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'Deep session! It is rare to hear folk music from Japan in such beautiful fidelity and incredible dynamics. This recording is intensely gorgeous and hauntingly disarming. This should open up a whole new world of adventurous listening for folks outside (and inside!) Japan.'Brian Shimkovitz (Awesome Tapes From Africa)

'Sounds absolutely great! Super interesting and engaging.'Ben UFO

'Just Give Me That Old Time Religion, It's Good Enough For Me.'Japan Blues

A hotline to the gods! Kagura is a thousand-year-old form of Japanese Shinto sacred music and dance, accompanying the chanting of myths; the word "kagura" can be translated as "god-entertainment". Passed down over countless generations, the music is rare and recordings even rarer. Shigeo Tanaka was a master of the yumi (bow), an uncommon single-string percussion instrument, which is a true bow: arrows are fired off at the end of each ceremony to fend off evil sprits. The instrument is difficult to play; it's hard to draw out the proper sound and maintain the rhythm.
Yumi kagura is the oldest of all the various forms of kagura. The Tanaka family, based in rural Joge-cho, Hiroshima prefecture, has passed down this yumi kagura tradition for hundreds of years; this lineage continues to this day in the person of his daughter Ritsuko Tanaka. The Joge-cho yumi kagura, which prays for family well-being, bountiful crops and good fortune, was designated an Important Intangible Cultural Property in 1971. The piece featured here, "Takusa saimon", based on the myth "Ama no iwato" (The Rocky Celestial Cave), is mesmeric, reaching back across ages to the time before time, with Tanaka's voice and yumi, accompanied by flute and metal percussion, drawing us closer to the primal activities of the gods. Listeners may find affinities with aspects of musics as diverse as German electronic minimalism like E2-E4, certain Ethiopian music, "spiritual jazz" and more, all tapping into the deep root of forever. Previously available only on a ridiculously obscure 1990 cassette release, Yumi kagura is the first collaborative release by EM Records and Riyo Mountains, a Japanese folk song research team. Available on LP and CD, with the CD featuring a bonus track: "Inagahachiman jinja yumi kagura hono" recorded in 2016 by Tanaka's daughter and successor Ritsuko Tanaka.

+ Direction/liner notes by Riyo Mountains
+ English liner notes & lyrics

Cocytus, meaning "the river of wailing , is a river in the underworld in Greek mythology. It flows into the river Acheron, across which is the underworld, the mythological abode of the dead. Dante describes Cocytus in Inferno as being the home of traitors and those who committed acts of complex fraud. The river of wailing is divided into four arms:

Antenora, after Antenor from the Iliad, traitors to country.
Judecca, after Judas Iscariot, traitors to masters and benefactors.
Caina, after the Biblical Cain, traitors to blood relatives.
Ptolomea, after Ptolemy, governor of Jericho, who murdered his guests (1 Maccabees), traitors to guests.

Based on these assumptions COT labelhead HOURS crafted three pensive tracks, one of which was reinterpreted by Brian Sanhaji.

Der nigerianische Musiker Fela Kuti gilt als Begründer des Afrobeat. Das Label Knitting Factory legt nun verschiedene Werke aus dem Backcatalogue als neue Vinyl-Edition vor. Diese entstammen ursprünglich dem von Brian Eno zusammengestellten Set "Vinyl Box 3/Compiled by Brian Eno" und waren einzeln nicht erhältlich. Schwarzes Vinyl / 180g. Das 1971 aufgenommene Album "Shakara" begründet das Genre des Afrobeat und experimentiert mit dem Einsatz musikalischer Mittel: Erstmals mit zwei Gitarristen, die ihre Riffs parallel anlegen, werden Überlagerungseffekte geschaffen, die der Musik einen starken Drive und eine hypnotische Wirkung verleihen. Über weite Passagen instrumental angelegt, ist "Shakara" von einem kurzen Text in Yoruba durchzogen.

Der nigerianische Musiker Fela Kuti gilt als Begründer des Afrobeat. Das Label Knitting Factory legt nun verschiedene Werke aus dem Backcatalogue als neue Vinyl-Edition vor. Diese entstammen ursprünglich dem von Brian Eno zusammengestellten Set "Vinyl Box 3/Compiled by Brian Eno" und waren einzeln nicht erhältlich. Schwarzes Vinyl / 180g. 1973 entstanden, ist "Gentleman" der direkte Vorläufer zum legendären Album "Alagbon Close" - und alle Zutaten des legendären Afrobeat sind hier schon perfekt angelegt. Thematisch pendelt das Album zwischen Kolonialismus (das Titelstück) und persönlichen Erlebnissen. "Fefe Naa Efe" zelebriert die Überwindung von Herzschmerz, während "Igbe" (zu Deutsch "Scheiße") durchdekliniert, wann ein Menschen "scheiße" handelt: von Verrat bis zur mangelnden Selbstachtung ist die Rede.

First complete Sonic Youth album is one of Thurston Moore's favorites. Includes live cover of The Stooges' I Wanna Be Your Dog'. Vinyl includes digital download. Originally slated to be a 7' to follow up their self-titled debut, Sonic Youth's Confusion Is Sex blossomed into the band's first album: a brain-bludgeoning, completely fried endeavor of dissonance and disarray, a perfect soundtrack for running from a chain-wielding gang near the SIN Club. This was the sound of 1983 New York City, nothing like the jangly roots of college radio rock starting to formulate in Athens, Georgia. It sounded like no one else on Earth, for that matter. The raw, Wharton Tiers 8-track production is dark, the Kim Gordon- scrawled cover figure art of Thurston Moore is dark, Lee Ranaldo's back cover photo-collage and Catherine Ceresole's crumpled-xeroxed images that adorned the inside are dark. It's an album that moves Sonic Youth forward from their first EP almost by devolving backwards into true ugly, lo-fi primitivity. The bareboned arsenal of junkpile guitars and implementation of alternate tunings was growing, and so were the songs that matched the individual attributes of each instrument: certain ones groan and growl a specific way that the band started to realize itself could become the compositional germ of a song. Herein is the threshold of a new explosion of the band's creativity, replacing the comparatively cleaner buzz of the Sonic Youth EP with guitars that spew fractured, uglier chunks of sound everywhere, held down by menacing minimalist basslines (actually played by Thurston on half of this LP, and for the only time ever on Protect Me You,' Lee) and the brutal-yet-controlled metronomic drumming of Jim Sclavunos, augmented with replacement drummer Bob Bert's notable bashing on Making the Nature Scene' and grotty no-fi live rendition of I Wanna Be Your Dog.' Hearing the crashedwindow intro of Inhuman' and subway-brake screech of The World Looks Red,' you can attest that while Sonic Youth's guitars are not quite yet being utilized in the totally controlled, lyrical fashion seen later on albums like Evol, Daydream Nation et al., they were well aware of the colors and tonalities that were unfolding and the possibilities presented. Also, they were getting a grasp on adding colors to the chaos with tempered, simmering moments like Gordon's Shaking Hell' and Renaldo's chimy, home-taped Lee is Free.' Making the Nature Scene' and The World Looks Red' even toss in glints of hip-hop vocal approach way ahead of its time, albeit through a blender. While its confrontationalism might have put off some critics, time has rewarded Confusion with a truly distinctive air and atmosphere in the Sonic discography, enough to have Moore declare it his fave along with the band's swan-song The Eternal. Brian Turner, WFMU.

Better known as Kemback, Geoff Wright is a Bristol based producer, selector, composer, violinist, teacher, and waiter whose music is rooted in House and Techno but often treads into the weird and wonderful worlds of Jazz, Soul, Folk, and Blues.
While his gritty drums and shuffling grooves bear the hallmark of the city he now calls home, the melodic sensibility of his emotive strings and distant glimmering synths harks back to the tree-lined footpaths of the tiny Scottish village from which he takes his name. His debut release in 2014, on Bristol mainstay Futureboogie, received widespread support from DJs as diverse as Skream, Mosca, and Nemone.
More recently his effort as part of Alfresco Disco's acclaimed Maximum Joy series, titled 'Awaken', has been likened to the music of artists including Floating Points and Leon Vynehall.
Good Night & For You Today, the two tracks on Kemback's Omena debut, showcase a high level of production skill.
To complete the package the always excellent Auntie Flo (aka Brian D'Souza) & Omena label boss Tooli take turns in remixing Good Night.

Lengthy and Weighty "Hunch Music" remixes by Mick Wills and DJ Fett Burger! After Hunee's celebrated debut album "Hunch Music", it's time for these two weighty remixes here... DJ Fett Burger inserts "Crossroads" into Boss Brian's computer and takes it to an extraordinary new level, Mick Wills transforms "Hiding The Moon" into a lengthy throbbing and grinding floor cracker.. BIG TIP!

Hunting down the coolest sounds around the globe, the wewantsounds crew have curated another special mix for your Lazy Sundays. Dishing out a tasteful mix of new tracks from under the radar, this selection features a string of sunny pop, indie grooves, chilled electro and relaxed disco, the whole seasoned with a couple of leftfield cult classics and classy jazz tracks for good measure. Sunday Mixtape is the perfect sonic brew that will bring you back to life after a long night or hard partying. Many of the tracks in this selection have barely been heard outside of the underground circles and feature young artists who have just sprung out to life with the exception of UK soul diva ALA.Ni and the recent success of her melancholic jazzy album and L'Impératrice, the next disco big thing out of France, whose buzz is getting louder.
Here you'll find new French nouvelle vague singer Laure Briard, US groovy duet Bones & Beeker, minimal house producers Roscius and Shigeto as well as Domenique Dumont with a buzzing balearic beat.
Sunday Mixtape also features a few cult classics such as Mock & Toof's 'Farewell to Wendo', Louie Austen's 'Hoping' and Justine & The Victorian Punks' 'Still You', a sought after NY avant disco 1979 tune led by French expat fashionista Justine and saxophonist (and frequent Arthur Russell collaborator) Peter Gordon.

Reaching the milestone of its 100th single/EP release, Circus Company welcomes back Aquarius Heaven with a new EP of poignant, uplifting house music loaded with a meaningful message for these transient times. It's nearly three years since Brian Brewster delivered the Parallela Mundi 12', and in that time he has been on a relentless mission to spread his unique blend of house music, Caribbean roots and psychedelic magic across the globe in a whirlwind of live performances and collaborations. In a manifestation of his well-travelled soul, these new pieces call upon traditional influences in amongst the modern motifs that Aquarius Heaven has been built on, while lyrically dealing with the pressing issue of refugees escaping conflict, poverty and famine. The proud drum throwdown and carnival bleeps of 'Bato Chargé' conceal the seriousness of its theme. In Brewster's native tongue Creole, bato chargé translates as overloaded boat. With the Caribbean as equally rooted in the history of displaced humanity at the hands of sinister powers, the groove of 'Bato Chargé' takes on a defiant, hopeful tone directly inspired by the traditional percussive music style Gow Ka. '50 Drops' by way of contrast takes on a noirish tone with its gritty, street-weary tale and nocturnal melodics played out through enchanting arpeggios and warbling leads. Cooling off the tempo and heading into a digi-dub skank that plays off Brewster's roots in reggae and dancehall, 'Marie Galante' takes those same warm synths and runs them through a low-but-heavy stepping landscape; the perfect backdrop to the vocalist's dexterous ramblings on the mic. It's not often you hear Creole New Release Information delivered in contemporary electronic music, with a rare exception being the legendary work of Tikiman et al with Rhythm & Sound in the 90s.

"Don't Touch My Sister" is Romain Azzaro's Rouge Mécanique début Album. Cinematic hazy instrumentals and a heady mix of post-punk, Italo disco, ambient and noise shine through Azzaro's dedication to his signature Telecaster slide-guitar, bringing acoustic life to electronica. Citing the visual realm as a strong influence on his music, Rouge Mécanique's releases are often accompanied by short films and hand picked design. The 'Prelude' video for 'Don't Touch My Sister' was born of a collaboration between Romain Azzaro and the film maker Louis Vignat, as inspired by the cover artwork of Les Beaux Arts de Paris artist Jeanne Briand.

Mini Album Thingy Wingy are 7 brand new & exclusive tracks recorded by Anton Newcombe in is his studio in Berlin in 2014 & 2015. Running at over 34 minutes.,the mini album is co produced , engineered & mixed by Fabien Leseure . This release contains four self written songs by Anton Newcombe ,a co write of the band's first Slovakian song (Prší Prší) with Vladimir Nosal , another co write (Pish) with Tess Parks and a cover of the 13th Floor Elevator's track 'Dust' which features Alex Maas from the Black Angels on jug

Originally, Anton Newcombe was heavily influenced by The Rolling Stones' psychedelic phase, but his work in the 2000s has expanded into aesthetic dimensions approximating the UK Shoegazing genre of the 1990s and incorporating influences from world music, especially Middle Eastern and Brazilian music.

This album brings the traditional Brian Jonestown Massacre sound mixed with eastern influences & bringing it up to date with the benefit of all the additional weirdness that's been discovered in the past 40 years.

On his first release for Droid Recordings, master sound technician Brian Sanhaji drops two hard, gritty tracks. A1, Macronomena,' is an unmissable, surprising thrill. A filthy, grainy bass synth gets mangled by filters and LFO, pushed out of time, and forced back into a perfect, funky lock with the pummeling beat. Nearly five minutes in, the machine breaks down and falls apart, only to slam back into groove with new, jack-oriented elements. B2, Synphone,' plays things straighter, manipulating the optimal gears and levers of the techno toolkit for an undeniable dance floor mover.

There is a purpose behind ambient music: it is utility music. Brian Eno made that clear. If we go by Eno's definition, the music on T.RAUMSCHMIERE's new album is not ambient. Although - or in fact, because - each individual track on this album immediately and effortlessly generates atmospheres, it is impossible not to be drawn in. T.RAUMSCHMIERE sucks the listener into the perceptible endlessness of his pulsating sounds, even though the music does not actually expect anything from the listener. It is not demanding, it does not sound lofty or ethereal. It is in constant movement and evolution while sounding grounded at the same time. The tracks are not weightless; they have body.

In den 1970er-Jahren lebte Edward Larry Gordon als Comedian und Musiker in New York und tingelte durch
die Clubs des Greenwich Village. Einer Eingebung folgend tauschte er eines Tages seine Gitarre gegen eine
Zither, gab sich den Namen Laraaji und spielte fortan auf der Straße. Brian Eno, der damals in New York
lebte, hörte Laraajis Spiel und bot ihm an, mit ihm ins Studio zu gehen. Daraus entstand das von Eno
produzierte Album "Ambient 3: Day Of Radiance". Laraaji nutzte sein offen gestimmtes Instrument leicht
elektrifiziert und höchstwahrscheinlich mit freundlicher Studiotechnikunterstützung seines Förderers Brian
Eno. 1980 erschien das gute Stück und gilt heute als Meisterwerk der frühen Ambient-Musik. Jetzt wird es als
CD und Vinyl (+ CD) wieder veröffentlicht.

Re-Release!

2015 sees the return of Welsh psychedelicists White Noise Sound with their second album 'Like a Pyramid of Fire'.After honing their craft across the UK and through Europe - with the likes of Super Furry Animals, The Warlocks, Spectrum, Mark Gardener (Ride) and members of Spacemen 3, Spiritualized and The Brian Jonestown Massacre - WNS completed their debut album in 2010 with the assistance of Pete Kember (Spacemen 3 / Spectrum / E.A.R) and magician Cian Ciaran (Super Furry Animals). Released by cult California based label Alive Records (whose back-catalogue includes releases from The Black Keys, Beachwood Sparks, Iggy Pop and James Williamson and The Soledad Brothers) in 2010 (US) / 2011 (UK), the eponymous debut was greeted with widespread critical acclaim and WNS toured through Europe in its support. 'Like a Pyramid of Fire' sees the band take their trademark wall of sound - at once relentlessly pulsating and blissed-out - and conjure from it a sonic palette with range and depth. WNS worked closely with producer / DJ Phil Kieran and again with Cian Ciaran and the result is a metronomic and hypnotic onslaught of melody, groove and exploration which goes beyond the standard tropes of psychedelia.

White Noise Sound will be playing a special London show as part of the Convergence Festival on Monday 16th March 2005 (with label mates Eat Lights Become Lights and guest DJs Andrew Weatherall and Ben Osborne)

Supporting Jesus & Marychain in Cardiff on 22nd February.2015 sees the return of Welsh psychedelicists White Noise Sound. This single is taken from their second album 'Like a Pyramid of Fire' out in April 2015.After honing their craft across the UK and through Europe - with the likes of Super Furry Animals, The Warlocks, Spectrum, Mark Gardener (Ride) and members of Spacemen 3, Spiritualized and The Brian Jonestown Massacre - WNS completed their debut album in 2010 with the assistance of Pete Kember (Spacemen 3 / Spectrum / E.A.R) and magician Cian Ciaran (Super Furry Animals). Released by cult California based label Alive Records (whose back-catalogue includes releases from The Black Keys, Beachwood Sparks, Iggy Pop and James Williamson and The Soledad Brothers) in 2010 (US) / 2011 (UK), the eponymous debut was greeted with widespread critical acclaim and WNS toured through Europe in its support. 'Like a Pyramid of Fire' sees the band take their trademark wall of sound - at once relentlessly pulsating and blissed-out - and conjure from it a sonic palette with range and depth. WNS worked closely with producer / DJ Phil Kieran and again with Cian Ciaran and the result is a metronomic and hypnotic onslaught of melody, groove and exploration which goes beyond the standard tropes of psychedelia.
White Noise Sound will be playing a special London show as part of the Convergence Festival on Monday 16th March 2005 (with label mates Eat Lights Become Lights and guest DJs Andrew Weatherall and Ben Osborne)

Requiem for a dreamstate. It's possibly somewhere between heaven, hell and high water, down the Thames Delta towards Eden. It may involve techno and a distorted state or simply mates sat listening to music together, drifting on the open sea of their minds. This is Jon Hopkins' world, not so much joining the dots as colouring the whole damn picture in.

After releasing his debut album 'Opalescent' at the rookie age of 21 in 1999, he's gone on to work with Brian Eno and David Holmes, produced King Creosote and via Eno, worked on three Coldplay albums. He released the breakthrough album 'Immunity' in 2013, which was nominated for the Mercury Prize.

The story arc with which Hopkins succeeded on 'Immunity' makes its appearance on Late Night Tales too with a perfectly sculpted excursion on this widescreen mix. . Opening with the unreleased 'Sleepers Beat Theme' by composer Ben Lukas Boysen, ghostly pianos skip elegantly hither and thither, among rising strings, as on Darkstar's 'Hold Me Down'. Nils Frahm is here, his sonic palette perfect for the job, while labelmate A Winged Victory For The Sullen contribute 'Requiem For The Static King Part I'. Sigur Ros offshoot Jónsi & Alex's heroic 'Daniell In The Sea' sends us forth towards the Baltic with tears streaming.

Beats occasionally appear, as on the Grace Jones-sampling 'Yr Love' by Holy Other or the pair of Black Country acts Bibio and Letherette, whose 'After Dawn' is almost spry in comparison to the minor key symphonies on display here. The perfect contrast to this comes from Alela Diane's wistful 'Lady Divine' or even Four Tet's mesmerising 'Gillie Amma I Love You', with its enchanting kids' choir. Exclusive to this release, Jon Hopkins provides a startlingly vulnerable new piano version of Yeasayer's 'I Remember'.

Poet and fellow Brian Eno collaborator (their joint album 'Drums Between The Bells' was released by Warp in 2011) Rick Holland narrates the exclusive spoken word closer 'I Remember', underpinned with additional sound design by Hopkins.

"Putting this album together was a unique opportunity for me to present music that I have been listening to for years, free from the constraints of a club setting or from trying to stick to one genre. I chose tracks not just because they have been important to me but because of how they sit together, putting as much thought into the transitions and overall narrative as I did into the track choices. I mixed by key and by texture more than anything else, using original sound design, pivot notes, and often recording new synth or piano parts to link things together in a way that flows as naturally as possible." - Jon Hopkins, December 2014

Bell Gardens combines the musical visions of Kenneth James Gibson (formerly of Furry Things, now recording as
*Bell Gardens' origins began arguably as more of an experiment than the duo's current 'experimental' projects - McBride's drone- and string-laden ambient symphonies, and Gibson's ventures in dub and minimalist techno - as they sought to manifest their mutual reverence for folk, psychedelia and chamber pop in a traditional band structure without cannibalising any particular past genre. Bell Gardens' sound is less reliant on effects and studio trickery than the pairs' independent guises, laying bare as it does vocals and live instruments with emotional sincerity, and presenting songs imbued with an almost pastoral or gospel simplicity and timelessness.
Slow Dawns for Lost Conclusions was again recorded mostly at home studios, but additionally the band made use of a friend's desert cabin in Wonder Valley, California, and it seems this willingness to retreat from the city has lent an expansiveness to the tracks, in particular the spacious, ceremonial 'Silent Prayer' (written in a snowbound mountain cabin in Idyllwild, C.A.) and the crepuscular 'She's Stuck in an Endless Loop of Her Decline' (mapped out under the stars in the desert).
While the addition of strings (contributed by Lauren Chipman of The Rentals and The Section Quartet) and trumpet (Stewart Cole of Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros) provides a double rainbow of tonal textures throughout, the nine tracks of Slow Dawns for Lost Conclusions are united by an understated elegance belying the newly expanded, communal effort in the studio: each instrument earns its place, nothing is overwrought or conspicuous. Moreover, it is McBride and Gibson's artistry in building stirring soundscapes from the barest of materials in their other guises that lends such assurance and sophistication to these arrangements.
The band is a result of the complimentary cross-pollination of Gibson and McBride's musical tastes - borne from a late-night conversation between the two that grew wings - and it is the universality of the sentiments and their restrained, reflective approach to writing and recording that allows the music to simultaneously straddle the past and the present. The music avoids pastiche, its pedal steel, sleigh bells and harmonies giving a nod to the ghosts of musical genres past, but never overriding or distracting from the emotional content of the sum of its parts.
The album ends with the glorious 'Take Us Away' - one of the first demos Gibson gave McBride when he was on tour with Stars of the Lid - neatly bringing their work to date full circle and exemplifying the band's mindfulness of their own serendipitous beginnings: the dawning of an auspicious, unique musical force.

Bell Gardens - Take Us Away -
Harmonies alert!! Actually, this is rather lovely. Slow-tempo, just the right side of 'twee' and packed full of strings, as if Air and Midlake had been taking balloon trips over the mid-West and sprinkling good-vibes dust across the land. From L.A. and subconsciously plugged into the '60s dream-pop scene, taking in a little bit of Mercury Rev and Brendan Perry en route, stopping off at Pearls Before Swine and Big Star's house for inspiration, before getting stoned with '70s era Brian Eno and Harold Budd.

LP is available on 180 GRM black vinyl The KVB release their new immersive and hypnotic album 'Minus One' on November 18th via A Recordings. The album follows hot on the heels of outstanding stand alone single 'Run Away' released on Ample Play Records last month. The KVB is the audio/visual project of London youngsters Nicholas Wood & Kat Day, who combine reverb heavy wall of sound guitars, minimal haunting strings and grinding bass synths, messed up motorik drum machine beats and delay drenched vocals with a backdrop of imagery to accompany the symphony, that's nothing short of life affirming. 'Minus One' is in fact The KVB's third album, their second full length LP 'Immaterial Visions' which came with an accompanying remix EP, featuring mixes from underground techno pioneers Regis and Silent Servant was only released in February this year. The KVB is a group with a sense of urgency about it, to do what they need to do, with full commitment and without delay. It's a tangible attitude that runs throughout 'Minus One'. Indeed this year they have undertaken more extensive touring, including shows in Russia & the Ukraine and November 2013 will see them playing the last ever ATP before supporting The Brian Jonestown Massacre across Australia in December.Dates For The UK 23 Nov 2013 Electrowerkz w/ Dead Skeletons, London UK & 29 Nov 2013 ATP Festival, Camber Sands UK

Daniel Lopatin, Sohn russicher US-Einwanderer, hat sich als Oneohtrix Point Never mit experimenteller Elektronik einen Namen als talentierter Komponist erarbeitet. Er veröffentlichte drei Alben auf Minilabels, arbeitete mit Antony Hegarty als Sänger und mit Animal Collective als Festivalhoster (ATP) zusammen und schrieb neben Brian Reitzell die Musik zu Sofia Coppolas jüngstem Film "The Bling Ring". Lopatins musikalisches Schaffen wird von Kritikern mit einem zerbrochenem Spiegel verglichen, in dem sich Klänge aus der Vergangenheit brechen. Auch auf seinem Warp-Debüt "R Plus Seven" blinkt seine Neigung zum Experimentellen immer hervor, zeitgleich wagt er sich so nah wie nie zuvor an traditionelle Songstrukturen heran, so dass die zehn neuen Tracks zu gleichen Teilen aufwühlerisch wie hypnotisch wirken.

*The product of a move from South Carolina to Berkeley, CA and the subsequent extended separation from loved ones, Toro Y Moi's third full-length, Anything in Return, puts Chaz Bundick right in the middle of the producer/songwriter dichotomy that his first two albums established.
*There's a pervasive sense of peace with his tendency to dabble in both sides of the modern music-making spectrum, and he sounds comfortable engaging in intuitive pop production and putting forth the impression of unmediated id.
*The producer's hand is prominent- not least in the sampled "yeah"s and "uh"s that give the album a hip-hop-indebted confidence- and many of the songs feature the 4/4 beats and deftly employed effects usually associated with house music. Tracks like "High Living" and "Day One" show a considerably Californian influence, their languid funk redolent of a West Coast temperament, and elsewhere- not least on lead single, "So Many Details"- the record plays with darker atmospheres than we're used to hearing from Toro Y Moi. Sounding quite assured in what some may call this songwriter's return to producer-hood, Anything in Return is Bundick uninhibited by issues of genre, an album that feels like the artist's essence.
*Born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina, Chaz Bundick has been toying with various musical projects since early adolescence. Having spent his formative years playing in punk and indie rock acts, his protean Toro Y Moi project has been his vessel for further musical exploration since 2001. During his time spent studying graphic design at the University of South Carolina, Chaz became increasingly focused on his solo work, incorporating electronics and allowing a wider range of influences- French house, Brian Wilson's pop, 80s R&B, and Stones Throw hip-hop- to show up in his music. By the time he graduated in spring 2009, Chaz had refined his sound to something all his own. Music journals across the board touted his hazy recordings as the sound of the summer, and he released his debut album, Causers of This in early 2010.
*Since then, Bundick has proven himself to be not just a prolific musician, but a diverse one as well, letting each successive release broaden the scope of the Toro Y Moi oeuvre. The funky psych-pop of 2011's Underneath the Pine evinced an artist who could create similar atmospheres even without the aid of source material and drum machines. His Freaking Out EP, a handful of singles and remixes, and a retrospective box-set plot points all along the producer/songwriter spectrum in which he's worked since his debut, and Anything In Return is another exciting offering that shows he's still not ready to settle into any one genre.

s one of the most successful artists in contemporary Techno Music Hendrik Weber aka Pantha Du Prince presents his new studio project together with Workshop's Stephan Abry: URSPRUNG.

After several studio sessions in the cold and charming winter of the Swiss Alps, Abry and Weber were driven deeper and deeper into some microcosm of sound to almost cut the edge to the myth. Influenced by Krautrock, the Ambient Music of Harold Budd and early Brian Eno, Avantgarde, and the minimalistic guitar sound of Durutti Collumn the URSPRUNG project can't resist to make the guitar a main source. coming together with highly futuristic sounds as we know from the researches of Pantha Du Prince. A truly unconventional structure of slowly growing beats hold this universe which came from the cold mountains together.

Nicht einmal der kühnste Optimist hätte Gossip vor drei Jahren einen solchen Karriereverlauf zugetraut: Im Sommer 2009 startete die Band einen beispiellosen Triumphzug. Ihr Album "Music For Men" erreichte die Top Ten der Media Control Charts und verkaufte sich alleine in Deutschland bis dato mehr als 400.000 (!) Mal. Neue Maßstäbe setzten die Drei außerdem mit der Single "Heavy Cross": fast 100 Wochen, also über zwei Jahre lang, wurde der Song in den deutschen Single-Charts gelistet, peakte auf Position zwei und fand in dieser Zeit weit mehr als eine 1/2 Million Käufer. Bei Award- und TV-Shows wie "Bambi", "Echo", "Schlag den Raab!" + "Wetten Dass..?" stahlen sie allen Anwesenden die Show. Beth Ditto und Co. vollzogen innerhalb kürzester Zeit den Sprung von gefeierten Indie-Darlings zu Multiplatin-Superstars. Im Mai 2012 ist es nun endlich soweit: mit "A Joyful Noise" erscheint fast 3 Jahre nach "Music For Men" das mit Hochspannung erwartete Follow-Up-Album. Produziert wurde es von Pop-Genie Brian Higgins, der in der Vergangenheit u.a. mit Kylie Minogue u.v.m. gearbeitet hat. Schon die 1. Single "Perfect World" überzeugt als fantastische Uptempo-Pop-Hymne mit allem Drum + Dran!

For its fourth release Back To The Future nudge even closer to the Chicago sound. Melodic and jazzy with tonnes of jack, the 4 tracks
available on this bumper package meet Chi town on their own terms.

Repress arrived!