Cover [Cover Design By] – Monelle Kanza
Mastered By – Hans*
Mixed By – Aaron Ahrends
Photography By [Cover Photography By] – Guillaume Amat
Photography By [Photo Colorisation By] – Jordan Lloyd
Written By, Recorded By, Composed By, Mixed By – Edmund Kenny

Stavroz is a Belgian duo with a clear mindsetand a unique sound. Somehow they managesto infuse jazz, gypsy and swing with electronicelements, or is it the other way around? Checktheir tracks and start imagining your own story.Nothing is ever the same, no 8-barloop will keeprepeating. lt s time to bring some variation tothe game, and let it be sweet and subtle, and letthere be house... or tech house, or jazz house,or minimal house, whatever you want to call it.Stavroz is all about the dance toys.

Sunset at the incredible Mayan Warrior art car, Burning Man 2018.

Stavroz’s third EP on Moodfamily, “Bleached Flamingo EP” came out on 21/11/2020 and it is a beauty.
In describing the title track the boys had the following to say:
As a threatening wave, violins rush to you in the opening moments and lay down a foundation on which a deceiving seven-count groove comfortably settles. An upsetting atmosphere haunts you through the first minutes. Until halfway, the song suddenly blossoms when a weeping synth starts the theme and paves the way for the saxophone to take over effortlessly. Together, they conclude the song in unison, delighted to have found each other.

Studio Barnhus has now been around for nearly ten years. In listening back to its first release, a compilation EP that featured a track by one of its cofounders, Axel Boman, you sense that the raw ingredients for its now widely recognised sound were there right at the beginning. Buoyant melodies? Quirky instrumentation? Oddball samples? Flirtations with cheese? It's all there on Good Children Make Bad Grown Ups. There's a risk that labels with such defined aesthetics collapse in on themselves, becoming almost self-referential as the demos it signs reinforces a sound until it becomes stale. But whether it's due to the malleability of the template or the individuality of the ideas behind it, the music Axel Boman, Kornél Kovács and Petter Nordkvist release continues to demand attention. Bella Boo already felt like an archetypal Studio Barnhus artist after two releases with the label. With Once Upon A Passion, her debut album, she marks out her own space in Studio Barnhus' roster as well as the wider world of oddball house music.
Whether it's been Axel Boman, Kornél Kovács or Baba Stiltz, the albums on Studio Barnhus have always created an engaging arc, blending the label's core house sound with dips into pop, ambient, electronica and other styles. This is something Gabriella Borbély does especially well here. Once Upon A Passion is nominally a dance record, but one that never settles into a steady thump. You could call the club tracks house music, although within that description there is plenty of tonal and rhythmic range. There are also moments of decompression and contemplation, with Borbély trying out pop, ambient and chill-out moods. None of this feels merely incidental, the product of a club producer making ambient under the misguided assumption that they should. If anything, some of the non-dance material is the album's strongest.
This might be explained by the breadth of Borbély's sonic tools. On the relaxed highlight "Tuesday," Nils Janson's dulcet trumpet pairs with piano, water droplets and alien vocal lines. Later, Janson appears on "Do The Right Thing" in pretty different surroundings—although slow and reflective to begin with, the track builds, with the help of Axel Boman on "acid bassline," into a bittersweet banger. "Stars," another standout, is also chilled—the faint sound of crickets and bird calls frames an amble through a meadow of assorted synths. "Way Chill" is more evidence of Borbély's knack for sofa styles, in this case through the use of hip-hop vocals from Def Sound and jazzy drum flourishes that might recall DJ Koze. Though "Your Girlfriend" won't be the most accomplished poppy torch song you hear this year, a full vocal turn from Borbély gives the album yet another texture to absorb.
The dance floor tracks are slightly more mixed in quality, but there is still plenty to like. The soaring arpeggio on "Can't Leave You Like This" is a bold way to open an album, especially as it gives way to a sprightly beat loaded with hand percussion and complemented by piano chords. "She's Back!" is a classy roller that sits somewhere between broken beat and garage—the strings and soulful vocal shots are on-point choices. It's difficult to say why "Hotel Europa" and "Flightmode" work less well. They're as tonally rich and invitingly strange as the others but just never quite catch an arresting groove. Still, Once Upon A Passion is an album that's easy to get swept along with. In a recent review of the newest Robag Wruhme album, I'd placed Borbély in a category alongside Wruhme, DJ Koze, Roman Flügel, Axel Boman and Kornél Kovács, artists who mix surprising or humorous sounds with emotions like sadness and melancholy. Once Upon A Passion confirms that she deserves to keep such company.

“Under Darkening Skies is an album that’s connecting different dots in my life, representing phases or moments I went through. I wanted to go back to writing actual songs again instead of adding vocals to a beat, which gave me the freedom to express more musical facets of myself. Eventually it became the most diverse record I have made so far, influenced by a time of global social and economic uncertainty at an ever-increasing tempo of change, like a dark cloud approaching.”

Continuing our mission to cultivate optimism during this unsettling pause on planet Earth, Tale Of Us curate the second volume of their epic compilation series, ‘Unity’. Featuring contributions from a cast of talent located all over the world and bound together by the paralysis of our culture. ‘Unity Pt. 2’ maintains the same premise as the first installment, gathering together a collection of 25 stunning cuts designed to transport you into another realm.
Right now unity is a key word for our global community. Clubs remain closed, lives are on hold and the difficulties that have arisen from this situation are ever present for many of us. The intention here is to raise awareness for causes dear to our hearts, through the power of music. Standing together for humanity, giving support to those who need it and using our platform to shine a light on the underrepresented voices.
On this huge compilation you’ll be graced with a multitude of sounds, from sombre, melancholy tones and introspection to brighter euphoric moments and pumping energy, with the space to meditate and transcend this reality into other worlds. Travel back to the dance floor, join forces with your best friends, dance with a lover or simply close your eyes and travel inwards. From Mind Against’s spine tingling opener the bar is set high, staying there from start to end..., when we’re met with the soul nourishing closer by British maestro Franky Wah.