quête:cease

Following the release of the shoegaze masterpiece Delaware in 1992, and the intricate experimentations on National Coma in 1993, Drop Nineteens disbanded. They had a great run. Shared stages with Radiohead, Hole, Blur, PJ Harvey. Went from being teenaged kids in Boston to mid twenty somethings with an MTV video under their belt. So when Drop Nineteens ceased to be, Greg Ackell felt content, music was a closed chapter. That was until 2021. For the first time in nearly 30 years, Ackell felt compelled to pick up a guitar. He immediately called up Steve Zimmeran, the band's bassist and fellow guitarist, and the two got writing. It felt effortless for Ackell, like he never stopped writing music. "We were off to the races," he says. "But also the question came up: what does a Drop Nineteens song sound like today? Enter Hard Light, the band's stunning third record. It's the band's proverbial follow up to Delaware, a modern Drop Nineteens record that is completely singular in its sound and vision. The first task making Hard Light, was of course, getting the rest of the band back together. Drop Nineteens is an inherently collaborative project. Ackell's primarily the lyrics writer, and he collaborates with Zimmerman, Paula Kelley, Motohiro Yasue, and Peter Koeplin to create the sonic world. The record came together over the course of a year, recording at a patchwork of studios all around the country. Making music together felt natural, fluid, exciting. The guitar reverb is expansive as ever. Ackell and Kelley's vocals are crystalline. "Scapa Flow," is triumphant. An excellent example of what a modern day Drop Nineteens song sounds like. The guitars glide like clouds on a blue sky day, drums shuffle in the background, searching. Ackell and Kelley's vocals are cool toned and dreamy, bound up in a haze of reverb. It's unquestionably lovely. You could say the same for the whole of the record. Hard Light is so lovely. A portrait of a band 30 years later, as talented and as dedicated to their craft as ever.

Morcheeba has sold over 10 million albums and toured the world the last two decades. They mix trip hop, rock, folk rock and downtempo, and have produced nine studio albums since 1995. Two of which reached the UK top ten.

Morcheeba's The Antidote is a special one. It is the album which features Daisy Martey on vocals, who replaced Skye Edwards. Martey´s psychedelic influences were added to Morcheeba´s standard mix of soul, hip hop, country, and electronics. In addition, The Antidote was recorded live altogether and features furthermore “Wonders Never Cease” and “Everybody Loves A Loser”.

The Antidote is available as a limited edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on crystal clear vinyl and includes an insert with lyrics.

SEVENDUST is an American rock band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 1994 consisting of members Lajon Witherspoon (lead vocals), Clint Lowrey (lead guitarist), Vince Hornsby (bassist), Morgan Rose (drummer), and John Connolly (rhythm guitar). Since formation, SEVENDUST have attained success with three consecutive RIAA gold-certified albums, a Grammy nomination, and have sold millions of records worldwide. The group has released a total of thirteen studio albums, and this compilation features 7 incredible records from their catalog

This is the first official reissue of The Candles Burning Blue’s highly appraised cult album Pearls Given To The Swine. For two decades the original CD pressing has been sought after but nearly impossible to find. Known for their violent and chaotic gigs, The Candles Burning Blue were an unconventional Gothic Rock band. Instead of romantic beauty they dealt with the harsher aspects of the darkness oozing from their own troubled lives. Even though they only released two CD-r, a split 7” and one full album, their impact on the Finnish Goth underground was a lasting one. Pearls Given To The Swine was recorded in 2000 and released in 2001 on CD, with only 500 official copies pressed. Some years later new copies appeared from shady sources, but basically the album disappeared from the face of the Earth. In 2001 the band started to work on the second album Pleasure Dome and also had some material recorded for the projected third album Abhorrence, but ceased to exist before any of this material was released. Until now. This reissue has a full length bonus disc consisting of these songs. The Candles Burning Blue had its roots firmly in Gothic Rock as performed by bands like Bauhaus, Christian Death, Virgin Prunes and The Cure, but they mixed in elements of experimentalism and art rock. Pearls Given To The Swine is a lost and found classic of Finnish Gothic Rock, and a fine example of Finnish dark culture around the turn of the millennium. Members went on to play in bands like Reverend Bizarre, The Puritan, Werwolf Lodge and Opium Warlords, but never reunited.

Skarra Mucci is a Jamaican Reggae and Dancehall artist born in Kingston. Known as the "Dancehall President", his career counts 7 solo albums, including the essential "Return of the Raggamuffin" (2012) and countless classics and cult collaborations, such as the hit "My Sound" from the album "Greater Than Great" (2014) which exceeds 15 million cumulative Spotify and YouTube streams and the critically acclaimed album "Dancehall President" (2016) with its tour of more than 100 dates around the world, from Mexico to China.

5 years after the release of "Skarra Mucci & The One Love Family" (2018), this essential figure of Jamaican music, with his versatile flow and recognizable voice, announces a new studio album with multiple influences "Perfect Timing", which is scheduled for release on September 29, 2023.

The album opens with a hybrid roots-tinged hip hop riddim. Brass and percussion resonate throughout the track as Skarra Mucci gives way to a mesmerizing voice sample that gives the track “Here I Come” all its depth.

An introduction that sets the tone for an album tinged with a mix of genres by Skarra Mucci and his team of top producers brought together by Undisputed Records. "Perfect Timing" is indeed an ode to Reggae of all eras, full of nods to the Sound System culture, from its beginnings to the present day. From the choice of the featurings to that of the producers, nothing is left to chance to offer us a journey through the highlights of this rich culture which has never ceased to evolve, without any period being left behind.

For his 1st single, it is with a major player in the current Reggae scene that Skarra Mucci has chosen to announce the release of his 8th solo album by inviting the Martiniquais Yaniss Odua on the title "Roots Rock Reggae".

Accustomed to albums teeming with successful collaborations, "Perfect Timing" is obviously no exception to the rule. We find in particular on the title "Street Dance" the essential French producers of L'Entourloop, with whom he released the very successful EP "Golden Nuggets" (2019, 6 titles, 17M cumulative streams Spotify and YouTube) to drop once again a banger between Hip-Hop and Dancehall in line with their huge 2013 hit “Dreader Than Dread” (38M combined Spotify and YouTube streams).

Jamaican legend Johnny Osbourne also takes part in the celebration for a version of his classic of the digital era "What A La La", with Skarra Mucci on the Stalag riddim replayed for the occasion by the beatmaker specialist in the matter: Manudigital.

Skarra Mucci continues his exploration of various styles and influences with the very groovy "Dancehall", produced by the musicians of Dub Akom, in which he lets us perceive all his class and his swing. We also find the massive “Who Fool Them”, a UK stepper track produced by Evidence Music, but also the future Dancehall classic “Rappa Pam Pam”, or the huge “Misty Babylon” in a much more Roots register.

The album "Perfect Timing" ends with the eponymous title, on a riddim and Lovers Rock melodies carried by a joyful piano and a groovy bass. A finale in the form of a declaration of love for Reggae, this music which gave him so much and to which he gave everything.

See you on September 29, 2023 to discover "Perfect Timing", Skarra Mucci's new album.

A truly enigmatic character from the golden era of Jamaican roots music, Icho Candy is an artist that has, to me, always been shrouded in mystery. A devout rastafarian born with a gift for prophetic songwriting, Candy always writes in a way that is true to himself and his deep seated beliefs, regardless of the external pressures he endures as a veteran artist, an incredible feet for an independent artist with a career that spans fifty years.

First recording for the great Joe Gibbs and Jack Ruby in the late seventies, Icho’s big break in the industry came with the hit record “Captain Selassie”, a track that is widely considered to be one of the greatest rastafari anthems in dancehall. During this time Icho also recorded for labels such as Jah Life, Rockers International, Tesfa, Jah Shaka and many more. Like so many of the great artists in the eighties Icho recorded and toured in America for an extended period alongside Sugar Minott, Nicodemus, Nitty Gritty, King Kong before returning to Jamaica to record two amazing albums for the late Jah Shaka.

The A side of this latest seven inch gives us the classic writing style of Icho Candy. Pairing his lyrical depth with an early 70’s Phil Pratt style production. An eerie horns line meets the clean sharp, older school backing vocals provided by The Mighty Viceroys to create something magical, the type of record we thought we may have already heard on some scratchy 45 deep in a soundmans crate.

Yakka once again returns to the label on B side duties, providing another Tubby inspired voyage into dusty fx units and quick draw fades. The bassline increases, the vocal decreases but the vibe never ceases.

Welcome home Icho Candy

Emerging Glasgow trio Brenda release their self-titled debut album with
Last Night From Glasgow
Brenda are Litty Hughes on guitar, Apsi Witana on drums and Flore de Hooge on
synths - with all three contributing to lyrics and vocals.They've created a name for
themselves by gigging across Glasgow - their energetic sets described as the
type that "end up seared onto your brain after a single viewing" with their
"impudent, inventive and extremely DIY punk- pop" (The Scotsman). Although
easily compared to the riot grrrls that came before them, it is clear that Brenda is
content with being something totally unconventional. The combination of dreamy
synths, witty lyrics and joint vocals is infectious. DIY ethos and unapologetic
energy, Brenda could be your new favourite band.
The album will be launched with a gig at Glasgow's Glad Cafe on 28th July.
The most exciting set of the evening came from Glasgow all-female trio
Brenda...their name daubed on a collapsing bedsheet behind them, like they were
signalling to the media from the roof of a prison riot." - The Scotsman
"Offbeat leftfield synth driven pop with a self deprecating wit and between song
banter that just has the audience eating out of the palm of their hands." - The
Ginger Quiff
"Great set - a certain DIY enthusiasm which is hard to put into words." - Is This
Music?

From the opening strains of the politico title-track to the countrified pedal steel guitar on "Man With A Mission," from the anti-establishment anthem "American Jesus," to the heart rending ballad "Struck A Nerve," Bad Religion"s Recipe For Hate is by far their most eclectic album, and one that never ceases to stir up controversy among fans. Graffin, a seething combination of perfect pitch and skeptical emotion, reaffirms his place as one of the best punk rock vocalists on this record. Guest appearances abound, from Eddie Vedder (of Pearl Jam fame) harmonizing on "American Jesus" and "Watch it Die," to Concrete Blonde"s Johnette Napolitano"s stunning vocals on "Struck A Nerve," to Claw Hammer"s John Wahl and Chris Bagarozzi"s searing guitar leads on "Kerosene." As the songwriting team of Graffin/Gurewitz pull back from their more introspective writing that appeared on some of the previous albums, they focus ever more keenly on the events of the day. Recipe For Hate is a scathing commentary on the state of the nation, a social criticism addressing alcoholism, abortion and homelessness. Reissued on limited edition Red w/ black smoke vinyl to celebrate the album"s 30th anniversary!

El Nido: a welcoming embrace in uncertain times. The world changed forever in the second quarter of 2020. The life we were used to ceased to be, as we were overcome by constant fear, distrust in all that surrounded us and a fatalist attitude towards the world we lived in. With the pandemic came lockdown, mandatory isolation for months, empty streets, face masks, hand sanitizer, the fear of going out, an absurd roll call of Covid fatalities, the daily tension of not knowing when it would all end and the urge to "get back to normal," something that certainly never happened. Out of that pandemic saturation and that urge for "normality" came El Nido ("The Nest"), the third album by Italy-based Colombian producer Montoya, who describes this record as "becoming virgins of destiny again, facing up to that fatalist world and creating that longing for tranquility. Savoring that moment prior to the pandemic, that instant when the most important thing wasn't the immediate reality or the global situation." Montoya sees El Nido as that quiet place that you think of when you close your eyes; it is a beach or a mountain, a sunrise or a sunset, a wave in the sea refreshing your body, or an almost-whispering wind that immediately silences everything around you. On his previous records, Iwa in 2015 and Otún in 2019, his work as a producer prevailed, feeding the growing wave of Latin American electronica, fusing IDM and techno with indigenous root music, Andean folklore and rhythms from the tropical Caribbean coast and ancestral Pacific in terms of instrumentation. But on El Nido Montoya splits the balance, offering us five merely instrumental tracks and six collaborations with Latin American artists, including Colombians Nidia Góngora on "Soñé," Montañera on "Sierra" and Pedrina on "Nubecita." It also features Mexican artist Pahua on "Flor del Mar," the Peruvian Lara Nuh on "El Faro" and the Franco-Venezuelan La Chica on "Palosanto." Starting from the name itself ("The Nest"), an evocation of home, El Nido is also a Filipino municipality on the island of Palawan, a place that turned out to be Montoya's last live experience before the pandemic. That place with crystal clear seas and white sand became the scene and starting point for this work, reflecting on the abstraction of a chaotic world and proposing blurred destinations with each song, like places that exist within memories when we close our eyes, letting us inhabit them, for a couple of minutes at least. On the other hand, it's a record that approaches love; as a yearning and a refuge, as a guide and an anchor, but also as a rhetorical figure that makes us vibrate and elevates us, while at the same time keeping us grounded and letting us settle in the place that we can use as our shelter.

Far Out Recordings proudly presents Hermeto Pascoal’s remarkable self-titled debut album. Recorded in 1970 at A&R studios in New York, the album features certified North American titans including Ron Carter, Hubert Laws, Joe Farrel and Googie Coppola, and Brazilian stars Airto Moreira and Flora Purim (who also produced the album).

While it was Hermeto’s first album released under his own name, he had spent the decade or so prior making a name for himself in Brazil and internationally as a composer, arranger and instrumentalist with groups including Sambrassa Trio, Quarteto Novo and Brazilian Octopus, before going on to work with (amongst countless others) Edu Lobo, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Donald Byrd, Airto Moreira and Miles Davis, who allegedly called Hermeto “one of the most important musicians on the planet”.

With Hermeto’s otherworldly orchestral arrangements, ghostly vocal performances from Flora Purim and Googie Coppola, and the inimitable drumming and percussion stylings of Airto Moreira, Hermeto easily rivals some of the oft-celebrated MPB albums of the early 1970s, sitting somewhere between the string-heavy magic of Arthur Verocai’s 1972 debut and the unplacable early experimentalism of Pedro Santos’ 1968 album Krishnanda.

With his phenomenal natural musical genius and a ceaseless sense of creative freedom, Hermeto is widely known for using unconventional objects to make music. In the album’s sleeve notes, Airto highlights the track “Velório (Mourning)” explaining how Heremto filled 36 apple juice bottles with different amounts of water and tuned them to precise pitches in order to create the beguiling harmonies heard.

The reissue of Hermeto Pascoal’s Hermeto, follow’s Far Out’s recent unveiling of a previously unheard Hermeto Pascoal live concert Planetario da Gavea from 1981, and 2017’s release of Hermeto Pascoal’s lost 1976 studio album: Viajando Com O Som.

Hermeto will be available on vinyl LP and CD from the 20th May 2022 via Far Out Recordings.

Hi Scores is beyond excited to present SSR Records: In Retrospect. This 2LP compilation album presented in a beautiful gatefold sleeve and through all digital platforms, wishes to highlight the immense and hard to grasp legacy of the Brussels based label. SSR Records was founded in 1988 by Marc Hollander as a sub label of his Crammed Discs and spanned the nascent years of house, acid, rave, trance, new beat, hip-hop, future jazz and broken beat, collaborating internationally and racking up close to 200 releases until it was put to sleep in 2002. Far ahead of their time, SSR Records released music of both European and North American artists that hadn’t broken through yet, such as those collected on this compilation: Move D, Nu Era, Gemini, Bjørn Torske, Glenn Underground or Matthew Herbert.

SSR Records was run by Crammed Discs chief Marc Hollander and Minimal Compact singer Samy Birnbach aka DJ Morpheus. SSR Records: In Retrospect comes with extended liner notes, exploring the pivotal milestones in the history of the adventurous label and zooming in on the origins of all records featured on the compilation.

All nine tracks on SSR Records: In Retrospect were selected by Hi Scores’s head honcho Kong DJ and have been remastered. Created between 1990 and 1996 and in the at the time pioneering spheres of house, breakbeat, electro and trance music, these treasures from the vast SSR catalog today stand as a stunning testimony to a truly remarkable and timeless musical legacy. Kong DJ: ‘While collaborating with Crammed Discs on the releases of Aksak Maboul in 2016 and Zazou / Bikaye in 2018 on Ensemble, I began to grasp the impressive catalog of the label and its sub labels, including SSR. Surprised by the tiny footprint SSR had left on the world wide web - often the case for labels ceased before the internet revolution - I wrote an article for British website The Vinyl Factory.

This would later prove to be the first step towards this compilation album, collecting favorites from the label as a kid in a giant candy store.’

The cool fish Syberian98 never ceases to amaze and comes back with his best groovie stuff. He's going further in 'techno reminiscence' and meet some soulful house roots from Detroit and Chicago. Highly recommended for your home party or club in that it sounds classy, deep and heartbreaking.

Altered Circuits dives deeper in the world of playful and versatile club music with roots in the early 90's! There's an obvious parallel between Ildec's DJ performances and his own music.

Part of a scene with a focus on extended, broad-minded sets, the Ibiza-based artist lets his yearning to unearth and play obscure gems flood into his production process. The "Ahora Si EP" is testament to this adventurous spirit as it tackles a wide array of tempos, styles and moods.

Opener "El Principio" and closer "Grt Plschr" display Ildec's fondness of hazy, recondite atmospherics. With its sustained ambient chord, delay-washed newsreader samples and manipulated themes, the former sounds like a fever dream radio bulletin.

On the latter, a broody motif meanders alongside loosely played drums, while a buried bass guitar occasionally reveals itself. "El Break Del Dia" furtherly explores some of these elements, but this time with the dance floor front of mind.

Languidly morphing bass sequences and staccato synth salvos build up anticipation. When a slowly emerging, ceaselessly arpeggiating organ lead finally materialises, the track explodes. Natural flow is partly traded for sturdier form on the remainder of the EP. "El Break De La Noche" lets an ever-modulating lead groove alongside rigid, dry drum beats.

Descending tom fills, truncated squeaks and a top layer LFO gone haywire complete this sparse yet exciting cut. "La Nueva Version" has a similarly efficient bassline as its bedrock. An interplay of zaps, risers, transposed percussion, and other dusty cartridge samples pulls it left and right while subtle disorienting hints of speech thicken the mix.

On "Modificacion", Ildec moulds his take on progressive and tech house into its toughest shape. A druggy, bleepy lead twirls in and out of the track, carried by the road-tested combo of a taut drum pattern and a piercing backbeat bass. Ominous chords and equally menacing vocals mark its aim: to create tension in the club. It is a standout on a diverse, daring EP we are delighted to present as the fifth release on our label.

Oscillate / verb – to move or swing back and forth in a regular rhythm. Alexander Flood has developed and refined a strong, progressive voice and style on his kit through his 17 years performing and studying. Previously graduating top of his year, he has been the recipient of many prestigious awards including Australia's Best Up-andComing Drummer in both 2012 and 2016, The John ‘Slick’ Osborne Scholarship in 2017 and the Helpmann Academy Jazz Award for Top Overall Graduate in 2018. In 2020 he signed with 6x Grammy nominee Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah to release Alex’s debut LP “HEARTBEAT” and “The Space Between” in 2022. 2023 finds Alexander aligning w/ Berlin’s Jakarta Records to release LP “Oscillate” - a blistering, hard-hitting meld of infectious rhythms, pulsing keys, and a swingin’ groove that melds into a genre-defying conglomeration of creative compositions and collaboration. In mid 2022 Alex travelled from Australia to Berlin, where he assembled a dream team crew of creative innovators featuring Hungarian keyboard player Àbáse, Australian bass guru Horatio Luna, and Brazilian flautista Paulo Cedraz. Together the group cut six unique dance tracks at Berlin’s iconic Jazzanova Studios, engineered by Grammy nominated Axel Reinemer. From the shuffling broken beats and dancing flute melodies in title track “Oscillate” to the experimental uptempo “Deja Vu”, the momentum of the music ceases to stop. “U R THA 1” features a driving jungle sound of repitched drums, vocal chops and 808 bass, and “Berlin” captures a classic funky 90s house feel powered by 4-on-the-floor kick and melodic basslines from Horatio Luna. Paulo Cedraz shines on flute in the Caribbean influenced “Ginealach”, and the LP finishes with the head-bopping “Hüpf” giving the listener a taste of some down-tempo beat music atop a bed of Àbáse’s lush rhodes. From top to bottom, the unique voices and powerful musicianship of each band member is obvious. Australian influence is at the core of the sound not only through the bass and drum chair, but through the punchy characteristic mix by Melbourne’s Lewis Moody and master by Gareth Thomson. The final piece of the puzzle was bringing in Alex’s childhood drum and percussion teacher Joel Prime, where they overdubbed additional percussion parts together in London. Artwork was stunningly put together by Robert Winter (Suff Daddy, Bluestaeb, K, Le Maestro) with visualizers put together by the stalwart KARL-F. Jakarta is ecstatic to share such a high-water mark of an album, out everywhere physically / digitally May 12th. Check the accompanying Press Sheet for Campaign Schedule and more. Besides online promotion from the label and artist profiles, the album will further be promoted by external agencies within the US and UK.

From the viscerally punishing and nerve wrecking, to the wistfully sublime, Kevin Drumm ‘s work often yield a ferocious intensity through the timbres of minute details. Now, throughout this series of archival works dating from 2000 to 2022, his mastery is once again on full display.

On »Battering Rams«, sinister forces interlope with sanguine glimmers of respite and contemplation, while recurring drones ceaselessly crescendo to near paralysing effect, only for the albums final moments to offer a lofty reprise of boundless oscillation, dispelling all the pent up tension into a sanguine state of bliss. Once again underpinning Drums’ genius of turning apparently trivial hums into elongated microtonal worlds that stay etched deeply in your conscious, often long after the works final resonances have already subsided.

Of all the things that can and should and will be said of Sam Wilkes’ & Jacob Mann’s Perform the Compositions of Sam Wilkes & Jacob Mann, let’s begin at the beginning and acknowledge that it is an aptly named record indeed. An ideal collaborative effort (which is to say, greater than the sum of its parts), here we have two longtime friends, two luminaries of the New Weird Los Angeles — the experimental, genre-encompassing underground—who have, at last, devoted a full-length record to their signature musical admixture.

Since their meeting as USC music students (Wilkes studied bass, and Mann, jazz/piano), the two have, with a kind of ceaseless abandon, chased the music to the ends the earth — oftentimes quite literally; travel is a recurrent theme in Compositions’ track titles (Pre-board, Soft Landing, and Around the Horn), and the record’s second track, Jakarta, was sketched out in a hotel room in the city of the same name, where Wilkes and Mann were performing at a jazz festival in 2019. Having initially bonded over a mutual and abiding appreciation for the Soulquarians, the two have spent over a decade playing and traveling, together and separately, their styles coevolving all the while.

Across its thirteen tracks, Compositions captures the relaxed creative flow of two consummate musicians. Most of the record’s sessions (“four-to-five-day summits” in an apartment studio, occasioned by “blasts of inspiration”) began with casual improvisation, and, indeed, roughly half of the final material was composed in this manner: Wilkes and Mann squaring off, a Yamaha DX7 facing a Roland Juno 106, alternating leads, two co-pilots with no set course. And though the songs are polished to a shine, there are artifacts of the intimacy of these sessions. Yes It Is concludes with a snippet of just-intelligible studio chatter: “…A flat minor, then A major.” A figuring-it-out-as-we-go moment that briefly renders explicit the warmth, friendship, and creative freedom that is the album’s heart.