Einige werden diesen Moment kennen: Plötzlich ist alles klar. Als sich Lulu (Electric Moon) und Oli (ex-Urlaub in Polen) bei einem Konzert im legendären Vortex Surfer Musikclub in Siegen über den Weg laufen, wissen beide noch am selben Abend: Wir sind eine Band. Sie erzählen es Falko, der gerade mit seiner instrumentalen Post-Metal-Band Sarkh den Club verwüstet hat. Wenige Monate später entstehen bei den ersten Proben die ersten Songs - von Oli geschriebene Gedichtfragmente und Wortspiele, Melodielinien und Ideen, die von der Band aufgegriffen und an den jeweiligen Instrumenten verfeinert wurden. Das Debüt WHITE CLOUDS entstand in weniger als einem Jahr - aufgenommen, gemischt und gemastert in Falkos Underground-Tonstudio Institut Für Angewandten Krach. Während dieser Zeit besucht die Band eines der letzten Konzerte der wunderbaren Noise-Post-Math-Rock-Band Shellac in Amsterdam. Alle drei sind gleichermaßen tief beeindruckt und bewegt von dieser Show und lassen den Geist von Steve Albini in ihr Debüt einfließen, dass sie ihm schließlich widmen. Hinzu kommt ihr ganz eigener Drift - Schmerz und Hoffnung, der unbedingte Wille zum Rock'n'Roll, Tiefgang und Steilflug, hochdynamische, verspielte, hypnotisch treibende Passagen und immer wiederkehrende Melodien mit Nachhall sowie die Verbindung zwischen den drei Musikern versprechen ein Debüt und Live-Konzerte mit Yeah-Faktor.
Bartees Strange begann die Arbeit an "Horror" in seinem Homestudio. Eine Session mit Yves und Lawrence Rothman (Yves Tumor, Lady Gaga) lieferte das rhythmische und klangliche Rückgrat für große Teile des Albums. Nachdem Bartees Strange Jack Antonoff (Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey...) kennengelernt hatte und die beiden schnell Freunde wurden, arbeitete Strange an Material für Antonoffs Band Bleachers und Antonoff an "Horror". Die beiden beendeten die Arbeit am Album gemeinsam, indem sie die Songs roh bearbeiteten, editierten, arrangierten und sie in Kleidung kleideten, die Angst einflößt. Während des gesamten Albums legt Strange eine schwierige Wahrheit nach der anderen ab. Auf den 12 neuen Tracks des Albums finden sich genreübergreifende Fäden der Musik, die sein Vater ihm nahegebracht hat - Parliament Funkadelic, Fleetwood Mac, Teddy Pendergrass und Neil Young - die mit Stranges Interesse an Hip-Hop, Country, Indie-Rock und House verschmelzen. Seit dem Release seines 4AD-Debüts "Farm to Table" (2022) spielte Bartees Strange neben eigenen Headline-Touren (und einem Auftritt beim letztjährigen Reeperbahn Festival) im Vorprogramm von Acts wie boygenius, Clairo, Dijon und The National. Während eine Tour zum neuen Album noch angekündigt werden wird, gibt es schon eine Reihe von Release-Shows in 2025 in New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. und London. Geboren in Ipswich, England, als Sohn eines Militärvaters und einer Opernsängerin, verlebte Bartees Strange eine Kindheit, die geprägt war von diversen Umzügen bevor er sich schließlich in Mustang, Oklahoma, niederließ. Später spielte Bartees Strange in Hardcore-Bands in Washington D.C. und Brooklyn, während er in der Regierung von Barack Obama und der Bewegung für Umweltschutz arbeitete. In letzter Zeit wurde seine Musik auf mehreren populären TV- und Film-Soundtracks verwendet, darunter bei The New Look von Apple TV und I Saw The TV Glow von A24-Studio.
Blue Valentine Vinyl. Sometime in 2005, a lone box of master tapes escaped an estate sale and made its way through a network of collectors, record dealers, and "junkers" into the hands of leading Ohio soul expert Dante Carfagna, who linked them to Columbus, Ohio's mysterious Prix label (See: Eccentric Soul: The Prix Label). A bit of research turned up Prix proprietor George Beter, who identified most of the unlabeled material. All it took was an endless series of phone calls and letters and two fields trips in Columbus. But one complete mystery wended its way onto our final Prix compilation. "You and Me," a simple but irrepressible demo credited only to Penny & the Quarters, was found tacked onto a mixed studio reel. Our survey of every willing lifer left on the Columbus soul scene, including retired DJs, producers, and important local artists, produced not so much as a glimmer of recognition at the name Penny & the Quarters. Though we loved the song from the first play, it may've ended up a bit buried on our original compilation, as #18 of 19 tracks.Four years later, Eccentric Soul: The Prix Label hadn't exactly become a huge seller, although listeners had repeatedly told us that the unfiltered studio demos that fill out the record's back half were true diamonds in the rough. But neither Penny nor her Quarters had appeared to claim credit for their efforts. Then, completely out of left field, we heard from respected screen actor and avowed Numero fan Ryan Gosling that Penny's piercing bit of stripped down doo-wop was being considered for inclusion in Derek Cianfrance's indie-weeper film Blue Valentine. What we didn't know was that "You and Me" had won a major role in what became an indie circuit hit, and that Penny & the Quarters would instantly assume the role of world's most famous unknown doo-wop group.Every week is a slow news week in Columbus, Ohio, and early January 2011 found the city recovering from the thrill of elevating Ted Williams_the formerly homeless guy with the awesome voice for radio_into a national news sensation. But both major daily newspapers in town, as well as the city's alternative weekly, also ran stories about how a lost and unknown Columbus soul group had become the musical centerpiece of a film already garnering Oscar buzz. That mainstream spotlight aimed at Blue Valentine and Penny & the Quarters did the trick: we finally made contact with the widow of Jay Robinson, lead Quarters' singer and songwriter. Robinson, it turned out, had also been the leader of Columbus doo-wop pioneers The Supremes (later known as "The Columbus Supremes," for reasons which should be obvious). Jay Robinson never did give up on the dream of writing a hit record; even so, the posthumous realization of his dream is cold comfort for his widow and daughter. With their blessings, we returned to those estate sale masters and pulled down another neglected track ("You Are Giving Me Some Other Love") from the still-unknown Penny and her now-partly-known Quarters. "You and Me" is a song that could not be suppressed: not when Prix failed to release it; not when Penny & the Quarters were forgotten; not when Numero stuck it at the bitter end of a much overlooked compilation. Its evolution from estate sale trash to silver-screen gold has finally returned it to big-hole 45, where it probably should have lived all along.
Celebrating over ten years in the game, Seth Troxler and The Martinez Brothers' carefully cultivated Tuskegee Music imprint returns with a deeply rooted collaboration between West Coast-based talents Late Delivery and BL SUEDE. Reinterpreting a club classic from Sheila E. and Prince, blending soul, deep tech house and freestyle influences at 130 bpm, ‘Glam Life’ lives up to the prosperous vibe of its title.
Originally from Washington D.C. and New Orleans respectively, Late Delivery have been refining their shared love of house culture since meeting in 2008. Collaborating with Inglewood, CA raised producer and vocalist BL SUEDE, this ode to a iconic time in Black music culture is imbued with the same sense of musicality, with BL’s fluid vocals in a heavenly posture amid joyous horns and irresistible percussion.”
Kenny Glasgow’s smooth, restrained take presents a champagne room mirror perspective on this particular ‘Glamorous Life’, with the former Art Department man and US rave scene lifer tapping directly into sensual, minimal pleasure. Afriqua meanwhile takes BL SUEDE's versatile vocals in a bright, diverse direction, conjuring fresh elements from an archive of breaks and bubbling basslines, landing between modern Amapiano and vintage EBM.
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Mit ihrer beeindruckenden Technik und sensiblen Musikalität gehört die deutsch-japanische Pianistin Alice
Sara Ott zu den weltweit führenden Interpreten.
Auf ihrem neuen Album „John Field ff Complete Nocturnes“ widmet sich Ott den Kompositionen von John
Field: „Für mich war die Auseinandersetzung mit den Nocturnes eine große persönliche Bereicherung: Sie
berühren mich zutiefst mit ihrer Schönheit und Anmut.“
Von seinen Zeitgenossen (Chopin, Liszt, Schumann) hochgelobt, sind John Fields Nocturnes heute weitgehend unbekannt.
“Ich hoffe, mit dieser Gesamteinspielung der Nocturnes, die damit auch schließlich im Katalog der Deutschen
Grammophon präsent ist, vielleicht ein paar Menschen dazu zu bewegen, die Musik von John Field zu entdecken – dem Mann, der uns das Nocturne vermacht hat.”
Generally regarded as the first true 'new age' record, Steve Halpern's 1975 private press LP has long been in demand by collectors. In particular, the very first pressing of the album included an extraordinary long-form jazz funk track called 'Something for Every Body Suite' that was removed from subsequent versions. Eating Standing is proud to reissue Halpern's classic long-lost original version of the album, officially licensed from Halpern himself that includes this heavy groove-laden masterpiece. This is the very first ever full reissue of the first press album with full reproduction of the artwork. Original copies cost over $700 (assuming you can even find one) but now this incredible landmark album is available once more to enjoy. "Reissued for the very first time since 1975 in its original format and track listing, a legendary album that is considered a game-changer in music. Steve Halpern's landmark album 'Christening For Listening (A Soundtrack For Every Body)' is considered by many to be a crucial and defining album that pointed the way ahead. Predating the ambient/experimental work of Brian Eno, Steve Hillage and even Mort Garson's 'Plantasia', Steve Halpern's 'Christening For Listening' was the first album to explore what became known as 'new age' or ambient music, exploring the effect of tones and rhythms on the human body and mind as well as plants and other organisms. Originally issued as a private pressing in 1975, the very first issue of this album had an extraordinary extended jazz funk track on the B side, a DJ/Samplers delight – DJ Gaslamp Killer is a huge fan. This track, 'Something For Every Body Suite', was never included on any of the subsequent represses making the very first pressing incredibly rare and almost impossible to find. It's reissued here for the very first time, with full repro of the original artwork plus a Q&A by Tony Higgins with Steven Halpern himself.
Vinyl Only / Original artwork / Black Vinyl / 400 mcn paper / 30x30 cm insert with notes by Tony Higgins and graphic elaboration printed on 250 gram G.F. Smith Colorplan / PVC outers
Notes:
Jorge López Ruiz is one of most versatile of musical talents to emerge from Argentina. As a bass player, composer, performer and arranger he has worked across many genres including jazz, pop as well as stage productions and feature films.
BA Jazz was originally released in 1961 on Vik Records as the debut album from Lopez Ruiz featuring a mix of covers and original material. Alongside Ruiz Lopez are Roberto Fernandez on trumpet, Ruben Lopez Furst on piano, Pichi Mazzei on drums and a young musician called Leandro Barbieri on tenor sax. Leandro became better known at Gato Barbieri, who went on to build an international reputation working with Charlie Hayden, Don Cherry, Dollar Brand and Carla Bley and recording for Impulse! Records, Flying Dutchman and A&M Records.
The BA Jazz album has been a rarity for years and original pressings attract huge amounts from collectors. It's rarity is matched by the fantastic music contained with its grooves. It's a genuinely important record in the development of jazz in South America. (Tony Higgins)
Vinyl Only / Sleeve manufactured with 400 mcn Fedrigoni "Shiro Eco" paper / Original unreleased poster with alternative artwork insert with notes by Tony Higgins printed on schedography peach past color paper / PVC outers / original artwork /
Personnel:
Tete Mbambisa - Piano
Basil Coetzee - Tenor Sax and Flute
Zulu Bidi - Bass
Monty Weber - Drums
Notes:
Mbambisa first gained prominence as a pianist in 1961 as a member of the Jazz Giants, this time with Pukwana as saxophonist, bassist Martin Mgijima and drummer Makaya Mtoshoko, setting the sound and shape of a scene that became known as Cape Jazz. Following an introduction from Chris McGregor, Mbambisa formed a band, The Swinging City Six, with saxophonist Ronnie Beer before going on to play at the end of the 1960s in the groups The Soul Jazzmen and Spirits Rejoice with Duku Makasi. As a member of The Soul Jazzmen, Mbambisa recorded the breakthrough album 'Inhlupenko Distress' in 1969 for the City Special label. After a recording hiatus, Mbambisa returned in 1974 with an octet album, 'Tete's Big Sound' released on a newly formed label, As Shams or The Sun, established by South African record store owner and independent producer Rashid Vally. 'Tet's Big Sound' included tracks like 'Unity' and the 'Black Heroes Lamentation', now considered a classic in the South African jazz underground.
The sound that Mbambisa carved in this period was wholly acoustic, and is a style that now is often loosely labelled spiritual jazz, a sound that alludes to deep African textures and rhythms balanced with clear nods to American hard bop and modal jazz, sometimes edging toward free improvisation in echoes of John Coltrane and Pharaoh Sanders. The music is often centred around a fulcrum of trance like vamps with repeated motifs that allow for extended pieces that create a hypnotic effect. This clearly exemplified on Mbambisa's next album, 'Did You Tell Your Mother', released in 1979, once more for The Sun label. (Tony Higgins)
Vinyl Only / Heavyweight Vinyl / Original Glued Prints tip-on by hand on Thick Cardboard 700 gram / 2 Separated parts handily gluing / PVC Outer Sleeve / Insert sheet Q&A with Lloyd Miller by Tony Higgins / Handcrafted silk-screen "Lloyd Miller 1938/2024" on Vintage paper with 100% natural "Persian Blue" color.
Personnel:
Manucher Paydar - Tar Drum
Lloyd Miller - Dulcimer Santur, Oud, Shamisen, Dhol, Tabla
Marilyn Miller - Flute
Tú Trinh Dàm - Voice
Dusdi Siwi Jarn - Voice
Notes:
Made with the intention of exploring and experiencing the various musical and cultural perspectives of a territory as vast as that of Persia, "Near And Far East" is a significant historical document that transcends the restrictive concept of territory but rather inhabits a space of absolute time. The album's content is not just window into faraway places, but a leap into the times and cultures that have now been swallowed up by the incessant movement of globalization and capitalism. Listening to it is turning your ear into the true musical culture of countries whose rapid change has eliminated the cultural peculiarities at their roots. Inspired by his long journeys in Iran, Lloyd Miller takes us on a journey through the instruments and sounds of a time, giving us his interpretations of a musical world that was - and that now remains - an historical document for future explorers who are curious about the mysterious musical arts of the middle and far east. Certainly a holy grail for samplers and loopers who can find exotic panoramas here! (Tony Higgins)
Two sought after artists, Deft and Manni Dee, combine their uniquely eclectic sounds on collaborative EP ‘Swamp Season’ arriving on Hooversound in March 2025.
Deft, a familiar favourite within the Hooversound family having released two EP’s on the label, is no stranger to breaking boundaries when it comes to sonic stereotypes. Enter: Manni Dee. Another equally exciting name on the London circuit who is an advocate for non-conformism. Between them they have released on Exit, 1985 Music, Critical and Fabric Originals - their style has been recognised globally and continues to grow. Both creatives bring something refreshingly new to the table, whether it’s with their amalgam style of music making, their esteemed record platforms (Silk + Steel, B4 Music) or their DJ sets - it makes perfect sense for the duo to unite on their vision.
Their latest offering combines their boundaryless artistic style of forward-thinking atmospheric production on an EP named ‘Swamp Season’. The two producers play with different elements of club music and hip hop by blurring genres and throwing the rule book out of the window. The end result highlights how Deft and Manni Dee have excelled once again across five bass-fuelled tracks which will expand your perspective on electronic music.
On their single, the duo said “‘Charged’ was the last track we wrote for the EP. Rooted in the simplicity of 00's hip hop instrumentals, on steroids, adapted with the wider electronic sphere in mind. Inspired by the past and present, facing the future.”
Deft and Manni Dee also explained how they came to collaborate; “We've always shared the same taste in hip hop and electronic music, and also share a studio together underneath FOLD in Canning Town, so it just made sense for us to make a record together. Our process was creatively free with no preconceptions, having worked together remotely and together across multiple studios around the world. The result has created a new and exciting avenue for us both, opening the floodgates to eliminate boundaries. It's Swamp Season.”
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Needle Mythology, the label founded by music writer, author and broadcaster Pete Paphides, is thrilled to announce the release of SENSITIVE the first ever vinyl anthology to cover the indiepop scene of the 1980s. SENSITIVE features 30 songs in total by artists who defined the indiepop aesthetic, among them The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Sea Urchins, Primal Scream, The Pastels, Talulah Gosh, Orange Juice, The Field Mice, The Primitives, The Wedding Present, Miaow, Razorcuts, Dolly Mixture, The Bodines, Shop Assistants, The Soup Dragons, The Loft, The Chills, That Petrol Emotion and The Railway Children. SENSITIVE takes its name from the single released by The Field Mice, and marks the first time that The Field Mice have allowed one of their songs to be used on a compilation released by any label other than Sarah Records, who released all their records at the time. Also features on SENSITIVE is Dying Day from Orange Juice’s hugely influential debut album You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever – marking the only time that Edwyn Collins and his wife and manager Grace Maxwell have given permission for an Orange Juice song to be featured on an anthology. Many of the records featured on SENSITIVE have become highly sought-after collectors’ items since their original release. The Sea Urchins’ Pristine Christine changes hands for up to £400. Original mint copies of April Showers’ only single Abandon Ship command up to £380. If you were to try and individually buy all the records featuring the songs on SENSITIVE, you can expect to pay something around £1150. SENSITIVE features 10,000 words of extensive track-by-track notes and an essay by Pete Paphides, who was and remains an avid proponent of the indiepop scene that this collection chronicles. All the songs on SENSITIVE have been newly mastered at Abbey Road by Miles Showell. SENSITIVE will be released on double LP and double CD Needle Mythology Records.
The Official “Forever” Versions of Less Than Jake’s first full lenght album, Pezcore and Losing Streak are here! There have not been many pressings of "Pezcore" over the career of Less Than Jake. Now, with a fresh look to the classic "Pezcore" art, this special 30th anniversary version will celebrate the history of this seminal album for years to come.
"Love Conquers All" is a collection of deeply moving songs by The Moody Blues’ John Lodge. All written during difficult times, yet reflecting the positive way in which John sees the world. As John explored his journey of healing, he invited different musicians to collaborate with him on each song, making each song unique, yet at the same time they all carry the same message... that love does conquer all. ‘Love will Conquer All’, ‘Whispering Angels’, and 'Sunset over Cocohatchee Bay’ were all written through personal health challenges, and 'In These Crazy Times’, and ‘The Sun Will Shine’, originally written in lockdown, have been reimagined and remixed for 2024, reflecting how this time is now firmly in the past. 'Whispering Angels' was written by John and his son-in-law Jon Davison, of YES, and Jon features on all the tracks on the release. ‘Love Will Conquer All’ isan almost Christmas song full of hope, plus there are guest appearances on the album by Geoff Downes of YES, Tim Maple, Dave Colquhoun, Ray Nesbit, John’s 10,000 Light Years Band, and also John’s wife, Kirsten and son, Kristian. As you journey with John through the songs, starting with the instrumental ‘Sunset Over Cocohatchee Bay’, and ending with the more anthemic ‘Whispering Angels’, you will be moved by these beautifully crafted songs, surrounded by the incredible musicianship, and feel the love brought to each song by John and his friends and family. This release truly is a journey of love and recovery and John is delighted to be able to share it with you today.
Released via RCA Records - Louis Dunford is a story teller, with stories that need to be told. Born under Bow bells and raised in Islington, Louis' songs are chapters straight out of his lived experiences. Sometime raw, sometimes funny and always honest, the stories are all underpinned by infectious melodic hooks. To date, he’s best known for singles including ‘Lucy,’ ‘The Local’ and ‘The Angel (North London Forever)’—an ode to his hometown, which has been adopted by Arsenal FC fans as their official club anthem. Now comes Louis’ debut album, titled Be Lucky, featuring the above mentioned singles and 11 more tracks - weaving a story of his life and observations so far.
Pattern-Seeking Animals comes out of the gate in 2025 with the release of their fifth album
Friend of All Creatures due out on February 14th, on GEP Records. The Los Angeles-based
quartet have been one of the prog scene’s most prolific and well-received artists, beginning
with the release of their self-titled debut album in 2019, followed by Prehensile Tales in
2020, Only Passing Through in 2022 and Spooky Action at a Distance in 2023.
Originally formed with past members of Spock’s Beard, Pattern-Seeking Animals (P-SA) has
long since staked claim to its own identity, forging a strong path in the prog world. The
band, named after a quote about human behavior from science historian Michael Shermer,
PS-A is Ted Leonard (lead vocals and guitar), John Boegehold (keyboards, guitars,
programming), Dave Meros (basses) and the energetic Jimmy Keegan (drums and vocals).
Friend of All Creatures (named from a verse in the Bhagavad Gita) contains 7 songs, all
written by Boegehold, who also produced the album. It was engineered and mixed at
Woodcliff Studio in Los Angeles by Frank Rosato in 2024.
Rock im Park 2001 is a live festival recording from Nuremberg, Germany. The festival performance of Limp Bizkit is praised as CHAOTIC FRENZIED-HIGH ENERGY. DJ Lethal functions as the sound designer shaping their sound on this recording. According to Lethal, “I try and bring new sounds, not just the regular chirping scratching sounds. It’s all different stuff that you haven’t heard before”. In the UK it was released as a CD & DVD while the video was solely released as a DVD in the United States. It has NEVER been released on vinyl.
THIS DELUXE PACKAGE INCLUDES AN OBI SIDE STRIP, SINGLE ALBUM JACKET, TWO PRINTED INNER SLEEVES, NEW RECORD LABELS AND SPECIALTY COLOR VINYL.
Back in the day, when he was the drummer for Poni Hoax, Vincent Taeger would sing in French whatever came to his mind backstage after concerts, just for fun, to amuse his friend the late Nicolas Ker. Since then, time has flown by, undoubtedly bringing its share of ups and downs. Nonetheless, today, this artist with a long career is finally releasing his debut album as a singer, OK Crooner. It's indeed an album for a singer, but also one for a musician. For this part, Taeger doesn't come alone; he brings along the Jazz Kamasutra, a sexy sextet that knows how to play everything and will later accompany him on stage. To get to this point, Vincent Taeger had to stop playing around with big names like Air, Damon Albarn, Justice, Lenny Kravitz, Skepta, Tony Allen, Oumou Sangaré, Jeff Mills, Archie Shepp, Sampa the Great, Andrea Laszlo de Simone... More than half of the major artists with whom he once collaborated, contributing to their albums or simply laying down a drum, bass, or any other heavy instrument line. Before OK Crooner, he also transformed into Tiger Tigre. This roaring alias was used for a first solo album, instrumental and so deep that one might have thought the ghost of François de Roubaix had taken shape. But that was before, before this exceptional musician decided to dive into the vast ocean of French variety to give a sequel, a culmination to this project. During COVID, Vincent Taeger started frantically listening to Souchon, Chamfort, Gotainer, and Christophe. Inspired by his elders, while not renouncing his attachment to the meticulous arrangements reminiscent of Alain Goraguer's soundtracks, he picked up a pen to jot down snippets of songs to accompany his increasingly sophisticated compositions. And the worst part is that he enjoyed it! Coming from rap, he has a knack for punchlines. Throughout the album, he delivers just as many harsh or soft words as good ones, alternating between risqué humor, Gaulish wit, and poetry. Partially recorded at Studio Ferber, but mainly at home with his partner, known by the alias La Plongée, who co-produced the album for the occasion, OK Crooner is a key album in Vincent Taeger's discography. Besides being the one where he finally unveils his voice to the public, without pretense as it is prominently featured and minimally, if at all, retouched, Taeger also offers music that suits him perfectly. Sharp yet accessible, jazz, pop, baroque, classical, modern, and resolutely marked by Tony Allen's legacy, which he daringly mixes with Beethoven in the Fifth Symphony. His alter ego, Vincent Taurelle, with whom he has produced many albums, took care of mixing this one.
Classic RootsReggae is the definitive influence on the music of Vibronics .. so it has been a true labour of love to bring together the powerful voice of Jospeh Lalibela, the intricate playing of the Mafia & Fluxy Band and the deep production skills of Vibronics to make this homage to classic Jamaican Roots Dub Reggae music.
This 7” is the first release .. soon to be followed but the full album ‘Ancient Breeze’
Vibronics is one of the most established names in UK Dub/Reggae music achieving millions of views on YouTube, millions of Spotify streams and many tens of thousands of vinyl record sales. Collaborators include Michael prophet, Macka B, Iration Steppas, Soom T, Aba-Shanti and more.
Joseph Lalibela is a Birmingham born UK vocalist who found fame through his work with OBF & King Earthquake
Mafia & Fluxy are the UK’s leading Reggae riddim section and recording artists working with Eek-A-Mouse, Jah Shaka, Luciano and the cream of worldwide Reggae artists.
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This new 12" on US label Season Limited brings together two of deep house's most accomplished and tasteful names in French legend Franck Roger plus Arnold Jarvis who he last collaborated with in 2007, while UK mainstay and Freerange label boss Jimpster remixes. It is one the label has been cooking up for a while but proves more than worth the wait. 'Living My Life' is the one original collab and is smooth, buttery deep house with lush vocal tones. Jimpster brings a little more bounce and a fat bassline on one mix, then dubs things out to prefect for the second. A timeless set of grooves that will level-up any collection.
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1st November saw the release of THE CURE's critically acclaimed album, 'SONGS OF A LOST WORLD,' the band’s first new studio record in 16 years and their first #1 album in the UK since 1992.
The night of the album's unveiling, The Cure performed it in full to 3000 fans at Troxy London and to more than a million on a free global stream.
The stunning live performance entitled 'SONGS OF A LIVE WORLD : TROXY LONDON MMXXlV’ will be released on the 14th Feb on vinyl on Fiction/Polydor, with all The Cure's royalties benefitting War Child and this will be opened up to Indie stores.
Initially formed in 1978, The Cure has sold over 30 million albums worldwide, headlined the Glastonbury festival four times and been inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. They are considered to be one of the most influential bands to ever come out of the UK.
'SONGS OF A LOST WORLD' was written and arranged by Robert Smith, produced and mixed by Robert Smith & Paul Corkett and performed by The Cure - Robert Smith: Voice / guitar / 6string bass / keyboard, Simon Gallup: Bass, Jason Cooper: Drums / percussion, Roger O'Donnell: Keyboard, Reeves Gabrels: Guitar.
'SONGS OF A LIVE WORLD : TROXY LONDON MMXXlV’ includes Perry Bamonte: Guitar / 6string bass / keyboard.
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Two Up and Comers Sweeping the Scene, Sonidy & Érratic Demonstrate Their Expert Production Skills to Deliver This Exceptional Ep. From Tight Percussion to the Most Lush Synths We Have Been Blessed to Hear, This Ep Will Have You Grooving All Night....
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"Langt Fra Jorden" ("Lejos De La Tierra", in Spanish, for the book) is the result of the dialogue between the Spanish photographer and artist Irene Zottola and the Danish musician and artist øjeRum initiated by IIKKI, between June 2024 and November 2024.
øjeRum is Copenhagen based musician and collage artist Paw Grabowski. In his øjeRum guise, he plucks and strums his treated acoustic instruments, sounding at times like church bells, at times like angelic harp, at time like drones, and suspends the listener in the magic of his melodies.
With a deep back-catalogue of releases since 2014 - spanning labels such as eilean rec., Room40, Line, Opal Tapes and many more - he continues exploring his minimal, textural and deeply personal style of ambient music.
Irene Zottola is a Spanish photographer and artist who explores the limits of analog photography to generate a world of dreamlike and poetic character, often accompanying her images with text.
She has been self-taught in Madrid in the laboratory of the Slow Photo collective since 2016. In 2017 she is a finalist in the Rfotofolio Grant.
Her work has been exhibited in Spain, Italy and Morocco. She has published with editorials such as La Bella Varsovia and Lumen (Spain) and magazines such as She shoots film (Australia), Fisheyemagazine (France) and Vostmagazine (Korea).
In 2021 she received one of the Grants to Creation granted by VEGAP with which she began a new project in Paris and was part of the artistic residence ART(e)gileak of the BBK with a participatory photography project. She is one of the 33 authors of the Mission Region project organized by the Community of Madrid and is part of the platform of the National Image Centre in Spain. Winner in 2020 of the V Edition of the Photochannel Contest, she has published with Ediciones Anómalas her first photobook, "Icarus", which has been a finalist in PhotoEspaña and in Les Photobook Awards of Les Rencontres d'Arles 2022.
"Lejos De La Tierra’’ is her second book.
Fine Art Book, Ltd. to 500 copies:
Hardcover book printed on Munken Print Cream 115g/m2 // 80 pages, 17cm x 23cm, 42 photos // Logo and slot embossed // Hot gold stamping // Visible seam and cutting cover pages // Hand-numbered, hand-stamped.
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As Jess Sylvester finished his Hardly Art debut as Marinero in the fall of 2020, he realized it was time for a change. Sylvester grew up in Marin County, on the doorstep of San Francisco. It was a nurturing community for a high-school punk with a pompadour and, later, for a sober songwriter with a proclivity for moody psychedelia. But he wanted to be challenged and inspired by a new setting and scenario around strangers who prompted him to approach his music in unexpected ways. So in September 2020, as the world continued to reel in lockdown, Sylvester headed several hours south to Los Angeles, a city that, despite the relative proximity, the film buff knew largely from classic and cult films situated there. When he arrived, he kept digging into that cinematic past-Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye, with John Williams' classic theme, or classic 90s movies about East LA, many featuring Edward James Olmos. They shaped his understanding of his new town just as it began to open. This is one pillar of the multivalent and endlessly lush La La La, Marinero's new album about sobriety, identity, and fantasy that is playfully named both for the city that helped shape it and the sophisticated pop it contains. Sylvester wrote about characters outside of himself, whether considering the heroine reckoning with her own version of keeping clean or the screenwriters whose work was deemed communist simply as a political convenience. He linked those songs with motivational anthems about self-acceptance and playful numbers about flirting through food, shaping a 12-song set rich with humor, empathy, and encouragement. Sure, La La La is a continuation of the slippery genre play Sylvester started with 2021's Hella Love, 2019's Trópico de Cáncer, or even before that. But it also feels like a fresh beginning for Marinero, as Sylvester realizes how boundless this project can be. He began to think about the music of his childhood, how his mother is from San Francisco with Mexican roots, and how he'd heard so much salsa growing up as an impetuous teenager. So he wrote "Taquero," a red-hot salsa tune that uses tacos and their trappings as a source of endless metaphors for come-ons. And then there was the Ray Barreto or Santana-inspired "Pocha Pachanga," with organ gliding and percussion pulsing beneath his yearning vocals, warped as if by desert winds. In Los Angeles, he found a wealth of players who spoke this music like language itself (including Chicano Batman's Eduardo Arenas), all ready to play with and push these familiar forms. Sylvester has also been sober for 21 years, since a cross-country sojourn to attend college in Boston ended in a chemical haze. Today, he sees friends facing the same decisions he made two decades ago, and he brings bits of that experience to bear in songs that feel like self-help anthems. Recorded with a musical hero (and labelmate) of his, Chris Cohen, "Sea Changes" feels like sunshine breaking through dark clouds, as Sylvester acknowledges the newfound confidence and clarity in a friend who has stepped away from destructive habits. In the past, Sylvester has been intractably linked to his identity as a Mexican-American, born to parents from Mexico and Irish- American descent who settled in San Francisco. That can be limiting, of course, tying him to notions of sound and style that aren't always correct. On La La La, he simultaneously steps into and out of those preconceptions, singing tracks above salsa in joyous Spanish or pondering the dynamics of the Hollywood Ten and blacklists above mysterious lap steel and teasing trumpet. His identity, then, should now be clear: He is a Californian, making music shaped by the diversity of encounters and experiences that are a central part of that state's fabric. Never before has he presented himself so fully and unabashedly on tape as with La La La, an album Sylvester built with new inspirations to deliver new charms.
In the late 1980s, as techno and house made its way around Europe, mutating as it hopped from city to city, one young DJ from Curacao made a mistake that would inspire a brand new sound. While he was performing at Den Haag's Club Voltage, DJ Moortje accidentally dropped a dancehall track at 45RPM rather than 33, and let it play out. Thirsty for a hi-NRG sound, the crowd loved the squeaky vocals and rapid beat, and bubbling (or bubbling house) was born.For the next couple of decades, bubbling was a crucial part of Holland's Afro-diasporic club landscape. And as a new generation of wide-eyed young DJs and producers began to take the reins, it evolved accordingly. In the late-2000s, Den Haag-based teenage prodigy Guillermo Schuurman followed in the footsteps of his uncle DJ Chippie (one of the genre's co-founders) and cousins DJ Daycard, DJ Master-D, Stiko Jnr and DJ Justme, and began performing and writing beats. Using Fruityloops, he fused familiar bubbling rhythms with rap and R&B samples, trance synths and electro house wobbles, and his tracks quickly became a regular fixture on the Dutch circuit."Bubbling Inside" is a collection of Schuurman's most essential cuts from the era (2007-2009), with a couple of newer productions added for context. Crafted solely for the dance, most of these tracks were never properly released and have been painstakingly hunted down and collected by the Nyege Nyege Tapes together with Sascha Roth from Pantropical in Rotterdam and De Schuurman himself. Hearing them together highlights just how forward thinking the young producer was, steering a Dutch institution into the future.2008's 'First One' is a proto-Berghain belter, with booming bass-heavy kicks underpinning the kind of cheeky melodies that remain the calling card of the genre. 'Pier Je Bil!!' ratchets up the tempo, twisting bubbling's syncopated dancehall kicks into a rapid-fire club clatter and decorating them with steel-pan melodies. Elsewhere, 2019's 'Domina' shows how Schuurman's production style has developed as he mutates trap percussion, dubstep bass and eerie synth textures, while retaining the DNA of bubbling. "Bubbling Inside" is a testament to the evolution of the bubbling genre, as witnessed by one of its most visionary producers.
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In the late 1980s, as techno and house made its way around Europe, mutating as it hopped from city to city, one young DJ from Curacao made a mistake that would inspire a brand new sound. While he was performing at Den Haag's Club Voltage, DJ Moortje accidentally dropped a dancehall track at 45RPM rather than 33, and let it play out. Thirsty for a hi-NRG sound, the crowd loved the squeaky vocals and rapid beat, and bubbling (or bubbling house) was born.For the next couple of decades, bubbling was a crucial part of Holland's Afro-diasporic club landscape. And as a new generation of wide-eyed young DJs and producers began to take the reins, it evolved accordingly. In the late-2000s, Den Haag-based teenage prodigy Guillermo Schuurman followed in the footsteps of his uncle DJ Chippie (one of the genre's co-founders) and cousins DJ Daycard, DJ Master-D, Stiko Jnr and DJ Justme, and began performing and writing beats. Using Fruityloops, he fused familiar bubbling rhythms with rap and R&B samples, trance synths and electro house wobbles, and his tracks quickly became a regular fixture on the Dutch circuit."Bubbling Inside" is a collection of Schuurman's most essential cuts from the era (2007-2009), with a couple of newer productions added for context. Crafted solely for the dance, most of these tracks were never properly released and have been painstakingly hunted down and collected by the Nyege Nyege Tapes together with Sascha Roth from Pantropical in Rotterdam and De Schuurman himself. Hearing them together highlights just how forward thinking the young producer was, steering a Dutch institution into the future.2008's 'First One' is a proto-Berghain belter, with booming bass-heavy kicks underpinning the kind of cheeky melodies that remain the calling card of the genre. 'Pier Je Bil!!' ratchets up the tempo, twisting bubbling's syncopated dancehall kicks into a rapid-fire club clatter and decorating them with steel-pan melodies. Elsewhere, 2019's 'Domina' shows how Schuurman's production style has developed as he mutates trap percussion, dubstep bass and eerie synth textures, while retaining the DNA of bubbling. "Bubbling Inside" is a testament to the evolution of the bubbling genre, as witnessed by one of its most visionary producers.
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Last delivered 20 months ago available to reorder, subject to availability
In Todmorden, the oddly-named market border town in West Yorkshire with a habit for embracing the weird and wonderful, a burst of sunshine is a precious thing. Through the thick of Winter, through every season in fact, the town’s folk are used to the wind and rain, fog and mist. As much a part of the town as the trademark deep valley it sits in, here the lay of the land invites the weather in, just as it does the many musicians, artists, and unique characters that have come to call the place home over the centuries.
Bridget Hayden is one such soul who found a home among these hills. The experimental musician, who invites the ghosts in for the classic folk songs that make up her stunning new album, knows only too well about such weather, how rare and treasured the breaks from it are. Her favourite thing to do in the valley, she says, is “to make the most of every tiny minute of sunshine.”
Such aspirations nearly derailed the recording of Cold Blows the Rain, her new eight-song collection released via the Todmorden- based label Basin Rock. Having hired the town’s Oddfellow’s Hall to record these new songs in the late summer of 2022, Hayden says the weather was so good she ended up basking in every second of it, only moving inside to begin recording when the sun was setting, working deep into the night to make up the time.
There’s a good chance, however, that it had to be this way. The songs that make up Cold Blows the Rain are not made for the sunlight. They come, instead, wrapped in mist and coated with drizzle, those elements shaping the album as much as the voice and the instruments held within, as real but ambiguous as the ghosts that linger in the shadows. The sound of the dark valley floor.
Mostly centred around meditative and experimental improvisation, Bridget’s work to-date has seen her spend more than two decades recording and performing on the underground music scene. She’s also toured internationally both as a solo artist and as part of bands such as Schisms and The Telescopes, while working on various side-projects with the likes of Folklore Tapes.
For all of this sonic exploration, so much of her work has been formed around elements of traditional folk aesthetics and, over time, she began to piece together a collection of reinterpreted traditional songs that she absorbed as a child from her mother: through The Dubliners and Muddy Waters, to Bessie Smith and The Leadbelly Songbook. Harvesting her love for Nina Simone, Karen Dalton, Margaret Barry, and more, Bridget takes these traditional songs and transforms them into something uniquely evocative
"It goes back to the womb,” Bridget says of that connection. “I would not call it a memory as it is so deep within my blood and bones. My mum was the source, she sang all the time, as part of life. So it was a very lulling and natural introduction. It seemed common to hear her singing – unbeknownst to her – in time with a raindrop dripping at the window,” Bridget continues. “I’ve always wanted to do a folk record as I love these songs so much. It comes much more naturally to me to sing other people’s words, especially when they’re as beautiful as these old verses.”
Underpinned by waves of analogue reverb, and led by Bridget’s stirring and weather-beaten voice, the songs on Cold Blows the Rain drift and crawl like low heavy clouds on flat-top hills, shaped by the land. The backdrop is equally as arresting, all subtle gloom cast in shadow, a gentle but pronounced swirling of textures, crafted from harmonium and violin courtesy of The Apparitions (Sam Mcloughlin and Dan Bridgewood-Hill).
“The weather speaks the most eloquently about human loss,” Bridget says, articulating such sentiments. “It’s good to feel enveloped by something so much vaster than ourselves. The rain and the tears all become one.”
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Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg returns to Altin Village & Mine with his second album as Memory Pearl. »Cosmic-Astral« reimagines a music programme used by psychotherapists in the 1970s in combination with LSD. While the original album was designed to take the listener on a cosmic journey of personal discovery through classical music, Fisher-Rozenberg draws on the sounds of electronic instruments and a collage-like approach: he converted the scores of the original pieces by Richard Strauss, Alexander Scriabin, and others into MIDI files, manipulated those into entirely new shapes and sounds using a variety of techniques, while also combining them with improvisational input from artists such as Sam Prekop, Joseph Shabason, Moritz Fasbender, Alec O’Hanley, Bram Gielen, and Brandon Valdivia.
Besides his work as a multi-instrumentalist, producer and collaborator of bands such as Alvvays as well as a member of the group Absolutely Free, Fisher-Rozenberg is also a registered psychotherapist and certified music therapist. »Cosmic-Astral« is hence marked by his expertise in both fields while also displaying the conceptual rigour and aesthetic playfulness that had already been in full effect on his Memory Pearl debut, 2021’s »Music for 7 Paintings« for Altin Village & Mine. Aiming to create his own version of the »Cosmic-Astral« programme, but making it more »delicate and tender,« as he puts it, Fisher-Rozenberg combines the ethereal with the terrestrial, abstraction and concretion, synthesization and the organic across these nine tracks.
As a whole, the resulting album is quite literally trippy. »Each piece is meant to bring the listener deeper into their journey,« explains the Toronto-based artist. »You can think of it in terms of space travel, with each tune taking you further out of yourself and deeper into a cosmic realm.« Think about »Cosmic Astral« as a map through which you can find your way towards sonic healing.
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Hardanger is a collaboration by Mariska Baars (aka Soccer Committee), Niki Jansen, and Rutger Zuydervelt (aka Machinefabriek). The title refers to the instrument played by Jansen, the Hardanger fiddle. It’s a fresh addition to the established musical chemistry from regular collaborators Baars and Zuydervelt.
The music on Hardanger started with improvisations by Niki Jansen, guided by Mariska Baars, who responded with vocal and guitar recordings. Rutger Zuydervelt used this material as the building blocks for the two long-form pieces found on the album. These tracks are like two sides of the same coin, one a collage-like electro-acoustic piece, the other more drawn-out and contemplative.
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Mariska Baars is probably better known as soccer Committee, creating an experimental blend of ambient rooted in folk music, with minimal arrangements. She has been releasing albums since 2005. In addition to her solo output she is part of improvisation ensemble Piiptsjilling and Fean (Laaps, 2020) and has worked on several duo albums with Rutger Zuydervelt. On other occasions she collaborated with a.o. Annelies Monseré, Wouter van Veldhoven, Peter Broderick and Greg Haines.
Niki Jansen is a violinist who plays both the regular and a hardanger fiddle.She specializes in folk music, especially old Dutch folk music. She plays in various ensembles like Twee violen en een bas (with Jos Koning and Willem Raadsveld), and country quartet Daisy Chain. In addition to music, she also works as a sustainability advisor for governments and institutions and manages a food forest in a cooperative.
Rutger Zuydervelt is perhaps better known as Machinefabriek, the alias under which he releases music since 2004. The stream of releases since is vast, many of them collaborations (with Peter Broderick, Gareth Davis, Chantal Acda, Dirk Serries, and many many more). He regularly works with Mariska Baars, with whom he also plays in Piiptsjilling and Fean (Laaps, 2020). Zuydervelt is an avid composer of scores for film and dance performances, and also works as a graphic designer.
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‘Ice Cream Dream Boy’ serves as a celebratory anthem, an ode to manifesting dreams into reality, and a testament to Shanti's knack for creating infectious and uplifting dance music as she explains: “I wanted to make a happy and uplifting vocal summer tune and I just so happened to be in the peak honeymoon romance period with my now partner (The Ice Cream Dream Boy). He had discovered my love for soft plush toys and decided to buy me a cute little fluffy Jellycat Ice Cream so when I made the instrumental I felt insecure and unsure about what lyrics to write, so I just decided to sing about what I was currently experiencing in my life. I had been a fan of Shivum Sharma for a while and I had just done a remix for his amazing song '7am', so after establishing a cute lil connection I thought I’d ask him to help me write the song as I was very new to writing lyrics!”
This limited edition Vinyl features 5 varied remixes, perfect for any scenario.
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The influence of the UK’s Steel City on electronic music is well documented and undisputed and continues to push the envelope with key figures such as Winston Hazel (Forgemasters, The Step), DJ Parrot/Crooked Man, Richard Benson (RAC, SWAG, Altern 8), Chris Duckenfield (RAC, Popular Peoples Front, SWAG, All Ears Distribution), a thriving underground club scene and the likes of Synaptic Voyager reinforcing the city’s rich musical legacy.
Matt White and Paul Baines have been making off-kilter, emotive, late night electronic jams since meeting in the early 90’s and while life took them on different paths for a while, they have recently blown the thick layer of dust from their synths and drum machines and got busy in the studio to create some amazing new music which draws influence from that classic UK techno sound which played such an important part in the development of dance music culture around the world. With recent releases on Frame Of Mind, Acquit and Telomere Plastic the duo are clearly on a roll, wearing the heritage of their city on their sleeve and delivering what can only be described as heartfelt, authentic machine music made with love and soul.
From the opening beats of lead track Dawn Till Dusk we are drawn in to another place which feels comfortably familiar yet organic, fluid and loose in a way that tugs on the heartstrings. A million miles from cookie-cutter tech house, this is two guys in a bedroom studio, digging deep on hardware machines to create a sound to get completely lost in. Lonely Promontory takes things deeper still with immersive pads, taught electro beats and blissed-out melodic lines which give just hint of optimism and recall those beloved sounds of B12, Redcell and Likemind.
Flipping over we have Stellar Engine which goes a littler heavier on the beats and bass whilst still retaining a floating quality, once again highlighting the hardware jam workflow that Synaptic Voyager utilise in their studio. Once Exposed takes us back to those heady days of the early 90’s when techno, house and ambient electronics combined to create a heady blend of deep atmospherics and driving beats which could work on both dance floors and car stereos alike. Rounding off the EP we have Cognitive Network which goes for a straighter four on the floor techno groove and a killer bassline to lose yourself in. These recordings were delivered to the label in unedited long form (some tracks totalling 15 minutes or more in length!) which Jimpster lovingly edited into the versions which you hear on this release.
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We are glad to introduce you to our new full length album, sound designed and arranged by Spanish duo Crime as Service. Their musical output has always been solid and consistent, always offering diverse visions on techno sound.
For this particular work they have explored the deepest side of their sound palette, starting with the beatless intro Unlocked, made of subtle drones and field recordings.
Next track is Altered Circuits, a bass heavy groove on the first bars soon followed by mechanical components colliding with atmospheres and micro drone. A combination of pressure and deepness.
Shadow Crew follows with a continuous sequence over a shuffled beat, the usual textures appear on top of the main synth line spicing the mood, until bleeps and asymmetrical components complete the equation.
Zombie Botnet changes the mood drastically, adrenaline goes up and new sonic components add hypnosis to the overall feel as the track goes by.
Second slice of plastic opens with Lazarus Group, intense and dark with super effected synth lines running through the stereo field wisely.
Darknet Operation, as the title suggests, is opaque and gray but also liquid with water samples appearing randomly along the arrangement. The groove behind is relentless and effective, one more time mixing intensity with mindfulness.
Unknown Exploits shares similar feelings as the previous one, a combination of tension and sonic details.
Closing the release, Deconstructed Blockchain, aimed directly for the dancefloor with a psychedelic approach on the main sound, constantly mutating and evolving as the minutes go.
A solid collection of well-crafted techno tunes, aside from tendencies and hype, made to last.
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Volume 1 of this expertly curated project of 90s Italian House - put together by Don Carlos.
If Paradise was half as nice… by Fabio De Luca.
Googling “paradise house”, the first results to pop up are an endless list of European b&b’s with whitewashed lime façades, all of them promising “…an unmatched travel experience a few steps from the sea”. Next, a little further down, are the institutional websites of a few select semi-luxury retirement homes (no photos shown, but lots of stock images of smiling nurses with reassuring looks). To find the “paradise house” we’re after, we have to scroll even further down. Much further down.
It feels like yesterday, and at the same time it seems like a million years ago. The Eighties had just ended, and it was still unclear what to expect from the Nineties. Mobile phones that were not the size of a briefcase and did not cost as much as a car? A frightening economic crisis? The guitar-rock revival?! Certainly, the best place to observe that moment of transition was the dancefloor. Truly epochal transformations were happening there. From America, within a short distance one from the other, two revolutionary new musical styles had arrived: the first one sounded a bit like an “on a budget” version of the best Seventies disco-music – Philly sound made with a set of piano-bar keyboards! – the other was even more sparse, futuristic and extraterrestrial. It was a music with a quite distinct “physical” component, which at the same time, to be fully grasped, seemed to call for the knotty theories of certain French post-modern philosophers: Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, Paul Virilio... Both those genres – we would learn shortly after – were born in the black communities of Chicago and Detroit, although listening to those vinyl 12” (often wrapped in generic white covers, and with little indication in the label) you could not easily guess whether behind them there was a black boy from somewhere in the Usa, or a girl from Berlin, or a pale kid from a Cornish coastal town.
Quickly, similar sounds began to show up from all corners of Europe. A thousand variations of the same intuition: leaner, less lean, happier, slightly less intoxicated, more broken, slower, faster, much faster... Boom! From the dancefloors – the London ones at least, whose chronicles we eagerly read every month in the pages of The Face and i-D – came tales of a new generation of clubbers who had completely stopped “dressing up” to go dancing; of hot tempered hooligans bursting into tears and hugging everyone under the strobe lights as the notes of Strings of Life rose up through the fumes of dry ice (certain “smiling” pills were also involved, sure). At this point, however, we must move on to Switzerland.
In Switzerland, in the quiet and diligent town of Lugano, between the 1980s and 1990s there was a club called “Morandi”. Its hot night was on Wednesdays, when the audience also came from Milan, Como, Varese and Zurich. Legend goes that, one night, none less than Prince and Sheila E were spotted hiding among the sofas, on a day-off of the Italian dates of the Nude Tour… The Wednesday resident and superstar was an Italian dj with an exotic name: Don Carlos. The soundtrack he devised was a mixture of Chicago, Detroit, the most progressive R&B and certain forgotten classics of old disco music: practically, what the Paradise Garage in New York might have sounded like had it not closed in 1987. In between, Don Carlos also managed to squeeze in some tracks he had worked on in his studio on Lago Maggiore. One in particular: a track that was rather slow compared to the BPM in fashion at the time, but which was a perfect bridge between house and R&B. The title was Alone: Don Carlos would explain years later that it had to be intended both in the English meaning of “by itself” and like the Italian word meaning “halo”. That wasn’t the only double entendre about the song, anyway. Its own very deep nature was, indeed, double. On the one hand, Alone was built around an angelic keyboard pattern and a romantic piano riff that took you straight to heaven; on the other, it showcased enough electronic squelches (plus a sax part that sounded like it had been dissolved by acid rain) to pigeonhole the tune into the “junk modernity” section, aka the hallmark of all the most innovative sounds of the time: music that sounded like it was hand-crafted from the scraps of glittering overground pop.
No one knows who was the first to call it “paradise house”, nor when it happened. Alternative definitions on the same topic one happened to hear included “ambient house”, “dream house”, “Mediterranean progressive”… but of course none were as good (and alluring) as “paradise house”. What is certain is that such inclination for sounds that were in equal measure angelic and neurotic, romantic and unaffective, quickly became the trademark of the second generation of Italian house. Music that seemed shyly equidistant from all the rhythmic and electronic revolutions that had happened up to that moment (“Music perfectly adept at going nowhere slowly” as noted by English journalist Craig McLean in a legendary field report for Blah Blah Blah magazine). Music that to a inattentive ear might have sounded as anonymous as a snapshot of a random group of passers-by at 10AM in the centre of any major city, but perfectly described the (slow) awakening in the real world after the universal love binge of the so-called Second Summer of Love.
For a brief but unforgettable season, in Italy “paradise house” was the official soundtrack of interminable weekends spent inside the car, darting from one club to another, cutting the peninsula from North to centre, from East to West coast in pursuit of the latest after-hours disco, trading kilometres per hour with beats per minute: practically, a new New Year’s Eve every Friday and Saturday night. This too was no small transformation, as well as a shock for an adult Italy that was encountering for the first time – thanks to its sons and daughters – the wild side of industrial modernity. The clubbers of the so-called “fuoriorario” scene were the balls gone mad in the pinball machine most feared by newspapers, magazines and TV pundits. What they did each and every weekend, apart from going crazy to the sound of the current white labels, was linking distant geographical points and non-places (thank you Marc Augé!) – old dance halls, farmhouses and business centres – transformed for one night into house music heaven. As Marco D’Eramo wrote in his 1995 essay on Chicago, Il maiale e il grattacielo: “Four-wheeled capitalism distorts our age-old image of the city, it allows the suburbs to be connected to each other, whereas before they were connected only by the centre (…) It makes possible a metropolitan area without a metropolis, without a city centre, without downtown. The periphery is no longer a periphery of any centre, but is self-centred”.
“Paradise house” perfectly understood all of this and turned it into a sort of cyber-blues that didn’t even need words, and unexpectedly brought back a drop of melancholic (post?)-humanity within a world that by then – as we would wholly realise in the decades to come – was fully inhuman and heartless. A world where we were all alone, and surrounded by a sinister yellowish halo, like a neon at the end of its life cycle. But, for one night at least, happy.
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Miki Yui is a musician, artist, and composer, originally from Tokyo, who has been based in Düsseldorf since 1994. Her whose work has long explored multiple forms of media, while documenting liminal zones of perception. On her latest album, As If, Yui creates a subtly connected suite of electronic music, drawn from improvisations and randomised processes that she has engaged with modular synthesis. Deeply poetic in its expression, even at its most minimal, the six pieces on As If have a curious tenor – they are, each of them, intensely sensuous, almost haptic listening experiences, as though the laser focus that Yui displays towards her compositions allows her to engage them as almost physical presences in the world.
One of the keys that unlocks the intimate complexity-in-simplicity of As If was Yui’s encounters with the Amazonian rainforest in Manaus, Brazil in 2018. Finding that the sounds in the rainforest both shadowed and echoed the music she had been making for two decades, she embraced the possibilities of modular synthesis, the sounds of which she discovered “have astonishing similarities to the sounds I experienced in the rainforest.” There is, indeed, something natural about the way these sounds bloom in real time; in their dedicated focus to the subtle development and mutation of several discrete parameters of sound, they grow slowly, gradually, their rhizomic structures suggesting that we are always situated within the middle of sound.
Sometimes, the material here has a kind of febrile energy, as on the ticking, clacking electronics of “Generativ”, a track that seems to rotate in the air in front of the listener, the light reflecting off its multiple surfaces as we catch the intricacies of its micro-patterns. Elsewhere, we slide into a cooled but welcoming environment, like the late-night fire-fly horizon of “Song 4”; there’s also the humid, dripping tropical sunset that’s documented on “Summernight”. It’s a music that’s hard to locate external coordinates for, though there are, perhaps, some parallels with the work of Laurie Spiegel, Eliane Radigue’s Vice Versa, and Pauline Oliveros’s “Roots of the Moment”. But As If is an extraordinary collection of naturally developing, rich studies for slowly mutating, enveloping, elemental electronics.
Ploughing lesser-used breaks and finding finesse in the ruffest and tuffest rave emissions, Jason Warlock is back with more of that untouchable clout he rolls out as Hooverian Blur. Team Sneaker have been proud to platform the project plenty in the past, and so it goes on this latest four-strong salvo of blunted samples and head-threading synth hooks.
In terms of pace and sheer sonic breadth Hooverian Blur aligns with the embryonic days of hardcore, before breakbeat dogma had set in. Rather than opting for tear-out intensity, the likes of 'Hypnotizer' and 'Wacky Robot' roll with a lean-on that feels like the sweet spot between rave and rap. It's trippy, ready to take a left turn and tweak your nervous system with a plethora of zaps and pings, and it's got more than enough bassweight and mid-range snap to get bodies twisting, but edgy hysteria has been replaced by a cool and deadly demeanour which makes these joints all the more addictive.
'Project One' still slaps with a crafty one-two between rolling drum licks and machine-powered thrust, and 'Double Depths' digs deep down in the crusty edits, but yet again Warlock demonstrates an assured poise in his Hooverian Blur guise which can only come from serious skin in the game.
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Limited edition classic black vinyl mini-album of cathartic slowcore by The Declining Winter, the new vehicle of Richard Adams, formerly of Domino Records post-rockers, Hood. The next release on the acclaimed boutique English independent label, Second Language Music, will be ‘Last April,’ the new mini-album by The Declining Winter, a raw, deeply emotional monument of loss, grief and heartbreak that treads in the footsteps of Red House Painters’ ‘Down Colorful Hill,’ Low’s ‘I Could Live In Hope’ and Songs: Ohia’s ‘Didn’t It Rain.’ This is not a heart-on-your-sleeve record. It does away with the sleeve and goes straight for carving a heart on the arm. Recordings which emerged out of a period of shock, grief and trauma, these six songs were all written on the same night and form a stately tribute to a loved one lost. The Declining Winter strip things back to just Richard Adams’ plaintive voice and acoustic guitar, alongside the beautiful, irrefutably melancholy string arrangements/playing of Sarah Kemp (Brave Timbers). There’s been no attempt to plane off any rough edges – here and there, the creak of a chair, a guitar note missed, a voice almost cracking with emotion – these recordings are like cathartic scrawls in a diary. Only this one has been left out for anyone to read. As with his previous band, Hood, Adams has a way of evoking a particularly pastoral, English melancholy, of lonely morning hikes in inclement weathers, of rain on slate in the West Yorkshire streets where he was raised and still lives.
Faye Webster hat heute ihr neues Album “Underdressed At The Symphony” für den 01. März 2024 bei Secretly Canadian angekündigt und teilt gleichzeitig ihre neue Single “Lego Ring (feat. Lil Yachty)”.
Eine Art Unbeschwertheit, allerdings mit melancholischem Rückgrat, ist die treibende Kraft hinter dem Song, auf dem Atlanta-Multikünstler Lil Yachty zu hören ist.
Im zugehörigen Musikvideo spielen Faye und Yachty ein Videospiel, bei dem Fans die Möglichkeit haben, über diesen Link mitzuspielen.
Faye Webster - “Lego Ring (feat. Lil Yachty)” (Official Video)
Die Songs von Faye Webster sind ein direkter Draht zum menschlichen Unbewussten, und "Underdressed at the Symphony" dokumentiert, was passiert, wenn man beginnt, aus den Trümmern der alten Routinen ein neues Selbst aufzubauen. Schon ihre zuvor veröffentlichten Songs "But Not Kiss" und "Lifetime" zeigen das selten erforschte Gebiet emotionaler Intimität, in dem Verlangen und Leidenschaft im Konflikt mit Trost, Verständnis und sogar platonischer Liebe stehen. Diese Themen finden sich in “Underdressed at the Symphony” wieder, zusammen mit hyper-spezifischen Symbolen, die ein Bild von Websters Leben zeichnen, wie z.B. "eBay Purchase History" oder die Objekte, die sie bei "Lego Ring"begehrt.
“Underdressed at the Symphony” wurde mit ihrer langjährigen Band in den Sonic Ranch Studios in Texas aufgenommen und schwelgt in Experimentierfreudigkeit, Verspieltheit und Abenteuerlust. Vocoder-Momente, Schnörkel eines Orchesters, gruselige Harmonien und Synthesizer kommen zum Vorschein, ohne die räumliche Qualität von Websters früherer Musik zu beeinträchtigen, sodass ihre Texte nach wie vor genügend Raum haben, mit zusätzlichen Bedeutungsebenen an die Oberfläche sprudeln. Matt „Pistol“ Stoessels Pedal Steel-Klänge sorgen für genau den richtigen Schimmer, während Nels Cline von Wilco seine unbestreitbar gefühlvollen Fingerfertigkeiten zu einer Reihe von Songs beisteuert. Das Zusammenkauern an der buchstäblichen Grenze zwischen den USA und Mexiko bot den Musiker*innen Raum zum Isolieren, Konzentrieren und Experimentieren. Alle Songs auf diesem Album sind Live-Aufnahmen, von denen einige bereits beim ersten oder zweiten Take aufgenommen wurden und Websters Talent zeigen, aus einem ganz bestimmten, scheinbar kleinen Moment eine universelle Erfahrung zu ziehen.
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Mit "Nobody Loves You More" veröffentlicht Kim Deal am 22.11.24 auf 4AD ihr erstes Soloalbum. Die elf Songs umfassende Sammlung ist das erste Album der in Dayton, Ohio lebenden Künstlerin unter ihrem eigenen Namen. "Nobody Loves You More" ist Kim Deals Debütalbum, obwohl es nicht das erste Mal ist, dass sie einen Alleingang unternimmt - 2013 veröffentlichte sie im Eigenverlag eine fünfteilige Reihe von zehn Songs, die limitiert als 7" erschienen. Im Einklang mit Deals akribischer Herangehensweise an ihre Kunst, wurde das Album über mehrere Jahre hinweg verfeinert. Die ältesten Songs, "Are You Mine?" und "Wish I Was", wurden 2011 geschrieben und aufgenommen, kurz nachdem Deal von der "Lost Cities Tour" der Pixies zurückkam und nach Los Angeles umzog (frühe Versionen dieser Songs waren in der besagten Vinyl-Serie enthalten). Die letzten Aufnahmen für "Nobody Loves You More" fanden im November 2022 mit dem legendären Tontechniker und engen Freund Steve Albini statt, der den letzten Track "A Good Time Pushed" in seinem Electrical Audio Studio in Chicago einspielte. Auf dem Weg dorthin hat sie eine Vielzahl von Mitstreitern aus der Vergangenheit und Gegenwart hinzugezogen, von den Breeders (Mando Lopez, Zwillingsschwester Kelley Deal, Jim Macpherson, Britt Walford) oder auch Raymond McGinley (Teenage Fanclub), Jack Lawrence (Raconteurs) sowie Fay Milton und Ayse Hassan von den Savages. "Nobody Loves You More" wurde von Marta Salogni gemischt und von Heba Kadry gemastert. Zu jedem Song gibt es eine persönliche Geschichte. Sie handeln von den Winterferien mit ihren Eltern auf den Florida Keys ("Summerland"), einem Hochzeitsband-Cover von "Margaritaville" ("Coast") oder auch der Demenz ihrer Mutter ("Are You Mine?"). Die Platte zelebriert Deals unvergleichliche Kunstfertigkeit, die nicht nur auf die Höhepunkte ihrer Karriere mit gefeierten Bands der Alternative-Landschaft (Pixies, The Amps, The Breeders) verweist, sondern auch auf ihr unverrückbares kulturelles Gewicht, das über Generationen hinweg Musiker und Musikerinnen wie Kurt Cobain und Olivia Rodrigo beeinflusst hat.
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Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Alias des Musikers Will Oldham - wird am 31. Januar 2025 sein neues Studioalbum mit dem Titel "The Purple Bird" veröffentlichen. "The Purple Bird" wurde in Nashville mit dem Produzenten David "Ferg" Ferguson und einem Ensemble erstklassiger Session-Musiker aufgenommen. Es könnte als "eine richtige Nashville-Platte" bezeichnet werden, die aus einer Sammlung von Songs besteht, die hauptsächlich am Küchentisch von Ferg entstanden sind.
Auf "The Purple Bird" arbeitet Bonnie "Prince" Billy erst zum zweiten Mal in seiner illustren Karriere mit einem Produzenten zusammen. Seine Beziehung zu Ferg reicht mehr als zwei Jahrzehnte zurück bis zu den Sessions für das Johnny Cash-Album American III mit Rick Rubin, bei denen Ferg als Tontechniker fungierte und bei denen Cash eine Coverversion des BPB-Tracks "I See A Darkness" aufnahm. Die beiden haben im Laufe der Jahre an zahlreichen Projekten zusammengearbeitet, aber an keinem so intensiv wie an "The Purple Bird". Was bedeutet "eine richtige Nashville"-Platte für den rätselhaften Bonnie "Prince" Billy? Zu Beginn der Sessions hatte Ferg zu Oldham gesagt : "Ich will keine Country-Platte machen, mach einfach deinen Scheiß, Will."
Und in der Tat haben Oldham und Ferg, zusammen mit ihren Mitstreitern, ein beeindruckendes Album eingespielt und somit einen neuen Höhepunkt im umfangreichen Katalog von Bonnie 'Prince' Billy geschaffen.
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The duality of "man" is a subject that has been explored in art for centuries, from writings of the Bible to Descartes, all the way up to filmmakers like Lynch, Cronenberg, & Carpenter. Who is your "true self" & what do they want? With their sixth studio album "Wish Defense" (again for longtime home Trouble In Mind Records), Chicago trio FACS take a good, long look in the mirror to face themselves. The return of original member Jonathan Van Herik - who stepped away from the group just before their debut album "Negative Houses" was released in 2018 - replacing longtime bassist Alianna Kalaba brings renewed vigor & a marked angularity from the band's more recent output. The songs still hit hard, but the approach is sideways - the roles have changed since Van Herik's original tenure & his previous time with Case & powerhouse drummer Noah Leger in Disappears; now on bass, Van Herik was originally the group's guitar player and features on the debut, while current guitarist Brian Case played bass. This role reversal has helped the band's dynamic, offering up a different musical perspective than before, now revisiting the trio's long-going collaboration with some distance and time. Case notes that the lyrics on "Wish Defense" revolve around doppelgängers or "doubles", tackling the idea of facing yourself and observing your ideas and motivations. Look no further than the album's title track; "Enter the mirror / Double walker / An intimate / Wish defense / Is it real? / You beside me / The detail / Terrifying / Abject self / Your grief / A public / Performance". Case lays out the entire album's theme in one stanza; Are your actions & emotions your true self? Or are they a performative aspect of that "other" person you put forward? Case says that ultimately the sentiment is "_don't let the bastards get you down, there's something beyond this moment, like hope - but not in the naive belief that ultimately people are good". "Wish Defense"s artwork is also a subtle reference to "Negative Houses"' art, returning to that album's black & white starkness & minimalism. The album's checkerboards everywhere are offset reflections of themselves, mirrored with the album's lyrics printed front & center on the cover. Everything is out in the open. A final note; "Wish Defense" is the last album engineered by Steve Albini. Two days were recorded at Electrical Audio in early May of 2024 before Steve's untimely passing, with renowned engineer & friend Sanford Parker stepping in to finish the session 24 hours later, tracking the last bits of vocals and overdubs. Longtime collaborator John Congleton mixed the album as Albini would have; in Electrical Audio's A room, off the tape, using Albini's notes about the session.
