Since their acclaimed debut compilation on Strut in 2009, residents James Hillard, Jim Stanton, Severino and Luke Howard (aka Filthy Luka) have continued to lead the way with their packed residencies at The Eagle, London, Lux in Lisbon, Tape in Berlin and Cihan in Istanbul. During 2010, as well as revisiting UK festivals like Glastonbury, Lovebox and T In The Park, they will be spreading the disco love to some of the world’s leading festivals including Fuji Rocks (Japan), Calvi On The Rocks (Corsica) and Lollapalooza in the U.S.

Horse Meat Disco Volume 2 brings together another essential selection of New York classics alongside a host of lesser known discoveries for all fans of underground disco. Anthems include Zanzibar favourite ‘You Can Get Over’ by Stephanie Mills and Rinder & Lewis’ ‘Afrodesia’ under their El Coco pseudonym. Rarities include ‘I’m Not In Love (Girl You’re In Love)’ by Freda Payne’s sister Scherrie, ‘Cherchez Pas’ by Swedish model-turned-singer Madleen Kane and Italo oddity ‘’Touch Me Now’ by Bravo.

The CD is mixed by Horse Meat Disco DJs with the unmixed tracks available to download. Also available as unmixed 2LP set and digital. The package features a selection of photos taken at Horse Meat’s events worldwide during this year, exclusive sleeve notes by journalist Paul Flynn and select quotes from some of the A-list DJs that guest regularly at the club

Label: Strut
Catalogue No: STRUT064CD/LP
Format: 1xCD / 2xLP / digital
Release date: June 28th

Sian is now becoming recognised as a truly unique figure in electronic music. His list of aficionados reads like a whos who of contemporary dance culture, from Luciano, Loco Dice, Ricardo Villalobos, Steve Bug, Carl Craig and M.A.N.D.Y to Sasha, John Digweed and James Zabiela. While Funk D’Void is a very well established DJ and producer in the techno fields, with a string of successes over the years (Jack Me Off, Bad Coffee, Emotional Content, not to mention Diabla) & praised as an inspiration by a list of luminaries that includes Andy Cato (Groove Armada), Tom Middleton and Nick Warren. With such impressive CVs anything this pair produces is a sure-fire player.

The strikingly titled A Wasp in a Wig grabs the attention with sub-heavy, rumbling bass and wobbly synths, pierced by a very much wasp-like buzz. That buzz sends the track into a spiral before everything kicks back in with the track climaxing in a whirl of dark sound.

A Scream Dressed in Feathers offers a dark musical vision with deep bass melting into a range of swelling warehouse sounds. These industrial textures progress in wonkiness throughout and build tension with their distorted tones.

The label’s first re-release is Sasha’s ‘Xpander’, digitally re-mastered at Abbey Road and available via Beatport for the first time in original and 7” versions. Following this will be Lionrock’s ‘Packet Of Peace’, complete with the seminal Chemical Brothers’ remix.

A decade on from its original release, ‘Xpander’ is considered one of Sasha’s most enduring ‘classics’. Co-produced with Spooky’s Charlie May, its instantly recognisable synth lines still send dancefloors into raptures, and as a much sought after piece of vinyl on ebay and other collector sites this digital release should appease global demand.

Sasha needs little introduction. Britain’s most iconic DJ and producer remains one of the most enigmatic figures in global dance music. Last year’s Invol2ver album was met with widespread critical acclaim, and on the production front his new label emFire has become a go-to stable for his own music. His recent remix of Doves’ ‘Jetstream’ will soon be joined by re-workings for Pole Folder (‘Hate Myself’) and Damian Lazarus (‘Spinnin’). He will shortly embark on a North American tour followed by Australia (see www.djsasha.com for details).

RELEASED 5 OCTOBER (BEATPORT)

Diebs next release “Relieve EP” comes from Darko Esser, owner of Wolfskuil Records and with releases on Josh Wink’s Ovum and DJ Yellow’s Pousezz! records. This EP contains two original tracks, “Relieve” and “Running Far Behind” and two remixes. Regarding the originals, Darko delivers two tech house / melodic pieces of art.

On the remix front, for the A side, we bring you Gregor Tresher, who needs no introduction. Gregor remixed “Relieve”, and by keeping it simple, he delivered a techno bomb for the dance floors.

On the B side, Wollion, Sandrino & Adryan aka Lemon Popsicle, deliver an absolute emotive tech house remix of the original “Running Far Behind”.

Once again there is a wide variety of mixes on offer here, sure to find favor with a diverse spectrum of listener and/or DJ.

Title: Relieve EP
Artist: Darko Esser
Cat.No: DA009
Format: 12″ & Digital

Through solarSwarm, Swarmers already meet, make new friends and talk about the one thing they all have in common: a love of electronic dance music! Amongst the Swarm members there are already wunderkind producers, razor-sharp designers, I.T. whizz-kids & promotional gurus. In essence a group of people who now have the collective skills and know-how to run a record label.
Now… that big step forward we were talking about!

As most any fan knows, inside the Solarstone camp there are several affiliated labels. One of those is Insatiable Records. That imprint has now been handed over lock, stock and barrel to the Swarm to run collectively as their own label and has been duly re-christened solarSwarm Recordings! Swarmers have already begun choosing the material to be signed and released through it. Through that great age-old, tried and tested process of ‘one man, one vote’, Swarmers are electing the tracks, the remixers and the mixes that are released, as well as the different imagery and artwork used for each track.

This is a fresh, innovative and wholly unique way to run a label, one that’s not been done anywhere else in the world. By the people, for that people, if you like! What we want most of all though is to give you something music industry based that you can enjoy running in the time that you have.

The password protected Swarm section of the Solarstone forum is the place where music and imagery are debated and voted upon, but in addition to this, we are currently redesigning the Swarm page of the Solarstone website which will give all Swarmers the ability to not only add tracks to a dedicated mp3 player, but also to post artwork submissions.

Existing Swarmers may wish to find and introduce new members to the Swarm to add to the whole creative input… It’s up to you, but what you ultimately have is the first social-network record label in existence. That in itself is an exciting thing indeed. With input from passionate individuals who are in it for the love of the music and want to talk, share, discuss, opine and then make things move!

TO JOIN THE SWARM: Just send an e-mail to solarSwarm@solarstone.co.uk stating briefly why you’d like to become a member. Once accepted you’ll receive your login and password and you’ll become a valuable part of this unique experience!

So now we come to the next installment…

Cuba is a cool melodic tech groover, that demonstrates Denis A’s ever evolving production skills perfectly. He’s dfininitely a man to watch in 2009. On remix duty is Germany’s Robert Babicz, who has created an amazing deep melodic tech anthem that will be a very big tune throughout the summer months for DJs across the board.

Digital Exclusive – Cuba (Dub Mix)
DAR005 12” Vinyl & Digital

12” Vinyl: 15/06/09
Digital: 29/06/09

Now, it’s looking like 2009 will be an even bigger year!

Once more, Christian Smith & John Selway show they are the masters of creating tracks that seem to push dancefloors ever upwards into ecstatic mass hysteria with “Mistral”. This time round they’ve found another variation of their genre-blurring sound, as hugely strong and big room as usual but with subtly different groove and a mysterious dark musical touch.

Christian Smith & John Selway are able to create huge tunes that appeal to a wide range of DJs – from the techno purists to the trance kings – and every credible DJ in between. There’s not many artists who regularly have such a diverse bunch as Sven Vath, Richie Hawtin, Adam Beyer, Dubfire, John Digweed, Sasha, Sander Kleinenberg, Roger Sanchez, David Guetta, Tiesto, Armin Van Buuren, all playing their releases.

On remix duty here is Amsterdam’s rising star, Anton Pieëte, who takes a slightly more subtle but no less infectious direction. He sits “Mistral” on a hypnotic tech groove that takes a deeper journey, and is entirely effective for setting up a different vibe in any DJs set.

12” & Beatport: 06/07/09
Full Digital Release: 27/07/09

This release showcases Sanders’ unique and forward thinking DJ sets, reflecting his legendary club night of the same name which has touched down at major cities all over the world including London, Paris, Miami, LA and his native Amsterdam.

This special two disc affair sees the Dutch legend serve up some of the finest progressive, tech house and electro cuts around including ten unreleased tracks, eight Little Mountain Recordings tracks and one exclusive compilation remix to make the perfect soundtrack to your summer.

The first disc, ‘Left’, kicks things off with a laid back atmospheric slice of electronic bliss called ‘Summer Rain’ from Bpitch control’s starlet Sascha Funke. The mix builds effortlessly; blending a fine selection of different House styles including standout tracks such as David Keno’s ‘Replika’, Rainer Weichhold’s remix of ‘Push Push’ by Rockers Hi-Fi and the previously unreleased Sultan and Ned Shepard remix of ‘Asteroidz’ by DBN featuring Matida. This disc has a very sexy, uplifting and funky feel to it which just leaves you wanting more.

The second disc, ‘Right’, shows Sander’s rougher and tougher side. It commences with a spoken word vocal sample looping over Rene Amesz’s previously unreleased Electro/Tribal track ‘Ridicule’. The mix develops with some driving tech-house including Luetzenkirchen’s ‘Foxy’ and DJ Ortzy’s exclusive Dirty Flavor compilation remix of ‘Massive’. Sander powers the mix home with Dabruck & Klein’s dominant peak time electro remix of Joachim Garraud’s ‘The answer’ and concludes with Mason’s brilliant chilled Refurb mix of ‘Kippschwinger’.
This compilation truly displays how versatile Sander can be, drawing on a vast array of styles and using them in an innovative way to create his unparalleled sound. Each disc offers something slightly different and follows on brilliantly from his hugely popular first compilation in the series.

This release also celebrates Sander’s coveted Pure Pacha, Ibiza, residency where you will find him performing to packed crowds every Friday throughout the summer starting May 29th to October 2nd 2009, not to be missed!

Later this year, watch out for Sander’s première Artist album. The album contains a plethora of amazing new productions which he has worked on with US heavyweight Josh Gabriel. The first single from the album will be Sander’s remarkable new tune ‘This Is Our Night’ which has gained huge support from BBC Radio 1’s Pete Tong.

RELEASE DATE: 20th JULY 2009
LABEL: LITTLE MOUNTAIN RECORDINGS
FORMATS: PHYSICAL 2XCD / DIGITAL MIXED + UNMIXED

A taster of The Rogue’s new sound started to sneak out in sets of remixes he delivered for fellow Exceptional Records artist, Culprit 1and the Broken Family Band followed by the single ‘Panic Attacks’ which gathered massive support from DJs across the spectrum – DJ Hell, Japanese Popstars, Autokratz, Cagedbaby, Etienne De Crecy, Annie Mac, James Lavelle are some of the names who have been championing The Rogue in the past year. Further dance-floor cuts ‘Hive’ (backed by the equally excellent ‘Vices’) and ‘Escalation’, coupled with their refreshingly unhinged videos garnered even more wide spread support (the ‘Escalation’ video became a fixture on the home page of leading video hosting site Dailymotion for quite some time). Before long the NME started paying attention, taking up The Rogue’s remix of Franz Ferdinand’s ‘No You Girls’, and offering it as an exclusive on the hugely popular NME blog.

Keeping a lot of material under wraps The Rogue Element has just delivered his massively anticipated 2nd album, named ‘Lumina’ – a groundbreaking electronic record that was single handedly written and recorded by The Rogue over the past 15 months. A thread of dark atmospherics runs through the album also punctuated by brighter, melodic and optimistic moments. Unconventional arrangements on tracks such as ‘Binary Suite’, ‘In Place‘ and ‘An Unsavoury Urge’ give insight into The Rogue’s compositional sensibilities and rival peers such as Booka Shade and Trentemoller. ‘Mistakes’ boasts the only full vocal on the album and it is an electronic indie anthem in the making. The track features the vocals of up and coming Welsh singer, Luc Prosser whose delivery echoes Spiritualized’s Jason Pierce.

‘Lumina’ is not short of pure peak time dance-floor monsters either. In addition to ‘Hive’, ‘Escalation’ and ‘Sidewinder’ which are all included here, the title track is an epic techno odyssey and contender as a single as is ‘Sore Tooth’ which is probably the brightest track on the album with its shimmering synth-lines and disco roots.

The Rogue Element is gearing up for a heavy DJ schedule and a live show is also in the works. Expectations are high as ‘Lumina’ is an undeniable tour de force of electronic music that should reach an audience well beyond the confines of the dance community.

Artist: SLOK from Paris, France
Label: Electronic Petz from Paris, France
Distributor: Beatport / Believe Digital
Websites: SLOK MySpace
Discography: Discogs
Track: SLOK – Deesgustocosmicow (available on the FOEM forum)
Aha??: Remix the track. Two remixes per artist allowed this time.
Style: Tech House, Progressive House, Electro, Minimal, Electronica, Techno, HOUSE MUSIC and so on. Should be a tuff DJ tool, floor filler, something original with taste. Don’t think too much, if the link to the original is not obvious, it will be no problem. It’s about dance music of the future. Forget nostalgia. This is open. Develop something NEW.

Prizes: Best remix
Digital release on Electronic Petz.
The track will be included on one of the Tsugi magazine CD compilations (30.000 CDs).
Free radio dj slot on Magma Italian syndication radio show for (1hr DJset) + personal DJ page.
Interview on iBeats (UK) and via phone interview on Syndicated Beats (Miami) by Birago Jones.
Electronic Petz T-Shirts designed by Italian designers collective Real DC.

Runners up
Digital release on Electronic Petz label on Beatport exclusive (8 weeks) and then on all of the major digital stores via Believe Digital.
Electronic Petz T-Shirts designed by Italian designers collective Real DC.
All the best remixer names will be featured on a newsletter sent from all the partner supporters.
10 free tracks from the Electronic Petz back catalog.

Schedule: June 1 to August 31, 2009 (three full months)
Jury: DJ Paulette (Radio FG, Pacha Radio, Mix Club resident DJ, London UK / Paris, France)
Hans Temmerman (The Mystic Force, Top Radio Belgium, Rotazionz DJ resident and journalist)
Lisa Loco (Loco Rites Communication manager, Leeds, UK)
Alessandro Russo aka ‘SLOK’ (Musician, Producer, DJ and Electronic Petz label manager)

Material: Get the samples and midi files on the FOEM forum
Submit: Upload your remixes via the FOEM forum
Notes: Don’t send your tracks directly to the artist or the label
Make your very own style… Take your time to remix, remember, a winning track takes time.
Master your track but keep a raw version so Electronic Petz can master it.
No legal recourse. The judges’ decisions are final.
Chillax….

CLICK HERE TO GET DIRECTLY TO THE CONTEST