Search:clicks

Final LP of a productive year for Feral Child is an absolute cracker. The latest of a long line of superb full lengths from Stephen James Buckley's incendiary Polypores project. This one is arguably his most adventurous outing to date, the undeniably psychedelic “Hungry Vortex”. Four extended pieces exploring polyrhythmic fixations and cosmic jazz-prog freak-outs. Percussion-heavy opener ‘The Body Is The Spaceship’ is a fine example of the sort of seamless organic growth we tend to see in Polypores’ music, with slewed synth blips and rolling polyrhythms gradually twisting into unrecognisable strands of melody and unconventional groove before your very ears.

The prog-heavy ‘Wizards!’ sees Buckley’s trademarked playful use of time-signature changes, providing such a wealth of emotional and stylistic variance and immeasurable enjoyment without changing key once (honestly, who needs keys). It’s brilliantly evocative too and could indeed perfectly soundtrack a mushroom-trip wizard march. As we flip the record over, the flutey flourishes and minimalist clicks of the title track draw the listener into a trancelike state, repeated movements spiralling like myriad creatures crawling over a candy-coloured horizon, echoing forth into an inviting sonic oblivion. It’s ostensibly electronic, yet somehow more natural organism than machine, with little concern for the grid, or indeed, the rules. Finally, we end on something a little more subdued - the reassuring classicism of the beautiful ‘Void High’, with washes of warm noise and wobbly delay lines whirring and twinkling away, closing the record with an experience that is undeniably emotional, spiritual and as always, uniquely Polypores. This is a wonderful record with which to close the year out, it comes in a magnificent, spot varnished Jake Blanchard sleeve. A superb record released as a one time only vinyl pressing.

From the bellows of a galactic abyss, n-trip offers their first solo EP release on DU:RA. The label boss reveals 4 deep techno tracks cultivated from an appreciation of the stylings of Valentino Mora, Ntogn and Simone Bauer adjacent sound palettes. Attending festivals such as Organik and experiences with deep techno doofs out in the Aussie bushland has also heavily influenced this release.

Reservation and propulsive sound design shape the tracks for the most part, while aspects of field recordings are littered throughout the release of rocks, leaves and sticks from recent travels. The structural simplicity and minimalistic elements make for perfect DJ tracks to accompany swamp-like sets and throbbing sub basslines are sure to shake any doof or club system.

‘Domina’ opens the release with chiming pads and heavily delayed artefacts invoking an ethereal cosmos of which the kicks and bass gently reinforce in movement. A broken snare beat follows as gradually layers of percussion increase in intensity.

‘MML’ takes what energy has built and adds pounding toms to the rhythm. Harsh live synthesis swells in the backdrop as hi-hats and clicks pan around the white noise and minimal yet intentional synth work.

‘dddBBB’ drops the tempo as it comes in full of field recordings. Taking you on a bushwalk through a desolate dreamscape – it slowly grows and pulsates like a giant snake writhing through the cosmic jungle, stalking its prey.

‘MR13’ then takes these ideas and jacks up the tempo to finish off the release. Shakers pan about as sticks, rocks and leaves reinforce the rhythm. FM chords slowly add life to the beat and are accompanied by giant bassy pads that gradually coalesce into its humble yet driving finale.

All tracks have been produced on Gadigal Land. Always was, always will be Aboriginal Land.

We are honoured to work with Neil, who’s been an intrinsic part of the UK techno scene, especially with his devotion to experimentation within the genre! Sorry for the typo on the centre label mate. This release came out of the thirst for something very much outside the box.. literally! Fun fact: Fang Man was inspired by a breakdown driver who Neil met the day before signing this EP with us. Maximum respect to all DJs who picked this one up for the club circuit or radio spins! Thanks to everyone who’s been supporting the label and bought the wax, we’ve got plenty more in the works.

Manchester-based Aiden Francis is at the forefront of the current prog house sound. His new EP cements that position with four more immersive club cuts doused in melody and subtle euphoria as well as hints of old school rave. 'Circuit Kween' is a punch one to start the harks back to classic Sasha & Digweed, 'Kompackt' hits its stride with an urgent low end and snappy finger clicks, 'Twizted' has a warped baseline and dark energy and 'Hex Klub' shuts down with more zoned out and trance infused feels with plenty of colour.

Repress!

Wonderwheel recordings is proud to present the first full-length album from

producer Robin Perkins, aka El Buho. Balance represents a meeting of different currents that make up Buho's music: a fascination with the natural world, and its protection, a fascination with the rhythms, traditions and sounds of Latin America and a fascination with modern electronic music and production aesthetics. The album is peppered with Cumbia, Son Jarocho, Andean instrumentation & Afro-Colombian rhythms. Mixed with this, Robin integrates this idea of "nature music" - putting the sound of a misty forest, the songs of birds, of crunching leaves under foot or the rhythmic tapping of rain alongside synthesized sounds, electronic clicks or claps, deep basses. Trying at once to give them their own space but in a new, surprising perspective - it draws electronic music into something more soft, natural, different and appealing.

Balance is also an album that celebrates community and collaboration, showcasing collaborations with ten different artists form Latin America and beyond, both producers, instrumentalists and singers. Including more of a lyrical presence than his previous EPs, Perkins solicited the participation of talented singers like Dina al Wedidi from Cairo, Luzmila Carpio from Bolivia and the incredible decimas of Mexican poet Citlaly Malpica. The album also features the likes of harpist Veronica Valerio, Argentine multi-instrumentalist Rumo Tumba, jarana player Pablo Emiliano from Mexican Son Jarocho group Semilla and members of the Shika Shika family (the global collective he co-run's) Uji, Barrio Lindo, Kaleema, Minük and Jhon Montoya.

El Buho's music has an incredible power to convey feelings, atmospheres, memories or messages. The message that sits behind this music is to value on the one hand the power of community, of collaboration and of our modern, globally, connected world but also the remembrance, protection and celebration of the very earth we depend upon for our existence.

Repress!

Wonderwheel recordings is proud to present the first full-length album from

producer Robin Perkins, aka El Buho. Balance represents a meeting of different currents that make up Buho's music: a fascination with the natural world, and its protection, a fascination with the rhythms, traditions and sounds of Latin America and a fascination with modern electronic music and production aesthetics. The album is peppered with Cumbia, Son Jarocho, Andean instrumentation & Afro-Colombian rhythms. Mixed with this, Robin integrates this idea of "nature music" - putting the sound of a misty forest, the songs of birds, of crunching leaves under foot or the rhythmic tapping of rain alongside synthesized sounds, electronic clicks or claps, deep basses. Trying at once to give them their own space but in a new, surprising perspective - it draws electronic music into something more soft, natural, different and appealing.

Balance is also an album that celebrates community and collaboration, showcasing collaborations with ten different artists form Latin America and beyond, both producers, instrumentalists and singers. Including more of a lyrical presence than his previous EPs, Perkins solicited the participation of talented singers like Dina al Wedidi from Cairo, Luzmila Carpio from Bolivia and the incredible decimas of Mexican poet Citlaly Malpica. The album also features the likes of harpist Veronica Valerio, Argentine multi-instrumentalist Rumo Tumba, jarana player Pablo Emiliano from Mexican Son Jarocho group Semilla and members of the Shika Shika family (the global collective he co-run's) Uji, Barrio Lindo, Kaleema, Minük and Jhon Montoya.

El Buho's music has an incredible power to convey feelings, atmospheres, memories or messages. The message that sits behind this music is to value on the one hand the power of community, of collaboration and of our modern, globally, connected world but also the remembrance, protection and celebration of the very earth we depend upon for our existence.

Editions Mego reissue the 2001 release Asuma by Finnish artist Ilpo Väisänen. Originally released on CD this is the first ever vinyl issue, remastered by Rashad Becker. 2001 is a landmark year for the artist following a wave of success from the notable outfit Väisänen formed alongside Mika Vanio, Pan Sonic (as they were now known then). Following a string of highly acclaimed and influential releases such as “Vakio”, “Kulma”, “A’ and “Aaltopiiri” Pan Sonic had toured the globe extensively leaving a trail of blown expectations and rumours of all manner of objects in venues cracking or falling apart due to the immense sound the duo concocted with their unique instruments.

Taking a break from the ecstatic cacophony of Pan Sonic, Väisänen retreated to work on a solo release which conjured the spirits of the former outfit whilst simultaneously carving out a more personal take on these new electronic forms.

Asuma is a precise study of drones, rhythms, clicks, ambience and gentle confusion. Whilst inhabiting a zone of abstraction the results also move in a natural field as Väisänen’s native Finland permeates these recordings as much as the idea of experimentation itself.

Autioitu 1 opens the album as delicate pinball rhythms bounce across the spectrum as a hairy drone hovers underneath. The mood is both intriguing and unsettling. Tukahduttaja is a delightfully disorientating sound sculpture that is hard to pinpoint what it actually is. Klikki is comparable to a microscopic version of Pink Floyd’s “Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict”. Asumaton is a foreboding miniature acting like a segway to Vallitseva which embraces the icy clicks that punctuates much of the Pan Sonic output. Arvioimaton Ongelma is an audio riddle whilst Jaettu jitters around a dancefloor crawl. Autioitu closes proceedings as a gentle ambient thumper. Asuma is awash with contradiction and mystery. This is time wrapped in twisted turns and rewards a neat payoff for those interested in the absolute fringes of electronic ‘dance’ music.

Amuleto Apotropaico has a way to fend off demons by channeling a secular spiritualism rooted in a rigorous but playful connexion to the infinite possibilities of noise. The propulsion of their continuous music ebbs into and flows out of this primordial flux through their unique brand of brutalist liturgy.

Amuleto Apotropaico is a Portuguese duo consisting of António Feiteira (drums & electronics) and Francisco Pedro Oliveira (guitar, flute & electronics) formed in 2021. Having grown up together, saturated in the lore of their hometown of Santa Maria da Feira, the duo now resides in Porto and continues to moor their rhythmic rituals in the traditions of Northern Iberia.

None of this is a nostalgic look back to a time-that-never-was. Amuleto Apotropaico's cycles are ouroboric: every step forward invokes a simultaneous step backward such that their observance of sonic ceremony (seeming to invoke a now-forgotten tradition) becomes a constructivist gesture that shapes its own legacy. If time-travel exists, this duo has found out how.

For their self-titled first release (also the first release of the Perf label), António Feiteira has culled, recomposed and processed recordings from the band's last two years of concerts in order to create a exciting 4-tracker. Apotropia I & II, which open sides A and B on the vinyl release, are both textural meditations on subtle density. Feiteira's sensitive percussion flourishes are married to Oliveira's modular-enhanced flute and guitar patterns. Albedo e Rito showcases the duo's sense of melodic contour while crescendoing to a peak of lightness. Bruxa do Calhau Branco, lifts the whole journey into an astral dimension where multi-layered drums, synths and digital clicks breathe out, announcing that their moment of worship has settled back into the ubiquitous hubbub of room hum.

'the fun years', comprised of multi-instrumentalists Ben Recht and Isaac Sparks, have been making music together since the turn of the century, producing intriguing interrogations of ambient, drone, post-rock, and turntablism. Originally released in 2008 on the now-defunct Barge Recordings, 'baby it’s cold inside' is perhaps the high watermark of their discography. Equally concerned with microtonal nuance and harmonic intensity, it is both a product of its time and something well past it. The chief protagonist is surely the turntable, deployed to create woolly, evocative loops from unidentifiable source material that recall, at times, the work of Philip Jeck or Jan Jelinek—churning, roiling, hissing, atrophied textures further articulated with nuanced processing and buoyed by baritone guitar drones and anti-riffing.

The title of opener "my lowville" feels like a wink to the famed slowcore duo, with spare post-rock motifs hovering in a dusty ether, slowly consumed by distorted washes of rich, harmonic sound. One of the most satisfying aspects of the album is that despite the recumbent nature of most of their sound design choices and compositional proclivities, Recht and Sparks are loath to sit still. "auto show of the dead" is a serpentine piano/guitar exploration full of subtle detail, preceding the immaculately titled "fucking milwaukee’s been hesher forever," in which the tactile delights of clicks+cuts are liberated from the laboratory and allowed to slum it in the world of tape gunk and '90s plate reverb. Later, "re: we’re again buried under" presents an inky black ambience that feels truly expansive and almost overwhelming, and closer “The Surge is Working” tears apart an anthemic shoegaze dirge at the seams, leaving only billowing filtered noise and negative space in its wake.

Presented here with a brilliant remaster by LUPO, 'baby it’s cold Inside should be considered alongside records like Belong’s October Language and Polmo Polpo’s Like Hearts Swelling—an arresting early aughts ambient marvel that warrants ongoing investigation.

Like their previous output, the album features the duo’s unique mosaic of clicks n’ cuts style beat work, murky dubwise melodicism, and chilling otherworldly textures. However, there is a refinement on display on Battens.
Clay and Ian have accentuated their trademark elements to maximal effect. The beats seem to have a more brandish, near swagger that was only fleetingly referenced in some of their previous works. The melodies, which formerly have felt primarily of alien origin, almost feel a glint of humanity. Having such a unique ideology for nearly 25 years has allowed Loess to work at a pace and level of refinement evident on Battens.
Loess is a challenging project to describe, yet their ruminative style of experimental electronica sets them apart from their contemporaries and still sounds fresh today.

On ‘Animal’, Ash Fure appeals to “animal intelligence” by using sounds that are inherently physical and driven by perception, athleticism and interaction. Placing polycarbonate sheeting over an inverted subwoofer she built alongside her partner Xavi Aguirre and brother Adam, Fure isolates the physical impact of sound by focusing on psychoacoustic sub-bass pulses, semi-perceptible micro-rhythms and discomfiting white noise bursts, linking the process to her experiences in Berlin and Detroit’s techno dungeons where the sound has to adapt to the space it’s performed in. When she performed ‘Animal’ for the first time, Fure fabricated a “listening gym”, allowing the audience to interact in real-time by circuit training in response to the sound. The sweat is almost audible across the record, a run-on selection of rhythms, resonances and abstractions that sound like interlocking heartbeats on a series of treadmills. Her fascination with techno’s cavernous cathedrals is clear from the beginning, but Fure doesn’t worship at the altar: we’re hit with the feeling, not the aesthetic. The beats themselves, made from unstable vibrations and waterlogged, reverberating clicks, echo the brain’s unconscious reaction to repetition in a vast concrete box, the feeling you get when each percussive snag ricochets from every surface in the building. Coddling these whirring, criss-crossing polyrhythms with harsh, distorted low-end retches, Fure accurately recreates the energy and fatigue of the endless weekend sesh. We never once encounter techno in its expected shell, just its residue - the outline of humans figuring out their relationship with technology, architecture and each other. Fure’s use of dynamics is also deviously smart, marking out an overall rhythm that’s not tied to the strength of the sounds themselves, but just volume and physical impact. Often her most brutal sounds - ear-splitting squeals and overdriven mechanical whirrs - are reduced to an almost inaudible level, a bit like the bandy legged trip to the bathroom, or the escape to some dimly lit nook, the part of the night where you can still detect the sound on your skin without being battered by it. When the undulating rhythm returns in earnest, Fure masks acidic sequences in jet engine expulsions, still refusing to objectify anything that an AI model might be able to pick up on.

A1 - Planet Genesis

Chronicle makes his Spatial debut in style with Planet Genesis, opening with a beautifully crisp 2-step break over light atmospheric padwork, quickly accompanied by Hot Pants snares and dancing strings. Graceful hi-hats and insanely subtle vocal usage ebb and flow in the mix while soothing melodies enter and depart at will. The breakdown offers an intense change of tone before the breaks resume and continue the journey to a destination unknown.

A2 - Crystal Clear

Very much living up to its title, Crystal Clear sees Chronicle deliver a finely tuned assortment of beats with a remarkable clarity that truly shines in the "old school brand new" sensibilities of throwback atmospheric drum & bass. Snippets of various classic breaks can be heard in the mix with a superb attention to detail, taking you back with a style quite reminiscent of the golden era of late 90's Logical Progression.

B1 - Libra

Airy pads and a rousing yet subtle melody delicately introduce Libra, as Chronicle gradually builds towards a thrilling yet thoughtful amen workout set to blissful atmospherics. With a plethora of exquisite production techniques on show, the track showcases the versatility of Chronicle, offering something new to enjoy on each listen - the layers of detail are truly impressive.

B2 - Higher Limits

Echoing whirs and clicks dance playfully around light pads in the unique DJ-friendly intro to Higher Limits, a detailed, joyful track which celebrates a bygone era with sharp, expertly edited breaks and a smooth 808 bassline to die for. Micro melodies and long waves of delicious synths add texture and depth to the mix, resulting in the perfect closing track to a superbly varied and elegantly produced debut EP.

Words by Chris Hayes (Spatial / Red Mist)

A1 - Ocean Breeze

Kicking off the EP we have an understated 2-step banger from label head ASC as Ocean Breeze rips into your consciousness, positively bursting at the seams with a wonderful rolling break - make no mistake this track will make you and the dancefloor move. Building continually with a trademark subtle female vocal and wavy synthwork, Ocean Breeze is the perfect livener for any discerning atmospheric set.

A2 - Blue Planet

Straight into the action with a heavy break pattern, Blue Planet sees ASC experiment with deep, thunderous kicks and tightly edited, weighted snares set to take you higher - as the classic, recognisable vocal sample urges.Throughout the track we are treated to a darkly atmosphere created by thoughtful pads and effects which elevate the mix while the breaks make the most of their headline billing to the end.

B1 - Cyclic Nature

Continuing the break focussed approach to the EP, ASC unleashes a break heard right at the start of Spatial's history in Force Majeure - in fact this piece began life as a remix of that very same track, before taking on its own identity and becoming Cyclic Nature. Intense and hot-blooded, dense analogue kicks battle echoing drums and subtle melodies to form a wonderfully constructed atmosphere we just can't get enough of.

B2 - Shapeshift

Dialling back the intensity, Shapeshift is introduced more gradually this time with a DJ-friendly cymbal driven intro, with curious clicks and sound effects jostling over a mellow synthy backdrop. Before long a relaxing old-school break enters the mix while textured pads fluctuate with inquisitive jolts of melodic energy, elevating Shapeshift to become quite the memorable EP closer indeed.

Words by Chris Hayes (Spatial / Red Mist)

Across eight tracks, Tilliander and Kajfes masterfully balance slow, lumbering machine pulses, delicate synth textures, and impeccable trumpet lines. Tilliander's use of both analog and digital synths carve out the structure of these sonic sculptures, while Kajfes's elegant trumpet playing pushes against them, infusing the dreamy soundscapes with both acoustic tension and melodic detail. Individually, Andreas Tilliander and Goran Kajfes have long been recognized as leading names in Swedish electronic music and jazz, respectively. Both have consistently pushed and transcended the boundaries of their genres. Tilliander has explored everything from techno, drones, and dub to clicks'n'cuts under monikers like TM404 and Mokira. Kajfes has been a relentless innovator in jazz, playing a central role in bands such as Oddjob, Subtropic Arkestra, Tropiques, Nacka Forum, and Fire! Orchestra. Now, they join forces, forging a new path for both ambient and jazz music.

Glasgow-based producer Conna Haraway returns to Theory Therapy with his first vinyl release, Spatial Fix. Inspired in part by his 2024 tour of Japan and Korea, the album explores new dimensions of his evolving sound.

Since Lusidiq – his debut on Theory Therapy – the co:clear owner has honed his ability to balance introspective atmospheres with crisp, meticulously crafted rhythms, imbuing his music with a physicality that’s as tactile as it is hypnotic.

Spatial Fix expands on this approach in every respect. The record oscillates between ambient abstraction and rhythmic intensity, seamlessly weaving the two together. Tracks like “Freon” and “1702” are anchored by a propulsive low end, woven through with Haraway’s crackling textures and field recordings – including those captured across Asia last year. Even in these deeply immersive moments, there’s always something luminous lurking beneath the surface – snaps, clicks, and micro-shudders ripple throughout in strange and surprising ways. The result is an album that pulls you into a writhing, disorienting space, a psychedelic sonic world where beauty and unease pulse in equal measure.

Spatial Fix is available as a limited edition run of 200 12-inch vinyl records.


Written & Produced by Conna Haraway
Mastered by Ike Zwanikken
Lacquer cut by Henry Rudkins
Artwork & Design by Conna Haraway & Gary Hunter

Jesse Hackett returns with another unclassifiable co-mingling of genres, this time made in collaboration with Durban-based gqom trio Phelimuncasi. The group met up in Nyege Nyege's Kampala studio last year, spending three days engineering a sequence of tracks that turned the acts' respective sounds inside out, stretching urgent vocals over mutating backdrops of time stretched electronic drums, saturated noise and unstable synths.We last heard from Hackett on last year's chilling 'Shadow Swamps', a chilly, surrealist blast of disembodied folk and vintage electronics that added a cinematic twist to industrial music. Phelimuncasi meanwhile followed their acclaimed debut with the enormous 'Ama Gogela', asserting their dominance with tight, dancefloor-fwd, hook-led jams produced by some of the scene's most important beatmakers. In collaboration, both Metal Preyers and Phelimuncasi materialized a few worlds outside their comfort zones, with the Durban trio's words frothing from Hackett's marshy productions like echoes from another universe.Opening track 'Gidigidi ka Makhelwane' erupts in a fizz of beatbox percussion that loops noisily alongside Makan Nana, Khera and Malathon's stirring vocals, delivered in their local isiZulu tongue. Hackett's process is relatively restrained, offering Phelimuncasi the space to work their rousing magic unimpeded and adding punctuation where necessary. But when he takes more of a destructive role, it's just as impressive: on 'Gqom slowgen Chant', he corrupts his rhythm into a ritualistic pulse, letting the trio's words melt into metallic clicks and nauseous atmospheres.Elsewhere on 'Mgiligi wableka', Phelimuncasi's words create a rousing rhythm against a low-n-slow gqom thud from Hackett, and on 'Coffin Roller' he brings to mind '80s video nasty soundtracks, toying with analog synth sequences against Makan Nana, Khera and Malathon's distant chants. 'Like A Corpse' might be the album's most hollowed-out banger, turning the beat into a chopped 'n screwed drag that scrapes clamorously against Phelimuncasi's gurgling raps. Needless to say, there's nothing else like this.Jesse Hackett returns with another unclassifiable co-mingling of genres, this time made in collaboration with Durban-based gqom trio Phelimuncasi. The group met up in Nyege Nyege's Kampala studio last year, spending three days engineering a sequence of tracks that turned the acts' respective sounds inside out, stretching urgent vocals over mutating backdrops of time stretched electronic drums, saturated noise and unstable synths.We last heard from Hackett on last year's chilling 'Shadow Swamps', a chilly, surrealist blast of disembodied folk and vintage electronics that added a cinematic twist to industrial music. Phelimuncasi meanwhile followed their acclaimed debut with the enormous 'Ama Gogela', asserting their dominance with tight, dancefloor-fwd, hook-led jams produced by some of the scene's most important beatmakers. In collaboration, both Metal Preyers and Phelimuncasi materialized a few worlds outside their comfort zones, with the Durban trio's words frothing from Hackett's marshy productions like echoes from another universe.Opening track 'Gidigidi ka Makhelwane' erupts in a fizz of beatbox percussion that loops noisily alongside Makan Nana, Khera and Malathon's stirring vocals, delivered in their local isiZulu tongue. Hackett's process is relatively restrained, offering Phelimuncasi the space to work their rousing magic unimpeded and adding punctuation where necessary. But when he takes more of a destructive role, it's just as impressive: on 'Gqom slowgen Chant', he corrupts his rhythm into a ritualistic pulse, letting the trio's words melt into metallic clicks and nauseous atmospheres.Elsewhere on 'Mgiligi wableka', Phelimuncasi's words create a rousing rhythm against a low-n-slow gqom thud from Hackett, and on 'Coffin Roller' he brings to mind '80s video nasty soundtracks, toying with analog synth sequences against Makan Nana, Khera and Malathon's distant chants. 'Like A Corpse' might be the album's most hollowed-out banger, turning the beat into a chopped 'n screwed drag that scrapes clamorously against Phelimuncasi's gurgling raps. Needless to say, there's nothing else like this.

Slam poetry, rap battles, singing, song writing and drumming. The hit album “Say Yes” by Iyeoka is now being released as a high quality vinyl version (180 g) in gatefold. The YouTube hit “Simply Falling” received over 216 Million clicks.

Iyeoka (read: ee-yo-kah) is well versed in many expressive arts, but in essence she is a storyteller and poet. "My goal is very simple", says the US Nigerian American, "I want to move the world, one poem at a time". She does this enchantingly well with her album "Say Yes (R)evolved". In poems set to music Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo (her full name) reveals herself to be a strong, self-confident woman of the modern world. She tells tales of love and relationships in the 21st century and philosophizes about the daily struggle of life and being a woman in a post-feminist world digging deeply and personally into her African roots.

Musically Iyeoka handles expertly a wide variety of styles from electronic soul "Break Down Mode" to technofied R'n'B "Broken Hearts Anthem (Walk Away)", from energetic dance inducing grooves "The Yellow Brick Road Song", to a more jazzy "Happily Ever After", from melodic soft rock "Say Yes", to pop "Soundtrack to Life" and reggae "Testify". She certainly has presence and shines out with a silky smooth elegance reminiscent of Sade "This Time around", "Simply Falling". This woman has real all-round talent, and she knows how to use it!

Get on track with Fidelio and Luca Piermattei.

Fidelio’s triple-vision A-side gives a taste of the unorthodox, blending 90s acid rawness with the timeless elegance. This is where baroque drama meets warehouse ecstasy.

Fidelio unleashes an avant-garde fusion of classical organ melodies and razor-sharp acid basslines, echoing through your spleens. Each track oozes groove, driven by punchy kicks and hi-hats that sizzle like sparks on steel.

Fidelio’s mix pulses with a sense of urgency, like a techno odyssey through a neon-drenched dystopia.

Luca Piermattei will catch you on the flippity-flip. ‘Gas’ feels like a transmission from a synthetic consciousness trying to breach the uncanny valley. The track opens with a pulsating bassline that wobbles like liquid mercury, creating a sense of disorientation. A warped robotic voice enters, glitching and stuttering, its eerie attempt at human inflection both captivating and unsettling.

The groove is undeniable—polyrhythms weave through intricate layers of percussive clicks, offbeat hats, and swelling synth stabs. Just as you think you’ve found the rhythm, the track bends your mind with unpredictable shifts, like machinery spiraling into controlled chaos.

Enter Luca’s wormhole with ‘Third Rec. With Tascam 122’: Meet the captivating 4×4 electro groover that pulls listeners into an otherworldly soundscape. Anchored by pulse-driven basslines, the track delivers a surprising and dynamic arrangement that keeps you guessing.

The sections are seamlessly divided with intricate, pinball-like percussion, creating a playful yet precise rhythm. Perfect for late-night explorations, this track balances hypnotic grooves with unexpected twists, making it a standout on the dancefloor.

Merzbild Schwet, the second album opus released in 1980, is considered one of Nurse With Wound's major releases, and is part of the famous "Silver Edition" on Rotorelief Records, with a luxurious chrome-plated cover in double Gatefold sleeves, and sumptuous 200g vinyl discs issued in 300 copies on silver and black vinyl, and 700 copies on black vinyl.

The first track, Futurismo, begins with clanking rhythms, record skip clicks, and horn riffs before veering off into a crazed quilt of women singing, laughing, and talking in French. About halfway through, wild screeches of distortion disrupt the piece, and then more bizarre sounds take over before the piece ends with a collage of over modulated electronic hum and rambling piano. The other cut, Dada X, goes further into weirdness with lots of silences, creepy creaking noises, tones that build up and collapse, and scattered spoken word in French and English from Eve Libertine from the political punk band Crass, and the piece certainly lives up to the Dada of its title.

"Because it's the passion for music that drives the person behind the decks, a dj's debut is bound to exude authenticity. It's often themselves they're recounting in music, posing on the slip mats their DNA and what makes them who they are.

When you're just starting out, you're faced with a multitude of routes to take and styles to play. When you know just how devastating it can be to step out of line and empty the dance floor even faster than it filled up, it often takes a lot of audacity to break the unity of a funk evening with a punk track.

Over time, to evolve is to find oneself facing only two roads.

On the first one, to satisfy the greatest number of people and not lose the credit for his fees, the dj adapts to the trend. Whether he likes what he's playing or not, the road has become a freeway and, indeed, a very comfortable one. The audience already knows everything there is to hear and doesn't come to hear anything else. Thirty seconds, or even a minute of each track, is more than enough. Everything has to flow quickly. Everything is marked out and secured. Those who respect the regulations will (normally) make the journey without accident. Several times a week, several times a month, several times a year. Curiosity disappears altogether.

And then there's the other road. Where nothing is expected nor sometimes even ever heard. The road of an unquenchable passion for diggin' and the desire to always know more and more. A passion billed at the price of hours of research-finding spent in the discomfort and possible disappointment of never coming across anything exciting, as well as nights exploring platforms and multiplying clicks resulting in a good old headache. Until that moment of grace happens when, after thousands of fruitless shakes, the nugget stands alone in the sieve, without the slightest doubt as to its quality.

Coming from places never mentioned for their music, sometimes classics of their genre, they are also rarities miraculously saved from total disappearance, as much as current marvels, but threatened to never leave the immensity of the web. Even if the possibility of a text with substance is never excluded, they can tell long stories or be destined solely to make you dance till you're dehydrated. Scintillating with spirituality, some can also vaporize energy and replace it with a pure emotion capable of touching hearts in the bareness of simple percussions.

This road is marked by sincerity, singularity and surprises, but always in a communion between the dj and the audience, who embark on it together, with mutual confidence in the promise of hours of sharing and discovering. "

'Distorted Clamor', the latest full-length album from legendary Spanish ambient composer Suso Saiz. Marking his eighth release with our label, the album showcases Saiz at his spellbinding best, continuing a prolific creative phase in a career that spans over 40 years.

Building upon 'Resonant Bodies' and 'Nothing Is Objective', his most recent full length releases for Music From Memory, Saiz's dedication to experimentation and conceptual approach to sound lie at the centre of 'Distorted Clamor'.

Discussing his process and the concept behind the album, Saiz says: “Thousands of beings cry out for their lives, for the sustainability of their habitats, for their future. Their

clamouring together generates a distorted, deafening and incomprehensible noise. Trying to go deeper into that distortion and understand all the voices and discover the strength and beauty in all of them. This was the first image I had when I started composing Distorted Clamor. Can distortion and all those sounds (clicks, clips, ticks, tocs, pluks, crashes) that we normally discard, generate beauty? This question has also accompanied the entire whole project.”

The transit of sound through various materials is also central to the work, with Saiz using water, wood, and metals as filters and sound-transforming pedals. The album was created without the use of synthesizers, relying entirely on acoustic sounds that were transformed in an unnatural way to achieve something completely new.

Spanning eleven compositions, Saiz's mastery of timbre and ability to paint layers of sound with the subtlest of touches stand out unmistakably to the listener. As always, his radiant drones are a nest of hidden feelings; they glisten with complex emotions and textures, teasing out moods of vulnerability and hope.

Sleeve art and design by Michael Willis.

Before you ancients out there turn your heads and scoff at the premise of a twenty-something rock-and-roll goofball calling himself an old-anything, consider this: Mac DeMarco has spent the better part of his time thus far writing, recording, and releasing an album of his own music pretty much every calendar flip. This Old Dog makes for his fifth in just over half a decade_bringing the total to 3 LPs and 2 EPs. According to the DMV, DeMarco is 26. But in working-dog years, ol' Mac here could easily qualify for social security. To stay gold, turns out all he needed was some new tricks. It was a little space_in time, location, and method_that inspired DeMarco while making the record. Moving from his isolated Queens home to a house in Los Angeles helped give the somewhat transient Canada-native a base, and a few more months on his calendar to create did their job as well. Arriving in California with a grip of demos he'd written in New York, he realized after a few months of setting up his new shop_complete with a few new toys_that the gap was giving him perspective (insert tooth joke here). Right off the bat, from the pops and clicks of the CR-78 drum machine and acoustic strums on the album-opening "My Old Man," the synth-drenched beauty of the second track, "This Old Dog," it's clear that DeMarco's bag is filled with new tricks indeed. This Old Dog is rooted more in a synth-base than any of his previous releases, but he is careful not to let that tactic overshadow the other instruments and overall "unplugged" mood of the work: "This is my acoustic album, but it's not really an acoustic album at all. That's just what it feels like, mostly," says DeMarco. Despite the changes considered during the creation of This Old Dog, Mac DeMarco's mid-twenties masterpiece, it's clear that the engine that motors him is in no danger of slowing down.

Ltd White Vinyl, DL card. 1992's 'Untitled' brought the band's third album that re-cemented the duo once again as the progenitors of the "lo-fi" genre. This breakthrough set transitioned "The Trux" into a never ending all-inclusive rotating cast of musicians. Continuing Fire Records' series of classic remastered albums from Royal Trux, 'Untitled' is released on white vinyl and features updated monochrome and silver artwork. As unpredictable as ever, Neil Hagerty and Jennifer Herrema shook off the next level layering and noise of 'Twin Infinitives' to embrace the history of rock 'n' roll in all its deformed grandeur. Utilizing their ever present mind set of macro-inclusivity, they allowed the subconscious "radio stations" of their lives to infiltrate, lead, and dictate. Culling from their collective minds and memories twisted tunes that touched them. After the blood rush of their much-hailed avant-garde masterpiece 'Twin Infinitives' (1988), this eight-song opus added to the lo-fi genre that originated on 'Twin Infinitives'. On 'Untitled' Hagerty uses his 5-string blues roots and hails rock's twisted potential, while Herrema slurs and snarls in ecstasy. They sound like they're locked in a fourth-floor boudoir at the Chelsea Hotel; bottles clink, an album clicks on its run-out groove, the band plays on. In the mix are the characters and casualties of the 90s, a roll call of swaggering misfits. These aren't superficial sketches, the Trux cut much deeper than that_ "'Junkie Nurse' isn't just about addiction; it's about the twisted hope that even the most broken people can somehow mend others, even when they're falling apart themselves." Jennifer Herrema, Royal Trux. With 'Untitled' Royal Trux justifiably increased their coterie of convicted followers, becoming the cult heroes for a transgressive generation, and the Rosetta Stone for male/female duos (ie:The White Stripes, The Kills etc... ) over the years inspiring everyone from The Silver Jews (David Berman) & Sonic Youth through to melodic blue-eyed soulsters like Hot Chip - "I urge and encourage you to enter the harmolodic multiverse of their music." Alexis Taylor, Hot Chip. "Royal Trux were nothing if not fearless." Pitchfork.

Scale and Scope is a set of four colour flexidisc records, each containing an instantiation of an individual microtonal designer scale, developed by Stefan Goldmann. The four discs are housed in a printed cardboard portfolio.
The flexidisc medium plays like a vinyl record, but is inherently noisier and tends to exhibit more signal disruptions than conventional vinyl. Expect occasional clicks, crackle and other variations, which differ substantially from copy to copy. These make each set unique.
The digital file versions are re-recorded directly from the flexidiscs, with very few corrections and a few spectral interventions by the original artist. The full resolution digital files used for cutting the flexidiscs will be available exclusively and individually to collectors who wish to acquire one of the scales as
instantiated in the recordings.

The unconscious and unknown must be really nice places. In any case, if you take the second album of Menelaos Tomasides under his given name as travelogue. A trip into dreamlike territory, yet concrete enough, a journey without target yet looking forward and looking back into familiar places, „dreamhike“ both continues and departs from the style Menelaos has found earlier, in “When the Moon Comes Through”, or his more conceptual-intentional “31 Minuten” works. As the album title - which roughly translates to “dream hiking” but also hints on “walkabout” and “songlines” – suggests, we are rambling between the real and the imaginary. From the bucolic border triangle of Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands to the buzzing streets of the capital of Cyprus, where Menelaos has lived for many years, the tracks are about real places, about real experiences and emotions yet interwoven with a dreamlike fabric. Something that is just not tangible, yet substantial and palpable. Something concrete that manifests in the genuine and special sound design of this records - basically all of Menelaos’ works - his really special treatment of dynamics and loudness. It is one of the very few records where the established language of music making, specifically Techno, House, Dub, and early 2000’ Electronica, the clicks, thumps and plops from an earlier age of electronic music, transmogrify into slow movements of something new. Something that is gentle and truly personal, looking inwards. There are four-to-the-floor beats, there is wobbly bass, and dubby chords, even sublimated clarion calls. There is an immense energy in these tracks, the sheer materiality of low frequencies of a massive sound system manifested in a tiny room. Yet it is without any aggression, stripped bare of sonic pressure. It is quiet music no matter how high you turn up the volume. A rare treat, that requires exceptional skills and exceptional restraint and control on the technical side of music making. Probably it is a result of Menelaos specific combination of instinctual, intuitive approach to making music, which meets a genuine love for sound in seemingly endless loops of refinement that can lead to such a result as „dreamhike“. The elegant floating balance of control and playful experimentation manifests for example in a track that continues the ongoing collaboration with seasoned Cologne improviser Achim Fink on bass trumpet. Not only in this respect, the album can be described as a product of openness. It comes from a lot of taking in the world, of travel, of places and people met, of friendship and conversation (not necessarily with words). The deep trip of “dreamhike” further manifests Menelaos as one of the truly independent voices of electronic Cologne and beyond. Somewhat alike in character and attitude probably to what late Pete Namlook has established for Frankfurt with his label Fax +49-69/450464 (though ultimately warmer and much less uncanny) Menelaos has found his very own sound and vision. Music that answers to no one but speaks to everyone. Uncompromising yet gentle to the core: kind sounds from a kind spirit, arguably the most extraordinary and valuable quality music can have these days.

Mermaid Chunky. It's all in a name, sometimes. The danceable, costumed, curiosity rich duo of artists Freya Tate and Moina Moin are as imaginative as they profess. Or, to get more to the point, as we all need them to be. Freya and Moina are two visual artists and musicians from Stroud and South London, places where they importantly found communities (Stroud's SVA and the capital's Total Refreshment Centre) of like minded people just as willing to chase down an idea to its possibly illogical conclusion. And it is in the collective and the idea of participation that Mermaid Chunky really clicks. This is a party, a collective dance, made all the better with more: people, ideas, layers, kick drums, recorders, saxophones, frogs. To wit, the album's first track and first single, "Céilí," named after a traditional Scottish or Irish social gathering and dance, which builds from a simple recorder line into a swelling, warm burst of major chord dance music. Goosebumps or check your pulse. Further down the rabbit hole, "Chaperone" is almost boardwalk electro, like Fischerspooner on a ferris wheel; "Frogsporn" and "Nature Girl" are mucky, trippy dirges filled with stalactites of synth and squelch; "Tiny Gymnast" is a kaleidoscopic waltz into the night. Hold onto your seats, ladies and gentlemen. You might be wondering how we, DFA Records, all the way over in cynical Brooklyn, entered the picture. There was a day a few years ago, sun shining in full Springtime splendor, when James heard something while waiting for a coffee down the street from the office. It sounded simple yet deceptively complex: a dance track, but one where the one - that anchoring first beat in a measure - could be heard a thousand different ways. Frustrated and interested, he Shazamd the song, playing at the shop from an episode of Zakia's Questing show on NTS, and brought it back to the office, where we all listened to it about fifty times. (The song was "Friends," from Mermaid Chunky's VEST EP, released in 2020. It led to an invitation to open for LCD at Brixton Academy in 2022. Mermaid Chunky has also played live alongside The Comet Is Coming, Alabastair Deplume, Snapped Ankles, and many others.) Thus began our search for Mermaid Chunky. A quest it has been and a quest it will always be.

Dawson’s latest offering, The Tinnitus Chorus, is an album of wide-eyed collaborations. He is joined by an inspired cast of revered friends and kindred strangers including Suso Saiz, M. Sage (Fuubutsushi), Eli Winter, K. Freund, (Trouble Books / Lemon Quartet), Dasom Baek, Lina Langendorf (Langendorf United), Vumbi Dekula, Jairus Sharif, Yutaka Hirasaka, and his bandmates in Peace Flag Ensemble. The collection is bookended by two pieces with Michael Grigoni. From birdsong and decaying tape to Western sprawl, each of Dawson’s previous solo records have moved in a singular direction but here he approaches things through a kaleidoscopic lens. While his weathered ambient sketches serve as a through line, they are woven with all manner of instrumentation from clarinet and modular synth to steel guitars and flugelhorn. Improvised Congolese guitar nuzzles next to American experimental folk. Handmade electronics give way to spiritual sax. M. Sage contributes something referred to as a “mystic music box”. The result is a strange and beautiful journey that feels lost between genres and yet wholly unified. Dawson reflects on the genesis of album with a smirk and a shrug. He has been marred by ear troubles in recent years and had been struggling to complete an album of solo material. The clicks, ringing tones, and hiss in his ears had been drowning out the ringing tones, clicks, and hiss in his studio. When he reached out to We Are Busy Bodies to provide an update on the record he was met with an unsuspecting proposal that perhaps he shift focus to an album of collaborations. The truth is he had been ruminating on the idea for years and the nudge from WABB proved to be the motivation he needed to shelve his insecurities and invite artists he admires to join him for The Tinnitus Chorus.

"Vanatühi" by Kiwanoid is a technopagan concept album. Track titles refer to the word "nothing" in various languages.
The sonic landscape is crafted using deprecated tools: a first-generation 4-bit laptop, the DOS operating system, and a tracker program. Inspired by glitch aesthetics, the sound palette includes clicks, error noises, and low-bitrate techno sounds. Initially, the structures of the pieces may appear complex and chaotic. This electronic thicket might seem abstract, cold, and inaccessible, yet upon closer examination, it reveals a plethora of diverse species, coming across as somewhat nostalgic and warm, evoking surreal associations. From beneath towering sequoias peek pixelated ferns, LED eyes are blinking from below the undergrowth, and against the backdrop of a crackling campfire and cave paintings, a lively stomping of microchips unfolds.
Sudden contrasts, sharp cutting edges, a tachycardic bass drum engine, and irregular polyrhythms make themselves physically felt. Elsewhere, haunting lo-fi textures, hidden ambient drones, mysterious hums, and obscurely garbled samples offer introspective breathers. The dynamic range of the music is favourably extensive, and the raw imperfections of the sound are unmasked by reverb effects or other generic tools. Interwoven throughout are outsider rhythm loops, which could find a home at an alien rave party or a hobgoblin honky-tonk. Various human voice samples build a bridge to the listener, allowing them to embody a cyborg-like experience.

While each twist and turn remains unpredictable, these diverse approaches align in complementary patterns and stochastic regularities, making the whole surprisingly coherent, despite its chaos. The album doesn't bore the audience with intentionally irritating compositions or pseudocomplexity - it demands attention, but doesn't try to outrun its listeners.

Spray’s Punctuality arrives sharp for its second instalment, rolling out the velvet carpet to welcome LA’s royal rave highness Etari. Kweenie is her inauguration, a no-nonsense exhibition of prog tonkers and tech pumpers accompanied by a wild remix from Angel D’Lite.

Deep in the heart of the angel’s city resides Etari, the west coast icon of boundless rave energy. Having graced the kingdoms of 100% Silk and Delusional Records previously with a wily array of hardcore dance styles, Spray’s Punctuality is the next stop. Etari duly obliges his invitation with Kweenie, a new iteration of her sound that develops her twisted club fantasies beyond the clouds, or at least as far as the lasers will carry.

Clocking in and the title track throws down from the off, shaking its royal rump that’s fit for a Kweenie before bumping its soaring bassline along its naughty groove. Angel D’Lite heeds the remix call, kickin’ it rage style with a breakbeat pumper that harkens to jungle tekno past while straddling future prog pastures. Lulu Limon gets freakier on side B, as Etari zests its anaesthetised groove with clicks and pops while gliding down its minimalised wormhole of latent psychedelia. Racehorse is last out the gate, initiating a heads-down stomper of tech(no) consequence that gallops cute but serious with club tenacity along its majestic travels, and thus concluding Punctuality’s latest transmission.

LP im Klappcover! Es war der Abstand - der zeitliche, räumliche und methodische - der Mac DeMarco zu "This Old Dog", dem ersten Longplayer seit "Salad Days" von 2014, inspirierte. Mit einer Handvoll Demos in der Tasche, die er in New York geschrieben hatte, zog er von Queens nach Los Angeles und realisierte nach ein paar Monaten in der neuen Heimat, dass dieser Abstand ihm neue Perspektiven eröffnete. Mac DeMarco sagt: "I demoed a full album, and as I was moving to the West Coast I thought I'd get to finishing it quick. But then I realized that moving to a new city, and starting a new life takes time. Usually I just write, record, and put it out; no problem. But this time, I wrote them and they sat. When that happens, you really get to know the songs. It was a different vibe." Mit dem Poppen und Klicken der CR-78 und dem akustischen Geklimper des Album-Opener "My Old Man" sowie dem von Synthesizern durchzogenen zweiten Song "This Old Dog" wird schnell klar, dass Mac DeMarco diesmal tief in die Trickkiste gegriffen hat. Auf "This Old Dog" sind die Synthesizer stärker verwurzelt als auf seinen bisherigen Releases, aber trotzdem achtet DeMarco sorgfältig darauf, dass diese den Rest der Instrumente und den "unplugged"-Eindruck des Albums nicht überschatten. Oder wie er erklärt: "This is my acoustic album, but it's not really an acoustic album at all. That's just what it feels like, mostly. I'm Italian, so I guess this is an Italian rock record." ENG Gatefold LP! This Old Dog by Mac DeMarco (A.K.A. 26-year old McBriare Samuel Lanyon DeMarco) is his third album and first full-length since 2014's Salad Days. The album opener "My Old Man" and title track "This Old Dog" show a new sonic direction and a glimpse into the very personal nature of this record. It was a little space-in time, location (he moved from Queens to Los Angeles), and method-that inspired DeMarco while making This Old Dog. Arriving in California with a grip of demos he'd written in New York, he realized after a few months of setting up his new shop that the gap was giving him perspective. DeMarco says, "I demoed a full album, and as I was moving to the West Coast I thought I'd get to finishing it quickly. But then I realized that moving to a new city, and starting a new life takes time. Usually I just write, record, and put it out; no problem. But this time, I wrote them and they sat. When that happens, you really get to know the songs. It was a different vibe." DeMarco wrote some demos for "This Old Dog" on an acoustic guitar, an eye-opening method for him. "The majority of this album is acoustic guitar, synthesizer, some drum machine, and one song is electric guitar. So this is a new thing for me." And right from the offset, from the pops and clicks of the CR-78 and acoustic strums on the album-opening "My Old Man," and the synth-drenched beauty of the second track, "This Old Dog," it's clear that DeMarco's bag is filled with new tricks indeed. This Old Dog is rooted more in a synth-base than any of his previous releases, but he is careful not to let that tactic overshadow the other instruments and overall "unplugged" mood of the work. "This is my acoustic album, but it's not really an acoustic album at all. That's just what it feels like, mostly. I'm Italian, so I guess this is an Italian rock record."

Released in 1999 on Taylor Deupree’s 12k label, »optimal.lp« was the debut album by Dan Abrams under his Shuttle358 moniker. For its 25th anniversary, Keplar presents it on vinyl for the first time with three previously unreleased tracks—the digital version also includes a alternative version of »Tank«—as well as a new artwork recreated by Daniel Castrejón and a remaster by Andreas LUPO Lubich based on the original pre-masters that were been restored and cleaned up for the reissue project by Abrams. »optimal.lp« was inspired by the rich tradition of ambient music and the rhythmic complexity of 1990s electronica while also sharing many traits with the then-emerging clicks’n’cuts movement, making it a true sui generis piece of work—both informed by tradition and visionary, idiosyncratic and seminal for many artists after him.

Abrams developed an interest in ambient music when he was still a child, scouring through cassette tapes of environmental sounds, new age music, and world percussion. Discovering Brian Eno’s »Thursday Afternoon« as a young teenager marked a turning point for him. »It gave me the idea that ambient music could be an intentional creative act, that tone itself is a legitimate form of expression,« he says today. During the 1990s, he increasingly immersed himself in the electronica scene and the output of labels such as Instinct, where Deupree worked as an Art Director and released his first records as Human Mesh Dance. Abrams found a home on 12k after sending Deupree a demo tape that would later evolve into »optimal.lp,« released as the label’s fifth catalogue number.

Abrams was still in college when he started experimenting with a sound module, his laptop and a mixer as well as a MIDI card and a small controller. »Each note was composed in MIDI and played back when I was ready to record,« he explains his working process at the time. »The tracks could be replayed, but the sound interactions with glitches and noise would be a little different each time. I decided to base the concept of the album on these interactions.« Each piece started with a single sound or tone that, as Abrams puts it, already contained the entire composition: »I let these interactions guide me, and tried to complement them as I added sounds. It’s a conversation of sorts with the medium.«

While refining this technique that he would go on to use on every album until 2004’s »Chessa,« reissued by Keplar in 2021, he also used the first-ever Native Instrument product, the Generator soft synth, to write the record’s title track—possibly making it the first album on which it was being used. »optimal.lp« is marked by this curious interplay of cutting-edge technology, the limitations with which every college student with a small budget is faced, and boundless creativity. »I’ve talked with other artists about how we feel about our early work,« Abrams says today. »We all agreed that there were elements that remain a part of us in a timeless way, despite our techniques—or lack thereof—at the time. ›optimal.lp‹ has a lot of things that will always be with me, that are me. I think I left some clues in there for my future self.«

This sense of timelessness remains tangible after a quarter of a century after the album’s original CD release and is even being expanded upon by the vinyl reissue, which is complemented by three pieces that were made while Abrams was working on the album. The digital release even features an entirely new take on the original album’s final piece, »Tank.« While Abrams let one of the masters go through his customised reverb unit when preparing the reissue, he started recording the results of this accidental dialogue between past and present. It’s a fitting tribute to an album whose delicate circular rhythms, rich textures, and ethereal melodies are precisely so exhilarating because their interplay seems to suspend the passing of time altogether.

Keplar presents the first-ever vinyl edition of the 2003 album »From Tokyo to Naiagara« by Tujiko Noriko. This reissue with new artwork by Joji Koyama is an abridged version of the album as Tomlab label owner Tom Steinle and producer Aki Onda had originally intended to publish it alongside the original CD version. Written by the France-based Tujiko while she still lived in Japan, »From Tokyo to Naiagara« followed up on her two seminal Mego albums and marked a turning point in both the artist’s career and personal life: While she was preparing to leave Japan behind, she succinctly connected the dots between her experiments in pop music and her interest for more abstract sounds. Tujiko worked primarily with a Yamaha synthesizer and an MPC sampler while also incorporating contributions by other musicians such as Onda, Riow Arai and Sakana Hosomi into the pieces. Sometimes approaching an IDM and clicks’n’cuts-style production or working with trip-hop and hip-hop beats while using conventional song structures in the most unconventional of ways, the album showcases her multifaceted influences and skills as a singer and musician to full effect.

Tujiko fondly remembers the time when she made the album. »I had a lot of time for myself back then and I didn’t even feel like I was very busy,« she says today. She describes producing it in close collaboration with Onda, who would relocate to New York City shortly after, as »quite Tokyo and very local.« They explored parts of the city that they hadn’t yet been to for a photography project (finding, among other things, a coin laundry called Naiagara—a transliteration of Niagara). This left its mark on a record that mixes melancholia with joy. The driving opener »Narita Made,« named after one of Tokyo’s airports, already makes this clear: Tujiko’s wistful vocals and lyrics like »I miss you terribly« emphasises the sense of bittersweetness that forms the common thread for a sonically diverse and stylistically open-ended album—this music is looking back while moving forward. It is probably no surprise that its reissue too evokes tender memories of Onda and Steinle in Tujiko, while also reminding her of what lies ahead. »I have so much more to do and not enough time for that,« she muses, before quickly adding: »But I also feel less alone having that album again.«

Influenced in equal parts by the experience of strolling through previously unknown Tokyoite back alleys and thinking about the paths not (yet) taken, »From Tokyo to Naiagara« is precisely that: the perfect travel companion for a journey that leads its listeners from past to future.

Berlin-based Swedish tenor saxophonist Otis Sandsjö returns with his third album Y-OTIS TRE on We Jazz Records. Y-OTIS TRE finds Sandsjö in close collaboration with his long-time working partner and friend, bassist/producer Petter Eldh and keyboardist Dan Nicholls.

Berlin-based Swedish tenor saxophonist Otis Sandsjö returns with his third album Y-OTIS TRE on We Jazz Records. Y-OTIS TRE finds Sandsjö in close collaboration with his long-time working partner and friend, bassist/producer Petter Eldh and keyboardist Dan Nicholls.

Watch Out! Here comes the third strike from Bremen's noise post-punkers. Bulky here, catchy there... and then another weird surprise comes around the corner and smashes into your ear canals...11 tracks & the record spins at 45 RPM! Defekt Defekt are a UK/DE trio that play music influenced by early 80s british punk rock or post punk. They have released 3 LPs and have toured the U.K., France, Belgium ,Holland and Germany. They have been requested (by the bands) as a supporting act for Jello biafra a.t.g.s.m, Slime, The Briefs and the Subhumans. Band members have played in many other bands as founder members or stand in players including The Smart Pils , Zygote ,The Moorat Fingers ,Chung ,Cross Stitched Eyes,M.O.T.O and The Sonny Vincent band and various other acts aswell as working with members of The Circle jerks,Hawkwind,Amebix, and various others.

‘Elusive Truth’ was the second full-length record by D.C.-area doom rock Spirit Caravan led by the all time heavy lifer Scott ‘Wino’ Weinrich (The Obsessed, St. Vitus, Shrinebuilder, Probot). Originally released in 2001 and now remastered. “On this, Spirit Caravan's second foray into the long-player format, the band has collectively slowed down the tempo, and dropped the mood into even more contemplative territory. As the grandfather of modern stoner rock, Wino has certainly dipped his guitar picks in LSD this time around. Even though the engineering and production is bone dry and bottom heavy, Wino's psychedelic guitar work -- especially his stinging, busy leads -- has been ratcheted up a few clicks, even if the overall aesthetic is darker, and the superb musicianship from the trio simplified. The listener may be reminded of Hawkwind powered by an enormous diesel engine. As a title, Elusive Truth may indicate Wino's searching nature as a musician, and his attempt to continue down the sonic path through darkness, and through light. With this album, the listener is most certainly in darker territory.”

Everything clicks on Safe to Run, the fourth album from singer, songwriter Esther Rose - It's the quiet culmination of years spent fully immersed in a developing artistry, and presents Rose's always vividly detailed emotional scenes with new levels of clarity and control As with previous work, her songwriting transfigures the chaos and uncertainty of a life in progress, but here she introduces a newfound pop element that attaches unshakably catchy hooks to even the darkest stretches of the journey. Rose takes an unblinking look at her own vulnerabilities as well as more universal concerns, somehow never taking herself too seriously in the process. This manifests as a critique of the insidious sexism of the music industry on "Dream Girl," but quickly melts into a hazy memoryscape of the dive bar drama and suspended hovering of her early 20s on "Chet Baker." The song "Safe to Run" (a gorgeous duet with Hurray for the Riff Raff's Alynda Segarra) directly merges the personal with the global, superimposing feelings of spiritual displacement onto the larger, looming dread of climate grief. Rose breathes in the ecstasy of the natural world in one line and makes fun of herself a few bars later. There are ghosts in the room for most of her songs, but she's invited them in and is cracking jokes with them over a drink or two. Ultimately all of these new advancements become twinkles of light in the background as they fold into the big picture impact of the songs themselves. Esther Rose translates her world into eleven curious and captivating scenes. While the songs are stunning one by one, absorbing Safe to Run as a whole feels like witnessing something taking shape, experiencing the headspins of the elevation and the slow return to equilibrium as the clouds start clearing

Everything clicks on Safe to Run, the fourth album from singer, songwriter Esther Rose. It’s the quiet culmination of years spent fully immersed in a developing artistry, and presents Rose’s always vividly detailed emotional scenes with new levels of clarity and control. As with previous work, her songwriting transfigures the chaos and uncertainty of a life in progress, but here she introduces a newfound pop element that attaches unshakably catchy hooks to even the darkest stretches of the journey. Rose takes an unblinking look at her own vulnerabilities as well as more universal concerns, somehow never taking herself too seriously in the process. This manifests as a critique of the insidious sexism of the music industry on “Dream Girl,” but quickly melts into a hazy memoryscape of the dive bar drama and suspended hovering of her early 20s on “Chet Baker.” The song “Safe to Run” (a gorgeous duet with Hurray for the Riff Raff’s Alynda Segarra) directly merges the personal with the global, superimposing feelings of spiritual displacement onto the larger, looming dread of climate grief. Rose breathes in the ecstasy of the natural world in one line and makes fun of herself a few bars later. There are ghosts in the room for most of her songs, but she’s invited them in and is cracking jokes with them over a drink or two. Ultimately all of these new advancements become twinkles of light in the background as they fold into the big picture impact of the songs themselves. Esther Rose translates her world into eleven curious and captivating scenes. While the songs are stunning one by one, absorbing Safe to Run as a whole feels like witnessing something taking shape, experiencing the headspins of the elevation and the slow return to equilibrium as the clouds start clearing.

KOU is the new project by Apolline Schöser (half of Nina Harker) & Thomas Coquelet.

Apolline & Thomas have been performing since 2022 under the KOU guise with 24 electronic harmoniums. Producing dense layers of tones & overtones. On their debut album KOU steers in another direction. The harmonium appears occasionally, but more prominent are delicate guitar pluckings, distant vocal effects, synths, flutes, piano strokes, a touch of musical magic and Apolline’s jazz not jazz vocals.

As soon as the needle drops it’s clear we are jump-cutting straight to the other side of the mirror. Cats purr, a woman sings as if asleep, drum machines stutter and warp and Alvin Lucier is not 'sitting in a room that is not different to the one you are not in now’. If you’re already confused, join the club. But, it’s the good kind of confused, a bewildering experience akin to the first time hearing the Faust Tapes or watching Inland Empire. Wait though, as pigeons coo and the tape machine clunk-clicks a gorgeous weirdo version of Roger's and Hart’s Blue Moon emerges to let you know this isn’t just dada splurge, there’s a genius pop sensibility at work here too. Side two takes us further into the murk with mournful detuned brass, stoned Joan La Barbara-esque vocalese and a droning Farfisa hymn, before ending with another too-tempting snatch of DIY pop. Some of the references are recognisable. All kinds of 70s/80s European art prog - think early Battiato, Pierot Lunaire’s Gudrun, Lucia Bosè and Gregorio Paniagua's Io Pomodoro etc etc. There’s a strong whiff of 90s us goof-off surrealism too- Bongwater, Siltbreeze, Royal Trux’s Twin infinitives, the damaged folkier side of Alastair Galbraith, Half-Japanese, early Beck even all feel relevant.

Like an oddball group of friends you might meet by chance and end up weirding-out with for days, the minds behind this deliciously odd music allow you to stay for a while in their strange subcultural world. You might not want to live here forever but a short trip, while it lasts, rewires your brain for the better.

For new beginnings, one must sometimes look into the past. Amb.Caveti has done such thing by inviting producer Martin Abrahamsson to the label under the moniker Deltidseskapism. Originally released in 2004 on Source Records, Martin’s aptly titled ‘Nattmusik’ mimics exactly that - the long drawn out winters of Sweden.

Floating basslines and ethereal high’s leave the imagination to roam, whilst rhythmic clicks and cuts maintain focus on the journey ahead. It’s one for the drive home or late night wander, amidst the icy fog and solitary streetlights.