NEWSLETTER
MARCO WEIBEL // INTERVIEW WITH MADTEO // THE GOOSE LONDON // KHOTIN PEACE PORTAL // RECORD STORE MIX // X2 RECORD FAIRS
IA MIX 391 //
INTERVIEW BY MATHIAS CHABOTEAUX
Singapore-born, now New York-based selector Marco Weibel is a cartographer of frequency, mapping the unspoken borderlands where spiritual jazz exhales into steamy ambient, dub techno dissolves into dusty house. A linchpin of the Darker Than Wax collective and a resident at The Lot Radio, Weibel trades in texture over trend, intuition over impulse.
With IA MIX 391, Weibel distills a potent transmission, infused with the warmth of a selector fluent in the secret language of the dancefloor. It’s a mix that rewards listeners with a testament to the power of eclecticism when guided by a curator with impeccable taste. It plays like a tribute to the city itself—soundtracking a drift through New York’s restless arteries, from the crates of Human Head to Myrtle Avenue epiphanies, culminating in a 3AM descent into a steam-filled noodle joint, where basslines hang in the air like ghosts on the glass.
RECORD FAIR // SUNDAY 25 MAY
WAX ON TAP AT GROW, HACKNEY WICK, LONDON
Inverted Audio Record Store is taking part in Wax On Tap's third pop-up record fair at Grow in Hackney Wick on Sunday 25 May (12 - 6 pm). We'll be trading alongside other reputable London-based traders including Chris Energy, Daniele Inn Rivolta, I've Got It On Vinyl, Plays At 45 RPM and London23.
Avid collectors can expect quality new & used records, cassettes and clothing from the best artists and record labels exploring house, techno, dubbed-out grooves, experimental and esoteric ambience. Free entry. Vinyl only DJ sets throughout. Hackney Wick nearest Overground Station.
FEATURE //
MADTEO AND THE POLITICS OF IMPERFECTION: FROM TAPE SATURATION TO CLUB DISINTEGRATION
A dollar-bin archaeologist, flea market dweller and reluctant historian of black gold, Madteo sculpts club tracks for collapsing architecture, built with thrift-store gear and blunted transmissions. Equal parts streetwise irreverence and avant-garde instinct, he exorcises moods, each soaked in the tension of memory, distance, and analogue decay.
It’s this tension between nostalgia and futurism, exile and homecoming, precision and entropy that fuels his latest album ‘Misto Atmosferico E Ad Azione Diretta’ issued on Unsure last week. A title lifted from the arcane mechanical musings of Enrico Bernardi, the Padovan inventor of one of the earliest combustion engines. The engine, like Madteo’s own practice, is clunky, unpredictable – designed for forward motion but just as liable to sputter, collapse, and reassemble itself mid-journey. From the crumbling echoes of Italo-house to the dub-choked corners of illbient New York, this release plays like a haunted travelogue, framed by a stubborn refusal to conform, a tribute to the art of the detour.
Yet for all his world-building, Madteo’s story resists mythologising. He’s the first to dismiss any notion of noble outsiderdom or romantic struggle. His life is built on serendipity, hand-me-down hardware and intellectually and aesthetically immune to the metrics of mainstream credibility. He’s frank about the contradictions: the love of DJing tempered by its impossibility of living from it, a compulsion to create shadowed by the fatigue of being audible in a landscape saturated with noise. If there’s a philosophy at work, it’s this: embrace limitation as a weapon, and trust that rawness in its sharpest edge.
There’s a strange clarity to Madteo’s world, even when the signal is warped. Whether recounting sunrise sets in Tokyo’s closet-sized clubs, unearthing Sun Ra’s records in a forgotten basement or gaining inspiration from John Chamberlain, what emerges is a blueprint for surviving a sleepless city that’s forgotten how to listen. Not by selling out or slowing down but by staying weird, staying wandering, and above all, staying real.
SPACES //
THE GOOSE
INTERVIEW BY GRACE STEWART-RICKETTS
An enduring relic of Britain’s industrial past, London’s extensive canal network is an iconic symbol of faded glory and prosperity. This overlooked setting has fostered a new era of repurposed spaces, drawing partygoers down forgotten towpaths and into elusive barge-based venues like The Goose.
Despite facing an uncertain future, independent clubs like this continue to underpin a resilient musical ecosystem, thriving within a world of corporate overlords and stringent legislation. By championing local and undiscovered talent, prioritising sound and protecting safe spaces, independent venues are, in many ways, undervalued but vital cultural repositories.
In this new series of Spaces features, we’re focusing on venue owners and delving into the complexities, struggles and triumphs of running a successful event space. We’re kicking off the series with a deep dive into the origins of a converted 65-foot canal boat turned 100-capacity club space The Goose, and the vision of its dedicated owner and founder Alejandro Abril.
Conceived amidst the turbulence of 2020, The Goose has sent ripples through an underground scene that values private and intimate party settings. Navigating East London’s canal network, by day The Goose silently bobs alongside coots, moorhens and discarded plastic bottles. By night, its wooden-clad interior transforms into a refuge and haven for those seeking authentic underground sounds and the company of like-minded souls, gazing out upon the world through stained glass portholes.
Following the success of his latest project, a sober-focused collective called Waveflow, we sat down with Alejandro Abril to discuss the logistics and ambitions of one of London’s better-kept secrets.
REVIEW //
KHOTIN - PEACE PORTAL
WRITTEN BY JASON CABANISS
We are obsessed with the past. Whether it’s music, movies, politics, or culture as a whole, retromania has supercharged nostalgia from niche think piece fodder to a commodity everyone’s getting their hands on to profit or rally a political base. It’s easy in times of global tumult to look fondly on what’s behind us.
Social media pushes anniversaries and other memories, sending you photos of people you no longer know or who aren’t alive (and may never have even liked). Streaming services build off your previous listening habits to either curate playlists of everything you already like or use metadata to push something that sounds like your favorite band in lieu of discovery. Films regurgitate old IPs or add a cheap 90s throwback to lure you in. The easy commodification and exploitation of the past makes it hard to appreciate art that’s here, now, right in front of us, waiting to be experienced.
Canadian producer Khotin uses analog keyboards and drum machines to elicit that sense of nostalgia for a long-loved record on the first listen. The warm synth patterns paired with woozy, VHS-like warps and scratches wraps you into a comfortable space and is easy to get lost in and revisit whenever you need a pick me up. His latest, ‘Peace Portal’, plays on our desire for nostalgia with genuine, near schmaltzy sentimentality in some places and tongue in cheek playfulness in others.
RECORD FAIR & OPEN DECKS //
INVERTED AUDIO & I’VE GOT IT ON VINYL
Inverted Audio Record Store returns to Brixton Brewery Taproom on Saturday 28 June for our fifth record fair, in collaboration with London vinyl slinger I've Got It On Vinyl.
We’re also handing over the decks to our customers. If you’d like to soundtrack the record fair by playing a 1-hour all vinyl DJ set using a rotary mixer, we’re running an Open Decks policy. Just sign up to spin here and we’ll be in touch to confirm your slot.
DJ ANTEPOP - STORE MIX #9 //
One year since his previous edition, DJ Antepop returns with Store Mix #9 — an all-vinyl mix navigating through some of the most sought after records that have recently graced the shelves of Inverted Audio Record Store. The mix seamlessly blends ambient, downtempo, experimental, dub techno, and deep house — conjuring a rich tapestry of atmospheres and emotions. Tune in, zone out.
RECORD STORE NEW RELEASES //
WRECKED LIGHTSHIP - DRAINED STRANDS [PEAK OIL]
LA-based record label Peak Oil return with Wrecked Lightship’s second full-length release. 'Drained Strands' picks up right where its predecessor left off, plunging listeners into a world of dubbed-out textures, scattered breaks, and billowing basslines—meticulously sculpted through the singular vision of Adam Winchester and Laurie Osborne.
REST SYMBOL - REST SYMBOL LP [FO]
Originally released in 2023 as a limited edition CD, Rest Symbol get the vinyl treatment courtesy of Brain Foote's new imprint FO - the music feels like trip-hop decomposing in real time - crumbled breaks drift off-grid and melt into caramel, viscous string phrases erode under layers of tape noise.
BIG HANDS - THAUMA [MARIONETTE]
Big Hands presents his debut album on Ali Safi’s consistently forward-thinking imprint Marionette. Highly recommended if you're into polyrhythmic modulations that evokes a profound sense of spiritual enlightenment.