R$N Premieres: May 2018

Since our departure from Earth several moons ago, we've been charting the outer edges of the solar system in search of soundwaves that defy gravity. This time, a new star joins our orbit — Baume, with his electrifying single “I Know, You Can” A raw blast of proto-house energy fused with late '80s synth nostalgia. Melodies shimmer like solar flares, dragging you back through time with analog warmth and cosmic swagger.

Meanwhile, Cracken has taken the controls, slingshotting around Baume’s sonic world to launch us straight into a 2010 Ibiza memory loop. The remix however spins with darker bass orbits, punchy percussive fields, and the progressive touch Cracken thrives in. It's a full-on distortion of space and sound — we’re not just breaking the space-time continuum... we’re partying through it.

https://hugobaume.bandcamp.com/album/you-know-i-can-ep

https://soundcloud.com/hugo-crt-drl

PREMIERE: Baume - I Know, You Can [La Wild Records]

He sat upon a little hill beside the bridge and looked out upon the river which passed down beneath. It was hard to see the ripples of the water but for the occasional flicker of the headlights which whizzed by up there on the overpass. Some people came out here from time to time to spot the northern lights but there wasn't much moving in the wayward sky this evening. 

There was a near silence in the air, the occasional scream of something wild in the woods in the distance would echo across the snow capped fields. 

He took a deep breath and watched as it filled the air with fog.

Don't Be Afraid has always represented the very best of the underground, a prominent label with a commitment to the out there. Label boss makes a triumphant return with a new EP.

PREMIERE: Semtek - Northern Lights [Don't Be Afraid]

Penda was the last Pagan King of Mercia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom in what is today the English Midlands. We feature a track from the Birmingham based label's second VA. 

Label: @pendabirmingham
Buy: https://pendarecords.bandcamp.com/album/penda-va-002

PREMIERE: Bunny CWC - Generation Playstation [PENDA]

Maktub Recording returns with its third release. This time, it's a collaboration between the label's founder, FUNKE, and the canarian DJ and producer Daniel Rodriguez. The synergy between the two artists is captured in this three-track EP that seeks to escape the commercial chaos plaguing the scene, seeking out sounds and sonic escapes born from the soul, while respecting underground culture. 
"Buenos días" is a track influenced by electro, acid, and early 20th-century tech house, with a strong groove and a certain emotional charge. "Áureo" is a melodic and progressive track with an unexpected twist in the middle that will leave no one indifferent. Finally, "Nur die Musik" is a darker and more mysterious track that achieves a melancholic feeling in the listener.


BUY on BANDCAMP

PREMIERE : FUNKE & Daniel Rodríguez - Buenos días

"Musique Pour Enfiler Des Perles" is the third EP by Poison Gauchiste, aka Eric Labbé, following "Musique Pour Faire Différentes Choses" and "Musique Pour Monter En Haut". It is the result of a slow maturation process, shaped by summer idleness and long winter evenings over the past two years. The EP features five compositions that, as always, blend quirky influences with distinctly personal oddities.

Caution: several of these tracks contain rhythms that might inspire dancing — though it’s unclear whether listeners will actually follow through, given the spells of languor and melancholy that occasionally drift onto the dancefloor...

PREMIERE : Poison Gauchiste - Sept petits pas vers nulle part

Gratts' last record ‘New Horizons’ saw the light earlier this year. Now, the Belgian has invited musical pals from far and wide to reinterpret the tracks his 'Horizons Renewed' EP.  

The elusive PJ Principle (known as Peej two decades ago, releasing some incredible music via Nottingham’s legendary DiY Discs) treats us to a stunningly luscious redo of 'New Horizons', with a nod to Mr. Deephouse himself - yep, it's Larry.

Buy: https://gratts.bandcamp.com/album/horizons-renewed-ep
Release date: Sept 5th (digital)

PREMIERE: Gratts - New Horizons (PJ Principle's Global Deep Mix)

* Subscribe for more premieres: @BoltingBits
* Read more: https://boltingbits.com/tom-of-terram-listensport-turmalin-dub-ramzis-dreamspell-remix-terra-magica-rec
* Listen on Youtube: https://youtu.be/m7P73QpO96A
* Pre-order: https://terramagicarec.bandcamp.com/album/turmalin-dub

Across six tracks, a dream unfurls into sound – patterns emerging like scattered water droplets, a flowing dance of chance and texture.
For Turmalin Dub, Tom of Terram (an alias of Tom Sprenger, one half of Hektisch Sprengen) teams up with Listensport. This EP flourishes in the fertile space between the organic and the synthetic, where textures breathe and rhythms pulse like living beings. It is shaped by five original creations and a ’90s-inspired French Dreamspell house remix by RAMZi, carrying the timeless spirit of the dancefloor.

Turmalin Dub stands as a musical crystal, refracting light into deep colour and pulse; a fortress for the spirited and unconventional, an elegant tapestry of sound. The opening track weaves psychedelic hues with Balearic warmth, dubwise basslines, and whispers of slippery roots-reggae dub. Trance-inflected echoes flow together like water: from immersive ambient waves to intricate patterns and softly blurred dub techno. The release closes with Spirit, a track echoing the warmth and sway of trancehall, bridging introspective moments and the kinetic energy of a floor in motion.

PREMIERE: Tom of Terram & Listensport - Turmalin Dub (RAMZi’s Dreamspell Remix)

For those opting for psychedelic enlightenment over psychological terror, Helsinki based artist
Jeku presents ‘Peyote Trance’; further advancements into “the trip”. A nudge towards ascendance
instead of a heavy push, the heads down motion of the music will take you there, and well, a little
bit of peyote might just help, as mother nature intended.

PREMIERE : Jeku - A Dark Reality

Pablo Diarra - Griffe Sonam EP
BUY LINK: https://songe-anima-records.bandcamp.com/album/griffe-sonam-ep
Label: Songe anima Records (https://www.instagram.com/songe_anima/)
> Pablo Diarra (https://soundcloud.com/saiph_sound)
https://www.instagram.com/saiph_sound/
Artwork: william jones (https://www.instagram.com/oddl_liam)
Mastered by Neel at EnissLab Mastering Studio

After releasing several EP on Accents Records, ARTS, and Diffuse Reality. Pablo Diarra aka Saïph launches his own label Songe Anima records (Sonam rec) with this first release Griffe Sonam EP.

The EP's surprising influences include techno, contemporary trance and ambient, with acoustic recordings drums somewhere between, Afrobeat, jazz and Maracatu, and colder textured pads. This EP feels both grounded and ethereal.

The whole low-end spectrum stares us in a very dub-like direction, the snare, Rim, hats game is as swift as it is aerial, while the electro sound design elements take us, through experimental effect, into a vast, hushed soundscape.

The EP can't be summed up in a single musical style, and explores musical universes we've rarely heard together. The resulting unity is a mature, rhythmically complex sound, an insider's music that's easy to access because it's so danceable.

'After Trane'is an explicit tribute to John Coltrane. Here, the main lead evokes a sound somewhere between trumpet, flute and organ. Its polyrhythmic tangle with a second lead to the 5th can evoke a Balkan fanfare, a Celtic ritornello, West African chants, or even an Oriental dimension; there's something quite universal about this appearance; whose main characteristic is to produce a trance effect. The closing solo may evoke something of Joe Zawinul, and in some aspects takes the allure of a Coltranian pastiche in its articulation. You'll even recognize a brief citation of the Impressions theme, breaking through the mix and setting the track on fire at 5''33.

BUY LINK

PREMIERE : Pablo Diarra - After Trane

Pre-order: https://docsleep.bandcamp.com/album/small-rituals

Known for her elegantly layered sound design, US-based producer @docsleep prepares to drop a hot new house bomb on @dolly-records with her four-track EP, 'Small Rituals'.

Alongside two raw, distinctive dancefloor slammers, Doc Sleep also taps dolly label boss @steffi_official and techno mystery DJ AGITATED to take on remix duties.

More exclusive music

Premiere: Doc Sleep 'Small Rituals' (Steffi Remix)

The streets were alive and well with strife and trouble. The tribes ran riot into the midnight hour and caused chaos upon the boulevards. The empty alleyways became hotbeds of violence and hatred based upon territory and towerblocks. There was no rallying cry or roar of the siren as the police had long since left this town, now it was simply vagabonds and rogues who cast a spell of bitter rebellion upon young, impressionable sorts and innocent men caught in between the cracks. 

JAKAM appears on a new split EP for Lyon based record label and friends of Ransom Note, Hard Fist. He features alongside the likes of our own Timothy Clerkin, Shadi Khries and more.

PREMIERE: J.A.K.A.M. - Tribes [Hard Fist Records]

Earlier this year, @c_a_r aka Chloé Raunet’s second album 'PINNED' was released to huge acclaim from the likes of DJ Mag, Resident Advisor and Trax Magazine.

The first of two multifaceted remix EPs out later this month, 'PINNED Up' realises the powerful dancefloor potential of Raunet's material and features contributions from the likes of Marcus Worgull, Bawrut and Lokier. @michael-mayer-kompakt heads up the release with a remix that unleashes the latent kinetic energy and emotive power of original album closer 'This City'. It went down an absolute storm when he dropped it at fabric the other month, and now you can listen to it above.

PINNED Up

Order Here

PREMIERE: C.A.R. - This City (Michael Mayer Remix)

There was a beautiful dessert sat placed atop the kitchen table, awaiting the diners to return to the room and embrace it with awe and might. A magma pie of the tallest order, a delicious treat which would leave them full for many days to come in the future. The room was dimly lit by candles and the environment rustic and humble, this was not a zealous feast but a polite meal. The baroque castle had become their home, a pretty kingdom with a wise old story. 

Wrong Water is the alias of St Petersburg based musician Eugenii Fadeev. He has previously released on the Glaswegian label 12th Isle and has received praise for his take on eclectic electronics. Now he turns his attention towards Kiev based label Muscut, an imprint to watch.

Dozen

PREMIERE: Wrong Water - Magma-Pie [Muscut]

There was a sense of happiness which travelled across the great square as people began to realise the circumstances which were set to unfold before their eyes. The toppling of a regime was no small feat, the king was dead and the revolution had one. No more drama, no more war... The time was now for celebration and prosperity amidst a new era in which strife and poverty was to be no more. The people danced in euphoric celebration and rejoiced together. 

Dj Senior Vasquez releases four purpose built club belters. Let's not beat around the bush here. Perhaps better known as Photonz he returns to the Paraiso imprint with a brand new bang for your buck.

No More Drama

PREMIERE: DJ Senior Vasquez - No More Drama [Paraíso]

DJ Pierre once said of Hardfloor that "they make acid as though they were born to make acid." Well, the Düsseldorf duo are back with the brand new 'Lights, Camera, Acid' EP, and we're happy to announce that their talent for crafting earth-shattering dancefloor bombs remains intact. We're happy to be premiering the flip today, which finds Hardfloor ploughing more of a twitchy electro furrow.

Lights, Camera, Acid

PREMIERE: Hardfloor - Yo! Bum Rush The Silver Box [Byrd Out]

Netsphere is a new Colombian label run by DJ/producer Astronomical Telegram and music journalist Mauricio Atencia. Born from a common love of anime, the idea behind the label is "to represent an imaginary world composed of cyborgs, robots and infinite mega structures and levels that will be connected through different musical releases, seeking to create a world order that can satisfy the people's desires, encompassing electronic music in general."

The first release on Netsphere comes from Nicky Rosa, who hails from Mazamet in the south of France. His new EP 'Solaris' contains seven tracks of off-kilter techno that foreground texture and unexpected melodies. 'Solar Flare' conjures up an ominous atmosphere with twinkling synths and eerie pitch-bends.

Solaris

PREMIERE: Nicky Rosa - Solar Flare [Netsphere]

Ransom Note is an online music, arts and culture magazine. We provide a home for readers and writers with boundless enthusiasm, esoteric knowledge, fierce opinions and impeccable taste.

With our core team immersed in all aspects of dance music, we publish news, articles, and interviews covering the greatest in innovative, underground culture from across the globe. We offer regular, exclusive music and mixtapes from our favourite artists, and publish features shining a light on everything from the freshest new artists to the untold tales from rave history.

Alongside this we offer musings on film, books, life, and art, generating some context and controversy as an antidote to the reheated PR that clogs up the internet. Our office is fuelled by Tunnock’s Bars, cat memes, hangovers and a ridiculous, never ending love for our culture.

We're always interested in getting new writers on board – feel free to get in touch if you’ve got a story to tell.

With love until the grave.

PREMIERE: Nicky Rosa - Solar Flare [Netsphere]

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