Dragon Trax Recordings are 1 Year old!

To celebrate we've put together our very first album-length release including exclusive new music and some immense and under-appreciated tunes from our friends.

Personally, I've always loved a good compilation, and hold that they're arguably more important to electronic music than single-artist albums.

I say this is because they are often the entry point for exploring a new and unfamiliar genre, or extend the scope of a style. Sometimes they collate different music within a conceptual framework, like this release does.


Let's take a deeper dive into the tracks and artists on First Orbit shall we?


1. Cardinal Ion - Joybeam

The debut solo production by Sheffield's Cardinal Ion, built on hardware using classic synths. Joybeam opens the comp in fine style, hearkening back to iconic releases by Warp, and The Black Dog particularly. Think Artificial Intelligence and Bytes.


2. Edward Spark & Socool - Subzero

Label regulars Sparky and Socool teamed up and delivered this gem of a track. With a pulsing melody, atmospheric synth pads and a layer of subtle glitchiness, this is every bit as seductive as fans of these two would expect from them.

3. AJ&JG - Novus II

AJ&JG are back with Novus II, a deep and experimental track over-flowing with beautiful mutations, underpinned by the heaviest kick imaginable. It soars as it progresses, with a balance of light and dark that grows more urgent until Novus II showers transcendent synth melodies and layers of dubbed-out electronics.

4. Other Reasons - Urban Decay

We just had to include one of Tom Uphonix's tunes from his over-looked side project Other Reasons. Urban Decay fuses a fluid bassline with swinging breaks and subtle rave atomospherics. We've been playing the heck out of these tracks in DJ sets and boy, was it hard to choose just one!

5. Sick Robot - Fused

Sick Robot arrives on Dragon Trax with this stunning epic of a tune that layers bright synth melodies over a driving and ever-shifting landscape. There's something really cinematic about Fused, I'm visualizing sci-fi action films listening to it.

6. DJ Soo - Roundabout

DJ Soo returns with another hardware production that just drips with class. Roundabout brings back those Tropika EP vibes in the hand claps, with a Space Disco feel and shimmering synth lines.

7. Sick Robot - Broken Glass (Dragon Trax)

Heavy and as yet unreleased Techstep drum & bass monster Broken Glass gets a Dragon Trax reshape. This edit builds from urgent beats and drops into an atmospheric second half reminiscent of vintage Metalheadz.

8. DJ Stav - Control

Veteran DJ Stav brings his solo production debut to the label, and it's an epic! A pulsing Techstep number with strong melody and fascinating levels of detail, Control embeds in the memory with its urgent flow and atmosphere.

9. Uphonix - Office Talk

Huge D&B hugeness from Uphonix on this label exclusive. Office Talk is an outright tearer, with one of the filthiest basslines we've ever heard, offset by gliding synths. Watch out for that final drop!

10. Fast Ghost - Jiangshi

Prepare sticky rice to keep this one at bay if you can't handle your Techno heavy, hypnotic and more than a little dark side... We're delighted to have Fast Ghost with us on this voyage - his acid techno has been delighting us for the last couple of years and dropping hard in DJ sets.

11. Louis Onetime - Vanta

Vanta is incredible - a deep 4am tribal techno stomp with layers of atmosphere and percussion. How it's been overlooked since getting an initial release a bit back beats me - it just had to be included!

12. AJ&JG - Novus II (Edward Spark Remix)

A Dragon Trax comp wouldn't be complete without a new and exclusive Sparky remix! Here he takes Novus II and recreates it as a sublime epic journey. Sparky's remix comes with a sparkling intro that blossoms into a highly danceable and lovely beat driven middle before a languid wind down.

13. Jackie Moonbather - Parallel (Bourbon Muncher Remix)

We finish with this dreamy, sensual and innovative hardware rework of Jackie Moonbather's crooning make-out tune. Bourbon Muncher aka Creola is gaining respect for his way with an MPC, blowing heads with semi-improvised sets that effortlessly combine four to the floor Acid Techno with breakbeats and ambience.