This record invites you on an extraordinary journey, in the form of a spatio-temporal and transgenerational sound collage, into the parallel and singular universe of one of the major counter-culture movements of the 1960s fantastic realism. A cross between thematic compilation and sound creation, it offers a selection of rarities and nuggets with psychedelic and esoteric tonesby groups from the late 60's - early 70's French psychedelic scene, such as Haira, Guy Skornnik and Martin Circus, as well as previously unreleased tracks by major current and emerging bands such as The Limiñanas, Zombie Zombie featuring Pacôme Thiellement, The Penelopes or Terrains vagues, Rubin et le paradoxe featuring Brigitte Fontaine, Tuxedomoon or Exotourisme (Perez and Dominique Gonzalez Foerster). These tracks were created especially for the occasion. All mixed and interspersed with audio archives by Jacques Bergier, Louis Pauwels or Eugène Canseliet and sounds from installations designed by visual artists (Veronique Belland, Alexis Chapelain). At once cutting-edge and accessible to the uninitiated, between fantasy and science fiction, esotericism and occultism, popular culture and contemporary art, avant-garde and pop music, this disc offers a poetic ode to the Strange, to curiosity, to the capacity for wonder and the desire for knowledge, with a view to re-enchanting reality. Conceived by Jean-François Sanz (author, director and curator) and Hermione Volt (visual artist), in collaboration with Laurent Paulré (founder of the Contours label and producer at Radio France), and with the complicity of Céline Du Chéné (author and journalist), this album, an atypical sound object, is the musical extension of the eponymous group exhibition UN AUTRE MONDE ///DANS NOTRE MONDE, which opened at Galerie du Jour in Paris.
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In a world of announcements of announcements, Gatecreeper are firing no warning shots before dropping their new release. “I think the social media environment has just fried our attention spans,” vocalist Chase Mason says. “Trying to hold someone’s attention for two or three months with a typical album roll-out doesn’t seem feasible with everything else currently going on in the world.” That’s not the only reason An Unexpected Reality comes with no pre-release hype whatsoever. “It’s meant to be listened to as a whole, so we didn’t wanna break it up or release a couple songs ahead of time as ‘singles’ or whatever,” Mason clarifies. “We also didn’t wanna treat it like it’s our next full-length. Because it’s not.” Written, recorded and now released during the Covid-19 pandemic, An Unexpected Reality is Gatecreeper like you’ve never heard them before. Exploring both ends of the tempo spectrum, the release offers two opposing sides of the band’s musical personality. Side one consists of seven short, sharp shocks that have a total running time of less than seven minutes. Inspired by grind, punk and hardcore, tracks like “Starved,” “Rusted Gold” and “Amputation” are some of the fastest offerings the Arizona death metal squad has ever recorded. Side two is the exact opposite.
Technical death metal troupe Cognitive are back with Abhorrence, their fifth full length album and a tremendously worthy successor to 2021’s Malevolent Thoughts of a Hastened Extinction. This is the New Jersey powerhouse quintet at its brutal best – unrelenting riffs leave the listener stunned, while a wave of thoughtful, devastating lyrics washes over. The album is a turbulent, draining but ultimately fulfilling experience. Cognitive started work on Abhorrence while touring Malevolent Thoughts of a Hastened Extinction, sending tracks back and forth to each other while trekking from one intense gig to another. This promises to be a big year for Cognitive, as they take Abhorrence on the road and bring more people into their vile new world. 13 years after the release of their debut EP, the band’s fifth full-lengther sees them continue to make giant strides forward while retaining the elements of their past efforts that got them this far. Abhorrence may provide therapeutic commentary about how messed up the world currently is, but also, ironically, provides a breath of fresh air. We’re all in this together, so catch Cognitive on the road this year.
Technical death metal troupe Cognitive are back with Abhorrence, their fifth full length album and a tremendously worthy successor to 2021’s Malevolent Thoughts of a Hastened Extinction. This is the New Jersey powerhouse quintet at its brutal best – unrelenting riffs leave the listener stunned, while a wave of thoughtful, devastating lyrics washes over. The album is a turbulent, draining but ultimately fulfilling experience. Cognitive started work on Abhorrence while touring Malevolent Thoughts of a Hastened Extinction, sending tracks back and forth to each other while trekking from one intense gig to another. This promises to be a big year for Cognitive, as they take Abhorrence on the road and bring more people into their vile new world. 13 years after the release of their debut EP, the band’s fifth full-lengther sees them continue to make giant strides forward while retaining the elements of their past efforts that got them this far. Abhorrence may provide therapeutic commentary about how messed up the world currently is, but also, ironically, provides a breath of fresh air. We’re all in this together, so catch Cognitive on the road this year.
UK-glam rockers performing 11 classic tracks in Berlin on May 16, 1976 recorded for
German radio. This recording features the classic Sweet lineup: Brian Connolly, Steve Priest,
Andy Scott, and Mick Tucker, playing such hits as "The Ballroom Blitz," and "Fox on the Run,"
plus cuts like "Action" and "Lies in Your Eyes" from the then-current Give Us a Wink album.
Armageddon Patronage verkörpert den immensen Antrieb einer Band, die auf Hochtouren läuft und ihre ganz eigene Mischung aus extremem Metal verfeinert. Nach einer Reihe von intensiven Festivalauftritten ist der Name Strychnos nun in aller Munde. Angetrieben von diesem enormen Schwung hat die Band unermüdlich gearbeitet, um Armageddon Patronage weniger als zwei Jahre nach ihrem Debüt aufzunehmen und zu veröffentlichen.
"Diese Veröffentlichung stellt eine natürliche Fortsetzung dessen dar, was A Mother's Curse begonnen haben", meint Bassist/Sänger Martin Leth Andersen. "Die Band versucht, die Schlüsselelemente des Debüts zu verfeinern und weiter voranzutreiben - sowohl in Bezug auf die Aggressivität als auch auf die atmosphärischeren Teile. Dieser Nachfolger zeigt auch eine Reihe neuer Details wie alternative Instrumentierung, Gesangsvariationen, Intros, Outros und ein paar bemerkenswerte Gastauftritte."
Es ist selten, dass sich eine Band mit jeder neuen Veröffentlichung so exponentiell verbessert. Verpasse Strychnos nicht... denn man weiß nie, wie lange der Untergrund sie noch halten kann!
Armageddon Patronage wurde von Lasse Ballade in den Kopenhagener Ballade Studios aufgenommen und gemischt und von keinem Geringeren als Necromorbus' berüchtigtem Tore Stjerna gemastert.
Seit 2013 arbeitet Douglas Dare im Spannungsfeld zwischen Klassik und Chamber Pop, Folk und Avantgarde-Experimenten immer neue verblüffende Perspektiven heraus - und singt dazu mit einer Ausnahmestimme, die einen regelrecht umhauen kann. So hat er sich im zurückliegenden Jahrzehnt u.a. bereits die Bühne mit Größen wie Nils Frahm, Perfume Genius und Olafur Arnalds geteilt und wurde zudem von David Lynch und Robert Smith von The Cure für die von ihnen kuratierten Festivals nach Manchester (MIF) bzw. London (Meltdown) eingeladen. Mit seinem vierten Album Omni schlägt Douglas nun jedoch ein ganz neues Kapitel auf. Alles klingt nach Aufbruch, alles ist elektrisiert. Vor allem Robert Raths, der Gründer von Erased Tapes, ermutigte Douglas dazu, die angestammten Instrumente hinter sich zu lassen, alles Akustische auszuklammern. So löste er sich auch vom Klavier, mit dem er aufgewachsen war, und beschäftigte sich stattdessen intensiv mit Synthesizern und Drum Machines. Tatsächlich erinnern die neuen Aufnahmen vielfach an das Werk von Arca oder auch die Aufnahmen der verstorbenen SOPHIE - zwei Künstler:innen, für die der künstlerische Ausdruck vor allem ein Akt der Befreiung ist bzw. war. "Wir haben auch zusammen im Studio abgehangen", sagt Douglas über letztere. "Ihre ganze Herangehensweise als Musikerin hat mich extrem beeindruckt." Und doch ist auch Omni durchzogen von jenem intelligenten Storytelling, dem Schwung der Streicher, dem eleganten Kontrastreichtum und den fast schon märchenhaften Stimmungen, die man von Douglas kennt - und die seine künstlerische Handschrift so einzigartig machen. Passiert sonst ja nicht so oft, dass man einen massiven Electro-Banger hört, der auch aus dem Soho der Neunziger stammen könnte, und darüber Vocal-Loops, die von den experimentellen Sounds der US-Pionierin Meredith Monk inspiriert sind. Letzten Endes versucht Douglas mit Omni, all diese unterschiedlichen Facetten seiner Persönlichkeit - Songwriter, Raver, Beobachter, Lover - unter einen Hut zu bringen. Das Ergebnis klingt maximal queer: verführerisch und sexy, lüstern und vollkommen frei vom Korsett binärer Kategorien. "Selbst Matrosen begegnet man auf diesem Album!", sagt Douglas abschließend und muss lachen. "Noch queerer geht"s echt nicht."
The legend continues. The pioneer cult band Esplendor Geométrico offers us their new album, Strepitus Rhythmicus, of machine-like and futuristic post-industrial music. The new album includes 9 tracks on a limited-edition vinyl LP and 11 tracks on the CD digipack version. After recording an album of the amazing new project ASA together with Uwe Schmidt/ATOM TM (Raster 2023), the pioneer cult band Esplendor Geométrico offers us their new album. Electric pulse of mechanical rhythms, hidden voices, and factory noises. E.G. reinvent themselves again and again without losing their unique essence. Based now in Islamabad and Rome, Arturo Lanz & Saverio Evangelista have not stopped their live performances all over the world in the last years with great success. Born in 1980 as a trio, and currently a duo formed by Arturo Lanz (founding member) and Saverio Evangelista (member since 1991), Esplendor Geométrico is an influential and international electronic cult band and also a rare case in the Spanish music scene, as they have developed their own independent path aside from tags, fashion or trends, in spite of being often classified as industrial music. Their career during this four decades hasn't had interruptions. They haven't stopped composing, releasing albums or playing live (with more intensity since the nineties), and they have continued for the simple pleasure of making music. Esplendor Geométrico has achieved a personal and distinct style that can be appreciated from their 80's albums, when they used analog synthesizers and primitive electronic percussion, to the present time with new digital tools. Their influence has marked many later artists, usually classified in the so-called industrial music or rhythm & noise, as well as artists from current techno and certain types of experimental noise music.
2024 Repress
Tooflie is a vinyl-only label based somewhere on the shores of the Baltic Sea that brings authentic music from all over the world right to the dance floors. For the first release, we have collected four oriental DJ edits and original tracks with the smell of saffron and the taste of curry, seasoned with a passion for industan.
Digital Base, producer and DJ from Seville, has been producing Breakbeat music tracks for more than 30 years, being one of the oldest producers on the scene who is still active. He was one of the people responsible for the legendary iBreaks label and co-founder of the promoter and label Ibreaks Spain, being a reference for the hardcore breaks sound at the end of the 90s and a pioneer of the Techfunks & Electro House Breaks sound at the beginning of the century. His creations have evolved over time, currently leading to a substyle that some call "Liquid Breaks" without forgetting the Old Skool of yesteryear. Labels aside, from his label Old Skool Records he has us accustomed to the release of extraordinary compositions with a high emotional charge, musicality and impeccable rhythms, which give a timeless character to everything that comes out of his studio. In this new vinyl titled "He Didn't Do It On Purpose", you can find all these ingredients, which define the genuine sound that Digital Base has forged over low heat, made to last in times of immediacy.
His first album, critically acclaimed and certified with a platinum single, places the French producer as a key player on the independent beatmaking scene.
- 1: Forró Violento (Instrumental)
- 2: Grão De Areia
- 3: Não Vou Reclamar De Deus
- 4: Toda Beleza
- 5: Put@Ria!
- 6: Rubelía
- 7: Posso Dizer
- 8: Vinheta As Palavras I
- 9: As Palavras
- 10: Forró Violento
- 11: Torto Arado
- 12: Lua De Garrafa
- 13: Na Mão Do Palhaço
- 14: Doutor Albieri
- 15: Samba De Amanda E Té
- 16: Amor De Mãe
- 17: Vinheta As Palavras Ii
- 18: Assum Preto
- 19: Forró No Escuro
- 20: Toda Beleza (Pelos Loirinhos)
Black Vinyl[26,68 €]
Some albums are game-changers in a genre. Take OutKast's Speakerboxxx / The Love Below or Primal Scream's Screamadelica, they observe, study, and then flip what an album can mean to a genre or moment in time.
From the very first listen of Rubel’s Latin Grammy-nominated third album As Palavras, Vol. 1 & 2, you can feel its transformative force for the MPB genre. Here we see one of Rio’s brightest stars, fusing the contemporary with the classic, soaking up the richness of Brazil’s musical heritage. The result is a marauding 20-track epic, incorporating traditional styles such as forró, MPB, pagode and samba with modern baile funk, rasteirinha and hip-hop.
The album exudes a sense of freedom and creativity, playfully and provocatively juggling the familiar with the forward-thinking. The tracks are divided across two records, navigating feelings of love, heartbreak and discovery, whilst balancing themes of violence, passion, irony and affection. Collaborating with some of the country’s most esteemed artists such as Gabriel do Borel, Liniker, Luedji Luna, Tim Bernardes and Ana Caetano, Rubel takes this fusion of styles, subjects and flavours to the global stage.
The grand, forró-blending, choral opener, ‘Forró Violento (Instrumental)’ sets the tone for the album, with references and links between tradition and modernity everywhere to be seen. From the Ana Frango Elétrico produced, funk flexing, samba-soul brilliance of ‘Não Vou Reclamar de Deus’, to the album’s title cut ‘As Palavras’, in collaboration with Tim Bernardes, that melds MPB influences with electronic elements and hip-hop touches.
Across both sides of the album, Rubel’s story-telling gift is given space to shine. ‘Torto Arado’ featuring Liniker and Luedji Luna, beautifully references the racial injustice, tragedy, hope and ambition found in one the most celebrated Brazilian novels of recent times by Itamar Vieira Júnior. Elsewhere, ‘Na Mão do Palhaço’ manifests a satirical march about a suicidal conservative middle-aged man, who is rescued by the miracle of the carnival.
At times the album is gentle and intimate with tracks like ‘Toda Beleza’ featuring Bala Desejo, or the ode to friendship ‘Lua de Garrafa’, composed with the legendary Milton Nascimento. At others, the grooves hit harder, with sounds from the favelas laced within. ‘Put@ria!’, explores the universe of baile funk, with BK’ and MC Carol trading off on the mic, as ‘Rubelía’ moves between reggaeton, funk, and hip hop. The latter is a tribute to a key influence of the album, Spanish star Rosalía and her parallel mix of current with classic.
Ultimately though the beauty of this album lies in its concept. In the midst of a country divided, ‘As Palavras Vol. 1 & 2’ sets out to bring together genres and generations, grounded in rhythms and words that have helped define Brazil through the ages.
Significant Other unveils a new project: Pain Management. A new imprint presenting music and visual media across a variety of formats. The outlet launches with an original 4 track EP: When It Rains.
Christening the label with his first full length release since 2021, the subversive producer steps out from behind the curtain with a batch of tracks guaranteed to soothe psychic woes and challenge sound systems alike.
True to the name of the label, this debut release delivers a healthy dose of leftfield club weight. Tough and tender in equal measure, it’s a record that explores in-between zones. A fever dream of narrative experiments at the outer edges of club music, packing enough punch to shake a dancefloor, but enough delicacy to soundtrack the ride home. The final product is a meeting of outsider sonics and sleazy dance tropes, body music for restless minds.
The record begins with the lead single ‘RPG’ (A1). A smoked out, drug chug power ballad featuring fellow NYC underground alum James K. Anchored around a growling 4/4 battle beat, swells of dub and inchoate vocal cries rise intermittently from the haze. Within the fever dream fugue of thuggish sub weight and engine-room crud, a tender, sustained warmth shimmers.
A2’s ‘I Get Such Bad Headaches’ is a twisted club thumper built around a questioning vocal refrain. It’s a tongue in cheek nod to the label’s origins that takes shape in a sleazy beat track with some serious club weight. Slowed n’ chopped to the maximum, it’s a low slung sleeper-hit with attitude. DJ Screw meets Tylenol PM, a bass-boosted anthem for the neural punishment enjoyer.
The B-side opens with the title track, ‘When It Rains (It Pours)’, a droned out mess of distant voices and textural grit. Anchored around the titular looping axiom, the track has a deathly, abyssal weight to it. A claustrophobic hymn of surrender, faithful to its stark refrain.
‘Bad Blood’ wraps the record on a tender note. A sluggish heartbeat pumps beneath the fog of dub delays and distortion, propelling forward a lethargic rhythm. Out of nowhere a blissed out synth line pierces the tension. A sharp, emotive melody disrupting the paramnesia with something new. If the record’s title track suggests a downward spiral through some psychic storm, then ‘Bad Blood’ shows the outline of dry land coming slowly into focus.
Art Direction by Ciaran Birch
- 1: Sorry
- 2: Miss You
- 3: Won't Be There
- 4: Good Enough
- 5: Never
- 6: Change
- 7: A Place In Your Heart
- 8: Rainbow
- 9: Taken Over
- 10: Lifeline
- 11: Feel
- 12: Conqu
From the early ‘90s to the turn of the millennium, Gabrielle was one of the UK’s most successful and beloved artists. With two unforgettable #1 smashes (‘Dreams’ and ‘Rise’), a back catalogue full of Top 10 hits, two albums which reached 4 x Platinum status, two BRIT Awards, two MOBOs and an Ivor Novello, everything she touched seemed to turn to gold. In recent times, Gabrielle has enjoyed a remarkable resurgence, one that proves that timeless, empowering songwriting and a distinctive voice that is the very definition of soul will never go out of fashion.
The first single from the album, "A Place in Your Heart" will be released on the 18th January (9:30am timed release), and will be premiered on BBC Radio 2 - Zoe Ball that morning. The new single retains Gabrielle's signature sound, opening with her instantly recognisable vocal and provides an anthemic hook fans will no doubt sing along to.
A big part of that resurgence comes from the love shown to her by the current wave of iconic artists. Adele recalls being inspired by the lyric “Dreams can come true” as a child and has been a life-long fan of Gabrielle since, saying, “I remember being mesmerised by her, so pure and so delicate and gentle with her voice and in the way she moved.” And when Adele’s own dreams came true, she returned to her first inspiration and invited Gabrielle to join the bill for her two rapidly sold-out Hyde Park shows in the summer of 2022. The result was a sea of faces - some older fans, but many more who would’ve been too young to remember her the first time around - singing Gabrielle’s songs back to her.
Another high-profile supporter emerged that same year. Stormzy invited Gabrielle to cameo in his ambitious video for ‘Mel Made Me Do It’, where she joined a host of artists including Dave, Little Simz, Headie One and Jazzie B. She was also referenced in its midpoint monologue, when ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ star Michaela Coel narrated Wretch 32’s words: “Gabrielle once told us dreams can come true, and that sentence emancipated the minds of our pioneers.”
2018’s ‘Under My Skin’ in 2018 was heralded as “a heartfelt comeback” by The Guardian on its way to the Top
10. It wasn’t long before she was discovered by a brand new audience too, winning fans with a memorable stint as Harlequin in ‘The Masked Singer’ in 2021.and followed by ‘Do It Again’, an album of which mixed original songs, new takes on all-time classics, and her interpretations of more modern pop favourites from the likes of Billie Eilish, Harry Styles and Rihanna. It shot to #4 on the Official Album Chart - Gabrielle’s highest chart position in twenty years.
With Gabrielle’s star again in ascendance and her high profile live presence, 2024 seems the perfect time to release a new album. She’s consolidated her original audience and found a whole new one.
Autumn / Winter 2023 saw Gabrielle embark upon the ‘30 Years of Dreaming’ headline tour which was extended to a phenomenal 33 dates following overwhelming public demand. Many shows sold-out more than six months in advance, including London’s prestigious Royal Albert Hall.
- A1: Los Hermanos Martelo – Cumbia Cienaguera 02 47
- A2: Los Trotamundos – Cumbia Porteña 02 31
- A3: Antonio León Y Su Conjunto – Cumbia Triste 02 48
- A4: Antolín Y Su Combo Orense – El Pájaro Milano 02 44
- A5: Francisco Zapata – Una Cumbia Para María 03 00
- A6: Crescencio Salcedo – Tipicismo 02 35
- A7: Sonidos De Gamero – La Cumbia Del Negro 03 07
- B1: Los Teen Agers – Cumbia Sobre El Mar 02 40
- B2: Miguel Villalba Y Su Conjunto – Cumbia Manguelitera 02 49
- B3: Calixto Ochoa – El Indio Mapuchi 03 02
- B4: Alfredo Gutiérrez Y Los Caporales Del Magdalena – Aspacanilla 02 26
- B5: El Michi Y Su Combo Bravo – Antonia 02 41
- B6: Los Graduados – Alumbra Luna 03 07
- B7: Gabriel Mesa – La Luna Y El Pescador 03 00
- C1: Adolfo Pacheco Y Su Conjunto – Pájaro Macua 02 24
- C2: El Conjunto Miramar – Cumbia Del Sol 02 58
- C3: El Combo Cienaguero – Fiesta De Cueros 02 21
- C4: La Sonora Universitaria – Margot 02 22
- C5: Orquesta De Marcial Marchena – Lina 02 39
- C6: Rita Fernández – Llora Su Pena 02 05
- C7: Jaime Llano González – Cumbia En Dominante 02 52
- D1: Los Arko – Cumbia Bogotana 02 05
- D2: Aniceto Molina Y Su Conjunto – Cumbia Candela 03 34
- D3: Los Bobby Soxers – Cumbia Sabrosona 02 08
- D4: Catalino Y Su Combo Negro – Cumbia Montañera 02 27
- D5: La Cumbia Moderna De Soledad – Cumbia Soledeña 03 16
- D6: Alejandro Bernal – Al Compás De Las Polleras 02 20
- D7: Grupo La Droga – La Chicharra 02 09
A selection of 28 Colombian cumbia bangers for the dance floor from the deep vaults of Codiscos and associated labels Costeño, Zeida and Famoso, all of them originally released between 1962 and 1983.
“Cumbia Cumbia Cumbia!!!” combines well-known classics and rarities that are difficult to find in their original formats. An invitation to enjoy and be amazed, above and beyond ethnographic and academic concerns.
The historical origins of cumbia in Colombia are nebulous and imprecise. The mythology surrounding it suggests an ancient past when Amerindian, African and European musical sounds were mixed together.
The main record companies in Colombia such as Discos Fuentes, Discos Tropical, Sonolux, Zeida-Codiscos, Silver, Ondina, Discos Atlantic, Vergara and Curro were created between Barranquilla, Medellín, Cartagena and Bogotá from 1936 to 1954. All of them, without exception, recorded Colombian tropical music that over the years was given different names such as porro, gaita, fandango, paseaito, merecumbé, mapalé, bullerengue or, of course, cumbia.
After digging deep into the overwhelming archive of Discos Fuentes in our previous volume, this second instalment in the series “Cumbia Cumbia Cumbia!!!” comprises 28 Colombian cumbia bangers for the dance floor from the deep vaults of Codiscos and associated labels Costeño, Zeida and Famoso, all of them originally released between 1962 and 1983. Legally established on July 1, 1950, Zeida (later Codiscos) was one of the companies that consolidated Medellín as the epicenter of the Colombian recording industry in the central decade of the last century.
“Cumbia Cumbia Cumbia!!!” combines well-known classics and rarities that are difficult to find in their original formats. An invitation to enjoy and be amazed, above and beyond ethnographic and academic concerns.
Where stars drench the sky in hues of infinity, amidst the chaotic waves of supernovas, Sleem Gleam emerges from the abyss to debut a fusion of electronic rhythms and reverberated riffs that crash against the shores of reality.
Riding on a hot acid groove and descending into an electric whirlpool, “Lava Barrels at High Tide” is a stripped-back oceanside bop that epitomizes the swell. Up next, “Totally Pitted” hits maximum wetness with an iconic bass line and blazing flanged-out hats guaranteed to jostle a noggin.
On the flip side, the upbeat electro jam “Cosmic Rip Current” presents a hazard to beach-goers in the form of a thick and psychedelic stellar blip-swirl. Lobotomy Party sends it home at high speed with twacked-out vocal samples and surreal pulsating bass.
Sleem Gleam is the new surf-inspired alias of Minneapolis-based Kajunga co-founder Ry Johnson, aka Ryote. He has been making and releasing electronic music since 2007 and DJing since 2011.
GRAMMY-award nominated Jordan Rakei is a renowned multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, producer, and songwriter who, over soon-to-be-five studio albums, has been on a wide-ranging journey that explores the outer reaches of his inner psyche, traversing themes of emotional evolution, personal growth and family with unwavering sincerity. Always positioning himself in and amongst the bigger questions in life, he has navigated his musical journey with passion and precision, unveiling something new about himself through his songwriting at every turn. The Loop is by far Rakei’s most cohesive and evolutionary work to date following an impressive career of previous releases, each of which have demonstrated his natural curiosity and capabilities in exploring new sounds.
Arriving as the third album on Supreems ‘Sweet Sun’ label – an imprint gathering a reputation for future-facing, storytelling electronic music – Sloucho's 'NPC' explores the duality of his main character and non-playable lives. With a strong Irish artistic presence featuring Rory Sweeney, EMBY, Curtisy and more, Sloucho navigates through Cloudcore-inspired broken beats, bass-driven percussion, alternative dreamscapes and wubby fuck-steps on his most complete release to date, laying the foundation for an origin-story in the process.
Garnering support from Surusinghe, Roza Terenzi, Two Shell and more; some of the tracks on NPC have already been heard in clubs around the world - from Antwerp to London and Mumbai to Paris. ‘Mind Traveller’ offers an ambient introduction to ‘Athrú’, Sloucho’s home world, as the artist's pitched vocals act as the listeners guide into the island's core. ‘Mutant’ features experimental electronic artist Rhoshi on a track that follows the kaleidoscopic sonic-themes of Sloucho’s previous Cloudcore releases ‘Slow Feet’ and ‘Silver Veil’, before the Rory Sweeney-featuring ‘Come Around’ ignites the dance with its dutty screw-face two-step, balanced by moments of melodic contemplation before evolving into a techno-dancehall hybrid.
‘Brand New’ stays on the steppy aesthetic, and brings MCs EMBY and Zack Oke into the frame with a 3D Meta-human video created in collaboration with respected, exhibiting digital artist Aisling Phelan. Using a motion capture suit, they captured EMBY and Zack’s performance and imported it into Unreal Engine, using different environments scanned from around the Greek Islands as the backdrop. The result is mind-blowing; a complete digital realm, shot like a real-life rap video as EMBY and Zack spit bars across an elasticated garage riddim. Full video is on YouTube.
‘Super Maramu 2000’ is a cut of alien-club beamed directly from ‘Eile’, the afterlife of Sloucho’s Neolithic ancestors. A waltzer-ride through Latin-bass and techno with an oxymoronic blend of maximalist and minimalist futurism, it’s as silly as it is serious, before the stuttering, juke-influence of ‘Make It Work’ brings the album’s rapid first half (and a bit) to a close.
Sloucho seamlessly weaves from front left of the club to dark, fume-filled rooms on ‘Two Thousands’ (featuring EMBY and Curtisy), ‘Rocks’ (featuring Zack Oke, who sounds remarkably like experimental spoken-word artist Coby Sey here, and Chilean artist Vatican Jail) and ‘Lights On’ (featuring Yamagōchi), Sloucho explores a previously unseen side to his sound, meandering through alternative trap and hip-hop laden beats that are both dreamy and nightmarish, bringing NPC to its starry-skied climax.
- Lp Tracks: Queen Feat. Kim Jennett
- Ain't Got No Troubles On The Road Feat. Pete Brown, Chris Farlowe & Tommy Schneller
- Try Me Again Feat. Hamburg Blues Band
- Sunshine Of Your Love Feat. Dennis Chambers, Malcolm Bruce & Maya Sage Tomorrow's Blues Feat. Clem Clempson, Marlia Rae, Harry Waters, Alfred Mehnert, Anne Hauter &Detlef Blanke
- Why Are You Ashamed Of Me? Feat. Heidi Solheim
- I'm A Ram Feat. Jed Potts, Paul Jones, Phil Bee, Alex Lex & Paul Jobson
- I Don't Know Where My Heart Is Feat. Beth Morris
- Road Angel Feat. Vanja Sky & Danny Bryant
- Rock'n Roll Hoochie Koo Feat. Curt Cress, Frank Itt & Stoppok
- Do What I Say Feat. Clawfinger & Millie & Luca Crew
- Bust A Button
It is a monster album which unites the who's who of the modern blues and rock scene and took Krissy one year to produce! Friends on the album include rap metal giants Clawfinger, the god of hellfire Arthur Brown, the voice Chris Farlowe, Germany's soul queen Inga Rumpf, legendary singer songwriter Stoppok, the iconic Hamburg Blues Band, elite drummers Dennis Chambers & Curt Cress, Blues singing dynamite Big Daddy Wilson and many more. The album includes 24 songs and is almost 3 hours long with a mix of Krissy's original material and his favourite cover songs. "It was a long time in the making and I managed to get it done. I started the pre-production in November 2022 and went in the studio to begin the meat and potatoes process in January 2023. I wanted to get all my favourite musicians together that I have met on the road in my career. They are not all here by any means, but a good handful are! I did not want this album to have a box, so there are many different genres from metal to blues and jazz to rock'n'roll. But in the end, it is a Krissy Matthews record."




















