Back catalogue: All genres

Review: Following his acclaimed 'Love Dub So' EP, Nick Barber's Doof returns to Mysticisms with The Love Mixes-early, raw recordings from cassette-only archives. Made in 1990-91 while studying philosophy in Cambridge, these tracks fuse the spirit of Pink Floyd and Goa's Full Moon parties with the rise of UK trance culture. Crafted with minimal gear and pure DIY energy, the recordings capture the wide-eyed excitement of a scene still being born. Hand-dubbed and passed around at afterparties, one tape reached Mute Records and it was that which sparked Doof's Novamute debut. Now remastered, The Love Mixes offers an unfiltered window into the roots of electronic trance.

Review: London's Mysticisms label spill valorous guts in issuing this new dub and breakbeat crossover record from Dub Specialists. Having emerged from te potent 1980s-90s fallouts that enshrouded the pioneering digital roots label Conscious Sounds, Dub Specialists tracked the storied meeting-of-minds that was and still is Douglas Waldrop, Piers Harrison, and Stuart "Chuggy" Leath. This time, the trio are heard teaming up with DJ Millie McKee and studio brain Matt Bruce to formate yet another splinter cell, as missionaries of Conscious Sounds' digital mission: to explore samplers and videogame sounds in dub and funk. Using an Atari 1040 running Cubase and armed with a Soundcraft mixer, this latest iteration hears drum loops and reggae basslines played over funk samples and layered with Petter's chords, crafting a series of short, DJ-worthy heaters. The result is unhindered by expectation and breaks many calcified digidub moulds, as on 'Funkin Dub', where speak n' spell garblings meet downtown funk licks and sonorant snare whacks.

Review: Mysticisms imprint strides purposefully into 2025 via a multi-artist extravaganza that touches on many of the label's regular musical themes. To kick things off, Utopia Records main man Alex Bradley offers up his take on Elements of Life's 1996 jam 'Are You With Me Love', reimagining it as a deep and spacey roller rich in languid trumpet motifs, metronomic synth bass and intergalactic pads, before Norwegian veteran Oyvind Morken asks 'How Bleep Is Your Love' via sprightly analogue synth sounds and jacking, sweat-soaked machine drums. Over on side B, Eirwud Mudwasser and Romansoff join forces on the deep, dubby, steel pan-sampling early morning tribalism of 'Cherrie', while N-Gynn treats us to a spot of deliciously deep acid house ('Es V edra TB Deluxe').