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As one half of Minutes Unlimited, a group formed with fellow electronic producer Michna (Ghostly International), Eliot Lipp displays a talent for creating precise, shiny techno/trap that showcases both artists’ synth and drum machine dexterity.

He also provides the prefix for the appropriately named Lipphead, a collaborative effort with underground hip-hop and downtempo producer Blockhead. Lipphead’s loose and experimental approach to dance music stands in stark contrast to the cold, methodical tone of Minutes Unlimited.

Somewhere in between and slightly off-center of these two sounds is 'Encounters,' Lipp’s forthcoming full length LP. From laid-back downtempo cuts 'Know By Now' and 'The Lowdown' to choppy upbeat hip-hop instrumentals like 'Guitar Maniacs' – Eliot condenses years of growth and influence into this expansive double LP. Comprised of 16 tracks, the sequencing of Encounters pulls from Lipp’s DJing experience, creating a seamless and cohesive listening experience from start to finish.

The story of the invention of the term, 'deepfunk' is probably only known among fans and practitioners of this niche-genre. In short, it all started in the 1990s when DJs like Keb Darge, Mark 'Snowboy' Cotgrove and others began spinning obscure and feral Funk 45 RPM singles from local American bands, ostensibly generating another sub-category branch off of the mighty Northern Soul tree. The dance-club phenomenon inevitably spilled over to contemporary groups on the funk scene which immediately tried to record their music the way their idols did. The 'rare groove' and 'acid jazz' movements had run their course and there was a concerted effort to reinstate primitive idiomatic styles and techniques into the music, most notably by 90s funk collective The Poets of Rhythm. As more years passed by the number of bands steadily increased (although in tiny numbers, compared to the mainstream market). Almost every country had a representative with the majority of them coming from the United Kingdom. The deepfunk sound was still a niche, however a very few bands made it onto the mainstream charts, most notably Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings.

At the height of the retro-soul movement a questionable development took place. As more bands arrived on the scene, the production became more and more polished and pop-ish. Some of that squeaky-clean tidiness began to creep into the recordings, encouraged in part by the signature sounds of the digital recording technology available at that time. Some bands even tried to jump onto the possibility of promoting their music as 'deepfunk' although they were actually playing slick, funky pop music. This way some people who thought they were listening to raw, energetic funk actually felt quite ambushed when hit with real deepfunk. In fact, a certain percentage of funk music produced within the past 20 years does not deserve to be described as 'deepfunk' at all. Fortunately there were (and are) some pleasant exceptions which did not just imitate but actually rendered amazing funk music just like some of the finest funk combos of the 1960s and 70s.

One of those creative minds is without a doubt Joel Ricci aka Lucky Brown. Originally from Seattle, Washington, USA, he has enriched the deepfunk community since the mid-2000s with his stellar abilities. He is not only an amazing musician playing multiple instruments, but also a brilliant composer, arranger, and producer too. But for us here at Tramp he is much more, a close friend and remarkable human being. Whenever we were struggling, whether with the label or in private life, Joel and his musical work helped us to overcome everything and to keep going our path.

So here we are in 2023. The songs you are listening to right now are the complete Space Dream collection, split into two parts, representing the two living-room recording sessions from which his 2011 Tramp Records debut was compiled. Each fully remastered album contains unreleased material and comes with brand new, beautifully reimagined artwork by Ricci himself, housed in an authentic 1960s tip-on cover. A first class product from a first class musician for the discerning funk enthusiast.

DeForrest Brown Jr., the writer and producer behind Speaker Music, describes Techxodus as "abstracting Blackness through information overload". On the album he explores the intersection of tech, Blackness and resistance via music taken from his archived live shows, which are then edited, ordered and reassembled in the studio. The main line of inquiry that feeds into Techxodus is Drexciya, whose myths have informed much recent afrofuturist creativity. DeForrest researches and reimagines the artifacts and stories of Drexciya with new maps, ideas and music, particularly reflecting on the 'Seven Storms', seven albums that came out in quick succession around the death of Drexciya member James Stinson, which seemed to herald Drexciyans in the attack mode. The artwork by Abu Qadim Haqq, who also created artwork for Drexciya, links the work too, with Deforrest re-orienting charts and timelines familiar from Drexciyan mythology, working up clues to all possible environments where Drexciyans could survive, from the depths of the Atlantic, to oceanic islands or even outer space. Like Sun-Ra, another touchstone of Afrofuturist music, it might be that the Drexciyans wanted to leave the planet they hated. With these elements, DeForrest creates a soundtrack for an alternate history, a sort of sci-fi sonic fiction which threads together the sonic warfare and mythos of the Drexciyan records with ideas and references to Ishmael Reed's 'Mumbo Jumbo', which tracks the story of 'Jes Grew', an audio virus, back to the coastal black cities of Alabama and the American South. Musically the album is as intense as its inspirations. DeForrest skilfully hand-plays rhythms which amalgamate trap and jazz drumming, but feel at times like orca-song as they pulse through the thick waves of digital sound. Equally the music evokes the ocean, with deep cold drones, or as if it's floating through time like in 'Holosonic Rebellion' which mixes in recordings of African Warriors. Sometimes there is an energetic turbulence as on 'Jes Grew', where punched-in passages of jazz brass bounce against DeForrest's drums to create a weird disassembled jazz. Towards the end the album begins to feel like a spaceship taking off, the rushes of ascending noise and distortion, distant Southern Gospel Vocals feel like music that's leaving earth. Listen to it without the references or feed your imagination; this is a powerful and immersive original work from one of electronic music's most unique creators.

Making their debut appearance on Steel City Dance Discs, Clouds, an irrefutable powerhouse of sound consisting of Liam Robertson and Calum Macleod, exercise their intensely unapologetic musical personality with their latest venture with Mass Hysteria, for SCDD040.

The Scottish duo have become recognised for their heavenly balance of euphoric soundscapes, ladened with break-neck percussion, ecstasy-induced melodies and rupturing drum patterns. All of these highly characteristic elements are found in Mass Hysteria; an EP that highlights the hard-edged nature of Clouds’ ever-evolving style.

Mass Hysteria is a five-piece project that is nothing short of atomic. Typically energy-fuelled, the duo coordinate a masterful blend of hard-hitting, four-to-the-floor basslines: a seemingly perfect marriage for an EP that sets the listener deep into a cosmic whirlwind of electronic emotions.

After a slightly extended break, CEP Records makes its return! This edition features a trance-inspired release by the hero Arman John, accompanied by two incredible remixes from Janis Zielinski and riko.

Kicking off this release is 'Pump That Soundsystem', a genuine trance driver infused with a hint of techno energy. The soulful pitched vocal and distinct chords add a remarkable touch, making this track poised to burn the dancefloor. Within riko's remix of 'Pump That Soundsystem,' he preserves the positive essence of the original track while infusing it with his personal signature. With rhythmic drums, an unceasing bassline, and an infectious melody, he introduces a touch of old-school sound that keeps the groove alive. For the second original piece, Arman John presents 'Like A Salt Shaker.' Powerful bassline rhythms, textured drums and a significant vocal hustle the track with intensity. The soulful synth, making a notable appearance midway, elegantly includes an unprecedented touch of elegance. Bringing the release to a close is Janis Zielinski's remix of 'Like A Salt Shaker'. A dynamic interplay of fresh chords and synths bringing the track into boundless realms. The transformed synth from the original version fosters familiarity and diversity, adding significant drive that impeccably concludes both the track and the entire release.

'Pump That Soundsystem' by Arman John drops via CEP Records on 20th September 2023.

The story of the invention of the term, 'deepfunk' is probably only known among fans and practitioners of this niche-genre. In short, it all started in the 1990s when DJs like Keb Darge, Mark 'Snowboy' Cotgrove and others began spinning obscure and feral Funk 45 RPM singles from local American bands, ostensibly generating another sub-category branch off of the mighty Northern Soul tree. The dance-club phenomenon inevitably spilled over to contemporary groups on the funk scene which immediately tried to record their music the way their idols did. The 'rare groove' and 'acid jazz' movements had run their course and there was a concerted effort to reinstate primitive idiomatic styles and techniques into the music, most notably by 90s funk collective The Poets of Rhythm. As more years passed by the number of bands steadily increased (although in tiny numbers, compared to the mainstream market). Almost every country had a representative with the majority of them coming from the United Kingdom. The deepfunk sound was still a niche, however a very few bands made it onto the mainstream charts, most notably Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings.

At the height of the retro-soul movement a questionable development took place. As more bands arrived on the scene, the production became more and more polished and pop-ish. Some of that squeaky-clean tidiness began to creep into the recordings, encouraged in part by the signature sounds of the digital recording technology available at that time. Some bands even tried to jump onto the possibility of promoting their music as 'deepfunk' although they were actually playing slick, funky pop music. This way some people who thought they were listening to raw, energetic funk actually felt quite ambushed when hit with real deepfunk. In fact, a certain percentage of funk music produced within the past 20 years does not deserve to be described as 'deepfunk' at all. Fortunately there were (and are) some pleasant exceptions which did not just imitate but actually rendered amazing funk music just like some of the finest funk combos of the 1960s and 70s.

One of those creative minds is without a doubt Joel Ricci aka Lucky Brown. Originally from Seattle, Washington, USA, he has enriched the deepfunk community since the mid-2000s with his stellar abilities. He is not only an amazing musician playing multiple instruments, but also a brilliant composer, arranger, and producer too. But for us here at Tramp he is much more, a close friend and remarkable human being. Whenever we were struggling, whether with the label or in private life, Joel and his musical work helped us to overcome everything and to keep going our path.

So here we are in 2023. The songs you are listening to right now are the complete Space Dream collection, split into two parts, representing the two living-room recording sessions from which his 2011 Tramp Records debut was compiled. Each fully remastered album contains unreleased material and comes with brand new, beautifully reimagined artwork by Ricci himself, housed in an authentic 1960s tip-on cover. A first class product from a first class musician for the discerning funk enthusiast.

LOS ANGELES BASED PRODUCER MINION DEBUTS ON EVAR RECORDS WITH THE FOUR-TRACK EP 'NITE LYFE.' RELEASED ON AURA T-09 AND TRICKFINGER'S REVERED RECORD LABEL, 'NITE LYFE' MERGES HARDCORE, TECHNO AND GABBER WITH SOFT TEXTURES AND GOSSAMER SHEENS, EVOKING AN INTENSE, WAVEY TRIP. THIS ONE IS SUITED TO A CHURNING, POST-3 AM DANCEFLOOR, OR IN MINION'S OWN WORDS, "WARM SUMMER NIGHTS IN LOS ANGELES WAREHOUSES."

OPENER 'SAD B0I MASSIVE' BLENDS DISTORTED, GABBER-FLECKED DRUMS WITH CRUNCHY SNARES, WHILE A HAZY, DAFT PUNK-ESQUE SYNTHLINE CONJURES A DREAMY VIBE. THIS SIGNATURE MINION MOVE CONVEYS HIS KNACK FOR SERVING UP HARSH YET ROMANTIC ATMOSPHERES, PAIRING TWO OPPOSITE MOODS THAT MELT INTO ONE ANOTHER LIKE ACETONE AND WATER.

ON 'MAGNETAR', WE'RE CAUGHT UP IN THE THUNDERDOME CIRCA 1990, BUT JUST FOR A MOMENT. WHILE RUBBERY KICK DRUMS AND WHOOSHING HOOVER SOUNDS SHAPE THE TRACK, MINION COMBINES THESE OLD-SKOOL ELEMENTS WITH A MORE MODERN QUIRK, PRODUCING A TWINKLING MELODY THAT AROUSES EMOTION AND EUPHORIA.

THE PENULTIMATE TRACK 'GREY GOO' IS THE TOUGHEST OF THE FOURSOME. BUILT WITH OFF-KILTER, GRAINY KICKDRUMS AND CINEMATIC PADS THAT SLINK BETWEEN RUSTY BEATS, IT BRIDGES HARDCORE MOTIFS WITH DELICATE SHADES OF GREY, MINION-STYLE.

FINAL TRACK 'SATURDAY NIGHT IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE' DISPLAYS MINION'S VERSATILITY AS A PRODUCER. DELVING INTO A POTENT PALETTE OF ELECTRO, BREAKBEAT, TECHNO AND 2-STEP, HE WELDS RAPID-FIRE CLAPS, FIZZING HI-HATS AND A HEARTFELT MELODY, WEAVING THROUGH BLEEPS AND A CHUNKY BASSLINE—A SIGNAL TO END A LONG TRIP, SOMEWHERE IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE.

ALTHOUGH MINION PRODUCED THE TRACKS FOUR YEARS AGO, 'NITE LYFE' STANDS THE TEST OF TIME AND DOESN'T FOLLOW ANY ONE TREND OR GENRE. INSTEAD, IT'S AN ALCHEMY OF SONIC PATTERNS AND CONTRASTING COLOURS, NODDING TO MINION'S PUNK, HARDCORE AND EXPERIMENTAL INFLUENCES THAT CULTIVATED ODDBALL ELECTRONIC MUSIC IN THE 80S. THE AFTERGLOW OF THESE SOUNDS CULMINATES IN AN EP THAT RIPPLES WITH INTRIGUING HOOKS, CORROSIVE QUALITIES AND STRANGELY BLISSFUL MELODIES. IT REFLECTS THE EXPANSIVE ETHOS OF EVAR DOWN TO THE FINAL BAR.

Michael Mayer’s IMARA imprint is proud to announce a reissue of German electronica maestro Schlammpeitziger’s second album, Freundlichbaracudamelodieliedgut. Originally released in 1996 by Köln’s A-Musik label, it was the first Schlammpeitziger release to signal to a much wider audience that there was something very special going on in the music of Jo Zimmermann, the mastermind behind Schlammpeitziger. And while he’s subsequently gone on to release a further eight albums for labels like Sonig, Pingipung, and Bureau B, Freundlichbaracudamelodieliedgut is where it really all started for this most singular musician, illustrator and performance artist. Named after the ‘Schlammpeitzger’ or Weather Loach, a fish that breathes through its intestines, moves through substrate, and is surprisingly sensitive to changes in barometric pressure – hence its name – Schlammpeitziger is a similarly remarkable, singular creature.

Like all Schlammpeitziger’s music, Freundlichbaracudamelodieliedgut is overflowing with melody. Using the simplest of set-ups – much of his early music was made with Casio keyboards – Zimmermann magics entire worlds of joy and melancholy. The nine songs here are both rich tributes to the joys of the everyday, and surreal fantasias. “Cosmic Fick” sails out to sea on clouds of taffy and spindrift; “Winterschlafsüßbärentraum” slips and slides around a dream aviary of the mind; the closing “Mango und Papaja auf Tobago” is a diorama spun from springs and Slinkys. Sometimes there are echoes of more peaceable Kosmische music – think Cluster circa Sowiesoso – and both the pacing and the amorphous, tactile textures sometimes recall Chris & Cosey. But Zimmermann’s unique signature is everywhere on Freundlichbaracudamelodieliedgut – simply put, no one else makes music quite as lovely and incandescent as this.

The album’s initial release coincided with an explosion of interest in the music coming out of Köln. This was a unique moment – one where pop, techno, house, ambience, avant-gardism, musique concrete, heavy DSP, and all kinds of other creative phenomena got muddied up in the ‘general jelly’ of Köln’s fast-moving, spirited musical communities. Zimmermann was closely aligned with the music coming out of the A-Musik and Sonig labels – a tightly-knit collection of artists centred around the A-Musik record store, making all kinds of weird and wonderful music, from the electronica of Mouse On Mars to the compositions of Marcus Schmickler, from the electro-acoustics of C-Schulz and Hajsch to the digitalia of FX Randomiz. Zimmermann himself would collaborate with the latter on an album under the name Holosud; friends such as Mouse On Mars and Kompakt’s Reinhard Voigt turned up on Freundlichbaracudamelodieliedgut’s remix EP.

Here, then, is one of the loveliest albums of its era, a pop-electronics album of serious play, one as moistly melancholy as it is melodically riveting. Freundlichbaracudamelodieliedgut is rare beauty indeed.

Michael Mayers Label IMARA ist stolz darauf, eine Neuauflage des zweiten Albums des deutschen Electronica-Maestros Schlammpeitziger, “Freundlichbaracudamelodieliedgut”, bekannt zu geben. Ursprünglich 1996 vom Kölner Label A-Musik veröffentlicht, war es die erste Veröffentlichung von Schlammpeitziger, die einem viel breiteren Publikum signalisierte, dass in der Musik von Jo Zimmermann, dem Mastermind hinter Schlammpeitziger, etwas ganz Besonderes vor sich ging. Obwohl er seitdem weitere acht Alben für Labels wie Sonig, Pingipung und Bureau B veröffentlicht hat, ist “Freundlichbaracudamelodieliedgut” der Ort, an dem alles für diesen einzigartigen Musiker, Illustrator und Performance-Künstler begann. Schlammpeitziger, benannt nach dem “Schlammpeitzger” oder Wetterbarsch, einem Fisch, der durch seine Därme atmet, sich durch den Untergrund bewegt und erstaunlich empfindlich auf Veränderungen im Luftdruck reagiert – daher der Name – ist ebenfalls eine bemerkenswerte, einzigartige Kreatur.

Wie alle Musik von Schlammpeitziger ist auch “Freundlichbaracudamelodieliedgut” voller Melodien. Mit einfachsten Mitteln – ein Großteil seiner frühen Musik wurde mit Casio-Keyboards gemacht – zaubert Zimmermann ganze Welten voller Freude und Melancholie. Die neun Songs hier sind sowohl reiche Hommagen an die Freuden des Alltags als auch surreale Fantasien. “Cosmic Fick” segelt auf Wolken aus Karamell und Gischt hinaus aufs Meer; “Winterschlafsüßbärentraum” schlittert und gleitet durch einen Traum-Vogelkäfig im Geist; das abschließende “Mango und Papaja auf Tobago” ist ein Diorama aus Federn und Slinkys. Manchmal gibt es Echos von friedlicherer Kosmischer Musik – denke an Cluster circa “Sowiesoso” – und sowohl das Tempo als auch die amorphen, taktilen Texturen erinnern manchmal an Chris & Cosey. Aber Zimmermanns einzigartige Signatur ist überall auf “Freundlichbaracudamelodieliedgut” zu hören – ganz einfach, niemand sonst macht Musik so lieblich und leuchtend wie er.

Die ursprüngliche Veröffentlichung des Albums fiel mit einem Aufschwung des Interesses an der Musik aus Köln zusammen. Dies war ein einzigartiger Moment – einer, in dem Pop, Techno, House, Ambient, Avantgardismus, Musique Concrete, Heavy DSP und allerlei andere kreative Phänomene sich in der “Allgemeinen Gelee” der schnelllebigen, lebendigen musikalischen Gemeinschaften von Köln vermischten. Zimmermann stand in enger Verbindung mit der Musik der Labels A-Musik und Sonig – eine eng verbundene Gruppe von Künstlern rund um das A-Musik-Plattengeschäft, die alle möglichen seltsamen und wundervollen Musikrichtungen produzierten, von der Electronica von Mouse On Mars bis zu den Kompositionen von Marcus Schmickler, von der Elektroakustik von C-Schulz und Hajsch bis zur Digitalia von FX Randomiz. Zimmermann selbst würde mit letzterem an einem Album unter dem Namen Holosud zusammenarbeiten; Freunde wie Mouse On Mars und Reinhard Voigt von Kompakt tauchten in der Remix-EP von “Freundlichbaracudamelodieliedgut” auf.

Hier also eines der schönsten Alben seiner Zeit, ein Pop-Electronics-Album voller ernsthaftem Spiel, so feucht melancholisch wie melodisch fesselnd. “Freundlichbaracudamelodieliedgut” ist wahrlich eine seltene Schönheit.

Ils Veulent Nous Tuer is Bérurier Noir's 3rd maxi 45tours, the title of which is borrowed from the slogan of a banner unfurled by the mutineers from the roof of Fresnes prison. It was an apt title for the group, too, since at the time of its release, the political and police authorities decided to destabilise them by associating them with the Black War activists and arresting many of the Bérus' entourage.

It's a dark album, with hard-hitting lyrics rooted in the social reality of the time (1988) and tackling subjects as diverse as the problems of access to food for the precarious (On A Faim !), prison repression (Sur Les Toits), the excesses of marginal youth (Mineurs En Danger) and the omnipresence of the military and police in our daily lives (Et Hop !). The album compo

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The band's name alone evokes the epic of alternative rock: rebellious and committed.

Born by mistake on a February evening in 1983, Bérurier Noir soon found themselves the driving force behind a vast "Mouv'ment d'la Jeunesse", determined to take control of their lives in the face of a society that was ultra-conservative at the time. Times have hardly changed.

From their first self-produced records distributed by hand to the creation of self-managed labels, from concerts in squats and wild appearances at demonstrations, on the street or in the metro to endless tours, from interviews given to fanzines and free radio stations to unclassifiable appearances in the mainstream media, Bérurier Noir waged the most exciting war of independence in the history of French rock, with just a microphone, a guitar, a drum machine, a few red noses and patched-up theatre masks.

François, Loran and their 'Troupeau d'Rock' gave the last finger to this turbulent, irredeemable raia, committing hara-kiri at the height of their glory, during three final concerts in the heart of Paris in November 1989.

Forty years after its birth, Bérurier Noir's work continues to resonate, whether at demonstrations or free parties, fuelling the hopes of all those who wish to turn this world upside down and build a truly libertarian society based on solidarity and brotherhood.

For those who missed this unprecedented adventure, the Archives de la Zone Mondiale label is bringing you 8 recordings by Bérurier Noir in the form of limited-edition reissues on highly original colour vinyl ("crown" finish), distributed throughout the year.

Woods are in bloom again, inviting you to disappear into a new spectrum of colors and sounds and dreams on Perennial. Formed in Brooklyn in 2004, Woods have matured into a true independent institution, above and below the root, reliably emerging every few years with new music that grows towards the latest sky. Operating the Woodsist label since 2006 and curating the beloved homespun Woodsist Festival for the musical universe they’ve built, Perennial is the sound of a band on the edge of their 20th anniversary and still finding bold new ways to sound like (and challenge) themselves. Perennial grew from a bed of guitar/keyboard/drum loops by Woods head-in-chief Jeremy Earl, a form of winter night meditation that evolved into an unexplored mode of collaborative songwriting. With Earl’s starting points, he and bandmates Jarvis Taveniere and John Andrews convened, first at Earl’s house in New York, then at Panoramic House studio in Stinson Beach, California, site of sessions for 2020’s Strange To Explain. With a view of the sparkling Pacific and tape rolling, they began to build, jamming over the loops, switching instruments, and developing a few dozen building blocks. The album’s resulting 11 songs, 4 of them instrumental, are in the classic Woods mode--shimmering, familiar, fractionally unsettling--but with the half-invisible infinity boxes of Earl’s loops burbling beneath each like a mysterious underground source. From source to seed to bloom, each loop unfolds into something unpredictable, from the jeweled pop of the aching “Little Black Flowers” to the ecstatic starlit freak-beat of “Another Side.” They are blossomings both far-out and comforting, like the Mellotronic cloud-hopping of “Between the Past,” or sometimes just plain comforting, like the widescreen snowglobe fantasia of the instrumental “White Winter Melody,” touched by Connor Gallaher’s pedal steel. Woods have long used the studio as a place of songwriting, naming 2007’s At Rear House after their shared dwelling and recording space. But Perennial also carries with it an even longer view of Woods. Emerging from the process alongside the music was Earl’s reflection that “perennial plants and flowers are nature’s loops,” an idea rolling under the album’s lyrics like the loops themselves. It certainly applies to the band, too, who have quietly tended to a long, committed project of being a band in the weird-ass 21st century, both individually and communally. Though separated by coasts, the communal sprit carries through Earl, Taveniere, and Andrews’ collaboration, a living embodiment of the freedoms rediscovered every time a new collectively created piece of music emerges. For nearly two decades, Woods have survived subgenres, anchored in the fertile soil below hashtags like lo-fi and freak-folk and psychedelic and indie, and built a shared history that’s something to marvel at. As the flagship band for Woodsist, they’ve accumulated a striking extended family of collaborators (and Woods alum) that have made the label one of the most dependable imprints in the kaleidoscopic low-key underground. It’s a glow that’s transferred whole to the blissed-out Woodsist Fests held in Accord, New York in recent years, which have folded in a wide range of diverse sounds, from the the jazz cosmoverse of the Sun Ra Arkestra and adventurous legends Yo La Tengo, to a hard-to-even-count family tree of contemporaries, like Kevin Morby (who served a few tours of duty as Woods bassist) and Kurt Vile (who released his 2009 debut on Woodsist), a living community in sound. Perennial carries all of this, shaped by decades, but made in the moment, and here right now. The smell of the flowers doesn’t remain, but sometimes the flowers do. Jesse Jarnow Recorded and mixed by Jarvis Taveniere at Panoramic House in Stinson Beach, CA with additional recording at The Ship in Los Angeles, CA and Cottekill Bird Sanctuary in Stone Ridge, NY. Produced by Jarvis Taveniere and Jeremy Earl. Mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk at Stereophonic Mastering in Portland, OR. Jeremy Earl - vocals, guitars, drums, percussion, sk-5, mellotron, vibraphone, autoharp, loops Jarvis Taveniere - guitar, bass, upright bass, hammond, vocals John Andrews - piano, organs, mellotron, drums, vocals Connor Gallaher - Pedal Steel Kyle Forester - sax, wurlitzer

"PETROL", das zweite Album der Schweizer Doom-Visionäre TAR POND, wurde einerseits von US-Doom-Klassikern wie SAINT VITUS inspiriert, greift aber andererseits auch auf die britischen Wurzeln zu, die von BLACK SABBATH verkörpert werden. In anderen Momenten blitzt bei TAR POND eine Verbindung zu zeitgenössischen Doom-Acts wie ELECTRIC WIZARD und ACID BATH auf. Parallel dazu verkörpern TAR POND aber auch die bekannte Eigensinnigkeit des Schweizer Metal, der sich durch Individualität und kreative Eigenständigkeit auszeichnet, so wie es herausragende Acts wie CELTIC FROST, CORONER und ZEAL & ARDOR musikalisch vorgelebt haben. Als Martin Ain, Bassist der Kultband CELTIC FROST und eines der Gründungsmitglieder von TAR POND, im Oktober 2017 plötzlich verstarb, stand auf einmal alles in Frage. Der legendäre Schweizer Musiker hatte vor diesem tragischen Tag das Debütalbum bereits aufgenommen - zusammen mit den anderen Gründungsmitgliedern, dem ehemaligen CORONER-Drummer und Lyriker Marky Edelmann sowie dem renommierten Scratchboard-Künstler und Sänger Thomas Ott. Nach einer langer Pause und intensiven Überlegungen entschieden sich TAR POND schließlich dafür, als Band weiterzumachen und das Debüt im Gedenken an Martin Ain unter dem Titel "Protocol of Constant Sadness" zu veröffentlichen. Aufgenommen wurde das Debüt unter der Leitung von Produzent und Gitarren-Legende Tommy Vetterli (CORONER) in den Jahren 2016/17. Beflügelt von der enthusiastischen Reaktionen auf "Protocol of Constant Sadness", haben sich TAR POND erneut mit Tommy Vetterli im New Sound Studio zusammengetan, um den Nachfolger "PETROL" einzuspielen. Aufgrund von Besetzungswechseln vor und während der Studioaufnahmen ist "PETROL" aus einer Zusammenarbeit von alten und neuen Bandmitgliedern zu verschiedenen Zeiten entstanden. Trotz dieser Umstände erscheint das zweite Album sowohl kohärent als auch auf das erklärte Ziel von TAR POND fokussiert - nämlich: Einen Soundtrack aus brachialer Kraft und ein elektrisches Protokoll einer fortwährenden Traurigkeit abzuliefern. Während die Schweizer ihr Debüt unter der Bezeichnung 'Doom'n'Gloom' einordneten, wurde ihr Sound auch schon als eine Kombination aus Doom und Post-Metal beschrieben. Mit "PETROL" lösen TAR POND ihr ursprüngliches Versprechen ein: Dieses Album ist ein wunderbarer Soundtrack voller bedrückender Dunkelheit und tiefer Trauer.

Woods are in bloom again, inviting you to disappear into a new spectrum of colors and sounds and dreams on Perennial. Formed in Brooklyn in 2004, Woods have matured into a true independent institution, above and below the root, reliably emerging every few years with new music that grows towards the latest sky. Operating the Woodsist label since 2006 and curating the beloved homespun Woodsist Festival for the musical universe they’ve built, Perennial is the sound of a band on the edge of their 20th anniversary and still finding bold new ways to sound like (and challenge) themselves. Perennial grew from a bed of guitar/keyboard/drum loops by Woods head-in-chief Jeremy Earl, a form of winter night meditation that evolved into an unexplored mode of collaborative songwriting. With Earl’s starting points, he and bandmates Jarvis Taveniere and John Andrews convened, first at Earl’s house in New York, then at Panoramic House studio in Stinson Beach, California, site of sessions for 2020’s Strange To Explain. With a view of the sparkling Pacific and tape rolling, they began to build, jamming over the loops, switching instruments, and developing a few dozen building blocks. The album’s resulting 11 songs, 4 of them instrumental, are in the classic Woods mode--shimmering, familiar, fractionally unsettling--but with the half-invisible infinity boxes of Earl’s loops burbling beneath each like a mysterious underground source. From source to seed to bloom, each loop unfolds into something unpredictable, from the jeweled pop of the aching “Little Black Flowers” to the ecstatic starlit freak-beat of “Another Side.” They are blossomings both far-out and comforting, like the Mellotronic cloud-hopping of “Between the Past,” or sometimes just plain comforting, like the widescreen snowglobe fantasia of the instrumental “White Winter Melody,” touched by Connor Gallaher’s pedal steel. Woods have long used the studio as a place of songwriting, naming 2007’s At Rear House after their shared dwelling and recording space. But Perennial also carries with it an even longer view of Woods. Emerging from the process alongside the music was Earl’s reflection that “perennial plants and flowers are nature’s loops,” an idea rolling under the album’s lyrics like the loops themselves. It certainly applies to the band, too, who have quietly tended to a long, committed project of being a band in the weird-ass 21st century, both individually and communally. Though separated by coasts, the communal sprit carries through Earl, Taveniere, and Andrews’ collaboration, a living embodiment of the freedoms rediscovered every time a new collectively created piece of music emerges. For nearly two decades, Woods have survived subgenres, anchored in the fertile soil below hashtags like lo-fi and freak-folk and psychedelic and indie, and built a shared history that’s something to marvel at. As the flagship band for Woodsist, they’ve accumulated a striking extended family of collaborators (and Woods alum) that have made the label one of the most dependable imprints in the kaleidoscopic low-key underground. It’s a glow that’s transferred whole to the blissed-out Woodsist Fests held in Accord, New York in recent years, which have folded in a wide range of diverse sounds, from the the jazz cosmoverse of the Sun Ra Arkestra and adventurous legends Yo La Tengo, to a hard-to-even-count family tree of contemporaries, like Kevin Morby (who served a few tours of duty as Woods bassist) and Kurt Vile (who released his 2009 debut on Woodsist), a living community in sound. Perennial carries all of this, shaped by decades, but made in the moment, and here right now. The smell of the flowers doesn’t remain, but sometimes the flowers do. Jesse Jarnow Recorded and mixed by Jarvis Taveniere at Panoramic House in Stinson Beach, CA with additional recording at The Ship in Los Angeles, CA and Cottekill Bird Sanctuary in Stone Ridge, NY. Produced by Jarvis Taveniere and Jeremy Earl. Mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk at Stereophonic Mastering in Portland, OR. Jeremy Earl - vocals, guitars, drums, percussion, sk-5, mellotron, vibraphone, autoharp, loops Jarvis Taveniere - guitar, bass, upright bass, hammond, vocals John Andrews - piano, organs, mellotron, drums, vocals Connor Gallaher - Pedal Steel Kyle Forester - sax, wurlitzer

Das mit Spannung erwartete neue Album von Staind, Confessions of the Fallen - das erste neue Studioalbum der Band seit 2011 - wird am 15. September 2023 veröffentlicht.



Die 10 Tracks auf Confessions of the Fallen erkunden eine Vielzahl von klanglichen Nischen. Die Debütsingle "Lowest In Me" (derzeit auf Platz 2* der aktiven Rockcharts), "Cycle of Hurting", "Was Any of it Real?" und "Hate Me Too" preschen mit unerbittlicher Wut voran, wobei die Elektronik die frenetischen Angriffe der Musiker noch verstärkt. Tracks wie "Out of Time", "In This Condition" und "The Fray" zeichnen sich durch fließende Arrangements und mitreißende Dynamikwechsel aus, während "Here and Now" und das vorsichtig optimistische "Better Days" uns daran erinnern, dass Staind das Hübsche nicht fremd ist - wenn es angebracht ist, versteht sich. Textlich schöpft Confessions of the Fallen wieder aus den dunklen, nachdenklichen Ecken, die Lewis in Stainds Songs schon immer einbezog, trotzdem sind diese 10 Songs so persönlich wie nie zuvor. "Ich arbeite mich immer noch durch meine Probleme", sagt Aaron. "Und bis dahin träume ich von besseren Zeiten. Ich hoffe, so fühlt sich jeder im Moment... bessere Tage stehen uns noch bevor."



Eine Legion von Staind-Fans wird ihre besseren Tage sicherlich in den neuen Songs der Band finden.

Das mit Spannung erwartete neue Album von Staind, Confessions of the Fallen - das erste neue Studioalbum der Band seit 2011 - wird am 15. September 2023 veröffentlicht.



Die 10 Tracks auf Confessions of the Fallen erkunden eine Vielzahl von klanglichen Nischen. Die Debütsingle "Lowest In Me" (derzeit auf Platz 2* der aktiven Rockcharts), "Cycle of Hurting", "Was Any of it Real?" und "Hate Me Too" preschen mit unerbittlicher Wut voran, wobei die Elektronik die frenetischen Angriffe der Musiker noch verstärkt. Tracks wie "Out of Time", "In This Condition" und "The Fray" zeichnen sich durch fließende Arrangements und mitreißende Dynamikwechsel aus, während "Here and Now" und das vorsichtig optimistische "Better Days" uns daran erinnern, dass Staind das Hübsche nicht fremd ist - wenn es angebracht ist, versteht sich. Textlich schöpft Confessions of the Fallen wieder aus den dunklen, nachdenklichen Ecken, die Lewis in Stainds Songs schon immer einbezog, trotzdem sind diese 10 Songs so persönlich wie nie zuvor. "Ich arbeite mich immer noch durch meine Probleme", sagt Aaron. "Und bis dahin träume ich von besseren Zeiten. Ich hoffe, so fühlt sich jeder im Moment... bessere Tage stehen uns noch bevor."



Eine Legion von Staind-Fans wird ihre besseren Tage sicherlich in den neuen Songs der Band finden.

Cypress Hill’s self-titled debut album was hard as nails, with very few pop concessions. There was humor, but it was laced by cackling, homicidal sneering. Not well known outside of the hardcore hip-hop scene at first, faces of the three group members weren’t usually shown clearly in press photos; they preferred the shadows. As their first singles began hitting the airwaves and record racks, the press and music fans started to take notice.


From the opening notes of the group’s first single, “The Phuncky Feel One,” to deeper album cuts like “Stoned Is The Way Of The Walk” and “Tres Equis,” it was clear that Cypress Hill was something different. And very, very dope. The world Cypress Hill espoused was gang-ridden and far from cheery, but they managed to laugh through the pain. Lead rapper B-Real took each fuzzed-out, rock-hard DJ Muggs beat as a challenge, jumping around it like a spark off a joint as it makes its way to the concrete. MC Sen Dog always had B-Real’s back, to bring intensity and a no-bullshit gruffness that made the group both menacing and unpredictable.


When they introduced percussionist Eric Bobo to the mix in the early 90s, it brought new dimension to the band, making their live performances one of the most unique and accomplished shows in hip-hop. Journalist and author Chris Faraone highlights the group’s relationship in the reissue’s liner notes (which is included only in limited edition Skull) saying, “By the late ‘80s the undisputed Cypress unit finally formed. B and Sen realized that their diametric styles - the latter’s deep wrangle, the former’s inimitable high notes - complemented one another righteously. By then Muggs had bangers in the bag, as well as industry experience from a jaunt with the New York duo 7A3. B and Sen waited while Muggs messed with 7A3, and in that time began to build the blueprint for their raucous and weeded no-holds-barred style. Besides getting schooled on industry pitfalls, Muggs had also grown into hip-hop’s most formidable young producer, while straddling the bi-coastal gap.”

Cypress Hill’s debut went gold by the end of 1991 and has since pushed past double platinum status, making it the first album for a Latino-American hip hop group to do so. The album received raves from the likes of Rolling Stone and the Los Angeles Times, saw a #1 Hot Rap Single with the release of “The Phuncky One” and helped the band win Artist Of The Year at the 1992 Source Awards. After 25 years, it should come as no surprise that Cypress Hill is a cornerstone of the group’s live set to this day.

From the very successful Jamaican Recordings 7'' Singles Club, here is the 24TH release

One of Linval Thompson's big hits for producer Bunny Lee in the mid 1970's backed with its conquering dub cut

In the late '70s, The Avengers established themselves as one of the US's preeminent punk bands. Fusing incisive guitar hooks, explosive rhythms and adolescent venom, the group forged some of the most in-your-face songs of the era. Their live shows were legendary, playing up and down the West Coast and even blowing Sex Pistols off the stage at the latter's final performance.

As Byron Coley writes in the liner notes, "Of the best bands of San Francisco's first wave in 1977, The Avengers were by far the coolest and youngest sounding. They roared without irony, as though this were indeed Year Zero (and, for a moment, it was) with history being overwritten by the new. The honesty of their belief was carried by their sound. And it was convincing!"

Originally released in 1983, four years after the band's dissolution, The Avengers' self-titled LP is often referred to as "The Pink Album" for its magenta-hued cover design. Frontwoman Penelope Houston's iconic voice and razor-sharp lyrics resonate on anthems "We Are The One" and "The American In Me," while penetrating ballads like "Corpus Christi" reveal a truly out-of-body euphony.

The Pink Album remains The Avengers' definitive statement - collecting their classic Dangerhouse EP, sessions recorded with the Pistols' Steve Jones and a half-dozen revelatory demos. While much has been written about The Avengers in the past three decades, rock critic Greil Marcus puts it succinctly, "The word I always come back to is mystical, and that remains almost theirs alone."

2023 Repress
The most obscure and sought after italian electronic release, but also another extraordinary 70s output from the legendary Regson Studio of Milan (remembering in 1976 "Funky Bump" and a year later "Disco Shitan", both produced by Pino Presti). The eclectic brother of Vangelis (chit> he was playing keyboards like him), helped by Yorgos Pentzikis for the "vocoder" vocals, reached the right sound for one of the craziest electronic disco song now available for for the first time on 12, containing also the unreleased instrumental version. Nikos Papathanassiou in 1976 achieving success with the disco-hit "U" by Chrisma, but Maurizio Arcieri (cousin of Pino Presti and Chrisma's leader), moved towards new-wave and punk. So for the orchestral conducting of a new cosmic-disco project titled MoreI Like It he involved Rodolfo Grieco who later produced in the emerging genre of Italo-Disco great classics like "Going Crazy" by Lily Ann."

On Rock Island, their second LP, Palm produces evidence of a distinct musical language, developed over time, in isolation, and out of necessity. On the island, melodies are struck on what might be shells or spines. Rhythms are scratched out, swept over, scratched again. Individual instruments, and sometimes entire sections, skip and stutter. There is the sense of a music box with wonky tension or a warped transmission in which all the noise is taken for signal.

Like other groups so acclaimed for their compulsive live show, Palm has been burdened by the constant comparison between their recorded material and their touring set. On Rock Island, they render this tired discussion moot, using the album form to present that which could never be completely live, reserving for performance that which could never be completely reproduced.

Despite appearing behind the instruments typical of rock music, Palm trades in sounds of their own making. On these songs, one of the guitars and the drum kit are used as MIDI triggers, producing an index that can be combed through later and replaced with new information. The percussion is sometimes augmented so as to suggest a multiplication of limbs. The strings are manipulated to choke, crack, and hum like other instruments, or other bodies, might.

Working again with engineer Matt Labozza, the band spent the better part of a month in a rented farmhouse in Upstate New York. With the benefits of time and space, Palm recorded the various elements piecemeal, only rarely playing together in groups larger than two or three. While some members tracked, others holed up in the next room, experimenting with quantization, beat replacement, and other methods borrowed from electronic music. Even accounting for the many labors that brought them to be, these materials seem produced by an organic logic. Their complex friction forms a habit of thought, scores a network of grooves on the floor of the mind.

This is music with dimensionality. Sonic objects are deployed, developed, and dissected in various states of mutation. The listener flits about between the field and the lab. The tone is warm in a way only the sun could make, the pace as forceful and as variable as a gale. Whether one locates Rock Island in a sea or in a refinished attic (as in Greg Burak's album cover), whether one escapes to there or is banished, its psychic environs are charted clearly enough. Only at this remove from the mainland can we sense the conditions necessary for such a strange species of sound.

RYUICHI SAKAMOTO'S LANDMARK 1981 ALBUM REISSUED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN DECADES OUTSIDE OF JAPAN. THE ALBUM WILL BE REISSUED IN ITS RARE JAPANESE EDITION TOGETHER WITH A 2-LP LIMITED EDITION FEATURING THE ALBUM PLUS A 2ND LP FEATURING ITS NEVER-RELEASED FULL INSTRUMENTAL MIX, ALL REMASTERED BY BERNIE GRUNDMAN.

Wewantsounds is proud to announce the reissue of Ryuichi Sakamoto's third solo album "Hidari Ude No Yume" (Left Handed Dream), originally released in 1981 on the Alfa label. Save for a small-scale Dutch vinyl release in 1981, it is the first time the album's original Japanese edition is released outside of Japan (the European release on Epic Records included significantly different tracks and mixes). Newly remastered from the original tapes by renowned engineer Bernie Grundman, this LP edition comes with original artwork featuring a striking cover shot by famous photographer Masayoshi Sukita (sourced from the original negative), OBI strip and 4-page insert with new introduction by journalist Anton Spice. The album will also be released as a 2-LP limited edition gatefold including the album's full instrumental mix.
Ryuichi Sakamoto's third album, "Hidari Ude No Yume" was recorded at the legendary Alfa Studio 'A' in Tokyo during the Summer of 1981. it came after "B-2 Unit" in 1980 and his debut album "Thousand Knives Of" in 1978, the very year Sakamoto was invited by Haruomi Hosono to join Yellow Magic Orchestra alongside Yukihiro Takahashi. In the process, they became global stars as the group rewrote the rules of electronic pop and toured around the world, yet Sakamoto was keen to remain active as a solo artist.
?In 1981, the musician decided to record an album rooted in Pop, following "B-2 Unit" which had a more of an experimental edge and his landmark electro debut from 1978. For this new album entitled "Hidari Ude No Yume," Sakamoto invited British producer Robin Scott, who had had huge hit with 'Pop Muzik,' to co-produce. They entered the Alfa studio in July 1981, accompanied by a handful of musicians. These included his fellow YMO musicians Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, keyboard programmer extraordinaire Hideki Matsutake who'd been on Sakamoto's first two albums and became YMO's unofficial fourth member, violinist Kaoru Sato, saxophonist Satoshi Nakamura and American guitarist Adrian Belew who'd played with David Bowie, The Talking Heads' "Remain In Light" and more recently, Tom Tom Club’s debut (co-writing 'Genius Of Love').
?Together, they created a fascinating mix of pop, ambient and electronic music with elements of avant garde and traditional Japanese music, the whole firmly rooted in a solid groove. Sakamoto wanted to give the album a spontaneous feel and decided to let ideas flow and evolve organically during the sessions as musicians would develop them together. From the funk of 'Relâché' to the new wave feel of 'Venezia' and the ambient minimalism of 'Slat Dance,' the album is remarkably consistent while displaying a wealth of global influences as shown by the diversity of instruments featured on the credits: Marimba, didgeridu, traditional Japanese instruments such as the Sho and Hichiriki flutes.
?The album was released in Japan in 1981 and Epic Records picked it up for Europe a year later but decided to release it in a significantly altered version. The sequencing was completely reshuffled and two tracks, 'Saru No Ie' and 'Living In The Dark' were completely dropped while three others, ‘Relâché’, ‘Tell 'em To Me’, ‘Venezia’ were heavily remodelled with english lyrics and became 'Just About Enough', 'Once In A Lifetime' and 'The Left Bank'. Last but not least, a new English-sung track, 'The Arrangement,' was added, making the album nine tracks instead of ten for the Japanese edition.
Altogether this International version called "Left-Handed Dream" was a very different album from the Japanese one and although both were successful at the time and further established Ryuichi Sakamoto as a global solo artist, the Japanese edition of "Hidari Ude No Yume" remains largely unknown to international ears.
Wewantsounds is now delighted to release this original Japanese edition for the first time in decades as a single LP together with a 2-LP limited-edition set adding, as a bonus, its fascinating instrumental mix, discovered in the label's vaults a few years ago (Note that 'The Garden Of Poppies', 'Slat Dance' and 'Saru No Ie' are instrumentals but for the consistency of the album we kept them on the Instrumental Mix). "Hidari Ude No Yume" is an essential album in Ryuichi Sakamoto's rich discography. It is now available in its purest original Japanese form.

Watch The Sun is the next studio album from the acclaimed musician, PJ Morton. Following a prolific and remarkable creative run that saw 5 consecutive years of GRAMMY Nominations and 6 LPs since 2017, Watch The Sun aims to take a step back from it all. Looking to escape from outside noises and influences, PJ Morton chose to record in the secluded and storied Studio In The Country, where Stevie Wonder worked on 1979’s Journey Through The Secret Life of Plants, and artists like Allen Toussaint, Betty Davis and Dr. John have all recorded. Featuring the previously released “Please Don’t Walk Away,” & “My Peace,” the album is set to be his biggest and most anticipated release to date, delivering one of the most expansive sonic palettes he has ever developed as producer. Watch The Sun includes appearances from JoJo, Mr. Talkbox, Chronixx, Stevie Wonder, Nas, Wale, Jill Scott, Alex Isley, El Debarge, Zacardi Cortez, Gene Moore, Samoht, Tim Rogers & Darrel 'MusiqCity' Walls.

The second physical release from UK based label 'Supa Records' features two fresh tracks in a new school jungle music style.

Kicking off with the choppy breaks, plastic snares and 4x4 inspired bassline on 'Values', the flip adds contrast, with the moody, cinematic sound design on 'Sometimes I Wonder', making you wait before delivering a heavy amen break.
Both tracks are produced by Supa Records founder: Supa Ape.

Supa Records is a UK based imprint dropping old-school jungle with a cinematic feel and focus on melody. Remaining true to the core jungle elements, the aim is to deliver a unique take on what is a typically sample lead genre.

Supa Ape has released other vinyl on Satta Sounds, UK Jungle Records, Destroy Oh Boy & Scared Money.

Hammered Hulls' debut LP, Careening, may very well be the last record to be recorded and mixed at the famed Washington, D.C. area recording studio, Inner Ear. Engineered by studio owner Don Zientara and produced by Ian MacKaye, Careening was started right before the pandemic lockdown and completed in summer/fall of 2021.

A new band of long-time players, Hammered Hulls' music hews close to some of their early influences. Alec MacKaye is the voice, Mark Cisneros is the guitarist, Mary Timony takes a nimble and rarely-heard turn as bassist, and Chris Wilson commands the drums. Each of them bring their individual imprint to the total sound. This concussion of strength upon strength, unified by vulnerable songs, only barely contained, is the signature sound of Hammered Hulls.

Dubquake Records dig deep in the vaults to reissue five more iconic Iration Steppas tracks from the 90’s!

Still buzzing from the hype around Part 1 of the ‘90’s Classic Cutz’, this new drop includes their very first release ‘Scud Missile’, the legendary ‘Hard Time Pressure In A Babylon’, ‘Locks’ featuring Tena Stelin, ‘Kitachi In Dubwize’ and their spiced up remix of Vibronics’ ‘One Drop’.

These tracks were produced and mixed by Iration Steppas’ founding members Mark Iration and Dennis Rootical at the High Rise Studio in Chapeltown, Leeds. At the time, the dub-making-duo were heavily experimenting with new sounds, blending dub with acid soundscapes in a way that had never been done before. At the frontier of reggae and electronic music, their ‘Dub Inna Year 3000 Style’ re-defined UK Dub in the 90’s and continues to inspire the new generation.

All tracks have been remastered and put onto five separate 12” slabs of wax. And to add to the excitement, each release features original mixes + previously unreleased ‘dubplate cutz’ that could only be heard live up till now!

Dubquake Records dig deep in the vaults to reissue five more iconic Iration Steppas tracks from the 90’s!

Still buzzing from the hype around Part 1 of the ‘90’s Classic Cutz’, this new drop includes their very first release ‘Scud Missile’, the legendary ‘Hard Time Pressure In A Babylon’, ‘Locks’ featuring Tena Stelin, ‘Kitachi In Dubwize’ and their spiced up remix of Vibronics’ ‘One Drop’.

These tracks were produced and mixed by Iration Steppas’ founding members Mark Iration and Dennis Rootical at the High Rise Studio in Chapeltown, Leeds. At the time, the dub-making-duo were heavily experimenting with new sounds, blending dub with acid soundscapes in a way that had never been done before. At the frontier of reggae and electronic music, their ‘Dub Inna Year 3000 Style’ re-defined UK Dub in the 90’s and continues to inspire the new generation.

All tracks have been remastered and put onto five separate 12” slabs of wax. And to add to the excitement, each release features original mixes + previously unreleased ‘dubplate cutz’ that could only be heard live up till now!

Dubquake Records dig deep in the vaults to reissue five more iconic Iration Steppas tracks from the 90’s!

Still buzzing from the hype around Part 1 of the ‘90’s Classic Cutz’, this new drop includes their very first release ‘Scud Missile’, the legendary ‘Hard Time Pressure In A Babylon’, ‘Locks’ featuring Tena Stelin, ‘Kitachi In Dubwize’ and their spiced up remix of Vibronics’ ‘One Drop’.

These tracks were produced and mixed by Iration Steppas’ founding members Mark Iration and Dennis Rootical at the High Rise Studio in Chapeltown, Leeds. At the time, the dub-making-duo were heavily experimenting with new sounds, blending dub with acid soundscapes in a way that had never been done before. At the frontier of reggae and electronic music, their ‘Dub Inna Year 3000 Style’ re-defined UK Dub in the 90’s and continues to inspire the new generation.

All tracks have been remastered and put onto five separate 12” slabs of wax. And to add to the excitement, each release features original mixes + previously unreleased ‘dubplate cutz’ that could only be heard live up till now!

Dubquake Records dig deep in the vaults to reissue five more iconic Iration Steppas tracks from the 90’s!

Still buzzing from the hype around Part 1 of the ‘90’s Classic Cutz’, this new drop includes their very first release ‘Scud Missile’, the legendary ‘Hard Time Pressure In A Babylon’, ‘Locks’ featuring Tena Stelin, ‘Kitachi In Dubwize’ and their spiced up remix of Vibronics’ ‘One Drop’.

These tracks were produced and mixed by Iration Steppas’ founding members Mark Iration and Dennis Rootical at the High Rise Studio in Chapeltown, Leeds. At the time, the dub-making-duo were heavily experimenting with new sounds, blending dub with acid soundscapes in a way that had never been done before. At the frontier of reggae and electronic music, their ‘Dub Inna Year 3000 Style’ re-defined UK Dub in the 90’s and continues to inspire the new generation.

All tracks have been remastered and put onto five separate 12” slabs of wax. And to add to the excitment, each release features original mixes + previously unreleased ‘dubplate cutz’ that could only be heard live up till now!

Margo Cilker's sophomore album, Valley of Heart’s Delight, refers to a place she can't return: California’s Santa Clara Valley, as it was known before the orchards were paved over and became more famous for Silicon than apricots. In this 11-song follow-up to 2021's critically acclaimed Pohorylle, family and nature intertwine as guiding motifs, at once precious and endangered, beautiful and exhausting. Cilker and Pohorylle producer Sera Cahoone brought most of that record's highly-acclaimed crew (studio players for The Decemberists, Band Of Horses, and Beirut) back to the studio with additional contributions from acclaimed Northwest traditionalist Caleb Klauder. Valley of Heart's Delight, Cilker's second record on Portland, Oregon label Fluff & Gravy Records, follows a year busily reaping the fruits of Pohorylle's success, with festival appearances at Pickathon, Treefort, and End Of The Road, and tours supporting American Aquarium, Hayes Carll, Drive-By Truckers, and Joshua Ray Walker. Margo Cilker lives near the Columbia River in Goldendale, Washington with her husband, songwriter and working cowboy Forrest VanTuyl, as well as their dog and some horses.

An evolved, ecosystemic love expression of Carlos Niño"s self-described "Spiritual, Improvisational, Space, Collage" expression - (I"m just) Chillin", on Fire is the prolific percussionist/producer"s most singular, intentional work ever, featuring a vibrant and abundant gathering of his "friends" (i.e. the highly skilled and accomplished musicians and improvisers that make up Niño"s extensive network of collaborators)

Shuji Katayama is a composer and an arranger who is part of the Team-MAX group. He composed all the music for the series (4 seasons). He also participated in the musical compositions of Boruto and the film Naruto The Last. Synopsis of the series : We are in the year 2138.

Yggdrasil, the famous hit MMORPG is about to close. Momonga, the founder of the guild whose fame is no longer to be done, waits alone for the end of the game. However, the closing time has passed, Momonga does not disconnect and the non-playable characters find themselves gradually of a consciousness… A new world is about to make its appearance.


















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Nonesuch releases Sorry I Haven’t Called, the new album by Vagabon, the moniker of Lætitia Tamko. Co-produced by Tamko and Rostam (Vampire Weekend, Haim, Clairo), it finds Tamko reinventing herself once again and features the most playful and adventurous music of her career, as evidenced by its lead track and opening song ‘Can I Talk My Shit?’. Vagabon has also announced an autumn tour that includes a headline run in the US, as well as European dates with Weyes Blood.



“I didn’t feel like being introspective,” says Tamko of her new album. “I just wanted to have fun.” Following her intimate 2017 debut Infinite Worlds, the New York artist favoured expansive and evocative electronic textures in her breakthrough 2019 self-titled follow-up. But her latest album feels like a wholly new era for Tamko, one that’s transformational and uncompromising. Across 12 vibrant tracks she wrote and produced primarily in Germany, she channels dance music and effervescent pop through her own confident sensibilities. These conversational songs are alive and unselfconscious, a document of an artist fully embracing her vision and reclaiming her joy.



The first words she sings on the album are, “Can I talk my shit? / I got way too high for this.” It’s a statement of purpose for the rest of the album that this is an unapologetic artist. “This whole record is how I talk to my friends and how to talk to my lovers,” says Tamko. “I think honesty and conversational songwriting can become poetry. There’s beauty in plainly speaking without metaphors and without flowery imagery.”



The story of Sorry I Haven’t Called started in grief after Tamko’s best friend died in 2021. This devastating and unexpected loss unmoored Tamko but also gave her a newfound clarity. “The things that I thought I cared about, I no longer cared about,” she says. “I had a realization that I need to make sure to feel everything that comes my way.” She decided to sell her things and move to a small lakeside village a few hours north of Hamburg in northern Germany to process everything. “There's no linear path to grief, and everyone handles it differently, but uprooting my life just felt like exactly what I had to do,” says Tamko. “I needed a place to think and go through my discomfort privately but to also explore the newness and urgency I was feeling in my life.” In the village, her phone didn’t work and there were no close grocery stores or restaurants, so she spent her time alone working on music.



Despite the palpable absence in her life, her new songs were her most disarming and ebullient yet. The first one she wrote was ‘Carpenter’, a mesmerizing track anchored by a tangible bass groove, where she sings, “I wasn’t ready to move on out / but I'm more ready now.” It’s a fully-realised track and feels like the culmination of her catalogue so far. “A lot of the music that I was making there had nothing to do with my grief at all,” says Tamko. “Once I gave myself permission to make a record that's full of life and energy, I realized that’s the point of this album. In the midst of going through all of these tough things, it became a record because of the vitality that these songs had.” For Tamko, there’s power in pursuing happiness.



While writing in Germany, Tamko nurtured her love for dance music and let it seep into her new songs. “The only things that were giving me access to a feeling were dance music and going to a rave in an extremely dark club where if I wanted to cry, I could do it and be around other people,” she says.



After a few months in Germany that included marathon writing sessions and a whirlwind romance, Tamko decided to stay with friends in Los Angeles and finish her record. She enlisted co-producer Rostam to help her unify her vision.



Sorry I Haven’t Called is a warm and resilient album about embracing the ecstatic moments wherever you can by knowing how you love and how you mourn. It’s an album born of both communal dancefloor revelations and the clarifying peace from solitude, an emotional rebirth as well as an artistic one. “This record feels like what I've been working towards,” says Tamko. “When I think of this album, I think of playfulness. It's completely euphoric. It's because things were dark that this record is so full of life and energy. It’s a reaction to what I was experiencing at the time, not a document of it.”

Trumpeter, bandleader and composer Matthew Halsall announces landmark new album An Ever Changing View, an expansive, immaculately conceived project which presents Halsall’s signature blend of jazz, electronica, global and spiritual jazz influences.

An Ever Changing View will be released on September 8th on Gondwana Records (the label Halsall founded 15 years ago) ahead of a landmark show at The Royal Albert Hall in London on September 21st and UK and EU tour dates.

Halsall who has been hailed as one of the leading figures of the UK jazz renaissance has never seen himself as part of any one sound or scene: he builds his own sonic universe instead. An Ever Changing View finds him at his most experimental yet, once again expanding his sound and production techniques to create his unique brand of deeply meditative music.

During the album's creation, he was staying in both a beautiful architect’s house with breath-taking sea views and a striking modernist house, where he composed what he saw “like a landscape painting”. In these new environments, Halsall wanted to capture “the feeling of openness and escapism” and to approach making music again from scratch. “I hit the reset button and wanted to have complete musical freedom,” he says. “It was a real exploration of sound.”

It was hearing jazz on the dancefloor as a teenager that first opened up new possibilities in Halsall’s mind and his music has long drawn on his love for the spiritual jazz of Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders and contemporary electronica from the likes of Warp Records and Ninja Tune. An Ever Changing View melds those forms in a way that feels heady and, at times, even otherworldly. One of the album’s starting points was Halsall’s ever-expanding box of percussion, from congas and kalimba to various clusters of seeds, bells and chimes, which he sampled and looped to use as a foundation for the songs – a first for him and his band. Elevating, charming, totally modern jazz tracks jostle with deft warm magic realism; and laid back grooves with hand percussion, deep bass and the gorgeous glisten of the Fender Rhodes meet hip-hop beats. Halsall himself sparkles, illuminating his beautiful tapestries of sound with lithe, glistening elegiac trumpet.

Trumpeter, bandleader and composer Matthew Halsall announces landmark new album An Ever Changing View, an expansive, immaculately conceived project which presents Halsall’s signature blend of jazz, electronica, global and spiritual jazz influences.



An Ever Changing View will be released on September 8th on Gondwana Records (the label Halsall founded 15 years ago) ahead of a landmark show at The Royal Albert Hall in London on September 21st and UK and EU tour dates.



Halsall who has been hailed as one of the leading figures of the UK jazz renaissance has never seen himself as part of any one sound or scene: he builds his own sonic universe instead. An Ever Changing View finds him at his most experimental yet, once again expanding his sound and production techniques to create his unique brand of deeply meditative music.



During the album's creation, he was staying in both a beautiful architect’s house with breath-taking sea views and a striking modernist house, where he composed what he saw “like a landscape painting”. In these new environments, Halsall wanted to capture “the feeling of openness and escapism” and to approach making music again from scratch. “I hit the reset button and wanted to have complete musical freedom,” he says. “It was a real exploration of sound.”



It was hearing jazz on the dancefloor as a teenager that first opened up new possibilities in Halsall’s mind and his music has long drawn on his love for the spiritual jazz of Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders and contemporary electronica from the likes of Warp Records and Ninja Tune. An Ever Changing View melds those forms in a way that feels heady and, at times, even otherworldly. One of the album’s starting points was Halsall’s ever-expanding box of percussion, from congas and kalimba to various clusters of seeds, bells and chimes, which he sampled and looped to use as a foundation for the songs – a first for him and his band. Elevating, charming, totally modern jazz tracks jostle with deft warm magic realism; and laid back grooves with hand percussion, deep bass and the gorgeous glisten of the Fender Rhodes meet hip-hop beats. Halsall himself sparkles, illuminating his beautiful tapestries of sound with lithe, glistening elegiac trumpet.

R&B, funk and soul icons Kool & The Gang are returning with a new album release – People Just Wanna Have Fun is out July 14, 2023 on Astana Music Inc. With six decades of hits, the internationally celebrated group continues to tour the world and recently performed on Good Morning America. The band is led by founding members Robert “Kool” Bell (bassist) and George “Funky” Brown (keyboardist, drummer & producer of this album), whose book Too Hot: Kool & the Gang & Me will be released on July 11, 2023. Continuing to release music that makes the good times better and the bad times more bearable, this collection will be the band’s 34th studio album, featuring some of the last studio work by founding horn players, Kool’s brother Ronald “Khalis” Bell and Dennis “D.T.” Thomas, who passed in 2020 and 2021. Lead vocals on the album also include Sha Sha Jones, Shawn McQuiller, Lavell Evans, Dominique Karan, Rick Marcel and Walt Anderson, plus rappers Ami Miller & Ole’. Both Bell and Brown view People Just Wanna Have Fun as a summation of their long career, during which they sold 70 million albums worldwide with hit singles like “Celebration,” “Ladies Night,” “Get Down on It,” “Hollywood Swinging” & beyond. Since their start in 1964, the group has amassed two Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, a BET Soul Train Lifetime Achievement Award and star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Kool’s bass guitar is even featured in the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC. From Newark to Nairobi, Kool & the Gang have performed continuously longer than any R&B group in history and are the most sampled R&B band of all time, including by Madonna, Jay-Z, Beastie Boys, Janet Jackson, Cypress Hill and P. Diddy.

Factory Benelux presents a limited crystal clear vinyl edition of Dark Light, the eighth studio album from post-punk trailblazers Section 25, originally released in 2013.
Recorded in 2012, Dark Light would be the band’s first collection of new material since the tragic loss of founder Larry Cassidy in 2010, and marked a return to the smooth electro and synth-pop textures first explored on their seminal 1984 album From the Hip. These echoes are amplified by the presence of co-vocalists Beth and Jo Cassidy, as well as a sublime cover image by iconic artist/designer Peter Saville.
Much of Dark Light was produced in collaboration with remixer Derek Miller (aka Outernationale), and includes new versions of single tracks Colour Movement Sex & Violence and Inner Drive. Other stand-out cuts include future pop classic My Outrage, also released as a single on Record Store Day.
“A revelation. The group were once doomy post-punks whose 1984 electronic album From the Hip anticipated house music and thrilled New York clubland. Now the deaths of singers Larry and Jenny Cassidy have inspired their daughter Bethany to carry on the family business and give the band a makeover. The collision of the original members’ brittle rhythms and the angelic voices of Bethany and similarly fresh-faced co-singer Jo takes recent material into shimmering club-pop heaven” (The Guardian, 2014)
Now released on vinyl for the very first time, FBN 145 is limited to just 500 copies pressed on crystal clear vinyl. The digital copy contains several bonus tracks.

Ash sind seit 30 Jahren zusammen, aber es waren die zwei Jahre, die sie voneinander getrennt waren, die sie zu ihrem brillanten neuen Album inspirierten. Wie der Rest der Welt wurden auch Tim Wheeler (Gitarre/Gesang), Mark Hamilton (Bass) und Rick McMurray (Schlagzeug) von der Pandemie überrumpelt. Es war nicht nur die erste längere Auszeit, die die Band in ihrer unglaublichen drei Jahrzehnte währenden Karriere hatte, sondern auch die längste Zeit, in der die drei sich nicht gesehen hatten, seit sie sich in der Schule in Downpatrick, Nordirland, erstmals begegnet waren. Tim Wheeler - wie man es von einem der größten Songschreiber seiner Generation erwarten würde - hatte während Ashs Zwangspause weiter Songs geschrieben. Zum Reboot-Camp der Band erschien er bereit zum Loslegen mit einem Rucksack voller Hard-Rock-Hymnen. Und schwere Zeiten verlangen schließlich nach härterer Musik. Das selbst produzierte "Race The Night" - das achte Studioalbum der Band - ist in jeder Hinsicht herausragend. Aufgenommen im Oh Yeah-Studio in Belfast und mit neuem Fokus, kombiniert die Platte die unwiderstehlichen Rock-Riffs von "Meltdown" (2004) mit der melodischen Meisterschaft von "Free All Angels" (2001) - und das alles verpackt mit einem deutlichen Twist ins Jahr 2023. Und mit den fernen Anzeichen eines oft beschworenen Rock-Revivals am Horizont, könnte es das essentielle gitarrenzentrierte, hymnenreiche Album sein, auf das die Welt gewartet hat. Seit Ash als Teenager mit ihrem Nummer-Eins-Debütalbum "1977" aus Downpatrick auftauchten, ist die Band ein vitales, wachsendes Anliegen. Die meisten ihrer Zeitgenossen sind verschwunden oder haben sich zumindest aufgelöst, bevor sie zurückkehrten, aber Ashs Licht leuchtet so hell wie eh und je. Für dieses Album sind sie sogar zu Fierce Panda Records zurückgekehrt, die eine ihrer ersten Aufnahmen, "Punkboy", auf der 1994 erschienenen Crazed And Confused EP veröffentlicht haben.

Its been five years since Belgium's WeMe Records lovingly selected the first ever collection of Heinrich Mueller's (Drexciya/Doppleffekt) best remixes/remodels for a new generation of listeners that won't have to pay collector prices to have them on vinyl. Volume 2 of False Vacuum is now with us and still has riches to choose from.

These 13 rare and hard to find tracks (3 of which make their vinyl debut) all deliver in different ways as he systematically reinvents each one.

Beginning with his raw and now classic remix of Ultradyne's 'Clones', the hard-edged dance-floor friendly 'Woman's Scent' by Cisco Ferreira (The Advent), the more laidback and futuristic sounding 'Bohrium 274' by Jauzas the Shining and Victoria Lukas, the slow and mysterious and first time on vinyl 'Somehow' by Rough Days For Diamond Trade, reinventing the darkest of dance-floors on 'Rytumtraks 0002' by Albert van Abbe, the moody masterpiece and first time on vinyl 'Now We Continue' by White Car, Duplex's 'Autoslug' sounding like its been rearranged inside a black-hole, a balancing act between the light and darkness on Fasenuova 'Cachito Turulo', an insistent rise and falling workout for As One's 'Where Did He Go and Why', a tightly wound and almost meditative 'The Truth' by The Exaltics, an angular stomping march of the robots 'Longwang' by 6D22, a jumpy fidgety groove for first time on vinyl 'Forty Eight Hours' by Yan Wagner and perhaps one of his most sublime pieces is kept for last with 'So Long For A Small Storm' by Dollska.

BOTANICA is the newly established Japanese label created by DJ/ Producer, Iori Wakasa. It was formed for him to utilize it as a foundation for the realization of his own unique, artistic expression.
And now, he has the pleasure to announce his label’s inaugural title with the release of his own BOTANICA EP.

Born in 1988 in a rural Japanese city surrounded by mountains and the sea with a mild climate, Iori grew up playing RPGs with a father who was a devoted game aficionado. And he was introduced to electronic music through game music from an early age and formed his musical sensibilities through playing the classical piano around the same time.

Influenced by the spirituality and idiosyncrasies of punk rock and ethnic and indigenous music in his youth, also gradually influenced by the Tokyo club scene and the music, it didn't take him long before
he made the choice to start DJing at the age of 17 and soon afterwards, started exploring the path of music production as a form of self-expression.

Iori set up Botanica to convey 2 main concepts of 'presenting music that provides each listener with their own viewpoint' and ‘to construct a fusion between 'nature' and 'man-made objects and human
activity’. Through the experience of traveling around Japan, Europe and Asia and connecting with people of different languages and cultures, he became to appreciate that music transcends all languages and grooves, and the framework in which he would like to shape his perspective and embody it as his way of life is what he envisions as the vital expression for BOTANICA, The two tracks and the artwork included in this first EP are the first steps towards hopefully chronicling the story of the vortex that he resides in now and the new forest that he plans to weave in the future with his label.

'The Pure Land' means in Japanese 'Gokuraku-Jodo (= a space where you can live in bliss)', but in English it is closer to 'utopia' or 'paradise'. However, 'The Pure Land' is a musical work that evokes a
hypnotic and pleasant euphoria through the gradual layering of multiple rhythms and soft particles of spatial sound design. It is also shaped with the aim of liberating the listener and guiding them towards their primal self.

In contrast, 'Lunar Down' expresses the changes that occur in the human state of mind during the extended period from moonrise to moonset especially when the moon sets from its zenith and is completed with a focus on maximum dance floor impact via an inner voice that resonates in the brain that echoes throughout a well-textured bass line and rhythm track.

The artwork for the front cover of this EP was created by SHINOZAKI HILOSHI, an illustrator who has been traveling and painting to express his true way of life that he learnt in the 10+ years of commuting between Tokyo (the end) and the Hawaii Islands (the beginning), and the graphic designer hiro, who stands by Iori`s side as his life partner and as the person who understands him the best. Iori`s first steps are complemented by the label design and art direction by graphic designer hiro, who stands by his side as his life partner and most understanding partner, and the proof is the physical cut, which is presented as the foundation for the future.

Black Truffle is pleased to announce its first release from celebrated London-based Canadian composer Cassandra Miller. Though her body of mature work stretches back almost twenty years, many listeners were introduced to Miller through the success of her astonishing 2015 Duet for Cello and Orchestra, which sets an imperturbable two-note cello part against a series of increasingly dense orchestrations of an Italian folk melody; in 2019, it was selected by The Guardian as one of the ‘best classical music works of the 21st century’. Traveller Song / Thanksong, the first release of her music on vinyl, presents a pair of compositions for voice and ensemble that exemplify Miller’s gently absurd, strikingly beautiful, and utterly unique work.

Like many of Miller’s compositions, these pieces originate in existing music. Traveller Song (2016/2018) begins from a 1950s song of an anonymous Sicilian cart driver recorded by Alan Lomax and Diego Carpitella, which Miller recorded herself singing along to, going on to then record herself singing to her own layered voices. Miller’s untutored voice is an unsteady, wavering wail that has, in her words, ‘more in common with a quasi-shamanistic keening than anything Sicilian’. Heard sometimes alone, sometimes layered, her pre-recorded voice is accompanied by a chamber sextet drawn from London’s Plus-Minus Ensemble. In the first section, Miller’s exposed warble is set to a spare piano accompaniment, somehow both faintly preposterous and magisterial. Following the voice note for note, the piano part often makes use of almost mechanical sequences of parallel chords, reminiscent both of Satie’s Rosicrucian period and the abrupt harmonic movements of a chord organ. The orchestration then opens up to guitar, clarinet, and sliding strings, a delicate environment for Miller’s voice, which, especially when it begins to be layered, generates a powerful sense of intimacy. In its concluding minutes, the folk roots of the original melody return in the form of a glorious full ensemble setting dominated by accordion, clarinet, and strummed guitar. Thanksong begins from recordings of Miller singing along to the third movement of Beethoven’s late quartet in A minor (Op. 132), the ‘holy song of thanks’ the composer wrote to express his gratitude for (temporarily) recovering from illness. Recording herself singing along repeatedly to each of the individual parts of the quartet, Miller created an aural score where each member of the string quartet listens to their own part on headphones, playing by ear. Performed on this recording by Montreal's Quatuor Bozzini, with whom Miller has a decades-long relationship, they are joined by the British soprano Juliet Fraser, who sings material from the Beethoven quartet ‘as slowly and quietly as possible’. The atmosphere of the opening of Beethoven’s Dankgesang, of hushed reawakening and thoughtful reflection, is sustained throughout the fourteen minutes of Miller’s piece, building at points almost to sentimentality before the five individual parts again fall back into a gentle burble of unsynchronised melodic gestures. Like Traveller Song, here the use of the voice is a long way from the mannered performance of much contemporary music, reaching for a human and bodily presence more connected to the reality of the everyday, albeit suffused with wonder. Presented in a stylish sleeve adorned with photography by Lasse Marhaug and liner notes by Cassandra Miller, this is a key release from a major contemporary composer whose work challenges and dazzles in equal measure. .

CLEAR VINYL. LIMITED TO 300 COPIES!


Suzanne Ciani’s Improvisation On Four Sequences somehow represents the complete histo- ry of electronic music, as the enthusiastic audience at Week-End Fest 2021 were lucky enough to experience. From the awakening of American avant-garde music at the end of the 1960s, right through to the development of the electronic sound of the club scene in L.A. and New York. But above all it is the dialogue between artist and machine, which simply ends when the concert is over, that comes across. Laconicism, precision, sound sensitivity and the weight of a tradition that Ciani was instrumental in founding all come together. It is spectacular precisely because it is so unexciting.