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Ken Jacobs, an essential figure of avant-garde cinema, developed the »Nervous Magic Lantern« in the 1960s — a self-made apparatus containing a spinning shutter, a light source, and lenses set in a wooden frame. Hand-painted circular slides, gently moved by hand, produce flickering imagery: geometric patterns, Rorschach-like inkblots, and three-dimensional forms that seem to float beyond the screen. These hallucinatory visions challenge perception and suggest what Jacobs once called »a whole new play of appearances«.

Unlike Jacobs’ politically charged works, the »Nervous Magic Lantern« is patently abstract, examining how the brain regulates perception. For these performances, Jacobs requested »sounds of daily life« — environmental recordings that anchor the phantasmagoria in reality. Field tapes of Chinatown streets, conversations, and other uncategorisable sounds became the material for Aki Onda’s sonic compositions, adding narrative resonance to the abstract visuals and creating an almost documentary dimension.

This album documents a performance of »Nervous Magic Lantern« at Spiral Hall, organised by Sound Live Tokyo on November 3, 2015. Jacobs’ selection and sequencing of slides offered improvisatory space, mirrored by Onda’s flexible arrangement of cassette recordings. The result is a work where life and art dissolve into one another — a soundtrack for life in the depth of illusion.

Music by Aki Onda Cassette field recordings by Ken Jacobs

In a culture of instant gratification, patience is a subversive virtue. This attitude is precisely what lies at the heart of Farron's debut 12" on the Mojuba sublabel, a.r.t.less. The "Patience EP" is a convergence of two distinctive musical forces. Here, the architect behind the Shaw Cuts imprint, whose rhythmic complexity is influenced by a personal music taste ranging from hip-hop to punk via breakbeat, meets the emotional Detroit and dub-infused techno coordinates of a.r.t.less. The result is a record that embodies this tension. Farron's characteristic, subtly broken percussion merges with warm, floating pads and stabs to form a unique, seductive whole. It's not techno for pure escalation at peak time, but rather, music for the hours before and after with a sound that challenges and rewards the body and mind equally. The EP's four tracks tell a coherent story of maturation and catharsis that goes far beyond functional club tools. Following early releases as LaChriz on labels such as Ilian Tape and the consistent refinement of his vision through Shaw Cuts, this release is both a natural progression for Farron as an artist and an exciting new addition to the sound palette of a.r.t.less. Some things are worth waiting for!

hook releases a new LP “RPG” composed with one hand and Influenced by Retro Video Game and Japanese Ambient Music.

“RPG” is composed entirely with one hand. Despite breaking his other arm and being unable to play his synthesizers, Wijnands did not give up and created the EP, showcasing his determination and passion for music.

Wijnands says: “I have been listening to Nintendo soundtracks nonstop while creating this LP, and it really cheered me up when I just broke my arm.”

Besides Retro Video Game Music, “RPG” draws heavily from Japanese environmental, ambient and new age music from the 1980s.

“RPG” showcases Wijnands’ skill as a composer and his ability to create evocative and immersive musical landscapes. The songs have a similar minimalistic aesthetic, where less is more, and the focus is on creating a serene and meditative atmosphere through the use of delicate piano melodies, subtle electronic textures, and synthesizer sound recordings to mimic the sounds of nature.

Despite the challenges Wijnands’ faced during the creation of “RPG,” the LP proves that he is still pushing the boundaries of electronic music.

Berlin's vinyl connoisseur Delfonic returns with a fresh disco EP that channels his deep digging sensibilities into four floor-focused cuts, each dripping with character and soul. Love Challenge kicks things off with uplifting strings and a strutting rhythm section, while Lover Man leans into sultry territory with smoky vocals and deep, late-night vibes. On the flip, Doin' It delivers a funk-soaked workout full of punchy horns and tight percussion, before Wear Out wraps things up with raw energy, filtered bass, and a relentless groove. A no-filler vinyl from one of Germany's finest selectors crafted for serious dancefloor heat.

“The Mighty Tiny & The Many Few have released their debut Album ‘Be The Good People’

A life- and love-affirming record crafted with vintage techniques and timeless principles.

Walshy Fire (Major Lazer) bridges cross-continental connections in collaboration with Grammy-winning composer and writer Randy Valentine, a South London-based artist hailing from Clarendon, Jamaica. Joining them is Copenhagen-based improvisational jazz visionary Steven Jess Borth II, aka CHLLNGR (I Am An Instrument) along with the crème de la crème of Danish jazz talent, including Morten McCoy, Jonathan Bremer, Rumpistol, Mikkel Hess, Laurits Qwist Bilén, Frederik Scharff and more.

For over two decades, Randy Valentine has cultivated a distinctive voice in music, and his latest work with the concept band The Mighty Tiny and the Many Few brings this artistry to life in a fresh, vibrant way. Brought together by Steven Jess Borth II and Walshy Fire, the band unites over 15 musicians from three continents, celebrating collaboration and shared joy. Alongside Ånd&, the team has crafted a musical masterpiece that resonates with a global perspective and a collective spirit of creative expression.

"Be The Good People" is both a statement and a declaration of revolutionary love—a bold call to action. This seven-track album blends soul-drenched, horn-driven, and timeless instrumentation with forward-thinking, insightful lyrics inspired by life’s triumphs and challenges. The result is a powerful musical journey, promising to be a rewarding ride for every anchoring ear.

‘Be The Good People’ is released independently on new label imprint Ånd&.”

Maggot Mass, the fifth full-length album by Pharmakon on Sacred Bones Records, marks the project's return after a five-year hiatus. This album signifies a departure from the original rules and structures established by Margaret Chardiet for Pharmakon, evolving into a new form. It retains the project's experimental roots in power electronics and noise while incorporating industrial and punk influences. The album stems from a profound disgust with humanity's dysfunctional relationship with the environment and other life forms. It explores the loneliness resulting from this broken bond and challenges us to acknowledge our personal and systemic responsibility. What peace can we make with privilege when the true cost of our comfort is not measured in dollars but in death? How can we reconcile with death when we impose the same hierarchical structures on it that we do in life? Is life worth living in the isolation of this self-imposed species loneliness? Humans often measure worth by accumulation _ money, assets, objects _ mistaking this for power and influence. Western heritage dictates a hierarchy, placing humans at the top, separate from the natural world. This delusion turns bodies into objects, land into property, and people into expendable tools. If our value were instead determined by our contribution to the ecosystem, who could claim that a human is more valuable than a maggot? Maggots recycle death into life, breaking down matter and nourishing new growth. They transform into flies, pollinating plants and sustaining the Earth's flora. In contrast, humans pollute rather than pollinate, with a select few profiting from exploitation at the expense of biodiversity and the well-being of many. In grappling with grief and loss on both personal and global scales, Margaret sought solace in the idea of rebirth through death, celebrating the beauty of regeneration through decay. However, she had to confront the stark reality of the disconnection from the earth under oppressive systems. Pharmakon is here imagining a path where the final act is to give back what was received from creation, offering our lives and deaths to sustain existence. once I slough off this human skin I will find my home and ancestral kin_ in the coffin-birth of my cadaver's ecosystem

Black Swan is a 2010 American psychological thriller film directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis and Winona Ryder. The plot revolves around a production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake ballet
by a prestigious New York City company. Usually described as a psychological thriller, Black Swan can also be interpreted as a metaphor
for achieving artistic perfection, with all the psychological and physical challenges one might encounter.

The original score for the film was composed by Clint Mansell, an English musician, composer, and former lead singer of the band Pop Will Eat
Itself. Mansell was introduced to film scoring when director Darren Aronofsky hired him to score his debut film, Pi. Ever since Mansell wrote the score for many of Aronofsky’s films. Notable additional film scores include The Fountain, Moon, Smokin’ Aces, Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler, Doom, and High-Rise.

Spanning 14 tracks, Serotonin includes standout singles like the acclaimed ‘Burn’ with Tom Walker, ‘Seventeen’ with YOTTO & White Lies, and ‘You & I’ with Nathan Nicholson. Written over several years in his studio, on tour, and at his childhood home in the Netherlands, the album’s creation spanned a period in Joris’s life that possessed significant emotional challenges, but as the title suggests, is firmly fixed on a strong sense of positivity and euphoria for the path ahead.

From ambient soundscapes, melodic house and immersive techno, Serotonin spans a rich emotional and sonic range—always warm, organic, and unmistakably Joris Voorn.

Marking more than two decades at the forefront of electronic music, Serotonin captures the sound of an artist in full bloom.

“This album really reflects how I’ve grown into my own sound,” says Voorn. “I’m not chasing trends—just making something honest, hopefully timeless, and able to move people on the dance floor. I want listeners to feel Serotonin—to let go, be free, even if just for a moment."

Hamburg-born composer, pianist and producer Niklas Paschburg announces his latest project, 'Mexican Alps' EP due for release on July 11th. 'La Hormiga' is a rhythmic exploration of life in motion. Pulsing beats and textured synths create forward momentum, echoing the journey through the winding paths of Oaxaca's mountainous surroundings, where tradition and nature intertwine. 'Mexican Alps' combines inspirations gathered from the picturesque mountains of southern Mexico and the majestic peaks of the Swiss Alps. The EP is a mesmerizing journey through those landscapes; drawing inspiration from nature's grandeur and the vibrancy of Día de los Muertos, Niklas blends electronic textures, atmospheric samples, and innovative instrumentation to create a soundscape that is both grounding and transcendent. Without relying on his signature piano, this EP explores new creative territories, evoking deep emotional resonance and moments of introspection. -- If his first album, 'Oceanic '(2018), was conceived as an ode to the Baltic Sea, for his next release, 'Svalbard' (2020), produced with Andy Barlow of Lamb, the Hamburg-born musician, now a Berliner by adoption, sought refuge on an island in the Arctic Ocean, surrounded by snow, ice, darkness and breathtaking landscapes. This time, however, the setting is completely different. "It all started with an invitation to play at a festival in Oaxaca," Niklas says. "Since I had never been to Latin America, I began considering how to take advantage of the opportunity to stay for a while and write something there. I started looking for houses, but I quickly realized it was almost impossible to find one with a piano—it's not a common instrument in Mexican culture. I thought, why not try immersing myself in a writing process that doesn't involve one? I was so excited about the idea that I jumped in." 'Mexican Alps' is the result of a challenge in which Paschburg harnessed his collection of synths and effects to create an ambient-electronic record. On the one hand, an evolution of the work primarily carried out in 'Svalbard' and 'Panta Rhei'; on the other hand, an episode in its own right, distinct from its predecessors due to the absence of the piano and the greater role played by improvisation, by coincidence, it became his first work created without his signature instrument. "Not having the opportunity to write chords, harmonies, and everything else on the piano, I improvised more, focusing on the sound. This was the approach I used to record demos in Mexico, which I then brought with me to Switzerland, where I carried on working on the EP. In addition to my usual setup (the OB-6 by Dave Smith and Tom Oberheim and the OP-1 by Teenage Engineering, plus my ever-beloved Hohner accordion, inherited from my grandfather), I was also guided by the purchase of a new Moog Matriarch with a unique delay. All this helped me build the sound I had in mind: a spacious, abstract, 3D sound that is definitely immersive." He expands. It is an emotional landscape that translates into music. In some of the tracks, Paschburg has also included field recordings collected during the Día de los Muertos, a deeply felt Mexican holiday: "A great celebration, a colorful parade of skeletons, skulls, flowers, and decorated altars, so engaging and intoxicating that I felt compelled to use its sounds in my music." It was precisely from this blend of influences that the fourth track, "Oaxaca de Juárez", emerged—a single characterized by a catchy funk procession and enhanced by the guitar work of Tal Arditi, a rising European jazz artist and singer-songwriter based between Basel and Berlin. 'Mexican Alps' is his new calling card, featuring an enveloping sound crafted by Paschburg in collaboration with Gijs van Klooster, who mixed the EP in a studio specifically designed for Atmos music. Mastering was handled by Bo Kondren at Calyx Studio in Berlin.

It’s very difficult to describe someone as prolific as Misha Panfilov. So, I feel the best way to define him is to think of a “Trivial Pursuit Playing Piece,” where each pie piece represents one of the bands he heads up, and each band has its own distinct style and genre. Yet, when looked at all together, create the whole musical persona of Misha. This is the lens I would like to view his latest endeavor, Days As Echoes.

The vibe on this sophomore release channels Krautrock philosophy and Library music, peppered with elements of jazz, Ethiopian, cinema, ambient and bits of everything between. This atmosphere is created from all the instruments Misha uses and the resulting compositions are heard as repetitive patterns that are forged from the multiple layering of melodies. Thus, creating six unique songs with emotional granularity, yet collectively encompass a genuinely positive “feel good” vibe…with a hint of nostalgia.

Moods of the day, moods like echoes say, A future of hope is yours, by following the Sun’s ray.

The opening track, “Days As Echoes,” is a dedication to a much simpler time when the sky was bluer and the snow was whiter…just like how you remember it when you were a child. A time when people honestly cared more about everything as a given, and not as a selfish accolade. A time when optimism seemed within reach. In other words, nostalgia marred by awareness.

…Leading to a path where the skies are not gray. Where dreams of castles in the air are the mainstay.

“In A Dream” has a style that pays homage to both spiritual jazz and ambient music. A simple theme is introduced and leads to the climax of this stormy dream, putting it all in perspective. That pivotal point when one realizes the truth by re-tracing the events, which led to the epiphany of how to find the answer while traveling within this airy soundscape.

…Diurnal or nocturnal, day or night, Traveling the path of truth must be done without fright.

One can’t help but feel a definite traveling vibe that comes from “Moonscape Waltz” To me, it has a dual-characteristic that can be visualized as a train trip, either at sunrise or sunset. Regardless, the time is not of major relevance, but the actual pursuit is. Lao Tzu said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with that first step.” This track takes you beyond that initial step into this vast world toward your destination as you search for the truth.

…The unknown is real, but you know the deal. People need people to show which direction you point the wheel.

“Together” is the most peaceful and solo oriented compositions of this album. It shows how one cannot achieve happiness alone, but the importance of having someone special or a group of others to help along the way. Not only to help seek your goal, but also the ability to enjoy the scenery while on your journey

…The end of this tunnel has a light that’s so bright. Illuminating the trodden way, your destination, now in sight.

One is free from the chains of the unknown as you listen to a “Few Layers For Smith”, a dedication to a friend. A song that draws energy from the ECM works of Steve Reich, thats married with a primitive lo-fi basement setting. Its positive force breaks those encumbrances and gives you a glimpse of your prize. But you ruminate on this and come to the conclusion that the path that led you there is equally important as the goal itself. Question is, how do you share your realizations and experiences?

…The route was cast, the trials have passed. The glittering treasure you sought is yours now, at last.

“Ocean Song” meanders from the ritual rhythms of its shoreline to the crashing riptides of unbridled guitar feedback, creating this raging ocean atmosphere. However, its message is quite clear and states that people’s goals and experiences are not just meant for personal growth, but to be shared with
others, so that they too can live vicariously thru your story and somehow utilize it for their own.

…The prize has been won, but the journey is never done. You now have the responsibility to share everything under the Sun.

These six songs, each with its own sound, collectively comprise the vibe of this album. One cannot help but feel a sense of joy and fulfillment when listening to it. Each song has its own unique mood, yet together create an atmosphere of hope and happiness that has no choice but to spill out of the listener. I feel this was the ultimate goal of Misha’s on this record. Quite a challenge for the man who never sleeps, but is always searching for the perfect beat. One may not fully grasp his musical mind, but this album does give you a gateway into the moods and magic of Misha!

- Brent Sawicki

Ghetto Cycle is the soundtrack of Charlie P’s life, set to music by O.B.F.

Meeting up with Charlie P and Rico from O.B.F in a studio is like diving into a particle accelerator operating at full speed. Lively, hyperactive, hardworking, Southend’s MC and the greatest warrior of French sound systems just can’t stay put.

Their creativity works continuously: riddims, melodies, lyrics, clip concepts and other fantasies spurt out at top speed. These common traits allow them to produce explosive collaborations, both on stage and in the studio.

After the success of the singles “Dub Controler” and “Sixteen Tons of Pressure”, the launch of an album became self-evident. Coming from a modest background in a remote London suburb, Charlie P has been through a lot before understanding that his passion for music could be a vehicle for emancipation. It is this life trajectory, punctuated by difficulties, pitfalls, hard work, encounters and challenges that he tells through the tracks of “Ghetto Cycle”.

Conceived as a concentrate of joint influences, this album gathers tracks in the purest digital dub vein, but also reggae, dance or downright grime. A new stage in the development of their collaboration.

The extroverted blend of attitude, energy, and ostentatiousness that spills from the New York Dolls’ self-titled debut can be seen in full view on the album cover. Depicting the quintet in its hallmark flash-and-trash apparel and in drag appearance, the 1973 album scared away a considerable amount of potential listeners while capturing the attention of a sizable audience that recognized the band for what it was: zeitgeist pioneers who helped develop the punk and glam rock movements.

Named by Rolling Stone the 301st Greatest Album of All Time and by Mojo the 49th greatest album of all time, New York Dolls receives long-overdue audiophile treatment on Mobile Fidelity’s numbered-edition 180g 45RPM 2LP set. Sourced from the original master tapes, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing in California, and housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, this collectible version marks the first time the group’s career-making statement is available to be experienced in audiophile quality.

Far from harboring the crude elements that became associated with the punk scene, New York Dolls benefits from keen production overseen by none other than Todd Rundgren. Though more accustomed to working far higher-caliber musicians, Rundgren — taken by the New York Dolls’ charisma and cool, if not their instrumental approach — fully understood the ensemble’s aesthetic. He captured what went down at New York City’s Record Plant with an astute blend of live-on-the-floor feel, raw authenticity, and professional acumen.

On Mobile Fidelity’s definitive-sounding reissue, you can hear those facets as well as key details, dynamics, and textures with previously unimaginable insight. Rundgren preserved generous degrees of grit, grime, and grease while bestowing the raucous music with elevated levels of separation, solidity, and impact every landmark recording deserves. His vision extends to introducing choice accents — barroom piano notes, Moog synthesizer passages, Buddy Bowser’s honking saxophones — that add to the songs’ appeal without interfering with the primary architecture.

Afforded extra groove space on this pressing, the tenor, presentation, and attack of both vocalist David Johansen and now-iconic guitarists Johnny Thunders and Sylvain Sylvain come across with stunning vibrancy and vitality. The New York Dolls often seem headed off the rails and into the red, but somehow, the strut, swagger, and sloppiness — and the associated sleaze and scruff, scrape and snarl, frenzy and feverishness those characteristics entail — remain together as a whole that shakes its collective fist at the frustrations, isolation, disarray, and disillusionment of youth chaos and urban decay.

Kicking off its debut with “Personality Crisis,” cited by Rolling Stone as one of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, the band makes obvious its grasp of alienation, deviance, displacement, and suburban disaffection — as well as its capacity to play hanging-by-a-thread boogie, noisy rock ‘n’ roll, and Brill Building-inspired pop. The lipstick-kissed New York Dolls possesses traits many of its harsher predecessors would overlook: joyfulness and melody, topped with a knack for knowing how and where to take a song inside of three-and-a-half minutes.

Dive and dash with the belligerent “Looking for a Kiss”; stomp your feet and clap your hands to the big choruses of “Jet Boy”; surrender to the demands and provocations of the coded “Vietnamese Baby”; decide whether “Bad Girl” yearns to explode or implode. It’s one of several tunes here that allude to the world coming to end. Of course, that doesn’t mean there isn’t time for a fling before everything burns. “There’s no place I gotta go,” yowls Johansen. And he means it.

Adorned with tonal crunch, glitter, and gristle, New York Dolls takes pride in its brashness and brattiness. The rambunctious effort, which earned the band the distinction of being voted both “Best New Group of the Year” and “Worst New Group of the Year” in the pages of Creem, displays knowing reverence for the blues without calling attention to the style. The folk-laden “Lonely Planet Boy” is nothing if not a collision of heart-on-the-sleeve emotions and the desire in the face of challenges to maintain a tough-skinned exterior. An interpretation of Bo Diddley’s “Pills,” complete with shivering harmonica and clattering rhythms, announces there’s no cure for what infects this band. It’s that contagious. And how.

His deliveries gushing with campy fun, playful irreverence, and sheer decadence, Johansen doubles as the equivalent of an open fire hydrant that spouts at will. He’s at once tender and vicious, serious and tongue-in-cheek. On arguably his finest hour on the album, Johansen’s phrasing, passion, and lyrical ambiguity alone turn “Trash” into an insistent glam-rock gem whose echoing harmonies and girl-group references stamp it a pop classic.

Too much, too soon? Only for those averse to some of the finest rock ‘n’ roll ever put on tape.

Foehn & Jerome feat. Sonya Zlo - Macho Madness (PFFD003)

Berlin, Summer 2025 - A raw, hypnotic, and deeply conceptual collaboration is about to make waves. Austrian DJ and producer duo Foehn & Jerome, residents of Berlin's iconic Club Der Visionaere and founders of the Perfumed Freedom label, team up with Ukrainian artist and producer Sonya Zlo to present "Macho Madness" - a wild and genre-bending release born from an unfiltered studio jam that spiralled into something bigger. In addition to their experimental project Space Curls, with which the three artists also perform live shows, Sonya, Fabian, and Jerome have been working on their new techno/house project.

In a world where stereotypes wrestle for power, "Macho Madness" challenges everything we thought was normal. Overblown masculinity, the illusion of strength, and staged rituals of dominance – that is what we call the "Macho Madness".

Foehn & Jerome, known for their electrifying DJ sets, have been shaping Berlin's underground scene for over a decade. Sonya Zlo, who moved to Berlin from Kyiv in 2022, stumbled upon their gig by chance - and what started as a conversation about track ID's turned into a full-on collaboration.

"Working with Foehn & Jerome has taught me so much," says Sonya. "I come from a jazz background, so this was completely new territory for me - but bringing my melodic instincts into this heavy, industrial sound was crazy exciting".

Following Perfumed Freedom's recent releases "The Frisbee of No Return" and "Hermanngirl", the new record "Macho Madness" will be released in summer 2025. Play it, stream it, or pick up the limited vinyl - just don't expect anything ordinary.

GIRASOLES is the ninth studio album from multi-platinum singer-songwriter Jay Wheeler. In what many will find is some of his most personal work to date, it’s clear that music is his refuge, with the album representing the birth of a renewed version of himself. The moving 15-track album musically represents three stages: difficulties faced in life (represented by planting a seed), a period of transformation (growth), and maturity (a full bloom). GIRASOLES represents the feeling of being stuck, life’s challenges and the moments where personal growth seems impossible. However, as you mature through time, overcoming challenges and obstacles, you bloom into something beautiful. The message is clear: “Never settle and keep working on yourself, show love to others, and continue to evolve despite difficulties, just as sunflowers continue to grow toward the light,” Wheeler expressed. “People talk about outcomes, but no one talks about the process of getting there. This is ‘Girasoles,’ an album full of emotions, showing my evolution as an artist and a man. I want fans to identify with each track and make it their own,” shared Jay Wheeler about “Girasoles”, an album dedicated to the three most important women in his life: Zhamira (his wife), Aiunii (his daughter), and his mother. 2xLP, pressed on Canary Yellow Vinyl and housed in a Gatefold Jacke

Between The Seed And The Timber is a cycle of six songs exploring ritual and mystical aspects of the modern era. At times both noir and psychedelic, they evoke a strong sense of nostalgia for a disappearing age. In contrast to industrial music’s dystopian semiotics, Jas Shaw challenges us to hear sounds inspired by machinery, electricity and mechanisation in a new light.

“I made the synth parts for a Swans gig,” says Shaw. “As SMD we’d supported Swans. James was away doing some production but I didn’t want to pass it up, so I offered to open solo. It turned out the gig was sooner than expected so I made all these synth things to do live.”

Shaw put the tracks to one side and forgot about them, only returning to them years later. “You know when you’ve changed as a person and you listen back to something from a different angle? I suddenly could hear what I had been after. It reminded me of experiences I’d had at Swans gigs. I wanted to achieve that energy and charge.”

Dubbing techniques are crucial to the sound of the record. “I set up a few synths on a table and had my mixer running loads of auxes back into the desk so it was all on the edge of feeding back. Then I realised that if I put a mic into the desk I’d have an extra feedback route. I found a setting where I could get it to build when I pointed the mic at the monitors but then turning it away you could put the brakes on the regen.”

Between The Seed And The Timber is Jas Shaw’s inaugural release for the London based, Kindred-affiliated TEETH label. TEETH is rooted in a reverence for texture, space, and sonic decay - amplifying experimental sounds that blend dreamlike melodies with weathered landscapes. Each release informs the next, with every track as vital as the last to complete the whole set.

Orchestrated by Jojo Mathiszig-Lee, founder of London’s Kindred, the label celebrates like-minded talent from the community, providing a platform for transgressing music.

Artworks are made by Scarlet Griffiths.

Cosey Fanni Tutti has announced details of a new album, 2t2, set for release on the artist’s own imprint, Conspiracy International, on 13 June 2025 on vinyl & CD. Composed, performed and produced by Cosey Fanni Tutti, the 9-track album moves between propulsive beat constructions and expansive electronic explorations, continuing themes from 2019’s acclaimed album TUTTI. It is a personal reflection; a sonic realisation of her life, drawing on her powerful inner resolve and expressing it through music. The album finds Cosey making sense of some very tough years, dealing with personal bereavements alongside swingeing world events that have impacted us all. Centring on her own strength and self will, the album’s two distinct sides – one rhythmic, one more meditative – are connected by an overwhelmingly positive mood. She explains, “My overtone chanting on the track ‘Stound’ was part of that, tapping into the inner self, to the core of your being, emotionally, physically, allowing the sounds to permeate and soothe as well as create a sense of power, resistance and resilience to what we face.” Even in the more melancholic moments, there’s a lightness that she explains is an “acknowledgement that it’s alright to be sad, that’s part of life, but there is so much joy too in our memories of people we lose and in the moments we share with each other. Joy is our resistance.” There are also threads from her most recent projects running through 2t2. Her latest book RE-SISTERS and the score she wrote for Caroline Catz’s film Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and Legendary Tapes are acknowledged, most directly on ‘Threnody’ which is dedicated to Delia Derbyshire and Andy Christian, an artist friend of Delia’s. He sent Cosey an abstract drawing of the same name, created one night from an improvised evening where he drew while Derbyshire intoned and sang softly as she looked at the drawings, as if reading a score expressing how they made her feel. Cosey’s process and the different strands that make up her work form a totality of vision. She goes on to say, “Once you get creating and listening, weaving, collaging sound it’s a wonderfully fulfilling feeling that takes you both out of yourself at the same time as essentially deep within.”

The artwork reflects this idea that the album is a “sound cameo”, reflecting the light within the music, and the buzz of life that exists within all of Cosey’s work. Musician, artist and author Cosey Fanni Tutti has continually challenged boundaries and conventions through her work. As a founding member of the hugely influential avant-garde band Throbbing Gristle, one half of electronic pioneers Chris and Cosey, and as an artist channelling her experience in pornographic modelling and striptease, her work on the margins has reshaped the mainstream. Her first solo album, Time To Tell (1983) was followed by 2019’s Tutti and 2022’s Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and the Legendary Tapes. Her debut book, the Penderyn Music Book Prize shortlisted Art Sex Music, was published in 2017, followed by RE-SISTERS in 2022 (both Faber), which will soon get a Spanish edition.

Pioneering British electronic musician Mark Van Hoen is set to release his latest solo album, The Eternal Present, on 23 May 2025 via Dell'Orso, a remarkable collection of tracks spanning nearly three decades of recordings from 1998 to 2024.
The Eternal Present embodies its philosophical title, inspired by Joseph Campbell's concept that "Eternity isn't some later time... Eternity is that dimension of here and now that all thinking in temporal terms cuts off." The album explores music as the ultimate expression of existing in the present moment, transcending time and creating a sonic experience that is simultaneously "spectral, ghostly, melodic, harmonic, and decayed."
An influential contemporary of Aphex Twin, Autechre, LFO and Boards of Canada, Van Hoen is best known for his solo work as Locust in the mid-'90s, which helped push post-rave electronic music into newly challenging realms. His extensive discography spans releases on influential labels including R&S, Touch, and Editions Mego. Van Hoen has worked on numerous collaborations throughout his career, including with Nick Holton and Neil Halstead of Slowdive under the moniker Black Hearted Brother—their album Stars Are Our Home was released in 2013.
The Eternal Present continues the lineage of Van Hoen's most significant works, with artwork by Ian Anderson (Designers Republic) reflecting the album's "eternal present" concept with a mysterious visual approach, allowing listeners to form their own imaginary landscapes. The mastering by Stefan Betke (Pole) enhances this document of the evolution of the artist over the years as he continues to hone his signature sound. Using a host of instruments including analogue synthesisers and employing various recording approaches, Van Hoen's equipment changed dramatically over the years—from early DSP processing used on his first solo record on Apollo ‘Playing With Time’ to various synthesisers, modular systems, tape machines, and digital workstations—contributing to the album's rich sonic diversity.
Throughout The Eternal Present, ideas are woven together through spoken word quotations and abstract vocals featuring notable collaborations from Rachel Goswell on the Slowdive cover "Shine" (from 1998), Megan Mitchell (Cruel Diagonals) on "Somewhere", and session vocalists Clare Dove and Dorothy Takev on "No-One Leave" and "It's Not You (In A Way)" respectively. The use of cleverly assembled vocal samples from an "undisclosed but very famous female vocalist" on "Multiplex" (2016) and the indistinct vocalisations on the Cabaret Voltaire-influenced "Only Me" (2017), constantly challenges and disorientates the listener through fluctuating, ever-changing musical elements.
The album was recorded across multiple locations including Somerset, London, Los Angeles, and New York—even beginning compositions during flights and in airport lounges—reflecting Van Hoen's changing personal circumstances, environments, and situations throughout the years.
Of Indian-Jamaican descent, Van Hoen was born and raised in England, absorbing diverse musical influences from his neighbors—African-Jamaican on one side and Punjabi Indian on the other. "Each family played their own music frequently, and I absorbed it." His musical foundations include Brian Eno, Kraftwerk, OMD, Tangerine Dream, Japan, Cabaret Voltaire, and Cocteau Twins, later finding inspiration in My Bloody Valentine, LFO, and '90s producers Robert Leiner and CJ Bolland.
These eclectic influences are evident on The Eternal Present, which contains snapshots of different periods in his life, with changing circumstances across decades creating a variety of textures and sounds. As Mark explains: "It holds the same sonic signature as many of my solo releases and early Locust albums. It's a natural development that has taken place in the last few decades. It's even related to the earliest music I made as a teenager, although perhaps more sophisticated."
“What a remarkably affecting, majestically broad and captivating work it is..what strikes you most is the album’s myriad diversity. Outstanding” (Electronic Sound)

“Whether channelling mid- 70’s Eno, early Aphex Twin or Neu! his vivid sounds shimmer with emotional weight” (Mojo 4*)

"Musically, Van Hoen belongs to a distinguished family tree. Originally influenced by the likes of Brian Eno and Tangerine Dream, and later presaging both Autechre's glitch and Boards of Canada's pastoral IDM." (Pitchfork)

The album opens with "Hypnagogia," an ode to the space between sleep and wakefulness where we are open to other realms of consciousness. The song slowly builds along a steady pulse provided by bassist Pickle (Nicole Smith) and drummer Rikki Styxx. Tripped out saxophone bleats from guest player Gabe Flores swirl on top of the organ drones laid out by guest keyboardist Gregg Foreman. The band's choral objectives for Under the Spell of Joy are established right off the bat, with Bonnie Bloomgarden's melodic invocations bolstered by a choir, giving the album a rich and vibrant wall-of-sound aesthetic. The song ominously builds on its hypnotic foundation until it opens up into a raucous revelry at the four-minute mark. The portentous simmer of the opening track yields to the ecstatic rocker "Hold My Hand," where verses reminiscent of Velvet Underground's "I'm Waiting For The Man" explode into big triumphant choruses. From there the band launches into the title track, which marries the griminess of The Stooges with an innocence provided by a children's choir chanting the album's primary mantra "under the spell of joy / under the spell of love." Death Valley Girls have always vacillated between lightness and darkness, and on "Bliss Out" they demonstrate their current exuberant focus with a patina-hued pop song driven by an irrepressibly buoyant organ line laid down by keyboardist The Kid (Laura Kelsey). A similar cosmic euphoria is obtained on "The Universe," where alternating chords on the organ help elevate soaring saxophone and keyboard lines out beyond the stratosphere. If you're looking for transcendental rock music, look no further.

Thanks to acclaimed live shows and radio appearances in both Norway and Germany, Heigh Chief has been steadily winning over a growing fan base with their high energy performances of songs from their first two albums. One Night Live solidifies their reputation as a formidable live band with incredible chops and songwriting skills. Their talent has earned them notable achievements, including winning the Notodden Blues Cup in 2013 and placing second in the Norwegian finals of the "Battle of the Bands." These successes helped them secure spots at the International Blues Challenge (IBC) in Memphis for two consecutive years, 2015 and 2016. The four-piece band brings serious talent to the stage - featuring none other than Norway"s top Hammond organ virtuoso, Lars Christian Narum. One Night Live is the band"s first live recording, and it doesn"t disappoint. Recorded in Norderstedt, Germany while the band was on tour in 2019, it"s an impressive testament to the band"s talents.

For her second full-length as Plume Girl, Sowmya Somanath crafts a space where boundaries of language, feeling, and sound start to dissolve. ‘Unnameable Glory’ ruminates on the limits of expression, and the luminous freedom that emerges when we let go of the need to name. Elaborating on the exploratory songs of her debut, Plume Girl continues to bring together Hindustani classical improvisation, ambient soundscapes, and experimental pop.

Somanath’s voice—from gentle murmur to radiant call—guides the listener through dreamlike arrangements: sunrise guitar arpeggios, humming choirs, heartbeat kickdrums, and synths tremble. Elsewhere field sounds and old family recordings are collaged, a woman’s giggle transposed into a piano melody, a sloshing body of water mirrored by synth bleeps. Plume Girl conjures moments of revelation, drawing from the natural beauty and intuition, that unnameable glory.

Is there a divinity or a wholeness that exists beyond language, belief, or tradition? Unnameable Glory both celebrates and gently challenges the notion: Can we honour the creative richness of culture while also seeing through the divisions it creates? Can we meet the world—and each other—without assumption, without fear, with eyes made new? In these songs, the sacred is found not in grand gestures, but in the anonymous freedom of simply being: the iridescence of oil and water on a street, the smile of a stranger, the hush that settles by a creek.

At the heart of the album is a sense of curiosity and surrender—a willingness to listen without judgment, to let the moment be unnameable, to allow wonder to arise and dissolve. And yet, as Somanath notes, there’s an impulse to capture that’s tough to ignore; a need to replicate and remember. Unnameable Glory dwells in this tension: between holding and letting go, between the urge to define and the beauty of what cannot be contained. There is a quiet, revolutionary joy in simply living and sensing together. Music becomes a meeting place for the whole, the holy, and the unnamable.

Despite the outright denial in its title, death is present in every one of the songs on Never Die, the collaborative album from MIDWIFE’s Madeline Johnston and Matt Jencik (of Implodes, Don Caballero, and Slint’s live band). Jencik held the tenderest thought imaginable when he came up with that phrase—Never Die—the fact that the people he loves eventually would, a certainty that feels impossible and remote, until the day it absolutely doesn’t. Never Die represents Jencik’s desperate bid to hold onto everyone he loves, to keep them on Earth so fiercely that they might enter the grave with claw marks on their skin.

Johnston, who recognizes the grace of mortality (and who, as MIDWIFE once sang: “I don’t wanna live forever,” over and over) serves as the spiritual guide for the album, transmuting the fear of death into an incentive to live more keenly and dearly. Following a number of ambient drone instrumental albums, Jencik felt the need to set himself a new creative challenge: to write vocal-heavy songs. He worked on them alone in his basement, recording directly to a four-track cassette. He sent those demos to a different collaborator to tinker with before that partnership eventually dissolved. Then, he thought of Madeline: the way her voice tended to glower in her songs, as well as her commitment to minimalism, which fell squarely within the project’s aesthetic and spiritual impulses.

“I was immediately drawn to what she was doing,” Jencik says. In both of their work, Jencik and Johnston understand minimalism as a vehicle for enormous, desperate and universal emotions. Entire worlds come in and out of existence between each of their sparse notes; a great breadth of feeling is bedded into the simple structure of their songs. Never Die offers a calm confrontation with the dour inevitability that bookends our lives. When the fact of death looms over life, it tends to denature every experience we have and every relationship we know we’ll eventually have to forfeit back to the Earth. No one, no matter how hard we love, makes it out of this alive thing. But we feel anyway. And we love anyway. And we sing anyway. Here, Jencik and Johnston have sung ‘die’ over and over, snowglobing life in the process.

In 2006, Danger Mouse is King Midas of the music world. He has an uncanny knack for creating jagged, dense, frenzied beats and odd, eerie, vivid soundscapes that never compromise the music's natural flow. Meanwhile, rapper and singer Cee-Lo, a veteran of Atlanta's Dirty South scene, has never been one to be constrained by hip-hop conventions, and is a willing partner in adventure. The result is an intrepid psychedelic blend of pop, hip-hop, soul, and rock that consistently challenges and delights. It's no wonder that "Crazy," with its modest riff, irresistible hook, and disarming opening line ("I remember when, I remember, I remember when I lost my mind") became a worldwide Internet sensation a full six months before the official release of St. Elsewhere. But that relatively simple soul-pop gem is the tamest track on this wide-ranging, often dark and introspective collaboration. (In fact, the duo considers Gnarls Barkley to be a wholly new creation, as opposed to a collaboration of existing artists.) "Everybody is somebody, but nobody wants to be themselves," Cee-Lo croons on "Who Cares?" He and Danger Mouse try very hard not to be their old selves as they creatively and confidently break down boundaries, but the brilliant cores of their musical personae Cee-Lo's eccentric spiritual soul man and Danger's bold sonic explorer remain. Marc Greilsamer.

Recorded with BRIT Award-winning producer Ethan Johns (Paul McCartney, Kings of Leon, Laura Marling, Ray Lamontagne) Ann's debut album Clever Rabbits explores the limits of prescribed identity in a timeless, brave and sensitive challenge of the zeitgeist - Inspired by the Chinese idiom "Clever rabbits need three burrows", and the imagery of three rabbits found in Devon's churches and China's caves, Ann Liu Cannon weaves Anglo-Celtic folklore, sacred texts, the sonic binaries of modern digital synthesis and her classic singer-songwriter roots, with integrity and precision - Clever Rabbits is a story told in her distinctive land of elegant, wonky folk

Composed, performed and produced by Cosey Fanni Tutti, the 9-track album moves between propulsive beat constructions and expansive electronic explorations, continuing themes from 2019’s acclaimed album TUTTI. It is a personal reflection; a sonic realisation of her life, drawing on her powerful inner resolve and expressing it through music. The album finds Cosey making sense of some very tough years, dealing with personal bereavements alongside swingeing world events that have impacted us all. Centring on her own strength and self will, the album’s two distinct sides – one rhythmic, one more meditative – are connected by an overwhelmingly positive mood.

She explains, “My overtone chanting on the track ‘Stound’ was part of that, tapping into the inner self, to the core of your being, emotionally, physically, allowing the sounds to permeate and soothe as well as create a sense of power, resistance and resilience to what we face.” Even in the more melancholic moments, there’s a lightness that she explains is an “acknowledgement that it’s alright to be sad, that’s part of life, but there is so much joy too in our memories of people we lose and in the moments we share with each other. Joy is our resistance.”

There are also threads from her most recent projects running through 2t2. Her latest book RE-SISTERS and the score she wrote for Caroline Catz’s film Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and Legendary Tapes are acknowledged, most directly on ‘Threnody’ which is dedicated to Delia Derbyshire and Andy Christian, an artist friend of Delia’s. He sent Cosey an abstract drawing of the same name, created one night from an improvised evening where he drew while Derbyshire intoned and sang softly as she looked at the drawings, as if reading a score expressing how they made her feel. Cosey’s process and the different strands that make up her work form a totality of vision.

She goes on to say, “Once you get creating and listening, weaving, collaging sound it’s a wonderfully fulfilling feeling that takes you both out of yourself at the same time as essentially deep within.” The artwork reflects this idea that the album is a “sound cameo”, reflecting the light within the music, and the buzz of life that exists within all of Cosey’s work. Musician, artist and author Cosey Fanni Tutti has continually challenged boundaries and conventions through her work. As a founding member of the hugely influential avant-garde band Throbbing Gristle, one half of electronic pioneers Chris and Cosey, and as an artist channelling her experience in pornographic modelling and striptease, her work on the margins has reshaped the mainstream. Her first solo album, Time To Tell (1983) was followed by 2019’s Tutti and 2022’s Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and the Legendary Tapes. Her debut book, the Penderyn Music Book Prize shortlisted Art Sex Music, was published in 2017, followed by RE-SISTERS in 2022 (both Faber), which will soon get a Spanish edition.

Max Schreiber is the more introspective guise of Mule Driver, reserved for drifting into fragile and haunted sonic territories. Variations on Memory Vol.2 deepens Schreiber’s exploration of collective sound and personal distortion.

This time, fragments of lullabies and children’s songs resurface along side memorial songs—distorted by time, memory, and a quiet sense of unease. Schreiber treats these melodies not as sacred relics, but as raw material: vulnerable to noise, decay, and reinterpretation.

Recorded in intuitive, often single-take sessions, the album challenges the listener’s sense of nostalgia. Sentimentality collapses into abstraction, and familiar tunes unravel into drifting soundscapes—like half-remembered scenes from a film that never existed.

Variations on Memory Vol. 2 is less about what these songs once meant, and more about what they might conceal.

The Isle Of Lewis is the largest such of the Outer Hebrides archipelago, and a place where myth and folklore are abundant, The Callanish Stones, a cruciform circle reckoned by tradition to be the forms of petrified giants who would not convert to Christianity, once prompted notable chronicler of the ancient Julian Cope to pronounce himself “Lashed by wind and rain but surrounded by vibe”.

This was where Holy Scum decided to take a pilgrimage for the recording of their second album proper for Rocket Recordings, All We Have Is Never. Frustrated by the physical and logistical challenges keeping the band members from collaborating, they decided the best way forward was at the residential Black Bay Studios on Great Bernera, a two hour plus ferry ride from anywhere. “The isolation of Black Bay was our salvation, a much-needed cleanse after a year of relentless misfortune” reckons the band’s Peter Taylor. Taylor describes the Holy Scum approach jokingly as ‘No riffs’ yet this belies an ability to carve abstraction and minimalism into monolithic and ominous shapes. Whilst the band are as handy as ever with excoriating and ear-splitting experimentation - as on the feverish guitar scree that underpins the taut‘Thieves’ - they also excel in a grittily vital charge as analogous to the ballsy kinetics of Fugazi and The Ex (the primal ‘I Am The Land’) as the overcast catharsis of Killing Joke and Voivod (the infectious ‘Witches’). “The title is a nod to the fact that everything ends - good, bad, ugly, beautiful “ reflects vocalist Mike Mare (Dälek) of their most focused work to date. “That is not a bad thing - it is a rebirth every time. We can spend a lifetime 24/7 together having shared experiences but living separate realities”. “I don’t think it is nihilistic,” he adds. “The despair turns into hope for sure”.

For many all-time-great rock bands in the ascendant, the fourth album is often the point where youthful years of febrile creativity and progressive momentum culminate in a masterwork for the ages, setting the seal on an early signature sound while opening it up to future possibilities. From enchanting 2016 debut Prelude, through 2018's assured II: Sojourn, to 2020's wizardly III: Pentecost, each Wytch Hazel album has embodied that old-fashioned notion of unstoppable progress, and the glittering treasure chest that is IV: Sacrament proves eminently worthy of rising to the toughest challenge. Not just the Lancashire quartet's most classically beautiful production, but their strongest yet front-to-back collection of affecting hooks and ageless melodies.

This is an album made during a crucial period in South Africa’s history during which there was a palpable feeling of a slow turning towards the collapse of the apartheid state side by side with an increasingly well-organised culture of resistance through the formation of the United Democratic Front (UDF) and various affiliated bodies. However, as a result, there was increased pushback from the state security establishment, a turning to dirty tricks and the formation of hit squads whose members murdered and tortured many of our friends and created chaos throughout South Africa as well as neighbouring countries.

This album is situated in this political environment however it took advantage of the new do-it-yourself music technologies available at that time. Technologies that made it possible to make and release records without interference from traditional record company executives. Two musician friends of mine pooled their resources after their respective bands had broken up. Ivan Kadey (National Wake) and Lloyd Ross (Radio Rats) built an 8-track recording studio control room and fitted it out in a second hand caravan and called it Shifty. They parked it in a garage attached to the only house left in a demolished and derelict mining village near Soweto on the outskirts of Johannesburg.
All the work on this album was completed there, mainly after hours and mostly alone where I enjoyed an exhilarating freedom to develop a whole new set of musical skills and ideas, incorporating my love of a wide range of music I’d grown up with. Influences of 1970s progressive/kraut/and psychedelic rock combined with mbaqanga bass styles, early reggae/dub and Indian tabla rhythms. Stockhausen, early Zappa and Holgar Czukay were radio text and shredding influences, and Chris Cutler’s band Henry Cow & Art Bears helped me see a way to political expression. Mostly though was the exciting post-punk and no-wave music coming through to us from Europe and America: bands like This Heat, the Mekons, Raincoats, Sonic Youth and Pere Ubu were immensely important to me as was my reading from the period: J.M.Coetzee’s first 3 novels are strong influences on Free State Fence; the stark landscape, superstition, ritual, and sexual repression are in many of his settings. JG Ballard was a constant presence throughout that period, especially whilst living in such a surreal environment, surrounded by mine dumps, but mostly I think the whole French post-modern philosophical movement—Derrida, Foucault and of course, Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation—set out a new sense of possibilities, possible ways to express oneself, ways to think, and ways to try and analyse the political intersection of public and private life. Most important at that time was the influence of sound recordings I had made and experiences garnered from working as a sound recordist on documentary films. These financed my work and later the studio and were consistent employment throughout the 1980s. Film work also enabled me to experience much of South Africa that was hidden from most. The track Independence Day is a good example; drawn from some time spent in the rural homeland of Venda. This then was the first full length Kalahari Surfers album, completed in summer of 1984 it was taken to EMI pressing plant but rejected by the cutting engineer as being ""political, pornographic and anti religious"". Chris Cutler at Recommended Records took up the challenge and released the album through his label. He wrote the original liner note

Depth.Request proudly announces the debut full-length album from French electronic artist Pierre Berge-Cia - a culmination of two years of dedicated experimentation and creative exploration. This inaugural LP represents a significant milestone in Pierre Berge-Cia's musical journey, showcasing his innovative approach to electronic music.

Crafted through experimental processes and delving into themes of tension, control, and movement, "If You Do, Then When?" unfolds as a visceral journey through the complexities of bodily and sensory experience. Each track is designed to reflect the human body in all its shapes and forms, using innovative sounds and structures to evoke physicality and movement, and aiming to resonate with listeners on a deeply corporeal level.

The album was produced using a combination of the Elektron Digitone synth, a Mackie CR1604 mixer, a Shure SM57 microphone, and a limited selection of digital plugins to maintain sonic consistency. Mastering was handled by Pierre's close friend, Stefan Brown - also known as "Lesser Of". His expertise as a top-tier sound engineer at Abbey Road Studios helped shape the LP's pristine and powerful sound identity. Additionally, the tracks were tested and refined using some of the electronic scene's most beloved sound systems, ensuring an impactful club experience.

The album's artwork, created by Pierre Berge-Cia himself, is a reinterpretation of one of his favorite art performances: "Rest Energy" by Marina Abramovic and Ulay. The tension of the drawn bow and the close-up framing of the subject evoke a palpable sense of danger and emotional intensity, mirroring the physical and psychological strains within human connection. Pierre used his own hands as the model, infusing the artwork with a deeply personal and intimate touch that amplifies the psychic gravity and thematic cohesion of the album.

Pierre Berge-Cia's debut LP is a multi-sensory experience that challenges listeners to feel sound in its most physical and affective form.

Impressed proudly presents the soundtrack to Memoir of a Snail, a 2024 Australian stop-motion animated film directed by Academy Award-winning animator Adam Elliot, on a very special golden swirl picture disc.

The film follows the story of Grace Pudel, a quirky, book-loving misfit with a passion for collecting snails, whose world unravels when she is separated from her twin brother, Gilbert. As she faces challenges, Grace finds unexpected hope and inspiration in a heartwarming friendship with Pinky, an eccentric and wise elderly woman. Together, they embark on a journey of self-discovery, proving that even in the most difficult times, connection and courage can shine through.

Composed by Elena Kats-Chernin, and performed by the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the soundtrack masterfully blends classical, contemporary, and emotionally dynamic arrangements to mirror the film's emotional journey. This 42-track record is both delicate and powerful, with soft piano passages, rich strings, and an overall mood that is whimsically bittersweet.

Critics have lauded the soundtrack for how it beautifully captures the heart of the film through its effortless flow between reflective intimate moments and dramatic passages.

First ever release of pioneering radiophonic / experimental / electronic / soundtrack composer you may never have heard of but really should have by now. 26 tracks in all.
As we began the mammoth task of whittling down material for this album Elizabeth recalled the time she met Delia Derbyshire. It was during a party for existing and former Radiophonic Workshop composers at BBC Maida Vale in the early 1980s. Delia introduced herself with typical energy and exuberance proclaiming "It's up to you now - I'm passing the baton. Show these men how we get things done". That must have been quite an honour and responsibility for a young, female composer establishing herself within the male-dominated environs at Delaware Road.
Looking back over a musical career spanning almost five decades, it's clear Elizabeth rose to the challenge and made her mark. She was consistently in demand with television and radio producers, composing for an array of ground-breaking, critically acclaimed and popular BBC projects. Whilst Delia's legacy has achieved mythical status with her position as an innovator and feminist icon secured, the majority of Elizabeth's recorded work remains unavailable so her contribution to the output of the Workshop and evolution of British electronic music is somewhat under-appreciated.
Perhaps this record will help start to remedy the situation. Included are early tape experiments, home demos and non-BBC commissions from the early 1970's to the late 2000s. Having listened to 260+ digital audio tapes from Elizabeth's personal archive we have barely scratched the surface but hope to provide an indication of the breadth of her compositional and sound design skills.
Classically trained in cello and piano, Elizabeth graduated from the University of East Anglia with a degree in Music in 1973. She was mentored by Tristram Cary who helped her to become UEA's first recipient of a Masters in Electronic Music and later awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Staffordshire University. Joining the BBC as a studio manager in 1975, Elizabeth transferred to the Radiophonic Workshop in 1978. One of her first tasks was to create special sound effects for Blake's 7 using tape loops, the EMS 100 and trusted VCS3.
Her celebrated score for The Living Planet in 1982 featured early use of the PPG synthesizer and earned an Emmy nomination. Over the following years studio technology evolved rapidly, but Elizabeth transitioned from analogue recording techniques to newer digital platforms with relative ease, using samplers, midi sequencing and computer controlled workstations.
With an incredible 1,400 commissions to her name, she created special sound for The Day Of The Triffids, Lord Of The Rings, countless radio dramas including Iris Murdoch's The Sea, The Sea, Harold Pinter's Moonlight, all of Howard Barker's plays, productions of King Lear, Wordsworth's Prelude and The Pallisers. The success of The Living Planet led to further work for the BBC Natural History Unit followed by numerous commissions for The Natural World. At one point in the late 1980's at least five of her signature tunes were being broadcast every week including Points Of View, Horizon, Doctors To Be and Everyman.
After the closure of the Workshop in 1996 Elizabeth became freelance, arranging Faure's Pavane for the BBC World Cup '98 coverage (reaching no. 9 in the UK singles chart). She wrote additional music for Monty Python's Holy Grail DVD, scored Michael Palin's Full Circle and Sahara TV series, The Lost Gardens Of Heligan and The Human Body with Robert Winston.
Retiring from the music industry in the late 2000's, Elizabeth recently returned to her East Anglian roots and now lives near the coast. She walks daily, listening to all kinds of music, new and old, on her beloved air-pods.

[b] A2 Omelet Rice; Bass – Marty Holoubek; Clarinet – 小林未侑; Guitar – 國田大輔*; Percussion – 石若 駿*; Piano – 上原ひろみ*; Viola – 中 恵菜*, 古屋聡見; Violin [1st] – 田中笑美子, 田村直貴, 西江辰郎; Violin [2nd] – ビルマン聡平*, 松崎千鶴
[c] A3 Day By Day; Bass – Marty Holoubek; Cello – 向井 航*, 下島万乃; Conductor – 挾間美帆*; Drums – 伊吹文裕*; Flute – 野津雄太; Guitar – 井上 銘*; Piano – 上原ひろみ*; Viola – 中 恵菜*, 古屋聡見; Violin [1st] – 田中笑美子, 田村直貴, 西江辰郎; Violin [2nd] – ビルマン聡平*, 松崎千鶴

[e] A5 Ambition; Bass – Marty Holoubek; Cello – 向井 航*, 下島万乃; Conductor – 挾間美帆*; Guitar – 井上 銘*; Piano – 上原ひろみ*; Viola – 中 恵菜*, 古屋聡見; Violin [1st] – 田中笑美子, 田村直貴, 西江辰郎; Violin [2nd] – ビルマン聡平*, 松崎千鶴

[g] A7 Motivation; Bass – Marty Holoubek; Clarinet – 小林未侑; Drums – 菅野知明*; Electric Piano – 上原ひろみ*; Flute – 片山士駿; Guitar – 國田大輔*; Percussion – 石若 駿*; Violin [1st] – 田中笑美子, 田村直貴, 西江辰郎; Violin [2nd] – ビルマン聡平*, 松崎千鶴


[j] A10 Monologue; Bass – Marty Holoubek; Cello – 向井 航*, 篠崎由紀*; Piano – 上原ひろみ*; Trombone – 三原万里子; Viola – 中 恵菜*, 古屋聡見; Violin [1st] – 田中笑美子, 田村直貴, 西江辰郎; Violin [2nd] – ビルマン聡平*, 松崎千鶴

[l] Violin [1st] – 田中笑美子, 田村直貴, 西江辰郎; Violin [2nd] – ビルマン聡平*, 松崎千鶴

[n] B1 Next Step; Bass – Marty Holoubek; Drums – 菅野知明*; Electric Piano – 上原ひろみ*; Guitar – 國田大輔*; Percussion – 石若 駿*; Violin [1st] – 田中笑美子, 田村直貴, 西江辰郎; Violin [2nd] – ビルマン聡平*, 松崎千鶴
[o] B2 Challenge; Cello – 向井 航*, 下島万乃; Conductor – 挾間美帆*; Guitar – 國田大輔*; Trumpet – 伊藤 駿*; Viola – 中 恵菜*, 古屋聡見; Violin [1st] – 田中笑美子, 田村直貴, 西江辰郎; Violin [2nd] – ビルマン聡平*, 松崎千鶴
[p] B3 Kick Off; Bass – Marty Holoubek; Drums – 菅野知明*; Guitar – 國田大輔*; Piano – 上原ひろみ*; Trombone – 三原万里子; Viola – 中 恵菜*, 古屋聡見; Violin [1st] – 田中笑美子, 田村直貴, 西江辰郎; Violin [2nd] – ビルマン聡平*, 松崎千鶴


[s] B6 Recollection; Bass – Marty Holoubek; Cello – 向井 航*, 下島万乃; Conductor – 挾間美帆*; Guitar – 國田大輔*; Piano – 上原ひろみ*; Viola – 中 恵菜*, 古屋聡見; Violin [1st] – 田中笑美子, 田村直貴, 西江辰郎; Violin [2nd] – ビルマン聡平*, 松崎千鶴
[t] B7 No Way Out; Cello – 向井 航*, 下島万乃; Conductor – 挾間美帆*; Guitar – 國田大輔*; Viola – 中 恵菜*, 古屋聡見; Violin [1st] – 田中笑美子, 田村直貴, 西江辰郎; Violin [2nd] – ビルマン聡平*, 松崎千鶴
[u] C1 New Day; Bass – Marty Holoubek; Cello – 向井 航*, 下島万乃; Conductor – 挾間美帆*; Drums – 伊吹文裕*; Flute – 野津雄太; Guitar – 井上 銘*; Piano – 上原ひろみ*; Viola – 中 恵菜*, 古屋聡見; Violin [1st] – 田中笑美子, 田村直貴, 西江辰郎; Violin [2nd] – ビルマン聡平*, 松崎千鶴
[v] C2 Reunion; Bass – Marty Holoubek; Cello – 向井 航*, 下島万乃; Conductor – 挾間美帆*; Drums – 伊吹文裕*; Flute – 野津雄太; Piano – 上原ひろみ*; Viola – 中 恵菜*, 古屋聡見; Violin [1st] – 田中笑美子, 田村直貴, 西江辰郎; Violin [2nd] – ビルマン聡平*, 松崎千鶴

[x] C4 Faith; Cello – 向井 航*, 下島万乃; Conductor – 挾間美帆*; Guitar – 井上 銘*; Piano – 上原ひろみ*; Viola – 中 恵菜*, 古屋聡見; Violin [1st] – 田中笑美子, 田村直貴, 西江辰郎; Violin [2nd] – ビルマン聡平*, 松崎千鶴
[y] C5 Nostalgia; Bass – Marty Holoubek; Piano – 上原ひろみ*; Violin [1st] – 田中笑美子, 田村直貴, 西江辰郎; Violin [2nd] – ビルマン聡平*, 松崎千鶴
[z] C6 What It Takes; Bass – Marty Holoubek; Cello – 向井 航*, 下島万乃; Conductor – 挾間美帆*; Guitar – 井上 銘*; Oboe – 神農広樹; Viola – 中 恵菜*, 古屋聡見; Violin [1st] – 田中笑美子, 田村直貴, 西江辰郎; Violin [2nd] – ビルマン聡平*, 松崎千鶴


[xc] Violin [1st] – 田中笑美子, 田村直貴, 西江辰郎; Violin [2nd] – ビルマン聡平*, 松崎千鶴

2023 Repress

DJ Koze - with his friendly and sometimes slightly melancholic take on the world - is one of the greatest auteurs of club music today, and one of the few internationally active DJs who dares to make music that has relevance beyond the dance floor. During the 70-minute journey on his DJ Kicks - the 50th edition - Kosi
Kos manages to establish a uniform color even though genres alternate in a way that is rarely heard on a mix CD: the stripped down hip hop of Madlib, brutalist Berghain techno, timeless songwriting, floating indie-pop and outlier numbers that oscillate between absurdity andmelancholy. Koze's disregard for the stylistic yoke presents him with an immense challenge. Hence, almost all the tracks are more or less edited, and one is fully rhymed (Session Victim: Hyuwee).Koze rambles on here himself: "I didn't want to kick around ophisticated knowledge, but rather try and weave together some good gems that would make sense to anyone, even people who aren't necessarily music nerds". But this is blabbing that you can count on, also because he approaches the term "mix" from a different angle and doesn't even try to make something fit that doesn't fit: "During the day, I don't need to hear anything that's mixed on the beat. I put the focus on making sure that it works harmoniously - the idea is more to create the impression of a radio show, like people such as John Peel did so uniquely. There is a giant cosmos of music and it runs through my filter".

Mutant, in conjunction with Netflix, are proud to present the premiere physical release of Scot Stafford's score to the film, Ultraman: RisingUltraman: Rising follows Ken Sato, an all-star athlete who reluctantly returns home to take on the mantle of Ultraman in the wake of rising monster attacks in Tokyo, discovering that his greatest challenge isn't fighting giant monsters: it's raising one. Stafford's score for Rising takes influence from the original Ultraman theme, while simultaneously ushering in a new era for the character and his fans.

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Nick Mulvey’s fourth studio album, Dark Harvest (Pt. 1), out 6th June via Nick’s own independent label titled ‘Supernatural Records’. It also marks the release of its first single, ‘Radical Tenderness’, and the announcement of the Dark Harvest - World Tour, with dates across UK, Ireland, Europe, North America and Australia. Arriving three years after his previous album, New Mythology, Nick Mulvey is back with Dark Harvest (Pt. 1). The intervening time has been one defined by loss, challenge, independence and empowerment for Nick, who has undergone a transformative period to arrive here, embarking on the release of some of his most profound songs to date. Speaking on the album, Nick explains: “For me, Dark Harvest Pt. 1 tracks the descent and grief that hit me in the last three years, during the losses and challenges I faced. Often brutal, these years have tenderised me, as I know they have others. Making this music carried me through.”He continues, “Back when I was at the hardest point, when I was on my knees, a friend said to me, ‘there will be a ‘dark harvest’ to all of this Nick, there will be treasure from these struggles.’ And she was right.”

Following the success of his debut album Echoes of Prayer - featuring singles like Communicate, Calm Waters, and Silent Chaos - Ghanaian-Dutch artist Bnnyhunna announces the album's first-ever vinyl release, set for May 30, 2025, via the renowned Belgian label Sdban Ultra.

Originally released digitally in October 2024, Echoes of Prayer stands as a deeply personal and spiritual work that reflects Bnnyhunna's faith, his early experiences growing up in church, and his West African heritage. Every track on the album serves as a form of prayer, a conversation with God. The album showcases his ability to weave poetic lyrics, vivid visuals, and captivating melodies, creating an immersive experience that resonates on a spiritual and emotional level.

Bnnyhunna's signature fusion of jazz, hip-hop, gospel, and Afro rhythms highlights his versatility and musical integrity. Next to the the warm jazz textures of Calm Waters, the vibrant Afrobeat pulse of Communicate, and the soulful, piano-driven Silent Chaos, Echoes of Prayer also blends elements of '70s P-Funk grooves, gospel harmonies, and modern hip-hop rhythms. Each song represents a different facet of Bnnyhunna's artistic vision. Tracks like SHOULD'VE BEEN YOU carry nostalgic R&B undertones, while Sum Love brings gospel-infused choir arrangements that recall sacred spaces. Interludes such asAvanti add moments of intimacy and reflection through gentle guitar lines.

The album's diverse sound is elevated by collaborations with The Cavemen, who lend their signature highlife revival, and Jembaa Groove, who contribute with West African-inspired rhythms.

His debut project EP SINTHA, released in 2021, quickly established Bnnyhunna as a rising talent, leading to collaborations with artists like Asake, Rimon, and José James. He gained momentum by selling out his first headline show, which included a surprise performance from Kokoroko, and receiving global recognition from platforms like Highsnobiety, VICE, and Complex, as well as performing at prestigious festivals such as North Sea Jazz and Montreux Jazz. Bnnyhunna challenges conventional music by engaging all the senses through photography, videography, and poetry.

The release of Echoes of Prayer follows a year of significant achievements for Bnnyhunna. In2024, he performed for Highsnobiety at Paris Fashion Week, appeared at prestigious festivals such as Dekmantel and Zwarte Cross, and played a standout performance at the Steam Down Weekly series in London. Additionally, he composed an original score for the Dutch National Opera and won the Edison Pop Award, one of the most prestigious music awards in the Netherlands (often referred to as the Dutch Grammys), in the Soul/R&B/Funk category.

With the vinyl release of Echoes of Prayer, Bnnyhunna offers fans a tangible, collectible edition of his powerful debut. The release via Sdban Ultra invites listeners to experience the full depth of his sound in its most intimate and analog form yet.

Robyn is doing brilliant and important work - the world needs more music like this. Just one word: listen!" Giles Peterson “Even aside from her skills on her instruments and unique approach to music, Robyn devoted an immense quantity of emotional resources to the delivery of this record, and seemed to take its challenges on as a chance for personal growth. It was consistently clear that the personal input of the players was welcome in a fundamental way, and we all responded to Robyn’s efforts that went to the limits of her capacity and her love for bringing her project to you, the listener” Alabaster DePlume “It has been such a joy to work with Robyn, especially when entering the fascinating world of Robyn’s Rocket and Avant Garde jazz. We had our fun moments, like when the fire alarm went off during our recording session of Mystery Man, and we just rolled with it and kept it in. It’s like nothing matters. It’s such an honour to be part of the world of Robyn’s Rocket and to listen to the many stories, expressions and colours that shine throughout the album.”Sebastian Golgiri What happens when you bring together familiar faces at London experimental music venue Café OTO, Charles Hayward (drummer Abstract Concrete, This Heat) and John Edwards (double bass), and the Total Refreshment Centre (hub of new london jazz scene recording studio ) like Alabaster DePlume (singer and saxophonist) and Danalogue (synths from Soccer96, The Comet is Coming), and the learning disability autism art scene like singers/spoken word artists Sebastian Golgiri and Dean Rodney Jnr (Fish Police), on a magic carpet with space trumpeter Robyn Rocket? The answer materialises in the groundbreaking collaboration 'Robyn Rocket and People You May of Heard of'. Recorded across three days in three different studios connected to the three communities Robyn Rocket calls home, each session brought together musicians from these diverse backgrounds—many meeting for the first time. Together, they improvised and created a musical journey that transcends conventional boundaries.

This cosmic voyage features more than 20 musicians and a dog ( Taz from lost socks), gliding through free jazz, danceable tunes, loopy vistas and spoken word doors into different ways of seeing the world. At its heart lies a profound message about community as a vital part of existence and difference as something to embrace and value. The project culminates in the final single and focus track 'We Are All Human', featuring a poignant speech by Rocket from her night 'Robyn's Rocket - a residency at cafe OTO featuring experimental music and live visuals by artists with and without Learning Disabilities/ autistic and non autistic artists ' in the speech rocket talks about supporting each other—words she actively lives by and encourages others to embrace. Like many autistic people, Rocket has experienced abuse, bullying, isolation and feeling unwelcome in the world. “This project is like my nights but you can carry it around with you”, she explains. “I started my own night to share my work. I also recognised, it was a privilege to have my own night, I wanted to help other artists share their work too, and create an environment where people with and without learning Disabilities/Autistic and non autistic people as audience and performers could come together and get to know each other”. Historical Context