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Bryan Beller's (Joe Satriani, Aristocrats, Dethklok) epic progressive double concept 2019 album feat. 26 all-star musicians now on Blue Swirl 2LP in gatefold jacket available! Bassist/composer Bryan Beller (The Aristocrats, Joe Satriani, Dethklok, Steve Vai) presents a sweeping, epic-scale modern progressive double concept album that asks the question: When the storm comes for us, the big one after which things will not be the same, who are we and what do we become in those defining moments? What do we keep, and what do we let go? "Scenes From The Flood" employs an all-star cast of 26 musicians to explore themes of ambition and loss, intentionality and reality, hope and disillusionment. It uses every second of its 18-song, 88-minute running order to tell an emotionally consuming and unforgettable musical story. Produced and composed by Bryan Beller (except "Angles & Exits," composed by Janet Feder), mixed and mastered by Forrester Savell. "Scenes From The Flood" is performed by: Christopher Allis, Bryan Beller, Nili Brosh, Paul Cartwright, Darran Charles, Julian Coryell, Mike Dawes, Janet Feder, Guthrie Govan, Ray Hearne, Gene Hoglan, Mike Keneally, Jamie Kime, Fred Kron, Teddy Kumpel, Jake Howsam Lowe, Evan Mazunik, Nate Morton, Rick Musallam, Mike Olekshy, Griff Peters, John Petrucci, Matt Rohde, Joe Satriani, Rishabh Seen, Joe Travers, Leah Zeger.

Japanese bamboo flute maestro and goat (JP) cohort Rai Tateishi makes an impressive debut statement with his holistic attempts to transcend the limits of ancient instruments to reveal gently delirious insights.

‘Presence’ is a triumph of improvised, elemental musicality that distills aspects of myriad folk traditions in pursuit of the artist’s own truth. For 40 minutes of singularly weird, locked-in performance, Rai Tateishi diverges his formative training in the shinobue (a bamboo flute) to applications for its elder sibling, the shakuhachi, and its distant relatives in the khene mouth organ of Northeastern Thailand and Laos, and even the Irish flute, with remarkable results returned from each.

Piece to piece, Tateishi adapts a spectra of unusual and extended instrumental experiments to articulate uniquely animist sound arrangements, with judicious use of a ring modulator and delay effects only subtly altering his sound in real-time, gelling the harmonics and smoothing off its contours. Some 15 years of studies and accreted knowledge of histories, timelines, and spirits are deftly tattered in the air and rebound in precisely complex ribbons that become all the more impressive by virtue of its in-the-moment recording.

Presented with no overdubs, the six works were recorded by label head and KAKUHAN/goat lynchpin Koshiro Hino across three days of adventurous improvisation capturing the breadth of Tateishi’s vision in a mix of succinct flights of fancy and one durational wonder where he really cuts loose. An opening piece of rapid percussive fingering and rasping sets the tone for increasingly intricate explorations of the shinobue, and bluesy cadence of a reedy Thai khene - antecedent of the shō - whipped into headier harmonic overtones, whilst his 5th piece for Irish flute best recalls Ka Baird or Michael O’Shea’s lysergic impishness, and a 13 minute closing piece most boldly fucks with folk and jazz traditions, in-depth and with the genre short-circuiting audacity of Rahsaan Roland Kirk.

Landing in the wake of prism-shaking works by Will Guthrie & Mark Fell, goat (jp) and Kakuhan; Tateishi’s ‘Presence’ more than lives up to NAKID’s impressive levels, unflinchingly operating by its wits with a verve and dare-to-differ moxie that gets at it from the first hit to the last, harnessing the kind of skill and ingenuity that’s distinctive but still strikingly minimal and overwhelmingly physical. It's a remarkable achievement.

Chris Goss is one of the elusive geniuses of American music As the singer, guitarist and driving force behind Masters Of Reality, he's spent more than 40 years charting his own musical journey, travelling from mystical blues to desert rock to psychedelia-edged beauty via all points in between.

Now Goss has returned under the Masters Of Reality banner with The Archer, their frst new album in 16 years.

Since the start of the 21st century, Goss has balanced his work as a producer with his Masters Of Reality output. There have been three more studio albums under the Masters Of Reality name: 2001's Deep In The Hole, 2004's Give Us Barabbas and 2009's Pine/ Cross Dover. Each was a self- contained musical universe, reafrming Masters Of Reality as a band outside of the mainstream music industry.

Now, 15 years after his last release under the name, Chris Goss has fnally returned with Masters Of Reality. Like everything they've released since their inception over 40 years ago, it's another step on a journey that has continuously moved forward, never repeating itself or being swayed by external infuences.

First Masters Of Reality album in 16 years
Chris Goss is considered "The Godfather Of Desert Rock" having produced records for Kyuss and Queens Of The Stone Age among many others. Extensive touring in 2025

Extirpated from the crepitating bowels of the surging Death / Grind scene of the early nineties and became cult with their frst platter of splatter released in 1991 by Wimp Records (LP) & Adipocere Records (CD), PUTRID OFFAL slowly dissolved in formaldehyde by the middle of the decade ..

But that is not dead what sleeps and the thing got alive again 25 years after its inception offering a brand new vision of its art with the release of the proper PUTRID OFFAL debut, Mature Necropsy in 2015 soon followed by countless Europe tours and festivals appearances like their 2017 gig at world famous HELLFEST captured alive for a DVD release as a bonus of second full-length, Sicknesses Obsessions in 2020 again followed by a slaughter campaign on all of Europe soiled grounds.

Now that their historical label KAOTOXIN / XENOKORP is left for dead, PUTRID OFFAL come back deadlier than ever and hungry for touring and gigging like a zombie for fesh ready to turn the crowd to pieces with their most brutal, to the point and mature album to date, Obliterated Life.

Repress!

Echospace Detroit is the label launched by Rod Modell (Deepchord) and Soultek's Steven Hitchell, two leading lights of the minimal dub techno scene. And as with anything Deepchord, the entire release has an air of mystery to it. Previously, as a near-mythical vinyl pressing with minimal packaging and restricted pressings, everything about Vantage Isle was geared toward the underground, or 'those who know.' However, there's nothing but love of craft driving these grooves, and now a lot more people will finally be able to hear this absolutely brilliant collection of spacial dub wonder on CD. Vantage Isle Sessions consists of a whopping 13 takes of the title track, reworked by Modell and Hitchell in various guises (cv313, Deepchord, Echospace, Spacecho), as well as a guest spot (and first ever remix) from Gerard Hanson (Convextion). Across their 13 versions, Modell and Hitchell manage to take the Deepchord template (analog synths, deep bass, gently throbbing beats, bursts of static and noise, and deep, deep chords) into a surprising variety of directions, akin to looking at the same giant glacier from a helicopter from every angle possible: some are beatless and undulating, some are pulsing and dynamic, some are looking up from under the ice and some are towering overhead. The aforementioned Convextion version is revelatory. It's built on cascading and echoing pieces of the original that are layered like shifting sands, for a distinctly dark and shimmering journey to the bottom of the frozen ocean and back. It's remarkable enough to get all these takes on one basic template to sound somewhat different, given that the source material is really just a skeletal array of sound sheets. Vantage Isle Sessions is for anyone looking for the logical successors to the Basic Channel throne, or just looking for something mellow for those steamy late summer nights. A stone-cold classic of the genre. Don't miss it." -Todd Hutlock, Stylus Magazine/Beatz by the Pound

"Steeped in mystery, Detroit musicians Rod Modell and Mike Schommer (aka Deepchord) are legendary for their hard to find twelve-inch dub techno releases. Their sound is heavily influenced by Berlin dub techno producers like Maurizio, Basic Channel, Chain Reaction, Rhythm & Sound, Blue Train and Pole. While the German sound often has a futuristic metallic edge, Deepchord are known more for the rust and grease, which is part and parcel of those metal parts. Static, analog sounds, deep bass thumps and, of course, deep chords blend in a timeless minimal manner. However, the real gems on this disc are the drifty ambient cuts devoid of beats. This is an excellent album that is on par with the classics from a decade ago!" -Exclaim


"In terms of ambient dub, if Basic Channel is the Father (the source, remote and inaccessible and very powerful) and Pole is the Son (dazzling but ultimately stranded halfway between man and the divine), than Rod Modell’s Deepchord and his Echospace label he run with Steve Hitchell is definitely the Holy Spirit." -Popmatters


"Deepchord’s dub-techno stealthily peels away melody, leaving a bare chassis of beats to ghost-ride down Woodward Avenue. Vantage Isle Sessions, which collects remixes of a 2002 Detroit Electronic Music Festival performance, finds the duo swerving through empty, neon-smeared streets, and recalls Berlin’s Chain Reaction label, minus the anemic minimalism." -XLR8R

"The album scales a magnificent peak in “Spacecho Dub II - Extended Mix” when smeary chords ricochet over a massively deep, bass-heavy pulse, and Hanson's light-speed missile of vaporous propulsion (“Convextion Remix”) is beautiful too.
Long may they run." -Textura

‘Vantage Isle’ is a tremendous achievement that will most likely be held up as a high water mark of the genre for years to come." -Resident Advisor

"My favorite mix is by Convextion (his first remix for another artist). Reedy, distant synth tones sound like a science fiction soundtrack overheard rooms away. An undercurrent of echoes, many difficult to describe, drift in a sonic syrup." -Gridface

"Modell’s music always seems to be in this suspended animation, adrift and afloat in a majestic emptiness." -Dusted Mag

CREDITS:
Written & Produced by Deepchord. Redesigned and Reshaped by Convextion (Gerard Hanson) cv313 (Stephen Hitchell) echospace / spacecho (Rod Modell + Stephen Hitchell)
Additional Mastering, Mixing and Engineering by Ron Murphy @ NSC Mastering, Detroit, USA. Side E/F Remastering and Lacquer cutting by Dietrich @ Complete, NYC, USA. (2018)

Songs about the unity of Sudan, peace between Muslims and Christians and the fate of war orphans, backed by grooves equally taking influence from Arabic sounds, American funk as well as neighboring Ethiopia.

Kamal Keila was among the first artist we met in Sudan during our two trips to Khartoum and Omdurman last year. He is one of the key figures of the Sudanese jazz scene that was a vital part of the musical culture in Sudan from the mid 1960s until the islamist revolution in the late 1980s. When we meet Kamal he luckily presented us with two mold covered studio reels.
Each tape included five tracks. One with English lyrics and another with Arabic ones. Musically you can hear the influence of neighboring Ethiopia much more than on other Sudanese recordings of the time, as well as references to Fela and American funk and soul. His lyrics, at least when he sings in English which gave him more freedom from censorship, are very political. A brave statement in the political climate of Sudan of the last decades, preaching for the unity of Sudan, peace between Muslims and Christians and singing the blues about the fate of war orphans called "Shmasha".
A note inside one of the boxes specified the track titles, durations and the fact that the sessions were recorded on the 12th of august 1992. Both sessions stand as a hearable testament how Kamal Keila stuck to a sound aesthetic from decades ago, while incorporating current events into his lyrics.
Kamal Keila's album is the first in a series of releases covering the Sudanese jazz scene on Habibi Funk. Be on the lookout for albums by The Scorpions and Sharhabeel coming soon.

2LP + Download Code + 8 Page Booklet

Mario & Luigi is the collaborative album between rappers Babytron & Certified Trapper. Originally released on July 10. 2024, the 13 track album clocks in at just under 30 minutes of blistering bars and enough brazen schemes to make your head crack. Akin to the greatest brothers in video game history, the link up between Babytron & Certified Trapper is perhaps the greatest link up in scammer history. The album focuses on Babytron & Certified Trapper trading off rounds of elite shit talking, braggadocious rhymes, and witty worldplay. Pressed on Picture Disc vinyl and limited to 1000 copies.

The album’s title, New World, Lonely Ride, gestures toward its meditative orientation. The duo offers a series of reflections on the zeitgeist of our present moment, the spirit of our age: the isolation and loneliness that continues to echo in the wake of the pandemic; the fractures that mar our political discourse; the uncertainty that has stamped itself on the future of democracy. The vast geography of America and the absence of a common ground, a shared political vision, have contributed to the affective landscape of contemporary American life—of what it feels like to live in the United States today.

Using instrumental voices and textures drawn from the traditional American forms of folk, country, bluegrass and blues, and informed with a modern sense of ambience and space, the sound is both contemporary and deeply rooted. With New World, Lonely Ride, Grigoni and Pan American join countless American artists who have drawn upon this landscape—physical and affective— giving it a voice and shape, listening to its character. And in starting there, with listening, offer a response for the future.

One of the most iconic labels in house music made a major return in 2024. King Street Sounds is celebrating its legacy with a series of re-releases that dive into its extensive back catalogue, showcasing some of its biggest releases. One of these being Dennis Ferrer’s iconic debut solo album The World As I See It from 2006. A body of work that sounds as good today as it did 19 years ago and, in that time, has gone on to become one of the greatest house music albums of the last 25 years. This release will be the first time all ten tracks from the album have been included in one vinyl package, and will include a frameable, double sided record sleeve sized poster. With copies of previous editions of the album costing close to £100 on the second-hand market, this limited sky blue vinyl edition will give a new generation of house & electronic music fans an opportunity to own this piece of dance music history.

Neon Orange & Black Vinyl. With Information (2019), Cleveland-raised, New York-based producer and DJ Galcher Lustwerk marked his debut LP on Ghostly International, having already carved out a lane of low-key hip-house music with his instant classic 100% GALCHER mixtape: deep, smooth, psychedelic, equally cut for the club, after-hours, night drives, and headphones. Lustwerk leveled up for Information, experimenting with more live drums and jazz saxophone to create a new dynamic, what he considered a hookier, more bittersweet, Midwest mindset. Lustwerk emerged in 2013 with the game-changing 100% GALCHER for the beloved mix series Blowing Up The Workshop, later named a mix of the decade by Resident Advisor. The signature sound - a smoky stream-of-consciousness baritone shadow-boxing with beats, informed by funk, rap, rhythm, and blues - felt like an epiphany distinctly linked to the expanse of Midwest driving and the strobe-lit detachment of club culture. Now over a decade into his musical vision, Lustwerk remains an elusive nightlife narrator, embodied by the hooks and a growing catalog that's proven influential and singular.

Limited to 1000, individually numbered copies. Eight tracks for the first time on LP vinyl from The Diplomats Of Soul featuring an all star cast of UK singers and musicians produced by Bluey from Incognito. Vocalists are Natalie Duncan, Vanessa Haynes, Imaani, Valentina Silwimba, Cherri V and the late Noel McKoy on an array of recordings from 2006 to 2024. The songs range from covers of rare groove, two step and soul classics to one original. Six songs original mixes, plus remixes by Atjazz and Yam Who?

Buffet Lunch have been a band since 2017. They are a pop group formed of musicians based in Glasgow, Edinburgh and (sometimes) Newcastle. Described previously as a band that creates 'a hodgepodge of noises' who are 'lyrically ridiculous'. Both claims are strongly denied by the group.
Buffet Lunch have released 3 EPs & 2 LPs since 2019 and 6 months after self-releasing 'For Display Purposes Only' are back on Upset the Rhythm with their third album 'Perfect Hit!'
‘Perfect Hit!’ was recorded in the West Highlands, in the shadow of the UK’s Biggest Ben, during Leap Year week 2024. George Horler (Holy Loaf) joined the band as recording engineer along with new members Matthew Lord and Jack Shearer plus founding members Perry O’Bray & Luke Moran, to spend a week writing and creating the record. The majority of the record was completed in the studio, with as much recorded ‘live’ as possible and the week flew by, and we had such a lovely time we forgot to go on a walk. Most of the songs are new and only been played a few times live.
Lyrically, the album contains more deliberately personal lyrics than previous records, with several songs addressing ancestry and becoming a parent (Quarrymen, Shoes, Blue Chairs). Elsewhere, the songs deal with thorny issues such as; identity & full face tattoos, hands, legs & a swordfish sighting (Perfect Hit), the importance of kindness (Blip), disgraced Presbyterian John Knox (Merchandise), a potentially disgraced sportsman featuring star turn from Beef Jerk front man Jack Randall Lee (King Conker) and historical consciousness via Wikipedia (List of Walls).
Musically, the aim (as ever) was to make an album which is as fun to listen to as it was to make. These are mostly playful pop songs with a focus on melody and hooks. There are approximately 40% more guitar chords featured on ‘Perfect Hit!’ than on previous records.

Recorded in Hollywood, California between two sessions in December 1956 and January 1957, Art Pepper’s Modern Art for the Intro label featured his melodic alto saxophone flights atop cool jazz, bebop, and blues in the company of a quartet with Russ Freeman on piano, Ben Tucker on bass, and Chuck Flores on drums. This mono Tone Poet Vinyl Edition was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, and packaged in a deluxe tip-on jacket.

If the jazz of François Tusques is “free”, his spirit is even more so: having recorded Free Jazz with other like-minded Frenchmen (Michel Portal, François Jeanneau, Bernard Vitet, Beb Guérin and Charles Saudrais), the pianist had covered a lot of ground, with Barney Wilen (Le Nouveau Jazz) or even solo (Piano Dazibao and Dazibao N°2), so as not to repeat himself…

In 1971 he founded the Inter Communal Free Dance Music Orchestra which, as the notes the this album stated, “is an interpretation of a music which synthesizes the different communities living and working in France.” In 1976, on the first album (L’Inter Communal) we can already hear Tusques playing without borders in the company of Carlos Andreu (vocals), Michel Marre (trumpet and saxophone), Jo Maka (saxophone) and Ramadolf (trombone). It is a meeting between jazz and music from Catalonia, Occitanie and Africa. So far so good, but what about Brittany, that, Tusques knows “by heart”? Having lived for a long time in Nantes, he would expand his ‘brittanitude’ on the canal linking the city to Brest by playing with, for example the Diaouled-Ar-Menez. With these “devils from the mountain” who, under the baton of Yann Goasdoué, worked throughout the 1970s on the renewal of music from Brittany, Tusques met, notably, Tanguy Ledoré and invited him one day, with trois bombards and some bagpipes (Jean-Louis Le Vallegant, Gaby Kerdoncuff and Philippe Lestrat), to join the ranks of the Intercommunal. And so they set of towards a new music from Brittany, as the title states; Vers une Musique bretonne nouvelle!

With percussion from Samuel Ateba and Kilikus, the association launches the ‘bombardier’: the repetitions and dissonance of the different members all serve a common cause however: the dance, which is always the reason for the party. This sets a whole universe spinning, which can bring to mind Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood of Breath (“La rencontre”) when not taking on board waltz, swing, blues and gavotta or even revealing mysteries like those of Gurdjieff (“Les racines de la montagne” or “Le cheval” sung by Andreu). Only one thing to say to this Brotherhood Of Breizh: Mersi!

Aguaturbia's second LP "Volumen 2" (1970) is an essential album to understand the construction of what we know today as Chilean rock. Aguaturbia's debut album was originally released in 1970 and showcases one of South America's most significant psychedelic bands from the late 60s and early 70s. Their influence in their native Chile -and beyond- was groundbreaking. In July that same year the band recorded "Volumen 2" that, just as raw and dynamic as the debut,delivers even heavier intensity than their debut LP. As expected, this album is raw and dynamic, featuring heavy rhythms, distortion, and exceptional phased female vocals reminiscent of Jefferson Airplane. Comparisons with the Grateful Dead, Country Joe and the Fish and Led Zeppelin can be drawn. Splendid heavy psych and proto-stoner tracks make this album a pioneer recording in the history of South American rock. The LP showcases breathtaking moments, like the psych-blues 'Heartbreaker' or 'I Wonder Who' where guitarist Carlos Corales shines. When he played solos at the gigs, the effect on the audience was silence and euphoria at the same time. In fact, Carlos Corales (guitar) and Willy Cavada (drums) were both professional musicians who had made a previous career in rock and roll bands. Other outstanding songs are 'Blues On The Westside', 'Waterfall' and the magnificent 'Well All Right'. Controversy accompanies the release of the album once again. In this case the cover artwork, a tribute to Salvador Dalí, scandalizes the most conservative sector of Chilean society. This outstanding album is now available again on vinylafter many years out of stock.

NOW Music is pleased to announce NOW Presents…Classic Soul, a stunning 5LP boxset of 85 of the greatest 60s & 70s Soul tracks ever... Out September 22nd!



LP1 opens with ‘I Say A Little Prayer’ from the “Queen of Soul”- Aretha Franklin, the peerless ‘Walk On By’ from Dionne Warwick and followed by massive hits from Marvin Gaye with the #1 ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’ and Stevie Wonder’s ‘I Was Made To Love Her’, plus classic tracks from The Temptations and Otis Redding. Flip to the other side for legendary groups – The Supremes, The Ronettes, The Marvelettes, The Velvelettes and Martha Reeves & The Vandellas.



LP2 begins with the powerhouse vocals of Tina Turner (with Ike) on ‘River Deep, Mountain High’. Top tracks from the Jackson 5 & the Four Tops give way to a run of Northern Soul classics from Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons with ‘The Night’, ‘Tainted Love’ from Gloria Jones, Frank Wilson’s legendary ‘Do I Love You’, and ‘Green Onions’ from Booker T. & The M.G.'s. Side 2 begins with the superb vocals of Ben E. King with ‘Stand By Me’ and Percy Sledge with ‘When A Man Loves A Woman’. Another Otis Redding classic alongside the genius of both James Brown and Nina Simone brings this LP to a close.



The A-Side of LP3 kicks off with the signature smash from Aretha Franklin ‘Respect’ before the first UK #1 for the Motown label from The Supremes with ‘Baby Love’, and there’s still room for Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, The Drifters, and another #1 from Freda Payne. Side B begins with one of the most iconic and funky baselines ever on ‘Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone’ from The Temptations and the classic grooves ‘Move On Up’ from Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes’ ‘Theme from “Shaft”’, the emphatic ‘War’ from Edwin Starr and the cool sophistication of ‘California Soul’ from Marlena Shaw lead to the closing track ‘Could It Be I’m Falling In Love’ from The Spinners.



LP4 begins with a run of beloved tracks from iconic artists opening with the politically charged masterpiece ‘What’s Going On’ from Marvin Gaye, followed by Al Green, Bill Withers and Billy Paul, plus The Stylistics and The Delfonics to add to the selection of celebrated groups on this release. The second side begins with the exceptional ‘Killing Me Softly With His Song’ from Roberta Flack, before the stunning vocals of Minnie Riperton’s ‘Lovin’ You’ and Deniece Williams, The Three Degrees and Gladys Knight. The Jackson 5 bring this disc to a close with their timeless ballad ‘I’ll Be There’.



LP5 contains a run of 1970s favourites beginning with ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ from Diana Ross and ‘You're The First, The Last, My Everything’ from Barry White. ‘Fantasy’ from Earth, Wind & Fire, ‘Summer Breeze, Pt. 1’ from The Isley Brothers and ‘Love Train’ from The O’Jays all feature before the Commodores kick off the final side with ‘Three Times A Lady’. Rose Royce, Peaches & Herb and a second selection from Gladys Knight & The Pips feature along with George Benson, before the “Prince of Soul” Marvin Gaye brings this essential collection home with ‘Let’s Get It On’.



85 tracks across 5 stunning LPs, NOW Presents Classic Soul... Out September 22nd!

"Fred van Zegveld's album ""Dynamite,"" released in 1969, is a remarkable showcase of his prowess on the Hammond organ. The album features a blend of original compositions and covers, all highlighting Van Zegveld's soulful and jazzy style. The album comprises nine instrumental tracks, with the majority being Van Zegveld's original works. Notable originals include ""Family Blues,"" ""Blue Organ,"" and the title track ""Dynamite,"" which are celebrated for their dynamic Hammond organ performances. The album also features covers such as ""Here, There and Everywhere"" and ""I Wanna Be Your Man"" by Lennon-McCartney, as well as ""Misty"" by Erroll Garner. The supporting musicians on the album include Ruud Jacobs on bass, Louis de Bey on drums, and Rick Beekman on guitar, all contributing to the album's rich and engaging sound. Finally available again on vinyl in a limited edition of 500 copies on translucent red coloured vinyl."

With Umwelt, room, An’archives releases the first vinyl LP by Japanese singer, songwriter and guitarist, Kotonashiso. An elegant collection of seven slow-moving, free-ranging song forms, Umwelt, room is reflective, pensive, and yet has a great, expansive sense of movement, each song’s parameters feeling almost infinitely flexible.

Born in Tokyo in 1984, Kotonashiso began playing music in 2000. After taking a long break from making music between the years 2005 to 2016, he returned with renewed focus, and over the past eight years, he’s toured Japan and Europe, performing in venues, street performances and open mic events. Currently, Kotonashiso plays either solo, on in three separate duos, with Sou Mori, 泥, and Hideya Kyooka, respectively. He’s not released much music, as yet – a single, “in the cavern”, with Sou Mori, in 2021, and a soundtrack to Hiroki Nakajima’s solo exhibition, Ray, the following year.

All of this gives Umwelt, Room the feeling of a major statement, a debut shot across the void. The seven songs collected here were recorded in 2024, with a guiding principle, for Kotonashiso, being his desire to “imagine the time when people started recording blues and folk songs on analog records,” creating a ghost-like presence in the listener’s room. When talking about the songs on Umwelt, Room, Kotonashiso focuses on a number of concepts, such as prayer, tragedy, ‘the cycle of life’, and the disappearance of the gulf between fantasy and reality.

They’re songs with deep, rich resonance, performed without guile. You might be able to hear, at times, the fragility of fellow Japanese singer-songwriter Hisato Higuchi, or the bluesy touch of Loren Connors in the guitar. However, Kotonashiso’s aesthetic remit is wide, identifying with artists like Bill Callahan, Scout Niblett, Inukaze, and Tomoko Shimazaki, and sharing sympathies with “the psychedelic rock, avant-garde and ambient communities.” Ultimately, though, the pellucid, dream-like songs of Kotonashiso, somewhere between folk, pop and blues, sit, disarmed and lovely, within their own universe.

Inspiriert vom Leben und Mythos des Schauspielers Dennis Hopper haben Mike Scott und The Waterboys - die schottische Rockband bekannt für ihre Hits 'The Whole Of The Moon' und 'The Big Music' - dieses umfangreiche Album als Hommage an eine der faszinierendsten Persönlichkeiten der amerikanischen Popkultur geschaffen. Das Album mit ausschließlich eigenen Songs ist sehr konzeptionell angelegt und bringt hochkarätige Künstler wie Bruce Springsteen, Fiona Apple und Steve Earle zusammen, um Hoppers Leben musikalisch zu durchdringen, einschließlich eines Songs für jede seiner Ehefrauen.

- Die Verpackung enthält Fotos aus dem Archiv von Dennis Hopper

- Col. 2LP: (Burnt Colored Vinyl in Gatefold-Hülle mit bedruckten Innentaschen)

Inspiriert vom Leben und Mythos des Schauspielers Dennis Hopper haben Mike Scott und The Waterboys - die schottische Rockband bekannt für ihre Hits 'The Whole Of The Moon' und 'The Big Music' - dieses umfangreiche Album als Hommage an eine der faszinierendsten Persönlichkeiten der amerikanischen Popkultur geschaffen. Das Album mit ausschließlich eigenen Songs ist sehr konzeptionell angelegt und bringt hochkarätige Künstler wie Bruce Springsteen, Fiona Apple und Steve Earle zusammen, um Hoppers Leben musikalisch zu durchdringen, einschließlich eines Songs für jede seiner Ehefrauen.

- Die Verpackung enthält Fotos aus dem Archiv von Dennis Hopper

- Ltd. Col. 2LP: (Psychedelic Waves Colored Vinyl in Gatefold-Hülle mit bedruckten Innentaschen)