Debut album by Akane, a new bedroom solo project by Tenerife's Carolina Machado - best known for her role as drummer and singer in space rock psychedelic outfit Gaf y La Estrella de la Muerte.
Cooked and slowly matured over the last couple of years, Carolina opens up her heart to present an intimate collec-tion of dreamy avant pop songs under the banner title Night-Time Birds.
With various nods to David Lynch’s dreamlike imagery and weird americana landscapes, Carolina gracefully merges her own local sensibilities to re-imagine a panoramic, fictional soundtrack to an unmade road movie, creating a per-sonal musical language made up of vintage pop songs, lush ambient soundscapes and West Coast lo-fi electronica. Her pursue of sonic exploration through modular synthesis techniques pushes her sound further out into a wider realm as she blends exotic alien-like melodies with her trademark soothing, shoe-gaze style voice. An album that seems to be floating gracefully and frozen in time…
The album’s seven tracks were recorded live during her performance in a disused gas tank at the Keroxen festival in 2022 and counts with the special collaboration of her bandmate in Gaf César Chinarro on guitar. No doubt, Night-Time Birds is not the last we’ll hear from Carol demonstrating once again the varied and eclectic creative energy currently flowing from the Canary archipelago shows no sign of slowing down.
8 years almost to the day after releasing his unique re-interpretation album of his field recordings made in the late 90's in Tanzania, Kink Gong is back with another volume of bushmen madness. Here’s what Kink Gong aka Laurent Jean-neau has to say about his end of millennium trip:
‘’My experience in Tanzania is now over 20 years and most of the so called remix was started in Tanzania and left un-finished, then eventually retouched in Vienna, Paris, Shanghai, Kunming, Dali or Vientiane. 20 years later I searched my Tanzanian files and rediscovered unfinished tracks which are being now refreshed on this new record.
Back to the early days of the XXI century, when I lost my health trying to survive with the HADZAs, the last bushmen in northern Tanzania. In 1999 James Stephenson from NYC invited me to join his Hadzas friends. I would leave the bush to rest in a place with enough food and electricity and start to edit, loop and work on the original recordings, to trans-form them into organic abstract compositions, the only instrument I had recorded a lot with the Hadzas was the malimba and I bought different malimbas in Arusha to take back with me to Europe, I used either the original record-ings or me playing malimbas on some tracks and applied some electronic treatment to it, at that time I used Roland synths for some tracks.
The original recordings are related to scenes at night by the fire with the Hadzas, but also 3 different types of celebra-tions, Epeme Men was recorded on a moonless night with men and women singing and dancing in complete dark-ness in Mangola, an Hadza camp. Irawk Drum Under the Rain was recorded during daytime at a Multi ethnic gathering at the Franciscan Spanish catholic mission with a crowd dancing and singing under heavy rain while an IRAWK large (and wet) drum was being played, Northern Tanzania. Makonde Island was recorded in southern Tanzania at the boarder with Mozambique and is a pure scene of trance taking place on an island where the MAKONDE fishermen off the coast of Mtwara, get wild, hitting plastic containers for the sound, drunk and stoned men and women are hysterical-ly jumping and falling on each other, ending up with a few wounded.
Once again I'm responsible for this act of multicultural sabotage, but don’t forget that you can always listen to the origi-nal recordings on the Kink Gong recs collection. ‘’
Laurent Jeanneau, Berlin 2023
INTOXTC is the first EP under Ash Luk's post Minimal Violence alias,Infinity Division. Like a phoenix rising, he continues his ascent through amelodic dystopia simultaneously channeling nostalgia and violence. No stranger to Never Sleep after our //ZOO release and playing live shows for the club night for many years. 'Visions' has ID howling over eerie pop lubed melodies, jungle breaks which all come together to form a new age in crossover music. Sounding like nobody else and completely blows the doors off the"Hyperpop" stigma associated with this kind of bravery. 'Thirteen' shows the club some trance fever dreams whilst 'Something Dreamy' breaks the whole fourth wall in its unashamed hands in the arrangement and palette. Leading the charge is 'T-INT' - a HUGE orchestral noise rhythmic workout and shows the sheer volume that this producer can materialise. Leftfield break up a mosh pit in NYC's CBGB and find Ian Curtis still dancing.
Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, also known as Roman Reloaded, is the second studio album by Nicki Minaj. Looking to transition from her debut studio album, Pink Friday (2010), Minaj wanted to make a follow-up record about “just having fun”. Stylistically, the album is divided by a first half of hip hop tracks and a second half of dance-pop songs.
Internationally, the album peaked at number one in Canada and the United Kingdom, and reached the top five in Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand.
The album was promoted with six singles. Its lead single “Starships” peaked at number five on the US Billboard Hot 100. Follow-up singles “Right by My Side” and “Beez in the Trap” experienced moderate success on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs component chart. “Pound the Alarm” and “Va Va Voom” peaked at numbers fifteen and twenty-two on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively. “Automatic” was released as single only in French. The album was additionally promoted through the Pink Friday Tour and the Pink Friday: Reloaded Tour, which visited North America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania throughout May and December 2012.
Opeth wurde von den Kritikern für ihre Kombination aus progressiven Einflüssen und vernichtendem schwedischem Death Metal gelobt. Diese farbigen 140g Re-Issues sind ein Muss für Fans und Sammler, denn sie wurden von keinem Geringeren als Jens Bogren (Opeth, Katatonia, Amorphis, Sepultura) mit Unterstützung von Mikael Åkerfeldt ein liebevoll remastert. Die Aufnahmen wurden mit halber Geschwindigkeit in den berüchtigten Abbey Rd von Miles Showell (ABBA, Beatles) geschnitten, und das gesamte Artwork wurde von Dan Capp sorgfältig restauriert und so gestaltet, wie es die Band ursprünglich beabsichtigt hatte.
Es gibt nur wenige Bands, die es mit den Schweden von Opeth aufnehmen können oder wollen. Seit ihrer Gründung 1990 in dem kleinen Stockholmer Vorort Bandhagen haben die Schweden alle Konventionen über den Haufen geworfen, sich trotzig gegen alle Widrigkeiten durchgesetzt und - was am wichtigsten ist -12 atemberaubend schöne und intensive Alben geschaffen und sich damit zu einer der besten Bands der Welt entwickelt.
The Key To Our Love compilation series is an in-depth exploration of Black & Brown American soul artists from back in the day.
Focusing on the sweeter side of these obscure singles, the album comprises of musicians who shared their hope & dreams through independent vinyl releases. The obscurity of these private pressed singles has limited their audience; originally released in small quantities and sold locally, the artists remained largely unknown but created some of the most poignant & timeless tracks.
Each song released in direct collaboration with the artists & producers.
Kaijupop is conceived as a record created by an international
supergroup operating under the umbrella of Soft-Bodied Humans. Over the past decade, UK producer David McNamee has curated an impressive series of releases under the Blue Tapes label that highlight various aspects of minimal music, ranging from grime to gugak, American primitivism to Japanese ambient, and released his own longform minimal music under the name Cut A Lonely Figure
McNamee now unveils on vinyl his latest project, Soft-Bodied Humans, a supergroup that transcends boundaries, drawing inspiration from grime, minimalism and industrial alike. Soft-Bodied Humans brings together an eclectic ensemble of like-minded producers, vocalists, and performers, resulting in a diverse and mesmerizing album.
Collaborators on this spellbinding album include L.A. avant-garde
artist Anna Homler, rising Ugandan MC Swordman Kitala, Brazilian
artist and musician Cadu Tenorio, Japanese grime artist PAKIN,
throat-singer and doom metal auteur Abysmal Growls of Despair, and
Chicago-based producer Fire-Toolz.
This groundbreaking album explores a dynamic range, effortlessly
transitioning from abstract moments to intense sonic experiences.
While grime-inflected beats form its core, Kaijupop fearlessly mutates
and diverts this foundation into uncharted territories. The result is
an immersive sonic journey that pushes the boundaries of the genre.
With each track, the album offers a fresh perspective and an
adventurous exploration of sound.
Soft-Bodied Humans stands as a testament to the power of collaboration and experimentation. This international supergroup definitely breaks the mould of traditional music-making, delivering a groundbreaking and boundary-pushing album that will leave listeners eager for more.
Der Begriff 'Nuit Américaine' (Day for Night) erinnert an François Truffauts legendären 1973er Film und bezeichnet die Technik, Tagesaufnahmen so aussehen zu lassen, als wären sie nachts aufgenommen worden. Diese Stimmung vermittelt auch das gleichnamige Album des französischen Jazztrompeters Robin Mansanti, der zusammen mit einer Rhythmusband, unwiderstehlichem Charme und poetischer Sensibilität zeitlose Jazzklassiker und -Balladen von Glenn Miller über Henry Mancini bis Leonard Bernstein neu interpretiert.
Exciting news for music lovers! We are thrilled to unveil the highly anticipated release of a brand new vinyl by the talented Colombian artist, Lamediscos. This rising star in the Latin American electronic music scene has crafted a unique sound that seamlessly blends vintage synths, funky acid basslines, and broken rhythms, resulting in tracks that are infectious and groovy. Drawing inspiration from classic disco, breaks, and house music, Lamediscos has caught the attention of well-known artists like VTSS who praise his ability to create captivating melodies and irresistible beats.
But that's not all! This vinyl also includes two remixes one by the legendary Eddy C, a Canadian DJ and producer who has been pushing the boundaries of dance music for over three decades. Known for his unparalleled skill in remixing, Eddy C has reimagined Lamediscos' original track, infusing it with his unique style and taking it to a whole new level.
For the second remix for this special release, we also have one by label boss Lega, who gives us his own interpretation of the track, showcasing his production prowess and adding yet another layer of musical depth to the vinyl.
Stay Raw!
The gifted Puerto Rican-American drummer and percussionist Willie Bobo was one of the architects of Latin Jazz. Following mentorship from Machito and Mongo Santamaria, Bobo played with Tito Puente, Cal Tjader, and Herbie Mann, before going solo. Bobo’s Beat is a sure-fire winner from 1962 with excellent support from trumpeter Clark Terry, saxophonist Joe Farrell and keyboardist Frank Anderson, a fully three-dimensional set with fine jazz nuances. It shows that Bobo never accepted less than the best from his counterparts, and there are some bossa nova covers mixed in with the driving Latin originals too. An essential work!
Fans of American metal act Iced Earth have long hoped for a new sign of life from their icons. On 28 April 2023, the wait will be over at last: Guitarist and founder member Jon Schaffer has announced the release of two new EPs on ROAR! Rock Of Angels Records. Entitled 'Hellrider' and 'I Walk Among You', these releases will include rare recordings from the transition phase between singer Tim 'Ripper' Owens' and predecessor/successor Matt Barlow in 2007 and 2008, a particularly exciting and eventful period in Iced Earth's band history. The 'Hellrider' EP consists of the songs 'Prophecy', 'Birth Of The Wicked' and 'The Coming Curse', originally from the album 'Something Wicked This Way Comes' (1998), voted one of the best power metal records of all time by Metal Hammer. In late summer 2007, all three tracks were re-recorded, featuring Tim 'Ripper' Owens. Schaffer: "Before now, these releases hadn't been issued on anything other than CD. Now they've been remastered, with new artwork, new mastering, new formats on vinyl, picture disc, and they'll be available for digital download for the first time."
Tapping into the seductive unease of the unexplained, Modula lands on Tartelet Archives with Paranormal Phenomena – The Icelandic Expedition, a nine-track album that evokes alien synth- electro and New Age soundscapes.
During a trip to Iceland in February 2020, Naples native Filippo Colonna Romano (Modula) experienced the raw power of the island’s otherworldly natural forces. Inspired by his field recordings and a rekindled interest in sci-fi, Paranormal Phenomena – The Icelandic Expedition was born. Steeped in haunting LA synthesis and cinematic tension, the album is an imagined soundtrack to a supernatural thriller, cast in the icy tones of the Roland JD-800.
“When I went to Iceland I was so excited about the ambience and sounds,” says Modula. “I felt everything was stronger than normal; the wind was brutal, the waves fast and noisy. I came to the conclusion that what I had captured all sounded strangely eerie and otherworldly. I decided to compose music that had the same vibe as the field recordings – cold and strange, mysterious and alien.”
The album includes nine tracks each representing a scene in the “movie” ranging from alien synth-electro to New Age ambient moods and soundscapes, inviting the listener on a journey through cold landscapes and into dark caves where unknown creatures lurk in the shadows. Paranormal Phenomena leads logically on from Modula’s previous work for Bordello A Parigi and Firecracker, not to mention his Alba – Tempesta – Notturno EP on Tartelet Records which drew on field recordings from the jungles of South America. Merging extreme environments with a rich palette of classic outboard gear, Modula’s music transports listeners through space and time. Given the heavy motion-picture theme present in Paranormal Phenomena – The Icelandic Expedition, the album is a fitting release to inaugurate Tartelet Archives, a new sub-label to Tartelet Records focusing on electronic obscurities and sounds from the past.
Recently created Guatemalan label Identidata is extremely proud to present Sacratávica, the very first collected survey of Joaquín Orellana’s compositions. With a career spanning over 50 years of activity across contemporary art, performance, theater and sound art, Orellana is a highly singular figure in Guatamalan culture. Often considered to be the sole avant-garde composer in the country, his work has a deeply interdisciplinary quality. Most of his music was created using an orchestra of his self-built instruments, also known as Útiles Sonoros. Sitting at the border of sculpture, sound installation and musical instrument, these Útiles Sonoros, which he’s been building and developing since the late ‘60s, are at the center of his artistic activity.
Aside the obvious formal aspect, his compositions also have a strong political message, while being deeply rooted in Guatemalan history, folklore and various identities, both indigenous and modern. Playful opener “Híbrido a presión” was one of the first of his compositions to be performed entirely using the Útiles Sonoros. However, due to its technical complexity the piece was seldom reproduced, except for a later staging that Orellana directed in Louisville, Kentucky. “Ramajes”(1984), initially titled “Evocación profunda y ramajes de una marimba” , tracks the many incarnations of the marimba across history, before reaching its final form as one of Orellana’s instruments by combining vibrational percussion with melody and poetry fragments.
The title track, ‘’Sacratávica’’, represents one of the most ambitious and emotionally charged pieces from the album. An expansive 22 minute composition mixing textures that mimick field recordings and multi-layered vocal melodies culminating in choral catharsis, ‘’Sacratávica’’ deals in baroque maximalism without ever feeling cluttered. For the casual listener, the track immediately stands out, not only because of the moving vocal layered harmonies, but also through its epic scale and strong sonic narrative. Dubbed “Las voces del Rio Negro”, the piece references the massacres that took place in Coban during a period where the army massacred numerous towns, throwing the bodies in the nearby Rio Negro (the Black River).
Final track, “Fantoidea”, a glistening, metallic ambient improvisation, was a reimagining of Disney’s Fantasia using Paul Dukas’s “The Sorcerer's Apprentice” as inspiration.
Despite his work being presented in numerous exhibitions and concerts in various prestigious museums and theaters across the world, very few quality recordings exist to date. The only previously available recordings so far or either of very poor quality or did not receive enough attention. This is why, although The compositions presented not being previously unheard, having them all together in a high quality audio object represents a key moment In Guatemalan and Latin American culture.
Recorded on August 31st 2016 during a historical concert attended by over 1000 people at the Centro Cultural Miguel Angel Asturias, designed by Efrain Recinos, one of Guatemala’s leading contemporary artist from the last century, the four pieces were performed by a selection of over 90 musicians (including 60 vocalists) who were already familiar with Orellana’s instruments, cherry-picked from the Guatemalan Conservatory.
For the people behind Identidata, it has been a long and arduous process to put together these pieces. Trying to offer a panoramic view of Orellana’s work, the curators have selected pieces ranging from different decades and artistic periods. Sacratávica is a portrait of a singular artist whose work speaks not only to his culture, but carries strong aesthetic sensibilities that resonate universally.
American rapper from Oak Park, Sacramento, California. He started rapping in 2004 under the name Lil Tim. The artist eventually changed his stage name to Mozzy in 2012. Until 2015, he had received little
attention until the release of this album which Rolling Stone magazine ranked as the 22nd best rap album of 2015. The same year also saw Mozzy being recognized by Complex as having "the best run of 2015." And 2018 found him appearing on the “Black Panther” soundtrack which introduced him to a mainstream audience. He has evolved over the years to become one of the most influential voices in his era of West Coast hip-hop.
Brandee Younger will release her second album on Impulse! Records, ‘Brand New Life’. Younger is quite often noted for standing on the shoulders of the very women who ushered in the harp as a clear and distinct voice in jazz: Dorothy Ashby. This record is an amalgamation of original pieces from Brandee and select reinterpretations of Ashby’s work. Brandee Younger represents a generation of contemporary improvisational musicians who came of age in an era when hip hop commanded a strong presence in American popular culture and emerged as leaders of a new school. In ‘Brand New Life’, she brings progressive explorations of harmony, rhythm, and melody infused with styles from hip hop, rock and pop music.
‘At the turn of the 1990s, there were few more successful New York house producers than Victor Simonelli. Under a dizzying array of aliases – Solution, NY’s Finest, Groove Committee, Critical Rhythm and Cloud 9 being amongst the better-known – the Brooklyn-born DJ/producer delivered a string of underground club hits during the city’s early ’90s house boom.’
BTG presents “Victor Simonelli: The Early Years Vol 1” a collectors edition double Vinyl release - 2 X 12’s in each Vol
Launching the first Behind The Groove collectors edition vinyl series is New York’s finest Victor Simonelli with ‘The Early Years Vol 1 & 2’ double Vinyl releases. Featuring seminal house tracks such as Cloud 9’s ‘Do You Want Me’, Solution’s ‘Feel So Right’, Instant Exposure’s ‘Wanna Be With You’ and rare mixes of Raiana Page and EZ-AL, this collection brings together classic and rare Victor Simonelli cuts that reflect the early raw energy and buzz of the New York House scene. With ‘Vol 2” scheduled to follow shortly after, this is the most comprehensive collection of rare Simonelli cuts that firmly establishes his esteemed role in 90s House Music as well as introducing new fans to his inimitable sound.
Victor Simonelli is one of the early kings of NYC sampling In house music. The real deal - Victor danced at the legendary David Mancuso’s Loft sessions and developed a serious appreciation for good music. He interned for Arthur Baker at his renown Shakedown Studios (where Arthur worked with the iconic Afrika Bambatta on the seminal dance floor ’Planet Rock’ track) and went on to release hugely influential releases on seminal NYC labels 4th Floor and Nu Groove. Victor’s music was championed by the hugely celebrated iconic House Music DJ pioneers, Larry Levan and Tony Humphries at Paradise Garage & Zanzibar/WBLS/Kiss FM respectively.
Revered as a New York house heavyweight and prolific producer since the turn of the 1990s, Victor Simonelli grew up in Brooklyn, NYC, nurtured by a music loving family, with an avid record collecting father who also worked as a local party DJ. He took music lessons in piano, drums, guitar and bass, before discovering his first love, tuning into NY’s Radio Mix Shows on WBLS, WKTU and WRKS,98.7 Kiss FM) where he discovered the art of mixing and in his own words, ’I just simply got lost in the music’.
Graduating from NYC’s Centre For Media Arts, Victor got an internship in the legendary producer, Arthur Baker’s Shakedown Studios. Soon graduating to editing, mixing and then producing he worked for artists David Bowie, Quincy Jones, Debbie Harry, Sinead O’Connor and Talking Heads. Teaming up with fellow NYC producer Lenny Dee to become the Brooklyn Funk Essentials, they released records ‘Critical Rhythm’ and ‘Subliminal Aurra’ on 4th Floor before Victor went solo as Groove Committee releasing the classic ‘I Want You To Know’ on the legendary Nu Groove Records. Paradise Garage legend, Larry Levan broke ‘I Want You To Know’ rocking 2 copies on his last tour of Japan whilst King of NY House Music,Tony Humphries broke Victor’s new ‘Feels So Right’ across New York on his WBLS/Kiss FM Mastermix show and at his legendary Zanzibar club sessions. It was only a matter of time before Victor’s name became synonymous with quality House music ensuring a worldwide platform for his productions.
In the early 90s alongside his own productions, Victor Simonelli worked on high profile projects, including James Brown’s album, “Love Overdue” BeBe and CeCe Winans single featuring Mavis Staples “I’ll Take You There” and Quincy Jones’ “I’ll Be Good To You” featuring Chaka Khan and the legendary Ray Charles. Never straying too far from his clubland roots, Victor worked with Danny Tenaglia on his classic “The Harmonica Track”.
DJ gigs across the world started flooding in and Victor found himself recording for a dizzying array of labels including Tribal America, Sub-Urban, Bassline, King Street Sounds and Vibe, under a wide range of aliases. He also produced, wrote and remixed for artists such Nile Rodgers (Chic), Afrika Baambata, Hall & Oates, Frankie Knuckles, Kerri Chandler, Madonna and Michael Jackson. Famed for his own productions “It’s So Good” by Creative Force, “I Know A Place” as Sound Of One - the first release on Roger Sanchez One Records -, “Dirty Games” as well as the “Street Players Vol 1 EP”, Victor went on to set up Suburban Records with Tommy Musto and Bassline Records with two other partners. Notable releases on this label include “Do You Feel Me”, Connie Harvey’s gospel inspired, “Thank You Lord”, Urban Blues Project’s “Deliver Me”, Colonel Abrams “Not Gonna Let”, and Mone’s “Better Way”. Never ceasing to produce, DJ, run his own label and host radio shows like Groove Lift, Victor has worked with virtually every NYC producer and has nurtured a next generation talents including Angel Moraes, Jazz ‘N’ Groove, Urban Blues Project, Harlem Hustlers, Jay Jay and Julius Papp. Victor’s releases have also been used on M&S’s “Salsoul Nuggett” hit and Eddie Amador’s underground smash ‘House Music’.
In the late 90’s Victor launched his new Westside Productions, notable for the “Latin Impressions 1 & 2” releases, opened up a studio in Italy as he found himself increasingly working in Europe and now divides his time between New York and Italy. Suffice to say his unique sound of uplifting and spiritual music has kept him at the forefront of House Music and he is credited as one of its leading exponents with his string of classic releases and remixes.
Behind the Groove, branches out from its digital platform to embark on a programme of releases from the iconic pioneer producers of House Music. Esteemed for their high quality features and mixes that continue to explore, celebrate and venerate the contributions of highly respected, scene-shaping Labels, Artists, DJs and Special Events, BTG seeks to bring these talents and tales to the attention of the wider community. Unlocking the stories surrounding the pivotal roles they played and continue to play today in shaping the underground music scene we have come to know and love.
BTG presents “Victor Simonelli: The Early Years Vol 1” a collectors edition double Vinyl release, released on May 12th 2023. ‘Vol 2” follows on May 26th 2023 . These releases are the most comprehensive collection of rare Victor Simonelli cuts that firmly establish his esteemed role in 90s House Music and introduces new fans to his carefree sound.
In the fall 2021, Belgian saxophone player Robin Verheyen was invited by Kunstencentrum KAAP and W.E.R.F. records to play a solo concert during AMOK festival in the beautiful Bruges baroque church Walburga. The haunting concert was recorded in its entirety and additionally an extra recording session was scheduled in the Chamber Music Hall of the Bruges Concertgebouw. Both rooms have one thing in common: special acoustics. The playful dialogue Robin created with both spaces created an extremely unique sound and formed the basis for the title of this first solo album: Playing The Room.
Over the past two decades, Robin Verheyen has proven to be not only one of Belgium's brightest saxophonists of his generation, but also that he is a musical jack-of-all trades. Within his band with dEUS frontman Tom Barman - TaxiWars - he demonstrated his ability to rock, while with Bach Riddles he showed that he is no stranger to baroque music either. In his own bands he was often surrounded with illustrious American jazz greats like Joey Baron or Marc Copland, but with 'Playing The Room' Robin proves that he can hold his own as well and what an exceptional musician and improviser he is.
Playing The Room offers the listener a musical journey full of discoveries on the edge of spirituality and virtuosity. The album will be officially released on W.E.R.F records on Friday, May 5, and will be available in a limited edition on vinyl. An absolute must-have for any musical connoisseur.
It's fair to say Malta's Sound Synthesis is associated with spacey, acid-flecked electro. But here, on his first album for Gated, a deep vein of old-school influenced breaks comes to the fore.
The infectious acid lines are ever-present - the hands-in-the-air breakdowns, the rolling basslines - but this is a different side to Keith Farrugia's prolific output that brings in influences from ambient to downtempo to bassbin-worrying bangers.
Take opener Ambient Talk, which kicks into life with skittish drums, or the woozy vocal-led All Night, which makes sharp use of the Amen break, as does album highlight 90s Chords.
Yes there are classic Sound Synthesis melodies throughout these nine tracks, but there's also a darker side, exemplified by the aptly-named 140BPMadness, which showcases Farrugia at his most ferocious.
Chart-topping afro house label MoBlack Records, favoured by the likes of Dixon, Black Coffee and Ame, returns with another scintillating four track sampler. Deep, emotive, richly textured afro-infused house cuts from the likes of Emmanuel Jal, Zakes Bantwini, Mowgan, Yass and Fnx Omar.
Through Crooked Aim has the feel of a record to accompany the listener on epic journeys through strange and daunting territories. Adjust the rear-view mirror and press play as the landscape rolls behind you. Filmic. Atmospheric. Classic, Americana and Folk influences peppered throughout, It's a journey that rolls through valleys, painting its own rich, vivid pictures inhabited by troubled, nuanced characters looking for ways to keep going. Recording it at Old Jet in Suffolk, an old US Airforce base turned creative arts community developed and run by Quin added its own majesty to proceedings. Waking up to see herds of deer walking through the moors and mist whilst surrounded by these aircraft hangers. You can't help but find some of that magic seeping into the recordings.
“Preparing Singularity” is the debut album by Berlin-based EBM act Transhuman Rebirth, currently a one-man side project of renowned German synth-punk artist Ben Bloodygrave.
Already instantly recognizable on the European synth/wave scene and touring circuit with his high octane aggressive minimal synth, Bloodygrave started this new project over the past few years focusing more on classic, first-wave EBM, moulding the nine tracks on “Preparing Singularity” into a sound that’s recognizable to fans of the starting foundations of the genre. While retaining a sound that’s unique and solely its own, elements of minimal wave and synth-punk are fused in these propulsive tracks, with nods to old idols such as Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, Front 242 and Absolute Body Control.
Transhuman Rebirth is subjectually futuristic to dystopian, interspersed with political statements. The lyrics focus on topics that are current and modern, including science, technology, surveillance and artificial intelligence — all delivered through Bloodygrave’s well-known vocal style with a sound that is much rougher and with compositions and sound designs that are more complex than his main Ben Bloodygrave persona.
Jazz music has more than its fair share of overshadowed figures that whilst contributing much to the music have little presence in its collective conscious. One such musician is the talented multi-reedist, Sahib Shihab. Born Edmond Gregory, as he was known before he adopted the Muslim faith in 1946, Sahib Shihab's music background shows a deep and significant evolution, influenced by Thelonious Monk, Dizzie Gillespie (his experience in Dizzie's band marked Sahib's switch to Baritone, the instrument he became most readily associated with), and above all by Charlie Parker's Bop. Had it not been for the post-war migration of many top American jazz musicians to Europe, it is quite likely that the legendary Clarke-Boland Big Band might never come into existence. Sahib, one of this musicians disillusioned with the politics and racism of the United States, accepted to join the band of Quincy Jones for an European tour in 1959. When the tour ended, Shihab he remained in Europe where he joined, in 1961, the Clarke-Boland Big Band. The collection 'Companionship', whose line up consists of seven elements which derives from this original band, spotlights the consummate musicianship and individuality of Sahib Shihab and is testimony to his special musical gifts - not only as a top-rank flautist and baritone saxophone but also as a composer. Furthermore, it provides a welcome reminder of the high quality of the Clarke-Boland Big Band's rhythm section, the lively style of vibraphonist Fats Sadi and the power and personality of two of the C-BBB's horn-playing stalwarts, Benny Bailey and Ake Persson. Here's a real rarity, surely a desert island disc. This double album has it all from frantic banging percussive workouts to modal numbers to beautiful ballads. It's a staggeringly good piece of music and worth every penny of the price tag it commands. Let's have a look to the most significant pieces. Francy Boland's "Om Mani Padme Hum", taken from a Tibetan prayer, shows Shihab in exuberant mood, playing against a vigorous percussion background and making dramatic use of his special technique of combining voice and flute. Boland contributes an incisive, effervescent solo. "Bohemia After Dark", a classic original by bassist Oscar Pettiford which he first recorded back in August 1955, finds Shihab in exultant form on baritone. "Companionship" has a Bossa Nova beat and features Bailey on flugelhorn and Shihab on flute, playing with a limpid, floating sound. Bailey's minor-key original, "Stoned Ghosts" was, he says, inspired by listening to some music written by Bela Bartok before he emigrated to the United States. The piece has an infectious back-beat pulse and showcases the superb walking technique of Jimmy Woode. In "Con Alma" Shihab's mellow flute set against a churning 12/8 beat in this stylish Boland arrangement. Woode's performance of the superb Mei Torme ballad, "Born To Be Blue", reveals his great affection for the song. "lt is the perfect combination," he says, "a beautiful melody married to a great lyric. I really love that tune." It is a song of rueful resignation, putting a brave face on the blues. "Balafon" is an up-tempo Francy Boland original written for the French mime artist, Marcel Marceau. The rhythm section really cooks on this track with Kenny Clarke's cymbal work outstanding. Boland's solo here is notable for its neat, left hand punctuations. "Calypso Blues" has been written by Nat King Cole and Don George. lt tells the wry and wistful tale of a Trinidadian in New York desperately homesick for the land where everything 5 so much cheaper (in New York "a dollar buy, a cup of coffee and a ham on rye") and the girls more natural than the artificial, painted beauties of New York. Woode's composition, "Sconsolato" is a haunting theme in A minor and it brings to a close a truly fascinating album. This is dynamic music played with vigour, verve and vitality - and it is an enormous pleasure to rediscover it. A shadowy fugitive from his home in the land of jazz, Sahib Shihab remains a true unsung figure, worthy of more attention. With his equally expert technique on Baritone, Flute, Alto and Soprano saxophones and his capacity to adapt easily to a variety of musical settings. His warm, individual, singsong sound in improvisation and his unusual and interesting compositions mark him out as a hidden treasure in the dusty corners of jazz archive.
Heels & Souls Recordings’ fifth reissue sees them reach across the Atlantic to Vancouver, pressing up Pilgrims Of The Mind’s 'What’s Your Shrine?' for the first time ever on vinyl, 25 years since its CD-only release on Map Music. A departure from the label’s previous releases, the LP is a beautiful smorgasbord of styles - progressive house, downtempo, ambient, tech house and trance all nestle together, a wiggling journey of sonic delight from the mind of Stéphane Novak.
Turn the dial back to ‘97 and Vancouver's underground had a distinctive buzz to its rumblings, an amalgamation of scenes and styles gave rise to a cohort of producers that were unconstrained by genre, offering up a heady mix of sounds to expand the mind. ‘Welcome To Lotus Land’ the key 1996 compilation on Robert Shea’s seminal Map Music, championed much of this output including two cuts from POTM. Stéphane then released his first and only full-length album, ‘What’s Your Shrine?’ on the same label the following year.
Picking out choice moments from an album as considered and complete as this is tough. Those horizontally inclined will be drawn to the ambient dwellings of ‘Sandcastle’ & ‘Following the Sofuto Kuriimo’, tracks like ‘Nothing Can Pull Us Apart’ and ‘L’Amour? Encore?!’ are perfectly suited to warming up limbs on the dancefloor, ‘My Baby Likes Rum’ and ‘Loosejaw’ prime for one in full swing. Yet to pick individual tracks misses the stunning sum of its parts that this 70+ minute cruise is, surely one of the finest albums from the American West Coast during its halcyon days of the ‘90s.
Digging deep in his vaults, Stéphane managed to uncover the original unmastered DATs that have been given a fresh mastering by Justin Drake at the Bakehouse Studios. This beautiful, double-disc gatefold comes complete with liner notes from Ciel, words from Stéphane himself, plus never-before-seen photography - the complete package this music always deserved.
On April 7th electronic luminary Nathan Fake presents the new longplayer ‘Crystal Vision’ on his own Cambria Instruments imprint, which features collaborations with Clark and Wizard Apprentice.
This is music for music’s sake – recorded without angles, agendas and themes – so Fake was free to simply continue honing his craft and express himself non-literally. Aptly titled, there’s a clarity of execution and ambition, and a peak effectiveness to the record that just sounds right.
Continuing to set a personal bar higher and topping his own best, the mark of master craftsperson is everywhere, but that doesn’t mean it’s polished; There’s plenty of rawness evident, with spiky sonics keeping ears on high alert – full of endorphin-flooded rave energy.
Following a short, scene-setting ‘Arrival’ – a simple major chord arpeggio played on a Jupiter 6 which sounds like curtains opening at dawn, things begin apace with ‘The Grass’, which hurtles like a precision-tuned bullet train through Arctic tundra. The undulating effect of compression is emphasised by the classic techno trope where 2 rhythms jar yet interlock, creating an exquisitely disorientating strobe-like flutter. On the track’s guest, Fake comments, “I fell in love with Wizard Apprentice's ‘I Am Invisible’ and felt our musical styles were similar. Their vocals are smooth and clear and sharp at the same time. They’re like a calm within the storm.”
Inspired by Italo disco but sounding wholly alien and futuristic, ‘Vimana’’s fizzing buzzsaw arpeggiated bassline, popping snares and bright whirling melody are equally an electro trance melange, with an effervescent major chord Arp that kicks in midway.
Reminiscent of what used to be called ‘funky techno’ but with sparklier sounds, ‘Boss Core’ blinds like sunshine bouncing off ice. Using his trusty Boss DR550 drum machine, and inspired by Autechre's ‘Vose In’, the track peaks by reaching that melancholic/euphoric axis for which he is loved.
With chugging slow breakbeats not a million miles from Board Of Canada or trip hop, ‘Crystal Vision’ rolls along, with the melody opening up, revealing more hidden notes as it progresses, building into a fractal, kaleidoscopic mosaic.
An emotional outpouring with serotonin surging through the circuitry, classic breakbeats and layers of lazers, ‘Bibled’ has all the hallmarks of a classic. This is a bonafide festival-set closing, hugging-your-mates, moment – or, with its guitar solo, “a power ballad” – as Nathan calls it.
A minimalistic moment of calm midway through the album, ‘CMD’’s gently comforting dreamscape is conjured with FM stacked and detuned sine waves which are left to breathe, whilst the chunky Chicagoan house jack of ‘Hawk’ brings to mind classic Relief records, but even more detuned and wibbly, and laden with synths.
As the title suggests, ‘Amen 96’ is in Fake’s own words, “me having a go at jungle. I grew up listening to it, and I remember as a teenager it sounded like the most intense and otherworldly music ever. It still does. This track is an experiment to see how my melodic style works against amen breaks”. Closer to the braindance end of the spectrum than ‘proper’ jungle (and all the more interesting for it), Fake channels the spirit of Squarepusher but makes it his own, brimming with melodious twinkle.
A collaboration with Nathan’s close friend and genuine musical hero Clark. ‘Outsider’ finds this dream team alchemising pure gold that’s bigger than the sum of their parts. Skittering, intense, far-reaching end epic, the pair close proceedings on a grandly dramatic note. In 2020 Nathan released the album ‘Blizzards’, which was described by The Quietus as “his best work”, and “his best LP yet” yet by Resident Advisor. The equally well received ‘Blizzards Remixes’ EP which featured Afrodeutsche and Irene Dresel followed in 2021, as did a nationwide UK tour.
An in-demand remixer, Fake has added his magic to tracks by Radiohead, Clark, Perc, Jon Hopkins, GoGo Penguin, Dominik Eulberg, Christian Löffler and Damian Lazarus, working for labels including Ninja Tune, Domino, Warp, Blue Note and Kompakt.
One of the greatest soul voices working in the US today, Billy Valentine's latest release, first plotted out in the summer of 2020, sees the artist responding to the chaos of a global pandemic and the seismic impact of George Floyd's murder via legendary works from Curtis Mayfield, Gil Scot Heron and Pharaoh Sanders. In collaboration with acclaimed producer and songwriter, Bob Thiele Jr. (son of Flying Dutchman founder, Bob Thiele), Valentine's rich, velvety vocals breathe new life into these already-powerful tracks, bringing them into the contemporary political context with renewed urgency. Released on Acid Jazz in partnership with renowned US label Flying Dutchman, Valentine's latest output marks the first new music from the label since the '70s - a momentous return for a keystone tastemaker of the American jazz world.
Before MF DOOM donned his mask and became one of the most prolific MC-producers of modern Hip-Hop, he was a member of KMD, an early ‘90s rap group whose work still goes criminally under-appreciated to this day.
Following their 1991 debut album, Mr. Hood, the former trio shed one member leaving only two remaining – Subroc and his brother, Zev Love X (better known today as MF DOOM). Originally scheduled for release in 1994, their sophomore album Black Bastards showed clear progression from their debut. It was a truly amazing record, both sonically and lyrically, full of youthful creativity and tinged with the stresses of growing up as Black men in urban America. Songs like the lead single “What A N*gga Know”, the slippery, bass-driven “Get U Now”, and the album’s title track explore Black consciousness viewed through young-but-experienced eyes. Musically alternating between bouncy and raw – many times both, concurrently – the tracks gave the MC’s the springboard they needed to express themselves clearly.
Sadly, Subroc would face a sudden and untimely death in 1993, just as the duo were finishing the album. Grief-stricken, his brother Zev Love X – now the sole remaining member of the group – was determined to carry the legacy of KMD onward, but Elektra Records unceremoniously shelved the project in the eleventh hour, due to controversy surrounding the album’s provocative cover art. Following the fallout with Elektra, Zev tried for years to release the album on other labels, but he was continually met with dead ends. Struggling through the pain of losing his brother, coupled with the inability to release their final project together, a discouraged Zev Love X quietly withdrew from the scene and began quietly plotting his revenge on an industry that had broken him spiritually. Thus, in order to understand the true origin story of the super-villain, MF DOOM, one must recognize and appreciate the evolution of his former group, KMD, and the backstory of their pivotal album, Black Bastards.
Arp Frique returns to the scene with a new album after a string of releases, leaving the cratediggers and dancefloor tastemakers with underground classics like Nos Magia, Voyage and Nyame Ye. On ''Analog People Digital World' he embraces the digital coldness of Yamaha’s classic DX7 synthesizer to create a refreshing listening experience using only the FM synthesis-based sounds from this machine to find new heat for an analog world, reflecting on the digital revolution we are living through. The album features Ghanaian songstress Mariseya (Omampam, Jah Kingdom, Digital World, Roi Salomon), Cape Verdean OG Americo Brito (Go Now Wetiko) and Surinam funkstar Sumy, who joins the record on the opening track “Spiritual Masseuse”. Arp Frique closes the album with “Duncan Truffle”, a very intense and wobbling instrumental echoing Bootsy and Bernie Worrell on a solo exercise. Expect an analog-digital exploration of lofi funk, highlife, zouk and reggae. Does that DX7 sound hot or cold to you?
»Love As Projection« is the new album by Frankie Rose, her fifth studio LP and second for Night School following the reissue of her interpretation of The Cure’s »Seventeen Seconds«. Frankie Rose has forged an enviable musical legacy, from playing with bands like Crystal Stilts and The Vivian Girls but on »Love As Projection« she takes a bold step into electronic pop production. A sumptuous recorded statement, it dances in ecstasy and broods on the tumult of the western world’s decay in equal proportion. At the heart of the album is glowing, confident songwriting, resplendent in hooks and choruses but still touched with an optimism undimmed.
After spending nearly two decades establishing herself across New York and Los Angeles independent music circles, Rose re-emerges after six years with a fresh form, aesthetic, and ethos. Celebrated over the years for her expansive approach to songwriting, lush atmospherics, and transcendent vocal melodies and harmonies, »Love As Projection« is a reintroduction of her established style through the lens of contemporary electronic pop. Recorded with producer Brandt Gassman and mixed with long-term collaborator Jorge Elbrecht this is the album Frankie Rose has been building up to her entire career.
More than a rebirth, a refinement, a resurgence, »Love As Projection« boasts a widescreen scope: a long- form project heavily considered for half of a decade, culminating in the most personal and accessible collection of art-pop that Frankie has ever written. When Rose aims for the pop jugular as in first lead track »Anything«, the result is unstoppable. A majestic pop song built for radio, it erupts into an irresistible chorus that marries classic epic 80s American pop with the cult effervescence of Strawberry Switchblade »It’s like a prom scene in a John Hughes movie. It’s a hopeful song about abandoning fear even if the world is quite literally on fire.. In the end, at least we have each other,« says Rose. »Sixteen Ways« further boasts a propulsive, massive chorus, though tempered by a cynicism built in global post-truth, global malaise. »It’s about getting your hopes up, but simultaneously making lists in your head about how it will never work out in your favour.«
The big anthems don’t let up there. On »DOA« some massive, rolling drums lathered in big mid-80s gated reverb dovetail with a syncopated baseline for the ages as Rose’s vocal sails effortlessly above. The effect isn’t unlike ethereal vocalists Clannad circa Howard’s Way or Enya jamming with Simple Minds in their stadium-conquering heyday. Rose tempers the adrenalin with heart-tugging bittersweet tones and there are plenty of them. »Sleeping Night And Day« takes its time with an off-the-cuff chorus, swirling around in harmony and chorus-bass. »Saltwater Girl« picks up the balladeering baton with another nod to album track-mode Switchblade, deep space opening up in the mid-tempo drum track and soupy, digital atmospherics. Album closer »Song For A Horse«, reimagines modern Pop production a-la-PC Music but shorn of the meta-atmosphere. Pianos, swelling synths, minor keys cut through with major. These moments, also seen in Feel Light offer ballast to the soaring pop choruses. Moments like these are big oceans of emotion to fall into before being led out by Rose into a bright new day.
»Love As Projection« is released in the USA by Slumberland.
Spirits From An Urban Jungle – A group consisting of JMJ & Richie (Moving Shadow/Good Looking) and Tekniq (Moving Shadow/Formation) who released two EPs on Whitehouse Records in 1994 and a recent, quickly sold out, EP on Vinyl Fanatiks sister label – Amen brother.
Their first release on Whitehouse was repressed by Vinyl Fanatiks in 2020 on red vinyl and sold out. This is a limited run on blue vinyl and is some deeper, Bukem styled tracks that pre-dated the ‘intelligent’ drum & bass sound that went stratospheric the following year.
Obscure and Rare album of Spacey Fusion grooves, played by a group that includes Robert Rockwell on reeds, plus Bobby Lyle on piano and electric piano. Lyle's presence gives the album a nice groove.
Bob Rockwell, born in Miami, Oklahoma, is an American jazz saxophonist who emigrated to Denmark in 1983 and has lived ever since.
Omar Apollo veröffentlicht offiziell sein mit Spannung erwartetes Debütalbum IVORY.
IVORY bringt Omar Apollos Songwriting auf die nächste Stufe - es überwindet Genregrenzen und Sprachbarrieren, während es eine noch größere musikalische Vielfalt des aufstrebenden Superstars zeigt.
Das neue Album enthält die zuvor veröffentlichten Singles "Tamagotchi", produziert von Pharrell Williams und Chad Hugo, "Killing Me", das mit einem Fernsehauftritt in der Tonight Show mit Jimmy Fallon debütierte, und "Invincible" mit Daniel Caesar.
Darüber hinaus enthält das Album die von Teo Halm produzierte gemeinsame Single "Bad Life" mit Kali Uchis und "Go Away", das von Omar selbst zusammen mit Carter Lang und Chromeo produziert wurde.
In nur wenigen Jahren entwickelte sich der in Indiana aufgewachsene, mexikanisch-amerikanische Singer-Songwriter vom Teenager-Strummer zu einem der heißesten R&B-Künstler seiner Generation.
Eric Clapton’s eponymous first solo album, originally released in August 1970, represents one of rock history’s most successful reinventions. After emerging as one of the seminal guitar heroes of the ’60s, the English superstar decisively re-established his musical priorities with Eric Clapton. The album marked Clapton’s transition from flashy instrumental icon to well-rounded recording artist, downplaying sonic pyrotechnics in favour of a song-focused ensemble approach that would lay the groundwork for his massively successful solo career. For the occasion, he surrounded himself with a new cast of American musicians, tapping into a rootsy musical foundation that provided an inspired framework for his talents. This Anniversary Deluxe Edition presents Eric Clapton – Eric Clapton in three separate mixes –
The Eric Clapton Mix, The Delany Bramlett Mix and The Tom Dowd Mix (The UK Version). The Eric Clapton mix is being released in full for the first time. This anniversary collection also includes some singles, alternate versions and session outtakes.
Gayance joins forces with Rhythm Section for her debut album ‘Mascarade’ - a swaying dance that moves between poetic, soulful odes to the past, accounts of the Afro-diasporic feminine experience and playfully energetic dance floor grooves.
Mascarade is a collection of dancey, broken rhythms, interwoven with heartfelt stories and bright, unapologetic outpours of joy. In her own words, “It's the story of my 20's. I wanted to pay homage to this kid everybody knew, but not deeply. It's about taking back a power that is mine and was always in my hands...It's about making peace with the past and moving forward”.
Gayance (real name Aïsha Vertus) takes her alias from the Haitian creole word for joyfulness.Based in Amsterdam, born and raised in Montreal-Nord, she started as a DJ in 2013, and has toured the world with shows in Paris, Brooklyn, Marrakech, Berlin, Sao Paulo and more, bringing electrifying and contagious energy wherever she goes.
Her own production is influenced by underground UKG and the respective house scenes of Detroit and New York, with nods to the vivid, sun-soaked colours of Latin America. Shades of blues, jazz and gospel can also be heard in her newest project, pulling together styles from each corner of the world. Following her catalog of entirely self-released projects, Gayance announces her full-length debut album on Rhythm Section, bringing some fellow Montrealers along for the ride.
The next issue in the on-going Mastermix series features a centerpiece of Frankfurt’s club history: Wild Pitch Club.
A predecessor to the esteemed Robert Johnson and a stepping stone for Panorama Bar’s very own nd_baumecker.
Founded by Playhouse masterminds Ata and the late Heiko M/S/O it was a Thursday club night that heavily featured house music as a prescription to the ongoing techno fever. Enamored with the US-American roots of it and all things deep, it not only presented the right records, but also their creators and protagonists. With a string of guest DJs from Robert Hood and Claude Young to Kerri Chandler and Theo Parrish as well as talent from the UK and Europe, it was one of the culture’s hubs at the time.
Here you have its testimony. Selected and mixed by Ata and nd_baumecker, it’s an authentic snapshot of the club’s vibe and spirit, spread over two 2x12” volumes, a collectable tape (download included) and a pleasant streaming version, it’s the full dosage. Like Roach Motel confessed: Wild Pitch, I love you.
The next issue in the on-going Mastermix series features a centerpiece of Frankfurt’s club history: Wild Pitch Club.
A predecessor to the esteemed Robert Johnson and a stepping stone for Panorama Bar’s very own nd_baumecker.
Founded by Playhouse masterminds Ata and the late Heiko M/S/O it was a Thursday club night that heavily featured house music as a prescription to the ongoing techno fever. Enamored with the US-American roots of it and all things deep, it not only presented the right records, but also their creators and protagonists. With a string of guest DJs from Robert Hood and Claude Young to Kerri Chandler and Theo Parrish as well as talent from the UK and Europe, it was one of the culture’s hubs at the time.
Here you have its testimony. Selected and mixed by Ata and nd_baumecker, it’s an authentic snapshot of the club’s vibe and spirit, spread over two 2x12” volumes, a collectable tape (download included) and a pleasant streaming version, it’s the full dosage. Like Roach Motel confessed: Wild Pitch, I love you.
Amersfoort based electro youngster audt98 makes his debut on Discos Atónicos with his EP ‘Ionic Bonds’.
These three banging electro tracks that are gritty, hypnotic and dance floor ready, he beautifully translates the ways of nature into music.
Topping it off with a remix from electro veteran Fastgraph this is bound to be a ride!
Music From Memory is delighted to be turning 50 with a special release: MFM050 - V/A - Virtual Dreams: Ambient Explorations In The House & Techno Age, 1993-1997 (3xLP/2xCD). The first in a series of compilations, alongside more in depth artist-focused releases, Virtual Dreams will delve into music produced during the 1990’s that redefined the boundaries of ‘Ambient’. This was music that explored the possibilities of Ambient music within a new setting, created often by House & Techno music producers for a world beyond dance floors but made very much with the pre and post-clubbing listener in mind.
When House and Techno exploded out of America in the mid 1980s a whole generation was redefined not only musically but also culturally and chemically speaking. Peaking, quite literally, with a second ‘Summer of Love’ in 1988, millions of young people across the world would experience the life-changing ups of a brave new world but with it of course came the downs; enter the concept of a ‘Chill-out’ room. Whilst early Chill-out rooms lacked a specific sound and were often soundtracked by music such as reggae and soul, slowly young Techno and House producers themselves would become increasingly interested in developing a futuristic ‘Ambient’ soundtrack to a world beyond the thud of the main room.
‘Ambient’ in this new age now though had sharper teeth than in Brian Eno's key text for ‘Music for Airports’, instead here the sounds were the mode of transport rather than the backdrop. While the melodies were pretty, the soundscape steered away from the pastoral, dreaming of outer-space and technology as opening up exciting new dimensions. Much like in the first Summer Of Love; the musicians were again exploring psychedelic, mind-altering and transcendental possibilities of music. And also much as in the first Summer Of Love, a psychedelic visual language would accompany the music. Though now the tracks could be accompanied by music videos, utilising early CGI techniques, they would look almost entirely to the future: envisioning technology, nature and humanity intertwined in a new Utopian future. Virtual Dreams of a better world.
From Ambient and early Chill-out classics, to lesser known one-off projects, as well as Ambient deviations by some of House and Techno’s leading producers, Volume One of Virtual Dreams features tracks by Bedouin Ascent, LA Synthesis, LFO, Marc Hollander, Mark Pritchard & Kirsty Hawkshaw, Richard H. Kirk and more.
To celebrate our 50th release the first 1000 copies include a holographic 'Virtual Dreams' sticker plus a special insert poster with artwork by Victoria Pacheco and design by Steele Bonus.
Ava Max is ready to take her already extraordinary rise to the pinnacle of pop success to even greater heights with her first new single of 2022, “Maybe You’re The Problem,” and her upcoming album DIAMONDS AND DANCEFLOORS. With over 11B worldwide streams, an array of smash collaborations, and multiple RIAA gold and platinum certifications in the US alone, the first-generation Albanian American artist has fast proven a true pop superstar, hailed for her seismic voice, idiosyncratic high fashion mindset, and undeniable knack for cinematic, theatrical popcraft. 2018 saw Max make her explosive arrival with the blockbuster success of the RIAA 3x-platinum certified hit, “Sweet but Psycho.” Currently boasting more than 3.5B global streams, the track took the world by storm, spending three weeks in the top 10 on Billboard’s “Hot 100” while reaching #1 in more than 20 countries around the world and earning diamond certification in Brazil, France, Poland, as well as multi-platinum certification in Australia (5x), Austria (3x), Belgium (2x), Canada (6x), Denmark (3x), Germany (2x), Italy (3x), the Netherlands (2x), New Zealand, Norway (9x), Portugal (2x), Spain, Switzerland (4x), and the United Kingdom (3x). Joined by an official video that has now garnered over 770M views, “Sweet But Psycho” further earned Max a long string of international honors, including the 2019 MTV Europe Music Awards’ coveted “Best Push Artist” award, “Best New Artist” nominations at both the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards and the 2019 MTV Europe Music Awards, and an iHeartRadio Titanium Award marking over 1B spins in 2020 alone.
Max kept up the pace with a series of smash singles, including the RIAA gold certified “So Am I,” “Salt,” and “My Head & My Heart,” as well as the platinum certified title track to her acclaimed full-length debut, Heaven & Hell. The RIAA gold certified album made spectacular chart debuts around the globe, earning over 11B worldwide streams and gold, platinum, and multi-platinum certifications in over a dozen countries. 2021 saw Max unveil “EveryTime I Cry,” declared by PAPER as “an undeniably uplifting banger.” What’s more, Tiësto & Ava Max’s worldwide hit anthem, “The Motto,” has proven an undeniable international blockbuster since its November 2021 release, reaching the top 5 on Billboard’s “Dance/Electronic Songs” chart while earning close to 500M worldwide streams thus far.
Named to Forbes’ prestigious “30 Under 30” list in 2021, Ava has been feted with a wide range of media attention from such high profile outlets as VOGUE, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Billboard, PAPER, to name but a few, while also delivering a long run of show-stopping performances on CBS’s The Late Late Show with James Corden, NBC’s TODAY, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Good Morning America, and Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2020, the MTV Europe Video Music Awards, and more. A truly international artist, Max has teamed up with a stunning assortment of diverse musicians around the world, spanning Norwegian DJ/producer Alan Walker and Spanish superstar Pablo Alborán to David Guetta, Jason Derulo, AJ Mitchell (for the RIAA gold certified “Slow Dance”), and country stars Thomas Rhett & Kane Brown (the RIAA gold certified “On Me”). Now, on “Maybe You’re The Problem” – and more exhilarating new music to come – Ava Max is poised to push pop even further, setting a direct course toward the top and beyond with her newly announced upcoming album DIAMONDS AND DANCEFLOORS, out January 27th2023.
For this uniquely personal retrospective spread over twelve vinyl discs, Sven Väth takes us back to the early days of his DJ career. On What I Used To Play we meet great pioneers of electronic music, gifted percussionists, obscure wave bands, and innovative producers of a bygone 'new electronic' era. Rough beats and irresistible grooves from the identification stage of house, techno, and acid remind us not just how far electronic music has evolved over the past four decades, but how great it was to dance to EBM, techno, and house for the very first time.
If there is one protagonist of the electronic music scene who has remained curious, innovative and at the very cutting edge of music for over four decades, it's Sven Väth. His multi-layered artist albums and Sound of the Season mix compilations have been defining the genre for over two decades, and even today, he is constantly on the lookout for the next top tune to add to the highlights of his next set. At least, that's the case when he's not producing them himself as an artist or remixer. "Actually, it's always been part of my DNA to think ahead," and nothing had been further from his mind than looking back at his past, but when in spring of 2020 the international DJ circuit had to be scaled down to virtually zero, the 'restless traveler' suddenly had time. Time to stop and reflect on "how it actually was back then, at the very beginning of my career..."
"It was a great trip and with every track, beautiful memories came flooding back".
In the London apartment, he had just moved into, Sven has set up a "little music room", where he cocooned himself for several days, "to look way back for the first time and review my musical journey through the eighties, so to speak."
The interim result was six thematically oriented playlists with a grand total of 120 tracks from 'early 80s' to 'Balearic late 80s', together with excursions into afrobeat, European new wave, and EBM sounds and a few epochal techno/house tracks from the USA in between. From these 'Best of Sven Väth's favorites', the project What I Used To Play crystallized. Sven remembers how the Cocoon team reacted to his proposal: "They found the idea of making a compilation out of it MEGA from the beginning and everyone said 'Sven, go for it', but then, of course, the work really started, namely, to clear the rights and to get clean sounding masters of the up to 40-year-old tracks. There was also disappointment, of course. We couldn't clear certain titles because the rights holders in the USA had fallen out with each other or simply disappeared from the scene. In short, it wasn't easy, but now I can safely say we got the most important tracks."
Finally, after two years of research, curation, design, and administrative fine-tuning, the "little retrospective" from 1981 to 1990 is available. The exquisitely packaged, and three-kilo heavy box set is not only physically impressive, WIUTP is also the definitive record of Sven Väth's musical development. On each of the twenty-four sides of vinyl, you can trace track by track, what influenced him during which phase, and how he took off as a DJ from his parents' Queen's Pub straight into the spotlight at Dorian Gray. There and at Vogue (later OMEN), Sven became the style-defining player in the DJ booth that he still is today.
1981 - 1990: Future Sounds of Now
In the early eighties, the crowd in clubs like Vogue and Dorian Gray danced to what nowadays we call 'dance classics' - mainly disco, funk, soul, and chart pop. It was up to a new generation of DJs, including Sven Väth, the youngest protagonist in the Rhine-Main area at the time, to create their own club-ready music mix. Good new tracks and potential floor-fillers were rarities that had to be sought out and found, in order to prove oneself worthy.
Without MP3s, internet streaming, or other digital download possibilities, music didn't just gravitate to the DJ, instead, it had to be tracked down. In well-stocked record stores in Frankfurt and Wiesbaden or even in Amsterdam, London, or New York, Sven and friends sourced the material for countless magical nights. On WIUTP we can follow Sven's very personal journey through this wild, innovative era in which synth-pop, funk, hip-hop, and disco were successively replaced as 'club music' by house, techno, acid, and breakbeat. By the end of the decade, it was clear to see that these once exotic 'fringe' phenomena would soon become 'mass' phenomena.
Early 80s
Dirty Talk by the Italian-American duo Klein & M.B.O. represents the most innovative phase of the Italo-disco genre in the early eighties like no other track. Mario Boncaldo (I) and Tony Carrasco relied entirely on the original synthetic drum and percussion sounds of the Roland TR-808, coupled with the raunchy vocals of Rossana Casale and guitar accents of Davide Piatto. Of course, other tracks from this period were also influential in style, most notably Unit by Logic System, which worked as the perfect soundtrack to the laser lighting system at the legendary Dorian Gray club. With stomping beats and robotic rap interludes, Bostich by Yello also belongs on Sven's eternal playlist - after all, it caught the attention of Afrikaa Bambaataa, who invited the Swiss duo to perform at the Roxy in New York in 1983.
EBM Wave - Mid 80s
From today's point of view, the almost ten-minute-long, downtempo track Giant by Matt Johnson's band project The The, would probably not be considered an obvious club classic. However, a closer (re)listen reveals the rhythmic intricacies of the percussion overdubs by JG Thirlwell (aka Foetus) on Johnson's composition, and it becomes clear why this exceptional piece of music is one of Sven's absolute favorites. Other classics from this phase include Kaw-Liga by the mysterious The Residents, the hypnotic-synthetic Our Darkness by Anne Clark (and David Harrow), and last but not least, the somber, monotonous anthem Where Are You? by 16Bit, one of Sven Väth's projects together with Michael Münzing, Luca Anzilotti from 1986.
US House - Late 80s
You certainly can't talk about Chicago house without mentioning Frankie Knuckles. The resident DJ at the Warehouse not only gave the name to an entire genre, but also produced epochal floor fillers on the Trax label like the timeless Your Love, sung (and moaned) by Jamie Principle. Acid house protagonists Phuture also hail from Chicago, and on We Are Phuture (also released on Trax) we hear the chirping acid sounds of the legendary Roland TB-303 in full effect. Another featured classic is No UFO's by Detroit's Model 500 aka Juan Atkins, who is rightly considered the 'Godfather of Techno' even if the genre-defining track from 1985 still breathes with the spirit of hip-hop and electro from the first breakdance era.
Afrobeat
Le Serpent, by Algerian-born Abdelmadjid Guemguem, is a track that sounds completely different from everything else on WIUTP. Made in 1978, it's a monumental, rousing groove created without bass or synths, just with five congas! Even though Guem sadly passed away in 2021, his immortal, acoustic beats are understood all over the world and will continue to enrich many thousands of DJ sets for years to come. Another classic that not only Sven appreciates beyond measure is Hugh Masekela's Don't Go Lose it, Baby. In addition to being one of the most important jazz pioneers, the trumpeter and freedom fighter from Johannesburg was very experimental, integrating electronic sounds into his music in later years, in a similar vein to Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock. Dutch jazz pianist Jasper van't Hof's afrobeat project Pili Pili has also aged well. The trance-like, almost sixteen-minute-long track of the same name, manages to fill a whole side on the seventh of twelve vinyl discs in the WIUTP box.
UK-US-Euro - Late 80s
Time for a change of scene, in the truest sense of the word, and from a musical perspective, this section is like landing on another planet. First up is Andrew Weatherall's classic remix of Primal Scream's Loaded, featuring the iconic Peter Fonda sample (lifted from the 1966 biker film Wild Angels) that came to personify the mood triggered by the British Second Summer of Love in the late eighties: "We wanna be free to do what we wanna do, and we wanna get loaded...". This period also saw the emergence of M/A/R/R/S whose only single, 1987's Pump Up The Volume, became a club classic with support from DJ legend CJ Mackintosh. In this most eclectic of sections, we also encounter New York house and reggae producer Bobby Konders and his seminal Nervous Acid.
Balearic - Late 80s
Those who know him, know that Sven had already lost his heart to the 'magic island' of Ibiza as a teenager, so with that in mind, the WIUTP project couldn't end without a Balearic chapter. Inspired by Manuel Göttsching's E2-E4, the immortal, eponymously titled Sueño Latino belongs in there without question. Equally popular on the island was, and still is Break 4 Love by Raze, which thinking about it, would also fit perfectly into the house chapter. Last, but not least, there's an overdue reunion with Sven Väth himself, in his role as frontman of the successful Frankfurt trio OFF. Together with Michael Münzing and Luca Anzilotti (later of Snap!) this 'Organization For Fun' created the off-the-wall club hit Electric Salsa in 1986 which incidentally turned into an international chart smash, putting Sven in the enviable position of having to decide between pop stardom and a DJ career. Well, we all know how that decision turned out and the rest, as they say, is history. A not insignificant part of his story is What I Used To Play. Enjoy!
