quête:the j note orch

YARN welcomes René Audiard for its tenth release with "Makes Me Feel", a four-track EP from one of underground electronic music’s most singular voices.

Across years of dub techno, minimal and leftfield electronic experimentation, René has developed an approach to stripped-down music that feels anything but limited. Where minimalism can often become an exercise in taking things away, his work finds possibility in what remains. "Makes Me Feel" is a particularly fitting example: immersive, at times strange, but always full of feeling.

‘Lovin’ opens the EP in familiar Audiard territory: murky low-end, locomotive groove, reduced rhythmic compositions and an understated framework swimming in a pool of detail. 'Possession' lets in more light. Vocal echoes, persistent rhythms and occasional string phrases give it a cinematic quality, while a groove that seems to circle endlessly takes on an almost shamanistic pull. The EP’s 11-minute behemoth, 'Flesh', fills most of the release’s B-side while making a convincing case for patience and sophistication. There are echoes of minimal’s golden age here, but Audiard never mistakes repetition for standing still. Tiny rhythmic fragments sit alongside expansive orchestral gestures, with samples working at every scale of the arrangement. Warmth and cinematic drama run through the track, but it's the playful programming underneath that keeps it moving. 'Night' closes the record on a different note, recalling Audiard’s work with Ali Çakır in Düve. Percussive samples, accordion and Middle Eastern guitar phrases bring a more acoustic character to his reduced 808-infused broken beats, making for a playful, occasionally melancholic ending with a distinctly microtonal feel.

What makes René Audiard’s music so rewarding is how readily you recognize his hand in it. There is a particular grain to the sounds, a way of placing details within a groove, and a willingness to follow an idea wherever it leads. Across “Makes Me Feel”, those instincts give four quite different tracks a shared identity. Even when working within familiar forms, Audiard makes them sound entirely his own. It’s the holy grail of music production: a personal sound signature. And a thoughtful addition to YARN’s growing repertoire of reduced, sophisticated dancefloor music.

Major figure in electronic music and pioneer of cosmic disco, Space was founded in 1977 by Didier Marouani.
"Magic Fly", its first single, embodies its futuristic DNA (a melodious, cosmic and disco-inspired composition). Following its worldwide success, 3 albums were released in 2 years :

- "Magic Fly" (1977), blending melodic richness with synthetic innovation, delivered both dancefloor hits and midtempo tracks.
- "Deliverance" (1977) is a typical 70s concept album, ranging from disco to cosmic electronic music.
- "Just Blue" (1978) is a more melancholic album featuring broader orchestrations and complex harmonies.
These 3 records sold over 10 million copies worldwide.

"The Art Of Space Disco (1977-1978)" presents Space's most iconic tracks and sums up two fruitful intense years of musical innovation.

- The Vinyl comes in as 1LP Crystal Clear. It includes 4 edits : Carry On Turn Me On, My Love Is Music, Deliverance & Running In The City.
- The Double CD features original versions . It includes 2 additional tracks (Symphony, Velvet Rape) and 8 remixes (never released physically before) produced in 2026 by artists whose musical careers were shaped by Space.
- CD & Vinyl Exclusive liner notes by Jean-Yves Leloup.
- All tracks have been remastered by Alex Gopher

The third and final full-length, double album from the Elephant 6 Recording Co. co-founders. Their first record in 27 years from the Athens, GA band. A legend is a heavy thing to carry. It has been 27 years since the last album by The Olivia Tremor Control. In that time, they have influenced countless bands, been the subject of documentaries and biographies, and now, finally, improbably, there is a third Olivia Tremor Control album. In the 1990s, The Olivia Tremor Control released two albums of experimental and psychedelic pop genius, Music from the Unrealized Script: Dusk at Cubist Castle (1996), and Black Foliage: Animation Music Vol. 1 (1999). As founding members of the Elephant 6 collective, they redefined the US underground scene, injecting bright paisley colors and sonic adventure into a scene weighed down by grim irony and a fear of pretension. Work began on the album as far back as 2005 but progress was slowed by other projects, other responsibilities, but in 2010, the band of Hart, Doss, John Fernandes, Pete Erchick, Eric Harris, and Derek Almstead began to record. By 2011 The Olivia Tremor Control had reemerged as a fully active band and added AJ Griffin to the lineup as well as touring members Scott Spillane and Robbie Cucchario. The band was now recording constantly and were fast on their way to completing the album. Then in the summer of 2012, Bill Doss suddenly, tragically passed away. With everyone still in shock and grieving, work on The Same Place came to a halt. Every attempt to resume the project stalled until 2023, when, after watching the Elephant 6 Documentary, Athens producer/musician Jason NeSmith came on board to help. In 2024, with the album nearly finished, Will Hart unexpectedly passed away. Drawing on Will's extensive collections of notes, The Same Place was finally completed by the surviving band members, the broader Elephant 6 community, and producers Derek Almstead, Jason NeSmith, and Ron Kwasman. The Same Place does everything The Olivia Tremor Control ever did well. It also does it better, and goes further, than anyone could have imagined was possible.

Despite the widespread popularity of reggae music in the UK, following its explosion onto the international music scene in the late 1960s, many of these in charge of Britain's mainstream media were reluctant to give the exciting new sound coverage, wither in print or over the airways.

In an attempt to counter this prejudice, Trojan Records took the bold step of embellishing recordings from Jamaica with sophisticated orchestration, with the resultant ‘commercial reggae’ sound immediately finding favour with the country’s reggae fans.

Consequently, the company not just maintained, but in fact extended the procedure, employing producers to record the country’s finest British-based reggae acts. The result was the release of an abundance of superbly crafted recordings, the production values of which rated with the best that British pop had to offer.

This November, Brownswood Recordings will release Mek Do & Mend, the debut album from self-taught producer, multi-instrumentalist, composer and artist Wonky Logic. Although his name may not yet be familiar to everyone, Wonky Logic (AKA Dwayne Kilvington) has spent the past two decades quietly becoming one of the UK's most respected musical collaborators. His career has moved comfortably between London's jazz, electronic and contemporary music scenes, performing and recording with artists including Nala Sinephro, Yussef Dayes, Nightmares On Wax, Shabaka Hutchings and Emma-Jean Thackray. Alongside his work as a producer and composer, he's been musical director for projects with Eddie Chacon, John Carroll Kirby and I.G Culture's LCSM, scored the feature documentary Zandra With A Zed, contributed music to A24's The Smashing Machine, and continues to lead music workshops with young people, refugees and people experiencing incarceration.

Far more than a collection of compositions, Mek Do & Mend is a deeply personal reflection on the people, places and experiences that have shaped Kilvington throughout his life. It's the story of growing up on a Leeds council estate, where music became both a creative outlet and a way of understanding the world. Making music often meant working with whatever was available: a second-hand keyboard, a makeshift studio desk or ageing equipment that simply had to last a little longer. The title itself came from a conversation with his mother, capturing the resourcefulness that defined his upbringing and continued into the making of the album itself, which was written and produced to a tight deadline around touring, family life and Kilvington's work as a musician and educator.

Built from material spanning more than fifteen years, Mek Do & Mend brings together some of Wonky Logic's earliest compositions alongside brand new pieces written during the making of the record itself. Childhood ideas sit alongside music conceived only months before recording, creating an album that draws together a lifetime of writing rather than documenting a single moment. Running throughout are voice notes from family members, teachers, friends, mentors and collaborators—not simply as interludes, but as a reminder that no creative life is ever self-made. Rather than telling his own story outright, Kilvington invites listeners to discover him through the people who've shaped him: an aunt remembering him playing in church as a child, lifelong friends recalling early experiments making beats together, fellow musicians from different stages of his career and his mother describing him in her own words. Together they reveal the invisible network of relationships, philosophies, communities and experiences behind the music. "The album exists somewhere between being a biography and an autobiography," says Dwayne. "The biography is in the voice notes and how other people see me. The autobiography is in the music."

That same philosophy extends to the musicians who appear on the record. Every contributor has played a meaningful role in Wonky Logic's life beyond the studio. Long-time collaborator Luke Wynter, Steam Down drummer Benji Appiah, partner Vanessa Rani, Jonathan Enser, Joe Bristow, Brother Portrait and Nubiya Imani all feature not simply because of their musicianship, but because they form part of the album's story.

Across its fourteen tracks, Mek Do & Mend moves effortlessly between dynamic jazz arrangements, pulsating broken rhythms, delicate, twinkling piano passages, interstellar synth textures and elegant brass lines. Album opener and first single 'Strange Attractor' begins with a shimmering introduction before unfolding into an exhilarating surge of rhythm and momentum. Named after the mathematical concept of the same name, it serves as the conceptual point of origin for the album. Written when Kilvington was just seventeen, the composition reflects the idea that even the most unpredictable lives are guided by hidden patterns that often only become visible with time. Second single 'A Thousand Hands' features the unmistakable vocal tones of Brother Portrait, whose cerebral lyricism drifts over a low-slung, constantly shifting groove as woozy synth lines ebb and flow overhead. At its heart, the track celebrates the family, friends, mentors and collaborators whose often unseen influence shapes who we become, echoing the album's belief that every achievement is, in some way, a collective one. LP focus track 'BAME (Beyond All Marginalised Expectations)' is a lush, spiralling composition, brimming with both emotion and resolve. Reclaiming an acronym long imposed on racialised communities in the UK, the piece transforms it into a statement of possibility rather than limitation: a defiant rejection of stereotypes and a refusal to let identity be defined by other people's expectations.

The album itself only exists because other people believed in it. Isabel Gracefield made the RAK sessions possible, Rick David brought the record together with his characteristically thoughtful mix, and Gilles Peterson committed to releasing it on Brownswood before hearing any of the music. Away from the stage, Kilvington works with the charity Finding Rhythms, writing and producing original records with people experiencing incarceration, while also leading workshops with Arts Train and Dovetail Orchestra.

Recorded live in a single day in Studio One at RAK, Mek Do & Mend was mixed by Rick David through an analogue Cadac console before being mastered by Stuart Hawkes at Metropolis. The aim wasn't nostalgia or audiophile perfection, but to create a record people could return to throughout their lives, discovering something new with each listen.

As Dwayne puts it: "I don't want this body of work to be reduced to a jazz record. It's more like a novel about life told through music."

How enduring is the signature song from Harry Chapin’s Verities & Balderdash? So timeless that it became the subject of a 2025 documentary in which artists from multiple generations weigh in on its impact on their lives and craft. “Cat’s in the Cradle” doubtlessly remains the main event on the singer-songwriter’s 1974 album. The legendary opening track also serves as a guidepost for the bold personal and social material that follows — as well as the gorgeous folk-rock arrangements that underpin the New York native’s most commercially successful work.

Sourced from the original master tapes, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, housed in a Stoughton jacket complete with a four-page insert, and strictly limited to 3,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity’s 180g 33RPM LP of Verities & Balderdash presents Chapin’s fourth full-length in audiophile quality for the first time on vinyl. Captured during a golden era for sonics and production, the Top 5 effort features remarkable tonal balance, instrumental separation, and organic naturalism. Those valued aspects come into supreme focus on this reissue, which plays with dead-quiet surfaces and a low noise floor.

The newfound clarity, openness, and imaging underscore the lasting appeal of Chapin’s tender deliveries, soulful timbre, and careful phrasing. Every word comes across with incredible realism, while his underrated guitar playing occupies its own distinctive space. Also notable: The extension of the tasteful string accents; airiness of the backing vocals; depth and shape of the spare bass lines; and width and depth of the soundstaging. When on “Six String Orchestra” Chapin calls out names of instruments, they appear like magic, the band performing feet from you. Chapin has never sounded so lifelike on record.

Certified double platinum, Verities & Balderdash resonated with the times and public. “Cat’s in the Cradle” reached No. 1 on the chart on its way to being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The romantic ballad “I Wanna Learn a Love Song” flirted with the Top 40 and wrapped listeners in the equivalent of a cozy blanket. The record’s other single, the mini-epic “What Made America Famous?,” helped establish Chapin as one of the country’s most incisive and insightful commentators.

Verities & Balderdash teems with situational devices and topical matters. Chapin observes everything from the polarization of the nation to changes in moral standards and cultural priorities. He investigates pressing themes without ever turning preachy or elevating himself above the matters at hand. On “Halfway to Heaven,” whose coda races to the finish and ranks as the most urgent moment on the record, Chapin inhabits the mind of his frustrated protagonist akin to an eagle-eyed novelist.

Conveying emotions that range from melancholic to carefree, Chapin is as much of a singer as a storyteller. He assumes the voice of multiple characters within a single narrative. During the quirky “30,000 Pounds of Bananas,” a tale based on a delivery-truck accident in 1965, Chapin alters his delivery, pronunciation, and diction to become an old man reflecting on the mishap and mess. The tempo, too, adjusts to match the speed of the vehicle Chapin describes.

Adorned with timely laugh tracks to reinforce the bittersweet humor, the stripped-down “Six String Orchestra” takes everything up another notch, with Chapin intentionally missing guitar notes or playing a broken passage to illustrate the failures of the hopeful protagonist who doesn’t have what’s required to make it as an artist.

Chapin, of course, did not have any such problem. The lynchpin of a career cut short by a tragic traffic incident, Verities & Balderdash is Exhibit A of the savvy craft, feeling, and perspective he lent to American music.

Carly Simon’s quietly intense sophomore album comes across like an assertive notice nailed to a telephone pole for all to see. Bold, personal, and autobiographical, Anticipation announces the arrival of an artist who won’t back down. While Simon stands her ground on her eponymous debut, she elevates her passion and persona to heightened levels throughout this gold-certified record, dealing in private matters related to love, relationships, and desire. At times, Simon is nothing short of primal. She reflects on the difficulties of retaining your own identity while also giving yourself to a partner. Simon’s connection to her folk roots would never be stronger.

Sourced from the original master tapes, strictly limited to 3,000 numbered copies, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing in California, and housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, Mobile Fidelity’s 180g 45RPM 2LP set of Anticipation lays bare the rich tapestries afforded by the spare blend of soft guitars, mellow orchestration, and dreamy melodies. Audiophiles and record collectors, take note: This is the first time Anticipation has been available on 45RPM. The wider grooves and dead-quiet surfaces prove extremely rewarding.

The rhythmic framework anchored by session pro Andy Newmark’s drumming sounds dynamic and balanced, with songs benefiting from a focused midrange and taut low-end. Simon’s attachment to and investment in each lyric is made evident by way of the intimate, hushed atmospherics and expansive responsiveness. And just as Simon’s vocals feel more transparent and direct, so, too, do the supporting choral arrangements.

Released before the singer-songwriter movement reached full bloom, Anticipation remains remarkable for the high-quality songwriting and Simon’s gutsy stance. The album cover — depicting the vocalist holding the gates at Queen Mary’s Garden in Regent’s Park and seemingly defying anyone to take her on — serves as a metaphor for the content within.

Known for having relationships with high-profile partners, Simon was heavily involved with Cat Stevens leading up to the recording of Anticipation. She draws from her experiences to craft tunes that resonate because of their honesty, realism, and strength. Few of those moments are better known than the Top 20 title track, which Simon composed in just 15 minutes as she waited for Stevens to pick her up for a date. Imbued with the nervousness, tension, and excitement that accompany the moments when a romance could go either way, the Grammy-nominated song presages the feminist-minded vulnerability and burning longing that informs a majority of the record.

On the soulful “Legend in Your Own Time,” also inspired by Stevens, Simon harnesses yearning as a conduit to feel-good paradise. Deemed by Rolling Stone an “absolute clincher, an awesome description of the psychic ravages of gone-nuts, know-nothing love,” her cover of Kris Kristofferson’s “I’ve Got to Have You” moans with no-holds-barred desire and breathtaking sensuality.

For all the wanting Simon pursues on Anticipation, her way of staying in control — vocally and personally — make the record a courageous statement of contemporary femininity. For further evidence, look to the bossa nova of “Summer’s Coming Around Again,” somber “Share the End,” soothing “Three Days,” and sincere “Julie Through the Glass,” a tribute to her young niece.

Simon would achieve international fame with her next album, No Secrets. Yet as this definitive reissue shows, Anticipation suggests the rest of the world was just a little late catching up to her.

In 2023, Kraków-based composer Martyna Basta and Los Angeles-based sound artist claire rousay were invited to Poland by Unsound for a short residency, where they spent a few days trading ideas and concepts, and brainstorming their first collaboration. Initially motivated to create lengthy, expansive pieces together, they also ended up experimenting with shorter vignettes, and ‘hotel room’ expresses these two extremes, featuring three long-form tracks and three brief, euphoric songs. “It wasn’t something we specifically planned,” explains Basta. “It just unfolded that way.” The most important stage of the process, however, was the period that followed the residency, when rousay and Basta began working on their sketches in isolation, trading drafts and sculpting the sounds independently before rousay handled the final mixdown. In the comfort of their own bedrooms, they were better able to reflect their individual creative routines, organically reaching a junction where their music felt truly unified. Even while they were in Poland, the duo joked that it might have been easier if they’d been holed up in separate rooms emailing each other.

Both artists have had an energetic few years: after steadily building a reputation for her diaristic and candid concrète experiments, rousay signed to Thrill Jockey in 2023, releasing the acclaimed ‘sentiment’, ‘a little death’ and the more eaze collaboration ‘no floor’; Basta, meanwhile, followed up 2023’s hallucinatory ‘Slowly Forgetting, Barely Remembering’ and her debut for Belgium’s Stroom imprint, ‘Diaries Beneath Fragile Glass’ with a studio album on !K7’s 7K sublabel: ‘Winged in Collapse’. The title of their collaboration reflects rousay and Basta’s hectic touring schedules in the wake of these releases, the constant feeling of displacement and the emotions that emerge when the environment is in flux. “I know we aren’t the only musicians traveling and creating work at the same time,” says rousay, “but being able to speak about that experience and all the things that come with it was comforting.” And the music itself, assembled from hypnagogic field recordings, spectral voices, electronics and filtered instrumental improvisations, sounds bewitchingly unmoored, not tied to a specific location but hovering around the uncanny space in-between.

Scratchy ASMR sounds introduce us to the opening track ‘zoom’, initially obscuring the duo’s elegiac harmonies. They are careful to let the various elements evolve at their own pace, with the fictile guitar drones melting into the foreground while Basta’s dissociated whispers and rousay’s illusory synths pick out the subtlest subliminal shades. It all builds to the piece’s dramatic third act, when layered chords ring out like organ blasts, enveloping the negative space. The shorter, more anxiety-provoking ‘denim’ is remarkably divergent, a dismantled folk memory pieced together from skeletal piano notes, vaporous choral echoes, haunting string plucks and pulsating feedback. Where the music aligns is in the mood itself, capturing a feeling that’s neither completely abstract nor fully referential. Not ambient exactly, ‘hotel room’ is a suite of soundscapes that gesture towards structure while repeatedly folding in on themselves.

On ‘Lost and Found’, wordless Autotuned ad-libs spiral around delicate guitar plucks and washing waves, coalescing into a faded Polaroid of opiated Americana, and on ‘Where Are You Now’, operatic squeals and corroded orchestral scrapes are juxtaposed with nauseous low-end tones. Evaporating until only industrial whirrs and music box chimes remain, the latter encapsulates the entire album’s chilling liminality, smudging saturated voices with casual electro-acoustic interjections before it erupts abruptly, transforming into a dense, pitch-skewed hymn. ‘hotel room’ plays like a surreal travelogue, teasing listeners with airy familiarities as it humidifies dry, awkward spaces. More a labyrinth of catacombs than a single, fixed chamber, it’s Escher-like – cryptic and seductive – and decked out with personal asides and intimate details that reward the most patient, curious listeners.

Transversales Disques proudly presents PANORAMA Vol. 2, another deep dive into rare French soundtracks, Library music, and instrumental oddities that have largely remained untouched by reissues or compilations.

This curated selection features 11 forgotten gems recorded between 1968 and 1980. It showcases the brilliance of celebrated maestros like Francis Lai, Karl-Heinz Schäfer, Eric Demarsan and Jean-Claude Petit, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with unsung composers such as Oswald d'Andréa, and Jean-Louis Bucchi.

Embark on a cinematic journey brimming with moody string arrangements, funky flanged drums, signature French basslines, and deeply dramatic atmospheres.

Deluxe Tip-On jacket LP with printed innersleeves
Including exclusive and extensive liner notes.
Vinyl Only / No Digital

Wewantsounds is delighted to continue its extensive reissue program of Meiko Kaji"s early discography, originally released by Teichiku Records in Japan between 1972 and 1974. The Quentin Tarantino muse-famous for her starring roles in Lady Snowblood and Stray Cat Rock-was also a gifted singer. Otoko Onna Kokoro No Aika is another collection of superb cinematic songs featuring Kaji"s signature mix of Japanese Pop and Groove, backed by lush, atmospheric orchestrations. This includes her rendition of "Tokyo Nagare Mono," the theme song for Seijun Suzuki"s cult 1966 film Tokyo Drifter. This reissue features the original artwork, an OBI strip, and a four-page insert with new liner notes by Hashim Kotaro Bharoocha, who interviewed Meiko Kaji for the occasion.

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!

Mit seinem neuen Doppel-Album "Baroque Colours" präsentiert Martin Stadtfeld eine einzigartige Palette farbenreicher Werke des Barocks. Und das in einer ganz besonderen Form: Für den ersten Teil wählte er 19 wunderbare kleine Originalstücke aus, u.a. von Bach, Rameau oder Händel, aber auch von weniger bekannten Komponisten wie Johann Kuhnau oder Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer. Für den zweiten Teil hat Stadtfeld einige seiner Lieblingstücke des Barocks ausgewählt und für Klavier neu bearbeitet. So gibt es aus Vivaldis berühmten "Vier Jahreszeiten" die mitreißenden Melodien aus dem "Sommer" und dem "Winter" neu zu erleben - als kurze, wunderbar klingende Piano-Stücke. Oder den berühmten "Kanon" von Johann Pachelbel in einer neuen Fassung für Klavier zu vier Händen, die Martin Stadtfeld mit der Pianistin Lilian Akopova eingespielt hat. Diese ist auch seine Partnerin bei den vierhändigen Fassungen des ersten Präludiums von Bach sowie der "Passacaglia" aus Lullys Oper "Armida". Ein Erlebnis sind auch die Klavierfassungen von Purcells Musik aus der Oper "Fairy Queen". Nahezu meditativ klingen Stadtfelds Improvisationen über Themen von Bach (u.a. das berühmte "Air" und "Menuett"), über Werke von Arcangelo Corelli sowie über das Kirchenlied "Ach bleib mit Deiner Gnade". Aufgenommen wurden die insgesamt 45 Stücke mit einem modernen Steinway mit einem sehr nahen und warmen Klangbild, so dass sich die Farbenpracht und Intensität unmittelbar auf den Hörer überträgt. Es ist, als ob man vor einem farbenreichen barocken Gemälde stehen würde und dabei immer neue Farben entdeckt.

Erleben Sie mit "Opus" die faszinierende Welt des Komponisten und Pianisten Ryuichi Sakamoto. Das Album wurde noch von ihm selbst - er starb im März 2023 - zusammengestellt. Diese Anthologie umfasst Jahrzehnte seiner wegweisenden Arbeit und vereint ikonische Filmscores, Klassiker des Yellow Magic Orchestra sowie zutiefst persönliche Kompositionen, die Sakamotos unverwechselbare musikalische Stimme widerspiegeln. Zum Programm gehören u. a. Musik zu Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, Andata und Aqua, ergänzt durch bislang unveröffentlichte Werke wie for J\u00F3hann (eine Hommage an den isländischen Komponisten J\u00F3hann J\u00F3hannsson), BB (dem Filmregisseur Bernardo Bertolucci gewidmet) und 20180219 (mit präpariertem Klavier). "Opus" ist mehr als eine Retrospektive - es ist eine bleibende Hommage an einen der einflussreichsten Komponisten unserer Zeit.
Das Album erscheint in einer 2CD-Version und einem 4LP Boxset:
Präsentiert in einem luxuriösen Digipak, gefertigt aus hochwertigem schwarzem Karton mit schwarzer Folienprägung und silberfarbenem Text, enthält die CD-Edition ausdrucksstarke Schwarz-Weiß-Fotografien, die Sakamoto während der Aufführung von "Opus" zeigen. Ein aufwendiges Booklet gewährt, neben Liner Notes und Credits, tiefere Einblicke in die Musik sowie in die letzten Reflexionen des Künstlers.
Gepresst für 45 RPM auf vier 180g Vinylplatten für außergewöhnliche Klangtreue, ist jede LP in einer eigenen Hülle mit passenden schwarzen Papierinnenhüllen untergebracht. Das Set wird in einem handgefertigten, strukturierten Schuber mit eleganten schwarzen Foliendetails präsentiert und enthält zudem ein Sammler Booklet mit Werknotizen und Credits.

Long considered a "Holy Grail" of Latin vinyl, The Booga Mambo Beat (1967) by Steve Hernández y Su Orquesta Latinoamericana returns.

This LP has puzzled collectors for decades: who was Steve Hernández, the shadowy figure behind this powerful orchestra including top Puerto Rican and New York musicians?

Arranged by Ray Santos and featuring vocalist Vitín Avilés, the album delivers a unique mix of mambo, boogaloo, descarga, proto-salsa and 1950s big-band swing. A rare bridge between the Palladium sound and the emerging salsa era. Originally self-released and barely promoted, the record became a cult favorite among DJs and collectors.

Sourced directly from the original master tapes, discovered in outstanding condition, this edition is pressed on 180-gram vinyl and includes extensive liner notes by Pablo E. Yglesias (DJ Bongohead).and a digital download code.


A must-have archival release for collectors, DJs, and anyone fascinated by the hidden corners of Latin music history.

"Recorded in Naples historic recording studio Auditorium Novecento ‘notes from the air’ is the second Ciro Vitiello full-lenght album, that turns around the ambiguous figure of the seagull, a coastal apparition both ridiculous and divine, foolish and sacred, graceful in flight yet uneasy on land, something that knows more than it shows, carrying both wonder and threat in its gaze.

The album breathes through that tension, the desire to fly and the fear of falling, the suspicion of having already crashed somewhere unseen.
Wind, creaking ropes, invisible currents: these become signals from another uncoding state, reminders that air can be both home and haunting. The record lingers in suspension. Each track feels like a fragment carried by wind, a message blurred, a memory misplaced, something approaching meaning but never arriving.

The record drifts between orchestral gestures and dream-pop/post-rock shadows, guided by Ciro Vitiello’s fascination with shoegaze textures and cinematic atmospheres, and features contributions by Heith, Renato Grieco, Stefano Costanzo, Caraluce and Daniel Kinzelman. Vocal features include Martyna Basta, Heith and Antonina Nowacka, alongside Ciro’s own voice."

“The group has no niche, it doesn’t fit in anywhere,” explains Necessaries drummer Jesse Chamberlain in a 1980 Melody Maker interview. “We just state the facts about life in America, like The Clash did about England, but we’re not so heavy about it.” The Necessaries rose from the ashes of Harry Toledo & The Rockets, a little-known New York art-rock band playing gigs at Max’s Kansas City during glam’s metamorphosis into punk. —From the liner notes by Michael IQ Jones The Necessaries came together in 1978 and in the too-brief lifespan of the band counted among their members, Ed Tomney (Rage To Live, Luka Bloom), Jesse Chamberlain (Red Crayola), Ernie Brooks (Modern Lovers), Arthur Russell (The Flying Hearts), Randy Gun (Love Of Life Orchestra). First championed by John Cale on the strength of Tomney’s songs, Cale produced their first single for Spy Records (under the I.R.S. umbrella) which was released in 1979. With the forward momentum brought about by the single, the band set about tracking demos intended for Warner Bros., but The Necessaries ultimately would sign to Seymour Stein’s Sire Records. These rough demo basic tracks lacked overdubs, mixes and any finishing touches that would have made them viable for commercial release, but due to tour commitments, the band had to put the sessions on hold to hit the road. While on tour, the band was shocked to discover that Sire had issued the unfinished tracks as their debut album Big Sky (issued in 1981). The band had Big Sky withdrawn and replaced with Event Horizon (issued in 1982) which included half the original tracks from Big Sky and continued to record throughout 1982 aiming for a follow-up. It was not to be and their final studio sessions remained unissued until now. Completely Necessary (Anthology 1978–1982) is the first authorized collection of recordings by The Necessaries and includes 37 tracks, 28 of which are previously unissued. Completely Necessary represents the most accurate musical history of the band laid out across three albums. Disc one is the band-approved first album Event Horizon, followed by Pilots Facing North, a disc collecting studio recordings spanning 1978–1981 and disc three finally sees the release of their final sessions, Songs From The Blue Colony. Album notes by Michael IQ Jones trace the history of the band for this compilation produced by The Necessaries’ Ed Tomney and Cheryl Pawelski (Omnivore Recordings). The audio has been restored and mastered by Michael Graves at Osiris Studio, and both the 3-LP and 2-CD sets feature previously unseen photos across the package. Finally, an essential missing piece of the late ’70s/early ’80s New York scene that was just slightly ahead of the college alt-rock soon to come, is finally available to rediscover—this time it’s authorized and absolutely necessary. BUY! HERE’S WHY! • The first authorized and comprehensive anthology by The Necessaries. • Mid-’70s/early ’80s New York rock/punk/art scene band included members: Ed Tomney, Ernier Brooks, Arthur Russell, Jesse Chamberlain, and Randy Gun. • 37 tracks, 28 previously unissued. • Liner notes by Michael IQ Jones, plus unseen photos.

2025 REPRESS ON TRANSPARENT GREEN VINYL


Compiled by Philip King “And then came the rise of synth pop : blokes with dodgy haircuts hunched over keyboard-operated machines stuffed with wires and do-it-yourself tone oscillators making sounds like a brood of geese passing gas in a wind tunnel. Whoopee! This is the way the ‘70s ended : not with a blood-curdling bang bang but with a cheap, synthesized, emasculating whimper.” NICK KENT, NME. All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985 is a new compilation that charts the underbelly of the epoch-defining sound of the synthesiser in 80s popular music. Compiled by Philip King (previously seen compiling All The Young Droogs, Glitterbest and Boobs - The Junkshop Glam Discotheque), the music here connects the dots between DIY synth enthusiasts grappling with new, cheap synthesisers at the tail-end of punk and wannabe, jobbing songwriters enthral to the new music pioneered by Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller’s Mute Records. Featuring rare tracks of auto-didactic progressive pop music, proto-techno punk, shoot-for-the-stars-land-in-the-gutter chart flops and heralded, underground synth classics, School Daze paints a picture of beautiful failure. Complete with extensive sleeve notes written by King and never before seen imagery, all 24 tracks were remastered by RPM in-house engineer Simon Murphy, many from vinyl copies due to lost master tapes. The story told on All The Young Droids is one of the dawning opportunity presented by both the emergence to the market of cheaper analog synthesisers and the distribution networks plus indie labels that exploded with the advent of punk music in 1976. While the music that sprouted out all over the globe in the wake of these factors was decried as fake, plastic, a refutation of punk’s guitar-led revolution, it’s telling that much of the music on All The Young Droids.. was created in bedrooms, ramshackle studios and home-made set ups with often borrowed equipment. In the era of record labels jumping to capitalise on the success of The Sex Pistols, The Clash (both on major labels, of course) these artists struggled to stand out from a new gold-rush with next to no budget or PR team. With radio and labels desperate for the new Yazoo, what resulted was a testament to necessity being the mother of invention. At the time, the synthesiser was the music of the future, a shiny new machine that could paint like an orchestra with a single finger and a 4-track. In the hands of Manchester avant-pranksters Gerry & The Holograms it’s a pulsing, sardonic weapon.. the only instrument on the Messthetics classic lampooning of New Wave fashion. In Hamburg, a 16 year old Andreas Dorau used it to write and record (with his female classmates on vocals) a global smash in Fred Vom Jupiter (later licensed to Mute Records). The hard-to-find English version (Fred From Jupiter, natch) is included here. Many artists with alreadystoried careers caught the bug and recorded synthesiser-fuelled peons to space, computers, the future and, of course, love-interests. Harry Kakoulli, late of Squeeze, recorded a solo album in 1979 that included the incredible power-synth-pop smash-that-never-smashed I’m On A Rocket. Similarly, Ian North of Neo and American Power Pop stalwarts Milk ’n’ Cookies bought a Korg MS20 and used a tape machine to record We’re Not Lonely, an absolute lost-classic of minimal synth pop. We’re Not Lonely also features on the Junkshop Synth Pop sampler 7” twinned with John Howard unreleased track You Will See, released April 12th 2025. There are plenty of compilation debuts in evidence. Sole Sister were a mysterious trio who were featured on the Scaling Triangles compilation of female-fronted, queer-adjacent post-punk / underground music that also featured The Petticoats. Selwin Image were from San Francisco and featured members of the recently defunct power pop/punk group The Pushups. Their stupidly catchy The Unknown fizzes with New Wave energy - think XTC to Sparks but remains unreleased until now. Dream Unit’s A Drop In The Ocean is an early synth wave cut, positively teaming with Joy Division instrumentation, previously only released on a long-forgotten and super rare, self-released EP. Incandescent Luminaire’s Famous Names belies an archetypal struggle of a small-town trying to make it in a cruel industry but is a thrilling New Romantic-Synth Wave cross over with a OMD gloominess that’s a joy to hear. Feminist Minimal Wave track I Am A Time Bomb by performance artist Peta Lilly and Michael Chance is a revelation destined for new found cult status. It was released on 7” and lost until now. The flipside to the subterranean, never-made-it synth pop mentioned above are the ambitious, even fruity attempts at success that have a perennial elegance to their confidence. New Jersey-ite Billy London (real name Ed Barth) tried to cash in on the synth boom with Woman, released by a major label, a lurching new wave track built on the Louie Louie rhythm and a wonderfully camp Lou Reedstyle sleazy vocal before exploding in the synthesised chorus. The song bombed but with a chorus like this, you have to wonder why? Ex-Glitter Band member John Springate’s My Life is truly epic, with doomed chord progressions and massive sounding drums turning into at least 3 different songs in the course of the track. Before you wonder what’s going on the song resolves with a glorious return to the main refrain. The dry-ice-dressed dance floor is well catered for too. Design’s Premonition and Vision’s Lucifer’s Friend are stone-cold minimal synth bangers, well loved but given a new lease of life here. The Warlord’s The Ultimate Warlord was released in 1978, a homespun proto Hi NRG banger that was later re-recorded by The Immortals in Canada who had a club hit with it. One-man- band Disco Volante’s No Motion was re-issued by Synth wave label Medical in 2012 but makes its first vinyl compilation appearance here. Close your eyes and you can imagine what Lawrence of Felt would have sounded like with some cheap Korgs a little earlier in his career. Gibraltar-based trio The Microbes imagined a computer programming people to dance - how prescient - and ended up with a propulsive, robo-funk track with splendid rubbery bass playing over a tectonic drum machine. Previously picked up by Belgian label Stroom TV, Dee Jay Bert & Eagle’s heavily Euro-accented I Am Your Master demands the listener to “come to paradise!” In a frankly terrifying manner. All The Young Droids is the first compilation to peel away from the narrative that dour, Minimal Synth and Cold Wave were the only musical children of the first rush of synth pop. Philip King and School Daze Records describe a much more complicated world: along with the austere, Brutalist children of Daniel Miller (who produced Alan Burnham’s Bowie-Low-influenced Science Fiction here) was a plethora of desperate cash-ins, accidental mainstream hits, ambitious pop dramas and major label punts that went nowhere. Crucially, the compilation blurs the line between junk and treasure. What if the two things are interchangeable. What if it’s all science fiction?

The Éthiopiques series returns! Essential archive recordings from an extremely fruitful period in Ethiopian music.

Before “Swinging Addis” took over the world, there was Moussié Nerses Nalbandian — the Armenian-born composer who shaped modern Ethiopian music. Mentor, arranger, and pioneer, he laid the foundations of Ethio-jazz.

This Éthiopiques volume revives his forgotten legacy, recorded live by Either/ Orchestra First issue ever with new exclusive photos and in depth liner 8-page insert.

“Ethiopian jazzmen are the best musicians that we have seen so far in Africa.
They really are promising handlers of jazz instruments.”

Wilbur De Paris
(1959, after a concert in Addis Ababa)

አዲስ፡ዘመን። *Addis zèmèn* **A new era.**
The time is the mid-1950s and early 1960s, just before "Swinging Addis" bloomed – or rather boomed – onto the scene. Brass instruments are still dominant, but the advent of the electric guitar, and the very first electronic organs, are just around the corner. Rock’n'Roll, R’n’B, Soul and the Twist have not yet barged their way in. Addis Ababa is steeped in the big band atmosphere of the post-war era, with Glenn Miller's *In the* *Mood* as its world-wide theme song, neck and neck with the Latin craze that was in vogue at the same period. Life has become enjoyable once again, with the return of peace after the terrible Italian Fascist invasion of Ethiopia (1935-1941). The redeployment of modern music is part and parcel of the postwar reconstruction. *Addis zèmèn* – a new era – is the watchword of the postwar period, just as it was all across war-torn Europe.
The generation who were the young parents of baby boomers** were the first to enjoy this musical renaissance, before the baby boomers themselves took over and forever super-charged the soundtrack of the final days of imperial reign. Music is Ethiopia's most popular art form, and very often serves as the best barometer for the upsurge of energy that is critical for reconstruction. Whether it be jazz in Saint-Germain-des-Prés or the *zazous* who revolutionised both jazz and French *chanson* after the *Libération*, be it Madrid's post-Franco Movida, or Dada, the Surrealists and *les années folles* that followed World War I, the periods just after mourning and hardship always give rise to brighter and more tuneful tomorrows. Addis Ababa, as the country's capital, and the epicentre of change, was no exception to this vital rule.

**Two generations of Nalbandian musicians**
Nersès Nalbandian belonged to a family of Armenian exiles, who had moved to Ethiopia in the mid-1920s. The uncle Kevork arrived along with the fabled "*Arba Lidjotch*", the** "*40 Kids*", young Armenian orphans and musicians that the Ras Tafari had recruited when he visited Jerusalem in 1924, intending to turn their brass band into the official imperial band. If Kevork Nalbandian was the one who first opened the way of modernism, pushing innovation so far as to invent musical theatre, it was his nephew Nersès who would go on to become, from the 1940s and until his death in 1977, a pivotal figure of modern Ethiopian music and of the heights it. Going all the way back to the 1950s. Nothing less. And it is Nersès who is largely to thank for the brassy colours that so greatly contributed to the international renown of Ethiopian groove. While the younger generations today venture timidly into the genealogy of their country's modern music, often losing their way amidst a distinctly xenophobic historiographical complacency, many survivors of the imperial period are still around to bear witness and pay tribute to the essential role that "Moussié Nersès" played in the rise of Abyssinia's musical modernity.
Given the year of his birth (15 March 1915), no one knows for sure if Nersès Nalbandian was born in Aintab, today Gaziantep (Turkiye/former Ottoman Empire) or on the other side of the border in Alep, Syria... What is certain is that his family, like the entire Armenian community, was amongst the victims of the genocide perpetrated by the Turks. Alep, the place of safety – today in ruins.
Before Nersès then, there was uncle Kevork (1887-1963). For a quarter of a century, he was a whirlwind of activity in music teaching and theatrical innovation. *Guèbrè Mariam le Gondaré* (የጎንደሬ ገብረ ማርያም አጥቶ ማግኘት, 1926 EC=1934) is his most famous creation. This play included "ten Ethiopian songs" — a totally innovative approach. According to his autobiographical notes, preserved by the Nalbandian family, Kevork indicates that he composed some 50 such pieces over the course of his career. This shows just how much he understood, very early on, the critical importance of song as Ethiopia's crowning artistic form. Indeed, for Ethiopian listeners, the most important thing is the lyrics, with all their multifarious mischief, far more than a strong melody, sophisticated arrangements or even an exceptional voice. (This is also why Ethiopians by and large, and beginning with the artists and producers themselves, believed for a long time — and wrongly — that their music could not possibly be exported, and could never win over audiences abroad, who did not speak the country's languages).

Last but not least, one of Kevork's major contributions remains composing Ethiopia's first national anthem – with lyrics by Yoftahé Negussié.
Nersès Nalbandian moved to Ethiopia at the end of the 1930s, at the behest of his ground-breaking uncle. Proficient in many instruments (pretty much everything but the drums), conductor, choir director, composer, arranger, adapter, creator, piano tuner, purveyor of rented pianos,... he was above all an energetic and influential teacher. From 1946 onwards, thanks to Kevork's connexion, Nersès was appointed musical director of the Addis Ababa Municipality Band. In just a few years, Nersès transformed it into the first truly modern ensemble, thanks to the quality of his teaching, his choice of repertoire, and the sophistication of his arrangements. It was this group that would go on to become the orchestra of the Haile Selassie Theatre shortly after its inauguration in 1955, which was a major celebration of the Emperor's jubilee, marking the 25th anniversary of his on-again-off-again reign.

At some point or other in his long career, Nersès Nalbandian had a hand in the creation of just about every institutional band (Municipality Band, Police Orchestra, Imperial Bodyguard Band, Army Band, Yared Music School…), but it was with the Haile Selassie Theatre – today the National Theatre – that his abilities were most on display, up until his death in 1977. To this must be added the development of choral singing in Ethiopia, hitherto unknown, and a sort of secret garden dedicated to the memory of Armenian sacred music, and brought together in two thick, unpublished volumes. Shortly before his death (November 13, 1977), he was appointed to lead the impressive Ethiopian delegation at Festac in Lagos, Nigeria (January-February 1977).

His status as a stateless foreigner regularly excluded him from the most senior positions, in spite of the respect he commanded (and commands to this day) from the musicians of his era. Naturally gifted and largely self-taught, Nerses was tirelessly curious about new musical developments, drawing inspiration from the very first imported records, and especially from listening intensely to the musical programmes broadcast over short-wave radio – BBC *First*. A prolific composer and arranger, he was constantly mindful of formalising and integrating Ethiopian parameters (specific “musical modes”, pentatonic scale, and the dominance of ternary rhythms) into his “modernisation” of the musical culture, rather than trying to over-westernise it. It even seems very probable that *Moussié* Nerses made a decisive contribution to the development of tighter music-teaching methods, in order to revitalise musical education during this period of prodigious cultural ferment. Flying in the face of all the historiographical and musicological evidence, it is taken as sacrosanct dogma that the four musical modes or chords officially recognised today, the *qǝñǝt* or *qiñit* (ቅኝት), are every bit as millennial as Ethiopia itself. It would appear however that some streamlining of these chords actually took place in around 1960. It was only from this time onward that music teaching was structured around these four fundamental musical modes and chords: *Ambassel*, *Bati*, *Tezeta* and *Antchi Hoyé*. A historical and musical “details” that is, apparently, difficult to swallow, especially if that should honour a *foreigner*. Modern Ethiopian music has Nersès to thank for many of its standards and, to this day, it is not unusual for the National Radio to broadcast thunderous oldies that bear unmistakable traces of his outrageously groovy touch.

Reintroducing Soar - the alias of Christian Aebi, serial DIY taper and one-man orchestra from Langenthal, a fog-shrouded town in the Swiss provinces. Krautophobia, ambient lo-fi agriculture, analogue soul balm and slowspeed psych gelati-blitz cardboard pop only gesture towards the sound world he coaxed from his broken Tascam four-track recorder, in attics, churches, junkyards and at the kitchen table.

The spark for Soar was likely time and space, somewhere in the autumn of 1994. Armed with a cable salad of Sixties guitar/bass, fairground drums, mould-speckled organs and toy instruments, Aebi coaxed five albums, an unverified run of 25 cassettes, and a handful of gigs. Mostly issued through Zurich label Corazoo, the records arrived in hand-pasted sleeves, rough-cut reproductions of his teddy bear-fixated artwork that carried the same imperfect immediacy as the music. With Rudi Steiner, performances in galleries, clubs and halls bent into live sound-image happenings - part installation, part film, part flea-market-instrument theatre - invariably leaving the house engineers bewildered.

At the time of his untimely death in 2021, Aebi remained a village secret, his music passed quietly between friends and local ears. Now, Swiss graphic designer and Ghost Riders compiler Ivan Liechti has pieced together a portrait from the afterglow, gathering tangled audio formats, paintings, illustrations, photographs and notebooks with his family, former label and peers. What emerges is a first glimpse of Soar's intimate cosmos - brushing against Füxa, Spectrum, Dump, Stereolab and King Crimson, but orbiting a dimension entirely his own.

Evelyne/Masao bring TESTPATTERN to Dark Entries for the label’s first foray into vintage Japanese electronics. Masao Hiruma and Fumio Ichimura’s project Testpattern is known for their release Apres-Midi, a cult slab of synthpop perfection released by Yukihiro Takahashi and Haruomi Hosono’s legendary Yen Records in 1982. While Hiruma and Ichimura parted ways following Apres-Midi, Hiruma’s musical endeavors would continue after meeting French/American model and vocalist Evelyne Bennu in 1984 at a café bar where she would sit and write poetry. Their collaborative efforts as Evelyne/Masao were fruitful, and the duo first performed together in June 1984 on a television program called TOKYO ROCK TV. The album TESTPATTERN comprises seventeen songs recorded in Hiruma’s home studio, which have never been released previously. The Evelyne/Masao duo continues building on the soundworld of Apres-Midi: lush, sophisticated electronics with intricate yet minimalist production. Tracks like “Sakuramochi” and “Bird Island” bear influence from Hosono most clearly, their soaring melodies revealing a subtly ironic redeployment of East Asian musical tropes. But TESTPATTERN is more than homage to Yellow Magic Orchestra. “Tabac” and “Le Soleil Se Leve” display oddball sensibilities closer to Sky Records icons Asmus Tietchens or Cluster. Elsewhere, the project shows affinity for the punkier ethos of continental DIY electronics, like on the quirky “Alien Go Home” and a positively skewed cover of “Singin’ in the Rain.” Bennu’s vocals provide a common thread through these explorations, as she alternates deftly between New Wave deadpan and unhinged chanson singer—check her waxing maximally Francophone on “Au Clair de Lune,” based on an 18th century French song. TESTPATTERN will be available on both double LP as well as CD, and includes a fold-out poster with liner notes with lyrics. This album is dedicated to Masao Hiruma, who passed away in 2011.

Despite immense challenges, SOYUZ have delivered a career-defining album in KROK.
“Krok” means “step” in Belarusian - and for Alex Chumak and his band this word comes with a lot of meaning. It’s the title and theme that ran throughout СОЮЗ (SOYUZ)'s fourth album, reflecting the journeys the band has navigated in recent years, having moved to Warsaw due to political unrest in their homeland of Belarus and the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Embracing the uncertainty became both the inspiration and main lyrical theme for Alex Chumak, SOYUZ’ composer and arranger, who also decided to go a step further and change the language in which he writes songs from Russian, which is used as lingua franca in many post-Soviet countries, to his native Belarusian. The result is nine songs about dreams and outer space, ordinary miracles, things very close and very distant at the same time.

In early 2022, Chumak and original members, Mikita Arlou and Anton Nemahai, joined tens of thousands of Belarusians seeking safety abroad. Resettling in Warsaw, the band released Force of the Wind in October 2022, garnering widespread acclaim, a string of major European gigs, and led to Polish musicians Albert Karch and Igor Wiśniewski joining the band.

Deeper and more melancholic than previous works, KROK is quintessentially SOYUZ, laced with hope, dreams and a celebration of life. Given the difficulties with finding rehearsal and recording spaces in Warsaw and the departure of the drummer Anton Nemahai from the band, Chumak explored alternative options. He reached out to friend and fellow musical collaborator, Sessa, about the possibility of recording the new album in his recently finished studio in São Paulo, with Sessa and Biel Basile coming onboard as recording engineers.

At the tail end of 2024, Chumak and SOYUZ’ new drummer, Albert Karch, made the trip to São Paulo to record the first sessions for KROK. Laid down directly to tape, these sessions featured prominent Brazilian musicians Sessa, Biel Basile, and Marcelo Cabral, with a guest vocal feature by Tim Bernardes recorded at a later date. The final touches were then added back in Europe. Lush string and woodwind arrangements written by Chumak and Karch were recorded at the Polish Radio studio in Warsaw, and Rhodes parts were added by Chumak at Sven Wunder’s studio in Stockholm.

Though primarily recorded in Brazil, KROK is not a Brazilian or MPB album. It blends the band’s Eastern European roots with jazz, folk and global influences. The genre of the music is hardly identifiable: there are folk ballads and jazz-driven pop compositions covered in lush and often dissonant string and woodwind arrangements where each note is placed with care and meaning behind it.

The title track was the first song Chumak wrote in Belarusian as an adult, making for a fitting opener and one of the band’s finest tracks. Darker than most of SOYUZ’ songs, the tensions lift and lighten as the track progresses. The cinematic library jazz of 'Voo Livre', with ghostly vocals sung by Ciça Góes and Ina, feels like a modern twist on the Italian library composer Alessandro Alessandroni through its sublime choir and woodwind orchestration. Elsewhere, the heartfelt 'Lingua Do Mundo', composed, written, and sung by Chumak and the incredible Tim Bernardes, features one of the standout string arrangements from Chumak and Karch. 'Cichi Karahod' is an instant SOYUZ classic, almost Pat Metheny-esque as it opens, with the acoustic guitar and bass riff transitioning into jazzy AOR / pop-folk territory. The record closes with 'Smak žyćcia', a gentle, dreamy spoken-word poetry piece in Japanese by singer-songwriter Manami Kakudo.

A cafe in Paris, a cocktail lounge in Palm Springs, a beachside bar in Rio De Janeiro, a lokanta in Istanbul. Jill Barber’s French repertoire is played around the world and has earned her a following that transcends language barriers. Her music has become the soundtrack to an experience. It is a surprising achievement for an anglophone artist who only began her affair with the French language in her late twenties, following a moment during the Montreal Jazz Festival, where she sang a few notes of French to an enraptured crowd. Inspired by their reaction, Jill enrolled herself in an immersive French school in the South of France, eventually emerging with her own recordings of the songs and poets that inspired her most: Piaf, Gainsbourg, Aznavour. The album "Chansons" was released in 2013 and has since become Jill's most globally successful record to date, having been streamed over 120 million times - with more than 35 million listens in the past year alone. A full decade later, Jill has reunited with Grammy Award-nominated producer Drew Jurecka and the musicians that accompanied her on "Chansons" to produce "ENCORE!", its long-awaited sequel. "ENCORE!" is a delightfully arranged and lushly orchestrated album, featuring all new interpretations of classic songs by Edith Piaf, Charles Trenet, Blossom Dearie, Django Reinhardt, Robert Charlebois, Josephine Baker, and Barbara. “For me, singing in French is an embodied, sensual experience… it’s a new language in which to explore and express myself artistically- and be vulnerable.” The French have a saying for a particularly pleasurable sensation that is so unique, it’s difficult to put into words- when Jill Barber sings in French, there is a pleasing quality, a “Je ne sais quoi” that is hard to describe, but easy to enjoy. And now she’s done it again - ENCORE!

Demon Music group in conjunction with the Hughes family are proud to present the first official compilation of music
from the movies of legendary filmmaker John Hughes, covering the classic eighties period 1983 – 1989.
For anyone growing up in the 1980s, the films of John Hughes are some of the most iconic of the decade and have
created a lasting cultural impact still felt and referenced across TV, film and music. As well as the characters and
stories created in these iconic movies, what made John Hughes’ movies different from the rest was the symbiotic
relationship between scene and music. Whether Cameron Frye staring at the painting in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off set to
The Dream Academy’s “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want (Instrumental)”, Duckie and Andie from Pretty
In Pink at prom set to Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s “If You Leave”, or even Neal and Del’s classic “Those aren’t
pillows” scene from Planes, Trains and Automobiles set to Emmylou Harris’ “Back In Baby’s Arms”.
“Music was a huge part of filmmaking for him, it was a thing he seemed to like the most.” Matthew Broderick
Curated by John Hughes’ music supervisor Tarquin Gotch, this 6LP vinyl boxset includes 73 tracks from the movies
National Lampoon’s Vacation, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty In Pink, Ferris Bueller’s Day
Off, Some Kind Of Wonderful, Planes, Trains And Automobiles, She’s Having A Baby, The Great Outdoors and Uncle
Buck.
“Back when we were working on these movie soundtracks, the best way to send music around the world was the
cassette, by Fedex. We sent John cassettes of newly released music, of demos, of just finished mixes (and in return he
would send VHS videos of the scenes that needed music).” Tarquin Gotch
The films of John Hughes spawned many classic tracks, some licensed for the films, some commission specifically, and
many going on to become huge international hits from acts such as Simple Minds, Kate Bush, Furniture, Yello, and
The Psychedelic Furs.
“It serves as a reminder not just to the musicians he championed in the 1980s, but to how intensely his search for
music expanded beyond this era. Until his final days, he was still collecting outrageous amounts of music from around
the world, galaxies removed from the New Romantic and new wave sounds that, to many, still define him.” James
Hughes
Also includes an extensive 24-page booklet including memories from Matthew Broderick, James Hughes, Tarquin
Gotch, Ron Payne, plus track-by-track sleeve notes.
“John said he only made movies so he could choose what music to put in them, so as his success at the Box Office
grew, and thus his power with the studios, the number of tracks in his films, by up and coming UK bands, steadily
grew.” Tarquin Gotch


Billy Idol - "Catch My Fall" (From The 1987 Movie 'Some Kind Of Wonderful')
The Association - "Cherish" (From The 1986 Movie 'Pretty In Pink')
Penguin Cafe Orchestra - "Music For A Found Harmonium" (From The 1988 Movie 'She's Having A Baby')
Zapp - "Radio People" (From The 1986 Movie 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off')
Blue Room - "Cry Like This" (From The 1987 Movie 'Some Kind Of Wonderful')
Ray Charles - "Mess Around" (From The 1987 Movie 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles')
Joe Turner - "Lipstick, Powder & Paint" (From The 1989 Movie 'Uncle Buck')
Darlene Love - " (Today I Met) The Boy I'm Gonna Marry" (From The 1984 Movie 'Sixteen Candles')
Marvin Gaye - "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" (From The 1988 Movie 'She's Having A Baby')
Perry Como/Mitchell Ayres & His Orchestra/The Ray Charles Singers - "Juke Box Baby" (From The 1989 Movie 'Uncle Buck')
The Chordettes - "Mr Sandman" (From The 1989 Movie 'Uncle Buck')
Ray Anthony & His Orchestra - "The Peter Gunn Theme" (From The 1984 Movie 'Sixteen Candles')
Lindsey Buckingham - "Holiday Road" (From The 1983 Movie 'National Lampoon's Vacation')
Emmylou Harris - "Back In Baby's Arms" (From The 1987 Movie 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles')
Hugh Harris - "Rhythm Of Life" (From The 1989 Movie 'Uncle Buck')
Spandau Ballet - "True" (From The 1984 Movie 'Sixteen Candles')
Propaganda - "Abuse" (From The 1987 Movie 'Some Kind Of Wonderful')
The Dream Academy - "The Edge Of Forever" (From The 1986 Movie 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off')
Yello - "Lost Again" (From The 1987 Movie 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles')
Bryan Ferry - "Crazy Love" (From The 1988 Movie 'She's Having A Baby')
The Rave-Ups - "Positively Lost Me" (From The 1986 Movie 'Pretty In Pink')
Los Lobos - "Don't Worry Baby" (From The 1985 Movie 'Weird Science')
Steve Earle - "Continental Trailways Blues" (From The 1987 Movie 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles')
The Revillos - "Rev Up" (From The 1984 Movie 'Sixteen Candles')
Boston - "More Than A Feeling" (From The 1988 Movie 'She's Having A Baby')
Balaam & The Angel - "I'll Show You Something Special" (From The 1987 Movie 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles')
The Rave-Ups - "Rave Up/Shut Up" (From The 1986 Movie 'Pretty In Pink')
Pop Will Eat Itself - "Beaver Patrol" (From The 1988 Movie 'The Great Outdoors')
The Vapors - "Turning Japanese" (From The 1984 Movie 'Sixteen Candles')
Silicon Teens - "Red River Rock" (From The 1987 Movie 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles')
out

FIRST-EVER VINYL RELEASE OF CULT 1980 CASSETTE-ONLY ALBUM BY EGYPTIAN SINGER NAGAT EL SAGHIRA, CURATED AND ANNOTATED BY DISCO ARABESQUO. INCLUDES PRODUCTION BY EGYPTIAN FUNK LEGEND HANY SHENOUDA

Following the highly-acclaimed "Sharayet El Disco" compilation, Wewantsounds is delighted to team up with Disco Arabesquo for the reissue of Nagat El Seghira's cult 1980 album "Eyoun El Alb"

Originally released only on cassette on the Egyptian label Soutelphan, the album has since become a sought-after classic on the Arabic groove scene and this is the first time it is released on vinyl. Consisting of four tracks, the album features two tracks produced by Hany Shenouda whose group Al Massrieen is a reference on the Arabic disco funk scene.

Remastered for vinyl by Colorsound Studio in Paris, the album features the original cassette artwork plus a two page colour insert featuring liner notes by Disco Arabesquo.

When it comes to Arabic Divas, Oum Kalthoum, Fairuz and Warda usually take the lead in the poll list. But in her native Egypt, singer Nagat Al Saghira comes very close to this triumvirate. Born in Cairo in 1938, Nagat began singing when she was still a child gaining her stage name "El-Saghira" ("the young one") at this occasion as she started giving concerts at the age of seven, pushed by her father, the famed calligrapher Muhamad Hosny (Nagat's half-sister is the renowned actress Soad Hosny).

Nagat quickly rose to fame in the late forties and became an essential part of classic period of Arabic music, interpreting songs by such titans as Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Baligh Hamdy and Kamal Al Taweel. She also sang the works of Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani whom she introduced to a mainstream audience. Nagat started singing shorter songs but then upgraded to longer ones, often performing/recording them live as it was the trend in the 60s and 70s.

One such song is "Eyoun El Alb" ("Eyes of the Heart") which makes up the whole of Side 1 of the original cassette. Written by Mohamed El Mougy and Abd al-Rahman al-Abdouni, Eyoun El Alb is a love song made up of several distinct sections enhancing Nagat's hypnotic singing, accompanied by a percussion-heavy, traditional Egyptian orchestra.

Side 2 is the "diggers" groovier side featuring two floaters,"Bahlam Ma'ak" ("I Dream with You") and "Ana Basha El Bahr" ("I Adore The Sea") produced by cult Egyptian musician and producer Hany Shenouda, whose albums with his group Al Massrieen are highly sought after on the Arabic funk and Disco scene. One Al Massrieen track features on the "Sharayet el Disco" set compiled by Disco Arabesquo who notes that "Hany Shenouda had made waves with his new musical style that weaved in western funk and disco sounds into Egyptian music"

Both tracks feature an infectious slow-burning groove and incorporate funk influences with fat bass and lines of synth and clavinet that adds a funky tone to Nagat's soft singing. The third track "Fakra" ("Do You Remember") brings the best of both world with a syncopated rhythm and arrangements that are slightly more traditional than the Shenouda-produced tracks.

Originally released in Egypt on Cassette in 1980 on the venerable Soutlephan label, the album is now making its vinyl debut on Wewantsounds annotated by Disco Arabesquo and remastered for vinyl by Colorsound Studio in Paris for the joy of Arabic funk and Global beats worldwide.

Demon Music group in conjunction with the Hughes family are proud to present the first official compilation of music
from the movies of legendary filmmaker John Hughes, covering the classic eighties period 1983 – 1989.
For anyone growing up in the 1980s, the films of John Hughes are some of the most iconic of the decade and have
created a lasting cultural impact still felt and referenced across TV, film and music. As well as the characters and
stories created in these iconic movies, what made John Hughes’ movies different from the rest was the symbiotic
relationship between scene and music. Whether Cameron Frye staring at the painting in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off set to
The Dream Academy’s “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want (Instrumental)”, Duckie and Andie from Pretty
In Pink at prom set to Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s “If You Leave”, or even Neal and Del’s classic “Those aren’t
pillows” scene from Planes, Trains and Automobiles set to Emmylou Harris’ “Back In Baby’s Arms”.
“Music was a huge part of filmmaking for him, it was a thing he seemed to like the most.” Matthew Broderick
Curated by John Hughes’ music supervisor Tarquin Gotch, this 6LP vinyl boxset includes 73 tracks from the movies
National Lampoon’s Vacation, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty In Pink, Ferris Bueller’s Day
Off, Some Kind Of Wonderful, Planes, Trains And Automobiles, She’s Having A Baby, The Great Outdoors and Uncle
Buck.
“Back when we were working on these movie soundtracks, the best way to send music around the world was the
cassette, by Fedex. We sent John cassettes of newly released music, of demos, of just finished mixes (and in return he
would send VHS videos of the scenes that needed music).” Tarquin Gotch
The films of John Hughes spawned many classic tracks, some licensed for the films, some commission specifically, and
many going on to become huge international hits from acts such as Simple Minds, Kate Bush, Furniture, Yello, and
The Psychedelic Furs.
“It serves as a reminder not just to the musicians he championed in the 1980s, but to how intensely his search for
music expanded beyond this era. Until his final days, he was still collecting outrageous amounts of music from around
the world, galaxies removed from the New Romantic and new wave sounds that, to many, still define him.” James
Hughes
Also includes an extensive 24-page booklet including memories from Matthew Broderick, James Hughes, Tarquin
Gotch, Ron Payne, plus track-by-track sleeve notes.
“John said he only made movies so he could choose what music to put in them, so as his success at the Box Office
grew, and thus his power with the studios, the number of tracks in his films, by up and coming UK bands, steadily
grew.” Tarquin Gotch

LP vinyl only release + 4 page liner notes (comes with hype sticker)

The percussive new age soundtracks of '80s and early '90s Japanese TV, anime and manga built alternative worlds and pushed boundaries in the process.

When Japanese composer Yas-Kaz left Tokyo for Bali in the mid 1970s he had little idea of how influential his trip would become. In studying the storied art of gamelan, the jazz and avant-garde percussionist opened a door to a world of sound and rhythm left behind by the West. The music he and his contemporaries made would become known as new age. It also happened to soundtrack the golden era of anime.

Awash with money and with the prerogative to entertain the burgeoning middle classes, anime in the 1980s experienced a creative and commercial boom. Not constricted by generic expectations, production houses such as the now renowned Studio Ghibli were able to experiment liberally with both form and content. And with it came the space for composers to be similarly adventurous.

TV, Anime & Manga New Age Soundtracks 1984-1993 charts this moment across eight tracks spanning classics of the genre and previously unknown rarities. The collection brings together music that found kinship in electronic and acoustic instrumentation, often combining spiritual or environmental themes with percussive, varied and highly refined syncopations of non-Western musical traditions.

Among them is ‘Kaneda’ by Geinoh Yamashirogumi, the shape-shifting group of self-styled musicians, anthropologists and computer scientists that masterminded the soundtrack to game-changing dystopian anime Akira - and with whom the sound, tuning and breakneck speed of Balinese gamelan has become indelibly entwined.

Reflecting the desires of the era to reach beyond Japan’s borders, many of the soundtracks featured were commissioned for narratives set in distant lands or alternative worlds. There’s violinist and composer Norihiro Tsuru’s ‘Farsighted Person’, written for The Heroic Legend of Arslān, set in ancient Persia; Yas-Kaz’s own ‘Hei (Theme of Shikioni)’, for period sci-fi manga & anime series Peacock King - Spirit Warrior; and two tracks - Tassili N’Ajjer and Fiesta Del Fuego - from Yoichiro Yoshikawa’s soundtrack to NHK’s proto-Planet Earth series The Miracle Planet.

Such was the variety and quality of the music produced, if there is a guiding principle to the tracks collected here it is a sense of escapism and adventure that came with the confluence of modern electronic instruments and a fascination with percussive traditions.

Elsewhere, pioneering children’s TV composer Chumei Watanabe’s ‘Fushigi Song’ (performed by a vocal group Korogi ‘72) offers a trippy and infectious groove with sonic similarities to Don Cherry’s ‘Brown Rice’; little-known jazz-funk library group Columbia Orchestra showcase the best of Tokyo’s session musicians on ‘Hearts Beats - Theme for Andrew Glasgow’; before lawyer-turned-composer Kan Ogasawara closes out the compilation with a dramatic flourish on ‘Gishin Anki’.

Following on from Time Capsule’s acclaimed deep-dive into the world of manga & anime synth-pop in 2022, this vinyl only collection is set to broaden and diversify an understanding of how soundtracks shaped the sound of new age music in Japan for a generation.

Curators: Kay Suzuki, Rintaro Sekizuka (Vinyl Delivery Service)
Artwork: Tu-yang

2025 marks the 10th anniversary of world-famous DJ Pete Tong, conductor Jules Buckley, and The Heritage and The Essential Orchestra coming together to create orchestral versions of some of the greatest electronic dance songs as you’ve never heard them before. Alongside his Royal Albert Hall shows in May Pete has curated a special 2LP neon coloured vinyl, featuring hits from all four albums such as ‘Pjanoo’, ‘Lola’s Theme’ ‘Killer’, ‘Insomnia’, ‘9PM (Till I Come)’, ‘Your Love’ & many more. The releases also feature new Mark Ralph 2025 edits of fan favourites ‘Finally’, ‘Man With A Red Face’, ‘Yeke Yeke’ & ‘Cafe Del Mar’ which all previously featured on medleys and a new 2025 single. This limited edition release features brand new artwork and notes from Pete.

Liner Notes by Martyn Pepperell

A collection of ten hypnotic guitar renditions that dive deeply into the traditional compositional musicality that underpins Harakami’s hallucinatory beatscapes before reconsidering them under a fresh, innovative and engaging new light. River: The Timbre of Guitar #2 Rei Harakami signals a new level of awareness and understanding of both Rei Harakami’s significance and Ayane Shino’s undeniable talent.

VITAL SALES POINTS:

In 1996 Tokyo-based label Sublime Records received a cassette demo from Rei Harakami, a 26-year-old Japanese experimental filmmaker, and musician. Within one year Harakami’s debut LP ‘Unrest’ was released. As the 21st century dawned, Harakami was becoming a critically acclaimed figure, and there was a feeling in Japan that Harakami would be an inevitable successor to such luminaries as Haruomi Hosono and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Sadly Harakami passed away at age 40 in 2011, leaving behind a musical legacy that seemed to deserve more recognition. A fitting tribute now comes from the incredibly gifted classical guitarist Ayane Shino. Continuing her album series ‘The Timbre of Guitar’ (the inaugural release of which was ‘Sakura’ - a cover album of Susumu Yokota's seminal album, released through the Swiss label, Mental Groove Records in 2021), she now presents ‘River ???? : The Timbre of Guitar #2 Rei Harakami’. Ayane has reworked some of Harakami’s standout tracks into an album of tranquil yet complex compositions helping to build a new level of awareness and understanding of Rei Harakami’s significance. A collection of ten hypnotic guitar renditions that dive deeply into the traditional compositional musicality that underpins Harakami’s hallucinatory beatscapes before reconsidering them under a fresh, innovative and engaging new light.

In the years that followed Harakami’s untimely passing, Sublime Records continued to sign and support new artists emerging from Japan’s rich and fertile electronic music scene. This eventually led to a meeting with gifted classical guitarist Ayane Shino in 2020. Although a new name within electronica, Shino’s classical resume is impeccable. She has performed with a range of prestigious orchestras in concert halls and at music festivals across Japan, Europe, and South America while playing classical guitar for numerous animations, movies and television commercials and holding various educational roles. These days, she also hosts the Tokyo Harmonics radio show, which is syndicated through Hyogo prefecture’s Ashiya Radio and TJS Radio in Los Angeles.

During her time completing a masters at Tokyo’s University of the Arts, Shino became fascinated by Brian Eno, Aphex Twin, Oneohtrix Point Never, Steve Reich, and, closer to home, Harakami and Susumu Yokota. ”I found myself in an environment where I was surrounded by fellow students who produced computer music, live electronics, and installations,” she explains. Following her meeting with Sublime, Hideoki Amano, the producer and owner of Musicmine, the parent company of the label, asked Shino if she would be open to transcribing and recording an album of covers of the late, great composer, producer and DJ Susumu Yokota’s music in incorporate into then-upcoming events commemorating the 5th anniversary of his death and reissues of his past works. “Yokota made music with the Roland TB-303 bass synthesizer and samplers, not in a way like a conventional instrumentalist, so I was aware it might be more of a challenge for her,” Amano explains. Fittingly, Shino was up for his suggestion, leading to ‘Sakura: The Timbre Of Guitars #1 Susumu Yokota’. Song by song, Sakura highlighted Shino’s free-flowing playing and prowess at translating electronic music into classical guitar shapes.
After considering Harakami’s background as an instrumentalist, Amano felt revisiting his catalogue should be the next step for Shino. Well-versed in how often classical versions of electronic music tend to fall flat, he asked her to examine Harakami’s songs closely, select the musical phrases suitable for guitar and create arrangements that would sound interesting to music listeners with a deep engagement with ambient, techno and electronica. In Harakami’s discography, Shino discovered “a sense of simplicity, warmth, moisture and a floating sensation.” “I was gripped by his songs, which had an array of sounds that gave me a sense of mystery but also coexisted with a sense of familiarity,” she explained. Moving beyond his official releases, Shino began digging through YouTube to find live recordings, radio appearances and obscure outtakes. Within her mind’s eye, imagining playing his songs on guitar was effortless. On her approach to the album, Ayane explains: “For this album, I succeeded in spinning some exquisite, silk thread like delicate tones, interwoven with human warmth, gentleness and simplicity. And I was also able to rework Rei Harakami's distinctive sound with a floating feel to it and transform it into a very classical guitar sound. I hope many people will be able to receive this group of sounds that I created in this album that I played with all my heart.” A record of limitless innate beauty, ‘River ???? : The Timbre of Guitar #2 Rei Harakami’ is a delicate and thoughtful body of work. A true masterclass in deconstruction and subsequent rebuilding, and an eternal lesson in how the art that we leave behind can outlive us all.

Ulrich Troyer has been producing music now solidly for over twenty years within a largely genre free framework, but whilst navigating forms such as avant-garde, techno, leftfield, field recording, electronica, glitch and ambient it is the aesthetics of dub that guide his creative direction. Not really recognisable in an orthodox form as remixed versions of roots reggae songs but in the way sonics are manipulated with space, the application and layering of delay, reverb and echo that fixes his output well within the scope of what might be called futurist dub.

The nearest comparisons to his new album TRANSIT TRIBE can only be established by a synthesis of some of the more adventurous explorations in modern music such as African Head Charge, Jon Hassell, Pole (Stefan Betke), Bill Laswell or even Miles Davis; featuring a diverse selection of artists and friends not only from Vienna and environs but also from around the world, sounds are not so much fused but allowed to float along the continuous flowing tide of warm waves of bass.

Rather than to allow the names of Ulrich Troyer's collaborators be merely listed in the album credits, what they bring to this joyful affair needs to be outlined, albeit briefly: Co-producer credits go to Osman Murat Ertel from Istanbul, who employed a variation on the old foolproof Nick Lowe method for checking out the impact quality of his own sound productions by playing tracks through his car sound system speakers!

Murat is a member of the electro-psych-folk group Baba Zula where he plays electric saz, oscillators and theremin and played a key part in the creative development of the album. Mamadou Diabate, the balafon master originally from Burkina Faso and now resident in Vienna, has developed his own unique technique of playing solos that replicate the sound of three instruments playing in unison; however the multi-talented Mamadou is engaged here on singing and playing the talking drum. From South Tyrol Reinhilde Gamper is a member of the experimental trio Greifer who are bringing the sound of the zither into the twenty-first century using new playing techniques and electronic gadgets. Susanna Gartmayer is an Austrian composer and bass clarinetist specialising in improv and multimedia sound research. Diggory Kenrick has been engaged with creating new dub fusions and also re-energising classic rocksteady and roots reggae classics, renowned for his interventions on flute. Didi Kern is an electronic dance musician and drummer from Vienna with a focus on free improvised music. Hamidou Koita, a singer and multi-instrumentalist, is from a traditional Griot family in Burkina Faso but now resident in Vienna and a regular musical partner of Mamadou Diabate playing drums and calabash. Austrian Lukas Lauermann is both a studio and live musician playing cello, also working on electronic sound design and writing string arrangements. He has recorded extensively and appeared on stage with both Mark Lanegan and Hans-Joachim Roedelius. Martin Mallaun is a Tyrol-born specialist in both the development of the zither in modern music and also as a researcher in the effects of climate change on the vegetation of Alpine ecosystems. Mystica Tribe is the musical alias of Tokyo-based dub/techno producer Taka (Takafumi) Noda. He collaborated with Vienna's own Vegetable Orchestra on 2020's "Transplants (Mystica Tribe Version)". After studying classical percussion Flip Philipp is now a jazz vibraphone player and member of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. Wolfgang Pfistermüller is a member of the Vienna Trombone Quartet and the developer of the incredible bass-trombone Aurora with its uniquely warm and resonant sound. Roger Robinson is a renowned British poet, winner of many contemporary poetry prizes and member of the experimental music group King Midas Sound. Kwame Yeboah is a Ghanaian born UK based keyboard wizard who tours regularly with Yusuf / Cat Stevens, Ms. Dynamite and Pat Thomas.

So contained on the album is an astonishing mix of musicians and instruments: sounds of cowbells recorded in the South Tyrolean alps processed by modular synthesizers and heavy analogue bass synths combined with instruments such as zither, bass-zither, electro saz, flute, talking drum, trombone, cello, vibraphone, marimba, djembe, contra-alto clarinet, melodica, Farfisa - all bound together by organic live-drums and dub effects.

Liner notes by Steve Barker

“Wild Boy …” is a reissue of the well-known 2016 release curated by Brian Chidester, renowned researcher and biographer of Eden Ahbez. Especially for this album, Brian wrote an interesting text about Abi’s life, which definitely became the decoration of the release.
With the new 2020 re-release, we went a little further and kept what is commonly referred to as studio cuts. It’s a few more minutes in the studio with ahbez himself, full of emotion and life. In addition, to the delight of fans, the edition includes an additional composition Nature Boy (Mantovani Orchestra).
Especially, it is worth noting the outstanding mastering prepared from practically decomposed tapes by the Grammy-nominated Jessica Thompson, which guarantees the deepest and warmth possible sound. Jessica a huge ahbez fan and we’re highly appreciated for what she has done to save his music for the future.
Eden Ahbez is definitely at the origin of psychedelic music and this release can be taken as further proof. Over the past twenty years, the iconic figure of the world’s first hippie Eden ahbez has become famous primarily for his 1948 song “Nature Boy”, praising universal love, and his amazingly solo album from the 1960s called “Eden’s Island” – one from the first concept albums in the history of music and probably the first psychedelic music album. “Wild Boy: The Lost Songs Of Eden Ahbez” deepens understanding of the origins of the psychedelic movement in the 1950s.
The disc contains a musical selection of works by Eden ahbez himself, written by him in the period after Nature Boy. The inclusion of songs such as “Palm Springs” – Ray Anthony Orchestra and “Hey Jacques” by Erta Kitt gives the listener the chance to discover for the first time the little-known recordings of world-famous artists composed by Eden ahbez. Through “Wild Boy” and “Surfer John” you can hear the author’s handling of absurd rock and exotic experimentation, as well as sweet psychedelic pop like Monterey (with Paul Horn on flute). Overall, Wild Boy: The Lost Songs Of Eden Ahbez offers an overview of the lost works of 1949-1971 with seven unpublished recordings and eight rare singles.
If in 2020 you are missing the hallucinogenic content in Eden Ahbez, it amazingly makes up for that deficiency with simple chords, expansive arrangements, and lyrics about travel, relaxation, free love, and spirituality. Thus creating the standard of psychedelic music. Eden Ahbez’s songs weren’t only fantasy and his personal philosophy was the real thing that he lived.

reviews:

“This carefully and extensively researched compilation culls covers by top notch mainstream artists juxtaposed with unreleased Eden recordings. What might sound like a mixed bag is actually more like a chronological, musical non-fiction novel about Eden Ahbez. While Eden was writing hundreds of songs and performing live and making recordings in various styles, his songs were also being picked up by popular artists like Nat King Cole and Eartha Kitt who recorded with a more polished mainstream style. There are also some early rock n roll style recordings here. Eden’s professionally recordings often end up as Novelty Pop records such as “Child of Nature” and “The Clam Man” but if you read between the lines and listen to the lyrics it is pretty eye-opening that he is singing about Eastern-religion-style and pre-hippie philosophies about being at one with the planet Earth.
All of this is explained in the lengthy liner notes inside the lp along with a few choice photos that establish Eden as a founding father of Southern California mystic/psychedelic music.” – Tiki_News
“Eden Ahbez’s life philosophy was summed up in the lyrics of his most famous song, “Nature Boy,” a 1948 hit for Nat King Cole: the song describes a “strange enchanted boy” who wanders the world in search of truth. “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn,” he concludes, “is to love and be loved in return.” Ahbez was a pre-cursor of California’s beatniks and hippies, and an exalted icon of ex-otica via his rare 1960 album Eden’s Island. Beyond “Nature Boy” and Eden’s Island, though, there were nu-merous lesser-known Ahbez record-ings. Ahbez biographer Brian Chidester has been doing an exemplary job of archiving and documenting that catalog of work. The Exotic World of Eden Ahbez (reviewed in UT#38) appeared a few years ago, gathering together 14 Ahbez-related rarities” – Ugly Things

25 killer library music cuts by the German film music maestro on audiophile pressing in deluxe 2x10" set. Uberrare and never released before material from 1968-1976, sourced from Peter Thomas' personal reel-to-reel tape archive. Limited edition of 500 pieces.

From brassy big band funk, space jazz, krauty synth experiments to proto-hiphop, cosmic schlagers, heavy easy listening, soulful soundtrack moods and absurdly dreamy LSD ballads, this compilation encompasses the composer's most obscure and yet most transcendent work.

Peter Thomas is widely acknowledged as Germany's most inventive film music composer of the 1960s and 1970, best known for his iconic soundtrack work. He scored over 600 films and episodes, from the crime blockbusters of Jerry Cotton and Edgar Wallace to indie arthouse films like Playgirl, Bruce Lee's The Big Boss and the extraterrestrial Space Patrol and Chariot of the Gods.

His recordings for music libraries often provided an even more leftfield approach. Their visionary 'dope beats' appeal provoked a keen interest from vinyl aficionados, beatmakers and rare groove DJs alike. Unavailable for the public, the original "for professional usage only" albums are now sought-after collector's items that fetch astronomic prices on the 2ndhand market.

This double 10" album is the definite selection of Thomas' best library cues from the Golden Ring Records, KPM and DeWolfe catalogues, many of them available publicly for the first time - plus four recently unearthed "lost" tracks from Warner Chappell's CPM Archive series that have never been released on vinyl before. All music was carefully transferred from Peter Thomas' private master tapes and cut in full dynamics, housed in a beautiful fold-out cover with liner notes and private pictures. The compilation was realised in cooperation with Peter Thomas' son Philip who takes care of the Peter Thomas Sound Orchester catalogue after his father's death in 2020.

Los Angeles-based video artist and producer Laskfar Vortok makes his first appearance in the EVAR catalogue with "Erbsat Esrhosc." An unusual title that reflects the artist's interest in the bizarre, whether he's making music or producing videos and visuals, "Erbsat Esrhosc" bristles with erratic patterns, anarchic atmospheres and glitchy soundscapes. The Mexican-born talent explores ideas based on the hypothetical concept of a planetwide city, otherwise known as an ecumenopolis, weaving such ideas against a cinematic backdrop, nodding to his long-running love for cinema. Across the five-track EP, he also draws inspiration from the heated and hectic energy of L.A, where he's resided most of his life.

Produced in memoriam of Michael Gregory Harrison, aka Bad Timing, and following a period of introspection and creative and personal challenges, Laskfar Vortok began work on "Erbsat Esrhosc" in 2018. The EP honours Michael's brilliance as an artist and a friend;the title being an anagram of a phrase that they shared between them.

"Eclipse" opens the EP on a haunting note. A spidery melody and chilling pads punctuate the witchy soundscape before syncopated sequences collide with snafued textures, signifying a sharp left turn into breakcore. With its nebulous atmosphere, this track offers the first glimpse into the concept of an ecumenopolis. On "Hyperdrive", frenetic percussion dominates while zappy noises and a doomsday melody slink in and out of earshot. Bursts of broken wub exacerbate the uneasy mood while cinematic, almost ethereal chords twinkle in the background.

"Base" offers a moment to recover one's brain cells after the nosedive into the near future. A lugging kickdrum and broken, woody percussions swirl around the troposphere while creepy pads convey a sinister aura. "Mutation" catapults us back into chaos with claustrophobic polyrhythmic structures, smatterings of kickdrums, and a sporadic mad-scientist-type synthline, adding a jittery layer. An unexpectedly orchestral outro completes the bizarre nature of the track.

Closing out on "Send Off", Laskfar Vortok blends freezing-cold chords with snaggy synth notes and a tangle of drum constellations tied up with a gossamer melody and splattered across an eerie terrain.

Using Bitwig Studio, orcλ, TidalCycles and Renoise as his modus operandi, Laskfar Vortok produces a trip that intrigues but disturbs, serving a shimmering yet terrifying squint into a technoid-led utopia. And we're only just getting started.

After touring the globe showcasing their A/V moshpit-inducing live show, they are revealing their new musical creations to an unsuspecting public. Never Sleep are proud to present a landmark moment in the Japanese hardcore new rave scene. The blinding lights of DEATH RAVE point to an untraveled journey, a sci-fi fusion of black metal, gabber, cyberpunk, performance art and techno. It’s their first for the Berlin label (founded by Gabber Eleganza) following 2021’s EP Principle of Light Speed Variance. Full description VMO aka Violent Magic Orchestra break through the darkness and herald a spectacular mould-melting sound on their forthcoming album DEATH RAVE. After touring the globe showcasing their A/V moshpit-inducing live show, they are revealing their new musical creations to an unsuspecting public. Never Sleep are proud to present a landmark moment in the Japanese hardcore new rave scene. The blinding lights of DEATH RAVE point to an untraveled journey, a sci-fi fusion of black metal, gabber, cyberpunk, performance art and techno. It’s their first for the Berlin label (founded by Gabber Eleganza) following 2021’s EP Principle of Light Speed Variance. Ahead of the release VMO have brought their digital harcore to festivals around the globe, including Roadburn Festival, BANG FACE Weekender, Brutal Assault extreme music festival, Le Guess Who?, CTM Berlin and Dark Mofo. Their performance is the ultimate extreme visual music project in which techno, black metal, and industrial unite to create a ritual from the near future, 2099. All visual art and stage setting is provided by non-touring member, artist and programmer Kezzardrix (who has been visual director for millennium parade and BABYMETAL previously).The power consumption of a VMO show is equivalent to 56 guitar amplifiers, 5000W, a mind-expanding supreme noise and light experience. The band members all go by the names of classic black metal bands rendered in the Japanese katakana script; “ダークスローン”; “メイヘム”, and “エンペラー”. Their new LP is the first to feature lead vocalist ザスター. The record features guest vocals from extreme metal icon Attila Csihar, known for singing with Mayhem and Sunn O))). Other featured artists include Dylan Walker, singer of Full of Hell, punk-techno artist Infinity Division (aka Ash Luk), Icelandic darkwavers Kælan Mikla and Ican Harem of Gabber Modus Operandi. The result is a leap forward from their 2016 debut, where they have found a singularity where death metal meets Kraftwerk, or Rephlex goes black. Dressed in corpse paint and other hell-raising looks, onstage they are like “Shinigami (death gods) from the Death Note manga”. Singles Venom, Supergaze and Martello Mosh Pit featuring Gabber Eleganza have been released in the lead up to the record and have been shocking techno dance floors too with their hi-NRG-symphonic doom-gaze. They have shared their video for Planet Helvetech (here), created by Berlin-based Patrick Defasten. Helvetech combines the Norwegian word for hell (hevlete) with techno and is a reference to the infamous black metal shop founded by Mayhem’s Euronymous. It’s a song that imagines time travel from 2099 on the planet Helvetech (where VMO comes from) to 1990s Oslo. In 2023, they performed at the CTM festival in Berlin, as well as at Berghain, receiving rave reviews. At Sydney’s leading multi-sensory SOFT CENTER festival they drove the crowd into a frenzy on the 17 metre X 30 metre jumbo screen. They have also collaborated with artists, performing at the two day installation by the trailblazing Tianzhuo Chen - The Shepherd - at the Kyoto International Performing Arts Festival in 2021 here. At Sónar 2023, VMO provided the music for Taiwanese visual artist Yuen Hsieh’s work about virtual life after death DIGITAL AFTERLIFE AGENCY here. VMO will tour the world again for the new record, with appearances at ROSKILDE and media art and music fest Sónar 2024 announced so far and the DEATH RAVE experience getting bigger and bigger.

OPUS is a fusion of visual brilliance and pulsating beats that transcends the boundaries of traditional experiences. This emerging project is the epitome of synergy between art and electronic music, where every stroke of the brush and every sonic pulse are meticulously orchestrated to create an immersive journey. OPUS invites you to step into a world where each note resonates with the vibrant strokes of artistic expression. Join us in this extraordinary celebration of the interconnected realms of art and electronic music, where every moment turns into piece of art.

A veteran of the great Malian orchestra, the Super Biton de Ségou, Mama Sissoko is an accomplished musician. His music traverses Mandingo, Bambara, Sarakolé, Songhai, Bobo, Peul, Malinke and Bozo traditions, all while flirting with jazz. On stage, Mama Sissoko is a purist who engages with the audience bringing his energy, urgent vocals and truly inspired guitar solos throughout the concert. ‘Live' brings together recordings from a concert given in Paris at La Villette in 1998 and takes us back to a high point in Mama Sissoko's career.

In ‘Live’, we find tracks from Mama Sissoko's second solo album 'Soleil de Minuit', which was released in 1999 by Buda Music. As on the album, the different guitars overlap without compromising the unity of the music, rendering an earthy atmosphere despite being very complex. The recording of this concert was superb. We can hear every note, every nuance, every instrument and voice in the many-layered compositions.

As on the album ‘Soleil de Minuit’, this live recording opens the session with ‘Diarabi’, followed by ‘Safiatou’. Both are up-tempo love songs in which Mama Sissoko's powerful voice sings with all of the passion that such love songs deserve over a clean rhythm driven by the percussion of several guitars. The heavy bassline of ‘Safiatou’ adds to the urgency of the song. After these two beautiful renditions, the energy continues with the guitar-driven ’Fisiriwale’ and then a surprisingly original version of Super Biton’s famous song, ‘Iri’. We are then treated to a lively version of his ‘Soleil de Minuit’, called out by the artist as a ‘salsa Africana’ with a shout out given to Cuban salsa mid-way through when he calls the song ‘El Sol de Medianoche’ in perfect Spanish.
Throughout this concert, Mama Sissoko’s deep and melodic voice seems to emanate effortlessly from his body and soul. Multiple guitars back up his signature solos adding depth to the music that harkens back to the traditional music of Mali. Perfect examples of this are given in the songs ‘Douga’, ‘Manssane’ and ‘Hommage a K’. The last song, before a rousing second version of ‘Soleil de Minuit’, is ‘Boma Ma’, a truly modern rendition of a traditional Malian hunters’ song with multiple guitars, shakers, lively djembe and an outstanding vocal duet with Toussaint Sainé, Mama Sissoko’s long time musical collaborator.

Accompanied by incredible musicians, including Toussaint Sainé, his partner in the Super Biton orchestra, "Live" plays in the timeless way of Malian music. What's more, it gives us the gift of its most direct and powerful dimension, that of live music, as if 20 years hadn't passed.

2024 Repress

2LP gatefold with liner notes, 180gr vinyl. 'Funky Chimes' is a two-hour collection of excellent and unique grooves. It contains 27 of the most interesting yet long forgotten Belgian dance tracks from the seventies.

'Funky Chimes' is a two-hour collection of excellent and unique grooves. It contains 27 of the most interesting yet long forgotten Belgian dance tracks from the seventies, when a generation of extremely gifted and versatile musicians experimented with funk, jazz, latin and other grooves.
'Funky Chimes' is in many ways the logical follow up to 2014's highly acclaimed compilation 'Funky Chicken'. Uncovering a blind spot in Belgium's musical heritage and unearthing a diverse collection of hidden treasures. 'Funky Chicken' has induced a renewed interest in Belgium's rare grooves from the seventies, which until then had never been regarded a genre worth mentioning. Having said that, this second instalment is much more than just a fast sequel or a batch of leftovers. The music's quality matches that of its predecessor, but the treasure hunt was even more adventurous, and the stories behind some of the nuggets even more gripping.