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REKORDER is "a kind of retrospective of myself", says M.RUX about his second, long-awaited solo album. For over 10 years, Marten Rux aka M.RUX appears as a DJ, producer, editor, remixer and multi-instrumentalist all over the world and has developed an idiosyncratic sound that opens up subtle fields of tension: M.RUX mixes a sound between experimental sound design and hooklines that stay in your ears forever. Between wild percussion and contemplative harmonies, between ecstasy and meditative calm. In his DJ and live sets, M.RUX usually steps up to the controls with a smile, discreetly bobbing his head, while the audience goes wild. He circumnavigates clichés with trustworthy certainty and develops his very own guiding threads in his selection beyond BPM or genre straitjackets. One constant is his warm, often stoically slow kick drum, which holds all that playfulness together. REKORDER is a manifestation of this typical M.RUX sound. Similar to his concept album "Vermonische Melodien" from 2020 (on the Pingipung label), the artist's curiosity is directed towards the musical visions of the past. When new music technology projected great visions of the future and when new sounds had not yet solidi ed into clichés. REKORDER refers to the recording device, spelled in a German way, because most of the recordings were made in Germany (and in England as well). Phonography is a miracle that has only been around for 150 years: Technology gifts upon us prosthetics for remembering sound. Every recording is a process, and every playback a new performative act. Recordari (Latin) is a beautiful word. It literally means to take something to heart (cor) once again (re-). This doesn't just refer to remembering, but also to a ponderous, loving, sometimes doubtful contemplation. It is a perfect headline for M.RUX’ approach to processing sound. REKORDER draws deeply from its own archive, which has ourished quite splendidly during the pandemic. Multi-instrumentalist M.RUX mixes his own recordings of banjo, guitar, auto-harp, synths, percussion and jews harp with fragments from sessions with friends that have accumulated since 2020. They unfold in the process of re-listening in the mix and transform into a solid musical tapestry. A typical gesture for this album? M.RUX bows deeply to the history of pop music - especially the blues and its melancholy, coolness and shuf ing groove. The harmonic framework of the album is based on blues scales throughout. Instead of conveying blue emotions via lyrics or the tone of the voice, as the original genre does, the synthesizer takes on this role on REKORDER. With his sound design, M.RUX achieves an ecstatic sorrow in his melodies, this gurgling portamento that is reminiscent of R&B (or even the ingenious title melody of the series "Bojack Horseman”). If voices are heard on REKORDER, then as hypnotic fragments that guide us through the groove as conjunctions: "Because...", says the voice in the track of the same name. That's enough. There are no lyrics, no literal weariness, no love-songs or storytelling, REKORDER processes all of this into timbres and groove as vessels for the album’s individual, contemplative melancholy. Never forgetting, with a gentle smile, to swing a leg.

LIMITED RED COLOURED VINYL!
REKORDER is "a kind of retrospective of myself", says M.RUX about his second, long-awaited solo album. For over 10 years, Marten Rux aka M.RUX appears as a DJ, producer, editor, remixer and multi-instrumentalist all over the world and has developed an idiosyncratic sound that opens up subtle fields of tension: M.RUX mixes a sound between experimental sound design and hooklines that stay in your ears forever. Between wild percussion and contemplative harmonies, between ecstasy and meditative calm. In his DJ and live sets, M.RUX usually steps up to the controls with a smile, discreetly bobbing his head, while the audience goes wild. He circumnavigates clichés with trustworthy certainty and develops his very own guiding threads in his selection beyond BPM or genre straitjackets. One constant is his warm, often stoically slow kick drum, which holds all that playfulness together. REKORDER is a manifestation of this typical M.RUX sound. Similar to his concept album "Vermonische Melodien" from 2020 (on the Pingipung label), the artist's curiosity is directed towards the musical visions of the past. When new music technology projected great visions of the future and when new sounds had not yet solidi ed into clichés. REKORDER refers to the recording device, spelled in a German way, because most of the recordings were made in Germany (and in England as well). Phonography is a miracle that has only been around for 150 years: Technology gifts upon us prosthetics for remembering sound. Every recording is a process, and every playback a new performative act. Recordari (Latin) is a beautiful word. It literally means to take something to heart (cor) once again (re-). This doesn't just refer to remembering, but also to a ponderous, loving, sometimes doubtful contemplation. It is a perfect headline for M.RUX’ approach to processing sound. REKORDER draws deeply from its own archive, which has ourished quite splendidly during the pandemic. Multi-instrumentalist M.RUX mixes his own recordings of banjo, guitar, auto-harp, synths, percussion and jews harp with fragments from sessions with friends that have accumulated since 2020. They unfold in the process of re-listening in the mix and transform into a solid musical tapestry. A typical gesture for this album? M.RUX bows deeply to the history of pop music - especially the blues and its melancholy, coolness and shuf ing groove. The harmonic framework of the album is based on blues scales throughout. Instead of conveying blue emotions via lyrics or the tone of the voice, as the original genre does, the synthesizer takes on this role on REKORDER. With his sound design, M.RUX achieves an ecstatic sorrow in his melodies, this gurgling portamento that is reminiscent of R&B (or even the ingenious title melody of the series "Bojack Horseman”). If voices are heard on REKORDER, then as hypnotic fragments that guide us through the groove as conjunctions: "Because...", says the voice in the track of the same name. That's enough. There are no lyrics, no literal weariness, no love-songs or storytelling, REKORDER processes all of this into timbres and groove as vessels for the album’s individual, contemplative melancholy. Never forgetting, with a gentle smile, to swing a leg.

« Tas Malonumas »
Lithuanian word
Def: meaning That Pleasure
Example: conversation between a young, inexperienced person and an elderly person who’s near death’s door. The old one is telling the young one how life is an unceasing search for pleasure.
Track: takes the form of a mental stroll that takes you far, far away.

« Room of Men Eaters »
Human expression of cannibalism
Def: absurd situation in which men and women eat each other in a room
Track: the contrast between the absurdity of the situation and the apparent normality of speech told by the vocoded voice of Shkema is just astonishing.

« Sarka Syrkaza »
From the future
Def: meaning “super sarcasm”
Example: one day you wake up in the morning and you feel that something within you has changed. All seems to be nonsense and you start to look at everything through the grey glasses of sarcasm. One might look enjoying oneself, but in reality this is an extremely draining state of mind.
Track: musical expression of that state of mind

« Je n’aime pas les fêtes »
World expression
Def: parties are boring
Track: Shkema remix of his friend Afrodelic is a wacky version that contrasts French lyrics talking about how disastrous parties feel with a beat that just makes you want to dance.

Limited orange vinyl. We've all heard the axiom, "if you ignore it, maybe it'll go away." That goes double for a lot of people who wish to apply that saying to rap music. But when it comes to the West Coast "gangsta rapper" genre made popular by the likes of NWA, Eazy E, Ice-T and his Rhyme Syndicate cohort, King Tee, the truth is hard to ignore. King Tee aligns producer DJ Pooh on this Bass EP consisting of tracks recorded in 1987. They're joined by The Compton Posse that includes the late Mixmaster Spade and J-Ro from Tha Alkaholiks. This EP sharpens the skillful word play King Tee made famous on his debut album Act A Fool. From song to song, this EP has a superior sheen, a tightness and cohesiveness between rhyme and music. Born in Los Angeles and now a resident of the infamous West Coast rap capital, Compton, California, King Tee truly is a product of the streets. He openly admits to running with gangs in his youth, causing his mother endless embarrassment and frustration. So much so that, in a desperate attempt to turn his life around, she turned King Tee into the authorities when she discovered him stealing from her. Once out of jail, King Tee ran of to Houston, Texas. Trouble is that he was underage atthe time, so his mother again had King Tee locked up in a juvenile camp. When King Tee finally realized why his mother did what she did, he decided to turn his life around by dedicating himself to music. He listened obsessively to the radio and chose to become a DJ. When King Tee was released from juvenile camp he secured a mixing gig at KSU and then KYOK in Houston. Between station gigs he handled the mix at various venues and clubs. After gaining the necessary experience behind the tables, King Tee moved back to Los Angeles and hooked up with Ice-T. In rapid succession, King Tee met Du Pooh who enlisted him into his rap group (after King Tee bugged Pooh for months), then Pooh introduced Tee to DJ Unknown with whom he made several 12" records for the Techno Hop labelwhich is now released on this EP for the first time since then. Ice-T's influence brought Rhyme Syndicate Management's Jorge Hinojosa into the picture. King Tee eventually signed with Hinojosa who then secured a contract with Capitol Records for King Tee. The result was 1988's Act A Fool.

The Glass Hours are American songwriters Brad Armstrong and Megan Barbera. Their music blurs between Sunday afternoon country-folk and the Golden Age of the 1970s. With the exception of Sue Westcott on fiddle (Chet Atkins, Tom Jones), the album was written, performed, recorded and produced by Brad and Megan in Brad's home studio in Red Hook, New York.

Like much of the work they've done in their respective solo careers, the new album dances between this and that, drinking from the same wells as Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, Tom Waits and Lucinda Williams. The songs go where they want to go; Brad and Megan simply try to stay out of the way. Although it is nearly impossible, in this new world of niche artistry, not to pick a genre camp and pitch a tent, The Glass Hours seem intent on trying. Yet, there is a thread that ties the whole thing together: the constant tension and tapestry of their voices harmonizing. Every song on 'The Glass Hours' was written with the idea of this harmony and interaction, point and counterpoint. Two voices trying to come together as one.

First ever vinyl release of the album recorded in 1969/70 by UK prog-psych band Misty. Including their terrific mod-psych “Hot Cinnamon” 45.

A dazzling fusion of classically-inspired progressive rock and song-based psychedelic pop with an organ-based sound, in the vein of Procol Harum and The Nice.

“In October 1969, King Crimson released their debut, In The Court Of The Crimson King, Pink Floyd unleashed Ummagumma and Led Zeppelin put out their second LP. At the same time, Misty were in London’s Regent Sound Studios recording what turned out to be the only album of their career with producer, Adrian Ibbetson, who had cut his teeth as an engineer working with everyone from the Beatles to the Equals.

After only a handful of gigs, Misty signed a deal with Parlophone and began to gather momentum with the release of Hot Cinnamon. Although they received a lot of airplay, the single failed to chart and the band’s hopes of releasing their debut album were dashed. Reluctantly, Misty went their separate ways and the Here Again master tapes sat gathering dust on a shelf until Gelardi came across the original acetate and decided it was time for the album to finally see the light of day.

Bridging late psych and early prog, songs like Life Has Just Begun, Witness For The Resurrection and the title track were played with a perfect mix of high-flying experimentation and virtuosic musicianship. Blurring the fine lines between rock, jazz, classical and chamber pop, Here Again is a transcendent kaleidoscope of colour that is beyond definition.

Maybe you can tell an album is truly timeless when it takes half a century for it to be properly appreciated. Misty were a rare bird, a brilliant, truly original band who should have left an indelible mark instead of joining what now seems like the never-ending line of half-remembered and long-forgotten flotsam and jetsam of the psychedelic era.

Both the first and the final statement from a group who never really got their chance to be heard, Here Again is a slice of pristine psychedelic pop that so embodies the dizzying energy and the progressive spirit of the time, it’s astonishing that it stays afloat under the weight of its own intentions. But float it does, like mist in the air - a half-forgotten diaphanous dream slowly coming back to you after 50 years of silence.” – Jonathan Wingate

A pioneer of the home recording movement, Linda Smith released several collections of delicate, bewitching solo music on cassette in the 1980s and 90s. The 2021 release of Till Another Time: 1988-1996, Captured Tracks' compilation of Smith's work, has helped bestow rightful critical acclaim to the ahead-of-her-time artist. Now, Captured Tracks dives deeper into Smith's catalog with the release of two full-length companion albums, Nothing Else Matters and I So Liked Spring, available for the first time on vinyl & streaming formats. Recorded at Smith's home in Baltimore in 1995, Nothing Else Matters chronicles the tension between the mundanity of daily life and the creative impulse: Traffic noises on the charmingly boisterous "Little To Be Won" showcase this levity, as does the addition of playful hand claps and a laugh track to her striking cover of Young Marble Giants' "Salad Days." I So Liked Spring, recorded the following year, saw Smith experimenting with the unique challenge of putting another artist's words to music. She'd come across a biography of the English poet Charlotte Mew and found her wistful poetry rife for musical interpretation. The songs on I So Liked Spring are delightfully unpredictable, full of upbeat melodies and spellbinding vocal harmonies. This is perhaps best showcased on the title track, one of Smith's most popular songs to date, a lovelorn anthem that recalls the airy melodies of early dream pop. Both of these albums showcase the mesmerizing charm of Smith's songwriting, often compared to the likes of the Velvet Underground and Laurie Anderson. Home recording technology has come a long way since Smith first began recording demos on her tape machine, but her influence reverberates through the work of today's bedroom artists. The release of these two essential albums seeks to further illuminate this connection, welcoming a new generation of listeners to the work of this trailblazing artist.

A pioneer of the home recording movement, Linda Smith released several collections of delicate, bewitching solo music on cassette in the 1980s and 90s. The 2021 release of Till Another Time: 1988-1996, Captured Tracks' compilation of Smith's work, has helped bestow rightful critical acclaim to the ahead-of-her-time artist. Now, Captured Tracks dives deeper into Smith's catalog with the release of two full-length companion albums, Nothing Else Matters and I So Liked Spring, available for the first time on vinyl & streaming formats. Recorded at Smith's home in Baltimore in 1995, Nothing Else Matters chronicles the tension between the mundanity of daily life and the creative impulse: Traffic noises on the charmingly boisterous "Little To Be Won" showcase this levity, as does the addition of playful hand claps and a laugh track to her striking cover of Young Marble Giants' "Salad Days." I So Liked Spring, recorded the following year, saw Smith experimenting with the unique challenge of putting another artist's words to music. She'd come across a biography of the English poet Charlotte Mew and found her wistful poetry rife for musical interpretation. The songs on I So Liked Spring are delightfully unpredictable, full of upbeat melodies and spellbinding vocal harmonies. This is perhaps best showcased on the title track, one of Smith's most popular songs to date, a lovelorn anthem that recalls the airy melodies of early dream pop. Both of these albums showcase the mesmerizing charm of Smith's songwriting, often compared to the likes of the Velvet Underground and Laurie Anderson. Home recording technology has come a long way since Smith first began recording demos on her tape machine, but her influence reverberates through the work of today's bedroom artists. The release of these two essential albums seeks to further illuminate this connection, welcoming a new generation of listeners to the work of this trailblazing artist.

Witch Trials will release his anticipated new EP CANNIBAL CULTURE on his own label, MYRYRS. The upcoming EP spans genres and journeys between contemporary dance, electronic, house, and breakbeat - showcasing the progression and expansion of a stand out artist continuing to evolve and reinvent his craft.

The new EP from Witch Trials delivers a time-traveling thrust of rave culture, melodic riffs and atmospheric beats that would work the dancefloor as hard as a solitary listener at home– experiencing the tracks in confinement.

“CANNIBAL CULTURE… it’s the voices in your head that guide you, the demons in the night or day I overcome, the time I close curtains to obscure the light. It's the carnivorous force that kills, it’s the kindness of the crowd on the dancefloor, it’s also the power to continue to create. After the madness, anxiety, and constrictions within or outside of my mind, life goeson.” - WITCH TRIALS

London-based, American-born, and Irish-raised artist Witch Trials releases the visual for his new EP CANNIBAL CULTURE. Confusing the lines that bound or bind art and music, the visual captures the fusion of trauma, light after dark, and a chthonic realm of solitude. The photographic concept and the sound world push distinct interpretations of the mediums and work alone or in harmony.

First official vinyl reissue of this sought-after psychedelic folk-rock / Americana / SSW album from 1976.

Major Arcana was a group led by counter-culture Milwaukee icon JIM Spencer, featuring a revolving cast of musicians / collaborators. The core of the band was Jim Spencer (guitar, vocals); Randall Dubis (electric guitar); Michael Burdecki (bass, slide guitar) and Jim Kitchen (percussion, harmonica). They were helped in the studio by some friends / musicians like Sigmund Snopek III and Barry Patton among many others.

Released on Jim Spencer’s own private label (A Major Label, home also to Anonymous of “Inside The Shadow” fame), the album opens with the terrific psych-folk of “Western Wind” and closes with an acid-folk rendition of “Greensleeves”. In between, you’ll also find some blues rock, SSW ballads, jazzy bits…

File next to groups like Pearls Before Swine or Bermuda Triangle.

All-Analogue Vinyl LP for the First Time in Almost 50 Years!
Mastered by Bernie Grundman from a 1-to-1 Flat Transfer of the Original Analogue Master Tapes!

Pressed on RTI's HQ-180 for the First Time Ever!

Deluxe "reversed" tip-on jacket that faithfully reproduces the original with highest-grade materials
Exclusive full-colour insert with new historical and production notes by Charles L. Granata and photos from the Sony Music Archives



This next all-analogue, HQ-180 gram LP is an impeccably performed and stunningly recorded late-period gem from The Titan of modern violinists. The Lark revisits works that helped define Heifetz in various points of his illustrious career and which highlight his crisp attacks, imaginative phrasings, and mellifluous sustained notes.

The repertoire is intriguing, combining two iconic pieces (Tomaso Antonio Vitali's Chaconne in g minor for Violin and Continuo, written in the Baroque period; and Gabriel Fauré's Violin Sonata No. 1 in A Major, Op. 13, written in the late-Romantic period) with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco's The Lark: Poem for Violin and Piano (a 20th-century modern tone poem). Although nearly two-hundred years separate their composition, these pieces complement each other beautifully: a testament to the discerning judgment of Heifetz and producer John (Jack) Pfeiffer, who helped create his albums.*

The LP was cut by Bernie Grundman from a straight 1-to-1 copy of the original session masters, meticulously created by Andreas Meyer at Swan Studios NYC. No digital processing of any kind was used. The original reverse-tip-on-style jacket and a brand new 4-page insert split the difference between the authentic, nostalgic feel of a mint original and a reissue's value proposition you've come to expect from Impex Records.

Warehouse Find!

A true studio visionary and son of Incognito's Jean-Paul 'Bluey' Maunick, Daniel Maunick virtually grew up behind the mixing desk and worked his way through the scenes of drum n' bass, acid-jazz, disco, samba, deep house and beyond. As Far Out's in-house producer his work is a key component in the consistency and transience of the label's sound, with key albums include Azymuth's Fênix, Marcos Valle's Estatica, Sabrina Malheiros' Dreaming and Far Out Monster Disco Orchestra. His latest credit on the catalogue is the next chapter of his Dokta Venom alias, Moodswings.Each track brings you a visceral dancefloor experience both sonically and structurally. Opener 'See the Sun' evokes an elevated, cloudy ether, with each kick drum another step up to the sky. Title track 'Mood Swings' deploys components of broken beat, garage, house, IDM and boogie, but shrouds them into a hazy deepness, like a dream through Maunick's musical memories. Whilst keeping the same intensity, 'I Owe u Something' ups the tempo and swings the mood. Propulsive percussion blurs the acoustic with the electric, glowing synths and anguished vocals formulate this eruptive full-floor belter that lodges somewhere in between early Pepe Bradock and Azymuth.With a solo album from Azymuth drummer Ivan 'Mamao' Conti, a collaboration between Sean Khan and Hermeto Pascoal, along with a long awaited new record from Sabrina Malheiros, 2017 is set to be an exceptional year for Maunick and Mood Swings is an inspired prelude of things to come.

Soul Jazz Records’ 200% Dynamite! set the benchmark for reggae meets funk compilations that has never been bettered. Out of print for over 15 years this new 2023 edition with new tracks and is being released in a one-off limited-edition heavyweight special-edition coloured vinyl pressing + download code exclusively for Record Store Day 2023.
Jam-packed with reggae tunes that crossed-over to become dancefloor hits such as Tenor Saw’s sound boy anthem ‘Ring the Alarm,’ K.C. White’s classic cut of the seminal ‘No, No, No’ and Augustus Pablo’s ‘Rockers Rock’, 200% Dynamite explores the links between reggae, jazz, funk and soul.
Carrying on perfectly from 100% Dynamite, this second compilation continues to trace the history of Jamaican reggae and the influence of American styles such as funk and jazz had on this music.
Featured here are serious funk and rocksteady tunes from the likes of The Skatalites and Johnny Osbourne through to Jamaican jazz from masters such as Tommy McCook and Byron Lee, as well as some serious dub from the likes of Augustus Pablo, King Tubby and Jackie Mittoo.
New bonus tracks on this new 2023 edition include seminal dancehall party cuts Sister Nancy’s ‘One Two’ and Chaka Demus and Pliers’ ‘Murder She Wrote’, alongside classic soul to reggae covers including cuts of Marlena Shaw’s ‘Women of the Ghetto’ and Odyssey’s ‘Don’t Tell Me Tell Her’.






‘Once again, Soul Jazz goes digging through the reggae vaults and produces another sterling compilation. If you’re looking for a primer on the music of the island, you could do worse than buying every one of the records in this superb compilation series.’ All Music
‘In Soul Jazz’s outstanding Dynamite! series 200% is the head-turner. The label has its finger on the pulse of the now just as surely as it does on that of the past.’ Pitchfork
‘Soul Jazz Records ‘Dynamite’ series has quickly become a
rewarding guide to reggae’s most infectious back pages. Every home
needs some Dynamite.’ Irish Times
‘Soul Jazz Records’ long-running series
of highly-regarded reggae albums.’
Rough Trade

By welcoming the beauty of imperfection and simplicity, Sven Wunder applies the timeless wisdom of wabi sabi on this musical journey. What you can hear is filtered through Ukiyo-e (which translates as “pictures of the floating world”), which illustrates everyday life, as well as through Japonism, the study of Japanese art, and more specifically its influence on European works. The result is a surface that creates an illusion by sound. The infusion of Min’yō with jazz rock, this hazy scene evokes the landscape of Monet’s ”The Water Lily Pond”, which depicts the painter’s Giverny garden, with a Japanese bridge, bamboo, ginkgo trees and the reflection of the sky in the pond. This illusion constructs both time and space.

The surface of the music, like the canvas of the painting, invents a journey between now and then by interpreting the idiom of folkloric and western art instruments. In this composition, the sound of the Western concert flute, which stretches back to the Renaissance and Baroque periods, evokes the sound of the bamboo-flute (”shakuchachi”), which reached its peak during the Edo period. The guzheng, also known as the Chinese zither, with a more than 2,500 year history, joins traditional Japanese folk melodies with modern pop percussion and 20th century electronic instruments such as the Moog synthesizer, Wurlitzer electric piano and electric bass.

This is the illusion that celebrates the fleeting nature of all things. A journey. A deep inhale and a slow exhale. It has a mix of jazz (both funky and progressive), East Asian and South Asian sounds. The idea of fusing these styles and reframing them with the aesthetic of wabi sabi is to reconnect with nature and concentrate on asymmetries and emphasize ornamentation to generate new ways of looking at the world, here and now.

Almost two years to the date of the release of their breakthrough album, Citizen return with their highly anticipated follow-up full-length, Everybody is Going to Heaven. Haunting these ten songs is a foreboding, dark atmosphere masterfully crafted by producer Will Yip, and an immediate, intense energy is palpable from even the first grimy seconds of the opener, "Cement." As with every one of Citizen's releases, Mat Kerekes' signature vocal delivery here is a trademark feature, demonstrating the emotional tension that boils over on this release. As cathartic as ever, he duels between a soft croon and a haunting scream, confronting his demons on tracks like "My Favorite Color" echoing the tormented refrain, "my heart still beats for nothing". And while most of the record is an intense and noisy onslaught, songs like "Heaviside" and "Yellow Love" act as armistices, each aching in reverb-drenched consonance. Everybody is Going to Heaven is a turning point for Citizen: once regarded as newcomers with undeniable potential, the band shows here that they have matured both abruptly and uniquely, with no end to their upward trajectory in sight.

For 46 minutes Alex Zhang Hungtai punctures our perception of linearity, working like a conductor, encouraging percussive flurries to trip and fall over each other, sometimes tempered by contact mic feedback to help skewer the chronology. He’s assisted by three additional percussionists - Wet Hair’s Ryan Garbes and Shawn Reed, and Leonard King - while Signal Decay’s Nick Yeck-Stauffer plays trumpet, with each extra voice blurred into the middle distance, curling like pipe smoke into convulsive whorls.

The piece is frankly astonishing in its grasp of the maelstrom. Initially tentative, searching, with higher register hits like moths butting lone lightbulbs in an abandoned apartment block, the distant, plangent peal of twin brass wafts between rooms to impart a distinctly floating, OOBE- like feel for space. The brass recedes while the drums’ low end thickens and roils like a gamelan tempest, blurring impressions of knackered buildings or the temple rituals of ancient epochs, with sounds wafting in from other rooms to mess with the stereo field like ghosts of worshippers doing their thing. Remarkably, it conjures a fever dream miasma of ricocheting, thunderous polymetric clatter and proprioceptive fuckry without ever losing its head.

Hungtai’s canny use of contact mic feedback drone and cymbal saw gives the whole thing a sense of gauzy delirium that unites the grouches like mildewed grout and cobwebs, coarsely gelling the elements in a way that resonates with Pauline Oliveros and co’s Deep Listening band acousmagique as much as Basil Kirchin’s keeling ‘World Within World’ classic, the ghosts of Sun Ra’s ‘Nuclear War’, the possessed atmosphere of the cabin where Harley Gaber recorded ‘Wind Rises in the North’, and no doubt Harry Bertoia’s massive metallic sculptures, agitated at midnight.

Humid, menacing, and wraithlike, the album’s’ sense of keening chronics belies a visionary hand at the tiller, here tightened by Rashad Becker’s mastering, which faithfully brings to light, and shadow, the depth of perception and wild but concentrated energies at play, sealing in place a truly staggering session for adventurous ears, cineastes and Lynchian acolytes alike.

Felix Machtelinckx is a singer, composer, producer and lyricist from Belgium. Featuring an array of film scores, dance soundtracks, pop, folk and electronic music, Felix's music resonates with a familiar, almost nostalgic patina, applied with a distinctly crooked touch. Through artistic collaboration, coaching and production, Felix has cut a dash in the pop and indie cult scenes of Belgium, especially with his band Tin Fingers, who are feted as one of the most promising indie acts of the moment. Night Scenes, Felix’s solo debut is, in contrast to his other work, more humble and less traditional, roughly hewn from a series of ambient soundscapes, earthy textures and playful structures. Felix’s voice, normally the flagship of his music, becomes more of a distant memory, an indistinct emotion feathered throughout the music. Many lyrics are improvised, sometimes unintelligible, conjuring haunted, uncertain undertones. Similarly, the album is innately peripatetic to the core, being created, written and recorded in Lithuania, Belgium, France, mastered in the US, and finally released in the UK. In the first instance, some of the tracks were created for the contemporary dance piece Doggy Rugburn by Brandon Lagaert of Kaiho and Peeping Tom; others were created enigmatically for a film that never surfaced; while the remainder are the product of more personal work and research. As Felix began to collect and review these disparate parts, the concept of a unified album began to evolve. With 'night' featuring as a suitably dark leitmotif, or backdrop to a series of emotionally fraught 'scenes', each track depicts a form of trauma, locked within the confines of the mind. Felix observes: "Imagine yourself in a dusty old room unable to sleep. Emotions, fears and other demons haunt your mind. This in-between state makes your mind reach for other worlds. This is Night Scenes." For the most part, Night Scenes was created using a variety of old, and rare, analogue equipment. With almost no digital editing, the record was primarily mixed through a vintage cassette desk, giving it a nostalgic character with a noisy undertone. Felix fully embraced the synergy of his emotional themes and retrograde gear, enthusing: "A lot of textures were created on an old Soviet synthesizer that causes a blackout when you hit the lowest note on the keyboard. The dysfunctionality of the synths was often used to create rhythm and texture." This unnerving ability Night Scenes has to comfort and confound the listener is summed up by Jordan Hudson, House Of Media producer, and music podcaster, when he concludes: "Some songs on the album have this sort of fleeting comfort and tonality, which dissolves into a subtle rhythmic/structural or modulated disarray the moment I settle into them - this really fits with my experience of the night .. This record is a winner, and will be something I'll listen to a lot from here on

Whatdufaque?! Dutch artist Renée Van Trier is back on Swiss label CAF? for another record! Following her first album released in early 2020, she comes back with “HUMBLE,” the soundtrack of her new eponymous show performed at De Pont Museum (NL) and Arsenic (CH).

“At birth you are a promise, but at the same time also the greatest possible risk.” Inspired by children’s dances on TikTok where happy facades coexist with exploitative backgrounds, Renée Van Trier creates a fantasy world that’s anything but Disneyland. You’re invited to experience its soundtrack, taking you through dark atmospheres, eerie voices, glitched techno, and uplifting climaxes. Over the course of the 11 tracks, Renée Van Trier morphs into a dolphin, a puppet, and many other different characters, maintaining a blurry border between amazement and creepiness. Everyone wants the best for their children, but sometimes it doesn’t end well.

PAPOOZ is set to release their fourth album, "RESONATE". The eleven tracks on the album showcase Papooz's ability to venture into both rock and pop, fueled by their gift for melodies that go straight to the heart, finely crafted lyrics carried by the sublimely androgynous voices of Armand and Ulysse, and an irresistible, joyful, and nonchalant groove.

While alternating between laughter and tears, melancholy and hedonism, ballads and calls to dance, introspection and letting go, with the same ease and spontaneity. Like life resonating within each of us, in essence.For this album, Ulysse and Armand changed their way of writing for the first time, enlisting the help of Jesse Harris, an American songwriter known for his work with Melody Gardot, Gabi Hartman, and Norah Jones.They then finalized and refined the songs from these writing sessions with producer Patrick Wimberly. Formerly of Chairlift, Wimberly is the sought-after producer who has worked with artists like Blood Orange, MGMT, Solange, Cola Boyy, and recently on Lil Yatchi's incredible rap opera.

I am thrilled to share with you the upcoming release of Live Life and Tell Stories, the new album by Figub Brazlevic & John Robinson set to release in the spring of 2023. This album is a celebration of John Robinson's love for storytelling, which has been evident since he was a young child, and his passion for hearing epic storytelling from many of his favorite emcees of the golden era of hip hop.

The connection between Figub Brazlevic and John Robinson is far from a fly-by-night or simply another international internet collaboration. The two met in 2009 during Robinson’s first time touring in Germany, and shortly after, Figub remixed J.R.’s group Scienz Of Life’s Leviathan album for the love and respect of the music. The remixes, which have yet to be released, impressed J.R. and his SOL crew, and he knew he would work together in the future with Figub. That time has come, and the message is clear: Live Life and Tell Stories is a seamless blend of Robinson’s thought-provoking narratives and Brazlevic’s abstract jazzy boombap soundscapes.

This album promises to take listeners on a sonic journey of dope grooves and ill storytelling, where Robinson's unique storytelling abilities are masterfully interwoven with Brazlevic's jazzy, boombap beats. From start to finish, Live Life and Tell Stories is sure to captivate audiences and keep them grooving to its infectious beats.

In an era where the music industry is dominated by short-lived trends, it is refreshing to see two seasoned artists come together to create music that is both timeless and meaningful. This album is a perfect example of what can happen when artists come together to create something truly unique, and I can't wait for its release in the spring of 2023.

So mark your calendars, because Live Life and Tell Stories is set to release in the spring of 2023. This is an album you won't want to miss, so be sure to push play and let Figub Brazlevic & John Robinson take you on a sonic journey of dope grooves and ill storytelling. Let's go!

Infinity Machine is a duo comprised of Juan MacLean - as in the Juan MacLean, longtime DFA traveler - and Gee Dee, also known as Greg Droggitis, a producer and DJ based in Brooklyn and 1/3 of the Earth Beat DJ troupe. The project name stems from a series of gatherings the two began hosting in various private spaces around New York City shortly after lockdown, though that description is a bit innocuous for the journeys traveled by its attendees. These events, billed as "psychedelic dance ceremonies" lasting 8 or 9 hours, began with a sound meditation to vibrational and acoustic instruments before eventually segueing into a "dance" soundtracked by a DJ set from Juan and Greg. Something clicked - that ceremonial tea! - and so Juan and Greg began playing and recording in their studio using the same approach: improvisation with equal attention placed on traditional acoustic (flute, guitar, gong) and more contemporary electronic (Yamaha DX-7) sounds. After awhile, there was literally three albums worth of material, each of them a voyage into the warm, liminal space between new age, ambient, drone and psychedelia. None of those genres quite fully describe what's across 001, 002, and 003 - available from DFA digitally and on a very limited run of cassettes (150 each!) - but if you've read this far then you're either the right kind of curious or just forgot what you were doing.

Infinity Machine is a duo comprised of Juan MacLean - as in the Juan MacLean, longtime DFA traveler - and Gee Dee, also known as Greg Droggitis, a producer and DJ based in Brooklyn and 1/3 of the Earth Beat DJ troupe. The project name stems from a series of gatherings the two began hosting in various private spaces around New York City shortly after lockdown, though that description is a bit innocuous for the journeys traveled by its attendees. These events, billed as "psychedelic dance ceremonies" lasting 8 or 9 hours, began with a sound meditation to vibrational and acoustic instruments before eventually segueing into a "dance" soundtracked by a DJ set from Juan and Greg. Something clicked - that ceremonial tea! - and so Juan and Greg began playing and recording in their studio using the same approach: improvisation with equal attention placed on traditional acoustic (flute, guitar, gong) and more contemporary electronic (Yamaha DX-7) sounds. After awhile, there was literally three albums worth of material, each of them a voyage into the warm, liminal space between new age, ambient, drone and psychedelia. None of those genres quite fully describe what's across 001, 002, and 003 - available from DFA digitally and on a very limited run of cassettes (150 each!) - but if you've read this far then you're either the right kind of curious or just forgot what you were doing.

Infinity Machine is a duo comprised of Juan MacLean - as in the Juan MacLean, longtime DFA traveler - and Gee Dee, also known as Greg Droggitis, a producer and DJ based in Brooklyn and 1/3 of the Earth Beat DJ troupe. The project name stems from a series of gatherings the two began hosting in various private spaces around New York City shortly after lockdown, though that description is a bit innocuous for the journeys traveled by its attendees. These events, billed as "psychedelic dance ceremonies" lasting 8 or 9 hours, began with a sound meditation to vibrational and acoustic instruments before eventually segueing into a "dance" soundtracked by a DJ set from Juan and Greg. Something clicked - that ceremonial tea! - and so Juan and Greg began playing and recording in their studio using the same approach: improvisation with equal attention placed on traditional acoustic (flute, guitar, gong) and more contemporary electronic (Yamaha DX-7) sounds. After awhile, there was literally three albums worth of material, each of them a voyage into the warm, liminal space between new age, ambient, drone and psychedelia. None of those genres quite fully describe what's across 001, 002, and 003 - available from DFA digitally and on a very limited run of cassettes (150 each!) - but if you've read this far then you're either the right kind of curious or just forgot what you were doing.

Canadian bowed guitarist and multi-instrumentalist C. Diab announces his fifth album Imerro, out February 16th, and presents the trip-infused lead single 'Lunar Barge'.

(Real name) Caton Diab creates soundscapes that evoke the spectacular wilderness of his childhood home in northern Vancouver Island. Incorporating experimental textures, folk overtones and tape manipulations, C. Diab uniquely finds the unseen spaces in-between, and fittingly dubs his creations "post-classical grunge". Imerro explores new sonic realms and is the culmination of a sound world that Diab has built up since the critically acclaimed 'No Perfect Wave' (2016, Injazero) and subsequent releases 'Exit Rumination' (2018), 'White Whale' (2020) and 'In Love & Fracture' (2021). The Wire calls it "ambient music in the best sense - music for living, which can be both non-invasive and immersive...epic"

Imerro was recorded in late July and August of 2021 at Risque Disque Studio in Cedar, BC, during the summer's unprecedented second "heat dome", which saw temperatures soaring to over 40 degrees. Recorded with regular collaborator and engineer Jonathan Paul Stewart, the pair journeyed by boat to the studio to a place with minimal distraction with a plan of "simple ecstatic improvisation." Diab explains: "I wanted to place myself in a space for creation with little thematic pretence, with the belief that music 'shows its face' as you move along. I would pick up an instrument, whether I had experience playing it or not, and make a sound. If it wanted to be played, it would play."

Joyce Harris was born in Kentucky in 1939 and moved to New Orleans with her family when she was 13 years old. Harris learned to play guitar, write songs and was soon performing duets with her younger sister Judy. They released three singles – ‘He’s The One’ / ‘Hey Pretty Baby’, ‘Washboard Sam’ / ‘Nursery Rock (Beedle De Bop)’ and ‘Hey Little Baby’/ ‘Rock And Roll Kittens’ – as Judy and Joyce in 1958. When her sister got married, Harris spent a year singing in restaurants in Mexico and a first solo single ‘It’s You’ / ‘The Boy In School’ was released on New York’s U.T. Records at the end of 1959. A talent spotter saw her in Mexico and was impressed enough to secure her an audition with the Austin, Texas-based Domino label. Harris was soon in the studio with Tommy Kaspar and Don Burch of Domino’s vocal quartet, the Slades, to record ‘I Cheated’ / ‘Do You Know What It’s Like To Be Lonesome?’ (R-903) in October 1960. ‘No Way Out’ / ‘Dreamer’ (R-905) followed in January 1961 and sold strongly enough to be licensed to Infinity Records. On 7 April 1961, Harris performed ‘No Way Out’ live on TV on American Bandstand. Three more singles would be issued on different labels between 1963 and 1966.

Harris’ cover version of ‘I Got My Mojo Working’ – backed by Sonny Rhodes’ group the Daylighters –was recorded at the ‘No Way Out’ session and remained unissued until Ace put it out on our “The Domino Records Story” in 1997 (CDCHD 506). With renewed interest in Harris we are delighted to pair this ‘Trailer’ version of ‘I Got My Mojo Working’ with ‘No Way Out’ as a 7” single.

Drop the needle and shake your stuff.

Sdban Records continues its reissues of the legendary library series 'A Special Radio - TV Record' with Selection 23, releasing a variety of notable tracks from the 70s library label together on a physical compilation for the first time. With this release, the label continues the vinyl reissues of the Belgian imprint 'Selection Records,' featuring tracks originally released between 1976 and 1981.

Essentially, the tracks take you through a cinematic musical landscapewhere funk and soul merge with a hint of jazz, always evoking a sense of familiarity.

One name that immediately springs to mind is René Costy. From this virtuoso and insatiable artist, the compilation 'Expectancy' was previously released. With 'Strange Dream' and 'Crystal Waltz,' he shows once again that he was not only a versatile composer but also a curious jazz cat. With 'Space Shuttle Jazz', pianist and harmonica Jacques Siroul shows his fascination for synthesizers. Which, as a composer, earned him an unofficial title as an expert in music on demand. This, and much more, make Selection 23 a must-have for fans of previous compilations like Beat Action, Funky Chicken, and Funky Chimes!

It’s a family affair. One formed almost thirty years ago, back in the mid-nineties, when the pair joined seminal French jazz combo Olympic Grammofon. For twenty-four years they have worked together as Bumcello, each complementing the other, echoing polar opposites. The Boom in Bumcello is none other than Cyril Atef, incisive drummer, relentlessly pushing beats towards new horizons. The Cello is Vincent Ségal, cellist without blinkers and extraordinary musical alchemist. Since 1999, these two die-hard music fans, coming together for mercurial results, have released one record after the other whilst conquering the hearts of their live audiences, old regulars as well as new recruits. We have all been seduced by the way their music leapfrogs categories - these two experts are much more interested in kindred spirits than pigeonholing, and this very spirit is celebrated on more than one track of this ninth record, whose concept is original to say the least.

Everything began with an idea by Cyril Atef - a soundtrack based upon drawings penned by Marin, Vincent’s son, architect and visual artist. The musicians involved then coached their reaction to these images on a score, and the pair were charged with collating and adjusting the results. These thirteen ink drawings, in a heroic fantasy vein, constituted a matrix which was then to serve as a guide, like a roadmap through a singular and multi-faceted labyrinth. The key to this sonic fresco is in Bumcello’s image – an eclectic aesthetic twinned with a great sense of contrast. Herein lies the trademark of this entity animated by the gift of musical ubiquity, gorged on scales and rhythms, capable of a slap as much as a gentle caress. From classical music to electronics, from improvised music to sophisti-pop, everything is allowed with no preconceived ideas. They can even reclaim the traditions of others, all the better to propel them towards new horizons - this is how the very history of music has always panned out.

If you listen between the lines and look at the details, more than one piece bears witness to the moments and individuals that have impacted the criss-crossing lives of Vincent and Cyril. The track Crash is the perfect excuse to create a Jamaican-style jam with New York inflections, and we can see, in capital letters, the name Hilaire Penda, playing alongside Bumcello at the Apollo Theater in the associated drawing. This bass player from Cameroon, who died on 5th November 2018, was more than just a friend for the two Frenchmen. He was one of the family. Similarly, they give a nod to another Cameroonian, and another departed friend - singer of rock band les Têtes brûlées, Zanzibar, through the vocals of fellow countryman Zanzi. The ghost of Rémi Kolpa Kopul, emblematic voice of Radio Nova, haunts the margins of Spark Av, in a vocal sample with a smattering of effects. As for I Remember Tim, it directly honours the memory of Timothy Jerome Parker, aka The Gift Of Gab, another friend who left us in 2021. Tim is depicted in a drawing with the docks of Oakland in the background, and it’s his alter ego within Blackalicious, Chief Xcel, who remotely added his signature to the track, notably by adding the words of Lateef The Truthspeaker to brass and woodwind sounds.

These are the only additions to Bumcello’s original nucleus, all the better to create a genuine musical concoction where Vincent Taurelle is in charge of production and mixing sessions recorded live and direct. He is also invited for a twinkle on the keys (piano, synths, Wurlitzer, organ), on a handful of tracks. Already at the commands of previous opus Monster Talk, always taking care over the slightest detail, the one that makes all the difference, this pianist is now also part of the family. “Everything he brings is perfect, whether added though slight touches or through very important choices”, say the two members of a combo which today, appears to us under the guise of a trio, adding an extra dimension to a far-reaching mix, in the image of the veiled or more explicit tributes making up the cornerstones of this release.

Booker, a drawing where we see the musicians enter a club, honours James Booker, great pianist from New Orleans who has always fascinated Vincent, in a genre that is off-beat and gender defying. Her Story was created by Cyril in support of the Iranian women’s movement. Aysyen Kampe evokes, even in the original drawing, a tradition that remains impactful for Bumcello – Haitian mysticism, and Ouï Khouïette Ouï conjures up the beats of the Allaoui, a war dance from Western Algeria, one they have taken part in in the past with the help of Cheikha Rabia. They deliver a metal version, original and surprising, especially as Marin Ségal’s drawing features the Nicholas Brothers, those iconic dancers of the 30s jazz scene!

Resolutely hard to pin down, Bumcello’s beats can initially take on the structure of disjointed house, though Sangre begins like a film soundtrack, “in a Mexican style” adds Vincent, who was at the origin of this track. A delicate alap on the cello can open up onto afrobeat rhythms, a well-pitched voice can enchant, like on the amazing The City Has Eyes which has everything of a hummable pop hit. Emblematic of this manner of encompassing all music without being exclusive, Le Grand Sommeil, a direct reference to the Howard Hawks movie inspired by Raymond Chandler, a precursor of David Lynch, begins nice and smooth but ends on a wild tempo, on a drum’n’bass tip, as in the good old days of Cithéa, when this Party story began in the other century.

Philip Sayce's highly anticipated new album, 'The Wolves Are Coming', is more powerful, unique, and brash than anything he has written or recorded to date

"These songs and stories came into focus during my darkest times.

'The Wolves Are Coming' represents a bridge -- a connection between despair and hope -- that invites broken spirits to be transformed and healed," - Philip Sayce.

Songs like "Oh! That Bitches Brew" and "Backstabber" hit like hurricanes, while, "Lady Love Divine" explores the light in contrast to darkness with an uplifting, foot-stomping, funk groove that delivers hooks in all the right places. Ballads like "It's Over Now" and the magical instrumental "Intuition" round out Sayce's signature fuzz tones and sledgehammer mountain- sized drum grooves with delicate, intimate, and dynamic performances.

After a 6-year break, a poignant love affair between Life and Death and Marvin & Guy resumes with two catchy but effective tracks that breaks a two-year hiatus from releasing original music.Minimal and purposefully crafted for dancefloors, a departure from the usual emphasis on melodies we all get used to listen from them. This record emerges organically during playful experimentation with just a bass on a synthesizer, preserving its distinctive rhythmic and harmonic changes.The girlfriend's continuous request to play "Who Dis" underscores its contagious allure. Both songs incorporate sounds like shattered glass, opening doors, a whip, and an authentic Formula 1 engine roar – all meticulously recorded specifically for these ideas. There's not really specific creative process beside having fun with synthesizers; it's simply music crafted for the joy of dancing.

Oceanic White & Blue Vinyl, limited to 300 copies. The band's name is borrowed from the legend of the Cailleach, the ancient witch god of winter from Scottish Celtic mythology. The story goes that she lives at the bottom of an enormous whirlpool, Corryvreckan, which lies between some of the western isles of Scotland and lends its name to this album. As the herald of winter, she rises from the depths to wash her plaid (cloak) in the waters of the Corryvreckan. Once washed and restored to a bright white, she casts it across the earth where it lands as snow. This is done at the start of Samhainn (beginning on 31st October, which was the Celtic precursor to Halloween and the name of the band's debut album). Her reign ends as spring arrives with the festival of Bealltainn in May, and she turns to stone to await the next winter. The Cailleach is depicted in various, contradictory ways - both as a symbol of death, loss and despair, as well as a source of nurturing and protection. Taking inspiration from all this, the music that HAND OF KALLIACH creates is centred around these dual concepts of benevolence and malevolence, all against the backdrop of the history, mythology and land/seascapes of the Scottish islands. The threads of Celtic and Gaelic folk music and folklore weave throughout the album, against a backdrop of spectral, melodic death metal. Blending the robust brutality of death metal with the ethereal wisps of folk is an intoxicating brew. Corryvreckan was recorded with Wynter Prior at Sphynx Studios, Brighton, UK. The resulting album is a phantasmagorical journey through ancient tales and truly progressive modern metal, with an unmatched eye for detail that brings every single element of Corryvreckan to life.

Thee Alcoholics are the brainchild of Rhys Llewellyn, a longtime Rocket Recordings alumnus whose background leans as heavily into the bassbin-shaking realms of electronic music as it does the tinnitus-inducing world of howling, cranked-up ampstacks. Not content with hammering drumskins for numerous floor-shaking records on the Rocket discography from the likes of Hey Colossus and The Notorious Hi-Fi Killers, he’s also been responsible for brain-rearranging electronic works under the Drmcnt and Acidliner monikers. Thee Alcoholics, however - which initially gestated as a result of Rhys himself wanting to pursue the somewhat hostile sound in his own head during lockdown - maps out a collision course between all of the above. Cranky and cantankerous yet lysergically aligned, Feedback is mesmeric rock with swagger, warped into sci-fi shapes by the spirit and sonics of bass and soundsystem culture. The psychedelic shapes here are redolent of the ur-klang of The Fall and the monolithic lurch of The Heads, the motorik malevolence less an uplifting trip to the heavens than a drill down to the earth’s core. Discernible in these jackhammer beats, grimly murmured vocals and delirious dirges to certain heads may be the trash futurism of Chrome, the decomposed stomp of unsung legends Earl Brutus and the electro-punk attack of Six Finger Satellite, yet all of the above co-ordinates are waylaid effortlessly by a balls-out intensity and a 6 fearsome intent on aural oblivion at all costs. Feedback may be elemental and primal, yet this is no psych comfort-blanket nor retrofetishism, rather a repetition-driven journey headlong into intimidating territory unknown. Get on board and strap yourselves in for a bumpy ride.

The Fire Theft was an alternative rock band from Seattle, formed in 2001 from the ashes of legendary emo band Sunny Day Real Estate. The lineup consisted of vocalist/guitarist Jeremy Enigk, bassist Nate Mendel and drummer William Goldsmith. Mendel is also famous for being the full-time bassist in the Foo Fighters and Goldsmith was also Foo Fighters’ drummer between 1995 and 1997. This is the 20th anniversary reissue of the band's only album which was originally released on Rykodisc in 2003. A 2019 vinyl reissue of this record currently goes for very silly money on the second-hand market…Features reconstructed artwork for vinyl by Nathan Shumaker, on a gatefold cover with embossed print, 12" insert, 180 gram coloured double vinyl.

You just moved to the big city, you end up at a party where you don't know anyone and someone walks up to you and asks: "Hey, are you alone here?". That is exactly the feeling that Porcelain id describes on their debut album Bibi:1, short for the Arabic pet name Habibi. Porcelain id is the pseudonym under which Hubert Tuyishime (they/them/their) has been unleashing unique songs since 2020.

The album - inspired by their move from a quiet provincial town to Antwerp - is the soundtrack to walking into city traffic during rush hour and trusting to get out of the chaos in one piece. It is an ode to exciting encounters with complete strangers and to the friends you can come home to afterwards. A story about being a stranger in a city you've romanticized for so long, the rejection that comes with it, and the false nostalgia with which you look back on it all later on.

At first hearing, the completely English-language Bibi:1 may seem like a brusque farewell to the autobiographical intimacy and lo-fi singer-songwriter music on the previously released EPs Mango and Reprise, and especially on songs like Vlaanderen. But to Porcelain id it feels like an organic evolution. One towards more abstraction, experimentation and electronics, but never detached, and still building on the core of Porcelain id.

The new sound is the result of an intense collaboration with producer and partner in crime Youniss Ahamad, who, despite their different musical backgrounds, immediately felt challenged after Porcelain id's legendary elevator pitch: 'I want to make something that is situated between Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Yeezus by Kanye West'.

Together they drew the blueprint for Bibi:1 in Youniss' home studio. Track by track, without looking back. A sporadic, but rigid process that added to the intensity of the album. In the studio, the songs were taken to a higher level. The two invited a pack of talented friends and young musicians to the studio to add parts, a stark contrast to the solitary approach of previous EPs. Aram Abgaryan (recording engineer/synths/vocals), Nard Houdmeyers (guitar), Tim Caramin (drums), David Idrisov (bass), Alban Sarens (sax) and Emma Hessels (vocals) came by. Aram Santy was at the controls during the mixing sessions.

The result sounds like the ultimate symbiosis of Porcelain id and Youniss. Lofi, but ambitious. Fragile, but rough. Poppy, but disruptive. Sometimes challenging. Then welcoming again. Sometimes even danceable. Each song forms a small vignette that is part of a diverse, but coherent unity. Adam Coming Home and Low Poly are closest to the melancholy of Porcelain id's earlier work, while Lights! strikes a new path. First single Man Down, on the other hand, is inspired by the Antwerp students who drown every year and sounds like a wandering nightly stroll through the city. For Brilliant, David Idrisov was asked to 'play bass as if Chet Baker were not a trumpet player, but a bass player', a bizarre assignment that he accomplished with verve. And Cellophane flirts with emo trap and was sung with raspberries between the teeth, to simulate the effect of grills.

Immerse yourself in a unique narrative experience, embarking on a vibrant journey that will awaken your senses and evoke warm memories.

Play as Mimi, exploring the precious recollections of your childhood and the times shared with your late grandmother. As past meets present, confront your adult choices with fond childhood memories to uncover lost family secrets.

For the OST, SUPERNAIVE brothers oscillates between melancholy and wonder. They build a strong narrative throughout the songs, taking the listener by the hand to discover their unique poetic universe.

2023 Repress

Maston’s Darkland is a breezy collection of the material from the Tulips sessions that didn’t make it on to the original LP. Originally a digital-only release for those in the know in the autumn of 2018, after re-issuing Tulips in 2020 it made too much sense for Be With to give Darkland a vinyl release.

Like Tulips, Darkland was recorded mostly in Hoorn, in the Netherlands, between 2015-2017 during downtime from Frank’s touring duties with Jacco Gardner’s band. Bits were also done in Los Angeles on some extended trips back home.

The collection plays like an alternate view of Maston’s instant modern classic Tulips; a companion piece to the LP proper with similar mixture of shorter themes and more full length tracks. As Frank Maston explains: “I think Darkland is the shadow of Tulips in a way… what it might’ve been in a different universe. But the heart of Tulips beats in these songs as well and they evoke the same memories and feelings for me. I see my process playing out across these songs - lots of experimentation and trying out new techniques and sounds and just sort of going for it.”

Frank goes on: “It was all from the same pool of material, like 30+ ideas. I was making a lot of little demos… some would be more fleshed out and become songs and others would just be a cool riff and not go anywhere. When I started trying to form it all into an LP I went through all the sessions and ideas and collected the ones I thought were the most fleshed out and cohesive together as a whole. There were a fair amount of songs that were finished and in hindsight really should have been on Tulips (like what would’ve been the title track). And the rest of these songs are either very early versions of tunes that ended up on Tulips or some cool ideas that just ended up being dead ends. It definitely shows how wide my net was in the beginning before I narrowed the record down stylistically.”

Darkland opens with its ornate 39 second title-track before striding into “Tulips”, that full-length title-track that never was. It’s a real head-nod, percussive-rich electric piano stunner that would’ve been a comfortable standout on the album proper. But now this “downlifting” gem is given ample room to shine on this record.

The funky organ-led bass and drums workout “Immaculate Conception” will keep your neck gently snapping while MPC fiends go reaching for their sampler. And that’s gospel. “Love Theme No 3” cuts a breathtakingly stylish vibra-slapped swathe through the middle of the opening side before we’re startled by the pronounced bass and twinkling percussion of “The Owl In Daylight”. Charming digi-drums underpin the wonky synth (quiet-)banger “Innovative Patterns” which has a lovely melodic switch-up in the final third before the tempo (and hairs on your neck) rise on the faintly creepy yet imminently groovy “Osiris”. The gorgeously soft-focus “Groove Experiment No 3” closes out the first half in slow-mo wonderment.

The lushly melancholic “Raincloud” ushers in side B before the emotionally-stirring “Phonic” taps at the door, coming on like the long lost sister to Pet Sounds’ “Let’s Go Away For A While”. Next up, the swooning beauty “Love Theme No 2” keenly sways in front of you, growing ever more insistent and hypnotic. The too-short “Italian Summer” conjures the same flirtatious imagery as the title hints at whilst “Endless” is a fascinating “piano-pella” alternative version to “Rain Dance” from Tulips. “Wonder Theme” has a nostalgic, exotic 60s swing and album closer “Willow” is a hushed, campfire folk gem. The gently circular strumming is just magical.

Speaking to Aquarium Drunkard back in 2019 about the sessions that became Tulips, Frank noted: “I was really surprised by the lack of sunlight during my first winter in Holland, so I would call it Darkland which then became the name of the first demo I wrote during that time. It was also the working title of the record when I first started writing. Some are full songs that didn’t make the cut (including what would have been the title track), some are just ideas that I never finished.”

Whilst we were working on Darkland’s vinyl release Frank explained more specifically about the music that didn’t make it on to Tulips: “When I was putting together the tracklisting for Tulips I was already thinking that whatever didn’t make it onto the LP would be cool to release eventually somehow. The response to Tulips has been so passionate over the years that it’s nice to be able to offer another piece of that world. And for me personally it’s amazing to have more of my work out there in the world. Most common bit of feedback was that many of these songs should have been on Tulips. The odd friend says it’s much better than Tulips.”

Just like Tulips before it, Simon Francis’s vinyl mastering for Darkland has been cut at 45rpm so you can trip out to this as well at a woozy 33 1/3. The artwork too has been designed by Frank himself as a literal visual continuation of the Tulips cover.

We couldn’t possibly say whether Darkland is better than Tulips, and luckily we don’t have to decide.

It was winter. Six Parts Seven had returned to Ohio after touring out to Washington State, to record Casually Smashed to Pieces. There was down time between the recording and the actual release of that album in January 2007, and we were rehearsing, playing local shows, and collaborating, with most of us involved in other projects to keep the momentum going (Mike w/ Talons, Al w/ Beaten Awake), but the one we all came together over was recording an album with Joey Beltram, the songwriter behind Goodmorning Valentine, a local band we shared players with, a band we deeply admired. The music on Kissing Distance came together over two weekend days. There were a lot of people around; 6P7 and GMV players coming and going from the Saint Ledger House. There were handles of whiskey, there was weed, stacks of Marlboro Reds for the ones still dragging butts. We all went 'dancing' at Thursday's, in Akron, Ohio, on Saturday night. Not sure how we were productive the following day. Chalk that one up to relative youth. Over those two days, songs were cut without any prior rehearsal time. None of us remember how the idea came up. In hindsight, it seems inevitable. The first song on the album, "Mediation in D," had been written a couple of years before, and was the decided spark that set the fire blazing: for both bands, this song was the starting point, an invitation to take things further, to expand, combining players from both bands, our 'toolbox' had increased in size from a single hammer to a toolbox. Everything came easily at this point. "Drunk from the Bottle," is the first of the one-take/one mic songs: an SM58 used for both vocal and guitar, making it impossible to over-think anything: You got the version, or you did not, that simple. "Instrumental #2," is the last full/core band recording by Six Parts Seven. The first piece in our catalog written/arranged by Tim Gerak. This song would have been developed on our follow-up to Casually Smashed to Pieces. Alas, an album never came to be. The ache in this is real. It's there in the bass guitar, tuned high and open, played with a slide, and utilizing one of Jamie Stillman's pre- Earthquaker Devices fuzz pedals. "Lonely Daughter," is another one-take/one-mic song, notable for the lead-guitar, played by James Matthew Haas, who overdubbed his part, months later, standing alone on the deck at Joey's folks place, playing to the moonlight, making magic...

With his seemingly endless capacity for creating compositions which have an alluring quality, and which are often wrapped in a mesmerising arrangement that pays homage to those towering sound constructions made by Phil Spector, Shadow Morton, Brian Wilson and the likes, veteran New York polymath Marc Jonson is also deserving of household name status. Involved in making records since the mid-sixties, Jonson's latest long-play collection is a particularly special glimpse into a secret stash of recordings made between 1979 and 2012 in his tiny flat on Cornelia St., New York's Greenwich Village, during the years we spend living (and surviving) there. These tracks are only now seeing the light of day, with many featuring Jonson at his melodic, awe-inspiring best; soul-baring, honest and vulnerable. Spanning these grooves are such delightfully told stories as 'The Man Who Walks On Air', 'November Paint Brush', the atypical jazz stylings of the instrumental title cut, plus the revealing light that is 'The Moon' and the magical, wide eyed beauty as conjured by 'Ages Of Wonder'. These tracks are only now seeing the light of day, with many featuring Jonson at his melodic, awe-inspiring best; soul-baring, honest and vulnerable. "Those who have taken the leap into Jonson's hitherto unknown musical world will be able to tell you that this is not only an experience which is immensely rewarding, but it's also one which needs to be heard to be believed. The captivating layers and mesmerising quality heard throughout lies in the way Jonson's startling array of songs seem to breathe in and exhale from many different, often eclectic elements." Lenny Helsing (Shindig!, Ugly Things Magazine).

Open Mics might not always have a great reputation but for Merlin Hydes it brought some good things. On one hand he met his producer Jon Kenzie who is hosting "Bring Your Own Song" in Hamburg and on the other hand playing that Open Mic put him in touch with DevilDuck Records because they are good friends with Jon Kenzie and he told them to check this boy out. A couple of months later the debut album "In Plain Sight" was recorded at Kenzie"s home studio in just three days and is now ready to conquer the world... or at least a little part of it. The idea was to just record the songs in a cosy and easy set up just as in the good old days without thinking too much about it and avoid any perfectionism. "In Plain Sight" describes the balancing act between the peaceful country life, the desire to have a yard and a garden and the supposedly exciting and urban city in which you always might feel a bit strange and as you have chicken poop under your shoes", as Hydes explains....