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Because of their mix of hellified gangster shit and progressive compositions, I once jokingly called Clipping "Deathrow Tull." Well, it's not a joke anymore. While Clipping's last few projects have been record-long concepts like classic prog rock, their cyberpunk-infused new album Dead Channel Sky is mixtape-like, a carefully curated collection in which every track is a love letter to a possible present. It sounds crisp and classic at the same time. When something strikes us as retrospective and futuristic at the same time, it's a reminder of how slipshod our present moment truly is. Juxtaposing high-tech, corporate command-and-control systems (the "cyber") with the lo-fi, D.I.Y. underground (the "punk"), cyberpunk proper starts in 1982 and ends in 1999, from Blade Runner to The Matrix. Concurrently, hip-hop matured, went through its Golden Era, then melted into further forms: it went from from Fab 5 Freddy to Public Enemy to Missy Elliott. While other genres flirted with it, hip-hop was fickle and fey. Rap and rock birthed mutant offspring maligned by most, and hip-hop's relations with electronica rarely fared any better. What if someone explicitly merged hip-hop and cyberpunk - those twin suns of the '80s and '90s - into one set and sound? After all, both movements are the result of hacking the haunted leftovers of a war-torn culture that's long since moved on. On Dead Channel Sky, Clipping texture-map the twin histories of hip-hop and cyberpunk onto an alternate present where Rammellzee and Bambaataa are the superheroes of old; where Cybotron and Mantronix are the reigning legends; where Egyptian Lover and Freestyle are debated endlessly, and Ultramag and Public Enemy are the undeniable forefathers; where the lost movements of 1980s and the 1990s are still happening: rave, trip-hop, hip-house, acid house, drum & bass, big beat-the detritus of a different timeline, the survivors of armed audio warfare. Clipping are no strangers to sci-fi: two of their records were nominated for Hugo Awards (one of science fiction's top literary prizes), and a novella spun-off from their music was nominated for a third. On Dead Channel Sky, Clipping's co-conspirators include everyone from the guitarist Nels Cline, to their labelmates Cartel Madras, rapper/actor Tia Nomore, and wordsmith Aesop Rock. Diggs is known for intricate lyrics and rapid-fire rapping, and the tracks that Snipes and Hutson build in the background are no less complex. All of the above serves to give us a glimpse of an adjacent possible present, where hip-hop and cyberpunk are one culture. Binary stars are often perceived as one object when viewed with the naked eye. Like those twin sun systems, it'll take some special equipment and some discerning attention to pull the stars apart on this record. As Diggs barks on the fire-starting "Change the Channel": Everything is very important!

In 2017, Matthias launched his record label named Superluminal, after the astronomic motion observed in 1902 by Jacobus Kapteyn in the ejecta of the nova GK Persei, which had exploded in 1901. His discovery was published in the German journal Astronomische Nachrichten, and received little attention from English-speaking astronomers until many decades later. It appears to travel faster than light, its existence could conceal the most inexplicable mysteries of our universe which gave birth to many of the secrets hidden in the path of mysticism and esotericism.

The label celebrates its 8th Anniversary with Matthias’s first self-released album. The instalment pays homage to the roots and influences the artist has genuinely embraced throughout the years. An immersive composition which summons a line from the sounds of the past to the present, designed meticulously and displayed within gatefold cover.

It certainly manifests a polyhedral vein with some very cerebral, experimental songs among more dancefloor oriented music. The artist delves into a self exploratory leap of synth-driving notes, striking chords of late decaying dub pianos. Certainly a journey that pairs conceptual alignment with more clubby-essential, stripped-down recordings.

The song’s progression evokes atmospheres from the far out worlds, carved into a space-echoing psychedelic trip with sinister tribal-percussive rhythm. The song’s arrangements are simple-complex drum’s versatile patterns, forged and elegantly blended into cinematic soundscapes.

This is a one way ride to the forest of mysteries, from which, there is no return. The time of the day between dusk and night, when it gets dark.

It’s been 20 years since Hinder’s major label debut Extreme Behavior was released, and we’re still not sure the music industry has recovered. Seldom have commercial and critical success been poles apart to this degree; this record went TRIPLE platinum and scored, what, four major hit singles (more if you count the international charts)?! Yet, critical scorn was unrelenting, one reviewer commenting Hinder “appeal not to fans of music, but fans of high fives.” Which is pretty funny…but this Oklahoma City band laughed all the way to the bank, as songs like “Get Stoned,” “Lips of an Angel” (#3 on the Hot 100), “How Long,” and “Better Than Me” were worldwide hits.

Part of this was due to the undeniable charisma of lead vocalist Austin John Winkler; producer Brian Howes also deserves credit for co-writing the songs. But a big part of Hinder’s allure (aside from the fetching cover photo taken straight from the cover of the book How to Tell a Naked Man What to Do: Sex Advice from a Woman Who Knows) was the band’s devil-may-care attitude. Fans of Jackass found their party-hearty soundtrack right here; Extreme Behavior is good, unclean fun. Remastered for its firstever vinyl reissue on its 20th birthday by Mike Milchner from Sonic Vision, and pressed in blackberry vinyl!

Two days after his 100th birthday, Marshall Allen started recording New Dawn, his debut solo album. A member of Sun Ra’s Arkestra since 1958, Allen assumed leadership of the band in 1995. Throughout his nearly seventy-year career, Allen has never released a solo album under his own name, and yet, instead of capping such a legendary output, New Dawn seems to herald a new beginning. A love letter to spacetime, it channels a century of musical intelligence into seven tracks, showing Allen at his most protean—freely moving from relaxed, transdimensional palettes to bluesy big band and beyond.

The title track “New Dawn” is the centerpiece of this impressive album and the arranger Knoel Scott wrote the lyrics himself. We are thrilled to have the incomparable Neneh Cherry, stepdaughter of legendary jazz musician Don Cherry, lend her unmistakable voice to this song.

“It’s gorgeous! Neneh is a jazz singer now! Sounds like something Nina Simone might have done.” – David Byrne

The 7” single is limited to 300 copies, numbered, and comes in a chic screen-printed cover …

Repressed! Archival reissue of the garage-psych Zamrock masterpiece (1974)

PRESSED ON OPAQUE GREEN VINYL

“Electrified by a diet of James Brown, the Stones and Deep Purple, WITCH were the stadium-filling kings of 70s Zamrock.” - MOJO
This landmark recording from Now-Again’s comprehensive overview of Zambia’s premier garage-, psych-, prog-, funk-,afro-rock ensemble WITCH, We Intend To Cause Havoc! is now available in a never before seen color variant. The audio is nigh-perfect – restored and remastered from the original master tapes. WITCH’s musical arc is contained to a five year span and, in retrospect, is a logical one. The band’s first two, self-produced albums - released in unison with the birth of the commercial Zambian recording industry – are exuberant experiments in garage rock, and are as influenced by the Rolling Stones as they are James Brown. In The Past, their second album, is the perfect follow-up for anyone exposed to the WITCH band through their landmark Introduction.

OCTOTRAX comes to life through a double LP. A debut that lays the foundation for a catalogue driven by exploration and evolution, revealing a snapshot of what has and will be.

A collection of works, each a facet of the same stone, expressed with progressive arrangements and trance essences.

Emerging from a time of rediscovery, this is the result of a pursuit to birth something enduring. More than a definitive statement, it captures a moment of clarity and renewal, a step toward the future with purpose.

octobo is to be written ALL IN SMALL!
Mastered and Cut by Graeme "Grazz" Durham at The Exchange

DETROIT ASSEMBLY LINE
......the dawning of a successive genealogy of Detroit’s underground rhythm science and technology.

Two mainstays in the fabled legacy of Detroit’s authentic electronic music birthright, align to unleash 4 tracks of undeniable pure techno intensity.

This is the first of the Detroit Assembly Line series; a music manifest to the world, calculated and anticipated to affirm the bona fide noise from Detroit.

Repress!

In the latest of a series of albums that have mirrored the exceptional story of the band itself, Cornershop return with a new album ‘England Is A Garden’ on March 6th 2020 on Ample Play Records. It is an album that strides in an upbeat fashion, to deliver a full listening experience, bringing songs of experience, empire, protest and humour, steeped in the way only Tjinder Singh would come with. Listen to a first taste of the album now, ‘No Rock: Save In Roll’, that is to say that there is not one without the other, that rock, for all its focus on death is the saviour of life. The anvil here is music itself, and a celebration of Tjinder’s birth place - The Black Country, which also gave birth to heavy metal that has gone on to influence the world to dirty rock, whether the streets are lined with pylons or palm trees, the Black Country has allowed us to see things differently. So the sound here goes back to Englands’ Midlands with two thumbs up to the feeling of hearing heavy metal from the back of a stage, as we all ride on and await the female backing vocals of our song to come in.

A valentine for black hearts! An electric array of magic sounds! The shock return of a missing legend! The surprise formation of HOUSE Of ALL by five former members of The Fall was bound to provide some pleasant surprises, not the least of which being the creation of an identity distinct from that of any specific Fall line-up, and here the band offer an steep evolution of sound of their two previous albums . . . darker, more elliptic and can we say it? A more mystical sum of talents than most groups ever manage. They've kept their open door policy to former members of The Fall and expanded it. Phil Lewis, who's stepped in live for Pete Greenway, makes his studio debut, and the long-lost Karl Burns has emerged from his mystery lair to add a third set of drums to the line-up . . . besting The Glitter Band by 50%! How this will work live has yet to be determined, but the band has already scheduled dates in Spring, 2025. House Of All Souls is somewhat more psychedelic than its predecessors, and despite seven players, each with his own particular style, the songs and production are shockingly cohesive. From the breakneck pace of first tune, Tempest And Storm to the superb album closer, Born At Dawn And Dead At Sunset, there's quite a lot to unpack - it's an album-lover's album, each track magnificent in its own way and impossible for us to pick a fave from the lot of 'em. Plenty has been written about The Fall, whose 50th birthday is just a few years off, but rare is the group with an equally perverse and persuasive influence in that period. When HOUSE Of ALL debuted, Martin Bramah remarked on it being "part of the Fall family continuum" - a matter of actual fact, given the pedigree of its members. With this, HOUSE Of ALL's third full-length album, it's proven fact that the bright lights of those multiple talents behind the band have yet to dim.

Ajay Saggar is BHAJAN BHOY. "With BHAJAN BHOY, Saggar synthesizes all of the stylistic approaches he’s explored over the years, swirling them into an intoxicating musical blend, with an earthy spirituality. Even the project’s name reflects the dual aspects of Saggar’s upbringing coming together in harmony. In Hindi, a “bhajan” is a devotional song, sung in the mandir, or temple, while “bhoy” is a Scottish and Irish derivation for a young man. There’s a searching quality to Bhajan Bhoy, as if Saggar is still hunting for transcendence with each track, whether through an expansive drone, an orchestral facility on the piano, or an electronics-augmented raga that threatens to dip into noise” (Erick Bradshaw / writer and WFMU DJ). This album presents a rich and varied set of compositions that showcase Saggar’s skills as an incredibly talented and accomplished composer and musician. With each and every Bhajan Bhoy LP, you are are carried to a higher place. With ‘Bhoy On The Wire’, the 35 minutes laid out unfolds like a cosmic tapestry, an extraordinary exploration that shimmers and reverberates with newfound vibrancy. The songs were broadcast as part of a session on Steve Barker’s “On The Wire” radio show in April 2024. They were a gift to Steve and his team for 40 years of broadcasting. “On The Wire” is simply the greatest radio show in the world. As Ajay explains in his own words : “In September 1984, I started a degree course at the University of Lancaster. On a wet and soggy Sunday afternoon towards the end of September, I sat in my room staring out at the grey Lancashire landscape, and decided to alleviate the boredom by seeing if there was anything to listen to on the radio. Most of the stations I tuned into were as dull as the weather outside. However, as I neared the end of the FM dial (and was about to give up hope), I chanced upon a station where I was taken by the music being played. That show was “On The Wire”, introduced by Steve Barker. From there on in, every Sunday, between 2-5pm, I tuned into Radio Lancashire to listen. Steve’s shows had an incredible and wide reaching selection of music and genres, that thrilled your ears and left you wanting more. Tied to that, his deep knowledge of the material he played helped the listener dig into the sounds even more, and also left you in admiration of this trait. In 1985, I started putting on DIY shows in Lancaster (inviting the likes of Bog-Shed, bIG fLAME, The Membranes, The Wedding Present, etc etc) and Steve was kind enough to mention the shows on-air, which helped in getting people from different parts of the county to come to the shows. At the tail-end of 1985, he invited me to the studio to come and hang out. When in 1988, the group I was in, Dandelion Adventure, released our first (demo) cassette, it was Steve, who not only played tracks off it, but invited the group to the studio for an interview. Now if you’re a young band, that is a massive thrill! And in 1990, when Dandelion Adventure did a John Peel session, I actually used “On The Wire” jingles (that Steve had put on a cassette and given to me a few years before) on the track “All the World’s A Lounge”. Since then, the show has been a mainstay for me, and so many others around the world, to get turned onto incredible sounds from around the world. And over the course of 40 years, Steve has always supported my music. These six tracks are a 40th birthday gift to the “On The Wire” team (Steve, Michael “Fenny” Fenton (an absolutely critical part of the show), and Jim Ingham (engineer who keeps the technical side of things going)) for sharing so much amazing music, and making the world a better place. They were originally broadcast as an exclusive session in April 2024 on “On The Wire", and are here for your listening pleasure. Music like shower”. Artwork by Jake Blanchard

Actual Earth Music - Volume 1 & 2’ presents two caustic, yet alluringly unreal live sets from Canadian noise-rock entropy hunters Earth Ball. Following on from the group’s critically appraised ‘It’s Yours’ LP (released 2024 on Upset The Rhythm - UTR164) this release captures the band at the peak of their powers, playing live, composing spontaneously.
Side A features Earth Ball live at The Fox Cabaret in Vancouver, supporting Wolf Eyes on August 4, 2023. Jeremy Van Wyck from the band considers this “the gig that sent us into orbit, really. Causing Olson & Young to wax poetic about our interstellar jams to a fine bloke across the big sea. Upsetting our casual rhythm and forcing our hand. All that talk led to an LP, ‘It’s Yours’, and a full UK tour the following spring”.
Now, with the birth of this live series ‘Actual Earth Music’, it seems only fitting that Volume 1 should be this gig. It’s a doozy. Listening back is a pure revelation. Earth Ball whip up a vortex of thrashing wild energy, the ecstatic release is off the charts. “You don’t always catch every nuance of the jams as they come down. I mean, this one felt good, but upon listening back to the tapes, it sounded very good” confides Jeremy. “It reminded me of Von Trier’s Melancholia: the sound of a large sphere coming toward you to bring doom. However, this one reverses course, heading away to some other shore, bathing you in reflective bliss before saying goodbye—instead of ending humanity as we know it”.
Volume 2 occupies Side B of this LP, showcasing a collaborative summit from the second night of their recent Café OTO residency on May 21, 2024. This event featured Earth Ball laying down three separate sets—all collaborations. This second recording presents their opening performance and features pivotal UK improv luminary Steve Beresford on piano and free-jazz phenomenon Chris Corsano on drums.
Running Time: 42 mins

1970s New York: determined to emerge from his powerful father's shadow and make a name for himself in Manhattan real estate, aspiring mogul Donald Trump is in the earliest days of his career when he encounters the man who will become one of the most important figures in his life: political fixer Roy M. Cohn. Seeing promise in young Donald, the influential attorney--who secured espionage convictions against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and investigated suspected Communists alongside Senator Joseph McCarthy--teaches his new acolyte how to amass wealth and power through deception, intimidation, and media manipulation. The rest is history.

2026 Repress

MOLA's music is the unadorned antithesis to a rosy world. She celebrates herself to death, pulls you into her inner chaos and does without the usual romanticising transfiguration of the merciless disorientation that catches up with you on the way home after the last cigarette.

MOLA knows better than anyone that she is a border commuter - and she has never made a secret of it. Perhaps it was fate that the course of events abandoned her shortly after her birth in Erba, Italy, in Germany's most austere metropolis. In Munich, where flying free and falling free are a little more complicated than in the cesspit of Berlin, where one would naturally place Isabella Streifeneder and her music if one didn't know better.

Temporarily reduced to intimacy, then escalating into iconic 80s "Purpel Rain" pathos, MOLA illustrates the emotional chaos that the inner dialogue of left and right brain triggers in her. Unconventional pop music that bundles the nonchalance of great soul anthems, the grace of the Italo-disco of the eighties and the ingenuousness of lascivious hip-hop bangers instead of trying to sound modern by force.

MOLA celebrates defeat, exposes life lies, criticises adulthood, documents radical mood swings. She balances along the abyss in her ball gown, jokes about things you don't joke about, praises and curses intoxication and love - "Vino Bianco no longer tastes like dolce vita, it only tastes like losing".

You can now see MOLA supporting Fatoni, Roy Bianco & the Abbrunzati Boys, Mayberg and Kaffkiez in a flurry of strobe lights after sold-out "nothing breaks me" shows in Munich, Cologne, Berlin & Hamburg. In addition to a festival season that couldn't have been more beautiful, they finally have a big tour of their own coming up for their next album, which will see the light of day in September.

After more than 40 festivals "Snow in Summer" on well-known stages like Lollapalooza Berlin, Rocken am Brocken, Puls Open Air, but also as support for Udo Lindenberg at the Hermann-Hesse-Festival, "Life is Beautiful", the darned second record, sounds almost cynical, ironic or simply naive? In the end, it doesn't matter, because when you are overcome by this spontaneous feeling that is far removed from any rationality, you don't ask any questions. It tastes like the melancholy of a summer in its last breaths, like the last drink of an uncompromisingly insane night.

There is sweating, pogoing and feeling together. Even where it hurts.
You are not just an onlooker or a silent spectator, but part of this empowering feeling of "we".

Mirae Arts proudly presents The Way I Am and The Way You Yawn, the debut album from Katsunori Sawa under his KWARP alias. This six-track release explores the fleeting nature of youth and the weariness of aging, blending Sawa’s experimental roots with fresh, modular synthesizer-driven soundscapes.
From the forward-driving hi-hats and alien voices of "Frog FM" to the mechanical aggression of "Ultra," the album offers an imaginative auditory journey. Highlights include the playful chaos of "PlayStation" and the metallic rhythms of "Metal Gear."
About Katsunori Sawa: First emerging on the scene in 2008 as EOC with his debut on the UK-based Ai Records, Sawa has steadily built a reputation for innovation and collaboration within the underground music community. He co-founded the influential 10 Label and has paired his talents with an array of respected artists, including Yuji Kondo (as Steven Porter), Martsman (under the moniker Bokeh), and DJ Nobu (Nobusawa). These alliances have birthed releases on prestigious labels like Kynant Records, SNTS, and Token.
Creating his sound in a hidden studio set within a striking Tadao Ando-designed building, Sawa crafts a sonic landscape that fuses rhythmic noise with pulsating bottom-end rave abstractions. His work reached new heights with an album on Opal Tapes, making him the label’s first Japanese artist and firmly establishing his place in the global music conversation. His tracks have even been woven into the sets of electronic stalwarts such as Aphex Twin.
* Artwork by Jesse Osborne-Lanthier

"This album is a superb collection of Frank and friends from a part of Frank’s career that’s long been underrated. Here, Sinatra scales the jazz summit with Louis Armstrong on “Birth Of The Blues” and does three electrifying collaborations with one of his favorites, Ella Fitzgerald. Ella’s voice is at her best in each. Rival Elvis Presley gets the Chairman’s respect on a wonderfully playful meeting-of-the-icons medley of “Witchcraft”/”Love Me Tender.” The tunes are bright and lively and many benefit from Nelson Riddle’s arranging genius. Frank and Dean are great, improvising and playing off one another as always. But wait until you hear “Together” in which Bing joins Dino and Frank for a happy, hilarious threesome.

Maud the moth, the solo project of Spanish-born and Scotland-based pianist, singer and songwriter Amaya Lopez-Carromero announces her new album, The Distaff, to be released via The Larvarium (digital +CD) and La Rubia Producciones (vinyl) Amaya has long used the mantle of Maud the moth as an alter-ego, a séance-like conduit to explore themes of rootlessness, identity and trauma. The Distaff in particular refers to the stick or spindle onto which wool or flax is wound for spinning, and an object which has historically been used across multiple cultures as a symbol wielded by the “virtuous woman”, an authoritarian ideal around which much of the trauma surrounding the feminine coalesces. The album takes the form of a sort of self reflective and surreal autobiography. It was in part inspired by the poem of the same name written by the Greek poet Erinna, as she mourns her friend's loss of individuality and agency in exchange for marriage - and therefore safety and acceptance in the eyes of society. The album exists in an ethereal but violent world of aesthetic overlaps where time stands still and fictional and reimagined folk sits at the table with Maud the moth’s usual sonic menagerie. It is the result of a lifetime of obsession with sound and music, where glimpses of musical genre offer insight into Amaya’s artistic interests and her participation in the underground European scene for many years, in bands such as healthyliving. Heavier, darker, and more exposed than any of her previous works it features some highly accomplished artists, such as Seb Rochford (Patti Smith, Polar Bear, Sons of Kemet, Pulled by magnets, etc.) on drums, Alison Chesley (Helen Money) on cello, Fay Guiffo on violin and Scott McLean (Ashenspire, healthyliving, Falloch) on guitar, saxophone and synthesiser. Maud the moth shares the video for "Siphonophores". About the track, Maud the moth says; I wrote "Siphonophores" on guitar, during the first lockdown, a period where I was kind of trapped between an almost empty flat in Edinburgh and Dresden. It was an incredibly harrowing time, but also one of hope and where important new things were being birthed. I felt incredibly sensitive to everything, almost like life was happening in slow motion. I´m not a confident guitarist since I am completely self-taught, but, probably because of this, I feel that this instrument allows me to focus on aspects of the songwriting that I normally overlook when writing on piano, and I think it was a necessary step for this song to exist. Something else which I've been really exploiting lately and features strongly in the album is the percussive capabilities of the piano, and in particular, of the sustain pedal when mic'd up. This can be heard very clearly at the beginning of "Siphonophores". Written and arranged by Amaya, with some contributions in the later role from the aforementioned collaborators, the album presents nine tracks originally written entirely on acoustic piano as accompanied voice pieces, in pure singer-songwriter fashion. The album was co-produced and recorded by Scott and Amaya in different studios across the UK between January and July of 2024, in a process that started shortly after the 2020 pandemic and finished alongside the album recordings in a detailed, organic and at times obsessive process aimed primarily at capturing the natural dynamics and expression of free performance. The Distaff was mixed in its entirety by Scott and mastered at Abbey Road by Alex Wharton (Radiohead, My Bloody Valentine, Aurora, Kathryn Joseph etc.) Despite being born of a very personal point of view, the album lacks a specific narrator and was conceived almost as a sonic trousseau, where the needle point, silks and other family heirlooms have been swapped for out-of-the-corner-of-the-eye memories of rural Spain by the vineyards, family disputes, old tales of wartime pains, generational breaches and finally the conflict of migration and estrangement. The songs paint dystopian pastoral scenes which evolve throughout the span of one fictional day outside of time and coherent locations and where imagination (often the only account surviving from traumatic events and gaslighting) has become indistinguishable from fact. The Distaff attempts to acknowledge past trauma, comprehend and process some of the more difficult aspects which have contributed to our darker self and offer closure and solace through creative catharsis.

Maud the moth, the solo project of Spanish-born and Scotland-based pianist, singer and songwriter Amaya Lopez-Carromero announces her new album, The Distaff, to be released via The Larvarium (digital +CD) and La Rubia Producciones (vinyl) Amaya has long used the mantle of Maud the moth as an alter-ego, a séance-like conduit to explore themes of rootlessness, identity and trauma. The Distaff in particular refers to the stick or spindle onto which wool or flax is wound for spinning, and an object which has historically been used across multiple cultures as a symbol wielded by the “virtuous woman”, an authoritarian ideal around which much of the trauma surrounding the feminine coalesces. The album takes the form of a sort of self reflective and surreal autobiography. It was in part inspired by the poem of the same name written by the Greek poet Erinna, as she mourns her friend's loss of individuality and agency in exchange for marriage - and therefore safety and acceptance in the eyes of society. The album exists in an ethereal but violent world of aesthetic overlaps where time stands still and fictional and reimagined folk sits at the table with Maud the moth’s usual sonic menagerie. It is the result of a lifetime of obsession with sound and music, where glimpses of musical genre offer insight into Amaya’s artistic interests and her participation in the underground European scene for many years, in bands such as healthyliving. Heavier, darker, and more exposed than any of her previous works it features some highly accomplished artists, such as Seb Rochford (Patti Smith, Polar Bear, Sons of Kemet, Pulled by magnets, etc.) on drums, Alison Chesley (Helen Money) on cello, Fay Guiffo on violin and Scott McLean (Ashenspire, healthyliving, Falloch) on guitar, saxophone and synthesiser. Maud the moth shares the video for "Siphonophores". About the track, Maud the moth says; I wrote "Siphonophores" on guitar, during the first lockdown, a period where I was kind of trapped between an almost empty flat in Edinburgh and Dresden. It was an incredibly harrowing time, but also one of hope and where important new things were being birthed. I felt incredibly sensitive to everything, almost like life was happening in slow motion. I´m not a confident guitarist since I am completely self-taught, but, probably because of this, I feel that this instrument allows me to focus on aspects of the songwriting that I normally overlook when writing on piano, and I think it was a necessary step for this song to exist. Something else which I've been really exploiting lately and features strongly in the album is the percussive capabilities of the piano, and in particular, of the sustain pedal when mic'd up. This can be heard very clearly at the beginning of "Siphonophores". Written and arranged by Amaya, with some contributions in the later role from the aforementioned collaborators, the album presents nine tracks originally written entirely on acoustic piano as accompanied voice pieces, in pure singer-songwriter fashion. The album was co-produced and recorded by Scott and Amaya in different studios across the UK between January and July of 2024, in a process that started shortly after the 2020 pandemic and finished alongside the album recordings in a detailed, organic and at times obsessive process aimed primarily at capturing the natural dynamics and expression of free performance. The Distaff was mixed in its entirety by Scott and mastered at Abbey Road by Alex Wharton (Radiohead, My Bloody Valentine, Aurora, Kathryn Joseph etc.) Despite being born of a very personal point of view, the album lacks a specific narrator and was conceived almost as a sonic trousseau, where the needle point, silks and other family heirlooms have been swapped for out-of-the-corner-of-the-eye memories of rural Spain by the vineyards, family disputes, old tales of wartime pains, generational breaches and finally the conflict of migration and estrangement. The songs paint dystopian pastoral scenes which evolve throughout the span of one fictional day outside of time and coherent locations and where imagination (often the only account surviving from traumatic events and gaslighting) has become indistinguishable from fact. The Distaff attempts to acknowledge past trauma, comprehend and process some of the more difficult aspects which have contributed to our darker self and offer closure and solace through creative catharsis.

Exploring late-night, after-hours meditations on sound; ‘Everything Above The Sky (Astral Travelling with Luke Una)’ is a new compilation by the titular DJ, promoter and enigmatic cultural curator. Off the back of the E Soul Cultura phenomena, this compilation comes at a timely point in Luke’s rich career as he soars the heights of playing all over the world. Avoiding any chance of his sound being pigeonholed, Luke has put together a tracklist of songs and music that have a transcendental feel, after coming off the grid, going back to source, outside the city walls .

Music has long been believed to aid out of body experiences and many of us have searched long and hard for a combination of those elusive ingredients that might alleviate some of the monotony of everyday life, our daily routines and obligations, and those things that seem to block us from the spirit of the universe. In this collection, Luke selects music with all the right ingredients in just the right quantities, allowing the listener to engage in an esoteric journey of enlightenment through sound. Being a prolific collector of music, Luke initially delivered enough tracks to compile several compilations, making the licensing process the biggest effort to date for the label. The music moves softly and slowly, never becoming too intrusive, exemplifying the wonderful elevating properties of simple songs played from the heart.

Luke’s Everything Above The Sky manifesto reads, “Astral Travelling in the meadowlands with acid folk, spiritual jazz, around midnight hocus pocus, cosmic psychedelic soul, magical spellbound whirling swirling love songs, Brazilian ballads of light into machine soul gospel utopia dreaming, Balearic bossa, Outer Space ancient African drum, the breath of trees, escaping the big bad modern world, gathering round winter fires, walking amongst the bracken in Padley Gorge in late summer twilight, overlooking the Hope Valley, escaping ego, detaching and finally letting go amongst the stars with the slowly floating people. It’s beautiful beyond. Everything above the Sky”.

Beginning his career as an original Sheffield house young blood in the mid 1980s, Luke’s move to Manchester and partnership with Justin Crawford saw the birth of Electric Chair, a cornerstone cult night in the UK underground club scene. Then came Electric Elephant, a Croatian festival paying homage to their wild eclecticism from Balearic to Brazilian to É Soul, house, disco and techno. Luke’s much loved, long-running Homoelectric night and more recently Homobloc sell out festival for 10,000 souls has been at the forefront of Manchester’s LGBTQ+ cultural landscape. Luke’s Friday evening show on Worldwide FM captured imaginations and became a cult four-hour must-listen monthly journey for fans all over the world. Today, Luke remains, as ever, at the forefront of a changing milieu, pairing the momentous legacy of Manchester’s 80s and 90s scene with the delivery of what today’s club communities need to get down.

Emotional Response is proud to welcome renowned multi-instrumentalist Alan Briand aka Shelter, to the label with a striking new EP that delves deep into the realms of modern Digi-Dub.

Over a myriad of releases Shelter’s dextrous ability to straddle genres, from ambient, Balearic, improvisation and most recently a series of acid ragas, releasing on an impressive roster of today’s electronic labels including Antinote, Growing Bin, International Feel, Séance Centre and his own Protopost imprint.

After making waves on Emotional Response's All Trades compilations with his standout track "The Four Knights Dub," Briand returns to further explore his passion for digital dub and UK roots. Across four tracks, all recorded live, he merges sound design, found sounds, and world music with seismic basslines, creating a truly immersive sonic experience.

The rise of Digital Dub is often traced to the groundbreaking "Under Me Sleng Teng" by Prince Jammy / Wayne Smith, but it was the UK's later reversioning – adding electronic drums to roots and steppers rhythms – that gave birth to the unique sound of Digi-Dub.

Shelter pays homage to this tradition, drawing inspiration from the likes of Alpha & Omega, Bush Chemist, and Jonah Dan. His process is as raw as it is innovative: building an analog setup with a MIDI sequencer, DCO synth, live vocals, and sound effects fed through Boss pedals. Digital drums from the KPR77 and DD10 are layered in, with everything mixed live to tape, no overdubs, capturing the raw, live energy of the performance.

This EP must be experienced as a whole – a continuous live set of steppers 4/4 rhythms, cryptic titles (a nod to chess tactics) that acts as rewinds, paying tribute to dub classics of the past.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the album Tales Of The Forgotten Melodies, Wax Tailor unveils a 2LP Gatefold reissue of his iconic album Tales Of The Forgotten Melodies. A true must-have for all fans of the artist and vinyl enthusiasts!

Pop music history is littered with albums whose provocative covers promised something steamy and sensual inside but delivered a musical cold shower instead. This is not one of those albums. Fresh from arranging/conducting such Broadway shows as The Wiz and also forging a successful career penning jingles for such clients as McDonald’s, Pan Am Airlines, Boone’s Farm Wines, Kool Aid, and Coca Cola, composer/keyboardist Wheeler released this 1975 cult classic, a soulful, slinky masterpiece of bedroom jazz-funk. It’s Wheeler’s only album, but it may have been singly responsible for an increase in the mid-‘70s birth rate…light some candles and break out the lotion for this one. First reissue in any format, available in orange with black swirl vinyl limited to 750 copies!

Do Your Own Dance! VARIOUS ARTISTS
Chic’s Nile Rogers is lauded as an international star and the recently departed Patrick Adams is acknowledged as one of the most important pioneers of disco music, but behind them were an army of lesser-known musicians, producers, and arrangers including one of the founding-fathers of New York Dance, the enigma Lonnie Johnson.
Scorpgemi Records and Lonnie Johnson, the man behind the label, will be unknown to most, but he was an important figure at the birth of dance music. His label featured work by several leading voices of the New York scene and provided one of New York’s most instantly recognisable dance music records— “Keep In Touch (Body To Body)”—one of the greatest club cuts ever.. But Johnson himself leaves hardly a trace, a behind-the-scenes person, and a friend of Patrick Adams who is only known to those who study the small print on record labels.
So, Lonnie Joel Johnson proves to be both highly influential, and almost completely elusive. A backroom person, who created an anthem across the Atlantic from his home base in New York. A man who was instrumental in the development of Patrick Adams’ career from producer of vocal groups to the go-to producer for dancefloor gold. Yet, for all this there are no biographical details, no interviews and almost nothing left behind except for a small but fantastic catalogue of music.
The first ever curated works of the Broadway based Scorpgemi label Produced by Lonnie Johnson, one of the founding-fathers of New York Dance Dancefloor Gold from the enigma that is Lonnie Joel Johnson, the man behind the career of the legendary Patrick Adams.

Southern-bred, alternative R&B singer-songwriter Mereba artistically embodies self-understanding on The Breeze Grew a Fire, her grandest work and first release on Secretly Canadian. To hone in on this latest album, it was necessary for Mereba to reconnect with her whole many-sided self, from her inner child to her inseparable relationships. Mereba peacefully transmutes her beginnings, looking upon her closest kinships and friendships with a keen understanding of their steadying, inspirational force. Surrounded by the gentle Breeze of these relationships and recollections, Mereba is empowered as both an artist and mother, while also being reminded to nurture her childlike wonder. Mereba gracefully shines on the follow-up to her bounteous 2019 debut, The Jungle Is the Only Way Out. In escaping the Jungle, Mereba faced the paradigm shift of birthing a son in 2021 and getting accustomed to a rapidly changing self-outlook. Mereba's creative output has always relied on her innermost reflections and ideas on whatever was happening around her; but in motherhood, the singer's perspective widened while her inspiration became more focused, and more individually powerful. "Even though I'm fully an adult, I had to grow up in a way overnight when he my son came," Mereba explains. "The process of watching him open up to the world, learn how to engage with the world, it is very tender. I feel like it's the most reminded I've ever been of when I was a child and the first memories I have of life." The transformation brought Mereba to the intimacy of DIY recording sessions, providing an honest and organic foundation to Breeze. Mereba tapped her longtime production collaborator Sam Hoffman to co-assemble the album's rich production, which parallels its folk-like warmth. Although Mereba is a true double Earth sign-Virgo and Virgo rising-the development of Breeze was anchored by experiences and memories that span from Atlanta to L.A., Addis Ababa to Greensboro, an intention that speaks to the album's fluid nature. While nowhere near the end of her musical trek, The Breeze Grew a Fire is a loving, inspiring return to origin, one where Mereba frees a painful past, eases into future possibilities, and goes with life's flow.

Southern-bred, alternative R&B singer-songwriter Mereba artistically embodies self-understanding on The Breeze Grew a Fire, her grandest work and first release on Secretly Canadian. To hone in on this latest album, it was necessary for Mereba to reconnect with her whole many-sided self, from her inner child to her inseparable relationships. Mereba peacefully transmutes her beginnings, looking upon her closest kinships and friendships with a keen understanding of their steadying, inspirational force. Surrounded by the gentle Breeze of these relationships and recollections, Mereba is empowered as both an artist and mother, while also being reminded to nurture her childlike wonder. Mereba gracefully shines on the follow-up to her bounteous 2019 debut, The Jungle Is the Only Way Out. In escaping the Jungle, Mereba faced the paradigm shift of birthing a son in 2021 and getting accustomed to a rapidly changing self-outlook. Mereba's creative output has always relied on her innermost reflections and ideas on whatever was happening around her; but in motherhood, the singer's perspective widened while her inspiration became more focused, and more individually powerful. "Even though I'm fully an adult, I had to grow up in a way overnight when he my son came," Mereba explains. "The process of watching him open up to the world, learn how to engage with the world, it is very tender. I feel like it's the most reminded I've ever been of when I was a child and the first memories I have of life." The transformation brought Mereba to the intimacy of DIY recording sessions, providing an honest and organic foundation to Breeze. Mereba tapped her longtime production collaborator Sam Hoffman to co-assemble the album's rich production, which parallels its folk-like warmth. Although Mereba is a true double Earth sign-Virgo and Virgo rising-the development of Breeze was anchored by experiences and memories that span from Atlanta to L.A., Addis Ababa to Greensboro, an intention that speaks to the album's fluid nature. While nowhere near the end of her musical trek, The Breeze Grew a Fire is a loving, inspiring return to origin, one where Mereba frees a painful past, eases into future possibilities, and goes with life's flow.

The second outing of Johannes Volk for Running Back picks up, where Extra Dimensions left us: traditional techno components, an inclination for melodies, 80s electro(nic) pop and aesthesia for ecstasy. Something for everyone’s taste and nothing tacky.
Lightweave is like the conversation that Giorgio Moroder and Wolfgang Voigt never had („I Feel Sägezahn“). With a power plant of a bass line that’s pretty much all you need.
The direct connection to the EPs artwork is Cubistic Pathway. Painted with acryl on canvas as a birthday present, it’s like the title tracks little and playful brother and a homage to 16bit platform games like Turrican or Contra.
Fragments of Moments is the sort of piano-not-piano-house stomper that classic techno DJs love, while Sense of Wonder is one of those songs without vocals that appeals to 80(8)s-kids and their offspring.
Last but not least, Emotional Message and its hypodermic breakbeat dates back to 2011, wears the heart on the sleeve, and screams tearjerker, bear hug or elevation. If you can’t get enough of that, there are three digital bonus tracks, that mix, re-mix and fixate the topics you just read about. Volk’s populi!

House of Flying Daggers is a multiple Satellite, LA Film Critcs & Boston Film Critics award winning 2004 wuxia romance film directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Andy Lau, Zhang Ziyi and Takeshi Kaneshiro. Unlike other wuxia films, it is more of a love story than purely a martial arts film. The film features the theme of a beautiful woman who brings woe to two men. The soundtrack is produced and created by legendary Japanese composer Shigeru Umebayashi and features vocals by Zhang Ziyi and Kathleen Battle. Shigeru Umebayashi is perhaps best known for “Yumeji’s Theme” (originally from Seijun Suzuki’s Yumeji), included in director Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love. In celebration of Umebayashi’s 70th birthday on February 19, 2021, the House of Flying Daggers soundtrack is released on vinyl for the first time. It is pressed on green marbled vinyl as a limited edition of 2000 copies. The packages comes with an exclusive replica of the movie poster and a 4-page booklet.

Soul Rebels / BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS

The classic album now returns with new analogue mastering and stunning smoky blue vinyl pressing Originally released in 1970, Soul Rebels marked the first full-length album credited to Bob Marley and The Wailers, establishing it as a cornerstone of the roots reggae movement and a musical monument in the early stages of their career.

This album is a powerful blend of love songs and defiant rebel anthems that captures the essence of the era's burgeoning reggae scene. With its catchy rhythms, revolutionary spirit, and thought-provoking lyrics, this recording stands as a testament to the band's ability to seamlessly merge the themes of love, liberation, and self-awareness.

The title track, ‘Soul Rebels’, has become an anthem for those seeking freedom from societal norms and restrictions, encapsulating the themes of resistance and self-determination that Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer wove into their music. The album also highlights their collaboration with visionary producer Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, recorded at the renowned Randy’s Studio in Kingston, which became the birthplace of some of the most influential sounds in reggae history.

First concept album by Bob Marley and The Wailers
New analogue mastering restores the 1970 album to its original brilliance
Pressed on smoky blue vinyl Released on the Upsetter label, celebrating the groundbreaking collaboration between Bob Marley and The Wailers and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry.

Rare Seventies Big City Street Soul

In 1971, film producer David Gil and his business partners Robert S Sinn and Paul Frankenberg launched a film company called GSF. Over the next few years, it would be involved in a small number of productions. But, in 1971 the movie business was kind of old-hat, music was where it was at, and so GSF Records, a well-funded label, headed by Larry Newton was formed. Today Newton is largely remembered for his attempts to prevent Louis Armstrong from recording 'What A Wonderful World' but that didn’t stop him from growing ABC from a second division company to an industry leader. As he approached his 52nd birthday he was unveiled as GSF Records’ president a full-service music company, involved in records and publishing across all genres. Through a joint venture with drummer Bernard Purdie the label targeted the R&B charts and soul & funk dominated GSF's release schedule.

Black music ruled and this was reinforced by the hiring of Lloyd Price as head of A&R (veteran R&B star), and producers George Kerr (All-Platinum), Mickey Stevenson (Motown) and Jerry 'Swamp Dogg’ Williams. No wonder then, unintentional as it was, that GSF left behind such an extraordinary legacy of rare soul treasures.

NEW YORK’S BEST KEPT SOUL SECRET Features legendary Northern Soul classics courtesy of Anderson Brothers, Skull Snaps and Connie Laverne Produced by hit makers George Kerr and Motown veteran Mickey Stevenson Starring the Whatnauts and Eddie “Hey There Lonely Girl” Holman

’之 / OF is a word that can be used as a preposition to express the relationship between a part and a whole. It is an unfinished tone, a broken sentence, a start and a whole. It is sustainable, full of potentials and longings.’’

London based performance and sound artist Li Yilei shared an experience familiar to many migrants during the past year of COVID-19 chaos. With their UK visa set to expire, and family back in China, Li made a last-minute dash to return to their nation of birth. Able to board one of the last few flights to China during the initial turmoil of the coronavirus outbreak, Li made it back to Shanghai for a two-week stint in a quarantine hotel.

Though Li had already begun creating OF, the reality of the pandemic began to seep into the recordings. Each of the 12 tracks is a study in horology, using metaphorical sound transcriptions and atmospheric extractions to focus on the temporal relationship between experience and surroundings. Li’s awareness of their own understanding of time became increasingly heightened during quarantine and the emotional involvement found within these new realities informed many of the sounds created.

‘’I tried to portray each song as a short, scattered poem - a moment that I captured to represent each hour.’’

Composed using analogue synthesisers, vocal samples, field recordings and string instruments such as the violin and guqin, Li indulges in moments of grief, panic, healing, cessation, melancholy, vastness, hope, joy and emptiness as they explore the acoustic relations between humans and the many forces of nature.

The art of the Song Dynasty, with its ancient traditions of poetry and timekeeping, were also great sources of inspiration for the album - whilst paintings from the period, specifically those of flowers and birds, are common themes throughout the tracks. Indeed, it is within the vastness of time that the album artwork comes to relevance. The eighth emperor of the Song Dynasty, Huizong, was a revered artist and a scene from his work ‘Finches and Bamboo’ adorns the album cover.

Surely one of the end of year 2012 hits and now available on CD, this debut album from Jessica Pratt got some rave blogosphere reviewage, Highly recommended!! "I never wanted to ever start a record label. Ever. But there is something about her voice I couldn't let go of. It's an actual voice. An actual beautiful voice. This ones a classic sounding voice. Not to mention her song writing, recording and guitar playing. JESSICA PRATT's music feels like I have found a lost LP of an old forgotten mystical folk singer, that feeling of discovering a record all by myself: Without the help of friends or the Internet. Like Stevie Nicks singing over David Crosby demos, with the intimacy of a Sibylle Baier. I am in love with it. So much, that I saved up and threw all my money to get it into this world. I actually care about it, no matter which way the winds blow."-Tim Presley, White Fence: FOR FANS OF Marissa Nadler / Linda Perhacs / first vinyl pressing of 500 now sold out? Second pressing now in Stock!! 8/10 in the latest Uncut. dont miss this ..

First Word Records is extremely proud to welcome aboard Takuya Kuroda.

A highly-respected trumpeter born in Kobe, Japan, Takuya is a forward-thinking musician that has developed a unique hybrid sound, blending soulful jazz, funk, post-bop, fusion and hip hop music.

After following the footsteps of his trombonist brother playing in big bands, he relocated to New York to study jazz & contemporary music at The New School in Union Square; a course he graduated from in the mid-noughties. It was here that Takuya met vocalist José James, with whom he worked on the 'Blackmagic' and 'No Beginning No End' projects.

Following graduation, Takuya established himself further in the NYC jazz scene, performing with the likes of Akoya Afrobeat and in recent years with DJ Premier's BADDER band (also including acclaimed bass player, Brady Watt). Premier said "The BADDER Band project was put together by my manager, and an agent I've known since the beginning of my Gang Starr career. He said, 'What if you put a band together that revolved around a trumpet player from Japan named Takuya Kuroda? He's got a hip-hop perspective and respect in the jazz field…"

Takuya Kuroda is already incredibly prolific, releasing five albums in the past decade and fortifying a solid reputation in the global jazz scene. 2011 saw the release of Takuya's independently-produced debut album, 'Edge', followed by 'Bitter and High' the following year and 'Six Aces' on P-Vine in 2013. Takuya was signed to the legendary Blue Note Records in 2014 for his album 'Rising Son', as well as appearing on their 2019 cover versions project, 'Blue Note Voyage'. He released his 5th album 'Zigzagger' on Concord in 2016, which also featured Antibalas on a reimagining of the Donald Byrd classic 'Think Twice'.

Late Summer 2020, Takuya Kuroda returns with his sixth album 'Fly Moon Die Soon'.

In his words, "this album is about the irony between the greatness of nature and the beautiful obsceneness of humanity. Melodies and grooves fly back and forth from being spiritual to being vulgar."

It took two years to make this album. In 2018, I decided I just couldn't make albums the same way I had been in the past anymore. As a birthday treat to myself, I booked a studio in Brooklyn for two days, with only myself and an engineer, Todd Carder. I brought along some tracks I'd been building at home to see if we could complete them within that time. We began replacing sounds and adding texture, sampling noises from all over the studio; me sipping coffee, hitting a 26" kick drum, speeding up snares. At the end of the two days we were like "wow, I didn't know we could make tracks this good in this way". This is how the process of the full album started. Everything was based on my beats I made at home, inviting musicians in one by one, adding or replacing parts. I was very careful when developing these tracks; just note by note, part by part. I wanted to make the music effectively from a blend of two different recording methods; one very slickly produced part and one very organic part played by live musicians. I remember mixtapes from when I was kid, and wanted to make an album that wasn't just a bunch of flashy singles, trying to catch people's attention in the first 30 seconds, or full of guest features. Instead, I'm essentially just trying to let the grooves breath."

The album consists of nine tracks of excellence. The uptempo jazz-funk of 'ABC' and 'Moody' sit alongside soulful jazz cuts like 'Fade' and 'CHANGE', also featuring Corey King on vocals. The title track is a downtempo groove lead by a heavy Moog bassline, whilst 'Do No Why' contains an infectious piano riff throughout. Aside from Takuya's original compositions, he revisits two classics from Ohio Players ('Sweet Sticky Thing' featuring Alina Engibaryan on vocals) and Herbie Hancock ('Tell Me A Bedtime Story') whilst the album closes with the epic 'TKBK'.

Takuya adds "this special cover was inspired by the Golden Moon I saw during a photoshoot in Death Valley with my homie Hiroyuki Seo".

Takuya Kuroda is a truly unique talent, and this album is a realisation of the evolution of his sound.

'Fly Moon Die Soon' is released on Worldwide Award-winning UK label First Word Records on vinyl & digital in September 2020.

Some things take a long time. And some things are meant to last. But how you know that, or learn how to find out, that’s a more intangible thing. That’s A Shaw Deal – intangible. A communal meeting place for two old friends and their different musics. A Shaw Deal is the first album by Geologist and DS. They go back a long ways – back before Highlife, before Shaw joined White Magic – back to the early childhood of Animal Collective. Basically, Doug Shaw touched down in NYC around 2003, and he and Brian Weitz have been friends ever since.

“DS” first released his own music under the moniker “Highlife” on the album “Best Bless” EP, in 2010. Listeners were lifted by the sound – a vital new transmission imbued by the popular African guitar music, British folk-pop, desert blues and the ritual spirit energy that Doug had been evoking in White Magic with Mira Billotte. And really, if you knew Doug, this incredible alchemy was just one of the amazing ways he could come through on the guitar.

A couple years back, Doug was posting bits of his playing on Instagram, and Brian found them to be a much-needed escape from reality – he’d just let them loop for stretches of time, get lost in there, and emerge with recharged energies. They were such perfect mini-encapsulations of Doug’s fantastic spirit. Brian was inspired. Eventually, he ran them through his modular system, editing and tweaking and looping as he went, creating new shapes and juxtapositions, instinctively rewiring Doug’s original sounds to extend the feeling of peace they’d given him. Once it was all together, it would make a cool birthday present to regift to Doug! And once the gift was given, it was sounding like an album too…

From start to finish, A Shaw Deal taps into DS’s guitar playing and the vibe of his expression, drawing out meditative waves in new forms while exploring the worlds within them. Geologist and DS collaborate in a manner that’s brought comfort and release to them both. A Shaw Deal leaves no doubt, as it radiates further into the world and beyond – it will bring a new range of views and feels to everyone who listens in.

Blackest Ever Black presents Sleep Heavy, the debut album of broken-hearted, downtempo R&B/street-soul and supremely atmospheric, introspective electronics from Jabu: a trio comprised of vocalist/lyricists Alex Rendall and Jasmine Butt, and producer Amos Childs.The group was born out of Bristol's Young Echo collective: an ecosystem unto itself which has birthed and nurtured a number of other notable soundsystem-rooted projects and artists to date including Kahn & Neek, Sam Kidel, Ishan Sound, Ossia, Asda, chester giles (the title Sleep Heavy comes from a giles poem) and Killing Sound (Childs with Kidel and Vessel).

2026 Repress

Gems is a brand-new label dedicated to unearthing the seminal and original tech-house cuts from the 90’s and early noughties from the producers that birthed the genre term. Label boss Paul Still was a music industry don and has proud connections with the trailblazers of the scene from his Croydon roots, the OG home of the sound, where he sourced and sold these vinyl bombs from the back of his van around London and beyond during that time. The rare and choice cuts he has uncovered are now remastered and reissued, offering this legendary sound life to a new fanbase all over again.

The first in the series see the one and only Terry Francis take the remix reigns on the Radical Chic classic; a bomb that changes hands for upwards of £50. An essential tech-houser of the day and THIS was the mix that is in demand. Flipped with the equally brilliant Space Bunny jam, The Key, of which OG copies would cost between £50-£100.
2 of the original tech-house jams on one essential slice of wax.

Linking music and literature, building a bridge between the written and the sung – only the greats have managed to do this in the past. Leonard Cohen, Scott Walker, and Patti Smith were just some of the shining stars that Anna B Savage orientated herself towards as a teenager. Born on the anniversary of Bach’s death, the young musician spent her birthday every year in the Green Room of the Royal Albert Hall watching her parents perform compositions by the grand master. That shaped her. Today, thanks to albums such as her debut, “A Common Turn” (2021), and the incredibly sensual art-pop opus “in|FLUX” (2023), the singer-songwriter is one of the truly exceptional talents on the British independent scene. In her music, otherworldly vocals nestle up against chamber orchestral compositions, delicate arrangements rise up and blow away, and the musician’s highly eclectic sound grows song by song into an experience that lingers for days and weeks. Potentially life-changing.
A sense of rootedness is at the heart of Anna B Savage’s third record You and i are Earth, a record that is as much about healing as it is an unbowed sense of curiosity, and, more simply, “a love letter to a man and to Ireland.” Following on from her critically acclaimed records A Common Turn and in|FLUX, You and i are Earth manages to convey a sense of intimacy, while also being open-ended. Gentleness is as radiant a touchstone on the record as earthiness, something that Savage attributes to the place she finds herself at present, both geographically and emotionally. And quite literally the record bears witness to a particular piece of earth - Ireland, and Savage’s relationship to it as her new home. That process is brilliantly rendered on Agnes, a complicated piece of work featuring Anna Mieke that turns on tropes of duality and transformation. It mirrors an unsettling experience that Savage had through meditation, which ultimately ended in an immersive, beautiful feeling, “I felt like I was part of the earth, completely connected to the mycelium network, I felt like I was where I was meant to be.” In many ways, that experience framed the album’s artwork, a photograph taken in some woodlands in Co. Sligo, with Savage looking up at the trees, their fractals reflected in her eyes, mirroring something she had felt in her meditation, bringing us back full circle, and to that sense that we are essentially in unison, or at least striving to be, that “you and I are earth”.

Linking music and literature, building a bridge between the written and the sung – only the greats have managed to do this in the past. Leonard Cohen, Scott Walker, and Patti Smith were just some of the shining stars that Anna B Savage orientated herself towards as a teenager. Born on the anniversary of Bach’s death, the young musician spent her birthday every year in the Green Room of the Royal Albert Hall watching her parents perform compositions by the grand master. That shaped her. Today, thanks to albums such as her debut, “A Common Turn” (2021), and the incredibly sensual art-pop opus “in|FLUX” (2023), the singer-songwriter is one of the truly exceptional talents on the British independent scene. In her music, otherworldly vocals nestle up against chamber orchestral compositions, delicate arrangements rise up and blow away, and the musician’s highly eclectic sound grows song by song into an experience that lingers for days and weeks. Potentially life-changing.
A sense of rootedness is at the heart of Anna B Savage’s third record You and i are Earth, a record that is as much about healing as it is an unbowed sense of curiosity, and, more simply, “a love letter to a man and to Ireland.” Following on from her critically acclaimed records A Common Turn and in|FLUX, You and i are Earth manages to convey a sense of intimacy, while also being open-ended. Gentleness is as radiant a touchstone on the record as earthiness, something that Savage attributes to the place she finds herself at present, both geographically and emotionally. And quite literally the record bears witness to a particular piece of earth - Ireland, and Savage’s relationship to it as her new home. That process is brilliantly rendered on Agnes, a complicated piece of work featuring Anna Mieke that turns on tropes of duality and transformation. It mirrors an unsettling experience that Savage had through meditation, which ultimately ended in an immersive, beautiful feeling, “I felt like I was part of the earth, completely connected to the mycelium network, I felt like I was where I was meant to be.” In many ways, that experience framed the album’s artwork, a photograph taken in some woodlands in Co. Sligo, with Savage looking up at the trees, their fractals reflected in her eyes, mirroring something she had felt in her meditation, bringing us back full circle, and to that sense that we are essentially in unison, or at least striving to be, that “you and I are earth”.

"From the remote reaches of Haparanda, Sweden, Häxkapell presents a black metal masterpiece that resonates with the eternal rhythms of nature and the cyclical dance of life and death.

“Om jordens blod och urgravens grepp” (‘Of earth’s blood and the grave’s grasp’) is a powerful blend of black metal, folk, and atmospheric darkness, interwoven with classical and progressive influences. Traditional instruments such as the violin, viola, willow flute, and hand drum infuse the music with ancient, primal energy. The lyrics, crafted through subconscious writing, serve as a conduit to the mystical and otherworldly.

The album was engineered, produced, and mixed by Oraklet. Drums were recorded at Nordvis Ljudstudio, with the remaining tracks laid down at Studio HMH. Mastering was handled by Tore Stjerna at Necromorbus Studio.

Founded in 2015 in the northernmost part of Scandinavia, Häxkapell is the creation of Oraklet, who embarked on an inward journey to explore the philosophical, spiritual, and mystical aspects of existence. Following the 2016 demo “Om sanningen,” Häxkapell released their debut album, “Eldhymner”, in 2021.

On “Om jordens blod och urgravens grepp”, Häxkapell’s music evolves much like the earth itself: slowly, imperceptibly, yet ever-changing. It reflects the cycle of birth and bereavement, with death and life beginning anew as earthen folk melodies murmur ancient slumbers into dawn. Oraklet channels these profound truths into lyrics and music."

The first HR101 mission is complete. Five masterful sonic weapons with a hi-tech edge, for clubs, warehouses and the great outdoors.

From the spitting lead line, elevating stabs and hands-in-the-air spirit of title track "Love Generator" to the surging rave techno of "Flawless Victory" on the a-side, HR101 traverse the past through a razor-sharp, modern production sheen. "Watch The Collapse" on the flip is a muscular 303-fused offering where grinding bass, breaks and alien frequencies detonate over ominous vocal proclamations. Venturing into more 808-dominant territory, acid rules once again on "Code Breaker", this time over a succession of rich sci-fi keys and morse code. Closing the EP, HR101 go head to head with their birth moniker Human Rebellion for the dark electro funk of "Nocturnal Beings", guiding us to a suitably otherworldly end destination.

Diagonal Records proudly welcomes a new face to the label. Off the back of recent 13th birthday celebrations, Diagonal is now looking to the future with an exciting release from Australian upstart, Jonus Eric. Jonus has recently appeared on Gerd Janson's iconic Running Back label. This 12" EP features centre label artwork by Guy Featherstone inspired by Peter Saville's work for Factory Records.

The "Diode" EP comprises 6 tracks of sample – laden, psychedelic house music. EP opener, "Darkwhirl" brings to mind Theo Parrish, a regular reference point across the release. "Crimewave" offers an irresistible, funk soaked bassline. "Shapeshift" is when things get gnarly! "Antibiotics" reimagines a classic Todd Terry rave cut whilst EP closer "Polarity" provides a 90's IDM inspired finale.

The "Birth" remixes breath new life into Madison Willing's debut album, as COIDO, Ehua, Sinistarr, Synkro, and Itoa each add their unique sonic signatures to the project. These reinterpretations expand on the album's emotional depth, infusing it with fresh rhythms, textures, and dynamic energy. By reshaping the original's cinematic qualities, the remixes amplify the contrast between light and dark, further exploring the interplay of beauty and discomfort. The result is a collection that not only complements the original album but also pushes its boundaries, inviting listeners into new worlds of sound.