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First Word Records are extremely proud to welcome aboard Allysha Joy and her first EP

for the label, 'Light It Again'.

Well versed in poetry and performance, Allysha Joy's potent lyricism, unique musicianship and killer vocals have garnered legions of attentive fans the world over. She's an integral member of the Melbourne soul jazz scene, known as part of the acclaimed 30/70 Collective and for her own equally revered solo work.

'Light It Again' is a 4-part expedition across a variety of grooves and deep lyricism that marks a defiant statement of intimacy and hope. Produced and engineered by twice Grammy nominated artist Clever Austin, the EP features accompaniment from an all-star set of Melbourne artists; Horatio Luna, Ziggy Zeitgeist, Danika Smith and Josh Kelly. This EP marks a new sound for the young artist, transmitting her honest and raw expression through the signature crunch and sonic landscape of Clever Austin.

Allysha is already well established across Europe, performing on the live circuit alongside the likes of Sampa the Great, Matthew Halsall, Ezra Collective, Bradley Zero and Children of Zeus, as well as currently hosting two regular radio shows, on Worldwide FM and Reform Radio in Manchester respectively.

Her 2018 debut album 'Acadie : Raw' on Gondwana Records won 'Best Soul Album' at the Music Victoria Awards, was nominated for a Worldwide Award, and featured in many an end-of-year list, including Bandcamp's Top Soul Albums, whilst she's also featured on releases on UK labels such as Rhythm Section, Total Refreshment Centre and now an EP for First Word, 'Light It Again'.

The EP touches on love, shame, mental health, grief & spirituality. 'Watercolours' sets off on a mid-tempo neo-soul jazz tip. Allysha says "I wrote this in the hope that maybe we could all feel the beauty that is present in the every day - in nature, in art, in each one of us mirroring each other so intrinsically. Then maybe we'd all start to live out a message of love."

'Better' follows on an uptempo vibe influenced musically by The Senegambian Jazz Band, who Allysha would watch regularly at Bar Oussou in Melbourne. Lyrically the song explores the external and internal struggles that occur trying to create a more inclusive and compassionate world. "It's about catching myself pointing the finger outwards to challenge social / political systems and certain individuals, then coming to the realisation that I must turn that finger back on myself to ask, "how can I do better, how can I know better?"

Lead track 'Light It Again' begins with Allysha's keys gliding a steppa-like rhythm - head-snap snares and punchy bass accompany ethereal harmonies and delicate vibes on an ever-evolving groove before switching entirely mid-track. This time the subject matter is mental health and "the cycle of addiction and pain, the coping mechanisms that hold us back from reaching our true potential".

The EP closes out with the beautiful 'Mardi'; deep Rhodes, sax and synths build ahead of deliciously slushy percussion and jilted drums. Named for her grandmother, 'Mardi' is a tribute to the spiritual connection they shared before her passing. Allysha writes, "it's about the connective forces of the matriarchal lineage and the drive to step into my own sense of self, in all the beauty and pain which that entails".

Allysha's lyrics weave together a heartfelt mix of love, power, desire, wonder, anger, faith and hope for change. An artist that presents a palette of intricate grace and optimism, whilst unafraid of adding uncomfortable truths. Allysha is an incredibly powerful live performer; her husky vocals sonically synced with her formidable Fender Rhodes playing, whilst her influences are a solid base of jazz, hip hop and R&B; all glazed with the unique special sauce the Melbourne soul scene has become known for globally. A gloriously meditative, raw soul, we are delighted to be able to share her music with you.

'Light It Again' is released on vinyl & digital worldwide, November 20th 2020.

Type “Was Joan of Arc” into Google and the suggested endings for this statement give you an accurate gauge of her place in pop culture: “Catholic” / “a nun” / “canonised” / “a prophet” / “French” / “a witch” and so on. Related questions to “What were Joan of Arc’s last words” on the info-sharing site Quora include “Was Joan of Arc bisexual” and “Was Joan of Arc simply crazy?” Everyone seems to agree this person was burned at the stake in 1431, but beyond that, Joan’s narrative is an enigma. It is this lack of definition that the production duo Pillow Queen harnessed for their second release, Burn Me Up. Inverting the image of the devout Christian girl, the Joan who stands as this record’s heroine was a heretic, a transvestite, most definitely a dyke and a hot femme-top at that.

Opening up the A-side, the title track is a call— a battle cry, but also a summoning. In a time of need one calls upon their patrons and elders from history; a DJ beckons and gathers dancers to the floor; prayer and sweat go hand and hand. A traditional Irish bodhrán drum beats out the first rhythms, joined by a steamy vocal sample that gets caught, chopped, and soon “Burns Me Up” is pumping along with organ chords and distorted keys. Pivoting away from the 4/4 format, “Submission” is a textured, downtempo slow-burner, with close-mic’d vocals from Vani-T and the D. Tiffany’s deft drum programming. When the choral pads come in, there’s an echo of the 1990s German worldbeat project Enigma, with its Gregorian chants and flutes laid on top of lounge beats—here, though, the chorus is stripped of kitsch, only driving the track deeper into a mood.

If Burn Me Up’s sequence of tracks is read as a kind of narrative, they seem to tell the story of Joan’s last moments. “Burn Me Up” is, frankly, heat—aggressive, the high-end crackles and the bass puts a pyre under one’s feet. “Submission” is like an exhale, a giving-in to death’s grip; there is, along with the sensuous tread, a melancholy. It only makes sense that one flips the record to “Resurrection”, which rolls in a tremolo’d wail of pitched vocals for 30 seconds before a kick drum begins the 141-BPM march. The percussion is central here, as the track shifts between polyrhythms like a range of resuscitations, varied heartbeats. “Salvation” closes the record, again dialling back the tempo to the deep nod of dub. To no surprise, the scene of redemption here is not one of sunlit cherubs—the church bell sample tolls one strike every few measures of bass-throb and shadow, while Vani-T intones, “Then he lay down and died”. Death can be salvation to some; living as many selves, living in contradiction, is a saving grace to many more.

I’m breaking out of the basement – the basement of the freedom to be tied and the relationship of ropes to tie. There is something in the gross energy, in the autonomous rhythm that sustains this labor, that almost makes you close your eyes. Strip the costume of barren perception designed by contemporary civilizations”.

A MUST HAVE RECORD for all fans of REGIS Downwards, Birmingham Techno…

A lucid dream meeting of synth waves, aquatic jazz spirits and drum-triggered electronics.'Linha D'Água'translates as 'water lines', fitting for an album that traces boundaries between water and air through an echo chamber of dizzying oceanic layers and free flowing ideas.

This is not a record based on genres. It's an album that navigates through atmospheres, through explorations and discoveries, through curiosity and dialogue. The eight tracks were recorded in a single day in the studio, but it is the result of more than two years of collaborations.

Mauricio Takara and Carla Boregas are two towering figures of the Brazilian underground/experimental scene, where they provide the rhythm section for demented genre-bending trio Rakta. While that band is all ritual percussion and red-blooded passion, as a duo they're a blue-water flowing counterpoint. From the drums, Takara fires melodies and, with the synthesizer, Carla sculpts the sound. The result iscaught somewhere between abstract improvisation and propulsive rhythm. Each song's an organic layering of manipulated synthesizers and acoustic sounds; teasing new rhythms from the drum kit via MIDI (and a near-telekinetic bond between Carla and Mauricio).

Sometimes'Linha D'Água'driftsclosest to ambient music, as in the title track, in 'Mãe D'Ouro' and 'Bocca Chiusa'; sometimes it runs into free jazz, as in 'Traçado Entre Duas Linhas'. There are moments when Carla and Mauricio explore a universe of tension that comes closest to the cosmic music of 70s Germany, as in 'Rosa de Areia' and 'Constante de Distância'; in others they evoke the metallic sounds of Indonesian gamelan (on 'Execution').

Carla Boregas is a founding member of the band Rakta, which started in 2011. She co-founded Auta, a DIY space dedicated to adventurous music in São Paulo hosting artists like Feminine Hi-Fi and Deafkids. She is also part of the transdisciplinary duo Fronte Violeta.

Mauricio Takara also plays drums/percussion with the bands Hurtmold and São Paulo Underground (with trumpeter Rob Mazurek from Chicago). Takara has played with a dizzying array of improv / experimental / jazz figures such as Pharoah Sanders, Damo Suzuki, Yusef Lateef, Joe Lally (Fugazi), Naná Vasconcelos, Prefuse 73, Makoto Kawabata and more.

Mennie returns to INFUSE with his latest EP ‘Pressure Disco’, backed by a remix from London’s Laidlaw.

A resident at Florence’s iconic Tenax, with releases via the likes of Rawax, Moscow Records and Adult Only in the past few years alone, and regular collaborations with close friend Julien Sandre, Italian talent Mennie continues to evolve and develop as an exciting name within the European house circuit. Having debuted on the label last November to remix Wax On Mare St., early December will now welcome a return to INFUSE as he delivers three fresh original productions via his latest EP ‘Pressure Disco’, whilst welcoming a label debut from London event regular and BEEYOU Records boss, Laidlaw.

Opening cut ‘The A Track’ offers a up a fun-filled yet slick production as off-kiltersonics, funky samples and snaking basslines go to work, whilst title cut ‘Pressure Disco’ travels down a hypnotic and wandering spiral of crisppercussion, hazy synths and eerie melodies. On the flip, ‘Jam’ welcomes the introduction of swinging drums in abundance, whilst glitchy flourishes and twisting synths go to work, before closing proceedings via Laidlaw’s lively interpretation of the title track – delivering an impressive combination of twisting electronics, infectious bass stabs and bubbling core grooves throughout.

2023 Restock

Within the elusive confines of this film awaits an unreleased album that defies categorisation by a musician who in a different time and space would be revered amongst some of the most important exponents of progressive rock, dark ambient, Krautrock and pioneering synthesiser composition - not to mention sound design and art-house film scores. As a protégé of François Bayle and Luc Ferrari who had studied classical music before immersing himself in found-sound manipulation and oscillators, Alain Pierre quickly became an enthusiastic go-to man for sound sculpture and technical studio proficiency in Belgium’s small film industry.

To the many generations of dedicated fans of the visual work of Philippe Druillet it might seem virtually impossible to adequately “score” the alien, futurist landscapes of the man who many called the “space architect” (on account of his space age reductions of Gothic cathedrals, Art Nouveau, and Indian temples), but once you have heard the sonic reactions of Alain Pierre on this the first-ever dedicated Druillet documentary, Ô Sidarta, complete with his own equivalent sound palette, it will be difficult to “hear” Druillet’s world via any other composer. Despite Druillet’s truly incredible record sleeve designs for projects like cosmic disco ensemble Black Sun, concept albums such as Attention by Jean-Pierre Mirouze (composer of Le Mariage Collectif), Parisian metal bands like Sortilège, gatefold portraits of Jimi Hendrix, later period albums by William Sheller and most relevantly on albums by Igor Wakhévitch (Docteur Faust, 1971) as well as separate releases by both Richard Pinhas and Georges Grünblatt (both from the cosmic prog outfit Heldon), it is fair to say that this criminally unreleased album by Alain Pierre would conjure up the closest synergy between sound and vision that either artist would come close to.

The almost twelve of continuous music that Alain Pierre supplied for Ô Sidarta in 1974 fortunately appears in its entirety, unedited, as it does here for the first time ever away from its original broadcasts. Broadcast on Belgian and French TV that autumn, the film received a warm reception from Druillet fans, prospective film producers and space rock fans lucky enough to catch the short feature.

Throughout his career Alain’s commitment to conceptual music excelled within both cinematic realms as well as with the live arena. Never shying away from the constraints of transporting heavy synthesiser technolog and unpredictable analogue equipment to public spaces, Alain took his self-initiated “live” work very seriously. It was within his lesser-documented performances that you would find the closest sound to the music on Ô Sidarta, proving that the Druillet collaboration was naturalistic and conceptually close to Alain’s personal stylistic agenda. A rare recording of a one-off concert at the Université libre de Bruxelles in October 1976 reveals a very similar set of movements and soundscapes found on Ô Sidarta. This rare artefact has been included on the second side of this record under its original title Notions de physique intérieure (Notions Of Interior Physics) and stands as a perfect companion piece to Ô Sidarta - complete with a very similar “kit list” including the welcome addition of an Arp Sequencer, a Korg Vocoder and a Theremin (a back line whose total would far surpass any stationary studio of the era never mind a live show!).

By looking back at his original composition for one of his very first solo soundtrack commissions, Ô Sidarta, you can hear that back in 1974 Alain had already successfully managed to combine more unlikely musical influences, experimental techniques, and previously unheard soundscapes and studio tricks in to one twelve-minute score than most musicians fail to cram in to a whole discography. But still there is so much music yet to be discovered and Ô Sidarta is just the tip of the iceberg in the middle of a cosmic sea. Much like a character from one of Philippe Druillet’s books, Alain Pierre is a rogue pilot, steering his own ship in to the unknown, uncharted, unnoticed and quite unbelievable.

Flippen Disks follows up their much acclaimed label-debut with an intriguing second release by Yuto Takei.

Throughout the Bells From The East EP, Yuto Takei’s first vinyl release, displays a wide array of sounds with a particular interest in rhythmic experiments and the negotiation of sonic space.

The Tokyo-based producer and DJ takes the listener onto a trip through deep spheres, percussive workouts, jammy compositions and electronic psychedelia, leaving the listener at times startled as to whether humans are manipulating machines here, or vice-versa.
Having worked as an electronic music composer for video games such as Gran Turismo, this uncanny valley is known territory for the artist. It is, however, further explored on this four tracker, staying true to Flippen Disks paradigm of releasing club-oriented music, non-functional enough to not only be danced but also listened to.

While the title track Bells From The East is an 8 minute jam, in which the krauty psych attitude pairs up perfectly with the goofy lead melody, Eclectic Matters is an intense percussive workout, refined with a pinch of Digi-Dub.

On the flip, Karma Fuchi feels like a paraglide through a landscape of tree tops, curious winds passing and entrancing synths and percussion stabs leading the way. Mostica closes the EP beautifully and spaciously, allowing for deep dives into its detailed soundscape and waving the listener peacefully goodbye.

Today Rozzma announces the ‘Khatar Sayeb’ EP, the artist’s first release for XL Recordings. He kicks off the EP release with ‘Hout’, a track that displays Rozzma’s knack for combining tribal sounds and contemporary urban/street music with a sharp, idiosyncratic flair.

Rozzma is an Egyptian sound artist inspired by the era where sound preceded music – he finds inspiration in the similarities between the wilderness of prehistoric times and modern-day chaos. Having already performed his particular strain of music across the world and at festivals like Sonar and Unsound, Rozzma releases ‘Hout’ into the digital world with an animated video created by the artist’s close friend Mahmoud Shiha.

“Hout is a celebration of beating the odds,” says Rozzma. “It’s about a specific state of mind where one finds comfort in the most extreme and unfortunate circumstances to beat the odds that one could instead fear.”

The EP’s title ‘Khatar Sayeb’ means 'loose danger’. “The release challenges the idea that danger and fear are uncontrollable circumstances,” explains Rozzma. “We cannot fully diminish fear or danger. We can only condition ourselves to believe that safety exists during the absence of fear. It is however more dangerous to deny the uncertainty of danger itself. Danger is a very broad state with infinite circumstances. But it is also infinitely uncertain and mainly linked to luck. We do not control our luck; good or bad. And it is solely luck that dictates danger and safety. It is for that reason that one’s best chances may be to condition themselves to find comfort in danger. Loose danger to be specific.”

Rozzma’s world is one of status quos being challenged, whether that be the real world, the historical world or specifically in the world of music. Rozzma won’t let you settle with what you believe. Everything deserves to be challenged.

The Vision returns with the third single from their eponymous debut album, along with remixes from two of the scene’s most revered producers. ‘Missing’ treads the familiar tale of love lost with a stark openness, a funk-filled track underpinned by a catchy vocal hook sure to resonate with its listeners. As one half of The Vision, this release is the first where Ben Westbeech provides vocals as well as producing behind the scenes alongside Kon, perfectly matched with regular collaborator Andreya Triana to bring the heartfelt lyrics to life. On this special 12” package, underground hero Maurice Fulton’s remix opens the A-Side, an artist described by Resident Advisor as “making some of the most unhinged house out there”, his mix may strike listeners as surprising with its stripped-back feel. With extended instrumental breaks perfect for club play, the reflective feel of Maurice’s mix aptly suits the message of the record, as elegant guitar riffs and warm synths make his remix an irresistible version. The Accapella closes out the A-Side, an essential DJ tool that allows Andreya and Ben’s flawless vocals to really shine. On the flip, the original version of ‘Missing’ opens, before Swiss DJ Deetron provides his remix, impeccably executed with bubbling synths and snapping percussion, as the Character Records boss explores the emotional potential of dancefloor-destined house to compelling effect. ‘Missing’ is no exception to The Vison’s existing discography, as meaningful messaging is paired with flawless execution to produce a record with all the makings of a future classic.

Effervescent, even buoyant optimism shoots effortlessly through this quartet of tunes. The vivid neon melody rippling at the core of Post-Typhoon Shakeddown moves towards a more subdued soaring warmth on From The Cockpit. Love The Lights is propelled by a glowing momentum; Paw Print closes the record with a carefree breeze. Conoley Ospovat is back on Kimochi Sound.

In August 2016 Ultramarine created a photo film featuring photographs from Ian Cooper's Survey East website which focuses on a particular stretch of the Blackwater Estuary in Essex.

The film (and accompanying soundtrack) was screened on rotation at the Caught By The River Thames festival at Fulham Palace in London.

For this original Blackwaterside audio/print project, Ultramarine created two new pieces of music inspired by their time working close to the estuary. Glasgow based printmaker/sculptor Bronwen Sleigh visited this remote corner of Essex to sketch and draw, using these visual references to create a lithograph, printed in three colours, which features on the cover of the book accompanying the 7" single.

The book features a series of Ian Cooper's original photographs, alongside poetry by the writer Philip Terry, inspired by the Essex coast, taken from his book Quennets.

- Originally released by publishing imprint Random Spectacular

- Re-released by Blackford Hill with obi strip

- 7" vinyl single

- 28-page booklet of photographs and poetry

- Wraparound cover by printmaker Bronwen Sleigh

- Digital download card (including an extra 16 minutes of bonus audio)

- Limited edition of 350 copies

- Played by Nick Luscombe on BBC Radio 3 'Late Junction'

- Played by Gideon Coe on BBC Radio 6

Ending the season on a breezy note, our new VA 'Boogie Angst, Edition Three' delivers the ideal wares for a buoyant last stretch to an otherwise trying year. Spanning a brightly hued kaleidoscope of pop-infused house and mellifluous boogie, Edition Three pushes forth a selection of our choicest grooves from the past year as well as a batch of unheard and exclusive gems to keep you in the warmest, most positive mindset for the winter to come. Through fifteen cuts covering a wide but cohesive spectrum of balmy sonics, the compilation once again offers a much spitting image of what the label's been up to in recent times.

HIGH HØØPS playful revamp of Secret Rendezvous' fresher-than-fresh RnB joint 'Back In The Day' sets the tone right away, followed closely by Moods & Two Another's lush coastal disco number 'Control' and Snacks & Eric Biddines neo-big band style house treat 'All Night' - a singular chunk of ballroom bop tinged with soulful blues tropes and Caribbean melodic accents, sure to have the dancers jiving without further ado.

Here comes Inkswel's synth-splattered mix of 8-bit pixelation and Run DMC-esque hip-hop 'Too Late' (ft. Stan Smith) and Saux's dream folk excursion 'You're Not Wrong'. A highlight of the package and mesmerizing piece of wistful, kosmische-laced disco, Kraak & Smaak 'Centro De Placer' ushers us in a realm of velveteen ingenuousness and sun-streaked utopianism, steering us away from the tar-scented gloom of soulless metropolises into an all engulfing prism of hope, love and grace.

Utrecht-based vibist Feiertag punches the clock with 'Encino Boogie' - a four minute-odd slab of buoyant funk sprinkled with laid-back house tropes and brass-heavy, loungey dub tonalities, perfect for drawing out the pleasure of dreamlike summer boogie sessions. Clear your mind and shuffle your feet to that solar-powered mix of fevered drums, slap bass and sensually aqueous groove.

Next, Kraak & Smaak's add their easily identifiable, almost Beck-ian spin to Jean Tonique's lysergic pop hit-en-puissance 'Too Bad' whilst Bondax lo-slung remix of Moods' sense-awakening soul tune 'Slow Down' (ft. Damon Trueitt) eases you into a place of inviting suavity.

Inkswel's funky robot chugger 'The People' (ft. Dave Aju) picks up the torch next, followed by Flevans, your go-to man for proper electroid floor traction. The UK-based producer has you covered with 'Everything I See' - a surefire, bass-driven roller inbound for severe club impact with its infectious mix of fiery riffs, mangled female vox slivers and racing groove. Next, Secret Rendezvous' sun-beamy ballad 'Your Love' takes us on a gently bouncy, romantic ride.

Last but not least, Vhyce's smooth hybrid of synth-strewn RnB and lo-velocity funk 'Lose Our Minds' (ft. Yves Paquet), David Harks' metronomic disco-pop anthem 'Twice' and Saux's sleek-textured synthpop exponent 'Night Is All There Is' round off the package on a typically smooth and vibrant sentimental touch.

For the wax heads out there, a limited 9-track vinyl sampler will be issued alongside the digital compilation, featuring some of the tracks on the album + a few alternative versions, and furthermore a vinyl exclusive of Kraak & Smaak's remix of Izo FitzRoy's 'When The Wires are Down', initially released only digitally via Jalapeño Records.








h 08 | Inkswel The People (Cody Currie Remix) feat Dave Aju
feat Wolfgang Valbrun

A contemporary dance score for award winning British choreographer Wayne McGregor inspired by Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev (1872-1929). 'My composer for Dyad, Icelandic musician ?lafur Arnalds, is coming in next week to finish work on the score. It's an amazing piece of music ? it's melancholic and spatial then cuts to extreme rhythmic violence - it's hauntingly inspiring' ? Wayne McGregor (Random Dance) 2009 has already proved quite a year for Iceland's neo-classical export ?lafur Arnalds. Still high on the success of his 7-song series 'Found Songs' ? recording a song a day for 7 days and instantly making each track available via Twitter; ?lafur was approached by the world renowned and critically acclaimed choreographer Wayne McGregor to create a 30-minute score for his ambitious new work 'Dyad 1909'. The dance piece, inspired and created 'In The Spirit of Diaghilev' premiered at the Sadler's Wells theatre this October and became an unpredictable and much talked about 5-nights of live music, dance and visuals. This 'fascinating collaboration' (Guardian) will go on a EU-wide tour this autumn with Arnalds included in an impressive creative line-up alongside visual artists and filmmakers Jane and Louise Wilson. In December ?lafur's 'evocative and lyrical score' (The Times) will see a 10" vinyl, CD and digital release via Erased Tapes ? the label behind his previous releases as well as Peter Broderick's recent and much noted dance score release 'Music For Falling From Trees'. Born in 1987, ?lafur hails from the suburban Icelandic town, Mosfellsb?r, just a few kilometres outside of Reykjav?k. He has immersed himself completely in a world of delicate symphonic compositions generating near weightless orchestral pieces. Arnalds explores the crossover from classical to pop by mixing chamber strings and piano with discreet electronics which makes him a perfect fit for cinematic pop label Erased Tapes. His motivations are clear: "The classical scene is kind of closed to people who haven't been studying music all their lives. I would like to bring my classical influence to the people who don't usually listen to this kind of music?open people's minds." This young artist is steadily gaining recognition worldwide since his 2007 debut 'Eulogy for Evolution' and the 2008 follow-up EP 'Variations of Static'. In April 2009 online experiment 'Found Songs' received more than 200,000 downloads via foundsongs.erasedtapes and the physical edition released this August has instantly become a best seller, demonstrating that music in its physical format still attains a particular charm. ?lafur conceived 'Found Songs' as a way to collate several lost and found musical sketches and ideas in a 'very challenging, but fun' series. The experiment offers its listeners an intimate insight into ?lafur Arnalds' creative world with artwork contributions from fans via Flickr. With the next full-length release due in 2010, 'Found Songs' hasn't just inspired 2-D work. Esteban Di?cono ? a young motion graphic artist from Buenos Aires, Argentina ? created an astonishing animation video for 'Lj?si?', which found its way into the heart of UK illusionist Darren Brown among over 400,000 others within 4 weeks via Vimeo and YouTube. The music video is now available for download via iTunes. ?lafur is currently in the studio with Bardi Johannsson (Bang Gang) who will be co-producing his upcoming and highly anticipated second full-length album.

FILM Recordings will release the debut LP from Denial of Service.

The album follows up EP's Sensou (2015), and more recently Contour & Shape (2017) - but marks the producer's most expansive release on the label thus far by some margin. Clocking in at 15 tracks, the lengthy opus draws from the same palette found on previous work - drum machine driven, heavily mutated Electro and IDM sit alongside low slung Techno cuts and arpeggiated EBM references. As ever, the production is stunning - crisp and plosive, as much a record for the club as it is a tempered headphone experience; whilst the mood channels that same dank, claustrophobic energy found on previous missives.

As a body of work, the LP displays the distinctive touch of a production veteran. The transformative shifts in structure on opener A Fine, New Mother Now belie a kind of boldness found less often across the contemporary electronic music landscape; and the drum programming on IDM-leaning explorations Autoimmune & Supercell bear the hallmarks of a perfectionist with time on his hands and in full control of his art. Space and the placement of sonic components plays a huge role in the artist's work and the 3 Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch displays this canny knack for generating both textural, wide angle soundscapes whilst maintaining that wrought-iron edge to drums and percussive elements - even more fervent, noisy compositions like Dr Manahattan manage to keep hold of this remarkable balance. It's impressive stuff, a fine and well worked meeting point between artistic vision and engineering prowess.

An elongated discussion, no doubt - but worth hearing every word. Each twist and bend, however sharp, remains carefully placed and beautifully recorded. Dryer works Slither & Junkie Foxtrot towards the LP finish offer a less introspective, more hard hitting angle to the work, and by the time the listener arrives at dual closer the Daisy Chain - Adults - they're ready for its heady catharsis.

The debut album from Denial of Service is a trip, and the line between club space and home listening environment is decidedly blurred - an emotive exploration of true psychedelic Electronica, delivered direct from the source.

We are very pleased to finally present you a new Lorenz Rhode release, for the „Sandpaper EP“ Lorenz Rhode and Jamie Lidell get together again. Their first collab „Any Kind of Pressure“ was followed by Lorenz joining Jamie’s world tour and a remix of „Big Love“ for Warp Records. Jamie performs with an amazing energy, and his
soulful voice is carried by a warm and playful house backing: Minimoog bass, Rhodes piano and just some sparkles of a very old Roland synth that Lorenz had just bought, and which is now broken.
The second new jam „On the Nightshift“ is a fun stabby tune based on a spiraling chord progression. It loops every three-and-a-half bars, just to make life harder for DJs. A real nice warm groover.
The remix for „Sandpaper“ is a true family affair! Sound Support is the all new project by Lars Dales better known as 1/2 of Detroit Swindle and Lorenz himself. They’ve just released their debut EP on Prins Thomas’ “Internasjonal” label in October this year, here they take Jamie’s vocal into a more dramatic and electronic territory touching
electro grounds. To close things out we also added an instrumental on the vinyl and radio mix on the digital version of this new EP. Enjoy as much as we did putting this together for you!

Saga: Ólafur Stephensen 01.02.1936 – 28.04.2016 Wife: Klara Stephensen Children: Ingibjörg “Día” Ambonguilat Stephensen, Stephan Stephensen, Magnús Stephensen & Ólafur Björn Stephensen

Ólafur was born in Reykjavik. His parents were Stephan Stephensen, a shopkeeper at Verðandi, and Ingibjörg Stephensen, a housewife.


Ólafur graduated from The Commercial College of Iceland on June 16, 1956 and then studied public relations as well as marketing and propaganda at Columbia University in New York where he graduated in 1962.

Ólafur was a pioneer in the advertising services in Iceland which with him turned away from being solely a profession of illustrators to a new era of marketing. Ólafur touched on many subjects through his career. Alongside his study Ólafur worked for NBC News and META educational TV. He reported for UN Radio and Voice of America as well as for AFRTS under the pen name of Sonny Greco. Ólafur was the managing director of The Icelandic Red Cross, a jazz pianist in Harlem, the spokesperson for the media center of the NATO ministerial summit in Reykjavík in 1968 and hosted a program on the Icelandic National Television. Ólafur was the first Scandinavian citizen to become a member of the Advertising Club of New York, the first president of the Reykjavik chapter of JC as well as the first vice-president of JC International, the host of a jazz program on Icelandic National Radio, a judge for the American Advertising Awards and an active Freemason in Iceland as well as Portugal. Ólafur was awarded a Badge of Honour by the Finnish Red Cross in 1967.

Ólafur founded both ÓSA advertising agency and later Gott Fólk and was the first elected president of the Icelandic Advertising Association. He wrote a large number of published newspaper and magazine articles on his trade of advertising and marketing and released a book on the subject, “New and Better”, in 1987. Ólafur Stephensen released three jazz albums with his jazz trio named Tríó Óla Steph, played music both in Iceland as well as internationally with various jazz combos and was a big fencing enthusiast.

THUGWIDOW (Circadian Rhythms / Tar) is an artist that creates 'modern jungle with a sense of atmosphere and space that alludes most of his peers' (Resident Advisor), Bruised Skies (Pure Life Records / Blank Editions) creates ambience that captures a hyper-real landscape. Here on 'Requiem For a Sesh', the pairs first collaborative record, these two worlds collide to bring the listener an offering of strobe-laden 4x4, disfigured break beats, low slung sqaure waves and euphoria inducing top lines.

EP opener 'Epic Questing' is arguably the most dance-floor refined offering from either artist - sliced vocal chops and hard hitting kick drums tip the hat to classic 90's house anthems before heavily chopped jungle breaks and compressed 808's splinter around your ear drums like it's 3am at Unit 18 and the lighting technician is coming up riding the lazer fader. The ecstasy-laced piano melodies of title track 'Requiem For A Sesh' sounds like the sonic fruits of children raised on Olvie's 'You're not alone' and early XL Recordings 12"s. Elsewhere, 'Void Release' is a peak time 6-minute cataclysm of heavily sliced jungle breaks and jittering basslines, whilst EP closer 'Infinite Bass' feels like the clock winding down on the end of a night that we wish could go on forever.

Bruised Skies has recently been receiving radio support from Murlo, Lee Gamble & Francis Redman. Whilst THUGWIDOW's recent releases have received support from Team Sesh, Amy Becker & Whities as well as glistening reviews on The Quietus, & Resident Advisor.

D Leria debuts on Avian.

Giuseppe Scaccia shows his range on a new six track EP, arriving late 2020.

Produced diligently across the last two years, the record showcases a range of styles. Tonally, the material is bound by a recognisable engineering palette – driven, but not to the point of corrosion, tight and focused in the low end with caustic, percussive synth patches driving much of the more dance floor material.

In the terms of the form, though – Scaccia draws for a disparate arrangement. Opener A Life On The Run clocks in at over 140bpm, with a demented lead synth line providing the action buoyed by a simplistic drum machine rhythm. Divergences offers a more immersive experience in terms of tempo – again letting the lead do the work, while shifting hats operate around the sonic periphery to break up the recording. On Il Giardino Degli Unicorni the artist utilises a single, staccato sequence, letting the sends do the bulk of the business with careful processing and live articulation helping to build the intensity. On the flip, pulsing workout Noises from The Room develops surreptitiously over its run time – fathoms deep kicks are submerged under a heated sequence and Red Flowers, an exercise in careful reduction reintroduces a little musicality to the record, before warping closer Tribalism places the listener back on the dance floor with a half-time rhythm driving the droning sound design.

A careful meeting point at which the multiple styles that underpin Scaccia’s D Leria project meet, Still Standing offers insight into how future work might manifest whilst remaining a valuable document on the current state of both left field Techno music and the artist’s own creative identity.

Trouble, the aptly named new album on Goner Records, is a confident and joy-filled statement delivering the good-news gospel message unapologetically through music influenced by Ray Charles, Junior Kimbrough, Bill Withers and of course, his father.

Recorded at legendary Royal Studios in Memphis by Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell (Al Green, Solomon Burke, John Mayer, Buddy Guy, Mark Ronson & Bruno Mars, North Mississippi Allstars), Trouble is the culmination of everything in Rev. Wilkins’s remarkable life, his regional history, his family music history. And in a world once again riven with discord and division, like the Memphis of Wilkins’ youth in the 1960’s, Trouble delivers passionate and confident musical performances with a message of hope that meets our present moment equal to the best music from that earlier era.

To call the Reverend John Wilkins a national treasure would not be an overstatement. He is the son of pre-war blues/folk-revival legend Reverend Robert Wilkins and he leads one of the most exciting and uplifting musical acts on the blues and gospel circuit today. His multiracial, multi-generational band blends soul, southern gospel and hill country rhythm, into a sound that has the infectious drive of hill country blues with the emotional heights of a summer tent revival.

Following in the footsteps of his famous father Rev. Robert Wilkins, a blues-singer turned preacher who went from the juke joint to the pulpit, the life of Rev. John Wilkins took a similar path, echoing the story of the elder Wilkins’ most famous song, “Prodigal Son.”

But in 2020 John Wilkins’ life has been closer to a different iconic bible character, Lazarus, as he has miraculously risen after surviving a month-long stay in intensive care battling Covid19 in a Memphis hospital. As Rev. Wilkins sings on the closing track of his forthcoming album, “I’ve come through the storm and rain, I’ve come through the storm and rain, and I made it!”

After the great success of the first two releases of the RE-TOUCHED SERIES, Conform Records continues its journey by giving us a new gem to collect. Gaetano Parisio seems to have no intention of stopping and calls other 5 legends to get their hands on tracks of his label's catalog. The third release contains four tracks plus one digital only bonus with heavyweights Deetron, Steve Bicknell, Ken Ishii, Oscar Mulero and Alexander Kowalski all stepping up.

Once again Swiss legend DEETRON, through his class, hits the mark. His Vesuvius edit of Gaetek's is a slamming track with driving drums and worms synths that bring it into the present day with a real sense of style.

STEVE BICKNELL is another techno legend who runs his own 6dimensions label. His edit of a track from Gaetano's Ritmatica goes as usual directly to the point. Steve stays true to the original sense of the track by masterfully adding his "Lost" touch through reverbs and percussion.

KEN ISHII, a true Japanese techno titan, incredibly manages to bring color and life to Gaetek's Advanced Series Vol. II. The result is amazing! The track is a dance floor killer. Its vintage charm is the key!

The Spanish Maestro, OSCAR MULERO, brings his dark and hypnotic style to the original Gaetek track. His Ømre Edit totally distorts the original one using percussion and filters giving that hypnotic flow for which the Madrid artist has always been known and respected throughout the techno underground scene.

To close this majestic EP ALEXANDER KOWALSKI, the backbone of the German techno scene, through his incredible talent creates a true masterpiece. His edit of Gaetano Parisio's Quake is undoubtedly something special. The syncopated rhythm and the addition of synths, create a third millennium atmosphere. His crystal clear talent as a producer is captured in these 6.25 mins.

Lovers of true techno will not be disappointed. This is for sure!

Caught somewhere between environmental sound studies and surrealist sonic architecture, SUGAI KEN helps mark the 30th release of Field Records with an ambitious new album. Commissioned by the Dutch Embassy in Tokyo, Tone River is the product of a year’s intensive work between artist and label, created in part to examine the relationship between Japan and the Netherlands with regard to water management.

While its doors to the Western world were closed during the 17th and 18th centuries, Japan kept abreast of Western science via a Dutch trade post in the bay of Nagasaki. When the country changed from a feudal society to a modern democracy through the turn of the 19th century, Dutch engineers lent their expertise to large-scale water management projects. One of the most prestigious projects of the time was the Tone River, which stretches 322 kilometers across Honshu, Japan’s largest island.

For this project, SUGAI KEN travelled to three points across the Tone River and used regular, binaural and underwater microphones to record environmental sounds, seeking to express the change in landscape of the river in its flow into the Pacific Ocean. On Tone River, these varied recordings are interspersed and juxtaposed with Ken’s distinctive take on synthesis, where raw and precisely sculpted textures and tones interact in stark, neutral space.

On this conceptually rigorous, yet beguiling and free-flowing record, SUGAI KEN glides between the elemental and hyper-synthetic in a flexible exploration of sound and story

The full 11 minutes 49 seconds was too long to be included on the vinyl release of the recent Family of Swede LP 'Family Album.' We believed that it deserved it's own 12" space to ensure that the strength of the song could be heard in full. It's a cosmic soul extravaganza that takes us on a journey through space, with some excellent playing from the group and a lead vocal that glides effortlessly alongside great harmonies. 'Mellow' also features on vinyl for the first time with a funky clav lead and a mad percussive break that rocks. The song itself slow's down into a slower groove that's worthy of it's own platform. We've also chosen 'Life' to close the 12" off with it's swinging modern swagger.

clear red & blue mixed vinyl

- "Gut-churning bass" - The Wire
- "a deep dive into UK soundsystem forms, half-time bass pressure and lucid electronics" - DjMag
- "a hell of a journey through a subaquatic scape" - Backseat Mafia
- "evoking oceanic stillness and violence, the song ebbs and flows between delicate rippling and powerful waves" - Fuxwithit
- Plays on Rinse FM France and UK & Tom Ravenscroft BBC Radio 6

30% of profits on this record go to an ocean cleanup organisation TBA

NAPPYNAPPA and Pat Cain’s Model Home project realigns with Dolo Percussion for SE, their second album on Future Times. A deviation from their self-released run of numerically-titled LPs, SE builds on the impact of REV b/w Flesh - released earlier in 2020 on the label - and shows the Future Times formation of Model Home in full Special Edition mode.

If you’ve been sleeping on Model Home, Nappa and Pat have become a prolific and potent unit of “liberated sound, vision and performance” emblematic of DC’s thriving musical underground community. Self-releasing nearly 20 albums in two years, Pat Cain and Nappa have perfected a sound; a raw expression that is wholly their own. A perfect musical balance attained through intense experimentations in sonic and lyrical imperfection.

Nappa’s blurry-eyed spoken word raps should be recognised alongside the powerful polemics of Moor Mother or the explosive experimentation of Pink Siifu, or fellow DC legend Sir E.U. Nappa is an artist deeply entrenched in the expression of rap but one that recognises there are so many sonic ways in which to frame his state of mind. Which is why the frazzled sound design of Pat Cain has made Model Home such a perfect backdrop for Nappa to express himself. Rap existing in unison with raw electronixxx, dancehall, noise, industrial and whatever else they throw in the mix.

Add the crisply-programmed drums and chaotic FX of Dolo Percussion into the Model Home mix and SE zones into a murky yet richly detailed space that leaves you going “WTF?” multiple times and hammering the repeat button again and again.

Spread over nine tracks, the Model Home trio approach the game from various angles; swerving from the dizzying Bounce triplets and smudged Nappa vox on “Omnipresent Love” to the spacious lyrical interplay n’ woozy moog of “Bag” via the warped Pan Sonic curdle of “Are You Shur?” and the hyper-kynetic rhythmic aerobics of “Topic.”

SE showcases Model Home at their most expressive; plunging deeper into their own weird universe. “Like the seed in the soil,” as Nappa raps on album closer “Cold Gettin’ Dogg.

The reflective and immersive extraterrestrial synth explorations of Surgeons Girl's 'A Violet Sleep' EP mark a stunning, dream-like debut for the Bristol based artist to close a tumultuous year.

Specialising in live audio-visual performance, combined with a love of analogue synths, Surgeons Girl weaves emotive and enveloping sounds from her instruments, drawing on influences from the likes of Suzanne Ciani, Laurel Halo and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith.

Livity Sound is a label set up by Peverelist in 2011 as a vehicle for a raw and exploratory strain of UK techno, rooted in the heritage of UK dance music and sound system culture. It has since become one of the UK's foremost protagonists for cutting edge underground electronic music.

As 2020 draws to a close the Surface Tension Series reaches its apex with part III, containing a like number of compositions which continue the sound refined and alloyed in the preceding volumes.

We are back on Boogie Butt with a soul track just like back in the days, this time with a Lord Funk & Samm Culley collaboration. We’re bringing back to your ears this giant artist, who crosses decades of music with its great personality and many groovy songs.

Samm Culley is an R&B, soul & funk keyboard player and a dope songwriter. His music career started within the band Tiny Tim & The Hits with Tom Price & Bill Collier. This trio soon left Tiny to form their own group The Diplomatics with Irving Waters as the lead singer. They later on became the legendary Skull Snaps.

Over the years, Samm co-produced and/or played with many unforgettable famous artists such as Hot Chocolate, The Fatback Band, George Kerr, Patrick Adams, Vaughan Mason, Reggie Griffin, De-De, Van Mc Coy, Lloyd Price & even later in Hip Hop music with Marley Marl or Freddie Foxxx.

“Let It Go” brings you back in 1970 with a great killer dance floor track for Bboys and soul lovers: the dru break is hot and on the same time, the guitar hook and bassline make you feel James Brown on the scene. Close your eyes and easily imagine John Shaft dancing on “Soul Makossa”.

The B side is the instrumental reworked by our well-known Lord Funk, with Samm on bass. Enjoy & play loud!

Having previously released a slew of tapes on labels such as Clan Destine Records and Live Adult Entertainment, Penelope’s Fiancé lands on Hypermedium for his vinyl debut. Hailing from Stavroupoli, Thessaloniki, Penelope’s Fiancé has been keeping over the past few years a fast pace of work, constantly producing tracks and releasing new music, having shaped a unique sound that drifts across the borders of lo-fi, post-industrial and fuzzy techno. The Cutting Edge Of A Knife is the culmination of all these previous excursions, a solid display of his ability to craft emotionally intense tracks, merging a ghostly, gloomy grandeur with squelching percussive patterns. Opener ‘Lethe’ emerges from the haze with its cryptic atmosphere, moulded in lethargic drones, scattered vocalisms and sparse yet piercing beats and rhythmic build-ups. A panic-fuelled, 160bpm ravey epic, ‘Futile Endevours’ brandishes an ecstatic, pumelling rhythm over recurring trance- flavored melodic phrases and unnerving vocal samples. ‘I Wasn’t Always There’ is a seductive, dark elegy whose melancholic and lush synth melodies wash over chopping kicks and ice-cold hi-hats. ‘Anxiety’ sounds like a slow techno roller, where frozen metallic percussion meets a cavernous bass, right before the off-kilter, cacophonous buzz of ‘The Lie Closest To The Truth’. Closing track ‘The Cutting Edge Of A Knife’ is an intoxicated oriental-stepper, soaked in vaporous middle-eastern percussion and muezzin-like chants.

Rising London-based talent Casey Spillman debuts on LOCUS with his latest four-track EP, ‘Bit More Raggo’.

A hotly-tipped name within the UK house and minimal scene, London’s Casey Spillman continues to impress as one of the city’s key emerging DJs, producers and label owners. Founder of his own blossoming imprint Temperature, his releases and remixes via the likes of e1ven records, Sukhumvit and Infuse have gained support from a long list of the scene’s key players - solidifying his growing profile as one of FUSE’s key up-and-coming talents, whilst featuring across a string of their infamous events within the UK capital. Next up, Spillman’s latest outing welcomes a debut on recently launched FUSE imprint LOCUS, delivering four typically impressive cuts in the form of his ‘Bit More Raggo’ EP.

Opening cut ‘What I Say’ delivers a moody, up-front production armed with metallic percussion licks, resonant chords and driving low-ends, whilst the skipping hats and sweeping key leads of the slick ‘Gambling Man’ reveal a classy yet warping journey to close out the A-side. On the flip, ‘Humidity Meter’ introduces a hypnotic combination of shuffling percussion atop of escalating electronics and squelching bass patterns, before closing proceedings via the tripped-out vocals, crisp, raw drum shots and menacing bassline of final track, ‘Commands’.

One of dance music’s most enigmatic figures returns home to Anjunabeats. GRAMMY-nominated producer Mat Zo is back with a brand new artist album set for release in October: ‘Illusion Of Depth’. At the age of 30, this is the London-born, L.A.-based producer’s third artist LP. He broke onto the scene in 2008 and has been causing an uproar ever since. In the early naughties, he penned Anjunabeats classics like ‘The Lost’ and ‘Synapse Dynamics’ which were far ahead of their time. They were followed by the likes of ‘Superman’, ‘The Sky’ and ‘Rebound’ (with Arty). He pushed the Anjunabeats sound to the mainstage, racking up spins from Pete Tong, Axwell and Armin van Buuren. It was his GRAMMY-nominated debut album ‘Damage Control’ that fully showcased Mat’s avant-garde approach in 2013. Featuring break-out hit ‘Easy’ with close friend Porter Robinson, the track took Mat mainstream: a Radio 1 A-List addition, Sirius XM BPM listing, a #1 Billboard Heatseeking record, an Essential Mix of the year nomination and, ultimately, a GRAMMY nod for best dance and electronic recording. Since then, Mat has grown his own stable. Self-releasing his second LP in 2016, ‘Self Assemble’, via Mad Zoo, Mat’s imprint nurtured a new generation of eclectic, genre-agnostic creators.

Catz 'n Dogz are back with album 'Moments'. Written and recorded in the midst of this crisis. Twelve tracks form the backbone to this wide-spanning sonic journey that document the highs and lows of this time. Drawn out of their comfort zone, it's safe to say this shift in their creative paradigm resonates throughout 'Moments'. Inviting you to gaze deeper inside, the album floats in a haze of dreaminess and cottony serenity. Though seemingly simple, the track titles point at themes more complex and universal that will strike a chord with every soul.

Traversed by a vaporous jazz vibe and highlighting an obvious lean towards laid-back atmospheres, 'Moments' effortlessly alternates between. Lo slung house 'Sunrise' features James Yuill, the heavy-lidded, funky bass-heavy 'Memories' and the rolling brass anthem 'Time', in collaboration with Jaw - and more doped up trip-hop-ness. 'Life', the slo-mo chugger that will get the feels on alert, the chillax of 'Nothing' and 'Love,' and the luscious 'Moment' feat. Angelika Nowak, a sample-heavy, soul jam whose naive charm will prove hard to resist, even for the stonehearted.

Catz 'n Dogz explore inwards the heart's non-spoken spheres, where the pop-infused hip-hop 'Meditate' introduces Heather Chelan. A more personal affair 'Listen' makes for a playful interlude. 'It's OK' invites you to let go of the shame at shedding tears, a memorable cut with its joyful whistling, elated guitar riffs and rousing bass.

To close off this sonic micro-odyssey, 'Tomorrow' casts a spell of positiveness. With blazing synth lines and robotised talk, unfolds an anthem for tomorrow's world. One where music holds the crucial place it's always had. So be the kids' dreams, the person they want to be in the future. Be Batman, be a firefighter, be a rock star.

'Visions in Black and White' is a collection of rare jazz and improvised themes by one of the greatest Russian film composers Mikael Tariverdiev (1931-1996). Transferred from the original tapes and beautifully remastered, these recordings manage to retain their original ambience and capture a master at work. Originally composed for cinema and TV movies of the 1960s and 1970s, it centres on Mikael playing at the piano and keyboard. Many of the compositions can be described as jazz, a genre whose troubled story in the Soviet Union meant they probably would not have existed outside the context of a film score. But, as Vera Tariverdieva, Mikael's wife, tells, it is probably more in accordance with his vision to hear them in the context of his life-long love of improvisation. "Astoundingly, he said more than once that he wasn't fond of jazz. This perplexed me, as he'd always been great at improvisation. Imagine my amazement then when I rummaged through one of our old closets and found a crumbling old tape. It was the score for the 1964 film 'Until Tomorrow'. I played it. And the realisation came: not only had Mikael had been fond of jazz - no, he'd been an amazing jazz musician." Vera Tariverdieva The pieces here are an introduction to Mikael's musical world. The tonality of individual tracks varies - they were transferred from original tapes of different eras and conditions that are kept in the Tariverdiev apartment in Moscow where Vera still lives and works.

Beartrax is back on his own taste-making electronic label Melodize with a pair of fantastic new singles that get fine remix treatment by the cult underground figure that is Carl Finlow.

American Beartrax has been experimenting with electronic music for 10 years now, and has built up a fine reputation and discography that often leads to Beatport chart toppers and gets big support from high profile DJs.

Up first is Dream Riff, a low key roller with nice melancholic pads and crisp, crunchy hi hats as well as killer bass. It's a melodic musing that really carries your mind away from this world while keeping your body locked to the drums. Remixing is Carl Finlow, who has been an electro mainstay for decades. His version is haunting and minimal, with spooky bass notes and clacking hits that makes for a deep and atmospheric jam. Repentance closes out with nagging bass and a lead melody that is cautiously optimistic.

This is another classy EP from all involved.

Cameroonian Joe Bisso's earliest musical influences didn't come primarily from his homeland, but more from the neighbouring Congo, where the kind of early 60's Congolese Rumba played by the likes of Franco / TP Ok Jazz, and Tabu Ley Rochereau was establishing itself as a musical force in the region.

Alongside this exuberant, swinging, jazz influenced sound, the growing impact of the all conquering US soul titans became inescapable, and sprinkled with a bit of Johnny Halliday & Co's smooth chanson over the top, we get a snapshot of where Jo Bisso and friends post school musical experimentation was headed in the late 60's.

As that decade drew to a close, the single minded Bisso headed off to France to begin his quest for the future, and by 1972 could afford the journey to the US that he'd long dreamed of.

Enrollment at the Berkeley School of Music in Boston soon lead to a new band coming together, and by 1974 the all conquering, multi faceted approach that marks Bisso's musical career, meant he'd written, produced and sung on his debut single for the mighty Decca Records. 'Flying To The Land Of Soul' drew heavily from James Brown's propulsive dancefloor funk, whilst wearing it's African colours loud and proud via 'African Express' chants, and drums front and centre.

At the same time, Bisso and friends had started to immerse themselves in the fast emerging disco sound pulsing outwards from Downtown NYC into the Boston nightclubs, and by the time his debut album 'Dance To It' was released on France's influential Le Disques Esperance in 1976, it was the driving, 4/4 floor power of disco that was to define Bisso's sound on that, and the following two albums.

Whilst Bisso's immersion in Disco was based around it's energy and musicality (rather than any associated hedonism), 'African Disco Experimentals (1974 to 1978)' paints a picture of an artist dedicated to the underground club side of the scene, rather than focused exclusively on the fast emerging pop potential of the sound at the time.

The album's tone is set by 3.20 mins of building, tribal percussion and rolling rhythms of the opener 'Love Beat', a 'strictly dancefloor' approach mirrored in the near 11 mins of 'Love Somebody', building from soulful keys to deep bass funk, extended percussion breaks, joyous squelchy Moog licks, breathy vocals and more (interesting footnote : Bisso is credited as Producer / Writer / Arranger, but 'Recorded by' is attributed to Joe Chiccarelli, better known in recent years for his work with The White Stripes, Shins, and Broken Social Scene.)

Still clocking in at a healthy 6 mins plus, "The Mystery With Me" (1978) makes a nod towards more radio friendly waters with it's hooky, floaty choruses and tight structures (a then 22 year old Arthur Baker is credited as sole writer on Discogs - Bisso himself doesn't seemed convinced by this idea, but that's another story...)

'Let's Keep it Together' (1977) loops the song title over a slower groove, with free form electric guitar licks adding new textures, whilst 'Disco Madonna' (1976) showcases Bisso at his most playful, combining spoken word Hispanic vocals, rattling percussion and more of the always welcome Moog, switching up keys at the end for an unselfconsciously camp finale.

And if anything sums up the ambition of Bisso's work in the field at the time, 'Play Me' (1978) can lay claim to being the magnum opus. It's presented here as a continuous 16 minute extravaganza (as opposed to the 4 parts it came in originally) : lush strings, hypnotic vocal sections, irresistible basslines, crisp drums, the odd Barry White style interjection, disco moans, the occasional nod to a chorus vocal. None of it seeming in much of a hurry to go anywhere in particular, choosing instead to joyfully revel in the expansiveness of the form.

"Matasuna Records" has found another musical treat from the African continent for its latest release - a song by the Ghanaian musician "Mawuli Decker". It was released in 1983 on the rare and sought-after album "Ayo Special" and is available for the first time as a 7inch vinyl single, which is supplemented by an edit from "Renegades Of Jazz". The esteemed London label "Kalita Records" was able to provide the audio material for new masters and is also acting as music publisher with the new "Kalita Music Publishing".

Mawuli Decker was born in 1949 in Ghana, where he also grew up. His musicality has been given to him from an early age, so that he not only attracts attention as a singer, but also plays drums, percussion and bongo. He played in various dance bands, which were very popular in Ghana especially from the middle of the last century onwards and made the Ghanaian highlife known beyond the borders. He has played in various dance bands such as New Planets, Sawaaba Sounds, The Tops, Caprice 73, The Volta Pioneers and others, which have performed in Ghana and other West African countries.
His first release was in 1975 with the band "Dzobi Soundz" on the Polydor label. Further releases of projects with his participation followed, until 1983 when he recorded his album "Ayo Special" at "Otodi Studio" in Lome (Togo) with an illustrious group of musicians.
He is still deeply rooted in music and performs in West Africa and is still very active in recording.

On the A-side is the original version of the song "Lololi-Lomko", sung in the "EWE" language, which is spoken in the south of Ghana as well as the southern parts of Togo. "Lololi" means "There's Still More Love" and "Lomko" stands for "Please love me" - classical themes that have appeared in countless songs in music history. Although a certain catchiness of the track cannot be denied, it doesn't seem cheesy at any point. Mawuli, who also contributes the vocals, creates perfectly formed harmonies through his compositions and arrangements, which are especially apparent in the bassline, guitars & brass and of course the vocals.

This was certainly also the idea behind the edit of "Renegades of Jazz" on the B-side, which did not want to break up and alienate the organic composition. Listening closely reveals the approach: a steady tempo, a more powerful bassline and additional drums and percussions bring the song back directly to where it belongs: to the dancefloors of this world!

San steps forward with idiosyncratic, textured jungle for the modern era on his debut 12". Anxious and introspective throughout, San's detailed sound design and close control of intricate drum edits clearly mark his pedigree. The jungle alias of a Bristol based techno producer, the San project reflects upon the rave landscape of 2020, and finds it to be a dark place.

Sutja Gutierrez is back on Lumière Noire. The finesse of his productions and his implacable stage performances have given him a special place within the Parisian label. In 2017, he released the EP "The Legend of Time" and one year later, he appeared on the compilation From Above with his track "Allodoxaphobia". He comes back here with an LP entitled PHYLAX SOCIETY, which confirms that Sutja Gutierrez is indeed an artist in his own right. Phylax means guardian in Latin, and the album’s title is directly inspired by the “Phylax Society”, a group of people who, in the late 19th century, wanted to create the ultimate canine breed, but who due their lack of consensus failed and dissolved. Later on, an ex-member eventually bred the very first German Shepherd. On this heartfelt record, as emotional as it is catchy, the artist deals with the feelings that come after the loss of a loved one, chiefly nostalgia and melancholia. The result is an ardent record where crooning is sincere and never a posture. The artist’s lo-fi psychedelic pop trademark oozes in every track of this album. Many of these songs feature his vocals, often doused in ethereal echoes or even shrewdly chopped and distorted in a way that reminds us of the great musique concrete experiments of the past. A DIY approach sometimes indebted to punk and post-punk music, all mixed with a vast variety of traditional pop instruments such as guitar, bass, electric keyboards and real drums, but also drum machines, synth bleeps, found sounds and other strange but fascinating samples. EMPTY FLOWER POTS, which was released as a single ahead of the LP, is definitely one of the album’s standout tracks. This catchy mid-tempo song is the perfect entry point into Sutja’s finely twisted world. A world in which you can find that particular balance between nostalgia and optimism. Oh, life is great, what is life? Life is death. . he sings. It is one of those songs that stays in your head for a while. Do not let the idea of alternative pop fool you, it is quite impossible to listen to any of these songs without reacting in some way or another through moving, dancing or thinking, regardless of the tempo or meaning. I’M DIGGIN’ might be the perfect example of this. Deceptively simple and far removed from dance music, this rock-infused number will not only have you singing along instantly, but you will also find yourself dancing and responding accordingly to the energetic mantra of this song... I'm digging for the truth, I am so diggin' into it. Truly, the dance floor is never too far, sometimes quite blatantly and sometimes in a more oblique fashion. Another case in point is PHYLAX SOCIETY, the eponym track which closes the album, a song in two parts, where a slo-mo club groove carries Sutja’s trademark singing to yet another level of uniqueness, with his surreal soundscapes, twisted melodies and everyday life sounds. An ode to humanity and an homage to the ones who are risking their lives every day in the mediterranean sea. It is rare to encounter an album which is immediately satisfying on one hand but also reveals more and more beautiful secrets with each listen. PHYLAX SOCIETY is clearly one of those special albums.

Hardcore techno, Tracker style. Banging high textures and Strange structures in order to provide a Core-Music accident ! Badass !

CORE sound to death with a superb speedcore tun to close the affair...