Heidi Sabertooth (@heidisabertooth) and Drakkar Noir (aka R Gamble @rgamble) are both core members of Lost Soul Enterprises (@lost-soul-enterprises), a New York based label and platform for analog experiments and mutant sounds past and present: wave, electro, body music, and all things in between. This EP represents the first time these two artists have appeared together on the same release.

The title of the EP, 'The Sleep of Reason' is inspired by the famous Goya etching (The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters).  It is intended as both a homage to a visionary artist and a reflection that the sentiment in the artwork resonates particularly today.

Both artists approach music production using primarily analog hardware and synthesizers, rather than computers. 

'The Sleep of Reason' showcases two well-seasoned artists flexing a mastery of their machines, delivering subterranean electro, techno and body music. Gritty, murky basslines meet squelching melodies and alien vocals, all with the vibrant, present, live-wire energy of a hardware set performed in a smoky, crowded basement, rather than programmed within the confines of a studio.

Side A: Drakkar Noir
1) free delight
2) shadow reel
3) foot a night vine
4) strobah

Side B: Heidi Sabertooth 
1) This Time I'll Quit You for Good
2)  It Says You Read It
3) Smoking In the Studio
4) I’m Gaining Weight Again

All tracks written and produced by Heidi Sabertooth & Drakkar Noir, mastered by João Melo, artwork by dabecy.

Release date: May 7, 2021
Formats: Cassette / digital

Drakkar Noir & Heidi Sabertooth: The Sleep of Reason [JKTN073 Preview]

RELEASE DATE: Friday August 6 
https://dreamtone.bandcamp.com

Hi-Vis (@beyondbelow) continues the curation of Dreamtone with Chronostasis by @nervous-operator.

Written after moving to Chicago from Vancouver, Chronostasis is a reflection of urban landscapes in the midst of active reclamation by the ancient swamps on which both cities were founded. Mechanical sounds coexist with viridescent meditations. Each element is the entropy of the other, the successes of one modifying the strategies of the other.

1) In A Lonely Place
2) Korolev Cross Dub
3) Cut Outs
4) Right To Be Forgotten
5) Bluepoint Vance
6) I, The Supreme
7) The Greatest Flex
8) Trimming Limbs
9) Unforced Error
10) Coronal Rain
11) A Compelling Natural Force

All tracks written and produced by Nervous Operator and mastered by João Melo. Artwork and design by Alyssa Beers.

[PREVIEW] Nervous Operator - Chronostasis (DT004)

RELEASE DATE:  FRIDAY OCT 22
https://dreamtone.bandcamp.com/album/chaotic-era

On Chaotic Era, Dickow's first release with Dreamtone, the artist zeroes in on a strain of glitched & scorched production that applies subtle decisions of textural disfiguration and effects processing to central synth figures that lurch and churn along their own chopped rhythmic grids. As Dickow builds tracks over foundations that might resemble a corroded sample airing out a melancholy quasi-melody, or backdrops of throbbing bass accented with speckles of static, he patiently tinkers with the timbre and level of intensity of each element in the mix. The result is a branch of ambient music that steps just over the threshold of narcosis into the realm of steady narrative development, complicated with the upheavals of a wall of distortion here, a sudden dollop of abstract electronic putty there - all struck through with microscopic details in tonal shaping and generatively interacting arrhythmic loop architectures.

Chaotic Era arrives in tandem with a surreal short graphic work by Lando. The artist runs a publishing collective called Decadence alongside fellow comic artist Stathis Tsemberlidis, who together have published 11 anthologies of short science-fiction comics featuring their own work, as well as other contributors - including a number of Lando's individual zines. Lando has also been featured in a larger collection of older / out of print work published by UK publisher Breakdown Press. His stories explore themes including ecology, geopolitics and deep time, while experimenting with the format of the printed zine to escape conventional expectations.

[PREVIEW] Strategy - Hellbound And Nitrous (DT003)

"What do you feel when you look into a mirror? How do you behave when you are observed, how do you observe yourself? Where does love exist in our bodies?"

Much like his namesake, Pascäal quantifies units of internal pressure, stress, and ecstatic release.

His music finds us ascending to phoenix-like points of greatest intensity within ourselves - a flammable mental peak of emotive energy that erupts into a revitalizing blaze, before basking in the illuminated potential of its glowing embers. It's through these combustive states of being that we find ourselves blossoming in cycles of renewal, guiding ourselves into expansion beyond self-imposed limits. Exploring these liminal zones on his second full-length album and first aural excursion for Dreamtone, NYC's Pascäal presents an exercise in lucidity for the mind, body, and soul - pushing onwards through stasis and uncertainty to paint a beautifully inspired picture of forward momentum and nonlinear progress.

Written in various states of mental isolation and fixation on the physical form, the 10 tracks contained within "BODY" seek to activate bliss and release the listener from cycles of rumination. Every musical component evolves in separate unison, activating momentum within the neurons and blood flow of the greater whole. Cascades of supple frequencies envelop themselves within webs of buoyant, percussive flourishes - enlivening refrains that urge focus to drift, to break the mind from obstructive cycles and allow a panoramic view of the self. Tender spontaneity and the multiplicity of thought are given space to manifest, as loops, repetition, and time dilation envelop us within an oscillating calm and the sublimation of effervescent love vibrations.

The nature of BODY's recording can be attributed to this phenomena - each track was recorded in one-take sessions during moonlit hours, a practice of meditative disengagement from the world at the close of a day's routine. As the listless obligations of our day-to-day briefly dissipate in these planes of luminosity, previously buried forms of desire and progress are given form and meaning as we engage with sound and ourselves. Boundless fluidity and unrestricted desire intertwine in swirls of light refractions and intricate pulsations. Rhythmatic pulsations take on the flow of breathwork, aligning a newfound awareness of being as we attempt to achieve tranquility in settings constantly punctuated by disorder. Forming a casual kinship between his sonic expression and the unique healing ability of musical trance states, Pascäal sketches the outlines of a world where pain and insecurity pass through our state of being into an astral beyond, clearing pathways for newfound possibilities of evolution and love. "BODY" embraces this revelry of the present moment - anxieties regarding any semblance of "journey" or "destination" evaporate into nonbeing, thriving within liminality in a constant pursuit of congruence and equanimity.

Everything is possible.

Written & produced by Peter Wiley
Mastered by Joao Melo
Artwork by Ohni Lisle
Design by Kevin McCaughey
Liner notes by Kiernan Laveaux

Body

Dreamtone

[Preview] Pascäal - Hyphae Drip [Out Feb 4th!] (DT002)

The first cut from Damn Skippy! out November 1st



"As friends, coming together to make music feels like a special occasion that's filled with lots of love and care, friendship and happy feelings. The tracks reflect that as well - they're bouncy, ebullient, fun, warm, and effervescent."

JKTN075 features respected and prolific North American artists, Ciel and Ali Berger, who are pairing up for their first collaboration. The three original tracks deliver an irresistible energy, with bouncing rhythms, catchy mutant melodies, and undeniable warmth. If that wasn't enough, the remixes come from two producers who truly craft their own sound and style and sound like no other - Atlanta’s Nikki Nair and Pittsburgh’s Davis Galvin. This EP is headed straight for the DJs and to a dancefloor near you.

Pre-order the vinyl at Rubadub:
rubadub.co.uk/products/damn-skippy-w-nikki-nair-davis-galvin-

Written and produced by Ciel & Ali Berger
Artwork: Patience Keller
Design: Jason Polastri

Damn Skippy!

Pre-order at Rubadub

Ciel & Ali Berger - I've Been Reaching For The Stars (Damn Skippy! EP out Nov 01, 2022))

Congrats to Lavender (@lavendersynth)- "Mystique Youth" was named one of 2015's 10 best releases of the Bay Area by SF Weekly.  Cassette  is sold out, you can still get the digital @ jacktonerecords.com. 

Tracklist
A1. Holding a Dreamer's Hand and Other Meaningful Achievements 
A2. How Did We Get Here Again - Part A
A3. How Did We Get Here Again - Part B
A4. Paper Planes
A5. Paper Planes (Scott Snee Remix)
B1. Symmetry
B2. An Ocean of Thoughts
B3. From This Place We May Never Come Back
B4. Iodine Absolution
B5. Paper Planes (Den Vibrerande Staden Remix)

Mystique Youth was listed as one of the top 15 albums to come out of the Bay Area in 2015 by SF Weekly:

"If less truly is more, Lavender's Mystique Youth contains multitudes. Released on cassette tape (as well as in digital format) by nascent San Francisco label Jacktone Records, Mystique Youth is one of the finest ambient albums to come in years — a work of quiet elegance that sounds breathtakingly mature for a debut release. All tracks on the album (nine, not including two remixes) were apparently composed in a single take with little post-processing involved. The album as a whole feels ephemeral and hazy, as though it came in a dream. That's no qualm, I assure you — in fact, listening to it feels a bit like being in that liminal state between waking and dreaming, as small melodies waft in and out, leaving the listener to wonder if they were ever really there. Mystique Youth's magic lies in its immediate beauty; it is an eminently rewarding listen, full of delicate moments and heartbreakingly beautiful melodies. It is also full of surprises, like "Paper Planes," perhaps the album's standout, in which murky beats surface from below oneiric waves of sound. A more soothing listen was not to be had in 2015."

aQuarius Records, SF: 
"...Paris employs a dizzying array of synthesizers, space echo, oscillators and effects to bring in a vibrating quality of light, space and movement that feels as if everything we hold dear will soon change."

Find out more about Lavender: facebook.com/lavendersf
Mastering by @worker-parasite

Lavender - Mystique Youth (JKTN007 Preview)

JKTN011 is a 6-track EP from longtime Bay Area residents and artists, Kit Clayton (scape, orthlorng musork, carpark, soul jazz) and Brian Hock (c.l.a.w.s., Bronze, Rvng, ecstasy, discaire, bar25) as kit n c.l.a.w.s (@kitnclaws). Both have been releasing for several decades at this point, as well as throwing influential events, running underground venues and developing a small thing called MAX/MSP for Midi...

The 6 tracks move from beatless ambient to psychedelic to head-nodding experimental house. The tracks were recorded live to tape at Bay Area 51, one of the last venues of its kind in San Francisco.

From Bleep.com
"The production laid bare we feel is destined for big things and Jacktone and kit n c.l.a.w.s have secured one of the finest small run releases of the year so far, well worth a look in."

From SF Weekly
"an uncompromisingly weird record that doesn't fit in, and it's proud of that."

From aQuarius Records
"a deeply satisfying middle ground between modern techno impulses and ambient soundtrack narratives."

Tracklist
A1. neither hawk nor hound - 6:36
A2. stately tomb - 5:30
A3. rome's legacy recalled - 3:23
B1. obscenities fall flat - 5:28
B2. hoards of vanished souls - 6:08
B3. no one left to haunt - 3:58

Release date: Feb 8, 2016
jacktonerecords.com
Mastering by Kit Clayton

kit n c.l.a.w.s - Starving at the Palace Gate (JKTN011 Preview)

"As the 15th release on the label's rapidly expanding discography, her full-length further solidifies the young label's reputation for maintaining a consistent output of unorthodox, forward-thinking electronic sounds." -XLR8R

 Our 15th release is a 9-track album called "Viscous Positions" from Boston-based, Isabella (@networkerror). A common thread of hardware experimentalism connects each track, as the release moves seamlessly from warehouse techno, classic electro and 303-acid to eerie/spacey atmospherics.

Tracks like "Cloying Traces" and "Mu/timode" showcase her skill with melody and classic pads, while "Schuld" is driven by a crunchy acid bassline peppered with push/pull percussion and "Cheap Acid Boots" is destined for a packed and sweaty dance floor. 

SIDE A
01 Living Accents
02 Schuld
03 Jousta
04 Cloying Traces
05 Cheap Acid Boots

SIDE B
01 Rich Tolerance
02 Untitled
03 Mu/timode
04 Pressing

"Viscous Positions" will be available on cassette/digital June 23rd and followed by a 3-week tour of the states and Canada. 

Mastering by Ben Versluis (@worker-parasite)
Artwork by Darren Cutlip 

Isabella - Viscous Positions (OUT NOW)

Jacktone is no stranger to concept albums (Lavender's "Mystique Youth" and "Horizons Beneath the Surface"), but with @burnet207's "Inter", we become immersed in a digital soundtrack of VR prototypes and fragmented motion, navigating a computerized world on a gridded map made of restrictive algorithms.

The 20 tracks that make up "Inter" are all units of measurement, equal length and tempo, with 8th notes played throughout and rigid digital minor tones that result in rough movements broken up by space, implying a grid world with a set of rules that can't be changed.

Calling to mind stripped-back 80s EBM; early industrial like Portion Control, Front 242 or Chris & Cosey; classic electro; and, early Kraftwerq-esq computer music, burnet207 used minimal gear and processing to create the fascinating world of "Inter." 

"Inter" will be available on cassette and digitally August 1, 2016.

Side A
1. unit 1
2. unit 2
3. virtual
4. timespan 2
5. update
6. ahead
7. x
8. 24 hours
9. 80 measures
10. list 101 (abrupt mix)

Side B
1. tomorrow
2. chess pieces 2
3. sequence
4. 10000
5. square mile 2
6. duration
7. 99%
8. device
9. sound option remix 2
10. athlete 06515 remix (rinsse)

Mastering by Ben Versluis
Artwork by burnet207 & Darren Cutlip
Available July 15, 2016

burnet207 - Inter (OUT NOW)

After self-releasing impressive experimental techno the past few years, Oakland's Vidiian (@vidiian) arrives on Jacktone with the fully-realized 11-track aptly-titled acid exploration, "Spatial Relations." Vidiian has mastered his craft, producing unique and emotive acid punctuated with melodic pads and complex percussion. This is, at once, a headphone album and late-night rewire-your-brain dancefloor burner. For fans of: Luke Vibert/Wagon Christ/Plug, The Black Dog, Rising High Records.

Tracklist:
A1. transmission 1 - 1:31
A2. she won't tell you what she thinks - 4:52
A3. window view -  7:17
A4. purple feelings (anger) - 5:40
A5. displacement -  6:31
A6. samurai - 8:15
B1. slowdays - 3:55
B2. dayoff - 5:21
B3. insom - 6:51
B4. mlxi -  6:27
B5. lift -  7:32

Release date: Sept 1, 2016
Mastered by Ben Versluis
Artwork: Vidiian & Darren Cutlip

Vidiian - Spatial Relations (OUT NOW)

For his sophomore effort on Jacktone, San Francisco based producer, Michael Claus, offers up 8 tracks that highlight his ability to contrast paired down percussion lines with elongated, romantic washes of synths. 

The opening track, "Reflections," immediately sets the mood with its beautiful arpeggiated squelch that corrodes throughout the length of the track, punctuated by intelligent drum programming and spacey melodic stabs. As the album progresses into dancier territory, it's evident Claus is comfortable in both house and techno camps, pulling elements of each to carve out his unique sound. "March 22nd" features an elegant piano sample framed by atmospheric percussion and lo-fi accents, while "With It" proves less is more, a perfectly-balanced percussion track with a subtle and ethereal melody. Ending on a surreal ambient note is his last track, "Outro" a gorgeous soundscape that ripples like waves on a shore. 

"Assorted Tracks Vol. 2" is an exciting development in an emerging musician’s career.

Tracklist
a1 Reflections
a2 Half Asleep
a3 Confusion
a4 March 22nd
b1 With it
b2 Lands End 
b3 Rec2
b4 Outro

Mastering by Ben Versluis
Artwork by Darren Cutlip

Buy!

Michael Claus - Assorted Tracks Vol. 2 (OUT NOW)

Japan-based Zwei Kreise (@zweikreise) debuts on Jacktone with an 8-track experimental techno release called "Silvarum/Rvlen." 

The tracks vary in style, mood and bpm: from the sparse and cavernous lead track, "Insignant"; the punctuated melodies of "Navis Bellica"; the bent circuits of the Peter Seligman remix; and, the album's stunning centerpiece, "Quadrum." 

Tracklist:
1. Insignant
2. Navis Bellica
3. Insignant (Peter Seligman Remix)
4. Quadrum
5. Kelpe
6. Vue Stream
7.Take Cover
8. Ulwem

Mastered by Ben Versluis
Art & Design by Darren Cutlip

Zwei Kreise - Silvarum/Rvlen (OUT NOW)

FREE BANDCAMP DOWNLOAD 
Available June 2nd
jacktonerecords.com

@jadirzarate
Jadir Zarate - Ancient Echoes EP
JKTN033

https://www.facebook.com/people/Jadir-Zarate/100007882144888
www.instagram.com/jadir_zarate

Jadir Zarate - Ancient Echoes [JKTN033]

FREE BANDCAMP DOWNLOAD 
Available June 2nd
jacktonerecords.com

@jadirzarate
Jadir Zarate - Ancient Echoes EP
JKTN033


https://www.facebook.com/people/Jadir-Zarate/100007882144888
www.instagram.com/jadir_zarate

Jadir Zarate - Breathe Under Water [JKTN033]

@burnet207 returns to Jacktone with a new release titled, "forever," the conceptual follow-up to 2016's "inter" album. Stripped back computer music rooted in electro, ebm, industrial conceptually based on AI, digital environments and hacking. A mechanized thumbs up to @dreamlogicc for the remix. Available in the Jacktone store in both CD/digi formats.

burnet207 - forever (JKTN037 Preview)

Chicago's James N Murray (@basilionichols) returns to Jacktone with his 2nd album in as many years. The perfect follow-up to the evocative soundtrack, "À Vancouver", Murray wastes no time setting the mood on "City of the Night," - via manipulated and effected field recordings, warm synths and perfectly-punctuated percussion.    

Notes from the artist: 
"City of the Night" sets out to explore geographies that have largely faded from sight and mind. Places once populated largely by men, seeking sexual or social contact with other men, located at the peripheries of social and physical space and more often than not, shrouded in the darkness of night and hidden from the eyes of society at large. The music found on "City of the Night" creates a soundscape for this world, crumbling away by the time I entered my early 20s, largely lost to the digital realm and lingering impact of the AIDS crisis.

"City of the Night" creates a bridge between my own world and those found in the work of John Rechy’s seminal queer text, "City of Night", originally published in 1963, a novel that follows a hustler on his journey through the cities of El Paso, New York, Chicago, New Orleans and Los Angeles, intertwining our narratives in order to create a fictional landscape for the music. 

"City of the Night" was created using field recordings, samples, hardware and software over the course of several months in my home studio.

Tracklist:
A1 City You Have Never Seen
A2 City of the Neon
A3 City of the Comedown
A4 City of the Male Hustler
B1 City of the Horn
B2 City of the Habit
B3 City of the Score
B4 City of Loss

Mastering: João Melo
Design: Darren Cutlip

James N Murray - City of the Night (JKTN042 Preview)

@odi_me
gayphextwin - spiro
JKTN051
Release date: June 26, 2018
Artwork: Glorbis
Mastering: Ryan Wurst

Bay Area luminary, Brooke Keller, returns to Jacktone for 9 tracks of moody melodic techno carved in her own image. While Keller’s previous Jacktone releases as odi me indulged in the grislier side of homemade electronic sound, spiro is an introspective collection, forging rough and ready compositions from icy pads, voyeuristic samples, and whip-crack percussion. Spiro evokes the deeply personal electronic music of catalogs like Instinct Ambient or Reflective Records - wistful and spacious, but packed with plenty of razor-sharp edges and crackling with in-the-moment energy. 

Since we last heard from Brooke, she has moved beyond her odi me alias (a moniker she used for two albums with us) and has started releasing under Brooke Keller, dj cheaplocalgirl and gayphextwin. She has been incredibly prolific under her new aliases - self-releasing tracks on Bandcamp (gayphextwin.bandcamp.com) and SC, plus recently releasing an EP on Perfect Location. 

Not long ago, Brooke was interviewed in Truants (as part of a feature on Perfect Location, run by Experimental Housewife). Get to know her a bit more:
http://truantsblog.com/2018/interview-perfect-location/

1. moon 05:05	
2. taking time 04:14	
3. teased 07:20	
4. shimmer 04:12	
5. stable 04:08	
6. nonsense 04:33	
7. imatoxicbitch 07:25	
8. pretend 08:34	
9. balmy 06:03

gayphextwin - spiro (JKTN051 Preview)

Longtime Bay Area DJ, producer, community and event organizer, Nihar Bhatt (@niharb) steps up for JKTN047 with an 8-track album titled Chrysalis. The sound palette across the album is rooted in industrial, club, and ambient techno, with a confident nod to experimentation that places the music squarely within the ethos and politics of the projects and artists he is so deeply involved with in the Bay. Chrysalis is the sound of an emerging artist thoughtfully taking the pulse of a rapidly-changed city yet also carving out a distinct niche within a genre that can be flooded with icy, impersonal electronics. The music is dark, but it's also emotional. 

If you're from the Bay (and beyond), you know how entrenched Nihar is in the local scene, through projects like Surface Tension, Left Hand Path and Intersection (to name a few) and we're proud to partner with him for the next phase of his journey and artistic process. This is an album for DJs, but also a slowly-unfurling, rewarding home listen.

More release info to come. 

Artwork: Jason Polastri
Mastering: Ryan Wurst
All tracks written and composed by Nihar Bhatt

Tracklist
A1. Nahin
A2. Seer
A3. Phantom
A4. Disassociation Tape 1
B1. Matrix
B2. Disassociation Tape 2
B3. Naga
B4. Dawn

Nihar - Chrysalis (JKTN047 Preview)

“La Lotta Continua” is the first release from Auton (@auton1213), the production alias of Cleveland techno selector Aerin Ercolea aka Mx. Silkman (@mxsilkman). Auton draws inspiration from the tradition of insurrectionary resistance and the ability of people to take action that faces down the snarling violence of the state. Musically, Auton draws from the sonic lineage of dense Rust Belt techno, industrial soundscapes and intense layered minimalism that results in off-kilter experimental compositions for hypnotic and challenging dancefloors. 

"La Lotta Continua" will be released in an edition of 40 tapes + zines printed by Journey Into Night Press, featuring writings by Ercolea and Tom Nomad, with original artwork by Ashley Hohman. 

We're thrilled to be collaborating with Aerin on this powerful debut project and can't wait to share the final package.

Release date: September 24, 2018 

Art by Ashley Hohman 
Design by Darren Cutlip 
Mastered by Ryan Wurst

Auton - Autoreduction (JKTN054)

4023 is a collaboration between LA-based Damon Eliza Palermo & Evan Stalker. Palermo has made a small handful of ambient outings under his real name, including Ital's Lovers Rock label, while Stalker has released music with On the Prowl and Throne of Blood. 

Together, Palermo and Stalker recorded 10 tracks specifically for Jacktone over the past year in Angelino Heights and Echo Park in Los Angeles. The recording process was hazy and improvised and picked up much of its feeling from the environment. Palermo’s home studio gets beautiful light in the afternoon and at night you can see all the lights from the neighborhood reflected in the lake, which also influenced the choice to use a lot of Korg Wavestation in the recordings. As Stalker adds, "It’s hard to look at LA at night and not think of how it looks on film, which is usually pretty dramatic and kind of isolating. We think this pulled the compositions in a darker direction, which the art also picks up on and also mirrors the interest we had in the texture of all the sounds." 

The stunning artwork and photos are a collaboration between the LA musicians and two San Francisco-based artists, Topazu and Mariah Claire Tiffany. 

The art for the release was directed by a mutual understanding to include San Francisco's Sutro Baths and characteristically foggy backdrop as the focal point. After a remark by Palermo to make something that felt like a "Gothic interpretation of the Baths," Topazu and Tiffany set to work to capture the iconic landscape and location. 

Tiffany says, "I'm personally drawn to the baths because it feels like a piece of San Francisco suspended in time and preserved in fog. In a city whose face is rapidly changing — or, rather getting constantly polished and remodeled — these landmarks of decay feel more like home than the city itself. Also, there is something strangely congruous about the isolation of an Echo Park studio and the Sutro Caves. The texture of the cliffs definitely translates to the dissonant, extraterrestrial quality of the sound.” Topazu adds, "On first listen to Damon and Evan's work, I thought of the documentary by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel, Leviathan. It is a very dark, black metal, immersive visual experience. The New York Times called it 'piscine agony.' Mariah and I tried to capture that mood above water when you're visiting the industrial landscape of Sutro Baths. It is still very much piscine agony there."

Release date: 10/31/2018
Photos: Mariah Claire Tiffany 
Layout: Topazu 
Written and composed: Damon Palermo and Evan Stalker 
Mastered: Ryan Wurst

4023 - B3 (JKTN052)

Doc Sleep - Your Ruling Planet
JKTN057
Artwork: Sonja
Mastering: Joao Melo
Available on Bandcamp: Feb 26, 2019

"Your Ruling Planet,” is Doc Sleep's third EP and first on her home label. Recorded in January 2019, the EP throws a bit of everything into the mix genre-wise, while keeping the introspective mood consistent. Subdued techno, spatial ambient, chopped-up lo-fi drums, and psychedelic minimalism are explored across five tracks.

The artwork is by the wonderful Sonja of Labareda (@labareda_label), mastering by Joao Melo aka Mind Safari (@mind-safari). The EP will be released digitally with a limited edition t-shirt also designed by Sonja. <3

Tracklist:
1. Nim
2. I Have Taken Poison
3. Baltic Amber
4. Your Ruling Planet
5. Emerado Falls

Doc Sleep - Your Ruling Planet [JKTN057 Preview]

Beacon Sound and Jacktone Records are pleased to announce a limited edition joint vinyl release by Hugo RA Paris (@hugoparismusic) titled Threaded Habitat. The new LP from Paris follows two of Jacktone’s most popular releases: Mystique Youth (2015) and Horizons Beneath The Surface (2016), which appeared under his alias, Lavender. 

The transition to the Hugo RA Paris moniker with this album marks a more personal shift in approach. Threaded Habitat combines ambient textures and techno rhythms to reflect tension between humanity and nature—particularly the cyclical nature of collapse and renewal. It also marks Jacktone's first collaborative release with the record store and label Beacon Sound, which has put out works from veteran experimental musicians like Terry Riley and Coleen. Beacon Sound is an important node in Portland, where Paris also lives and developed the flagship modular product for leading Eurorack manufacturer 4MS: the SWN.

The album's closing track was entirely composed on a SWN prototype and recorded in one take. In fact, much of his work is done in layers of single takes with minimal processing to preserve its raw emotion and embrace minor imperfections. As an MIT-trained engineer and physicist, working with hardware—from modulars to guitar pedals and tape loops—is essential to his process of not only making but exploring sound. 

Threaded Habitat captures moments of claustrophobia and bliss in seven tracks and three accompanying videos directed by New Zealand artist Sam Hamilton. Visual art plays a central role in many of Paris’s projects, which include intricate audio-visual performances and scores for full-length films like The Modern Jungle (La Selva Negra) and its forthcoming follow-up. 

The LP will be available to pre-order on July 1st with a limited, exclusive content sample pack. The handmade vinyl package features photography by Sam Hamilton and will be released July 19 through Jacktone and Beacon Sound’s webshops, with worldwide sales beginning August 2nd. A remix release will arrive later in the Fall, with work from Kranky recording artist, Earthen Sea, and fellow Jacktone and modular synth maker and producer, Dan Snazelle.  

Tracklisting:
A1. Hypnosis
A2. Orb of Truth
A3. Nurture
A4. Medieval Vessel
B1. Convent Clustered
B2. Crooked Gears
B3. Heliophagis

Beacon Sound: @beaconsound
Mastering: Dietrich Schoenemann
Photos: Sam Hamilton

Threaded Habitat

Hugo RA Paris - Threaded Habitat [JKTN058 Preview]

JKTN065
juneunit - s/t

Composed after moving from San Francisco to New England, juneunit's (@juneunit) debut album serves as an exploration of liminal spaces neither here nor there - but never straying from its foundation. These tracks exist in a grey area between ambient soundscapes reminiscent of the natural beauty that penetrates New England and phantasms of the electronic music scene of the Bay Area. A catharsis sculpted in sound, this album is at once ethereal and pensive; hopeful and melancholic; celestial and grounded.

While juneunit shares that unreleased albums she’s made in the past center on a narrative concept, this debut is, at its simplest, a stripped-down baring of her transient soul. The entire collection is exploratory in nature, with reverberating tones that reflect the presence of empty or unfamiliar spaces. 

There’s a distinct evolution through the track progression. She starts by making room on “olun,” with an ambient calling out to her surroundings. It’s 2 minutes in before we hear a beat, as she begins to find footing in a foreign place. “enwm” is the beginning of a catharsis, an exorcism of frustration through dense, deep synth tones that feel tense, but also relieving, and it's not long before the music opens up. Side A’s “xyo” is where the scene is dressed for us - we’re spinning in a dark, foggy nightclub — this is a comfort zone. 

While Side A plays melancholic in its vast use of soundscapes, parts of Side B glimmer and become lighter and more layered, a reflection of a deeper understanding or periods of meditation. “wlkhm,” for example, unfolds effervescently — almost heavenly. And we end on a hopeful note, with Side B’s “cyclp” as a shining punctuation. It’s in bouncing, distant drumbeats and ethereal synths that we can feel juneunit's emotional release is complete.

Limited cassette + digital will be available in October.
Mastering João Melo (@mind-safari)

self-titled

juneunit - s/t [JKTN065 Preview]

Side B
Pre-orders now available at http://jacktonerecords.com

Exillon - Everything is Amazing [preview]

DIGI BONUS Pépe - Bridging Mechanics

B3  Palinka Hammer - Pepe (gayphextwin Remix)

B1  Pépe - Palinka Hammer

Saint Thomas LeDoux is an artist and producer from East Tennessee. For the past six years, he’s been a member of the Knoxville-based artist collective, TEKNOX, curating underground dance parties for a small community of freaks and rejects. When he’s not DJing and dancing in dark rooms, Saint enjoys classic southern pastimes like karaoke, demolition derbies, and witnessing massive industrial accidents. You can catch his previous work on Finale Sessions, Partial Magic, and Junted.

Release date: February 14, 2020

Follow STL: @whatitdoux
Artwork: dabecy
Mastering: João Melo

Chain Letter EP

Saint Thomas LeDoux - Chain Letter EP [JKTN069 PREVIEW]

gayphextwin (@odi_me) returns to Jacktone with progesterstoned, the much-anticipated follow-up to 2018's full-length album, spiro. 

progesterstoned is the intersection of alt-rock and dubstep, grunge and IDM.

Release date: Delayed (TBD)
Mastering: Joao Melo
Artwork: gayphextwin

Tracklist
1. invrtme 	
2. spiraled 	
3. needout 	
4. ambientnoodle 	
5. wonderingwhy 	
6. jamband	
7. close 	
8. garbadgewoman 	
9. miss2

progesterstoned

gayphextwin - progesterstoned [JKTN071 Preview]

Release date: Friday February 5.

Evoking liminal spaces between the subterranean subconscious and the grandiose-yet-lethal cosmos of the psychedelic higher self, Strong Pill conjures soundscapes of ever-shifting scale, where fission-emission melodies and stalactite drips weave in and out of tectonic blocks of synth chords, while kick drums reverberate off the walls in what could be the skull, a cavern, or the boundaries of existence itself. Touch never forgets that at heart it's music that's meant to make you move, but where it moves you to depends entirely on the bounds of where you can conceive to go.

Written/produced and recorded by: Strong Pill / Nathan Young  
Mastered by: Joao Melo
Artwork: dabecy

Strong Pill - Touch [JKTN074 Preview]

Record label and sublabel specializing in abstract, ambient & experimental electronics. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Upcoming Release:
Ciel & Ali Berger - Damn Skippy EP! Remixes from Nikki Nair, Davis Galvin

Jacktone | Dreamtone

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks