Michael Anklin
Mekonium

If you stand long enough at this bus shelter, it will begin to snow. The horizon that ends the road outward often feels like it will crawl closer, but it remains the same distance, the same traffic. When running on a track and the centrifugal force begins to carry you, and you feel as if racing the other user on the track is the winning solution, remember to race the track itself. The track does not move. The meditation of punching a brick wall is still a meditation. The moment you decide to walk, as the horizon is not far off, the moment you race the white chalk lines on the clay field you're running, when the bricks break before you, you find you the outcome. Place your phone in your pocket and sit back in the seat of this bus, place your head between your knees, and brace for impact. The scream of glass is only a second, then the peace of glitter as it becomes particles around you is overwhelming in beauty. You are the outcome. You are what made it this far in a single day, a mayfly's life-cycle, a work shift, several movies streaming in a dark room on a laptop, a cat's fur glowing. Turn the key for your flat and enter. Welcome home. Again.

Since our first contact with NYC based producer Thavius Beck in 2018, he sent us over 100 unreleased tracks, or beats, as he calls them. 25 of them have been selected for releases on U-TRAX, good for over 2 hours of music, across this album and the Lovesick EP.Growing up in LA, Thavius Beck entered the hip-hop scene as member of Global Phlowtations, and released several solo albums under the Adlib moniker. In later years, he released five albums under his own name on labels like Mush, Big Dada and Plug Research, and also produced albums for artists like Saul Williams and K‑the‑I???, and did some remixing for amongst others Nine Inch Nails.Nowadays he combines making music with a career as a succesful certified Ableton and Bitwig trainer and as a music teacher at Berklee NYC.The tracks vary in style a lot, but what they have in common is that they either are moody – in U-TRAX lingo: deep - or they are drum heavy. The common denominator would probably be 'experimental/instrumental hip-hop', reminiscent of producers like Flying Lotus. People have tried all sorts of comparisons to pinpoint Thavius' sound, ranging from 'between DJ Shadow and Orbital' and 'a mix of Massive Attack and The Orb'. None of these are spot on, yet quite a few of these tracks feel like a happy marriage between hip-hop beats and techno sounds.Despite the fact that some tracks are 20 years old and have been made with widely different gear (one track was even made on a PlayStation 2), this selection sounds remarkably balanced, yet diverse.From the irresistible single 'Lovesick/Still Sick' to the dark and massive 'Birdsong' (that echoes the sound of his popular song 'Atmos'), and from the head-nodding 'Work!' to the soothing 'Reunited With The All' - if this collection showcases anything, it's Thavius' brilliant production and composing skills, as well as his wizard-level sampling techniques. The result is a luscious electronic music album with a broad appeal.Available on double 180 grams colored vinyl vinyl, comes in gatefold picture sleeve.

Debut album from Kenya born, Berlin based percussionist, vocalist, DJ, producer and “musical witchdoctor” Alai K, combining music from eastern Africa, ancestral customs and the rituals of danceOn moving to Berlin, Alai went raving regularly and became enamoured with underground dance music culture. “I love techno and believe that African drums influenced the percussion and programming: lt’s coming from the same place; with both you get extended periods with no chorus or verse, just occasional chanted or chopped vocals. In Africa people play drums and dance for hours, which is the same experience as western electronic music”, says Alai.Alai started living and recording in Berlin 3 years ago, in a one- room flat shared with his family. He would constantly be in flux, setting up his small studio in the kitchen, then packing it away again when they needed to cook. He later hooked-up with a notable Kenyan percussionist based in Hamburg called Izo Anyanga, and over several trips down the autobahn they jammed acoustically, with just drums, marimba, xylophone, and some good weed. The vibe was huge, and the pair decided they wanted to make a record, which could easily transpose for performance to a crowd. Music from eastern Africa, ancestral customs and the rituals of dance are deep in Alai’s DNA. His great grandmother was a singer and composer, and his father was a professional drummer, who alongside friends and family would play spiritual music from Bajun like Ndurenge, Kirumbizi and Bati, all night long, to uplift the spirit, or remember the dead.

Japanese multi-instrumentalist Masahiro Takahashi's latest album is a meditation on seasons and distance, recorded in isolation at his temporary home studio in Toronto. Following “the coldest winter I have ever experienced,” he began crafting hushed, lush vignettes of color wheel electronics with an array of software synthesizers, granular samplers, plug-in FX, MIDI controllers, and a shruti box.The songs sway, shimmer, and unspool in sparkling arcs, between reverie and lullaby, inspired variously by blooming apple trees, gagaku music, the “nostalgia of immigrants,” and longing for home. Flowering Tree, Distant Moon moves from soothing to surreal, a swirl of quiet melody and imagined landscapes, as transportive for its listeners as its maker: “I dreamt of places outside my room and traced the music from my memories.”

With the two-part EP Mediterranean Dreams, Perugia producer and composer Feel Fly revisits his musical roots and pays tribute to the sounds and ‘sun-kissed nostalgia’ that informed his style.Mediterranean Dreams Part 1 collected four tracks, and added that Feel Fly touch of emotive chord progressions and layered production onto cosmic disco grooves to powerful dancefloor effect. Now with Mediterranean Dream Part 2, Feel Fly switches the tempo both up and down, to fully demonstrate his affinity for club moments of all shapes and sizes.Nebula flies out the gate with full intent, recalling classic Detroit techno while pushing the vibe even more wide-screen - it’s driving, melodic dance music that delivers on the fine details as much as it does on the life-affirming, big picture sentiment.Optical Bells opens in meditative style, not unlike a new dawn in a Tibetan monastery, before each element of the track slowly reveals itself and assumes its place. It’s an arrangement technique that Feel Fly employs masterfully, and gives the impression of a camera lens moving into focus, or a storyteller setting the scene. The revolving chord changes pull you in and while whisking you away, you’re compelled to engage with the moment - like being asked to dance by a mysterious stranger.The B side kicks off with Luce Eterna Ai Sognatori, still keeping the tempo high while cherry-picking disco house drum patterns and piano synths with a slight Italo flavor to create an irresistible slice of dancefloor dessert. This is a soundtrack for Sognatori, in whose dreams anything is possible.The EP finishes up with a superb cut of echoey balearic dub in the form of Templum Dub. Putting the drums through its mixing desk paces, Feel Fly reanimates the drum kit with delays, phasers and flangers, and wraps it up in hazy drifting pads that could accompany any moment of contemplation - from that morning espresso to a midnight phone call.Mediterranean Dreams Part 2 acts as the perfect compliment to its prequel Part 1, and shows a producer at the height of his powers, reimagining his musical roots and composing a love letter to the sounds and stories of his youth.