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Touring in support of their fifth studio album, "Airborne," The Flying Burrito Brothers performed at The Bottom Line in NYC on August 18, 1976. This never-before-available album features classic tracks alongside some bluegrass standards. The lineup includes Skip Battin and Gene Parsons (ex-Byrds); Gib Guilbeau, Joel Scott Hill and Burrito pedal steel legend, "Sneaky" Pete Kleinow

2023 Repress

Frank Maston’s Tulips is a sample-ready film score to the best 70s movie never made. Originally a super-limited self-release on his Phonoscope label in late 2017, Tulips has already become incredibly sought-after. Be With were introduced to Maston by mutual friends Aquarium Drunkard and it didn’t take long before we decided this modern classic deserved a reissue.

Inspired by the deep-grooving soundtracks of Italian cinema - think Morricone, Umiliani and Alessandroni - Maston conceived the entire Tulips project as a continuation of these revered works. Frank designed the artwork and made two 16mm films to accompany the music: “It wasn’t just the LP… it was kind of a whole vibe I was trying to create. Not really trying to emulate the things that influenced me but more trying to make something that could sit alongside those records on a shelf. I’m still very proud of the project.”

There’s a distinct library music feel too, with wiry organ, spacey keyboards and loping 60s guitar hinting at KPM and DeWolfe. Like the best library music, Tulips creates a cinematic universe through sound alone, evoking moving images in the listener’s technicolour imagination. It turns out that was accidentally on purpose: “I was discovering a lot of library music for the first time… listening to a composer’s entire catalog or finding all this obscure stuff. I wasn’t entirely conscious of the influence until I started making this music and realized I was channeling the vibe. That’s when I began focusing more on weaving melodic themes throughout the record to make it function more like a soundtrack”.

Tulips was recorded between 2015 and 2017 in a small studio in a village called Zwaag in Holland, during downtime from Frank’s touring duties with Jacco Gardner’s band. “Tulips” comes from the title of the very first demo he made in Holland, it was the first thing that came to mind. Makes sense.

Recording in Europe with some very European influences in mind, Frank wanted to eschew any American influences. But we can still feel the studio wizardry of the likes of Brian Wilson and Harry Nilsson in there somewhere. A psychedelic bedroom-pop song-cycle, full of hypnotic hooks and dusty drums, Tulips manages to sound charmingly homemade yet wholly widescreen.

Dreamy opener “Swans” is an exquisite soul instrumental and recalls the soft-psych of Koushik, which Be With loves of course. Tropicalia influences abound in the cool and breezy “New Danger” and the KPM-references are loud and proud on the lush organ pop of “Old Habits”. Fast-paced “Chase Theme No. 1” manages to be both tense and laid back, decorated by acid-drenched spaghetti Western guitars. The glorious Gainsbourg-esque melancholia of “Infinite Bliss” is all gauzy flutes and happy-sad vocalizing and the title is almost perfect: it’s bliss, no question; *if only* it went on forever. Side A closes with “Evening”, a subtle bossa nova beat thing. Gorgeous.

Side B opens with the heat-shimmer guitars of “Rain Dance”, evoking an unreleased Byrds or Buffalo Springfield backing track. Yes, it’s that good. “Sure Thing” is music to accompany an elevator ride you never want to end, but in a good way! The ornate “Garçon Manqué” is as beautiful as the instrumentals on Pet Sounds (think “Let’s Go Away For A While”) and the wistful “Turning In” starts like a stroll in the park before Maston introduces a scorched-Earth guitar solo that would startle if it wasn’t so pitch-perfect. “Chase Theme No. 2” is a briefer, more keening counterpart to what we hear on side A. The head-nod bass-drums-keys funk of “Hues” rounds out this staggeringly assured set; still opening each phrase with a plaintive strum, but using vibrato and heavy reverb to accent the electric organ melody. Sublime.

All these top drawer musical references might sound like just more of the usual release notes hyperbole, but there’s a reason that this still-young LP already changes hands for big money. It really is that good. Of course that first pressing didn’t hang around for long and Frank’s regularly been asked about a re-press pretty much ever since.

Re-issuing Tulips on Be With made sense to Frank “because the record would fit in so well with the catalogue”. Having already delved into the archives of KPM and Themes, and beginning to do the same with Coloursound and Selected Sounds, the collaboration “just makes sense and seems inevitable”. We agree.

Frank wasn’t sure a record of instrumentals with obscure soundtrack references would be an easy sell when it was originally released, and was surprised when Tulips turned out to be exactly what some people wanted to hear. We reckon its timeless beauty ensures that it’ll *always* have an audience.

The record was originally cut to be played at 45rpm, a technical quirk that grants the home listener the opportunity to go deeper, for longer. Played at 33rpm, the more languid unfurling of the tracks proves just as wonderful a trip. As a psilocybin-soaked case study from Aquarium Drunkard back in January of 2019 describes, some of the songs sound as if they were intended to be heard that way. The slower speed allowing the listener to step inside and perhaps even “crack the code” of the music’s meaning.

Mastered for this vinyl reissue by Simon Francis and featuring alternative burnt orange artwork from Maston himself, this Be With pressing is limited to just 500 copies. Hypnagogic it may be, but please don’t sleep.

The music of Atlanta trio Omni has always swung fast and hit hard. And Souvenir, their fourth album and second for Sub Pop, packs their biggest punch yet. Inactive during the majority of the pandemic-the longest downtime in their history-they approached this recording with lots of pent-up energy. Guitarist Frankie Broyles, singer/bassist Philip Frobos, and drummer Chris Yonker converted their creative fuel into sharp, driving songs that land immediately, sporting chopping riffs, staccato beats, and wiry melodies. Why does Souvenir sound so sharp? Because each track is a compact unit that stands on its own, reflecting the time and place in which it was created. That's why Omni called the album Souvenir: it's a collection of audio objects, a stash of musical miniatures. Think of it as a family photo album, a binder of rare playing cards, a shoebox holding precious gems. Take "Plastic Pyramid," the first song Omni wrote after coming out of lockdown. Filled with twists and turns, it's a journey unto itself, charged by clanging chords, spinning rhythm, and Frobos trading lines with Izzy Glaudini of Automatic, with whom Omni toured with last fall. (Glaudini sings on two other Souvenir tracks, the first guest vocalist the band has collaborated with). Or take opener "Exacto," a slicing web of intertwined guitar and bass. Its razor-fine notes and syncopated beats perfectly match pointillist Frobos lyrics such as "Exacto, de facto, concise, quite right"-a line that could well be an Omni mantra. The precision and clarity of Souvenir comes from some new Omni developments. For one, this is their first album with Yonker as their full-time drummer, and his forceful playing adds exclamation points to every pointed moment on Souvenir. In addition, the trio worked with Atlanta-based engineer Kristofer Sampson for the first time. Sampson pushed the band to a higher degree of power, with Frobos's vocals more upfront in his pulsing mix and the rest of the music leaping out of the speakers. You might notice that Frobos' singing is a bit more emotional and even nostalgic this time around. In crafting his vocals, he was inspired by the early college radio rock of formative favorites like REM, the Cure, and Big Audio Dynamite-the kind of bands whose melodies could have been top 40 hits in an alternative universe. The lyrics on Souvenir are also by turns funny, absurd, and even cryptic. A wry humor has always coursed through Omni's songs, and this time, it comes in shades of both dark and light. In "Granite Kiss," an "astronomical" love story concludes with the hope that "we can decay together," while in "PG," a romantic walk in the park includes a rose-colored mugging. Immediacy rushes throughout every moment of Souvenir, making it the band's most powerful album to date. Omni has truly crafted a musical keepsake-a set of songs that you'll want to keep close, an aural memento you'll cherish for the rest of time.

Maya Youssef is a multi-award winning musician and composer from Syria. She is hailed as ‘queen of the qanun,’ the 78-stringed Middle Eastern plucked zither. Maya’s intense and thoughtful music is rooted in the Arabic classical tradition but forges pathways into Western classical and contemporary styles. It explores the emotional and healing qualities of music.

The 'Finding Home' is a journey through memories and the essence of home both within and without in the search of that place of peace, comfort, and healing which manifests in everyone in a unique way.

Maya wrote this album during a time of spiritual awakening. Over time she has come to accept the loss of her homeland and in the process of grieving (which she explored in her Album Syrian Dreams in 2018) Maya has found a much greater sense of home in the most spiritual sense.

“As any Syrian will tell you, there is this overwhelming sense of loss and an overwhelming sense of grief. Because that world which existed before the war started, despite it naturally having problems, was a beautiful world with a booming economy, artistic scene, film festivals and visiting international artists, Damascus was the third safest city in the world. The loss of that world was heart wrenching and, in a way, steered me towards a universal concept of home.

The main trigger that made me create Syrian Dreams was the Syrian war and the loss of my homeland. And it's only by embarking on that spiritual journey of constant meditation and of finding home within God and within myself that I started to feel consolable and started to feel that I have my own home within me. I felt that the world is my home and humanity is my home. With my latest album I want to take people through a transformative journey, where they land in that place of home for them. No matter how that will look like for each person.” Maya Youssef

"Mane Attraction is the fourth studio album from the New York-based glam metal band White Lion. The album featured the singles “Love Don’t Come Easy”, the eight-minute heavy rock epic track “Lights and Thunder”, and a re-recorded version of their debut single “Broken Heart”. It was the last album that featured both Greg D’Angelo and James Lomenzo in the line-up. For the first time since its original release in 1991, the album is getting a reissue. Mane Attraction is available as a limited edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on silver coloured vinyl and includes an insert. "

From Star Wars, Harry Potter, Gladiator, Pirates of the Caribbean, Munich, Madagascar, Sherlock Holmes, come and rediscover these cinema masterpieces like you've never heard them before.

Bringing together the 15 musicians of the vibrant Curieux Orchester, this unique experience offers an immersion that is both intimate and dynamic through the major works of these two genius composers: John Williams and Hans Zimmer

Part of a (very) loose but somewhat like minded kaleidoscope where one can trace something like a Portuguese hauntology, centred around labels like Russian Library or Prisma Sonora Records, Alexandre Centeio joins Discrepant with the surefire release of 'Panorama'. A multi-instrumentalist and sound artist based in Porto, Centeio - who is also part of Stellarays and The Murmurous Playground - delivers his second album under his own name after 2022's 'Movanta'.

Signalling a departure from the intimate synth driven beautifully soothing landscapes of 'Movanta' while still working within a realm where space and memory play a significant part of both escapism and connection, 'Panorama' opens itself up to a "surrealistic soundscape filled with real and dreamt sound", perfectly illustrated by Ruca Bourbon’s artwork. A sonic fiction conjured from a variety of sources - hand drums, disembodied voices, scraps of unknown realities, skewed loops, oneiric collages, flutes, spectral synths - that float freely between disruption and continuity but within their own internal logic. A very particular and hallucinatory one at that, mind ya. Collapsing notions of time and geography in an aural canvas totally aligned with Discrepant's ethos. 'Panorama' indeed.

Treten Sie mit Tamás Kátais visionärem Projekt in das Reich des Avantgarde-Metal ein: Thy Catafalque. Seit über zwei Jahrzehnten leistet Thy Catafalque meisterhaft Pionierarbeit im Bereich der extremen Metal-Musik. Jetzt wird das bahnbrechende Album Sublunar Tragedies, das den Beginn dieser musikalischen Reise markierte, auf dem Label Season of Mist wiedergeboren. Ursprünglich wurde dieses avantgardistische Meisterwerk im September 1999 der Weltöffentlichkeit vorgestellt und dient als Grundlage für das Vermächtnis von Thy Catafalque. Versetze dich in das Jahr 1999 - als die Welt eine neue Perspektive auf den Metal kennenlernte. Thy Catafalque tauchten auf und boten eine einzigartige Mischung aus harschen Black-Metal-Klängen und detaillierten Synthesizer-Überlagerungen, die eine Symphonie hervorbrachte, die sich über die Konventionen der damaligen Zeit hinwegsetzte. Heute steht Sublunar Tragedies als ein Relikt von Kátais fortwährendem künstlerischen Schaffen und ist bereit, das Publikum durch seine Wiederveröffentlichung auf Season of Mist erneut zu fesseln.

This album is a prime example of misunderstood genius, not particularly liked by the fans because of its rather radical low-key atmosphere, quite distant from the previous "Heavy Prog" formula. In fact, it's so moody it can verge on soporific, like a soundtrack for an opium den. But these guys are full of surprises and they succeed in paving the road for future prog acts such as PTree, NoSound, White Willow, Paatos and the brilliant Sunscape by deliberately expanding on the veil on the sonics, less rock and more roll if you will. Landberk is unquestionably led by the scintillating guitar work of Reine Fiske, a unique somber style that winks reverently at a reserved Fripp or U2's The Edge on quaaludes combined with an abundant use of fluffy mellotron carpets at the hands of producer Simon Nordberg. Both bassist Stefan Dimle and drummer Jonas Lindholm excel at setting a mood and keeping it firmly anchored, just plain solid.

NYC speed rockers PONS are wound up and hot for skronk on The Liquid Self, a golden spiral into insanity at sea surfacing on cassette and streaming October 6, 2023. Besieged by a lighthouse panopticon of pummeling, engine-room percussion, The Liquid Self rises higher than the tides of destiny. These eleven songs churn like a gluttonous maelstrom consuming everything in its path. The Liquid Self chums indie rock’s murky waters with bloody chunks of Lightning Bolt, Van Halen and King Crimson to lure PONS’ mythical and unhinged rock ‘n roll creation to the surface. Harpoons in hand, the dual drums and guitar trio swing, shuffle and strut across oceanic horizons of playful, unhinged garage-prog-pop inhabited by a cast of unreliable narrators; bottom feeders carrying the entire ocean’s weight on their polyrhythms.

On the single “Coral King,” PONS usurp noise rock’s old guard while pledging fealty to the dystopia under the sea with a foamy, froth-mouthed manic industrial scuzz-prog rant seething with sludgy, dissonant bile oozing from every sour note. Furious violin-fuzz riffs and a chorus of lost souls lead the procession at this brutal coronation of the damned.

“Sinking Feeling” hangs ten with bright and beachy major chords anchored by fleet-flippered guitar solos breaching the surf like suppertime at SeaWorld. Chaos reigns on “Queen Conch,” soaking the splash zone with misty waves of undulating percussion and tsunami force sheets of six-string shredding. Barbed post-punk rager “Hooks” swallows the bait whole—and it turns out PONS fish with dynamite.

JOACHIM WITT ist eine Lichtgestalt der deutschen Kulturszene. Seit über 40 Jahren steht der erfolgreiche Musiker auf der Bühne. In diesen Jahrzehnten hat er eine enorme Wandelbarkeit bewiesen. 17 Alben veröffentlichte Joachim Witt seit 1980. Beginnend mit "Silberblick" und der Auskopplung "Der Goldene Reiter" (Gold-Status) in der Zeit der NDW, über das 1998 erschiene Comeback-Erfolgsalbum "Bayreuth I", das Platin Status erreichte, bis "DOM" in 2012 mit der Singlekopplung "Gloria" und dem kontrovers diskutierten Video, seinen Auftritten beim Wacken Open-Air oder auch seiner jüngst entdeckten TikTok-Karriere: Der 74-Jährige gebürtige Hamburger ist ein Garant für Vielseitigkeit, Genre Wechsel und Stil-Mischungen.

Sein neues Album trägt den Titel "Der Fels in der Brandung" . Keine Metapher passt zu JOACHIM WITT persönlich besser: Der Ausnahmekünstler hat im Laufe seines Lebens immer wieder Veränderungen unternommen, unzählige Herausforderungen gemeistert, Höhen und Tiefen durchlebt und dabei seine künstlerische
Integrität fortwährend bewahrt.

JOACHIM WITT nimmt sich immer wieder neuer Visionen an und verwirklicht diese konsequent.

"Der Fels in der Brandung" ist ein Album, das seine Zuhörer auf vielen Ebenen überraschen wird. In enger Zusammenarbeit mit dem Flensburger Gold-Produzenten Hardy Krech (Elephant Music), hat JOACHIM WITT wieder einen neuen und eigenen Sound kreiert, der seine Stärken und seine Botschaften in eindrucksvoller Weise mit elektronischen Klängen und Gitarrenmelodien verwebt

Comprising accomplished musicians Roy Bar-Tour, Atzmon Avrahami and Adam Yodfat, Les Dynamites built themselves a strong following for their fresh blend of Mediterranean and classic surf rock with Balkan and Yemini folk, catching the attention of Middle Eastern groove connoisseurs Batov Record. Their debut single for the label, “Pop Oud #2”, packed enough punch, and funk, for both psych fans and break dancers. Backed by a dubwise flip by digging pioneers Radio Trip, it received support from the likes of Juno, Monolith Cocktail and Worldwide FM.

“Uzi Kinrot” takes its name from guitarists Uri Kinrot and Uzi Feinerman of Boom Pam, pioneers of today’s resurgence in Middle Eastern surf rock. Ray Bar-Tour riffs like a Klezmer-playing Dick Dale over a Balkan sousaphone bass lines and snappy drum rhythms. Towards the end, Yemen Yehudith adds a special touch of traditional wailing, raising the excitement by another notch.

Recorded, co-arranged, produced, mixed and mastered by Uri “MixMonster” Wertheim of famed funk band, The Apples, and obscure sample scientists, RadioTrip. On “Uzi Kinrot” and “Sea Gull”, the group pay tribute to the Mediterranean surf heroes who inspired them most. They continue from where the seventies funk leaning “Pop Oud #2” left off, going deeper, and reuniting the classic Mediterranean and American surf sounds with a fresh perspective, destined to earn themselves an even greater following.

J. Robbins on Basilisk:
2020 gave us the pandemic, which despite all its awfulness also gave me a lot of opportunities to write and demo music - but everyone was terrified to get into the same room together to play. Finally, around February of 2021, I called up Brooks Harlan and Darren Zentek and asked if they would be down to meet me at the studio and do a 2-day session and see how it turns out. Brooks and Darren were into the idea - we were all in full cabin fever mode at that point and dying to do anything - so I sent them the demos and we did it. The musical connection had always already been there, but the energy that came from all being in the same room doing this together - something we had just spent a year wondering if we’d ever get to do again - was wonderful. It felt like having been lost in the desert, and then finding an oasis. I’ve never been so happy with a session - both the results and the experience, and the outcome was exactly what I had wanted: something more stripped down and very immediate.

We were all fired up and we did a second session in March 2022. In the interim I enlisted some collaborators:Gordon Withers to add cello and second guitar to a few songs, Janet Morgan and her two sisters to sing some harmonies, Dave Hadley to play pedal steel on “Not The End,” and Chicago punk legend John Haggerty to add an actual blazing guitar solo to the song "Exquisite Corpse." And I went on working on vocals and overdubs at home. The lyrics were (as always) somewhat therapeutical: “Automaticity” came out of thoughts on aging and remaining present in a world increasingly going on auto-pilot; “Last War” and “Dead Eyed God” work out fears prompted by January 6th and the rise of neo-fascism. More personal matters were trying to work themselves out as well. Recurring childhood dreams ("Deception Island"), surrealist games ("Exquisite Corpse"), and trephination guru Amanda Feilding ("Open Mind") were also in the mix.

Another result of pandemic isolation was that I had also been working on more abstract, electronic based music(inspired by my love of film soundtracks, Peter Gabriel’s music, and by studio work I had done not long ago with the band Locrian), using granular synthesis, sampling, and software synths. So as Basilisk came together, I wanted to see if I could pull those sounds into the flow of the record, open up its vocabulary a little and still make something cohesive. Connection has always been the whole point of music making for me. There are so many ways to come at it, and i don't want to close any of those doors. Going forward, I only want to open more of them.

One of the summer’s anthems, Popular, taken from the HBO series The Idol, features non other than Madonna and for the flip we go back to 2016 and the title track of the multi platinum

LP Starboy featuring French superstars Daft Punk – both tracks killer and intro/outros added with the DJs in mind – this is likely to be a popular one!

If Talk Show’s exhilarating full-length debut, Effigy, feels more like a film than an album, that’s no coincidence. The band crafted the collection to soundtrack to a fictional nightclub. “One of the biggest influences on this record was the intro to the movie Blade, where this character’s being dragged through a meatpacking plant and into the vampire rave,” says frontman Harrison Swann. “There’s so much tension and anticipation and intimidation in that scene. We wanted to create the kind of music we’d play if we were performing in that club, to put ourselves into that scene and see how far we could push it.” With Effigy, Talk Show do more than just push their sound; they completely reinvent it. Produced by Remi Kabaka Jr., of Gorillaz, the record offers up a bold and exhilarating showcase for the band’s dramatic evolution, drawing on everything from The Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy to Nine Inch Nails and The KLF as it taps into a raw, primal sound at the intersection of techno, electronic, industrial, and rock music. The songs are dark and gritty, fueled by blistering guitars and explosive drums, and Swann’s vocals are nothing short of hypnotic, leaning on repetition and restraint to reach for transcendence in the midst of swirling sonic chaos. The result is an immersive, multi-sensory experience, one that conjures up a dark, sweaty warehouse packed with moving bodies all radiating heat and desire, anxiety and release, ecstasy and desperation

Second chapter for the new VA vinyl trilogy on R3volution Records called

In this edition there are the following artists under our attention:

- PWCCA, label owner of the top labels Hardtools and Inducted Waves and acclaimed world-famous Spanish producer, already distinguished with severeal appearances on our label including the latest release "Programming Language EP" last year;
- PUSHMANN, another top Spanish DJ and producer, making his debut on
- PYRAMIDAL DECODE authentic Italian based talent who, with many appearances on our label, has also found the time to make his music recognized around the world thanks to numerous releases on labels that represent milestones in the international techno scene, such as WarmUp, Mord, Dynamic Reflection, Faut Section, Edit Select...
- JOAQUIN RUIZ, the only non-European artist on this release, has already made many appearances on our label both as a solo release and as a remixer. He is a DJ/producer on the West Side of Buenos Aires. Ambitious and always looking for new challenges and opportunities, Joaquin is definitely one of the newest emerging talents from the techno music scene in Argentina. He runs his label West Rules too and also releases his music on respected labels of the scene such as Devotion, Knotweed, Affekt, Selected, Subsist, just to name a few
- MICHELE MAUSI founder & label owner with another amazing track called Waterloop
- MDMP is Michele's 2nd alias in pair with DANIELE PETRONELLI with a pure BOMB track called Under Armor

Unbelievable Friendship is the second solo album by Filip Misek and the first one published under his own name. Unlike on his previous record from more than ten years ago, here Misek is more experimental and candid while still striving for songs that are an // ultimate // end in themselves. Though few of them can be sung, the songs often include vocals and voices courtesy of several guests // heavily processed as they might be. More importantly, Unbelievable Friendship sticks to the idea of a song, so that each of them works both on its own and as a part of a whole.

For the last seven years, sound artist, technologist, and electronic musician Moisés Horta Valenzuela (aka Hexorcismos) has been studying artificial intelligence and generative art, wondering how these new technologies might be augmented into his musical process. Born in Tijuana and currently based in Berlin, Hexorcismos has long attempted to break down the permeable borders between musical styles and expressions, using the spaces in between to reinforce his politics and worldview. And on 'MUTALISMX - becoming sonic network', he expands his vision, inviting artists from across the globe to collaborate on work that questions the biases inherent in AI models, offering a collective alternative that could serve as a blueprint for further research.

The majority of AI art at this stage works with "big data", taking ideas from the cultural canon and muddying them with our contemporary reality. But if we accept that mass culture is always politically biased, always swaying towards historical prejudices, then there must be a counter-narrative. Hexorcismos began to develop a bottom-up approach, using "small data" to interrogate his idiosyncratic approach to art; he built a tool called SEMILLA.AI based on neural audio synthesis that could not only mimic his sonic fingerprint but transform it into another. So when he offered the synth to his network of collaborators, he gave them the option of either using only their data or sharing the signatures of each other artist involved in the project, blurring their identities into a mutual voice.

The result is a compilation that unspools with the coherence and fluidity of a single-artist album or adventurous DJ mix, genreless and boundless but unified by a singular message. Hunanese-American artist Kloxii Li for example takes rugged percussion and tense, industrial ambience, smudging her soundscape into a swirling gust of ghostly dissonance. Hexorcismos himself contributes two compositions: the lengthy, hypnotic 'Acaso de veras se vive con raíz en la Tierra', an AI-powered scramble of his pointed tribal guarachero experiments; and 'Interferencias', a collaboration with Mexican club veteran Bryan Dálvez, aka El Irreal Veintiuno that drives intense dancefloor rhythms into a dense haze of frozen drones and radio static. Elsewhere, Berlin-based Lebanese artist and writer Jessika Khazrik dissolves her voice into a mesh of obscured rhythms and dissociated whirrs, blending the organic with the artificial but retaining an overpowering sense of humanity.

Some artists were drawn to the nebulous aspects of the technology, searching for truth in a soup of different sounds, while others, such as KMRU, used Hexorcismos's synthesizer the examine their output. On 'hidden options', the Kenyan sound artist fed his immense catalog into the neural net, bringing out his mannerisms and tendencies in the process. Each track is singular but myriad, prompting both mutual respect and a sonic becoming, a feedback process between the artist and the tool, the individual and the collective. Data sets are made by people, and by engaging directly with musicians, Hexorcismos suggests a new way of utilizing a technology demonized and glorified without careful examination. Each artist owns their AI model, and alongside the album Hexorcismos will release SEMILLA.AI to the public (with custom-made models to start the process), allowing anyone to access this revolutionary technology.

Even the album's artwork reflects the political message, conceptualized by Chilean duo hypereikon, who used AI processes to develop a visual reflection of the technology and its possibilities. Operating outside of academia and capitalist enterprises, MUTUALISMX proposes an alternative future - one without borders that's not beholden to the Western canon, where independent labor can be prioritized and celebrated, and where creativity can truly flourish.

"Due to the huge success of the Original Source Series and due to frequent wishes by both fans and critics alike, DG have decided to launch a reprint of all four titles of Batch 1 – marked as “SECOND EDITION”. Same Quality, just without numbering. THE ORIGINAL SOURCE is a new series of celebrated albums reissued on vinyl. These new releases include Claudio Abbado’s fascinating interpretation of works by Debussy and Ravel with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (1 LP), the legendary recording of Brahms’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 with Emil Gilels, the Berliner Philharmoniker and Eugen Jochum (2 LPs), and Verdi’s Messa da Requiem in the iconic version of Herbert von Karajan and Berliner Philharmoniker (2 LPs). The renowned Berlin-based Emil Berliner Studios are remastering 4-track recordings from the 1970s, using their own cutting-edge and 100% pure analogue techniques (AAA) to create versions of the highest possible audio quality. Compared to the original releases, the advantages in sound are outstanding: More clarity, more details and a better frequency response, less noise, less distortion, less compression – the highest possible audiophile quality which gives listeners the chance to enjoy this repertoire like never before.
Produced on 180g virgin vinyl by Optimal, these limited and numbered releases will be issued in deluxe gatefold editions featuring the original artwork and liner notes, with additional photos and facsimiles of the recording documentation on the inner sleeve. Furthermore, each release includes a note by Rainer Maillard/EBS detailing the technical background and procedure of the Original Source Series, and an additional insert with a photo of the original tape box. Each LP comes in a protective cellophane jacket with a sticker highlighting the

"Due to the huge success of the Original Source Series and due to frequent wishes by both fans and critics alike, DG have decided to launch a reprint of all four titles of Batch 1 – marked as “SECOND EDITION”. Same Quality, just without numbering. THE ORIGINAL SOURCE is a new series of celebrated albums reissued on vinyl. These new releases include Claudio Abbado’s fascinating interpretation of works by Debussy and Ravel with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (1 LP), the legendary recording of Brahms’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 with Emil Gilels, the Berliner Philharmoniker and Eugen Jochum (2 LPs), and Verdi’s Messa da Requiem in the iconic version of Herbert von Karajan and Berliner Philharmoniker (2 LPs). The renowned Berlin-based Emil Berliner Studios are remastering 4-track recordings from the 1970s, using their own cutting-edge and 100% pure analogue techniques (AAA) to create versions of the highest possible audio quality. Compared to the original releases, the advantages in sound are outstanding: More clarity, more details and a better frequency response, less noise, less distortion, less compression – the highest possible audiophile quality which gives listeners the chance to enjoy this repertoire like never before.
Produced on 180g virgin vinyl by Optimal, these limited and numbered releases will be issued in deluxe gatefold editions featuring the original artwork and liner notes, with additional photos and facsimiles of the recording documentation on the inner sleeve. Furthermore, each release includes a note by Rainer Maillard/EBS detailing the technical background and procedure of the Original Source Series, and an additional insert with a photo of the original tape box. Each LP comes in a protective cellophane jacket with a sticker highlighting the
"

"Due to the huge success of the Original Source Series and due to frequent wishes by both fans and critics alike, DG have decided to launch a reprint of all four titles of Batch 1 – marked as “SECOND EDITION”. Same Quality, just without numbering. THE ORIGINAL SOURCE is a new series of celebrated albums reissued on vinyl. These new releases include Claudio Abbado’s fascinating interpretation of works by Debussy and Ravel with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (1 LP), the legendary recording of Brahms’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 with Emil Gilels, the Berliner Philharmoniker and Eugen Jochum (2 LPs), and Verdi’s Messa da Requiem in the iconic version of Herbert von Karajan and Berliner Philharmoniker (2 LPs). The renowned Berlin-based Emil Berliner Studios are remastering 4-track recordings from the 1970s, using their own cutting-edge and 100% pure analogue techniques (AAA) to create versions of the highest possible audio quality. Compared to the original releases, the advantages in sound are outstanding: More clarity, more details and a better frequency response, less noise, less distortion, less compression – the highest possible audiophile quality which gives listeners the chance to enjoy this repertoire like never before.
Produced on 180g virgin vinyl by Optimal, these limited and numbered releases will be issued in deluxe gatefold editions featuring the original artwork and liner notes, with additional photos and facsimiles of the recording documentation on the inner sleeve. Furthermore, each release includes a note by Rainer Maillard/EBS detailing the technical background and procedure of the Original Source Series, and an additional insert with a photo of the original tape box. Each LP comes in a protective cellophane jacket with a sticker highlighting the
"

Scratch Formers, pt. II! Skratch Practice proudly presents a new 7" skip-proof scratch series on premium Picture Disc. Originally conceived by Dj T-Kut. The picture design illustrated in full color by Adolfo Gerrero and produced by Skratch Practice's DJ T-Kut, Skratcher Madrid . Each 7" picture vinyl (Volumes 1 & 2) comes with 6 unique skip-proof scratch phrases with 100 BPM on both sides. Perfect for practicing portable scratching, improvisations and battles... This vinyl is a piece of art that you have to get for your collection.

Car Therapy Sessions is an EP of new and re-imagined songs by Faye Webster recorded at Spacebomb Studios with a 24 piece orchestra. The orchestra was headed by Trey Pollard who was responsible for both conducting and arranging, and Drew Vandenburg produced and mixed the EP. Car Therapy Sessions will be available on vinyl in the fall and is available to pre-order on April 13th. "I have a vivid memory of walking around London in 2018 listening to a mix of Jonny, which I had just written. I remember thinking "I want to perform this song with an orchestra". I truly have had my heart set on it since then, always talking about it and figuring out how or when to make it happen," says Webster. On the EP, Webster reimagines three songs from her critically acclaimed 2021 release I Know I'm Funny haha and 2019's Atlanta Millionaires Club. The songs "Kind Of", "Sometimes" and "Cheers" take on a cinematic and glimmering new sheen. In addition to the title track -"Car Therapy" - she also shares a sprawling and emotional work - "Suite: Jonny" - which combines fan-favorites "Jonny" and "Jonny (Reprise)." The two songs originally appeared on the Atlanta Millionaire's Club tracklist, two different views on the same narrative. Here they're presented together. It's remarkable how beautifully Webster's work can take on this orchestral treatment. Like Cole Porter, or Judy Garland - her delicate and emotional delivery packs a gut punch when dramatized by the EP's robust arrangements.

Pomegranate Skies is a new album from Sepehr exploring sonic themes of heaven and hell, dualities, split identities, and chaos. The music in this album is a reflection of the ever-constant existential chaos in his mind, reflecting a musical journey through all the different influences and inspirations of genres and electronic music eras throughout his life but also a nod to the amorphous weight of divine weirdness that inspires his music. Music that is reflecting a split identity, music in between cultures. Music that is both good and evil, both sensical and non sensical, both angelic and hellish, secular and divine. Music to give you visions of geographic wonders that don’t really exist. The absurdism of everything from Earth but also of Heaven. Music that doesn’t follow tropes but also sounds familiar. It makes you want to laugh and cry; the in betweenness of everything. Music that makes you want to reach up and taste the pomegranates growing in the skies.

Skyjack is what happens when a heavyweight South African jazz trio meets a pair of Swiss reed and brass hotshots. Over the course of a decade, this all-star quintet has forged a reputation as an innovative and adventurous force in contemporary African and European jazz. Combining deep grooves with thrilling rides and avant-garde experimentation, Skyjack is a powerhouse both on stage and in the studio.

Light Cycle is the band's third recorded outing and documents a seasoned outfit at its most ambitious and accomplished. Featuring compositions from all members of the group, the album is a multidimensional creature with a big heart and a powerful imagination. Part science fiction adventure, part sentimental journey, Light Cycle reconciles expansive cosmic soundscapes with a deep grounding in memory and folklore.

Issued as a double-LP on the As-Shams/The Sun label, Skyjack joins both a catalogue and tradition of groundbreaking South African jazz dating back to the 1970s. The album's cover features the work of esteemed Cape Town artist Igshaan Adams.

Warehouse find!

With '100% Dope' we find Central Processing Unit bringing up their hundredth catalogue number, and you'd struggle to find a more fitting artist to ring in a century of releases for the label than Cygnus. The one born Phillip Washington has been with CPU since the very beginning, his 2012 LP 'Newmark Phase' representing the first record ever released on the imprint. That album's combination of textured techno and grizzly Drexciyan electro set the tone for CPU perfectly, and it's no surprise that Cygnus has returned to the Sheffield imprint several times down the years.

While '100% Dope' is an expert demonstration of what Cygnus and CPU do, this EP also shows just how much both artist and label have grown over the past nine years. At its heart '100% Dope' is a set of prime machine-funk from a master of the form, but these are also some of the most daring and innovative tracks that Cygnus has ever produced.

Take opening cut 'Bad RGB Controller'. In the undulating synth lines we have a ghost of grime as well as Drexciyan drive, and as such the track reminds one as much of Mr. Mitch or Last Japan as it does, say, Dopplereffekt. Furthermore, 'Bad RGB Controller' shifts gear around the halfway mark into a highwire electronica mode which has the wit and spark of prime Bogdan Raczynski. Entries like 'Float Back To The Surface' are similarly unpredictable. There's some lovely industrial techno bite to this one - the snare drum will echo in your head long after the party's died down - but Cygnus periodically pulls out the rug from underneath us with passages of impressionistic texture that almost border on sound art.

'Float Back To The Surface' is one of a trio of vocoder-led jams here. On 'Throwing Shade' we hear I-F and Egyptian Lover, with Cygnus' vocals clattering around like pronouncements from some funked-out robot overlord atop hissing-piston drums. Then there's the enticingly-titled 'CPU Records'. 'CPU Records' delivers all the crisp electro snap we've come to expect from a record emblazoned with that signature black-and-white artwork, yet this thing is also widescreen and cinematic in ways that demonstrate the maturation of the Cygnus sound. With a wicked vocoder vocal that celebrates the label's many achievements, 'CPU Records' is a victory lap tune if ever we've heard one.

Central Processing Unit keep it 100 on for this new EP. '100% Dope' by Cygnus is CPU's 100th catalogue number, and the Texan producer delivers on the promise of the record's title with a collection of brilliantly unique electro joints.

Some Justice ‘94 / Burnin’ Passion ‘94 EP 7"

Serious history business: 'Some Justice' was the first time Micky Finn and Aphrodite joined forces and launched a partnership that would change drum & bass history. Prior to them linking, Urban Shakedown comprised of Aphrodite and Claudio Giussani who had a run of fantastically euphoric hardcore crossover records during that golden rave era. 'Some Justice' landed in 91 and the instantly goosebumping vocal cut 'Burnin' Passion' landed in 93. Both of them enjoyed these touch-ups in 94, which still sound fantastic today. Feel the burn.

Musica Per Immagini is about to go beyond vinyl reissues of soundtracks and music libraries, with a brand new series of products.
From 2024 onwards, it will release a series of albums of contemporary and electronic music often "inspired by" different sources, both sonic, if not literary and cinematographic. A way to embrace the future without forgetting the past.

Heinrich Dressel's “Polarlys” is the first album of unreleased tracks published by Musica Per Immagini, or a soundtrack for a imaginary noir film set in the icy waters of northern Europe, inspired by the book “The Mystery of the Polarlys” by Georges Simenon. Drones and ethereal atmospheres are paired with a cinematic background in order to describe the frost of the northern seas and the restlessness of the journey: beyond the classic analog sounds, a specific use of additive and vector synthesis particularly in vogue during the Nineties and typical of vintage synthesizers.

Mutagenicos (in English, "Mutagens...agents of change) were formed at the end of 2008, their base of operations being the wine region of Spain, Logroño in La Rioja. Influenced by traditional garage, surf and rockn´roll, but with their feet firmly planted in the present. Their brilliant, long-delayed, new album is finally out! They started as a quintet playing mainly instrumental songs, but little by little, both the formation and the compositions, have been undergoing mutations, making way for other musical genres with a greater number of sung songs, although always there remains room for instrumentals. For more than 3 years the band had stabilized as a trio: Santi Pequeno (bass) Pablo Magariños (drums and vocals) Alfredo Roto (guitar and vocals). But as they are irresistible to change, Miguel Aguas has joined, contributing percussion, synths, choruses, and much-needed height! But what has never, and will never, change is the is the fundamental driver of the band: fun above all. Which is what rock´n´roll is supposed to be, right?

Repress!

HI-LO returns to Adam Beyer’s label for a sharp new outing ‘WANNA GO BANG’. The new track comes almost a year on from his energetic Drumcode debut ‘Hypnos’, which was followed by his remix of Adam Beyer & DJ Rush’s ‘Restore My Soul’. Oliver Heldens’ techno alias HI-LO has been building steam over the last 12 months, remixing Nina Kraviz’s ‘Skyscrapers’, sharing line-ups with everyone from Erol Alkan to PanPot and Enrico Sangiuliano on the world’s biggest stages, while also collaborating with Reinier Zonneveld, Eli Brown, and Space 92. All the while he’s kept in contact with Beyer, a sophomore offering on Drumcode always on the cards. ‘WANNA GO BANG’ is a high-powered Chicago-influenced weapon, that takes its vocal from the DJ Deeon classic ‘2 B Free’. HI-LO’s cut sees the vocal combine with a volley of drums throughout the mid-section, which adds a clever dynamic energy to the track. Already teased in HI-LO’s sets, and widely supported by the underground’s finest including Beyer, Amelie Lens, Enrico Sangiuliano, ANNA, and many more, ‘Wanna Go Bang’ is set to dominate clubs worldwide. Included in the pack, ‘LOKOMOTIF’ is five minutes of pure machine funk as HI-LO crafts a fantastic little groover driven by 90s house synths stabs. The track which has been in the works for the past two years has been teased in HI-LO’s sets over the summer, also garnering support from Carl Cox. On both tracks, Oliver Heldens says “‘WANNA GO BANG’ is my take on Chicago legend DJ Deeon’s classic vocoder vocal sample (from his 1992 song “2 B Free”, but it’s pitched down 5 semitones now which gives it such a dark vibe). I’ve always wanted to make my own DJ weapon version of it since I heard Bjarki’s trippy version in 2015, and I’m really happy with how it turned out, it’s such a monster! “LOKOMOTIF” is a high-energy groover, driven by 90s House synth stabs, funky percussion and banging drums, and it sits very nicely in between Techno and House. Both are really ‘dance floor’ focused, so I’m very pleased that many noteworthy DJs have been banging out these tracks in their sets already pre-release. And I couldn’t be happier than to see them released on one of my all-time favorite labels, Drumcode!”

Kenyan folk artist Rapasa Nyatrapasa Otieno and Man Power met while both artists in residence at the esteemed Glasshouse International Centre for Music and offer us something truly original here at M.A.D Records. Music has the power to bring people together and this is a shining example, Kenyan folk and electronic music from the North East of England - what’s not to like. On the flip label bosses Make A Dance offer up two remixes.

Purple Vinyl Repress is coming

One of Smiths favourite pieces of music, At Les, has been a remix target of his for a long time but earlier this year inspiration and motivation combined and resulted in two brilliant interpretations which were immediately sent to Carl Craig, purely out of respect. Craig loved them, granted his permission and approval for a special remix package release on Tronic and now, here we are with one of the biggest releases of 2010.

Delivered in both Tronic Treatment and Hypnotica Remix forms, Smith has taken the originals warmth, musicality and emotion and given them the sort of energy and power which has made him one of the most bankable producers of recent years.

The Tronic Treatment remix starts slow but with careful and patient layering of melodies builds to an epic, peak time track which takes on an almost orchestral feel while the aptly titled Hypnotica Remix takes a slightly more aggressive, loopier and hypnotic take.

Repressed on Clear Vinyl for 2022


Dave Clarke Very good, congratulations!

Slam awesome mixes. played last night - a classic just got better really love both mixes

Laurent Garnier what a classy remix of this stunning classic—Will play everywhere and will playlist on the radio BRAVO

John Digweed "Massive!" Both Remixes!

Dubfire "Christian has managed to do a great remix of a timeless classic which is both reverent and of the moment. Well done! I closed with it at Awakenings festival and it sounded wicked!"

Adam Beyer Love the "Hypnotica" remix that Christian made. Been playing it over and over and it was one of the biggest trax during WMC for me!

James Zabiela Oh My God!!!!!! Going on my essential mix that was meant to be handed in this morning. Re-working to fit this in. ANTHEM!!!!!

Clear Vinyl

Blue Lake is the musical moniker of American born, Copenhagen based multidisciplinary artist and musician Jason Dungan, who signs to the Tonal Union imprint for the release of his new longform album ‘Sun Arcs’. It follows 2022’s release ‘Stikling’, earning a nomination for ‘Album of the Year’ at the Danish Music Awards plus warm praise from The Hum blog and musicians and DJs alike including Jack Rollo (Time is Away/NTS) and Carla dal Forno. A self taught player, Dungan began freely experimenting with self-built multi-string instruments, preferring to build his own hybrid 48-string zither and working in the realms of left-field ambient music, off kilter folk and improvised acoustic minimalism.

The starting point of ‘Sun Arcs’ saw Jason travel for a week alone to Andersabo, a cabin set in the idyllic Swedish woods just outside of Unnaryd, known also as the music project, festival and residency space which has been run by Dungan since 2016, hosting artists like Sofie Birch, Johan Carøe and Ellen Arkbro. Whilst writing 1-2 pieces per day, a conscious decision was made to leave behind everyday distractions and shut out the outside world to instead focus on the natural passage of time as Dungan recalls: “My only sense of time came from these daily walks out in the woods with my dog, and an awareness of the sun’s path as it moved across the sky each day.”

The album’s immersive world unfolds with the opener ‘Dallas’, an ode to his home state and a musical synthesis of these two disparate spaces (Texas and Denmark), the touchstones of Dungan’s life. A folk-esque single acoustic builds to a flowing arrangement of clarinets, organ and cello drones coupled with percussion. ‘Green-Yellow Field’ chimes in as the first of two solo oriented zither recordings twinned with the dreamlike title track ‘Sun Arcs’, both densely rich as cascading and overlapping harmonic tones resound. ‘Bloom’ emerges with a krautrock psyche before an eruption of cello drones, slide guitar and free-ranging zither playing, ushering in the anticipation of spring. With half of the recordings conceived in Andersabo, Jason returned to Copenhagen to form the album's centre piece ‘Rain Cycle’ which features a tempered Roland drum machine alongside shifting zither improvisations. ‘Writing’ explores the shimmering harp-like qualities of sweeping playing figurations with Dungan mapping out adjusted tuning “zones” on the zither for unconventional but creatively liberating effects. ‘Fur’ captures the feeling of openness and the momentum of time, seeing Dungan perform waves of solo clarinet, often in one takes and embellished with textural drones, a zither solo, and layers of guitar. ‘Wavelength’ the album's closer is fondly inspired by the film works of Michael Snow and Don Cherry’s seminal live album ‘Blue Lake’ (1974), as it builds out from a drone-generated zither chord and features an alto recorder solo. Dungan found a deep connection to Cherry’s stripped back performance ethos, focusing on the core beauty of minimal instrumentation creating a genre-less meeting between folk and jazz. A dialogue is formed between the solo and the bandlike performances, interlinked in a geographical duality with all finding a sense of commonplace as musical sketches of visited landscapes. The bountiful instrumentation ebbs and flows as further layers emerge with Dungan constructing his material much like an artist would, recording and reviewing, adding and subtracting.

Musically it portrays a form of double life led by an American-identifying person living in Scandinavia, and a new found presence in Denmark, seeking out underdeveloped marshlands and barren stretches of beach adrift from other rhythms and distractions. Highlighting their individual and potent importance Dungan concludes: “Both places feel like “me”, I think on some level the music is always some kind of self-portrait.” ‘Sun Arcs’ depicts the intricate balance of nature’s cycles and the paths outlined by the seasons, from a winter dormancy to a warm sun drenched scene. The album scales new glorying heights and further defines Dungan’s musical narrative, inhabiting a unique space in left-field, improvised and experimental music, borning his most accomplished compositions to date. A singular and visionary expression, drawing on an array of instruments and sound worlds with a renewed sense of joy and discovery.

The album's rich tapestry was mixed by Jeff Zeigler (Laraaji, Mary Lattimore, Kurt Vile /Steve Gunn) and mastered by Stephan Mathieu (Kali Malone, KMRU, Félicia Atkinson).

Vladislav Delay presents the fifth and last EP in his "Hide Behind The Silence" series. Intuitive and raw music, momentary and reflective, released on Ripatti's own label "Rajaton".

--

Stillness is a myth. Consider concepts such as ”still water”, or ”still air” for that matter. Go to a restaurant, ask them for a glass of still water, hold it against the light and see where we’re at. Even though the water itself has been captured and imprisoned in the glass, it never stops breathing. It’s filled with tiny particles, dancing. Everything can be explained on a molecular level, but since we’re not scientists – and even if you happen to be – it’s the natural world of perception that moves me.
Still air is very similar. A hot summer’s day with zero wind feels completely still. It’s the closest I have felt to complete stillness. Or for a more urban adaptation, imagine the same vibe inside a normal apartment. In those moments, revelations and mind- blowing experiences can be had with experiments in stillness.
Try this: Just sit down for a minute on a sunny day, making sure there’s enough natural light. Do absolutely nothing. Try not to breathe for a bit. (If you need a mental anchor, you can play Cage’s 4’33” in your head but nothing else.) Watch the tiny dots of dust dancing :..’ ̈.:; ́ ́*°.,’:,. ̈ ̈ ̈ ̈:,.’
The movement is crazy, but the feeling of stillness comes from witnessing how subtle it is. In (perceived) complete stillness, every act of microscopic mobility seems to speak volumes. Yet, it feels both reassuring and oddly threatening that the stillness is never complete. What if we would need absolute stillness? Or is it just enough that we can perceive something as such? Extremes attract, so for both water and air, extraordinary movement is equally fascinating. That is also a luxury item of sorts. For us to enjoy a very ”loud” body of water or air, we need to be safe, in enough control of the situation. So when you are, it’s worthwhile to pay attention and take it all in.
A rapid flowing free with extreme strength and just barely in control. Look at that water go! No still water on this one, only ”sparkling”. A windy day when birds seem surprised how hard it is to fly, but in the end they make it. Trees bend but don’t break. The wind shows you its movement but doesn’t hurt you. It feels friendly, like a big clumsy dog that doesn’t quite understand its size.
It’s beautiful to be a guest of the elements, but not at the mercy of them. A new kind of dialogue forms.

repressed !

Dropping into chapters four and five of his Midnight Themes series, Marlon Hoffstadt responds to this summer's double set of 'Human Interpretations' - where Gramrcy, Eric Maltz, Johannes Albert, Bawrut and others remixed his previous work - with a two part EP of original material titled 'Law Of Attraction'. Marlon has steadily chiseled his way back into the scene with a series of acclaimed releases and is now in full swing with his Midnight Themes label and his Savour The Moment parties. For 'Part One', the Berlin native delivers four bold tracks, building bridges between classic sounds and a distinct knack for melodies. It's uplifting techno for a hopeful future and these killer cuts are ready and waiting to hit the dancefloors. Speaking of dancefloors, join Marlon to celebrate the release of both EPs on December 8th at Renate alongside DMX Krew, Kowton, Meggy, Gigsta and many more.

Warehouse find!

While the German producer Martin Matiske averages a new release under his given name every few years, there was a long stretch of time in which sightings of his Blackploid alias were much more rare. After dropping an EP for Frustrated Funk in 2006, fans found further material hard to come by over the next decade or so. However, Matiske has reinvigorated Blackploid in recent times, with the project making a few compilation appearances and dropping a couple of EPs across 2020.

That run now culminates inCosmic Traveler, a four-track affair which marks Matiske's debut appearance on Sheffield's Central Processing Unit. Given the long wait, it's great just to see Blackploid back among the fray once again. But for the project's CPU curtain-raiser to be an EP of such high-quality techno jams? Now that really is spoiling us.

Cosmic Traveler's title nods towards the sort of stargazing aesthetics one finds in classic Detroit techno. However, while there are undoubtedly ties to the Motor City in this music, the record ultimately steers less towards spacious atmospherics and more towards the taut, lean machine-funk of seminal practitioners like Dopplereffekt.

Matiske sets his stall out from the off. Opener 'Electric Engine' begins with a run of stiff-necked 808 kicks before hissing hi-hats, a grizzly bassline and all manner of futuristic sounds enter to warp the tune into hyperspace. Following cut 'Night Drive' repeats the trick of 'Electric Engine' but adds a pleasingly dinky synth lead in order to nudge itself slightly towards bleep-techno territory.

The two cuts on Cosmic Traveler's B-side are pure late-night goodness, a pair of mid-set heaters primed for dark basements. 'Pleasure Activism' delivers on the promise of its title and then some, pushing the Kraftwerk template to extremes by bringing a load of gnarly synth lines into play over a wobbling acidic chug. Finally, EP closer 'The Race' is reminiscent of both the twisted machine-funk of Gerald Donald's Japanese Telecom project and the playful modern evolutions of artists like fellow CPU high-flyer Jensen Interceptor.

The resurgence of Martin Matiske's Blackploid project continues withCosmic Traveller, an EP of timeless electro-funk and techno.

FFO: Dopplereffekt, Japanese Telecom, Jensen Interceptor, Cardopusher

Sylvain Chauveau has been releasing quiet and minimal compositions on various labels for more than two decades. ultra-minimal marks his debut for Sonic Pieces and takes the minimal approach even further, centring on reduction and limitation.

The album was recorded live at Café Oto, London in March 2022 - one of Sylvain’s rare solo concerts and the first time he performed publicly with only acoustic instruments; no machines, no recorded sounds have been used, only piano, guitar, harmonium and melodica, played one at the time. While some of the compositions are completely new, others are live versions of previously released pieces which have either been performed close to their original or stripped-down, reduced to a single instrument and partly rearranged. This reveals a predilection for repetitions and variations that Sylvain shares with Jim Jarmusch, and at the same time it is a personal attempt to avoid electronic devices as a tool for live music.

The artwork and track titles follow this reductionist idea and an aesthetic of miniaturization that Sylvain has developed for many years. They refer to the minimalist, concrete poetry that he writes regularly. In this context rewriting some of the original titles was a consistent implication to achieve a complete work, an album that perfectly represents Sonic Pieces’ aesthetics, both musically and visually.

After the test pressings mysteriously vanished on the Victoria line, the brothers Bend return triumphantly with their second outing on the fledgling Benders imprint. BNDRS002 has been timed to mark the quadrennial celebrations of leap day on the 29th of February and represents their most bent work to date. ‘Rip It Off’ and ‘How’s Your Father’ both chug along at a lazy pace that only the chief benders themselves could get away with. Once again, you have familiar melodies delivered with a twinkle in their eye and a side of acid filtered squelch. Perfect for the last song of the night or first song of the morning.

Agrio is a duo from Madrid, Spain and using a "what if..." methodology they write instrumental songs that they send later to a revolving cast of their talented and generous friends so they can add their magic. With this in mind they sent music to MARK LANEGAN, Enablers frontman PETE SIMONELLI & to SCOTT MCCLOUD from Girls Against Boys, Soulside and so much more. 'El Amigo Americano' is the result of these collaborations, 10 tracks of some of the most beautifully striking music around. The work with Mark Lanegan and Pete Simonelli were originally released as two vinyl EPs and Scott McCloud as a digital EP. EP 1 - EP one 'La Murga Ep' with Mark Lanegan was their debut on feb. 2020. EP2 - followed it that same autumn with The Thin Man EP featuring Pete Simonelli (Enablers). Both were originally released on vinyl via the San Francisco based label Broken Clover Records. These records sold out fast. EP 3 - "Repeat to Infinity EP" (digital only), with Scott McCloud's (Girls Against Boys, New Wet Kojak, Paramount Styles) on voice and guitar. The three EPs are compiled together on one LP as "El Amigo Americano". La Murga Ep* + The Thin Man Ep** + Repeat To Infinity EP*** = EL AMIGO AMERICANO AA I. Nike Italy France *** II. Dj's In Heaven*** III. People Used To Dream*** IV. A Mayores * V. Nomeolvides ** B I. A Drink Of Poison Water * II. Cisnes * III. The Scales Of Embrace ** IV. Waking ∦ ∆** The album is mastered by John McBain (Monster Magnet, Wellwater Conspiracy) Agrio is David Flores and Jorge Fuertes with Mark Lanegan, Pete Simonelli and Scott McCloud.