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Ed Solo & Deekline par up gain for the next installment of the always awesome Jungle Cakes label. Some feel good sticky Sensi reggae DNB bass goodness, paired with some Special Ghost Town action on the flip. This for now is a vinyl only release.

Fantastic venue on Psychodynamik ! With Ed Solo, Benny Page, Ragga Twins, Freestylers... Crazy tunes full of skillz ! Be Fast !

Big Big one here again ! Ragga Jungle and ragga Drum & bass dancefloor... Flavour number one !

For their first musical outing of 2012, Dubkasm take a walk down the avenues of digital 80s reggae, showcasing the fresh vocals of Rudey Lee and Solo Banton. 8 bit sounds meet tough JA riddims, with shades of Jammy's, Gussie Clarke and Steely & Cleevie, expertly mixed by UK veteran Nick Manasseh with razor-sharp precision. A key figure in Bristol's reggae ancestry, Rudey Lee helped connect the Bristol Sound with its dub origins through collaborations with legendary pioneers Smith & Mighty during the 90's. On his first outing since his appearance on Pinch's debut album 'Underwater Dancehall', Rudey takes us back to his reggae roots with 'Emotion', a soulful dancefloor bubbler with a conscious edge. Solo Banton, ever powerful in his hard-hitting delivery, proceeds to nail the message home with 'Are You Ready', a no-compromise deejay version taking things to a higher level. This cut guarantees a rewind in any dancehall, building on Solo's hit-after-hit track record, proven through his work with Jahtari, Maffi and Reality Shock.

A DJ, producer and significant figure in contemporary electronic music, Marcel Dettmann steps forward to contribute to Running Back’s ongoing Mastermix series. Whereas previous editions of Mastermix have taken an ear to the sound of lapsed, legendary clubs such as Wild Pitch and Front, Dettmann’s curation deftly captures the man himself in ongoing perpetual motion, raiding the vault for his own precision-tooled edits, long-employed on dancefloors to devastating effect. Alongside a continuous mix, this release arrives as a 3LP gatefold, and as a limited edition cassette.

Closely associated with Berlin’s techno landscape, Dettmann was born and raised in the former GDR, then later immersed in the bleary-eyed counter cultural landscape of post-unification Berlin. Initially oriented by post-punk, industrial and new-wave music, Dettmann has been DJing since 1993, always expanding and perfecting his repertoire. He later began working behind the counter at the city’s tastemaking rave boutique Hard Wax, and a decade after he first dropped a needle, became (and remains) resident at notable local nightspot Berghain/Panorama Bar, where his instincts have helped sculpt the signature sound of both main dancefloors.

Of course, you’re probably not asking, “Who is Marcel Dettmann?” More importantly, you might want to know; just what treats has he gifted us here? The trip begins with a simple pitch-shift skywards, transforming Identified Patient’s creeping ‘The Female Medical College of Pennsylvania’ into a peak-time freakout, before an alternate take on Toctronic’s ‘Bis uns das Licht vertreibt’ emerges from the vaults for the first time. Dating from 1995, and one of Dettmann’s all-time favourites, Cristian Vogel’s ‘Untitled’ clambers back into the box with respectable cuts, while John Bender’s ‘Victims of A Victimless Crime’ kicks off the flip sporting a new arrangement, transporting us back to the foundations of a confident, stripped-back sound.

A few subtle edits to Clark’s perilously funky ‘Dirty Pixie’ takes us to Dettmann’s remix of Junior Boys. Produced in 2010, it transposes the Canadian duo’s sophisticated pop with our curator in his minimal prime, and has since become an irresistible prize for high-minded diggers. The same can be said for Experimental Products’ explosive proto-electro anthem ‘Who Is Kip Jones?’, empowered from pricey Discogs purgatory with just the slightest of tweaks. It’s deservedly sandwiched between the guiding influences of Chicago and Detroit in the form of Mutant Beat Dance’s raw ‘The Human Factor’ and a shimmering new version of previous solo production ‘Water’, featuring close friend and Ostgut Ton ally, Ryan Elliot.

The second half of the Mastermix seamlessly connects the mechanical past and digital present of EBM and industrial in the dance, with Dettmann’s instincts as a guiding hand. Severed Heads’ iconic ‘We Have Come To Bless This House’ emerges with mere nips and tucks, while Nitzer Ebb’s ‘Shame’ is significantly reimagined as a highwire act of rhythm and tension, setting up a sensual second take on a 2017 remix of ‘Limbo’ from Swiss synth heroes, Yello.

Core musical memories are shaken and stirred with a context-shifting take on Frank Duval’s emotional classic ‘Ogon’, while Ian North’s ‘Sex Lust You’ and Ford Proco’s notable Coil collaboration ‘Expansion Naranja’ effectively throb with only minor adjustments, respectfully imagined as “shadow versions”. Meanwhile, a simple breakbeat lifts Albert Kuningas’s ‘Astraalprojektio’ in the direction of wide-eyed dancefloors, while a fresh take on K-Alexi Shelby’s ‘Season of The Real’ inexplicably emerges somehow even funkier than before.

The conclusion of the compilation leads back to Das Tier from the prolific experimentalist Conrad Schnitzler, whose swirling synths and hypnotic vocals are duly tightened by Dettmann, but only as he puts it, “in conversation with the original.” Concluding three discs and thirty years of commitment to the dancefloor, this Mastermix not only offers us the opportunity to eavesdrop on this endless exchange, but to gain some sought-after material for our own record collections.

Release week Focus Track: Paint the Rain RELEASE TIMELINE 12/10 - TMR signs Natalie Bergman Announcement with video on Youtube: I Will Praise You (Live) 01/27 - Announce w/ PreSave/PreOrder IG1: Talk to the Lord + (music video) 02/24 - IG2: Shine Your Light On Me + (music video) 03/24 - IG3: I Will Praise You (album version) 04/21 - IG4: I’m Going Home Potential Video Asset - Live set of all the IG tracks released 05/05 - IG5 and Official Music Video: Paint the Rain 05/07 - STREET DATE w/ Focus Track: Paint the Rain Mercy is Natalie Bergman's debut, a self-produced solo album recorded in the strangest of times, during a personal period of profound sadness and reinvention. It's startling, and often beautiful — a rush to the edge of the cliff, with an unflinching look below Recorded at her brother's home studio in Los Angeles, CA, Bergman has already had a lengthy, successful career as one half of the brother-sister duo Wild Belle, but this is the first time she wrote and played all the material. This record absolutely pulses with redemptive power; it is replenishing and original, and deeply cathartic. And before we go any further, you should know that this is kind of a gospel record. It should also be said -- Natalie made this record because she absolutely had to. The music of Mercy began to germinate a few months after she lost her father in a wrong-way, head-on collision. He and her step-mother were killed by a drunk driver. Shortly after, Natalie visited a monastery in the southwestern desert, and there she began to embark on this album. "The first song I wrote on Mercy was 'Home At Last,'" she says. "It is the best song I have ever written. I sing a lot about home on this record. Believing in that place has been my greatest consolation. I had an urgency and desperation to know that my father was there. His sudden death was a whirling chaos that assaulted my mind. This album provided me with my only hope for coming back to life myself. Gospel music brings hope. It is the good news; it’s exemplary. It can bring you truth. It can keep you alive. These songs have kind of written themselves, and they rely on me to sing them.” Natalie Bergman made one of the first great albums of 2021.

Emotional Response presents Volume 2 of the LNS-ID series. Atmospheric, infectious, at times nostalgic, warm yet ghosty, the tension of Laura Sparrow’s music is her exploration in electronic music.

An introduction to DJing and music production has been a natural progression, applying skills in new and fresh formats. Built on the heritage of Chicago and Detroit house, alongside old IDM and electro, her first productions might have been raw, but the creativity was lit.

While her recent productions have explored club orientated, loud cut records, in collaborations with DJ Sotofett, that represent the sound found in her residency on the Globus floor at the Tresor club, LNS’s interest in the solo productions of the LNS-ID recordings and more organic-style explored in the recent Misiats EP burns bright.

LNS-ID 1 and LNS ID 2 are her latest offering. Two sets of four tracks based on the acid tradition in the more restless corners of 90s and early 00s Braindance. Acid lines drive the melodies, while drums move between sliced break fragments and the familiar sounds of the Roland TR-606 and TR-808.

Pads drift in with a warm glow or at times, quiet ghostly tension. The results are music that leans towards atmosphere and memory, something almost nostalgic that was built for those of us who still chase the more expressive edges of acid.

Easygoing Acid Express, Alive Acid, Blue Acid and Gentle Acid. Get the message. We call it Acid.

In the vibrant, post-millennial landscape of independent hip-hop, few collective names commanded as much respect as the Living Legends. A monumental alliance of some of the West Coast's most respected solo artists—including Murs, The Grouch, Eligh, Aesop, Bicasso, Luckyiam, Sunspot Jonz, and Arata—the crew's 2008 album, The Gathering, served as a powerful declaration of their unity and enduring relevance.

The Gathering was a snapshot of a legendary crew working at the peak of their collaborative power. The project masterfully weaves together the diverse styles of its eight members, moving effortlessly from the conscious storytelling of Murs to the soulful, introspective flow of The Grouch and Eligh, and the abstract lyrical dexterity of Aesop. The production, handled largely within the collective, provides a lush, sample-heavy, and distinctly West Coast soundscape that perfectly complements the lyrical fireworks. Tracks like the anthemic title track "The Gathering" and the legendary posse cut "After Hours" showcase the organic chemistry that made the Living Legends a seminal force in underground music.

For the first time ever, this pivotal album is being officially pressed on vinyl. This highly anticipated Record Store Day 2026 release finally delivers The Gathering to the format its rich, soulful production has always deserved. This limited edition pressing is presented on striking Coke Bottle Clear Vinyl, a perfect visual complement to the album's crisp, refreshing sound.

A crucial artifact of independent hip-hop history, The Gathering on vinyl is an essential addition for fans who have supported the Living Legends for decades and a must-have for vinyl collectors looking to own a tangible piece of the era's best crew collaborations. Don't miss the chance to own this definitive, first-ever vinyl pressing of a true underground classic.

lovetempo is the solo project of Mattie Safer, former member of the beloved New York electroclash band The Rapture, now channeling his club-rooted background into contemporary disco and electronic soul. The album features a strong cast of collaborators including Dougie Stu (Brijean), Toribio, Kate Mattison (79.5), and multi-instrumentalist Izaak Mills, with mixing and additional production by Carlos Truly (Ava Luna, Juan Wauters, Frankie Cosmos). The project has received tastemaker support from Gilles Peterson and Laurent Garnier, airplay on BBC 6Music, KEXP, and KCRW, and editorial placement on Spotify playlists including Pollen, Metropolis, and Jazz House.

2026 Repress

Laurie Torres is a Canadian musician and composer raised in Montréal, Québec by Haitian parents. Since 2008, she has been a trusted stage and studio performer for Julia Jacklin, Pomme, and Land of Talk, as well as being a founding member of Folly & The Hunter, with whom she recorded four studio albums and toured Canada, Europe and the UK.

In 2023, Laurie shifted focus to work on her own creations, a process of making time - the will and the need becoming omnipresent. Drawing creative inspiration from contemporary artists like Tirzah, Gia Margaret, Valentina Magaletti, Tara Clerkin Trio and ML Buch, 'Après coup' finds Torres intersecting at a pivotal moment where artists whose marginalized identities are at the forefront in creating a beautiful array of "other options".

"Being othered and tokenized as a woman who plays music, as well as a queer and black person, takes a toll, while also positively feeding a strong urge to push and be seen."

Centering around piano, drums and synthesizer with interweaving field recordings, 'Après coup' follows the precursor ep 'Correspondances' in the form of a sprawling 11-track album. Translating directly from French - afterwards, after the event - its title subliminally points at something deeper between the lines. Recorded in 2023 between tours in a small window of time where 'normal' life hadn't quite recommenced, Torres meticulously crafted her debut solo material in view of surrounding nature, all providing the perfect nourishment for long streams of improvisation. Built right up to the edge of a lake, Studio Wild in St-Zénon, Québec offered an unparalleled location and set up for her freeform creativity.

Instrumental music seemed like a natural response and evolution for Torres who had long basked in the world of "pop music" as she elaborates: "I had an urge to use creativity as a sort of resting place, a place where things can unfold slowly and take time to reveal themselves. In other worlds words, I felt the need to make something slower, more elusive"

The immediacy of Torres' recorded takes doubled with minimal overdubs create a fiercely direct, intimate and unpolished lo-fi beauty. 'Après coup' then is self-reflective, open and inclusive with Torres allowing herself to be fully seen. An album to be felt at close distance with unrivalled authenticity. This album stands as a testament to Laurie's artistic evolution and serves as a beacon, inspiring her to continue nurturing her own creative pursuits and finding exhilarating freedom.

‘Batteries Not Included (Brain Sold Separately)’ EP Arrives Via No Static Automatic

No Static Automatic is proud to announce the new EP from UK Electro legend Phil Klein under his Mental Note alias. Titled “Batteries Not Included (Brain Sold Separately),” this release marks the dynamic follow-up to the acclaimed 2020 debut “Voices In My Head (Noises In My Pants).”

Few authentic Electro producers from the UK can wear the badge ‘legend’ with the same level of justification as Phil Klein, aka Bass Junkie. Active since the late 80s, Klein has tirelessly shaped his distinct vision of Electro, both as a solo artist and through storied collaborations with icons like Dynamix II, Keith Tenniswood (Radioactiveman), and Si Brown (Dexorcist). As a DJ, remixer, live act, and the driving force behind the seminal Battle Trax label, his influence is woven into the fabric of the genre.

With essential releases on labels including DMX Krew’s Breakin’ Records, Andrea Parker’s Touchin’ Bass, and Billy Nasty’s Elektrix, the Bass Junkie sound seamlessly bridges the old-school beats of Electro’s origins with a potent, borderline-industrial edge. As noted by Andy Barton of Bass Agenda: “From funky to ferocious, Bass Junkie’s discography is a must-have for anyone claiming passion for the genre – influential, individual, and infectious with every beat.”

Now, as Mental Note, Klein continues his exploration of electronic psychedelia. The new EP, “Batteries Not Included (Brain Sold Separately),” is a four-track expedition through the Electro cosmos:

“Brainwash” immerses the listener in swirling, hypnotic synths.
“They're Not Blue, They’re Purple” delivers a masterclass in crunchy, textured drums.
“Primordial Soup” showcases frantic, intricate programming.
“Kluster Funk” offers a moment of deep, sonic relief and groove.

Each track reinforces Mental Note’s signature: a journey that is cerebral, raw, and irresistibly rhythmic.


About Bass Junkie/Mental Note:
Phil Klein, operating primarily under the alias Bass Junkie, is a cornerstone of the UK Electro scene. For over three decades, his work has defined and evolved the sound, earning him a revered status among peers and purists. His Mental Note project is a focused outlet for a deeper, more experimental strand of his production genius, further solidifying his legacy as an electronic music innovator.

Renowned Italian jazz master Nicola Conte presents an incandescent limited edition 7" single for Record Store Day 2026. "Terra Em Transe" and "Naquela Base" are brand new tracks from sessions for Conte's forthcoming Far Out Recordings album, drawing deep from early 70s Brazilian jazz and modal hard bossa while underlining the vital role of the arts in social and political struggle.

In Nicola's own words: "Terra Em Transe' is a dedication to visionary director Glauber Rocha and to all free thinkers willing to portray the conflicts, contradictions and lies of those in power around the world." The original composition takes inspiration from Milton Nascimento's vocal harmonies and Tamba 4's sophisticated samba-jazz.

'Naquela Base' is a stunning reinvention of João Donato's classic: pure modal hard bossa recorded entirely live in the studio. Inspired by samba-jazz classics like Tenório Jr.'s "Embalo" and Paulo Moura's "Fibra", the track is carried beautifully by Teppo Mäkynen's masterful drumming, with solos from Gaetano Partipilo on alto saxophone and Pietro Lussu on piano, supported by Ameen Saleem on double bass and Abdissa Assefa on percussion.

Having released music with Blue Note, Impulse! and Schema records, Nicola Conte's relationship with Far Out Recordings has produced his acclaimed Umoja project, his five-part Viagem compilation series, and most recently Viaggio, a compilation exploring Italy's library music renaissance from 1970-79.

'Terra Em Transe / Naquela Base' will be released as a limited edition 7" single for Record Store Day 2026 via Far Out Recordings.

It’s True What They Say is the debut EP from Edinburgh-based, husband-and-wife duo Sarah/Shaun (pronounced simply Sarah Shaun), aka Sarah and Shaun McLachlan (pronounced “McLochlin”).

“Sarah and I both have a love for nostalgia,” explains Shaun. “We watched that amazing old 80’s Sci-Fi, (John) Carpenter movie, Starman, a few months back. Myself and my brother David used to watch it all the time. We must have been, roughly, 5-7 at the time. I remember loving the movie but the end, you know, with the beautiful, atmospheric, synth ending, I love that particular moment the most - best part of the movie, you know, when he goes home… It’s heartbreaking but stunning, all the same. It’s the music that moves you most… It did when I was 5 and it still does to this day. It must have had some form of a (much deeper) impact on me.”

The duo narrates stories across themes of love, hope, family, friends, dreams and sadness - the good that comes with the bad in everyday life, not just on a personal scale but within a community as well.

“Starbed is the first song I have ever written and just came out of the blue really, with Shaun playing a melody and me singing along,” says Sarah. “It’s simple and just about two people in love. Love songs are always the best songs, after all… Music has been a big part of my life from a young age. I was unwillingly dragged to piano and violin lessons, which I’m thankful for now! I’d say the first band I really became obsessed with growing up were the Beatles, and on the back of that a lot of 60s music and fashion. From then on, I had a love for music.”

“Shaun definitely opened my ears to a lot of sounds and got me thinking about soundtracks and all the noises that can be made,” she goes on. “We love just spending time experimenting in the house with instruments, pedals etc and Ali is a real magician to work with, too…”

The recordings took place over the summers of 2022 and 2023, with fellow Delta Mainline member Ali Chisholm (aka Jaguar Eyes) plus long-term friend and collaborator Gavin King. Further collaboration then came via the ‘net from the (international) likes of Chris Dixie Darley (Father John Misty), Darren Coghill (Neon Waltz) and Daniel Land (The Modern Painters), among others (see a full list of credits below).

Both Sarah and Shaun have a love for uber-soundtrack producers such as Hanz Zimmer, Max Richter, Cliff Martinez plus live acts such as Beach House, Spiritualized, M83, Suicide, Moby and OMD (to name a few). Shaun also credits the work of Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein (from Survive) on the Stranger Things score… “Even a moment in a movie, whether it be just 30 seconds during a particular scene, it grips you,” he says. But there’s something much deeper at play as well. “Music is a healer,” he goes on, “and I write from my own perspective but more so for others. Once I've done my bit, it doesn't belong to me any longer. It belongs to whoever wants it or needs it.”

The result is a cinematic, synth-wavey, dream poppy and downright beguilingly beautiful body of work. And they’re just getting started…

REVIEWS/RADIO/FEEDBACK:

“Starbed is folky, flavoured by pedal steel, cello, and brass. Dust Tears, in stark contrast, is a mini synth-pop rave epic. Part Bicep. Part Human League. Keep Your Eyes Closed summons a mood that’s romantic, but also dark and potentially doomed – like David Lynch’s Twin Peaks meets Cliff Martinez’s Drive score. My pick though is It’s True What They Say, whose interwoven jangle and picking recalls New Order’s more introspective moments (Love Vigilantes, Love Less… ). Drums crashing, cathartic. Guitar raising dramatic arcs. Its chorus a rush, like a reprise of Pains Of Being Pure Of Heart’s ‘Higher Than The Stars’.” BAN BAN TON TON
"Dust Tears sees them sharing vocal duties over a synth foundation reminiscent of Moby’s Go - Artist Of The Week” THE SCOTSMAN
"Woozy pop" NEMONE (Mary Anne Hobbs Morning Show, BBC 6Music)
"Nice one, very David Lynch meets Euro dream pop" YOUTH (Killing Joke, Paul McCartney, U2, The Orb, Spiritualized etc)
"Music sounds killer! Real emotion” DAVID HOLMES
"I’m enjoying it” TIM BRINKHURST aka LONDON (IKLAN, Young Fathers, Callum Easter)
“Oh, this is lovely!” SEAN JOHNSTON (A Love From Outer Space)
"It’s totally my cup of tea with milk and biscuit" BRENT RADEMAKER (Beachwood Sparks/GospelBeach)
"Beautiful, ecstatic electronica! Short and to the point" KEVIN BALES (Spiritualized, Julian Cope, Soulsavers, BE)
"Makes me wanna sit in the sun and sip an Arnold Palmer" CHRIS DIXIE DARLEY (Father John Misty)
“Really beautiful - Cocteau Twins / Spiritualized vibes but has its own thing going on, too - worth checking out!” JULIAN CORRIE (Franz Ferdinand, Miaoux Miaoux)
‘Sounded nice on a sunny day, makes me think of Twin Peaks, nice moods’ EAMON HAMILTON (Sea Power)
"Dealing in nostalgia, no bad thing at all, great to play that (Dust Tears) for you” RODDY HART (BBC Radio Scotland)
“I'll give the vocal tracks a spin before the release." VIC GALLOWAY (BBC Radio Scotland)
"Rather good!" IAIN ANDERSON (BBC Radio Scotland)

CREDITS:

Lyrics, Guitars, Keys, Synths, Drums, Drum Programming, Percussion, Mandolin, Glockenspiel: Shaun McLachlan
Lyrics, Vocals, Keys by Sarah McLachlan
Guitars, Synths, String Arrangements, Drum Programming, Engineering: Jaguar Eyes Percussion/Drums/Effects, Fire Extinguisher: Darren Coghill (Neon Waltz)
Guitars by Daniel Land
Slide Guitar by Chris Dixie Darley (Father John Misty)
Brass by Bruce Michie
Keys, pre-production & engineering on “It’s true what they say”: Gavin King
All produced by Jaguar Eyes and Shaun McLachlan and then mixed at Glasgow’s Chem19 Studios by David McCaulay (From Scotland With Love, Rick Redbeard, BBC TV’s Attenborough and The Mammoth Graveyard score).
Artwork: Jamie Walman (Fourteen Admirals)

MORE INFO:

Although Shaun released a pair of solo singles (When We Dance and Give Your Love To Me) during Lockdown, he will be better known to many via his work as the multi-instrumentalist in Edinburgh band Delta Mainline. With two albums released to date, Oh! Enlightened and Bel Avenir, both rapturously received by fans and critics alike, Delta Mainline have developed an international, cult following. Oh Enlightened (2013) achieved widespread critical acclaim on release, earning the band comparisons to Arcade Fire and Echo & The Bunnymen, while 2019’s Bel Avenir pulled in references to The Flaming Lips, Pink Floyd, David Bowie and krautrock. A third DM album is currently being mixed and due for release later this year…

Sound Records proudly presents ‘Morpho’, the debut LP from UK-based producer Benyayer, formerly one-third of celebrated electronic trio Dark Sky. A deeply personal record and a symbolic transition, Morpho captures the emotional and sonic evolution of an artist in metamorphosis.

Having stepped into the solo spotlight following his successful Infiltrator EP, Benyayer (aka Matt) delivers a bold, vinyl release that combines seven previously digital-only tracks with a brand new cut, ‘The Return’, all meticulously curated and pressed for the first time on wax.

Bridging influences from techno, UK bass, Afrofuturism, and electronica, Morpho is a meticulous exploration of rhythm designed to excite, cause chaos, personal reflection and movement. Each track is a raw, rhythmic exploration that draws on his time spent busking on the streets of London with found objects, experimentation with modular synths and years of experience honing his craft as a performer at some of the finest establishments in the electronic music landscape.

This initial vinyl edition is limited to just 300 copies. Designed in collaboration with Harry Cresswell, each sleeve features a deconstructed butterfly motif, laser-cut on both sides of heavy matte stock, paired with a matte-printed inner sleeve and a transparent vinyl disc, making each copy a true collector’s item.

The LP arrives amid support from tastemakers like Gilles Peterson, Benji B, and Tom Ravenscroft (BBC 6 Music), as well as heavyweight artists including Ben UFO, Bicep, Laurent Garnier, Bonobo, and Modeselektor.

Benyayer's new live show, built around these very tools, has already been trailed to great acclaim across Europe, adding a powerful performative dimension to the record. With previous performances at Berghain, Fabric, Glastonbury, MUTEK, Dimensions and Melt Festival. Benyayer's solo trajectory continues to rise with intent, mystery, and a fierce sense of artistic purpose.

BOX + 12” + 7” (shrink-wrapped)

12”s in the box:

"Cakiente" by Jay Santos — a massive top-3 summer hit from 2012 in Spain, France, Italy, the Benelux, etc.; never before released on 12” vinyl.
"Troubles In My Mind" by Antwerp-based DJ/producer Merdan Taplak — a European club hit from 2014, available for the first time on 12” vinyl.
Remady "No Superstar" — gold in France and Denmark, platinum in Switzerland, a club hit across Europe and number 2 in Ultratop Wallonia. First time on 12” vinyl.
DJ Antoine "This Time" — not DJ Antoine’s biggest commercial hit but a huge club hit across Europe with chart positions in Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, etc. First time on 12” vinyl.

The 7” in the box features four tracks close to the heart of La Musique Du Beau Monde founder Hansbert Vanhove:

DJ Peter Project’s “2 New York” was a track he A&R’d and promoted in the early days of his career as a junior A&R/label manager at BYTE Records.
Dirrrty Dirk – “Organ Seduction” was produced by Hansbert Vanhove and became his biggest solo record under the alias Dirrrty Dirk.
Out Of Grace’s “Anglia” was the first record he signed as A&R for the commercial imprints of Bonzai Records.
“Hey Hey Hey (Pop Another Bottle)” by Laurent Wery feat. Swift K.I.D. & Dev is the biggest hit in La Musique Du Beau Monde’s catalog, originating from Belgium. The track went five times platinum in Australia, gold in the Benelux, reached No. 1 in Poland and Spain, No. 11 in Germany, and hit the top 40 in a dozen countries

Saxophonist, producer and composer Brian Allen Simon explores darker hues, transposing waking and altered states under his studio veil Anenon. On the deeply evocative new album 'Dream Temperature', he shifts electronic processing to the foreground, introducing digitized wind instruments and unworldly atmospherics, not heard since his innovating mid-late 2010s output.

A longtime Los Angeles resident, born and raised, Brian Allen Simon has expressively operated under the moniker Anenon, releasing the highly revered 'Petrol' (2016), 'Tongue' (2018) and the viscerally beautiful 'Moons Melt Milk Light' (2023), in a line of unwavering musical dialogues. While the penultimate album was a deliberate, reductive, entirely acoustic detour that was born out of a want to unplug, 'Dream Temperature' sees Brian primed with a newly discovered wind synthesizer as his central compositional tool, alongside acoustic piano and tenor saxophone. The entirety of the album's electronics are triggered by Brian's lungs, generating otherworldly synths modulated by expressive breath control, channelled through the laptop as the core processing chamber for added textural components and field recordings.

A free floating and heavy emotional resonance marks 'Dream Temperature' from beginning to end, invoking the feeling of waking up, still heavy from a night of half-remembered dreams, and continuing one's day in this state. Simon maps out the album's spatial voice early on the statement title track, a deep, yet compact cut, generated from digital saxophone rasps that whistle by in close proximity, along with haze filled textures and sub bass. There is a sonic oscillation of urban grit and pastoral drift throughout as tracks pass by like introspective thoughts, fueling both a tense and ethereal quality that underpins the album. Interluding solo and part-solo piano improvisations 'Last Sun 1' and '2' are positioned adjacent to the buffering digital soundscapes. Their softer, still processed timbres pierce the melancholic exterior, offering a contrasting tenderness that could echo the grace of Ry?ichi Sakamoto, the spiritualist rigor of ECM's Keith Jarrett and a touch akin to Aphex Twin's piano miniatures. 'Nulle Part 1+2' signals the first appearance of an acoustic wind instrument, as tenor saxophone flourishes are juxtaposed against noisy drones, all shouting at the void, with notes resurfacing like lost digital data.

The album was recorded at home during either sunset or nocturnal hours between September of 2024 and October of 2025, a period in which Brian found himself craving more lengthy and intimate studio time as he searched for more pronounced textural qualities amidst his new sonic ambitions. 'When The Light Appears, Boy' shows further evidence of this deeper universe, revealing a grittier edge as the album's essential blueprint is sonically inked. A sprawling expanse of wind synths rhythmically encircle the listener before a dreamy, ghostly ambience blankets 'Toyama'. The sound is evocative of the productions of post dubstep era luminaries such as Burial or the productions of HTRK's Nigel Yang. More isolating and enveloping than the previous all acoustic record, this is music both disorienting and yet warmly inviting all at once. A sonic diarist at heart, personal field recordings were also taken from Sardinia, Japan, Big Sur and LA which intersect at unexpected moments throughout the album's 31-minute play time.

'Dream Temperature' is a vital coalescence of both Simon's electronic and acoustic practices with repositioned electronics akin to earlier works, both haunting and elegant, yet still profoundly personal. Simon continuously resonates as an experimental outlier treading an enthralling, non-linear musical path. This music resolutely glows with an unknowing aura, like an untapped energy source waiting to be discharged.

Matt Gold and Dustin Laurenzi present Devotional Fade, a collaborative record of electroacoustic rhythmic improvisations – equal parts meditation and dance, released on We Jazz Records, 24th April. Laurenzi and Gold, key collaborators in the Chicago creative scene and with genre spanning artists such as Bill Callahan and Makaya McCraven, step forward here with a major artistic statement, a product of extended improv sessions capturing the duo's hypnotic interplay. This is the sound of two of Chicago's most vibrant instrumental voices listening deeply, communing in sound.

Recorded in Laurenzi's attic studio, Devotional Fade emerged from a series of weekly sessions over the course of a single month. The duo kept the tape rolling continuously each day and selected a number of immersive sonic worlds to present, oscillating between patient, sacred minimalism and wild, dancefloor-worthy combustion.

The pair set two parameters to heighten the sessions' stakes: editing would be kept to a minimum, and a rule of "no pitched overdubs" was put in place – ensuring that all melodic and harmonic gestures would have to be committed in real time. Laurenzi and Gold held true, only sparingly adding a stray shaker or brush to these already largely complete improvisations. Devotional Fade is imbued with quiet propulsion and ecstatic repetition.

Matt Gold is a guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer based in Chicago, IL. His work pulls from diverse traditions of electric and acoustic music. Matt has performed across six continents and contributed to over fifty recordings as a collaborator and instrumentalist, garnering critical praise from Pitchfork for playing "one of the most exhilarating guitar solos of recent memory, in any genre." Gold has several long-running collaborative bands spanning jazz, folk, experimental, and chamber music including Sun Speak, Storm Jameson, and Tin. He performs and records with an array of creative artists including Makaya McCraven, Marquis Hill, Jamila Woods, Natalie Merchant, and Greg Ward. Gold co-curates the record label and concert series Flood Music.

Chicago saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist Dustin Laurenzi has developed a personal approach to improvisation and composition that has garnered the attention of the city's creative music community. Laurenzi's music is inspired and informed by jazz, folk, and improvised music. His inventive improvisational sensibilities have made him a sought-after musician in many circles of Chicago's vibrant music scene and beyond. Laurenzi has toured extensively with songwriter Bill Callahan and is featured on Callahan's 2024 release Resuscitate! He has toured with Grammy award-winning artist Bon Iver and appears on the band's critically lauded 2016 release 22, A Million. Laurenzi has also performed with Jeff Parker & The New Breed, Marquis Hill, Makaya McCraven, Matt Ulery, Japanese Breakfast, and This Is The Kit.

Artist and multi-instrumentalist Flaer looks to the landscape to explore pastoral melancholy on debut release, Preludes. It is released in a second edition black vinyl, with an alternate cover artwork.

Ensconced in his family home in rural Leicestershire in the early months of 2020, painter and musician Realf Heygate (b. 1994) picked up his childhood cello for the first time in several years and began to play. Setting himself parameters to only record onto 4-track tape with acoustic instruments – cello, piano and acoustic guitar – he assembled a suite of instrumental compositions that form the basis of Preludes, his debut album as Flaer and the inaugural release on Odda Recordings.

Channelling the tension and unease between the pastoral idyll of the English countryside and the darkness which lurks beneath the surface, the mini-album draws inspiration from the analogue aesthetic of 1970s folk horror films, weaving field recordings of birdsong, church bells and the natural environment into chimerical melodies that reflect on Heygate’s childhood experiences of rural England.

“It was really important not to isolate the sound from its environment,” he explains, describing the compositional and recording process as “site-specific”. Developed over a series of intuitive musical enquiries, the mini-album’s uncanny quality emerges from combining raw demo takes with overdubs of almost orchestral grandeur.

Heygate points to the final track as indicative of the work as a whole: “‘Follow’ really is the mantra for the release and embodies the practical approach I was taking to music making: not to force the music but see where it takes you.”

As a painter, Heygate’s practice takes artefacts through sequences of reproduction that embrace the fluctuating materiality of the copy. Since obtaining a degree in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins in 2017, he has exhibited solo at Peter von Kant and Springseason galleries in London, and has participated in group shows at Saatchi Gallery, Cob Gallery and Senesi Contemporanea.

Describing his artistic practice as one of self-erasure, music instead provides Heygate with a more personal and autobiographical outlet. Where the two worlds combine is on Preludes’ striking artwork, which features paintings of 13th century stone carvings from the font of the church in the town where he grew up.

Speaking to a time where people were connected to the land in a more profound way, each symbol is assigned to a track on the album, which Heygate likens to giving them a title.

“To add that one juxtaposition might open a whole new interpretation or language that might be hard to find otherwise,” he explains.“Over time it might reveal itself to you, which is why I'm excited about it being released. To throw them out there and see what comes of it.”

Die XKatedral Anthology Series III ist die dritte Ausgabe einer Reihe von Archivveröffentlichungen, die Musik von Komponisten zeigen, die sich mit langsam sich entwickelnder harmonischer und klanglicher Musik beschäftigen. Die hier vorgestellten Stücke konzentrieren sich auf die Verwendung von synthetischen und akustischen Klängen sowie auf algorithmische Komposition als Werkzeuge für präzises Arbeiten im Bereich der spektralen Erforschung. Dieses Doppel-Vinyl-Set erscheint anlässlich des zehnjährigen Jubiläums des Labels und enthält Werke aus den Jahren 2014 bis 2025. Es wird zusammen mit Neuauflagen der XKatedral Anthology Series I-II veröffentlicht. "My Falling Sinks" von Kali Malone ist eine sparsame, absteigende Melodie für justierte Orgel, Cello und Akustikgitarre mit Lucy Railton und Stephen OüfMalley. Das Stück ist eine kompositorische Skizze in septimaler reiner Stimmung, die 2021 während eines Aufenthalts in La Becque auf einer experimentellen Stimmorgel in La Temple de La Tour-de-Peilz entstanden ist. ,Empyrean Flare" von Maria W Horn wurde 2022 für ,The Dawn Chorus" der Choreografin Stina Nyberg komponiert. Dieses Stück nutzt die von Arvo Pärt entwickelte Tintinnabuli-Technik, um vier Supersaw-Oszillatoren in langsamen diatonischen Arpeggios zu animieren, die um eine Moll-Tonika-Dreiklang kreisen, und destabilisiert das harmonische Gerüst durch Glissandi und verstärkt die Summe seiner Teile durch analoge Bandsättigung. ,Tessellation" von David Granstrom wurde im Sommer 2017 mit generativen Synthesemethoden komponiert. Die musikalische Periodizität und harmonische Bewegung, die in dem Stück zu hören sind, entstehen durch feste synthetisierte Bandschleifen, die einen Raum zwischen gegensätzlichen Welten erkunden. "To Whoever Shall Inherit the Earth" ist das erste Solostück von Jessica Ekomane und entstand laut der Komponistin fast zufällig. Das Werk wurde vor einem Jahrzehnt spät in der Nacht aufgenommen und fängt einen flüchtigen, zerbrechlichen und unwiederholbaren Moment ein, der genau so festgehalten wurde, wie er sich ereignet hat. Smoking Mother von Stephen OüfMalley wurde für Gisele Vienneüfs Der Teich / LüfEtang von Robert Walser geschaffen. Es wurde 2018 während eines Aufenthalts im SMEM-Synthesearchiv in Freiburg komponiert und im August 2020 bei EMS produziert. Das Stück greift auf Werke von Zia Mohuiddin Dagar, Krzysztof Penderecki und Popol Vuh zurück und erkundet gleichzeitig die Wurzeln des Minimalismus. ,Att boja sjalarna" von Mats Erlandsson wurde 2018 komponiert und ist Teil von ,On Eternity", einer Sammlung von vier Texten und vier zehnminütigen Kassettenloops, die 2021 von Irrlicht Forlag als limitierte Box-Set-Edition veröffentlicht wurde. Dieses Werk enthält Darbietungen von Gaianeh Pilossian und Sara Fors, jeweils auf der Violine und mit Gesang. This will be my last piece for organ wurde 2025 von Theodor Kentros komponiert und nutzt Gruppen von Cluster-Oszillatoren durch resonante Rückkopplung, um die schwankenden Frequenzen zu synthetisieren, die beim Verstimmen einer Orgel im physischen Raum zu hören sind. "Fault Lines" wurde von Daniel M Karlsson mit generativen Methoden komponiert, wobei ein deterministischer und endlicher Output für diese Veröffentlichung festgelegt wurde. Dieses Stück enthält Gesangsdarbietungen von Sara Fors, Ansis B.ti. und Art.rs C.ukurs.

NOW That’s What I Call 70s Soul brings together 50 era-defining tracks from one of the most powerful decades in soul music, featuring classics from Motown legends, Philly Soul pioneers, smooth balladeers and funk innovators – all pressed across 3LPs on beautiful blue vinyl… Out April 24th!

LP1 opens with one of the decade’s most recognisable love songs: Al Green’s ‘Let’s Stay Together’, a US #1 and UK Top 10 hit that became his signature recording. It’s followed by Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’, the socially conscious masterpiece and title track from his landmark 1971 album, and Diana Ross’ Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’, which topped the US chart and became her first solo #1. Stevie Wonder’s ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)’ remains one of Motown’s most joyful recordings and comes before Commodores’ ‘Easy’ introducing Lionel Richie’s smooth ballad vocals. The side also includes Bill Withers’ timeless ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’, a Grammy-winning classic, and The Stylistics’ lush ballad ‘You Make Me Feel Brand New’, a UK Top 3 smash, before closing with Rose Royce’s beautiful ‘Wishing On A Star’, one of the most loved soul ballads of the era.

Flip the LP over and The Jackson 5’s ‘I Want You Back’ – the group’s explosive debut single opens the side. Smokey Robinson & The Miracles’ ‘The Tears Of A Clown’ became a UK #1 and is followed by The Supremes’ Nathan Jones’ showcasing the group’s evolving psychedelic-soul sound. Northern Soul classics from Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons with ‘The Night’, Chairmen Of The Board’s Top 3 smash ‘Give Me Just A Little More Time’ and The Trammps’ ‘Hold Back The Night’. The O’Jays’ joyous ‘Love Train’ leads to The Blackbyrds’ Walking In Rhythm’, before the side closes with the romantic classic ‘Always And Forever’ from Heatwave.

LP2 opens with The Temptations’ epic ‘Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone’, a Grammy-winning US #1 remains one of the most stunning recordings from the Motown catalogue, is followed by Isaac Hayes’ ‘Theme From “Shaft”’, an Academy Award-winner and a US #1 smash. More funk follows from Ike & Tina Turner, James Brown with one of his key tracks ‘Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine’, Edwin Starr’s powerful anti-Vietnam protest song ‘War’, and Sly & The Family Stone’s hugely influential ‘Family Affair’. The Delfonics’ sublime ‘Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)’ comes ahead of Billy Paul’s timeless ‘Me And Mrs. Jones’ which closes the side…the other side begins with the 1977 #1 from The Floaters with ‘Float On’, before the breathtaking vocals of Minnie Riperton on ‘Lovin’ You’. The Isley Brothers’ Summer Breeze’ and William DeVaughn’s ‘Be Thankful For What You Got’ have become enduring classics and are followed by a run of ‘80s pop-chart crossover hits completing LP2 from Detroit Emeralds, The Moments Raydio and The Tymes’ #1 ‘Ms. Grace’.

LP3 opens with the unmistakable voice of Barry White and his US #1 hit ‘Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe’, before Aretha Franklin’s ‘Until You Come Back To Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do)’, delivers one of her smoothest performances. Al Green’s ‘Tired Of Being Alone’ and Gladys Knight & The Pips’ ‘Midnight Train To Georgia’ are followed by minimalist soul classic ‘Why Can’t We Live Together’ from Timmy Thomas, and the side closes with a trio of defining ballads:- George Benson’s ‘The Greatest Love Of All’ Diana Ross’ ‘Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going To)’ and The Jackson 5’s ‘I’ll Be There’, their biggest hit…while over on the final side…Freda Payne’s #1 ‘Band Of Gold’, opens alongside Ann Peebles’ influential and much covered ‘I Can’t Stand The Rain’.Marvin Gaye’s sensual ‘Let’s Get It On’ became another US #1, while Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes featuring Teddy Pendergrass deliver the contemporary standard ‘If You Don’t Know Me By Now’. Three massive UK #1s are next…The Stylistics with ‘Can’t Give You Anything (But My Love)’, The Three Degrees’ peerless ‘When Will I See You Again’ and Deniece Williams’ ‘Free’. This amazing collection closes with two timeless ballads: Earth, Wind & Fire’s ‘After The Love Has Gone’, a Grammy-winning classic, along with ‘Three Times A Lady’, a huge worldwide #1 for the Commodores.


NOW That’s What I Call 70s Soul, 50 defining tracks from one of music’s greatest decades. Out April 24th.

DJ Support: Damian Lazarus, James Zabiela, Chloé Caillet, Luke Slater, Solomun, Huxley, Peggy Gou, Alan Fitzpatrick, TSHA, Mat.Joe, Eliza Rose.

It’s been a standout year for X & Ivy following the release of “Let The Bass Kick” on Forever Days. The duo have earned support from heavyweights including Peggy Gou, Todd Edwards and DJ Tennis, with their Chic-sampling club weapon lighting up dancefloors worldwide all summer.

Now, they hand the reins to DJ/producer Jennifer Loveless, who flips “Let The Bass Kick” into a fresh, forward-thinking rework built for the dancefloor.

Jede Band, die was drauf hat, hat ein Mitglied, das mal in einem Plattenladen gearbeitet hat. Bei METZ, dem mutigen Noise-Rock-Trio, das zwischen 2012 und 2024 fünf Alben bei Sub Pop rausgebracht hat, war das Sänger und Gitarrist Alex Edkins. Während seines Studiums verkaufte Edkins in seinem Heimatort Indie-Rock- und Hardcore-Platten und wurde zu einem begeisterten Schüler des Rock ,n` Roll, von den psychedelischen 1960er Jahren bis zu den DIY-1990er Jahren und darüber hinaus. Hoopla, das eingängige, melodische zweite Album aus Edkins' Soloprojekt Weird Nightmare, mischt und kombiniert diese Einflüsse auf unterhaltsame und mitreißende Weise und zeigt seine ausgefeilte musikalische Intelligenz. ,Hoopla" sprüht vor Hooks und Ohrwürmern und ist genau die Kassette, die nie aus dem Autoradio genommen wird, sondern immer wieder gespielt wird und den Sommer begleitet. ,Hoopla" ist neu und nostalgisch zugleich und wird deine Ohren erfreuen. Das selbst produzierte und ausgesprochen lo-fi Debütalbum von Weird Nightmare wurde während der Pandemie zu Hause aufgenommen und 2022 von Sub Pop veröffentlicht. Weird Nightmare zeigte Edkins' Indie-Rock-Sensibilität mit einer Vorliebe für unverkennbare Hooks und mitreißende Refrains zum Mitsingen. Auf dem neuen Studioalbum Hoopla, das gemeinsam mit Jim Eno von Spoon produziert und in Seth Manchesters Machines with Magnets aufgenommen wurde, erweitert Edkins die Dimensionen von Weird Nightmare noch weiter. Neue musikalische Texturen wie Klavier, Glocken und Kastagnetten verschmelzen mit Edkins' geradlinigem Songwriting und verleihen diesen Stücken einen glänzenden Schimmer. Es ist, als würde ein beliebter Indie-Regisseur mit seinem ersten Studiofilm einen Schritt nach vorne machen. Wenn das Debütalbum Weird Nightmare ein Underground-Publikumsliebling war, ähnlich wie Richard Linklaters Slacker, dann ist Hoopla Edkins' Dazed and Confused. ,Hoopla" glänzt mit sonnigem Gitarrenpop und wurde mit genau der richtigen Menge an Fuzz und Crunch produziert. Die unmittelbare, schnörkellose Aufnahme versetzt dich direkt ins Studio mit Edkins und seiner Rhythmusgruppe: Loel Campbell am Schlagzeug und Bassist Roddy Kuester. Das ist Power-Pop der Extraklasse; diese scharfen Adrenalinstöße könnten sich nahtlos in einen Radio-Rock-Block zwischen The Replacements und Elvis Costello & the Attractions einfügen. Oder passen genauso gut zu Sharp Pins, Ratboys und Alvvays. Im Kern ist dieses Album ein optimistischer, leuchtender Lichtblick in unserer seltsamen Zeit. Mit Weird Nightmare möchte Edkins euch wissen lassen, dass er die Welt immer noch liebt, und er lädt die Hörer von Hoopla ein, dasselbe zu empfinden. Nutzt diese Chance, um einen Funken der Magie des Pop in unserer verbrauchten alten Welt zu ergreifen. Ihr habt es verdient.

2026 Repress

Anenon's tenor saxophone breathes an emotive contemplation on loss, meshed with sustained piano and field recordings. 'Moons Melt Milk Light' is a hyper-personal statement contained in a visceral beauty.

LA native Anenon returns with a highly anticipated new album 'Moons Melt Milk Light' on Tonal Union, bearing his most personal, expressive, and arresting works to date. Anenon is the ongoing solo studio and live project of Brian Allen Simon, whom since 2010 has released multiple albums and EPs to critical acclaim, including the highly revered 'Tongue' (2018) and 'Petrol' (2016).

'Moons Melt Milk Light' is direct, efficient, and unwavering in its immediacy. Anenon departs from the electronics of previous works, and embarks on a reductive, almost entirely acoustic approach consisting of piano, tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, and field recordings. All of the music was improvised with everything recorded as either a first or second take with no edits. Any layering happened fast and in the moment, and yet the sonic architecture of the whole feels both planned and refined.

"I feel a kinetic and messy honesty that doesn't exist in any of the other music I've ever made. There is also a sense of being settled, of calm. There is no faking it here."

Gap Mangione's monumentally influential Diana In The Autumn Wind. AKA BEWITH200LP. And, without question, Be With's White Whale.

They said it could never be done. And with good reason.

We've spent the past 12 years trying to license this legendary 1968 recording from Gap and, after much work, it's finally here. Remarkably, this is the first ever vinyl reissue of Gap Mangione's Diana In The Autumn Wind, produced with the full and extensive participation of Gap. An exceedingly rare album, it's been coveted by funk, soul, jazz and hip-hop sample fiends for decades.

It's unarguably *the* most sought after album for J Dilla / Madlib sample collectors. It has also been brilliantly sampled by A Tribe Called Quest, Large Professor, Ghostface Killah, Kendrick Lamar and Talib Kweli.

But this record is so much more than a sample-spotters curio. It's solid gold throughout. Bursting with killer funky-jazz grooves and tracks adorned with warm electric piano, the release is notable for featuring some extremely significant players at the very outset of their careers; Tony Levin, at 21, whose superb playing on both acoustic and electric bass was the harmonic mainstay of the trio and Steve Gadd, at 23, one of the greatest drummers of his generation.

With acceptable copies of this holy grail changing hands for $400, to call this reissue "much-needed" underplays just how vital it is. Gap's story is told in his words alongside rare photos across a sumptuously designed 2-page insert and, to augment this deluxe edition further, its all wrapped up in a beautiful, no-expense-spared luxury tip-on sleeve, as per the original hens-teeth release. And, while we're talking packaging, just take a look at that cover - a work of art in and of itself.

The tracks are short but complex, with that extraordinary rhythm section backing the beautiful piano, organ and electric piano work of Gap. It's like the best ever library funk breaks record you never heard - but all your favourite golden age rap producers were all over it, long ago. It's a stunning blend of the vibrant, driving music of the Gap Mangione Trio coupled with the sensitive composition and superb orchestration of Gap's legendary brother, Chuck Mangione, who helmed an amalgam of seemingly disparate elements – rock, big band jazz, solo improvisation and "classical" music - into a spectacularly cohesive whole that has aged wonderfully well. As Gap himself notes in the liners, "with this group I was able to explore and add new and exciting elements from rock, Brazilian and then-current pop music."

Opener "Boy With Toys" triumphantly swaggers out the gate, all big band horns, flutes and dextrous organ work. The synthesis of everything going on is nothing short of stunning. When one wise YouTube commentator called this tune "old school superhero music", Gap agreed. Rap luminaries did, too, amongst them Talib Kweli, who rapped over DJ Scratch's chopped up intro for "Shock Body" on his Quality album back in 2002.

You've barely recovered from that incredibly affecting opener when you get hit over the head with the exquisite title-track. And now you see how two of the greatest beats of all time emerged from one single track produced nearly 50 years earlier. Unforgettably utilised by Dilla for Slum Village's heartbreakingly good "Fall In Love" and then Madlib for his "Official" beat for Dilla to rap over, on the Jaylib record. Regardless of the records it went on to spawn, this is just a staggering tune in its own right. Be beguiled by the flutes and the flutter tonguing, the counter-melody from the trombones, the soprano sax solo. All of it. Simply beautiful.

The questing organ and horn workout "Long Hair Soulful" deserves a lot more attention, overshadowed somewhat by the opening two monsters but no less fantastic. It swings, it grooves and Gadd and Levin truly cook. Up next, Gap's wonderfully percussive, mellifluously piano-heavy cover of "Yesterday" by some fellas called The Beatles. It's a subtly arresting gem. "The XIth Commandment" is damn fine, with thick, gorgeous electric piano and snappy drum work underpinning chaotic soundtracky horns. To close out the side, "St. Thomas" showcases the "fourth" member of the Gap Mangione Trio, conga drummer Dhui Mandingo. Having performed with the Trio since 1965, Dhui‘s African-based and jazz-latin-influenced style amazed listeners and its way to hear why.

Opening the B-Side, standard "You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You" breezes along in the late-night jazz club fashion before things get super deep with the outstanding and - up to now - un-sampled "Pond With Swans". It's simply heavenly, and how its moody, melancholic intro has yet to be pilfered is anybody's guess. It oscillates between gentle, sombre movements and bombastic grooves, equally hypnotic and joyous. The rendition of "You Are My Sunshine" is yet another showcase for Gap's virtuoso playing and Gadd's mastery of the pocket. Indeed Gadd's drumming on "Free Again" is nothing short of neck-SNAPPING! Ghostface took it for not one but two "Iron's Theme" tracks across his seminal Supreme Clientele. It's got that Galt MacDermot "Coffee Cold" feel. Suuuuuper cool. The frantic "Dream On Little Dreamer" hurtles along and must've surely had the whole room absolutely swinging from the chandeliers back in Rochester in the late 60s. The album closes with the magnificent Graduate Medley, featuring memorable renditions of "Scarborough Fair", "The Sounds of Silence" and "Mrs. Robinson". The warm electric piano lines of the former were sampled by The Ummah (Dilla again!) for Tribe's "Pad & Pen" from their reappraised final album, The Love Movement, as well as by Large Professor on his much-loved "The LP (For My People)".

Under the watchful eye - and extremely attentive ears - of Gap Mangione himself, the audio for Diana In The Autumn Wind has been carefully remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, with a few much needed tweaks here and there, according to the artist's wishes. At the prestigious Abbey Road Studios, Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at the always stellar Record Industry in Holland. The artwork restoration has taken place here at Be With HQ and has that drop-dead gorgeous cover artwork popping like new. Buy on sight!

Hekt's debut album Forever is released 1st May 2026 on Numbers, with the first single "Someday" featuring Valeria Litvakov out now.

Made with his friends Henriette Motzfeldt & Catharina Stoltenberg (solo and together as Smerz), Copenhagen-based composer/producer Fine Glindvad (who records as Fine), and Valeria Litvakov, Forever is built around juxtaposition: pop and bass brushing shoulders with dopamine fueled EDM. The record is a funhouse of mirrors where polystyrene arpeggios skitter underneath uplifting chords.

As Hekt describes the record: "Forever is desire and digital synthesis, car rides and lingering perfume. It’s missing someone who was never really there, holding on to something you didn’t want in the first place. The songs you hear when you’re falling in love on the dancefloor, and the songs you hear when you open your eyes and realize it’s just you alone with the DJ, the last one to leave. Songs to make out and break up to. A party so good you get depressed it can’t last forever."

Forever is a continuation of Hekt's work exploring the emotional core of pop music. "Someday" is the soundtrack to a hundred imagined futures with strangers in the club, as pristine arps and heartswelling chords skitter under Valeria Litvakov's ruminations, both lovestruck and terrified. Smerz add a level of fantastic to the slanted otherworldly pop of "Up in the Air, So" and "Forever." On both tracks, the melodies are squishy and impressionistic, the sound of all those memories we make in dance floors, taxis home, and in the blurry morning sunshine as we adjust to reality.

And while guest vocalists abound on Forever, Hekt also takes a turn at the mic himself. On "Without You" he shakes up a perfectly mixed cocktail of melancholy and beauty. And on "Promise" his voice is turned into another melodic accent against the fragile IDM sound design. Elsewhere he turns up the aggro. Dueting with Catharina Stoltenberg on Boys Noize's secret weapon, "Anytime Anywhere," the two trade bars across a compressed field of static and feedback while little hints of sub and wiry synths circle the edge of the stereo.

Hekt's music has always attempted to redefine what club music can and might be. This reimagining of the very basic building blocks of the dance floor is felt across Forever where he leans into the emotions of 2010s EDM. "What I loved about hardstyle and jumpstyle was the emotional intensity that kind of music can bring if you’re in the right setting. And I think that is what has stuck with me from EDM too. Emotional intensity," he explains. "It’s just been the soundtrack to some of the most fun moments in my life." On "But I Can't Really Show You," he compresses the EDM-era into 3-minutes. Vocal catharsis, dubstep womp, and soaring chords make it sound like the entirety of Tomorrowland being processed through MAX/MSP. This Skrillex-meets-Calvin Harris colossus is designed to destroy every sub woofer as it pulls on every last heart string.

And then there are the straight-up club stompers. "Baby" is UK club music reimagined with the steely lines of Danish modernism - think DJ Q going b2b with Errorsmith. It has a bassline made out of flubber with a vocal chopped beyond recognition as it bounces across chromatic synth lines. Even when he strips things down on the slinky garage-esque "Big Things," there are still unexpected twists and turns. The melody sounds like an Ibiza House compilation played in reverse, alongside drums that swing in and out of psilocybin bleeps and bloops. On other tracks like "Dream" and "You Won't Believe," the tropes of dance musics past, present, and future are dissolved in baths of synthesis and polished sound design.

Forever is a record where club music and Scandinavian EDM seamlessly mixes into avant-garde pop. Hekt has crafted singular and unclassifiable love songs alongside effortless bangers, making an ode to those eternal dance floor moments where time stops and you start hoping for something big.

Divine wasn’t just a singer, Divine was a phenomenon. Born Harris Glenn Milstead, Divine transformed drag, performance, and queer visibility long before it was mainstream. From the underground stages of Baltimore to international fame, Divine became a muse for filmmaker John Waters, starring in classic cult films like Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble and Hairspray, that redefined shock, satire, and queer cinema.

Native and Queer (The Complete Experience) brings together the full force of Divine's musical legacy in one explosive HI-NRG compilation. anthems,. Featuring the iconic anthems that shook dancefloors worldwide, “Native Love (Step By Step)”, the track that launched Divine into international stardom, “Shoot Your Shot”, “Walk Like A Man”, “You Think You’re Man” and more bold tracks. American producer Bobby Orlando aka Bobby “O” was the architect behind Divine’s most tracks and is regarded as an innovator in the HI-NRG genre, while Pete Waterman & Barry Evangeli produced “You Think You’re A Man” and “Walk Like A Man“ was a solo effort by Barry Evangeli.

All tracks are sequenced, edited and mastered by Ben Liebrand.

Native And Queer (The Complete Experience) is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on blue splatter vinyl.

Music From The Star Wars Saga - The Essential Collection is an orchestral music compilation including tracks from Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace until Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi.

On the occasion of the release of the final episode of the nine-part Star Wars saga: The Rise Of Skywalker, all songs were re-recorded by Robert Ziegler, alongside the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra and members of the Slovak Philharmonic Choir. These includes the iconic “Main Title” composition, “Duel Of The Fates”, “Yoda’s Theme” and “The Imperial March”.

Music From The Star Wars Saga - The Essential Collection is available as an exclusive “May The 4th Be With You” edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on 'Hyperspace' blue splatter vinyl. This 2LP is packaged in a gatefold sleeve and includes an insert.

Die Traumstimme von Joshua Redmans Album „where are we“ mit ihrem Blue-Note-Solo-Debüt!
Als Saxofonist Joshua Redman 2023 sein Album „where are we“ veröffentlichte, ließ nicht nur er damit
aufhorchen, sondern auch die Sängerin auf allen Tracks: Gabrielle Cavassa. Das weltweite Echo war imposant, in Deutschland hieß es “Top-Sängerin“ (Stereoplay) und “bringen die Luft im Studio zum Flirren“
(Süddeutsche Zeitung). Bei der darauffolgenden Welttournee des Redman Quartet begeisterte die Sängerin
erneut das Publikum auch in Deutschland.
Mit ”Diavola“ gibt Gabrielle Cavassa jetzt ihren Einstand bei Blue Note. Dort kann sie erstmals auf
großer Bühne ihr Können als Sängerin und Songwriterin zeigen, sowie als Interpretin von Jazz-Standards
(z.B. “Prisoner of Love“) und klassischem Pop (“Could It Be Magic“) bis hin zu brasilianischen Songs (“To
Say Goodbye“ von Edu Lobo). Cavassas Stimme ist sinnlich und intensiv, obwohl sie mit den Melodien
und Tempi spielt, bleiben Seele und Aussage der Songs intakt.
“Diavola“ wurde koproduziert von Joshua Redman und Don Was und überzeugt auch durch brillante
Arrangements und exquisite Musiker: Jeff Parker an der Gitarre, Paul Cornish am Klavier, Larry Grenadier
am Bass, Brian Blade am Schlagzeug und Joshua Redman bei zwei Titeln am Tenorsaxofon.

DJ Support: Garnier, Opolopo, Worldwide FM, Marcia Carr, Bill Brewster, Timeout Moscow, Craig Smith, Delfonic, Tony Nwachukwu, Marcel Dettmann, DJ Rocca, Shuya Okino, Borrowed Identity, Titonton Duvante, Alex Attias, Rainer Truby, Sol Power All-Stars, Kyri R2, Robert Luis, Severino Panzetta, Lars Behrenroth, Kassian, Alkalino, Getdown Edits, Moodymanc, Gerd, Lea Lisa, Young Pulse, Mark de Clive-Lowe, Mark Grusane, Alex Barck….

International dance music heavyweight, producer and DJ Alexander Lay-Far returns with a powerful new chapter - Lay-Far Dance Orchestra (LFDO) - a fully-fledged live band project that reconnects him with his jazz-funk and fusion DNA while pushing dance music forward with unmistakable groove, musicianship and emotional weight. Formed in early 2024, LFDO is no nostalgia exercise. With Lay-Far at the helm as bassist, bandleader, composer, arranger and sound engineer, the orchestra has already been turning heads with explosive live performances, reinventing classic Lay-Far cuts, and now unveil their first album “Skybreak” with all new and original material written and produced by Lay-Far together with his bandmates and star guests, including Lipelis, Antoha MC and Seven Davis Jr. This work shows the departure from the predominantly electronic sound of Lay-Far's previous solo albums in favour of live instrumentation recorded to analogue tape and effortlessly bridging the gap between Jazz, Library Music, Disco-Funk, House, Broken Beat and Drum’n’Bass. “Skybreak” is dynamic, passionate, spiritual, cinematic, playful, heartfelt, life-affirming, dreamy and deeply romantic. Ultimately, there’s something profoundly romantic in recording and releasing such music in this day and age!


“Take Flight (Part 1)” is opening the album with style. It takes us on a beautifully orchestrated journey, blending the sensuality of Library Music with high-octane Jazz-Funk and raw b-boy breaks, propelled by breathtaking flute and Rhodes solos of Timur Nekrasov and Maxim Glonti. This aural symbiosis of “beauty and the beats” will become more and more prominent as the album unfolds.



It’s time for “Aquarius Love” created with the inimitable artist and vocalist Seven Davis Jr. (Secret Angels, Ninja Tune). In this composition cinematic soul and heavy jazz meet the restless energy of live drum & bass with deep and heartfelt vocals - timeless sound combined with a timeless message about love and life!



Next is “Head In The Clouds” - a theme for an imaginary rom-com, an ode to all the dreamers - sweet, light, naive and heartwarming. Space-Disco-Funk at its best!

“Where You From” is a fiery Soulful House number with heavy Afro-Latin influences recorded in collaboration with Lipelis. It’s full of Sun, joy and passion. Its irresistible rhythm is emphasised by funky octave bass, wah-wah guitar, catchy piano riffs, guitar solo by Lipelis and seemingly light conscious message delivered by Lay-Far and Maryag. Summer is here!

Now the album takes an unexpected twist in the form of “The Harp of Boom” which at first glance appears to be a classic-sounding Boom-Bap banger. Yes, It’s loud, raw, and gritty, yet it gradually evolves into something delicately-touching and deeply-soulful thanks to a memorable flute melody and lush string arrangement. Definitely recorded with tongue in cheek.


Next is “Feel The Moment” a remarkable collaboration with one of the most recognisable and distinctive Russian artists, singer, trumpeter and cultural icon Antoha MC. It’s a feel-good song, hopeful, life-affirming and bittersweet. A stylish excursion into Brit-Funk and Soviet Jazz-Fusion sound, drawing inspiration from the likes of Atmosfear, Light Of The World or Soviet Jazz bands like Allegro and Arsenal, but reimagining the influences through the modern West London broken beat lens.


The spectacular music journey continuous with “Take Flight (Part 2)” - it’s all about the deep infectious jazz-funk groove, heavy beats, rolling percussion and the glory of the soloing instruments - saxophone and flute by Timur Nekrasov, demonstrating the wide range of emotions from thoughtful and lyrical to restless and borderline vicious. One for freestyle dancing!

As the album draws to an end a vibrant musical triptych “Soul Constant” awaits, mixing together the deep and sensual mood of spiritual jazz with heavy syncopated drum’n’bass rhythms by Michail Fotchenkov, lush orchestration, expressive saxophone solos and the ending which can simply be described as “aural bliss”. It’s breath-taking!

A pleasant bonus is the exclusive version of “Where You From” by Lipelis himself, who is taking it into dub territories, further enhancing the rhythm section and enriching the song with his trademark playful synth flourishes and dreamy guitar solos for maximum effect (and appeal).

The album “Skybreak” by Lay-Far Dance Orchestra is the work of real artistry and craftsmanship with timeless sound that’s not only deeply-rooted but also forward-thinking.

Nonesuch Records releases Let X=X, by Laurie Anderson with Sexmob. This triple-LP/double-CD set was recorded live during a 2023 tour by Anderson and the jazz band Sexmob – Steven Bernstein and Briggan Krauss on brass, Kenny Wollesen on percussion, Douglas Wieselman on winds and guitar, and Tony Scherr on bass. Its cover and interior packaging feature paintings by Anderson. The album features 23 songs, including many favourites from throughout Anderson’s career, performed in new arrangements – plus one by Lou Reed and Metallica, ‘Junior Dad’. Anderson and Sexmob play more US and international dates this spring and summer (details below).

The New York Times said Anderson and Sexmob’s concert at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) ‘wasn’t a historical recreation of past recordings; Sexmob’s sound is a beefier one than on Anderson’s albums. With musicians who can double on electric guitar and bass clarinet, its members offered a rich range of textural variation throughout the evening.’

Laurie Anderson is one of America’s most renowned – and daring – creative pioneers. Her work, which encompasses music, visual art, poetry, film, and photography, has challenged and delighted audiences around the world for more than 40 years. In a recent 60 Minutes profile, Anderson Cooper said she ‘is a pioneer of the avant-garde, but... that doesn’t begin to describe what she creates... It’s experienced by audiences who come to see her perform: singing, telling stories, and playing strange violins of her own invention... she blends the beautiful and the bizarre, challenging audiences with homilies and humor. She blurs boundaries across music, theater, dance, and film.’ The Washington Post has said she ‘doesn’t just tell stories; she draws out every word with a kind of physical pleasure, tasting its flavor as she probes the everyday mysteries of life.’

Anderson released her first album with Nonesuch Records, the critically lauded Life on a String, in 2001. Her subsequent releases on the label include Live in New York (2002); Homeland (2010); the soundtrack to her acclaimed film Heart of a Dog (2015); and her Grammy-winning collaboration with Kronos Quartet, Landfall (2018). Nonesuch released a re-mastered edition of Big Science in 2007 for its 25th anniversary, followed by a vinyl LP re-issue in 2021; the album includes Anderson’s beloved, surprise hit, song, ‘O Superman’, which also is featured on Let X=X. Her recent Nonesuch release was 2024’s Amelia, about renowned female aviator Amelia Earhart’s tragic last flight.

Anderson’s virtual-reality film La Camera Insabbiata, with Hsin-Chien Huang, won the 2017 Venice Film Festival Award for Best VR Experience, and, in 2018, Skira Rizzoli published her book All the Things I Lost in the Flood: Essays on Pictures, Language and Code, the most comprehensive collection of her artwork to date. Recent exhibitions and installations of Anderson’s work include Habeas Corpus at New York’s Park Avenue Armory; her largest exhibition to date, The Weather, at Washington, DC’s Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum of Modern Art; and Looking into a Mirror Sideways at Stockholm’s Moderna Museet, which was her largest European exhibition to date.

Laurie Anderson was awarded the 2024 Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication, along with Christopher Nolan and David Attenborough, and the International Astronomical Union named a minor planet in her honour: Asteroid 270588, Laurieanderson. That same year, she was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

This perfectly formed EP brings together Dutch duo Fouk with a selection of collaborators across four groove-led cuts blending house, disco, and nu-disco influences.

The title track sees Fouk teaming up with The Phenomenal Handclap Band, delivering a vibrant vocal cut driven by warm basslines, uplifting melodies, and classic disco instrumentation. Importantly, both the vocal and instrumental versions appear here as extended mixes exclusive to the vinyl release.

Further collaborations with Archil & Leon and 79.5 continue the EP’s groove-heavy approach, combining soulful vocals, live instrumentation, and dancefloor-ready arrangements.

Already receiving strong support across radio, DJs, and streaming platforms, including plays from Bill Brewster (NTS Radio), Colleen Cosmo Murphy, Dom Servini, Francois K, Graeme Park, Hot Toddy, Massimiliano Pagliara, Pete Herbert, Slothboogie, Tim Zawada / Star Creature Universal Vibrations, Dave Pezzner, Nadiem Shah, Luxxury, Dj Supermarkt, Luke Solomon, Seamus Haji, Sophie Lloyd, J-Kriv, DJ Rocca, Faze Action.

The release has also landed #1 placements on Spotify’s Nu Disco editorial playlist.

With warm grooves, uplifting vocals and strong crossover appeal between disco, house and nu-disco scenes, this EP offers high playability for DJs and strong appeal for modern disco and house collectors.

Carlo Maria Giulini: Mozart: Requiem auf Vinyl
Die bekannteste Aufnahme von Mozarts Requiem aus dem Katalog von Warner Classics erscheint nun in einer neuen Remastering-Version auf Vinyl. Sie basiert auf den Originalbändern der Giulini Remastered 2025 Edition.„Dies ist vor allem eine lyrische Darbietung, deren Umsetzung mir besondere Freude bereitet hat. Giulini legt stets großen Wert auf die Melodieführung und erzielt einen wunderschön fokussierten Sologesang.“ Gramophone

Contemplating the role of the album format in an attention-deficient society, Speedy J presents Walkman -- a constantly shifting, 90-minute soundtrack to a journey of your choice. Jochem Paap's first solo album in over 20 years is a freewheeling, 20-track testament to his decades-deep studio skill and sonic versatility, running from skewed rhythmic rabbit holes to exploratory tonal abandon. For Paap, the traditional idea of the album had become obscured by listening habits and the non-stop information barrage of our digital lives. Having moved on from his breakthrough years releasing LPs and touring off the back of them, he was more inspired to develop his many-sided STOOR project and feed into a bigger artistic body of work than the temporary shelf-life of a single release. As is natural for any artist, his perspective shifted over time and he found himself drawn back to the idea of an album, realising he connected best with longer releases while he was on a walk, out for a run or generally in transit one way or another. With an endearing call back to the humble Walkman, he selected an hour and a half of material created during studio sessions at the beginning of 2025, perfectly sized to fit on two 45-minute sides of a cassette tape. As has long been the case for his studio practice, there were no fixed intentions when sitting down in the STOOR lab to start making noise -- just a wealth of experience and an expansive set of tools to start exploring with. From hours of jams Paap pulled together standout moments and moulded them into a mixtape-like narrative ranging from two-minute beat nuggets to full-tilt techno workouts and immersive ambient drops. Every sound is intentional, but the overall delivery is instinctive and curious, showing multiple new dimensions to Paap's sound and offering unpredictability at every turn. 'Arp Amp Chasm' opens the album up in a thick blanket of humming, harmonic waves with an electric emotional charge, while 'Ctrssalms17 (Cold Render)' journeys through evocative blooms of melancholic, gritty pads and rugged, half-submerged tech funk. 'Modern Birds (Origin Edit)' reaches skywards with grand sweeps of dynamic, brilliantly rendered synthesis. From the dexterous drum science of 'Drift Vector' to 'Osc Hop (Slow Collapse)'s lurching, beatless swamp of synths, on Walkman even the briefest snapshots leave an impression that lasts beyond the quick-scan cycle of the modern music experience. With his return to the album format, Paap's message is clear --put your headphones on, get outside and lose yourself in the sound of an artist constantly committed to moving forwards.

ELSI celebrates the 40th anniversary of Marimba Do Mar with a special reissue of the highly sought-after record produced by Roberto Lodola, one of the pioneers of Italy’s Afro-Funk movement.

Four decades on, Marimba Do Mar remains a true Balearic anthem. This special edition includes Feeling Of The Sun, created in 2014 from rediscovered original tapes and reimagined by Lodola into a sun-soaked, electronic version of the original. The B-side delivers two vinyl debuts: Marty’s Beach, driven by elegant piano riffs and a memorable sax solo from long time collaborator Alessandro Bertozzi, and Mother Africa (Ibiza Dub Mix), a deep Afro-Funk interpretation in a modern electronic key produced during his stay on the magic island.

This limited pressing, distributed by Sound Metaphors, offers selectors a rare opportunity to celebrate a landmark chapter in Balearic history, with ELSI placing your next summer record directly into your hands.

The crew behind the freshly minted Secret Vault imprint are keeping their cards close to their chests, with the accompanying press release loosely explaining their desire to prioritise dancefloor "heat" over spoon-feeding information to buyers (and in this case, Juno reviewers). The secrecy makes sense, though, because these uncredited cuts are heavyweight disco edits - and fantastic ones at that. Our shadowy heroes first extend and (we think) lightly speed up a slap-bass-sporting slab of disco-soul gorgeousness full of dewy-eyed female lead vocals, extended breakdowns, glistening guitar solos and punchy. Over on the flip, our scalpel-wielding fiends turn their attention to a bouncy, energetic and infectious disco-funk gem topped off by expressive male lead vocals.

Canadian-born Alexander 'Skip' Spence was the co-founder of Moby Grape, and played guitar with them until 1969. In the same year he released his only solo album: Oar.

The album was recorded after Spence had spent six months in a mental institution following a delusion-driven attempt to attack his Moby Grape band mates with a fire axe, after having ingested LSD. As the urban myth goes, on the day of his release he drove a motorcycle - dressed in only his pyjamas - directly to Nashville to record his only solo album. Fact is that he recorded this album in seven days, playing all the instruments himself, and that the end result is now considered to be a classic psychedelic folk album. After this album Spence largely withdrew from the music industry.

Original copies of Oar fetch quite the sum nowadays, so Music On Vinyl teamed up with Columbia/Sony to make this psychedelic folk gem available for everybody to enjoy.

Oar is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on transparent vinyl.

JoeyStarr is the co-founder of the famous French rap duo Suprême NTM. Originally starting out as breakdancers and graffiti writers, the duo is known for representing the perspective of minorities residing in the underprivileged neighbourhoods of Paris and beyond through dark, gritty, politically-conscious lyrics. Despite achieving record sales with their four albums, they split in 1998.

After a few detours away from the music business, in 2006 JoeyStarr dropped his first solo album. Egomaniac, released in 2011, is his second album and includes some high-profile collaborations; on "Mamy..." he works together with Nicoletta on a rework of her 1971 hit single "Mamy Blue" and the interlude "Appel À La Resistance" features a speech by leading left-wing politician Olivier Besancenot. After its initial release, the vinyl edition went out of print so we're happy we can finally make it available again.

Egomaniac is available as 15th anniversary edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on orange vinyl and includes an 8-page booklet.

For the first time in more than a decade, Paul St. Hilaire (AKA Tikiman) presents a solo album – 100% Tiki.

Over his 30-plus year career, St. Hilaire has become one of dance music’s quietly legendary figures. Born and raised in Dominica, he moved to Berlin in 1994 and has lent both his voice and his musicianship to some of the most iconic electronic music from the German capital – and beyond. Renowned for his collaborations with Moritz von Oswald and Mark Ernestus (AKA Rhythm & Sound), he has also appeared on records with Deadbeat, Rhauder, Larry Heard aka Mr. Fingers and Stereotyp (G-Stone Recordings), amongst others.

However, few know the extent of St. Hilaire’s compositional and technical mastery. From his home studio in Kreuzberg, which includes an extensive collection of vintage hardware, self-built instruments and notebooks scribbled with endless lyrics, he has created a vast archive of material spanning ambient dub, avant-jazz, lush techno and lovers rock.

Tikiman Vol. 1 is a heady, downtempo tour de force of patois metaphors on education, displacement and personal vs. global histories, as is evident on slippy album opener “Bedroom in My Bag”: Mister, mister / Where are you going? / I’m heading for a faraway land / What are you having in the bag in your hand? / Help us to understand / He said, I’ve got my bedroom in my bag.

Overall, the album’s lyrics reflect on life between Berlin and Dominica, specifically St. Hilaire’s hometown of Grand Bay, where he has worked with various musicians famous for the island’s different genres of carnival music. St. Hilaire himself always favoured the island’s more “discrete” music, developing a sonic synergy between two different geographical strains of groove and minimalism, and combining them with foundational Caribbean mixing techniques, which provide the basis for his songwriting and distinct
baritone.

Tikiman Vol.1 offers a rare insight into St. Hilaire’s complex artistry, from the eyes-down grooves of “Little Way” and the guitar-heavy digi dancehall experiment “Keep Safe,” to the subtle hypnosis of “Ten to One” and the softly crashing synth waves of closer “Three And A Half”, evoking not only beaches but also coasts and borders. It’s a fitting expression of both the breadth of St. Hilaire’s work, as well as his history as one of the few black, Berlin-based artists who, despite remaining largely overlooked, has influenced the city’s electronic music culture since its beginnings.


Credits
Written & Produced by Paul St. Hilaire
Mastered by Stefan Betke
Artwork by Grant Gibson

Kynant Records was founded in 2015 by Richard Akingbehin, a British-Nigerian radio programmer (Refuge Worldwide), music writer and DJ. Originally specialising in deep techno and featuring artists such as Cio D’Or, Terrence Dixon and Donato Dozzy, Kynant has since launched a sub-label Kynant EX which focuses on ambient, dub and experimental electronics.