Ransom Note

Ransom Note
  • 5.0 (4)
  • MUSIC
  • UPDATED SEMIWEEKLY

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.

  1. Giorgi Pipia: The 'Shine A Light On' Mix

    3D AGO

    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, he is a resident at the community-driven club Left Bank and a regular radio host on Rinse FM France, where he showcases his wide-ranging musical taste and experimental approach to DJing. Known for his curiosity and open-minded approach to sound, Giorgi Pipia builds sets that draw inspiration from multiple cultures and genres. His selections often move fluidly between techno, electro, breakbeat, and experimental electronic music, while incorporating rhythms and textures from diverse global scenes. This cross-cultural approach has become a defining element of his style, allowing him to craft sets that feel both exploratory and cohesive. We invited him to the series and the result is a long playing mix which demonstrates a deep understanding of flow.

    1h 31m
  2. PREMIERE: SSRI – Omnicallora [Elbow Grease/DX3]

    5D AGO

    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 XXX crew. SSRI – the Sound & Spirit Research Institute, a studio brainchild born from the meeting of DJ Dex aka Nomadico of Underground Resistance, Kosmik of The Black Lodge, and Dave Aju repping Elbow Grease. Three heads, one singular vision. “Omnicallora” came to life the way the best things do – organically, hardware in hand, passed around in round-robin fashion with the Suzuki Omnichord at the centre of it all. The legendary instrument’s Italo-leaning character bleeds through every bar, complete with robo-vocoder flexings, waxing lyrical about pre- and post-fader feedback, before Aju took it home to Point Winona to mix and shape it into its final form. The result is a West Coast tech stomp that wears its Italo influences with pride – undeniably fun, undeniably them. The track lands as part of Point Winona Sound Library Vol 1, the 20-track joint venture between Elbow Grease and DISCOS XXX aka DX3, gathering some of LA’s finest under one roof at the Los Feliz hilltop palace itself. Curated by the legend that is Tavish and Dave Aju, it’s a geographic statement – warehouse-wrecking and rooted-futurist in equal measure. Point Winona Sound Library Vol 1 drops March 6. Pre-order over at Bandcamp.

    6 min
  3. Joshua Idehen's 'Music To Make Joy `To' Ransom Note Mix

    5D AGO

    Joshua Idehen's 'Music To Make Joy `To' Ransom Note Mix

    Music that makes you feel deeply human… There’s a version of events where Joshua Idehen is still behind a bar in the West End, coming home late, flicking through channels. But then came Dizzee Rascal on Channel U – that first-person rant, that stream of consciousness pouring into the void – and something locked into place. Nearly two decades later, the British-born Nigerian poet and spoken-word artist, now based in Stockholm, has signed to Heavenly Recordings and released one of the more quietly essential debut albums of 2026. I Know You’re Hurting, Everyone Is Hurting, Everyone Is Trying, You Have Got To Try is out now. Made with his long-term creative partner Ludvig Parment (Saturday, Monday), it’s the full realisation of something that’s been building since the pair’s 2023 mixtape Learn to Swim — a record that holds you through it all: grief, euphoria, fatherhood, friendship, the liturgic pull of a club at the right moment. House beats, choral swells, Shabaka Hutchings on flute, a choir singing a melody Idehen himself composed. The kind of album that makes you want to wave your arms in the air and then call your mum. The ride here wasn’t quiet. ‘Mum Does The Washing’ began life as a Twitter thread, set to Parment’s spacious beats, went viral, earned Idehen support from Jamz Supernova, Huw Stephens and Robbie Williams (yes, really), packed out Glastonbury and Green Man, and landed him a spot on Later… with Jools Holland. Sold-out Jazz Café dates followed. A headline European and UK tour runs through spring, culminating at KOKO in London on 23rd April. To mark the album, Joshua and Ludvig have put together this mix of music to bring joy. Not one shade of it either. There’s unbridled joy (Peter, Björn & John, a Kanye recommendation from a different time), celebratory joy (“a today I don’t have to fight kind of joy,” as Ludvig puts it, via Primal Scream), defiant joy (Kendrick, for the days you will have to fight, but you’ll pull through). Soul II Soul shows up to preach and repeat. James Brown is just kind of everything. Caribou injects the dance floor with melancholy and joy at the same time, which is basically the whole project in a nutshell. And somewhere near the end, a Mesadorm song that made Joshua cry on first listen, second listen, third listen. Music that makes you feel deeply human, as you’ve never felt before. Over to them. https://www.theransomnote.com/music/mixes/joshua-idehens-music-to-make-joy-to-ransom-note-mix/

    34 min
  4. PREMIERE: Le Carousel - The Good One

    FEB 26

    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 via Phil Kieran Recordings, and it arrives fully formed: part shoegaze-inflected electronics, part Kosmische drift, part dancefloor catharsis – a record that feels like it was built for sweaty rooms and wistful 4am journeys home in equal measure. ‘The Good One’ sits near the top of that journey, all sparkling synths, gauzy vocals and hypnotic languid beats – the kind of track that calls to mind Andrew Weatherall at his most blissed-out, coaxing Primal Scream into something simultaneously weightless and urgent. It’s radio-friendly in the best possible sense: a pop song with depth behind its eyes. https://www.theransomnote.com/music/premieres/premiere-le-carousel-the-good-one/

    5 min
  5. Sarcus Soundsystem: The 'Shine A Light On' Mix

    FEB 25

    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 attention through noise, care and curiosity. A genuine investment in the spaces they use and the people who fill them. As a collective, their extended sets are built on patience and a restless instinct. Fast-moving rhythms colliding with strange, slippery melodies that work their way into your head before your feet have even caught up. This is a dancefloor with a mind of its own. Follow it somewhere. https://www.theransomnote.com/music/mixes/sarcus-soundsystem-the-shine-a-light-on-mix

    2h 55m
  6. PREMIERE: Strange Fruit – Monopolar (Hardway Bros Remix) [Gentle Tuesday Recordings]

    FEB 25

    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 upon Wednesday and dance through the night!” The Hardway Bros heard it and let out a shout: “We’ll remix your polarness inside and about! We’ll chug through the shoegaze and acid the house, Till the SSL dubs frighten even the mouse!” So the Fruit and the Bros on a Gentle Tuesday Went sailing on Monopolar waves far away, With a Pouvoi Moteur and a Tom Furse dub too, And they dripped and they gleamed in iridescent blue. “O Fruit!” said the Bros, “O remarkable thing! You are dreamy and poppy and you know how to sing! You are krautrock and electronica, strange as can be, And we’ll live on the SSL for ever,” said he. Jakarta’s Strange Fruit occupy an unusual space: a band whose shoegaze-inflected live sound sits in a completely different world from the underground electronic circuits their members move through as producers and DJs. It’s that dual existence that makes the remix package around their forthcoming Drips EP so compelling – dispatches from a shared musical universe. For the Monopolar remix, Sean Johnston, under his Hardway Bros moniker, does what he very much does best: find the load-bearing elements of a track and build something new around them. Where the original carries its kosmische momentum intact, this version leans into the slowed-down throb, peeling back the layers and letting the groove do the work. Drips arrives via Gentle Tuesday Recordings soon. With remixes still to come from Tom Furse among others, Strange Fruit are making a quietly persuasive case for themselves as one of the more interesting propositions to emerge from Jakarta’s electronic underground. Listen below:

    6 min
  7. Ana K Miller: The ‘Shine A Light On’ Mix

    FEB 18

    Ana K Miller: The ‘Shine A Light On’ Mix

    A cosmic transmission from Manchester-based musician and artist Ana K Miller, just shy of 2 and a half hours, weaving together psychedelia, acid, kraut, dub and techno. Full interview here: https://www.theransomnote.com/music/mixes/ana-k-miller-shine-a-light-on-mix/ Tracklist: Nathan Dawidowicz - Deep Fluff (feat. Leo Börger) Sula Bassana & The Nasoni Pop Art Experimental Band - Emmerting Spring 銀色の波 - Whispers Of Chikurin Nidiot – World of Nids Jimi Tenor Band - Shine All Night (feat. Florence Adooni) TINA – Vacation Minami Deutsch - Can't Get There (Jamie Paton Remix) Teledubgnosis – Echolocation Hawkwind - Electric Tepee Kris Baha - You Told Yourself This Would Get Worse Anatolian Weapons - Process (Original) Coil - Protection III Maart – Noma Sinusoidal – Half Closed Eyes Sula Bassana – Stella Star U-Ziq – Melancho Mr TC & Lo Kindre – The Waving Bridge The Soft Moon – Black Davy Kehoe – The Pilot (Part 1) Mr TC – Zeuglodon Pancho Piedra – Servio Dr. Strange - Tripode de Diode (Pt1 & Pt2) Blurred Boy - No Time For Tears Moody Boyz - Destination Africa (Electric Forest Version) Khidja - Never Seen The Dunes Identified Patient & Sophie du Palais - Peaceful Panic Autumns - Cruising (Black Bones & Autumns) Cabaret Nocturne - Voodoo Spunk (Original Mix) KOB 101 - Beat Depressed Zaliva-D - Long Journey O Yuki Conjugate - The Chasmic Abdulla Rashim - Path Inwards Azu Tiwaline - Ethereal Tribes Hawkwind - Death of War Black Merlin - Stalky Tarkovsky Von Grall - Vanquish the Disparities Acronym - River Red Gum Azu Tiwaline & Al Wootton - Nine Points Tres Demented - Demented (Or Just Crazy) (Original Version) Tres Demented – Brainfreeze (Carl Craig 'Sessions' Mix) Death in Vegas – Arise Dalo – Woodpecker Von Deyen / Schütz - Valley Of The Monsters

    2h 24m
  8. Seeds Mix #9: Hamie Jouse's mixtape for benevolent collusion Kodama

    FEB 16

    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 DIY music spaces from Old Red Bus Station to Resonance, House found himself at last year’s Watching Trees festival doing something beautifully meta: filming daytime trees to project back onto their evening counterparts through a cascade of prisms. The “arty b******t” behind it, as he puts it, was about bridging gaps of time and space and memory – creating past tense ghosts of daylight. But really, “it just looked pretty, and the trees and sun had it all covered.” Whilst setting up his spectral light show on the Bush of Ghosts stage, Tia and Wil (that’s us) caught wind of the music he was playing. What unfolded in those early morning hours was something special – patient, ambient-soundscapes with a deep understanding of the fractal nature of the forest, where every process is made up of countless sub-processes doing their best impression of one solid bit. This mix captures that philosophy; energised yet gently held, pulsing yet ambient. Mirroring both the slow, steady rhythm of plant growth and the constant, quick reactions within the cells. There are rarely right angles in the forest, just lots of individual leaves doing their thing- a benevolent collusion with the kodama, those forest sprites that House channelled through his psychogeographic, hauntological light work. From the Rhubarb Triangle of West Yorkshire, where he dabbles in ambient matters with his long time friend Aaron during hazy Sunday afternoon straggler zones, overlooking different vistas, House has created something that feels like plugging into the mainframe with beings deep in the woods, under a very full moon. Always bring a memory stick, indeed. Interview here: https://www.theransomnote.com/music/mixes/hamie-jouses-mixtape-for-benevolent-collusion-kodama/ Tracklist - Ironic Hill - Chorus Kuzich - Morning Sun John Haycock ft Rob Dunford - Dapple Shade Palta - Tabt optagelse ssssoftpatch - Bowling for Loops Agron - Should I feel bad for doing This Wizold Sage - Comfort Heater Christian Kleine - Beyond Repair (Version) Golden Bug & In Fields - Blind Ex-Terrestrial - Everybody Dreams Takao - Bird Ensemble David Versace - Heart to Heart Barker - Fluid Mechanics Shhhhh - Pond Natter 420 aka Galcher Lustwerk - Untitled 6 Motoko & Myers - Plover Zammuto - It Can Feel So Good @hamie_23

    1h 1m
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

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.

Information

  • Creator
    Ransom Note
  • Years Active
    2014 - 2026
  • Episodes
    500
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved
  • Show Website
    Ransom Note

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