quête:can 7

Chart topping British singer-songwriter Maisie Peters returns with much anticipated third studio album ‘Florescence’, co-produced with 2x Grammy Winner Ian Fitchuck with collaborators including Marcus Mumford and Julia Michaels. Florescence reflects on how the right love can help heal the wrong ones. It’s an album about perspective, self-realisation, healing, and ultimately, learning how to flourish. This lands as Maisie’s first new LP since she became the youngest solo British female artist in almost a decade to land a UK No.1 album with ‘The Good Witch’ back in 2023. Since then, she’s had the A-list co-signs via Phoebe Bridgers, Sam Smith and Olivia Rodrigo. She’s had a fiercely devoted fandom flock to headline tours around the world. And she’s played shows from Wembley Arena, to Glastonbury, to stadium slots with Taylor Swift and Coldplay.


“Florescence means ‘the process of flowering, of developing richly and fully’ and to me, this album describes exactly that. These 15 tracks depict a blossoming of myself from ages 23 to 25 and a blossoming of a true real love that anchors both me and this record. It tells the story of the last few long winters, with all of their villains and thorns, heartbreaks and rains, and it leads you, by the end, into a perfect English spring, into the hope and catharsis that comes when the first wildflower blooms. It’s a true representation of healing, of finding hope and peace and strength not just in somebody else, but in yourself. It is clear skies, cherry pits on the grass, windows flung open - it is Sussex country roads and London corner shop wine that leaves a stain when you kiss. It is the feeling of flying, then falling, then flying again. It is knowing that there was a point to all the sadness of before, and the point is the woman you see in this mirror now, and the person you see by her side. Love is weaved into every strand of every song on this album and for good reason - love is timeless, love is pure, love is organic and simple and effortless and real. I hope you find this album to be that as well.”

Today, Oakland-raised and Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Ivy Knight announces her debut album Iron Mountain, set for release on 15 May via Scenic Route.

Ivy Knight’s songs reflect a city dreamer creating a new world to sink into: across Iron Mountain, she conjures imagery of barren Southwest American landscapes as she recounts memories that feel beamed from generations past, channeling folk melodies and old trail ballads of the late 50s and early 60s.

Much of her work has been created both within, and in reference to the Hudson Valley, where she met frequent collaborator Deer park (fakemink, Ecco2k, evilgiane) who produced, engineered and performs on Iron Mountain.

Her latest single ‘Red Rock’ follows last month’s single ‘Headlamp’, and her recent collaboration with Deer park, ‘Black Cat’, which received support from BBC 6 Music, Crack Magazine, The Face, The FADER, Pigeons & Planes, NME, The Line of Best Fit, Clash, So Young + more.

Welcome to THE VAULT for 1985. A collection that digs deeper into the year’s musical landscape – uncovering singles that may not have always reached the highest chart positions but remain essential to the rich and diverse pop story of 1985. Some were overshadowed at the time, some were highlights from albums that had already sold huge amounts, some found greater success internationally – but all deserve their place in this continued celebration of 80s pop.

45 tracks across 3-LPs – pressed in gorgeous green vinyl – NOW Yearbook – The Vault: 1985.

LP1 opens with a trio of tracks from huge-selling albums:- Bruce Springsteen’s ‘My Hometown’, the sixth single in the UK from ‘Born in the U.S.A’ - one of the best-selling albums of the decade, followed by Bryan Ferry with the stunning ‘Windswept’ from ‘Boys And Girls’ and Sting’s ‘Love Is The Seventh Wave’, taken from his solo debut ‘The Dream Of The Blue Turtles’. Next up, Go West with a U.S single release ‘Eye To Eye’, Scritti Politti with ‘Perfect Way’ – their biggest hit in America, and ABC with ‘Be Near Me’. The first side closes with two established bands; Heaven 17 and Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark… Flip the LP over for Adam Ant with ‘Vive Le Rock’, Midge Ure, Blancmange and the second collaboration between Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder with ‘Good-Bye Bad Times’. The Style Council’s ‘Welcome To Milton Keynes’ leads to LP1’s closer’s from Simply Red and Fine Young Cannibals who followed their debut ‘Johnny Come Home’ with ‘Blue’.

LP2 opens with Cocteau Twins and the dream-pop atmospherics of ‘Aikea-Guinea’, ahead of The Jesus And Mary Chain with ‘Just Like Honey’, and The Dream Academy with ‘The Love Parade’.

Brilliant with their cover of James Brown’s ‘It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World’ and jazz-influenced pop from Matt Bianco are up next ahead of the sublime ‘Castles In The Air’ from The Colourfield and Elvis Costello & The Attractions, who released the 1979 track ‘Green Shirt’ to promote their ‘Best Of’ collection … and the side closes with The Clash’s ‘This Is England’ which would become their last originally released hit…whilst on the other side…celebrate the dancefloor, with a vibrant mix of Hi-NRG, soul, electro and club-influenced pop:- Opening with Sheryl Lee Ralph’s ‘In The Evening’ and Barbara Pennington’s equally superb ‘On A Crowded Street’, the hi-energy continues with Miquel Brown and Hazell Dean ahead of a US hit from Laura Branigan (‘Spanish Eddie’) and Divine’s cover of ‘Twistin’ The Night Away’. LP2 finishes with a massive U.S. dancefloor smash for Eddie Murphy with ‘Party All The Time’.

The final LP kicks off with a bunch of singles that achieved bigger hit status in the US than here and opens with Billy Joel’s ‘You’re Only Human (Second Wind)’, a track written exclusively for his ‘Greatest Hits – Volume I & II’ compilation, ahead of pop-rock from John Mellencamp plus an anthemic smash from Bon Jovi. Pat Benatar’s ‘Invincible’ features ahead of The Power Station’s third US Top 40 hit…whilst back in the UK Chris Rea enjoyed his biggest chart hit to date with ‘Stainsby Girls’ and the side is completed by Marillion with ‘Heart Of Lothian’ the third hit from their huge ‘Misplaced Childhood’ album… Flip to the final side for the stellar vocals on ‘Act Of War’, the huge collaboration between Elton John & Millie Jackson ahead of dancefloor smash ‘New Attitude’ from Patti Labelle and ‘Show Some Respect’ a U.S. single from Tina Turner. Sophisticated pop-R&B from Michael McDonald and Daryl Hall & John Oates come ahead of the collection’s closers- and two outstanding vocal performances: Chaka Khan’s ‘Through The Fire’ and the U.S. breakthrough hit from Whitney Houston with ‘You Give Good Love’ – signalling the arrival of one of the decade’s brightest new stars.

NOW Yearbook – The Vault: 1985 – A deeper dive into an unforgettable year in pop.

Das neueste Projekt von SPEED, ,ALL MY ANGELS", ist eine EP mit drei Titeln, die dem Tod dreier enger Freunde in den letzten Jahren gewidmet ist. Diese Ereignisse haben ihrer Community großen Kummer bereitet, aber mit der Zeit haben sie das unterstrichen, was SPEED schon immer als ihr zentrales Credo angesehen haben: bedingungslos zu lieben, ohne Angst oder Reue. In den Jahren vor ,ALL MY ANGELS" kämpfte die Band mit ihrer gemeinsamen Trauer und dem Leben auf Tour. Momente der Trauer fanden auf Tour statt, in engen Transportern, die durch fremde Länder fuhren; eingeklemmt zwischen SPEED-Auftritten, auf grandiosen Festivalbühnen vor 15.000 Fans. Während die Band eine Auszeichnung und einen Erfolg nach dem anderen verbuchte - einer außergewöhnlicher als der andere -, hielt der Schmerz hartnäckig an.Auf ALL MY ANGELS hat genau diese gemeinsame Trauer die fünf Freunde näher zusammengebracht; sie ermutigt sie, ihr Leben mit größerer Klarheit zu leben, und verschafft ihnen eine fundiertere Perspektive darauf, woran es sich wirklich lohnt festzuhalten. Die Texte auf der EP thematisieren die ernüchternde Realität des Verlusts und enthalten Gedanken über die Sterblichkeit - verletzlicher und unverfälschter als je zuvor. Der Titeltrack endet mit einer direkten Absichtserklärung: ,All my angels, I can't give up."

In a patchwork of IRL sound fragments, humming ambience and sub bass brushstrokes, Bobby Ingham debuts on Sneaker Social Club with a social-realist inversion of soundsystem music that relishes negative space while telling a street-level story.

Bobby Ingham is a 24-year-old multidisciplinary artist whose creative practice across film, music and sculpture was shaped by formative experiences in his native Leeds. Having started to experiment with spoken word, poetry and electronic sound production, he sharpened his focus after moving to London. Homesickness moved him to recreate the sensory impression of his hometown through sound, using snippets of his every day experience with his friends and family as well as archival recordings online related to Leeds. The particular lilt of regional dialect became central to the character of his work — a direct portal into a personal world that could only be rendered by someone who has lived it.

Ingham’s work chimes with that of SSC’s own Low End Activist. Where LEA has repeatedly taken us around the Oxford council estate he calls home, on Angel of the North Ingham lets us stay a while on the streets and in the houses that made him. It’s intimate from the very start — opening track ‘Lynne’ features Ingham’s own grandmother, while ‘I Feel So Good I Swear I Could Fly’ finds Ingham voicing his own poem as he retells personal experiences in a disarmingly mythological manner.

‘1st Memory Of Love For DRXSJKFL ft. Pretty V’ invites Wakefield, West Yorkshire-based artist Voldy Moyo to lay down a spoken word piece that evokes the dehumanising nature of military service and those left behind by it. Where there are no words, Ingham instead speaks with brittle machine rhythms and blocks of texture, swooning synthesised beauty and any emotional shade you care to mention in between. It’s a work that takes you right into the heart of the artist — someone committed to telling an honest story from a viewpoint that seldom gets a second thought.

NEW IDEA SOCIETY signs to Relapse and offers their new album, Fire on the Hill. The band has taken on differing shapes and forms over the years, but at its heart is the duo of Mike Law (Wild Arrows) and Stephen Brodsky (Cave In, Mutoid Man), a pair enraptured and united by the alchemical power of songwriting. With a connection that can be traced back to their high school years, between them exists an intuitive understanding that informs exactly what NEW IDEA SOCIETY is at any given point. Although the pair have come a long way since their earliest explorations in audio in the late 90s, the roots of their alliance were forged in those makeshift basement studios. For Fire On The Hill, Law and Brodsky took a more collaborative approach to songwriting than on previous releases. With Brodsky describing their process as “microscopic” and Law marveling at the particulars of the minutiae they pored over, the attention to detail and their meticulous approach to making adjustments in service of the work shines through in the cohesiveness of this collection of songs. With demos passed back and forth over months - Brodsky sending them in the early morning, and Law taking the evening shift - the songs evolved naturally; refining a chord progression, adapting a lyrical perspective, or in the case of the track Lantern, rewriting the words entirely. Thematically the album is about love, in its many forms. With each track detailing some element of navigating emotional relationships - the beauty, the pain, the loss and the hope - the duo have captured the immediacy and urgency of such feelings, tempered by a sliver of yearning that stops short of tipping into nostalgia. Now with years of experience to their names, alongside a developed vocabulary and extended sonic palette to draw from, they have created something specifically and idiosyncratically NEW IDEA SOCIETY. Fire On The Hill is them in full flight, at the height of their powers. Short: NEW IDEA SOCIETY signs to Relapse and offers their new album, Fire on the Hill. The band has taken on differing shapes and forms over the years, but at its heart is the duo of Mike Law (Wild Arrows) and Stephen Brodsky (Cave In, Mutoid Man), a pair enraptured and united by the alchemical power of songwriting. FFO: CAVE IN, MUTOID MAN, EMMA RUTH RUNDLE, HARVESTMAN, BIG BRAVE, CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX, JESU

There’s a song on There’s A Whole World Out There, the second album by Canadian four-piece Arm’s Length, called “Palinopsia”. Derived from the Greek for “again” (palin) and “seeing” (opsia), it’s a visual phenomenon marked by the persistent image of something that’s no longer actually there. Singer and lyricist Allen Steinberg wrote the song wrote about “pure devotion or love towards someone that may no longer be a part of your life”, but it also applies to the record as a whole.

Because throughout this album’s 12 songs, Steinberg wrestles a with the part of life that’s been and gone. Yet there’s a noticeable difference between the person who wrote this record compared to the one who wrote Arm’s Length’s 2022 debut, Never Before Seen, Never Again Found. “This record speaks more to my life at the moment than the past,” he explains, “even though there’s still a good amount of past on it. But it’s how I’m dealing with it now, as opposed to being enveloped in it—there’s more a sense of being on the other side of it, of seeing it with hindsight. The tone has shifted a little. I’m probably just a bit more mature, as my frontal lobe is developing as we speak.” Produced by Anton DeLost—who worked with the band on Never Before Seen, Never Again Found and 2021’s EP, Everything Nice—There’s A Whole World Out There does indeed expand Arm’s Length’s horizons in accordance with Steinberg’s developing frontal lobe, presenting him as more self-reflective contemplative than he was before. He wrote the parts for all the instruments, as well as the vast majority of the lyrics, alone in his room, and then brought those initial sketches, recorded as voice memos, to drummer Jeff Whyte, who added percussion to Steinberg’s song skeletons. While the majority of the creative process was in Steinberg’s hands, it was only when these songs were recorded as a full band with Jeremy Whyte, who played bass on the record, and Ben Greenblatt that their full potential was realized. The result is that the feelings driving these songs burst and bloom with full force, building on the incredible foundations set by the band’s previous recorded output.

Equal Vision Records, Dine Alone Records, and The Flatliners are thrilled to announce the release of Cold World, the Juno-nominated Canadian punk quartet’s brand new studio album, arriving Friday, May 8. The album is available now for pre-order / pre-save / pre-add. Where 2022’s New Ruin wrestled with the inherited damage left behind by the previous generation, Cold World confronts that legacy as something more distant — a ghost, a fading memory. If New Ruin captured the rage of realization, Cold World lives in the aftermath of clarity. Welcome to the future. Leading the charge is first single “Good, You?”, a snotty, tongue-in-cheek anthem that takes aim at toxic masculinity and the all-too-familiar fear of opening up about our feelings. Fans can watch the Jeff Powers-directed music video on YouTube and stream the track now on all platforms. Light Grey Marble available limited to 250 Rude Records Exclusive.

Douglas Robinson and Sal Mignano (both of The Sleeping) and Josh Eppard (co-founding member of Coheed And Cambria) share passions for authentic expression and genuine creativity. Held. isn’t so much a beginning as it is a culmination. The post-hardcore trio’s debut album, GREY, arrives fully realized, not as the tentative first step of newcomers, but as the collective fire of seasoned lifers discovering a new language together. It’s the sound of raw instinct coalescing with earned wisdom. GREY doesn’t announce itself so much as it emerges, inevitable and undeniable, like thunder rolling across a dark horizon.

It’s a force that feels eternal. Held.’s music feels elemental, evoking storms crashing against jagged cliffs or burning embers kindling, ready to reignite at any moment. It’s urgent and relentless, yet also spacious, textured, and deeply human. There’s gravity in every note, the kind that comes from survival turned into strength. Their sound is born of paradox: fiercely old-school in its emphasis on live performance and feel, but modern in its production and scope. Each song sounds both timeless and timely. Held. is less a band than a force: fierce yet vulnerable, raw yet refined. They play as if the walls themselves are trembling, channeling a purity that feels rare in an age of algorithmic noise. Listening isn’t consumption—it’s recognition, like rediscovering something thats always been within you. Held. carve out a place that feels both unshakably grounded and dangerously alive. Its more than music—its an invocation, a reminder of the raw pulse that connects struggle to transcendence. For those who find themselves in the storm, Held. offer not escape, but resonance: proof that inevitability can sound like liberation.

ANNE is proudly presents her new imprint Blind Harmonies, shaped by intuition, patience, and a self-taught approach to music creation. The name reflects a journey built without formal training, producing music "blind," guided by listening, experimentation, and trust in instinct rather than rules. The label is built on the belief that harmony is something you sense before you understand. By closing your eyes, sound becomes more honest, rhythms breathe, textures speak, and emotion takes the lead.

With her first release, ANNE presents four dynamic, dance floor - oriented cuts-emotional and seductive at the same time. Opening with A1. Daydream, the EP sets a melancholic yet driving tone, drifting deep into the listener's mind and emotions. A2. Castles in the Air follows with a propulsive rhythm, led by Detroit-influenced synth soul and percussive energy that carries the track forward.

On the B-side, B1. Metallic Tapes delivers a hypnotic, percussive, and trippy groove, maintaining a steady yet intense rhythmic flow. Closing the record, "In the Blink of an Eye" blends powerful drums with a sharp, striking lead-proving that potent techno can be both intense and beautiful. The release it's a personal journey, produced with detail and love and focusing on the dynamic but timeless approach of techno music.

Deep, deep stuff on the debut album from K Wata. Long and dubwise, dark and detailed. With bass that fills and warms a space.

All noir. Cast shadows against the wall. Weight being shifted and distributed with singularly delicate poise, like a knife being balanced on the end of a finger.

There’s a silvery, loose flow state to this record that maybe reveals the way some tracks were first written to be deployed live at Sustain Release 2025. Then taken back to the lab and tightened up further into the album’s final form, with beautiful mixing work between Kenzo and Chris Botta.

With that in mind, Give U Space unfolds slowly and fluidly, giving the listener the chance to access and open up to the deepness of the sound, being led down a path. It rolls and builds momentum and groove, and ratchets tensions up toward peaks of energy "Whisper Dub" and "There Will Be Love".

The tunes feel architectural. Rooms to be in and settle into. Simultaneously stripped back and then etched with neat little details and characterful or atmospheric sound choices. The silhouette of slo mo Memphis and Houston trap is a leading influence, especially with the drums. Mixing with bits of click’n’cut sampling and psychoacoustic tricks, the penumbra of dub techno and drowsier dubstep, and SG’s soft vocals rising in the ether.

The presence and inspiration of the sound system is obvious in all of Kenzo’s work, the music can rattle when spun up louder or blended into the club. But K Wata’s uniqueness and signature comes from an often equally inward facing quality, touched by distance and longing and a sort of chiaroscuro incandescent light set up.



Written and produced by K Wata.

Mixed by K Wata and Christopher Botta at Fer Sound Studio.

Vocals on “Give You Space” and “Go” by SG.

Clarinet on “Radio Embrace” by Eugene Lai.

Mastered and cut by Mike Grinser at Manmade.

Art by S. Gong

Chart topping British singer-songwriter Maisie Peters returns with much anticipated third studio album ‘Florescence’, co-produced with 2x Grammy Winner Ian Fitchuck with collaborators including Marcus Mumford and Julia Michaels. Florescence reflects on how the right love can help heal the wrong ones. It’s an album about perspective, self-realisation, healing, and ultimately, learning how to flourish. This lands as Maisie’s first new LP since she became the youngest solo British female artist in almost a decade to land a UK No.1 album with ‘The Good Witch’ back in 2023. Since then, she’s had the A-list co-signs via Phoebe Bridgers, Sam Smith and Olivia Rodrigo. She’s had a fiercely devoted fandom flock to headline tours around the world. And she’s played shows from Wembley Arena, to Glastonbury, to stadium slots with Taylor Swift and Coldplay.


“Florescence means ‘the process of flowering, of developing richly and fully’ and to me, this album describes exactly that. These 15 tracks depict a blossoming of myself from ages 23 to 25 and a blossoming of a true real love that anchors both me and this record. It tells the story of the last few long winters, with all of their villains and thorns, heartbreaks and rains, and it leads you, by the end, into a perfect English spring, into the hope and catharsis that comes when the first wildflower blooms. It’s a true representation of healing, of finding hope and peace and strength not just in somebody else, but in yourself. It is clear skies, cherry pits on the grass, windows flung open - it is Sussex country roads and London corner shop wine that leaves a stain when you kiss. It is the feeling of flying, then falling, then flying again. It is knowing that there was a point to all the sadness of before, and the point is the woman you see in this mirror now, and the person you see by her side. Love is weaved into every strand of every song on this album and for good reason - love is timeless, love is pure, love is organic and simple and effortless and real. I hope you find this album to be that as well.”

Dänemarks Streetpunk-Aushängeschild HEROES 2 NONE liefern mit A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY ihr bislang stärkstes Statement. Lauter, schärfer, kompromissloser. A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY ist Streetpunk mit Haltung, Humor und Fäuste-hoch-Refrains. Produziert von Tue Madsen. Oi! lebt! Heroes 2 None ist eine Street-Punk-/Oi!-Band aus Aarhus, Dänemark, und reiht sich damit in eine lange Tradition von Bands dieser Art von dort. Geradliniger, unkomplizierter Sound, der einfach gehalten bleibt und dem Geist des Punk treu bleibt. Nenn es, wie du willst (Oi!, Street-Punk, Hardcore-Punk, Punkrock usw.) - wenn es gut klingt, dann machen HEROES 2 NONE es trotzdem, auch wenn es ein bisschen vom Genre abweicht. Die Bandmitglieder verfügen über einen reichen Erfahrungsschatz aus verschiedenen Bands wie The Zero Point, War Of Destruction, Skaloot, The Hoolies, The Guv'nors, The Outfit und Last Seen Laughing aus den letzten 35 Jahren. 180g transparent blue vinyl, 300 Stück ww, handnummeriert mit Einleger oder als CD im Digipak mit Booklet & Bonustrack.

Holy Sun Opera House at its core is soprano and drummer Krissy Barker with composer dl Salo. Along with a revolving cast of collaborators, singers and performers, they create emotionally engaging and haunting symphonic music embellished by electronics, heavy drums and synthesizers. The group has been described as “Opera Cult” and as one who would play at the Roadhouse in Twin Peaks. They draw influence from early Dead Can Dance, Fever Ray and Klaus Nomi.

The Holy Sun Opera House is the group's self-titled debut set for release in May 2026 on the label Hologram Opera. The self-produced album was conceptualized as a way to describe an obsessive mind with music and inspired by the recurring dreams of singer Krissy Barker. In it is a realm of shifting rooms, dilapidated houses and passages. These unsettled rooms and spaces pose a striking confrontation of fear and anxiety from deep within.

In its conception, The Holy Sun Opera House was written as a passage through these ethereal dreams and spaces. The song Latched On depicts the compulsive psyche as a draining physical entity attached. While Voice of Gob, Decrepit Mansion, and Room with the Rain observe and attempt to find acceptance in this conflict. The Passages I & II travel between the curtains to the unknown entity residing in The Attic, who looks inside the mind of the dreamer and determines she has no soul.

The album blends genres with electro, darkwave, and contemporary classical music. The ritualistic passages of the choir throughout the album are reminiscent of Wicker Man and 1970's mystic cults, praising the deities residing within the dream. The arrangement of synths, electronics, heavy drums and operatic singing lend itself to something uniquely memorable.

Nothing Under Heaven is the third full-length album from Scottish ambient and drone multi-instrumentalist Yulyseus.

It follows 2022’s In the Dark Palaces of Both Our Hearts, an introspective and immersive work shaped by travel, displacement, and unfamiliar surroundings. Where that release explored darker and more inward-looking terrain, Nothing Under Heaven opens outward into broader, more expansive soundscapes. Drawing on years spent moving between Glasgow, Berlin, Mexico City and Valencia, Niall Gahagan’s compositions here feel patient and quietly luminous, built from layered electronics, bowed strings and subtle field recordings.

Rather than seeking dramatic gestures, the album unfolds slowly, allowing atmosphere and emotion to emerge over time. Working within a crowded and ever-evolving ambient landscape, Yulyseus continues to focus on texture, weight and gradual movement.

Across eight carefully shaped pieces, Nothing Under Heaven explores how sound can hold both stillness and momentum, inviting attentive listening rather than functioning as simple background music. The opening track, Veillands, sets the tone with a quiet intensity that gently draws the listener inward. From there, the album develops as a continuous, immersive experience, rich in detail and emotional nuance. Nothing Under Heaven reflects an artist still in motion, responding to change, uncertainty and new surroundings with humility and care. It stands as a thoughtful and deeply considered addition to Yulyseus’s growing body of work which is rooted in patience, deep listening, and a continuing search for meaning through sound.

* A highly influential and sought-after benchmark dub LP, originally released on the Jah Works label in 1995.

* Produced by the late Rej Forte AKA Jah Rej, who was one of the most creative minds from the UK reggae and dub scene from the last 40 years.

* The album features recognisable tracks from the Jah Works cannon, but dubbed into oblivion with special effects galore. All tracks played by humans, with the exception of a drum machine.

* Dub Crusaders feature members of Revolutionary Dub Warriors (On-U Sound, Ariwa), and Radical Dance Faction.

* Recorded at Channel One under the supervision of Martin Campbell, whose vocals feature twice on this set.

Błoto’s bold 2020 debut brought forth three albums in just twelve months. This prolific creative burst, followed by an ongoing tour and involvement in other projects, meant that fans had to wait over three years for the next release. During this time, new ideas took shape, and the vision for their fourth LP crystallized. The wait for Błoto's new album is nearly over. As always, autumn signals the arrival of Grzybnia (Mycelium).

The idea for the album had been simmering within the band since the release of Kwasy i zasady and finally took shape in late January 2023 at Warsaw's Studio Pasterka, under the careful guidance of Piotr Zabrodzki. It was by far the most fruitful session in the group's history, with ideas flowing in abundance. The chosen tracks not only resulted in two well-received singles, Szlam / Ścieki and Bakteria, but also provided enough material for an EP set to drop next year.

The seemingly chemical title of the album Kwasy i zasady (Acids and Bases) ultimately referred to interpersonal relationships, describing traits that prevent harmony. The album embodied the polarization of societies in the 21st century. The metaphor of Grzybnia (Mycelium) goes a step further. It emphasizes the importance of cooperation as a fundamental skill that can yield various results (fruits, fungi)—both good and bad. Above all, it underscores the power of collective action beyond divisions.

In a complex, unstable modern world that is breaking apart into pieces, the concept of mycelium offers a powerful model. Mycelium thrives in degraded, seemingly lifeless environments created by humans. A key aspect of the broader significance of mycelium is that cooperation benefits all involved parties, where each contributes something and receives something in return. Mycelium is a symbiont, meaning it forms a symbiotic relationship with certain tree species through mycorrhiza, where the roots of the trees and the mycelium exchange essential life-sustaining substances. This results in mutual benefits. The world of mycelium exemplifies cooperation.

A single mushroom, like a person, dies, but mycelium endures, much like humanity itself. Thus, similar to culture, it is immortal. Błoto operates in a manner akin to mycelium. It undoubtedly belongs to the underground realm, embodying the essence of the underground. It is also a destructor of music. In what sense? The Polish Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk noted in her book Primeval and Other Times that “... Mycelium thrives by drawing the last remnants of life from what dies, decomposes, and seeps into the earth. Mycelium is the life of death, the life of decay, the life of what has died.” In the same way, Latarnik, Cancer G, Wuja HZG, and OlafSaxx, through their collaboration, process cultural products to create entirely new and surprising combinations. The result of this work is both edible and poisonous mushrooms, manifested in the form of fat beats, house, spiritual jazz, improvised music, illbient, organic techno, and genre-defying electronics.

The peak mushroom season in Poland occurs in autumn, which is why Grzybnia will be released on October 11, 2024, via Astigmatic Records.

Shokolokobangoshay was a collaboration between three members of Pogo Ltd. The three of us felt we were crazier than the other members of Pogo Ltd. and decided to work together on the Kosmik 3 album. Robo was worked in the graphics department of NTA Benin. He was an amazing artist, a crazy guy, he was extremely creative, he invented a musical notation language that only he understood. He was amazing, he took me to his place in Asaba and showed me his compositions, he must have had over 500 songs.

Emman Osagie was my floor manager when I was a producer at NTA (Nigerian Television Authority) Benin. We were all on the same wavelength. He was a member of Severe 7, and heavily involved in the Bini music scene working with Ehi Duncan and others. we really enjoyed making Shokolobangoshay, it’s a river of influences, a bit of this, a bit of that, but it is really our thing. The musical ideas we were playing with at the time.

Emmanuel Ogosi. 3rd March 2026.

This record is why I went into reissuing records with Odion. The feeling to sharing records that went under the radar when they were initially released, with a greater audience. Shokolokobangoshay is uniquely Nigerian in a very personal way, it makes references to the societal and political ills that plague us in Africa. It’s title, Shokolokobangoshay, references a play song, kids in Lagos and western Nigerian sing when they play in the streets. Most Nigerians can relate. The music references afro beat, country music, reggae without falling firmly on any side. This is one for the ages. Amazing production, I personally love this record for the free spirit, creativity and excellent song selection. We had to licence it, we just had to. Limited repress only 500 copies.

It is also excellently produced. Big up to all involved, from the Vinyl Rip (James Law, Fidgit Studio, South Africa), to the master production by DJ Simbad (Cape Town, SA) and the cover restoration by Angelo Mitchell (SA). I am so happy to be doing it with the boys in the motherland. Peace and appreciation to all. Special dedication to Mother Tongue for creating a great pressing. Please file under Afro.
Blessings,

Temitope Kogbe, Odion Livingstone

Originally released in 2012. A long-in-the-making soundtrack to acclaimed filmmaker Grant Gee's documentary about German writer WG Sebald. »Patience (After Sebald)« is a multi-layered film essay on landscape, art, history, life and loss - an exploration of the work and influence of German writer WG Sebald (1944-2001), told via a long walk through coastal East Anglia tracking his most famous book »The Rings Of Saturn«. Much like The Caretaker's oeuvre, Sebald's works are particularly focused on themes of memory, both personal and collective, making Kirby the ideal candidate for this score.

Grant tasked him with soundtracking responsibilities, but rather than thrift shop shellac, the source material for »Patience« was sourced from Franz Schubert's 1827 piece 'Winterreise' and subjected to his perplexing processes, smudging and rubbing isolated fragments into a dust-caked haze of plangent keys, strangely resolved loops and de-pitched vocals which recede from view as eerily as they appear. Mastered by Lupo at D&M, the album is adorned with another specially commissioned painting by Ivan Seal.

Carrier’s debut album features eight elegantly rude arrangements that dance in negative space between Photek’s frictional syncopations, Rhythm & Sound’s dubwise minimalism, and Torsten Pröfrock’s fractured dynamics, bolstered on two tracks by contributions from Voice Actor and Memotone, summoning a noirish, jazzier frisson to his signature metrics and temporalities.

Since hard-snagging our ears and feet in 2023 with 12”s for FELT and his own eponymous label, Guy Brewer’s Carrier has become the go-to project for anyone who had almost given up on chasing these sorts of ultra-subtle but vitally distinctive new permutations in dance music. For the past two years, his unpredictable variations within a style have kept us all tip-toed and seat-edged with organisations of a finely chiselled percussive palette and smouldering ambient noise that distils the salient aspects and spirits of D&B, dub techno, electro-acoustic music, and trip hop with unique traction. In effect, he’s enacted a clear leap of imagination from previous work issued as part of Commix and solo as Shifted that only continues to reveal hallucinatory psychoacoustics on this first album detail.

»Rhythm Immortal« sees Brewer tilt the project into slower, resoundingly more atmospheric realms, better to luxuriate in the instinctive guile and integer-stepping style ’n’ pattern of his incredible sound. At the album’s poles, a vocal cameo by cult gynoid Voice Actor follows from Gavsborg’s on a preceding 7” single to ideally model his sound’s mutability and compatibility with trip hop forms, and Memotone helps seal the deal with a hovering glow lent to »Offshore«, whilst Carrier jostles the reins throughout with masterful control of his thing, crisply purposed to the album canvas. In that context, it’s perfectly adaptable to bodies both supine or in motion, ushering a hypnagogic sway with »A Point Most Crucial«, and hingeing around the slightest interplay of 16th-note hi-hat ruffles and recoiling reverbs on »Outer Shell«, or blissfully stepping on knife-edge 2-step on »Wave After Wave«.

The album conveys a deeply personal pulse and spiritual devotion to that kind of all-tension-no-release mode typical of so much music we love – from Kode9’s earliest re-factoring of Prince to Photek’s »Ni-Ten-Ichi-Ryu«, from T++/Dynamo and Traktor’s asymmetric dynamics to Burial’s shockout debut – refactored with a rare conviction in its unspoken powers to activate the eyes-shut imagination.