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NYC's Disco powerhouse West End Records should need no intro. The home of too-numerous-to-list club classics for over 30+ years is still impacting today on what we know to be club culture. The label started by one Mel Cheren (RIP) with assistance from Larry Levan and more way back in 1976 is still held in such high regard today with it's catalogue constantly being played, rediscovered, reinterpreted and loved by waves and waves of new fans and admirers. One such admirer is one of the UK's longest serving DJ's and editors, a truly legendary Northern selector who's unique reel to reel DJ sets and reworks has gained him fans worldwide and continues to do so. Ladies and gentlemen, we give you Greg Wilson's West End versions, 4 tracks of unparalleled funk touched by the man himself who has also kindly supplied some choice words about this special release:

"West End has a particular place in my heart. Along with Prelude, it was my main go-to label during the early '80s, an underground New York powerhouse issuing a relentless run of now classic and cult-classic club cuts during the time I was DJing at Legend in Manchester. For me personally, the label is forever connected with this then futuristic venue, West End's progressive approach to dance music, incorporating electronic elements to play a key role in ushering in the Electro-Funk era, finding its perfect environment at Legend, with tracks by Stone, and especially the Peech Boys' hugely influential 'Don't Make Me Wait', providing major stepping stones. This is a project that holds a deeper resonance for me, given my personal relationship with the label, and I'm so happy to contribute the series; the 4 favourites tracks I selected for this release illustrating West End's best qualities - serious grooves and soulful vocals.

The edit of 'You Can't Take Your Cake And Eat It Too' by B.T. (Brenda Taylor) was originally featured on my first Credit To The Edit compilation, back in 2005, whilst Raw Silk's 'Do It To The Music' was also edited around the same period, but has never been made available until now. 'Keep On Dubbin'' by Forrrce, although not as big as the other inclusions at the time, was an ahead of its time hybrid, mixed by Francois Kevorkian, whose dub awakening had taken place the previous year, and Shirley Lites 'Heat You Up (Melt You Down)', which draws from the instrumental 'Melt Down Mix', the version of choice at Legend, where dub and instrumental mixes often trumped the main vocal versions"

A truly golden era of dance music history, all killer - no filler! All tracks featured re-edited by Greg Wilson and re-mastered, re-pressed and re-released with the permission of and in conjunction with West End Records, New York City / BMG. '

The BBoy anthem: Funkshone -Chase the Dream unleashes
Mike’s trademark drum grooves against the usual Funkshone wall of sound; this time with an overall Cinematic Funk driving groove; bass-driven; horn and flutes accents; also featuring: the UK’s maestro Kaidi Tatham on Flute
(more known for his amazing Keyboard delights).
The original mix was catapulted to the forefront of BBoy culture by DJ Skeme Richards whom insisted this was used in his set at the Red Bull BC One BBoy Championship finals in Brazil in 2012. To seal the deal Funkshone also deliver a never before heard BBoy version of the cut on the flip side of this Limited edition 45.

Japan's guitar hero Takeshi Terauchi reworks traditional songs and lets everything go wild with his magnificent and frenzied guitar sound. Enter the electrifying world of Eleki!

Gatefold 180g heavy vinyl LP, reverse board print. Comes with extensive liner notes by Japanese pop culture writer Julien Seveon (Cinexploitation)

All tracks licensed by King Record Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan.

Mastering and lacquer cut by Jukka Sarapää at Timmion Cutting Lab, Helsinki, Finland.

Artwork by Nker

The aftermath of World War II gave rise to a global phenomenon that saw new generations of young people rise up determined to forge new paths from their elders – culturally, politically, and musically. Japan was no exception and the recent past made the local youth angrier, hungrier and even more determined to fully experience something different from their parents. The country caught on to the early rock & roll craze almost in tandem as it was happening in the States. Teenager Chiemi Eri singing "Rock Around The Clock" and Kazuya Kosaka with "Heartbreak Hotel" were among the first to make what would soon be called Rokabiri accessible to a large audience. Teacher and parent associations showed concern regarding this new music when teenagers started missing school to attend afternoon shows – one of which most notably being the Nichigeki Western Carnival where all the top names of Rokabiri played to sold out audiences. But by the end of the 1950s, the youth of Japan had moved on to something else entirely: Eleki.

The 50s and 60s were a time of rapid change that saw trends come and go. Japan, like all other industrial countries, saw its youth move from one musical sensation to the next. And in the early 60s, there was one band in particular that created a distinct new flavor: The Ventures. Leaving behind vocals and focusing strictly on the impact of the sound of the electric guitar, The Ventures drove kids crazy all over the world. Other bands followed, most notably The Shadows, but in Japan, no other instrumental rock band managed to leave such an impact. The sound of The Ventures helped boost guitar sales in Japan and soon hundreds of cover bands were popping up all over the country. The Eleki Bumu (electric boom) was now in full effect with Takeshi Terauchi emerging as its first and greatest guitar hero.

Terauchi was born January 1939 in the prefecture of Tochigi, north of Tokyo. His mother taught music and played the shamisen – a traditional Japanese stringed instrument – while his father ran, among other things, an electronics shop. Their respective professions were to be decisive in the path that Terauchi would later take. Serendipitously, at the age of five, Takeshi was given his first instrument – a guitar. His destiny sealed, he quickly began experimenting with different tools from his father's shop to give his instrument a stronger sound. The technological approach came from his father, the technique from his mother. Terauchi's signature playing style owes a lot to his mother's instrument of choice, as he attacks the notes on his guitar as one plucks the strings of a shamisen.

This exceptional compilation you are holding in your hands explores some of the best works by Takeshi Terauchi, recorded between 1966 and 1974, where the guitar hero looks inwards to Japan for inspiration. A meeting between traditional folk songs and the unique way Terauchi and his band play: the content is explosive, inspired, and highly addictive! The 60s and 70s were undoubtedly Terauchi's finest hours, and in the late 60s, one Japanese critic said that Terauchi was not only the best guitarist in Japan, but also in the world. You can now find out why.

In 2021 Velocity Press published Who Say Reload: The Stories Behind the Classic Drum & Bass Records of the 90s, an oral history of the records that defined jungle/drum & bass straight from the original sources. The deluxe coffee table book has since sold thousands of copies and prompted many to comment that it should have an accompanying soundtrack.

Now author Paul Terzulli has compiled a Who Say Reload album. However, where the book focused solely on classics and anthems, the compilation takes a different route and offers up a selection of top-quality tunes from some of the scene’s most respected artists and labels.

Like the book, the album covers the genre’s nineties golden era, and the many styles of D&B are represented. Pioneering producers and crowd-pleasing favourites sit alongside a few sought-after obscurities by the unsung heroes of the scene. Most importantly, there are some absolute bangers!

The 16 tracks are spread over two volumes of 2 x 12"s, and there is also a 13-track digital version, taking you on a journey through music forged from raw breakbeats and basslines that soundtracked a culture of all-night raves, specialist record shops and pirate radio stations.

Jungle/drum & bass is approaching its 30th anniversary. Its sonic and cultural legacy is still being felt today. There’s still plenty of old music that might be “new” to some, and these tunes still pack as much of a punch as they did back in the day. That unique energy generated by a combination of breakbeats, bass and creativity never gets old.

Produced in conjunction with Above Board distribution. All tracks mastered from original sources and fully licensed. Mastering by Beau Thomas @ Ten Eight Seven Mastering. Liner notes from Who Say Reload author Paul Terzulli. Photography by Eddie Otchere. Artwork and design by Protean Productions.

In Kenyan cultural communities’ musical performance has always been linked with a long chain of related events and ideas. Music was often used to illuminate a specific topic and its implications to society. Through this method of explanation, musicians were able to reveal several underlying social concepts that determined people’s behaviour towards each other and the community.

This common recurring theme was seen mostly in ceremonies. African musical productions are abstract configurations that demonstrate a common fundamental creative principle of mediating the physical and metaphysical worlds. INSHA is centered on time and the evolution/relationship of these cultural-creative influences. The compilation inquires aspects of traditional cultures, physical or metaphysical from communities in Kenya, and act as inspirations and sonic paraphernalia. INSHA serves as a bridge between the past and future music creators on a more fundamental level than usual record keeping.

When Don Cavalli chants down Babylon : Don Cavalli has just done 4 brillant covers of Reggae Classics he loves in his own blues & rockabilly way.4 song EP : “Hello Carol” (Gladiators”) , “Fire Fire” (Peter Tosh) , “Door Pepper” (Burning Spear) & “Black Starliner” (Culture).

Future Jazzers, notorious experimentalists and outfield eccentrics stumble onto the dancefloor. In the 90s. In the UK.

From an electronic music perspective, the period 1992 to 1996 in the UK that this compilation celebrates, was one of dizzying sonic diversification.

It was also a particularly turbulent time in the UK, not only politically and economically, but also culturally too. Economic catastrophe in ‘92 was followed by widespread poverty, a cost of living crisis and countless political scandals. Meanwhile, John Major’s Tory government pandered to its political base via unpleasant, authoritarian legislation that seemingly sought to crush rave culture, alternative lifestyles, and traveller communities. The UK was not so much a ‘Happy Land’ – to quote the name of this compilation – as an angry and divided one. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Throughout, the music created by producers based across these Isles remained uniquely British, speeding up a process begun in the late 1980s through the emergence of street soul, bleep & bass and breakbeat hardcore – musical styles whose roots in multicultural inner-city communities made them distinctly different from the Black American sounds that had inspired their creators. It was here, rather than in the indie pubs of Camden, that real musical revolutions were taking place.

This deep diving selection brings together some truly adventurous and original electronic music from this period, much of it very hard to find. Major label outings connect with white label oddities with ease. Perhaps it could even be argued that many of these unearthed gems fit more easily into DJ sets in 2023 than they ever did at the time. The off-kilter swing of Richard D James’ obscure and highly sought after Strider B outing, ‘Bradley’s Robot’ is joined by further rare cuts from Cabaret Voltaire and the Black Dog, and artists as diverse as Ultramarine, Herbert, Fretless AZM, and Radioactive Lamb, amongst others.

This collection has been lovingly selected, compiled and mastered for maximum sonic playback. This very special release boasts sublime pastoral themed artwork, as well as informative and passionate liner notes by celebrated music scribe Matt Anniss (‘Join The Future’).

Re:drum is a ukrainian producer based in Odessa city. Supported by many artists such as Jensen Interceptor, Textasy or JKS, he is known for his ferocious, uglified and overloaded sound, mixing drum'n'bass, industrial textures and rave influences. "New Folk EP" symbolizes a mix of many motifs from different folk musical cultures with hard electro basses and overdrived drums.

Gianni Brezzo, the jazz affiliated band / studio project led by Cologne-based producer maestro Marvin Horsch, has a diverse musical profile that is reflected both in his genre-hopping as well as his creative output. Along with producing for Cologne bands like Keshavara, Woman and Xul Zolar, Gianni has released a number of EP and LP’s since 2017, including 2021’s “The Awakening” which featured vocal appearances from Berlin/Tel Aviv based singer / producer J.Lamotta and soul singer Otis Junior from Louisville, Kentucky. Gianni’s 2022 LP “Tutto Passa,” released on Jakarta Records, was a meditation around Marvin’s relationship to Italian culture, accompanied by research into Italian composers of the 60’s / 70’s such as Piero Umiliani, Stelvio Cipriani and Armando Trovajoli to more recent work by Sven Wunder. This was quickly followed up with EP “Amoria,” an extension of the themes grown from “Tutto Passa.” Gianni’s tracks have consistently placed on Editorial Lists including Spotify’s “State Of Jazz” (509k Likes) and “Café / Croissant” (200k Likes), and “lofi beats” (4.8M Likes) and most recently was synced in an episode of Gossip Girl for HBO US. Gianni’s latest excursion, “Soundscapes Vol. 1 – Music for Harlequins” is a special kind of release, one that ventures into worlds familiar, yet undeniably foreign and exciting. Gianni journeys through baroque pastures and medieval acoustics to bring forth an aural palette of colorful, timeless arrangements that fit comfortably in the sonic pocket. Featuring lush and nuanced instrumentation, all seamlessly melded together within Gianni’s groove-driven framework, the tracks on “Harlequins” present thematic moods that act as sonic windows into an enduring past. Jakarta is ecstatic to share such a project, with limited 300 vinyl initially pressed, arriving March 10th, 2023.

After a stay on the Côte d'Azur, Claude François moved to Paris in 1961. Determined to take the Capital, the young performer recorded new songs for the Fontana label. A few months later, the stunning success of “Belles! Belles! Belles! is soon followed by that of “Si j’avais un marteau”, an adaptation by folk songwriter Pete Seeger. At the dawn of the 1960s, Claude François joined the closed circle of yé-yés idols. Appeared under the pen of the sociologist Edgar Morin, the name "yéyé" designated a generational movement inspired by Anglo-Saxon pop culture. Adored by post-war baby boomers, his protagonists caused a veritable popular tidal wave and shake up the charts. Here starts the yé-yé revolution, and the legend of Claude Francois Ads –London Macadam Reviews –London Macadam, R2

Anna funk damage is the grimiest side of Andrea Natale, a young producer from Livorno, Italy. EBM, post-punk, and electro fit perfectly in his mechanical rhythmics, highly pitched and bit wicked vocals transport you immediately in an immersive and mental soundscape. His projects have already been released on labels such as Mind Records, Tripalium Corp, Raw Culture and recently he has been featured on a compilation on Elena Colombi's Osare Editions. A truly eclectic artist and a fresh talented blessing to the scene. Distributed worldwide by Clone.

4x LP and Zine (ft. photos, historical text and track narrations by the artist) set. Nation bring it.
An essential delve in to the retrospective works of SSPS. Limited edition. No repress. HUGE TIP ON THIS!

" You can't fake the funk, as they say and SSPS is pure funk embodied in all he does, the man oozes the funk 24-7!
One of my earliest encounters with SSPS was at one of the infamous Rubulad parties out in Brooklyn....
the man was decked out extravagantly...a cross between Blowfly and some futuristic being zapped
down to earth directly from the P-Funk mothership. Who was this masked man?
The disco vampire, was beating fast disco tracks relentlessly while slamming in his 707 over the records in real time...
not an easy feat, the beauty of the imperfections making it that much more exciting hearing the gallop and wild energy
he was bringing to the crowd, we were eating it up. This is SSPS, fearless in his approach and execution,
a modernist looking to the future but rooted in the past, an artist committed to his art...
all presented with unhinged emotion. It's all or nothing...everything on the table....do or die...the true epitome of style!!!!

Declaring someone a "cult figure" or a "legend" is a huge weight to carry and is often a term that is carelessly thrown around,
but those of us who have dwelled in this "underground" over the last 30 years can say with confidence that SSPS is just that
to many of us, no questions asked, it's not up for debate.

Now, many years later we see the culmination of his electronic works from 2002-2021 committed to record in this 4xlp,
16 track boxed set (plus 45 page booklet) titled SSPS, "The Life and Times of GiGi Black" thus solidifying
Mr. Nicholson's place in the secret world of dance not dance music.

The only way to describe this offering is "full spectrum electronic musical madness" not to be categorized,
never to be pigeonholed, full of surprises and straight from the gut with a direct hit to the heart.
We could go on about the production processes, about his Furr City studio space or his cross country excursions
for work with a truck packed with paintings (but also his music equipment) plugging in and recording during his
pit stops in Motel 6's across the US. But again it doesn't do justice to simply have a small peek inside the man's mind...
the music is beyond the mind. The process is the process and nothing has or can stand in the way of what the SSPS
has done in his long musical life. Punk Rock, Hardcore, House, No-Wave, Industrial, Jakbeat/Slow-Beat and Noise.
it's all there for the taking, it's all intertwined. If you want it, you will find it within SSPS's works.

Nicholson's path is the embodiment of true culture within "dance music" cultivated from years of learning, experimenting,
and pushing the limits with total commitment and immersion. "The Life and Times of GiGi Black" is true life experience,
it is a reflection of someone delving deep into his craft and presenting it with care in opposition to the fast, disposable,
self gratifying click bait culture we see dominating the pages today. The proof is here, drop the needle, enter the world of SSPS.














n G2 1000 Truths Balearic Inaugural Mix

Gondwana Records announces 'Goodbyes' the debut album from Estonian pianist and composer, Hanakiv, a deeply beautiful, meditative piano album featuring special guest Alabaster dePlume

"This is an album about healing. It is about saying your goodbyes to everything that doesn't serve you anymore. Each of these songs has a little goodbye in it. So, these are very beautiful and necessary goodbyes".

Hanakiv is a young composer and musician from Estonia (now based in London) who creates meditative piano-based ambient music with elements from classical and electronic music. 'Goodbyes' is her debut recording and draws on influences as diverse as Tim Hecker, Björk "Vespertine", Kara-Lis Coverdale, Arvo Pärt, Erkki-Sven Tüür and Aphex Twin as well as her own cultural heritage. Music has an important part in Estonian culture, especially choir music and its traditions, but Hanakiv also draws on her love of nature – the beautiful Estonian seaside and forests - and on her time in Iceland. However, it was moving to London that gave her the freedom to make her own music: "London gave me the freedom and courage to really be who I am (as a person and musically)" and her heritage and her new home both offer inspiration to Goodbyes, as Hanakiv moves between these two opposite places, a bustling metropolis and a small country full of nature, drawing inspiration from both as she sculpts her own voice.

Hanakiv had an unconventional music education – she started studying music at a school for handbells when she was nine and was part of a handbell ensemble for eight years. Starting on piano at the same time she went on to study composition at high school, and later at the Estonian Academy of Music. Eventually switching to electroacoustic composition, she studied in Reykjavik, and did internships in Malmö, and again Reykjavik before moving to London. She grew up in a musical family and her grandmother was a piano teacher and choir conductor.

"I would always ask her to take me to her choir rehearsals. I remember sitting under the grand piano, listening to the choir and just being mesmerised by the sounds. She also teaches in a local music school in the south of Estonia with about ten pianos, and I'd spend a lot of time there as well. I believe this was the starting point for me to get to where I am now. The last two pieces on the album (Home II and Home I) are composed in this same music school, so it feels like a full circle.

An early influence was Regina Spektor "the first artist who made me really want to play piano" alongside dream pop and Sigur Rós' as well as Estonian contemporary composers such as Erkki-Sven Tüür and Arvo Pärt. Later her studies took her to Reykjavík: "There is this amazing record shop called 12 Tónar in Reykjavik where you can drink espressos and listen to all their vinyls. I spent quite a lot of time there. There is something about Icelandic music that really excited me (the mixture of contemporary electronic sounds with melancholy, emotionality). This is when I started getting more into electronic music, and experimenting outside of classical music". Following a year long break from studying and inspired by making an electroacoustic soundtrack for a friend's abstract video, she was inspired to complete a masters in electroacoustic composition, diving fully into the worlds of sound recording and mixing and focusing on surround sound and how to position and move sounds in space, eventually doing an internship with composer Kent Olofson in Malmö, who works with multi-speaker systems for theatre productions. "I learnt a lot from him and he introduced me to some of my favourite plugins I've used a lot on this album as well."

Hanakiv moved to London just as the pandemic hit and found herself trapped, in a big new city, without any network or family and so just concentrated on making music. "I stayed in my room with my basic equipment - keyboard, Korg minilogue, SM 58 and Rode nt1-a microphones, laptop and speakers. I was reading about mixing, and trying out different things and listening to a lot of music to get the sense of the mixes and production and finishing a commission piece for 5.1 multi speaker system at that time so I set up four speakers for quadrophonic surround sound in my room!". She also found her way back to piano - my instrument – and started practicing again, playing the pieces she used to play, but also just improvising, and this was the beginning of what would become her debut album, 'Goodbyes'.

"I started appreciating everything about music again (even melody!), and everything just came together naturally, and I arrived to a point where I finally found my voice, and I had something that I wanted to say and share. I composed "Meditation I" first and started with "Goodbye", and all the other pieces are derived from that. Without "Meditation I" there wouldn't be this album. If you listen closely, "Meditation I" starts where "Goodbye" ends; "Meditation II" is born from "Meditation I".

But it was meeting Fi Roberts, a sound engineer based at the legendary Strongrom Studios in Shoreditch, London in December 2020 that really brought the album into focus. The pair bonded over an interest in prepared piano and a similar approach to production ideas (a balance of not overdoing it, and letting the songs speak for themselves, but being open to explore) and Fi became a friend but also a confidant and eventually co-producer

"Fi has a big impact on this record but I don't know how to really explain that properly. Of course, this album is sonically stunning thanks to her amazing mixes and recording skills, but she also believed in this music so much and it created something very special - that's difficult to measure with words. She just works with heart, and I really appreciate that"

This then is 'Goodbyes', the first offering from a major new voice, who offers us a meditative work full of space and tranquillity but also life and friendship and meaning. And we are very proud to welcome her to the Gondwana family.

Thaniil Alexandros can’t imagine a life without producing. Under the name of RBCHMBRS, Thaniil has been tinkering with sample based productions for 17 years. In one form or another, RBCHMBRS has mashed inspirations of hip hop instrumentals with the funky, snappy bounce of UKG.

Being half Greek and half Dominican means that Thaniil’s first memories of music were of classic Greek music and his mother’s love of dance and disco. Growing up on the Bronx meant that he was exposed to a mix of genres his entire life. From boomboxes on the street or from the windows of his neighbors home, gave Alexandros exposure to sounds he hadn't heard.

Toe the Line EP was intended to return to stripped down elements of older releases, but something “a little less outer space, a return to earth.” Armed with an SP-404, RBCHMBRS wants to be playful without being reminiscent, always trying to move forward. He believes that nostalgic pain can propel an artist to make their best work.

While noting history teachers as salient inspirations that opened his eyes to cultures unknown to him, as well as a father who is a history buff of his own, Thaniil has inherited some of their reverence for the classics and the importance of learning from the past. Alexandros’ fundamentals are influenced by Madlib, Timbaland (“the early stuff,” he interjects), Q Tip, Havoc, Alchemist, UKG, as well as the culture that surrounded the NBA in the 90s, during his most formative years.

Keeping it in the family, RBCHMBRS works closely with critically acclaimed emcee/producer THERAVADA, who co-produced Sick by Earl Sweatshirt with him, and who is his cousin. Currently, RBCHMBRS is working on a self-proclaimed “sprawling dance album” with Tesh Curry. His audience has a lot to look forward to.

With his Estrella EP, his intention was expressed through the imagined feeling of a time warp, a portal, and maybe coming out the other end of it. He wanted Toe The Line EP to feel more grounded, a down to earth project that he leaned towards as he searched for his life to settle. This EP reminds him that many things in his life have changed for the better, and a lot of that has to do with the structure hes begun to install.

On Al Hadr, Sabrina Bellaouel taps into myriad influences: from spirituality, astrology to club culture, romance, the body and self-love. Creating a balance between places, identities and sounds is a huge part of the charm of Al Hadr. As a true Libra, she’s finding a balance between honoring her roots and carving out her future.

Following two solo EPs, also on InFiné — 2020’s We Don’t Need To Be Enemies and 2021’s Libra — the French-Algerian producer and vocalist’s unique style of electronic R&B blossoms with Al Hadr, a 13-track album featuring collaborations with dance producer Basile3, experimental club DJ and writer Crystallmess, jazz musician Monomite and pop singer Bonnie Banane, among others.

Born, raised and based in Bagneux, outside the southern périphérique of Paris, Bellaouel lives between worlds. At home, her Algerian heritage and Muslim faith have fused tight familial bonds and a keen sense of history and culture; as “Berbers”, she speaks French and Arabic. In her headphones, she finds comfort in the sparse experimentalism of Radiohead and romantic tales of Jill Scott. On the hot club dance floors of Paris, driving house beats connect her to her body.

In swirling these private and public passions together on Al Hadr — which translates from Arabic as “the present time” — Bellaouel is the most vulnerable she’s ever been on record. Classic neo-soul and silken R&B blend with club electronics. Tender harmonies are sung and rhymes are spoken in English, French and Arabic, exploring love, faith and identity. Samples of drum machines are the backbone for wisps of woodwind, strings, keys and environmental ‘found sounds’, including Bellaouel’s own live recordings.

Creating a balance between places, identities and sounds is a huge part of the charm of Al Hadr. As a true Libra, she’s finding a balance between honoring her roots and carving out her future.

With her hypnotizing voice and vivid lyricism, Jackie Mendoza makes fantastical, intimate electro-pop propelled by ukulele-based dance grooves. Having grown up between her birthplace of Chula Vista, California and Tijuana, Mexico, the 29-year-old singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist bridges these two worlds with dynamic soundscapes that pull from Latin pop, electronic music, and indie pop. She creates a musical universe that exists beyond strict borders of genre and geography, giving her the space to traverse the vast expanse of her interiority. Mendoza first started performing in 2014 as the vocalist for Brooklyn dream pop bands Gingerlys and Lunarette. She then broke out as a solo artist with her 2016 pop hits "Islands" and "La Luz," which showcased her imagery-packed, yet deeply introspective lyrics. On LuvHz, her 2019 adventurous debut EP that was initially inspired by a painful breakup, she turned her personal experiences into songs that observe greater truths about the world around her. As a result, the project became a broader reflection on varying forms of love, in relationships with your partner, your culture, and the natural environment. Mendoza expands this approach on her debut album, Galaxia de Emociones (Galaxy of Emotions), which sees her exploring a great range of feelings, from depression, celebration, outrage, numbness, hopelessness, and thrilling love. She uses each emotion as a portal to convey the intricacies of her experience as a queer, first-generation Mexican American woman, who actively defies and criticizes machismo and the Christian culture she was surrounded by. Brought up in the suburban border town of Chula Vista, she recalls being told by her parents to not mix English with Spanish, but speaking "spanglish" quickly became inevitable. It wasn't until high school, that learning to play ukulele and singing in school musicals allowed her to authentically express herself. "This album is about finding the courage to not only face my emotions, but also sharing them by singing them out loud." Mendoza says. The project was co-written and co-produced by Mendoza and Rusty Santos (Animal Collective, Panda Bear), with a contribution from Grammy winning producer and accordionist Ulises Lozano. As Galaxia de Emociones cruises from shimmering indie pop to accordion-laced electronic norteño, Mendoza proves there is both power and tenderness in embracing the fullness of your being and not doubting your instincts that might have been discouraged by society. She says it all in the opening song, "Natural," which blooms with spacey synths and twinkling ukulele plucks. "There is no use in controlling what comes natural to you," she sings in Spanish in a spellbinding loop. With her new album, she hopes that listeners can connect with her words and look within to explore their own galaxy of emotions.

Record Kicks celebrates its 20th Anniversary with a limited edition "Rare Box Set" consisting of ten 45 vinyl with the very best of the label's catalogue.

2023 is a special year for Record Kicks: the Milan-based independent label turns 20 years old. In order to celebrate this great achievement, Record Kicks is proud to announce the release of a limited edition "Rare Box Set", coming out on March 3rd and containing 20 tracks on 10 "rare" 45 vinyl that retrace the story of these past 20 years of Record Kicks. The boxset is limited to 500 copies worldwide and it will also be released on digital format on that same day, March 3rd. The artwork by Japanese artist Ruminz is an homage to Afro-American culture. Of the 20 tracks on the "Rare Boxset", 11 tracks are previously unreleased on 45 vinyl, while 9 are reissues of mega in-demand gems.

Among the tracks released for the first time on 45, you'll find label's Funk & Soul heavyweights such as "Easy To Come Home" by Sydney funk maestros Dojo Cuts, "Your Love is Mine" by British funk band The New Mastersounds feat Corinne Bailey Rae and remixed by Nostalgia 77, "50 Foot Woman" by Hannah Williams & The Affirmations, "Soul Connection" by The Diplomats of Solid Sound and "Soul of My Life" by The Tibbs. For the first time on 45 vinyl, there are also two singles from the masters of Cinematic funk Calibro 35: "Stainless Steel" from their legendary album "Traitors" and "Ungwana Bay Launch Complex" from "S.P.A.C.E.", The Diasonics with "Andromeda", taken from their debut album "Origin Of Forms", and Whatitdo Archive Group's "Blood Chief" from the band's album "The Black Stone Affair".

On the reissue's front, among the rare tracks that by popular demand finally see the light again on 45 vinyl we find: the afrofunk cover of The Artic Monkeys' "I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor" by Baby Charles, JB's classic "Soul Power" by Kokolo remixed by Lack Of Afro, The Bluebeaters with "Catch That Teardrop" and "Toxic (One Drop Version)" singles, northern soul floorshaker "I'm a Good Woman" by Hannah Williams & The Tastemakers and deep funk stormer "I'm Not Your Regular Woman" by Marta Ren & The Groovelvets.

The "Rare Box Set" is just the first of many upcoming initiatives that will be revealed during the year to celebrate the Milan's label 20th anniversary. Side by side with similar imprints like Daptone, Big Crown, Colemine or Timmion Records, under its motto "The explosive sound from Today's scene", Milan-based record label and music publishing Record Kicks has been pitching the contemporary funk & soul scene since 2003. With over 250 releases under the belt, the label has released bands from all over the globe and earned support of VIP fans such as rap superstars Jay-Z, Tyler The Creator and Dr. Dre, who took inspiration from the label's catalogue by sampling it.








g g1: The New Mastersounds - Your Love Is Mine (Nostalgia 77 Remix) feat. Corinne Bailey Rae

Remastered reissue of “We Are Urusei Yatsura” (originally released in 1996), with bonus vinyl of unreleased demos and B-sides

Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the founding of Glasgow “Geek Rock” band Urusei Yatsura
– Double Clear-Vinyl Reissue of 1996 Album
In the days before “landfill” indie, and in rebellion against a developing Britpop orthodoxy, there were some weird but melodic bands coming of age outside London that drew inspiration from the US underground and the sparkly retro-futurism of Japan. Primitive guitar noise with art rock leanings, post punk DIY and fanzine culture. The best known of these bands was maybe Urusei Yatsura; “noisy stars”, named in honour of Rumiko Takahashi, legendary manga creator.

Back in 1996, after several increasingly well-received 7’s, the band travelled to Leamington Spa to record their debut album with John Rivers, producer of Swell Maps and Glasgow scene godparents, The Pastels. The resulting album won the group legions of new fans and gained them their first Independent #1 chart placing, alongside peers Ash and Super Furry Animals.

“These were fertile years in Glasgow, a scene with no name, no single sound, where the magic thread tying everyone together was words and works so personal, they couldn’t be mistaken for anyone else’s. ‘We Are Urusei Yatsura’ is a cascade of ‘why not?’ thinking. The way ‘Phasers on Stun’ spirals into ‘Sola Kola’; the sunburned 23-second improv at the end of ‘Pachinko’; the slack-echoing strings of the outro to ‘Road Song’ sprayed with the shrapnel of toy electronics. Pure pop magic, Ren & Stimpy on upstairs, ray-guns, Ian’s homemade walkie-talkie speaker, a beatbox, all sealed with a “Talking Tina” doll’s emphatic endorsement: “I love it”” – Nick Soulsby

The vinyl-only double LP set comprises the original 1996 album recorded by John Rivers, accompanied with an extra disk of unreleased demos, rare singles and B-sides which have not been available since the 90’s. It documents the time leading up to the release of the LP and the singles that came from it, capturing the development, lost pop moments and essential experiments from the eccentric and joyful Glasgow band. The cover has been completely remixed using archive
photos and artwork from the time, with new interviews and extensive notes. The release marks 30 years since the official birthday of the band, 9/3/93.

“When I drove the transit van that took them down to Leamington Spa to record their first proper LP, there was a sense of quiet, assured anticipation. I couldn’t wait to hear it and when I came back a couple of weeks later to pick them back up, I remember so clearly when they played it from the van’s tape deck. Fergus and Graham were hunched over, focusing intently on what they wanted to change about the mix. The reverb wasn’t right or something. Maybe they didn’t like how high the vocals were in the mix. I said to them, you’re listening to the details, but missing what is most important–this is a fantastic record! It was. It is. It is a fantastic record. They were a brilliant live band and I am so lucky to have been able to have been there to see their formation.” – Alex Kapranos.

Limited Purple, Orange & Light Blue Vinyl 2xLPGrowing up in Atlanta, artist/producer Sol Messiah was always inundated with the rich and energizing spirit of Hip Hop culture. From breakdancing at a young age, to mastering the skill of DJing, to learning the art of production, Sol Messiah's talent and hunger eventually led to working alongside legendary Atlanta producer, Dallas Austin. While Messiah's time with Austin created a deep catalog filled with timeless tracks for TLC, Madonna, Boyz II Men and more, he eventually chose to pursue his own path independently, producing a catalog of popular tracks with Chamillionaire, David Banner, Nappy Roots, Dead Prez and more. He also began a fruitful partnership with a fierce lyricist named Sa-Roc, producing numerous projects together including her groundbreaking 2020 album, The Sharecropper's Daughter. In 2022, Sol Messiah delivered his Rhymesayers debut, GOD CMPLX, where he connected with some of the finest MCs in the game to create a powerful and engaging collection of Hip Hop that was equal parts innovative and inspiring. Here, he returns with the GOD CMPLX Instrumentals, letting this impressive collection of beats stand on their own as further testament to his skills as a producer, as well as a visionary.

First Word Records is extremely proud to welcome the legendary New Sector Movements to the label, and the first new release from this moniker in 15 years! A 5-track EP for 'These Times', comprised of street soul, hip hop, jazz and bruk-tinged vibes.

Founded, headed and produced by DJ & musician IG Culture (CoOp Presents / LCSM), this all-new quasi-group project also features the vocal talents of Allysha Joy, Mike City and Natalie May with additional accompaniment from Wonky Logic, Wayne Francis, Alex Phountzi and the NSM Fusion Starship!

New Sector Movements (aka NSM) were the first out the gate at the dawn of the original broken beat movement, releasing their first single 'Groove Now / New Goya' on the People label in 1997, then releasing several singles and EPs through to the late noughties, and dropping a classic album on Virgin entitled 'Download This'. The previous incarnation featured several other artists from the bruk foundation era, including Kaidi Tatham, Izzy Dunn, Julie Dexter and Eska Mtungwazi amongst others.

Awarded a 'Lifetime Achievement Award' at the 2019 Worldwide Awards, NSM's IG Culture is a hugely pioneering prolific artist in the UK music scene. His catalogue of releases over the years has seen numerous aliases, collaborations, remixes and productions. Appearing on the scene in 1990 as part of Dodge City Productions, to producing several solo albums throughout the noughties, to recent years with his hugely-acclaimed cosmic jazz outfit LCSM (Likwid Continual Space Motion), additionally to co-running the CoOp Presents label, continuing the legacy of the award-winning club night whilst showcasing new artists, IG Culture has been omnipresent at every corner of British black music for three decades deep, influencing many a sound.

This is all additionally to projects like NameBrandSound, Likwid Biskit, Da One Away and Son of Scientist to name just a few. His work has appeared on releases by Roots Manuva, Young Disciples, Les Nubians and Monday Michiru, while remix work over the years has included Gang Starr, Femi Kuti, José James, Miraa May, Slum Village, Digital Underground, Luniz, Naughty By Nature, Airto Moreira & Flora Purim.

As a DJ, he's shut down dances all over the world, recently at places like Fabric, We Out Here festival and Summer Dance Forever in Amsterdam, as well as regularly rocking the airwaves on Worldwide FM and combining the two at BBC 6 Music's All Points East stage in the Summer. IG Culture also founded Selectors Assemble; a collective of forward thinking DJs and producers.

So, as we head towards Winter 2022, New Sector Movements has returned (but don't call it a comeback!). After a turbulent few years in the world, it seemed a poignant moment to reinvigorate the soul, and reflect upon 'These Times'. Here we have five brand new tracks, each illustrating a pertinent mood and attitude representing the current climate. Allysha Joy leads the vocal on EP opener 'These Times', a sumptuous slice of street soul with a deeply infectious horn hook. 'Stand' is next - uptempo boom bap for the dancers, this one featuring the soulful pipes of Mike City. 'Hope' is a midtempo jazz-funk dub again feature vocal licks from Allysha, and introducing the mysterious NSM Fusion Starship into the fold. 'H.E.A.T.' picks up the pace with some infectious jazz-bruk business, this one lead by Natalie May on the vocals, who explains "heat = movement, motion". And finally 'Bless' with closes the set on a four-four riddim with bruk sensibilites, inviting Mike City back with an uplifting vocal requesting we "bless the people just trying to make it".

An essential EP of cross-genre vibes to resonate cross-generations, New Sector Movements do not ramp. IG Culture and crew proceed to give you what you need for 'These Times'.

'These Times' is released on vinyl and digital worldwide via First Word Records late February 2023.

Tape

The next issue in the on-going Mastermix series features a centerpiece of Frankfurt’s club history: Wild Pitch Club.

A predecessor to the esteemed Robert Johnson and a stepping stone for Panorama Bar’s very own nd_baumecker.

Founded by Playhouse masterminds Ata and the late Heiko M/S/O it was a Thursday club night that heavily featured house music as a prescription to the ongoing techno fever. Enamored with the US-American roots of it and all things deep, it not only presented the right records, but also their creators and protagonists. With a string of guest DJs from Robert Hood and Claude Young to Kerri Chandler and Theo Parrish as well as talent from the UK and Europe, it was one of the culture’s hubs at the time.

Here you have its testimony. Selected and mixed by Ata and nd_baumecker, it’s an authentic snapshot of the club’s vibe and spirit, spread over a collectable tape (download included) and a pleasant streaming version, it’s the full dosage. Like Roach Motel confessed: Wild Pitch, I love you.

repress, blue marbled limited version

The label imprint of the beloved Berlin based club Paloma delivers its eighth release, and it was created by none other than a vogueing encyclopedia of musical and club culture knowledge (plus a cherished Paloma resident DJ). The disco professor: Daniel Wang.
It is his first original production under his own name in many years, and you can easily tell that this is not a tool to join in with dancefloor conformity (after all, his first album was called Idealism for a reason). Daniel Wang had already evolved from innocently enthusiastic sampling to synth wizardry during the heyday of his legendary Balihu label, and while studying the masters, he became one himself.
DSDN is an ode to nocturnal Berlin and its party community, a city that never left the centre of international attention for its vital and influential scene. Daniel Wang is a part of it since twenty years, and he was influenced by what he experienced as much as he left his mark on many nights, both as a DJ, and as a producer.
Of course, this release follows the traditional structure of a Disco EP by using a main tune DSDN with complementing dubs and instrumentals. Four to be exact, because four is the magic number with this format. DSDN reflects the internationality of the clubs across town in English and German words and pays homage to all the districts, and it effortlessly manages to unite sounds of both 80s NYC and Italo disco, 90s NYC and Italo house, synthpop and rap before it became too successful, balearic vibes before they became a mere excuse, and then it just majestically unfolds into both a charming summer hit and a complex opus magnum, but all an aural sunbeam that blows a kiss to those who emerge from recent sensations in clubs, bars, parks, and streets. Alone or together, happy or sad, resolute or irresolute, tired or energized, or all at once.

Kouslin returns to Livity Sound with a second collection of slippery club tracks after the 2020 Vision E.P. With an emphasis on head-twisting sound design and a detailed line in percussive programming, the London-based producer continues to reach into intriguing new areas without forsaking soundsystem-ready physicality.

The tracks which make up the Patterns E.P. stemmed from a period of personal experimentation, where Kouslin returned to making music for its therapeutic benefits rather than a fixed purpose. The loops and sketches he returned to and expanded upon for this EP bristle with originality at every turn.

There is a continued exploration of dancehall rhythms on ‘King’, while ‘Five Four’ toys with time signatures for a jagged, fast-paced abstraction of techno. ‘Why Don’t You Don’t’ is harder to pin down thanks to its knotty beat and mutant synthesis, and ‘Michael’ flips the script further with an unexpected swerve into pearlescent melodic lead lines – the perfect demonstration of the honest and instinctive approach Kouslin took when making these tracks.

Livity Sound is a label set up by Peverelist in 2011 as a vehicle for a raw and exploratory strain of UK techno, rooted in the heritage of UK dance music and sound system culture. It has since become one of the UK's foremost protagonists for cutting edge underground electronic music.

West Midlands five piece MACHIAVELLIAN ART follow up their self released and self titled cassette only album with their first release proper, ‘Indoctrination Sounds’ released February 24th via Riot Season Records, with an eye popping promo video to go with it.
A Maximalist blowout of Sax-honking Noise Rock, Doom Metal, Hardcore Punk, and Shoegaze, with Industrial Noise, Howls, Paranoid Rambles, and pure Disdain for oneself and the rest of you layered on top.
Indoctrination Sounds was conceived in various practice spaces in Digbeth throughout 2020 and 2021 and recorded at Ian Boult's Stuck On A Name Studios in Nottingham in the Summer of 2021, despite the best efforts of a global pandemic. Will Killingsworth mastered the record at Dead Air Studios.
Serotonin Problem opens the record with a huge sludge bass riff before the rest of the band pile in on top to create an all-encompassing and oppressive low mood that continues for the rest of the album. Next, we spiral down into the more open and atmospheric post punk of Faceless Voices - the collective bad feelings of a nation in decline reach boiling point. Indoctrination Sounds, for which the record is named, is a hardcore punk song regarding the clear and easily understood ways that humanity in the Western World is indoctrinated into the death-cult of capitalism under fear of violence, soaked in misinformation and conspiracy. Revolution is a call to action as guitars shift and glide uncertainly around, in a menacing inversion of shoegaze's dreamy safety. Side A is finished - a brief respite.
Side B opens with the more introspective Let Down, as the band play out a pounding homage to Iggy and the Stooges with Fenriz taking a turn on the drums. The drum intro to We're Not Gonna Take It gives way to a Rusted Shut bassline as the band turns their disdainful gaze to the violent pornography that is the 24-hour news cycle and reality TV in Watch Them Crawl. The album closes with Digbeth B5, an improvised piece on the gentrification of Digbeth. During the pandemic one of the band's practice spaces was turned into an overpriced ping pong bar for yuppies. As our culture is softened and cleaned up to make profit, so are our communities and cities.
Machiavellian Art are : Amy Murphy - Bass Guitar Benjamin Thomas - Vocals and Saxophone Joe Parkes - Guitar and Noise John Andrews - Guitar and Vocals Sam Hunt – Drums

BASSIST/COMPOSER PETROS KLAMPANIS LOOKS TO PAST AND FUTURE AS HE TRANSFORMS TRADITIONAL GREEK MUSIC WITH TORA COLLECTIVE

Unique instrumentation bridges Greek folkloric and modern jazz worlds, with Klampanis (bass, artistic direction), Areti Ketime (vocals), Thomas Konstantinou (oud, laouto), Giorgos Kotsinis (clarinet), Kristjan Randalu (piano), Ziv Ravitz (drums, electronics, co-production) and more.

Following up his acclaimed recent outings Rooftop Stories and Irrationalities, bassist and composer Petros Klampanis creates one of his most inventive musical settings to date with Tora Collective, his sixth album as a leader. For Klampanis, who grew up in Athens, Greece
surrounded by the confluence of Mediterranean and Balkan folk cultures, making music has always meant navigating cultural crossroads. With Tora Collective (“Tora”=“Now”) he puts traditional Greek music at the centre, even as he presents it from a bold new angle.

In addition to the two new originals “Disoriented” and “South By Southeast,” Klampanis and his compact hybrid jazz/Greek folk ensemble interpret popular Greek songs such as “Xehorismata,” “Sybethera,” “Hariklaki” and “Menexedes ke Zoumboulia.” These songs, Klampanis asserts, are “not just part of Greek cultural heritage or a fragment of the past, but also as part of the future: they live into the present, breathe into the ‘here and now,’ while constantly evolving in a dynamic state and in dialogue with contemporary music.”

“For me it’s a personal thing,” he says. “I want to reflect on what Greek music and culture offer the world. How can music from the Aegean to Epirus and from the Ionian Islands to Crete, meet and speak to the hearts and minds of musicians and audiences from different parts of the world, different traditions and backgrounds?”

To that end, Tora Collective draws on regional characteristics, as Klampanis explains: “Every region has a strong identity. In Epirus the clarinet is more prominent and the music has this slow, groovy, meditative vibe. The islands are lighter sounding, Macedonia is groovier, faster tempos and energetic dances. Music from Asia Minor or Istanbul is more sophisticated. Greeks often refer to Istanbul as ‘Poli,’ from Constantinopoli, so the songs from there are called ‘Politika.’”

There is magic in the clear and consistent voice of Areti Ketime throughout Tora Collective, as can also be said for the supremely voice-like articulation of Giorgos Kotsinis on clarinet. Ziv Ravitz, on drums and electronics, also plays a pivotal role as coproducer: “He added so much in the orchestration,” says Klampanis. “His knowledge of electronics, all these non-acoustic sounds and keyboards, treatments of the acoustic instruments, it’s all because of Ziv. He brought a new perspective on the whole thing.”

The string element in Tora Collective is also strong: in addition to Klampanis’ bass there is Thomas Konstantinou on oud and the traditional Greek laouto, as well as Kristjan Randalu (the pianist in Klampanis’ Irrationalities trio) providing an anchor and bringing Klampanis’ inventive arrangements into harmonic focus. Additional guests appear: Alexandros Arkadopoulos on clarinet for “Disoriented,” Laura Robles on percussion for “South by Southeast” and trumpeters Sebastian Studnitzky and Andreas Polyzogopoulos on “Milo Mou ke Mandarini” and “Hariklaki,” respectively. (“Milo Mou” is slated as a post-release bonus track.)

Using traditional Greek music to discover a common new voice, the project aims to build dialogue, spark creativity, cultivate respect for the past, pave a path forward, discover a new musical storytelling powerful enough to reach and touch audiences in many countries. This is an experiment that bridges worlds: the east and the west, the traditional and the modern, the nostalgic and the forward-looking, using the power of music and improvisation.

Inspired by the likes of old-school legends including Venom, Kreator, Sabbat JPN & Metallica, James McBain formed Hellripper in 2014, showcasing an electrifying brand of blackened thrash. Building on the already impressive foundations laid by their early EP & split releases, the first full-length album, Coagulating Darkness',
was released in 2017 to media acclaim, with the UK's Metal Hammer hailing Hellripper as Scotland's King of the arcane mosh & the band receiving notable attention throughout Europe & the US. This was followed by the Black Arts & Alchemy' EP, before an eventual deal was inked with Peaceville Records, resulting in the masterful The Affair Of The Poisons', further propelling the band to the forefront of the UK metal scene. Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags' - Hellripper's third studio album - establishes a new threshold of excellence & raises the bar further over The Affair Of The Poisons', with an opus standing at the crossroads between the sound that Hellripper has become known for & a whirlwind of different influences up until now yet to be explored, resulting in James McBain's most personal & diverse
work to date. With a greatly expanded scope to the tracks, incorporating more epic & melodic blackened anthems alongside the high- speed metal attack & blistering solos, Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags' marks a new highpoint for the band. Inspired by the landscapes & legends of the Scottish highlands, McBain explores the darker side of Scottish history & folklore - the title itself taken from a
line in the Robert Burns poem,Address to the Deil' - as well as including references to clan culture (including his own) throughout the album. For example, one of the tracks ( The Cursed Carrion Crown') is based on the legend of Sawney
Bean' & the Bean Clan (a spelling variation of McBain'') & tells the story of a family of cannibals that lived in a cave & committed various gruesome acts. As always, the writing & recording process was carried out by James McBain himself, with a few guests offering contributions in the form of additional vocals & instrumental
parts. With recording taking place between March 2021 & June 2022, the album was also mixed by McBain & mastered by Damian Herring at Subterranean Watchtower Studios. The suitably sinister & ominous artwork appears courtesy of Adam Burke. Hellripper will be embarking upon a series of shows in support of the album throughout 2023.

V.I.V.E.K announces his second release on the self-named VIVEK label. Known for his cult label, SYSTEM MUSIC, this label focuses more on eclectic 140 bpm outside the realm of the dance floor.

The 4 track EP explores broken beat, ambience, melody and rhythm at 140, something that has been missing over the last few years within the genre. Colours is not only the EP title, but a reflection of the diversity of the tracks. Musicality sits at the heart of this with a nod to easy listening.

“The main focus of this release was to take me out of my musical comfort zone. I wanted to work with other musicians as well as push myself to inhabit new creative ideas.” - V.I.V.E.K

Whether it’s as an artist, label owner, a deep-drawing world-touring selector or system-building soundman behind some of London’s most important dances, V.I.V.E.K has an inherent drive to push things forward and contribute to the craft of music with serious attention to detail. A life-long frequency student dedicated to soundsystem culture, he has total respect for the heritage, value and rich variety of true music, an ability to totally arrest your full attention and imagination with his music... And has done so since he emerged in the early 2000s.

Musically pressed and blessed on key imprints such as his own System Music, Deep Medi, Tectonic and iconic reggae imprint Greensleeves, V.I.V.E.K’s creations are a crucial brew of bass styles encompassing everything from heavyweight bass hypnosis to flighty, steppy garage hybrids via sweet dub soul and all-out low-end pressure. His self-built custom soundsystem, SYSTEM, meanwhile, is a unique force of nature in UK bass music culture; the most prominent modern system to be established this decade, it’s a whole new chapter in the UK’s longstanding and illustrious history of barrier-breaking soundsystem communities. As such, it attracts committed fans from around the globe and selectors from across the system spectrum.

His label System Music has the same treasured, trusted status; not only as a source of legit never-to-be-repressed artefacts that prize the real value of music, but also as a key platform for encouraging forward-thinking, powerful system music from across the OG – freshmen continuum. Karma to Kromestar, Sleeper to SP:MC, LAS to Egoless: System Music’s celebration of bass music’s sonic scope and nurturing of talent and craft ensures its consistent buy-on-sight ranking.

Most importantly it’s as a selector that V.I.V.E.K’s position is the most vital. The selective tailor of rich, immersive and eclectic sessions, few DJs dig as deep, join the dots or draw for dubs quite like this West London operator. Accentuating his influence as a producer, engineer, dubsmith, label curator and system builder; his creative excursions as a DJ, both on the dancefloor and the airwaves as a broadcaster on the likes of Rinse FM, galvanise his status as one of the most respected, influential and singular artists who is driven by nothing but craftsmanship, unity and the sense of culture that UK bass music needs to thrive and inspire.

Wax Tailor announces the release of his new album "Fishing For Accidents" on February 10th, 2023, accompanied by a new international tour.

"The starting point of this record is a quote from the film director Orson Welles, which evokes the notion of accident in the creative process. I always thought that accidents were an integral part of creation and the job of a film or music director is also to know how to capture them in order to make the accident an artistic intention. I decided not to follow a well established concept but this more instinctive guideline and to go fishing for accidents".

In this new opus, Wax Tailor explores with his sampler a world of vinyls and cinematographic references, brandishing as a flag a stamped musical culture and multiplying references to the 7th art in a music written in 33 rpm and 24 images seconds. After the dark "The Shadow Of Their Suns" released in 2021, Wax Tailor takes us with "Fishing For Accidents", on a brighter and more colorful side without ever betraying his universe and his convictions.

A multi-recidivist talent scout, he gathers around him a prestigious cast ranging from hip hop (Mick Jenkins, Mr. Lif, Kuf Knotz, Lojii, Napoleon Da Legend, Ill Conscious, Voice Monet, David Bars, Mattic) to the indie rock scene (Jennifer Charles, singer of the legendary band Elysian Fields and Victoria Bigelow).

With one eye on the past and the other on the horizon, Wax Tailor instills the incandescence of an organic sound and distills his art of sound anachronism in a wide gap between nostalgia and modernity that has made him one of the leaders of the international electro hip hop scene for over 20 years.

MixCult presents LO-FI sublabel CRYSTAL MUD focused on limited edition lathe cut 7" & 10" discs.

Dub Techno Music in Dubplate Culture. Highly Exclusive.

Some records just stop you in your tracks. They resonate with you and feel instantly familiar like an old friend, even on the first listen. SOYUZ's third album ‘Force of the Wind’ is one of those records. It holds all the trademarks, beauty, and eccentricities of classic Brazilian recordings, from the 60s and 70s, that we have come to love. Think artists such as Milton Nascimento, Lô Borges, Burnier e Cartier, Arthur Verocai et al. But this record wasn’t made in Brazil and is in fact a brand-new release.

SOYUZ (which translates as 'union') is a creative collective from Minsk, Belarus, led by composer, arranger, and singer, Alex Chumak, multi-instrumentalist, Mikita Arlou, and drummer, Anton Nemahai. SOYUZ's previous albums explored and reimagined the legacy of jazz-oriented, non-English-language pop music of the 20th century. For their third album, there is a stronger focus, and it is influenced by 70s Música popular Brasileira and building bridges from it to present-day Belarus. Alex notes that from the moment he first encountered Brazilian music, he found in it a kind of concentrated emotion that felt as if it were familiar to him from his childhood. This non-verbal emotion and connection between the listener and musician echoes in the music, regardless of understanding of the language the album is recorded in.

‘Force of the Wind’ includes songs sung in Russian and Portuguese as well as instrumental compositions. Its musical palette is both acoustic and electroacoustic: rich warm Rhodes piano, soaring string arrangements, and a controlled drum swagger sounding both relaxed yet super tight. Alongside Alex's sublime vocals, that grace the majority of the tracks, the album features guest performances by multi-talented musician and vocalist Kate NV and rising Brazilian star, Sessa. Alex also recently arranged a number of tracks on Sessa's highly praised 2022 album 'Estrela Acesa'.

On the album, the trio is joined by a cast of friends; NY-based musician of Turkish origin percussionist, Cem Mısırlıoğlu, classically trained composer, Simon Hanes, who aided with string arrangements and conducting the string players, Netherlands-based Brazilian multi-instrumentalist, Gabriel Milliet, on flutes. With the collaboration of these friends SOYUZ have created nine songs/suites that are subtle and plenitude and like the best albums, leave you aching for more.

‘Force of the Wind’ is an enigma, Brazilian yet not Brazilian, vintage yet still contemporary, out of sync with modern culture yet completely relevant and necessary.

This 40 year anniversary collection traces Brother Culture's career and includes some of his biggest hits, with remastered versions of these classics. The album includes his hits Jump Up Pon It (25 million streams), Supanova (15 million streams), My Selecta (2 million streams), and some of his most listened-to tracks ever released on vinyl.

A composition simply means things being put together. In music, we usually think of composition as a classical idea. But in recent years, the possibilities of what ‘composing’ can be, have dramatically increased. Based in Oslo, Norway, Deathprod (aka Helge Sten) has been making his own forms of music with no compromise since the early 90s. His specialty is a deeply atmospheric, grainy minimalism that slows time down and explores the very particles of sound itself. This music can sound forbidding and alien at first, but compared to his more brutal output, it’s an extraordinarily close and intimate experience. The first new Deathprod studio project since 2019’s OCCULTING DISK, Compositions is the result of an intense period at his legendary Audio Virus Lab studio in central Oslo. All tracks are released in chronological order – in other words, the order in which they were recorded. Helge used a personal, unique combination of obsolete digital audio processors and sound generators, combined with his own secret-sauce tuning system. Like gazing at the wonders revealed by an electron microscope with Helge compositional control directs your attention to a succession of ever more spellbinding details and textures. Helge adopted the Deathprod alias in 1991. A complex array of homemade electronics, samplers, sound processing and analogue effects – cumulatively known as the ‘Audio Virus’ – combined with obsolete samplers and playback devices, to distort and transform sounds into unrecognizable relatives of their former selves. On the new album Compositions, the virus has evolved into even more fascinating and kaleidoscopic new strains. Electronically generated sounds vibrate and tremble like undiscovered metals ringing and resonating together. Sonic forms attract or repel each other as if under the influence of a strange magnetism. None of the tracks are over four minutes, but no way are these ‘miniatures’. Each one contains its own fully-formed galaxy of tones and clusters, while all tracks audibly belong in the same universe. These are 17 compositions in search of a sonic ideal. His off-grid audio control centre created a parallel acoustic universe which he filled with mutated samples and electronic textures. Even the gaps between the tracks are part of that universe. Helge left the almost silent, twitching crackles of his snoozing analogue gear intact, ensuring a smoother transition between them. Helge is continually striving to find new parameters and possibilities for what music can be – what you can affect with the medium of sound. From the intricate homemade miniatures of Treetop Drive to the bonecrushing electronic barrage of Morals and Dogma and OCCULTING DISK, the different sides of Deathprod are all products of the same obsessive focus and self-discipline in pursuit of sonic exploration. His Compositions are private rather than public music: like introspective chamber or solo compositions instead of the more strident, outward-looking tones of a symphony. Helge is a founder of Norwegian improvising group Supersilent and has produced records by Motorpsycho, Susanna, Jenny Hval, Arve Henriksen and others. He recently composed music for Harry Partch’s legendary instruments, which can be heard on Sow Your Gold in the White Foliated Earth, released in 2022 on Smalltown Supersound.

Cryptically-named duo JOHN - comprised of John Newton (drums, lead vocals) and Johnny Healey (guitar, backing vocals) - return with their first new music since the release of their acclaimed third album Nocturnal Manoeuvres . It comes in the guise of the blistering 'Theme New Bond Junior', the A-side of a new 7" single, b/w 'Hopper on the Dial'.

Set to undulating guitar riffs and a greater sense of dynamics than ever before, 'Theme New Bond Junior' finds JOHN tackling the questioning feelings that arose as the band returned to the live circuit once venues began to open their doors as they embarked on a rapturous 30-date UK tour in autumn 2021, as well as recent festival slots at Green Man, End of the Road, Latitude, a main stage appearance at Bearded Theory’s Spring Gathering and a memorable return to the mainland at Belgium’s historic ROCK HERK.

“The arts function as a mirror of our wider culture, and it’s been interesting to see how the acceleration of the present affects most aspects of our lives - including the production of art and music," says Newton. "The track was a gestation on the speed of consumption: this includes both the constant update/obsolescence of physical products and their resulting affect on the human attention span.”

Gone: The Promises Of Yesterday is by no means a sequel to Ghetto: Misfortune's Wealth - missing are the poignant and bleak sermons on the pain of inner-city existence, replaced by dusky, sensuous re-workings of tainted love songs Warren had written as far back as 1965, during his time as a songwriter at Shrine and Motown. Still, his unfinished self-reinvention, even heard through the prism of these skeletal remnants, delivers on a remarkable purity of vision: one man's corner of black culture, 24 carats pure and mishandled perhaps until now, finally a bit less misunderstood.

Unreleased before music by Otto Sidharta, pioneer of Indonesian electronic music. Inspired by Indonesia's multifarious styles of traditional music, that he tries to preserve, the four pieces on Kajang express a contemplation of the self.

Otto Sidharta loves to travel, everywhere within Indonesia, in order to collect almost any environmental tones and harmonies he can gather, as an endless source of composition. He is also deeply inspired by Indonesia's multifarious styles of traditional music, that he tries to preserve, as in some remote places, they keep their own tradition very strongly.

What really interests Sidharta is musicians not interacting with other kinds of music, as in those deep villages, where one might find sounds that feel like very "natural". It results in works expressing Sidharta's personal impression from their music: "I just use my own feeling, with no calculation", not using the tribals motif or style.

Kajang is the name of a tribal people living in the south of Sulawesi, a giant island in eastern Indonesia, a closed community, that Sidharta visited twice: "They cut off their communication with the outside world. They live in a very traditional way and try to avoid any new development in culture that might impact their way of life."

Sidharta's previous album collected early pieces under the title Indonesian Electronic Music 1979-92, released on Sub Rosa in 2017. Kajang gathers a quartet of compositions from 2015 to 2020.

Otto Sidharta is born in Bandung, Indonesia November 6, 1955. In the late 1970' he studied first in Jakarta, under guidance of Slamet Abdul Sjukur, later at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Holland. In 2015 he accomplished his doctoral study at Institute Seni Indonesia Surakarta and finished in 2016. For years he felt isolated as a composer, not only because of living in Indonesia, but because the nature of his music lay outside the mainstream of electronic composition. Until 2019 he taught for many years in the music departments of several Indonesian universities. He also managed an Indonesian symphony orchestra for five years, a job that included setting up a tour of Japan.

Exclusive and limited 7” with two new recordings by The Phenomenal Handclap Band and Buscabulla, recorded for the new RELATIN project (the reimagining of Latin musical roots from another time for our generations).

The Phenomenal Handclap Band is a dance music trio from NYC, a heady mix of raw soul, vocal harmonies, African percussion, fuzzy guitars and analog synthesizers. They take the first single from the colombian sisters, from 1971… imagine the mix: Sweet sixties soft pop meets funk & club culture.

Buscabulla is the music project of Puerto Rican duo and Brooklyn resident.

Their diverse influences make up a hybrid that combines a mellow Caribbean sensibility. Their particular taste for tropical and unique
chilled sounds now added to Elia y Elizabeth. This version is exclusive to this 7”.

Dublin-based producer Moving Still further blends both his Saudi Arabian and Irish heritage on 'Kalam Hub', a triumphant new EP that marks the fifth release on CWPT/Cooking With Palms Trax. Following a series of 12” edits and original productions that have put his sounds in the record bags of DJs including Hunee, Nabihah Iqbal and Esa Williams, 'Kalam Hub' presents an ambitious expansion of the Moving Still sound, delving into his identity and background to open up imaginative, universal new corners for club culture.

This potent musicality is immediately evident from the first notes of 'Kunafa King'. Taking its title from a traditional Arabic dessert, analogue midi sounds deliver a skewed take on the traditional Saudi rhythms of the artist's youth, before expanding into a wistful diversion for any self-respecting dance floor. It's a trick Moving Still pulls off again on the pulsing 'Hayati 89', which transforms from a traditional aesthetic into a blistering, neon-tinted Italo banger, the kind of track designed to compliment an accelerated spin in the car gracing the eye-catching cover of ‘Kalam Hub’, a collaboration with the artist alongside Manchester-based graphic design studio, Dr. Me.

Concluding the record's A-side, the rhythms take a trippier turn for the duration of 'La Titasil Feeya'. Translating to “don't call me!” and making sonic reference to teenage years immersed in rock, metal and general angst, it unfolds as something akin to Middle East-tinted techno with a formidable kick drum, before exploding in colourful, organic breakbeats. Immediately on the flip, the sense of wonder returns in a sonic mirage for 'My Bosa Is For You', weightless rhythms blending with an electric organ and charming, lightly psychedelic breakdowns.

Further sonic tricks fall from Moving Still's delicately-tailored sleeves on 'Haram Odyssey', where an almost impossibly tight bass line provides the function for contrasting synthesis and unpredictable percussion, drawing parallels between the sometimes confusing aspects of the artist's dual-cultural life as a child, through to the music he makes as an adult. Fittingly, the record concludes with ‘Kalam Hub', a triumph of minimalist percussion and traditional instrumentation that pays tender tribute to the Moving Still's grandmother, translating simply to “Love Talk”.

Following up last year's orchestral album opus “Overtones For The Omniverse", Mocky has been releasing a number of upbeat and uplifting instrumental tracks and now collects them as "Goosebumps Per Minute, Volume 1" on classic vinyl and digital. Putting his vocals and songwriting to the side for this project, Mocky employs harps, horns, and 70’s analogue synths to provide a funky soundtrack that spreads a little of that California sunshine in the listeners direction. Built around Mocky's signature basslines and ensemble vocal arrangements that include his son Telly and his daughter Lulu, all recorded to his vintage ampex tape machine, Mocky did away with the normal metronomic BPM calculations in modern production and instead measured his music in "GPM" (the tempo at which music transmits Goosebumps) - and on top of a multitude of summery bass, drums & strings perfection, Vicky Farewell drops a blistering Rhodes solo on "Flutter" and Carlos Niño lends a percussive hand on the sublime "Iridescence”. Todd M. Simon handles the horn duties, and Liza Wallace infuses the dance tracks with live harp which recalls the floating approach of Alice Coltrane. Titles like "Refractions", "Wavelengths" or "Conduction" are hinting at a scientific approach to creating the conditions for "Goosebumps Per Minute" - his own calculus for the timing of how and when to hit and strum the things in his studio to make it raw & funky.

The songs were also inspired by his time hanging out at the Goldline bar in LA’s Highland Park. “Throughout the pandemic it was the one place I could go and sit outside and hear incredible music as I listened to my friend DJ Phonecalls playing from the Goldline's vinyl collection. He would be dropping these uplifting funk and disco cuts - and at the end of the night I would go home to my studio and make a track and upload it to my Bandcamp and the streaming services immediately … It reminded me of my time in Tokyo's vinyl bars so "Goosebumps Per Minute" owes a lot to that inspiring culture as well“.

About Mocky:
Performer, producer, songwriter, composer and multi-instrumentalist, Dominic "Mocky" Salole came to prominence in the Berlin electronic scene of the mid 2000s, releasing three acclaimed solo albums and co-writing and producing classics like Jamie Lidell's "Multiply" and Feist's "The Reminder". In 2009, his music took a jazz-inflected turn to the acoustic with the release of "Saskamodie" and in 2011 Mocky relocated to Los Angeles, where he quickly established himself as a co-writer with uncommon credentials collaborating with L.A.’s brightest breakthrough artists like Kelela, Joey Dosik, Vulfpeck or Moses Sumney. Mocky channeled those new creative energies into his fifth full length album "Key Change" and four digital mixtapes/EPs "The Moxtapes" Vol. IIV. After co-producing and co-writing Feist's "Pleasure" and Kelela's "Take Me Apart", in 2018 Mocky released two albums: "Music Save Me (One More Time)" and "A Day At United", an instrumental jazz album, recorded in a single day. In 2019 Mocky delved into soundtrack work by collaborating with legendary Anime director Shinichiro Watanabe on the first two seasons of the breakthrough show “Carole and Tuesday” (Netflix) for which he won Best Score at the Anime Awards. In 2020 he started a new Single series with 2 releases featuring the portugese singer Liliana Andrade and in 2021 he released his orchestral album "Overtones For The Omniverse" and started a series of funky instrumentals under "Goosebumps Per Minute".

Peace And Love, Inc, the fourth album from Information Society is
celebrating its 30th anniversary, which was initially released on October 26, 1992.
The track "300bps N, 8, 1 (Terminal Mode Or Ascii Download)" is actually a text file encoded as modem tones. When decoded, the content is a tale by Kurt Harland about a bizarre but purportedly true event that took place when the band was playing in the city of Curitiba, Brazil. The title track, which hit #10 on the Dance Chart, takes aim at corporate culture and blind conformity but the band envisions themselves as one that sells peace , love and truth.

In anticipation of Kerri Chandler’s forthcoming album Spaces and Places, his first in 14 years, that sees the New Jersey legend celebrating club and soundsystem culture by recording, writing and performing a track in twenty-two of the worlds most distinguished nightclubs, Kaoz Theory drop the third in a series of vinyl album samplers.

Sampler 3, another stunning gatefold, double 12 inch package sees Kerri place himself front and centre in six more of the best clubs the world has to offer. Setting up shop in the dancefloor meccas that are DC10, Industria, Basic Club, Sir Henrys, Club Qu and Barbarellas, Kerri bottles up the atmosphere, euphoria and vibe that each hallowed spot nurtures, in a way that only he knows how. Trademark precision, packed with soul and delivered with a weighty bottom end, this is Kerri Chandler of the highest order.

Hi-Fidelity, as a project, is the music Lava wants to hear blasted “out the back of someone’s pickup truck going on a road trip with their mates, or a cheeky remixed version being played in a dingey gay dive bar.”

Sonically, Hi-Fidelity is rooted in the shared cultures of West London and the West coast of America: a slow-moving, laidback culture as opposed to their peers to the east, creating a distinct instrumental tie between the two places. Some of it self-produced -- alongside collaborations with Foster The People’s Isom Innis and Biig Piig, Lava’s best friend -- the project dwells on everything from languorous love in the sun to masochistic heartbreak.

Terra Magica Rec. is back with its fifth release “Club TERRAM”! This time it will be another V.A. compilation of never heard and unreleased original gems of electronic body music.

Think: A double 12” vinyl which is fully charged for dismantled club use as those mighty TERRAM clubbers say. Compiled and arranged by Tom Sprenger & Mirko Hecktor all tracks are dance floor oriented rhythms which will activate your maximum energy output as well as total chill out crash. Let the new bots work your life balance. Multiverse to introverse to metaverse. With its discoish genre splicing between 90s-IDM 2 Big Beat and Breakbeats 2 NuCosmic 2 Acid-Madchester 2 rolling trancey driven Goa beats the record reflects the electronic underground culture of dance clubs and discotheques of the past 50 years. These stand for emancipation, gay liberation, cicil rights, working class and democracy. Find your inner peace on the chill out floor side. Or go bonkers to the hedonistic main room floor fillers. Find your unique personal safe space in TERRAMs different floors and hidden rooms. A CLUB FOR A L L. As Richard Dyer wrote in 1979 “In Defence of Disco”: ‘Capitalism constructs the disco experience, but it does not necessarily know what it is doing, apart from making money’.

The underground is where we go moving.

The summer of 1982 saw the release of some of the most culture-defining films of our lifetime (STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN, POLTERGEIST, TRON, CONAN THE BARBARIAN, THE THING, THE ROAD WARRIOR ... just to name a few!)

But few have had nearly the same impact on film music as the legendary sixth collaboration between Steven Spielberg and John Williams: E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL.

Mondo, along with Geffen Records and Universal Pictures, are proud to celebrate forty years of E.T., with an all new re-issue of John Williams' timeless, essential and period-defining score.

Reissue Produced by Bruce Botnick & Mike Matessino

Composed and Conducted by John Williams
Artwork by Dan McCarthy
Liner Notes by Mike Duquette
Manufactured in Czech Republic

Ian Haywood aka Ian Sweetness was born in Kingston, Jamaica. Gifted with talent, this versatile singer of culture Reggae music and Lover’s Rock, started at the age of nine with the church choirs. Bob Marley, Dennis Brown, Beres Hammond, Frankie Paul and the old school Reggae foundation artists are his greatest inspiration. His first recording was at the age of nineteen at the Creative Sounds Studio in Kingston. The tune’s title was “Rude Bwoy” feat. Simpleton. After that, he started to work with sound systems in his area, and from there he began to spend time in studios around Jamaica, such as Arrows Studio, King Tubby’s, King Jammy’s, Penthouse, Bobby Digital, and more.
Ian recorded tunes with different producers and labels, for example, Jah Life, and Bobby Digital, and was based at Arrows Studios, but still working with producers in Jamaica & overseas.

With their emotive melodies, propulsive rhythms, angular guitars and dark cinematic electronics, TRAITRS have quickly become one of modern post-punk’s fastest rising independent bands. Consisting of Sean-Patrick Nolan and Shawn Tucker, TRAITRS formed during the summer of 2015 in Toronto, Ontario Canada. The duo recorded demos with producer/engineer Josh Korody (Nailbiter, F*cked Up, Japandroids, Dilly Dally), garnered the attention of Pleasence Records label head James Lindsay and released their debut cassette Rites And Ritual in April 2016. After gaining buzz in the European and North American dark music scenes, TRAITRS released their critically acclaimed LP Butcher’s Coin (Pleasence Records, Manic Depression Records, Alchera Visions) in May 2018. Backed by the strength of lead single ‘Thin Flesh’, the duo embarked on a series of lengthy tours overseas, performed in over a dozen countries including showcases at Wave Gothik Treffen, Castle Party, Extramuralhas, Nocturnal Culture Night, Wavefest, Canadian Music Week and Pop! Montreal. Their relentless touring schedule and work ethic caught the attention of Schubert Music Publishing’s Thomas Thyssen and Eric Burton, and in October 2020 they announced TRAITRS as the first signing to their brand-new record label Freakwave Records. This year, TRAITRS will release ‘The Sick, Tired And Ill’ EP on July 30 and the full-length LP ‘Horses In The Abattoir’ on November 19.

Those lockdown silver linings continue to reveal themselves when we least expect it... As proved, once again, by the inimitable Amsterdam techno HQ Deeptrax as they present this stunning analog exploration from scene stalwart Mark Peeters AKA Caim.? Inspired, created and sculpted during those strange times when none of us could rave, Caim simply describes the moment by saying the 'clubs were closed, but creativity kept on floating'... Now that floatation is bequeathed to us through these warm, rolling and wide-armed frequencies. Tapping into a spirit that goes right back to Detroit and Chicago, there's an understated groovemanship at play as Calm jams out on the same instruments house and techno forefathers used to sculpt this culture.? Music to get lost inside of, music to take away the stresses of the day, music that's a joy to mix, weave and tell stories with... Caim has created another timeless collection of grooves that could resonate with or relate to any period in the last 35 years of dance music culture.? From the warm, opening rumbles of 'Nepi' to closing rippling dubwise echoes of 'Kapura', very few stones are left unturned as Caim tells a tale of the ages that we can all float to. Here's to silver linings. ?

Parisian DJ, producer and emerging fashion icon Kiddy Smile embodies the lifeblood of house music past and present. His music flashes with nostalgia for those mid-80s New York basements where house music first came alive. 'Teardrops In The Box' pulses with the intoxicating energy of a Ball in Kiddy's native Paris, with its deep-rooted traditions but its intensely forward-focussing culture.
Following up on his fearsome debut 'Let A B!tch Know' on Defected, Kiddy Smile has deployed the well-established remixing capabilities of Mystic Bill, a house champion from the underground schools of Detroit and Chicago. His 'Jersey Dub' eases back on the tempo for a syncopated strut to The Garden State, while the 'Vocal Mix' is a bulkier prospect, emphasising Kiddy's growling vocal with some serious attitude bass. Finally, his vinyl-exclusive 'Acid Mix' is specifically designed for getting twisted on dark, underground floors. Cowbell and raw synths give 'Teardrops In The Box' unadulterated dancefloor credentials but this is more than a club record; the layers to this track run deep.

Utter presents the extraordinary audio-visual project 'SuperEverything*' by multi-media artists The Light Surgeons.

'SuperEverything*' is a live cinema performance piece that explores identity, ritual and place in relation to Malaysia’s past, present and future. Commissioned by The British Council in 2011, it was created in collaboration with a group of Malaysian audio and visual artists. Over the past decade, the project has toured to various film and new media arts festivals internationally.

'SuperEverything*' is a fusion of music, field recordings, documentary filmmaking and real-time moving image manipulation that together transports its audiences through a series of universal narratives; exploring themes of tradition and modernity, globalisation and development, race and national identity, to consumer culture and belief.

'SuperEverything*' surveys our human condition to reveal what unites and divides us. It weaves together a rich kaleidoscope of stories, sounds, images and smells live on stage. It is a truly immersive, cross disciplinary performative artwork that reflects on how our complex identities are formed through ritual in relation to our rapidly evolving physical and psychological environments.

'SuperEverything*' poses many questions about how people form a sense of identity in a world increasingly dominated by information networks and fast changing social and economic landscapes.

This limited edition vinyl and digital album features the nine original tracks that make up the musical score to this groundbreaking live cinema project, fusing traditional South East Asian instruments with field recordings, electronica and western classical string instruments.

Accompanying the record is a 24 page full colour booklet and double-sided poster, housed in a gatefold sleeve. The booklet contains quotes from the narrative interviewees whose voices are interwoven throughout the performance. These quotes accompany images from the production and performances to help illustrate the musical journey and allow you to contemplate the themes and ideas explored in this work. The poster design features a collection of filmstrips taken from the video material in the show with a single striking album image photo on the reverse.

The release is also accompanied by a previously unavailable film of the full live cinema performance recorded at Hackney Empire in collaboration with The Barbican in 2013.

ZEHRA is proud to present the debut album ISTEHLAL by the MOHAMAD ZATARI TRIO, consisting of musicians from Syria, Iran & India. The trio merges traditional Middle Eastern sounds with contemporary vibes incl. interpretations of Hossein Alizadeh & Riad Al-Sunbati classics.

In a contemporary globalised world where music has lost its borders and is fighting a constant – yet particular – stream of Western commodification, the Mohamad Zatari Trio stands out as an original cultural artefact, aiming at transcending the boundaries between different music worlds.
Founded in 2019 the ensemble had its first public appearance in 2020 at the Outernational Virtual Festival. Comprising the performers Sara Eslami (Iran) on tar, Avadhut Kasinadhuni (India / Romania) on tabla and Mohamad Zatari (Syria) on oud.
Their debut ISTEHLAL plunges into its own aesthetics, politics and sound intricacies and represents the combined efforts of three musicians hailing from different, yet deeply rooted cultures. Over the course of eleven songs, the album transcends stylistic, ideologic and
geographic boundaries and reflects on the human condition in an interconnected and interrelated technological world. The repertoire includes not only original compositions in different stylistics
but also rearranged traditional pieces by influential composers Riad Al Sunbati (Egypt) and Hossein Alizadeh (Iran).
The Mohamad Zatari Trio introduces itself as a strong new voice within a new generation of young musicians that carry the musical heritage of great masters like Ravi Shankar, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan or Zakir Hussain with a fresh and contemporary approach.

Mohamad Zatari is a composer and oud player from Aleppo, Syria, currently based in Bucharest, Romania. His artistic effort is devoted to deconstructing stereotypes and blending various musical genres. He has been taught traditional and regional music by Tarek Al-Sayed,
and has a Bachelor in classical composition at the National University of Music Bucharest (2021). His compositions were used for short films as well as educational courses. He performed in various ensembles and groups, in countries such as Syria, Romania, Hungary, Germany, Italy
and Austria.

Sara Eslami is an Iranian composer, tar and setar instrumentalist and improviser. She has a bachelor's in musical Performing at the Tehran University of Arts (2011).


Romanian/Indian Avadhut Kasinadhuni has a Master in Musical Performing / Violin at the National University of Music Bucharest (2022) and started studying tabla intermittently in India with Prof. Kamal Kant (2008) and Prof. Durjay Bhaumik (2017).

Credits:
Recorded by Alexandru Zaharencu at Avanpost media, Bucharest, Romania
on 29th & 30th January 2022
Mixed by Dirk Dresselhaus at ZONE, Berlin, Feb. 2022.
Mastering & lacquer cut by Anne Taegert at D&M.

Captain Planet has teamed up with 2 long-time collaborators (Zuzuka Poderosa & Raphael Futura) for a new Brazilian disco funk song, "Moqueca." The song harkens back to Brazil's legendary funk parties in the 70's and early 80's - where soundsystems bumped legends like Tim Maia, Sandra Da Sa & Gilberto Gil - while infusing some fresh contemporary energy and extra thump for today's dancefloors. Zuzuka's bright vocals bounce over a bubbly bassline, syncopated percussion and wormy vintage synthesizers, while an additional punch is brought in the form of horn arrangements by the prolific maestro Todd Simon, another frequent Captain Planet collaborator.

"Moqueca" takes inspiration from the Brazilian dish of the same name, a nationally famous fish stew that varies across the regions of Brazil. In her lyrics, Zuzuka talks about the origins and variations of Moqueca, starting with the style from Espirito Santo, her home state, and continuing to Moqueca Baiana, from Bahia, which incorporates African influences and ingredients. The result is a song that is as much an homage to Brazilian music as it is its food, culture and people.

Yellow Vinyl
Over their six albums The Go! Team have taken sonic day trips to other lands - musically dipping into other cultures. But now on this, their seventh - they"ve bought a round-the-world ticket.... Benin, Japan, France, India, Texas and Detroit - all stops along the way. Wildly different voices from wildly different cultures side by side but all still sounding unmistakably Go! Team. Setting the course for a kaleidoscopic, cable access, channel hop. On the vocal roll call there"s Star Feminine Band, an all-girl group from West Africa, the Indian Bollywood playback singer Neha Hatwar, Kokubo Chisato from J-Pop indie band Lucie Too, 19 year-old Detroit rapper IndigoYaj, Hilarie Bratset (ex-Apples in Stereo), Brooklyn rapper Nitty Scott, and a whole host of others, alongside Go! Team staple Ninja. Picking up from 2021"s "Get Up Sequences Part One", Part Two continues the feeling of Technicolour overload. It"s a journey spanning Cyclone Tracey wig-outs, chroma key sitar psychedelia, Casiotone anthems, spoken word melodrama and kalimba callouts. Brill building melodies lead into musical handbrake turns, four track into panoramic. Eighteen years after their debut LP The Go! Team are still unlike anyone else and on "Get Up Sequences Part Two" they sound as fresh as a club soda....

Tracks by Cajal, Christian Bistany, Blurry Slur, Daniele Bussoleni, Funkytino, Lotrax, Lucio Agustin, Matichap, One Over, Parsec, Shane Mahon, THEBENS, Wodda, XXX Culture

Over their six albums The Go! Team have taken sonic day trips to other lands - musically dipping into other cultures. But now on this, their seventh - they"ve bought a round-the-world ticket.... Benin, Japan, France, India, Texas and Detroit - all stops along the way. Wildly different voices from wildly different cultures side by side but all still sounding unmistakably Go! Team. Setting the course for a kaleidoscopic, cable access, channel hop. On the vocal roll call there"s Star Feminine Band, an all-girl group from West Africa, the Indian Bollywood playback singer Neha Hatwar, Kokubo Chisato from J-Pop indie band Lucie Too, 19 year-old Detroit rapper IndigoYaj, Hilarie Bratset (ex-Apples in Stereo), Brooklyn rapper Nitty Scott, and a whole host of others, alongside Go! Team staple Ninja. Picking up from 2021"s "Get Up Sequences Part One", Part Two continues the feeling of Technicolour overload. It"s a journey spanning Cyclone Tracey wig-outs, chroma key sitar psychedelia, Casiotone anthems, spoken word melodrama and kalimba callouts. Brill building melodies lead into musical handbrake turns, four track into panoramic. Eighteen years after their debut LP The Go! Team are still unlike anyone else and on "Get Up Sequences Part Two" they sound as fresh as a club soda....

Yellow Vinyl


Over their six albums The Go! Team have taken sonic day trips to other lands - musically dipping into other cultures. But now on this, their seventh - they"ve bought a round-the-world ticket.... Benin, Japan, France, India, Texas and Detroit - all stops along the way. Wildly different voices from wildly different cultures side by side but all still sounding unmistakably Go! Team. Setting the course for a kaleidoscopic, cable access, channel hop. On the vocal roll call there"s Star Feminine Band, an all-girl group from West Africa, the Indian Bollywood playback singer Neha Hatwar, Kokubo Chisato from J-Pop indie band Lucie Too, 19 year-old Detroit rapper IndigoYaj, Hilarie Bratset (ex-Apples in Stereo), Brooklyn rapper Nitty Scott, and a whole host of others, alongside Go! Team staple Ninja. Picking up from 2021"s "Get Up Sequences Part One", Part Two continues the feeling of Technicolour overload. It"s a journey spanning Cyclone Tracey wig-outs, chroma key sitar psychedelia, Casiotone anthems, spoken word melodrama and kalimba callouts. Brill building melodies lead into musical handbrake turns, four track into panoramic. Eighteen years after their debut LP The Go! Team are still unlike anyone else and on "Get Up Sequences Part Two" they sound as fresh as a club soda....

It is recognized today that these tutelary pieces for four pianos are among the most powerful in contemporary music,their impact is almost unparalleled. After the historical version recorded forty years ago, this one, featuring four of the greatest European performers, is now regaining its full power. High level recordings too.

There was some for John Cage, then came Christian Wolff, and finally Morton Feldman, from this school in New York. Only Julius Eastman remained outside the game, the last figure, the most solitary and enigmatic - undoubtedly also one of the most powerful, and it is this power that is revealed through these recordings. In the 1970s and 1980s, Eastman was one of the very few African-Americans to gain recognition in the New York avant-garde music scene. He was politically committed, a figure of queer culture and a solar and solitary poet whose melancholy influenced his genius as well as his tragic destiny : suffering from various addictions, declared missing, actually homeless. During Winter of 1981-82, he got deported from his apartment by the police, who destroyed most of what he owned - including scores and recordings. He was found dead in 1990, on the streets of Buffalo, after years of vagrancy.

The Performers Nicolas Horvath, pianist and electroacoustic composer Nicolas Horvath is known for his boundariesless musical explorations - he has collaborated with leading contemporary composers from around the world, including Alvin Lucier, Alvin Curran and Valentyn Silvestrov - the recordings of his complete works for piano by Phil Glass made a lasting impression. He has collaborated recently with Lustmord on the Deconstruction of November by Dennis Johnson (Sub Rosa SR502: The Fall).

Melaine Dalibert, a French composer and pianist, fascinated by natural phenomena which are both expected and unpredictable, Dalibert has developed his own algorithmic procedures of composition which contain the notion of stretched time evoking Morton Feldman, minimal and introspective, adopting a unique concept of fractal series.

Stephane Ginsburgh, a tireless surveyor of the repertoire but also explorer of new music, collaborated with composers such as Philippe Boesmans, Jean-Luc Fafchamps, Stefan Prins, Frederic Rzewski and Matthew Shlomowitz of whom he premiered works, as well as with choreographers such as Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker (Rosas) and recorded Feldman, Duchamp and Satie for Sub Rosa and the complete set of Prokofiev piano sonatas for Cypres. Wilhem Latchoumia, he embraces both new music and the classical repertoire with success and charisma. His two last recordings for La Dolce Volta (Prokofiev and de Falla) have been highly acclaimed by critics with a FFFF in Télérama. Winner of the Hewlett-Packard Foundation and the Montsalvatge International Piano Competition, he brilliantly won the First Prize in the 2006 Orléans International Piano Competition.

Originaire de Mongolie, The HU ne ressemble à aucun autre groupe de rock dans le monde. Depuis leur sortie, le groupe s'est hissé à la première place du Billboard World Albums Chart, à la première place du Top New Artist Albums, et au Top 5 mondial du Hard Rock Music Album Chart. Ils ont effectué de nombreuses tournées dans le monde avec des spectacles à guichets fermés en Europe, au Royaume-Uni et aux États-Unis. Après le succès de l'album The Gereg, qui a non seulement débuté à la première place, mais dont les succès rock viraux «Wolf Totem» et «Yuve Yuve Yu» ont atteint le Top 10 des radios rock. The Hu sont de retour avec un nouvel album, Rumble of Thunder. Cet album relie le monde à la culture mongole et à ses valeurs fondamentales uniques de préservation de la nature et de connexion spirituelle avec la terre.

WRWTFWW Records is proud to announce a brand new album by Irish producer Gareth Quinn Redmond, following his amazing Satoshi Ashikawa-Inspired Laistigh Den Ghleo released in 2019. Umcheol, his ambient-meets-Irish-traditional-music soundscape is available as a limited edition LP (500 copies worldwide) housed in a 350gsm gatefold sleeve with a superb triptych of paintings by Irish artist Conor Campbell. The album comes in digital format as well.
A splendid pairing of Irish folk instruments (harp, tin whistle, fiddle, harmonium) with synthesizers, Umcheol tells the tragic yet beautiful tale of two legendary figures of Irish mythology, Cú Chulainn and
Ferdiad. The 40+ minute ambient narrative is a subtle and touching alliance of past and present, tradition re-contextualized and retold with a modern approach.
Gareth Quinn Redmond explains: "For the longest time, I have desired to blend elements of both ambient and Irish traditional music. Umcheol - Cú Chulainn agus Ferdiad, is the first in a series of works that seeks to coalesce these two palettes of sound. The primary focus of this album was to begin using traditional instruments such as the harp, tin whistle, fiddle and even the harmonium, which in recent times has become commonly used in Irish folk music. By pairing these instruments with synthesizers, I hope to create a soundscape that gives new agency for the stories of my culture to be realized and retold."
Very personal and delicately visceral, Umcheol is a contemplative journey that will resonate with fans of Japanese environmental music, minimalism, folk experimentations, and mythological soundtracks.
Gareth Quinn Redmond’s previous album, Laistigh Den Ghleo, an ode to the work of Satoshi Ashikawa is still available on WRWTFWW Records - perfect time to re-visit!

Having spent the past few years supplying low notes as bass player for a who’s who of UK Soul and Jazz talent (including Tom Misch, LoyleCarner, Berwyn, Jordan Rakei, Poppy Ajudha, Jamie Isaac, Puma Blue, Jorja Smith, Alfa Mist & Charlotte Dos Santos) Rudi Creswick steps into the spotlight with his first full length solo offering ‘Different Forms’ on Alfa Mist’s Sekito imprint.

Hailing from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Rudi was immersed in club culture from a young age, the low end sonics of which guided his playing, and led him to discovering his own style In the years that followed, Rudi continued to hone his craft, melding the sub rattling sounds of Hip-Hop producers such as J Dilla, MF Doom and Knxwldge with the technical sensibilities of influential Jazz players such as Pino Palladino, Derrick Hodge and Thundercat.

With this record serving as a chance for Rudi to stretch his creative legs, the aim was to showcase the many musical sides of his creative spirit. The first single lifted from the project ‘Sometimes’ enlists the vocal talents of the incredible Emmavie - who dives into self-reflective and cutting, honest lyrics. She explains: “No one ever leads with “often temperamental, quick to anger and generally hot and cold” when describing themselves. Something about Rudi’s laidback production and bouncy singing bass line pulled this reflective and apologetic yet playful subject out of me. “

On the LP, Rudi says: ‘This whole project is thanks to Alfa , Barney Artist and the team at Sekito who’ve helped me realise my dream. They had faith in me for which I’ll always be grateful. The project’s kind of all over the place because there’s so many corners to anyone’s being, inspirations and their musicality, so I wanted Different Forms to reflect that’



Throughout the record, Rudi’s musical prowess and vast influences are laid bare for all to see. From the gliding melodies and twinkling keys and hazy fanfares of second single ‘Peace Of Mind’ (Feat. Manny & The Coloured Sound) through to the sparse and haunting tones of ‘Charlotte’ the LP traverses high peaks and deep valleys, channelling a sense of beauty of textured mystique throughout. Sporting an impressive roster of collaborators including Alfa Mist himself, Trumpeter Sheila Maurice Grey (Kokoroko), Chelsea Carmichael on Tenor Sax, Barrel Jones (Drummer for Nubya Garcia) and Vels Trio’s Jack Stephenson-Oliver (who played synth for the track ‘With Want You’). The lush instrumentation provides an incredible backdrop for esteemed performers such as Barney Artist to drop bars over the crisp drums and laid back strut of ‘Holding The Fence’, meanwhile Berwyn supplies sombre lyrics of the vast expanses of ‘96BPM’. An emotive and engaging listen from start to finish, ‘Different Forms’ is a truly stunning debut.

In the late '70s Wild Fire was one of the more popular groups in Trinidad. Formed by Oliver “Stompy” Chapman back in 1962 the group was originally named the Sparks. By the disco era Wild Fire were the house band at night clubs like Disco Tracks and the Upper Level. The group was very influenced by disco, especially the famous British group, Hot Chocolate known for the classic disco hit ”You Sexy Thing.” Hot Chocolate’s chief songwriter, Tony Wilson was originally a Trinidadian native and also great friends with Oliver Chapman. The opening track on this compilation is "Try Making Love", a floor-filling track written by Tony Wilson in 1977 and recorded at Coral Sound Studio in Port of Spain. It was there that Oliver Chapman laid down the unforgettable bass line, solidifying its status as a surefire hit. The infectious tune held steady at the number one slot for six weeks in Trinidad and eventually climbed to the top of the charts in Barbados. Recorded at KH Studios, “Living On A String” with its unique disco synth sound by keyboard player Calvin Duncan was about the hard living of one trying to survive as a musician and hoping to one day partake in the material strappings of fame. “The Rebels” was more about the political struggle for the young in the country at the time. There was a lot of corruption in the government and a lot of young people out of work. The song called to stand up and rebel against the regime. And years later in 1990 it did happen when the Muslim group Jamaat al Muslimeen stormed the Red House (Trinidad’s Parliament House) and took cabinet members hostage. Wild Fire would go on to tour the Caribbean extensively including stops in Barbados, Antigua, St. Thomas and Guadeloupe. The group had a massive local hit with their track “Say A Little Prayer.” The group would disband in 1985 and Oliver Chapman would move to America. Wild Fire - Dance Hits is a collection of Wild Fire's more dance friendly material.

Hailing from Mongolia, The HU are unlike any other rock band in the world. Having introduced a new style of music they call 'hunnu rock' - from the Mongolian root word for human being, 'hu' - the group have been #1 on the Billboard World Albums Chart, #1 on the Top New Artist Albums and Top 5 on Global Hard Rock Music Album Charts (US, Canada, UK and more). They have toured the world extensively, with sold out shows in mainland Europe, the UK and the US. Following the success of their 2019 debut album 'The Gereg', which featured the viral rock hits 'Wolf Totem' and 'Yuve Yuve Yu', the group returns with its new album, 'Rumble of Thunder', which connects the world to Mongolian culture and its unique core values of natural preservation and spiritual connection with the earth. These core values are on full display, along with deeply meaningful lyrics that wish for prosperity and peace among all.

The Soninke collective consciousness finds its origins in a founding myth, a blood pact: the legend of Biida and the decadence of the empire of Ghana or Wagadu (evoked by Léopold Sédar Senghor as a land of plenty in his poem Le Kaya Magan). From the 3rd century AD, gathered in the region of Sahel, on the edge of the Sahara desert, the Soninko ruled over their kingdom and its capital Kumbi Saleh. According to folklore, they were blessed with abundant rain and nuggets of gold could be picked directly from the ground.

They owed this prosperity to a providential but cruel protector: the Wagadu Biida, a seven-headed serpent who lived at the bottom of the Kumbi well. Every year, as a reward for his favours, the Biida demanded an offering: the life of the most beautiful virgin woman in the community. Sacrifices took place for generations, until the 13th century AD, when fate chose Siya Yatabéré, Maamadi Sehedunxote's sweetheart...

Centuries later in 1977, Gaye Mody Camara, a young Soninke raised in Mali's Kayes region, settled in France to found his own empire. Initially selling wax, kola nuts and other goods in his Parisian outlets, he rapidly started distributing cassette tapes and eventually producing a multitude of recordings for his own label: Camara Production.

Crossing paths and collaborating over the next four decades with legendary artists, griots and industry moguls like Boncana Maïga, Jean-Philippe Rykiel, Ganda Fadiga, Diaby Doua or Ibrahima Sylla, Camara became one of the great independent music producers of his generation, and a pilar of the Parisian Soninke diaspora.

Released in close collaboration with Gaye Camara and with the assistance of Daouda N'diaye, one of A.P.S' (Association pour la Promotion de la langue et de la culture Soninké) historical members, this selection of songs and accompanying notes aim to shed a light on an intricate culture and its modern music, injustifiably unknown outside of West Africa and the various Soninko diasporas around the world.

From Malian Zouk to Mauritanian Reggae and other psychedelic groovers originally released on cassettes or digitally, we have given the utmost attention to bringing this music to a new format. It has been carefully remastered and pressed on a couple of 180g vinyls, with riso printed liner notes.

«I am the bridge between the day and the night that never ends, I am the acid drop that beads on your dancing body, I am the metallic breakthrough that crosses your being when I catch your wet hands, I am the brutal wave that grazes your dark gaze and your tired eyes, I am the titanium and the cyprin, I am the adrenaline, I am that being that invents, desires and revolts, I am that jolt of desire that tears me when it is dark, I am a psychoactive substance diluted in honey, I am the back that you caress, I am our first and last dance, I am the one who seduces you, I am the one who obsesses you, I am the solitary dance that bewitched me the first time we met, I am the cry muffled by our restless bodies, I am the movement that pierces and unfolds as if it were the last. I am solid and liquid, mechanical and organic, I am your first and last time, I am Baraka.»

French duo Baraka present their first eponymous EP.
Dive into their cathartic universe in which they celebrate their love for club culture using powerful TR8s, incisive break beats, synthetic layers inspired by trance and trip-hop as well as cavernous female voices.

This alliance of electronic music, 90’ aesthetics and dreamy undulations intertwine like the yin and yang and promise a mystical universe with futuristic imagery.

pink vinyl

Especial presents a 2 EP live concept collaboration with Berlin's Giraffi Dog. With live tours cancelled due the on-going changing world, the idea of bringing their live set to vinyl - an opera for your innerspace, while constrained from outerspace - was born.

Setting up Doom Chakra Tapes with DJ Deflektorschild in 2016, Max Webber's project first released the L'Existence Du Reve cassette album as a blueprint for the Giraffi Dog sound, with some tracks appearing on the acclaimed vinyl debut for Aiwo Recs, before a split 7" for the WARNING label series followed.

Teaming up with friend Max Heesen (Dessous, Poker Flat) to take the project live, their backgrounds in punk and hip-hop shine in their take on breakbeat driven club culture.

Recording live in the studio, as a different state of meditation, MCPs trigger drum machines, the duality of live synth and vocoder, while tape machines, reverb and FX looped, twisted and filtered for an inter-mind festival

Cut as a continuous mix, tracks like Concorida, Jam X and Multiverse, are a manifestation of their sets dropped from small basements in Berlin to fields in the outskirts of Paris, this first EP acts as a hypothesis for the parallel, the other, the alternate, the infinite.

The sum to infinity of a sequence is the sum of an infinite number of terms in the sequence. It is only possible to compute this sum if the terms of a sequence converge to zero. "sum to infinity" is also the second release from gamut inc, the retro-futuristic ensemble around composers and curators Marion Wörle and Maciej Sledziecki.

This second album by gamut inc combines custom-build autonomous music-machines with haunting classical synthesizer sounds to a dense musical kaleidoscope.
The core of the album is formed by Risset rhythms - cyclic accelerations and decelerations, in which rhythmic layers are repeatedly faded in and out, setting in motion a seemingly endless process of rhythmic movement. The motifs are taken from geometric and arithmetic series that create an urgency and restlessness. The rigor of the construction is obscured by an orchestrion whose timbres are reminiscent of a retro-futuristic indigenous ensemble. gamut inc translate strategies of electronic music like pulse-width modulation to music machines such as automated accordion, automated percussion or glockenspiels and create an intense atmosphere that is idiosyncratic, original and modern at the same time.

Gamut inc. build their own music machines, play electronic music festivals internationally, curate the AGGREGATE festival for automated pipe organs, and compose for film, radio drama, and theater. Their first opera, ROSSUMS UNIVERSAL ROBOTS, premiered in 2022. Since 2011, at the intersection of electronic club culture and experimental music, they have been producing live music, music theater, film and theater scores (including for the Junge Staatstheater Berlin) with their specially developed musical robots. They composed for ensembles like the RIAS chamber choir or the robot orchestra Logos Foundation and received invitations and commissions from international festivals and venues such as Sónar, CTM, Berghain, Sonic Acts, Technosphärenklänge or Numusic (NO).
Their first release EX MACHINA was produced exclusively with music robots, and released in 2014 in cooperation with Bôłt Records.
"Percussion tracks bring to mind the music of Einstürzende Neubauten in their industrial mechanics, until finally the music warms to an expression reminiscent of Johnny Cash's late work."
Süddeutsche Zeitung

As one of the three co-founders of Washington D.C. production and DJ trio Black Rave Culture, James Bangura is no stranger to situating electronic music within its most purposeful and potent contexts. With this new duo of tracks, however, Bangura taps into a deep, personal internality, metabolising visceral experiences and personal transitions into unexplored phases of his musical life.

The bass-forward “Harrar” is a complex organism which operates on two planes: a sweat-drenched 150pm symphony of synth pulses, fidgety percussion, shimmies and distorted vocals, that falls into lockstep with a
meditative, dubby bass tone that calmly swells and recedes. Emerging out of Bangura’s high intensity hardware jam sessions with friends and collaborators, both the depth and energetic fizz of “Harrar”’ are signified by its name, borrowed from Harrar Coffee & Roastery--a beloved Ethiopian coffee house and community meeting place in Washington D.C. that radiates warmth and familiarity.

“Witness Dub” occupies less of the senses, exploring a state of liminality through a contemplative deep house signature. Having emerged from an extended period of active duty in the military, Bangura had to navigate civilian life for the first time, causing him to process multiple culture shocks that stretched across culture, language, communication and identity. “Witness Dub” finds Bangura at this crossroad, juxtaposing the steady propulsion of kicks and drums with pensive minor key chords, as he begins to explore the other side of the self, letting the energy guide the music.

The fourteenth edition of Defected’s vinyl series continues to commit the label’s biggest digital releases to wax, delivering some of the best house music previously unavailable on vinyl. This special release celebrates all things Vintage Culture, who over the past ten years has established himself as an international powerhouse, reaching #11 in DJ MAG’s 2022 Top 100 DJs. The A-side of this four-track EP features two versions of his 2022 hit ‘Nightjar’. First up is the original collaboration with Australian house producer Sonny Fodera featuring vocalist SHELLS, followed by the Bassbin Remix by Italian producer and SNATCH! Records owner Riva Starr. Both versions of ‘Nightjar’ have universal appeal thanks to the diversity of its collaborators. A Vintage Culture collection would not be complete without some signature remixes; the B-side opens with his version of ‘Let It Go’ by Louie Vega & The Martinez Brothers with Marc E. Bassy. This is followed by a VIP remix of ‘It Is What It Is’, one of the DJ’s infectious original tracks and Defected debut featuring Canadian talent Elise LeGrow.

Once upon a time Mr. Cauliflower made his way to Amsterdam and met his friend Jo Bissa (one half of the electronic duo Umoja).
Mr. Cauliflower dropped an Lp on the turntable and played "Casa da Arvore" from Nomade Orquestra. The sound was deep and went direct to Jo's heart.
It sounded like gipsy music, but had a funky feeling; it had some reggae elements, but with a latin heart. That's the mixture of styles that better represent the Nomade Orquestra's signature sound.
A quartet that has since swollen into a decet from their beginnings in 2012, Brazilian band Nomade Orquestra musicians pride themselves on stretching far and beyond their jazz roots to create a sound that's hard to pinpoint, but inclusive of various cultures across the world.
While listening to the song Jo Bissa knew immediately how to twist it with a remix, and created an electro cumbia dancefloor killer!

The result is a tasty 7" inches called "Veggie Tales Vol. 5"!!
We hope you'll enjoy as much as we did.
Buon appetito!

White Vinyl Only
Once upon a time Mr. Cauliflower made his way to Amsterdam and met his friend Jo Bissa (one half of the electronic duo Umoja).
Mr. Cauliflower dropped an Lp on the turntable and played "Casa da Arvore" from Nomade Orquestra. The sound was deep and went direct to Jo's heart.
It sounded like gipsy music, but had a funky feeling; it had some reggae elements, but with a latin heart. That's the mixture of styles that better represent the Nomade Orquestra's signature sound.
A quartet that has since swollen into a decet from their beginnings in 2012, Brazilian band Nomade Orquestra musicians pride themselves on stretching far and beyond their jazz roots to create a sound that's hard to pinpoint, but inclusive of various cultures across the world.
While listening to the song Jo Bissa knew immediately how to twist it with a remix, and created an electro cumbia dancefloor killer!

The result is a tasty 7" inches called "Veggie Tales Vol. 5"!!
We hope you'll enjoy as much as we did.
Buon appetito!

box-set clear / vinyl / 180 gr

The Stone Techno Series returns with another exciting compilation. This time alongside a new festival that celebrates forward thinking artists from 9th to 10th of July at Europe's biggest coal mine complex under the UNESCO World Heritage Zollverein. The project is exceptional at its core, bringing back excitement and inventiveness to the genre.

The project functions as a multidisciplinary ever-evolving experiment that brings different aspects together. Sampling, creating and releasing music made out of million years old inorganic materials which shaped and defined the Ruhr Area like nothing else. "Auf Kohle geboren - born on coal" stands for this region and the so-called "German Wirtschaftswunder".

The Stone Techno project wants to embrace the history of "the Ruhrpott" while looking into the future as well. Techno Music stands for upheaval and modernity, while coal is the symbol of the Ruhr Area. This unique project will lend audibility to the ongoing process of transformation in the cultural and natural history of this region. Science and museums crossing paths with contemporary electronic music culture.

The Stone Techno project is not shy of its obvious significance. World-famous Ruhr Museum and The Third Room collective mark a first of its kind of long-lasting collaborations between a techno brand and a cultural institution.

This time the project is conceptually going one step further: Before the final backfilling of the mine at Zeche Zollverein, the acoustic atmos

What on earth has happened to gothic rock? This was the thought burning in Joakim Knutsson’s mind, and he felt that something needed to be done to save the much-loved genre from going down the drain. He embarked on this mission with the aim to create something special but also something faithful to the original ideals of the 80’s gothic genre. “I wanted a band that would be an occult mix of The Lords Of The New Church, Adam and the Ants, John Carpenter and Billy Idol”, says Knutsson, “The end result turned out heavier, bloodier and darker than that, but that was probably our destiny anyway.” With a little help from prominent members of the Swedish metal and punk community the idea recently took a solid form. Today the band together sums more than 250 years of knowledge in music and pop culture - knowledge they shamelessly put to use in their own creation. Here they are: die Oberherren. The Gothic rock band the world has been waiting for since the golden age of the 80s. Kept strictly under wraps until now, die Oberherren feature members of the rock and metal royalty in Sweden, with past or current membership in bands such as The Coffinshakers, Ghost, The Mobile Mob Freakshow, Gehennah and many more. The band snatched their ominous-sounding moniker from the intellectual group that operated at the turn of the 20th century, by whom their lyrics are also heavily influenced. “Anarchistic, occult and apocalyptic imagery with prophets of war, armageddon, decadence and love – these themes and ideas are even more actual today than the original ‘overlords’ could ever dream of over a hundred years ago”, comments Knutsson. The debut album Die By My Hand, set for release on January 27th 2023 on Svart Records, is a collection of eight songs that are adorned with infectious hooks and laced with vintage darkness. The apocalyptic celebration will commence this Friday, Sept 7th, with the release of the first single off the album titled The Horned One Stabs.

What on earth has happened to gothic rock? This was the thought burning in Joakim Knutsson’s mind, and he felt that something needed to be done to save the much-loved genre from going down the drain. He embarked on this mission with the aim to create something special but also something faithful to the original ideals of the 80’s gothic genre. “I wanted a band that would be an occult mix of The Lords Of The New Church, Adam and the Ants, John Carpenter and Billy Idol”, says Knutsson, “The end result turned out heavier, bloodier and darker than that, but that was probably our destiny anyway.” With a little help from prominent members of the Swedish metal and punk community the idea recently took a solid form. Today the band together sums more than 250 years of knowledge in music and pop culture - knowledge they shamelessly put to use in their own creation. Here they are: die Oberherren. The Gothic rock band the world has been waiting for since the golden age of the 80s. Kept strictly under wraps until now, die Oberherren feature members of the rock and metal royalty in Sweden, with past or current membership in bands such as The Coffinshakers, Ghost, The Mobile Mob Freakshow, Gehennah and many more. The band snatched their ominous-sounding moniker from the intellectual group that operated at the turn of the 20th century, by whom their lyrics are also heavily influenced. “Anarchistic, occult and apocalyptic imagery with prophets of war, armageddon, decadence and love – these themes and ideas are even more actual today than the original ‘overlords’ could ever dream of over a hundred years ago”, comments Knutsson. The debut album Die By My Hand, set for release on January 27th 2023 on Svart Records, is a collection of eight songs that are adorned with infectious hooks and laced with vintage darkness. The apocalyptic celebration will commence this Friday, Sept 7th, with the release of the first single off the album titled The Horned One Stabs.

Newly mastered to vinyl from original BYG tapes. Lacquers cut by Alchemy Mastering at AIR STUDIOS. Insert with exclusive liner notes by author, journalist and BYG-authority Kevin Le Gendre. CD: Original 1969 BYG album. Digitally mastered from original BYG tapes by Nick Robbins. 16-pages booklet with photos & exclusive liner notes by author and journalist Kevin Le Gendre. *** Florida-born saxophonist, composer, poet, actor and playwright Archie Shepp was one of the most articulate exponents of politicized black culture in the late ‘60s, a time of enormous upheaval and radical thought. Relocating to Paris he made a number of highly influential albums, such as Blasé, that broached the essential themes of freedom and racial equality, and tapped into the bedrock of African-American music. Gospel and blues were a major part of the work, which also had a strong avant-garde sensibility. The band featured stellar vocalist Jeanne Lee and members of Art Ensemble Of Chicago. These trailblazing artists who combined jazz, poetry and radical politics made a definitive musical statement. “This re-mastered version of a seminal album still has great musical and emotional power... “ Kevin Le Gendre, 2022

BABILBON is the fusion between Babylon and Bilbo. A collective of musicians with experience in other bands from Bilbao with the idea of bringing a modern twist to the old Jamaican rhythms, fusing them with dancehall and hip-hop rhythms without any pretension of sounding purist, and also lending the microphone to 10 artists from Bilbo and "surroundings": Bite Akatz, Suprah, Mad Muasel, Xatiro, Belardi Rockers, Gatom, Ras Reguilón & Daka, Fundación de Raperos Atípicos de Cádiz, Inés Pardo and Priteo. Their eponymous debut album (called 10 Beats and Riddims Basque Label) was recorded at Mamba Beltza studios in the Iturralde neighborhood of Bilbao, with the aim of thundering in all the sound-systems of the great Babylon. For the purpose, the band gives the microphone to 10 vocalists from Bilbo and "surroundings" to the delight of locals and strangers. The selection is of bells and whistles, but behind the rhythmic recitation of rhymes, puns, breaks and Jamaican riddims, there is a solid and versatile band that, adapting to the guests, builds a homogeneous sound around the Babylonian assortment of languages, dialects, accents, textures, styles, personalities, moods, cultures and subcultures.

Tunisian oud player and vocalist Dhafer Youssef is at the vanguard of a movement in contemporary music that brings East and West together. He is one of the most inventive oud players in the world and has succeeded in freeing the instrument from its traditional role and bringing it into jazz.

In 2016, he released his solo album Diwan Of Beauty And Odd, which he recorded together with Aaron Parks, Ben Williams, Mark Giuliana and Ambrose Akinmusire. The album was received with critical acclaim and fuses Arabic and Western culture. It features the popular tracks “Fly Shadow Fly” and “Diving In The Air”.

Diwan Of Beauty And Odd is available as a limited edition of 500 individually numbered copies on translucent magenta coloured vinyl, housed in gatefold sleeve and includes an insert.

With One Day, Fucked Up have delivered one of the most energizing and intricate albums of their career, a massive-sounding record that arrives in deceptively small confines. The Canadian hardcore legends have been known for their epic scale in the past, so it might be a surprise that Fucked Up’s sixth studio album is their shortest to date, written and recorded in the confines of one literal day (hence the title). Don’t mistake size for substance, though: The band’s sound has only gotten bigger, more hard-charging, with even denser thickets of melody. “I wanted to see what I could record in literally one day.” That singular idea came to mind for guitarist Mike Haliechuk in the closing months of 2019. Haliechuk got himself into a studio and proceeded to write and record the record’s ten tracks over three eight-hour sessions, reconnecting with the core the band’s songwriting essence in the process. Initially, Fucked Up vocalist Damian Abraham was also set to complete his vocals in similar fashion—that is, before the lockdowns of 2020 took place. As it turns out, the isolation yielded creative dividends, as Abraham returned to contributing lyrics as well for the first time since 2014’s Glass Boys. “It almost felt like it might be the last time I’d ever get to record vocals for anything,” Abraham says of the stakes he felt while putting his part to tape, before reflecting on how he approached the lyrical process: “What do I want to say to friends who aren’t here anymore? What do I want to say to myself?” Over swarms of tuneful noise that evoke Sonic Youth circa Daydream Nation, Abraham lets loose on gentrification in “Lords of Kensington,” which was inspired by an “incredible” Toronto neighborhood that was regularly subject to life-ruining police surveillance and structural violence. “The police chief during that era he just opened a cannabis store,” Abraham explains. “It’s so cynical and gross, what society has come to but by being in a band, we’re culpable in changing the neighborhood, too, since the punk spaces and cool happenings that pop up are part of gentrification. Are you building a culture? Or are you ruining something that’s already been there?” Then there’s the dusky burn of “Cicada,” a sonic cousin to Dose Your Dreams’ excellent standout “The One I Want Will Come for Me” that features Haliechuk taking lead-vocal duty. The song is dedicated to lost friends, and in his words, it’s about “what life is like after you lose people, and our responsibility to carry them forward into the future, using the things they taught us as a light. I like to imagine the sound of cicadas as a metaphor for our strange life in the subculture we all just live these weird little hidden lives under the dirt, and then once in a generation, one of us gets to bust out of the dirt and intone their song so loud that it can be heard all over.” One Day is an undeniable work of confidence from a band that continues to operate at the top of their game, making music that’s guaranteed to last a lifetime and beyond.

The new album Octagon Sphere by Duesseldorf duo Strafe F.R. comprises of four pieces recorded in 2020 and 2021 at the group's own studio. The work features heavily treated female vocals and includes rhythmic patterns and electronic sounds contributed by invited guest musician Detlef Klepsch (of the group keit). The overall atmosphere is tense and moody, both dark and uplifting at the same time. Octagon Sphere was mastered by Kai Blankenberg at Skyline Tonfabrik.

Octagon Sphere is the sister release to last year's CD Soundless Sphere – both albums are tied together by rhythmic alchemy and sound manipulation in highest detail.

STRAFE FÜR REBELLION was founded in 1979 in Düsseldorf by the two artists Siegfried Michael Syniuga and Bernd Kastner. Conceived as an experimental project rather than a band, the duo is active since the early 1980s, they continue to work together to this day.

They demonstrated their subtle abilities in numerous performances and concerts. The members of STRAFE FÜR REBELLION see themselves as researchers on different visual and acoustic levels; they always make use of their idiosyncratic and unusual humor. The duo emphasize that they not only explore the world of music, but also incorporate elements of knowledge, and thus all usable influences, into their experiments. Working plans, storyboards, and composi­tional schemas usually serve as the basis for new musical projects.

Their texts reflect their interest in science, history, philosophy, as well as everyday phenomena, mass media, and popular culture: in their experimental sound expe­riences, performances, and installations STRAFE FÜR REBELLION are absolutely avant-garde, working at the forefront of research-performatively, acoustically, visually, and in a variety of media. Their motto always remains aesthetically uncompromising with serious pleasure.

* 2022 Repress ** Profondo Nero compiled by Cinema Royale

Profondo Nero narrates a storyline that goes beyond the borders of Italy’s musical legacy. Cutting across the face of Italo disco’s leftfield musicians between the early and late ‘80s, Profondo Nero champions a multi-faceted sound that nods to the blueprint of Italo disco but tries to dig deeper. The music is unmistakably Italo disco but moves away from the familiar classic sound. Amsterdam based collector Cinema Royale stitches together eleven tracks from 1983 – 1989, celebrating a sound he fittingly describes as ‘leftfield Italo’.

The compilation connects the dots between soulful disco (Louise Freeman – Mirage), synth-pop (Mark – Dreamland), electro-rap (Loukas Thanos – Jazzburger), breaks (Santoro – Lover Message), 80s dub disco (Jet Set – Love Break), Balearic (Isamar & Compañia ‎- No Estas), boogie (Tom Hooker – Talk With Your Body) and proto-house (International Music System - An English ’93).

Profondo Nero’s title salutes the legendary oeuvre of Italian horror director Dario Argento. His Profondo Rosso (1975) is a classic example of exquisite cinematic storytelling, boasting courageous colors, expressionist camera angles and an unforgettable Goblin score forming the ingredients for an intriguing piece of art. Profondo Rosso’s music, created the spark for a new Dekmantel Records endeavor led by Amsterdam based experimental film score connoisseur, record collector and DJ Cinema Royale.

For those in the know of underground Amsterdam music culture, Arne Visser aka Cinema Royale is among the city’s longest standing record collectors. Born to an Italian mother and Dutch father, Arne was brought up on a diet of Italo disco in the 80s. Cinema Royale explains: ‘For Profondo Nero I took a plunge into the lesser known fringes of Italo disco. From there I tried to connect, among others, San Francisco boogie, Balearic, Japanese late era Italo-electro and synth-pop funk. I hope you can hear what I had in mind: an infectious showcase of my take on traditional Italo disco that will hopefully get a lot of listeners itching for a spin. It’s fair to say that lately this particular sound has seen a reappraisal and renewed interest.

As a party-starting collection for entry-level connoisseurs or suave but lazy types, I hope Profondo Nero can be an education. I’m not claiming I’m the first DJ or collector to do so, but I did try do present something special by digging deep.’ It wasn’t my goal to unearth the most obscure tracks, instead I wanted to compose a compilation that takes you on a journey.
‘In my opinion the best DJs create something extraordinary out of illogical selections by combining music against all odds and showing different kind of moods along the way. There’s a certain amount of arrogance involved: you take the music out of its original context. But by doing so in a very conscious way, you might be able to enhance the power of the individual records. Hopefully each song on Profondo Nero provides an intimate and memorable experience.’

Mysticisms keeps the Dubplate series moving, welcoming one of the seminal Dub producers of all time in Scientist. His unique studio techniques and understanding of rhythm are exalted and present on Step It Up, an enlightening example of his genius and matched with a widescreen remix by label associate DJN4, aka DJ Normal 4, teaming up with fellow Dusseldorf producer AKI AKI, to offer a dreamland breaks-steppers anthem.
The fact that Hopeton Overton Brown aka Scientist is one of the true pioneers of Dub music is undisputed. His productions, first as an apprentice at Studio One, then breaking through whilst teamed at King Tubby's studio, led to Channel One and a series of seminal Dub masterpieces throughout the 1980s, mixing engineer Henry 'Junjo' Lawes' productions with the Roots Radics, alongside vocalists Barrington Levy, Jonny Osbourne and Jah Thomas.

Step It Up precedes, taken from the period of seminal Tubby's work with Bunny Lee and in this instance, with Barry Brown classic vocals and Lee's house band, The Aggravators, backing. As often with Reggae's history, much is disputed, however, this unmistakable Scientist production showcases Brown's high pass filters in effect, the trademark riding 4/4, utilising the 4 track mixing desk to create a joyous bounce.

Working on the license from the outset, Tim Schumacher aka DJN4, waited in the wings to dive in the desk for a modern-day remix. Partnering with up-and-coming producer Aki Vierboom (Phaserboys / Candomble), the Digi-Dance MixX is bass-quaking histrionics, a steppers meets rave culture overdose that will be heard from festivals to dancehalls, a righteous dub-breaks riddim y'all.

Step the Mystery

"Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the bassbins, Mysticisms brings the latest in its Dubplate series. After the success of his first digital dubb excursions on the version, Persian returns with a second 10” of reggae inspired electronics, covering Bass, Breaks, Digidub and now also, Jungle.

Taking no prisoners with the massive opener Survival Dub, Persian marries classic breakbeats and toasting to bouncing, dance floor effect. THE party starter. This is followed by Smoke Mari, a looping steppas of FX and breaks to lay down the Dubplate clash.

As ever the link between rave, breaks and sound system culture is explored, this time with the Roots’n’Lovers opening of There Is No Love giving way to a Junglist drop, before risin’ to a beautiful soul sermon.

Finally, taking it all down, tings wrap with the deep, sampledelic dub of Zatoichi’s Troubles. With a bass to destroy many a speaker, it’s lanquidity morphs from the EP’s hedonism of sound clash styles to a gliding “tokers delight”.

Smoke the Mystery. "