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Almost as soon as Σtella Chronopoulou began writing Adagio, her fifth album as Σtella, she knew the time had finally come to sing in Greek, her native tongue. It would be a first. She started the record almost by accident in 2019, during an 11-hour boat ride to the island of Anafi. Σtella had recently gone through a patch of personal turmoil and needed a break from home. On the ferry, she pulled out her cell phone as the boat clipped through the Mediterranean and began with a simple melody, steadily piecing together a rough instrumental. As psychedelic keyboards twinkled and swayed above staccato drums, the track suggested some deep exhalation, as if Σtella were letting go of long-unnecessary baggage. For a spell, she set the instrumental aside. She wasn’t ready yet, or in a rush. Σtella, after all, grew up in a slow place. During her youth in a relatively rural suburb of Athens, Greece, she and her friends played unfettered in empty streets, not worried about cars or permission, and living felt easy. But in the last decade life has steadily become busier for Σtella, now based in the heart of Athens. She has become one of modern Greece’s most popular musical exports, with three sophisticated, playful pop albums rendered with international élan. After her Sub Pop debut, Up and Away, in 2022, she catapulted beyond three million monthly Spotify listeners. That success was a blessing, but Σtella sometimes found herself pining for the slower pace of her youth. That longing is the thread that loosely binds together her fifth album, the entrancing Adagio. Borrowing its name from the term for music that’s meant to be played slowly, Adagio is a pop record that feels like a very warm blanket, its nylon-string guitars and featherlight percussion swaddling its listeners for three minutes at a time. Written and recorded over the span of five years, with a consortium of international collaborators including !!!’s Rafael Cohen and British songwriter Gabriel Stebbing, Adagio is a 27-minute meditation on love and desire, rest and time. Though the bulk of it is sung in English, Σtella delivers her first two songs in Greek here—“Omorfo Mou,” the one that began on the boat, and a cover of a 1969 cult classic of the Greek New Wave, Litsa Sakelariou’s “Ta Vimata.” It is a sign of the self-assurance that radiates throughout these tender and smitten little tunes. Start to finish, Σtella sounds more at ease and comfortable than she’s ever been on Adagio. These fetching songs will not slow her career or grant her that title track’s wish. But, for half an hour, Adagio adds a measure of warmth to the world, with time loosening its grip even if it doesn’t slow down.● Athens, Greece-based Σtella’s new album Adagio is a pop record that feels like a very warm blanket, its nylon-string guitars and featherlight percussion swaddling its listeners for three minutes at a time.● Features Rafael Cohen and British songwriter Gabriel Stebbing.• Σtella’s breakout hit “Charmed” from her 2022 album Up and Away has nearly 100 million streams, and was recently featured in the hit Max show Industry.• On Spotify, Σtella has 3.4 million followers, 66k monthly listeners.

Andrew Duhon has a knack for telling the kind of stories that clearly cost the writer something to tell- the kind of honesty that feels noble and never half hearted. When a song written by a stranger heals you, even in the smallest way, that's a connection beyond entertainment, and that is the journey Andrew Duhon sets out on from his home in Louisiana. His songs are about recognizing our story as much as they are about telling his, and his coast to coast pursuits have given him a clearer view of the American Landscape than most are privy to. Still, after years of voyaging off to every corner of the country, a new sensation arises with each return home to New Orleans. From that familiar return comes The Parish Record, a snapshot of life venturing from and returning to one of America's purest cultural vignettes, and the beauty, conflict, and stories that come with it. The Parish Record was recorded at Dockside Studios in Maurice, LA, where deep in Cajun country sits a wood-panel barn engulfed in oak and cypress trees along the slow butterscotch bayou pace of the Vermillion River. In this isolated hub of Acadiana, Andrew Duhon embarked with his trio of most trusted musicians - Myles Weeks (James Hunter Six, Eric Lindell) on Bass, Jim Kolacek (Feufollet) on Drums, and Daniel Walker (Heart, Ann Wilson, Amy Ray) on Keys - to harness of the sound and feeling of their surroundings. "I wanted this record to feel like home. It wasn't time to get out of town or try out something new on this one. It was about believing in the songs from where the songs came from," Duhon says.

Peter Matson is a Brooklyn, NY based musician, producer, DJ, and founder and leader of the seminal NYC post-punk dance outfit Underground System.

Hotel PMis the debut LP from Matson and third release with Bastard Jazz having released two EPs Short Trips in 2019 and The Right Way in 2022.

Album features a who's who of artists collaborating with Matson including Toribio, Kendra Morris, Pahua, The Phenomenal Hand Clap Band, and core members of The Rapture, Ibibio Sound Machine, Poolside, and Sly5thAve.

Including Bastard Jazz, Matson has released music with Soul Clap, planet e, Razor N Tape, Heist Recordings, Heavenly Sweetness, and Hell Yeah.

Recording, production and mixing by Ross Orton (M.I.A., Arctic Monkeys) and Ewan Pearson (Depeche Mode, Confidence Man) between London, Sheffield, UK, Mexico City and Oaxaca, Mexico and Peter's home of New York City.

Press, Radio, and Sync support include Apple Music's WWDC22 Keynote Speech, Rolling Stone, DJ Mag, NTS, Worldwide FM, BBC Radio 6, KCRW, Ibiza Global Radio and more.

16 GB Flash Drive, golden key USB.
Includes all the tracks on DUPLOC released since DUPLOC100 up to and including DUPLOC140.
183 unique tracks in WAV.
Individually numbered (edition of 300) with wooden box.

Das fünfte Album der Newcastler Riffzauberer Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs (aka PIGSx7) ist geprägt von kalkulierter Aggression und selbstzerfrleichenden Texten. Zu den verblüffenden Boni gehören verspielte Synthesizer-Arbeiten und der Auftritt eines Hip-Hop-Masters. Mit seinem Titel, der Absurdität und Ernsthaftigkeit einander gegenüberstellt, ist dies Death Hilarious. Während Land Of Sleeper von 2023 als immersives Kopfhörer-Erlebnis konzipiert war, strebten Pigs dieses Mal nach etwas direkterem, böseren. ,Wir wollten, dass es ein Schlag ins Gesicht ist", grinst Produzent und Gitarrist Sam Grant. Dieses Ziel kam zum Teil dadurch zustande, dass die Band in den letzten Jahren sooooo viele Gigs gespielt hat. Die Band fühlte sich gut geölt und reif dafür, den Zuhörern zu Hause die Art von Prügel zu verpassen, die ihr Publikum von der Bühne aus erhält. Death Hilarious bietet einige Überraschungen, vor allem der Track 'Glib Tongued', bei dem El-P von Run The Jewels als Gastmusiker mitwirkt. Als Bassist John-Michael Hedley unwissentlich das schrieb, was seine Bandkollegen als ihr Äquivalent zu einer Hip-Hop-Nummer betrachteten, setzten die Pigs ihre Ziele hoch an und sicherten sich einen fulminanten Beitrag von einem der größten Rapper der Welt. Das soll nicht heißen, dass Pigs zum Nu-Metal übergegangen sind. Death Hilarious ist eine abwechslungsreiches, straffes Album, das sich zwischen sabbathianischem Doom, grotesk minimalistischem Noise Rock und zyklischen Post-Metal-Fortissimos bewegt. Auch die Pigs treiben sich selbst weiter an. Unpassende Synthesizer-Soli tauchen dort auf, wo normalerweise Gitarren-Histrionik Platz hätte. Klaviertracks lauern im Mix und verleihen dem Klangstrudeln eine fast unterschwellige Tiefe. Stitches" ist wie Motörhead, die versuchen, Glamrock mit einem beschwipsten Keyboarder zu spielen. Und dann ist da noch das 100-Meilen-Tempo des Cosmic-Thrash-Openers ,Blockage". Verzerrte Licks fliegen aus den Verstärkern von Grant und Lead-Gitarrist Adam Ian Sykes, während die Rhythmusgruppe dahinter brutzelt. Mit all dieser Power, die durch die Adern fließt, wird Death Hilarious mit Leichtigkeit eines der besten Rockalben des Jahres 2025 sein... und das ist kein Witz!

Long time electronic innovator Denis Horvat returns with "Unfold" featuring Lilli Ellen on Vokabularium. Croatian born and Danish bred, Horvat has made his mark on the scene with always original sounds across the house, tech and minimal spectrum and has landed on plenty of key labels like Innervisions and Afterlife. Lilli Ellen is a 15 year old singer/songwriter talent who has already featured with Denis before on his label and also Armada Electronic. Ltd 100 coloured Vinyl!

Bugge Wesseltoft has long been a shaper of his own jazz idioms, through his diverse solo albums, his group projects such as New Conception of Jazz, OKWorld! and RYMDEN, and collaborations with artists such as Sidsel Endresen, Henning Kraggerud or Henrik Schwarz.

"Am Are" features special constellations of superb musicians that spans both generations and styles, and is an exploration of sonic textures, dynamic contrasts of mood and style, and ranges from sparse arrangements through to complex layers of dubs and loops and improvisational interplay.

The album begins with Bugge alone on "How?" with layers of undulating atmospheric synth, brought into focus by Bugge's piano at the forefront, creating a minimalist miniature that is both emotive and serene. For "Villrein" Bugge is joined by Elias Tafjord on drums, beginning with a santur-like synth figure, floating over ominous formant sci-fi bass synths bubbling and pulsing, and overlaid by phrenetic piano that only stops to lock into the santur figure before relaunching on its own journeys, all underpinned by Elias Tafjord's expressive drumming. "Is Anyone Listening?" demonstrate's Bugge's songcraft, layering muted percussive piano behind Rohey's distinctive and beautiful vocals punctuated by Martin Myhre Olsen's tenor saxophone, creating a soulful mood tinged with desperation.

"BAG" presents the first classic piano trio of the album - Bugge on piano and synths, Arild Andersen on bass, and Gard Nilssen on drums - announcing itself with an insistent riff, chattering drums, breaking into a progressive rock-style passage of bass and piano in unison. "Reel", the second track from this trio, is a mellow soundscape that evolves to become hazy urban downbeat jazz.

The second piano trio of Bugge (Rhodes and Korg MS20 synth), Sveinung Hovensjø (Electric Bass), and Jon Christensen (Drums and Bells) offers a completely different perspective. The first track "Render" features Bugge's Zawinul-esque Rhodes and monosynth leads, Sveinung's fuzz bass in something of a leading role, all carried with chattering gusto by Jon Christensen's dynamic drumming that brings texture and space as well as rhythm to the piece. "Vender" begins as an atmospheric piece, with reed organ-like synth washes, and octave-processed bass with a somewhat sitar-like tone, meandering until the track breaks down into drums and bass weaving around an insistent drum machine loop, dripping with synth pads and monosynth lead.

"JazzBasill" introduces the third piano trio - featuring Bugge (Piano), Jens Mikkel Madsen (Acoustic Bass) and Øyunn (Drums) - and offers a classic piano trio style with urban sophistication, that is lyrical, and interspersed with staccato cadences, giving a feeling of broken swing, slightly staggered yet driving forwards. The title track "AM ARE" is late night jazz, with baroque whispers, and distinctly melodic.

The final track, "Think Ahead" features the non-standard trio of Bugge (Piano/Organ), Oddrun Lilja (Guitar) and Sanskriti Shrestha (Tablas/Harp). Beginning with a minimalist piano figure, table, and sustained guitar, the track breaks down to a noise surge and ambient windscape, with guitar birds and abstract grinding, before returning to minimalist melodicism.

The shifting personnel across the album, as well as the three different studios in which it was recorded - Village Recording in Copenhagen, Rainbow Studios in Oslo, and his own Buggesroom Studio - creates a feeling of dynamic change and musical variety that is unified by Bugge's piano and keyboards. His playing moves between foreground, where he allows the music to elevate him, and background, where he move gently like a beneficent presence, tending to the demands of the spirit of the musical moments he has captured. It is an album powered by restless exploration and shaped by distinctive musical personalities; it is a journey through different moods, illuminated and brought into focus by Bugge's measured approach and guiding hand.

aya's incredibly inventive Hyperdub debut album im hole distilled the incisive sonic experimentation of her early run of releases, the tongue-in-cheek giggles of her DJ sets and radio show, and the identity-fluxing lyricism of her live shows into a delirious tug of war between pleasure and dysmorphia. The album was championed from all corners, 'Best New Music' in Pitchfork to Radio 6 DJ Maryanne Hobbs 'Album of the Year', followed by a run of incredible live shows which drew new listeners further into her world. hexed!, aya's second album, confronts the desperation and dysfunction of addiction. Internalised phobias and suppressed traumas haunt the corridors and golden hours once romanticised on 2021's im hole; daymares concealed by nocturnal afters-hopping and key bag circles. Opener `I am the pipe I hit myself with' exposes the gray portrait secreted somewhere between the 8th and 9th floors of her previous record. `I used to say some shit for sure', `I used to say it when I was me-less'. hexed! is about what happens when aya turns the lights on.

Foreigner's Double Vision album achieved success through a combination of well-crafted songs, strong songwriting, talented musicians, extensive radio airplay, and favorable timing within the music industry.

Double Vision, released in 1978, followed up the group's blockbuster debut with an album of FM mega-hits. Songs such as "Hot Blooded," "Double Vision," and "Blue Morning, Blue Day" became radio staples and resonated with a wide audience. Lou Gramm's powerful vocals and Mick Jones' guitar playing were key components of the band's sound, and their musical prowess was evident throughout the album.

The album peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart and earned platinum-selling certification just a week after its release, and now has marked 7x platinum for sales in excess of 7 million units. "Hot Blooded," reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In September, it was followed by "Double Vision," which charted at No. 2. This was the highest position Foreigner had attained to that time. The third and final single, "Blue Morning, Blue Day," was released in December and climbed to No. 15 on the chart.

Foreigner was known for their energetic live performances, and they toured extensively to promote Double Vision. Their live shows helped to further connect with fans and promote the album.

Analogue Productions is proud to offer the definitive reissue deluxe 45 RPM 2LP of Double Vision. For Foreigner fans, this is a can't-miss addition to your album collection.

“Trash Island” is the second collaborative mixtape from Drain Gang. It features the biggest hit in the Drain Gang catalogue “Western Union”, which has accumulated millions of streams on DSPs. Featuring Yung Lean alongside key DG members Bladee, Ecco2k and Thaiboy Digital, this title is hotly anticipated by the fanbase. This will be the first time the mixtape is available on vinyl.

Toy Tonics Music Berlin presents "Para Mytho Disco". The 2nd "Kapote" album of label founder and creative director Mathias Modica.
Keyboarder, DJ, producer, music nerd, graphic designer, multi-instrumentalist, sub-culture impressario and artist (formerly known as Munk of Gomma records.)

Kapote & Toy Tonics
In the last years Kapote was in the spotlight mainly for building the Toy Tonics label with his friends. Developing a platform for new positive quality dance music with a human touch. Toy Tonics is the opposite of the dark, druggy Techno and Trance sounds of the last years.
The warm inclusive music of Toy Tonics represents a new vibe that a young generation of diverse, stylish and culturally intersted generation of dancers loves now. Kapote's Toy Tonics became the key label for that vibe. (In 2024 Toy Tonics made 150 Toy Tonics events in 18 countries. With more than 150.000 people dancing. 90 millions streams on their music.)
Toy Tonics is more than a music label: It's a audio - visual universe. A community, almost a movement.
Based on a new positive attitude and aesthetic diversity. Mixing musicianship with DJ culture, analogue music with electronic, ideas from the past with sounds from now. To create something new. Connecting dance music with graphic design, art and underground fashion.
Kapote and his gang release vinyl, posters, shirts, art fanzines and make exhibitions and partys.

Toy Tonics started in Berlin as a underground niche project. But now became the key label of the new house, wild style disco and organic dance music scene.
Probably one of Berlin's biggest electronic music phenomena along with Keinemusik and Live from Earth.

It went fast: 2020 Kapote's crew started to make small parties in Berlin's off spaces. The "Toy Tonics Jams". The parties became "talk of the town", and Berlin clubs like Griesmühle and Panorama Bar invited the crew. Then international clubs and festival called. Toy Tonics were invited to SONAR (playing the mainstage with Kaytranada and DJ Tennis), KALA festival, Montreux Jazz festival.
Now TT has a residency at Panorama Bar Berlin and sold out events in Europe leading clubs like Phonox in London, Rex Club in Paris, Tunnel in Milan.
Toy Tonics now is the reference brand of a new generation of music loving dancers. Similar to Gomma records, Kapote's former label (2003 - 2015) that was one of the key labels of the "indie dance" scene of the Y2K years (along with DFA and Output Records).

Kapote created a multi-cultural movement with graphic designers, photographers, illustrators from the Berlin scene.
They publish the Toy Tonics Pocket Poster magazine, posters and design shirts. They organize the Toy Tonics Pop Up Galleries mixing music and art. In underground venues in Berlin and in new gallery spaces and museums around Europe.
Toy Tonics has been invited by Palais de Tokio museum in Paris, Triennale Museum Berlin, Design week Milano to create events.
The new Kapote album
The 12 tracks have a very own style. Based on dance music, but going much further. "Para Mytho Disco' is a futuristic mix of sounds. It's far away from the dark monotone techno and trance music from Kapote's hometown Berlin. Instead, he creates warm friendly atmospheres full of sonic colours and little musical surprises.
Kapote's knowlege of music history and his backround as a jazz piano student and son of classic music composer is clearly inside this music. Before turning into a DJ and electronic music producer he has been playing in bands since he was 13 years old.
The album is full of emotional chord progressions played by Kapote on various keyboards. Sometimes reminding music from the past, without being retro at all. The basslines and melodies are inspired by jazz fusion from the 1970ies. And he programmed syncopated grooves that come from afro-american dance music. There are influences from Japanese electronic music (Yellow Magic Orchestra), from 1980s Synthwave and from 1990s electronica (like Squarepusher and Luke Vibert).

Kapote plays keys, bass, flutes and percussions, he plays synth solos and sings on a few tracks. The complexity of the arrangements makes this music never boring. Lot of melodies and solos that catch the listener. Colourful soundscapes that make you want to listen or dance to this album more, and discover details also after you heard it several times.

Kapote background

Before starting Toy Tonics, Kapote used to run a label called Gomma. He produced four albums under the name Munk and music for other artists.
He produced music with Peaches, Franz Ferdinand founder Nick McCarthy, with New York street art legend The Rammellzee, Italian actress Asia Argento, the first three albums of WhoMadeWho and worked with LCD Soundsystem (listen to "Kick out the chairs", the Munk song with James Murphy )
In those "Gomma days" Kapote aka Munk was also one of the main DJs for VICE magazine parties and made music for art projects and fashion brands (Margiela, Prada, Colette).
In 2015 he stopped Munk and Gomma and started Toy Tonics. He found young producers and helped to develop their sound (Coeo, Cody Currie, Gee Lane, Barbara Boeing, Sam Ruffillo). Later he founded the sublabel Kryptox to release music by Berlin based bands that make new forms of jazz or neo classical sounds.

Under the name Kapote Mathias didnt release much:
Only his Kapote debut album "What it is" (2019) and an EP called "Electric Slide" (2022) and a collabo EP with Italian producer Sam Ruffillo ("Robot Salsa").

An although his Munk and Kapote music was an underground phenomena his music has always been a favourite of many great people from the scene.
Supported by DJs like Harvey, Chromeo, Moodymann, Jennifer Cardini, Gerd Janson, MYD, Andrew Weatherall to Blessed Madonna, Justice and Laurent Garnier… to name just a few.

KEY POINTS

• Collector Crystal Clear LP deluxe packaged – the very First reissue of the cult 11 track EP – Street Album from year 2000 by DJ Mehdi collecting his Espionnage adventures

• “DJ MEHDI : Made in France” : an Arte 6 episode exclusive serie about DJ Mehdi from September 12th ! DJ Mehdi was the one building bridges between french hip hop and electro, and becoming a key composer,producer and DJ. He was a game changer in himself, helping both french rap & electro scenes to rise in the late 90’s & early 200’s . 13 years after DJ Mehdi’s sudden death, his long-time friend and Director Thibaut de Longeville imagined & directed the serie, with archives materials & exclusive interviews and words from big names from Rap & Electro about their collaborations & relationships with DJ Mehdi.

SHORT BIOG

“Rather than a compilation, this record is a summary of what Espionnage has done in the past two years, from the rap 12”s, the instrumental 12”s to the remixes I was given the opportunity to do. The members of The Espionnage Sound System, Yvan from Double Pact included (even if he only appears here on the interlude betweeen “Camille Groult Starr (rmx)” and “Si Tu Savais (rmx)”), have been essential to the label’s development as a whole. The Chronowax Distribution staff has been equally vital to a structure primarily dedicated to independent vinyl production. By the way, I have to thank Ulysse Genet who, on top of lending his name to a track title, suggested the name “Espionnage” instead of “Le Cirque Disques” (which was my initial idea) and drew the first logo. Many thanks to my team : Olivier Rosset, Charlotte Dutoit, Thibaut de Longeville, Alexander Wise, the 360 Creative & Marketing teams, as well as X2N, Tom Kan, DJ Gilb’R, Roulé, Crydamoure, Benoît Blue Boy and his daughters Ludella and Amadine ; who have all contributed on one level or another to what this record is. Of course I can’t forget my family: the Essadis, Faveris, Gassamas, Majira (and their many relations) as well as my other family, the 113 Clan and the whole African Mafia and most particularly my group, Idéal J, for the respect and freedom with which they’ve let me express the somewhat unusual ideas I had about all of this”.
Peace, DJ Mehdi, NYC, March 29th 2000.

In their new album Bagola, Trio Da Kali present newly composed songs accompanied on balafon and ngoniba, that provide a rich accompaniment to the spectacular voice of Hawa Kasse Mady Diabaté. She inherits her singing style from her father, the late Kasse Mady Diabaté, who was widely recognized as one of Africa"s all-time greatest singers and won a Grammy nomination in 2004. Hawa"s voice has an exquisite purity and expressiveness, with a wide emotional range. She is equally at home in the lively, 9/8 rhythms of the title track Bagola, a light-hearted critique of men in Malian society, to the soulful Orpaillage, a song that laments the destruction of land from gold-panning. Orpaillage was in fact composed on the spot in the studio, reflecting the creative chemistry between these three musicians. The musical director of the trio is balafon (xylophone) player Lassana Diabaté, born in Guinea into a well-known family of balafon musicians. His remarkable dexterity on the balafon earned him a place in Toumani Diabaté"s Symmetric Orchestra, and later on in the group Afrocubism (featuring Eliades Ochoa). He has collaborated with many musicians, including bluesman Taj Mahal on the album Kulanjan. With two balafons of 22 rosewood keys each, tuned to play chromatic scales, Lassana Diabaté achieves a perfect balance of rhythm, melody, harmony and virtuosic embellishment. David Harrington, leader of Kronos Quartet, compares him to none other than JS Bach. Underpinning the balafon with compulsive groove, is the large ngoniba, played with brilliant musicality by Madou Kouyaté (son of Bassekou Kouyaté and member of his group Ngoniba). Madou, the youngest member of Trio Da Kali, also adds rich harmonies with his deep breathy voice to the songs. Trio Da Kali were founded in 2013 under the initiative of the Aga Khan Music Programme, with the help of three-times Grammy-nominated music producer Lucy Durán. The Trio first rose to international fame with their sublime album Ladilikan (World Circuit Records 2017), featuring an unprecedented and multi-award-winning collaboration with Kronos Quartet, the legendary classical string quartet from San Francisco. Bagola is a showcase of Trio Da Kali"s entrancing and unique sound, only equaled by their magical performances on stage.

2025 cassette edition, originally released in 2023 on 2CD/digital.

Recordings + booklet of the unveiling of »Katharina AW«, a relational artwork by Joris Martens. The unveiling event took place at St. Catharine’s Church in Hoogstraten - a city in the northeast of Belgium - on two Saturdays in May 2021.

While beholding the artwork, a woven tapestry, you listen to organ music by Miaux. Outside the church, you hear the carillon gurgle with music by Lieven Martens and town carillonneur Luc Dockx, prolonging the event into the public space.

Joris Martens created »Katharina AW« for the city hall of Hoogstraten. The tapestry now serves as an informal conversation starter in the conference room. Joris Martens is a multi-disciplinary artist and works in the field where applied arts and fine arts meet.

Miaux played her own compositions on the church organ. The songs appeared on the albums Black Space White Cloud, Hideaway, Dive and Gigi - released by Ultra Eczema, Lal Lal Lal, and Alien Passengers - and were originally written for electronic keyboard. Mia demonstrates that the church organ, which is normally used as an underscore for sadness or compelling thoughts, is a fitting instrument of connection. Through its resonance, we communicate our sounds.

Lieven Martens invented sketches for the carillon—by loading bird sounds into the computer program Melodyne, varying them and converting them to musical notes. As a nod to the religion crazy Olivier Messiaen, who considered the birds to be God’s chosen singers and songstresses. The trifles were translated on the carillon by town carillonneur Luc Dockx. The playing comes into and out of focus. In this way, Lieven creates a dreamscape and breaks with the dreary carillon as an instrument of power.

Luc Dockx studied church music at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven and the carillon at the Royal Carillon School in Mechelen. He is the city carillonneur of Hoogstraten since 2002. Dockx is an active practitioner of the art of improvisation on the carillon.

OHYUNG aka Lia Ouyang Rusli describes their new album as “my trans self and my former self in conversation, from both perspectives.” The record represents their lengthy, complicated, but crucial journey between lives, strewn with both doubt and excitement. It is an ecstatic, pop-oriented shift in direction from an artist primarily known for noise, experimental hip-hop, and ambient music, but carried with sleek confidence, maturity, and a silvery, hallucinogenic shimmer that reveals Rusli’s experimental background. It is, writes Rusli, “sometimes written from a dark place and other times from a place of happiness.” Throughout, darkness and light rise and fall in layers of phased strings, trip-hop drum production, and earworming vocal lines.

Also a film score composer, Rusli’s songwriting craft is meticulous and nuanced. You Are Always On My Mind was, perhaps surprisingly, formed primarily from processed “generic string loops” found in online sample packs - a strange and wilfully jarring reminder that what seems to be is not always what is. Recontextualised, these string loops enshadow the simplicity of their origins and reveal a grace and purposefulness perhaps not even imagined by their authors, subtly drawing out euphoria and tension in equal balance.

Rusli also writes of the influence of rave culture central to their transition, and of the record’s production and theme. “It’s a declaration of love for raves and the dark hazy rooms that helped me to be free and true with myself— seeing other people who are so free and beautiful and thinking that one day that can be me— that’s me in the future.” But there is also a fear and unease present. Key moment “no good” explores “the worst version of myself as a trans person, feeding doubt to my pre-transition self” with its core lyric anyone can see / I’m no good for you, delivered over a relentless beat, swooning strings, and glistening synthesis.

Later, “i swear that i could die rn” renders a Spectreish Motown beat lamenting and lush with breathy synths and knife-edge melodies that eventually yield a hazy, gliding string section, created again from mutated, spliced, and transitioned royalty-free sample packs. The track is about “seeing my beautiful friends at raves and feeling at home appreciating the harsh noises of hardcore techno and acid. Feeling that I could die at this moment and be happy.”

The band Unknown Mortal Orchestra sometimes enjoys making purely instrumental music. In addition to the vocal-based records they're more well-known for, they've also begun to make an instrumental series called the IC where they spend time in a chosen city and improvise and collaborate on non-vocal music. Recently the band spent time in Colombia to make music and initiate their new keyboard player Christian Li. The resulting sessions have become IC-02 Bogota, a musical document of the time they spent in that exciting city and the possible background music for some strange parties and night drives in your future.

'001-015' is a "best of" compilation celebrating the first 15 sample packs made by Frollen Music Library. Launching in late 2021, the sample house has since been featured in productions by ScHoolboy Q, Leon Thomas, Devin Malik and more. This retrospective "best of" traverses a wide range of styles and moods to appeal to every music enthusiast as well as producers and songwriters alike. Whether it's bouncing Hip Hop beats or evocative cinematic etudes, FML's 3- piece house band, comprising Henry Jenkins, Darvid Thor and Hudson Whitlock have a deep love and respect for many musical styles. FML'sdiverse catalogue takes cues from the 'Third Stream' composer David Axelrod, as well as drawing upon cinematic themes from 60's and 70's Italian film score composers a la Ennio Morricone and Riz Ortolani. There are 90's New York boom bap beats, as well as synthesiser music inspired by Tonto, , utilising a locally made synthesiser from Melbourne Instruments. Jenkins, Thor and Whitlock have been playing in bands and producing music for their local music scene for the last 15 years. Recording and performing with The Cactus Channel, Karate Boogaloo, Mo'Ju, Surprise Chef and many many more. Not only is this brand-new LP a great musical collage worthy of any music library enthusiast, but also functions as a tremendous sampler demonstrating the many styles of FML. Fast, slow, sweet AND sour!

'001-015' is a "best of" compilation celebrating the first 15 sample packs made by Frollen Music Library. Launching in late 2021, the sample house has since been featured in productions by ScHoolboy Q, Leon Thomas, Devin Malik and more. This retrospective "best of" traverses a wide range of styles and moods to appeal to every music enthusiast as well as producers and songwriters alike. Whether it's bouncing Hip Hop beats or evocative cinematic etudes, FML's 3- piece house band, comprising Henry Jenkins, Darvid Thor and Hudson Whitlock have a deep love and respect for many musical styles. FML'sdiverse catalogue takes cues from the 'Third Stream' composer David Axelrod, as well as drawing upon cinematic themes from 60's and 70's Italian film score composers a la Ennio Morricone and Riz Ortolani. There are 90's New York boom bap beats, as well as synthesiser music inspired by Tonto, , utilising a locally made synthesiser from Melbourne Instruments. Jenkins, Thor and Whitlock have been playing in bands and producing music for their local music scene for the last 15 years. Recording and performing with The Cactus Channel, Karate Boogaloo, Mo'Ju, Surprise Chef and many many more. Not only is this brand-new LP a great musical collage worthy of any music library enthusiast, but also functions as a tremendous sampler demonstrating the many styles of FML. Fast, slow, sweet AND sour!

On Chrystia Cabral's fourth album as SPELLLING, the Bay Area artist transforms her acclaimed avant-pop project into a mirror. Cabral's lyrics for Portrait of My Heart tackle love, intimacy, anxiety, and alienation, trading the allegorical approach of much of her previous work for something pointed into her human heart. The album's thematic forthrightness is echoed in its arrangements, making it the sharpest, most direct SPELLLING album to date. From the dark minimalism of her earliest music to the lavishly orchestrated prog-pop of 2021's The Turning Wheel to this newly energetic expression of her creative spirit, Cabral has proved again and again that SPELLLING can be whatever she needs it to be. The title track, with its propulsive drum groove and anthemic chorus of "I don't belong here," is the most potent embodiment of the album's turn toward emotional directness. Once the main melody emerged, Cabral used the song as a tool to process her anxiety as a performer and opted for a tighter, more rock-oriented composition. This transformation mirrors the album's broader shift toward energy and immediacy, driven by the core band of Wyatt Overson (guitar), Patrick Shelley (drums), and Giulio Xavier Cetto (bass), whose collaboration uncovers new contours of the SPELLLING sound. Cabral still writes and demos in isolation, but presenting the songs for Portrait of My Heart to her bandmates helped her discover their eventual lively, organic forms. So did working with a trio of producers_The Turning Wheel mixing engineer Drew Vandenberg, SZA collaborator Rob Bisel, and Yves Tumor producer Psymun. Key guest contributions further shape the album. Chaz Bear (Toro y Moi) delivers SPELLLING's first duet on "Mount Analogue," Turnstile guitarist Pat McCrory turns Cabral's original piano demo for "Alibi" into the crunchy, riff-y version that appears on the record, while Zulu's Braxton Marcellous gives "Drain" its sludgy heft. These parts aren't just incorporated seamlessly into the album; they feel like an integral part of its universe. Ultimately, though, Portrait of My Heart is nobody's record but Cabral's. She fearlessly draws the curtain back on parts of herself that she's never included in SPELLLING before_her feelings of being an outsider, her overly guarded nature, the way she can throw herself recklessly into intimate relationships and then cool on them just as quickly. "It's very much an open diary of all those sensations," she says.

Mess Esque is an Australian duo who sound like they literally dreamed themselves into being, made up of Helen Franzmann (McKisko) and Mick Turner (Dirty Three, Tren Brothers). The two enjoy moving at an unhurried pace, but what: here"s their third album in less than five years! "Jay Marie, Comfort Me" feels a hemisphere away from Mess Esque"s first efforts, and a whole new atmospheric level above. The duo began as a correspondence course in 2020, swapping tracks remotely between Melbourne and Brisbane to experiment with pairing Mick"s guitar, keys and loops with Helen"s ruminative vocals. Their third effort arrives after the two actualised into the same space - that is, touring and performing together! - but they"ve continued the absentee ballot as before, collaborating from some 800 miles apart to write another great album. One with an edge... rocking, we daresay! Along with Keeley Young and Kishore Ryan from the live band, the album features cellist Stephanie Arnold and a couple of Australia"s living legends of percussion: Bree van Reyk and Mick"s ol" Dirty Three partner-in-crime, Jim White.