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For fans of AMON DÜÜL, CAN, FAUST, NEUBAUTEN, BRIAN ENO, CLUSTER, CULT OF LUNA, NINE INCH NAILS, MASSIVE ATTACK OR - Norwegian for "dizzy, confusing" - is the third album from Italian avant-rock trio OSLO TAPES, and the album keeps what the word promises: a dizzying ride through a feverish dreamscape of imaginary Norwegian highlands painted in cubistic shapes. Hypnotic basslines, repetitive drum patterns, new wave synths and psychedelic guitar textures covering the full width of the stereo room, all seamlessly woven into a gloomy Kraut - tapestry which sounds refreshingly_ modern, while paying tribute to the aged genre. Marco Campitelli, born and raised in Lanciano on the Southern Adriatic coast of Italy, founded OSLO TAPES in the early 2010s after a trip to the Norwegian Capital left him deeply impressed. Under the influence of this infatuation, he composed and produced OSLO TAPES' first record "OT (un cuore in pasto a pesci con teste di cane)" within a week in 2013. Supervised and supported by friend Amaury Cambuzat (faUSt / Ulan Bator), Campitelli's first attempt to capture the mystical vibe of Norway was released on DeAmbula Records (Ulan Bator, The Marigold, 7C). In 2015 he was joined by Mauro Spada and Federico Sergente (Zippo) and together they recorded OSLO TAPES' sophomore album "Tango Kalashnikov", also released on DeAmbula Records. "OR" is a much more collaborative effort for OSLO TAPES than the first two records. Next to Campitelli, the album was co-produced by Amaury Cambuzat (Ulan Bator) and James Aparicio (house engineer for Mute Records and mixing and mastering engineer for Depeche Mode, Mogwai, Nick Cave). During production, Campitelli became friends with Emil Nikolaisen of Serena Maneesh w h o guided him "through the Norwegian imagination". As a result, the record's title is also courtesy of Nikolaisen. During this journey spanning over eight songs, OSLO TAPES, completed by Mauro Spada (bass) and Davide Di Virgilio (drums and percussions) construct a dense and ever so dark atmosphere that is captivating, brooding and imaginative. After a spiraling takeoff with "Space is the place", we find ourselves floating weightlessly above the nocturnal Norwegian highlands through "Zenith" and "Kosmik Feels", an airy circulation of jazzy drums, pulsating bass lines and shimmering guitar clouds. We saddle up, gallop across the sky on "Bodo Dakar" and drift back into the night on "Cosmonaut". The trifecta of "Norwegian Dream", "Exotic Dreams" and "Obession Is The Mother of All" conclude this agitated fever dream journey. There is a sense of solitude in OSLO TAPES' compositions which makes it easy to imagine them as interstellar jam sessions between cosmonauts, each in their own isolated space capsule. Every spin of "OR" brings new discoveries: sometimes it is a noise that we did not notice before, sometimes a slight change in the drum groove, sometimes just a piece of the lyrics, meandering through our mental space. "OR" is a vertiginious journey to be remembered - and repeated. "The focus of Oslo Tapes is to harmonize the noise" says Marco Campitelli.

Written with a libidinal urgency that has come to characterize Kool Keith’s legendary lyricism, “Keith’s Salon” explores our current obsessions with luxury, beauty, and notoriety. But rather than fetishize the beautiful dum-dums who walk red carpets in black Prada gowns,

Kool Keith's most recent studio album shifts our attention to the work and workers that underpin our fantasies of American excess and the good life.

As such, the album is also a timely meditation, during quarantine, on the economic precarity many of us now find ourselves in. Having doubled-up with Triple Parked, the production team of avant-techno maven Bruno Pronsato and Benjamin Jay, “Keith’s Salon” moves between halcyon sonics and atonal warlord dystopia, while keeping beats minimal for Kool Keith to spread extra ketchup on the hamburger. An album at once topical and futuristic, lush and bizarre, "Keith's Salon" is about the business of making people beautiful. It's time to work.

Lotus Wash drops his debut album on LBD Sounds, bringing a whole load of fresh material which came out from his experience as a session musician, and performing his experimental live sets around the Czech Republic. He connects the dots between classically trained musician and modular synth-head, working in Prague's DIY shop and creative community Noise Kitchen. The album spans across 6 original tracks of pure analogue bliss and live ideas, alongside three remixes from his closest allies, local producers Oliver Torr, Vision of 1994, and Hrtl.

The Field Theory was created during a period of deep fascination with quantum physics, with the tracks being conceptually and aesthetically inspired by some of its phenomena. Acoustically, it's mostly a slow and dark affair, with Lotus Wash only letting the light in very briefly when the sun is young (Magnetic Moment), keeping the shutter firmly closed for the rest of the record. His music does not rely on banging beats to drive it, instead letting intense grooves do the job from deep underground, just like on earth-shattering album opener Vacuum Fluctuation. He masters his craft of building atmosphere, a skill learnt during multiple collaborations with various Czech theatres. Of course, he lets the steam out occasionally, and always with devastating effect (Higgs Field, Casimir Force), but mostly choses to keep it capped, humming and hissing. When the sky clears, he opts for a minimalistic and hypnotic approach, only to disturb this peace with a killer bassline in one of the album's highlights – Spooky Action in A Distance – later re-imagined and re-electrified by Oliver Torr. Standard Model is anything but your standard techno, while Hrtl's remix of Magic Moment flirts with techno too, but on a dubbier and brighter side. Bringing the album to a close is Vision of 1994's downtempo take on the same track, finally letting you breathe out.

The award-winning storytellers at DONTNOD invite you on another twisting adventure with Twin Mirror.

In this psychological thriller, Sam Higgs is coming back to Basswood, his childhood town, to attend his best friend’s funeral. It quickly becomes obvious that this little West Virginian city holds numerous dark secrets. The former investigative journalist will employ his deductive skills to uncover the mysteries surrounding the city and its inhabitants. Confronted with his past, Sam will be torn between his quest for truth and his desire to reconnect with loved ones. Who can he really trust?

Twin Mirror™ is available on PlayStation®4 (PlayStation®Store), Xbox One™ (Microsoft®Store), PC (on Epic Games Store) and compatible with PlayStation®5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S.

David Wingo got his start composing music for films on David Gordon Green's debut 2000 feature GEORGE WASHINGTON and since that time he has worked with Green on a majority of his films, including collaborations with the band Explosions In The Sky on PRINCE AVALANCHE and MANGLEHORN. In 2010 he scored Jeff Nichols' TAKE SHELTER and has since scored all of Nichols' films, including MUD, MIDNIGHT SPECIAL, and the Academy Award-nominated LOVING. 2018 saw Wingo moving into television, providing the score for both Showtime's KIDDING and HBO's Emmy Award-winning BARRY, for which he received an Emmy Nomination in 2019 for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series.

RED FANG return with their highly anticipated new album, Arrows! Their first album in five years, everyone's favorite beer-crushing, zombie-killing, air-guitar-contest-judging metal heroes are back in action, doing what they do best- AND MORE. “This record feels more like Murder The Mountains to me than any record we’ve done before or since,” bassist/vocalist Aaron Beam ventures. “It doesn’t sound like that record, but Murder the Mountains was us doing whatever the fuck we wanted, and that’s what this is, too.” Arrows was recorded at Halfling Studios in the band’s hometown of Portland, OR, with longtime collaborator Chris Funk, producer of Murder The Mountains and 2013’s Whales and Leeches. “Chris is a major influencer as far as the weird ambient stuff in between the songs and the creepy incidental noises within the songs,“ guitarist Bryan Giles points out. “I think he definitely creates an added layer of atmosphere that we wouldn’t have otherwise.” Arrows is also a proper title track, which is new territory for the band. “This is the first time we’ve named an album after a song that’s actually on the album,” Beam explains. “We have other albums that are named after songs of ours that are not on those albums. So this time we’re really fucking with you because we didn’t fuck with you.” Similarly, fans might not believe what the song “Arrows” is partially about. “If you’re confused by some of the lyrics to the song, that makes sense,” Beam explains. “But it makes reference to meditation. I started meditating six years ago, but I can only do it when I’m not feeling too anxious. So, when I don’t need it, that’s when I can do it.” Elsewhere, “Fonzi Scheme” was named after legendary Happy Days cool guy Arthur Fonzarelli—if only because it’s in the key of his famous catchphrase, “Aaay.” Producer Chris Funk came up with the idea of bringing in string players from the Portland Cello Project to class up the track. Meanwhile, the opening riff of closer “Funeral Coach” was written 11 years ago. But it took until recently for the song to blossom into its full double-entendre glory. “I was driving around and I saw a hearse that said ‘funeral coach services’ on the back,” Beam explains. “So the first thing that popped into my head was a dude with a headset and a clipboard going, ‘Alright, dudes—more tears! Five minutes in is when the tears are critical, or no one’s gonna believe that anyone cares that this person died.’” In a nod to tradition, Arrows will be available in formats that include all the drums, bass, guitars and vocals. But it could’ve gone another way. “Our original idea was to release the album with no vocals or guitar solos,” Beam explains. “If you want the guitar solos, it’s an extra five bucks. If you want the vocals, it’s an extra ten bucks. So basically people should feel lucky that we didn’t do that. You get to buy the whole thing altogether.” RED FANG think of it as a generous display of gratitude toward their fans. “Yeah,” says Sherman, “Thank you for buying our album, you lucky bastards.”

Over the last three decades, singer, songwriter guitarist and composer Gary Louris has built a deeply compelling body of music whose artists and integrity has won the loyalty of an international audience and the respect of both critics and his peers. Best known for his seminal work with The Jayhawks, he is one of the most acclaimed musicians to come out of Minnesota's teeming rock scene. Along the way, Louris has produced records by various artists, contributed songs to Grammy Award-winning albums by Tedeschi/Trucks Band and The Dixie Chicks; and recored with acts as diverse as the Black Crowes, Uncle Tupelo, Lucinda Williams, Nickel Creek, Tift Merritt and more. Jump For Joy is Gary's long awaited 2nd solo album and follow up to the 2008 release of Vagabonds. Along

Shura announces a deluxe version of her acclaimed 2019 album
‘forevher’, released via Secretly Canadian.
‘forevher: Deluxe Edition’ is released on cassette and features the
eleven original album tracks with nine extras. These include acoustic
versions of five album tracks recorded and produced with Sam Evian
and featuring Hannah Cohen on backing vocals, previous Bandcamp
single ‘magazine launch (demo)’, last year’s collaborative single
‘elevator girl’ featuring Ivy Sole and two unreleased tracks including
‘obsession’.
On ‘obsession’, Shura explains: “‘obsession’ was one of the songs I
wrote whilst I was writing ‘forevher’. I always wanted it to be a duet
between two women but it never came to fruition during the recording
process. Then, when I toured ‘forevher’ in Europe, Rosie Lowe came
with us and we’d always spoken about wanting to collaborate on
something together and I suddenly remembered this song, which I loved
but had somehow never finished. I sent the track across to Ro and when
she sent back her rough take I was like ‘YES. this is it.’”
With ‘forevher’, Shura’s immediately identifiable way with love, touch and
how we talk about it reached even greater creative heights. Having
moved from West London to New York following her adored 2016 debut,
,Nothing’s Real,, it’s all mirrored in a lyrical journey from rejection and
loss to desire, long-distance love and the prospect of how we make
something real actually work.
In 2020, Shura emerged as one of contemporary pop’s accidental
trailblazers. A frank, funny voice in the LGBTQ+ community whose
contribution to the paradigm-shift in the cultural landscape cannot be
underestimated.
Written primarily about Shura’s relationship with her girlfriend and their
long-distance conception, ‘forevher’ traces everything from the initial pull
of desire to that first real life meeting (‘the stage’), before recognising
when the connection develops into something scarily meaningful. It’s a
classic NYC-to-London love story but one told through the totally modern
filter of dating apps, unanswered texts, Skype chats and MUNA gigs.
And whilst how to live - and love - as a queer woman has always been
integral to Shura, it’s remarkable to hear these stories twisted through
such a gorgeous amalgam of influences: Joni Mitchell and Minnie
Riperton, Bon Iver and Frank Ocean, Prince and Ariel Pink. Through
these inspirations, Shura’s own modern, outlier perspective found a
newer, more daring approach to sound and song.

Moonlit Train’ is the debut album from up-and-coming singer-songwriter/ MC Tiawa(pronounced tea-ah-wa) aka Brightonian Tia-Awa Blackhorse.
Meandering between neo-soul, hip-hop and jazz ‘Moonlit Train’ is a conceptual record that journeys through relationships, heartache, and healing. Produced by collaborator and multi-instrumentalist Jack-Chi aka Jack Kingslake -a Bristolveteran who cut his teeth as a producer in the city - the album sets the stage for a new chapter in Tiawa’s career on hometown label Tru Thoughts.
Fusing soulful vocals with the jagged edge of a rap-styled flow, Tiawa lays the foundation for her timeless yet graceful sound and lyrical maturity that confutes her youth. Themes of healing are at the core of Tiawa’s creative output, while simultaneously exploring her Portuguese heritage.
In the artists’ words: “Each song on the album is an emotion. I hope it helps to heal people in serious situations and make them feel better when they listen.
“Saudade” is the introduction to ‘Moonlit Train’ and opens with a Portuguese poem that translates to ‘don’t be sad now, I’m going to play a song for you.”
Described by the artsdesk as “pure trip-hop”, Tiawa has been championed by the likes of legendary DJ David Rodigan (BBC Radio 1Xtra), broadcaster royalty Cerys Matthews (BBC 6Music), and underground purveyors Off Licence Magazine.’ - Previous support Youth (Killing Joke), David Rodigan (BBC 1Xtra), Cerys Matthews (BBC 6Music), Off License Magazine. - Featured on WheelUP’s single “Take Me Higher” and the album “Good Love”.

HIGHLIGHTS An emblematic figure of the Brazilian avant-garde and a key part of the cultural climate that made the rise of tropicália possible, Walter Smetak was a Swiss musician and inventor of instruments who developed his career in Brazil. "Smetak" (1974), his debut album, was produced by Caetano Veloso and Roberto Santana, and had the support of Gilberto Gil. It sums up a personal universe that combines Afro-Brazilian ritual traditions, theosophy, microtonal studies, collective improvisation and the use of unconventional musical instruments. Liner notes by Caetano Veloso. DESCRIPTION Walter Smetak was a Swiss cellist, composer, inventor of musical instruments, sculptor and writer who developed his career in Salvador, Brazil, and became an emblematic figure of the Bahian avant-garde and a key part of the cultural climate that made the rise of tropicália possible. Since 1969, he has carried out various workshops of experimental music at University of Bahia. His music was materialized in two albums: "Smetak" (1974) and "Interregno" (1980). "Smetak" was produced by Caetano Veloso and Roberto Santana, with the support of Gilberto Gil. There he unfolded a radical sound universe, based on the investigation of Afro-Brazilian ritualistic traditions, microtonality studies and collective improvisational open processes, always under the influence of theosophy, which he discovered in Brazil, and which allowed him to generate a symbolism represented in the construction of his own unconventional instruments, many of them of a sculptural nature, made with unusual materials such as PVC pipes, pumpkins and polystyrene foam, which he called plásticas sonoras. Around 150 instruments were created by Smetak, many of them in a surrealist style. They have been exhibited on various occasions in museums and galleries. His music was often based on graphic scores, many of them of great beauty. In addition to Smetak, Caetano Veloso and Roberto Santana, musicians such as Gereba, Tuzé Abreu, Djalma Correa, Capenga, among others, participated in the recording of this album. The author of one of the most important studies on Smetak, Marco Scarassatti, has written on the work of the Swiss-Brazilian artist: "His original and metaphysical work goes beyond any mysticism created around his figure. He investigated the relationship between sound and light, space and form, microtonality, collective improvisation, as a sound alchemist, a multimedia and unplugged prophet-visionary. While transforming matter, Smetak transformed himself and many of those around him." This reissue reproduces the much sought after original 1974 edition, published by Phillips. It includes the catalog of instruments used, adds a brochure with new photos and presents the remastered audio. The liner notes were written by Caetano Veloso. This project is part of Incidencias Sonoras: COINCIDENCIA experimental music & sound art platform, by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.

Tape / Cassette
Canaan Balsam is an electronic composer and musician based in Edinburgh. He uses field recordings, found sounds, hardware and a range of software to create immersive soundscapes. His work explores the dead space between ambient and new age music; the liminal zone between the harshness of industrial and the beatific serenity of devotional music.
Responding to the context where ever-expanding modes of communication seem only to blur the line between connectivity and solitude, Canaan often returns to the theme of loneliness in his work - how it can grow and metasta- size, until it becomes incommunicable, resistant to empathy; an alien host overtaking the body. Cruise Utopia was recorded over the last 3 years and it's his first solo work.
Balsam has collaborated with several contemporary artists including Cosima Cobley Carr and Calvin Z Laing, as well as experimental musician Dan Mutsch, and has performed in an iteration of Damo Suzuki's Sound Carriers. Canaan's sound work has featured at the Radiophrenia Festival at CCA in Glasgow. His audiovisual work has been exhibited at the Embassy Gallery in Edinburgh. He is also part of the Scottish sound art and collective Optic Nerve.

Leo Ceccanti should be a familiar name to all followers of the Claremont 56 label. Alongside sometime studio partner Gianluca Salvadori, he was responsible for two delightfully distinctive Almunia albums released on the label, 2011’s New Moon and 2013’s Pulsar. Both sets were filled with golden, sun-kissed sounds, psychedelic grooves and immersive, life-affirming soundscapes.

Now he’s decided to go it alone as Leo Almunia, delivering a debut album for Claremont 56 that’s every bit as alluring, wide-eyed and evocative as those he made with Salvadori. In keeping with his previous work, the album blends layered acoustic and electric guitars with toasty bass, dreamy synthesizers and grooves that variously touch on hypnotic house, chugging mid-tempo disco, sunset-ready Balearic beats and, on the glistening, life-affirming album highlight ‘Wishing Star’, loose-limbed jazz breaks.

What’s most significant about Ceccanti’s personal musical style is not the blend of stylistic influences he draws on – think psychedelic rock, progressive rock, jazz-rock, new age ambient and slow-motion disco – but rather the way he uses it to paint vivid aural images that genuinely linger long in the memory.

After opening with the duelling guitars and chunky dub disco grooves of ‘Sinking Fields’, Ceccanti sashays between magical moments of rush-inducing positivity, heart-tugging poignance and heady nostalgia.

Along the way, you’ll find numerous sonic highlights. On the intoxicating 21st century psychedelia of ‘Panerea’, jangling chords and eyes-closed psych-rock guitar solos ride a chugging, thickset electronic bassline, while ‘Il Cormorano’ is a metronomic, flash-fried workout rich in fuzz-tone guitar motifs, bluesy riffs and echoing instrumental touches.

He cannily joins the dots between Mid-West Americana and throbbing, psychedelic disco-chug on ‘Loveblind’, while ‘Minor Circle’ sits somewhere between Santana, the Pat Metheny Band and sunrise-ready Balearic blues. Arguably even better is the saucer-eyed brilliance of ‘Brillo De Luna’, where a dubbed-out electronic beat becomes enveloped in life-affirming acoustic guitar chords, exotic slide guitar motifs and string-bending solos. If John Lennon had ingested MDMA rather than LSD before writing ‘Across The Universe’, it would probably sound like this.

Then there’s the album’s crowning moment, closer ‘Can’t Hold a Lover’. A heart-aching, largely ambient instrumental that channels the loneliness and anguish felt by many of those separated from their nearest and dearest during the pandemic, it sees Ceccanti brilliantly wrap a variety of sun-bright guitar textures and solos around some of the loveliest synthesizer chords you’re every likely to hear. On an album packed with effervescent, mood-enhancing musical highs, it’s a rare moment of bittersweet bliss.

May 28 will see prolific Japanese vibraphonist, multi-percussionist and composer Masayoshi Fujita mark a new sonic direction with his forthcoming album Bird Ambience on Erased Tapes.

Bird Ambience brings several fresh changes for the artist. Until now, Fujita would separate his acoustic solo recordings from the electronic dub under his El Fog alias and experimental improvisations with contemporaries such as Jan Jelinek, Bird Ambience sees him unite all of these different sides to his work for the first time, into one singular vision. He also makes a lateral leap from his signature instrument the vibraphone, on which he created his acclaimed triptych Stories (2012), Apologues (2015) and Book of Life (2018), to the marimba, which takes centre stage on his new album alongside drums, percussion, synths, effectors and tape recorder.

“The way of playing the marimba is similar to the vibraphone, so it was kind of a natural development for me and easier to start with, yet it sounds very different”, explains Masayoshi. “The marimba bars are made with wood and it has a wider range than the vibraphone, which gives me a bigger sound palette with more possibilities. I play the instrument with bows and mallets, and sometimes manipulate it with effects.”

Bird Ambience also marks his liberation from fastidious preparation for past solo releases to new endeavours in improvisation. “I prioritised trying to capture the wonder which happens during those occasional magic improv moments. Sometimes the mic-ing and placement of instruments was pretty rough; things weren’t perfect and everything was done quickly, but it turned out as the final recording. Overall when I
couldn’t decide between two takes, I told myself to go with the first”, Masayoshi recalls.

Arranged with a perfect Kanso-like balance, the unhurried pace of Bird Ambience allows each sound and phrase enough time to be mindfully absorbed and savoured. This subtle but affective work carries ethereal remnants of Midori Takada’s minimalism, the static atmospheres of Mika Vainio, To Rococo Rot’s organics and the bucolic electronics of Minotaur Shock. Fujita vaporises contemporary and classical, ambient and dismantled dub, controlled noise and fragments of jazz into an atmospheric, static mist, which he skilfully coerces into new forms.

After 13 years in Berlin, Masayoshi recently relocated to a new home and studio in the rural Japanese mountain village of Kami-cho, Hyogo, following his life-long dream of creating music in nature. Even though the album was entirely recorded in Germany before he left, it has this palpable sense of reverie found in the natural world. From there we can only imagine the kind of impact his new life in rural West Japan will have on future works.

Following on from Vince Watson’s sell-out 2020 release, that saw tracks lifted from his 9th studio album ‘Via’ taken to a whole new level with remixes by the mighty Joe Clausell, Steve Bug & Langenberg, Osunlade and Manoo, he unleashes two fresh, new, feel-good cuts on Everysoul Audio!

Defining them as House or Techno would be a mistake, as Vince effortlessly bridges the gap between both worlds in a way that he does so very well. ‘Make A Wish’ was born out of the same studio session as his ‘Teardrops’ track for Sacred Rhythm, taking the initial sketch into a different direction with powerful drums, big basslines and silky synth stabs, adding to the orchestral strings that build. ‘Forever’ was originally a studio jam that made it into his live shows pre-covid, but this gave him the chance to finish it the way he always wanted. It’s an upbeat, jazzy cut with funky 909 drums and acid bassline.

It was already a reference among the diggers’ community, and one day, our friend from
Chouf made us listen to the record before Dizonord. We found Uli, one of the musicians, who still
had a fair number of copies of this 1990 LP, a tricky year for vinyl. This record is a mix between
jazz, funk and ambient but with a very special pop touch to it.

81355 (pronounced `bless') is a meeting of the minds between three pillars of the Indianapolis music scene; Sirius Blvck, Oreo Jones, and Sedcairn Archives. While the three have worked together in the past, this is their first start-to-finish collaboration, and the result is the stunning and distinctive debut Time I'll Be of Use. Simultaneously mystical and stark, somber and danceable, the project grapples with hard-wired truths and imagines alternate realities with better futures. These lucid wanderings amongst the street fires sound like a cross between the ghost of progressive electronic music of the 70s with its innovative eccentricities, and acrobatic wordplay delivered with sharp resolve. While surrealist in its metaphors and abstraction, it doesn't betray a present awareness. Reflecting on Black struggle in the pandemicridden and democracy faltering landscape of 2020, each member arrived from a synchronistic space, and the recording process ended up being largely intuitive. On "Capstone," the opening track on the album, Sirius Blvck offers a look from inside his space, "This is what we've come to. Generational curses I still can't undo. Just taught my lil girl to tie her shoes now she running to. Holy smokes lungs made of leather like it's comfortable. Climbing up this infinite ladder to get a better view." These three musical vagabonds have met up to find even themselves surprised with the results. Drawing inspiration from the likes of biting poetic commentary of the late Naptown residents, Etheridge Knight and Kurt Vonnegut, OJ summons a golden-era flow and paints a picture of the group's influences, surroundings, and trajectory in one fell swoop in "Thumbs Up." "Alright, in my feelings tonight, Honda Civic overturned as it burns through the night. Bone Thugs in these streets no Surender in sight. I'm writing poems from a jail cell, Etheridge Knight. I throw a fit when I flip it, it's all vintage. A pearl white Bronco like OJ you done did it. The sunshine shatters the rock painted so vivid. Two-hundred fifty pounds of gifted we so lifted_ wassup?" Sirius, with poetry present even in his speaking voice, adds, "It's a way to carve our story in the sky before we're gone. This is us choosing to believe that this time, things will be different. It is an affirmation to the universe. This time I'll see the whole blessing. This time I'll be of use."

The Deviants were an English rock group originally active in the late
1960s, and later as a project of the singer-songwriter and bandleader Mick Farren. The self-tiled third album was the beginning of the definite split between the band members. This record shows how they were still rocking in a wonderful mix between psychedelic, garage, blues, and rock. The overall vibe is amazing and it is a fascinating glimpse into the underground music of the late ‘60s. The album has aged quite well and is still a master of art.

The Deviants is available on black vinyl. The package includes a replica of the very rare & sought after booklet.

Folk-minimalists announce vinyl issue for breakthrough album, Animalia.

"The semi-classical drums/sax/piano trio Mammal Hands mutate into a high-volume rave act" The Guardian

Captivating, ethereal and majestic, Mammal Hands (saxophonist Jordan Smart, pianist Nick Smart and drummer and percussionist Jesse Barrett) has carved out a refreshingly original sound from adisparatearray of influences: drawing on spiritual jazz, north Indian, folk and classical music to create something inimitably their own.

Hailing from Norwich, one of Britain's most isolated and most easterly cities, they have forged their own path away from the musical mainstream and their unique sound grew out of long improvised rehearsals. All three members contribute equally to the writing process: one that favours the creation of a powerful group dynamic over individual solos. Their recordsare entrancing and beautiful affairs,while their hypnotic live shows have seen them hailed as one of the most exciting bands in Europe as they push their unique line-up to the outer limits of its possibilities.

Over the course of three albums, Animalia, Floa and Shadow Work they have built a committed following and established themselves as one of the finest live bands in Europe. But while Floa and Shadow Work were both issued on vinyl this is the first time that Animalia has been committed to wax.

Produced by Matthew Halsall and recorded at 80 Hertz Studio, in Manchester, and engineered by George Atkins, Animalia features the band breakthrough hits Mansions of Million Years, a slow building tune that takes it's name from Egyptian mythology and draws the listener into the band's distinctive sound world. And the gorgeous hooky Kandaiki which makes stunning use of looped melodies in different time signatures, creating a wonderful interplay between the parts.

Other highlights include Snow Bough a short, melancholic, but moving, ambient composition, the Irish folk music inspired Spinning the Wheel, which also features drum beats inspired by chopped up electronic drum patterns and hip hop instrumentals. The jaunty Bustle and delightful Inuit Party and Street Sweeper. Finally the album closes with Tiny Crumb, which explores melodic ideas inspired by Alice Coltrane and Joe Henderson and builds in intensity from a quiet start to a powerful collective improvisation and heavily features Jesse's Tabla.

Batov's Middle Eastern Grooves series has a new, funky, double-sided 7" addition titled ‘Big Baglama’ by Satellites: a fun release that gives vintage Turkish beats a new spin.

‘Big Baglama’ is a beautiful instrumental piece that captures the sound of an acoustic diwan saz - known as a baglama - integrating it in a series of riffs connected by a funky groove. The baglama gives off a fresh and lively feeling, despite the vintage flavour provided via the spacey synth and rippling drums. This track channels the energy and style of old school fuzzy vibe of Arif Sag’s saz recording of the ’70s but makes it new and entertaining to the ear, pulling the listener in for a fun ride.

The B-side ‘Deli Deli’ opens with a groovy bass riff and ululating synth, followed by a nifty melodic lead on the baglama and then Yuli’s enchanting vocals. The song is a new interpretation of an old piece by beloved 70’s Turkish folk singer Sakir Öner. This new version differs from the original in the more bright and poppy feel, conveyed by the 6/8 rhythm, and the addition of a whole new section by the band.

Satellites are another exciting act from the celebrated Tel Aviv music scene, and here at Batov Records we love them! Formed earlier this year, the group comprises talented vocalist Yuli Shafriri on the synth; Itamar Klüger on the baglama & bouzouki; Ariel Harrosh on the bass and Azriel ‘Raz’ Man on the drums. The band plays anything from Anatolian rock to vintage psych and spacey grooves. Satellites describe their sound as retro-fresh psych à la Turk, a musical "laboratory" lost somewhere between the mysterious alleys of 70’s Istanbul and the scorching sun and crystal blue sea of Jaffa-Tel Aviv, 2020.

Three is the magic number and continues the Connection Lost series by Massimiliano Pagliara on Uncanny Valley. The series is a highly emotional project for the masterful Italian DJ and producer with music that is deeply inspired by thoughts on how to cope, once the connection with loved ones is cut. As wide as the feelings and emotions in those situations are, as varied is the sound palette with tracks between Acid, House, Disco and Downbeat.

Comet Records presents the Tony Allen & Afrika 70 reissue series with the classic late seventies first four solo albums of Tony Allen remastered and restored: Jealousy, Progress, No Accomodation for Lagos & No Discrimination, all coming in an heavy Deluxe Tip-On Jacket.
1978's No Accommodation for Lagos, Tony Allen's third solo album, is an effortless Afrobeat masterpiece. The Afrika 70 band floats through two of Tony's heaviest and most churning compositions.
With this album, we start to hear Tony Allen's unique style of Afro-Funk that he would explore for decades to come as a solo artist - it is groove-focused, a rolling meditation on rhythm.
The first track, "No Accommodation for Lagos" is one of Tony's most pointed and churning songs, recorded in a chaotic period following the army raid of Fela's compound. There is a seriousness to the funk, a real burning purpose in the performance of every instrument, from the horns to the shekere. Tony's performance is supercharged - he clearly showed up to the studio that day with a fire in his heart. The followup track, "African Message," is an Afrobeat compositional staple. Tony sits back in the cut through most of the supremely funky track until about seven minutes in, when he steps into the spotlight to express himself fully - his emotions, his frustrations, his convictions - in a fiery duet between his drumkit and his voice. The percussionists coalesce around him in support, lifting Tony up as he gives it his all.
Tony Allen was a musical and compositional visionary, and this album finds him beginning to explore that vision outside of Fela's immense gravitational pull. They are the start of a new era in Tony's fruitful career as a solo artist, opening the floodgates for his distinctive Afro-Funk sound and laying the foundation for the next generation of Afrobeat musicians to come.

Bachelor, the new project from Melina Duterte (Jay Som) and Ellen Kempner (Palehound), is not a band, it’s a friend-ship. After being mutual fans for years, they finally met when sharing the bill at a show in Sacramento in 2017. Keeping in touch over text and Instagram posts, Duterte and Kempner started recording together for fun in 2018, resulting with what would become "Sand Angel", the seductive slow-burner that convinced the pair to write an album together.

Reconvening in January 2020, the duo packed the entirety of Duterte’s recording equipment into two cars and headed to a rental house in Topanga, CA. In this space Kempner and Duterte hybridized their individual song-writing talents, producing a collection that slips between moods with ease and showcases their lyrical prowess. Arriving with almost no songs written and no solid plan, they

finished the 10 songs that make up Doomin’ Sun after two short weeks. That much work in so little time may sound exhausting, but it wasn’t, it was blissful and freeing.

There was a lot of pain that went into the record, especially around themes of queerness and climate change inspired by the red skies and wildfires subsuming Australia at the time. However, when the duo did shed tears during the creative process, they weren’t tears of sadness, they were tears of laughter. When Kempner and Duterte look back on those weeks, what they remember first is shortness of breath and the inability to track vocal takes without falling to the floor howling. They couldn’t remember a time they’d ever been so delirious with creativity, so overwhelmed with joy.

“The Hunt for the Gingerbread Man 2: Get the Dough” embraces the juxtaposition between a fantastical world made of candy and pastries, and the dark and unforgiving lifestyle of the veteran emcee. Sonically immersive, and nostalgic of an era in hip hop that celebrates pain and hardship through whimsical storytelling, this album reaches deep into the life of the protagonist “Mr. Ginjy Breadman” aka “The Gingerbread Man” - and doesn’t let go until you’ve become fully invested in his tumultuous life journey in the “United Cakes of America.”

Thirteen years after the studio release of “The Hunt for the Gingerbread Man,” this sequel album is a testament to MF Grimm’s vivid imagination and innate ability to create stories that transport you beyond our earthly realm. Anthropomorphic cookies, pastries, and gingerbread men are the primary characters in MF Grimm’s tales of violence, crime, drugs, and love, in the ghetto known as “Candyland.”

Perhaps the most compelling aspect of the twenty-one-track album is its unrelenting dedication to both the authenticity of MF Grimm’s infamous life story, and the innocent and irreverent nature of the characters themselves.

The album is produced, mixed, and mastered by Darko the Super.

Aparde’s new album, Alliance sees the German
musician retreat from his recent experimentations
with avant-gard pop music back into the world of
deep, and oftentimes dark, electronica. For his
previous album, Hands Rest, Aparde ventured
outside Berlin’s club scene through the use of his
voice, which gave his music a softer and more
intimate edge. Alliance is no less intimate, except
this time the musician’s vulnerability seeps through
the cracks rather than taking center stage.
As impressive sonically as it is technically, Aparde
used a mixture of electronic sounds, analogue
equipment and his own voice either as a sound
element or lyrical component to explore this duality
of sound. “This album was about focusing on
something that calmed me down and brought me
away from reality,” says Aparde. When the musician
says ‘away from reality’, he doesn’t mean into
dreamy, ethereal soundscapes, but rather a deep
dive into dystopian atmospheres of drone sounds
and chewed-up drum machines. Alliance’s second
track, Allies has a dire beginning and one might
even be tempted in skipping it if it weren’t for
Aparde’s hushed voice shining through the
shadows, melancholic yes, but also warm. Despite
the album’s focus on electronic gear the music isn’t
exactly dance-able, tracks have a ruminative pace,brooding even, “I wanted to make the tracks with
more breathing space between the atmosphere
and silence. There are fewer elements but more
impact, I think,” says Aparde.
Things change gears toward the middle of
Alliance, with both Lined and The Shift representing
the colder, club-ier tracks of the album. For
both of these tunes, any emotionality gets
converted into a dense and thumping energy that
is released in a cathartic fashion. It is, as Aparde
describes, music “for you to move to when you
have a good moment or a mental crisis”. But
Aparde doesn’t leave it at that frequency; he closes
off the album courageously by letting listeners in,
once again, to his own world and emotions. While
still a driving electronic track, Hole is framed
around melancholic piano keys that bring the
mood down, and prepare listeners for Know you,
the album’s most intimate, and vulnerable piece. “I
never felt alright,” Aparde admits open-heartedly
on the track.
With Alliance, Aparde brings listeners deep into
his soul, a soul that is at times conflicted and
agitated and at times low-key and solemn. And as
he does so, the listener’s own mood is muted and
lifted in a journey of quest, dance and healing.

The same crew as the boundary pulsing improvisation record Bent
Arcana has made a trajectory shift and picked up Ben Boye along
the path. The aptly-named Moon-Drenched is the second installment
from these sessions and keeps a heavy-lidded late night perspective
on things as it eases from the somewhat familiar liminal twilight
of skittering hues of black-blue and snaking street groove, to
fizzing off into the ether in pursuit of lunar prism beams heretofore
unseen. The more rhythmically dialed bits here have a lysergic halo of
strangeness to them, and the wispy bits between are spun of iridescent
gossamer. It sounds like a frizzled message from a future just filthy
with guitar hoots echoing off of neon-splattered high rises, oil-slicked
waterways and skittering digital beasts. For Castle Face’s money this
is the strangest slice of this last bunch of John Dwyer and his crew’s
improvisations.

Chicago soul girl group the Opals released three exquisite singles on the Okeh label between January 1964 and February 1965, all of them produced by Carl Davis, in addition to which they also recorded background vocals for other artists. When Tony Rounce compiled Kent’s CD of Billy Butler’s Okeh recordings in 2007, unexpectedly found on the master tape transfer of Billy’s ‘Right Track’ were two unidentified female tracks we eventually ascertained were by the Opals.

The uptempo ‘Can’t Give It Up’ is taken at a perfect dance beat for Northern Soul discos. It was written by Billy Butler and Gerald Sims, and likely recorded around the time of the ‘Right Track’ session in 1966. On the flip is the beautiful, mid-tempo ‘End My Suffering’, which bears a resemblance to Marvin Smith’s ‘Time Stopped’, also from 1966 and produced by Carl Davis. This is the first release for both tracks and will appeal to fans of many genres of vintage soul music.

On May 28th , 2021, Surfdog Records will release Brian Setzer - Rockabilly Riot! Volume One - A Tribute To Sun Records on vinyl again! Out of print since 2005, this record sees Brian Setzer paying tribute to one of the greatest rockabilly labels ever, the one that arguably started it all: Sun Records.

"Why should I record a tribute to Sun Records? And at that, narrowing in on only their rockabilly years... a narrow time frame between roughly 1954 through early 1957. For that matter, what the heck is rockabilly anyway? Sure, all of us greaser, guitar slingin' hep-cats know, but (for the most part) the general population has never even heard the word. Rockabilly, the musical bastard of rhythm and blues, hillbilly, country, gospel, and maybe even a little jazz sung by wild-eyed southern white boys with too much time and too little money just lookin' for trouble. After doing much homework, I have selected 23 of what I consider Sun Records' best recordings. Some I’m sure you know (at least I hope so) and some are very obscure gems." - Brian Setzer

‘An immortal voice.’ – NPR

‘Her voice, at once beautiful and unadorned and softened with a veil of smoke, invariably hits the middle of a note and remains there.’ – New York Times

In celebration of Pride Month, Nonesuch Records releases k.d. lang’s makeover, a new collection of classic dance remixes of some of her best-loved songs. The album brings these remixes, made between 1992 and 2000, together for the first time, and includes ‘Sexuality’, ‘Miss Chatelaine’, ‘Theme from the Valley of the Dolls’, ‘Summerfling’, and the #1 dance chart hits ‘Lifted By Love’ and ‘If I Were You’. makeover’s cover art features a previously unseen 1995 portrait of lang by David LaChapelle.

Repress on purple vinyl!

Batov's Middle Eastern Grooves series has a new, funky, double-sided 7" addition titled ‘Big Baglama’ by Satellites: a fun release that gives vintage Turkish beats a new spin.

‘Big Baglama’ is a beautiful instrumental piece that captures the sound of an acoustic diwan saz - known as a baglama - integrating it in a series of riffs connected by a funky groove. The baglama gives off a fresh and lively feeling, despite the vintage flavour provided via the spacey synth and rippling drums. This track channels the energy and style of old school fuzzy vibe of Arif Sag’s saz recording of the ’70s but makes it new and entertaining to the ear, pulling the listener in for a fun ride.

The B-side ‘Deli Deli’ opens with a groovy bass riff and ululating synth, followed by a nifty melodic lead on the baglama and then Yuli’s enchanting vocals. The song is a new interpretation of an old piece by beloved 70’s Turkish folk singer Sakir Öner. This new version differs from the original in the more bright and poppy feel, conveyed by the 6/8 rhythm, and the addition of a whole new section by the band.

Satellites are another exciting act from the celebrated Tel Aviv music scene, and here at Batov Records we love them! Formed earlier this year, the group comprises talented vocalist Yuli Shafriri on the synth; Itamar Klüger on the baglama & bouzouki; Ariel Harrosh on the bass and Azriel ‘Raz’ Man on the drums. The band plays anything from Anatolian rock to vintage psych and spacey grooves. Satellites describe their sound as retro-fresh psych à la Turk, a musical "laboratory" lost somewhere between the mysterious alleys of 70’s Istanbul and the scorching sun and crystal blue sea of Jaffa-Tel Aviv, 2020.

The past year's lockdown has proved undeniably challenging to improvising musicians who typically thrive on face-to-face interaction. But bassist Mike Watt, drummer/percussionist Mike Pride, and guitarist/banjoist Brandon Seabrook have all built their careers on kicking down the barriers between genres, so why would they let a little pandemic-induced isolation and geographic distance stand in their way? Convening for the first time as Three-Layer Cake, these three dizzyingly inventive artists bake up a long-distance set of singular, boundary-defying collaborations on their combustible debut, Stove Top. Stove Top is uncategorizable in the best sense of the word, patching together elements of punk, free jazz, new music, no wave, doom metal, dub, avant-funk, and various subsectors of the experimental in such freewheeling and raucous fashion that the very idea of divvying them up into disparate inspirations seems laughable.

The trio of fiddle player Erlend Apneseth with guitarist Stephan Meidell and drummer Oyvind Hegg-Lunde follows up their Nordic Prize-nominated album of 2019, ‘Salika, Molika’, with a remarkable suite of tunes inspired by the rhythms and physicality of the human body in motion.
Originally commissioned by FRIKAR Dance Company to accompany the performance of a new work, ‘Skaut’, dealing with the covering of the body in different cultures, the music of ‘Lokk’ takes the trio further than ever before into completely fresh areas of electro-acoustic improvisation.
The sounds of their original instruments are integrated with electronic beats and treated textures to form a kind of enhanced digital-folk style whose influences stretch from traditional south Asian ragas to contemporary dance culture from around the globe.
The result is intense, and intensely rhythmic, music where the normally separate realms of the cerebral and the corporeal can appear to fuse into one irresistible groove.
As the trio rocks on - in a dream of perfect interplay between instruments and players, soloists and ensemble - deep, trembling sub-bass intersects with ethereal ambient soundscapes. Elsewhere, the twittering of birdsong - from both real bird-calls and the uncanny imitation of them by Apneseth’s Hardanger fiddle - meets archival recordings of Norwegian herdswomen.
“Our musical idea for this project was to unite different extremes, connections that felt “forbidden” in one form or another”, says Stephan Meidell. “For example, by using the sampled recording of traditional herd-calling, blended together with aesthetics from more contemporary music styles. This exploration has led us further into a rhythmic and danceable landscape than in previous releases. We also wanted to use this opportunity to deliberately make more dance-related music. As regards the original commission, were pretty free to do what we wanted, but there was one specific dance in mind, ‘Valdresspringar’, for which Erlend wrote the melody. It’s a traditional, asymmetrical dance and has a very particular form. The melody is on the track called ‘Springar’, which we then messed around with.”
This “messing around with” element is key to the sound of ‘Lokk’, whose playful experimentation over the nine separate tracks creates a beguiling, constantly surprising sense of adventure and intrigue that both draws the listener in, and then keeps them on their toes as to where the next stage of the journey will take them. It also becomes inescapably obvious that this is a group of three equals.
The contributions of Stephan Meidell and Oyvind Hegg-Lunde, as musicians, co-composers and producers, appear every bit as important as that of Erlend Apneseth, who performs superbly throughout. “Even though the trio carries Erlend’s name, it’s a band in every sense of the word”, says Stephan Meidell. “We make the music together, where everyone brings their ideas and we build on each other’s input and output. This is not our “coming out” as a band, but the group is sometimes interpreted as having a hierarchical structure, as a soloist and accompaniment.”
As is evident from the trio’s live performances, where each member seamlessly integrates the acoustic and the electronic elements in their respective sounds through constant monitoring and tweaking, Apneseth, Meidell and Hegg-Lunde are also pioneers,
creating real-time effects that in the past were only available through post-production or the intervention of a sympathetic engineer and a truck-load of kit. ‘Lokk’ translates this fleet-footed improvisational approach, and the players’ lightning-speed reaction times, back into the environment of the recording studio, where the music composed for the original FRIKAR dance piece was further embellished and adapted. Played live, it will continue to change again, as improvised music always does.

A fresh and open music, delicate and space-conscious, is shaped as
drummer Thomas Stronen and Ayumi Tanaka, previously heard in the
ensemble Time Is A Blind Guide on ‘Lucus’, resurface in a new trio with clarinettist/singer/percussionist Marthe Lea.
The group first came together at Oslo’s Royal Academy of Music, where for two years the players would meet each week for exploratory music making.
Stronen: “We always played freely- drifting between elements of contemporary classical music, folk music, jazz, whatever we were inspired by. Sometimes the music was very quiet and minimalistic: playing together generated some special experiences.”
The spontaneous spirit of the music is reflected in the trio’s debut recording, which was made at the Lugano radio studio and produced by Manfred Eicher.
With the exception of the title piece, based on a traditional Norwegian tune, the music on Bayou was collectively created in the moment.

Known for the soulful jazz-grooves of their self-titled 2020 debut album, Matti Klein’s Soul Trio actually began as an idea rather than a group.
However, in early 2018 three master musicians met in Berlin’s Lovelite Studio with producer/engineer Jochen Str h (Tony Allen, Ebo Taylor, Pat Thomas, Jimi Tenor) and recorded a set of well-planned and even better executed live sessions, each finding their desired space live and direct, locking into the immediacy of the groove. ‘Soul Trio Live On Tape’ contains these very first sessions of the Matti Klein Soul Trio and comprises new arrangements of songs that had primarily been composed for Klein’s band Mo’ Blow; favourites already back then, timeless classics now thanks to these exciting ‘deep-fried contemporary soul jazz’ versions.
Their leader, known for his work as musical director for the Brazilian superstar Ed Motta as well as Mo ‘Blow, can be heard on Wurlitzer and Rhodes Bass; Lars Zander (The Ruffcats, El Cartel, Lucasonic, STEREOFYSH) not only proves he is the most soulful tenor saxophonist in Berlin, but also why he has earned kudos for a bass clarinet sound that is enhanced with analog tape delays, Wah-Wah and Harmonizer-sweetenings; and drummer Andr Seidel also shows his chops, incorporating elements of rock, hip-hop, odd meter fusion and the sound of New Orleans into his own unique groove jazz style.
As for the music, ‘Rocket Swing’ is a tenor sax feature in which a hip-hop vibe meets a jazzy fifth fall, while ‘Ray’ (dedicated to Mr. Charles) is a Meters-inspired shuffle in 7/8 time. ‘No Particular Way’ showcases the funky side of the band, with singer Pat Appleton in top form over a wonderfully creaky Rhodes bass. ‘Sunsqueezed’ is created in a wide compositional arc, evoking a ray of sunshine peeking through the clouds during a long and grey 10-month Berlin winter, giving hope for the next two months.
‘Eleven Feels Like Heaven’ is a joyful, uproarious gospel blues with a brilliant odd meter drum solo. ‘Grandpa’s Fairytale’ is a hitherto unreleased piece that is dedicated to the bandleader’s grandfather, a former school headmaster who loved to read him stories and is a Wurlitzer-warmth meets bass clarinet groove in an atypical dynamic arc. Summarising their efforts, Klein states somewhat cryptically that “the band rolls in a warm, soft couch whenever there is a risk of having to sit between the chairs.”
Initially available as a limited fan item only at live shows, this document is now being released officially with the addition of ‘Grandpa’s Fairytale’. It is a journey through time, absolutely contemporary and yet wonderfully back to the future.

The venerable composer and keyboardist Stale Storlokken follows up his previous Hubro release (and solo debut recording), The Haze of
Sleeplessness, with a second solo album performed entirely on pipe organ and recorded at Steinkjer Church by Stian Westerhus.
He describes the album as “a cavernous cathedral of sound”. While the Norwegian Grammy-nominated ‘The Haze of Sleeplessness’ used a whole keyboardmuseum’s worth of antique synths and contemporary digital software to create
its vast array of sounds, everything on ‘Ghost Caravan’ is the product of one organ’s pedals, pipes and sonic plumbing.
“There’s not so much of a relationship to ‘Haze’, says Stale Storlokken of the new album. “That album was more based on improvised ideas that were tweaked and arranged , while this one is all improvised with almost no editing at all. Everything you hear is from the church organ, with no additional instruments.
The basic concept of the record, and the arrangement of the titles and pieces, is done in such a way that they alternate between a fluent, “on the move”, abstract mood and a more recognisable, concrete and grounded mood. At the same time it should be so open that listeners will hopefully have their own unique experience. The organ at Steinkjer is not a big organ but it has some really nice sounds, with a number of quirks and mechanical eccentricities that suit my music.”
The organ is partly a reconstruction based on a Wagner organ in Nidarosdomen built originally in 1741, the organ is housed in the strikingly modernistic Steinkjer kirke, designed by Olav S. Platou in 1965, and featuring glass panels by the artist Annar Millidahl. What Ghost Caravan does share with its predecessor is a seemingly limitless acoustic space for the listener’s imagination to roam in, with Storlokken creating a cavernous cathedral of sound.
The audio dynamics span an enormous range, capable of stretching from the quietest breathy whisper to a basso profundo squawk or scream, sometimes within seconds of each other. Similarly, the incredible variety of sounds that Storlokken coaxes from the organ can defy rational analysis, with the resolutely analogue instrument appearing to echo the industrial, found-sounds of clanking machinery or buzzing electronics that one might expect to encounter through digital sampling or the tape-based experiments of musique concrete.
Over ten separate improvised pieces which connect into an informal suite through the repetition of key elements and sequential titles (with four ‘Spheres’ and four ‘Cloudlands’, plus ‘Ghost Caravan’ and ‘Drifting on Wasteland Ocean’), Storlokken has made a strikingly unified, self-referential aesthetic world that can stand as a true work of art.

Ratsnake aka Gesloten Cirkel presents ?Just A Genesis? on the Place No Blame label. An conscious, meditative presentation of single take recordings from recent years. A sequence showcasing the development of techniques and styles that have been touched on and explored through other projects and releases. For the artist and label, this collection of songs represent a timeline of actions and reactions, transforming dusty old memories into perceptible realities in their own right. At its core, this album explores the confines between society and alchemy, and they form part of an ongoing research into the science of idea generation and external reflection. Recommended!

Having already made a big splash on labels like Rush Hour, Ghostly, Spectral Sound and Werkdiscs, the London based producer Moirétees up his third full length player for Hypercolour. ‘Good Times’ goes someway to pulling back a positive energy to recent global events and finds Moirécollaborating with fellow artist Demigosh on a good chunk of the album cuts. Hazy agit house and drowsy beats anchor an album filled with smooth ambience and soulful sampling.

Low frequencies and foggy tones make tracks like ‘Magdan’ and ‘Vertigo’ strike a chord between lo-fi electronica and abstract ambient noise, whilst the collaborations with Demigosh add an ethereal soulful touch that’s both stirring and emotive in equal measures. Exotic beat science is deployed on cuts like ‘R1’ and ‘Telefunk’, whilst the jazzy licks and lumpy rhythms of ‘Lost In Pacific’ seal off an extraordinary album that exemplifies the advancing maturity of Moiré’s sound and vision.

Silent Room, the duo formed by Enzo Carniel and Filippo Vignato is a conversation.
Between the piano of the first and the trombone of the second, two living forces of the
European jazz scene; between France and Italy; between acoustics and electronics. A
patient dialogue initiated on the benches of the conservatory in Paris, which was nourished
by the music of German trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff (to whom the duo paid homage for a
concert at the Cité des Arts in 2014), musical moments shared as a group (Enzo Carniel's
sextet at the Jazz à la Villette festival in particular) and in pairs - for numerous concerts
given on both sides of the Alps - before perfecting their common grammar, giving birth to
their own repertoire, creating their own space.

This first album, Aria, released on the Franco-Japanese label MENACE, was recorded in the
setting of the Villa Cicaletto in Tuscany, whose Silent Room the duo made their own in
September 2019. Carniel had just released Wallsdown, the third elegiac disc of his House of
Echo project (Jazz & People, 2020) and Vignato of an intense live duo recorded with
American cellist Hank Roberts (Ghost Dance, on CamJazz in 2019).

The album is carried by simple melodies, tenuous threads on which the two improvisers who
have slowly got to know each other crisscross and let their voices express themselves. Aria
can refer to the opening of Bach's Goldberg variations, to sung opera arias, but above all to
any expressive melody that develops the imagination. Aria is also the air in Italian: the air
that comes from the breath, the air that fills the room, the air that vibrates and is transformed
into sound. The repertoire is therefore this collection of Arias composed by Enzo Carniel and
Filippo Vignato.

If the duo advocates with this album its jazz heritage - that of improvisation and
conversation, of freedom and virtuosity - and claims to be Carla and Paul Bley, Keith Jarrett,
Gary Valente, Albert Mangelsdorff, Ornette Coleman or John Surman; it also explores the
contemporary colors of electronic music, ambient and Japanese minimalism. The use of the
prepared piano, Fender Rhodes and synthesizers colors the sound space of the acoustic
piano and trombone. The eponymous composition that opens the album in acoustic, closes
it in an electronic version, illuminating the path of the duo between the two universes.

In the almost plant-like composition "In All Nilautpaula", Enzo Carniel evokes the water lily
(in Sanskrit) coming to purify the water around him. On "Babele", Filippo Vignato invokes the
great question of language: thanks to Arias, and therefore melodies, language becomes
universal through music, and only the sensory experience counts.

Born from Carniel and Vignato's desire to create a sound space that would be filled with as
many melodies as silence, a place for listening, dialogue and meditation, Aria is one of those
rare records that contain entire worlds.

Repress!

"The latest release on Textasy's Berlin-based imprint further mines the interface between electro and jungle. DJ DR-660's EP is, as the name suggests, dedicated to carnal pleasures, whether it's cleverly flipping a familiar spoken word sample into speedy bass-heavy beats and slow jam smoothness on 'Talk 2 Me (Consent)' or combining Miami bass style lewdness and rolling breaks on 'Fuk Me From The Back (Da Bomb Edit)' The latter is especially good, fluidly alternating between rhythms and hip hop samples in a way that will excite dancefloors. Elsewhere, 'Rhodes Rec' has the kind of smokey keys you could expect in an ambient d&b number, but riding speedy juke/ghettotech drums and another rude vocal. The whole EP is fire. 9/10' - DJ MAG (words by Ben Murphy)

There's no denying the hype surrounding Anton 'ScruScru' Bogomolov is fuelled by a string of celebrated singles, demonstrating an extraordinary prolific prowess all throughout 2020.
His ability to blend jazz-funk classics with the sweet sounds of disco-powered house grooves is always on point.
It's music that blurs the boundaries between the serious yet playful and takes the listener on a truly unique-sounding ride

ScruScru's appearance on Omena is one of his finest so far. These six tracks makes a fine mini-album called 'South Wind, Clear Sky'.

There's jazz, disco, big warm rhodes chords and sparkling synth sounds of course, the bustling grooves takes you as far as outer space and back.
It's a wild ride and you should not be afraid to take it twice.

After a long wait, and restructure of our releases due to The Pandemic, we decided that our next EP had to represent the times that we miss on the dancefloor as well as the glimmer of hope that dance music has given us through these surreal times.

Hardt Antoine steps up for his second independent Reculture release with two originals.

‘Tonight’ is an emotional downtempo track resonating feelings missed from a less bleak time. The track is carried through its 80s style bassline, emotive vocal cuts and cinematic feel. Evolving from a mellow and hypnotic aura and transformed by the tracks drums and percussive elements

‘Are You There’ brings together elements of acid, percussion and a rolling bassline that keeps your feet moving - an ode to the dancefloor. Are You There's liveliness creates an energetic atmosphere guided by melodic colours. The vocals within the track opens a dialogue between the music and the listener that creates a symbiotic relationship between DJ and those on the Dancefloor.