Search:ale x

EN/JP liner notes by Doran and a hyper-realistic cover by Japanese visual artist/graphic designer Kai Yoshizawa using 3DCG software.

"8 Automated Works", the first full release by Componium Ensemble, an "indeterminate chamber music" ensemble helmed by Spencer Doran of Visible Cloaks. The project is inspired by the long history of automated musical instruments, beginning with the ancient Greek Archimedes and further developed by the Banū Mūsā brothers in 9th century Baghdad, who "first perfected the concept of a programmable, automated musician: a mechanically controlled flute which used hydraulic water pressure and a system of arrangeable punchcards using a visionary proto-MIDI structure", as Doran explains in the liner notes. This mechanical music-making was extended a millennium later with the use of aleatoric principles by the European Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel, inventor of the self-composing Componium mechanical music system. Doran continues this lineage further, using the possibilities of digital technology and its ability to automate a huge range of virtual instruments and introduce aleatoric elements, moving beyond human impulses and limitations, allowing "new shapes to emerge". Dedicated also to Noah Creshevsky, pioneer of what can be considered cyber-human music, Componium Ensemble features a wide and intriguing range of instruments including prepared piano, bowed harpsichord, celesta, bass clarinet, flute, cello, Balinese tingklik, and more, often in multiple groupings. Despite this variety of instrumentation and the seemingly formidable theoretical underpinnings, the music is very accessible and attractive, spacious and fresh, with a light touch and a sophisticated melodic sense which will appeal to pop fans as well as classical/contemporary music listeners. The album is mixed by longtime collaborator Joe Williams (Motion Graphics, Lifted) and available in 10-inch vinyl, ,

Mit über 8,5 Millionen Followern in den sozialen Medien besitzt Alexandra Kay, die Hauptrolle in der
Netflix-Serie „Westside“, die seltene und außergewöhnliche Fähigkeit, eine echte Verbindung zum Publikum
aufzubauen, indem sie einfach sie selbst ist – mit gefühlvollen Melodien, ihrer „erfrischenden Art des
Geschichtenerzählens … maßgeschneidert für das Country-Genre“ (People) und ihrem „engelsgleichen, aber
dennoch erhebenden Gesang“ (American Songwriter). Der strahlende und hartnäckige Shootingstar, den
Billboard als „verständige, vielversprechende Singer-Songwriterin“ lobte, etablierte sich als eine Größe in
der Branche und veröffentlichte 2023 ihr Debütalbum „All I’ve Ever Known“. Das Projekt erreichte weltweit
Platz 1 der iTunes All Genre- und Country-Charts und sicherte ihr unabhängig davon einen Platz in den
Top 10 der Billboard Country Album-, Emerging Artist- und HeatSeeker-Charts.
Die bezaubernde Sängerin ist bereit, 2025 auf die nächste Stufe zu heben und gibt einen Einblick in ihr
zweites Album: die verträumte Romantik von „The Last“ und das ansteckend eingängige Mitsing-Stück
„Cupid’s A Cowgirl“. Nachdem sie gerade ihre „Cupid’s A Cowgirl“-Tournee als Headliner durch die USA
und Kanada beendet hat, macht sich der aufstrebende Star auf den Weg über den großen Teich zu ihrer
internationalen All I’ve Ever Known U.K. & Europe-Tournee, die in Amsterdam, Glasgow, Birmingham,
Belfast und Manchester bereits ausverkauft ist.

Local Action is proud to present Daughters, the debut album by Jennifer Walton.

Walton is a beloved figure across various sectors of the alternative music underground. Outside of her own music and soundtrack work, she has been a live drummer for Kero Kero Bonito, collaborates with Sarah Midori Perry on the pair’s Cryalot project, has remixed Metronomy and worked with Iceboy Violet, BABii and more. She also makes music and DJs with close friends aya and 96 Back under the name Microplastics, and recently contributed to London collective caroline’s acclaimed caroline 2 album.

The first seeds of Walton’s debut album were sowed during touring North America in 2018, where whilst ticking off life-long music goals, Walton’s father was dying of cancer. Grief is a constant presence throughout Daughters, and specifically the surreal nature of having to process it amongst a blur of airports, flight connections, hotel rooms and battles for stolen medication with the American healthcare system. Strip malls, drug deals, panic attacks; the artificiality of downtown American city districts dovetailing with reality in its most brutal form. Miss America for a day while life is changed forever.

Weaving between real life diary entries, travelogue-style storytelling, imagery that ranges from mechanical to religious and a scattering of fiction (though we are obliged to mention that ‘Shelly’ is based on a true story), Daughters climaxes with the staggering run of ‘Saints’, ‘Miss America’ and its title track. Sampling unattended machines harmonising bleeps into the void in a London hospital ward, ‘Saints’ narrates Walton taking her father to and from cancer research trials, “sat, hunched and sick in the concourse as minutes became hours”. And to be very real for a moment, Jen is a friend, and first hearing the ‘Miss America’ demo is up there with the most emotional moments we’ve had in 15 years of running this record label.

Finished in London across the second half of 2024, Daughters features musical contributions from some of the closest friends and collaborators that Walton has made in her time as a musician: aya (who also mixed the album), Daniel S. Evans, Joshua Barfood and Nick Granata (all of Shovel Dance), Alex McKenzie (of caroline and Shovel Dance), Aga Ujma and Bob Lockwood.

Clocks and Barometers is a collaborative project between veteran Limbo artists Seán Lee (Dive Reflex Service) and Alex Lupo (Lupo). All the source material for this album was recorded in one morning at Lupo's studio in the summer of 2023. They chose twelve one-minute acoustic improvisations and processed them that afternoon through granular eurorack units.

The results were bought to Bristol where DRS and Lupo shaped the album over the next year in several recording and mixing sessions at DRS’s home studio.

The name Clocks and Barometers is taken from a mysterious shop of the same name on the east Bristol/South Gloucestershire border which appears to never be

open. The title “Learning Through Investigation” as well as some of the track names refer to both artists’ experience as music educators.

High Roller Records, bone vinyl, ltd 300, 425gsm heavy cardboard cover, lyric sheet, download code Mit »Romantik III« präsentiert das österreichisch-ungarische Duo Bergfried den Nachfolger von »Romantik I« (2022) und »Romantik II« (2023). Die Formation besteht aus Erech von Lothringen, der alle Intrumente bedient, und Sängerin Anna de Savoy. Der Name Erech von Lothringen ist in Underground-Zirkeln nicht gänzlich unbekannt, ist der Wiener doch Urbeber zahlreicher verschiedener Projekte, vorzugsweise aus dem Black-Metal-Bereich, wobei die Interessen des Bandleaders deutlich breitgefächerter liegen. Beim neuen »Romantik III« handelt es sich um ein ausgesprochen eingängiges, sehr melodisches Album, das hier und gar nicht so düster klingt, wie die Songtitel vermuten lassen könnten. Im positiven Sinne grenzt das Material hier und da schon an Pop („Fallen From Grace“), wobei natürlich (fast) immer Melancholie mitschwingt. Auf »Romantik III« wird Erech von Lothringen unterstützt von Schlagzeuger Fabio Alessandrini (bekannt von Annihilator, Bonfire und Enforcer). Des weiteren sind als Gastsängerinnen neben der beeindruckenden Anna de Savoy aktiv: Maria Nesh von Red Eye Temple, Sarah Kitteringham von Smoulder sowie Damna von Elvenking.

A decade after the release of his debut solo album Atlas, Lisbon-born producer Branko celebrates the anniversary with a special limited red colour vinyl reissue. Released in 2015, Atlas was the result of an ambitious journey across five cities - New York, Sao Paulo, Amsterdam, Cape Town and Lisbon - where Branko collaborated with more than 20 musicians and producers.

Astonishing debut LP by Jerry A's (Poison Idea) new band with members of HHH, Rouse, 25th Coming Fire, Disaster Jacks & Ira et Decessus, an instant Hc-Punk classic. The first, brutal LP by supergroup Black Bacon, "Every Action has Reaction", is a kick ass and punishing barrage of pure, unaltered Hardcore Punk, exactly what one could expect from a band fronted by no other than the legendary Jerry A from Poison Idea. Surrounded by Andrew from Poison Idea, Alex from HHH, Rouse, 25th Coming Fire and members of Disaster Jacks & Ira et Decessus, they produce 8 murderous tracks of frantic Hardcore Punk sure to satisfy anybody even slightly interested in furious music. Includes fold out insert.

- 29 Tracks aus dem Open-World-RPG-Actionspiel von 2025
- Artwork von Ubisoft

Ubisoft und Laced Records haben ihre Zusammenarbeit erneuert, um die Musik von Assassin's Creed Shadows auf Vinyl zu veröffentlichen.

"Assassin's Creed Shadows" entführt die Spieler:innen in die reiche Kulisse des feudalen Japans und wird von einem Soundtrack untermalt, der traditionelle Instrumente mit verspielten, modernen Techniken verbindet.

Das Komponistenduo The Flight (Joe Henson und Alexis Smith) kehrt zur Assassin's-Creed-Reihe zurück und liefert einen Soundtrack, der traditionelle Instrumente mit zeitgenössischen orchestralen und elektronischen Elementen verbindet. So entsteht ein unverwechselbares Gefühl für Zeit und Ort, während spielerisch auf die Science-Fiction-Themen der Serie angespielt wird.

Die beiden Protagonisten von "Assassin's Creed Shadows" werden mit unterschiedlichen Instrumenten und musikalischen Ansätzen dargestellt: Die verstohlene Shinobi-Adeptin Naoe wird mit dem Instrument ihrer Wahl, der Tonflöte (Tsuchibue), und dem körperlosen Flüstern während der Stealth-Momente dargestellt. Der legendäre Samurai Yasuke wird mit den schärferen Klängen der Shamisen und rhythmischer Intensität dargestellt.

Für die Darbietung der japanischen Instrumente hat The Flight auf Meisterspieler wie Keiko Kitamura (Koto) und Hibiki Ichikawa (Shamisen) zurückgegriffen. Weitere Interpreten sind die Sängerin Akari Mochizuki, die Flötisten Kristin Naigus, Oriol Singh und Andy Findon sowie Michael Georgiades, der musikalische Mitarbeiter von The Flight bei Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

"The Burning Bright Light" is a mind-meld between improvisation trio "Dromedaries" (saxophonist Keir Neuringer of Irreversible Entanglements, Shayna Dulberger on double bass, and percussionist Julius Masri) and sci-fi writer/vocalist "Alexoteric" (Alex Smith), evoking epic sci-fi cinemascapes, vocabulary- and reference-rich underground writing, the liberatory jazz tradition, and playful avant-garde experimentation.

Recorded in a single high-voltage burst of cosmic collaboration on an October afternoon at Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Soundworks, "The Burning Bright Light" is a sonic document like no other. A mind-meld between improvisation trio »Dromedaries« and sci-fi writer/vocalist "Alexoteric" (Alex Smith), the album emerges organically on a foundation of speculative fiction, free jazz interaction, avant-garde textures, and freestyle refrains.

Excellent cuts by Lenson, the man behind Rotterdam Electronix returns on Tar Hallow.

Zum 20-jährigen Jubiläum von God of War präsentieren Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Santa Monica Studio und Laced Records ein monumentales 13-LP-Vinyl-Boxset, das die Musik aller Spiele von God of War (2005) bis God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla (2023) umfasst. In zwei aufwendig gestalteten Schubern befinden sich sieben Hüllen mit individuell bedruckten Innenhüllen und exklusiv für Vinyl gemasterten Aufnahmen. Die Sammlung zelebriert die musikalische Entwicklung von Kratos’ Epos – von den orchestralen und choralen Klanggewalten der griechischen Saga (u. a. Gerard K. Marino, Winifred Phillips, Tyler Bates) bis zu Bear McCrearys preisgekrönten, emotionalen Soundlandschaften der nordischen Ära. Erstmals auf Vinyl enthalten ist McCrearys Score zu Ragnarök: Valhalla, ergänzt durch drei entspannte Lofi-Remixe von Alex Moukala & Lawrence Ravagnan, die das 20-jährige Vermächtnis des Ghost of Sparta stimmungsvoll abrunden.

Developed over three years across residencies, tours, and periods of deep listening, “Your Whistle Tells of Landscape” finds Australian sound artist Alexandra Spence continuing her investigations into the perceptual entanglements of sound, place, memory, and imagination. Like much of the artist’s work, it unfolds at the liminal edge between the real and the imagined — between what is heard and what is remembered.

Composed from a constellation of materials gathered across sites and seasons — snowscapes recorded in Vancouver, insect choruses from a Sydney backyard, ceramic fragments unearthed while mudlarking with tinysound — it renders an intimate cartography of experience: one shaped equally by ecological resonance and internal drift. Each piece traces a kind of imaginary geography, where sonic ephemera become proxies for topography, weather, or myth.

The album is informed by time spent at EMS (Stockholm) and MESS (Melbourne), where Spence deepened her engagement with microtonality and tuned feedback systems, and by dialogues with sympathetic artists such as Tashi Wada and Patrick Farmer. Sound materials were sourced from Serge Modular systems, a custom lyre built by Tim Wall, amplified objects, handmade electronics, and Spence’s own field recordings captured within rockpools, beneath sand, and among a flock of sheep in the French Pyrenees. On “Magenta,” a collaboration with Delphine Dora, the domestic and mythic intertwine, as layers of voice, environmental recordings, and Halldorophone feedback drift in and out of one another like overlapping weather systems.

Despite its diverse material palette, the album resists spectacle or accumulation. Instead, it moves with a quiet sense of continuity and a rich interiority — less a sequence of compositions than a set of situated attunements. Across its duration, sounds seem to murmur, glint, or hover right at the edge of presence, invoking a listening practice that is as much about orientation as it is about reception. These are pieces not simply about place, but of place — etched with the grains of time, vibration, and breath.

To create the score for Jurassic World Rebirth, director Gareth Edwards turned to a distinguished friend, two-time Oscar® winner Alexandre Desplat (The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Shape of Water), who worked with Edwards on Godzilla. “I feel very fortunate to be doing the music for a movie franchise like this, which entertained me so greatly, as a filmgoer, for decades,” Desplat says. “I dreamed of writing music for movies like this since I was a teenager, and now, here I am,” he adds with a laugh, “part of Jurassic World, almost a teenager.”

Thierry Wolf und Frédéric Lai (Sohn des Komponisten) wählten rund zehn DJs aus, darunter bekannte Vertreter der French Touch-Szene, die für Sammlungen wie Hôtel Costes bekannt sind. Diese Künstler wurden mit der Aufgabe betraut, die Werke von Francis Lai neu zu interpretieren. Die DJs, die oft weniger bekannte Stücke auswählten, überraschen mit persönlichen Entscheidungen. So wählte Play Paul (Bruder von Guy-Manuel von Daft Punk) „Robert & Robert“, da es das letzte Stück war, das er mit seinem Vater hörte. Auch Philippe Cohen Solal von Gotan Project wählte „L’Amour est bien plus fort que nous“ als Epigraph auf dem Grabstein seiner Eltern.

Dieses Projekt verbindet musikalisches Erbe, Emotion und Innovation. Durch die Remixe erhält die Musik von Francis Lai eine frische Perspektive, während gleichzeitig seinem Pioniergeist gehuldigt wird.

Fiddlehead's debut LP Springtime and Blind is an exploration of grief both introspective and through the insight of others. Following the release of their Out of the Bloom EP on Lockin Out Records, the Boston-based band have created a debut LP that shares an anguishing, relatable story of love and loss through the catharsis of spirited, loud indie rock. Consisting of guitarist Alex Henery (also of Basement), vocalist Patrick Flynn and drummer Shawn Costa (both of Have Heart), Fiddlehead explore musical styles different from their other projects while bringing a familiar energetic and emotional core to the collaboration. Springtime and Blind stemmed from Pat's loss of his father. Flynn looks at how his mother coped with the situation- losing her spouse, her center of gravity -writing the lyrics as an emotional catharsis for both of them. While the process of writing and recording helped Flynn cope with his personal loss there's no doubt it carries a universal message that can help ease others' loneliness. A contrast to itself, Springtime and Blind is a multidimensional and relatable journey through its cathartic message and spirited instrumentals.

Miles Kane, gefeierter englischer Rocker und Mitbegründer von The Last Shadow Puppets zusammen mit
Alex Turner von den Arctic Monkeys, veröffentlicht mit Sunlight In The Shadows sein erstes Easy Eye
Sound-Album in Zusammenarbeit mit dem GRAMMY-prämierten Produzenten Dan Auerbach (The Black
Keys). Das Album wurde gemeinsam mit Auerbach, Patrick Carney, Daniel Tashian und Pat McLaughlin geschrieben. Überlagert von üppigen, kreischenden Gitarren und vollgepackt mit Hooks, bewegt sich
das Album auf dem schmalen Grat zwischen rauem, energiegeladenem Rock und entspannten CrooningHymnen, alles mit einer Prise von Miles’ charakteristischer Tremolo-Gitarre und einer ganzen Menge Spaß.
Über die Entstehung von Sunlight In The Shadows sagt Miles: „Alle Wege, die ich in den letzten 20
Jahren gegangen bin, haben hierhergeführt“.

Let us introduce to you the third volume of the brand new series
"OBSCURE TRACKS", made of essential, stand-out and rare italo and
electro tracks, remastered and repress on vinyl for the first time ever
offering DJs the chance to get hold of suche as gems previously tucked
away in the Mr. Disc Organization back to catalogue.

In a changing, unpredictable and turbulent world, something we can always rely on is a new Orb album, with the next holiday-for-the-head never far away. On what is quite possibly the millionth longplayer helmed by electronic lifer Alex Paterson; partnered with the now firmly-entrenched boy wonder Michael Rendall; the inspirationally productive outfit yet again deliver the goods, with one of their best yet.

Furthering the passionate exploration of cinema that has guided her two previous LPs - 2017’s ‘Fassbinder Wunderkammer’ and 2020’s ‘I Should Have Been a Gardener’ - the Milanese guitarist/composer, Alessandra Novaga, returns to Die Schachtel with ‘The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle’, two sides off shimmering, tense compositions – culminating as one of her most creatively ambitious and conceptually rich outings to date – freely inspired by the life and work of the Russian director Andrej Tarkovsky and the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Classically trained at the Musik Akademie in Basel, Switzerland, over the last decade Alessandra Novaga has emerged as one of the leading figures within northern Italy’s thriving new, experimental, and improvised music scene, rendering striking solo efforts, in addition to collaborations with Loren Connors, Stefano Pilia, Elliott Sharp, Nicola Ratti, Paula Matthusen, Sandro Mussida, Kid Millions, Travis Just, Francesco Gagliardi, and others. Remarkably ambitious and forward thinking, her approach to the guitar embarks upon a relentless deconstruction and rethinking of her instrument’s unique properties through distinct applications of structure, resonance, space, and tone, creating in a deeply personal and emotive music, seeking narrative and meaning within the abstractions of sound.

In 2017, with the LP, ‘Fassbinder Wunderkammer’, issued by Setola Di Maiale, Novaga embarked upon the exploration of her love of film. Having begun with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, this was followed in 2020 by Die Schachtel’s release of ‘I Should Have Been a Gardener’, a deeply intimate mediation on the life and work of Derek Jarman. Rather than focusing on a fixed point of inspiration or a single film to work from, these pieces achieve a form of abstract portraiture, distilling elements drawn from these filmmaker’s life and work into ambient networks of texture and tonality. ‘The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle”’ freely inspired by the Russian director Andrej Tarkovsky and the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, finds Novaga radically expanding her sonic palette within this approach.

The seeds of ‘The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle’ can be traced to a conversation that Novaga had with Alan Licht (contained in the highly regarded Common Tones: Selected interviews with artists and musicians 1995–2020, Blank Forms, 2021), relating to the connections between music and cinema, which led her to consider Andrej Tarkovsky’s use of Bach's music within a symbiotic framework: how the music illuminates the imagism of the films, and the film illuminates new dimensions of the music. Slowly developing over the subsequent years, the resulting album comprises six individual works, some of which draw directly upon pieces of Bach’s music that Tarkovsky used in his films – specifically 'Erbarme dich, Mein Gott', 'Das alte Jahr vergangen ist', and 'Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ' - while others draw upon the sensibilities and moods evoked in the imagination by the director’s films.

As a point of departure and illumination into the process and spirit that underscored the creation of the album, Novaga points toward a passage in Tarkovsky’s "Sculpting in Time”:

“Art is born and takes hold wherever there is a timeless and insatiable longing for the spiritual, for the ideal: that longing which draws people to art. Modern art has taken a wrong turn in abandoning the search for the meaning of existence in order to affirm the value of the individual for its own sake. What purports to be art begins to look like an eccentric occupation for suspect characters who maintain that any personalized action is of intrinsic value simply as a display of self-will. But in artistic creation the personality does not assert itself, it serves another, higher and communal idea.”

‘The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle’ can be understood as a realisation of the collectivism of which Tarkovsky speaks, in the service of something far beyond the expression of self. Encountering Novaga moving into fairly uncharted waters, three of the album’s pieces incorporate the human voice we encounter the voices of others: that of the poet Arsenij Tarkovsky, the director’s father; a singer from Bach’s ‘Erbarme dich, Mein Gott’, capturing a broadcast in an underground parking lot, and Novaga’s own, rendering the melody from Bach’s “Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ”. Roughly alternating between solo excursions on guitar and bristling electroacoustic pieces, over the course of the album’s two sides Novaga weaves one of her most abstract and ambitious bodies of recordings to date, shifting between the complex tonal mediations generated by the six strings of her instrument, and phycological densities activated by the expanded pallet of sonority made possible by the tactics and approaches of musique concrète.

An immersive, deeply engaging meeting of beauty and melancholy within a labyrinth of voices and ideas, ‘The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle’ transfigures the life and work of Andrej Tarkovski – one of the greatest auteurs in the history of cinema – into a singular, experimental statement of collective truth. Belonging to recent, ambitious stream of contemporary new music releases on Die Schachtel that’s already included Novaga’s ‘I Should Have Been a Gardener’, Stefano Pilia’s ‘Spiralis Aurea’, Jim O'Rourke & Giovanni Di Domenico’ ‘Immanent In Nervous Activity’, Claudio Rocchetti’s ‘Labirinto Verticale’, and Damāvand’s ‘As Long As You Come To My Garden’, among others, ‘The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle’ is available on as a limited edition of 300 dark turquoise vinyl LPs released on June 21, 2024. The LP, designed by Bruno Stucchi / dinamomilano, comes with an 8-pages insert illuminated by Alessandra’s text as well as the lovely and intense photographs of Matilde Piazzi.

Hard Times welcomes back Alex Arnout and his BLACK LOGIC project, following their recent ‘Pull Up’ EP with a second installment of new music from collective - The Illusions EP.

Hailing from West Yorkshire, Arnout spent his formative years on the Hard Times dancefloors, absorbing the beats and vibes that would later shape his own productions. His journey with the label reignited when he was invited to remix Michael Watford’s classic 'Love Change Over' and Steve Silk Hurley’s fresh hit 'All I Need'. Now, he returns with something truly special.

“Black Logic was born out of the pandemic,” says Arnout. “I wanted to move away from drum machines and synths, getting back to sampling jazz and the deep house sounds of the ‘90s - taking inspiration from artists like Bugs in the Attic, Jazzanova, and Ernest Saint Laurent.”

What began as a solo project soon evolved into a collective effort. Bassist and guitarist Alan Riggs, a former member of Delta 5, joined the sessions, bringing warmth and groove to the productions. Vocalists Tempo O’Neil, Anthony Beckford, Mariana Orsho, and Sophie Barker added their distinct voices, completing the vision

Across four tracks, The Illusions EP pulls us deeper into Black Logic’s rich, live-wired universe. The title track pairs Tempo O’Neil’s vocal with a grooving, low-slung bassline, whilst “Dusty” drifts in on brushed snares and ghostly Rhodes, its saxophone lines curling through the mix like smoke. “Chasing Daze,” analog synth shimmer and Tempo’s velvet tones, is a track suspended between head-nod groove and astral lift.

The curtain falls with “Disco Down,” a jubilant ensemble of Hammond organ, flute, guitar, bongos, and horns locking into joyous conversation.

"Bandleader Lina Langendorf has been known in Sweden for a long time as one of the most skilled and forward thinking saxophone players. She has been staying in both Mali and Ethopia for longer periods and has performed in concerts with legendary artists like Alemayehu Eshete, Vieux Farka Touré and...Mulatu Astatke who, at his club African Jazz Village (in Addis Ababa/Ethiopia), introduced Lina to people in the audience with the words: 'Amazing saxophone player, big respect! We should play together some day'. Some minutes later they go on stage together. Joined by the legendary piano player Dawit Yifru and the bass player from Roha Band, Giovanni Rico Bonsignori. 'Fantastic. You're so strong. Everybody loves you, they say you are ethio-jazz' was Mulatu's words after the jam session.
Lina has also been invited to the live club Le Hogon in Bamako numerous times for jam sessions and concerts with Toumani Diabaté and his band. And for Lina, these jam sessions in Addis and Bamako has been a crucial part of shaping (and sharpening) her musical vision. Last year she was also touring the UK as part of James Yorkston, Nina Persson and the second hand orchestra.
But it wasn't until feb 2023 we got to hear her own music. The debut album with her newly formed band Langendorf United was co-released between Italian label Black Sweat records and Swedish label Sing A Song Fighter and it immediately resonated with music lovers around the world (Radiohead drummer Philip Selway called it 'as if Tinariwen and Fela Kuti had a Blue Note session').
But the band is not just the composer/Saxophone star and band leader Lina Langendorf. Oh, no. The other four musicians are all highly praised musicians in various jazz bands in Sweden and Norway and together they form this sacred thythmic unity with the pulsating bass at the centre.
Langendorf United's music is vibrant and spiritual and on fire!"

Lina Langendorf - saxophone
Daniel Bingert (son of legendary South American musician Hector Bingert) - keys, guitars
Martin Hederos (The Soundtrack Of Our Lives, Tonbruket) - keys, viola
Ole Morten Vågan (Trondheim Jazz Orchestra) - upright bass
Andreas Werliin (Fire!, Wildbirds & Peacedrums) - drums

Returning to Die Schachtel with his fourth full-length with the label, the Genoa born, Bologna based, guitarist and electroacoustic composer, Stefano Pilia, delivers “Lacinia”, a new, immersive cycle of compositions, delving deeper into the realm of metaphysical, spiritual, and divine meaning, weaving astounding arrangements of sonority from a palette of synths, strings, brass, organ, various electroacoustic instruments, and percussion. Resting at a refined intersection of the acoustic and electroacoustic, drone, and chamber music - overwhelmingly beautiful, delicate, and bold, - “Lacinia” stands as a high-water mark in Pilia’s already remarkable and forward-looking career.

Since its founding in Milan during the early years of the new millennium, Die Schachtel has occupied a singular place in the landscape of experimental music, issuing a carefully curated body of reissues and archival releases by historically significant figures and projects like Christina Kubisch, Luciano Cilio, Marino Zuccheri, Prima Materia, Claudio Rocchi, Lino Capra Vaccina, Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, Roland Kayn, and numerous others, balanced against bristling contemporary counterparts by the likes of Jim O'Rourke, Giovanni Di Domenico, Nicola Ratti, Luigi ArchettI, Valerio Tricoli, etc. Running like a spine through the label’s output is a deep dedication to the work of the Italian guitarist and electroacoustic composer Stefano Pilia. Now Die Schachtel returns with “Lacinia”, Pilia’s forth full-length with the label and their first release of 2024. Building on the ground of deeply personal engagement with metaphysical, spiritual, and divine meaning, explored within his previous LP with Die Schachtel, 2022’s “Spiralis Aurea”, “Lacinia” encounters the composer working in close calibration with various ensembles, including the Bologna based Ensemble Concordanze and Comunale di Bologna String Orchestra, weaving synths, strings, brass, organ, various electroacoustic instruments, and percussion into an astounding reconfiguration of immersive, contemporary minimalism that stands among Pilia’s most noteworthy releases to date. Issued by Die Schachtel in two special double vinyl editions and a CD edition, “Lacinia” features artwork by Bruno Stucchi/Dinamomilano, and is an absolute marvel that draws you in and doesn’t let go.

First emerging during the early 2000s, over the past two decades – via solo releases and numerous collations with artists like Oren Ambarchi, Valerio Tricoli, Alessandra Novaga, Z'EV, Andrea Belfi, David Grubbs, and numerous others - the Genoa born, Bologna based, guitarist and electroacoustic composer, Stefano Pilia has presented a singular voice within Italian experimental music, harnessing visceral energy and hands-on immediacy within delicately woven tapestries of sonority, each investigating the sculptural properties of sound and illuminating its relationship to space, memory, and the suspension of time. “Lacinia”, Pilia’s forth solo venture with Die Schachtel, encounters the composer reentering his longstanding practice of collaboration with various ensemble forms, including the Bologna based Ensemble Concordanze, for the albums central piece, “Lacinia Off Axis”, spinning stunning string confirmations by Pietro David Carami and Elena Maury on violin, Alessandro Savio on viola, and Mattia Cipolli on cello.

A new, important cycle of compositions by Pilia, “Lacinia” (meaning "lace" in Latin) builds upon the exploration of the metaphysical, spiritual, and divine dimensions through numbers, geometry, and the creation of tonal forms explored by 2022’s “Spiralis Aurea”, mirroring archetypal, immutable forms at the juncture of the abstract realm of mathematics and architectural structures in the physical world, expands the poetics and compositional ideas featured in its predecessor. Regraded by Pilia as both a series of individual compositions and a single work, “Lacinia” was conceived to “define a circular path (a sort of "rhizomatic lace") where the beginning and end touch, suggesting the concept of time not only as linear but also cyclical and ritualistic—an eternal return, a process of transformation where matter changes, its state changes, but without altering the invisible internal principle of mutation”, embarking upon a a series of “steps, degrees, and energetic quanta in a progression of archetypal whole numbers and transcendent creation.”

The resulting 16 tracks unfold as a series of complex sonic meditations. While deeply resonant with the minimalism of composers like Arvo Pärt, LaMonte Young, Pauline Oliveros, and Eliane Radigue, Pilia digs deep and moves far beyond the predictable tonal relationships and structures of that idiom, echoing the ancient liturgical and devotional music of composers like Gesualdo da Venosa, Monteverdi, and John Dowland, at a refined intersection of the acoustic and electroacoustic, drone, and chamber music.

Fascinatingly structured as a whole to include a number of motif returns, across which we encounter works like “Lacinia Off Axis” appearing in slightly different rendering, states, or evolutions three times, and compositions like “Eve” appearing twice in subtly different forms and arrangements - first for four oscillators, guitar and voice and then for string orchestra - as well “Maris Stella”, which similarly makes two appearances, first for horn trio, organ and percussion, and then for string orchestra, with “Lacinia” Pilia delves further into the world of chamber music than ever before, creating a deeply inward, mediative body of work the totality of which, guided by its rich string arrangements of arching, sorrowful tone, feels almost like a mass for some unproclaimed loss; simultaneously locked in the nuances of a moment, while managing to suspend time.

Perhaps most remarkable is Pilia's ability to create a remarkable sense of sonic cohesion while using such a varied number of ensembles and instrumentation. From the sprawling string arrangements delivered by Comunale di Bologna String Orchestra, under the direction of Paolo Mancini, and Ensemble Concordanze, and a flute trio (Cadux / Plectere) brilliantly played by Manuel Zurria, to pieces for sax, organ and percussion, violin duo and percussion, organ and percussion, Pilia manages to create a sense of singular, encompassing world that flows forward like a shifting stream.

Overwhelmingly beautiful, delicate, and bold, “Lacinia” is unquestionably a high-water mark in Stefano Pilia’s already remarkable, forward-looking career. Nothing short of a marvel of contemporary Minimalism that, through its shifting arrangements of harmonics, tonality, and texture draws flickering images of ancient forms of music into the present day, “Lacinia” is Issued by Die Schachtel in two special editions on double vinyl and a CD edition, featuring artwork by Bruno Stucchi/Dinamomilano. This is an immersive all-consuming listen that can’t be missed.

Returning with its final instalments, Die Schachtel's Decay Music series extends its explorations of inspired contemporary experimental efforts of the ambient, ethereal, and emotively abstract with Luigi Turra and Elio Martusciello’s “Liminale” and Sergio Armaroli and David Toop’s “And I Entered Into Sleep”, two astounding electroacoustic gestures of blurred space and time, plumbing complexity of meaning bound to sonority. Creatively groundbreaking and inspired, radically rethinking the terms of what ambient music can be perceived to be, they stand among the most striking efforts to appear within the series to date.

An aural bridge between two distinct generations of Italian experimental musicians, “Liminale” is the debut collaborative outing from the creative partnership of Luigi Turra and Elio Martusciello. Active within the context for roughly two decades, Turra (b. 1975) is a reductionist/electroacoustic composer, noted from his tense deployment of concrete and acoustic sources — particularly small sounds and noises — whose work threads the balance between silence, tactile auditory perception, and aleatoric music. Martusciello (b. 1959), on the other hand, is a musician and composer working across the fields of acousmatic and electroacoustic composition, sound installation, multi-media and audiovisual art, and computer music improvisation, who is widely celebrated for both his solo efforts and his collaborations with Eugene Chadbourne, Mike Cooper, Alvin Curran, Chris Cutler, Rhodri Davies, Iancu Dumitrescu, Michel Godard, Tim Hodgkinson, Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris, Jérôme Noetinger, Tony Oxley, Evan Parker, Z'EV, and others.

A single, nearly 40 minute work, extending across the two sides of the LP, “Liminale” — as its title eludes — is an exploration of the liminal through sonic means: “places that exist on the threshold, transitional spaces suspended between a before and an after, between the real and the evanescent” conceiving the soundscape as “a liminal place, a space to be inhabited without the certainty of where it leads.” Unfurling like a labyrinth navigated in darkness, the piece’s first half is marked by sparseness and restraint, as slow-paced guitar tones and harmonics thread silences and resonant ambience within a sprawling sense of space, delicately populated by tiny sounds, fleeting punctuations drawn from undeterminable sources, vocal utterances, and the unexpected appearance of intoxicating piano tones.

As “Liminale” progresses into its second half, Turra and Martusciello enter a more densely populated notion of the in between. No less defined by the presence of space and mystery, discreet textures rustle and writhe within passages of pure concrete abstraction and a fragmented, stretched sense of musicality: long-tones, metallic pulses, minimal vibrations, processed vocalizations, guitar harmonics, and deconstructed piano melodies, buried in spectral, gauzy hazes drifting from beyond arm’s reach within an imagistic and immersive landscape of profoundly meditative scope, where each sonic element flirts the line between emergence and disappearance.

Intimate, fragile, and achingly beautiful, “Liminale”, Luigi Turra and Elio Martusciello’s debut collaboration, is a masterstroke in sound-craft and composition, revealing the potency of meaning locked within transitional spaces and the undefined, and imbuing silence with monumental gravity and weight. Mastered for vinyl by Giuseppe Ielasi, and taking electroacoustic minimalism to an etherial extreme, “Liminale” is issued as the ninth entry in Die Schachtel’s Decay Music series, highlighting inspired contemporary experimental efforts of the ambient, ethereal, and emotively abstract.

LA-based producer Real Bad Man and Michigan rapper Willie the Kid release their new collaborative album, Midnight, via the producer’s own Real Bad Man Records label. The album, which marks the producer’s second collaborative project of the year following Dear Psilocybin with ZelooperZ, includes guest appearances from UK rapper Sonnyjim, New York’s Lord Sko and frequent RBM collaborator Boldy James, who will be releasing his own Real Bad Man-produced album in May.

The album came together naturally for the pair, letting each new song inform the identity of the project as a whole. Speaking about how they identified that central theme of the album, Willie says, “I think where Adam and I agreed upon is that the stand out records were all themes for the night, late night drive, after hours dinners, shopping, private rooftop hotel suites, it’s a thinking album, a cruising album preferably enjoyed at night…midnight””

Midnight marks the early stages of what’s shaping up to be a prolific run of collaborations for Real Bad Man in 2025. His second album of the year builds off of the momentum he sparked last month with his first full-length album with ZelooperZ, Dear Psilocybin, which The FADER called “clear-eyed and focused in its own fantastical way”. Working as a duo with the dynamic lyricism of Willie the Kid after the psychedelic sounds of Dear Psilocybin, Real Bad Man returns to the essential underground beatmaking that he first emerged onto the scene with through his On High Alert series. His crackling, lo-fi production pairs perfectly with Willie’s gritty delivery, laying a foundation for the longtime lyrical stylist who has worked alongside some of the genre’s modern heroes including Nas, Lil Wayne, The Alchemist, Roc Marciano, Curren$y and more.

Listen to Midnight above, see below for more details on Midnight and stay tuned for more from Real Bad Man coming soon

‘When The 2000s Clashed: Machine Music For A New Millenium’ is the story of how, 25 years ago, a new form of electronic music – known as electroclash - reignited a tired clubland and gave the indie scene and mainstream pop a shot in the arm in the process. Over this 3LP highlights set, carefully curated from the 5CD box of the same name (also released, 3rd October) the collection showcases the back-to-basics electronic beats that heralded in a new generation of exciting and innovative new artists - Hot Chip, Peaches, LCD Soundystem, and Ladytron, to name a handful. It also shows how the sound and attitude of electroclash plugged into the decade’s cutting-edge indie bands, (Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party), and became intrinsic to the way chart pop would sound in the first decade of the 2000s (Kylie, Goldfrapp).

The collection also shows how the scene’s underground DIY ethos evolved and inspired the next generation of electronic buccaneers (Simian Mobile Disco, Justice Vs. Simian). ‘When The 2000s Clashed’ brings together a dazzling, diverse selection of artists, producers and remixers from right across the 2000s zeitgeist – from The Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk, from M.I.A. to Soulwax and many points in-between. For good measure, there’s also one side of LP3 given over to the original post punk and electronic sounds (including Kraftwerk, The Human League and Cabaret Voltaire) who’d played such a big influence on the electroclash sound. ‘

When The 2000s Clashed’ was compiled and sequenced for Demon / Edsel by Jonny Slut, founder of London’s electroclash citadel Nag Nag Nag. Established in 2002, in a small Soho venue called Ghetto, ‘Nag’ quickly became THE hottest club, first in London and then in the whole world. A glorious mess and hedonists’ hotspot, a night at ‘Nag Nag Nag’ (if you could get in!) saw the capital’s club kids, students and creatives rub up alongside names from the fashion and music worlds - Björk, Pet Shop Boys, Kate Moss, Boy George, Alexander McQueen, and Pam Hogg were among the regulars. Madonna visited, so did John Peel, Yoko Ono asked to perform and did, Throbbing Gristle’s Chris and Cosey DJ’d, so did Marc Almond, and Too Many DJ’s.

Justin Timberlake was refused entry (too many bodyguards)… even Cilla Black was spotted getting down! Jonny shares these reminisces – and many more - in the collection’s sleevenotes. Named after the 1979 Cabaret Voltaire classic, ‘Nag, Nag, Nag’ became the first place to hear the seemingly endless flow of thrilling new tunes coming from every direction during that decade of dance. Many of them are included on this collection.

Victor Démé loved life, music, friends, his hometown of Bobo Dioulasso, and above all, his family — by blood and by heart. Jovial and generous, he would have been delighted to see his world gathered once again in celebration: with concerts, unreleased tracks, live recordings, and a podcast retracing his finest musical years. Ten years after his sudden passing, this album carries the simple ambition of honoring his music and memory.

Victor passed away on September 21, 2015, in Bobo Dioulasso, during the coup d’État in Burkina Faso. The hospital he rushed to for malaria treatment was closed… His third album was due to be released just days later, but he never had the chance to sing it on stage.

A prolific and unique songwriter, Victor often revived songs he had composed in his youth during sessions at the OuagaJungle studio. With his guitar, he would breathe new life into them, refining them with his musicians — making the final choices sometimes difficult. Among the previously unreleased tracks on this record are Djilon, a reggae piece from Abidjan; Sira, a radiant yet solitary blues; Ambideu, a crooner-style ballad reimagined as an elegant cello-and-voice duet; Mousso mina mousso, a love song meant for a djandjoba celebration; and Bara, a heartfelt choral tribute to the workers of Burkina Faso.

These songs remained in the studio after Victor’s passing and have now been brought to life by the talented musicians Clément Petit, Alex Finkin, and Max “Blundetto” Guiguet. On Side B, the album captures the energy and sincerity of Victor and his band live on stage, with recordings from the May 19, 2009 concert at Théâtre de la Ville in Rouen. The performance opens with Labanko — a song never recorded in studio — followed by several classics, including the iconic Djon Maya, delivered here in its most blues-infused version, carried by Issouf Diabaté’s magical guitar.

Unforgettable memories for his musicians and for all who had the chance to applaud him live. We can only hope that, wherever he is, Victor is smiling and dancing as we celebrate him once more through music.

Althought we can consider 'Golden Dream' the Invisible Limits main hit, for many Natalies is the preferred so it deserved a re-issue. This release includes three new exclusives previously on released tracks. Monty & Julio Posadas released two techno versions for Natalie and Golden Dreams that deserved to be on vinyl for techno vinil lovers. The release is complete with the Ultimo Destino Remix, by Salva Aleixandre (key artist on Megabeat)

Available on marbled grey and on black vinyl.

Althought we can consider 'Golden Dream' the Invisible Limits main hit, for many Natalies is the preferred so it deserved a re-issue. This release includes three new exclusives previously on released tracks. Monty & Julio Posadas released two techno versions for Natalie and Golden Dreams that deserved to be on vinyl for techno vinil lovers. The release is complete with the Ultimo Destino Remix, by Salva Aleixandre (key artist on Megabeat)

Available on marbled grey and on black vinyl.

Yellow Vinyl. Playing it cool like it's 1974 - but sounding like 2025. Prepare to step into a parallel universe of groove-soaked funk and cinematic flair: Seoi Nage will release their debut album No Retreat, No Surrender on October 10th. Named after a classic judo throw and shaped by their shared martial arts background, the four-piece outfit from Münster- Jakob Hersch, Anton Zimmermann, Pascal Schaumburg, and Pogo McCartney - deliver an eleven-track tour-de-force that feels like the soundtrack to a cult film that never existed. Imagine Eastern martial arts cinema colliding with Italian giallo, sleazy car chases, and psychedelic noir-an instrumental crime thriller steeped in color, swagger, and funk. Mixed by McCartney, mastered by Alexander von Hörsten, and wrapped in the cinematic artwork of Benni Demmer, No Retreat, No Surrender is more than just retro-it's retro-futurism with a punch. Think MF Doom's crate-digging spirit meets the analog grit of 1970s detective flicks. This is Fan Art Music at its most vivid.

A Dark, Cinematic Soundtrack for Urban Life! UK duo Nightbus release their debut album Passenger, blending trip-hop, indie sleaze, and electronica into a hypnotic exploration of identity, addiction, and emotional tension. Produced by Alex Greaves (Working Men"s Club), the album features standout tracks like the pulsating "Ascension", the dub-heavy "Host", and the haunting "Angles Mortz". With roots in Manchester"s underground scene, Nightbus combine immersive soundscapes with introspective lyrics, crafting a sonic world that"s both unsettling and deeply relatable. Passengeris more than an album - it"s a multi-sensory experience, extending into club nights, fashion, and visual storytelling.

Nevertel, are set to release their Epitaph Records debut album, entitled Start Again. The Florida-based trio - comprised of vocalist Jeremy Michael, rapper/guitarist/producer Raul Lopez, and guitarist Alec Davis - are a rare breed in an era saturated with genre tags and algorithm-chasing playlists. Drawing on a cocktail of nu-metal nostalgia, hip-hop grit, and EDM adrenaline, their sound feels less like a blend and more like a carefully controlled detonation. It"s a vision honed through years of DIY hustle and an unshakable commitment to quality over trend. Bonded in adolescence over music and late-night gaming sessions, the trio turned those formative obsessions into a full-fledged project that has steadily built a digital groundswell. From self-releasing two fulllength albums and a pair of EPs to amassing over 1.5 million streams per week, Nevertel"s trajectory reflects a slow burn in a culture obsessed with instant virality. Citing touchstones like Linkin Park and Bring Me The Horizon, the band pays homage to the titans of their youth while shaping something unmistakably their own: emotionally raw lyricism, razor-edged riffs and breakdowns. It"s equal parts catharsis and chaos. Now signed to Epitaph Records as of 2023, Nevertel are poised to enter their next chapter with momentum at their backs.

In a changing, unpredictable and turbulent world, something we can always rely on is a new Orb album, with the next holiday-for-the-head never far away. On what is quite possibly the millionth longplayer helmed by electronic lifer Alex Paterson; partnered with the now firmly-entrenched boy wonder Michael Rendall; the inspirationally productive outfit yet again deliver the goods, with one of their best yet.

Mr Sam - HERITAGE (1995-2025)

HERITAGE celebrates 30 years of Mr Sam's career in a world-first collector's edition: a monumental best-of gathering 40 tracks across 10 vinyls. Never before has an electronic DJ and producer released such a project - an unprecedented box set that stands as a unique, sincere and intimate journey, blending emotion, innovation and musical memory.

Each track has been carefully selected, remastered, and placed as part of a personal narrative. More than just a compilation, HERITAGE is a musical journey - the story of an artist who has shaped the trance and progressive scene worldwide since 1995, and who continues to write history, with this release sealing his legacy forever.

The album features his most iconic productions (Lotus, the Screen series, Forever Waiting, Lyteo...) alongside timeless contributions from artists who influenced a generation, including D*Note, Timo Maas, Jam & Spoon...

This is more than a retrospective - with HERITAGE, Mr Sam permanently engraves his legacy in the history of electronic music.

HILOMATIK is proud to announce its first-ever vinyl release: the HILOMATIK A-Sides EP. This milestone edition delivers a tangible piece of HI-LO’s world, including seven techno tunes ranging from minimal to peak-time, from Township Rebellion, Roemisch, Dok & Martin, Modea, Helang, Pagano, Deus Deserto, Frank Arvonio, Alex Lentini and STOMP BOXX - a mix of established and young, talented producers.

Taking inspiration from the sounds of Space 92, Eli Brown, Adam Beyer, and label boss HI-LO himself, this EP balances hard-hitting rhythms with hypnotic, minimalistic moments, making it a must-have for techno enthusiasts. Released on all digital platforms in May 2025, this first vinyl release on the label marks a new and very exciting chapter of HILOMATIK.