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Olive - You're Not Alone (Oakenfold / Osborne Remix) [1997, RCA]
I discovered this while failing to hunt down the never-released Traumprinz remix of this '90s dance-chart hit and have had it on regular rotation ever since. Kinda like Everything But The Girl's "Before Today," it's breakbeat / slow-ish d&b with romantic, god-tier pop vocals. I love the way the harmonized refrain, which you'd be waiting for, consciously or not, if you'd ever heard the original, comes in late. To be honest, I love any club remix of a pop song that teases you with the hook, leaving you to wonder whether everything will crescendo, before giving it to you (e.g. Andrew Weatherall's remix of "Only Love Can Break Your Heart," or Carl Craig's remix of "Once In A Lifetime".) Having said all that, I'm not aware of any other track that starts out pure gold then suddenly turns to absolute dogshit a few minutes in. It's like someone's playing a really nice set at the afters and then the proverbial aux falls into the hands of the absolute worst person. Paul Oakenfold, say. (There's an unreleased edit out there that fixes this problem, fittingly titled "Finishing Oakenfold's Job.")
Justin
Laura BCR - La Pente Pt 1 [2026, Going In]
Laura BCR is the first person I know to publicly announce she's giving up DJing. "25yrs ago, I spent all my savings - to get my first electronic music records and turntables and I never regretted it," she wrote. "This Laura BCR project brought me to places and gave me opportunities - I never imagined could even be possible." Exhibit A: "La Pente - Part 1", a half-hour ambient piece for Going In, a sub-label of The Bunker New York. This record is a feast of beautiful sounds in a way that reminds me of Donnacha Costello's ambient tracks, or Move D and Benjaminn Brunn's collab albums (Songs From The Beehive, Let's Call It A Day). Where so much ambient music mostly sets a scene, this one tells a story, elegantly unfolding over its 30 minutes. It works to have it glimmer in the background, but it's hard not to get lured in.
ex_libris - 003 [2026, ex_libris]
I was a big fan of the first two ex_libris records, and for that matter, pretty much everything Dave Huismans (AKA 2562, A Made Up Sound) made up until then. On ex_libris 01 and 02, he seemed intent on pushing what could loosely be described as house and techno as far as possible into his own surreal nether-zone, all without losing DJ-friendly functionality. This time, he's gone off the grid entirely, maintaining the swampy atmosphere of those first EPs but untethering himself from the 120 BPM range. A single slow chugger aside, this one doesn't have anything a DJ could whack in too casually. Somehow, though, it still feels made for the DJ. Ben UFO put it best when he called Huismans' records "experimental music that people have to move to." Even the mostly ambient "#31 (reprise)" (my personal fave) makes you want to move β if less like a person dancing in a club and more like seaweed swaying on the ocean floor.
Building Instrument - Kanskje (Villalobos Remix) [2026, Sei Es Drum]
Ever since Sadie Sartini Garner's excellent Pitchfork review of AndrΓ© 3000's New Blue Sun, AndrΓ©'s Flute Era has existed in my head as a concept I map onto anyone who stays true to themselves in the later stages of a creative career and/or life. Ricardo's new one is giving AndrΓ© Flute Era. This vinyl-only EP has two unapologetically avant-garde remixes of Building Instrument, a Norwegian indie/jazz band he's been hung up on for years (the original came out in 2014 β a year after he remixed "Everywhere You Go," a solo track by the band's singer, Mari Kvien Brunvoll). Both sides are eerie, dreamlike and a bit somber, a gauzy blend of modular synth, viola, sleepy tambourines and Brunvoll's semi-alien voice. The clubby side has a skeletal beat with just a hint of electro-ish syncopation, the dusty drums of the original playing at half-time around it. The A-side is a lugubrious murk that would be a bold choice even for most ambient sets. As I've blabbed about in this newsletter, I can confirm the former works in a club, and to my surprise I've had it stuck in my head on and off ever since I first heard it. I shamelessly stan Ricardo and this is the most a new record from him has grabbed me in a long time.
During that weird part of COVID, when everything in Berlin was closed but we were allowed to have gatherings of up to ten people, I went to a birthday party where everyone was doing balloons. It was dumping snow outside and we were in a cozy attic apartment (top floor, skylights, slanted ceilings etc.) Someone requested this one, saying it was the best song to do a balloon to β you just had to time it right with the slide guitar solo. For me, the best part is just after that. When it seems to drift to a close, then rolls back into motion. I haven't heard much from this wacky '90s indie duo, but this one really got under my skin. Hits a nerve every time.
You can almost all the music mentioned here on this playlist. Laura BCR's new one is streaming in full on Bandcamp.
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