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The illustrious, London-based duo Kit Sebastian, aka Kit Martin and Merve Erdem, return with a limited edition 7” single. It features ’L’addio’, a breakbeat driven, sultry ballad, and ‘Hayat’, a hazy, psychedelic scorcher that delves into the band’s Turkish and Azerbaijan influences.

‘L’addio’ saw the band perfecting their production and orchestration, with strings, horns and double bass, and an Italian synth found in a French dump. The music was greatly influenced by Italian soundtracks and Italian female singers, such as Mina or Rita Pavone. The track announces itself with a break that is guaranteed to get samplers twitching. The tone of the melody and lyrics is heartfelt and aching. It has a beautiful, intimate sadness like the closing scenes to a love affair, and it exquisitely rides over the slow, psych-funk-dramatic backing track. The lyrics are inspired by a flat opposite Merve's window that's occupied by drug addicts, with many guests coming in and out every night. Merve elaborated “Being both neighbours and strangers, and with the boredom of a post-tour everyday domestic life and a pinch of urban voyeurism, it was hard not to wonder what was happening in that flat. The words imagine an addict before her/his golden shot as if it's a love relationship between them that comes to an end.”

Having spent much of 2022 touring and writing, ‘Hayat’ was the first original composition the band recorded since their October 2021 album, ‘Melodi’. Here we see them weaving a psychedelic tapestry of Mugham melodies, organ-driven grooves, and jazz-pop harmonies in classic Kit Sebastian fashion. Recorded to Fostex 1/4” tape, the essence of the production is perfectly balanced between being brand new and retro, which is a feat very hard to pull off.

‘Hayat’ is sung in Turkish and the title translates as ‘Life’ in English. The song examines our desire to find one's place in the world and the provisionality of existence. Merve's searching lyrics ask “Where are you? Where is the universe?”. Her vocal delivery perfectly reflects the lyrical focus, its texture is probing and ethereal, almost as if sung from looking above us.

Once is not usual Chat Noir Tools is welcoming an established producer in the name of Robbenspierre for his tenth installment. Since 2017 the italian artist and Club Vision resident has released top notch music on labels such as Land of Dance, Alphaville records, Tone Dropout, Threads, Nugs on board or System Error. After a short break, we're glad to have him for his first vinyl release in three years. His Lacrimosa EP, five tracks filled with melancholic goodness, will stand as the first Tools record sitting halfway between homelistening & the club.

Butterfred has been releasing his atmospheric hiphop, grime, dub and ambient-driven hybrids on his own Butterfred Productions label since 2017. His is a committed update of a breakbeat perspective through moody and hazy ambiences that touch upon neo-noir and the logic of rhythm within. For his first outing on Meakusma, he provides six short, yet wide-ranging tracks with a lot of forward momentum. Voice samples and ambientish scapes give all tracks direction, deceptively downtempo beats are at times driving, at times phased-out into the background. There is a definite mystique to Butterfred's work as it purposely leaves threads unresolved. The focus is on space, a spatial perspective that infuses his music with concrete references to his influences, be it hiphop, dub or even triphop. His sense of space is often very private, yet makes for a kaleidoscopic view, unafraid to be extensive. Butterfred has a very subdued online presence. This EP is his first music to also be released digitally. His work speaks for itself and does so in fragmented jolts of imagination and reduction.

Nigeria is known as ‘The Giant of Africa’. It’s the most populated country in Africa with more then 250 ethnic groups and many different languages and dialects that gives to the country a rich diversity. This diversity also affects music which plays an important role in every aspect of social life. We, at DTW’s stable are happy to announce the reissue of “Narg Funk Machine” an explosive nigerian “black beat” disco originally released on Coconut in 1979. If you are looking for something weird here you’ve found it. Basically these four tracks are well represents the tangle of richness of nigerian music in this period, They are a melting pot of styles and sounds , where afrobeat, funk, highlife, juju, and psych rock are mixed all together in a cozy and captivating sound. Ready to bring some warmth and hypnotic sound to the dancefloor around the world.

Powerful downtempo ballad with heavy emotions from Louisiana based guitarist Chris McCaa.

Originally released as a 7” promo oriented record in 1983, the band had hopes of it leading to bigger projects but most of the pressing probably ended up in someone's basement with very few copies available online. 40 years later, “If I Had To Say Goodbye” is back again to bless your ears at the ending sets of special dancefloors.

Featuring a sound that is highly reminiscent Chris Rea's aesthetic, both in terms of vocal and guitar use, yet still breaking new ground in the power ballad department. Now in 12” 45rpm format with an extended edit by Castro on the B-side, remastered at Berlin's finest manmade mastering.

To need, to be needed, in four corners. Sleep and privacy, gases come and gases go, and now you are the only one in the room you sit in, you are one with the room you sit in, as if there are no negatives and no positives--did you know that you are an extension of your apartment? Did you know that you are in a codependent relationship with your apartment? Did you know that your apartment knows and appreciates all of your secrets?--I feel safe, which is not a new need for human beings, but a very ancient one, almost the first one. It is enacted by the possibility of sound, humming or strumming something mostly. But the quiet apartment makes its own sounds: a single longing note of birdsong told to the beat of restful breathing, the angelic insistence of tinnitus, the neighbours. Sometimes I wonder if silence means nobody's home. How still I sit. Sometimes I return to silence and feel hugged by the cool lightness of its touch, like sleeping with just a sheet in summertime. Like turning the key. Like a visit from the cat next door. Like a somnambulant ray reaching across the room, asking if you'd like to step outside. Reste Envie is a desirous message to oneself, made from a place of lived solitude: the parameters of home. Roger 3000 is a painter and a musician from Brussels, Belgium. Rest En Vie follows his 2020 release on his own imprint Tundra Records, Fiftine. His first solo EP, UFO Love Letters, was released by JJ Funhouse in 2014, followed by a contribution to Ekster's 2017 compilation album EXO3. Roger 3000 frequently collaborates with other musicians and artists, most recently with Lawrence le Doux (with whom he released the EP Chou Chou on Lexi Disques in 2021); with Carole Louis as Ondine & Turbotin for the EP Club Solitude, as well as with Bitsy Knox, with whom he released the LP OM COLD BLOOD in 2018 on Tanuki Records. Text by Bitsy Knox

Vinyl Only. Limited Edition.

Kirill Matveev’s most uncharacteristic release up to date is jam-packed with unforeseen exquisiteness featuring the voice of Amsterdam born, raised in New York and adventurer in Russian lands: Amy Pieterse. The theme of this EP is based on an icy feeling layered composition, with glitch yet atmospheric pads and of course, with Amy’s majestic vocals as the cherry on the sundae.

For this vocal-dub-wise experiment, MixCult Records also welcomes cuts by Nicolas Barnes, Dubtommy and Overt, each of them being adequate for certain moments in a journey driven DJ set.

Half Grand Records’ second release makes it more clear that their target is squarely between the dancefloor and headphones. This unpredictable playlist spans genres, from Golden Science’s buzzy boom bap to Jon Doppler’s sub shaking hardcore, with layers of analog goodness that seem to glow with the first days of rave. Electronic music veteran Proswell contributes a real viber, replete with growling basslines and bells. Round it out with a sprawling, spastic workout from Sweden’s A Stantz (Peel MD) and you have a chronicle that would fit perfectly in the collection of fans of early Warp Records, Tobacco, and millennium era Merck Records. Check it out!

Recently created Guatemalan label Identidata is extremely proud to present Sacratávica, the very first collected survey of Joaquín Orellana’s compositions. With a career spanning over 50 years of activity across contemporary art, performance, theater and sound art, Orellana is a highly singular figure in Guatamalan culture. Often considered to be the sole avant-garde composer in the country, his work has a deeply interdisciplinary quality. Most of his music was created using an orchestra of his self-built instruments, also known as Útiles Sonoros. Sitting at the border of sculpture, sound installation and musical instrument, these Útiles Sonoros, which he’s been building and developing since the late ‘60s, are at the center of his artistic activity.

Aside the obvious formal aspect, his compositions also have a strong political message, while being deeply rooted in Guatemalan history, folklore and various identities, both indigenous and modern. Playful opener “Híbrido a presión” was one of the first of his compositions to be performed entirely using the Útiles Sonoros. However, due to its technical complexity the piece was seldom reproduced, except for a later staging that Orellana directed in Louisville, Kentucky. “Ramajes”(1984), initially titled “Evocación profunda y ramajes de una marimba” , tracks the many incarnations of the marimba across history, before reaching its final form as one of Orellana’s instruments by combining vibrational percussion with melody and poetry fragments.

The title track, ‘’Sacratávica’’, represents one of the most ambitious and emotionally charged pieces from the album. An expansive 22 minute composition mixing textures that mimick field recordings and multi-layered vocal melodies culminating in choral catharsis, ‘’Sacratávica’’ deals in baroque maximalism without ever feeling cluttered. For the casual listener, the track immediately stands out, not only because of the moving vocal layered harmonies, but also through its epic scale and strong sonic narrative. Dubbed “Las voces del Rio Negro”, the piece references the massacres that took place in Coban during a period where the army massacred numerous towns, throwing the bodies in the nearby Rio Negro (the Black River).

Final track, “Fantoidea”, a glistening, metallic ambient improvisation, was a reimagining of Disney’s Fantasia using Paul Dukas’s “The Sorcerer's Apprentice” as inspiration.

Despite his work being presented in numerous exhibitions and concerts in various prestigious museums and theaters across the world, very few quality recordings exist to date. The only previously available recordings so far or either of very poor quality or did not receive enough attention. This is why, although The compositions presented not being previously unheard, having them all together in a high quality audio object represents a key moment In Guatemalan and Latin American culture.

Recorded on August 31st 2016 during a historical concert attended by over 1000 people at the Centro Cultural Miguel Angel Asturias, designed by Efrain Recinos, one of Guatemala’s leading contemporary artist from the last century, the four pieces were performed by a selection of over 90 musicians (including 60 vocalists) who were already familiar with Orellana’s instruments, cherry-picked from the Guatemalan Conservatory.

For the people behind Identidata, it has been a long and arduous process to put together these pieces. Trying to offer a panoramic view of Orellana’s work, the curators have selected pieces ranging from different decades and artistic periods. Sacratávica is a portrait of a singular artist whose work speaks not only to his culture, but carries strong aesthetic sensibilities that resonate universally.

Tapping into the seductive unease of the unexplained, Modula lands on Tartelet Archives with Paranormal Phenomena – The Icelandic Expedition, a nine-track album that evokes alien synth- electro and New Age soundscapes.

During a trip to Iceland in February 2020, Naples native Filippo Colonna Romano (Modula) experienced the raw power of the island’s otherworldly natural forces. Inspired by his field recordings and a rekindled interest in sci-fi, Paranormal Phenomena – The Icelandic Expedition was born. Steeped in haunting LA synthesis and cinematic tension, the album is an imagined soundtrack to a supernatural thriller, cast in the icy tones of the Roland JD-800.

“When I went to Iceland I was so excited about the ambience and sounds,” says Modula. “I felt everything was stronger than normal; the wind was brutal, the waves fast and noisy. I came to the conclusion that what I had captured all sounded strangely eerie and otherworldly. I decided to compose music that had the same vibe as the field recordings – cold and strange, mysterious and alien.”

The album includes nine tracks each representing a scene in the “movie” ranging from alien synth-electro to New Age ambient moods and soundscapes, inviting the listener on a journey through cold landscapes and into dark caves where unknown creatures lurk in the shadows. Paranormal Phenomena leads logically on from Modula’s previous work for Bordello A Parigi and Firecracker, not to mention his Alba – Tempesta – Notturno EP on Tartelet Records which drew on field recordings from the jungles of South America. Merging extreme environments with a rich palette of classic outboard gear, Modula’s music transports listeners through space and time. Given the heavy motion-picture theme present in Paranormal Phenomena – The Icelandic Expedition, the album is a fitting release to inaugurate Tartelet Archives, a new sub-label to Tartelet Records focusing on electronic obscurities and sounds from the past.

Two years after his acclaimed ‘Darkos LP’, Jonquera is back to Charlieu’s surrounding vales for his second album on Bamboo Shows.

Through ‘La Croix des Cros’, the French Musician delivers a loner-folk eclogue about the fantasized inner demons of a country dweller. Just like clay, audio recordings here are a malleable substance, slowly reworked over a year, following a sinuous production process where all mishaps are welcomed as breaches to step into.

Far from the spaghetti western myth of the reckless bounty hunter, riding his faithful horse in the great outdoors to spill blood; this 14-track album is the grieving lament of a wistful cowboy, longing for a simple patch of peace where one’s free to cultivate the earth and noodle on the guitar.

Heldon’s cosmic space-rock, Badalamenti’s Twin-Peaksesque foggy jazz or Morricone’s glorious soundtracks, so many references to portray another fertile imprint by Jonquera, available from February 13, 2023 on a 12” vinyl.

Finally back on tape, officially reissued. Must have! 3 Feet High and Rising is the debut studio album by hip hop trio De La Soul and was released on March 3, 1989 It marked the first of three full- length collaborations with producer Prince Paul, which would become the critical and commercial peak of both parties. Critically, as well as commercially, the album was a success. It contains the singles, "Me Myself and I", "The Magic Number", "Buddy", and "Eye Know". The album title came from the Johnny Cash song "Five Feet High and Rising". It is listed on Rolling Stone's 200 Essential Rock Records and The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums. When Village Voice held its annual Pazz & Jop Critics Poll for 1989, 3 Feet High and Rising was ranked #1. It was also listed on the Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Released amid the 1989 boom in gangsta rap, which gravitated towards hardcore, confrontational, violent lyrics, De La Soul's uniquely positive style made them an oddity beginning with the first single, "Me, Myself and I". Their positivity meant many observers labeled them a 'hippie' group, based on their declaration of the 'D.A.I.S.Y. Age' (Da. Inner. Soul. Yall). Sampling artists as diverse as Hall & Oates, Steely Dan and The Turtles, 3 Feet High and Rising is often viewed as the stylistic beginning of 1990s alternative hip hop (and especially jazz rap).