All genres charts

Review: Fresh from a surprise - but no less surprisingly sublime - appearance on Timedance, Ploy returns home to the Deaf Test imprint he set up as a vehicle for his productions back in 2022. As usual, what's on offer is a fresh-but-nostalgic set of cuts full of audible nods to heavyweight dancefloor styles of the 90s. The A-side boasts two top-notch takes on 'Vortex': the bleep-and-breaks style sub-heavy shuffle of the 'Stripped Mix' and the early 90s UK techno heaviness of the more expansive 'Busy Mix'. Over on side B, trippy and energy-packed throb-job 'In Your Head' is followed by the moody bass propelled breakbeat house of 'Eyes On You' and the early Orbital-esque excellence of 'Sending'.

Review: 2023 was a knockout year for Portuguese artist Temudo, taking in techno totems like Blueprint, Klockworks and Hayes in pursuit of his driving, sharply-focused sound. Now he lands on Italian label Sublunar with more of that refined, precision engineered gear for the wormhole crew. 'U Where My Second Choice' is a taut, edgy workout with a nagging synth hook, but 'Asset 2' ratchets down to a pure, heady locomotion which will take you tunnelling deep into the night. '2029' has a restrained funk which will work the body good and proper, and 'Affection' simmers down to a minimal palette peppered with pointed blips moving in expertly sequenced formations - smart techno at its finest.

Review: Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie! was recorded in 1961 on Verve, and it captures all-time jazz great Ella Fitzgerald as most people of the time got to hear her live, backed up by a quartet. There are some essential soulful standards included in this set such as 'A Night In Tunisia' and 'Cry Me A River', while the title track is a sprightly burst of swinging sunshine typical of the early bebop period. Faithfully transferred from analogue tapes and pressed to heavyweight vinyl, this is a fine document of Fitzgerald's immense talent and natural charisma in its rawest form.

Notes: Mandala Turntable Slipmats 12", printed using a high resolution printer, the results will not disappoint.

These are considered the go to slipmats for printers and turntablists, A hybrid slipmat with a unique glazed bottom surface.

These slipmats are compressed with enough thickness and density to accommodate the speed and accuracy of a Scratch DJ, without having the needle bounce when touching the vinyl. The Mix/Club DJ's using our hybrid glazed slipmats would get the absorbent feel and gain the speed along with the accuracy of a Scratch DJ.

These slipmats also work perfect for any vinyl/collector home turntablist.

Professional Grade Blank Slipmats for 12" Turntables
Weight: 16oz Felt
Bottom Surface: Glazed
Thickness: .09" (3/32")

Additional information
Weight: 0.2 g
Size: 12"
Pair of Slipmats

Notes: Mandala Turntable Slipmats 7", printed using a high resolution printer, the results will not disappoint.

These are considered the go to slipmats for printers and turntablists, A hybrid slipmat with a unique glazed bottom surface.

These slipmats are compressed with enough thickness and density to accommodate the speed and accuracy of a Scratch DJ, without having the needle bounce when touching the vinyl. The Mix/Club DJ's using IDYD's hybrid glazed slipmats would get the absorbent feel and gain the speed along with the accuracy of a Scratch DJ.

These slipmats also work perfect for any vinyl/collector home turntablist.

Professional Grade Blank Slipmats for 7" Turntables
Weight: 16oz Felt
Bottom Surface: Glazed
Thickness: .09" (3/32")

Additional information
Weight: 0.2 g
Size: 12"
Pair of Slipmats

Review: Wise Records has lined up another super outing here in the form of the Max Romeo Sings Classics EP. Featuring fresh renditions of timeless hits like 'Kingston Town,' 'Man Next Door,' and 'No Place Like Home,' these cuts were recorded with Max's touring band during a break between French tour dates. Renowned producer Dennis Bovell handled the mixing, promising a blend of Max Romeo's signature style with a touch of innovation from the legendary Bovell.

Notes: Warm and cozy

Class A Boost will fatten up and boost anything you feed it. This deceptively simple design uses discreet J-FET transistors in a single-ended "Class A" configuration to achieve the warmest possible tone. Class A Boost can deliver up to 20db of clean boost and remains effective with both instrument and line level signals. Superior signal to noise performance allows you to put the Class A Boost anywhere in your pedal chain. It can add punch and extra output to a classic overdrive sound and is able to push distortion pedals into extremely aggressive crunch land. Class A Boost is also ideal for hitting the front end of a tube amp to achieve an added layer of sweetness.

Knob-by-knob

Level: Sets the overall output volume.

Satisfying saturation

The feed-forward J-FET based design of the Class A Boost provides up to 20db of high-headroom boost with just enough class A saturation to warm up your tone.

Gotta bounce

Late for a rehearsal several light years away, Marvin thought it was a space mirage when he first saw Class A Boost-a trampoline strapped with rocket boosters. But before he knew it, he was blasting through time and space, landing in his buddy's garage right before their drummer (also late) counted in.

Model name: Class A Boost
Function: FET Clean Boost
Category 1: Utility
Bypass: True Bypass

Electronics

Voltage: 9-18VDC
Current draw: 100mA
Input impedance: 10M O
Output impedance: Freq. dependent

Body

Length (inches): 1.5
Width (inches): 3.75
Height (inches): 1.75
Weight (lbs): 0.5

Notes: Enlightening

Elevating the groundbreaking optical compression of the original Philosopher's Tone to a new plane of tonal enlightenment, the Philosopher's Tone 2 is a world-class compressor/sustainer with footswitchable Grit, allowing for more versatility than ever before. Featuring a refined implementation of the overdrive circuit first heard in the limited-edition Gold version of this iconic compressor pedal, the unique germanium distortion found in the Philosopher's Tone 2 delivers smooth top end and rich midrange response, tailored to perfectly match the characteristics of the optical sustainer driving it. In addition to Volume and Sustain controls, the Philosopher's Tone 2 features a parallel clean Blend knob that allows musicians to mix their instrument's original tone with the compressor/sustainer effect when the Grit circuit is bypassed. This mixing technique restores natural pick-attack and allows clean settings with extreme sustain to remain dynamic and musical. When the Grit circuit is engaged, the Blend knob is automatically bypassed, circumventing the compromises of the original unit and imparting a colourful distortion to your sound in both Germanium and Silicon modes. This nonlinear diode-clipping can range from subtle overdrive to overflowing distortion, all without unwanted feedback. A Treble control located just before the master Volume provides 6db of cut or boost at 2kHz for fine-tuning the frequency response of the effect. The Philosopher's Tone 2 features true-bypass switching and internal 18V power rails for maximum clean headroom that is ideal for use with hot pickups, active bass, synthesisers and other line-level sources. Runs on 9VDC.

Knob-by-knob

Volume: Sets the overall output volume.
Treble: Boosts or cuts treble at 2kHz.
Sustain: Sets the amount of sustain.
Blend: Mixes your compressed effect with your clean signal. Note: This control is only active when the Grit footswitch is turned OFF.
Grit: Controls the gain of the overdrive stage. Note: This control is only active when the Grit footswitch is turned ON.

Rare design

Generations of guitar players have sought noiseless clean sustain from a compressor, and this was the guiding goal of the research and design behind Philosopher's Tone, yielding a compressor with an internal 18 volts of headroom and naturally musical tone control.

The evolution of Philosopher's Tone

First released in 2009 and igniting a new following for Pigtronix, the Philosopher's Tone 2 is a "best of" design, incorporating the best elements of previous iterations plus a completely redefined Grit knob for significantly more versatility.

Modern-day alchemy

Practitioners of the mystical and ancient art of alchemy long sought an element called the Philosopher's Stone. They believed, if found, it could turn lead into gold and bestow immortality upon the person who wielded it. Philosopher's Tone 2 allows players to conjure gleaming sustain, soaring lead tones, and articulation across all six strings.

Model name: Philosopher's Tone
Function: Optical Compressor Sustainer
Category 1: Compression
Bypass: True Bypass

Electronics

Voltage: 9VDC
Current draw: 100mA
Input impedance: High
Output impedance: 150ohms

Body
Length (inches): 1.5
Width (inches): 3.75
Height (inches): 1.75
Weight (lbs): 0.5

Review: Tina Turner remains one of pop music's most towering figures and Simply The Best is a timeless compilation that truly lives up to its name. Showcasing Turner's unparalleled talent and electrifying energy, each track on this album is a testament to her incredible vocal range and emotive delivery, from the soulful 'What's Love Got to Do With It' to the empowering 'Proud Mary.' As well as that there are heart-wrenching ballads and upbeat anthems, ensuring there's something for everyone to enjoy from all across the long and remarkable career of Turner. This new pressing comes on gatefold blue vinyl so is a real collector's item.

Review: Following a string of well-received EPs on Planet Rhythm - five in total since 2021 - Red Rooms returns to the storied Dutch imprint with his hotly anticipated debut album. What's on offer is, by and large, full-throttle peak-time techno, where clandestine aural textures and short melodic motifs ride weighty, locked-in basslines and breathless, kick-drum-driven grooves. It's a formula that the Berlin-based producer has not only mastered magnificently, but also excels at delivering. Highlights include the rave stab-sporting big room panic of 'No Turning Back', the alien drum-funk of 'Transcendency', the ghostly and intoxicating allure of 'Unidentofied Objects' and the slipped Robert Hood-style minimalism of 'Cypher'.

Review: One of the UK's wonder-children of music production, Eusebeia, returns for a cerebral new drum & bass EP, 'Snakes & Ladders', homing in on vibes of barren atmosses and desert drumfunk. Opener 'Snakes & Ladders' is Sub-Saharan enough, opening with a bullhorned call to arms over a figurative, dust-laden sonic dune, all while a rallying 808 booms underneath like the distant underground squirms of a sandworm. Things then take an unexpected turn, however, as the producer takes brooding refuge in a nighttime cave on 'Morality Lessons', cleverly traversing an odd time signature and a nocturnal texture. 'Ladder To Salvation' embraces the desert dawn, relishing the misty morning, while 'Vice & Virtue' rounds off the B-side with an impeccable ambience and movement through several competing kettle-breaks and versions of the same atmosphere.

Review: Alternative, goth and pop rock band HIM are one of the most creative and strongest bands to come out of Finland. Tears On Tape was their eighth and final album from the band whose career covered nearly 25 years. Originally released in 2013, this is the first reissue and fans of the band are celebrating that this will also be its' very first time on vinyl. Green vinyl that matches the artwork as well is a nice touch. Experience some of the last key tracks from this ground breaking band like 'All Lips Go Blue', 'Into the Night' and the title song 'Tears On Tape. Come experience a celebration of the band's final full length.

Notes: The one accessory every vinyl lover needs

For less than the cost of a new record, improve the sound and condition of your vinyl with the MoFi Anti-Static Record Brush. Simple and effective, it safely rids dust, debris, hair, and other contaminants from your LPs - letting you hear more detail, information, presence, and surface quiet during playback. Simply position the brush over an LP and let the tiny fiber bristles go to work in the grooves. Yes, it's that easy to eliminate ticks, pops, and other annoyances from your records. To clean the brush, simply rotate the handle. The Anti-Static Record Brush also works on LCD screens, keyboards, and other sensitive devices.
What makes it special


Unlike other brushes, the MoFi Anti-Static Record Brush features an optimized electrical path between the carbon-fiber bristles and handle that carries all the way through the conductive metal contacts strategically placed on the handle. The handle itself fosters proper electrical connection to your hand - which serves as the ground for static electricity.

Review: You can't really imagine members of Dream Division doing anything other than being part of Dream Division. A band inspired and heavily influenced by the soundtracks, themes and moods of movies by directors such as Dario Argento and John Carpenter, theirs is a world filled with silver screen tension, sinister plots afoot, and incredibly cool noises. Legend of Lizard Lake is a case in point. Album title certainly no accident, invoking B-movie scenarios by the letter-load, the record is paced with fuzzy guitars, spine-tingling organs, Casio-choral lines, twinkled and chimed melodies, vast, open, almost-Western-yet-very-synthy open sonic frontiers, and the overwhelming sense that something, somewhere, might be watching us. Enough to make the Stranger Things scores sound like they've never seen Phantasm, or at least not recently, this is the whole retro-hued package.

Review: New gen energy with old school frequencies, Digital's protege Tim Clay lets rip with a level-upping dispatch. 'New Beginnings' is a statement in every direction. By far his heaviest hitting drums to date, you can feel the Function force on this one! 'Body Move' takes more of drum & bass approach with its strident piano stroke and sensual vocal - think Total Science or early Headz. Finally 'Information Overload' is a right old grizzly 95-era Bristol groaner. Rude in sonic and health. Big moves from Monsieur Clay.

Review: OG jungle legend and man of many aliases Amos Bellot unleashes four previously unreleased gems from his vaults for the good felines at Jungle Cat. From the jazzy blasts and breezes of opener 'The Eyes' to the sexy outro sample of finale 'Gun In A Barrow', each one as raucous, choppy and fusion-filled as the next. Throw in highly sought-after cult dubplate 'Snakes Blowin Up' (Remix) and you've got yourself an epic slab of concrete jungle right here. Joosey stuff!

Review: Insense has put together a tidy 7" featuring a rendition of Pharoah Sanders' 'Moon Child' which was first specially crafted for the compilation album Incense Music for Bed Room. It is a lush and spiritual sound led by gorgeous wind instruments and fluttery melodies over gentle and persuasive rhythms. On the flip, Yoshiharu Takeda's 'Bliss Of Landing' is another escapist sound with more of the same. A lovely 45 rpm for those quiet moments.