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Phantoms bahnbrechendes Debütalbum „Handed to Execution“ von 2023 erscheint nun mit der Klangqualität, die es schon immer verdient hat. Unter der Leitung von Patrick W. Engel wurde es sorgfältig neu abgemischt und remastered, sodass diese definitive Edition den Speed/Thrash Metal der Mexikaner endlich in seiner ganzen knochenbrechenden Pracht präsentiert.
Mastermind, Sänger und Gitarrist J.C. erklärt: „Damals wussten wir noch nichts über Recording, wir haben es während der Arbeit an der Platte gelernt. Es war auch etwas unglücklich, da sich unser anderer Gitarrist Harel den Arm gebrochen hatte und ich schließlich das gesamte Album ohne Hilfe aufnehmen musste, während wir den Schlagzeuger wechselten. Es war eine Herausforderung, aber wir haben es geschafft.“
Was als ambitioniertes DIY-Projekt begann, wurde schnell zu „einem sehr beliebten Album, das uns Fans auf der ganzen Welt beschert hat“. Phantom wurden 2021 in der Underground-Szene von Guadalajara gegründet und etablierte sich mit drei Demos und einer Vierer-Split-LP, bevor sie „Handed to Execution“ herausbrachten.
High Roller Records freuen sich nun, diese unverzichtbare Neuauflage zu veröffentlichen, die die minderwertigen früheren Pressungen vergessen macht, die J.C. als „ziemlich chaotisch“ beschreibt. Jeder donnernde Drum-Schlag und jedes messerscharfe Riff ist nun perfekt ausbalanciert, um maximale Wirkung zu erzielen.

Clint Mansell's original score for Love Lies Bleeding and selected songs from the film, pressed on black vinyl. Featuring an original painting by Amanda Ba.

"Ethio Jazz" is an album released by the Ethiopian master musician Mulatu Astatke in 1974 on his homeland Ethiopia's Amha Records.
It stands as a milestone not only in his career but also in the history of contemporary Ethiopian music, continuing to shine brightly.
With melancholic melodies played by wind instruments, a polyrhythmic rhythm section creating robust waves, sultry vibes from the vibraphone, and smoky
organ tones, the album is enveloped in the sounds of jazz inherited from the States. This work, where various musical elements are miraculously fused in
perfect balance, undoubtedly reigns at the pinnacle of Ethio Jazz, showcasing Mulatu's ambitious creativity in seeking out new sounds.

★Japanese obi-strip
★Limited colored vinyl

The return of Mulatu to Ethiopia after studying jazz in the West sparked a new wave in the country’s music scene—Ethio-jazz.
This ambitious compilation album gathers modern Ethiopian sounds from 1969 to 1972, aiming to widely introduce what must have been a highly innovative
sound for its time.

In fact, the majority of the tracks featured on this compilation are either credited to Mulatu himself or arranged by him. In that sense, it’s no exaggeration to
call this a “Mulatu album” in essence. The result is a truly one-of-a-kind sound born from the fusion of Afro-indigenous Ethiopian rhythms and the Latin jazz
influences Mulatu absorbed during his time in the United States. The exotic, rustic flavor and smoky blackness that emerge from this blend defy description.
P-VINE is proud to release this historic work for the first time on colored vinyl.

Tin Fingers takes on a darker, melancholic direction on their second full album. Felix Machtelinckx' weeping vocals, preaching, searching, and trying to understand God, form the leitmotif. With rich melodies, haunting piano sounds, improvisations, first takes and no overdubs, Tin Fingers is searching for pureness and keeping things human and simple. The band is playing together intuitively, without a computer, without ego, just for the sake of music

The creation of the album was very fluent and spontaneous. Singer Felix wrote the backbones of the songs and the lyrics on acoustic guitar and piano. He wanted to have songs ready in order to be able to record and write arrangements fast. With an eye for details but without overthinking, keeping the ideas fresh. 'I wanted to stay in love with the music.' he explains. 'It needed to go fast, very fast, in just two weeks the entire album was recorded and ready to be mixed.'

In the studio, the band especially focused on picking the right mood rather than playing the right notes.

They were fed up with working on a computer for many hours, overthinking production choices, and adding instruments on top of each other as if they were Lego blocks. This time they decided to work in a more traditional way, going for first takes, jams, and essentially working with analog gear. No computers, no screens, no distractions. Only four humans in a studio trying to make a sound together by keeping things spontaneous and raw. They said goodbye to perfection and worked towards an unfinished product, a snapshot.

Tin Fingers also didn't want to sound like any other artist on this record. They decided not to listen to music during the sessions, and to never express ideas by referencing other bands. Just before the studio session, however, bass player Simen Wouters broke the rules and shared Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's, I See Darkness. Its dark and searching sound ended up inspiring the band unmistakably.

Once the recording was finished, the band decided to keep the volatile rhythm going and asked reputable NYC-based mixer and producer D. James Goodwin to finish the job. Goodwin, known for his analog folk productions with a real American punchy sound but a tender touch, proved the right man for the job. He opened up the songs and kept things poetic, minimal but impressive.

When João released “Quem é Quem” in 1973, he had already been in the music industry for over 20 years, gaining national and international recognition. Nevertheless, the album marked the beginning of a new phase in his career: the surprising multi-instrumentalist included lyrics in his songs for the first time. It is one of his most important albums, which now returns to shelves on 180-gram vinyl as part of the “Classics on Vinyl” collection from Polysom.

The album was produced by Milton Miranda and Marcos Valle, with arrangements by João Donato, Maestro Gaya, Lan Guest, Laércio de Freitas, and Dory Caymmi. It features 12 tracks, the vast majority of which are authored by him, with collaborators such as Geraldo Carneiro, Lysias Ênio, Paulo Cesar Pinheiro, Caetano Veloso, and João Carlos Pádua. The only exception is the song “Cala Boca Menino” by Dorival Caymmi.

Leila Gamal’s ‘Abaleeh Abalingi’

At the height of Pan-Arabism, when the United Arab Republic fused Egypt and Syria in a fleeting but bold experiment, a new wave of popular music was emerging—vibrant, infectious, and universally danceable. Among its lesser-known stars was actress Leila Gamal, whose voice—delicate yet rich with longing—embodied the golden era of Egyptian cinema. Born in Alexandria to Syrian roots, Gamal’s vocals were a magnetic blend of sweetness and passion, with a timeless allure that echoed the silver-screen sweethearts of her time.

Abaleeh Abalingi pulses with the hypnotic drive of funky organ riffs, reminiscent of the blind visionary Ammar El Sheriyi, creating a sound both cinematic and undeniably catchy. The delicate lyrics by Khairi Fouad place the track firmly in the lineage of the Middle East’s most iconic pop divas, from Angham to Nawal El-Zoughbi who he subsequently wrote for. This reissue, lovingly remastered, brings this long-lost gem back to life, where it belongs—spinning on turntables, teasing dance floors, and transporting listeners to Egypt in the late sixties.


Adel Osman’s “Oriental Eyes”

Oriental Eyes captures the essence of the 60s Egyptian Franco-Arab movement, blending Western (often jazz) influences with Arabic melodies to mesh mystique with sensuality. Osman’s commanding yet delicate vocals deliver the bilingual lyrics with captivating sincerity, his voice effortlessly gliding over the swells of the arrangement. The trumpet, possibly connecting him to Zaki Osman of Salah Ragab’s legendary Cairo Jazz Band, adds a layer of flair, enriching the track’s Tarantino-esque eclecticism. Now remastered, ‘Oriental Eyes’ is not only a nostalgic gem but a timeless reminder of the boundary-defying spirit that defined the 1960s musical landscape.

Given the ongoing war efforts against Israel, this record wasn’t pressed by Sono Cairo till much later in 1975 once Egypt had recaptured the Sinai and restored national pride. Sono Cairo (Sawt el-Qahira) was the first Arab-owned and by far the largest record label in the Middle East, amassing an unmatched catalogue of music. With exclusive rights over much of Umm Kulthum’s works, Sono Cairo played a crucial role in disseminating the sounds of Arab Nationalism and projecting Egypt’s soft power across the region.

Muhammad Al-Najjar
London, April 2025

credits
Audio restoration and vinyl mastering: Colin Young
Lacquer cut: Timmion cutting lab
Sleeve and label artwork: Grotezk Studio
Under License of Sono Cairo

In the final month of 2024, Meitei arrived in Beppu, a city long steeped in vapor, myth, and mineral memory. Invited to create onsen ambient music commemorating Beppu’s 100th anniversary, he immersed himself in the city’s geothermal psychogeography, where sound rises from the ground and time clings to mist.

Known for his Lost Japan (Shitsu-nihon) works, which channel forgotten eras into flickering auditory relics, Meitei took residence in the warehouse of Yamada Bessou, a century-old inn perched by the bay. Over two weeks, he listened intently to steam, to stone, to the atmosphere itself. The resulting work, Sen’nyū, traces the inner spirit of onsen culture. Like water finding its path, the music emerged with quiet inevitability, shaped by Meitei’s synesthetic sensibility and deep attunement to place.

Equipped with a microphone, he wandered Beppu’s sacred sites: Takegawara Onsen, Bouzu Jigoku, Hebin-yu, and the private baths of Yamada Bessou. There, he captured the breath of the springs, bubbling mud, hissing vents, wind against bamboo, and the murmurs of daily visitors. These field recordings became the sonic bedrock of Sen’nyū, an act of deep listening that attempts to render even the rising mist and shifting heat into sound.

Unfolding as a single, continuous piece, Sen’nyū drifts like fog through sulfur and stone. It traverses the veiled madness of Bouzu Jigoku, the spectral resonance of Yamada Bessou’s inner bath, and the hushed voices of Takegawara Onsen. It is a gesture of quiet reverence, for water’s patience, the land’s memory, and the hands that have bathed here for generations.

Where Meitei’s earlier works conveyed his personal impression of a fading Japan, Sen’nyū is grounded in tactile presence, music not imagined but encountered. Here, his practice moves closer to the spirit of kankyō ongaku, environmental music born from place, shaped by it, and inseparable from it.

As part of the project, Meitei conceived a two-day public sound installation inside Takegawara Onsen, culminating in a live performance. Bathers soaked in mineral-rich waters while submerged in sound, an embodied ritual of place, body, and listening.

Sen’nyū marks Meitei’s first full-length work centered entirely on onsen and opens a new chapter of his Lost Japan project under the expanded title 失日本百景 (One Hundred Lost Views of Japan), a series exploring extant sites of longing still quietly breathing within contemporary life. The album will be accompanied by Meitei’s first photo book, a visual document of his time in Beppu. A new layer is added to the world he has, until now, built only through sound.

Sen’nyū continues Meitei’s devotion to Japan as subject, while opening new terrain: both ritual and remembrance, an immersion into the mineral soul of Beppu.

Three sanguine slices of dub techno from Glasgow-based wunder Conna Haraway. And featuring XENIA REAPER providing vibes and synths on the lush long elevation "Redirect" that sits on the record’s A side.

Shifted follows on from Spatial Fix; Conna’s first solo 12” in March ’25 that released on Theory Therapy. Where that EP was a dense and rich web of texture and atmosphere across the two long sides, this one focuses in on forms of propulsion and a patient, silvery endlessness.

A side track "Redirect" was cut from a longer Sunday night session with XENIA REAPER. Two laptops Ableton linked, chilling in the flat in Glasgow. The amazing synth line is all XENIA, everything else is Conna; looping the synth & bass for about an hour and bringing other elements in and out. The final tune is gorgeous, floating in the blissful ether before the sub and pulse kicks through. Eleven and a half minutes of enveloping pressure, refreshment and delight.

"Detach" and "Duration" both turn to a rediscovered love for 4x4 techno and an experiment in a more classic and subtle sound from the perspective of a producer who might be expected to take bigger emotive and experimental swings that follow the patterns of contemporary ambient and bass. The result is beautiful and delicate vectors of music, satisfyingly easy to slide into a set. Swung techno filled with detail and poise. Tunes that can scale and transform and sit in a sort of home listening club track zone. After hours nrg.

This is the 11th vinyl release of the label! Iner has gathered some of the best Russian artists in their genre. The record will be yellow.