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Planning the imminent arrival of the 50th release on Touchin’ Bass, label boss Andrea Parker was digging through the warehouse during a stock take and it became apparent that there was something missing. There was a gap in the catalogue numbers. Where was TB036? Searching the archives it transpired that, for one reason or another (not least Parker’s inability to count), there actually wasn’t one.

So what better way to backfill this now documented gap than to welcome the multitalented guitarist and drummer, mathematician and multidisciplinary improviser Maria Gamboa Perez into the Touchin’ Bass fold with an updated focus for 2019.

Perez combines elements of rage, chaos, tension and anguish to form a visceral style. Her musical terrain and talent is shaped by dissonance and NO art. Under the moniker NonZero!, Perez brings Matrix Equation to the fore; a heavy 8 track EP with electro aesthetics from none other than Carl Finlow Scarletron/Silicon Scally/Voice Stealer.

Beginning her artistic career as a teenager playing as a bassist and guitarist in groups with influences from Noise, Avant Garde and the No-Wave, Perez was introduced into several areas of electronic music during the club culture years in Madrid and opted for styles such as Electro or Industrial, at which point she began to be interested in the introduction of rhythm boxes together with traditional drums.

Her passion for sound synthesis and musical exploration led Perez to introduce electronics into a solo project under the pseudonym NonZero!. Under this name she aims to make electronic music her field of sound research and for years has been continuously searching for existing relationships between sound and mathematics, focusing on the perceptual limit between music and noise.

Matrix Equation indulges in an evidential brooding angst, shifting between abstraction and the kind of elevated introspection carefully harvested over the years. With dramatic frontage in parts, blasts of boisterous energy and machine mayhem, its deployment of surprise, shifting focus and spontaneity operate in an assured statement.

Splintered beats and a foreboding sense of tension give way to a more DJ friendly logic of instinctive introductions and codas of gradual builds and breakdowns as Finlow further reworks the results to great effect.

Edition of 100 copies only.

Side A: 'Vodou'. Head priest: Gran Sèvitè Jean-Daniel Lafontant. Vodou priests: Oungan Eddy Saint-Jean and Anperè Jean Céus. Vodou priestesses: Manbo Françoise Célestin, Manbo Christine Lamour, Manbo Marie-Marthe Similien and Manbo Jacqueline Thélus. Other participants: Ounsi and members of Sosyete Na-Ri-VéH. Percussionists: Ountògi and the drummers of The Sacred Temple Na-Ri-VéH 777. Side B: 'Rara'. All-female rara band: Forever Rara Fanm of Belair.

Grand Rue recordings made by AMé in front of the Atis Rezistans, Port-au-Prince on 21 December 2015, 4:54pm to 5:18pm. Vodou ceremony and all-female rara band recorded by AMé at Temple Na-Ri-VéH 777 in Port-au-Prince, 16 December 2015, 9pm to 1am. Edited by Philip Marshall with AMé in Cologne, 16 May 2016. Mastered by Zachary James Watkins at Stank House, 3 August 2016. Artwork by Stefan Fähler. AD&D by Don Wyrm.

With thanks to: Ghetto Biennale, Leah Gordon, Atis Rezistans, Gabriel Toso, the priests and priestesses, the members of the all-female rara band, the percussionists, Clocktower Radio and all the Haitian People.

An introduction to Vodou music and Rara, by Gabriel Toso:

"Tanbou prete pa janm fè bon dans" ("A borrowed drum never makes good dancing")

"Music is to Vodou what water is to our bodies or fire to our hearts: all embracing, all inflaming. The spirits of Vodou are called upon and energised by the inexhaustible rhythms of Africa. Brought by the slaves to the New World, and merged with indigenous and European traditions, their magical power is the soundtrack of Vodou itself, its life-force.

Dancing, singing, praying are all fundamental aspects of Vodou; but above all it is the drumming that plays a major role during the ceremonies, an invitation to the lwas (gods) to join and partake in the rituals. Like the heartbeat of an infant in its mother's womb or the vibrations of our planet, the percussions of the tanbou (drum) are at once instrument and creator. Different batteries of drums correspond to different rites, countless rhythms to a multitude of nations of laws. The drum is not only a musical instrument but a sacred object, an expression of the divine. Its sound guides the initiates to their appointment with the spirit world.

Rara festivals are yearly celebrations that begin following Carnival during the Catholic Lent season, when the activity of the Vodou temples is at its quietest. During those six weeks Rara bands parade for miles playing music, dancing, and performing rituals for Afro-Haitian laws, while wearing specific costumes and using a variety of musical instruments. Probably originated in Haiti during the colonial period, Rara bands and their vast repertoire of songs are both politically and socially engaging while keeping an amusing, irreverent, and at times risqué personality. Traditionally connected with a Vodou temple, Rara bands leave the ceremonial spaces to interact in the public sphere through parading, thus reminding both participants and spectators of the physical presence of the lwas." – Gabriel Toso, London, 3 November.

Funky soul-jazz organist Caesar Frazier crafted superior Hammond funk. 75, his second LP, is a rare gem. It’s comfortably his greatest artistic statement.

The follow-up to Hail Ceasar!, it’s a taut, grooving set that expands his sound and, put simply, it’s got better songs. The key elements of his debut album are all there – production from maestro Bob Porter, accompaniment from hip players (Bernard “Pretty” Purdie, Cornell Dupree, John Tropea) and arrangement from Horace Ott - but the overall sound is elevated. The tightly jamming, expressive jazz-funk makes for a richer, fuller, more satisfying experience.

75 is a mixture of hard-driving originals, deeply beautiful slower numbers to vary the tempo and a couple of classy covers. The crazy bombastic “Mighty Mouse” - a riot of horns, organ and in the pocket drums - became an acid jazz classic at Dingwalls and it’s easy to see (hear?) how. A blissed out, lushly instrumental take on Seals and Crofts’s “Summer Breeze” follows, perfect for those sunshine sets.

Side A closes with the heavenly “Sweet Children”. A loping, funky jazz masterpiece famously sampled by Kanye West for Common’s “Real People” from Be. It opens beautifully, with soaring sax and a funky horn section combining with weightless keyboard tones atop snapping drums. Unsurprisingly, the excellence endures right through to the end.

The B side opens with perhaps the album’s most famous track. "Funk It Down” contains the familiar “I can feel the funk” vocal refrain throughout. But it’s the gorgeous, insouciant bridge that you should all know and love, having been used as the hook for Gang Starr’s “Ex-Girl To Next Girl”. A great cover of Stevie Wonder's “Living for the City” comes next, with an unforgettable bass-line which anchors the entire heavy rhythm section workout. Dizzying organ, triumphant horns and sun-dappled guitar grooves combine to create “Walking On The Side”, rounding out a pretty smoking set.

This is one of those rare 70s funk-soul-jazz LPs on which a bad track cannot be found. It’s all essential. So of course finding original copies on vinyl at affordable prices has been tough for years.

Mastered brilliantly by Simon Francis, cut by Pete Norman and with painstakingly reproduced artwork by the Be With team, this fresh Be With reissue ensures this legendary LP now sounds, looks and feels as sensational as it should.

2022 Repress

In future times, culture historians will refer to Gabor Schablitzki aka Robag Wruhme as a creator of a singular techno sound, a rock in the murky sea of arbitrary musical dullness that befell mankind in the early 21st century.

Furthermore, a lesser known quality of Schablitzki will be praised and explored: He was a relentless wordsmith, a deeply passionate inventor of elegant idioms that enriched German language. Take ‘Freggelswuff’ or ‘Wemmel’ as shining examples.

It’s within this context that a certain cultural artefact released on a Cologne based record label called KOMPAKT (which towards the end of the 21st century made a hardly publicised turn to manufacturing CO2-neutral wall plug systems) that went by the sonorous title ‘Topinambur’ has to be mentioned. Legend has it that Schablitzki claimed to have created the word ‘Topinambur’, unknowingly that local farmers have been marketing a root tuber under the same name since it got imported from America in 1610 AD. The following tenacious copyright lawsuit between Schablitzki and a large agricultural consortium lasted for many years. It isn’t considered as a highpoint in Schablitzki’s turbulent life but it still serves a staircase wit that is passed on from generation to generation amongst Black Forest moonshiners.

Kulturhistoriker künftiger Generationen werden Gabor Schablitzki alias Robag Wruhme als Schöpfer eines singulären Techno-Sounds preisen, als einen Fels in der Brandung der im frühen 21. Jahrhundert vorherrschenden Beliebigkeit. Als DJ und Produzent war ein Meister des deepen Abrisses, werden sie weiterhin formulieren, obschon es weitere 136 Jahre dauern wird, bis die subkulturelle Bedeutung des Wortes 'Abriss' zweifelsfrei geklärt werden konnte.

Es wird aber auch eine weitere einzigartige Qualität Gabor Schablitzkis hervorgehoben werden: Er war ein unermüdlicher Wortschöpfer, der die deutsche Sprache um elegante Idiome wie Freggelswuff oder Wemmel bereicherte. In diesem Zusammenhang findet meist eine Veröffentlichung des Kölner Labels KOMPAKT (welches im ausklingenden 21. Jahrhundert einen wenig bemerkenswerten Wandel zum Hersteller von CO2-neutralen Dämmstoffdübeln vollzog) Erwähnung. Diese Veröffentlichung erschien unter dem klangvollen Namen "Topinambur" und die Legende besagt, dass Schablitzki behauptete auch hier der Nachwelt eine neue Wortschöpfung hinterlassen zu haben, nicht wissend, dass europäische Landwirte bereits seit 1610 A.D. unter diesem Namen ein aus Amerika importiertes Knollengewächs vermarkteten. Der sich daran anschliessende Copyright-Streit zwischen Schablitzki und einem mächtigen Agrarkonzern, zählte nicht zu den rühmlichen Episoden seines bewegten Lebens, sorgt aber seit Generationen als Treppenwitz unter Schwarzwälder Schnapsbrennern für viel Geschmunzel.

The avant-garde composer and conductor Pierre Boulez was a titan of post-War experimental classical music. Born in the small cheesemaking town of Montrbrison in central France in 1925, Boulez studied at the Paris Conservatoire with the composer and organist Charles Messiaen and received private tuition from pianist Andrée Vaurabourg; after moving to the Marais district in 1945, he briefly studied with Schoenberg disciple, René Leibowitz, and further influence came from immersion in Balinese gamelan, Japanese classical music and African drumming, among other sources. Earning money by playing an early electronic keyboard called the ondes Martenot on theatre productions, Boulez soon became music director of the Renaud-Barrault theatre company (led by actor/direction Jean-Louis Barrault and his actor wife, Madeleine Renaud), leading to tours of Belgium, Switzerland, Britain and both North and South America. American composer John Cage became an ally, though they subsequently clashed over Cage’s commitment to the role of chance in his compositions, paving the way for an intense and lasting friendship with the German composer, Karlheinz Stockhausen, who arrived in Paris in 1952 to study with Messiaen. In July of that year, the pair attended the International Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt, leading to contact with Italian composer Luciano Berio and other noteworthy figures. Then, in 1954, with backing from Barrault and Renaud, Boulez began staging a series of concerts of experimental music at the Petit Marigny theatre, titled Le Domaine musical. The pieces collected on this album are all taken from performances staged for the 1957 Domaine musical season, beginning with Berio’s “Serenata I,” conducted by Boulez, which debuted in Paris in March of that year; arranged for flute and fourteen instruments, Berio said that the idea behind the piece was for the solo flute to be confronted by continuously interchanging elements, rather than mere accompaniments or oppositions. Boulez’s own “Sonatine,” composed in 1946 for flute and piano, is a 12-tone piece that evidences Messiaen’s influence, with shades of Asian classical music in places; then, Stockhausen’s monumental “Zeitmasze” or “Time Measures,” a serial composition for five woodwinds, played in different combinations of tempos and speed, was partly inspired by Webern’s principles of homogenous and harmonic textures. Finally, Messiaen’s 1949 work “Cantéyodjayâ,” delivered by pianist Yvonne Loriod, takes it shape from the classical Hindu rhythms of ancient India, as with much of the composer’s oeuvre.

UMC are proud to present the first ever vinyl release of ‘The Very Very Best Of Crowded House‘! An institution in their homeland, a two-album wonder in the U.S., and, during the last half of their ten-year career, bona fide stars in the U.K. and most of Europe, Crowded House recorded some of the best pop music of the late ’80s and early ’90s. Leader Neil Finn’s carefully crafted songs, meticulous eye for lyrical detail, and gift for melody are matched by few other songwriters. The songs of Crowded House & Neil’s songwriting acclaim have been championed by the likes of Ariana Grande & Miley Cyrus, Chris Martin & Eddie Vedder & most recently Fleetwood Mac, for which Neil is currently the touring guitarist/vocalist. The 2010 chart-topping compilation features all the band’s major hits including ‘Fall At Your Feet’, ‘Weather With You‘ & ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’ plus many (many) more. The 19-track collection is cut across 2 x 180-gram black vinyl LPs featuring printed inners & essay. DL codes included.

ANAMAI is the experimental folk project of Anna Mayberry and David Psutka - soft sounds to dent skin and flesh. The music is naked and exquisitely personal, threatening banality, but mainly an embrace of the commune. Dramatic and confidential anthems of divine insignificance. Across three studio albums the project has explored the nature of intimacy with tiny confessions released into vast lakes of sound. Simple songs punctuated by clusters of detail. The project is built on contradictions: traditional yet modern; miniscule yet infinite; proud but deflated. Something for everyone and nothing to no one. A search for peace?
ANAMAI will release their third album, Dream Baby, on Halocline Trance this fall. Listeners will hear residue from Psutka and Mayberry’s other projects - the scratchy expression of HSY + the functionality of EGYPTRIXX + the baroque digitalia of ACT! but ultimately the record breaks new ground in a long-running series of collaborations.
9 tracks of liquid sonics suggest an antecedent in early Harold Budd or a spiritual homage to the performative intimacy of Bossa Nova artists Joao Gilberto and Gal Costa. Drips of colour across an axis of sound, dimension and human experience.

Autarkic describe himself as first and foremost a songwriter but he has also made a name for himself as an international DJ. Over the past three years the musician based In Tel Aviv has, with great success, played clubs throughout all of Europe. One extra memorable gig was on last year's edition of Convenanza in the amphitheatre in Sete, France. Rumour has it that the sea living mammals of the area flocked in large groups in the waters below during Autarkic's gig.

This 12'' record is his first release on Hoga Nord Rekords and the slightly psychedelic, sample- and synthesiser based club music that has become Autarkic's trademark sound is captured by an impeccable production. The music is playful, yet stripped down to the essentials and not overloaded. The vocal elements works more as percussive elements than the carrier of the storytelling in the music.

If you missed him live or just don't have the means to go see him, this record give a taste of Autarkic's hypnotic live performances!

clear vinyl / vinyl only / incl. dl code

The Dynamic Reflection Limited-series returns with the release of "The Empty House on the Left", by Linear Search. A full album sprung from the exciting collaboration between techno veterans Linear Straight & Jeroen Search. Drawing from their immense collective experience, it's absolutely no surprise that this Belgian-Dutch power-duo have delivered an absolute monument for the minimalistic yet rich techno sound both producers are so well know known for.

Following the release of Truck’s ‘3,665’ single featuring Phill Most Chill back in 2018 we are pleased to announce the release of the ‘Food For Thought’ album. It includes the aforementioned single although the 7” has the radio version backed with a special skeleton version of ‘Right Or Wrong?’ with the album containing the main versions of each.
Truck has supplied his unique vocal abilities (often about food – hence the title) on a host of releases by Beat Route 38, S.O.E, The Journeymen and a large portion of the vocals on Mr Fantastic’s ‘Harvey’s Bristol Cream’ album but has rarely featured as a solo artist, until now his only solo vinyl releases are his ‘Able To Stable’ and ‘3,665’ singles - both also released by AE Productions of which he is co-founder.
The album features guest verses from Rola, Phill Most Chill, Gee Swift, Paten Locke, Coherent, Whirlwind D, Tha Cheese and Taka Highsnow who all bring additional flavours from the USA to Japan to the (dinner) table. The beats have been cooked up by Truck, Mr Fantastic, Sir Beans OBE with a few courses each plus one dish supplied by the legendary Kutmasta Kurt, who appears courtesy of Threshold Recordings – the first time he’s worked with a British MC!
The incredible artwork concept by one of AE’s favourite designers Mr Krum is a stroke of genius! Taking the album title ‘Food For Thought’ quite literally the sleeve is made up from alphabet spaghetti which is actually a word search including Artist, Title and Label on the front and then guest features on the reverse panel. All track information is supplied on an insert to keep the sleeve design clean.

Indigenous:
music; homegrown, unadulterated, absolute
Drivetrain (Detroit, USA) – Alice
Derrick Thompson delivers a dark and moody banger of minimal groundwork and amplified momentum, culminating in acidic intensity.
Detune (Ghent, BELGIUM) – Maple Fever
Autographed by an unshakably solid bass line, with an ornamented shower of sumptuous pads raining down over a panoramic 4/4 beat terrain.
G-Prod (Bordeaux, FRANCE) – Motif
The toxic rhythm is indisputable and the alluring chord progression is seductive in this energized elastic groove.
Jace Syntax (Glasgow, SCOTLAND) – Hologram World
Submersed in a sea of luxurious strings, a tribal explosion regulates a merciless bass riff, peppered with sweet melodic inflection.

Carla dal Forno announces her second full-length album, Look Up Sharp , on her own Kallista records.

Dal Forno beckons a bold new era in her peerless output pushing her dub-damaged DIY dispatches to the limits of flawless dream-pop. In a transformative move towards crystal clear vocals and sharpened production, Look Up Sharp is an evolutionary leap from the thick fog and pastoral stillness of her Blackest Ever Black missives, You Know What It’s Like (2016) and The Garden EP (2017). Three years since her plain-speaking debut album, the Melbourne-via-Berlin artist finds herself absorbed in London’s sprawling mess. The small-town dreams and inertia that preoccupied dal Forno’s first album have dissolved into the chaotic city, its shifting identities, far-flung surroundings and blank faces. Look Up Sharp is the story of this life in flux, longing for intimacy, falling short and embracing the unfamiliar. Dal Forno connects with kindred spirits and finds refuge in darkened alleys, secret gardens and wherever else she dares to look.

In her own territory between plaintive pop, folk and post-punk dal Forno conjures the ghosts of AC Marias, Virginia Astley and Broadcast through her brushwork of art-damaged fx and spectral atmospheres. The first half of the record is filled with dubbed-out humid bass lines, which tether stoned hazes of psychedelic synth work as on ‘Took A Long Time’ and ‘No Trace.’ These are contrasted with songs like ‘I’m Conscious and ‘So Much better’ that channel the lilting power of YMG and are clear sequels-in-waiting to dead-eyed classics like ‘Fast Moving Cars.’

The B-side begins with the feverish bass and meandering melody of ‘Don’t Follow Me,’ which takes The Cure’s ‘A Forest’ as its conceptual springboard. It’s the clearest lyrical example since ‘The Garden’ of dal Forno’s unmatched ability to unpick the masculine void of post-punk and new wave nostalgia to reflect contemporary nuance. Look Up Sharp reaches its satisfying conclusion with ‘Push On’ - dal Forno’s most explicit foray into an undiscovered trip hop universe between Massive Attack and Tracey Thorn. The album’s last gasp finds personal validation in fragility: ‘I push on / I’m the Place I’m Going,’ a self discovery lifted by reverberant broken beats and glass-blown vocals.

Adding further depth to Look Up Sharp are the instrumentals, which flow seamlessly between the vocal-led pieces. ‘Hype Sleep’ and ‘Heart of Hearts’ drink from the same stream as The Flying Lizard’s dubbed-out madness and the vivid purple sunsets of Eno’s Another Green World. While ‘Creep Out of Bed’ and ‘Leaving for Japan’ funnel the fourth-world psychedelia of Cyclobe’s industrial-folk into the vortex of Nico’s The Marble Index.

Conceived as a whole, Look Up Sharp is a singular prism in which light, sound and concept bend at all angles. A deeply personal but infinitely relatable album its many surfaces are complex but authentic, enduring but imperfect, hard-edged but delicate. A diamond. Look up sharp or you’ll miss it.

Oscar- and Grammy-nominated composer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Sufjan Stevens will release his acclaimed score for Justin Peck’s ballet TheDecalogue October 18 via his own label, AKR. Performed by the pianist Timo Andres, the recording is the first time the score, premiered during the NewYork City Ballet’s 2017 season, is available to the public.



The Decalogue is the third collaboration between NYCB Resident Choreographer Peck and Stevens, following 2012’s Year of theRabbit and 2014’s Everywhere We Go. The piece was widely praised upon its premiere; The New York Times lauded the “beauty and charm” of Peck’s choreography as well as Stevens’ “romantically modernist études.”



Brooklyn-based composer-pianist Timo Andres is a Nonesuch Records artist, who has written major works for the Boston Symphony, Carnegie Hall, the Barbican, the Takács Quartet, the Concertgebouw, and elsewhere. He performs regularly with Gabriel Kahane, and has frequently appeared with Philip Glass, Becca Stevens, Nadia Sirota, the Kronos Quartet, John Adams, Ted Hearne, and others. As a pianist, Timo has performed at Lincoln Center, for the NewYork Philharmonic, the LA Phil, at Wigmore Hall, for San Francisco Performances, and at (le) Poisson Rouge. Upcoming highlights include a curated program for the Cincinnati Symphony (featuring Dance Heginbotham and a performance of Andres’s cello concerto, Upstate Obscura), and a solo piano recital for Carnegie Hall. Previous work with Sufjan Stevens includes the orchestration of “Principia” for Justin Peck and the New York City Ballet.

Special Edition repress of Combo Chimbita's groundbreaking 2016 EP, El Corredor Del Jaguar. Featuring previously unreleased Extended Mix of Pjarao on A-Side.

After a highly-regarded debut single on Names You Can Trust back in 2014, Combo Chimbita returns, expanded and transformed into one of the most original and wild ensembles currently cutting their teeth in the New York City live arena. Their latest 4-track studio effort, EL CORREDOR DEL JAGUAR, co-produced by NYCT's Greenwood Rhythm Coalition and featuring the powerhouse Carolina Oliveros on lead vocals, is an explosive tour de force of unbridled psychedelic energy and futuristic fire with firm roots in the ritmo of the African diaspora. With connections and inspiration drawn from the vast sea of Caribbean music — specifically the band's native Colombia — these transplanted first-generation New Yorkers have carved a unique corridor in the thriving underground jungle of the big bad city.

Floating Points' personal collection of global soul, ambient, jazz and folk treasures form the latest in the warmly revered Late Night Tales series.

Sam Shepherd aka Floating Points' music taste is notoriously tricky to define, ranging from ethereal classical at one end to coruscating techno at the other, united only in a firm belief in the transcendental power of music to move hearts, minds and - yes - feet. Similarly, his production career has ranged from early experiments in dance music with breakout records such as the 'Shadows EP' and collaborating with legendary Gnawa master Mahmoud Guinia to his expansive album 'Elaenia', which met with critical acclaim upon its release in 2015.

This Late Night Tales excursion into the depths of the evening reflects his broad tastes. The globally-travelled producer has collected untold treasures on his travels from dusty stores in Brazil to market stalls near his hometown. There's the gorgeous 'Via Làctea', culled from Carlos Walker's debut album, Abu Talib's (Bobby Wright) plaintive 'Blood Of An American' and Robert Vanderbilt's gospel reworking of Manchild's 'Especially For You'. Raw soul and feeling oozing from each song's pores.

At the other end of the music scale are the modernists, such as Québécoise Kara-Lis Coverdale who weighs in with the indelible 'Moments In Love', Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith whose 'Milk' is an exercise in tranquility, while Sarah Davachi's meditative mix-opener offers respite from a weary world.

We have some exclusive tracks for Late Night Tales; alongside Davachi's offerings there is also Toshimaru Nakamura's 'Nimb #59', as well as the now traditional cover version. hepherd delved into his childhood
memory for this one, a track taken from the first album his parents bought him, Kenny Wheeler's 'Music For Large & Small Ensembles': Sam offers up his interpretation of 'Opening Part 1'. Wheeler also contributes horns to Azimuth
track The Tunnel, written and performed by Norma Winstone and John Taylor who, coincidentally, are the parents of Floating Points' drummer Leo Taylor. Closing the album, Lauren Laverne reads the suitably nocturnal poem 'Ah! Why, Because The Dazzling Sun' by Emily Brontë.

'I tried to find music that reflects the stillness of night. And because my musical interests lie all over the place, it's quite difficult to distil that notion down to just a few songs. I was quite keen to have some electronic music in there but I also really wanted to have some soul music mixed in, so I had to try and find a pathway between all of this different music.' - Sam Shepherd (Floating Points) March 2019

Earthen Sea adds to the Kimochi Sound with a soulful examination of indistinct margins, suffused with dusky haze. It's a heady atmosphere and has a palpable heaviness throughout. Starting the record are the concrete reverberations of You Don't Never Know, followed by the murky ebb and flow of Fly. 13 Beat(less) is diffused ambience.
Shielding fittingly closes the record, and weaves Earthen Sea's many textures with intricate syncopation.

“Dive / 4AM” is the latest outing from San Francisco Bay Area-based six-piece, The Seshen. The 7” outlines thesteps the group has made since their critically acclaimed sophomore album in 2016, both as a band and as individuals. “Since ‘Flames & Figures', a lot has been taking place both internally and externally. We were on tour for the last album when Trump was elected. There was an intense heaviness, a familiar one, one that extends generations and it just sunk in even further”, singer/lyricist Lalin St. Juste explains.

Side A opens with distorted four-to-the-floor chomper, “Dive”. Aggressive yet danceable, gritty but somehow unstoppable, “Dive” is inspired the profound need for change, catalysed through the somnambulant Larry Heard-esque bassline meshed to the warped tones of Lalin’s vocals. “The path towards my power, my strength, being okay with being unapologetic is just starting. I’m reclaiming what I have lost, reclaiming what has been passed down to me. The song is about the ground beginning to shake”, Lalin preaches.

While in contrast on side B, “4AM” untethers the listener by exploring a sense of spaciousness, flourishing the sparseness, distracting with moving snippets of delicate production. Lyrically tackling the insomniacs waking nightmare, “4AM” is about the witching hour, battling against oneself. "I was experiencing anxiety at night...where I would review all my actions and all the things I said throughout the day in search of something that I did wrong. At times it would keep me up, and I felt that I was at war with my mind.”

"Portico Quartet stake claims to territory occupied by Radiohead, Cinematic Orchestra and Efterklang". The Guardian *****

Portico Quartet return with Memory Streams, their fifth studio album and one that continues the journey that first started with 2008's Mercury nominated debut Knee Deep in the North Sea. It's a creative path that has seen the band embrace new technology and explore ambient and electronic influences alongside minimalism, jazz and beyond. It is a process that has encouraged change. Each album has seen the band expand its palate or explore new trajectories. From the gentle charm of their breakthrough's inimitable mix of jazz, world and minimalist influences, to the tight-knit brilliance of Isla, the electronic infused eponymous Portico Quartet to 2016's return Art in the Age of Automation (the band's most electronic statement to date) they have never been a band to look backwards. Each record has been its own world, its own statement and offered its own meaning. It's the mark of a band that has always both stood apart from any scene and been prepared to challenge its self and find new things to say and to push the limits of what they could do.

It is an approach that has encouraged the band to plough their own furrow. Drummer Duncan Bellamy notes that "For better or worse I think we have always been quite an isolated band. Perhaps that comes from never feeling like we really belonged to or fit in to a scene when we first started making music" While for saxophonist Jack Wyllie " I feel more connected to other musicians these days and those relationships influence the sound we have in some way. But I wouldn't say we feel a part of scene, it still feels quite out on its own, which is cool, because it helps the music feel unique".


Fjordfunk is Jann Marius Dahle. He started releasing records back in 1998 and is part of the Norwegian disco scene. His earlier productions has gained the support of diverse people like Idjut Boys, Francois Kevorkian, Anu Pilai, Laurent Garnier, Andrew Weatherall, Headman, Michael Mayer, Steve Bug, Bjorn Torske, Prins Thomas and Tim Sweeney. This album is inspired by ambient, Detroit techno, disco, funk, rock, dub, jazz and latin. Already getting early support from the A love from outer space outfit of Sean Johnston and Andrew Weatherall. He's already booked to play at their Convenenza festival in France later tihs year where he will perform live with Amy Douglas(DFA).

lack Truffle present In Real Life, the latest in a flurry of releases from Berlin-based guitarist and composer Julia Reidy. Having drawn acclaim for solo performances on 12-string acoustic guitar that bridge microtonality, ‘American primitive’ stylings and classic minimalism, Reidy’s recent releases have utilised an increasingly broad sonic palette, fleshing out guitar-based composition with electronics, field recordings, and – most strikingly – heavily auto-tuned vocals. On In Real Life, Reidy pushes one step further, crafting an epic LP-length suite that moves from abstracted song to lush electronics and explorations in contemporary musique concrète. Beginning with a passage of eerie electronics and creaking percussive interjections, Reidy’s heavily auto-tuned voice quickly takes centre stage. Surrounded by explosions of electric guitar and synthesised arpeggios, the auto-tuned voice delivers a melancholic ode, bringing together poetic images to reflect on the instability of experience and mutability of identity in a contemporary world saturated by digital technology. This concern with the unsettled relationship between the physical and digital is reflected musically by the constantly shifts in emphasis between Reidy’s physically demanding guitar-picking and the various forms of synthesis deployed. Similarly, the dynamic imagery of cutting, shattering, and ‘racing streams’ present in Reidy’s lyrics also serves to characterise the structure of In Real Life, which ceaselessly shifts between distinct episodes. The song-based opening, long sequences of frenetic 12-string guitar shadowed and eventually overtaken by synth tones, passages of delicate chiming harmonics, electro-acoustic cut-ups – each flows seamlessly into the next, often recurring throughout the record’s duration, which lingers over interstitial moments between these episodes.

Mixed and mastered by Joe Talia at Good Mixture, Tokyo. Vinyl cut at 45rpm for maximum fidelity by Rashad Becker at D&M, Berlin. Artwork by Suze Whaites. LP desgn by Lasse Marhaug.

Suha's "Hora EP" consists of organic bodies composed by an electronic mind.
On his first release on The Magic Movement, the emerging electronic musician from Istanbul imagines a three-track story: The mythical figures - Hermes and Hezarfen - are in search of a unified space named Hora above variant timelines.

Under the arabesque shadow of occidental chords and oriental strings, the EPs multi-layered tracks take you on a cosmic flight: Folkloric dance elements build up progressively over a driving rhythm while Suha's ethereal vocals flow alongside old chants. Massive brass and gritty 70's synths accompany ancestral lyrics that herald of unknown realities soon to be realised.

The EP is produced and mixed by label head-honcho Noema, whose magical touch reflects through well-thought arrangements of Suha's compositions and their powerful sound.
In this EP, you'll be witnessing a harmonic gathering of two figures on the obscure mountain of Hora.

rRoxymore's long-anticipated debut album, Face To Phase, was born of her annual creative hibernation practice. Whereas her previous appearances for Don't Be Afraid - Thoughts Of An Introvert, Parts 1 & 2 - revealed inner worlds of saturated colour and natural expressiveness, she retreated into her studio at the turn of winter 2018 occupied with the idea of dismantling the dancefloor-centric pressure paradigm.


The resulting album, Face to Phase, finds rRoxymore methodically and mindfully stripping back to fundamentals: rumbling minimalist dub, sparse polymetric drums, boldy unpredictable melodic narratives and subtleties which hover out-of-reach or disappear into vapour. Forged by the spirit of club music cultures, Face To Phase favours deep listening; resisting the temptation to reflect on the past or project towards the future, it's an album that is firmly rooted in the contemporary.


Sparked by her own archive of field recordings, and produced primarily but not exclusively in the box, Face To Phase adds several facets to rRoxymore's already wide repertoire. The pensive and beatless opener "Home Is Where The Music Is" was inspired by her longtime friend Planningtorock, while "Forward Flamingo" is a spiraling dream-state of house music dissociation; elsewhere "Energy Points" remains anchored to the ocean floor, radiating heavy dub waves, "Passages" is a ghoulish skeleton of UK break beats, "What's The Plan" closes the album in a blissfully blunted fashion, while twisting, shape-shifting rhythms push and pulse "PPS21" into series of ever-evolving shapes and forms.


Through and in between the eight songs of Face To Phase, rRoxymore fortifies her status as a seasoned artist, grounded by over a decade of live performance and touring, collaboration, composition and experimentation. With a new live performance collaboration with a percussionist set to debut the LP at Atonal on 1st September, rRoxymore is primed to expand her reputation even further as one of the most vital and distinctive artists on the fringes of contemporary club culture.

PLR is proud to host a variety of talented producers from around the hemisphere, from Berlin to Montréal to San Francisco. The label is a brainchild of independent artist Experimental Housewife and was kicked off by prolific producer Roche (100% Silk, Jacktone, Hobocamp) and his breath-taker A Genuine Effort To Make You Comfortable. Soon after, the spring saw italo-sprinkled dance floor beats followed by slamming techno and weirdo-tronica, a non-genre made of intriguing sounds that play tricks on DJs. In closing, the roster will be opening ears up with a wonderful miniseries of ambient releases before the final EP: arpeggiated pop from conceptual two-man band Star Service .

Premiere producers like Lily Ackerman (As You Like It, Mioli Music), CMD (Jacktone, basic_sounds), Golden Diskó Ship (Monika Enterprise, Spezialmaterial, Klangbad), BLEIE (B.O.D.I.E.S., 3am Devices), Mo Kudeki (Noctuary, Public Works), and Tape Ghost (Asterisk, Night Sea) have all signed up to the roster, releasing fierce and excitable works that they have had for a while but hitherto were not able to release to the public.

Reverenced names like Ryan Merry (now Elexos Park but formerly Ghosts On Tape), Roy England (Make Mistakes, Communikey), Caltrop (In The Dark Again), Loren Steele (Wolf + Lamb, Jacktone), and Philadelphia warriors Sean Thomas (Drumsong, Sound Between Movement) as well as bpmf (Schmer, Serotonin, Prototype 909) have all offered exclusive productions.

Mysterious and up-and-coming producers like Emmett Perlman (Wage Slave, Make Mistakes), Bad Person , gayphextwin (Jacktone), BIlagáana (VODER), and Atlas Of Nothing can be explored in the catalog alongside new names like Memeshift, The Hug , and Jaclyn Kendall .

Our spotlight mastering engineers for digital releases include David Last, Abe Duque, Dark Star Audio, David Tatasciore, and Helen Heß. Our resident and extremely generous/talented engineer for the year has been the one and only Roy England.

Dutch producer Philou Louzolo returns to Byrd Out for a secondouting, mining that seam between Afro, House and Electro, with his Sharingan EP. He’s been working in a darkened room for some months on his own label Wokoundou (remixing the likes of Amadou and Miriam), but has taken time out to produce two new tracks, Sharingan and Itachi, that make up the A side. And on the flip we’ve the married the originals with three wicked remixes, from Kenyan via Kampala talent Slikback, who gives Sharingan an industrial pulsing feel, Ariwo’s Pouya Eshaei, with a stripped back take on Itachi, and previous Byrd Out contributor Native Cruise with a lush Balearic tinged edit of Sharingan. Mastered by the Sound Mechanic, artwork by G.S-L Studio.

It seems KPM have long been fans of Smith and Mudd and, after being introduced to each other by mutual friend Andy Allday, the peerless Balearic maestros were invited to contribute to the library label’s digital-only “Album Shorts” project. The results are predictably wonderful.

With past projects under our belt working with everyone involved so far it made perfect sense for Be With to take on the vinyl release of this instant library classic. But why is it called “Tea With Holger”?

“Holger” is of course Holger Czukay and the whole LP is dedicated to Smith and Mudd’s time spent with him and Ursa Major at Can’s famous Inner Space Studio in Weilerswist, near Cologne.

When not recording it seems they spent a great deal of time sat around being entertained by Holger’s stories and drinking many cups of different sorts of tea from all over the world. These moments provide some their fondest memories of their visits:

“Looking back, it was pretty incredible that we spent part of our lives with Holger in one of the most magical places we’ve ever known, Inner Space Studio. We have our memories and, of course, the Bison album we made with him. But to honour the time we spent with him, we wanted to dedicate an album to him called ‘Tea With Holger’. The names of the tracks are about that time.”

The album was recorded over several years in London, Margate and Gorthleck, a small hamlet in the Scottish Highlands. Mike Piggott, who played with Bert Jansch, handled the strings and played violin whilst Sam Creer lent his virtuoso cello work to the proceedings. The sessions employed a key recording technique from their time with Holger: hit record and play. They wanted to capture magical improvisational moments live and not do the work later on in editing.

In their own words (and in classic library record sleeve style) these tracks are collectively described as “Balearic themes including breezy soul, sun-dappled melodies, warm pianos and sweeping strings”. You want to hear this, right?

The album is vintage Smith and Mudd. The gentle piano ushering in opening track “The Gardener” is soon joined by low, bubbling drums. When the time is just right, lush guitars glisten above a Welsh language vocal that floats like silk. Easy as a sea breeze. “Innerspace” is of course a nod to Can’s aforementioned studio. Dark, heavy piano meets rolling drums before warm chords and luscious strings take over, gliding over moody grooves to drive you home. Closing out side A, “Weilerswist” delivers more beautifully rolling piano and guitars over thumping cellos and building drums.

Side B opens with the full, string-enhanced version of “Away From Me”. This is Smith and Mudd’s prefered version and it’s only available here on this vinyl issue. For us it’s the standout on this all-highlight album. Tribal tones, piano and cello set a melodic staccato for violin to soar over while rolling piano lines and gospel organ chords descend into a drum drop that leads to a glorious vocal lead finale.

Distant synths introduce sun-drenched guitars and uplifting strings in “Kölner Street”, before a spacey Moog solo leads to a spellbinding, sci-fi drop. The sunshine returns before the track ends. The album closes with “Tea With Holger”. Airy vocal swells are punctuated by plucked cellos and picked guitars, all wonderfully warmed by a soulful piano.

Cut by Pete Norman and pressed in the Netherlands by Record Industry, “Tea With Holger” comes in a classic KPM green sleeve complete with track descriptions from Smith and Mudd themselves. The finishing visual touches come courtesy of Richard Robinson. We’ve given this record the same care and attention as we give to each our KPM re-issues, and it’s just as essential.

Microdosing is a series of compilation 12”s selected by Julienne Dessagne aka Fantastic Twins, and designed in collaboration with French visual artist Geff Pellet. Microdosing is a collective experiment aimed at helping you fighting back your modern obsession with happiness. You may deserve a nice day but the day does not need a nice you, nothing should be forced, everything is permitted. Microdosing will provide you with sonic healing weapons on regular basis and at irregular dosage. Those doses will favour psychedelic social techniques against self help tyranny, creation over soma, provoking over numbing, our outer-selves over our inner-selves. Microdosing refuses the fatality of the pleasure principle. Life is a struggle, time to embrace it. —— "My battery is low and it’s getting dark” We at Microdosing will make Opportunity’s famous last words fully ours. Some would see these as an epitaph on a black screen, we embrace them as a reclaimed fragility. Are we grains of sand wandering in space, hoping for a goal? No. We are the cosmos, the cosmos is us, unafraid of the end, unafraid of the void. Before the rise of the infinite silence, Microdosing brings you new guiding lights, white sun or black hole being a simple permutation of the kinetic rainbow. Oceanic’s “Parallel Lines Of Stripes” is a meandering mantra, an synthesised Moebius ring, a mission to your heart, that furthest star in the sky. Gilb’R’s “Cosmogonie” simply reminds us of the profound relation between spatial systems and the holy act of birth (cosmo, world and gon, conceive). The universe is a body, your body is your universe. Lucas Croon’s “Threshold Stimulus” is the soundtrack of a never ending voyage, the man is on a trip to the core sanctum. Imagine Space as a reverberation room cladded with bakelite. Losing yourself in delay repeats sometimes is the shortest way. Neuzeitliche Bodenbeläge & Sam Irl’s “Faeden” is another hymn to the umbilical chords joining us to the outer world, a black monolith of kraut acid, a pagan dance as portal to a destination only you can choose. Microdosing will be back soon with more enablers, helping to turn your petty struggles into a search for a meaning of life. The Quest lives on.

Jatinder Singh Durhailay and David Edren released Tea Notes as a cassette back in April of 2018. London-based Jatinder Singh Durhailay is a painter and student of Indian Classical music. He has trained in both the sitar and the Hindi singing technique, Dhrupad. He also plays two traditional Sikh instruments; the bowed, stringed Dilruba and Taus. Poetic Pastel Press issued his solo debut, The Last Ballad Of Mardana, in 2017. David Edren`s expertise lies with machines and modular synthesis. His Kosmische and New Age-Inspired electronics have featured on numerous cassettes, and compilations, produced for imprints from the current Belgian underground, such as Jj Funhouse, Social Harmony, and Ultra Eczema. These recordings appearing, since the turn of the millennium, either under his own name, or the moniker DSR Lines. Jatinder and David’s collaboration, Tea Notes, is a celebration, a meditation, on both the beverage, and the communal time shared imbibing. The coming together to partake in its ritual. Each of the six tracks represents a different infusion. The opening piece is a tribute to semi-oxidised Oolong, from China`s Wuyi Mountains, with hammered dulcimer-like glissando. Gongs shimmering, gently crashing, as if signaling a change in the weather. A calm of thin, stretched synths and Ai angels introduces Tulsi from India. The Holy Basil of Hinduism, used in the worship of Vishnu, Krishna, and Rama. A traditional herb of Ayurveda and Siddha medicine. Automated arpeggiated sequences raising a vibrating wall of hallucinatory sound. Pairing swooning strings with a racing robot heart. Ceylon is a modern twist on the classical raga. Serving to tell the story of a tea smuggled into Sri Lanka in the 19th century. Plants stolen from South West China, where the brew had been enjoyed since the days of the Shang Dynasty (1766 to 1122 BC). The contraband founding fresh industry in its new home when the indigenous coffee crops failed. Muted organ and sleepy, treated sine wave microtones describe Kava, the Polynesian fireweed root, whose extract serves as both sedative and euphoriant.Shincha are the first young leaves of the season. Picked in Southern Japan and steamed to prevent oxidization, retain their flavour and green / gold colour. Their musical counterpart finds Edren establishing an ecclesiastical drone, while Durhailay`s strings chart an ancient romantic ache. Sonic stars shine. Singing out to the infinite, the universe, before dissolving into knots of Radiophonic Workshop noise.Melodies treated with subtle sustain and delay denote Pu-Ehr, from the Yunnan province. The only truly fermented black tea - made distinctive by the action of bacteria, moulds, and yeasts. Its musical themes hovering in the vapour trails, the atmospheres, they themselves create. Spiraling, soaring, reaching for the heavens, while pretty music box glitches - tiny chimes turned in on themselves. Catching, reflecting, like light at play on fresh running water. (words: Robert Harris)

Razen celebrate their 10 yr anniversary with “Ayîk Adhîsta Adhîsta Ayîk”, an album that takes a paragraph from CG Jung’s Memories, Dreams, Reflections as a reference point to set off a journey that goes from light to dark, from day to night, from life to death, and back.

As much a reflection of primal imagery and rituals of knowledge as a way of coming to terms with anxieties about the chaos of the night, the album concerns itself with the question: who - or what - are we in the moments before (re-)birth, before waking up, in the state inbetween darkness and light?
On “Ayîk Adhîsta Adhîsta Ayîk”, the wind instruments and organ stabs of band leaders Kim Delcour and Brecht Ameel are expanded with Pieter Lenaerts’ five string double bass and sarangi, Jean-Philippe Poncin’s bass clarinet and chalumeau, and Paul Garriau’s hurdy gurdy.

The album sees the group explore new straight-to-the-gut emotional territory, while simultaneously showcasing Razen’s intuitive, continuous investigation of the acoustic properties and resonant possibilities of churches and chapels in the countryside around Brussels; after “Remote Hologram” (2014) and “ The Xvoto Reels” (2017), this time the St Agatha Church (St.-Agatha-Berchem) functions as the conduit for Razen’s acoustic sound jolts.

With the past ten years entirely devoted to the search for archetypical timbres and connotations by improvising on Early Music instruments, it’s no wonder that the world of Razen would one day collide with the world of CG Jung and take his writing as an inspiration.

A sonic hex tour de force from this unique ensemble, “Ayîk Adhîsta Adhîsta Ayîk” is a present-day, nocturnal emitter of the Coleridge quote that opens Jung’s Memories:
‘He looked at his own soul with a Telescope. What seemed all irregular he saw and shewed to be beautiful Constellations and he added to the Consciousness hidden worlds within worlds’.

With the release of their first two albums and live shows supporting Snarky Puppy, Roy Ayers, Marcus Miller, Larry Mizell & the Blackbyrds, Butcher Brown, Yellowjackets and more, Resolution 88 have already established themselves as one of the UK's leading exponents of funk jazz. Their music is synonymous with the silky, buttery sound of the Fender Rhodes. They're also a bona fide band, a refreshing change in a musical world increasingly occupied by online collaborations and viral videos. They're best mates who love to hang out, play together and make their own music - that sincerity is evident in their songs and their chemistry on stage.


'Revolutions' represents a lot of firsts - the first time Resolution 88 have recorded to multi-track tape, the first time that they've included a real string and brass section, the first time they've included special guests on record and the first time they've pressed an album on vinyl. Imagine a combination of an undiscovered Herbie Hancock album from the mid' 70's, rare-groove samples from the golden era of hip hop (ATCQ, Pharcyde etc) and the new London sound of bands like Yussef Kamaal.

Every track on'Revolutions'represents an aspect of music on vinyl. On'Pitching Up'you hear the DJ pitch the record up from 33rpm to 45rpm.'Out Of Sync'simulates a clumsy attempt at beat-matching. The hypnotic, circling sax line that opens the title track'Revolutions'(echoed by the strings at the end) evokes the mesmerizing sensation of watching the record label artwork whirling as it spins on the platter.'Runout Groove'fades in and out; the drum beat mimics the distinctive, perpetual rhythm tapped out by the stylus as it reaches the runout groove. On the second side,'Sample Hunter'unexpectedly deviates from the main section into Rhodes-drenched interludes; the type of moment that producers searched high and low for back when hip hop was great.Marcus Tenney's (Butcher Brown) lyrics on 'Dig Deep'are all about the thrill of digging for records and'Matrix'is inspired by the hidden messages sometimes left in the matrix markings on record pressings. On'Tracking Force', you can hear the beat twist and morph as the stylus skates over the record. Finally,'Warped Memories'closes out the album with a wistful, melancholy melody. Sit back with a glass of Japanese whisky and a Cuban cigar (or whatever your chosen poison is), stick the album on and enjoy it from start to finish - although if you're listening to it on vinyl, you'll need to get up to turn it over to the B-side ;)

SLEEPERS POETS SCIENTISTS is the compilation of 9 female Georgian artists. It showcases works by Natalie Beridze's students at the CES (Creative Education Studio), where Beridze teaches song-writing and music production. Natalie Beridze is an international well-established artist with releases on Max Ernst, Laboratory Instinct, and Monika Enterprise, through live performances, theatre and movie soundtrack works, as a member of artists collective Goslab, and collaborations with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Thomas Brinkmann, Gudrun Gut, Nikakoi – to name but a few. "This compilation is the backbone of what I try to persuade as a lecturer and as a person, who endlessly loves the music-making process. "Sleepers, Poets, Scientists " is the embodiment of intelligent, benevolent, dedicated, talented and beautiful women, who I believe have a bright future as female composers in Georgia and this album is a significant step towards it."

The retro cover is a nod to the famous group shot from the 1927 Solvay conference, which brought together physicists like Albert Einstein, Erwin Schrödinger, Marie Curie, and others. With this in mind, the name Sleepers, Poets, Scientists rings like a call to action for today's brightest minds, to wake up and save our chaotic, troubled world.

Strangelove’s latest release turns left somewhere near the edge of the Atlantic, with Electricidade Estética” documenting a vibrant window into the musical landscape of 1980’s counter-culture Portugal. Compiling early un-issued works, DWART’s organic Ash-Ra Balearics meld with spikey Iberian electronics, coalescing around the floating beauty of ‘Mate’, reissued for the first time on vinyl. With emergent music technologies of the era enthusiastically adopted by Lisbon’s avante-garde, there was a collective desire by DWART and their contemporaries to push existing sonic boundaries;- Post new wave sounds melded with distinctive local sensibilities. Vítor Rua & Jorge Lima Barreto of the legendary Telectu (whom Antoñio currently tours with) were regular collaborators while composer/ guitarist Nuno Rebelo and guitarist/singer Bernardo Devlin feature throughout. Antoñio & Manuela Duarte’s search for an artistic language melded a continuing curiosity with aural and physical dualities: experimental pop integrated with performance art, mathematics sound-tracked on canvas, organic found sounds at ease alongside synthetic drum machines. The 9 songs found here document the early emergence of their own ‘Electricidade Estética’ (Big shouts to Invisible Cities & Steele Bonus- early champions of ‘Mate’) Vital Sales Points: Follow up to the labels previous releases - Frank Harris & Maria Marquez ‘Echoes’ and previous Portuguese release Lena d’Água ?- Jardim Zoológico

Johnny Clarke is one of the great vocalists that ruled the Jamaican Dancehall scene from the mid – 1970’s to the early 1980’s. While Bob Marley was out conquering the world, Dennis Brown, Gregory Issacs and Johnny Clarke were winning the hearts of the Jamaican people .Johnny Clarke’s use of the ‘Flying Cymbal‘ sound took the Island by storm and produced a run of hit singles few could match.
Johnny Clarke (b.1955, Jamaica, West Indies) cut his first record ‘God Made The Sea and Sun’, after winning a local singing contest in the Bull Bay area of Jamaica. Although the single was not a hit, it led to two follow up tracks for producer Rupie Edwards, ’Everyday Wandering’ and ‘Julie’ that fared much better, both on the island and oversees in England and Canada. These tracks also brought the singer to the attention of producer Bunny Lee and a working relationship that would go on to produce a prolific catalogue of music. Johnny Clarke’s Dread Conscious / Love Song style were to grace many hits around this time in 1974. Such tunes as ‘None Shall Escape The Judgement’, ‘Move Out of Babylon’, ‘Rock With Me Baby’, ‘Enter The Gates With Praise’ to name but a few. All new songs added to a host of cover tunes, recommended by Bunny Lee, many taken from the singer John Holt’s catalogue, that suited Clarke’s vocal style. The rhythms were cut at various studios around the Island. Randy’s Studio 17, Channel 1, Treasure Isle, Dynamic Sounds and Harry J’s, by a group of musicians loosely called the Aggrovators and some tunes incorporating the ‘Flying Cymbal’ sound again introduced by Bunny Lee, working the Hi-Hat in fine style. The tracks were then taken to King Tubby’s studio where Johnny Clarke’s vocals would be voiced.
Another phenomenon that was happening in the early 1970’s, was the version cuts to vocal tracks. This is when the tunes were cut back to the bass and drums and the vocals were dropped in and out in a dubbed style, and reverb and echo and various effects were added to these tracks. The main exponent to this style was King Tubby himself, and as was the fashion at the time, each vocal track would carry a version as its B-Side. Producer Bunny Lee lead this style working closely with King Tubby and all of his singles from then on would carry a Dub cut on its flipside. As Johnny Clarke was one of Bunny’s main singers at the time, we would hear a great selection of popular songs getting the dub treatment and in many cases the single was purchased for its more exciting dub cut, again made popular at the various dances where the dubplates were played out. We have compiled some of the best of these dubs from the time and put them together for this release, hope you enjoy the great voice of Johnny Clarke alongside the productions of Bunny Lee and the creative genius of King Tubby, a great combination we hope you will agree….

The idea of this records came out of a book called The Metamorphosis of Plants, written by Goethe in the 18th century. I was also triggered by a greek friend, who explained me the etymology of the world ""metamorphosis"", that is such an interesting greek concept.
""I cannot tell you how readable the book of nature is becoming for me: my long efforts at deciphering, letter by letter, have helped me; now all of a sudden it is having effect, and my quiet joy is inexpressive."" - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to Charlotte von Stein, 1786

Comic book artist, graphic designer and free jazz improviser are only some of the many talents from Beirut born Mazen Kerbaj. After appearing as part of various ensembles on the label, Ariha Brass Quartet (CREP46) and Johnny Kafta Anti-Vegetarian Orchestra (CREP22), Kerbaj finally lands a solo outfit of his own onto the Discrepant dancefloor of insubordination.

14 years after his first (and only) solo album "Brt Vrt Zrt Krt" (Al Maslakh, 2005) Mazen returns with a series of subtle compositions of his own with not one but two(!) solo albums of prepared trumpet that further cement his international position as a serial trumpet botherer.

Whilst Vol. 2.1 showcases his (almost) (un)familiar arsenal of squawks, cackles, howls and squeals, Vol. 2.2 goes deep into the nether regions of waltzing drones and bell tweaks so deep that would make most cetaceans loose their concentration. The notion of being transported to a luring mutant underwater alien community is still present on these long(er) trips with the added meditative pieces being occasionally pierced by noise creepers, nothing is what you want or expect and that’s the way it should be.

If Vol. 2.1 is the classic follow up LP, this one is the beast from the deep, it comes surging and screeching from a deep oceanic sink hole, only to hypnotize you with perverted dance moves before diving back into the sinking, wettest and darkest cave in the world. Vol. 2.2 is a summons album; it shatters any bar there was with its intentional use of everything Vol. 2.1 was denied. It grabs you by wherever available way and it only releases you when you’re ready to listen to it again. Listen to both albums back to back, in no particular order and you’ll know that there’s nothing you can do but come back to it like a doped up seal stranded in a phantom island – appearing and disappearing as the music dictates it to.

South east London songwriter and visual artist Jerkcurb has today announced his hotly-anticipated debut album Air Con Eden - set for release on Friday 13 September via Handsome Dad Records. The culmination of several years of intense creative focus, Air Con Eden reflects on Jerkcurb instigator Jacob Read’s recent real life events, losses and tragedies as well as more cryptic, fictitious perspectives and surreal adopted personalities. The record’s euphoric lead single ‘Timelapse Tulip’ arrives alongside today’s news - accompanied by a stunning, intricate 3D animated video courtesy of a collaboration between Read, director Gilbert Bannerman and production designer Theo Boswell. Read will tour the U.K. in October to celebrate the album's release with a hometown headline at Chat's Palace included on the run.

Having fully emerged in 2016 with the flourishing ‘Night On Earth’ - a streaming hit with 2,700,000 spins to date - and subsequent tracks ‘Voodoo Saloon’ and ‘Little Boring Thing’, there’s been a growing sense of an artist climbing into maturity with each succeeding release, video and gig laying the foundations for Jerkcurb’s burgeoning cult status. Radio and press took to Jerkcurb instantly with BBC Radio 6 Music inviting him in for a live session on Tom Ravenscroft’s show, also making an appearance as a guest on Steve Lamacq’s Thursday Round Table, while esteemed publications like Dazed, Vice, Noisey and Wonderland have all thrown their weight behind his music and art. Indeed, Read has been heavily immersed in his art and animation all the while, exhibiting at the Tate Britain and also being commissioned by them to create a promo for their installation Aftermath: Art in the Wake of World War One and drawing praise from It’s Nice That along the way.


There’s a near impossible richness to Read’s songwriting form on Air Con Eden, with its as-yet-unheard title track offering perhaps the clearest distillation of the record’s predominant theme: time at its malleable and fraught. Inspired by Victor Gruen - the pioneering designer of shopping malls in the United States - Read unpacks the idea of being trapped in an eternity that feels like an endless present tense, the passing of the seasons reduced to a standstill in a pristine shopping mall; a symbol of both stasis and comfort; an Eden without the possibility of an ending.

PULP is inaugurating this year's summer season with a lengthy affair by a certain Barry Helafonte called "One Night'. Not much is known about the artist that delivers the 12th installment for the PULP series. Nevertheless, production wise the sound is mature, and the drum machines sound like they are being hit by someone with vast experience. The balanced production quality of "Keys to The City" is prominent. A squelchy bassline is dictating the rhythm whilst washes of pads and an outlandish lead come together to form a dripping whole.

"Keys to the City" resumes with friend of the label Moon B on rework duties, turning the spaced out drums of the original

Moon Boots a.k.a Pete Dougherty returns with his second studio album ‘Bimini Road’ on September 6 via Anjunadeep. An ambitious and evocative follow-up to his acclaimed debut First Landing, Bimini Road combines delectable club-ready grooves with soulful songcraft into a seamlessly organic whole. Inspired by notions of mysterious lost civilizations, ancient magic utopias and the sci-fi landscapes of the mind, ‘Bimini Road’ is a joyously celebratory listen that builds off the ‘deep textures and funky melodies’ (Mixmag) of his album 'First Landing', a disco house masterpiece supported by KCRW, Annie Mac and others. Featuring familiar faces KONA, Black Gatsby and Nic Hanson among the featured vocal talent, ‘Bimini Road’ also includes new collaborators like rising US talent Niia, Kaleena Zanders and notable British sing-songwriter Little Boots. OutJuly 9, ‘Tied Up’ is the first single off the album, a sexy slice of deep house pop sure to ignite dancefloors and bedrooms alike. Moon Bootsembarks on his Live Bimini Road Tour this Fall, with dates across North America and Europe. Born in Brooklyn, Moon Boots’ musical obsession started not long after he could walk. His early love of piano lead to a passion for keyboards and synthesizers. Teenage nights lost in the work of Daft Punk, ATribe Called Quest and Herbie Hancock followed. Inspired by legends like Frankie Knuckles and Derrick Carter, he moved to the house music epicenter of Chicago, where he tirelessly passed out demos to local DJs and scoured the web for like-minded people with whom he could share and expand on his sound. Heplayed in a synth-pop trio whose demo caught the attention of Lupe Fiasco, and after a stint touring alongside the hip-hop icon, Dougherty went back to DJing with a renewed focus. The stars aligned when he had a chance encounter withPerseus, founder of an adventurous label, French Express. A fellow junkie and fan of French House and R&B-infused dance music, Perseus became a friend and mentor, the Splinter to Boots' Donatello. The label eventually disbanded but Boots has stayed true to his mission of making dance tracks that can’t be confined to one style. Pete blends the music he loves --jazz, house, funk and soul -- into songs that last longer than their runtime. Songs not just for DJs, but for everyone.