Cerca:about 2

"The long-awaited LP, featuring 10 intensely vulnerable and absorbing new tracks (all written and recorded by the group) is delivered with fresh ambition and newfound purpose. Deeply inspired by the long layoff and the cloud of uncertainty that blanketed the world (and music industry) these past few years, 152 stands among the most genuinely reflective and emotionally pure efforts of Taking Back Sunday’s illustrious career.
From the heavy, intricate riffs and anthemic vocals to the elegantly warm synths and economical string arrangements, the quartet has never sounded better. That grand scope, from send-up to seriousness, is evident on the soaring album opener, “Amphetamine Smiles,” a powerful tale of reconnection that could be as much about the band members themselves as it is anything or anyone else. Whether it’s the grudging acceptance of maturity (“S’old), clutching the moment, (“The One”), eyes wide-open betrayal (“Keep Going”) or ‘can’t run from who you are’ awareness (“Quit Trying), the thread running through 152 is one of generosity, gratitude and ultimately, hope."" "

„The 90’s are back!“ – 30 Jahre später ist das beliebte Jahrzehnt musikalisch wieder voll im Trend! Auf der „FETENHITS - The Real 90’s“ sind die Originale der größten Party-Hymnen der Dekade vereint.

Ob die groovigen Sounds von „No Diggity“, der absolute Ohrwurm „Wannabe“ oder die Kult-Nummer „Mambo No. 5“ - Der bunte Mix der besten Party-Songs und Klassiker der 90‘s ist voller „Good Vibrations“!

Mit dabei sind u.a. U2, Britney Spears, Salt-N-Pepa, 20 Fingers & Gillette, Freddie Mercury, La Bouche, DJ Bobo, TLC, Backstreet Boys und viele mehr.

„We Bring It All Back“ mit den größten Party-Hits der 90er! Erhältlich als 4LP, 4CD und eAlbum ab dem 29. September 2023!

Didattica is the first album from Zetas, a female rap duo coming straight out of the city of Salerno, on the south west coast ofItaly. Entirely produced by beatmaker, rapper and DJ/producer Tonico 70, a true veteran of Southern Italian hip-hop,the full-lengthdebut isreleased on DJ's Choice, a partner label of Four Flies Records.

Born between the 90s and 2000s, rappers Annarella and Miriade were exposed to the world of underground hip-hop from an early age, jamming and freestyling. Rather than going for the sounds of trap and auto-tune that are so popular in their age group, however, they immediately embraced the spirit of old school rap, withitsboom bap vibes. As suggested by the album's title itself (which translates as 'teaching' or 'learning') they view of rap as a school – that is, as an art form where constant training is key if you want to stay true to your values and identity.

With the help of producer Tonico 70, Zetas have created a record that is fresh and contemporary, while paying tribute to the past.They rap about everyday urban life in the exuberant dialect and slang of their native city, delivering raw rhymes with a tightand very expressiveflow, while Tonico70 uses a classic sampling approach but also incorporates real instruments into his beats–Antonio D'Apolito's guitar, Peppe Maiellano's keyboards, Giuseppe Desiderio's bass and Giuseppe Limpido's drums.

The result is an excitingcombination of funk, soul, dub, R'N'B, reggae, and even electronic influences,one where deep bass and syncopated rhythms blend wonderfully with the melody, urgency and authenticity of dialect rhymes.

From the grey-skied isles and horse farms of British Columbia comes the second volume of Crystal Dorval aka White Poppy’s “Paradise Gardens” trilogy: Sound Of Blue.

Originally conceived back in 2016, the album was then recorded, finessed, abandoned, resurrected, overdubbed, and finally mixed into nine refinements of daydream shoegaze and therapeutic pop, born from bedroom epiphanies and long winters of the heart.

From slowdive reverie (“Apathy,” “Melancholic Serenity”) and color wheel psychedelia (“Time”) to spiral chorale (“Happy”) and finger-picked drift (“Wiser”), Dorval’s songcraft moves between escape and acceptance, tracing delicate melodies from undercurrents of loss, light, and solitude. It’s music for memory gardens and pastel horizons, dreaming of bliss and distance, but bound to the here and now: “Thinking about leaving here forever / thinking about leaving here for good / but I keep holding on for something / hoping that it could get better than this / what’s one more night?”

Stay Up Forever release the sixth overdose with 4 more classic sounding SUF style tracks from the worldwide Acid Techno scene. A1 features a truly uplifting, crowd pleasing 303 banger from Benji 303 & Lee S on 'Thats What It's All About' - but this is a Jamie Tik Tok Taylor remix and he's hyped it into an even more pounding 303 bomb !! A2 sees ADHD back in action with some gritty 303 action on his track Troublemaker. On the flip Andrey Sitrus goes for a classic 303 builder on the B1, with Acid Steve finishing the E.P. with some trademark squat party style 'Avinit' acid techno mayhem.

The Mapendo album of the Mighty Cavaliers, up to today, has been shrouded in mystery. If you look at the original cover of this very rare Kenyan funk-infused album all you will find are the names of the engineer and the producer, as EMI Kenya omitted the names of the musicians and the songwriters. Digging deeper a rather sinister story of deceit develops whereby Mapendo becomes symbolic for all what was wrong about the Kenyan record industry in the 1970s, and the music industry in Africa as a whole. As this maltreatment of artists proved endemic throughout the continent, although little talked about.

One of the three surviving members of the Mighty Cavaliers, bass player Bonnie Wanda - who started his career in 1971 with Gloria Africana - vividly remembers participating in the recording of the two albums the band made in 1976 and 1977 - Fisherman and Mapendo - and how they, especially on the last album, got short-changed by shrewd record label executives. In the 1960s it was mostly Indian and European record bosses that called the shots and usually gave musicians the chance of a one-off payment for their session time and recorded songs or wait for - hopefully - a generous royalty check. In most cases records didn't sell more than a thousand copies with an occasional hit selling in the tens of thousands, so musicians were reluctant to register themselves with the Music Copyright Society of Kenya. Although without doing so one couldn't receive royalties.

'For two years the Mighty Cavaliers performed five nights a week at the Starlight Club for five hour sets.

The re-release of Mapendo, the first of the German Want Some Records label, is another exciting puzzle piece in the tapestry of groovy Kenyan music. It proves that there are still great gems out there to be re-discovered for audiences worldwide.

Text written by Michiel van Oosterhout

This Album is dedicated to the musicians
Bonnie Wanda, Rashid Salim, Vuli Yeni, Juma Waweru Njuguna and Athmani 'guitar boy'."

Limited Loser Edition on Mustard Yellow vinyl. In 1988 Mudhoney released their debut 7" single, "Touch Me I'm Sick," and it rapidly became the defining anthem of the Seattle scene that, shortly thereafter, took the world by storm. Punk? Garage? G****e? Who cares when it rips this much! The B side, "Sweet Young Thing Ain't Sweet No More," ain't no slouch, either. Later in 1988, the band followed up with Superfuzz Bigmuff, a six-song EP so overflowing with chaotic rock energy it warped thousands of minds, and inspired countless guitarists to immediately search for the titular fuzz pedals. In the words of Dynamite Hemmorage's Jay Hinman: "My feeling - and I know I'm not alone in this one - is that for all the play and worldwide attention several Seattle-area bands got during the 1988-92 period, at the end of the day (and even at the time), there was Mudhoney - and then there was everybody else. To me, you, and most everyone who was paying close attention to underground rock music during those years, Mudhoney still sound like the undisputed kingpins of roaring, surging, fuzzed-out, punk rock music. These first recordings were so life-affirming upon their release, connecting everything great about the sixties (biker movies, fuzzboxes, old guitars, three-minute songs) with the frothing, punk rock of the early 80s, that a whole new style of music was born. They called it grunge, but to me it was amped-up, clear-the-room, ramalama rock that exploded like Nagasaki live, and it was about as joyous and as fun a noise as anyone'd heard in years." These 2023 colored-vinyl editions of the two releases celebrate the 35th anniversary of Mudhoney's opening salvos, and we couldn't be more excited to have them back in print.

Alien Transistor is proud to announce a reissue of Such December, the fourth album by Japanese indie folk-pop artist, Gratin Carnival. Listeners might already know Gratin Carnival from their appearance on the Alien Parade Japan compilation of indie pop groups working with brass and woodwind; compiled by Markus Acher of The Notwist and Saya of Tenniscoats, it introduced this beautiful genre to the wider world. Gratin Carnival’s “Just Watching” was one of the many highlights of that compilation, and its gentle bossa-folk glide reappears on Such December.

Originally released in 2020, Such December captures beautifully the happy-sad charm of Gratin Carnival. The project of Koreyuki Mitsunaga, Gratin Carnival started in 2011; Mitsunaga had been home recording for some time and decided on the name as an umbrella for his music-making. Mitsunaga’s main instruments are guitar, which he uses to great effect throughout, his gorgeous acoustic playing reminiscent of players like Ueno Takashi of Tenniscoats or João Gilberto, and alto saxophone and clarinet. Those three instruments make up the core of Gratin Carnival’s sound, along with Mitsunaga’s charmingly doleful singing.

Recording at his parents’ home, with a four-track cassette recorder and a MacBook, Mitsunaga created Such December during 2020, though the songs on it stretch back to 2016. The closing “On The Train” was the first song written for the album – “a song about a small trip,” Mitsunaga recalls – and from there, he built a beautiful collection of songs that sit together perfectly. There’s great clarity in Mitsunaga’s writing, with nothing extraneous getting in the way of the lucid arrangements and gorgeous melodies; there’s something of chamber jazz about it at times, so it’s no surprise that Mitsunaga shares his love of Benny Goodman’s small group playing.

He's also a fan of Japanese folk artists like Kenji Endo and Kyouzou Nishioka, and grew up listening to Japanese popular music, The Beatles, and The Carpenters. You can hear trace elements of all this in Such December, in the clear-headedness of the melodic decisions made by Mitsunaga, and the quiet charm of the song’s gentle arrangements. They take on different shapes live, too, where Mitsunaga often invites other musicians to join in – his live band currently includes Masafumi Ezaki (trumpet), Nahoko Kamei (bass clarinet, piano, keyboards) and Tadashi Yonago (trombone, self-made instruments).

As with plenty of musicians from the Japanese underground, Mitsunaga is involved in other music, too – he’s been working with The Otoasobi Project, which performs music in collaboration with individuals with learning disabilities, and their families; and he’s also involved in improvised music. With Such December, though, you get to hear Mitsunaga’s music at its most personal and individual, ten songs of still, gorgeously poised indie folk-pop, where the swooning clang of six strings meets the breathy bliss of woodwind and brass.

Jacob Bellens’ new solo Off My Meds took shape over two turbulent years in Jacob’s life. Several major life events happened back to back in a very short time, and it ended up breaking him down to a point of total exhaustion. The energy needed to uphold the outer self we all need to function was no longer there, and his inner actual beliefs and values began to show themselves one by one, which was not pretty to look at. Change was inevitable, simply because the price of not changing would be much higher in the long term.

The album is a pop-poem about accepting the premise of the life given to you. It is an ode to the perils of modern existence and our birthgiven right to love, laugh and cry, whatever hand we may have been dealt to begin with. Lyrically it is centered around self care and the courage to love someone and be loved in return. About taking responsibility for everything in your life instead of using your life history as an excuse for not living, no matter how tragic or unique your situation might be or seem to yourself.
Musically it draws upon an eclectic mix of influences and genres, while still maintaining a distinct underlying red thread throughout the album. It is a melancholic funk hybrid with a positive DNA, and though it sounds like pop music in the best sense of the word, it doesn’t quite look and feel like pop music. It is rather a collection of sounds and feelings put into words that are deeply personal - but personal for all.

Owners Club call themselves a "pub rock four piece" - but they are so much more than that. There's a through line in their taut, visceral guitar sound going from British greats like Roxy Music and Marc Bolan, through The Buzzcocks and The Jam before taking a detour off to NYC and nodding towards The Strokes and The Walkmen. The Dorking-based four piece are a blistering live act, with songs that range from singing about the long discontinued Double Diamond beer to vampires, the occult and an England that feels like a distant memory.

This EP will be the band's debut release on vinyl. Recorded at Small Pond Studios in Brighton in April this year, and produced and mixed by Matt Gleeson of WELLY fame, it presents three songs that brilliantly demonstrate what a ferocious, tightly-wound sound this Dorking four-piece can produce.

The lead single will be Double Diamond - a song that came about after a chance purchase of a Double Diamond-branded ashtray from a car boot sale by Dorking train station. The song is a romantic and messy vision of the life the ashtray’s lived, the pub it came from, the punters who left their fag ends in it and the messy nights and bar fights it’s witnessed. With sprawling synths, punchy guitar lines and tongue-in-cheek lyrics, the song is an anti-advertisement for a drink which no longer exists, as well as a look through rose-tinted beer googles at what Britain's night life - for better or (almost certainly) for worse - was once like. As the advert used to state: you know where you are with Double Diamond. It works wonders.

If you were to ask for a defining Habibi Funk track, there are a few that come to mind: from Fadoul’s “Sid Redad,” Dalton’s “Soul Brother” to Ahmed Malek’s “Omar Gatlato.” However, none are as widely connected with us at this point as Hamid Al Shaeri’s “Ayonha.” We heard the track for the first time when we were working on selecting tracks for your first compilation and we instantly loved it. We obviously had heard of Hamid El Shaeri’s music before, but only material from his Al Jeel phase when he was already the full-blown
superstar he is now.

Listening to his releases from the early 1980’s opened a whole new door for us. At the time, Hamid had just left Libya to pursue his career in Egypt via a detour in London, where he recorded his
first album. Hamid’s distinct sound of the sound is quintessentially reliant on heavy synths and so it was particularly important to purchase these synths in a timely manner. “Whenever a new one synthesizer would come out, we would have to buy it immediately, otherwise someone else would get their hands on that sound.” London also played an important role for Hamid as a musical epicenter.

He fondly reminisces about the many live shows he attended there, including some of the biggest international musicians like Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson. After returning to Cairo where he also recorded his following albums, he connected with SLAM! for the
release of his debut, laying the foundation of a collaboration that lasted for 5 albums. Luckily, we were able to connect with Hamid through our friend Youssra El Hawary, whose extensive network has opened many doors for us within the Egyptian music scene. We met Hamid for the first time probably in 2016 at his office / rehearsal studio in the outskirts Cairo. We were expecting a larger-than-life
character in-line with his status as a certified superstar, yet the actual person turned out to be very approachable and super easy to connect with. He liked the idea of an effort to amplify his early works again,
which, when originally released, were far from an economic success.

While he was down to assist with an interview and his blessing for the project he also told us that for any license we needed to speak with the original label SLAM! who released these songs, still held the rights and also remained in business over the decades though they didn’t actively release any new music. Hany Sabet had started SLAM! records in the early 1980s and focused on cassette tape releases, the
format that expedited the success of a new generation of record labels in Egypt. By the mid 1980’s, SLAM! had become one of the most successful and economically dominant record labels in Egypt, with Hamid El Shaeri being just one of their key artists, alongside Mohamed Mounir, Hanan, Hakim, Mustafa Amar and many more. Luckily, Hany Sabet turned out to be a friend of our colleague Malak Makar’s father, which probably helped to warm him to the idea of licen- sing “Ayonha” to this - in the scale of his world - tiny label
from Germany. Eventually “Ayonha” ended up becoming a widely successful release and either Hany or we brought up the idea of a full album dedicated to Hamid El Shaeri’s work on SLAM!.


"Maktoub Aleina” is the first single and will be released January 14th. Following the massive success of "Ayonha,” “Maktoub Aleina” is another mid-tempo groover with a beautiful, synth-forward melody, that brings together a lovely combination of soul, disco and Arabic pop music of the highest order, giving a taste of full album. The second single, “Yekfini Nesma Sotak” will be released January 28th and combines Hamid’s unique formula of soul and pop, held together by a catchy synth melody. “Yekfini Nesma Sotak” picks up the
pace a bit, making the uplifting mood of the track even more powerful. Third single, arriving February 11th, is “Dari Demou’ek,” one of the stand out tracks of Hamid’s early recordings done for SLAM! in the early 1980s. Dominated by a disco infused bassline, the track offers a lot of space of the funky production to shine while Hamid inserts his vocals at all the right moments. A masterpiece of disco touched by Arabic pop music.

Full album arrives February 25th. This release is dedicated to Hany Sabet, the founder of SLAM! and his wife Rosemary Jane Sabet (who
took the photos we used for the cover and the booklet), who sadly passed away during the time it took us to prepare the release.
Vinyl comes with an extensive booklet with an interview with Hamid as well as unseen photos

"On Just Because, Claire captures all of the joy, confusion, anxiety, and wonder of growing up through 13 tracks set to a soundtrack of gleeful guitars, lo-fi production, and chantable choruses—all under the California sun. Throughout 2022, she wrote and recorded the album with producers Afterhrs, Paul Phamous, Stint, Elie Rizk, and her most frequent collaborator, executive producer, and dad Ragnar Rosinkranz. On the album, she states, “Just Because is a collection of songs I wrote about my life as an 18 year old. It’s a window into my world as I’m growing up and navigating life. Enjoy stepping into my lil movie.” Over a soundtrack of alternative pop spiked with just the right amount of punk and electronics, Claire Rosinkranz asserts herself as a true Gen-Z storyteller whose vision instantly captivates. Since releasing her breakout Gold-Certified debut “Backyard Boy,” the buzzing artist has built a diehard fanbase worldwide, racked up over 1 billion global streams and counting, received a US Gold Certification, won the MTV Trending Award for “Best Breakthrough Song” at the 2021 MTV VMAs, garnered a “Social Star” nomination at the 2022 iHeartRadio Music Awards, toured with Alec Benjamin and sold out headline shows across North America, and performed at a slew of legendary music festivals, including Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, Life Is Beautiful, and more.
"

Superstar Joe Bonamassa Returns To His Roots With New Studio Album Blues Deluxe, Vol. 2, Celebrating The 20th Anniversary of His Best-Selling Independent Release

In Addition, Joe Will Release A Remastered Version Of Blues Deluxe Which Will Drop With Its Predecessor On October 6th via J&R Adventures/Provogue Records

Blues Deluxe is the third studio album by Joe Bonamassa and originally released on August 26, 2003. Recorded at Unique Recording Studios in New York City, it was produced by Bob Held and features nine cover versions of songs by classic blues artists, such as BB King, Jeff Beck, John Lee Hooker, Robert Johnson, Elmore James and more. The album is completed with three original tracks, including the fan favorite Woke Up Dreaming.

With 26 #1 albums, yearly sold-out tours worldwide and custom annual cruises, he's a hard act to beat. These albums are a testament to his credentials and a toast to his longtime fans who remember them originally and new fans who can experience them for the first time. It's Joe Bonamassa at his finest, ready to rock.

To celebrate the 50th Anniversary year of ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’, Roger Waters announces the release of his homage to the original, ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon Redux’ Waters says ‘when we recorded the stripped down songs for the Lockdown Sessions, the 50th anniversary of the release of The Dark Side Of The Moon was looming on the horizon. It occurred to to me that The Dark Side Of The Moon could well be a suitable candidate for a similar re-working, partly as a tribute to the original work, but also to re-address the political and emotional message of the whole album. I discussed it with Gus and Sean, and when we’d stopped giggling and shouting ‘You must be ****ing mad’ at one another we decided to take it on. It’s turned out really great and I’m excited for everyone to hear it. It’s not a replacement for the original which, obviously, is irreplaceable. But it is a way for the seventy nine year old man to look back across the intervening fifty years into the eyes of the twenty nine year old and say, to quote a poem of mine about my Father, “We did our best, we kept his trust, our Dad would have been proud of us”. And also it is a way for me to honor a recording that Nick and Rick and Dave and I have every right to be very proud of.’ As founding member, lyricist, and principal composer of Pink Floyd during the band’s most influential and creative period, Roger Waters has achieved global success and global renown. Waters co-founded Pink Floyd in the mid-1960s. Under Waters’ guidance, Pink Floyd made a series of best-selling albums during the 1970s, of which the most successful and iconic were The Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall. Roger Waters left Pink Floyd in 1985 and is now one of the most successful solo artists in the world.

Dogstar – guitarist/vocalist Bret Domrose, drummer Robert Mailhouse and bassist Keanu Reeves – epitomize the quintessential Southern California storytelling rock band they’ve always been in their hearts, making deeply resonant music that literally comes from Somewhere Between the Power Lines and Palm Trees. Nearly a quarter century after what seemed to be their final album, Happy Ending (released in 2000), Dogstar has reformed and taken a great creative leap forward, establishing an entirely new path. “Our earlier records were almost in the wrong decade,” says Robert Mailhouse. “Looking back, it’s almost like we started a Seventies band that somehow got lost in the Nineties. When everybody else was shouting, we were trying to tell stories because in Bret, we’ve always had a singer-songwriter in the Jackson Browne tradition. But people kept saying `grunge’ because of the times we were in – or maybe because of the clothes we were wearing.” “This music just sounds like us,” says Bret Domrose with a smile. “One of the things I love about this album is the variety of feel,” says Keanu Reeves. “Every song is not the same – you can hear our diverse influences and a lot of different tones here. And I feel like finally on this album, we’ve managed to take all those influences and our passion for playing together and once and for all turned it all
into Dogstar.”

Dogstar – guitarist/vocalist Bret Domrose, drummer Robert Mailhouse and bassist Keanu Reeves – epitomize the quintessential Southern California storytelling rock band they’ve always been in their hearts, making deeply resonant music that literally comes from Somewhere Between the Power Lines and Palm Trees. Nearly a quarter century after what seemed to be their final album, Happy Ending (released in 2000), Dogstar has reformed and taken a great creative leap forward, establishing an entirely new path. “Our earlier records were almost in the wrong decade,” says Robert Mailhouse. “Looking back, it’s almost like we started a Seventies band that somehow got lost in the Nineties. When everybody else was shouting, we were trying to tell stories because in Bret, we’ve always had a singer-songwriter in the Jackson Browne tradition. But people kept saying `grunge’ because of the times we were in – or maybe because of the clothes we were wearing.” “This music just sounds like us,” says Bret Domrose with a smile. “One of the things I love about this album is the variety of feel,” says Keanu Reeves. “Every song is not the same – you can hear our diverse influences and a lot of different tones here. And I feel like finally on this album, we’ve managed to take all those influences and our passion for playing together and once and for all turned it all
into Dogstar.”

Through evocative, emotionally resonant music, Goodbye, Hotel Arkada , the new LP from American harpist and composer Mary Lattimore , speaks not just for its beloved namesake _ a hotel in Croatia facing renovation _ but for a universal loss that is shared. Six sprawling pieces shaped by change; nothing will ever be the same, and here, the artist, evolving in synthesis, celebrates and mourns the tragedy and beauty of the ephem - eral, all that is lived and lost to time. Documented and edited in uncharacteristically measured sessions over the course of two years, the material remains rooted in improvisation while glistening as the most refined and robust in Lattimore's decade-long catalog. It finds her communing with friends, contemporaries, and longtime influences, in full stride yet slow - ing down to nurture songs in new ways. The cast includes Lol Tolhurst (The Cure), Meg Baird, Rachel Goswell (Slowdive), Roy Montgomery, Samara Lubelski, and Walt McClements . "When I think of these songs, I think about fading flowers in vases, melted candles, getting older, being on tour and having things change while you're away, not realizing how ephemeral experiences are until they don't happen anymore, fear for a planet we're losing because of greed, an ode to art and music that's really shaped your life that can transport you back in time, longing to maintain sensitivity and to not sink into hollow despondency." For the title and inspiration, Lattimore's mind returns to the island of Hvar in Croatia, where she first saw those silver ladders at the water's edge. "There's a big old hotel there called the Hotel Arkada, and you could tell it had been hosting holiday-goers for decades in a great way. I walked around the lobby and the empty ballrooms and it looked like a well-worn, well-loved place. My friend Stacey who lives there told me to `say goodbye to Hotel Arkada, it might not be here when you get back' and I heard soon after that it was actually going to be renovated in a very crisp, modern way." Lattimore became fixated on the ingredients that make a place special _ for Hotel Arkada, the patinaed chandeliers, the patterned bedspreads, the echoes of its intangible charm _ and how when those leave this world, as they inevitably always will, it feels import - ant to memorialize them, "to bottle it for a brief second.

Through evocative, emotionally resonant music, Goodbye, Hotel Arkada , the new LP from American harpist and composer Mary Lattimore , speaks not just for its beloved namesake _ a hotel in Croatia facing renovation _ but for a universal loss that is shared. Six sprawling pieces shaped by change; nothing will ever be the same, and here, the artist, evolving in synthesis, celebrates and mourns the tragedy and beauty of the ephem - eral, all that is lived and lost to time. Documented and edited in uncharacteristically measured sessions over the course of two years, the material remains rooted in improvisation while glistening as the most refined and robust in Lattimore's decade-long catalog. It finds her communing with friends, contemporaries, and longtime influences, in full stride yet slow - ing down to nurture songs in new ways. The cast includes Lol Tolhurst (The Cure), Meg Baird, Rachel Goswell (Slowdive), Roy Montgomery, Samara Lubelski, and Walt McClements . "When I think of these songs, I think about fading flowers in vases, melted candles, getting older, being on tour and having things change while you're away, not realizing how ephemeral experiences are until they don't happen anymore, fear for a planet we're losing because of greed, an ode to art and music that's really shaped your life that can transport you back in time, longing to maintain sensitivity and to not sink into hollow despondency." For the title and inspiration, Lattimore's mind returns to the island of Hvar in Croatia, where she first saw those silver ladders at the water's edge. "There's a big old hotel there called the Hotel Arkada, and you could tell it had been hosting holiday-goers for decades in a great way. I walked around the lobby and the empty ballrooms and it looked like a well-worn, well-loved place. My friend Stacey who lives there told me to `say goodbye to Hotel Arkada, it might not be here when you get back' and I heard soon after that it was actually going to be renovated in a very crisp, modern way." Lattimore became fixated on the ingredients that make a place special _ for Hotel Arkada, the patinaed chandeliers, the patterned bedspreads, the echoes of its intangible charm _ and how when those leave this world, as they inevitably always will, it feels import - ant to memorialize them, "to bottle it for a brief second.

Through evocative, emotionally resonant music, Goodbye, Hotel Arkada , the new LP from American harpist and composer Mary Lattimore , speaks not just for its beloved namesake _ a hotel in Croatia facing renovation _ but for a universal loss that is shared. Six sprawling pieces shaped by change; nothing will ever be the same, and here, the artist, evolving in synthesis, celebrates and mourns the tragedy and beauty of the ephem - eral, all that is lived and lost to time. Documented and edited in uncharacteristically measured sessions over the course of two years, the material remains rooted in improvisation while glistening as the most refined and robust in Lattimore's decade-long catalog. It finds her communing with friends, contemporaries, and longtime influences, in full stride yet slow - ing down to nurture songs in new ways. The cast includes Lol Tolhurst (The Cure), Meg Baird, Rachel Goswell (Slowdive), Roy Montgomery, Samara Lubelski, and Walt McClements . "When I think of these songs, I think about fading flowers in vases, melted candles, getting older, being on tour and having things change while you're away, not realizing how ephemeral experiences are until they don't happen anymore, fear for a planet we're losing because of greed, an ode to art and music that's really shaped your life that can transport you back in time, longing to maintain sensitivity and to not sink into hollow despondency." For the title and inspiration, Lattimore's mind returns to the island of Hvar in Croatia, where she first saw those silver ladders at the water's edge. "There's a big old hotel there called the Hotel Arkada, and you could tell it had been hosting holiday-goers for decades in a great way. I walked around the lobby and the empty ballrooms and it looked like a well-worn, well-loved place. My friend Stacey who lives there told me to `say goodbye to Hotel Arkada, it might not be here when you get back' and I heard soon after that it was actually going to be renovated in a very crisp, modern way." Lattimore became fixated on the ingredients that make a place special _ for Hotel Arkada, the patinaed chandeliers, the patterned bedspreads, the echoes of its intangible charm _ and how when those leave this world, as they inevitably always will, it feels import - ant to memorialize them, "to bottle it for a brief second.

Budabeats Records turned 15 this year, to celebrate the occasion label bosses Dj Gandharva and Von Yodi hand picked 14 songs from artists belonging to the extended Budabeats family. If you are familiar with the the label you may alraedy know that they really do not care about genre limits, and as you would expect, Waves of Budabeats is a prime example of this attitude. The double LP includes mellow but tight dowmtempo tunes by WaTa and Kobza Vajk (remixed by BéTé), midtempo weirdness by Mytron, mature hip-hop by Son of Sam, vintage Japanese pop sounds by Erik Sumo and the Fox Fairies, dreamy and straighter dancefloor material by Oneeyedman, M.W.D and the Chillum Trio, weird electronics by Kovacs The Hun, and, of course, the obligatory jazz and funk delivered by Dokkerman and The Turkeying Fellaz and The Premecz Organ Trio. The vinyl compilation is limited to 300 copies, most of the songs have not been released before on any format, but all of them are pressed on vinyl for the first time.

"Tale Spinnin'" - Joe Zawinul (keyb, perc, voc); Wayne Shorter (ts, ss); Alphonso Johnson (b); Alyrio Lima (perc); Leon "Ndugu" Chandler (dr)
»We played music that people listened to every day just as they watch the news every evening, music which changed constantly - just like the weather«, reminisced Joe Zawinul when talking about coming up with a name for the group. This would probably frighten off listeners in today's mass market. But back in those days CBS was satisfied with the group's sound being somewhat similar to the Miles Davis Combo and offered them a recording contract without carrying out the usual sound check. The magic potion "Bitches Brew", which Zawinul and Wayne Shorter had conjured up with Miles Davis, was promising of exhilarating new things to come.
The heart-stopping mix of motivic fixed points and exciting improvisations, »the sketchy melodies, all that a synthesizer and other similar electronic devices could offer, combined with a Milky Way of rhythms« (Der Spiegel) was the pathway down which the group went - without ever becoming pure routine. The fifth album, "Tale Spinnin'", is captivating for its wealth of distinctive, often warm, synthesized sounds, which are further enhanced by Wayne Shorter's bright, twangy soprano saxophone, lending it a jazzy aura. To be sure, this gripping jazz fusion never progresses steadily all the time, but takes up snatchy, though seemingly familiar, melodic ingredients and combines them to produce a new mixture. "Badia", however, is completely different: a quietly flowing and totally rhythmic ethnic work, which today would be classified as World Music.

Quartabê’s identity was built upon the metaphor of the classroom: the group sees itself as a school class, which chooses its own teachers from among great masters of Brazilian music. Assuming that the learning and creative processes have in common experimentation and play, the quartet is characterized by its bold versions coupled with irreverent performance.


In addition woto its sound, marked by the group’s various music references - from the São Paulo avant-garde movement to the free improvisation, passing through pop and electronic music - Quartabê also stands out for the formation composed mostly of women who, besides instrumentalists are also arrangers, composers, singers and improvisers - which is unusual in Brazil and it has high political relevance in a music scene where positions of creation and power are still held disproportionately by men. The band started its studies by recording a first album about the work of maestro Moacir Santos, “Lição # 1: Moacir” (2015). After performing this show in Brazil and Europe, the group took a break to record ‘Depê’ (2017), also dedicated to the oeuvre of Santos. In 2018 Quartabê released their third album, starting new studies: “Lição # 2: Dorival”, which was released by the Natura Musical / label RISCO

Rarely could a project be called such a culmination point of a career as what Kris Defoort presents with Pieces of Peace. Just about all the backgrounds, influences and acquaintances the iconic Belgian composer and improvising pianist collected throughout his long career come together in this distinct and original musical adventure.

Together with vocal artist Veronika Harcsa and three fellow musicians, he forms a chamber orchestra in the strict sense of the word, although they are by no means restricted to that one idiom. As an experienced opera and classical composer, Kris Defoort dribbles the timbres, harmonies, dynamics and, if you like, drama of a complete (opera) orchestra through these compositions, supplemented by an inescapable layer of jazz, obviously the other form of music that remains continuously prominent in Kris' life and DNA.

As always in his work, also improvisation is added as a core element, not least thanks to the voice and inventive personality of Hungarian vocalist Veronika Harcsa, a true European reference in this field. This duo has worked together regularly over the past decade, including for Diving Poet Society (2017, W.E.R.F.148) and in DUET: pure vocal and piano improvisations, on poems by Theodor Roethke, Peter Verhelst and William Blake.

Those musical ideas formed the framework when composing the final new song cycle Pieces of Peace. The duet was then quickly expanded into a quintet, with Lode Vercampt on cello, Jean-Philippe Poncin on clarinets and Benjamin Sauzereau on electric guitar. These three musicians are as well compagnons de route of Kris has since many years, allowing him to incorporate each one's own playing style in a special way throughout these compositions: therefore, the entire orchestral spectrum (woodwinds, strings, percussion) is thus prominently represented through these five instruments.

Intimate and joyful, playful and complex, lyrical and rhythmic, ... and layered and full of detail, each track on the eponymous record unfolds like a story in itself. They are all states of emotions, impressions from real life - another reference to opera. They are also an ode to the voice, the human instrument par excellence. As improvised compositions (or composed improvisations?), Pieces of Peace represents a constant evolution that offers hope, softness and inspiration in times when all this sometimes dares to be lacking.

Glasser, the elevated electronic project from Cameron
Mesirow, releases her anticipated third album, ‘crux’, via
One Little Independent Records.
 ‘crux’ takes Glasser’s entrancing blend of dreamy
experimental pop and layered electronics to explore
themes of personal identity, emotional vulnerability, and
the human experience. The album maps journeys of selfdiscovery as she unpacks intimate experiences with a
maturity and cathartic outlook. Specifically, the tracks on
‘crux’ discuss the death of an old friend, her meditations
on the fragility of life and the delicacy of relationships in
times of uncertainty.
 More than anything it’s about the importance of creativity
and writing while healing, and on an individual level,
looking inward and the examination of one’s grief, anxiety,
and insecurities. Musically it searches outward, it includes
the use of traditional folk, Celtic to communicate her
Scottish roots, and Eastern-European styles, all introduced
to her lush, atmospheric production, intricate vocal
harmonies, and complex rhythms.
 “Soaring vocals with free-flowing, rhythm-obsessed
eclecticism that make for a notably welcoming collection of
atmospheric, electronics-brushed pop” - Pitchfork
 “It’s Glasser’s sonic constructions which holds our interest
first and foremost; a bolder and more up-front sound” -
The Line of Best Fit
 “Potent, sexually charged and teeming with life. Make no
mistake, this isn’t sex as male-gaze-pandering titillation,
packaged in clichéd, chart-friendly couplets, but sex from a
singular female perspective: intimate, all-encompassing,
ecstatic. This is pop for consenting adults: music for awake
minds” - Dazed

Acclaimed NY-based singer songwriter Jordan Lee aka Mutual
Benefit announces ‘Growing At The Edges’, on Transgressive
Records, his first record since 2019.
 ‘Growing at the Edges’ is sonically expansive, artfully blending
genres from country to classical with the help of multifaceted
co-producer Gabriel Birnbaum (Wilder Maker) and critically
acclaimed string arranger Concetta Abbate. The band,
alongside Lee and Birnbaum, was made up of Wilder Maker
members Sean Mullins (Andy Shauf) and Nick Jost (Baroness)
and features help from Jonnie Baker of Florist and Eva
Goodman of Nighttime among others.
 “I approached ‘Growing at the Edges’ as an act of worldbuilding. It was a place we visited often over the past 5 years
collaging and sonically redecorating until it reflected the joy and
the pain of being human in a universe that will always be
changing. I wanted to make music that could simultaneously
mourn versions of the past but still find hope in the seedlings
which could, perhaps, bloom into better futures” - Jordan Lee
 The album cover is a purposefully ‘unfinished’ weaving by fibre
artist Natalie Phillips.
 “I had this theme for ‘Growing at the Edges’ where I was
thinking about the first little life forms that pop up after
something natural like winter or less natural like a disaster and
kind of channeling their spirit for the art and music. That got me
imagining one of Natalie’s beautiful weavings but in-process
with stray yarn and loom still visible. Incomplete yet still
beautiful. I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.”
 Mutual Benefit’s live shows are known for their rotating cast of
wide-ranging musicians leading to inspired interpretations of the
extensive catalogue on notable stages like MoMA’s sculpture
garden or UK’s Green Man Festival as well as the occasional
surprise park or basement show at home in Brooklyn.
 Throughout the years Mutual Benefit has been in Album Of The
Year lists among Pitchfork and Stereogum, as well as Folk
Musician Of The Year by New York’s Village Voice.

Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975) is the latest entry in Rhino’s ongoing, GRAMMY-winning series exploring the vast untapped archives of rare Joni Mitchell recordings — a project guided inti-mately by Mitchell’s own vision and personal touch. Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975) will be available as a 4 LP with an accompanying book featuring photos and a conversation about this period between Joni Mitchell and longtime friend Cameron Crowe.

The collection begins with an early cut of “Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire,” one of two songs (along with “For The Roses”) test-driven during a visit to a Graham Nash David Crosby recording session at Wally Heider’s in Hol-lywood.

From there, listeners are treated to early demos and alternate versions from sessions from For The Roses, Court & Spark, and The Hissing Of Summer Lawns; historic live show recordings, including the entirety of Mitch-ell’s triumphant 1972 return to Carnegie Hall and a definitive gig with her Court And Spark backing band Tom Scott & the L.A. Express; and tracks from sessions cut alongside James Taylor, Graham Nash, and Neil Young.


















q 5. Sunrise Raga [3:41]

Mix a producer obsessed with 1970's Euro-Glam singles with a Los Angeles MC who's only about now & you get the freshest sound since 1988! Street smart/hood muthafukka MC meets a beat-smart/ill-informed muthafukka producer. A conscious melding of Trap Rap & Boom Bap, staying original, precise & exact. Whether you are 15 or 50, this sound will survive any fad's that will be. Special guests include Double Dee (of Double Dee & Steinski) & Don Bolles (Germs, 45 Grave). For fans of : Publilc Enemy, Gary Glitter, Jungle Bros. Roxy Music & James Brown, Twenty Dollar bills, 45 R.P.M. adapters, Fab 5 Freddy, American Muscle, Melvin Van Peebles, dogs, turntable #1 & turntable #2, Dave Lombardo (from Slayer), God & the Devil.

“Vivian was a talented singer-songwriter who never realised his full potential. Leroy Smart’s popular ‘Pride and Ambition’ was written by Vivian, but he was not even credited on the record. When I decided to make reggae recordings of my poetry, it was Vivian who showed me how to go about it. He played bass on my first three albums, Dread Beat An Blood, Forces of Victory and Bass Culture.

I introduced him to Virgin Records and he recorded his first album, Bad Weathers, which was released in 1978. When I moved to Island Records, I also secured a deal for him to record an album with them. Two singles were released by Island but the album, which I had helped to produce, was never put out. Vivian never got the break he deserved in the music business.” – Linton Kwesi Johnson

Prog Rock band from Bergen, Norway, formed in late 1969 , and disbanded in the spring of 1974.
They had several reunions since then. Saft was among the first rock bands to sing in Nynorsk
("Fjovisere" in 1971), also made history when they won the European summit with "People In Motion"
in November 1971. The members of the first Saft incarnation came from other established Bergen
bands: Ove Thue (vocals, guitar), Tom Harry Halvorsen (keyboards, vocals) and Trygve Thue (guitar,
vocals) from Neither Nor, Magne Lunde (drums) from Human Beings, and Rolf Skogstrand (bass)
from various - including Human Beings. The band had ample opportunity to play in the hippie musical
Hair on the National Stage in Bergen in the autumn of 1970. A recording from the performance was
released on LP by Polydor just before Christmas 1970. Saft made a demo recording of their
self-composed material at about the same time, and a contract deal with Polydor. In summer of 1971
they released "People In Motion" / "Albertine Hall", which was a big success and critical aclaimed. The
record was chosen as Norway's contribution to the European Summit on November 20, 1971. “Horn”
was their second album released in 1971 an experimental record with diverse styles, and
improvisations with all members contribute in songwriting. Available on vinyl again for the first time
since 1971

Repress on a new colour - Red/clear half-and-half vinyl with black splatter. Kingston-upon-Hull’s The Black Delta Movement return with their stunning new album ‘Recovery Effects’ – 8 tracks of immersive, groove-heavy garage rock released April 21st 2023 on Fuzz Club Records. Determination and a commitment to musical development are writ large across Matt Burr’s personal and artistic journey as the main creative force behind The Black Delta Movement. His most collaborative work yet, ‘Recovery Effects’ sees Matt recruiting highly lauded UK guitar-slinger and Little Barrie frontman Barrie Cadogan and bandmates Lewis Wharton (Bass) and Tony Coote (Drums) to provide musical backing on the album. With legendary producer, The Heliocentrics’ co-founder and drummer extraordinaire Malcolm Catto also helming production duties. “The album’s a love letter to the band and all the emotions that come with it,” explains Matt when talking about the period of adversity that led to its creation. Finding himself without his former bandmates following the release of their highly-praised 2018 debut ‘Preservation’ and that record’s subsequent live shows, the pandemic-induced lockdown periods throughout ’20 and ’21 initially gave time for reflection before proving to be a time of productivity. Giving Matt the breathing space to fine-tune the new songs alongside Cadogan before hitting the ground running when entering the studio in late 2021 – the band cutting the basic tracks live and Malcolm Catto providing invaluable input when it came to moulding the music you hear contained throughout. The results of this creative melting pot of such talented and seasoned musicians see The Black Delta Movement delivering that ring thing: a layered, honest and deeply entertaining rock’n’roll record. There are a myriad of moods and textures, whether on the garage-blues grooves of opener and first single ‘Fourth Pass Over The Graveyard’, follow-up single ‘Zip-Tie’ which explodes from its moody intro into punk-rock motorik, or the psychedelic slow-burn of ‘Hiding In The Tall Grass’ which manages to channel the likes of The Doors and Spacemen

The iconic voice of Luzmila Carpio rings out from the Andes, spreading messages of indigenous struggle, female empowerment and unceasing love for both the people and planet around us. An undeniable icon of Bolivian Andean culture whose career spans multiple decades, Luzmila has released more than 25 albums (there’s a reason that Rolling Stone described her as”one of the most prolific indigenous singers of South America”), inspiring millions while singing in both her native Aymara-Quechua language and Spanish. Yet Luzmila Carpio isn’t someone who’s content to simply rest on her laurels; she continues to take risks and push her music into vibrant new soundworlds. On new album Inti Watana: El Retorno del Sol (her first LP in a decade), she’s teamed up with Argentinian producer Leonardo Martinelli (a.k.a. Tremor), a ZZK veteran who’s spent the bulk of his career finding the common ground between Latin American folk rhythms and modern electronics. Building off the momentum created by 2015’s Luzmila Carpio Meets ZZK collection in which her music was reworked by not only Tremor, but standout electronic artists like Nicola Cruz, Chancha Vía Circuito and El Búho this new album is meant to stretch across genres, generations and continents, with Luzmila’s sonorous, occasionally birdsong-inspired vocalizations gracefully gliding amongst ambient textures, programmed beats and (of course) a bevy of traditional instrumentation from around the globe. Over the course of the LP, Bolivian charangos and quenas sit comfortably alongside the sounds of harmonium, violin, acoustic and electric guitar, Argentinian bombo leguero and sacha guitar, Armenian duduk and a litany of Asian percussion. Inti Watana: El Retorno del Sol which will be accompanied by a full length documentary might not sound like previous Luzmila Carpio releases, but on a spiritual, political and lyrical level, her core values remain unchanged. A native of Bolivia’s Potosí region, she’s long been a beacon for indigenous communities in not just her home country, but throughout Latin America, her voice inspiring joy and pride amongst ancient peoples whose culture and inherent beauty are often overlooked. Her pursuit of music a field traditionally dominated by men in Andean communities long ago made her a pillar of women’s empowerment, but Carpio has also been a vocal proponent for social change, using her influence to advocate not just for the rights of women, but for the protection and increased visibility of all indigenous people. Yet it’s the planet itself that Carpio is most passionate about, and she’s devoted much of her new album to conversations with Mother Earth and Father Sun

Dessa, the rapper, singer, writer, academic, and all-around polymath, who NPR hailed as a “national treasure,” will release her first solo full-length album in five years, Bury the Lede, September 29th, 2023 on Doomtree Records. It’s an eleven-track project of hard-hitting rap verses, big, catchy pop hooks, and a couple melancholic tracks. Dessa (an anthropology and psychology-enthusiast whose 2018 album, Chime, was inspired by neuroscience) conceptualized Bury the Lede as an examination of human nature and mortality. Reflecting on the pleasure-seeking and loss-aversion that define us as a species, the album ultimately endorses a Camus-with-a-lime-twist take on life. “It’s about indulging in a measure of hedonism even as the threat on the horizon mounts … Survival is, at best, indefinite. So maybe get a cocktail with an umbrella in it,” says Dessa.
The new album leans into the light more than past projects–more moments of levity and abandon, more danceable–but it’s still very much a product of Dessa’s lyrical style, writerly and multi-layered, and meticulous.
Executively produced with longtime collaborators and friends Lazerbeak (Doomtree, Lizzo) and Andy Thompson (Taylor Swift, Dan Wilson), Dessa and company’s indie-rock, soul, and Swedish-pop inflected rap on Bury the Lede create an album that’s hard to imagine hearing from anyone else. And, despite the wide range of influences, it’s also one of Dessa’s most cohesive albums to date.

It is with great fanfare that we proudly announce the return of the esteemed improvisational chainsaw blues trio Young James Long. Young James Long formed in Dallas in 2003 with a weekly residency at a local (and appropriately named) dive bar called Muddy Waters. PW Long (guitar, vocals) and Kirkland James (guitar) had known each other socially since the 90s when Long was fronting Quarterstick Records’ Mule, and James was playing with Tenderloin. Long would go onto make a series of incredible solo records under his own name and that of PW Long’s Reelfoot and James would play with Alejandro Escovedo (among many others) before their paths finally crossed again. They recruited Taylor Young (Hi-Fi Drowning, Young Heart Attack, The Polyphonic Spree) on drums and a raw, blues-punk-rock-and-roll band emerged fully formed, songs flying out of them with enthusiasm and ease. They recorded the You Ain’t Know The Man EP with their friend (and eventual Grammy winner) Stuart Sikes not long after. The EP came out via Southern Records in 2007, and thanks to the tasteful ears of the people this side of the pond, a European tour followed. If you saw that tour, you’ll agree that it felt like the band were really hitting their stride. However, here we are in 2023, so what happened? Answer: geography - the age-old enemy of creativity. One member left Texas and the others (being the extremely able and skilled musicians that they are) were perpetually wooed away to play in other bands. Everyone’s got bills to pay, right? And with that, things just kind of fizzled out. Long even insists he quit playing music around 2010. One of the most recognisable voices in underground music: out of the game. Incredible. Inconceivable.
Then, last year we at Wrong Speed got an email asking if we’d be interested in some new music Young James Long had been working on. We thought it might be a joke. They sent some mixes through, and it became very quickly apparent that it was anything but. Turns out the trio had started chatting about music again in 2020 (before the world had other plans) and had finally made their first full-length album Orogeny in the summer of 2021. Orogeny sounds live and thrillingly immediate, as though all obstacles between their delivery and your ears have been removed and discarded as irrelevant. There is no filler, no treading of water at any point. Amps buzz, songs teeter on the edge of collapse, you feel like you’re sitting in the middle of the band as they play and it’s a pretty sweet place to be. The album contains a whopping 17 songs, most under 2 minutes long. They don’t want to waste your time, or most importantly (after sixteen years away), theirs. If you’re familiar with Long’s previous bands, you’ll know he has a rare gift for pairing extreme volume with extreme tenderness and it’s thrilling to find that gift present and correct after over a decade away. And that voice – holy shit, that voice. He can go from a Beefheart howl to the sweetest country baritone in the space of a single line. In James and Young he’s found the perfect foils, a power trio of instinctive and soulful musicians able to conjure shining gems of magic out of the grit and the dirt. Young James Long is risen from the ashes – it’s a miracle!

Never Before Reissued On Vinyl! After the smash success of Deee-lite's debut record World Clique, and their now-iconic dance club hit "Groove Is In The Heart", anticipation was high for a follow-up from the New York-based dance music trio of vocalist Miss Lady Kier, and producers DJ Towa Tei and Super DJ Dmitri.

For their sophomore record Infinity Within, Deee-Lite opted to venture in a different direction of sorts. The club-embracing disco-funk sounds and groovy vibes of World Clique were everpresent, but while that record contained themes of global togetherness, Infinity Within took a more socially aware route, with politically charged themes of environmentalism, (To show their bonafidese, Infinity Within was one of the first titles to be issued in an ecologically friendly Eco-pak.) sexual liberation, voting rights, and critique of the juidicial system.

Taking major inspiration from the ancient Chinese divination text I Ching, Miss Lady Kier would later explain that Infinity Within was a natural progression for the group, not a departure. Elaborating in an interview with Reflex Magazine, she remarked: "The reason why we titled this new album Infinity Within to balance out World Clique’s idea of looking outward and thinking about unity is if you look outward, you should look inward to see what you’re doing as an individual.

Because people seem to be so passive I’d like to see people turn their TV sets off and start protesting." Infinity Within was not the overwhelming commercial success that World Clique was, but it's tracks shined on the Billboard Dance Club charts, with it's lead single "Runaway" reaching #1 on the chart, bolstered by a Gus Van Sant-directed music video.

The record also featured a slew of top-tier collaborators, including Parliament veterans Bernie Worrell, Maceo Parker and Bootsy Collins (Returning from their appearances on World Clique) as well as Bootsy's brother Catfish Collins, legendary house DJ Statoshi Tomiie, and rap verses from Michael Franti, Jamal-Ski, and a pre-"Tennessee" Arrested Development.

Even though critical reaction at the time was cooler than their debut, over the years Infinity Within has been considered an underrated
gem of 90's dance, a classic of early club and house music, and a remarkable follow-up for Deee-Lite.

After whetting our appetites with the new italo "classic" Volevi Una Hit repress, Bottin and his Cristalli Liquidi project team up with the French-Italiano electro pair Deux Control (aka Justine Forever & Rodion) for a double take of this sweaty song about the colour red and the gentle carnal forces of nature. You might want to pick up some Italian to enjoy the lyrics. Along with two entirely different main versions, Bottin's sped-up dub and Deux Control's vocally sparse mix will serve electro-funk heads and low-cheese/high-energy italo lovers alike.

Phase O' Matic, an eccentric treasure hunter, ventures to the Parcel Islands after hearing about Erik and Huber's psychedelic antics. Intrigued by tales of a telepathic shark guarding a hallucinogenic treasure (Shadowfin), he dives deep into the South China Sea wearing his signature glowing shark tooth necklace.

Amidst swirling colors and cosmic jellyfish, Phase communicates telepathically with the school of sharks and ends up locating something he did not expect to find: hundreds of aged vials labelled 'Acid Lean'. Phase O' Matic quickly realized that the 'Acid Lean' vials were the very eau de vie Serb and Paramedic initially sought. He decides to deliver the treasure to Qassem Acidmani himself, hoping to claim the elusive reward promised by Gandalf OG.

JIN enters autumn with a familiar yet evolving sound. For our eighth release (JIN08), we are delighted to have Tokyo's house wizard, Gonno, make his long-awaited return to JIN with a full EP, after the still talked about JIN01 quintessential remix of Initials B.B.'s "Paradise Patterns".

For this release, Gonno delivers 3 astonishing tracks. A1 features Gonno’s trademark melodic house bomb. B1 is an instantly mind-blowing IDM 2-1-2 floor shaker. Then for B2, he brilliantly closes out the EP with a floating ambient tune.

Rounding out this release on A2 is Gonno's dear friend from Paris, synth specialist Voiski, with a 4/4 remix that takes you on a uniquely classy trip.

KID FRANCESCOLI, leader of the French Riviera Touch is back with the stellar album SUNSET BLUE out Sept 22nd 2023.

After a first sold-out world tour (over 200 concerts in Europe, USA, Asia...), and successful hits such as Nopalitos, Blow Up or Moon (now certified diamond, with more than 200 millions streams), the Marseille-based producer, crooner and multi-instrumentalist, Mathieu Hocine, is eager to share his most accomplished LP ever. This fine collection of soulful songs honor his Mediterranean roots, with elegant and pop melodies. His most recent success and the creation of his first original soundtrack with AZURO, installed him as one of the best French songwriters of his generation, with a unique signature sound.

"I live in Marseille, I spent my childhood in Corsica, I have Algerian origins, my first vacations with friends were in Barcelona, vacations with my first girlfriend in Roma,... Then, I had the chance to perform in Morocco, Greece, Turkey and Egypt: each time I spent time in the Mediterranean region, the people I met there made me feel like I was part of the same country. This shared multiculturalism is really comforting, it has its own poetry and strength, bringing uniqueness and empathy to the people. It is essential for me. I love my city: it’s the perfect place to feel good with sun, sea, family, friendships, love... It gets me emotional, bringing tears with a smile".

With his new musical gem, Mathieu Hocine unveils 11 elegant tunes of his finest craft: sunbathed French Touch (Run Run, 1986), romantic chillwave (Corsica), uplifting synthpop (You Are Everywhere, Like Magic), electronic-soul (Casino Soul), cinematic disco (Solaris), cosmic R&B (Sweet and Sour, Take Time), … Everything is in this record.

For the first time ever, Kid Francescoli paid tribute to his mixed origins with his collaboration with world-renowned lute and mandolin player Hakim Hamadouche (Rachid Taha, Patti Smith, Brian Eno, Tricky...), whom added Algerian patterns to the introspectives songs Drift in Blue and The Morning After.

"My ambition is to create pictures in people's heads with music, to transport them instantly into a movie"

SUNSET BLUE is an instant-crush album: crystal-clear, strong, personal but universal at the same time.

It's an ecstatic soundtrack for this moment when time is suspended, the golden hour when everything seems possible. It feels like Love is in the air, you're living your best life and you're at the right place at the right time. This album embodies this magic moment where we would like to last forever… Like an epiphany, Kid Francescoli's new album is a moment of pure pleasure, a soothing way to escape reality.

"I see myself as a melodist.I would like my music to feel like velvet. There's something cinematic, classy about it, and yet comforting. It's very simple, popular and synonym of love and passion"

His friend French 79 co-produced the album, while the american rapper Bamby H2O brought his NYC swag (on Sweet & Sour), Stan Neff (Polo & Pan, Kungs, Christine and the Queens...) took care of the mix and Alex Gopher (Daft Punk, The Blaze, Bon Entendeur...) added a final touch of magic when mastering. Nicolas Despis (known for his work with Etienne Daho, Hoshi, Juliette Armanet... and many famous French rappers) later joined this dream-team to craft custom-made artworks. SUNSET BLUE is a deeply personal quest, a human adventure for Mathieu Hocine (whom explores his maghrebian origins, his feminine side, his subconscious space, ...). It's a male's work, but don't get it wrong, this LP would be nothing without women’s touch : Julietta (on Run Run and Take Time), Sarah Gaugler from Turbo Goth (on You Are Everywhere and Like Magic), and iOni (on Drift in Blue).

“Music has this magical power to broaden your vision of the world. It's fascinating because, like dreams, it's the kind of irrational things science can't explain and that makes life exciting."

Planets aligned perfectly on this project and thanks to this five-star cast of collaborators, Kid Francescoli achieved his personal holy grail : he orchestrated a great 21st century pop-music album.SUNSET BLUE is a new turning point between organic and electronic, both a mediterranean travel and a Californian dream, a bridge between Ennio Morriconne and modern electronic music.

Also, while it might be called SUNSET BLUE in honor of the sea and the Portuguese / Brazilian concept called “saudade”, but it is a really optimistic album, whose true colors would rather be "yellow-orange-red" in nod to the sun.

Created in the midst of the world tour, SUNSET BLUE is a direct result of the lives’ energy and fans’ joyful vibes: going back in the studio after smiling, singing and dancing with people all around the world inevitably gave Kid Francescoli the desire to retranscribe this ecstatic feeling in music. This album is a sensitive experience, from sunrise to sunset, from first track to last one. It’s an exploration of an everlasting summer, reaching its climax in the very final seconds of the track Corsica, making us want to press play and dive into this jewel all over again.

A beautiful cosmic trip, whether you like to stay in bed cocooning, to travel far, far away or to dance ‘till dawn, to catch the first rays of light.

Make sure to catch Kid Francescoli on his next world tour to have a good time.

"Every Mile" was recorded during a particularly tumultuous time in the life of the band, and of the band members - There were record deals won and lost, tours that were equal parts triumph and tragedy, and relationships that bit the dust
And, yet, we remained hopeful, we remained friends, and we remained committed to the songs you find here. Jon Nolan once called this record "pain with a hope chaser," which about sums it up. In a quintessential Say ZuZu moment, we recorded "Every Mile" in Memphis because we broke down there mid- tour and
tried to make the best of it. We had more songs than would fit on this record, so we curated 12 songs that belonged together, and we intended to record the others on a follow- up record that never happened. Some of those tracks found their way onto Jon and Cliff's solo records, and some have yet to see the light of
day. Either way, "Every Mile" emerged from a remarkably fruitful chapter in the band's songwriting history, and their treatment here is seasoned with the grit of
our lives at that time.

As every year anniversary, Bonkers has the tradition of the special annual compilation, bringing a bunch of new extraordinary artists to the label. This VA is the sound that Bonkers represents, a sound to trip, to listen, to dance and to enjoy, now for year IV we have on board: Sobek, Colossio Feat Animales Nocturnos, Ludviq & Radial Gaze, Moisees & ZEA, ID_UA and Oblako Maranta.

For the first track of the VA, debuting on the label, the Hungarian producer Sobek ,named after the Egyptian crocodile god, resident of Aether club, with releases on TAU, Get Physical, Borders of Light, and owner of Complaint Kulture.“Conscious Raveness” is a harsh and enjoyable journey, with a rough bass and drilling mind synths, his sound simple has no boundaries.

Talking about sick collabs, “Retaliation” definitely is one of them, also is the first collab between the head of the label, Luis(Ludviq) and Andrey (Radial Gaze), this track has a great power in it, with a lot of trippy Fx, home-made recorded percs, mind-blowing leads and a massive bass line. Just listen and enjoy the ride.

Igor Dyeyev mostly known as ID_UA, is an Ukrainian producer, with releases on labels like Calypso and Duro, now debuting on the label with “Crucial Moment”.

This track was made during the escalation of tension on the borders of Ukraine, what happened next is known to the whole world.

With releases on Exit Strategy, Duro and Scatcity Fernando Luna aka Colossio, presents his track “Reflejos” featuring Animales Nocturnos, is inspired by the Spanish electro-trash scene where the beat and the lyrics evoke the most hidden and dark feelings that spring up at night, inviting you to enter the trance that provokes the dance.

For the first time have the pleasure to have one of the Duro Label bosses Moisees, joining forces with ZEA with “Recuerdo Futuro” is a flash of the forgotten rave parties of the nineties, the nostalgia of a past that was not lived.

To close this VA we have the honor to have, a new fresh and visionary project called Oblako Maranta, is the fusion project between the Italian Producer A-Tweed and the Russian producer Radial Gaze. “Viper Attack” is special track ,weird, slow and raver, with psychedelic nuances, definitely a trippy journey.

Reach for the geiger counter - Park End comes shelling in the direction of Sneaker Social Club with some plutonium-plated, 2-stepping swelterweight gear for the grubbiest of dancehalls. All we can ascertain about the shadowy figure on the buttons for this latest release is that they’re clearly schooled in the lineage of UK hardcore, pirate radio culture and the sympathetic tenets of UKG, jungle and dubstep.

Opening up the A side, ’Same Dream’ is a claustrophobic, gnarly creeper with razor-sharp snares, growling low end and enough heads-down malaise to turn the most blissful sunrise set ice-cold. ‘The Immortality Of The Crab’ pays tribute to the fine tradition of illegal radio broadcasting and its importance for the development of rave, leaning on a staggered, mucky garage beat that smacks hard just how we like it.

On the flip, Park End turns attention to the synergy between RnB and garage with a refix of BBL Sound’s ‘BBS’, pairing the sweetest vocal chops with plenty of bitter b-line pressure, while ‘Rekt’ draws on an unnamed voice for another fission between human sensitivity and mechanised intensity. This parting shot borders on anti-anthemic by the time it reaches its peak while holding true to the pitch-black vibe creeping out around the edges of this rough diamond of an EP.

“One of Hollywood’s most exciting film composers” – DAZED & CONFUSED Clint Mansell’s emotionally gripping and melodically thrilling score for psychological cult classic luna-drama Moon is now again available on Black Records on White Vinyl Directed by Duncan Jones, starring Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey, Moon is a science fiction thriller about a solitary lunar employee who finds that he may not be able to go home to Earth so easily. Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is an employee contracted by the company Lunar to mine on the Moon the natural gas Helium 3, which could reverse Earth's energy crisis. Stationed alone on the lunar base Sarang with only a robot named Gerty (voiced by Kevin Spacey), Sam is two weeks away from completing his three-year assignment, when he begins feeling out of place… Former ‘Pop Will Eat Itself’ frontman Clint Mansell - now based in Los Angeles - has become the go-to composer for independent Hollywood cinema. Producing peerless soundtracks to award winning Darren Arronofsky films Requiem For A Dream, The Fountain and The Wrestler.

UK drummer and sound artist Cameron Graham dances between EDM, joyous calypso colour, cellular Glassian minimalism, and hyperrealist AI on debut album Becoming a Beach Angel, evoking a SNES world of blissful vibrancy.

Creating his dizzying, dayglo MIDI explorations with drumkit triggers, UK musician Cameron Graham conjures a multitude of soundworlds from dense compositional structures. The music of debut album Becoming a Beach Angel touches on neon, videogame digitisation, the finessed, mechanical precision of IDM, even the rhythmic intensity of gamelan, whilst retaining a thrilling and wholly singular energy. The record is an electrifying experience, full of colour.

Becoming a Beach Angel flips and trips through headspinning, hyperspeed effervescence, like an entire rave condensed into a moment. Instantly joyful, its textures - formed in wavetable synthesis triggered by live-performed percussion pads - thread and bob through hyperreal abstract space, millisecond snippets of organ chords and steel pans zooming like stars in a galaxy rocketed past at

lightspeed. “It’s about grabbing and holding a close person going through depression or self-doubt, taking them out the door,” Cameron explains. “Dance music for that moment you need only to find a way to move forward.”

Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the release of Ryuichi Sakamoto's classic LP "Ongaku Zukan", originally issued in Japan on his own School label in 1984.

The reissue will replicate the original Japanese release which offered two versions: a normal edition featuring the LP with a bonus 2-track 7" EP (WWSLP71), and a limited edition which includes a 3-track 12" EP in place of the 7" (WWSLP72)

Remastered by Saidera Mastering in Tokyo the reissue boasts the original gatefold artwork plus an extra 2-page insert with new liner notes by Andy Beta



The early '80s were a turning point for Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto. As a solo artist, the smash hit soundtrack he had composed for 1983's "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" (a film in which he had also acted), had put him on the verge of becoming a global superstar. Meanwhile he had called a halt to his work with Yellow Magic Orchestra; the influential, globally successful pop trio calling it quits after the release of their 1983 album "Naughty Boys".

Against this backdrop, Sakamoto descended on Tokyo's Onkyo Haus Studio to record his fourth solo album, "Ongaku Zukan" ("Musical Encyclopedia") accompanied by a handful of musicians including his ex-YMO partners Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, and the prolifically talented Yasuaki Shimizu, Tatsuro Yamashita and Toshinori Kondo. Sakamoto began with no particular plan in mind, recording 30 basic tracks over the best part of 1983. It was on his return to the studio the following year that the album truly began to take shape. Accompanied by a newly acquired Fairlight CMI sampler, the musician made extensive use of the revolutionary equipment to create a wide palette of sound textures which he added to the tracks, a creatively fertile process that was captured on film for the French documentary "Tokyo Melody, A Film about Ryuichi Sakamoto".)

Released in August 1984 the album "Ongaku Zukan" proved a huge success, providing Sakamoto with his first top 5 hit in Japan. Filled with inspired melodies that showcase his unique gift as a composer, it offers up a fascinating mix of styles. Asiatic electro pop nuggets ("Tibetan Dance") share space with futuristic ambient pieces ("Hane no Hayashi de"), and brilliantly creative fusions of jazz, funk, techno and reggae ("Etude" and "Tabi no Kyokuhoki.")

Two simultaneous editions of the album were released in Japan: the regular one featuring a bonus 7" EP with two extra tracks: "Replica" and "Ma Mère l'Oye" while a limited edition added a 12" EP (in lieu of the 7") which included a third track, "Tibetan Dance (Version)." An international version was released two years later in 1986 by 10 Records/Virgin under the title "Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia," but with a very different track list. Five tracks from "Ongaku Zukan" were dropped, namely "Self Portrait," "Tabi no kyokuhoku," "Mori no Hito," "A Tribute to N.J.P" and "Tibetan Dance (Version)", to be replaced by two non-album singles from 1985, "Stepping Into Asia" and "Field Work."

This is the very first time that the two 1984 Japanese editions of Ryuichi Sakamoto's classic album have been released internationally in collaboration with the artist's management and Midi Inc., with remastered audio and the original artwork faithfully reproduced, paying tribute to one of contemporary music's undisputed geniuses.

Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the release of Ryuichi Sakamoto's classic LP "Ongaku Zukan", originally issued in Japan on his own School label in 1984.

The reissue will replicate the original Japanese release which offered two versions: a normal edition featuring the LP with a bonus 2-track 7" EP (WWSLP71), and a limited edition which includes a 3-track 12" EP in place of the 7" (WWSLP72)

Remastered by Saidera Mastering in Tokyo the reissue boasts the original gatefold artwork plus an extra 2-page insert with new liner notes by Andy Beta



The early '80s were a turning point for Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto. As a solo artist, the smash hit soundtrack he had composed for 1983's "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" (a film in which he had also acted), had put him on the verge of becoming a global superstar. Meanwhile he had called a halt to his work with Yellow Magic Orchestra; the influential, globally successful pop trio calling it quits after the release of their 1983 album "Naughty Boys".

Against this backdrop, Sakamoto descended on Tokyo's Onkyo Haus Studio to record his fourth solo album, "Ongaku Zukan" ("Musical Encyclopedia") accompanied by a handful of musicians including his ex-YMO partners Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, and the prolifically talented Yasuaki Shimizu, Tatsuro Yamashita and Toshinori Kondo. Sakamoto began with no particular plan in mind, recording 30 basic tracks over the best part of 1983. It was on his return to the studio the following year that the album truly began to take shape. Accompanied by a newly acquired Fairlight CMI sampler, the musician made extensive use of the revolutionary equipment to create a wide palette of sound textures which he added to the tracks, a creatively fertile process that was captured on film for the French documentary "Tokyo Melody, A Film about Ryuichi Sakamoto".)

Released in August 1984 the album "Ongaku Zukan" proved a huge success, providing Sakamoto with his first top 5 hit in Japan. Filled with inspired melodies that showcase his unique gift as a composer, it offers up a fascinating mix of styles. Asiatic electro pop nuggets ("Tibetan Dance") share space with futuristic ambient pieces ("Hane no Hayashi de"), and brilliantly creative fusions of jazz, funk, techno and reggae ("Etude" and "Tabi no Kyokuhoki.")

Two simultaneous editions of the album were released in Japan: the regular one featuring a bonus 7" EP with two extra tracks: "Replica" and "Ma Mère l'Oye" while a limited edition added a 12" EP (in lieu of the 7") which included a third track, "Tibetan Dance (Version)." An international version was released two years later in 1986 by 10 Records/Virgin under the title "Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia," but with a very different track list. Five tracks from "Ongaku Zukan" were dropped, namely "Self Portrait," "Tabi no kyokuhoku," "Mori no Hito," "A Tribute to N.J.P" and "Tibetan Dance (Version)", to be replaced by two non-album singles from 1985, "Stepping Into Asia" and "Field Work."

This is the very first time that the two 1984 Japanese editions of Ryuichi Sakamoto's classic album have been released internationally in collaboration with the artist's management and Midi Inc., with remastered audio and the original artwork faithfully reproduced, paying tribute to one of contemporary music's undisputed geniuses.

Ultramagnetic Mc's is composed of TR 'Funky' Luv, Dj Moe Luv on the one and two's, Kool Keith, producer Ced Gee and occasionally Tim Dog. Their second studio album Funk your Head Up was released in 1992, representing the foundation of Hip-Hop. Culled of the album are singles "Poppa Large" and "Make It Happen" plus tracks by Kool Keith's "Pluckin' Cards", "Dolly And The Rat Trap”, the diss track "You Ain't Real" about rapper Freddie Fox, skits, mad beats, and outlandish lyricism.

Funk Your Head Up was originally only available as a 1LP but is now available as a 2LP-set for the first time.

Flag was originally released in 1979 and is the ninth album by James Taylor. In addition to newly written originals, the album includes the hit "Up On The Roof" (a Drifters cover co-written by Carole King), the Beatles cover "Day Tripper" and a remake of Taylor's own "Rainy Day Man".

The singer-songwriter worked with a number of other musicians on this album, including Carly Simon (backing vocals), Graham Nash (backing vocals), and David Sanborn (saxophone). Being the fine craftsman that James Taylor is, he has made sure that the album runs the gamut of emotions, with some songs rocking a little more than before. Also included are two songs he wrote for the 1978 Broadway musical Working: "Brother Trucker" and "Millwork".

And for those wondering about the album's artwork, the signal flag that makes up the cover is called "Oscar" and indicates "man overboard", as used in the old maritime days in a situation where a person had fallen from a ship or boat.

Flag is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on pink coloured vinyl, housed in a gatefold sleeve and includes an insert.

The album appeared suddenly - Within about a week, A Family Light was
pretty much fully written - "Despite the old cliche, the inspiration for this
album stemmed from heartbreak," describes band member Sergio
Trevino
"Fresh out of a failed relationship, I took to writing, resisting the temptation to
create bitter or angsty love songs. I tried to channel my emotions into something
larger. Looking back, with the benefit of time and distance from the album, I
realize that it kinda became a response to my observations of the family
dynamics, and how strange and complicated those predetermined roles are.

As wonky as Weezer, as poignant as Pulp, Confidence heralds the long-awaited
return of The Hoosiers, the band whose debut album, The Trick To Life, sold well
over a million copies, and spawned four singles including Top 5 hits, Worried
About Ray, and Goodbye Mr A. Enter Confidence, a sonic shot of optimism,
effervescence and joie de vivre, and an album so hook-laden, you'll think you've
had it knocking around your house for years.

So begins the legendary Don Letts' liner notes for this young band's new album,
'Ladders', their first on Easy Star Records. The band hails from Washington, DC,
and features lead singer Kelly Di Filippo, who has been heard on tracks by Jon
Quan and others. Letts continues: "I don't know how this Washington, DC-based
dub reggae outfit was brought up, but for the most part, like me, they seem to
have been raised with sixties pop hitting them in one ear and seventies reggae
hitting them in the other." That just about nails it for this unique act that sounds
pretty unlike any of their contemporaries in the US and world reggae scene.

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Jogo Duro, a collaboration between Ilhan
Ersahin and some outstanding Sao Paulo musicians Guizado, Ze Nigro,
Samuel Fraga, Chicao & Tony Gordin who also happen to be great friends
These are players who will be familiar to those following the careers of Ceu, Otto,
Curumin, Tulipa Ruiz and the late, great Gal Costa. This record is the result of the
amount of time Ilhan has spent in Sao Paulo over the last decade due to putting
on the Nublu Jazz Fest there every year. With all the contacts, connections and
friendships formed over the course of making an annual music festival happen,
musical cross-pollination (usually simply referred to as "jams") was inevitable but
this time it was decided to do it in a studio with tape rolling rather than on stage,
which is certainly a more productive approach than merely talking about it over
beers at a local bar!
Everything happened fairly spontaneously over three days in the studio,
everybody brought songs, ideas and creative energy and before you know it an
album was born, which will be released in November after three singles come out
over the spring and summer.

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Jogo Duro, a collaboration between Ilhan
Ersahin and some outstanding Sao Paulo musicians Guizado, Ze Nigro,
Samuel Fraga, Chicao & Tony Gordin who also happen to be great friends
These are players who will be familiar to those following the careers of Ceu, Otto,
Curumin, Tulipa Ruiz and the late, great Gal Costa. This record is the result of the
amount of time Ilhan has spent in Sao Paulo over the last decade due to putting
on the Nublu Jazz Fest there every year. With all the contacts, connections and
friendships formed over the course of making an annual music festival happen,
musical cross-pollination (usually simply referred to as "jams") was inevitable but
this time it was decided to do it in a studio with tape rolling rather than on stage,
which is certainly a more productive approach than merely talking about it over
beers at a local bar!
Everything happened fairly spontaneously over three days in the studio,
everybody brought songs, ideas and creative energy and before you know it an
album was born, which will be released in November after three singles come out
over the spring and summer.

Toy Tonics going New Wave Disco with Baby’s Berserk’s self-titled debut album (to be released on 29 September).

There are many shades of funk in dance music. Berlin’s Toy Tonics label brings up artists that reflect many of these different aspects in dance music. Now the label comes up with a band! A band that is inspired by 1980ies New Wave as well as the Y2K Indie dance scene. Two guys and 2 girls from Amsterdam and Montreal called Baby’s Berserk.

Baby’s Berserk is about taking the freedom to be who you want to be, about being comfortable. Having played in all-girl punk bands since the age of 14, the bands singer Lieselot is an expert on female empowerment. “Dress like a girl and act like a boy,” is a catchphrase she lives up to every day and it clearly is a message that resonates with the band’s wild fans.

In the great tradition of Roxy Music, Throbbing Gristle and Malcolm McLaren, Baby’s Berserk is not just about the edgy music, but also about a very strong own visual style. They readily blend their sounds with underground fashion. What you see is what you get and seeing Baby’s Berserk is feeling right at home. Lieselot is a visionary when it comes to stage presence. Have you always wanted to see an electronic band with a punk attitude perform wearing a mix of haute couture and Flintstone-style rags? Look no further, it’s Baby’s Berserk.

Following on the critically acclaimed singles ‘What I Mean’ (2020) and ‘Toxic Kisses’ (2022), Baby Berserk’s highly anticipated self-titled full-length is now finally about to see the light on Berlin’s Toy Tonics records. Sonically designed for gritty rock venues as well as up-to-date edgy dance clubs, Mano’s lush compositions smoothly intertwine with the highly associative lyrics written by Puggy and Lieselot. Poets and literary addicts may think they’ve just discovered the rock & roll equivalents of Sylvia Plath, Kurt Vonnegut and Allen Ginsberg. To tell you the truth: their wild guess is pretty accurate as the works by these greats lie scattered around the Baby’s Berserk studio for inspiration.
The band was born in a laboratory back in 2019. Tired of being in bands with unruly and unpredictable humans, Mano Hollestelle set out to create a group of high precision robots to create the post-punk sound he had in mind. His outdated technology of floppy disks and cassette tapes worked well to program the androids, until one day a 90s rave mixtape was mistakenly entered into his computer. House music is a feeling and the punk bots instantly got hooked on it upon hearing it for the first time. They could never be reset to factory settings again. Mano worked tirelessly with his androids, currently known by their humanoid names of Lieselot Elzinga, Puggy Beales and Eva Wijnbergen, to fulfil his evil plan to make the rockers dance and the dancers rock. Baby’s Berserk is the fiendish extension of this plot. Beware, the band’s bass driven grooves and computerized beats have been known to cast a spell upon all within earshot.

So what do the songs on ‘Baby’s Berserk’ tell you? That it’s totally fine to have lots of fun in life! To have a boyfriend as an accessory (‘Accessories’), to get inspired by Sponge Bob (‘Dancing with the Fish’) and to blend your spirits with mixers whenever the hell you feel like it (‘Rum ‘n’ Kola’).

Baby’s Berserk member Puggy Beales on ‘Limousine’: “Decant the wine from my tip jar to yours. Soon we'll be on easy street, chauffeured home from the rat race each evening. Is it everything you'd hoped it would be?”

Check not only the debut album but also the forthcoming Remix EP with remixes by Each Other, Niklas Wandt, Sam Ruffillo, Kris Baha and Nicolini.

Rory McPike is an artist who holds a special place in the core of Melbourne’s musical heart. His primary alias for the past 5 years, Rings Around Saturn, has been releasing sub loaded technotic synthesis with hints and glimpses of a 140 bpm’d dubstep track on the horizon — The horizon is here — Welcome.

Goose Step pays homage to the UKs 06-07 dubstep powerhouses with undeniable sound system power itself. Minimalistic on first listen, rude tune on the fourth. Goose Step is a piece we have been looking forward to pressing for a long time here on Modern Hypnosis. All this talk about dubstep, we almost forgot about the A side!!?!!

THX Assassin has more character than Mary and Pippin in LOTR. A hot piece of dub garage combining ultra pleasing sonics with clean percussion, articulated wubs and a halfway vibe check.

Both tracks mastered and cut by Beau Thomas @ Ten Eight Seven Mastering. 180g black 12” vinyl.

Jorja Smith is officially back. Further to making a recent return to the musical sphere with her singles ‘Try Me’ and ‘Little Things’, today she has confirmed the details of her highly anticipated second album,
‘falling or flying’, set for release globally on September 29th 2023 via FAMM and available to pre-order now - here.
Alongside the announcement, Jorja has also unveiled the album's poignant artwork; a stunning portrait of her, shot on film by the prestigious British photographer, Liz Johnson Artur. In addition, Jorja has also announced a series of UK live shows in September, commemorating the release of the album. Further details below.
Through her new record, Jorja has delivered an undeniable modern classic, effortlessly condensing any number of disparate styles and genres into music which thrillingly broaches any gap between Jazz, Soul, R&B and Funky House. A bold, brave nd courageous leap forward from her critically acclaimed debut album ‘Lost and Found’ -
‘falling or flying’ is an album that speaks to the musical and emotional era where Jorja is now, and how she got here. It isn’t so much an exploration of how she’s found herself but more a statement that she has arrived, and that her understanding of her life, her relationships, and her feelings, have deepened, matured and crystallised as she
enters her twenty six year. ‘And despite it all,’ she says, ‘it's definitely a journey I've just started. That's what's crazy. It's only just begun.’
Sonically, this album, a no-skips body of work, isn’t like anything you’ve heard before. It sits masterfully in this same space of excitement, self-exploration and self-assertion that Jorja does. Compromised of deep, thumping drums, racing basslines, irresistible hooks and distinctive beats, ‘falling or flying’ runs at the same pace that Jorja’s mind does. ‘I don't slow down enough’ she says. ‘This album is like my brain. There’s always so much going on but each
song is definitely a standstill moment.’
Much of the creative energy that shaped the album emerged from studio sessions with the producer duo DAMEDAME* back in her hometown of Walsall, where, to Jorja, the heart is. The album is both a sonic and an emotional tour of where she’s been, and what she’s been about, in the two years since she dropped her latest offering, ‘Be Right Back’. ‘It touches on breakups, relationships with my friends, relationships with old friends,
relationships with myself.’ She says. ‘It's definitely about a lot of relationships, but every song I write I can sing it to myself.’
Of the many British voices in music today, Jorja is among the most commanding, writing at a pitch of intensity and urgency that few can match. Over the past five and half years, since the release of her debut album ‘Lost & Found’, she has been celebrated unanimously across the world for her evocative song-writing, powerful delivery, pure emotion and unbridled talent as a young woman navigating her way through life and in 2021 was the year Jorja’s hiatus from music was broken. Enter ‘Be Right Back’, the holding space between the sensation that was ‘Lost & Found’, and ‘falling or flying’. ‘Be Right Back’ was born from playing, jamming, freestyling, and sounding out what Jorja had been on the edge of expressing all her life. It was a project entirely for her fans. “Be Right Back did exactly what I wanted it to do. It was a little waiting room so people knew I was coming back.”
And come back she has - entering a chapter of her return to music that’s certain to draw in and intoxicate Jorja’s fans and new listeners alike. And what has changed for her, in the five years since ‘Lost & Found’ dominated the charts and the soundscape? “I like this world that I've just come into. And I’m still figuring things out. Always
figuring things out.” Jorja says. “This is the first time I’m putting stuff out there that I can connect with right now.” Over the last few years, it’s been a reflective and transformative step into her mid twenties for her. She’s been able to step into herself and evolve as a songwriter and a woman despite an ever-changing musical landscape.
While she recognises that the global pandemic has been completely devastating, she acknowledges that it allowed her to stay still, to come more into herself, and to be more in control of the person she is, and of her musical output. Like some of the legendary musicians that came before her, Jorja is looking at the chaos and disorder in the
world right now with resourceful, refined eyes, and she sees the glorious opportunity and enormous responsibility that affords. The net result is that while ‘falling or flying' sounds very much like Jorja Smith, it sounds like no Jorja Smith album you have ever heard before. ‘falling or flying’- released on September 29th

Jorja Smith is officially back. Further to making a recent return to the musical sphere with her singles ‘Try Me’ and ‘Little Things’, today she has confirmed the details of her highly anticipated second album, ‘falling or flying’, set for release globally on September 29th 2023 via FAMM and available to pre-order now - here.

Alongside the announcement, Jorja has also unveiled the album's poignant artwork; a stunning portrait of her, shot on film by the prestigious British photographer, Liz Johnson Artur. In addition, Jorja has also announced a series of UK live shows in September, commemorating the release of the album. Further details below.

Through her new record, Jorja has delivered an undeniable modern classic, effortlessly condensing any number of disparate styles and genres into music which thrillingly broaches any gap between Jazz, Soul, R&B and Funky House. A bold, brave and courageous leap forward from her critically acclaimed debut album ‘Lost and Found’ - ‘falling or flying’ is an album that speaks to the musical and emotional era where Jorja is now, and how she got here. It isn’t so much an exploration of how she’s found herself but more a statement that she has arrived, and that her understanding of her life, her relationships, and her feelings, have deepened, matured and crystallised as she enters her twenty six year. ‘And despite it all,’ she says, ‘it's definitely a journey I've just started. That's what's crazy.

It's only just begun.’ Sonically, this album, a no-skips body of work, isn’t like anything you’ve heard before. It sits masterfully in this same space of excitement, self-exploration and self-assertion that Jorja does. Compromised of deep, thumping drums, racing basslines, irresistible hooks and distinctive beats, ‘falling or flying’ runs at the same pace that Jorja’s mind does. ‘I don't slow down enough’ she says. ‘This album is like my brain. There’s always so much going on but each song is definitely a standstill moment.’

Much of the creative energy that shaped the album emerged from studio sessions with the producer duo DAMEDAME* back in her hometown of Walsall, where, to Jorja, the heart is. The album is both a sonic and an emotional tour of where she’s been, and what she’s been about, in the two years since she dropped her latest offering, ‘Be Right Back’. ‘It touches on breakups, relationships with my friends, relationships with old friends, relationships with myself.’ She says. ‘It's definitely about a lot of relationships, but every song I write I can sing it to myself.’

Of the many British voices in music today, Jorja is among the most commanding, writing at a pitch of intensity and urgency that few can match. Over the past five and half years, since the release of her debut album ‘Lost & Found’, she has been celebrated unanimously across the world for her evocative song-writing, powerful delivery, pure emotion and unbridled talent as a young woman navigating her way through life and in 2021 was the year Jorja’s hiatus from music was broken. Enter ‘Be Right Back’, the holding space between the sensation that was ‘Lost & Found’, and ‘falling or flying’. ‘Be Right Back’ was born from playing, jamming, freestyling, and sounding out what Jorja had been on the edge of expressing all her life. It was a project entirely for her fans. “Be Right Back did exactly what I wanted it to do. It was a little waiting room so people knew I was coming back.”

And come back she has - entering a chapter of her return to music that’s certain to draw in and intoxicate Jorja’s fans and new listeners alike. And what has changed for her, in the five years since ‘Lost & Found’ dominated the charts and the soundscape? “I like this world that I've just come into. And I’m still figuring things out. Always figuring things out.” Jorja says. “This is the first time I’m putting stuff out there that I can connect with right now.” Over the last few years, it’s been a reflective and transformative step into her mid twenties for her.

She’s been able to step into herself and evolve as a songwriter and a woman despite an ever-changing musical landscape.

While she recognises that the global pandemic has been completely devastating, she acknowledges that it allowed her to stay still, to come more into herself, and to be more in control of the person she is, and of her musical output. Like some of the legendary musicians that came before her, Jorja is looking at the chaos and disorder in the world right now with resourceful, refined eyes, and she sees the glorious opportunity and enormous responsibility that affords. The net result is that while ‘falling or flying' sounds very much like Jorja Smith, it sounds like no Jorja Smith album you have ever heard before.

‘falling or flying’- released on September 29th

• It was standard practice in the 1960s for British beat groups to pepper their repertoires with American R&B songs. Formed by five music-loving schools from Blackpool, the Missfits were no exception. Although they group released no records during their time together, for two brief years they were the toast of Blackpool clubland. They played at the same veues as local bands such as the Rockin’ Vickers, including some gigs at the famous Oasis Club in Manchester and at the short-lived Blackpool branch of the Twisted Wheel.

• In February 1964, they won a recording test in a talent competition and travelled to London that summer to commit some of their favourite songs to tape. The tape reel was soon forgotten and thought lost but Janet had thankfully kept it safe, enabling the appearance of the four tracks on this 60s-style vinyl EP. Drummer Janet Baily provides lead vocals on their version of John Lee Hooker’s ‘Dimples’, and bass player Pauline Moran sang lead on Bo Diddley’s ‘You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover’, Chuck Berry’s ‘I’m Talking About You’ and Ray Charles’ ‘What’d I Say’, with guitarists Andrea Hine, Carola Daish and Liz Hall joining in on backing vocals.

The mystery continues to deepen, as you hear whispers beckoning you out to the sea...

After refining their dark and seductive vision of alternative/gothic metal to surreal, cinematic levels with three EPs and a full-length album, The Cause of Shipwreck, behind them, the Assen-based Blackbriar continue to set their sails towards the future in 2023, signing with Nuclear Blast Records and working towards their second full-length album, again accompanied by long-time collaborator Joost van den Broek.

Formed in 2012 by Zora Cock, René Boxem, Bart Winters, and Frank Akkerman, they crafted their first single in 2014 with “Ready to Kill,” but it was 2015’s second single “Until Eternity” that truly propelled them into the scene. A sweeping track with an equally compelling and beautiful video, it continues to draw many to the act with over 18.1 million views since its debut. Taking advantage of the growing buzz surrounding the band, they independently recorded and released their first EP, Fractured Fairytales, as well as acquiring a second guitarist in Robin Koezen. This EP layed down an impressive foundation for the band’s ethereal and breathtaking sound and brought about new opportunities for the act, including tour dates in The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Hungary, and more, where the band played alongside Epica, Halestorm, In This Moment, Delain and MaYan. To keep moving ahead with full control of their creative ideals, the band successfully crowdfunded their follow-up EP, We’d Rather Burn, and brought it to life in October 2018. This EP would be the first time the band worked alongside esteemed producer Joost van den Broek to arrange and produce the effort, and this fruitful collaboration allowed Blackbriar’s whimsical and enigmatic sound to reach new sonic heights. Released the same day as their self-made video for “I’d Rather Burn,” this EP showcased a stronger sense of dreamy atmosphere and brought listeners beautifully grim tales of witches, banshees, and sea sirens. In the time following, keyboardist Ruben Wijga (ex-Re-Vamp) took a larger role within the band and began playing shows, after being involved in the songwriting process since Fractured Fairytales.

A busy 2019 followed, the band released a haunting single in May entitled “Snow White and Rose Red.” A duet with Ulli Perhonen, their take on the Grimm’s fairytale featured striking cinematic visuals to accompany the spellbinding track. Continuing to dig deeper into fairytale realms, Blackbriar closed the year with their third EP, Our Mortal Remains. Ever-sharpening their intoxicating blend of storytelling and breathtaking musicianship, the EP brought about new live exposures for the act as well. Small, sold out tours with Epica in 2019 and 2020, as well as a sold out opening for Delain’s Apocalypse & Chill release show in Utrecht followed, with more future plans then being put on hold due to COVID-19. Championing their continued independence, which included everything from songwriting, maintaining their web presence, overseeing merch, as well as shooting and producing their own videos and photos, Blackbriar reached out to their ever-growing and loyal fanbase for assistance to make their full-length album a reality in 2020. Fans fervently heeded the call, reaching the € 25,000 goal in under 24 hours and ending with a total of € 70,000 and achieving all five stretch goals. An impressive accomplishment for an independent act, which also showcases a strong internet presence with over 214,000 YouTube subscribers and 46.1 million channel views as well as 27.6 million Spotify streams and 150,000 monthly streamers on the platform.

She Spread Sorrow is the work of Italian industrialist Alice Kundalini. In her sparse and grimly atmospheric applications of noise, tone, and electronic sequencing, She Spread Sorrow expresses a volatile emotional core that speaks to abuse and repression with an unblinking candidness.

Orchid Seeds was originally published as part of the instantly out of print On Corrosion - a 10 cassette anthology from 2019 that was housed in a handcrafted wooden box and featuring full albums from Kleistwahr, Neutral, Pinkcourtesyphone, Alice Kemp, She Spread Sorrow, G*Park, Relay For Death, Francisco Meirino, Fossil Aerosol Mining Project, and Himukalt. The collection also stood as the 50th release for The Helen Scarsdale Agency, an imprint founded in 2003 and dedicated to post-industrial research, recombinant noise, surrealist demolition, existential vacancy and then some.

Kundalini’s signature whispered vocals once again beckons her audience closer on Orchid Seeds. Kundalini states that the album, “is about 5 different women of my family. Each track is about one of them with their difficult story and strengths. My family is totally destroyed now, no relation between anyone, but in the past there was a strong tradition of women with interesting personalities.” This sibilant allegorical history comes into focus amidst a claustrophobic and cinematic pall of dark ambient blight and death industrial torpor.

Repress!

1981 SYNTH CLASSIC BY JAPANESE KEYBOARD WIZARD AND YMO PROGRAMMER HIDEKI MATSUTAKE REISSUED OUTSIDE OF JAPAN FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 40 YEARS. REMASTERED FROM THE ORIGINAL TAPES WITH STRIKING ORIGINAL ARTWORK BY LEGENDARY ILLUSTRATOR PATER SATO INCLUDING ITS STUNNING FULLY ILLUSTRATED
8-PAGE BOOKLET

His name may not be instantly familiar, but Hideki Matsutake has had a huge influence over Electronic music. Starting his career as the assistant of Japanese Electronic Music master Isao Tomita in the early 70s, he went on to work with Ryuichi Sakamoto and then Yellow Magic Orchestra as their keyboard programmer and unofficial fourth member. In 1981 he started his own Logic System project recording "Venus" that year in Los Angeles with Don Grusin, Nathan East and Michael Boddicker, brilliantly mixing Synth Funk, Ambient and Boogie with a touch of Fusion Jazz predating Vaporwave by a mere 30 years. Wewantsounds is delighted to reissue this visionary album, which
comes remastered from the original tapes and features Pater Sato stunning artwork including the rare beautiful 8-page insert with an exclusive interview of Hideki Matsutake by Hashim Kotaro Bharoocha.
The early 80s were prolific for Hideki Matsutake. As the go-to keyboard programmer for the tokyo music scene, he worked on Akiko Yano's "Gohan Ga Dekitayo", YMO's "BGM", Ryuichi Sakamoto's "B-2 Unit", Mkwaju Ensemble's "Mkwaju" and found time to record two Logic System albums in 1981. While the first album, "Logic" had a harder techno feel, the second one "Venus" was different affair. Recorded in Los Angeles at the new state of the art Yamaha Studio, it was loosely themed on the Greek goddess Venus and had a funkier more organic sound. For the album Matsutake had asked a handful of American musicians to provide songs he would then add his synth magic touch to. Michael Boddicker, Don Grusin, Nathan East and Roger Powell duly complied and also played on the album.

The updated sound was achieved by switching from the Moog III to the E-mu modular System (which Matsutake brought over to LA) and other synths like the Prophet 5, the Roland MC-8 and TR 808 and the Yamaha GS-1, a forerunner of the DX7.

The result is an amazing futuristic mix of electronic music and early 80s funk, announcing many genres to come, from techno and house to French electro and Vaporwave. From the breezy ambient synth of "I Love You" to the city pop edge of "Be Yourself" (originally written by Nathan East for Debra Laws) and the vocoder-led Daft Punk-ish "Take A Chance", Venus is a fascinating album that both pushes the boundaries of electronic music and is yet strangely accessible and beautiful.

The other key elements of Venus is the artwork designed by Japanese legendary illustrator Pater Sato. Sato had started in Japan in the early 70s doing many album covers for Japanese artists including Tatsuro Yamashita's cult Spacy LP before moving to New York in 1979 to pursue a career in fashion and advertising. His airbrush style became hugely influential over the years and in 2018, Stella McCartney dedicated a whole Men’s collection based on his Venus. Star make up artist Pat McGrath also regularly posts his artwork to her 3 million fans on her instagram.

The original album came with a beautiful 8-panel insert illustrated by Sato which Wewantsounds has reproduced on this deluxe reissue also featuring remastered sound, OBI strip and a second insert featuring credits and line up plus liner notes by Hashim Bharoocha. The notes will feature an exclusive interview with Hideki Matsutake reminiscing about the making of this visionary album which Wewantsounds is delighted to reissue.

LTD ORANGE VINYL

GLOK is the electronic alter ego of Andy Bell; best-known as the guitarist in venerated shoegazers Ride, alongside stints in other famous groups, with a noteworthy solo careertoo. This October his first album proper as GLOK - 'Pattern Recognition' - is released via Ransom Note Records' sisterlabel Bytes. Although usually renowned for purveying the finest quality jangle, drone and general guitar-based magic, Bell's forayinto dance music should come as less of a surprise than immediately meets the eye. There are parallels between the genres within the sonically-deep layers, hypnotic sound and trance-like headspaces, or, as he puts it more succinctly: "GLOK is all about the push and pull between electronic and psych in my music." Although not a full-blown concept album, 'Pattern Recognition' has a loose thread which takes in a week of life, from weekend to weekend, with each of the vinyl's four sides capturing different mind states across that transition. Each side has a distinct feel that's different to the last but inherently cohesive - much like the changes an individual goes through over 7 days. Across the album with loving craft Andy weaves together throbbing dubbed-out acid, steamy jack trax, levitational psychedelia, sparkling Balearic, techno, Kosmische, shoegaze, art rock and Compass Point-style post punk -with just a hint of ambient, new age and contemporary classical too.

2023 Repress

Since Jesper Munk's debut album in 2013 the German singer-songwriter has made a name for himself as multi-instrumentalist , "in the paths of Jack White and Dan Auerbach," as the Rolling Stone Magazine puts it, playing music that ranges from Blues and Soul to heartfelt Pop and indulging Jazz, all this with a very unique, post-Punk
edge. His new album Taped Heart Sounds offers an evolution of Munk's sound: warm, gentle and soft vibes that go deep. "If there is a way to give you a hug in form of an album, this is how I'd attempt to do so," says Munk.

Recorded in an offbeat band room in Berlin with The Cassette Heads, the album brings together classics reaching from Blues to Rock'n Roll. Twelve songs of legendary artists who have influenced and inspired Munk since his early days, including Tom Waits, JJ Cale, Etta James, Hank Williams, Willie Dixon, Jacques Brel, and Mocky.
The entire album was recorded with a Tascam Portastudio 8-Track Cassette Recorder which brought an original and authentic sound to each song: "The technical limitations immediately liberated all other aspects of the recording," Munk says. "It shows how much of making music is just listening and without a screen to catch your eye, you really have no choice but to do so." All Songs face realness and live from these volatile moments that reveal vulnerability and musical generosity. The outcome of this analogue experiment is a very personal album, both inspiring and consoling.
Taped Heart Sounds courageously opens with Donnie & Joe Emerson's Baby; a song so iconic that it actually cannot be enhanced. However, Munk's interpretation stands out and has a presence that gives the song a life of its own - made for walking. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, All the World Is Green, I'd Rather Go Blind, Head in the Clouds - what follows is a journey through Blues and Soul that is so vital and "now" that End of the Line may be the final track but certainly not the end of the story.
The album wouldn't be what it is without collaboration and partnership. Munk's special thanks go to his fans who helped to crowd-fund the recording. "On top of having had a real fun learning experience it all felt like a community project with real support from friends, the Cassette Heads, incredibly inspiring guests, and from Miles Deico, a wonderfully open and able engineer," so Munk about the making of the album.
Taped Heart Sounds is Jesper Munk's 4th album, following acclaimed debut album For in My Way it Lies (2013), CLAIM (2016), and Favourite Stranger (2018). Released via Billbrook Records, Hamburg-based Distributor Wordandsound's new label, the album is available for pre-order now - for purchase on vinyl and CD. The first single 'Baby' is going to be released on November 19, 2021.

Die Musikerinnen der Discodelic-Soul-Band Say She She, die ihren Namen als stille Anspielung auf Nile Rodgers ("C'est chi-chi!: It's Chic!") gewählt hat, veröffentlicht ihr zweites Album "Silver" auf den Spuren eines epischen Durchbruchsjahres, das von Tag zu Tag heller wird. Die drei starken Stimmen von Piya Malik (Stammgast bei El Michels Affair und ehemalige Backgroundsängerin von Chicano Batman), Sabrina Mileo Cunningham und Nya GazelleBrown sind die Frontfrauen der Band. Das harmonierende Trio entstand in einer klassischen New Yorker Geschichte von Freunden, die sich auf dem Weg zur Musik kennenlernten: auf den Tanzflächen der Innenstadt, auf den Dielen der Lower East Side und auf den Dächern von Harlem. "Silver" wurde Anfang des Jahres im Killion Sound Studio in North Hollywood geschrieben und live auf Band aufgenommen und von Sergio Rios (von Orgone) produziert. Während diese analogen Aufnahmetechniken dazu beitragen, Say She She's Sound in einem Fundament aus klanglicher Wärme zu verankern, das nur mit Tonband erreicht werden kann, ist es auch ihr Prozess, den Track im Moment zu produzieren und die Magie der gemeinschaftlichen Kreativität einzufangen, die dazu geführt hat, dass ihr Sound als "eine glorreiche Überladung aus freudigem Enthusiasmus und spiritueller Erhebung" (MOJO) und "durchdrungen vom schrägen Post-Disco-Geist der frühen 80er Jahre in NYC" (The Guardian) beschrieben wurde. Silver, das Element, ist bekannt als das Metall des Selbstbewusstseins und der Spiegel der Seele. Die 16-Song-Doppel-LP zeigt nicht nur, dass die Band an Selbstvertrauen gewonnen hat, sondern spiegelt auch eine tiefere Erkundung ihrer punkig-schicken, weiblich-vorwärts gerichteten Sensibilität wider.

Die Musikerinnen der Discodelic-Soul-Band Say She She, die ihren Namen als stille Anspielung auf Nile Rodgers ("C'est chi-chi!: It's Chic!") gewählt hat, veröffentlicht ihr zweites Album "Silver" auf den Spuren eines epischen Durchbruchsjahres, das von Tag zu Tag heller wird. Die drei starken Stimmen von Piya Malik (Stammgast bei El Michels Affair und ehemalige Backgroundsängerin von Chicano Batman), Sabrina Mileo Cunningham und Nya GazelleBrown sind die Frontfrauen der Band. Das harmonierende Trio entstand in einer klassischen New Yorker Geschichte von Freunden, die sich auf dem Weg zur Musik kennenlernten: auf den Tanzflächen der Innenstadt, auf den Dielen der Lower East Side und auf den Dächern von Harlem. "Silver" wurde Anfang des Jahres im Killion Sound Studio in North Hollywood geschrieben und live auf Band aufgenommen und von Sergio Rios (von Orgone) produziert. Während diese analogen Aufnahmetechniken dazu beitragen, Say She She's Sound in einem Fundament aus klanglicher Wärme zu verankern, das nur mit Tonband erreicht werden kann, ist es auch ihr Prozess, den Track im Moment zu produzieren und die Magie der gemeinschaftlichen Kreativität einzufangen, die dazu geführt hat, dass ihr Sound als "eine glorreiche Überladung aus freudigem Enthusiasmus und spiritueller Erhebung" (MOJO) und "durchdrungen vom schrägen Post-Disco-Geist der frühen 80er Jahre in NYC" (The Guardian) beschrieben wurde. Silver, das Element, ist bekannt als das Metall des Selbstbewusstseins und der Spiegel der Seele. Die 16-Song-Doppel-LP zeigt nicht nur, dass die Band an Selbstvertrauen gewonnen hat, sondern spiegelt auch eine tiefere Erkundung ihrer punkig-schicken, weiblich-vorwärts gerichteten Sensibilität wider.

Die Musikerinnen der Discodelic-Soul-Band Say She She, die ihren Namen als stille Anspielung auf Nile Rodgers ("C'est chi-chi!: It's Chic!") gewählt hat, veröffentlicht ihr zweites Album "Silver" auf den Spuren eines epischen Durchbruchsjahres, das von Tag zu Tag heller wird. Die drei starken Stimmen von Piya Malik (Stammgast bei El Michels Affair und ehemalige Backgroundsängerin von Chicano Batman), Sabrina Mileo Cunningham und Nya GazelleBrown sind die Frontfrauen der Band. Das harmonierende Trio entstand in einer klassischen New Yorker Geschichte von Freunden, die sich auf dem Weg zur Musik kennenlernten: auf den Tanzflächen der Innenstadt, auf den Dielen der Lower East Side und auf den Dächern von Harlem. "Silver" wurde Anfang des Jahres im Killion Sound Studio in North Hollywood geschrieben und live auf Band aufgenommen und von Sergio Rios (von Orgone) produziert. Während diese analogen Aufnahmetechniken dazu beitragen, Say She She's Sound in einem Fundament aus klanglicher Wärme zu verankern, das nur mit Tonband erreicht werden kann, ist es auch ihr Prozess, den Track im Moment zu produzieren und die Magie der gemeinschaftlichen Kreativität einzufangen, die dazu geführt hat, dass ihr Sound als "eine glorreiche Überladung aus freudigem Enthusiasmus und spiritueller Erhebung" (MOJO) und "durchdrungen vom schrägen Post-Disco-Geist der frühen 80er Jahre in NYC" (The Guardian) beschrieben wurde. Silver, das Element, ist bekannt als das Metall des Selbstbewusstseins und der Spiegel der Seele. Die 16-Song-Doppel-LP zeigt nicht nur, dass die Band an Selbstvertrauen gewonnen hat, sondern spiegelt auch eine tiefere Erkundung ihrer punkig-schicken, weiblich-vorwärts gerichteten Sensibilität wider.

* In 1993, Andy C & Ant Miles set out about creating a fourth release for the newly established Ram Records, now just a year old. With Hardcore still prominent in the clubs around the world, The Touch features rollercoaster bass swoops against energetic breaks flowing around the main sung vocal "c'mon and touch me".

An early sign of the precision arrangements that became synonymous of Ram's early sound that followed over for many years. Whilst going through the remaining samples in the sampler that had not been used on the A side, the pair suddenly went on a tangent with one of the drum breaks.

Experimenting with the new time stretch function in the Akai sampler, they soon had a shuffle groove layered and moving. With Ant Miles' sculpted and edited arpeggio bell line sample, a new overall sound and vibe was beginning to emerge out of their studio Atari ST computer.

Utilising an original organic analogue string pad, the haunting sinister vibe became complete. With the vocal from the BBC QED documentary 'Glimpses of Death' - "I felt, like I was in a long dark tunnel" all that remained was one of the most memorable pounding bass lines to sit underneath it all.

The result was an instant impact on the scene, heralded as one of the first anthems of the Jungle genre. Multi award winning and the track that cemented Andy & Ant and their label Ram Records within the scene.

»This River Only Brings Poison« was released in 2002 as the sixth full-length album of Chris Hooson’s Dakota Suite project. This first-ever vinyl edition of the record includes four bonus pieces and makes it possible for fans to re-evaluate one of the most crucial Dakota Suite albums in the project’s vast discography while also providing new listeners with an entry point into its intricate musical cosmos. With contributions by artists as diverse as steel guitarist Bruce Kaphan and drummer Tim Mooney from American Music Club, Derald Daugherty, and Laura and Chris Donohue as well as long-time collaborators such as David Buxton, Colin Dunkley or Ed Collins, »This River Only Brings Poison« turned out as a sonically rich and stylistically versatile as it is emotionally multi-layered.

»Writing music for me has always been a cathartic exercise,« explains Hooson. While the instrumental pieces generally serve to express a raw sense of his internal struggles, his vocal-led songs communicate them more directly. »Those are the words I cannot say openly. It’s not that I cannot voice them in a conversation, it’s just that they only seem half-formed and not ›true‹ unless they are located within a song,« he says. What makes Dakota Suite unique is that throughout the project’s history, the music and lyrics have always had a single addressee: Hooson’s wife Johanna, whose photographs were used for the album artwork and who is featured on clarinet on »sand fools the shoreline.«

»The title of the record was something that I had said when Johanna and I first met to make her see that the journey she was considering taking would be full of love, but also come at a cost,« explains Hooson. »The songs were written at a time when I was really struggling to think I could be the person that she deserved.« In the end however, »This River Only Brings Poison« marked a turning point in Hooson’s oeuvre after highly productive time with Dakota Suite: it would take another five years until he returned with a new album. »The reason for that was that I needed to accept that she had made her choice to be with me and that was a big thing for me to get my head around,« he says.

Hooson’s highly personal approach to writing songs also has an impact on the ways in which he works with his collaborators when recording them. »The people with whom I play really need to understand how I perceive the world to be able to play what I need,« he says. »My instructions would always be things like, ›This is what the song means to me, this is what I am trying to communicate to Johanna when she hears it, so your cello, for example, needs to sound like you have noticed that the cloud is covering the sun, and the weight of the air on your skin is heavier and it has unsettled you.‹«

For this particular record, he reached out to Mooney and Kaphan as an admirer of their group American Music Club. Expecting to be rejected, he instead found himself on a flight to San Francisco together with multi-instrumentalist Buxton shortly thereafter, about to make what he today calls one of his most cherished recording experiences. After the four musicians finished the basic tracks, overdubs were added in Hooson and Buxton’s respective houses as well as Daugherty’s home studio while Hooson was visiting his old friend in Nashville.

Hooson emphasises that revisiting his older releases can be complicated. »I feel intense feelings, as every record is a diary of who I was in that period and what I was feeling. That is why having to play the songs live is always like having PTSD: I need to re-experience the event that caused me to write the song, and I do not enjoy that.« He remains, however, proud of »This River Only Brings Poison,« pointing especially to the opener »the lepers companion« as what might perhaps be his favourite song of his. »But overall I just hope that Johanna feels it spoke to her,« he says, adding that the two do not discuss his records. »For me it's enough that she is listening to the things I mean to communicate to her.«

After a busy and prolific work on his acoustic-electronic project and soundtrack compositions, Mischa Blanos wears again his clubbing outfit, returning with a three track EP for his techno and live electronics awaiting crowd in the dancing arena. Linear EP evokes the ethereal experience of clubbing, where time feels like grinding to a halt as if plunging through an open door into a new world.

Taking the vantage point of the dancefloor, Mischa Blanos recalls entering this space where time doesn't play a heavy role anymore. Be it two hours or eight in a nightclub, be it day or night, dusk or dawn, one doesn't seek time traveling but time stopping, as a way to relieve the time burden in our high-speed society. We tend to perceive that time is running at a faster pace, but time itself does not pass, what passes are things and living beings. Time is neither linear nor circular, time does not flow or move, but allows us to do so. And it is here on the dance floor that this reality can be felt.

Everything is moving, vibrating and changing from the flashing lights to the loud decibel kicks and everyone is both audience and performer on the stage. They all belong to the scene. Sometimes this could mean an individual experience, being completely absorbed in dancing or a parallel space, and other times it means togetherness, feeling an integral part of the experience. In his techno dedicated Linear EP Mischa Blanos speaks about clubbing as a form of escapism, but a form that can help us to reach a better understanding of our relationship with time.

As Duke Ellington would have said, Dinah Washington was “beyond category”. Subtle and inventive enough to hold an honored place in the jazz pantheon yet tough and forceful enough to command the attention of blues, R&B and rock & roll audiences. Equally at ease performing Broadway songs, pop tunes or jazz material, Washington combined urbane finesse with down-home grit to make music that reflected her strong-willed, larger-than-life personality.

This concert from 2016 marks the first time Heart played at London’s famous Royal Albert Hall.

To make the sold-out night even more special, the band was accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, who added further depth and an epic scale to Heart’s songs.

The set included hits, fan favourites and both new and reinterpreted tracks from their most recent album at that time: “Beautiful Broken”. The chemistry between the band and orchestra added a truly magical quality to a concert that will live long in the memory of those Heart fans lucky enough to have been present.

The female-led discodelic soul band Say She She, named as a silent nod to Nile Rodgers (C’est chi-chi!: It's Chic!”), release their sophomore album ‘Silver’ on the heels of an epic break-out year that grows brighter by the day.

The three strong voices of Piya Malik (El Michels Affair staple feature, and former backing singer for Chicano Batman), Sabrina Mileo Cunningham and Nya Gazelle Brown front the band. This harmonizing trio was formed in a classic New York tale of friends that met by following the music: the downtown dancefloors, through the

Lower East Side floorboards and up to the rooftops of Harlem.

‘Silver’ was entirely written and recorded live to tape at Killion Sound studio in North Hollywood earlier this year and produced by Sergio Rios (of Orgone). While these analog recording techniques help root Say She She’s sound in a bedrock of tonal warmth that only tape can achieve, it is also their process of cutting the track

in the moment and capturing the magic of communal creativity that has seen their sound described as “a glorious overload of joyful elation and spiritual elevation” (MOJO) and “infused with the wonky post-disco spirit of early '80s NYC” (The Guardian).

Silver, the element, is known as the metal of self-confidence and the mirror of the soul. With that, the 16-song double-LP projects not only their growth in writing with confidence, but also reflects a deeper exploration into their punk-chic, femmeforward sensibility.

Ultimately, ‘Silver’ oozes with quirk and adventure and embraces the multifaceted nature of what it means to be a modern femme. The She She's fully embrace their role as beauticians, actively reminding people of the inherent beauty in the world. They skillfully employ double entendres and humor to encourage open dialogue and fearlessly address important matters that demand attention.

Confidence is the NBR absolute party starter! Big big drums, live saxophone and organ, a crazy tempo and a hook we've been spotted shouting along to walking to work at 9am! Like Phill Most says “Occasionally / Its even amazing to me/ how ill I can be /when I MC”. Damn straight Phill Most! We've seen early acetates of this absolutely tear up the festival circuit last summer & consider this 45 the ultimate party 45 on the label!

Flip it over to hear the exclusive to this 45 If Ya Let 'Em (Remix). Phill Most Chill on a cautionary tale about grabbing hold of our own destiniy! This very unusual beat that emulates a band sound by progressing & switching from bar 1 to the end. Snafu & Bankrupt Euros' Craig Cloy go wild on bass, piano & cello arrangement over a tough, classic break using live instrumentation and some sample chops, trying to replicate the feel of a soul band with hip hop sensibilities. Grazzhoppa steals the show on both sides with his turntable wizardry once again blurring the lines between beat and scratches blending his scratches into the instrumentation!

The female-led discodelic soul band Say She She, named as a silent nod to Nile Rodgers (C’est chi-chi!: It's Chic!”), release their sophomore album ‘Silver’ on the heels of an epic break-out year that grows brighter by the day.

The three strong voices of Piya Malik (El Michels Affair staple feature, and former backing singer for Chicano Batman), Sabrina Mileo Cunningham and Nya Gazelle Brown front the band. This harmonizing trio was formed in a classic New York tale of friends that met by following the music: the downtown dancefloors, through the

Lower East Side floorboards and up to the rooftops of Harlem.

‘Silver’ was entirely written and recorded live to tape at Killion Sound studio in North Hollywood earlier this year and produced by Sergio Rios (of Orgone). While these analog recording techniques help root Say She She’s sound in a bedrock of tonal warmth that only tape can achieve, it is also their process of cutting the track

in the moment and capturing the magic of communal creativity that has seen their sound described as “a glorious overload of joyful elation and spiritual elevation” (MOJO) and “infused with the wonky post-disco spirit of early '80s NYC” (The Guardian).

Silver, the element, is known as the metal of self-confidence and the mirror of the soul. With that, the 16-song double-LP projects not only their growth in writing with confidence, but also reflects a deeper exploration into their punk-chic, femmeforward sensibility.

Ultimately, ‘Silver’ oozes with quirk and adventure and embraces the multifaceted nature of what it means to be a modern femme. The She She's fully embrace their role as beauticians, actively reminding people of the inherent beauty in the world. They skillfully employ double entendres and humor to encourage open dialogue and fearlessly address important matters that demand attention.

In 1995 the self-titled full-length debut of Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung (DAAU) was released. The band consisted of four young, 'classically derailed' musicians who played their own compositions with acoustic instruments such as violin, cello, clarinet and accordion. Their work contained influences from Roma music, Eastern European folk, klezmer and jazz, but was performed with the energy, rebellious spirit and Sturm und Drang of a bona fide punk band. DAAU was part of the fertile Antwerp scene, which also produced dEUS, Zita Swoon and Kiss My Jazz, and soon signed an international record deal with Sony Classical.

The group's influential first record, which has been out of print for a while, is now finally being released again and is available on vinyl for the very first time.

In those early days, DAAU consisted of four young, classically trained musicians who tackled their instrumental compositions with a true punk spirit. 'If we'd had guitars, bass or drums at that time, we would probably have been just another rock band', says accordionist Roel Van Camp, who, together with his schoolmates Buni Lenski on violin, the latter's brother Simon on cello and Han Stubbe on clarinet made up the Antwerp quartet. 'With our acoustic instruments we tried to create our own version of the music we loved listening to, from sixties rock and prog to new wave.'

The quartet, which initially played in streets and cafes, appealed to a diverse audience and sometimes joked that they were a classically trained unit that had 'gone off the rails'. 'As befits teenagers, we wanted to shake things up', Stubbe remembers, 'even though we always kept cherishing our classical backgrounds.' Van Camp: 'Our education was never supposed to feel like a straitjacket. We were free-spirited enough to ignore the laws and regulations of the music academy and to create our own sound. Our compositions were open to influences from Roma music, Eastern European folk, klezmer and jazz'. 'That eclecticism was a direct result of the zeitgeist', Han Stubbe adds. 'We loved different styles and happily mixed them together'.

The monniker Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung was derived from Steppenwolf, a novel by German writer Hermann Hesse about a character who was outside society. 'In the book, the narrator talks of a theatre', Van Camp explains. 'And at the entrance there is a warning sign sign that says: if you go in here, you are guaranteed to lose your mind. That was an apt description of the way our music worked'.

Almost all tracks on DAAU's first album were 'Drieslagstelsels' (or 'three-course rotations'). The term referred to an agricultural method of the early Middle Ages, but also to the fact that each song of the group consisted of three major movements. Van Camp: 'The titles of those pieces referred to our method of writing. We piled up a huge bunch of ideas, because we wanted to tell more than just one story. With each composition, we took the listener for a ride'.

In 1995 the self-titled full-length debut of Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung (DAAU) was released. The band consisted of four young, 'classically derailed' musicians who played their own compositions with acoustic instruments such as violin, cello, clarinet and accordion. Their work contained influences from Roma music, Eastern European folk, klezmer and jazz, but was performed with the energy, rebellious spirit and Sturm und Drang of a bona fide punk band. DAAU was part of the fertile Antwerp scene, which also produced dEUS, Zita Swoon and Kiss My Jazz, and soon signed an international record deal with Sony Classical.

The group's influential first record, which has been out of print for a while, is now finally being released again and is available on vinyl for the very first time.

In those early days, DAAU consisted of four young, classically trained musicians who tackled their instrumental compositions with a true punk spirit. 'If we'd had guitars, bass or drums at that time, we would probably have been just another rock band', says accordionist Roel Van Camp, who, together with his schoolmates Buni Lenski on violin, the latter's brother Simon on cello and Han Stubbe on clarinet made up the Antwerp quartet. 'With our acoustic instruments we tried to create our own version of the music we loved listening to, from sixties rock and prog to new wave.'

The quartet, which initially played in streets and cafes, appealed to a diverse audience and sometimes joked that they were a classically trained unit that had 'gone off the rails'. 'As befits teenagers, we wanted to shake things up', Stubbe remembers, 'even though we always kept cherishing our classical backgrounds.' Van Camp: 'Our education was never supposed to feel like a straitjacket. We were free-spirited enough to ignore the laws and regulations of the music academy and to create our own sound. Our compositions were open to influences from Roma music, Eastern European folk, klezmer and jazz'. 'That eclecticism was a direct result of the zeitgeist', Han Stubbe adds. 'We loved different styles and happily mixed them together'.

The monniker Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung was derived from Steppenwolf, a novel by German writer Hermann Hesse about a character who was outside society. 'In the book, the narrator talks of a theatre', Van Camp explains. 'And at the entrance there is a warning sign sign that says: if you go in here, you are guaranteed to lose your mind. That was an apt description of the way our music worked'.

Almost all tracks on DAAU's first album were 'Drieslagstelsels' (or 'three-course rotations'). The term referred to an agricultural method of the early Middle Ages, but also to the fact that each song of the group consisted of three major movements. Van Camp: 'The titles of those pieces referred to our method of writing. We piled up a huge bunch of ideas, because we wanted to tell more than just one story. With each composition, we took the listener for a ride'.

Bristol's soul jazz kings The Jazz Defenders release a new vinyl 45 single this autumn as a taster for their third album, which is destined for release in spring 2024. Once again, they are bringing together their love of 1960's soul jazz and golden era 90's hip-hop, just as they did on a couple of tracks on their last album "King Phoenix" (Haggis Records 2022). This new single sees them reunited with London MC/rapper Doc Brown, who guested on the track "Perfectly Imperfect", and his flow sits so naturally over the Jazz Defenders' music and beats, you'd think he's a permanent band member.

The A-side "Rolling On A High" is a real old school boom bap style party hip-hop jam. Big beats, rolling bassline (acoustic double bass), Ramsey Lewis soul jazz piano vamps, funky Hammond organ and some punchy horn section business, all topped off with Doc Brown bouncing bars back and forth with that laid back vibe he always brings to the mic. A guaranteed dance-floor bomb, whether you're a breaker, a jazz dancer or simply a Saturday night disco shuffler. The B-side "Looking Back" takes the tempo right down. An 'end of the night' number when the lights in the club are low, the last drinks are being drained and you're thinking and reminiscing about times gone by. The good times and bad, successes and mistakes. And made even more poignant and reflective halfway through when the mellow strings come into the song (once again excellently arranged by pianist/bandleader George Cooper). If "Rolling On A High" is the fire then "Looking Back" is definitely the ice. Proof that the Jazz Defenders can rock the party and grab the dancers but also dig deep with emotive tunes that draw in the discerning listener.

The Jazz Defenders, led by keyboard maestro George Cooper from The Haggis Horns, have been building a reputation as a great musical unit since their debut Blue Note/hard bop-inspired album "Scheming" appeared on Haggis Records back in 2019, which received a huge amount of praise from critics, and subsequently went on to spend 5 weeks in the top ten of the American jazz charts In 2021, their double A-side vinyl single "The Big Man/Love's Vestige" got them the breakthrough they deserved. It garnered heavy support on radio from top folks like Craig Charles (BBC6 Music), Helen Mayhew (Jazz FM), Jamie Cullum (BBC Radio 2), and Worldwide FM resident DJ's Ashley Beedle and Colin Curtis. They further enhanced their reputation as a rocking band with album number two "King Phoenix" and by electrifying audiences at sold out live shows across the UK, including the legendary Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London.

Album number three is well on its way but for now, check out this tasty limited edition 45 single on Haggis Records. The JDs and Doc Brown...the perfect combination, still keeping that sweet jazz/hip-hop love affair alive today.

Top Left Club are a budget Brighton band from the depths of 2020. Ease into the sleaze and get ready to submit to the filthy frequencies about to be unleashed. Raw, pure songs filled with visceral energy will saturate every corner of your mind, potentially changing the course of your life. Top Left Club take no prisoners