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Rats on Rafts descend further into the brooding wasteland on their new album ‘Deep Below’, a darker, slower, eroded sound from the Rotterdam band. Highlighting different shades within the monochrome landscape compared to their previous, more colourful albums: they dive deeper into their psyche, questioning our relationships with nature, religion and each other. Echoes of The Cure, Cocteau Twins and Slowdive seem present yet so many different influences make up an album that only they could create. It sees Rats on Rafts coming of age whilst raising their heads from the underground. Forever drifting into new territory, ‘Deep Below’ is certainly their darkest and most cohesive work to date. True to their analogue recording process, the tape machines, reverbs, echoes and vital new ingredients: the Soundcraft 1s mixing desk (Used by Lee Perry) and the eerie sounding Eminent String Ensemble synth all amplify the authentic sounds of the 1980’s without sounding like a relic. ‘Japanese Medicine’ is a haunting minor chord piece driven by debris of icy chiming guitars, galloping drums and waves of lush synths. lyrically it gathers memories of teenage friendship, littered with cigarettes, life-changing records, punctuated with the dark thoughts and the demons they summon up. Though the band have kept the songs relatively slow-paced and sparse, deeper ruminations of mortality and alienation creep through the cracks. ‘Nature Breaks’, the most propulsive song on the record, thematically locks into this notion, as Fagan meditates on human impulse in the face of abject survival, and how those situations often unlock one's true self. You may conclude Rotterdam’s Rats on Rafts relationship with the past is complicated. ‘The Moon Is Big’ (2011) ‘Tape Hiss’ (2015) and ‘Excerpts From Chapter 3’ (2021) are truly gripping analog timestamps of a band refusing to give in to the supposed ‘progress of the world’ instead forging their own way each time. ‘Deep Below’ is Rats on Rafts’ most minimalist work since their 2011 debut. Where the latter album was fuelled by a brash bravado, these recordings meditate on sentiments of doubt, loss, and ageing. “One of the great contemporary European rock bands” Louder Than War

. The idea for the band was originally conceived by singer-guitarist Joe Woodward whilst writing and recording songs in his kitchen on a 4-track recorder, and over time eventually found help from like-minded friends, Elliot Roberts and Cam Wheeler. The three of them would spend their nights experimenting with cassette recording with the admirable if not challenging aim to recreate the symphonic sounds of Phil Spector on a DIY budget. With growing confidence and having amassed a small catalogue of songs, a few aborted attempts were made to get a live band together before they found help from a second guitarist, Eli Allison, who had recently relocated from Cornwall. As necessity would dictate, the first shows as a quartet made use of a drum machine, but the ideal formation for the band wasn’t truly complete until meeting Nia Abraham, whose live drumming would add a more physical quality to the band’s sound. At the beginning of 2024, they began working more purposefully towards an end goal with the writing and recording of the five-song Nowhere Near Today EP. Though retaining some of their home recording practices, they also made use of a studio facility based in a disused shopping centre basement that was made available through SHIFT, a local artist collective connected to the band. The acquisition of an 8-track Tascam 488MKII, along with the natural reverb of SHIFT’s empty concrete space allowed for further opportunity to experiment with both cassette recording techniques and their still developing live sound, the two environments permitting an all-too-rare creative freedom. The process was transformative for the group, their Spector-inspired ambitions now taking on a more defined shape that skirted around the edges of psych, noise-rock and industrial-pop in a way that increasingly became their own. For a debut EP, the results are impressively realised, a confluence of expansive tremolo guitars, a deliberately primordial rhythm section and a contrasting vulnerable vocal performance that’s both melodic and bracing. It’s a record born both of private experimentation and public performance, who they are on stage and what they express on record informing the other but still distinctly each their own thing, shifting then dovetailing like the waves of feedback that wash through Nowhere Near Today. Still a young band, it’s tomorrow they feel a lot closer to.

The Durutti Column, Linda Perhacs, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Judee Sill. Hello and welcome to Decide Which Way The Eyes Are Looking, the new record by Lina Tullgren. It is a deeply gorgeous intervention, a carefully ornamented dilemma, the most inviting crisis. Made with a host of Los Angeles musicians, Decide exposes Tullgren's daring and trust. Each song is a ring of curious sound: the skip of harp strings, the flutter of woodwinds, the ratchet of percussion, the euphonium's sigh. And at the center of each wreath, Tullgren sings, finding this space between Judee Sill and Sam Jayne. It's a tone that signals weariness, but a weariness hand-in-hand with tenacity. There's a clarity, a kind of immovability. Lina Tullgren's first record came in 2016, a homemade, under-the-skin set of laments. Subsequent LPs and constant touring cemented Tullgren's reputation as a composer of "wide-eyed wonder paired with a resonant despair." 2019's Free Cell showed Tullgren lingering in the margins of their songs, finding places both aloof and spare. Floodgates opened; Tullgren spent the subsequent years exploring deep listening, improvised music, and extended technique. They developed a patience and faith in cooperation that ranged at the far edge of song. Collaborations with Mayo Thompson and Claire Rousay furthered this development. This was not a break with the past for Tullgren, rather it was an opportunity to see how far a song could go. And from that distance, deep in a landscape of drone and tension, Tullgren returned to the bright vulnerability of a lyric and a hook. Weaving together the affective and the radical, Tullgren took the quiet isolation of a shoreline cabin to write the songs that would become Decide Which Way The Eyes Are Looking. For Tullgren, Decide is a culmination of all the work they've done throughout their life: the melodic, the dense, the confessional, the unknowable. It's also a tribute to collaboration. Describing the sessions as having "a lot of space and a lot of ease,"" Tullgren invited musicians from a vast field of songmaking to play on the recording: Leng Bian, Zach Burba, Luke Csehak, Corey Fogel, Jenny Hirons, Tara Milch, Tim Ramsey, Michael Sachs, Jude Tedaldi, Marta Tiesenga and Ben Varian. Jonny Kosmo's backhouse was offered as a cozy, easygoing space for the players to create their parts together, and the record was completed by Tullgren and Luke Csehak together at their Los Angeles home. In Tullgren's words: "I feel really strongly that this album is a portrait of the community I found in Los Angeles." Decide Which Way The Eyes Are Looking is a quiet masterpiece: a generous, memorable journey. It is the result of five years of labor, the product of abandoning the pop song entirely and starting over. Whatever wanderings or doubt fueled it, Decide is also entirely at ease: a record on which Tullgren sings "and I know/what to do now" and "I know exactly what to do" in subsequent songs, clear in the revelations this path has given the

Gatefold Sleeve and on sea blue 180 GSM vinyl. Recorded as an instrumental by Tractor in Rochdale in 1971 and originally released on LP in 1972 “Shubunkin” has now been sampled by LA band Broken Bells (Danger Mouse/ Brian Burton and James Mercer, the lead vocalist and guitarist for the indie rock band The Shins) as the basis of their track “To Anyone a Ghost”. Julian Cope writes about the Tractor track “Shubunkin” : ...“Then, one night in mid 1972, John Peel played a track that was more mysterious than almost anything I had ever heard. It was the music I thereafter wanted played at my funeral and was most certainly the sound of a soul approaching the canopy of heaven as it left the earth for the last time.” ..“without the proper printed Dandelion label there to guide me, I left a blob of marker pen on the side that began with ‘Shubunkin’ and that became the ultimate beginning to any LP in my collection.” Originally Issued in late 2019 as a vinyl LP as a protest against Rochdale Boroughwide Housing’s plans to knock down four of the Seven Sisters/College Bank Flats- these blocks of flats were home to Tractor’s drummer in the 1970s as well as their manager Chris Hewitt and Andy and Liz Kershaws’ dad and a whole host of poets, musicians, tv producers etc. Many Tractor numbers were worked out in these flats prior to recording at various studios around Rochdale and Heywood. All songs written by Jim Milne and Steve Clayton. Jim Milne -vocals guitar (and bass most tracks), Steve Clayton -Drums and Percussion, Dave Addison- bass on Northern City. The album now starts the way Julian Cope always wanted to run.

Rare Seventies Big City Street Soul

In 1971, film producer David Gil and his business partners Robert S Sinn and Paul Frankenberg launched a film company called GSF. Over the next few years, it would be involved in a small number of productions. But, in 1971 the movie business was kind of old-hat, music was where it was at, and so GSF Records, a well-funded label, headed by Larry Newton was formed. Today Newton is largely remembered for his attempts to prevent Louis Armstrong from recording 'What A Wonderful World' but that didn’t stop him from growing ABC from a second division company to an industry leader. As he approached his 52nd birthday he was unveiled as GSF Records’ president a full-service music company, involved in records and publishing across all genres. Through a joint venture with drummer Bernard Purdie the label targeted the R&B charts and soul & funk dominated GSF's release schedule.

Black music ruled and this was reinforced by the hiring of Lloyd Price as head of A&R (veteran R&B star), and producers George Kerr (All-Platinum), Mickey Stevenson (Motown) and Jerry 'Swamp Dogg’ Williams. No wonder then, unintentional as it was, that GSF left behind such an extraordinary legacy of rare soul treasures.

NEW YORK’S BEST KEPT SOUL SECRET Features legendary Northern Soul classics courtesy of Anderson Brothers, Skull Snaps and Connie Laverne Produced by hit makers George Kerr and Motown veteran Mickey Stevenson Starring the Whatnauts and Eddie “Hey There Lonely Girl” Holman

Soul Rebels / BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS

The classic album now returns with new analogue mastering and stunning smoky blue vinyl pressing Originally released in 1970, Soul Rebels marked the first full-length album credited to Bob Marley and The Wailers, establishing it as a cornerstone of the roots reggae movement and a musical monument in the early stages of their career.

This album is a powerful blend of love songs and defiant rebel anthems that captures the essence of the era's burgeoning reggae scene. With its catchy rhythms, revolutionary spirit, and thought-provoking lyrics, this recording stands as a testament to the band's ability to seamlessly merge the themes of love, liberation, and self-awareness.

The title track, ‘Soul Rebels’, has become an anthem for those seeking freedom from societal norms and restrictions, encapsulating the themes of resistance and self-determination that Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer wove into their music. The album also highlights their collaboration with visionary producer Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, recorded at the renowned Randy’s Studio in Kingston, which became the birthplace of some of the most influential sounds in reggae history.

First concept album by Bob Marley and The Wailers
New analogue mastering restores the 1970 album to its original brilliance
Pressed on smoky blue vinyl Released on the Upsetter label, celebrating the groundbreaking collaboration between Bob Marley and The Wailers and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry.

Limited Indies “white split vinyl variant while supplies last. RIYL: Unwound, MBV, The Jesus Lizard, SUUNS, Preoccupations, METZ, Les Rallizes Denudes, The Dead C, Echo & The Bunnymen, Liars, This Heat, PIL. Sixth studio album from the Chicago trio. Features newly-rejoined original member Jonathan Van Herik. Recorded at Electrical Audio May 6 & 7, 2024 - final album recorded by Steve Albini. The duality of “man” is a subject that has been explored in art for centuries, from writings of the Bible to Descartes, all the way up to filmmakers like Lynch, Cronenberg, & Carpenter. Who is your “true self” & what do they want? With their sixth studio album “Wish Defense” (again for longtime home Trouble In Mind Records), Chicago trio FACS take a good, long look in the mirror to face themselves. The return of original member Jonathan Van Herik - who stepped away from the group just before their debut album “Negative Houses” was released in 2018 - replacing longtime bassist Alianna Kalaba brings renewed vigor & a marked angularity from the band’s more recent output. The songs still hit hard, but the approach is sideways - the roles have changed since Van Herik’s original tenure & his previous time with Case & powerhouse drummer Noah Leger in Disappears; now on bass, Van Herik was originally the group’s guitar player and features on the debut, while current guitarist Brian Case played bass. This role reversal has helped the band’s dynamic, offering up a different musical perspective than before, now revisiting the trio’s long-going collaboration with some distance and time. Case notes that the lyrics on “Wish Defense” revolve around doppelgängers or "doubles”, tackling the idea of facing yourself and observing your ideas and motivations. Look no further than the album’s title track; “Enter the mirror / Double walker / An intimate / Wish defense / Is it real? / You beside me / The detail / Terrifying / Abject self / Your grief / A public / Performance”. Case lays out the entire album’s theme in one stanza; Are your actions & emotions your true self? Or are they a performative aspect of that “other” person you put forward? Case says that ultimately the sentiment is “...don’t let the bastards get you down, there’s something beyond this moment, like hope - but not in the naive belief that ultimately people are good”. “Wish Defense”s artwork is also a subtle reference to “Negative Houses”’ art, returning to that album’s black & white starkness & minimalism. The album’s checkerboards everywhere are offset reflections of themselves, mirrored with the album’s lyrics printed front & center on the cover. Everything is out in the open. A final note; “Wish Defense” is the last album engineered by Steve Albini. Two days were recorded at Electrical Audio in early May of 2024 before Steve’s untimely passing, with renowned engineer & friend Sanford Parker stepping in to finish the session 24 hours later, tracking the last bits of vocals and overdubs. Longtime collaborator John Congleton mixed the album as Albini would have; in Electrical Audio’s A room, off the tape, using Albini’s notes about the session.

Limited Indies “white split vinyl variant while supplies last. RIYL: Unwound, MBV, The Jesus Lizard, SUUNS, Preoccupations, METZ, Les Rallizes Denudes, The Dead C, Echo & The Bunnymen, Liars, This Heat, PIL. Sixth studio album from the Chicago trio. Features newly-rejoined original member Jonathan Van Herik. Recorded at Electrical Audio May 6 & 7, 2024 - final album recorded by Steve Albini. The duality of “man” is a subject that has been explored in art for centuries, from writings of the Bible to Descartes, all the way up to filmmakers like Lynch, Cronenberg, & Carpenter. Who is your “true self” & what do they want? With their sixth studio album “Wish Defense” (again for longtime home Trouble In Mind Records), Chicago trio FACS take a good, long look in the mirror to face themselves. The return of original member Jonathan Van Herik - who stepped away from the group just before their debut album “Negative Houses” was released in 2018 - replacing longtime bassist Alianna Kalaba brings renewed vigor & a marked angularity from the band’s more recent output. The songs still hit hard, but the approach is sideways - the roles have changed since Van Herik’s original tenure & his previous time with Case & powerhouse drummer Noah Leger in Disappears; now on bass, Van Herik was originally the group’s guitar player and features on the debut, while current guitarist Brian Case played bass. This role reversal has helped the band’s dynamic, offering up a different musical perspective than before, now revisiting the trio’s long-going collaboration with some distance and time. Case notes that the lyrics on “Wish Defense” revolve around doppelgängers or "doubles”, tackling the idea of facing yourself and observing your ideas and motivations. Look no further than the album’s title track; “Enter the mirror / Double walker / An intimate / Wish defense / Is it real? / You beside me / The detail / Terrifying / Abject self / Your grief / A public / Performance”. Case lays out the entire album’s theme in one stanza; Are your actions & emotions your true self? Or are they a performative aspect of that “other” person you put forward? Case says that ultimately the sentiment is “...don’t let the bastards get you down, there’s something beyond this moment, like hope - but not in the naive belief that ultimately people are good”. “Wish Defense”s artwork is also a subtle reference to “Negative Houses”’ art, returning to that album’s black & white starkness & minimalism. The album’s checkerboards everywhere are offset reflections of themselves, mirrored with the album’s lyrics printed front & center on the cover. Everything is out in the open. A final note; “Wish Defense” is the last album engineered by Steve Albini. Two days were recorded at Electrical Audio in early May of 2024 before Steve’s untimely passing, with renowned engineer & friend Sanford Parker stepping in to finish the session 24 hours later, tracking the last bits of vocals and overdubs. Longtime collaborator John Congleton mixed the album as Albini would have; in Electrical Audio’s A room, off the tape, using Albini’s notes about the session.

Limited Indies “white split vinyl variant while supplies last. RIYL: Unwound, MBV, The Jesus Lizard, SUUNS, Preoccupations, METZ, Les Rallizes Denudes, The Dead C, Echo & The Bunnymen, Liars, This Heat, PIL. Sixth studio album from the Chicago trio. Features newly-rejoined original member Jonathan Van Herik. Recorded at Electrical Audio May 6 & 7, 2024 - final album recorded by Steve Albini. The duality of “man” is a subject that has been explored in art for centuries, from writings of the Bible to Descartes, all the way up to filmmakers like Lynch, Cronenberg, & Carpenter. Who is your “true self” & what do they want? With their sixth studio album “Wish Defense” (again for longtime home Trouble In Mind Records), Chicago trio FACS take a good, long look in the mirror to face themselves. The return of original member Jonathan Van Herik - who stepped away from the group just before their debut album “Negative Houses” was released in 2018 - replacing longtime bassist Alianna Kalaba brings renewed vigor & a marked angularity from the band’s more recent output. The songs still hit hard, but the approach is sideways - the roles have changed since Van Herik’s original tenure & his previous time with Case & powerhouse drummer Noah Leger in Disappears; now on bass, Van Herik was originally the group’s guitar player and features on the debut, while current guitarist Brian Case played bass. This role reversal has helped the band’s dynamic, offering up a different musical perspective than before, now revisiting the trio’s long-going collaboration with some distance and time. Case notes that the lyrics on “Wish Defense” revolve around doppelgängers or "doubles”, tackling the idea of facing yourself and observing your ideas and motivations. Look no further than the album’s title track; “Enter the mirror / Double walker / An intimate / Wish defense / Is it real? / You beside me / The detail / Terrifying / Abject self / Your grief / A public / Performance”. Case lays out the entire album’s theme in one stanza; Are your actions & emotions your true self? Or are they a performative aspect of that “other” person you put forward? Case says that ultimately the sentiment is “...don’t let the bastards get you down, there’s something beyond this moment, like hope - but not in the naive belief that ultimately people are good”. “Wish Defense”s artwork is also a subtle reference to “Negative Houses”’ art, returning to that album’s black & white starkness & minimalism. The album’s checkerboards everywhere are offset reflections of themselves, mirrored with the album’s lyrics printed front & center on the cover. Everything is out in the open. A final note; “Wish Defense” is the last album engineered by Steve Albini. Two days were recorded at Electrical Audio in early May of 2024 before Steve’s untimely passing, with renowned engineer & friend Sanford Parker stepping in to finish the session 24 hours later, tracking the last bits of vocals and overdubs. Longtime collaborator John Congleton mixed the album as Albini would have; in Electrical Audio’s A room, off the tape, using Albini’s notes about the session.

On February 7, 2025, Signature Sounds will re-issue Crooked Still's acclaimed album, Shaken By A Low Sound on remastered, deluxe colored vinyl. Two tracks, “Little Sadie” and “Ecstasy” were prominently featured on the Playstation video game, The Last of Us which became the Emmy-nominated show (2023) on HBO. Originally released digitally and on CD in 2006, Shaken By A Low Sound cemented Crooked Still's reputation as one of the premiere alternative bluegrass groups of the mid-aughts, shattering preconceptions of how traditional music was played. Shaken By a Low Sound received rave reviews from publications like Interview Magazine, No Depression, and USA Today proclaiming, “Aoife O’Donovan. Remember that name, because with a sultry voice that makes her sound like a bluesier Alison Krauss, she’s about to become the newest darling of the Americana set... Shaken is stirring.”

'Challenge Me Foolish' is an almost lost album of µ-Ziq material circa 1998-99, an era that saw Mike Paradinas release 'Royal Astronomy' on the now defunct Virgin subsidiary Hut records, and also tour with Björk.

It's an era of his music that's definitely worth re-exploring, in which Mike went against the grain by producing music that was baroque, melodic and whimsical, while the IDM movement he was lumped with made instrumental music that was often neurotic and complicated. His taste for melody and dreamy beauty above roughness and intricacy confused people who were hanging on too tightly to the rules. He even brought in Japanese vocalist Kazumi, adding an extra human touch.

'Challenge Me Foolish' is something of a companion to the Royal Astronomy record, arguably even better given the fresh ears selecting the material. It's imbued with a confident sense of pastoral colour, and a gentle optimism, utilising bells, studied orchestral arrangements and airy synthesisers that sit the album somewhere between, Jean Jacques Perrey (the French electronic composer whose whimsy was always balanced with serious innovation and chops) and the colourful, optimistic soundtracks of Joe Hisaishi. There's a strange sense of the old and new throughout, the sentimental and utopia, with nary a hint of darkness. Even when the album dips into the hyperkinetic rhythms of jungle, the melodies and mood still retain a sense of gentle warmth. Dive into peak time Paradinas.

The Tonarium is an idiosyncratic instrument comprising of two sets of modular synthesizers: Serge by Random Source, and another one by Bugbrand, both of which operate alongside a mixer constructed by Piotr Ceglarek and Jan Dybała. This intertwinement facilitates precise control over audio and CV signals and integrates technology with analog sound, offering the artists a distinctive sonic palette to delve into.

The present record unfolds in two parts, each exploring the fluctuating nature of sound. Both equally contribute to the work’s immersive imaging characterized by sound intensity, continuity and endless flow. Within its sonic tapestry lies a space for listeners to uncover subtle nuances, pulsations, and moments of harmony flickering through each chord’s firm surface.

In Part I, a formidable force consisting of chord progressions pierced by abrupt shifts and transitions unfolds. This deliberate disruption of harmonic continuity invites listeners to immerse themselves fully in each musical entity, uncovering the intricate details of the chords’ overtonal structure, drifting and steadily glimmering inside their glowing cores.

Part II, on the other hand, presents a more closed form—a recurring four-chord motif that evolves and transforms with each iteration until it finally fades out into whisper-like serenity. Here, the bass pulsates with greater intensity, like a wave enveloping the listener in a froth of feelings, which prevails and swells throughout the composition. In contrast to Part I, it exudes a sense of warmth and intimacy, inviting listeners to reflect over the dimensions of their own inner landscapes.

The Tonarium is to serve as a conduit for expression—a vessel through which the artist Aleksandra Slyz is enabled to channel her creativity and emotion into the music. Both Part I and II of the work have the capacity to drag listeners into a sonic odyssey that transcends time and space, therefore leaving an indelible impression on one’s trembling soul.

Performed & recorded on December 18-19th 2023 while in residence at The New Media Laboratory in Katowice, Poland.

Organized by The Soundscape Foundation

Composed & produced by Aleksandra Słyż

Mastered by Rashad Becker

Photographies by Kacper Krzętowski

Design by Maks Posio

Executive production by Christian Di Vito

Radioactive Man (Keith Tenniswood) presents his 6th album ‘Jam Out The Kicks’ released on self-operated label Asking For Trouble this November 28th. Written while immersed in the throes of touring over the last four years - the album showcases Tenniswood’s singular sound, honed for the international dance floors that he is charged with. Jam Out The Kicks will be released on a triple 12” vinyl package with artwork by renowned artist Lung.

Working together UK rave, jungle, breakbeat and Detroit electro and techno the album plays between these different genres and styles. It brings the grit, joy, grime and funk but also with a big lot of heart in its sensitive softer elements and moments. Opening track ‘Under The Counter’ has been the lead to his live performances - soft and gleaming and with deep warm bass tones it’s his reset track to set the tone for the set. We then move into slap bass funk on ‘See Above’ and through the many sounds on the release - from dense textured and kicking techno to bass heavy rave. Curveball on the release is ‘Sinkhole’ starting out as a collaboration with Suade Bergemann, vocallists Ali Love and Chloe Raunet (C.A.R) both put their touch on it. It’s just one example of Radioactive Man’s desire not to want to be held down to any one sound and to always be developing and moving forward.

The follow up release to last years Times & Places Volume 1, which sold out in super quick time has the same four artists, each bringing their own style of old skool rave goodness to the table.
Gridzone gets us off and running with beautiful pads and an oh so familiar soothing female vocal sample. But don’t let this fool you, the harsh amens are just round the corner and when they drop, you will know about it.
Midlife Crisis has similar energy levels in their offering, the breaks are more chopped and more in a jungle vein.
On the flip is the highlight of this EP. NewKiller drops a jungle-techno stormer. 4/4 kicks with high speed breaks, hoover sounds and horror film samples. Its like 1993 all over again. Finally the EP ends with a ragga tinged rudeboy of a stepper from Gold Soundz.

Adventurous big band jazz featuring such renowned composers and arrangers as Masao Yagi, Kiyoshi Yamaya, Norio Maeda, and Masahiko Sato. This is Sharps & Flats' greatest masterpiece.

Sharps & Flats, led by Nobuo Hara, has led the Japanese big band jazz scene with its diverse activities and outstanding musicality. They have produced many works throughout their long career, but this album, Little Giant, is considered one of their most representative works. The original was released in 1970 as part of Victor's Japanese Jazz series. Of note is the participation of such renowned composers and arrangers as Masao Yagi, Kiyoshi Yamaya, Norio Maeda, and Masahiko Sato.

In addition to the original songs by each member, the album also features a unique arrangement of Oliver Nelson, who has a close relationship with Sharps & Flats. The arrangements are as detailed as they are adventurous, and the performance quality is high enough to make them a reality. The hipness of "Little Giant," the strength of "Dark Horse," the edgyness of "Orbit 8:11," the elegance of "Flexibility"... The dynamic performance with the right amount of tension is captivating. This is a masterpiece that brings out the best of Sharps and Flats' ability and charm.

Terra Utopia returns to Emotional Response with a second long-from EP / mini-LP, 10 more tracks that span the ethereal sounds of ambient, atmospheric beats and liquid drum and bass.

Originally intended as a one-off project from French producer Benoit B, Terra Utopia 1 was recorded in 2 weeks while sojourned in an Athens’ Spring. A personal dedication to a specific sound he loved.

Since the original release, a debut LP under his own name followed, before Benoit embarked on his new club orientated project Blu:sh, releasing a series of acclaimed EPs for the likes of esteemed Kalahari Oyster Club and Roza Terenzi’s Step Ball Chain label.

However, the incredibly positive feedback of the first Terra Utopia recordings led to reappraisal and return to the name and here again, a second set of 10 tracks (8 vinyl and 2 digital bonus).

Once more recorded as short pieces – cut loud for DJ play – they interconnect to feelings of intangible expanses, that embracing summer, the warmth, a latent stillness of the azure sea and sky. This invitation, a narrative forever calling, of long days, calm nights, the infinite astral plain in minds eye.

The ambience has progressed, beats crackle and snap, tracks visualise an individuality, names are anointed, with the collaboration with singer dvdv on Shadows Of Memories, a floating, mesmeric highpoint, a dreaming siren.

No fears, the children of the heat embark.

This is Music: The Singles, ist ein Kompilationsalbum der englischen Alternative-Rock-Band The Verve:
Richard Ashcroft (Gesang), Pete Salisbury (Schlagzeug), Simon Jones (Bass) und Nick McCabe (Gitarre).
Ursprünglich wurde das Album im November 2004 veröffentlicht und enthielt zwei Nicht-Singles, die aus
den Aufnahmen zu ihrem dritten Album Urban Hymns stammten: „This Could Be My Moment“ und
„Monte Carlo“.
2024 markiert den 20. Jahrestag der Veröffentlichung eines Albums, das nie auf Vinyl gepresst wurde,
und unter der Leitung der Gruppe ersetzt diese längst überfällige Neuauflage die Bonustracks durch die
kraftvollen Singles aus dem 2008er Reunion-Album Forth - ’Love is Noise’ und ’Rather Be’ - und enthält
auch die zweite Single ’She’s A Superstar’ (1992) in ihrer ursprünglichen, achteinhalbminütigen Form (statt
der fünfminütigen Bearbeitung). Somit repräsentiert das Album nun die komplette Geschichte der Singles
von The Verve.
Benannt nach der sechsten Single der Band, der ersten aus ihrem zweiten Album A Northern Soul, dokumentiert es auf brillante Weise die Kraft der relativ kurzen, aber epochemachenden Reise von The Verve
durch den musikalischen Kosmos.

"Four years in the making, Nikolaienko’s retrogarde take on mid-20th century tape music is a loping, whirling fuzzy felt oscillator odyssey. If Louis and Bebe Barron had been asked to create electronic tonalities for a Czech animation based on EM Forster’s The Machine Stops, the results may have turned out like this. Only, for all its nods to Parmegiani and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, one can’t quite see this album coming out in 1956 – or even 1976. Something about the slightly off kilter rhythms, the loose feel and wheezing sound effects make this very much a post-Dilla take on Raymond Scott and his successors." - The Wire

"...The album, pitched as “a tribute to early-electronics’ golden era,” takes on a fragmented aesthetic of bleeps, thunks and jolts that secrete the concentrated focus of a fantastical laboratory...” Tiny Mix Tapes

"...The Sounds Of Pseudoscience is a perfect cocktail of space ambient with ice, delicate percussions, under-water rhythms and echoes of Soviet 60s..." Krossfingers