Suche:bass club

The first EP from Nottingham’s like-minded music collective, Plates.
Originally established as a record shop and now a record cutting studio and music community, this EP showcases sounds close to its core and original supporters.

A1 is a track salvaged from a box of long-lost cassette tapes dating back to the mid-90s, bursting with raw and uplifting grooves, a soundtrack to moody city nights in Nottingham. Facehugger a long-time friend and supporter of Plates, alongside musical partner, Mark Warden aka DeviantRIP brings a tearing live analogue jam mashed together on a Roland 202, 808, 909 and JD800 - ave it!

A2 offers a completely different take on the typical ‘jungle’ style. Citizen Griot, an already prolific local beatmaker, better known for his hip-hop grooves and collaborations with local rappers, brings moody and enchanting jazz club vibes over subtle but constantly moving breakbeats.

B1 is the first ever ‘finished’ track from Plates founder, DJ Squid who has spent the last 10 years focusing on DJing and wasting precious time. This tune dedicates his love for early 90s jungle, and hardcore with the roots of soul, rare groove, weird library music and the simplicity of hand-picked samples, an MPC 2000XL and a dust-covered Mackie mixing desk.

B2 brings you back down to earth in a smoky spaced-out back room courtesy of long-time crate digger and local hero Mr Wilson. Head-nodding beats cushioned by a soothing bassline and hypnotic chords that surround you and carry you away to another dimension that is neither new or funky.

This record is dedicated in memory of Rita, Philpotts, Pete Woosh, Adam XTC and Harry McCormick.

As Dense & Pika, Alex Jones and Chris Spero have garnered an enviable reputation for making devastating club ordnance that finds the sweet spot between dark, mysterious house and roaring, brawny techno. With over a decade of material under their belt, Jones and Spero are set to release their first studio length debut album, ‘Colour Burn’ via London major imprint BMG on 4th December, home to the likes of Leftfield, The Prodigy, Holy Ghost and Faithless.

‘Colour Burn’ is a 13-track composition crossing through downtempo house and electronica, built as a conceptual sonic representation of the pair’s live audio and visual set up. The album is a step away from harder and faster material and a move towards a more leftfield sonic trajectory, featuring a handful of impressive heavyweight features of Jones & Spero’s musical heroes who have informed the Dense & Pika output.

Released today, album moment ‘Honey’ features the master of sensual, slow-burn techno, Matthew Dear whose contribution to ‘Honey’ arrives in vocal form – a breathy, brooding ensemble of spoken word that glues perfectly with the duo’s trademark rough and textured sound palette. It helps turn what Alex calls “a headsy, dusty piece of housey tech” into something sensual and otherworldly.

Dark and smouldering, it seems to the suck the air out of the room like a tightly packed subterranean dancefloor deep in the throes of night. Glitched out percussion and fizzling hi-hats feel caustic against the track’s low-end frequencies. The thumping bassline and kick drum combination delivers punch and pressure to the mix in a true Dense & Pika format. Matthew’s sauntering vocal contribution guides the track into a deep and hypnotic groove well equipped for any late-night excursion. “The boys sent over a lengthy jam, but there was that simple loop that stood out and had me hooked. I put it on repeat and let the mind and pen wander. It’s a bit of cosmic abandonment, brazenly sung by a professional of the night.” Matthew Dear

Elsewhere on the LP, standout track ‘Hidden’ features the drums of Sepultura’s legendary metal icon Igor Cavalera resulting in a fabulous frenzy of percussion and driving rhythm. The equally momentous and unforgettable ‘Control’ features the heavily robotic vocoder of Leftfield’s Neil Barnes aiding and abetting in its quest to be a high-octane, twisted rave jam.

The impressive features on ‘Colour Burn’ are an insight into the hugely artistic and visionary A&R skills of Alex and Chris and the start of a new chapter for Dense & Pika kicking off with the long-awaited release of their first studio length album.

The incredible sonic beauty of the Sphincter Ensemble results from musical spontaneity, a random jam session undertaken by a loose group of friends in the unlikely setting of the
Harrovian Club in Barnes, west London, on 2 January 1972. The sumptuous free jazz/prog rock/avant-classical fusion features top session players at their peak, with Trevor Morais’
funky drumming loosely tied to Quatermass bassist John Gustafson’s rough melodic lines, embellished by Anne Odell’s far-out synths, Martyn Ford’s French horn and arrangements by Elton John’s orchestrator, Paul Buckmaster. This hugely enjoyable rarity is appearing on vinyl here for the very first time—a thing of wonder for all discerning prog fans.

Hailing from Medellin, Colombia, Killabeatmaker is a Global Bass DJ / Producer, audio engineer, singer and songwriter; a multi-faceted artist you'll be hearing a lot about in the near future. Drawing his inspiration from his Afro-Colombian and Indigenous roots, Killabeatmaker efficiently mixes traditional sounds and rhythms with urban beats and raw club music. His EP "Matiela Suto" is an homage to the diversity of Colombia's people and cultures, packed with progressive house buildups, Nigerian club music influences and enchanting female voices.

A fixture on Copenhagen's music scene for nearly two decades, Nikolaj Jakobsen, aka Sugar, has to date thrived on concentrating - usually to the point of obsession - on one type of music at a time. Early on, it was punk: from his mid-teens he lived in the legendary squat and artistic community Ungdomshuset, toured worldwide with punk and metal bands, and was completely immersed in and dedicated to the city's DIY punk and metal scene.

Then in 2012 he set foot in a techno club for the first time, and his laser-like focus turned in that direction. Jakobsen began producing fast techno under the Sugar alias, and co-founded Fast Forward Productions, an agency and party that has gathered together the city's previously disparate band of fast techno and trance producers, DJs and collectives. Fast Forward has been instrumental in launching the careers of the likes of Schacke, Repro, Funeral Future and Rune Bagge, as well as Jakobsen himself.

Now Jakobsen is launching a new label that, even down to its name, is an open challenge to himself to focus on multiple musical styles at once. Perfumery, of which the Eyes Cream EP is the inaugural release, will be a home for his productions under the Sugar name and other aliases, as well as collaborative efforts with others. The label's open remit defies definitive categorisation of is to come, but its second release will be an abstract, atmospheric album by the cimbalom and tuba player and composer Anders Bo Eriksen, aka OPICA. On that record's heels will be collaborative projects with D.Dan and HVAD, as well as an experimental-minded debut LP by Jakobsen as Sugar.

Though Perfumery will be a platform for the exploration of new musical territories, Eyes Cream comprises four fast-techno hardware jams in Jakobsen's signature style. As well as showing off his knack for punning in a second language, opener Bright Side Of The Spoon is a classic Copenhagen splicing of darkness and light, with insistent, ominous bass waves leavened by twinkling synth textures. On the surface the middle two tracks, Eyes Cream and Try Me, are harder, flintier, Detroit-referencing tools. Just beneath, however, lurks the texture and warmth that is one of Copenhagen techno's prime calling cards. Perhaps the greatest treat of the EP is saved for last: Once And For No One is a gorgeous, gauzy, end-of-the-night banger that packs a hefty emotional punch.

All proceeds from physical and digital sales of the first EP on Perfumery will go to Sea-Watch.Org, a German NGO dedicated to saving migrants trying to reach Europe on stricken vessels in the Mediterranean.

Mouse on Mars, the Berlin-based duo of Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma, approach electronic music with an inexhaustible curiosity and unparalleled ingenuity. ‘AAI’ (Anarchic Artificial Intelligence) takes their fascination with technology and undogmatic exploration a quantum leap further.
Emerging from a primordial ooze of rolling bass and skittering electronics, hypnotic polyrhythms and pulsing synthesizers propel the listener across the
record’s expanse. Hidden in the duo’s hyper-detailed productions is a kind of meta-narrative.
Working with AI tech collective Birds on Mars and former Soundcloud
programmers Ranny Keddo and Derrek Kindle, the duo collaborated on the creation of bespoke software capable of modelling speech; text and voice from writer and scholar of African Studies Louis Chude-Sokei and DJ/producer Yağmur Uçkunkaya were fed into the software as a model, allowing Toma and Werner to control parameters like speed or mood, thereby creating a kind of speech
instrument they could control and play as they would a synthesizer.
The album’s narrative is quite literally mirrored in the music - the sound of an artificial intelligence growing, learning and speaking. This exploration of artificial intelligence as both a narrative framework and compositional tool, allowing the duo to summon their most explicitly science-fiction work to date. Original artwork by Casey Reas, inventor of the computer graphics language Processing.
Recently, Mouse on Mars received the 2020 Holger Czukay Prize for Pop Music.
Mouse on Mars have been regularly streaming performances throughout 2020, partnering with organizations like Goethe-Institut, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Conditions of a Necessity and others and will continue these in 2021.
‘AAI’ is available on grey or black double LP packaged in a single sleeve with full colour insert / lyrics. CD comes with 8-panel poster booklet.
“Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner continue to create soundscapes that blur the line between programming and live musicianship, and sometimes between Earth and outer space.” - AV Club
“Enthralling and impossible to categorize.” - Pitchfork
“Sustained and ephemeral electronic sounds conjure unearthly open spaces… It’s not a song; it’s sound as a temporal phenomenon, a few minutes of sculpted attention.” - The New York Times

Montreal-based producer & DJ Slick Shoota brings us Function, his debut LP and first solo release on the Teklife imprint. A native of Norway known for his renowned Oslo club night Ball Em Up, he's been a member of the elite crew since 2015, contributing tracks to the label's compilations such as On Life Vol. 2 and VIP Trax. Using a unique palate that combines both traditional footwork drums and eclectic otherworld sonics, this album expands on the signature sound he's been brewing during the course of his career, celebrating his longtime love of the Chicago soundscape, with a healthy helping of UK rave, jungle, and vibes from other fast paced club realms. Slick starts the record off with Hovercraft, a big burly mutant rap beat riding a glowing titanic wave of jungle subbass, with vicious hi-hats stabbing through the mix. Desire Path follows with hysterical horns cruising along a stampede of erratic Chicago percussion. A glitchy, malfunctioning computer meets drumline stomps on See Me Flex, resulting in a psychotic, yet psychedelic sci-fi soundscape. Ultra-distorted hardcore kicks open up Jellyneck, dropping straight into a dungeon of ghostly vocals and headlong toms. Warehouse 2K opens up the B-side with R&B chops and lasers floating on a charming cloud of pulsating pads. Mad doppler sirens loop around your head on Delahaze, as distant clangs and crashes fight an impatient, throbbing bassline. Classic rave atmospheres are met with Slick's elegant sound design on MTL Hardcore, his ode to his adoptive city. The album closes off with Special Tek, channeling the signature quirky drum sounds of the late DJ Rashad over a pounding, fast paced house beat, a wonderful nod to the Windy City and its influential sonic culture. Carving out his own sound from the legacies of Chicago, the UK, and other underground club hotspots, Slick Shoota has found his own recognizable voice within these realms of dance music, and this LP serves as documentation of that solidified voice. Years of studying the masters and immersing himself with their work has clearly paid off, and he's respectfully taking these sounds he loves in exciting new directions. Bridging gaps both historical and geographical, Function marks a pivotal point in his career, and is clear evidence that Slick Shoota is vital member of the legendary Teklife family.

We were playing the track ‘Common Ground’ out and it was getting the dance floor hot! It was an instrumental at the time and Renato Paris was in the dance (a singer that EVM has been working with, plays keys with Moses Boyd and is one of Gilles Peterson's one to watch) he came up and asked, “What's This?” grabbed the mic, peak time and layed down this dope freestyle vocal, it was a jaw drop kinda moment for us all! That was it, we had to make it happen! So we linked up Renato and Duke and it became the lead track on the EP. An infectious song that literally drips in soul and future R&B, and just fits perfectly over the strings on this killer broken beat track! It’s one that will stick in your head and make you play it twice!

The whole EP is nothing short of quality. From the sultry jazzy Bruk vibes of '2017 Heat Wave' to the monstrous club track ‘ Nighthawks’ an up front stomper with live drums and a bassline that'll make you shiver inside that funky top line.

‘Got My 606 Back’ has been getting rinsed by the Summer dance Forever crew’s KC The Funkaholic and was well received by dancers worldwide when it was used for an SDF promo earlier in the year. We’ve since had many of them asking when this is coming out! This one is a real body mover, sweat towel advised!

Finishing up on ‘IFZ Shuffle’ a wicked little house shuffler that almost takes you back to the 90’s. It has this sweet piano breakdown that then introduces synths and congas until the groove kicks back in again. This track and the whole EP for that matter, works in a multitude of situations. It wont fail!

Jazz Against The Machine's (JATM) cool jazz covers of 90s indierock were essentials for those in the know: virtuosity and curiosities! Franksen's remixes take the souls of Loser (Beck), Under The Bridge (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Come As Your Are (Nirvana) to a new future. Adding much extra love and detail: Vocals, dubs, deep beats n bass propel the songs to cosy or swinging heights. In jazzhouse manner, in soulful downtempo or grooving hiphop… give 'em some love!

Franksen delivers a mere lexicon of roots n traces. A wide range of clubculture scultpured his unique style over 25 years: djing, producing and hosting public dj radioshow "hr Clubnight". From Downtempo to Dub, Disco to Deephouse or Reggae to HipHop, Breaks and more.

In collaboration with Brooklyn-based artist RDO/ATK, Sophia Saze makes her long-awaited return to her Dusk & Haze imprint with four slamming cuts on a release entitled ‘Stalker’.

Born in Tbilisi and now residing in Philadelphia after years living a nomadic lifestyle, Sophia Saze began her creative journey in her formative years with classical music and dance training. With a solid and natural musical foundation, Sophia became engulfed by electronic music leading to the launch of her Dusk & Haze imprint in 2017, before dropping a remix of Heathered Pearls on Ghostly International and the release of her much lauded debut album on Kingdoms. ‘Stalker’ sees her team up with old friend RDO/ATK who has been soaking up the dancefloor since the early 90s. With much of his influence stemming from the early east coast rave and club scene, his sound maintains a homage to the past without getting stuck in it. A sucker for a dirty 303, a breakneck amen, or a crushed 909, RDO/ATK’s style spans across genres from jungle to acid to broken beat and everything in-between.

The EP kicks off with a dynamic, jungle roller entitled ‘Stalker’ featuring old-school, amen breaks, stirring yet intriguing synths and hefty bass shatters balancing styles of glitch and funk together with pure class whilst ‘Fucking Crazy B’ lays focus on cold, syncopated grooves, chopped up shrieks and screams from a video of a traumatic personal incident and shimmering pads moving into ominous territories.

On the flip, ‘Talk To You In Your Brain’ delivers relentless kicks and spiralling acid squelches peppered with chilling vocal samples and frazzled fx that pulsates strikingly throughout until ‘Acid B’ rounds off proceedings with an effervescent, warehouse techno cut as the electrifying modulations bounce gracefully off the menacing percussion and slashing, 303 tones.

US based label, Lurid welcomes Spanish producer Señora for a stunning new double gatefold album entitled ‘Fósil’ that showcases his unique take on hypnotic rhythm, found sounds and sampling.

Señora became a firm favourite with the likes of Andrew Weatherall (R.I.P.) and Sean Johnston for his rugged grooves and innovative approach to production, melding the sounds of machines, animals, electricity and other weird noises in a flurry of FX and sonic experimentation. He debuted on this label in 2017 and has also landed on Shango Records, Night Noise and LNDKHN since then. Now based in Berlin and a regular at clubs and festivals round Europe he offers up a debut album that features nine stunning pieces that ”aim to reflect on the next evolutionary steps of the human race".

The otherworldly ‘Preludio: Ocaso Hominido’ kicks off with a swampy bass sound overlaid with cosmic details and downtempo drums. It’s a brilliantly mysterious opener than leads on to ‘Antropoceno’, a spacious soundtrack with bubbling synths, undulating drums and plenty of sonic details that paint a picture of a starry night sky up above. The tumbling drums of ‘Segundo Sexo’ sink you into a dubby reverie with bird calls and wordless vocal sounds mixing with percolating percussion.

The excellent ‘El Elefante Que Siempre Andaba Solo’ is a perfectly flabby and chugging dark disco cut with bright chords and scintillating drum work while ‘Código y Marfil’ is a futurist landscape in outer space with modulated synths and deft astral details making it colourful and cinematic. This most escapist of listens then plays out through the supple bass warbles and spacecraft sound effects of the entrancing ‘Papaver Somniferum’ and churning drums and twisted bass funk of the brilliantly slow burning ‘El Último Discurso’ before closing on ‘Fuga: La Gran Desconexión’ a downbeat offering with myriad pads circling the skies above a deeply rooted rhythm.

This is a hugely atmospheric album of perfectly realised inter planetary sounds, the whole thing taking you on a cerebral and evocative journey far away from here.

Supported by: Tim Sweeney (Beats In Space), Dr. Rob (Ban Ban Ton Ton), Balearic Mike, Elena Colombi (NTS), Andrew Wowk (Decoded Magazine), Faze Magazine Germany, DJ Mag Espana, Future Music UK, ClubbingSpain, and others.

We’ll forever remember the summer of 2020. In March the world was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. All over the world cities and countries went in lockdown, bars and venues were closed and live music stopped altogether. After three months of total isolation and not being able to jam or play at Missy Sippy Blues & Roots Club in Ghent —or any other place for that matter— Tiny Legs Tim and his friends decided to book a weekend at The Yellow Tape studio. They wanted to capture the emotional high of finally playing together again. A simple live setup, a 60’s Faylon mixing desk and an old 24-track tape machine were used to record this outburst of musical joy. During that weekend Tim and his musicians reached that point of ‘locking together’ they experienced so often playing late nights at a packed and steamy Missy Sippy. Imagine when four musicians act as one in an energetic dance with the audience, led by the sultry beats of the drums (Bernd Coene), the dirty grooves of the bass (Mattias Geernaert) and the inciting dialogue of the guitars (Toon Vlerick & Tiny Legs Tim).
At the moment these kind of scenes and carefree celebrations of life and music seem like a thing of a long gone past, but as Tim puts it: “We’re always ready to roll, call us when it’s over.” In the meantime, the listener gets a first-hand experience of the positive energy and joy of making music on the spot with a selection of spontaneously arranged songs: some new, some old and one cover by the late RL Burnside.

We last heard from Radeckt on the Spektrum 2 compilation, now he’s back with his debut solo EP. The Danish producer specialises in emotionally-driven club music, designed to spark inspiration and moments of contemplation. The dance floor is a safe space for free expression, human interaction and catharsis… Radeckt’s music is the perfect accompaniment to these channels of connection, while encouraging you to dance. On the Corroded Mind EP we get four original cuts, all of which encapsulate Radeckt’s penchant for music that moves the soul… It all begins with the title track. ‘Corroded Mind’ has a subdued intro, gently guiding us into a mesmerising sonic landscape. Soft pads massage the mind while siren-esque effects and metallic beats encourage the body to move to their hypnotic rhythm. Radeckt imbues the second half with drama and energy, while still keeping the mood sombre. ‘Narrative Lie’ utilises layers of emotive synth and serene sounds, along with a meandering melody that lures you into its rhythmic flow. The glum low end counteracts the brighter elements of the track creating a neat juxtaposition. As the track progresses, the intensity of the main motif increases, sending temperatures rising. Next up is ‘Invisible Guard’ with its oscillating bass and simple, yet highly effective riff. Radeckt confidently applies the pressure, carefully increasing the tension until we reach a scintillating breakdown which takes us into the glorious second half.
‘Silver Lining’ closes the EP, bringing a little bounce to the release. Radeckt gives us stuttered beats with great use of percussion to provide the energetic allure of this cut. As it builds, he incorporates an earworm melody along with neon laser synth lines and the whole thing feels like an eighties TV show theme with 21st Century sheen.

Presenting the long sought after, groundbreaking and classic 1990 UK long-player finally remastered and reissued for 2018. London's Warriors Dance label was a unique operation and a pioneering London label during the late 80's acid house phenomena. Home to an assortment of DJs, MCs and soundmen, they went on to make their own original and indelible mark on the rave scene from the infamous 'Addis Ababa' studio on Harrow Road on the North-West side of the city.

A former reggae and soul studio that was instrumental to the output of influential artists like Soul II Soul and more, a steady diet of reggae, bass, hip-hop, house and techno kept their edgy, and die hard UK sound and style right at the cutting edge of the dance music underground across the globe with the top DJs and producers of the day celebrating the label.

The studio, helmed by label owner Tony 'Addis', acted as an incubator for artists whose names would go down in the history books - No Smoke, Bang The Party, The Addis Posse, Melancholy Man, Hollywood Beyond, The Housemaids and more all featured heavily on the label and contributed to its legendary output. The attitude and approach to the music was utterly and unapologetically a London thing, with heavy African and Caribbean influences also drawing on the sounds emanating from Chicago, Detroit and further afield.

Years later, and with the advent of the internet, Discogs, Youtube and any other digital platform you'd care to mention, Warriors Dance continues to be discovered and rediscovered again by curious diggers and music heads with a thirst for heavyweight tracks to play in their DJ sets. This saw the WD mythology rise again, making their records much sought after by fans from all over the world.

When 'International Smoke Signal' landed in 1990 there was nothing else quite like it in the musical landscape, the perfect sonic example of the Warriors Dance ethos and style incorporating all of the influences and grooves that made the label's output so unique, a sound heavily inspired by the preceding period in London and the UK where hip-hop, soul, reggae, rare groove and acid house were played side by side in the warehouses and empty spaces of former industrial areas. Throughout the late 1980's these often drab and dangerous places were transformed by local DJ crews like Soul II Soul and Shake 'N' Fingerpop with more to offer those looking for an open-minded party scene new places to explore, in turn switching people on to broader styles of music.

It's all in here, the heavy breakbeat driven B-boy house flavour of the album version of the classic 'Koro Koro', the Manu Dibango featuring tribal acid groove of 'International Smoke Signal' to the percussive and ultra-deep stylings of 'Oh Yes (Freedom)' the LP encapsulate a time and place yet continue to capture the imagination today.

Timeless music. There's no doubt the No Smoke project is a direct influence on the deeper, tribal house sounds around today and pioneered the afro house sound alongside 'Yeke Yeke', 'Motherland' etc as the acid house phenomenon swept the world. 'Koro Koro' is the omnipresent anthem which was broken at London clubs like Confusion by Bang The Party's Kid Batchelor and RIP which went on to blow up in New York, and was then signed by Profile Records. Hugely sampled and still played to this day.


'International Smoke Signal' fuses the otherworldly science of dub and reggae with Bronx breakbeats, synth laden ambient house excursions and the heartbeat of mother Africa with the technoid thrum of the motor city effortlessly, all while maintaining its London roots and swagger. A true dance music masterpiece. This is the first time the LP has been remastered and reissued, spread across 2 heavy slabs of high quality vinyl for maximum sonic impact. Made in conjunction with the Warriors Dance family and Tony Addis.

Special thanks to Nicky Trax & Tony Addis. - Remastered by Optimum Mastering, Bristol UK. Proudly distributed by Above Board distribution. 2018.

GER Angefangen hat das alles Mitte der Achtziger in der nordhessischen Provinz, im Zonenrandgebiet (so hieß das damals offiziell) in Eschwege. Vier Jungs, die Spaß an Punkrock hatten, dazu ein gehöriges Maß an Talent und Fleiß und in Zimbl einen sehr charismatischen Frontmann und Songschreiber, in Personalunion Sänger und Bassist. Und es hat nicht nur den Bates selber Spaß gemacht, was sie da anstellten. Über die klassische Ochsentour durch Jugendzentren, kleine Clubs und Spelunken, regionale Festivals erspielten sie sich den Ruf, das Geilste zwischen Werra, Fulda und Weser zu sein, was man live erleben konnte. Es dauerte dann auch nicht lange und sie erspielten sich den gleichen Ruf im Rest der Republik. "Unfucked - Live" ist im Original in 1993 bei Snoop erschienen, ihr letztes vor dem Wechsel zur Virgin und das einzige, welches bislang nie wiederveröffentlicht wurde. Keine Ahnung warum, denn es ist ein eindrucksvolles Zeugnis, welche Kraft diese Band gerade live entwickelt hat. Die Aufnahmen selber stammen von 1992, aus dem Outpost in Göttingen und der Weinberghalle in Eschwege. Sie wurden bei Pauler Acoustics gemastert, was schon ein Qualitätssiegel ist und jetzt bei Master & Servant speziell nochmal fürs Vinyl bearbeitet.

An obscure and deep acoustic jazz-funk LP from 1974, remastered and repressed in an edition of only 300 copies !

“Profile” is the first and only Ken Rhodes LP as a leader. This intimate and rare recording captures an explosive concoction between blues, jazz and a touch of funky swing. Though an acoustic performance, this LP offers overwhelming grooves, breaks as well as introspective moments .
The upbeat and funky titile track “The Profile” forshadows the raw grooves of the session.The composition is driven by Rhode’s very soulful and bluesy improvasitions in a colorful dialogue with Joachim Knauer’s percussive and obsessive bassline which embraces the funky rhymthms of George Greene. However, this raw “in-your-face” formula is beautifully constrated in “Nothing New” and the piano solo “Robyn’s Lullaby” where the trio slows down to play deep, dreamy and hazy tunes.

Biography
Ken Rhodes was born August 14, 1945 in Memphis, USA and grew up in a family of excellent musicians. He attended the American Convervatorium of Music in Chicago, studied classical music and received Bachelors and Masters Degree. At the age of 16 he toured with his own jazzband throughout the eastern states. During this time he wrote classical compositions for symphony orchestras and organ-music. Gerry Mulligan called him for an extended tour. Studying at the University of Cincinnatti he received the Down-Beat Prize in 1970 as “Best Arranger”. In August 1970 he came to Germany and worked four years as writer, arranger and conductor at the theatres in Augsburg and Nürnberg. Besides that he played with wellknown european musicians at the famous “Domicle” club in Munich, he founded his own group and performed in Germany and Austria. Since July 1975 he works as a professional jazzmusician travelling Europe.

The five members of Sun June spent their early years spread out across the United States, from the boonies of the Hudson Valley to the sprawling outskirts of LA. Having spent their college years within the gloomy, cold winters of the North East, Laura Colwell and Stephen Salisbury found themselves in the vibrant melting-pot of inspiration that is Austin, Texas. Meeting each other while working on Terrence Malick's 'Song to Song', the pair were immediately taken by the city's bustling small clubs and honky-tonk scene, and the fact that there was always an instrument within reach, always someone to play alongside. Coming alive in this newly discovered landscape, Colwell and Salisbury formed Sun June alongside Michael Bain on lead guitar, Sarah Schultz on drums, and Justin Harris on bass and recorded their debut album live to tape, releasing it via the city's esteemed Keeled Scales label in 2018. The band coined the term 'regret pop' to describe the music they made on the 'Years' LP. Though somewhat tongue in cheek, it made perfect sense ~ the gentle sway of their country leaning pop songs seeped in melancholy, as if each subtle turn of phrase was always grasping for something just out of reach. Sun June returns with Somewhere, a brand new album, out February 2021. It's a record that feels distinctly more present than its predecessor. In the time since, Colwell and Salisbury have become a couple, and it's had a profound effect on their work; if Years was about how loss evolves, Somewhere is about how love evolves. "We explore a lot of the same themes across it," Colwell says, "but I think there's a lot more love here." Somewhere is Sun June at their most decadent, a richly diverse album which sees them exploring bright new corners with full hearts and wide eyes. Embracing a more pop-oriented sound the album consists of eleven beautiful new songs and is deliberately more collaborative and fully arranged: Laura played guitar for the first time; band members swapped instruments, and producer Danny Reisch helped flesh out layers of synth and percussion that provides a sweeping undercurrent to the whole thing. Throughout Somewhere you can hear Sun June blossom into a living-and-breathing five-piece, the album formed from an exploratory track building process which results in a more formidable version of the band we once knew. 'Real Thing' is most indicative of this, a fully collaborative effort which encompasses all of the nuances that come to define the album. "Are you the real thing?" Laura Colwell questions in the song's repeated refrain. "Honey I'm the real thing," she answers back. They've called this one their 'prom' record; a sincere, alive-in-the-moment snapshot of the heady rush of love. "The prom idea started as a mood for us to arrange and shape the music to, which we hadn't done before," the band explains. " Prom isn't all rosy and perfect. The songs show you the crying in the bathroom,, the fear of dancing, the joy of a kiss - all the highs and all the lows." It's in both those highs and lows where Somewhere comes alive. Laura Colwell's voice is mesmerising throughout, and while the record is a document of falling in love, there's still room for her to wilt and linger, the vibrancy of the production creating beautiful contrasts for her voice to pull us through. Opening track 'Bad With Time' sets this tone from the outset, both dark and mysterious, sad and sultry as it fascinatingly unrolls. "I didn't mean what I said," Colwell sings. "But I wanted you to think I did." Somewhere showcases a gentle but eminently pronounced maturation of Sun June's sound, a second record full of quiet revelation, eleven songs that bristle with love and longing. It finds a band at the height of their collective potency, a marked stride forward from the band that created that debut record, but also one that once again is able to transport the listener into a fascinating new landscape, one that lies somewhere between the town and the city, between the head and the heart; neither here nor there, but certainly somewhere.

Signed to Parisian label N F rmat! (home to Oumou Sangar , Blick Bassy & M lissa Laveaux), Soweto-based 4 piece band Urban Village present their debut album, ‘Udondolo’.
Marrying the day-to-day experiences of black South Africans with ebullient elements from traditional Zulu music, Urban Village is the alias of four experimental musicians all born & raised in the township of Soweto at the tail end of apartheid.
Urban Village release music under a name which specifically references the blend of cultures, music & rites which were assimilated into the now 1 million strong population of Soweto, when black South Africans from multiple provinces were brought to the area during the establishment of apartheid, under strict segregation from Johannesburg’s white suburbs.
Born for the most part in the last years of apartheid, whilst growing up the band plunged happily into house and dance music that turned the page of a heavy past. Guitarist Lerato came across older Zulu musicians and their style of maskandi playing. Lerato has since mixed styles from homelands and rural areas, sharpened in club jam sessions (where he went on to meet Tubatsi and form Urban Village) during which spoken word, hip-hop and jazz rub shoulders freely.
‘Udondolo’ - partially recorded at legendary Downtown Studios in the heart of Johannesburg and at Figure of 8 studios in the leafy suburbs of Randburg, - is a journey through all the colours of Soweto. This is where it draws its consistency, strength & identity. That of Soweto itself - a dormitory town designed to
monitor those who were sent there, it has become a laboratory of music where the hopes of an entire people resonate, even today.

Chart topping international DJ and multi-instrumentalist Jax Jones returns with his new single ‘i miss u’ featuring Au/Ra. ‘i miss u’ is the latest musical offering to come from the Ivor, BRIT and GRAMMY nominated artist and follows the success of his debut album ‘Snacks’ being named the best-selling dance album of last year. With 5 billion streams, 2 billion video views and 40 million single sales all under his belt, ‘i miss u’ marks the next phase of Jax’s ascent as he continues to create genre-defying dance music. Returning to his club and underground roots, ‘i miss u’ is an emotive Jax Jones dance track that comprises colder sounding beats when compared to his hugely popular dance pop tracks. Underpinned by a hair raising vocal from German singer-songwriter Au/Ra, best known for her 2018 breakout hit ‘Panic Room’, Jax’s latest collaboration makes nod to his beginnings with a harder bassline and club ready tone.

It was 1977, there may well have been “knives in West 11”, but at a student’s hall of residence in Leicester, a packed room of cross legged intellectuals were about to witness the debut of The Disco Zombies; Andy Ross on vocals and guitar, Geoff Dodimead on bass, Johnny ‘Guitar’ Hawkins on guitar and Andy Fullerton on drums. They were loud, fast and they had some witty one-liners.
The four-piece became five with the addition of Dave Henderson from The Blazers, a chirpy power pop punk quintet, who were part of a burgeoning scene in the city that included The Foamettes, Dead Fly Syndrome, Wendy Tunes, The RTRs, Robin Banks And The Payrolls and many more. Wine bars, canteens and bowling alleys in pubs were the home of this phenomenon until Subway Sect and The Lou’s arrived for The Great Unknown Tour. They needed a local band for support and the Disco Zombies obliged.
Record Shop owner - and now Mayor Of Mablethorpe - Carl Tebbutt was keen to ride the punk rollercoaster and decided to launch Uptwon Records with a Disco Zombies EP. Recorded in Chester in one four hour session, it included The Blazers’ ‘Top Of The Pops’ and Andy’s ‘Time Will Tell’, ‘Punk A Go Go’ and ‘Disco Zombies’.
Carl had done a deal with a one-stop music production company who went bust almost immediately and the record was shelved. Unperturbed the band pressed on and recorded a session at the local radio station, ‘TV Screen Existence’ being the only track that survived. A tour of Leicester – five pubs in five days – was the end of that era and the band without Johnny ‘Guitar’ who had another year to do at Uni, relocated to London taking with them The Foamettes’ guitarist Steve Gerrard who wisely returned to Leicester and become part of The Bomb Party. Steve was replaced by Mark Sutherland in what was to become the recognised line up of The Disco Zombies for several years, playing lots of London gigs from The Hope And Anchor to The Moonlight Club, North London Poly to the Scala.
By 1978, there was an eruption of small DIY indie labels and Andy Ross launched South Circular Records to release the band’s debut single, ‘Drums Over London’ - an ironic stab at people’s hostility to the arrival of other cultures, a piss-take of Spear And Jackson-wielding Tory attitudes. John Peel played it regularly until Rock Against Racism complained even though Peel explained that it was actually supporting their views. Ho hum. South Circular wasn’t to last but Dave Henderson launched Dining Out. Dave and Andy journeyed to Ipswich to record the debut EP from the Peel-approved Adicts, the plan being to follow it with a Disco Zombies’ single and regain momentum. ‘Here Comes The Buts’ was the second Dining Out release, featuring the breakthrough Dr Boss drum machine; it was greeted with great enthusiasm in some quarters, although strangely it was likened to The Cramps meets Neil Young in NME.
Dining Out was always just one step ahead of going out of business and even though the follow up had been recorded - ‘The Year Of The Sex Olympics’, backed with ‘Target Practice’ and ‘New Scars’ – it never saw the light of day as the money finally ran out.
Somehow, Dining Out had a second lease of life and Andy wanted to record a new track for a new release amid 45s from The Sinatras, New Age and Spit Like Paint. By now, the Zombies had been through their dark post punk phase and ‘Where Have You Been Lately Tony Hateley’ was a clever upbeat anthem which told the tale of the nomadic footballer. The test pressing gained many Peel minutes but by the time it was ready to release, the band had finally split up. It eventually saw the light of day on the Cordelia label’s ‘Obscure Independent Classics’ album. Very fitting.
So, it was 1980: Mark Sutherland opened a studio in Bow, Dod got a day job, Andy Fullerton already had one. Andy and Dave went a bit experimental in Club Tango; Andy eventually discovering Blur for Food which he started with The Teardrop Explodes’ David Balfe, while Dave flirted with Worldbackwards.
In 2011, the drum machine line up descended on Mark’s studio, rehearsing for a show at the Bull And Gate. They recorded two of their lengthier tracks – ‘Night Of The Big Heat’ and ‘LHO’ powered by a waning Dr Rhythm – these were pressed as an extremely limited edition ten-inch. A few years later Andy Fullerton returned to the fold recording three more originals ‘Hit’, ‘Lenin’s Tomb’ and ‘Paint It Red’ for an even more limited edition ten-inch in 2018 and a show in October that year at The Dublin Castle.
Since then, meandering lunchtime discussions in restaurants that were popular in the ‘70s (Joe Allen, Café De Pacifico, etc) have led to arguments about the lost tracks – ‘Man From UNCLE’, ‘I Need You Like I Need VD’, ‘Throwaway Line’, ‘I Thought You Were Only Joking’, ‘London Nights’, ‘Cosmetics For China’, ‘When Doo Wop Hit Hampstead’. It’s only a matter of time. Until then.....