Search:app

Vathres is the new project by Swedish-based keyboardist and composer Alex Zethson, who usually
performs with acts such as Angles 9, Fire! Orchestra Goran Kajfeš Tropiques, Sven Wunder and
Mariam the Believer, in addition to his own ensembles and solo projects. Record consists of three
extended pieces of cinematic, minimalist post-rock featuring a large ensemble and appearances by
guitar-wizard Reine Fiske (Dungen), keyboardist Tomas Hallonsten, former Meshuggah-bassist
Gustaf Hielm and Cult of Luna-drummer Christian Augustin, among others. LP comes in a Tip-On
sleeve with artwork by Michell Zethson.

Guitar Legend! Songwriting Legend! Producer Legend! Blues Brother & Stax Legend!

Like the first words of a book, the opening notes of an album can make you lean in. Sometimes it’s like meeting a stranger who later becomes a lifelong friend, or on rare occasions, a spouse. Please drop your stylus on this record and say hello to your new best friend. Hear the confidence, hear the tone, feel the vibe.
—Robert Gordon (from his liner notes)

As a founding member of Stax house band Booker T. & The M.G.’s, Steve Cropper was involved in some of the most important music of the 1960s as a player, songwriter, and producer. The following decade introduced him to a new group of fans as guitarist for The Blues Brothers, appearing on both their records and film. A two-time Grammy® winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Cropper has been an integral thread in the cloth of American music, writing, playing and producing into the 21st century to this very day.

In 1969, Cropper released his first solo album, producing and arranging its eleven tracks himself. His backing band? While there is no actual record of who played on the album itself, Grammy® winner Robert Gordon’s liner notes point to his fellow M.G.’s, Buddy Miles, Jim Keltner, the Bar-Kay’s James Alexander, and more as candidates. From original tracks to its well-known covers (including The Beatles classic the release shares its name with), it is a tour de force of pure Memphis rock and soul.

The core eleven tracks now appear again on an all-analog cut, new pressing of the LP as With A Little Help From My Friends returns for a new generation to experience. The CD version contains a whopping eight bonus tracks, including four tracks not included on the original release and alternate versions of four that do. Add in Robert Gordon’s notes and this release is as much a history lesson as it is a timepiece of pure musical magic.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"We Will Live On" by Deru was made with a Disklavier (an acoustic piano outfitted with solenoids that allowed it to be digitally controlled) and custom made software to sequence it. This made the piano appear to play itself. Technology seemingly embedded with humanity.

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

Charles D unveils his debut Drumcode EP, following three excellent releases on the label.

Ever since the New Yorker shared his remix of ‘Your Mind’ with Adam Beyer, which would go on to become only the second officially released remixes of the legendary track, we knew we were onto a special talent. A strong single on A-Sides Vol.11 ‘Traction’ was to follow, proceeded by another superb remix, this time of Mike Macaluso’s ‘Final Chapter’, reinforcing his skilled studio touch.

Now a year on from his first appearance on Beyer’s label, he steps up for a richly deserved debut EP, ‘Don’t Stop’, which encapsulates all the stylistic facets of his productions. The title track is fun and driving, brimming with ‘90s rave stabs and peak-time fizz. ‘No Escape’ is a pulsating stomper fusing together percussive techno and melodic elements to form a track that will work in a variety of environments. ‘Choir’s Palace’ is a dreamy tool and perfect for shifting the momentum during a peak-time set.

Heavenly Recordings release the next two volumes in their series of remixed classics and unreleased versions. ‘Heavenly Remixes 7 & 8’ sees the label going back into the archive, as well as picking off some more recent remixes, and both albums primarily feature either previously unreleased versions or re-workings available for the first time on vinyl and CD.

Heavenly have always seen immense value in the remix, a value way beyond what it might bring commercially. Since their first release in 1990 (where Andrew Weatherall overhauled a one-off single by club kids Sly and Lovechild) Heavenly remixes have been carefully curated and treated as a key part of the A&R process. It’s an opportunity to view an artist through a different prism, to play out a musical ‘what if’ scenario. It’s the kind of exploration that’s happened consistently through the thirty plus years the label has released music.

The ‘Heavenly remixes’ series continues to showcase the very best remixes, versions, meditations, re-rubs and dubs from all around the world of artists right across the roster of the country’s most exciting record label. In most cases, the albums offer the first physical release for a remix, elevating them from streaming playlists to their rightful, spiritual home on super heavy vinyl (or shiny, super-packed compact disc).

Heavenly remixes 7’ heads to Belfast, where David Holmes - a producer who first appeared on Heavenly in 1994 amping up the acid on Saint Etienne’s ‘Like A Motorway’ - appears as solo artist and as one third of Unloved, who get a lift right to the heart of a Vauxhall sweatbox by Horse Meat Disco. It draws a line between Amsterdam and Frankfurt as Ludwig A.F. amps up the electronics on Pip Blom’s ‘Keep It Together’. It stops off in a south London studio where super producer Dan Carey plays the desk with Toy, then relocates LA psych rock band Fever The Ghost to an Ibizan shoreline as the sun sets on the horizon. It cements Sheffield’s reputation as the home of modern British techno with the return of true originators Forgemasters. And it pitches up in front of a renegade soundsystem late night at Glastonbury as Erol Alkan’s mighty rework of Con Man gets its third rewind of the night.



‘Heavenly remixes 8’ opens with Space Afrika’s lush, ambient reimagining of the Orielles’ ‘BEAM/S’ before Justin Robertson stretches Amber Arcades’ ‘Turning Light’ into eight minutes of electronic dub. Elsewhere, Baxter Dury’s peerless ‘Miami’ becomes a string-laden electro skank in the hands of French producer Pilooski; Edinburgh’s bedroom techno genius Eyes of Others’ ‘Safehouse’ turns into an East End bathhouse courtesy of disco deviants Decius; Ashley Beedle’s Black Science Orchestra turns Unloved’s heartworn torch song into seven minutes of glimmering dreamlike percussive house and Katy J. Pearson’s freak flag is flown high thanks to The Umlauts’ throbbing filtered electro mix. It ends similarly to how it began as TONE takes

Fran Lobo’s ‘All I Want’ on a gorgeous slow motion spacewalk.

Félicia Atkinson: »Ni envers ni endroit que cette roche brûlante (Pour Georgia O’Keeffe)« (2021)

Félicia Atkinson’s Ni envers ni endroit que cette roche brûlante (Pour Georgia O’Keeffe) is approached as a meditation, not as meditative music, but as a reflection on the art of creation: how to inhabit one’s creation, how to convey it, domesticate it and live with it. Drawing inspiration from the artist Georgia O’ Keeffe, both in her work as a painter and in the houses in which she lived in New Mexico, and even in the landscapes that surround them, Félicia Atkinson has composed a piece that evokes and celebrates, in a poetic and holistic way, the mystery of art, the somnambulic oscillation that accompanies the act of creating. Blending fragmentary voices, islands of piano, electronic textures and patterns, and field recordings, Félicia Atkinson’s music is sincere and inspired, a meditation, then, but also a lesson we sometimes forget: being an artist is not an activity, even less a profession, it’s a singular way of approaching the world and, in so doing, densifying it.

Richard Chartier: »Recurrence.Expansion« (2020)

Richard Chartier’s music takes up residence at the frontiers of the audible, on the edge where sound diffracts into an inter-dimensionality where sounds, space, listening and silence recombine in an arborescence of becomings that present themselves to us and then disappear. The space-time in which Richard Chartier’s music unfolds is a stretched space-time, barely emerging in the world of sound. The delicacy, precision and accuracy of the composition Recurrence. Expansion lies precisely in this dialogue between a shape that is exposed and developed in an inspired and masterful way, and the sonic biotope in which this shape develops. It is from such an encounter that the singularity of Richard Chartier’s music emerges, music of attentive listening, but also sensitive, inhabited music, a music of discreet metamorphosis.

Chet Baker stands alone among modern Jazzmen in having achieved major success both as a player and as a singer. On three numbers featured here; Do It The Hard Way, Dancing On The Ceiling and It Could Happen To You, Chet introduces his own version of Scat-singing following in the tradition of Louis Armstrong. The numbers selected for this LP are standards of the sort that lend themselves particularly well to what might as well be called the "swinging romantic" approach. Most of them manage to fall into that rare and attractive category of songs that everybody knows and loves but have not, as yet, been done to death by over-frequent performance.

Previously unreleased live soundboard recordings from this groovy group from the '60s San Francisco Bay Area scene. Along with The Sopwith Camel, The Beau Brummels, The Mystery Trend, The Great Society, Jefferson Airplane, The Warlocks and The Grateful Dead, The Final Solution were part of the first wave of San Francisco rock bands having formed in 1965. They were very popular all over the Bay Area and appear on countless early posters of the period, but they never released anything. If you dig The Great Society and The Warlocks 'Emergency Crew' demos, this is for you!

Loud & Clear / N.O.R.E (Buttas Remix) b/w Cherry Blossoms (Love Notes Mix) by Strictlybutters | Galaxy Sound Co. – GSC 45-038 | Summer time vibes are here & @galaxy_sound_company is back at it with another sure-shot #hiphop donut via @strictlybutters. I got my hands on an advance copy of a limited-run test pressing & it is cut loud! Ya know ya will be boomin’ in ya, boomin’ in ya, boomin’ this in ya jeep!

Galaxy Sound Co. started taking these occasional fire #hiphopinstrumental interlude breaks from their 45 edit series to shine light on the Michigan skateboarder, cyclist, sneaker-head & bedroom b-boy beat maker Strictlybutters. With the 38th donut in the GSC 45 series, he is making his 3rd appearance on the label & it is another banger.

Side A1’s “Loud & Clear” is a straight-up, warm-up boom-bap banger. It effortlessly, teases along by MC royalty with a sweet soulful piano riff rolling along MPC delights. A joyful crowd is weaved through a familiar GWJ break calling you do get up & get down. A2’s “N.O.R.E. (Buttas Remix)” teases with a buttery-soul laced rework of with a snippet from Noreaga’s “SuperThug”. The only fault here being SB only gives us a taste at just over a minute long. More please.

Side B’s “Cherry Blossoms (Love Notes Mix)” is a killer joint in the vein of 90s hip-hop love jams, with the core sample being one of my fav sweet soul songs from Detroit, 1969’s “Maybe So Maybe No” by the New Holidays (Soulhawk Records 1008). SB lets this beat breathe to perfection, rolling fa-la-la-la’s that slide into a sexy outro.

Explorations was born from the inquisitive spirit that Hypnotica Colectiva has always had for the world of experimental music. We can classify it as an ambitious project, based on the fact that it is the first official sub-label of HC Records, but also pointing to the musical section both on the publishing side and on the live art side. The main objective is not to adhere to any pigeonhole, seeking to cover a wide range of unconventional sounds and rhythms without straying too far from recognizable and danceable patterns. That is why we want to create space for this project on and off the track, without barriers, and with our eyes mainly set on the future.

To kickstart the project, we look within for answers, paying attention to our mother label. John and Paul Healy hide under the name of Somatic Responses, two Welsh brothers with a long and proven career in intelligent music. We won't say that they are pioneers, but they did manage to forge a characteristic sound and style that has accompanied them since they began their career in the mid-90s.

EXPLORATIONS 01 was not conceived as an LP is usually made. When contacting the artists, they sent us a large number of tracks that they thought would fit the label's preferences. From here, the Explorations team selected the 13 tracks that now come to you, trying to find the balance between the three main styles we bet on for this first release: IDM, Ambient and Drone.

"HC Records is expanding its horizons with a new parallel yet ambitious project. In an effort to broaden its recording legacy from an evolutionary perspective, the Valencian label is venturing into the field of experimental sound. This new direction signifies a rejuvenation and adaptation to a new era, where music fragments and expands towards infinite horizons. Complex compositions, abstract designs, and extreme sound treatments define this innovative approach, pushing music beyond its limits and sacrificing some of its essential properties in the process."

Ximo Noguera @Industrial Complexx

If the name of this collection of traxxx offends you, move on — there’s no hope for you here. If, on the other hand, Toribio’s salacious fun-pun cracked your cool exterior, here’s an introduction to a set of bangers that helps exemplify New York’s increasingly exuberant dancefloor, and what producer/DJ Cesar Toribio brings to it. His is a ribald, rhythmic take on dance music, neither for the weak of musical character (purists need not apply) nor for the weak of ass (-shaking). In fact, the proof is right there, in Toribio’s label’s and monthly party’s name: Bring Dat Ass. This command is not optional, but *the* key ingredient for a good time.

The five songs Toribio has created for “Tongue In Cheeks,” BDA’s first release, comprise a horny melting pot of tribal house and Linn-drum plug-ins, minimalist synth textures and basslines, hi-hats reminiscent of electro and freestyle classics, some of which are infused with New York’s Latin club history and futures. The lead-off track, “No Pare,” is based on the producer’s 808-driven reinvention of the call-and-response hook from Proyecto Uno’s 1993 merengue-house smash “El Tiburón,” marking the first time the group has ever cleared a sample of this Nuyodominican classic. We predict that “No Pare” will be a Fall 2023 monster.

Guest vocal appearances by The Illustrious Blacks and Maluca, cornerstones of different dance-floor scenes in a city currently hitting peak-energy levels, show the breadth of Toribio’s regard for community: There is a lot of crossover to how the punky Dominicana MC from Washington Heights chooses to slang-tastically “Werk It Out,” and how the Neo-Afro-Futuristic-Psychedelic-Surrealistic-Hippys Monstah Black and Manchildblack infuse a dollop of booty into “Work Dat Shit.” And the two different metallic beats point at seemingly separate parts of Toribio’s musical heritage uniting. There’s no formula, but if there was, it would be: Make it sexy. Make it (consensually) grindy. Make it funny to the point of ridiculous but so funky that the laughter becomes more fuel to the joyous momentum propelling the movement. Then make it home — or try to.

Cesar Toribio’s home is, originally Tampa — and the DR, where he’d spend summers with family. He was a drum-corps prodigy who went to Berklee to become a jazz drummer and be like Gil Evans. He idolized Miles’ orchestral arranger’s work as much as Dilla’s beats, but then discovered house music, so it was a wrap. The 2021 band album Toribio made under the name Conclave — which included his sister Sharin and musicians from such great projects as Standing On the Corner, No Regular Play and Irreversible Entanglements — unearthed the work of a singer-songwriter-arranger-producer of immeasurably nuanced, soulful jazz-house music. But when Toribio started DJing more and more, he decided to listen to the devil on his shoulder who told him to Bring Dat Ass. As Cesar damn-well knows, it’s the devil who has the better jokes and holds the better parties, so his ears perked up. “Tongue in Cheeks” is the music Toribio says he made to play at these parties, because he can’t find it anywhere else. It’s hard to disagree.

Introducing Part 2 of Megalon's highly anticipated archival collection, showcasing their studio output between 1995 and 1997. This compilation brings together the best tracks from the EPs released by Megalon on esteemed labels like R&S and London's Plink Plonk Records.

Continuing their sonic voyage with finesse, this selection embodies the duo's forward-thinking approach. The music presented here is a testament to their ability to explore diverse styles and capture various moods, maintaining a striking modernity that remains relevant regardless of time. These tracks possess a timeless quality, sounding as fresh today as they did when they were first conceived. For any dedicated techno enthusiast, these records are a must-have addition to their record collection. With its true school UK techno essence and minimal electronic stylings, this compilation stands tall above much of the music produced on this island during that era.

Drawing from Megalon's extensive DAT tape archive, all the music featured in this compilation has been meticulously restored by the renowned Curvepusher. The artwork and design have been crafted under the keen eye of Rogan Jeans, the original designer for Plink Plonk Records and Megalon, ensuring a visually captivating experience to complement the exceptional sound.

During the 60s, Glenda Collins and The Riot Squad both found a home at Joe Meek’s legendary 304 Holloway Road studio. Ms Collins was briefly paired with the Riots by Meek for a planned collaborative album of cover versions, primarily featuring soul and R&B tracks which had been hits for other artists.

Recorded in late 66/early 67, titled ‘It’s A Riot!’, and, according to the tape boxes, possibly to be released under the name Glenda, Nero and The Riots, the album itself was never completed, and unknown until the Tea Chest Tapes’ recent restoration and transfer. The album’s six tracks are less heavily processed and more laid back than much of Meek’s work, and with Glenda’s now mature, soulful voice to the fore, these live, single take recordings hint at a new approach the production maestro may have been exploring, eschewing his usual reverb-laden, heavily overdubbed sound for something more rootsy. If so, he was once again a year or more before the curve, foreshadowing the back-to-basics approach which would be adopted by so many artists in the wake of psychedelia’s over-saturation.

Limited rerelease. Unavailable for years. The legendary album from 1984. Fully remastered by David Cunningham. These recordings were originally released on cassette by Touch in 1984 with the exception of 'Parts Of My Body', released on a single by Canal Records in 1979. Performed by: Steve Beresford: bass, piano, farfisa organ, prophet 5, trumpet, flugelhorn, euphonium, percussion, glockenspiel, voice, toy piano, melodica, noises, rhythm tracks, drumkit. David Toop: guitar, prepared guitar, bass, percussion, flute, alto flute, glockenspiel, voice, tapes, noises, rhythm tracks David Cunningham: tape treatments with guests: Lol Coxhill, Dawn Roberts and Maartje ten Hoorn 'The atmosphere which General Strike conjure together suits an old fashioned, cold war-ish scenario of technology. Their 'Interplanetary Music' is the space pop of George Pal and 'The Day The Earth Stood Still', of computers built like Blackpool Tower in order to struggle through simple trigonometry, of 'The Jetsons' and I.G.Y. They go no further than Expo 67, the world's last gasp of optimism. And although there are dark and disquieting moods set in this mosaic which their listeners have pieced together, it is made with a humour which is true to the spirit of adventure which those references apply. The sanitation merchants who make up most of the world's record-makers today would forbid our ears from hearing these strangely electric keyboards, earthworked textures, bizarre chattering of percussion, and voices that seem like puzzled robots. Cataloguing the sound in that way makes it all seem a bit of a joke, but it isn't: laughter is encouraged, but it's serious music, made with a great deal more serious spirit than the great and disheartening mountain of music which today implores you to hear and not listen.' (Richard Cook).

- 180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
- INCLUDING INSERT
- 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
- FIRST PRESSING OF 1.500 INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED COPIES ON FLAMING (ORANGE & YELLOW MIXED)
COLOURED VINYL

They've never been praised for the great albums they produced, but Adorable released one of the stronger albums during the year 1993. Stuck in the moment between the end of the shoegaze hysteria and the Britpop era their debut album Against Perfection appeared. The heavy instrumentation and impressive voice of lead singer Pete Fijalkowski can definitely be linked to the perfection they're searching for in their music. The bittersweet Sunshine Smile' shows their crossover between shoegaze and Britpop, while the secret choruses from the guitar hooks creates the thrill of the unknown on Glorious'. The pre-Adorable tune Homeboy' is a track that follows the quiet-loud music line and it got some distortion and big bass sounds.


Adorable released only two studio albums before disbanding as a music group. It was an impressive 5-year period in which they combined the dreamy world of the shoegaze with the pop, but never got the recognition they deserved.

Against Perfection is available as a first pressing of 1.500 individually numbered copies on flaming vinyl.

It only took fifteen minutes for Bob Gaudio to pen the lyrics to Sherry,
which was originally named Jackie Baby as a tribute to First Lady
Jacqueline Kennedy. Producer Bob Crewe had suggested to Gaudio that he should write a song which exploited Valli's remarkable vocal range.

It reached Number 1 in America and stayed there for five weeks along with top-ten success in the British charts. Under his guidance, the group followed up with Big Girls Don't Cry and another Number 1 in the American charts ensued.

The Four Seasons were one of the few American acts to survive the British invasion of 1964. Indeed, they are the only act to have a US Number 1 hit before, during and after the Beatles successfully invaded the USA.

Aurora Records proudly presents Temporal Gardening, featuring
composer and performer Stephan Meidell and the baroque ensemble
Bergen Barokk
The new album will be available on vinyl and digital platforms on15th of
September 2023.
Temporal Gardening was originally a commission written in 2020 for Bergen
Barokk. The idea was to explore using early music instrumentation in dialogue
with new electro-acoustic technology. The unique and remarkable ecology grew
from pseudo- baroque music playfully reimagined, reinterpreted, disassembled,
remixed, and resampled.
The trio has been expanded with drums, functioning as speakers for the
electronic manipulations of the ensemble. A double-bass recorder vibrates a subwoofer speaker mounted inside a bass drum, and a live sampled harpsichord
sounds through cymbals, gongs, and a snare drum. Meidell himself part takes as
a musician in the performance, doing live sampling and electronic contributions.
Musician-composer Stephan Meidell is a musical adventurer who, in a nomadic
fashion, improvises his way through a plentitude of styles. Meidell's music exists
where genres dissolve into fragments that canbe picked apartand combined in
new ways. He frequently combines sounds from electronic, acoustic, and
electromechanical instruments and machines and then recontextualises them
with his finely tuned intuition and sense of detail. Meidell has a plentitude of
releases and commissions, including with Erlend Apneseth Trio, Strings &
Timpani, Cakewalk, and TRIGGER on labels such as Hubro, Clean Feed, Playdate,
and Ideophone.
Bergen Barokk was established in 1994 and is today one of Norway's leading
early- music ensembles. The group has concertized and appeared in radio
broadcasts in Europe, Russia and USA. Their recordings on Simax Classics, BIS,
Bergen Digital Studio and Toccata Classics include German, English, Italian and
French repertoire. Bergen Barokk has collaborated with several ensembles
through the recent years, some of them are Pratum Integrum (Moscow),
Norwegian Soloists' Choir and Barokksolistene (Norway). Bergen Barokk has
performed in festivals like Festspillene i Bergen, Bach Festival of Philadelphia,
Moscow Early Music Festival and Janacek International Music Festival (Czech
Republic).

'Dreamer Awake' is the fifth album from Rachel Sermanni, her first for
Navigator Records (Katherine Priddy, Kitty Macfarlane, Sam Kelly & The
Lost Boys, Bellowhead)
Hailing from the Scottish highlands, Sermanni is an enchanting singer-songwriter,
whose performance and lyrics draw from a deep well of mysticism, dreams,
nature and the simple-complex experience of being human; a contemporary folk
musician influenced by a wealth of genres including jazz, rock, old- time and
traditional.
'Dreamer Awake,' was recorded at Middle Farm Studios, Devon with co-producer,
Peter Miles. Recording live to tape with people that, "most of the time, are jazz
improvisers," the sessions were conducted with an almost Lynchian approach,
with Sermanni choosing "to flow through the experience like a dream". The result
is an album that captures the intimacy of the room, and the immediacy of these
songs that transform thought, memory and emotion into such wondrous light.
Channelling the metamorphic experience of becoming a mother, and processing
the demise of a long-term relationship, Sermanni dove deep into her psyche and
returned with songs that have a sharpness, an acuity of feeling, and that capture
the fluidity of our mind and the depth of our emotional experience.
Rightly described by critics as a "Folk noir gem" (MOJO), "Stately, poetic" (CLASH)
and "Folk of the Highest Order" (Time Out), Rachel Sermanni has been making
music for over a decade and has developed her artistic voice over her many
releases, each time pushing boundaries and experimenting with different musical
textures while maintaining the raw emotional connection, to herself and others,
that defines her music.
Rachel Sermanni has toured the globe, played alongside artists such as Mumford
& Sons, Fink, Ron Sexsmith, John Grant, The Staves, Karine Polwart, The Maes
and many more at venues and festivals all over, most recently playing with Charlie
Cunningham. She also runs a songwriting workshop called Cultivating A Creative
Life and her podcast, Rachel Sermanni's Finger That Points To The Moon,
similarly explores her relationship to creativity and inspiration, with the hope that
it will help point in the direction of truth for herself and those listening

A bittersweet nostalgia lies at the heart of 'Imaginary People', the new
album from indie roots duo Viv & Riley
Over ten tracks, the pair applies an indie folk sheen to newly composed pop
gems, a reworking of an ancient ballad, and even an original fiddle tune, deftly
weaving together the old and new. In contrast to the sunny, lush production from
Alex Bingham of Hiss Golden Messenger, the lyrics lean melancholic. "Kygers Hill"
and "Sauvie Island" are both wistful odes to locales where these two young
master musicians spent formative years developing a penchant for songwriting.
"Is It All Over'' lampoons the futility of the billionaire space race through a darkly
comedic vision of a future music industry, while the title track expounds on the
"imaginary" versions of our idealized selves. Viv & Riley fittingly end the album
with a droning take on the traditional Ozark tale "The Blackest Crow." Both
musicians trace their original artistic inspiration to the deep roots music they
learned in their youths on opposite sides of the country. The duo's continuing
musical expansion is in part the fruition of their investment in the music scene of
their new home of Durham, NC which is known for its cross-genre collaboration
and creatively articulated roots music. However, the tracklist is still peppered with
pedal steel and the rootsy fiddle and banjo trappings the pair employed to
acclaim on their previous two releases. As much as 'Imaginary People' looks back
to nostalgic yesteryears, it importantly marks the beginning of a new direction for
these songwriting virtuosos

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

The House Of Love – guitarist and vocalist Guy Chadwick, lead guitarist
Terry Bickers, bassist Chris Groothuizen and drummer Pete Evans –
formed in London in 1986 - Chadwick had been around the music
industry for several years, but was energised seeing The Jesus And Mary
Chain, inspiring him to form the band - Signing to Creation, The House Of
Love were greeted enthusiastically by the music press and their single,
Shine On and self-titled debut album became indie disco classics - By
1989, the band were big news and had signed to Fontana, part of the
PolyGram group
Released in July 1993 Audience Of The Mind makes a claim for being the great
lost House Of Love album, slipping into the UK charts for a solitary week, and
having no singles taken from it. Self-produced and recorded as a three-piece in
under two weeks, Audience Of The Mind feels as fragmentary as 'The Butterfly
Album' feels fulsome. There are some great moments – the moody-yet-melodic
Haloes, Shining On (featuring a guest appearance from guitarist Sean O'Hagen),
the eight- minute Into The Tunnel and the acoustic title track with Chadwick
sounding something like an aggrieved indie Nick Drake. It is a work ripe for
rediscovery.
This re-issue replicates the original 1993 Fontana UK release with printed inner
sleeve and is pressed onto high quality 180g vinyl.

Critically acclaimed pianist/composer Aaron Diehl's penchant for the past
influencing the future has come full circle with his fully realised suite of
Mary Lou Williams' Zodiac Suite - the first fully-fledged professional
recording of this incredible music
Solely paying tribute to Mary Lou Williams was not the goal, as Diehl's mission is
to give honour and praise to one of the greatest composers of the 20th century
and the forgotten rich history of Black Classical Music.
Joined by the orchestral collective The Knights and special guests Evan
Christopher (clarinet), Nicole Glover (tenor sax), Brandon Lee (trumpet), and
Mikaela Bennett (soprano), Diehl breathes vibrant new life into a masterwork that
the composer herself was never able to fully realize during her lifetime.
Aaron Diehl approaches the piano with a delicately nuanced expressivity and an
exquisitely attuned touch that have garnered him acclaim at the highest levels.
From his collaborations with such jazz innovators as Wynton Marsalis, Cécile
McLorin Salvant and Benny Golson, to his exploratory work in the classical realm
with Philip Glass or the New York Philharmonic, to his own current- crossing
recordings as a leader, Diehl is singularly committed to a journey of musical
discovery regardless of genre or context

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

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

Balmat is a new label with a cloudy outline.

Jointly shepherded by Philip Sherburne and Albert Salinas, two friends living in Cardedeu, Catalonia, and on the Balearic island of Menorca, Balmat grew out of Lapsus Radio, a weekly show on Spain’s Radio 3. Balmat’s mission is simple: to foster new ideas, expand upon personal obsessions, and put enveloping sounds out into the world.

“Balmat” means “empty” or “void” in Catalan. But quite apart from any negative connotations, we prefer to think of it in terms of possibility: a space waiting to be filled.

Balmat’s first release comes from Luke Sanger, a Norwich, UK-based artist whose two decades of electronic music making have encompassed a range of tools and techniques, from MaxMSP to modular synthesis. Along the way he has built an extensive catalog encompassing ambient atmospheres, abstract soundscaping, and more. With Languid Gongue, he puts multiple approaches into play. Experiments in microtonal composition balance out pieces in standard tunings, while esoteric electronic machines merge with familiar acoustic treatments and microphone techniques.

The result is a constellation of his signature sounds: freeform new-age fantasia; spring-loaded toytronic arpeggios; quartz-driven braindance clockworks. Drifting between consonant, almost lyrical compositions and shape-shifting textural sketches, the album drifts with the nonchalance of a sky-high cirrus cloud, and it glows as if illuminated from within. When we heard the material, we knew that it was the perfect choice to launch the label. To us, it sounds like a roadmap for points unknown.

Dive into the captivating world of Lenxi with her electrifying debut EP, Silent Treatment. This mesmerizing blend of Acid, Electro, and melancholic pop influences takes you on an immersive journey, where soothing tones evolve into hypnotic depths.

Hailing from London and based in Amsterdam, Lenxi is a versatile producer, songwriter, DJ, and musician. Experience the enchantment of Silent Treatment and embark on a musical adventure like no other.

2023 marks 35 years since the first single by The Brand New Heavie

Twenty-one seminal tracks from Acid Jazz royalty, The Brand New Heavies, who transcended London’s local funk scene to become to enjoy global success across with hits such as ‘Sometimes’, ‘You Are The Universe’, ‘Dream on Dreamer’, ‘Midnight at The Oasis’ and more.

This new compilation brings together all the singles from the band’s time with London Records, featuring 15 Top 40, 5 Top 20, and 1 Top 10 UK hits.

All formats feature new liner notes from producer and long-time fan Mark Ronson.

Presented on double heavyweight vinyl with 21 hits – all their biggest hits + 4 US Singles- and expanded 2 x CD with remixes by Masters at Work, Dimitri from Paris, Roger Sanchez and a new remix of ‘Stay This Way’ by Bob Sinclar

Bertram debuts on Dutch cult label Pinkman Records.

Fueled by nostalgia, 'Lights Out' aims to execute industrial old school dancehall and dub within a raw electronics framework. It combines old drum machines, vintage synths, acid bass lines, Sherman-laced vocals by Bertram and the people in his life, and clever approaches to the creative process and production.

He believes in a ''it takes a village" approach and worked closely with label head Marsman to iterate the project. The release is blessed by remixes courtesy of C.L.A.W.S. and Chris Mitchell.

"Bluegrass" ist ein brandneues Studioalbum, auf dem ein Dutzend klassischer Willie Nelson-Kompositionen zu hören sind - darunter "On the Road Again", "Yesterday's Wine", "Still is Still Moving to Me", "Good Hearted Woman" und viele mehr - frisch interpretiert von Willie und seinem Ensemble. In seiner sieben Jahrzehnte währenden Karriere, in der er Genres von einem Ende des musikalischen Spektrums bis zum anderen erforscht hat, ist dies sein erstes komplettes Album, das einem Genre gewidmet ist. Willie und sein langjähriger Produzent Buddy Cannon wählten persönliche und von den Fans geliebte Kompositionen aus seiner gesamten Karriere aus, um sie für diese Hommage an die Old-Time-String-Band-Musik aus den Appalachen, die Willies Songwriting und die amerikanische Country-Musik im Allgemeinen tiefgreifend beeinflusst hat, neu zu interpretieren

Sven Wunder returns with his highly anticipated fourth full-length album Late Again out September 29th on Piano Piano Records. The album compiles some of his most admired compositions to date, like the jazz ballads ”Snowdrops” and ”Asterism Waltz”, and the modal jazz pieces ”Jazz at Night”, and ”Stars Align”. As well as new compositions such as ”Sundown”, ”Pop-Jazz Structures”, and ”Take A Break” with brightly colored textures and vibrant melodies which have become Wunder’s trademark, and so forth.

The Swedish artist and composer have previously catapulted himself onto the global stage of contemporary grooves with his three critically acclaimed albums Eastern Flowers (2019), Wabi Sabi (2020), and Natura Morta (2021), along with a handful of singles such as Harmonica And.... (2023) Sun- Kissed (2022), and Mosaic (2022). His releases have appealed to psych and prog listeners, folk and jazz aficionados, hip-hop connoisseurs, bonafide tastemakers, and fans across the globe which have cemented Wunder’s position as a gifted composer and a musical force to be reckoned with.

When the sun hovers near the horizon, the rays of white sunlight are scattered out of the beam by small particles and molecules in the atmosphere that sprinkle the sky with brilliant hues indicating that the day starts to fade. As night begins to fall, tree-tops redden and begin to glow. Darkness closes in and falls like a blanket covering the sky. It is late again and all is in shadow below. It is when stars align and dreams come true.

Sven Wunder thrives at nightfall and welcomes the horizon of beginnings on Late Again, a collection of nocturnal jazz pieces that depict shooting stars and scattered beams from the setting sun, with an emphasis on gentle compositions for piano and orchestral pop-jazz arrangements for flute, brass, and strings.

“Soothing Breeze” is a compilation of 21 carefully selected beats with oriental traditional instruments, soft drum loops and mystical appeal. The air is calm and pure - it’s time for absolute focus in this tranquil landscape.

Imprint is the 1st V/A on MBMUSIC LTD. and features tracks from artists that inspired the concept of the label and comes in both digital and vinyl format. 5 Tracks to reflect the inner voice of the artists involved and their musical imprints, expressing themselves thru sound. A1.

Track "Contemplate" is signed by DanielI very well know for his great production skills with dub/ambient texture and deep groovy rhythms. A2. "Crystalline" by label head MBM showcase his musical taste for harmonies and slow-deep beats, a track that suits perfectly for club and listening environments.

B side opens with track "Peal Of Nian" by Polygonia, an artists that very well respected in the scene for her specific sound inspired by nature and plants giving us a pure gem for the record. B2. "Toki Fuko - 9128" goes deeper into the abyss with a more hypnotic approach perfectly reflecting the style of the artist. The release closes with B3. track from emerging Vyria: "Dome" track combines tribal rhythms and sounds with drive and subtle distortion to open new perspective on label sound.

Released in 1998, THE CHRISTMAS ATTIC earned double-platinum certification and continues to captivate audiences with fan favorites like “Music Box Blues,” “Boughs Of Holly,” and “Ghosts Of Christmas Eve.” The album also introduced “Christmas Canon,” which has become one of the band’s most popular songs and a modern holiday classic. THE CHRISTMAS ATTIC tells the heartwarming tale of a little girl’s magical night spent in an attic filled with yuletide memories, accompanied by spellbinding guitar solos and soaring choral vocals set against a rock orchestral backdrop. The record serves as the second installment in TSO’s celebrated Christmas trilogy, which also includes Christmas Eve and Other Stories (1996) and The Lost Christmas Eve (2004).

TSO was conceived by the group’s late founder, composer, and lyricist Paul O’Neill. His ambitious vision was to create a progressive rock band that combined rock opera and classical rock with a dazzling live show that featured lights, lasers, and pyrotechnics. In the 1980s and 1990s, O’Neill produced several albums for the influential heavy metal band Savatage, which is how he connected with longtime collaborators Jon Oliva (vocals), Al Pitrelli (guitar), and Robert Kinkel (keyboards/producer).

With more than 10 million albums sold, TSO has inspired generations of fans to rediscover the multi-dimensional art form of rock opera. Since its touring debut in 1999, the band has emerged as one of the world’s top live acts, performing for over 10 million people across the globe, selling more than $280 million worth of tickets, and donating $11 million to charity.

Released in 1998, THE CHRISTMAS ATTIC earned double-platinum certification and continues to captivate audiences with fan favorites like “Music Box Blues,” “Boughs Of Holly,” and “Ghosts Of Christmas Eve.” The album also introduced “Christmas Canon,” which has become one of the band’s most popular songs and a modern holiday classic. THE CHRISTMAS ATTIC tells the heartwarming tale of a little girl’s magical night spent in an attic filled with yuletide memories, accompanied by spellbinding guitar solos and soaring choral vocals set against a rock orchestral backdrop. The record serves as the second installment in TSO’s celebrated Christmas trilogy, which also includes Christmas Eve and Other Stories (1996) and The Lost Christmas Eve (2004).

TSO was conceived by the group’s late founder, composer, and lyricist Paul O’Neill. His ambitious vision was to create a progressive rock band that combined rock opera and classical rock with a dazzling live show that featured lights, lasers, and pyrotechnics. In the 1980s and 1990s, O’Neill produced several albums for the influential heavy metal band Savatage, which is how he connected with longtime collaborators Jon Oliva (vocals), Al Pitrelli (guitar), and Robert Kinkel (keyboards/producer).

With more than 10 million albums sold, TSO has inspired generations of fans to rediscover the multi-dimensional art form of rock opera. Since its touring debut in 1999, the band has emerged as one of the world’s top live acts, performing for over 10 million people across the globe, selling more than $280 million worth of tickets, and donating $11 million to charity.

The Blue Soul is Juergen Vonbank's second solo album after "Trial & Eros" from 2018. It deals with the relationship to the color blue, the conventional and individual-personal associations with it, as well as the diffuse feeling that this color is able to convey. Digital and analog experiments in electronics, club music and dream pop.

"The Flying Guillotine 2" is the bloody sequel to Serenace's first appearance on Shaw Cuts in 2019, continuing the head-lopping violence with a group of freedom fighters lead by the heroic Ma Teng battling against the evil despot Emperor Yung and his reign of terror.

Teng has developed a protective device, similar to a spiky metal umbrella, that allows him to defend against the deadly flying guillotine attacks of the violent regime. "Current", its bombastic drum patterns, razor-sharp synth waves and vicious vibe strengthens the rebels to resist the brutal assaults.

But the Emperor immediately reacts, creating a double flying guillotine to counter Ma Teng's iron umbrella and the rebel union is left defenseless again. "Aiming From A Distance", a vivid breakbeat cut combining rolling percussion, arpeggiated synth chords and sirens from hell, raises the rebels' hopes to give them another answer.

Secret insurgent Na Lan infiltrates the Emperor's inner circle by gaining his trust with a group of female warriors whom he allows to train with the flying guillotine palace guards. However, Na Lan only wants to steal the plans of the improved weapon and deliver it to the rebel squad, in order to devise another counteracting force. With the crisp bassline and the energy-filled breaks of "Test 21", the rebels can gain an insight into the elaborated guillotine and find a possible way to defeat it.

Farron's profound techno version of "Current" brings in the necessary tension for the final showdown. The improved double flying guillotine VS a new secret defensive system. Will the rebels be able to team up and defeat the tyrant once and for all? No matter what happens, the saga continues.

Alfred's visit to Viktor's hometown of Utrecht resulted in the creation of a new EP in which rhythm and color meet. The entire piece is infused with the 90s mood, including the timeless elements of that era projected through the distinctive approach of both artists. PJM is highly recommended for fans of 90s breakbeat and forward-thinking electronic music that combines nostalgia and innovation.

Once the door is opened, the listener is saluted by "Wuwuwu," a liquid breakbeat meditation with a touch of yesterday's melancholia. "Nnt," "No Tomorrow," and "Sss'' are of a different nature: mischievous and antsy. They utilize vinyl backspins and scratches, old-school drum loops and vocal exclamations in a slightly accelerated tempo, making them precarious dancefloor nukes that are sure to set the crowd ablaze.

Black Truffle is pleased to announce Tender Membranes, the label’s first release from Swedish-Finnish sound artist and electro-acoustic composer Marja Ahti. Active for a decade in the Finnish underground music scene, in recent years Ahti has developed a distinctive approach to patiently unfolding electro-acoustic constructions, documented on a string of solo releases and collaborative projects with Judith Hamann and her husband Niko-Matti Ahti. Working with concrete and instrumental sounds, field recordings, and electronics, Ahti favours neither disjunctive collage nor monolithic consistency; rather, her work is composed of organically unfolding sequences of details and textures, which, as she says, ‘can stretch out or cut fast as long as they have a sense of inner stillness’, a sense that she connects to moments of heightened attention in everyday life. Tender Membranes consists of four lengthy pieces, partly inspired by the image of the senses and mind as membranes allowing for the passage between inner and outer spaces, sensation and its causes, creating a world. Ahti’s unhurried pacing encourages this sense of listening as an opening or surrender to sound, which can often create the impression that the listener is moving through a space zooming in on details. The opening Shrine (Aether) exemplifies this aspect of Ahti’s approach: a bell clears the air with a single long tone, followed by the ambience of outdoor spaces, crackling electronics, an archival recording of a horsefly on a windowpane. Dozens of these moments, varying in length, density, and intensity, move past the listener’s attention, momentarily brought into focus then slipping away. Like those of the masters of the French musique concrète tradition, Ahti’s sounds are not often recognisable, though they might suggest proximity or distance, open environments or closed spaces, the urban or rural, day or night. In Ahti’s work, we do not encounter spectacular metamorphoses à la Parmegiani but rather a state of ambiguity where the listener is often unsure what is organic and what is inorganic, where the careful productions of the synthesizer might end and sounds discovered in the environment begin. What Ahti calls her ‘poetic way of experiencing and organising the familiar and the unfamiliar’ is sustained throughout Tender Membranes, but each piece has its own character. On Dust / Light, human presence is more overt, as what appear to be whispers, singing, and distant speech thread between high frequencies, untraceable drips and pops, and metallic shimmers. In all this there is a melody that you can sing and to which you may dance makes more prominent use of musical instruments, gaining a sombre beauty from half-buried piano chords and organ tones. On the closing Oh Fragrant Witness, a delicate cloud of subtly bending pitches is repeatedly disrupted by a resounding, almost ominous mass of low tones, at once a strange detour from much of what has gone before and an almost classical finale. Arriving in a sleeve reproducing contemporary Finnish photographer Sini Pelkki’s fragmented visions of the everyday, Tender Membranes is a balm to reawaken tired ears.

On Quantum Realm, Oscar Mulero sets the bar high as per usual, dropping an uptempo but minimalistic cut. The second track is one from Fixeer, a familiar face of Dynamic Reflection. His contribution is the kind of slumbering track that will fit the moments before getting to peak time perfectly.

Taking over is Norbak, the Portugese youngster that has earned himself a reputation for slaying dancefloors with both his dj-sets and productions alike and his track 'Your Heroes May Fail You' is no exception. Lastly, Vladw provides the last track and the perfect closing of this EP. A lower beats per minute, some added ambience and spacious background noise make for the perfect outro.

Quantum Realm is part of Dynamic Reflection's 15 year anniversary celebration: Time Crystals. This is the third fof five EP's. Own all five and an all new, visual piece of art will appear.

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

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

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

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

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

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

David Eugene Edwards has always been larger than life. His music with innovative heavy droning folk band Wovenhand, and before that the haunting revivification of high lonesome sound antique Americana of 16 Horsepower breathed a near apocalyptic sense of urgency and power into musical archetypes long abandoned in the latter-20th Century. On his first-ever solo album under his own name, Hyacinth, David Eugene Edwards delivers a sound uniquely his own, with a vulnerability and introspection unheard from him before. Stripping back the heavy rock of his recent work with Wovenhand, Hyacinth puts the man's voice, and sparing instrumentation into the main focus. There's a somber beauty and world-weary tone throughout these songs. The album could've been considered a slight return to the more melodic sounds of 16 Horsepower's Secret South (2000) and the first, self-titled Wovenhand album (2002). But there's more going on here: a rhythmic, pulsating undercurrent reminiscent of the tape loops and rudimentary rhythms of 80s Industrial post-punk as well as 808 Drill Style beats. The overall effect is often as if we're hearing the clock ticking away our own mortality. "Hyacinth was a sort of vision," Edwards says. "A dream. I sought out of my old wooden banjo and nylon string guitar a hidden path. Secrets they had kept from me within themselves all these years and created a new Mythos to myself of philosophical and spiritual ideas or concepts." Once he'd harnessed the music within, he enlisted multi-instrumentalist and producer Ben Chisholm (The Armed, Chelsea Wolfe, Converge) to help him realize the album's recording and mix. "Overall, the album is a weaving of narratives ancient and modern, of humankind's search for understanding of this world we find ourselves in and of each other. In all its simplicity and complexity," Edwards continues. "Hyacinth is a reference to the Greek myth of Apollo. And, the word meaning a precious stone and blue larkspur flower of purple and pall."

Twenty-two rare and unreleased vintage tracks from the secret vaults of one of the most enigmatic composers in 60s/70s/80s European cinema. Originally recorded in the best studios in Poland, Italy and France for experimental film, political allegories, lost television shows, sound libraries and radio – these tracks have been hidden behind the Iron Curtain on lost master tapes and film reels until now! »Secret Enigma«, the first ever dedicated anthology of this great composer’s work, is now back in print.

Originally released exactly 30 years ag In artistic cinema Andrzej Korzyński’s unique experiments with jazz, pop, rock, orchestral and electronic music make his name synonymous with the most praised (Andrzej Wajda) and the most provocative (Andrzej Żuławski) Polish filmmakers (counting many more in between). As an early patron of the Polish New Wave and a key exponent of the development of conceptual Polish pop music his expansive portfolio has remained commercially unreleased and untravelled (like many of the original socialist era Polish made films) and has yet to find its deserved place next to the work of Ennio Morricone, François de Roubaix and John Barry. Now enhanced by a renewed interest in vintage art house film and a subculture of open minded music collectors many Easter European artists, such as Krzysztof Komeda (Poland), Zdeněk Liška (Czechoslovakia) and now Andrzej Korzynski,have finally begun to earn their place alongside their Central European peers.

For lovers of film music and experimental pop this debut anthology and appraisal of Andrzej Korzyński.

Martina Berther and Philipp Schlotter are prolific in their respective ways, having been active in pop and jazz music, respectively, as well as playing in bands and exploring the outer fringes of sound art or composing music for film. Their first joint album »Matt« was recorded over the course of four days in a church in the Swiss village after which the album was named. Berther and Schlotter worked with the buildingʼs organ as well as synthesizers and electric bass to follow an experimental approach that oscillated between composition and free improvisation. The five pieces, recorded directly to tape by Flo Götte without any additional overdubs, are characterised by an intimacy and rawness that calls to mind the introspective atmosphere of Hallow Ground label mateʼs FUJI||||||||||TA or mastering engineer Lawrence Englishʼs latest album for the Swiss label. »Matt« is the result of two versatile composers and musicians executing minimalist ideas by giving them plenty of space to unfold.

The album opens with »Unruhe,« a composition that is based on the twelve-tone technique. Using a stopwatch to ensure the adherence to the pre-determined temporal intervals between the individual notes, Berther and Schlotter used the church organ and synthesizers for an ominous piece that traverses different moods and levels of intensity throughout its 14-minute run time. »LFO1« and »LFO2« are different variations of the same concept: Based on a synthesizer preset and structured by an organ drone, two tone generators slowly fall silent, resulting in elegiac pieces that call to mind the work of Éliane Radigue. »Frachter« and »Gallia« put more emphasis on percussive elements. Again working with organ as well as Bertherʼs prepared electric bass, this improvisation comprises interlocking textures that sound almost menacing on »Frachter,« while they create a very different atmosphere on »Gallia.« These notable discrepancies in sound and mood are even more astonishing if you consider that the two pieces are based on the exact same recording, played at different speeds.

As two variations on the same idea with very different results, these two pieces perfectly represent how the duo effectively creates emotionally affective sound worlds with very few means. Berther and Schlotterʼs conceptual minimalism yields rewarding, multi-faceted aesthetic results. »Matt« is an intimate album, marked by a sense of vividness and spontaneity, but also the product of compositional conciseness.

"Creating this record took me around 2 years, I was moving quite a bit, without a steady working or living space, travelling and playing live again for the first time since the pandemic. At first there was creative insecurity and many abandoned ideas, I wanted to make something special for YUKU but everything felt dry and soulless. In my head this was supposed to be a dancefloor record, but this idea quickly became an obstruction in my creative flow.

During this time I started learning modular synthesis, and although there was definitely a learning curve this method of making music gave the record direction and refreshed my way to approach composition. It is also very fun to learn. What came out is a collage of sorts that is more honest and reflective of my emotions and those of the people and spaces that I have exchanged with. Thanks to YUKU and the amazing people that took part in this record and in my life in the past two years. Hope you all enjoy."

- Joaquin Cornejo

Delsin is pleased to welcome the unique sound experimentalist Machine Woman, presenting a captivating five-track journey out to the glitchy fringes of techno. MW, with her force of personality, continues to push the boundaries of her practice, offering bold and innovative approaches. She skillfully interlaces her voice through disorienting processes, embodying the essence of her self-styled mechanical organism.

Omon Breaker aka Maksym Nazarov is a DJ and musician who grew up in Kyiv, Ukraine originally from Dnipro. Now he presents his first ever full EP, Compromat, that traverses from cyberpunk dancefloor techno to trance-like work outs and wave inflected anthems including a special appearance from labelhead Phase Fatale. In his early works, he delved into questions of electronic culture and its impact on his life. As a result of his musical development and his quest for forging his own sound image defined by breakbeats and grooves reminiscent of early 90s electronica combined with the edge of modern techno, he released his first vinyl split 12" with D.Dan on Standard Deviation - the label from the ? club in 2021. Meanwhile, he quickly established his DJ path in Ukraine as a skilled performer, even becoming a resident at Kyiv's first LGBTQ+ friendly club Crest. Following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Nazarov was forced to leave his home and relocate to Berlin. In this new city, he came under the wing of BITE where he debuted with his track 'Stinger' from their recent VA and played the label showcase at Berghain in April 2023. While acclimatising and reflecting on his intense life experiences, Omon Breaker began work on his EP in which he seeks to express his emotions brought on by the tragic situations in his life: the loss of home, loved ones, and love itself. Compromat is Nazarov's first solo vinyl release where he attempts to musically depict his inner world shaped by the tragedies in his life.

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

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

Swiss-born pianist Camille-Alban Spreng, who has resided in Brussels for over a decade, has been active since 2010 in a diverse range of bands and projects within jazz, improvised (electronic) music, art performance and theater. He can be seen on stages all over Europe and trained at various conservatories with renowned players such as Emil Spanyi (HEMU, Lausanne), Eric Legnini and Kris Defoort (CRB, KCB, Brussels).
Together with his regular band ODIL, he has already released two records: 'Something' (QFTF Records - 2016) and 'RESON' (QFTQ Records - 2019), with the collaboration of Leïla Martial, and Valentin Ceccaldi on the latter album. ODIL operates from Brussels but, with in its ranks a pivotal figure with Swiss roots, a French drummer and an Irish saxophonist, is a band with international allure. Nina Kortekaas' unique voice is also an absolute asset.

His third album, titled "Unheimlich," will be released on W.E.R.F. records, one of Belgium's finest jazz not jazz labels. The new album sprung from Camille-Alban's fondness for Allen Ginsberg and the beatnik movement. Poems by Ginsberg are provided with music, notably "Pull My Daisy" (co-written by Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady at the time) and "White Shroud," with the approval of the rights holders/heirs.

The lyrics that Camille-Alban himself wrote for the album exude the same beatnik vibe. In that sense, the new work is also an homage to Allen Ginsberg. "I love his way of writing: it's funny, twisted, quirky ánd spiritual," Camille-Alban said. "I couldn't think of a better title for the new album. 'Unheimlich' doesn't translate. The black cat in the lobby of a creepy hotel in 'The Matrix,' I think of that image, that atmosphere."
ODIL's music has a narrative character and in terms of form, the compositions are not ordinary. Impro plays a role and the music is unmistakably characterized by a contemporary jazz aesthetic but at their core the compositions are also songs, a unique feature. 'Unheimlich' is a jazz album that can be listened to just as well as a pop rock album.

The undoubted Queen of British Soul and 2023 Olivier Award winner, Beverley Knight returns with a brand new album The Fifth Chapter - on September 29th on Tag8/BMG. The album Includes the first single “Last One On My Mind” which was ROW on R2 and the follow up “Systematic Overload ” which we expcct to also be a R2 favourite
Zoe Ball will be playing Systematic Overload as a first play on R2 on 17th September. Beverley appears at R2 In The Park on 16.09 with appearances on Vernon Kaye TOMY, Rylan KaRyoke appearance confirmed live and interviews with Graham Norton, and a Chris Evans session on Virgin. Press to include Guardian, Sunday Times, and Attitude.
The Fifth Chapter comes on the back of what has undoubtedly been Beverley’s most successful period ever as the iconic Ms Knight celebrates 30 years making music with several top 10 albums and over a million UK albums sold.
UK national TV appearances will support the album release - we expect Royal Variety, Strictly, Sunday Brunch, The One Show and BBC Breakfast news performances and interviews, while Beverley has already appeared on ITN News, and GoggleBox on the launch of the album.
Beverley will take on her biggest ever UK tour throughout October and November, to over 30,000 people, ending with a headline date at the London Palladium on November 14th. The album brings together some of the greatest contemporary songwriting talent including Diane Warren, Seb Coe, Ollie Green and Andrew Roachford, as well as co-production with the likes of AC Burrell, Jimmy Hogarth, Mitch Allen & Josh Cohen/DJ Waldie, The Fifth Chapter is a spectacular journey through the inspirations that have defined her incredible career.
Beverley has collected numerous awards and accolades including an MBE, three MOBO Awards, numerous Brit and Mercury Music Prize nominations and, most recently, an Olivier Award for her role as Emmeline Pankhurst in the critically acclaimed musical SYLVIA at London's Old Vic Theatre. She also recently appeared as a judge on Starstruck alongside Adam Lambert, and Shania Twain.

It almost seems churlish to regard Celtic Frost as one of the great extreme metal bands, because they were so much more than that. It’s better to hail them as among the finest extreme and experimental bands of the 1980s. Refusing ever to do what was expected or demanded, the band constantly changed musical direction, always brought in surprising influences, and kept people guessing as to where they might venture next. Their catalogue of albums is formidable and unmatched. Each is not only unique, but part of an entire tapestry that only now can be appreciated for being a remarkable part of music history. Despite, or maybe because of, constant turmoil on so many fronts, Celtic Frost achieved an artistic level few others would even have dared to dream of aspiring towards. They climbed high because they were never afraid to fall. Which is why the band are now rightly regarded as icons, and iconoclasts.

Emperor's Return is the second release by the Swiss extreme metal band Celtic Frost. It was released in 1985 as an extended play and was their first record featuring American drummer Reid Cruickshank (a.k.a. "Reed St. Mark"). The band's bleak publicity photographs from this period had an influence on the fashion and style of the developing black metal genre. This EP has been out of print and available on its own since 1985.

'In the span of just twelve months Girl Scout have stirred up a storm. The Stockholm based band appeared on the scene in 2022 with their mix of alternative grunge rock, big chorusses and glistening melodies and baffled fans with their raucous energy and contagious live shows. For the first time ever the quartet's music is available on vinyl. This LP unites their first EP Real Life Human Garbage and their second EP Granny Music, combining rock anthems and alternative pop songs that will make you want to put a badge on you denim jacket again.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Despite his popularity in Peru as a famous comedian, Melcochita devoted himself to music for many years and worked as in-house studio musician for the label Discos MAG, taking part in countless sessions. This album was recorded between 1967 and 1968, accompanied by the orchestras of Betico Salas, Joe di Roma, Nilo Espinoza, Carlos Muñoz and Tito Chicoma. The album comprises amazing guarachas, mainly international hits, and the hilarious bolero 'Cobardía' where Melcochita brings in his comedian talent. First time reissue! - Back in 1968, the year "Dejen bailar al loco" was released, Pablo was still known as Pacocha (the name of a popular brand of soap) and worked during the day as a session musician for the MAG label. At night, from eight to six in the morning, he used to play percussion in clubs. Then, at the weekends, he performed on the popular variety show La Peña Ferrando, which featured "Quality acting; very funny, simple sketches", impersonations and musical performancs. Most of the guarachas on the album are international hits, such as 'El limoncito' and 'Pa' gozá candela'. The track, 'Quiero casarme contigo' has Mexican origins, and it has been adapted to guaracha style by Betico Salas' orchestra. The humorous 'No es un gato' hails from Colombia, while 'Ahorita va a llové' and 'Carta de mamita' come from Cuba. 'Dejen bailar al loco' and 'Libre de pecado' are also from the Caribbean Island. 'Cobardía' and 'Dos almas' are classic boleros, which were already part of the repertoire of most singers back then and were also included on this album. The only way to perform them to the demanding audience at La Peña without being booed was to put a new spin on the songs, deconstruct them and reinvent the structure, as the Tito Chicoma and Joe di Roma orchestras did, and above all Melcochita, who sang them in a supernatural voice and a created Creole scat that must have wowed the audience, who would then burst into applause and laughter, going home happy after a great night out.

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

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

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

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

Taking his DIY approach to the ultimate level BRAT FARRAR comes rumbling out of a Melbourne bedroom with tunes that sound like they were recorded in 1979 over a cassette version of the first Wipers record. Leaving behind his previous life as frontman of Digger and The Pussycats, BRAT FARRAR has been reborn a one-man all singing all dancing, new wave machine

Dreams are made and displaced on Mark Fell & Rian Treanor’s oneiric electro-acoustic inception 'Last Exit', borne from long days in the family garden, and assembled into a mesmerising masterpiece of minimalist modal rhythm and atmospheric exploration, into rapt smallsound detailing in breathtaking form. It’s a bit like listening to Virginia Astley’s ‘From Gardens Where We Feel Secure’, with washes of Autechre seeping into the mix from outside.

‘Last Exit…’ originally appeared in a different form as a cassette release for our Documenting Sound series in 2021, and was edited this year by Mark and Rian for this new expanded and altered edition, mastered by Rashad Becker. It renders a painterly,psychedelic, and diaristic depiction of sublime atmospheric tension, occasionally ruptured by their typical, asymmetric rhythm impulses in a form that rudely transcends their respective aesthetics. Across four parts, they kern, juxtapose and diffract synthesised percussion and field recordings into polymetric arrangements riddled with timbral nuance of a highly unpredictable nature.

While patently inflected with nods to Indonesian gamelan, Ugandan folk, Indian Carnatic classical, Morton Feldman-esque minimalism, free jazz improvisation and a sort of rhythmic cubism that speaks to their mutual, voracious listening habits and tastes, the results are arguably without direct compare. Attentive listeners will recognise, however, that ‘Last Exit’ effortlessly transcends their respective styles, achieving a new high watermark of imaginary future-hyperfolk expressed in a sort of personalised but highly relatable meta-musical language.

Seriously, they’re working beyond known conventions here; opening to a sublime frisson of Feldman-esque keys, birdsong and distant car engines, and closing to a combo of just-intoned drone and wafts of distant ballroom music. The 80 minutes in between feel like returning to a dream, with flashes of FM strings dabbed to sloshing rhythms and domestic detritus, tilting into a nervously tentative tension ruptured with abstract dance dynamism and angular free jazz ballistics.

The rejigged recordings also reflect the fidelity of memory recall, expressing an altered perspective on their time spent in the multigenerational family’s Rotherham garden during spring/summer 2020, replete with their mum/grandmother on piano and overheard singing and in convo, but now fraught with a more melancholic, distempered quality that makes for a genuinely unforgettable listening experience. A long-form isolationist fantasy, consider it crucial listening if yr into Robert Ashley's 'Automatic Writing', Graham Lambkin, Autechre or Nuno Canavarro.

In 1996, she kicked off her notable career with "Heads Carolina, Tails California," a single that immediately made her a household name.

Following the success of her debut, Jo Dee posted nine No. 1 hits and sixteen Top 40 songs and has been recognized by the ACM Awards, CMA Awards and GRAMMY Awards. As Jo Dee's resume grew, she proved to be a trendsetter and history-maker, becoming the first female in country music history to celebrate three consecutive multi week, charttopping songs.

Jo Dee Messina has amassed quite a number of hits, including five chart-toppers.

All of them are here on this chart busting collection, highlighted by the opening track "Heads Carolina, Tails California" and followed by the double platinum tunes "Bye- Bye" and "I'm Alright" as well as the chart topper "Bring On The Rain" with fellow label mate Tim McGraw. Jo Dee Messina's hits appear on vinyl for the first time ever in a spectacular splattered blue and orange on white vinyl

Here, they intentionally embrace aspects of jazz, but contrary to expectation, this only makes their unclassifiable essence more apparent. Olivier Fairfield (FET NAT, Timber Timbre) and his co- conspirator Simone Provencher (VICTIME ) are well aware of how elusiveness can be wielded persuasively. Their inimitable sound is often a difficult one to describe.

In Flight, BNL's eighteenth studio album, retains the dry wit and keen observation we expect from vocalist/ guitarist Ed Robertson, bassist Jim Creeggan, keyboardist/guitarist Kevin Hearn and drummer Tyler Stewart, but adds a strong sense of maturing and lessons learned.

There is also a sense of joy (which is exemplified in the first single, "Lovin' Life) and appreciation. On the new single, "One Night", BNL honor "...the magical connection that happens between a whole audience and a band." Songwriter Robertson, says, "When it goes right - which it almost always does - for that 'One Night', it's a very intense connection."

In addition to the eight songs written/ co- written by Ed Robertson, the album features four songs from Kevin Hearn, (two of which are love letters to Toronto - "See the Tower" and "The Peace Lady") and two from Jim Creeggan (including "Wake Up", a co-write with the Arkells' Max Kerman). Produced by Grammy and Award-Winning producer Eric Ratz, In Flight is ready for takeoff.

"Space Trip" is a cult record released in 1973 on the legendary Amigo catalog, the longest-running independent label in Sweden.

This amazing Spiritual Jazz-Funk/Fusion LP was very hard to find. Finally available again, fully licensed and remastered, with original artwork.

This album is a killer one in its entirety, with no fillers.

Some of the best spiritual jazz on record!

Just as Duster's landmark debut album Stratosphere was making its first orbit, Clay Parton, Dove Amber, and Jason Albertini tracked a largely improvised companion capsule under their Valium Aggelein alter ego. An ode to '70s Kosmische, Hier Kommt Der Schwartze Mond is a skeletal space nap for the prozac generation. Remixed and remastered from the original 16 track analog tapes, the 1998 album has been adjoined by 15 period-appropriate bonus tracks. A fuzzy masterpiece, hidden in plain sight, by the most important slowcore band of all time.

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

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

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

David Eugene Edwards has always been larger than life. His music with innovative heavy droning folk band Wovenhand, and before that the haunting revivification of high lonesome sound antique Americana of 16 Horsepower breathed a near apocalyptic sense of urgency and power into musical archetypes long abandoned in the latter-20th Century. On his first-ever solo album under his own name, Hyacinth, David Eugene Edwards delivers a sound uniquely his own, with a vulnerability and introspection unheard from him before. Stripping back the heavy rock of his recent work with Wovenhand, Hyacinth puts the man's voice, and sparing instrumentation into the main focus. There's a somber beauty and world-weary tone throughout these songs. The album could've been considered a slight return to the more melodic sounds of 16 Horsepower's Secret South (2000) and the first, self-titled Wovenhand album (2002). But there's more going on here: a rhythmic, pulsating undercurrent reminiscent of the tape loops and rudimentary rhythms of 80s Industrial post-punk as well as 808 Drill Style beats. The overall effect is often as if we're hearing the clock ticking away our own mortality. "Hyacinth was a sort of vision," Edwards says. "A dream. I sought out of my old wooden banjo and nylon string guitar a hidden path. Secrets they had kept from me within themselves all these years and created a new Mythos to myself of philosophical and spiritual ideas or concepts." Once he'd harnessed the music within, he enlisted multi-instrumentalist and producer Ben Chisholm (The Armed, Chelsea Wolfe, Converge) to help him realize the album's recording and mix. "Overall, the album is a weaving of narratives ancient and modern, of humankind's search for understanding of this world we find ourselves in and of each other. In all its simplicity and complexity," Edwards continues. "Hyacinth is a reference to the Greek myth of Apollo. And, the word meaning a precious stone and blue larkspur flower of purple and pall."

It almost seems churlish to regard Celtic Frost as one of the great extreme metal bands, because they were so much more than that. It’s better to hail them as among the finest extreme and experimental bands of the 1980s. Refusing ever to do what was expected or demanded, the band constantly changed musical direction, always brought in surprising influences, and kept people guessing as to where they might venture next. Their catalogue of albums is formidable and unmatched. Each is not only unique, but part of an entire tapestry that only now can be appreciated for being a remarkable part of music history. Despite, or maybe because of, constant turmoil on so many fronts, Celtic Frost achieved an artistic level few others would even have dared to dream of aspiring towards. They climbed high because they were never afraid to fall. Which is why the band are now rightly regarded as icons, and iconoclasts.

Emperor's Return is the second release by the Swiss extreme metal band Celtic Frost. It was released in 1985 as an extended play and was their first record featuring American drummer Reid Cruickshank (a.k.a. "Reed St. Mark"). The band's bleak publicity photographs from this period had an influence on the fashion and style of the developing black metal genre. This EP has been out of print and available on its own since 1985.

GAF are back!!! This time under their Estrella de la Muerte configuration and with a gateway musical behemoth double album into the cosmic unknown.
The prolific project, helmed by local Canarian anchorman Mladen Kurajica, dwells deep into esoteric rock genres and this time, they waste no time in plunging the listener into their brave new type of cosmic rock with a deeply influenced krautrock voyage of 70’s jamming and psychonautic exploration.
Recorded over three days in the cultural space of El Tanque, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, at the height of the covid pandemic of 2020 and during one of the hottest summers to date, the band entered the space with no plan in mind deciding instead to approach the recording sessions without any preconceived ideas or pre-composed songs. Clean out of external influences and ready to experiment they loaded in all their available gear, including an array of modular synths, in order to create a new approach to song writing and flesh out some ideas for a future album in situ. The very process of that search, through pure improvisation and jamming, became the album we’re presenting here.
No overdubs or subsequent edits were done, except for cutting some songs so that they could fit on the album. Almost 5 hours of recordings in total, finally reaching a 7 track, 69-minute double LP. All the reverb heard on the record is the natural reverb of El Tanque, a 16 second tail natural reverb recorded with several room mics at different locations in the venue. Eventually this became the first fully instrumental album by the Estrella de la Muerte configuration, with a line up of 7 musicians (Gaf y Estrella de la Muerte are normally a sextet).
Enter then, this inspired selection of psychedelically damaged tunes, 70’s space rock, psychoacoustics and Kosmishe inspired jamming. This is healing music for your mind altering journeys. The titled Pyramids here serving not only as a gateway to the cosmic unknown but also as an exploratory symbol of the bands willingness to freely embrace their subconscious inner flows into a cosmic collective. Ecstatic music for our times!

When Claude was hunting for tracks to include in his 'Live in Detroit' album, he came across Chambray's 'Evenue' , which ended up making the final mix in his recorded Movement set. When we reached out to him about it, the Berlin artist sent us 4 demos and we signed them all. With an influence from the early stripped down jack sound of the Midwest, Chambray's productions add a polished style and wide range of musical character, both of which are in full display on his 'Where You At' EP. It's not easy to create a 'signature' sound that both crosses boundaries and also appeals to them all, yet Chambray's particular music feels effortless.

After the not-quite-reissue of 'Prince of Parrot Shooters/The Aqueducts of Cannel Island', wide-eyed mystic and tireless searcher of the netherworld Spencer Clark returns to the Discrepant fold with 'Barbados Wild Horses' under his Mo-nopoly Child Star Searchers moniker. Recorded while Clark was living in the Canary Island's by Tupperware and Lagoss' Dani Tupper, 'Barbados Wild Horses' brims with insular romanticism and escapist bliss, with sunkissed synth-lines interwoven around his trademark hand percussion bouncy rhythms reflecting the scenery of the islands as a lib-erating utopia.

With track titles taking an almost self explanatory stance, the album starts with the crepuscular vibes of 'Upper Roman-tico', a poetic meditation on the lovelorn potential of the fading sunlight, setting the tone for the rest of the tour. 'Lava Tube Solos on Horseback', the first of two tracks featuring Sun Araw's Cameron Stallones, sees the latter's guitar noo-dles riding the cascading rhythms and digital choir harmonies while in 'Neopreno Antiguo' he solos freely around an hypnotic synth line. Finishing off the escapade, 'Nightcharcos Punta Brava' drifts in ethereal starlit contemplation, with the percussion taking a more backseat approach, setting into a steady pulse for Clark's gliding synth tapestries. Nightswimming as transcendence. Another piece of the fascinating puzzle Clark's been assembling for over two dec-ades now, 'Barbados Wild Horses' glimmers with a laid back sensibility that's as unhinged as enveloping. Not an easy feat by any measure. Clark succeeds again.

Schicksal is the alias of Rudi Huybrechts coming from Hoboken, a small town near Antwerp. He started experimenting with synths and drum computers in 1982. Heavily inspired by Front 242 first album “Geography”, DAF’s elektronische körpermusik “Alles Ist Gut” and Kraftwerk’s “Man Machine” and “Computer World”, Rudi spent lot of hours programming and composing at home with just some gear and a tape recorder. Some of these tracks appeared on local compilations but it was not until the hype of New Beat in Belgium that Schicksal gained a real attention. In 1988 Rudi persuaded Marc Grouls, the resident DJ of discotheque Prestige in Antwerp, to play the track “24 hours”. All the people on the dancefloor just got wild and the next day Schicksal signed a contract with Maurice Engelen for the release of a maxi-single on Subway Records. This new edition includes all original tracks plus two new remixes of “24 Hours” and the new track “Fate”

Max & Intro was a short-lived duo formed by Vincent Max and Intro Johnnie in Belgrade. In 1984 they composed “Ostavi Sve” (in English: “Leave Everything”), probably the greatest ex-Yugoslavian minimal synth song of all times with heavy rotation on radio and even TV appearances. It was a tribute to Fairlight synthesizers, in that time non affordable for these young musicians and became an obsession, especially for Max. In 1985 was published their first and only release “We Design The Future” including “Ostavi Sve” and the B-side “Beogradska Devojka”, another synth gem.

A month after the release of his debut album as Tambores En Benirras, 2021’s fabulous Orbe Dotodo, Graham Newby’s life changed forever. After years living with a visual impairment, his sight had deteriorated so much that he was declared “registered blind”. For a man who had spent decades dividing his time between travelling, DJing, running clubs and lengthy sessions in his own studio, it was a genuinely life-changing moment.

It was against this backdrop, and the need to alter his working methods, that Ondas Horizontales, the second Tambores En Benirras album took shape. Inspired by a mixture of daydreaming, visualisation, immersion in other people’s music (escapism that provided mood enhancement, rather than a specific set of ideas) and long periods spent soaking up the sun in Ibiza, the album is the most vividly detailed, sonically colourful, and sun-soaked collection that Newby has released to date.

Newby’s declining sight forced him to stop spending long spells staring at a screen and undoubtedly slowed down the production process. Yet it also allowed him to reconnect with his emotions, appreciate the storytelling and mood-shifting potential of music, and mine mind’s eye memories of places and spaces that have meant much to him over the years.

The results are undeniably stunning. Designed with horizontal listening in mind, the set distils a range of musical and real-life inspirations –or, as he puts it, “ambient soundtracks, cosmic journeys, Balearic rhythms and poolside sessions” – into ten mesmerising and magical tracks; an undulating, slow-motion journey that’s as breath-taking as it is beguiling.

Newby sets the tone with ‘Mi Sueno Vibe En Reverb’, a swelling, slow-burn ambient masterpiece that tiptoes between hope and melancholia, before flitting between imaginary sunset soundtracks (‘Estrellas En Mastella’, where lilting pedal steel sounds, bubbling electronics and shuffling breakbeats catch the ear), kaleidoscopic sun-up beats (the gorgeous warmth of ‘Generadora De Reyos’), enveloping beatless soundscapes (‘Templos Del Sol’, a drowsy drift in becalmed waters under the heat of the mid-afternoon sun), and dubby, loved-up lusciousness (‘Mokono’).

As the album progresses, bobbing and weaving on an ocean of vibrant chords, pulsing melodies and heart-stopping melodies, there’s no sign of Newby’s inspiration waving. ‘Alma Hablando’ channels the spirit of mid-80s ‘worldbeat’ and douses it in layers of Balearic bliss, while ‘Extrensor Entragado’ recalls the head-nodding haziness of his best Gripper productions of old while combining them with the musical equivalent of a humid summer breeze. Then there’s the mood-enhancing joy of the album’s superb title track –a mission statement of sorts – and the life-affirming post trip-hop/Balearic fusion of ‘Un Placer Celestial (Reprise)’, where the influence of his old friend Aim is clearly evident.

A serious sonic step-up from its predecessor and a future Balearic classic in its’ own right, Ondas Horizontales marks the start of a new musical and personal journey for its creator. It is, in his words, not the end of an era, but the start of a new one.

Banshee is the new record label from internationally renowned DJ/producer Brianna Price (B.Traits/Baby T). Drawing “esoteric aggressive feminine energy” from the folkloric figure that gives Banshee its name, the imprint will focus on the output of Price’s Baby T alias.

Brianna knows her way around a dance. Years spent producing, DJing, and touring under the B.Traits alias have given Price a vast knowledge of rave culture. Now, all of that experience has been put to good use as part of Baby T’s “hardcore junglist shit only” approach. Anyone who has encountered a Baby T tune in a dark basement over the years should know that there will be no messing around with Banshee’s output. Baby T specialises in hardcore rave tackle schooled by junglism, electro and darkside techno, the project’s sound was honed via releases on labels like Samurai Music and Central Processing Unit. It’s a style at once wild yet focused, untamed yet laser-precise - This is music that will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up – not unlike a banshee’s shriek, in fact…

The first Banshee release is not a collection for the faint of heart. Each of these four cuts is primed for deployment at the point of the party when things really kick into overdrive. Fiercely danceable, and unapologetically abrasive, Baby T’s productions here can school any challenger in the electro, techno, and jungle fields yet also carry themselves with a punkish spirit that sets them apart from the pack.

Debut album by Sunbörn (formerly The KutiMangoes!)

On their first album as Sunbörn, the Danish 6-piece digs into what connects us as human beings: we are all born under the same sun and are connected by the same forces of nature. Meeting the world and connecting through music has been a vital mission for our band from day one, and again and again on our travels we have experienced how music can cross borders, build bridges and connect us with people from different backgrounds and cultures in shared experiences. In times when the world is tearing itself apart it is clear that music has the power to reach across divides and remind us of our common humanity. Sunbörn's self-titled ablum features collaborations with artists from all over the world: Caio Marcio (BR), Ida Nielsen/Bassida (DK), BIGYUKI (JP/US), DJ Opolopo (S), Clap! Clap! (I) & Moderator (G).

Quality Gatefold-LP pressed on yellow vinyl!

Alinka Returns to Rekids with her latest EP ‘I’m Your Ghost’

Following the relaunch of her label Twirl alongside Shaun J. Wright, Alinka now brings her brand new EP' I'm Your Ghost' to Radio Slave's Rekids. Having made frequent appearances within its catalogue, her 'I'm Your Ghost' EP sees the Ukranian-born, Chicago-raised and Berlin-residing producer return with four eclectic and club-orientated house tracks. These will sit amongst her previous releases on Permanent Vacation, Needwant, HE.SHE.THEY and Crosstown Rebels.

'Teachers' is the first cut presented on 'I'm Your Ghost' with its sharp percussive layers building towards the well-honed grooves in its composition. Title-track 'I'm Your Ghost' punches through next with weighty, wobbling subs placed against a catchy lead. 'I Still Believe' is featured with rising chord progressions and pounding kicks as '909 Lives' draws the EP to a close with an intricate mix of synths and striding drum work, paying homage to its title. It’s a package highlighting why Alinka is on an unstoppable rise, with support from some of the biggest names across house music.

Drumfunk/braindance don dgoHn (John Cunnane) returns to Love Love for a collaborative 4 track EP, 'Talk To The Planets', alongside avant-garde experimentalist Danish friend Oliver Duckert. Oliver is an electronic evangelist and the founding member of chameleonic cyberjazz group Badun, created in Århus, Denmark, but often found tuning in and out of the space/time hyperlink. John who needs no introduction at this point makes his first appearance on the label since widely-lauded 2020 album 'Undesignated Proximate' and follow-up 2022 remix project which featured an array of peers such as Skee Mask, Djrum, Meat Beat Manifesto and Equinox.

Ted Milton and Graham Lewis return as Elegiac with their second release – a four track EP inch titled “Meet My Stalker”. The pair of idiosyncratic sonic stylists, bullish outsiders with a Dadaist's ear for unexpected rhythms and ear-catching turns of phrase return showcasing a new track – the title of the EP - along with three bass heavy dubbed out no wave versions of tracks from their self titled debut LP.

Ted Milton is a prolific poet, with several volumes under his belt, as well as an avant-garde puppeteer. Yet he's probably best known as vocalist/saxophonist with psycho-funk afro punk fake no-wave pogo jazz trio Blurt. Milton's group has produced an impressive string of albums, not to mention his numerous solo recordings.

Meanwhile, Edvard Graham Lewis has a history of strong solo releases, both under his own name and as He Said. And of course, as bassist, lyricist and sometime vocalist with post punk innovators Wire, he's been responsible for numerous landmark releases, from 1977's Pink Flag, to 2003's Send, to 2020's Mind Hive.

Arranged, like the album, by electronic composer and sound artist Sam Britton whose sure touch pieces all the elements together. Kicking off with a stripped down driving shortened version of “He Folds” with its eerie honking sax and kraut like pulsating bass the perfect complement to Milton’s chorus echoing throughout. “Boat” is another album track beefed up with Milton’s chants backed by layered percussive blasts and squawking sax. “Meet My Stalker” makes its first appearance here with its infectious snarling looped bassline and Milton’s refrain “It’s a wind up”. Closing out with another album highlight an elongated version of “Vancouver Slim” all synth bleeps and ricocheting grumbling sax and hypnotic vocals. Punchy, idiosyncratic, packed with melody and groove, this second release is the fascinating sound of an evolving Elegiac.

This session, recorded at Studio Pathé-Magellan October 11 and 14, 1955 in Paris, is the first of three recordings released for the Barclay label between 1955 and 1956.

For his first recording-date in Paris Chet decided to tackle Bob Zieff’s compositions, the same ones that Dick Twardzik had picked up in a hurry at the Alvin Hotel on his way to board the liner Ile-de-France. Violonist Dick Wetmore had just recorded the eight tunes, and Bob Zieff had had just enough time to revise the arrangements. Chet neither a champion sight-reader nor a big fan of rehearsals, hadn’t yet played them in front of an audience. From that first French session only the reel referred to as a ‘production tape’ remains.

This ‘complete Bob Zieff’ gives an impression of unity that wellmatches the suite concept intended by the composer; as for “The Girl From Greenland”, its role comes as a codicil. The record of Chet’s quartet with Twardzik has now appeared in Ben Ratliff’s book “Jazz, a Critic’s Guide to The 100 Most Important Recordings” (The New York Times Essential Library); it’s a fitting mention for an album that was long-unrecognised in the the United States…

Vienna has a storied history as a ground zero for new music. Radian, who call Vienna home, embodies the city"s spirit of innovation. Martin Brandlmayr (drums, electronics), Martin Siewert (guitar, electronics) and John Norman (bass) are stalwarts of the European contemporary music community. Distorted Rooms presents a dazzling new elevation of Radian"s employment and manipulation of microtones with a new emphasis on abstracted guitar motifs, often employing a more loop-based or electronic approach to the guitar"s sonics. Radian"s visionary approach to composition speaks to a lifetime of working in forward-thinking music. The trio expertly hone in on sounds often removed from the sheen of the recording process and mine them for unique, rich textural sound palettes which they then meticulously arrange. Distorted Rooms creative process began with multi-stage recording of often the smallest sounds, from pick-scrapes to an amplifier"s latent hiss. These slivers of sound are then restructured and processed through a variety of techniques that transform them drastically. Radian have always been interested in sounds that might be considered byproducts and maximizing their creative and aural potential. More minor gestures like switching a pedal on and off or toggling the guitar"s pickup are mic"d and spun into textures that crackle and froth to fascinating effect. Radian"s angular, expansive music delights in tension and contradiction, sound and silence, improvisation and composition. The trio employs a singular and wholly unique sense of microtonality. While their creation process is complex, the resulting music is emotionally affecting, creating an aura of suspense and at times unease. Brandlmayr, Siewert, and Norman share an unconventional, wildly imaginative approach to sound.