Ransom Note
Music
About
Ransom Note is an online music, arts and culture magazine. We provide a home for readers and writers with boundless enthusiasm, esoteric knowledge, fierce opinions and impeccable taste. With our core team immersed in all aspects of dance music, we publish news, articles, and interviews covering the greatest in innovative, underground culture from across the globe. We offer regular, exclusive music and mixtapes from our favourite artists, and publish features shining a light on everything from the freshest new artists to the untold tales from rave history. Alongside this we offer musings on film, books, life, and art, generating some context and controversy as an antidote to the reheated PR that clogs up the internet. Our office is fuelled by Tunnock’s Bars, cat memes, hangovers and a ridiculous, never ending love for our culture. We're always interested in getting new writers on board – feel free to get in touch if you’ve got a story to tell. With love until the grave.
Episodes
- PREMIERE: Patricia Wolf - Abiotic Factors [Music To Watch Seeds Grow By]
The podcast premieres the video for Patricia Wolf's song "Abiotic Factors." The song is part of the "Music To Watch Seeds Grow By" series, where artists connect music to plants. Wolf's album "Yarrow" was informed by her residency at the Ro…
- Hercules and Love Affair: The Ransom Note Mix
Hercules and Love Affair is an electronic music project created in 2004 by DJ, producer and songwriter Andy Butler. Originally formed in New York City, the act became known for blending classic disco, Chicago house, techno and synth-pop in…
- PREMIERE: James Allison 'Dub In Cairo'
Cult classic given the Allison magic… There was a Young Fellow called James Allison, who said, “All this dancing has something quite wrong with it! I’ll edit three classics and turn them about, And make all the rockers get up and go out!”…
- PREMIERE: Bikini Body - Georgie Weaver (Dont Try and Touch Me Mix) [Paradise Palms]
Your favourite DJ’s favourite punk band are back, and they’ve brought the sweat with them. There was a Young Band from the Paradise Palms, Who played with such fury it rattled your arms, They grooved like the ESG, bit like The Slits, And d…
- Safiye: The 'Shine A Light On' Mix
This episode features Safiye, discussing her behind-the-scenes work in coordinating events and managing energy, alongside her bi-weekly SWU.FM show and involvement with Bristol
- Seeds Mix #10: Salamanda's A Cradle for Basil
The mix "Seeds Mix #10: Salamanda's A Cradle for Basil" by Ransom Note features Seoul-based duo Salamanda. Inspired by observing a basil plant, the mix reflects on themes of growth, attention, care, and the connection between inner feeling…
- PREMIERE: THE SHAPE OF DANCE TO COME - What Is Your Definition [Calypso Records]
This episode features Wonky organic grooves from ALF CHAMPION and MDHNTR via Calypso records new compilation. "What Is Your Definition" explores the space between organic groove and electronic music, drawing from a nine-year compilation en…
- Daichi: The 'Shine A Light On' Mix
From the coastline to the dance-floor. Daichi's ear was formed early. Weekends spent at Oppa-La in Enoshima absorbing whatever the room had to offer, left a mark that still runs through everything he does. From there the path naturally pro…
- PREMIERE: Strange Fruit - Pouvoir Moteur [Gentle Tuesday]
akarta’s Strange Fruit with the last track from their Drips EP is something super special. Pouvoi Moteur – French for “motoric power,” since you asked – is exactly what that sounds like: locked-groove krautrock discipline shot through with…
- Sister Ray Davis's Spectacular Ransom Note Mixtape
Adispatch from the holy island, via Alabama. Two guys from Muscle Shoals, Alabama -0 the city that quietly wrote half the soul records you’ve ever loved — making shoegaze concept albums about a tidal island off the coast of Northumberland.…
- Owain K : The 'Shine A Light On' Mix
Owain K is a stalwart of the Bristol underground. For many years he has cut his teeth running parties, curating labels and producing music. A bit of an unsung hero of sorts in our eyes - his musical knowledge is vast and in this day and ag…
- Reda Saiarh - Kiki (GoodMostlyBad Acid Reflex) [Human Endeavour]
Human Endeavour’s ‘Dancefloor Designs’ returns with two club-focused remixes from Parris and GoodMostlyBad. Launched last year as a way to reimagine previous label material for the club, the second chapter in the series revisits tracks fro…
- PREMIERE: Salamanda - the blue wine [Music To Watch Seeds Grow By]
Seoul duo Salamanda. Uman Therma (Sala) and Yetsuby (Manda) have turned their gaze to the most unassuming of subjects: a single basil plant on a windowsill There once was a Basil who sat in the dusk, When the light had gone thin and the da…
- PREMIERE: ESS O ESS – Simply Nothing [Lunatic Music]
Simply Nothing is a dubbed-out analogue synth workout like only these two know how. Carefully constructed percussion, with George Hume's bass sitting beneath a veil of spectral vocals courtesy of Sarah-May Brown. On the EP there's a two ot…
- Giorgi Pipia: The 'Shine A Light On' Mix
Giorgi Pipia is a Georgian DJ and selector originally from the western region of Georgia, now based in Tbilisi—one of Eastern Europe’s most influential underground electronic music hubs. Deeply connected to the city’s evolving club culture…
- PREMIERE: SSRI – Omnicallora [Elbow Grease/DX3]
With the current climate doing its best to grind things down, sometimes making music with your people is all you can do – and LA’s underground is responding in kind. Few collectives embody that spirit quite like the Elbow Grease and DISCOS…
- PREMIERE: Le Carousel - The Good One
For Phil Kieran – DJ, producer, film composer and the Belfast-based mind behind Le Carousel – it was closer to twelve years, the span it took to bring The Humans Will Destroy Us to life. The follow-up to his cult debut lands on 13th March…
- Sarcus Soundsystem: The 'Shine A Light On' Mix
A transmission from deep within the French underground. Sarcus Soundsystem, the trio of Ubik, Jacky Jeane and Olga B, have been quietly doing something right in Paris for a while now. Their various endeavours around the capital have drawn…
- PREMIERE: Strange Fruit – Monopolar (Hardway Bros Remix) [Gentle Tuesday Recordings]
AHardway dancefloor throb injected into Strange Fruit’s shoegaze-inflected original… There was a Strange Fruit from Jakarta who said, “I shall go on Tuesday, iridescent and red! With a hypnodub shimmer and kosmische delight, I shall drip u…
- Seeds Mix #9: Hamie Jouse's mixtape for benevolent collusion Kodama
Deep in the Yorkshire woods, multi-disciplinary artist and producer Jamie House – aka Hamie Jouse – has been quietly splitting light into a thousand tiny rainbows. Best known for his hypnotic visual installations and art direction across D…
- PREMIERE: Fuck!lacrème - Slam It [Beat Machine Records]
FUCK!LACRÈME are back with the second part of their unhinged trilogy. The Italian five-piece have been making a mess of Beat Machine Records in the best way possible, and Welcome To My Crib keeps that energy going. We’re premiering “Slam I…
- Cornelius Doctor & Tushen Raï: The 'Shine A Light On' Mix
Cornelius Doctor & Tushen Raï held no punches with a hard hitting acid driven EP released on their homestay record label Hard Fist at the tail end of last year. It was a nod to the Goa inspired days of old, excellent rave fodder with beeps…
- PREMIERE: Stranded – Arch Groves [Double Phantom Records]
Stranded's new EP 'The Dead' arrives at that hour when the city finally shuts up - all sub-bass rumble and skeletal beats, the kind of thing that sounds best through headphones on the last bus home. It's got that Bristol thing in its bones…
- Seeds Mix #8: Live @ Brian d’Souza - Live @ Bush of Ghosts
Deep in the woods at our very own Bush of Ghosts stage at Watching Trees, Scottish producer Brian d’Souza, aka Auntie Flo, brought his ‘Plants Can Dance’ project to life in a five-hour ambient set beneath a canopy of trees. Drawing from th…
- PREMIERE: Soreab - CU3 [POLAAR]
Italian London-based producer Dario Picchi aka Soreab follows up his collaborative EP alongside Om Unit with an unremitting, hi-spec vision of techno, grime, dub, and industrial on new album 'CU' [short for 'Completely Unstable']. Pure dig…
- PREMIERE: A-Tweed - KrautTxeepToon [Sketchy Lines Records]
The beautifully unhinged "Kraut Cheap Tune" is like stumbling into a broken arcade in some lysergic hinterland where the machines have learned to improvise. A-Tweed strips away the usual constraints here, letting the tracks breathe and mut…
- Thomass Jackson: The Ransom Note Mix
Thomass Jackson has built a sound through bands, traditional instruments and massive raves held in Buenos Aires. From releases born in friends’ studios, world tours as a bassist for Capri on Gigolo Records, and a steady run of releases on…
- Seeds Mix #7 - Susannah Stark’s mixtape for walking to Carbeth from Glasgow
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…
- PREMIERE: UFO95 - Absence Has Shape [MORD}
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 imposi…
- Moon Roq: The 'Shine A Light On' Mix
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…
- PREMIERE: Bozzwell - I Know What I Saw - Atlantis Audio
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…
- PREMIERE: Strange Fruit - Iridescent (Jonathan Kusuma Hypnodubmix) [Gentle Tuesday Recordings]
There’s a particular alchemy that happens when a band and producer find themselves on the same wavelength – not through careful planning, but through the natural convergence of shared musical worlds. Jakarta’s Strange Fruit and electronic…
- Seeds Mix #6: Angie QQ – A Meditation Through Taroko (Taiwan) 穿越太魯閣的冥想之旅(台灣)
Angela Lin, aka Angie QQ, producer and A&R behind the Sounds of Taiwan compilation, returned to Taiwan in May 2019 seeking refuge after the loss of her mother. Angela Lin，又名 Angie QQ，《台灣之聲》合輯的製作人與 A&R。2019 年 5 月失去母親後，她選擇回到台灣，尋找心靈慰藉。 What s…
- Andy Whittaker: The 'Line Out' Mix
Ibiza has changed a lot. It isn't what it once was that's for sure. However, from time to time you might just catch a glimpse of what it was and what it still means to an awful lot of people. Andy is an old friend of Ransom Note and for th…
- Odopt: The Ransom Note Mix
Odopt is the musical partnership of Ivan Maslov, a Buenos Aires-based producer and composer, and Gregory, a DJ with two decades of experience behind the decks, now residing in Paris. Since 2015, they've dropped rugged, hardware-driven bang…
- Autumns - The Ransom Note Mix
Post-punk provocateur Autumns has been catapulting angular weapons over the ramparts since 2014… Carving out a fierce reputation across labels like Downwards, Opal Tapes, iDEAL Recordings and DKA Records. Christian Donaghey’s relentless li…
- Yu Yang: The 'Shine A Light On' Mix
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 Ch…
- PREMIERE: Local Suicide - Obsessions [Iptamenos Discos]
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…
- Rosie Ama: The Ransom Note 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 m…
- Asa Moto: The Ransom Note Mix
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 Soul…
- Seeds Mix #5: Openmind's Leave your phone at home & discover paradise after a forage in the forest
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 talkin…