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Bristol’s Friendly Records mark 10 years with a special compilation in aid of War Child - raising vital funds for children affected by conflict.

The record brings together standout tracks from recent Friendly Records 7” releases supporting War Child, featuring Portishead, PJ Harvey, IDLES, Sleaford Mods, Hot Chip, Beak and more!

Also includes tracks from Friendly Recordings releases by Christian Madden And The Enemy Chorus, Floating World Pictures, Nick Craft, Claude Cooper & Brain Fog and ZEE.

exclusive artwork by David Shrigley.

Every purchase will help War Child UK protect, educate and stand up for the rights of children living through war.

Bristol’s Friendly Records mark 10 years with a special compilation in aid of War Child - raising vital funds for children affected by conflict.

The record brings together standout tracks from recent Friendly Records 7” releases supporting War Child, featuring Portishead, PJ Harvey, IDLES, Sleaford Mods, Hot Chip, Beak and more!

Also includes tracks from Friendly Recordings releases by Christian Madden And The Enemy Chorus, Floating World Pictures, Nick Craft, Claude Cooper & Brain Fog and ZEE.

exclusive artwork by David Shrigley.

Every purchase will help War Child UK protect, educate and stand up for the rights of children living through war.

Few bands have defined the sound of American melodic rock quite like Night Ranger. From the thunderous riffs of “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me” to the soaring anthem of “Sister Christian,” this new Best Of collection captures the very essence of their decades-long career — now reimagined for 2026. Featuring the classic hits alongside fan favorites and standout tracks from their most recent albums, this compilation spans the full spectrum of Night Ranger’s signature sound: anthemic choruses, blazing guitar solos, and unforgettable melodies. Highlights include the power-pop perfection of “(You Can Still) Rock in America,” the heartfelt balladry of “When You Close Your Eyes,” and the cinematic sweep of “Four in the Morning.” But “Best of the last 20 years… and Some Hits” is not just a look back. It also celebrates the band’s creative output over the last 20 years, spotlighting tracks like “Time of Our Lives,” “High Road,” “No Time to Lose,” “Somehow Someway,” and “Truth,” proving that Night Ranger’s energy, songwriting, and musicianship have only grown stronger with time. These songs show that the band continues to innovate while staying true to the melodic rock roots that made them legendary.

The current lineup — Jack Blades (bass and vocals), Kelly Keagy (drums and vocals), Brad Gillis (guitars), Eric Levy (keyboards), and Keri Kelli (guitars) — delivers every track with the energy and precision that have kept Night Ranger at the forefront of rock for more than four decades. This edition also features two bonus tracks that make this compilation truly special: a fresh studio take on “Wasted Time” recorded at Sweetwater Studios, accompanied by an exclusive music video, and a festive live performance of “Feliz Navidad” that showcases the band’s playful side. Perfectly timed ahead of their summer 2026 tour, this Best Of serves as both a definitive introduction for new fans and a must-have collection for longtime followers. Whether revisiting the classics or discovering the new 2026 renditions and recent masterpieces, Night Ranger – Best of the last 20 years… and Some Hits is a celebration of enduring melodies, electrifying performances, and the unforgettable spirit of one of rock’s most iconic bands.

John Tchicai (1936 – 2012) was one of the most important free improvising saxophonists of the 20th Century: an artist of rare vision and aptitude whose lines soared and stood out even in the most hallowed company, and whose body of work as a leader / composer is among the most singular and distinct within the entire canon of that music. But Tchicai’s importance doesn’t end there. Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, to a Danish mother and a Congolese father, his life and career represent a crucial bridge between the European and American traditions of free jazz. Initially trained on violin as a child, Tchicai shifted his focus to the clarinet and alto saxophone during his mid-teens, and began touring Europe as a professional musician by his early 20s, which landed him at a socialist youth festival in Helsinki, Finland, where he met the trumpeter Bill Dixon and saxophonist Archie Shepp. Impressed by what they heard, Dixon and Shepp encouraged the young saxophonist to move to New York, and in so doing changed the history of jazz forever.

Tchicai’s arrival in New York marks the rare occurrence of a European player joining the intimate circle that was first wave of American free jazz. Following his landing in the city in November of 1962, in addition to regularly sitting in with Don Cherry’s group, Tchicai began playing with Bill Dixon's band alongside Archie Shepp and Roswell Rudd, forming the nucleus of the foundation of the New York Contemporary Five - one of the most important groups of the era - which counted Tchicai, Shepp, Cherry, Don Moore, and J. C. Moses as its members. From the ashes of this group, Tchicai would go on to found the legendary ensemble, New York Art Quartet, with Roswell Rudd, Milford Graves, and Lewis Worrell, as well as working within Albert Ayler's band, recording “New York Eye and Ear Control”, Shepp’s band, recording “Four for Trane”, the ensemble that recorded John Coltrane's “Ascension”, and the Jazz Composer's “Orchestra”.

By the time he decided to return to Denmark in 1966, had Tchicai chosen to record little else, his legacy within the history of music would have been ensured. Incredibly ambitious, his arrival home marked the beginning of an incredible period of activity which saw him radically expanding his creative explorations, which by the end of the decade would include becoming a founding member of Amsterdam's Instant Composers Pool and helping to record John Lennon and Yoko Ono's “Unfinished Music No.2: Life with the Lions”. This, however, was proceeded the formation of a new orchestra, Cadentia Nova Danica, led by Tchicai, dedicated to radical cross-disciplinary exploration. Remaining together between 1966 and 1971, the group and its shifting membership regularly fell into collaboration with artists and composers, notably Musica Elettronica Viva, who existed beyond the realms of jazz, as well as participating within multi-media events that incorporated the visual realms.

Cadentia Nova Danica’s only two LPs - “Cadentia Nova Danica” (Polydor, 1968), and “Afrodisiaca” (MPS, 1969) - are effectively Tchicai recorded efforts as a leader, and are legendary. There’s little mystery, once heard, why the later landed on Thurston Moore’s iconic “Top Ten from the Free Jazz Underground”, published by Grand Royal in 1996. Sadly, despite playing extensively during their five year run, with exception of a CD documenting a performance at Jazzhus Montmartre, in 1966, until now there has been no other publicly available recordings that allow us to capture a glimpse of this astounding band at work. Alga Marghen / Formalibera’s vinyl pressing of a never before released body of recordings, made in Copenhagen between 1969 and 1970, changes that in the most exciting of ways.

Comprising three pieces - “Mc Gub Gub, (I–VIII)”; “Ode to Skt. John”; and “Pladepip” - the material on this stunning LP comes from two specific events. The first, which encompasses the first side, “Mc Gub Gub, (I–VIII)” was recorded by Cadentia Nova Danica - in this instance, Tchicai, Sune Weimar, Theo Rahbek, Christian Kyhl, Niels Holt, Jørgen Thorup, Michael Schou, Morgens Bollerup, Allan Gregersen, Ole Matthiessen, Pierre Dørge, Willy Jaegert, Anthony Barnett, and Jon Finsen - on May 29th, 1969, at the ABC-Theatre in Copenhagen. Penned by Tchicai, the piece is a sprawling, evolutionary composition at the outer reaches of free jazz, rooted in large blocks of colliding tonality and rhythm - a sound only accessible to larger ensembles - that push territories explored by Charles Mingus to previously unimagined heights, threaded by moments of hard blown fire. Writhing like a stormy sea - skronking and devilish - “Mc Gub Gub, (I–VIII)” is a work of profound complexity that singlehandedly illuminates not only Tchicai’s singular vision as a composer, but also the power and uniqueness of Cadentia Nova Danica during the band’s most vital period.

The two pieces - “Ode to Skt. John” and “Pladepip” - taking up the flip side, were recorded on February 21st, 1970, at the Danish Broadcasting Corporation’s Radio House, and are the outcome of Cadentia Nova Danica’s extended residency there between 1969 and 1970. In many ways, these two recordings offer some of the best insights into the broad collaborative approaches that defined the band, in this case encountering them working with Danish experimental composer, Svend Erik Werner, who was among the earliest in his country to embrace stylistic pluralism and the use historical forms within a modern context. “Ode to Skt. John” - based on aspects of Gregorian music - was penned by Werner, incorporating heady improvisation by the members of Cadentia Nova Danica, this time made up by Tchicai, Sune Weimar, Hugh Steinmetz, Theo Rahbek, Christian Kyhl, Michael Schou, Morgens Bollerup, Ole Kühl, Torben Enghoff, Mauritz Tchikai, Kjeld Ipsen, Willy Jaegert, Ole Matthiessen, Ole Thilo, Pierre Dørge, Steffen Andersen, Jon Finse, and Clause Bøje. The piece is a fascinating binary of the composed and improvised, utilising the band’s large scale to introduce a remarkable sound within its slow progressions and furious, driving free moments, in this incredible meeting of worlds.

The album’s final piece, “Pladepip”, is arguably its most historically significant: an entirely singular piece, unlike anything in Tchicai’s recorded canon as his foray into musique concréte. Drawing upon two recordings of full-band improvisations by Cadentia Nova Danica, for its creation Tchicai also gouged the surfaces of 78rpm records in his collection to skip and create repeated phrases and patterns, creating a stunning sound collage of hard angles and abrupt phrase, that creates a striking counterpoint to the band’s flowing improvisations that bookend those passages. The result is an engrossing listen and easily one of the most unique and culturally important gestures in the entire history of musique concréte.

Truly incredible, Alga Marghen / Formalibera’s vinyl pressing of this never before released body of recordings, made by John Tchicai’s Cadentia Nova Danica, in Copenhagen between 1969 and 1970, offers an unprecedented window into one of the most important groups working in Europe during that period, significantly expanding their rare and slim discography to date. Accompanied by extensive exploratory liner notes by veteran jazz writer, Ed Hazell, this is easily one of the most historically important archival releases of the year and is impossible to recommend enough. Absolutely essential on every count.

BABON is a psychedelic instrumental band from Indonesia, formed in 2023 by Wahyudi T. Raupp, Rayi Raditia, and guitarist Rori Jiwa Putra. Their music blends traditional Indonesian genres such as Keroncong and Dangdut with global influences like Middle Eastern grooves, Latin rhythms, Spaghetti Western motifs, and Afro-funk, creating a sound they call "Tropical Desert" music. Their debut album, Tropical Desert, follows the 2024 release of the singles "Desert Rose" and "TNT" on London-based label Batov Records. Beyond their genre-bending sound, BABON is deeply rooted in environmental advocacy, using instrumental music and visual storytelling to address ecological issues. They are currently producing a live session featuring four tracks from the album, set against cinematic footage highlighting Indonesia's natural landscapes and environmental challenges.

BABON's distinctive sound has earned them strong international recognition, with radio play from major stations including BBC Radio 3 and Soho Radio (UK), RBB Radioeins and Byte FM (Germany), CBC Radio One (Canada), Triple R and 2SER (Australia), and WYEP and KALX (USA). Their 7-inch vinyl release was nearly sold out, further signaling their growing global appeal. The album's cover and packaging were created by Indonesian retro surrealist Christian Candra, contributing to the band's cohesive artistic vision. BABON is represented worldwide by PR and radio agency Only Good Stuff, helping to amplify their message and music to audiences across the globe.

A MUCH SOUGHT AFTER SOUNDTRACK, THIS NEW VERSION FROM SILVA SCREEN CONTAINS MUCH NEVER BEFORE RELEASED MATERIAL!!

After a decade of creating pioneering puppet series made for children, Gerry & Sylvia Anderson took their first steps into live-action, with the 1969 feature film Doppelgänger (re-titled outside Britain as Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun). This science-fiction film approached its outer space subject matter with a gritty realism, and would set the tone for what was to be their first live-action television series: UFO. This new series took as a starting point the pioneering work of Dr Christiaan N. Barnard, the surgeon who performed the world’s first heart transplant operation. In UFO a dying race of aliens travel across vast distances of space to harvest organs from human beings to help ensure their own survival. To combat this threat the United Nations created SHADO, a top-secret organisation utilising the latest technology available to defend the Earth.

To complement the series, the Andersons frequent musical collaborator Barry Gray created a multifaceted score that gave the programme its own musical identity. Elegantly crafted and a firm favourite with Barry Gray fans, the sound of UFO, particularly its ethereal “World Music” closing credits is, quite simply, a joy. Includes a bonus track, Trampoline performed by The Spencer Davis Group from the episode Ordeal.

Freeway was a California outfit that first formed in 1979 and set about fusing jazz, soul and outreach-driven purpose into a sound that sat outside the norms of the contemporary Christian scene at the time. Their sole album, this self-title gem, was cut in 1981 for New Born Records has since become an underground rarity, often changing hands for upwards of £400. Now, 45 years on, Vinyl Kitchen brings Freeway back to vinyl for the first time ever, complete with new liner notes and rare photos. It's a glorious, life-affirming work of bright jazz sounds, celebratory energy, boogie grooves, funky horns and prog licks. Perfect for listening and dancing alike.

A serious private-press rarity gets its long-overdue reissue here for the first time ever. Formed in California in 1979, Freeway blended soulful grooves, jazz melodies and powerful horns into something that stood apart from the era's contemporary Christian scene. The cut just one self-released album in 1981 for New Born Records before disbanding. Originals now regularly fetch upwards of £400 on the resale market and this 45th Anniversary Edition marks a reissue that is going to fly off the shelves, complete with newly written liner notes and rare photographs telling the band's story. From funky jazz to boogie-inspired grooves, this is a previously hidden treasure now getting the light it deserves.

Black Screen Records once again teams up with composer Chris Christodoulou and Hopoo Games for a vinyl repress of the classic original soundtrack to Risk of Rain 2. At the request of Christodoulou, the new edition of the triple vinyl comes on heavy 180g black wax, the way he enjoys the format the most. The set is housed in a beautiful trifold sleeve with the original artwork illustrated by Italian artist Daniele Giardini. All 20 songs have been carefully remastered by Christian Bethge (Risk of Rain, Deadbolt, Divinity: Original Sin II, A Plague Tale) for the vinyl format. With Risk of Rain 2 the classic multiplayer rogue-like returns with an extra dimension and more challenging action. No run will ever be the same with randomized stages, enemies, bosses, and items. Play solo, or team up with up to four friends to fight your way through hordes of monsters, unlock new loot, and find a way to escape the planet. In his third collaboration with Hopoo Games, Chris Christodoulou returns to the Risk of Rain franchise adding another dimension to the game's music-verse. This two-hour-long genre-bending release spans from foreboding electronica to pounding progressive metal and features all music from the game and then some.

Recorded April 17 and 18, 1993, at the Union Grove Baptist Church, Ozark, Alabama.

The Wiregrass Singers' Dewey Williams began learning the shape-note tradition in his childhood. He studied under Judge Jackson, who authored the landmark 1934 hymnbook The Colored Sacred Harp. In 1971, Williams formally organized The Wiregrass Sacred Harp Singers to preserve the music full-time. This unified troupe began touring nationally and leading workshops, which ultimately launched them onto stages at the Smithsonian and Newport folk festivals up until Williams' passing in 1995 when the group disbanded. The African-American Sacred Harp tradition in the Wiregrass region has steeply declined since the start of the 21st century, due to an aging generation of singers, and today it is largely sustained through archival preservation and occasional multi-book singing meetups.

This raw recording, made at the Union Grove Baptist Church, Ozark in mid-April 1993 finds the group singing from B. F. White’s The Sacred Harp (1844), which together with his brother-in-law William Walker’s Southern Harmony (1835) formed the musical backbone of generations of Southern music and Southern musical styles.

"On almost any Sunday between the months of March and October, the season most conducive to travel and outdoor dinner-on-the- grounds, Sacred Harp devotés join with fellow songsters at the County Line Church in Slocomb, or the Mount Sinai Church in Henry County, or the Union Grove Baptist Church in Dale County, or at any one of a dozen or so churches in the southeast Alabama counties of Barbour, Coffee, Dale, Geneva, Houston and Pike, to form the square and sing fa-sol-la. Approximately fifteen African-American Sacred Harp singings occur annually in the Wiregrass region of southeast Alabama. A singing tradition characteristically associated with white culture in the Deep South, southeast Alabama has enjoyed a vibrant African-American Sacred Harp tradition for well over a century.

On a day of a typical African-American Sacred Harp Singing, the participants arrive casually in the late morning, seat themselves in the square according to voice part, and begin to sing. A dinner break occurs in the early afternoon, and the singers enjoy a covered-dish "dinner-on-the-grounds" (or in the church basement) prepared by the women. The most intense and emotional singing typically occurs after the dinner break. Each singer takes a turn leading the song of his choice. He walks to the middle of the square, calls out the song's page number and waits for the designated tuner to key the song. Singers are discouraged by the other singers from repeating a song that has already been sung, or "used." This proscription is often dispensed with, however, if the singer is particularly young, particularly old, or if the song has special significance to the individual song leader (perhaps the favorite song of a recently deceased relative).

Every singer is given an opportunity to lead a song. Often, older or more infirm singers will request younger singers to lead their songs for them. The motions of the song leaders are highly stylistic and often emotional. Young children are taught in singing school to mark time with their right arm while holding the book in their left. Typically, a singer will stand in place at the center of the square while leading the singing of the notes. When he begins to lead the lyrics portion of the song, he will often begin to "walk time," rhythmically pacing from one side of the square to the other, being careful never to turn his back on the tenor section. This "walking time" is unique to the African-American tradition. As a singer grows more confident he develops his own distinctive leading style. During fuguing songs in particular, he may gesture to each section of the square as its part joins in. Skilled song leaders often elicit applause or other emotional responses from the group. Occasionally a singer may fall into a state of spiritual ecstasy and "get happy." The episode might include a personal testimonial followed by a repeat of the last verse or refrain from the previous song. The singings break up around 5 P.M."
—Henry Willett, 1997 credits

Futurismo are proud to present the iconic 1982 debut album, Only Theatre of Pain, by gothic legends CHRISTIAN DEATH. Available on deluxe 2xLP, CD digipak.

Hailed as a masterpiece of it’s genre, and considered by many as ground zero for Deathrock, Only Theatre of Pain is a seminal work of unholy power and pitch black emotion. Whilst this record may have it’s roots in punk - the origins of this true original version of Christian Death took place in Southern California during the early 80’s hardcore explosion - it cannot be overstated how important this record was in shaping the subsequent landscape. Emerging like an adrenaline shot into the heart of darkness, this unrestrained and mysterious recording still remains unclassifiable.

Featuring the late visionary Rozz Williams (then only in his teens) alongside punk luminary Rikk Agnew (guiding light in the Adolescents), James McGearty and George Belanger, Only Theatre of Pain’s musical exploration is adorned with psychosexual lyricism and an innate struggle with faith. Rozz’s vocals creep and possess, demonic and haunting, against the captivating, unmistakable guitar work of trailblazer Agnew. It’s a performance, but also a truth, perhaps Only Theatre of Pain is an art show, as much as it is an era defining record.
Aside from their spellbinding sound, it may have also been the lore of Christian Death that set them apart from other LA goth bands of the time. A near-nude Rozz Williams nailed to a cross at the Whiskey a Go Go may have played a part, but what it is apparent when you listen to the unhallowed musical stages on Only Theatre Of Pain is a depth of vision and orchestration that goes beyond the simple stance of brooding many of their contemporaries emulated, delving into the realms of pure unadulterated catharsis. The result is an eradefining statement that remains as unsettling, innovative, and resonant today as it was over four decades ago.

Only Theatre Of Pain is presented here in a new remastered deluxe pressing with a second disk containing early demo’s and rare material, further demonstrating why Christian Death stood alone in their sound and approach. This journey of religious depravity, recorded by the legendary producer Thom Wilson in a matter of days, harnesses the huge concepts of band projecting older than their years. Ahead of the curve in sonic artistry and visual aesthetics, this slab of sacrilegious American punk is nothing short of essential listening for the gothic inclined. A must for fans of The Misfits, Bauhaus and The Cramps.

This classic LP comes in deluxe super limited edition ‘California Hell’ coloured vinyl and contains a second disk of bonus material. It is packaged in a gloss laminated sleeve with metallic ink, containing printed inner sleeves, a large fold out poster, redux artwork featuring the photography of Edward Colver, and liner notes by Lisa Fancher of Frontier. Also available as CD digipak

You Keep Me Huggin’ On’ submerges cascadingly into the depths of glamorous disco, but then comes up as a roller rink revelation. ‘
When The Evening Comes’ turns a familiar groove into tripping bourgie boogie, best consumed at the temperature it’s served at.

Finally, ’Quelle Heure’ serves up beat box driven introspection for when no one’s quite sure if the sun is setting or rising

BABON is a psychedelic instrumental band from Indonesia, formed in 2023 by Wahyudi T. Raupp, Rayi Raditia, and guitarist Rori Jiwa Putra. Their music blends traditional Indonesian genres such as Keroncong and Dangdut with global influences like Middle Eastern grooves, Latin rhythms, Spaghetti Western motifs, and Afro-funk, creating a sound they call "Tropical Desert" music. Their debut album, Tropical Desert, follows the 2024 release of the singles "Desert Rose" and "TNT" on London-based label Batov Records. Beyond their genre-bending sound, BABON is deeply rooted in environmental advocacy, using instrumental music and visual storytelling to address ecological issues. They are currently producing a live session featuring four tracks from the album, set against cinematic footage highlighting Indonesia's natural landscapes and environmental challenges.

BABON's distinctive sound has earned them strong international recognition, with radio play from major stations including BBC Radio 3 and Soho Radio (UK), RBB Radioeins and Byte FM (Germany), CBC Radio One (Canada), Triple R and 2SER (Australia), and WYEP and KALX (USA). Their 7-inch vinyl release was nearly sold out, further signaling their growing global appeal. The album's cover and packaging were created by Indonesian retro surrealist Christian Candra, contributing to the band's cohesive artistic vision. BABON is represented worldwide by PR and radio agency Only Good Stuff, helping to amplify their message and music to audiences across the globe.

Terri Lyne Carrington + Social Science ― Matthew Stevens, Aaron Parks, and Morgan Guerin ― delivers their sophomore project, Trip the Night Fantastic, on Candid Records. GRAMMY® nominated for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for their 2019 release, Waiting Game, this acclaimed collective returns ― boasting an illustrious roll call of emcees, spoken word artists, and instrumentalists ― this time exploring systemic and contemporary themes that demand our attention, call us to action, and add stunning breadth to the time-honored tradition of amalgamating art and activism. Women’s empowerment, climate change, immigration, gender justice, body autonomy, community building, and animal rights are all elucidated with a freshness, depth, and creative brilliance that can only be birthed from someone whose creative core is rooted in empathy and humanity.

Featured throughout this new recording are vocalists Ledisi, Arooj Aftab, Michael Mayo, Miki Howard, Fatoumata Diawara, Debo Ray, Christie Dashiell, Lizz Wright, Vuyo Sotashe, Safa, Imani Rousselle, and Ian Michael; instrumentalists Brandee Younger, Marc Ribot, Larry Goldings, Rashaan Carter, Simon Moullier, Riley G, and Brenda Navarrete; emcees Nappy Nina, Kokayi, Kassa Overall, and Khemist; and spoken word artists J. Ivy, Aja Monet, Tarriona ‘Tank’ Ball, and Moor Mother.

Chicken Shack are a British blues rock band founded in 1965 by Stan Webb, Andy Silvester, and Alan Morley, who were later joined by Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie, then still known as Christine Perfect. She would leave the band somewhere in 1969 to join Fleetwood Mac, and was replaced by Paul Raymond of UFO and Michael Schenker Group fame. They signed to the legendary British blues label Blue Horizon in 1967.

100 Ton Chicken is the band's third studio album from 1969 and offers a nice balance of blues standards and originals penned by the band's only constant member Stan Webb, who is still active to this day. It features the single "Tears In The Wind" and a cover of Davey Graham’s folk masterpiece "Anji".

100 Ton Chicken is available as a limited edition of 750 individually numbered copies on green vinyl.

Not only were Derek Cannon and Hardy Thrower a music /songwriting duo from San Diego in California, they were also cousins. Its not often our paths come across such a duo that didnt sing on their own compositions.

Derek Cannon a prolific Trumpet player and Hardy a lyricist put these tracks together circa 1981 with a view to getting them a record deal. They paid for the sessions themselves and went into Golden track studio's located in Santee East San Deigo with a host of singers and musicians.

What came out was just two stunning mid temp hanuting ballad songs with exquisite playing and vocals. From the opening west coast waves crashing on the into of "Think It Over" you are already closing your eye's and painting a picture of the unfolding love story. James Higgins was hired for the vocals on this track and delivers such subtle tone's that are complimited by keyboards by Bill Santos.

Then wait until the flute solo by Ken Abady. Boy i fucking love this song. Its what soul music should be about. Love it stuff like this got recorded in 1982 when their heads could have easily been turned by what was happening in the music world.

"Im In Love With You" is slightly more uptmepo but not by a whole heal. Cannon And Thrower were far too soulful to just throw a 4/4 drum beat on the hope of a top ten winner. They cut way more deeper and soulful than that. Roosevelt Carter was hired for this vocal performance and not letting the duo down performs a beautiful take of the duo's love song. I think special shout out must go the female backing singers of Julie Reyes, Cynthia Hammond and Jamice Garcia.

The two songs were sent to none other than Lou Rawls in hope he may sign them to his record company. This never happened and the tape was later sold on an estate sale of Lou's. The buyer was Christian Peintner who was so kind to lend us the tapes and make this 45 happen. So thanks to him for allowing us to preserve the Cannon And Thrower legacy.

Auf ,Reflections Vol. 3: Water Poems" bringen Félicia Atkinson und Christina Vantzou ihre Freundschaft und ihre atmosphärische Kunstfertigkeit in einem feierlichen Fokus zusammen. Gesprochene Worte und orchestrale Fantasie fließen wie Nebenflüsse in einen einheitlichen Strom und ergeben eine Sammlung traumhafter Lieder und Klanglandschaften, die im Meer, im Himmel und in den Steinen verankert sind. Mit elektroakustischen Instrumenten, Gesang und Umgebungsgeräuschen lädt Water Poems die Zuhörer in einen unbewussten Raum ein, irgendwo zwischen alltäglicher Intimität und dem Geheimnis des Ozeans, aus dem alles Leben entsteht. Atkinson und Vantzou haben sich 2009 kennengelernt und seitdem immer mal wieder zusammengearbeitet, aber ein Konzert 2019 in der Philharmonie in Paris hat dieses Projekt richtig in Gang gebracht. Da beide jetzt an der Küste leben (Félicia am Ärmelkanal, Christina am Mittelmeer), wurde das Meer natürlich zu ihrer Muse. ,Das Meer wurde nicht als monolithische Postkarte betrachtet", erklärt Atkinson, ,sondern eher als eine Person an sich; eine Energie, ein Geheimnis, ein komplexer Charakter, dem wir als Menschen, die am Meer leben, jeden Tag begegnen." Im Dialog mit dem Land und der Küste nahmen ihre Sprache und ihre Klänge einen sakramentalen Charakter an. ,Ein feierliches Gefühl, ein Gefühl des Dienens, zieht sich tief durch dieses Album", bemerkt Vantzou, ,ich habe das schon einmal gespürt, aber hier, in der Zusammenarbeit mit Félicia, ist es stärker." Stimme, Atem und wässrige Texturen prägen den Ton des maritimen Mysteriums von Water Poems. Neu in Vantzous Praxis und seit langem ein prägendes Merkmal von Atkinsons Werk, gewinnen ihre gesprochenen Worte hier an relationaler Intimität, indem sie sich gegenseitig und die Uferpromenade ansprechen. Die Texte wurden über zwei Jahre hinweg gemeinsam zusammengestellt. Mit radikaler Unschuld lenken sie das Bewusstsein auf die verborgene Auftriebskraft und die unbewussten Strömungen, die durch das Leben fließen: ,Wie kann ein Boot schwimmen? Wie kann ein Flugzeug fliegen? Wie kann ein Körper schwimmen? Wie kann ein Mensch träumen?" Was mit nah aufgenommenen Stimmen und Feldaufnahmen begann, wurde um Synthesizer, Gongs und Metallophone, Klavier, Vibraphon, Rhodes, Gitarren und Mellotron erweitert. Das Gezeitenklavier des Eröffnungstracks ,Film Still / The Sea" zieht uns in die unbewussten Gewässer des Albums. Enthalten sind Feldaufnahmen, die Vantzou in Delphi in der Nähe des legendären Orakels von Pythia aufgenommen hat - ihr griechisches Erbe verleiht diesem Ort der Vorfahren eine zusätzliche Dimension. Dieser Track und ,Water Poems" als Ganzes sind Ausdruck unseres geologischen Erbes und rufen zum Schutz der Küsten und zu einer Vertiefung unserer Beziehung zu unseren Küsten auf. Ein Teil der Einnahmen aus dem Album geht an Arion, ein gemeinnütziges Naturschutzprogramm für das griechische Mittelmeer. Der langjährige Freund und Mitstreiter John Also Bennett hat bei ,Scorpio Purple Skies", dem kosmischen Finale des Albums, mit E-Gitarre, Lap-Steel-Gitarre und Gesang mitgewirkt. Diese üppige Instrumentierung passt super zu den Science-Fiction-Visionen und der feierlichen Atmosphäre des Albums. Water Poems wurde in The Old Carpet Factory, einem Herrenhaus aus dem 18. Jahrhundert auf der griechischen Insel Hydra, in der Villa Medici aus dem 16. Jahrhundert in Rom und in Les Dunes, Atkinsons Heimstudio in der Normandie, aufgenommen. Mehr als das historische Prestige dieser Orte war es die spürbare Geschichte ihrer Landschaft, die die Musik geprägt hat. Atkinson sagt, dass sie sich zu ,Orten mit seltsamer Anziehungskraft" hingezogen fühlten. In der Villa Medici ,haben Steine und Mineralien das gesprochene Wort beeinflusst", bemerkt sie. ,Wir beide legen Wert auf Gefühl, Atmosphäre und Klang", fügt Vantzou hinzu, ,was er hervorruft und was er bewirkt. In unserem Fall konzentrieren wir uns auf die grundlegenden Elemente: Wasser, Luft, Fels, Kosmos - allesamt lebenswichtig.» Von der Insel Kreta aus arbeitete Vantzou den finalen Mix fertig und tauschte dabei Dateien mit Atkinson aus. Immer noch mit der Küste verbunden, verlief der Mixing-Prozess geduldig und wurde von wichtigen Pausen geprägt. Water Poems spiegelt wider, was die Meeresbiologin Rachel Carson uns in Erinnerung ruft: ,Am Rande des Meeres zu stehen bedeutet, Wissen über Dinge zu haben, die so nahezu ewig sind, wie es das irdische Leben nur sein kann." Es zelebriert rituell dieses ozeanische Gefühl als wichtige Quelle der Gelassenheit und Intelligenz. In einer Welt, die von hitzigen Meinungen und ökologischer Vernachlässigung geprägt ist, lenkt Water Poems unsere Aufmerksamkeit auf ,die Quellen der Quellen". Damit schafft es Raum, um uns wieder mit unseren elementaren, animalischen Instinkten zu verbinden und uns auf tiefere Strömungen einzustimmen. Water Poems von Félicia Atkinson und Christina Vantzou ist der dritte Band von Reflections, einer Reihe zeitgenössischer Kollaborationen von RVNG Intl..

Brannten Schnüre is an experimental dark folk group out of Würzburg, Germany. Christian Schoppik composed and played all the music, Katie Rich whispers, recites and sings. Together they make astoundingly beautiful folk with a rich instrumentation leaning towards the atonal spectrum. Instrumental wanderings stand alongside Nico-esque poetry tales. Christian plays the accordeon and in some songs guitar and flute. Inspired by hierophants like Nový Svet and David Jackman, solemn song fragments (a lot of old greek rembetiko-recordings) are modified and looped, with additional instruments and voices being integrated later on. Their music has been described as 'surreal folkcollage' and 'german hauntology'.

With the emergence of Schoppik's second project, a dada cabaret called Agnes Beil in 2010, Brannten Schnüre moved closer to the song structures of its frivolous sibling. The songs of Schoppik's latest creation Sommer im Pfirsichhain are further accompanied by a female singing voice, lending the pieces the voluptuous quality of a stickily tense midsummer. Sommer Im Pfirsichhain (Summer In The Peachgrove) is the second part of a quartet of releases. The first being Aprilnacht which got released on Sic Sic Tapes last year. Part three Geträumt hab' ich vom Martinszug and part four will follow later.

Reference points are bands like Winter Family and Twinsistermoon. Music etched on folkloric, ritual elements transferred into the 21th century. Also worth mentioning is the hand-drawn artwork which is made by artist Gwénola Carrère.

Als die Zeichentrickserie Heidi 1978 in Deutschland ausgestrahlt wird, erobert sie die Herzen von Millionen. Basierend auf dem Roman von Johanna Spyri, erzählt sie die Geschichte des Waisenmädchens Heidi, das in den Schweizer Alpen bei seinem Großvater aufwächst und später in Frankfurt eine neue Welt entdeckt. Die Serie gilt bis heute als Meilenstein des Kinderfernsehens - mit liebevoll gezeichneten Landschaften, tiefgründigen Charakteren und einer zeitlosen Botschaft von Verbundenheit, Freundschaft und Zugehörigkeit. Doch was wäre Heidi ohne ihre Musik? Der Soundtrack ist das emotionale Fundament der Serie. Das legendäre Titellied von Christian Bruhn, gesungen von Gitti & Erika, wird zum Ohrwurm einer ganzen Generation. Und die natürlich handgemachten Score-Musiken von Gert Wilden machen mit lebhaften Polka-Rhythmen, sanften Flöten und majestätischen Bläsern die Magie der Alpen lebendig

Ever since the late 1950s bossa-nova revolution, Brazil’s influence on French music has been undeniable. Pierre Barouh, Georges Moustaki and a vast array of lesser known artists, all made the Musica Popular Brasileira (MPB) an axis of promotion at the service of a cool and metaphysical, modern and mixed Brazilian lifestyle. Some were seduced by the poetic languors of the bossa, some were looking for fun, and others just loved the American hybridization of jazz-bossa, jazz-samba.



What is bossa nova? One of its creators, Joao Gilberto said: "Its style, cadence, everything is samba. At the very start, we didn't call it bossa nova, we sang a little samba made up of a single note - Samba de uma nota so .... The discussion around the origins of bossa nova is therefore useless”. It is nevertheless useful to remember that these magnificent Brazilian songs, which the guitarist describes as samba, were shifted and balanced around improbable chords. "I like things that lean, the in-betweens that limp with grace," said Pierre Barrouh, quoting Jean Cocteau.



With emotion, arrangements for violin and supple guitar licks, bossa nova rapidly changed. A transformation that can be heard in the Tchic, tchic, French Bossa Nova 1963-1974 compilation, the result of a cultural reappropriation, which traveled through the United States and supplemented itself in France.

A musical revolution that has remained significant, bossa nova was born in Rio. From 1956 to 1961, Brazil lived through its golden years. In five years, the country had invented its modernist style. Elected president in 1956, Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, an elegant man with a broad forehead, brandished a promising slogan: "Fifty years of progress in five years". He quickly got to work. Not worried about increasing debt, he launched the project for a new federal capital, Brasilia, designed by the communist architect Oscar Niemeyer. Volkswagen opened state-of-the-art factories and created the “fusquinha”, the Beetle. In Rio, the Vespa made its first appearance. The Arpoador Surf Club crew run into the “girl” from Ipanema, Helô Pinheiro - the tanned garota ("chick"), between a flower and mermaid, who at 17 walked by the Veloso bar, where the fiery author and composer, Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, were getting drunk on whiskey. From then on, bossa symbolized cool.

In 1958, Joao Gilberto recorded Chega de Saudade, which the directors of Philips denied, calling it "music for fagots". The marketing director, who believed in it, secretly pressed 3000 78-inch vinyls and distributed them at schools around Rio, creating a tidal wave.

American jazzmen then took over. In particular, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and guitarist Charlie Byrd. In November 1962, the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs funded a "Bossa-Nova" concert at Carnegie Hall in New York, inviting the genre’s pioneers. Unprepared, the show soon turned to disaster. But the troupe was invited to the White House by Jackie Kennedy. The first lady loved "the new beat" and in particular Maria Ninguem, a song by Carlos Lyra, later covered by Brigitte Bardot.

In Brazil, the 1964 military coup quickly ended this euphoria. The destructive atmosphere that ensued pushed many Brazilian musicians to leave, if not to exile. Thus, Tom Jobim, Sergio Mendes and Joao Gilberto arrived to the United States. In New York, Joao Gilberto met saxophonist Stan Getz. At the time, he was married to the Bahianese Astrud Weinert Gilberto, who had a German father. She had never sung before, but she knew how to speak English. Getz therefore asked her to replace her husband on The Girl From Ipanema. The Getz/Gilberto record with Tom Jobim on piano, was released in March 1964. Phil Ramone, the "pope of pop" was in charge of sound.

Bossa nova arrived in Paris through the classic “guitar-voice” channel (Pierre Barouh, Baden Powell, Moustaki…) But France loved jazz and Paris had already welcomed its American contributors. All these good people were to pass through Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The cabaret l'Escale became the Mecca of Latin American sound where one could find Pierre Barrouh and his friends, such as the Camara Trio, samba-jazz aces, whose only record was published by the Saravah label. With a band strangely called Les Masques (a band that included Nicole Croisille and Pierre Vassiliu, among others), the Camara Trio recorded an interesting Brazilian Sound, including the track Il faut tenir which is present on this tasty compilation of rarities.

Other enlightened musicians can also be found on the compilation, such as Jean-Pierre Sabar (songwriter for Hardy, Auffray, Leforestier ...) and the French pop rock organist Balthazar. In 1975, Sabar recorded Aurinkoinen Musiikkimatka on a Finnish label, which featured the crazy Vai, Vai, included on this record. We are now following the footsteps of Brazilian electronic musicians such as Sergio Mendes, Eumir Deodato or Marcos Valle who created funk and disco sounds on their keyboards and synthesizers. A style that influenced Véronique Sanson when she wrote Jusqu’à la Tombée de la nuit in 1969 for Isabelle de Funès, the niece of Louis and a great friend of Michel Berger - Sanson did end up singing this track on her 1992 Sans Regret record.


The pinnacle of exoticism and travel, Sylvia Fels’ Corto Maltese includes bongos, sea mist and ocean sounds. The title was taken from Jacky Chalard’s concept album written in 1974, Je suis vivant, mais j’ai peur (I am alive, but I am scared), based on Gilbert Deflez’s science fiction novel.


However, bossa nova extended the scope of popularity. "In the 1970s, I was a fan of Sergio Mendes, Getz / Gilberto. I fell in love with this music that I knew because I had been an orchestral singer, " explained Isabelle Aubret, who in 1971 delivered a composite record of covers by the very funky Jorge Ben, Orfeu Negro, Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Morais and Jean Ferrat. "I recorded this album for Meys Records in Paris, far from Brazil, with wonderful musicians, François Raubert, Roland Vincent, Alain Goraguer...". The latter wrote the arrangements for Casa Forte, a very percussive title borrowed from Edu Lobo, one of the initiators of the bossa who spent time in California. "Jazz and bossa came together and produced very rhythmic music. I love singing, it allows me to dream, to have fun, to feel a high on stage, and these songs brought me joy, made me swing, my singing felt like a dance.”


The world tours of French singers and their desire for the tropics, often brought them to Rio with its hills, forests, caipirinhas and tanned bodies. There are surprises though, like this Iemenja (Iemenja is the goddess of the sea in the Afro-Brazilian candomblé religion). Not unlike the composer and musician Jean-Pierre Lang, based in Sao Paulo, Claire Chevalier taught Brazil to Brazil. In 1970, the singer and painter published a 45-inch vinyl, Mon mari et mes amants (My husband and my lovers), under the improbable pseudonym of Clarinha (little Claire). She was then living in Rio, with her husband, Joël Leibovitz, who founded a band called Azimuth, and who owned a record label specialized in "sambas enredos" songs for samba school parades.


For its B side, she asked Pierre Perret to come up with lyrics for a song composed by Carlos Imperial: "Oh goddess of the sea, o goddess Iemenja, I bring a white rose to adorn your long hair ..." . "Perret came to see us, and we had fun, remembers Joël Leibovitz. We wrote Lemenja for fun, we recorded it at the Havaí studio, behind the Central do Brasil the central station. Erlon Chaves, the arranger who worked with Elis Regina, joined us" adding his share of Afro-Brazilian percussions and funky brass to the mix.

There is a common misunderstanding in Franco-Brazilian history: that bossa, admittedly hedonistic, is perceived as funny, even though the poets who wrote the texts are often philosophizing on the human condition. Its French interpreters pull it towards a carnival inspired universe, far removed from its fundamental essence. Thus, Jean Constantin covered the famous Samba da minha terra, an ode to the art of samba written by the classic Bahian composer Dorival Caymmi, renaming it with the enticing title of Pas tant de tchi tchi pompon: "On your pier there is no tchi tchi / when you arch your back, you know everything is alright ”(lyrics by Gérard Calvi). This expedited bossa aims for the absurd, but retains a certain elegance.

Indeed, Jean Constantin was not an idiot, the rather large man had a huge mustache and liked fantasy, (Les pantoufles à papa, Le pacha, inspired by cha-cha-cha-cha, salsa and jazz) but he was also the lyricist of Mon manège à moi interpreted by Edith Piaf, the composer of Mon Truc en plume by Zizi Jeanmaire and the soundtrack of François Truffaut’s 400 Blows. Le Poulpe, published in 1970, from which this bossa is extract, was arranged by Jean-Claude Vannier, an accomplice of Serge Gainsbourg’s Melody Nelson. In short: "There is enough of samba / By looking at the parasol / Because my poor cabeza / Is going to die in the sun".

Even the American actress Marpessa Down, who was at the heart of the bossa nova revolution with her role as Euridyce in Marcel Camus’ film Orfeu Negro, winner of the 1959 Cannes Palme d'or, fed the clichée with Je voudrais parler au petit cuica - "Tell me how you manage to always make people want to dance / It's true, I must admit that I cannot resist your magic" - in consequence, once can hear the cuica, a little drum inherited from the Bantu.


But bossa nova had many angles. Societal, of course, pushing actresses who were symbols of women's liberation like Brigitte Bardot, Jeanne Moreau, or Sophia Loren to engage in the exercise of accelerated bossa. In February of 1963, Sophia Loren made a record in French in Rome, Je ne t'aime plus, featuring the song De jour en jour, a bossa written by two Italians, Armando Trovajoli and Tino Fornai, which was released a little later by Barclay. Bossa accompanied the 1960s, a decade of moral liberation. Ann Sorel, who interpreted La Poupée des favellas, caused a sensation with L’amour à plusieurs, a provocative song written by Frédéric Bottom and Jean-Claude Vannier. As for the actress Andrea Parisy, she displayed her bourgeois cheekiness in Marcel Carné's Les Tricheurs before interpreting Les mains qui font du bien. And Magalie Noël, the friend of Boris Vian, who sung Johnny fais-moi mal, was hired to sing Une énorme Samba, composed by Alain Goraguer (arranger to Gainsbourg, Bobby Lapointe and Jean Ferrat) with lyrics by Frédéric Botton.

But in the end, of what wood is bossa nova made of? The answer is given by Christianne Legrand, daughter of Raymond the conductor, and sister to Michel the composer: "With me, with jà" - jà means "immediately" in Portuguese. In 1972, the singer, an expert in vocal jazz and a member of the Double Six, published Le Brésil de Christianne Legrand. Two songs included on the Tchic Tchic compilation that demonstrate how bossa, jazz, funk, rock, etc. work like a swiss army knife: the music is used to denounce broken systems, or miracles, HLM et ciné roman, Cent mille poissons dans ton filet, two songs from the O Cafona soundtrack, a successful telenovela broadcast, at the time in black and white, on TV Globo. The first was adapted in French by the fighter and friend of the Legrand tribe, Agnès Varda. The second is content with a play on words, jostling them into a summer fun.



Véronique Mortaigne

It’s taken Sealed records more than five years to put this release together but finally it’s here. The one and only Bikini Mutants. The Bikini Mutants were from Yeovil, Somerset and part of the All the Madmen world. In their short life as a band they recorded two demos at Monitor Studios, Milborne Port in Somerset in 1982. Let's Mutate collects these two demos on one LP, along with a 20 page booklet featuring photos, lyrics, reviews, interviews and much more. The band played mostly in Yeovil and the West Country along with the Mob and the Review, and even though they were part of the West Country anarcho scene, the sound was a mix of scratchy post punk and indie pop. Members of the band went on to be in My Bloody Valentine and the Chesterfields. The songs are intricate, delicate and engaging with the drums and bass locked in, the fuzzed out guitar weaving on top and Christine Cole’s angelic voice taking each song to pop heaven. Think a mix of Girls at our Best, Au Pairs and the Marine Girls.

With their tenth studio album "X", Swedish melodic metal pioneers Narnia enter a new and powerful chapter, marking their 30th anniversary and nearly three decades of unwavering presence on the international metal scene. While "Ghost Town" (2023) reaffirmed the band's melodic metal foundation, "X" expands the sonic landscape. The album moves confidently between soaring arena-ready choruses and more adventurous, progressive passages, without ever losing the band's unmistakable identity. Songs like "Oceanwide", "Every Breath", and "Heaven's Calling" showcase Narnia's gift for strong hooks and uplifting melodies. At the other end of the spectrum, the high-energy "Remedy (SOS)" pushes the tempo to new heights, while tracks such as "God Under Fire" and "Jerusalem" explore more intricate arrangements and progressive textures. Multiple lead vocalists share the spotlight throughout the album. CJ Grimmark and Jonatan "Jono" Samuelsson both step forward on selected tracks, adding new tonal colors, while Christian Liljegren's unmistakable voice continues to anchor the sound. "The Man from Nazareth Pt. II" reconnects with the band's early era and serves as a continuation of a fan-favorite from the 2006 album "Enter the Gate", while "The War that Tore the Land (Reprise)" offers a reflective callback to 2019's "From Darkness to Light". "X" stands as both a celebration of Narnia's legacy and a bold statement of where the band stands today, musically sharper, more diverse, and more confident than ever. The album is produced and mixed by CJ Grimmark and mastered by Thomas "Plec" Johansson at Studio Bohus. - Narnia - pioneers of Scandinavian melodic metal since 1996. - Celebrating their 10th studio album "X" - marking nearly 30 years of legacy. - Part of the original Swedish melodic metal wave alongside HammerFall, In Flames and Evergrey. - Christian Liljegren - one of the most recognizable voices in melodic metal, fronting the band since day one. - CJ Grimmark - founding member, main songwriter and producer, widely regarded as one of Sweden's finest melodic metal guitarists. - Worldwide sales of several hundred thousand physical units plus strong global streaming presence. - Strong and loyal international fan base in Europe, South America and Japan. - Extensive touring history with Dio, Judas Priest, Europe, Sabaton, Saxon, Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica, Yngwie Malmsteen and Stryper. - Recent music videos approaching 1 million YouTube views combined.

Mit Tether veröffentlicht die preisgekrönte Saxophonistin, Improvisatorin und Komponistin Alden Hellmuth ihr neues Album - der kraftvolle Nachfolger zu Good Intentions, das als Debut Album of the Year International beim Deutschen Jazzpreis ausgezeichnet wurde. Hellmuth, Absolventin des renommierten Herbie Hancock Institute, verbindet hier kompositorische Präzision mit einem markanten, modernen Bandsound. Das Herzstück von Tether ist ein seltenes Zwei-Bass-Quartett, getragen von zwei der radikalsten Musiker der LA-Szene: Logan Kane, ein genreübergreifender Bassist zwischen Jazz, Avantgarde und Punk-Funk, und Miller Wrenn, einer der furchtlosesten Improvisatoren der Westküste. An den Drums sorgt Justin Brown für energetische Dynamik - ein herausragender Musiker, der u. a. mit Ambrose Akinmusire, Christian McBride und Vijay Iyer gearbeitet hat. Besondere Gäste wie Paul Cornish, Finalist großer internationaler Klavierwettbewerbe und auf Blue Note veröffentlicht, sowie Yakiv Tsvietinskyi, eine prägende Stimme des modernen ukrainischen Jazz, erweitern den Klang zusätzlich. Tether ist ein energiegeladenes, modernes Jazzalbum, das Avantgarde-Mut, kompositorische Tiefe und unmittelbare Spielfreude vereint. Hellmuths Quartett erschafft eine kraftvolle, eigenständige Klangwelt zwischen Modern Jazz, zeitgenössischer Improvisation und experimentellen Low-End-Texturen.

For nearly four decades, since its founding during the mid 1980s, the Belgian imprint, Sub Rosa, has continuously plumbed the depths of numerous, radical creative histories, assembling a catalog of releases that has almost no equivalent, while remaining nearly impossible to nail down. That said, for most of its run, Sub Rosa has been primarily recognized for its rigorous explorations of the lesser explored shadows of experimental sound practice (sound-art, sound-poetry, early electronic and electroacoustic music, free-improvisation, etc.), delivering a remarkable body of artifacts that have collectively helped to rewrite history in their wake. While it's always been impossible to anticipate where the label might take us next, threading their catalog are plenty of releases that throw further wrenches in the cogs, expanding our understanding of what they pursue, as in the case of a handful of titles, appearing as early as the 1980s, dedicated to ethnographic field-recordings from various parts of the world. Among the most striking and celebrated of these was 2017's Ethiopian Urban And Tribal Music: Mindanoo Mistiru / Gold From Wax, comprising an astounding body of recordings made by Ragnar Johnson and Ralph Harrisson in Ethiopia during 1971, reissuing material originally released by Lyrichord the following year. Now, Sub Rosa returns to the incredible work embarked upon by the pair and captured on that same trip with Ethiopian Musics 1971, comprising the recordings originally released by Ocora shortly after their completion, expanded in this edition to include an entire disc of never before released music. Widely regarded as some of the most important field-recordings ever made of indigenous Ethiopian folk music (as captivating and intoxicating as they are revelatory: providing insights into the roots of the country's singular traditions of popular music and jazz that have come to be celebrated the world over), this incredible collection is issued by Sub Rosa in a beautifully produced 2LP edition, complemented by a four page insert providing detailed descriptions of each song, as well as notes by the ethnomusicologists and recordists, as well as a 2CD edition, with a twelve page booklet. Insanely good and absolutely essential for any fan of field-recording, ethnomusicology, the music of Ethiopia, or the label's mission at large. Once again, Sub Rosa has defied our expectations and delivered a remarkably important intervention in the history of recorded sound.

Located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, few cultures are distinctly singular, while being so diverse (containing 80 distinct ethnic groups who speak 70 languages and 200 dialects) as that of Ethiopia. The home to some of the oldest surviving sects of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (each contributing important aspects of its collective cultural body), particularly the country's culinary and musical traditions have become celebrated the world over, and (generally speaking) feel entirely independent of those of its neighbors. Given this, it's unsurprising that, during the summer of 1971, the young ethnographer, Ragnar Johnson, accompanied by Ralph Harrisson, traveled to Ethiopia to begin his brief career as a field recording ethnomusicologist, capturing material on reels of magnetic tape that would be subsequently released across three LPs for Lyrichord and Ocora, respectively, coming to form a cornerstone of documentation and study of the country's many indigenous musical traditions, as well as providing wide, global access to them for the first time. While Johnson's recording career was relatively brief, ending toward the end of the decade when he began to focus more on teaching in UK universities, with a focus on the anthropology of art and social anthropology, his impact on the field was lasting. Between 1971 and 1979, in addition to those he made in Ethiopia, he made hugely significant recordings in Yemen (also issued by Lyrichord before being reissued by Sub Rosa) and Papua New Guinea, which were originally released by David Toop's Quartz Publications to wide celebration, before being revisited by Ideologic Organ in 2023.

While it's worth noting that commercial releases of ethnomusicological recordings by labels like Folkways, Lyrichord, and Ocora were still in their relatively early days when he entered the field, Johnson's recordings quickly stood apart for their vivid qualities and clarity of space, allowing them to stand the test of time. As he later stated: "I used a Uher Report L stereo tape recorder, BASF quarter inch tapes at a recording speed of seven and a half inches per second with two directional microphones mounted to record an isosceles triangle of stereo sound," he reveals. "The location of the microphones and musicians was critical. The musicians were fully informed of all aspects of the recording process."

Johnson's recordings are extremely vivid, there is a clear sense of space and the cries of the flutes exist across the entire stereo field. It's a reflection of Johnson's skill as a field recordist that his recordings continue to be reissued over forty years later. "I used a Uher Report L stereo tape recorder, BASF quarter inch tapes at a recording speed of seven and a half inches per second with two directional microphones mounted to record an isosceles triangle of stereo sound," he reveals. "The location of the microphones and musicians was critical. The musicians were fully informed of all aspects of the recording process… I used to enjoy being in the moment and hearing something wonderful despite the stress of the vigilance required to ensure that the recordings were accomplished according to plan. The responsibility is to record and document the music as effectively as possible so that it has been preserved for posterity. It is better to actually record music than to sit in a seminar room debating the ethics of recording music." It is this very ethos and sense of clarity that can be encountered across the length of Ethiopian Musics 1971.

For the sake of clarity, the two LPs of material that comprise Ethiopian Musics 1971 should be regarded as a single body of recordings alongside those made in Ethiopia by Ragnar Johnson and Ralph Harrisson during the summer of 1971 (previously issued by Lyrichord and reissued by Sub Rosa), and as two that have, until now, remained historically distinct. The first LP gathers that material released by Ocora during the early 1970s on Musiques Ethiopiennes, while the second comprises (as far as we can tell) twelve never before issued recordings, expanding the journey and making this the definitive edition of the release with its incredible total of 23 recordings of songs, allowing it ever greater scope to achieve the recordists' modus operandi of capturing the broadest and most diverse cross section of Ethiopia's many musical cultures, ranging from different forms of urban music captured in Addis Ababa, documenting largely orally transmitted idioms within which lyrical content is given greater emphasis than the instrumental components (played on masenko fiddles, craar and bagana lyres, washint flutes and kabaro drums), to folk idioms hailing from the Danakil desert and the border regions with Sudan and Kenya. There are songs sung and played in bars, divination chants, laments, dances, Christian songs, and Amharic sung poetry, to only begin to scratch the surface.

Ethiopian Musics 1971 is one of those rare albums where each musical moment is pure, intoxicating gold, while also being greater through the sum of its parts. There are the many songs, forming a rich tapestry of remarkable range across the respective two LPs/CDs (moments that wondrously flirt with sonic abstraction; hypnotic rhythms; pulsing chant; melodies that, in structural arrangement and tonal combination, help us reframe how such a thing might be understood, and a great deal more), each imbued with a remarkable directness and emotive sensibility, and there is the stunning quality of these recordings themselves, transporting each sound to our ears as though we intimately share its creator's space, while being imbued with the pure heart and remarkable spirit with which they were made. As we said before, it's little wonder, once heard, why these recordings and this music feels as fresh and relevant (enduring more than 50 years) today as when they were made. Once again, Sub Rosa has raised the bar with this essential addition to the incredible work that Ragnar Johnson and Ralph Harrisson did back in Ethiopia during 1971, radically expanding our access to the sounds that they captured with these stunning, beautifully produced 2LP and 2CD editions. Absolutely engrossing from the first sounding to the last, this one can't be missed.

Atkinson first saw Les yeux sans visage when she was a teenager, around the turn of the century. The film made an impact for its iconic imagery and the way Franju draws on the aesthetics of early filmmaking, from its score that relies on stylistic markers typical of the 1940s or 50s to the decision to shoot in black and white. Even four decades after its first release, it was clear that this was a work that stood outside of the cultural moment that birthed it, speaking through time in ways that were uncanny, but profound.

A quarter-century later, Atkinson was approached by the Belgian cultural center VIERNULVIER to create a new score for Les yeux sans visage for its celebrated Videodroom series, which has seen artists like claire rousay, Mabe Fratti, Lee Renaldo, and many more create new original scores for cult classics and genre cinema. Atkinson's music, with its sublime meditations on space and proximity, its elusive sense of narrative development, mirrors the pacing and mystery at the heart of horror filmmaking. There is a shadow at the heart of her soundtrack to Les yeux sans visage, an ever-shifting wisp and an insinuation of encroaching transfiguration. Echoing a climactic moment in the film, the music obliquely points to "the Beyond," an impossible place of discovery and revelation.

Atkinson envisioned her music as something akin to the air moving throughout and beyond the many cages that appear in the film, unconstrained by the bars and with undefined borders. Those cages hold the victims of a madman surgeon, determined to graft a new face onto his daughter, the protagonist Christiane Génessier, who lost hers in a car accident while he was behind the wheel. Atkinson was reminded of her predecessors at the pioneering French studio the GRM, who approached sound in a less sinister, but similarly surgical manner, and took inspiration from their playful approach to cerebral soundmaking for the electroacoustic topography into which the piano is embedded. As such, Atkinson’s reactions to the larger themes and the minute-by-minute happenings onscreen are both audible simultaneously.

A film about a man who destroys the lives of young women marked by their beauty and similarity to his daughter in a shame-fueled rage has clear, continuous cultural resonance. "Through the music, I decided to bring back their empowerment despite what they endure," says Atkinson. "This is why the record is also dedicated to Gisèle Pelicot, whose trial happened while I was in the process of composing the music and kept thinking of her strength and her decision to share her trial in order to reverse the shame."

This recorded version of the soundtrack is a 34-minute synthesis of the full 90-minute score, presented on LP along with an essay by writer-musician Claire Cronin and drawings by Momo Gordon, together forming a complex reflection on the film's themes. If these sounds move as if the bars of cages are no barrier, they also intimate the freedom and power of those held behind them. Rather than simply mirroring the fear and confinement shown onscreen, Atkinson offers an elusive escape, a beacon for the characters, and the listener, to follow as they reckon with the narrative and move through it.

Futurismo präsentiert das legendäre Debütalbum "Only Theatre Of Pain" (1982) der Gothic-Legenden Christian Death in neuen limitierten Deluxe-Formaten - remastert und erweitert um frühe Demos und rarem Material, samt Poster. "Only Theatre Of Pain" gilt als Meisterwerk und Ursprung des Deathrock - ein wegweisendes Epos von unheiliger Kraft und tiefschwarzer Emotionalität. Obwohl seine Wurzeln im Punk liegen – die Ursprünge der Christian Death-Originalbesetzung liegen in der Früh-1980er Hardcore-Explosion in Südkalifornien –, kann die Bedeutung dieses Werks für die nachfolgende Musiklandschaft nicht hoch genug eingeschätzt werden. Wie ein Adrenalinstoß ins Herz der Finsternis entspringt diese ungezügelte und geheimnisvolle Aufnahme bis heute jeder Kategorisierung. Mit dem visionären Rozz Williams (damals noch Teenager) sowie Punk-Legende Rikk Agnew (Adolescents), James McGearty und George Belanger präsentiert "Only Theatre Of Pain" eine musikalische Erkundung, geprägt von psychosexueller Lyrik und einem tiefen Glaubenskampf, aufgenommen innerhalb weniger Tage mit Produzentenlegende Thom Wilson. Klanglich und visuell seiner Zeit voraus, ist dieses Stück sakrilegischer US-Punk ein absolutes Muss für alle, die sich für Gothic begeistern, für Fans von The Misfits, Bauhaus und The Cramps.

Orange Splatter vinyl. "Sermon of Mockery" by Pyrexia is not an album that tries to be accessible - it is built to be heavy, direct, and unsettling, and it delivers exactly that. Released in 1993, it sits right in the middle of a key moment when American death metal was evolving into something more technical and extreme. The sound is rooted in the New York scene: tight, compact riffing, constant stop-and-go structures, aggressive drumming, and deep guttural vocals with no room for melody. It's not about speed alone, but about control - everything feels deliberate, almost surgical in how the songs are constructed. Lyrically, the album revolves around a strongly blasphemous and anti-Christian theme. It's not just shock value; it's more like an inverted liturgy, where religious symbols are twisted into something dark and violent. This concept is consistent throughout the music, lyrics, and visuals, as you can see in the booklet. It may not be a mainstream landmark, but it played a key role in shaping the brutal death metal sound that followed. It influenced many underground bands and is still regarded today as a cult record. Listening to it now, the production may feel dated, but that's also part of its strength - it's raw, honest, and uncompromising. In short, it's a record that perfectly captures a specific era and mindset within the genre.

Powerful Stuff is a 1989 studio album recorded in Memphis at Ardent Studio and Alpha Sound and produced by Terry Manning - With Kim Wilson on vocals, Preston Hubbard on bass and Fran Christina on drums, it was the last one by the Fabulous Thunderbirds to feature guitarist Jimmie Vaughan before he left the band - The track "Powerful Stuff" achieved mainstream success when it was featured in Touchstone Pictures' 1988 hit film Cocktail - It was the first single released from the Cocktail soundtrack album, which reached number one on the Billboard Charts and sold over 19 million copies worldwide

Titled Castle Park and recorded in 2011, the previously unreleased record will be available on 19 June, 2026 and comes as part of a comprehensive reissue of Coxon's complete solo catalogue, spanning 9 studio albums and 3 original soundtracks, across the next 12 months. Produced by Ben Hillier (blur - Think Tank), Castle Park was recorded in 2011 as part of the A+E (2012) sessions. Originally intended as a follow up to A+E, the release was postponed due to blur activity in 2012, before Coxon moved on to other projects. Castle Park is a collection of 10 songs that lean into the artist's classic mod sound, with lead single 'Billy Says' - a longtime feature of Coxon's live set - already familiar to fans and now finally available for the first time.

Jeffrey Alexander and the Heavy Lidders return with their best album yet, and a UK tour this August. Press by Silver PR
‘’On the alternate timeline where the Meat Puppets inherited the bulk of the Grateful Dead’s tourheads when Jerry Garcia died in 1995, none of this would be necessary, because Jeffrey Alexander and the Heavy Lidders are a household name for evolving their own musical space that overlays dusty folk, cosmic jazz, deep psych, free improv, and even (gasp!) indie rock, building an audience that ranges from open-eared curiosity seekers to deep committed music weirdos that’s also yielded the Heavy Lidders, an infamous sub-cult of concert tapers that you’re already sick of hearing about. A lot of other things are better over on that timeline, too.
But in this consensus reality (and probably the other one, too), Liquid Donnon catches the Lidders at their heaviest, “heavy” in the Lidderverse being far from a monolithic musical idea. There’s heavy like the album-opening “From Loch Raven to Fells Point,” one of several tracks with elegant and gnarled conversational jams featuring the core Lidders lineup of Alexander alongside guitarist Drew Gardner and bassist Jesse Sheppard (both of Elkhorn) and drummer Scott Verrastro. But there’s heavy, too, like “Calliope Walker” and “Tightroping,” featuring Gardner shifted to dream-space vibraphone, the former with saxophonist Tacuma Bradley, the latter with Christina Carter of Texas noise-psych legends Charalambides on veil-crossing wordless vocals, her first collaboration with Alexander in some 20 years.
But then there’s also heavy like the cover photo of Alexander’s late friend and album namesake Donnon, taken at a Dead show at Rich Stadium in Buffalo in 1989, a spirit threading through the songs and weaving unexpectedly into Alexander’s life decades later, emerging especially when Alexander passed through a near-death experience of his own. But, taken together, the different heavies of Liquid Donnon add up into a state of musical grace, where all the Heavy Lidders from all the universes come together as one. Just, like, imagine.
Convened in 2019 on Alexander’s relocation back to his native east coast, the Heavy Lidders are the latest hard-touring expression for the guitarist’s music, joining a vast and tangled discography (and tape list) that includes the beloved long-running west coast Dire Wolves Just Exactly Perfect Sisters Band and, before them, the Iditarod and Black Forest/Black Sea, as well as a bushel of solo play-all-the-instruments projects, a stint with Jackie-O Motherfucker, sessions with Kemialliset Ystävät and Avarus and others, and you’ll have to keep digging for the rest.
And while it’s not hard to find tapers at Lidders gigs (and they encourage you to be one), or to track themes and songs over Alexander’s many live releases, Liquid Donnon makes a new primary text, the original versions of six new pieces for the repertoire. The album closes with a devastating pairing of “Reservoir Drop” into “The Summer Song,” floating into a duo between Alexander’s guitar and Carter’s voice. Catch a half-dozen Lidders shows this summer, and you might not ever catch them playing it like that again, but you just might open the doorway back to that better place." - Jesse Jarnow (writer, WFMU DJ, producer and host of The Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast)

When I first heard YELKA play I thought to myself: “I’d like to play in that band.”

In the meantime I have realised that it would not be as easy as I imagined. The fluffy easy sound that gets created is so particular that it would not be so easy to execute those exact sounds of the band. This is mostly due to the unconventional harmonies of the guitar. Daniel himself said he is content with the guitar and added an extra one on almost all of the songs. Which I, as a fan of Daniels anarchic approach to playing, love.

Also Yelka’s groovy smooth bass playing is in the forefront of the album once again. Her sound bounces through the guitar riffs as if it's the most common thing on earth. Once Yelka adds her vocals to the songs, that’s when they almost become pop and reminiscent of Velvet Underground.

Christians drums hold these two together through the track list, with a fun Krautrock and jazz influenced style. Everything was recorded live and it sounds fantastic!

The 6th track of the YELKA album "Jeans" is a highlight with the piano support from Federico Corazzini, who adds lush open jazz chords to the incredible intricate harmonies of the band. Arne Bergner (Studio Popschutz) who is once more responsible for the production of the album, also added a beautiful choir arrangement. The finishing touches completing YELKA´S wonderful sound as always added by Norman Nitzsches Mastering (Mokik Studio).

From top to bottom an amazing album: "King of the World" (Steely Dan cover), a pop song with a fantastic keyboard solo from `the one and only Dan Ra´ alias Daniel Nentwig (The Whitest Boy Alive), "Moon for Now", an atmospheric jazz-ish tune, to "Walking Whispering", a strong 9-minute guitar heavy number... I think there are more than two guitars in this one.

American indie rock/pop/jazz whatever - school (after all, it's the third album in the band's America trilogy) and yet above all Berlin, in its most likeable and perhaps even coolest form.

Masha Qrella

"All the tracks on this release come from a live concert at Sharmanka, a beautiful and unique museum of kinetic sculptures in Glasgow, and throughout the record, the sounds of the sculptures moving and emitting noises are incorporated into the music performed. The four pieces presented are entirely improvised. There was no discussion beforehand of what instruments or what approach would be taken, and each piece evolved as a musical negotiation as the performers individually made choices about what instruments to play and how to support and meet each other within the unfolding musical narrative. While Macdonald and Ferlaino both share a lifetime of work with their chosen primary instrument, the saxophone, they also share a passion for exploring other instruments and objects for their sonic and socio-creative potential. This record foregrounds both these aspects of their work: they use saxophones, but also incorporate bells, toys, bagpipes, accordions, percussion instruments and voice.
"Raymond MacDonald is a saxophonist and composer with an extensive career in music, cross-disciplinary arts and academia. He has played on and released over 100 albums, toured and broadcast worldwide and has composed music for film, television, theatre, radio and art installations. He is a founding member of the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, and his work is informed by a view of improvisation as a social, collaborative, and uniquely creative process that provides opportunities to develop new ways of engaging musically.
"Christian Ferlaino is an Italian saxophonist, bagpipe player, improviser, composer and ethnomusicologist. He composes for ensembles of improvisers, both from the jazz and improvised music scene, as well as for contemporary music ensembles. His work explores the relationships between composition and improvisation, and the expressive potential of improvised music. His musical research also focuses on creatively engaging with the sonic and musical realm of Calabria, with special attention to its performing techniques and approach to sound and music generation."

As keyboard maestro James Taylor arrives at his 40th year leading his Quartet, he has re-signed with his original label Acid Jazz and is embarking on a series of the most radical projects he has ever worked on. Following his first classical album ‘Shadows and Dreams’ earlier this year, he brings the Quartet together for a remarkable new album. ‘Te Deum’ sets the ancient, 4th-entury Christian text to intense jazz, funk, and Latin grooves. The music sees the James Taylor Quartet working alongside the children of the Benenden Chapel Choir, and a guest horn section and legendary Acid Jazz percussionist Snowboy. Lead track ‘Have Mercy On Us’ mixes Brazilian samba with Gregorian chants, ‘The Comforter’ sounds like a Donald Byrd with voices Blue Note Records experiment, and last year’s radio favourite ‘Wildflower’ mixes bossa nova with sunshine pop harmonies and a positive message. The JTQ is on tour throughout the year - as he always is and will be worth catching live.

David Bazan was, for many years, the songwriter and driving force behind the acclaimed indie band Pedro the Lion, building a dedicated following and selling a couple hundred-thousand albums based in large part on his extraordinary melodic sense and erudite, theologically-themed songs. After a decade helming the project,he found himself embroiled in a major personal philosophical and spiritual cataclysm, wrapped in a growing drinking problem. Bazan got to work exorcizing both his demons and angels, ditching the Pedro moniker in favor of his given name and producing two incredible pieces of work in the Fewer Moving Parts EP and the 2009 full-length Curse Your Branches (Barsuk). Branches is considered by many to be a legitimate masterpiece. Charting Bazan's increasingly skeptical struggle with the precepts of the evangelical Christian world in which he was raised, the album covers some pretty serious ground. NPR called it "an album of great music and great humanity." Strange Negotiations focuses Bazan's energies toward the external, centering on his disappointment in the current state of accelerating American and global social fragmentation. Musically, most of Strange Negotiations sounds like a great rock band playing songs theyre beyond intimate with. Its the first full-length he's recorded with a band, the same band with which he toured relentlessly in support of Curse Your Branches.

Refined, trippy, and beautifully hypnotic. PIRAT005 marks a deep and elegant statement from Pirat Records and delivers exactly the kind of timeless, hypnotic minimalism that turns heads on first listen and stays in the bag for years. A record built on restraint, texture, and atmosphere: rolling, seductive, and deeply functional for long sets and late hours. With a clear nod to that unmistakable Perlon-inspired aesthetic, Venedig moves with precision, subtle tension, and groove-driven detail, stripped back, but full of character. The collaboration spirit on this release gives it a special depth, while the overall sound remains focused, classy, and unmistakably underground.

Peach’s Soak Vol. 1 is a cross-Canadian link-up with Mood Hut that moves through slower, deeper waters.

The mini-LP was written after a tour through Asia that opened up something new in how Peach approaches making music. The turning point, as she tells it, came during a visit to a neighbourhood sento in Tokyo, while surrounded by steam rising in suspended time, something clicked about the relationship between the body and the sounds she wanted to make.

She’d been learning about cycle synching and working out with the phases of her hormonal cycle, respecting energy fluctuations throughout the course of a month, and decided to apply the approach to writing music. She allowed shifts in energy to guide tempo, density, and emotional tone rather than strictly answering to the floor.

Soak came out of this exploration, sketched and layered with field recordings from her trips to Vietnam and the Philippines during a challenging time in her life. Fragments of heat, air, and shoreline are absorbed into the music itself. Vapourous pads, low-end weight, fractured percussion, and melodies hover at the edge of dissolution. Water runs structurally through the record in surges, in tidal pacing, in the slow accumulation of texture.

Wherever this music finds you, please enjoy the Soak.

2026 Repress

WOLF welcomes Reagan Grey for the label’s second release of 2026. Based in Toronto, Reagan has been immersed in the underground for over 15 years, with recent releases on Local Talk and her hometown label, Selections.

This four-track EP presents a refined and assured expression of her sound, drawing from the enduring legacy of New York, Detroit, and Chicago house music. The release opens with “Not Giving Up,” featuring vocals from Christie Nelson. It’s a deep, dub-inflected, driving track designed for intimate, late-night dancefloor settings.

“Your Love” follows, featuring Finn Rees (30/70 / Mr Bongo), whose musical sensibility and deft keys add a distinctive touch. On the flip, we’re treated to two further cuts that both fall into the dancefloor sureshot category.

A brilliant debut release full of energy from Reagan Grey proving why she's a strong and welcome addition to the WOLF roster.

San Diego’s Mrs. Magician has always bent surf music and punk into something delightfully off-kilter — sun-soaked, hook-heavy power pop with a lyrical fixation on life’s darker undercurrents. Their 2012 debut, Strange Heaven, was a nihilistic pop statement that grew into a cult classic. The 2016 follow-up, Bermuda, sharpened the edges with punchy, nervy songwriting. Both records were produced by John Reis (Rocket From The Crypt, Hot Snakes, Drive Like Jehu), cementing the band’s place in Southern California’s underground lineage. Now, in 2026, Mrs. Magician reemerges with their long-awaited third LP, Spiritual Hangover. Recorded at Dave Grohl’s Studio 606 and Singing Serpent Studios with producer Christian Cummings, Spiritual Hangover finds songwriter Jacob Turnbloom trading youthful nihilism for something more reflective. Where earlier records wrestled with existential dread through anthemic defiance, this new collection embraces uncertainty — an admission of ignorance in the face of the human condition, paired with a genuine longing for connection and understanding. The humor remains. The hooks are sharper than ever. But the perspective has shifted.

These songs feel less like a declaration of dominance and more like a celebration of fragility — an acknowledgment that life is fleeting, confusing, and still worth enjoying. The album features Andrew Montoya (drums) and Mark Rivera (bass) of The Sess, Ian Fowles (guitar) of The Aquabats, and John Reis (guitar). Spiritual Hangover channels the bright urgency of late-’70s power pop through a distinctly Californian lens — warm, melodic, and irresistibly alive. “Super fun, well crafted, with great melodies. It gives me that late ’70s power pop energy I loved so much as a kid. Every track has something joyous to grab onto. In a world full of bleak news, Spiritual Hangover is a warming blast of California sunshine.” — Walter Schreifels (Gorilla Biscuits/Quicksand)

**RED VINYL**Bookending “This Is My Blood “ are two cinematic hypnotist slide lute pieces that evoke contemporary deserted landscapes. They were improvised and made for “ Maquina”, a film shot in the Colorado desert during a psychedelic trip by film maker Joaquim Pujol. The works on here, like the ecstatic second piece invite a return to long form listening. They explore contemporary darkness and contemplate personal loss. There is solely one vocal piece, “ Remission”. A worldwide concert tour of this material is slated for 2026/2027. Since studying the lute in New York with Patrick O'Brien in the 1990s, Van Wissem has gone on to create works equally as rooted in classical Renaissance and Baroque forms of lute music, as contemporary sounds spanning drones, electronics and field recordings. Throw in some of his formative influences from the no wave and industrial scenes, alongside a dedicated approach to minimalism and this has resulted in Van Wissem producing distinct and singular work whose sound is often a marriage of opposites; meditative and intense, forward thinking but with a sense of the arcane. The Quietus has called him "probably the most famous lutenist in the world”. Jozef Van Wissem is an avant-garde composer and lutenist who plays a unique all-black baroque lute. His timeless music is often described as hypnotic, minimal, and hauntingly atmospheric, merging beauty with a dark, meditative edge. His lyrics have a mythical Christian appeal, incorporating themes of love, faith, and the afterlife, often with a repetitive, mantra-like quality. Bridging classical traditions with modern sounds like drones, electronics, field recordings and voice. He collaborates with filmmaker and musician Jim Jarmusch, including the award-winning soundtrack for Only Lovers Left Alive, for which Van Wissem won the Cannes Soundtrack Award in 2013. He also scored the Sims Medieval Video game ( 2011), Uncle Howard ( 2016) Land (2018), Irma Vep (2022), Queens (2023) and Un Prince (2024). He did a world tour in duo with Jarmusch in 2025 and their 5th record “ The Day The Angels Cried” was released. Van Wissem tours extensively, performing in diverse venues from rock festivals to churches, and has worked with artists like Tilda Swinton and Zola Jesus. In 2019 he was commissioned by Cinematheque Francaise to score the silent horror film Nosferatu (1922). He released the soundtrack in 2022 on his own Incunabulum label. The New York Times wrote: Beginning with a solo played on the lute, his performance will incorporate electric guitar and distorted recordings of extinct birds, graduating from subtlety to gothic horror. “My soundtrack goes from silence to noise over the course of 90 minutes,” he said, culminating in “dense, slow death metal.” In 2024 Van Wissem did a sold out nationwide American tour with the film. A worldwide tour is slated for 2026/2027

Aspen is very proud to introduce ‘Non Sonett’ by the Christian Wallumrød Ensemble. This ensemble is a pioneering Norwegian chamber group whose work on ECM and Hubro has redefined the boundaries between jazz, contemporary composition and folk music.Across seven albums, the ensemble has developed a highly distinctive l anguage built on restraint, timbral nuance and collective interplay, placing it among the most influential European ensembles of the 21st century.

Bringing together some of the finest musicians in Norway, the ensemble draws on a rare collective sensitivity, where each player contributes to a deeply integrated and texturally rich sound world.

With Non Sonett, the Christian Wallumrød Ensemble opens a new chapter that grows directly out of recent years of work in more solitary and cross-disciplinary contexts. In this period, Wallumrød has developed material for solo performance as well as for dance, allowing ideas to take shape in more fluid and exploratory formats. Some of this material now finds its way into the ensemble, where it is met by the possibilities offered by instrumentation, collective playing, and the distinct voices of the musicians. At the same time, older pieces—originating in entirely different settings— re-emerge here in new forms, reshaped by the ensemble context.

A defining aspect of Non Sonett is the way many of the pieces function less as fully determined compositions and more as open frameworks: starting points, suggestions, or “springboards” for music. These structures invite response rather than prescribe outcome, relying on the ensemble’s inherent sensitivity and capacity to realize and transform the material in performance. The result is music that feels both precise and fluid, shaped in equal measure by composition and by the interpretative presence of the players.

Central to this album is a continued deepening of Wallumrød’s long-standing interest in ambiguity and in dissolving boundaries between different musical elements and expressive worlds. By placing contrasting materials and associations side by side—sometimes subtly, sometimes more overtly—the music opens up spaces where meanings remain fluid and interconnected. On Non Sonett, this approach is taken a step further, allowing these juxtapositions to play an even more active role in shaping the music’s character and flow.

This approach connects closely with the ensemble’s broader artistic trajectory. Over time, the Christian Wallumrød Ensemble has developed a language that is immediately recognizable—marked by reduction, clarity and a deep attention to sonic detail. While each release has its own character, the underlying aesthetic remains consistent: a focus on the inner life of sound itself. Rather than foregrounding gesture or virtuosity, the music draws the listener toward the smallest elements, where meaning emerges gradually through texture, spacing and timbre.

The listening experience becomes one of concentration and proximity, where each sound carries weight, and the accumulation of detail forms a larger whole. References may be sensed—to early polyphonic music, Norwegian folk traditions, or more recent experimental practices—but these are absorbed into a singular musical language that resists categorization.

As with the ensemble’s recent work, Non Sonett also continues the integration of electronics as a fundamental part of the sound world. Each musician engages with electronic elements alongside their acoustic instruments, creating a layered and dynamic sonic environment. At times, this leads into extended, exploratory passages reminiscent of analogue musique concrète; at others, electronics operate almost imperceptibly, subtly altering and extending the acoustic textures in real time.

Aspen is very proud to introduce ‘Non Sonett’ by the Christian Wallumrød Ensemble. This ensemble is a pioneering Norwegian chamber group whose work on ECM and Hubro has redefined the boundaries between jazz, contemporary composition and folk music.Across seven albums, the ensemble has developed a highly distinctive l anguage built on restraint, timbral nuance and collective interplay, placing it among the most influential European ensembles of the 21st century.

Bringing together some of the finest musicians in Norway, the ensemble draws on a rare collective sensitivity, where each player contributes to a deeply integrated and texturally rich sound world.

With Non Sonett, the Christian Wallumrød Ensemble opens a new chapter that grows directly out of recent years of work in more solitary and cross-disciplinary contexts. In this period, Wallumrød has developed material for solo performance as well as for dance, allowing ideas to take shape in more fluid and exploratory formats. Some of this material now finds its way into the ensemble, where it is met by the possibilities offered by instrumentation, collective playing, and the distinct voices of the musicians. At the same time, older pieces—originating in entirely different settings— re-emerge here in new forms, reshaped by the ensemble context.

A defining aspect of Non Sonett is the way many of the pieces function less as fully determined compositions and more as open frameworks: starting points, suggestions, or “springboards” for music. These structures invite response rather than prescribe outcome, relying on the ensemble’s inherent sensitivity and capacity to realize and transform the material in performance. The result is music that feels both precise and fluid, shaped in equal measure by composition and by the interpretative presence of the players.

Central to this album is a continued deepening of Wallumrød’s long-standing interest in ambiguity and in dissolving boundaries between different musical elements and expressive worlds. By placing contrasting materials and associations side by side—sometimes subtly, sometimes more overtly—the music opens up spaces where meanings remain fluid and interconnected. On Non Sonett, this approach is taken a step further, allowing these juxtapositions to play an even more active role in shaping the music’s character and flow.

This approach connects closely with the ensemble’s broader artistic trajectory. Over time, the Christian Wallumrød Ensemble has developed a language that is immediately recognizable—marked by reduction, clarity and a deep attention to sonic detail. While each release has its own character, the underlying aesthetic remains consistent: a focus on the inner life of sound itself. Rather than foregrounding gesture or virtuosity, the music draws the listener toward the smallest elements, where meaning emerges gradually through texture, spacing and timbre.

The listening experience becomes one of concentration and proximity, where each sound carries weight, and the accumulation of detail forms a larger whole. References may be sensed—to early polyphonic music, Norwegian folk traditions, or more recent experimental practices—but these are absorbed into a singular musical language that resists categorization.

As with the ensemble’s recent work, Non Sonett also continues the integration of electronics as a fundamental part of the sound world. Each musician engages with electronic elements alongside their acoustic instruments, creating a layered and dynamic sonic environment. At times, this leads into extended, exploratory passages reminiscent of analogue musique concrète; at others, electronics operate almost imperceptibly, subtly altering and extending the acoustic textures in real time.

On Dreams ’24 / ’25, Scottish composer Bill Wells turns his nocturnal imagination into a sequence of delicate musical miniatures. The album brings together 24 short pieces, most of them under two minutes, unfolding in just under half an hour like a quietly drifting dream diary.

The album is split into two parts. On the Dreams 2024 side, Norman Blake lends his voice to Wells’ dream-born melodies. Blake, best known as a founding member of Teenage Fanclub, recorded the songs with Wells in a single afternoon at his home, capturing their fragile immediacy in direct and unadorned performances.

For Dreams 2025, Aby Vulliamy — one of Yorkshire’s best kept musical secrets — takes over vocal duties. In mid 2025, Wells sent her a batch of demos; Vulliamy recorded them at home and sent them back to him. The result is a second chapter that feels more introspective, intimate and gently surreal.

The songs themselves are born directly from dreams. Wells wakes from the dream, records it on his mobile and later shapes it into a brief, lyrical composition. One piece, Mackenzie’s Return, was inspired by a dream in which Elvis Costello marched through the streets of a suburban town complaining that he had run out of song ideas, a detail that perfectly captures the album’s blend of humour, strangeness and quiet melancholy.

Dreams ’24 / ’25 is not a collection of fully formed pop songs, but rather a series of fleeting emotional snapshots: soft voices, simple motifs, and melodies that appear and vanish before they can fully settle. It is an album that rewards close listening, inviting the listener into a private, half-lit space somewhere between memory and imagination.

The album is accompanied by a striking cover artwork by Annabel Wright.

VINDICATE, Black Veil Bride’s seventh album, casts a brilliant symbolic signal across the darkened skies. It’s a living will and testament to the band’s storied past, triumphant present, and unwritten future. VINDICATE harnesses the blend of grandeur and intimacy at the heart of the band’s melodic and metallic sound. Across timeless songs, VINDICATE conjures enduring archetypes, interwoven with themes of revolt and vengeance, and shades of John Milton’s epic 1677 poem Paradise Lost.

Guitarists Jake Pitts and Jinxx, drummer Christian Coma, bassist Lonny Eagleton, and frontman/vocalist Andy Biersack celebrated several milestones in recent years, including massive shows in London and Mexico City. “Bleeders” was a Top 10 hit at Active Rock radio and a several-month-long mainstay on YouTube’s Hard Rock & Metal chart (which tracks both current and catalog music videos) in 2024 and 2025.

VINDICATE is the first new Black Veil Brides full-length produced by Pitts and Biersack, exercising complete creative control while synthesizing the best of what they’ve learned from A-list producers. The album was mixed by Zakk Cervini (Bring Me The Horizon,
Evanescence, Bad Omens).

VINDICATE ushers in Black Veil Brides' most visceral, creative, thrilling, and uncompromising era yet, as the band continues to defy expectations and misconceptions held by casual onlookers. Black Veil Brides forever champions the isolated and the dismissed.
They’re an object of devotion and obsession for those who sing their anthems in unison, a diverse BVB Army that never surrenders.

VINDICATE, Black Veil Bride’s seventh album, casts a brilliant symbolic signal across the darkened skies. It’s a living will and testament to the band’s storied past, triumphant present, and unwritten future. VINDICATE harnesses the blend of grandeur and intimacy at the heart of the band’s melodic and metallic sound.
Across timeless songs, VINDICATE conjures enduring archetypes, interwoven with themes of revolt and vengeance, and shades of John Milton’s epic 1677 poem Paradise Lost.

Guitarists Jake Pitts and Jinxx, drummer Christian Coma, bassist Lonny Eagleton, and frontman/vocalist Andy Biersack celebrated several milestones in recent years, including massive shows in London and Mexico City. “Bleeders” was a Top 10 hit at Active Rock radio and a several-month-long mainstay on YouTube’s Hard Rock & Metal chart (which tracks both current and catalog music videos) in 2024 and 2025.

VINDICATE is the first new Black Veil Brides full-length produced by Pitts and Biersack, exercising complete creative control while synthesizing the best of what they’ve learned from A-list producers. The album was mixed by Zakk Cervini (Bring Me The Horizon, Evanescence, Bad Omens).

VINDICATE ushers in Black Veil Brides' most visceral, creative, thrilling, and uncompromising era yet, as the band continues to defy expectations and misconceptions held by casual onlookers. Black Veil Brides forever champions the isolated and the dismissed.

They’re an object of devotion and obsession for those who sing their anthems in unison, a diverse BVB Army that never surrenders.

Closed For The Festival is MIDI Janitor’s fourth full-length and is the follow-up to the Holy To Dogs LP, which was originally released on cassette in 2024 on legendary Vancouver tape label Hotham Sound and then in a vinyl edition by Toronto’s We Are Busy Bodies.

The Midi Janitor’s new album, Closed For The Festival, is a biography of Jonathan Orr’s shadow self.

Born from memories of his childhood spent wandering rural Ireland in Ballymore, Donegal on his grandmother’s Christian commune, Closed For The Festival masterfully straddles the line between warped joy and sinister naivety. As Orr states, “the songs are always trying to get to that moment of taking your hand and walking you into the woods on a pretty spring afternoon and then abandoning you there to figure out ‘how do I get out of here??’”

Closed For The Festival recalls the skewed electronica of Boards Of Canada, the dusted syncopations of Heathered Pearls, and the long-buried treasures uncovered by the Sublime Frequencies label, but is never willfully nostalgic in nature - each track is an incantation in honour of ‘thin places’, where the presence of an eternal moment seeps into the present moment - the uncanny feeling of which has followed The Midi Janitor throughout his life and creative work.
- Steve Ramsay: Young Galaxy, Stars

With his self-titled new album—out May 8 on Candid Records—Grammy-winning guitarist, producer, and songwriter Matthew Stevens delivers a definitive midcareer mission statement. Long recognized as one of the most thrilling and thoughtful guitarists of his generation, Stevens has built an elite reputation in music, touring and recording with a "who’s who" of modern icons, including Esperanza Spalding, Christian Scott Atunde Adjuah, Harvey Mason, and Walter Smith III.

On this new release, Stevens steps fully into the spotlight, performing at the absolute peak of his powers. The music seamlessly melds acoustic and electric sonics through a mix of genre-blurring originals and deeply personal covers. The album features a multigenerational cast of musicians, including mentors like Terri Lyne Carrington, personal guitar heroes like Jeff Parker, and rising visionaries such as vibraphonist Joel Ross and vocalists Anna B Savage and Corey King. Co-produced by Stevens alongside Josh Johnson and Eric Doob, the record is the culmination of 20 years of craft. It reflects a period of profound personal and artistic change, ultimately bringing Stevens to "a place of optimism, excitement, and confidence" that signals a bold new chapter for one of jazz’s most essential voices.

Following his ‘You Are the Music’ EP for Euphoric State, and the reissue of the underground classic ‘Voices’ by Jewellery, David Inglesfield returns with a second EP by PersistentRain – and the first release on his own label, Precipitation.

‘All Time Is One’ is a meditation on the passing – yet continuity – of time, whether across multiple decades, or just in the transition from one day to another.

Opening track ‘Farewell’ brings disparate voices and sounds from the past back to life in an intense, transcendent journey, all driven by a pulsating bassline.

‘The Night Is Done’ features a solid beat and lush array of synths, with the vocal by Bristolian Christine Hulbert the icing on the cake.

On ‘This Place (Displace)’, Inglesfield, a Londoner from birth, but recently moved to South Wales, turns to consider a corner of his beloved native city, where a once-legendary musical theatre was swept away, to become a makeshift car park in the 1960s, then the site of a brutalist block in the 1970s, now torn down yet again. ‘The first place we’re going to stop at … seems to be NOWHERE!’

‘I Remember’ closes the EP, with fragments of Fender Rhodes and strings fluttering like memories over a moody, minimal sub-bass and insistent kick.

Chicken Shack are a British blues rock band founded in 1965 by Stan Webb, Andy Silvester, and Alan Morley, who were later joined by Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie, then still known as Christine Perfect. They signed to the legendary British blues label Blue Horizon in 1967.

O.K. Ken? is the band's second studio album from 1969 and reached #9 in the UK Albums Chart. The record was Perfect's last album as a member of Chicken Shack; she would join Fleetwood Mac a year later in July 1970. Her tune "Get Like You Used to Be" from the album became a staple of Fleetwood Mac's live act until 1975.

O.K. Ken? is available with the original UK cover, as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on red vinyl.

Nach der Veröffentlichung von „We Still Shine“ im letzten Jahr – Tony Christies erstem neuen Album seit 13 Jahren – bringt das Jahr 2025 eine brandneue Sammlung von Neuaufnahmen seiner größten Hits! Das neue Album wurde vollständig in Nashville in einem der weltweit besten Aufnahmestudios, den Blackbird Studios, aufgenommen und enthält brandneue, reduzierte Country-Versionen seiner größten Hits, darunter „(Is This The Way To) Amarillo“, „I Did What I Did For Maria“, „Avenues and Alleyways“ und viele mehr. Unter dem Titel „A New Life“ und mit einem brandneuen Cover-Design mit großartigen Illustrationen von Gillian Martin wird dieses Album Tonys von seinen Fans geliebtes Repertoire sicherlich zu neuem Leben erwecken.

Venus er i håret is the third solo record from Norwegian multi-instrumentalist, composer and singer Espen Reinertsen and it arrives about ten years after his second solo record was released via Susanna Wallumrød’s SusannaSonata label. Simultaneously tender and powerful, Venus gives the impression of being, in itself, a complete system –– full of beautiful digressions and compositional trustfalls. Melancholic in the truest sense of the word, Reinertsen’s songs are ruminative, enveloping and uncanny. Venus er i håret seems to glow, gently. Espen Reinertsen is deeply embedded in the creative music scene in Norway, performing as a member of Christian Wallumrød Ensemble and Streifenjunko. As a saxophonist and collaborator, he a mainstay in Oslo’s experimental scene, performing with artists like Jennifer Walshe, Jenny Hval, Toshimaru Nakamura, Christian Wallumrød, and many more, in addition to offering his own exploratory pop compositions both solo and in collaboration.

Seit nunmehr über zwanzig Jahren als Duo zusammen, setzen Hammock ihre bemerkenswerte Reihe klanglicher Entdeckungsreisen mit The Second Coming Was A Moonrise" fort. Der Titel fängt einen Moment der Entdeckung ein, als Byrd und ein Freund in seinen späten Teenagerjahren unter dem Einfluss von Psychedelika den Mondaufgang für die Wiederkunft Christi hielten. Byrd und Thompson, beide in erster Linie Gitarristen, haben festgestellt, dass ihre musikalische Verbundenheit immer stärker wird, während ihre gemeinsame Arbeit im Laufe der Jahre noch dramatischer und reichhaltiger wird, auf der Suche nach einem Gefühl von mitreißender, schimmernder klanglicher Ehrfurcht, das sich niemals einfach als etwas anderes als sich selbst zusammenfassen lässt. The Second Coming Was A Moonrise" setzt diese Empfindungen der Entdeckung fort und fühlt sich gleichzeitig wie eines ihrer intimsten Alben an, während es das reiche Gefühl von Erhabenheit erforscht, das sie im Gegenzug erschaffen können. Ein Großteil von The Second Coming" ist instrumental oder fügt nur wortlose Gesangssenken und Texturen hinzu, wenn auch immer mit Titeln, die bewusst gewählt wurden. Byrd greift mit Chemicals Make You Small" erneut auf seine drogenbefeuerten Fluchtversuche zurück, wobei zwei namhafte Gäste mitwirken: Wayne Coyne und Steven Drozd von The Flaming Lips, die Gesang und Keyboards beisteuern. Zu den weiteren wiederkehrenden Gastmusikern gehören der regelmäßige Mitstreiter Matt Kidd von Slow Meadow, der Streicher und Gitarre beisteuert, Matthew Doty von Deserta an Synthesizern und Gitarre, Christine Byrd von Lumenette mit engelsgleichem Gesang, Chad Howat am Keyboard und Bass sowie Jake Finch mit bemerkenswertem Schlagzeugspiel.

Buster Williams is a man with a strong sense of purpose and a very clear sense of his musical direction. He is also a musician of prodigious gifts - which is implicit in the fact that his years of professional bass playing have included work with Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey, Sarah Vaughan, Nancy Wilson, Betty Carter, Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Chet Baker, Woody Shaw and McCoy Tyner. He is unquestionably one of the giants of the double bass, and his status is a product not only of his natural aptitude, but also of his natural attitude - because Buster Williams is a man who believes in setting himself the highest creative goals. Williams composed five of the seven pieces and wrote all the arrangements. To bring the music to life he had the services of some most distinguished associates. It would be redundant to recite the credentials of Herbie Hancock , Wayne Shorter and Al Foster. This is a most refreshing and exhilarating album to which Buster Williams has brought a high level of creativity and total integrity.

‘Since the 16th century, the Ecuadorian province of Esmeraldas has been home to a unique Afro-Indigenous culture originating in the integration of the Indigenous Chachi and Nigua peoples with African Maroon communities. Juyungo documents significant Esmeraldan artists and bands playing the Afro-Ecuadorian folklore of the province, as well as including some older field recordings. Based mostly on the marimba, whose origins lie partly in the African balafon, partly in Indigenous percussion instruments, the music is laced with call and response chants, ambient insect and bird noise, the filigree finger-styles of the Andean guitar tradition and the panpipes of the mountains. This is resonant insider roots music at its headiest — the mystic revelation of Esmeraldas, gully deep and lustral.’
- Francis Gooding, The Wire.


The fifth in our series of LPs compiling classic music from Ecuador. Customary Honest Jons runnings: a beautiful gatefold sleeve; superior pressing, with vivid, intimate sound; full-size, sixteen-page booklet, in colour throughout, with detailed, fascinating, bi-lingual notes, and stunning photographs.

The music is transfixing, magical; not like anything else. From start to finish, this album is continuously, profoundly immersive; a kind of journeying, trippy meditation about slavery and cultural resistance, identity and mix, places and spaces, futures and pasts. It’s inscrutable to net-surfing, algorithms, Shuffle. But for a taste try the insurgent marimba roller Agua Largo, jet-propelled by Rosa Huila’s rapturous blend of African spiritualist and Christian chant. ‘Healing music,’ Zakia called it on Gilles Peterson’s BBC show recently. And the ravishing pasillo Kasilla Shungulla — ‘calm your heart’ in the Quichua language — a duet between the Peruvian master-guitarist Raúl García Zárate and viola da gamba by Juan Luis Restrepo from Medellin, recorded in a baroque church in Buzbanza, Colombia.

LA underground hubs DISCOS XXX aka DX3 and Elbow Grease join forces to proudly present Point Winona Sound Library Vol 1 — featuring 20 distinct artists from the inspired local dance music scene, working under one unified studio roof in various collaborative
formation at the mighty Los Feliz hilltop palace Point Winona, overseeing the city they collectively represent. These timeless warehouse-wrecking tracks all stand on their own, but the compilation as a whole offers a solid geographic sonic statement with shared rhythmic DNA and bold rooted-futurist production blueprints, guided by the champion efforts of studio executive producers/curators Tavish DJ and Dave Aju.
The BPS stage-setting opener evokes crispy A.M. hours with lush Detroit-meets-Cali feels on “Within Reason” — then studio dream team 5 ATMs bring the dubwise floor vibes up a notch on “A Dub Called Mondo” and Chitown-to-LA legend Scott K lays down an FM bass-laced acid house heater with “Tighter & Tighter”. Nashville-born producer Gryph funks things up on the live space boogie bump of “Winona at Sunset” while SSRI, comprised of Underground Resistance’s DJ Dex/Nomadico, Aju, and Black Lodge’s fearless leader Kosmik, drop fierce robo-Italo bliss on “Omnicallora”. Things take a further psychedelic twist with the PW edit of Scotty Coats’ sublime midtempo tripper “Be Work Zone Alert”, then Omakase’s own Gold Code alongside longtime rave brother Aju drop the nasty J Saul-salute “Yolo Jungle”, and Warehouse Preservation Society aka Tavish DJ & TK fully detonate floors inna raucous Wicked Crew stylee with “Data Bliss”. Undisputed LA scene queen Stacy Christine arrives with her shining debut “Smart Move”, where she and Aju trade sly vox lines of party advice over a bouncing tech banger for the ages, before the “Obsesion Romantica (Free Winona Dub)” sees Sisters Of Sound aka Maddy Maia and Tottie's, OG track getting stripped back and fired up to acidic peak time form. Then Dave Aju and SF homies Moniker aka EO & Kenneth Scott unleash wild uptempo melodic bruk heaven on “Chuy Luis”, and Vastir sends us home with the stratospheric drum n bass closer "Turnpike"

Faitiche welcomes a new artist: Christina Kubisch belongs to the first generation of sound artists. Her practice ranges from performances, concerts, to works with video and visual art, but she is best known for her sound installations and electro-acoustic compositions.

TUNING brings together three pieces by Christina Kubisch from different periods of her oeuvre. What they have in common is the way they transform sound phenomena originally considered “non-music” into compositions.

Jan Jelinek: Gaming in Silence (2024) is the most recent work on this compilation. It’s a collage of electromagnetic waves, voice, and abstract sound textures. How did this combination come about?

Christina Kubisch: Gaming was commissioned as a fixed-media composition for the Sound Dome at ZKM Karlsruhe. Since Resonances: The Electromagnetic Bodies Project (2005), I’ve been making recordings in the old and new server rooms at the ZKM and in their permanent collection of historical computer games. Computer games like Asteroids (Atari, 1979) and Poly-Play (VEB Polytechnik, 1986) have specially generated analogue electromagnetic waves that interest me in particular on account of their density, rhythms and textures. I originally studied painting and to me the work of composition often feels like painting an abstract picture. I alter my source material as little as possible, layering and overlapping until a distinctive sound space emerges. In recent pieces, I sometimes combine magnetic waves with field recordings or live instruments. In Gaming it’s my recording of a Chinese song about silence.

JJ: Two persons walking through a street in Madrid (2004) is a recording from your Electrical Walks series. Here we should give a brief explanation of one of your best known works: participants in an Electrical Walk move through public spaces wearing prepared headphones that allow them to receive electromagnetic waves from their surroundings – for example from security gates, ATMs or neon signs. They discover a situation that normally is inaudible to the human ear and they can actively shape it by choreographing their movements. I really admire this piece, not least because there’s no clear dividing line between participants and artist. What exactly do we hear in Two persons walking through a street in Madrid (2004)?

CK: With this early work, I wanted to understand what is heard by people participating in an Electrical Walk in the same place but moving in different ways. The Spanish composer Miguel Alvarez-Fernàndez and I set off from opposite ends of a major shopping street in Madrid, met briefly in the middle, and then continued to the end. We both recorded our walks and I then layered them over one another. You might call it a work of electromagnetic conceptualism.

JJ: Diapason (2009 version) is an installation that plays a composition based on sounds from fifteen tuning forks. This setting is audible in the recording: there’s no dramatic arc, no beginning or end – instead, it recalls a piece of aleatoric music focussing on the decay phase. How did you come to make this work and could you tell us something about your compositional method?

CK: Diapason is part of a series of three pieces that deal with “non-instruments” or instruments that no longer exist: electrical mine bells used to send signals to the workers underground; a historical glass harmonica originally used for medicinal purposes; and tuning forks that were used by doctors to test people’s hearing. All of these methods are no longer in use. The sound of the tuning forks, audible only if held close to the ear, was recorded at the electronic studio at Berlin’s Technical University in such a way that even their decay remained audible. The frequencies range between 64 and 2048 Hertz and they can be adjusted at micro-intervals using small movable weights. The sequence and the duration of the pauses are dictated by chance and were not defined in advance. The 2009 version was created for an installation in the historic Holy Cross Church (Korskirken) in Bergen. Visitors could enter and leave the space at any time, deciding for themselves where and for how long they wished to listen to the sounds played back over an array of small loudspeakers placed on the floor of the apse.

Credits:

Gaming in Silence: commission of the ZKM/Hertzlab, Karlsruhe 2023
elektronic sound processing: Tom Thiel
sound engineering and mixing: Eckehard Güther

Diapason: produced at Elektronisches Studio of TU Berlin
rearrangement: Eckehard Güther

Christina Kubisch, published by Edition Christina Kubisch / Random Musick Publishing

image front: Transitionen 2021 by C. Kubisch, sonagrams of electronic waves (courtesy: Galerie Mazzoli Berlin)
image back: Diapason Tuning Fork, property of Folkmar Hein, Photo: Archiv Christina Kubisch

design by Tim Tetzner
mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi
Thanks to Miguel Álvarez-Fernández, Folkmar Hein, Dominik Kautz and Mario Mazzoli

Petter Eldh's explosive ensemble Koma Saxo continues their adventures with a new album "Koma West", out on We Jazz Records, 18 March 2022. The album sees Koma Saxo expand on their previous sound with the addition of vocalist Sofia Jernberg and a strong cast of featured artists, including cellist Lucy Railton, violinist Maria Reich, pianist Kit Downes and accordionist Kiki Eldh (Petter's mom!). The hard-hitting key quintet remains, including Eldh on bass and assorted instruments, Christian Lillinger on drums, plus saxophonists Otis Sandsjö (of Y-OTIS), Jonas Kullhammar and Mikko Innanen bringing the SAXO to the KOMA operation.

At 14 tracks, "Koma West" is a full menu of monumental compositional ideas that could spawn entire albums. True to his chop & go production style, Eldh relies on continuous movement while presenting another all killer no filler program taking Koma Saxo on a sonic outing not quite like anything that had previously appeared under the band's name. That being said, there's very much the Petter Eldh touch here, one which might be hard to pinpoint and verbalise, but nevertheless a recognisable style of composing, producing and arranging.

Thematically, the album is rooted in the West Coast of Sweden, where Eldh grew up – he's from a tiny town called Lysekil. There's a thread of Swedish folk song tradition that has been part of the Koma Saxo DNA from the get-go and you can hear that here as well, especially on cuts such as "Närhet", beautifully sung by Sofia Jernberg.

Petter Eldh says:

"In a way, it's a concept album and a celebration of the Swedish West Coast. The first single is called 'Koma Kaprifol', and kaprifol is the landscape flower of Bohuslän on the West coast, where I grew up. I'm not too wild about attaching strong narratives to my music but there's no way around it this time. The oysters, a common snack around the coast, are a strong conceptual presence here. Anyway, they seem to pop up here and there quite often already thus far in the Koma Saxo narrative, even though it's not always so obvious. Koma Vocals! Koma Strings! I love the presence of Sofia Jernberg here and I love writing string arrangements, too, although I never thought I would do it for Koma, but of course, Koma should have some strings, why not?. Koma Saxo should and can become anything."

Composed by Christina Vantzou between 2023 and 2025 after being commissioned by INA GRM, »The Reintegration of the Ear« defines listening as a radical, embodied act of attention: a slower kind of presence rooted in care, intimacy, and reflection. Performed with John Also Bennett, Oliver Coates, Roman Hiele, and Irene Kurka, the work moves through intuition, breath, and resonance, forming an acoustic ecology between perception and expression.

Paired with »Observations, Edits, a Cure for Restlessness«, a companion suite of domestic fragments and temporal drift featuring harp by Sissi Rada, Ben Bertrand's bass clarinet, and others, time here is embodied, a porous medium where sound floats, reforms, and reveals itself as both instrument and witness.

Sonderausgabe auf türkisfarbenem Vinyl. Ursprünglich 2009 veröffentlicht und seit Jahren vergriffen. Seit ,Endless Summer" hat uns die Musik von Christian Fennesz fasziniert. Während viele Laptop-Künstler nicht über ein leeres elektronisches Rumpeln ohne Tiefe hinauskommen, schafft es Fennesz, eine Welt voller ungehörter und reichhaltiger neuer Klänge zu erschaffen. Christians Idee, mit Mark Linkous von Sparklehorse zusammenzuarbeiten, hat uns sofort begeistert. Die beiden Künstler waren schon ein paar Mal gemeinsam aufgetreten und hatten beide das Gefühl, dass in dieser Zusammenarbeit noch mehr Potenzial steckte. Nur zwei Tage im Dezember 2007 reichten aus, um über 40 Minuten der erhabenen Kombination aus Fennesz und Sparklehorse aufzunehmen. Vorbereitete Kuriositäten und jede Menge Inspiration machen diese Aufnahmen einzigartig in ihrem Stil und insbesondere in dieser Serie. Songs und Klanglandschaften von seltener Schönheit mit atemberaubender Atmosphäre, in denen abstrakte Klänge und gut ausgearbeitete traditionelle Songstrukturen aufeinandertreffen und akustische Instrumente und Elektronik ein herausragendes Ambiente schaffen.

Delsin is pleased to announce an extensive compilation series combing through the catalogue of landmark Dutch techno label Djax-Up-Beats. The series, curated by Rush Hour co-founder Christiaan Macdonald, launches with a look at the label's legacy in the development of acid music through the 90s. In total, this first entry in the Djax-Up-Beats 1990-2005 series comprises 20 tracks, presented as a main triple-vinyl album plus two additional 12" EPs. The compilation also features all-new illustrations from Alan Oldham, the Detroit-rooted visual artist who gave Djax-Up-Beats a distinctive visual identity from very early on, and design by Lost Communication. Each volume of the series also features liner notes from music journalist Oli Warwick. Crucially, every track featured on the series has been carefully mastered by Johanz Westerman, bringing the best out of tracks that often had very little post-production treatment before they were originally pressed to wax. Volume 1 - The Acid Trip focuses on an area the label is best known for - acid house and techno. After the pioneering breakthroughs Chicago-based producers made with the Roland TB-303 in the late 1980s, acid music creation was starting to become more widespread when Djax-Up started in late 1990. The rebellious, rave-ready sound was an instant draw for label founder Miss Djax, and so her label ended up reflecting the development of acid as it spread from the Chicago roots across the world. Volume 1 - The Acid Trip looks at the diverse approaches to acid taken by artists on Djax-Up. Tracks on the compilation include an early outing from Ludovic 'St Germain' Navarre and Bjorn Torske's Ismistik alias, as well as Dutch pioneers such as Edge Of Motion, Spasms, Random XS and Acid Junkies, and Chicago heavyweights Mike Dearborn and Gene Hunt. With five more, equally extensive, volumes to come in this series, Djax-Up-Beats 1990-2005 is a thorough exploration of a true totem of techno culture - a renegade label that operated on its own terms and carried surprises and slammers in equal measure.