That balance between absorbing sounds and refusing to become overly attached to them has followed Medlar throughout his career. House, disco, jazz and broken beat can all appear within his records, even if specialising more narrowly might make his work easier to categorise. He is aware of the contradiction. “I think more than anything I’m just a fan of music, production and have a curiosity about trying to recreate sounds, it makes more sense to do one thing well, I think, but it’s been more honest to myself this way!” That last point perhaps explains the longevity of the approach. Variety is not being pursued for its own sake. It comes from an interest in production itself and the challenge of understanding how particular sounds work. The same organic quality applies to where those records eventually land. Rather than finishing music and cold-emailing labels until somebody responds, Medlar’s releases have often developed from relationships already established around him. “It’s usually born out of an existing relationship, it’s hard to hit up labels out of the blue with demos, so usually is born out of already talking or being friends then that can inform the creation of a demo or sometimes the right tracks just land in the right places.” Across a catalogue that has travelled through different labels, tempos and corners of club music, those relationships have provided structure without requiring the music itself to become more predictable. The new EP captures that particularly well. It moves from the soulful openness of ‘Solar’ through the Balearic leanings of ‘Destino’ and down into the later-night pulse of ‘Rigel’, yet Medlar admits there was little grand design behind the sequencing beyond knowing instinctively where it should begin. “I think it just felt that solar is track 1, beyond that I’d be happy with any order.” Perhaps the clearest unifying quality is instead emotional. There is an optimism running through these tracks, from the glowing textures surrounding mtsjungles to the open-air quality that connects music made after leaving London for the Caribbean. It was not something Medlar deliberately set out to communicate. “I think I’m more optimistic than I’ve ever been so that’s nice that that seems to be a thread!” That feeling is also pulling his productions towards increasingly ethereal territory, something he describes as containing “some optimism/naivety to it”. After years of moving between different musical languages, there is a fitting simplicity to that development. Medlar may still be driven by the desire to understand unfamiliar sounds, combine disparate ideas and avoid committing himself to a single lane, but the records inevitably reveal something about the person making them. On this EP, a new environment, old friendships and an enduring curiosity have converged around something unexpectedly straightforward: music that sounds like its creator is in a good place. Grab your copy here. Medlar https://www.instagram.com/medlar_ https://open.spotify.com/artist/35844Qnlihy0XsZ2zzVljT https://soundcloud.com/medlar

Caetano Malta After more than two decades spent writing, performing and creating alongside other artists, Caetano Malta is finally placing his own name at the centre of the story. The São Paulo-born, Paris-based singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has built a career through collaboration. Lucas Santtana, Bixiga 70, Flavia Coelho, Guts, MOMO and Arto Lindsay are among the artists whose worlds he has entered at different points, absorbing lessons in songwriting, production and performance along the way. Yet making his debut solo album was less a sudden reinvention than something that had gradually become unavoidable. “It was inevitable,” Malta says. “I have always composed, and I had already made a few collaborative albums as well as others that I wasn't able to release or finish.” A significant moment came with 2018’s Bambini. After sharing the songs with musician friends and receiving the encouragement to record them properly, Malta began trusting his own songwriting in a different way. “Years of practice had turned me into a good songwriter, so I gained a lot of confidence.” That confidence eventually became Eterna Juventude, his debut solo album for Favorite Recordings. Its title translates as ‘Eternal Youth’, but the idea behind it reaches considerably further than nostalgia. Malta began writing the record around the birth of his daughter. Through spending time with her, childhood memories started resurfacing alongside a broader idea about imagination and happiness. “My theory is that the wisdom of happiness lies in the mind of a child.” Central to that thinking is a Portuguese word Malta feels captures something particularly important: brincar. Unlike jogar, which can describe playing a game or competing, brincar means playing without the intention of winning. It is play for its own sake, an act of imagination without a predetermined objective. “It is playing purely to have fun, surrendering oneself to a world of imagination, fantasy, and enjoyment. It is the child's way of knowing how to live: being happy through imagination alone. That is the core of Eterna Juventude.” Living in France sharpened that observation. Malta noticed what he sees as a greater separation between adult and children’s worlds than in cultures such as Italy, reinforcing his belief that play is something adults too easily leave behind. Musically, that freedom arrives through a vocabulary developed thousands of miles away. Growing up in São Paulo exposed Malta to a city whose musical identity he describes as “immense”. His father introduced him to MPB, Brazilian rock arrived during adolescence, while friends opened doors towards reggae and the psychedelia of Os Mutantes and Pink Floyd. More importantly, São Paulo brought the rest of Brazil to him. “That is São Paulo: all of Brazil is inside it.” Working with artists from Alagoas, Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Recife and Belém do Pará expanded that vocabulary further, leaving Eterna Juventude rooted not in one neatly defined São Paulo sound but what Malta calls a “borderless mixture”. His years spent working with other artists proved equally formative. Malta describes those collaborations as having taught him “almost everything”, from watching friends construct songs to understanding record production, live shows and eventually the mechanics surrounding a musical career. Three relationships stand out in particular. “I learned—and continue to learn—especially from three very special people in my life: MOMO, Lucas Santtana, and Flavia Coelho.” The result is music steeped in Brazilian tradition without approaching that history as something that needs to be consciously preserved. For Malta, those sounds are simply part of the language he grew up speaking. “Brazilian music is inside us; it runs through our veins.” That instinct makes unlikely combinations feel natural. Working with producer Bruno Buarque, Malta can ask for “a groove that's half Cartola, half Radiohead” and expect to be understood. Samba and psychedelic rock do not need to be treated as opposing traditions when both already exist within the musicians making the record. The same instinct governs his melodies. “I believe that melodies are always floating around us; if our channels are open, we can receive them.” Only afterwards does the more cerebral work begin, developing those initial ideas into finished compositions and arrangements. Moving from São Paulo to Paris altered Malta’s perspective on that process. Rather than weakening his connection with Brazilian music, distance strengthened it. France also introduced new influences, particularly Congolese Rumba, but living abroad allowed Malta to recognise characteristics in his own approach that had previously seemed ordinary. “The distance made me better perceive my uniqueness and my Brazilian style,” he says. “Clearly, we Brazilians think about music differently than the French do.” For Malta, that difference manifests in an approach he considers more instinctive and closely connected to pleasure than technique. Recognising how distinctive that perspective could sound outside Brazil gave him greater confidence in his own identity. That exchange can already be heard across the trajectory leading to Eterna Juventude. Bambini explored samba and psychedelic folk from a more intimate, mysterious perspective, while 2023 collaborative album Au Revoir Saudade moved towards tropical pop. His debut carries traces of both while opening another door through the Congolese guitar style he encountered after meeting guitarist Dizzy Majeku in Paris. “They represent different phases of my life.” The album’s production followed a similarly open process. Malta initially worked alone in his São Paulo studio, building guide tracks from drum machines, basslines, guitars and synthesisers before moving into Estúdio Minduca with Buarque to record acoustic drums, percussion and vocals. Other musicians were invited in whenever the songs demanded something Malta could not provide himself. “Sometimes playing all the instruments isn't enough; you need someone from the outside with fresh ears to hear something that is impossible to notice for those deeply involved in the process.” On ‘Pra Se Molhar’, percussionist Denis Duarte unlocked a groove Malta and Buarque had struggled to find. Later, Guts listened with what Malta describes as his “sharp producer's ear”, offering small observations that helped bring the album over the finishing line. There is something fitting about a debut carrying one artist’s name being so dependent on other people. For Malta, becoming a solo artist has never meant retreating from collaboration. Instead, it changes his position within it. After years spent supporting other artists, he is now discovering the very different experience of becoming a frontman and building his own band in France. The project has already brought together musicians with whom he feels both a musical and personal connection, alongside a new relationship with Favorite Recordings. “My world is expanding, and I would love for this new chapter to take me on tour around the world alongside these friends.” Even the growth of the project beyond himself matters. “It is also an incredible feeling to see the project growing and creating work for other people.” Perhaps inevitably for somebody who waited more than 20 years to arrive at album number one, Malta is wasting little time thinking about what follows it. Two more albums are already being written. Yet Eterna Juventude establishes something more important than the beginning of a conventional solo career. Its central idea, brincar, proposes creativity without competition, imagination without an objective and the possibility that making something can retain value simply because of the pleasure found in doing it. After a career spent learning from musicians around him, Malta appears to have arrived at a deceptively simple conclusion. “Being able to compose and record with friends is a blessing; it truly gives a greater meaning to existence.” For Eterna Juventude, that sense of play is not a return to childhood so much as an argument for never completely leaving it behind. Grab your copy here. Caetano Malta https://www.instagram.com/caetanomalta https://open.spotify.com/artist/41iimwP9pnOm0EY3E0lXYR https://soundcloud.com/caetano-malta

Dennis Liber Dennis Liber has never been particularly interested in deciding exactly where his music belongs. Born in Switzerland, raised in Greece, of Greek-Turkish heritage and now based in Tulum, the DJ and producer has spent much of his life moving between places and absorbing the music around him. Disco, house, Latin rhythms, Afro sounds, Italo, soul and psychedelia all sit somewhere within that vocabulary, but rarely as clearly defined ingredients. His new Astro Danza EP for Razor-N-Tape is perhaps the clearest reflection yet of that outlook. Following two appearances on the label’s Family Affair compilations, his first solo release for the Brooklyn imprint was developed across several years, studios and countries, bringing together musicians and friends whose paths crossed during a formative chapter of his life in the Caribbean. “We felt these three tracks represented different sides of my production world,” Liber explains, pointing towards the more instinctive dancefloor energy of ‘Astro Danza’ and the songwriting behind ‘Être Heureux’ and ‘Femme Papillon’. There is also a progression in tempo that mirrors the way he DJs. “Starting slower, gradually building, and eventually reaching that peak-time energy.” That range makes sense in the context of the environment in which the music developed. Before moving to Mexico nine years ago, Liber found himself drawn towards Acid, Soulful, Chicago and Detroit house. Life in Mexico subsequently expanded the picture. “Latin soul really entered my world,” he says. “Hearing live Salsas and Cumbias and all sorts of Latin music everywhere expanded my sonic palette. At the same time, I also became much more invested in Brazilian music, Zouk, and dug deeper into this world altogether!” Crucially, this was not simply music encountered through records. Liber began spending time with local musicians and singers, collaborating, experimenting and allowing the people around him to reshape how he worked. The title track channels the other side of that experience: the dancefloors connecting Tulum and Mexico City with his time playing in Europe. Hypnotic, sensual and distinctly nocturnal, ‘Astro Danza’ imagines somewhere deeper into the night. “I wanted to make dance music that was groovy, ecstatic, sexy and exotic, music that would make you feel like you’re getting lost on a deep, jungly, tropical dancefloor.” Alongside those experiences, Liber traces part of its DNA back to the Latin and jazz-inflected side of New York house and artists such as Joe Claussell. It is another geographical influence absorbed into a record increasingly difficult to locate in any single place. ‘Être Heureux’ turns towards daylight. Rooted in Liber’s love of Zouk and Caribbean music, it recalls barefoot beach sessions, margaritas and extended sets shared with friends. Chäm was brought into the track after conversations around their mutual fascination with Zouk and Creole culture, writing and recording the vocal that eventually gave the music its meaning. “‘Être Heureux’ means ‘To Be Happy,’ which really reflects the reason why we were there: finding joy in an alternative way of life, away from the city and societal boxes. A more relaxed island lifestyle!” Anoraak’s subsequent remix nudged that idea towards disco and a more house-oriented dancefloor without losing the original’s character. The slower ‘Femme Papillon’ extends the collaborative process further. Co-produced with Shoao during regular sessions in Tulum, the instrumental eventually found its emotional centre when Chäm returned with her vocal. Brazilian collaborator Felipe Ribeiro then added cosmic, jazz-inflected synth work. “It became this cosmic funk, soul and disco journey with a touch of the tropics, sitting in that 100 BPM world I absolutely adore.” If Astro Danza sounds culturally difficult to pin down, Liber’s own history offers some explanation. Growing up within a multilingual, multicultural family gave him an early awareness that identity did not necessarily need to fit neatly within predetermined boundaries. “It also made me feel like I didn’t fully fit into one specific box, which motivated me to travel, experience life through different lenses, and find out who I really was inside. Still searching, of course!” His best analogy for the music comes from somewhere outside the studio entirely. “I’m also a cook, and you could say music is kind of like cooking for me. I like to learn as many cuisines as I can and then start cooking. I don’t really think about what kind of cuisine I’m making. I just cook, and if the ingredients fit and make sense together, that’s all I care about. Music is very similar for me.” It also explains his affinity with Balearic culture. Rather than treating Balearic as another genre to master, Liber identifies with the freedom at its core: different tempos, moods and styles coexisting according to feeling rather than classification. His friendship with Jaime Fiorito brought him closer to that world through Tulum and subsequent visits to Ibiza, where he connected with the Homies crew, played at Pikes and eventually contributed to one of their compilations. “I didn’t live through the golden era of Balearic Music, but I’m happy I can experience what it means today and be a part of it, rather than trying to fully understand or define it.” That emphasis on openness extends beyond what Liber plays. Alongside Irving Diptera, he established Club Eden in Tulum following the pandemic, creating an intimate, queer-friendly party built predominantly around locals and artists they genuinely wanted to hear. Tigerbalm, Captain Planet, Peter Croce, Nickodemus, Gledd and The Funk District were among those welcomed into a space driven as much by community as programming. “There was a lot of DIY energy, but the goal was always to create a safe space where people could dance, communicate and connect through music.” The original run ended in appropriately chaotic fashion. During a night with Captain Planet, police shut the party down following a misunderstanding over permits. With putting on events in Tulum becoming increasingly difficult and both founders subsequently moving around, Club Eden shifted from a regular fixture into something more fluid, resurfacing in Greece, Mexico City and wherever circumstances feel right. It is a model that reflects Liber’s wider career. His releases have travelled through Rocksteady Disco, Delusions Of Grandeur, Turntables on the Hudson and Razor-N-Tape, yet relationships remain more important to him than adhering to a particular label or scene. “Music is very sacred and intimate to me, so many of the people I collaborate with are friends I’ve met through my travels and life in general.” Astro Danza is ultimately built from those relationships. Friends from different countries, musicians encountered through life in Tulum and sounds absorbed from different cultures converge around one chapter without requiring Liber to decide exactly what any of it should be called. There is one thread he is willing to identify. “I still don’t feel the need to be tied to a specific direction, other than having some disco DNA in everything I make.” Beyond that, plenty of new music is already taking shape, with Liber determined to let individual projects develop their own identities rather than establish a formula from what is working now. “I’d like to try following the directions the music takes me, because I think the excitement is in not knowing exactly where it’s going to go!” For someone whose music has been shaped by movement, unexpected relationships and the freedom to combine whatever ingredients make sense together, knowing the destination in advance would probably defeat the point. Grab your copy of Dennis' Astro Danza EP here. Dennis Liber https://www.instagram.com/dennis.liber.official https://open.spotify.com/artist/7f8mAurEed53Mry9cDqFd2 https://soundcloud.com/dennisliber Razor-N-Tape https://www.instagram.com/razorntape https://soundcloud.com/razor-n-tape

TB-203 New York producer TB-203 has released his self-titled debut album through Seth Troxler’s Slacker 85, bringing several years of involvement with the label into focus across ten tracks. The project has gradually become part of the Slacker 85 ecosystem, with TB-203’s productions regularly appearing in Troxler’s sets before his first official label appearance alongside Danny P on 2024’s ‘Movin’. He subsequently brought his acid-driven production to Seth Troxler and HoneyLuv’s ‘Sex & The City’ featuring the late Chicago house figure Paul Johnson, released through Tuskegee, before returning to Slacker 85 for its sprawling ‘He Ain’t Here’ compilation earlier this year. His debut LP now gives TB-203 considerably more room to establish his own identity. Rather than using the album format as an excuse to move away from the club, all ten tracks remain rooted in house music’s relationship with the dancefloor, drawing connections between classic New York sensibilities and contemporary European club production. “TB-203 is a culmination of things, past and present,” the producer explains. “It’s future-focused, a reintroduction, but not a reinvention. A sound somewhere between classic New York and modern European dance music.” That philosophy extends to the construction of the record itself. TB-203 describes giving each individual sound its own space, favouring simplicity and purpose rather than overcrowded arrangements. The resulting approach is deliberately raw and direct, updating familiar house foundations without attempting to disguise where they came from. New York vocalists Caliber and The Ave also enter the picture, appearing on ‘You & Me’ and ‘Move’ respectively and strengthening the album’s connection to the city that shaped TB-203’s musical perspective. For an artist already described as a veteran of New York house, the self-titled record functions less as an introduction to making music than a formal introduction to TB-203 as a complete project. Years of DJing, producing and absorbing different strands of house are condensed into a debut that looks forward without severing its relationship with the past. As TB-203 puts it: “After all these years, the music hasn’t changed. I’ve just put everything in a pot and made it modern, raw, disruptive, and edgy.” Slacker 85 Instagram - SoundCloud - Bandcamp - Website

Lex (Athens) There are records that reference the past and others that seem to carry it around with them. For Lex (Athens), the distinction matters. More than two decades spent immersed in dance music have given the Greek DJ and producer a considerable vocabulary to draw from. Chicago house, disco, soul, techno, jazz, Italo and countless records encountered through Athens’ clubs and his influential Radical Soundz record shop have all left their mark. Yet when those sounds resurface in his productions, he has little interest in deliberately recreating them. His latest EP for Delusions Of Grandeur makes that particularly clear. Across four tracks, Lab ’94 connects formative experiences in Athens and Berlin with the increasingly loose, organic production style Lex has developed today. The title itself leads back to Alsos Club in ’90s Athens, and a first encounter Lex remembers in unusually stark terms. “The thing I will never forget is the first time I set foot in Alsos, when my life changed in a second. I mean that literally! Before going there, I was a pretty dodgy, kind of aggressive teenager, and somehow that place completely changed my direction immediately. I’ve carried that with me ever since.” He later discovered that Akylla, now a friend and one of his musical idols, had played Lab, Alsos’ smaller stage. As one of the DJs Lex credits with introducing US house music to Greece, that connection gave the title another layer. “Akylla is one of the first djs to bring US house music to Greece and in a way Lab 94’ reminds me a little of his sound, especially the Full Organ Mix.” Crucially, Lex does not consider the record an exercise in revivalism. “I wasn’t trying to make a retro record or recreate the sound of the 90s. Its much more personal than that. I think the connection is more about a feeling and a memory, rather than consciously trying to reproduce the music of that time.” That relationship between memory and instinct runs deeper through his story. In the early 2000s, Lex founded Radical Soundz, the Athens record shop that became both a meeting point for the city’s electronic music community and the centre of his own musical education. “Running Radical Soundz was the most important part of my musical education,” he says. “I was surrounded by records every day, but more importantly, I was surrounded by people with very different tastes — DJs, producers, collectors and customers — and everyone had their own idea of what made a great record.” That environment taught him to listen beyond genre, focusing instead on groove, arrangement, sound and feeling. It also helps explain why Lab ’94 can move between Chicago house, hip house, jazz, gospel and cosmic influences without settling comfortably into any one of them. “I love all these styles but somehow I always try to avoid making the typical Chicago House or the typical Italo-Cosmic etc track. All these influences are somewhere in the back of my mind, and when I’m making a track I’m not thinking of them.” Another strand of Lex’s past emerges on ‘Friday To Monday’. The track features Boot Slap, although Lex is quick to clarify that describing him simply as a long-time collaborator gets their relationship backwards. “First of all, Boot Slap and I are long time friends rather long time collaborators. Actually these are the first tracks we’ve made together, so the connection goes back much further than music.” Its title remembers their early-2000s experiences in Berlin, when weekends could stretch considerably beyond their conventional limits. “You could go out on Friday and suddenly find yourself still going on Monday, moving from one place to another and meeting all kind of people along the way.” Again, the intention is not reconstruction. What survived was the freedom, friendship and “slightly chaotic feeling” of those years. That looseness also increasingly defines how Lex works in the studio. Live percussion and improvised keys are given space throughout the EP, introducing fluctuations that programmed music can struggle to replicate. “For me, that human element is important. I don’t necessarily want everything to be perfectly tight or predictable. Sometimes a slightly unexpected note, a different accent or a small rhythmic imperfection is exactly what gives a track its character.” Even the two versions of ‘Lab ’94’ resulted from that willingness to follow accidents. The B3-led Full Organ Mix actually came first. Only after a friend suggested trying a dub did Lex experiment with Boot Slap vocals originally recorded for ‘Friday To Monday’. “They just clicked,” he remembers. “It wasn’t something I had planned from the beginning, it was more one of those moments in the studio where you try something almost by accident and suddenly It makes sense.” DJ Rocca The EP’s final detour comes alongside DJ Rocca on ‘Back To Mad (Cosmic Version)’, reconnecting Lex with the Italian producer for a track that pushes towards Italo and cosmic territory. “I feel genuinely humbled and honoured that Luca is willing to make music with me. It’s definitely a highlight of my career!” Their shared grounding in disco, house, Italo and electronic music provides a common language, but Lex believes their differences are equally important. “Working with Luca brings a different energy and, importantly, an element of surprise. That’s often where the most interesting things happen.” After more than 20 years, surprise still appears fundamental to the way Lex approaches music. Athens itself has transformed during that period. The tightly interconnected ecosystem of clubs, DJs, record shops and dancers he remembers has given way to something more globally connected, bringing greater access and international exchange while weakening some of the city’s distinct boundaries. He refuses to romanticise one at the expense of the other. “I don’t necessarily think one period was better than the other. Things have simply become more global, and Athens has followed that change like most other cities.” There is a similar refusal to romanticise his own musical past. The experiences remain there, from Alsos and Radical Soundz to Berlin weekends and decades of record collecting, but they function as vocabulary rather than instructions. These days, Lex is increasingly comfortable removing elements rather than adding them, allowing drums and bass to interact and musicians to disrupt the precision of the machines around them. “I’ve become more interested in the groove itself, the interaction between the drums and bass, and what a live musician can bring to a track.” Whether that defines his next chapter is another question. Lex has spent too long absorbing different sounds to suddenly impose boundaries on himself. “The live elements and the simplicity are things I’m enjoying right now, but they’re no rules.” And somewhere beyond Lab ’94, another change is already beginning. “There are already ideas in my head that are taking me in slightly different directions. So I think the next shift will happen naturally.” Grab your copy of Lex's latest release here. Lex (Athens) https://www.instagram.com/lex_athens https://open.spotify.com/artist/07xgHn84Dp2AVF5tEsmGOh https://soundcloud.com/lex-athens

ZUSO Australian producer ZUSO has returned with ‘U R LUVD’, a deeply reflective new single exploring uncertainty, intimacy and the importance of feeling connected during difficult moments. Written towards the end of last year, the track reveals a quieter side of ZUSO’s production. Lo-fi textures and understated electronic elements create space around its central voicemail sample, allowing a simple message of reassurance to sit at the heart of the record. The idea was partly inspired by EMBRZ’s ‘Left Ya a Voicenote..’, and particularly the way its voicemail recording creates an immediate sense of closeness between artist and listener. ZUSO began exploring how the same device could work within his own musical world before discovering a recording that matched both the atmosphere and meaning he wanted to convey. “‘U R LUVD’ was written towards the end of last year and is a deep, reflective lo-fi song that tries to capture feelings of uncertainty, while also serving as a reminder that no matter what’s going on in life, you are still loved,” ZUSO explains. That contrast between uncertainty and reassurance shapes the production. Rather than building towards a dramatic release, ‘U R LUVD’ keeps its emotions deliberately contained, using the intimacy of the vocal recording and its subdued production to make the track feel personal rather than overstated. “At its core, it’s a pretty simple message,” he adds. “Whatever you might be going through, U R LUVD.” It is that simplicity that gives the single its purpose. ZUSO does not attempt to resolve the uncertainty behind the track, instead creating a small moment of connection within it, with the voicemail transforming an otherwise introspective electronic production into something more direct and human. ZUSO https://www.instagram.com/zuso_music https://open.spotify.com/artist/6ZsS4MH8OG5vLGrXAoC5Ee https://soundcloud.com/zuso-music

Déepalma Records is looking back through its catalogue with ‘Déepalma pres. Treasure Island’, bringing together eight previously released selections alongside one brand-new track. Rather than operating as a straightforward retrospective, the nine-track collection focuses on the deeper and more rhythmic corners of the label’s output. Afro House, organic grooves, melodic electronics and Balearic influences run through a selection featuring Kai Hillmann & Vaki, Floyd Lavine, Sparrow & Barbossa, Karol XVII & MB Valence, Starving Yet Full, Darksidevinyl, Ucha, Yves Murasca and Rosario Galati. Déepalma Records® | Follow the palms At the centre of the compilation is its only previously unreleased recording. Kai Hillmann & Vaki contribute ‘Burn For Me’, adding a new production to a project otherwise designed to give existing catalogue cuts another moment in focus. Déepalma Records® | Follow the palms That archival approach allows ‘Treasure Island’ to double as an introduction to the musical territory Déepalma has developed around itself. Rather than being tied to a single strand of house music, the compilation moves between Afro-influenced rhythms, organic textures and more hypnotic and melodic territory, with the label’s warmer Balearic sensibility providing a connecting thread. Déepalma Records® | Follow the palms The release arrives during another active period for the imprint. Recent additions to the Déepalma catalogue include Kurtz’s Balearic-leaning ‘Negativity / Plenty’ and Aske Izan & Augusto Gagliardi’s atmospheric ‘Cosmic Symphony / Outside World’, further reflecting the range of deeper house music explored across the label. Déepalma Records® | Follow the palms By placing those established catalogue selections alongside a new recording, ‘Treasure Island’ offers both a snapshot of Déepalma’s history and another entry point into the sound it continues to develop. ‘Déepalma pres. Treasure Island’ is out now via Déepalma Records.

The Prospect Building, Bristol PROSPECTIVE, a new electronic music series curated by The Prospect Building, Team Love, and Undivide, has announced its phase one - a run of events from October to New Year's Eve bringing incredible electronic music talent to Bristol. Featured headliners include Eric Prydz, Joy Orbison, Eats Everything, Groove Armada, Above & Beyond, 4AM Kru, Chris Stassy, Wilkinson, Interplanetary Criminal, and Orbital, with a spectacular support cast including Aaron Hibell, Mike Skinner, K Motionz, Oppidan, Haai, Special Request, Leftfield and many more. PROSPECTIVE also drops a string of unmissable anniversaries: 10 Years of SWU FM, 25 Years of Dillinja’s Valve Sound System, and 30 Years of Glade - Glastonbury’s longstanding beacon of underground electronic music culture. Tickets and full event information at theprospectbuilding.com. Operated by AMAAD (LWE, The Bridge Series, Quarters, TESTBED, Ironworks), The Prospect Building transforms a 25,000 sq ft former Ministry of Defence torpedo warehouse into the city's most ambitious cultural venue. A raw, industrial facade hides a custom L-Acoustics sound system, state-of-the-art lighting, laser mapping, and immersive video, all built for the scale and quality that the PROSPECTIVE series delivers. The main room connects over 3,000 clubbers while the more intimate Crane room holds another 1,350. An outdoor courtyard completes one of the UK’s most versatile event spaces. The season opens on 9th October as one of electronic music’s biggest names, Eric Prydz, lands for his first Bristol show in 10 years, joined by Aaron Hibell, BBY GOOSE and Stuart Wilkinson. The following night, PROSPECTIVE hosts the 10th anniversary celebration of SWU FM, Bristol's much-loved community radio station, headlined by Joy Orbison alongside DJ EZ and a multi-room lineup. PROSPECTIVE kicks off with meaning. PROSPECTIVE phase one that follows is relentless quality. History of Rave on 17th October brings together Eats Everything, Groove Armada, Mike Skinner and more for a celebration of rave culture's legacy and evolution. Bristol Pride is celebrated on 24th October with the first-ever Big Mood, a stacked celebration of LGBTQ+ artists, queer joy and local legends, featuring the inimitable Jodie Harsh, Bimini b2b Absolute and much more. Above & Beyond present Anjunabeats Warehouse on 30th October, a brand new concept for the label that has shaped a generation of trance and progressive electronic music. Chris Stassy arrives on 7th November for a 12-hour midday-to-midnight set; an unmissable debut at The Prospect Building. UKF brings Wilkinson on 14th November and a heavyweight drum & bass cast including K Motionz and A Little Sound. Teletech makes its most hard-hitting Bristol statement yet on 27th November, with Restricted, Jowi and more, while ATW presents Interplanetary Criminal with guests on 28th November for an exceptional label showcase from one of UK electronic music's most in-demand names. A series of landmark anniversaries threads through the season, giving Prospective an extra dimension. The 10th edition of the Halloween Carnival of the Dead, one of Bristol's most celebrated Halloween events, takes over on 31st October with 4AM Kru, Oppidan and more. Valve Sound System, a cornerstone of Bristol's soundsystem culture since 2001, celebrates its 25th anniversary on 4th December with Dillinja, Born On The Road, DJ Hype, Danny Byrd and many more. On 18th December, Glade, Glastonbury Festival's longest-standing electronic music stage, marks 30 years of shaping British underground electronic culture with a landmark Winter Solstice event: a 10-hour immersive celebration headlined by Orbital, alongside HAAi b2b Special Request, Leftfield (DJ set), Hannah Holland and more. Every corner of The Prospect Building will be used, culminating in the 300-year-old oak tree installation in The Yard, where the organic roots will meet industrial concrete and reimagine the Glasto spirit for the city. Interspersed between the Prospective club shows, The Prospect Building bridges the gap between electronic music and live performance, welcoming Fat Freddy’s Drop on 16th October, Elder Island on 6th November, and Nia Archives, bringing her Emotional World Tour to the venue on 27th November. Prospective is powered by the skills, experience and passion of Bristol’s finest promoters, The Prospect Building, Team Love Productions, and Undivide Events. Working together, this collective has launched one of the UK’s best event series, delivering huge headliners while supporting rising Bristol talent and the wider creative community. By definition, Prospective means potential; this series delivers the best of the present while exploring possible futures. More announcements and details on Prospective phase one and beyond are incoming. Tickets are on sale now at theprospectbuilding.com. The Prospect Building theprospectbuilding.com - @theprospectbuilding - tiktok.com/@theprospectbuilding - facebook.com/theprospectbuilding PROSPECTIVE @prospective.dancefloor

Fede Spamer Buenos Aires-based producer Fede Spamer has joined forces with Juanchi Parodi for ‘Body On The Dancefloor’, a new collaborative single built around the pair’s shared instinct for groove. The release sees Spamer continue to expand a sound shaped by a particularly broad musical background. Introduced to music through classical training, his international upbringing exposed him to different musical cultures before his path eventually brought him into Argentina’s electronic scene. On ‘Body On The Dancefloor’, that more emotion-led approach meets Parodi’s rhythmic instincts. The collaboration is bright and immediate, with both producers keeping the arrangement focused on movement while leaving space for melodic details to emerge. A weighty low-end provides the track’s foundation, with propulsive drums and interlocking synth patterns creating its forward momentum. Rolling leads and recurring motifs gradually develop around the groove, while vocal hooks punctuate the arrangement and reinforce its hypnotic quality. Rather than relying on dramatic shifts, ‘Body On The Dancefloor’ draws much of its energy from repetition and progression. Elements cycle back into the mix as the production evolves, maintaining a consistent sense of drive while allowing its melodic and vocal components to add colour around the central rhythm. The single also marks another step in Spamer’s increasing use of collaboration as a way of broadening his production approach. Working alongside Parodi allows both artists’ respective strengths to remain identifiable, bringing Spamer’s melodic sensibility together with a more rhythm-focused framework. For Spamer, whose catalogue continues to take shape from his base in Buenos Aires, ‘Body On The Dancefloor’ offers another indication of an artist still defining the boundaries of his sound rather than settling into a fixed formula. Fede Spamer Spotify | Soundcloud | Instagram   Juanchi Parodi Spotify | Soundcloud | Instagram

Chmba Chmba has returned with ‘Kaya’, a new single on Platoon that introduces the next phase of the African artist’s evolving electronic sound. Positioned at the intersection of Afro Indie Dance and contemporary electronic production, ‘Kaya’ draws on Chmba’s cultural foundations without treating them as a fixed reference point. Rich percussion and Afrofuturist rhythms meet modern synth textures, continuing an approach built around connecting heritage with forward-looking club music. At its heart, however, ‘Kaya’ is a love song. Its narrative centres on proudly celebrating a partner while refusing to be ashamed of the experiences that came before them, bringing a more personal dimension to the track’s rhythmic framework. Chmba builds that story through layered vocals and an instrumental designed to give them room to breathe. A hypnotic bassline provides the foundation as sustained textures, pulsating synths and rhythmic percussion gradually accumulate around it. Rather than chasing an obvious peak, the arrangement develops with a fluid sense of movement, using warmth and repetition to reinforce the track’s feelings of hope and calm. That balance between storytelling and dancefloor functionality has become increasingly central to Chmba’s work. Her music draws from African roots while looking for new ways to translate those influences through contemporary production, with community, identity and connection remaining integral to the world she is building around it. ‘Kaya’ also carries significance beyond the single itself. Chmba describes the release as the beginning of a new season of music, with a collaboration alongside Angélique Kidjo set to follow before her debut EP arrives later this year. With those projects on the horizon, ‘Kaya’ works as an introduction to where Chmba intends to go next: culturally grounded, emotionally expressive and increasingly confident in the space between African rhythmic traditions and electronic music’s future-facing possibilities. Chmba Spotify | Instagram | Soundcloud Platoon Website | Instagram | Beatport

Bella Claxton Bella Claxton has spent much of the past year following summer. Originally from Melbourne and now based in Europe, the DJ and producer has moved between festival stages, headline shows and club rooms on opposite sides of the world, developing a sound that draws from ’90s progressive house and 2000s trance while increasingly finding its own place within contemporary club music. This European summer has offered some significant markers. Tomorrowland in Belgium, Glitch Festival in Malta and a Cadence boat party at Terminal V Croatia rank among Claxton’s personal highlights, while London is beginning to feel less like another stop on the schedule and more like home. That shift recently led her to Hackney Wick, where she brought together Auramatic, Wolters and Sam Alfred for a free party at Crate Terrace. “London is my new home, so it felt right to start getting involved in the city and doing something of my own here,” she explains. “The idea was really simple, a free party with friends, good music and a chance to bring together some of the people I’ve met since moving here.” It is part of a wider community beginning to form around Claxton and her Cadence imprint. Launched in late 2025, the label grew from her fascination with movement and functional club music, providing an outlet for her own productions while gradually expanding to artists within the same orbit. That emphasis on movement is increasingly central to her productions. Rather than building tracks around oversized moments of release, her approach favours sustained pressure, extended grooves and the kind of continuity that can hold a dancefloor for longer stretches. Her next release takes that philosophy to Armada Music, while allowing another formative influence to surface. “I’m so happy to have a release coming out on such an iconic label, especially using such an iconic sample,” she says. “This track feels like something I’ve always wanted to create and something that’s very true to my sound.” “I grew up listening to this kind of music and I’m a sucker for trance, so being able to put my own take on it feels really special.” The reference points behind Claxton’s music are becoming increasingly clear. ’90s progressive house and early-2000s trance sit prominently among them, but the aim is not to reproduce either period. “A lot of what I’m making at the moment is about finding the common ground between those sounds and bringing them into 2026 in my own way.” Constant movement between continents has inevitably shaped that sound too. Claxton describes herself as effectively “following the summers”, moving from the European season into Australia and back again. The resulting music carries the brighter energy of that lifestyle, but her relationship with Australia remains particularly important. Beyond missing Melbourne’s food, it is the familiarity of the Australian electronic music community that she notices most when she is away. “Because the scene is relatively small, everyone knows everyone. There’s something really comforting about going to a gig and knowing so many people there. Whenever I get to go back and play Australian festivals, it immediately feels like home again.” That connection is reflected in the response to her own headline shows. Recent dates under the ‘Strictly Pumpers’ banner sold rapidly in Melbourne and Sydney, while her next trips home include appearances at MODE, OVERTONE and Freeform Festival before another Australian summer run begins in December. “I’ve been looking forward to these shows for a while, and being on lineups alongside artists like Ben UFO, Ogazón and Richie Hawtin is super special.” The growing audience around Claxton also feeds directly back into Cadence. Rather than treating the label simply as somewhere to release her own productions, she wants it to become a platform capable of developing the musical world forming around her. “I feel very lucky with the crowds I get to play in front of. It genuinely feels like the people buying tickets to my shows want to dance and are interested in the music, which gives me a lot of confidence to keep pushing the sound I love.” That trust gives her room to go deeper. Upcoming Cadence releases from Claxton herself, Entasia, RSCL and Deaf Toucan will broaden the label beyond its founder, while the parties offer another opportunity to turn its musical identity into something physical. “I’d love for the label to inspire more people to create within that world and, more importantly, give them a platform to release it.” For all the momentum surrounding Claxton, that may be the more significant development. The touring continues to grow and increasingly prominent labels are entering the picture, but she is also building something she can shape herself. Cadence gives that next chapter a centre of gravity: a label, a community and a dancefloor built around the kind of music Bella Claxton wants to hear moving at full pace. Bella Claxton https://www.instagram.com/bellaclaxton https://open.spotify.com/artist/2imSh48JkQxpNcJr8ub8A7 https://soundcloud.com/bellaclaxton