Ransom Note

For Glasgow-based artist Susannah Stark, the walk from the city to Carbeth becomes a meditation on paying attention, on taking your time with things, on letting roots guide the way.
In Stark’s work, sensitivity isn’t fragility; it’s a form of attentiveness, a willingness to be present with the human voice, with the spaces between sounds, with what emerges when you slow down enough to notice. Her approach to creating music mirrors the patient rhythm of plant growth – something we like around these parts – not forced or rushed, but allowed to unfold at its own pace.

“Pay attention to the roots!” Stark says. It’s a gardener’s wisdom that applies equally to music-making. Sometimes the most beautiful things emerge when we’re open to what’s already there, quietly waiting beneath the surface.

For this mix, Stark draws on her love of vocal harmony and polyphony, choral music and modular synthesis – the human voice and electronic landscapes working together like walking and listening, movement and stillness, roots and growth.

Her “Minor Gestures” album on Nightschool Records explores these same territories: softness, rhythm, encounters between beings, and the different dimensions of speech and sound.

@SusannahStark | @nightschool

Raw, rhythmic, intricate percussion and off-kilter melodic ideas woven into proper post-punk territory from the Bogotá producer.

The opening salvo from Dance On The Volcano, the Bogotá producer’s mini-album for Natural Selections – five tracks of intricate percussion and off-kilter melodic ideas woven into proper post-punk territory. Raw, rhythmic, and unapologetically tense.

Out Jan 22nd on Natural Selection.

https://www.theransomnote.com/music/premieres/premiere-kabinett-warning-natural-selection/

Channeling the imposing physicality of brutalist concrete monoliths into that thing we call dystopian techno.

The UFO95 flew over Brussels one night, With Absence Has Shape tucked under its light, Through brutalist towers so starkly imposing, Where concrete dreams lay decomposing.

“Oh MORD!” cried the vessel, “Oh MORD!” it did say, “I’m bound for the club on the sixth of Febru-ay! With radiophonics both retro and keen, And dystopian grooves never before seen!”

The Tresor did rumble, the Berghain did shake, As techno Tardises whirled in its wake, With low-end saturation and thunderous throb, It zipped and it zingled, it wobbled, it bobbed!

Brussels-based electronic musician Killian Vaissade – better known as UFO95 – constructs brutalist sonic architecture from the ruins of utopian dreams. On “Absence Has Shape,” the second track from his forthcoming album A Brutalist Dystopian Society Part 2, the Tresor resident channels the imposing physicality of concrete monoliths into that thing we call dystopian techno.

Brutalist structures as monuments to failed promises, their stark minimalism now haunting reminders of what never came to pass. Vaissade translates this visual language into dark, dramatic, stripped back essential techno. “Absence Has Shape” throbs with hypnotic tension, interlocking grooves and low-end density.

Drawing inspiration from Function, Jeff Mills, Surgeon, and Sandwell District, UFO95’ approach is “Moroder-meets-Mills” – melding retro radiophonics that address brutality in its many forms: war, repression, corruption.

A Brutalist Dystopian Society Part 2 drops on February 6th via MORD on vinyl, download, and streaming. The album follows acclaimed releases on Tresor, WSNWG, and TSSRCT (which he co-runs with Hadone), cementing Vaissade’s reputation as a masterful producer whose tracks cut through the noise.

Vaissade doesn’t DJ, opting for improvised live sets, a practice that’s earned him a residency at Berlin’s legendary Tresor and slots at Berghain, Berlin Atonal, and Bassiani. Catch him on tour throughout January and February, including upcoming dates at Berghain (Jan 10), Razzmatazz Barcelona (Jan 17), and Fuse Brussels (Jan 24), with stops across Europe and the Americas.

Moon Roq is the collaboration of two musical minds: Franklin & The Iron Glove.

Originally born as a carefully curated mix series, their journey has since blossomed into a project that now includes a vibrant blog and finally, a DJ duo.

The sound of Moon Roq is rooted in their shared passion for infectious, hypnotic grooves, which glide through the realms of house, disco and techno.

You’ll also find a deep, rhythmic sonic exploration woven throughout their performances, which also echoes across today’s mix - recorded live at The Glove That Fits in November 2024.

Tuck in!

https://www.theransomnote.com/music/mixes/moon-roq-the-shine-a-light-on-mix/

Best known as one half of acclaimed Sheffield electronic duo Hiem - whose disco-infused productions have graced labels like Crosstown Rebels and Eskimo, and featured collaborations with Phil Oakey and Roots Manuva - Boswell is now stepping out under his full birth name for a bold solo venture into stranger sonic territory.

"I Know What I Saw" trades "lissom disco" for the eerie glow of unexplained phenomena, weaving a compelling tale of skywatching and UFO abductions in Sheffield.

Originally from North Wales and a veteran of the UK electronic scene since the early '90s rave days in Liverpool, Boswell has worn many hats 0 from his early Subboy white labels to his Bozzwell alias on Suicide Recordings, and his critically acclaimed 2010 solo album "Bits & Pieces." he's following his vision intomore atmospheric waters.

Out today via Atlantis Audio, the track offers our first glimpse of Boswell's forthcoming album *Going Down Slow*, due January 19th, 2026. It's a bold shift in direction from an artist unafraid to explore the unknown,

Press play and keep your eyes on the skies.

Listen below: https://www.theransomnote.com/music/premieres/premiere-david-j-boswell-i-know-what-i-saw-atlantis-audio/