HERCULES AND LOVE AFFAIR RELEASES DANSEUR PT 2

THE SECOND EP COMPLETES THE FULL EIGHT-TRACK 
DANSEUR PROJECT

OUT NOW via STRATASONIC RECORDS

Hercules & Love Affair today releases Danseur PT 2 via Stratasonic Records, completing the full eight-track Danseur project. Led by Andy Butler, the second installment features Faris Badwan of The Horrors on “Pirouette” and “Heaven,” Hips & Lips on “Night on the Town,” and Albrecht Van Doornik on “Flip Flop.”

Danseur Tracklist:
1. My Journey (ft. Hips & Lips)
2. I Get High (ft. Hips & Lips)
3. The Eyes of Love (ft. Hips & Lips)
4. Boy (ft. Hips & Lips)
5. Pirouette (ft. Faris Badwan)
6. Heaven (ft. Faris Badwan)
7. Night on the Town (ft. Hips & Lips)
8. Flip Flop (ft. Albrecht Van Doornik)

Across Danseur, Butler draws from the clubs, artists, and figures that shaped queer nightlife on both sides of the Atlantic. The project channels the worlds of London’s Blitz and Taboo, while the PT 1 cover of Book of Love’s “Boy” pays tribute to New York’s BoyBar. On PT 2, “Night on the Town” looks further back, telling the story of two women living openly in the 1960s, and “Pirouette” closes the project in tribute to visionary producer SOPHIE and Butler’s longtime collaborator Aerea Negrot, who passed within months of one another.

The history informing the music also runs through the physical edition’s liner notes and imagery. Danseur is dedicated to Taboo resident DJ and acclaimed queer photographer and filmmaker Jeffrey Hinton, whose personal archive of late-’80s and early-’90s nightlife appears throughout the package. Images from spaces and scenes including Heaven and Alternative Miss World survive in part as scans of printed photographs, giving the collection the intimacy of a personal record from inside the culture.

Hinton and Princess Julia—one of the scene’s most vivid figures—each join Butler in Q&As about the queer underground’s relationship with electronic music, while Butler’s accompanying photography references portraits from the Blitz era. An additional Q&A with Pet Shop Boys considers how synthesizer music transformed nightlife and the culture around it. Together, these elements connect the record to the people who lived the history behind it, bringing their memories and images into dialogue with the present.

Like last year’s Someone Else Is Calling project, Danseur was created with Elín Ey of Hips & Lips and Quinn Whalley of Paranoid London, extending the chemistry the trio found through their shared love of acid house, disco, and darker electronic music. Badwan and Van Doornik expand that world on PT 2, helping carry the project from the club-facing immediacy of its first half toward its final, more reflective moments.

For nearly two decades, Hercules & Love Affair has used dance music to explore queer identity, intimacy, loss, and collective release. Danseur gathers those threads into one body of work: a record shaped not only by the mythology of formative nightlife institutions, but by the testimony and archives of the people who made them matter.

Hercules & Love Affair’s Danseur, both PT 1 and PT 2, are out now. 
 

Upcoming Hercules & Love Affair Tour Dates
September 12 — Town Center — Tournai, Belgium
September 18 — Looloo — Mexico City, Mexico
September 25 — Zig — São Paulo, Brazil
October 23 — Soho House Austin — Austin, TX
October 24 — Basement — New York, NY
October 29 — Jolene Sound Room — Miami, FL
October 31 — Palace of Fine Arts — San Francisco, CA
November 13 — Summa House — Brisbane, Australia
November 14 — Heaps Gay — Sydney, Australia
November 14 — The Night Cat — Melbourne, Australia
November 15 — Aviary — Perth, Australia
December 5 — E1 (LIVE) — London, UK
December 12 — OCZKI (LIVE) — Warsaw, Poland
December 14 — Sala Villanos (LIVE) — Madrid, Spain
December 15 — Sala Apolo (LIVE) — Barcelona, Spain
December 19 — Palais Mascotte Club (LIVE) — Zurich, Switzerland

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MATRODA RETURNS TO INSOMNIAC RECORDS WITH GROOVY HOUSE TRACK “I NEED YOUR LOVIN”

LA-based producer Matroda has just unveiled his latest tech house offering “I Need Your Lovin” on Insomniac Records. The release follows Matroda's 2025 label debut "Bullshit," which has pulled in more than 6.64 million streams to date.

 Known for approaching the modern house scene from every angle, Matroda channels his eclectic music taste and classical training in violin, drums, and keyboard into the "matrodasound," a catch-all sonic identity that funnels fresh ideas into both the DJ booth and the studio.

"I Need Your Lovin" builds warm, staccato piano chords and bleeping call-and-response into a discourse for brooding vocal hooks that yearn emphatically as tension brews. Weighty basslines, phaser synth flourishes, sustained string pads, and sharp drum shuffles carry the track's slow-burn intensity across the full runtime.

Matroda has been steamrolling through the festival circuit alongside his recently launched collaborative project After Midnight with San Pacho, with an upcoming set at ARC Music Festival. He's currently on the tail end of his Summer Tour, which has included stops at HARD Summer, Beyond Wonderland PNW, Sun Soaked, Shambhala, Das Energi, and Elements Festival, plus club dates at Club Space, LIV Beach Club, Wall Street Plaza, FWD Nightclub, Concourse Project, Cabana, Malkin Bowl, and Harrah's Pool, along with his "Matroda Day & Night NYC Marathon" at The Ruins at Knockdown Center.

CONNECT WITH MATRODA 

INSTAGRAM / X / TIKTOK / SPOTIFY /  SOUNDCLOUD / APPLE MUSIC

SIMINA GRIGORIU REMIXES DIANA MAY’S ‘ASS ASS ASS’ ON VOLUME BERLIN RECORDS

The Berlin-based techno artist and Kuukou Records founder delivers a driving rework that channels the energy of Diana May’s acid-fuelled original through her own distinctive techno aesthetic.

Berlin-based techno artist, DJ and Kuukou Records founder Simina Grigoriu returns with a new remix for Volume Berlin Records, putting her own stamp on Diana May’s ‘Ass Ass Ass’. A high-impact rework built for the dancefloor, Simina’s version takes the energy of the original and pushes it into a darker, more hypnotic territory, combining muscular rhythms, acid-tinged tension and a relentless sense of forward motion.

With more than 13 years behind her as a DJ and producer, Diana May has built a reputation for hard-hitting, acid-driven techno. Originally from Russia and now based in Germany, her career has seen releases and appearances connected with influential labels including Ellen Allien’s Bpitch Control, Diffuse Reality and Dr. Motte’s Rave the Planet Future Prints. Her background as a resident DJ at the legendary KitKat Club’s Electric Monday further reflects her deep connection to Berlin’s rawer, more uncompromising club culture.

For Simina, ‘Ass Ass Ass’ provides the perfect foundation for a remix that leans into her own instinct for groove, pressure and atmosphere. Her approach is less about adding unnecessary layers and more about refining the track’s core energy, creating a powerful rhythmic framework that allows the tension to build naturally across the arrangement.

The remix opens with a deep, driving pulse, as punchy percussion and a weighty low end establish an immediate sense of momentum. Elements gradually lock together, with hypnotic rhythmic patterns and subtle textural details creating an increasingly immersive groove. The result is stripped-back yet powerful, giving the track plenty of room to breathe while maintaining a constant sense of propulsion.

As the arrangement develops, Simina introduces sharper accents and additional layers of tension, pushing the energy forward without sacrificing the track’s hypnotic character. Vocal elements and atmospheric details move in and out of the groove, adding depth and contrast to the heavier rhythmic foundation. It’s a precise and physical production that reflects Simina’s ability to make techno that is both functional and richly textured.

The remix also highlights a key aspect of Simina Grigoriu’s production philosophy: finding the balance between raw club energy and musical detail. Across her work as an artist and label founder, she has consistently explored the space between hypnotic techno, powerful rhythms and subtle emotional touches. Here, that approach gives Diana May’s original a fresh perspective while preserving its uncompromising spirit.

From Berlin’s underground club culture to international dancefloors, Simina continues to carve out her own space within contemporary techno. Her latest remix for Volume Berlin Records is another focused statement from an artist who understands that sometimes the most effective tracks are the ones that simply lock you into the groove and refuse to let go.