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James Ruskin's Blueprint Records celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2026. Kicking off the festivities Vinicius Honorio returns to the label but this time it's alongside R.M.K who makes his Blueprint debut.

Vinicius Honorio is a Brazilian-born, London-based DJ and producer whose vision of techno is built on hypnotic repetition, gritty textures and emotional weight. With a career spanning over 2 decades, Vinicius has emerged as a powerful voice in contemporary techno - raw, focused and unflinchingly honest. His productions blend relentless drive with intricate groove, often laced with haunting melodic undertones and has released music on the likes of Figure, Token, Mord andSK_eleven, as well as Blueprint.

Hailing from London, R.M.K is the alias of Fossil Archive label head Roberto, representing a faster and more intense take on his unique brand of Techno. During his 20+ year career in music, he has formed friendships and worked in partnership with other respected artists such as Trevino (Marcus Intalex), Jamie Anderson, Robert Owens, Goldie and Nastia. Although the focus is always on the very heart of the most raucous of raves, R.M.K never shies away from groove and funk

Tomos is no stranger to reinvention. Over the years, his sonic explorations have spanned genres, yet one thread has remained constant—his deep-rooted connection to house music. His earliest co-releases under the alias Vanguard were high-energy French House cuts, built on the foundations of crate-digging and sample collage, channeling the spirit of Daft Punk and the wider French electronic movement.

Now, 15 years later, he returns to those techniques with a fresh perspective, releasing his latest EP Soul Feels Good through the esteemed Noire & Blanche.

Soul Feels Good isn’t just a nod to the past—it’s a showcase of the vast influences that drive his ever-evolving sound. Tomos weaves together an intricate patchwork, merging the meticulous sampling techniques of his early career with a broader, more mature musical palette. The result? A genre-fluid blend of Jazz, House, Dub, Soul, Gospel, Broken Beat, Downtempo and Disco—stitched together with the finesse of an artist who has spent years honing his skills.

For listeners who appreciate the craft of sampling and fans of genre-defying, groove-driven music - Soul Feels Good is a record that demands attention.

Hania Rani is a pianist, composer and musician who splits her life between Warsaw, where she makes her home, and Berlin where she studied and often works. She has written for strings, piano, voice and electronics and has collaborated with the likes of Christian Löffler, Dobrawa Czocher and Hior Chronik, and released an album with her Polish group teskno last year. She has performed at some of the most prestigious venues in Europe - from the National Philharmony in Warsaw, to Funkhaus in Berlin, to The Roundhouse in London (where she made her debut at the Gondwana 10thanniversary festival last October) and at festivals such as Open'er, Scope Festival and Eurosonic. Her compositions for solo piano were born out of a fascination with the piano as an instrument, and her desire to interpret its sound and harmonic possibilities in their entirety and in her own way.

LP comes with heavy weight reverse board sleeve including a double sided printed insert plus digital download code.

Esja is her debut solo album and for Rani it is her first, real, personal statement as an artist. "No hiding behind the "collaborations" or "projects" anymore. For the very first time, finally - just me, as I am".

Recorded at Rani's apartment in Warsaw (the piano room has a beautiful reverb and the space has become part art studio and part sound laboratory for Rani) and at her friend Bergur Þórisson'sstudio in Reykjavik, Esja is a series of beautiful melodic vignettes. Sensual, sensitive, rhythmic, atmospheric, free but harmonious, beguiling and hypnotic, collectively they project a sense of unlimited space and time.

Expect support from accross the media spectrum from Mojo to Uncut and Gilles Peterson and Mary Ann Hobbs on 6 Music to Radio 3 and beyond. Full servicing to the Gondwana Records datebase.

As the man who basically brought the conga into the modern age with his innovative multipercussion set-ups and tunable congas, and as a former member of Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Kenton’s bands, Cándido Camero Guerra a.k.a. Candido already had a long and storied career when he cut Dancin’ and Prancin’ for the Salsoul label in 1979 at the age of 58. So, you might have been excused at the time for assuming this was just another case of an old-timer trying to cash in on the disco craze, right? But you would have been very, very wrong…the record was pure brilliance, as the infusion of Candido’s Latin conga beats into the disco-fied 4 x 4 syncopated rhythm proved irresistible, revolutionizing the sound of underground disco while pointing the way to the house music to come. Indeed, both “Jingo” (an unstoppable version of the Olatunji classic) and “Thousand Finger Man” are still DJ favorites. Speaking of DJs, we’re putting this one out on black vinyl, perfect for queueing up and spinning. for A must for any dance music library!

Repress

Anthony Naples returns with his second full length album, "Take Me With You", arriving first as a 'Mixed Version' cassette inspired and commissioned by the Good Morning Tapes series, followed by Digital, Vinyl and even Long Sleeve T-Shirt formats.

Originally conceived as a D.J. mixtape dedicated to friends and the time spent with them in the morning hours after the parties over (or beginning) - it quickly morphed into a soft focused meditation on all things warm and intangible.

'Take Me With You' fires off in all styles - the opening triptych of the extra-cosmic 'Alto', post-rave pianos of 'Goodness' and slow-dance-inducing 'Drifter' bring the attention inward — taking cues from a host of personal favorites including: 'Space' LP by Space, The Theater Of Eternal Music, Panda Bear's 'Person Pitch' , Atlas Sound's 'Let The Blind Lead...', Arthur Russell's 'World Of Echo', Suzanne Ciani's 'Buchla Concerts: 1975', The Microphones 'The Glow Pt. II' & 'Mount Eerie', A mixtape of Krautrock from DJ Ivan Berko and most definitely Holger Czukay, 'Take Me With You' is a fresh turn for Naples as he ascends into a blend of his most personal work to date — touching on trip-hop, psychedelic pop, ambient house, and much more along the way.

Make no mistake - 'Take Me With You''s message is undoubtedly about escapism, given away by its happy-abductee cover art done by the legend Biscuit— but first and foremost it reflects on that lingering feeling one gets when walking away from the ones they love.

Repress Orange Vinyl

Endlich können die Millionen Fans von "Stranger Things" ihre Leidenschaft für ihre Lieblingsserie durch den Kauf von physischen Produkten (vor allem LPs, aber auch CDs und sogar Kassetten, eine Anspielung auf die 80er Jahre als zentrales Thema der Serie) zum Ausdruck bringen! Noch mehr als in den vorherigen Staffeln spielt die Musik eine wichtige Rolle in der Erzählung, insbesondere das Kate-Bush-Phänomen "Running up that hill", das natürlich im Soundtrack enthalten ist, sowie "Pass The Dutchie" von Musical Youth und "You Spin Me Round" von Dead or Alive, die in den ersten Episoden sehr auffällig waren. Supererwartetes Kultprodukt: Vorbestellungsstart am 1. Juli, wenn die zweite Hälfte von Staffel 4 startet. Enfin les millions de fans de "Stranger Things" vont pouvoir matérialiser leur passion pour leur série préférée en achetant en physique (surtout le LP, mais aussi le CD et même la cassette, clin d'oeil aux 80's thème central de la série) ! Plus encore que pour les saisons précédentes la musique joue un role prépondérant dans la narration avec en particulier le phénomène Kate Bush « Running up that hill » évidemment présent sur la BOF ainsi que Pass The Dutchie de Musical Youth, You Spin Me Round de Dead or Alive très remarqués dans les premiers épisodes. Produit culte super attendu : lancement de précommande à ne pas manquer pour le 1er juillet, date de lancement de la 2e partie de la saison 4.

2025 Repress

Quickly following March’s The Fool - our label debut - Sa Pa reveals his new album Ambeesh on Short Span.

Coming five years after In A Landscape, and nearly a decade since his debut Fuubutsushi, Ambeesh pulls together a previously hidden body of work.

Written between 2014-2019 and long held in reserve awaiting the right moment for release, the album has often been grouped conceptually as a follow up to his FORUM debut. There’s a strong through line connecting the unique language and liveliness of ambient, layered field recordings, and dub techno found in those earlier records, as well as the seamless skydive through pressure formations found in the Enter Sa Pa production mix, which hinted at several of these tracks.

These pieces have taken time to surface and fully catch the light, but there’s still little else that compares. It’s a cache of some of his deepest and most texturally thrilling music, some of which have been rattling around in our ears and minds and conversation for years and have now found the right home and time. Forward thinking and singular in its combination of atmosphere; Ambeesh can press on the body at the right volume, and moves in thrust and riposte with the listener’s circadian rhythms. Sa Pa continues to dissolve the border between club-informed experimentation and intimate headphone listening.

Ambeesh also marks the artist’s return to Australia and the beginning of a new phase.

Mastered by Miles. Digital release of Lexanconical mastered by CGB @ Dubplates & Mastering.

Art from The Designers Republic.

Força Maior combines the vital saxophone explorations of Pedro Alves Sousa with the infinitely subtle electronic processing of Pedro Tavares. Sousa (aka Má Estrela) is known for manipulating his woodwind through guitar pedalboards & amplifiers, creating far-from-ordinary sonics rooted in unceasing curiosity. For his part, Tavares (aka funcionário) conjoins video & sound work to create space for the pensive wanderings where memory and imagination interlace.

The album Morte Lilás was recorded over a week in June 2023 in Pedro Alves Sousa's family farm, located in the village of Ferreirim, near Lamego, in Portugal. The partly abandoned farm served as the residency, studio, and inspiration for the album: it is a 400-year-old granite farm that belonged to a member of the "40 conspirators"—a group that led the revolution for Portugal's independence from Spain in the 17th century.

Morte Lilás is a remarkable album of committed meditation. Each day on the farm was a recording day for the two Pedros: Sousa on sax & electronics, Tavares on sampler & processing. Apart from slight sonic incursions from the surrounds—the birds on 'Quinta à tarde'—and the sporadic use of sine tones, the source sounds all start from the saxophone. It is then processed both by Sousa & Tavares. The album unfolds as a saxophonic tapestry that breathes with quiet intensity. Each piece invites close listening, revealing fine gestures and tonal shifts that shape a contemplative, ambient space. Força Maior move with calm precision.

The album opens with the unhurried overture 'Quinta à Tarde' a Portuguese pun on Eno's Thursday Afternoon that announces the textures at play. Sousa's breathy entrance is paired with a soft, delicately shifting, backdrop. As the track progresses, time seems to stretch. The arrangement resists urgency, favouring subtle evolution over dramatic turns. Pensive layers shift & drift, creating a sense of suspended motion that brings the listener into the environs of Morte Lilás. 'Quinta à Tarde' is a long-form fade, shifting emphasis from Sousa to Tavares.

'Cubos' continues the gauzy feel, but with a more up-tempo tilt. Rhythmic clicks & pings setup a swung time for the sax to interpose melodic lines that are fed back & bent with cascading delays. Força Maior in distilled form.

Força Maior is in top form on the title track 'Morte Lilás', a sprawling centrepiece that showcases their command of atmosphere & emotional pacing. By turning up the reverberation & leaning into a continuous format, they dissolve the gap between hypnotic trance & articulate reverie. Then, a moment of stillness. The track pauses, not abruptly but like a tide pulling back, revealing the contours beneath. What follows is a return to the album's more relaxed architecture: understated rhythms, softened textures, and a sense of spaciousness that opens space for reflection. It is a transition that feels organic, as if the song itself needed to exhale before settling back into its contemplative groove.

'Menta' is another short-form miniature of the band's signature contours: beautiful loops of air pressure gradients that carry an emotive weight & light.

The album closes with 'Cascata do Inferno'. The title suggests violence, but the music whispers instead—an atmospheric cascade of breath & tone that emerges in slow, deliberate waves. Short melodic cycles are matched by shimmering electronic chords. It's a piece that rewards patience, draws the listener in to drift downstream, eyes closed, into the serene turbulence of its current.

Watershed is the ninth studio album by Swedish progressive metal band Opeth. Watershed is the first studio album by Opeth to feature guitarist Fredrik Åkesson and drummer Martin Axenrot, who replaced longtime guitarist Peter Lindgren and drummer Martin Lopez. The artwork for the album was made by Travis Smith in collaboration with Mikael Åkerfeldt. Opeth is a band that has been taking amazing chances and managed to not only win new fans, but not alienate older ones. A perfect blend of the death metal of Still Life and Blackwater Park, the monolithic riffage of Deliverance and Ghost Reveries, and the prog/classicism of Damnation combined with classic Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, and Scorpions. Watershed is available as a limited edition of 4.000 individually numbered copies on silver & black marbled vinyl, includes a 4 page booklet and a poster and the sleeve has a special linen laminate finish.

i am so thrilled to share the film for my concert cornucopia with you . this has been a long journey with hundreds of people helping out . i am so beyond enormously grateful to every single one of them .

i feel the modern concert film is a matriarchially friendly construct , welcomed in the current climate . where female musicians can share their worlds uncorrupted . in cornucopia , i was joined by musical director and multi instrumentalist bergur þórisson , percussionist manu delago , flute septet Viibra , harpist katie buckley and the hamrahlid choir .

i spent last decade working with 360-degree sound and visual software in virtual reality and animation, creating Biophilia and later Vulnicura as a VR album . i was deeply inspired by the idea of a fully-immersive experience spreading Utopia and Fossora into fully surround speakers . my intention was to bring what we had created for 21st-century VR into a 19th-century theatre - taking it from the headset to the stage .

this vision was realised with 27 moving curtains that captured projections on different textures and LED screens , creating a digitally animated show : a "modern lanterna magica" for live music . i also wanted to feature bespoke instruments: a magnetic harp , an aluphone , a circular flute , and a reverb chamber , specially built with an audio architect to enhance the most intimate version of a performance—in a personal chapel .

throughout this tale, there is a subplot woven in : a second story of an avatar—a modern marionette who alchemically mutates , from puppet to puppet , from the injury of a heart wound to a fully healed state . i hope you enjoy it . warmness , björk

Following her compelling debut EP Mending, Frida Touray returns with Homebody, a work of raw emotional clarity, crafted duringa time when her voice was literally fighting back. Diagnosed mid-process with a rare condition that forced her into silence andstillness, Touray chose not retreat, but rebuild. From the quiet corners of domestic life, she’s shaped a collection of songs thatradiate warmth, vulnerability and quiet endurance.Musically, Homebody expands on Touray’s jazz-soul foundations with sparse, atmospheric production that amplifies her voiceand message. There’s a newfound looseness in her phrasing, a deeper sense of presence in every word she sings. You can hearthe letting go, of perfection, of control, and the deepening of purpose in its place. Each track lands with unfiltered intimacy andemotional architecture, a subtle act of defiance wrapped in softness.This is music built on stillness and shaped by resilience. A reflection on self-worth, illness, femininity, community and healing.Songs that speak to the unseen parts of recovery and the small rooms we build ourselves back up in. Homebody is a record foranyone rebuilding from the inside.

Apollo Ghosts return with “Amethyst,” a seven-song EP overflowing with introspection, defiance, and the frustration of grappling with the world’s ills. With distortion pedals and walls of feedback - a first for Apollo Ghosts! - the songs contrast the monotony of daily life with climate anxiety, the rise of autocracies with the rise of apathy. But throughout, the album cements Apollo Ghosts' status as lifelong underground music defenders and eternal optimists with plenty of nods to 90s indie rock heroes Yo La Tengo, Dead Moon, Pavement, Guided By Voices, Eric’s Trip and Built To Spill

Swiss artist Lukas Traxel releases his powerful debut album One-Eyed Daruma on We Jazz Records, March 10. The trio features Traxel on double bass, Otis Sandsjö on sax and Moritz Baumgärtner on drums. Compact, deep, and organic to the bone, Traxel & co's sound echoes the innovations of rhythmically driven avantgarde jazz while keeping things moving at all times. There's both drive and freedom to this sound.
ONe-Eyed Daruma features eight new compositions by Traxel, who crafted the outline for the album while dealing with the loss of his father. The group came together after an open invitation from the Zurich jazz club Moods to present a new group. The trio of Traxel, Sandsjö and Baumgärtner creates a full, symphonic, and powerful body of sound despite the instrumentation without a harmony instrument. The trio functions as a collective where the boundaries between composition, melody, and accompaniment are in flux, while keeping the common goal of creating new music together in sight at all times. Traxel reports that after playing bass in various groups with guitar and/or piano, he wanted to create a counterpoint of sorts with his new group and specifically go about it with a more sparse setup. As One-Eyed Drama proves, the idea behind the trio dynamic is a strong one and the unit makes use of their extra space in creating evocative, moody, swinging creative jazz with a distinguishable fingerprint of its own.
Lukas Traxel says:

"The process of composing this music while dealing with the loss of a loved one resulted in a writer's block at first. The notes would just not flow out of my pen until I noticed a mysterious-looking figure in the right upper corner of my piano. It was a daruma, an eyeless figure that in the Japanese tradition brings luck and prosperity. According to the myth, the first eye must be drawn onto the figure while expressing a wish. The second eye can be added only if the wish comes true. My daruma is meant to stay one-eyed as my wish, strongly connected and intertwined with my now gone father, is not meant to be fulfilled. The feeling of unfulfillment and imperfection of life serves as a common thread throughout this album, right down to its title. In a similar fashion, a composition remains incomplete until it is interpreted by musicians, and given form as music. That being said, for me playing together with this trio symbolises the upside: the sense of fulfillment in music and life.

Our musical influences include the American composer and singer Caroline Shaw, Swiss pianist Colin Vallon's trio, and composer/singer-songwriter Gabriel Kahane. In addition, I have listened a lot to the trio albums of Jimmy Guiffre and Sonny Rollins. Besides that, my musical heroes like Charlie Haden, John Coltrane, and Keith Jarrett always flow into the music. Another very important influence in the music is the work of American visual artist Agnes Martin, in whose works the imperfection of a multiplicity of repetitions results in a lively big whole in the end. (See "Wild Flower")

Live, the trio takes a lot of freedom in interpreting this music, yet we have a deeper, almost pop-like attitude towards the live performance as an experience. For me it's always important to build a strong narrative with the band while on stage."

One-Eyed Daruma by Lukas Traxel is released on 10 March 2023 by We Jazz Records on LP/CD/digitally. The LP edition is shelved in an inside-out sleeve and pressed on white vinyl. The CD is housed in a cardboard digisleeve with UV lacquer finish.

Gothenburg trio Dark Horse present their new album "Listen", released by We Jazz Records on 13 November. The band, comprising of John Holmström (piano), Alfred Lorinius (bass) and Mårten Magnefors (drums) recorded their second album in a remote cabin by the ocean in Norway, owned by Holmström's family. The natural sound of the album owes a lot to the relaxed surroundings and the result is some high degree of improvised music turning into collective composition as the music unfolds.

The album recording took place at a very active spot in the trio's calendar, following extensive touring in Europe, Japan and their native country Sweden. The two days of improvising were edited down to highlights that easily fill an album's worth of quality listening and reveal what playing live brought to the three musicians: A natural ability to react to ideas, build on them and form coherent, compositional tracks on the spot. A task much easier said than done.

"We're a non-conceptual basement band all the way", laughs pianist Holmström. "We have been moving from free form music into collective composition and this is our pinnacle recording with that idea thus far. We just set out to play as honestly as possible and this is what followed."

A testament to the power of a fixed band unit developing over time, "Listen" comes across as a work by a group constantly keeping its nose to the wind when it comes to developing their music. The long-form opener "Allas Favorit" is a monumental piece building and releasing tension along its 12+ minute length. First single "Brutet Groove" assumes a fascinating, almost mechanic-sounding swing while assembling and reassembling the pieces of the puzzle, and the closing track "Fjäll-låten" gives us something of an ever-shifting sonic landscape in glorious colors, much akin to its name ("Mountain Song" in Swedish).

"That one Fjäll-låten includes some of the best musical moments of my life so far" confirms bassist Alfred Lorinius. "It's actually an edit of a 20-minute improvised sequence, and it has the real feeling of the band coming together and doing something new and fresh in the moment. I feel it's something you can revisit as many times as you like and there's always something to find in there."

Dark Horse formed in 2012 after Lorinius joined Holmström and drummer Mårten Magnefors to complete the group. Things quickly started taking shape musically from there on, but the group took their time in honing their craft with a method they now refer to as "tryout development". Their self-titled debut album appeared in 2015 and the current We Jazz album "Listen" marks the first internationally distributed release for the trio.The roots of Dark Horse lay firmly in the buzzing creative music scene of Gothenburg, Sweden, where the members have close ties with local establishments such as the legendary venue BrÖtz, and the city's vast scene of highly-regarded musicians.

In brief, "Listen" presents Dark Horse gloriously putting into use their musical philosophy what they describe "improvising as composing together".

"Listen" by Dark Horse is released by Helsinki's We Jazz Records on 13 November 2020 on vinyl and digitally. The vinyl comes in a heavy duty tip-on sleeve and the album design features the painting "Overwhelming Structure" by the Helsinki-based visual artist Maija Lassila.

180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
- LIMITED EDITION OF 750 INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED COPIES ON ORANGE COLOURED VINYL

Desmond Dekker recorded some of his best known songs together with his backing group the Aces (consisting of Wilson James and Easton Barrington Howard). Their debut album 007 (Shanty Town) includes their single of the same name, which made him Jamaican music's first outernational superstar, reaching the 14th place in the UK charts. You'll hear how the Ska music from the mid-60s is developing to the Rocksteady sound. This was 'Ska' or 'Blue Beat'—(or its new name for the slower tempo 'Rock Steady'), and the lyrics come from the Calypso-Mento method of telling about current events in music. So in a groovy way, Desmond, James and Barry (the Aces) have given a report of love, politics, nagging women, the celebration of the Fifth anniversary of Independence, and gang warfare. This is were it all started before Desmond became the international star.

Even before Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff Jamaica already had their own international superstar, Desmond Dekker was his name. Famous because of his international hits, such as 'Israelites' (1968) and 'It Miek' (1969).

007 (Shanty Town) is available as a limited edition of 750 individually numbered copies on orange coloured vinyl.

Logical Absurd is very proud to present the 20th Anniversary of the album "She And Me Fall Together In Free Death" by Nurse With Wound. "She and Me Fall Together in Free Death" is probably the most approachable, largely "musical" album that NWW has released since Rock N' Roll Station. It's also one of his strangest concepts, a marriage of trance inducing Krautrock grooves with a traditional jazz standard and some jarringly atonal musique concrete. Side A is the 20- minute title track: a slow-motion jam reminiscent of of one of Can's sidelong tracks on Tago Mago or the more avant-garde grooves of Tony Conrad and Faust's Outside the Dream Syndicate.

The propulsive Jaki Liebezeit drumbeat is the foundation for a long jam session with what sounds like a dijderidoo and layers of guitar feedback. It's a massive, heavy sound, the kind that Julian Cope would devote a whole chapter to in his "Kratrocksampler". Side B is one long piece with three distinct movements. Beginning with those familiar, World Serpent-trademark windchimes, the listener is quickly ushered into Staple- ton's singing debut (!) in a rendition of the oft-covered traditional jazz ballad "Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair" This was a favorite of the recently deceased Nina Simone, and also of the avant-jazz screamer Patty Waters. Nurse With Wound's version is backed by cello drones, repetitive guitar strums and tambourine, sounding very much like The Velvet Un- derground's "Venus in Furs".

It's such a treat to hear Steven Stapleton's multitracked vocals cover this classic song, and this eerie version rates as one of my favorites. This song and the title track prove to the naysayers that Nurse With Wound is equally adept at rock n' roll songcraft as he is at demented sound collages. The creepy jazz cover seques into "Chicken Con- cret (For Missy E)", a truly warped tape-edit job that juxtaposes chicken squawks and sythesized birdcalls with random bleeps, speaker hiccups and gongs.

We Jazz Records kicks off their new series of archival 7" releases with Esa Pethman "In Belgium 1967" released 23 September 2022. The two-tracker is licensed from the Belgian VRT radio archives and both of the pieces are previously unreleased. Finnish jazz legend Pethman, heard here on alto flute and tenor sax, joins forces with European jazz greats such as Heinz Bigler, Uffe Karskov and Jean Fanis. This is a small but valuable piece of unheard European jazz history from the early heyday of modern jazz. The physical release is a quality "inside-out"-styled EP with 3mm spine and small center hole on the 45rpm vinyl.

An excerpt from the liner notes by Mikko Mattlar:

"Esa Pethman (b. 1938) was one of the key figures of modern Finnish jazz in the 1960s. His album The Modern Sound Of Finland was the first Finnish modern jazz album and his composition "The Flame" a true modern Fenno-jazz evergreen.

Pethman was born in Kuusankoski, 135 kilometres from Helsinki in the Kymenlaakso area. The jazz scene was active even though it was an area of rural landscapes and paper mills. Pethman discovered jazz when he heard a Charlie Parker record being played at a local music shop in the late 1940s. Following Parker, bebop became his favourite style of jazz.

Young Pethman played flute and saxophone in local bands who accompanied schlager singers. They played tangos and waltzes for dancers, but usually started a typical dance event with an hour of jazz. In 1959 Pethman moved to Helsinki to study music at the Sibelius Academy. Back then it was a strictly classical music academy, but Pethman later described the studies as crucial for his development and career. He quickly made his way to studio sessions and into the best orchestras in Helsinki.

As a student of composition, Pethman also began writing his own music. "The Flame" was a melody he just got on his mind one night, and he decided to write it down. The catchy composition was released as a 7" single in 1964, a year before Pethman's debut album. Both records stand as benchmarks for modern Finnish jazz. The album consisted entirely of Pethman's compositions, not versions of jazz standards like a lot of the Finnish jazz released until then.

In the mid 1960s, Finnish jazz was also taking its first international steps. Pethman's quintet took part in the first Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland in June 1967. At the Montreux jazz band competition, the quintet came in fourth of the twelve contestants. Despite not winning the competition, the band got an honourable mention, and Pethman was now recognized outside Finland.

In December 1967 Pethman travelled to Brussels. His visit was organised by the national Finnish broadcasting company Yleisradio and their jazz program producer Matti Konttinen. Konttinen was supposed to go to Brussels with Pethman, but the musician ended up traveling alone.

In the Decca recording studios Pethman played two songs. He recorded a version of his most famous composition "The Flame", where he played the alto flute and was accompanied by Belgian musicians. On Swiss saxophonist Heinz Bigler's composition "Like Steel", Pethman played the tenor saxophone. The band was now more international, consisting of Bigler, the Italian Francesco Santucci, the Dane Uffe Karskov, a Belgian rhythm section and Pethman. After 55 years, Pethman still remembers Bigler's remarkable skills as a saxophonist.

The two-day visit included the recording session, a dinner and a concert. Pethman and the other non-Belgian musicians came to Brussels mainly to play at a jazz concert organised by the European Broadcasting Union EBU. They played at the studio first, and the concert was held the following day. Pethman and all the other soloists played as members of an international big band. The studio and live session were produced by the Belgian Radio and Television jazz section leader Elias Gistelinck."

Drummer/producer Teppo Mäkynen's 3TM returns with a new album, "Lake", on 29 November on Helsinki's We Jazz Records. The album is the much awaited follow up to 2017's successful 3TM debut "Form", which was awarded as the "Jazz Album of the Year" in Mäkynen's native Finland. "Lake" was preceded by the ambient electronic album "Abyss" in August, which set the mood for what's to come next: A compact yet far-reaching body of work bringing together the trio's acoustic jazz sound and ideas rooted in abstract electronic music in a remarkably boundless way.

"Lake" is a collection of 9 Mäkynen-penned originals ranging from the looping, hypnotic compositions such as first single "Laws Of Life" to the delicacy of tracks such as "Woods". There is a sense of long form narrative here, evident in glorious, slowly evolving tracks such as "Lake" and "A Pile Of Broken Dreams". The overall sound is swinging, melodic, deep and futuristic. It's acoustic jazz and abstract electronic music understood deeply and used as the base of a new sound, which goes beyond the usual distinctions of "acoustic jazz" or "electronic music". This is music for the present day, moving forward.

3TM's "Lake" will be available as white and black vinyl versions, complete with printed inner sleeve featuring Mäkynen's essay about the theme of the album. On vinyl, "Lake" will also be available as a 2LP bundle with "Abyss", and the CD version includes both discs, "Lake" and "Abyss".

In the 3TM trio formation Mäkynen is joined by sax man Jussi Kannaste and bassist Antti Lötjönen, both Finnish scene mainstays. The band will celebrate their new release at Helsinki's We Jazz Festival on 7 December.

Brooklyn based baritone saxophonist Jonah Parzen-Johnson presents his new work "Imagine Giving Up" on Helsinki's We Jazz Records. The album, to be released on 17th January of 2020 sees Parzen-Johnson move into new domains of sound as he uncovers newfound energy and pulse in his music.

In addition to the sonically rich analog synth elements that accompany his earlier solo saxophone work, Jonah has layered heavily sound designed samples of his own saxophone to create truly one of a kind percussive snaps, reverberant basses, and warbling leads. At it's core, the music remains deeply devoted to almost vocal sounding melodic lines and patiently developed compositional ideas.

A compact set of 6 originals, "Imagine Giving Up" is Jonah Parzen-Johnson's most ambitious album yet. While taking a step away from the previous world of "ambient jazz", his new music stems from the use of drone-like sounds for baritone saxophone, a style which is uniquely his own. Electronics are blended in for good measure, creating a coherent vision of abstract jazz with depth. As with all of Parzen-Johnson's releases, the music comes with a deeper narrative which he will continually explore in live performance.

The manifesto for the album reads as follows: "Only a few people can really start over. Everyone else is left to struggle down the path they were assigned. The option to give up, to choose your own path, is power, and, hopefully, a call to action: take a risk to help someone." "Imagine Giving Up" by Jonah Parzen-Johnson, will be available via 'We Jazz Records' on violet and black vinyl versions, CD and digitally.

A pandemic album of songs of heartbreak, virality, and dead rats, which Wood called "goodbye cruel world: the musical." The revealing chamber pop/folk album "In Case I Make it" (ICIMI), which Will Wood playfully dubbed "Goodbye Cruel World: The Musical," turned out to be a surprisingly strong followup to his chaotic and sardonic previous release, "The Normal Album." While divisive among some fans due to its gentler sounds and more traditional vocal stylings than most of his last work, ICIMI attracted new, older audiences and showed a more personal side that provided a new context to his discography. Widely considered to be some of his most powerfully emotional work, both the harshly introspective and humorous songwriting, as well as its unique delivery, are still distinctly Will Wood in their experimental nature and uncompromising unwillingness to conform to the expectations of both die-hard fans and audiences at large. In 2021, the underground singer-songwriter was suddenly the subject of unexpected online attention, which, in tandem with mental health struggles, inspired him to put out a "musical suicide note," intended to express parts of his artistic and personal identity that had gone largely unseen by a fanbase he felt misunderstood. Leading the album with intentionally algorithm-unfriendly singles and putting an eight-minute love ballad as the second track on the LP, Wood aggressively redefined himself as being more than just a handful of wacky, unwitting viral pops. Ironically, the surprise viral success of the deep cut "The Main Character," a relentless satire of online culture, drew attention to the album and its second biggest hit, the angst-ridden yet danceable "Against the Kitchen Floor." However, the immense orchestration and vulnerable writing have kept audiences coming back. Songs like "Euthanasia" and "Tomcat Disposables" have developed reputations as tearjerkers, and songs like "Cicada Days" and "White Noise" have become fan anthems in the years since.

Active for 40 years, Nurse with wound is one of the projects of Steven Stapleton, materialized in a very wide range of hysterical noise over sound collages and cut ups, abstract music, soothing drones and surreal sound paintings, and more rhythmical and mechanical pieces, always inspired by Dadaism and Futurism, Krautrock, jazz improvisation, surrealism, never losing his main goal, that is having fun and enjoying himself.He has had many collaborators, a recurrent one in the 80s and 90’s being Current 93’s David Tibet, another noticeable one still at work with him is Andrew Liles.The main line of this unpredictable sound builder is hectic and uncompromised, his point of view is that everything is possible and applies it to himself. As a youngster he wanted to be an artist so decided he was one . He is not a musician, and says he has no interest in becoming one. Surprisingly, (or not!), the love of his life is building sculptures out of recycled and reclaimed materials, building things with anything, even junk. And sounds, we are a witness to it.With these very strange juxtapositions of styles and manners, female rap music and 50s and 60s lounge music having a special top priority in Steven’s tastes, and a creativity that has no bounds no taboos, with a taste of novelty every time, Nurse with wound will no doubt continue to surprise people listening to his works, and himself, as he wants to keep it fresh every time, mostly for him.

Official reissue. New remastering vinyl of the 1979 LP by Colin Potter + "silver edition" Gatefold cover + complete NWW list on Gatefold inner.


Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table of a Sewing Machine and an Umbrella is the debut album by British experimental unusual and absurd music group Nurse With Wound, released on their own United Dairies label in 1979. An unusual record which blends noise and jamming.

The album's equally unusual title is a quote from the surreal, poetic novel Les Chants de Maldoror by Uruguayan-born French author Isidore-Lucien Ducasse, written under the pseudonym Comte de Lautréamont.It has been included in the "100 Records That Set the World on Fire (While No One Was Listening)" by TheWire in 1998, and is one of the records that have had a lasting impact on avant-garde, experimental and psychedelic music.It was on this record that the famous "NWW list" appeared for the first time, featuring dozens of names of musicians and groups who had influenced Nurse With Wound - a list that now serves as a treasure map for many collectors of the genre and fans of outsider music. It's been replicated here in the innersleeve of the gatefold.

Repress!

A true hot stepper and one of the best of its kind, this 1984 masterpiece from Ini Kamoze is heavy, real and authentic. It was actually Jamaican born artist Cecil Campbell's debut album and features spacious, slow motion dubs that invite you deep within their cavernous drums. The chattery percussion, echoing hits and loose percussion all make a real mark. "World-A-Music" has a beat fans of Damien Marley will recognise, and "General" features some of Campbells more vulnerable vocal work. For fans old and new, this is a perfect roots album with a unique perspective.

Siriusmo is back! His fourth album, "Buletten & Blumen", will be released in November 2025 – a collection of musical delicacies. Freshly prepared, spicy, and greasy, but as always with a flower on top. The Berlin-based producer, whose real name is Moritz Friedrich, remains true to himself and his distinctive style – between funk, hip-hop, electronica, soundtrack vibes, and genre playfulness. As usual, Siriusmo wanders through musical styles, embracing them, missing them spectacularly – or simply inventing them. A subtle "Berliner Allerlei". The artist himself says of his working method on the album: "I'm a whole band. Nobody masters their instrument, but everyone pretends to – always with the fear that the others will notice." The album begins with the tongue-in-cheek opener "That Could Function As A Song", an ironic exploration of the artist's own creative process. With "Buletten & Blumen," Siriusmo delivers not simple fare, but a multifaceted menu.

Guests: Mr. Oizo, Erobique, Dana (& Claire Waldorff) An album that oscillates between irony, melancholy, and absurdity.

Tracklist:
A1. That Could Funktion As A Song
A2. Hongkong House feat. Liu's Family
A3. Watch Me Fall
A4. Ok So

B1. Baum
B2. The Syntheziser Has Been Drinking
B3. Liquit feat. Mr. Oizo
B4. In Der Klemme

C1. Koko
C2. Langsame Runde
C3. Der Uhrturm
C4. Meissner Schwerter

D1. Dummdidumm
D2. Every Tree Needs A Friend
D3. Lehm feat. Erobique & Dana
D4. Irgendwohin

Produced by Josephine ''Jo'' Bridges and signed to her We Produce imprint, The Temprees were a Memphis soul vocal trio powered by one of the great falsettos in pop music, that of Jasper ''Jabbo'' Phillips. Their 1972 debut Lovemen is aptly named; this is one of the greatest make-out R&B albums ever made, with one smoldering slow jam after another. Their take on ''Dedicated to the One I Love'' is rightly considered the greatest version ever made, but ''If I Could Say What's on My Mind,'' ''Love... Can Be So Wonderful,'' and ''I Love You, You Love Me,'' will get you and your partner's hips swaying (and patch up any lovers' quarrels tout suite, too). Stax didn't really know what to do with soul this sweet (We Produce was a Stax imprint), so Lovemen languished commercially, but nowadays it's recognized as a model of its kind. For its first-ever LP reissue, we've cut Lovemen ALL-ANALOG straight from the original two-track album master, and pressed it up in two versions, one in black vinyl, the other in eco-friendly, sonically superior valentine red PET plastic. The heart on the front cover sums this one up...

This 1983 period in which Gyllensköld was recorded was a fantastic time for the evolution of Steven Stapleton’s audio art. His collaborations with Diana Rogerson, Robert Haigh (Sema), David Tibet, and Thirlwell around this time elicited some of the most exciting work Nurse With Wound had yet recorded. Listen to this material and compare it to Chance Meeting and it becomes clear that in just a few years, Stapleton’s art had grown by leaps and bounds. The production quality on these tracks is remarkable, and the widening out of the NWW soundworld opened up a whole new audio toybox that Stapleton has continued to experiment with up to today. This new sound encompasses vocal experiments, vintage LPs of easy listening music, demented nursery rhymes, lateral references to disposable pop music, avant-garde jazz and minimalistic piano composition, all glued together with evocative atmospheres redolent of things unholy, troubling and perverse, but always oddly indefinable and puzzlingly misshapen. In retrospect, Gyllensköld can be seen as the beginning of the “mature” period of NWW, and thus it is an indispensible release for fans of the project. : Brainwashed

Here’s an expanded edition of one of Nurse With Wound’s most intense, unique opuses, so unique that for long-time fans it was a strange, chaotic loundge bizzarie when it first came out. For the first time, all four audio sides are complete (originally, there were only three sides). And to crown it all, a magnificent new cover by the great and talented Babs Santini, who is none other than Steven Stapleton behind his pseudonym of plastic artist, still in the luxurious tradition of the “silver collection” at Rotorelief Records.

Nurse with Wound’s album Huffin’ Rag Blues is unique in NWW’s discography. Stapleton teams up with composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Liles, his co-creator of musical terrorism, to tackle the exotica and lounge genres, crushed into a cacophonous mess. Long-time NWW friends Colin Potter and Matt Waldron are also on board. Blues, jazz, crime films, bachelor pads and soap opera music are processed and discarded, then chopped up and recycled in a mix that contains a ton of space, but also overflows with dynamic tension, hilarious asides, sexually suggestive poetry and a certain rock & roll abandon.

This is a very surprising opus for long-time fans, is like a soundtrack that could illustrate a David Lynch film It’s brilliant, maddening, hilarious and sinister enough to earn a place in any collection with a little quirkiness and eccentricity. Huffin’ Rag Blues incorporates more familiar musical elements – including instruments (played live, even), rhythm and vocals – than almost any other Nurse With Wound album to date. The album’s main concern is, as always, to create environments for lucid dreaming rather than to create music as such.

US sax player Stanley J. Zappa and Finnish drummer Simo Laihonen come together on the new album "Muster Point" on We Jazz Records, August 7. The two students of Milford Graves add bassist Ville Rauhala on a couple of tracks to make a bold and adventurous album captured both live and in the studio while Zappa was touring in Finland with the Black Motor musicians. This is a set full of fire and thunder, but also features some more meditative spiritual jazz. RIYL: Milford Graves, ESP-Disk', spiritual jazz

"Muster Point" consists of short trio bursts ("Muster Point I-IV"), deep duo cuts such as "Pleasant Avenue" and the inspired material linking the stylistic bookends. The music herein comes from the long standing tradition of independent improvised jazz music, and moves forward in the now, relying in the natural communication and the chemistry between the musicians. At its core, the album is a testament to the importance personal connections between like-minded creative musicians in creating something new.

Stanley J. Zappa, originally from New Jersey, now based in Oliver, BC (Canada) is a highly expressive musician whose career has so far progressed largely under the radar. Part of the lineage of a musical family (his uncle Frank should need no introduction), Zappa's story is that of a true craftsman, now coming into fruition with a like-minded collaborator, Simo Laihonen. Laihonen is best known from his long-standing trio formation Black Motor, also featuring bassist Ville Rauhala featured on the trio tracks on this recording.

Jaime Fennelly, as Mind Over Mirrors, makes music that pushes the known to the lip of the unknown, where it rocks precariously and in exhilaration. He scrambles the familiar and tweaks the comfortable, not through aggression, but a throbbing estrangement. When placed at a distance, these require longer reaches to grasp. The reward for this effort is an enlarged field of perspective, experience, and also of feeling. This is deeply feeling music to feel deeply.

In all of Jaime’s records—and, arguably, especially in Particles, Peds, & Pores—there’s a seed of the pastoral, some ancient shepherd’s song ringing through nearby hills and groves, but one also yearning to plumb the uncanny and the creative possibilities of disintegration. “Farewell to woods,” the grieving Damon sings in Virgil’s eighth Eclogue. “Let all be ocean now.” Fennelly sounds vast, enveloping wildernesses and the thrilling disquiet of their echoless grandeur. (Maybe Burroughs speaks to the borders of these zones: “Pulsing mineral silence as word dust falls from demagnetized patterns.”) There’s something of the heroic at work here, too, although the hero’s instinct has been suitably tempered—or awed—to know not to fly too close to the sun.

Guitars On Life solves a nagging mystery about the fate of a musician who stood out as a singularly spectacular bloom even in the verdant creative fields of the San Francisco Bay Area at the turn of the century. After more than two decades of recording silence and about a dozen years away from the bandstand, Jack West is back, still immediately recognizable as a guitarist and composer but miles from the last stop on his ongoing musical journey. There’s poetic symmetry in discovering that his detour from life as a performing musician involved fruitful work devising innovative solar technologies, as he had similarly distinguished himself as an inveterately inventive musician. When we last heard from West he’d carved out a vibrant niche as a guitarist with a percussive attack and lustrous group sound. Wielding a custom-built eight-string acoustic guitar with uncommon rhythmic dexterity, he released six albums featuring his original tunes, mostly recording with his band Curvature (though he also played mesmerizing solo recitals). West’s knack for crafting glistening, minutely detailed soundscapes full of surprising twists and oddly inviting textures prompted NPR to describe his work as “a whole new sub- genre of jazz.” Drawn back to performing in recent years, West saw guitarist Walter Strauss at Berkeley’s Freight & Salvage in 2022 and suspected he’d found a kindred spirit. Intrigued by Strauss’s unusual approach to guitar, West “wondered what a musical conversation might sound like between two guitarists who had developed such uniquely different ways of playing the instrument.” An invitation to play together led to them writing the tune ‘More Guitar,’ the bravura opening track that launches Guitars On Life. Several months later they spent a week in Florida together writing intensively, resulting in most of the material for this consistently thrilling project.

Falter is the 5th full-length album from New Zealand-based composer/-multi-instrumentalist Micah Templeton-Wolfe, working under the moniker Stray Theories.

Templeton-Wolfe has consistently woven together the cinematic sweep of ambient music, the refined structures of neoclassical composition, and the emotional cresting arcs of post-rock. With Falter, those intersections are more deeply blurred, yet more boldly explored.

Transparent Red Vinyl.

The title Falter evokes wavering, hesitation, uncertainty of intent and yet the album stands in sharp contrast to that concept: Templeton-Wolfe’s performance here is marked by a quiet but unmistakable confidence.
From the first notes, the listener is immersed in an atmosphere in which the music feels like a cinematic means of passage, a journey toward redemption. Optimism is present, but ever cloaked in doubt; moments of
contemplative solace sit side-by-side with streaks of melancholia. One senses something looming within the sound-world of Falter. As though the heart itself can tell something is coming.

In this respect, Falter may well rank as the most affecting release in Templeton-Wolfe’s canon to date. While his earlier work had always balanced delicate textures and evocative atmosphere, here he pushes into a more expansive emotional terrain. Only the hopeful refrain “Lifelines” brings the album fully into brighter territory , hinting that redemption is possible, that the journey through doubt is not endless.

2024 repress

In February 2021, Jan Jelinek's seminal album "Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records" turned 20. The anniversary repress, a double LP with two bonus tracks (B-sides from the Tendency EP, 2000), is a little late to the party.
What the press said about Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records:
“Don’t be misled by the title, though for there isn’t a finger-snapping rhythm c bebop lead anywhere on the album. Instead, Jelinek chooses to explore the visual effect moiré - two shifting patterns creating an implied third dimension - in the audio realm.” (Alternative Press)
“The title acts as explanation for the studio technique that provided the basis for this album, snippets of other people’s arrangements deconstructed through a sampler into loops and then splashed onto an audio canvas.” (ATM)
“Jelinek’s sound evolved out of his dislike for (and inability to play) keyboards.” (RPM)
“Jelinek has abstracted his sources beyond recognition, looping his millisecond samples into flickering patterns of sonic moiré laid atop a dub Techno framework. (...) Jelinek might as well have sampled a horn player’s hissing intake of breath – it would have been ‘jazz’ enough for his purposes.“ (The Wire)
“It’s a perfect inversion of conventional music, a sonic negative. Everything that would typically be foreground is moved back or pushed off the screen altogether, and the flecks of sonic debris that would normally be covered by other sounds are left to carry the melody and rhythm.” (Pitchfork)
“All you need to know is that these onomatopoeic non-specific songs (...) are warm, paradisical creations”. (NME)
“Listen carefully and you’ll hear textures slowly unfolding and mutating. Presuming you’ve not fallen asleep of course.” (iDJ)
“At times, it’s all a bit dripping tap Japanese water torture; so sedentary it drowns in its own motionlessness” (DJ)
“Loop Finding Jazz Records' is a genuine modern classic whose re-release is anything but a cynical mortgage repayment exercise. Consider this a second chance, then pretend you had it all along.” (Boomkat)
PS:
“I’ve been fortunate enough to see Jan Jelinek live once, at Tonic NYC (...). Wearing a black and white striped shirt, he looked like a nihilistic Charlie Brown.” (beachsloth)

Following the release of Deltron 3030, all three members participated in the Gorillaz' self-titled debut album. With Del aka Deltron Zero on vocals, Dan the Automator aka The Cantankerous Captain Aptos on production, and Kid Koala aka Skiznoid the Boy Wonder on turntables, this album takes the listener on a paranoid journey set in a dystopian year 3030 dealing with viruses, the apocalypse, an oppressive government, and a war waged against a huge company called the Corporate Bank of Time that rules the universe, all to the well-crafted and consistent musical backing of the Automator. Appearances by Damon Albarn (The Gorillaz, Blur), Prince Paul, Peanut Butter Wolf, DJ Money Mark, Paul Barman, Mark Bell (Bjork, production), Sean Lennon, and Mr. Lif compliment Del's vocal style and add the right amount of flavor to this classic period piece.

The dynamic duo of tenor saxophonist Timo Lassy and drummer Teppo Mäkynen return with a double LP of live recordings captured in 2019 and 2020. The We Jazz Records release "Live Recordings 2019-2020" follows the duo's 2019 LP which was shortlisted for "Jazz Album Of the Year" at Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Awards. While the studio album versions were studies in improvisational brevity, the live album lets the long-time collaborators really let loose and build memorable sonic narratives around the compositions. The album is produced and edited by Teppo Mäkynen, also known as a sought-after producer with the knack for looking at the big picture.

From the subtle minimalism of "Fallow" via the ambient of "Aero" to the riff-heavy groove of "Calling James", Timo Lassy & Teppo Mäkynen breathe their music as one unit, building it based on a mutual trust as fellow musicians. Their duo shows have quickly become celebrated examples of what a long history of playing together can enable on stage when paired with the right mindset and a shared musical goal. This live album follows the ethos of both documenting what's happening and expanding on what was captured in the studio earlier.

Double LP gatefold on WHITE or BLACK vinyl.

The dynamic duo of tenor saxophonist Timo Lassy and drummer Teppo Mäkynen return with a double LP of live recordings captured in 2019 and 2020. The We Jazz Records release "Live Recordings 2019-2020" follows the duo's 2019 LP which was shortlisted for "Jazz Album Of the Year" at Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Awards. While the studio album versions were studies in improvisational brevity, the live album lets the long-time collaborators really let loose and build memorable sonic narratives around the compositions. The album is produced and edited by Teppo Mäkynen, also known as a sought-after producer with the knack for looking at the big picture.

From the subtle minimalism of "Fallow" via the ambient of "Aero" to the riff-heavy groove of "Calling James", Timo Lassy & Teppo Mäkynen breathe their music as one unit, building it based on a mutual trust as fellow musicians. Their duo shows have quickly become celebrated examples of what a long history of playing together can enable on stage when paired with the right mindset and a shared musical goal. This live album follows the ethos of both documenting what's happening and expanding on what was captured in the studio earlier.

Double LP gatefold on WHITE or BLACK vinyl.

●STAY BY MY SIDE (Youth Of Roots)
This is the title track from Young Israelites' 2021 debut EP, which made them a household name.
Its catchy, pop melody has captured the hearts of reggae fans worldwide, and Youth Of Roots' KON RYU has covered it in Japanese.
It blends seamlessly with the song like a long-time favorite, bringing out the original's charm with a new brilliance.

●STRAWBERRY GIRL (Young Israelites)
A popular song that shines with sweetness in Youth Of Roots' repertoire, which is filled with roots-conscious, message-driven songs.
Young Israelites' English cover, with its melancholic vocals, further enhances the quality of the original.


YOUTH OF ROOTS
A roots rock reggae band formed in Kanagawa in 2016. Their multi-generational sound and spiritual musicality, rooted in their experiences in Jamaica,
define their sound. They've released numerous singles, including their latest album, "LOVE IS THE ANSWER."
They connect with their audiences at live shows, conveying the spirit of "One Family." Their overwhelming sense of unity and sincere message transcends
borders, earning them praise from international fans as "the best reggae band."

[YOUNG ISRAELITES]
A rocksteady/roots reggae band consisting of three members from Israel. Building on a vintage Jamaican sound, their familiar melodies and soulful,
passionate performances have garnered attention from reggae fans worldwide. Since their debut, they've released a string of EPs and full-length albums,
and have expanded their global reach, including airing on the BBC and performing at the world's largest reggae festival, ROTOTOM SUSPLASH.
This new-generation band vividly revives the spirit of rocksteady and roots reggae for the modern era.

Haf is the third album from Carwyn Ellis & Rio 18 in little over a year, no mean feat in and of itself but especially considering Carwyn’s work with other artists (including Edwyn Collins and the North Mississippi Allstars) this year too.

The album picks up where their last (Fontana Rosa) left off, with around half the album being recorded analog to tape at Gizzard Studios in London, with one last tune remaining from their sessions at the legendary (but now closed) Toerag Studios.

There are echoes here of their first album, Joia! - the recordings were once again instigated by the great Brazilian producer and multi-instrumentalist who happened to be visiting London earlier in the year. He suggested doing something.... so they did. And there is a return to more definite Brazilian influences too - Tonnau Ar Tonnau is an homage to ‘Onda’ by Cassiano, Keep On Smiling has a distinct samba / chorro feel. Gwenyn y Gwanwyn (about helping a bee out if you see it struggling) is very much a nod to the psychedelic samba funk of Antonio Carlos e Jocafi. But other Latin styles still loom large: on the sultry salsa of Bella Estrella or the melancholic Andean ballad, Lagrimas Frias.

Anglo-Brazilian singer Nina Miranda features on the Lalo Schifrin goes samba Shades of Red, while new addition to the Rio 18 family (at least on record), Miriam Isaac adds a real RnB edge to the record, along with some beautiful duets: the Salsoul banger Como Te Amo and the gorgeous Whistling Sands (about a beach in North Wales) are standouts.

In reverse to how Carwyn made the first two Rio 18 albums, Haf was recorded in London
and Wales and mixed over five hectic days in Rio. Three days later, it was mastered and at
the pressing plant. Time doesn’t wait for Carwyn Ellis & Rio 18!!

Finally, the song ‘Haf’ and the album itself are dedicated to Haf Morris, Carwyn’s late music teacher - he says, “her focus, guidance and patience shaped me like no other. I hope she’s enjoyed my musical journey, from wherever she’s watching. Diolch, Haf”.

Blues, country and folk or funk, rock and soul – Broussard always gives his songs a very special touch; here he reaches his peak performance!

Acclaimed soul singer and songwriter Marc Broussard returns with his new studio album, "S.O.S. V: Songs Of The 50's," paying homage to the timeless classics of the 1950s. With his unmistakable, warm soul voice, Broussard interprets timeless songs by legends such as Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Nat King Cole, and Fats Domino—complemented by his own original composition that fits seamlessly into the era. The album is the fifth installment in his successful S.O.S. (Save Our Soul) benefit series, with proceeds once again benefiting the non-profit organization Love Of People in his hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana. His latest charity album, "S.O.S. 4: Blues For Your Soul" (2023), a collaboration with blues icon Joe Bonamassa, benefited the Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation and the organization Guitars Over Guns – and debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Blues Albums chart.