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· Classic 1969 blue-eyed soul monster that was the flipside of Sue Lynne’s ‘You’ single on RCA.

· Huge at Wigan Casino back in the day.

· Original copies now go for a huge £700 a piece.

· A brass-powered stomper with a funky rhythm and backbeat that leads to a euphoric chorus and instrumental break.

· Expertly remastered from the original sound source.

· Two stellar versions; both mono and stereo for maximum dancefloor impact.

· Written by Chris Andrews, who also penned Chris Farlowe’s mod anthem ‘Out Of Time’.

Analogue Productions (Atlantic 75 Series)
Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Atlantic Records!
6x platinum-selling album includes "New Sensation," "Never Tear Us Apart," "Devil Inside," and the No. 1 hit "Need You Tonight"
180-gram 45 RPM double LP release
Mastered by Ryan K. Smith from an EQ'd tape copy
Pressed at Quality Record Pressings
Tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jacket by Stoughton Printing

Kick, the sixth and best-selling 1987 studio album by Australian band INXS, has the unmistakable sound personified by its four U.S. Top 10 singles, "New Sensation," "Never Tear Us Apart," "Devil Inside" and "Need You Tonight," — which reached the top of the U.S. Billboard singles charts.

Between 1980 and 1984, INXS released four studio albums and had toured their native country Australia extensively. With Kick, producer Chris Thomas fused the funk and soul of their previous album The Swing with the mainstream rock of Listen Like Thieves. In an interview with MusicRadar, Andrew Farriss stated, "The melding of funk and rock was always in our heads. We were very excited about the idea of overlaying two types of songs and genres together."

Kick showcased a diverse range of musical styles, blending rock, pop, funk, and dance elements. This versatility appealed to a wide audience, making the album accessible to fans of different genres. It's four catchy singles became radio staples and were accompanied by stylish music videos, helping propel INXS to international stardom.

Incorporating elements such as electronic percussion and synthesizers gave Kick a modern sound, helping it stand out, together with Michael Hutchence's charismatic and sultry vocals that created a strong emotional connection.

All the hallmarks of a top-notch Analogue Productions reissue are here for you to savour: Mastered directly from an EQ'd tape copy by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound and cut at 45 RPM. Pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Quality Record Pressings, and housed in a tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jacket by Stoughton Printing.

official re-issue / 180 grams

Holy-grail private-press "Attack Of The Boogie" from 1984 by Andrew Kitchen very own Chicago artists who represented and still represent the most underground side of Chicago dance music as a worldwide inspirational and always forward-thinking scene. The official reissue comes courtesy of Andrew Kitchen himself via Seminato (Strictly Groove) with the help of other two cutting edge artists like Pepper Gomez still from Chicago and DJ Rocca from Italy. Fully restored reissue now available for you.

This cassette collects some of these stills, or better said freeze frames. Freeze frames that become almost landscapes that one can enter or not, listen closely to or use as mere background ambience. Wilson went in and untied the knot, yet while investigating the situation, posing more questions. This is as open-ended a release can get, so captiously simple.I met Andrew Wilson, (aka Berko, Art Wilson, Andras), a few months ago in Tokyo where we were both to perform on a sort of Balearic Ambient variety show in the heart of Shibuya. At some point Andrew was telling me about his interest in Youtube videos of truck accidents, animals attacking people and bloopers. With creating one-shot samples of these sort of “popular fringe finds” he started creating long-form drones of harmonic beauty, without being overtly and subjectively emotional. Wilson presented some of these pieces on said night in Tokyo, in a dandyesque manner all dressed in white, sitting behind a small restaurant table. "Table for one, please … "

“If you have a vacancy for Favourite New Band, Pom Poko would like to apply for the role,” tweeted Tim Burgess in April, as Norway’s finest punkpop anti-conformists revisited their joyous debut album, ‘Birthday’, for one of Tim’s mood-lifting Twitter listening parties. Pom Poko pimp their CV on all fronts with their glorious second album, ‘Cheater’. Between the quartet’s sweet melodies, galvanic punky ructions and wild-at-art-rock eruptions, ‘Cheater’ is the sound of a band celebrating the binding extremes that make them so uniquely qualified to thrill: and, like Tim’s listening party, to fulfil any need you might have for a pick-you-up.

As singer Ragnhild Fangel explains of the leap from ‘Birthday’ to ‘Cheater’, “I think it’s very accurate to say that we wanted to embrace our extremes a bit more. In the production process I think we aimed more for some sort of contrast between the meticulously written and arranged songs and a more chaotic execution and recording, but also let ourselves explore the less frantic parts of the Pom Poko universe. I think both in the more extreme and painful way, and in the sweet and lovely way, this album is kind of amplified.”

The sound of four distinct personalities driving in divergent directions towards one destination, the result is an evolved snapshot of the bracingly contrary chemistry forged when Fangel, Tonne, Jonas Krøvel (bass) and Ola Djupvik (drums) united to play punk during a jazz gig at a literature festival in Trondheim (the band-members studied jazz there).

Along the way, the band drew praise from NME, Interview Magazine, DIY, PopMatters, The Line Of Best Fit, The Independent and BBC Radio 6, where Miranda Sawyer was moved to note that “‘Birthday’s ‘Crazy Energy Night’ seems to contain about 20 songs in one.” Meanwhile, a huge touring schedule included countless sold-out headline shows and a rapturously received UK jaunt with Ezra Furman.

‘Cheater’ does its predecessor proud on every front. Bursting with colour and wonky life from its cover art (by close collaborator Erlend Peder Kvam) outwards, it differs from ‘Birthday’ primarily in that its songs did not have a chance to be road-tested before going into the studio. But you wouldn’t know it. As Ragnhild explains, “That meant we had to practice the songs in a more serious way, but it also meant the songs had more potential to change when we recorded them since we didn’t have such a clear image of what each song should/could be as the last time.”

140g clear vinyl LP with PVC printed outer sleeve and digital download code.

Ltd 180g Clear Vinyl + DL Code (BU126LPC) is for Indies only. Black vinyl is 180g with DL. File Under: Funk, Dance, Breaks, Latin Soul. Harlem Hipshake sees the welcome return of The Bongolian AKA multi-instrumentalist and Big Boss Man front man Nasser Bouzida. This, the sixth album under The Bongolian moniker, follows the highly acclaimed Moog Maximus. Harlem Hipshake finds The Bongolian deeply immersed in his lifelong love for the music of the sixties New York's Latin Soul scene, particularly the music of Ray Barretto, Mongo Santamaria and Joe Bataan. Principally a drummer, percussionist by trade, Nasser has once again delivered another set of heavy breaks and percussive grooves underpinning this brand-new collection of songs which he has written and produced. Whilst Nasser performs many of the instruments (as is usual with Bongolian albums) on the album, it also features a prominent use of additional UK musicians on brass duties. These include Terry Edwards (Trumpet, Trombone, Sax, Flute), Gareth James Bailey (Trombone) and Craig Crofton (Alto Sax), James Morton (Alto Sax), Andrew Ross (Tenor and Baritone sax) and Ralph Lamb (Trumpet). From the East Side to the West Side, get ready for the Harlem Hipshake. Quotes about previous album 'Moog Maximus': All I know is that it makes me want to dance" Craig Charles House Party (Radio 2) // "That is sheer musicality" Cerys BBC 6 Music "Terrific stuff, that is" Gary Crowley BBC London // "Beautiful new breaks" Nemone BBC 6 Music "A brilliant, brilliant funk" Chris Hawkins BBC 6 Music (Googa Mama) // "Guaranteed to keep the party going" Vive Le Rock "This is the feel-good album. 9/10 " Louder Than War + // "Hipper, groovier, and funkier than ever before! Imagine Booker T & The MGs, The Duke Of Burlington, and Alan Hawkshaw taking a trip to the stars" DUSTY GROOVE (review of Outer Bongolia) // "A Latin-flavoured jazz-funk odyssey" Q "Forget your preconceptions, this is the REAL incredible bongo band." CLASH

Videosphere, the debut album by Kompakt’s latest signing, the London-based artist Lake Turner (aka Andrew Halford), swoons into focus with “The Sunbird”, a teasing drift of lilting, ambient tones, riding out a submerged piston-pulse rhythm. Across its brief 109 seconds, it manages to traverse evocative terrain – something mythopoetic, something both humble and grandiose, a glimpse of the other behind the sky’s curtain. “I wanted to conjure up something resembling an ancient ceremony or death procession,” Turner nods. “Like a hymn to the surroundings of a faraway hill.” It’s both sky-bound and earthen, a ritual incantation to call in the music of the spheres.

Turner was introduced to the Kompakt family by his sometime collaborator Yannis Philippakis of Foals. He’d previously made music in post-punk and indie groups Great Eskimo Hoax and Trophy Wife, but Videosphere is the first time he’s fully articulated his own vision of electronic music, aside from one limited lathe-cut 12”, 2018’s Prime Mover EP, on Algebra. The lush ambient-disco-techno dreams of Videosphere were constructed and completed in his London studio and at his parents’ arable and sheep farm in Worcestershire, which might help explain the hazy, unhurried pastoralism of the album.

“There was a slight bittersweetness in finishing the record (in Worcestershire) as my parents were in the middle of selling my childhood home,” he sighs, before quipping, “on the plus, I ended up shearing a lot of sheep over the summer.” A student of archaeology and ancient history, Turner is no doubt carefully attuned to the twisting cogs of history and memory, and it’s no surprise that Videosphere has a nostalgic, melancholic cast; much of its beauty rests in the way it tugs, gently, at the heart strings – see the tear-stained cheeks of the lush, dappled “Honeycomb”, or the sweetly sad electro-roundelay of “No Way Back Forever.”

It’s not all drift-dream hypnosis, though – Videosphere is very much grounded in the now. ““No Way Back Forever” is a nod to the linear nature of time,” Turner explains by way of example, “and the tipping point of the world climate crisis that scientists have now declared.” Jayne Powell’s vocals are sent spinning through the song, wound like candyfloss; she takes centre stage on the techno hymnal title track, too. Throughout, there’s a sense of forward movement, despite the life stasis we find ourselves collectively bound by in mid-2020; there’s also a yearning for the communal, for community, that’s captured in the album title, a nod to an object Turner encountered at London’s Geoffrey Museum, “a television set in the shape of a spaceman’s helmet from the 1970s.”

“The vision I loosely had was to make an electronic record that had a communal warmth and almost ceremonial or ritual feel. I wanted to examine the relationship of our archaic minds in the trappings of the modern world,” Turner concludes. “What the Videosphere also symbolizes for me is the oneness of humanity and community, prevailing.”
Eröffnet wird "Videosphere", das Debütalbum von Kompakts jüngstem Signing, dem in London ansässigen Künstler Lake Turner (alias Andrew Halford), mit "The Sunbird" - einem herausfordernden Strom aus Ambient Sounds, die zu schweben scheinen, um sich dann in einen subtilen, maschinellen Rhythmus zu verwandeln. In gerade mal 109 Sekunden gelingt es dem Stück, ein gewaltiges Terrain abzuschreiten - etwas Mythopoetisches, bescheiden und grandios zugleich, gibt uns eine Ahnung davon, was sich hinter dem Himmel verbirgt. "Ich wollte etwas heraufbeschwören, das einer alten Zeremonie oder Totenprozession ähnelt", sagt Turner, "wie eine Hymne an die Umgebung eines weit entfernten Hügels." Himmlisch und irdisch zugleich, eine rituelle Beschwörung von Sphärenmusik.

Der Kompakt Label-Familie wurde Turner von dessen zeitweiligen Mitarbeiter Yannis Philippakis (Foals) vorgestellt. Zuvor hatte er in den Post Punk- und Indie-Bands Great Eskimo Hoax und Trophy Wife gespielt. Bis auf eine limitierte lathe-cut 12", der "Prime Mover EP" auf Algebra von 2018, artikuliert Turner mit "Videosphere" zum ersten Mal seine eigene Vision von elektronischer Musik.

Die üppigen Ambient-Disco-Techno-Träume von "Videosphere" hat Turner in seinem Londoner Studio und auf der Schaffarm seiner Eltern in Worcestershire produziert, was den nebulösen, gemächlichen und beinahe pastoralen Charakter des Albums erklären könnte.

"Es gab einen bittersüßen Moment als ich mit der Platte (in Worcestershire) fertig geworden war, da meine Eltern gerade dabei waren, das Haus meiner Kindheit zu verkaufen", seufzt er, bevor er witzelt, "das Positive war, dass ich im Laufe des Sommers eine Menge Schafe geschoren habe". Als Student der Archäologie und der Geschichte des Altertums ist Turner zweifellos mit den sich unaufhörlich drehenden Rädern der Geschichte und der daran geknüpften Erinnerungen vertraut, und es ist keine Überraschung, dass "Videosphere" einen nostalgischen, melancholischen Einschlag hat; viel von seiner Schönheit liegt in der Art und Weise, wie es einem sanft ans Herz geht - die Tränen benetzten Wangen von "Honeycomb" oder der ambivalente Elektro-Reigen von "No Way Back Forever".

Trotz allem hypnotischen Driften und Träumen - Videosphere ist sehr stark im Jetzt verankert. "`No Way Back Forever`ist eine Anspielung auf die lineare Natur der Zeit", erklärt Turner beispielhaft, "und auf den Wendepunkt der globalen Klimakrise, den Wissenschaftler gerade ausgerufen haben". Jayne Powells Gesang wirbelt dabei wie Zuckerwatte durch den Song und steht auch im Mittelpunkt des technoid hymnischen Titelstücks. Überall ist ein Gefühl der Vorwärtsbewegung zu spüren, trotz der Stagnation, in der wir uns Mitte 2020 kollektiv befinden; trotzdem existiert eine Sehnsucht nach dem Gemeinsamen, nach Gemeinschaft, die im Albumtitel eingefangen ist - eine Referenz an ein Objekt, dem Turner im Londoner Geoffrey-Museum begegnete, "ein Fernsehgerät in Form eines Raumfahrerhelms aus den 1970er Jahren".

„Die lose Vision, die ich hatte, bestand darin, eine elektronische Platte zu machen, die eine soziale Wärme und eine fast zeremonielle oder rituelle Atmosphäre ausstrahlt. Ich wollte die Beziehung unseres archaischen Geistes in den Fallstricken der modernen Welt untersuchen", so Turner abschließend. "Was `Videosphere` für mich auch symbolisiert, ist die Einheit von Menschlichkeit und Gemeinschaft, die am Ende obsiegt".

Bristolian promoters Worm Disco Club have been championing South-Western talent since their inception in 2014. Having collaborated with Glastonbury Festival on their notorious 'Wormhole' stage and hosted the likes of The Comet Is Coming, The Heliocentrics and The Mauskovic Dance Band at their regular club night, the name has become synonymous with quality groove laden goodness, percussive madness, jazz, psych and beyond. Now proudly presenting their label Worm Discs, the collective recruit some of Bristol's most notable emerging talent for an exploration into the new wave of Jazz emanating from the city. As Andrew Hayes, (Run Logan Run) explains : "Bristol has always had its own sound, but there's been a new crop of young players come through over the past five years that's revitalised the scene and expanded its expectations about what jazz music means. Featuring the likes of Waldo's Gift, Run Logan Run (Montreux Jazz Talent Award winners), BaDaBoom, Lyrebird and Alun Elliot, 'New Horizons' channels the seismic energy of the sonically rich landscape into 12 progressive, psychedelic, impeccably crafted tracks.

Part two in his trilogy of what seems like an aural romp through dance music’s key components, Luke Vibert follows up his ode to the ‘Amen break’ on the sumptuous ‘Luke Vibert presents Amen Andrews’, with a pretty damn thorough modelling of rave roots, in ‘Luke Vibert presents Modern Rave’.

When it comes to bashing out creative, highly complex, yet seemingly simplistic rave bangers, Luke Vibert certainly has the chops for delivering the goods in spades. As an innovator in the field for labels like Ninja Tune, Warp and Rephlex, Vibert digs deep into his floppy disc collection for a glorious ride through familiar samples and hooks, breakbeats and funky basslines and earworm melodies for an indispensable collection of feel good modern rave.

If you’ve visited Ibiza in the last few years, there’s a fair chance you’ll have encountered DJ Pippi and Willie Graff. The experienced duo has been DJing together on the White Isle for years, finding time between sundown sets to make music together in Italian veteran Pippi’s home studio. The pair’s first collaborative EP dropped on Drumpoet Community way back in 2007, with the belated follow-up appearing a decade later on Compost Disco. Here they make their bow on Leng with the “Lunares EP”, a typically warm and woozy collection of cuts named after the Spanish word for “polka dots” (a fashionable item in Spain and the Balearic islands throughout the 1980s).

They begin with the slow-burn sunrise bliss of “Lunares”, a shuffling and glassy-eyed affair in which evocative, emotion-rich strings, heady vocal samples, echoing sitars and lilting guitars slowly rise above a thickset backing track rich in dubby bass, swelling pads, starry electronics and snappy drums. Capable of tugging at the heartstrings, it’s a sublime slab of mood-enhancing bliss perfect for both weary dancing and sofa-bound relaxation. “Saxolicious” lives up to the premise of the title, with Pippi and Willie wrapping snaking, effects-laden saxophone solos around a languid, slow motion groove bristling with hazy intent. Expect chiming electric piano chords, dreamy pads, rolling grooves and another fine bassline that will worm its way into your subconscious, spark up a spliff and stay there for days.

The EP’s final musical moment is, if anything, even more spaced-out and intoxicating. Employing extra-slow beats and a prominent jazzy bass guitar part, the pair invites us to get locked in to a chuggy rhythm. Throw in druggy synth lines, tactile electric piano stabs and some suitably cosmic effects and you have a hallucinatory treat that would no doubt have gained the approval of the late, great Andrew Weatherall.

To coincide with the announcement, the pair have shared a video for the album’s title track directed by Sam Davis and Tom Andrew, who has previously received two UK Music Video Awards nominations for his work with Avery. Speaking about the video, Andrew explains, “We were keen to capture a visual representation of the tempo and atmospheric emotion of the track and make a video exploring the notion of collaboration. A super-motion approach allowed us to explore details of motion shared between two people, in tactile actions of aiding and supporting.” Cortini adds, “The video embodies the volatility and hidden nature of the music’s subject and meaning. A meaning that is ultimately personal and unique the listener/spectator.” Watch the clip .



Beginning as a collaborative experiment before the pair had even met, Avery and Cortini then worked remotely and free of concept or deadline over several years. The result, finally completed when both artists were touring with Nine Inch Nails in 2018, is a quietly powerful album rooted in trust, process and experimentation. The first fruits of their labour were unveiled last year when ‘Water’ and ‘Sun’ appeared online, subsequently released as a very limited 7” run that was sold at FYF Festival and Mount Analog in Los Angeles, and Phonica Records in London. Both tracks are included on the album.



“It was very much a shared process”, notes Avery. “I would like to credit Alessandro with his belief that music has a life of its own, as well as the importance he places on the first take... That even something that may be considered out-of-step by some should be respected. Some of the tracks were borne simply out of a tiny synth part, or a bit of tape hiss that we had recorded. And that approach taught me a lot. It’s a record that’s been worked on hard, but not laboured over.”



“I was a big fan of Daniel’s, and his work always spoke to me in a certain way,’’ explains Cortini. “Then, when we started working together, it just clicked. It’s very hard to explain, but I can always hear the love in his work, and that is true on this record. After our first collaboration, we just kept sending each other music and maintaining that dialogue. Next thing you know, we’re sitting in a hotel room in New York and had finished the record in three hours.”



The collaborative album follows Avery’s second record Song For Alpha, released in early 2018, and last year’s expanded edition B-sides & Remixes. Mixmag called the sophomore LP “A beautiful maturation of Avery’s work as a producer,” while The Guardian hailed its “Majestic, cavernous techno” and Loud & Quiet praised Avery as “A producer fast approaching the peak of his powers,” “This album cements Daniel Avery as one of the best,” wrote DIY. The London-based producer will perform at BBC Radio 3’s Unclassified Live on April 3rd, a new series of concerts in the Southbank Centre's Queen Elizabeth Hall presented by Unclassified host and presenter Elizabeth Alker and conducted by André de Ridder – tickets are available here. Avery has also just been announced in the first wave of acts for London festivals Re-Textured and the inaugural Wide Awake, taking place in April and June respectively.



Cortini released his most recent solo album Volume Massimo on Mute in July 2019, following Fine, the Italian artist’s final album under his SONOIO alias, which came out the previous year. The Quietus called the former “an album that showcases just how much Cortini‘s aesthetic has developed since his early days,” while Exclaim! hailed it “a melodic exploration of textures and layers … an instrumental masterpiece that adds to an already incredible body of work by the gifted and skilled composer.”

Sharif Laffrey is something of an unheralded hero of the underground Detroit scene. Active since the halcyon days of the early-90s Motor City rave movement, his sporadic releases are rarely less than superb. Sharif Laffrey has been playing records and making music for over 20 years. Born in Detroit, Michigan - he's worked on the line checking camshafts for Chryslers & as an operative for Underground Resistance (UR) at Submerge for Mike Banks, at the same time. Currently releasing music on his own label SPECIAL FORCES.
Championed by DJ Harvey, Carl Craig, Dixon, Andrew Weatherall, Ivan Smagghe, Seth Troxler, The Juan Maclean, Optimo, Trevor Jackson, Hunee, Manfredas, Solar, The Chemical Brothers…

"SOUNDS TO COME" - Is the 2nd release on Laffrey's own label SPECIAL FORCES
following its successful debut release "AND DANCE".

'Sounds To Come' is a long trip of low "techno" with a brute baseline and mesmeric vocals - when turning directly into The Golden Hour of a late night / morning is the thing to do.

"Rhyth-matic traditions that have become oblivious to our modus operandi.…
welcome to awesome…..the sound of sounds to come"

Andras’Joyful is a cornucopic vision rooted in the decay of dance music from one of Australia’s most distinct yet understated voices. Cutting a path through an overgrowth of nostalgia around 70's acid folk and 90's acid house, Joyful is an invitation to till a n old garden in a glistening new light.

A thirteen year old Andrew Wilson sits in the back of his parents’ sedan, driving down the coast from Melbourne. Headphones covering his awkwardly aged ears and connected to a jam-packed mp3 player, he experiences an intense synchronicity when the car careens over a mountain crest in the Otway Ranges right as the track in his ears peaks. A momentary vision of a “first rave rush,” in which Australia’s lauded party history dances tellingly with this dreamer’s destiny.

Not so much later but perhaps more worldly and certainly more aware, Wilson returns home from touring, now a “veteran” of the dance world, to realize a different synchronicity in his record collection. Finding Ian Van Dahl nestled next to John Fahey, William Orbit spine-to-spine with Shira Small, the harmony between folk music of the early 70's and dance music from the 90s becomes perfectly audible in unimaginable ways.

Through an afterglow from both summers of love seeped in shared sonic soil, on Joyful, Wilson cultivates melodic drama and tenderness, memorable hooks and rapturous arpeggios; sentimental strings summon both joyful aspirations and the shadows of faded dreams. Using folk songs as fodder—lyrics, samples, note progressions—each entry of Wilson’s debut album under his Andras moniker is a return to a different springtime of the mind.

Many artists working in Australia can relate to the feeling of “not quite being there,” as Wilson describes it. Always a couple years behind trend. Turning up at the party as it’s winding down. Fearing that in many ways the culture is looking backwards, confirming the narrow outlook of a parochialism that many have worked tirelessly to disprove. Using this disconnect as an invitation to dream another dream, Joyful becomes the soundtrack of early teen Andrew’s fantasy of Utopic parties past, specifically the late discovery of a bygone warehouse rave scene, as well as a return to a guileless chapter of personal history as heard through plain, sane, and simple folk melodies. Joyful is a homecoming, a testament to the evolving euphoria of a flower garden rooted in earth’s tender rot, of birds and bees flying free but not without a changing landscape in sight.

Andras’Joyful is available on LP and digital formats on January 31, 2020 via Beats In Space. On behalf of Andras, a portion of proceeds from this release will benefit the Invasive Species Council on the recommendation of Tim Low, author of the book Feral Future and Where Song Began.

Wah Wah 45's are proud to present "Cages", the third album from southern soul boys The Milk. Having released "Favourite Worry", their critically acclaimed sophomore album and first for independent label Wah Wah 45's, in 2015, the band are able to trace the seeds of the latest LP back to their recording sessions with producer Paul Butler (Andrew Bird, Michael Kiwanuka, Nick Waterhouse) almost five years ago, blending elements of soul, funk and rock together to create their own unique sound, inspired by some of their favourite artists such as Bill Withers, Traffic and the Isley Brothers.

"I can't wait to hear you write songs that look outward" - these words from Paul subconsciously had a lasting impression on the band. To atone for more inward-looking sentiments on "Favourite Worry", there had to be a shift in perspective. During the formative stages of the new album The Milk started pursuing a Nichiren Buddhist practice. The values and principles they discovered during this have informed every aspect of the record.

"We wanted to write an album that looked outside of the walls, to people, society and the environment - embracing real freedom in musical expression by utilising more complex rhythmic structures, extended harmony and dissonance to paint an original and authentic-sounding record" explains If their debut, "Tales from the Thames Delta", was inspired by hedonism and "Favourite Worry" by introspection, "Cages" is an impassioned conversation with the world. Racism and division are all on the rise. British society is being pulled apart by forces that seek to divide us and rip the compassion and empathy from our minds and hearts. We have become distracted from the more urgent challenges of boundless consumerism, climate change, and the mental health emergency reeking havoc on our streets.

We are the birds in the cage, tied by cheap thrills and fake news to a limited world vision that is no longer fit for purpose. The good news? We can all choose to challenge this view. "Cages" is equal parts the dark black shadow of how far we've fallen and the blazing sunlight whose rays of hope can still change the world. Four life-long friends, Ricky Nunn (vocals), Mitch Ayling (drums) Luke Ayling (bass) and Dan Le Gresley (guitar) formed their first band when they were still at school in Essex, playing countless working men's clubs, and finally became The Milk.

The band have built up a following of dedicated fans around the UK, which has resulted in them selling out venues such as Scala, Koko and Shepherds Bush Empire. Keen to get back on the road where they feel most at home and where the guys really shine, the band offer up a compelling set of diverse styles, matched with an ability to effortlessly intertwine songs together, gives their music a continuous feel to it. Since signing to Wah Wah 45's, the band released their second album "Favourite Worry", which became one of BBC 6 Music's albums of the year, sold out London's Union Chapel, toured with the Fun Lovin' Criminals and completed a sell-out UK tour climaxing at London's KOKO in Camden town. ... More live dates coming very soon!

20 years of Pop Ambient. Already? One didn’t notice. It’s an anniversary which comes quietly. An anniversary with quiet tones.
In the spirit of the special restraint of pop-elegance, it has no reason to drawn attention to itself with a big „Tam-Tam“. Or better: „Bum-Bum“. The bass drum stays outside. Nevertheless, in fast-paced, overstimulated times of moving forward, it’s a joyful occasion to look back.
What strikes most by putting or listening to 20 years of pop ambient in a row is the central theme that holds together the dense aesthetic concept like the pearls of a necklace.
Floral beauty for digital naturalists. Music like flowers, that don’t wilt. Timeless. Ageless. But with all of the conceptual unity and resolution, Pop Ambient would not be Kompakt without the break, the friction, the expansion of musical boundaries in between tradition and innovation, in between conspiracy and the openness of the discourse.
Aestheticism, escapism, acting in the spirit of „nevertheless“. Swans drifting by, clouds pass over, everything is floating and: „Boredom is a stylistic device“ (Andy Warhol).

Pop Ambient Music is medicine against illnesses, that you don’t even suffer from. It’s giving everything, demanding nothing.
Musical lotus leafs, off which the virtual wastewater of our time is rolling like the reality is dripping off the matrix.


In this sense, we’re happy about the pop-ambient anniversary greetings from new and old companions like Thore Pfeiffer, Max Würden, Yui Onodera, Jörg Burger, Thomas Fehlmann, Morgen Wurde, Leandro Fresco aswell as contributions from T.Raumschmiere, Andrew Thomas and, after a long break, from friends from early days like Joachim Spieth, Markus Guentner und Klimek.

Pop Ambient 2020 is released digital, as CD and of course as a chic double vinyl. Also included in the package: The whole distinctive cover-series as an art book of 44 pages. And for all of the old and young fans and collectors there is the Pop Ambient 2001 in a overhauled original version out on vinyl for the very first time.



Breath in. Breath out. Thank you.



Wolfgang Voigt, September 2019.

20 Jahre Pop Ambient. Schon? Hat man gar nicht gemerkt. Ein Jubiläum auf leisen Sohlen. Ein Jubiläum der leisen Töne. Und ganz im Sinne pop-eleganter Zurückhaltung, kein Grund, großes Tam-Tam zu machen. Oder besser gesagt: Bum-Bum. Denn die Bassdrum bleibt ja draußen. Dennoch freudiger Anlass genug, in reizüberfluteten, schnelllebigen Zeiten auf dem Weg nach vorne einen Blick zurück zu werfen. Wenn man 20 Jahre Pop Ambient Platten hintereinander legt / hört, sticht einem zunächst der sprichwörtliche rote Faden ins Auge und ins Ohr. Der Faden, der das dichte, ästhetische Konzept zusammenhält wie die Glieder einer Perlenkette. Florale Schönheit für digitale Naturalisten. Musik wie Blumen, die nicht welken. Zeitlos. Alterslos. Aber Pop Ambient wäre nicht Kompakt, wenn nicht bei aller konzeptionellen Ge- und Entschlossenheit, auch der Bruch, die Reibung, das Ausweiten musikalischer Genregrenzen zwischen Tradition und Innovation, zwischen Konspiration und Diskursoffenheit, inkludiert wäre. Ästhetizismus, Trotzdemismus, Eskapismus. Schwäne treiben, Wolken ziehen, alles fließt – und: »Langeweile ist ein Stilmittel« (Andy Warhol).

Pop Ambient Musik ist Medizin gegen Krankheiten, die man gar nicht hat. Gibt alles und verlangt nichts. Musikalische Lotusblätter, an denen das virtuelle Schmutzwasser der Zeit abperlt, wie die Realität an der Matrix.

In diesem Sinne freuen wir uns über pop-ambiente Jubiläumsgrüße von neuen und alten Weggefährten wie Thore Pfeiffer, Max Würden, Yui Onodera, Jörg Burger, Thomas Fehlmann, Morgen Wurde, Leandro Fresco sowie Beiträge von T.Raumschmiere, Andrew Thomas und nach langer Pause, von Freunden aus frühen Tagen wie Joachim Spieth, Markus Guentner und Klimek.

Pop Ambient 2020 erscheint Digital, als CD und natürlich als schickes Doppelvinyl. Mit im Paket: Die gesamte unverwechselbaren Cover-Serie als 20-seitiges Kunstbuch. Und für alle neuen und alten Fans und Sammler, erscheint zeitgleich Pop Ambient 2001 erstmalig auch auf Vinyl, in generalüberholter Originalversion. Das Ganze gibt es zudem im schicken Jubiläumsschuber in limitierter Auflage und farbigem Vinyl, exklusiv erhältlich nur auf kompakt.fm …

Einatmen. Ausatmen. Danke.

Wolfgang Voigt, September 2019

There must be something in the air just now over in Italy with a steady stream of brilliant disco and house releases emanating from the country. Of all artists doing the business recently DJ Rocca has definitely stood out as being behind more than his fair share of incredible music.

Rocca is a veteran of the scene producing since the 1990’s. Recently he has had stand out tracks working with some of the key artists of the scene including Dimitri From Paris and Daniele Baldelli. There have also been a huge number of solo projects and remixes for everyone from Blaze to Andrew Weatherall to Soul Clap. It’s a varied and expansive list which shows the depth of his production skills.

His latest release a three track EP ‘Journey to Kizimkazi’ comes courtesy of one of the stand-out labels of 2019 in Samosa Records. This one is heavy on the Afro Disco feels with Combo Rox, Ju Ju Jackie and Kuma Rox all coming from slightly different angles of the genre.

Lead track ‘Combo Rox’ is peak-time hands-in-the-air disco goodness. Huge brass hooks cruise next to a bounce of a bassline, ever so funky guitars, smooth keys and a monster vocal hook. This is a track with everything in needs to cause a serious dancefloor commotion.

On the flip ‘Ju Ju Jackie’ combines a much heavier percussive drum line with multiple percussive motifs, it’s a track which will take no prisoners. Yet more off the wall vocal hooks merge perfectly with the carnival atmosphere of the percussion and some crazy brass licks. A unique and exciting track.

Last up is Kuma Rox a deeper hypnotic groove of a track, warm tribal vocals, smooth keys, a sparse but hooky bassline and brilliant percussion give this one a real timeless class.

Another top of the class release from Samosa.

‘Synth Expressionism/Rhythmic Cubism’ LP from Chicago’s Jamal Moss aka Hieroglyphic Being is a collection of idioms that have no past and no future, his jarring use of polyrhythmic polyphony imbues a sense of timelessness.

The prolific catalog of Moss’ covers many musical dialects from his hometown and beyond. Never standing in one artistic sphere for too long, this adventure for On the Corner Records sees Hieroglyphic Being exploring a multitude of expressions of the American Avant-garde.

Abstractions Of The Future Past — Afro-Cubism: The Designation, conceived by an African With A Mainframe — An Etude Of Effigy — A Hieroglyphic Being.

Rhythmic Cubism: In this ‘Dissertation Of Disorientation’ Neal Andrew Emil Gustafson temporal considerations are put aside as polyrhythmic propulsion is the current flowing through the work. As prelude the fastidious ‘Rhythmic Cubism’, Moss enacts a flurry of white noise and musical coda as it phases in-and-out of synchronicity.

The disjointed dance of an alternative Black Music, ‘The Spiritual Or ‘Electromagnetic Worlds’ takes the meter down a fraction to exonerate a granular groove of visceral refracted complexity. Sonorus static sits alongside spastic shards of synthesis to reveal a melancholic medley before its conclusion.

‘Apocrypha’ collages distinct rhythmic source materials in an entrancing abstraction of ‘Hypersonic Hemiola’. An assertion of Art Blakey proportions. Perpetually pushed forward through the building of distorted percussion, Moss precludes into syncopated synapsis before and end of reductive symmetry.

Evolving into a studdered off-kilter groove, ‘The Redemption Project’ flows as a dissipating organ medley dissolves into a deluge of layered sonic textures, creating an indiscernible metric center before fading to a distant vanishing point.

Departing with a common-time ‘Timbuk2’ takes off like a classic Chicago Acid track, then makes a left turn towards the center as it drives the rhythmic motion into a dystopian dreamland, as the sax line surges forcing the track to break free from it’s charted course.

The Fragmented Fantasy of The Synth Expressionism/Rhythmic Cubism LP is a conclusive work that has no end, a conundrum of conceptual calculated improvisation. Drifting through time, this fragmented abstraction of Afro-Cubism leaves room for posterity, as each listen summons a new perspective on the suite. Something ever so common in the work of Jamal Moss. Charting new sonic directions, the very nature of its precedent makes it a truly Hieroglyphic affair.

Words By Neal Andrew Emil Gustafson

Destiny is made. Realised. Driven by the acts of vision. Hireroglyphic Being is a seer. Atomic resonance echoing from the big bang defies the conceptual reality of purity. The nuclear static of ‘white noise’ is HBs canvas. Channeling poly rhythms into the universe. Experience, repetition and eternal decay. From purity back to the absolute by way of a deluge of slurry across time. Infinite layers of distortion and refracted complexity. This is HBs canvas. Sound of eternity channelled through a bass bin, represented by its own impure reflection and fragments. Always more than it's whole but never as was before.

This album seeks to reach beyond ideas and emotions, beyond the comprehension of a human archetype. Beyond ultimate history, forwards and back. To ends and a singular beginnings. Timbuk2 is the frenetic intersection where the call and response of these ideas lock and dissipate back into the void.

Having spent the past few years quietly building up a dedicated crowd of followers and dancers as a club night, Scenic Route step out for their first offering as a label with three expertly crafted club cuts from Desert Sound Colony, an artist whose pumping productions have provided some of the parties’ most memorable moments. Since his debut release in 2014 on New York’s Scissor & Thread, Desert Sound Colony (real name Liam Wachs) has been refining a deeply personal club sound with releases for the likes of Futureboogie, Me Me Me, his own Holding Hands imprint and most notably of late, Nick Höppner’s Touch From A Distance. In addition to his productions garnering support from the likes of Midland, Raresh, Andrew Weatherall and Lena Willikens, Wachs himself is also a highly sought after DJ whose skills have seen him land bookings at some of the world’s most well respected clubs and festivals, including two stints at Berlin’s Panorama Bar already this year.

His prowess as a DJ has undoubtedly informed the music featured on the Cartographer EP. All three tracks are primarily designed for club use yet their intricate arrangements and undulating instrumentation ensure they remain captivating, despite the effectiveness of their functionality. The EP’s opener, “The Cartographer”, is a sleazy machine-driven odyssey, continuously building and evolving until snapping back into its original groove with a vengeance. “Gypsy Moth” sees Wachs team up with fellow Holding Hands affiliate Guava (real name Bradley Hutchings) for a dangerously syncopated drum workout doused in warped agogo bells, spliced vocals and a two-note bassline with a distinctly London flavor. Rounding the release off is “Budapest”. The combined power of the track’s interlocking kick and bass provide a solid stage for Desert Sound Colony to unleash an eerie arp and pads combo alongside a flurry of stuttering percussion and twisted samples while intermittently sprinkled with an unintelligible and downright ominous pitched down voice.