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A house is something that is so deeply temporary, yet it can hold so much energy. How do we carry or leave behind those energies while transitioning into new spaces? How does each space we occupy for some time shape us and how do we tear ourselves away from it and its influence once it’s time to go? These are some of the core questions behind CC Sorensen’s new album for mappa, ‘Phantom Rooms’ – it’s a record about movement, change, transformation, family, juxtapositions… but most of all, home.

CC Sorensen was reflecting a lot on their childhood home in rural Kansas, USA while working on this music. The album could be characterised by a familial, chamber feel and both of CC Sorensen’s brothers, Ryan and Nyal Ruehlen, make an appearance on ‘Phantom Rooms’, among other instrumentalists. Using a wide palette of sounds – CC Sorensen alone in charge of keyboards, software instruments, voice, electronics, percussion, trumpet, guitar and field recordings, in addition to guests on pedal steel, voice, chimes, saxophone and drumset – the American musician crafts music as mysterious as it is inviting. The idea behind it would be almost surrealist – ghostly rooms in houses where we live – if we all didn’t know exactly what CC Sorensen means. Home isn’t something concrete, but it’s also not just an abstract concept. It’s a space beyond space; home in itself is a phantom room we enter. And what enables us to enter is the object of exploration here.

CC Sorensen’s approach is playful – tracks like “Beat Bot” and “Plastic Portals” are almost fun – but also contemplative. They make thoughtful, meandering chamber music intertwined with field recordings and electronics. Reeds, strings and percussion often set the atmosphere – sometimes airy, gentle, at other points more insistent – as the music grapples with departure, instability, deep reflection and imagined future spaces. Especially in the closing “Bexar” there’s a tangible yearning for a stable home, a longing to rekindle and keep ablaze this beautiful familial connection to a physical place. It’s both music that invites to reflect and music that in itself reflects; desires, hopes and dreams.

Allowing yourself to find meaning or beauty in the mundane is an act of generosity, Whether it’s seeing a smiling face in an electrical outlet socket, or discerning cosmic design amidst the forest floor detritus, it comes from a place of kindness to yourself and senses – and openness to hidden spirit of the world. These tracks came together during a period of intense personal change for adaa, rooted in a fruitful reflection on the connections between spirit and body, “feeling my flesh so I can feel and understand my spirit,” as adaa puts it. The sense of a crossover and clash of multiple connected realities – on-screens, on-line, on-earth, off-world, after-life – unites adaa’s multifaceted productions.

Ostensibly an assemblage of found sounds. scribbled thoughts and poems from diaries, and musial snippets, the album's scattered production reflects adaa’s own many mirror worlds. Field recording sit behind most tracks, alongside VST synths, guitars, and a variety of voices, from adaa’s own mangled vox to EVP samples taken from YouTube (recorded sounds believed to be spirits or paranormal activity), all processed to varying degrees.

While the music was mostly produced either in adaa’s studio in Providence, Rhode Island, or in bed, the field recordings bring the outside world in. The result of walks in the woods, hum of roads and highways, hiss of beaches, warmth of walks with friends and past lovers “around the East Coast”. It sits behind tracks like ‘sight’ where a lilting piano lin bobs atop a pond of rustling and distant whistles. Is that birdsong? Or ghosts? Saccharine hyperpop arpeggiation crossfades sharply into noise guitar squall. Angelic demon voices yawn into a hefty crescendo. Pure drones duet with gales of undefinable field sounds.

“Sometimes I feel like a seed in frosted soil,” says adaa. “If i choose to be optimistic.”

Nina Wilson, better known as Ninajirachi, is a 26-year-old Australian electronic producer who released her debut album I Love My Computer earlier this year via NLV Records. A concept record built on her connection with her PC, swiping between genres of EDM, tech-house, speed garage, dubstep, and hyperpop. Wilson builds on the legacy of early-2000s and 2010s Australian electronic artists like PNAU and Flume using technology as a medium, a motif, and a mirror for reflection. Between remixing Princess Nokia, Deadmau5 & The Neptunes, releasing on Nina Las V egas’ NLV Records and RL Grime’s Sable V alley, Ninajirachi has performed at Lollapalooza, EDC, Laneway, Listen Out, Splendour, Falls Festival, and more and toured with Mallrat, Charli XCX, Porter Robinson and Cashmere Cat.

Sabine McCalla creates her own version of multi-cultural American roots music. It's a sound that crosses borderlines, pulling everything from Brazilian samba to southern soul to British rock & roll into its orbit. On Don't Call Me Baby, Sabine filters those influences through the lens of her Haitian heritage and her music community of New Orleans, creating a debut album that's every bit as multi-faceted as the woman who wrote its songs.

The daughter of first-generation Haitian immigrants, Sabine was raised in the suburbs of New York City, where she grew up alongside her sister Leyla McCalla (Sons of Our Native Daughters, Carolina Chocolate Drops). Introduced to chamber music at an early age, Sabine began playing classical violin in orchestras, music camps, and conservatory classes as an 8 year old. Back at home, she filled her head with Motown classics, girl group hits, Bob Marley albums, Beatles standards, and Haitian folk music. It was a wide constellation of sound that spanned more than a half century, and Sabine made it all her own, drawn to the connections binding everything together.

Don't Call Me Baby shines a light on those connections. The follow-up to her critically-acclaimed Folk EP, whose pre-war sound earned her a slot at the Newport Folk Festival in 2019, the album transcends genre and generation, creating a raw, rich mix of country, R&B, folk, and soul that exists on its own timeline. Co-produced by Sam Doores of the Deslondes and featuring a cast of New Orleans’ most spirited and gifted (including guest vocals from Riley Downing, Leyla McCalla, and The Lostines), Sabine McCalla reaches beyond her beloved New Orleans Americana scene with Don't Call Me Baby, building a bridge between the world-spanning sounds that have captured her attention.

With their upcoming sixth studio album, “What A Time To Be Alive” , The Lone Bellow embarks on a bold new chapter while honoring the deep bonds that have defined their journey. Written collaboratively for the first time with their full touring band—founding members Zach Williams, Brian Elmquist, and Kanene Pipkin joined by drummer Julian Dorio and multi-instrumentalist Tyler Geertsma—the album channels the raw, ecstatic energy of the band’s live show into a dynamic collection of songs that pulse with warmth, honesty, and human connection. Recorded live in Muscle Shoals, AL, after a writing retreat in a converted Kentucky firehouse, the album is both a celebration and a reckoning: of friendship, loss, love, and resilience. From the gritty, Stones-tinged opener “After The Rain” to the soul-stirring closer “What A Time To Be Alive,” the record captures the joy and vulnerability that have long defined The Lone Bellow’s sound—lush harmonies, heartfelt lyrics, and genre-blurring arrangements steeped in folk, rock, and gospel. The album’s creation was marked by setbacks, including the theft of early recordings, but the outpouring of support from their fanbase reaffirmed what the band has always known: their music is a shared experience. That spirit echoes throughout the album, whether in anthems like “Common Folk” and “I’m Here For You,” or in intimate reflections like “You Were Leaving” and “Night Goes Black.” Since their acclaimed 2013 debut, The Lone Bellow has appeared on The Tonight Show, Austin City Limits, and The Late Show, topped Americana charts, and headlined storied venues from Carnegie Hall to the Ryman Auditorium. But with their next album, they reaffirm their commitment not just to making music, but to building community—on stage, in song, and around the table.

For over a decade, Hyunhye Seo a core member of Xiu Xiu, in her solo work navigates the precarious edges where composition dissolves into pure gesture. Through ecstatic piano improvisations, restless percussive attacks and an expansive use of acoustic space, she constructs layered sonic environments that move across the boundaries of noise, avant-garde jazz, ambient and contemporary classical music. Her performances reveal an unfiltered process of listening and creation - a practice in which thinking becomes the enemy, and surrender the only viable strategy.

Continuation captures one such surrender. Recorded live at MAO - Museo d'Arte Orientale in Turin during the exhibition Rabbit Inhabits the Moon – The Art of Nam June Paik in the Mirror of Time, this cascading piano improvisation unfolds as a dialogue between performer, space and the particular acoustics of a museum built to house contemplative objects. Jamie Stewart processes the sound in real time; Giuseppe Ielasi shapes the final mix. What emerges is a work of charged immediacy - restless gestures giving way to passages of unexpected tenderness, noise and silence trading places in continuous exchange. The title is precise: this is music that refuses conclusion, that exists in a state of perpetual becoming. On Side B, Continuous Extension offers an unprecedented response. Phew - the pioneering figure of Japanese avant-garde music since the late 1970s - was invited by curators Chiara Lee and Freddie Murphy to reinterpret Seo's performance. Working with synthesizer and subtle processing, Phew distills the resonances of Continuation into a new electronic landscape - waves of abstraction that echo like reflections in sound, tracing the harmonic tensions of Seo's playing into territories she herself did not visit.

The accompanying booklet includes an essay by Bruno Lo Turco exploring the deep connections between improvisation and Buddhist thought, and a written reflection by Seo on her own practice of surrender and listening.

Continuation is released on Ubi Kū, the record label of the Unione Buddhista Italiana. The cover reproduces Avalokitesvara "Water and Moon" from the Museo d'Arte Orientale "E. Chiossone" in Genoa - the bodhisattva of compassion gazing at the reflection of the moon in water. Like that reflection, this music exists fully in the present, complete and unrepeatable.

Never Sleep charity tape series ends up in Thornton Heath, London for the grimiest of bedroom work outs.

Early Fruity Loops philosopher Plasticman aka Plastician teams up with fellow trailblazers DJ Suicide & N Double A crew for a prompt internet radio set of prototype Grime. Rugged, raw and filled with the occasional KAOS Pad trigger / gunfinger FX; the devilish miscreants bring the lyrical vehemence.

Broadcasting from his parents place and utilising early productions Plasticman keeps the fibre optical momentum burning with early production, laser precision polyphonic instrumentals and quantified eski.

N Double A crew have so many quotables but its a "pass the mic" affair as limited equipment fort his bedroom bedlam. L Man spits certified gold on demand whilst Narstie echoes his signature cadence, Typah goes in hard with the colder than waiting in a queue outside Plastic People flow and Uzi destroys the stream with typical flair.

A landmark moment in innovation, internet radio was a key player in the growth of Grime and Dubstep. Helping build profile, connections and galvanize the online community.

Subconscio left the smallest town in Gargano to begin a new life in uncharted Bologna.
Leaving mother earth, he still retains a strong sense of that distant world, expressed through the senses of his inner child. The Subconscio
project finds its expression in music, where it blends Neo Soul, Hip Hop, and Electronica into a sound deeply influenced by individual experiences. Soft vibrations and relaxed lyrics are the means through which he expresses his devotion to creative freedom, moving with the urgency of someone who has finally found his voice. The word dáimōn originates from Ancient Greek and means divine messenger, a guiding
spirit that hovers in a middle ground, called metaxu, the same place where the soul resides, and acts as a link between God and humanity.*
"Daimon" is Subconscio's debut album, produced by Luzee. It's the intimate vision of a person suspended in his imagination, questioning
the identity of his own memory and how the places that led him to his NOW are actually his future. The present doesn't exist in the narrative.
It exists only in the connection between childhood memories and the adult perspective.
Giulio is his son and also his parent: the Subconscious; the "daimon" is the musical journey that connects these two ways of observing the
same memory. Nostalgic turmoil meets the desire to recognize oneself and fuel the obsession with music, because only this—albeit the least
apparent art—is the only one that can be the voice and bearer of the dimensions of consciousness.
Featuring on the album: Madbuddy and Claver Gold

Nick Curly and Marc Scholl present the next chapter on Cécille Records - a collaboration where Reboot meets a new generation of Italian talent, Shokë.

Frankfurt-based Reboot, a key member of the Cécille family, joins forces with the young and rising Naples-based duo Shokë for their debut on Cécille Records. Naples and Italy as a whole, has been home to a strong and loyal Cécille fanbase for decades, making this collaboration a natural next step.

The connection was sparked through shared ties within the Italian scene, with Blackchild playing a key role in bringing the artists together and connecting Shokë and Reboot early on. From the very first studio sessions, a strong and organic synergy emerged …one that is clearly reflected in the music.

The result is a collection of powerful, timeless house tracks with depth, groove, and character, blending experience with fresh energy while carrying the unmistakable spirit of Cécille Records.

“Recording this album felt like the crescendo of years of struggling to understand myself. It can get quite claustrophobic living inside my head.” ‘At Home in My Mind’ is an open invite into the world of Halifax indie artist, Ellur (Ella McNamara). The album is a journey around Ellur’s mind, it dips into different musical genres that have shaped her for the past 24 years – from the 90s indie rock she grew up with, to glitch-pop she discovered in her late teens to the alt-folk she cherishes now. Ellur has created a warm abode for her thoughts and experiences as a young woman growing up in Yorkshire’s Calderdale Valley and ‘At Home In My Mind’ beds them all in, safely together. ‘At Home In My Mind’ has been produced by Joel Johnston (Far Caspian) and recorded from his Leeds studio. Johnston and Ellur first worked together on her previous EP, ‘God Help Me Now’ – a stunning body of work that saw Ellur’s fanbase bloom and received praise from national press, radio and an impressive international artists. The buzz around Ellur has lead to a very busy live calendar throughout 2025, including debut festival slots in US and EU, over 14 Summer festival plays in UK (including Latitude, Truck, Big Feastival) and sold out headline shows across the UK. ‘At Home In My Mind’ expands on themes Ellur draws on in her ‘God Help Me Now EP’, particularly an overarching theme of connection. Ellur connecting with her childhood memories, listening to her honest feelings, but most importantly, Ellur wants ‘At Home In My Mind’ to be an arm extended out, looking for people who need a hand to hold.

US sax player Stanley J. Zappa and Finnish drummer Simo Laihonen come together on the new album "Muster Point" on We Jazz Records, August 7. The two students of Milford Graves add bassist Ville Rauhala on a couple of tracks to make a bold and adventurous album captured both live and in the studio while Zappa was touring in Finland with the Black Motor musicians. This is a set full of fire and thunder, but also features some more meditative spiritual jazz. RIYL: Milford Graves, ESP-Disk', spiritual jazz

"Muster Point" consists of short trio bursts ("Muster Point I-IV"), deep duo cuts such as "Pleasant Avenue" and the inspired material linking the stylistic bookends. The music herein comes from the long standing tradition of independent improvised jazz music, and moves forward in the now, relying in the natural communication and the chemistry between the musicians. At its core, the album is a testament to the importance personal connections between like-minded creative musicians in creating something new.

Stanley J. Zappa, originally from New Jersey, now based in Oliver, BC (Canada) is a highly expressive musician whose career has so far progressed largely under the radar. Part of the lineage of a musical family (his uncle Frank should need no introduction), Zappa's story is that of a true craftsman, now coming into fruition with a like-minded collaborator, Simo Laihonen. Laihonen is best known from his long-standing trio formation Black Motor, also featuring bassist Ville Rauhala featured on the trio tracks on this recording.

“’Death & Connection’ is a body of work born from the absence of the people who no longer hold space in our lives”, comments the band. “This record was created from a necessity to express and soothe our deepest losses; however, that was never the intention — we simply set out to make an album we wanted to hear.” With “Death & Connection”, Shields invite the audience to experience the next evolution of their sound – mature, refined and fearless. Throughout the band’s career Shields toured with bands such as Ice Nine Kills, Born Of Osiris, Chelsea Grin, Veil Of Maya, Escape the Fate or Loathe.

Audio taken from a live performance by Anar Band (Jorge Lima Barreto and Rui Reininho) with E.M. de Melo e Castro in November of 1978 at Cooperativa Árvore, Porto. The performance was filmed. A segment was included in »Obrigatório Não Ver«, a weekly programme presented by Ana Hatherly on Public Television’s Second Channel. It was not possible to determine the exact date of the event, and no documentation seems to be available in the relevant archives.

»Encontro que Tenho« and »Profissões«: these titles are specific to this release. Having failed to locate the respective poems after a thorough search in E.M. de Melo e Castro’s body of work, it was deduced both texts were created for the occasion.

Even without a full contextualisation, the sound transmits the spirit of cultural agitation proper to these sessions. When this show happened, Anar Band were Jorge Lima Barreto (ARP Odyssey synthesizer) and Rui Reininho (Ibanez double-neck guitar), with the addition of E.M. de Melo e Castro, whom we shall call a poet but whose creative intervention was far reaching. Besides poetry, also continued his efforts in linking up diverse artistic areas (painting, drawing, collage, performance, video) and his official training in textile engineering. He was one of the artists featured in Henri Chopin's »OU Revue« in 1966, establishing his natural connection to the European concrete/visual/sound-poetry avant-garde. Melo e Castro was also proficient in the agitation of minds and political awareness. A good example in »Profissões«, where initially separate professionals (an intellectual, a fisherman, a soldier, a factory worker) are gradually mixed in a show of interdependency. Symbolically, through his words one listens to a transformation of society, although the same conclusion arises twice: surplus always finds its way to the hands of the capitalists.

That was the state of affairs many were looking to change, an economic and social malaise that the 1974 Revolution in Portugal fully uncovered, when dissident voices could finally be heard in public. Each in his own way, all three participants in this recording were non-believers in the structure of society such as it was presented. Through his books and press writings, mainly concerned with Jazz, Jorge Lima Barreto pushed his way into Portuguese artistic and critical circles since the late 1960s. Consciously and unwittingly, he collected enemies and pointed them by name, people he labelled as reactionary, people who delayed progress, social and cultural mixes, the avant-garde; they even delayed the chaos from which new forms and attitudes arise.

Rui Reininho, a non-conformist by heart, experienced incomprehension from an early age. His anarchic ways, a tendency to baffle others, were revealed through the choice of clothes and accessories, public behaviour, and »real life« performances. Just as Lima Barreto, and even together with him, he enjoyed provoking the extremes: Maoists on one side, right-wing conservatives on the other. He translated leftist books and joined Anar Band precisely on the day a duck or swan or goose (one of them) was thrown on stage in Porto, 1976.

This record documents a concrete action, a snapshot of the agitation, something we have no problem calling punk activism, something which allowed two people with little to no musical training to play and record music. By then, Anar Band had managed to release their only LP in 1977. It’s this performance, however, that reveals the naked rawness of the music: improvisation, mutual listening, and choice of intervention between both musicians and Melo e Castro, clearly sensing when the synth has to change tone, the voice has to make pauses, the guitar punctuates both and finds the space to… scream. The sound was captured by the film crew, adding to the rawness: the instruments are palpable, the voice often too close to the mic. Everything was preserved. First time on disc.

Technological agitation. Narcissism fatigue. A galaxy of isolation. These are the new norms keeping Weyes Blood (aka Natalie Mering) up at night and the themes at the heart of her latest release, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow. The celestial-influenced folk album is her follow-up to the acclaimed Titanic Rising. (Pitchfork, NPR, and The Guardian admiringly named it one of 2019's best.) While Titanic Rising was an observation of doom to come, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow is about being in the thick of it: a search for an escape hatch to liberate us from algorithms and ideological chaos. "We're in a fully functional shit show," Mering says. "My heart is a glow stick that's been cracked, lighting up my chest in an explosion of earnestness." And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow opens with the wistful, winsome "It's Not Just Me, It's Everybody," a song about the interconnectivity of all beings, despite the fraying of society around us. "I was asking a lot of questions while writing these songs. Hyper-isolation kept coming up," Mering says. "Our culture relies less and less on people. Something is off, and even though the feeling appears differently for each individual, it is universal." Other tracks follow in kind. The lullaby-like "Grapevine" chronicles the splintering of a human connection. The otherworldly dirge "God Turn Me into a Flower" serves as allegory about our collective hubris. "The Worst Is Done" is an ominous warning, set against a deceivingly breezy pop melody. "Chaos is natural. But so is negentropy, or the tendency for things to fall into order," she says. "These songs may not be manifestos or solutions, but I know they shed light on the meaning of our contemporary disillusionment."

"Brooklyn-based pianist Eva Novoa returns with The Freedom Suite: Novoa / Carter / Mela Trio, Vol. 2 — the second radiant release from her compelling trio with saxophone icon Daniel Carter and celebrated drummer Francisco Mela. This marks Novoa’s sixth album with 577 Records. The trio first came together live in 2021, followed by a series of performances, including appearances in Cambridge (Boston) and later at the Brooklyn edition of the NY Forward Festival.
"The Freedom Suite is an homage to jazz titan Duke Ellington — particularly his masterful big band suites and legendary orchestra featuring Johnny Hodges and other luminaries who helped define an era of jazz greatness. In contrast, Novoa presents her Suite in a more intimate format: the piano trio. The album comprises twelve pieces — mostly brief — with a few extended tracks such as Free to Be Free and Cyborgs.
"For this recording, Novoa also steps in as a vocalist on several tracks, including Mainstream Media, Big Grande, Global, Free to Be Free, Dream, and Cyborgs. These pieces often feature a vocal dialogue between Novoa and Mela, whose expressive, word-infused style draws from rich Cuban traditions.
'Words are powerful,' says Novoa. 'They define who we are, where we come from, and who we hope to become. Without words, there is no conversation — and without conversation, there is no real sense of time, space, or connection.'
The Freedom Suite emerged from deep philosophical and creative conversations — spoken, written, and improvised — between Novoa, Carter, and Mela. In the studio, Novoa introduced printed texts that served as thematic foundations for spontaneous, in-the-moment musical interpretation. The result is an urgent and organic interplay, where instruments speak to one another in a language as fluid as it is fearless.
"Standout track Cyborgs begins with Novoa’s percussive piano, exemplifying the trio’s dynamic, conversational energy. Creative Destruction features Novoa on electric harpsichord in a wild, electric exchange. While Free to Be Free stands out as the album’s leading single, it also captures the essence and message of the entire Suite.
"Recorded in 2021 at New York City’s legendary Sear Sound Studio, the album captures a creative explosion of sound and spirit. Novoa dazzles on piano, Fender Rhodes, electric harpsichord, Chinese gongs — even whistle — showcasing her expansive sonic palette. Together, the trio embodies the power of free improvisation and emotional storytelling.
"Originally from Barcelona, Spain, Eva Novoa has been cultivating her distinctive voice since childhood. Now a staple of the New York creative music scene, she has performed across the globe and collaborated with some of the most adventurous voices in jazz and beyond."

Delve into the quirky and psych-tinged world of Brazilian pianist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Mauricio Fleury.

With more than a hint to Brazilian jazz greats like Azymuth, Deodato and CTI Records in their prime, Revoada is a groove based jazz-framed record, primed with other transitory musical vignettes which touches on Turkish psych and soul-jazz born out of the 70's film soundtrack genre.

Revoada is a 6 track album and storyboard of Mauricio's migration and travels through Brazil's geographical oddities , its rural and urban enclaves. Recorded in Brazil, it's the result of numerous treks through funky flea markets, soaking up old vinyls and vintage cultural artefacts combined with a new life led in Berlin since 2022.

Mauricio, as well as a founding member of Bixiga 70 (google Brazilian Afrobeat pioneers), a band he fronted for over 12 years, is also an in-demand collaborator and musician who as a pianist, guitarist and even percussionist has shared stages and studios with the likes of Brazilian greats including Gal Costa, Emicida, Lucas Santtana, João Donato and Liniker.

In 2007 he had a life-changing experience meeting Tony Allen, at the Red Bull Music Academy. After hanging out, chatting music and life, Tony insisted to Mauricio to participate with Tony in a jam with blacktronica and soulful house music pioneers Ron Trent, Theo Parrish and Steve Spacek. Mauricio sums it up, "From that moment on, I was never afraid to collaborate musically with anyone, no matter who's playing. It also brought me to researching the connection between Brazilian music and Afrobeat which is something that still means the world to me".

Another unforgettable session Mauricio undertook happened alongside João Donato and Marcos Valle, playing Donato's classic album Quem É Quem, live, a record seen as a blueprint for second generation bossa nova. Mauricio has worked with Gal Costa on two albums, Estratosférica Ao Vivo and her last studio album A Pele do Futuro. Fabio Sá and Vitor Cabral (bassist and drummer on Revoada) were playing with Gal at her last concerts, including in Berlin in 2022 before she passed.

In contemporary music, Mauricio was part of Toy Selectah and Mexican Institute of Sound's Compass project. He's worked with Colombia's Los Pirañas and has even recorded a mysterious and unreleased album with Quantic.

Revoada shows signature traces of Thelonious Monk, Ramsey Lewis' swinging soul sound, Deodato's drama, and styles from further afield, spreading into Turkish psych and Ethiopian jazz, when the time is right. Each track, led always by Mauricio playing multiple instruments with a choice selection of guests and core members on bass and drums, highlights Fleury's meticulous approach to finding the right timbre, utilising his arsenal of organs and effects pedals to set the mood, taking the listener to a specific place or memory that has shaped him.

A vinyl DJ for over 25 years and someone who is immersed in digger and collector's culture, Mauricio places a lot of emphasis on the importance of the complimentary relationship between two artforms (DJ and composer/producer) in the sense of having a broad repertoire of musical knowledge, references and perhaps predictably, being a Brazilian, understanding the connection between rhythms. This is an impressive debut album that struts itself right into the runout groove.

Hiver completes a trilogy of EPs on Gudu with ‘Blue Hell’, another transmission of space-age machine funk from a duo who are truly shaping their own soundworld.

If you’ve followed Hiver, you should know the deal by now: they’ve spent the last decade honing a sound that draws heavily from dance music history – namely the starry-eyed synthesizer funk of classic techno and electro – that drips in colour and emotion without ever feeling retrograde. ‘Blue Hell’ is their third EP for Gudu, and maybe their most accomplished yet.

In Hiver’s words, “this EP was shaped by a mix of late night club energy and the more introspective, melodic ideas we’ve been exploring in the past years. A big part of it also comes from the tension between how people connect today. This constant, hyper-connected flow of networks, media, and online exchanges and our own way of creating music, which is very physical and personal. We’re always bouncing ideas through messages and files, but the real magic still happens when we meet in the studio, face to face. That contrast between digital connection and human presence became a sort of hidden theme behind the EP.”

“With Blue Hell, our third chapter on Gudu, we wanted to capture a moment of clarity, something direct yet still drifting. In a way, this release completes the excursion we began with the first two records: three points that trace the contours of the sounds we’re drawn to. Each track feels like a fragment of that journey, grounded in rhythm but always leaning toward depth and escape.”

DIN SYNC DUB is an exploration of communication through sound. Six tightly packed experimental dub tracks use bass-heavy vibrations to rattle both body and mind, pushing the limits of self-expression in the hope of fostering deeper human connection.

The drive for more efficient and precise communication tools—whether between man and machine or machine and machine—has been a foundational force in the evolution of technology. This duality, the way we interface with computers and the way we speak to one another, is at the heart of DIN SYNC DUB. For this album, N1_SOUND looks back to 1980, drawing inspiration from Roland’s Din Sync—a 40-year-old synchronization technology once used to link musical machines in perfect harmony. While connecting machines to produce precisely sequenced music is nothing new, it’s the tension between perfection and imperfection—the mistakes of both man and machine—that gives DIN SYNC DUB its voice, its emotional rawness.

The journey begins with “Horizontal Hang”, which crashes through the door with a relentless bassline and crystalline synths. “Such Love” introduces a throbbing, guitar-driven groove, while “Intuition Dub” channels the spirit of Jah Shaka, offering a rhythmic pulse that echoes dub’s deep roots. “Us All” provides a moment of introspection with its sparse, three-dimensional melodies, before “Joy” reintroduces chaos, creating a post-dubstep soundscape that dismantles everything in its path. The album closes with “Mauzy” , a hopeful yet fragmented conclusion, reflecting the ever-evolving nature of technology and connection.

By the mid-to-late 1980s, Din Sync was superseded by the more widely adopted MIDI, yet obsolescence is built into the nature of all technology. Just as our relationship with machines shifts and fades, so too does our understanding of how those changes shape us. Before we can grasp the impact, the world has already moved on.

DIN SYNC DUB, the first full-length LP from Spiritual World, pulses with energy, on the edge of malfunction—a manifestation of the tension between the digital and the organic, the past and the present.

Mit Calling melden sich The Busters eindrucksvoll zurück - neun Musiker, ein Album, das kollektive Kreativität hörbar macht. Entstanden in zwei Studios - den atmosphärischen Waldstudios bei Berlin und "Der Raum" in Waltrop - verbindet Calling emotionale Tiefe mit musikalischer Klarheit und der typischen Leichtigkeit der Band. Die Songs entstehen basisdemokratisch, ohne Hierarchie - aus Vertrauen, Präzision und Spielfreude. Das Ergebnis: ein Album voller Dynamik, Wärme und Atmosphäre. Man hört den Raum, die Luft, das Miteinander. Statt digitaler Perfektion steht das Gefühl im Vordergrund. Highlights wie der Titeltrack "Calling", das melancholisch-leichte "Champagne", das bissige "Freak Show" oder das hoffnungsvolle "Geschichte schreiben" zeigen die Band in ihrer ganzen Bandbreite - nachdenklich, ironisch, berührend. Live entfaltet sich die volle Kraft: The Busters gehören seit über 35 Jahren zu den besten Live-Bands Deutschlands. Calling fängt diese Energie ein - als klingendes Abbild einer Band, die weiß, wer sie ist, und trotzdem immer wieder neu aufbricht. With Calling, The Busters make a powerful return - nine musicians, one shared language, and an album that showcases the vibrancy of collective creativity. Recorded between two studios - the atmospheric Waldstudios near Berlin and "Der Raum" in Waltrop - Calling blends emotional depth with musical clarity and the band"s signature ease. No mastermind, no hierarchy - just a democratic process built on trust, precision, and joy. The result is an album rich in dynamics, warmth, and atmosphere. You hear the room, the air, the connection. Feeling takes precedence over digital perfection. Tracks like the floating opener "Calling," the subtly melancholic "Champagne," the biting "Freak Show," and the uplifting "Geschichte schreiben" reveal the band"s full emotional range - thoughtful, ironic, and deeply human. On stage, The Busters truly shine: with over 35 years of live experience, they are one of Germany"s most seasoned and beloved live acts. Calling captures that energy - a sonic reflection of a band that knows who they are, yet continues to explore new paths.

The Chambers Brothers are four biological brothers who cut their teeth in church choirs and on the gospel and folk circuit around Southern California. But, things really picked up halfway the 1960s when they started performing in New York and in 1968 scored their only hit “Time Has Come Today”. This 11-minute opus spent five consecutive weeks at #11 (yes, really!) on the Billboard Hot 100 and really showcased the progressive mindset of the brothers; the group combined American blues and gospel traditions with the effects-laden sound of psychedelic rock that was very much in-vogue around that time. If you’re fan of psychedelic soul such Rotary Connection, you can’t miss this. The Time Has Come is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on red coloured vinyl.