One of Dance music’s most prolific acts embarks on a new chapter of his career, abcked by an iconic brand.
Global Underground is bringing back its nubreed series after a lengthy hiatus, and the label has tapped San Francisco’s Spencer Brown to handle the honours. nubreed 13 arrives October 16, landing right in the middle of GU’s 30th anniversary year.
The mix comes as two distinct discs: one lighter, one darker, pulling together tracks that span three decades of dance music history alongside Brown’s own productions. As an avid follower of Spencer for almost ten years now, I can tell you that he knows a little about telling stories through music. And continuous mixes are his absolute best. To say I’m excited is an understatement.
Global Underground has spent the last 30+ years shaping how people listen to dance music, and this year has been particularly active for the label. Between sold-out tours, the Deep Dish GU49: Dublin release, and the upcoming THIRTY compilation, the imprint has kept a packed release calendar even three decades in. The nubreed series specifically has always served as a platform for rising talent, and Brown’s selection continues that thread.
Spencer isn’t new to the album format. All three of his LPs to date have consisted entirely of his own original productions, which makes this mix project something of a departure, a chance to place his music in conversation with the records that inspired him. Talking with him in our interview last year, he told us how he likes stories to be told as a full product through an album, and we bet much of that feeling will seamlessly translate into these two albums, even if it’s the first time he’s not compiling just his music.
Illusion of Perfection, Stream of Consciousness, Equanimity. Those all had a central theme that was getting pushed and pulled through, different vibes through each (…). So when I decide to start piecing [together an album], whenever that may be, I want the album as a whole to become obvious to me. How I do it is I just realize that track A and track B and track F and track G, for instance, they all have something similar, or that B sounds really good with G, and F sounds really good with H, and I’m like “Okay, well actually this one sounds amazing before those four tracks” and then it starts to piece together naturally, rather than forcing things together. That’s it to me, realizing the album has already been made, I just need to put the pieces together. That’s how they all came to be. I never sat down to make one, they just came together really.
-Spencer Brown, in our interview with him.
A nubreed world tour tied to the release is planned for late 2026 into early 2027, with dates and cities still to be confirmed.
nubreed 13 is available for pre-order now ahead of its October 16 release. We genuinely cannot wait.
