Cerca:capital j

Bruno Berle, the young songwriter and poet originally hailing from Maceió, the capital of Brazil’s Alagoas state, crafts songs that are simple, direct, and full of tender nuance. With his first album No Reino Dos Afetos (which translates to "In the Realm of Affections” and was released in 2022), Berle firmly established himself as a unique and important voice in the burgeoning scene of new Brazilian artists making a global impact, including peers like Ana Frango Elétrico, Tim Bernardes, Bala Desejo, Sessa and more. Now back with his second album, No Reino Dos Afetos 2, he stretches that further.

Bruno Berle’s music lives between two worlds – a traditional Brazilian folk talent steeped in history, and a contemporary, dreamy electronic pop; the result is songwriting that’s genre-bending, intentional, iconoclastic and consuming, spacious and sinewy and singular, a striking reflection of its composer while leaving space for the listener to settle in. The album follows Bruno’s relocation to São Paulo, and the songs are a reflection of his past and present. A rebuke of former categorizations of his work in Brazilian music scenes, and an idea of where his music can move, unfettered.

Berle’s music is purposeful in being a true portrait of himself, and a reflection of the music, art, and fashion scenes he personally moves through. Berle aims to provide an entrypoint for Black queer joy in his music, in his storytelling, in his presence and vision as a creative. For him, it feels subversive to be playing MPB laced with dubstep and lo-fi, a sort of intentional sacrilege, capturing a dialogue of modernity in traditional music.

Berle wrote most of the arrangements and co-produced his new album, Reino Dos Afetos 2 with longtime friend and musical partner Batata Boy, who is also from Maceió; the album was recorded in Rio de Janeiro, Maceió, and São Paulo, his new home, and picks up the conversation begun in 2022 on Berle’s debut album No Reino dos Afetos. Both records are the result of a nonlinear but coherent seven-year music creation process culminating in these albums, holding hands across space and time.

“Tirolirole,” the first single from the record, was released at the end of 2023; sun-soaked rhythms and soft voice coat the song, the lilting refrain of “Tirolirole” throughout – hushed, gentle, but somehow almost tactile, a golden-hour moment unlocked in the mind. “Tirolirole” is a triumphant future classic about the temporality of a blossoming love, with Bruno’s stunning vocal soaring over melodies which ebb and flow like the waters on the Atlantic shore. Of the track, Berle explains: “Despite ‘Tirolirole’ being an expression that evokes my childhood, just like the light words about nature, the harmony, and the poetry are epic, carrying a great hope for love.”

In fact, the guiding theme of No Reino dos Afetos 2 is a relationship, unfolding in the arc of a weekend. It traverses the innocence of an early young love, how that can be formative, can stretch on to take new shapes, or shape you. The album happens at the genesis of meeting someone and falling for them, before the relationship is thrown into overdrive – set in a big city, against a backdrop of major life changes, rising energy, the sound of São Paulo.

Something transcendental emerges in “Dizer Adeus,” with an arrangement that echoes a gospel atmosphere (evangelical and Catholic environments were pivotal to Berle’s upbringing). On “É Só Você Chegar,” piano and flute gracefully intertwine, a dance, while “Quando Penso” skews sparser, the voice-and-guitar minimalism somehow cultivating an entirely different shape – somehow both cozy and melancholy, with the background sound of a rainy day. Coupled with the lo-fi aspects that shape much of the album’s personality in the vocals and the production, No Reino Dos Afetos 2 is meticulously elaborated by Berle’s sonic alchemy, like on the mid-album instrumental “Sonho,” which feels like floating. “It’s the apex. It’s when lovers are sleeping together,” Berle explains of the feeling he wanted to encapsulate in the song.

On “Love Comes Back” Berle interprets Arthur Russell, the late Iowa musician who only reached greater visibility after he died in 1992. “His way of making music is similar to mine,” Berle explains. “He sings in a more fragile way, has more of an experimental way of recording, letting ‘chance’ appear in the final work.”

Even so, Berle doesn’t want his music to be buried in sentimentality – and the purposefulness of his craft serves as a sort of north star. The production, the arrangements, his restraint and intentionality in crafting his songs feel just as vital as their emotional cores. His songwriting is amorphous, fluid, an encompassing genre-bending movement in-and-of-itself, quietly daring. The songs are often in conversation with other works – drinking in fountains as diverse as the filmmaking of Ingmar Bergman, the poetry of Walt Whitman, the rhythm of Djavan, and the painting of Maxwell Alexandre. Musically he weaves together a rich tapestry of Brazilian folk, UK 2-step garage/dub, trip hop and sun soaked west coast songwriters; something akin to the worlds of Milton Nascimento, Arthur Russell, James Blake, Feist, and Sade colliding into one. But even then No Reino Dos Afetos 2 floats separately, a romanticism driven by a simplicity and intimacy, an open-ended possibility, Berle’s singularity as an artist at the helm of the ship.

“A corollary is a statement that follows naturally from another statement”

Presenting Corollary1, the first release in a new remix series flipping cuts from O.M.Theorem’s Lemma projects.

For this one we invited good friends DJ Sotofett and Ossia. Regular conspirators in bacalao and dosa dinners, monthly hangouts at Globus-Tresor and sound system parties in Milano & Bristol. Through appreciation of similar frequencies and shared experiences, friendships grow. It felt natural to invite the two to do remixes for us. One evening we bumped into them on the dancefloor during a live concert by Senegalese percussion outfit Ndagga Rhythm. This was a sign. BAM! The EP came alive.

On the A-side, we hear two fresh takes on Lemma1-B2. DJ Sotofett with his dub heavy output on Honest Jon's and Sex Tags Amfibia invites Ghanese Afro-Dub drummer Ekowmania for vocals and usual collaborator LNS for keyboard work on his sub-deep club-stepping colourful remix. We bet the infectious vocals will linger in your mind for a long time. Play it LOUD for full sub bass effect! The second interpretation of the same track is from O.M.Theorem. A techy dubstep banger, this one!

On the B side, Bristol and Peng! Sound's Ossia picked his favorite Lemma1-B1 and drove the mixing desk in true Dub-style fashion with a classic riddim that meets an avant garde melody going in and out of the mix. This is a remix that deserves attention, with every listen revealing new layers and details. Even the premasters sounded phat as a greasy hamburger on the German capital’s legendary Super Power Soundsystem! The second interpretation is from O.M.Theorem, rebuilding percussion and bass from Lemma1-A1. Liberating himself from all restrictions the result is a footwork-reminiscent 160 cut, ready for the dance floor.

1981, the leaden years are over, the socialist left is in power in France and the first wave of punk seems a long way off. However, the youth of the day had not said its last word, and bands were springing up all over the place, free radio stations were opening up, fanzines were being published, concerts were being staged on the fly and little by little a scene was forming, a motley crew of kids in revolt, radical activists and just plain old folk passing through.

After having cut their teeth in a variety of more or less confidential bands, in which you'd come across a good number of players from this up-and-coming alternative scene, the members of Guernica moved up a gear, determined to blow on the still-glowing embers of rebel rock. With the shortage of venues the rule at the time, they began by scouring the suburban MJCs, putting on wild concerts and eventually meeting up with the squatters of the Couronnes commune and the members of V.I.S.A., with whom they played an active part in organising concerts in squatted buildings in these relegated areas of the capital.

In February 1983, the V.I.S.A. association and the Abattoir art collective (which included some members of Guernica) organised a concert at the Usine Pali-Kao. That evening, two groups took to the stage in succession: Guernica and a fledgling duo, Bérurier Noir. The evening will go down in the history of alternative rock as one of the key turning points of the period. After the departure of Loran, who played guitar with both bands, Fabrice Benoît joined Guernica on guitar, and the gang continued for a few more months, ending on a high note with a chaotic concert at the Eldorado in Paris.

Until now, it's been impossible to get your hands on any of the band's recordings unless you're lucky enough to own the Paris Mix compilation, the Guernica/Bérurier Noir split or the V.I.S.A. Usine Cascades 1982 cassette. This vinyl, a perfect record of the era, brings together the six tracks recorded by the band at the time.

Introducing the next release in Names You Can Trust's long-running collaboration with the prolific and symbiotic musical universe of Bogotá, Colombia. Mau Gatiyo y Los Años Maravillosos formed in 2021, arising from the very same fertile ground of the Teusaquillo neighborhood that has spawned many records and musical mischievousness. At the heart of this experimental movement is what can only be described asTropicanibalismo, where a deep hunger for the roots of Colombian tropical music are only satiated by dissecting it, consuming it and ultimately creating something new again as some kind of untraditional, unholy, and yet referential form of musical sustenance.

Within this concept, there's a clear lineage of inspired and visionary artists that have been featured throughout NYCT's record catalog for the last 15 years that includes luminaries Frente Cumbiero, Meridian Brothers, and Romperayo. Each of these artists' tentacles have touched several parallel projects from their talented neighbors and friends, and whether through production, playing, engineering, or mixing, these collaborations have heavily contributed to a very fruitful and colorful scene that could only exist within Colombia's capital, while also gaining notoriety in the nooks and crannies of northern latitudes like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

Mau Gatiyo, a talented accordian player and vocalist, together with his group (translated as The Wonder Years), is precisely one of these projects, a collective that has found their calling in the echoes of thevallenatosandcumbiasthat once populated the nation's airwaves throughout the 20th century. It's a traditional format that has always lent itself to storytelling, whether it be anecdotes about daily life, or using one's voice to raise uncomfortable questions in protest against the system. This is where Mau Gatiyo's poetic, almostnew wavetimbre finds a lane of its own, straddling a 2020s societal landscape under the guise of ostensibly old-time accordion music.

The debut 7-inch from the group, an excerpt from their recently released album Baño Unisex, was recorded at Mambo Negro studios by Ivan Medellin (La Sonora Mazurén) and mixed by Eblis Alvarez of Meridian Brothers, both familiar names and contributors to the NYCT catalog. Alvarez himself, who has emerged in recent years as an international beacon of this new tropical avant-garde, is no stranger to flipping traditional styles on their head, or at least respectfully off-kilter. Mau Gatiyo y sus Años Maravillosos proves to be another great vessel for this veryBogotano expression, draping the classical playing of its group members in a modern day cosmopolitan expression of righteousness, both outwardly in their dashing, performative fashion sense, and lyrically with their cheeky "420, Reloj"ganja-tune promotion – or even their outward dissenter objections to paramilitary and firearm power in "Poder Militar."

Ultimately, these songs lie at the crossroads where two cultural eras connect and become something unique, a protestation one with performance, dance, and artistic expression. This cathartic ritual of protest has a storied history in music, and these two new entries into the NYCT catalog will hopefully find their place amongst a modern day canon, or at the very least, have your feet moving and your head nodding in just approval.

Ice Cream Vinyl

Since the release of their debut studio album Do Hollywood (on 4AD) in 2016, The Lemon Twigs_the New York City rock band fronted by brothers Brian (27) and Michael D'Addario (25)_have waved the same revivalist torch as Alex Chilton and his Big Star crew, working to prove that archaic music from the `60s and `70s can still be relevant in digital world. Alongside peers like Foxygen and Drugdealer, The Lemon Twigs have explicitly documented a synchronistic blend of contemporary narrative motifs, old-school recording techniques, and flawless, consistent attitudes collaged from various crucial stages of rock 'n' roll. After a whirlwind 2023, the D'Addarios are continuing the momentum of their own evolving vision and voice, distilling a history lesson of baroque and power pop into A Dream Is All We Know (out May 3 on Captured Tracks). Garnering the top-to-bottom critical acclaim the brothers have long deserved, their 2023 LP Everything Harmony was spearheaded by an impressive string of singles, including "Corner Of My Eye" and "Any Time of Day." It was the kind of record that put all of Brian and Michael's talents on display, be it the former's multi-instrumentalist gifts or the latter's boyish, explosive pop-rock charisma and eye for engineering and vocal layering. But A Dream Is All We Know is not the acoustic, nylon string-based project that Everything Harmony was. Instead, it's a return to the form the Lemon Twigs first introduced on Do Hollywood_an electric guitar-centric, anthemic assemblage of, really, everything the band does great. These two companion records are an immediate example of a band capitalizing on their fire-in-the-belly appetite to make tunes that boast ubiquitous chemistry. A Dream Is All We Know is grandiose yet grounded; meticulous, yet wild and glowing. Made with analog precision, the album was finished in the immediate months after the band completed Everything Harmony during a vibrant, prolific period split between three studios on separate coasts. A Dream Is All We Know is a profoundly dense and charged album, rife with string arrangements and a sonic thesis statement that has quaked through phases of glam, conceptualism, baroque, and Mustang-loud, stone-cold rock `n' roll for more than half-a-century. A Dream Is All We Know sounds like it's lived a thousand lives already.

Fed with Childhood Intelligence / Lowmoneymusiclove from his crib, Paul Tellimerg, also known as Dj Immortal, made his debuts in Berlin at the famous Club der Visionare with always surprising live performances drifting from electro and breakbeat to techno and deep house…

He then released his first music experiments on System Error with a 4 track EP “Alpha Synthesis”, which received great attention.

Back in Paris, Paul became an active member of the Claclaclac gang known for throwing some of the best raves of the capital.

Time Bandits is the affirmation of his style, a voyage through time, dimensions, genres, where he extracts pieces of music to create unique compositions, as well as a tribute to the Monty Pythons délirant movie featuring time traveling dwarfs looters and Sean Connery.

‘Står op med solen’ (Rising with the sun) is the second album by Amalie Dahl’s Dafnie. With this album, the band continues the exploration of their collective sound. We hear influences from both old school free jazz, and contemporary Scandinavian jazz like Fire! Orchestra and Christian Wallumrød Ensemble, as well as clear connection to the Trondheim milieu, where the group was founded in 2020.

The energetic and expressive band explores their more subtle side with this record. ‘Står op med solen’ is an album longing for humans to be one with nature. The music comments on the world’s ultra-capitalistic power structures of today. The band navigates like one organism through parts of organic free jazz, strict structures and composed cells.

They start out where their first record ended, in the familiar free jazz sound with riffs and melodies, and take us safely on their onward journey. Amalie Dahl’s Dafnie brings together five well-known names from the Norwegian jazz scene, also known from other projects like Kongle Trio, Bliss Quintet, I like to sleep, Veslemøy Narvesen, Galumphing Duo, Treen and Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, among others.

The band has already been touring in Scandinavia, Poland and Germany during the past 3 years, and is well known for their playful and close chemistry. Their first record ‘Dafnie’ (Sonic Transmissions Records, 2022) received excellent reviews in The Wire, The Quietus among others. To celebrate the new album Amalie Dahl’s Dafnie will do 11 concerts in Europe between April 22nd and May 5th.

Sonic Behavior by Driftmachine & Ammer is an album exploring the origins of sound, noise, and various music genres. Alongside lyrical declarations of love for noise ("Song To Noise"), the album delves into sonic reflections on how beauty and emotion emerge from mundane vibrations in the air ("The Siren Is A Simple Device"). For the first time, the analog sound researchers of Driftmachine (Andreas Gerth, Florian Zimmer) incorporate spoken language and noise into their sound research. They have collaborated with word and sound artist Andreas Ammer, renowned for his radio plays with Acid Pauli, aka Console ("Spaceman 85"), or FM Einheit ("Radio Inferno," "Symphony of Sirens").

In "The Siren Is A Simple Device," the words are spoken by 81-year-old musician and poet legend Ted Milton (Blurt, Loopspool). Despite its simplicity and obvious ability to produce high volumes, the siren has led a marginal existence as a musical instrument. Yet, it is capable of evoking the most intense emotional states in the listener in the shortest possible time, like almost no other sound-producing mechanism. "Sonic Behavior" capitalizes on this fact. The familiar hypnotic sounds of Driftmachine are accompanied by a siren organ inspired by the revolutionary Russian futurist Arsenij Avranov and built by Andreas Ammer, while the lyrics talk about the simple physical reasons behind the sound chaos that has just been unleashed: A siren ... chops the air into sound.

The core of the album is "Song To Noise," an electro-acoustic mini-symphony about the beauties of noise and all its producers, which is based on a poem by the British poet Deryn Rees-Jones and spoken by the poet herself and Alexander Hacke (Einstürzende Neubauten, Hackedepicciotto). Driftmachine & Ammer develop a soundtrack that is as powerful as it is loud and danceable (which is why the LP also includes a textless version of the composition).

"Sonic Sculpture" is the zenith of the work: a text/music track spoken by Ted Milton, which creates the possibility of a sound sculpture that encompasses the universe: What if one could imagine the infernal sound that encompasses all conceivable harmonies at the same time? A piano does when you throw it down an earthly staircase (the epitome of music is a piano falling down the stairs) through silent space to the next theoretically life-filled, Earth-like planet, Proxima Centauri B. The radio makes it possible. Driftmachine & Ammer tried it. The result will be heard there in 4.24 light-years. On planet Earth, the time has come on May 2, 2024. On this day, Sonic Behavior will be released, a conceptual album by Driftmachine & Ammer exploring sound, its creation, and its power.

It's hard to believe it's been four years since the debut release of The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty's kick excellent debut "Ways of Hearing." But growth takes time and rather than rush a follow-up album to market to capitalize on their newfound success, the group opted to take their time and focus their efforts at their own pace. It paid off.On their much anticipated sophomore album, ambition is key. The name of the album itself "The Iliad and the Odyssey and the Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick" spans a glorious 71 characters and is bound to swallow the screen of whatever device that attempts to display the text. The essence of the album is built upon delicate, pleading vocals that sit atop stirring dynamic movements that seem to move between small and vulnerable to full-on symphonies that are bursting with emotion. "The Iliad and the Odyssey and the Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick" will be released by veteran indie label Count Your Lucky Stars on April 25th, 2024 (an homage to their first released single of the album) during the dead time when the cold end of winter is transitioning to a hopeful and promising spring- an apt metaphor that seems to encompass the heart of the album.

Third Child album Soul Murder released for the first time on vinyl and digipak. Combine the heavy emotion of the blues, the tone and raw power of hard rock, the finesse of soul and a twist of 60's psychedelia. It will give you a visceral musical experience that plays directly to your being. That is CHILD. Living for their art, the pubs, the booze, the endless highways and the blues is what makes this band who they are. Child are a must see for those who are worshippers at "the electric church". The freedom and power of a live performance is important to CHILD in their approach to music, endeavouring to never perform the same way twice. They look forward to once again bringing this to the world on their continued search for sonic paradise. Since the release of their runaway self-titled debut in 2014, Child have continued to develop their unique brand of heavy blues through constant writing and extensive national/international touring. The band released the follow-up 'Blueside' in December 2016, which builds on this foundation to deliver a disc of pure sonic expression whilst following in the long tradition of the blues. 2018 saw the release of Child's first EP, simply titled 'I'. Recorded live to tape, 'I' is a glimpse into the boundless directions that could be taken on upcoming releases.

Blood red vinyl, limited to 350 copies. Third Child album Soul Murder released for the first time on vinyl and digipak. Combine the heavy emotion of the blues, the tone and raw power of hard rock, the finesse of soul and a twist of 60's psychedelia. It will give you a visceral musical experience that plays directly to your being. That is CHILD. Living for their art, the pubs, the booze, the endless highways and the blues is what makes this band who they are. Child are a must see for those who are worshippers at "the electric church". The freedom and power of a live performance is important to CHILD in their approach to music, endeavouring to never perform the same way twice. They look forward to once again bringing this to the world on their continued search for sonic paradise. Since the release of their runaway self-titled debut in 2014, Child have continued to develop their unique brand of heavy blues through constant writing and extensive national/international touring. The band released the follow-up 'Blueside' in December 2016, which builds on this foundation to deliver a disc of pure sonic expression whilst following in the long tradition of the blues. 2018 saw the release of Child's first EP, simply titled 'I'. Recorded live to tape, 'I' is a glimpse into the boundless directions that could be taken on upcoming releases.

Nourished By Time follows up his 2023 critically-acclaimed, breakout album Erotic Probiotic 2 with his debut EP on XL Recordings: Catching Chickens, set for physical release on May 3rd. Written between 2022 - 2023 in his home studio in Baltimore, and along his world travels this past year, Catching Chickens is derived from the film Rocky, and the iconic scene in which Rocky’s trainer makes him chase and catch a flock of chickens as a test of agility. With tracks like “Hell of a Ride,” in which Nourished By Time contemplates the fall of the American empire and late-stage capitalism loneliness, and “Hand on Me,” which traces the paranoia from distrust in a post-traumatic world, Nourished By Time chronicles his own test of agility as he weaves through the motions of his newfound notability.

Finland's UNEARTHLY RITES are preparing to release their debut album. On Ecdysis UNEARTHLY RITES' potent old school death metal songwriting offers a rallying cry against corporate greed and environmental negligence, with a scathing rebuke of those culpable of ecocide and climate destruction. At the beating heart of Ecdysis lies UNEARTHLY RITES' insistence for a better world, with the perilous effects of capitalist interests taking precedence over nature and human life at the core of the group's concerns. Through their collective work in environmental activism, including anti-mining campaigns in the arctic north that focuses on the challenges faced by the indigenous Sámi peoples, Ecdysis is less a despairing cry as it is a plea for change. The band's caustic approach to extreme metal and punk adds a feverish urgency to proceedings, with the rhythm section of bassist Vikman and guitarists Simo Perkiömäki and Santtu Markko evoking the genre's most brutish traits against Sisli Piisilä's visceral vocal delivery. Despite their rage and despondency at institutional apathy on the title track and the harrowingly doomy highlight cut Sacrifice Zones, album closer Doomed shuns inaction and resigned complicitly by directly challenging the listener to choose their side for humanity's sake and future.

About 20 years ago, Carlos Giffoni quickly made a name for himself both as a noise guitarist and a laptop noisician upon arriving in New York (via Florida and Venezuela). His expertly curated annual No Fun Festival, as well as his No Fun label, further solidified him as a key figure in the international noise scene. The festival's success proved the formula for experimental and improvised music fests could work with the noise underground as well, but it also capitalized on the faster rate of connections being made between geographically disparate artists as a result of the (still relatively nascent) internet. Back then Carlos would play his laptop like a pinball machine, in contrast to the static stage presence of most laptop performers, and his solo music, like many others' at that time, expressed a less dark and dour vision of the implications of harsh noise. By the close of the 2000s, he had stopped doing the festival, switched gears musically to playing the lighter No Fun Acid sets, and moved to LA. Now he has re-emerged in a big way with Dream Walker, his first full-length since 2018's Vain (and only his second since 2010). Inspired by the masterful performances and diffusions he heard at the February 2023 GRM electronic music festival in Paris, particularly sets by old friends Lasse Marhaug, Jim O'Rourke, and Eiko Ishibashi, he began conceptualizing new music of his own in response, turning to synthesizers and other hardware to produce a work more firmly in the tradition of European electronic music than anything else he's done. Intended as a late night listen that evokes the edge of consciousness, with Carlos getting as close as possible to a trance state during the actual recording and mixing, each of the eleven tracks transition into one another rather than being standalone discrete pieces, forming two side-long suites that proceed like stages of a dream. Unabashedly tonal and repetitive, the glistening opener "Now Dream," the droning "Sleep Walker," and the closing triptych of "Lost in Descanso," "Sunrise," and "The Hidden Path" occupy a power electronics-ambient nexus that feels spiritually close to the Mego label. Elsewhere, "Ticking Clock" is reminiscent of Stereolab's non-easy listening vintage electronic side, while the two-part arpeggiated "Euphoria" recalls early Oneohtrix Point Never (which Carlos released on No Fun). The contrast between "One Breath"'s crackling opening and its remarkably fluid and soaring sustained synthesized chords is a distillation of the album's lingering tension between electronics' ability to project mechanical rupture as well as the organic and the infinite _or "walking between dreams," as Carlos himself puts it. Produced by Lasse Marhaug (who also mastered Carlos' first solo album, Welcome Home, back in 2005), released by Stephen O'Malley (who I remember DJing at the No Fun fest), with cover art and photos by personal friends, Carlos considers the album a family affair. But Dream Walker most of all heralds a maturation of the artist, and stands as a record that exists out of pure desire, rather than obligation or force of habit; a statement of reconnecting with music not by merely revisiting it, but by building on what's come before, both in his own work and in the music he loves. -Alan Licht, New York, December 2023

Shirane Kenichi, drummer of GREAT3 and TESTSET. This album has an electronic sound of inspired by Detroit techno and house.

On Gut Buster, Yosa Peit spawns fleshy sonic escapades, a swarm of vigorously processed vocals and soulful bass, set to a backdrop of visceral percussive structures. Full of roguish curiosity, the record is cast with an air of lo-fi experimentation, but with a platinum glint of pop sensibility. Peit's second album grapples with the destructive force of modern consumption, Gut Buster is an anti-capitalist battle cry that syntheses intimacy and hostility; a surrealist-punk affirmation and a testament to Peit's singular vision and unique approach. The free-ranging sound of Yosa Peit recalls the intense arrangements of a cyber-era Prince with the surrealist tones of Arthur Russell and early Björk. At the album's core, "World Eaters" unleashes scorching guitars in search of humankind's end, "I was born on a planet, I got hungry and I ate it." Even in the face of planetary doom and personal obstacles, Yosa evokes our propensity for mischief, humor and pleasure. "bb moon" processes sound solely from her bass into wicked oblivion. "CALL ME," a song about friendship, chews up it's anthemic melody into a gnarled strut worthy of an A$AP Rocky production, while "HAD3S" urges us to find balance, nodding to the mystical fuzz of Prince. Yosa's work has been called "personal, punk, poignant, deep" yet her genre-defying production, as textured as it is catchy, escapes definition. Gut Buster takes that collective playground for creation to planetary reaches, congregating friends from Berlin, Cologne, and New York's fuzzy musical underbelly: Employee, Funkycan, Gerry Franke, Glenn Astro, Nauker, Paingel, Tbz, and UCC Harlo. The record was mixed by Brainfeeder affiliate Benjamin Vukelic in Portland and Jan Brauer in Berlin. "Glitchy yet supple, the broken beats and warped abstractions are wholly unpredictable yet deliciously odd, like an esoteric mashup of Bjork, Aphex and Laurie Anderson" Electronic Sound Classic Black Vinyl, Gloss Laminated Sleeve, Printed inner "Gut" sleeve plus DL card.

Seafood Sam is a futuristic artifact. If that description might sound confusing at first, it matches the eclectic dualities found in true originals. With his effortless cool and timeless style, the North Long Beach native defies convention and exact comparison. He's a virtuosic rapper, a stop-you-in-your tracks singer, and a symphonic producer. Welcome to the lavish life of a laid-back transcontinental man of mystery, rolling in old school Cadillacs, eating caviar with a blade in his pocket, and making plays in vintage Pelle Pelle gear. A blaxploitation icon for the Instagram age, blessed with the bars of a `90s legend and 23rd century swagger. Seafood Sam is a true hero of modernity. On his full-length album debut for up-and-coming label drink sum wtr (Kari Faux, Deem Spencer, Aja Monet) debut, Standing on Giant Shoulders, Sam splits the difference between Snoop Dogg and D' Angelo, Curren$y and David Ruffin. The songs reveal a forward-thinking sensibility rooted in ancestral soul. He creates spiritual hymns for the streets that tap into universal ideals and irrepressible groove. In an era plagued by short-term thinking, his ambitions reveal a crate-digging depth of music history and a meticulous ear for detail. The giant shoulders in the album's title refer to James Brown, Bobby Brown, and Miles Davis - the holy trinity who inspired Sam's process. From the Godfather of Soul, Sam took a perfectionist's rigor and focus. The example of Bobby Brown lent an unshakeable confidence and self-belief. While the constant artistic left turns of the trumpeter that birthed Ccool offered an aspirational archetype. The story starts in the glory days of Long Beach hip-hop. As a young child, the G-Funk era soundtracked rides in Sam's father's car. Some of his earliest memories are trying to memorize Snoop's verse on "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang." Beyond gangsta rap, the LBC has historically doubled as a capital of lowrider soul and carwash oldies. At any intersection, you could hear Dogg Food or Brenton Wood, Warren G or Barbara Lynn. This too was absorbed via osmosis. It also just so happened that the art of performance was always in Sam's blood. So at family functions, he and his sister supplied entertainment by singing karaoke renditions of The Isley Brothers. While his Harlem Shake remains a thing of local lore. Long Beach is a culturally diverse mecca of skate parks and gang life, street fashion and tricky dance moves. This is the place that raised Sam on a diet of Wu-Tang and Nelly Furtado, Lil Bow Wow and Allen Iverson. He was the middle ground between his two older brothers: one who gangbanged, the other who graduated with a master's degree from UC-Santa Barbara. But it wasn't until the end of high school that Sam started to take rap seriously. Alongside long-time collaborators like Huey Briss and Reaper Mook, Sam's name began to make waves on the northside of the city, but he was partially distracted by a modeling career that paid the bills and took him all to way to walk in Paris' fashion week. The first turning point arrived with 2018's "Ramsey," a self-produced, slick-talk anthem with over 10,000,000 streams across all platforms. With each subsequent release, Sam showcased his peerless consistency, building buzz both online and in the city streets. Spin hailed his "smooth and unhurried cadences and understated lyricism_ that sounds like nothing else in Long Beach." Clash raved about Sam's "evolution as an artist, cruising through nostalgic production with slick, witty rhymes." The culmination arrives with Standing on Giant Shoulders. It's the evidence of a master, a young sensei in the model of Quincy Jones. All rhymes, singing, production, and arrangements were handled by Sam - with an assist from his close Long Beach kinsman Tom Kendall from the group Soular System. It's hard-edged and lyrical enough for disciples of Larry June and Roc Marciano, but orchestral and melodic enough for fans of Anderson .Paak and H.E.R.

Bruno Berle, the young songwriter and poet originally hailing from Maceió, the capital of Brazil’s Alagoas state, crafts songs that are simple, direct, and full of tender nuance. With his first album No Reino Dos Afetos (which translates to "In the Realm of Affections” and was released in 2022), Berle firmly established himself as a unique and important voice in the burgeoning scene of new Brazilian artists making a global impact, including peers like Ana Frango Elétrico, Tim Bernardes, Bala Desejo, Sessa and more. Now back with his second album, No Reino Dos Afetos 2, he stretches that further.

Bruno Berle’s music lives between two worlds – a traditional Brazilian folk talent steeped in history, and a contemporary, dreamy electronic pop; the result is songwriting that’s genre-bending, intentional, iconoclastic and consuming, spacious and sinewy and singular, a striking reflection of its composer while leaving space for the listener to settle in. The album follows Bruno’s relocation to São Paulo, and the songs are a reflection of his past and present. A rebuke of former categorizations of his work in Brazilian music scenes, and an idea of where his music can move, unfettered.

Berle’s music is purposeful in being a true portrait of himself, and a reflection of the music, art, and fashion scenes he personally moves through. Berle aims to provide an entrypoint for Black queer joy in his music, in his storytelling, in his presence and vision as a creative. For him, it feels subversive to be playing MPB laced with dubstep and lo-fi, a sort of intentional sacrilege, capturing a dialogue of modernity in traditional music.

Berle wrote most of the arrangements and co-produced his new album, Reino Dos Afetos 2 with longtime friend and musical partner Batata Boy, who is also from Maceió; the album was recorded in Rio de Janeiro, Maceió, and São Paulo, his new home, and picks up the conversation begun in 2022 on Berle’s debut album No Reino dos Afetos. Both records are the result of a nonlinear but coherent seven-year music creation process culminating in these albums, holding hands across space and time.

“Tirolirole,” the first single from the record, was released at the end of 2023; sun-soaked rhythms and soft voice coat the song, the lilting refrain of “Tirolirole” throughout – hushed, gentle, but somehow almost tactile, a golden-hour moment unlocked in the mind. “Tirolirole” is a triumphant future classic about the temporality of a blossoming love, with Bruno’s stunning vocal soaring over melodies which ebb and flow like the waters on the Atlantic shore. Of the track, Berle explains: “Despite ‘Tirolirole’ being an expression that evokes my childhood, just like the light words about nature, the harmony, and the poetry are epic, carrying a great hope for love.”

In fact, the guiding theme of No Reino dos Afetos 2 is a relationship, unfolding in the arc of a weekend. It traverses the innocence of an early young love, how that can be formative, can stretch on to take new shapes, or shape you. The album happens at the genesis of meeting someone and falling for them, before the relationship is thrown into overdrive – set in a big city, against a backdrop of major life changes, rising energy, the sound of São Paulo.

Something transcendental emerges in “Dizer Adeus,” with an arrangement that echoes a gospel atmosphere (evangelical and Catholic environments were pivotal to Berle’s upbringing). On “É Só Você Chegar,” piano and flute gracefully intertwine, a dance, while “Quando Penso” skews sparser, the voice-and-guitar minimalism somehow cultivating an entirely different shape – somehow both cozy and melancholy, with the background sound of a rainy day. Coupled with the lo-fi aspects that shape much of the album’s personality in the vocals and the production, No Reino Dos Afetos 2 is meticulously elaborated by Berle’s sonic alchemy, like on the mid-album instrumental “Sonho,” which feels like floating. “It’s the apex. It’s when lovers are sleeping together,” Berle explains of the feeling he wanted to encapsulate in the song.

On “Love Comes Back” Berle interprets Arthur Russell, the late Iowa musician who only reached greater visibility after he died in 1992. “His way of making music is similar to mine,” Berle explains. “He sings in a more fragile way, has more of an experimental way of recording, letting ‘chance’ appear in the final work.”

Even so, Berle doesn’t want his music to be buried in sentimentality – and the purposefulness of his craft serves as a sort of north star. The production, the arrangements, his restraint and intentionality in crafting his songs feel just as vital as their emotional cores. His songwriting is amorphous, fluid, an encompassing genre-bending movement in-and-of-itself, quietly daring. The songs are often in conversation with other works – drinking in fountains as diverse as the filmmaking of Ingmar Bergman, the poetry of Walt Whitman, the rhythm of Djavan, and the painting of Maxwell Alexandre. Musically he weaves together a rich tapestry of Brazilian folk, UK 2-step garage/dub, trip hop and sun soaked west coast songwriters; something akin to the worlds of Milton Nascimento, Arthur Russell, James Blake, Feist, and Sade colliding into one. But even then No Reino Dos Afetos 2 floats separately, a romanticism driven by a simplicity and intimacy, an open-ended possibility, Berle’s singularity as an artist at the helm of the ship.

On the outskirts of Bratislava, in the pulsating shadows of a refinery's burning chimneys, on the plot of a family house, there stood a small shack. Initially, it housed trials in domestic mushroom growing. Later, after a makeshift acoustic touch-up - lining the walls with old cardboard egg cartons - it became a shelter for music. Sensitive, evocative, nostalgic, lo-fi music by a man named Cadillac Face.

Today we would probably use the term 'safe space', but back then it was (in Cadillac's words) kutica, a cubbyhole. He hid there from a world that ached. Here, Cadillac secretly smoked, sang, and composed. And tried not to go crazy from anxiety. He wrote music unlike anything during his time.

Here, he struggled. With sound (unable to adjust it to his liking), with instruments (which he couldn't bring himself to play), with the world (with which, understandably, he was at odds).

Cadillac Face was a man who didn't belong here.

He wrote and sang in English (in a post-socialist and early-capitalist Slovakia, when command of English was no matter of course); he also wrote in Slovak (blogs and diaries, which, due to a stream-of-consciousness and surrealist style, were as incomprehensible as they were immersive and intimate); gave advice to teenagers (to their quasi-banal questions on talking forums about relationships, life and adolescence, where they were often met with ridicule and mockery); he composed electronic and noise music (at a time when no one had a clue what the abbreviation DAW meant).

This Cadillac's compilation album is not aiming to compete with/replicate Noizy Days - a compilation of Cadillac's contributions to the project Noize Konspiracy. Underground compilations circulated through a local proto-social network. Borderline music without rules - open but often inaccessible. There, Cadillac contributed mostly with experimental-electronic compositions. Noizy Days was compiled by Ďuro Ďurček, one of the initiators of Noize Konspiracy. Both Ďuro and Cadillac have been dead for years.

Songs For The Trees is a selection from Cadillac's songwriting. The most intimate of his intimate recordings. Cadillac at his most fragile, brittle, and quiet. The most romantic, the most tormented, the most painful and direct of his songs I know.

Cadillac became an anthropomorphic grotesque tree. Neither broadleaf nor conifer. Or perhaps it's a candle slowly incinerating – bored, sad, playing the guitar. A tragicomedy. Sometimes it kindles what it doesn't mean to, and it can't put itself out. Or can it?

Total Reality is the sound of a group in constant forward motion, finding new sounds and new ways to express their joy and catharsis in making music together. On album opener 'Slug' the band sing ‘I’m feeling like a slug so I gotta visit the doctor’, and though reliably tongue-in-cheek you get the feeling they mean it - the members using Dr Sure’s Unusual Practice as a vessel to lift each other up while unpacking the collective fatigue of life in late-capitalist society. “A mood like that, you're apt to stay in it, not dial your way out. Despair like that, about total reality, is self-perpetuating." - Philip K Dick On their third LP Total Reality - a title ripped from the classic sci-fi novel ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ - Dr Sure's Unusual Practice tackle lofty issues through a hopeful lense, avoiding the often cynical pastiche of modern punk music. Total Reality touches on varied influences - proto-punk to post-punk, new wave to no wave, krautrock to trip-hop - to concieve something fresh and inspired. Beginning in 2018 as a solo project, here Dougal Shaw is joined by an ever-expanding collective. In addition to a core band (Jake Suriano, Miranda Holt, Tali Harding-Hone, Mathias Dowle) the new record features contributions from Jack McCullagh (Cracodile), Stu Patterson (The Empty Threats/Placement), Alannah Sawyer (Babyccino/Mouseatouille), as well as Shaw’s partner Alivia Lester, and baby Blue - who also adorns the album cover. An almost polar approach to the band’s acclaimed second LP ‘Remember The Future? Vol. 2 & 1’, which was tracked live in a recording studio, Shaw refers to Total Reality as a ‘collage album’. There are pieces of pandemic-era demo’s; drum machines coexisting with a live-tracked rhythm section; fresh collaborations; layers of guitars, synths, horns and percussion; collected field recordings and samples - all cut and glued in Shaw’s home studio to realise an expansive and colourful record.

The YUM YUMS, Europe's ambassadors of power-pop are back with a brandnew album!!! Their sixth full-length is called "Poppin' Up Again" you you can be sure that whenever they have a new album poppin' up, it's gonna be a hit record!!! It's stacked with catchy hi-energy, guitar-driven power-pop songs, complete with sugary multi-layered harmonies and lyrics that seems to be stolen from some 12 year-old girl's diary. Like Joss Hutton once wrote in Bucketfull Of Brains Magazine, "Let's consider the three minute pop-song for a second or two: so simple in it's construction, so inscrutable in it's perfection, so many who have tried and failed! For me the YUM YUMS have been THE band to watch over the past few years, their perfect (yep, it's true) take on the "power-pop" thang is a source of constant pleasure and amuzement". A pretty good description that is, but what more can we say about the undisputed kings of pop? This time they deliver their idea of REAL POWER-POP, where the word power is written in capital letters and fill it up with a perfect dose of classic rock'n'roll. Putting together the essential ingrediences of the music of the RAMONES, the REAL KIDS, the PLIMSOULS, the DEVIL DOGS, the early SWEET and the OHIO EXPRESS, the 6t's and the 7t's, bubblegum, glam and punk, pop and r'n'r, they create their very own YUMMY sound. So, what we're talking about is extremely catchy pop-music with a fat, rockin' guitar sound, well executed vocal-lines, ridin'-on-the-waves drums and a crunchy punk feel to it. It simply makes you feel good!

Mancunians Aerial Salad describe their cross-genre sound as “Madchester Punk,” a nod to their heroes in Happy Mondays, XTC, and Carter USM, spiced with the current furore spearheaded by burgeoning Brit-wave bands like Yard Act, Shame, and High Vis. Their second album ‘R.O.I’ leans on these influences, driven forward by pure rock’n’roll swagger while conjuring a late stage, capitalist hell scape through brutalist lyrical narratives. To put it mildly, Aerial Salad is the band you want to see play the breakdown of establishment’s after party, and you already know you’re gonna love it! This is an album that moves seamlessly from pulsing post-punk beats to unstoppable stadium rock anthems. ‘The Same 24 Hours (As Beyoncé)’ is Britpop rallying against the fake facade of influencer culture, ‘All Yer Dreamin’ is Mark E Smith at the Hacienda, ‘Chances’ is Oasis taking on Talking Heads. Aerial Salad find space to explore new genres without losing the sense that this is a band born out of the hard touring, DIY punk scene, a community that continues to be close to their heart. The northern three piece want us to know they’re as authentic as it gets. Injecting that raw chaos and violent charm from the stage straight into their recordings. Their goal is to make themselves known to everyone and anyone, from rave heads to indie kids, poets to rockers. ‘R.O.I’ is fantastical while acutely bedded in modern post-Brexit, Un-united Kingdom canon. We’re all trying to find our places in this new world, let Aerial Salad be the soundtrack.

Gothenburg Electro City 3 (Stilleben Records063) is a V/A compilation with producers only from the Gothenburg region. It's three generations of Scandinavian electro sound on this record and I'm very happy with the result. Everybody knows It's More Fun to Compute. Gothenburg is the capital of Vastra Gotaland county in Sweden, it's also the capital of electro in Sweden. Enjoy! Best regards, label head Luke Eargoggle.

Singles V1 is a 6 track, 12-inch beautiful marine blue coloured vinyl EP. It is also the first physical release by Low Girl. As the title suggests the EP is a collection of the band’s singles up to the end of 2023 which features Big Now, So Cool, Blessing, Bored, Uh-Oh and Pockets. If you haven’t yet heard of Low Girl, be in no doubt, you will do soon. The band are a four-piece fronted by singer songwriter Sarah Cosgrove with band mates Toby Morgan, Tom Cosgrove and Bradley Taylor and it is clear to see that their popularity has been steadily growing since the release of their first single Big Now in 2021. The band have featured on the BBC Introducing Stage at the Reading Festival and played at the Texas SXSW Festival at the invite of The British Music Embassy in 2022. They have also regularly toured and provided support for acts such as October Drift, Pale Blue Eyes, The Murder Capital, Dream Wife and most recently Dekker. Low Girl’s indie pop, lo/fi sound, attributable to its vulnerable lyrics, synth licks and guitar driven riffs, has attracted admirers and radio airplay on BBC Radio 1, Radio X and particularly at BBC Radio 6 music, who have play listed a number of the band’s singles. Indeed, their single ‘So Cool’ was one of BBC Radio 1 Introducing’s singles of the week in April 2022 and ‘Bored’, was featured on the Late in the Day program’s International Women’s Day 2023 edition alongside Arlo Parks, Bjork, Sade, Nina Simone and other premier female artists. Sarah Cosgrove has also joined the panellists on one of August’s editions of Steve Lamacq’s round table together with Felix White and Deadletter’s Zac.

FYEAR is a Montréal-based ensemble led by composer Jason Sharp and poet/writer Kaie Kellough that fuses spoken word into genre-bending compositions for electronics, two voices, two drummers, and processed saxophone, pedal steel guitar, and violins. FYEAR incorporates drone, out-jazz, post-classical, ambient metal, avant-rock, and modular synthesis in a sonic and stylistic palette the opposite of collage or pastiche: the FYEAR ensemble integrates a unique and unified sound/aesthetic while traversing adventurous and variegated terrain. Kellough’s poetic materiality conveys acute political-existential themes, alternating between declarative, meditative, and cut-up/semiotic manifestations. This self-titled debut album is a supremely innovative 40-minute multi-movement work; an ardent mission statement that mines the interzone where Saul Williams, Moor Mother/Irreversible Entanglements, Shabazz Palaces, Zulu, Angel Bat Dawid, Damon Locks/Black Monument Ensemble, Shabaka Hutchings, and Matana Roberts are all iconoclastic neighbours. FYEAR melds improvisation and composition, traditional notation and graphic scoring, electronic and acoustic instrumentation, lucid recitation and abstract vocalization, balancing intensive structure with an expansive sense of exploration. Through several years of collaboration, development, workshops, commissions and performances conducted by Sharp and Kellough, their wordsound practice has culminated in this nine-piece group which also features poet/writer/activist Tawhida Tanya Evanson (present director of the Banff Centre Spoken Word program) violinists Josh Zubot and Jesse Zubot (Tanya Tagaq, Darius Jones, Joshua Hyslop), pedal steel player Joe Grass (Tim Hecker, Patrick Watson), drummers Stefan Schneider (Bell Orchestre) and Tommy Crane (The Mingus Big Band, Aaron Parks), with live visual typographics from Kevin Yuen-Kit Lo, who also designs the album art. Propelled by the vocal interactions of Kellough and Evanson, FYEAR interrogates our present and future post-capitalist polycrisis, invoking collective anxieties, emotions, and critiques. FYEAR re-poetizes our constructed, manipulated social/conceptual realities, re-inscribing questions about the future by setting them to a wildly dynamic and evocative temporal soundtrack: Who does it belong to? How will it be shared? How do we project a collective future into the contested challenges of climate change, global migration, wealth gaps, safety/precarity, identity/affinity, segmentation / segregation, all our seemingly irreconcilable histories and forward visions for the world we dream to inhabit

Repressed clear yellow w/ red splatter vinyl! This is the 5th full length for London-based USA Nails full of post-punk noise rock that's as grating as it is catchy. USA Nails release their fifth album "Character Stop" on October 23rd 2020 through Hex Records. The new album from London-based USA Nails (and 2nd for Hex Records) is a post-punk, noise-rock platter that is as grating as it is catchy. The record was tracked live over 4 days at Bear Bites Horse in London with producer Wayne Adams. Though "Character Stop" still features the pummeling noise-punk that USA Nails have become renowned for, it's balanced with more sober, downbeat moments. On it they explore identity - like the online personas of aggressive twitter users, influencers and vloggers, as well as more introspective takes on mental health, giving up on dreams, the joy (and despair) of being a part-timer, and contemplating who they would be if they decided to hang up their guitars for good. Guitarist Gareth Thomas comments, "For me "Character Stop" is the best album USA Nails have ever made by miles. It's more varied than anything we've ever done before and I think it's stronger for it. I feel like it's more fully realized, and more complete as a collection of songs. Every time we get in a room together and write, the dynamic of our relationship as writers (and mates) develops a bit further, we get better at anticipating and complimenting each other. We've always tried to be efficient in our creativity, to do what feels natural and just let things flow. I'm obviously still really happy with all the music we've written up to this point, but on this record everything seemed to come together so sweetly. " Comes on clear green vinyl. USA Nails will tour Europe and the US in 2021, following a clutch of UK album launch shows in late 2020 - COVID permitting. In the last few years, USA Nails have toured with Sub-Pop lovelies Metz, completed numerous USA and European headline stints, and supported the likes of Mission Of Burma, John, Future Of The Left, Mclusky*, Cocaine Piss, Viagra Boys and Murder Capital. Ffo Pissed Jeans, Wire, Gang Of Four, Pinko, Blacklisters, Drive Like Jehu Press Quotes: 'Heavy, crushing, and aggressive post-hardcore' _The Needle Drop 'A mix of Drive Like Jehu headbangers, nods to psychedelia and a throttling of hardcore for good measure' _The Skinny

It's exactly one year since Aeon Four made their debut on vinyl with the still in-demand "Pure White EP". Their follow-up on Straight Up Breakbeat SUBB1996 series is another four track EP of explorations into the original jungle sound but with a modern twist.

High energy vocals of "Silence", the heavy rolling "Babylon", deep excursions of "Essence" and the original junglism of "Lion Awakes" make this another essential Aeon Four release. All tracks hand crafted in Turku, the original rave capital of Finland. Early support from Coco Bryce, FFF, Digital, Dj Flight and more.

DJ Support
Coco Bryce, Om Unit, Aries, FFF, Moresounds, Flight, Sweetpea, Two Hungry Ghosts, Digital +more

Circus of Desire is the much anticipated third studio album from Grammy-nominated folk singer-songwriter Olivia Chaney. Worked up over five eventful years, this collection of lovingly wrought songs was recorded in NYC with long-time collaborator, producer and musician Thomas Bartlett (David Byrne, the Magnetic Fields, Sufjan Stevens, The National, St. Vincent, Father John Misty)

Consisting of ten originals and one cover (a revoicing of Dory Previn’s haunting ballad ‘Lady with the Braid’), this album is Olivia set free. Taking their departure from real life experiences, these songs strain towards the universal. The title track blends the carnivalesque and meditations on ancient wisdom with an anthemic, dancy refrain. ‘Calliope’ is a tribute to Olivia’s daughter, named after the Greek muse of music and epic poetry, picturing this little life as part of the ever-revolving cosmos. ‘To the Lighthouse’ tells the story of her sister who left the capital to live on a remote island. Like ‘Mirror, Mirror’ and ‘Why’, a pair of tracks about erotic love, this song reflects upon our capacity to flee and transcend inherited trauma. ‘Zero Sum’ is a setting of a metaphysical number poem by Olivia’s grandfather, a mathematician and poet. ‘I Wish’ - the album closer, is the ultimate breakup song.

Whilst staying true to her folk roots, Olivia enters new musical territories with Circus of Desire, venturing into the realms of pop and dance. The record features cameos from a number of friends, including string arrangements by Nico Muhly and banjo and guitar from Sam Amidon. The result of this rich blend of musical influences is an album that looks honestly, sometimes despairingly, but primarily hopefully at the carnival that is life - ‘we’re in a dance with death, with fire…we’re all in a circus of desire’.

Circus Of Desire by olivia Chaney, released 22 March 2024, includes the following tracks: "Why", "Galop", "Bogeyman", "Mirror, Mirror" and more.

This version of Circus Of Desire comes as a 1xLP.

London noise-rock quartet USA Nails have announced their upcoming album Feel Worse’, out March 22nd 2024. It’s the first album on their new label One Little Independent Records (home to anarcho-punk bands both old and new; Crass, Bad Breeding and more). The band have forged a considerable reputation since their formation in 2013 from their South London base, comprising of members of Kong, Future Of The Left, Blacklisters, Death Pedals and Silent Front.

‘Feel Worse’ explores schadenfreude; the pleasure derived from another person’s misfortune. With this, they use new material to attack austerity and UK authoritarianism, consumer culture (particularly the consumption of quick fix reality TV and hyper-capitalist agendas), youth culture and bullying, and more. They do so with their intense and unmistakable brand of abrasive, chaotic post-hardcore. There’s a raw and uncompromising energy to USA Nails, and ‘Feel Worse’ is their most powerful and vital album to date.

London noise-rock quartet USA Nails have announced their upcoming album Feel Worse’, out March 22nd 2024. It’s the first album on their new label One Little Independent Records (home to anarcho-punk bands both old and new; Crass, Bad Breeding and more). The band have forged a considerable reputation since their formation in 2013 from their South London base, comprising of members of Kong, Future Of The Left, Blacklisters, Death Pedals and Silent Front.

‘Feel Worse’ explores schadenfreude; the pleasure derived from another person’s misfortune. With this, they use new material to attack austerity and UK authoritarianism, consumer culture (particularly the consumption of quick fix reality TV and hyper-capitalist agendas), youth culture and bullying, and more. They do so with their intense and unmistakable brand of abrasive, chaotic post-hardcore. There’s a raw and uncompromising energy to USA Nails, and ‘Feel Worse’ is their most powerful and vital album to date.

Katà Métron is the Greek mythology-inspired collaborative album from Italian ambient auteurs ILUITEQ and Lorenzo Montanà.

For ILUITEQ, Ancient Greek culture, with its myths and philosophy, has strongly influenced their everyday lives and has provided constant inspiration in their musical endeavors. The Greek expression "Katà Métron" means "according to the right measure," representing how human beings should live in harmo- ny with themselves and nature. More often than not, the dominant model is to go beyond our limits, and having a "sense of measure" is not capitalistically profitable as we must nourish our constant desire to always wish for more, not caring for the consequences of such a "bulimic" attitude.

Lorenzo Montanà should need little introduction, with a more than two-decades-long career, a vast body of work on labels such as FAX and Projekt, and highlighting such collaborative partners as Pete Namlook and Alio Die. ILUITEQ approached Montanà as they admired his textural take on ambient. The duo presented the Greek mythology concept in which they might collaborate, and Montanà became instantly inspired to partici- pate. Montanà's contributions to "Katà Métron" shape the sound of ILUITEQ in new, evocative music territo- ries, where meticulously crafted rhythmic patterns and melodic echos blend with the Italian duo's soothing and ethereal ambient soundscapes.

Some artists embrace their success by repeating the steps that originally granted them fame. Billy Joel did the opposite, refusing to be contained by prescribed approaches or constrained by a given label. The follow-up to the breakthrough The Stranger, 52nd Street further expands on its predecessor's bold production techniques and inventive arrangements, incorporating more sophisticated textures as well as reflecting a jazz edge gleaned from New York City's thriving club scene.

A key piece of Mobile Fidelity's Billy Joel catalogue restoration series, 52nd Street is here sourced from the original master tapes and pressed on 45RPM 180g LP at RTI. The wider and deeper grooves – as well as the meticulous mastering – yield resplendent dynamics, broad soundstages, three-dimensional perspectives, and tonal balances absent from prior editions. This is how you want to experience the 1978 LP that captured the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

Teaming again with producer Phil Ramone, Joel capitalizes on his momentum, churning out another direct-sounding affair replete with captivating melodic devices, showmanship accents, and penetrating lyrics. The singer's concision and focus is evident via the tune's lengths, with only "Until the Night" breaking the six-minute mark. Hit singles "Big Shot" and "My Life" rattle forth with an urgency and intensity that Joel had not previously demonstrated, the combination of passionate deliveries, snide overtones, and insistent grooves setting the table for what follows.

Broadening his palette, and drawing from New York's thriving jazz club scene and the city's late-70s grit, Joel splashes Latin and jazz colours on several pieces, employing veterans such as Dave Grusin and Freddie Hubbard to contribute along with a cast that includes a team of background vocalists and horn players. Everything is tastefully appointed, and yet the vocalist's trademark Broadway gaze and knack for the grand gesture coincide with the straight-ahead swagger.

52nd Street is one of the main reasons why Joel has always been championed for consistency. Everything here, from the production to the stand-up songs, helped redefine mainstream pop-rock. Decades later, it's finally available in fidelity that nears that of the Columbia Records' master tapes produced right on 52nd Street.

Construction worker cum Country singer Corey Baum leads his populist two-step quartet Croy & The Boys through another set of insightful, catchy odes to the plights of capitalism and gentrification

The Trip is the first solo album by N'Zeng, better known as Sébastien Blanchon. It has to be said that he hid behind his (hollow) nose to sniff out the right projects (ex Le Peuple de l'Herbe, member of Entourloop). His nose is hollow, but not for the trumpet, and yet it's with this instrument that he started out. And he reinvents it, giving it a subtle place on this musical road trip we call The Trip.
A journey open to all, with no tolls and no filters, apart from the cinematic filter of this lover of original soundtracks and trip hop. Beautiful images flash before our eyes, and in our ears, the smooth voice of Charlotte Savary (Wax Tailor). An album, a very good trip for lovers of Portishead, Gorillaz, and well-felt scratches in the form of controlled skids.
He's making a name for himself as N'Zeng, with his smooth arrangements.

N'Zeng's father played trumpet with his grandfather in the Feurs brass band in the Loire department. When he arrived in Saint Etienne, young Sébastien started out with a cornet à pistons at the Conservatoire. His teacher at the time, Marcel Heyte, had won a prize in Paris at the same time as a certain Maurice André.

His father took lessons in orchestral conducting, accompanying the offspring's budding musical career, which included a course at the Festival de Cuivre in Monastier-sur-Gazeille, where he met the soloists of the Radio France orchestra. A new awareness, a new confidence: off to Lyon, not for a soccer derby, but to "beef up his game". In 1997, he was awarded a gold medal for trumpet by a unanimous jury at the Conservatoire National de Lyon.

Lyon, capital of the Gauls, was the starting point for N'Zeng, who went on to become a member of the group Le Peuple de l'Herbe. 15 years later, with several successful records to his credit, a concert in 2003 at the Transmusicales with Beth Gibbons (Portishead), and a Victoire de la Musique award, it was time for N'Zeng to move on to other things.

Arrival in the City of Light, the place where dreams come true. Nzeng's dreams are not only sonic, but also visual, for Sébastien is not only a friendly presence and a talented musician, but also a cinephile. His knowledge of music theory, acquired during his years at the conservatory, enables him to tackle music for pictures.

He created a soundtrack for the cult film Alien - The 8th Passenger, and worked with musician Rone (collaborating with Baxter Dury) and his bandmates from Le Peuple de l'Herbe, composing 2 tracks for the soundtrack of Virginie Despentes's hard-hitting film "Baise-moi". On the album "Hollywood Hustlers", with the group "Mustang Force", he pays tribute to the soundtracks of Lalo Shiffrin, Ennio Morricone... The album is also well received by the critics. He conducts the arrangements and orchestrations for the Degiheuga Orchestra, and composes the original music for the Hôtel Bellevue dance show, another success!

2019 sees the birth of "The Trip" project. On this record, no masks, but a female voice, that of Charlotte Savary (Wax Taylor), laid on a carpet of strings. With this musical voyage, trip hop takes pride of place, with a balance between the body of the instruments and the mechanics of beatmaking.

There's no getting off track on this well-balanced record, with its silky orchestrations. N'Zeng accompanies us elegantly, with his trusty trumpet as GPS, here used subtly. The album cover is a photograph taken by Sébastien Blanchon's mother, in 1973, a year when Saint Etienne was about to become French champion for the 7th time.

Dez Dare ventures further into the void than ever before on his 4th album and the 1st to be released via God Unknown Records, ‘A Billion Goats. A Billion Sparks. Fin.’. On past records Dare has fought beasts and beats alike, waging a fuzz war and tackling the biggest topics the world has to face; Doom scrolling, capitalist demagogues, a passionate dislike of the beach in summer. On this record he leaves the sardonic frustration behind for sarcastic existentialism, zeroing in on the big philosophical questions, and the pedantic shards of nonsense that make up our existence. Piling up the synths, noise boxes and guitar pedals, Dez set about building a soundscape of noise and ideas around the nature of reality, time, and how we interact with them. From the music you would play in your last moments, to the reverse Darwinism of modern society, to arguing with time itself, and very boring people talking at you, all is covered here for the aspiring existentialist. The self-produced Australian has spent over 3 decades producing music, releasing and touring bands, and doing live sound for z-grade metal bands. Growing up in the coastal town of Geelong (Djilang) in Australia, he was introduced to the DIY punk and rock scene at 15 and this community and the ideas rooted in the underground music scene have guided his output and ethics throughout his career. This year Dez will be joining forces with label titans God Unknown (Cassels / Duke Garwood / James Johnston + Steve Gullick / KLÄMP / Oneida / Oneida / Laura Loriga / Monster Magnet / Wellwater Conspiracy Soundgarden + Monster Magnet) and will be producing a deluxe version of the release that will include a 12 page comic illustrated by long time collaborator Mike Keane. Across the drone of noise and washed out guitars of the final track, ‘A Billion Voices Screaming, Hello Void!’, the chant repeats “We all return to where we begun...” which encapsulates the message that Dare delivers. We are all made from the same stardust and we all return to the universe that spat us out, we just need to enjoy the many shards of nonsense on that swift descent into the void...with wizards painted on the side." MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL "Early 90s-inspired take on DEVO punk... high energy sucker punches on your ear." Weirdo Shrine "Sludgey-grungey-fuzzed psychedelic-noiserock... I like the fact that despite all the edgy complexity, catchy songs emerge again and again."

Limited orange vinyl. We've all heard the axiom, "if you ignore it, maybe it'll go away." That goes double for a lot of people who wish to apply that saying to rap music. But when it comes to the West Coast "gangsta rapper" genre made popular by the likes of NWA, Eazy E, Ice-T and his Rhyme Syndicate cohort, King Tee, the truth is hard to ignore. King Tee aligns producer DJ Pooh on this Bass EP consisting of tracks recorded in 1987. They're joined by The Compton Posse that includes the late Mixmaster Spade and J-Ro from Tha Alkaholiks. This EP sharpens the skillful word play King Tee made famous on his debut album Act A Fool. From song to song, this EP has a superior sheen, a tightness and cohesiveness between rhyme and music. Born in Los Angeles and now a resident of the infamous West Coast rap capital, Compton, California, King Tee truly is a product of the streets. He openly admits to running with gangs in his youth, causing his mother endless embarrassment and frustration. So much so that, in a desperate attempt to turn his life around, she turned King Tee into the authorities when she discovered him stealing from her. Once out of jail, King Tee ran of to Houston, Texas. Trouble is that he was underage atthe time, so his mother again had King Tee locked up in a juvenile camp. When King Tee finally realized why his mother did what she did, he decided to turn his life around by dedicating himself to music. He listened obsessively to the radio and chose to become a DJ. When King Tee was released from juvenile camp he secured a mixing gig at KSU and then KYOK in Houston. Between station gigs he handled the mix at various venues and clubs. After gaining the necessary experience behind the tables, King Tee moved back to Los Angeles and hooked up with Ice-T. In rapid succession, King Tee met Du Pooh who enlisted him into his rap group (after King Tee bugged Pooh for months), then Pooh introduced Tee to DJ Unknown with whom he made several 12" records for the Techno Hop labelwhich is now released on this EP for the first time since then. Ice-T's influence brought Rhyme Syndicate Management's Jorge Hinojosa into the picture. King Tee eventually signed with Hinojosa who then secured a contract with Capitol Records for King Tee. The result was 1988's Act A Fool.

THEOPHONOS (ex-Serpent Column) and Profound Lore Records present “Ashes in the Huron River” to be released on LP/CD/Digital Feb 09, 2024. The new LP is named in honor of the local woods and riverlands that continue to inspire the studio project. This record is an account of a life spent in the rotten heartlands of neoliberal capitalism and a tribute to the vibrant underground music cultures that thrived before the second half of the last decade.

Expanding on the directness of “Nightmare Visions”, “Ashes” is grander in scope, and is internally regarded as a more focused analogue to 2019’s “Mirror in Darkness”. Hafsteinn Viðar Ársælsson’s dark and intricate illustrations once again accompany the music with striking depictions of abandoned landscapes, arranged to evoke a sense of catastrophe and unwilling transformation.

Primary musical influences include Death Grips’ “Jenny Death” (which the record homages in its gradient-like structure, its centerpiece “Still You Haunt Me” even acting as a reimagined “On GP”), the downtuned hyperaggressions of Morbid Angel’s “Gateways to Annihilation”, and the cinematic, raw intimacies of Pelican’s “The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw.”

THEOPHONOS (ex-Serpent Column) and Profound Lore Records present “Ashes in the Huron River” to be released on LP/CD/Digital Feb 09, 2024. The new LP is named in honor of the local woods and riverlands that continue to inspire the studio project. This record is an account of a life spent in the rotten heartlands of neoliberal capitalism and a tribute to the vibrant underground music cultures that thrived before the second half of the last decade.

Expanding on the directness of “Nightmare Visions”, “Ashes” is grander in scope, and is internally regarded as a more focused analogue to 2019’s “Mirror in Darkness”. Hafsteinn Viðar Ársælsson’s dark and intricate illustrations once again accompany the music with striking depictions of abandoned landscapes, arranged to evoke a sense of catastrophe and unwilling transformation.

Primary musical influences include Death Grips’ “Jenny Death” (which the record homages in its gradient-like structure, its centerpiece “Still You Haunt Me” even acting as a reimagined “On GP”), the downtuned hyperaggressions of Morbid Angel’s “Gateways to Annihilation”, and the cinematic, raw intimacies of Pelican’s “The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw.”

Established in 1948 by César Roldán, Discomoda is one of the earliest record labels of Venezuela and the oldest family operated label in the country. Home to one of the most complete folkloric and popular music catalogues of Venezuela, the label also invested heavily in Afro-Caribbean and tropical rhythms that became popular in the 60s and 70s.

In the 1960s and before the Salsa era truly kicked off, Venezuela had a significant dance orchestra and big band movement. Unlike local record competitors dedicated to selling foreign productions, Discomoda achieved its leading position by recording the most important national bands, including Los Megatones de Lucho, Orquesta Sonoramica and Super Combo Los Tropicales; all featured in this compilation.

Later on, surrounding the festivities for the 400th anniversary of Caracas in 1967, the word "Salsa", which had been recently coined by famed radio host Phidias Danilo Escalona, was formalized to identify an Afro-Caribbean musical style with growing popularity in Venezuela and beyond. By then, the country was among the top 20 music markets in the world, with the local label Discomoda leading the way, responsible for one out of every five records sold in the country.

With the prolonged celebrations approaching due to the 400 years of the city, Discomoda and other labels began to capitalize on this new musical style by betting on both established and new local bands, such as Nelson y sus Estrellas, Los Kenya, Principe y su Sexteto and Los Satélites. As a result, this would kick off what could be considered a golden era of Salsa in Venezuela and which lasted until the mid-70s.

As we approach the 80s and with the emergence of new musical styles and bigger multi-national record labels funded by larger pockets, a lot of the previously popular bands begin to disband or choose to leave the country. Nonetheless, a few artists, like Rodrigo Mendoza, La Renovación and Grupo Yakambu, were still pushing out quality music.

We are thrilled and honored to celebrate one of Venezuela's and, equally, Latin America's most significant record labels, and to share a slice of their enduring influence in advancing Venezuelan-made Salsa music.

Chicago hip-hop outfit Angry Blackmen made up of Quentin Branch & Brian Warren (ABM) have been stretching their arms and tapping into different sounds since they smashed onto the scene with their debut single “OK!” in 2017. A prime introduction starring two emcees showing they deserve to wield the microphone and do so with good cause. Then barely a month later ABM released sophomore single ‘Riot!’ a complete shift in sound that still housed the foundation set in ‘OK!’ A few years later the duo would drop their debut project ‘Talkshit!’ which saw them amass the following they have today.
‘The Legend of ABM’ immediately smacks the listener in the eardrum leaving no second wasted and jumping straight to the point. The 11-track adventure truly presents an expression of hip-hop that we haven’t seen before, infusing multiple sounds with the 50-year old genre. To go even deeper, Quentin Branch & Brian Warren are teaching a masterclass in top-notch poetic lyricism, creating both accessible and mind-bending music. “Stanley Kubrick” has both heroes shattering the beat with their braggadocio for what is just the appetizer to prepare the listener for what’s to come in the next ten tracks. ‘Sabotage’ tells the story of two Black men hustling through the trenches of capitalism and the effect that this journey has on them. While the album exudes catchy wordplay and spine-splitting production, if you lift up the hood, ABM is spinning a tale of depression, existentialism and self-reflection that isn’t always pretty. “Dead Men Tell No Lies” is another mutation in sound for the duo, where the industrial sounds clash, violently yet perfectly together with a blistering hook harkening to the end of time. Warren & Branch’s raw poetry educates the listener of the pre-apocalyptic world we’re already living in throughout this project. ‘The Legend of ABM’ is not an excursion for the weak, the production is meant to snap your spine in half, the lyrics from Quentin & Brian are pathos-infused and relatable to anyone simply trying to survive.

It’s a family affair. One formed almost thirty years ago, back in the mid-nineties, when the pair joined seminal French jazz combo Olympic Grammofon. For twenty-four years they have worked together as Bumcello, each complementing the other, echoing polar opposites. The Boom in Bumcello is none other than Cyril Atef, incisive drummer, relentlessly pushing beats towards new horizons. The Cello is Vincent Ségal, cellist without blinkers and extraordinary musical alchemist. Since 1999, these two die-hard music fans, coming together for mercurial results, have released one record after the other whilst conquering the hearts of their live audiences, old regulars as well as new recruits. We have all been seduced by the way their music leapfrogs categories - these two experts are much more interested in kindred spirits than pigeonholing, and this very spirit is celebrated on more than one track of this ninth record, whose concept is original to say the least.

Everything began with an idea by Cyril Atef - a soundtrack based upon drawings penned by Marin, Vincent’s son, architect and visual artist. The musicians involved then coached their reaction to these images on a score, and the pair were charged with collating and adjusting the results. These thirteen ink drawings, in a heroic fantasy vein, constituted a matrix which was then to serve as a guide, like a roadmap through a singular and multi-faceted labyrinth. The key to this sonic fresco is in Bumcello’s image – an eclectic aesthetic twinned with a great sense of contrast. Herein lies the trademark of this entity animated by the gift of musical ubiquity, gorged on scales and rhythms, capable of a slap as much as a gentle caress. From classical music to electronics, from improvised music to sophisti-pop, everything is allowed with no preconceived ideas. They can even reclaim the traditions of others, all the better to propel them towards new horizons - this is how the very history of music has always panned out.

If you listen between the lines and look at the details, more than one piece bears witness to the moments and individuals that have impacted the criss-crossing lives of Vincent and Cyril. The track Crash is the perfect excuse to create a Jamaican-style jam with New York inflections, and we can see, in capital letters, the name Hilaire Penda, playing alongside Bumcello at the Apollo Theater in the associated drawing. This bass player from Cameroon, who died on 5th November 2018, was more than just a friend for the two Frenchmen. He was one of the family. Similarly, they give a nod to another Cameroonian, and another departed friend - singer of rock band les Têtes brûlées, Zanzibar, through the vocals of fellow countryman Zanzi. The ghost of Rémi Kolpa Kopul, emblematic voice of Radio Nova, haunts the margins of Spark Av, in a vocal sample with a smattering of effects. As for I Remember Tim, it directly honours the memory of Timothy Jerome Parker, aka The Gift Of Gab, another friend who left us in 2021. Tim is depicted in a drawing with the docks of Oakland in the background, and it’s his alter ego within Blackalicious, Chief Xcel, who remotely added his signature to the track, notably by adding the words of Lateef The Truthspeaker to brass and woodwind sounds.

These are the only additions to Bumcello’s original nucleus, all the better to create a genuine musical concoction where Vincent Taurelle is in charge of production and mixing sessions recorded live and direct. He is also invited for a twinkle on the keys (piano, synths, Wurlitzer, organ), on a handful of tracks. Already at the commands of previous opus Monster Talk, always taking care over the slightest detail, the one that makes all the difference, this pianist is now also part of the family. “Everything he brings is perfect, whether added though slight touches or through very important choices”, say the two members of a combo which today, appears to us under the guise of a trio, adding an extra dimension to a far-reaching mix, in the image of the veiled or more explicit tributes making up the cornerstones of this release.

Booker, a drawing where we see the musicians enter a club, honours James Booker, great pianist from New Orleans who has always fascinated Vincent, in a genre that is off-beat and gender defying. Her Story was created by Cyril in support of the Iranian women’s movement. Aysyen Kampe evokes, even in the original drawing, a tradition that remains impactful for Bumcello – Haitian mysticism, and Ouï Khouïette Ouï conjures up the beats of the Allaoui, a war dance from Western Algeria, one they have taken part in in the past with the help of Cheikha Rabia. They deliver a metal version, original and surprising, especially as Marin Ségal’s drawing features the Nicholas Brothers, those iconic dancers of the 30s jazz scene!

Resolutely hard to pin down, Bumcello’s beats can initially take on the structure of disjointed house, though Sangre begins like a film soundtrack, “in a Mexican style” adds Vincent, who was at the origin of this track. A delicate alap on the cello can open up onto afrobeat rhythms, a well-pitched voice can enchant, like on the amazing The City Has Eyes which has everything of a hummable pop hit. Emblematic of this manner of encompassing all music without being exclusive, Le Grand Sommeil, a direct reference to the Howard Hawks movie inspired by Raymond Chandler, a precursor of David Lynch, begins nice and smooth but ends on a wild tempo, on a drum’n’bass tip, as in the good old days of Cithéa, when this Party story began in the other century.

Offering fuzzy grunge-pop with doses of shimmering synths and emo angst, Ned Russin co-fronted Title Fight before halting in 2018 & Ned began playing music as Glitterer. Now a full band, Glitterer returns with Rationale combining 90s grunge, capital-R riffs a la The Stooges, & a keyboard lead that gives self-deprecating melodrama., After relying more on synths for the entirely solo, home-recorded Glitterer LP in 2017, he involved collaborators on the crunchier Looking Through the Shades in 2019. This trend toward driving indie rock grit with "90s influences continued on 2021"s Life Is Not a Lesson and now Rationale.

PRAISE THE PLAGUE formulate the introduction to the dark, grim soundscape of their third album themselves by saying: "The gate is passed, upon us is a bleak, raging sea. Tidal waves crushing ashore, out of desperation evolves anger and frustration. Time, as a construct, imprisons its architects. "Suffocating In The Current Of Time" takes us from a dark and devouring realm, to staring the devourer into its cold, dead eyes. Lead by fierce and unforgiving melodies, we are marching into our own decay. Lead by the pounding of drums we indulge ourselves in the cloak of false promises." The quintet from the German capital Berlin has been around since 2017. After the debut "Antagonist" and their first album for LIFEFORCE RECORDS, "The Obsidian Gate" (2021), "Suffocating In The Current Of Time" showcases a further intensification of the band's dense and intense black metal. PRAISE THE PLAGUE are modern representatives of their guild and not purists. There are also ominous echoes of doom and sludge as well as atmospheric post-metal. It is no coincidence that the Berliners' third album remains instrumental for longer passages. This increases the impact of the furious tempo sections with their nagged vocals. "Suffocating In The Current Of Time" is full of emotion. Not all of them are purely negative and depressing. Nevertheless, PRAISE THE PLAGUE's playing will be perceived above all as oppressive and hopeless. Given their band name, who can blame them? The musicians pursue relentless catharsis.

For the last seven years, sound artist, technologist, and electronic musician Moisés Horta Valenzuela (aka Hexorcismos) has been studying artificial intelligence and generative art, wondering how these new technologies might be augmented into his musical process. Born in Tijuana and currently based in Berlin, Hexorcismos has long attempted to break down the permeable borders between musical styles and expressions, using the spaces in between to reinforce his politics and worldview. And on 'MUTALISMX - becoming sonic network', he expands his vision, inviting artists from across the globe to collaborate on work that questions the biases inherent in AI models, offering a collective alternative that could serve as a blueprint for further research.

The majority of AI art at this stage works with "big data", taking ideas from the cultural canon and muddying them with our contemporary reality. But if we accept that mass culture is always politically biased, always swaying towards historical prejudices, then there must be a counter-narrative. Hexorcismos began to develop a bottom-up approach, using "small data" to interrogate his idiosyncratic approach to art; he built a tool called SEMILLA.AI based on neural audio synthesis that could not only mimic his sonic fingerprint but transform it into another. So when he offered the synth to his network of collaborators, he gave them the option of either using only their data or sharing the signatures of each other artist involved in the project, blurring their identities into a mutual voice.

The result is a compilation that unspools with the coherence and fluidity of a single-artist album or adventurous DJ mix, genreless and boundless but unified by a singular message. Hunanese-American artist Kloxii Li for example takes rugged percussion and tense, industrial ambience, smudging her soundscape into a swirling gust of ghostly dissonance. Hexorcismos himself contributes two compositions: the lengthy, hypnotic 'Acaso de veras se vive con raíz en la Tierra', an AI-powered scramble of his pointed tribal guarachero experiments; and 'Interferencias', a collaboration with Mexican club veteran Bryan Dálvez, aka El Irreal Veintiuno that drives intense dancefloor rhythms into a dense haze of frozen drones and radio static. Elsewhere, Berlin-based Lebanese artist and writer Jessika Khazrik dissolves her voice into a mesh of obscured rhythms and dissociated whirrs, blending the organic with the artificial but retaining an overpowering sense of humanity.

Some artists were drawn to the nebulous aspects of the technology, searching for truth in a soup of different sounds, while others, such as KMRU, used Hexorcismos's synthesizer the examine their output. On 'hidden options', the Kenyan sound artist fed his immense catalog into the neural net, bringing out his mannerisms and tendencies in the process. Each track is singular but myriad, prompting both mutual respect and a sonic becoming, a feedback process between the artist and the tool, the individual and the collective. Data sets are made by people, and by engaging directly with musicians, Hexorcismos suggests a new way of utilizing a technology demonized and glorified without careful examination. Each artist owns their AI model, and alongside the album Hexorcismos will release SEMILLA.AI to the public (with custom-made models to start the process), allowing anyone to access this revolutionary technology.

Even the album's artwork reflects the political message, conceptualized by Chilean duo hypereikon, who used AI processes to develop a visual reflection of the technology and its possibilities. Operating outside of academia and capitalist enterprises, MUTUALISMX proposes an alternative future - one without borders that's not beholden to the Western canon, where independent labor can be prioritized and celebrated, and where creativity can truly flourish.

These recordings of Gongs Orchestras were made during Funeral Ceremonies in two Kung villages and one Jaraï village in Ratanakiri province, Cambodia by Laurent Jeanneau (Kink Gong) in 2003 and 2004, at a times when jungle had not been replaced by rubber plantations. Focusing on funeral's ceremonies, those hypnotics pieces are intense and haunting harmonics sonic experiments.

"Adventure brought me to south-east Asia, not academic research. I was based on and off in Banlung, capital of Ratanakiri province between 2003 and 2006. Finding gongs orchestras became my obsession, I've witnessed different contexts in which gongs were being performed, but the most brainwashing ceremonies were the funerals, because they would never end, I remember leaving the 3 days funeral ceremony of a prominent Jaraï dead man in Tang ji village at the border with Vietnam and still hearing the gongs the entire next day going back home through the jungle". - Laurent Jeanneau (Kink Gong)

"Many of the ethnic minority groups, the Jarai, Kac_, Tampuan, Kavet, Kreung, Brao, Bunong, Mnong, Edé, and others, are hill-rice farmers who live in the uplands of the Annamite mountain chain. Collectively these groups have been known by many names, including a number of disparaging terms in local dialects, such as moï, kha, phnong, and others. The term Montagnard was applied to them by the French during the colonial period, and was used by the US military and in popular discourse in English during the United States-Vietnam War. In scholarly and popular literature during the mid-twentieth century these upland farmers were also called hill tribes. I have opted for the word highlanders as a relatively neutral term that avoids the semantic burdens associated with these other namings." - Jonathan Padwe, The book Disturbed forests fragmented memories.

One of Europe's most popular alternative / dark wave bands. Lebanon Hanover have over one million monthly listeners on Spotify. Following their first US tour in over a decade, Lebanon Hanover returns with a soul-stirring double A-side single release, marking their first new material since the captivating 2020 album, 'Sci-Fi Sky.' Now, the enigmatic duo of William Maybelline and Larissa Iceglass beckons listeners into unventured sonic domains, intricately weaving folk-driven acoustic dream pop with the vulnerable essence of post-punk in a contemplative exploration of life's ephemeral yet profound nature. Embarking on a Cure-like sonic voyage reminiscent of the 'Head on the Door' and the 'Kiss Me' era, title track 'Better Than Going Under' manifests as a romantic, sombre daydream. William Maybelline's brooding baritone intertwines with sighing back vocals, narrating an ode to life's fleeting yet boundless vistas. The acoustic strums initiate a folk-driven narrative which, when coupled with a celestial choir, crafts a contemplative soundscape of cautious optimism, reminiscent of Echo and the Bunnymen or The Church.. KYIV: Bearing the name of Ukraine's capital, 'KYIV,' voiced by Larissa Iceglass, delves into a narrative reflective of the sorrow and despair entwined within war-torn regions like Ukraine and beyond. The acoustic guitar and drum machine create a Cocteau Twins' 'Treasure'-esque soundscape, evoking a melancholic yet beautiful auditory journey. Iceglass's voice, transitioning from her husky baritone to a more resigned lament, embodies a poignant reflection on the harsh realities faced by those embroiled in conflict-ridden landscap

If the genesis of The Big Idea was written both in the corridors of their high school and the surroundings of La Rochelle, the first chapter truly takes place in a big house in outskirts of Paris, where the six boys settled once they got their baccalaureate in 2015. Throughout these five years, The Big Idea hosted every European band playing in Paris with no landing place. The house of Champigny-sur-Marne, almost invisible in the monstrous metropolis, became a central location of the capital’s underground scene.

That creative cyclone within which the band is placed quickly shows results and the band hit it hard with their debut LP “La Passion du crime 3” (2017). This quadruple album, written as the movie score of a police investigation story, affirms something fundamental: The Big Idea is determined not to do things like everybody else. The influences of the great psychedelic rock’n’roll tribes naturally appear, the band release several record, start touring all around Europe allowing them to develop a furious alchemy on stage. But then covid brought everything to a halt. However, the band returned to La Rochelle and plotted a new, mad project.

The Big Idea becomes the first band to record an album on a sailing boat while crossing the Atlantic. Once again, the idea is fabulous, and “The Fabulous Expedition of Le Grand Vésigue” represents both the thirst of adventure of the sextet from La Rochelle, and their yearning for calm, psychedelic horizons. After the release of the documentary film and the big tour that followed this extraordinary adventure, the band decides to reaffirm the most essential part of its identity and announces for February 2024 the releasing of a new record more electric and radical, in the image of their live performance with more and more intensity. “Tales of Crematie” is a story built on a fantasy medieval backdrop, but could have however taken place in our modern era. If the elegant, psychedelics parts have not disappeared, the record’s tone is clearly more rock than what the band has ever created before, and as The Big Idea always likes to go overboard, the album will be released as a double LP in which you’ll hear trumpets as well as pianos, violins, tropical influences, post-punk, and above all, loads, loads of fuzz. Just like a toy chest whose key would’ve been thrown away on purpose, hidden arrangement treasures abound inside of “Tales of Crematie” , along with a violent revolt against the modern archetypes of “too normal music.”

Sylvain Chauveau's debut album "Le livre noir du capitalisme" is a melancholic milestone – and a precursor of what later would become the Modern Classical genre. With his release in 2000, Chauveau created a landmark of contemporary electronic music, parallel to the first releases of Jóhann Jóhannsson and Max Richter.

Inspired by John Cage's reflections on silence and Mark Hollis' solo album of the same name, on "Le livre noir du capitalisme" Chauveau assembles contemplative, repetitive piano and string arrangements with electronic sound layers and discreet field recordings to create an other-worldly but seductive Musique Noir. Midway between ambient, jazz and post-rock, Chauveau lays out a new paradigm of electro-acoustic music that functions as much atmospherically as compositionally, and whose parameters keep the boundaries between academic and non-academic music dissolved to this day.

Originally released on the small French experimental label Noise Museum in 2000, the album got reissued by Type Records in 2008 with the English title “The Black Book of Capitalism”. Being out of print for a while, Sonic Pieces now rereleases the classic with its original French title, plus new remastering by Loop-O and in an ultra-limited, handmade edition with black bookcloth cover on both CD and vinyl.

A lot of water has flown under the bridge since Błoto released their last album. Sadly, in Polish rivers it wasn't just water flowing, but also all sorts of sewage of unknown origin, which destroyed the condition of these once vibrant bodies of water; it eventually led to a real catastrophe on the Odra River, which, after all, surrounds the entire city of Wroclaw, the band's birthplace. It is time for a decisive response. Błoto is making a comeback with a seven-inch vinyl and their first singles in over two years - "Szlam" and "Ścieki".

Climate change had already led to a permanent hydrological drought, which was echoed on Erozje LP. Today, as many as 91.5 percent of Poland's rivers are in very poor condition. It is not only drought that threatens rivers, but also excessive salinity. This is precisely the kind of disaster that happened on the Odra river. It resulted in 360 tonnes of dead fish and death of the river along a stretch of almost 500 km, and the reason for that was short-sighted human activity that could have been avoided. Still, the decision was made to turn the river into a cesspool.

Two years of hiatus is far too long. During this time, reality has not let up for a moment, providing new inspiration. Szlam (eng. sludge) is the sediment that forms on the river bed and sometimes the river banks. The Polish word derives from German (Schlamm), which means swamp - or mud. Szlam is therefore a sticky and unsettling remorse that rests somewhere at the bottom of the human consciousness.

In "Szlam" and "Ścieki" tracks, you will not only hear references to Erozje, but also to Kwasy i Zasady LP. For it is also a metaphor for everything that pours out of the media, smartphones, and then flows into one's head. The constant bickering, conflicts and dirty play in political campaigns, scandals to which we are already numb. On top of this, hate speech, low-quality stupefying influencer content, resulting in an ever-decreasing cultural capital of a society that breeds conformists, individualistically-minded egoists and mindless consumers. This state of affairs spawns a society of egoists, incapable of critical reflection, questioning and rebelling against reality.

The sound and genres explored by the band are, as usual, difficult to pigeonhole. These two musical miniatures contain a lot of anxious and neurotic sounds, as well as synth glitches evoking emotions such as fear, anger, sadness and guilt. The quartet consisting of Wuja HZG, OlafSaxx, Cancer G and Latarnik managed to distill this mental state by encapsulating it in shades of breakbeat ("Szlam"), and broadly defined house music ("Ścieki").

The 7" vinyl will be released on January 08th 2024 by Astigmatic Records.

The new album The Commune Of Nightmares by noise artist David Wallraf is a tapeloop-based musical game of cadavre exquis, a technique developed by surrealist artists.

David Wallraf is a noise artist and theorist living in Hamburg. His artistic work deals with the repressed and uncanny sonic residues of quotidian life, crafting soundtracks for the creeping disaster we inhabit. His works have been released on numerous international tape labels. A recent interest of his is the live scoring of silent films, including works by Luis Buñuel, Maya Deren and Jean Genet. His PhD thesis Grenzen des Hörens. Noise und die Akustik des Politischen (Limits of Hearing.Noise and the Acoustics of the Political) has been published in German, an English translation is in progress.

The Commune of Nightmares stems from the idea that nightmares are the logical reverse of 'capitalist realism': an uncanny undercurrent of daily experiences and an algorithmic haunting of dreams that at the same time is a shared – communal – experience of everybody. All songs are based on tapeloops that were cut arbitrarily from a stash of cassettes, some of which found on the street, others from a stockpile of 4 track tapes recorded in the late 90s and early 2000s – a musical game of cadavre exquis played with random strangers and former versions of DW.

Credits:

All music composed and recorded by David Wallraf in Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg, first half of 2023

Following the reissue last year of Fairuz's classic 1979 album "Wahdon", Wewantsounds pursue their exploration of great Lebanese music with the reissue of Fairuz's highly sought-after LP "Maarifti Feek," released in 1987. Recorded in Beirut around 1983-84, the album features the Diva's superb voice combined with Ziad Rahbani's jazz and funk orchestration, making it one of the most in-demand albums on the Arabic funk scene. The release will coincide with "Arab Divas," a major exhibition set in the prestigious Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA) in Paris, celebrating the greatest singers from the Arab World and starting 13 May 2020. One of the greatest singers of the Middle East, Fairuz started her career in Lebanon in the 50s and quickly established herself as the most renowned Diva in the Arabic world, playing the most prestigious venues in the world. At the end of the 70s, Fairuz was at a turning point both professionally and personally. Her Husband Assi Rahbani, who, with his brother Elias, had penned her biggest successes, has suffered a stroke a few years earlier. This setback ultimately led to both the demise of their marriage and the end of their professionnal partnership. Enters Ziad Rahbani, Fairuz and Assi's son, a young musician, playwright and producer who had cut his teeth writing a handful of Fairuz's song - including her 1973 hit "Sa'alouni El Nas" - at just seventeen. Ziad Rahbani swiftly took over from his father and uncle as the singer's musical director and composer and this fruitful association, which started in 1979 with the album "Wahdon," broke many new grounds for Fairuz with funkier rhythms and edgier lyrics. It was recorded at the same time as Rahbani's own 12 inch "Abu Ali" which became a sought-after disco classic in its own right. The association between the two continued with a second album, "Maarifti Feek" ("Our Encounter"), recorded between 1983 and 84 in Beirut but only released in 1987. The album was another groundbreaking mix of influences ranging from the traditional arrangements of "Oudak Rannan" and "Ma Kdirt Nseet" to the brazilan flavour of "Version 1" via the synth funk of "Ouverture 83" and its follow up "Reprise 83". Also featured on the album is a beautiful remake of Joaquin Rodrigo's "Concerto de Aranjuez" in the form of a tribute to the lebanese capital, "Li Beirut." This blend of Oriental grooves with jazz and funk orchestrations by Ziad Rahbani is a unique document of Fairuz's career development in the 80s and explains why "Maarifti Feek" is such a sought after album on the DJ and collector circuits which Wewantsounds is delighted to reissue for the first time since the album first came out.

This record contains four tracks taken from a live performance which took place on December 3rd 2021 at the vinyl harvest record store in Esch-sur-Alzette Luxembourg. The concert was curated by non-profit organisation I am esch twenty too and the label mint.conception.recordings. I am esch twenty too was founded in 2020 as an alternative suggestion to the city of Esch-sur-Alzette being European Capital of Culture 2022 and its role and program. The budget for this concert was generated by the entrance fee to the concert only.

Jan Jelinek has for more than 20 years been one of the most essential voices in contemporary electronic music. Arthur Clees is a young percussionist from Luxembourg and a bright talent intent on finding his own way into jazz, improv and electronic music. Both performers had never met each other before.

This past year marked the 25th Anniversary of Big Pun's debut Capital Punishment. Big Pun was truly larger than life and sadly passed away at the age of 28, only two months before the release of his sophomore studio album Yeeeah Baby. Yeeeah Baby was released on April 4, 2000, excecutive produced by Fat Joe and a roster of producers including Just Blaze, L.E.S., Buckwild, Younglord, and Sean C among others. The album which would be Big Pun's final release was certifed Gold after three months off the strength of the first two singles "It's So Hard" and "100%" and eventually certified Platinum. Get On Down is proud to present and honor the legacy of Big Pun with a limited edition vinyl reissue pressed on double A-Side/B-Side colored vinyl and stamped numbered OBI limited to 2000 copies.

'Erotic Probitoic' is Nourished By Time’s debut EP on Scenic Route, following hot on the heels of his featured track , ‘Wild Thang, Sweet Thang’, on the critically acclaimed Scenic Route 16-track digital compilation, The Road Less Travelled Vol.1, supported by BBC 1Xtra, Dazed, CRACK, BBC 6 Music, Lot Radio, NTS, The Wire and Resident Advisor. The Erotic Probiotic is an intimate glimpse into the world of Baltimore native, whose two track EP shows the duplicity of this exciting singer/songwriter/producer.

Side A, ‘Give It Away’, a beautiful multi layered serenade, showcasing the breadth of his vocal range, with delicate textures sprinkled throughout; heartaching guitar riffs and celestial chords enveloping you into this contagious dream pop melody. Give It Away is a lush R&B ballad about choosing yourself over love but choosing love over pride. The Live performance video was shot at his sold out Servant Jazz Quarters show, in April, directed by Jono Canning.

Staring Into The Fireplace, a relatable anarchist anthem for anyone working a dead-end job, filled with angst and a foreboding energy driven by eerie drums and a melancholy tone. Written whilst employed by Whole Foods during COVID , spraying down shopping carts, what he describes as “the most soul destroying job”. The song explores America’s social constructs moulded by race and capitalism, through his gravelly baritone vocals over lo-fi punk sound, with lyrics reinforcing his ‘bun down Babylon’ sentiment. Along with a self directed music video.

The Erotic Probiotic is the first EP with Scenic Route as he looks to cultivate his unique off beat, guitar driven pop sound in the lead up to his album.

The first in a four-volume retrospective of Kuduro and tarraxinha pioneer DJ ZNOBIA. Incoming unto the world for a very long time from the musseke of Rangel, home of Casa da Mé&e Ju, in the Angolan capital o Ldanda, one if not the pivotal visionary of his country’s music electronic and digital modernism DJ Znobia, o/fum/an inventor. Usually considered the first purveyor of the fluency regarding tarraxinha (drinking in its foundational slow shuffle from the city of Benguela), as well as a main player in free thinking, spontaneous, funny, depressive, silly, melancholic, hilarious all encompassing beats within kuduro, batida, techno and beyond, his influence as a producer, DJ, MC and public fiuce has had a great imprint in Angolan culture for the better part of the last three ecades. This venture went through over 700 tracks of his archive (more than double are lost in the meantime between his and the NNT library) in order to collaboratively select a fiercely representative albeit balanced affair from his production, between instrumentals for sung kuduro, instrumental kuduro/batida, sung and instrumental tarraxinha, and other creative styling from the late 90’s to the mid 2000’s. Forms now heard around the world which started here, with Znobia a decisively influential contributor, along with several of his peers and collaborators, which will be also in evidence in this four volume retrospective. His story is way too far flung for this endeavor to try and make a simple narrative out of it. You have to be him, you have to be within this territory, and we ask of the people who will approach to ask him what has happened with the history of this music and what is the current reality at ground zero Luanda, as he is a mirror and visionary of its streets, in a country with such complicated dynamics and brutal treatment of its citizens. To try to put in a clean slate for this conversation, let’s talk to a genius of street music. Your question. First, here's the opening collection of what we have to share with you.

Gianni Brezzo (213k Monthly Listeners on Spotify), the jazz affiliated band / studio project led by Cologne-based producer maestro Marvin Horsch, has a diverse musical profile that is reflected both in his genre-hopping as well as his creative output. Along with producing for Cologne bands like Keshavara, Woman and Xul Zolar, Gianni has released a number of EP and LP’s since 2017, including 2021’s “The Awakening” which featured vocal appearances from Berlin/Tel Aviv based singer / producer J.Lamotta and soul singer Otis Junior from Louisville, Kentucky. Gianni’s 2022 LP “Tutto Passa,” released on Jakarta Records, was a meditation around Marvin’s relationship to Italian culture, accompanied by research into Italian composers of the 60’s / 70’s such as Piero Umiliani, Stelvio Cipriani and Armando Trovajoli to more recent work by Sven Wunder. This was quicklya followed up with EP “Amoria,” an extension of the themes grown from “Tutto Passa,” along with the groovy baroque-jazz of LP “Soundscapes Vol. 1 – Music for Harlequins.” Gianni’s tracks have consistently placed on Editorial Playlists including Spotify’s “State Of Jazz” (908k Likes), “Lounge Jazz” (75k Likes) “Jazz-Funk” (316k Likes) and more, and most recently was synced in an episode of Gossip Girl for HBO US. Gianni Brezzo’s new project, “Filigrani” is a testament to the continued sonic growth and experimentation that pushes the music to new heights. The tracks, meticulously crafted, were born live in the studio, capturing the raw energy and creativity of Brezzo's jazz-driven genius. "Filigrani" introduces a unique fusion, seamlessly blending jazz progressions with touches of ambient electronics. Brezzo weaves a tapestry of sound, inviting listeners into a world where guitar melodies intertwine with subtle drum beats, dreamy harps, and the enchanting whispers of saxophones and flutes. The result? A groovedriven masterpiece that expands the boundaries of sonic artistry. The single and LP artworks by the esteemed Jason Jagel (MF DOOM, Madlib, JJ Whitefield) provide the perfect accompaniment to Gianni’s ever shifting grooves. The albums lead single is eponymous “Filigrani” due out Wednesday, November 22nd with LP pre-order announcement the following Friday, December 1st. This is to capitalize both on Gianni’s upcoming festival appearance at Linecheck in Milan on November 22nd and Bandcamp Friday on December 1st. With a guitar + drum progression that will have you swaying along, the track ebbs and flows as if your ears are gently skiing down fresh sonic powder. Recorded live in studio, the tracks lush horns and tranquil synth pads slide to and fro, combining the best of Khruangbin-style acoustics w/ Gianni’s unparalleled creativity. 2nd single is the lush, late-night vibes of “Milan Nights” out December 13th. Perfect for cozy evenings around the fire and slow dances with that special someone, the tracks harp, guitar, saxophone and slow, yet light and driving drums are a perfect groove to fall into the holiday vibe with. All you need is snow. Focus track is the effortlessly smooth, soulful jazz-funk piece, “Dreams of Sudden Clarity.” Certified 100% fresh, it’s a perfect way to kick off the year. The progression gives you a euphoric, elated feeling, like you’re finally arrived at that special place you never knew existed, but were always meant to find. Promotion will be handled via the label and artist profiles, along with further promotion by external agencies within Italy where Gianni has upcoming live events.

When Leo Pesci submitted his outstanding nujazz LP, ‘Impolite’ to Jo at Ramrock Records, there was absolutely no hesitation in saying ‘yes please’ to his refreshing, contemporary collection of tracks which aim to transcend the limitations of genre and speak out on matters that are unpalatable and difficult to swallow. Leo addresses current global issues such as politics and corruption, climate change and overpopulation, capitalism and the misery it brings to society, but also toxic masculinity and relationships.

This is Leo’s first new release since his highly acclaimed EP ‘Community’ in 2021, which featured well-known artists of the London jazz scene like Jas Kayser, Ella Knight, Nicola Guida, Johnny Woodham, Simon JNR and Dani Diodato amongst others. ‘Impolite’ continues


to steer the listener through Jazz, HipHop, Soul, Alternative R&B and Rap with some exceptional collaborations featuring 15 different jazz/hip hop artists including Jackson Mathod, Moeazy, John Swana, Dylan Jones, Jay Phelps and Tendayi to name but a few.

Change Everything is an apposite title for this album, the first since Waking
Hours, their breakthrough record which had appeared in 1989. Starting off as a
janglesome Scottish indie group, Del Amitri had developed into a west- coast
influenced leftfield pop act, and now with the wind of success in their hair (after
the protracted build of Waking Hours), the group – Justin Currie, Iain Harvie,
David Cummings, Andy Alston and Brian McDermott – paired up with producer Gil
Norton and crafted a handsome rock album to capitalise on their success.
It's a varied, expansive selection. Ballads are represented by the delightful First
Rule Of Love and Be My Downfall, but it is the uptempo numbers that shine,
typified by Change Everything's lead single, Always The Last To Know, a No 11 hit
in the UK and a No 30 stateside. All 12 tracks emphasise just how important Del
Amitri were to 'the other 90s': straightforward, intelligent music, away from the
headline fads

EP compilation of essential UK house cuts recorded between 1987 - 1990. TIP!


Before British house and techno found its’ distinctive groove at the turn of the 1990s, one act led the way: Bang The Party, a trio who emerged from London’s vibrant underground party scene in the mid 1980s and proved, beyond any doubt, that UK producers could make music every bit as magical as the pioneering productions put forward by their counterparts in Chicago, Detroit and New York.

By the time long-running DJs and party promoters Kid Batchelor and Leslie Lawrence joined forces with trained engineer Keith Franklin at legendary North-West London reggae studio Addis Ababa in 1987, they’d spent years as DIY dance music activists in Britain’s capital city. They channelled these experiences and their love of imported house and techno sounds into a new project, Bang The Party, in the process becoming the first British act to appear on Transmat, a reflection of the quality and authenticity of their music.

The latest Rush Hour Reissue Series release offers a snapshot of some of the numerous gems nestled in the Bang The Party catalogue, delivering a much-deserved celebration of one of Britain’s most significant early acid house collectives. It features four fully remastered cuts recorded and released between 1987 and 1990 – on-point and far-sighted club workouts that sound as fresh and timeless now as they did when Britain was sweltering under its infamous ‘second summer of love’.

Fittingly, the EP begins with ‘I Feel Good All Over’, the group’s ground-breaking debut single. Dedicated to their home city and one of the earliest UK interpretations of house music, the track exists in the grey area between Chicago house and New York ‘garage house’ – all jaunty organ stabs, jacking Windy City beats, restless bass and soulful vocalizations. ‘Jacques Theme’, which follows, originally nestled on the B-side of that single release. An early, acid-flecked expression of hip-house with a British twist, breakdance-friendly bongo patterns and a dose of Larry Heard-inspired deep house dreaminess, the track remains an under-appreciated classic whose rap verses reflect the popularity of hip-hop in London at the time.

1988’s ‘Release Your Body’, Bang The Party’s most celebrated early release, was reissued in the United States by Transmat, reflecting the strong working relationship between Derrick May and Kool Kat Records’ Neil Rushton. A hypnotising affair propelled forwards by sweat-soaked drum machine beats, jacking fills and an addictive bassline, the track offers another near perfect distillation of the band’s Black American musical influences while delivering something genuinely new and fresh.

Rounding off the EP is a choice cut from Bang The Party’s sought after 1990 album Back To Prison. Doused in the star-lit synth sounds of the Motor City with jaunty organ stabs inspired by the kind of New Jersey jams championed at East Orange institution Club Zanzibar, ‘Let It Rip’ is a superb slice of deep house soul featuring a lead vocal every bit as emotive as anything laid down by Robert Owens. Like the rest of Bang The Party’s output, it has stood the time better than anything laid down by their London contemporaries.

In the 1950s Chicago was the blues capital of the world. But by 1966 musical tastes had changed. R & B had morphed into hard soul and newer soft soul musical stylings had coalesced from earlier doo wop motifs, with bigger and more sophisticated productions. This was the era of the small independent owners / producers, all vying for airplay and sales in a hugely competitive marketplace. This landmark LP showcases many of the best of this output – the sounds that hit music listeners and buyers straight from the street. The mix here is a perfect blend of the tough hard soul style and the softer soul sounds. Just right for the feet and the heart. Enjoy!

Atreyu's 'The Beautiful Dark Of Life': Eine universelle Reise durch die Höhen und Tiefen des Lebens

"The Beautiful Dark Of Life" ist das neunte Studioalbum von Atreyu und ihr ehrgeizigstes Projekt aller Zeiten. Im Laufe des Jahres als eine Reihe von drei EPs entfaltet und mit einer Überraschungsveröffentlichung des Albums gekrönt, nimmt Atreyu ihr Publikum mit auf eine Reise durch 'die Jahreszeiten des Lebens' und die Achterbahn des menschlichen Daseins.

Mit Songs, die offen und ehrlich über Ängste, Depressionen, Selbstvertrauen, Liebe und Identität sprechen, repräsentiert 'The Beautiful Dark Of Life' das universellste und wichtigste Songwriting von Atreyu bis heute. Durch die Äußerung von tief persönlichen Gefühlen und Emotionen verleiht Atreyu einer globalen Hörerschaft eine Stimme, die mit denselben Problemen zu kämpfen hat, die die Band offenlegt, und die Trost, Empathie, Flucht und Stärkung durch Musik sucht.

Mit Klängen, die jede Ecke des Heavy-Musikspektrums berühren - von Metal bis Punk und Alternative über klassischen Rock der 80er Jahre bis hin zu industriellen, Hip-Hop- und unverblümten Pop-Elementen - ist 'The Beautiful Dark Of Life' ein Album, das das Beste von Atreyu und all ihren Einflüssen zeigt und mehr denn je zu einer Generation von Musikfans spricht, die sich wenig um die traditionellen Genre-Grenzen schert.

Atreyu's 'The Beautiful Dark Of Life': Eine universelle Reise durch die Höhen und Tiefen des Lebens

"The Beautiful Dark Of Life" ist das neunte Studioalbum von Atreyu und ihr ehrgeizigstes Projekt aller Zeiten. Im Laufe des Jahres als eine Reihe von drei EPs entfaltet und mit einer Überraschungsveröffentlichung des Albums gekrönt, nimmt Atreyu ihr Publikum mit auf eine Reise durch 'die Jahreszeiten des Lebens' und die Achterbahn des menschlichen Daseins.

Mit Songs, die offen und ehrlich über Ängste, Depressionen, Selbstvertrauen, Liebe und Identität sprechen, repräsentiert 'The Beautiful Dark Of Life' das universellste und wichtigste Songwriting von Atreyu bis heute. Durch die Äußerung von tief persönlichen Gefühlen und Emotionen verleiht Atreyu einer globalen Hörerschaft eine Stimme, die mit denselben Problemen zu kämpfen hat, die die Band offenlegt, und die Trost, Empathie, Flucht und Stärkung durch Musik sucht.

Mit Klängen, die jede Ecke des Heavy-Musikspektrums berühren - von Metal bis Punk und Alternative über klassischen Rock der 80er Jahre bis hin zu industriellen, Hip-Hop- und unverblümten Pop-Elementen - ist 'The Beautiful Dark Of Life' ein Album, das das Beste von Atreyu und all ihren Einflüssen zeigt und mehr denn je zu einer Generation von Musikfans spricht, die sich wenig um die traditionellen Genre-Grenzen schert.

A sonic snapshot of America's steel capital, developed in the prosperous cavern between the departure of the Jackson 5 to Motown and the collapse of U.S. Steel, Skyway Soul is a love letter to Gary, Indiana. Featuring The New Day, El Anthony, Nate Evans, Sky's The Limit, Wilton Crump, Lost Weekend, General Lee, Krash Band, Billy Foster & Audio, I.N.D., and Junei, this double album collects 21 lost songs from the southern-most tip of Lake Michigan. Housed in a deluxe tip-on gatefold jacket, with a 16-page booklet crammed with photos, ephemera, and an indepth essay from Jake Austen, Skyway Soul connects the dots between The Spaniels, Michael Jackson, and Freddie Gibbs. Don't forget to pay the toll

A sonic snapshot of America's steel capital, developed in the prosperous cavern between the departure of the Jackson 5 to Motown and the collapse of U.S. Steel, Skyway Soul is a love letter to Gary, Indiana. Featuring The New Day, El Anthony, Nate Evans, Sky's The Limit, Wilton Crump, Lost Weekend, General Lee, Krash Band, Billy Foster & Audio, I.N.D., and Junei, this double album collects 21 lost songs from the southern-most tip of Lake Michigan. Housed in a deluxe tip-on gatefold jacket, with a 16-page booklet crammed with photos, ephemera, and an indepth essay from Jake Austen, Skyway Soul connects the dots between The Spaniels, Michael Jackson, and Freddie Gibbs. Don't forget to pay the toll

George Davis drops part 2 of his ‘Ona’ EP: heavenly house featuring a remix by the legendary Roy Davis Jr.
kickin’ up dust drops part 2 of the ‘Ona’ EP by George Davis. A jazzy bassline, snazzy piano keys and a rhythmical vocal send hips swinging and shoulders shaking in ‘Gomera’, a track which Chicagoan legend Roy Davis Jr. then remixes with a ‘Chitown Vibe’. Squelchy synths and organic percussion enter his version with a stylish swagger, maintaining the keys while moving the vocals to the back of the mix. Next up, ‘Bumpa’ is built for the dancefloor, an infectious groove forming the base for whimsical flute-like melodies, before ‘Soul Journey’ closes out the record with a gorgeous slow-burning vision of sunset shores and distant views.
Following on from his first ‘Ona’ EP which dropped on kickin’ up dust in March, and which won the support of artists like Honey Dijon, Nightmares On Wax, DJ Sneak and many more, George Davis now drops part two in the series. The german label, which initially started in 2021 as a party in the techno capital of Berlin, first turned heads hosting artists with a funkier edge to them such as Maurice Fulton, DJ Deep, and Louie Vega.

PRESSED ON FRUIT PUNCH COLORED VINYL WITH HAND NUMBERED OBILIMITED TO 2000 COPIES

The contemporary realm of hip hop music can be seen as polarized between two sides; mainstream versus underground, industry versus independent, at a base level boiled down to catchy sounds & infective hooks over higher quality lyrical content. These elements don’t need to be mutually exclusive, but these days it’s rare to find an act that can please all sides of the discussion. Clipse are one of the few groups that successfully and consistently caters to both sides of rap’s splintered psyche, simultaneously serving the scene with upbeat bangers that get the club poppin’ & subwoofers rattlin’ while crafting clever quotable compositions deserving of repeated headphone submersions. Though their preceding official albums Lord Willin’ (2002) & Hell Hath No Fury (2006) made bigger splashes commercially, 2009’s Til The Casket Drops is surely no slouch, a gem which deserves to be revisited with fresh ears – good thing Get On Down has given it the proper treatment it deserves with its first-ever vinyl pressing!
Til The Casket Drops was a departure from the duo of Malice & Pusha T’s previous works in that it was their first LP not completely produced by The Neptunes. However, the celebrated team who brought us ‘Grinding’ & ‘Mr. Me Too’ still helmed 8 of the album’s 13 tracks, thus dominating the soundscapes and aesthetic of the album anyway. With the remaining beats handled by Hitmen Sean C & LV (Jay-Z, Big Pun, Ghostface) and Aftermath’s DJ Khalil (Kendrick Lamar, Aloe Blacc, Eminem) clearly Clipse stock hadn’t lowered in the game. While boasting notable vocal features from Kanye West, Pharrell, Cam’ron, Keri Hilson, Yo Gotti & their Re-Up Gang affiliate Ab-Liva, Casket Drops leaves ample space for the core emcee duo of Pusha & Malice to shine in the spotlight, with verses revolving around each other succinctly in-synch and bonded by an exceptional creative rhythm only biological brothers could share.
Clipse have always delighted in dualities, juxtapositions and contradictions, unabashedly celebrating the capitalistic lifestyle and the grind as the kings of ‘coke-rap’, while taking hard looks at society’s mores and those of their own individual journeys. We hear Malice’s eventual transition to No Malice taking form on this album as he found religion, warning others who might follow in his path on ‘Footsteps’: “don’t let my wrongs give you the right of way/ to emulate my past escaping the law’s grasp” while refusing to be pinned down in one lane: “it weights on my conscience and I hate conscious rap”. Meanwhile Pusha T continues his lyrical ascent into the King Push persona with bars like “pompous motherfucker, look what them jewels made me/ I’m only finding comfort in knowing you can’t replace me/ What a thing to say, but what am I to do/ I’m role-playing a conscious nigga and true is true/ Cocaine aside, all of the bloggers behooved/ My critics finally have a verse of mine to jerk off to” decisively on album opener “Freedom”.
Since it dropped, the Clipse have stated that Casket… is their final album together while subsequently alluding to the possibility of an eventual reunion. Only time will tell, but until then it’s time to re-celebrate one of hip hop’s most dynamic duos by hearing Til The Casket Drops in a whole new light with its long-overdue, first time on vinyl pressing via Get On Down featuring all 13 original tracks on wax and cover art by the legendary KAWS! It’s kinda like a big deal…

Get ready to rock out with Ned's Atomic Dustbin 'Session'

This high- energy band is known for their unique blend of punk, rock, and indie sound. Formed in Stourbridge, West Midlands, in November 1987, the band is best known for the tracks 'Not Sleeping Around', 'Happy' and 'Trust' all featured on this explosive Live album. Don't miss your chance to experience their electrifying performance.

Miss D used to work as a model in New York. That she ended up in Vienna was sheer coincidence. That she became a recording artist was never planned, either. She moved to the Austrian capital with a well-known commercial producer in the mid-1980s, and soon she found herself recording TV ads for ice cream manufacturers.

One day in the recording studio, someone had the brilliant idea of making a proper record with her. The outcome was the highly sought-after disco oddity "Moving", most copies of which were destroyed due to a lack of commercial success.

Now getting a second chance, "Moving" is as strong as Austrian disco productions from that era come: slow, bouncy, full of personality and consistently surprising. So, three cheers to coincidences and random ideas in recording studios. This is a most memorable 7".

With a voice of pure gold and a startling sensitivity for heartfelt pop songwriting, on No Reino Dos Afetos (In the Realm of Affections), Berle firmly embraces earnestness, through starry-eyed Brazilian love songs, ambient vignettes, warm, home-cooked beats and gentle strokes of MPB genius.

Maceió, the capital of Brazil’s Alagoas state on its sprawling east-coast, is home to pastel coloured colonial houses, white sand beaches and a brilliant young composer, poet and multi-instrumentalist named Bruno Berle.
With a voice of pure gold and a startling sensitivity for heartfelt pop songwriting, on No Reino Dos Afetos (In the Realm of Affections), Berle firmly embraces earnestness, through starry-eyed Brazilian love songs, ambient vignettes, warm, home-cooked beats and gentle strokes of MPB genius.

“It’s an album that was built from my desire to find beauty”, Berle explains - his simple, graceful words mirroring the graceful simplicity in his music. But amongst the simplicity, the compositions, arrangements and productions on No Reino Dos Afetos tingle with nuance and detail.

On the contemporary R&B inspired lead single “Quero Dizer” - produced by Berle and longtime friend and collaborator Batata Boy - the swirling, lo-fi, kalimba and guitar-fronted beat is turned into a feel-good hit by the ingenuity of Berle’s honey-soaked vocal melody.

Powerfully intimate, “O Nome Do Meu Amor” (My Love’s Name) is a guaranteed tearjerker, with Berle’s stunning voice soaring over gently plucked acoustic guitar and the textural flutter of soft movement, as if we hear him writing the song in the moment.
Drawing upon a close-knit, collaborative scene of Maceió artists and musicians, (of which Berle and Batata Boy are vital members), Berle also recorded some of his friends songs on the album, including João Menezes’ “Até Meu Violao”, the album’s beautifully laid back sunshine soul opener, which has all the charm of early-70s João Donato.

Having cut his teeth in soft-rock group Troco em Bala, and more recently finding himself embedded in both Rio and Sao Paulo’s contemporary music scenes - collaborating with the likes of Ana Frango Eletrico, who took the photo for the album cover - No Reino Dos Afetos is as musically diverse as Bruno himself. It’s hazy indie rock (“É Preciso Ter Amor”), calming ambient and field recording (“Virginia Talk”) as well as Berle’s own take on West African High Life (“Som Nyame”).

Instantly recognisable as a truly special artist, Berle’s character fills every corner of the sound, which is unsurprising considering he played most of the instruments.

After glowing reviews of Dreaming Forever 001 and club plays from Ben UFO, Skatebard, Michael Mayer and many more, we are very proud to announce 002.
 
 Berlin based DJ Marie Lung is a regular performer at some of the best venues in the house and techno capital. After discovering Marie Lung’s set on HÖR and being blown away by her performances on the channel consistently, we contacted the artist to see if she had any demo tracks for us.
 
 The resulting tracks were two timeless and evocative house records that we play constantly in the Dreaming Forever offices. A spaced out remix from the inimitable Vril and a super classy rework from Matthias Reiling, one half of Session Victim, makes up the release.
 
 We are proud to release Marie’s inaugural record.

Multidisciplinary artist GAIKA returns with a new track titled “LADY” featuring bbymutha from his forthcoming album, Drift out on September 8th.

Thrashing drums and droned out guitars take immediate effect on “LADY” but it’s the two mavericks' electrifying chemistry that is the driving force of this track. Enlisting KIDÄ (Yves Tumor) on production with additional contributions from Azekel (Gorillaz) and Max Winter, alternative rock and audacious rap come crashing together as GAIKA and bbymutha flex their lyrical prowess, unapologetically expressing their devotion to their lovers on this twisted, feverish affair.

Newly signed to Big Dada Recordings, home to Roots Manuva, Yaya Bey, Kae Tempest, Brian Nasty and more, GAIKA jumps back into music with new invigoration after delving into work as a composer to unveil Drift - his most expansive work to date. The visionary invites listeners on a high-speed journey where love, pain, brutality and beauty collide to produce a vivid and provocative cinematic masterpiece. The sonic universe of Drift is the most stylistically accurate representation of GAIKA’s personal tastes to date, stitching musical influences past and present such as Prince, Wu Tang Clan, Massive Attack, John Coltrane, Pink Siifu and A$AP Rocky to land on a gritty, distorted sound pulsating with an unwavering, formidable energy that’s disruptive yet timeless.

Drift is 14 tracks of nostalgic escapism, a shape-shifting body of work with hip hop and club music cultures at its core, as those simply run through the veins of GAIKA. Analogue and retro in feeling, Drift’s psychedelic feel is formed by incorporating 90s grunge, dark wave, post-punk and alt-rock into its tapestry. It’s a representation of his heritage and environment, featuring calypso steel pans to gospel vocals, reverberating dub to frenetic rap and elements of sound design taken from recordings of the real world. GAIKA’s music transcends borders and his nomadic nature means he simultaneously belongs and doesn’t, his music cannot be confined to just one genre and this unique new record further cements him as one of the most progressive artists of our time, telling the tale of modern day renaissance man driving away from the economic hierarchy he doesn't believe in.

GAIKA endeavoured to create a waking dream by constant participation in communal art making, removing the separation between art and life, his imagination and community and breaking the boundary between real life and any spectacular representation of it. He set up a number of situational arts facilities in the heart of London including shows at ICA, 180 the Strand, Now Gallery and as the world reopened, created pop up galleries, studios, exhibitions and raves with the intention to enhance the experience of real life by dreaming. To achieve this coherently and authentically the process became akin to a form of psychological examination of memories made before music “mattered” to GAIKA - before becoming commodified, individualised and his name capitalised.

Drift became the term used to describe the creative happenings in these spaces and the name for the collective of people who made this record. GAIKA is the central writer and composer working closely with KIDÄ on production and a group of classically trained musicians with contributions from Azekel, Charlie Stacey, Brbko and The Narrator over an extended period of time where they recorded music late into the night, night after night.

Repress!

Vinyl format of the album that was released on CD on February 15th. Features the singles "First Off" (feat Travis Scott), "Crushed Up", "Jumpin On A Jet" and more. Radio support across R1, 1Xtra, BBC Asian Network, Capital Xtra, ILR specialists. Streaming activity across all platforms. MTV/Vevo video rotation. Ads, features and reviews across specialist music mags. Online/social media activity.

Die Neuauflage des "Happy Songs For Happy People" Albums von Mogwai, streng limitiert auf Transparent Green Vinyl.

The evolution of Swampmeat Family Band continues apace. When the Birmingham outfit released
their incendiary third album, Muck, three years ago, it marked the culmination of the kind of vision that
frontman Dan Finnemore had always had for them; having returned from the U.S. after a spell as a key
member of Philadelphia rockers Low Cut Connie, he was burning with ideas and inspiration,
channeling a renewed creative energy into a new-look version of the garage band he’d formed, as
simply Swampmeat, with drummer T-Bird Jones in 2006. Muck certainly felt like a family affair, one
that saw the group expand to a five-piece and broaden their musical palette, boldening their bolshier
side with brass, lending their forays into country some authenticity with the addition of pedal steel and,
by welcoming vocalist Joni Coyne into the fold, providing Finnemore with a new foil. The new
accoutrements came together to form the basis of Swampmeat 2.0, a slicker, sharper band anchored
by Finnemore’s handsome arrangements and melodic sensibilities. Polish Your Old Halo continues
Finnemore’s hot vein of songwriting form with Muck and capitalises upon that album’s creative
momentum, without being afraid to try new things and remove old ones; the brass and strings that
made it on to Muck have been left to one side, propelling Finnemore’s writing to the fore. The
freewheeling blues rock that came to define their last album is still alive and well. But there’s also
progression, something particularly evident in the album’s bookends; ‘Do It All’ brings the curtain up
with juddering, synth-led punk energy, while closer ‘Plant Your Feet Correctly’ is a swooning acoustic
cut, initially envisioned as having a string section but now presented in vulnerable, bare-bones fashion.

'I heard about Seif Abu Bakr and The Scorpions maybe 3-4 years ago. Their album 'Jazz, Jazz Jazz' ended up on my radar because of an eBay auction with the bids eventually rising daily up to a staggering 1000$. The music is a unique combination of incredible horn arrangements powerfully performed, a vigorous drummer contributing a funky backbone and Seif's vocals uniting those elements. The results range from instrumental tracks awaking memories of 1970s crime thriller soundtracks to more Sudanese-rooted tracks, a lot of them modernized versions traditional rhythms of the diverse regions of Sudan and even an excursion into Colgolese Soukouss.
I went for my second trip to Sudan in December 2018 and after doing some research on the first trip my local colleagues Larissa and Yassir had managed to reach Amir, The Scorpions band leader and he was happy to meet. We got together with him in a Cafe right at the Nile in Omdurman. It was a happy occasion for everyone. He told us stories about him meeting Jimmy Cliff and Lewis Armstrong when they visited Sudan and how he and his band mates from The Scorpions played extensively in Kuwait, both in club residencies as well as for television. Amir brought tons of incredible photos illustrating not only the bands history but the vivid cultural live in the many music clubs in Khartoum of the 1970s. During this decade up until 1983 the capital was home to a huge number of clubs, bards and concert halls. This scene started to perish after president Nimeiry's turn away from his socialist policies, that he was widely associated with in the first decade of his rule, towards the implementation of Sharia law in 1983. During the first decade of his rule he had actively supported various artists of the Jazz scene, taking some of them on trips throughout Africa. The 1989 coup of Bashir and his generals then caused the final blow to a once thriving scene. Both of these political events within 6 years lead to significant drawbacks for the Sudanese jazz scene resulting into hardly no gig opportunities left and parties and concerts being critically observed. A number of musicians faced prosecution, most of the time for their political views; some left Sudan for good. Music never completely vanished from public life and even the regime kept selected artists close, but for a majority of those bands affiliated to the jazz scene life and making ends became a lot harder. The Scorpions dissolved as a group around the same time.
The re-release was produced with a clean copy of the vinyl version as a source. The original reel tape of the album stayed with Saif Abu Bakr along with another reel with other recordings that were never released. Unfortunately it was lost when Saif Abu Bakr had to flee to Kuwait temporarily during the second gulf war when Iraq raided Kuwait. Vinyl version comes with extensive booklets with photos, interviews, liner notes. The vinyl version also has a DLL code.

USA Nails veröffentlichen ihr fünftes Album Character Stop über Bigout Records. Die Platte wurde über 4 Tage im Londoner Bear Bites Horse mit Produzent Wayne Adams live eingespielt. Obwohl "Character Stop" immer noch den peitschenden Noise-Punk enthält, für den USA Nails bekannt geworden ist, ist es ausgewogen mit nüchterneren, niedergeschlageneren Momenten. Auf ihm erforschen sie Identität - wie die Online-Personen aggressiver Twitter-Nutzer, Beeinflusser und Vlogger, aber auch eher introspektive Einstellungen zur psychischen Gesundheit, das Aufgeben von Träumen, die Freude (und Verzweiflung), ein Teilzeitnutzer zu sein, und die Überlegung, wer sie wären, wenn sie beschließen würden, ihre Gitarren für immer an den Nagel zu hängen. In den letzten Jahren sind USA Nails mit den Sub-Pop-Lieblingen Metz, Mission Of Burma, John, Future Of The Left, Mclusky*, Cocaine Piss, Viagra Boys, Murder Capital und Unsane auf Tour gewesen.

Ned’s Atomic Dustbin’s debut album God Fodder is an often overlooked classic in the British shoegaze and alternative rock scene. The album is characterized by the noisy guitars and drum beats. God Fodder was a critical and commercial success, peaking at number 4 in the UK chart and number 91 on the Billboard 200. The college friendly songs can’t be taken too serious, but the sound is immense, mainly by recording the songs with 2 bass guitars. The album was praised by almost every magazine and could be considered one of their best albums.

Available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on silver & black marbled vinyl. The package includes an insert.

Nicht nur in der aktuellen Hardrock/Metal-Szene beziehen sich immer mehr junge Bands, darunter auch viele deutsche Acts (als Beispiel seien Wucan genannt), auf die heute wesentlich mehr gewürdigten Jahre des Krautrock. Natürlich handelt es sich bei dem Begriff nicht direkt um einen Stil, denn von Hardrock bis Jazz/Fusion wurde einst fast alles in diesen Topf geworfen.

Neben Elektronikpionieren wie Can, Tangerine Dream oder Kraftwerk gab es eben auch die Gruppen, die man im Rock verorten kann: Jane, Birth Control oder Lucifer´s Friend sind nur drei Beispiele. Auf „German Rock“ findet man in der Tat auch eine der frühen Bands: Floh De Cologne, die schon Anfang der Siebziger Rock mit deutscher Sprache geboten haben. Die Hardrocker Mass aus Regensburg, lieferten ihr Debütalbum, welches auf „German Rock“ ebenso gewürdigt wird, im Jahr 1977 ab.

Der Rest der ungewöhnlichen Compilation, welche es nur auf Vinyl gibt, befasst sich mit späten Gruppen, die Anfang der 80er noch einen Sound geliefert haben, der durchaus ein paar Jahre früher seinen Ursprung hätte haben können. Und in der Tat wurden auch mindestens zwei Songs nach Ende der 70er geschrieben, allerdings kam der Plattenvertrag oder das Kapital für eine Eigenpressung „zu spät“. Viele dieser spannenden Bands wie Iris, Cannock oder Sphinx waren bei Erscheinen nicht mehr dem Zeitgeist entsprechend, so dass
sie nur wenige, oder nur lokale Chancen hatten. Heute suchen Fans und Neugierige eben nach solchen unbekannten Acts, die eine vergangene Zeit neu zum Leben erwecken. Handgemachte Musik, und das nicht nur live, sondern eben auch noch im Tonstudio. Das Material der Frühachtziger-Gruppen auf dieser Compilation erinnert den einen oder anderen vielleicht auch an die regionalen Helden, wie man sie in den 80ern noch in lokalen Sporthallen erleben konnte…

Nostalgie ist aber nicht das Hauptanliegen dieser LP, sondern der Erhalt wertvoller Musik, die damals nicht bei den großen Majorlabels
erschienen ist.

Not only in the current hard rock/metal scene more and more young bands, among them also many German acts (as an example Wucan may be mentioned), refer to the nowadays much more appreciated years of Krautrock. Of course, the term is not directly a style, because from hard rock to jazz / fusion was once almost assigned to this style.

Besides electronic pioneers like Can, Tangerine Dream or Kraftwerk, there were also the groups that can be categorized as rock: Jane, Birth Control or Lucifer‘s Friend are just three examples.

On „German Rock“ you can indeed also find one of the early bands: Floh De Cologne, who already offered rock with German language at the beginning of the seventies. The hard rockers Mass from Regensburg delivered their debut album, which is also honored on „German Rock“, in 1977.

The rest of the unusual compilation, which is only available on vinyl, deals with late groups that still delivered a sound in the early eighties that could well have originated a few years earlier. And indeed, at least two songs were written in the late seventies, but the record deal or the capital for a selfpressing came „too late“. Many of these exciting bands like Iris, Cannock or Sphinx were no longer in line with the zeitgeist when they appeared, so they had few or only local chances.

Today, dedicated fans and the curious are looking for just such unknown acts that bring a bygone era back to life. Handmade music, and not only live, but also in the recording studio.

The stuff of the early eighties groups on this compilation may remind some of the regional heroes, as you could still experience them in the eighties in local gyms... Nostalgia is not the main concern of this LP, but the preservation of valuable music, which was not released by the big major labels at that time.

Sophie Lloyd returns to Luke Solomon’s imprint alongside the effervescent singer songwriter Amy Douglas for a wax release of ‘Sweet Love’, an anthemic disco release bursting with sensuality. The pair are well known to Classic fans; Sophie for her debut release, ‘Calling Out’ with Detroit trio Dames Brown, and her subsequent release ‘Angels By My Side’ which received a soulful remix package from Floorplan.

Additionally, nostalgic house vocals from Brooklyn’s Amy Douglas have appeared on tracks from Luke Solomon’s ‘Love. Hope. Happiness’ to Horse Meat Disco’s ‘Message To The People’, also featuring the Dames. For the Love Hangover mix of ‘Sweet Love’, a slow, intoxicating intro erupts in a burst of energy as Amy’s vocals and Sophie’s production come together for an ambitious, driving composition.

The vinyl also features a remix from the label boss himself; Luke Solomon’s Always Love Revision of this modern disco anthem ups the ante, adding huge swathes of energy to the previously sensual record. Similarly, the Sweet Lovin’ Mix capitalises on the raucous finale from the original Love Hangover Mix.

Slave To Society pays homage to the legendary cultural theorist and philosopher, Mark Fisher. Diving into some of the conceptual ideas of Fisher’s literature and philosophy, you'll feel like you're wandering through a post-apocalyptic landscape in the future with this hard hitting, haunting and atmospheric piece.

‘The Future That Never Arrived’ experience the paranoia and anxiety of the digital age with this gritty and dissonant track. Fisher's ideas about technology's impact on society come to life in a sonic onslaught.
‘Cyberspace’ exploration of desire and its endless repetition. The frenetic energy of this track mirrors the insatiable hunger of consumer culture.
’Is There No Alternative’ the title track offers a sense of reflection and departure. It echoes Fisher's thoughts on escaping the boundaries of the present moment.
‘Ghosts Of My Life’ this track encapsulates Fisher's critique of our modern capitalist society. The heavy beats mirror the relentless grind of capitalism, while the haunting melodies reflect the loss of authentic experiences.

Cogan Has Been Part for Many Years of Parisian Collective House of Underground With Whom He Played Records All Over the French Capital as Well as the Country's Main Cities Clubs and Festivals From North to south.

He Recently Joined the Collective and Label Friendsome as a Resident to Take His Career to Another Level, Releasing His First Solo Wax : Power Source EP.
This Ep Is an Extract of His Live Performance, Which He Has Been Working on for Almost a Year, and Will Be Shown for the First Time at Badaboum on September 9th 2023 as Part of Friendsome's 5th Anniversary Party. We Will All Discover a New Side of Cogan's Work, Being More Known for His High Energy House Music, This Ep Takes Us on a Ride of Acid Techno With 90's Rave Inspirations. a Music That Will Not Let the Dancefloors and Audiences Restful !

Opening Up "Softly" on the Track for the Hackers Will Get You Into the Vibe of the Whole Ep, Before Taking Off on the Banger for the Racers. Track 2 and 3, Being for Gamblers and Farmers, Conclude This Beautiful Ep to Keep It Engraved in Your Mind Until the Next Party! Enjoy the Ride......