quête:channel u

Ceramic’s 2nd EP presents New Delhi based artist Shantam’s wonky and groovy take on beat. 4 diverse and swirling tracks make up 3fer-disco. I hear a lot of Luke Vibert and early Warp/ IDM influences channeled into modern modular techniques.

Previously unreleased recordings by various lineups drawn from Derek Bailey, Tristan Honsinger, Christine Jeffrey, Toshinori Kondo, Charlie Morrow, David Toop, Maarten Altena, Georgie Born, Lindsay Cooper, Steve Lacy, Radu Malfatti and Jamie Muir.

Journalists often make the brief history of Free Improvisation conform to the idea that the history of music is a nice straight line from past to present: Beethoven… Brahms… Boulez. Thus Derek Bailey, Evan Parker and John Stevens — together with Brötzmann and co across the Channel — were the trailblazing ‘first generation’, forging a wholly new language alongside contemporary avant-garde and free jazz. Figures like Toshinori Kondo and David Toop, willing as they were to incorporate snippets of all kinds of music, were the pesky ‘second generation’, happily cocking a snook at the ‘ideological purity’ of Bailey’s non-idiomatic improvisation.
‘Company 1981’ shows up the foolishness — the wrongness — of such storylines. Check the eclectic collection of guests Bailey invited to Company Weeks over the years. He had clear ideas about the music, but he was no ideological purist.

One of the founders of Fluxus, Charlie Morrow injects blasts of Cageian fun into half the recordings here, whether blurting military fanfares from his trumpet, or intoning far-flung scraps of speech. Cellist Tristan Honsinger and vocalist Christine Jeffrey join in the joyful glossolalia, while Bailey, Toop and Kondo contribute delicious, delicate, hooligan arabesques, by turns.
The remainder are performed by a different ensemble: Bailey, bassist Maarten Altena, former Henry Cow members Georgie Born and Lindsay Cooper on cello and bassoon, the insanely inventive Jamie Muir on percussion, and trombonist Radu Malfatti, showing his mastery of extended technique. Were that not enough, there’s the inimitable purity of Steve Lacy’s soprano ringing high and clear above the melee. Glorious!

There’s always been this idea that Free Improvisation is somehow Difficult Listening, but when the doors of perception are thrown open and prejudice cast aside, you realise that it’s not difficult at all. “Is it that easy?” chirps Morrow, at one point. Indeed it is.
Enjoy yourself.

Lost Horizons release their new album ‘In Quiet Moments’ via Bella Union. The album features a stellar array of musical guests including John Grant, C Duncan, Marissa Nadler, Porridge Radio, Penelope Isles, Karen Peris (the innocence mission), Tim Smith (Midlake), Ren Harvieu and many more.
In 2017, Simon Raymonde and Richie Thomas had both abstained from making music for 20 years until they united as Lost Horizons and released a stunning debut album, ‘Ojalá’ - the Spanish word for ‘hopefully’ or ‘God willing.’
“These days, we need hope more than ever, for a better world.” Thomas said at the time. “And this album has given me a lot of hope. To reconnect with music.... And the hope for another Lost Horizons record!” Thomas’ hopes had a mixed response.
On the plus side, the new Lost Horizons album ‘In Quiet Moments’ is an even stronger successor to ‘Ojalá’ with another distinguished cast of guest singers and a handful of supporting instrumentalists embellishing the core duo’s gorgeously freeflowing and loose-limbed blueprint that one writer astutely labelled, “melancholydelia.”
On the minus side, any hope for a better world, as Earth continues to freefall toward political and social meltdown. Then, to make matters worse, as Raymonde and Thomas buckled down to create the improvised bedrock that Lost Horizons is built on, the former’s mother died. At least Raymonde had a way to channel his grief.
“The way improvisation works,” he says, “it’s just what’s going on with your body at the time, to let it out.”
Raymonde (bass, guitar, keyboards, production) and Thomas (drums, occasional keys and guitar) forged ahead, creating 16 instrumental tracks to send to prospective guests. When he did, Raymonde suggested a guiding theme for their lyrics: “death and rebirth. Of loved ones, of ideals, at an age when many artists that have inspired us are also dead, and the planet isn’t far behind. But I also said, ‘The most important part is to just do your own thing, and have fun.’”
Lost Horizons’ melancholy-delia also feels buoyed aloft by airy currents, informed in part by Raymonde and Thomas’ former respective bands: the legendary Cocteau Twins and Dif Juz. Their former bands were labelmates on 4AD in the mid-80s, which is how they first met.
“I think ‘In Quiet Moments’ is more in the direction of where we’re going,” Thomas concludes. “People have retreated into their lives and, in those quiet moments, reflected on the world, how we fit in and who we and trust. Maybe the next album will be about rebellion! But the road is long and winding. We just need to express ourselves in how we feel at the time.”
Coloured vinyl 2LP (disc one green, disc two blue) in PVC outer sleeve with printed text, 350gsm wide spined sleeve on uncoated/reverse board, 16pg booklet on standard paper with contributions from all featured artists and digital download code.

The ultimate pressings of the Beach Boys discography from Analogue Productions!
Original mono mix produced by Brian Wilson
One of 10 titles featuring 33 1/3 mono and stereo remastered editions: Surfin' USA, Surfer Girl, Little Deuce Coupe, Shut Down Vol. 2, All Summer Long, Today!, Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!), Beach Boys Party!, Pet Sounds and Smiley Smile
Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, most from the original master tapes or best sources available
Lacquer plating by Gary Salstrom and 180-gram vinyl pressing by Quality Record Pressings!

"It was Pet Sounds that blew me out of the water…I love the album so much. I've just bought my kids each a copy of it for their education in life. I figure no one is educated musically 'til they've heard that album." – Paul McCartney

"All of us, Ginger (Baker), Jack (Bruce), and I consider Pet Sounds to be one of the greatest pop LPs to ever be released. It encompasses everything that's ever knocked me out and rolled it all into one." – Eric Clapton

"For those in search of an original mono in pursuit of sonic quality, search no more. This Analogue Productions pressing is now the definitive pressing and the one we chose to feature at our Classic Album Sundays events to honour the 50th anniversary of Pet Sounds, an album that helped change the course of pop music." — Colleen ‘Cosmo' Murphy, Classic Album Sundays

"Overall though, this new reissue is the best sounding of all. The bottom end has more weight and solidity and the instrumental separation and front to back layering is nothing short of astonishing compared to the pleasing mush offered up by other editions. ... Pet Sounds belongs in every serious rock record collection and if you're going to have but one version this one from Analogue Productions is the one to have." — Music = 11/11; Sound = 11/11 - Michael Fremer, AnalogPlanet Read the whole review here.

"What I can say is that Kevin Gray has been able to extract every last bit of information from whatever tape is in the box, and present it in a way that is pleasing and natural to the ear. ... in my opinion, the Analogue Productions pressings are now THE definitive issue of each Beach Boys album, and will be my reference copies until if and when something better comes along — which may be never." — Lee Dempsey, Endless Summer Quarterly, Summer 2015 Edition

To meet the standards of Analogue Productions, our Beach Boys album reissues had a mission to achieve: Present the band's music the way that Brian Wilson — famed co-founder, songwriter and arranger — intended. Mono mixes created under Wilson’s supervision were how the surf rockin’ California crew rose to fame! And we’ve got ‘em!

For the early part of the Beach Boys' career, all of their singles were mixed and mastered and released only in the mono format — they didn't release a single in stereo until 1968. In those days, hits were made on AM radio in mono. And the mono of those times worked well for Wilson, who suffers from partial deafness. In fact, for their first 13 albums, Wilson originally turned in all the final mixed Beach Boy albums to Capitol Records only in mono. The mono mixes were where Wilson paid intense attention, and the dedication paid off!

We’ve taken 10 of the most classic, best-sounding Beach Boy titles ever and restored them to their mono glory!

But there’s no disputing that the close harmonies and one-of-a-kind rhythms of hits like “Surfer Girl,” “In My Room,” “Little Deuce Coupe” and more lend themselves naturally to stereo. So we’ve got your 2-channel needs covered with prime stereo mix versions as well.

Mastered by Kevin Gray, most from the original master tapes, and plated and pressed by Quality Record Pressings, the finest LP pressing facility in the world, these are awesome recordings to experience. And the look of each album befits its sonic superiority! Presented in "old school" Stoughton tip-on jackets, these time honoured favourites shine brighter than the originals!

Pet Sounds is famous for its use of multiple layers of unorthodox instrumentation as well as other cutting edge audio techniques for its time. It's considered the best Beach Boys album, and one of the best of the 1960s. The group here reached a whole new level in terms of both composition and production, layering tracks upon tracks of vocals and instruments to create a richly symphonic sound.

Conventional keyboards and guitars were combined with exotic touches of orchestrated strings, bicycle bells, buzzing organs, harpsichords, flutes, Theremin, Hawaiian-sounding string instruments, Coca-Cola cans, barking dogs, and more. It wouldn't have been a classic without great songs, and this has some of the group's most stunning melodies, as well as lyrical themes which evoke both the intensity of newly born love affairs and the disappointment of failed romance (add in some general statements about loss of innocence and modern-day confusion as well). The spiritual quality of the material is enhanced by some of the most gorgeous upper-register male vocals (especially by Brian and Carl Wilson) ever heard on a rock record. "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "God Only Knows," "Caroline No," and "Sloop John B" (the last of which wasn't originally intended to go on the album) are the well-known hits, but equally worthy are such cuts as "You Still Believe in Me," "Don't Talk," "I Know There's an Answer," and "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times." It's often said that this is more of a Brian Wilson album than a Beach Boys recording (session musicians played most of the parts), but it should be noted that the harmonies are pure Beach Boys (and some of their best).

VH-1 named Pet Sounds as the No. 3 album in the Top 100 Albums in Rock 'n' Roll History, as judged in a poll of musicians, executives and journalists. It's been ranked No. 1 in several music magazines' lists of the greatest albums of all time, including NME, The Times and Mojo Magazine. It was ranked No. 2 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.

Montreal-based producer & DJ Slick Shoota brings us Function, his debut LP and first solo release on the Teklife imprint. A native of Norway known for his renowned Oslo club night Ball Em Up, he's been a member of the elite crew since 2015, contributing tracks to the label's compilations such as On Life Vol. 2 and VIP Trax. Using a unique palate that combines both traditional footwork drums and eclectic otherworld sonics, this album expands on the signature sound he's been brewing during the course of his career, celebrating his longtime love of the Chicago soundscape, with a healthy helping of UK rave, jungle, and vibes from other fast paced club realms. Slick starts the record off with Hovercraft, a big burly mutant rap beat riding a glowing titanic wave of jungle subbass, with vicious hi-hats stabbing through the mix. Desire Path follows with hysterical horns cruising along a stampede of erratic Chicago percussion. A glitchy, malfunctioning computer meets drumline stomps on See Me Flex, resulting in a psychotic, yet psychedelic sci-fi soundscape. Ultra-distorted hardcore kicks open up Jellyneck, dropping straight into a dungeon of ghostly vocals and headlong toms. Warehouse 2K opens up the B-side with R&B chops and lasers floating on a charming cloud of pulsating pads. Mad doppler sirens loop around your head on Delahaze, as distant clangs and crashes fight an impatient, throbbing bassline. Classic rave atmospheres are met with Slick's elegant sound design on MTL Hardcore, his ode to his adoptive city. The album closes off with Special Tek, channeling the signature quirky drum sounds of the late DJ Rashad over a pounding, fast paced house beat, a wonderful nod to the Windy City and its influential sonic culture. Carving out his own sound from the legacies of Chicago, the UK, and other underground club hotspots, Slick Shoota has found his own recognizable voice within these realms of dance music, and this LP serves as documentation of that solidified voice. Years of studying the masters and immersing himself with their work has clearly paid off, and he's respectfully taking these sounds he loves in exciting new directions. Bridging gaps both historical and geographical, Function marks a pivotal point in his career, and is clear evidence that Slick Shoota is vital member of the legendary Teklife family.

As one of the early pioneers of NYC’s unground dance movement Victor Simonelli channelled that New York house sound via range of labels he oversaw in the ‘90s. One such outlet was Big Big Trax and to provide a little light in these testing times, Victor has provided the keys to some of the label’s most treasured cuts, remastered for a new generation of listeners.

Classic’s from Afrimerican Coalition, Fibre Foundation and Insatiable featuring Mone with mixes from the man himself, all under one, conveniently 12 inch sized roof.

-LTD. 180G RED VINYL-

Jonathan Bree's fourth album `After The Curtains Close' sees the producers trademark orchestral pop take a few unexpected turns both into the experimental and into kitschy territory populated by some of his french heroes of the 1960s. The end result is an album that retains Bree's musical DNA while being fun and varied. What could be described as Bree's `sleazy' album could also be described as Bree's break-up album. Dealing with the break-down of a major relationship Bree opens up to reveal a year of loneliness and mental trauma while also channelling positive feelings by embracing sex and sleaze in his music, subject material more traditionally reserved for the single man. Bree strikes a great balance here between darkness and silliness and he does this without appearing snide, which is a line some artists can seem all too happy to cross. Bree's vocals are on display in a full range of styles, his baritone croon jumps octaves and everywhere in between across the 12 tracks and he is even present singing his own back-up vocals in child like falsetto. Opening track `Happy Daze' is a ray of heady sunshine and wall of strings celebrating worrying about nothing else while in a lovers arms. First single `Waiting on The Moment' has been accurately described as a celebratory break-up song, with cynical and slightly mean lyrics set to a grand and danceable 80s pop arrangement. Bree celebrates new romantic encounters with fun orchestral pop songs full of double entendres ('Heavenly Visions', 'Kiss My Lips' feat Princess Chelsea, '69' feat Crystal Choi) and his talent for writing for the female lead vocal has not been so obviously on display since his work with The Brunettes, also evident on 'Meadows in Bloom', a tragic Shangri-La's inspired narrative about the pitfalls of sleeping with the drummer, in which Britta Phillips (Luna) takes lead vocal duties.

Emika & Paul Frick collaborate and make magical music from pianos, a vibraphone robot and synths that play themselves

* Their music feels like rainbow drops, raining colour, light bouncing from crystal gemstones. Reminiscent of Erik Satie, Laruie Anderson, with a melodic glitchy nod to Aphex Twin.

* This is music that channels some seriously beautiful light. It’s a great record to both wake up to and reflect under the moonlight.

* CNCPT brings the Berlin experimental Techno vibes, turning them into what they perhaps should have always been (if Emika & Paul Frick weren’t so in love with sound art minimalism). A perfect match for the flipside.

* A very satisfying A & B realisation on the vinyl. Vinyl release includes sticker with the digital download + score book + synth midi files

* An experimental Berlin trio at it’s finest.

Pressed at Duophonic Germany, minimal wait times, amazing sounding TPs, family run, buying from us supports them also.

‘Stay Sane’ is the hotly-anticipated new album from London based artist Ocean Wisdom out now on his own label Beyond Measure Records.

Widely considered to be one the most technical rappers alive, his first release from the album campaign ‘Drilly Rucksack’ is a stellar offering, showcasing Ocean’s rapid-fire flow as he takes on political themes relevant in Britain today. Speaking on the track Ocean said “‘Drilly Rucksack’ is a fictional tale of a magical rucksack that protects its owner from evil Tories whilst also offering consolation and reassurance to the daughters whose lives they have presumably made miserable.”

Given the name Ocean Wisdom at birth, Ocean grew up immersed in hop-hop and reggae and began beatboxing aged seven. His homelife was what he describes as ‘hectic’, as his mum worked as an emergency foster carer. Years of writing lyrics and practicing followed and his uncompromising work ethic drove him to leave home at 17 and start working on his craft daily, never missing a single day. He used his passion for music as a way of channeling his anger and controlling his mental health, in addition to avoiding the fate of some of his friends. His meticulous attention to detail and hardwork paid off and over the past 5 years has seen Ocean’s meteoric rise lead to a quarter billion streams across all platforms and collaborations with legendary artists including Method Man, Dizzee Rascal, Fatboy Slim, Akala, Roots Manuva, Ghetts and Foreign Beggars.

Famed for his technical abilities, Ocean broke numerous records at a young age, including beating the standing Guinness World Record for most words per minute in a hit song, dethroning Eminem’s "Rap God". He remains one of the few UK rappers that can tour worldwide, headlining arenas across Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Russia and the Middle East. Since then he has gone on to set up his own label to release his music as well as building his own studio and creating a platform for future artist to thrive.

Tape / Cassette

Dust Editions presents Evan Caminiti’s original score for the short film Autoscopy from London based director Claes Nordwall. The film premiered at the Nevada City Film Festival in August 2020 and is featured in the 2021 edition of the Slamdance Film Festival.

Autoscopy follows a young man who escapes to the Swedish wilderness for a period of creativity and introspection. The tranquility and isolation he finds there morphs into something more sinister when he discovers an abandoned flotation tank in the forest, leading him on a hallucinatory voyage deep into the heart of nature and his own psyche.

Caminiti’s score channels the beauty, desolation, and dread Nordwall captures in the film’s disorienting arc. Boundaries are dissolved between the organic and the unnatural, the imagined and the experienced; electric guitar dissolves into spectral whispers, blurring into rippling synthesizers and heaving drones. Caminiti explores dissonance and space, veering into realms of extreme digital deconstruction before plunging into amplifier sizzling abandon.

This OST release features three additional pieces not heard in the film.

Serge Synthesizer Recorded at EMS Stockholm, September 2017
Electric guitar, vocals, additional synthesizers recorded at Spider House, Los Angeles 2020.
Arranged and produced at Spider House, Los Angeles, 2020

Mastered by Stephan Mathieu at Schwebung Mastering

• The veteran roots reggae duo returns with ‘Back A Yard' (patois for 'back in Jamaica').
• The 11-song set features longstanding members, Winston "Pipe" Matthews and Lloyd "Bread" McDonald, in the studio with producer/ singer Alborosie, whose deep study of Jamaican music was heavily influenced by the Souls and their heyday at Channel One studio in the 1980s.
• The production features all-star musicians including keyboardist Tyrone Downie (formerly of The Wailers) and bassist Errol "Flabba" Holt (of the historic Roots Radics band).
• The first single is a re-make of "Shark Attack" one of the bands classic '90s hits, featuring a deejay verse by Alborosie.

Following the release of his huge summer singles ‘Chemicals’ and the Robyn and Channel Tres collaborative smash ‘Impact’, UK songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist SG Lewis announces the upcoming release of his long-awaited debut album, times. The LP, out 19th February via EMI Records, finds one of modern pop’s secret weapons stepping out front and centre, as he takes listeners on a voyage through soaring electronic dance and kaleidoscopic future disco, with the help of a few friends along the way. Released on CD and a Black Heavyweight 1LP with download code.

We last heard from Radeckt on the Spektrum 2 compilation, now he’s back with his debut solo EP. The Danish producer specialises in emotionally-driven club music, designed to spark inspiration and moments of contemplation. The dance floor is a safe space for free expression, human interaction and catharsis… Radeckt’s music is the perfect accompaniment to these channels of connection, while encouraging you to dance. On the Corroded Mind EP we get four original cuts, all of which encapsulate Radeckt’s penchant for music that moves the soul… It all begins with the title track. ‘Corroded Mind’ has a subdued intro, gently guiding us into a mesmerising sonic landscape. Soft pads massage the mind while siren-esque effects and metallic beats encourage the body to move to their hypnotic rhythm. Radeckt imbues the second half with drama and energy, while still keeping the mood sombre. ‘Narrative Lie’ utilises layers of emotive synth and serene sounds, along with a meandering melody that lures you into its rhythmic flow. The glum low end counteracts the brighter elements of the track creating a neat juxtaposition. As the track progresses, the intensity of the main motif increases, sending temperatures rising. Next up is ‘Invisible Guard’ with its oscillating bass and simple, yet highly effective riff. Radeckt confidently applies the pressure, carefully increasing the tension until we reach a scintillating breakdown which takes us into the glorious second half.
‘Silver Lining’ closes the EP, bringing a little bounce to the release. Radeckt gives us stuttered beats with great use of percussion to provide the energetic allure of this cut. As it builds, he incorporates an earworm melody along with neon laser synth lines and the whole thing feels like an eighties TV show theme with 21st Century sheen.

Angel Tears in Sunlight is Pauline Anna Strom's first album in over thirty years; an assemblage of music that refracts the expansiveness, and minutiae, of imagined realms while embracing the kaleidoscopic echoes of our distant epochs. The capacity to collapse time might elucidate the enigma of Pauline Anna Strom. A mystic force in music, emerging during the dawn of new age as the Trans-Millenia Consort, the pioneering synthesist channelled primordial energies into future-facing sound through a series of full-length releases between 1982 and 1988. Little was known about her, except by a constellation of devoted followers who saw a unique legacy forming amidst the (mostly male) synthesist canon of the time. Following the 2017 release of Trans-Millenia Music, an anthology revitalizing the most evocative parts of Strom's catalog, the Bay Area visionary sensed the universe telling her to return to music. As with her work in the 80s, Angel Tears in Sunlight was composed and recorded in the same San Francisco apartment where Strom has lived for almost four decades in synthesis with her machines and "dinosaurs." Populated by a compact array of modern instruments that streamline the sound of her analog past and her beloved iguanas, Little Soulstice and Ms Huff, the terrarium of her home forms an intimate yet limitless ecosystem that defies the constraints of the outside world. Within this sanctuary, Strom becomes lost in time, drawing on the ancient energies of her inner visions. Her hardware forms the crux of translating these ideas into sound. "It's the only way this stuff can be pulled out of myself, the universe, Little Soulstice, an ammonite_," Strom notes. "It couldn't be done without this machinery, because there's no other way to draw and capture these frequencies into sonic interpretation." Strom's process of recording transient live-takes enriches the mystery of her work. She renders the machinery a composer itself, a cohabitation with a living other. "Many musicians wouldn't go that far because of ego," Strom muses. "The equipment has to become part of you and your creativity. That's how I think it all comes together." Music-making becomes a harmonic language of intuition with an instrument, where Strom cultivates sound for a harvest that defies season. Shaped by circadian contours, Angel Tears in Sunlight is a celestial observatory of earthborn phonic mosaics. Strom uncovers a symbiosis between hardware frequencies and apparitions of nature in the record's arena of organic tones, emulating the melodic pulses of primeval terrain. The album transcends both shadow and light, falling to hushed stretches of sound as if not to awaken antediluvian animals, before soaring through the treetops where ancient skies peer over reptilian traffic and unsparing rains.

Ethno-alternative lo-fi absurdism from the mind of London based multi-instrumentalist & Primordial Soup member, Samuel Huxley. Expect everything from Hindu ceremonial music to dark lounge, post-punk & avant-garde, to Kabuki theatre score & world electronica, any number of which can be found within a single track.

The Romance of Baba Loco is the union of wisdom & madness, eastern mysticism & western folly, absurdism to catch you with yer pantaloons down… Bang bang smash to perennial illumination. Cling clang for funk monkeys. The bejewelled vistas beyond, nihilism be gone… The donkey was not ill-tempered after many blows, on the ass, from the stick. He smiled like a gentleman, and kept on clip cloppin’ towards the promised land…

The Romance of Baba Loco is the latest iteration of a recording project by Samuel Huxley that originally made ambient soundscapes for psychotropics (Paradise Dose). In 2017 Samuel was curating infamous venue and scene of a multitude of glories & horrors, The Five Bells in New Cross, SE London. One of his first acts to play was Primordial Soup, at that time a 3 piece absurdist art rock band. They quickly became friends & began performing semi-improv shows as a 5 piece, and later went on to form Primordial Soup Collective who’s main focus was esoteric experimental theatre & film, and rare multidisciplinary exhibitions.

This changing focus of Soup away from sound provoked Samuel to channel his musical compulsions in to his solo project which had by then ventured far away from ambient soundscapes to shrieking Indian and Moroccan oboes over African & Indian tribal rhythms, with the desire to create the raw lo-fi atmospheres of street music. Gradually guitar styles of South East Asia & Latin America were introduced, leading to backing track solo performances & outrageous live improv freakouts with Craig Deporto (ex-Flamingods) & Luke Bell (Ex-Wild Birds of Britain).

Finally two days before the glorious pandemic lock down, Samuel signed to Faith & Industry, which birthed new moniker “The Romance of Baba Loco” and 3 months worth of ceaseless creation. From the Hindu Ceremonial music of the Shehnai & Nadaswaram to post-punk, absurdism & experimental art, The Romance of Baba Loco finally united two seemingly dissonant sides of his personality in a manner he had not previously achieved. The old material was cast off, and these peculiar fruits of imprisonment, can be found on his first release, “Cling Clang For Funk Monkeys”.

When Claud Mintz's mother finally heard the 13 songs on her kid's magnetic first album, Super Monster, she asked a concerned question: Just how many people had her 21-year-old dated? From beginning to end, these sparkling pop tunes capture the assorted stages of a relationship's delight and dejection_the giddy sensation of a first kiss during the beaming "Overnight," the heartsick longing of a pending rejection during the yearning "Jordan," the reluctant call for a requisite breakup during the smoldering "Ana." Claud, though, replied that these songs detailed the phases of only two or three relationships, simply written during them or at various points after they were over. The debut release on Phoebe Bridgers' Saddest Factory Records, Super Monster is a vertiginous but joyous coming-of-age reckoning with such young love. Claud sees relationships as games of endless wonder, intrigue, and second-guesses, a roller-coaster thrilling you even when it's terrifying. If "Gold" turns the tension and indecision of a bad match into an undeniable bit of lithe disco, "That's Mr. Bitch To You" uses a spurt of righteous indignation to fuse a little soul and emo into one breathless hook. Super Monster is like a compulsive compilation that Claud culled from a lifetime of musical enthusiasms_the arcing alt-rock of '90s airwaves, the rapturous pop of '00s chart-toppers, the diligent genre-hopping of modern online life. Claud emerges as the chameleonic mastermind of this mélange, channeling all of love's emotions into songs so sharp they make even the hardest times feel fun. Perhaps you are in the throes of one of these romantic moments yourself right now, resentful of a frustrating paramour like Claud during "Pepsi" or indulging in lust like "In or In Between." Or maybe these songs recall those wild days and tough situations. Incisive, instant, and addictive Super Monster works on either level_to remind us of love's wild ups and downs or to help us deal with them in real time. In that way, Mom, these songs are about dating, well, everyone.

There is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it anecdote tucked into one of
the many fine documentaries about seminal 20th Century artist
Jean-Michel Basquiat regarding the habits of his studio practice.
As we watch inspiring footage of Basquiat darting from one
piece to the next with rapid-fire brush strokes, a friend or
gallerist in a voice over says that it was not unusual for
Basquiat to be working on several paintings in the same
moment as several radio stations and televisions played in the
background. Not much more time is spent on the anecdote but
it feels like a skeleton key into Basquiat’s endlessly alluring,
neoexpressionist work.
And while Bryan Devendorf’s solo curio ‘Royal Green’ doesn’t
possess the only-in-New York vibe of Basquiat’s work, there is
something shared in its many-channels-open style of creation.
Satellite signals, strange voices from lost television
documentaries and radio operas are all woven into its fabric -
like it’s using these endless tides of media and information to
unlock the subconscious. Even its covers - Bob Dylan,
Fleetwood Mac, The National (with a nice big wink), The
Beatles - are like stunning, albeit satanic takes on hymns, or
like American standards almost dragged into the underworld.
Like the best of Spacemen 3, Sparklehorse or massively
underrated San Fran band Skygreen Leopards - the music
makes you queasy in one movement and lulls you into
blissmode in the next. It’s the very edge of outsider pop
songwriting.
For all the amphitheaters and festival fields Devendorf has
played to over his career, ‘Royal Green’ almost feels like an unlearning and a newfound love of homemade/found/fractured
sounds - and how, if collaged just so, detritus can become
stunningly gorgeous and surreal. And not without hooks. Look
no further than ‘Frosty’, which could be Little Billy Corgan’s
decayed demo tape from just before the Smashing Pumpkins
appeared on the scene. And the unspooling, slightly unglued
dream-pop of ‘Breaking the River’ is as rapturous as it is
sinister. And that’s probably where Devendorf wants it.

African-born, Baltimore-based experimental hip-hop producer Infinity Knives joins PhantomLimb for the release of his unique debut album Dear, Sudan, a vibrant and polymathic labyrinth of moods and colours.

Infinity Knives - aka producer and musician Tariq Ravelomanana - moved from Tanzania (via Kenya, South Africa and Madagascar) to Baltimore with his family as a teenager, soaking up the raw,vociferous hip hop culture around him, devouring Western classical music, and embedding himself with the city’s verdant music scene. This unique combination of life experiences and contrasting strands of musical education empowered and enabled him to create his Infinity Knives guise, allowing us a window into his singular energy with Dear, Sudan.

​Tariq writes “Music has always been my medium. Since I was a child living in Tanzania, music has been my babysitter. The one central idea I kept dwelling on was that all humans experience sorrow, but despite the fact that it's universal, we still experience it as if we were alone.”

Appropriately, Infinity Knives casts a wide and thrilling net. Dear, Sudan runs like a masterful showreel of deftly balanced disparate elements, a late night channel-hopping between multiple, vital, powerful musics. Tariq himself offers “experimental, drone, hip hop, leftfield minimalism, neo-classical and Baltimore” as his key styles. “I wanted Dear, Sudan to be a record of the things that I enjoy, the things that keep me coming back to this life and I wanted it to be in the language I understand the most. I hope that this album can be a companion to those in need.”

‘I envisioned the record as a journey through human expression over the course of one day,’ says Chicago composer and ONO member Jordan Reyes.
When planning the album, Reyes wanted to consider the trajectory of American music, drawing a throughline from the oral traditions enmeshed in blues, country, folk to contemporary underground music, splicing together acoustic instrumentation with an experimental, electronic sensibility. The album begins with human-constructed wind on opening song ‘The Pre-Dawn Light.’.
From there, Reyes adds acoustic guitar, electric guitar, lap-steel guitar, trombone, keyboards, and an electronic drum to the compositional mix.’I wanted to push myself compositionally,’ he says. ‘My first album Close was all eurorack synthesizer, a lot of which was automated by control voltage, but Sand Like Stardust has no modular synthesizers, seeking to channel the warmth, immediacy, and vulnerability of hand-played instruments and voice.’

There is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it anecdote tucked into one of the many fine documentaries about seminal 20th Century artist Jean-Michel Basquiat regarding the habits of his studio practice. As we watch inspiring footage of Basquiat darting from one piece to the next with rapid-fire brush strokes, a friend or gallerist in a voice over says that it was not unusual for Basquiat to be working on several paintings in the same moment as several radio stations and televisions played in the background. Not much more time is spent on the anecdote, but it feels like a skeleton key into Basquiat's endlessly alluring, neoexpressionist work. And while Bryan Devendorf's solo curio `Royal Green' doesn't possess the only-in-New York vibe of Basquiat's work, there is something shared in its many-channels-open style of creation. Satellite signals, strange voices from lost television documentaries and radio operas are all woven into its fabric _ like it's using these endless tides of media and information to unlock the subconscious. Even its covers _ Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac, The National (with a nice big wink), The Beatles _ are like stunning, albeit satanic takes on hymns, or like American standards almost dragged into the underworld. Like the best of Spacemen 3, Sparklehorse or massively underrated San Fran band Skygreen Leopards _ the music makes you queasy in one movement and lulls you into blissmode in the next. It's the very edge of outsider pop songwriting. For all the amphitheaters and festival fields Devendorf has played to over his career, `Royal Green' almost feels like an un-learning and a newfound love of homemade/found/fractured sounds _ and how, if collaged just so, detritus can become stunningly gorgeous and surreal. And not without hooks. Look no further than "Frosty" which could be Little Billy Corgan's decayed demo tape from just before the Smashing Pumpkins appeared on the scene. And the unspooling, slightly unglued dream-pop of "Breaking the River" is as rapturous as it is sinister. And that's probably where Devendorf wants it.

Plump is fat positive, sex positive, queer positive, feminist and anti racist with a focus on centering underrepresented and marginalized voices. Think feminist Ghetto Tech, uplifting while militant, raw and empowering. A place of refuge for everyone who has ever felt unseen or excluded no matter gender, colour or creed.

Plump is about an attitude and ethos, more than it is attached to a genre specific sound. Plump is about radical acceptance. Plump is a return to the origins of dance music as a space for people from all walks of life to be able to come together, embrace joy, pleasure and be free to truly be themselves.

Plump is a creative partnership and collaboration between Kevin Knapp and Jessica “Hutch” Hutcheson, AKA Hutchtastic. Hutch is a visual artist, vocalist, Detroit native, burgeoning producer and overall performer and art personality. Kevin Knapp is music producer, DJ and vocalist, with a slew of releases on formidable labels in the dance music industry.

Kevin also has a new streaming show on Dirtybird Live called Plump’d. The Plump’d livestream show originates from Berlin and is created by Kevin & Hutch.

Kevin says
"Plump'd is an opportunity I've been gifted in the wake of the world shutting down due to the pandemic. Life is funny that way when life closes some doors it opens others. I've been given the opportunity to host a show every Saturday night during the prime time slot, on Dirtybird's Twitch channel for Dirtybird Live. Each week my hope is to have artists I respect, revere, and consider a friend to come on and play some music with me, just for the love of the music. The show is named after our new record label and carries with it the label's ethos of going back to the roots of dance music as a place of radical acceptance."

Melbourne-based violist/violinist and orchestral composer, Tamil Rogeon, returns to his jazz roots on his soaring and celestial new album, Son Of Nyx coming soon on Greg Boramans' new imprint Soul Bank Music (part of the !K7 Music Group). From conducting the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at the 2500-seated Hamer Hall to writing and co-producing his first full-length album in three years and one of the very few viola-led jazz LPs of our time, Rogeon joins forces with several stars of Melbourne's thriving and acclaimed jazz scene (Allysha Joy, Sam Anning et al.), channeling the cosmic energy of Yussef Lateef, Herbie Hancock and the like. Whilst often not an instrument typically associated with jazz, violin greats from Jean-Luc Ponty, Stéphane Grappelli to Billy Bang, have gone on to become iconic figures in the jazz canon, yet little can be said for the viola. Often considered the older sibling to the violin, the viola is larger in size and the tone is a lot deeper, something Rogeon was keen to make use of on Son Of Nyx. "I didn't want to make a bebop record. I wanted to make a modal jazz record and there just aren't that many on viola. I wanted to speak with a heavier voice, more akin to a tenor saxophone. The viola is darker and thicker. It speaks slower".

You could think of the collection of tracks here as a library record of sorts, and each track inhabits its own universe. Tropical fits various moods and situations, and it could soundtrack any number of activities at home or on a dancefloor - whether real, imaginary, or hallucinated. Strangely enough, it sounds like it could have been constructed from obscure Italian library breaks, when instead every instrument has been played and panned, several times over, across magnetic tape.

The genesis of many of these tracks began when CV Vision moved to Berlin in 2014. His flat had a small chamber where he could fit a drum set, so he treated the walls with foam, and in true DIY style, dived headfirst into recording these tracks. It was the natural next step on an audio adventure that first began when CV Vision picked up the guitar in his teens, and a couple years later started recording with friends in his home town of Bayreuth. Fast forward ten years and here is his debut - a culmination of practising chops and learning instruments, mastering recording techniques and fine-tuning the CV Vision sound.

It’s a sound that condenses elements of acid rock, psych soul, library funk and new wave oddities into a movie soundtrack for your mind. It’s a journey from ‘60s west coast LSD-drenched excursions to ‘80s synth and post-punk mutations. Tropical is a plunge into another time, another music you can simply swim around in and explore.

Side A opens up with Tropical Tune In, which rides in on a clave and a warm wind, blowing a distinctly herbal aroma and recalling exotica dons like Les Baxter and Martin Denny. Following on with the aural equivalent of a sea breeze through your mind, Spaziergang am Meer blows away the cobwebs and conjures some nice library moments like Stringtronics or F eelings . Next, Ba_c_k(Lava) bounces out of a cold wave post-punk melting pot and crashes through the speakers like a blazed Zebedee, with some sweet eastern synths for added flavour, before the rolling bass licks of Der Böse Schamane take us into another dimension, landing somewhere between a psych rock freak out and a Black Ark dub session. Mr Maze channels the arpeggiators of synth outsiders like Mort Garson and Bruce Haack, creating a glorious interlock of robotic electronics and freakbeat vocals. The side comes to a close with the guitars of Der Strand (außer Rand und Band) letting loose like syrupy springs, and setting a languid mood like the bedroom scene in Bedazzled (1967 version). Side B kicks off with Parallel Universum, which comes through like a woozy krautrock workout, all ducking synths with big chord shifts to create an epic deranged beehive of a soundtrack. Im Land der Ameisen evokes the spirit if not the sound of White Rabbit, when logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead, before waking up and wandering through the side alleys of Marrakech with the West Coast Pop Art Ensemble and the Electric Prunes, as Ritual (No. 4) blares out the speakers of passing tuk tuks. Ein Wasserfall plumbs the deep synth depths, like Raymond Scott in scuba gear, modular rack strapped to his back delivering oxygen as he swims between connector cables and seaweed forests through a watery underworld. Banana King sounds like a lost soundtrack to Donkey Kong or Mario Cart, if the cart radio was tuned into a synth

documentary hosted by James Pants, while Das Kloster am Berg takes the baton from Brenda Ray and her Naffi cohorts, all dubbed-out niceness and post punk swagger. The LP closes out with Tropical Drop Out, a dreamscape rather than a wake up call, coaxing you deeper into the trek across the desert of your mind.

And that’s Tropical in its essence: capsules from another time, snapshots of another sound, messages from another mind - all in the service of inducing the visions in your head.

written by Max Cole

Somewhere Between: Mutant Pop, Electronic Minimalism & Shadow Sounds of Japan 1980–1988 hovers vibe–wise between two distinct poles within Light In The Attic’s acclaimed Japan Archival Series—Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980–1990 and Pacific Breeze: Japanese City Pop, AOR & Boogie 1976–1986. All three albums showcase recordings produced during Japan’s soaring bubble economy of the 1980s, an era in which aesthetic visions and consumerism merged. Music echoed the nation’s prosperity and with financial abundance came the luxury to dream.

Sonically, Somewhere Between mines the midpoint between Kankyō Ongaku’s sparkling atmospherics and Pacific Breeze’s metropolitan boogie. The compilation encompasses ambient pop, underground electronics, liminal minimalism and shadow sounds—all descriptors emphasizing the hazy nature of the nebula. Out–of–focus rhythms wear ethereal accoutrements, ballads are shrouded in static, and angular drums snake skyward on transcendent tones. From the Avant–minimalism of Mkwaju Ensemble and Yoshio Ojima, to the leftfield techno-pop of Mishio Ogawa and Noriko Miyamoto (featuring members of YMO), and highlights from the groundbreaking Osaka underground label Vanity Records, these are blurry constellations defying collective categorization.

These tracks also exist in a space of transition when the major label grip on the Japanese recording market began to give way to the escalation of independents. Thanks to the idyllic economic climate and innovations in domestically–manufactured music gear, creators on the edges were empowered to focus on satisfying their artistic visions in the open headspace of home studios. While labels like Warner Music and Nippon Columbia explored new sounds through traditional channels, it was possible for Vanity, Balcony and other indie labels, not to mention self–released artists like Ojima and Naoki Asai, to publish their work via affordable media such as cassettes, 7" vinyl, and flexi–discs.

Expertly curated by Yosuke Kitazawa and Mark “Frosty” McNeill (dublab), Somewhere Between is a collection of music, much of it released for the first time outside Japan, that is bound more by energetic vibration than shared history, genre or scene. They are the sounds of transition and searching—a celebration of the freedom found in floating.

Note: The track “Days Man” by Yoshio Ojima is only available on the LP and Cassette versions.

In 2019, the power-acoustic musician Francisco Meirino presented A New Instability a commission for the venerable Ina-GRM in paris. Of course, this institution is the pre-eminent center for the research and study of electro-acoustic music dating back to founding of Groupe de Recherches Musicales in 1958 by Pierre Schaeffer. To this day, Ina-GRM continues to be at the vangarde of the electro-acoustic composition, and it is quite an accomplishment and very appropriate for Meirino to receive such a commission.

This recording for A New Instability condenses the 32-channel original piece down to a still very active stereo version. here, Meirino continues to amplify and refine his compositions that walk a fine tightrope between raw expressivity of brutalist noise and conceptual rigor of more academic pursuits. Such a work ranks him in with the likes of Zbigniew Karkowski, Dave Phillips, Puce Mary, and Illusion Of Safety.

Field recordings from a kendo dojo in his hometown of Lausanne, Switzerland cast a pugilistic, combative arch to these recordings which snap, burst, explode, and erupt with utterances of men and women engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Searing frequencies build, swarm, and amass out of these episodes rise to psychologically tense crescendo that rupture at their heights, quickly turning attention towards a violence that originates from within. It is as if the objective observations of those martial arts recordings are sublimated within a subjective experience of psychic unease, disquiet, and imbalance.

A New Instability is another magnificent chapter in the ongoing body of work for this accomplished composer of electro-acoustic noise.

• From the mod 60s the legendary Brunswick label had the cream of Chicago soul, with the hits by Jackie Wilson and The Chi-Lites to go with it. But beyond that, in the cracks and crevices they has some of the greatest and most influential rare soul, and this compilation brings you the best of that.
• So we have the classics which defined the genre by the likes of the Adam's Apples with their Don't Take It Out On This World, Marvin Smith with the Have More Time, Leroy Taylor with Oh Linda and of course Jackie Wilson's opener The Who Who Song.
• We have more recent discoveries such as Tony Drake's spectacular Suddenly, The Sweetest Thing by Channel 3 Billy Butler's pounding George Clinton written 'I'll Bet You', and Jackie again with the swaying Because Of You.
• In between we have rare and collectible records by The Artistics, Gene Chandler, Jackie Ross and more. Together original copies of the records contained on this LP would cost you thousands, all gathered here for the price of a round of drinks.
• Pressed on 140g black vinyl with new artwork and printed inner sleeve

Today Margot share new single Walk With Me via Full Time Hobby. The Peckham band ended 2019 supporting Swimming Tapes on their U.K. as well as releasing their debut EP earlier this year. New single Walk With Me is a song about empathy, depression and the power of talking. All channelled by frontman Alex Hannaway's pastel vocal hues and searingly honest delivery. Walk With Me works as a conversation between someone experiencing a depressive episode and another trying to understand. "It’s about listening, friendship, understanding, I’ve had experiences where friends, family members have been patient, they’ve been persistent and caring, and it’s this that has really helped me in my life" explains Hannaway. In addition to the official video, the band have also shared a 'Karaoke Video' for the single. "We've been using home karaoke sessions to blow off steam during the lockdown period. Often feeling confined, bored, angry, frustrated; the elation and release of belting out familiar songs in our living room felt cathartic. So it felt perfect for the video, capturing not only the isolation of lockdown but also the communal, spirited moments too" explain Margot. Margot comprises of five friends who moved from the suburbs of south London to Peckham after finishing University. In two separate bands at the time, drunken nights out discussing the merits of a merger evolved into the first few rehearsals. It went well - Margot formed in 2018 and released a steady stream of singles across the year. The band employ a DIY ethic, self-producing their recordings in their home studio. After ending 2019 supporting Swimming Tapes on their UK tour, the band released their debut EP in February 2020 and are set to support Dana Gavanski on her upcoming tour in March 2021. Margot's nuanced blend of dream-pop, neo-psychedelia and jangle-guitar create a propulsive, cruising feel reminiscent of Real Estate or War on Drugs. Expect to hear more from them in 2020.

Ever since his early teenager days Kareem El Morr has been working on tracks in the studio. Techno was and has always been the basis. Dirty, raw and in a positive way escalating are his sets, which he has been playing since the mid of the noughties. Not being limited when playing in the clubs or producing in the studio makes him undisputedly one of the most versatile artists in Munich. How multi-faceted he is, is now being shown on his latest RFR release.

“Supersonic” throws the gate open wide to electroid sceneries. Not a few will be reminded of I-F’s “Playstation” by the first sounds of the decently wobbeling bassline. Sick bassline variations, breaky drum parts and a pinch of Neo-Goa – any questions? „Quake“ portrays Morr’s infinite and unconditional love to Techno. Reminiscences of Detroit’s High Tech Jazz are floating relentlessly through widely varied rooms, which we absolutely adore since the Basic Channel era.
On the flip Morr expands his driving functionality by a melodic component. “Blaze” kicks in with a lot of delay, distorted bells and Highspeed drums. This ain’t no dance, this is a ceremony! „Trance with Benefits“ marks the ending of the “Supersonic EP”. Pictures of wafts of mist, whose intensity is being ruptured by the first rays of sunlight penetrating the club on an early Sunday morning. Happy people lying in each other’s arms, unified by the principle that Techno would be nothing without Trance.

Terry Gross is an engrossing trio composed of guitarist Phil Manley (Trans Am), bassist Donny Newenhouse, and drummer Phil Becker. The trio are also connected as owners and engineers at Bay Area recording spot El Studio, where they began improvising together as a way to test the boundaries and gear of the studio. Their loose, organic chemistry burgeoned into a deep camaraderie and a sound both expansive and exacting. The three experienced musicians crafted their first fulllength album through the pure joy of playing together with no expectations. With the tapes rolling on their rehearsals, the band captures the exuberance of live performance and elevates those recordings through a deft use of the studio as their collective instrument. On their debut LP Soft Opening, Terry Gross channels their cosmic powers and considerable chops into a gleefully mesmerizing odyssey fit for an arena. Soft Opening took shape over the course of 2016-2019, with Terry Gross writing and refining their songs. "Space Voyage Mission" and "Worm Gear" parallel one another as sinuous jams that pulse with adamantine fervor. Each mountainous epic churns spellbinding repetition and simplicity into dizzying gallops that take hairpin turns into sinewy riffing and elysian vocal melodies. Phil Manley's guitar takes on a constellation of tones across "Space Voyage Mission" with drifting delays soaring over the Newenhouse and Becker's driving rhythm section which all succumb to frothing overdrives that spin the song into entirely new pastures. The hypnotic throb of "Worm Gear" grows all the more enchanting as Newenhouse and Becker add subtle shifts to the single-chord barrage. "Specificity (Or What Have You)" contrasts these two in its more traditionally pop-oriented structure while retaining its predecessors wide-eyed energy and delves further into the album's lightheartedyet-earnest take on sci-fi tropes from space and time travel to the singularity. As Terry Gross, Phil Manley, Donny Newenhouse, and Phil Becker are sonic scientists traversing the borderlands of rock. Soft Opening captures the simple joy of a no-holds-barred trio in stunning detail, transporting the listener into the splendor and freedom of rock.

Music For Nations release - the Norwegian music constellation Wardruna are renowned for their innovative and genrecreating renditions of older Nordic traditions. Composer Einar Selvik initiated the group in the early 2000s. Since the debut album in 2009, Wardruna have had vast worldwide success, transcending music genres, cultures and languages. The group has previously charted in both Germany and the UK and topped the North American Billboard World music chart for several consecutive weeks. The group's massive musical contributions to History Channel's TV series 'Vikings' has exposed their music to a broad audience worldwide.

These newly remastered editions of Bill Fox’s second album are the first since its 1998 release, including the first-ever vinyl pressing. Listeners will hear a wider soundstage, more detail, and improved listenability. Recorded on 4-track cassette, the fidelity belies the sophistication and nuance of the songwriting, This adept remaster by John Golden Sr helps bring definition to the intimate, at-home feel of the album. It sparkles.Very similar in feel and quality to Fox’s debut album, much of Transit Byzantium draws from the same group of recordings. It has the same feel of musical inevitability, that the songs exist beyond time itself, their eventual manifestation guaranteed by Apollo. He could’ve given them to the Everly Brothers, or the Byrds, or the Who, but instead they were channeled through an everyman from Cleveland with an aversion to the limelight. And while a traditional folk influence colors several songs, even those possess the indelible stamp of Fox’s charismatic voice and personality. Although nearly entirely acoustic and with minimal percussion, these eighteen songs cycle through a remarkable variety of textures and moods.While much has quite rightly been written about the god-tier songwriting here (“Song of a Drunken Nightingale,” “My Baby Crying,” “I’ll Give It Away” for starters), it should also be noted that this is a guitar player’s record, though more in terms of conception than flash. Lines of harmony and counterpoint wander between parts, sublime in their invention though sometimes crudely documented.

Following 2019’s ‘INSHROUDSS EP’, ‘RESURRECTEDINBLACK’ marks the first Bestial Mouths LP crafted fully under frontwoman Lynette Cerezo’s guiding mind.

Emerging from the shrouds of trauma explored on her debut release as the singular force behind Bestial Mouths, RESURRECTEDINBLACK weaves a world riddled by grief and loss—a world of broken systems, of toxic lands once sacred, of lost saviors and inner voids that may be tented with strong flesh, but remain as raw as the meat surrounding them.

While branching deeper into the searing industrialized electronics and imminently danceable darkwave of the previous EP, RESURRECTEDINBLACK also continues to channel new and experimental paths through the project’s original gothic post-punk roots. Led by Cerezo’s visceral, emotional voice and lyrics, and featuring beautifully brutal production from Brant Showers (AAIMON/SØLVE), Alex DeGroot (Zola Jesus) and Balázs Képli (nullius in verba), it is the journey of a soul shattered—then stapled back together by female rage and self-determination.

'Flørist adds an important chapter to Baroque Sunburst's quest for the hypnotic and hybrid side of dance music. Moving effortlessly between different BPMs and orchestrating with an innate elegance, the Berlin-based Canadian producer has assembled three long mesmerizing journeys.

He straddles Terry Riley-esque minimalism, Warp's A.I. sci-fi side and the emotional depth of Basic Channel, blending these whilst maintaining dancefloor efficacy. "Intermedia 1" is architectural music where every detail is essential and everything is constantly developing.'

FILM Recordings will release the debut LP from Denial of Service.

The album follows up EP's Sensou (2015), and more recently Contour & Shape (2017) - but marks the producer's most expansive release on the label thus far by some margin. Clocking in at 15 tracks, the lengthy opus draws from the same palette found on previous work - drum machine driven, heavily mutated Electro and IDM sit alongside low slung Techno cuts and arpeggiated EBM references. As ever, the production is stunning - crisp and plosive, as much a record for the club as it is a tempered headphone experience; whilst the mood channels that same dank, claustrophobic energy found on previous missives.

As a body of work, the LP displays the distinctive touch of a production veteran. The transformative shifts in structure on opener A Fine, New Mother Now belie a kind of boldness found less often across the contemporary electronic music landscape; and the drum programming on IDM-leaning explorations Autoimmune & Supercell bear the hallmarks of a perfectionist with time on his hands and in full control of his art. Space and the placement of sonic components plays a huge role in the artist's work and the 3 Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch displays this canny knack for generating both textural, wide angle soundscapes whilst maintaining that wrought-iron edge to drums and percussive elements - even more fervent, noisy compositions like Dr Manahattan manage to keep hold of this remarkable balance. It's impressive stuff, a fine and well worked meeting point between artistic vision and engineering prowess.

An elongated discussion, no doubt - but worth hearing every word. Each twist and bend, however sharp, remains carefully placed and beautifully recorded. Dryer works Slither & Junkie Foxtrot towards the LP finish offer a less introspective, more hard hitting angle to the work, and by the time the listener arrives at dual closer the Daisy Chain - Adults - they're ready for its heady catharsis.

The debut album from Denial of Service is a trip, and the line between club space and home listening environment is decidedly blurred - an emotive exploration of true psychedelic Electronica, delivered direct from the source.

WRWTFWW Records is feeling total bliss as it announces the full official reissue of two major works from the great Somei Satoh gathered into one LP: the mystic and meditative Emerald Tablet (1978) and Echoes (1981), sourced from original masters and available on vinyl with liner notes by passio-nate Japanese music connoisseur/collector/critic/dj Masaaki Hara.

Fall into the ambient vastness, let yourself go…

Originally released by highly respected label ALM, these pivotal pieces of late 70s / early 80s Ja-panese experimental music majestically showcase Satoh’s intuitive approach to composition and mastery of creating infinite worlds of sound from very, very little.

Emerald Tablet, recorded at the fabled NHK Studio of Electronic Music in 1978, is a spellbinding take on musique concrète meets tape music relying solely on sound harmonics from tubular bell, cymbals, and 'kin' (Buddhist standing bell) overdubbed endlessly, voyaging into vertiginous sonic depths.

Echoes was composed for the Mist, Sound, and Light Festival, a 10-day event organized by the hot spring tourist association of Kawaji, Tochigi Prefecture, held on May 20-29, 1981. It was played in the Kawaji hot spring's Ojika river valley, with 8 gigantic loudspeakers set up on hills surrounding the stream and connected to an octuple channel-tape system - thanks to a combined length of cables exceeding one kilometer - while artificial fog rose from a ravine and laser beams shot up on the mountains. Cinematic and resonating, this breathtaking piece from Somei Satoh is a transcending sonic experience.

Emerald Tablet / Echoes is reissued in conjunction with Somei Satoh’s Mandala Trilogy + 1 double LP, also available on WRWTFWW Records.

In 2018 Far Out Recordings signed a record deal with Brooklyn born, nomadic producer Jneiro Jarel. Having just put the finishing touches to the recordings, Jarel suffered an ischemic stroke while living and working in Costa Rica and his wife Indigo was forced to set up a crowd fund to cover special medical transport back to the states to receive treatment. The release was put on hold, but thanks to the generosity of friends and fans around the world, Jarel was able to get the care he needed and is now on the long road to recovery. We’re overjoyed to finally announce that Jneiro Jarel’s After A Thousand Years is now set for an October 2020 release.

Throughout a career that has spanned over twenty years and seen collaborations with MF DOOM, Thom Yorke, Damon Albarn, BadBadNotGood, Portishead’s Beth Gibbons, Kimbra and Khujo Goodie (Dungeon Family), Jneiro Jarel’s consistently distinctive, forward thinking productions, as well as his love for the music of Brazil, made his partnership with Far Out a perfect fit.

Recorded between New York, New Orleans, Miami and Costa Rica, After A Thousand Years features legendary multi-instrumentalist Bill Summers, famed for his work with Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones and Eddie Henderson. The album also features Malawian-American guitarist Masauko Chipembere who has worked with the likes of RZA from Wu-Tang Clan and Ladybug Mecca from Digable Planets.

For Jarel, After A Thousand Years is “a culmination of the longstanding musical contributions of the African diaspora.” Permeating the Brazilian music and Latin jazz Jarel has loved and drawn inspiration from, as well as the stateside jazz, soul and funk Jarel grew up around, the influence of Africa and its musical history, on both North and South America, is key to the album’s sound.

On lead single “Banana Peel”, Jarel’s outernational perspective makes for a track that is almost impossible to place geographically: you can hear the swing of Jarel’s native New Orleans jazz, the vibrance of Costa Rican rainforests as well as the influence of Jarel’s vast collection of Brazilian records. “Viberian Waves 1&2” is equally nonconformist, morphing from funky baroque-flavoured instrumental hip hop into a bossa inspired, percussive jam.

Taking its inspiration from the biblical prophecies found in the books of Isaiah, Daniel, and Revelation, foretelling the fully realized, physical and spiritual restoration of the earth and mankind after the thousand year reign of the Messianic Kingdom, After A Thousand Years contemplates and celebrates a world where everlasting love, peace, and harmony abound under a sovereign, divine rulership.

After A Thousand Years will be released on Vinyl LP and CD on the 30th October 2020 via Far Out Recordings.

FEEDBACK

“great release. Really like this!” Antal (Rush Hour)
“Banana Peel is exactly what we need now. Visionary Jneiro Jerel at his finest channelling healing sounds and rhythms from Mother Earth. A much-anticipated lens through Jneiro’s third eye. Thank you!” King Britt
“Sounding real good!” Errol Anderson (Touching Bass)
“I love it!!!!!!!” Raffaele Costantino (RAI RADIO 2)
“Sounds great. Congratulations. Will play it on my radio shows.” Batida
“Will pitch album to my editors” Dean Van Nguyen
“Please send me the full album once it's finished.” Francisco Noronha (Publico PT)
“Beautiful man. So happy that he's ok” King Hippo (WLPN-LP / Worldwide FM)
“cracking tune. already lined up to add to playlist. might go into radio show too.. love it” Oli Brunetti (Collectivo Futuro / Olindo Records)
“Amazing! Ive not heard anything from JJ for a long time but a welcome return, this is a cracking track. Looking forward to hearing more new material.” Mickey Jukes (1BTN FM)
“Very vibrant, fresh release! It gets better every time I am listening to it.” Shantisan (Superfly FM Vienna)
“This is a pretty special track , unique sound but very accessible , like it a lot and will play in my show Look forward to hearing the LP” Andy Wilson (Ibiza Sonica Radio)
“So good to hear Jneiro again, loving this cut. Thanks!” Chris Knight (Astrojazz)
“sublime !!!! will definitely play !!!” Mark Milz (Radio Corax)
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Much like its predecessor, In Decay, the 2014 compilation of unreleased, early Com Truise recordings, In Decay, Too unlocks a new set of rarities and unheard fragments from the past for the producer's legion of fans. To accomplish such a feat, the Com camp tapped the Internet's foremost Com Truise archivist, Polychora (formerly Comrade), whose YouTube channel has diligently documented Seth Haley's musical output since his earliest Komputer Cast (Haley's podcast mix series) days. Polychora's vault and input helped Haley and the team locate and curate the ultimate sequence of career-spanning off-album material, showcasing an artist in perpetual orbit of hazy machinist nostalgia. Haley's singular style of melodic beat music is the work of countless iterations; with In Decay, Too, his idiosyncratic exercises, experiments, and pivots pause for a rightful wave of appreciation. Following the smeared introductory tones of "Zeta," the album locks into its first robotic groove on "Compress_ Fuse," a trademark Truise treatment with cascading synth lines and deep, sinister low-end bass stabs. Further down is the suspiciously bright "False Ascendancy," which lures listeners through a labyrinth of drum patterns and siren-like keys, all colliding into "Constant Fracture." The track pushes to the point of stress, reaching the album's apex with a punishing series of blows before fading to relief, where the beatless and contemplative "Trajectory" awaits. In 2019, Com Truise left his previous sci-fi narratives behind for the visceral Persuasion System, a markedly more human record, which now makes In Decay, Too something like a bookend to an era. One last transmission from coordinates unknown; a culminating exhale ahead of what's still yet to come.

Much like its predecessor, In Decay, the 2014 compilation of unreleased, early Com Truise recordings, In Decay, Too unlocks a new set of rarities and unheard fragments from the past for the producer's legion of fans. To accomplish such a feat, the Com camp tapped the Internet's foremost Com Truise archivist, Polychora (formerly Comrade), whose YouTube channel has diligently documented Seth Haley's musical output since his earliest Komputer Cast (Haley's podcast mix series) days. Polychora's vault and input helped Haley and the team locate and curate the ultimate sequence of career-spanning off-album material, showcasing an artist in perpetual orbit of hazy machinist nostalgia. Haley's singular style of melodic beat music is the work of countless iterations; with In Decay, Too, his idiosyncratic exercises, experiments, and pivots pause for a rightful wave of appreciation. Following the smeared introductory tones of "Zeta," the album locks into its first robotic groove on "Compress_ Fuse," a trademark Truise treatment with cascading synth lines and deep, sinister low-end bass stabs. Further down is the suspiciously bright "False Ascendancy," which lures listeners through a labyrinth of drum patterns and siren-like keys, all colliding into "Constant Fracture." The track pushes to the point of stress, reaching the album's apex with a punishing series of blows before fading to relief, where the beatless and contemplative "Trajectory" awaits. In 2019, Com Truise left his previous sci-fi narratives behind for the visceral Persuasion System, a markedly more human record, which now makes In Decay, Too something like a bookend to an era. One last transmission from coordinates unknown; a culminating exhale ahead of what's still yet to come.

'Kind of Strange' is taken from Edinburgh super group, Out of the Ordinary's debut album, 'Stranger Things Have Happened'. The original version is an eerily, atmospheric track with a classic film noir vibe, underscored with beats provided by Joseph Malik on the ones and twos, in collaboration with Check Masses members Vic Galloway, Saleem Andrew McGroarty and Philly Collins. Vocal powerhouses, Rosanne Erskine and Philly Collins will have you looking over your shoulder with their edgy, unsettling vocal delivery – was that a ghostly outline or just a curtain blowing in the breeze?

Combine all of these elements with the mighty Steven Christie's keyboard, Paulo ‘Brother’ Riddle’s anchoring percussion and Saleem Andrew McGroarty at the production controls, something rather special comes out of the speakers.

To prepare for their ‘North Street’ remixes, Jo Wallace and Darren Morris immersed themselves in continuous re-runs of iconic TV series, ‘Randall + Hopkirk Deceased’ and ‘Tales of the Unexpected’ enabling them to channel their inner John Barry. Throughout the track, Darren provides swirling, cinematic vamps and lush string arrangements echoing the Warsaw Concerto whilst Chris Greive’s haunting trombone and Vic Galloway, on his electric guitar, beautifully underpin the melody, transporting the listener back to a world of Black and White mystery and suspense.

Powerful new spiritual jazz from Chile on Soul Jazz Records!

This album comes as a very limited one-off unique pressing of 1000-edition vinyl, limited editon CD and digital release.

Enrique Rodríguez and the Negra Chiway Band group have an instantly powerful and unique sound that is reminiscent of the ensembles of Sun Ra and his Arkestra as well as Horace Tapscott and his Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, one that channels the righteous spirits of Alice Coltrane, John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp and McCoy Tyner together with a stunning Latin rhythmical and new consciousness and percussive energy. Added to this are elements of the Samurai film soundtracks of Akira Kurosawa, Popol Vuh’s musical spirituality (especially their work with film director Werner Herzog), Tibetan Buddhism and over-blowing chants, that all combine to give a truly unique new sound.

Enrique Rodríguez is a composer, percussionist, keyboardist, and producer from Santiago, Chile, whose work shows many similarities with the music featured on Soul Jazz Records’ recent collection ‘Kaleidoscope - New Spirts Known and Unknown’, featuring new forward-looking jazz artists including Mathew Halsall, Theon Cross, Emma-Jean Thackray and Makaya McCraven.

Like all these artists, Rodríguez’s work is a progressive and experimental fusion of earlier influences that combine into a new and definitely 21st century ground-breaking sound that, on account of its South American setting, give the group its truly unique feeling. Hypnotic modal piano riffs, powerful brass and flutes, an army of Latin percussion instruments, and addictive vocal chants all combine in this powerful mix of radical 60s Afro-centric jazz, eastern spirituality and cosmology, and Latin American rhythmical movement.

The Amorphous Androgynous return with the symphonic, 40-minute prog/space-rock concept album ‘We Persuade Ourselves We Are Immortal’. The album contains 5 epic parts, featuring the legendary Peter Hammill (the Van Der Graaf Generator) on vocals alongside a host of musicians including: Paul Weller (piano and guitar), Ray Fenwick (Spencer Davis Group/Ian Gillan) onlead guitar, Brian Hopper (Caravan/Soft Machine) on sax.The Chesterfield Philharmonic Choir and a 25-piece live orchestral string section round out this sumptuously-recorded album.

‘We Persuade Ourselves We Are Immortal’ opens with the 13-minute epic of the title track (written with Peter Hammill and Paul Weller).The themes of mortality/immortality are then musically and conceptually catapulted to the far-flung corners of the AA sonic multiverse over 40+ minutes. Channelling A Space Odyssey,the dystopian choirs and moog of ‘Hymortality’ crash full-force into the John-Bonham-like drums of ‘The Immortality Break.’Meanwhile, ‘Synthony On A Theme of Mortality’ lives up to its name, utilizing the classic 70s Yamaha CS80 synth before progressing to a female wailing aria against classic vintage guitar rock. The whole cosmic trip cascades finally into the harp daydream reverie,choir and romantic strings of ‘Physically I’m Here, Mentally Far, Far Away.’

"Global superstar Lana Del Rey releases her 4th album 'Lust For Life' releasing July 21st via Polydor Records. 'Lust For Life' features collaborations with A$AP Rocky, Playboi Carti, Sean Ono Lennon, The Weeknd and Stevie Nicks. The body of work is created by Lana and her longtime producer and collaborator Rick Nowels. Includes the already-released singles 'Love' and 'Lust For Life', Format Description: LP Record Heavyweight 180g Gatefold Double Vinyl and Compact Disc CD - Jewel Case, 16 page Booklet. Tube campaign and statement outdoorComprehensive digital marketing campaign to include socials, banners, retargeting etc. TV & VOD advertising campaign - £35k across appropriate channels. "

In these dark times of Covid we still have our music. We have the sounds to soothe us, distract and take our minds away from the chaos and uncertainty.
We can't dance like we used to but we can hear and feel. Our release must be found in another way, we must look within. We find solace and grant ourselves space and time in the music.

Sam McQueen (Indio co-producer with John Beltran, Indigo Aera, Delsin Records, Furthur Electronix) presents his debut album Dreams In Sepia for Mojuba sub label a.r.t.less and hits us with a real time soundscape of the moment, an epic-like document of these times. The rhythms are subtle, sometimes broken, the time structures often complex, this is not primarily dance floor orientated music. These sounds are way more cerebral, for the heads. They reflect perfectly the complexities of life we are experiencing in 2020.

The edges are rounded with occasional strolling bass lines and comfy chords. Slabs of keys and spaced out female vocals like a psychedelic journey that scares you at first yet comforts you soon after. Sam McQueen's mediatory sounds give an overwhelming sense of the moment. The music makes you take time out and listen. Its purposeful manner suggests there are more hours in the day, like time slowing down a pause, like the sun slithering slowly behind the horizon. These are sunset sounds for dark back-rooms.

Daytime or night, it works. This is the soundtrack for the other room, the deeper sounds not designed to make you dance. This music doesn't get in your face, it creeps up and smacks you on the ass. There are elements of early nineties UK Techno, a warmth and delicateness that pervades a distinct lack of four four dance floor in the beat structures, a softer tone throughout than the harder Detroit techno sounds of the same era but still nods and acknowledgements to the D in the layout and way the sounds present themselves. Think John Beltran, Symbols and Instruments, Black Dog or Kirk DeGiorgio, mid 90s Berlin sounds from Basic Channel / Rhythm & Sound, but in lockdown. Music for today's modern lacking landscape. The sounds often familiar, analogue, the drums, hi hats and snares, shimmer, jazz style. They accentuate and push the rest of the elements around them.
?In a bygone era this would be crudely classed as Chill Out music. In 2020 Covid era its about how it makes you feel as you relax and really listen to it. It is about emotion and empathy, a oneness, a new unknown and a deeper train of thought for the listener. Much like 2020, Sam McQueen lays the pieces round the edge of the jigsaw and lets you fill in the rest.

Mow Records proudly presents L’enfants De Kita, the third album from a series of five, all produced by label owner Mowgan. Each album features vocalists and performers with African heritage, channeling Mowgan’s passion for the continent’s diverse sounds into vibrant, highly emotive productions. On L’enfants De Kita he teams up with Fanta Sayon Sissoko, a female performer from West African nation Mali. Based in Toulouse, where the album was recorded, Fanta’s musical roots go deep - her father played guitar and ngoni for Baaba Maal and her grandmother is Kandia Kouyaté, one of Mali’s best-known griot singers.

Mowgan always dreamed of working with a female singer from Mali, enchanted by their vocal style. After moving back to France a few years ago he bumped into Eric Diaouré, an old friend who he worked with in his teens. Eric is also a musician and just so happens to be from Mali. Mowgan revealed his ambitions to Eric and a meeting with Fanta was arranged - within a few days they were in the studio together.

Like the other albums in this series, L’enfants De Kita is a fusion of Mowgan’s love for African music and his penchant for electronic sounds. Fanta’s raw, affecting vocals are complemented by Mowgan’s considered production throughout with additional instrumentation from a range of performers, including a group of schoolchildren on ‘Tubani’. Featured artists include Solo Sanou (whose album ‘Soya’ was the second release on Mow Records) playing percussion, Mamadou ‘Madou’ Dembele, a multi-instrumentalist who plays ngoni, Yohan Hernandez on guitar and bass plus Madani Touré aka Chanana (a famous Malian rapper from the nineties) contributing to lead vocals on the album’s title track, with Tim Xavier handling mastering.

Mowgan’s approach to creating albums is to get a vibe going with the singer, produce a batch of songs and then select the best seven for each LP. It’s a pressure-free attitude that has led to some truly heartfelt productions, which encapsulate the purity of the creative process when it’s liberated from rigid constraints. You can hear this freedom of expression throughout L’enfants De Kita, Fanta in her element as she sings with passion and grace across all seven tracks.

The album begins with the title song ‘L’enfants De Kita’, which pays homage to Fanta’s hometown, Kita, in Mali. It is the centre of griotism, the local style of passing on knowledge from one generation to the next via spoken-word storytelling. Chanana joins Fanta on this one, which is the most ‘western’ sounding cut on the LP, Mowgan’s deft touch taking us to the dance floor, while Chanana adds extra depth with his rapid-fire vocal refrain. The glorious ‘Tubani’ tells the story of Djene Tubani, a girl who thought she was a bird. She disobeys her parents and neglects her friends, but eventually learns the error of her ways. Fanta’s vocals are amplified by the voices of a group of schoolchildren, including her own daughter.

‘Mobaya’ is a reminder that we can possess wisdom and deep knowing, but we can also enjoy ourselves; dance, sing and party. This is a club-focused production with 4x4 beats and a traditional house feel, which provide a wonderful accompaniment to Fanta’s uplifting vocals. Next up is ‘Dakan’, a cut which is all about destiny: Everyone has been put on Earth for a reason and by working together we can all achieve our destiny. Layers of percussion skip over the warm low end, with a lively trumpet appearing in the second half.

‘Dounouya’ explores the notion that we live in a world where everyone faces negative criticism. Fanta encourages us to take responsibility and move forward no matter what others think of us with this inspiring guitar-led cut. ‘Djonya’ highlights the fact that slavery still exists in today’s world - modern slavery, hidden from public view but still very much alive. “Our Africa is going to be okay if we all hold hands, if we are all together, all united,” she says. Finally,‘Badeya’, a great outtro which focuses on unity. We are all one family on this planet and this song speaks of people coming together but also respecting ourselves above everything else. The pace is slow and the instrumentation perfectly balanced to allow Fanta’s vocals to flourish.

Strut present the 4CD edition of Sun Ra's 'Egypt 1971' along with the original albums 'Dark Myth Equation Visitation', 'Nidhamu' and 'Horizon' released as individual LPs, documenting Sun Ra's first trip to Egypt with his Arkestra in December 1971. In the years leading up to 1971, Sun Ra wrote many compositions and poems specifically inspired by the ancient African Kingdoms and many others with associated mythological and heliocentric connotations. As such, a visit to Egypt and the opportunity for the Arkestra to play there was a matter of necessity. Ra's first ever concerts outside of the US had occurred in late summer and autumn of 1970 with performances in France, Germany and the UK and a second European tour was arranged for late 1971. At the end of that second tour, Ra caught wind of cheap flights from Denmark to Cairo. This release comprises recordings made by Arkestra member Thomas "Bugs" Hunter made in December 1971 in the streets around the Mena House Hotel, Giza, from a concert held at the house of Goethe Institute ex-pat Hartmut Geerken in Heliopolis, from a live Cairo TV channel broadcast and a concert at the Ballon Theatre in Cairo. The impact and significance of these few weeks upon Sun Ra can be measured by the growth and development of his output over the next few years; the immediate post-Egypt period included new studio and live recordings on the Saturn, Blue Thumb, Atlantic and Impulse labels and the 'Space Is The Place' movie. Ra also edited the three LPs of the 'Live In Egypt' series which were subsequently released on his Saturn record label and its affiliated twin, Thoth Intergalactic: 'Dark Myth Equation Visitation', 'Nidhamu' and 'Horizon'. These three albums are now reissued as single LP editions in their original artwork. The 4CD set features these albums alongside previously unreleased material from the December 1971 recordings. All tracks are remastered from the original tapes and the CD set also features a 24-page booklet featuring new sleeve notes and rare photos by Hartmut Geerken and background information on the recordings by Paul Griffiths.

Strut present the 4CD edition of Sun Ra's 'Egypt 1971' along with the original albums 'Dark Myth Equation Visitation', 'Nidhamu' and 'Horizon' released as individual LPs, documenting Sun Ra's first trip to Egypt with his Arkestra in December 1971. In the years leading up to 1971, Sun Ra wrote many compositions and poems specifically inspired by the ancient African Kingdoms and many others with associated mythological and heliocentric connotations. As such, a visit to Egypt and the opportunity for the Arkestra to play there was a matter of necessity. Ra's first ever concerts outside of the US had occurred in late summer and autumn of 1970 with performances in France, Germany and the UK and a second European tour was arranged for late 1971. At the end of that second tour, Ra caught wind of cheap flights from Denmark to Cairo. This release comprises recordings made by Arkestra member Thomas "Bugs" Hunter made in December 1971 in the streets around the Mena House Hotel, Giza, from a concert held at the house of Goethe Institute ex-pat Hartmut Geerken in Heliopolis, from a live Cairo TV channel broadcast and a concert at the Ballon Theatre in Cairo. The impact and significance of these few weeks upon Sun Ra can be measured by the growth and development of his output over the next few years; the immediate post-Egypt period included new studio and live recordings on the Saturn, Blue Thumb, Atlantic and Impulse labels and the 'Space Is The Place' movie. Ra also edited the three LPs of the 'Live In Egypt' series which were subsequently released on his Saturn record label and its affiliated twin, Thoth Intergalactic: 'Dark Myth Equation Visitation', 'Nidhamu' and 'Horizon'. These three albums are now reissued as single LP editions in their original artwork. The 4CD set features these albums alongside previously unreleased material from the December 1971 recordings. All tracks are remastered from the original tapes and the CD set also features a 24-page booklet featuring new sleeve notes and rare photos by Hartmut Geerken and background information on the recordings by Paul Griffiths.

Strut present the 4CD edition of Sun Ra's 'Egypt 1971' along with the original albums 'Dark Myth Equation Visitation', 'Nidhamu' and 'Horizon' released as individual LPs, documenting Sun Ra's first trip to Egypt with his Arkestra in December 1971. In the years leading up to 1971, Sun Ra wrote many compositions and poems specifically inspired by the ancient African Kingdoms and many others with associated mythological and heliocentric connotations. As such, a visit to Egypt and the opportunity for the Arkestra to play there was a matter of necessity. Ra's first ever concerts outside of the US had occurred in late summer and autumn of 1970 with performances in France, Germany and the UK and a second European tour was arranged for late 1971. At the end of that second tour, Ra caught wind of cheap flights from Denmark to Cairo. This release comprises recordings made by Arkestra member Thomas "Bugs" Hunter made in December 1971 in the streets around the Mena House Hotel, Giza, from a concert held at the house of Goethe Institute ex-pat Hartmut Geerken in Heliopolis, from a live Cairo TV channel broadcast and a concert at the Ballon Theatre in Cairo. The impact and significance of these few weeks upon Sun Ra can be measured by the growth and development of his output over the next few years; the immediate post-Egypt period included new studio and live recordings on the Saturn, Blue Thumb, Atlantic and Impulse labels and the 'Space Is The Place' movie. Ra also edited the three LPs of the 'Live In Egypt' series which were subsequently released on his Saturn record label and its affiliated twin, Thoth Intergalactic: 'Dark Myth Equation Visitation', 'Nidhamu' and 'Horizon'. These three albums are now reissued as single LP editions in their original artwork. The 4CD set features these albums alongside previously unreleased material from the December 1971 recordings. All tracks are remastered from the original tapes and the CD set also features a 24-page booklet featuring new sleeve notes and rare photos by Hartmut Geerken and background information on the recordings by Paul Griffiths.

In the late-1970s Athens, Georgia was buzzing with a raw but sophisticated music scene. Traditional Southern rock had been the Georgia musical export for years before but the turn of the decade began producing new sounds from bands like the B-52’s, REM and Alt Rock luminaires Pylon.
 Before they were a band, Pylon were art-school students at the University of Georgia: four kids invigorated by big ideas about art and creativity and society. However, Pylon were less of a band and more of an art project, which meant they had very specific goals in mind, as well as an expiration date.
 While their time together as a band was short lived (1979-1983), Pylon had a lasting influence on the history of rock and roll. Throughout their brief history, they were able to create influential work that would help foster the post-punk and art-rock scene of the early 80s. Artists like R.E.M., Gang of Four, Sonic Youth, Sleater-Kinney, Interpol, Deerhunter and many more claim inspiration from the band.
 Their 1979 single ‘Cool’ / ‘Dub’ reached legendary status, with Rolling Stone titling it one of the 100 Greatest Debut Singles Of All Time.
 In 1980 the band released their first record, ‘Gyrate’, and began touring across the country in support of the release. The band would soon develop a following across the country and specifically in the bustling music scene in New York City. One of their earliest gigs was opening for the Gang of Four in the Big Apple.
 Following the critical acclaim of their debut release, Pylon went back into the studio. They gleefully pulled their songs apart and put them back together in new shapes, revealing a band of self proclaimed nonmusicians who had transformed gradually but noticeably into real musicians. The resulting album, ‘Chomp’, was barely off the press when Pylon were booked to open a run of dates for a hot new Irish band called U2 (after previously playing two arena shows with them in the month leading to the album release). Most bands would have jumped at the opportunity but Pylon were sceptical. At a critical point in the life of Pylon, they opted to become a cult band rather than stretch their defining philosophy too far.
 “We fully intended Pylon to be an almost seasonal thing that we were gonna do for a minute and then get on with our lives,” says Curtis Crowe, drummer for the band. “But it just never went away. It still doesn’t go away. There’s a new subterranean class of kids that are coming into this kind of music, and they’re just now discovering Pylon. That blows my mind. We didn’t see that coming.”
 New West Records are proud to partner with Pylon to reissue ‘Chomp’ and ‘Gyrate’ back into the masses. Beautifully remastered from the original audio sources and pressed on vinyl (140g) for the first time in over 30 years.
 New West Records also present ‘Pylon Box’, a comprehensive look at the band that features the remastered studio LPs ‘Gyrate’ and ‘Chomp’, the 11-song collection ‘Extra’ - which includes rarities and previously unreleased studio and live recordings - and ‘Razz Tape’, Pylon’s first ever recording: a 13-song unreleased session that pre-dates the band’s seminal ‘Cool’ / ‘Dub’ debut.
 ‘Pylon Box’ also includes a hardbound 200-page full colour book featuring pieces written by the members of R.E.M., Gang of Four, Steve Albini, Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney, Sonic Youth, Interpol, B-52’s, Bradford Cox of Deerhunter, Mission of Burma, Calvin Johnson of Beat Happening and K Records, Anthony DeCurtis, Chris Stamey of the dB’s, Steve Wynn of the Dream Syndicate and many more. Features an extensive essay chronicling the band’s history, with interviews with the surviving members of the band as well as members of R.E.M., B-52’s, Gang of Four, Method Actors and more. It also features never before seen images and artifacts from both the band’s personal archives as well as items now housed at the Special Collections Library at the University of Georgia and the Georgia Museum of Art, UGA.

Suzanne Ciani is a true electronic music pioneer. The five Grammy nominated Italian-American neoclassical composer is unquestionably one of the greatest minds that contemporary music has ever witnessed. After an incredible career spanning forty years, Ciani’s accomplishments have become a benchmark when discussing the origins of musical synthesis. For more than four decades she developed a body of work that transcends the music industry, composing for film, video games and famous advertising campaigns that have impacted popular culture. On December 14, 2019, after six years of sound experimentation, Lapsus Festival bid farewell to Barcelona’s Centre for Contemporary Culture. Its final event was entitled 'A Sonic Womb' and was dedicated to the musical roots of the synthesizer, with Suzanne Ciani headlining on the night. Ciani performed an exclusive show accompanied by her modular Buchla 200e synthesizer and enveloped in a specially designed multi-channel sound environment by Intorno Labs. It was a sonic voyage to the very heart of her beloved machine and a tribute to improvisation through an instrument that is said to possess its own soul. Suzanne described the night as ”an improvisation that I began using in the ’70s and continue to use now as raw material. Each performance based on this material has its own expression and one could liken it to jazz." Lapsus Records is therefore extremely honoured to present 'A Sonic Womb: Live Buchla Performance at Lapsus', a unique live recording of this extra special concert.

**EXTREMELY LIMITED RUN OF 150 - BEAUTIFULLY PRESENTED WITH HIGH SPEC SILVER AND BLACK MARBLE VINYL**

Diasiva return to Irish label Acroplane Recordings with another collection of uncompromising, bass-heavy, tales of the world decaying.

Diasiva is a collaboration between Monolog (Ad Noiseam, Murder Channel, Hymen) and Swarm Intelligence (Acroplane, Voitax, 47). As Diasiva they have previous releases on Ohm Resistance, Arboretum, Instruments of Discipline, Subtrakt and Acroplane Recordings.

Automatic Tasty (Jonny Dillon) has been away from Central Processing Unit for five years now, releasing on labels such as AC Records and Furthur Electronix in the intervening time. However, new EP The Future Is Not What It Used To Be shows that the chemistry between label and artist is still in good nick by offering up four tracks of contemplative electro-boogie.

While the preceding CPU/Automatic Tasty drop may be 2015's The Life Parochial, The Future Is Not What It Used To Be actually has more in common with Sentimentalist's Choice, Automatic Tasty's CPU debut which came out back in 2013. This is not due to a huge stylistic shift - all three records bring together classic electro, techno and boogie sounds to create charming and melodious tracks - but more to do with the tone of the record. You see, while The Life Parochial was a squelchy machine-funk delight, The Future Is Not What It Used To Be is a more pensive affair befitting its title.

This isn't to say that The Future Is Not What It Used To Be is a muted EP. Far from it - this record contains some of the most gorgeous electro joints you'll hear all year. The vibe is established on its eponymous opening jam, a vocoder-laced production pitched somewhere between the more ruminative tunes on Posthuman's 2018 LP Mutant City Acid and contemporary boogie acts such as Funkineven/Steven Julien and Galaxians. The track is made by the beautiful, bittersweet timbre of its synths, and these are maintained on following number 'Romance In The Old Country'. Given the offbeat skip in its groove and sunset-glow ruefulness of the keys, 'Romance In The Old Country' is a cut which invokes the instrumentals of Jessy Lanza LPs - and even (whisper it) a little Sade.

The Future Is Not What It Used To Be is an EP of evocative track titles, but there may be none more accurate than first B-side 'Rising Sun'. Here, Automatic Tasty tweaks the wistfulness of the A-side cuts into something more uplifting. While a thoughtful quality remains in 'Rising Sun's soft synths and skittering 808s, the track is driven by the exuberant energy of the 'Woo! Yeah!' drum break to become the sort of tune you drop as dawn begins to break over the rave. 'Rising Sun's afterglow falls over the closing track 'Adventures In The World Of Becoming', a steady IDM-electro pulse that channels the spirit of Aphex Twin's seminal Selected Ambient Works 85-92.

'The future is not what it used to be - no past, no memory'. With this robo-voiced intonation, Automatic Tasty returns to Sheffield's Central Processing Unit with four moving, poignant machine-funk tracks.

‘Borderline’ is the debut single from hotly-tipped Jamaican-Canadian artist and musician, SeeMeNot. Released on 18 September, 2020 and accompanied by a remix from Roman Flügel, ‘Borderline’ is available via SeeMeNot’s own imprint, Brainstream. Her debut will be followed by the release of ‘Invisible Me’ produced by Peace Division’s Justin Drake, and ‘Chez Renee’, remixed by Joe Goddard, all in the coming months. A 21 st century house anthem, ‘Borderline’ is a stunning debut that shows the power of both SeeMeNot’s voice and her lyrics, and has been championed so far by Skream, Anja Schneider, Solomun, Adriatique, TSHA, Erol Alkan, Adana Twins, Monika Kruse, Andhim, Tim Sweeney, Chloé, Marco Carola, Digitalism, and many more.

‘Borderline’ was sampled on SeeMeNot’s July 2020 debut mixtape ‘Long Overdue: The Sound Of A Revolution’ along with an excerpt of the powerful speech by Tamika Mallory in the wake of the death of George Floyd.

Reclaiming house music as a form of protest, ‘Long Overdue: The Sound Of A Revolution’ was SeeMeNot’s first creative work. Released via her Soundcloud page, ‘Long Overdue’ featured SeeMeNot singing a cappella over a mix from DJ Oliver Baptiste. The 30 minutes of music is the sound of a Black female artist detailing the journey of Black people from Fight to Flight, channeling the pain she’s experiencing – and experienced – into something beautiful that pays respect to her ancestors but serves as a contemporary reinterpretation of traditional healing through singing and music. Influences from country music to gospel are joined through a shared history of hymnals as both protest and healing music. SeeMeNot recently released a PSA on her YouTube featuring an acapella from the mixtape – “a childhood cover” of the late Ray Charles – paying homage to Black Lives Matter.

In 1990 Neil Hannon started recording and releasing under the name
The Divine Comedy. Thirty years and twelve great albums later,
Hannon is rightly adjudged one of the finest singer songwriters of his
generation. To celebrate, Divine Comedy Records are remastering
and reissuing nine of the band's classic albums.
The nine reissued albums have been remastered from the original
tapes at the legendary Abbey Road Studios by mastering engineer
Frank Arkwright (Blur, The Smiths). Overseeing the audio throughout
the campaign is engineer / mixer / producer Guy Massey, whose
work on the Beatles Stereo Remasters won him a Grammy Award.
‘Casanova’ was the band’s third album and the first to bring real
success. First released in 1996 it explored and dissected a world of
casual affairs, loose morals and a thousand anxieties in between.
From the NME: “‘Casanova’ fairly teems with sex, with suppressed
desires... with ample evidence of what dicks men can be.” Mojo
described it as a “glorious... sumptuous paean to life, love and
longing.” Select said “Only a barren heart could resist it... Sensible
people simply swooned.” Singles ‘Something For The Weekend’,
‘Becoming More Like Alfie’ and ‘The Frog Princess’ became chart hits
and airplay staples while an alternate version of ‘Songs Of Love’
became the theme music for legendary Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted

Tape / Cassette

As one half of Phantom Horse, his long-serving electronic duo with Ulf Schütte, Niklas Dommaschk co-produces beautifully muted, Kraut-inspired jams that seem to soundtrack fictitious TV ads for wondrous imaginary household appliances, e.g. a calmly efficient, if slightly unsettling kitchen robot with an integrated lava lamp feature.

In contrast, Shapes cuts tracks down to size – nothing here is longer than five-and-a-half minutes. Also, Dommaschk has turned up the treble, the prominence of the higher frequency spectrum adding bite and menace to these deceptively simple synth polyrhythms.
Whereas opening track “Benzin” (German for “Petrol”) manages to conjure the paradoxical image of something or someone meandering with urgency, “Einzeller” (German for “single-celled organism”) channels a John-Carpenter-style pulse, complete with horror sound effects. “Interference” is a truly effective representation of the term, with piercing, but quiet tinnitus frequencies set above a beat as sparse as it is crunchy. “Two Stones”, by contrast, offers a kind of robotic wistfulness whereas closing piece “Energies of the mind” fizzes out like a jumble of toy keyboards attempting to score a science programme - and failing, but instead revealing some much grander emotional truth.

This is the sound of breaking some kind of inner lockdown, of turning inwards and then projecting parts of murky inner shadows outward, as well-defined and sometimes lurid shapes, individually clear, but still in the process of becoming organized into a complete whole. The unfinished is what excites us the most. May the shapes never find their slot in the jigsaw puzzle.

All songs by Niklas Dommaschk
Recorded between 2017 and 2020 in Berlin and Nijmegen
Mastering by Edgar Medina
Artwork by Daniel Castrejón

Fully remastered 7 inch reissue with replica artwork for the first time since its original release in 1971 - the sublime, raw and incredibly powerful gospel-soul song, ‘He's Forever (Amen)’ by The King James Version alongside the Sam & Dave channeling high energy gospel number, 'He's Coming'.

Original copies of this almost unattainable record trade hands for in excess of £375, so an official reissue will be welcome news to many that have been after this one for years. Black 7" dinked centre hole

"Secretsundaze continue their quest to uncover amazing new music with the signing of exciting young Dominican artist Boundary. At just 19 years old Boundary aka Josue Suero makes music that is brimming full of ideas and influences that belie his young age. The 'Interlazados' EP is his debut release for a UK label.

Taking cues from his fascination with video game music, his first real gateway to electronic music, the four track EP showcases Boundary's melodic sensibilities and ear for a killer rhythm.ALead track 'Opticamente Avanzando' unwinds over 12 minutes of deep, mesmeric melodic, contemplative electronica with hints of 90's UK rave influences.ACheck the grins when the killer bassline drops half way through!A

The glossy melodies, jazzy motifs and hip-tugging bass of 'OP.AV' and the breakbeat house of 'Interlazados' channel more lo-fi, ambient house influences but all sent through that unique Boundary filter. Finally, the brain-warming, hypnagogic, tempo-changing rhythms of 'Planos de Ausencia Casualidad' could be the EP highlight and recalls the work of Lone and Actress.

You could listen to these tracks and be mistaken for thinking this is an artist who has maybe been lost in the throws of extended Villalobos DJ set or the deep pads of old Sun Electric records, but as an artist who is an outsider to the European dance scene, his inspiration comes from closer to home, as Boundary explains:

"For this EP I was interested to see if i could hit close to the feelings i have when I listen to certain video game music, how I could convey the amazing and deep storytelling in these songs. I really wanted them to feel like a ride/adventure. 'Opticamente Avanzando' ('Optically Advancing' in English) for me is like a venture into a machine that analyses a bunch of electronic music genres and it outputs as many different variations of these genres it can, each with their own little quirk/details, creating something unique in the process."

With previous releases on LA based label, Point Records, and Paris' Third Try label (Axel Boman, SFV Acid) Boundary's emergence represents a promising prospect for the electronic music world and 'Interlazados' another essential release on Secretsundaze."

Part 2 of the compilation series sees the journey evolving, this time with a more upbeat affair. Not much has changed in terms of selection, as we continue to draw inspiration from the wider world, we bring to you the sounds of artists originating from Argentina, Japan, Netherlands, Portugal, Brazil and the UK. Beyond the restrictions of this physical realm, let you ears nourish the mind & soul as they traverse the world for you…

Argentinian resident Silvio Astier introduces us to the record with the aptly named ’Santa Maria del Buen Ayre’ - the former name of his hometown Buenos Aires. Easing us in with a wonderfully atmospheric piece, carefully mixing simple percussion patterns with his own well-crafted luscious guitar work.

Next up, we have Japan native/Berlin resident Kotoe continuing the flow of downtempo sounds that slowly settle us into this compilation. ‘Ondami’ conjures up images of a distant dream… the floating vocals and echoing chimes capable of drifting the listener to a place of blissful escapism.

The tempo is turned up a notch for the last track of side A, provided by UK born folklorica maestro El Buho. Renowned for his love of merging the traditional and natural sounds of South America with modern electronica, ’Swifts’ certainly ticks those boxes with an added touch of dance-floor-ready groove.

Portuguese native duo Oxhala continue to push the sounds on the flip side into heavier territory. ’Earth Spirit’ builds from an amalgamation of stomping tribal drums, hypnotically playful keys and distorted vocals, channeling the listener to our innate primitive spirit - this is one for the body & mind.

Dutch party-starter Mytron’s contribution ’Oil’ provides the fuel for the party as he turns to fast-paced conga rhythms, cowbells and elephant trumpets. These exotic sounds bounce along with ever-persistent energy to create the soundtrack to a hedonistic carnivalesque celebration of all things wild.

If you haven’t already peaked with the previous offering, Brazilian native El Peche wraps things up nicely with track ‘Rastro De Fogo’ (ft. Mari Branco). Tripped out vocals phase in and out as the track is dominated by a tight bassline before delicate keys bring in a softer element to finish.

Dynamic Dublin-duo Boots & Kats get given the keys to the House of Disco channelling an Italo Disco rave of interplanetary proportions for HOD028. Three pure peak-time pumping Italo warpers, complete with an exquisite Johannes Albert’s Party Talk remix to round off the package.

Fists in the air business in a far-away planet, one where synthesisers rule the lands using colossal kicks and huge snares to enhance the power of their all-encompassing arps that range from rapid fire bass to gargantuan top lines. Johannes Albert then throws in some party chatter and deft sampling to his reworking of ‘Party Talk’ completing this futuristic capsule of interstellar goodness.

It’s the best of that ‘80s Italo sound given a modern take that harnesses Boots & Kats’ unbridled Irish energy.

Tape / Cassette

Longstanding collaborators & Bay Area based experimental duo Kush Arora & Lucas Patzek aka Only Now & Orogen return with ‘AVULS’, the project’s sophomore release.

Building on the unearthly, black hole transmissions and creaking, exospheric ambience of their self-titled debut, Only Now & Orogen present an abyssal, elemental broadcast from another unchartered extra-terrestrial zone. Remote and astronomical yet tied to a newfound sense of rhythmic structure, ‘AVULS’ navigates a course through inverted beat-led frameworks, surging detonations of sub-bass, and severely turbulent, monumentally scaled soundscapes.

Amidst this large, slow-moving cyclone of sound sit fragmentary emergences of choral voices and Gregorian chants; a distant, esoteric presence within dense eruptions of attritional noise and infinite recesses of low end.

In harsh, pointillistic detail and through infernal surround sound, Only Now & Orogen channel dub, noise and power electronics, evoking a distorted, ritualistic inflection on the Voyager Golden Record; a mass of tectonic motion and friction; a storm in deep space.

The Allergies are back with the latest in a long line of party starting gold nuggets on 7" vinyl. 'Get yourself Some' sees the guys channel a bluesy stomping soul style reminiscent of Sam & Dave and the Motown greats. Screaming blues harp, hammond organ stabs, lyrics about making it all by yourself, and a steady groove make this one sounds like it could have easily been played by The Swampers in a long-lost Muscle Shoals session.

Meanwhile on the flip, The Allergies enlist two UK hip hop titans - Dr Syntax and Skunkadelic to trade bars on the driving and energetic 'I'm On It'. Funky sax licks, party bongos and a bassline you could set your watch to all complete the perfect beat for these two to flex their microphone skills over. And the end result is another blistering cut taken from their album 'Say The Word'.

2LP Over the past decade, SUED co-founder SW. has arranged the building blocks of dreamy rave and techno music-billowing pads, undulating sub-bass and adroit, nuanced drum programming-into and novel dance floor structures. TRUElipS, SW.’s first full album since 2016 and his first for Avenue 66, is a beguiling, fully-realised statement. The 12-track LP is rooted in the storied ’90s era when the spirit of orbital raves and free parties was channeled into massive leaps forward in the studio. A combination of house and drum & bass looms large, as does the much-referenced intelligent techno era, but if you’ve listened to an SW. record, you already know TRUElipS is the work of a singular auteur. Breakbeats, rave stabs and major chords permeate the album, motoring along on a chassis of sine-wave bass lines and SW’s widescreen percussive vision. Forays into downtempo and sweeping ambience keep the listener’s head in the clouds, while the superb melodic techno constructions that comprise the album’s core are at once contemplative and liable to bring on a giddy head rush. TRUElipS brims with the optimistic, escapist spirit that fueled dance music’s original triumph, a throwback to bright, imagined futures.

Notes From The Forest Floor was originally premiered in a different form in July 2015 at The ICA as part of an evenings event dedicated to the work of Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi. Played in almost pitch dark the hour long piece was played prior to a concert of work by and inspired by Scelsi. Chris responded to Scelsi's microtonal works using recording of insects and other wildlife/environmental sounds from La Selva tropical rain forest reserve in Costa Rica. An edited shorter piece from this installation was on the Scelsi Ep titled Invertebrate Harmonics which gathered great reviews from the Quietus to the Vinyl Factory. Whilst working with Chris again this year having had the stereo ICA installation version sitting on his hard drive for 5 years Adrian Corker asked Chris if he would be interested in releasing it.Chris was soon after heading back to Costa Rica working with David Attenborough and offered to make new recordings and develop the original piece.

Georgia Rodgers Line Of Parts was originally premiered at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in 2019 as part of the Huddersfield Professional Development Programme for Female Composers of Electronic Music project. Originally having trained a an acoustician Rodgers work is concerned with" timbral detail". She has had work performed by ensembles such as Apartment House and The Riot Ensemble but for Line of Parts worked with the Huddersfield Immersive Sound System(HISS) using its network of 48 channels and 66 speakers.The piece and stereo mix down of this work is composed of field recordings made in the Cairngorms and North London, sine waves and voice.

After the launch of his very own label LTF Records earlier in April, Franky Rizardo is presenting his second release ‘Polaris EP’, four tracks that capture the unique rollercoaster of emotions that the last few months have been:

“Polaris was made the day after the announcement of the lockdown measures in the Netherlands. The gravity of the situation started to settle in and for me it meant that my summer agenda had been cancelled. The feeling of trying to accept this fact and keeping my spirits up evolved into this track. Which is uplifting but hits the feels as well.”

Polaris reflects the melancholy over a lost summer, but channels POSITIVITY and determination to make the best out of the situation.

As one of the Netherlands finest house music exports Franky Rizardo has been making and playing music for most of his life. With the global Corona pandemic, he, as well as the industry as a whole, is looking towards an uncertain future when it comes to performances, clubbing and coming together on the dancefloor. However, Franky is keeping his spirits up and continues to focus on his own output and creativity through his newly founded label LTF Records.

In times of social distancing, he is connecting with his fans through live streams such as De Marktkantine, Verknipt and Straf_Werk, as well as at the first social distancing gigs (with COVID-19 safety rules) such as Thuishaven (Amsterdam) and Kiesgrube (Duisburg).

In tough and uncertain times like these, Polaris EP comes as a message of positivity and inspiration, to light up peoples’ days and remind them that regardless of the situation now, there’s a silver lining.

Two things become immediately clear when you hear “Body Electric”, the third original album by White Haus, João Vieira (X-Wife / Dj Kitten)’s solo project. The first is that we’re faced with an insatiable music lover, with an exemplary historical awareness. The second is that is music, although it channels all that passion, does it in such a way that is increasingly all his own. The thing is, that if on one hand, in these twelve new tracks, we’re assailed by the presence of the tutelary Talking Heads and their satellite projects, by Vivien Goldman, Sexual Harrassement or Konk’s New York No Wave, by the electronic pop of Soft Cell or New Order, by the hybrid funk of Prince and his Minneapolis accollites, by the Italo-Disco inspired by Giorgio Moroder or Patrick Cowley or the Acid House of Adonis or Maurice.

Bristolian promoters Worm Disco Club have been championing South-Western talent since their inception in 2014. Having collaborated with Glastonbury Festival on their notorious 'Wormhole' stage and hosted the likes of The Comet Is Coming, The Heliocentrics and The Mauskovic Dance Band at their regular club night, the name has become synonymous with quality groove laden goodness, percussive madness, jazz, psych and beyond. Now proudly presenting their label Worm Discs, the collective recruit some of Bristol's most notable emerging talent for an exploration into the new wave of Jazz emanating from the city. As Andrew Hayes, (Run Logan Run) explains : "Bristol has always had its own sound, but there's been a new crop of young players come through over the past five years that's revitalised the scene and expanded its expectations about what jazz music means. Featuring the likes of Waldo's Gift, Run Logan Run (Montreux Jazz Talent Award winners), BaDaBoom, Lyrebird and Alun Elliot, 'New Horizons' channels the seismic energy of the sonically rich landscape into 12 progressive, psychedelic, impeccably crafted tracks.

in a trio of records by Andrew Wasylyk which unearth and reshape the landscape of Eastern Scotland as shimmering and inventive instrumental music.

Where Themes for Buildings and Spaces (2017) toured the architecture and industry of Dundee, evoking a place caught between decay and regrowth, the Scottish Album of the Year Award shortlisted The Paralian (2019) explored the littoral exchanges between sea and shore on the North Sea coastline.! !

Fugitive Light And Themes Of Consolation carries a trace of this arc on a return upriver, drifting back inland along the River Tay's inner estuary: a record of the low light on winter fields, empty suburban streets at dawn, the deep clear waters of the quarry excavated to build the city.

Ten songs circling landscapes for meaning, channelling half-heard melodies and misremembered memories; caught somewhere between settling down and setting out towards the shining levels of the estuary and beyond.! ! The record is threaded with the influences of people, place and musical lineages – David Axelrod, John Barry, Virginia Astley, Mark Hollis, Alice Coltrane – yet as with all of Andrew's solo work it has a deft, clear voice all of its own. Recorded between Summer 2019 and January 2020, Fugitive Light…

displays his talent as a multi-instrumentalist and composer: all hushed drum grooves, rolling waves of plucked acoustic guitar, cascading upright piano, Bob James-inspired Fender Rhodes, rippling clàrsach harp, and ECM-worthy electric guitar motifs. As on The Paralian, string arrangements are by fellow Tayside musician Pete Harvey, known for his work with King Creosote, Modern Studies and The National Theatre of Scotland.! !

Ed Wizard & Disco Double Dee channel that summer sun into this soulful house, Balearic and disco laced four tracker on their own label, Editorial, complete with a slice of Cody Currie remix brilliance.

Kicking things off, Cody Currie takes to remixing ‘Spirit Power’ with those tantalising Rhodes keys and skipping percussion laid behind a pensive female vocal. String laden, and deftly sampled Balearic beats then ease your mind via ‘Slo Fusion’.

On the flip, two sun-kissed disco cuts ‘Summer Love’ and ‘Aruban Nights’, the former a hazy warmup groover and the latter a mid-tempo flex, dripping in funk.

Here’s a mantra, a slogan, channelled from the inner human being longing for the covid crisis to end. And yet this is a response to a much wider issue. A pandemic everyone is dealing with since years: Nationalist tendencies, the alienation that stems from it and the reality of borders. But, ‘die Welt ist ein Mitteinander’, the world is togetherness. We’re on one planet, all facing the same global problems and challenges. All sharing the same course through the cosmos. No way to escape. Tune in, abandon your ego and start chanting.

We're glad to be back with our latest reissue, a couple undercover soul gems from the Midwest originally self-released in 1984: LaVerne Washington's "The Promise" and "I Found What I've Been Searching For".

LaVerne has dedicated her life to the arts in every possible way. As an artist herself but also behind the scenes, helping and supporting her contemporaries fulfil their callings. Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Mary Lou Williams - LaVerne grew up in Kansas City listening to the all time jazz greats, and soon discovered she was blessed with a keen sense for playing music by ear, playing the piano to what she would hear on the radio. In her teens whilst the 60s transitioned to the 70s' disco and funk era, LaVerne was there to witness it all, and she would go on to study music at the Charlie Parker Academy where she was inspired to become an entertainer.

At Langston University, LaVerne kept studying music where her career blossomed, founding and touring the US with the gospel group "Emery Shaw and the Voices of Praise", singing in several college bands and with her choir "The Voices Of Bethel". LaVerne would go on to perform notably with her bands "LaVerne Washington and Rococo" and the "LaVerne Washington Quartet", and record several songs in KC including "The Promise" and "I Found What I've Been Searching For" in 1984 before moving to Washington DC.

In DC, LaVerne was offered a position as a Program specialist with the National Endowment For The Arts where she started supporting other artists through her work. Over the next couple decades, LaVerne became an associate producer for the Rhythm and Blues Foundation and the Pioneer Awards Ceremonies held in New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles, which saw the likes of Prince, Aretha Franklin and Jerry Butler attending among others. She has also managed and was mentored by DeeDee Sharp and consulted with artists including Bonnie Raitt (who acted as a mentor to Laverne as well), Kim Weston, Kathy Sledge (SisterSledge), Smokey Robinson and G.C Cameron (Spinners). During that time, LaVerne has kept singing, on her own and as a backing vocalist for DeeDee Sharp and Freda Payne and has never stopped her lifelong dedication to music and the Arts.

The Promise original 7" was LaVerne's last recording in Kansas City before her move to DC and the beginning of her involvement behind the scenes. Channelling her gospel roots - with impeccable arrangement, a contagious drum machine led rhythm section, soaring vocals and relatable lyrics, "The Promise" is guaranteed to bring back smiles to dancefloors and living rooms alike! "I Found What I've Been Searching For" on the flip is a beautiful soul ballad which really showcases the strength and emotion in LaVerne's voice.

Back again in it's original 7" format, we've had the audio transferred and restored from the original 24 track tape provided by LaVerne, and got the recordings re-mixed for the best possible sound! Floating Points behind the mixing desk for this new iteration of a lost classic, comes with a 14"x14" poster of the original picture

The Grouse approaches, intent on witnessing Helium Robots release the ghouls and demons from their machines. What potent mix can this mean? Channeling the raw energy of their 2018 track Sly on Running Back, the monolithic baselines and surging, dense forces of Defy Me and The Grouse itself unfurl from the speakers. To mop fevered brows after those torrents, the alchemy changes to create the fuzzy warmth and bounce of Pang. Playful vocal samples flicker and weave through the chords, giving way to the final melodic flow of Revel. And we’re done. The Grouse, unruffled, proudly turns and stalks away……

ALTER is proud to present ‘Tendrils’, the first LP release from London based artist & musician Malvern Brume. After gathering some hushed praise from the UK underground for a couple of excellent cassette releases and strong local live performances, ‘Tendrils’ is the first definitive document of the Malvern Brume sound world. His instrumentation and sound sources would be considered familiar staples in the world of “experimental” music, but Salter does an admirable job of making them his own. Comprised of 8 pieces, this is electronic music at its core but a kind that sounds as if it’s being played through fog. Like spores growing on a damp surface. Densely composed and thick with an almost asphyxiating atmosphere - even during the record’s more minimal moments - track titles like ‘Caught In The Exhaust Trails’ and ‘Sunk Into Plastics’ only heighten the tone further.

Salter was originally born in the countryside and since relocated to London, a place he finds “over stimulating in every sense”. Much of ‘Tendrils’ could be taken as a response to the city and a means of equating the two. Camberwell is listed as the location for composition, but field recordings are attributed to rural landmarks. The Rollright Stones on the Oxfordshire / Warwickshire border and Seven Sisters Cliffs by the English Channel are two in case, but despite their picturesque origins Salter renders them into abstract clatter. As if dubbed from the private tape archive of an old eccentric. In addition, synthesised electronic tones hum and buzz, occasionally giving away to strange, slurring sequences that sound like lost transmissions from the radiophonic workshop. Despite the nod to this electronic music institution, it’s lacking the sincere level of esteem that can turn one into a heritage act. There is a strangeness and distant other worldliness to the music that feels unselfconscious and keeps Malvern Brume from being easy to define by contemporary terms.

Salter says the album is defined by movement and the environments that have inspired him over the years. In his own words, “each of these tracks is inspired by a journey or moving through a space, not in a wishy-washy cosmic sense but more as a practical A to B.” With that in mind, ‘Tendrils’ is perfect music for solitary inner-city marshland walks and urban bike rides to forgotten local suburbs.

In recent years, the Turkish drone-pop composer Ekin Fil (born Ekin Üzeltüzenci) has been refining her talents in the realm of the film score. Since her first recordings that were published by Root Strata and Students of Decay, she has always exhibited a preternatural ability to express the saddest of emotions through sound. Once channeled through the lens of a gauzy shoegazing smear of guitars and voice, she has peeling away layers of her ephemeral songs to reveal their emotional core. That compositional process that works so well for her award winning film scores informs the soft-focus tenebrous pieces of her 2020 album Coda.

It’s true that any number of these pieces on this album could announce the finale to an emotionally draining movie, but Ekin sculpts the entire album as a whole, dissolving one perfectly tempered piano motif, an impressionist ambient plume or a sibilant vocal melody into another. Just at the threshold of perception, she occasionally invokes cascades of distant noise that easily can be interpreted as the ominous premonitions for natural disasters - incoming storms, earthquakes, or tidal waves. This subtle disquiet amidst the introspective melancholy furthers the emotional weightiness of Coda.

Her somber, blissful compositions have considerable gravity of their own in the constellation of Grouper, Felicia Atkinson, and Harold Budd. Mastered by James Plotkin.

One of Drumcode’s finest, Bart Skils returns for his first solo EP since 2018.

Bart Skils remains one of the label’s most consistent achievers going back to his debut in 2012. Eight original EPs, a stellar remix of Moby ‘Go’ and his now-classic collaboration with Adam Beyer ‘Your Mind’ have entrenched him as a DC treasure. All the while the Dutchman plays a nurturing role with the label’s nu-skool brigade, regularly playing B2B with Layton Giordani and teaming up with Weska for last summer’s ‘Polarize’ two-tracker.

His ninth Drumcode EP ‘Settle In The Sun’ delivers the first productions from his new studio after six months of preparation. The title track was inspired by an extended stay in LA over New Years, channelling the energy of Venice Beach’s vibrant skate culture to create an uplifting, big riff weapon. ‘Tropical Heat’ took influence from Bart’s experiences touring South America, as an evocative vocal sample and rave-kissed melody line run alongside a wicked rolling groove. ‘Shiva Says’ is a peak-time, brain-mangler in the best of ways, driven by a monster synth line that grows and contorts as the track progresses.

Shanti Celeste is a vibe. She’s got that magic lightness of touch even when things are getting Jacques Cousteau deep or panel beating heavy. This makes her the perfect candidate for the Sound of Love International 3, channelling the spirit of both those after-hours sessions and the more frivolous daytime boat parties. This is serious music for serious music heads but, after all, everyone is still on holiday. It’s linear and cohesive but plays with the emotions -carnivalesque fun, psychedelic flow-states, heads-down rhythm trax, playful skipping garage, and more abstract moments. Deep joy to deep space and back, often in the space of 3 or 4 well-selected records.

There’s a deep musical and personal connection to the festival - as she says of her first time playing at the Beach Bar, “there’s a heavy Bristol crew there and it all feels easy and nice. It was just good
vibes all round”. And she does make it sound easy too, which belies a DJ with some very serious skills and an ear for a killer tune that others might well overlook. And it’s this that makes the 3rd instalment of the Sound of Love International such a joy - a welcome panacea to all of us suffering from the Croatian blues this year.

To which end, we get a cheeky exclusive collaboration between Shanti and her sister-in-arms Saoirse in the shape of ‘Solid Mass’. Persian’s uniquely British paean to the post-rave Sunrise ‘Morning Sun’, cavernous dub runnings outta the Bokeh camp from Seekers International. These are the lift- off tunes, setting the mind-state for the journey ahead.

Things tighten up with cult underground hero Lucas Rodenbush under his E.B.E alias giving us the taught, grooving, dubby tech-house and Gideon Jackson’s ‘Taj Mahal’, crisp, spatial, mystical and criminally slept-on. We go deeper into the night with Perpetual’s Awakenings’, one of those records that is so much more than the sum of its parts. And who knew that Mark Seven was such a dab hand with the dank machine funk? Check 1998’s ‘Crank’ for the skinny. By the time Paco Pack’s rubberised ghetto house reimagining bounces into play it’s GAME OVER.

The final side leaves us with the soft landing - Cari Lekebusch ‘Output 2’ is both pacey and drifting and Pauline Anna Strom’s ‘In-Flight Suspension’ does what it says, whips away the drums and leaves us floating in space. Will we ever touch down?

To overuse a phrase, this compilation arrives in strange times but is a glorious reminder of what brought us all together and will again. The music and dancing under the stars. See you in 2021.

The first 2000 copies of the LP will be available on transparent turquoise or pink vinyl, randomly picked. 'All The Time', Jessy Lanza's first album since 2016's 'Oh No', is the most pure set of pop songs that she and creative partner Jeremy Greenspan have recorded, reflective and finessed over time and distance. Innovative juxtapositions sound natural, like rigid 808s rubbing against delicate chords in 'Anyone Around', subtle footwork flutter giving a nervous energy to 'Face', unusual underwater rushes underpinning 'Baby Love'. The songs also sound more "live" than ever before. Jessy's voice is treated, re-pitched and edited on songs like 'Ice Creamy' and gestural sounds seem to respond to her lyrics in songs such as 'Like Fire', which reward the listener on repeated plays. More than previous albums, the lyrics on 'All The Time' became an important focus for Jessy too, channelling the negativity of anger and frustration arising from some significant changes in her personal situation into the text. These lyrics sometimes process raw feelings, which aren't obvious to begin with, but are soon felt, standing in stark contrast to the cushioned settings of the music. 'All The Time' has ended as a triumph and an abstracted diary of a sometimes difficult, but enduring friendship and creative relationship, and it's their best work yet.

On the Corner Records was awarded 'Label of the Year' at the Worldwide Awards 2018. OtC is a story of artists and scenes that goes way beyond being a record label. DJ and label owner Pete On the Corner has created a home for innovative, bordercrossing, genre pushing artists. The OtC vision is to bring music to the world that is knocking at the 'Door To The Cosmos'. The label is an inimitable mixture of Miles Davis 'call it what you want' attitude, Sun Ra's Afro Futurism and the ecstatic soul lifting influence of black music on electronic dance music. On 'Door To The Cosmos - Dancefloor Sampler' Pete has curated a volume of cuts from present and future label family. This first in the series, is not just knocking at the door but giving it a kick! It's club music referencing the source, be it Detroit, or UK bass culture combined with future sounds rising from cosmopolitan hotbeds of sonic heat. On this maxi EP Venezuela meets India via New York, the street sound of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania pulses through UK Jungle. Undergrounds pushing the dance, breaking borders and genre alike. Rhythms from the ancestors channelled for future times.

30D Records sublabel ‘Close Encounters’ publishes its third release ‘Third Contact’ EP on April 24th 2020, (initially on digital release) bringing together a range of artists to express their musical vision as a virtual union, somewhat reflective of the globes current confinement. ‘Third Contact EP’ delivers four tracks from an alliance of artists who are at a peak in their careers; Denise Rabe clearly defines her dark, hypnotic trade-mark aesthetic in ‘We’ll Meet In Shanghai’, a timeless track even before its release. Geistform combines industrial-electro with a raw techno drive, continuously channelling his masterful energy in ‘3C 273’. A more dancefloor-oriented B side features ‘Stolen’ from Temudo, delivering rolling groove and distorted bass-lines, Adriana Lopez closing the EP with her high energy, spellbinding ‘SMV’, both B-side tracks perfectly geared toward a wide variety of DJ sets. 30D Records are thrilled to debut all four artists on this special release and all the artists are equally happy to be able to share their creativity and vision through music with you at these strange times.

Brigitte Barbu's Muzak pour ascenseurs en panne (Muzak for broken lifts) marked a bold new addition to the Circus Company repertoire. In a gilded haze of resonant tones conjured by traditional and non-traditional methods, Brigitte Barbu created an inviting sound world brimming with life and doffing its cap to 1970s signal processing. Out of such sonic research and development comes a wealth of material for other artists to sink their teeth into, and so we proudly present an accompanying remix EP that takes Brigitte Barbu's distinctive stamp into new territory.

Roman Flügel makes a first appearance Circus Company with two versions of "Dae-Boj DeMoya" that showcase this constantly versatile lynchpin of European techno. First up is his "kraut remix", which unsurprisingly channels the grainy beauty of Neu! and early Kraftwerk, before his "synth remix" dials back the drums and diverts our attention towards an expansive arrangement of melodious flourishes from classic synthesisers.

John Tejada and Reggie Watts reunite as Wajatta following their triumphant LP Don't Let Get You Down on Brainfeeder to deliver a particularly inventive, soul-stirring vocal techno version of "Couvre chef en peau de taupe". Watts soars over the signature warmth of Tejada's production, while Brigitte Barbu's mysterious tones linger in every fold of the mix.

Matthew Herbert offers up a "Butter Dub" version of the album interlude serie "Trou Vert" that pits his signature stark sampling methods against Brigitte Barbu's material and creates a fruitful dialogue of crooked 4/4 mechanics with all the playful curiosity of the original and a strong dose of Herbert's inimitable musical personality.

DNGDNGDNG is Dengue Dengue Dengue's new alias for this release of extra sensory perception. The duo have projected rhythmic visions of lost continents, unknown worlds and the unseeable past and future that is present all around us. By channeling rhythmic patterns from the matrix they're able to translate the waves of radiation around us which originated at the cosmic event which created the universe. DNGDNGDNG reach deep into their sonic imagination to draw from interlocking time signatures and variant tempos. From the cosmic interference and mathematics DNGDNGDNG create a polyrhythmic theme that brings the sound of continents lost and imagined to our ears. Dengue Dengue Dengue have established themselves as one of the most pioneering artists on the leftfield electronic scene in recent years with heavyweight support by the likes of Boiler Room, Resident Advisor and Bandcamp weekly.

Italian producer Clap! Clap! returns to Bristol's Black Acre with his third album, ‘Liquid Portraits’. Born and bred in Florence, Cristiano
Crisci’s musical career extends back to the mid-90s where he started out as a rapper, before picking up a saxophone and exploring
both jazz and jazz/punk fusion with Trio Cane, and then returning to his electronic roots with A Smile For Timbuctu project - a
collaborative effort that released four albums and performed across Europe. By 2008, Crisci decided to strike it out on his own as Digi
G’Alessio, channeling the same hip-hop meets electronic music energies as those animating the nascent Los Angeles beat scene for a
string of EPs and albums. Soon Crisci hit upon a new formula when he started combining samples from the African continent with
energetic drum programming. The results led to the birth of Clap! Clap! in 2013, which has since been recognised and supported by the
likes of Paul Simon and Gilles Peterson. The stripped-back, high-energy yet inventive sound caught the attention of Black Acre with
whom Crisci has been working with ever since, including his first and second albums ‘Tayi Bebba’ and ‘A Thousand Skies’. Returning
to Black Acre, Clap! Clap!’s third album once again deploys his inimitable technique in fine style, however with new eyes as this new
project signifies a definite shift in his work having spent the last few years learning the art of mixing which has lead to some
breakthroughs: “In recent years I’ve spent a lot of time studying essential mixing techniques. I then built an acoustic-treated room and
set up my new studio. I started to convert digital into analogue and vice versa with good converters and achieved sounds that I’ve
never heard before from my speakers. This had a huge positive impact on my mixes and result on my music.” Entitled ‘Liquid Portraits’, the album - as the name suggests - is a collection of sonic paintings, an attempt at capturing furtive, subconscious memories through sound. The tracks reference trips Crisci took and people he met – from southern Italy to Hokkaido via the Kif Mountains of Morocco – as well as more abstract ideas of loss, calmness, and childhood. Having been approached by Paul Simon to work on his 2016 album ‘Stranger To Stranger’ after Simon discovered ‘Tayi Bebba’ through his son, Clap! Clap! is no stranger to collaborations and this album features a small cast of talents, such as south Italy percussionist Domenico Candellori (‘Southern Dub’), Belgian artist Martha Da’ro (‘Moving On’) and harpist Kety Fusco (‘Rising Fire’)

A stunning 17-minute-drumming-trip from feathery spheres through bold grooves to a dense thundery finish by Simon Popp and Sebastian Wolfgruber, the two drummers known for channeling World Music, Afrobeat and Jazz drumming in solo projects and with Munich-based Jazz quintet Fazer.
The B-side holds a rework by fellow Munich producers Zenker Brothers. The Ilian Tape heads and notorious audiophiles put their drum machines aside and weaved the recordings with layers of mystic synths into a tingling organic IDM tune.