Suche:calm

The moons of Saturn are the inspiration for this brooding, often soaring and searching odyssey of dark electronica.

The second largest planet in the solar system after Jupiter, and the sixth planet from the sun, Saturn is orbited by 53 confirmed moons, with another 29 that are unnamed and still being studied.

Saturnian is a suite of thirteen choral tracks taking their names from some of Saturn's known moons; Dione, Daphnis, Phoebe, Prometheus, Rhea, Janus, Titan, Enceladus, Tethys, Telesto, Mimas, Hyperion and Iapetus, all named after figures from Greek and Roman mythology, each loaded with their own turbulent back stories. It is the debut release by Holmes + atten Ash, written, recorded and produced remotely in Edinburgh and Bristol by the duo Simon Holmes and Paul Nash.

Their project began during the 2020 lockdown. For Simon, time was spent exploring the Pentland Hills south of Edinburgh. For Paul, the Mendip Hills, south of Bristol. Both would experience the darker side of our human impact on the environment. Simon observed the wilderness as a wasteland, finding discarded, rusting metal littering the Pentland Hills while Paul witnessed the decimation of the ancient woodland of the Mendips' King's Wood due to the destructive tree fungus ash dieback.

These field trips fuelled a desire to navigate not just the landscape, but the duo's emotional place within it. Their collaboration led to a concept album that explores the outer reaches of the solar system, while simultaneously grounding them in a specific place. Looking inwards as much as outwards, theycreated soundscapes based on deeply imagined and felt connections to their surroundings.

After Simon had created a choral piece to accompany Luke Jerram's enormous, world touring artwork Museum of the Moon, Saturnian was a natural progression. When Simon was sent an initial score for the ethereal track Enceladus, composed by Paul in Bristol, he added choral arrangements recorded in Edinburgh. Their shimmering, tense opus continued to evolve from there. Just as the discarded bed springs and abandoned car parts that Simon stumbled upon in the Pentland Hills seemed to him at once "horrible but also oddly beautiful", Saturnian melds together melancholy and levity, fusing moments of dark angst with a celestial calm.

Opening with the glistening, hopeful brightness of Dione, increasingly urgent rhythms give way to digital, otherworldly calls from what might be rainforest creatures chirping into life with robotic squawks and delicate keyboard lines on Phoebe, followed by slowed down, monastic song on Rhea. Tethys is a hypnotic blur of synthesiser and soft chanting, while Rhea is a mysterious, echoing chasm, lifted by melodic, gentle male vocals. Janus has a glowing, effervescent energy, swiftly followed by a sense of tension on Titan, which throbs with driving percussive unease.

The album artwork is a pencil drawing created by Edinburgh artist Simon Kirby. It was made by a robot drawing machine, using custom algorithms that bring to life recordings of the sound of magnetic waves near Saturn's icy moon, Enceladus. The lines in the centre of the drawing are distorted by sound captured by the Cassini spacecraft which studied Saturn for over a decade.

Much like Saturn and its frozen, rocky moons, this debut album from Holmes + atten Ash is mysterious and beguiling, with a hint of foreboding in the depths of its powerful beauty and epic scale.

AI-31 sees the debut release from a new collaboration between Samuel van Dijk (Netherlands) and Rasmus Hedlund (Finland). Both key proponents to the scene in Northern Europe, they come together with mutual understanding and a common vision to sound. Dialog acts as a conversational exchange that sees the interplay of dynamic frequencies, evocative imagery and contemporary sonic art. Spread across four sides, the album as a whole exists as a kind of metaphysical process, eternally growing and contracting — change is the only constant, marked by a continuous progression of sound and space.  

Expansive, deep, and at moments arresting, Dialog unfolds with sweeping soundscapes and shimmers with tactile sonic details. A chasmic rift of scintillating drone structures, each layer exposes a series of ever-deeper shades. In a play of dynamic dualities, the pair harnesses both earthly materials as well as access to more ethereal dimensions in the music. Side A begins with sub-terrestrial ruptures, gestating in a process of constant elemental changes. Rattling hits sputter amongst a state of nascent chaos, yet continues to be maintained in self-regulating stasis. Side B sets a more introspective tone, whispering with ghostly artefacts and bubbling synth lines, before building into a driving energy of layered field recordings and mechanistic timbres. The essence of form continues to be contested, until it subsides into momentary calm on side C. A cleansing period of soft drones float into the space and the pace slows, washing away remnants of past. The journey continues with side D’s conclusion - a solemn contour that reaches its internal extent, to then finally return to its source. 

Today we have a piece from Kharkiv. Yes, THAT Kharkiv, the hometown of the Ukrainian dynamic duo of Komponente and Kurilo with their Trance Pandemic label, also the city on the frontier of the Russian/Ukrainian war. Living in a much calmer city in Ukraine, it’s really hard for me to imagine making any production plans there, in this case, it means nothing but honor and respect for the guys. Red and black colouring was changed to yellow and blue (the colors of the year), the music is still great.

Fields Of Mist has been traveling to Munich for years and during a visit last year Packed Rich brought him to the studio and introduced us to each other. Smooth jams to calm down and enjoy some proper laid back west coast vibes.

Son of Chi returns to Astral Industries, alongside Spanish artist Clara Brea, for the collaborative release of AI-29. A product of fate, chance experiments, but most of all, sensitive artistry - ’The Wetland Remixes’ exists as a confluence of two kindred musical spirits, a wayfaring epic that draws together a rich archive of ecological field recordings, live instrumentation and higher inspirations.

Ahead of Hanyo’s concert at Calma (Madrid) at the end of 2019, the curators organised a special dinner and arranged the meeting of Clara and Hanyo. As Hanyo recalls,“It was like stereochemistry. There was an instant match and understanding, and basically we decided in a split second to exchange recordings and to collaborate on future live and studio experiments.”

The auspicious meeting of the two ignited a remote exchange of materials and ideas, as the world descended into a series of pandemic-related lockdowns. The first of said recordings included the stems of Clara’s ‘Wetland Project’ - a site-specific audiovisual project originally produced for Eufonic Festival (Spain), using field recordings from the Ebro Delta nature reserve (one of the most threatened regions of climate change on the Iberian peninsula).

From this initial impetus, Hanyo began working on the first sketches of the album back in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Just like their meeting in Madrid, the project developed naturally and spontaneously with extraordinary ease. Later, Hanyo started adding field recordings from the Magic Cave and Wetlands of the ‘Kallikatsou’ (Patmos, Greece) as well as organic and acoustic overdubs, featuring bass, drums, percussion, guitars, oud, piano, hammond organ, wurlitzer, flutes, bells, and mouth harp.

In the distance, the sound of birds peak through the effervescent wash of the wetland soundscapes. The pass of running water flows deeper into a land full of secrets never told. On the strike of dusk, the silhouettes of shapely trunks and foliage melt slowly into the impenetrable darkness. As darkness passes, light emerges, with exquisite moments of tranquility that seemingly emerge from nothingness.

Beneath the shimmering veneer of textures, wildlife and melodies, one may hear the deeper references of ’The Wetland Remixes’. With credit to Clara’s input, for Hanyo the album process became a kind of refuge, and ultimately inspired the return to the core of Abstract Sound - what the Sufis call“Saut-i Sarmad.”Such references allude to the spiritual quality embedded in the music - the autonomous process of self-expression, the great mystery. Hanyo: “An ambience like this cannot be created by routine. There is no blueprint. The music has to find you. It’s like a blessing if it happens. You should not interfere, just observe and be impressed...”

Deep, luscious mind trips as per the classic Chi sound, ‘The Wetland Remixes’ beautifully correlates the interconnecting dots of geography, ecology, and mythology’s forgotten lore.

Three years after he released the incredible New Experience EP (picking up plaudits from Bill Brewster, Tim Sweeney, Laurent Garnier, Horse Meat Disco, Leo Mas & 6Music’s Tom Ravenscroft, among many more), Tokyo’s Kota Motomura returns to Hobbes Music for his debut LP, Pay It Forward. This is the first vinyl release on Hobbes Music since the much-loved ‘Aranath’ EP by Leonidas & Hobbes last Spring. While the label maintains the level of quality control for which it has become recognised, the artist continues to subvert electronic and dance music norms in his iconoclastic way on this extraordinary record.

He’s a mysterious character with an ear for idiosyncratic music that runs the gamut from ambient, exotica and jazz to disco, house and techno via post punk, new wave and funk. It’s highly original and all adds up to a confection perhaps best described as ‘Balearic’.

Album opener Paradise is a certified jazz-funk JAM. Destined for dance floors worldwide, this one’s been dropping well with DJs, Motomura demonstrating his piano chops alongside Mutsumi Takeuchi’s sax. Tropical pushes the boat in a more rhythmic direction, some pretty wild drum programming laced with more sounds of the, um, tropics, before mad vocal yelps suggest something yet more tribal. To Be Free initially resembles early 90s progressive house (pulsing bassline, synth-driven melodies), before the arrival of some new wave guitar licks a la classic Talking Heads/David Byrne and ooh ooh vocal chants take it to another dimension altogether.

B-side opener Emotion features Takeuchi again (on flute this time) and more vocal chants before things take a dramatic turn, threatening to open up into a full fanfare before calming and then bursting into wild life again with the exhortation that “C’mon, everybody dancing!” Rhythm flirts with an energy and pace more akin to a techno record: drums, drums, more drums plus a fair few yelps and chants - the kind of DJ tool that will send a simmering dance floor wild in the right hands. Flower closes things in a more melancholy style, familiar to fans of ‘Aboy’ from the New Experience EP, with plaintive acoustic guitar (performed by Akichi), birdsong and big piano chords.

Support from Bill Brewster, Leo Mas, Al Kent, Red Rack’em, Nick The Record, Phil Mison, Phat Phil Cooper, KZA, Sean Johnston (ALFOS), S/A/M, Dribbler, Joe Muggs, Monolith Cocktail and more…

‘Gonna review in MÜ mag... very fine stuff!’ JOE MUGGS
‘Will be reviewed on the blog’ MONOLITH COCKTAIL 
BILL BREWSTER played Flower on the DJ History podcast #641 (25.3.22)
'I really like this album, Flower and Paradise are my favourite' LEO MAS
‘I like Paradise’ AL KENT
‘Woo this is tasty. DEFO playing on my next radio show. The label’s A&R is defo getting better and better. HM has been putting out some dope stuff and this one seems really good quality’ RED RACK’EM
‘Paradise and Flower sounding good’ NICK THE RECORD
‘Tunes sound great!’ PHIL MISON
‘Going to include Paradise and Flower on my Sunday Ibiza global radio show PHAT PHIL COOPER (Nu Northern Soul)
‘Very nice album with influences from many different genres. I especially like To Be Free with nice synths and guitar cutting, and Flower, which is a chill vibe’ KZA (Mule Musiq, Endless Flight)　
'100% correct about the ALFOS potential of To Be Free!' SEAN JOHNSTON (A Love From Outer Space)
'Stunning, will fit perfectly with the vibe of my radio show’ S/A/M (Music For Dreams, DK; Playa Del Sol, Ibiza)
'Stellar work, i'll make a bet that Flowers is a Balaeric classic this summer' DRIBBLER (Breakfast Club, Ibiza)
‘It's cool in a nice smelling psycho sense, it was a very DEEP sound that I couldn't produce. Congrats!’ ALTZ (Altzmusica)
‘Paradise is my jam, it's deep, sunny and never boring. I'm interested to see how this will work on the dance floor. Overall a great album with solid composition and impressive use of live instruments!’ SOBRIETY (fka Chloé Juliette)
'Very tidy selection' ASTROJAZZ (Kelburn Garden Party, Wee Dub, Samedia Shebeen, Disco Makossa)
‘This is a lovely release. Follows on from New Experience in the best way possible. It's got lots of vibes going on but holds together as a cohesive piece of work. Love it’ JAMIE THOMSON (La Cheetah, Glasgow)
‘To Be Free is a track i could imagine Andy Weatherall playing in one of his sets at A Love From Outer Space’ KIRSTIE PATON aka She-Bang Rave Unit (Threads Radio, Radio Magnetic)

For the second announcement of the upcoming sophomore Keinemusik album, Rampa, &ME and Adam Port teamed up with another threesome.

That's none other than Netherlands finest when it comes to emotively driven dance music - Cubicolor. And it shows it is a match made in hymn-heaven. "Before The Flood" delicately embodies that feeling its title automatically insinuates.

That calm, yet tensed up state, intensifying with every bar of that bassline driven, string kissed sonic foundation, shaping up the appropriate environment for Tim Digby's signature falsetto. It is a contemporary Pop jewel in its own right and in context of the body of work it's taken from, a hint towards one or another unexpected stylistic nuance.

Repress

After last year's lauded 3-track EP "TOPINAMBUR" we're more than happy to announce ROBAG WRUHME's return to SPEICHER. On the A-side, Robag delivers a deep hypnotic chugger that goes by the simple but ultimately affirmative name "YES". In all its simplicity, it's one of those tracks that gently tosses you down the famous rabbit hole. The flip side "CALMA CALMA" is pure summer festival bliss, resurrecting the spine-tingling a cappella from C'Hantal's proto techno classic "The Realm" for the 2020's. Both tracks are 100% Robag... highly emotive, über sexy and yet somehow hazardous.

Nach der hochgelobten 3-Track EP “Topinambur” freuen wir uns sehr, ROBAG WRUHME’s Rückkehr auf SPEICHER anzukündigen. Auf der A-Seite liefert Robag einen tiefgehenden, fast hypnotischen Track, der den simplen und durchweg bejahenden Titel “YES” trägt. In all seiner Einfachheit ist das ein Stück, das dich behutsam das berühmt-berüchtigte Rabbit Hole hinunter bugsiert. Die andere Seite “CALMA CALMA” ist pure Festival-Sommer Wonne: Es lässt das A cappela von C’hantal’s Proto-Techno Classic “The Realm” wieder aufleben und sorgt damit auch in den 2020ern für Gänsehaut. Beide Tracks sind dabei 100% Robag... extrem gefühlsbetont, über sexy und doch irgendwie gefährlich.

finally repressed !

The Vivus family ends 2018 in style with its fifth instalment in the vinyl-only series VRV. This release brings back some familiar faces in label founder Daniel Broesecke and an old friend in Silat Beksi.

These two close friends who share their passion for music are fresh off their release on Curtea Veche back in September but they bring some raw energy on this one, resulting in timeless and hypnotic music from two creative young artists.

The first track, Mistral, starts off as strong as you would expect from its name, deriving from the cold northwesterly wind that blows from the south of France to the northern Mediterranean. The heavy bassline floats just above the surface as a cool breeze of atmospheric sounds make their way across.

Next up, on the B side, we have Get Some More, with a calmer approach but powerful nonetheless. An unexpected vocal greets us at the beginning only to make way for a steady flow of uninterrupted intertwined noises that go hand in hand with the firm bass line just underneath.

Reclaiming her original moniker of Kittin, electroclash pioneer - formerly known as Miss Kittin - presents Cosmos, a continuous twelve-track LP of organic, leftfield electronica due 2 November on Dark Entries. Throughout her illustrious career, Kittin has carved a considerable niche for herself, assimilating references from New Wave and 90s techno to form an inimitable sound that resonates with electronic music fans the world over. Despite being most recognizable with 'Miss' before it, Kittin was in fact her original artist name - the prefix often added without her consent at promoter's will and eventually becoming the norm.

Cosmos is her most spiritual release yet, influenced by her time in the French countryside after a bout of touring exhaustion. She gives up any formulas from her past; verses/chorus, pop or club beats, to come to the essence of chords and textures, peeling away the non-essential to find joy in music yet again. In retrieving her chosen name from more than 20 years ago, Kittin also returns to the essence of her musical journey. By liberating herself from the constraints of formal structure she opens the door to a new set of aesthetics, exploring her influences without restraint. Sonically, the voice acts a central instrument, whilst the album drives continuously forward with no breaks, paying homage to her love for ambient and electronica whilst wandering calmly into the unknown. 'With Cosmos everything is energy. We go back to the core with curiosity and freedom.' - Kittin

Jason Dungan (aka Blue Lake) and Johan Carøe find beauty in the rhythms
and repetitions of domestic life for collaborative album, 'Routine' - out September 25

Copenhagen-based multi-instrumentalists Jason Dungan and Johan Carøe didn't set out to make an album. Instead, as the title 'Routine' suggests, they found their way there through a process of habitual making and listening, developing an intuitive musical language to reflect the dreamlike meanderings and creative play of life's quiet moments. 'Routine' blends pop orientated sounds, Avant-garde minimalism, folk and new age with the emotive depth of film-score.

Their meeting was not entirely coincidental. Previously in bands such as Squares and Triangles, Jason Dungan has since recorded multiple albums under the moniker Blue Lake, including the lauded 'Sun Arcs', pursuing his passion for self-built percussion and multi-string instruments. Johan Carøe meanwhile is a composer whose film soundtrack work has seen him collaborate with Angelo Badalamenti, Arp, and Sofie Birch, at whose Andersabo residency (curated by Dungan) the pair first met, resulting in the highly praised album 'Repair Techniques' written by Birch and Carøe.

'Routine' emerged organically over many years against the backdrop of great personal change. As Carøe said goodbye to his father and welcomed his first child, the pair sent each other fragments of melodies and patterns, working up responses when time allowed to assemble a sonic palette that combined acoustic instrumentation of zither, clarinet, cello, saxophone (among others) with the textures of tape, drum machine and Yamaha DX7 synth. Inspired by the vulnerability and DIY ethos of Arthur Russell's home recordings, the vision of labels like Disques de Crepescule, and the art pop, experimentation inherent to late '70s and early '80s recordings from NYC and Japan alike, Dungan and Carøe conjured new forms for their folk, leftfield pop and avant garde influences from the low-lit living rooms of Copenhagen and rural Sweden. "I'm very interested in the ways in which music and art emerge from our wider experiences as people, workers, parents and in the daydreaming activity of making music," Dungan explains of a process which allowed the duo's individual styles to drift apart and merge together seamlessly. "I think the process was definitely capturing moments in time, but over a long time," Carøe adds. "It was a bit like improvisation, but with time stretched."

The music floats with grace and humility, remaining sophisticated yet acutely introverted.
Whether on 'Clouds', where soft layers of zither and clarinet are moved along by a featherlight bass riff and the hypnotic clip-clop of the primitive groovebox, or the gentle grandeur of cello rising and falling through 'Routine 1', the album reveals itself over 10 instrumental tracks, evoking the ineffable calm that descends when the light changes and the world turns inwards. The act of time passing became a key creative ingredient to the evolution of the album, enriched with the exciting challenge to transform their passing rounds of home recordings via a slow release musical dialogue. Jason found creative moments in the twilight hours to lay down zither, melodica, acoustic guitar to name but few, while Johan utilising "line-in and headphones" would manipulate, stretch and pitch Jason's melodic pathways during newly born naptimes.

Carøe rhythmically plucks and slides the stringed cello instrument, leaving palpable foundations on 'Hymn' and 'Chords', in a treated, stylistic approach akin to Mabe Fratti, while 'Silence' draws to a close with a gospel touch. Dungan's harp-motion zither flourishes reveal more classical connotations on 'Reunion' with inspiration of Bedroom Community's Nico Muhly as organs rise with Moogs, culminating with a climatic choral outro from friend, mezzo-soprano Anna Caroline Olesen.

'Routine' then is their first collaboration, an album of deep and sincere reflection with inviting overtones that gesture with unrushed authenticity. A document of a new-found friendship that opens a window into the most personal of spaces, where the daily practices of music and life exist side-by-side to wondrous effect.

Montréal-based sound artist Steve Bates expands his strategies and stylistic influences on An Infinite Antenna, his second solo album for Constellation, giving freer reign to melodic components and textural dynamics: leftfield synth work, deconstructed drum machine, pointillist electric guitar, and radiostatic blur are all part of the new brew swirling around his bruitist signal-bending and field-recording sensibility. Arguably a more ambient album than his acclaimed 2022 Constellation debut, An Infinite Antenna is at the same time more densely packed with ideas, dynamics, evocations and earworms. Coming out of the anarcho-punk scene of the Canadian Prairies in the 1990s, Bates founded Winnipeg’s experimental sound festival Send + Receive in 1998 before moving to Montréal to become Sound Coordinator at Hexagram (Concordia University), delving further into sonic research and theory, tape-based composition, and installation work. Alongside the curatorial arc of his own sound art label The Dim Coast, Bates released several solo and collaborative albums on ORAL_records leading up to All The Things That Happen, the 2022 Constellation debut praised by Boomkat for its “grittily iridescent ambient billow rendering maximalist panoramas” and by Backseat Mafia as “extraordinary soundscapes of unstable, destructive cacophony and tender calm, echoes of the threat of power.” Where that album was noisier and single-minded, made with the self-imposed limit of a Casio SK-1, Bates plays more widely with instrumentation and atmospheres on An Infinite Antenna, also drawing on his post-hardcore roots in seeking a sort of track-by-track concision nonetheless driven by the album’s coherence as a seamless work. “I was trying to set durations I associate with punk rather than the longer, sprawling music coming from more ambient styles (that I very much love), and while I wasn’t able to quite pare it down to Minutemen durations, I had that reduction to essential elements as a sort of whisper over my shoulder.” Incorporating source recordings made throughout 2023-2025, including at artist residencies and site-specific sound installation visits in Bosnia and Herzegovina (the album’s cover photo was taken in Sarajevo), Austria, Greece, and Saskatchewan, An Infinite Antenna combines Bates’ “idea of slowly scanning a radio dial” with a soundworld of recurring timbral and textural touchstones that forge an integrated whole.

The album’s 12 tracks work effectively as stand-alone pieces, replete with shifting undercurrents, buried melody, and stuttering kinetics, and as a sequential flow where the brief interstitial silences between them are like short pauses to flip the next page in a sketchbook of perspectival studies of a wide but singular tableau. The glistening atonal synth expressionism of opener “Pink pink pink pink…pink pink” drifts gently toward submerged ambience, darkened by the noised rumble and static interference of “Green as a ghost”, which introduces broken beats and piano chords in its denouement. Tracks like “Battles and sieges and street trees” and “Easier sad than done” work the foundations of low-end field-recording resonance, but dappled with lovely melodic droplets of treated guitar and synth. “Waste, songs of the world” and “Disaster loans” are among the album’s most explicit stylistic references to posthardcore, with distorted ambient bass and gently abrasive drum sampling. Closing track “Swamps and factories”, the album’s longest piece, is perhaps most reminiscent of Bates’ previous record with its sustained dissonant glimmer-drone, but the journey An Infinite Antenna traces to get there is Bates at his most dynamic, diverse, distinctive, and engaging. Thanks for listening.

Montréal-based sound artist Steve Bates expands his strategies and stylistic influences on An Infinite Antenna, his second solo album for Constellation, giving freer reign to melodic components and textural dynamics: leftfield synth work, deconstructed drum machine, pointillist electric guitar, and radiostatic blur are all part of the new brew swirling around his bruitist signal-bending and field-recording sensibility. Arguably a more ambient album than his acclaimed 2022 Constellation debut, An Infinite Antenna is at the same time more densely packed with ideas, dynamics, evocations and earworms. Coming out of the anarcho-punk scene of the Canadian Prairies in the 1990s, Bates founded Winnipeg's experimental sound festival Send + Receive in 1998 before moving to Montréal to become Sound Coordinator at Hexagram (Concordia University), delving further into sonic research and theory, tape-based composition, and installation work. Alongside the curatorial arc of his own sound art label The Dim Coast, Bates released several solo and collaborative albums on ORAL_records leading up to All The Things That Happen, the 2022 Constellation debut praised by Boomkat for its "grittily iridescent ambient billow rendering maximalist panoramas" and by Backseat Mafia as "extraordinary soundscapes of unstable, destructive cacophony and tender calm, echoes of the threat of power." Where that album was noisier and single-minded, made with the self-imposed limit of a Casio SK-1, Bates plays more widely with instrumentation and atmospheres on An Infinite Antenna, also drawing on his post-hardcore roots in seeking a sort of track-by-track concision nonetheless driven by the album's coherence as a seamless work. "I was trying to set durations I associate with punk rather than the longer, sprawling music coming from more ambient styles (that I very much love), and while I wasn't able to quite pare it down to Minutemen durations, I had that reduction to essential elements as a sort of whisper over my shoulder." Incorporating source recordings made throughout 2023-2025, including at artist residencies and site-specific sound installation visits in Bosnia and Herzegovina (the album's cover photo was taken in Sarajevo), Austria, Greece, and Saskatchewan, An Infinite Antenna combines Bates' "idea of slowly scanning a radio dial" with a soundworld of recurring timbral and textural touchstones that forge an integrated whole. The album's 12 tracks work effectively as stand-alone pieces, replete with shifting undercurrents, buried melody, and stuttering kinetics, and as a sequential flow where the brief interstitial silences between them are like short pauses to flip the next page in a sketchbook of perspectival studies of a wide but singular tableau. The glistening atonal synth expressionism of opener 'Pink pink pink pink_pink pink' drifts gently toward submerged ambience, darkened by the noised rumble and static interference of 'Green as a ghost', which introduces broken beats and piano chords in its denouement. Tracks like 'Battles and sieges and street trees' and 'Easier sad than done' work the foundations of low-end field-recording resonance, but dappled with lovely melodic droplets of treated guitar and synth. 'Waste, songs of the world' and 'Disaster loans' are among the album's most explicit stylistic references to posthardcore, with distorted ambient bass and gently abrasive drum sampling. Closing track 'Swamps and factories,' the album's longest piece, is perhaps most reminiscent of Bates' previous record with its sustained dissonant glimmer-drone, but the journey An Infinite Antenna traces to get there is Bates at his most dynamic, diverse, distinctive, and engaging. Thanks for listening

Das 1997 erschienene Album „Romanza“ verhalf Bocelli zum weltweiten Durchbruch: Es verkaufte sich
weltweit fast 20 Millionen Mal und wurde zu einem der meistverkauften Alben der modernen Klassik aller
Zeiten.
„Romanza (30th Anniversary)“ wird sowohl als Standard- als auch als Deluxe-Edition erhältlich sein. Das
Deluxe-Paket enthält zwei goldfarbene Schallplatten, eine von Bocelli signierte Lithografie sowie einen
Bildband mit eigens in Auftrag gegebenen Begleittexten des renommierten Journalisten Craig McLean, der
Bocellis außergewöhnlichen Aufstieg vom aufstrebenden italienischen Tenor zu einem der weltweit gefeiertsten Künstler nachzeichnet. Beide Editionen enthalten zudem bisher unveröffentlichte Fotos von den
Aufnahmen zum Album.
Die Sammlung vereint alle 16 Titel des Originalalbums, darunter die zeitlosen weltweiten Hits „Time
to Say Goodbye“ mit Sarah Brightman und „Vivo per Lei“ mit Giorgia sowie eine bisher unveröffentlichte
Extended Version von Bocellis Hit „Con te Partirò“.

A long-lost Japanese acid folk gem, Niningashi’s 1974 private press debut Heavy Way shimmers with originality, deft song writing and a dream-like groove.

Although he was training as a pharmacist, Kazuhisa Okubo was much more interested in prescribing musical medicine.
A coming-of-age album, Heavy Way captured a turning point in Okubo’s life, and Japanese society more widely as a nostalgia for the pastoral calm of the traditional life, met the cosmopolitan thrill of coffee, sex and cigarettes in the big city.
Intoxicated by Tokyo, driven by a passion for music and surrounded by a thriving acid folk scene, the young student filtered his experiences through a psychedelic cocktail of soulful influences from the US and Japan.
Niningashi was his first band, and Heavy Way was their only album. It was honest and raw, deep and strangely funky, in an off-beat kind of way. Across nine tracks, Okubo and the 6-piece band put their own spin on the new folk sound of Japan, combining witty lyrics with electric guitar-driven solos and crisp, understated grooves.

Melancholy and profound, opening track ‘Ameagari’ feels like a synthesis of Harvest-era Neil Young and Haruomi Hosono’s Happy End. Then there’s the whimsical washboard country sound of ‘Semai Boku No Heyade’; the moody, low-lit charm of ‘Restaurant’; and ‘Hitoribotchi’, a sensitive portrayal of childhood, steeped in memories of rainfall that will resonate with fans of Woo and Mac Demarco.
While Okubo would go on to taste success with psychedelic folk bands Neko and Kaze, the latter of which scored three #1 albums, little is known about his mysterious debut with Niningashi.
Self-released by Okubo in 1974, and featuring album artwork by his brother, it has slowly generated a cult following online, intrigued by its soft and enchanting sound. So few records were ultimately pressed that those remaining have fetched up to £1,500 online.

Featured on Time Capsule’s era-spanning collection Nippon Acid Folk, Niningashi’s Heavy Way is a deep-cut grail of a vibrant time in Japan’s musical history, where even the pharmacists were making jams.

Archimboldos have clawed their way out of the starcaves of their primordial past and into the tranquil light of a coral garden on their third full length album, Crusta Arcana, a gumbo stewpot of transcendent electronica suffused with tribal rhythms and liquid ambience. Across a stereo field smeared with tolling bells, post-industrial folk percussion, and tinkling keys, Archimboldos soundtrack a science fictional journey, not into the depths of space, but deep beneath the waves.

In the past the Chilean duo of Nicolás Carcavilla and Felipe Crocco have described their music as “liminal shrimp folk.” Here they continue this strange exploration when they visit the court of the prawns, producing stately electronic chamber orchestrations. Perhaps these are the frequencies used for ritual dream initiation into the mystery schools of drowned Atlantis. Weaving an ancient sacred science, Archimboldos take listeners on a mystic vovage into their singular crustacean mythology, the crusta of their hidden arcana.

Archimbolodos are masters of conjoining cyclonic and centrifugal lines of electricity into spellbinding incantations. These deep-sea transmissions envelope the listener into aquamarine forcefields that are as hallucinatory as they are hypnotic. Navigating these strange fantasias could lead one to getting lost at sea, but the work is buoyed by the somnolent melodies of lonely harpsichords and swelling synth pads whose sustained tones reach towards distant shores. Sailing across a vast expanse of oceanic harmonies and percolating percussion, these pieces are as precise as the hand of a sailor on the rudder, moving with the tide.

Casting their net wide across eight pieces, Archimboldos have made a big catch. From the emotive electronic counterpoint found on “Bursting Armor” to the blocks of seaweed tangled sonic sculpture trawled up from the ocean floor on “Aphelion IX.” Other songs are like samples of biological ambience collected from luminous tide pools: resplendent tones placed into a Petri dish of sound, swirled, cultured and fermented until it undulates with the rhythmic movement of microscopic lifeforms. Alternating between rippling minimalist sonority and pounding, progressive, synth-heavy entrancement, Crusta Arcana charts its own idiosyncratic itinerary of instrumental invention.

All the while light is down streaming from the heavens to pierce the waters, here calm, there choppy. The intrepid musical captains commanding Archimboldos have laid a course for new archipelagos of the imagination, guided by heavenly constellations.

-Justin Patrick Moore, author of The Radio Phonics Laboratory, Telecommunications, Speech Synthesis and the Birth of Electronic Music

Lummer is the Swedish name for the now protected family of vascular plants (Clubmoss/Lycopodiaceae). Lummer grows slowly and the spores with which it reproduces can take 12—20 years to develop. These spores, known as Nikt in Swedish, were once ground into an extremely flammable light yellow “old woman’s gunpowder” that was used for early theatrical pyrotechnics. Volatile and explosive, Lummernikt requires careful handling.

There is something of the small scale dangerous in Finn Loxbo’s Lummernikt, too. A not-at-all-risk-free traversal at the limits of technique: building, blowing up and working through a band’s worth of harmonic scaffolding. Eight songs on a stage. Dramatic, breath-taking. At the same time the wild, flickering rush of tones spins up a centrifugal force that suspends a certain calm or sitting still at the music’s core.

On Lummernikt, Loxbo’s guitar often sounds more like a concert harp or the West African kora as he shifts a set of melodic fragments and extended lines through rapid-fire arpeggiated permutations with a spontaneous energy that is countered only by his extraordinary touch on the instrument and an undeniable sensitivity to his material’s dynamic potential.

It’s a glorious extension of the chiming chords and experimental preparations heard in his contributions to Magnus Granberg's Skogen (Another Timbre) or via his own ensemble Kommun (Fönstret, Thanatosis) and in striking contrast to the distorted wail he contributes to Anna Högberg Attack’s Ensamseglaren (Fönstret) or his all-in-the-red trio Kyosaku (Corbett vs Dempsey).

It’s now several years ago that Finn sent me the first recording of his new band Kommun and asked if I had suggestions for a label that might want to release it. I played that recording on repeat until I couldn’t shake the idea that I needed to start a label to put it out myself. Lummernikt is the spark that keeps that fire alive.

Whispering Ln. Vol. II was recorded between 2018 and 2019 in America, alongside the pieces that formed the first album. These recordings belong to the same time and space, shaped by the same quiet focus and slow attention to sound.

While remaining rooted in minimalism, this album introduces several more rhythmic pieces, drawing inspiration from early electronic music – echoes of composers such as Tom Dissevelt and Raymond Scott.

Movement and stillness coexist throughout this record. Rhythms and patterns shift and occasionally dissolve. The music asks for little and offers even less explanation, inviting listening without urgency – to slow down and remain present. May it offer a moment of calm, where time loosens, and attention gently settles.

Could it be that the world is finally ready for the tempestuous folk-rock opera that is "All the Leaves are Gone?" In 2004, only the truly informed and forward-thinking heads "got" this mini masterpiece. Critics scratched their heads and usually resorted to comparisons of past artists, like ol Grace Slick and her Great Jefferson Society, Fairport Convention (but which era? SURELY Judy Dyble's early reign?), and at best, Shirley Collins. A few fans attempted to connect the record to even more obscure "freak folk/rock" like Mellow Candle, Fear Itself, or Trees. "All the Leaves are Gone" was made by unique personalities not concerned with influences or copying any bygone era. Surely, some things are in our DNA or even early childhood, as Josephine Foster's roots in opera manifest themselves as much as any other influence in this organic song cycle. Sure, guitarist Brian Goodman may have heard Richard Thompson before, but his alchemical and molten guitar spray is purely his own, in tunings and intervals still not meant for normal humans to understand, mostly because his 2004 guts were poured into every sublime note (I think even Brian himself never even understood how good he was). That fiery emotion is also in every nuance of Foster's songs--like life, there's disquieting, jagged moments of unease, and there's calm both before and after the storm. There are moments of utter gentleness along the journey---because yes, every concept album should be a voyage, and this is one everyone should take. - Steve Krakow.

The studio at 122 West Loveland Avenue was not an unfamiliar space for Steve Okonski, the leader of his eponymous trio Okonski. Ever since the Colemine label set up shop in Loveland, Ohio it has been a host to a number of groups passing through town, including Durand Jones and the Indications who all of this trio's members have connections to. After setting aside some time in winter of 2020, Okonski, trained initially as a classical pianist, invited Michael Isvara "Ish" Montgomery and Aaron Frazer to work on an album that was initially planned to be beat driven and fully composed trio instrumentals.

After finishing this first session with some improvisations, a second week was booked in the summer of 2021 to try and capture some more of that spontaneous energy. During this session, the tracks were all improvised and recorded live to a Tascam 388 during several late nights at the Colemine HQ. They were structured to allow the group's collective intuition to fully shape the melodies and arcs of the music.

The album opens with Runner Up, where a triumphant yet melancholic melody in the piano leads to a more reserved B-section driven by the drums and bass of Frazer and Montgomery. As you journey through the remainder of the album you are met with a plethora of evoked and explored emotions. The calmness one has walking down a moonlit street after midnight, the connection one has for a person who comes into their world for just a moment or a lifetime, and the nerves and catharsis one feels when starting upon a new, unknown journey.
Magnolia closes with Sunday, a track that was recorded late into the night at the close of their first recording session. Without the spontaneity of Sunday, the remainder of Magnolia would likely have never come to fruition.
Magnolia was composed from the heart and from the spirit of those in the studio those late nights in Loveland. It is the culmination of an emotional and artistic release that was not afforded or recognized before the band sat at their instruments, and because of that it is introspective, meditative, spiritual, and new.

“Environments 3” is one of ‘the great lost albums’ by The Future Sound Of London and these sessions have taken on almost mythical status with the group’s fan base. It was initially due for release after the 1993 release of the UK Top 10 album hit “Lifeforms”, but that didn’t happen. Instead, much later in 2010, it came on CD and download. Only now is it being released on vinyl for the first time..



This release also comes after the success of the first two installments which have sold steadily across the different volumes over the years and still climbing. This third volume is a sparse, highly minimal, and vivid departure from their dense 1990s period, and cited as one of the standout ambient releases of its time with FSOL in fine creative form. Reviewers at the time noted he complete absence of the heavy, spacey atmospheres of Lifeforms or the dark chaos of Dead Cities with delicate textures and moody variety throughout. While mostly calm and meditative, certain cuts evoke a desolate, lonely, or gently industrial feel.

2020 album from Colorado’s freewheelin’ melodist Josephine Foster. Revolving between her adopted Spain and her native American West, Josephine was stationed this spring in Nashville with maverick guitarist and comrade-in-arms Matthew Schneider. The result: ‘No Harm Done’, a spacious and enveloping love letter of an album. Eight new slow-burning songs branch forth from idiosyncratic country folk blues, sung with sibylline wit and a hint of the absurd, awash in sensually anachronic lyricism. “The Wheel of Fortune”, nearly a title track by virtue of its refrain: 'No harm will come/if there's no harm done', are words of a homebound wanderer finding refuge in healing stillness with her beloved, having 'time to kill' in the midst of 'hard times to feel at home'. All delivered with calm sagacity upon the pedestal of Mr. Schneider's pedal steel and underscored by a knowing trebled chorus in Foster's lower register. Going nowhere never felt like so righteous of a destination before. Devotion in all its permutations, spiritual to carnal, are seamlessly explored. In 'Conjugal Bliss', overtones of the 12-string and autoharp gently interplay, sounding like some unearthed Carter family wedding hymn (it bears the subversive subtitle '69' ) while 'How come, Honeycomb?' bounces low in the hips like a sultry old music hall number à la Harry Nilsson. The obliquely sapphic 'Leonine', it's unquiet harp scaling right out of ancient Lesbos, dreams of a kingless land; in 'Sure Am Devilish', a stargazer humbly confesses to a lowercase lord. 'Old Saw', the mesmeric album closer, is a medium's petition to cross the threshold and merge with the holy spirit. Josephine's enigmatic voice captured once more by frequent co-producer Andrija Tokic in his analog Bomb Shelter studio, where layers of her guitar, piano, organ entwine with Schneider's 12-string, pedal steel and electric bass to rouse a spectral yet full blooded band. The ensuing cycle of songs pulse and glow within the ruins and deep fundamental roots of American song. “Remarkable, ghostly music” The Guardian.

"Lados B" is a deep dive into the high-level spontaneous music made by Villarreal, Parker, and Butterss across those two days in 2020. Villarreal is heard leading the group through various rhythmic modes and structures for improvisation - flow as informed by the Latin funk of Fania Records as it is by the otherworldly humanity trance of Brain Records - while Parker and Butterss draw on their extensive experience playing free together (as heard on their ETA IVtet LPs) to build harmonic buoys for their spontaneous melodicism. The result is a beautifully vivid illustration of context, creativity, and collective composition from a particularly rich moment in history.

In Thin Air, forms a musical companion piece to Robert and Jackie's book The Book of Birds - a book that is a love letter to the splendours and mysteries of birdlife, and a clarion call to halt the loss of birds from land, sea and sky. The music was created within the contemplative green oak roundhouse of Ty Sanctaidd (Sacred House) in the grounds of Ty Trefacwn in South West Wales, and recorded at Castle Sound Studio in Pencaitland, East Lothian. As with our other albums In Thin Airhas been recorded and produced by Andy Bell of Hudson Records. Throughout The Book of Birds there runs a gentle mantra - " Nest, Egg, Beak, Song, Feather, Flight, Migration -- these are the Seven Wonders that together conjure the miracle of Bird ". Intrigued by this concept, the seven musicians have created an intricate new album that has an overarching narrative, capturing the remarkable world of birds from birth to flight.

In Thin Air, forms a musical companion piece to Robert and Jackie's book The Book of Birds - a book that is a love letter to the splendours and mysteries of birdlife, and a clarion call to halt the loss of birds from land, sea and sky. The music was created within the contemplative green oak roundhouse of Ty Sanctaidd (Sacred House) in the grounds of Ty Trefacwn in South West Wales, and recorded at Castle Sound Studio in Pencaitland, East Lothian. As with our other albums In Thin Airhas been recorded and produced by Andy Bell of Hudson Records. Throughout The Book of Birds there runs a gentle mantra - " Nest, Egg, Beak, Song, Feather, Flight, Migration -- these are the Seven Wonders that together conjure the miracle of Bird ". Intrigued by this concept, the seven musicians have created an intricate new album that has an overarching narrative, capturing the remarkable world of birds from birth to flight.

In the wake of the acclaimed Inland See, the on-growing analog ecosystem being animated for ten albums now by Bitchin Bajas boasts new high energy views. "Isle Peaks" speaks of directions in beats of time, weather and the heart to wherever coast they found themselves when they got it all laid out. Sourced from Inland See sessions, these cuts were subjected to further edits and tweaks, with electroacoustic textures of sampled kalimba, field recordings, autoharp and EWI to activate and transport divergent quadrants of the Bajas cinematic universe. The first two songs were previously released digitally on Qobuz in Jan "26. "Watch your Step" has been added to balance scales and acidity for the "Isle Peaks" vinyl edition. "Isle Peaks," throbs with the heat and humidity of an unknown landmass, ascending to signal-splitting heights on both atmospheric and ecstatic scales, the most wired ever but calm, then trancing ambiently in heavy modern electronic church thick with drone and atmosphere. High-energy music, first to dance, then to dream! The escaped & wild stepchild of Inland See is a half-hour highlight of the rest of your life to be: "Isle Peaks".

In the wake of the acclaimed Inland See, the on-growing analog ecosystem being animated for ten albums now by Bitchin Bajas boasts new high energy views. "Isle Peaks" speaks of directions in beats of time, weather and the heart to wherever coast they found themselves when they got it all laid out. Sourced from Inland See sessions, these cuts were subjected to further edits and tweaks, with electroacoustic textures of sampled kalimba, field recordings, autoharp and EWI to activate and transport divergent quadrants of the Bajas cinematic universe. The first two songs were previously released digitally on Qobuz in Jan "26. "Watch your Step" has been added to balance scales and acidity for the "Isle Peaks" vinyl edition. "Isle Peaks," throbs with the heat and humidity of an unknown landmass, ascending to signal-splitting heights on both atmospheric and ecstatic scales, the most wired ever but calm, then trancing ambiently in heavy modern electronic church thick with drone and atmosphere. High-energy music, first to dance, then to dream! The escaped & wild stepchild of Inland See is a half-hour highlight of the rest of your life to be: "Isle Peaks".

The sleepy calm of Klondyke, Louisiana, is shattered when an unknown man ruthlessly shoots his way out of a courtroom, abducting a girl hostage at gun-point and tearing out of town in a stolen car. Who is he? What is his concern with the girl, with a multi-millionaire’s secluded house, and with a great oil rig out in the Gulf of Mexico?

Fear Is The Key is a 1972 British action flick directed by Michael Tucher starring Barry Newman (Vanishing Point) and Suzy Kendall, based on Alistair MacLean's 1961 eponymous novel. The film is probably best remembered for its spectacular and lengthy car chase sequence, which necessitated a ten-minute plus action cue that demanded split-second timing so that each bar would blend perfectly with the chase sound effects. Realizing composer Roy Budd was just 25 years old when he recorded this score, makes it all the more impressive. Fun fact: this is the feature film debut of Sir Ben Kingsley so make sure to give it a whirl, especially if you're into hard-driving British jazz. In any case, this soundtrack too will surely satisfy fans of the jazz-funk and library music found on labels such as KPM and Music De Wolfe.

The soundtrack of Fear Is The Key is available as a limited edition of 500 individually numbered copies on pink marble vinyl and includes an insert with liner notes.

Hausu Mountain co-founder Maxwell Allison returns to the label under his moniker Mukqs with an hour-long progressive ambient statement entitled Juckport. Performed live on a solitary sampler in a single take, the album shifts from warp-speed blasts of glitch to iridescent jazz fusion piano sketches to expanses of ecstatic synthesis. Allison's improvised approach to live sound collage blends innumerable layers of texture and oblique harmony into a continually thrilling electro-acoustic mosaic. Each track begins as a bank of samples sourced from Allison’s collection of synthesizers, drum machines, and field recordings, arrows pointing in a direction but without established counterpoint. Spontaneity, and the sometimes chaotic juxtapositions it engenders, undercut any traces of machine logic in the music as it expands and contracts organically. It is the product of hands moving in real space, in real time, for an extended period. Juckport is animated by a duality of glitched-out abstraction and intangible bliss. Synthesizer pads stretch beyond the imagination’s horizon line, counterbalanced by a churn of clipped samples that scatter across the stereo field like rapidfire psychedelic flashbacks. Cohesion emerges through textural continuity and development rather than repetition or pattern-making. Blink and innumerable details might slip by unnoticed, and the landscape might have shifted entirely. Still, as more viscous sounds enfold the listener, they communicate a calm, settled mindset, reflecting the motion of a creative mental state; large amounts of information are synthesized into a focused stream that reacts intuitively with the introduction of each new complicating element.

Deluxe 12" Tip-On (pasted card) Gatefold Edition (Limited Edition)

A new solo album from Seu Jorge reveals his 'other side' on this new solo album featuring Beck and Maria Rita. Produced by Mario Caldato Jr. (Beastie Boys), the album moves between jazz and bossa nova and is the result of a 16-year musical journey.
Seu Jorge is ready to present to the world the most ambitious project of his international career. After 16 years in the making, “The Other Side” finally arrives on streaming platforms in May. A departure from the soul and samba that defined his solo career, the new album is a sophisticated orchestral celebration of Brazilian music, moving between jazz and bossa nova.

The seed for this meeting between the Brazilian soul and orchestral sophistication was planted by a longtime friend and admirer: the legendary producer Mario Caldato Jr., known for his work with the Beastie Boys and Jack Johnson. The partnership, however, goes back further. “It’s not often that you find a voice and talent as vibrant and powerful as Seu Jorge’s. That’s what I felt in 1999, when I met him in Los Angeles,” recalls Caldato. “Since then, our friendship and admiration have only grown, allowing us to create music together with total freedom.”

The spark for “The Other Side” came from a moment of pure sensitivity. “This album was born when I recorded Jorge playing a simple version of ‘Girl You Move Me,’ by the band Cane and Able, on a nylon-string guitar. The performance was very sensitive and dynamic, which moved me deeply,” says the producer.

It was then that Caldato had the idea to invite multi-instrumentalist and arranger Miguel Atwood-Ferguson to orchestrate that demo. The partnership, which began in 2009, blossomed organically. “I shared some ideas with Miguel, and he understood perfectly, creating a beautiful arrangement that elevated the song to a much more luxurious and sophisticated dimension. That experience planted the seed for this orchestral adventure. "

With his characteristically deep, velvety voice, Seu Jorge guides the listener through a repertoire that revives gems of MPB. The artist cites as references the catalog of the German label ECM Records and the arrangements of Claus Ogerman, a conductor who worked with Tom Jobim and João Gilberto.

Recorded in stages between 2009 and 2018, the album is a true work of musical
craftsmanship, created with calm and friendship. The live rhythmic foundations were
provided by Seu Jorge’s band. “Jorge has a lot of confidence in and pride for his musicians, allowing them to express themselves freely. Each one brings a special flavor to every song; this was their album too, ” notes Caldato Jr.

“It was a week of pure joy for me and for all of us, recording and capturing that magical spirit and vibe,” adds the producer, who saw the work come together with arrangements by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. “When it came time for mixing, everything felt very natural. The album revealed itself and came together magnificently. For me, it’s a timeless album.”

The album features covers of songs such as “Crença” by Milton Nascimento (from his 1969 debut album); “Caboclo” by Arthur Verocai, in a version with psychedelic guitars; and, of course, “Girl You Move Me” by the Canadian band Cane & Able, which inspired the project. Among the tracks featuring guest artists, “Vento de Maio” by Márcio Borges (a hit with Lô Borges and Elis Regina) features an intense duet with Maria Rita. Another major collaboration is with American singer Beck, a self-proclaimed fan of Brazilian music and Grammy winner. Together, they perform “River Man” by the revered British singer Nick Drake.

and the second chapter in an ongoing improvisational document recorded inside one of Santa Cruz de Tenerife’s abandoned oil tanks.

Gaf & The Love Supreme Arkestra work outside conventional studio frameworks. Their music emerges from extended improvisation sessions that unfold sporadically, sometimes over several days. Built around drums, guitar, bass, modular synthesis and samplers, and expanded with vibraphone and winds (flutes, saxophone, Herreño whistle), the group continues to move between jazz, psychedelic rock and free-form experimental composition.

While Ganzfeld drew from the misty northern coast of Isla Baja, Retiro Espiritual turns toward Taganana, one of Tenerife’s most remote regions. Its isolation, Atlantic exposure and volcanic terrain inform the record’s pace and focus. The title reflects this shift: a space for retreat, collective creation and suspended time.

Sonically, Retiro Espiritual leans warmer and more reflective. Flutes drift over slow grooves, extended jams unfold patiently, and traces of 70s spiritual jazz surface throughout. The experimental core remains, now shaped by repetition, space and a calmer, sunlit atmosphere.

Another autonomous transmission from a band committed to ritual, territory and long-form collective improvisation at the edge of the Atlantic.
—
Recorded live in 2020 in Tenerife Canary Islands
Produced by Mladen Kurajica
Mixed by Jorge Lozano
Master by Daniel García
Artwork Felipe González Cabezas

The A side opens with two ambient pieces: "Inception," gritty and haunting, built from field recordings and layered chords, and the dreamier "Regulator Dial." "Air Lock" and "DFtB" turn breaky and low-tempo, evoking early electronica. The flip moves through "Waterproof's" downtempo electro and "Make Right," the LP's most club-ready cut. Title track "Bean Soup" channels early Four Tet: bleepy, minimal, emotional, while "Sunlight" closes with blissful, calming sounds, rounding out a beautifully balanced record.

Tudor Gheorghe, aka Romansoff, is a Bucharest DJ, producer and vinyl collector with over 13 years on the capital's underground scene. Inspired by small local parties in the 2000s, he started collecting vinyl, then DJing, quickly becoming a key figure in the Bucharest club scene. Since founding his imprint Raw Tools in 2013, he's released on Lobster Theremin's Mork, Creme Organization, Les Yeux Orange and Solar Phenomena.

In 2018 he co-founded venue Platforma Wolff, a full club by 2021, as booker and resident, hosting headliners like Prosumer, Paramida and Tornado Wallace. Versatile and creative, he stays a fixture at Bucharest's best nights. His debut LP lands this year on Bar Ton's vinyl label.

One of the true, undisputed pioneers of Dutch techno, Steve Rachmad appears on Dekmantel for an EP of peerless machine music. On the 3-6-9 EP, the artist also known as Sterac, Parallel 9 and many other names plies a powerful trade in funked up, gritty and soulful techno made the proper way.

The connection between Rachmad and Dekmantel reaches back many years via his frequent appearances at the Dekmantel Festival — he has two performances at the 2026 edition as well as sets at Dekmantel Selectors lined up later in the summer. The 3-6-9 EP lands ahead of an album and world tour that marks 45 years in service to electronic music, nodding to Rachmad's earliest roots in electro funk through to his day-one embrace of house and techno as it made its way across the Atlantic from Chicago and Detroit.

There's a rowdy, rave-spirited energy to the synth hook bucking its way through the centre of '3 Creation Energy', coming on in brassy tones laced with artful distortion while the drums dutifully jack the way they ought to. There's a more linear, pressure cooker quality to the tidal filter work guiding '6 Physical Manifestation' to its own energetic peaks, while '9 Completion and Delivery' surfs on coursing waves of arpeggiated lead lines before breaking through to the oceanic calm of grandiose pad tones.

There's no mystery to unpick here — this is quite simply techno perfection made with the instinct and experience of a master of the form, whose life is synonymous with every inch of the culture.