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Welcome to the world of Spöön Fazer!

This lost cold wave artist self-released a sought after 7” single in 1980 - Music 2 Dance 2 - and a 12” EP Sunset on Illuminated Records in 1982. In 2008 German label Anna Logue released an EP of unreleased songs that quickly sold out. Spöön featured on Cherry Reds Close To The Noise Floor compilation (2016) examining innovative U.K. electronica released between 1975 and 1984.

The music on these releases showcase Spöön's unique style that blended together art rock, drum machines, guitar, bass, washes of synthesisers and a compelling vocal style.
Spöön Fazer took to the stage over 30 times between 1980 and 1982 at venues ranging from the famous New Romantic haunt the Blitz Club to the Mind, Body and Spirit Festival at Olympia. He either appeared solo singing to pre-recorded music or with his backing band the In-Sect.

OM Swagger brings you a collection of material collated from Spööns personal tape archive. As well as tracks like Do Different Dances and Beat Dance Drumming that appeared on those hard to find recordings, we serve up unreleased tracks recorded between 1980 and 1982. Songs like Fall In Love With The East, Dancing In London, Samurai Dancing Party, Wish, Chan and Birthday show a more commercial side that never made it onto vinyl. These tracks are on a par with music released at the time by artists like Blancmange and John Foxx.

Aptly named Alternative Regression Therapy this 17-track compilation gives an insight into the lost world of Spöön Fazer detailing a career that started on a drum stool for punk band Whippets From Nowhere to a one-man crusade to enrich the cosmos with electronic music! Tracks like Michael, Row The Boat Ashore show that with the right backing Spöön might have
Continued over…
even hit the charts. Spöön even turned down the opportunity to become the drummer for the Thompson Twins just before they hit the big time.

It’s time to fall in love with Spöön Fazer.

HARDCORE UPROAR* over 80 of the freshest Hardcore Anthems from 3 of the biggest brands in the hardcore / hard dance scene written especially for this Brand New Compilation series, going back to the original ‘Bonkers’ style mixed CD format, featuring Uproar Creator, and one of the biggest names in Hardcore History DJ Seduction alongside 24/7’s owner / creator Al Storm, Rob IYF (one of the biggest new talents to come through the Hardcore scene) showcasing the latest 24/7 Hard Dance / Hardcore project ‘Voodoo Panda’ and 2 Rave Legends DJ Stompy & Darren Tyler (Bananaman / Silk Cuts / JHAL etc / Fade & Bananaman etc) join forces with Eazyvibe for a 28 track feast of happiness

Featuring Fresh Dubs from artists such as, Scott Brown, Bang!, Al Storm, Rob IYF, DJ Seduction, Darren Tyler, Alaguan, Chris Fear, Euphony, DJ Stompy, UFO, FREQ-DLT, Eazyvibe, AK47, Fracus & Darwin, M-Project, Daniel Seven, MKN, Hartshorn, EZKill, Bananaman and more.

Diving into the archives of Alter Ego - the Italian experimental ensemble of Manuel Zurria, Paolo Ravaglia, Aldo Campagnari, Francesco Dillon, Oscar Pizzo, and Eugenio Vatta - Die Schachtel is thrilled to present Microwaves, a never before released body of recordings of works composed by Atli Ingólfsson, Giovanni Verrando, Yan Maresz, and Riccardo Nova, made with Pan Sonic (Mika Vainio and Ilpo Vaisanen) in 2005. Resting at the outer reaches of avant-garde chamber and electronic music, the LP’s blistering structures, tones, and textures - plowing forward with frenetic energy - remain radical and ahead of their time, more than 15 years after they were first laid to tape.

A modular chamber ensemble with a pointedly anti-academic approach to music, over the course of its activities - running roughly between 1990 and 2010 - Alter Ego developed a devoted following among some of the most forward thinking voices in experimental music, all the while collaborating widely with artists spanning a vast range of practices and disciplines, including Robin Rimbaud, Philip Jeck, Matmos, Gavin Bryars, Andrew Hooker, William Basinski, David Moss, Alvin Curran, Terry Riley, and near countless number of others.

Alter Ego’s diverse activities can be understood as interventions with the disposition toward formality within contemporary chamber music, often pairing themselves with artists working well beyond their own context as a means to develop highly original interpretations of a specific composer’s work. In 2004, this process led them to instigate a collaboration Pan Sonic, the Finnish duo of Mika Vainio and Ilpo Vaisanen, pioneers of a remarkably distinct form of rhythmic, experimental electronic music, and regarded by many as one of the most visionary and irreverent projects working in the field during the '90s and 2000s.

Initially conceived with Fausto Romitelli in 2004 before being sidelined by the composer’s untimely passing the following year, Microwaves acts, in part, a remembrance in sound, featuring four works by some of his closest friends, the composers Atli Ingólfsson, Giovanni Verrando, Yan Maresz, and Riccardo Nova. Each composition, Ingólfsson’s Snap, Verrando’s Harmonic Domains #3, Maresz’s Link, and Nova’s Thirteen13x8@Terror Generating Deity, have roots in a pallet of samples and fragments drawn by each composer from existing works by Pan Sonic. Upon completion, these compositions then entered into a collaborative process between Mika Vainio and Ilpo Vaisanen (Pan Sonic) and Alter Ego (Manuel Zurria, Paolo Ravaglia, Aldo Campagnari, Francesco Dillon, Oscar Pizzo, and Eugenio Vatta), and were performed collectively by both groups during an extensive tour that year.

Distinct and free-standing, while operating as a seamless whole, the four works encountered across the album’s two sides - built from the sounds of flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, electronics, and further treatments - present an engrossing intersection between electronic and acoustic sound that diverges from most standing conceptions of electroacoustic music. Each composer’s carefully rendered structures rise and fall within the startling, conversant interplay between the two groups, finding perfect balance - between the frenetic and restrained - in what can only be regarded as one of the most striking and singularly unique expressions of contemporary chamber music realized during the 2000s.

Vast in scope, visionary in concept and artistry, and sonically engrossing, Die Schachtel is thrilled to present these never before heard recordings from the archives of Alter Ego. Microwaves is available on black vinyl, in a limited edition of 350 copies.

Ellesmere, a symphonic-prog music project founded and led by Italian multi-instrumentalist Roberto Vitelli, author of all the music and lyrics, surprisingly comes back just one year after their second album "Ellesmere II / From sea and beyond" with an amazing work in terms of freshness, energy, impact and meticulous attention towards its sound and arrangements.

First of all, "Wyrd" deserves admiration starting from the cover artwork made by Rodney Matthews, an iconic illustrator at least equal to the legendary Roger Dean. Musically, it evolves on the same path of "Ellesmere II", so the main references are classic prog outfits Yes, King Crimson, Kansas, plus a good amount of jazz-rock, present in every song; but there are also references to contemporary progressive rock and to artists such as Transatlantic, Flower Kings and Spock's Beard. "Wyrd" is therefore a third epic and even more enthralling chapter than the previous one, almost completely instrumental and captivating from the first minute to the very last one.

As per tradition, "Wyrd" also involves a series of prog-related prestigious guests: Mattias Olsson (Änglagård, White Willow / drums), Tomas Bodin (The Flower Kings / keyboards), David Cross (King Crimson / violin), John Hackett (brother of the famous Steve Hackett and a constant presence in his solo records / flute), David Jackson (Van Der Graaf Generator, Osanna / saxophone), Tony Pagliuca (Le Orme / keyboards), Luciano Regoli (Raccomandata Ricevuta Ritorno / voice), Fabio Liberatori (Loy & Altomare, Lucio Dalla, Ron / keyboards), Fabio Bonuglia (keyboards) and Giorgio Pizzala (vocals).

In a path of musical and stylistic evolution that started from the acoustic and pastoral prog of "Les Châteaux De La Loire" (2015), we hope that "Wyrd" does not represent point of arrival, but another passage towards new unexplored lands!

Second in a series of three records of Library Music
miniatures from composer and multi-instrumentalist Daniel
O’Sullivan (Æthenor, Ulver, This Is Not This Heat,
etc) following 2020’s Electric Māyā. For heads, the term
“Library Music” in 2021 might evoke dodgy Italian gray
market LPs and crate-diggers hunting for “funky breaks”—
but London’s venerable KPM Music is working with
groundbreakers like O’Sullivan to open up new avenues
for composers to experiment with. Fourth Density’s fifteen
tracks include several beguiling instrumental beauties,
including the Ashra-like “Astral Survivor” and the drifty
“Faster Than Light.” Mixed in with the instrumental are
almost-pop gems like the hypnotic “Orgone Attenuation”
and “Head In The Belfry,” both with guest vocals from
Astrud Steeholder. Like the other volumes, this is in a
beautiful jacket designed by O’Sullivan and Turner Prizenominee
Mark Titchner and pressed on aesthetically
complimentary blue vinyl.

Our second LP this month is an unreleased magical modern soul LP from the band Coast To Coast, the full story below by band leader Mark Beiner...


I met Ben iverson in 1976 when I was 17 years old. I was a junior at Newtown High School in Elmhurst, Queens. At that time, I took a part time job as a Produce Clerk at Walbaum's Supermarket on Northern Boulevard in Jackson Heights, Queens, where I met Ben Iverson who was the "Frozen Food Manager." In between the music, this job was steady income, and he and his Wife, Diane, started a family and raised two Daughters, Tonia and Cytherea, whom I am still in contact with today.

Back then, I remember going to work early just to talk to him about his musical background and his time spent in the 50's and 60's with the Ohio Doo Wop Group, "The Hornets", or better known as, "Ben Iverson and The Hornets." However, Ben was somewhat quiet and at a loss for words when I questioned him with regard to "Ben Iverson and the Nue Dey Express", as well as his short career as Manager and Songwriter for Brooklyn's own, "Crown Heights Affair" in the early 70's.

Between the 50's and 60's, "Ben Iverson and The Hornets" shared billing at music events with recording artists such as, The Drifter's, Bill Haley and The Comets, Pat Boone, Etta James, Mary Wells, Nancy Wilson, Jackie Wilson, Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, Lloyd Price and Al Green. Many of these names got their start in the 50's, which Ben met at music concert events hosted by Radio Disc Jockey, Alan Freed. Alan was truly the first Concert Promoter for Doo Wop, Rhythm & Blues, and early Rock & Roll.

In 1978 after Ben and I discussed getting together and composing music, I started writing poetry and expressing in writing my break up with my college girl friend, Paula Vasta. Paula's middle name was Marie, so in kidding around, I would call her "Paula Marie." Ben thought my lyrics were "powerful" and wanted to put them in music. Thus our first recorded 45 rpm record called "Paula Marie", backed with "I Want You Dear." This launched our musical partnership and within a year, the Coast to Coast Band was formed. Ben and I went on to writing two albums worth of material, which in turn gave us a lot of time and presence on stage at our live gigs.

The regular Coast to Coast Band members consisted of Ben Iverson on Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitarist and Co-Executive Producer, Joe Crowley, who is known today as "New York Congressman Joe Crowley." Carl (Woody Wood) Morton on Bass Guitar, Jimmy Johnson on Keyboards. Woody and Jimmy used to hang and play rap in its early days with "Run DMC" in St. Albans, Queens. Lead Guitarist, Lou Jimenez, currently owns his own recording studio, Music Labs in Elmont, Long Island. On Drums, Eddie Byam, on Alto Sax, Jay Cohen, who in the 70's used to record for "Gary U.S. Bonds." Gary Pevols on Trumpet. On Bone, Scott Burrows, Trumpet player, Steve Becker, whom we lost to Testicular Cancer at the age of 25, along side Neil Levine, Stan Stockley, Tom Russo and additional members that came and went that we used for live gigs and studio recordings.

In addition, special recognition goes out to our Producer, Recording Engineer and Multi-sound Recording Studio, Owner, Dave Weiner and staff. Dave and I launched Multi-Sound Records under the Multi-Sound label in 1980.

Last, of course myself, Mark Beiner, where I served as Executive Producer, Songwriter, Business/Marketing Manager, and background vocals.

Unfortunately, Ben Iverson passed away on March 21, 2008, and cannot be here to share this with us, but his music and voice still lives on!

Proc Fiskal's second album sees a reorientation of the source elements of his music. Where ‘Insula’ fed off samples of the ramblings of his friends and sounds of his hometown, ‘Siren Spine Sysex’ is laden with an inner voice of sampled Gaelic, Irish and English folk music, contorted and imbued into the futurist body of modern pop; the ghostly anima image of the female folk voice and the lamenting wheeze of the accordion rub against the rush of icey 808s and angles of Grime. Joe Powers’ family history is in folk music, with several of his forebears active in the Scottish Folk revival of the 1960s. It's this cultural baggage - the Caledonian Antisyzygy of the earnest folk tradition he was raised in – alongside the modernist dance music he makes, that brings a personal element to the album. The music of ‘Siren Spine Sysex’ examines dance music as folk music, re-routing them both comparatively, with the wordless emoting of chopped and screwed Gaelic vocals leading to joyous pop songs like ‘8 Mgapixel See Thru Phone’ and 'Leith Tornn Carnal’. Though fast and detailed, ‘Siren Spine Sysex’ feels relaxed and pastoral at times, its edits and drums sensual, swelling, and reactive to the music, its textures influenced by the tinny 16 bit flutes, strings, and wacky scores of gaming soundtracks.

The 50th release on the Clone Royal Oak Series. A small milestone, and its longtime label friend and collaborator Antenna who has the right tunes for this release! He delivers a unique blend of house cuts EP that conjures up a very blissed out and heady feel. Digging deep in the roots of electronic dance music the tracks have a classic and familiar feel, reminiscent of the heydays of early 90's raves and chill outs where the darker and deeper sounds reigned. Antenna puts a fresh spin on those classic themes and firmly sets it in a 21st century place. Another beautiful release on the Clone sub label celebrating the musical diversity of all offsprings of the Royal Oak of house music.

Tape

OPERANT – TRAUMKöRPER LP IOD050 500 vinyl on Purple crystal transparent w/ insert, 100 CS and CD.As an outfit that has existed on the fringes of the club scene, Operant continues their willingness to break genre taboos and expectations with their debut LP, Traumkörper, exhibiting a hybrid vision of electronic and organic elements that gives rise to a sound self-described as somewhere between extra-terrestrial black-metal, singularity-sludge, proto-psy-trance, anime noise-core techno and auto-tuned trap-folk. These disparate methodologies are bound together by the conceptual elements that operate at the core of Operant’s thematic universe: the transcendence and destruction of the body, consciousness melding with machines and the manufacturing of new realities. As a blueprint to new forms, Traumkörper sets a path both disorienting and euphoric. Over the course of 11 tracks the Berlin based duo and operators of record label, Instruments Of Discipline, Luna Vassarotti (IT) and August Skipper (AUS) birth their dream-body, an unsettling soundtrack for the strangeness of our times. credits All songs written and mixed by OPERANT All songs mastered by Alain Paul Artwork Photography by Michael Italia Artwork by OPERANT

The legendary session from members of The Outsiders, The Sound and Honolulu Mountain Daffodils. released for the very first time.
Overseen by Adrian Janes and remastered by Nick Robbins with sleeve design and artwork by Bi Marshall.
PRESSED ON ‘SPECIAL’ COLOUR VINYL.
In December 1978 Pete Williams, later to achieve cult infamy as Lord Sulaco of the Honolulu Mountain Daffodils, decided to realise a notion which he’d long kicked around with some of his musician friends. This was to record some original songs for which he - who had never been in a studio in his life – would provide the lyrics and sing. These friends were the Outsiders, at that time consisting of Adrian Borland (guitar, vocals), Graham Bailey (bass) and Adrian Janes (drums), plus an increasingly regular guest player in Bi Marshall (clarinet). (A year later, Janes having left, the Outsiders became the Sound.)
With no prior preparation other than Williams writing a set of lyrics (reputedly all based on newspaper stories), he then hired Elephant Studio in London for a day’s session. This was engineered by Nick Robbins, later to produce The Sound among others, but at that point at the very start of his career. This was no bad thing, since he was as open to the bizarre working methods of the Crazies (named after the George Romero sci-fi horror film) as they were innocent of their strangeness:improvise a song during one run-through, record it, and then move on to the next one, each to be created in the same way.
This extremely efficient method left enough studio time after recording six songs for the rest to head off for something to eat, while Williams scribbled lyrics for a final composition, ‘When We’re Dead’, which was recorded upon their return.
The surviving members (Bailey, Marshall and Janes) all recall this as one of the most enjoyable and relaxed sessions they were ever part of. The same experimental freedom and warped humour can also be heard in the albums Williams and Borland made as the Honolulu Mountain Daffodils a decade later.
Cassette copies of the resulting album were produced for all concerned, and it seems that there was an idea of making it more widely available in this format, but this was never to occur. It is only now that, with the original tape rediscovered, that the Crazies’ ‘A Simple Vision’, mastered by Nick Robbins, can at last be perceived by the wider world.

The third release for this Brussels-based organization (Label Deviate records and Deviate parties) run by False Identity. This one focuses on Wavish Techno, body aktion and epic EBM bass lines from Years Of Denial, Mind Matter, Maedon & Downwell.

It’s been said that writing about music is like dancing about
architecture but what about singing about movies? Sufjan
Stevens and Angelo De Augustine have paired up for a
collaborative project that does just that. ‘A Beginner’s Mind’ is
their debut album and contains 14 songs (loosely) based on
(mostly) popular films.  The source material is highbrow, lowbrow and everything in
between. The music is folksy, sweet, sincere and harmonically
effervescent - Simon & Garfunkel with New Age flourishes. This
album runs the gamut and has fun with it, even while its
songwriters remain fully rooted in the melancholy folk idioms
they are known for.  Daniel Anum Jasper, a pioneer of Ghanian movie poster
painting, was commissioned to paint a series of new works for
‘A Beginner’s Mind’. His paintings are a graphic simulacrum for
the same sense of wonder, wordplay and intrigue that shape ‘A
Beginner’s Mind’. By transforming old films into vital new songs,
Stevens and De Augustine ask us to consider ourselves from a
previously unconsidered vantage point - a new way of seeing
and hearing - an exercise that’s as necessary and relevant now
as it’s ever been.  “In the dizzying chime of his careful fingerpicking and highpitched howls, De Augustine captures love’s bright blaze.” - Pitchfork
 “What we find here, on what is arguably the pinnacle of his
output to date, is De Augustine achieving the beautiful balance
between introspection and grandeur; straddling the place where
pain and hope intersect.” - Line of Best Fit

Ultimately, Can't Swim feel that Change of Plans is "the most Can't Swim record yet." LoPorto says, "All of our endeavours as a band have led us to make what I think is the most honest and transparent album in our discography. We spent way less time recording what we thought we should be writing and put down whatever came naturally. The recording process was certainly the easiest to date as well — we knew what we wanted going into it. I'm constantly writing songs and some of the tracks on Change of Plans have been in the demo stage for almost four years now so it feels great to finally have them all together on one release." Change of Plans was produced, mixed, and mastered by Will Putney (A Day to Remember, Every Time I Die, Body Count, Knocked Loose) of Graphic Nature Audio and is the culmination of everything Can't Swim have been building and exploring over the last six years, combining their signature visceral lyricism and cathartic rock sound with influences ranging from the worlds of folk to EDM. One could say it's a little bit of everything all rolled into one, and in a way, that's true. When life is more unpredictable than ever, Can't Swim are striking the perfect balance of hope and realism by writing songs that embrace the chaos of life. They want to find and harness a vibe that makes living a bit easier for everyone, and with each release, they're getting closer to that goal.

On Fast Idol, LA-based Black Marble reaches back through time to connect with the forgotten bedroom kids of the analogue era, the halcyon days of icy hooks and warbly synths. Harmonies are piped in across the expanse of space, and lyrics capture conversations that seem to come from another room, repeat an accusation overheard, or speak as if in sleep of interpersonal struggles distilled down to one subconscious phrase. At the same time, percussive elements feel forward and cut through the mix with toms counting off the measures like a lost tribe broadcasting through the bass and tops of a basement club soundsystem.

GLASVEGAS return with their triumphant fourth album ‘Godspeed’, – the music we all need right now. The latest single Shake The Cage (für Theo) sums up the dazzlingly eclectic sound of Godspeed perfectly – this is an electronic barrage with devastatingly powerful spoken word lyrics which call to mind I’m Gonna Get Stabbed from the band’s astonishing debut.

The single is perfectly positioned at the end credits of Alan McGee’ new movie ‘Creation Stories’, written by Irvine Welsh and executively produced by Danny Boyle. Hand picked as the only current track to grace the music mogul’s biopic, it is a kind of


dystopian, free-associative ‘Choose life’ sermon (’Stand on a wave / calculate quantum mechanics / Surf, dance / Believe in chance”) set to the escalating dread and claustrophobia of a John Carpenter murder-chase.

Over nearly 20 years, Howlin Rain may have become the quintessential independent American rock ’n roll band: a steam-spitting Hydra of cranked guitars, kicking asphalt dust through a kaleidoscoping travelogue of desert motels and dives, volleying forth transmissions of sci-fi poetry from the blacktop veins of this cracked and aching country.

Now, in America 2021, capping these strangest and sorest of times, the band returns with The Dharma Wheel, a six-track, 52-minute dive into a joyous fantasy realm of exaggerated present.

“I wanted The Dharma Wheel to be a portal from our everyday world, the one from which you stand on hard ground and hold the album in your hands and peer into the artwork, and into another universe,” says songwriter, guitarist and vocalist, Ethan Miller. “You enter into that universe with your eyes and ears and mind and take a ride through free-form meditation on these ideas — from big, fundamental concepts about our existence right down to the grease that rolls down the arm of a pulp novel killer as he eats a gas station hot dog in an old Dodge in an alleyway.”

Lyrically, Miller has completed his evolution into a mushroom-plucking Whitman of the West, singing outlandish tales in a topographic blend of Humbead’s Revised Map of the World and an inverted U.S. where downtrodden bodhisattvas roam the back streets and moonless country roads.

“Down in Florida swamps, run by nature’s law, standing in the water, Eden gone. Two men loading rifles, beasts making time, they shot a boy from an orange tree and watched the colored birds take flight, watch the colors as they soar and dive.” — ‘Under the Wheels.’

The band, Jeff McElroy (bass, backing vocals), Justin Smith (drums/percussion, backing vocals) and Dan Cervantes (guitar, backing vocals), again sounds hardwired into Miller’s vision, building tracks that swagger and sway in response to his verse. Lending a hand this time around is the legendary Scarlet Rivera (Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue) on violin, and the endlessly inventive Adam MacDougall (Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Circles Around the Sun) on keys.

Songs were shaped via the blast furnace of endless gigs, then recorded often mere hours after the band slipped the stage.

“The captured sonic fact about this record is that it’s the sound of a band that rehearsed this material a lot and put a ton of work into its construction and was on the road a lot and recorded on days off in the tour schedule,” Miller says. “In some cases we were on stage on Saturday night playing these songs at quarter-to-2 in the morning and by Noon the next day we were sipping coffee in the studio playing them for the machine.”

Rivera’s violin is the first sound heard as the album dawns on the instrumental “Prelude.” Soon, the band joins, twirling the theme into a psychedelicized awakening. “Don’t Let the Tears” brings the boogie, with MacDougall’s madcap synth work and wah-wah guitars showering 70’s glitter upon a parquet dance floor of the mind. “Under the Wheels” and “Rotoscope” center the album with taut, compositional epics populated by murdering drifters and fuzz pedal explosions. The blue hour comedown of “Annabelle” meditates upon the weariness of lost love, with Rivera again amping the heartache via her violin strings.

“In the evening the trains go by, and shake the dust from dirty walls, sometimes I feel like a spider in an old mason jar, who threatens only convex light from down the hall. I’ve been lost to the world since the photos of the black hole, landed on my desktop screaming, perhaps the all and nothing all-in-one is just too much to take, for particles and matter that never found their way.” — ‘Annabelle’

The record closes with the 16-minute title track, a multi-movement suite which cycles from Crazy Horse-meets-Traffic jams through colossal, mass-moving funk stomp, eventually cresting and washing into a sing-along gospel lament.

The Dharma Wheel is an album of great depth, and one steeped in good vibes: a rich, glistening world of the ultra-vivid. As illustrated in Arik Roper’s cover art, the grand dharmachakra has been set in motion, churning off the California coast.

“We were trying to build a world big enough that the imagination won’t go soft on you after just a few listens and where our love for this music, and music in general — along with a good dose of audacity — create a magic carpet ride through the world of The Dharma Wheel,” Miller continues. “In pursuing that I think we also managed to make a record that has a lot of joy in it: the joy of playing music, the joy of experiencing music, the joy of storytelling and poetry, the kind of singular joy and extended ecstatic moment that only a real ‘band’ can express in just that way.”

And it’s this joy, this exuberance and dedication to the lines of cosmic expression — all centered in the exalted art of the everyday — that constructs the heart of the record. At its core, The Dharma Wheel is the triumph of a working band, a transmission from a never-paused before arriving for our strange, bruised, spectacular now.”

Over nearly 20 years, Howlin Rain may have become the quintessential independent American rock ’n roll band: a steam-spitting Hydra of cranked guitars, kicking asphalt dust through a kaleidoscoping travelogue of desert motels and dives, volleying forth transmissions of sci-fi poetry from the blacktop veins of this cracked and aching country.

Now, in America 2021, capping these strangest and sorest of times, the band returns with The Dharma Wheel, a six-track, 52-minute dive into a joyous fantasy realm of exaggerated present.

“I wanted The Dharma Wheel to be a portal from our everyday world, the one from which you stand on hard ground and hold the album in your hands and peer into the artwork, and into another universe,” says songwriter, guitarist and vocalist, Ethan Miller. “You enter into that universe with your eyes and ears and mind and take a ride through free-form meditation on these ideas — from big, fundamental concepts about our existence right down to the grease that rolls down the arm of a pulp novel killer as he eats a gas station hot dog in an old Dodge in an alleyway.”

Lyrically, Miller has completed his evolution into a mushroom-plucking Whitman of the West, singing outlandish tales in a topographic blend of Humbead’s Revised Map of the World and an inverted U.S. where downtrodden bodhisattvas roam the back streets and moonless country roads.

“Down in Florida swamps, run by nature’s law, standing in the water, Eden gone. Two men loading rifles, beasts making time, they shot a boy from an orange tree and watched the colored birds take flight, watch the colors as they soar and dive.” — ‘Under the Wheels.’

The band, Jeff McElroy (bass, backing vocals), Justin Smith (drums/percussion, backing vocals) and Dan Cervantes (guitar, backing vocals), again sounds hardwired into Miller’s vision, building tracks that swagger and sway in response to his verse. Lending a hand this time around is the legendary Scarlet Rivera (Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue) on violin, and the endlessly inventive Adam MacDougall (Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Circles Around the Sun) on keys.

Songs were shaped via the blast furnace of endless gigs, then recorded often mere hours after the band slipped the stage.

“The captured sonic fact about this record is that it’s the sound of a band that rehearsed this material a lot and put a ton of work into its construction and was on the road a lot and recorded on days off in the tour schedule,” Miller says. “In some cases we were on stage on Saturday night playing these songs at quarter-to-2 in the morning and by Noon the next day we were sipping coffee in the studio playing them for the machine.”

Rivera’s violin is the first sound heard as the album dawns on the instrumental “Prelude.” Soon, the band joins, twirling the theme into a psychedelicized awakening. “Don’t Let the Tears” brings the boogie, with MacDougall’s madcap synth work and wah-wah guitars showering 70’s glitter upon a parquet dance floor of the mind. “Under the Wheels” and “Rotoscope” center the album with taut, compositional epics populated by murdering drifters and fuzz pedal explosions. The blue hour comedown of “Annabelle” meditates upon the weariness of lost love, with Rivera again amping the heartache via her violin strings.

“In the evening the trains go by, and shake the dust from dirty walls, sometimes I feel like a spider in an old mason jar, who threatens only convex light from down the hall. I’ve been lost to the world since the photos of the black hole, landed on my desktop screaming, perhaps the all and nothing all-in-one is just too much to take, for particles and matter that never found their way.” — ‘Annabelle’

The record closes with the 16-minute title track, a multi-movement suite which cycles from Crazy Horse-meets-Traffic jams through colossal, mass-moving funk stomp, eventually cresting and washing into a sing-along gospel lament.

The Dharma Wheel is an album of great depth, and one steeped in good vibes: a rich, glistening world of the ultra-vivid. As illustrated in Arik Roper’s cover art, the grand dharmachakra has been set in motion, churning off the California coast.

“We were trying to build a world big enough that the imagination won’t go soft on you after just a few listens and where our love for this music, and music in general — along with a good dose of audacity — create a magic carpet ride through the world of The Dharma Wheel,” Miller continues. “In pursuing that I think we also managed to make a record that has a lot of joy in it: the joy of playing music, the joy of experiencing music, the joy of storytelling and poetry, the kind of singular joy and extended ecstatic moment that only a real ‘band’ can express in just that way.”

And it’s this joy, this exuberance and dedication to the lines of cosmic expression — all centered in the exalted art of the everyday — that constructs the heart of the record. At its core, The Dharma Wheel is the triumph of a working band, a transmission from a never-paused before arriving for our strange, bruised, spectacular now.”

Tenesha the Wordsmith, who came to the fore on On The Corner's 2018 release 'Black Noise 2084', has delivered a hard-cutting, gut-wrenching, and extremely moving spoken word album produced by Khalab that brings together different lines of black music - folkloric, jazz, and electronic dance - into an afro-futurist narrative with thunderous results.
Originally from Oakland, California, "a place where revolutionaries are born, Tenesha the Wordsmith originally began to fuse hip hop and poetry while living in Albany, New York, where she created her first collection 'Body Of Work'. Her early influences have returned with features from beatboxers and vocalists that give the album a distinctly urban hip hop vibe.

Nanocluster Vol 1. is an album with some serious pedigree. It sees Immersion (aka Malka Spigel and Colin Newman of influential groups Minimal Compact and Wire respectively) collaborating with some of the finest left field artists of our era: Tarwater, Laetitia Sadier, Ulrich Schnauss and Scanner. The project was born out of a Brighton based club night, also called Nanocluster, run by Spigel and Newman alongside writer, broadcaster and DJ Graham Duff, and promoter Andy Rossiter. The club features a range of influential and cutting edge music acts. But the unique aspect of the evenings is that each show climaxes with a one off collaboration between Immersion and the headliners. The songs having been written and recorded in the studio in just three days prior to the performance - or one day in the case of Schnauss. "It could have just been a series of performances." Says Newman.? "But the fact that we had built the tracks in the studio for the performances means we had these recordings." Says Spigel. The recordings have since been developed with Immersion heading up pro- duction duties. The result is a beautiful and unique album.? "I think the really interesting thing is how different everybody is," says Spigel. "Both as people and creatively." - Immersion and Tarwater: The German duo of Ronald Lippok and Bernd Jestram have created an impressive body of work. Yet their involvement with Immersion has opened out their sound, creating a more panoramic soundscape. The opening instrumental 'Ripples' is a gentle breathe of optimism, all purring tones and sun dazzled synths. Meanwhile, 'Mrs. Wood' is a dubby psychedelic shuffle, Lippok's vocal cool and assured over a fat bass line and skybound eastern melodics. It feels like a more spacious take on the Tarwater of albums such as 'Suns, Animals and Atoms'. The four musicians' 3rd collaboration is Nanocluster's most pop moment: with a heartfelt yet unsentimental lyric unfurling over feline rhythms, 'All You Cat Lovers' is a feel-good anthem for cat lovers everywhere. - Immersion and Laetitia Sadier: An original and distinctive presence in contemporary music, Sadier made her name with the inimitable Stereolab, but she's also created several impressive solo works. The instrumental 'Unclustered' sees Sadier's spidery guitar weaving through Immersion's lush web of synths drones. The following 'Uncensored' has a subtle melodic tug with a classic Spigel guitar line underpinning Sadier's sweet yet worldly wise vocal. 'Riding the Wave' is another feel good song, swapping between Newman's plaintive vocal, and Spigel's vocal and Sadier's backing vocals. With its uplifting chorus: 'Things have a way of working out' 'Riding The Wave' feels like it might be the sound of the summer we've all been waiting for. - Immersion & Ulrich Schnauss: A highly respected solo artist, as well as being a member of Tangerine Dream, Schnauss' skill with electronics is legendary. The opening 'Remember Those Days On The Road' skips along on a rimshot rhythm with Spigel's honeyed vocal telling a tale of life on tour. Yet it is far removed from such usual fare. This feels vulnerable and flecked with melancholy. 'Skylarks' opens with a lattice of arpeggios before a gently nag- ging guitar enters and everything takes a turn for the sublime. 'So Much Green' is everything you'd hope a collaboration between Newman, Spigel and Schnauss could be. A constantly spiralling urban-kosmisch, with Spigel's plangent bass anchoring the celestial sounds. The addition of her wordless backing vocals and recordings of real birdsong only serve to elevate the mood further. - Immersion & Scanner: Scanner - aka Robin Rimbaud - is one of the most prolific and diverse artists currently working in contemporary music. Spigel and Newman have of course collaborated extensively with Rimbaud before: alongside Max Franken in the art-pop group Githead. But this is something very different. Their opening piece together: 'Cataliz' is the album's moodiest moment. With its serpentine synth drones it sounds like the soundtrack to a mysterious thriller. The rich pulsing 'Metrosphere' recalls Immersion's early work whilst adding another layer of grainy uncertainty. The closing 'The Mundane and the Profound' opens with a "Rimbaud scanned" recording of an irritated flight attendant but this is eventually subsumed by a simple yet emotive piano figure: a gentle and touching end to a unique collection of songs. Nanocluster Vol.1 is a testament to a remarkable synergy between a diverse assembly of strongly individual talents. The fact that it not only succeeds, but excels should be cause for celebration.

If a tree falls in Sweden, do you hear it in Brooklyn? If I find my keys, can I leave my house? …and what is the difference between raging Lust and vengeful Wrath? On my second EP for Studio Barnhus, I make my case for a shared space for both. Sandwiched between two love notes to Vangelis are three cuts of choice deli meats procured from the finest bodegas of the land. For headphones, cars, hi-fi systems and even clubs too.
- FaltyDL

Nervous Records, the iconic label synonymous with the rise of house from the streets of New York City, will mark 30 years in the music industry by releasing the celebratory compilation LP ‘Nervous Records: 30 Years’ on October 1st (Part 1) and October 15th (Part 2).

Featuring original mixes of the label’s biggest tracks, plus remixes by some of its most celebrated acts, ‘Nervous Records: 30 Years’ is both a celebration of the past and of the future. Featuring a who’s who of electronic dance music, the long player sees names including Louie Vega, David Morales Darius Syrossian, Tensnake, Monki, Franky Rizardo, Danny Howard and more take on iconic Nervous cuts: ‘You Make Me Feel Mighty Real’, ‘Treat Me Right’, ‘Future Groove’, ‘Feel Like Singing’, ‘Get Up Everybody’, ‘Break You’, ‘Hot’, ‘End This Hate’, ‘Unspeakable Joy’, ‘Can Ya Tell Me’, ‘Jerk It’, ‘The Anthem’, ‘It Makes A Difference’, ‘Learn 2 Luv’ and ‘Don’t You Ever Give Up’.

The album marks one of the most enduring, extraordinary legacies to grace America’s illustrious music history, not just in electronica but far beyond. Founded in 1991 by Michael and his father Sam Weiss, and recognizable immediately by its distinctive character logo, the label grew rapidly, in no small part due to Michael Weiss’ practically unmatched passion for discovering new music.

“Louie Vega and Kenny Dope woke me at 4am on Tuesday night, Wednesday morning from their studio telling me they had something really different that I needed to hear,” Michael recollects. “I asked if they could play it over the phone. They said if I wanted to hear it I had to come to the studio. So of course I got myself up, got dressed and went there. That “really different track” ended up being ‘The Nervous Track’, a tune that became our signature release and was also highly instrumental in the emergency of London’s ‘Broken Beat’ movement.”

The label’s willingness to take chances on fresh sounds and innovative concepts rising up from the melting pot sidewalks of NYC ensured a body of work that has become a living musical history of the city. House cuts ‘Unspeakable Joy’ and ‘Nitelife’ (Kim English), ‘Get Up (Everybody)’ (Byron Stingily) and ‘Feel Like Singing’ (Sandy B) bump up against hip-hop anthems like ‘Who Got Da Props’ (Black Moon) and “Bucktown” (Smif-n-Wessun) and reggae cut ‘Take It Easy’ (Mad Lion); soulful flows from Mood II Swing (Kim English ‘Learn 2 Luv’, Loni Clark “Rushing”), Armand Van Helden (‘The Anthem’) and Nuyorican Soul (‘Mind Fluid’) sit alongside seminal techno singles like Winx’ ‘Don’t Laugh’. The young artists and producers who joined the Nervous Records’ family have gone on to become some of the most hallowed and celebrated dance acts of all time: Louie Vega, Kenny Dope, David Morales, Tony Humphries, Roger Sanchez, Armand Van Helden, Kerri Chandler, Kim English, Byron Stingily, Josh Wink, to name just a handful.

“We did a release with Josh Wink under his Winx alias entitled ‘Nervous Build-Up’,” Michael said. “It did well and it was obvious how talented Josh was. Subsequent to that release I was pretty persistent in asking him to continue to play me his new demos. During one phone conversation he said, “Mike I’m gonna play you something over the phone but don’t laugh when you hear it.” That demo ended up being ‘Don’t Laugh’, which became one of our biggest international hits and still to this day is one of America’s earliest and most impactful techno hits.”

As much a celebration of the label’s future as it is of their past, Nervous Records: 30 Years is but a marker in the imprints’ history, a clear sign of where they’ve been and also where they’re going. With 30 years behind them, the label’s determination to unearth new raw diamonds in the rough is as unwavering as ever.

“I’ve always been one to look at what others are doing (the industry at large) and think, “ok, are they doing this specific thing for a reason, or doing it because everyone else is doing the same thing” and make my decision based on that,” says Nervous Records’ General Manager Andrew Salsano. “In an age where data metrics and analytics reign supreme, I remain steadfast that they should be complementary to your decision and not the sole indicator to make one. So many songs today are written with 15 second hooks in mind for social media, and while there’s nothing wrong with that business model you will always be chasing the wave instead of carving out your own path and identity.

“My primary focus for the sound of the label has and will continue to revolve around signing good songs and music that has the ability to react at the street level first. The best results come from artists that are firstly given a bit of local love that grows into a global impact. Fresh ideas that express child-like curiosity and artists showing vulnerability in their music are also something I look for, artists and producers that are not making music with certain markets in mind, but rather their own style and signature that is unique but able to straddle the fine line of underground and overground.”

Still as raw, as underground and as finely tuned to the dance floor as they ever have been, perhaps the secret to the success - and the longevity - of Nervous Records has something to do with that hard, dogged, no-holds-barred NYC edge that runs through the veins of the label. With the next generation of producers rising from the clubs of New York, one thing is certain; Nervous Records will be there to find them, nurture them and bring them to the world at large, over the next decade and beyond.

LIZ LAWRENCE (Bombay Bicycle Club) returns with her heavily anticipated
new album THE AVALANCHE, following 2019’s critically-acclaimed Pity
Party and 2020’s Whoosh EP.
The album contains 11 brand new tracks, including the singles Where The Bodies Are Buried and Down For Fun.
Written and recorded in ‘The Coffin’ - her self-built garden shed home studio
- during the lockdown of 2020, the album showcases Liz’s growth as both a
songwriter & producer and positions her as the UK’s foremost fully independent alt-pop solo artist.
Heavy support at BBC radio, with playlists at Radio 1 & 6 Music, additional
daytime spot plays on both, as well as plays across all national specialist shows
Consistent support across DSPs with a host of New Music Friday and genre specific playlists, including being selected as the cover star of Spotify’s The Indie
List and Lo-Fi Indie playlists
Full UK headline tour announced for Autumn 2021, following festival appearances including All Points East and Deer Shed Sold out 2020 headline tour and
previous major arena/theatre support tours with Bombay Bicycle Club, Lucy
Dacus & Bloc Party FFO: St Vincent, Sufjan Stevens, R.E.M., Marika Hackman

Stolen Body are super stoked to announce the addition of French Psych/World rockers Gondhawa to our ever evolving roster.

Gondhawa is a musical laboratory - a fusion between Fela Kuti’s groove and Hendrix’s electricness.
Formed in 2018 in Angers (France) by Idriss (vocals and guitar), Clément (drums) and Paul (bass), the band explores different styles with a boundless energy. Inspired by French sci-fi literature, they invented a language. Outcomes Gondhawii, a fusion of sounds from all over the world and others as yet unidentified. With this new language the whole mind immerses into a delicious trance where we cross odd rhythms, quarter-tone riffs, oriental groove and electric explosions as well as stringed instruments from other countries. (n'goni, sanxian, microtonal guitar)

Gondhawa release their first album, “Kâampäla”. Six powerful and eclectic tracks dipped in stoner, afrobeat and progressive rock. Six tracks linking convoluted rhythms and inventive riffs.

Through the micro-tonal groove of Raba Dishka, the Afrobeat Stoner power of Käampâla, or the softness of Djoliko, a beautiful ballad lulled by the melancholy of acoustic strings from around the world, Gondhawa delivers the soundtrack of an interstellar road movie. An electric tornado with an abundance of rhythms and textures.

Originally from Limerick, O’Brien’s work captures the everyday and the inbetween in a way that transcends any genre label. Writing from her own observations, O’Brien’s influences can be found in the realism of Mark E. Smith of The Fall, Patti Smith and The Slits, and the works of literary icons such Frank O’Hara, W.B. Yeats, Joan Didion and Albert Camus. Releases to date have drawn admiration from British and American outlets and radio stations as diverse as The FADER, Stereogum, The Guardian, Loud And Quiet, The Quietus, BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 6 Music, and more.

Speaking about the new single, O’Brien explains: “‘Most Modern Painting’ is about the creation and maintenance of ‘the self’ - the most epic task we are faced with in our lives. I wanted to work with structure in an unconventional way, linking the movements together using various voices from the narrative. The lyrics are voiced through a dialogue between the conscious and unconscious, through dream recall, memory, the individual and the ego.”

The accompanying music video for ‘Most Modern Painting’ was shot in a film-like manner on 16mm. Directed by Saskia Dixie, the movements are intrinsically linked to the lyrics; the choreography incorporates physical theatre, dance and elements of daily gestures and habits.

The chorus line on ‘Most Modern Painting’ birthed the title for the EP ‘Drowning In Blessings’ - “The more I said it, the more it meant. It’s an image which I find really cathartic; seeing the weight or build up of things as possibilities and opportunities instead of bearing their burdens. I approached the set of songs on the EP like a short album so the body of work feels full and tells a substantial story. Tracks allude and refer to one another and provide clues and hints to the future and to the past. It’s not only about language and music - it’s about energy, spaces, leaving room for other people to get in.”

A multifaceted artist, O’Brien’s writing has also been published by the esteemed London Magazine whose alumni include T.S. Eliot, Sylvia Plath and William Burroughs. Her unique fusion of spoken lyrics and art rock has piqued the attention of luminaries of both fields, seeing her perform with John Cooper Clarke and The Brian Jonestown Massacre at sold out theatres across the U.K. Playing live with her band and collaborators; Julian Hanson (guitar) and Oscar Robertson (drums), Sinead O’Brien’s transfixing performances are placing her at the forefront of a resurgent wave of independent British and Irish talent.

‘Skin’ is the debut album and hugely personal body of work from one of the UK’s boldest and brightest young talents, Joy Crookes. A collection of songs built and honed throughout her adolescence and into her early twenties, it weaves through topics such as mental health, relationships, and politics all with grace and sensitivity. Recorded between Abbey Road & Konk & produced by Blue May (Kano, Blood Orange), the end product is a debut record that is both perfectly of the moment, and entirely timeless.

It’s been said that writing about music is like dancing about
architecture but what about singing about movies? Sufjan
Stevens and Angelo De Augustine have paired up for a
collaborative project that does just that. ‘A Beginner’s Mind’ is
their debut album and contains 14 songs (loosely) based on
(mostly) popular films.  The source material is highbrow, lowbrow and everything in
between. The music is folksy, sweet, sincere and harmonically
effervescent - Simon & Garfunkel with New Age flourishes. This
album runs the gamut and has fun with it, even while its
songwriters remain fully rooted in the melancholy folk idioms
they are known for.  Daniel Anum Jasper, a pioneer of Ghanian movie poster
painting, was commissioned to paint a series of new works for
‘A Beginner’s Mind’. His paintings are a graphic simulacrum for
the same sense of wonder, wordplay and intrigue that shape ‘A
Beginner’s Mind’. By transforming old films into vital new songs,
Stevens and De Augustine ask us to consider ourselves from a
previously unconsidered vantage point - a new way of seeing
and hearing - an exercise that’s as necessary and relevant now
as it’s ever been.  “In the dizzying chime of his careful fingerpicking and highpitched howls, De Augustine captures love’s bright blaze.” - Pitchfork
 “What we find here, on what is arguably the pinnacle of his
output to date, is De Augustine achieving the beautiful balance
between introspection and grandeur; straddling the place where
pain and hope intersect.” - Line of Best Fit

The monstrous new album from one of the heaviest bands to ever emerge from the shores of the UK - BOUND IN FEAR. Following their brutally stark EP 'Eternal', this new album continues the conceptual theme of Depression, Abuse and Anger. With lyrics that reveal deep insight into the personal upbringing of frontman Ben Mason, this is not for the faint of heart. Essential listening for fans of BODYSNATCHER, DISTANT, PALEFACE AND BLACK TONGUE

Sophomore album from lauded UK, now Los Angeles-based, R&B singer and songwriter Sinéad Harnett which includes key singles Stickin’ (feat. Masego & VanJess), Take Me Away (feat. EARTHGANG), Anymore (feat. Lucky Daye), & the stunning Hard 4 Me 2 Love You. Through this cohesive body of work, Sinéad delivers uplifting anthems with messages around empowerment, individualism, unity, and community alongside more raw and vulnerable songs that explore how darker times of her past have affected who she is now as an artist. Sinéad’s hope is for fans to feel like they’re accompanying her on a journey of loving themselves.

Keaton Henson’s ‘Fragments EP’ was made as a
companion piece to last year’s ‘Monument’ album,
written and recorded at the same time.
 ‘Monument’ is a fragile, meditative and emotional
unravelling of grief in the aftermath of losing his
father, and for all its hushed acoustics, ‘Monument’
cocooned its emotion in some beautifully tender
melodies and acute observations. It’s a warm and
relatable listen.
 On ‘Fragments EP’, whilst the lyrical themes and
subjects may stray from ‘Monument’’s poignant
subject matter, in its sound and atmosphere, it
feels suitably entwined.
 The eight tracks that form the EP orbit a sweeping
kaleidoscope of sonic shapes, shades and
textures. Keaton’s voice offers lyrics in an almost
frozen romanticism. It’s a voice that sounds rooted
in turmoil but also of strength. A happy sadness.
Bleakly beautiful.
 Julien Baker shares a mic from across the ocean
in Australia on ‘Marionette’. A songwriter of due
reverence herself, Baker and Keaton share an
affinity with the power of hushed words, fizzing
melodies and an innate wisdom.
 ‘Fragments EP’ and ‘Monument’ are two fine
bodies of work by this singular, unique British
artist, and two empathetic records of sorrow and
strength.

Limited edition 180g blue coloured vinyl + 1 bonus track.
“January 4, 1956: Clifford Brown, Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Richie Powell and
George Morrow met up in a New York studio to record At Basin Street, which
would be the group’s final album. That summer, Clifford Brown and Richie Powell died in a tragic car accident. This final testimony is one of the most exciting
records from a quintet which was like very few others.” - Jazz Magazine
“Each arrangement is worked to a point that actually propels the soloists, gives
them - and Brown particularly - maximum lift. These are classics of modern
jazz.” - Penguin Guide To Jazz
“Clifford Brown and Max Roach at Basin Street reemphasizes the loss jazz suffered when Clifford and Richie Powell died. Energetic, full-bodied jazz. Thoroughly recommended.” - John A. Tynan, DownBeat”

”Neon Dust describes the essence of a world just beyond reach, one we often glimpse but can’t sustain. An Ocean in which we rarely dip our feet. When writing this album, I felt in tune with something special, an energy I hadn’t previously known. I was submerged and engulfed in its creation. For me, it’s a journey beyond; into that dancing,
shimmering glow of neon dust.” - Etherwood Melodic master and drum & bass extraordinaire Etherwood makes his album
debut on Hospital Records with his fourth long player, ‘Neon Dust’, following on from the successes of his Med School works ‘In Stillness’, ‘Blue Leaves’, and ‘Etherwood’.

Across twenty tracks, expect signature liquid drum & bass and Etherwood’s own vocal performances with a fusion of folk, rock, indie-pop, techno, downtempo and ambient delights. Alongside his vast range of musical inspiration, Etherwood’s creativity is evoked through his free spirited mindset, exploring the world in his converted van, dedicated to mindfulness and meditation.

With frequent radio support from top-end tastemakers including Annie Mac, MistaJam and Charlie Tee, as well as countless club spins from the likes of Netsky, Sub Focus, Makoto, Degs and Lens, Etherwood’s hugely popular sound takes another step forward in 2021 with his most recent body of work. From topping the iTunes Electronic chart with his second album ‘Blue Leaves’ to performing his very own live session at the prestigious Maida Vale studios, you’ll also be able to find Etherwood at Hospitality Weekend In The Woods, Sundown Festival 2021, ADE Hospitality and Hospitality Bristol this yea

Freestyle Records will release Dan Berkson's debut LP, Dialogues, on September 17th on LP & digital.

Following a move to London and an immersion in the city's deep house scene, Dan Berkson's subsequent rediscovery of his earliest musical foundations and the drawing of inspiration from London's buzzing contemporary jazz scene would lead to Dialogues - an accomplished and rewarding body of work pulled together during his final days in London before relocation to California.

"It was inevitable that Dan Berkson would make a jazz album like Dialogues: joyful, danceable, entertaining, driven by the pleasure principle, and filled with virtuosity. It represents Berkson's experiences in London, where jazz is a living, breathing, dancing scene. It's his love letter to the city, bristling with British talent such as bassist Andrea di Biase (Heidi Vogell, Maria Chiara Argiro, Bruno Heinen) and drummer Jon Scott (Kairos 4Tet, Sons Of Kemet, Mulatu Astatke) and recorded in his final days in the city before relocating to California. It's also rich with history: the musical journey that brought him to this point covers almost 40 years and 4,000 miles.

Berkson received lessons from Chicago boogie-woogie veteran Erwin Helfer - who in turn had learned alongside foundational legends such as Mahalia Jackson and Glover Compton. In 2001 he came to the UK, throwing himself into the deep house scene of East London, his duo with James What signing to Steve Bug's legendary Poker Flat.

But eventually he felt that he'd achieved what he could in the house format. Rediscovering the piano and discovering that jazz provided him the opportunity to keep learning, he enrolled in Trinity College in South London just as South London's jazz scene was exploding into the public consciousness.

Dialogues is a jazz album, not an electronic one – but all the groove-based influences, from the rootsy blues and ragtime of his youth, through the funk he played at college and the house he imbibed in London can be heard, as can his love of the studio as an instrument and mixdowns that suit a club soundsystem. Detroit dons Theo Parrish and Moodymann are every bit as important to this record as Charlie Haden, Carla Bley, Keith Jarrett, Ornette Coleman, Jimmy Giuffre, and Herbie Hancock. There's 50s and 60s cool modernism (just listen to the elegant ripples of "Sketches"), there's 70s funk fusion ("Unity" kicks things off with a spring in its step), and of course there's the pumping blues heart of "Live Bait". Above all else, though, it's a personal document: a life of music and collaboration crystalised in a magical, transitional moment. Where Dan goes next musically is as uncertain as anything in these times... but this one record tells you everything you need to know about where he's been."

Over the course of five records to date, JUNO Award-winning Toronto rapper Shad has used an array of old-school tools to tackle modern problems, addressing the indignities and absurdities of our world through a shapeshfiting melange of boom-bap breaks, dusty soul samples, jazzy improvisation, and 10 dollar words rolled into thousand-dollar rhymes. But after weaving his myriad musical and philosophical interests into a narrative socio-political song cycle—2018’s A Short Story About a War—Shad began building his sixth record, TAO, from a much simpler concept: an image of a circle. Though, in true Shad fashion, he saw something much more profound within its basic round boundaries.

“The thing that inspired this record was this image in my mind of a circle, but it’s getting fragmented, and then the pieces start floating away from each other,” he explains. “And that felt to me like a picture of ourselves as individuals. If you think of our humanity as one whole, there’s all these different aspects of that, whether that’s work, or our relationship to the land, or our relationship to the transcendent, or our relationship to our bodies, or to our inner child?”

"Empty Facile" is the second EP from Body Portals. Delivering a spellbinding foray into down-tempo caustic temperatures; where samples and hardware create a full-on, yet carefully crafted singular sonic experience.

Our vinyl compilation “The Dark Side Of Italo Disco” is a contrast to the numerous happy and danceable Italo Disco titles, because this sampler contains deep, mystical and melancholic songs. Flemming Dalum has selected very special titles distinguished by hard and dark beats. Masterpieces like “Body Heat” by Fokewulf 190, “Eagles In The Night” by Dario Dell’Aere, “Blue Room” by Kirlian Camera show an interesting facet of Italo Disco music.

Sound Wonders: A Series of Epics is the second compilation from Touchtheplants, the imprint and multidisciplinary creative environment founded by Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and Sean Hellfritsch (aka Cool Maritime). Following 2020's Breathing Instruments, the new collection features sonic responses to a new prompt. Like its predecessor (which explored music as an extension of the human body and the natural world), the medium of focus here dates back to ancient civilizations. Smith invited artists to compose music based on the idea of epics: the long poems and narrative verse works that have detailed deeds and adventures since the dawn of storytelling. The musicians — some of today's most exciting practitioners of experimental sound design, instrumentation, and synthesis — took this directive loosely, realizing a series of vibrant and transportive songs evoking wondrous visions, subjects, and locales.
From Elori Saxl’s chamber piece to Olive Ardizoni’s ode to the strange and beautiful phenomenon of starling murmurations with synth and xylophone tones the album splays out like chapters in a panoramic account of all that surrounds us.

After two years in the making, Tambour Battant delivers its new album "Galore", 13 tracks that outline the contours of genres and reinvent them. Very eclectic sounds makes this new album: from Brazilian-flavored tracks with the artists Flavia Coelho and Faktiss to heavy-weighted Trap beats with Miscellaneous (of Chill Bump) and Jman. On the other tracks, the duo takes us on an electrifying ride that will pleased all the lovers of heavy bass and powerful kicks. As its name suggests, this new album "Galore" is distinguished by its profusion of styles and influences.

For the original artwork of this new album "Galore", the duo appealed to Pablito Zago, a famous street artist / illustrator who brings his style rich in colors and collages to this album more than explosive!

This Is How The World Ends is the second offering from LA rock band Badflower. Following the release of their debut album OK, I’M SICK which featured the iHeart Award winning single Ghost, their latest album demonstrates how Badflower aren’t afraid of making anybody uncomfortable and they continue to commit body, blood, mind, and soul to their art. LIVE: Performed on The Pit stage at Reading and Leeds Festival 2021, UK support tour with Palaye Royale in March 2022. RADIO: BBC Radio 1, Kerrang, Planet Rock, Metal Meyhem, Primordial Radio. PRESS: Kerrang, Rock Sound, NME, Classic Rock, Darkus, EMP. Socials: TW: 37K, FB: 113.5K, IG: 87.5K, TikTok: 13.5K. Available as a 1 disc CD. 2LP set will be released on 08/10/21.

Pressed on vinyl for the first time in 20 years, The
Charlatans’ self-titled fourth album is set for release,
available on marbled yellow double vinyl with a
gatefold sleeve, the audio is via transfer to 96khz/24
bit, with vinyl mastering by Frank Arkwright at Abbey
Road.

This, their fourth album, came out in 1995. It was
their most ambitious and focused album to date and
returned them right back to the Number One slot in
the charts. The album also spawned three UK Top
40 singles, ‘Crashin’ In’, ‘Just Lookin’’ and ‘Just
When You’re Thinkin’ Things Over’, which peaked at
Number 12.

When The Charlatans started out, there were
countless bands similar to them but they
immediately catapulted to the forefront of the
Madchester scene, standing alongside such icons
as The Stone Roses and The Happy Mondays.

The band were / are successful because, in addition
to being able to ride the groove, they could also
write amazing songs. These were the gifts that
made them among the greatest British survivors of
our time, rolling through tragedy and stylistic
changes to amass a terrific body of work - one that
was modern enough to play in clubs but classic
enough to stand the test of time and one that
continues to grow to this day. They have notched up
thirteen Top 40 studio albums - three of them
number ones - alongside twenty-two hit singles, four
of them Top 10