Search:beau

Vocal Shades And Tones is a miraculous leftfield library classic from the genius mind of celebrated UK composer/singer/vocal arranger Barbara Moore. It's a heavenly groove-based blend of jazz, Latin, soft-psych, folk-funk and gospel soul. Recorded for the legendary Music De Wolfe in 1972, it's an audacious start-to-finish listen, as dizzying as it is dazzling. It's a perfect snapshot of a musical era, supported by Moore's glorious vocal arrangements. Widely regarded among collectors, DJs, and lounge/easy-listening acolytes as an absolute essential it is viewed as the holy grail by many production music heads, rarely appearing for sale and disappearing in a flash when it does. Indeed, originals now go for over £300 and it's easy to see why. Just one of the reasons why this fresh Be With reissue, part of a wider De Wolfe reissue campaign, is so utterly crucial.

Racing out the gate, the driving "Hot Heels" is a bright, sophisticated scat groove which sounds Brazilian, richly produced as if coming by the hand of Arthur Verocai. Yes, *that* good. It's followed by "It's Gospel" which is, er, a wonderfully slow and deeply soulful gospel treasure. The appropriately monikered "Steam Heat" is a darker, breathy gem, one for salacious crates and one of the record's most infamous tracks. "Fly Away" is pastoral West Coast soft rock, very much in conversation with John Cameron and Keith Mansfield's epochal KPM recording, Voices In Harmony. "His Name Was" is a stop-you-dead-in-your-tracks Beach Boys accapella church-organ stunner, whilst "Swing Over" is another carefree, richly produced sun-dappled smasher. The gentle Bossa and sunshine soul of the aptly-titled "Touch Of Warmth" closes out a virtually perfect A-Side.

The B-Side opens with the easy grace and dramatic build of "Voice Force Nine". The jaunty "Very Fine Fellow" may be the only track to slightly grate so we advise heading to the slower, moody "Shades-Tones", eminently more compelling with sparkling, hypnotic piano throughout, underpinning the gorgeous wordless vocals. Just beautiful. It was sampled by Redman for his Method Man-featuring "Do What Ya Feel" on the great Muddy Waters. We're back in Brazilian territory with the cool, uptempo "I'm Feather" before swooning to the warm, relaxed "Drifting", another total highlight which was famously sampled by Koushik on his legendary remix of Madvillain's "America's Most Blunted (Doom's Verse)". The penultimate track, "Take Off" is a bright, organ lounge groove before this remarkable set is rounded out by the beaty "Fly Paradise". It's so so good, it sounds like Rotary Connection fronted by The Mamas & the Papas. As noted in a recent Guardian article on Moore's life, "there is a plushness and electricity in the tight vocal harmonies that spring out, sung with the precision of cathedral choristers decades before Auto-Tune." Amen.

In the 1960s, Barbara Moore was a member of Top of the Pops’ resident vocal-harmony group, The Ladybirds and sang backing vocals for Dusty Springfield’s TV show. Her own outfit, the Barbara Moore Singers, were regulars on TOTP, singing with Jimi Hendrix when he performed "Hey Joe" live in Lime Grove Studios. An important detail for Moore was the shepherd’s pie she bought Hendrix when she found him alone, looking emaciated, near the BBC canteen. By 1970, she was working as a session singer for De Wolfe and, by 1972, was composing her own tracks for De Wolfe and working within their tight creative strictures. Each short track had to evoke an obvious mood and theme, with no significant key or tempo changes. Her response, this very album, managed to stay between the lines while cohering as an overarching artistic masterpiece.

The audio for Vocal Shades And Tones has been carefully remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring this release sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at Record Industry in Holland. The original, iconic sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

Vecchio's Afro-Rock is one big horn-heavy, bass-blasting, Latin groove funk-rock party. Only now, you're all invited because this, ladies and gentleman, is officially...a grail no more. With copies currently starting at 400 Euros for an original, this beautifully presented reissue, part of Be With's fresh campaign with Music De Wolfe, is well overdue. A magnificent and somewhat obscure library set that's just a total, cohesive joy from start to finish, this here is the soundtrack to all your smokin' summer BBQs and communal cookouts.

Afro-Rock is the debut album by Argentine keyboardist Luis Vecchio. Recorded for the sound library label De Wolfe, the album is frequently mentioned in hushed reverence among the beat digger DJ collecting crowd. It features fiery brass charts, funky bass lines, fluttering flute, choppy organ and additional hand tribal percussion. The band let loose too and jam hard; yet there's a certain thread of solidity that runs throughout, the tracks just belong together, not disparate sound and rhythm experiments like some library records; this is just straight up, no messin', consistent funk-rock FIRE! Hips will sway, heads will nod to the steady vibes. It's insanely good.

The humid, building funk of the appropriately titled "Megaton" is a dramatic explosion of swirling, dazzling organ lines, ferocious beats and heavy horns throughout. It just don't stop. The tempo slows slightly for the deep and deeply addictive "Renegade". It's all heavy jazz horn refrains, always triumphant, coupled with devastating percussive breakdowns and killer guitar riffing. It's an insistent organ-led juggernaut. The frenetic "Facade", up next, is no less driving, horns high up in the mix over rattling percussion and brilliant organs lines. Just sensational. The bright "Chabati" is another glorious extension of the optimistic Vecchio sound, the organs wilder than ever before. The moody "Green Hell" is a real highlight and closes out the A-Side with some outrageously funky refrains - be it horns, organ or guitars - and is complimented by gorgeous flute work that galvanises the piece, elevating it to downright heavenly status.

Knowing full well that he's on to a surefire thing, Vecchio opens the flipside in much the same vein. Indeed, "Boss" is yet another uptempo highlight, a sensual orgy of proud horns, hand percussion and melodic flute playing over driving organ and guitars. It's followed by "Nsambei", which is rightly adored for its briefly open drum break, fantastically propulsive percussion breakdowns throughout and the jazzy, loose organ and guitar shreds. The bright "Waboco" ups the tempo and the pressure, hanging on one hell of a guitar hook and infectious horn refrain. Perhaps foreseeing how this album would come to be viewed, the aptly-titled "Cult" is possibly the finest song on the record. Which is saying something, because this record is insanely good. Riding a steady, confident organ groove straight out the gate, the kinda melancholic flute line over the top serves as a beautiful counterpoint which the horns often come in and imitate/riff off. Goddamn this is so so good, it needs to be played everywhere. The overwhelmingly mighty 7-minute jam "Ngoma-ku" rounds out this quite staggering record brilliantly in its heavy, mid-tempo blues with countless extended solos.

The audio for Afro Rock has been meticulously remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring this release sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at Record Industry in Holland. The original, iconic sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

On his album NEGRO DELUXE Siifu trades in soulful rap for punk, fueled by the Black experience in America followed by spiritual jazz and poetry. A beautiful chaotic collage of sounds that reflect the black man’s thoughts on the day-to-day. It doesn’t take long to reach the heart of NEGRO, Pink Siifu’s new album. It’s an aggressive collection of hardcore punk and free jazz, with bold lyrics that encourage shooting back at trigger-happy law enforcement. This album profoundly communicated the anger of an African-American community beset by police violence a month before the murder of George Floyd lit the streets on fire. In April 2021, he revisited the project with NEGRO DELUXE, which doubled the length of the original.

Pink Siifu tells Bomb Magazine “after we were done mastering and mixing, Zeroh was like, “Yo, NEGRO is like fire, and NEGRO DELUXE is like smoke….So I would characterize NEGRO DELUXE as, like, after you’re angry, after you’ve punched a wall, after you beat somebody up, whatever, how do I channel that into something else? How do I just let it go? I feel like NEGRO DELUXE is that, for real, in a nutshell. It’s like the chaos calmed down after all the fire’s gone and the smoke is in the air.”

It isn’t anything like ensley, Siifu’s breakthrough 2018 LP. Where that record used mid-tempo soul and hip-hop to score his upbringing, NEGRO is a riotous mix calling for Black revolution. It’s also the most fearless project in his growing discography. NEGRO harkens back to 1992, to Ice-T’s thrash metal band Body Count, song “Cop Killer”.

This album is meant to remind us of Rodney King, Racist Cops, The Black Panther Party, and Christopher Dorner, the ex-L.A. police officer who, in 2013, went on a violent shooting spree against his former colleagues and their family members due to seeing his own policeman violate the people there supposed to be protecting. “It’s about America, It’s about the trauma that comes from the flag. It’s about understanding that it’s okay to be angry.”

In the album, originally titled ‘To Be Angry’, Siifu started crafting NEGRO after listening to old Afrocentric jazz and watching clips of novelist and poet Amiri Baraka and civil rights activist Stokely Carmichael, reading Sun Ra’s sci-fi poetry book, The Planet Is Doomed, and started studying Bad Brains, June Tyson, Death, Ras G, and many others.

"Recorded and released in The
Netherlands by Gerry Teekens for
his Criss Cross label in 1985, Chet’s
Choice marked one of the best studio
albums from Chet Baker’s final years. It
presents Baker, beautifully captured in
Stereo, singing and playing the trumpet
in an intimate trio format with guitarist
Philip Catherine and bassist Jean-Louis
Rassinfosse. This expanded edition
presents the full seven tunes from the
original album plus three songs that
only previously appeared on the CD
edition of Chet’s Choice, as well as five
amazing never before heard alternate
takes.
180-GRAM VIRGIN VINYL – THE
COMPLETE ALBUM + 8 BONUS
TRACKS, AMONG THEM 5 PREVIOUSLY
UNISSUED ALTERNATE TAKES –
2-LP SPECIAL GATEFOLD EDITION"

Finnish drummer/Producer Teppo "Teddy Rok" Mäkynen returns with his alias The Stance Brothers. Lauded by the likes of Kenny Dope and Gilles Peterson, Mäkynen"s studio creation has been visible on the 7" format during the recent years. Now, Mäkynen is back with a full LP, the project"s first in more than 10 years. Duktus is a treasure-trove for everyone into crunchy jazz funk à la Bob James & CTI, but this is no retro exercise.

Finnish drummer/Producer Teppo "Teddy Rok" Mäkynen returns with his alias The Stance Brothers. Lauded by the likes of Kenny Dope and Gilles Peterson, Mäkynen"s studio creation has been visible on the 7" format during the recent years. Now, Mäkynen is back with a full LP, the project"s first in more than 10 years. Duktus is a treasure-trove for everyone into crunchy jazz funk à la Bob James & CTI, but this is no retro exercise.

Experimental rock quintet from Los Angeles for fans of Unwound, Duster, Slint, and Lowercase. Mixed and engineered by Tim Green at Louder Studios (Unwound, Melvins, Jawbreaker). Live appearances with Flenser labelmates, Have a Nice Life, Chat Pile, Midwife, and tour dates planned throughout 2023. Since its formation in 2018 by like-minded Calarts students Alex Kent (guitar, vocals), April Gerloff (bass), and Sylvie Simmons (guitar), as well as the recent addition of Clint Dodson (percussionist), Los Angeles-based quartet Sprain has honed its signature flavor of experimentalism to a razor-fine point. Gradually moving from twisting conventions in its early works of minimalist slowcore to now transcending the confines of genre altogether, Sprain's evolution over the past several years has encouraged the band to embrace a sound true to its muse. With its latest record, The Lamb As Effigy or Three Hundred And Fifty XOXOXOS For A Spark Union With My Darling Divine, the band has translated this intent into an ambitious work that pairs its resplendent scale with uncompromising honesty towards the band's artistic and conceptual essences. The most extraordinary of art isn't created without its fair share of trials, of which Sprain faced numerous during the recording process of The Lamb As Effigy, with the sum and circumstances of them nearly sealing the album's fate in limbo. With obstacles including session reschedulings as a result of a line-up change and a major studio electrical failure at the last possible moment, a mixing process that demanded the organization of several years of material across four separate studios, and the recording of the actual songs pushing the members of Sprain to their own physical limits, there were several times where the band considered scrapping the whole thing altogether. But Sprain persevered, applying the knowledge and willpower derived from those struggles to get The Lamb As Effigy across the finish line. Clocking in at nearly two hours, The Lamb As Effigy resembles an aural parallel to the human experience itself, with all the glorious beauty, crushing brutality, and unexplainable chaos that comes with it intact. Explosions of earth-sundering guitars, angelic keys, swirling strings, and bursts of improvised electronic noise coalesce to weave a visceral yet unique sonic tapestry bearing hints of no-wave, sound collage, 20th-century avant-garde, and free jazz. Spanning bellowing howls, emphatic spoken word, and nuanced croons, Alex Kent's dynamic vocal delivery adds texture to these eight meditations on otherwise immaterial topics and the meaning or the lack thereof they embody.

For fans of Mt. Eerie and Wolves In The Throne Room. Experimental, highly idiosyncratic take on black metal from Oakland California / Olympia Washington two piece. Recorded, mixed and mastered by Nicholas Wilbur (The Microphones, Have A Nice Life, Planning For Burial). Previous releases with on cult DIY label An Out Recordings. 2018 split release with Thou. Ragana is a duo whose members alternate duties on drums, guitar, and vocals to produce some of the most unique and affecting dark music in metal today. The two-piece came together in 2011 in the DIY punk scene of Olympia, WA and are now based in Olympia and Oakland, CA. In their time together so far, Ragana have self-released five albums and teamed up with genre-favourite Thou for a split release in 2018. The following year, Ragana released their heralded We Know That The Heavens Are Empty EP and have quietly been working on new music ever since. The band signed with The Flenser in late 2022 and now present their forthcoming debut album for the label, Desolation's Flower. On Desolation's Flower, Ragana draws upon a number of influences from the flora and fauna of their Pacific Northwest origins to the darkly nostalgic folk of Mt. Eerie and, yes, their Olympian forebears Wolves In The Throne Room, synthesising them into an experimental, highly idiosyncratic take on black metal. Held together by an intense focus on raw emotion and haunting atmospherics, Ragana shifts seamlessly from tender, mesmerising vocal harmonies to piercing, heart-ripping screams and back again, yielding music that is heavy, beautiful and punishing all at once. Written over the past few tumultuous years, Desolation's Flower is the band's most devastating effort to date, containing seven incantations of loss, rage, pain and hope. Expertly engineered by the masterful Nicholas Wilbur at the Unknown Studio in Anacortes, Washington (Planning For Burial, drowse, Divide and Dissolve, Have a Nice Life), the album serves as the culmination of the past decade plus of the band's ethos and execution.

For fans of Mt. Eerie and Wolves In The Throne Room. Experimental, highly idiosyncratic take on black metal from Oakland California / Olympia Washington two piece. Recorded, mixed and mastered by Nicholas Wilbur (The Microphones, Have A Nice Life, Planning For Burial). Previous releases with on cult DIY label An Out Recordings. 2018 split release with Thou. Ragana is a duo whose members alternate duties on drums, guitar, and vocals to produce some of the most unique and affecting dark music in metal today. The two-piece came together in 2011 in the DIY punk scene of Olympia, WA and are now based in Olympia and Oakland, CA. In their time together so far, Ragana have self-released five albums and teamed up with genre-favourite Thou for a split release in 2018. The following year, Ragana released their heralded We Know That The Heavens Are Empty EP and have quietly been working on new music ever since. The band signed with The Flenser in late 2022 and now present their forthcoming debut album for the label, Desolation's Flower. On Desolation's Flower, Ragana draws upon a number of influences from the flora and fauna of their Pacific Northwest origins to the darkly nostalgic folk of Mt. Eerie and, yes, their Olympian forebears Wolves In The Throne Room, synthesising them into an experimental, highly idiosyncratic take on black metal. Held together by an intense focus on raw emotion and haunting atmospherics, Ragana shifts seamlessly from tender, mesmerising vocal harmonies to piercing, heart-ripping screams and back again, yielding music that is heavy, beautiful and punishing all at once. Written over the past few tumultuous years, Desolation's Flower is the band's most devastating effort to date, containing seven incantations of loss, rage, pain and hope. Expertly engineered by the masterful Nicholas Wilbur at the Unknown Studio in Anacortes, Washington (Planning For Burial, drowse, Divide and Dissolve, Have a Nice Life), the album serves as the culmination of the past decade plus of the band's ethos and execution.

In the year 2000, I had gone to the Toad in the Hole basement pub to ask the some members of a local band called the Pets if they could help me record some of my music, in the same way they had recorded their album “Love and War”. In regards to my passion for recording, Love and War remains one of my biggest inspirations of all time. There’s hardly a style of music they don’t try to explore. To my surprise, they had recently lost a member and planned to ask me to start a new band, which we named the Waking Eyes. We spent the next 14 months or so building a sonic landscape in Matt’s parent’s basement in Steinbach, Manitoba. In proper daydream and full-fantasy mode, we prepared for a future vinyl pressing by making the album have seamless song transitions, except for between songs 6 and 7 (or side A and side B). I really never thought this day would come, but I can honestly say it’s a bit of youthful dream come true, and is incredibly rewarding. While I’ve had lots of music pressed to vinyl, never has such a formative part of my songwriting life been etched into that big beautiful disc. - Rusty Robot, The Waking Eyes

First released in 1989, these songs represent but a small sampling of the fruits of a flowering in Brazilian creativity. The innovations in structure, lyrics and arrangements, combined with a very restrained but heartfelt intensity, are unique to Brazilian pop music... and in their own way, are as radical, seductive and beautiful as the best english language pop

'Elephantasia' is a glorious folk opus from 1972, long lost and attaining a legendary reputation for its candour and creativity, from the late Bangor-born singer/songwriter Dave Evans. Finally, the LP sees the light of day again via Earth Recordings, it is a true gem from the vaults of British folk history. For fans of Nick Drake, Bill Fay and Davy Graham - with a touch of Michael Chapman, Bert Jansch and Fahey for good measure. Dave Evans' story is like a Pinter play; he sailed the seas in the merchant navy, was taught guitar in a brief interlude by the "mythical" Morocco John, wound up sharing a room with Steve Tilston in 1963 when they attended Loughborough Art College and ran the local folk club, while learning to make stringed instruments, the art of wine making and ceramics. Over the next year, Dave got a domestic 2-track reel-to-reel tape recorder and experimented with its two speeds to produce the tracks 'Elephantasia' and 'Lady Portia'. He pulled in members of local prog band Squidd, including latter day Hawkwind member Steve Swindells on keyboards, John Merritt on bass and Rodney Matthews on drums, who also designed the 'Elephantasia' album cover, and went on to become a renowned fantasy artist. 'Elephantasia' the album was originally released in 1972, fully exposing Dave's finger picking style, lilting vocal and his dalliance with the tape manipulation. It sold around 2000 copies and over the years became a talked about rarity, deemed too progressive for folk, too folk for the new prog heads. In best plot-thickening style, Dave tried two more releases and then disappeared. The scant sleeve notes recounted the songs' creation, featuring tales of experimentation in sound inspired by elephants, old memories recounted with all of the unpleasant bits edited out, storylines for escapists, the residents of St Agnes Park, broken beauty queens and a fat feline. It's an eclectic but beautifully fluent narrative from a finger picking maestro with a warm and engaging vocal style that wowed Peel and Whispering Bob back in the day. Dave Evans sadly died in April 2021. Earth Recordings is proud to reissue 'Elephantasia' for the first time in over 50 years, in collaboration with his estate and original Village Thing producer Ian A. Anderson. "Cult status guaranteed." Uncut. Classic Black Vinyl, DL card. CD Digisleeve.

Billed as "Canada's All Indian Band," the Tsimshian Nation garage band The Chieftones stormed the U.S. in the mid-'60s with their own brand of native rock n' roll. More Buddy Holly than Link Wray, The New Smooth and Different Sound compiles their debut single for Wisconsin's lauded Cuca label and adds a dozen previously unissued demos from their brief time in the Driftless region.

We are delighted to share a new concept classical series which is aimed at a new audience for classical music. These titles focus on composers and their most famous pieces of all time, whilst encompassed in beautiful packaging in an expressionist style which we aim to deliver for years to come. These hand-drawn artworks will have a premium feel whilst being accessible and interesting for new younger audiences.

Limited to 500 copies ww. Independent heavyweights Spearmint return this year to follow-up 2021's highly acclaimed 'Holland Park', with the superb new album 'This Candle Is For You'. Spearmint have been making great records for a couple of decades now: this will be their tenth album proper. Still the same line-up: Shirley Lee (singing, guitar), Simon Calnan (singing, keyboards), James Parsons (guitar, bass) and Ronan Larvor (drums). This album will be the 60th release on their own hitBACK label. Missed out so far? The new album provides the perfect place to start! The dizzying multiverse of an album covers a wide array of themes, including the search for a missing sister, the ways we remember lost loved ones, Prince's encounters with Joni Mitchell, the story of John Gavin, the James Bond star who never got to make a film, late-night drinking in Soho, the joys of B-movies & video nasties, changing attitudes to mental health, the plight and wonder of older cats, the reaction to the death of Sarah Everard, and the afterlife. Re-united with producer Rhodri Marsden (Scritti Politti), the band feel that this record is their best yet. Singer Shirley explains "We started off just wanting to make an album that would stand alongside our last one 'Holland Park', but it ended up surprising us - we love it!"

»Tropic of Capricorn« is the second album by Lawrence English and Werner Dafeldecker. Based on field recordings made by the prolific Room40 owner that were subtly but decisively altered with electroacoustic techniques through the German improv legend, these two long-form pieces blur the lines between acoustic ecology and aesthetic interventions, concrete local sound worlds and boundary-defying art. They put a focus on our relationship with nature as listeners as much as they call into question where nature ends and human perception begins. They are deeply confusing, disorienting perhaps, in the most beautiful ways.

English recorded the material that form the basis of the duo’s Hallow Ground debut on two different field trips. One led him from the Western coast to the Pilbara region in the North of the country called Australia, the other to the central desert into the lands of the Arrernte people. »These are vast spaces, and in some respects they shun contemporary ideas of civilisation which seek not to listen to the country,« says English. When recording the soundscapes, the artist put a focus on the residues of failed colonial aspirations. »The buildings and objects that remain from the failed cattle pastures and other endeavours create uneasy sound worlds of their own,« he says of the regions that are also places of extraction, especially the heavily mined Pilbara. »There is a distant drone of industry in even the most remote of places; an unsettled sense of heavy breath on the land.« He brought home a document of natural reclamation in time.

The rich source material was then given to Dafeldecker. Spatialising the recordings with transducers applied to different surfaces such as wood, stretched animal skin, glass, or metal surfaces and also re-recording parts of the recordings, he created discrete events that were inserted into, or rather enmeshed with English’s recordings. You’ll hear plenty of birdsong, insect noises and the sound of rain during these 39 minutes; the sounds of a life you can tap into if you tune into your environment. But there are also other things, things that are impossible to categorise even after repeated listens and that call into question whether or not those were really birds, insects, or the sound of rain in the first place. What »Tropic of Capricorn« invites its listeners to listen beyond the preconceived notions of how nature is supposed to be represented in sound and to instead embrace the immediacy of the sensation.

This is a presentation of Xexa's different sensibilities as a composer, musician and sound designer, mapping what are in effect her initial explorations with voice, rhythms, synths, ambience, ever searching for an organic final result. As a student at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (London) between 2019 and a still fresh 2023, she presented in her third year a portfolio that included what we can now listen as "Clarinet Mood", the final track on "Vibrações De Prata". Her intention was to «study the feeling of listening to music as an environment one inhabits and not as a sound that follows you throughout the day. Walk into, instead of listening to, an ambience». With no previous clarinet training, Xexa explores its palpable sound as a physical doorway to this realm.

Four other tracks ("Assim", "Nha Dêdê", "Fragmented Breath" and "Prendes Nh'Alma") formed part of what she named the 2021 Sound Calendar. Out of a (natural) total of 12 compositions, these four connect with other intimate moments to tell a broader story, one of fragility, «like a flower about to bloom, we can detect first glimpses of colour and form but can't yet divine its final form».

This sort of imaginative sonic micro-management can also be found on "Libelula", where the synth attempts to recreate the beating of a dragonfly's wings. Minute details are a major feature in jewelry, an art Xexa studied in her native Lisbon's António Arroio school. Free spirited as she is, Lisbon is merely a geographical location where she was born, no particular feeling of being Portuguese attached to her position in the world. So far, Xexa's origins in São Tomé and Príncipe and a prolonged stint in London (it feels prolonged, at such a young age) are the two other major environments that form her experience as a human being but also as an artist. We are extremely proud to have been able to access truly special creative, intimate moments and help bring out into the world this physical manifestation of beautiful contemporary music.

T4T LUV NRG presents “Name It”, the latest album by Oakland’s Bored Lord, aka DJ Daria. The internationally beloved producer and DJ has created a truly stunning album of impeccably produced and mixed work, each song an enticing chapter in a complexly woven story about love. This album of uninhibited, hook-laden tracks conveys a narrative of love that is not only romantic and personal, but also communal and familial— a love that refuses to limit itself to just two people, but instead spills forth into the world, embracing everyone open to its power. With her emotive, tenacious album, Bored Lord reminds us that to truly allow yourself to be enveloped in desire, you have to endure the pain that comes alongside it. You have to adapt and stretch yourself in order to experience the immense growth love has to offer. You have to believe there's more to this world than suffering and isolation. You have to look within and accept whatever you find, even if it is ugly or difficult. Love is the peace you find amidst the chaos of living, and it doesn't just fall into your lap. You have to want it. You have to be ready for it. And if you are ready, you have to name it.

As a producer known in no small part for her edits, Bored Lord presents “Name It” as a work undeniable in its artistry, completely authentic in its messaging, and absent of the industrial notion of production. The songs on “Name It” have instant hooks and each is deeply inspired by the genres Bored Lord loves—broken beat, drum n’ bass, jungle, UK bass, Florida breaks and house among them—but rather than simply reproducing, these tracks expand each genre beautifully. Daria’s technique is decidedly hardcore, with samplers, romplers and a bone dry aesthetic, each song and sound all her own. In the artist's own words “I want the industry people to be confused while the ravers understand the very moment they press play. I want to challenge everyone to name it.” And we expect that indeed they will, play after play after play. Now, close your eyes and believe there is more, more, more….

A hard one to put in a box when it comes to genre, floating somewhere between italo and synth pop, originally released in Switzerland in 1985. Written by German pop group Hongkong Syndikat, both tracks with a very distinct and soothing sound that's hard to forget.

"Underboard" is very cool paced downtempo number that builds up with layers of subtle percussion lusciously adorned by some heavy saxy reedsmanship and mysterious vocal accents with no real message - 100% chill o'clock served on ice.

Cedar Of Lebanon picks up the tempo a notch, once again setting the scene for the reeds to shine as the catchy melody is presented, beautiful 80's instrumentalism from a golden age, clearly not made in Ableton. B side features a respectful DJ tool style remix by Anatolian Weapons. Remastered at Manmade mastering in Berlin.

Powerfully epic breaky sound hailing from the UK during the early 90s. Beautiful tempo juxtaposition of fast passed driving beats pushed by low ph bass lines under slower piano riffs and patient vocal elements making it a hard one to forget.

Low end elements clearly carved from primordial UK Bass aesthetics taking the amen break to new plateaus already very much overlapping with Drum & Bass territory.

Ultra dreamy vocals on some kind of The Mamas and The Papas reincarnation, UK dreaming all the way. Heavy ending track vibes. In addition, Juan Ramos' masterful half tempo remix offers the listener a completely different experience with full respect for the original, what else to expect from someone with this caliber of dance floor education <3 meticulously remastered.

Will Anderson believes in true love—as both concept and catalyst, aspiration and inspiration. During his 34 years, the Hotline TNT founder and architect has found such love perhaps half-a-dozen times. Each instance has prompted some enormous swing of commitment, like a cross-country move or simply being honest about his budding attraction. It is a hopeful and vulnerable way to exist, a way to ensure maximum bruising during the fall of the breakup. And so far for Anderson, that is how it has always ended, whether the air has slowly seeped out of some once-full balloon or whether it has simply popped, those expanded feelings expelled in an instant. This tension is the brain, blood, and beating heart of Cartwheel, Hotline TNT’s second LP and an endlessly romantic testament to reaching for something that slips forever out of grasp. The byproduct of Anderson’s decades-long quest to pin down the surging sound long in his head, Hotline TNT has come to notice in the last four years through loose association with a feverish surge of shoegaze revivalism. And Hotline TNT indeed trucks in the touchstones you might expect: skywriting guitars that bathe in fluorescent hazes of distortion, blown-out drums that pound as though they’re trying to escape a concrete box, and honeyed vocals that try to rise above the chaotic mess in true-to-life mimesis.

Easy Listening Recordings is here, and to kick things off we've got a new three-track EP from Vancouver's Teen Daze.

We begin with the title track, Quiet City, and immediately conjure up images of late night drives through anonymous city streets. Brimming with emotion, and a gentle energy, this one could find itself at home in a warmup set, early in the night, or one of those aforementioned late night drives. No matter where you hear it, this is one of Teen Daze’s most beautiful tunes.

Life Style brings us out of the car, and onto the sidewalks of that once quiet city. Now there’s a bustling energy from crowds of people, steam rising from the sewers below. You’re navigating it all in stride, with Life Style in your headphones. This is City Music.

We start Side B with an ode to Vancouver, BC, aka The Glass City: Night Club. The soft, swung drums, the walking bassline, the dubbed out bongos; this one feels at home across the entire Lower Mainland. Maybe you’re taking a stroll along the Sea Wall, maybe you’re watching the sun set while sipping on something at Juice Bar, maybe you’re walking up to Paradise at 12 am. No matter how you might experience Vancouver, Night Club has got your soundtrack covered.

Finally, we wrap up this first disc for Easy Listening Recordings with a special vinyl-only track, called New Mood. Pulsating percussion lead this dream-like track through 4 ½ minutes of Balearic Bliss. A beautiful way to finish this first release.

Early support from:
Paula Tape, NIKS, Eug (Public Records), Pleasure Voyage, Masha Mar, Massimiliano Pagliara, Loz Goddard

Search Party is the debut album from pianist, Rupert Cox. Rupert has made a little following for himself already being a respected player for Myele Manzanza, China Moses, Chris Hyson and many more.

His debut album swings between laidback contemporary jazz and swirling electronics. There are mellow and moving moments alongside joyful, uplifting melodies and dancing rhythms.

The record has already won support from people like Deb Grant on BBC Radio 6 Music and is slowly developing an ardent following.

DJ Support:

Deb Grant (BBC Radio 6 Music) and Tony Minvielle (Jazz FM)

Jacob Collier: “Having known Rupert for more than a decade, I can honestly say that this kaleidoscopic beauty of an album does effervescent justice to his magnificent musicianship. It’s a journey for the soul! I can’t wait for the whole world to hear it.”

Brad Mehldau: “Music is all about storytelling for me at its base and it’s got that going on all the tracks… It really holds together as a singular voice.” “It feels like I’ve heard it before, like it has a familiarity, but it doesn’t sound like something or someone else.”

Error Subcutaneo was born under the sweltering sun of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, but their project portrays the colder, more urban side of life in the Caribbean, where cacophonous violence and Cold War monoliths collide with dreams of a better tomorrow The duo take elements of hip- hop, modular electronics, island syncretism, and bebop to twist and distort contemporary narratives on music composition, representing the greater movement of Latin American resistance directly from its epicentre Temporada Ciclonica is a recollection of alibis from a quenched island imaginarium. Palm trees dance in sync with the gales, an omen of the upcoming hurricane season. Pictographic technologies seek refuge in time's embrace, as eerie scents of petrichor and blood fill the corridors beneath the temple steps.

The cyclone's ravaging beauty and destruction bring rain, fertility and life to the land, an allusion to the cyclical nature of creation. Masters of musical past ride the storm's eye, a semiotic double- entendre on the spinning nature of the vinyl medium. A pupil glimmers from the dark, a kid rubs its belly in the womb. Press: Truth and Lies - review "a challenging but exhilarating journey through the minds of two young artists who's deep knowledge of local and international music places no harness on their creativity. Raw and instant, these boys look at the world as it is and let its contradictions flow into their creations. 9/10" Received airplay on BBC Radio 6 Music (Gilles Peterson), BBC Radio 3 (The Late Junction - Wolf Eyes' Mixtape) + The Lot Radio NYC - Marco Wibel - Darker Than Wax

Fire and water collide again: On her latest album "Wandering Through Time", Swiss sorceress ASHTAR opens up a menacing yet ethereal world of opposing forces, fans of emotional yet dirty Blackened Doom Metal should willingly enter. ASHTAR - a duo at first - emerged on the scene in 2015 with their critically acclaimed debut album, "Ilmasaari", voted by Tom G Warrior (Celtic Frost, Triptykon) as one of his favorite albums of the year in Deaf Forever magazine The follow-up, "Kaikuja", released in 2020, took the project's unique blend of black and doom metal to the next level. Since then, ASHTAR has shared the stage with renowned bands such as Inter Arma, Primordial, Bell Witch, Bolzer, and Schammasch.

Now, with "Wandering Through Time", frontwoman Witch N. takes the helm as a one-woman band, pushing the limits of her creative expression to new heights. On her latest offering, she aims to express the darkness, power, and magic of most notably female forces in nature in a saturnine and poetic way. The deeply personal songs take listeners on a journey through the darkest corners of the human soul while embracing the beauty of the natural world. They never fail to showcase Witch N.'s accomplished songwriting and her talents in delivering tortured, gritty screams as well as super- heavy, leaden guitar riffs. Consequently, she names metal masters such as Winter, Darkthrone, and Black Sabbath as her major influences.

From the gloomy and depressive "Into the Gloom" to the tragic tale of the Waterman in "The Submerged Empire", each track is a cathartic work of art. The lyrics transcend metal-cliches of fantasy and lore by telling stories about personal growth, finding soulmates within a cold world, and keeping one's own inner black flame alive. Recording and mixing of the album were handled by V. Noir at Inferno Studio in Switzerland. He also provided additional guitars and jaw harp. The album was mastered by Greg Chandler (Esoteric) at Priory Recording Studios in Birmingham, UK. The front cover photo was captured by Raphael Wolf, while Anti Graphic laid his skilled hands on the new logo design. For Fans of: Oranssi Pazuzu, Wolvserpent, Mizmor, Mantar, Blut aus Nord, Dark Buddha Rising, Eagle Twin, Glorior Belli

Limited edition 180g audiophile pressing, high-definition premium vinyl for super fidelity - the complete LP + 2 bonus tracks 'Monk's Dream' was the first album Thelonious Monk released on Columbia Records after his less than amicable departure from Riverside Records. Even though Monk had already recorded all the tracks on the album before (apart from Bright Mississippi), in a variety of settings, the powerful cohesion of the quartet this Columbia session produced a first-rate work worthy of the praises it received when released, and which it still receives today. It was Monk's best-selling album ever. "This important album, Monk's first after a long absence from the recording studio, is a stunning reaffirmation of his power as a performer and composer. It is a brilliant and absorbing program of five Monk originals and three standards (and they might just as well be originals, so startling is their transformation at his hands). This is a beautiful album in every respect, completely stimulating in each second of its more than 47 minutes" - ***** Pete Welding, DownBeat

180g virgin vinyl pressing, limited edition of 750 copies only - the complete album + 2 bonus tracks A superb performer with a real knack for the blues, Debby Moore (1924-2017) only recorded one LP. She sang with the bands of Earl Hines, Rex Stewart, and Count Basie, and mentored by none other than Louis Armstrong. On 'My Kind of Blues', the pinnacle of Debby Moore's career, she is backed by brilliant jazz soloists, including Harry "Sweets" Edison, Jimmy Jones, Barry Galbraith, and Elvin Jones. "As its title promises, My Kind of Blues captures a distinctly personal interpretation of familiar blues and jazz standards - Debby Moore's uncommonly warm and gentle vocals soften the blow delivered by some lyrics transforming their melancholy into profound compassion and understanding. Nuanced contributions from trumpeter Harry 'Sweets' Edison, pianist Jimmy Jones, guitarist Barry Galbraith, bassist George Duvivier, and drummer Elvin Jones further underscore the session's feather- light beauty." - **** Jason Ankeny, AllMusic

It was not only in Brittany that progressive rock bands went under the radar in the 1970s This was the case with the New Zealand quintet Dragon, born in 1972 in Auckland. Author of two albums released by Vertigo, certainly appreciated by amateurs, the group unfortunately did not meet with the expected success in its country of origin, which led it to emigrate to Australia from 1975. From there, they would spin the perfect love with the kangaroo public and the rest of the world in the 80s. Since then, between splits and reformations, they are still touring! But let's come back to this second album "Scented Gardens For The Blind" published for the first time in 1975 and today emerged from the shadows by the Replica and Musea labels. Note that from the first title, they try to get out of the shackles of progressive pop with Ivan Thomson's keyboards which push the combo to venture towards very English lands that the Zombies then Argent knew how to borrow. It is both marked by the 70s and a real desire to seduce the charts. What they did next in Australia. For the time being, on most of the album, the work remains a paragon of progressive rock marked by long guitar solos and beautiful flights of keyboards. Masterfully reissued.

Swarm Intelligence’s unique take on industrial techno is back, with the second instalment on his self-titled label, coming this November.

Fiercely intense, dramatic and cutting-edge, Swarm Intelligence’s distinctive take on techno has garnered him a solid following amongst the true underground of the scene. Following on from the widely supported launch of his label, SWRM002 is a striking next step – a testament to the quiet confidence of a skilled artist unafraid to eschew norms and carve his own path. This second EP continues to draw inspiration from dystopian themes of new and imagined technologies and their resulting societal impact.

‘Critical Signal’ was produced during the global pandemic, and iteratively refined over the following years. Grinding basses and tense atmospherics sit atop a thunderous four-to-the-floor. Its message to humanity is as relevant now as it was then – “you are resilient, you will prevail”. In ‘Mass Disinformation’ a visceral, bleak and unsettling sonic landscape punctuated by a slamming groove is an apt metaphor for the psychological warfare being unleashed on the world today.

Opening the B-side, the uplifting glory of ‘Digital Immortality’ lifts the tone of the release. Here, Swarm’s signature glitchy, broken beats complement beautiful melodic swells and a rolling bass line. The track imagines a digital afterlife where, upon uploading our consciousness, we leave our bodies behind. Bringing the EP to a close, “Singularity Dawns” is the most freeform, cinematic composition. Its obscure broken rhythms and traversing sequence tells the tale of an AI becoming self-aware and discovering its capacity to feel.

This recorded autobiography of Catherine Howe, age 20, briefly appeared in 1971. Too young for memoirs, most artists have barely established any sort of musical competence by the age of legal adulthood, let alone compositions matching the maturity and complexity of Howe's. What A Beautiful Place, however, is a prodigious effort wrought from the melancholy ruminations of post-adolescence. The album's twelve songs unfold like a classic bildungsroman, beginning in the smoke-stained industrial county of Yorkshire, transformed by the electrified creative landscape of mid-century London, and retiring to the warm pastoral bliss of the county of Dorset on England's southern coast. Produced by noted jazz pianist Bobby Scott, the LP_oft-mistaken for a concept album_was available for only a month in the summer of 1971, disappearing after Reflection Records' shuttering in 1971.

This recorded autobiography of Catherine Howe, age 20, briefly appeared in 1971. Too young for memoirs, most artists have barely established any sort of musical competence by the age of legal adulthood, let alone compositions matching the maturity and complexity of Howe's. What A Beautiful Place, however, is a prodigious effort wrought from the melancholy ruminations of post-adolescence. The album's twelve songs unfold like a classic bildungsroman, beginning in the smoke-stained industrial county of Yorkshire, transformed by the electrified creative landscape of mid-century London, and retiring to the warm pastoral bliss of the county of Dorset on England's southern coast. Produced by noted jazz pianist Bobby Scott, the LP_oft-mistaken for a concept album_was available for only a month in the summer of 1971, disappearing after Reflection Records' shuttering in 1971.

This second release by London based Artist Dying in Beauty, on his own imprint - Rhythm Without Reason, is a venture into Darker, sweeping Techno with Jackin' claps on the A-side, and Deep Dub goodness on the B side that keeps you waiting until it drops.

Mastering by Mattias Fridell.

Music made for Clubs, not for Feeds :).

RWR 2023

Available for the first time on vinyl, Whitney Houston's The Preacher's Wife: Original Soundtrack Album is the best-selling gospel album of all time. Released on November 26, 1996, the album features songs performed and produced by Houston, who also starred in the film. From the moment you press play, your heart will move to soul-stirring vocals like the hauntingly beautiful "I Believe In You and Me," and the spiritual "Joy To The World," "I Love The Lord," and "Step By Step." The album features guest artists including Shirley Caesar, the Georgia Mass Choir, and Houston's mother, the legendary Cissy Houston. This 2LP vinyl features a new essay by producer Mervyn Warren and fan testimonials of love.

Fittingly, for the release of "White Bread, Black Beer", which was a beautiful expression of the creative energy Gartside had sustained over two decades at that point, Scritti Politti returned to Rough Trade for the first time since the mid-1980s. Humbly described by Green on release as "an album of me playing around in the back room... just me alone at home", "White Bread, Black Beer" was universally acclaimed. Described as "a return to the top" by The Guardian, "the best record of this restlessly self-critical career" by Uncut and "a sophisticated, gloriously gentle thing" by Pitchfork, the record was duly nominated for the 2006 Mercury Prize (and was only pipped by Arctic Monkeys" debut).

Available for the first time on vinyl, Whitney Houston's The Preacher's Wife: Original Soundtrack Album is the best-selling gospel album of all time. Released on November 26, 1996, the album features songs performed and produced by Houston, who also starred in the film. From the moment you press play, your heart will move to soul-stirring vocals like the hauntingly beautiful "I Believe In You and Me," and the spiritual "Joy To The World," "I Love The Lord," and "Step By Step." The album features guest artists including Shirley Caesar, the Georgia Mass Choir, and Houston's mother, the legendary Cissy Houston. This 2LP vinyl features a new essay by producer Mervyn Warren and fan testimonials of love.

Available for the first time on vinyl, Whitney Houston's The Preacher's Wife: Original Soundtrack Album is the best-selling gospel album of all time. Released on November 26, 1996, the album features songs performed and produced by Houston, who also starred in the film. From the moment you press play, your heart will move to soul-stirring vocals like the hauntingly beautiful "I Believe In You and Me," and the spiritual "Joy To The World," "I Love The Lord," and "Step By Step." The album features guest artists including Shirley Caesar, the Georgia Mass Choir, and Houston's mother, the legendary Cissy Houston. This 2LP vinyl features a new essay by producer Mervyn Warren and fan testimonials of love.

Auf ihrem gegründeten Label "Rare Diamonds Productions" veröffentlichte Metal-Queen DORO Pesch weitere "Diamanten" ihrer so erfolgreichen Karriere. Dazu gehört ihr achtes Soloalbum "Fight", welches am 19. August 2002 erschien. Die zwölf Songs kommen nun als Re-Release in limitierter curacao transparenter Gatefold LP auf Vinyl.
DORO und Box-Fans erinnern sich: Das Titelstück "Fight" wurde zur Einlauf-Hymne von Doro's Freundin, der mehrfachen Weltmeisterin Regina Halmich.
Dazu gibt es mit "Descent" einen Song mit dem unvergessenen Peter Steele (Type O Negative) und die wunderschöne deutsche Ballade "Hoffnung". Nicht zu vergessen: "Always Live To Win" - ein Kracher, der nicht nur die Lebensphilosophie der Sängerin widerspiegelt, sondern bei DORO-Tourneen bis heute auf (fast) jeder Setlist steht.

Außer Peter Steele waren folgende Gastmusiker an "Fight" beteiligt: Russ Ballard, Jean Beauvoir, Andreas Bruhn, Chris Caffery und Jürgen Engler.

Synth pioneer and musical polymath, Wally Badarou is a genius. But you know that already. A vinyl version of his majestic Colors Of Silence has been craved by the Balearic cognoscenti ever since its low-key 2001 release. Indeed, when we first started work on Be With, we asked some pals with exquisite taste what their dream release would be. We asked Balearic legend Moonboots and, without hesitation, he said Colors Of Silence by Wally Badarou. We didn't know Wally had made this album. And most still don't. But that's about to change.

Colors Of Silence is ostensibly a new age album. As ever though, Wally's sophisticated synth textures and expressive keyboard runs are so full of character, so full of life, that this work of art transcends any easy genre categorisation. It's simply stunning, throughout. It sounds like A.r.t. Wilson or Suzanne Kraft, with traces of CFCF and Jonny Nash. But it was made a good decade earlier than the work of these modern giants. Sometimes, it doesn't seem far from some Larry Heard albums.

Island Records founder Chris Blackwell's friend Nathalie Delon asked Wally to provide music for the yoga DVD she was to release. Lack of time on both sides made them agree on using "quality demos" Wally had in his ideas bank. It's understandable why Colors Of Silence remains somewhat of a lost gem. As Wally explains: "Total lack of promotion made it an 'intimate' release, which was exactly what I was looking for: just a buzz-maker and time-buyer that would allow me to concentrate on the real thing as soon as I'd have time, which could also turn into a rare collecting item later, once the final versions made their way to success. You never know."

Over the years, Colors Of Silence has become a true cult record for the ambient/Balearic heads.

The beguiling but brief "Dance In The Dust" is the shuffling, hyper-percussive, hypnotic opener. It gives way to the deep serenity of "Amber Whispers". It's a gliding, divine, mini melodic masterpiece. It'll make you swoon in its extreme beauty. The bright and breezy "Where Were We" follows, a tropical, reggae-tinged bounce through the islands.

The uptempo groove is maintained on the keys-drizzled soca-funk of "The Lights Of Kinshasa" before Side A is rounded out with "Pictures Of You". It starts with stately, melancholic, unadorned piano and this alone would make for a beautiful song. But Wally always gives us that bit extra and he effortlessly introduces warm, dreamy pads and minimal, slo-mo percussion to augment a frankly stunning piece of work.

Ushering in Side B, Wally's mesmeric piano playing is to the fore again, in the intro to uber-chilled "Serendipity For Two". The playing becomes more mellifluous as the track progresses and adds warmth through exotic percussion, woodwind, sweeping synths and digi-drums. It has echoes of, er, Echoes. It segues seamlessly into the more propulsive, wavy "Smiles By The Millions". If you're not nodding and grinning along widely to the gently throbbing bassline underpinning this, we can't help you. The meditative "Higher Still" follows, cinematic in feel and ever so slightly sinister with the strings. It sounds particularly Badalamenti-esque, if you ask us.

That unmistakable, almost peculiar Badarou funk - so lyrical, so texturally rich and so rhythmically spacious - is all over "Oriental". Next up, "Days To Wonder" brings the serenity back, insistent yet melodic keys, as if played in a place of worship, coupled with birdsong, conjure a kind of instant nostalgia for halcyon days of youth. The contemplative "Dawn Of Europa" is a sombre, beatless, ambient journey whilst the glorious, too-brief "Crystal Falls" features soft percussion and sparkle before fully glistening with some gentle head-nod beats. Wally brings this incredible collection to a mellow, tender close with the graceful "Purple Lines".

There can be few artists more under-appreciated given their vast influence than Wally Badarou. His solo work practically defined the sound of the Balearic DJs of the 1980s, and thus the more sophisticated sound of dance culture thereafter. A synth specialist, Badarou was the long-time associate of Level 42. He was one of the Compass Point All Stars (with Sly and Robbie, Barry Reynolds, Mikey Chung and Uziah "Sticky" Thompson), the in-house recording team of Compass Point Studios responsible for a series of albums in the 1980s recorded by Grace Jones, Tom Tom Club, Mick Jagger, Black Uhuru, Gwen Guthrie, Jimmy Cliff and Gregory Isaacs. Badarou's keyboard playing could also be heard on albums by Robert Palmer, Marianne Faithfull, Herbie Hancock, M (Pop Muzik), Talking Heads, Manu Dibango and Miriam Makeba. He also produced Fela Kuti. Phew!

Meticulously remastered and cut by both Simon Francis and Cicely Balston respectively, it has been pressed to the highest possibly quality at Record Industry in Holland. Special thanks must go to Apiento from Test Pressing who first introduced us to Wally and facilitated all those early zoom meetings. It couldn't have happened without his help. Not least on pulling the art together, too, which features striking original photography by Mads Perch. Benji Roebuck of Roebuck Press did his thing brilliantly in art working the whole package to completion. All in all: essential.

Orbiting Human Circus' new album is called Quartet Plus Two. What is Orbiting Human Circus? It is the continuing evolution of Julian Koster (Neutral Milk Hotel, The Music Tapes), whose music and storytelling under this moniker have encompassed immersive theater and a Night Vale Presents podcast, as well as more traditional albums. Central to the album are the "two" referenced in the title: North and Romika, the singing saws, whom Koster doesn't "play" so much as encourage. "I think saws sing like angels," says Koster. "I always have. Since I was a little boy. When you encourage them to sing, they do so earnestly and beautifully. It's an honest and real sound." The origins of Quartet Plus Two are as magical and seemingly unlikely as everything else in Koster's career. While walking through New York's Central Park, he stumbled upon Gauvain Gamon and Kolja Gjoni_a standup bass player and drummer, respectively_playing Gershwin and Mingus, and a musical partnership was born. Pianist Benji Miller rounds out the titular quartet, with Koster's longtime collaborators Robbie Cucchiaro (horns) and Thomas Hughes (orchestral arranging and chimes) of The Music Tapes also contributing to the record. The music they make together is at once familiar and unrecognizable, as Koster and Orbiting Human Circus interpret jazz compositions by Irving Berlin, Duke Jordan, George and Ira Gershwin, and others, alongside Koster's three originals. The use of the term "composition" is intentional and speaks to Koster's relationship with the music of Quartet Plus Two in far more evocative terms than "cover" or "standard." "To me it was always magical that there were these people called `composers' who created symphonies and popular songs for other people to breathe into life and existence all over the world and throughout time," he explains. "They traveled into our homes as sheet music, endless recorded interpretations, or were passed from hand to hand, village to village, like folk tales, changed by every hand that touched them. That music was something that came to life in our own living rooms and lives, songs that our grandmothers might have sung in a choir that we might sing just as earnestly. I just think it's nice, and I would love to share that feeling in any way we can."

Orbiting Human Circus' new album is called Quartet Plus Two. What is Orbiting Human Circus? It is the continuing evolution of Julian Koster (Neutral Milk Hotel, The Music Tapes), whose music and storytelling under this moniker have encompassed immersive theater and a Night Vale Presents podcast, as well as more traditional albums. Central to the album are the "two" referenced in the title: North and Romika, the singing saws, whom Koster doesn't "play" so much as encourage. "I think saws sing like angels," says Koster. "I always have. Since I was a little boy. When you encourage them to sing, they do so earnestly and beautifully. It's an honest and real sound." The origins of Quartet Plus Two are as magical and seemingly unlikely as everything else in Koster's career. While walking through New York's Central Park, he stumbled upon Gauvain Gamon and Kolja Gjoni_a standup bass player and drummer, respectively_playing Gershwin and Mingus, and a musical partnership was born. Pianist Benji Miller rounds out the titular quartet, with Koster's longtime collaborators Robbie Cucchiaro (horns) and Thomas Hughes (orchestral arranging and chimes) of The Music Tapes also contributing to the record. The music they make together is at once familiar and unrecognizable, as Koster and Orbiting Human Circus interpret jazz compositions by Irving Berlin, Duke Jordan, George and Ira Gershwin, and others, alongside Koster's three originals. The use of the term "composition" is intentional and speaks to Koster's relationship with the music of Quartet Plus Two in far more evocative terms than "cover" or "standard." "To me it was always magical that there were these people called `composers' who created symphonies and popular songs for other people to breathe into life and existence all over the world and throughout time," he explains. "They traveled into our homes as sheet music, endless recorded interpretations, or were passed from hand to hand, village to village, like folk tales, changed by every hand that touched them. That music was something that came to life in our own living rooms and lives, songs that our grandmothers might have sung in a choir that we might sing just as earnestly. I just think it's nice, and I would love to share that feeling in any way we can."

"Jazz Contrasts", einer der herausragenden Titel in Kenny Dorhams ohnehin schon unglaublichem Katalog, wird von Kevin Gray direkt von den Originalbändern gemastert und in einer Deluxe-Verpackung untergebracht, was diese Ausgabe zur ultimativen Edition macht. Kenny Dorham ist einer der größten Jazz-Trompeter aller Zeiten. Zu Beginn spielte er in den Big Bands von Lionel Hampton, Billy Eckstine, Dizzy Gillespie und Mercer Ellington sowie im Quintett von Charlie Parker. Dorham spielte nicht nur als Sideman in einigen der besten Bands der damaligen Zeit, sondern leitete auch seine eigenen Gruppen. Jazz Contrasts wurde zwischen dem 21. und 27. Mai 1957 im Reeves Sound Studio in New York aufgenommen. Auf der Aufnahme ist Kenny in glänzender Form neben dem ebenso großartigen Sonny Rollins am Tenorsaxophon, Hank Jones am Klavier, Oscar Pettiford am Bass, Max Roach am Schlagzeug und der meisterhaften Jazz-Harfenistin Betty Glamann zu hören.

Music compilation and art book. We open the GLITZERBOX again and look into a glittering kaleidoscope of music and illustration. Crossing genres, in handmade editions and with great attention to detail, Jimmy Draht fuses artistic ideas into a new whole.

The vinyl contains beautiful folk songs, experimental collages, field recordings and lo-fi pop. All tracks are exclusive or have never been released on vinyl before.

Featuring music by: Maxine Funke, Tenniscoats, Mouth Harp Ensemble, How to count planets, A Happy Return, Benoit Pioulard, New North Wales, Dump, My Two Toms, Oro Swimming Hour, Matthew de Gennaro, The Gentlist, Andersens, Jam Money, Michael Tanner.

The artists, whether they paint, draw, scribble or cut, whether analogue or digital, whether they are graphic artists, illustrators or visual artists: they combine image and sound, discover connections and show that music can create images and vice versa.

Art by Petra Péterffy, Laurent Impeduglia, Nadine Spengler, Michael Dumontier, Tomoko Mori and Nicholas Stevenson.

A limited and numbered edition of 300, with hand-printed 3 color silkscreen book. Compiled by Markus Acher (The Notwist) and Jimmy Draht.

Since the late 90s JIMMY DRAHT publishes elaborately designed music-graphic-comic-text hybrids, most of them handmade and screenprinted. Initiated by Marion Epp, often in cooperation with a music label, artists from various genres are invited to participate. Each release is accompanied by exhibitions and music events.

Bands such as Calexico, The Notwist, Lali Puna, Neoangin, Pram, Otomo Yoshihide, A Million Mercies, Ted Milton, MS John Soda, Schwermut Forrest, Tied & Tickled Trio have participated (to name a few).
In terms of design we were lucky to showcase the works of ATAK, Anna Sommer, Knust, CX Huth, Katz & Goldt, Judith Zaugg, Thomas Ott, Jochen Gerner, Martin tom Dieck, Jim Avignon, Le Denier Cri, Elvisstudio and many more.

ALIEN TRANSISTOR was founded in 2003 by Markus & Micha Acher of The Notwist. The concept of the label is to produce music that has a musical or personal reference to the Notwist microcosm: From electronic soundscapes to abstract hip-hop to laptop-treated contemporary, from processed oriental music to Nick Drake-inspired songwriting. Alien Transistor respects no musical boundaries.

Frozen reeds presents the only recorded duo playing of two legendary musical figures. Derek Bailey and Paul Motian – two longstanding pioneers of distinct strains of improvised music – came together for a brief period of collaboration in the early 1990s. Tapes of their two known live performances (one at Groningen’s JazzMarathon festival in the Netherlands, the other a year later at New Music Cafe, NYC) were recently unearthed in the Incus archives, and their contents will surprise and delight fans of both supremely idiosyncratic musicians.

The Groningen concert (1990) is released on vinyl, while the New York date (1991) is included with the digital download, free of charge for all purchasers. A conversation between Bill Frisell and Henry Kaiser on Bailey, Motian, their intertwined backgrounds, and the significance of these recordings is included as sleeve-note insert.

“This is one of those moments that we’re always hoping for, and it's so rare. And it's so hard to talk about, because it's so beautiful. It's like you're seeing some new species of plant that you never knew existed or something.” – Bill Frisell

Each player bringing decades of crucial experience to their encounters – with histories taking in vast swathes of the development of jazz and free improvisation – these fleeting shared moments provide some of the most riveting playing in the career of either.

There is precious little recorded evidence of Motian as a free improviser, but his mastery is beyond any doubt in these recordings. From knife-edge precision to textural haze, Motian’s palette is astounding, but perhaps even more impressive is his confidence in the non-idiomatic conversation itself. Pushing far beyond the established vocabulary of free percussion, his playing allows a measured degree of repetition to take form, giving rise to almost song-like structures. The covert influence of the drummer’s work on the post-rock genre (just taking its first nascent steps in the early 1990s) is made overt here.

In turn, Bailey allows some of his most unashamedly melodic passages to unfold without a mote of his trademark contrariness or antagonism. Patterns that would be acerbically disrupted elsewhere are allowed to settle, with variations of note and timbre introduced more gradually than is typical of his playing. When forceful changes in dynamics or tone do arrive, they do so in such close tandem with Motian’s rhythmic and textural transitions as to beggar belief. The guitarist’s duos with percussionists (Jamie Muir, Han Bennink, John Stevens…) arguably provide some of the highlights of his discography. ‘Duo in Concert’ represents a strong addition to the list.

An elegant sense of construction pervades the sets, as the duo ably fulfil the promise of free improvisation: carving out hugely compelling, expertly balanced, and thrillingly paced music as if from thin air.

2LP - 180 Gram Vinyl Trumpeter Raynald Colom immediately captivates with the hauntingly beautiful dream-like opening notes of his new live recording, A Million Dreams. Colom demands the listener's attention throughout the cohesive eight-track outing, alongside pianist Tony Tixier, Joe Sanders on double bass and Francesco Ciniglio on drums. French born and Barcelona-based, Colom is a seasoned musician inspired by many genres and artforms, but with firm roots in flamenco. A Million Dreams documents a truly magical live experience, transporting listeners to the Italian town of Pontinia, where the album was recorded.

2LP - 180 Gram Vinyl Trumpeter Raynald Colom immediately captivates with the hauntingly beautiful dream-like opening notes of his new live recording, A Million Dreams. Colom demands the listener's attention throughout the cohesive eight-track outing, alongside pianist Tony Tixier, Joe Sanders on double bass and Francesco Ciniglio on drums. French born and Barcelona-based, Colom is a seasoned musician inspired by many genres and artforms, but with firm roots in flamenco. A Million Dreams documents a truly magical live experience, transporting listeners to the Italian town of Pontinia, where the album was recorded.

“More than anything, I wanted to make an album that was generous, that was useful,” says Ben Folds. “I want you to finish this record with something you didn’t have when you started.” Indeed, Folds’ masterful new collection, What Matters Most, isn’t so much a statement as it is an offering, an open hand reaching out to all those wounded and bewildered by a world that seems to make less and less sense every day. Recorded in East Nashville with co-producer Joe Pisapia, the album marks Folds’ first new studio release in eight years, and it’s a bold, timely, cinematic work, one that examines the tragic and the absurd in equal measure as it reckons with hope and despair, gratitude and loss, identity and perspective. The songs are bittersweet here, hilarious at times, but often laced with a quiet sense of longing and dread: a text message goes unanswered; an old classmate descends into the dark depths of internet conspiracies; a relationship unravels in the middle of a lake. And yet, taken as a whole, the result is an undeniably joyful record that refuses to succumb to the weight of the world around it, an ecstatic reminder of all the beauty and promise hiding in plain sight for anyone willing (and present enough) to recognize their moments as they arrive.

New West Records is proud to present Strange Country, the new full-length album from the young and gifted cousin-duo Kacy & Clayton. The ten-song collection was recorded over seven freezing Canadian winter days at Ghetto Box Studios, a historic community hall turned studio. The product of a lifetime of deep kinship, the record showcases the purity and astounding beauty of Kacy Anderson's voice, one that has been notably compared to Fairport Convention's Sandy Denny. Only Clayton Linthicum's intricate guitar work, expert time changes and vocal harmonies could forge the foundation for Kacy's voice to soar even higher - the result being an enormously satisfying and organic album. Drawing a wide swath of inspirations ranging from the Greenwich Village folk scene to the ancestral music of Southern Appalachia and the British Isles, the cousins fashion songs steeped in those traditions, simultaneously paying homage and building on those sounds.

Get On Down is proud to announce a vinyl reissue of one of the West Coast's most revered, yet underrated, hip-hop classics and quite possibly one of the best hip-hop albums of all time: The D.O.C.'s No One Can Do It Better. Produced entirely by Dr. Dre and out of print on vinyl in the U.S. for several years, this limited edition colored LP features original album artwork and thirteen tracks of rap heaven. When his debut album hit in mid-1989, The D.O.C. was in the vortex of the biggest hip-hop happening on the planet: the rise and rule of N.W.A. The group’s breakout album Straight Outta Compton had hit one year prior and had created both controversy and worldwide critical acclaim. As rap history buffs and industry insiders know, The D.O.C. was a crucial behind-the-scenes member of the N.W.A. inner circle - his most important role in the early days of the group was writing many of Eazy-E's rhymes, including his hit 1988 single “We Want Eazy.” He would go on to write for Efli4zaggin, The Chronic and Doggystyle. But The D.O.C. wasn’t in N.W.A. and never wanted to be - he was his own man, with his own vision. And after Compton proceeded to blow up the next crew album was No One Can Do It Better. Significantly, it was the first album where Dr. Dre showed his greatness as a solo producer for one MC. Boasting four singles - “The D.O.C. & The Doctor,” “Mind Blowin’,” the smash “It's Funky Enough” and “The Formula” - the album is flawless from beginning to end. Of particular note beyond the singles is “The Grand Finale,” which was the last time that Ice Cube, M.C. Ren and Eazy-E would rhyme on a track together. The D.O.C. showed on this amazing record that he was one of hip-hops most talented MCs. He nearly died in a horrific car crash as the album was catching fire in the late summer of 1989 which damaged his vocal cords, but he survived and continues to make new music and act as a sounding board for Dr. Dre to this day. More recently a documentary covering D.O.C.'s life titled The DOC debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival with fans eagerly awaiting a wider release. This album is a must have for any Hip-Hop fan

Grafh is one of only a handful of rappers from the early 2000s NYC scene to successfully transition into the new underground movement. After releasing two solo LPs and collab albums with Flee Lord and DJ Shay (RIP) in the last four years, he recently dropped his highest profile project to date, Art of Words, entirely produced by the top emcee/producer in the game, 38 Spesh. The 10-track offering reaffirms Grafh is a force to be reckoned with on the mic. To add gas to the already blazing fire recruited an all-star guest line-up for the album that includes Conway The Machine, Rome Streetz, Bun B, Dave East, and Giggs.

Daryl Runswick is a musical polymath, a top Jazz double bass player he has played with the likes of Stan Sulzmann, Alan Branscombe , Henry Lowther and Tony Coe to name but a few but is also a TV composer, was bassist and then pianist for Cleo Laine and Johnny Dankworth and is also a highly regarded contemporary classical composer. In Young Man Songs we find Daryl in song writer mode, teaming up with lyricist Kerry Lee Crabbe, these songs come from the 80 when Daryl was a young man trying to sell his musical wares these are more than demos, beautifully recorded and performed, echoes of Bacharach but ultimately Daryl has his own unique musical voice.

This album, except for one track, dates from the 1982 sessions, wonderfully recorded by John Burns.

Matt Berry releases a unique collaboration with esteemed Library Music label KPM. KPM is renowned for providing the musical bedrock for so many classics of British TV and international cinema, using the best British composers such as Keith Mansfield, Alan Hawkshaw, John Cameron and Alan Moorhouse to do so. ‘Simplicity’ follows in the footsteps of these giants and is a worthy successor to them. Alongside his formidable acting career, Matt Berry has released a series of acclaimed albums on the Acid Jazz label. Ranging from the folk stylings of ‘Kill The Wolf’, the ambient electronica of ‘Music For Insomniacs’, to the psych rock of ‘Blue Elephant’, these have marked Berry out as an impressive musician and recording artist in his own right. Embodying the form of KPM’s original LPs geared towards film and television pitching, the album consists of 11 sharp and vibrant instrumentals, which will no doubt be heard in productions for many years to come. Released in special collaboration with Acid Jazz, the album is presented in a beautiful graphic sleeve, with notes that allude to the original KPM releases, for something that is instantly hip and familiar, yet unmistakably new.

The Blips self titled debut, 'The Blips', struck lightning when Little Steven's Underground Garage declared "Inside Out" The Coolest Song In The World in the spring of 2021. And here we are with The Blips, 'Again'. Back with more boogie, beast and beauty

This band swaggers like The Stones, Haggards like Merle, and snots like Mike Ness. 'Again' carries you on a not-too-long trip through a varied landscape of far out, well made and dusty rock songs that stick to your black boots and go with you when you go. While there are four different lead singers and writers throughout this album, it is apparent 'Again' is executed by a band, rather than disparate musicians playing along on a track in a cold studio. A band that sweats. The Blips haven't "grown" or "matured" with their "sophomore effort" --These ideas don't apply to the Blips. The band is wholly made up of veteran front men of some of the most revered bands of the Birmingham rock scene. Making records is what all of these guys do on the regular. Once upon a time, The Blips came together, rose above, braved the elements, forced the issue, carried the weight and dealt with the demons that require the making of a record. And now they have done it . . . 'Again'.

Faitiche releases the album Improvisations And Edits, Tokyo 26.09.2001 on vinyl for the first time. For the original 2002 CD on Soup-Disk and Sub Rosa (Audiosphere), Jan Jelinek and the Japanese trio Computer Soup (Satoru Hori – trumpet, Osamu Okubo - toys & electronics, Kei Ikeda - toys & electronics) presented eight tracks all recorded one afternoon in the trio’s living room in Tokyo. They are excerpts from a joint group improvisation that subsequently underwent rudimentary editing, on which Jelinek and Computer Soup worked separately.

Jelinek met the three musicians at his first concert in Japan in 2001, at Tokyo’s Yellow club, where Computer Soup performed as the support act. Delighted by their free improvisation on pocket-sized electronic toys, trumpet and oscillators, he arranged to meet Hori, Okubo and Ikeda a few days later for a session at their apartment. The resulting three-hour recording, made on their living room floor, formed the basis for Improvisations and Edits. A few days later, Jelinek returned to Berlin. Over the following months, they separately chose passages from the recording that were then edited and assembled into an album.

Formed in Tokyo in 1996 as a quintet (including Shusaku Hariya and Daisuke Oishi), Computer Soup began by performing with acoustic instruments on the streets of Shibuya. Ikeda und Okubo soon switched instruments, and from then on the group’s minimalistic but densely woven sound was defined by electronic toys, oscillators and Satoru Hori’s trumpet. Their first album was released in 1997 on the Japanese label Soup Disk. Eight further releases followed.

From the reviews of Improvisations and Edits, Tokyo 26.09.2001 in 2003:

"The mind-blowing first track Straight Life is perhaps the best example of what the album has to offer. Jelinek's trademark smears and washes occupy the midrange, like ghosted images of Joe Zawinul's electric piano floating quietly in the wind. DSP jazz modes are set against a walking bassline (possibly computer generated) and a gently tooted trumpet complete with Harmon mute, a dead ringer for Miles Davis' Prestige-era ballads. The effect is something like a three-dimensional film, with different realities on each layer; images of what jazz was manage to interact with a real-time demonstration of all it could be."
pitchfork, 2003

"Improvisations and Edits is a warm and mellow Ambient release with beautiful glitch fragments, static noise bursts and real trumpet intersections. However, there are times where it is the exact opposite, mainly effect-laden, overdriven and bouncy with a lack of melodies and focus, so be aware of these specific tracks."
ambientexotica, 2003

"Often deliciously dreamy and hazy, Improvisations and Edits is like listening to an exceptional instrumental jazz performance while half-conscious or under some sort of chemical influence. Computerised blips and bleeps, loops and treatments and murky sonic skips curl up around desolate horn notes and scattered instrumental noises that culminate in elegant music."
exclaim.ca, 2003

This brand new EP from the Cornish improv noise / post-rock / shoegaze trio is their first release since their acclaimed second album Sleepover, which came out at the end of 2021. It features two long tracks and vocals from their Sonic Cathedral bandmate Lorena Quintanilla from Lorelle Meets The Obsolete. “One of our recording sessions resulted in a couple of tracks that had a very different energy to what we’ve recorded to date because there was less of a motif-based approach to them, which made them kind of scenic,” explains Mildred Maude guitarist Matt Ashdown. “We felt like they were the best opportunity we’ve had for doing a collaboration. We’ve played a few shows with Lorelle Meets the Obsolete and really clicked – we love what she does in that band and also as J. Zunz – so we asked her to do both tracks. It feels completely right – a natural pairing.” “I love collaborations and this one was really special,” adds Lorena. “I feel honoured to be part of this EP. I always enjoy seeing Mildred Maude, I feel that one can grasp eternity during their sets. With ‘Half The Sky’, the vocal melody and lyrics came out immediately, I felt like I was in a room jamming with them and everything was slowly flowing and growing. As for ‘Shifting’, it was another story. It is such a beautiful song, and I didn't want to mess it up. They liked one of the takes I sent, so I kept on that track for the first part and for the end I looped vocals on my DL4.” “Vocals change everything and give it a different air of completeness, but Lorena understands our music, so she was able to maintain its looseness,” concludes Matt. “We’re stunned by what Lorena has done; she’s given both tracks a different life

The debut album of soul singer, Maiiah is also the third full-length by Hamburg collective, Angels of Libra, following on from the success of their collaboration with Irish singer, Nathan Johnston.

Maiiah is a singer with roots in the Balkans but residing in Düsseldorf, the city of the legendary Unique Club and the label of the same name. Soul left its mark on her early on, and when she met Hamburg producer, musician and composer Dennis Rux (Hamburg Spinners/Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Studios) during the pandemic, the two realized they shared a similar musical vision. Their common love of soul music and old rhythm & blues brought them together, and they started recording music together in Hamburg with the Angels of Libra. Lo and behold, their first single together "Obey" got into rotation at tastemaker station Radioeins and confirmed them as a winning team.



Following in the footsteps of many a classic soul tune, second single, "No No No (I'm So Broke)" is a social critique and commentary. In it Maiiah literally wears her heart on her sleeve, as she sings about the back- breaking job she was working at the time and the poor earnings as a hotel service employee.



But naturally life has more to offer than just work and so a large part of the songs on this record revolve around love. Maiiah gives her own spin to the classic "I'm A Good Woman", which the spirited singer has performed live many times. The story goes that the late DJ and Unique Records label owner Henry Storch sent Maiiah the original song by Barbara Lynn to comfort her after a heavy heartbreak. The song thus holds a very important place in Maiiah's heart, and it was released as the third advance single, recorded during her tour with Nathan Johnston at Bekegg Studios in Rastede, Lower Saxony.



With Dennis Rux at her side and the powerful arrangements of the Angels of Libra, Maiiah has found the right partners for her personal debut. On "Kava" & "Plenty of Life", Hamburg's jack-of-all-trades Carsten Meyer aka Erobique is featured as a guest on the keyboards, so here the rhythm section of the Hamburg Spinners comes together again. The love for old soul, rhythm & blues and the analog sound of the sixties is also fully expressed on this album. The longings and deep feelings in Maiiah's lyrics are carefully picked up musically, whether as a classic R&B song as in "Please Come Home" or in boogaloo party mode as in the Croatian-sung "Kava", the fourth single. "Plenty of Life" is a song for self-cheering and a call to open up to the beautiful sides of life despite all adversity. In "I wanna go", on the other hand, Maiiah longs for her Croatian homeland. The crowning finale of the album is the intense "Infinity" about life's phases and the recurring ups and downs as the essence of human existence.



The ingredients of Maiiah and the Angels of Libra's recipe are authentic lyrics, to the point arrangements, tight horns, rousing background vocals and the spirit of the golden age of soul music, as it was shaped by labels like Motown and Stax. Recorded in part with original equipment from the 50s. Producer Dennis Rux says, "We wanted to create a record that people would go dance to at the Komet" (a neighborhood club on St. Pauli in Hamburg, the band's second home). The joint album combines the Hamburg soul of the Angels of Libra with the passion of Maiiah, who can fully live out her temperament on the mic.

Underground house and disco maestro Mark E makes a welcome return to Delusions following hot on the heels of last years Leaning Into The Light EP. The revered producer has been steadily doing his thing for almost two
decades now, racking up releases on Running Back, Golf Channel and Spectral Sound to name just a few. His sound is a unique, sublime vision of US deep house which transcends the dance floor and he proves his salt once again on the four new tracks that make up this stunning EP.

Title track Enchantment Under The Sea sets the mood with a minimal, low slung drum machine groove laying the foundation for layers of Rhodes and synth chords conjuring up images of a sub-aquatic vision of depth and beauty. Up next we have Zone Tonight, the epitome of a late night city scape driving track utilising heavily saturated drums, subtle acid line, distant piano melody and moody Detroit pads to draw you into its deep confines.

Flipping over we have Vertigo which treads a similar sonic path as Mark effortlessly fuses rich harmonies and entrancing melodies, inviting listeners to lose themselves in its depths. Closing out this blissful journey we have Bodymap which drops the BPM a little more with simple understated drums, melancholic string line and pulsating bassline.

The Zone Tonight EP is a testament to Mark E's unparalleled prowess in crafting immersive, uncompromising and emotive soundscapes for your aural pleasure. He also created the original artwork for this release.

Different elements, opposite and contrasting, can be indissoluble and necessary for each other.

The beauty of nature is balance in diversity.

“Sol Inspired” blends minimal sounds, dub influences, dark and hypnotic melodies.

Refined rhythms intertwine with enveloping bass lines, modular sequences lean on spatial atmospheres and textures, for a journey of total sound immersion.

George Coleman (born March 8, 1935) is an American jazz saxophonist best known for his work with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in the 1960s. Coleman was born in Memphis, Tennessee and learned to play the alto saxophone in his teens. After his work with Ray Charles, George started working with B.B. King in 1953 and switched to playing the tenor saxophone.

George Coleman was a member of legendary outfits such as Max Roach’s quintet, The Slide Hampton Octet, Miles Davis’ Quintet and The Chet Baker Quintet. The list of his collaborations is impressive to say the least, Mr. Coleman recorded and performed with greats such as Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Charles Mingus, Ahmad Jamal, Idris Muhammad, Pharoah Sanders, Ornette Coleman, Melvin Sparks, ArtBlakey…and many others.

Coleman was named an NEA Jazz Master, was added to the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2015, and received a brass note on the Beale Street Brass Notes Walk of Fame. George Coleman’s performances were included on classic recordings released by prominent labels from the likes of Blue Note, Atlantic, Prestige, Strata-East, Muse, Verve and Impulse!

On the album we are proudly presenting you today: Amsterdam After Dark (Recorded in 1978 at the famous NY Sound Ideas Studio and released on Timeless Records in 1979) the listener is treated to six majestic tracks of the highest caliber and features a remarkable outing of advanced musicianship by jazz-giants in their prime, delivering an inspirational gem of an album.

The all-star line-up includes Sam Jones (Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Ben Webster) on bass, Billy Higgins (Donald Byrd, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane) on drums and Hilton Ruiz (Roy Brooks, Rashaan Roland Kirk, Sonny Rollins) on piano. Most players featured here were also part of the legendary ‘Eastern Rebellion’ collective responsible for releasing multiple ground-breaking albums over several decades.

Amsterdam After Dark shows off George Coleman’s mastery of the sax, his brilliant vintage techniques and deep soulful tones. Coleman plays from the heart and is on top of his game. Expect both original compositions as well as standards, beautiful ballads with elegant (yet fierce) solos alternating between the instruments, growling blues-oriented themes…this is a contemporary sounding Hard Bop & Post-bop crossover album and a must have for any self-respecting jazz fan or collector!

In ¿Quién?, Sylvia Meyer combines music, image, sound and poetry. Her lyrics, so subtle, acquire a singular dimension. They grow and become an essential lyricism that vindicates art and music. Almost 30 years after her last album release, Sylvia Meyer released ¿Quién?, an album where everything happens between his piano and his voice. Its exquisiteness, sensitivity, luminosity, and refinement coexist with arranging complexity and virtuosic, achieving a unique texture and a voice that penetrates souls to nest there, and grow beauty. The musical atmospheres and the universes of beauty to which the songs that make up this album transport us rescue that sound so complete and, at the same time, so inevitably montevidean, which travels absolutely free. Meyer is one of the most important Uruguayan artists of the last four decades. Composer and owner of a unique and special voice. Everything that sighs fills it with beauty and mystery. His music manages to transcend the borders of cinema, theater, concerts and art. "Because a the music, the only thing that interests is music" repeats Sylvia Meyer

Up wurde 1998 veröffentlicht und ist das elfte Studioalbum von R.E.M.

Das Album, das die Singles ”Daysleeper”, ”Lotus”, ”Suspicion” und ”At My Most Beautiful” enthält, ist von elektronischer Musik inspiriert und nutzt eine breite Palette von Instrumenten, um eine verträumte Poplandschaft zu schaffen, die nachdenklich und stimmungsvoll ist.

Diese erweiterte Deluxe-Edition zum 25-jährigen Jubiläum bietet außerdem ein komplettes, bisher unveröffentlichtes Live-Set vom Auftritt der Band in der 90er Jahre HitTV-Serie Party of Five. Es war das erste Album der Band ohne Schlagzeuger Bill Berry. Das Album war von elektronischer Musik beeinflusst, und Stipe erklärte, dass mehrere Songs das ”religiös-spirituelle versus wissenschaftlich-technisch-moderne Zeitalter” thematisieren.

Es erreichte Platz 3 der Billboard 200 und Platz 1 der deutschen Charts.

Flora Yin Wong’s ravishing interiority finds lucid expression on an absorbing second album for Modern Love, manifesting her instrumental storytelling in a syncretic bind of supernatural themes with hyperrealist, concrète sound design.

Through ten parts, Flora crystallises the ennui that followed an uncanny, disorienting trip to East and Southeast Asia. “On an unexpected stopover in Hong Kong after five years away, my friends took me to a Bazi reader one night - something I was curious about, but much of a ritual for them - ” Flora recalls. “My father told me that when I was born, he had obtained an auspicious reading that since stayed like a guiding talisman with me. It was almost past midnight but people were still lined up, rather shaken and visibly upset, to see the old man. He had kind eyes and asked me why I was there and I said I was at a crossroads. He asked me my time and date of birth, and told me to pick one of his four little white canary birds as a vessel for divination.”

This was the final stretch of an ultimately aimless few months across the continent, including a 20 year overdue return with her father to his adoptive family in his hometown Kuala Lumpur - for many reasons, ended up as a strange and uncanny trip. She spent solitude in a haunted house during the quiet snowfall of Kyoto, where she might have offended some spirit... and nights in mountain temples with South Korean monks, and an equally strange feeling return to the Island of the Gods.

“It culminated in what felt like a final disillusionment with Asia - sudden deaths and a breakdown in beliefs - somewhere I never really have or will be able to connect with. The process of the reading summoned a final blow to my gut - an overwhelming sense of rootlessness, and understanding that all there is is emptiness and entropy. No birth-divined protection, just a measurement of the night sky based off nothing and everything.”

Heavy with a sense of nightmarish dissociation and grief, Flora read about Giuseppe Tartini’s ‘Violin Sonata in G Minor’, aka the Devil’s Trill Sonata, a notoriously tricky c.18th composition which attempted to transcribe music heard in a dream, which the composer felt he could never fully bring into reality. It’s this soporific motif that binds and underpins ’Cold Reading’, finding Flora chasing the dragon of fleeting fantasy through passages of etched melancholy, pinched with hypnagogic jerks that linger in the memory.

From her use of the ‘Devil’s Trill’ Sonata in ‘All My Dreams are Nightmares’ through evocations of subtropical humidity in the Bryn Jones-esque, resonant hand-played percussion of ‘Konna’ and ‘Banjar’, to a breathtaking dreampop denouement ‘Nectar Dripping’ and the Enya-like lush of ‘Beautiful Crisis’, Flora blooms her ideas with an openended ambiguity so often missing from so called Ambient music, ushering the listener into a soundworld that disturbs and displaces, just as much as it calms.

Wilsen are a Brooklyn-based trio comprising Tamsin Wilson (guitar/ vocals), Johnny Simon Jr. (guitar) and Drew Arndt (bass). Tamsin Wilson, the songwriter, guitarist and singer for the band Wilsen, composed many of the songs for full-length debut ‘I Go Missing In My Sleep’ in a tiny Brooklyn apartment in the fleeting pre-dawn moments when New York City is mostly still. These beautifully crafted original pieces capture an almost impossible sense of delicate quietness, and when it came time to record them with the band - Drew Arndt on bass and Johnny Simon on guitar – they unfurled at a nexus of hushed and heartracing, intimate folk paired with muscular yet restrained sonic experimentation.

With a voice of pure gold and a startling sensitivity for heartfelt pop songwriting, on No Reino Dos Afetos (In the Realm of Affections), Berle firmly embraces earnestness, through starry-eyed Brazilian love songs, ambient vignettes, warm, home-cooked beats and gentle strokes of MPB genius.

Maceió, the capital of Brazil’s Alagoas state on its sprawling east-coast, is home to pastel coloured colonial houses, white sand beaches and a brilliant young composer, poet and multi-instrumentalist named Bruno Berle.
With a voice of pure gold and a startling sensitivity for heartfelt pop songwriting, on No Reino Dos Afetos (In the Realm of Affections), Berle firmly embraces earnestness, through starry-eyed Brazilian love songs, ambient vignettes, warm, home-cooked beats and gentle strokes of MPB genius.

“It’s an album that was built from my desire to find beauty”, Berle explains - his simple, graceful words mirroring the graceful simplicity in his music. But amongst the simplicity, the compositions, arrangements and productions on No Reino Dos Afetos tingle with nuance and detail.

On the contemporary R&B inspired lead single “Quero Dizer” - produced by Berle and longtime friend and collaborator Batata Boy - the swirling, lo-fi, kalimba and guitar-fronted beat is turned into a feel-good hit by the ingenuity of Berle’s honey-soaked vocal melody.

Powerfully intimate, “O Nome Do Meu Amor” (My Love’s Name) is a guaranteed tearjerker, with Berle’s stunning voice soaring over gently plucked acoustic guitar and the textural flutter of soft movement, as if we hear him writing the song in the moment.
Drawing upon a close-knit, collaborative scene of Maceió artists and musicians, (of which Berle and Batata Boy are vital members), Berle also recorded some of his friends songs on the album, including João Menezes’ “Até Meu Violao”, the album’s beautifully laid back sunshine soul opener, which has all the charm of early-70s João Donato.

Having cut his teeth in soft-rock group Troco em Bala, and more recently finding himself embedded in both Rio and Sao Paulo’s contemporary music scenes - collaborating with the likes of Ana Frango Eletrico, who took the photo for the album cover - No Reino Dos Afetos is as musically diverse as Bruno himself. It’s hazy indie rock (“É Preciso Ter Amor”), calming ambient and field recording (“Virginia Talk”) as well as Berle’s own take on West African High Life (“Som Nyame”).

Instantly recognisable as a truly special artist, Berle’s character fills every corner of the sound, which is unsurprising considering he played most of the instruments.

Paul Hillery, Plattensammler, Archivar und DJ, präsentiert mit 'Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours Volume Two' 17 brillant psychedelische und funky Juwelen, die er auf seiner unermüdlichen Suche nach musikalischen, Generationen und Genres umfassenden Schätzen entdeckt. Liebevoll handverlesene, verlorene Nuggets auf privat gepressten Obskuritäten, vergessenen Studiotapes oder tief in digitalen Ordnern versteckt, warten darauf, wieder gehört zu werden.

Bas Jan return with a polished and poignant collection of perfectly-crafted pop songs that retains their authentic indie edginess. 'Back To The Swamp' is a heady tussle between their incorrigible DIY ethics and new responsibilities. Serafina Steer, Charlotte Stock, Emma Smith and Rachel Horwood cast an examining eye over modern times, lost love, Tarot intuition and long days in an everyday swamp. Awash with lush chorale effects, orchestral hewn loops, pin sharp electronic beats and sublime harmonies. Back To The Swamp is filled with thought-provoking stories, it's a reflective worldview. It's a polished and poignant collection of perfectly-crafted pop songs that retains their authentic indie edginess. These new studio recordings feature more accomplished pop production; filled with cerebral one-liners that pluck at the senses. And, there's a nod to an eclectic mix of influences; The Pet Shop Boys, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, Kate Bush, Heaven 17 and Jon Hassell by way of Brian Eno. Witches, Tarot readings, road signs, Salt-N-Pepa namechecks and a river all cried out, welcome to the swamp_ "Beautifully fractured art-pop" MOJO

Remastered Re-Release des 1988er Albums des belgischen Synth-Pop-Trios, mit dem dadaistischen "Rap" von "Peanuts", durch den Telex fast bei Motown gelandet wären.

Udo Jürgens, wohin man auch hört! Nach dem Chart-Stürmer "da capo, Udo Jürgens - Stationen einer Weltkarriere" und dem kürzlich veröffentlichten Kinderliederalbum "Die Blumen blühn überall gleich" erscheint am 10. November die Edition "Die schönsten Lieder zur Weihnachtszeit". 3 CDs mit 55 Songs in 5 Sprachen, darunter deutsche und internationale Weihnachts-Klassiker, ein Duett mit José Carreras und einer von Pepe Lienhard neu arrangierten Version des spaßigen "Merry Christmas allerseits". 14 der Titel sind erstmals digital verfügbar, 2 bislang unveröffentlicht. Die einzigartige Sammlung liegt auch auf Vinyl vor. /// CD1 - Weihnachten zu Haus - Beinhaltet vierzehn Kompositionen von Udo Jürgens, darunter den Titel "Schneerose" aus dem Jahr 1967, der nach längerer Zeit wieder digital verfügbar ist. Dazu fünf absolute Klassiker: "Leise rieselt der Schnee", "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht" (das berühmteste Weihnachtslied der Welt), "Oh du Fröhliche", (ein Lied aus Deutschland zu einer Melodie aus Sizilien), "Süßer die Glocken nie klingen" und "Der kleine Trommlerjunge" (1941 in den USA entstanden). Als Bonustrack "Merry Christmas allerseits", eine Live-Aufnahme aus Udos letztem Konzert in Zürich. Mit einer humorigen Einleitung des großen Meisters. /// CD2 - Weihnachten in aller Welt - Enthält internationale Weihnachtsklassiker wie "Jingle Bells" und den Welthit "White Christmas", geschaffen von Irving Berlin, 1947 von Bing Crosby zum ersten Mal veröffentlicht. Dazu zwei Songs auf Französisch, "O Tannenbaum" und "Minuit chrétiens", auch bekannt als "O Holy Night". Ferner alle Lieder von Udos Weihnachtsalbum "Buon Natale da Udo Jürgens", das in den 70er Jahren in Italien veröffentlicht wurde und hier erstmals digital verfügbar ist. Als Bonustrack "Yo creo", die spanische Version von "Ich glaube". /// CD3 - Zeit der Lieder, Zeit der Stille - Die Botschaft von Christi Geburt geht weit über das eigentliche Fest hinaus. Getragen von der Hoffnung, dass es Frieden werde, dass wir Menschen Freunde sind, ein Lächeln uns verbindet, dass Liebe regiert. Und dass jedes Jahr alles besser wird. Udo hat viele Songs über diese Themen geschrieben. Die emotionalsten davon gibt es auf der dritten CD zu hören. Darunter auch ein Duett mit dem Klassik-Star José Carreras "Mein größter Wunsch". Zum guten Schluss noch einmal das amüsante "Merry Christmas allerseits", neu arrangiert und eingespielt von Pepe Lienhard, selbstverständlich mit Udos unverwechselbarem Gesang. Ende gut - alles Udo!

Black Truffle is thrilled to present a previously unheard performance by rudra veena master Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, recorded in the North Indian city of Vrindavan at the Druhpad Samaroh festival in 1982. Z.M. Dagar was a nineteenth-generation descendant of the Dagar family of musicians, famed for their profoundly meditative approach to the tradition of Hindustani court music. Perhaps the most revered members of the family were the brothers Mohinuddin and Aminuddin Dagar, who played a key role in reawakening interest in dhrupad in the mid-20th century. The great exponents of the tradition from whom Z.M. Dagar descended were all singers, and dhrupad is essentially vocal music. However, as Z.M. Dagar explained, the veena family of instruments plays an important role in the education and practice of dhrupad singers, especially as an aid to mastering the fine microtonal nuances of pitch essential to the genre. Introduced as a child by his father to the rudra veena, a large and low-pitched veena amplified by two enormous gourds, Z.M. Dagar became the first modern dhrupad musician to perform with it as an instrumental soloist, giving his first recital at the age of 16. Devoted to the instrument throughout his life, he made innovations to its design and materials, as well as introducing novel techniques (such as playing without the use of the traditional wire plectrum, resulting in the remarkable warmth of his tone). In the great Dagar family tradition, his approach to the various ragas that make up the dhrupad repertoire was stately, slow, and considered, with a great emphasis on the alap, the heavily improvised exposition section. True to form, in this recording of Dagar performing the night raga Yaman Kalyan, the alap section stretches out to more than forty minutes of slow-motion bliss, a frozen tanpura drone hovering above Dagar’s gracefully bent notes and elegantly twisting phrases. In the alap’s first half, Dagar’s figures are so intently focused on the lower reaches of the rudra veena’s range that they register more as shudders and moans than melodic patterns. As the performance continues, he slowly climbs in pitch, though continuing with the same intent focus on the articulation of single notes and subtle microtonal variations. This leads to the jod section of the performance, which, though still accompanied only by the tanpura, gradually takes on a more rhythmic character. Developing almost imperceptibly over the course of nearly thirty minutes, the jod moves from the stillness of the opening alap to a rapid pulse that announces the closing section of the piece, where Dagar is joined by Shrikant Mishra on the pakhawaj (a double headed hand drum). Where many performers use the final section of the raga as an exercise in unrestrained virtuosity, Dagar and Mishra subtly weave a web of finely shifting accents and hypnotic melodic variations, bringing the recording to a fitting conclusion while remaining within the meditative space occupied by the performance as a whole. Adorned with beautiful archival photographs of Dagar taken by Swedish percussion legend Bengt Berger and accompanied by detailed notes from Bradford Bailey, Vrindavan 1982 is a stunning document of music unmatched in its patient focus and mysterious emotional depth. .

Als echtes kulturelles Referenzmedium vervollständigt Arte seine Vinyl-Sammlung mit einem neuen Band: Arte Reggae! Nach der Crème de la Crème des Jazz, des Soul und des Electro, finden Sie hier alle von Arte ausgewählten Reggae. Mit : Bob Marley & The Wailers, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Winston McAnuff, Tiken Jah Fakoly, Altha & Donna, Alborosie, Biga*Ranx...

Live in Brooklyn was recorded at the iconic Brooklyn Bowl in New York on December 22nd 2022 at Matisyahu’s annual Festival of Light. The release features live versions of his hits such as “One Day” and “King Without A Crown”. As well as cover tracks, written by his son Laivy, that they perform together. The first single, “One Day” will be released on June 2nd. The album will be released on June 30th, which is Matisyahu’s birthday. This show was also recorded visually. We will have individual clips of each track to post to socials ahead of the release. This release also takes place at the end of a 15 stop tour, and one week prior to his opening slot for 311 at Red Rocks.

Semisonic - eine der meist unterschätzten Alternative-Rock-Bands der Jahrtausendwende meldet sich nach über 20 Jahren mit einem bemerkenswerten neuen Album zurück.

Die Songs balancieren hier auf einem schmalen Grat zwischen roher Energie und zarter Schönheit, sie finden die Balance zwischen der Kraft des Power-Pop und der Intimität des Akustik-Sounds. Bassist John Munson und Schlagzeuger Jacob Slichter haben ihre Leistungen fein abgestimmt, um Wilsons helle, beschwingte Melodien mit einem Hauch von Melancholie und Dunkelheit zu durchdringen, die ständig am Rand lauern.

Während es für eine Band wie Semisonic leicht gewesen wäre, in Nostalgie zu schwelgen, blickt 'Little Bit Of Sun' stattdessen mit Wertschätzung in die Vergangenheit, anstatt sich nach ihr zu sehnen.

Es verbindet eine tiefe Dankbarkeit für die bisherige Reise mit einer ansteckenden Vorfreude auf alles, was noch kommen wird

Two unreleased tracks from Brazilian Thrash Punk Metal gods, Ratos de Porao, recorded in 2022 on the same sessions as their "Necropolitica" album. Accompanied by beautifully shocking full color artwork this mean 7" presents two unreleased tracks by the kings of venomous metallized Hardcore Punk. Recorded in the same sessions as their "Necropolitica" album, these two bangers show a band at the top of their game after 40 years of career, as aggressive, rebellious and powerful as ever. Long live Ratos de Porao!

After a three-year musical odyssey into the unknown, Renceau steps back into the limelight and unveils EXPLORE001, the first release on his new label EXPLORE.

Available in beautiful blue marbled vinyl, this EP features a handpicked selection of four tracks from Renceau’s treasure trove of unreleased material.

Side A packs a punch with two hard old school tech-housey club-killers, that harken back to the golden era of electronic music, evoking the spirit of iconic artists like The Sharp Boys, Umek and Player, while infusing a modern hardgroovey touch reminiscent of X-Coast. Guaranteed floor-fillers!

As you flip to side B, you’ll discover the intimate and introspective side of Renceau. These tracks delve into the soul, serving as a heartfelt dedication to his grandfather, who passed away a few years ago, but also as a dedication “to you”, as written in the deadwax.

This versatile 12”, full of tools, is one to keep in the bag. With EXPLORE’s promising future, anticipate a wide arrange of very diverse releases ahead. Buy on sight!

Dark Red Vinyl. Lambent Material is the debut album by Eluvium , the moniker for composer Matthew Robert Cooper 's sonic experiments and explorations. First released in May of 2003, Lambent Material was immediately recognized as much for its artful simplicity as it was for its deceptive complexity - an album of melodic austerity, alien transmissions, and titanic waves of cathartic noise. Previously only available on vinyl as part of Eluvium 's Life Through Bombardment Vol. 1 box set (a 7xLP collection released in 2008 that has been sold out for well over a decade), Lambent Material - Anniversary Edition finally gets its first standalone vinyl release. Beautifully remastered for vinyl by LUPO at Loop_O Mastering, it is packaged in a full-color jacket and heavyweight inner sleeve with fully restored original artwork.

blue repress !

Nearly 15 years have passed since the original release with all tracks lovingly remastered for this new remastered edition; which also includes STL's first ever remix and sounds just as beautiful as the day we first heard it!

As Bleep so elegantly stated, "Deep, reduced dub-techno with ethereal production nuances from Stephen Hitchell and Rod Modell. Both original tracks here reveal the duo's obsession with the likes of Maurizio, Basic Channel and Chain Reaction. Features a dreamy, minimal house reduction from STL.

First Word Records in collaboration with Heavenly Sweetness proudly bring you a 'Beautiful' new album from the formidably funky French duo, Souleance.

So the saying goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder (or perhaps in this case, the ear!). How we define beauty varies from person to person. Be it a meal, a landscape, a picture, a record… Appreciating and admiring beauty could be considered an art in itself, and one that Souleance have made a rule of life. This ethic is transposed into their own craft, used as fuel to turn beautiful moments into music.

This 15-track album seeks to convey this through an assortment of sun-saturated grooves of different shapes and sizes. While remaining true to their style of creating cut & paste sound collages and incorporating dusty samples, this album seeks to expand upon their own sonic path. Fulgeance lays down masterful work on keys, beats and bass, with Soulist the driving force behind song composition and percussive scratching. Comb...

Multidisciplinary artist GAIKA returns with a new track titled “LADY” featuring bbymutha from his forthcoming album, Drift out on September 8th.

Thrashing drums and droned out guitars take immediate effect on “LADY” but it’s the two mavericks' electrifying chemistry that is the driving force of this track. Enlisting KIDÄ (Yves Tumor) on production with additional contributions from Azekel (Gorillaz) and Max Winter, alternative rock and audacious rap come crashing together as GAIKA and bbymutha flex their lyrical prowess, unapologetically expressing their devotion to their lovers on this twisted, feverish affair.

Newly signed to Big Dada Recordings, home to Roots Manuva, Yaya Bey, Kae Tempest, Brian Nasty and more, GAIKA jumps back into music with new invigoration after delving into work as a composer to unveil Drift - his most expansive work to date. The visionary invites listeners on a high-speed journey where love, pain, brutality and beauty collide to produce a vivid and provocative cinematic masterpiece. The sonic universe of Drift is the most stylistically accurate representation of GAIKA’s personal tastes to date, stitching musical influences past and present such as Prince, Wu Tang Clan, Massive Attack, John Coltrane, Pink Siifu and A$AP Rocky to land on a gritty, distorted sound pulsating with an unwavering, formidable energy that’s disruptive yet timeless.

Drift is 14 tracks of nostalgic escapism, a shape-shifting body of work with hip hop and club music cultures at its core, as those simply run through the veins of GAIKA. Analogue and retro in feeling, Drift’s psychedelic feel is formed by incorporating 90s grunge, dark wave, post-punk and alt-rock into its tapestry. It’s a representation of his heritage and environment, featuring calypso steel pans to gospel vocals, reverberating dub to frenetic rap and elements of sound design taken from recordings of the real world. GAIKA’s music transcends borders and his nomadic nature means he simultaneously belongs and doesn’t, his music cannot be confined to just one genre and this unique new record further cements him as one of the most progressive artists of our time, telling the tale of modern day renaissance man driving away from the economic hierarchy he doesn't believe in.

GAIKA endeavoured to create a waking dream by constant participation in communal art making, removing the separation between art and life, his imagination and community and breaking the boundary between real life and any spectacular representation of it. He set up a number of situational arts facilities in the heart of London including shows at ICA, 180 the Strand, Now Gallery and as the world reopened, created pop up galleries, studios, exhibitions and raves with the intention to enhance the experience of real life by dreaming. To achieve this coherently and authentically the process became akin to a form of psychological examination of memories made before music “mattered” to GAIKA - before becoming commodified, individualised and his name capitalised.

Drift became the term used to describe the creative happenings in these spaces and the name for the collective of people who made this record. GAIKA is the central writer and composer working closely with KIDÄ on production and a group of classically trained musicians with contributions from Azekel, Charlie Stacey, Brbko and The Narrator over an extended period of time where they recorded music late into the night, night after night.

Anlässlich seines 40-jährigen Künstlerjubiläums wollte Howard eine wirklich einzigartige Werkschau zusammenstellen. "Celebrate It Together" ist die erste Anthologie, die sich mit seinem gesamten Katalog auseinandersetzt, von der Originalversion von "New Song" bis hin zu einem 2023-er Elephant Talk-Remix, der den Song in einen modernen Electronica-Kontext stellt.

Diese "Very Best Of 1983- 2023 - Celebrate It Together" enthält Songs aus seinem klassischen Katalog der Warner Music-Ära, sowie von seinem unabhängigen Dtox-Label.

On his third voyage as Skyway Man, artist + producer James Wallace is still seeking answers beyond the stars and still coming back with more questions in the form of ten brilliant songs. On its surface, 'Flight of the Long Distance Healer' registers as another concept album replete with aliens and alternative philosophy, but this time around, Wallace coats the glass with a vital layer of self-reflection. Like a West Coast Dr. John—but more preoccupied with flying saucers than voodoo dolls—Skyway Man is in the business of opening new aural worlds, cracking open reality just enough to get the message through. 'Flight of the Long Distance Healer' sparkles and blinks, whispers and moans—hugely enjoyable music rendered in imaginative and gleaming style. There are hints of the polyrhythmic cinematic sensibility from Wallace’s contributions to the Joe Pera television series, rhythms of the Stax-inspired Spacebomb house band, and ripples of the current East Bay scene outside San Francisco. In a real showcase for the extended Skyway Man family, Wallace has coaxed personal and masterful performances from the likes of Erin Rae, Vetiver’s Andy Cabic, pedal steel wizard Spencer Cullum, Kelly McFarling, and more. Cooking up genres in such a way as to keep their nutrients intact; he packs prog, blues, glam rock, acid folk, swamp boogie, and future folk into a beautiful Martian bouillon.

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.

2023 Repress

Reiko Kudo first debuted on the Tokyo underground music scene in 1980 with NOISE, a duo which apart from herself under her then maiden name Reiko Omura on voice, guitar and trumpet featured Tori Kudo on organ. Their only album TENNO (1980 on Engel) is probably one of the most outstanding and uncompromising records of all time.

Like other pioneering female producers from Japan such as NON (of NON BAND), PHEW and HACO, who had all begun their startling careers in the early days of the japanese Punk era, Reiko Kudo can surely be regarded as one of the most unique, uncategorisable and daring voices in the entire field of electronic and experimental music ever.

RICE FIELD SLOWLY RIPING IN THE NIGHT was REIKO KUDO's second album under her own name. It features TORI KUDO (MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ) and SAYA and TAKASHI UENO (TENNISCOATS) on various instruments. The recordings took place in 2000 at Reiko' s and Tori's house in the rural surroundings of Shikoku island.

All recorded music on this album sounds like it originates in a parallel dimension where time and key signatures simply don't exist, Some might describe this as outsider music, but this doesn't really begin to do justice to the quality of the tracks, there is nothing accidental or forced here, this is simply music created in a very different way. Yet again REIKO KUDO had conceived of something utterly beautiful.

"After producing the album "Souvenir de mauve" with Maher Shalal Hash Baz which we released on our label Majikick, the idea came to us, to release Reiko Kudo's work. For Reiko's work, we brought our recording equipment from Tokyo to Shikoku and recorded the entire album at her house.

The piano was positioned in a room with a high ceiling. We would set up our small recording equipment in the room and started to record. The basic tracks were recorded without any rehearsal and just a few overdubs were added on top of it. To have a distant sound on the recording, Tori played trumpet in the next room. The choir was standing outside the house, singing "Enya-totto, enya-totto" through the open window. It was early spring, I remember that it was still a bit cold and the members of the choir were freezing outside.

Reiko plays only at certain times of the day, so that we were able to complete only two or three recordings a day. Therefore we had plenty of free time. We went to a hot spring, to a cafe, or we tried pottery on a spinning wheel at Tori's workshop. It was a very rewarding time.

When this album was finished, we brought it to her to listen to. She said happily "I think this is the best work I have ever done." We felt that all our efforts were richly rewarded. Secretly, we thought the same, so we are delighted that this album will be re-issued." - Saya and Ueno (Tenniscoats), Tokyo 2018

Originally released on Majikick Records, Japan, 2000 Restauration and mastering by Detlef Funder at Paraschall Mastering, Düsseldorf. Vinylcut at Calyx, Berlin Translation by Miki Yui and Claus Laufenburg. Many thanks to Reiko Kudo, Tori Kudo, Saya and Takashi Ueno, Satoru Higashiseto.