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Bringing their story to the present, The Boo Radleys new single, "Seeker", introduces the band’s eighth album. Where last year’s album, joyful in tone yet brooding with heavyweight lyrical themes, came together as an exploration of the isolated ideas of each member, Eight is, according to vocalist and co-songwriter, Sice formed of songs recorded “purposefully to appear together on an album.” Before adding, “There is also a greater depth of integration, which means that it’s more difficult to tell which member of the band the song originated with.”

Reflecting on "Seeker", the new album’s opening track, written about leaning on those we trust to share life’s highs and lows, bassist and co-songwriter, Tim Brown says: “This song started out as a three-chord synth pop tune and mutated into a brassy bop courtesy of trumpeter, Nick Etwell. The electric guitar flourishes were added by Louis Smith before Sice added layers of backing vocals which help drive the song along and bring it to its joyful conclusion.”

The great jazz-fusion band Weather Report released their self-titled debut album in 1971. Featuring Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter amongst others, the young musicians created an original and fluid record, which would define the state of the jazz rock by that time. Shorter’s (1960s Miles Davis ensemble) soprano sax shines and reveals with full force the extraordinary rapport the members of the group established from the start. The music consists of subtle melody lines and is mostly an atmospheric adventurous journey. Influences from Miles Davis’ In A Silent Way / Bitches Brew sessions can be heard throughout this record. Altogether they’re performing this historical document.

The original plan for Cactus was to release a debut album with the super group line-up of Vanilla Fudge rhythm section bassist Tim Bogart and drummer Carmine Appice together with guitarist Jeff Beck and singer Rod Stewart, though Beck’s car accident and Stewart joining Ron Wood in The Faces counteracted that.

Eventually joining Bogart and Appice were guitarist Jim McCarthy (Mitch Ryder’s Detroit Wheels) and singer Rusty Day from Ted Nugent’s Amboy Dukes for this self-titled album that is arguably the highlight in their catalogue.

Cactus is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually copies on translucent red coloured vinyl.

Jaguar was formed in December 1979 in Bristol. After intensive touring they released their debut album Power Games, in 1983. An album with a no-nonsense high-speed approach. Jaguar played faster and more aggressively than any other band during the early days of the NWOBHM movement and according to the band’s history, they are considered among the inventors of the speed metal and thrash metal subgenres. They were influential for many other bands in later years including bands such as Metallica.

Power Games is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on red and silver mixed vinyl.

The Marshall Suite is the 1999 album by the Fall. The album builds on the techno-influenced beats of its predecessor Levitate, while also returning to a more rockabilly-influenced sound reminiscent of earlier Fall line-ups with songs such as the catchy “Touch Sensitive” and the strange, complex, thumping jungle beats of “The Crying Marshal”.

The Marshall Suite was made immediately after an American tour during which Mark E. Smith had an onstage fight with members of the band and was arrested following ongoing altercations at the hotel at which the group were staying. While the remaining band members quit and returned to England, leaving Smith in a cell in Manhattan, Julia Nagle chose to stay in the band, helping to assemble the group’s new line-up.

During the recording of the album, this new line-up was still taking shape and the album features two different bassists. None the less it was very well-received album at the time and highly collectible by now.

Tuff Darts was an American punk rock band. They reached their greatest fame in the mid-late 1970s with such songs as “Slash”, “(Your Love Is Like) Nuclear Waste” and their biggest single, “All for the Love of Rock and Roll”, which was originally recorded by Ram Jam. The band appeared at popular New York City clubs like Max’s Kansas City and CBGB and featured Tommy Frenzy (vocals), Jeff Salen (guitar), Bobby Butani (guitar), John DeSalvo (bass), and John Morelli (drums). In 1978, the group released their debut album Tuff Darts!, on Sire Records, produced by Bob Clearmountain and Tony Bongiovi.

This NYC punk rock classic, Tuff Darts!, is available as a limited edition of 750 individually numbered copies on translucent red coloured vinyl and includes an insert.

Das 5. Studioalbum von Django Django trägt den Titel ”Off Planet” und besteht aus 21 Titeln, die in vier Teile aufgeteilt sind. Ursprünglich sollten es vier experimentelle EPs werden, die aber schnell in ein richtiges Album verwandelt wurden, als die Band das Potenzial der Aufnahmesession erkannte. ”Off Planet” enthält einige der aufregendsten und dynamischsten Stücke, die Django Django je produziert haben. Das Album ist eine Rückbesinnung auf ihre experimentellen und elektronischen Wurzeln und enthält außerdem spannende Gastauftritte von Self Esteem, Jack Penate und vielen anderen.

Jeder Teil des Albums wird digital veröffentlicht und am Tag der Veröffentlichung des vierten Teils wird das gesamte Album auf Doppel-Vinyl und Doppel-CD erscheinen.

Der Star aus den TV-Serien “Homeland”, “Band Of Brothers” und “Billions” mal anders: als SingerSongwiter mit erdigem Roots-Pop.
Der britische Schauspieler Damian Lewis ist Serienfans auch in Deutschland als Nicholas Brody aus der Serie „Homeland“ bekannt. Vor seiner erfolgreichen Laufbahn in der Schauspielerei war Lewis vor allem ein Musiker, inspiriert von den Rockbands seiner Jugend und jahrelang unterwegs als Straßenmusiker.

Jetzt kehrt Lewis zu seinen Ursprüngen zurück. Sein Debütalbum bietet eine originelle Sammlung von rootsigen, rockigen und manchmal auch etwas jazzig angehauchten Songs aus eigener Feder plus zwei großartigen Coverversionen: ”Harvest Moon” von Neil Young und ”After Midnight” von J.J. Cale.

Eindringliche Melodien durchziehen Pendant World, das mit Spannung erwartete zweite Deutsche GrammophonAlbum der texanischen Band Balmorhea. Die 13 Tracks offenbaren ein breites Spektrum an Stilen, Texturen, Rhythmen und Farben und lösen Genregrenzen auf. Gefundene Sounds, Samples, Vinylaufnahmen, Synthesizer, Blechbläser und Flöten ergänzen Balmorheas reguläre „Stimmen“ aus Klavier, Akustikgitarren und Streichern. Zusätzlich gesellen sich zu Rob Lowe und Michael A. Muller auf Pendant World auch die Geigerin/Sängerin Aisha Burns, die Cellistin Clarice Jensen sowie eine ebenso herausragende Besetzung anderer Gastkünstler: der experimentelle Jazzsaxophonist Sam Gendel, Joseph Shabason an Tenorsaxophon und Flöte, Klarinettist Jonathan Sielaff, Schlagzeuger Jason Treuting, die Sängerinnen Steph Jenkins und
Lisa Morgenstern. Produziert wird das Album vom Grammy-Gewinner und Produzenten Jonathan Low, der auch noch Synthesizer und Schlaginstrumente einarbeitet. Pendant World erscheint digital, auf CD und auf Vinyl.

epressed! Proto-punk and garage Zamrock: the celebrated guitarist Paul
Ngozi’s essential debut album. Featuring Chrissy Zebby Tembo

Guitarist/vocalist Paul Ngozi’s debut album – under the name Ngozi Family - is an important record: not just in the Zamrock genre,
but in the global rock canon. Day of Judgement is an introduction to the most intense, raw and inimitable golden era Zamrock
recorded, as it paved the way for a dozen Paul Ngozi and Ngozi Family releases (the most famous being drummer Chrissy Zebby
Tembo’s My Ancestors) that straddled the line between funk and punk, of driving hard rock and Zambian folk melodies and rhythms.
Day of Judgement was released in 1976, the same year as other, now famous, Zamrock albums, from WITCH’s Lazy Bones!! to Rikki
Ililonga’s Zambia. But it sounds like none of its counterparts. Part of that stems from its frenzied primitivism, the Ngozi Family’s
attempt to overcome a lack of musical acumen with sheer force of will.
That will allowed Paul Ngozi to overcome a humble upbringing to become the most unlikely combination: Zamrock’s most beloved
star in its brief but now-well chronicled arc; the only musician to maintain his fame and recording prowess in the dark ages of the
’80s; an inspiration to not only aging but young Zambians — and now others, beyond Zambia’s borders.
But one cannot imagine Paul Ngozi without this album, a full-on aural assault that sounds as wild nearly forty years after its release
as it must have sounded in the developing Zamrock landscape from which it emerged. We listen to this anachronistic yet prescient
album now as a wholly original, completely unpredictable album in line with those from mavericks from across the world – from the
Ramones to the Sex Pistols to Death. And, though it’s been over two decades since Paul Ngozi’s passing, his voice and vision still
seem exciting, powerful, unique, unvarnished, new.

Die Power Metal-Szene braucht einen Einlauf - und dieses Album ist einer!
Das neue Album "Out Of The Dark" von FROZEN LAND ist Power Metal der alten Schule - Punkt.
Es ist ein feuchter Traum für alle, die in den 90er Jahren angefangen haben, Power Metal zu hören. Es gibt keine Füllstücke. Es gibt keine nicht-eingängigen Refrains. Es gibt keine langweiligen Gitarrensolos.
Nach der letzten Veröffentlichung machte die Band eine 4-jährige Pause.
Und warum? Weil sie in dieser Zeit ihre Depressionen überwanden - laut augenzwinkernder, eigener Aussage, half LSD dabei - daher auch der Name des Albums, "Out Of The Dark".
Das Album ist im Grunde ein 7 Songs umfassendes Gesamtkunstwerk im traditionellen Power Metal-Sinne.
Aber bei den letzten 2 Tracks wird spannend! Tuomas hat eine perverse Vorliebe für Eurodance der 90er Jahre, was bereits durch das Cover von E-Types "Angels Crying" auf dem Debütalbum der Band durchschimmerte.
Auf diesem Album dachten FROZEN LAND nun, sie nehmen das Hedt selbst in die Hand und mischen Eurodance mit Metal. Nehmt es nicht zu ernst... FROZEN LAND tun das auch nicht!

Die Power Metal-Szene braucht einen Einlauf - und dieses Album ist einer!
Das neue Album "Out Of The Dark" von FROZEN LAND ist Power Metal der alten Schule - Punkt.
Es ist ein feuchter Traum für alle, die in den 90er Jahren angefangen haben, Power Metal zu hören. Es gibt keine Füllstücke. Es gibt keine nicht-eingängigen Refrains. Es gibt keine langweiligen Gitarrensolos.
Nach der letzten Veröffentlichung machte die Band eine 4-jährige Pause.
Und warum? Weil sie in dieser Zeit ihre Depressionen überwanden - laut augenzwinkernder, eigener Aussage, half LSD dabei - daher auch der Name des Albums, "Out Of The Dark".
Das Album ist im Grunde ein 7 Songs umfassendes Gesamtkunstwerk im traditionellen Power Metal-Sinne.
Aber bei den letzten 2 Tracks wird spannend! Tuomas hat eine perverse Vorliebe für Eurodance der 90er Jahre, was bereits durch das Cover von E-Types "Angels Crying" auf dem Debütalbum der Band durchschimmerte.
Auf diesem Album dachten FROZEN LAND nun, sie nehmen das Hedt selbst in die Hand und mischen Eurodance mit Metal. Nehmt es nicht zu ernst... FROZEN LAND tun das auch nicht!

After the success of Codeine's Frigid Stars LP, the trio of Stephen Immerwahr, John Engle, and Chris Brokaw booked time at Harold Dessau Recording in June 1992 to track an eight-song sophomore album. A few days and a couple of unexplainable high-pitched frequencies later, the record was scrapped, shelved, and forgotten about. Brokaw left the band shortly after, and these songs were re-tracked in various iterations for Codeine's final LP. On its 30th anniversary, Numero has unearthed these recordings, restoring the original White Birch to the band's exacting standards with producer Mike McMackin. A slowcore masterpiece hidden in plain sight.

Rober Nikolajev (Estonia) — a man with many hats: runs lo-fi house projects as Nikolajev (Incienso, Collect-Call, Sad Fun) and DIMA DISK (with Ragnar Rahuoja); runs noise events KONSUM; a co-owner of Tallinn’s IDA Radio. For Muscut, Robert prepared a 7 track (almost dark) ambient album imbued with the melancholy of Estonian autumn with spoilers of the forthcoming eternal winter.

The album Symposium Musicum is developed from field recordings, interviews, and observations collected in the villages of Podolínec, Lomnička, Levočské Vrchy, and Kolačkov - all areas of the eastern and north-eastern Slovakia with significant Romani enclaves. The pieces resulting from these interactions encourage the listener to tune in for a delicate negotiation of language, (audible) gesture, and storytelling.

The collaboration with the local participants appears lighthearted and whimsical on the records, but this seeming easiness is clearly a result of devoted fieldwork planning and committed post-production. The curated compositions represent and emphasize not only performative aspects of the acoustic activities but also point attention to seemingly non-productive aspects of creation, such as silence, hesitation, observation, perception, or waiting.

Sound experiment and preservation is not the only goal of the project. Some of the records capturing acoustic activities in peculiar places but also carry an element of social novelty that accompanied their making - according to the locals in Lomnička, the recording visitors were the first non-Romani persons who spent the night in the village.

In many instances, these recordings explore liminal spaces that have lost their original function (a church ruin or an out-of-business grocery store) and became a lively territory for acoustic exploration and playful reciprocity. For instance, in track 7, "Kavka", local children used crackling leaves as percussion devices.

Such moments betray a high level of engagement in the subtle details of the recorded spaces and their social ecologies. According to the creators, their creative processes involve "a social sound practice" as an attitude towards exploring sound in its social setting.

Symposium Musicum leaves behind many aesthetic conventions of sound capture and what is considered "musical", including the usual notions of a linguistic unit, narrative, memoir, and play. Instead, it engages in a self-reflective questioning of the way we listen to the world around us.

This project invites us to experience places outside the divided sociolinguistic provinces, resulting from multigenerational displacement and neglect of the Romani communities from the explored areas. The result is in many ways revelatory and poetically impactful.

After the acclaimed ΠΟΛΙΣ, Subheim returns with RAEON; a collection of eight new tracks for lonely evenings and long night drives. With RAEON, Subheim continues to expand into the sonic territory he has steadily been exploring since 2015’s Foray, the album that marked the project’s shift towards moodier, highly textured, lofi compositions through the use of sampling and heavy audio manipulation. While this EP feels like a natural continuation of the producer’s most recent work, it is intentionally stripped of any percussive elements, with the focus being entirely placed on space and melody.

Each composition feels like a distant, fading memory that unfolds faster than you expect it to and dissolves into an echoing nothingness before you’re able to hold on to it for more than a few seconds. Much like a long-distance train passing by or perhaps like a song you might hear in your sleep.

Every piece serves as a different chapter of the same open-ended narrative; one where stillness, grief and hope simultaneously coexist in perfect harmony. Intentionally imperfect, naturally gritty, spacious as ever, this new record balances between fragility and conviction, and once more illustrates the deeply human side of its creator.

In contrast to some of the producer’s darker work, RAEON is filled with an undertone of bittersweet hopefulness and a strong desire for new life. With the juxtaposition of nostalgic, synthesized, analog sounds and neoclassical elements, Subheim strikes the perfect balance between past and future, between melancholy and hope. And while the closing track is almost ironically called “Forget”, its ending will leave you longing for more and wondering what else is there.

Nach einem Jahr voller schwindelerregender Verluste, persönlicher Selbstbeobachtung und bittersüßer Erinnerungen kehren die Foo Fighters mit einem neuen Album ''But Here We Are'' zurück, das am 2. Juni 2023 bei Roswell Records/RCA Records erscheint. Eine brutal ehrliche und emotional rohe Antwort auf alles, was die Foo Fighters im letzten Jahr durchgemacht haben, ''But Here We Are'' ist ein Beweis für die heilenden Kräfte von Musik, Freundschaft und Familie. Mutig, beschädigt und unerschütterlich authentisch beginnt ''But
Here We Are'' mit der neu veröffentlichten Lead-Single "Rescued", dem ersten von 10 Songs, die die emotionale Skala von Wut und Trauer bis hin zu Gelassenheit und Akzeptanz und unzähligen Punkten dazwischen abdecken. Produziert von Greg Kurstin und Foo Fighters, ist ''But Here We Are'' das 11. Foo Fighters-Album und das erste Kapitel im neuen Leben der Band. Klanglich kanalisiert sie die Naivität des Foo Fighters-Debüts von 1995, geprägt von jahrzehntelanger Reife und Tiefe, ''But Here We Are'' ist der Sound von Brüdern, die Zuflucht in der Musik finden, die sie vor 28 Jahren überhaupt erst zusammengebracht hat, ein Prozess, der ebenso therapeutisch war wie es um die Fortsetzung des Lebens ging.

Clear Vinyl

Cairo’s trip hop, illbient and club producer Hashem L Kelesh aka Dijit documents a decade of sprawling productions at his home studio, fuelled by the energies of his friends and collaborators.

Populated with the vocal presences of vocal spars Deedz, 7aleeb, and Lella, ‘The Room’ is a metaphoric synecdoche for Kelesh’s studio output between 2008-2019, featuring 9 tracks of lo-slung but levitating trip hop and illbient that overlaps his productions on the long sold-out ‘Hyperattention: Selected Digital Works Vol.1’ album, and augmented by a number of fiery percussive pieces and future folk works that give a wider frame of reference to his style.

While the album follows the smoke curl dynamic of his previous work, the glorious mesh of electro-chaabi breaks and Eno-esque ambient guitar licks on ‘Dreak’, and the heat-seeking street rave scenes of ‘Saga’ will no doubt disrupt your preconceptions, while his folk prayer-like ‘Loli’ reaffirms a knack for captivating downbeats. ‘Leban’ brings a chopped ’n screwed trip hop temporality, deploying laminar layers of male/female vocals that inevitably call to mind Tricky via Leila Arab, while ‘Hasheesh’ trades in red-seal levels of heads-down pressure shades away from Portishead or even Pessimist’s snapped productions.

Dijit smartly manages to keep it all just the right side of gloomy though, with the shatterproof tension between screwed vox and ascendant hyaline electronics on ‘Hamhama’, or likewise in the high-register piquancy and celestial chorales of ‘Dream of a bee’, while the upfront burst of drums in ‘Saga’ will bring heads to their feet.

Electro and dark techno ambiances...
Album with a cool sound dynamic through.

Boheme is the second studio album of the French duo Deep Forest. The album combines samples of Eastern European gypsy songs with electronic music. It became the duo's most successful album, selling over 4 million copies, achieving Platinum, Gold, and Silver certifications in multiple countries and winning the Grammy Award for Best World Music Album in 1996.

Faith Discipline presents on the same release two of the proposals that best define its identity as a recording project. Two artists, or two bands, or a band and an artist, who coincide in some of their qualities and who also perfectly represent the sound line that the label has pursued since it was launched in 2015. German Army and Group have a lot in common, but their personalities are also unique, as are the objectives that influence their work.

German Army and Group coincide in several ways, both operate from anonymity and their approach to music production is also very similar. The style and sound of German Army and Group is mainly based on extreme and lo-fi treatments, and their music can be categorised as tribal, industrial, ethnic or experimental. However, German Army adds to their style a series of moral principles, as the project is based on a vindictive nature with continuous messages and appeals to the population and the rulers, the health of our planet is in extreme danger and with it the life and dignity of the underprivileged.

Formerly known as James Lascelles’ Quartet, Talking Spirits present a unique blend of world jazz. These highly respected London based session musicians - with a very mixed repertoire - have touched audiences wherever they play. The quartet mixes up world music, folk, jazz and Anglo/Caribbean grooves, inspired by influences from all over the world.

They have honed their skills over the decades working with some of the biggest names in music, including Frank Zappa, Joan Armatrading, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, L Shankar, Ginger Baker, Jeff Beck, Steve Winwood, Incognito, Van Morrison, Billy Ocean, Mick Taylor and Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel.

The new Talking Spirits album ‘Hands’ will be released on Zephyrus Records early June. Tracks feature regular band members James Lascelles (various keys and percussion), Tim Herniman and former bandmates from the legendary Breakfast Band Richard Bailey (drums and percussion) and Kuma Harada (bass and guitar). Guests appearances by Tony Maronie on congas, Didier Malherbe (once of “Gong”) on duduk and sax, and the wonderful Mongolian group Andaunion, for whom James specially wrote Grasslands to feature the haunting morinhuur (horse-hair fiddle) and hoomei or overtone singing.

"To think, this all started with Posture, a record done with some minor misunderstandings in play. Primaruly due to the language barrier between Arturo Banbini and I. To now a fully conceived project, unbelievable and simply God's work. To be honest, I wanted to pay homage to one of the greatest album I've ever heard (Tapestry, Carole King). A Rose to you, you've been nothing short of an inspiration to my music."

"Here is our first album. A gleeful and quaint celebration, expressing our love for making music together."

This album simply named ‘MUSIC’ by ROLROLROL (Jameszoo & Niels Broos) is a puttylike exercise in pop, modern jazz and electronic music. Building on an already extensive and longtime collaboration ranging from their work on Jameszoo’s three albums for ‘Brainfeeder' and Niels Broos’s two EP’s for ‘Alpha Pup’.

‘MUSIC’ was created over the span of some years, working out of multiple places occasionally joined by friends.

What would have happened if Michael Dudikoff had gone missing in action, say – in Poland in 1987 – during the harshest freezing spell of the century? Would he have coped under these conditions like John Rambo has in the town of Hope? We shall never find out, but the soundtrack is already there. Latarnik and Cancer G (members of EABS and Błoto) would call this film Zima Stulecia: Minus 30°C.

When Twin Peaks debuted on Polish National Television with its oneiric music by Angelo Badalamenti, Poland could feel as eerie as the series. Seemingly nothing quite matched, but on the other hand, no one was surprised. Growing up in the 1990s inevitably brings back memories of stalls selling a variety of products. You could buy there cleaning products from Germany, some underwear, Haribo jellies and Jacobs coffee, and have access to the "latest" cultural releases, which would be arriving late in Poland. This is where one could obtain pirated copies of cassette tapes and VHS, the labels of which had typewritten film titles that transported kids' fantasies to another world. With such content distribution, many of these kids got their first glimpse of Predator, Terminator, Robocop, as well as Van Damme's stunts in Bloodsport and a plethora of other B action movies, which to this day - like American Ninja - are rerun on TV over and over again. The afterimages of these soundtracks nestled in the heads of Marcin Rak and Marek Pędziwiatr for years and found expression on their debut album.

The music of Zima Stulecia is difficult to label in terms of genre. It oscillates towards melancholic electronic music. For some it will be techno, others will hear elements of house, all accompanied by improvised synth and percussion music.

Zima Stulecia is a duo that was not supposed to have any chance of success. Many years ago, back in 2006, when they were still budding musicians they met for the first time at a jazz workshop. When they found out where they both came from and that they were separated by almost 800 kilometers, despite having great chemistry in playing, they
jokingly said goodbye with the sentence: "it was fun playing together!". They figured they would never meet again. At the time, none of them imagined that in a few years' time in Wrocław they will form one of the most interesting contemporary jazz bands in Poland: EABS and Błoto. On top of that, they were both born in January 1987. The last of the historic "winters of the century" (eng. for "zima stulecia") occurred at that time in Poland, which ultimately determined their name as a band. Minus 30°C album is a recording of the non-verbal workings of these soulmates, and a fruit of a musical collaboration that has lasted for 16 years.

A few years ago, a very interesting relationship began to develop. A bridge was built out of Jaubi's releases on Astigmatic Records and the increasingly frequent collaborations between musicians from Europe and Asia - out of Latarnik's trip to Pakistan resulting in the widely acclaimed album Nafs at Peace and Zohaib, Dhani and Ali's revisit to Poland, which has been recorded as the EABS meets Jaubi In Search of a Better Tomorrow longplay.

Wrocław and Lahore are almost 7,000 kilometers apart. And despite this immense distance that separates the EABS and Jaubi musicians,
the two bands find a surprising amount of common ground that determines their musical explorations. These include both a strong attachment to locality and respect for tradition, a penchant for weaving in some hip-hop elements, and the basis of a love of improvisation and spiritual jazz. It was therefore only a matter of time before they joined forces. And so, they proceeded to build a (cross)cultural bridge between Poland and Pakistan.

A bridge whose pillars are Hindustani ragas, polish jazz understood in a variety of ways, and brotherhood in sound. This merger's finale is surprising to such an extent that it is difficult to pigeonhole this collaboration in any way.

Fast-rising pianist and producer Yoni Mayraz presents his debut LP ‘Dybbuk Tse!’ revealing the story of a malicious possession that is taking over one’s body and soul.

Dybbuk, known from Jewish folklore, is a malevolent wandering spirit that enters and possesses the body of a living person. It’s a cursed soul of a dead one that wanders tirelessly for sins committed during their life. The most vulnerable victims are the young and the sinful. Possession can be taken literally or as an analogy to the burden that young people carry generations back, which they have no influence on, and which they have to accept. Dybbuk can only be removed by exorcism. The titular ‘Dybbuk Tse!’ is a command to remove the spirit from the possessed body. The album is a story about possession but also about exorcism through music.

Recorded live with his band in a dusty wooden studio, ‘Dybbuk Tse!’ is indeed experimenting with the ‘darker side of things’, but yet with a somewhat lighthearted approach which is so typical of Yoni’s work. He easily combines jazz with the sound of 90’s New York hip hop and raw old school breakbeat. The album interweaves unique Middle Eastern melodies, sophisticated structures and sounds, and beautifully crafted solos played by some of the promising talents on the scene.

London based Israeli born pianist and producer Yoni Mayraz has set foot in the instrumental music scene with his EP ‘Rough Cuts’ released in 2020. Since then, Yoni and his band have been playing major venues and festivals around the world including the legendary Ronnie Scott’s and The Jazz Cafe, to name a few, bringing raw energy to stage with live versions of the studio materials, and stretching the melodies and structures into a Dancefloor-focused take on jazz.

‘Dybbuk Tse!’ album will be released by Astigmatic Records on LP in regular and limited (B1 poster included) editions, as well as on all streaming platforms.

Stimela were a popular and successful South African Afro-fusion outfit led by guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, producer and arranger Ray Phiri. The band was formed under the name ‘The Cannibals’ during the 1970s when Phiri got together with drummer Isaac Mtshali, keyboard player Thabo Lloyd Lelosa and bass player Jabu Sibumbe. They initially started out as instrumentalists, but later evolved to Afro-fusion when they joined forces with vocalist Jacob “Mparanyana” Radebe in 1975. The story of ‘The Cannibals’ ends when Radebe died in 1978 but the ‘Stimela’ story was only just beginning.

In 1979, after a life-changing experience in Mozambique (where they were stranded for three months) the band members had to sell all their belongings to take a train home. This trip was a watershed moment as it was here where they conceived the new name for the band: The Zulu word for “locomotive-train” STIMELA.



Stimela would soon become little short of an institution in their home country of South Africa. With soulful tunes and gripping lyrics, the band has recorded platinum-winning albums such as Fire, Passion and Ecstasy, Shadows, Fear and Pain & Look Listen and Decide. In addition to recording their own material, the group supplied instrumental accompaniment on albums by a lengthy list of legendary artists. Stimela would go on to gain global fame after being featured on Paul Simon’s iconic 1986 ‘Graceland’ album and the mega tour that followed.



Ray Phiri would enter into many successful collaborations with major acts and artists such as Harari, Joan Baez, Willie Nelson and Manu Dibango. In 2017 he was diagnosed with lung cancer and died at the age of 70. Phiri has received many awards in recognition for his contribution in the music industry, one of these is the Order of Ikhamanga awarded to him by the South African president. This was to honor his sterling contribution to the South African music industry and the successful use of arts as an instrument of social transformation.



Stimela is the tale of a South African band who have battled their way through dark days to take their rightful place in the forefront of the South African apartheid-era music invasion. One of their most memorable tracks “Whispers in the Deep” was even restricted from being broadcasted by the old South African Broadcasting Corporation.



On the album we are presenting you today (Fire, Passion and Ecstasy from 1984) the unique sounds of Ray Phiri’s Stimela are fully showcased. Expect infectious hypnotic build-up grooves, cinematic lowdown jazz-funk, Afro-soul, delightful reggae, gospel influences and funky synth-boogie sounds…all with a touch of early eighties new wave and hints of Island disco mixed with sensual bubblegum pop. It comes as no surprise that the album has now become a sought-after item due to its addictive and original-sounding nature, a must-have for any self-respecting record digger!



These recordings completely encapsulate Stimela’s fusion style. They managed to craft a modern South African sound that continues to influence SA musicians to this day. Never in a rush, yet always with a sense of purpose and direction – like the steam train after which they took their name.

Tidal Waves Music now proudly presents the first reissue of this fantastic Afro-fusion classic since 1990 (originally released in 1984 on Gallo Records) & this is also the first time the album is getting a release outside of the African continent. This rare record (original copies tend to go for large amounts on the secondary market) is now finally back available as a limited 180g vinyl edition (limited to 500 copies) complete with the original artwork. Also included is a double-sided insert containing rare pictures of the band.