Ransom Note

Shanghai’s electronic music scene has been shaped by a handful of key figures, and Yu Yang is undoubtedly one of them.

Since the early 2000s, through her work with M Agency and club Haze, she’s been brought international heavyweights to China for the first time, whilst consistently championing local talent.

After serving as musical director for W Shanghai – the Bund and the Shanghai EDITION, Yu Yang co-founded ALTER., a party series that brought together the world’s most forward-thinking selectors and China’s finest in carefully chosen venues. What developed was one of Shanghai’s most sought-after nights and a genuinely strong community around it.

Yu Yang crafts sets that balance introspection with ‘fun’.

Interview here: https://www.theransomnote.com/music/mixes/yu-yang-the-shine-a-light-on-ransom-note-mix/

@yuyang11

Iptamenos Discos announces Houdini, the new EP by label founders Local Suicide. The record features three of their darkest and most powerful originals to date, alongside striking reworks from French electroclash pioneer David Carretta and rising Greek EBM force Alpha Sect.

Houdini begins with Obsessions, a song built around a brutal bassline, analog synthesisers, and stark vocal mantras. It's a melting pot of darkwave and techno influences. "Obsessions, they come and go" is hypnotically repeated throughout the ordeal, resulting in a relentless, claustrophobic dance track. 

Obsessions by Local Suicide will release as part of the Houdini EP as a limited 12" vinyl and digitally on the 21st November 2025. Three original tracks, two remixes.

For over two decades, Anna Logue Records has been a beacon for those who understand that the early 1980s represented a golden age of electronic music – a brief, brilliant window when artists armed with synthesisers, drum machines, and raw creative vision crafted something genuinely revolutionary.

Founded in 2005 by a collector-turned-curator who spent the mid-90s buried in the minimal synth scene, swapping tapes and haunting eBay for privately pressed 7″s and forgotten cassettes, the label emerged from a simple desire to rescue and celebrate the melancholic yet melodic treasures that deserved far better than wanton abandonment and obscurity. We’re happy to admit our ignorance of the label until being alerted via the reissue of Join The Car Crash Set. But having been turned on via that channel we delved deeper… a lot deeper.

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What began with Camera Obscura’s debut vinyl LP (through three problematic pressing rounds) has blossomed into a catalogue that honours both the artists of yesteryear and into the contemporary that are keeping the analogue flame alive. The label’s ethos is refreshingly purist – this is music made before the digital age smoothed off all those beautifully rough edges and that bleakness when electronics were raw and honest.

Anna Logue Records isn’t part of the ‘music industry’ – it exists in deliberate opposition to it. Non-exclusive agreements respecting artists’ autonomy, every release is treated as art or memorabilia rather than product, lovingly designed with original band materials, lyrics, photos, and the meticulous attention of someone who still remembers receiving multiple parcels a day in pursuit of the perfect sound.

Sister label Nadanna (a playful portmanteau of founders “Mr. Nader” and “Mr. Anna”) extends the mission into contemporary territory, releasing danceable works that blur the lines between minimal synth, Italo disco, and Electropop. Together, they form a small but vital operation – self-financing, fiercely independent, and still run by that same collector was too busy discovering bottomless pits of forgotten electronic to pay too much attention at college.

The mix you’re about to hear traces the label’s journey in reverse, alternating between Anna Logue and Nadanna releases, from timeless classics like League of Nations’ “Fade” to previews of what’s next. It includes what the label’s founder calls “the perfect electronic pop song” (Blipblop’s “Ögat som ser”), features a performance from Rational Youth’s Tracy Howe on Techniques Berlin’s “Cold War”, and closes with the achingly beautiful “Zara In The Stars” – written by Quieter Than Spiders’ Leon Zhang in memory of a beloved dog at a sanctuary, a reminder that these endeavours carry real meaning beyond the music.

Twenty years in, with projects like Delayscape’s double album and new Twins Natalia material still in the pipeline, Anna Logue Records continues doing what it’s always done; unveiling music that should be heard, released with passion by people who genuinely love it, for those who understand that sometimes, the best technology is the one that came before everything got polished to death.

Best get that mix on and have a chat hey…

Interview here: https://www.theransomnote.com/music/featured-music/anna-logue-records-a-flavour-of-the-label-mix/

@annaloguerecords

If you’ve been keeping your ear to the ground on the dance floors, chances are you’ve already crossed paths with Free Zing and Oliver Moon.

Free Zing’s bag runs deep with a heady mix of eclectic, emotive vinyl, stitched together with a fearless disregard for genre and alongside her, London’s Oliver Moon also brings the weight with dedication to the deeper corners of underground electronic music.

Together the pair offer a journey that’s as fluid as it is focused.

In the words of Free Zing & Oliver Moon:

"This mix was born under the spontaneity of a beautiful coexistence. Two vast record collections living under the same roof inspiring each other, and a same vision: slower, sexier, warmer and mildly twisted electronic music.

For two hours you delve into the minds of Free Zing and Oliver Moon, two people playing with their favourite b2b. The pair press record on a Monday morning and work through a window of their collection. The mix was seemingly unexpected but had been planned subconsciously for some time over previous sessions, probably influenced by a very inspiring summer.

Moon starts with the latest release from the talented London based Studio Batsumi and Maria finishes with a beautiful pitched down piece by Martyné, a producer they both deeply admire. Everything in between is for you to discover… Enjoy the ride 🤘🏻❤️"

Read more here: https://www.theransomnote.com/music/mixes/free-zing-and-oliver-moon-the-wednesday-alternative-mix

This is a special one, a family one.

Rosie Ama (Cain), as I’m sure you all already know, is a London-based DJ, radio host, and founder of Human Endeavour Records. She’s been in the fam a while now, operating on the outer fringes of dance music… which is exactly where you want to be if you're trying to avoid mainstream success and financial stability.

Having cut her teeth as a writer and editor for online music platforms Stamp The Wax and this here Ransom Note, Rosie demonstrated such exemplary dedication to underground culture that we eventually had to take disciplinary action against her. The subsequent court settlement led to the founding of Human Endeavour; sometimes the best label launches emerge from legal disputes, rather than business plans.

Officially launching in 2022 (once the legal paperwork was finalised), it serves as a platform for artists operating in the deep, dark and hypnotic corners of electronic music and has welcomed artists like Anastasia Zems, Justine Forever, Nandele, Medicine 8 and Thomass Jackson over the years.

Before doing her own thing, Rosie made up one half of Kiara Scuro alongside friend Nadia, a DJ and production partnership that released music on Fabric Originals, Ritmo Fatale and Faux Poly, as well as long-standing radio residencies on Rinse FM and Balamii Radio. After a decade together, she’s gone solo turning her full attention to the label and her monthly Noods radio show, Melodic Odds, that showcases her love for sleazy low-slung chuggers, leftfield acid house and synth-driven 3am groovers.

Whilst I’d never tell her this to her face, it’s actually a delight to welcome her back to the fold - this time without the need for lawyers - for a mix that captures her hypnotic, trippy vision of what dance music can be when nobody's watching the figures…

Let’s get going then, shall we…

Hailing from Ghent, Belgium, Asa Moto is the dynamic electronic music duo of Oliver “Oli” Geerts and Gilles Noë—a pairing forged in 2012 that has since become one of the most inventive forces on the continent’s club circuit.

Signed to Soulwax’s DEEWEE label, they blend analog synths, voice, funk and uncanny grooves into a sound both club-potent and artistically bold. Through acclaimed EPs like Martino and an ever-evolving live show, they invite you to dance differently—together.

November see's the pair return to the imprint with a new EP called 'Music For Disc Jockeys Pt.1'.

This mix is a tour de force if you will, they cram 82 tracks into one hour and somehow manage to make that make sense. We have no idea how they've managed it but somehow in a precariously bonkers fashion... it works.

Hungarian Transylvanian artist Réka Csiszér aka VÍZ with an irresistible soundtrack for Halloween, following the release of her sumptuous second album ‘Danse Des Larmes‘ on Heat Crimes earlier this year.

Read more at Ransom Note.

@user-273556483 @heat-crimes

Telepathic Fish co-founder DJ Food, aka one part of Openmind, takes us on a trip into the world of 90s chill out.

Strictly Kev likes the company of plants whilst working on music so that's handy for us isn't it?! We're assuming he's talking about a beautiful Calathea sitting in the corner for inspiration, tho his dream plant setup - a conservatory packed with Romanesco broccoli, trippy Caladiums, and Persian Shields - is something we'd be well on board with too.

Enough of the plant talk for a second and back to the music, ambient music to be clear. For those that weren't squatting in South London back in the early 90s, Openmind were the four-piece behind the mighty Telepathic Fish - the legendary ambient afterparty that transformed chill-out rooms from dub-playing afterthoughts into proper destinations.

Kev, along with Chantal Passamonte (Mira Calix, RIP), David Vallade, and Mario Aguera, started in a shared house above a shop with no neighbours to complain/bash the door down. What began as art school parties quickly grew into Sunday afternoon sessions in squatted venues - a former dole office in Brixton and even the derelict Roundhouse on New Year's Day. They hosted everyone from Aphex Twin to Mixmaster Morris among wall-to-wall mattresses, UV installations, and  Coldcut's Matt Black with his boundary pushing video projections.

The idea was simple: recreate that post-clubbing comedown vibe but on a massive scale, as an "aural and visual blanket" for club-rattled minds. They even published a fanzine called Mindfood and worked at the scene's hub, Ambient Soho record shop, helping shape what Simon Reynolds called a "wombeldelic sound-and-light bath" in contrast to the current trend of hardcore and it's relentless assault.

Thirty years on, that spirit's having a comeback. Events like London's A Loose Ting are bringing back the bedding and the hushed reverence, while Berlin's Overflow is going full sensory overload with vibrating mattresses, fountains, and harpists. New York's Planetarium gatherings have people mostly horizontal, inspired by psychedelic therapy sessions. There's even and ambient sauna in South London you might have come across via the wonder of Music To Watch Seeds Grow By's recent takeover.  Our very own Watching Trees dabbled in said chill out space this year, pairing the abstract and the ambient with projected dappled sunlight visuals from the mighty Jamie House. Turns out people still need those little havens away from the madness, especially in this day and age!

Also handily 30 years on the Openmind crew have just compiled the first-ever Telepathic Fish retrospective for Fundamental Frequencies - a double vinyl love letter to those hazy early-90s mornings when the music finally slowed down.

For this Seeds Mix, Kev has leaned into his love of minimalism and systems music - repetition built from layers of loops offset against each other to form subtle polyrhythms. There's a deliberate avoidance of drum machines here in favour of organic percussion, and around the eight-minute mark, a section from Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia that captures the feeling of being deep in the forest, phone abandoned, discovering that paradise was just a forage away.

Full interview here: https://www.theransomnote.com/music/mixes/seeds-mix-005-openminds-leave-your-phone-at-home-discover-paradise-after-a-forage-in-the-forest/

@strictly

A collision of rave outsiders: Morris’s unlikely pop mystique meets Gramrcy and Loveless on the FWD dancefloor… lnk.to/GJLPH149

In Berlin where the bassweight bubbles bright, Lived Gramrcy and John Loveless, deviant and polite, They stirred a pressure-cooker full of electroclash stew, With ISDN-line scramble and a hint of something new.

“Oh!” cried Tony Morris (former teacher, taxi man), “I’ll hypnotize with repetitions, catch me if you can! I’m Scotland’s most unlikely pop sensation, don’t you see? A cult figure cabaret, as deviant as can be!”

They mixed it up on Phantasy Sound with textural delight, The earworming anchor bobbed and bounced all through the night, From FWD-era gumption to the disco esoteric, They created ‘Lucid’ madness, quite atmospheric!

The festival-rupturing Highdive had ruptured long before, Now ‘Feel So’ tipped the scales toward the ecstatic dance floor, With post-punk percussion prancing, hi-NRG in tow, From Chicago down to Rimini, watch the bassline grow!

Said Peggy Gou and Daniel Avery, “What a splendid sound!” While 2ManyDJs spun it ’round and ’round and ’round, And Moschino’s models strutted to the supreme release, As rave outsiders intersected in their bubbling masterpiece!

So if you seek the throbbing beat of something deeply odd, Find Gramrcy and John Loveless – that peculiar duo’s squad With Tony Morris chanting in his late-sixties prime, Making lucid nonsense music, one earworm at a time!

Three years after their all conquering ‘Highdive’, Gramrcy and John Loveless return to Phantasy with ‘Lucid’, a pressure-cooker of FWD-era bassweight and electroclash scramble anchored by the hypnotic vocals of Tony Morris.

Listen below, pre order here: https://lnk.to/GJLPH149

Recorded in a small village on the Costa Brava – surrounded by seagulls, tramontana winds, and sea urchin-covered rocks – this mix comes from the laid-back Barcelona neighbourhood of Gràcia, where Parisian-born Antoine Harispuru, better known as Golden Bug, has made his home.

With a career spanning over fifteen years, Golden Bug has become known for his unique signature: drum machines in a haze of smoke, chopped-up sounds with a machete edge, drenched in delay – a raw, kaleidoscopic patchwork of electronica, dub, and psychedelia.

His work has graced labels including La Belle Records (his own imprint), Les Disques de la Mort, Höga Nord, Gomma, Multi Culti, and Kompakt. This mix hits as the anniversary edition of Piscolabis II, where Golden Bug teams up once again with artists from around the world to craft a new series of aural excursions. From digital reggae to cinematic electronica with Londoner Simone Butler (of Primal Scream) and Brazilian artist Max Blum, to mutant disco with Franco-Italian musician Kim Giani, via slow-burning, incandescent techno led by the captivating voice of Greek singer Scarlett O’Hanna, and krautrock infused with dub in collaboration with London-based Phoebe Coco. These six tracks offer a bold and refreshing reinterpretation of the original album: a rich, textured sonic journey shaped by diverse and unexpected influences.

Among the selections, you’ll find current favouites like SAVE’s Rainy Monday — a digital dub gem from Marc Nguyen’s project on Ivan Smagghe’s Les Disques de la Mort, alongside recent discoveries like Blotter Trax’s Superconductor on Optimo.

Get into that comfy chair with a good glass of wine and a proper sound system…. and press play.

Interview here: https://www.theransomnote.com/music/mixes/golden-bug-the-ransom-note-mixtape/