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From its modest beginnings, the Swiss label Creaked has carved out a unique, colorful, adventurous and independent path of its own in the music world, appealing to both music fans and Djs with its eclectic sounds and textures. Growing international networks and community from Vevey to Manchester and Berlin to San Francisco, the imprint was first launched in Lausanne during the summer of 2004 before moving its office and headquarters to Biel/Bienne in 2018. Over two decades, surviving musical evolution and seismic industry shifts without losing its main position to support electronic music from experimental avant-pop to club sounds and beyond, the label keeps helping define the development of genres by unveiling records from newcomers to established artists. 

To mark its 20th anniversary, Creaked announces the release of "Music Falls into a Mysterious Void", a compilation bringing twenty new and exclusive gems, ten original cuts and ten remixes of emblematic tracks taken off its back-catalog that shaped the label's history with its artistry roster from the early days to the present. Freshly joined by the two brand new signings Nic as Well and Olive T, current artists such as Owelle and Inuit Pagoda rub shoulders with old pals like Larytta, Mochipet, Julien Aubert, My Panda Shall Fly and the late and greatly missed Bloodysnowman. 

With tracks including the dubby-slow-dance reinterpretation of Consor's ‘Monoski’ (2006) by Torchon & Ganj, the gorgeous IDM journey ‘Know Better, Do Better’ by Hrdvsion, the Me&Mobi’s post-electronica surgical cover of ‘Thot’ by Gaspard de La Montagne and the psychedelic-drone-ambient ‘Hamada’ by Al-Sarwib, this celebratory release encompasses a broad and stylistic range of the label's output. 

Highlights of the compilation contain Baltimore mastermind The Soft Pink Truth's rework of 2010’s ‘All Men Must Die’ by Sutekh, Bristol artist Galtier with his slamming remix of ‘Stride’ by Isolated Lines, ‘Who Took This Base Out?’ by Zürich geek minimal techno producer Cosili and pop wave hero Buvette's remix of ‘Clair de Lune’ by Los Orioles. 

While UK artists Ikonika appears with her infectious remix of Oy's ‘First Box Then Walk’ and Elsa Hewitt transforms Verveine's ‘Veine R #1’ into a subtle and delicate version, Parisian hybrid house genius Sunareht rounds off the ceremony with his majestic remix of Scarlett’s ‘Give Up’. 

Mastered by Samuel Vaney and art designed by Monokini, this selection of tracks is way more than just a compilation— this is 20 years of music activities, all packed together in one. Creaked’s tale is the slow rise of a real indie record label with multiple sounds and a wide roster from the ground up, learning through error and success, listening and always adapting without becoming jaded or losing its passion. With "Music Falls into a Mysterious Void", the label showcases its forward-thinking vitality through looking behind and braving into the future.

Isolated Lines - Stride (Galtier Remix)

Wave Drop

After a five-year hiatus, Isaka returns with ‘Elytra’, a work exploring the increasingly blurred lines between organic and artificial realities. In her self-defined 'hyperbass', 'Elytra' blends low-end grit with a melodic pop sheen, morphing erratic rhythms, intricate sound design and hyperpop vocals that balance formal sensibilities and visceral club energy. 
Isaka underwent the transformative experience of medical transition during her move to Berlin and this radical change emerges in the thematic exploration of Elytra. 
Isaka uses insect moulting as a metaphor for the cyclical, often traumatic process of metamorphosis and the EP’s exploration of adaptation and articulation where skin is not only a boundary of the self, but also the interface for our surroundings. 
Themes of evolving identity are woven not only into the music but also into the visual art, zine & custom website accompanying the release. A different character represents each of the tracks, brought to life through a deep iterative process involving collages, sketches, and an array of AI-assisted 3D imagery. Limited-edition electronic sculptures will also be produced for ‘Elytra’.

Tracks in focus

Bubbly textures and frenzied drum cuts move side-by-side with NPC inspired vocal chops in opening track Slang Overload. Made in collaboration with TRYCE over an intense three-day session in 2023, it’s a nod towards glitch-hop revival with elements of UK Bass, packed with meticulously sculpted and destroyed sounds.

In Circuit Shaker we enter metallic low-end stepper territory: celestial tripped-out highs and a driving low end. We are cohabiting with lesbian androids at a picnic. With its off-kilter grooves and tender strangeness, Circuit Shaker embodies the inherent weirdness of intimacy—the paradoxical freedom of losing yourself when the boundaries blur between who's wearing who. The track, which first began in 2018, is a footwork, house, and electro-inspired tune which transitions between two sections at 120 and 160 BPM through polyrhythmic syncopation.

Isaka and Enayet combine for the third track, NYC 2016, a wigged-out hard hitter where drums are the main character. NYC 2016 is the ultimate DJ tool—a sonic exoskeleton whose essence straddles alienation and empowerment. Forged through countless late-night sessions with Enayet between 2016 and 2017, this track embodies the raw energy of a city’s underground dance scene where jackhammer kicks and clattering snares assault the senses. 

7Qubit explores dehumanization through platform capitalism and is alive with bugs and the quirks of  the obsessive virtualisation of the self. Imagined through a 15/4 time signature grime beat and echoes of malfunctioning code, Isaka hints at our endangered humanity. Isaka’s vocals about missing her chatbot girlfriend are processed through AI models and auto-tune, blurring the line between the organic and the synthetic. 

The final track on ‘Elytra’ takes you to the edge where all the layers fall away and what remains is the raw and unadorned self. Glittering ethereal textures are underpinned by an engulfing bass section that reverberates against the edges of the song. With its poignant melodies and delicate yet impactful percussion, Precipice is a meditation on a moment of self-realization. The track builds towards an overwhelming wall of sound before dropping into a stark sample: “Being trans… is spiritual.” Featuring quotes from Hunter Schafer’s character Jules in Euphoria, processed through an AI model trained on Isaka’s voice, this track explores the complexities of identity and self-discovery.

NYC 2016

@svbkvlt regulars @rami-abadir and @nahashisalive link up a suite of thundering percussive club music, with remixes from Toumba and @ehuamusic

More info: https://djmag.com/listen/premiere-abadir-nahash-tenterle-ehua-remix-tntrlyh-rymks-aywa

Marchadair مرشدير

Premiere: ABADIR & Nahash ‘Tenterlé (Ehua Remix) (تنترليه (ريمكس إيوا’’

Pre-order: https://infinitemachine.bandcamp.com/album/caverna

@entranas presents his debut album 'Caverna' on @infinite-machine, exploring an amalgam of polyrhythms found in traditional Ecuadorian music such as bomba and albazo, blending them with jagged atmospheres of UK bass and grime.

Through deliberate sound design, Entrañas seeks to place the listener within the unpredictable ecosystem of the city of Quito and its surroundings.

More exclusive music

Premiere: Entrañas 'Tigrillo' (ft. Buena Tarde)

Listen to "Spliced From Memory" by georg-i taken from VA "lain os is online vol. 2: club cyberia" out on 15th October via Absurd TRAX

Bandcamp: https://absurdtrax.bandcamp.com

From ‘lain os is online vol. 2: club cyberia’, the 33rd release from Absurd TRAX (@absurd-creation), out on Oct 15. Building on the foundation laid by volume 1, this collection brings together another 17 artists from across the globe, spanning from Argentina to Hong Kong, all paying homage to Serial Experiments Lain—the quintessential anime for our generation.

Links:
www.lain-os-is.online
Absurd TRAX
https://soundcloud.com/absurd-creation
absurdtrax.bandcamp.com/artists
https://www.instagram.com/absurdtrax
georg-i
https://soundcloud.com/georg-i
https://georg-i.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/_georg_i_

lain os is online vol. 2: club cyberia

absurd trax

georg-i - Spliced From Memory (Absurd TRAX)

Black Concrete

Send request : info.seeksicksound@gmail.com or join our discord : discord.com/invite/suVpRBStmu www.instagram.com/seeksicksound/

Isaka - Elytra, 2024 
Buy: https://sfx-space.bandcamp.com/album/elytra-sfx03

"After a five-year hiatus, Isaka returns with ‘Elytra’, a work exploring the increasingly blurred lines between organic and artificial realities. In her self-defined 'hyperbass', 'Elytra' blends low-end grit with a melodic pop sheen, morphing erratic rhythms, intricate sound design and hyperpop vocals that balance formal sensibilities and visceral club energy.
Isaka underwent the transformative experience of medical transition during her move to Berlin and this radical change emerges in the thematic exploration of Elytra. "

@s-f-x-0101
@isaka_symbios_wiki

[Premiere] Isaka - 7Qubit (out on SFX)

Listen to "Narrative Exploit" by Skarv taken from "Polymer Veil" out on 25th October via Rhizome

Pre-order: https://rhz000.bandcamp.com/album/polymer-veil

On October 25th 2024 experimental composer, electronic musician, and visual artist Mads Krue Bugge, under his moniker Skarv, is set to release the album Polymer Veil. In collaboration with artists from the Copenhagen underground scene and outdated large language models, this collection of synthetic sounds and fragmented vocals delves into the intersecting worlds of plastic and artificial intelligence, asking questions about the nature of authenticity and synthetic existence.

Polymer Veil weaves parallel narratives about artificiality, with each track exploring what it means to be fake in a world increasingly shaped by differing technologies. Borrowing its title from the long chain molecules that form DNA, cellulose, and plastics alike, the album mirrors its process of construction, each note linking fluidly to the next. 

Skarv has previously released the industry-album A Memory Like Any Other and the tech-EP Haptic Feedback, and is part of the electro-acoustic group Første Kvartal. On Polymer Veil, Skarv is joined by artists ill, Nemo, LM Madsen and Alto Aria, continuing his practice of blurring the lines between human and machine, leaving a vacuum where the “natural” once was. 

Polymer Veil will be released on Rhizome, a Copenhagen-based label co-founded by Aria Leth Schütze and Mads Krue Bugge in 2020. Rhizome is dedicated to experimental music and alternative release formats, with a focus on the Copenhagen underground scene, and has amongst numerous releases presented the compilation albums bag/belly/box and
Hypersea.

Links:
Skarv
https://soundcloud.com/skarv6
Rhizome
https://soundcloud.com/rhz000
https://rhz000.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/rhz000

Polymer Veil

pre-order / bandcamp

Skarv - Narrative Exploit (Rhizome)

Taken from SBKT067: 96 Back - tender, exit
Release date: 27th November 2024
Limited vinyl + digital

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For his sixth 96 Back LP, Evan Majumdar-Swift found himself writing “a long form eulogy” to his years living in Manchester while preparing for an imminent move to London. Initially intended as a series of technical exercises, which saw the artist radically stripping back his established production setup, over the last two years tender, exit gradually took on the form of an emotional landscape, mapped in transit between two cities. “The overarching concept of the record is cycles, recognising them, loving them, and tearing yourself away from them,” he says. Heard together, the project takes on the pace and cadence of a passionate conversation with a loved one.

Full press release - tinyurl.com/tender-exit

---

Photography: Ana Radtsenko
Design: Luke Griffiths
Mastering: Raphael Valensi

tender, exit

Preorder

96 Back - Rubber Knife

AKA HEX - Do The Rite Thing / Hex On Fire
Cat. Nr: DN033
Format: Digital
Release Date: November 22, 2024
Buy / stream: dansenoire.ffm.to/AkaHex

AKA HEX is a brand new collaboration between Aïsha Devi and Slikback.

Devi has always used her music to look outward, beyond the confines of club music and the avant garde towards a space that's less predictable and far more mysterious. She was born in Switzerland with Nepali Indigenous heritage, and her transversal identity has helped her navigate the underground as not just a producer and vocalist, but as a curator. Co-founding the Danse Noire imprint in 2013, she used that platform to launch her breakout EP 'Hakken Dub / Throat Dub', following it up with the labyrinthine 'Of Matter and Spirit' album in 2015. Devi's interest in sonic alchemy and multi-dimensional expression was further developed on 2018's 'DNA Feelings', coming to an overflowing head with last year's enigmatic 'Death Is Home', which featured a collaboration with none other than Slikback.

Born and raised in Nairobi, Slikback is one of the world's most adventurous producers, taking elements from the wide spectrum of club, noise, ambient and rap musics and forming them into a psychedelic lattice of high intensity sounds and emotions. He's spent 
the last few years prolifically contributing to his canon via his Bandcamp stream, this year compiling the highlights into the frenetic double-LP 'SLIKBACK' – 22 tracks of future-facing, soundsystem-ready experimental club sounds that define his journey so far. 

Together, they synthesize their artistry as AKA HEX, welding kinetic, bass-heavy rhythms to zig-zagging, sci-fi tinged soundscapes and mutant vocals. It's Devi's most dancefloor-focused material in years, and Slikback's most alien to date, bridging the chasm between avant-pop, experimental club and hallucinogenic ambience.

Mastered by Raphael Valensi 
Artwork by nmr.cc

buy / stream

Do The Rite Thing

French electronic music webzine. Premieres, podcasts, free downloads, reviews and more.
SSS Crew: @backgroundsounds / @pasci-hi / @idris-ght / @fluidmatter / @drazel / @clemseg  / @marco-kabbale

[Premiere] Isaka - 7Qubit (out on SFX)

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