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Abbey Lincoln's distinctive vocal style, thought-provoking writing, and spirited personality has secured her a place among the jazz greats. Though she made her first recording for Riverside, and later in life for Verve, it was with the young and audacious Candid Records that she made her biggest musical statement, 1961's Straight Ahead. Straight Ahead is one of Abbey Lincoln's greatest and most important recordings. A testament to her credibility and talents, the section on this album includes saxophone giant Colman Hawkins, the great Eric Dolphy on flute alto, trumpeter Booker Little, pianist Mal Waldron and the iconic drummer Max Roach.

"For a whole decade, spanning between the second half of the ‘50s and the second half of the ‘60s, jazz took over the Italian screens. The Californian be-bop rhythms, filtered and reinterpreted in a typical Mediterranean key, became the perfect soundtrack to the Italy of the economic boom; the quintessential music for a country that was sailing through a moment of profound and exciting industrial, social and cultural renovation. A nation that was rapidly shedding its skin, changing its style, look and identity, but also its landscape, letting itself go to the inebriation of the economic miracle. The compilation was conceived like a sonic stream, a journey of discovery carefully sequenced from hundreds of soundtracks from the golden age of Italian jazz contained in the CAM Sugar archive.
33 tracks that go beyond music, telling the story of Italian cinema, society and of its unmistakable style and charm. A genre that even when nodding to Californian be-bop, to crime jazz or bossa nova still sounds surprisingly original and Mediterranean, elegant, and seductive, either with joyous peaks (the scat of I Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni or of I 4+4 di Nora Orlandi) or with enigmatic and nearly dramatic nuances (La strega in amore by Luis Bacalov, Il batticuore by Marcello Gigante). The compilation also offers a precious insight into the Italian jazz scene of the times, with its string of formidable soloists like Gianni Basso (sax) and Oscar Valdambrini (trumpet), two Piedmontese men on duty for the RAI television orchestra conducted by Armando Trovajoli; like Nunzio Rotondo (trumpet) a legendary and elusive figure who had a special bond with Piero Piccioni; or like Enrico Rava (trumpet), Franco D'Andrea (piano) and Gegé Munari (drums) who often recorded with Piero Umiliani. Not to forget international stars like Chet Baker and Gato Barbieri, who were often fortuitously dragged into the recording sessions also thanks to Umiliani’s never-ending curiosity."

Working with producer Paul Butler (The Bees, Micheal Kiwanuka, Caroline Rose, Hurray for the Riff Raff), Seratones have taken the invitation to knock at the door of the cosmos. A.J. Haynes's voice dances with soul-stirring devotion at the altar of Black Feminisms: weaving the words Toni Cade Bambara, Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis multiverse, echoes of bell hooks, and Audre Lorde's Power of the Erotic. With drummer Jesse Gabriel's machine- like precision and the
transcendental touches from guitarist Travis Stewart, the album oscillates between Alice Coltrane-inspired bliss & Giorgio Moroder's ecstatic release. Each song hovers and pulsates in the wide, dark matter'constellations guiding a journey through the subtle body, the vast fullness of the human experience and the irresistible potential of liberation.Packaging: CD Digipack

The LP includes a bonus track taken from the actual movie soundtrack, but not present on the original LP. The track feature Audrey Hepburn on vocals with orchestral backing. "This effervescent soundtrack for Blake Edwards' adaption of Truman Capote's wistful novella propelled Mancini into the major league of Hollywood composers. Though there were other jazz-oriented arrangers working
in Hollywood at the time, none possessed Mancini's imagination and skill in orchestration." - All Music

Peruvian cumbia, also know as "chicha", brings together tropical music styles from Colombia and Cuba, Western influences such as 60s beat and psychedelic rock, and mixes them with indigenous melodies from the Amazonian jungle and traditional Andean songs. The result is a unique and vibrant style of music which reverberates with life. Vampisoul's compilation includes tracks by the most important bands of the genre. Peruvian cumbia is currently being rediscovered by new audiences and there exists a thriving club and live venue scene in cities like New York, London and Madrid.
36-page booklet with extensive liner notes in English and Spanish plus photos and memorabilia.

- First vinyl reissue, available on LP for the first time in 20 years - Completely remastered audio and restored artwork - Side D lunar vinyl etching art // After leaving London in 1999 for the sleepy seaside retiree town of Weston-super-Mare, Coil co-founders John Balance and Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson set up shop in a palatial eight-bedroom estate to pursue the outer reaches of the group's heightening cabalistic chemistry. Among the staggering string of late-era masterpieces they produced is lunar opus Musick To Play In The Dark, widely hailed as an artistic zenith upon its release. The sessions that birthed it were in fact so fruitful that a second LP took shape during the creation of the first one. Aided by the recent addition of Welsh multi-instrumentalist engineer Thighpaulsandra, Coil mined further into the recesses of surrealist eldritch electronica Balance termed "moon music" - post-industrial spellcasting at the axis of narcotic and nocturnal energies. Musick To Play In The Dark² spans a full witching hour of bad acid sound design, synthesizer voyaging, opiated balladry, Luciferian glitch, and subliminal hymnals, alternately ominous, oracular, and absurd. Scottish gothic icon Rose McDowall guests on vocals for two tracks but otherwise the album is a hermetic affair, tapping into the group's limitless insular synergy. Opener "Something" is stark and incantational, a spoken word experiment for windswept voids. "Tiny Golden Books" unspools an aerial whirlpool of cosmic synth, both whispery and widescreen. "Ether" is an exercise in funeral procession piano and intoxicated wordplay ("It's either ether or the other"), while "Where Are You?" and "Batwings - A Liminal Hymn" lurk like liturgical murmurings heard on one's death bed, framed in granular FX and flickering candlelight. As a whole the collection skews more muted and remote than its predecessor, as if having grown accustomed to the nether regions of these darkening seances. But music box hallucination "Paranoid Inlay" captures the group's oblique comedic side, always glimmering beneath: over a warped, wobbly beat Balance intones an opaque narrative of serenity, Saint Peter, and suicidal vegetables, accompanied by spiraling harpsichord and stuttering squelches of electronics. "It seems concussion suits you," he repeats twice, like a macabre pickup line, before dictating a dear diary entry about risks and failures, finally concluding with as close to a self-portrait as Coil ever came: "On a clear day I can see forever / that the underworld is my oyster."

- First vinyl reissue, available on LP for the first time in 20 years - Completely remastered audio and restored artwork - Side D lunar vinyl etching art // After leaving London in 1999 for the sleepy seaside retiree town of Weston-super-Mare, Coil co-founders John Balance and Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson set up shop in a palatial eight-bedroom estate to pursue the outer reaches of the group's heightening cabalistic chemistry. Among the staggering string of late-era masterpieces they produced is lunar opus Musick To Play In The Dark, widely hailed as an artistic zenith upon its release. The sessions that birthed it were in fact so fruitful that a second LP took shape during the creation of the first one. Aided by the recent addition of Welsh multi-instrumentalist engineer Thighpaulsandra, Coil mined further into the recesses of surrealist eldritch electronica Balance termed "moon music" - post-industrial spellcasting at the axis of narcotic and nocturnal energies. Musick To Play In The Dark² spans a full witching hour of bad acid sound design, synthesizer voyaging, opiated balladry, Luciferian glitch, and subliminal hymnals, alternately ominous, oracular, and absurd. Scottish gothic icon Rose McDowall guests on vocals for two tracks but otherwise the album is a hermetic affair, tapping into the group's limitless insular synergy. Opener "Something" is stark and incantational, a spoken word experiment for windswept voids. "Tiny Golden Books" unspools an aerial whirlpool of cosmic synth, both whispery and widescreen. "Ether" is an exercise in funeral procession piano and intoxicated wordplay ("It's either ether or the other"), while "Where Are You?" and "Batwings - A Liminal Hymn" lurk like liturgical murmurings heard on one's death bed, framed in granular FX and flickering candlelight. As a whole the collection skews more muted and remote than its predecessor, as if having grown accustomed to the nether regions of these darkening seances. But music box hallucination "Paranoid Inlay" captures the group's oblique comedic side, always glimmering beneath: over a warped, wobbly beat Balance intones an opaque narrative of serenity, Saint Peter, and suicidal vegetables, accompanied by spiraling harpsichord and stuttering squelches of electronics. "It seems concussion suits you," he repeats twice, like a macabre pickup line, before dictating a dear diary entry about risks and failures, finally concluding with as close to a self-portrait as Coil ever came: "On a clear day I can see forever / that the underworld is my oyster."

- First vinyl reissue, available on LP for the first time in 20 years - Completely remastered audio and restored artwork - Side D lunar vinyl etching art // After leaving London in 1999 for the sleepy seaside retiree town of Weston-super-Mare, Coil co-founders John Balance and Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson set up shop in a palatial eight-bedroom estate to pursue the outer reaches of the group's heightening cabalistic chemistry. Among the staggering string of late-era masterpieces they produced is lunar opus Musick To Play In The Dark, widely hailed as an artistic zenith upon its release. The sessions that birthed it were in fact so fruitful that a second LP took shape during the creation of the first one. Aided by the recent addition of Welsh multi-instrumentalist engineer Thighpaulsandra, Coil mined further into the recesses of surrealist eldritch electronica Balance termed "moon music" - post-industrial spellcasting at the axis of narcotic and nocturnal energies. Musick To Play In The Dark² spans a full witching hour of bad acid sound design, synthesizer voyaging, opiated balladry, Luciferian glitch, and subliminal hymnals, alternately ominous, oracular, and absurd. Scottish gothic icon Rose McDowall guests on vocals for two tracks but otherwise the album is a hermetic affair, tapping into the group's limitless insular synergy. Opener "Something" is stark and incantational, a spoken word experiment for windswept voids. "Tiny Golden Books" unspools an aerial whirlpool of cosmic synth, both whispery and widescreen. "Ether" is an exercise in funeral procession piano and intoxicated wordplay ("It's either ether or the other"), while "Where Are You?" and "Batwings - A Liminal Hymn" lurk like liturgical murmurings heard on one's death bed, framed in granular FX and flickering candlelight. As a whole the collection skews more muted and remote than its predecessor, as if having grown accustomed to the nether regions of these darkening seances. But music box hallucination "Paranoid Inlay" captures the group's oblique comedic side, always glimmering beneath: over a warped, wobbly beat Balance intones an opaque narrative of serenity, Saint Peter, and suicidal vegetables, accompanied by spiraling harpsichord and stuttering squelches of electronics. "It seems concussion suits you," he repeats twice, like a macabre pickup line, before dictating a dear diary entry about risks and failures, finally concluding with as close to a self-portrait as Coil ever came: "On a clear day I can see forever / that the underworld is my oyster."

There is a tendency within modern electronica to pigeonhole and categorise, to package music into easily digestible formulae. In direct revolt comes Dutch artist Satori and his new album Dreamin’ Colours, released globally April 22nd, 2022, on renowned imprint Crosstown Rebels. Recorded at the esteemed Sonic Vista Studios in Ibiza, the nine-track LP has been greatly anticipated off the back of its proceeding’s singles: Yellow Blue Bus ft. Laska, Lalai ft. Ariana Vafadari and most recently Gin Song.

An ethereal, swirling body of work, Dreamin’ Colours is rich in texture, colour and imagination. Satori stretches himself out through languorous, mystical explorations of both the digital and the analogue elements of music, the result a beautifully conspired collection of world music, steeped in electronic and Balkan roots, and straddling a multitude of genres from blues and indie electronic to opera, folk and beyond.

Colourful Dream begins proceedings, taking the form of a gently-building opener. From the pluck of a guitar string to hypnotic flute-like elements, we soon arrive at the enchanting world of Lalai ft. Ariana Vafadari. Recorded in a four-hundred-year-old water well, it showcases the transcendent sound with which Satori has become best known, meandering through rustling hats and tribal-like drum patterns whilst the dulcet tones of Ariana shimmer softly throughout.

Tuti ft. Kalima takes on a harder edge, with gritty drum patterns opening into melancholic chords early on. Kalima’s vocals add an emotive touch to the piece, paving the way for Moj Dilbere: a euphoric cut that feels tribal and reflective in one.

We land at a similarly ethereal soundscape on The Gin Song ft. Mybaby, as star-like synths pulse alongside punchy percussion before Yellow Blue Bus ft. Laska takes its place. It begins with real-life ambience, made up of sounds recorded live in Ibiza as a bus passes and birds chirp merrily in the background. This swiftly gives way to a guitar-flecked bassline, opening neatly into the vocal offerings of both Satori and Laska.

Troublemaker ft. El Mundo retains an inherent melodic quality, progressing through poignant strings and whispering kick-hat combos. Powerful and poignant, the mesmeric sounds of Ora Dea and Moshe meander subtly into Lonely Boy (Redux) ft. Hugo Oak. The closing saga brings things to a wonderfully subdued finish, rounding off the album on a wholeheartedly calming note.

Although raised in the Netherlands, where commercial electronic music is of course king, on Dreamin’ Colours it is undeniably Satori’s Balkan heritage that layers his production with dreamy, ethereal, Eastern European influences. The album’s overriding voice lies in his exultant celebration of Eastern European music, weaving vibrant threads of its earthy, melodic, rhythmic sounds into his thick musical tapestry. Written during the pandemic and driven by the ache of separated love, the album is, Satori says, his most personal yet.

From holding down an eighteen-month residency at Heart, Ibiza to having nearly four-hundred-thousand listeners on Spotify each month, Satori is a truly worldwide artist in today’s electronic music scene. Having been championed by Damian Lazarus early on in his career, he has emerged as a must-see live act for fans from all corners of the globe. November 2021 marked the start of his USA tour, where his Maktub concept adorned some of the country’s most iconic clubbing institutions, whilst his discography speaks for itself, with a plethora of acclaimed releases on labels including Crosstown Rebels, Sol Selectas and DGTL Records to name a few. As Dreamin’ Colours introduces him to an ever-growing audience, Satori remains one of the most exhilarating, untamed and truly authentic forces in music.

Perhaps one of the most enigmatic of artists on the Rare Soul scene must be Flame N' King aka Oscar Wayne Richardson Jr, who ran his various labels independently since the mid ‘60s. It was a surprise when the group surfaced again with a fantastic uptempo New York dance track in 1976 on the tiny N.Y.C.S. records. "Ho Happy Day" found immediate favour with the Modern Soul crowd, but it took the next 30 years for it to eventually become a Modern Soul anthem and cross over to a wider audience.

These days "Ho Happy Day" can be heard at numerous venues across the world and is a bigger floor-filler now than it was back in the 1970s. We're delighted to finally re-issue this classic on the original N.Y.C.S. imprint and watch it find even more audiences in 2022. An original copy will cost circa £250 these days, so there's already a heavy demand for this long-awaited re-issue

Following on from the incredible success of 2020's "Teasin' You Again", we're proud to follow that up with one of Willie Tee's greatest double-siders and one of his very rarest 45s. Welcome to the incredible "First Taste Of Hurt" backed with "I'm Having So Much Fun".

This record was first discovered in Los Angeles in 1976 primarily for "I'm Having So Much Fun" which drew interest from the Northern Soul crowd, but then "First Taste Of Hurt" started catching on in wider circles. These days "First Taste Of Hurt" is the key side with a truly international audience across several scenes. An original Gatur copy of this will set you back £5000 and even the UK Grapevine reissue will cost you the best part of £100 these days. Expect another across-the-board Willie Tee smash which will match perfectly with "Teasin' You Again" and sell to many audiences.

One of the plus points of being in the reissue business, is that some records are easier to license then to try and find a copy of! Sky's The Limit's incredible "Don't Be Afraid" is a case in point.

Released on the tiny J.M.J. label in 1976, this was essentially a private pressing by the group and was more likely to have been given away at gigs rather than sold through record shops. It's incredibly rare - an original these days is around the £750-£800 mark and that's if you're lucky enough to see one. All for good reason though. "Don't Be Afraid" is a prime slice of vintage Jazz-Funk. The vocal side shows off Sky's The Limit's vocal prowess with gorgeous harmonies over an insistent groove.

However, the big attraction on this double-sider, is the incredibly hypnotic instrumental workout with a fantastic Patrick Adam's like free-form synth making the instrumental almost another song. One of the dreamiest Jazz-Funk instrumentals you'll ever hear. As per usual, this will be a very in-demand release from the word go. This can be played on progressive dancefloors everywhere and will almost certainly appeal to different crowds and audiences.

AUDREY Horne liefern skandinavischen Hard Rock der Extraklasse!
AUDREY HORNE sind zurück – mit unstillbarem Hunger und destilliertem Rock’n’Roll in den Venen! 2002 geründet erspielten sich die Norweger um Ausnahmesänger Toschie und Enslaved Gitaristen Ice Dale schnell den Status als eine der besten Live Bands in der Szene. Sie gehörten zu den ersten, die den Radio Rock der 70er und 80er Jahre wiederbelebten und die Tradition von Frank Stallone, Toto und Billy Joel fortführten, lange bevor das zum Trend wurde. Vier Jahre nach Blackout sind die Norweger mit ihrem siebten Album zurück! Devil’s Bell erscheint am 22. April 2022 und ist ein grandioses Rock’n’Roll-Album voller Ohrwürmer!

Devil’s Bell kommt mit 9 mitreißenden Songs daher, die Konzerthallen auf der ganzen Welt zum Beben bringen werden. Man spürt in jeder Sekunde, dass das Album die stickige Luft eines schweißgebadeten
Konzertabends atmet.

Toschie beweist einmal mehr, dass er eine der charismatischsten und energetischsten Stimmen im Hard Rock hat. Die herausragende Gitarrenarbeit von Ice Dale (Enslaved) und Thomas Tofthagen (ex-Sahg) unterstreicht den bemerkenswerten Mix aus 70er und 80er Rock mit NWOBHM. Wie bei jedem AUDREY HORNE Album gehen die Songs nahtlos ineinander über und bleiben schon beim ersten Hören hängen – ein modernes Hard Rock-Album der Extraklasse!

Clear Vinyl

Written and conceived by Stephan Crasneanscki, ‘LOVOTIC’ is a concept album by Soundwalk Collective, composed in collaboration with lauded actress and singer/songwriter Charlotte Gainsbourg. Featuring veteran techno stalwart AtomTM, rising singer/composer/performance artist Lyra Pramuk, celebrated actor Willem Dafoe, and writer/philosopher Paul B. Preciado, the album is released by the new Berlin-based Analogue Foundation.

Inspired by a relatively new field of research that seeks to explore and develop the possibilities of sexual and emotional relationships – and even love – between humans and robots, ‘LOVOTIC’ interrogates the impulses, ideas, and needs underlying this phenomenon. The project ventures into a future where sex, intimacy and desire are reformulated through the connection of humans, robotics, and artificial intelligence.

In an age of such hybrid entanglement with the machine, human identity requires the construction of new forms of intimacy, gender, and sexuality. At present, however, such technologies are primarily used to produce programs of limited sexual iterations that do not question the preformatted categories of gender and sexual orientation. In contrast, on ‘LOVOTIC’, Soundwalk Collective ask whether the future of sex and sexuality could instead be an exponentially expanding kaleidoscope. Where does the impulse of preference come from? What sets of words from our vocabulary can be communicated to the AI mind to generate a new identity for desire? Could the machine be another technology that brings us closer together?

Sonically ‘LOVOTIC’ is unidentifiable, artificial, and genuinely futuristic, occupying an amorphous androgynous netherworld at the borderlands between biotic and android. Traditional musical signposts are virtually non-existent, instead offering a mercurial, formless sound which mirrors the flourishing of gender fluidity it suggests could be on the horizon.

The production tangibly evokes the odd, rubbery textures of faux flesh, the slick virtual glide or glitchy mishaps of software, and the sleek shine of hardware. Gleaming sound design creates shard-like surfaces redolent of Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto’s ‘Glass’, the slippery stretched sonics Gabor Lazar, and the unsettling dark ambience of TOWERS and Hallmark ‘87.

At turns intimate and inviting, with whispering-in-your-ears ASMR vocals evoking blissful, heightened sexual states, within ‘LOVOTIC’ there’s optimism, but also unease; As well as the positive, it implies the negative ramifications of technology. At points a synthetic siren’s call appears to lure the listener to a darker place, with audio malfunctions suggesting dystopian science. Voices morph from gentle to distorted – a glitch in the system causing the mask to slip, like virtual lizards – ‘They Live’ or ‘V’ (?), for the metaverse age.

Here, Charlotte Gainsbourg invokes a being of unknown identity – an artificial eve, the oracle and the portal – speaking from an unspecified time in the future. The voices of AtomTM, Lyra Pramuk and Willem Dafoe weave in and out of Charlotte’s, often overlapping, merging into one another, expressing the entity of a being that’s ephemeral and in constant flux, oscillating between the natural and artificial. The record’s other bonafide singer, Lyra Pramuk’s delivery alternates between spoken word, operatics and partially- unintelligible language.

A multi-media project, ‘LOVOTIC’ also features the work of writer, philosopher and curator Paul B. Preciado – a leading thinker in the study of gender and body politics. Paul contributes a post-apocalyptic, quasi scientific and fictional text, which adds further fantasy, artistic and intellectual depth, augmenting the listener’s experience. Like all the best Sci Fi, his words seem prescient, describing what could become a likely reality in the future. Paul performs his written texts on the opening and closing tracks of the album; ‘The Age Of Mutation’ (in Spanish) and ‘Primate Love’ (in English).

Soundwalk Collective is an experimental sound collective helmed by Stephan Crasneanscki in collaboration with Simone Merli, which operates in a continuously rotating constellation of sound artists and musicians. The Collective’s approach to composition combines anthropology, ethnography, non-linear narrative, psycho- geography, the observation of nature, and explorations in recording and synthesis.

Paris-based producer Alexandre Bazin returns to Umor Rex with another side to his music approach. If in Full Moon (Umor Rex 2016) he explored the analog electronic music merged with classical minimalism, in this new work, Bazin dives into totally rhythmic terrains while maintaining his devotion to electronic exploration and acoustic drums. Four Steps even rubs shoulders without discretion with techno music and the dancefloor, and retains his refined obsession with melody and structure.

In these pieces, Bazin lends space to electronic soundscapes, experimentation, and computer programming, everything derived from precise compositions. With melodies created with Buchla Music Easel, EMS Synthi, among other instruments, Four Steps –through the drone and ambient music– crosses roads with elegant and infinite techno loops. The album is a 4 track EP released in vinyl 12" in 45 rpm, finely mastered by John Tejada with a focal point in harmonics and dimension, offering an exquisite hi-fidelity experience even for the digital lossless audience.

Alexandre Bazin has been a member of the France GRM (Groupe de Recherches Musicales) since 2005.

Composed & mixed by Alexandre Bazin at Château Rouge. Drums in Four Steps III by François Desmoulins. Mastered by John Tejada in Sherman Oaks. Artwork & photos by Daniel Castrejón in Mexico City.

Micheal “Eyedea” Larsen and Gregory “DJ Abilities” Keltgen first met in the mid-90s and soon began a working relationship that would play a prominent role in the burgeoning Indie-Rap movement of the time. After numerous successes across nearly every notable MC or DJ battle of the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, including HBO’s Blaze Battle, the Rocksteady Anniversary, Scribble Jam, the DMC’s and more, they had already cemented their legacies both as individuals in the battle scene and as the dynamic duo, Eyedea & Abilities, for their live performances and showmanship. However, determined not to be dismissed as one-dimensional, they set out to prove they were to be taken just as seriously at writing and recording. Together, they developed a near symbiotic creative union that produced three albums—First Born; E&A; and By The Throat—before Eyedea tragically passed away in 2010, at the age of 28.

The release of their debut album, First Born, had revealed their talents to be much more versatile and expansive than previously expected. The boastful arrogance and punchlines that had become synonymous with battling were notably scarce on the album. Eyedea chose to tackle subjects that were more conceptual and philosophical in nature, focusing on matters of reality and altered states of perception while pushing his urgent, dense delivery into darker, more abstract terrain. Meanwhile, DJ Abilities was able to craft worlds of depth and emotion, pairing hauntingly suspenseful beats with meticulous turntablism. The resulting album was rich in ambition, ideas and humanity. First Born came at the forefront of an exciting new era of underground hip-hop, delivering messages that emphasized questions over answers, ambiguity over certainty, and self-expression over exploitation, to an audience that was eager to expand their horizons beyond the commercial programming and clichés of the time.

* Legend of the Brazilian scene, DJ Andy, has assembled some of the brightest lights, and hottest rising stars of the Brazilian Drum & Bass family and brought them all together on one huge compilation!
* “When we talk about Brazil we don't just mean Rio de Janeiro, samba, beaches and football. This compilation has music for all tastes. We are 100% connected.” - DJ Andy
* With a history stretching back to the very beginnings of rave music in the early nineties, DJ Andy is a foundational figure in Brazilian drum & bass. He's seen the trends and fashions, the sub-genres and evolutions, the mainstream hits and the underground anthems. He knows the music inside-out. And, with this compilation, he's offered us an insight into the kaleidoscope of styles and the surge of talent that his scene has to offer.
* Of course, the Chronic and V faithful will have already been introduced to many of these artists. We're talking the likes of L-Side, Alibi, BTK, Critycal Dub and more; names we all recognise from the top end of the download charts and the set lists of the biggest deejays in the business. But then there are also those making their debut for the V family. Producers like Phizical and No Scandal, who are about to find a whole new, highly appreciative, audience.
* With this strength in depth available to him in the community, DJ Andy's managed to draw together 20 tracks that reflect the full range of what this music has to offer. You'll hear influences from multiple genres, you'll hear the darkness and the light, the vibrancy and the viciousness. If you thought “Brazilian D&B” was confined to one particular sound, you'd better brace yourself for some powerful suprises.
* As DJ Andy says himself, “I wanted to show that our songs can be heard everywhere. At festivals, nightclubs, at parties with friends, while travelling and even as a dinner soundtrack.”

You might know Bert Dockx from the inimitable alternative jazz-rock-trio Dans Dans; or from his moody, psychedelic rock formation Flying Horseman; or from his more intimate but equally special solo records. In 2019, the ever productive guitarist released an album with Ottla, a jazzy sextet blending different genres, textures and moods in wholly original ways, resulting in long, evocative pieces, brooding with tension and atmosphere. Recently, the band has transformed into a quartet, a tighter unit with a sparser and slightly more electric sound. This new Ottla is playing a mixture of reimagined tracks from the aforementioned album, and several brand new pieces. Ottla's music - like all music for which Dockx is responsible - is imaginative, intense and deeply felt.

In the spring of 2021, actor and writer Josse De Pauw contacted Bert with a question. He wanted to perform work of the Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano on stage, texts about the madness of colonialism and slavery, and about the beauty and mystery of the jungle, and asked Dockx to come up with a live soundtrack. Dockx invited two friends from his jazz band Ottla (Thomas Jillings and Louis Evrard) and a fourth musician (bass player Axel Gilain). He composed new material, adapted some existing Ottla pieces and could count on the improvisational talent of his fellow musicians for the rest of the soundtrack. In a handful of rehearsals, an impressive concert was put together that captivated the audience during a short run in August. This live EP contains two pieces recorded on one of these blistering evenings. Side A opens with the authoritarian voice of De Pauw, who recites the Song of the Fire, before making way for a scorching, almost apocalyptic version of 'Stofwolk'. On side B we hear Thomas Jillings perform an impressionist clarinet improvisation while De Pauw conjures up images of the unlimited sea and the winds, ships and slaves, heaven and hell.

Formed in Oxford where they lived, hung out and rehearsed
together on campus, eclectic group Mandrake Handshake
were christened after a song by The Brian Jonestown
Massacre, incorporating their influences of Krautrock, funk,
Japanese animation and Latin pastoral poetry to create a
unique brand of ‘Flowerkraut’ that vividly defines their sound.
 Having initially teamed up with the cult indie label for their
‘Nice Swan Introduces…’ series (in partnership with RIP
Records) late last year, the creative outfit have since found
labelmates in the likes of Courting, SPRINTS and Anorak
Patch, and fast established themselves as one of the most
enticing new acts in the UK psychedelic scene.
 With widespread acclaim arriving via multiple key indie press
titans (NME, NPR, DIY, The Line of Best Fit, Dork, So Young,
Clash, Loud & Quiet, Gigwise), the newcomers certainly
seem to be attracting the right kind of attention following the
release of mesmeric debut effort ‘Mandragora’ and
exhilarating follow-up ‘Gonkulator’, with their first few plays
on BBC Radio 1 (Jack Saunders) already opening them up
to a vast new audience.
 Detailing their EP, the band explained: “‘Shake the Hand
That Feeds You’ represents the culmination of many strands
of thought over the process of several months. It is designed
to announce the coming of the Mandrake in all her forms and
the ascent into her realm; as it soundtracks the listener
coming to know what will be expected of them for all future
sonic explorations.
 “No expense has been spared to bring the listener to the
zenith of psychedelic high-fidelity and have them fully
understand what they otherwise might only hint at knowing.
This is ‘Flowerkraut’. This is the beginning. This is the
Mandrake.”
 Recorded at Press Play Studios in Bermondsey with one of
their heroes - Stereolab’s Andy Ramsay.

- 180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
- LIMITED EDITION OF 1000 INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED COPIES ON ORANGE COLOURED VINYL

The Jamaican reggae and dub musician Linval Thompson's career began around the age of 20. He has done much work to shape the reggae music during the last centuries. He collaborated with many of the greats of Jamaican music recording. I Love Marijuana was his first self-produced LP in 1978 and featuring some of his well-known tracks, like the title song, the funky 'Dread are the Controller' and 'Just Another Girl.' One of the nation's best bands, The Revolutionaries, is backing him up. It's one of the finest recordings by Linval, before he moved on to become a prominent record producer.

I Love Marijuana is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on orange coloured vinyl.