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Wer sich auf den Weg nach Louisiana macht, kehrt meist nicht auf dem gleichen Weg wieder zurück. Die Songs von BROTHER DEGE atmen die schwüle Luft der sumpfigen Wälder im Mississippi-Delta und beschwören die Geister der Bayous herauf. In den Adern des für den GRAMMY Award nominierten Singer & Songwriter Dege Legg, der seine musikalische Heimat an den Kreuzwegen aus mitreißendem Rock'n'Roll, wortgewandtem American Folk und psychedelischer Glückseligkeit gefunden hat, fließt das heiße Blut seiner Heimat in Form von surrenden Slide-Gitarren, unverfälschtem Gesang und schweißgetränkter Poesie. Mit der Magie des tiefen amerikanischen Südens zieht BROTHER DEGE auf seinem sechsten Album "Aurora" die Hörer in den Banner seiner üppigen musikalischen Welt. Sein Aufstieg fand beinahe im Stillen statt und das, obwohl der Amerikaner zig Millionen Streams generiert hat und seine breite Anerkennung sogar von keinem geringeren als Quentin Tarantino honoriert wurde, der persönlich den Song "Too Old to Die Young" für eine Schlüsselsequenz in seinem Film "Django Unchained" auswählte. Die Musik von Dege Legg lässt kühne Hooks über einer Unterströmung aus bluesiger Verzerrung aufblitzen. Dabei kanalisiert er seine Liebe für die Klassiker der Siebziger und Achtziger in einer höchst individuellen Variante des Southern Rock in den Sound des 21. Jahrhunderts. Aus diesem stilistischen Nebel erwächst eine unvergleichliche Klangvision, die Alt-Americana gleichermaßen Schärfe und Gusto verleiht. Als Dege Legg im Jahr 2004 unter dem Namen BROTHER DEGE mit seinem Debütalbum "Trailerville" in der Szene des Südens aufkreuzte, war sein höchst individueller Sound bereits voll ausgeprägt. Schon der zweite Langspieler "Folk Songs of the American Longhair" brachte gleich mehrere Hymnen hervor, darunter auch "Too Old to Die Young". Dege Legg nutzte diesen Schwung, um gleich eine ganze Reihe von Fan-Favoriten zu veröffentlichen: "How To Kill A Horse" (2013), "Scorched Earth Policy" (2015) und "Farmer's Almanac" (2018). Es lässt sich nicht leugnen, dass BROTHER DEGE stark von der Musik und den Klängen des Deep South der USA beeinflusst ist, gegen die er in seiner wilden Jugend noch rebellierte. Doch obwohl seine Wurzeln stark hervortreten, übersetzt der amerikanische Gitarrist und Sänger die Songs seines neuen Meisterwerks "Aurora" noch einen Schritt weiter in die universelle Sprache des Rock'n'Roll. Aber Vorsicht: Wer sich einfach zurücklehnt, die Augen schließt und dieses wunderbare Album auf sich wirken lässt, könnte in Louisiana aufwachen!

Wer sich auf den Weg nach Louisiana macht, kehrt meist nicht auf dem gleichen Weg wieder zurück. Die Songs von BROTHER DEGE atmen die schwüle Luft der sumpfigen Wälder im Mississippi-Delta und beschwören die Geister der Bayous herauf. In den Adern des für den GRAMMY Award nominierten Singer & Songwriter Dege Legg, der seine musikalische Heimat an den Kreuzwegen aus mitreißendem Rock'n'Roll, wortgewandtem American Folk und psychedelischer Glückseligkeit gefunden hat, fließt das heiße Blut seiner Heimat in Form von surrenden Slide-Gitarren, unverfälschtem Gesang und schweißgetränkter Poesie. Mit der Magie des tiefen amerikanischen Südens zieht BROTHER DEGE auf seinem sechsten Album "Aurora" die Hörer in den Banner seiner üppigen musikalischen Welt. Sein Aufstieg fand beinahe im Stillen statt und das, obwohl der Amerikaner zig Millionen Streams generiert hat und seine breite Anerkennung sogar von keinem geringeren als Quentin Tarantino honoriert wurde, der persönlich den Song "Too Old to Die Young" für eine Schlüsselsequenz in seinem Film "Django Unchained" auswählte. Die Musik von Dege Legg lässt kühne Hooks über einer Unterströmung aus bluesiger Verzerrung aufblitzen. Dabei kanalisiert er seine Liebe für die Klassiker der Siebziger und Achtziger in einer höchst individuellen Variante des Southern Rock in den Sound des 21. Jahrhunderts. Aus diesem stilistischen Nebel erwächst eine unvergleichliche Klangvision, die Alt-Americana gleichermaßen Schärfe und Gusto verleiht. Als Dege Legg im Jahr 2004 unter dem Namen BROTHER DEGE mit seinem Debütalbum "Trailerville" in der Szene des Südens aufkreuzte, war sein höchst individueller Sound bereits voll ausgeprägt. Schon der zweite Langspieler "Folk Songs of the American Longhair" brachte gleich mehrere Hymnen hervor, darunter auch "Too Old to Die Young". Dege Legg nutzte diesen Schwung, um gleich eine ganze Reihe von Fan-Favoriten zu veröffentlichen: "How To Kill A Horse" (2013), "Scorched Earth Policy" (2015) und "Farmer's Almanac" (2018). Es lässt sich nicht leugnen, dass BROTHER DEGE stark von der Musik und den Klängen des Deep South der USA beeinflusst ist, gegen die er in seiner wilden Jugend noch rebellierte. Doch obwohl seine Wurzeln stark hervortreten, übersetzt der amerikanische Gitarrist und Sänger die Songs seines neuen Meisterwerks "Aurora" noch einen Schritt weiter in die universelle Sprache des Rock'n'Roll. Aber Vorsicht: Wer sich einfach zurücklehnt, die Augen schließt und dieses wunderbare Album auf sich wirken lässt, könnte in Louisiana aufwachen!

Am 31. Dezember 1973 spielten AC/DC ihre erste Show im Chequers Nightclub in Sydney. Heute, 50 Jahre nach diesem Gig, sind sie veritable Rocklegenden, die Millionen von Tonträgern verkauft haben, aber nicht im Entferntesten daran denken, sich aufs Altenteil zurückzuziehen. Erst vor kurzem hat die Band ihre unzähligen Fans mit der Ankündigung der ‘POWER UP’-Tour, die sie im Sommer 2024 durch Europa führen wird, wieder in einen Freudentaumel versetzt.

Um das 50-jährige Thronjubiläum der Rock’n’Roll-Könige angemessen zu feiern, veröffentlicht Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings den Backkatalog der Band in wahrlich royaler Ausstattung: als goldene, limitierte Vinyl-Edition. Jeder LP dieser Sonderedition liegt ein Druck (30cm*30 cm) mit brandneuem AC/DC-Jubiläums-Artwork bei.



DIRTY DEEDS DONE DIRT CHEAP – Dieser Longplayer war fünf Jahre lang nicht in den USA erhältlich. Als er dort schließlich auf den Markt kam, kletterte er auf Platz 3 der Billboard Charts und verkaufte sich mehr als 6 Millionen Mal.

Funeral Folk is a collaboration between the grammy nomineed folk musician Sara Parkman and the international touring composer Maria W Horn This album was released in July 2022 by Kali Malones label XKatedral and have gained great reviews in The Wire, Lira and Boomkat. In february 2023 the music was played live at Berghain in Berlin. Funeral Folk is music in the land between black metal and folk, drone and hymns, archaic songs and experimental andscapes. Somewhere in between Pauline Oliveros, Bjork, Anna Von Hausswollf and Wardruna.

Warehouse Find!

Following the sold out Theo Parrish remix of Marcos Valle's '1985', here's the second in Far Out's Brazilika 12" with three scorching remixes from UK dance veteran Ashley Beedle. Three peak time excursions into percussive, soulful house on a stylish, cosmic Brazilian party tip.

Following the sold out Theo Parrish remix of Marcos Valle's '1985' back in April, the second release in Far Out's Brazilika 12' series features a highlight from Sabrina Malheiros' 2011 album 'Dreaming': the blissed-out, sun soaked samba classic 'Opara', which gets three scorching remixes from UK dance veteran Ashley Beedle.

Currently celebrating a decade since the release of her critically acclaimed debut album 'Equilibria', Sabrina Malheiros has remained at the forefront of modern, soul-infused Brazilian music. Growing up in Rio, the daughter of Alex Malheiros, bassist of Jazz-funk pioneers Azymuth, Sabrina has taken the legacy of samba and bossa nova and forged her own forward-thinking path, taking with her all the style and substance of the early days.

Produced under his Afrikanz On Marz moniker, Beedle's remix brings all the right elements of the original to the fore. The result is three peak time excursions into percussive, soulful house on a stylish, cosmic Brazilian party tip, infused with rich, warm rhodes, synth and flute throughout.

The vocal mix on the A side provides a spacious backdrop of twinkling keys and buoyant percussion to Malheiros' gently floating strains. The other mixes offer similarly floor-focused variations: the aptly titled 'Galactic Flute Remix' on the flip pairs the titular wind instrument with a deeper groove that retains the loose-limbed appeal of the original, plus a bonus instrumental to boot. A sure fire heat bringer and certainly one of the most colourful dance 12's we've heard this year.

The Brazilika 12' series is the new vinyl home to the previously unreleased dance exclusives taken from the Spiritual South mix on CD2 of Far Out's 20th anniversary double compilation, released in May 2015.

Footballhead is a Chicago-based alternative rock band headed by singer/ songwriter Ryan Nolen - At its heart, the band is a vessel to toil forward through internal and external insecurity It also serves the unrelenting spirit of new- millennium Midwestern youth, with MTV and skatepark dreams in the core of their memories. By blending pop structures with alt and emo sounds, Footballhead channels the frantic, dramatic, and anthemic to map the pressure points of existence. It's outcast music, revitalized in search of a modern, blissful awakening. Nolen was a skate kid from the western Chicago suburbs; the one who only kicked it with older neighborhood kids. The punkish attitude of late-90s and earlyaughts alt- rock galvanized Nolen, from the infectiously fun music down to the fashion.

A teenage relocation to Palm Springs, CA coincided with Nolen inundating himself with all the music he could: Warped Tour, 411 videos, Limewire, and the like. The Footballhead ethos comes from this comfort zone of pop impulses and raucous energy, carried by a DIY spirit that grants Nolen the autonomy to facilitate honesty and reflection. Joined by Adam Siska, snow ellet, Liam Burns, and Robbie Kuntz, Footballhead crafts supercharged rock songs like brief, open secrets. However weathered one is from their struggles and mistakes, this music offers unbridled fun as a reprieve, and salves for the shaken. These are your old friends inviting you in to commiserate, elevate, and believe.

»Sound of Matter« is the debut album by Romanian sound artist and composer Simina Oprescu. The two pieces draw on research conducted with 15 historical church bells at the Märkisches Museum and the Stadtmuseum Berlin. After the artist had presented the results of her studies of the connection between matter and harmony in the form of a multi-channel installation, she has translated the underlying approach of this site-specific work into an album that unfolds slowly, consistently setting in motion subtle tonal changes that continuously change the mood of the two pieces. »Sound of Matter« is both minimalist and maximalist, creating an infinitely rich and multi-layered dronescape that modestly invites its audience to get lost in the sonic experience.

Oprescu has been fascinated by church bells since her childhood spent in Transilvania since the instruments were shrouded in mystery, as she explains in an in-depth essay that accompanies the album. Having received a Bachelor’s degree at UNArte in Bucharest and after studying at the Royal Conservatory of Mons in Belgium, Oprescu enrolled at Berlin’s Universität der Künste for an M.A. in Sound Studies and Sonic Arts. She started working with the archive of the Märkisches Museum, which included 15 historical church bells that were built between the 15th and the early 19th century.

Since every bell sounds different according to its shape, material, and density, Oprescu abstracted these qualities in the formula f = K1t/d^2√E/s(1-m^2). This enabled her to recreate the harmonic tone of the individual bells with Max/MSP. She then composed a piece with semi-overlayed tones, i.e. overlapping frequencies. Naturally, this resulted in a beating effect that provided the music with a sense of urgency, though the five second-long natural reverb of the Märkisches Museum’s Große Halle turned it into a »warm blanket of sound,« as the artist herself puts it. This is perfectly recreated on »Sound of Matter« due to the music being presented in mono, bringing out the intrinsic movement of the beatings with more nuance than a stereo version would.

»Sound of Matter« feels warm and welcoming even when different frequencies seem to create friction between each other or when the subtle beating effects turn into throbbing rhythms, like at the end of the record. It manages to explore both Oprescu’s personal fascination with church bells and psychological and psychoacoustic questions relating to them as well as philosophical issues connected with them. This music is profoundly physical, but also intellectually stimulating—perfectly at home in the catalog of the Swiss Hallow Ground label between records by Kali Malone, Lawrence English, or Siavash Amini.

The booklet features an in-depth essay on church bells by Simina Oprescu.

Experiences Limited, now 3XL, with a new LP from Exael on a highly atmospheric ambient jungle tip, deploying 30 mins of percussive spasms seeping into smoked-out zoners - highly tipped if yr into anything from Lee Gamble to Malibu.

Clearing their cache of stray bullets, Exael returns with a gyring plunge into percussive wormholes and low-lit mood enhancers .The tracks are broadly cleft along schisms of dark/light and demonic/angelic, switching from restive propellers to more sublime sensations in a fine testament to their practice - making for prob our favourite Exael release thus far.

On the “darker” side, they commit the convulsive, fractious footwork pulses and warped tones of ‘Circle (Squishy Mix)’ in a sort of parallel to 33EMYBW’s insectoid rhythms and combustion systems, while ‘Ice That melts The Tips’ trades in rapid, ice-skating thizz and ‘Ghoul Search (Demonic Attachment Mix)’ fires up the junglist particle accelerator for a proper gauntlet of hyper techstep dynamics.

The contrast is epitomised by ’Composure’, arranging flinty breaks on a luscious waterbed of floating pads, before ‘Eidolon’ renders a sort of airborne dembow pressure in the vicinity of Ben Bondy & special guest dj’s xphresh works. ‘L-theanine’ closes the session on a fine tread inside emo ambient styles and flurries on the same spectrum between DJ Lostboi and Teresa Winter, complete with a reverberating, half-buried vocal.

Twin giant towers of amps grinding out minimal beat bloop, the transient sound molecules smell of burning gear and the floor of the pit—this is organic, electronic music at its finest. Dance? Why not. Freak out? For sure. Brothers from a different mother (Bjorn Copeland and Aaron Warren) à la two-thirds of Black Dice have come together with this fantastic debut Flaccid Mojo for us. These are mean beat vipers, spitting and tumescent on the abattoir floor.

I would call it drug music, but I’m not sure what drugs these humans consume. Stem cell and adrenal gland cocktails I’m guessing. Futuristic and primal it is, beats from the Thunder-Dome, fight music for fuckers. I’ve seen them on two separate occasions blow the power for an entire building. Baller move, boys. Produced perfectly by Chris Coady (look him up to be impressed). This record is a burning car in a field and I love it.

For fans of Black Dice, Container, Whitehouse, Negativland, Ralph Records, minimal beats à la Profan, vintage Japanese noise, Severed Heads, windburn and chapped lips. (John Dwyer)

Bay Area post-punk outfit Topographies deliver their sophomore LP, Interior Spring, via Dark Entries. Formed in 2018 in San Francisco by Justin Oronos, Jeremie Ruest, and Gray Tolhurst, Topographies link the icy riffs and gloomy atmosphere of early coldwave with the textural depth and warmth of classic shoegaze, emerging with a style that’s both contemporary and timeless.

On Interior Spring, Topographies explore themes of guilt, inherited trauma, and recovery. The meaning of its title is triplicate: a submerged river carrying hope, an anxiously wound clock, and a season where wildflowers bloom on the graves of the past. While the work of Tolhurst’s father - Laurence Tolhurst from The Cure - provides a clear influence, Topographies expertly channel acts like Asylum Party or The Chameleons on anthemic pearls like “Night Sea” and “Chain of Days”. Tolhurst’s lyrics draw on his own experience in recovery from substance abuse to examine the cycle of use and hopelessness that characterizes addiction. Through these ten songs, the group hopes to present the idea that freedom is not an escape but an embrace of the quotidian beauty of human life.

Two Spanish slow disco tracks from 1977, originally released in 7" format, brought back in 12" format with an additional extended edit, very respectful to the original. "Zorongo" is a re-interpretation of a Andalucian popular folk song with Arabic influence, a gypsy love song from ancient times which was collected and presented by Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca before his death/disappearing during the Spanish Civil War. Jobam's new arrangement gives it a heavy downtempo disco facelift, taking the original gypsy warrior intensities of dealing with love and contrasting them with a beautiful orchestral string driven addition to the theme. Heavy Balearic, emotionally loaded gypsy business, something one could very easily imagine hearing at a 10 hour Harvey set in Pikes, Ibiza.

First compiled as a double CD in 2002, Moon's Milk (in Four Phases) is a suite of four EPs that Coil released seasonally via their in-house Eskaton imprint across 1998. The line-up for these sessions were John Balance, Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson, Drew McDowall, and William Breeze. Recorded primarily at their home studio in Chiswick, London on the eve of a permanent relocation to the small seaside town of Weston-Super-Mare, the collection has long loomed as a pivotal and pinnacle work in the group's discography, but has never been officially reissued, or repressed on vinyl. Time has only ripened its tapestry of regal strangeness. Arranged sequentially in tribute to the equinoxes and solstices, Moon's Milk captures Coil at a revelatory crossroads, leaning deeper into improvisation, spontaneity, and sound design. "Moon's Milk or Under an Unquiet Skull" initiates the proceedings on Spring Equinox, a two-part netherworld organ séance woven from vocal drones, cathedral keys, seasick strings, and opiated undertow. From there, Summer Solstice skews lighter but no less incantational, with Balance embracing his voice-as-instrument across lucid dream torch songs ("Bee Stings"), purgatorial spoken word ("Glowworms/Waveforms"), sultry chamber pieces ("Summer Substructures"), and falsetto ravings ("A Warning From The Sun (For Fritz)"). Autumn Equinox exudes more of a pensive and twilit mood, from the Rose McDowall-sung folk ballad "Rosa Decidua" ("I hear your voice sing near to me / I've put away the poisoned chalice (for now) / And lie down amongst the flowerbeds") to hall-of-lords hallucination "The Auto-Asphyxiating Hierophant" to the liminal string-plucked classic "Amethyst Deceivers," featuring excellent alien guitar by Breeze layered with Balance's oft-quoted couplet: "Pay your respects to the vultures / For they are your future." The album's final chapter, Winter Solstice, is its most swooning, remote, and ceremonial. Opener "A White Rainbow" stirs strings, layered choral vocals, and shivering rhythm into an imploding burial hymn. "North" oscillates bleakly, a ghost in the machine murmuring opaque prophecy ("This black dog has no owner / This black dog has no odour"), while "Magnetic North" is its inverse, a guided meditation of gently flickering software and surreal chakra poetics ("Red rose filling the skull / Yellow cube in the lower pelvis / Silver moon crescent below the navel"). The suite fades to grey with a traditional English carol ("Christmas Is Now Drawing Near"), rendered like an executioner's song by Rose McDowall's doomed, beautiful voice. The Dais box set includes the entirety of the rare Moon's Milk Bonus Disc CD-R / 2019 Threshold Archives Copal CD, which includes three collaborations with Thighpaulsandra. This material is as rich and intoxicating as the previous four phases, ranging from electro-acoustic singing bowl rituals ("Copal") to dissonant electronic recitations of visionary Angus MacLise poetry ("The Coppice Meat") to ominous classical melancholia ("Bankside"). Once again, Coil confirm the vastness of their confounding, infinite alchemy, explored and refined across decades of experimentation - both sonic and bodily. From postindustrial to post-everything, theirs is an art untethered, in the wilds of its own design.

One of New Zealand’s fastest-rising electronic producers, Sanoi aka Jonas Fischer announces the release of his new album, ‘Echoes Of Home’. Rooted in melodic house and techno, the album is a journey through electronic music, one that is as at home on the dancefloor as it is on headphones.  Having previously released on labels such as Bar 25, Stil Vor Talent, Beat & Path, Magician On Duty, Sounds Of Sin and Tube & Berger’s Zehn Records, Loop are proud to present Sanoi’s second full-length. The New Zealand-based, German-born producer has crafted deeply personal electronic music that pushes the boundaries of creativity, skill and production techniques, while influenced by organic deep house and electronic techno from Berlin.  Created at his home in Auckland, and road tested across countless live performances across New Zealand and Australia over the past two years, ‘Echoes Of Home’ sees Sanoi’s songwriting step up to another level. Constantly developing as an artist and finding expression through music are some of the key factors that drive him, whether it be in the studio or behind the decks. His deeply danceable, meticulous though mischievous DJ sets see him move seamlessly across warm, melodic, groove-driven techno and beyond.  Featuring vocals by Beacon Bloom on ‘Silver’.

6-track EP compilation with Terada's work for the Ape Escape games, tip!

Outside of the international house underground, where his early ‘90s works for the Far East Recording label he co-founded with Shinichiro Yokota are rightly celebrated as bona-fide classics, Soichi Terada is best-known for his work composing music for video games. Yet until now, few of his productions for video games have been released outside of Japan, especially on vinyl.

Apes In The Net, a six-track EP featuring music composed for the popular PlayStation 1 series Ape Escape, sets the record straight. It not only showcases Terada’s quality as a composer and producer, but also his versatility. Like much of Terada’s work on the Ape Escape series, the tracks featured don’t explore deep, New York and New Jersey influenced house sounds, but rather his lesser-celebrated love of jungle and drum & bass – a sound he fully explored on 1996 album Sumo Jungle.

“The producer of the Ape Escape games heard that and got in touch,” Soichi remembers. “They asked me to make the soundtrack, and then work on the music for the sequels after that. I used to love making music with AKAI hardware samplers, synthesisers, and computers, so I played and recorded the tracks using almost the same methods as I did when I made house music. Using breakbeats and audio samples with a sampler was the most useful way to make the soundtracks.”

The six tracks on show, which were originally recorded in the ‘90s but reconstructed and remastered for Japan-only CD and digital releases over a decade ago, mix elements of Terada’s familiar deep house style – think warming chords and pads, memorable melodies, and emotive musical motifs – with blistering D&B breakbeats, 16-bit synth sounds, electronic bleeps and undeniably weighty basslines. They’ve stood the test of time and arguably sound just as fresh now as they did at the turn of the millennium.

For proof, check the soaring, spellbinding ‘Spectors Castle’, where uplifting lead lines and sumptuous chords dance atop punchy beats and growling bass, the jazzy and saucer-eyed rush of ‘Mount Amazing’ (all twinkling piano motifs, alien synth sounds, squelchy bass and skittish drums) and the intergalactic, liquid D&B excellence of ‘Time Station’, whose whistling melodies and stargazing chords are undeniably alluring.

There are plenty of other delights to be found across the EP, too, from the bustling, race-to-the-finish breathlessness of D&B/bleep techno fusion workout ‘Spectors Factory In’, and the rumbling sub-bass, creepy pads and suspenseful melodies of ‘Haunted House’, to the bombastic, all-out-assault on the senses that is ‘Coaster’, the set’s most “purist” jungle workout – albeit one that also doffs a cap to the pulsating world of big room techno.

Apes In The Net, then, celebrates Soichi Terada’s mastery as a video games composer and early Japanese junglist. Props are well and truly overdue.

"All Quiet on the Western Front (Im Westen nichts Neues) is a 2022 German epic anti-war film based on the 1929 novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque. All Quiet on the Western Front received positive reviews from critics, with praise directed towards its tone and faithfulness to the source material's anti-war message. Set during World War I, it follows the life of an idealistic young German soldier named Paul Bäumer. After enlisting in the German Army with his friends, Bäumer finds himself exposed to the realities of war, shattering his early hopes of becoming a hero as he does his best to survive. The film adds a parallel storyline not found in the book, which follows the armistice negotiations to end the war. All Quiet on the Western Front received a leading 14 nominations at the 76th British Academy Film Awards (winning seven, including Best Film and Best Original Score) and 9 at the 95th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best International Feature, and Best Original Score. The score of All Quiet on the Western Front is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on flaming coloured vinyl. The package includes a 4-page booklet with movie stills."

All Quiet On The Western Front by Volker Bertelmann, released 8 March 2024, includes the following tracks: "Rain & Night ", "Burried & Found", "Ludwig ", "Search Party" and more.

This version of All Quiet On The Western Front comes as a 1xLP. This release comes with (a) Insert(s).

The vinyl is pressed as a flame red disc.

Tony West was raised in the Bronx on New York Dolls, Ramones, Bad Brains, and NYHC. Hearing the call of the wild west, Tony made his way to Los Angeles at 19 years old. He initially collaborated with guitarist Todd Youth (Murphy’s Law/Danzig) in Malfunkshun, which was kept active by Andy Wood’s brother Kevin Wood. Tony took a break from L.A. to try out Memphis in 1998. While he was there, he attended the first Saliva gig with Paul Crosby on drums. This historic event marked the beginning of a lifelong friendship between Paul and Tony, ultimately leading to a management collaboration and Paul joining Blacklist Union. In addition, Tony recorded with Saliva and Jon E. Love (Love/Hate) in 2014. Tony decided to go in his own direction in 2006. With a shamanistic blend of Stone Temple Pilots, G N’ R, Malfunkshun, and New York Dolls… Blacklist Union was born. Blacklist Union have released four albums to date and are putting the finishing touches on their upcoming release ‘Letters from the Psych Ward.’ The first two singles and videos for “The Queen of Everything” and “Letters from the Psych Ward” are out now. The next single and video, “Dirty Halo” will be out next, with an album release in September

“But into my miserable brain, always concerned with looking for noon at two o’clock" - Charles Baudelaire (1869)

The Foreign Department is the second album by Astrel K, the solo project helmed by Stockholm-based British ex-pat, Rhys Edwards. Those already familiar with Edwards’ work will likely know him for fronting the cultishly great Ulrika Spacek, and given he operates as the principal songwriter in both projects, much of the same hallmarks of his cathartic, elliptical songwriting are present in Astrel K. Nonetheless, The Foreign Department feels like a rubicon moment of sorts, and the album that Edwards has unconsciously been working towards his entire creative life.

As a title, The Foreign Department offers an instructive guide for the listener, framing a life-in-transition/artist-in-exile document that maps two impromptu moves in twelve months for its songwriter: the first from London in pursuit of a relationship, the second between homes in Stockholm as that decade long relationship then suddenly dissolved. Indeed, diffusion, dissolution and reconstitution feel like appropriate touchstones for its recurring themes. Written amidst the flux of two states, at once isolated from home and then any established emotional anchor, the resulting eleven tracks came to represent a precognitive search for shifting identity and with it forming an unwittingly biographical record. It's commendable and somewhat telling that during this shake up, Edwards somehow landed upon his most realised and original work.

With a former life stripped away, there emerged an opportunity to reinvent a sense of self through art, now not just as a writer, but a composer also. Developing the confidence to arrange songs in ways he'd previously considered off-limits, while also taking cues from the opulent string and brass arrangements of records like Mercury Rev's Deserters' Songs and Death of A Ladies Man by Leonard Cohen, Edwards enlisted a range of performers to bring to life the mini-symphonies forming in his head. Perhaps it's inevitable that an album written while facing the consequences of being alone would eventually ossify around the process of bringing people together.

For all its troubled origins, The Foreign Department is a remarkably warm sounding collection. Edwards' lyrics are typically knotty and neurotic, dancing around the poetry of quarter-life anxiety, but the music itself is often joyous and even uplifting, the combination expressing that neat duality of melancholic euphoria. Edwards sings variously of crises, "torrid pieces of art", of "houses on fire" and not "having the guts for it", yet these troubling sentiments are framed by seemingly incongruous swelling strings, chirping horns or motorik percussion, creating that sense of pushing forward or floating above, of wrapping your troubles in dreams, a salve for the moments when you get a bit too much for yourself.

Lead single, 'Darkness At Noon', likely captures this all best. Named for the French idiom "midi a quatorze heures", the maddening idea of attempting the impossible for the sake of some greater possibly pointless cause, it directly grapples with the opposing notions of wanting and not wanting, of being here and being there at the same time. The conflicting and impossible self. It’s something Edwards addresses in the song at perhaps his most open, opining, “I know I want to be seen, but I hate most of what comes out of me”. And yet here is, putting it all out in the open and on the line, the dialectics of his enlightenment up on show.

Numa Crew and the ’London City Warlord’ Riko Dan join forces on this dancefloor banger called ‘Babylon’.

When it comes to the influence of Ragga in the MCing styles of Grime, one of the undisputed pioneers is Riko Dan - most famously associated with Roll Deep, one of the most important collectives in the history of Grime.

The original track is an explosive mix of Grime and Dubstep sounds spiced with a Dancehall flavor that gives Riko the perfect platform to spin raw and punching lyrics.

The flip side is a remake of the original ‘Babylon’ in a pure Dub stepper style, heavyweight bassline, hypnotic skanks and mystical atmospheres that fuse the two worlds of Grime and Dub in a unique sound. Certified sound system material.

Following 2022' acclaimed 'Topical Dancer' album with Charlotte Adigéry, here comes 'Letter To Yu', the debut solo album by Bolis Pupul : produced by fellow Belgians Soulwax & released on DEEWEE/Because Music. Exploring many themes including loss, grief, ancestry, culture, belonging/not belonging and identity. It's no coincidence that Bolis Pupul's music sounds the way it does. Born in Belgium to a Chinese mother and Belgian father and raised in the super-cool creative city of Ghent, Bolis' music is a joyous cross-cultural assemblage. Mixing widescreen electronica with the warm-hearted and wonky naivete of Belgian New Beat, Bolis' singular sonics are at once playful, emotive, unrelenting and tender. The real key to unlocking Bolis' musical secret, however, is that conversation he has between his Eastern and Western roots. The creation of the album is built around Bolis' trip to Hong Kong earlier this year, made to reconnect with his late mother's roots.

Die "Gothics" glaubten an das Do-it-yourself-Punk-Ethos, dass jeder ein Instrument in die Hand nehmen könne. Graue Wolken zogen auf, und in der unwahrscheinlichen Stadt Hamburg gründete eine dreiste und eindringliche Bande von fünf Frauen, Caro May, Rita Simon, Manuela Rickers, Fiona Sangster und Anja Huwe, Xmal Deutschland. Und wie es sich für einen echten Punk gehört, taten sie dies ohne musikalische Vorkenntnisse. Die 7“ Single "Schwarze Welt" wurde 1981 auf dem lokalen Punk-Label ZickZack veröffentlicht und stellte die Band als einen beunruhigenden Schwarm von Intensität vor. Die Dringlichkeit des repetitiven Klagelieds, die wirbelnde Manie, die sich auf der B-Seite mit "Die Wolken" und "Großstadtindianer" fortsetzt, deren krude Synthesizer-Geräusche die Spannung noch steigern. Vor allem der einzigartig giftige deutsche Gesang von Huwe wurde schnell in die ungezügelte und aufkeimende Szene der glamourösen Düsternis eingebettet. Die Unabhängigkeit des Punks vom starren Griff der Tradition erlaubte es der Band, Trost in einer Anti-Establishment-Kunst und -Musik zu finden, weit entfernt von den Konventionen der Vergangenheit. Mit ihrem Pfauenhaar und den dick mit Kajal umrandeten Augen bewahrte sich die Musik von Xmal Deutschland sowohl eine Unruhe als auch eine Zartheit, die mit der Veröffentlichung der Single "Incubus Succubus" im Jahr 1982 die Grenzen der "Neuen Deutschen Welle" (ähnlich wie ihre Kollegen und Freunde DAF und Einstürzende Neubauten) überschritt. Sie wurde sofort zu einem Post-Punk-Klassiker. Die Gitarre wühlt sich durch die Melodie, während die schaurige Primitivität von Huwes Stimme andeutet, dass sie vielleicht, nur vielleicht, die alptraumhafte Kreatur ist, vor der man sich in Acht nehmen muss. Die B-Seiten, "Zu Jung Zu Alt" und "Blut Ist Liebe", halten sich an strenge militaristische Tanzbeats, während sie in Aufregung wimmeln. Im selben Jahr trat die Band in London als Support für die Cocteau Twins auf; das war die Plattform, die sie brauchten, um in die Arme der zerrissenen Netzmassen zu stürzen. „Early Singles 1981-1982“, ist eine Karte der grundlegenden Bewegungen von Xmal Deutschland, nur Sekunden vor dem Abheben. Die Bonustracks auf der Compilation, "Kaelbermarsch" und eine düstere Live-Version von "Allein", unterstreichen die Verschmelzung von Härte mit der quixotischen Dekadenz atmosphärischer Synthesizer. Das Streben der Band nach etwas Größerem ist spürbar, zu einer Zeit, in der nach dem Aufkommen von Punk neue Möglichkeiten des Musikmachens offenstanden.

Except from Rachid Taha, who allowed himself a few forays into the teeming, vibrant heaths of techno, no raï singer other than Cheb Malik has ever ventured into this terrain known for its abundance of sound. If you know about Malik Adouane's ancestry, this is hardly surprising. Born in Librecourt, near Lens, he comes from a union between an Italo-Celtic mother who instilled Western sounds into his ears and a father, a former miner born in Biskra (north-east Algeria), a palm grove near the desert, musically renowned for its lively diwan that could be called Saharan opera. In addition, the town is renowned for its chakhchouka, a dish called after its rich blend of various ingredients and spices. Just like Malik’s music, as he was a fan of James Brown, Barry White, classical Arabic and raï music. He had been thinking about it from the beginning, but the dream took a long time to materialize. In January 1986, many raï idols turned up in Bobigny, France, for a historic and seminal festival. In the midst of the audience, the young man, dressed in black leather, provided security for the concerts of many stars before becoming one himself. He would rub his eyes, not because he was dazzled, but because they were clouded by a nostalgia that remained him of itself. So, with his head full of sounds warmly recommended by the best DJs, he set out, a little provocatively, to position himself at the cutting edge of music with a new concept called "After raï". It combined the sweet and precious past with an almost uncontrollable creative audacity. It's a balm made in a test-tube-studio from a mix of Arabic melodies and lyrics - a kind of "Arabeat", and the arrogant modernity produced by samplers, electronic spinning, roaring bass and guitars made for house music. The pinnacle of the record is a masterful cover of Isaac Hayes' Shaft, which set dancefloors on fire in Paris, London, Ibiza and New York, and became internationally known thanks to its presence on a Paris Dernière compilation curated by French musician and DJ Béatrice Ardisson along with Claude Challe's iconic Buddha Bar series. Now, shall we dance?

Australischer Rock-Glanz trifft auf 80s Sunset Strip! The Neptune Power Federation kehren mit ihrem sechsten Album zurück, einer Sammlung fieberhafter Night Stories, untermauert mit purem Rock! Die vertonten Kindergeschichten mit einem ausgesprochen US-Rock-Sound der frühen 1980er Jahre sind inspiriert vom unbeschwerten und rücksichtslosen Sunset Strip in LA. Und hier wendet sich die Band bei 'Goodnight My Children' auch dem Radiorock der späten 1970er Jahre zu. Die acht Tracks feuern mit purer Rock-Inbrunst, inkl. dröhnender Gitarrensoli und dem stets markant verlockendem und hypnotisierenden Gesang von Front-Lady Screamin' Loz Sutch. Dieses Album dürfte die bisher beste Vocal-Performance der Sängerin mit dem beeindruckenden Kopfschmuck sein.
Die Sessions waren organisch und intuitiv, ermöglichten es Sutch so, die klassischen Pop-Strukturen der Tracks zu erweitern. Perfekt zum Album-Thema, das eine Sammlung nächtlicher Geschichten symbolisiert, die, so schrecklich sie auch sein mögen, den Zuhörer in der fürsorglichen Umarmung von Sutch, der kaiserlichen Priesterin, zurücklassen. Und als zusätzlichen Bonus erhalten die Fans ein illustriertes Märchenbuch, das die Veröffentlichung begleiten wird.
Die Band wird Ende Februar / Anfang März auch Deutschland-Konzerte spielen und dabei u.a. in Hamburg das 'Hell Over Hammaburg'-Festival beehren.

Rock Hard (10/10 Pkt.)
"Wie starb Sid Vicious? Wo ist Richie Edwards? Wann kommt ein neues Guns-N´-Roses-Album? Was ist die wahre Identität von Jens Peters? In die Reihe der großen Mysterien des Rock fügt sich das Rätsel, warum THE NEPTUNE POWER FEDERATION in gottverdammten kleinen Clubs spielen, während die konzeptionell ähnlich gelagerten Ghost Arenen füllen. Mangelnde Vielfalt ist nicht die Ursache: Die Aussies packen rustikalen Rock´n´Roll, Düster-Doom und Schrägo-Psych ebenso in ihre knallbunte Wundertüte wie überlebensgroßes Musiktheater mit viel Pomp, Musical-Flair und Pop-Appeal. Die Songs stehen dem Durchbruch auch nicht im Wege. Sie sind entweder ziemlich gut, verdammt gut oder schlicht großartig. Manche tänzeln leichtfüßig im glamourösen Power-Pop-Gewand einher (´Let Us Begin´, ´Twas A Lie´), andere klingen, als würden Heart Black-Sabbath-Stücke interpretieren (´Lock & Key´). Wieder andere lassen New-Age-bewegte Queen auf die synthetisierten ZZ Top der Achtziger treffen (´Woe Be Father´s Troubled Mind´, ´Hariette Mae´). Viele lassen sich auf Anhieb mitpfeifen, wobei die Eingängigkeit nie auf Kosten der Tiefe geht. Vielmehr sind die Arrangements so detailverliebt und wendungsreich, dass es fast zu Tränen rührt. Doch kommen wir zum "unique selling point" der wahnwitzigen Truppe: dem intergalaktischen, Brautkleid tragenden Christbaum mit Hirschgeweih namens Screamin Loz Sutch. Dass sich die "Imperial Priestress" in den hochherrschaftlichen Gesangskreisen von Farida Lemouchi, Chrissie Hynde oder gar Ann Wilson bewegt, war bereits erwiesen. Der hochdramatische Titeltrack zeigt jetzt, dass sie nicht von dieser Welt ist. Kurz: Es gibt keinen Grund, warum TNPF nicht längst Megastars sind - außer einer großen kosmischen Ungerechtigkeit. Es ist an euch, diese zu korrigieren!"

Legacy (12/15 Pkt.)
"Die australische Ausnahmekapelle um Screaming Loz Sutch, ihres Zeichens Exzentrikerin und Frontfrau mit großartiger Stimme, legt das sechste Album auf den Tisch, und bereits nach dem ersten Hören ist klar: Das Ding könnte verdammt groß werden! Full Energy Rock'n'Roll spielst du nicht, ohne, wenn du es gut machst, an die Großen zu erinnern. Aber auch wenn die Dinos im Sound der Band präsent sind, wirken die Songs easy und frisch von der Leber weg gerockt ('Let Us Begin' und 'Lock & Key'). Manche Parts lassen einen fast unverschämten Pop-Appeal in den Rock'n'Roll tropfen und begeben sich auf Ausschweifungen in die psychedelisch poppige Ecke ('Woe Be Father's Troubled Mind'). Ein Stück, in dem die Musik mit einer überlebensgroßen Attitüde flirtet, was die Gitarrensoli vor dem beschwörenden Part schön ins Rampenlicht setzt. Danach die klassische Mitklatsch-Nummer, ab da mutiert die Platte langsam zum Überflieger ('Betrothed To The Serpent'). Am Ende strecken sich Musik und Songwriting und wachsen aus dem bisherigen, schon vielschichtigen Können der Band nochmals hinaus. Da trifft der Pop-Appeal auf gefühlvollen Blues-Sound und wird zu wuchtigem Siebziger-Rock. Das funktioniert bestens. Nicht zuletzt, weil die Instrumentalfraktion auf dem Album fast blind miteinander zu harmonieren scheint und Screaming Loz Sutch die Kunst vollbringt, die nötige Theatralik, das gewisse Quäntchen an Exzess und die genau dosierte Übertreibung in ihr Organ zu legen. Der Titeltrack legt davon erstaunliches Zeugnis ab! It ain't a long way to the top … anymore."

Love Is Yes is the first album by Sander van der Toorn and Dax Niesten, an audio-visual duo de force of the same name.

This heady debut is rooted equally in the worlds of fine art and experimental music. Sound and image meld wonderfully across 10 tracks, with shifting movements of music accompanied by a wealth of paintings and animations.

Niesten's work summons the likes of Philip Guston and Maurice Sendak - with its crestfallen, cartoonish voids and cockle-warming grotesquery. Serenely contorted creatures are rendered on large canvases, and brought to fuzzy, maudlin life through a full-length animation that can be viewed alongside the record.

Musically, the pair cite influences ranging from Vashti Bunyan to Morton Feldman. There is an ornate fragility, smeared by zero gravity focus shifts. Some glimpses suggest a corroded grail of Boards of Canada samples; motorik guitar, whispered messages, euphoric vistas and tangled memories all bathing in atomic glow.

"Something happened on No. The early EPs from Baltimore’s Tomato Flower were pretty, dreamy psychedelia. Warm to the touch, like looking up at the trees on a cloudless day. On No, the four-piece’s debut album, those trees, that cloudless sky, have become haunted, thorny, stormy. It takes Tomato Flower from buttoned-up, almost technically formalist psych pop to something more urgent, raw, emotionally immediate. No is messier, more expansive, and through all of its chaos, the band’s most rigorous artistic statement to date.

No is the band’s first effort made entirely in person, the first thing tracked in a studio instead of in a bedroom. It is a highly collaborative record written and recorded by everyone, partially made live. It is very much the byproduct of a band that has done some serious touring, following a coast-to-coast tour with Animal Collective in the summer of 2022.

Lead single “Destroyer,” has Jamison Murphy practically screaming over angular guitars, oscillating in a sonic space somewhere between the prettiness of Broadcast and the sludge of Jesus Lizard. It also presents an early entry point to one of No’s major conceptual underpinnings: that of the breakup between Murphy and fellow co-lead vocalist and guitarist Austyn Wohlers, which occurred during the composition of the album.

It wouldn’t be fair to just call No a break up album. It’s far more complicated with that. No is a record about negation: I will not do this, you cannot tell me what to do, we are not living in a utopia, don’t be delusional. No embraces a kind of brutal realism, a confrontation of life that only happens when you wizen up a little bit. All of it is a brutal delight, a departure from the past, a nod to a startling present."

Letztes, viertes Album von Delbo aus dem Jahr 2008, Klez.e war bereits geboren, bald folgte auch And The Golden Choir, jeweils mit Tobias Siebert. Es erscheint rückblickend fast so, als wären Delbo seit ihrem Debut auf Suche gewesen. Jener Suche nach dem erlösenden Glückston, dem sie nun auf die Schliche gekommen sind. Noch losgelöster von Standards, aber inmitten neuer Eingängigkeit haben sie auf GRANDE FINESSE den richtigen Ton, die stimmige Gefühlslage und sich als ihr eigenes Phänomen gefunden. GRANDE FINESSE lässt mehr zu und von einigem ab. Piano, Streicher, und Bläser umspannen Welten und laden diese auf. Auf diese ihre Weise klingen Delbo so stilvoll und betörend wie Blonde Redhead, ohne ihre ureigene Dringlich- und Kantigkeit verloren zu haben. Damit bauen Delbo Poetisches, Melancholisches und im gleichen Atemzug Aufbauendes wie ein Amelie-Soundtrack zusammen, ohne den Lärm Sonic Youth'scher Art oder das Karate-ähnlich Kunstvolle missen zu lassen.

The founders of Cukor Bila Smert’ (Ukrainian: Цукор– Біла Смерть, English: Sugar – White Death) band were Svitlana Okhrimenko (a.k.a. Svitlana Nianio), Oleksandr Kohanovs’kyi, and Tamila Mazur, who studied at the Reinhold Glier Kyiv Academy of Music in 1984-1988. In the summer of 1988, they got acquainted with Eugene Taran, a young guitarist and artist. He joined the band and also became the ideologist of Sugar – White Death. Moreover, Eugene coined the name for the band: the irony towards the Yellow Press. The musicians gathered at Kohanovs’kyi’s house, where they spent their free time not only playing music but also listening to and discussing new records and thinking about the conception of their new project.



For two years, the band recorded a few home-made albums, such as “Rhododendrons Coral Aspides” in 1988 (which is considered lost), where Kostyantyn Dovzhenko took part as a guitarist and sound engineer. He also replaced Taran during the recording session because Eugene was passing an exam at that time. The band also recorded another album – “Lilies and Amaralises,” in 1989, which is also considered lost. Eugene remembers that the band made a lot of recordings but did not pay so much attention to them. Sugar – White Death played live occasionally but spent more time creating their own sound, which was named by Oleksii Dekhtyar (a founder of “Ivanov Down”) as a “sugar calypso sound.” At that time, the music was mostly created by Oleksandr Kohanovs’kyi, and the lyrics were written by Svitlana Okhrimenko and Eugene Taran.



In February 1990, a quartet came to the Scientists House Studio in Kyiv, where they had one studio session only, recorded by Valerii Papchenko. Musicians played live for about one take. This session was represented on the “Mannered Music” compilation by several blocks – “Venus with Long Neck,” “The New Sissies,” and “Rhododendrons Coral Aspides,” which was shortened to “Rhododendrons” on the cassette (two songs from which – “Summer Will Not Come” and “The Great Hen-Yuan’ River,” dedicated to Grigorii Khoroshylov, the sinologist from Kyiv). The compilation cover design was created by Eugene Taran. Later, this tape got to Vlodek Nakonechnyj, the founder of Koka Records, a young Polish label, who released “Mannered Music” on cassettes and made efforts to invite Sugar – White Death to play several gigs in Poland.



In November 1990, Sugar – White Death played their last gig as a quartet in Kharkiv. They were invited by Sergii Myasoyedov, who curated the art association “Nova Scena” (The New Scene). The band played selected tracks from the albums “The New Sissies” and “The Shellfishes in Gold Wrappers” (the last one is also considered lost). Due to Sergii Myasoyedov's efforts, the performance was documented: he saved a lot of photos and fragments of soundboard recordings on reel-to-reel tape.



Later, Oleksandr Kohanovs’kyi and Tamila Mazur left Sugar – White Death: Oleksandr founded his own project Pan Kifared, and Tamila became a bass player of Shake Hi-Fi (whose co-founder was Eugene Taran). Sugar became a duo of Svitlana and Eugene. They started to focus on their next work: “Antinoy Is Leaving” in late 1990.



In 1992, they were also invited by Sergii Myasoyedov for a studio session in Kharkiv, where due to the efforts of Oleksandr Vakulenko, Sugar recorded the new album called “All Secrets Of A Poem”. Some tracks from the work (“Dead Ceremony,” “Vienna Is Sleeping,” and “Untitled”) were released on their next and last album, “Selo” (“The Village”). The rest compositions were published as a part of the compilation for the first time.



In the autumn of 1992, the musicians went to Poland, where Vlodek Nakonechnyj, who wanted Sugar to come to a “real” studio, organized their last recording session. Although the journey’s beginning was unsuccessful (Eugene’s guitar was taken away by a customs officer when crossing the border), the musicians worked fast during the session at the Arek Was studio at Marki on an 8-track reel-to-reel machine. Boleslav Blazhchyk took part as a cellist, playing the parts created by Svitlana. The album was completed in three days – the musicians spent two days recording and one-day mixing, mostly done by Eugene Taran. In 1993, this work was released as “Selo” (“The Village”) album on cassette tapes by Koka Records (remastered by Tadeusz Sudnik). Later, Sugar – White Death was disbanded.



Credits:



Cukor Bila Smert’: Svitlana Okhrimenko (lyrics, keyboards, piano, vocals), Eugene Taran (lyrics, keyboards, guitar), Oleksandr Kohanovs’kyi (piano, A1-B2), Tamila Mazur (cello, A1-B2), Boleslaw Blaszczyk (cello, C5-D6)

Cover photo by Vlad Urazovs’kiy

Photo archive courtesy: Vlad Urazovs’kiy, Vlodek Nakonechnyj (Koka Records),

Oleh Yuhrinov, Sergii Myasoyedov

Audio archive courtesy: Vlodek Nakonechnyj (Koka Records), Guido Erfen,

Sergii Myasoyedov

Liner notes: Vlad Yakovlev

Compiled by Dmytro Nikolaienko, Dmytro Prutkin and Sasha Tsapenko

© ? Shukai / Cukor Bila Smert’

2024

The legendary Thelonious Monk's appearance at the legendary Newport fesval in 1963 when the so-called 'High Priest of Bop' brought one of his greatest quartets featuring master Charlie Rouse on tenor sax, Butch Warren on bass, and Frankie Dunlop on drums. This is a great performance based on five of Monk's classic composions: 'Criss Cross', 'Light Blue', 'Epistrophy', 'Nu2y', and 'Blue Monk'. This is pure Monk's essence,


don't miss it.

In July of 2022, just one month before jaimie branch"s death sent shockwaves around the world, the trumpet player and composer was in Chicago at International Anthem (IARC) studios putting finishing touches on an album. It was a suite of music she had composed and then recorded with her flagship ensemble, Fly or Die, over the course of a residency at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Nebraska. In her wake, the album was near complete, with only mixing tweaks, final titles, and artwork to be fully realized. In the months following, her family (led by sister Kate Branch), her band (Jason Ajemian, Lester St. Louis, and Chad Taylor), and her collaborators at IARC (engineers Dave Vettraino and David Allen, comrades Alejandro Ayala and Scott McNiece) banded together to gather memories, texts, emails, photographs, artwork and fragments belonging to jaimie to light the path forward. The goal was always to do what jaimie would have done. Packaged in stunning artwork by John Herndon, Damon Locks, and branch herself, Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) is jaimie"s final album with the quartet.

The newly reborn Danish label, tech-nology, is reintroducing its first two releases.

The second release on tech-nology back in 2003 by El Far, alsoknown as Bjorn Svin, stands as a true techno masterpiece andis now rereleased as the label has been relaunched in 2023. Bjorn Svin has taken the lead again, contributing a remix that kick-starts the label in 2023 with TN EDITS 02 Lotte kaersa:"Prov og gor li'som jeg" - played by Luca Bacchetti at Burning Man 2023.

Additionally, the track gained attention on the latest Michael Meyer podcast,

But this is all about the beginning of the label and the beginningon the dancefloor Bjorn Svin was one of the first electronic musician in Denmark spearheaded an uprising Scandinavian rave scene, developinga unique, recognizable sound inspired by Detroit techno and British early IDM pioneers: playful and melodic but simultaneously groovy and entrancing.

In 1997, April Records released Bjorn Svin's debut full-lengthalbum Mer Strom; the opening single became an unofficialanthem for the entire generation of Scandinavian ravers.

Tech-nology captured a mature Bjorn Svin in 2003 and releasedwhat is arguably his best techno track ever produced, featured on this EP that highlights his techno skills under the moniker El Far. This authentic techno experience transports you back to theorigins of electronic dance music, going back to the old abandoned warehouses where social and casual dancing defined the essence of the scene.

Yet, the record captures what it is still all about, the love to themusic, the love on the dancefloor, this is him, her and wet area.

Die "Gothics" glaubten an das Do-it-yourself-Punk-Ethos, dass jeder ein Instrument in die Hand nehmen könne. Graue Wolken zogen auf, und in der unwahrscheinlichen Stadt Hamburg gründete eine dreiste und eindringliche Bande von fünf Frauen, Caro May, Rita Simon, Manuela Rickers, Fiona Sangster und Anja Huwe, Xmal Deutschland. Und wie es sich für einen echten Punk gehört, taten sie dies ohne musikalische Vorkenntnisse. Die 7“ Single "Schwarze Welt" wurde 1981 auf dem lokalen Punk-Label ZickZack veröffentlicht und stellte die Band als einen beunruhigenden Schwarm von Intensität vor. Die Dringlichkeit des repetitiven Klagelieds, die wirbelnde Manie, die sich auf der B-Seite mit "Die Wolken" und "Großstadtindianer" fortsetzt, deren krude Synthesizer-Geräusche die Spannung noch steigern. Vor allem der einzigartig giftige deutsche Gesang von Huwe wurde schnell in die ungezügelte und aufkeimende Szene der glamourösen Düsternis eingebettet. Die Unabhängigkeit des Punks vom starren Griff der Tradition erlaubte es der Band, Trost in einer Anti-Establishment-Kunst und -Musik zu finden, weit entfernt von den Konventionen der Vergangenheit. Mit ihrem Pfauenhaar und den dick mit Kajal umrandeten Augen bewahrte sich die Musik von Xmal Deutschland sowohl eine Unruhe als auch eine Zartheit, die mit der Veröffentlichung der Single "Incubus Succubus" im Jahr 1982 die Grenzen der "Neuen Deutschen Welle" (ähnlich wie ihre Kollegen und Freunde DAF und Einstürzende Neubauten) überschritt. Sie wurde sofort zu einem Post-Punk-Klassiker. Die Gitarre wühlt sich durch die Melodie, während die schaurige Primitivität von Huwes Stimme andeutet, dass sie vielleicht, nur vielleicht, die alptraumhafte Kreatur ist, vor der man sich in Acht nehmen muss. Die B-Seiten, "Zu Jung Zu Alt" und "Blut Ist Liebe", halten sich an strenge militaristische Tanzbeats, während sie in Aufregung wimmeln. Im selben Jahr trat die Band in London als Support für die Cocteau Twins auf; das war die Plattform, die sie brauchten, um in die Arme der zerrissenen Netzmassen zu stürzen. „Early Singles 1981-1982“, ist eine Karte der grundlegenden Bewegungen von Xmal Deutschland, nur Sekunden vor dem Abheben. Die Bonustracks auf der Compilation, "Kaelbermarsch" und eine düstere Live-Version von "Allein", unterstreichen die Verschmelzung von Härte mit der quixotischen Dekadenz atmosphärischer Synthesizer. Das Streben der Band nach etwas Größerem ist spürbar, zu einer Zeit, in der nach dem Aufkommen von Punk neue Möglichkeiten des Musikmachens offenstanden.

As its title suggests, Stornoway"s 2010 debut album, Beachcomber"s Windowsill, is something of a treasure. Featuring singles "Fuel Up", "I Saw You Blink" and "Zorbing", it showed just why so many were excited by the Oxford indie-folk quartet"s arrival - a DIY guitar band unusually rooted in folk tradition. They stood out further with their deft ability to try their hand at most instruments, never shy to experiment while their pure pop harmonies soared. Warmly received on release, Beachcomber"s Windowsill quickly attained Silver status in the UK and among the many positive reviews, The Observer praised it for having a "real emotional depth that transports their music from throwaway sunny songs to something altogether more poignant and enduring", while the NME called it "beautifully rendered and melodically magnifi cent; a Constable landscape of a record." The album is complemented by a stunning sleeve by designer Chris Bigg, who has played on the album"s title and their songs about nature by working with illustrations of shells, aquatic life and old maps.

Italian hard techno DJ-producer MAIKE DEPAS announces EP "Rave the Planet" (out 29 February) ahead of MAIKE DEPAS 2.0 audio-visual makeover

"Depas strikes a fine balance between raw energy and subtle melodic hooks." (DMY)

"Throughout the pounding track Midnight Ride, the Italian beatsmith expertly blends lush synths with intricate rhythmic components and gritty bass." (EDM com)

"Depas' approach to techno is a veritable melting pot of influences, blending sounds from the 80s and 90s with contemporary symphonic and cinematic elements." (Magnetic Mag)

Upon the return from the dark and dreamy regions of his previous EP "Euphoria", Milanese hard techno DJ-producer MAIKE DEPAS (Michelangelo De Pasquale) announces new EP "Rave the Planet", out 29 February via The Innovation Studio, ahead of MAIKE DEPAS 2.0 audio-visual makeover. Sending tremors through the electronic underground scene, Depas joins Kobosil and In Verruf in carrying the torch of uncompromising Berlin techno while keeping his feet firmly planted in the melodic 1990s trance of Push, Jam & Spoon, and Cygnus X.

Introducing his new heavy-duty fusion of face-melting techno and trance carrying "Go Hard or Go Home" warning sign, Depas makes the crowd grind their teeth with a behemoth of an opener "Heartbreaker" only to fill the dancefloor with dread on the shiver-inducing "Vortex", a power move designed to set the scene for the title track"s fervent rave sermon delivered in a cyborg voice by Depas, followed by the erotic undertones of throbbing closer "Float Together" including the blistering remix by the Italian DJ Amstra.

"Rave the planet / Stay together / In techno we trust / Rave the planet" - MAIKE DEPAS, Rave the Planet

At its core, "Rave the Planet" is Depas" personal paean to the true spirit of the original rave culture as represented by Lukas Havlik"s (Ludenworks) Luis Royo-esque artwork of a pulsating cybernetic planet of complex, interconnected nerve fibres wrapped around the Depas globe logo. “As a raver, you feel this sense of unity with community and it"s similar to a religion we"ve had for thousands and thousands of years,” Depas compares. “We are the planet, we are the culture, so both are the reflection of ourselves in the wider world.” For Depas, the concept of solidarity runs deep within techno culture. Coming right from the heart, Depas is driven by the opportunity to bring people together for one thing and one thing only: “Just for the love of techno and to celebrate the music in a club.”

"As a raver, you feel this sense of unity with a community similar to a religion we"ve had for thousands and thousands of years." - MAIKE DEPAS

"Rave the Planet" is released in conjunction with MAIKE DEPAS 2.0, a tectonic audio-visual shift that entails a wide array of digital content as varied as DJ sets live streamed from Berlin"s Teufelsberg and other dystopian locations around Europe as well as enhanced PR-photos featuring cyberpunk-inspired outfits designed by Demobaza, a cyberpunk-inspired casual couture brand best known for their sustainable Dune X Demobaza collection. Over the course of upcoming metamorphosis from a flesh-and-blood individual into a mysterious CGI character, Depas is another step closer to revolutionising the dance music scene through the metaverse.

The trio's debut album, "Live from St. Hanshaugen," was recorded in Liv's living room just a week after they started playing together. In contrast, "Ville Blomster" represents the result of a year of frequent touring, practice, and studio time. The trio has developed its own expression, allowing room for exploration and improvisation. The title "Ville blomster" symbolizes the wild and improvised side of their music, along with the beautiful and simple melodic elements (the flowers) that stand out. The album was recorded at Athletic Sound in Halden with Dag Erik Johansen in May 2023. Much of the music was written just before, and the album's tracks range from rhythmic, catchy tunes inspired by pianists like Keith Jarrett and Brad Mehldau to more melancholic, airy compositions like "Vår" (Spring) and "Ødemarka."(Wasteland) Regarding the writing process, Liv says, "All the songs, except for 'Ødemarka' and 'Du og jeg, baby,' (You and me, Baby) were written in my apartment in the center of Oslo. I like to open the windows and listen to life outside, sitting alone at the piano for hours, searching for an idea with a clear character." Liv Andrea Hauge (b.1995) is an Oslo-based musician originally from Mosjøen in Nordland. She studied jazz piano at the Norwegian Academy of Music and, despite her young age and career, has made a mark with Kongle Trio (with Veslemøy Narvesen on drums and Øystein Skjelstad Østensen on bass) and Ladybird Orchestra. In 2022, she released the album "Live from St.Hanshaugen" with the Liv Andrea Hauge Trio, recorded in Liv's living room. The album was acclaimed as one of the best Norwegian jazz albums of the year. In 2023, she released the album "Hva nå, Ekko?" on Odin, with Marte Eberson, Ragnhild Moan, Signe Emmeluth, Torstein Lavik Larsen, Fredrik Luhr, and Andreas Winther. This music was a commissioned work by the Festspillene Helgeland and toured in the summer of 2022, visiting the Kongsberg Jazz Festival, Oslo Jazz Festival, and Hemnesjazz. The album's second single, "Again," was praised in Dagsavisen as "a candidate for Song of the Year in a more just world." Georgia Wartel Collins - Double bass August Glännestrand – Drums Liv Andrea Hauge – Piano

Dez Dare ventures further into the void than ever before on his 4th album and the 1st to be released via God Unknown Records, ‘A Billion Goats. A Billion Sparks. Fin.’. On past records Dare has fought beasts and beats alike, waging a fuzz war and tackling the biggest topics the world has to face; Doom scrolling, capitalist demagogues, a passionate dislike of the beach in summer. On this record he leaves the sardonic frustration behind for sarcastic existentialism, zeroing in on the big philosophical questions, and the pedantic shards of nonsense that make up our existence. Piling up the synths, noise boxes and guitar pedals, Dez set about building a soundscape of noise and ideas around the nature of reality, time, and how we interact with them. From the music you would play in your last moments, to the reverse Darwinism of modern society, to arguing with time itself, and very boring people talking at you, all is covered here for the aspiring existentialist. The self-produced Australian has spent over 3 decades producing music, releasing and touring bands, and doing live sound for z-grade metal bands. Growing up in the coastal town of Geelong (Djilang) in Australia, he was introduced to the DIY punk and rock scene at 15 and this community and the ideas rooted in the underground music scene have guided his output and ethics throughout his career. This year Dez will be joining forces with label titans God Unknown (Cassels / Duke Garwood / James Johnston + Steve Gullick / KLÄMP / Oneida / Oneida / Laura Loriga / Monster Magnet / Wellwater Conspiracy Soundgarden + Monster Magnet) and will be producing a deluxe version of the release that will include a 12 page comic illustrated by long time collaborator Mike Keane. Across the drone of noise and washed out guitars of the final track, ‘A Billion Voices Screaming, Hello Void!’, the chant repeats “We all return to where we begun...” which encapsulates the message that Dare delivers. We are all made from the same stardust and we all return to the universe that spat us out, we just need to enjoy the many shards of nonsense on that swift descent into the void...with wizards painted on the side." MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL "Early 90s-inspired take on DEVO punk... high energy sucker punches on your ear." Weirdo Shrine "Sludgey-grungey-fuzzed psychedelic-noiserock... I like the fact that despite all the edgy complexity, catchy songs emerge again and again."

Following a first iteration which set the tone for our newly-minted Heimat series in explosive fashion, here comes the much anticipated second batch of our zeitgeistian take on today's scene's, its current potential and destination. Showcasing productions from artists keen to roll up their sleeves and sail into the impassible status quo, this new number packs the kind of red-hot hammering and cutting-edge punch we've been so adamant to push and defend over the past decade. Berlin-based French producer Arkan steps in first with a proper magnetic depth charge. Dwelling the darker layers of our ocean floor as its name suggests, 'Submarine' is pure hypnotic material geared up for heavy-duty boogie in the warehouse. Filling its ballast tanks with a hefty deluge of muscular bass onslaughts, sonar-like bleeps and untamed cascades of loopy arps, this one rolls and pitches like a haunted ship on predator mode. Adding his dynamic pulse and mind-bending spin to the A-side, Frameworks & Untertwegs bossman Decka cuts a path of straight mental obliteration as he smashes the doors of the club wide open and parades all guns blazing with the unapologetic crusher that is 'Circumvent'. A no-holds-barred workout for the strong stomachs, churning out fiery bars of kick-drum/squelchy bass contrast with in-your-face swagger. Switching on to the flip side, there's Manchester's Yant cruising with the ebulliently dynamic (no shit, Sherlock) tune, 'Moving'. A multidirectional concerto of pong-like modularity and racing synth arpeggios flying off like coloured bricks in a Tetris game gone absolute batshit. The kind of hi-intensity burner that'll awaken any lukewarm mid-set flow with its bouncy unpredictability and ruthless forward-pushing thrust. Rounding it off on a further minimal note, Amsterdam up-and-comer Hitam treats us to an inch-perfectly engineered finale with a stripped-back - yet, absolutely not hollow - bomb, 'Venusian Winds'. Gutsy that one sure is, with its metronomic step ticking at near-cyclonic speed and cleverly arranged, subtly FX-coated funk keeping things both suspenseful and focussed thru and thru. A sleek combo of pared-down brutalism and masterly executed analogue tailoring altogether. All dressed in clear purple marbled wax for the occasion, "Heimat II" shall please both the techno purist and visual aesthete in you with its velvet touch and effortless chic.

For her first solo project, the French-Chilean singer Alsy has teamed up with producers Rose, Peter Dallas and Jimmy Whoo. Co- produced with Jimmy Whoo, this EP reflects the meeting of the two artists' worlds, between the nocturnal atmosphere of Motel Music and the sunny ambiance of the singer's South American influences.

With her project Candela, Alsy has imagined her own musical universe, intimate and deep, rich in the variety of her influences. The lyrics are passionate, the rhythms smooth and warm, and the project is a subtle mix of modernity and nostalgia, between steamy reggaeton, smooth synth pop and hypnotic electro.

The singer's smooth and bewitching voice is the hallmark of this debut EP, which takes us on a dreamy journey from Paris to Santiago, against a backdrop of rhythmic and atmospheric music.

Alternative pop duo, YOVA release their brand new album ‘Dreamcatchers’ on 1st March 2024. Featuring nine tracks the album was written over a nine year period stretching from the duo’s inception in 2014 through to 2022. The album was recorded and mixed 2021-23 between home studios in Dorset and London. Discussing the themes behind the record YOVA explain: “The lyrics of the songs delve deeply into our lost and unrealised dreams and ideals, whether from a personal perspective or within a more global context. The tracks relate to how our dreams are caught then nurtured, realised, abandoned or destroyed. This can apply to our personal lives, but it equally informs our helplessness and on-going quest for self-identity at a time of deep geopolitical and ecological uncertainty.” Produced by YOVA in collaboration with Rob Ellis, Alex Thomas and Martin McDougall, the record features the duo’s earlier singles “Dreamcatchers”, “Hurt Like No Hurt” and “Feel Your Fear” alongside six brand-new tracks. YOVA assembled a collective of like-minded musicians to create the sonic tapestry of Dreamcatchers including Terry Edwards (NIck Cave, Gallon Drunk, The Jesus & Mary Chain), James Sedwards (The Thurston Moore Group/ And This Is Not This Heat), Rob Ellis ( PJ Harvey, Marianne Faithfull), Daniel O’Sullivan ( Grumbling Fur, Tim Burgess), and Alex Thomas (John Cale, Anna Calvi). YOVA are Jova Radevska and Mark Vernon. With Vernon a seasoned veteran of the alternative music scene who has managed and recorded with John Cale and co-produced tracks on PJ Harvey’s debut album ‘Dry’, a chance encounter with Macedonian vocalist and songwriter Jova paved the way for their bewitching collaborative project. Their debut album ‘Nine Lives’ was released in late 2021 to praise from the likes of Louder Than War, Electronic Sound and MOJO, with the latter hailing the album as “a beguiling debut from a duo of sonic adventurers” in their four star review

“Though seeing they do not see, though hearing they do not hear or understand.”

NYC-based producer/visual artist Nathaniel Young returns with the sophomore 12” under their techno-focused alias, Guilt Attendant. “A Flower Wilts Under The Heat Of The Son” is cut from the same cloth as 2020’s “Suburban Scum” where Young delves into overtly religious motifs and ideological critique of their cult-like upbringing. Here, though, Young challenges themself and the listener to seek hope and resolve rather than hatred and contempt.

Considering its sometimes-monolithic sound palette, the timeless sub-genre of dub techno has long stood as a versatile vehicle for exploring and expressing a wide range of emotions. From mourning those we’ve lost, to somber reflection, to hope and celebration–all united by warmth, soul, and perhaps most importantly, groove. This versatility has underpinned Young’s affinity for the dub techno framework, and this collection of tracks is the culmination of material that they’ve long aspired to manifest. Atop this foundation, Young explores the place of acceptance and understanding that they’ve ultimately had to reach in relation to their religious upbringing and the inherent dualities that plague dogmatic religious circles and our beloved dance-floor communities alike.

“A Flower Wilts Under The Heat Of The Son” places a heavy emphasis on groove and swing while attempting to stretch the limits of classic dub techno tropes. Through creative melodic layering, swung low-end, and syncopation, these tracks hope to offer a fresh take on the sound while remaining solely devoted to the dancefloor.

Through their design work for Dais Records and Hospital Productions, Young had the pleasure of crossing paths with the recently departed Juan Mendez (Silent Servant), who graciously contributed a striking, cacophonous, and noise-laden remix. Given Mendez’s expansive and diverse body of work, as well as his own affinity for dub techno, Juan’s contribution could not be more harmonious. A singular talent and an extremely kind, generous soul, Juan will be dearly missed.

Rest in peace Juan Mendez, 1977-2024

Teethe is a band from Texas. The members of Teethe met while attending the University of North Texas in Denton, TX, a small college town outside of Dallas with a fertile music scene. Before forming Teethe, its core members Boone Patrello, Grahm Robinson, Madeline Dowd, and Jordan Garrett all played in various other groups in Denton, releasing music under different pseudonyms. Patrello released solo music via his Dead Sullivan moniker, while Robinson released under MAH KEE OH. Patrello and Robinson linked up with Dowd to record an album for her project, Crisman, in 2019. They all eventually moved in together, leading the group to start recording more as a whole unit, and subsequently Teethe was born. Made over the course of 2020, Teethe's eponymous debut album is a collection of songs pieced together over time - a sonic collage of fragmented recordings and half finished tracks made whole in the midst of isolation. Initially self-released in November of 2020 with little fanfare, the album's warm, lo-fi aesthetic and slow, calming songs spread by word of mouth. Roughly one year later, at the top of 2022, the band returned with "Tag", a new single that caught the attention of slowcore fans and garnered shout outs from unlikely celebrities. Tours soon followed with Charlie Martin of Hovvdy, Momma, Milly, Waveform, and They Are Gutting A Body of Water. The band continued to record their own music, releasing another single, "Lucky," in the fall of 2022, and most recently partnered with Saddle Creek for their 7” series to release their newest single, "Moon," in October of 2023. Now spread between Dallas and Austin, the Texas band has recently signed with Winspear and will be re-issuing their self-titled debut LP this winter, along with a pressing of "Tag," "Lucky," and never before released b-side "Thanks" on 7” vinyl.

SURGICAL STRIKE steht für bedingungslosen, pra?zisen und schnellen Thrash Metal, welcher seinesgleichen sucht.
Nach ihrer ersten Debu?t-EP "V:II:XII" im Jahr 2016 und dem ersten Longplayer "Part Of A Sick World" 2020 steht nun das neue Studioalbum "24/7 Hate" in den Startlo?chern.

Mit "24/7 Hate" hat SURGICAL STRIKE einen neuen Meilenstein erreicht. Das Album ist nicht weniger als ein absolutes Must-Have fu?r alle Liebhaber des Thrash Metals und vereint technische Präzision mit atemberaubender Geschwindigkeit, was keinen Raum fu?r Kompromisse lässt. Die insgesamt elf energiegeladenen Tracks transportieren die Wut und Aggressionen der Bandmitglieder auf fesselnde Weise und reißen einen mit jeder Minute in ihren Bann.

Die Band spielte bereits zahlreiche Shows und Festivals, wie das Metal Frenzy Festival, Dong Open Air und das Wacken Open Air.

Schnell, chirurgisch pra?zise und gegen die Welt, in der wir leben, sind SURGICAL STRIKE bereit, keine Gefangenen zu nehmen.