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Exciting new electronic project E&D burst onto the scene in stunning style with the exhilarating ‘Not Enough’ and ‘Runaway’, released on FCR on 14th June and backed by remixes from acclaimed electronic producers Mall Grab and Ali Berger.

London based E&D have unleashed two scintillating vocal cuts which have UK clubbing culture at their very core, featuring classic Garage influences. The theme of heartbreak runs throughout both ‘Not Enough’ and ‘Runaway’ with an emphasis on harmony and melody which will be integral to the identity of the E&D project.

The deep and atmospheric ‘Not Enough’ presents a beautiful yet powerful female vocal whose tone and expression perfectly emphasises the message of lost love. E&D perfect balance this with contrasting shimmering and stabbing beats to produce a track that already has the hallmarks of a classic.

‘Runaway’ is an up-tempo, vintage-sounding UK Garage themed cut with poignant undertones, as the gorgeous female vocal again mourns a relationship which has moved on.

For the remixes, E&D have called upon two of electronic music’s most respected producers – Mall Grab and Ali Berger. Both offer a completely fresh perspective to the originals. With his remix of ‘Not Enough’ celebrated Australian Producer Mall Grab takes the original into deeper, tougher territory, stripping back and lowering the vocal and adding intense, almost tribal, percussion alongside vintage acid house beats.

FCR favourite Ali Berger also takes his working of ‘Runaway’ deep into the underground, emphasising the bass, cleverly layering the vocal and building to a peak-time floor-filler.

Gabe Gurnsey returns with another limited-edition, white label pressing that melds
together two of the standout moments from ‘Physical’ into one irresistible slab of nocturnal electro. Combining the tectonic sleaze of ‘I Get’ with the roll call to rave transcendence of ‘Harder Rhythm’, Gurnsey creates, naturally, ‘I Get Harder’. Mutating his work to further perfect his halcyon club sound, ‘I Get Harder’ releases a slow-crawl ecstasy that’s ideal for dark rooms and open minds. Not one for the faint hearted

After presenting Detroit Swindle’s sophomore album High Life in 2018, we felt it was the right time to serve you up a tasty selection of remixes from all over the world and all over the sound palette. We’ve got some dub and boogie from Australia and the Netherlands, classic deephouse from Detroit, dark and dreamy deephouse from the UK and some high energy house from Germany. This set of remixes comes from 5 artists we hold in high regard and have made a serious impact on their part of the scene; some recently and some already a long time ago.

We invited Dutch techno -plot twist alert!- legend Steve Rachmad to come up with a re-interpretation of ‘Yes, no, maybe (feat. Tom Misch)’. His Sterac Electronics remix actually has nothing to do with techno but is an uplifting modern boogie version of the already funky original. Glimmering electronics, some added harmonics and a tight 80’s groove is what this version is all about.

The A2 is reserved for Cinthie, who took the high energy afro funk track ‘Call of the wild (feat. Jungle by Night)’ and turned it into a full on house frenzy with solo’s all around and a groove that just keeps on going and going.

The A side is completed with a remix by Jura Soundsystem, who has impressed many of us with his balaeric influenced synth-boogie, and dub on his own label ‘Isle of Jura’. Here, he chose to remix ‘High life (feat. Lorenz Rhode)’ and has done an excellent job in re-imagining the track into a tamed down, dreamy dub.

On the flip, there’s Matt Karmil’s take on one of the album’s beatless tracks ‘Ketama gold’. He goes in deep with some dusty drums and an arrangement that keeps on building and building, keeping the chord sequence from the track’s outro as a main loop and adding subtle FX, toms and acid hits and a final delivery where electronic cowbells up the energy level by a notch or two.

We finish off the compilation with a moody deephouse re-interpretation of ‘Ex machina’ by Detroit legend Gari Romalis. The twisted machine funk of the original is craftfully replaced by a dusty house loop, dreamy pads and smart usage of the original’s drum effects to build momentum.

This remix package brings a lovely new chapter into the story of ‘High Life’ and we hope you’ll enjoy these reworks as much as we do.
Yours Sincerely,

Maarten & Lars.

As a singer-songwriter artist, JE (Jon Edward) Sunde composes abundant records that are as much folk as white soul, influenced by Nina Simone and Leonard Cohen. Without always being aware that he has gold in his voice, and Paul Simon's melodies in his fingers. A long-time friend of Bon Iver, JE Sunde shared the music scene with him at Eau Claire, their hometown, before leaving to Minneapolis. With his group Dardevil Christopher Right or solo, JE Sunde has played everything that the country has of small indie venues. After two albums released in the United States, JE Sunde releases his songs for the first time in Europe as a best-of album available on June 7.

rendon Moeller is an artist that needs no introduction. The South African born living in the US, like few of his generation constantly challenges himself with new concepts and ideas, has incorporated techno, dub, jazz, ambient, sound design, to his works throughout the years. Never chased the limelight, but instead the work, one idea after the next, one project after the other, restless. He has collaborated with labels like Echocord, Third Ear, Electric Deluxe, Prologue, Mord to name some. "Materialize" is his first work for Vibrant Music.
From his early days in various bands in the 80's and 90's, Brendon liked indie, shoegaze, ambient, moody, cinematic scapes.
With Materialize he came full circle, reaching out to his early influences, but with the knowledge and experience of many years of exploration of modular synths, to create a concept space that feels intimate, and at the same time vivid evoking visual imaging.
It explores the time space through a minimalist, stoic approach.
It tells the story of how we are all linked into this tree of music we call electronic music, wherever each one is coming from.
A celebration of life through the mind of one of today's scholars of electronic music.
A liberation from the strictness of tempo and metronomes, to reach to a more creative state.
Vibrant Music continuous the quest, to bring to you unique collaborations and sides of artists that we like.

Following up on the release of his first album in eight years, Agoria has collaborated with enigmatic French musician Jacques on new EP ‘Visit’, out 14th June.

The two-track offering pairs electronic elements with organic, real-world sounds to masterful effect. Title track ‘Visit’ is the best example of this, with a wonky beat trudging through a plethora of immersive sounds. Meanwhile ‘Jardin’, with a grooving bassline, has a greater dancefloor focus.

“The first time I met Jacques, we were sitting at the same table but we didn’t exchange any words,” Agoria explains. The second time, a year later, we started speaking. A lot. During hours. About Vipassana, a technique of meditation that you practice in silence. The third time, I thought I should share his words and breaths, delivering the untold. So I offered him to record a Sapiens Talk. The fourth time, we both agreed it was finally time to record music together.”

Jacques is a musician who pushes back the border between music, sound and noise, using music as a medium of expression on his quest of transversality. Invited to several TEDx conferences to talk about his obsession with the idea of infinity, he has also revealed his new theory called “Vortex”, which he created with Alexandre Gain in 2015.

His first album in eight years, Agoria described Drift as “sitting on your sofa between your guilty pleasure and your tasteful opinion”. The deeply melodic 10-track LP came off the back of a much-lauded Essential Mix for Pete Tong’s BBC Radio 1 show, which was later nominated for Essential Mix Of The Year.

The new release comes amidst Agoria’s first ever Ibiza residency, which kicked off on 31st May at the Blue Marlin. Named after the new album and featuring everyone from DJ Harvey and Gerd Janson to Groove Armada and Idris Elba, the unique day-to-night parties will take place every Friday until 27th September. He will also take his all new live show on tour this summer, with dates including Barcelona’s Primavera Sound, Belgium’s Pukkelpop and Lowlands Festival in Amsterdam.

It's a welcome change to see the dance music industry shift from a sausage fest to a decidedly more diverse scene of artists and DJs, one where challenging and marginalized voices can be heard.

MISS REPRESENTED has such a voice, raw and fearless, an educated woman of experience, who has lived her life on the dark side of Scotland's acid house scene, where she has found plenty of food for thought.

Co-produced by Thomas Von Party of Multi Culti, who enlisted the talents of Kris Baha and Matt Karmil to mix, and brought in the elusive UK-underground legend Johnny Aux to rough up the already rugged Crack That Habit into an extended house banger.

If there's one thing dance music is guilty of, it's escapism. A refusal to confront reality. None of that here. Calling out a culture of lies, empowering female sexuality, facing the perils of addiction, and speaking of the resilience of the human mind, this is heady stuff for the rawest of parties.

Southern Lord announce the next Caspar Brötzmann Massaker reissues in the ongoing series, continuing with Der Abend Der Schwarzen Folklore and Koksofen this July. Read on for more insight into these albums, and for information about incoming live dates supporting Sunn O))).

Caspar Brötzmann is one of the most unique and innovative guitarists of the last 40 years. With his Berlin-based trio Massaker, he evolved a whole new autonomous approach to writing rock songs, starting from sounds that were widely considered ornamental if not detrimental ‘sonic waste’, such as shrieking feedback and droning overtones. This plethora of sounds were arranged into tracks to sound like breaking concrete, grinding metal, or bursting glass, at once monumental and threatening, impenetrable and hermetic, yet also archaically tender and loving. 

Even today, as the art of noise has reached a level of sophistication that no one could have imagined 30 years ago, Caspar Brötzmann Massaker’s music is resoundingly singular. Ultra heavy riffs and beats, ominous tribal chants and a raw physical force is conjured up by these three sinister and proud minds of their era. Their unhinged, unified stream of energy is captured on these remastered reissues and the results are thrilling.

Koksofen (which translates as blast furnace), originally released in 1993, has become one of Massaker’s most popular albums. Like it’s predecessor, ...Schwarzen Folklore, the album took shape in Massaker’s rehearsal room below the Berlin subway station Schlesisches Tor, and was recorded at Conny Plank’s studio near Cologne, with Plank’s former associates Ingo Krauss and Bruno Gephard producing. 
 
There’s a different kind of intensity to Koksofen. The features of Massaker’s sound are in full bloom.  Mountainous noises tower up and crash down, and tormented sounds rise from ominously seething grounds, haunting the entire song-scape. The feel of doom and dread hangs heavily over the five songs, and the title song rumbles, shrieks and wails, plagued by Caspar’s guttural growls of war, suffering and death.
 
Caspar recalls one anecdote from shortly after the original release whereby Bassist Edu Delgado called him asking to turn on the TV, thus discovering that “Hymne“ was being used as background music to a report about the death penalty in the US. A different kind of intensity indeed. 
Reflecting on the album to this day Caspar remarks “Koksofen is still a mystery to me,'' he continues “I can still feel the troubled times in these songs.” - the effects are certainly potent for the listener too. And the album undoubtedly affirms Massaker as the fiercely original and compellingly raw musicians that they are.  

After a sabbatical period, Roberto Auser makes a comeback with his analogical machinery with the exquisite mini-album called “Chaos Never Dies”. In this record he explores a broad range of sounds from minimal-electro to acid with a touch of improvisation from his particular perspective based in roughness, rhythm and immediacy. Limited to 300 copies.

All-time classic hip-hop of the highest possible grade from A Tribe Called Quest, featuring that verse from Busta Rhymes. Replica reissue of the prized, Germany-only 7” from 1992, cut loud. Official Mr Bongo reissue. Licensed from Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited.

The Black Keys’ long-awaited ninth studio album, “Let’s Rock”, their first in five years, is a return to the straightforward rock of the singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney’s early days as a band. Auerbach says, “When we’re together we are The Black Keys, that’s where that real magic is, and always has been since we were sixteen.” The album includes the hit single ‘Lo/Hi’. The Black Keys’ touring begins in North America in September, with further international dates to be announced soon.



“Let’s Rock” was written, tracked live, and produced by Auerbach and Carney at Easy Eye Sound studio in Nashville and features backing vocals from Leisa Hans and Ashley Wilcoxson. “The record is like a homage to electric guitar,” says Carney. “We took a simple approach and trimmed all the fat like we used to.”



The “Let’s Rock” Tour will hit cities including Chicago, Nashville, New York, Los Angeles, and Austin. Special guests Modest Mouse will provide support on all dates, and Shannon & The Clams, Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, *repeat repeat, and Jessy Wilson will each open select shows on the tour. The band also headlines 2019’s Life Is Beautiful festival in Las Vegas on September 21.



Rolling Stone named ‘Lo/Hi’ a “Song You Need to Know” and said, ‘the Keys have officially returned, louder than ever’ and the New York Times calls the song ‘the kind of garage-boogie stomp that the band never left behind.’ In the words of the NME, ‘It’s the soundtrack to the type of party that doesn’t exist anymore, but one you still wish you were cool enough to get the invite to.’



Formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001, The Black Keys have released eight studio albums: their debut The Big Come Up (2002), followed by Thickfreakness (2003) and Rubber Factory (2004), along with their releases on Nonesuch Records, Magic Potion (2006), Attack & Release (2008), Brothers (2010), El Camino (2011), and, most recently, Turn Blue (2014). The band has won six Grammy Awards and headlined festivals including Coachella, Lollapalooza, and Governors Ball.



Since their last album together, both Auerbach and Carney have been creative forces behind a number of wide-ranging artists:



Dan Auerbach formed the Easy Eye Sound record label, named after his Nashville studio, in 2017, with the release of his second solo album, Waiting on a Song. Since its launch, Easy Eye Sound has become home to a wide range of artists including Yola, Shannon & The Clams, Dee White, Shannon Shaw, Sonny Smith, Robert Finley, and The Gibson Brothers; it also has released the posthumous album by Leo Bud Welch as well as previously unreleased material by Link Wray.



Patrick Carney has produced and recorded new music with artists such as Calvin Johnson, Michelle Branch, Damns of the West, Tobias Jesso, Jr., Jessy Wilson, Tennis, *repeat repeat, Wild Belle, Sad Planets, Turbo Fruits, and more. He also created the theme music for the Netflix TV show BoJack Horseman with his late uncle, Ralph Carney.

repressed !

SNTS presents the last part of his double trilogy, this time called SCENE III. SNTS wanted to obtain a different view of one of the tracks of this release, and, in order to achieve that, he introduced a big star of the techno scene to this story, that artist is SHIFTED. Anonymity remains the centerpiece of SNTS. To convey feelings and sensations without a face reference or a name is the key point of this mysterious artist. This time the titles of the tracks refer to dates. You may never discover what events those dates belong to, but perhaps we can decipher something through sounds and their path. 20.01.1944 It reminds us of a battle in an eerie and desolate terrain in which each sound makes you move, observing what is happening around you. 20.01.1944 The version from SHIFTED is the story told from the outside of the bipolar world where is SNTS. 07.09.1981 It is a step in the course of a life that accompanies an atmosphere that breathes, but is not noticeable by other senses. 15.04.1946 Destruction, desolation and despair is reflected in this track. It definitely meets all the conditions to describe SNTS' sound.

Played & Supported by:
Planetary Assault Systems, Paula Temple, Svreca, Takaaki Itoh, James Ruskin, Tommy Four Seven, Ryuj Takeuchi, Giorgio Gligli, Speedy J, Ancient Methods, Terence Fixmer, Cio D'or , Eomac, Milton Bradley, Samuli Kemppi, Dj Emerson, Chris Liebing, Par Grindvik, Ø Phase, Kr!z Token, Zadig, Marcel Dettmann, Answer Code Request, Slam, Norman Nodge, Dave Miller, Deepbass, Nihad Tule, Truncate, Dj Hyperactive, Angel Molina, Ben Gibson, Juho Kusti, Claudio PRC, Bas Mooy, J. Tijn, Manni Dee, Donor, Rebekah, Go Hiyama, Francois X, Adriana Lopez, Electric Indigo, Bleak, Inigo Kennedy, Pfirter, Alex.Do, Eric Cloutier.

Moustache Records 039 is made by a Moustache brother from the first hour "El Cubano" Danny Daze. This obscure techno acid electro EP contains 4 dark Club bangers for the floor. A1 Trumpet track ft. Johnny Superglu is the EP action starter. Crazy Loud Kick drums, a distorted trumpet played by the notorious Johnny Superglu on Acid. Retard synths, a dark vocoder shout and topped off with razor sharp snares. A2 track is called "Late night snack" a song about a boy on its way to the nightstore to get a coca cola. There he lost his way on LSD around the corner of his own house, a pure club banger with weird kiddo lunatic samples. B1 "Wandering aimlessly in NY for 4 hours" 4x4 monotonous building up acid tune. Do you remember that waiting before that new space journey? B2 is the EP tittle track "El Cubano" pure raw oldskool bunker strobo acid with robot vocoder voices and rolling drum section. Mentalism is not a crime!

“The year is 1982. Rita Mitsouko has not yet recorded its eponymous debut album. The pile of ashes that once was Disco is still smoking on the field of Comiskey Park. New Wave is a phrase, Post-Punk Rock a thing. In France, young musicians dream of New York City – some with more devotion than others. Lapassenkoff are to early 1980’s downtown New-York what seminal New Wave act Marie Et Les Garçons (who met John Cale on their way to CBGB) are to the city’s musical scene in the late 1970’s: an unexpected cousin from Lyon.

Indeed, going through Shing ‘n’ Tsé! sometimes feel like an impromptu meeting between John Lurie and Tom Tom Club in the basement of some French record store. If we press pause for a minute, a question comes to mind: how on earth such a unique blend of funk, post-punk, jazz fusion & hip hop (!) – more easily associated with, say, The Mudd Club, than with Les pentes de la Croix-Rousse – made its way to the brains of three French musicians?

The answer probably lies in a Swiss chalet, some 40 kilometers away from Zurich. Sent there by the wise people from Mosquito (the label which also gave Ramuntcho Matta and Carte de Séjour the opportunity to record their first album), the band experiences Alpine ennui and mysterious neighbours (a certain Carlos Peron, for instance). That is probably during this stay in Swiss meadows that they opened a Pandora’s box called experimental music, leading them into recording the mind-blowing sample-based – and accidentally proto-everything – M Le Maudit,, that would later grace Belgian airwaves via the famous Liaisons Dangereuses radio show.

But if we’re looking for a bigger picture, M Le Maudit is just an example of how inventive their approach to music was. This compilation is a testimony of a decade-long feverish flirt between the Lyon trio and dance music. From the infectious electric boogie cuts Shing A Ling and Roadie to the somehow euro-house-fuelled Ma Poubelle Angelina, via many unclassifiable yet iconic songs like Bossi Le Bosseman or Fièvres, Frissons, the compilation demonstrates one thing: Lapassenkoff took the road less traveled by and contributed to a different history of French Pop music.”

Pierre-Arthur Michau.

• John Power is the singer, songwriter and guitarist known as the frontman of Cast and
previously from the La’s
• Following the split from Cast, Power released three solo albums, his first solo album
Happening For Love (2003), followed by Willow She Weeps (2006) and finally
Stormbreaker (2008)
• This boxset houses all 3 albums on 180gm heavyweight white coloured vinyl with a
signed image by the artist himself
• Happening for Love and Stormbreaker are released on vinyl for the first time

Sigma acts as the sequel to 2018’s critically acclaimed Equals release and features musical contributions from original Alarm guitarist Dave Sharp and

Billy Duffy from The Cult. The album includes the single “Brighter Than The Sun” and as Mike Peters articulates “is a lyric that tries to encapsulate how it feels when someone you

love has survived an immense ordeal and come through to the other side brighter, stronger and more capable than before”. To find strength through adversity

is a capability we all have inside of us should we choose to call upon it. The accompanying video tries to reflect this kind of stimulus and to try and

capture the kind of solar power that emanates from within, the blinding force that stimulates life and everything positive that revolves around it.

Early in 2019 Mike Peters from The Alarm was awarded with an MBE by His Royal Highness Prince Charles Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace for his

services to charity having raised thousands for cancer care projects in the UK and abroad and dedicating his life to giving hope for families affected by cancer

The Alarm will be heading out on their Sigma LXXXV Tour this summer, taking in 30+ North American dates through July and August, with support from

Modern English and Jay Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel. Throughout the Sigma LXXXV Tour, Love Hope Strength (co-founded by Mike Peters), will be hosting

bone marrow drives at each concert aimed at finding donors for people suffering from Blood Cancer who need a transplant for a second chance at life

Previous support for Equals from Billboard, Classic Rock, Classic Pop, Uncut, MOJO and more Classic tracks Strength and The Stand were used on the closing

tracks on two episodes of the hit Netflix series 13 Reasons Why, combining for 3M+ streams.

Founded in 1990 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Cold Front were what you'd call early adaptors, their music at the time of its inception an oddity. This fourpiece, consisting of spouses Ayanna and Cam Muata, Jon Jon Scott and Ron Clark, were far ahead of their time and faded just as rapidly as they entered the stage, only playing a handful of local shows in support of Nine Inch Nails, Meat Beat Manifesto and such, alongside several cameos during early house nights and techno events.

Though short lived, their music nevertheless speaks volumes. It's intriguing stuff, a magical association of sound reminiscent of Ron Hardy and Klein MBO. New Beat-like drum parts, overdubbed by politically engaged raps, basslines that would make The Cure proud, held together by freakout speaking in tongues vocal experiments while also showing an obvious parallel to the rise of triphop at the other side of the ocean.

Beyond the Beat will burst dancefloors soon. In collaboration with Paris' recordshop Dizonord, Knekelhuis will close the summer of 2019 with this amazing gem.

Walls, Corridors, Baffles is the debut album of Swiss musician and producer Samuel Savenberg aka S S S S. Following various releases on Haunter Records, aufnahme+wiedergabe, and Hallow Ground, his LP on Präsens Editionen tries to find an approach to an artistic expression beyond tropes of darkness, harshness and excess. Thus, the aesthetic of Walls, Corridors, Baffles is radically and uncompromisingly sober. Instead of focusing on a conceptual or symbolic treatment of sound as an abstraction, Savenberg emphasizes its materiality. The album consists of eight pieces strung together into a manifesto which calls for a febrile embrace of an unheard-of, intense sobriety.
In Walls, Corridors, Baffles, unadulterated percussive force meets an astoundingly precise and frugal vocabulary of electroacoustic sounds, as for example on the opener “Deserter”. Passages extended over long melodies invite the listener to lose oneself in the contrastive emptiness. Central to the work are the affective qualities of the music which lapses only at moments into a more defined emotional quality – as on the final track “Nothing But the Circulation of Air”.
*Edition of 300 copies

Ibiza Records label was established back in 1989 and was one of the main contributors to the UK underground music scene. Those behind the label were the innovators of Hardcore Jungle, Jungle Techno and Jungle genres in the 90s stemming from Warehouses to clubs and now festivals. Ibiza Records Label returns today with some new releases and a back catalogue of gems for the real Junglists out there.

Another 3 track EP comes out of Ibiza Records archive vault's called Archives Vol 4 produced by Noise Factory. Each of these tracks represents 'The Original Jungle Sound' from back in the 90s.
This 3 track EP called Archives Vol 4 comes from out of Ibiza Records archive vault and produced by Noise Factory. Each of these tracks represents 'The Original London Jungle Sound' from back in the 90s.

A.JUNGLE MYSTIC - This track made back in 1999 produced by one of the member's of Noise Factory aka Drumpella Black. Keeping with the original sounds of Noise Factory and the elements of techno and hardcore the early developments of Jungle.
AA.CAN YOU FEEL IT - This track made back in 1999 produced by one of the member's of Noise Factory aka Drumpella Black feat. Tremma T on the vocals. Keeping with the original essense of jungle, piano stabs and hardcore flavours.
AAA.ROLL WITH ME - This track made back in 2000 produced by one of the member's of Noise Factory aka Drumpella Black feat. Jnr Dangerous on the vocals. Once again showcasing the true elements of jungle.

Any historians keen on the subject of "French youth in the 1980s" are holding a treasure in their hands. As a true archaeologist of this decade dedicated to disposable culture, digger-in-chief Vidal Benjamin with his newest compilation, 'Pop Sympathie', offers them a unique journey in the heart of the cyclone of emotions that struck all teenagers during the first seven years of François Mitterrand's mandate. Fifteen musical nuggets, exhumed from the dungeons of history, each and every one of them teaching us about what really obsessed the youngsters at that exact moment, i.e. what happens when the city lights come on at dusk, when irrepressible urges that stir them to get lost even more appear until the end of the night.

The artists gathered here did not have the honour of breaking into the local charts, but they all individually reached for the sky. Each song of 'Pop Sympathie' tells more or less the same story: that of a girl who throws herself into the night like one immerses one's self into the void, who rushes into a one-night adventure to become a star. And too bad if in the early morning she finds herself back at square one. In all these miniature odysseys there is neon lights, lasers, smoke machines, broken glass on checkered tiles, strangers on leather benches, celebrities in the bathrooms, stolen kisses, alcohol, drugs and cigarettes, Polaroids, venetian blinds and radioactive tubes.

If the first opus of Vidal Benjamin, 'Disco Sympathie', focused on the funky mood of songs that could have been played at Le Palace, then 'Pop Sympathie' develops itself as the imaginary soundtrack of another nightclub, Les Bains-Douches, the capital’s epicenter of nocturnal drifts. So what do we listen to, blasé, at Bains-Douches? Mainly synthesizers. The child of punk and post punk, French New Wave celebrates the matrimony of machines and lolitas under the auspices of a retro trend that revisits the atomic age. Trying to surf on that wave and hit the charts, a bunch of producers (Stéphane Berlow, Laurent Stopnicki, Bernard "Black Devil" Fèvre, Johny Rech, Jean-Yves Joanny ...) will spot their talents amongst friends, in a travel agency or at the local bar. These virtual stars are called Cecilia, Laurent, Sonia, Janou, Fabienne, Anne, Arielle or Ronan, not even 20 years old, and often leaving just an overexposed photo and their first name on a single as the only memories of their swift passage in this particular musical story. It took all the love and sweet madness of Vidal Benjamin to bring them back in the light of day.

Clovis Goux

Kate Tempest returns with her third studio album, The Book of Traps and Lessons.

The highly anticipated album was crafted with Rick Rubin and Dan Carey over the course of the past five years. It follows Tempest’s previous releases, 2014’s Everybody Down and 2017’s Let Them Eat Chaos, both of which were shortlisted for Mercury Prize in 2014 and 2017, respectively. Last year, Kate Tempest was nominated at The BRIT Awards for Best Female Solo Performer.

A handful of words often tell you everything you need to know. When asked, who is Kate Tempest? She gives a brief, albeit telling answer. “Kate Tempest is the words,” she responds. You haven’t ever seen, heard, or experienced anyone quite like her. Tempest uncovers the missing link between the Golden Ages of literature and hip-hop. The London-born BRIT Award-nominated spoken word artist, rapper, poet, novelist, and playwright rhymes with a century-turning fury. Since her emergence in 2011, she has redefined what it means to be a wordsmith in the Modern Age. To date, she has published three poetry collections, staged three plays, and released two studio albums. Along the way, she entranced audiences on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, NPR’s “Tiny Desk,” and more. Not to mention, she garnered widespread critical acclaim from The New York Times, The New Yorker, Forbes, and more, to name a few. In the midst of this whirlwind journey, she performed a passage of her popular 75-minute narrative poem, Brand New Ancients, on Charlie Rose. Legendary producer and American Recordings Founder Rick Rubin caught the show, tracked down her phone number, and made a call. This set a series of events in motion that led to her 2019 debut album for American Recordings, The Book of Traps and Lessons, set for release on June 14th.

Aggelos Baltas is a veteran of the global electronic music scene, responsible for a handful of celebrated EBM 12”s as Dream Weapons, and a particularly heady and open-ended brand of krautrock as Fantastikoi Hxoi. His newest project, Anatolian Weapons, was conceived as a way to bring together these two seemingly mismatched concepts, with the polyrhythmic percussion and wailing tones of Greek folk music serving as their unlikely bonding agent. His output garners praise particularly around the Golden Pudel scene, such as Vladimir Ivkovic, and Phuong Dan. Lena Willikens, from the same circle, included Baltas’ track “Disillusioned” on her Dekmantel Selectors compilation in 2018.

But where much of what Baltas has released as Anatolian Weapons is instantly recognizable as dance music, To The Mother Of Gods—Baltas’ debut album for Beats In Space—is something else entirely. Created in tandem with Greek folk musician Seirios Savvaidis, it is a work of simultaneous collaboration and subtraction whose meticulous construction becomes more apparent with every listen. An album-length exploration of what happens when the principles of dance music are applied to pre-digital musical modalities. It is a record of psychedelic folk music that has more in common with Kikagaku Moyo, Minami Deutsch, and the Habibi Funk label than it does with anything else Baltas has produced under any alias. It’s difficult to imagine this music in any kind of club setting.

And yet, it’s very much the work of a DJ. Baltas initially heard Savvaidis’ music through a friend, and was absolutely amazed. “It was his very esoteric, pagan [music and] beautiful lyrics that grabbed me,” he writes. Seirios is a composer and performer of traditional Greek folk music with a growing discography of regional psych-rock gems. Baltas reached out to collaborate and the seeds of To The Mother Of Gods were sown.

Savvidis contributed stems of ten songs, which Baltas deconstructs and rearranges with appreciation of the ancestry of their lineage and of the deceptively ancient eerie, droning qualities inherent in the style. Occasionally augmenting Savvaidis’ recordings with his own, Baltas treats these elements as if raw materials for an architectural process.

To The Mother Of Gods showcases Baltas’ arrangement skills. He treats Savvaidis’ songs as landscapes, filling them with slanted, droning light and setting the singer’s vocals in dead center. His years behind the decks have given him an intuitive understanding of dynamics—drums crest and recede like tides, snippets of bassline repeat and swirl. He knows how to entrance, and when to push the music from the head to the body. Opener “Taratchi Katarratchi” (“Stormy Cataract”) is sung as a spell to ward off the fear of death, but Baltas’ orchestration demonstrates that dancing is an equally effective way of dispelling the darkness. The beat he assembles from Savvaidis’ playing recalls the late-night ecstasies of Primal Scream circa Screamadelica.

To The Mother Of Gods is a reminder that folk music and dance music are both powered by their audience as much as the musicians themselves. Savvaidis’ lyrics echo pagan Greek themes, touching on what Baltas calls “the magic of nature.” At times, as on “Kalesma” (“Invitation”), this can feel incantatory. Savvaidis chisels his vocal melodies into hard, clipped syllables, their cadence recalling Gregorian chant, and yet Baltas cloaks these details in washes of distortion. “Ston Stavraito” (“In Stavraithos”) is delivered with a lamentive tenderness that Baltas swells into a prideful stomp, immersing Savvaidis in marching drums and distant vocals that form a resilient protest-song. To The Mother Of Gods is a testament to the ongoing and innate truth that music can take us beyond ourselves. That repetition and drone can shepherd us to a liminal space beyond thought and rationality, where the wall between perception and reality does not exist. Call it spirit, if you want, and watch as it courses its way through modern-day dance music, mid-century psych, and the ancient sounds of the anatol.

Anatolian Weapons’ To The Mother Of Gods will be available from Beats In Space on June 14, 2019 in limited vinyl and unlimited digital forms.

Artist Highlights
• Aggelos Baltas is an Athenian music producer creating and Djing under the monikers of Anatolian Weapons, Fantastikoi Hxoi, and Dream Weapons.
• The Anatolian Weapons moniker is an outlet for Baltas to explore global music—from African to Anatolian and Middle Eastern, while also incorporating sounds from his home country of Greece.

'No idea how to categorise this! I would have called it experimental dancehall but irel.ier who made it says it’s not! Besides i don’t care how you call it - it bangs! When I played it out in Pudel (Hamburg) people were losing their shit and someone screamed in my bleeding ear “MASTERPIECE!!” so let’s just call it that!

We made 300 copies. They feature a beautiful image of your inner ear Haeckelified by some naive AI and the title (gang guan li) skilfully handwritten in Chinese calligraphy on the flip in iridescent colours.'

Ready for an adventure running parallel to their lives in common units, the quartet boarded a starship
to set off on an astral expedition. The mission began perfectly, according to plan. From the very first
measures, the travellers were released from the Earth's gravity. Very quickly, their home planet
appeared tiny and distant, before disappearing completely. Comets and novae lit the way through the
fathomless depths of interstellar space. Their preliminary, in-depth studies of seventies jazz-funk
were a great source of inspiration. Very early on, they knew that this sonic esthetic would allow them
to travel even farther, navigating only with organic instruments and no digital backing or
enhancements.
Commander Virgile Raffaëlli's bass lines guided their journey, offering a calm, yet vibrant foundation
for the smoother phases and turning up the power to bring them through turbulence and meteor
showers safe and sound. Like a compass, the bass indicated the direction and traced a groove that
the loyal, valued crew could follow as their travels continued. Mathieu Edouard's drums solidly
locked down the rhythm to avoid any sudden jolts, working in tandem with Erwan Loeffel's jetpropelled percussion. On the keyboards, Florian Pellissier drew harmonies and riffs from the
synthesizers and electric pianos to oil the machinery and lighten the load when the ensemble needed
to rise a few feet. The crew's almost telepathic cohesion was key to their success, allowing them to
express interior emotions with just a few notes.
Here is the last transmission we received:
"We have landed on an unknown planet and are depressurizing the airlock with help from subtle
horns and ethereal choruses so we can discover the new horizon. It definitely meets our
expectations! The desert before us holds the promise of new life. The warm yet fresh air is easy to
breathe. A vague psychedelic scent floats through the atmosphere, as if ready to spring from the first
flower to bloom. Dreamlike, mysterious, enigmatic yet familiar, we will call it Aldorande."

This Ltd edition vinyl release see’s a 50 track digital album whittled down to an 8 track sampler encompassing what label bosses Vinyl Junkie and Rachael E.C have determined to be the tracks that represent them best. The selection is predominantly on the junglist tip with a sprinkling of Drum & Bass here and there, which is basically what their label Ghetto Dub is all about.

The proceedings are kicked off by Birmingham born but Bristol based jungle overlord, the man they call Aries, who comes in with a real deep and bass heavy roller called Pre-Rolled, guaranteed to get everyone on their feet and feelin’ the vibes. This is followed by a rising star of the UK jungle scene; Java, who brings in the amens with a ragga style vocal lick for his track Screwface, which has been slaying dancefloors on dub for the last couple of months. Another artist that is really making a BIG name for himself lately is Veak. He comes in HARD with his first offering Lawd A Mercy which is a definite pull up track with a filthy bassline that will nail your head to the dancefloor. X-E-Dos concludes the first vinyl with Feel For Me which is a hard hitting but atmospheric drum fuelled workout, keeping the vibes rolling and maintaining the energy levels perfectly.

Enter the second vinyl and Veak is back, this time teaming up with another UK jungle don; Kumarachi. The combination of these two production masterminds has manifested something quite special in this awesome track Chrome Siren. Punchy in your face amens laced with more killer bass riffs and a mesmerising female vocal make this a definite for the front of your box. Sypmtom steps up next and adds that dark techy vibe like only he knows how; Come Mash Up maintains the jungle vibe but goes on a journey into the realms of drum & bass. Galvatrons track, Buss Up Shot is pure jungle, no doubt about that. Chopped up amens and a deep rumbling bassline are complemented with a beautifully melodic piano section. Last but by no means least, the man like SR takes the limelight with another wicked amen workout. Special Ops VIP gives a nod to the mid 90’s for sure… Wicked oldskool vibes and a sure fire hit with all the junglists that remember those times.

Aleqs Notal's introduction to the Sistrum family, 2017's Ascending Nodes, offered a taste of his capacity for jazzy undertones and rhythmically complex percussion. His return to the label, the LYU EP, takes his propensity for drums a step further. Heavy hand percussion drives the release across all three cuts, with a fourth mix that's stripped down to just its bare bones parts.

Eduardo De La Calle s recent Distortion Theory III EP on Abstract Reasoning was another impressive piece of work from the prolific producer. Now come four diverse remixes of the title track, each with their own unique twist on the warped machinations of the original.

J - Keel kicks off proceedings with a droning, tense interpretation which toughens up the original considerably. Reversed chord stabs pitch up and down as ominous bass bores a steady course through the track s underbelly, with ticking percussive elements ensuring a motorik pulse.

The masterful Roman Fl gel teases out the chime motif of the original and supplements them with muted marimba-esque arpeggios for a soothing, underwater feel. The beats are kept to a succinct minimum, with subtle swathes of strings bringing a majestic, dreamlike tinge to this refined, minimalistic production.

Fellow Spaniard ORBE brings an ambient feel to the hazy, delicate melodics of his mix, with the delayed, warped synth patterns that struggle to be heard and beautiful atmospherics recalling Carl Craig. Moments of distorted pressure seep through and remind us of the buggedout flavour of the original.

Holland s Conforce rounds things off with plump low end throbs and sparse synth pulses reminiscent of Basic Channel, with gently shuffling hi-hats underpinning the murky yet warm textures and broad, heavily reverbed swathes of chord drama.

"I love it. SO beautiful"
Josh Rosenthal [Tompkins Square]

Songs For A One-String Guitar is the debut instrumental acoustic guitar LP from Jonny Dillon. Better known for his analogue electronic music productions and all-hardware live sets under the ‘Automatic Tasty’ moniker [Lunar Disko, CPU, Wrong Island], Jonny’s records (bearing heavy acid and electro influences), along with live appearances at venues like Berlin’s Panorama Bar and Kiev’s Closer belie the fact that he has been quietly exploring the musical landscape of the guitar for nearly twenty years.

Recorded as a series of sketches over the last 10 years, Songs For A One-String Guitar represents a snapshot taken over a long exposure; one individual’s private response to a variety of currents and inspirations both musical and emotional. While informed in large measure by the world of Irish traditional music and song (of Sweeney’s Men, Planxty and Seán Garvey) along with that of primitivism and the American Spiritual (of John Fahey, Hank Williams and Mississippi John Hurt) these songs are equally a personal attempt to give expression to an inner landscape, from the experience of sorrow and loss to the promise of redemption and renewal.

The LP opens with ‘Turning Invisible In An Imaginary Rose Garden One-Evening’ a contemplative piece played in free-time; “I’ve been playing this piece for years, and it’s gone by so many different names in that time. It’s a sort of shoe-staring daydream, to my mind at least. I want people to disappear when they hear it, and think it suits the LP to open up slowly and reflectively”. While a contemplative strain underpins some of these songs, others are informed more directly by the experience of grief; “I wrote ‘A Requiem For Joe Dillon’ at the death of my uncle. He used play lots of wonderful songs of his own at family gatherings when I was a child, and while a very gifted and sensitive soul, was also troubled by his own demons. The last time I saw him alive was at my family home with my father; I was going out to see some friends and Joe called me back, gave me a hug and made the sign of the cross with his thumb on my forehead, to bless me. It still chokes me up when I think about it. A song of his ‘Light A Penny Candle’ I included to finish the piece in his honour.” A sense of longing and hope is present in other pieces; “Songs like ‘Again But With Feeling This Time’ and ‘Start Again (Carry On)’ come from a sort of hopeful yearning feeling which is always within me; a melancholic sort of joy in search of redemption. For me, music has the strange capacity to express contrary positions simultaneously; to console, redeem and offer transcendence while also expressing suffering and pain. I don’t know what any of this means, but feel as though I’m trying to find my way home by writing the same song over and over again.”

Songs For A One-String Guitar may seem to represent a departure for those who know Dillon for his electronic productions alone, though the reality is that these songs merely represent a new opening onto an old landscape; they are an invitation to more fully share in one individual’s yearning to find meaning through creative expression. “These songs are very personal to me, so there’s a certain nervousness in my seeing them released. I hope that they prove of some use, and that they do some small good to those who hear them.”

For Against Fascism Trax 006, Auntie Flo takes us to Brazil, a country that is dealing with having a bona fide fascist president, with an EP recorded in Rio De Janeiro. I’m going to shut up and let Afonso Marcondes from Sao Paolo take it from here -

In a world in which culture policies (incl. music) win nationalist tones, Brazil has lessons to give with the catastrophic failed experience of the last government and the teletubbies talk on Culture from the current one.

As one sometimes feel as if one is on a time-warp from time to time, most often taken there by music, songs like March of The Berimbau here, could easy make for the perfect soundtrack for the political history of Brazil, country in which Auntie Flo got his inspiration and recorded this tracks.

From the military regime that gave Brazil bossa nova in the 60’s, the tropicália sounds of the 70’s to the pop rock era of the 80’s all the way from the rave scene of the 90’s to todays Bahia Bass, music in Brazil has always been instrumental in helping shape the political scene.

One thing about the Brazilian music ’scene’ is that rarely it lends itself to extreme political views, via lyrics or otherwise, after all, carnaval must be kept a happy time! The number of different cultures living in peace, side by side in Brazil has strenghten the country disapproval of hate talk in music since I can remember growing up in the interior of São Paulo state.

As per wiki: Fascism is a form of radical ultranationalism, characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition… Children bedtime reading if you follow the past 15 years in Brazilian politics and the rise and fall of Brazil’s Labour Party, together with its disastrous polices on culture and synergy with de definition above; including the views of a important cultural Party branch that continuously 'preached' that Authors should need no rights over their works. That couldn’t bit music in Brazil.

Fast forward to the first 5 months of government of an unfortunate retired army officer, whose every word sounds like Trump, and whose views on culture is to extinguish the Culture Ministry and cut low the state incentives to the sector, that, so far, is not bitting music in Brasil.

Hope that Auntie Flo’s music inspired everyone as the place where it was made and recorded inspired music in Brazil, as a beacon of light against any hate talk darkness.

XOA, led by London based producer and musician Nick Tyson, is setto
release debut album 'Way West' via Five Easy Pieces.
XOA means to look outwards; to draw inspiration from many
sources.'Way West' is alive withthis: steeped in the rich analogue sonics
of the past,the warmth of machines and influence fromthe sounds of
London's fervent musicscene.
Featuring a blend of contemporary electronic production and
liveinstrumentation, 70s Afrobeat inspired drums and cosmic melodies
are thrustintothe present day with strong cues from house and techno.
Three vocalists contribute across the album, with Tyson choosingto work
with singers he has apersonal admiration and friendship with. HollieCook,
known to many for her ethereal pop tingedreggae, delivers a
sumptuouscontribution on 'Heartland', adding a beautiful emotional
dimensionto the hornled track. Lulu Jones' vocals are treated more as a
sample for the garagetinged 'CallOn Me' and Ruby Wood, of Submotion
Orchestra, has worked with Tysonover a number ofprojects and their
shared love of 90s soul comes to the fore onthe laid back grooves and
sunkissed 'Only One Thing'.

ltd to 300 copies

LP comes pressed on 180 gram vinyl.

On 29th March, Reclaimed Records are proud to present pianist and composer Taz Modi's elegant debut solo album 'Reclaimed Goods', which brings to light his love for contemporary composition – something which may come as a surprise to fans of soulful dance music heavyweights Submotion Orchestra, and jazz trumpeter Matthew Halsall's Gondwana Orchestra - for both of whom Modi plays keys/piano. Whilst also gaining further demand as a musician, including for A-list studio and live work for funk 'n' soul legends Dennis Coffey and Fred Wesley, plus beatmaker heroes DJ Shadow and Mr. Scruff, Modi has been discreetly pursuing an additional passion during down-time for years – and his prolonged, patient crafting shows in the record's tasteful and beautiful spirit.

Calling to mind the piano music of Cage, Frahm, Hauchska, Sakamoto and Aphex Twin, 'Reclaimed Goods' is a graceful affair, in which lush strings and gently pulsing rhythmic flutters sit alongside prepared and plaintive piano, with the tunes ranging from sparse beauty to weightier moments of electronic rhythms. This allows the music to appeal equally to fans of heavier electronic acts such as Cinematic Orchestra and Bonobo, to devotees of ambient and contemporary classical music, as well as those familiar with Modi's work with both Submotion Orchestra and Matthew Halsall.



Positive review by John Lewis for the Guardian's contemporary music album of the month section: 'An even more effective exploration of solo piano territory comes from British pianist Taz Modi; best known for his work in various jazz and funk ensembles, his solo debut Reclaimed Goods features a host of introspective instrumentals that are reminiscent, variously, of Ryuichi Sakamoto (Libra), Nils Frahm (Time to Practise, Crystalline) and Hauschka (Ethical Tourist).

Featured in Music Week's Tastemaker section, 15th April 2019 with Haydon Spenceley: 'Listen to it; it'll lift you high above our care-worn world to a place of safety and grace'.

First single 'Ethical Tourist' featured as a premiere on 18 Feb 2019

Second single 'Crystalline' premiered on Boiler Room's 4:3 video channel, 12 Mar 2019

'A kaleidoscopic album that seductively pulls you in and leaves you curious about the inspiration behind the songs' - AAA Music

Positive review on Magazine Sixty

Support on Soho Radio, Dom Servini

Played on Worldwide FM, April 3, Gondwana Records show

Featured on Bleep's Spotify playlist 'For Your Ears and For Your Head', April 2019

Played by Mischa Kreiskott, NDR Radio Germany, ndr.de

Worldwide FM's Gondwana Records show on May 1 featured an interview with Taz Modi, along with multiple tracks from the album.



Musicians:

Taz Modi – piano, keyboards/electronics, arrangement and production

Natalie Purton – violin + viola

Liz Hanks – cello

Margit van der Zwan – cello

Seb Hankins and Jon Scott – drums

Berlin based trio Keller Crackers collective likes to shape haunting esoteric sounds, in which self-built instruments dance with ritualistic synthesised rhythms, field recordings, psychoacoustic drones and poetical spoken silhouettes.

After a self-released MC and a mesmerising tune called “Anem” out in February 2019 on the custom-made Kashual Plastik 007 double-vinyl compilation, now they give birth to their own debut record “KC”, a four track EP resulting from various improvisational studio sessions, a bag full of spontaneous visionary DIY sound fashion that melts meandering serialism, foggy ‘Chris & Cosey’-ness, exoticism and freely expressed emotions. Some pieces are given time to evolve, being dragged through long arrangements and slow transitions, while others are playful and short. To close up the magic circle, the release includes a tripping Tolouse Low Trax signature remix.

The opening tune “Specialised” swings on a trance-like hypnotic bass line, while a self-made kalimba played through a tape delay and overtones from a DIY circuit bended device inject dynamics and colour to the composition. Out of the sonic depth, the spoken words of Sylvana Wickman emerge enchanting and unreal, naming a series of technical terms, assembling a deep notion on the specialised society we live in.

“Cow Tongue” follows, a fleeting composition of crackling electronic clicks jumping off a micro-modular device. They got overdubbed again by Sylvana’s voice, delightfully reciting phrases from a recipe of regional delicacies.

The A side of KC`s first strike finishes with a spaced-out synth bass and the lo-fi beats of a Yamaha RX15 drum machine. They are the gripping foundation of “Aithouses Anamonis“, which means “Waiting Rooms”. It describes the scene of a man sitting in a waiting room observing the consumerist behaviour by the folks around him.

The B-side opens with a Tolouse Low Trax remix of “Specialised”, elevating the original with the bass line of “Aithouses Anamonis“, while melting the all into a dark nebulous Tolouse Low Trax signature stripped down funk for endless nights in neon lights.

For their final track “Colours”, Keller Crackers invited a steady free member of their live shows to record with them: free jazz musician Robert Würz. He tuned his flute enthralling over a suspenseful bass line formed in a whirlwind of synth-sounds. The whole frenzy gets divine through sliding chords that rise from a self-built guitar.

A musical bouquet for open spirits, that value charming minimal wave zones, undefinable post-industrial psychedelics and hallucinogenic poetry reflections on the current state of our mechanical times.

Purveyors of contemporary electronic music Anagram return with their second remix EP that calls upon some of the scene's most compelling and uncompromising names. Coalescence, the next chapter from the label, will unfold as a series of remix EP's reinforcing the labels core values of community, togetherness and growth. The first instalment reflects on their previous three releases reimagining four titles under the controls of Drugstore resident Tiljana T, Ostgut Ton legend Ryan Elliot, Klockworks artist Newa and the Tel Aviv based Yotam Avni. Orchestrating the rework of Elad Magdasi's 'Liquid Dreams' is Serbian talent Tiljana T who runs with the cinematic ideas behind the original but uses snapping hits, ebullient bass notes and plenty delay to fuel the cut with a new lease of life. The accompanying A-side sees Ryan Elliott do what Ryan Elliot does best by keeping things straight up four to the floor transforming 'Sound of the Siren' by Barbara Ford into pulsating peak hour material. On the flip side are two remixes taken from label co-founder Sinfol's latest solo EP 'Pull Back'. First up, Newa gets the blood rushing injecting breaking beats and furious energy into 'Life Of Measure' resulting in a high tempo no-nonsense techno affair that embodies the sound of the bustling Tbilisi scene. Tying together Coalescence Vol. I is arguably the most dynamic choice of the four remixes in Yotam Avni's 'Final Push' Remix. With a meticulous assortment of intricately crafted synth lines and sequences, he manages to deconstruct Sinfol's title cut of its acid workouts and replenish it with an equally rivalled amount of energy. Four artists, four remixes, Coalescence Vol. I!

Pelican, the instrumental quartet whose singular vision of heavy music eschews classification, have announced their first full length in six years, Nighttime Stories, is due June 7th via Southern Lord Recordings.

The eight-song set marks the band’s first release written front to back with guitarist Dallas Thomas, who took over guitar duties upon founding member Laurent Schroeder-Lebec’s departure in 2012. In the process of writing the album the quartet endured a slew of realisations, tragedies, and glimmers of optimism that guided the creative process to the most potent work of their nineteen-year career.

Though the new material veers towards the darker tone characteristic of Pelican’s early songwriting, it’s hard to imagine a previous incarnation of the band writing songs as meticulously crafted and detail-oriented as those within Nighttime Stories, where the compositions recall everything from the triumphant call-to-arms of classic Dischord, to the vicious troglodyte battery of the Melvins, to the dynamic interwoven melodies of bottom-heavy indie cult heroes Chavez.

Nighttime Stories was an album title initially proposed for Tusk, the hallucinatory art-grind band that included Pelican members Trevor Shelley de Brauw, Larry Herweg, and Schroeder-Lebec, in addition to vocalist Jody Minnoch. The writing of Nighttime Stories was instigated shortly after Minnoch’s unexpected death in 2014, and some of the dissonant viscera and dark psychedelic structures that were characteristic of Tusk’s sound began to unconsciously inform the album’s direction. In homage to their departed colleague, Pelican applied the previously discarded title and pulled many of the song titles from notes Minnoch had sent to inspire the direction of the unrealized album. As the writing of Nighttime Stories progressed Thomas also experienced a heavy loss with the passing of his father, to whom the album pays tribute on opening track “W.S.T.” (on which Dallas performed his guitar parts on his father’s Yamaha acoustic).
 
Pelican have always excelled at vacillating between the savage sounds of various niches of metal underground and the more delicate and nuanced sounds of Midwest’s cerebral indie community, proving that they can make either end of the spectrum more vibrant and compelling through the art of contrast. With Nighttime Stories, the pendulum has swung back to the angst and ire of their younger years while delivering it with the nuance and wisdom that’s come with nearly two decades of writing and performing. Pelican head out on a ten date US tour in June with more dates in the works for later in the year (see dates below).

We’ve got something a bit different from usual for our next release: Meeting of Waters by Josiah Steinbrick.

Back in 2017 the unassuming Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist and producer released his first collection of solo pieces and we’ve been listening to it compulsively since then. Given that its initial release was only in North America, both on cassette with Leaving records and in an extremely limited vinyl self-release via BANANA editions, we felt that this meticulously crafted, essential work righteously deserved to get a proper spin in Europe too!

The album is composed of what you could call nine sculptural environments, each a mixture of organic sketches and improvisations, recorded rapidly and more or less free of any processing. Each piece is based on up to five simple elements - electronic and/or (tonal) percussions - used to create subtle evolving patterns and harmonies. The sounds explore the wilderness of jazz in a concrete setting, devotional in nature, creating a timeless cartography.

Introducing a new label and musical direction for Lee Renacre from 100Hz with, PUSHER. His aim is to push the boundaries of electronic music by using different time signatures and poly rhythmic patterns, and by not using 4/4 patterns and the standard hat clap beats it’s possible to create a different style of mood and dancing which is deep loose and skippy. Pusher has a bold new Techno sound and also a gentle side with tracks of deep emotive strings and melody’s.

This Series of tracks is called Drug Music, a stripped down funky style with unusual beat patterns and poly rhythmic elements best enjoyed and fully understood when in an euphoric state, always recorded from a live studio jam where Lee’s improvised sounds come to life with some unexpected results. Lee also collaborates with artist and good friends for some extra depth and to mix up this unique style of electronica.

The first of the Pusher EP’s is a thumping minimal and full on affair with infectious killer acid riffs in odd time signatures. Crisp funky modulating hats monster bass lines and dramatic interplanetary sounds with live tweaks, twists and turns. Also some seriously deep and intense music is coming from this live jam situation with a thrilling string track to round off the Pusher experience.