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Swing Family's Music Force is dramatic mid-80s synth-funk. From the maverick mind of Sauveur Mallia, it's a thrilling and uniquely brilliant album from start to finish. It's undoubtedly known and revered for its unbelievable standout track, "Mission Africa". Those that know, know. And if you don't know, get to know. It's the reason this record has been hugely sought-after for the best part of two decades. Originally released on Tele Music in France in 1985 but now tear-inducingly rare, this is the definition of "a welcome reissue."

Swing Family is basically a supergroup of French Funk royalty. Led by French disco lord and Arpadys maestro Sauveur Mallia, they were augmented by trombonist Alex Perdigon from legendary French funk rock collective Godchild, trumpeter Kako Bessot from funky fusion group Synthesis and saxophonist Pierre Holassian, a member of Giant, Janko Nilovic's French jazz orchestra. So, about as heavyweight as it gets for funky French goodness. Mallia handles, of course, bass duties throughout, as well as utilising his arsenal of synths including his E-mu, Yamaha Dx7, Roland MSQ 700, Mini Moog and Oberheimm.

The maximalist disco fusion of "Exorcistor" is perhaps a bit too 80s French cheese for most tastes, so either linger on its singular style or head straight to the soundtracky typo-funk of "Greewich Boulevard". A deep, swaggering powerhouse, it comes on like mid-80s Chic jamming on the set of Beverly Hills Cop with Kashif. Yes, *that* good. It's followed by the vital "Music Force", a synthy, sleazy instrumental full of sax and flute and those 80s drum fills. Just the right side of acceptable.

OR! You can even choose to forget all the rest and just stick "Mission Africa" straight on. A rumbling, strutting, afro-cosmic low-profile banger. The slick drums hit hard, the synth strings warm things up, overlapping horns add swagger whilst electric guitar flourishes and a chanted refrain sit in the mix quite perfectly. A track that's almost impossible to describe and do justice to. You just need to hear it. Preferably as you saunter into your favourite after-hours club, after spotting all your friends at once, as you cut a swathe to the bubbling dance floor. A track quite like no other, it makes you sit up within its first bars and, to us at least, sound like something you'd have heard on a Print Thomas mix from the mid 00s. Basically, it's cosmo-galactic.

The B Side opens with "Musical Stars", an oh-so-80s funk-lite track which, at times, sounds like something Daft Punk may have left on the cutting room floor during their Discovery sessions. Another unimpeachable favourite of ours is the druggy brilliance of "Gentleman & Musician". You can almost hear the white powder through the speakers, as soaring, acidy synths, slick, heavy beats and the irresistible interplay of the primo horn players create a real sleazy wonder. "Film Action" follows, a galloping horn-heavy synth romp with moments of extreme bass breakdown brilliance before the drama-synths of "Episode Double" take things up another notch as it oscillates between gorgeous funky horns and urgent bleepy magic. Super tense, super funky and super stylish. Just ace. The elctro-tinged horn workout "Fatal Lady" closes things out majestically.

The audio for Music Force has been remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring the punch of Sauveur's bass and those sick drums come through to the fullest. Pete Norman’s expert skills has made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the original and iconic sleeve - complete with perky Liberty Belle - has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

smokey vinyl

French label and promoter Much More recordings is proud to present the first vinyl our collection.

This vinyl features 6 tracks ranging from breaks to techno and passing by acid and electronica, designed for soundsystem and anchored in their proper original and analogic techno sound.

We believe that redefining the essence of the genre is now critical. After years of promoting parties in Paris and Europe, Much More has gathered artists considered to be the essence of techno. Artists who know how to turn knobs without screens.

They continue to make the mob sweat on the dance-floor, with a simple at first yet efficient recipe that holds a myriad of subtleties.

On our table lies a lemon slowly withering away, a fruit that once was as much suave than sour. Our artists are as ripe as this yellow sphere lying in the open. They possess the experience and knowledge needed to forcefully broadcast this emergency rebirth that techno desperately needs. Our creations are neither nostalgic nor futuristic, they aim to be atemporal. They are naked to artifices, raw to over-tuning, built and cut upon the very ageless tools that defined and will name what is Techno.

Far from us the desire of claiming to be the only definition of the genre, nor forgetting about its primal cravings. Whereas Amarou, Skudge and Sawlin showcast the narrative scope of our passion, Wrong Assessment, Arnaud le Texier and Falling Echoes will remind us what is raving under the strobe's fire.

It's music from urban centers and countrysides, for big room and inner space.
It's music without tag or time, where every loop stops and unfolds on its own.

We are back to the essence, and yet, much more.

Of all the things that can and should and will be said of Sam Wilkes’ & Jacob Mann’s Perform the Compositions of Sam Wilkes & Jacob Mann, let’s begin at the beginning and acknowledge that it is an aptly named record indeed. An ideal collaborative effort (which is to say, greater than the sum of its parts), here we have two longtime friends, two luminaries of the New Weird Los Angeles — the experimental, genre-encompassing underground—who have, at last, devoted a full-length record to their signature musical admixture.

Since their meeting as USC music students (Wilkes studied bass, and Mann, jazz/piano), the two have, with a kind of ceaseless abandon, chased the music to the ends the earth — oftentimes quite literally; travel is a recurrent theme in Compositions’ track titles (Pre-board, Soft Landing, and Around the Horn), and the record’s second track, Jakarta, was sketched out in a hotel room in the city of the same name, where Wilkes and Mann were performing at a jazz festival in 2019. Having initially bonded over a mutual and abiding appreciation for the Soulquarians, the two have spent over a decade playing and traveling, together and separately, their styles coevolving all the while.

Across its thirteen tracks, Compositions captures the relaxed creative flow of two consummate musicians. Most of the record’s sessions (“four-to-five-day summits” in an apartment studio, occasioned by “blasts of inspiration”) began with casual improvisation, and, indeed, roughly half of the final material was composed in this manner: Wilkes and Mann squaring off, a Yamaha DX7 facing a Roland Juno 106, alternating leads, two co-pilots with no set course. And though the songs are polished to a shine, there are artifacts of the intimacy of these sessions. Yes It Is concludes with a snippet of just-intelligible studio chatter: “…A flat minor, then A major.” A figuring-it-out-as-we-go moment that briefly renders explicit the warmth, friendship, and creative freedom that is the album’s heart.

For polymath artist Wesley Joseph, writing a song is like shooting a film - he sees in terms of scenes and colors, lighting the proper mood, drawing the right emotional arc. Music and filmmaking are Joseph’s two great loves. Film came first—he started making DIY videos at age 12 to entertain himself and his friends growing up in a small town in the UK. “There wasn’t really much happening,” he remembers, “and from a young age it created this mindset that doing everything myself was the only way to do it.”

But when he moved to London to study as a filmmaker, he discovered something in the freedom and independence of city life that demanded to be captured in song, and found a crew of collaborators—including A.K. Paul, Dave Okumu, Joy Orbison, Leon Vynehall, Lexxx, Loyle Carner and his childhood friend Jorja Smith—to help him do it. The result was his breakthrough single ‘Ghostin’’ and the 2021 debut ULTRAMARINE - released on his own imprint EEVILTWINN - a deeply textured collection of avant-R&B and soulful future-pop that stretched from psychedelic ballads to hard hip-hop bars (often in the span of a single track) and crystallized the mood of a young cohort trying to find love and live their dreams while the world is falling apart. Whilst his collaboration with Loyle Carner on single ‘Blood On My Nikes’ lead to him featuring on the artist’s critically acclaimed - and #3 charting album - earlier this year.

Now the nascent auteur returns with his Secretly Canadian debut GLOW, eight more songs of love, loss, anxiety, and joy about coming of age at a time of unprecedented change. Showcasing his range across songwriting, performing, and production—not to mention his flawless transitions between singing and rapping, between character studies and raw emotional honesty—it’s a stunningly beautiful work that makes it clear Joseph’s on the path to becoming a world-changing talent.

GLOW opens with the title track’s warm analog synths and cascading vocals that channel the harmonious Northern soul Joseph’s dad raised him on, a shimmering bed of clouds for the project’s opening credits. But like any good director, he quickly deepens the mood, drawing together disparate influences and emotions to build a unique sonic world spilling over with synchronicities and juxtapositions. “MONSOON” conjures nocturnal hedonism at the same time as it contemplates grief.

As on previous projects, Joseph is providing his own visual accompaniments for GLOW, creative directing its artwork and adding to his growing filmography as a director—he’s repped by the renowned production company Stink—with its first video. “COLD SUMMER” finds Joseph singing from a supervillain’s perspective over woozy film-score strings, and the concept bleeds over into its video accompaniment, a cryptic post-post-Tarantino film shot in Kazakhstan.

“I've never really seen them separately,” Joseph says of music and film. “They kind of just constantly drift into each other. And when they come together, it's like it was meant to be in my head the whole time.
It’s usually hyperbole to call an artist as young and new as Joseph “visionary,” but it’s undeniable that he has a vision, one that transcends old ideas of genre and medium, one that seems to get bigger and richer every time he steps into a studio or behind a camera. GLOW is one of the deepest and most satisfyingly cinematic listening experiences of the year—and Wesley Joseph is just getting started.

Anaïs Tuerlinckx is a Belgian pianist who has been living in Berlin since 2008.

She began playing the piano as a child and discovered the world of free improvised music as a teenager. Her approach to the instrument is based on an intuitive sonic research of the piano, which is extended by using a variety of found objects.

Since 2021, she has been playing on a string box instrument, made by Henri Seiferth. The string box, a simplified piano, is a wooden resonator with shortened piano strings mounted on it. Miroitements Étranges was recorded in her home, where the first piece on the A-side album was composed using her string box, while the rest of the material was recorded with a broken Wiener Zither. The B-side is played on her grand piano.

Dauw presents 'babel', the debut album from Belgian duo ZONDERWERK. The duo’s name means ‘’without work’’, but it also comes from “bijzonder werk”, where bijzonder is particular, special, unique. They like to work with images/paintings that are “bijzondere werken”, odd works.

babel is an ambitious exercise in translating images into sound. babel was initially created for the eponymous theatre piece by architect and artist Steve Salembier. Inspired by the biblical legend, Salembier envisions the legendary city as an abstract, sprawling modern metropolis in continuous flux. Its steel and glass skeleton is a representation of both an accumulation of overlapping contemporary cityscapes and a metaphor for the anonymous repetitiveness of our daily routines mirrored by the architecture. Subway lines, sky scrapers and whirling highways converge into a megalopolis of monstrous proportions. Despite the composition’s initial context as soundtrack for a theatre play, for the band this album is seen as a standalone work, whose complex sonic material can be appreciated without having seen the piece.

Their score focuses on fleshing out the imposing imaginary universe both in terms of scale and meaning. One of their biggest inspirations were Michael Woolf’s photographs, which served as the basis for the original theatre piece. His use of grey and repetition is translated into looped harmonies and fine-grained drones that progressively open up like blooming ice flowers.

With sounds of bells and metal as their primary materials, Carrijn and Sanders build soundscapes that are at once seductive and unsettling. The atmosphere on tracks like “DreamArp4Kort4” make for majestic, mysterious synths conjuring otherworldly visions, while the angelic glockenspiel set against subtle explosions in “VuurFeest” suggest a serene yet potentially dangerous place. Other tracks like “RoomCarousselTapeLoop5” create multi- layered textured drones through the process of tape decay, a commentary on the cannibalistic nature of the city.

Resulting from an arduous improvisational processusingold samplers with elements such as the Beam harp, a self-made metal instrument with piano strings, reel to reel tape recorders, field recordings and violin, babel perfectly captures the oxymoron of the man-made concrete jungle that is at once inhospitable yet endlessly awe-inducing.

ZONDERWERK is a duo consisting of Linde Carrijn and Dijf Sanders who started this project during the pandemic as a way of exploring their relationship as creative partners. Carrijn has a background in acting but recently came more to the fore as composer/performer with original scores for theatre and her other band Brik Tu-Tok founded with multi-disciplinary artist Maxim Storms. Sanders is a composer and gear enthusiast, more well-known for his eclectic works that draw from a wide-array of non-Western music. His milestone-album Moonlit Planetarium paved to way to a broader audience and recognition from major press in Belgium. In 2021, his work as a producer was recognized with a nomination at the Music Industry Awards.

Liberation is the latest evolution by David West, a dedicated underground dweller and traveler with his groups Rat Columns and Rank/Xerox and previously spotted in Lace Curtain and Total Control. Many familiar elements of West's songwriting creep out from the speakers this time around, albeit in a sonically more adventurous and personal manner. Swathed in analogue and FM synths, pinned down by near-funk drum machines, and with a vision expanded into the past and future. While in previous incarnations, West's alienated and fragile vocal has battled with jangling guitars and distortion, Liberation sets free his woes and ruminations into space. Taking inspiration from the heyday of Mute Records, the beginnings of electronic dance music's rudimentary sampling, broken and sound art, Liberation's debut LP is 10 songs of the road, about the nameless ghosts on the highway, accidental lovers, the alienation of the stranger in a strange land, the unbearable weight of freedom.
Beginning with a curveball, Liberation's first vocal sets out the position of the forever-cuckold, the sad lover hanging on: Looking For A Lover combines a Roland 707's loping mid-tempo with creeped-out synth lines as West intones his intentions close to the ear. Continuing in a more baroque manner, Move Me makes astounding use of string samples and space, with esteemed engineer Mikey Young's (Total Control / Eddy Current Suppression Ring) production prowess making for a distilled yet inviting loneliness. Forget is the night-drive centerpiece of the album, a 7 minute that erupts into a nihilistic sub-disco darkness. A constant theme of Liberation is the friction between West's characters: a frustrated love in victim-status paired with a menacing intent. The adorable, fragile stalker in the moonlight, illuminated by Whatever You Want, a
subjugated protagonist offering they have while the city burns. The brightest pop moment of the album has this in abundance: Cold And Blue, a classic synth pop jam to be played on repeat til the end of time, like New Order played by one man in his bedroom, with no drugs for a cushion, coming down the stairs, she looks like a perfect fear and Im a monument to your existence. But West has moments of touching sincerity that speak direct to the listener, as in album highlight Leaves Falling; a sparse string arrangement frames his vocal, "why do I keep falling for you I must just really like to be alone." Liberation is the freedom from attachments, about how sometimes they're what you want most.

Received a 7.5 rating from Pitchfork. The debut full length from Melbourne, Australia’s Romero is a burst of hard hitting, punk-laced powerpop. Well informed by the classics and every bit as relevant-as-it-is timeless, Turn It On! is a memorable party. An album that captures the vitality of a young band hitting their stride and doing it on their own terms without a single note of indecision. Much in the way that The Undertones, Blondie, and even Big Star debuted with a sense of purpose, Romero invite us to eleven tracks of soulful powerpop gold. Sharp production across Turn It On! catapults the impressive guitar work of both Adam Johnstone and Fergus Sinclair to the front of the mix alongside Alanna Oliver’s heart-pounding energy and show-stealing vocal prowess. Anchored by the smooth rhythm pocket of Justin “Murry” Tawil and Dave Johnstone, Romero waste no time in showing their hand on the quick-paced album opener ‘Talk About It’—recalling '80s powerpop rhapsodies. The title track beckons bodies to the dancefloor with a rich Runaways-like temper that naturally explodes into a fiery guitar solo. Meanwhile ‘Halfway Out The Door’ and ’White Dress’ show off the band’s adept ballad-writing, boasting truly emotional highs, lows and soaring choruses. Those hip to the incredible debut Romero single—‘Honey’ b/w ‘Neapolitan’ (Cool Death, 2020) will be overjoyed to see these relatable anthems recast in the album’s tracklisting. Turn It On! reveals stories of personal striving, restarting, mulling-over the unsaid, resisting control, deteriorating relationships, the emotional throes of uncertainty and celebrating growth through all such experiences. The rollercoaster of life is mirrored by the sonic and lyrical turns Romero have crafted into their debut album—a hopeful tonic for whatever you’re going through, and a dose of excitement for what’s to come. Includes lyric insert and 11"x17" poster.

2023 Repress

it was in february 2015 when japanese producer and sound designer kuniyuki takahashi, sometimes known as koss, releases with the ep 'newwave project '2' a record, that tapped some roots of his musical education: new wave, german electro punk from bands like a daf, ebm from acts like front 242 as well as industrial music.

styles, about kuniyuki claims that they are his 'favourite music'. now, nearly two years after his first newwave project ep, he drops an album that is leaning towards his musical love from the past. compared to his former work, that was rooted in worlds of classic, jazz, house, ambient, and electronic song-writing, his new tunes are full of melodic drifts and rhythmical shifts.

as usual all is loaded with tones and rhythms straight from the heart that filter and modulate human emotions without losing their natural source. to get a sound that is fresh but still leaning to the 1980ees, he used some old synthesisers like a roland jupiter 8, a juno 60, a korg ms 20, an old tape echo machine but also new instruments like the roland aira. furthermore, his modular synthesizers talk too.

instead of having a masterplan, kuniyuki just made sound, drifted on his machines and moved into a territory, that his far away from his former sound. also the use sampled voices and other alienated sound sources of unknown origin inject his new tunes otherworldly atmospheres.

his skills as a fine instrumentalist is evidence as kuniyuki also played the piano, percussions or flute, if he felt their warm sound is needed for his freely grooving tracks. some dance in a house or techno outfits.

other slam like a mix of funk and ebm. tunes like 'puzzle' or 'body signal' are twisted treasures that bemuse deeply. in-between you hear the echoes of cosmic spheres, the darkness of the cold war days and some bewitching tribal jungle vibes. a new, moving, unorthodox and yet catchy side of kuniyuki takahashi.

it is not totally novel to him, as he already released some industrial, ebm and electronic with the project drp in 1990 on the belgium label body records. but for his listeners, that know him for detailed house, jazz and classic or that love him as a man of collaborations who already worked together with artists like innervisions jazz house heavyweight henrik schwarz, the famous japanese pianist fumio itabashi or the british synth-pop protest spoken word icon anne clark, the 'newwave project' sheds a light on a different artistic side of kuniyuki takahashi.

it is diversified, has many rhythmical and atmospheric turns but stays stirring and compelling in all twelve tracks. a true new wave, formed, played in and envisioned with a view on the past that was filtered through the now while feeling the future. the cover art work comes from the swiss artist augustin rebetez - a man who also loves to generate unknown poetic universes in his drawings, sculptures, videos and installations.

Four decades on and Azymuth has reached legendary status amongst fans worldwide and across the music industry thanks to the trio's pioneering blend of traditional Brazilian jazz and proto funk fusion from the early 70's right through to the present day.

In 1979 the band's first Milestone Records release, 'Light As A Feather' quickly became one of the best-selling LPs of the year. Featuring the worldwide disco/fusion hit single 'Jazz Carnival' and going on to sell more than half a million copies internationally, the album stayed in the UK Top 20 for eight straight weeks.
An incredibly well thought out album both in pace, song selection and musicality, 'Light As A Feather' marked a maturing of the band as they began to rightfully utilise the studio as an instrument itself, embracing numerous mixing and recording techniques not yet common for the time as well as pioneering the use of the Big Muff and Dolby System to great effect. The end result is an album that endures to this day as a samba/jazz-funk masterpiece.

Now Far Out is pleased to present this seminal recording remixed and re-mastered from the original 16-track tapes, which were given to Joe Davis by Azymuth, lovingly reproduced on heavy weight vinyl and CD. This definitive edition of Azymuth's breakthrough LP is a must-have for connoisseurs and an invaluable introduction to the Azymuth sound for the uninitiated.

Sadly with this re-release album well into production at the untimely recent passing of Jose Roberto Betrami, 'Light as a feather' stands as a solemn reminder of our dearly departed friend and the effortless musical genius of Azymuth in their ascendancy.

2023 Clear Vinyl Repress! nthng finally follows up his four stunning EPs with a full album proper, arriving in a whopping 3xLP pack.Arriving a good 6 months after the LT029.5 album sampler which debuted both Soms and In My Dreams, nthng adds another seven hazy, hooded techno bangers to those to make up a pretty dazzling body of work.Opener 'Touches' is true ambient bliss, with shrouded, blissful synths fuzzing into view and cut through by a soft low distant sunlight. Both Galaxy and Eternal thump into view with a hi-paced drums colliding and clashing with syncopated stabs and smooth dusty baselines, recalling the tender techno-trance precipice danced by Dutch producers at the start of the 90's. The huge mysterious fan favourite and title track It Never Ends gets it's pride of place with 9 mins of deep, cavernous techno, all rippling with epic string-synths and washes of mountainous reverb.Even deeper numbers are extracted from the hard-drive, including the pensively, digitally-bubbling computer jam Unity sitting tidily alongside the super deep and subtle rolls of Abyss. Rounding the album out is the appropriately-titled Last. A dark, shimmering, almost emotionless number that cements a different idea of the future. A hard, pounding, yelping, depth-charged technoid closer. For us, the album feels like a real masterpiece, conjuring a spectrum of intimate and emotive moods, feelings and nostalgia-tinged memories that float into the mind, like the settling fog in the valley on a crisp winters morning.

Abstract Sounds, in partnership with Bianchi, present the second instalment of their special collaborative series. This latest immersive minimal house/deep tech project has sought out the creative intellect of artists ChrisOdt, Máté Si, and Nerve Maze, alongside the label head himself, Staniz. Each producer has an instantly recognisable taste in sound, yet they still manage to harmoniously glide together, moulding into a grouping of tracks set to fly.

Staniz is the primary figure behind two of Italy’s most exciting musical projects to emerge over the past few years, Bianchi and Abstract Sounds. The brands support rising Italian talent, whilst stressing the importance of upholding the intrinsic value of art and music, through a preference for physical merchandising, resulting in the flourishing of musician and fan communities alike.

ASBV002 takes us on a comprehensive and fluid journey through aerial chords, scintillating keys, raw, tech-permeated beats, and enthralling, rough textures. This star line-up shows total control and confidence over each composition, letting all the individual sonic elements chosen to shine in their own right with their discerning individuality and signature tonalities. In combination, the works harness an aesthetic full of instrumental flavour, unlikely to be forgotten with time.

Gold Vinyl

Lael Neale still has a flip phone and there were no screens involved in the creation of her new record Star Eaters Delight. The album is her second for Sub Pop and reveals an expansion of her sonic collaboration with producer and accompanist Guy Blakeslee. In April of 2020, in the wake of transformations both personal and global, Lael moved from Los Angeles back to her family's farm in rural Virginia. Looking at the world from a distance and getting in tune with her own rhythms, she wrote and recorded steadily for two dreamlike years, driven by a need to make order out of chaos. Forged in isolation, Star Eaters Delight is a vehicle for returning, not just to civilization, but to celebration. She says, "Acquainted with Night (recorded in 2019, and released in 2021), was focused inward, amidst the loud and bright Los Angeles surrounding me. It was an attempt to create spaciousness and quiet reverie within. When I moved back to the farm, I found that the unbroken silences compelled me to break them with sound. This album is more external. It is me reaching back out to the world, wanting to feel connected, to wake up, to come together again." Album opener and lead single "I Am The River" melts the ice with a dynamic explosion of minimalist transcendental pop clearly descended from the Velvet Underground's branch of modern music's family tree. Blakeslee's spare yet cinematic arrangements create an ambient space in which Neale's clear and unaffected voice can explore familiar themes in an unexpected way. Subtle but potent references to Shakespeare, Emerson and the Bible (which she hasn't read) swirl together with deeply personal musings and touches of wry humor, always more optimistic than cynical. While this is a record about polarities- country vs. city, humanity vs. technology, solitude vs. relationship - the deeper intention is to heal; to come to terms with our differences and put the broken pieces back together again. Lael's affinity with the Transcendentalists has to do with her quest to hold onto sovereignty over her own mind. In a time when our devices are constantly flooding us with information, opinions and propaganda, Lael is intentional about what she takes in - hence the flip phone and the cassette recorder. Neale identifies as a minimalist "not because I don't like things, but because I value freedom more."

Tape

Lael Neale still has a flip phone and there were no screens involved in the creation of her new record Star Eaters Delight. The album is her second for Sub Pop and reveals an expansion of her sonic collaboration with producer and accompanist Guy Blakeslee. In April of 2020, in the wake of transformations both personal and global, Lael moved from Los Angeles back to her family's farm in rural Virginia. Looking at the world from a distance and getting in tune with her own rhythms, she wrote and recorded steadily for two dreamlike years, driven by a need to make order out of chaos. Forged in isolation, Star Eaters Delight is a vehicle for returning, not just to civilization, but to celebration. She says, "Acquainted with Night (recorded in 2019, and released in 2021), was focused inward, amidst the loud and bright Los Angeles surrounding me. It was an attempt to create spaciousness and quiet reverie within. When I moved back to the farm, I found that the unbroken silences compelled me to break them with sound. This album is more external. It is me reaching back out to the world, wanting to feel connected, to wake up, to come together again." Album opener and lead single "I Am The River" melts the ice with a dynamic explosion of minimalist transcendental pop clearly descended from the Velvet Underground's branch of modern music's family tree. Blakeslee's spare yet cinematic arrangements create an ambient space in which Neale's clear and unaffected voice can explore familiar themes in an unexpected way. Subtle but potent references to Shakespeare, Emerson and the Bible (which she hasn't read) swirl together with deeply personal musings and touches of wry humor, always more optimistic than cynical. While this is a record about polarities- country vs. city, humanity vs. technology, solitude vs. relationship - the deeper intention is to heal; to come to terms with our differences and put the broken pieces back together again. Lael's affinity with the Transcendentalists has to do with her quest to hold onto sovereignty over her own mind. In a time when our devices are constantly flooding us with information, opinions and propaganda, Lael is intentional about what she takes in - hence the flip phone and the cassette recorder. Neale identifies as a minimalist "not because I don't like things, but because I value freedom more."

Die schwedisch/norwegische Melodic Power Metal-Band SAINT DEAMON meldet sich gut dreieinhalb Jahre nach ihrem quasi-"Comeback"-Album "Ghost" wieder mit einem neuen Longplayer zurück: "League Of The Serpent". Dass SAINT DEAMON für qualitativ hochwertigen Sound und eine (im Power Metal-Genre oft schwer zu findende) individuelle Note stehen, dürfte sich herumgesprochen haben. Auch "League Of The Serpent" zeigt sich deutlich die große Qualität von Sangeswunder Jan-Thore Grefstad, Gitarrist Toya Johansson und Bassist Nobby Noberg (ex-Dionysus), sowie Neu-Drummer Alfred Fridhagen (Gaia Epicus) auf. Tracks wie die beschwingte erste Single "At Break Of Dawn", das extrem eingängige "Load Your Cannons" oder der ohrenschmeichelnde Melodic Rocker "The Final Fight" sind typische SAINT DEAMON-Kompositionen, dazu verwebt die Band geschickt progressive Anklänge.

There’s writing on the wall that speaks of time immemorial, where symbols exist on the edge of language and abstraction.

It’s upon this precipice that Dominic James Marshall makes his mark, at the helm and on the keys of Cave Art - a slate of scintillating digital sounds, spontaneously arranged, etched in wax. The project is a thoughtful and inventive response to a long tradition of musical sampling.

Familiarity is a vessel through which Marshall channels a fierce artistry and selection is at the heart of what moves it. The trio build upon what makes beat music burrow into us so deeply, maxing out their offerings of giant synths, splintering chords and impactful beats to soul-shifting degrees.

Marshall plunges into the uncanny valley and frolics in it, inventing a fresh path for the genre with irreverent wit and divine grace.

Steven Wilson, four-time Grammy nominee, multi-instrumentalist,
producer & founder member of Porcupine Tree, released his critically
acclaimed third solo album 'The Raven Refused To Sing' in 2013, reaching
#28 in the UK charts & #3 in Germany
In 2017, he shot back into the charts with his fifth solo album 'To The Bone' at #3
in the UK & #2 in Germany, which built on the success of fourth solo album 'Hand.
Cannot. Erase.', which reached #13 in the UK & #3 in Germany.
Originally released in 2011, 'Grace For Drowning' is the second solo album from
Wilson. A more experimental & more eclectic record it built on the artistic inroads
he forged with 2009's exceptionally well- received Insurgentes. It is a modern
homage to the late 60's & early 70's spirit of using the album as an artist's primary
means of expression; combining jazz, classical & psychedelic music to create
"journeys in sound".
'For me the golden period for music was the late sixties & early seventies, when
the album became the primary means of artistic expression, when musicians
liberated themselves from the 3- minute pop song format & started to draw on
jazz & classical music especially, combining it with the spirit of psychedelia to
create "journeys in sound". So, without being retro, 'my album is a kind of homage
to that spirit. There's everything from Ennio Morricone- esque film themes to
choral music to piano ballads to a 23- minute progressive jazz- inspired piece' -
Steven Wilson

Soave Records dusts off the psych/synth album by Doctor Steven T. Birchall recorded in 1973 in Indiana, U.S.A. with the following equipment: VCS-3 (The Putney) by EMS, Ampex MM-1000 16 trk, dbx noise reduction, SpectrasSonics Console, Studer A80 Recorder, Eventide Clockworks, Instant Phaser, Cooper Time Cube, EMT Reverb. The absolutely penetrating high tones of the opening track 'Music Of The Spheres' announce us that we are on board, passengers in the hands, or perhaps better to say in the mind, of Birchall who aims to go beyond those "normal" boundaries that we call reality. It is a new world of music that still amazes after half a century. A higher stage of truth projected into the cosmos. Cover art by Earl. E. Hokens.

Erstes Soloalbum des Queenryche Sängers Todd La Torre. Die durch die Pandemie verschobene Queenryche Tour bot Todd La Torre die Gelegenheit,das lang geplante Soloalbum zu verwirklichen. Todd tat sich mit seinem langjährigen Freund Craig Blackwell zusammen. Wie bei Queensrÿche's The Verdict spielte La Torre Schlagzeug und übernahm die Vocals, Blackwell spielte Gitarre, Bass und Keyboards. La Torre und Blackwell produzierten das Album selbst, zogen jedoch Queensrÿche- Produzent Zeuss hinzu. Gastauftritte von Jordan Ziff (Age Of Evil, Metalhead, Ratt) und Al Nunn. Insgesamt zeigt sich der Solo-Output vielseitig, ohne die progressive Basis von Queensryche zu vernachlässigen. Die Grundlagen sind allerdings mehr im klassischen Metal verortet und werden mit verschiedenen Einflüssen kombiniert. . Der Opener "Dogmata" oder "Vanguards Of The Dawn Wall" kommen mit mächtig Speed um die Ecke und mixen Heavy mit Speed und Thrash. "Pretender" erhält einen leichten epischen Touch und La Torre bewegt sich stimmlich in überraschende Höhen. Metallisch klassisch wird es mit "Hellbound And Down", dem starken "Vexed" und "Rejoice In The Suffering". Der progressive Part kommt bei "Darkened Majesty", "Apology" oder "Critical Cynic" zum Tragen. Die Balladenfreunde hören in "Crossroad To Insanity" rein.Zum Schluss gibt es mächtig dunkle Töne zu entdecken - "One By One . Craig Blackwells Gitarrenspiel setzt den Gesang von La Torre musikalisch perfekt in Szene. Todd findet sogar Vocals, die noch nie zuvor von ihm gehört wurden, wie auf dem Titeltrack und dem bestechenden "Vanguards of the Dawn Wall" zu hören ist. 2021 nur in den USA veröffentlicht, macht ROAR dieses Juwel nun endlich auch in Europa erhältlich, zusätzlich in 2 luxuriösen Vinyl Versionen. "Rejoice The Sufffering"ist ein herausragendes Opus von einem spät berufenen Sänger, der völlig losgelöst beweist, wie man eine wuchtig-moderne und vitale Metal Scheibe schreibt, arrangiert und produziert Für alle Queensryche Fans und Liebhaber des klassischen Metal.

American cellist prodigy Yo-Yo Ma recorded Sing Me Home with the Silk Road Ensemble, a musical collective with performers and composers from all over the world. The album features guest appearances by Grammy Award winning artists Toumani Diabaté, Gregory Porter, Lisa Fischer, Bill Frisell and many more.

Released in 2016, Sing Me Home was meant to open hearts, ears and minds during a time of tragedy and political turmoil. “All around the world, people constantly meet the unfamiliar through change,” Yo-Yo Ma said of the album. “Rapid or dramatic change can feel threatening, tempting us to build walls to defend against the unknown. At Silk Road we build bridges. In the face of change and difference, we find ways to integrate and synthesize, to forge relationships, and to create joy and meaning.”

Bringing together the cultural backgrounds of the musicians, Sing Me Home is a culturally conscious album, reflecting on modern globalisation and collaboration. From Macedonian folk to traditional music from Mali, and from Irish fiddle to Indian sitar: it all comes together wonderfully. Critics agreed, and the album went on to win the Grammy Award for Best World Music Album in 2017.

High Roller Records, regular edition, black vinyl, ltd 600, insert, poster, Original transfer by Marcus Mossmann (R.I.P.) at PHONOGRAPHIC ARTIFACTS in March 2021. Audio cleaning, restoration and mastering by Patrick W. Engel at TEMPLE OF DISHARMONY in April 2021. Cutting by SST Germany on Neumann machines for optimal quality on all levels... The ultimate audiophile edition of this eternal NWOBHM classic!

For the second release we have four unreleased tracks made between 1994 to 1996 at Alien Recording studio in London from duo PAN-TONE (Alec Stone & Andy Panayi). Best friends for over 35 years, both had a passion for making their own style of music and getting out it to the people around the world. Sadly passed away, Andy has been a very big font of inspiration for us, we are proud to release these four housey tracks from the past to all of you.

High Roller Records, regular edition, bone white vinyl, ltd 400, insert, poster, Original transfer by Marcus Mossmann (R.I.P.) at PHONOGRAPHIC ARTIFACTS in March 2021. Audio cleaning, restoration and mastering by Patrick W. Engel at TEMPLE OF DISHARMONY in April 2021. Cutting by SST Germany on Neumann machines for optimal quality on all levels... The ultimate audiophile edition of this eternal NWOBHM classic!

First ofcial release of previously-unissued Eric Dolphy studio recordings
in over 30 years, including 85-minutes never before released. The
goundbreaking alto saxophonist, bass clarinetst and autst brought us
iconic LPs such as 'Out to Lunch!' and 'Outward Bound'.
The LP package is beautfully designed and includes an exhaustve 96-page
booklet replete with rare and never-before-published photos by Chuck
Stewart, Jean-Pierre Leloir, Val Wilmer, Hans Harzheim, Lennart Steen, Roger
Marshutz and many others, plus reproductons of the original album covers for
Conversatons and Iron Man.
Includes fve essays that cover dierent aspects of Eric Dolphy and this music
by jazz author/scholar Robin D.G. Kelley, Douglas label manager Michael
Lemesre, Japanese Dolphy scholar Masakazu Sato, and co-producers Zev
Feldman and James Newton, plus words by John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner,
Ornete Coleman and Charles Mingus.
Captured afer leaving Prestge/New Jazz Records, and just before recording
the tmeless classic 'Out to Lunch!' album, 'Musical Prophet' is a 3LP set that
contains the under-appreciated masterpieces 'Conversatons' and 'Iron Man'
recorded in New York City on July 1 and 3, 1963. Originally produced by Alan
Douglas- most well-known for his associaton with Jimi Hendrix, but who also
produced classic jazz albums such as 'Money Jungle' with Duke Ellington,
Charles Mingus and Max Roach- the tapes had been stored in a suitcase with
Dolphy's personal belongings and given to Dolphy's close friends Hale and
Juanita Smith just before he embarked on his fateful European trip in 1964.
Deluxe Limited-Editon, 180-gram 3LP gatefold set released exclusively for
Record Store Day's Black Friday Event on November 23, 2018

Blending punk influence with mainstream rock, this
Australian quintet are ready for their big moment.
Trophy Eyes' 'The American Dream' offers a
commentary on the human condition while
providing the huge choruses fans have always
loved.
For fans of The Story So Far, Gang Of Youths.
US tour with Neck Deep

LDS returns to Monnom Black and hits a career high with his new ep, an astonishing take on modern dub techno featuring 6 tracks of futuristic grooves. LDS is an artist that stands at the cutting edge of technology, influenced by artificial intelligence and digital innovation. The ep showcases his unique production aesthetic, complex sound design and nuanced details that place him a cut above the rest. AI was used to create the artwork for the release, merging together the digital and physical realms, moving ever closer to the singularity.

High Roller Records, black vinyl, ltd 500, 425gsm heavy cardboard cover with 5mm spine, 2 inserts, poster, 2 track black vinyl bonus 7",Transfer, audio restoration and mastering by Patrick W. Engel at TEMPLE OF DISHARMONY in February 2022. The ultimate audiophile reissue of this eternal US Speed Metal classic! Cutting by SST Germany on Neumann machines for optimal quality on all levels ...

High Roller Records, black vinyl, ltd 500, 425gsm heavy cardboard cover with 5mm spine, 2 inserts, poster, 2 track black vinyl bonus 7",Transfer, audio restoration and mastering by Patrick W. Engel at TEMPLE OF DISHARMONY in February 2022. The ultimate audiophile reissue of this eternal US Speed Metal classic! Cutting by SST Germany on Neumann machines for optimal quality on all levels ...

High Roller Records, black vinyl, ltd 500, 425gsm heavy cardboard cover with 5mm spine, 2 inserts, poster, 2 track black vinyl bonus 7",Transfer, audio restoration and mastering by Patrick W. Engel at TEMPLE OF DISHARMONY in February 2022. The ultimate audiophile reissue of this eternal US Speed Metal classic! Cutting by SST Germany on Neumann machines for optimal quality on all levels ...

“ABBEY ROAD’S world-renowned engineers have been cutting grooves into discs since the studios first opened their doors in 1931. This record was pressed from a master cut using a precision technique known as half-speed mastering. The procedure requires the source master and the cutting lathe to run at half speed on a specially adapted Neumann VMS-80 lathe.

This rare and specialised technique transforms difficult to cut highend frequencies into relatively easy to cut mid-range frequencies. The result is a cut with excellent high frequency response and very solid and stable stereo images. In short, half-speed mastering produces a master of the highest quality that enables the pressing plant to produce a superlative record.”

Mit ihrem unverwechselbaren Sound ignorieren As Everything Unfolds traditionelle Grenzen und schaffen durch die Kombination zahlreicher Genres alternativer Musik ein einzigartiges Hörerlebnis. Mit über 20 Millionen Streams für ihr Debütalbum, "Within Each Lies The Other", bleibt ihre Kunst nicht unbemerkt. Die Band wurde für einen Heavy Music Award nominiert, trat auf großen europäischen Festivals wie dem Download, Graspop, Rock For People oder Full Force auf und tourte mit Bands wie Enter Shikari, Wargasm, Holding Absence, Being As An Ocean und vielen anderen. Mit der
Veröffentlichung ihres neuen Albums und vielen weiteren Touren und Festivals in der Pipeline, verspricht 2023 ein großes Jahr für As Everything Unfolds zu werden.

"The new album 'Ultraviolet' is an open work on the thoughts and feelings surrounding us at the time," erzählt Sängerin Charlie Rolfe. "The anger, the frustration, the progress, everything on show, nothing to hide. Darkroom practice is something that has been a large part of my creative path, finding links between the emotion in music, putting everything on display for all to listen and exposing a colour photograph, putting it on display for all to see. Only when you are exposed to Ultraviolet light can you see life in full colour."

Since its beginnings, Hypnótica Colectiva has always shown a special interest in the music recorded and released in the city of Detroit.

A place with which we have both a blood and spiritual bond because of what occurred there socially and artistically during the 20th century.

This love led us to become ambassadors of what was happening there on a musical level, holding cultural events to screen documentaries translated into Spanish, as well as a number of themed sets at our events, dedicated motor city sections in our record shop or recently lectures on the history of the city and its music at the Museum of Illustration and Contemporary Art of Valencia (Muvim).

The time has now come to bring all this history, this musical influence, to the editorial section of our label HC records.

Detroit Legacy was born from the idea of capturing these influences on vinyl. Seeking artists from all over the world who share this passion that inspires them to create their music, what we can define as the universal Neo-Detroit.

For this first edition or first volume, the collective has enlisted in its ranks creators affiliated to the label who have shown us in their careers, this influence and this feeling.

Paul Cignol opens the record with Distance. From Dublin he offers us a track of warm sequences inspired by Deep Techno, with deep pads responding to organ keys and a subtle touch of 303.

Mallorcan LLuis Barcelo Sureda is responsible for the second track Funk Station. With a Techno Soul character that we might hear from Detroitish labels like Acacia or producers like Blake Baxter.

A real eminence in Techno is the Catalan Don Alex Martín, who already released in the mid-90s on Monssieur Garnier's label (France Communications). The Barcelona native brings his wealth of experience and wisdom through Megatech, which transports us to the spectrum of Derrick May’s Transmat who, in his day, was nicknamed "The Innovator". This track provides agile sequences of complex syncopated rhythms, combining with a dreamy Michigan style synth.

The anthem of the album comes from Ghent. The sublime Belgian creator, Mariska Neerman, once again makes our hairs stand on end and our hearts melt with a heavenly composition entitled Stellium.

No one interprets Neo-Detroit quite like Mariska, whom we baptise as a sovereign heiress of the genre in the world. If we have to think of an influence for this piece, we go straight to the genius of Detroit, the one and only Jeff Mills, in his most symphonic and harmonic facet of tracks released on his label Axis Records such as "The March", A Universal Voice That Speaks To All That Will Listen or A New Found Sense Of Being.

Some of these songs have been re-interpreted by world class philharmonic orchestras such as the Montpellier Philharmonic Orchestra at the 2005 Blue Potential (Pont Du Garde). Mariska's score in this song fuses organ keys with harmonic layers and violin - favourite instruments of the Detroitian extraterrestrial - with a harmonic result of strength and hope. An authentic anthem of classic emotional Techno.

Old School electro takes centre stage with the Master from Terrassa Ivan Arnau a.k.a. Dark Vektor. In the influence of Juan Atkins (the creator) as Cybotron or Model 500 and later creators who developed this sound like Aux 88. Metaverso Frik is a great recital of a urban poetry created and interpreted by Ivan, to completely devastating effect.

Croatian Bojan Jascur a.k.a. N-TER, closes the vinyl with We Will Emerge, in a exercise of vindication, a common weapon in the context of Detroit music. Raging, trippy electro in the purest style of Cosmic Force or Dynarec.

This first tribute to 8 Mile doesn't end with the vinyl, as 2 digital bonus tracks are included in the release.

We return to Barcelona with Pastin Futon in another sequence of consecutive oscillated rhythms oscillated much like Kevin Saunderson (The Elevator) in his day and the Techno Groove that we know today.

The most robotic touch of the release is the closer with this synthetic jigsaw puzzle of a track with echoes of the 1967 Detroit Riot, the Detroit Rebellion. Again produced by another Barcelona native, The Bandit (Dj Spy / Util Records). The sequences are very reminiscent of Arpanet and Drexciya.

The idea for the cover comes from Motor City itself by Jon Yowell, first cousin of HC records founder and head of HC records David Verdeguer.

Born, raised and a lifelong resident of Detroit, Jon is an enormously talented musician capable of writing lyrics, performing them on the mic and manipulating a number of stringed instruments as well as the drums, where he is a true master.

The cover is a tribute to the formative backgrounds of many of the city's musicians in every sonic trend. Wayne State University in the capital of Michigan.

Founded in 1868, it has offered didactic teaching to many of the city's musicians.

Not all of Detroit's creators went to university, and even less so when talking about Techno, many artists are self-taught or learned in a non-academic way, but it seems to us a good base to begin to highlight the origins of the city's music in a historic building, where those who have the opportunity to learn about music have been and continue to be educated.

The adapted designs are the work of our image manager Dani Requeni.

Mastering by Steve Voidloss at Black Monolith Studios in London (UK).

Repress!

Using an old door, 17 strings, chopsticks and combining them with phasers, echo units and amplification, the new device was to become his signature sound, mixing Irish folk influences with Asian and North African sounds in a mesmerising and soulful new way that brought him to the attention of the leading improvisers of his day - Alice Coltrane, Ravi Shankar, Don Cherry and more.

A logical follow up to AllChival's recent reissue of Stano's debut LP, Michael O'Shea's self titled LP was originally released on Wire's Dome Imprint in 1982.

The background to the album is as interesting and inspiring as the artist who created it - born in Northern Ireland but raised in the Republic, O'Shea was keen to travel and escape the troubles of his home.

Wandering throughout Europe and the Middle East, O'Shea found himself living and working as a relief aid in Bangladesh in the mid Seventies where he learned to play sitar while recovering from a bout of hepatitis. A later period spent busking in France accompanied on zelochord by Algerian musician Kris Hosylan Harp led to O'Shea's idea of combining both instruments as a homebuilt instrument - Mo Chara (Irish for "My Friend").

He later described the process on the back of the LP himself saying:

"Having sold my sitar in Germany and being desperate for money to travel to Turkey, I conceived of the idea of combining both sitar and zelochord. The first Mo Cara was born, taken from the middle of a door, which was rescued from a skip in Munchen"

A combination of dulcimer, zelochord and sitar, O Shea would play it with a pair of chopsticks, striking the strings softly using Irish folk rhythms mixed with the rich, nostalgic sounds of of the many Asian artists he'd encountered on his travels.

It was a pan cultural sound standing at an unusual crossroads of folk, traditional, rock, progressive, jazz, electronic and post-punk worlds without hesitation.

Perfecting the instrument on the streets, there were further spells spent busking in the underground stations and cafes of London's West End and Covent Garden during the heady days of the 1970s when they were full of eccentric street entertainers, jazz improvisers and musical pioneers.

His work with Rick Wakeman never saw the light of day but O'Shea's contact with the world of post-punk London ensured his name would live on.

Introduced to Wire's Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis via cartoonist Tom Johnston, O'Shea eventually acquiesced to an open invite to record at their studio. Turning up unannounced in the summer of 1981 the LP was recorded in a day in the legendary Blackwing Studios and released on Dome the year after.

The first side features the fifteen minute masterpiece "No Journeys End" with the B side featuring more input from Wire in processing the Mo Chara sound.

Lewis himself said years later of the forgotten masterpiece: 'I always said it was the best job we ever did.'

After an aborted LP with The The's Matt Johnson the following year, O'Shea quietly disappeared from the formal recording world and his brief but unique contribution to the music world came to a sad end in 1991 when O'Shea was struck by a post van and died a few days later in hospital in London.

This repress on All City's AllChival imprint has been remastered and reissued with the approval of both Dome and his surviving siblings.

Beautiful, soulful jazz record by Jimetta Rose and The Voices of Creation, a Los Angeles-based community choir, a mainstay of the local scene. Highly recommended!!

The Voices of Creation are a community-based choir led by vocalist, songwriter, arranger, producer and mainstay of the Los Angeles scene Jimetta Rose. Made up of a multigenerational group of mainly non-professional singers backed by some of the city’s finest musicians,their music marries hip strains of gospel with layers of jazz, soul and funk. While aspects of their music might recall Kamasi Washington, The Staple Singers or Sly Stone, Jimetta’s unique vision has resulted in new spiritually-charged forms of music whose whole-hearted embrace of love, joy and peace act as sonic healing balms for the soul.

For Jimetta - whose resume includes collaborations with Miguel Atwood Ferguson, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Sa-Ra Creative Partners, Angel Bat Dawid, Shafiq Husayn, MED and Blu - the very act of creation was part of a healing process: “I was very low at the time and I wrote most of the songs going through hardship. But I found comfort in the songs and a way to adjust my mindset to where things got better. So I thought ‘if this music works for me, maybe it will work for other people’ I believe that every person has their own voice and their own note and that we can use our voices to heal ourselves. That’s the intention behind creating the project.”

After putting out a call on social media for people interested in joining her choir she was met with a sea of replies. Members were chosen in less-than conventional fashion: “I recruited people based on their interest in healing themselves and others, not necessarily on their musical experience or being seasoned performers” she says. Among those accepted into the ever-evolving collective, which was begun initially as a community choir, were the likes of Sly Stone’s daughter Novena Carmel, better known as a radio DJ for KCRW’s flagship breakfast show. Jimetta’s upbringing in the Pentecostal church, where she was a youth choir director, fed into her otherwise intuitive teachings of her songs and arrangements to the inexperienced members with help from the group’s seasoned organ player/co-musical director Jack Maeby.

Produced by Mario Caldato Jr. (Beastie Boys, Seu Jorge) and his wife Samantha Caldato the results show the incredible sense of togetherness and communal spirit that the group had built up over time in the rehearsal sessions. The six tracks of their debut album, a mixture of originals and rearranged covers, are performed in a wide-eyed mix of styles that reflect Jimetta’s vision for borderless music: “It’s new black classical music,” she explains. “It’s all the hodgepodge of being an African American but also with creativity and vision for the future. It has a taste of what is to come and what we can do. What we have gone through and who we are now.”

The group’s propensity for warm and buoyant sonics finds representation on album opener Let The Sunshine In, a sparkling rework of the Sons and Daughters of Lite’s deep jazz classic. Their version finds the group’s dynamic group harmonies offset with Allakoi Peete’s nimble afro-percussive touches and plenty of soul- drenched keys courtesy of pianist Quran Shaheed and organ player Jack Maeby. A similarly uplifting take on Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s choral jazz classic Spirits Up Above follows, with Maeby’s groove-laden organ lines inspiring some gorgeous group harmonies as well as prime solo turns from the likes of Kellye Hawkins, Zavier Wise, Tamara Blue, and Khalila Gardner.

Another Sons and Daughters of Lite cover follows as Jimetta leads the choir in the groove-drenched ode to self-affirmation Operation Feed Yourself. Written as a series of mantras for everyday living, the Jimetta-penned composition How Good It Is harnesses the full transformative power of music to generate a stirring and joyful ode to positivity - it’s chanted declarations bringing out some of the group’s most deeply-felt and affecting vocal performances over some superlative piano and organ accompaniment with a surprise feature vocal from Novena Carmel.

Jimetta’s talent for re-imagining songs in her own light is highlighted in Answer The Call, her vivid re-telling of Funkadelic’s Cosmic Slop: “When I listened to the original song, the Mom in the story was really going through it. I thought of how I could turn this into a song that can encompass the glorification of all mothers and I thought of the Egyptian cosmic goddess Nut. To that mother we’re all the seeds planted in the garden. Answering the call in your life is literally that. Finding out exactly what you’re here for through your heart.”

The album finishes with the standout original gospel number Ain’t Life Grand. Over swaying organs and clapped percussion Jimetta’s lyrical mantras serve to emphasise the good feelings that come to those with a grateful heart. Good feeling is an apt descriptor for the mood of the album as a whole. Its shining positivity provides a welcome ray of light in an increasingly dark world. “It’s a shortcut if you will to the better feelings” Jimetta says. “The hope that we need to keep pressing forward. We are saturated and inundated with images of chaos and destruction, death and hatred. There’s so much we can witness. So, I want to make sure that there is a representation sonically of the other parts that are still there to witness so that we can continue to build those things. So that the systems we support actually reflect what we want to experience. So it’s like: “Don’t give up and Let The Sunshine Into You” and then find out what your purpose is and answer the call.”

Edition OF 500 copies, Comes with insert and download code.

An album that sounds like The Menahan Street Band playing in a tropical jungle, at dawn, right at the point when the first rays of sunlight penetrate the dark depths of the forest. During the 2022 summer of natural disasters, under an unprecedented heatwave, and haunted by news reports of ancient relics, sunken ships, and hunger stones resurfacing as rivers dried-up all-over Europe, Amsterdam based multi-instrumentalist producer Alex Figueira started to hear uncanny metallic vibrations And eerie melodies of untraceable origins, day and night. He recalls nightmares of winged creatures inside timeless structures of Escherian architectures playing cosmic instruments amidst tropical storms
and acid rains. As the visions came more often, his wife reported that he babbled during his sleep about South American demon Yurupari. Soon, Alex found himself in a sleepless state and decided to cleanse the studio, with hallowed rites and
the intense burning of Palo Santo. After almost burning the studio down, he turned to his neighbourhood’s most experienced psychic, seeking answers. He was told there were “cosmic entities” trying to manifest a message “too complex for us to understand in this dimension” and the only way he could find peace was to deliver those messages in a decipherable form. It was then he decided to transmute his hallucinations into music, an all-or-nothing cathartic solution.

Alex entered a feverish dream, fuelled by the kaleidoscopic motion of the cosmos, ancient meteor showers, and visions of forgotten interstellar South American gods. He remembers very little of the work, but the outcome is this record. Entirely composed, recorded, produced, and mixed in a frenetic nine-day studio stint.

How the experts describe it:

”Just when outernational vinyl vampires thought they had it all sewn up, the metronomic makeshift
magician known as Alex Figueira unravels the entire fabric of your record collection to expose a gaping
hole where PUNKUMBIA and Transplant-Tropicalia should be. Reducing an expansive palette of
influences to a recipe that tastes wildly exotic but comfortably over-familiar, Alex’s roles as both
scavenger and chef, bookend a whole ensemble of other highly adept musical personalities in between.
Discover this record NOW, or wait until all your friends (or enemies) recommend it to you later.”
Andy Votel (Finders Keepers)

“Incendiary, lysergic takes on South American and Caribbean music from one of the scene's truly
authentic and eccentric producers. You can always count on Venezuelan-born, Amsterdam-based,
multi-instrumentalist, music-fanatic Alex Figueira to surprise and innovate, whilst consistently keeping it
true and real. The former Fumaça Preta drummer & front-man's debut solo album does not disappoint!”
Miles Cleret (Soundway)

“The one man band Alex Figueira comes through with some major flavors on this one. Cumbia beats and
psychedelic elements with that Latin touch of soul & Funk!”
Kenny Dope (Masters at Work)

“I really respect Alex Figueira’s DIY ethos. From running his own little funky recordstore to running his
own label and making his own music by playing every instrument himself. I was already a fan of the song
“Aprende” which he released on 7 inch and with“Mentallogenic” he takes it a step further in that same
vibe. From songs like “La Culebra” making use of a vocoder in his typical latin sound to songs like
“Serious” playing with rhythmic changes and topping it off with some synth flavors. A lovely and fun
album”.
Antal (Rush Hour).

Artist Hannu Karjalainen and his new LP Railo is the third album to be released on the Signature Dark label, first digitally and later on vinyl. The album features seven electroacoustic ambient soundscapes.

The tracks were composed during the winter months in Helsinki, Finland in 2019-2021. Railo (finnish for "a crack in the ice" or "crevasse") can be seen as on ode to winter, the richness of the seasons and different weather conditions which have been an inspiration to Karjalainen’s work.

The arc of the album follows seasons from autumn to spring, starting from cold autumn winds (Viima) and ending to the melting of the ice (Sula). Different winter phenomena are explored on the way, including ”Routa” (finnish for "ground frost"), ”Kuura” (rime) and ”Kelirikko” (a term known especially in the archipelago meaning a time at the end of winter when the frozen sea does not support transportation anymore but boat traffic is neither possible). Yet, the album is being suffused with a sadness stemming from the threatening permanent changes in the diversity and balance of nature trough the climate change caused by us.

Sepia returns to Infernal Sounds for his 4th outing on the imprint and on this occasion he unveils a 4-track EP featuring both Rider Shafique and Ickle. Spanning all the way back to 002 on the label with 'Remember', Sepia provided some of the rawest music he'd provided the label, whereas this new batch of tunes arguably showcase his progression and evolution of sound.

The title track 'Time Stands Still' is a perfect example of this, using the off-beat and beautifully floaty mainframe to allow Rider Shafique to ride perfectly between the space, and stylishly provide his trademark storytelling. 'Gatekeeper' on the other hand is the stripped back, tough Sepia sound we know and love, giving you the grit right between your teeth. 'Whispers' swirls into a different vibe, cross threading dubbed out vibes with the added input from Bristol's Ickle. 'Trust' is the final track and a perfectly solemn note to finish the EP on, divisely placing drum pads amongst dripping atmospheres and voice snips. The EP is finished off elegantly with full sleeve artwork from Lewis Optics.

BasSskin 001 is dedicated to Drum and Bass.

On A Side, The Untouchables from Brussels gives us a big tune. Electric Wizard is dark, strong, hypnotic vibes.

This duo searches new ways in Drum and Bass on several labels as Samurai Music, Rupture LDN, 45 Seven..

To complete this vinyl, DJ Draai signed Zwaarden on AA Side. This track shows his style, his signature. DJ Draai follows his rules, his own sound. Lot of textures, sounds, guitars but a pleasure to mix!

The Untouchables and DJ Draai are definitely the pioneers of new rules in Drum and Bass!

Cut at The Exchange!

GAB002 sees Gimme A Break Records keep things local with a rowdy EP from Leeds-based DJ and producer BEERUS. Over the last six months, BEERUS has demonstrated his production power through two bodacious releases on Gunfinger Food’s new sub-label, Booty Frooty Records. Fusing UK styles including hardcore, acid and jungle with US staples such as electro, juke and footwork, BEERUS has established a playful sound primed for the dancefloor.

BEERUS’s “9000” EP opens with a hardcore weapon which combines rave stabs with Dragon Ball samples and an acid line threatening to spiral out of control at any given moment. “Play This Shit” sees the EP take a sensual turn as BEERUS channels the sounds of Chicago with an enticing juke number. “Booty Acid” follows suit, offering up a particularly self-explanatory track title: luscious electro meets 303s. “Love4U” is BEERUS’s love letter to the happy hardcore scene as a thumping 4x4 bassline collides with melancholic vocals and piano lunacy. Finally, BEERUS rounds off GAB002 in style with the junglist mediation “DO U WANT ME”.

”Soul Insight” wurde ursprünglich im Oktober 2015 veröffentlicht und ist das Debüt des jungen SingerSongwriters Marcus King. Das Album zeigt seine atemberaubende Beherrschung von Rock, Blues, Psychedelia, Funk, Soul und Improvisation - alles mit einem musikalischen Südstaaten-Akzent. Es war auch das Album, das den damals 19-Jährigen seinem musikalischen Schicksal einen Schritt näher brachte.

Es ist das erste Mal, dass ”Soul Insight” auf CD und Vinyl außerhalb der USA offiziell erscheint, und es ist das erste Mal, dass das Album vollständig als Doppel-Vinyl überhaupt veröffentlicht wird.
Ein Muss für alle Fans!

”Ich glaube, ich wusste, dass ich zum Gitarrenspielen geboren war, als ich sieben war”, sagt King. ”Damals bekam ich meine erste E-Gitarre, und während alle anderen Kinder draußen spielten, war ich drinnen an der Gitarre. Wenn ich in der Schule Ärger bekam, sagte mein Vater, ich könne wählen zwischen einer Tracht Prügel und dem Wegnehmen meiner Gitarre für eine Woche. Ich nahm die Tracht Prügel.”