Mysticisms レコード& CD

Review: It's a little unclear of the intentions behind London-based Japanese duo Afrobuddha's name, but on their first release they were certainly working in collaboration with African musicians. Afrobuddha's two previous 12"s came out in the first half of the last decade, and have since become highly sought after. Mysticisms now gathers the tracks together on this 12", leading in with 'Obame', which was originally recorded with the Kakatsitsi Drummers in Accra, Ghana. Both the original and the dub mix channel a powerful Afrobeat flavour, with the source material from the Ghanaian singers and players front and centre of the mix. 'Zone' takes things back into a more club-oriented sphere, with plenty of synth layers and some nimble hand drumming from Davide Salvietti, which of course comes to the fore on the purely percussive 'Drum Mix'.

Review: London's Mysticisms imprint reissues a 1993 release by enigmatic Manchester quartet B:dum B:dum Sound. Merging their backgrounds in post-punk through dub and their city's vibrant dance scene, their sole 12" (originally funded by the Bolton Art Council) incorporates samples, sound design and middle eastern influences on what is now a cherished item among diggers and earning exorbitant amounts on the secondhand market. From the bass-driven exotic enchantment of 'Istanbul', they take a slow-mo version of bleep and mix it with dub techno on the mesmerising groove of 'Stateless' (which was well ahead of its time) as well as the deep dub of 'Do Don'ts' providing perfect armchair riddims.

Review: The sublime music of Kaoro Inoue is the subject of this essential new compilation on Mysticisms. Inoue describes himself as an "extreme music lover" and has been for more than 30 years. His Chari Chari alias is all about self-expression and the music here has previously only been available digitally. It fuses ambient, house and techno soundscapes across four sides of vinyl with a deeply spiritual outlook and soul-soothing sound. Organic percussion, traditional instruments and new age moods all colour the deeply enticing grooves.

Review: The Mysticisms label welcomes Coral D aka Duncan Stump for a debut outing here that marks the first new music to be part of the ongoing and most excellent Dubplate series. This artist has a long history of crafting "deep dub electronic swing" in his roles in Mock & Toof, FX Mchm and his 6000 Degrees project. This one finds him bringing some dub reggae influences as 'Dissolves' is built on a chugging rhythm with smeared chords. 'DR 55' is then a masterfully laidback digi-dub groove that warps space and time and so leaves you utterly hypnotised.

Review: The Mysticisms label continues to explore trippy corners of 4/4 club music where the jack of old meets the broader horizons of the modern age in superlative fashion. DJ Hedonist appears to be a new name on the scene, but they step out best foot forward with the bleep-tinted jacker '#1'. '#2' gets into a grainy, lo-fi house mood thanks to some seriously scuffed drums and a gnarly chord, while '#7' heads into electro-techno territory with nagging programming and a peppy tempo carrying some delightfully alien sonics pitched at the freakier end of the floor. '#6' completes the set with a bass-tilted workout for those who like their parties ghoulish and grungy.

Review: DJ Hedoni$t is a hitherto unknown artist making their first appearance on Mysticisms with the kinds of heads-down throbbing house music the label doth love so very much. '#4' has the right kind of Lately-bass seduction, teasing acid and come hither pads to get a dancefloor loosened up, while '#5' brings something a little nastier but no less nice to the table. '#3' has a little more jack in its bones, with a generous layer of dust on top, but it's still squarely pitched at serious dancers. '#8' brings something a little different with its walking bassline and spacious, jazzy beat - it might not seem an obvious fit for rocking the crowd, but there's weight tucked away in that groove that could well induce a subtle kind of shock-out.

Review: REPRESS ALERT!: Mysticisms' Dubplate series is back once again, this time with Nick Barber aka Doof at the helm. He was a 90s trance icon who here serves up some tunes that have previously only been available digitally. They were all recorded to tape and remixed and live dubbed on the desk so have an authentic feel to the melon twisting sounds. There are plenty of psychedelic twists and turns to the wispy synth leads and snaking hits here, all with heavy and cavernous low ends and plenty of future facing ideas. Each one is sure to set the dancefloor alight when dropped at the right moment.

Review: After shining a light on the Garage'n'Breaks of Persian and the Bump'n'House of Brian Bristol, Mysticisms' journeys to a source of love and inspiration, the epicenter of the 90s NYC club music's explosion and development.

Better known as the team behind The African Dream on Eightball Records, they feature on many early 90s NYC who's who of labels including Movin', Strictly Rhythm, Tribal and Oxygen Music Works.

Released as a 12", a 2 x 12" the want of a lot of US labels at the time to mirror the success of Hip Hop saw an attempt to grow House 'projects' from club EPs to being seen as artists via albums. The EP starts with Opening, with warm keys that serve to show this is not your average four tracker, before soon giving way to the deep intensity of Dark Intervals. Tight drums and keys pushing, the vocal samples and swirling atmospherics all yield to a bass calling for loud sound systems.

On the reverse, an immense, spiritual take of NYC music in Innocence And Inspiration. Double bass, swirling arpeggio, tight claps, whistle strings, ridin' jazz fused break-beats and then pure piano cuts through.

To close, Are You With Me My Love?, here included to provide a repost to the grooves that have gone before. A song for sunset and sunrise, with lilting keys, shanty samples, vocal questions and a melancholic horn refrain.

Review: Mysticisms continues its global search for amazing music, hitting gold again with an EP of four previously unreleased house meets IDM with a dreamy edges by Romania's HAN aka Dan Handrabur, culled from early studio recordings between 1991-95. After getting into record store culture he began building a studio and eventually gave up studying in favour of production, relocated to Vancouver, Canada, where his debut release (as X Drone with Adham Shaikh in 1993) began to establish Handrabur's role as an integral part its electronic scene. Appearances with Harthouse, Exist Dance, Eye Q Records and many more followed, plus collaborations with the legendary Phil Western. The four tracks here haven't aged at all, with nimble beats, action-packed arrangements and dreamy atmospheres, 'Give In & Resist' coming on like Rising High-era Mixmaster Morris crossed with the playfulness of Air Liquide, and 'Phantasme' revelling in the same cross-rhythmic fun that informed The Black Dog's classics.

Review: 'Mysticisms' prides itself on finding the groove, but with a nod (and wink) to discerning ears. However, sometimes it's right to just let it all out and go route one. Berlin based producer Daniel Scholz aka (DJ) Leinad was all about the dancefloor, releasing a series of simple but highly effective EPs of cut up, looped house music that summed up that late 90s Chicago-NYC-London-Paris influenced bombs.

The jack that house built the "heroes" with the "touch" Souvenirs embodies Leinad's sound. Moving from high-school DJ, to computer programmer to professional producer, DJ and soundtrack artist, remixing for the likes of Yellow and Peter Gabriel's Real World, moving from early classic mid-90s German techno and trance releases on to his 'Leinad' moniker (Daniel spelt backwards), the series of releases on JXP can now go for dizzing sums. In Souvenirs, taken from the Disco Part's III EP, Mysticisms found the source - elastic bass, filtered loops, watertight kick and twisted disco'n' strings, all cut back and forth 'for the party' to abandon.

Present day remixes come from Lewie Day's 'Deep Dean' project, offering a wonderful example of an artist at work, a laid back groove, pushing all the right dancefloor buttons, all presented with respect to the past, but with acres of modern day swing; Mysticisms' own cohort Piers Harrison, side stepping his edit school as one of Soft Rocks, to produce a literal peak time acid banger; and to close the 'DJ' returns, Leinad offers a bumping 2022 remake to show he's still a teacher.

Guru The Mystery.

Review: Mysticisms' reissues are usually on point, with main man Stuart Leath and comrade Piers Harrisson doing an excellent job in picking superb, but often overlooked, material. Leath has done it again here, offering a fresh release for Japanese great (and Flower Records founder) Little Big Bee's 2006 cut 'Scuba'. The track itself is gorgeous - a noughties take on ambient house full of saucer-eyed melodies, sumptuous deep house beats, nu-jazz flourishes and the dreamiest of chords. The EP also contains two rather exciting new remixes from old pal of the label Apiento. He first joins the dots between ambient house, bleep and electro on his dreamy, sub-heavy '4AM Mix', before re-casting it as an immersive, mind-soothing future ambient classic on the 'M25 Mix'.

Review: London label Mysticisms knows how to dig out some truly lush house grooves whether that's in the form of unreleased house meets IDM, classic reissues or debuts from new school artists. N-GYNN falls into that latter camp having started to make waves on the likes of Hamam House Pleasure Club and his Superlux Records label. He explores a dreamy and cuddly house world here with rolling analogue drums, wispy new-age percussion and whimsical cosmic melodies that all make for otherworldly grooves. 'Journeys' has the feeling of an ancient ritual in the sky, 'Alistera' is a kaleidoscope of colour and 'Kebaya' has a more earthy Afro feel. 'Funk Break Beat' closes with a jumbled groove peppered with dial tones, string loops and bulbous acid.

Review: Taking a moment to pause from their extensive exploration of Persian's illustrious archives, the Mysticisms lot turn their attention back to another fine exponent of UK dance music across the eras. Neil 'Nail' Tolliday had an incredible hit rate with his productions in the mid 90s, and he's since embarked on a mammoth resurgence over the past eight years which almost eclipses those seminal early days. After reissuing the classic Cassiopeia 12", Mysticisms hit up Tolliday for some unreleased gold which he dutifully served up in a blissed-out haze of winding synth lines and deep-digging drums. It comes on a little more wigged-out than you might expect from Nail, showing further insight into the formative years of one of the true stalwarts of UK house music.

Review: REPRESS ALERT: The Mysticisms label serves up a valuable reissue of the very first release from Nail, the long-serving UK house veteran as prolific now as he was back in the heyday of legendary Nottingham soundsystem DiY. "Cassiopeia" originally appeared on a compilation on Warp, but now it gets a full side of vinyl over which to unfurl its arcane 90s magic. Entrancing synth cascades and stuttering sampler mantras, throbbing b-lines and jacking claps all make for a holy grail deep techno track from the good old days, and Nail has given it a 2019 remix on the flip which brings the spiritual shenanigans of the original into a different kind of meditative, house-oriented context.

Review: The Mysticisms label once more turns its attention to rarefied gold dust from the annals of deep house history, this time shining a light on Soiree Records, which was helmed by cult favourite Drivetrain. Nu-C Zn's "That's How Lovers Be" was an unconventional but oh so sweet curio back in 1995, and now it's been revived with Drivetrain delivering a new mix of the track that lets the smoky keys, plastic sax and gorgeous vocals hover tentatively. UK house stalwart Nail is up next with a bumping, crafty update on the track, while Scott Grooves lays down honey-coated keys that shift the mood of Nu-C Zn's original into a different emotional headspace.

Review: The latest drop in the Mysticisms Dubplate series welcomes back Persian for another round of reggae-inspired electronics. Once again the artist draws from across a spectrum of bass, digidub and breaks and also throws some jungle into the melting pot. Opener 'Survival Dub' is powered by classic breakbeats and great mic work that is sure to liven up any party. 'Smoke Mari' then slows it down to a fat dub with a vocal sample from a well-known smoker's anthem with plenty of mind-melting effects and stepping rhythms. On the flipside is 'There Is No Love' with a prime junglist drop and last of all comes 'Zatoichi's Troubles' which has devastating bass.

Review: Persian's close working relationship with the Mysticisms label continues apace with this new release. Titled Dubplate #1: Space Within Art, this latest 10" features more of the artful, mixed up ravey dubbings Persian has scattered throughout his long and winding career. 'Dunya 2' is a potent club stepper rolling at 150 with plenty of system pressure folded into its bones, while 'D Dub Retwist' drops down into a rolling breakbeat skunk-out peppered with sample snatches and a hefty sub line. 'Space Within Art (Dubplate Mix)' takes on a more worldly, wiggy stance dripping in 90s pop-dance magic. 'Jacob Dub' gets into a positive skank and 'Augustus' cools things down with a more roots-minded excursion clearly doffing its cap to one Mr Pablo.

Review: Mysticisms is back with more of that freaky floor fare to get ID spotters looking worriedly at their Shazams while the real party people get on down. Persian originally dropped the absolute bomb that is 'Feel Da Vibe' back in 2011 on Existence Is Resistance in a hailstorm of samples and some lairy garage bass wobble under a swung house beat. It's high time the mighty test press power of Persian hit a few more platters, and the track's sounding stellar 10 years on. Brother Nebula does a stellar job of hazing the track out with warbling pads pitched for the spooky but sexy hour. 'Silver Spaceships' was originally out in 2001 as a white label, capturing the energy of breakstep mixed with the airy synth platitudes of finest deep techno and electro. Alphonse offers up a remix which wigs the track out as a weightless wonder with ample subs and scattered breaks for the patient ravers.

Review: The Mysticisms label is doing a bang up job creating a particular vibe on their label. Rather than sticking to a sound, they're pursuing an attitude, an energy. It's rugged and dirty, rooted in no-nonsense old-skool values - a bit cheeky but totally serious at the same time, built for the freaky DJs who like to go a bit off piste. This tenth installment kicks off with Persian's 'Worries In The Dance', shuffling hard on a ruff n' tuff house shuffle and edited with flair by Jonny Rock. Next up Vertigo Inc. presents a giddy rainforest of 8 bit bleeps and wonky synth flute, while Asian Psilocybe Foundation take things slinky and shimmering on the crisp 'Wave Control'. Afrobuddha takes things further out with a powerful African drum exaltation, all dense thickets of percussion and uplifting group singing.

Review: London-based label Mysticisms follows up great releases by Nail, Afrobuddha and Persian with a 2 x 12' release of music by Tokyo Offshore Project. Comprised of veteran producers Simon Lovejoy, Frankie Valentine and Kiyoshi Myaura, they produced a bunch of EPs between 1990 - 1994 recorded in London and Tokyo. Featuring some of their best and unreleased tracks, spanning the spiritual and soulful sounds of second wave Chicago house ('Whisper' / 'Solitaire' (TokyoLove)), Afro house ('Magalenha') and balearic ('Magic Melody') - the compilation brings a step in the evolution of electronic music back on to vinyl for a new generation of DJs.

Review: Mysticism's Dubplate series has got a couple of great drops lined up at the moment and this is one of them - a boule pack from German digidub pioneers TVS aka Trance Vision Steppers. This was a project that never made it out of the studio but still cooked up some brilliant sounds, which in the case of this collection come from their earlier period between 1995 - 1999, all of which land on vinyl for the first time here. Fans of Adrian Sherwood, Dennis Bovell and Mad Professor will be head over heels of these dub delights - they are deep and atmospheric, with lush ambient pads, downtempo vocals and stoner synths next to more twisted rhythms.