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Eoin Murray
28 February 2023, 11:00

Premiere: Noroi ‘Chrysalis (feat. Tokyo Witch)’

Rua Sound launches its Spheres sub-label for darker, moodier strains of sounds across the hardcore continuum

Black and white press shot of Noroi with a blurred effect on his face

Rua Sound is launching a new sub-label, Spheres, with an EP by Noroi. Listen to ‘Chrysalis (feat. Tokyo Witch)’ now. 

Launched with the express purpose of exploring darker strains of music across the hardcore continuum – from shadowy dubstep and techno to jungle, breaks and 2-step – the imprint will provide an outpost for deeper sounds in the jungle/drum & bass label’s orbit. Rome-based producer Noroi sets the tone with ‘Adrastea’. The four-tracker is the first in a series of releases on the label that will be named after one of Jupiter’s moons, and feature original artwork by Yorobi (Josje Bijl) inspired by Galileo’s sketches of them.

‘Stay’, ‘Chrysalis’ and ‘Transoceanic Terrorists’ crack like thunder through a thick fog; their breakbeat techno beats, glimmering melodies, echoing vocals and thick bass throbs will delight fans of Skee Mask and the Ilian Tape crew.  Breakbeats sprint, leap and spin with martial art-like agility on ‘Untitled Jungle’, swerving through mysterious melodic chimes and deceptively sweet vocals from VSC. 

Speaking about the label’s launch, label founder Rob Rua said: “We get sent a lot of music which we really love but unfortunately doesn’t fit on the Rua Sound or Foxy Jangle labels, which is always a shame when it happens but you can’t put out everything. In 2021 though, when lockdown was really dragging on and there’d be no parties for the longest time, these kind of darker, moodier tracks were resonating a lot more with me, so we created a platform for getting some of them out. Then with vinyl plant queues being long, we’re just emerging from that now. 

So yeah, I think all of these tracks were made during lockdown and Josje did an amazing job aligning the releases visually with all of that – the releases are dark and there are elements of despair in there, but also hope, joy and release. I’m really excited for people to see and hear them”.

‘Adrastea’ will be released on 10th March. Pre-order it here