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Jordon Alexander (pen name Mall Grab) brilliantly carved out his very own niche in dance music. Influenced by hardcore punk skateboarding and high fashion (Linea Rossa!) in equal parts the young Australian delivers precise studies in house and techno. As entertaining as they are excitatory there hasn’t been a bump on his road so far. Alexander’s debut for Running Back proves this point. How The Dogs Chill Vol.2 delivers four high octane tracks whose DNA contains traces of deep house and a penchant for atmospheric and dulcet melodies. But they are also muscle-bound soaring and cater to the aptitude of shaking legs. Written in 2022 while he was around the flora and fauna of Australia these tracks are also supposed to sound somewhat botanical – or at least evoke the sensory experience of a visit to a greenhouse. Carefully sequenced and crafted one is left with an appetite as soon as the playtime is over. Proper nutriment for party people and serious music pendants alike.

Billy Talent returns with Live at Festhalle Frankfurt, their first live album since 2007’s 666. The new album, produced by Juno Award nominee for Producer of the Year Ian D’sa and mixed by Juno Award winner Eric Ratz, sees the band perform 21 career spanning hits and was recorded this past November at the iconic German venue in front of a sold-out crowd. The 21-track set is slated for release digitally and on double disc CD on June 16, 2023 – with a vinyl pre order available now. The vinyl release is expected to ship to fans in late September. Following the release of Live at Festhalle Frankfurt, Billy Talent will drop several live videos from the show, culminating in a full-length concert film, directed by Dennis Dirksen that will premiere later this fall.

The last decade has seen a seismic shift in how people buy and play music, vinyl has returned to being the dominant physical format with CDs consigned to second fiddle. Things were very different back in 2012 when we compiled and released the eponymous "Cool Runnings" on CD only. The vinyl revival is a belated opportunity to give the band their first long playing record to complement that earlier CD release. Together for a dozen years, Cool Runnings were one of Bristol's longest lasting bands gigging throughout the 1980s, though their failure to gig beyond the West Country meant they were also one of the City's best kept musical secrets. Originally formed in Weston-Super-Mare by Keyboardist Mark Tuck and Guitarist George Condover, they immediately relocated to Bristol and recruited various local musicians including an experienced and talented singer, Winston Minott. Although "Robin Hoods of The Ghetto" was their solitary release, the band regularly recorded material throughout their career and fortunately thanks to the foresight of George and Mark in holding onto various master tapes, Bristol Archive Records were able to release the band's self-titled debut album "Cool Runnings" in 2012. For this vinyl release we've selected eight tracks recorded between 1983 and 1985 at various local studios, and a solitary live track to give an idea of why the band were so popular in person. Although their music leans towards the more mellow end of the market, Lovers Rock, music ideally suited to Winston's soulful voice, the band were more than capable of writing good roots tunes including the excellent "We Must Go Home", "Children of Zion" and "Robin Hoods of The Ghetto". Winston Minott had spent many years touring all over Europe with soul band The Invaders and many songs showcase his vocal talent, but a particular highlight has to be "Playhouse" an alternative recording of which can be found on "The Bristol Reggae Explosion Volume 3". Perhaps proper management would have seen Cool Runnings achieve the success and wider exposure that their combined talents and unique take on reggae undoubtedly deserved. Now thirty years after the members went their separate ways, Bristol Archive Records are pleased to finally release the vinyl album that if things had worked out differently should have appeared in the 1980s

NOAR is a young collective of enthusiasts in electronic music from Dresden.

The aim is to bring locals from dresden and eastern germany on the screen of like minded people. The scene is bursting with talents and audiophiles of several generations and therefore we want to give these talents a platform and make their output accessible to like-minded people.

‘Clone Scratch’ by Friedrich Ernst comes with a distinct electro vibe for build ups in a club and vocals in dreamy watery manner reminds us what’s up to us.

‘locknr01’ by The Isolator gives us a cold industrial goosebumps. A whole factory is under pressure performing that straight electro tune while heavy strings foreshadow its collapse. Here and there screws turn out of the steel beams, soft like bubbles. You have to take cover to avoid being shot.

A3 by Anachronism follows straight up. ‘Lost Control by Distance’ shows us what unconsciousness feels like. In this breakbeat thunderstorm we are sitting in a crashing airplane not quite ready for what's coming next.

With ‘Establishment’ the thunderstorm lightens and suddenly soft sunrays from Planetary Secrets come through the cloud cover. You are dreaming with soft melodies warming up your face while your body is moving to uk influenced breakbeat.

The duo KAWA KAWA is making their release debut with B2. This track clearly serves you on peak times with lovely and rough vocals while its energy easily lets you understand what a desire means.

The EP is finished with a fast electro belter from Otis Key. With it’s minimalistic approach
‘Copy Natural Processes at the Nanoscale’ lets you dive into the grid of existence with your electron microscope. From time to time you can see light coming from underneath with cold strings layered between the rhythm.
Dude what if...Is it… the matrix?

Cover versions of international songs have long thrived in South Africa’s music industry. Often unable to license the original tracks (until the early 90s the result of an international boycott of the country) labels instead hired producers and session artists to re-record them for the local market. Early house music in SA was no different.

When Ron ‘Robot’ Friedman, former bass player for local rockers Rabbitt, was winding down his label On Records in the early 90s, he reached out for new inspiration as the popularity of ‘bubblegum’ disco waned. For one of the label’s final releases he hired young DJ/producer Quentin Foster, obsessed with the new soulful house sound coming out of the US, to take the reins on a studio project dubbed Citi Express.

On Robot’s insistence it included a cover of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Living for the City’ (from 1973’s Innervisions) as the title track. Foster set to work in his home studio, dubbed Tone Def, selecting and re-working other US and UK tracks — ‘It’s Too Late’ (originally released in 1989 by Kelli Sae), ‘Love is the Message’ (influenced by the 70s soul anthem and credited to Gamble & Huff but bearing a closer resemblance to Better Days’ 1990 release written by Steve Proctor), ‘People of The World’ (recorded by Sorell Johnson in the UK in 1990) and ‘Victim of Your Love’ (released in 1990 by Gary Vonqwest as ‘Victim of Love’) — adding some signature South African touches in the process that foreshadow the imminent rise of kwaito. One original composition was added for good measure, ‘Open Invitation’.

The result offers a glimpse into those early days of house, a uniquely South African take on a global sound that still resonates today — reissued for the first time on Afrosynth Records.

The story of the invention of the term, 'deepfunk' is probably only known among fans and practitioners of this niche-genre. In short, it all started in the 1990s when DJs like Keb Darge, Mark 'Snowboy' Cotgrove and others began spinning obscure and feral Funk 45 RPM singles from local American bands, ostensibly generating another sub-category branch off of the mighty Northern Soul tree. The dance-club phenomenon inevitably spilled over to contemporary groups on the funk scene which immediately tried to record their music the way their idols did. The 'rare groove' and 'acid jazz' movements had run their course and there was a concerted effort to reinstate primitive idiomatic styles and techniques into the music, most notably by 90s funk collective The Poets of Rhythm. As more years passed by the number of bands steadily increased (although in tiny numbers, compared to the mainstream market). Almost every country had a representative with the majority of them coming from the United Kingdom. The deepfunk sound was still a niche, however a very few bands made it onto the mainstream charts, most notably Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings.

At the height of the retro-soul movement a questionable development took place. As more bands arrived on the scene, the production became more and more polished and pop-ish. Some of that squeaky-clean tidiness began to creep into the recordings, encouraged in part by the signature sounds of the digital recording technology available at that time. Some bands even tried to jump onto the possibility of promoting their music as 'deepfunk' although they were actually playing slick, funky pop music. This way some people who thought they were listening to raw, energetic funk actually felt quite ambushed when hit with real deepfunk. In fact, a certain percentage of funk music produced within the past 20 years does not deserve to be described as 'deepfunk' at all. Fortunately there were (and are) some pleasant exceptions which did not just imitate but actually rendered amazing funk music just like some of the finest funk combos of the 1960s and 70s.

One of those creative minds is without a doubt Joel Ricci aka Lucky Brown. Originally from Seattle, Washington, USA, he has enriched the deepfunk community since the mid-2000s with his stellar abilities. He is not only an amazing musician playing multiple instruments, but also a brilliant composer, arranger, and producer too. But for us here at Tramp he is much more, a close friend and remarkable human being. Whenever we were struggling, whether with the label or in private life, Joel and his musical work helped us to overcome everything and to keep going our path.

So here we are in 2023. The songs you are listening to right now are the complete Space Dream collection, split into two parts, representing the two living-room recording sessions from which his 2011 Tramp Records debut was compiled. Each fully remastered album contains unreleased material and comes with brand new, beautifully reimagined artwork by Ricci himself, housed in an authentic 1960s tip-on cover. A first class product from a first class musician for the discerning funk enthusiast.

The story of the invention of the term, 'deepfunk' is probably only known among fans and practitioners of this niche-genre. In short, it all started in the 1990s when DJs like Keb Darge, Mark 'Snowboy' Cotgrove and others began spinning obscure and feral Funk 45 RPM singles from local American bands, ostensibly generating another sub-category branch off of the mighty Northern Soul tree. The dance-club phenomenon inevitably spilled over to contemporary groups on the funk scene which immediately tried to record their music the way their idols did. The 'rare groove' and 'acid jazz' movements had run their course and there was a concerted effort to reinstate primitive idiomatic styles and techniques into the music, most notably by 90s funk collective The Poets of Rhythm. As more years passed by the number of bands steadily increased (although in tiny numbers, compared to the mainstream market). Almost every country had a representative with the majority of them coming from the United Kingdom. The deepfunk sound was still a niche, however a very few bands made it onto the mainstream charts, most notably Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings.

At the height of the retro-soul movement a questionable development took place. As more bands arrived on the scene, the production became more and more polished and pop-ish. Some of that squeaky-clean tidiness began to creep into the recordings, encouraged in part by the signature sounds of the digital recording technology available at that time. Some bands even tried to jump onto the possibility of promoting their music as 'deepfunk' although they were actually playing slick, funky pop music. This way some people who thought they were listening to raw, energetic funk actually felt quite ambushed when hit with real deepfunk. In fact, a certain percentage of funk music produced within the past 20 years does not deserve to be described as 'deepfunk' at all. Fortunately there were (and are) some pleasant exceptions which did not just imitate but actually rendered amazing funk music just like some of the finest funk combos of the 1960s and 70s.

One of those creative minds is without a doubt Joel Ricci aka Lucky Brown. Originally from Seattle, Washington, USA, he has enriched the deepfunk community since the mid-2000s with his stellar abilities. He is not only an amazing musician playing multiple instruments, but also a brilliant composer, arranger, and producer too. But for us here at Tramp he is much more, a close friend and remarkable human being. Whenever we were struggling, whether with the label or in private life, Joel and his musical work helped us to overcome everything and to keep going our path.

So here we are in 2023. The songs you are listening to right now are the complete Space Dream collection, split into two parts, representing the two living-room recording sessions from which his 2011 Tramp Records debut was compiled. Each fully remastered album contains unreleased material and comes with brand new, beautifully reimagined artwork by Ricci himself, housed in an authentic 1960s tip-on cover. A first class product from a first class musician for the discerning funk enthusiast.

Explosions In The Sky haben ihr erstes Album seit sieben Jahren angekündigt! “End” erscheint am 15. September über Bella Union. Die erfreuliche Meldung erfolgt zeitgleich mit der Veröffentlichung des Eröffnungsstücks “Ten Billion People” und der Ankündigung einer ausgedehnten Tour, die die Band auch im November nach Deutschland bringt.

Sometimes, Mitski says, it feels like life would be easier without hope, or a soul, or love. But when she closes her eyes and thinks about what's truly hers, what can't be repossessed or demolished, she sees love. "The best thing I ever did in my life was to love people," Mitski says. "I wish I could leave behind all the love I have, after I die, so that I can shine all this goodness, all this good love that I've created onto other people." She hopes her newest album, The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We, will continue to shine that love long after she's gone. Listening to it, that's precisely how it feels: like a love that's haunting the land. "This is my most American album," Mitski says about her seventh record, and the music feels like a profound act of witnessing this country, in all of its private sorrows and painful contradictions. In this album, which is sonically Mitski's most expansive, epic, and wise, the songs seem to be introducing wounds and then actively healing them. Here, love is time- traveling to bless our tender days, like the light from a distant star. The album is full of the ache of the grown- up, seemingly mundane heartbreaks and joys that are often unsung but feel enormous. It's a tiny epic. From the bottom of a glass, to a driveway slushy with memory and snow, to a freight train barreling through the Midwest, and all the way to the moon, it feels like everything, and everyone, is crying out, screaming in pain, arching towards love. Love is that inhospitable land, beckoning us and then rejecting us. To love this place _ this earth, this America, this body _ takes active work. It might be impossible. The best things are.

Sometimes, Mitski says, it feels like life would be easier without hope, or a soul, or love. But when she closes her eyes and thinks about what's truly hers, what can't be repossessed or demolished, she sees love. "The best thing I ever did in my life was to love people," Mitski says. "I wish I could leave behind all the love I have, after I die, so that I can shine all this goodness, all this good love that I've created onto other people." She hopes her newest album, The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We, will continue to shine that love long after she's gone. Listening to it, that's precisely how it feels: like a love that's haunting the land. "This is my most American album," Mitski says about her seventh record, and the music feels like a profound act of witnessing this country, in all of its private sorrows and painful contradictions. In this album, which is sonically Mitski's most expansive, epic, and wise, the songs seem to be introducing wounds and then actively healing them. Here, love is time- traveling to bless our tender days, like the light from a distant star. The album is full of the ache of the grown- up, seemingly mundane heartbreaks and joys that are often unsung but feel enormous. It's a tiny epic. From the bottom of a glass, to a driveway slushy with memory and snow, to a freight train barreling through the Midwest, and all the way to the moon, it feels like everything, and everyone, is crying out, screaming in pain, arching towards love. Love is that inhospitable land, beckoning us and then rejecting us. To love this place _ this earth, this America, this body _ takes active work. It might be impossible. The best things are.

Sometimes, Mitski says, it feels like life would be easier without hope, or a soul, or love. But when she closes her eyes and thinks about what's truly hers, what can't be repossessed or demolished, she sees love. "The best thing I ever did in my life was to love people," Mitski says. "I wish I could leave behind all the love I have, after I die, so that I can shine all this goodness, all this good love that I've created onto other people." She hopes her newest album, The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We, will continue to shine that love long after she's gone. Listening to it, that's precisely how it feels: like a love that's haunting the land. "This is my most American album," Mitski says about her seventh record, and the music feels like a profound act of witnessing this country, in all of its private sorrows and painful contradictions. In this album, which is sonically Mitski's most expansive, epic, and wise, the songs seem to be introducing wounds and then actively healing them. Here, love is time- traveling to bless our tender days, like the light from a distant star. The album is full of the ache of the grown- up, seemingly mundane heartbreaks and joys that are often unsung but feel enormous. It's a tiny epic. From the bottom of a glass, to a driveway slushy with memory and snow, to a freight train barreling through the Midwest, and all the way to the moon, it feels like everything, and everyone, is crying out, screaming in pain, arching towards love. Love is that inhospitable land, beckoning us and then rejecting us. To love this place _ this earth, this America, this body _ takes active work. It might be impossible. The best things are.

It’s been nearly eight years since the last Mondo Drag album came out. In that time, the Bay Area psych-prog band toured the US and Europe, performed at major festivals and—once again—reformed their rhythm section. But in the context of the band’s nearly two-decade existence, this period may have been the most fraught. Vocalist and keyboardist John Gamiño lost friends and family members. Meanwhile, humanity suffered the throes of a global pandemic. “It was a dark chapter,” he recalls. “I was going through a lot of stuff personally—there’s been a lot of death, loss of family members, and grief. Plus, the band was inactive. It felt like time was slipping away from me. I felt like I was wasting my opportunities. I felt like I wasn’t participating in my story as much as I could have.” This feeling of time slipping away is the prevailing theme on Mondo Drag’s new album, Through the Hourglass. “For me, Through the Hourglass really encompasses the quarantine/pandemic years,” Gamiño says. “But in a way that includes a couple of years before that for us, because the band was stagnant during that time. Living with that was really impactful on our daily lives. So, the album is reflective. It’s looking at time—past, present, future.” Luckily, Mondo Drag emerged from this dour period reborn. Freshly energized by bassist Conor Riley (formerly of San Diego psych squad Astra, currently of Birth), who joined in 2018, and drummer Jimmy Perez, who joined in 2022, Gamiño and guitarists Jake Sheley and Nolan Girard have triumphed over the seemingly inexorable pull of time’s passage. “Astra was the one contemporary band that we felt was on the same tip as us,” Gamiño says. “We saw the similarities and felt the same vibe. Conor moved to San Francisco in 2018 and heard we were looking for a bassist, so we got in touch. For us, it was like, ‘The synth player from Astra wants to play bass for us?’ We couldn’t think of anybody more perfect.” Perez, meanwhile, brings deep psych-prog knowledge and impeccable skill. “He’s an amazing drummer, and he allowed us to do what we’ve been trying to do,” Gamiño says. “Before he came along, it was like, ‘Where are the drummers who like psych and prog and can play dynamically?’ We ended up trying out metal drummers, but they couldn’t swing. Jimmy was the final piece of the puzzle.” The result is a dazzling and often plaintive rumination on the hours, days, and years—not to mention experiences—that comprise a lifetime. Two-part opener “Burning Daylight” smolders with melancholy, offering a whirl of multi-colored and hallucinatory imagery. “It’s about the California wildfires and a feeling of helplessness,” Gamiño explains. “There’s a juxtaposition between the dark lyricism and upbeat music which is meant to imply a sort of delusional state—and choosing our own delusion to overcome the crushing despair of reality.” Eleven-minute centerpiece “Passages” is a sprawling prog-rock adventure, festooned with lofty guitar melodies, sweeping organ flourishes and a delicately finger-picked outro. But the heaviest song, thematically speaking, might be the mournful and hypnotic “Death in Spring,” which borrows its title from the like-named Catalan novel. “In the novel, people are placed inside opened trees and their mouths filled with cement before they die to prevent their souls from escaping,” Gamiño explains. “The song is about three people I knew who lost their lives to gun violence, addiction, and mental health. It’s my way of cementing their souls in song form.” Mondo Drag fans might be surprised by this blend of hard reality with literary surrealism, but it’s a perfect example of how the last several years have impacted Mondo Drag—and Gamiño in particular. “On all of our previous albums, the lyrical content is more psychedelic and out there,” he acknowledges. “This is the most personal stuff I’ve ever done, so I’m definitely feeling vulnerable on this one.” The title Through the Hourglass comes from the opening of the long-running soap opera Days of Our Lives. It’s less inspired by a predilection for daytime TV than Gamiño’s connection with his late mother, who passed during the time since the last album. “I used to watch Days of Our Lives with her everyday growing up,” he explains. “The song is kind of a reinterpretation of the theme song, although it’s different enough that probably no one will catch it. Now that I’m getting older, I like to put these little Easter eggs in the songs for myself and for archival purposes—for memories.” Through the Hourglass was tracked at El Studio in San Francisco, with an additional ten days of recording at the band’s rehearsal space, which doubles as a hybrid analog-digital recording studio. The album was engineered and mixed by Phil Becker, drummer of space-punk mainstays Pins Of Light. “We’re still here,” Gamiño says. “We’ve been in the studio working on our craft and honing our skills. Now we’re re-emerging for the next stage of our life cycle.”

After a meteoric rise over the past decade, acclaimed Australian rapper Iggy Azalea drops the third and (possibly) final album, The End of an Era. Signifying a time to potentially take a step back from music, Iggy surely doesn't go out without a bang. With standout hits such as "Brazil," "Iam The Stripclub," & "Sex on the Beach (feat. Sophia Scott)," the 14 track album is filled with bangers returning to the sound of her mixtape roots. Features include BIA, Sophia Scott & Ellise.

After a meteoric rise over the past decade, acclaimed Australian rapper Iggy Azalea drops the third and (possibly) final album, The End of an Era. Signifying a time to potentially take a step back from music, Iggy surely doesn't go out without a bang. With standout hits such as "Brazil," "Iam The Stripclub," & "Sex on the Beach (feat. Sophia Scott)," the 14 track album is filled with bangers returning to the sound of her mixtape roots. Features include BIA, Sophia Scott & Ellise.

Hammered Hulls' debut LP, Careening, may very well be the last record to be recorded and mixed at the famed Washington, D.C. area recording studio, Inner Ear. Engineered by studio owner Don Zientara and produced by Ian MacKaye, Careening was started right before the pandemic lockdown and completed in summer/fall of 2021.

A new band of long-time players, Hammered Hulls' music hews close to some of their early influences. Alec MacKaye is the voice, Mark Cisneros is the guitarist, Mary Timony takes a nimble and rarely-heard turn as bassist, and Chris Wilson commands the drums. Each of them bring their individual imprint to the total sound. This concussion of strength upon strength, unified by vulnerable songs, only barely contained, is the signature sound of Hammered Hulls.

Nonesuch releases Sorry I Haven’t Called, the new album by Vagabon, the moniker of Lætitia Tamko. Co-produced by Tamko and Rostam (Vampire Weekend, Haim, Clairo), it finds Tamko reinventing herself once again and features the most playful and adventurous music of her career, as evidenced by its lead track and opening song ‘Can I Talk My Shit?’. Vagabon has also announced an autumn tour that includes a headline run in the US, as well as European dates with Weyes Blood.



“I didn’t feel like being introspective,” says Tamko of her new album. “I just wanted to have fun.” Following her intimate 2017 debut Infinite Worlds, the New York artist favoured expansive and evocative electronic textures in her breakthrough 2019 self-titled follow-up. But her latest album feels like a wholly new era for Tamko, one that’s transformational and uncompromising. Across 12 vibrant tracks she wrote and produced primarily in Germany, she channels dance music and effervescent pop through her own confident sensibilities. These conversational songs are alive and unselfconscious, a document of an artist fully embracing her vision and reclaiming her joy.



The first words she sings on the album are, “Can I talk my shit? / I got way too high for this.” It’s a statement of purpose for the rest of the album that this is an unapologetic artist. “This whole record is how I talk to my friends and how to talk to my lovers,” says Tamko. “I think honesty and conversational songwriting can become poetry. There’s beauty in plainly speaking without metaphors and without flowery imagery.”



The story of Sorry I Haven’t Called started in grief after Tamko’s best friend died in 2021. This devastating and unexpected loss unmoored Tamko but also gave her a newfound clarity. “The things that I thought I cared about, I no longer cared about,” she says. “I had a realization that I need to make sure to feel everything that comes my way.” She decided to sell her things and move to a small lakeside village a few hours north of Hamburg in northern Germany to process everything. “There's no linear path to grief, and everyone handles it differently, but uprooting my life just felt like exactly what I had to do,” says Tamko. “I needed a place to think and go through my discomfort privately but to also explore the newness and urgency I was feeling in my life.” In the village, her phone didn’t work and there were no close grocery stores or restaurants, so she spent her time alone working on music.



Despite the palpable absence in her life, her new songs were her most disarming and ebullient yet. The first one she wrote was ‘Carpenter’, a mesmerizing track anchored by a tangible bass groove, where she sings, “I wasn’t ready to move on out / but I'm more ready now.” It’s a fully-realised track and feels like the culmination of her catalogue so far. “A lot of the music that I was making there had nothing to do with my grief at all,” says Tamko. “Once I gave myself permission to make a record that's full of life and energy, I realized that’s the point of this album. In the midst of going through all of these tough things, it became a record because of the vitality that these songs had.” For Tamko, there’s power in pursuing happiness.



While writing in Germany, Tamko nurtured her love for dance music and let it seep into her new songs. “The only things that were giving me access to a feeling were dance music and going to a rave in an extremely dark club where if I wanted to cry, I could do it and be around other people,” she says.



After a few months in Germany that included marathon writing sessions and a whirlwind romance, Tamko decided to stay with friends in Los Angeles and finish her record. She enlisted co-producer Rostam to help her unify her vision.



Sorry I Haven’t Called is a warm and resilient album about embracing the ecstatic moments wherever you can by knowing how you love and how you mourn. It’s an album born of both communal dancefloor revelations and the clarifying peace from solitude, an emotional rebirth as well as an artistic one. “This record feels like what I've been working towards,” says Tamko. “When I think of this album, I think of playfulness. It's completely euphoric. It's because things were dark that this record is so full of life and energy. It’s a reaction to what I was experiencing at the time, not a document of it.”

BOTANICA is the newly established Japanese label created by DJ/ Producer, Iori Wakasa. It was formed for him to utilize it as a foundation for the realization of his own unique, artistic expression.
And now, he has the pleasure to announce his label’s inaugural title with the release of his own BOTANICA EP.

Born in 1988 in a rural Japanese city surrounded by mountains and the sea with a mild climate, Iori grew up playing RPGs with a father who was a devoted game aficionado. And he was introduced to electronic music through game music from an early age and formed his musical sensibilities through playing the classical piano around the same time.

Influenced by the spirituality and idiosyncrasies of punk rock and ethnic and indigenous music in his youth, also gradually influenced by the Tokyo club scene and the music, it didn't take him long before
he made the choice to start DJing at the age of 17 and soon afterwards, started exploring the path of music production as a form of self-expression.

Iori set up Botanica to convey 2 main concepts of 'presenting music that provides each listener with their own viewpoint' and ‘to construct a fusion between 'nature' and 'man-made objects and human
activity’. Through the experience of traveling around Japan, Europe and Asia and connecting with people of different languages and cultures, he became to appreciate that music transcends all languages and grooves, and the framework in which he would like to shape his perspective and embody it as his way of life is what he envisions as the vital expression for BOTANICA, The two tracks and the artwork included in this first EP are the first steps towards hopefully chronicling the story of the vortex that he resides in now and the new forest that he plans to weave in the future with his label.

'The Pure Land' means in Japanese 'Gokuraku-Jodo (= a space where you can live in bliss)', but in English it is closer to 'utopia' or 'paradise'. However, 'The Pure Land' is a musical work that evokes a
hypnotic and pleasant euphoria through the gradual layering of multiple rhythms and soft particles of spatial sound design. It is also shaped with the aim of liberating the listener and guiding them towards their primal self.

In contrast, 'Lunar Down' expresses the changes that occur in the human state of mind during the extended period from moonrise to moonset especially when the moon sets from its zenith and is completed with a focus on maximum dance floor impact via an inner voice that resonates in the brain that echoes throughout a well-textured bass line and rhythm track.

The artwork for the front cover of this EP was created by SHINOZAKI HILOSHI, an illustrator who has been traveling and painting to express his true way of life that he learnt in the 10+ years of commuting between Tokyo (the end) and the Hawaii Islands (the beginning), and the graphic designer hiro, who stands by Iori`s side as his life partner and as the person who understands him the best. Iori`s first steps are complemented by the label design and art direction by graphic designer hiro, who stands by his side as his life partner and most understanding partner, and the proof is the physical cut, which is presented as the foundation for the future.

Every once in a while, a library record's absurd level of perfection will be enough to throw up your hands and pack it all in. "How will I ever find this record in the wild?!", you may despair. And, yes, up until now, Michel Gonet's Phasing News Volume 2 was such a work of this ridiculous standard. Not just hyper-rare, but hyper-brilliant. Its high points transcend the "library" genre. This is a record that has always been so so hot on secondary markets. And it's easy to hear why! It's a big big French library classic with mad crazy demand.

Opening with "Mondial Scoop (Number III)", it continues on from where the dramatic tracks of Phasing News Volume 1 left off. The group of "Phasing Percussions" get under your skin, sample material for days here. "Phasing Leitmotive A" and "Phasing Leitmotive B" hypnotise with their analogue synth loops. Yet it's "Phasing March", closing out the side, that is absolutely sensational. Timpani drums merge with open breaks making for an irresistible neck-snapping tour de force.

Side B starts with "Devil Dance A", an unbelievably infectious bass instrumental whilst "Devil Dance B" adds more percussion and bass flourishes and is all the more funky for it.

And now for the main event. "Flower Dance A". What can we even say? An instantly captivating, sparkling keys loop and glittering percussion neatly arranged atop a very strong bassline and drums, all lean and potent. The melody was lifted wholesale by The Soulsavers for "Rumblefish" back in 2002 and you can't really blame them. "Flower Dance B" removes the bassline for a lighter feel but that loop still burrows inside your brain. It's perfect.

"Happy Smith (Number II)" was used by Madlib for Erykah's "My People" (!!!) whilst the set closes out with a group of tense, phased workouts.

The audio for Phasing News Volume 2 has been remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring this release sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the original, iconic Tele Music house sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

The album features 15 tracks, showcasing Bastien’s truly cinematic sound while exploring new sonic territories. The album touches on the melancholic funk drifting between voiceovers of longing and hurt, through surreal, hallucinogenic folk ballads. It’s the juxtaposition of these genres sewn together with ambient synth skits that really makes the album a musical journey. Playful and serious, as the album title suggests, Bastien manages to induce a rye smile with a tear in the eye.


In Seb’s words, “The album tells the story of a failed relationship, as the man narrators missing his other. Whilst he imagines her comforting him, before accepting the end of the relationship, and feeling that the love he feels, she never did.”

Sharing common ground with luminaries such as David Axlerod, Kate Bush, Roy Orbison, Madlib and The Delfonics; Keb plays guitar, trumpet, bass, drums, piano, flute and more Keb’s writing and recording approach is slightly unique. He explains a little about how his records sound the way they do...

“I have a lo-fi approach to recording, for me it’s about the moment, all my records are time capsules of a certain time in my life, so the sound of the recording is secondary. It’s all about heart, that’s all I’m interested in. If I get a melody I have to record it asap, if the mic isn’t plugged in I use the macbook mic, if I’m not by the computer I’ll record into my phone.

For me personally using/sampling other peoples music isn’t making your own music, using your own soul, showing your own heart, it's just my personal opinion. It’s not right for me. No slur on those that do. If there are any samples on my records, it’s me sampling me. For me, this means the music is mine. It’s ‘of me’. That’s really important for me, because I feel that’s where the honesty is. If my music sounds ‘dusty’, that’s why”.

This approach provides us with a wonderfully inclusive record. The album feels almost ‘performed’ to us, live, on each listen. Coupled with Bastien’s capacity to write music which is almost visual, the album is quite enveloping.

Bastien returns to Def Pressé with this new album after the brilliant, Holy Mountain. Released under the name Grandamme, with friend and collaborator Claudia Kane.