Bugging

Back on Tech House’s most in demand label, it’s a debut release from French DJ Tony Cortez with ‘Aqui’. 

An artist whose been bubbling in the scene for a hot minute, Tony Cortez has grafted his way through residencies and VIP parties since a young age. After emigrating to the UK & with a burning passion for all things House music, Tony Cortez’s style as a DJ has been influenced by the tougher sounding UK House scene which has in turn, pumped up his own releases.

This is prevalent on his Trax debut ‘Aqui’, a pure fire cut of Tech House energy, emanating a vivid summer vibe throughout which echoes back those warm open air terrace parties we wish could happen all year round. The record itself boasts solid percussion throughout that keeps the record movin’ & groovin’, along with an audacious pan pipe melody that you won’t be able to get out of you head anytime soon. ‘Aqui’ definitely has a Tribal House rhythm that you’ll feel from the ground up, there’s a ton of presence on this record and as far as debuts go, ‘Aqui’ is a is a sure-fire club heater packed into a Toolroom Trax release.

Aqui

Tony Cortez - Aqui (Extended Mix)

Ben Kim & LP Giobbi - Somebody To Love

Never Enough

Listen & Buy

Up next on Toolroom, it’s a welcome return to the fast-rising, star in the making ESSEL who is set to drop a slice of Summer with ‘Try’. A record drenched with real emotion and a yearning for the good times to begin again, ESSEL shows off her production skills, delivering a Piano House focused record in the classiest of fashions, akin to a classic Dusky sound.

The Liverpool born and bred producer ESSEL is one artist who has certainly established herself as THE one to watch in 2022. Off the back of a hugely successful 2021, making waves in the scene dropping huge records on Love & Other with her debut ‘Runnin’ hitting 1.5 Million streams and of course, her official Toolroom debut ‘Love Vibration’ racking up a staggering 2.5 million streams alone on Spotify and nestling itself inside the Beatport top 10, it’s pretty clear that there’s only one way for ESSEL to go and that is UP! If you don’t know then get to know, because ESSEL is back on Toolroom and she means business.

ESSEL - Try (Extended Mix)

Hi guys,
Here's my latest track 'Aphrodisiac' on Sink or Swim: https://sinkorswim.release.link/aphrodisiac

Stream / Download

Ferreck Dawn - Aphrodisiac

Back on Toolroom to deliver his first release of 2022 is none other, than the boss man himself! Mark Knight is back, this time enlisting the talents of studio wizard James Hurr & House vocalist Cari Golden on their club focused record – ‘You Are A God’. Without skipping a beat, Mark Knight, James Hurr & Cari Golden have firmly planted their feet into clubland, set to get the dance floor movin’ and groovin’ to the beat. 

A record for the club, ‘You Are A God’ is House banger to be reckoned with. Featuring everything you’d want from a Mark Knight & James Hurr collaboration & more, with it’s raw rolling Tech House bass line, toughened up House groove along with Cari Golden’s straight to the point vocal delivery throughout the record, ‘You Are A God’ is here and ready to shake up the club. With multiple shows worldwide under Mark Knight’s belt already confirmed this year, expect to hear this one on heavy rotation in 2022.

You Are A God

Mark Knight & James Hurr (feat. Cari Golden) - You Are A God (Extended Mix)

Sean Finn - Cada Vez (CASSIMM Extended Remix)

Jaded - Welcome To The People (Extended Mix)

DL/Stream: https://Toolroom.lnk.to/TheGreatestThingAliveTS

Toolroom are immensely proud to welcome the Chicago legend, Green Velvet, back to the label as he locks horns with Toolroom founder Mark Knight and studio partner, James Hurr, for ‘The Greatest Thing Alive’. A low slung, chunky affair that screams Miami Space terrace at 8am! Quirky, full of character and Green Velvets unmistakable vocal re-work of the classic ‘Mannish Boy’ from Muddy Waters pushes this record into a really special place.

Green Velvet debuted on the label back in 2015 alongside Technasia with ‘Suga’, a record that went onto to be an overall Beatport #1 and remained as their highest selling track for many years that followed, the track also sits on an impressive 9m streams.

The Greatest Thing Alive

DL/Stream

Mark Knight, Green Velvet, James Hurr - The Greatest Thing Alive

Canadian DJ, producer, record label head and environmental activist BLOND:ISH makes her anticipated debut on Defected alongside rising UK star KeeQ with ‘The Cure’. Soaked in the sunshine-filled, Latin-infused style BLOND:ISH’s DJ sets are known for, a blissful combination with KeeQ’s signature tribal and emotive elements as Chloe Paige’s distorted vocal purrs over hypnotic whirrs and a low swung bassline for an unmissable label debut from a triptych of house talent.

The Cure (Extended Mix)

Listen / Stream Now

BLOND:ISH x KeeQ Feat. Chloe Paige – The Cure (Extended Mix)

OUT NOW

Buy/Stream: orcd.co/HOTC237

Hot Since 82 has honed his distinctive sound over nearly two decades, captivating a devoted fanbase with his irresistibly groovy rhythms. Throughout his illustrious career, he has graced some of the world’s most renowned stages, from Glastonbury Festival to Coachella, and held residencies at Ibiza’s premier venues such as Pacha, Space, and Amnesia. His contributions have earned him numerous accolades, including a long list of Essential New Tune and
Hottest Record in the World awards, plus multiple Essential Mixes on BBC Radio One, certifying him as one of the UK’s leading house authorities. Adding another landmark to his esteemed career, July sees him join Jamie Jones and Lee Foss’ Hot Creations with two menacing numbers in ‘Sonedo’, showcasing his unmistakable sound.

Opening with ‘Sonedo’, the release dives deep into a lush bass-driven groove that envelops the senses, with rhythmic builds and playful percussion accents transporting listeners into an all-night hypnosis. Next, ‘Danzamae’ crafts a mesmerising masterpiece ready to command main stages around the globe, weaving ethereal soundscapes, compelling beats and vibrant saxophone tones.

Hot Since 82 - Sonedo

⚠️ This isn’t fiction. It’s reflection.

Predator State: A Cybernetic Requiem is a mirror held to our world — not a fantasy of the future, but a record of the present we built.

12 tracks tell the story of power worship, female fear, digital gods, and systemic rot.
From denial to rebellion, from fear to rebirth, this album exposes what happens when humanity replaces empathy with efficiency — when safety is branded, sold, and denied.

💿 It’s industrial. It’s cyberpunk. It’s political. It’s human.

🔊 Expect distorted bass, metallic percussion, broken choirs, and voices that sound like sirens in the ruins of civilization.

🩸 For the women who walk alone. For the truth we scroll past. For the ghosts still coded in the machine.

🎧 Listen loud. Feel the weight.

✴️ This is not background noise — it’s a requiem for the modern world.

⚰️ “Iron Halo (Descent)” is the sound of clarity returning through pain.

The title is a contradiction — a halo made of iron.
Something holy repurposed into armor, or perhaps a cage.

The lyrics explore the tension between redemption and regression:
“They called it mercy — I called it chains.”

🎧 The instrumentation is cinematic Drum & Bass — fast but heavy, filled with static reverb and haunting vocal ghosts.
Every snare hits like a memory resurfacing.

The production feels like a heartbeat trying to sync after trauma — pulsing, mechanical, alive but not whole.

It’s about realizing that survival came with a cost: the soul sterilized in exchange for safety.

The false gods of Digital Eden are collapsing again —
“We polished the cage until it shined.”

This is the moment the survivors understand:
victory without humanity is just a quieter kind of death.

The halo rusts, and the descent begins.

Iron Halo (Descent)

The spirits of winter arrive and depart again, wild dance parties, and in the end the spirits of spring arrive, new friends, new love.
[Verse 1]
Snowflakes fall
The spirits call
(Ooh-yeah, ooh-yeah!)
Ice-cold air
They’re everywhere
Spinning fast
They never last

[Prechorus]
Round and round
They twirl
They fly
Through the night
Beneath the sky

[Chorus]
Dance
Dance
Winter’s wild waltz
(Frosty feet, frosty feet!)
Spin
Spin
No time to halt
Round we go
No end in sight
Till the spring steals the night

[Verse 2]
Footsteps fade
The cold parade
(Ooh-yeah, ooh-yeah!)
Shadows thin
Let light begin
New friends bloom
In every room

[Prechorus]
Warmth returns
The frost retreats
Hearts ignite with springtime beats

[Chorus]
Dance
Dance
Winter’s wild waltz
(Chilly hands, chilly hands!)
Spin
Spin
Love starts to vault
Round we go
No end in sight
Till the spring claims the night

Deep Winter Walz Melodic Techno

Cola

Camelphat & Elderbrook - Cola (Franky Rizardo Remix)

You Can Do It Baby EP

You Can Do It Baby (Original Mix)

If you’ve been anywhere near an electronic music event in the past few years, the likelihood is that at least one point during the evening you will have been moving to the hypnotic sounds of Marco Lys.

Born and raised in Italy’s legendary Venice, Marco Lys’s reputation has been forged on endless days in the studio perfecting his unique sound of tech tinged house, and demand for his sound has continued to grow with every piece of production that he works his magic on.

Marco Lys’s career is testament to those who feel that things come too easy for the modern day electronic music producer, but to all those in the industry who have been involved with his work, none are surprised at his success.

Twenty years later and he is firmly established as one of the most respected producers in his genre, with an endless flow of superlative productions as 'Your Love', 'Speechless', 'la Tromba', ‘Cross The Line’, 'GO' , 'You Need Some' and remix projects for the industry’s finest imprints.

His work on labels that include Positiva, Rising Music, Nebula, Oxyd, Audio Therapy, Defected, Rise, Strictly Rhythm, Great Stuff and Toolroom have gained support from the cream of the world’s elite, whilst collaborations with Sam Paganini, My Digital Enemy , Michael Gray, Prok & Fitch, Alex Kenji and Chris Lake amongst others show his diversity and ability to bend his sound to suit.

On the remix tip, Marco Lys continues to push the boundaries, and with various original projects now complete and due for release over the coming months, Marco is now firmly back on the remix scene, with projects for some of the biggest labels on the planet.

Last years has seen Marco playing on some of the most important clubs around the world as Ministry Of Sound and Proud2 in London, Set in Miami and Amnesia in Ibiza to name a few.

It’s easy to see why Marco Lys is the name on the lips of label heads and top producers across the globe.

Never Enough

Marco Lys

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