comfortnoise is dedicated to leftfield bass and dub research:
inspired by techno, bass music, foundation dubstep, garage, grime, roots reggae, digital dub, steppers, and dancehall.
founded in 2003 and operated by new.com – a producer, dj, promoter, writer, and club/label operator based in zurich, switzerland.
comfortnoise is a genre overlapping label for bass-heavy, dubwise, and sound system proof electronic music:
com01 comfortnoise ploy – three strands (vinyl & digital; 2020)
com02 new.com – the unity is submarine (vinyl & digital; 2020)
com03 new.com – powder blue (vinyl & digital; 2021)
com04 comfortnoise ploy – dawn / imago (cassette & digital; 2021)
com05 new.com – cloud atlas (vinyl & digital; 2022)
com06 new.com – imagine the truth (vinyl & digital; 2022)
com07 new.com – skid row (vinyl & digital; 2023)
com08 new.com – riddleyspeak (digital; 2024)
com09 new.com – u-1 flight (digital; 2025)
com10 new.com – mandarax – (digital; release in autumn 2025)
further releases:
– chomolungma by comfortnoise ploy (cassette & digital; 2021)
– institut II feat. new.com by triton (digital; 2024)
>>> label feature on international orange (2023)
>>> why we esteem vinyl (basslines column #3; 2015)
>>> comfortnoise on discogs
comfortnoise podcast is an occasionally hosted series by new.com and guest djs on soundcloud. each episode delivers a focused blend within a specific style or genre – forming a series of one-hour tracks that can be strung together in the signature comfortnoise sound.
>>> see comfortnoise podcast for the catalogue
new.com (comfortnoise) is a swiss producer and dj. his releases explore modern bass and dub sounds designed for sound systems. in his dj sets, he showcases forward-thinking dubwise electronic music spanning techno, bass music, foundation dubstep, garage, grime, roots reggae, steppers, and dancehall.
basslines explores sound and culture, mind and affectivity, through discussions of texts and books that resonate with this blog’s core focus: advanced dubwise electronic music. originally published as a regular column in the bilingual (e/ger) zweikommasieben magazin, it is written by marius ‘comfortnoise’ neukom (a.k.a. new.com).
>>> see all issues of basslines column
>>> move directly to the essential, annotated dub library
comfortnoise clubnight is a label for cutting-edge club events featuring advanced dubwise electronic music.
>>> see comfortnoise clubnight for details
comfortnoise ploy plays out what comfortnoise passionately pursues: bass, drum & time. echo, reverb & space. loops, patterns & decoration. 7″, 10″ & 12″. strength, warmth & muddiness. berlin, kingston & the marquesas. prince jammy, king tubby & queen pomaré. ishmael, queequeg & ahab. kea, etua & matahoata.
>>> see comfortnoise ploy for details
dubexmachina was an event label for foundation dubstep from 2007-2018, run by new.com & guyus at various locations.
>>> see dubexmachina for the history of this one
comfort noise is artificial background hiss and crackle used in radio and wireless communication in order to fill the silent time in a transmission. because silence is disconcerting for most people, listeners in telecommunication prefer a low level noise to dead silence. the sounds that are heard when there are no voices on the line are often overlooked, yet important contributors to the perceived call quality.
similarly, comfort noise in electronic music is used to fill the space between the drums and the basses. it is a background noise that often stays unobserved, although it is indispensable to evoke a characteristic mood. it desings a carpet that holds the listener unfailing in a fuzzy, warm, cosy and relaxed feeling. prototypical use of this effect occurs in the m-series, from four to seven.