do you count the stars in heaven? 

well, it’s more a lyric than a question. but a pertinent one for this mix. a mix that features folk music from caherlistrane, nostalgia drenched house, half-cut itv balearic intermissions, intergalactic irdial ambience, reinterpretations of alice dj, AI poetics, and probably the most affecting irish indie song ever? yep. it’s one of those mixes that can turn the shitest day of the year into an affirmation. some trick. 

lots of love to liam. it’s magic. if you’re ever in hackney, be sure to pay him a visit at atlantis records.

Discography

liam casey

Recorded Live 15.09. 3-6AM @ Sustain Release

Significant Other Live At Sustain-Release 2024

Batu closing Outburst on Saturday night at Houghton 2024.

Recorded at Houghton - Batu (2024)

Swirl / La Manina

Swirl

Moxie is joined live in the studio by special guest Ploy. 
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/moxie/episodes/moxie-ploy-16th-april-2025

Moxie w/ Ploy 160425

A clinic in minimal from the elusive Acting Press boss. 

Why do certain sounds cultivate a cult following? Simply put, it's often because they resist easy consumption. PLO Man and his imprint Acting Press lean into this. 

Searching for the Berlin-based DJ and producer, you won’t find much online presence, interviews or conventional PR. What you will find, if you look hard enough, is a catalogue of records and mixes with a kind of tape hiss charm (a spiritual successor to Basic Channel and Chain Reaction, but scuzzier and lighter on its feet).

Founded in 2015, Acting Press once seemed to belong to the short-lived "outsider house" trend, but is now synonymous with a certain strain of modern minimal, one that is analogue, spacious and pointedly opaque. PLO Man's output is equally sparse by design: this week, he joins the RA Podcast with a characteristically elusive style, accompanying the near two-hour mix is a one-answer Q&A that gives almost nothing away.

Stripped-back, ever-so-slightly sleazy and coated in dust, PLO Man's RA Podcast continues that lineage in style. Opening with the featherlight microhouse of Margaret Dygas, RA.988 unfolds into a carefully curated spectrum of minimal, dub and deep techno. Among familiar names—look out for the blinding Rhythm & Sound and Moodymann blend—are deep cuts and left turns alongside the odd outlier, like lovers' rock pioneer Gregory Isaacs.

Like the best of his forebears, PLO Man wants RA.988 to take time for you to settle in. But once you do, you won’t want to leave. 

@p_el_oh

Find the tracklist and interview at ra.co/podcast/988

RA.988 PLO Man

There is an undoubtable connection with this release as 'thinking often involves effort and attention, while thoughts can be passive and fleeting such when our thoughts turn into thinking.' which is how the two tracks formulated themselves.

(full bio via Bandcamp) 

__ Thoughts / Thinkings

Releases August 04, 2025 

Mastered by Tom @ TGS Mastering
Artwork by Orron @ avva.studio
Words by Slew Keys

EYED004 - Thoughts / Thinkings __𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘴__

Pre-Oder: https://dubwisevinyl.com/
This is a very, very special one...

Marking the final release on one of my favourite record labels of all time, the mighty ZamZam Sounds, is this very special 7" double back covering both numbers 99 and 100 in the series. I remember first discovering ZamZam (which was when I bought ZamZam 1!) and having one of those life affirming moments when you realise there are other people out there on the same wavelength as you. A vinyl only label releasing high quality progressive dub music on limited run 7"s in beautiful hand screen printed sleeves. Boom! I was hooked....

It's amazing and heartwarming to see the label go from strength to strength since then and to reach it's century of releases here. I can't think of many occasions when I've played out and not dropped at least one ZamZam tune which is testament to the quality and the diversity of music the label has provided a home for. On top of all that Tracy and Ezra (who run the label) are really lovely people who have created a real "ZamZam Fam" both in terms of the artists featured on the label and the dedicated community of fans spread across the world like me.

So it is with a tinge of sadness that this release marks their last ever on the label but all good things must some to an end and it's always good to bow out on a high, which they most definitely are with this exceptional release featuring two legends of the dub world and long time ZamZam favourites - Bristol's Dubkasm and Gorgon Sound. Not only do we get an absolutely killer tune here from each of them but we're also treaated to them remixing each others tracks which (in true clever thinking ZamZam style) get pressed up on the B-sides of the other piece of vinyl to their own tunes so you can play them back to back in a showcase/discomix style.

And off course as you'd expect the presentation is second to none. The two 7's are housed in a single full colour offset-printed, double-die cut gatefold jacket with additional silver screen print. From looking at the pictures above it is indeed an object of great beauty befitting of such an epic release.

Limited run. No digital. No repress.

Grab yourself a bit of ZamZam history while you can!

Pre-order now at https://dubwisevinyl.com/. Due to arrive 3/10/25

Dubkasm / Gorgon Sound | The Return / Born Under Siege | ZamZam 99-100 | Audio Clips | Pre-Order 2x7" at Dubwise Vinyl

Lurking from the grit of Canning Town, Elisa steps forward with a heavy-hitting mix of deep, dark, and dubby sounds. 

ELISA - 20 SEP 25

Not Stochastic

This Was Belgium 1987-89 - 2 hours of New Beat favourites

New Beat was born and initially exploded in 1987, went supernova (in Belgium) in 1988 and then the formula morphed a bit and was declared dead in 1989. It was slow and initially all about the atmosphere with industrial strength beats - the main form of rhythmic propulsion being the pounding kick and heavy snare. It was often mainly instrumental and when there was lyrical content it often became more about slogans and giving commands - "Move Your Ass And Feel The Beat!", "Let There Be Brightness!", "Shout Out Loud!". While not really New Beat, it's no surprise Technotronic's "Pump Up Jam" was produced by a crew who had produced a ton of New Beat gems.

In 1989 one of New Beat's founders, Marc Grouls said "New Beat is atmosphere, beats, no lyrics, and sure as hell not commercial!!!!!" But, it was already too late. A zillion bandwagon jumpers had diluted the music and flooded the market with too many sub standard 12" singles. New Beat temple, the legendary Boccaccio nightclub, in Destelbergen, near Ghent, had been closed down and it looked like it was all over, but really, it was just the beginning. New Beat morphed into Hard Beat (many of the tracks on this mix are from the Hard Beat era) which quickly morphed into Belgian Rave, which was huge and hugely influential in the UK and is an often overlooked part of the DNA of UK Hardcore, and all that came after. Then from Ghent, R&S Records established itself as thee European Techno label and a huge wave of incredible Techno records emanated from it and many other mighty Belgian labels, but that is another story. 

New Beat arrived just as I first started DJing and I played a lot of it in my DJ sets and built up connections with several of the leading Belgian labels who would send me 12" singles so I had records nobody else here had any idea even existed. I would compile New Beat charts for the music paper The NME which may have given the impression there was a thriving New Beat scene in Scotland. The reality was very different; people here, many of whom would embrace the rave just a little while later never really took to it in a big way.

This mix is comprised of many of my personal favourites that I have loved since they came out (and two I missed at the time and only heard later). I think the tracks have aged like a fine wine, often sounding as good if not better today as they did then. There is definitely a faint whiff of fromage and a big dollop of stoopid in several of these tracks. Of course, it is not all about the cheese and many of these adhere to the "atmosphere, beats, no lyrics, and sure as hell not commercial" rule mentioned above. Some of the best programmed 303 Acid basslines ever made can be heard here along with transcendental hypno synths and those Belgian beats going on and on....! Slow and low, from under 100bpm up to 116, New Beat doesn't chug, it swings in a very distinct way. If you get to see any videos of Belgian clubs of the era, the way people moved to this music is incredible and so different to any dancing we see today.

Many of these tracks are made by the same people under various aliases, which will perhaps be audibly evident. Most of the names have been forgotten, if they were ever even known outside their native Belgium at all, but all are legends to me. 

This mix isn't any kind of attempt to tell the story of New Beat but rather a mix 33 of my favourite 12" singles from that era showing many of the various strains of the New Beat and Hard Beat sound. A lot of love went into this and I hope someone somewhere discovers this music for the first time and falls in love with it as I did way back when. This was Belgium!

This Was Belgium 1987-89 - 2 hours of New Beat favourites

I DON'T EVER CHECK MY SOUNDCLOUD MESSAGES
FOR ALL ENQUIRIES:
wordsofbruce [@] gmail [dot] com 

Not Stochastic

Bruce