The sixteenth edition of Defected’s vinyl series continues to commit the label’s biggest digital releases to wax, delivering some of the best house music previously unavailable on vinyl. EP16 brings together four recent releases from Defected’s catalogue of world-class house. First up on the A-side is Claptone & Rune’s ‘Calabria’, a highly anticipated release from summer 2022 thanks to its warm familiarity, big rubbery bassline and brassy saxophone hook that captivated dancefloors instantly. Similarly, Jack Back’s ‘Feeling’ has a hint of noughties nostalgia, released in March of 2022 ready to sweep dancefloors with a rave-ready bass and electrifying vocal. The B-side opens with Ibiza stalwart Marco Faraone’s 2021 release ‘My Name’, featuring intoxicating vocals from Lolita Leopard; dripping with attitude. Closing out this club-focused collection is Payfone’s distinct ‘Day & Night’, featuring an orchestral approach to composition and a deep house groove that bursts in with ease.

wAFF returns to his Nature imprint as he kicks off 2023 with his latest four-track EP, ‘District’.

A renowned name and personality within the global house music landscape, with releases via the likes of Hot Creations, Cocoon, Desolat and Solid Grooves, wAFF’s journey has stepped up a level after becoming a label owner following the launch of his own imprint, Nature. Founded in November 2021 with the release of his ‘Colours’ EP, the label boss returns for the third instalment on the blossoming imprint as he celebrates a year since its launch with a new EP. Combining a wealth of UK influences alongside subtle global nods across the package, early December brings four new productions to the label as he unveils his powerful and impactful ‘District’ EP.

Title track ‘District’ is a hard-hitting opener as the Nature boss combines sharp metallic production with hazy melodies and resonant vocal snippets, while ‘Locked In’ offers a more paired-back, rolling effort as slick drums and glossy pads combine. Next, ‘Sicko’ steps things up once again with squelching acid lines and rumbling sub- bass, before closing via the organic drums and playful sonics of ‘Rozzo’.

The beautifully mysterious Ourpeggio - so heavily supported by TEED and Bonobo - finally lands on Food Music.

The timeless original takes you to another dimension with it's melancholic synth patterns and exquisite middle eastern vocals which weave around a tripped out groove, whilst the Shadow Child remix loses the four-to-the-floor, instead fusing Garage and Rave breakbeats which will keep you entranced until sunrise.

This one's set to turn heads for a long time.

Electronic duo Pale Blue return to Crosstown Rebels with ‘No Words’, the second single from their forthcoming album ‘Maria’, with remixes from DJ Tennis and Perel.

Italians Do It Better founder Mike Simonetti and Silver Hands’ Elizabeth Wight’s rich and storied careers within the electronic realm and beyond only elevated further with the launch of their Pale Blue project in 2015, unveiling a series of critically acclaimed releases via Simonetti’s 2MR imprint with plaudits including Pitchfork, FACT and Resident Advisor, to name just a few. Having provided the first look into their forthcoming album on Crosstown Rebels entitled ‘Maria’, scheduled for release on the label later this year, the pair return to open March with the second single from the project, ‘No Words’ - accompanied by remixes from DJ Tennis and Perel.

Detailing the backstory to the record, Simonetti notes both upcoming single ‘No Words’ and the majority of the tracks on the duo’s forthcoming album project were made on the exact synths used to create Jaydee’s iconic 1993 hit, ‘Plastic Dreams’.

Guided by a captivating bassline accented by Wight’s charming vocals, which flutter amongst the mix, ‘No Words’ is a hooky and compelling production that ebbs and flows across its near five-minute duration with effortless ease, capturing the playful nature alluded to by Simonetti. Life and Death head honcho DJ Tennis’ remix arrives next, veering down a hazy yet absorbing path as crisp organic drums and engrossing melodies form around the vocals and journey through light and dark textures.

The B-side of the record belongs to DJ/producer, vocalist and DFA Records favourite Perel, offering a cosmic dive through spacey synths, skittering bleeps and pops, and tough kicks across her take on the production - before distorting and warping the vocals and shifting the emphasis on the ever-evolving electronics across her ‘Dub Version’.

Red Axes return to Phantasy with a double A sided single that captures and expands on the creative relationship forged between the cult Israeli duo and Erol Alkan’s highly regarded London label. The single arrives in tandem with a new compilation ‘The Phantasy Collection (Part 1)’, collecting an enviable run of EPs between 2018 that have resulted in Niz Arzi and Dori Sadnovil’s deserved prominence in DJ sets spanning genres.

Carving a hypnotic path against the maximalism currently au-fait in club culture, ‘The Phone Calr’ is as peculiar as it is powerfully effective, a stripped back groove serving as the backdrop to the Axes’ playful deconstruction of an obscure broadcast concerning telephone area codes. A lesser staple of club culture, Sardnovik and Azri transform archival public information into club disorder, stretching a short burst of dialogue to absurd limits before releasing the tension with vampish pianos.

‘Sound Text XoX’ meanwhile finds the pair delivering a surprising alternative take on the lead track from their 2019 EP, retaining its central escalating countdown but adding a powerful, dystopian acid line. The resulting track transforms an already beloved club tool into a frenetic powerhouse.

Manchester based DJ/producer Antagonist cues up a collection of dense and uncompromising electronic tracks on his R&S Records debut. The ‘Rites’ EP pulls together 5 new tracks that lean on the artist’s drum ‘n’ bass roots and influences, a sound that has informed his DJ sets and studio productions since he launched the project in 2004.

Channelling his productions towards the more cinematic and darker side of drum ‘n’ bass and broken beats, Antagonist has released a strong run of EPs for labels such as Samurai Music, Ronin Ordinance, One.Seventy and his own Discipline imprint, stamping his hybrid sound across these well received releases.

Layers upon layers of shadowy ambience and wistful tones are punctured by hard edged beat-science, as Antagonist goes in deep on the complex breakbeats, chopping back and forth knifelike loops and dynamic kicks. A highly accomplished debut for the R&S label from this sonically exciting young producer.

‘Rites’ EP by Antagonist is available on R&S Records from 17th March 2023

Kenny Dope brings the breaks with this fresh 7” release on Kay-Dee Records.

The A-side ‘UFO’, reinterprets the seminal breakbeat anthem from ESG. Shaking the scenes in NYC and beyond on its ‘81 release, it went on to become one of the most sampled tracks in hip-hop. In this new version, iconic US producer Kenny Dope brings his inimitable grooves and rhythms to the table. The beats are tightened up with force, the bass is given a heavy dosage of ‘beef’ and the synth-lines freshened up, resulting in four minutes and twenty seconds of body-shaking goodness.

On the flip-side, we’re treated to ‘B-Boy Strut’: a thumping Kenny Dope original which serves electro-punk flavors over a bed of breakbeats. After a couple rounds of drums, the stage is set for the face-melting bass to enter: a wall of sound so heavy it should carry a warning sign. Sweeping resonances take us into Acid and 303 territory, while wave after wave of funky percussion keep the grooves flowing to perfection.

With inspired nods toward classic and future sounds, Kenny Dope has delivered yet another must-have 7”.

An absolute, hard-charging funk hammer from the Dap-Kings - an incredible instrumental co-written and co-produced by Dapper Bosco Mann and Kenny Dope! If "Nervous Like Me" has a title that reflects some kind of apprehension, the track is anything but! It's simply pummeling - with a rhythm that kicks out from some stealth bongo and rolling trap that build into some playful guitar and bass response until the horns crash and boom! The beats on the flip isolate the funky drums, providing a sizzling beat track.

Following the tumultuous riots of the late 60's, youths in Washington, DC were looking for two things: positivity and an outlet to relieve tension. MUGO, aka "Music, Unity, Guidance, & Organization", offered just that. Formed by 8 high school friends during the summer of 71', this high-octane machine was driven by Manager and retired Marine Sgt. Reuben McNair Sr. His son, Reuben McNair Jr., was a leader within the group, and consequently wrote the B-side of their only public release. This cut, entitled "Space Travel", boasts a driving rhythm section as well as synthesizer overdubs likely to captivate even musically ambitious extraterrestrials. The flip, "Organize", became the group's unofficial theme song; submitting to the public a deft vocal response to rampant inner city blues.

As a solo artist and as a member of the duo Perrey and Kingsley, Jean-Jacques Perrey
was one of the leading innovators of early
electronic music, and a trailblazer of the 
Moog synthesizer. Alongside composers like
Wendy Carlos, Bruce Haack, and frequent
 collaborator Gershon Kingsley, Perrey was 
among the first to introduce the world to the
 synthesizer as a compositional instrument,
via notable tracks such as "Musique de
L'infini", "Gossipo Perpetuo", and
"Baroque Hoedown", famously used as
the theme music to Disneyland's Main Street
 Electrical Parade.
Along with many of his contemporaries,
it was inevitable that such an influential
 instrumental composer would eventually be
sampled into hip-hop tracks. His 1970 Moog 
composition "E.V.A." was especially popular
among producers, making its way into tracks
 by Gang Starr, Dr. Octagon, Lord Finesse,
Pete Rock, and innumerable others. To pay 
tribute to this prominent composition,
Kay-Dee Records is proud to present this
 loving tribute to "E.V.A." on a 7" single,
courtesy of French producer DJ Paikan,
who also played sitar, guitar, kobol synth,
and monopoly synth on the track & Mixed by Kenny Dope !

16 Bangers Produced and Recorded by Kenny Dope at Kay-Dee Studios Perfect for Beat Head’s & Producers Alike.

This sensational post-Disco, Boogie classic from 1981 gets pulled from deep within the legendary Sam Records company vault, and sees a vinyl-only re-release on 4-time Grammy Award Nominee Kenny Dope's Kay-Dee Records, with his own special re-rubs. What makes the re-issue of this dance floor gem most authentic is Kenny's process that stays true to old school form, both technically and sonically. That is, the song painstakingly taken from the original 24-track multi-track master and mixed down to 1/2" master tape, and then mastered from tape to vinyl. Kenny proves this process needs to be done the way it was back in the day in order to produce a true analog record; not a record that sounds like a cd on vinyl nor mastered from digital files for vinyl. This is unlike what everyone is doing these days and what separates Kay-Dee Records from the rest. Kenny's O'Gutta Dubba, the other remix on the flipside of the vinyl, brings even more of that boogie sound back with all original new live drums, rubber bass and other classic instrumentation. You may very well have heard this single being played by Larry Levan at the Paradise Garage, David Mancuso at The Loft or Tee Scott Better Days. Today, you might hear these remixes at parties like Body & SOUL, 718 Sessions, Bump & Hustle, or many of the specialty radio shows like Kenny Dope's Anything Goes on Rinse FM UK. Originally produced by Gary R. Turnier of Gary's Gang and produced/written by Andre Booth who has also collaborated with Big Daddy Kane, Lords of the Underground and others, a whole new generation of dancefloor devotees will discover this throwback first hand.