Search:af

Okokon returns to Other People with his sophomore album, 'Offering', delving deeper into the lush and cinematic soundscapes he first explored on his debut album, 'Turkson Side'. While primarily working in visual arts, Africanus Okokon, who records under his surname, bridges his artistic practices in 'Offering', using his masterful collage techniques to create his most personal work yet. Defying easy
categorization, the album melds influences from dream pop, avant-garde folk, psychedelia, trip hop, and dub, with traces of field recordings seamlessly blended throughout to form a cohesive whole.
'Offering' sees Okokon confronting and negotiating a sudden and unexplained death that occurred in his childhood and the complex emotions left in its aftermath, acting as his main inspiration when
making the album. This ambiguity is something that permeates throughout, with Okokon wanting to explore the ambivalence and sometimes uneasiness of contradicting emotions appearing
simultaneously, alluded to in the album title. This is also reflected in how the album tracks each inhabit different narrators with varying perspectives on the same events. The result being a hauntingly
beautiful album, with recurring themes of death, growth, sacrifice and spirituality ever present.

Music lovers will be familiar with his love of Caribbean pearls from the compilations "Ritmo Caliente" and "Message from the Islands" as well as other releases such as "Los Yoyi", "Mighty Shadow" and "Wild Fire". Now Tom Sky, the former creative head of Black Pearl Records, is pulling another tropical discovery out of his travel treasure box on his new record label Sound Essence.
Lloyd and the Joys is truly a real holy grail and one of the most sought-after funky hotel records from the Caribbean islands. Deep, groovy synth Soul with the song "That Look Of You" meets jazzy funk breaks with the strong tune "The New York Business". There are also two stylish 70s postcards from Lloyd himself in a vintage design in each sleeve. The release is a must for all tropical music connoisseurs.

Yemen Blues was founded in 2010 by the singer, multi-instrumentalist and extraordinary showman Ravid Kahalani. Their music is inspired by the culture of Yemen which is at the crossroads of the Arab world, East Africa and Jewish traditions. A culture that reconciles the learned and the popular and mystical experience. Connect these age-old and essential trances with the most contemporary energies of Blues, Funk and Rock; let it be played by extraordinary musicians.
High energy and profundity; freshness and mastery are all combined in the world of Yemen Blues. Shabazi - A Tribute to the Poet is a special project imagined by the group, setting the most beautiful texts of the greatest Yemeni poet of the 17th century Shalem Shabazi to 21st century music. The mix was done by Tamir Muskat (Balkan Beat Box and Gogol Bordello).

The eighth and latest slate of refined retro-futuristic synth-pop by Liz Wendelbo and Sean McBride aka Xeno & Oaklander is named after and inspired by "the study of what not to do, a negative image of a positive, the other side, the other:" 'Via Negativa (in the doorway light)'. Recorded in the fall of 2023 at their modernist Connecticut home fashioned into a two-story synthesizer laboratory and mixing studio, the album is uniquely visionary in spirit yet precision in execution, a contrast central to the duo’s enduring chemistry. Embryonic piano sketches were translated to nuanced modular systems, which McBride weighted with "harmonic padding," tuned percussion, and a spectral transfer device capable of "rendering spasms of rhythmic overtonal filigree." Despite the technological complexity of their craft, emotively the songs require no deciphering – these are technicolor widescreen anthems of the cybernetic age.

The eponymous opening track sets the pace, soaring sleekly over glittering synths and call-and-response vocals about arias, shattered light, and faces in stereo. From there the record expands and contracts, cycling through a gallery of moods and masks, animated by the band’s fascination with drama, "the idea of personae," and theatrical characters. Track by track, a murky, tragic backstory reveals itself: forlorn figures navigating a treacherous mercury mine, alternately poisoned by fumes or buried in collapsing caverns. The tension between Teutonic, utopian synthetic pop and lyrical narratives of ghosts in silos, ruined mills, and the traumas of mineral excavation creates a compelling friction, alternately futurist and obsolete, elevated and subterranean. Wendelbo describes the music’s polarities perfectly: "The heavy machinic din of extraction in contrast with the enchantment of the mined precious gems and metals."

From bilingual odes to bloodstones ("O Vermillion") to cosmic chrome dance floor classics ("Lost & There" "The present tense can never feel real / So many pasts conspire in the burning sun") to strutting EBM sensualities ("Actor's Foil"), Xeno & Oaklander re-prove themselves masters of the axis of technology and poetry, snaking cables and synesthesia, mining melodies and myths across 15 years of focused artistry. Theirs is a muse still gilded and gleaming, burnished red and silver, attuned to "the unobservable, the unfamiliar, that which you don’t see directly."

The eighth and latest slate of refined retro-futuristic synth-pop by Liz Wendelbo and Sean McBride aka Xeno & Oaklander is named after and inspired by "the study of what not to do, a negative image of a positive, the other side, the other:" 'Via Negativa (in the doorway light)'. Recorded in the fall of 2023 at their modernist Connecticut home fashioned into a two-story synthesizer laboratory and mixing studio, the album is uniquely visionary in spirit yet precision in execution, a contrast central to the duo’s enduring chemistry. Embryonic piano sketches were translated to nuanced modular systems, which McBride weighted with "harmonic padding," tuned percussion, and a spectral transfer device capable of "rendering spasms of rhythmic overtonal filigree." Despite the technological complexity of their craft, emotively the songs require no deciphering – these are technicolor widescreen anthems of the cybernetic age.

The eponymous opening track sets the pace, soaring sleekly over glittering synths and call-and-response vocals about arias, shattered light, and faces in stereo. From there the record expands and contracts, cycling through a gallery of moods and masks, animated by the band’s fascination with drama, "the idea of personae," and theatrical characters. Track by track, a murky, tragic backstory reveals itself: forlorn figures navigating a treacherous mercury mine, alternately poisoned by fumes or buried in collapsing caverns. The tension between Teutonic, utopian synthetic pop and lyrical narratives of ghosts in silos, ruined mills, and the traumas of mineral excavation creates a compelling friction, alternately futurist and obsolete, elevated and subterranean. Wendelbo describes the music’s polarities perfectly: "The heavy machinic din of extraction in contrast with the enchantment of the mined precious gems and metals."

From bilingual odes to bloodstones ("O Vermillion") to cosmic chrome dance floor classics ("Lost & There" "The present tense can never feel real / So many pasts conspire in the burning sun") to strutting EBM sensualities ("Actor's Foil"), Xeno & Oaklander re-prove themselves masters of the axis of technology and poetry, snaking cables and synesthesia, mining melodies and myths across 15 years of focused artistry. Theirs is a muse still gilded and gleaming, burnished red and silver, attuned to "the unobservable, the unfamiliar, that which you don’t see directly."

The exact relationship between Henry (T-Bone Burnett) and Howard Coward (Elvis Costello) remains ambiguous. They often referred to themselves as “One and a Half Brothers,” which might hint at their height difference or imply they were not actually siblings but were involved in an elaborate ruse. Their musical partnership, known as The Coward Brothers, was initiated by Smiley “Doc” Snipson, who discovered Henry Coward in 1956 and signed him for a UK tour. The brothers' hit single, “My Baby Just Squeals (You Heel),” was followed by less successful records and a controversial Cold War-themed song. To preserve their fading fame, Snipson orchestrated their supposed death in a plane crash, but they were actually in hiding on a Caribbean island, secretly recording music and sending it back to Snipson. When their funds ran out, they returned to Miami and made sensational claims about writing famous songs, leading to a brief stint as songwriters for Bill Bogguss. They later resumed recording, but their partnership eventually fractured, leading to years of estrangement. Their music, from early rock and roll hits to later, more introspective songs, is compiled in the album, The Coward Brothers. After years of silence, their story was explored in a radio program, revealing the complexity of their relationship and their enduring bond. Despite their tumultuous history, their music remains a testament to their unyielding spirit. The Coward Brothers are Elvis Costello and T-Bone Burnett. The Audible Original radio play, The True Story Of The Coward Brothers, is directed by Christopher Guest, and stars Howard Coward, Henry Coward, Harry Shearer, Edward Hibbert, Rhea Seehorn, Stephen Root, and Kathreen Khavari.

Paquito D’Rivera's - NEA Jazz Master, multiple Gramm winner, Downbeat Hall of Fame Inductee - gained worldwide attention as member of the Grammy Award winning Cuban group Irakere, a revolutionary ensemble co-founded with Chucho Valdés in the early 1970s. Blending Afro-Cuban rhythms and jazz, the band was a seminal force and marked a new era in Cuban music. His defection to the United States in 1980 was a turning point, as he became an ambassador of Latin jazz around the world, fusing cultures and genres effortlessly.

A decade into his new status, D’Rivera entered a New York studio to record an homage to Bebop.

He enlisted Grammy award winner and Dizzy Gillespie alum James Moody, distinguished straight ahead jazzers Mark Morganelli, Harvey Swartz and Al Foster, and major Latin-jazz players of the day Claudio Roditi, Danilo Perez, and Pedrito Lopez. While his intentions may have been to make an album like “Monk, Bird, and Dizzy” as he states in the liner notes, the results here are undeniably in D’Rivera’s signature style.

The album features a mix of original compositions from featured players, alongside the ensembles take on Coltrane’s “Giant Steps”, and Monks “I Mean You,” all delivered with D’Rivera’s unique perspective and deep understanding of traditional jazz and Latin music traditions.

This re-issue faithfully replicates the original 1971 Island Records UK release in gatefold sleeve and is pressed onto high quality 180g vinyl. Released in June 1971, Angel Delight was the first of two albums of Fairport Convention as a four-piece, after the departure of founder member Richard Thompson that January. The band were living in a converted pub, The Angel, in Hertfordshire where they worked up the material for the album, another blend of the traditional and the original. The title track a pun on the time they were having at the pub, and a nod to the popular British dessert of the same name was a jolly catalogue of their life at the moment, referring to producer John Wood as 'John The Wood' and drummer Dave Mattacks as 'Dave The Drum.' It also mentions the day a lorry crashed into the pub, which, had Dave Swarbrick been in his room at the time could well have killed him. The album Fairport's only Top 10 album in the UK chart is also known for its traditional medley of jigs and reels, The Cuckoo's Nest, the beautiful ballad Wizard Of The Worldly Game and the group's version of the salty English song The Bonny Black Hare

Ramkot is a wrecking ball from Ghent, Belgium, playing powerful yet danceable rock music. After two EP’s and building a reputation as one of the most exciting live bands around, the spring of 2023 sees the release of debut album In Between Borderlines, a razor-sharp 25-minute uppercut aiming for both head and hips. They tour extensively, playing a hefty 100 shows in just one year: from steamy venues and sun-drenched festival stages (Pinkpop, Down The Rabbit Hole) to even opening for Metallica in Amsterdam. For their sophomore album, instead of producing it themselves again, Ramkot enlist producer Alain Johannes (QOTSA, Eagles of Death Metal, Them Crooked Vultures), who invites them to the Joshua Tree desert. For three weeks, Ramkot reside in the legendary Rancho De La Luna studio, famous for QOTSA frontman Josh Homme’s The Desert Sessions. ‘We pulled out all the stops, not pushing our foot down on the accelerator all the time, which allows the music to breathe more. There’ll be a couple of softer songs the fans will not be expecting from us.’ But rest assured, every single note still sounds very much like Ramkot. The band will only play a handful of shows this year, including 2000 Trees (UK), Sziget (H), Pukkelpop and Lowlands.

"When you wish upon a star… that turns out to be Saturn.

Previously unheard Ra culled from the archives and compiled based on their association to that children's film corporation with the cartoon rodent.

Jazz aficionados and Disney nerds alike will marvel at how seamlessly Sun Ra and his Arkestra put their own unique twist on both well-known and overlooked Disney songs. Pink Elephants on Parade takes nine songs from Disney’s storied catalog and recontextualizes them as beautiful, fun, and sometimes terrifying pieces of Afrofuturist jazz. The collection also shows further proof of how Ra was always willing to transcend conventions of jazz. Listen to the full album and you will likely never look at the Disney music catalog the same way ever again.

Originally known for accompanying Dumbo and Timothy’s colorful alcohol-induced hallucinations, this song is given a whole new life by Ra and the Arkestra in more ways than one. It also feels faithful to the original at the same time, with the cacophony of horns, drums, percussion, and cowbell resembling that of a marching band. However, the demented grandeur of the song is turned up to eleven with zany vocal lines (hence the high-pitched “What’ll I do” inflections) and other performances that somehow sound more evil and gruff here than they did on Oliver Wallace and Ned Washington’s version. Though the Sportsmen’s vocals from that particular arrangement had a certain creepiness to it, the Arkestra takes a previously innocent sounding song and makes Pink Elephants On Parade sound even more terrifying."

Pile - the trio of Rick Maguire, Kris Kuss, and Alex Molini - found inspiration in the studio while working on their latest LP All Fiction, working tirelessly to record, experiment, manipulate, mutate, and layer the songs with lush orchestration, haunting synths, and abstract textures. Challenging the confines of the standard “rock band,” they took inspiration from artists like Portishead and Aphex Twin, reigniting their passion as they explored their sound in a new realm. The sessions resulted in a flutter of productivity and before the band knew it they had completed well over a dozen songs, stretching far beyond the confines of a single LP’s runtime. After much deliberation, songs were pulled from the record, never a “trimming of the fat” but more of a consideration of which songs were able to stand best on their own. These songs form the Hot Air Balloon EP. Released digitally on January 5th, 2024, and now in LP format for the first time, the EP captures the band experimenting in all directions, from the direct to the further abstract. Following the release of “Scaling Walls,” a song Paste Magazine called “a contemplative slow-burn,” the band introduce the EP with the quasi title track, “The Birds Attacked My Hot Air Balloon,” a song that finds Pile in a more surrealist state, the meditative composition bristling with shuffling rhythms and brilliantly disorienting synths.

"Horizoning is the sole album by Stefan Gnys. It recorded in 1969, and twelve copies were produced on acetate. Two worn copies remain, from which We Are Busy Bodies painstakingly remastered the album. There is static and crackle, but there are also a beautiful folk album waiting for an audience to finally hear it and learn the story.

From performing to an audience comprised of Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, and Tom Rush at an early edition of the Mariposa Folk Festival to seeing regional airplay for a 7"" single version of the song Evangeline and album title track Horizoning, there were moments where Stefan's music began to bubble into the mainstream.

55 years after its recording, Horizoning will finally see its release and hopefully a new audience and generation of listeners. The album comes with a 24-page large format insert telling the story of comprehensive back story that is Horizoning and the life of Stefan Gnys."

Broken Shoes is the follow up to Almon Memela's 1975 album Funk Africa. Scarcer than its predecessor and under a different project name, Broken Shoes features two 15-minute tracks by the acclaimed guitarist backed up by Soweto's Pelican Club house band.

"Perhaps best known for his long association with the legendary Muddy Waters, Otis Spann is largely recognized as one of the greatest blues pianists of all time, if not the greatest.

Although Spann made a name for himself in Chicago by the mid 1940s, it wasn’t until 1960 that he got the opportunity to record an album of his own. The sessions Spann did with Candid Records co-founder Nat Hentoff that year resulted in the legendary album Otis Spann Is The Blues. (Incidentally, this was also the first album ever recorded for the fledgling New York City based label.)

The tracks on Walking The Blues were recorded during those same sessions in August of 1960 in New York City.

Left on the cutting room floor, they would not be officially released until 1972, two years after Spann’s untimely death.

Robert Lockwood Jr., also from Muddy Water’s group, accompanies Spann on guitar here as he does on the Is The Blues album. But Walking The Blues also features Spann’s close friend, veteran singer and composer James Oden, better known to blues fans as St. Louis Jimmy.

Stripped down to just the these musicians, this magnificently performed and produced set showcases Spann’s voice as well as piano. Spann stretches out with his pulsing two-handed rhythmic attack, and brings the barrelhouse piano style of his youth in line with the modern Chicago style he embodied."

kaoru inoue is a japanese veteran producer and dj since late 90’s.

he has been releasing from his own label “seeds and ground” and some other labels like
mule musiq,groovement.

the original release of this album was released in 2013 in only japan.

it’s a very own style mix of world music, field recording, ambient and electronic music.

the album is started by minimal gamelan ambient “malam”,the second track “selva” is minimal afro brazilian house which reminds us early luciano or villalobos.

third track “kamui fuchi” is electric jazz fusion house, fourth track “sphere” is like joan bibiloni in late 80’s.

on b side,”etenraku” is avant-garde tribal break beats,”she was in ecstasies”&”escape dub” are typical his style balearic slow house.

the album is closed with beautiful melancholic new age music “healing force”.

this album is a timeless masterpiece for us.

In the beginning, THERE WAS DOOM. The five piece gathers its forces together with the clear intention of celebrating in music one of the first raw appearances of metal: Doom! After a year or so of songwriting and the usual lineup setups, the 5-piece throws in what will become their first studio effort in 2005: a Heavy, Drunken, Doom, Metal demo (with their 700 sold-out copies, now fully downloadable due to popular demand), where the title "Heavy Drunken Doom" clearly and quickly reveals the attitude of the band. Cold Grave Marble, the 6th Doomraiser full doom length, is a frozen view in the darker side of life: Death, the Omega of our earthly dimension. The album is made up of raw riffing seasoned up in heavy, dark and gloomy dreaming atmospheres, and explores a plethora of styles with different sounds and solutions. The songwriting approach is rougher than before, experimental, suggestive, still preserving the classic Doomraiser characteristic sound.

Ltd. Marbled Vinyl. In the beginning, THERE WAS DOOM. The five piece gathers its forces together with the clear intention of celebrating in music one of the first raw appearances of metal: Doom! After a year or so of songwriting and the usual lineup setups, the 5-piece throws in what will become their first studio effort in 2005: a Heavy, Drunken, Doom, Metal demo (with their 700 sold-out copies, now fully downloadable due to popular demand), where the title "Heavy Drunken Doom" clearly and quickly reveals the attitude of the band. Cold Grave Marble, the 6th Doomraiser full doom length, is a frozen view in the darker side of life: Death, the Omega of our earthly dimension. The album is made up of raw riffing seasoned up in heavy, dark and gloomy dreaming atmospheres, and explores a plethora of styles with different sounds and solutions. The songwriting approach is rougher than before, experimental, suggestive, still preserving the classic Doomraiser characteristic sound.

Souls Of Mischief, the Oakland, CA quartet and members of the mighty Hieroglyphics Crew, are proud to announce the first-ever vinyl release of their fifth album "Montezuma's Revenge." Notably, the album’s striking cover featured a fifth member of the group: the legendarily innovative producer Prince Paul, who executive produced the LP, handling most of the beats and overseeing the musical direction of the album from start to finish.

Emcees A-Plus, Opio, Phesto, and Tajai take turns showing off the multisyllabic flows, witty similes, and smooth lyrics that have made the crew a household name in rap for over 30 years. Souls' trademark juxtaposition of complex, multi-syllabic lyricism against laid-back Cali flow remained as strong as it was in 1993 on “Montezuma’s Revenge,” and Paul’s magic touch on production took the Souls’ sound to a new level.

While the aforementioned and unmistakable SOM sound remains very much intact, Paul's vision and risk-taking come through on the finished product. Tajai was comfortable from the start in working with the visionary producer: ”Paul is a perfectionist and so are we so we took time with the beats and subject matter. This album to me is a great insight into who we are as people and how important it is to progress stylistically, yet it retains a classic, timeless feel."

Aussie techno innovator Alpharisc returns to Mutual Rytm for a second standout EP.

Shane Yates, aka Alpharisc, has been living and breathing techno for over 30 years. He first began producing in the mid-90s and has amassed a fine hardware collection that lends his sounds a raw, rugged feel. After breaking through with the Wetmusik party and label collective, he has let his music do the talking and isn't afraid of colouring it with a hint of nostalgia. Previous material has come via several notable labels over the years, but his most recent outings have been on SHDW's Mutual Rytm imprint, with his solo EP 'Ram Face' from 2023 becoming an underground favourite alongside a fine outing as part of the label's 'Federation Of Rytm II' and 'Federation Of Rytm III' compilations. Once again, he returns in style, uncovering an impactful selection of gems across his new 'Remain Seated' EP.

The opener 'Peace Be With You' is a straight-up techno weapon with urgent synth flashes peeling off the groove like a police siren. The drums hit hard in true Alpharisc style before 'Hail' builds on that with a more hard-edge groove topped with frosty waves of white noise that electrify the dance floor. 'Remain Seated' brings a hint of trance-leaning energy with its bright sheets of synth lighting up the driving drums and saw-tooth bass loops. Next, 'Look At This' is another brilliantly forceful techno sound with slamming drums and rusty synth loops, layering melancholic pads up top and adding a cerebral edge, while closer 'In Your Mind' is from the Jeff Mills school of synth-laced and serene deep techno with lush pads radiating cosmic light. As a bonus, digital-only cut 'Expedition' brings some backlit celestial synth work to a rubbery and pummelling drum pattern for pure techno escapism.