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The eighth and latest slate of refined retro-futuristic synth-pop by Liz Wendelbo and Sean McBride aka Xeno & Oaklander is named after and inspired by "the study of what not to do, a negative image of a positive, the other side, the other:" 'Via Negativa (in the doorway light)'. Recorded in the fall of 2023 at their modernist Connecticut home fashioned into a two-story synthesizer laboratory and mixing studio, the album is uniquely visionary in spirit yet precision in execution, a contrast central to the duo’s enduring chemistry. Embryonic piano sketches were translated to nuanced modular systems, which McBride weighted with "harmonic padding," tuned percussion, and a spectral transfer device capable of "rendering spasms of rhythmic overtonal filigree." Despite the technological complexity of their craft, emotively the songs require no deciphering – these are technicolor widescreen anthems of the cybernetic age.

The eponymous opening track sets the pace, soaring sleekly over glittering synths and call-and-response vocals about arias, shattered light, and faces in stereo. From there the record expands and contracts, cycling through a gallery of moods and masks, animated by the band’s fascination with drama, "the idea of personae," and theatrical characters. Track by track, a murky, tragic backstory reveals itself: forlorn figures navigating a treacherous mercury mine, alternately poisoned by fumes or buried in collapsing caverns. The tension between Teutonic, utopian synthetic pop and lyrical narratives of ghosts in silos, ruined mills, and the traumas of mineral excavation creates a compelling friction, alternately futurist and obsolete, elevated and subterranean. Wendelbo describes the music’s polarities perfectly: "The heavy machinic din of extraction in contrast with the enchantment of the mined precious gems and metals."

From bilingual odes to bloodstones ("O Vermillion") to cosmic chrome dance floor classics ("Lost & There" "The present tense can never feel real / So many pasts conspire in the burning sun") to strutting EBM sensualities ("Actor's Foil"), Xeno & Oaklander re-prove themselves masters of the axis of technology and poetry, snaking cables and synesthesia, mining melodies and myths across 15 years of focused artistry. Theirs is a muse still gilded and gleaming, burnished red and silver, attuned to "the unobservable, the unfamiliar, that which you don’t see directly."

Phase Group are thrilled to present our next release by newcomers to the label, the excellent Hamburg band, Love-Songs. Their new album 'Passive Progressive' will be out on cassette and digital on October 18th.

Love-Songs are the trio consisting of Thomas Korf (electronics + vocals) Sebastian Kokus (Bass) and Manuel Chittka (Percussion) who make cosmic, kraut-inspired electro-acoustic music. Many will be familiar with their previous output on wonderful labels like Kame House and Bureau B.

'Passive Progressive' lands in the form of 8 enthralling tracks that take us through dreamlike and psychedelic echoing territories, where Korf’s modulating electronics and effected vocals ripple over the grooving rhythm section of percussion and bass supplied by Kokus and Chitka. Across the album, the band are joined by a host of guest musicians and friends from Berlin and Hamburg’s underground and experimental music scenes, supplying Trombone, Mbira, Clarinet, Flute and extra synthesisers and vocals to enhance the mind-expanding and unique sound palette of these incredible tracks.

As with most of the material we’ve released on Phase Group, this is music that’s hard to pin down, that lends itself equally well to creating transcending atmospheres in the early moments of a special kind of club set as to soundtracking a mind-bending and deep personal listening experience. We’ve no doubt that the sound that Love-Songs have crafted with Passive Progressive will be enthusiastically received by all sonic voyagers and fans of the label, and we’re over the moon to welcome them to the Phase Group family.

Passive Progressive is available on limited cassette, with double-sided risograph print artwork by Andrija Čugurović.

There is NO LIGHT at the end of this tunnel! BROWN ACID: The Nineteenth Trip fires ten more savage nails deep into the coffin of ‘60s psychedelic idealism. This series is THE premier top dog journey into the rarest and most wasted early local eruptions of heavy rock, unleashed at a time when harsh reality, human nature and disillusionment drove prevailing underground rock glimpses of a ‘better’ world into ever darker selfabsorbed comedowns. Mind expanding ’60s love energies transform into toxic aggression right before your ears! The great thing is that these moves are totally justified, ‘we are all one’ is cosmically good in theory but ‘get it while you can’ ends up perhaps better advice in the light of human history. Both of those angles of awareness can coexist, some of these bands deliver unrelenting sideways positive energy but they aren’t over-thinking it, they are youthfully driven by hunger for life and satisfying the undeniable urges their DNA thrusts upon them. Sonically, the results in the BROWN ACID series never fail to breathe hot and heavy, the guitars kill it every time, the variety of approaches these tracks take keep the scenery shifting into new places. The key element that makes this stuff so potent is that THEY (the bands) are in control. Captured genuinely with no compromise, right out of the gate. No doubt they had ambition with high hopes for the future when they laid down these primal efforts, the fact that they captured their energy so vividly at a moment in time when the only direction imaginable was UP creates a hard hitting life affirming subtext to the proceedings. That is the core energy of blues and rock and roll, dealing with the struggles of existence by flipping a gigantic ‘what the fuck’ high energy bird right in the face of the moronic defective reality these bands were born into. If you take this stuff too ‘seriously’ you are utterly missing the point, it is beyond analysis, it is life itself! No amount of thinking will get you there quicker! BROWN ACID: The Nineteenth Trip is scary... the bottomless pit of deranged vintage heavy rock the series presents continually expands over time... one deadly dose too many and you might be trapped in the bad trip loop forever... enjoy it or lose your mind!

One Way Trip to Gaia, Alberta Balsam's debut album, propels listeners into uncharted territory, delivering a futuristic fairytale--a utopian world that serves as a sonic refuge from reality. Building on the electro-IDM foundations of her earlier releases , this record evolves into an odyssey of bass-driven beats, breakbeat rhythms, and dub-infused atmospheres. As her most vocal project to date, the album showcases her ability to merge pop sensibility with otherworldly sound design, all while maintaining that club-ready energy. Limited edition: pressed on a black and silver marbled vinyl. Sleeve design by Timaeus

For the next reissue in Mr Bongo’s Cuban Classics series, we look to Raúl Gómez’s entrancing 1977 Instrumental album. Presenting a unique blend of orchestral disco and jazz-funk, with Afro-Cuban flavours and soundtrack influences, it’s rich with drum breaks, energy and evolving compositions. A record that forever keeps you guessing, powered by an exemplary orchestra at the top of their game.

Cuban composer and singer Raúl Gómez is most known for featuring in the groups Mirtha Y Raul and Los Bucaneros alongside producing the Cuban classic Los Reyes 73 album, amongst a whole host of other incredible productions over the years. Released on Cuba’s state-owned label Areito, Instrumental sees Gómez not only as an instrumentalist and author, but also as a producer and arranger.

It's an album that deftly evades pigeonholing. Floating between instrumental mood music and library/soundtrack mastery, followed by explosions of cosmic-Latin funk, psych guitar workouts and compositions that reflect the orchestrated disco coming out of the US at the time, from greats such as Love Unlimited or MFSB. Lace that together with a healthy serving of Afro-Cuban magic to underpin the tracks and it’s a recipe for a record that captivates from start to finish.

Predominantly an instrumental album as the title suggests, the record showcases the Orquesta EGREM in full flow, soaring strings and vibrant horns at every turn. Highlights include 'Mi Samba Carnaval' with its breathtaking drum break, bubbling synths and sublime arrangements and the romantic film music impressions of ‘Tema De La Sierra', that have been a sampling source for many a producer. Elsewhere, ‘6 Son’ is a mind-melding psych guitar powerhouse, with 'Dacapo', written by Gilberto Peralta, offering up a slice of atmospheric and energetic Latin shuffle. One of only a handful of tracks where scat vocals compliment the orchestral tones, a Brazilian percussion theme marries with dancefloor sensibilities for a dose of feel-good, brilliance.

A wide-ranging, multi-dimensional release, Instrumental exhibits musicianship, composition and creativity at its finest and demonstrates another key example of the rich output of music that flowed from the island of Cuba post revolution.

"This is the complete soundtrack album for Interstellar Sentinel, an action-packed bullet-hell shoot'em-up that takes you on a sci-fi fantasy journey through legions of monsters, demons, and cosmic mind-ripping entities. The game was created by a friend and colleague from the former Factor 5 USA studio and is an inspired love letter to some of the best side-scrolling games ever made, like Salamander/Life Force, Gradius, R-Type, Darius, Super Aleste, Einhander, Ikaruga, and more." - Chris Huelsbeck The soundtrack, featuring all new compositions, is heavily inspired by Chris' earlier works and successes, like Turrican, X-Out and Katakis and should be an aural feast for his fans.

Kaum zu glauben: Harald Grosskopf gibt es jetzt schon ein Dreivierteljahrhundert. Anlässlich seines 75. Geburtstags erscheint nicht nur im Ventil Verlag seine Autobiographie "Monsieur Séquenceu" - sondern auch endlich wieder ein neues Album vom Elektronik-Altmeister. Man muss zu diesem Mann eigentlich nicht viel sagen: Mitbegründer von "Wallenstein", ergo Drummer auf mindestens zwei der wunderbarsten Krautrockalben (nämlich "Mother Universe" und "Cosmic Century"), Mitglied der legendären "Kosmischen Kuriere", Platten mit Ash Ra Temple und Klaus Schulze. Schließlich wechselt Harald Grosskopf dann von den Drums zu den Sequencern und schafft Atemberaubendes. Und nun: "Strom". Die Evokation der Elektrizität, der Virtuosität der Schaltung, die Mensch und Maschine kunstvoll verschraubt und der über ihrem Triumphzug verödeten musikalischen Digitalität entgegengestellt wird. Wer genau hinhört, der erkennt den Ingenieur hinter den Klanggebilden sogleich.

Kaum zu glauben: Harald Grosskopf gibt es jetzt schon ein Dreivierteljahrhundert. Anlässlich seines 75. Geburtstags erscheint nicht nur im Ventil Verlag seine Autobiographie "Monsieur Séquenceu" - sondern auch endlich wieder ein neues Album vom Elektronik-Altmeister. Man muss zu diesem Mann eigentlich nicht viel sagen: Mitbegründer von "Wallenstein", ergo Drummer auf mindestens zwei der wunderbarsten Krautrockalben (nämlich "Mother Universe" und "Cosmic Century"), Mitglied der legendären "Kosmischen Kuriere", Platten mit Ash Ra Temple und Klaus Schulze. Schließlich wechselt Harald Grosskopf dann von den Drums zu den Sequencern und schafft Atemberaubendes. Und nun: "Strom". Die Evokation der Elektrizität, der Virtuosität der Schaltung, die Mensch und Maschine kunstvoll verschraubt und der über ihrem Triumphzug verödeten musikalischen Digitalität entgegengestellt wird. Wer genau hinhört, der erkennt den Ingenieur hinter den Klanggebilden sogleich.

Tim Tucker and Bachflora team up for this brilliantly boogie-infused new collection of cosmic disco sounds and future house delights. It's a collection that shows off their considerable songwriting skills as well as production chops as the tunes blend a far-sighted sense of futurism with a hint of melodic nostalgia. Some are part starters like the playful 'Star Key' while some are more laid back and funky sounds like 'Cosmic Dreaming, Now We Jamming!' All in all, they make for an adventurous and cinematic journey that takes mind, body and soul up and away amongst the stars.

Hidden Notes Records (Spindle Ensemble, Fran & Flora, Josh Semans) and Tardigrade Records (Cosmo Sheldrake, Howl) are excited to announce a unique collaboration to release ‘Selected Worlds’, the monumental and ambitious debut triple album by composer and pianist Daniel Inzani. Over the past 2 decades you might have seen Inzani performing with dozens of bands from Bristol’s underground alternative and avant-garde scene, blending classical, jazz, contemporary, improvisation, unusual harmony and rhythms as a band leader and collaborator. He’s released an avant-garde collaborative album with Alabaster dePlume, is the musical director and arranger for Cosmo Sheldrake’s 19 piece live band, leads his own critically acclaimed modern chamber quartet Spindle Ensemble and (the now disbanded) 8 piece Ethiopian Jazz meets Frank Zappa group Tezeta, He has toured worldwide as a keys player, collaborated with Canadian ensembles Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan and London Symphonia and co-founded Bristol’s experimental collective Bloom, leading to tours and releases with UK rocksteady favourites Count Bobo, the psychedelic space doo-wop of Dubi Dolzcek and many more. After years of recording, touring and eclectic composing he has gathered a trusted set of musicians who are both skilled improvisers and virtuoso players to record an instrumental triple album for release under his own name. The 3 vinyl discs act as albums in their own right, each with different sets of musicians, instrumentations, genres and intentions. The 3 discs were recorded live over 3 day periods in quick succession, with Daniel’s regular collaborator Cosmo Sheldrake engineering the recording sessions. It’s quite possibly the only album you’ll ever hear that starts with a neo-impressionist string quartet, goes on to merge avant-garde symphonic arrangements with group improvisation and ends with an 8 piece cosmic jazz band wigging out, yet Inzani’s voice is clear throughout making for a cohesive 2 hour odyssey from the mind of a composer whose idiosyncratic style thrives through variety Listeners will hear influences from the aforementioned composers including Mingus, Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou, Ravel and Moondog in Inzani’s music but might also find the soundtracks of Morricone and Jonny Greenwood nestled alongside the loose freeform leanings of Alabaster dePlume, the contemporary jazz of Kamasi Washington and the unique collaboration by Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders (minus the electronics perhaps.) Daniel will be performing a special preview of the album with an 11 piece band at WOMAD Festival (27.07) and a launch concert at this year’s Hidden Notes Festival in Stroud (21.09), with further tour dates to be announced

Gregory T.S. Walker’s Minstrels & Minimoogs was self-published by a young, nomadic composer and virtuoso in 1988 to accompany an immersive multimedia performance at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Fiske Planetarium. Created with this outer, and other, world setting in mind, the four tracks find Walker stretching toward an ancient-to-future vision where Egyptian myths and Hieronymus Bosch-ian tableaus are rendered in a screaming three dimensional circuitry of electronic drums, synth guitars, and, of course, Minimoog. Given the musical terrains and outmoded topics traversed, and that this entirely DIY effort was originally released as a micro one-sided 12” edition, Minstrels & Minimoogs is as perplexing and euphoric a document lost-to-time as it is now found.

Born in 1961 into an intensely musical family spanning four generations, Gregory’s mother Helen Walker-Hill was a noted musicologist specializing in the rediscovery and work of historical Black female composers, while his father, George Walker, was the first African American composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for music. Both parents studied with the famed (and famously strict) Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1950s, and held to lofty aesthetic standards in their home life. Walker began studying the violin as a child, but when a burgeoning interest in the electric guitar and rock music as a teen manifested, it was largely verboten in the household. The rule was that the music played in the home was to be acoustic and classical. Although the elder Walkers eventually relented and allowed Gregory’s guitar to be plugged in for a brief interval on the weekends, the remaining days he settled for strumming it sans amplification.

Gregory, conditioned and eager for a life in music but looking to get out from under the influence and yoke of his famous composer father, ultimately chose to study computer music at the University of California at San Diego, where he earned a Master of Arts. This was followed by another MA in electronic music composition at that hotbed of West Coast experimental music, Mills College. Intermedia and multimedia in the arts was the rage in the 1980s, and Mills was one of the centers for it; audacious spectacle meeting visionary performance, such as one of the realizations for Anthony Braxton’s music for multiple orchestras a young Gregory performed in with his violin.

After a series of solo synthesizer concerts around California, Gregory followed a girlfriend on a mid-country move to Boulder, Colorado. After picking up yet another composition degree at University of Colorado Boulder, his life as a composer really started, writing a piece for extended technique for guitar, a passacaglia for vocoder and orchestra, as well as Minstrels & Minimoogs.

Envisioned as a multimedia performance such as the kind he’d experienced at Mills (which was all but unknown in Boulder at the time), Gregory roped in a number of college going or aged friends of varying skill levels and musical sympathies to accompany him with distorted sax or oblique spoken interludes. Confronted with a lack of finances, but driven to get his ideas captured in a complete musical package, the album was recorded in his brother’s apartment. If not every player assembled was on Gregory’s virtuosic level, so be it; it was more about capturing the spirit of his intentions and embracing the serendipity of mistakes.

An inspired attempt at world building, Minstrels & Minimoogs draws on the deep well of musical knowledge Gregory gathered from his parents and teachers, but all the while subverting that historical basis by incorporating mutant strains of prog and pop music. The work accumulated is not unlike the playful 1980s work of Gregorio Paniagua, where medieval estampies and rondeaus are wrenched into an anachronistic present where Hildegard Von Bingen and Kate Bush are contemporaries. Ars nova, new art, a 20th century minimalist jester and troubadour.

A one sided LP was the cheapest option Gregory found to have Minstrels & Minimoogs memorialized on vinyl, so somewhere between 50 to 100 copies were pressed. There was no distribution, outside of copies that were handed out to friends or sold at the performances at the planetarium. Gregory T.S. Walker’s cosmic-futuristic forays into oblique pop and baroque subversion could forever reside perfectly in both the domed simulacrum of our universe for which it was composed, in the formats it is being reintoduced now, and our own biblical firmament. For in the words of Gregory, straight from the original liner notes: “God Is A Minimoog”

Gregory T.S. Walker’s Minstrels & Minimoogs arrives again August 23, 2024 on vinyl and digitally as part of uncommon¢ (“uncommon sense”), an open-ended, serialized endeavor from Freedom to Spend that provides new meaning for rarefied recordings from music's outermost fringe.

For the 20th Pleasure Club release we are very happy to present an EP from two core members of the Pleasure Club family - Johnny Hunter & Remi Mazet.

The "Passing Through Fyah EP" comes via the connected mind of both artists, with a record which spans and blurs the realms of house, techno and electro. Characterised by dubwise basslines, cosmic synth work and expert drum programming, this one feels like the perfect way for us to celebrate the two zero milestone.

A big shout out to everyone who has supported the label until now. We really appreciate it <3

There are certain occasions when you can truly feel the stars align. One of these is when the interstellar voyager of cosmic soul Jimi Tenor finally lands his spaceship at full force on a Timmion recording. In 2024, he will be serving us two spaced out album sessions recorded together with Cold Diamond & Mink. Jimi is no stranger in these space ways as he has operated behind the Timmion scenes for years, furnishing several of the label's artists with his flute and reeds artistry. The first album out is titled "Is There Love In Outer Space?", which begs the question with the force of five extended tracks that are guaranteed to blow your mind to the stratosphere. The pieces are loaded with whooshing and glistening synth noises and span from lofi space funk to cinematic soundscapes. The sweetly floating title track is like some of those galactic ballads that rare soul collectors are spending their pensions on. At the other side of the spectrum, album closer `What Are You Doing?' sounds like Sun Ra sat down at a JBs session, and is straight up meant to get that booty moving. Combined with the raw soul prowess of CD&M, Jimi is able to refine new shades from his already impressive repertoire of talent. Even if you are a friend of his previous work you might not have heard him get down quite like this.

"To change your mood or mental state - change your Vibration" A fragment from the Kyballion has deeply resonated with the band in recent years. Everything is mental, as Above so Below. BALTHVS deeply believes in these tenets, and their manifestation is through music. Melodies that try to resonate deep within and generate a different type of Vibration.

From the psychedelic experience arises a more balanced lifestyle, and from arduous and uncertain times arises the desire to have inner peace of mind. Music is medicine for the soul and the trio plays this music to wind down, relax, and be more present. It's music from the 21st century, a time when the world has deeply connected to one another via the digital realm, cultures are now free from geographic boundaries, they influence, mesh, and collide with one another. Turkish melodies meet Latin rhythms, from instrumental tunes to Spanish and English lyrics.

The band freely takes from all corners of the world, and it reflects on the global audience they have slowly amassed in the past 4 years. Third Vibration is a celebration of life; a deep respect for the power of music.

"To change your mood or mental state - change your Vibration" A fragment from the Kyballion has deeply resonated with the band in recent years. Everything is mental, as Above so Below. BALTHVS deeply believes in these tenets, and their manifestation is through music. Melodies that try to resonate deep within and generate a different type of Vibration.

From the psychedelic experience arises a more balanced lifestyle, and from arduous and uncertain times arises the desire to have inner peace of mind. Music is medicine for the soul and the trio plays this music to wind down, relax, and be more present. It's music from the 21st century, a time when the world has deeply connected to one another via the digital realm, cultures are now free from geographic boundaries, they influence, mesh, and collide with one another. Turkish melodies meet Latin rhythms, from instrumental tunes to Spanish and English lyrics.

The band freely takes from all corners of the world, and it reflects on the global audience they have slowly amassed in the past 4 years. Third Vibration is a celebration of life; a deep respect for the power of music.

"La Misma Fuente" is an album that could have only come from the mind of Yemanjo, and the music here reveals producer/musician Ben Harris in the full bloom of his artistic promise.

Translating as "The Same Source", the staggering variety of genre, sound design and featured artists here all relate to the concept that the world's diversity manifests out of an essential unity.

With guest singers and musicians from Mali, Colombia, Argentina, Hungary and beyond, "La Misma Fuente" pulsates with an irresistible combination of cracking electronic beats, hypnotic synths and bass, traditional acoustic instruments and vocals in many languages.

In the title track, Yemanjo's own harmonized Spanish vocals roil over a relentless dembow groove; elsewhere Malian vocalist Mariam Koné shines in both the mid-tempo house track "Juru Fô" and the Reggae-meets-Desert Blues anthem "Janfa". The instrumentals are no less captivating; "Bululú" is a combustible club banger with shades of kuduro, afrohouse and zouk rhythms, "Suena La Quena" is a bouyant uptempo house track with soaring Andean flute melodies, "Baobab" mesmerizes with interlocking ngoni licks, and "Bridge to Bamako" is a spacious trip-hop groove that finishes the record like a breath of fresh air.

Thematically diverse, melodically complex and rhythmically compelling, "La Misma Fuente" is a testament to the relentless wanderlust of its author, and a fine addition to the already legendary catalogue of Wonderwheel Recordings.



Ben Harris: sound design, arrangement, vocals, charango, trumpet, digital percussion

Mariam Koné: vocals on #2, #6

Fredy Velasquez: vocals on #5

Alex Nero: guitar, charango on #7, charango, quena, zampoña on #9

Onanya: ngoni on #2

Cosmic Nomad: ngoni on #4

Julia Gyulai: lead vocals on #8, back vocals on #5

Endre Molnar: guitar on #8, back vocals on #5



Mixed and mastered by Chris Cox at Veritas Mastering

Additional record engineering by Akos Varnai

Stereometrix is given the responsibility of taking care of the first release from the new label Tread A Measure and boy does he come through. His cultured Fall EP is a deep exploration of liquid techno landscapes that draw on cosmic energy, psychedelic colours and evolving synth patterns to melt your mind whether in the club or at home. There are downbeat and melancholic cuts like 'Fall', serene and soulful percolators like 'IO' and twisted sonics for afterparty freakouts like 'A2', while 'Glitch' is a collage of ghostly sounds and warped pads to close out this top-class EP.

To celebrate 10 years of one of London’s most loved underground club nights, Tangent, Mr Bongo are thrilled to launch this new compilation series. Crafted by its two residents, John Gómez and Nick the Record, it aims to transmit a taste of Tangent’s spirit. A party rooted in inclusivity and open-mindedness, whose name captures the spontaneous switches in musical direction that are a defining element of their nights. For the compilation, the pair have cherry-picked a selection of their prized, rare and dancefloor-ready tracks from around the globe, that have soundtracked the past decade of parties.

Friends for close to 20 years, music lovers, record obsessives and internationally renowned DJs in their own right, John and Nick have two lifetimes worth of musical knowledge to draw from. John a long-standing NTS Radio resident and compiler for Music From Memory. Nick one of the UK’s go-to record dealers, resident DJ since the ‘90s at one of Japan’s pioneering parties, Life Force, and co-captain / co-edit-expert of Record Mission with Dan Tyler (Idjut Boys).

In 2014, the pair decided to bring some of Life Force’s grassroots principles to the UK, whilst channelling underground clubbing institution Plastic People’s meticulous attitude to sound. Tangent grew from being a small gathering of friends, to an established fixture in London’s nightlife, whilst always maintaining a strict no guest DJ policy. “As London’s clubs have become increasingly reliant on international guests, we wanted to emphasize the importance of a club night growing through its residents”, John and Nick reflect. With 10 years of the duo at the helm, an intimate connection between DJ and dancefloor has been built, allowing for freedom of expression on both sides of the decks.

Tangent reaches around the globe and across different eras to make connections that stimulate emotional reverberations in the unfamiliar. Where the blissfully Balearic ‘Laberinto’ by Miguel Perikás, goes hand-in-hand with the Cameroonian hip-house of King B.’s ‘Love is Crazy’. The thundering ‘Amek Amek’ by L'Innovateur Djoe Ahmed et le Zoukabyle, rubs shoulders with the soulful Caribbean-influenced touch of Champagn’s ‘Bel Ti Négress’. And Pellegrin El Kady’s afro-cosmic ‘Seiva de Carnaval’, crosses paths with Kajou’s Kompa disco anthem ‘Tet Chajé’.

Tangent’s longevity is in part down to it having always embraced contemporary sounds. The sub-rattling bass of Srirajah Sound System’s stunning Molam dub stepper ‘Si Phan Don Lovers Rock’ and the slow, woozy mantra of leftfield dancehall explorer Androo’s ‘Lyriso’, are two shining examples.

This compilation represents an ongoing dialogue between past and present, transporting listeners to the heart of a pure musical experience, where open minds and open hearts are eager to follow the tangent.

Mike Mooney presents his debut solo album The Cthulu Mythos via Nine X Nine Records. Mike Mooney has had a storied career in the music business, over the years he has had stints in Echo & The Bunnymen, The Psychedellic Furs, Spiritualized and The Wild Swans to name a few. Reknowned for his incendiary guitar work and distinctive style it seems incredible that only now are we seeing a solo debut proper. This record is inspired by the work of American authour and the godfather of the cosmic-horror genre H.P. Lovecraft. Mooney had long been a fan of Lovecraft’s work but through rereading much of his work during the coronavirus lockdown an idea for an album was planted. Using the titles of Lovecraft’s work as a springboard, Mike started recording. The songs came easily, almost as if being channeled via a conduit from some unknowable dimension of Old Gods and unspeakable horrors. The Cthulu Mythos is a larger-than-life, rock n’ roll affair. Purposefully distorted guitars are layered to a create a caucophonous effect that immerses you in Mike Mooney’s world populated by the creatures, characters and cosmic forces of H.P. Lovecraft’s mind.

"I wish I could turn or turn back" "Sometimes it’s hard to resist the feeling that there was a crucial turn in life out of which everything else flowed. Maybe in our more reasonable frames of mind we can dismiss that thought and take our plans and intentions very seriously. But, there’s often a lurking conviction that, like the oak from the acorn or the movie from its opening scene, it is already all there. In the first moment of Relics of Our Life, anything could happen, anything could come next. But as the suspense is broken with the first notes, the world of the record springs up as both an internal experience and a landscape of which we will learn something, but definitely not everything. The songs induce a swimming sense of cycling repetition and variation where shifting details tilt the ground under us. The round and round doesn’t make us dizzy; like breathing the right way, it makes us both heavier and higher. "Pawliczek’s songs can be located in the company of the greats of Flying Nun Records – maybe the delicacy of The Great Unwashed with the heavy heart of The Verlaines and smartness of The Chills. But, ultimately, his interests are elsewhere – a heart-break song over an earthly lover feels like only the tipping point for longing and devotion that outstrips the personal. In this sense, Popul Vuh for their hymnal geometry and switched-on Palestrina, and Terry Riley for cosmic elation come to mind. The songs have sweeping and cinematic proportions and depths of field constrained by a pop economy love of leanness. "But who’s supplicating whom here? The songs’ devotional quality is not upward to the sacred or even outward to the profane. It’s more like a magnetism between its elements – sounds, voices and rhythms. The track No Talk intones “why don’t you talk to me?” over a driving guitar and one feels visited by some kind of archaic god on whom the tables have been turned, finding himself jealous of our thousand little thoughts. The record finishes with his distorted lilting dance, trying to seduce us with some red red wine that is no one’s blood, but everyone’s favorite drug." -- Karina Gill (Cindy, Flowertown) 2024

On their latest album, Sonido Cosmico, Hermanos Gutiérrez embark on a sonic exploration that defies the conventional boundaries of instrumental music. The collection is a richly textured tapestry, interwoven with the intricate threads of Latin rhythms and ephemeral atmospherics: each track a vignette, a carefully crafted narrative without words, where the brothers' transcendent guitars speak in a language all their own.

There is a subtle sophistication in the way Hermanos Gutiérrez fuses the elemental with the experimental. The album resonates with the echoes of their Latin musical heritage, yet it is undeniably contemporary in its execution, both nuanced and expansive.

Sonido Cosmico stands as a reflective mirror to the band's evolving artistry, united by music across age and geographical divides: a sound mosaic as celestial as its title, an expression of a band that has found its voice in the vast universe of modern instrumental music.

Hypnotised is the first encyclopedia project to cover the global trance movement during its most prolific years. Following compilations directed to the early Dutch, British and German trance movements, this fourth installment shines a light on the influential Belgian scene. Published in limited 3x12’’ vinyl, 3xCD and digital formats, ‘’Hypnotised: A Journey Through Belgian Trance Music (1992-2003)’’ includes 27 exquisite tracks from classic imprints like Airscape, CJ Bolland, M.I.K.E. and Jericho.

Irish producer Balmr lands on Selections after nice outings on the likes of Sofa Movement Records, Kolour Detroit and Expanded Records which have all established him as a fresh deep house artist. His love for the Motor City shines through again here with the warm, dubby drums and swirling pads of 'In Search Of' bring to mind the Midwest's best. Jon Dixon remixes with a little extra bite in the percussion and 'Forager' then layers up more dusty drums and wooden hits with diffuse synth curlicues. It's a sound that works on both head and heel and lastly, Glenn Davis remixes with a touch of jazzy cosmic class to his synth work.

‘Empires into Sand’ is the first album of new material from Normil Hawaiians in 40 years. The group first refined their sound during the early 80s, hitting on a pastoral experimentalism that drew on ambient drone, motorik impulse and post-punk pep.
‘Empires into Sand’ came together in the familiar manner of their original three albums, with improvisation and nuance informing the blueprint of the tracks. It was with the official release of this last record ‘Return of the Ranters’ (originally recorded in 1984/85, but then unconsciously shelved) in 2015 by Upset The Rhythm that led to the group reconnecting with the intention of playing music together again. Normil Hawaiians played a launch show for that ‘lost album’ and followed that up with more concerts, including an appearance at Supernormal, a residency at the Edinburgh Festival, gigs at Cafe OTO. They were even chosen by Richard Dawson to perform with him in London.
Throughout this time, Normil Hawaiians revisited their original songs for live performance. However for a group always so interested in evolving their sound, it came as no surprise that they shirked at the idea of a faithful retread. The band pushed their songs into new inventive dimensions, still progressive at core, but now imbued with a cosmic uncanny. A cinematic approach that was always quietly present has come to the fore. The quaint weirdness of folk song, the humanity of communal practice and the group’s ecological mindedness have all found a place in Normil Hawaiians’ current sound world.
When Normil Hawaiians write and record music they prefer to gather in a remote location and live together for a while, such is their communal ethos. Being far-flung across the UK, the Family Hawaii (numbering seven key members) decided to encamp to Tayinloan, a small village on the west coast of the Kintyre peninsula in Scotland. They set up their own studio in an isolated, windswept house overlooking the sea and started the tape rolling. Noel Blanden from the band explains the process neatly: “we set up and began playing, slowly and patiently, allowing the music to take its own shape based on where we were staying and our ongoing friendship. We recorded for days, capturing everything. A lot of new and rich ideas began to emerge”.
Normil Hawaiians took their time to develop these threads at their own pace, allowing songs to mutate and settle over months. Simon Marchant deftly produced and recorded the album whilst also performing in the band, this marked the first time the band had total control of their own sound. The last few years has seen the band reconvene in Herne Bay, Faversham, London and Leith to record new parts, constantly responding to the changing form of these quietly spectral songs of defiance.
‘Empires into Sand’ incorporates samples from old rehearsals and live music into the new finished pieces, this is in continuum with their previous records. Snippets of sound from the static of short wave radio and satellite transmissions also embellish the work. In fact the whole album is stitched together with interludes, creating an acutely immersive 45 minutes. ‘Exiles’ opens the album amid swirling atmospheres, synth flights and recordings of Vilnis Egle (father of Zinta Egle from the band) retelling his experience of fleeing his home in Latvia during Soviet occupation in 1942. George Bikandy also features on this track talking about his flight from Syria in 2014. ‘Ghosts of Ballochroy’ is a winding river of a song featuring a lively discourse in Scots courtesy of Rodney Relax. There’s a commitment to truth telling present across this hopeful album populated with angels, incoming tides, long shadows and the rose-washed sun. “From our broken windscreen, we feel the breeze” soars Guy Smith triumphantly over the driving beat of ‘Waterfalls : Bedford 330’. ‘Big City Sky’ flutters and sparkles with rapid synth runs, tape-looped drums and Jimmy Miller’s commanding vocal. With ‘In The Stone’ Zinta’s melody is deliberately jagged and blunt, exaggerated by octave-layered vocals and interjections from Guy.
This is thought-provoking, boundary-bothering music. Honest in intent, a solidarity of vision. The album’s title is derived from a poem by band member Mark Tyler, who sadly passed away during the recording process and the transience of life is felt heavily throughout. Noel best coins the group’s wish for the album: “we wanted to create an album that acknowledges our history and also reflects who we are today. We remained true to ourselves and we wanted to make something beautiful without removing the edges.” ‘Empires into Sand’ certainly does that, it’s an echo from the past, an echo from the future.

The Telescopes Radio Sessions collects together the essence of three live session recordings in 3 different countries over a three year period between 2016-2019. This is the third in a series of radio session releases from Tapete Records that have so far included The Monochrome Set and Comet Gain. More session releases are being lined up for the rest of the year and beyond - enjoy the sonics and stay tuned. Over the years I have read a lot on people’s impressions of The Telescopes. Some folk think it’s a collective, others imagine it used to be a band and feel nostalgia towards what they consider to be the original line-up (even though many had come before, during and since) and some people refer to it as currently a solo career. In a way this is all true and none of it is. When faced with these kind of questions, along with questions about the style of music that The Telescopes make I often say The Telescopes house has many rooms, which explains things perfectly for me but for people on the outside looking in it only serves to increase their confusion. For me, confusion isn’t such a bad thing. Everything is born into confusion, the sense we try and make of that chaos is interesting and excites me. The universe often disorientates, it sends me a jumble of thoughts and impressions coupled with a feeling of something I need to express… if I could only decipher the encryption. This is how The Telescopes music comes to be and it is also how The Telescopes came to me. I regard The Telescopes as an entity of it’s own that introduced itself in my darkest hour and I was chosen as its vessel. From the second it arrived I was obsessed to the point where there was nothing else. A bit like having an imaginary friend. As the obsession grew it began to infect others, everybody loved my imaginary friend and wanted a piece of it. As its success grew however, so did the corruption, until one day the entity fell silent. The silence lasted for years, I tried everything to reconnect but it was having none of it. I had been a bad caretaker, I had let the house become infested and I had lost my way. This epiphany served to remind me of simpler times when anything felt possible with this entity by my side. It had trusted me with something so simplistically profound and I had let it down. The realisation of this was a eureka moment. I am not The Telescopes, I never was and never will be, I am the caretaker, the lighthouse keeper and if a job is worth doing it is worth doing well. With this dawning, I felt a crack open up in the cosmic egg and a familiar confusion in my head. The entity had returned. It was time to start untangling its tangled threads once more, to make sense of what it was saying, this time without corruption. It’s all about listening. I listen to what my cosmic friend sends me and channel this expression into what you hear through your speakers. It may take one person to achieve this, it may take more. There is no set line up or instrumentation that can hold The Telescopes. Whatever it takes to hit the zone, whatever is available, absolute focus is imperative. Sometimes it takes sabotage to keep that line of vision intact, there is no room for preconceptions or complacency in making the music. The Telescopes music is the now

incarnate and a state of total being is necessary to achieve. From the outside looking in... again, it’s all about listening. What comes through your speakers is the only thing that matters. The music either reaches you or it doesn’t. Everything else may seem interesting or confusing but ultimately it is corruption. So if you’ve bought the record, read the sleeve notes and bought a ticket to see a live show, don’t be surprised if the line-up is or isn’t the same as the recording. The only thing that is for sure is that The Telescopes as an entity is speaking to you in its own voice in every scenario.
Of course the difference between albums and live shows is that you can play the record over and over again to the point where you know every line and every note that was played. Whereas with live events you are left with an impression that can only be replayed in your mind. It can be frustrating at times. When you are touring with a great line-up and feel like something exciting is happening, you want everyone to hear it, not just the people at the shows but the people that couldn’t make it on the night as well. There is no guarantee that there will be the same line-up at a live show as there is on the album. This is why live sessions are important, they document a side of things that is often fleeting. Here we have three sessions, all different people transmitting The Telescopes sound on each. Some are regulars, some dip in and out and some were just passing through. In each case The Telescopes chose them as their vessel and as the lighthouse keeper I did everything I could to help them on that journey while trying to be a good caretaker to the house of many rooms. The Telescopes have been invited in for many sessions over the years, the first two were for John Peel on BBC Radio 1. We also recorded a session for Marc Riley and Mark Radcliffe before their
celebrity when they had a show on BBC Radio Manchester. We could have compiled this album from those sessions, it was certainly considered but Tapete and myself believe this selection gives an exciting glimpse into that fleeting side of The Telescopes in a constant state of flux that is left mostly to myth and imagination. For those who listen to the records but have never had the chance to take in the live experience, welcome to the other side. For those that follow us live, here’s a little reminder and a keepsake. Infinite suns. Stephen Lawrie February 2024.

The phenomenal three-piece band includes members of Oranssi Pazuzu, K-X-P, Grave Pleasures and Aavikko


Svart Records is proud to release the debut album, I, from Haunted Plasma, a powerhouse of futuristic synth in symbiosis with the super violent atmospherics of kosmische Black Metal. Haunted Plasma is “man meets machine” in a cybernetic wasteland, set to a conceptual backdrop of William Gibson and Phillip K. Dick style mind-melt. The highly evolved creatives at the heart of Haunted Plasma’s sound, cite Terry Riley, Massive Attack, a contemporary take on Krautrock hypnosis, psychedelic Black Metal and 90s Techno, resulting in an orgy of mutant sound.



The phantoms at the beating nucleus of this unearthly machine are Juho Vanhanen (Oranssi Pazuzu, Grave Pleasures), Timo Kaukolampi (K-X-P, Op:l Bastards) and Tomi Leppänen (Circle, Aavikko, K-X-P), transmitting a music form evolved from a life of redefining sonic boundaries in their respective projects. Also featuring guest vocals from Mat McNerney (Hexvessel, Carpenter Brut, Grave Pleasures/Beastmilk), Pauliina Lindell (Vuono, Dust Mountain) and Ringa Manner (Ruusut, The Hearing). Haunted Plasma promises an extraterrestrial experience from some of the foremost contemporary musicians at the heart of the Finnish heavy and avant-garde musical underworld.



Haunted Plasma reveals:

“We are liberated futurists, embracing free-form and natural composition, mirroring the merciless forces of cosmic creation. We have a motto to stay true to our feelings, to spawn a sound that’s never been heard before. Servants of music. Energizing, radical and pure”


The first single from Haunted Plasma’s cascading debut, Reverse Engineer, is a creepy, slowly erupting, synthetic nightmare, of a downloaded being waking up in the wrong future. Ghostly vocals demand the listener to “give us what we want” in an Orwellian glimpse into the current dystopia we live in, where information is controlled, and thoughts are bought and sold. As McNerney intones the words “technology of power” he describes the threat of a malevolent and omnipresent artificial intelligence, as much as describing the oppressive and electromagnetic sonar pulse of Haunted Plasma’s sound itself. Psychedelic guitar hypnosis from Vanhanen snakes around Kaukolampi’s molten and morphing synths, while Leppänen’s uncanny man/machine rhythms pull our strings and animate their other-worldly mechanisms. Have a look at the official visualiser of "Reverse Engineer" on the Svart YouTube channel here


Culminating in the full-blown fast Krautrock of the final self-titled track, oozing with blistering noise elements and enigmatic vocals from Ringa Manner, the album's journey reaches its zenith, taking you to unknown territories on a Kubrikian space trip. I is a rare record of talented musicians coming together to create a completely new sound, which is entirely their own, boldly glowing, where no light has shone before. From the dreamy psychedelia of Echoes to the discombobulated Spectral Embrace, Haunted Plasma is a willful force of deliberate sound contortion.


Whether you want to give in to Haunted Plasma’s sound or not, you are being watched, you are being recorded and your every move is monitored. Haunted Plasma will enter your system on the 31st of May 2024. Turn on your phantom circuits and be prepared for an interdimensional excursion into Haunted Plasma’s alien dreams.

The debut album from Haunted Plasma will be packaged in a beautiful tip-on sleeve, swirling fog artwork, complete with 12” booklet and pressed on 3 exclusive vinyl colours: 300 copies on Standard Black Wax, 500 copies in Amber + Black Smoke and 200 copies of Svart exclusive Turquoise/Black Marble. The album will also be available on CD and digital platforms.

Continuing Mr Bongo’s series exploring the wealth of material released through the record labels of Sonny Lester, 1977’s Funk Reaction finds Hammond B3 organ virtuoso Lonnie Smith at his most dancefloor-friendly. Dripping with groove and swagger, this album skates between jazz-funk, cosmic disco radiance, beat-laden slow-jams and conscious psychedelic soul.

Having played with the likes of George Benson and Lou Donaldson in the ‘60s, alongside releasing a string of albums on Columbia and Blue Note, Funk Reaction sees Smith move into late ‘70s disco-funk-tinged territory.

Originally released on Sonny Lester's Groove Merchant Records successor, Lester Radio Corporation, the album feels more like a collaborative band-orientated project as opposed to a solo artist outing. Featuring some elite session players of the time, including Steve Gadd on drums, guitarist Lance Quinn and bassist Bob Babbitt, the album is tied together expertly by songwriter, arranger and conductor Brad Baker.

It’s worth the price tag alone for the superb disco-funk nugget 'Funk Reaction’. Other highlights include the only Lonnie Smith penned track on the album 'All In My Mind', that shines with a beautiful Stevie Wonder-esque quality and the slick guitar-led floater 'When The Night Is Right’, written by and featuring guitarist Richie Hohenburger. Elsewhere, ‘For The Love Of It’ and the Brad Babbitt written ‘Babbitt's Other Song’ serve up classic jazz funk flavours, both featuring stellar tenor saxophone from Eddie Daniels.

As a whole, the album is a superb example of Lonnie Smith’s ability to merge jazz with elements of funk, soul, disco and beyond, experimenting with ideas whilst broadening the scope of both his audience and appeal. Fans of The Blackbyrds, the CTI / Kudu stable and ‘70s George Benson will dig this!

030/313 – Berlin/Detroit, the fundamental techno union. Now Carhartt WIP, whose roots can be traced to Detroit, Michigan, join forces with Tresor for a collaboration that celebrates the enduring spirit of two music metropolises. Referencing the early 90s compilations like “Tresor II – A Techno Alliance”, they present a 12” mini compilation with exclusive material from both cities.
The compilation opens with “I.D.L.E.”, a lost Model 500 track, of essential funk that touches the techno soul of The Motorcity, with trippy melodies and cosmic drilling traversing electrified Mojo freeways. It’s followed by another true Detroiter: Ectomorph’s “Searching (Live At Globus)”, a first extract from their live set at Globus in 2021, which BMG and Erika played on borrowed equipment after Erika’s case was lost on a flight. The A-Side stays in Detroit and finishes with “Your Body”, an exclusive track by AMX, also known as The AM, one of Detroit’s freshest funk techno sensations. She carries on the mentorship mindset by having learned from two of the greatest: D.I.E. and Scan 7. “Your Body” is a classic techno feel swinger, where subtle chords meet drum machine funk in the spirit of early Detroit techno.
DJ Stingray 313 opens the B-Side with a bang. Precisely hacked techno, full of dark funk and that special industrial jack, that the man in the mask has made his own. A total “Dynamic Instability”. Magic & furious. The thrill continues with “Metal Goat”, by JakoJako, one of Berlin’s brightest synth sensations. She provides an introspective grower that slowly evolves into a fast-paced techno grinder, laden with micro shifts and magic twists. The final tune comes from Erik Jabari, a newcomer from the 030 zone, emerging from the Hard Wax peers with haunting modular synth techno–a feverish minimalistic trip of motorized kicks. DJ Pete performed as spiritual guidance on this one. It’s floor proven. An overall cachet of “030313” - the small compilation with a huge techno heart.

Mystical Disco presents Analog Dream Simulator, the first full length ambient LP from Paranoid Pyramid. Utilizing Sequential Circuits and Moog synthesizers, each song reveals a secret door into the subconscious. Mystical pads conjure visions of distant dream-realms accompanied by melodies that evoke the simplicity of childhood memories. Analog Dream Simulator is by turns joyful and mysterious, intimate and cosmic. Journey to the antipodes of the mind with Paranoid Pyramid. Life is but a Dream

Aerials live, dials tuned, Transmission Towers broadcasting. On either side of the river Mersey, transcendental communications are traded back and forth. Two late-night revellers, one firing messages filled with music, the other returning them laced with lyrics. The result, a dopamine hit of oddball machine soul, melded with a highlife, Afrofuturist touch. Wonky and murky yet deeply emotional, Transmission One, is a debut album that also marks the first release on Luke Una’s É Soul Cultura label, encompassing expertly the off-kilter atmosphere the label sets to orbit.

A synthesised landscape with a Northern charm, Transmission Towers marry the musical worlds of two artists that last collaborated over a decade ago. 10 years have passed, lives have been led, but a gravitational pull has placed Mark Kyriacou and Eleanor Mante back in each other’s spheres on opposite sides of the city of Liverpool. Energised with a newfound desire to strip it all back to the sounds that influenced their formative years in the late ‘80s and ‘90s - astral travelling, intoxicated on Motor City techno, Black Dog IDM and mystical Sun Ra.

Mark half Irish, half Greek Cypriot, Eleanor half Nigerian, half Ghanian, the music contained within is an alchemy of those roots and the pivotal acts that buried deep into their minds. A cosmic contrast, part machine-made, part distinctly human. Take the opener ‘UP’, an ESG-channelling, sci-fi punk beatdown or the polychromatic hyperspace anthem ‘Roller Skater 23’.

Transportive throughout, you ride the solar waves, pace and emotion ebbing and flowing. Tracks like ‘Go Slow Heart’ and ‘Cosmic Trigger’ step to a slower beat but hit with a punch. The former, a slo-mo blast of celestial tenderness, the latter an otherworldly, chugged-out lunar excursion, micro-dosing on whacked-out Wah Wah and Eleanor’s ethereal vocals. Beaming love letters to space and back, ‘Sparse’ marries the organic with the artificial, pianos and percussion circling around synth pads and broadcasting bleeps.

Elsewhere, vibrations move faster. ‘Mega’ strikes, fusing sonic tribalism with psychedelic swirls, as ‘Everything’ sweeps you up in its extra-terrestrial new wave grip. Synth stabs and basslines fizzing from every angle.

Demos of Transmission Towers music surfaced on Luke Una’s radar, making him stop in his tracks. Something magical was emerging, perfectly aligned with the E Soul guardian’s tastes. Guidance followed, quickly turning into conversations about Transmission One becoming the first release on Luke’s own label.

Escapist and futurist yet grounded and relatable. Transmission One is synthesis meets sentiment with a deep, spine-tingling soul at its core.

A continuation of a sound and sentiment from the mind of Pete Woosh (DiY Soundystem)

Love is the Most Important thing captures a unique moment in time with a meeting of spiritual, uplifting and healing sounds that ring true to Pete’s spirit. This first EP sees the debut of several lesser-known artists from Nottingham. Allow yourself to drift through a varied soundscape; from cosmic loops and gentle pads to uplifting mantras and rolling breakbeats.

RIP Pete Woosh aka The Peaceful Ones – 1965 - 2020

Québec's own CANTIQUE LÉPREUX are back with their third full-length album "Le bannissement". It is a tale of self-initiation, a rejection of society, and a glorification of nature - manifested in their signature style of swirling tremolo-guitar-riffs, tortured screams, and elaborate melodicism. Over the recent years they have established themselves as an essential act of the Métal Noir Québécois scene. They channel the evocative power of Black Metal, carrying vast forests, desolate landscapes, impassable mountains, and cosmic torment. The band members are also associated with Mêlée des Aurores, Chasse-Galerie, Acédia, Manière Noire, Chaos Catharsis, Forteresse, Délétère and Au-delà des ruines.

"Le bannissement" tells the abduction of a young girl and the sickness that is forced into her. Tainted, and rejected by those who should have protected her, she flees to wild and unexplored land, where she shatters and mends herself continuously. In these countless battles, she severs her bond to reality, subverts the sickness, and overthrows those who had seized her innermost Dream. Through banishment, liberation.

The album presents a raging and hypnotic narrative. Fast-paced songs drag the listener in a wild hunt, rushing towards self-annihilation. It was interpreted with the band's live line-up and equipment to preserve the fierceness of the mindset it was composed. This raging maelstrom, built on alluring melodies, shows guitarists Blanc Feu and Ascèse's fascination for music history and musicology. The album's emotional power stems not only from black metal's common genre tropes but also from the austere grandeur of early music.

In many ways, the music of Writhing Squares could have only originated in Philadelphia; the city itself a microcosm of creatives, go-getters, freaks & weirdos that have coalesced into a supportive & boundary-pushing crew. Former Purling Hiss bassist Daniel Provenzano & Ecstatic Vision sax-player & vocalist Kevin Nickles' first musical missive was shot forth in 2013 (the self-released CDR "Live In Space") & various singles, split releases, albums (and a double-album) later we arrive at the duo's fourth full-length "Mythology", their third for Chicago-based Trouble In Mind Records. "Mythology" picks up the pieces left shattered by their previous double-album "Chart For The Solution" and reconnects the broken shards together like Kintsugi, the ancient Japanese technique for mending broken ceramics, infusing the breaks with powdered gold. The Squares themselves are like mad-scientists, taking the ruined detritus populating junk shops & surplus outlets & constructing their own sonic laboratories in their New Jersey basements to record, mix & tweak "Mythology"s eight tracks. Their new location allowed the band to regroup, reassess & reconstruct their sound from the ground up, shearing away the cosmic excess of 2021's "Chart For The Solution" to a sharper point. Tracks like `Barbarians' & `LEM' are classic Squares; brutal, aggressive, unwavering assault of Motorhead/Stooges-inflected sci-fi punk scree, while others like `Chromatophage's mutant funk & `Cerberus's techno-slink owe a serious debt to electric-era Miles Davis or Herbie Hancock & show that the group has more to offer than bludgeoning you with sonic force. Provenzano's bass & electronics are like a tank rolling across the terrain - a gnarly construct of Hawkwind-ian headiness & `Vincebus Eruptum's snarl - uncaring of what gets in the way. Nickles' brass vacillates between Stooges-influenced sleaze, jazzy no-wave stabs, & cacophonous sonic storms, strafing the listener into oblivion. The duo are joined on "Mythology" by drummer John Schoemaker - who contributed drums to "Chart For The Solution"s epic closing track `Epilogue' - whose percussive pulse adds an organic swing to The Square's sonics, particularly on album closer "The Damned Thing"s cosmic strut. "Mythology" tackles a multitude of themes, from fantastical tales of hellhound `Cerberus' or the comic-inspired "Eternity " to `Chromatophage's colorful/evil yarn about animals that eat colors (or a Magic: The Gathering card) to the true-life influenced `Acid Rain' that deals with the uncertainty of consuming drinking water after a chemical spill in the Delaware River. Elsewhere, `Ferrell' is an homage to the late, great Ferrell "Pharaoh" Sanders & `The Damned Thing' by a short horror story penned by Ambrose Bierce about an animal whose coloring is invisible to the naked eye. Writhing Squares are in a transitional phase, mapping out a new sonic mythology for themselves after crossing the event horizon into unknown space. "Mythology" is streaming on most DSPs & released on black vinyl & limited fluorescent green vinyl (while supplies last) on April 26th, 2024.

In many ways, the music of Writhing Squares could have only originated in Philadelphia; the city itself a microcosm of creatives, go-getters, freaks & weirdos that have coalesced into a supportive & boundary-pushing crew. Former Purling Hiss bassist Daniel Provenzano & Ecstatic Vision sax-player & vocalist Kevin Nickles' first musical missive was shot forth in 2013 (the self-released CDR "Live In Space") & various singles, split releases, albums (and a double-album) later we arrive at the duo's fourth full-length "Mythology", their third for Chicago-based Trouble In Mind Records. "Mythology" picks up the pieces left shattered by their previous double-album "Chart For The Solution" and reconnects the broken shards together like Kintsugi, the ancient Japanese technique for mending broken ceramics, infusing the breaks with powdered gold. The Squares themselves are like mad-scientists, taking the ruined detritus populating junk shops & surplus outlets & constructing their own sonic laboratories in their New Jersey basements to record, mix & tweak "Mythology"s eight tracks. Their new location allowed the band to regroup, reassess & reconstruct their sound from the ground up, shearing away the cosmic excess of 2021's "Chart For The Solution" to a sharper point. Tracks like `Barbarians' & `LEM' are classic Squares; brutal, aggressive, unwavering assault of Motorhead/Stooges-inflected sci-fi punk scree, while others like `Chromatophage's mutant funk & `Cerberus's techno-slink owe a serious debt to electric-era Miles Davis or Herbie Hancock & show that the group has more to offer than bludgeoning you with sonic force. Provenzano's bass & electronics are like a tank rolling across the terrain - a gnarly construct of Hawkwind-ian headiness & `Vincebus Eruptum's snarl - uncaring of what gets in the way. Nickles' brass vacillates between Stooges-influenced sleaze, jazzy no-wave stabs, & cacophonous sonic storms, strafing the listener into oblivion. The duo are joined on "Mythology" by drummer John Schoemaker - who contributed drums to "Chart For The Solution"s epic closing track `Epilogue' - whose percussive pulse adds an organic swing to The Square's sonics, particularly on album closer "The Damned Thing"s cosmic strut. "Mythology" tackles a multitude of themes, from fantastical tales of hellhound `Cerberus' or the comic-inspired "Eternity " to `Chromatophage's colorful/evil yarn about animals that eat colors (or a Magic: The Gathering card) to the true-life influenced `Acid Rain' that deals with the uncertainty of consuming drinking water after a chemical spill in the Delaware River. Elsewhere, `Ferrell' is an homage to the late, great Ferrell "Pharaoh" Sanders & `The Damned Thing' by a short horror story penned by Ambrose Bierce about an animal whose coloring is invisible to the naked eye. Writhing Squares are in a transitional phase, mapping out a new sonic mythology for themselves after crossing the event horizon into unknown space. "Mythology" is streaming on most DSPs & released on black vinyl & limited fluorescent green vinyl (while supplies last) on April 26th, 2024.

The second in our Mr Bongo series opening the vault on classic recordings from the fabled Groove Merchant Records catalogue. This time the spotlight turns to the Hammond B3 organ maestro Lonnie Smith, as we proudly present a reissue of his cosmic jazz-funk journey, ‘Afro-Desia’.

Originally released in 1975, this much-loved album was produced by Groove Merchant label owner Sonny Lester and features the mysterious 'Compliments Of A Friend' on guitar. Considering Smith was part of George Benson’s quartet in the ‘60s, that not so discreet veil appears to have been lifted on who this ‘friend’ might be. However, presumably due to contractual reasons, Benson had to remain covert for this recording. The lineup doesn’t stop there though, with the likes of legendary bassist Ron Carter and Grammy award winning saxophonist Joe Lavano joining the outfit.

An album of two parts, the first side sees Lonnie Smith in a spaced-out, cosmic jazz funk setting. The opener 'Afrodesia' is a funk flexing, steamy groover. Greg Hopkins and Lavano trading off on trumpet and sax respectively, as that bassline walks its way over fluttering jazz percussion and off-kilter electronics. 'Spirits Free' is an epic 15-minute free-wheeling jazz-funk workout. A mind melting trip that rises and falls, in parts spacey and serene, with Smith’s organ playing complimented by stretched out horns. Before long it opens out into unconstrained fluid sections that do its title proud. Pure ‘70s jazz-funk at its most stellar.

Side B takes a more classic soul-jazz flavour, with touches of Latin spice. 'Straight To The Point' kicks off with a carnival zing, full-frontal horn and organ lines providing a fiery party punch. It’s a swinging jazz cut that used to receive spins by DJs at Russ Dewbury's Jazz Room's sessions in Brighton in the ‘90s.

Finally, 'Favors' and 'The Awakening' close out the release. Two sure shot, quintessential Lonnie Smith firing Hammond grooves. Each conjuring up images of packed out, smokey jazz bar jams, every player letting loose with masterful improv sections to whip the crowd up into a frenzy.

A truly wonderful album, and an archetypal release showcasing the height of jazz musician excellence from this era.

This is techno, but not as we know it from the Vigenere. Sparagamos (a fitting name given the word originally means to render, tear apart, or mangle) is behind these freaky beats but we nothing more about the artist.

Suffice it to say they sure do have a fine grip of their studio and can manipulate sound in some thrilling ways. The opener is a warp-speed warehouse banger with distorted bass and manic energy, track two explores sludgy acid techno underworlds and track there is a twitchy cosmic workout with serene pads.

'Track 4' is a world of dystopian robotics while the flip side offers tripped-out, double-time dub techno, more acid intensity and experimental mind melters with exceptional sound design.

Dombrance is back with a colourful new EP on Discolypso featuring two new songs and remixes from a stellar cast, including Francois K, Lindstrom,

Dombrance has been described by The Sunday Times as a 'French Jarvis Cocker with a bushy moustache and flares'. He is a musical maverick who last year released his debut full-length album and performed relentlessly across the globe from Glastonbury Festival to Downtown Los Angeles, a set before Underworld at Tropico Festival in Mexico and many more.

‘Bayrou’ is a politician who had to leave the government barely after entering it after being indicted for embezzlement of public funds. It’s a timeless electronic disco sound with sugary chords and glistening arps that bring cosmic warmth to the retro-future beats. ‘Cope’ is a politician who disappeared suddenly from circulation after publicly mistaking the price of a ‘pain au chocolat’. The fantastic tune is a prickly seven-minute disco odyssey with pulsating synth sequences and crunchy percussion. It’s twitchy and edgy and perfect for peak time.

First to remix is the legendary Francois K, who flips ‘Cope’ into a psychedelic wonder that navigates in different directions and through several genres that will make dancers lose their minds. Scandi-disco king Lindstrom then comes through with an exotic remix of ‘Bayrou’ that makes you imagine a cocktail pool party filmed by David Lynch.

Damian Lazarus’ Crosstown Rebels imprint announces, ‘Portrait of the Obscure’, the stunning new album from Oceanvs Orientalis.

Following three superb singles on the label across the past four months, the nine-track LP offers a comprehensive exploration of the Instanbul-based talent’s rich, globally-infused and captivating sound, with the project set for release on 26th April 2024.

Safak Oz Kutle, known as Oceanvs Orientalis, is a producer and live performer based in Istanbul. His musical style intricately weaves together diverse sonic tapestries of wide-spanning genres and cultures, and through his creative fusion of these influences, he crafts an immersive world that takes you far away from the usual club music references. His music serves as a celebration of his musical heritage, and this has never been truer than on his superb new album ‘Portrait of the Obscure’, which again pushes traditional boundaries within the electronic sphere. Set for release on 26th April via Damian Lazarus’ renowned and celebrated Crosstown Rebels imprint, the nine-track LP project features a showcase of solo and collaborative material alongside close friends such as Tooker, Idil Mese and Tilahun Gessesse, delivering a journey into the creative mind of one of
the scene’s most intriguing talents.

The bold and riveting project kicks off with the captivating synthscapes, fluttering strings and plucked bass of the gorgeous ‘Pulse Antique’, before ‘Ministry Of Midnight’ cuts loose on more jumbled rhythms and intricate organic lines warmed with wordless vocals. Next up are two of the lead
singles - the tense and intricate house sonics of ‘Neutrality’ and the haunting atmospheres and ethereal synth lines of ‘IL Lupo’ featuring Tooker, while ‘Conritmo’ continues to bring exotic new string sounds, leftfield melodies and warped bass to this most vibrant exploration of candle-lit house sounds. ‘Soul of Calypso’ blisses out on far-sighted cosmic chords with sonorous bells and late-night spoken word musings that add all-new character to the innovative grooves. Then comes the laid-back, jazz-infused house of ‘Heart Pieces’ feat. Idil Mese, a deep and jazzy jungle shuffler
in ‘Mercury’ and the playful horns and lumpy, dub-wise swagger of ‘Lanchi Biye’.

An album project encompassing its title perfectly, ‘Portrait of the Obscure’ is just that - a magnificent snapshot of the unique musical mind of Oceanvs Orientalis.

London polymath producer Josh Ludlow, co-founder of the already seminal MAD Records and one half of the dynamic Make a Dance Duo, explores new sonic territories with his inaugural solo EP release on Belfast imprint Nocturne. Embracing his passion for eclectic disco, hypnotic chug, and music tailored for those transcendent nocturnal hours, Ludlow showcases his versatility and distinctive flair on his debut outing.

Leading the charge on Josh Ludlow's debut solo EP is the bass-led 80's influenced odyssey of 'MindwayS.' A sonic journey through contemporary psychedelia, inviting audiences to lose themselves in the sweet spot where boundaries between reality and imagination blur. In 'Touch,' Ludlow ventures into seductive sonic territory, delving into a world of cowbell-laden, slo-mo erotic disco. Live guitar licks sit comfortably shoulder to shoulder with low slung hypnotic grooves and alluring vocals in "Little Love" - perfect for the more discerning european dancefloors.

'Diska Tek!' delivers a fusion of playful cosmic energy, sitting comfortably between Cowley-esque hedonism and the contemporary Scandinavian greats. The track pulsates with infectious rhythms evoking the carefree spirit of the dancefloor while showcasing Ludlow's ability to blend nostalgic influences with modern sensibilities. With its vibrant energy and irresistible grooves, 'Diska Tek' is a testament to Ludlow's prowess in bridging the gap between disco's golden age and contemporary dance music."

Through MindwayS, Josh Ludlow not only introduces his solo endeavors but also marks the resurgence of Nocturne after a short hiatus. This statement intent by the imprint positions it as a platform to continue to champion forward-thinking sounds.

Repress!

Presenting a collection of deep spatial gems mined from the ever impressive TK Disco vaults for your playback listening pleasure!

The TK Disco music empire has blessed our ears and minds with an endless stream of music since it's late 1960's inception. Countless soul and funk sides were produced, cut and released by label founder Henry Stone and his associates, in turn changing the face of contemporary black music in the USA and across the world forever. It is true that the TK story originated on America's 'Space Coast', the modern frontier of lunar exploration and galactic travel, the home of NASA and countless missions beyond the stars nestled on the East Coast of the United States.

'Moon Ride' - The compilation you hold in your hands, is merely one strand of the incredible music that was beamed out of Hialeah, FL over the decades. The focus on this collection is the idea of the 'cosmic' from the Disco era. These are records that emit a spacey vibe, either from their lyrical content or equally from their sonic qualities, imbibing synths and electronics to create otherworldly grooves. These records were big hits on underground music scenes such as Daniele Baldelli's cosmic movement in the 70's and 80's in Lake Garda, they were vehicles of escapism and hedonism on the discerning dancefloors of NYC in the hands of progressive DJs like David Mancuso and Nicky Siano and they were also essential building blocks in the creation of House and Techno music in the Midwestern cities of Chicago and Detroit, inspiring legendary artists such as Mr Fingers and Jeff Mills and countless others. An essential collection of music for listening, dancing, loving and travelling!

TK Disco's influence is still felt today and this carefully curated selection of tracks showcases some absolute classics, overlooked nuggets and rarities from the label's huge output. Mastered with love by Optimum Mastering, Bristol UK. Brought to you by TK Disco / Henry Stone Music & Above Board Distribution 2021.