Search:b from e

Today we are happy to announce that we are reissuing Merucry Rev’s 1993 album Boces in the UK & EU! Available from the 13th of November, Boces has been newly remastered by Henry Rudkins at Air Studios and is available on black vinyl and CD.


Hailing from Buffalo New York, Mercury Rev are one of the US’s most well-respected bands, always experimenting and continually reinventing. The Guardian called them “a rarity in indie rock: a band who have continually evolved their sound, pushing at the boundaries of what rock music actually means…borrowing from jazz, funk, doo-wop, techno, folk and more along the way.”


Boces is such an important record in their discography, a grand and epic part of their story. The songs on the album came from the whole band. Everyone contributed and the recording process really allowed everyone’s freak flags to fly – partly thanks to their first ever major label recording budget. The opening 10-minute epic track “Meth of a Rockette’s Kick” really let’s you know that this album will be like nothing you have ever heard before.

After a stellar debut on the No Guestlist label Blay steps back into the light with an ambitious new record Wave Formations. This record finds Blay pushing further into the space where afro-centric jazz and deep house collide, weaving together synth heavy production with organic rhythms and live instrumentation.

From its opening moments its title track ‘Wave Formations’ holds you captive. From field recordings blurring into a dreamy atmosphere, taking you on a 9-minute spiritual journey across the cosmos.

Its counterpart ‘Rhythm Of Love’ is equally dreamy; A reverb-soaked vocal track with live-band-like energy shape-shifts around its steady and forward pushing rhythm before unwinding into a meandering, melancholic piano outro.

On the flipside, ‘New Teacher’ is an invitation to dance — call-and-response synth phrases on top of driving percussive polyrhythms. What starts off simple and stripped down transforms into a full-on celebration; a boisterous rush of sonic afrofuturism that tries to reach the sun.

Keeping the joyful spirit high, the record closes off with the festive and playful ‘Faith In Us’. This highlife and afro funk inspired record reimagines band members feeding off of one another, switching from recognisable motifs to energetic solos pushing each other further into the light.

Maryos Syawish (b. 1993, Iraq) is a Chaldean Iraqi artist and musician based in Naarm/Melbourne working fluidly across visual art, sound and curatorial practice. His creative work spans more than 15 years and is defined by a lawless, unorthodox approach that resists traditional genre boundaries.
His Research Records debut is an introspective and meandering exploration of place, legacy and personal history. It’s a marked change of pace for the Melbourne-based producer, who has carved his name into the Australian underground as one half of Sleep D and Butter Sessions Records, but his first full length under his own name feels like an extension rather than a departure from what those attuned to his productions will already know.

Qurmami – which translates to “my roots” – functions as an audio collage that bridges the artist’s dual experiences of growing up in Australia and his heritage as a Chaldean Assyrian. Developed over the course of eight years, the record is anchored by field recordings captured during a pivotal trip to Iraq which are sewn into lush ambient electronics over two sides.

Over 42 minutes the production swells and grows; a delicate and mind-transporting beginning gives way to a more rhythmic, body-moving tail end, drawing subtle influences from dub, ambient, and traditional music from the Northern Iraq region along the way. Syawish’s contemporary, friend and fellow Research artist Khaled Kurbeh features, as does Melbourne-based cellist Abby Sundborn, while Sarah Ujmaia – Maryos’ cousin – contributed the album art and a familial through line that rounds out a cohesive, evocative exploration of identity, memory and the spaces that shape who we are.

ORUMA is a trio formed by Ola Rzepka (drums, zither, percussion), Artur Rumiński (electric guitar) and Mat Barski (electric guitar). At its foundation is the musical dialogue previously developed by Rumiński and Barski as a guitar duo and documented on the albums “On the Margin” and “At the Junction”. Their encounter with Ola Rzepka during Kraków’s Kakofonie series opened this music to a new sense of dynamics, pulse and
collective form.
ORUMA’s music exists at the intersection of free improvisation, noise, experimental postrock and post-kraut repetition. It avoids the conventional division between soloist and accompaniment. Instead, two electric guitars and drums gradually abandon their individual roles to form a single, constantly shifting sound organism — moving from silence, open space and isolated gestures towards dense masses of sound.
The trio’s debut album consists of five pieces: “Satellites”, “Stranger”, “This Mountain Is Alive”, “A Rough Plan For Nostalgia” and “Hyperborea”. Together, they form a coherent journey: from distant signals and the first moment of contact, through friction and increasing physical intensity, to an expansive fourteen-minute finale.


Ola Rzepka
Drummer, pianist, composer and performer. She graduated from the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, where she studied at the Faculty of Composition, Interpretation, Education and Jazz. She was also a scholarship student at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, studying piano and percussion. She teaches piano improvisation at the Wojciech Kilar State Music School Complex in Katowice and runs her own music lessons and workshops. As a composer, she collaborates with acclaimed theatre directors in Poland, Germany and Switzerland. Her musical collaborators have included Raphael Rogiński and Antoni “Ziut” Gralak. She has performed her original music at numerous avant-garde, popular, jazz, improvised and contemporary music festivals across Poland and Europe. In Jazz Forum magazine’s 2024 Jazz Top critics’ poll, she was named among Poland’s leading drummers.

Artur Rumiński
Guitarist and member of bands including Furia, Thaw and ARRM. He also composes and improvises under his own name and performs in the experimental duo Marmur, which he co-founded with Macio Moretti. He has released several solo albums on labels including Antenna Non Grata, Gusstaff Records, Zoharum and Szara Reneta.

Mat Barski
Guitarist associated with the Kraków and Tricity music scenes. His projects include the duo Ekotonika, the Rumiński / Barski duo. He has released albums through Gusstaff Records and Antenna Non Grata. Alongside music, he works in motion design and visual postproduction. He is a member of the Kraków-based Skład Solny Association, where he coorganises concerts and exhibitions.

Spring Back, Ball Forward is the Soda Gong debut from Jung dj, nom de plume of shapeshifting multi-instrumentalist Randy Riback. Following a series of uniformly great self-releases and cassettes on the dearly missed Lillerne Tapes, this collection observes the spacious and angular dynamics of 1990s Midwestern post-rock through the lens of the bedroom electronic music producer.

Perhaps surprisingly, amp worship lies at the center of the album: a fascination with the grain, pressure, and emotional charge of amplification and gain, refracted through the strange remove of digital amp modeling. Tubes, speakers, sag, and in-the-red textures are a critical part of the album’s expressive vocabulary, imparting density and colorful saturation while lending even its most weightless passages a vital sense of physical presence. Over the course of twelve tracks, wistful ambience gives way to blunt heaviness and roiling catharsis, underpinned by a palpable sense of loss and grief.

The album’s auspicious cast of collaborators further complicates its emotional terrain. Spoken contributions from Natalia Panzer and Angelina Nonaj occupy strikingly different registers: Panzer’s diffuse and oblique, drifting in and out of the music’s contours; Nonaj’s a vivid travelogue, grounding the record in place and lived experience. Elsewhere, Soda Gong veteran Mister Water Wet joins a small constellation of guests whose playing folds naturally into Riback’s arrangements, blurring the boundaries between computer and ensemble music.

For all of its attention to texture, process, and the material qualities of sound, Spring Back, Ball Forward is first and foremost an emotionally potent work, possessed of a directness that can feel rare within experimental electronic music. Riback draws from a rich and idiosyncratic musical vernacular, arriving at something deeply felt and difficult to place: a singular statement whose pathos exceeds the sum of its references.

For over three decades, Berlin-based DJ, producer, and curator Marcel Dettmann has remained a central force in electronic music, continuously pushing the boundaries of the craft. Deeply rooted in early influences ranging from post-punk and industrial to synth-pop, his dynamic DJ sets and expansive discography, including seminal releases on Ostgut Ton and Dekmantel, effortlessly weave together raw techno, Chicago house, electro, and avant-garde soundscapes.

Far beyond club booths and releases on his own imprints, MDR and Bad Manners, Dettmann’s multidisciplinary ethos has led him into artistic territories spanning gallery soundscapes, ballet compositions, and cinematic film scores. This relentless creative curiosity defines a career built at the intersection of dancefloor functionality, collaborative experimentation, and perpetual sonic evolution.

Dettmann introduced My Own Shadow last year, a project where music, visual art, and photography converged in two EPs, Approaching (2025) and Faultline (2026) prior to the release of the full album this coming Autumn. More than just a name, this project lets sound, image, and vision blend organically, reflecting his intuitive process of deconstruction, resonance, and emotional discovery.

Speaking about the project Marcel says “My Own Shadow wasn’t born from a big concept. I simply liked the idea of working under another name and started following it. Different things I was doing - music, photography, visual work - slowly began to connect.

It happened quite naturally. My Own Shadow is me - just seen from another perspective.” Neither an alter ego nor a departure, My Own Shadow: Album is an intimate reflection of the artist; a transient, ever-shifting form that dances with the light and subtly reshapes its contours to reveal new depths.

My Own Shadow: Album is built with textural minimalism through rhythm, tension and release, embarking on a path through the recollections and experience of the dancefloor. This space remains the ultimate proving ground where history, instinct, and transcendence collide, guiding Dettmann through his musical interests.

My Own Shadow - Album is driven by rhythm, texture, space and tension. Across tracks such as ‘Gravitational Scar’ and ‘Resolution Vector’, these elements are constantly reshaped, connecting Dettmann’s past with a sound that remains firmly in motion.

Sentimental Ultra marks DJ HEARTSTRING’s debut proper on Steel City Dance Discs, and their first album project, releasing November 13th 2026. Starting life as a mixtape before a happy accident or two took it down a different path, the 15-track album finds the pair chasing not just peak-time euphoria and what they can conjure in a club setting, but everything around it, too. The befores and the afters. The soft and the supercharged. What life felt like when they were young. Featuring collaborations with SWIM, Spriitzz, BAUGRUPPE90, Sam Gellaitry, Saidah, DMA’S, KennyHoopla, Monk, 3NDLES5, David Jackson and secret act, they fold formative years influences such as indie rock, rap, ambient and breakbeat into their sought-after sound, and balance them with contemporary-coded ideas.

This blend of worlds is at the crux of the album’s concept visually as well. Sentimental Ultra is an exploration blurring the lines of hard and soft, taking inspiration from subculture communities around football hooliganism and skateboarding. The cover is shot by iconic British photographer Ewen Spencer, renowned for his work around Skins, The Streets and more. The collaboration has seen DJ HEARTSTRING land features in Numero Berlin, Notion Mag and other cross-cultural editorial platforms ahead of the album announcement.

To date, the project has already received various milestones across international radio, including Arielle Free’s Big Whopper for third single ‘Another Year Alone’ and DJ HEARTSTRING landing a coveted BBC R1 Residency in November. Adding to this is the slew of digital looks and accolades for DJ HEARTSTRING’s set recordings including their closing set at Soenda Festival earlier this year which is on 115k views since being published in May 2026, their Melbourne Boiler Room published in 2025 with +1 million views and their Belfast Boiler Room published in 2023 with +1.1 million views.

Since DJ HEARTSTRING’s 2021 debut, when they rollicked through the club door with their Destiny of the Moment and Eternal Euphoria EPs, alongside a slew of self-released, pop-and-R&B-indebted edits, DJ HEARTSTRING have followed their hearts and won over legions more with an emotional dance music style that’s fast become synonymous with their name.

There’ve been big releases such as 2025’s You Are The Sun, I Am The Sky EP, and buzzy collaborations with fellow synapse-igniters like SWIM, Narciss, southstar and S.C.D.D.’s KETTAMA. The past few years have also seen remixes for Charli XCX and Sam Smith, Romy, Sugababes and Empire of the Sun, sets everywhere from Berghain to London’s 3000-capacity Roundhouse, their own Teenage Dream parties and a must-listen contribution to the BBC Radio 1’s Essential Mix series, which showcased just some of the sonic inspirations behind their signature, like Eurodance and trance, plus heaps of DJ HEARTSTRING material.

And now, Sentimental Ultra arrives off the back of DJ HEARTSTRING’s busiest summer to date with landmark festival plays at Awakenings in the Netherlands, Lost Village and Maiden Voyage in the UK, We Love Green in France, Lost Paradise in Belgium, Movement Festival in Detroit and Arc Festival in Chicago. Hot off the heels of their festival run, the Berlin duo show no signs of slowing down with a 3-date Australia tour at the end of September whereby they sold a cumulative 15,500 tickets across Melbourne, Sydney and Perth shows, all on presales. In addition to some pop-up in key markets around album release including Ireland, Scotland, Berlin and London, the Sentimental Ultra official tour also encompasses a European hard ticket run including Belfast’s Telegraph Building (2,000 cap), Brussels’ Braindance (2,000 cap), Paris Phantom (3,400) and DJ HEARTSTRING’s biggest London show to date - Brixton Academy (5,000) - an apt follow-up after selling out Magazine (4,000 cap) weeks in advance in February 2026.

There’s plenty still in store, and plenty of places to catch them throughout the rest of what’s set to be a landmark year. Shows from Miami to Manchester (for the sold-out KETTAMA presents Steel City Dance Discs WHP takeover) to Dublin’s District X, a hometown Teenage Dreams event and 2 colossal ADE headlines at Dockyard and Sugar Factory - with more plans bubbling behind the scenes. DJ HEARTSTRING season is well and truly upon us.

Dutch-born and Singapore-based, Mike Risk has spent more than three decades immersed in house music. As a DJ, producer, promoter and agent, he has experienced the culture from multiple angles, building relationships and sharing dancefloors across Amsterdam, London, Ibiza, New York, Chicago, Singapore and beyond.

Now Is Forever is a full-circle moment. A statement. A celebration of a lifelong relationship with house music.

Mike first made his mark in the Dutch underground through Club Risk and later RiskSoundSystem, two platforms that helped shape nightlife culture in the Netherlands throughout the 1990s and 2000s. After decades spent championing the music of others, Now Is Forever is Mike adding his own chapter to the culture that shaped his life.

Created with longtime collaborator Greg van Bueren (Hardsoul) between Amsterdam and Singapore, the album is a deeply personal tribute to the music, people and places that shaped him. From the clubs of Amsterdam and London to the sounds of Chicago, New York and Detroit, it distils decades of dancefloors, record stores, studios and late-night conversations into one body of work.

From deep and soulful grooves to raw house cuts and acid-tinged late-night moments, Now Is Forever explores house music in its full spectrum. It reflects the way Mike has always approached a dancefloor as a DJ: not as a collection of tracks, but as a journey through the many moods and moments that make a greatnight unforgettable.

Featuring Mike Dunn, Bluey Robinson, Marc Evans and John Agesilas, the album brings together years of experience, inspiration and dedication. Crafted not out of commercial pressure but out of creative necessity, it is the product of pure love-for the culture, for the craft, for the music.

Now Is Forever is a past-forward record: rooted in the music, dancefloors and relationships that shaped Mike, while carrying their spirit firmly into the present. At its heart, it is about honouring the kid who first fell in love with house music-and never let go.

Because when you are truly lost in music, there is no past and no future. There is only now.

And now is forever.

Where other bands seem to be hellbent on pushing an energy of exhilaration, London’s premiere grief peddler’s SECRECY seem to be more interested in reminding us all what deep shit we are in. Their debut recorded outing captures the morbid and grandiose power of their successful string of London shows, refining the message to a promising and bewildering first release. Taking compositional cues from THE EXECUTE, SOUTHERN DEATH CULT, and THE CHAMELEONS, the room filling instrumentals carry a bleak and punishing prophecy of moral turmoil and hysteria, opting to drive the notion of post punk off a cliff through force of will alone. The sound is crisp and wide without giving up the austerity necessary to carry the prophetic sense of dire urgency in the vocals, driving and marching drums and bass lines carrying almost danceable guitar parts to climax. Soaring guitars over driving drums push the corpus to blistering movement, restrained by lyrics about fucking and dying, an Eros/Thanatos act delivered with a refreshing lack of irony or sarcasm. Lyrical influences from RIMBAUD and BAUDELAIRE abound, veering from the brink of poetry back down to primitive taunts and cries.

With »The Future Is Futuristic«, the fifth album for Haleiwa (and third with Morr Music), Stockholm’s Mikko Singh draws from a deep well of nostalgic feeling, while making music that feels razor-sharp, on point, and full of hazy dream-pop pleasure. After 2019’s »Cloud Formations« and 2022’s »Hallway Waverider«, which imagined psychedelic post-shoegaze and mantric pop songs into being, »The Future Is Futuristic« feels like both consolidation and magnification; the noise-drenched songs feel thicker, heftier; the electronic interludes playful and kinetic; the rhythms boundless. It’s as though Singh has truly found his metier, his voice, a place from which he’s comfortable to indulge in the kind of home-recorded worldmaking that has always marked Haleiwa out as something special.

»The Future Is Futuristic« passes by in a rush of whiteout tones and scurrilous energy; the whole thing is over within half an hour, Singh ensuring his songs say exactly what they need to say – no more, no less – before bustling through into the next ecstatic pop moment, pushing the music further into the zone. While his music often has a similar, drenched quality to shoegaze, on »The Future Is Futuristic«, Singh seems to be settling in alongside other spirits – there are touches of the experimentation of both A.R. Kane and Flying Saucer Attack here; the more motoric tunes recall New Zealand’s Snapper; the glitchtronics have a City Centre Offices sensibility, while the sparkling folksiness of the melodies can recall Bristol bands like Light or AMP.

But it’s ultimately not about influence, beyond perhaps Haleiwa nestling alongside some like-minded souls in perceptive listeners’ minds. Instead, thrill to the rush of rhythms that float between jungle and punk on »Flourishing« and »96«, the latter a reference, from Singh, to moments of early revelation – »it’s about being thankful for having found punk rock and skateboarding at a young age, in 1996.« There’s also the hypnotic dream-rush of the opening »Smoke Will Rise«, the beautiful Cure-esque guitars swimming through »Sunset Street« and »Strange Notes«, the tumbling rhythms and heady, elated chord changes that grant lift-off to »Wave Chaos«… A real panoply of pleasures, in fact.

»The Future Is Futuristic« was recorded solely by Singh on four- and eight-track in his home studio, with a quick trip to Telefonstudion to record drums. Recording at home grants a certain intimacy to »The Future Is Futuristic«, even as the songs, at times, bliss their way off into the skies; there’s something both expansive and intimate about the music here, as though Singh is grappling immensities into intimacies. It also feels deeply personal for Singh, a summation of much of what he’s done over the years; as he says, simply and clearly, »The album is in my interpretation a mix between punk, electronic music, and dream pop.« The threads that connect these creative phenomena? Energy, texture, melody, tone, sensuality; pure pop pleasure.

2026 Repress

Next year the iconic anthem Cafe Del Mar will celebrate its 30th anniversary, a landmark that will be celebrated with a series of brand new remixes alongside the finest existing remixes in specially remastered versions.
Launching the series of vinyl releases in September is a remastered vinyl-only release of the original mix, as well as the best-known version of this classic track, the iconic Three ‘N One Remix.
Nearly 30 years ago, Paul M aka DJ Kid Paul recording as Energy 52 unleashed a record onto an unsuspecting public that would go on to define club culture for an entire generation of dance music enthusiasts. Named as an homage to the legendary Ibiza sunset spot, Café Del Mar broke down boundaries between the underground and
the mainstream, charting in the UK singles charts on three separate occasions and named as the “best tune ever” by Mixmag at the start of the new millennium. In terms of cultural and emotional impact in dance music, it’s hard to find a record that comes close.
Café Del Mar has come to represent the most euphoric and hedonistic pleasures of dancefloors - in Ibiza and all around the world - and has been remixed by some of the biggest names in the industry. Now, 30 years after its original release, Superstition Records will be putting out a new series of releases, with brand new remixes as well as remastered versions of some of the many remixes from across the last three decades. The vinyl-only remastered version of the original and Three ‘N One mixes will launch the series, with further details about the rest of the series announced in the coming weeks.

In 2021 Paul Van Dyk’s Café Del Mar remixes launched a series of vinyl and digital re-issues on the Superstition Records imprint after an almost 20 years hiatus. From 1993 until 2003 Superstition Records was a groundbreaking Techno, Tech-House and Trance Label and released some of the biggest and most revered records of the early German electronic scene.

In the realm of Swedish melodic rock from Skövde, few bands command the attention and admiration quite like NIVA. With their signature blend of soaring melodies, powerhouse vocals, and infectious hooks, the band has established themselves as a force to be reckoned. Now, with the release of their highly anticipated 7th full-length album ""Stratospheric,"" NIVA once again proves why they are considered among the elite in the genre.
From the opening chords of the title track, it's clear that ""Stratospheric"" is an album that aims for the stars and reaches new heights of sonic excellence. Led by the Swedish powerhouse vocals of frontman Tony Niva, the album is a tour de force of melodic rock anthems that resonate with passion, energy, and raw emotion.
Throughout ""Stratospheric"" NIVA demonstrates their mastery of the melodic rock genre, effortlessly blending elements of classic rock, melodic rock, and AOR to create a Nordic sound that is uniquely their own. With its larger-than-life production and infectious energy, the album is a testament to the band's evolution and growth as artists, while also paying homage to the rich legacy of melodic rock and AOR that has inspired them along the way.
For fans of NIVA and lovers of melodic rock alike, ""Stratospheric"" is a must-listen experience that promises to transport listeners to new heights of musical ecstasy. With its unforgettable hooks, powerhouse vocals, and electrifying performances, the album is a fitting tribute to the band's enduring legacy and a testament to their status as one of Sweden's most beloved rock acts. So, strap in, turn up the volume, and get ready to embark on a journey to the stars with NIVA's new upcoming release ""Stratospheric"".

- Seventh studio album by the Swedish Melodic Rock group
- Feat. members of Master Massive, Lion’s Share, Wolf, Starchaser
- Produced by Tony Niva & Jan Strandh; mixed & mastered by Thomas Plec Johansson.

For fans of: Niva, Lion’s Share, Treat, Imperium, Eclipse

DIVA AS TECHNOLOGY
Arca announces the details of her highly anticipated new studio album, XXXXX, arriving via XL Recordings. Five years after the twice GRAMMY-nominated KiCk i and subsequent KICK pentalogy, the Venezuelan-born musician, producer, vocalist, and visual artist returns with her first full-length album since concluding one of the most ambitious chapters in contemporary music.

If the KICK era expanded Arca's universe outward, XXXXX turns inward and fractures it apart. Across 16 tracks, the album excavates vastly different emotional landscapes to deliver a body of work that is darker, more aggressive, more experimental, and unwilling to settle into fixed form. Initially conceived as a mixtape before revealing itself as an album, XXXXX embraces contradiction as a core methodology. In the spirit of her previous mixtapes @@@@@ (2020)—released as a 62-minute single—and &&&&& (2013), XXXXX thrives on raw exploration and instinct. It arrives as a deliberate interruption of expectation.

“It seems playful, also mischievous, to interrupt that autopilot,” says Arca.

The album's striking artwork depicts Arca as a biomechanical entity, accompanied by two owls—symbols of protection and the underworld in Greek mythology. Like the music itself, the imagery inhabits a space between worlds where transformation is both terrifying and liberatory. Suspended between posthuman augmentation and raw emotion, XXXXX exposes the mainframe. It is a record born from uncertainty, contradiction, instinct, and surrender—a becoming-machine that continues Arca's lifelong project of redefining what it means to be human both in, and against, the machine.

For Arca, rebirth has never been a metaphor, but a practice. She continues to exist in multiple states simultaneously, collapsing boundaries between human and machine, high and low culture, and experimental noise and pop music. Following her first-ever painting exhibition at London’s ICA earlier this year, XXXXX arrives as the latest transmission from a continuously evolving creative process. Over the last year, Arca has remained prolific: unveiling the double-sided single "Puta" / "Sola"; remixing tracks for Addison Rae, Robyn, and Hikaru Utada; collaborating with Tokischa on “Chama”; and contributing production to Madonna’s CONFESSIONS II. She walked the runways and made appearances at major international fashion weeks, while also composing the original motion picture soundtrack for Stillz’s film, Barrio Triste.

Now, after years of transformation beneath the surface, her next musical evolution reveals itself.

2026 repress!

Here is the debut, self-titled album from a.s.o., singer/songwriter Alia Seror-O'Neill, and producer Lewie Day. 'a.s.o.' is a thematic consolidation of the previous three singles and an impressive artistic progression. Day and Seror-O'Neill show they've mastered the format of the radio-friendly pop song and found how to subvert it completely. Across eleven songs, they have built a rich and compelling body of work.

We know where we are now, emotionally complex, trip-hop torch songs for club freaks. But the palette has broadened to encompass ethereal dream pop à la Cocteau Twins, slow- burning AOR-soul, and dubwise stylings. As a result, 'a.s.o.' is a satisfyingly coherent listen but never a musical monoculture. Variously there are nods toward Julee Cruise, Fleetwood Mac, and the uneasy listening of Portishead. It's an album that wears its influences lightly, is never weighed down by them, and always sure of its own identity.

It's anchored by Alia's unique voice. Her words speak of restraint and release, taking us from the elegiac to the euphoric. This elegantly crafted, perfect pop music sounds like it has had enough of your shit. And Day's music is the perfect foil; deep, slightly menacing, restrained, and powerful. The album has a cinematic texture, as with David Lynch; the seemingly familiar becomes uncanny and strange the closer we look. a.s.o. take our emotions for a joyride before leaving us floating in space.

'a.s.o.' is a journey; by its end, we all are changed

16 scrap-rock sketches straight from the heart to the gut…
Maybe we can keep rock’n’roll alive for one more day?
Who knows? The Joe Glass experience is a telecastered-explosion of hooks and guitar charms
One G chord away from tearing a diamond-shaped hole in the stratosphere.
Originally Released as a Hallogallo Tape January 2026
Sharp Pins Bassists Strides out under his own banner

The debut Peacefrog album from Kenny Dixon Jr. aka Moodymann originally released in 1998 is an album of truly epic proportions, a must have for any and all collectors and lovers of house music. Utilising soul, funk, gospel, and even hip hop production techniques and alternating from mellowed-out disco dubs like "Mahogany Brown" and "Stoneodenjoe” to more raw and dirty tech-house tracks like "Me and My People's Eyes.”. Mahogany Brown delivers a slice of Black American music that affirms Kenny's reputation as a major influence on house music today.

following two releases dedicated to sydney's atone, tonal oceans now turns its attention closer to home. after several years in the making, this release reintroduces the berlin trio die elektronische wohlfahrt in a revised form. nearly three decades after its original release on lab records in 1997, alongside the original 12" material, it includes two short pieces from the treffpunkt freizeit cd. die elektronische wohlfahrt was a short-lived project formed by kai kroker (rawell), peter lay, and anne westphalen. their recordings grew organically from late-night after-hours sessions in their studio in berlin's pankow district, capturing a unique blend of warm, quirky and playful textures. although their recorded output was rather limited, die elektronische wohlfahrt occupied the same creative circles as artists and friends such as move d and jan jelinek, at a time when berlin was establishing itself as one of germany's most innovative electronic music hubs. the group also performed at the legendary interference festival, one of germany's key underground electronic events of the 1990s. founded by dr. motte and uwe reinicke, the festival later evolved into interference records, where die elektronische wohlfahrt released the caro ep in 1996, further cementing the project's place within berlin's underground electronic scene. over the past few years, the music has quietly found its way into the hands of a new generation of listeners and discerning tastemakers, making its return feel long overdue.

Portuguese experimental musician António Feiteira returns to Perf with Amuleto Apotropaico’s sophomore album. Língua Espúria (Spurious Tongue) withdraws from the guitar-and-drums interplay that anchored the self-titled debut, moving toward fully electronic arrangements of concrète mechanics. What was once shaped through shared physical gesture now condenses into a singular current: a hermetic pulse carving its own labyrinth through the pandemonium.

The album draws inspiration from Milford Graves's visionary mapping of the body's secret rhythms into function generators. Amuleto Apotropaico has engineered a system that emulates Feiteira's own improvisational drumming language such that muscle memory becomes stochastic digital precision.

Língua Espúria opens with 'Abafador'. A track relishing in burnt afterimages as it patiently leads the listener into Amuleto Apotropaico’s new sound world. Its insistent double-tapped rhythm splinters into four cascading versions of itself, a pulse folding & refolding until it becomes its own perforated haze.

'Carpideira' follows as an algorithmic lamentation set in motion by shimmering temporal reversals: motion-captures of cyclic grief. The track persistently builds until only a few pure tones remainder.

The album's most pared-down moment is 'Espinha de Vidro'. It is the clearest statement of the system underlying Língua Espúria. Here, Feiteira's rhythmic concern is laid bare, every detail exposed in a distilled form, its melodic thread emerging with equal exactness.

'Apotropia III' begins as a subtle hinge in the catalogue, its brutalist‑liturgical atmosphere recast in a divined, techgnostic register. A narrative, gestural drift threads through the piece that connects it to Feiteira’s 'Killswitch Counterpoint', which appeared on his Eastern Nurseries release Performing the Heimlich on an Ouroboros. Shared samples cross-feed his parallel projects, letting them momentarily run on the same signal path. Stuttering percussion, flickers of glitched air & a brooding bass melodic line fill out the margins before the track finally shears off into harsh, serrated noise.

Originally created in 1987 as an image album for a luxury Sanyo air-conditioner, Get at the Wave stands as one of the most surprising and enduring works of Japanese ambient music. Recorded using synthesizers and natural field recordings, the album was designed to transport listeners far from the heat and noise of urban life — into open water, gentle wind, and unhurried space. Takashi Kokubo's mastery as an acoustic environment designer is present in every texture, blending electronic composition with an almost physical sense of atmosphere and place. Intimate, expansive, and quietly radical, Get at the Wave is an essential document of kankyō ongaku - and one that sounds more necessary than ever. The remaster and artwork of this vinyl edition were made by the artist. Takashi Kokubo (born 1956) is one of Japan's most influential ambient composers and acoustic environment designers. A pioneer of kankyō ongaku since the mid-1980s, his sound design work has reached virtually every corner of Japanese daily life - from the national mobile phone earthquake alert to the sign tone for iD e-money and the melody call tone for NTT DoCoMo. In 2020, he was included in the Grammy-nominated compilation Kankyo Ongaku (Best Historical Album), cementing his place as a foundational figure in environmental music worldwide.

Portugal-based percussionist Gabriel Ferrandini spent years honing his skills in various free jazz ensembles, where he demonstrated his absorption of the styles of pioneering rhythm liberators like Sunny Murray and Milford Graves while forging his own energetic and agile sound. During this time, Ferrandini performed with everyone from Evan Parker and Alexander von Schlippenbach to Thurston Moore and Dirty Beaches' Alex Zhang Hungtai. At some point, the percussionist grew restless and began taking a more compositional approach, using his drums as primary sources from which to produce spectral tones and timbres via electronic manipulation.

In Ferrandini's hands, cymbals become generative instruments with endless reverb tails and choir samples are distilled into vapor. With its subtle evocations of light and color and meticulous editing, Romance suggests an almost cinematic scale. The strings and grainy synthesizer of "Crying Game" lend an air of giallo dread to the deep sub-bass rumbles; "Afters Lisboa" processes cymbal crashes through a Leslie speaker to create a siren-like Doppler effect; "Fallen Angels," one of the few tracks to feature Ferrandini's mostly untreated percussion work, stacks layers of reverb effects of varying lengths (an old Autechre trick) to add friction and give the spatialized sounds a dissociative quality. Album highlight "Cova da Vaporwave" utilizes creative sidechaining, warbly VHS-like tones and drums amplified through a Fender Twin to gather apocalyptic momentum.

Romance is a formidable artistic statement, establishing Ferrandini as one of the most vital composers on the contemporary avant-garde music scene. He is influenced by Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo, whose passionate yet dissonant chromatic approach can be detected throughout the album's seven uncanny tracks.

Soul Jazz Records’ new ‘Inner Space’ collection is a mixture of Cosmic electronic music and proto-New Age sounds. The album features a wide range of European, British and American auteur electronic artists, including Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Steven Halpern, Michael Garrison, Ose, Klaus Schønning, Bernard Xolotl and others.

Their cosmic, exploratory music sits somewhere between the worlds of personal, inner space and galactic outer space. All of the music featured here was recorded in the 1970s and 1980s, much of it released on small bespoke private-press record labels, often owned by the artists themselves.

The album also features rare tracks from a number of Library Music artists, all of whom used electronic music to explore a variety of common celestial or Gaian themes – cosmology, spirituality, science, mother earth, wellness, technology, consciousness, exploration, healing and harmony – in their work. These include pieces by Sauveur Mallia, Keith Mansfield and Sven Torstenson.

Here on this album you will find the Sun Ra’s of New Age, the Picassos of Library Music and the Burroughs of space-related electronic music. Away from contemporary music fashions, these unique and highly individual artists remained free in their music to explore new ideas of sound and technological experimentation – together with the larger concepts of time, space and matter – a freedom rarely granted, and one that we celebrate here.

Dajusch brings his distinctive sound to Backspin Records with 'Oracle', a five-track EP that showcases his instinct for powerful grooves, deep low end and carefully selected synth work, rounded out by a remix from Dutch techno veteran Sterac. Another strong addition to Regal's Backspin Records, this EP balances Dajusch's musical sensibility with his feel for high impact club music, keeping the focus firmly on club functionality.

Opening with 'Boxer', Dajusch immediately strips things down to their essential elements. A buzzing deep bassline provides the foundation while a repeated vocal hook becomes the central motif, surrounded entirely by percussion including a punchy kick, heavy toms and crisp hats. 'Narrow' introduces a saw wave synth that functions simultaneously as bassline and lead, gradually building tension through repetition and a slowly opening filter before a droning pad leads into the return of the drums. Closing the A-side, 'Reeses Piece' is built around a wide gliding Reese bass moving across di?erent notes. A heavy breakbeat, clean claps and hats provide the framework while a high-pitched vocal brings a distinct 90s rave energy, with swinging toms adding movement to an already groovy production.

On the flip side, the title track 'Oracle' shifts the focus towards melody, with Detroit-influenced synth work taking centre stage. A classy melodic motive is complemented by heavily processed vocals transformed into euphoric, drone-like elements, adding another dimension without losing the track's directness. 'Strings' closes the original material with a hefty saturated kick while string synths carry the main theme. Drums straight out of a classic drumcomputer and warm chords build into a more expansive breakdown before returning to the groove. Closing the EP, Sterac's remix of 'Narrow' takes the original saw synth motive into a more hypnotic direction, playing with its pitch and arrangement while reducing the percussion and pushing an already deeper kick further into the mix, giving the synth work more space to breathe.

With 'Oracle', Dajusch delivers a focused statement rooted in classic Techno while remaining connected to a modern sound. Another strong addition to Regal's Backspin Records, this EP balances Dajusch's musical sensibility with his feel for high impact club music', reinforcing the label's dedication to forward-thinking techno with a clear respect for where techno came from.

**BenArt Ensemble ft. Baptiste Herbin** unveil a distinctive debut album at the crossroads of jazz, world music and groove. Led by bassist and producer Ben Artuphel, this eight-piece ensemble brings together musicians from diverse backgrounds and with a wide range of influences: Baptiste Herbin (saxophones), Amina Mezaache (flute), Céline Bonacina (baritone saxophone), Ben Artuphel (bass), Antoine Banville (drums), Alexis Bajot-Nercessian (keyboards), Laurent Avenard-Kohler (guitar) and Nils Wekstein (percussion).

Born from a musical encounter in 2023, the band has developed a unique sound in which intricate bop-inspired writing meets 1970s funk, Afro and Creole rhythms, and the vibrant energy of samba. The album features 13 original compositions, the result of a deeply collaborative process and an exceptional musical chemistry between the eight musicians.

At the heart of the project, saxophonist **Baptiste Herbin** brings his virtuosic playing and extensive international experience. Nominated for the Victoires du Jazz in 2013 for his debut album *Brother Stoon*, he went on to receive the Django Reinhardt Prize and was named Musician of the Year by the Académie du Jazz in 2019. He has released four albums under his own name and has appeared on around fifty recordings alongside some of the leading figures in jazz.

With its finely crafted arrangements, rich melodies and irresistibly groove-driven rhythm section, **BenArt Ensemble ft. Baptiste Herbin** delivers a vibrant and generous take on jazz, where each musician's individual voice shines through while serving the collective. Balancing heritage and modernity, this album is an invitation to dance, dream and travel.

Das Repertoire des aus Brooklyn stammenden Komponisten, Arrangeurs und Multi-Instrumentalisten Sammy Weissberg umfasst intime Stücke für Gitarre und Holzblasinstrumente, Filmmusik für Kammerorchester und alles dazwischen. Im Mittelpunkt seiner zeitgenössischen klassischen Werke stehen liebevoll geschwungene Melodien, markante Akkordfolgen und insgesamt eine grenzenlose musikalische Fantasie. ,Music for Strings and Brass", Weissbergs neueste Veröffentlichung (und sein Debüt bei Dear Life Records), enthält zwei Werke, die den Umfang seines künstlerischen Schaffens neu definieren und Techniken einbeziehen, die er während seiner Arbeit als Arrangeur für Songwriter (The Lemon Twins, Allegra Krieger, June McDoom, Frances Chang und viele mehr) verfeinert hat. Das Album enthält sein beeindruckendes, impressionistisches Streichquartett Nr. 2 und ein Blechbläserquintett, das die ergreifende, stimmähnliche Ausdruckskraft jedes einzelnen Instruments auslotet. In beiden Fällen erweist sich Weissberg als Komponist, dessen humanistische und unmittelbare Musiksprache keinen großen dramatischen Rahmen benötigt, um tief im Herzen nachzuklingen. Inspiriert von Komponisten der Spätromantik und der Moderne spricht Weissberg eine musikalische Sprache, die manchmal so klingt, als käme sie direkt aus einer anderen Zeit. An verschiedenen Stellen greifen seine Werke die anmutigen und eingängigen Instrumentalthemen von Antonín Dvorák und Sergej Prokofjew, das atomare rhythmische Zusammenspiel von Igor Strawinsky sowie die üppigen Klangwelten von Claude Debussy und Nino Rota auf. Doch stets verwandelt er diese nostalgischen Anknüpfungspunkte in zeitgemäß klingende, zutiefst persönliche Kammermusikwerke, die man unmöglich missverstehen kann: ausgefeilt und unprätentiös, außergewöhnlich und zeitlos. Seine Werke spiegeln die grundlegendsten Instinkte und die Struktur des Alltags wider - das Gefühl, dass wir ständig von irgendwoher kommen und irgendwohin gehen, auf der Suche nach einfachen, zugrunde liegenden Mustern, die komplexen Phänomenen Sinn und Sinnzusammenhang verleihen, und voller Sehnsucht nach jenem Gefühl der Leichtigkeit, das uns über das Vertraute hinaustreibt. ,Music for Strings and Brass" ist der perfekte Einstieg in die Art und Weise, wie Sammy Weissberg das Leben in Klängen verarbeitet - ein Album, das zu den warmherzigsten und zielstrebigsten Instrumentalveröffentlichungen des Jahres zählen dürfte.

Black Sheep is the influential hip‑hop duo from Queens, New York, formed by Andres “Dres” Vargas Titus and William “Mista Lawnge” McLean. Although both members hail from New York, they met as teenagers in Sanford, North Carolina, where their families had relocated. The duo became part of the celebrated Native Tongues Collective, alongside Jungle Brothers, A Tribe Called Quest, and De La Soul, a movement known for its creativity, positivity, and forward‑thinking approach to hip‑hop. After joining forces in 1989, Black Sheep made an immediate impact with their 1991 acclaimed debut album A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing. The record earned widespread recognition for its inventive rhythms and sharp, witty, often humorous lyricism.

Their second album Non‑Fiction arrived in 1994, continuing their signature blend of jazzy hip-hop and clever, tongue‑in‑cheek storytelling. The album featured two singles “Without a Doubt” and “North South East West”.

Following its release, the group remained largely inactive throughout the decade, with the exception of Dres, who recorded a solo project under the moniker Dres The Black Sheep. Black Sheep eventually returned in 2006 with their long‑awaited third album 8WM / Novakane. Shortly thereafter, Mista Lawnge departed, while Dres has continued to release music under the Black Sheep name.

'Carnaval De Luz' is the exhilarating 16th studio album from U2, 12 melodically rich new songs from one of the most celebrated & enduring bands of all time. Acknowledged as one of the best live acts in the world, U2 has sales of over 175m & won numerous awards, incl. 22 Grammys. Set for release in the year Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton & Larry Mullen Jr. will mark 50 years together in U2, 'Carnaval De Luz' includes lead tracks 'Street of Dreams', 'Silencio' and the extraordinary 'Torn (ft. Dolly Parton)'.

'Carnaval De Luz' is the exhilarating 16th studio album from U2, 12 melodically rich new songs from one of the most celebrated & enduring bands of all time. Acknowledged as one of the best live acts in the world, U2 has sales of over 175m & won numerous awards, incl. 22 Grammys. Set for release in the year Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton & Larry Mullen Jr. will mark 50 years together in U2, 'Carnaval De Luz' includes lead tracks 'Street of Dreams', 'Silencio' and the extraordinary 'Torn (ft. Dolly Parton)'.

'Carnaval De Luz' is the exhilarating 16th studio album from U2, 12 melodically rich new songs from one of the most celebrated & enduring bands of all time. Acknowledged as one of the best live acts in the world, U2 has sales of over 175m & won numerous awards, incl. 22 Grammys. Set for release in the year Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton & Larry Mullen Jr. will mark 50 years together in U2, 'Carnaval De Luz' includes lead tracks 'Street of Dreams', 'Silencio' and the extraordinary 'Torn (ft. Dolly Parton)'.

As Shadow Pressings hits its 10th release the fledging vinyl-only label bring us five heavyweight basement jams, hand-picked from DJ Split’s own circle of friends and musical conspirators including one track from Split himself. Dusty machines creating stripped back grooves, strange frequencies, and raw, late-night club pressure. A little Chicago, a little Detroit, a little somewhere else entirely.

More good news for fans of Luke Vibert's Plug output. Hot on the heels of the Variety Magic album, released earlier this year, De:tuned returns to the vault with four more previously unreleased Plug tracks.

Following the hugely acclaimed 11-track Variety Magic, which saw Vibert unearth and hand-pick a collection of forgotten jungle and drum & bass gems from his original mid-90s DAT archive, Robotic Futuristic digs even deeper into the same treasure trove. Four more raw, playful and highly distinctive Plug cuts, all previously unheard and finally brought to light.

The EP takes its title from one of the tracks and opens with Luke Vibert's personal favourite: 'Bring A Fuckin' Army'. A full-on jungle workout driven by rolling breaks, heavyweight bass and that unmistakable Plug funk. Put the needle on the record and let it rip. Go 'Head - Do It!

Robotic Futuristic also marks the 17th anniversary of De:tuned, making this a particularly fitting release for the Belgian label.

Visualised by the Variety Magi. Stencil art by Pablo Fiasco and rewired by Openmind. Mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis. A separate digital release will also be available at the usual digital shops.

More good news for fans of Luke Vibert's Plug output. Hot on the heels of the Variety Magic album, released earlier this year, De:tuned returns to the vault with four more previously unreleased Plug tracks.

Following the hugely acclaimed 11-track Variety Magic, which saw Vibert unearth and hand-pick a collection of forgotten jungle and drum & bass gems from his original mid-90s DAT archive, Robotic Futuristic digs even deeper into the same treasure trove. Four more raw, playful and highly distinctive Plug cuts, all previously unheard and finally brought to light.

The EP takes its title from one of the tracks and opens with Luke Vibert's personal favourite: 'Bring A Fuckin' Army'. A full-on jungle workout driven by rolling breaks, heavyweight bass and that unmistakable Plug funk. Put the needle on the record and let it rip. Go 'Head - Do It!

Robotic Futuristic also marks the 17th anniversary of De:tuned, making this a particularly fitting release for the Belgian label.

Visualised by the Variety Magi. Stencil art by Pablo Fiasco and rewired by Openmind. Mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis. A separate digital release will also be available at the usual digital shops.

In celebration of John Coltrane's centennial, this 3-LP boxset includes all 3 albums recorded with Wilbur Harden in 1958 for Savoy Records: Mainstream 1958, Tanganyika Strut and Jazz Way Out. Featuring players including Tommy Flanagan, Curtis Fuller, Doug Watkins, Louis Hayes, Art Taylor and more and cut from the original tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio the album is pressed on 180-gram black vinyl at RTI and housed in Stoughton tip-on jackets and new liner notes from Syd Schwartz.

"Atrocity Exhibition" ist der neueste Höhepunkt in einer langen Serie von Highlights: Im Verlauf der letzten Jahre hat Danny Brown mit vielen hochkarätigen Künstlern von Purity Ring bis Rustie, von ScHoolboy Q via E-40 bis hin zu Ghostaface Killah gearbeitet. Für den Posse-Track "Detroit vs. Everybody" tat er sich mit Eminem, Dej Loaf, Royce da 5'9', Big Sean und Trick Trick zusammen, und auch den legendären The Avalanches lieh er für ihr Comebackalbum dieses Jahr seine Stimme. Da er auf "Atrocity Exhibition" kein Blatt vor den Mund nimmt und gewissermaßen die hochprozentige Essenz seines kreativen Ansatzes herausdestilliert, hat Danny auch die Wahl der Gäste ganz genau darauf abgestimmt: Ihren schlangenhaften Gesang steuert Kelela im Fall des wahnsinnig finsteren "From The Ground" bei, mit B-Real von Cypress Hill ist ein alter Hanf-Fachmann für die tiefentspannte Hook von "Get Hi" verantwortlich, und mit Earl Sweatshirt, Kendrick Lamar und Ab-Soul treten gleich drei junge Hochkaräter für das ominös schillernde "Really Doe" zu ihm ans Mikrofon, die er derzeit für die besten Rapper hält, die es momentan gibt.

Revelling in adventurous, malleable synthesis and a strong melodic instinct, long-standing techno heavyweight Oscar Mulero brings his Trolley Route alias to Dekmantel. Across four rush-inducing cuts of studio exploration the Spanish veteran showcases a lighter side to his muse without sacrificing maximal dancefloor impact.

Oscar Mulero first debuted Trolley Route back in the early 00s through albums and EPs for Pure Plastic, Minuendo and others, offering a more playful strain of machine music to contrast with the steely output under his own name. Embracing dub textures and Detroit-coded synth leads, the recently-revived alias has become a haven for the looser styles that spill out of his studio. It just so happens these outliers are as crucial as any of Mulero's primary club smashers.

From the swampy chord sequence that dominates 'New Visual Order' to the meaty sub-bass and delay-soaked synth sweeps of 'Relativity Of The Vision', the whole EP is spilling over with madcap charm and a casual boss-level quality that can only come from a true legend letting their hair down.

This album presents 22 live-in-the-studio BBC recordings from 1963–1965 that have never been released before. It includes all the hits and misses from that period, along with three tracks that were never recorded for EMI: Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode, Jagger and Richards’ So Much In Love, and the band’s own composition Falling In Love Again—previously undocumented. For fans of The Swinging Blue Jeans, this long-awaited release is a must-have.
Sleeve notes by Peter Checksfield.

2026 Repress

¡NO PASARAN! is the extension to Extrawelt's DYSTORTION, from brooding tension to playful relief, the album took listeners on a six-year-crafted exploration. Their next EP picks up where this epic chapter left off and is clearly related. It's a hypnotic dive into shadow and dream, darkness and melancholy with subtle flashes of light.
The title track of the EP, already known from the album (D1 - Extrawelt - ¡No Pasaran!) carries a commanding presence, pulses with a rolling, insistent bassline that anchors shifting rhythmic currents and evolving sonic layers. Between tension and release, shadows and melody, it's a track that moves like a living entity.
Arctic Dead Run hits like a surge of raw energy. Acid lines roll relentlessly, building tension that feels alive. Then a melody sneaks in - soft, almost fragile - cutting through the intensity, until hi-hats erupt and the groove snaps into full focus. Maximal yet controlled, every element finds its place.
Clipping Me Softly dissolves the pressure with a dark, playful groove. Precise rhythms meet spacious pads, opening into a dreamlike state where night slowly gives way to warmth and light.
A focused and uncompromising continuation of Extrawelt's sonic language: Dense grooves, acid pressure, and dreamlike relief collide in a release built for deep listening and late-night floors.

On March 1 2025, Kim Deal hosted a once-in-a-lifetime sold-out performance at London’s historic Barbican, playing special orchestrated renditions of songs from her acclaimed debut solo album Nobody Loves You More, followed by tracks from The Breeders’ back catalog and earlier solo work. The evening, culminating with a heartfelt standing ovation, was documented in full, to be released as a live record entitled Live at the Barbican on November 13 — arriving almost two years after Nobody Loves You More’s initial release (on November 22, 2024) and rounding out its celebrations.

Live at the Barbican finds Deal backed by a 25-piece ensemble, marking the first time in a decades-long career, that she has played with an orchestra. The idea for the performance came to Deal while mixing her solo album in Hackney: “I invited myself! That’s how I came to play ‘Nobody Loves You More’ at the Barbican. Years ago, I had worked with Chris Sharp at the 4AD label and I knew he was currently at The Barbican. So, I reached out to Chris and said I have orchestration on this record. I would love to be able to perform these songs with an actual orchestra. And Chris said yes, we’d love to have you.”

Alongside the orchestra and Shards choir, Deal was also joined by a band composed of Mando Lopez (The Breeders), Susan Voelz (Poi Dog Pondering), Lindsay Glover, Nick White (Phoebe Bridgers), and Rob Bochnik (The Frames), as well as special guest Raymond McGinley (Teenage Fanclub). The live record was mixed at Studio Black Box and mastered by Heba Kadry.

What makes a life well lived? Career, home, savings, family: these are the milestones that make adulthood legible as success. Friendship, meanwhile, is often treated as something that either endures or doesn’t, more a matter of luck than a relationship requiring its own devotion, maintenance, and care. When really, as the world becomes more isolated and artificial by the day, friendships may be the most important thing a person ever builds.


“A lot of times in life I feel like a late bloomer, like I'm still trying to get my shit together in a way that other people have already figured out,” says Chastity Belt drummer/vocalist Gretchen Grimm. “But then I reflect on my adulthood, and my top priority has largely been my friends, which I do not regret at all.” That priority feels like the guiding principle on the band’s sixth album, All My Friends. Not that they set out to make an album about friendship—during mixing the band's longtime collaborator and engineer, Samur Khouja, pointed out that a lot of the songs referenced the subject. Which makes a lot of sense.


Julia Shapiro (guitar/vocals), Lydia Lund (guitar/vocals), Hunter Truscott (bass/vocals), and Grimm have been making music together for 15 years. Friendship has sustained the Chastity Belt project as its members have grown alongside one another, both as people and as musicians. Across a resonant catalog, they’ve moved from the raucous wit of their early records toward the lush, introspective moods they’ve refined on each album since via trademark intertwining guitars, meticulous rhythms, and double exposure of melancholy and optimism.


All My Friends comprises songs recorded across multiple years, time zones, and studios, including Seahorse Sound in LA, Way Out in Woodinville, and a centuries-old house on the Greek island of Hydra. The oldest track dates back to around 2018; the newest were finished within the past year. These days, the band spans three cities (Los Angeles, Seattle, and Chicago); less writing/rehearsal time means songs are often worked out in the studio, relying on the spontaneity and instinct that comes from knowing one another so well. The result is rawer and less polished than their last couple of records, closer in spirit to the band’s roots.

EchoPlex Records returns with its second full vinyl release, bringing together label owners Inner Echo, French multi-instrumentalist Youthie and Los Angeles-based bass player Dubsworth.

“Ranger” is a steppers cut built around live bass from Dubsworth, rolling 4x4 drums and Youthie’s signature trumpet playing. Dubsworth is a seasoned bass player and a familiar name within the Bay Area dubstep scene, while Youthie brings her trumpet into the mix, adding live melodies to the production and giving the track another layer of instrumentation.

On the B side, “Ranger” gets the full live dub treatment, mixed straight from the analogue desk with delays, reverbs, filters and live effects. A raw dub cut in keeping with soundsystem culture, with the mix shaped in real time.

Pressed as a limited 7” run. The digital release is available exclusively through the EchoPlex Records Bandcamp, with additional dub mixes that aren't included on the vinyl. There will be no release on streaming services or other digital stores.

Metabolising 20-plus years gorging on the hardcore continuum, Luke J Murray returns to Sneaker Social Club with the first album under his Liquid DnB-Like Ambient Grime 2 alias. As the first self-titled EP in 2024 demonstrated, with this project Murray applies a hauntological supplement to his life-long diet of rave's codes and signals. These 11 tracks could be embraced as dank bangers in their own right, but the ghostly shroud that lingers is no accident. It's an evocative expression of the hinterland places that frame the pursuit of the dance as much as the energy spikes in front of the bass bins — a diaristic reflection on trudging puddle-peppered streets to find little black doors or staggering home, ears ringing, as dawn comes to chase down the street lights.

Haunted House, Garage & Grime walks the line between atmospheric scene building and straight-up beatdowns with a relaxed swagger. 'The Ginnel In SK4' paints a vivid picture of urban malaise with its bleak synth warps and punk-dub splashes, not a drum sequence in earshot. It's flanked by the Caustic Window-meets-Mark One 'The Flats On Belmont Way' on one side, and low-slung electro-creeper 'Hollywood Park' on the other. As the titles hint, this is music tangibly attached to very specific places locked in Murray's memory — unmistakably UK locations that reflect back the half-hollowed out echoes of late night soundtracks, glancing off red brick and pebble dash concrete at odd angles.

There is space on the album for full-chested amen tear-outs like 'Pete's Gone Mad With The Axe' , but for the most part the mood remains downcast and pensive. The sparse approach affords you space to tangibly hear the (not-so-silent) name-checked rain pattering in the background of 'The Crown Under The Viaduct, While Rainfalls Silently Into The River Mersey' , or imagine the crunch of litter and dead leaves underfoot that snakes its way through minimalist stepper 'Bowerfield Lane, After Dark'.

Murray's vision is sharply realised, and his stated inspirations slot logically into his shelves of ordered ideas drawn from disorderly memories. From Mark Leckey's O' Magic Power Of Bleakness to the Ghost Box records alumni, Hatcha's seminal Dubstep Allstars Vol. 1 and Laura Grace Ford's Savage Messiah book, Haunted House, Garage & Grime is the logical product of a deep thinker making tracks with decades of rave in his bones and the sense that it all means something, even if it's not always clear what.