Dean Fertita has been at the heart of American rock ‘n’ roll for almost two decades, from his role as an invaluable member of Queens of the Stone Age and The Dead Weather, touring keyboardist with The Raconteurs, and backing musician on records by Jack White, Karen O, Iggy Pop, Brendan Benson, The Kills, Beck, and more. While his own music had been the focus in his role as lead singer, guitarist, and founder of The Waxwings and on recordings as Hello=Fire, Fertita began TROPICAL GOTHCLUB with no clear mission for a solo album under his own name. In early 2020, the TN-based musician put up a small A-frame in his backyard to use as a writing and recording space while stuck at home during the looming pandemic. With rare time on his hands, Fertita set to work recording demos of the many musical ideas he had accumulated over the years, building upon songs and fragments written during different stages of his busy career. Fertita then enlisted his old friend Dave Feeny – a veteran Detroit musician and owner of The Tempermill recording studios in Ferndale, MI – to help develop the recordings even further, pushing the original demos in deliberate new directions to create a showcase for his wide-ranging songcraft and visionary imagination.
Suche:da future
Learn To Let This Go acts as a diary of sorts, documenting the rare highs but more common lows of the last few years. It feels like trying to let go of pieces of the past while also being too afraid to face the future. Tracks such as ‘Peachy Keen, Avril Lavigne’ and ‘Crawl’ also address ongoing struggles, adding to the weight of trying to begin a new chapter in your life despite not knowing how to, whereas others, such as ‘Delightfully Devilish’ and ‘Calm Before The Storm’, try to shine a light through the pessimism that is rooted in most of The Losing Score’s catalogue. Combining the catchy instrumentation and massive singalong choruses of pop punk with emo's anxious lyricism about daily life and growing up, the album feels like a step up from previous releases, developing the band’s sound and confidently establishing the beginning of a new era for The Losing Score. Produced by Sam Bloor, Learn To Let This Go is the band's debut full length album and first release on Counter Intuitive Records.
The debut album from Leeds singer-songwriter Jake Whiskin. Streaming (to date at November 2021) - Spotify Editorials: New Music Friday (3 times in a row), Duvet Day, The Indie List, The Lovely Little Playlist, Hot New Bands, Garden Indie, Undercurrents, My Life is a Movie, Fresh Finds: Pop, Fresh Finds: Rock, Fresh Finds: UK & Ireland, Modern Eclectic - Apple Music Playlists: New Music Daily UK - Amazon Music Playlists: Taufrish: Indie - Youtube playlists with Alex Rainbird (1M subs), Indie Vibes (81.6k subs) and Ethereal (431k subs) Press, Radio & TV (to date at November 2021) - Radio 1 plays from Jack Saunders Future Artists - Ongoing radio support from BBC Introducing (2 live sessions) and Amazing Radio (playlist) - Press features with: The Independent (Live Session), DORK, Clash, When The Horn Blows & more - Synch on Made In Chelsea (Channel 4) Marketing (to date at November 2021) £25k marketing spend across album campaign throughout regular single releases in 2022 (to be spent across online ads on Instagram / YouTube and original creative content) Live (to date at November 2021) - Recent festival slots at leading new music showcase festivals:Live At Leeds, Twisterella - Live plan in 2022 to coincide with single releases with support slots and new music festivals, followed by headline album tour in November 22.
Following the release of acoustic EP Letters To Our Former Selves – Acoustic late last year, Youth Fountain is excited to be back at it with new single “Peace Offering" “This track was written in the perspective of knowing you could never truly love or be loved by anyone before being comfortable with who you are as a person,” shares Tyler Zanon “No matter what positive aspects can come out of a relationship - if the foundation isn’t there of having that bare minimum of self love, things inevitably tend to tarnish.” As Youth Fountain prepares to move forward, the future perfectly mirrors the past. What began as a solo project by guitarist/vocalist Tyler Zanon in 2013 under the name Bedroom Talk eventually blossomed into a full-blown band by 2017, with the Vancouver-based Youth Fountain (then a duo) proudly announcing their presence with the debut single “ Grinding Teeth ” and a pair of Pure Noise Records releases that expertly toed the line between pop-punk fervor and more reflective emo moments. Alternative Press hailed the band’s 2019 debut full-length, Letters To Our Former Selves , as one of the year’s very best, dubbing it the “ perfect blend of emo-tinged punk to soundtrack reflecting on every single life decision you’ve ever made ,” while North American tours with the likes of Free Throw, Can’tSwim, and Chris Farren cemented Youth Fountain’s sweat-soaked sound as something best experienced live – all while dodging a few stray elbows and overzealous crowd-surfers. Now once again, Zanon finds himself as a solo artist following the departure of co-vocalist Cody Muraro in mid-2020 – but this time, he’s exactly where he wants to be. Youth Fountain’s new release, Letters To Our Former Selves – Acoustic EP, re-introduces Zanon’s project to the world, reimagining fan favorite aterial from the 2019 LP of the same name.
The Dangerous Summer signed their first record deal as high school seniors and quickly established themselves among the alt-rock world’s elite. Passionate delivery, confessional authenticity, and deeply resonant musical storytelling define their sound. The band writes hooks that serve as soundtracks for important life moments for a diverse group of listeners spread across the globe. The audience is more family than a fanbase. The community feeling is apparent at every gig, from Slam Dunk to Riot Fest, from touring with State Champs to headlining shows. Reach for the Sun is the record that “shot them into the pop-punk pantheon” (Kerrang!). Powered by unshakeable, enduring alt-rock anthems, the Ellicott City, Maryland band’s debut album made them heroes of the Warped Tour world, all while they carved their own unique path. 2011’s War Paint was a sophomore-slump-smashing follow-up. Grantland likened the “tall and wide” riffs of 2013’s Golden Record to The Hold Steady and U2. (“Catholic Girls” even earned The Danger Summer praise from the famously discerning Pitchfork.) Alternative Press saluted The Dangerous Summer as a group that stayed true to their sound, praising the songs on their 2018 self-titled comeback album as equal parts charismatic and addictive. 2019’s Mother Nature conjured an emotional storm, with an uplifting bent. Underoath’s Aaron Gillespie appeared on the 2020 EP, All That Is Left Of The Blue Sky. Produced by Will Beasley (Turnstile, Asking Alexandria), 2022’s Coming Home ushers in a new era for TDS. The Dangerous Summer never sacrificed their unique, diverse sonic identity, one that appeals to fans of everything from Kings Of Leon and Coldplay to Jimmy Eat World and Bright Eyes. Coming Home is a triumphant summary of what The Dangerous Summer is all about, past, present, and future.
Emotional Rescue finally gets around to reissuing some House music with the start of a 3 x 12 series from Miami's Dancefloor Records. Covering House and Freestyle, this is music as worthy as any other explored to date.Founded by British ex-pat Jeffery Collins in 1983, Dancefloor Records was the culmination of a music industry journeyman's long career from swinging sixties London to bohemian seventies NYC before relocating to the sunnier climbs of Miami.Taking in the City's unique mix of American, Latin and Caribbean sounds, Dancefloors early success came via a long association with reggae turned disco star King Sporty. While his legacy will be looked at in future, this series concentrates on Dancefloor's shift to the growing club sounds emanating from Chicago and NYC.First is the little is known Eighth Ray. As often the case, a project by a group of musician friends who went on to release under various pseudonyms. From the opening spoken word intro of Axis Of Love, the spaced-out 4/4 and spiritual, pulsing arps, this could be mistaken for the then in-vogue 'Italian House'. With Rimini in its sights, the vocals are the journey, underpinned by simple, up'n'back bass and Mateo and Matos style keys, pure 6am sunrise. Backed with the deeper 8th Ray, the EP eschews the bumpin' House then coming from NYC and looks to the sound system vibes out across the Atlantic. Deep House before the term had grabbed hold, been twisted and contorted and donned head-to-toe in black. Simply, real House music.
This fifth volume fulfills the first year of hard work for
reasearching, mastering and above all to bring back up to the
listeners many lost “disco” gems.
The selection, never banal as usual when it comes to the
Cosmic Disco Machine series, includes Edgar Froese
"Videophonic”, Tom Ware "Chinatown", Future World
Ochestra "Mister Y" and many other historical pieces, and fo
the first time an unreleased track too.
So dear collectors and djs, let yourself travel into the world o
that alternative disco that you have proven to appreciate so
much.
As always, limited edition vinyl, this time marbled green
pressed.
Presto from San Diego has consistently stayed true to his soul and jazz-inflected formula of ethereal beats over the years. Presto's first record, the self-pressed EP "Breakin' Concrete", came in 2000 and featured the underground cut "Relax Your Mind," which DJ Mark Farina grabbed for his mix CD "Mushroom Jazz 3" (2001). More interest in the record resulted in the launch of his record label, Concrete Grooves and subsequent releases for Bastard Jazz, Miclife Japan and Names You Can Trust.
Presto resurfaced recently from the beat lab with a new unreleased 10-track instrumental album - "Basement Beats". This album was recorded in 2020 while living in New York. He wanted to give listeners a view into his daily commute in pre-pandemic NYC from the early 5am walks to Union Square to his daily E Train commute to Times Square. Two tracks from this album are presented here for Mukatsuku Records in a limited edition pressing of 400 only copies . "Official" stands out as a gritty drum loop which provides a bed for a melodic sample that sings as a soulful synth melody is played on the chorus by his daughter. "Floating" provides a smooth backdrop with programmed drums as Presto plays the wah-infused Rhodes piano along with Avatar on the bass guitar, giving a nod to their previous live fusion group Wayward Saints. The new release brings a dose of the old school as it travels into the future while comfortable in the present….
First vinyl single off the debut album from La Pambelé!
Bogotá's La Pambelé steps into the ring for their debut release on Names You Can Trust, and with it, they've joined a storied history in Colombia's prized salsa tradition. This new generation of talented musicians have come out for the 1st round with fire, grit and determination. Brass, keys, percussion and lyrics blast at you from all angles, evocative of the way the orchestra's namesake, the legendary Palenque boxer, used his flashing fists within the squared circle.
Featuring a full album of original compositions that have been faithfully recorded and mixed under the guidance of Mario Galeano Toro (Frente Cumbiero) and Daniel Michel at Mambo Negro Records, the approach is a return to the roots of salsa dura that continues to thrive in Colombia's deep musical training grounds. The promising future of the genre shines in the capable hands of La Pambelé and its players, and this introduction is sure to help vault the group from up-and-comer to title contender status.
LP is on baby blue vinyl in a jacket w/ spot gloss + printed inner sleeve + LP3 album download. On October 21, 2022, Merge Records will release Pigments, the debut collaboration between New Orleans electro-revival dynamo Dawn Richard and multi-instrumentalist, producer, and composer Spencer Zahn. Pigments is a project about the power of self-expression through living art, through motion. It’s also a love letter to New Orleans, Louisiana. Not strictly classical, jazz or ambient electronica but rather a body of “movements,” Pigments is an expressive soundscape that is an immersive passage through the city as seen through the eyes of a young Black girl with dreams to paint her future with the pigments given to her. Richard explains: “Spencer wanted to create one long piece of music that would ebb and flow around my lyrics and emotions, which tell a story of growing to love my own skin. I wanted my voice to be moss surrounding the roots of Spencer’s compositions, never forcing the moment to fill every space but rather reveling in the openness of thought and breath.” Zahn agrees, saying, “I wanted to work with all these different textures, tones, and colors to have a new sound to frame Dawn’s voice and lyrics. To hear a lone clarinet as the breath fades and a cello continues its melody to cue Dawn’s vocal entrance is unlike any other record she has made. These are things that excite me as a composer but more as a listener. I hope that other listeners feel the same.” Coming on the heels of Dawn Richard’s critically acclaimed Merge debut Second Line, Pigments will introduce listeners to a different facet of Richard’s outrageous talent and bring Zahn’s thoughtful creativity to a new audience
12 track vinyl LP and 18 track CD including bonus single and demo recordings. The Daggermen all went to Rede Secondary School in Medway, Kent. It was a school for those that failed their 11 plus, or who passed it but decided to go there anyway (as Jon pretends). Being in some of the same classes we became friends and found we liked the same music; The Who, The Small Faces, The Kinks, The Beatles and The Jimi Hendrix Experience. We started going to Carnaby Street, wearing Beatle boots and generally being a bit Moddy. Dave’s older brother, James Taylor, played organ in The Prisoners and we’d listen to cassette tapes of them along with other local band, The Milkshakes as we bounced on the trampoline during P.E. After watching both bands play live in local venues such as the M.I.C. club in Chatham we formed The Daggermen, working out who was going to play which instrument as we stood next to the now demolished school sports hall. No one can quite remember who thought of the name, The Daggermen (it was me) or how comes Jon was playing bass on a guitar in the band at the very start and then Terry took over when we started gigging (it was because he had a real bass guitar and a car). But the next thing was that we were supporting The Prisoners both in Medway and places such as the 100 Club in Oxford Street. Then, one sunny day at around the age of 17, I bumped into Billy Childish walking across a field. I formally introduced myself and told him that he should definitely come and see our band that night because we were “fucking brilliant”. He did turn up and bought us a tray of whiskies whilst we were on stage, a sure sign that he had liked it. This led to him and Russ Wilkins, bass player in The Milkshakes alongside Billy, asking us if we wanted to record an E.P. for Russ’s label, Empire Records. This was our first ever recording called Introducing The Daggermen which was made in a brick arch under Rochester bridge that we rented for £2 a week to rehearse in and lovingly referred to as ‘The Hole’. We got ourselves a “manager” (our mate, Vic Templar) and started playing up and down England, drinking as much as possible in the van on the way to each gig, often paralytic by the time we went on stage. Our musical style was a sort of mixture of punk and mod and we played covers such as ‘Heatwave’ (The Who’s version) and ‘Get Ready’ by the Temptations, along with Dave and Terry’s originals. Then came a change of line up when Jon resumed his position as bass player and Terry left for America. We started wearing military jackets thanks to Jimi Hendrix and made our first long player, Dagger In My Mind (I got the title off an episode of Star Trek, although I remembered it wrong and it should have been ‘Dagger Of The Mind’). The album was produced by James Taylor and Allan Crockford of The Prisoners at Woolly Studios on the Isle of Sheppey in 1986. This line-up played together for a couple of years up and down the country (also with a few gigs in France) before we called it a day and sailed off into the future in bands such as The James Taylor Quartet, The Kravin’ “A”s, The Solarflares and Billy Childish and The Buff Medways. As energetic youths we had a lot of fun and I am very proud to have been part of The Daggermen. We hope you enjoy these recordings, now all gathered together for the first time. Sincerely yours, Wolf Howard, Cafe Mozart, Chatham CD TRACKLISTING 1 – It’s You I See 2 – What Do I Do For You 3 – There’s No Escaping 4 – I’ve Been Hurt 5 – I Have Lost Heart 6 – You Were Meant To Be 7 – Every Moment 8 – Dagger In My Mind 9 – That Girl 10 – D’you Think Of Me 11 – I Feel The Regret 12 – I’ve Been Searching 13 – Now It’s You I Need 14 – Ivor 15 – One More Letter 16 – I Wish You Were Mine 17 – Bundle 18 – No Reason LP TRACKLISTING 1 – It’s You I See 2 – What Do I Do For You 3 – There’s No Escaping 4 – I’ve Been Hurt 5 – I Have Lost Heart 6 – You Were Meant To Be 7 – Every Moment 8 – Dagger In My Mind 9 – That Girl 10 – D’you Think Of Me 11 – I Feel The Regret 12 – I’ve Been Searching
Grey Vinyl[24,79 €]
Experimental post-punk outfit GIRLS IN SYNTHESIS are set to release the eagerly anticipated follow-up to 2020’s incendiary debut, ‘Now Here’s An Echo From Your Future’. Entitled ‘The Rest Is Distraction’ and available this coming October 14th via the band’s own label Own It/Cargo Records, its mix of fractured guitar, crushing drums and bass, intense vocals and lyrical content - create as challenging a record as you will hear this year. Formed in 2016, GIRLS IN SYNTHESIS are John Linger (bass / vocals), Jim Cubitt (guitar / keys) and Nicole Pinto (drums). The trio’s double a-sided debut single ‘The Mound’/’Disappear’ came out in the early part of 2017, and since then they have established themselves as the most forward thinking, viscerally challenging band around with unmissable live shows that continue to excite and astound in equal measure. Recorded last year amidst the uncertainty of continuous lockdowns as a result of the global Covid-19 pandemic, ‘The Rest Is Distraction’ is far darker in content than its predecessor. Mainly exploring internal and mental struggles as opposed to external current affairs, it focuses on the claustrophobia of emotional anguish and continues to bravely delve into previously un-ventured topics. Featuring frequent collaborators funkcutter and Stanley Bad on horns and violin, respectively, two songs also see Eleni Poulou, ex-The Fall, on keyboards. The album was mixed by long-term collaborator Max Walker and features stunning landscape photography by Bea Dewhurst. The album was mastered in France by Ayumu Matsuo. Sonically atramentous and less one dimensional than the band’s debut, ‘The Rest Is Distraction’ takes its cues from ‘Join Hands’ era Siouxsie & The Banshees, Brainiac and Crass’ ‘Christ The Album’, among others. From the first crackle of electricity on the opening track, to the heart wrenching taped voice-recording on the final outro, this LP triumphantly retains every ounce of intensity and vitality that makes Girls In Synthesis the most captivating band to emerge from the UK DIY underground in recent years. Listeners will find ‘The Rest Is Distraction’ a challenging, yet ultimately cathartic listen. Prepare yourselves for a sonic cleansing, Girls In Synthesis style. Side A 1- It’s All Beginning To Change 2- Watch With Mother 3- Total Control 4- Swallowed Pill 5- Screaming
6- My Husband Side B 1- Cottage Industry 2- Not As I Do 3- Lacking Bite 4- Your Prayers Have Changed 5- To A Fault
Black Vinyl[24,79 €]
Experimental post-punk outfit GIRLS IN SYNTHESIS are set to release the eagerly anticipated follow-up to 2020’s incendiary debut, ‘Now Here’s An Echo From Your Future’. Entitled ‘The Rest Is Distraction’ and available this coming October 14th via the band’s own label Own It/Cargo Records, its mix of fractured guitar, crushing drums and bass, intense vocals and lyrical content - create as challenging a record as you will hear this year. Formed in 2016, GIRLS IN SYNTHESIS are John Linger (bass / vocals), Jim Cubitt (guitar / keys) and Nicole Pinto (drums). The trio’s double a-sided debut single ‘The Mound’/’Disappear’ came out in the early part of 2017, and since then they have established themselves as the most forward thinking, viscerally challenging band around with unmissable live shows that continue to excite and astound in equal measure. Recorded last year amidst the uncertainty of continuous lockdowns as a result of the global Covid-19 pandemic, ‘The Rest Is Distraction’ is far darker in content than its predecessor. Mainly exploring internal and mental struggles as opposed to external current affairs, it focuses on the claustrophobia of emotional anguish and continues to bravely delve into previously un-ventured topics. Featuring frequent collaborators funkcutter and Stanley Bad on horns and violin, respectively, two songs also see Eleni Poulou, ex-The Fall, on keyboards. The album was mixed by long-term collaborator Max Walker and features stunning landscape photography by Bea Dewhurst. The album was mastered in France by Ayumu Matsuo. Sonically atramentous and less one dimensional than the band’s debut, ‘The Rest Is Distraction’ takes its cues from ‘Join Hands’ era Siouxsie & The Banshees, Brainiac and Crass’ ‘Christ The Album’, among others. From the first crackle of electricity on the opening track, to the heart wrenching taped voice-recording on the final outro, this LP triumphantly retains every ounce of intensity and vitality that makes Girls In Synthesis the most captivating band to emerge from the UK DIY underground in recent years. Listeners will find ‘The Rest Is Distraction’ a challenging, yet ultimately cathartic listen. Prepare yourselves for a sonic cleansing, Girls In Synthesis style. Side A 1- It’s All Beginning To Change 2- Watch With Mother 3- Total Control 4- Swallowed Pill 5- Screaming
6- My Husband Side B 1- Cottage Industry 2- Not As I Do 3- Lacking Bite 4- Your Prayers Have Changed 5- To A Fault
An Indie-pop daydream desperate melody with true love's aim. A voice subtle in its delivery and powerful in its affect. Hooks, lyrics, melody, tears. I'd call it a teen tragedy but everyone's getting older, Hearts are getting bigger but head and heart can't ever line up. 11 tracks 45RPM. Ribbon Stage are a trio from NYC with no small amount of love for the noise pop days of Dolly Mixture and the Shop Assistants. The group does perfectly what only punks playing pop music can do–create chaotic noise in tandem with the sweetest hooks and most sophisticated nihilism. Ribbon Stage makes noise pop so catchy you swear you've heard before. Forever trapped in the space between your ears. Featuring Mari Softie (Ratas del Vaticano, Tercer Mundo, Exotica, and Pobreza Mental) as well as scene stalwart Jolie M-A (Juicy II, Boys Online) and vocalist Anni Hilator. Recorded by Hayes Waring on 1/2” 8 track tape in Olympia WA. Mixed by Capt. Tripps Ballsington. Mastered by Amy Dragon. Look for the video for singles “Playing Possum”, “Stone Heart Blue”, and “Dead End Descent” as well as a Fall West Coast tour, if touring is at all still possible in the new future. Whatever happens it is quite assuring that whatever these times may bring bands can still put out music as good as this EP. 2500 vinyl copies. “It’s an indie-pop joy ride” -SVL (Rollingstone) // Tracklist: 1. Playing Possum 2. Nothing Left 3. No Alternative 4. Nowhere Fast 5. Sulfate 6. Stone Heart Blue 7. Clock Tower 8. Hearst 9. Exaltation 10. It's Apathy 11. Dead End Descent
UWUW, is: Jay Anderson (Badge Epoque Ensemble, Biblical, Lammping) -
drums Ian Blurton (Ian Blurton's Future Now / Change of Heart / C'mon)
guitar and production Jason Haberman - Bass (Yaehsun / Dan Mangan )
Bass Guest Vocals by: Drew Smith and Marker Starling
After many years of playing in mutually respected bands, Jay Anderson and Ian
Blurton came together through a run of shows, backing mutual friend and singer/
songwriter, Kate Boothman as her drummer, and guitarist, respectively.
Anderson's and Blurton's connection were instant, and a plan was set to start
making music together. As ideas began to take shape, Anderson suggested
bringing in Jason Haberman, a talented bassist, who Anderson had seen play
with Toronto indie- folk band, The Wooden Sky. The trio hunkered down for two
days in Blurton's Pro Gold Studios, jamming out ideas. With the intersection of the
many different bands and genres each brought to the table, songs came together
quickly, with Blurton editing and sculpting, as they went along. Realizing they
didn't want an instrumental record, they layered on bright horns and smooth
vocals, lifting the songs from instrumental jams, to the undefinable yet distinctive
sound that is, UWUW. Saxophonist, Jay Hey, was brought in to provide horn
arrangements, along with Tom Richardson on trombone and Patrick McGroarty
on trumpet, all three contributing on every song.
Giving the songs a voice, literally, are two of Toronto's most distinctive
songwriters: Drew Smith (Bunny, The Bicycles), providing his trademark, 60s
harmony pop and lyrical prowess to Staircase and Landlord ; and Marker Starling;
adding his distinct, easy- glide, story- telling charm to Box Office Poison, and
Scattered Ashes.
Das zweite Album der Kölner Band „Is There More Past Or More Future“ erklingt im Vakuum zwischen Retro und Zukunft, zwischen lebendigem 70er psychedelic und modernem Pop-Songwriting. Man verliert sich, um diese ganz eigene, melancholische Euphorie zu feiern. Der typische ACUA- Sound bedeutet spacige Gitarren, energetische Drums, torkelnde Synthesizer und singende Bass-Lines.
On the eponymously titled final song of her debut album Land of No Junction, Irish songwriter Aoife Nessa Frances (pronounced Ee-fa) sings “Take me to the land of no junction/Before it fades away/Where the roads can never cross/But go their own way.” It is this search that lies at the heart of the album, recalling journeys towards an ever shifting centre - a centre that cannot hold - where maps are constantly being rewritten.
The evocative phrase is the result of a fortuitous misunderstanding. Reminiscing about childhood visits to Wales, Aoife’s musical collaborator and co-producer Cian Nugent, mentioned a train station called Llandudno Junction, which she misheard. “Land of No Junction later became a place in itself. A liminal space - a dark vast landscape to visit in dreams… A place of waiting where I could sit with uncertainty and accept it. Rejecting the distinct and welcoming the uncertain and the unknown.” Reveals Frances.
The songs traverse and inhabit this indeterminate landscape: the beginnings of love, moments of loss, discovery, fragility and strength, all intermingle and interact. Land of No Junction is shot through with a sense of mystery - an ambiguity and disorientation that illuminates with smokey luminescence. Yet, through the haze, everything comes down to what, where and who you are. Frances has built a universe full of intimacy and depth, with lyrics written through a process of free thought writing. It lends the record fluidity, each song in dialogue with the next not only through language, but the way each musical choice complements or threads into another.
Navigated by the richness of Aoife’s voice, along with the layers gently built through her collaborators’ instruments (strings, drums, guitars, keys, percussion), gives a feeling of filling up space into every corner and crack. A remarkable coherent sonic world: buoyant and aqueous, with dark undercurrents. The crossroads as a place where someone can be stuck, static in the face of the future, becomes instead an amorphous realm, where the remnants of the past and what is unknown meld together and come to an understanding. Where nostalgia and newness ebb and flow in equal measure.
Far over on the west coast of the USA we find a room full of drum
machines, samplers and keyboards. Hard at work is Israel ‘Iz’ Gravning aka Tone Scientist, who’s been using this Seattle studio to produce genre-defying future music for more than 25 years.
An avid student of jazz fusion, hip hop, house, techno and others, he
was galvanised to build his own studio after hearing jungle and drum & bass on a trip to London in 1995. His musical course thus intersected with the collectives then pushing new dancefloor sonics rooted in the rich tradition of Black music – like Nuyorican Soul over on the east coast, and the new broken beats of IG Culture, Dego and Bugz In The Attic in London. Then, in the early 2000s, Iz put out a handful of EPs under different aliases, including ‘Lion Dub’ on the Guidance sublabel Subtitled, but soon stepped back from the public stage. That’s not to say he stopped making or playing music, though. Far from it. Fast forward two decades and our very own Walrus, chilly but happy in the depths of a Toronto winter, happened across ‘Lion Dub’ in the legendary Play The Record store. Intrigued, he tracked Iz down and discovered he had been active all this time. A short email exchange later and this 2xLP of archive material was born.
These six tracks explain fully why Iz calls his studio the ‘Time Machine’: vintage equipment and instruments converse with up-to-date software; classic sounds and textures twist into fresh configurations; and Iz’s own creativity and musicality sings to us from a location beyond the trappings of time or genre.
All music written, produced and mixed by Israel Gravning aka Tone
Scientist in Seattle/Washington between 2005 - 2008 except for “Things
Panthera is a mysterious figure, and that’s how they plan to keep it. Arriving at the Bordello in a veil of secrecy, the four tracks of Synthesizer Hits do the talking for this unknown artist; and you better believe this music has something to say. The gloriously uplifting “Eurodrink” opens. Beaming bars border on pure elation and sullen sorrow, a tight drum keeping time in this space opera soundtrack. That same line of joy and sadness is maintained in the considered and reflective “20000” with its distant words and epic synthwork. “Bra” melts the pulsating energy of disco with complex percussions while a future vision melody descends. The close comes in the form of “Il Vizietto.” A daring work of astral electronics that takes its cue from the masters of silver screen and beyond. A stunning debut from an artist who music lovers will want to know.
- A1: Bas Mooy & Jeroen Liebregts - Shelf Life
- A2: Mascon - Nenner
- B1: Exium - Dark Voids
- B2: Quelza - Argumentum Ad Ignorantiam
- C1: Nørbak - Hereditário
- C2: Rebecca Delle Piane - Throw A Fit
- C3: Dimi Angélis - Poisoned Cocktail
- D1: Izan Hesse - Blue Room
- D2: Antony Doria - Uprite
- E1: Alexander Johansson & Mattias Fridell - Folkskygg
- E2: Vinicius Honorio - Fearless
- F1: Johannes Volk - Nightmare Orchestra
- F2: Jaraossa - Drive
- G1: Roll Dann - Suffrage Of Souls
- G2: Surit & Katran - Reconnect
- G3: Kaiser - Esco
- H1: Operator - Metal Moon
- H2: Takaaki Itoh - Implement
- I1: Uvb - Hdmt
- I2: Asec - Guilt Can't Shape The Future
- J1: Rommek - Caustic Waves
- J2: Piska Power - Unbenanntererer
- K1: Ritzi Lee - Ants On Steroidz
- K2: Lewis Fautzi - 141021
- L2: Jokasti & Nek - Gains
- M1: Kike Pravda - Rotational
- M2: Olympic Pool Maintenance League - When Sadness Still Comes
- N1: Shxcxchcxsh - Röd Sol
- N2: Vertical Spectrum - Męczybuła
- N3: Gotshell - Lost In The Subway
- K3: Casual Treatment - It Doesn't Matter (Just Listen)
- L1: Bazalt - Ogas
- A1: 712Pm
- A2: I'm Dat N****
- A3: Keep It Burnin (Feat Kanye West)
- A4: For A Nut (Feat Gunna & Young Thug)
- A5: Puffin On Zootiez
- B1: Gold Stacks
- B2: Wait For U (Feat Drake & Tems)
- B3: Love You Better
- B4: Massaging Me
- B5: Chickens (Feat Est Gee)
- B6: We Jus Wanna Get High
- C1: Voodoo (Feat Kodak Black)
- C2: Holy Ghost
- C3: The Way Things Going
- C4: I'm On One (Feat Drake)
- C5: Back To The Basics
- D1: No Security (Feat Babyface Ray)
- D2: Like Me (Feat 42 Dugg & Lil Baby)
- D3: Affiliated (Lil Durk)
- D4: Stayed Down (Feat Young Scooter)
- D5: Worst Day
- D6: Just The Beginning
As three souls plunge down from the heavens, death and destruction can be felt hanging in the air like a foul stench. Red clouds swirl around a black sun that never sets and an erratic clock ticks off-tempo, moving faster and slower before rewinding and starting anew.
“Let me paint you a picture…” vocalist Mikey Arthur sings, welcoming listeners with a dramatic opening scene. It takes a skillful guide to navigate the darkest depths of hell. And, as The Gloom In The Corner depict in their second full-length album Trinity, death is merely the beginning of the series of chilling adventures
Purposefully aligning their song count with unlucky number thirteen – a reoccurring symbol in the ever-unfolding Gloom Cinematic Universe or GCU – it comes as little surprise to longtime fans that each of the Australian quartet’s enticing tracks intertwine to form an interlocking tale; this time centered around the appropriately labeled unholy trinity.
Comprised of previously deceased characters Rachel Barker, Ethan Hardy, and Clara Carne, the group’s bloody battle is woven throughout the album as the anti-heroes determinedly claw their way back to Earth from the Rabbit Hole dimension, slashing, shooting, and extinguishing anyone who dares to oppose their quest. Yet, for the Girl of Glass, Ronin, and Queen of Misanthropy, there is clearly more to the story than what can be contained within a single package.
Projecting a wide and complex web of lore, plot twists, and tongue and cheek humor, frontman Mikey Arthur, guitarist Matt Stevens, bassist Paul Musolino, and drummer Nic Haberle, have been producing highly detailed concept releases since their formation. And, consistently filling in more missing pieces of the puzzle with every body of work, the band equate each new record to a fresh season of The Umbrella Academy dropping on the streaming service of your choice. Because, just as a great TV series captivates viewers with its music and storytelling, the quartet’s work provides a complete experience designed to allow fans to check in with their favorite characters, all the while enjoying a cinematic new soundtrack.
For those just joining the GCU, as well as those looking for a quick refresh, 2016 debut album Fear Me introduced listeners to main protagonists Julian “Jay” Hardy, a Section 13 agent consumed by anger over his girlfriend Rachel’s death, and Jay’s gloom (later known as Sherlock Adaliah Bones), a demonic entity who at times takes over Jay’s body as a host vessel. 2017 EP Homecoming tells the tale of Jay’s brother Ethan, a war veteran suffering from PTSD, who upon discovering his brother’s struggle, kills himself as part of a Dante-style rescue mission to bring Rachel back to life. In 2019 EP Flesh and Bones, we’re introduced to Clara Carne, a past witness to one of Jay and Sherlock’s crimes, who instead of taking revenge, began a twisted love story with Sherlock, only to be murdered by his forced hand. And 2020’s Ultima Pluvia EP where we finally learn of Sherlock’s past as an ancient warlord under the tyrannical King Baphicho, and see Sherlock and Jay’s deaths ushered in by Section 13 opponent and New Order leader Elias DeGraver and his gloom Atticus Encey.
After 2016’s Fear Me, the band admit that their original intention was to jump straight into the events of Trinity before pivoting to create Homecoming, Flesh and Bones, and Ultima Pluvia. However, upon reflection, primary storywriter Mikey Arthur believes that pushing the timeline back actually provided greater opportunity for the group to properly flesh out the songs and plotlines for their sophomore studio record.
Indeed, while Trinity re-introduces the three central “heroes” of this new arc, it’s important to understand that while familiar, the characters are not carbon copies of who they were earlier in the story. And neither is the band who brought them to life.
Fully embracing the weird and whacky has never been a struggle for The Gloom In The Corner. Rather, it’s together with this attitude that the group come away with special moments such as the fascinating old and new dynamic between neighboring tracks “Red Clouds” – a song whose initial version predates the formation of The Gloom In The Corner as an official band – and “Gravity” in which a demo intended for future material was adjusted to fit the sonic drop.
Mirroring this evolution in the band’s musical approach, a sense of growth can also be seen projected in the characters and story that the quartet chronicle across the thirteen tracks.
Classifying their individual sound as an intricate form of “cinema or theater-core” due to the depth and breadth of their musical approach, features, samples, symphonic elements, and conceptual nature, The Gloom In The Corner continue to prove that they’re more than just a simple concept band.
In fact, similar to character theme music in movies and video games, the group seamlessly play off their diverse sonic story in a variety of ways. Continuing to breathe new life into older staples from their catalog, the quartet reworked their infamous “Oxymøron” breakdown from Fear Me into an impactful moment in Trinity’s “Nor Hell A Fury” and sprinkled audio easter eggs of this sort all throughout their new music for fans to discover.
Listeners are also brought further into the world of the GCU with the help of what The Gloom In The Corner call their “casting process.” Like picking actors for a musical, the band meticulously selected eleven different vocal features and several additional voice actors to bring the album and characters to life. Described as a 50/50 split between notable talents such as Ryo Kinoshita (Crystal Lake), Joe Badolato (Fit For An Autopsy), and Lauren Babic (Red Handed Denial), as well as talented friends and family like Elijah Witt (Cane Hill) and Mikey’s sister Amelia Duffield, each featured artist brought their own touch and realistic spark to the characters they portrayed.
For in the end, as much as Trinity and it’s cast live within the confines of their own supernatural worlds, themes such as falling out of love (Gatekeeper), battling depression (Obliteration Imminent), and standing behind women’s empowerment (Nor Hell A Fury), are ones that many can relate to or understand. And, while most individuals may avoid drowning their woes by way of transforming into full-on egotistical murderers like the Queen and King of Misanthropy and the gang, The Gloom In The Corner have illustrated that time and time again, life’s a little more fun when you can crack a smile. Taking a page from the trinity’s playbook: try to avoid the end of the world. But if you can’t…at least spend it with a killer soundtrack.
I[38,53 €]
Black Vinyl[24,50 €]
Black & Orange Pinwheel Vinyl[24,50 €]
Yellow vinyl[26,01 €]
Pink/White Swirl Vinyl[26,01 €]
THERION have always been a band that have challenged themselves to explore new paths, while remaining true to their musical core values. For their 17th studio album, mastermind Christofer Johnsson and his collaborator Thomas Vikström have created something that has been previously unthinkable to the guitarist and the singer. "We have done the only thing that was left of all the different angles to explore", explains Christofer. "We have decided to give the people what they kept asking for. 'Leviathan' is the first album that we have deliberately packed with THERION hit songs."
True to the Swede's words, the album opens with the catchy and swift tune 'The Leaf Of The Oak Of Far' featuring female and male antiphonal singing as well as a choir that seems to have evolved straight out of THERION's breakthrough full-length "Theli" (1996). This is immediately followed by the obvious highlight 'Tuonela', in which Christofer cleverly underscores this hit-track's Finnish vibe by employing NIGHTWISH’s "metal voice" Marko Hietala. Next up in this parade of future fan-favourites is the title track 'Leviathan' that offers classic THERION material with operatic female vocals and a massive choir.
Christofer Johnsson's passion for classic voices, choirs, and orchestral elements as well as his penchant for epic melodies in combination with rock and metal shines clearly through the following sing-along ballad 'Die Wellen Der Zeit', which indicates another nod to German romantic composer Richard Wagner. "Ever since 'Theli', Wagner has been and will always be at the core of THERION", emphasises Christofer. "When we started to combine metal and opera, it was something new and original. Today, symphonic metal has long been a firmly established genre." When THERION came into being in 1988 by changing name from the already existing band BLITZKRIEG, which was founded a year earlier, Christofer had rather taken inspiration from SLAYER's "Reign In Blood" among other classic metal albums.
At the beginning, the Swedes were firmly rooted in death metal, a genre which they helped to define, as witnessed by their debut album "Of Darkness...." (1991). Yet even back then, there were hints of "something else" lurking beneath the rough surface. The use of female vocals is another core ingredient of THERION today, which developed gradually. CELTIC FROST had basically introduced the female element to extreme metal on "To Mega Therion" in 1985. THERION began with both a female and male vocalist emulating a church like choir already in their sophomore full-length 'Beyond Sanctorum' (1992). With Symphony "Masses: Ho Drakon Ho Megas" (1993) and "Lepaca Kliffoth" (1995), Christofer continued to developed his trademark sound by gradually drifting towards cleaner vocals and more keyboards.
With "Theli", the Swedes had firmly established a reputation of pushing the boundaries of metal in the 90s –among such acts as their compatriots TIAMAT, THE GATHERING, and MOONSPELL that were often referred to as "gothic metal" at the time. THERION continued to break new ground leaving inspiration for others to follow in their wake: On "A'arab Zaraq -Lucid Dreaming" (1997), Christofer further explored the use of Near Eastern music in metal which he had already begun in 1992, while "Secret Of The Runes" (2001) dared to have Swedish lyrics in some songs.
While critics were left confused and fans challenged, THERION were often ahead of their times and vindicated in hindsight. Even the band's 25th anniversary excursion "Les Fleurs Du Mal" has by now overcome the initial shock the album caused and is only beaten in terms of streaming by the classic "Vovin" (1998). When Christofer faced the question of where to go next after the dramatic "Beloved Antichrist" (2018) had finally fulfilled his musical mission, his answer is "Leviathan" named after a giant sea monster from Judeo-Christian myth that has roots in Babylonic lore: THERION have created a giant hit album –and for the first time in the history of the Swedes, their fans are not asked to explore something new, but simply to lean back and enjoy the best from their band!
Dayton Grey teamed up with UK songwriter and producer Alex Lloyd to provide two killer songs that pay respect to the classic songs of the 70s. The response to both songs has been nothing short of phenomenal so far with little to split the popularity between the uptempo dancer of 'Love Is On The Line' and the smooth ballad 'He Won't Love You (Like I Do).Both Dayton and Alex are hugely talented and we predict will go onto big things in the future.
Clear Vinyl
Future music duo Second Woman's sophomore full-length for Spectrum Spools further hones their distinctive fusion of shapeshifting software sculpture and tessellated footwork. Shivering digital textures oscillate with and against algorithmically mapped percussion samples, smeared synthetic chords levitate in the distance, stabs of digital noise punctuate the mix in twitchy, time-distorting patterns. Their anamorphosis verges on ascetic: stark, splintered waveforms rendered into unique fiber optic hieroglyphs.
Multi-instrumentalists Josh Eustis and Turk Dietrich share a deep history going back to their days in the New Orleans ambient electronic community, as part of Telefon Tel Aviv and Belong, respectively. Even so, S/W pushes beyond their combined discographies to date, flexing impossibilities, building rhythms from arrhythmia, teasing veiled emotion from bold iterations of cold code.
The fourth installment of MdCL’s Midnight Snacks series features remixes of snacks from vol 1 & 2, reimagined by Foursixone (Germany), Sound of Fractures (UK), Laroye (France) and Coflo (USA) – instrumental dancefloor pressure for the broken beat and soulful house heads. Curated by the Mashibeats community – community-sourced remixes and community-A&R’d – the EP kicks off with Foursixone’s broken beat reimagining of ‘Crush Velvet’: file alongside BITA and 2000Black. Sound of Fractures blends jungle bass-line pressure with a 2-step bounce on ‘Blue Hour’. On the flipside we dive into house with Laroye’s alternate mix of ‘Crush Velvet’ – a future nu-jazz house classic, and wrap up with the gospel organs and deep 4/4 grooves courtesy frequent Osunlade collaborator, Coflo.
As a duo they embrace both sides of the coin, drums and guitar, chaos and order, male and female, ying and yang, the angel and the devil. They are more than the sum of both counterparts though, making for a maximalist auditory experience. PIKA brings her skills of mystifying performance to the table, all free-drum bluster and vocals veering between shrine maiden and wild spirit. Kawabata's guitar-work moves from a roar to a whisper, a yell to a sob, he's working on the same canvas of extremes. The aim of their unity is to write truly celestial hymns for the outer world and odes of love for the inner cosmic context.
No strangers to one another, the pair have not only gigged together with their respective bands but also recorded together, when these two outfits temporarily fused in 2005 to become Acid Mothers Afrirampo (releasing an album of the same name). Two years later they distilled their collaboration, all other players being stripped away to leave the core of Pikacyu's manic drums and pop vocal, and Makoto's schizoid guitar conjurings. In 2011 they spent five weeks touring the US and their first album, 'OM Sweet Home: We Are Shining Stars From Darkside', which was released by the esteemed UK label of all things heavy and brilliant, Riot Season. Last year they spent two weeks touring through Europe whilst writing a new album suffused with the outreaching sound and message of their impulsive live performances. This new album is entitled 'Galaxilympics' and will be released by Upset The Rhythm on August 4th on LP and CD.
'Galaxilympics' is an album of contrasts, so much colour, so much shade! 'Space Sumo' kicks off the record in explosive style. Pikacyu's drums jitter, crash and stumble, but steadfastly refuse to groove. Makoto attacks his guitar, cloaking himself in reverb to produce a wall-of-sound, alternating between melody and noise. 'Funifunikonefuni' follows with it's frenzied take on pop music, bubbling with energy and PIKA's multiple vocal layers. 'I'll Forgive' is chant-like in its devotion to following the tumbling melody line of the song even to absurd and unpredictable dimensions. 'Pika Mako Hall' is a more serene affair, with whispered echoes and guitar drones swirling amongst bursts of rapid sequencer ambience. 'Castle Of Sand' picks up on this more spacious approach with slowly developing programmed electronics, before the title track erupts with gurgling synths, soaring guitar trails and PIKA's most searching vocal yet.
The album concludes in reflective manner with the suitably titled 'Sayonownara', a song as much in the present as it is in the act of saying farewell. It's positively elegiac with washes of cymbal and deep acres of guitar drone for the first five minutes before PIKA's drums take things up a gear and into more psychedelic out-rock terrain. This insurgence eventually peaks and the album melts away to silence. PIKACYU-MAKOTO have made an album that takes you on a trip into your very soul before emerging once more at the edge of another galaxy. 'Galaxilympics' is a triumph of opposites united, it enjoys walking out into the unknown, but it's also a portal into the very real world of two musicians who find peace and semblance through their interaction. Hymns and odes to one side, this is a giant album of future-facing song and noise, where better to find harmony enthroned
Future music duo Second Woman's sophomore full-length for Spectrum Spools further hones their distinctive fusion of shapeshifting software sculpture and tessellated footwork. Shivering digital textures oscillate with and against algorithmically mapped percussion samples, smeared synthetic chords levitate in the distance, stabs of digital noise punctuate the mix in twitchy, time-distorting patterns. Their anamorphosis verges on ascetic: stark, splintered waveforms rendered into unique fiber optic hieroglyphs.
Multi-instrumentalists Josh Eustis and Turk Dietrich share a deep history going back to their days in the New Orleans ambient electronic community, as part of Telefon Tel Aviv and Belong, respectively. Even so, S/W pushes beyond their combined discographies to date, flexing impossibilities, building rhythms from arrhythmia, teasing veiled emotion from bold iterations of cold code.
Massimiliano Pagliara returns to Permanent Vacation with his fourth studio album "See You In Paradise". After the highly acclaimed "Nothing Stays In One Place For Long" EP from 2020, this is the first full-length from the Italian-raised and Berlin-based producer for the label. Albums in the dance music genre can often be a challenge in terms of finding the right balance between the dancefloor and listening at home. Massimiliano, however, mastered this craftmanship perfectly while reviving the art of the album format.
Mostly written and produced in the lockdown period of spring 2020 these 10 tracks offer the whole sonic spectrum from the "Massi universe". The hardware enthusiast blends analogue-heavy and bright synthesizer melodies, pop hooks, Chicago house groove with more technoid tracks and atmospheric soundscapes. Taking you on a journey through his mind, body and soul: From his underground disco passion and pulsating dancefloor moments to ethereal and meditative ambience.
Inspired, both musically and aesthetically - one of his favourite carnal catchphrases titles the album - by Disco hero Patrick Cowley, Massimiliano channelled past, present and future in searching for new adventures within his music. For the first time working with live musicians (saxophone and piano) to bring a new facet on the table, that flows with the production seamlessly.
Communication and getting into a dialogue is a crucial part for Massimiliano as an artist. Whether it used to be as a ballet dancer, as a DJ, most prominently as a resident of the legendary Berghain / Panorama Bar, a producer and in collaboration with other artists and musicians: Maestro Massi has gathered an illustrious group of friends and like minded artist such as Snax, Fort Romeau and Init (with whom he has worked before), as well as new collaborators including Curses, Coloray and Vanessa. Under the artistic direction of Massimiliano each artist was able to bring his own unique talent into the album's coherent production and together with Massimiliano they created something that is more than the sum of its parts: A refuge full of beauty and harmony and free from worries in an upside down world. In other words: "See You In Paradise”
RUBY THE HATCHET liefern mit "Fear Is a Cruel Master" genau das siedend heiße, eingängige und doch voller roher Energie steckende Killer-Album ab, das sein gefeierter Vorgänger "Planetary Space Child" (2017) versprochen hatte. Fünf lange Jahre hat sich die amerikanische Psych Rock Truppe aus New Jersey nach der Veröffentlichung ihrer letzten Scheibe Zeit gelassen, aber das sehnsüchtige Warten hat endlich ein Ende. RUBY THE HATCHET haben in ihrem kollektiven Songwriting einen neuen Gipfel erklommen. Dies hat sich die Ausnahmetruppe durch zahlreiche Opfer sowie einen eisernen Willen, sich erneut zu steigern, hart erkämpft. Der Albumtitel "Fear Is a Cruel Master" spiegelt die Stimmung der Zeit, in der die neuen Songs geschrieben wurden, perfekt wider. Sängerin Jill Taylor, Gitarrist Johnny Scarps, Schlagzeuger Owen Stewart, Bassist Lake Muir und Organist Sean Hur hatten sich längst daran gewöhnt, als Gruppe zusammenzuarbeiten. Doch während der Arbeit am neuen Album konnten sie nur wenig Zeit miteinander verbringen. "Ich habe während der Pandemie viel gelesen und bin dabei auf den Satz 'Angst ist ein grausamer Meister' "Fear Is a Cruel Master" gestoßen", erklärt Taylor. "In dieser Zeit wurde die Angst sichtbar und wie sie die Menschen zurückhielt. Der Titel hat einen Bezug zur Musikbranche, denn alle waren verunsichert - von den Bands über die Booking-Agenten bis hin zu den Clubs. Angst lag in der Luft". "Fear Is a Cruel Master" wurde zusammen mit Paul Ritchie (THE PARLOR MOB) im New Future in New Jersey aufgenommen und war nicht so akribisch durchgeplant wie RUBYs vorherige Alben. Die Band ließ bewusst mehr Spielraum für Spontaneität und magische Momente. Das Hauptthema von "Fear Is a Cruel Master" ist letztlich die Selbstreflexion. Obwohl die neuen Songs im Schmelztiegel einer weltumspannenden Pestilenz geschmiedet wurden, besitzen sie doch eine Zeitlosigkeit, die weit über den Moment ihrer Entstehung hinausreicht. Alles, was RUBY THE HATCHET zu einem so herausragenden und selbst bei ihren Kollegen äußersten beliebten Act macht, findet sich auf diesem Album - von Jills üppigem Gesang voll rauchigem Honig, über die psychedelischen, aber dennoch knackigen Gitarren, bis hin zum Spirit der Rock'n'Roll-Orgelhelden. "Fear Is a Cruel Master" ist definitiv ein Album, das von einer Band geschrieben wurde, die nach einem Jahrzehnt ohne Bedauern auf all die Momente zurückblickt, die sie gelebt oder nicht durchlebt hat. "Fear Is a Cruel Master" ist sowohl Ergebnis als auch Zeugnis dieser Reise. Es ist Zeit, sich auf den Weg zu machen, um RUBY THE HATCHET in ihrem ebenso beeindruckenden wie mächtigen klanglichen Kielwasser zu folgen.
- A1: Ootw - Tapping Into The Machine 4 14
- A2: Bukez Finezt - Shaggy Mullet 5 31
- A3: Lewcid - Eschaton 2 26
- A4: Rational Soul - Hard R3S3T 3 00
- A5: Starkey Feat. Aprilfoolchild - Little Miss Sunshine 3 53
- A6: Jalaya & Dark Velvet - Infiltrate 3 40
- A7: Hawkword & Bakaman - Twist In The Sickness 3 02
- B1: Maysev - Gleam 5 15
- B2: Statx & Long Tongue - Caracara 3 40
- B3: Dgtlosgnl - Something For Your Mind 2 50
- B4: Prestus - Going Up 2 43
- B5: Dead End - Continuum 2 40
- B6: Not Yes - Forbidden Fruit 4 28
- B7: Dayzero, Finnoh & Jack - Dragon 5 10
Purple Vinyl in PicCover
"Since it's inception, the various artist compilation series SATURATED! has proven to be the epitome of curation in this small niche scene called bass music or whatever.
Each volume is carefully hand picked and is a picture in sound of the music at that point in time but overall has proven to be timeless.
The arrangement works in such ways that each tune flows perfectly into the next one and actually (given that you have two vinyls like a real dj), you could mix seamlessly from the first through the last track.
Saturate Records has become a hotspot for those seeking fresh sounds from well known and emerging artists within the scene.
Channeling the quintessential stylings of low-end driven beats from across the globe, they have been leading the way in all things bass heavy, broken-beat, experimental, glitch, hip-hop, psychedelic and trap for years now. Having featured releases from names like heRobust and G Jones early on in their careers, SATURATE! continues to help push the new school, hip-hop influenced sound forward with their fingers firmly on the pulse of future freshness.
A weird, wonky and wonderful journey through the raw attitude of the blistering beat driven electronic music scene.
'Razen is the collective consciousness of core members Brecht Ameel and Kim Delcour, who since 2010 have realized themselves through virtuoistic and highly expressive improvisations with lesser-heard instruments. Experimenting with repetition of tones through controlled breathing and phrasing, Razen arrive at a synesthetic playground of auditory textures and colorful imagery.
The ensemble is carefully orchestrated for every occasion with the intent and desire to escape to environments unbeknownst to them, taking shelter in the fleeting ego-dissolving moments that arise, whether divine or disturbing. While the formula of instrumentation and like-minded peers may appear mundane on paper, it’s Brecht and Kim’s outlook and imagination beyond musical references that’s the immeasurable catalyst to their peculiar pursuits. Conversations about paintings, books, or films ultimately manifest themselves into live performances or album recordings - with the philosophy of embracing playfulness and exploration through the lens of a child’s eye.
Only six collaborators have been invited to their inner circle to date. This is mainly attributed to the rarity of finding spiritual counterparts that are seeking freedom outside the confines of written musical scores. Trading notes and rhythms for strokes and color, the band embodies emotive and meditative drones that demand a deep listening state. Joined by Will Guthrie and Paul Garriau, Razen venture into their vision of Arcadia through Regression, proudly presented by Marionette. On this album, Brecht Ameel turns to his trusty prepared harmonium and celesta, while Kim Delcour controls air and breath on various wind and reed instruments. Featuring Will Guthrie on tuned and melodic percussion (timpani, glockenspiel, marimba, vibraphone), the recordings have a distinct flow and fluid movement when compared to some of Razen’s previous works where rhythm is taking a backseat. Hurdy-gurdy specialist, Paul Garriau, plays accompanying melodies and drones on Moon, Aether and Nebula.
The album's earthly elements deal with survival, timelessness, and simplicity; such as the life affirming rewards of finding refuge and the wonders of observing the interstellar. The unearthly elements pitch this narrative into the realm of mythology and superstition, in the hopes of trying to understand our primeval universe and thrive in the unknown. Regression also addresses Razen’s fascination with inhospitable places and how to adapt to the sorrows that come with this sort of brutalism. The resulting destination is a mind and time bending zone - one that can be reached by riding sound waves that transcend the past, future, and present.'
'Swooping, sub-heavy sci-fi from Riz Maslen. Leda Maar is a new moniker for the established artist who’s released a crop of downtempo and electronic music as Neotropic and Small Fish With Spine, as well as collaborated with the likes of Future Sound of London, filmmaker Andrew Kötting, and featured in PSP-era Grand Theft Auto soundtracks.
Mana’s long lasting love of Riz’s 1996 Laundrophonic EP, released under her Neotropic name, spurred this new release. That 12” was a deep and dark web of rhythm and ghostly urban found sound that one Discogs reviewer aptly named “coin-slot Dubstep”. With elements mostly sourced from tape recordings made in and of her local laundromat, it still stands out as a remarkably contemporary feeling work; more like a post-Fisher, post-hauntology observation of urban life from the last decade, taking the ambient temperature and undercurrent pressures of the 90s. Asking if she had anything in continuity with this slice of her discography, and describing our interest in her take on “space and bass”, Maslen returned to us with Stairway 13.
Heavy-lidded and ethereal in long form, the album’s balance of bass weight, mechanical metre, and darkly tinted new age feels like a cinematic re-approach to some of the textures, moods, and themes of Laundrophonic. Originally designed for an installation, Stairway 13 folds in her decades’ experience in sound design and theatre, along with shards and elements abstracted from her more recent folk-like music, zoning into a deep, retreated, altogether dreamlike and expansive atmosphere. The scale and soundscape is reminiscent of Geinoh Yamashirogumi and their Ecophony album series, resonating to similar frequencies and exploring themes of chaos and re-birth in feature-length form.
Stairway 13’s four parts spread and swoop as single extended sides across this double LP. Carried by waves of sub bass and heavenly chorus, and later punctuated with autonomic clicks of machinery, whirrs, and pulses - sometimes reminiscent of FSOL’s weirder and more clipped staccato sampling in sections of their cyberpunk ISDN - the work forms a gothic, otherworldly ambience. A subtle space opera.'
It’s taken a long time for me to feel good about myself,” says Andreya Triana of the journey to her third album. “As a musician, as a woman, it’s difficult getting to that space. It’s really wonderful where you reach that time of having more good days than bad.” That sense of celebration is what drives ‘Life In Colour’, Andreya’s most confident, instinctive and heartfelt work to date; a record that celebrates love, freedom, independence and womanhood. “‘Life In Colour’ is about stepping into my womanhood and being like ‘OK, I know this space. Let me try some s**t. I know it’s going to be hard but I know it’s going to be OK’. I just wanted to put some good energy out there.” The first taster of that sweet release was teased with lead single ‘Woman’ - a soulful pop anthem of self-love, tracking Andreya’s life from awkward teen to mighty queen, from memories of heartache and trauma to triumph. “You know when you’re feeling so uncomfortable in yourself and you just want to be swallowed up into a hole in the ground?,” Andreya recalls of her youth. “This is about moving on from being a victim to a place of strength, to feeling like a superhero. “Anyone who has gone through difficult times like I have, should know that it’s absolutely possible to get to a good place. It doesn’t define who you are or your future. You have to fight like hell every day to move forward but anything is possible. We’re all full of so much goodness. Don’t lose sight of that.” The lyric video is a tribute to Andreya’s mother, grandmother, the strong females of her life and the many sacrifices that women make day-to-day, generation after generation.
The third album 'Life In Colour' by the MOBO nominated British soul/jazz singer Andreya Triana who's collaborated with Bonobo, Flying Lotus been endorsed by the likes of Gilles Peterson & Jamie Cullum.
A colossus of the funk & soul world, Adam Gibbons (aka Lack of Afro) has been releasing music for 15 years and continues to go from strength to strength. Previously signed to Freestyle Records in London and running his own label The Bastion Music Group since 2015, he has been responsible for some of the genre’s most important releases, not least his debut album Press On described by iDJ as “one of the most important albums of the modern funk era” and more recently given ‘classic’ status by Future Music Magazine.
An accomplished multi-instrumentalist, producer, DJ and composer, his music has won worldwide critical acclaim and to date has gained 115 million streams on Spotify. It has been featured on films, TV shows and adverts all over the globe, on networks including HBO, ABC, Sony Pictures, BBC, ITV, Sky TV, Fox Pictures & Warner Brothers Television, and used in multi million ad campaigns by the likes of Google, Spotify, Miller Lite and Adidas.
As a DJ and live performer, he has performed in over 20 countries worldwide and undertaken countless live sessions for radio and TV including two for the BBC at the highly revered Maida Vale Studios.
To date, he has released seven albums under the Lack of Afro moniker (most recently I’m Here Now in 2020), three as The Unity Sextet, one under LUSTRE, one under his own name, an EP with Herbal T as The Damn Straights, albums for other artists, music for several TV shows and over 60 remixes. He has also produced 13 award winning, sample packs for Loopmasters.
"They push everything right to the brink and then pull back at precisely the right moment" - Pitchfork
"'Growing Up Pains (Unni's Song) gives a tantalising glimpse of where their future could lie. Matching lucid pop elements to daring innovation, ALASKALASKA allow the song to become a portal to their own potential." - Clash
"It’s impossible to walk away without the repeated promise 'I won’t let you down' in 'Growing Up Pains' stuck in your head – and it’s a mantra we should all be following as we as a species continue to fight for our future." - Beats Per Minute
ALASKALASKA announce their superb new album, Still Life, arriving October 14th on Marathon Artists (Lava La Rue, Courtney Barnett, Pond).
'Still Life' finds writers and producers Lucinda Duarte-Holman and Fraser Rieley embrace a more free-form electronica, giving a taste of what's to come with this fantastic new record produced by Jas Shaw (of Simian Mobile Disco)–full of digital sounds, drum machine and synth melodies cunningly sat beside rich, organic, acoustic instrumentation, it's a looping tug of war between existential dread and everyday simple pleasures.
Listen to / watch the video for 'Still Life' (shot by Jacek Zmarz) here: https://youtu.be/TL7s6QJ3ANc
Four seasons of dawn chorus, panoramically framed by fruit trees and more analog synths than can comfortably fit in a cow shed-come-recording studio...the scene is set for the recording of ALASKALASKA’s second album Still Life. Ordinarily located in South East London, writers and producers Fraser Rieley and Lucinda Duarte-Holman were eager to get out of the city. Taking advantage of this rustic countryside scene, they were able to capture something uniquely their own.
Following their debut album in 2019, they resurface into a new era embracing all the things that first put the band on the map, attracting the likes of Tame Impala, Hot Chip, Porches and Nilüfer Yanya for tour support slots. For Rieley and Duarte-Holman, writing began in 2019, pre-lockdown-era, although the subsequent alone together/together alone time added a new spin on ALASKALASKA's process of experimentation and fine-tuning. The band now push their foundational ideas further and explore the freedom of playing with new sounds. Duarte-Holman explains, “...with everything going on at the time, the restrictions led us to try working in a new way. The limitations were different, but meant we were able to adventure into a more electronic soundscape that we're really looking forward to expressing live."
The ‘Still Life’ LP has been pressed on recycled black vinyl to reduce the carbon intensity of the finished product.
- A1: Hallelujah (Live At Glastonbury) 7 33
- A2: Suzanne 3 47
- A3: Bird On The Wire 3 26
- A4: Famous Blue Raincoat 5 07
- B1: Chelsea Hotel #2 3 06
- B2: Who By Fire 2 33
- B3: Dance Me To The End Of Love 4 38
- B4: I'm Your Man 4 26
- C1: Anthem 6 06
- C2: The Future 6 41
- C3: In My Secret Life 4 53
- C4: Recitation W/ N L. 3 53
- D1: Show Me The Place 4 09
- D2: Come Healing 2 52
- D3: You Got Me Singing 3 32
- D4: You Want It Darker 4 44
- D5: Thanks For The Dance 4 13
Blak Vinyl[40,29 €]
Blue Vinyl
Leonard Cohens Hallelujah & Songs from His Albums ist das erste offizielle karriereumfassende Album des Songwriters, Musikers, Dichters, Romanautors und Künstlers Leonard Cohen. Die Anthologie featuret 17 Tracks aus der musikalischen Laufbahn des Ausnahmekünstlers. Als besonderes Highlight findet sich auf der Tracklist ein Mitschnitt seiner unvergesslichen Darbietung von "Hallelujah", die 2008 auf dem Glastonbury Festival mitgeschnitten wurde. Das Album wurde vom neuen Dokumentarfilm Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen a Journey, a Song inspiriert.
- A1: Party Time- Dennis Brown
- A2: Fancy Make Up- John Holt
- A3: Can I Change Your Mind- Alton Ellis
- A4: Mean Girl- Jackie Edwards
- A5: Once Upon A Time- Delroy Wilson
- A6: Moving Away- Ken Boothe
- A7: Dancing Mood- Delroy Wilson
- B1: The Love Of A Woman- Horace Andy
- B2: Man Next Door (Got To Get Away)
- B3: Those Guys- Pat Kelly
- B4: I'm Still Waiting- Jackie Edwards
- B5: Why Birds Follow Spring- Cornell Campbell And The Eternals
- B6: Soul And Inspiration- Johnny Clarke
- B7: Riding For A Fall- Delroy Wilson
2022 Repress
The Sound of Studio One can be identified by the great singers that it cultivated along the many great songs that these singers released. But as studio 1's dominance was slowly pulled away by the up and coming new breed of producers many of the artists would inevitably end up working for these new camps and so the songs and singers found a new audience. The reggae sound of the Studio 1 would make a great combination and the man to pull this was together Bunny Lee.
The 1960's in Jamaica was run by two main factions, Coxsonne's Studio 1 and Duke Reid's Treasure Isle. These two leading protagonists saw what some of the other great Sound System men like ' Tom The Great Sebastian' had not taken onboard, that when the tunes they imported began to dry up from the USA, their future lied in producing music. Tunes that suited the musical styles that the people of Jamaica still enjoyed. By the late 1960's thse supremacy was being challenged by the up and coming new producers on the scene, Lee Perry being one, and the other being 'Ghost of the Studios' himself, Bunny Lee. Bunny 'Striker' Lee may have inherited the moniker 'Striker' from his liking of a particular TV show called 'The Hitch-Hiker', but it would soon stand also for the considerable hits he would obtain as he was declared producer of the year in Jamaica in 1969, 1970,1971 and 1972.
For this release, we have compiled many of the great Studio hits that Bunny Lee recorded with the singers that had originally cut at the famed Studio 1. Bunny Lee's sprinkling of magic over some classic tunes....the sound of Studio 1 backed up this time Bunny 'Striker' Lee's set of star musicians The Aggravators. Proving you can't keep a good tune down, or a great producer pushing forward.....Bunny Lee strikes back....
Hope you enjoy the set.....
Meet Me at the Gloaming is the long-awaited second album from Los Angeles indie artist A.O. Gerber. Following-on from her acclaimed 2020 album Another Place To Need, which enjoyed support from the likes of Gorilla vs Bear, NPR and The Line Of Best Fit, who gave the record a glowing 9/10 review, the new LP showcases Gerber's knack for subtly infectious indie-pop, crunching, atmospheric alternative-rock and classic acoustic songwriting. Across Meet Me at the Gloaming, A.O. Gerber carefully grapples with the constraints she was taught as a child to reach for the flourishing that comes when we look past the black and white, and into the grey gauze of the in-between. “I was thinking about how damaging it can be to exist in that binary space of good and evil,” Gerber explains. “When we see everything in either/or’s, we lose the nuance and complexity that make life rich enough to be worth living.” By interlocking memory and imagination, Gerber crafts a gleaming future, where the light and the dark don’t just coexist - they create a new colour entirely.
Several months on from founding guitarist Scott Middleton leaving the band, Cancer Bats have announced details of their first album without him: Psychic Jailbreak. Due out on April 15 via their own Bat Skull Records in partnership with New Damage Records, the Toronto hardcore punk kings admit that they knew album number seven "had to be special" given the line-up change, with vocalist Liam Cormier explaining of the mood going into it: “Our band has never been one sole member tasked with all the writing. Over the last 15 years of releasing albums, it’s been a collaboration of the four of us forming all musical ideas. That being said, we knew that the three remaining Bats would have to prove our worth with this next album. "We wanted to show Cancer Bats fans that an exciting new future was in store for us. To say the stakes were high on this album, would be an understatement. We were all feeling a mix of excitement and nerves as we began tracking the 11 songs that would form this record.” He continues: "On the final days, while adding the last bits of 'skateboard noises' and guitar shreds, we were all feeling our confidence levels rise with each playback. This last years’ worth of long hours and many late nights writing, finally coming together as a whole and fully formed effort. We were proud as a band and felt this new offering was worthy to join in the legacy of Cancer Bats albums.
Several months on from founding guitarist Scott Middleton leaving the band, Cancer Bats have announced details of their first album without him: Psychic Jailbreak. Due out on April 15 via their own Bat Skull Records in partnership with New Damage Records, the Toronto hardcore punk kings admit that they knew album number seven "had to be special" given the line-up change, with vocalist Liam Cormier explaining of the mood going into it: “Our band has never been one sole member tasked with all the writing. Over the last 15 years of releasing albums, it’s been a collaboration of the four of us forming all musical ideas. That being said, we knew that the three remaining Bats would have to prove our worth with this next album. "We wanted to show Cancer Bats fans that an exciting new future was in store for us. To say the stakes were high on this album, would be an understatement. We were all feeling a mix of excitement and nerves as we began tracking the 11 songs that would form this record.” He continues: "On the final days, while adding the last bits of 'skateboard noises' and guitar shreds, we were all feeling our confidence levels rise with each playback. This last years’ worth of long hours and many late nights writing, finally coming together as a whole and fully formed effort. We were proud as a band and felt this new offering was worthy to join in the legacy of Cancer Bats albums.
Several months on from founding guitarist Scott Middleton leaving the band, Cancer Bats have announced details of their first album without him: Psychic Jailbreak. Due out on April 15 via their own Bat Skull Records in partnership with New Damage Records, the Toronto hardcore punk kings admit that they knew album number seven "had to be special" given the line-up change, with vocalist Liam Cormier explaining of the mood going into it: “Our band has never been one sole member tasked with all the writing. Over the last 15 years of releasing albums, it’s been a collaboration of the four of us forming all musical ideas. That being said, we knew that the three remaining Bats would have to prove our worth with this next album. "We wanted to show Cancer Bats fans that an exciting new future was in store for us. To say the stakes were high on this album, would be an understatement. We were all feeling a mix of excitement and nerves as we began tracking the 11 songs that would form this record.” He continues: "On the final days, while adding the last bits of 'skateboard noises' and guitar shreds, we were all feeling our confidence levels rise with each playback. This last years’ worth of long hours and many late nights writing, finally coming together as a whole and fully formed effort. We were proud as a band and felt this new offering was worthy to join in the legacy of Cancer Bats albums.
Beloved American Rock band The Early November have announced album "Twenty" set for release on 14th October on Pure Noise Records. "Twenty" effortlessly straddles the divide between then and now, its 10 songs casting a backwards glance at the days and years gone by, while also looking forward to the future. A collection of both brand new tracks and older ones written during the course of the band’s life to date, the result is something of a paradox: this both is and isn’t a new Early November record.
Juno-winning saxophonist Chet Doxas is a guiding voice in the world of
creative improvised music
Doxas, co- leader of Riverside with trumpeter Dave Douglas and a respected
collaborator of Carla Bley and Paul Bley, joins Whirlwind for 'You Can't Take It With
You', his ninth album as a leader and first at the head of a trio. He's joined by two
stand-out collaborators - Ethan Iverson (piano) and Thomas Morgan (bass) - for a
meticulously constructed album with playful positivity at its heart.Both the
inspiration and the encouragement to put this album together can be traced back
to Carla Bley. Jimmy Giuffre's trio was a big influence on Doxas - "the way he
shapes and articulates is one of a kind - and the group regularly featured Bley's
music. An early-morning airport transfer saw Doxas discussing future plans with
Bley and Steve Swallow, who advised Doxas to write "one song a month",
distraction-free for a year.
The ten tracks on the album represent a year spent writing and closely editing his
compositions. That process gradually revealed his trio, selected for their personal
sensibilities as much as their outstanding technical capabilities. "Ethan and
Thomas's tones are very inspiring. I wanted to let myself be guided by their sound
palettes, and focus on phrasing in a way that's a little more multidimensional.."
Cassette[14,24 €]
Fly Anakin's debut studio album 'Frank' draws influence from the classic
R&B and Soul his dad played him as a child, showcasing a gift for
songwriting alongside the breathless raps he's become known for
Recorded at the same time as 'FlySiifu's', it features Pink Siifu on the DJ Harrison
produced 'Black Be The Source', as well as link ups with another Richmond hero
and Anakin mentor Nickelus F, and fellow Mutant Academy members Big Kahuna
OG and Henny L.O..
Beats by Madlib, Evidence, Jay Versace, DJ Harrison, Ohbliv, Foisey, Graymatter
and Like of Pac Div.
"A perfect display of Anakin's captivating lyricism and delivery... flexes the New
York-tinged ruggedness in his breakneck raps as he reflects on his past, present
and future." Paste.
Fly Anakin is a rapper from Richmond, Virginia, who was described by Madlib as
"one of the illest MCs", and has previously collaborated with Freddie Gibbs. He's
co-founder of the Richmond rap collective Mutant Academy.
"Anakin's detail isn't a skill that could just be picked up from studying the legends
of the genre, it's a gift." Pitchfork
Singles have received press suport so far from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, FADER,
Hypebeast, Stereogum, Vibe and Okayplayer.Fly Anakin recently performed on
Benji B's BBC Radio 1 show, and guested on Mary Anne Hobbs' BBC 6Music show
and Ebro's Apple Music 1 show. US radio support on the singles from Peter
Rosenberg on Hot97, Sirius XM and NPR. Singles have been featured in playlists
by Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Dummy, Crack, Ryan Schreiber Pitchfork, Brooklyn
Vegan, Vinyl Me Please, Red Bull, Warp Records and Fool's Gold Records.
Fly Anakin will tour the UK and US this Spring in support of album release. In
November 2021 he performed a European tour alongside Pink Siifu, with dates
across the UK, France & the Netherlands, including Le Guess Who? Festival,
Utrecht.
Vinyl LP[26,01 €]
Fly Anakin's debut studio album 'Frank' draws influence from the classic
R&B and Soul his dad played him as a child, showcasing a gift for
songwriting alongside the breathless raps he's become known for
Recorded at the same time as 'FlySiifu's', it features Pink Siifu on the DJ Harrison
produced 'Black Be The Source', as well as link ups with another Richmond hero
and Anakin mentor Nickelus F, and fellow Mutant Academy members Big Kahuna
OG and Henny L.O..
Beats by Madlib, Evidence, Jay Versace, DJ Harrison, Ohbliv, Foisey, Graymatter
and Like of Pac Div.
"A perfect display of Anakin's captivating lyricism and delivery... flexes the New
York-tinged ruggedness in his breakneck raps as he reflects on his past, present
and future." Paste.
Fly Anakin is a rapper from Richmond, Virginia, who was described by Madlib as
"one of the illest MCs", and has previously collaborated with Freddie Gibbs. He's
co-founder of the Richmond rap collective Mutant Academy.
"Anakin's detail isn't a skill that could just be picked up from studying the legends
of the genre, it's a gift." Pitchfork
Singles have received press suport so far from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, FADER,
Hypebeast, Stereogum, Vibe and Okayplayer.Fly Anakin recently performed on
Benji B's BBC Radio 1 show, and guested on Mary Anne Hobbs' BBC 6Music show
and Ebro's Apple Music 1 show. US radio support on the singles from Peter
Rosenberg on Hot97, Sirius XM and NPR. Singles have been featured in playlists
by Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Dummy, Crack, Ryan Schreiber Pitchfork, Brooklyn
Vegan, Vinyl Me Please, Red Bull, Warp Records and Fool's Gold Records.
Fly Anakin will tour the UK and US this Spring in support of album release. In
November 2021 he performed a European tour alongside Pink Siifu, with dates
across the UK, France & the Netherlands, including Le Guess Who? Festival,
Utrecht.
3am Recordings brings you its debut album, from label boss Al Bradley. While it would be much easier to get some huge name in for this who is previously unrelated to 3am, it was never going to be like that here. Staying true to the ethos of the label, it was important that this milestone was a reection of the label and what it has always stood for. The move back to vinyl in 2015 has rmly planted the label back
in its place as one of the UK's most consistent for house music, retaining its value of working with artists who have been involved with the label over its 19-year history, or who have been rm supporters of 3am during its time. Over the 9 cuts there are a variety of vibes, 'Little Treasures' aims to cover a selection of sounds that represent Al's inuences & styles, having been buying records since the mid-80s &
playing vinyl as DJ since he got his decks in 1991. The past is important as it represents where we started, the future is equally important, as it's the area of the unknown & we have to embrace it...
Covering deep house, dub techno, broken beats, raw machine funk, beatless ambience & more, the album is one that is danceoor-aimed, but works beyond that area too. With support from the likes of Placid (We're Going Deep), Carlo Gambino (We_R_House), Lolu Menayed
(Rawtrax), Lars Behrenroth (Deeper Shades of House), Loz Goddard (Oath), James Reid (Sonet), Moodymanc (2020Vision) & many more, the album reaches right across the spectrum of electronic music.
Tropical Disco continue to rewrite the disco handbook as they clock up an impressive quarter century of vinyl releases with a sublime Volume 25 of their series.
Featuring four disco cuts laced with jazz, funk, touches of electro and lots of dancefloor swagger it perfectly continues to build and diversify the sound of the series. Getting in on the party are a trio of Italian disco lovers Musta, an artist whose releases regularly set the disco and house charts alight, alongside the highly rated Corrado Alunni and the mysterious Fun Kool both of whom also hail from Italy.
Opening proceedings, and in stellar form, is co-label boss Sartorial whose ‘Hootin N Tootin’ is a real jazz funk gem. Incessant piano riffs, a groove of a bassline which edges towards acidic in places, guitar licks aplenty and choppy drums all combine for a track which could be played anywhere from a jazz inspired pool party to the funkiest of clubs. ‘Hootin N Tootin’ is as musical as it is dance worthy, two very handy traits which will see it survive the ever onwards march of time.
Musta’s ‘El Matador’ meanwhile has a high energy, fun-filled approach to life. It’s a track which very much defies pigeon holing but which comes from the same effusive family of earworms as Samin’s ‘Heater’ and may well prove to be just as big a breakthrough hit if it lands in the right hands over the summer. It’s very much a track with a big mischievous smile on its sun worshiping face.
Corrado Alunni’s ‘Funk Decision (Dub Mix)’ falls very much into the early Soulfuric camp of Soulful house music, a sound which Tropical Disco has regularly flirted with recently with some fantastic results. Divine live sax, guitar loops and ass shakin’ bass all merge perfectly for a very classy six = minutes of shimmering dancefloor groove.
Fun Kool’s ‘Low Tow’ sees out the EP and takes us off on an 80’s inspired electro journey. Stabby synths, subtle cowbell and Vangelis-esque keys all combine for a track which brings Metro Area’s take on the genre immediately to mind. ‘Low Toe’ deserves all the plaudits which undoubtedly come its way, a future classic for sure.
That Tropical Disco keep conjuring up EP’s of this quality is a major cause for celebration in itself. Disco in 2022 is a progressively more and more interesting place to live given the multifarious avenues which it continues to open up and this EP is a perfect example of the depth, diversity and incredible quality of a genre overflowing with passion. We very much hope that the first 25 volumes are only the beginning.
Wonky noir specialist, Kercha, is back with five spun-out cuts, merging dubstep, jazz, garage, techno and a whole lot of weird.
‘Disarray’ is as discombobulating as its title suggests, a slinky beat hidden among umpteen odds and ends from Kercha’s cabinet of curiosities. A subby wiggle here, a far-off siren there, the warm tinkling of a Fender Rhodes, and was that someone falling down the stairs? Our only constant allies are a vaguely disturbing vocal and a bass clarinet that’s definitely up to no good.
‘Witness’ employs a similar palette but switches tactics, stripping back to the basics as faint whispers and the ever-growing presence of a whirring alarm suggest something dangerous might be lurking around the corner.
‘Conjugate’ is more direct, the percussion elevated from its usual backseat as thudding kicks and taught snares make their presence felt among the digi-dub wobbles — a theme repeated on digital bonus track ‘New World’, though there, jagged mid-bass lines provide an extra dollop of screwface-inciting muck.
And bringing this leg of DNO’s journey to a close is ‘Long Way’, which rumbles along like a lonely night train, its chugging bassline matched with eerie engine whistles, the rhythmic clink of a cowbell and, somewhere deep in the mix, the familiar clickety-clack of tracks.
Weaving together disparate worlds like some interdimensional architect, Kercha simultaneously places us among the inebriated haze and freewheeling expression of a basement jazz club, and the 10-tonne rhythms that have fuelled DNO’s parent party The Mine for the past decade, and will continue to do so into the future.
Rhythms of postmodern realism at the very bottom of the DNO.
B. Bravo (aka Adam Mori) returns to Bastard Jazz with the long-awaited follow-up to his 2017 debut LP, "Paradise," with a fresh full-length offering: "Vizionz." Replete with his signature future funk vibes, infectiously soulful grooves, and talkbox excursions, "Vizionz" sees the multifaceted artist take the classic West Coast into outer space. If B. Bravo's last album sought to get lost in paradise - enjoying the moment here and now - "Vizionz" looks forward, feet placed firmly in an established LA vibe, while the matured eyes of a veteran producer gaze keenly to the future.
"Vizionz" arrives following a slew of diverse singles, which highlight B. Bravo's stunning versatility as a songwriter, producer, and collaborator. Last year's "Lifted (What U Waiting 4)" came first, at the end of May, 2020, pairing g-funk talk-box verses and synth lines with rich vocal harmonies and a dance-floor-ready beat. Frequent collaborator Reva DeVito (Miami Horror, Kaytranada) makes a standout vocal appearance on "Fly Bye," the second single. Here, Adam surrounds Reva's vocals with ambient pads, a Dilla-inspired beat, and an irresistible bassline, while Reva's dreamily sings about getting away from it all. The final single, "Believe," sees Chuck Inglish (of the famed duo The Cool Kids) rhyme in his distinctive baritone over a bass-heavy instrumental meant to rattle some car stereos.
The singles offer a view into the rest of the album: Solo B. Bravo joints include "Moon Bounce," a talk-box boogie jam begging for late-night drives with the top down; the largely-instrumental synth improvisation, "Midnight Rider;" the upbeat "Penelope," which showcases Adam's vocal and harmonic prowess; a bumping g-funk interlude, with "Flip Out;" as well as the laid back album opener, "Da Essence."
Further vocal assists come by way of Sally Green on the flirty "10/10," and Rojai on the slow jam ""No Regrets" . Both singers have worked on B. Bravo projects in the past, with Rojai additionally joining forces with Adam to form the duo Kool Customer, whose self-titled debut album was released on Bastard Jazz in 2018. Two more hip-hop-leaning tracks are aided by Def Sound ("Back Times Two") and Nico Fasho ("Ms. Stardust"); leaning heavy into outerspace G-Funk Hip-Hop vibes.
Taken as a whole, "Vizionz" is a much needed boost of serotonin: Uncompromisingly positive, sometimes nostalgic, sometimes aspirational, but always funky. The range of styles is a testament to Adam's indelible production chops, songwriting skill, and ability to collaborate. While it has been a long 5 years since "Paradise," "Vizionz" proves more than worth the wait.
Born and raised in California, with roots in Japan, B. Bravo's signature style of Cosmic Funk and late night synth grooves have made him a favorite among DJ's, dancers, and music lovers worldwide. A tasteful producer, sought after remixer, party rocking DJ, master of the talkbox, band leader, and alumnus of the Red Bull Music Academy, Mr. Bravo is an accomplished performer both at home and abroad.
Heavily inspired by the synthesizer-enhanced R&B grooves of the late '70s and early '80s, B. Bravo debuted in 2009 with the seven-track "Analog Starship" EP. A deeper impression was made the following year with a shorter extended play, "Computa Love," the title track of which was supported by BBC DJ Benji B months prior to release. Additional strides were made with a batch of singles and EPs that followed throughout the next few years, as Bravo toured and performed at numerous festivals around the world.
His relationship with the Brooklyn tastemaker label, Bastard Jazz Recordings, began in 2016 with the 7" single "I'm For Real / Stay The Night' (which notably featured a Mr. Carmack remix of the latter). Bravo's debut solo LP quickly followed with 2017's critically acclaimed "Paradise" - which shone a light on vocalists and frequent collaborators Reva DeVito, Trailer Limon, Kissey, and Lauren Faith - with a remix album appearing six months later.
Additional solo releases have found a home on Gilles Peterson's Brownswood Recordings and Frite Nite, while production credits have appeared on releases from the legendary Blue Note Records, HW&W, All City, Friends of Friends, and Tokyo Dawn. B. Bravo has worked on projects with the likes of Salva, Mr. Carmack, Teeko, DJ Lean Rock, Reva DeVito, Lauren Faith, and Kate Stewart.
Having toured throughout the US, Latin America, Europe and Asia, he's shared the stage with performers like Erykah Badu, Flying Lotus, DāM-FunK, Hudson Mohawke, at a world-spanning range of festivals such as Detroit Electronic Music Fest, HARD LA, Northern Nights, Laneway Singapore, Sonar in Barcelona, Snowglobe, SXSW, Basscoast, Do-Over, Low End Theory, Boiler Room, and Soulection.
B. Bravo's "Vizionz" LP is out on Brooklyn's Bastard Jazz Recordings Spring, 2022.
New studio album from CMA, due out October 7th, 2022. Produced by Sam Evian. Following Old Flowers' 2020 Grammy nomination, and due to Covid restrictions, Courtney, for the first time in her young nomadic life, was forced off the road and to remain at home. What resulted was the publishing of her first book of poetry, the first gallery showings of her paintings, and a period of self-discovery leading to the new album, Loose Future. Whereas Old Flowers was a beautiful and emotional break-up record, CMA's return with Loose Future is a bright, dynamic, falling-in-love record. Courtney's got a new story to tell, backed by a strong new musical direction, and a show-stopping collection of songs. Loose Future was recorded at Sam Owen's upstate New York Flying Cloud Studios, with musicians Josh Kaufman (Bonny Lighthorseman), Chris Bear (Grizzly Bear), and Sam Owens (Sam Evian). On the honey shores of Cape Cod in a beach shack, Courtney Marie Andrews found self-love and her voice. Every morning, she’d walk 6-8 miles around the back trails of an island and meditate on her life, perusing old memories and patterns like browsing a used bookshop. After more than a decade on the road, the Phoenix-born songwriter, poet, and painter finally had the space to process all the highs and lows of a life of constants. She was finally ready to make a record of triumph, while not completely forgetting the years that made her. That record is the Sam Evian produced Loose Future.
We are proud to present he latest from Turbo Recordings Executive Honcho Tiga, a massive ode to passive-aggressive income remixed by Héctor Oaks, Der Zyklus, and Decius.
“No one wants to work their body anymore,” says the Montreal merrymaker from atop a throne in the exact shape of a digital wallet. “I get it. Who wants their surplus sweat equity vacuumed up off the dance floor by corporate parasites when the real future’s in decentralized skanking? But that’s why people in my position - the top one-percent in terms of nightlife and hospitality take-home pay - have to offer real benefits to risking it all in the clubs. I’m talking dance-move insurance, competitive drink ticket packages, and - most of all - the kind of brick-and-mortar bangers Rhythm Nation was founded upon back in 1814.”
While gratingly content with the original version, Tiga has nonetheless chosen to flood the Marketplace of Ideas with a plurality (3) of voices he feels will optimally position this release in today’s unforgiving Neo-Centrist landscape. This stunning grassfed vinyl 12” opens with a remix by Berlin-based vinyl-only DJ Héctor Oaks, who has been described as “operating at the absolute vanguard of rave.” Please remember that describing people this way is basically injecting them with Imposter Syndrome.
The release also features a remix by Der Zyklus, an alias of Gerald Donald, the epochal genius from Drexciya, Dopplereffekt, Japanese Telecom, Abstract Thought, Zerkalo, Zwischenwelt, and many other fantastic projects. Finally, Decius closes out the EP with all the British Mischief you might expect from UK luminaries from Trashmouth Records, Fat White Family, and Paranoid London.
"I’ve designed my entire life around the concept of ease,” adds Tiga. "I never wanted to work for a law firm. I wanted to make beats for a law firm. I’ve always been selfemployed, and that why my street cred’s off the street charts. And I’ve let as much of
that freedom trickle down to the audience as I can. Because when it comes to music,
there’s no such thing as an acceptable minimum wage. You gotta know that you gotta
give it all you got or you’re gonna get got.”
Amsterdam via Wales DJ & producer Maroki unveils a darker, more eccentric side to his productions, this time opting for four bass heavy, left-leaning cuts of idiosyncratic dance-floor experimentation on LTFIRE. Nestled amongst the trees along the river lJ, Maroki is surrounded by influence, from the city's bustling streets to the tranquility of nature's boundless beauty; Maroki's work walks the tight-tope between these two spaces, a place where machines and human complexity meet.
'Pots & Pans & Handstands' opens up the A-Side with a highoctane journey, meshing breaks and shape-shifting bass with hoovering pads that sound like landing UFOs. 'Hasnoot'
continues this menacing theme, providing an immersive experience that feels compulsive and raw. Yet, there's elements of fun and flashes of colour, adding to the almost audio visual vibe Maroki can create.
The B side opens with 'Boiler' a nocturnal groove that sways ominously in the wind; If the UFOs were landing on the records A side, this is the soundtrack to their dystopian future. Maroki completes his metamorphosis with 'San Andras', visuals of large spaces with high concrete ceilings come to mind, where the track's mechanics can thrive, reverberating beautifully amongst the looming shadows of dancers.
If someone would have told me years ago, when I started the label, that one day I would be releasing music by Ernesto Djédjé, the king of Ziglibithy himself, I would have personally driven them to the closest psychiatric institute such is the magnitude of the artist and his iconic tune “Zighlibitiens”.
The star of Ernesto Djédjé started rising in the late 60s, when he became the guitar player and leader of Ivoiro Star, founded by Amédée Pierre, star of Dopé, the leading musical style at the time. Annoyed by the “congolisation” of the Ivorian music that was taking place within the band, Ernesto left the group and emigrated to Paris in 1968 to record his first few singles arranged by Manu Dibango and influenced by Soul, Rhythm & Blues and Jerk. Those recordings reflect the musical mood at that time which was dictated by two musical trends within the Ivoirian scene: Traditional music, embodied amongst others by Amédée Pierre on one hand and imported music from the States, Cameroon and Zaïre on the other. And while the first trend was generally neglected, the youth fully embraced the second and as a result bands such as „Les Black Devils“, „Djinn-Music“, „Bozambo”, “Jimmy Hyacinthe”, shot to stardom overnight by recording mainly funk and disco music. It is within this context that Ernesto would draw the inspiration for a future formula.
Returning to Côte d‘Ivoire in 1974 Ernesto began looking for like minded musicians to form the mighty “Ziglibithiens”. Diabo Steck (drums), Bamba Yang (keyboards & Guitar), Léon Sina (Guitar) and Assalé Best (chef d´orchestre and Saxophon) would become the core of the group and together with Ernesto they began thinking of ways of combining the rhythms and chants of the Bété people and fuse them with Makossa, Funk and Disco and create a musical style that was both Ivorian and International. He called his experiment Ziglibithy and his first two albums, immortalised at the EMI studios in 1977 in Lagos and released on the Badmos label, took West Africa by storm turning Ernesto Djédjé into an icon overnight and one of the legends of African music.
Ernesto Djédjé died in mysterious circumstances on June 9th, 1983 - at the age of 35 - shocking the whole Ivorian nation. And although the end came abruptly, it didn’t come soon enough, and Ernesto had time - within 5 albums - to cement his legacy as one of the most innovative artists the Ivory Coast ever produced.
The song Zighlibitiens, brought to Colombia by an aeronautical mechanic in the early 1980, would become a huge hit on the Caribbean Coast. Renamed “El Tigre” by locals soundsystem operators - certainly due to the Badmos logo - that particular song would reach legendary status in Barranquilla and Cartagena. Setting fire to uncountable local parties, it has become one of the most sought-after Album in that part of the world. And so, while Ziglibithy has mostly disappeared from the airwaves of its country of birth, on the other side of the Atlantic, its fire continues to shine bright.
- 1: Help Me Please
- 2: Mr.x
- 3: Cluster Fuxa
- 4: Sun Is Shining
- 5: Shadazz
- 6: Mary
- 7: Real Wild Child
- 8: Mari
Limited edition picture disc in full colour printed sleeve
Covered In Stars featuring members of Luna, Spacemen 3, Slowdive, Spectrum, Add N To (X), The Vacant Lots, Spiritualized, Slipstream and more.
This is a wonderfully colourful, beautiful fun and powerfully transcendent album by Fuxa, Featuring driving drum machines, gritty fuzz bitten guitars on The Sun Is Shining and Mary, 80's neon midnight post-punk disco grooves on Shadazz and perfectly blissed out floating in space vibes (Help Me Please and Cluster Fuxa). The synths shimmer and elevate, guitars attack and sparkle and the vocals deliver dark romanticism which evoke often David Cronenberg inspired fantasies such as photographs of car crashes, crushes on perfect strangers and unknown futures.
- Simon Scott (Slowdive)
Fuxa returns in 2022 with a new album 'Covered In Stars'
Eight new songs and several years in the making, of what can best be described as a full on sonic explosion. Mixing space-rock elements, krautrock rhythms, punchy beats and swirling electronic sweeps and beeps that would make for a perfect soundtrack for any warp speed travelling cosmonauts with phasers set to fun!!
For the past 25 years Fuxa front man Randall Nieman has no doubt been on a cosmic journey in sound and space. from his early beginnings a part of Detroit locals Windy and Carl as a guitarist/synth player, running and releasing close to 100 releases on his own label Mind Expansion, to later joining Sonic Boom's (Spacemen 3) group Spectrum for close to a decade. Performing the songs that Spacemen taught him touring across North America and Europe as well as recording and releasing several releases with Sonic under the Spectrum moniker.
Randall has since worked with and released numerous amounts of material with the likes of Martin Rev (Suicide), The Telescopes and Dean and Britta (Luna) to name a few.
It is no surprise that Randall would once again build this new album with friends that he became close to over the years musically and there's certainly no shortage of indie royalty star power on this album
Produced by Randall Nieman, Richard Formby and Stefan Persson.
Mastered by Simon Scott (Slowdive)
This album features guest appearances from Britta Phillips and Dean Wareham (Luna), Ann Shenton (Add N to (X)), Mark Refoy and Jonny Mattock (Spiritualized, Slipstream), Roger Brogan (Spectrum/Dean Wareham), Jared Artaud (Vacant Lots) and more! Each adding an unmistakable and timeless element that Fuxa's core members have created.
It would be hard not to notice the sheer aesthetic glory of this release as once again Randall has chosen the amazing James Marsh (most would remember him as the phenomenal artist responsible for all the Talk Talk albums over the years. His artwork is not only featured on the jacket but on both sides of the limited edition picture disc vinyl.
Covered in stars is a celebration of 25 years of music and friendships made along the way.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Fuxa!
* = Vinyl only track
Washington DC resident Bartees Leon Cox Jr. aka Bartees
Strange, announces his new album and 4AD debut, ‘Farm To
Table’, which also includes recent single ‘Heavy Heart’. Where
his 2020 debut record, ‘Live Forever’, introduced the
experiences and places that shaped Bartees (Flagey Brussels,
Mustang Oklahoma), ‘Farm To Table’ zeros in on the people -
specifically his family - and those closest to him on his journey
so far.
With his career firmly on the ascent, ‘Farm To Table’ examines
Bartees’ constantly shapeshifting relationship with life post-‘Live
Forever’. It also speaks to a deeper lore that says, don’t forget
where you came from, and this album is why. Always
remembering where he came from, across 10 songs Bartees is
celebrating the past, moving towards the future, and fully
appreciating the present.
An unapologetic and braggadocious indie-trap banger, new
single ‘Cosigns’ celebrates Bartees’ peers, collaborators and
friends; name-checking the likes of Bon Iver, Phoebe Bridgers,
Courtney Barnett and Lucy Dacus, through a genre-defying
outpouring somewhere between swaggering hip-hop and
euphoric alt rock. The song ends on a poem he wrote in his
early 20s, “I don’t know how to be full, it’s the hardest to know, I
keep consuming I can’t give it up, It’s never enough.” ‘Cosigns’
is also a moment for Bartees to acknowledge himself, giving
himself credence and unashamedly basking in that glow. Its
accompanying official video was directed by Pooneh Ghana.
Born in Ipswich, England, to a military father and opera-singer
mother, Bartees had a peripatetic early childhood before
eventually settling in Mustang, Oklahoma. Later, Bartees cut his
teeth playing in hardcore bands in Washington DC and Brooklyn
whilst working in the Barack Obama administration and
(eventually) the environmental movement. Since charting a path
as a solo artist, Bartees Strange has released two records in
quick succession: an EP reimagining songs by The National
(‘Say Goodbye To Pretty Boy’, 2020) and his debut album
proper, ‘Live Forever’.
San Francisco based DJ and bass extraordinaire Farsight knows how to make an entrance, first bursting onto the scene with his adventurous and daring EP 'Wisdom' back in 2016. At the time Farsight's music sounded like it had been beamed from another planet and has played an important role in the crosspollination of genres we've seen in recent years. Farsight has gone on to release on Scuffed Recordings, Maloca and Noire State, remaining firmly fixed on the future of club music. Now his blend of trap, jersey club, reggaeton and dancehall makes its way across the Atlantic with six mind-sizzling cuts for Brakes 'N' Pieces vol. 23.
Opening track 'Triangulation' combines rolling drums with party-starting vocal samples and steady whistles, letting listeners know we're really off! 'Mr Right' then enters the fray with throbbing subs, ravey stabs and a vocal that sits halfway between fun and outright menacing. The A side comes to a close with 'Leaving Las Vegas' a dubstep infused cut of choppy breaks and wide-eyed melodies. A masterclass in raising tension, this track will shut down any club, please use wisely.
'Lesser Light' shows Farsight's love for bass exploration; it's looming shadow pressing amongst some of the darkest corners of electronic. A unique brand of grime infused techno. 'Water Margin' delves even further, adopting a more measured pace for those heads down moments. The record comes to a close with 'Fulminous Edge' and is a reflection of the artist's darkest material. The drums still have a familiar spring in their step but the track's melodic bassline is mesmerizing; resulting in a melancholy trance that deserves a second play.
“Pure psychotropic madness.” A screaming head on fire penetrated my chest, jolting me from the universal plane back to earth.” Guitarist/Singer/Sonic Alchemist Dave W’s vivid fever dream ignited The Revenge of Heads on Fire, WHITE HILLS’ latest release, which harnesses the energy of ferocious, hedonistic rock with blissful passages of dark ambience. Exploring themes of mortality, transformation and rebirth, the band reveals a spiritual depth unparalleled in previous works. The roar of fire, swirling of oceans and hallucinogenic visions can be heard throughout the 75-minute journey. From the intrepid prelude “The Instrumental Head” to the closing punk blaze of “Eternity”, the album ebbs and flows, smouldering and seething in the middle with the 21- minute mammoth opus “Don’t Be Afraid”. “’Don't Be Afraid’ alone makes this an essential listen for fans of contemporary psychedelia.” -All Music The Revenge of Heads on Fire consummates Dave W’s prototype for the 2007 release on Rocket Recordings, Heads on Fire, later picked up by Thrill Jockey. Six rediscovered songs accompany re-mixed versions of the original material, fulfilling the master arch of the pyre lit long ago. Recorded during the band’s tumultuous early years, the music vibrates with the energy and volatility of a sonic boom. The album will be released on Heads on Fire Industries, distributed worldwide via Cargo Records.
Oakland, California dark punk trio TENSION SPAN unites Noah Landis (Neurosis, Christ On Parade) on vocals, Geoff Evans (Asunder) playing guitar and synth, and Matt Parrillo (Dystopia, Kicker) providing bass, guitar, synth, and additional vocals.
Infusing classic elements of punk and post-punk, fans of Killing Joke, T.S.O.L., Subhumans, Conflict, Rudimentary Peni and The Wraith will be instantaneously addicted to TENSION SPAN’s dire urgency and infectious hooks.
During the isolation of Covid, the newly formed trio crafted The Future Died Yesterday, an album that sounds both varied and cohesive, combining musical and emotional heaviness with melody, samples, and synth. Sonically unique and riveting, The Future Died Yesterday sees the band ripping through thirteen doomed anthems.
To coincide with the Brian Jonestown Massacre’s start of their 2022 European tour is the release of two new tracks by the band. Recorded in Berlin & remotely between 2020 & 2021, the opening track “Fudge” is from the forthcoming album “The Future is Your Past” the second track “The Future is Your Past” is exclusive to this release (Yes I know it’s not a typo the B side is the name of the forthcoming album but the track is not on the album). With Anton Newcombe (Vocals/ Guitars) Hakon Adalsteinsson (guitar), Hallberg Daði Hallbergsson (bass), & Uri Rennert (drums) playing on this offering . The release comes in a heavy weight PVC bag with the artwork being a J card so you can see the vinyl 10” - Tracklisting SIDE A – Fudge SIDE B – The Future is Your Past European Dates – 2022 - 25/09 FRANCE Nancy – L’Autre Canal , 26/09 FRANCE Grenoble – La Belle Electrique , 27/09 FRANCE Toulouse – Le Bikini , 28/09 SPAIN Barcelona – Apolo , 29/09 SPAIN Madrid – La Paqui , 30/09 SPAIN Bilbao – Kafe Antzokia , 01/10 FRANCE Bordeaux – Le Vigean , 02/10 FRANCE La Rochelle – La Sirene , 04/10 FRANCE Paris – La Trianon , 06/10 THE NETHERLANDS Nijmegen – Doornroosje , 07/10 GERMANY Cologne – Luxor , 08/10 SWITZERLAND Zurich – Mascotte , 09/10 GERMANY Munich – Strom , 10/10 CZECH REPUBLIC Prague – Lucerna Music Bar ,11/10 GERMANY Dresden – Beatpol , 12/10 THE NETHERLANDS Amsterdam – Paradiso , 14/10 BELGIUM Antwerp-Desertfest 2023- 28/01 U.K Falmouth – Princess Pavilions , 29/01 U.K Bristol – SWX ,31/01 U.K Brighton – Concorde 2 , 01/02 U.K Brighton – Concorde 2 , 03/02 U.K Birmingham – Academy 2 , 04/02 U.K Manchester – Ritz 05/02 U.K Glasgow – Barrowlands, 06/02 U.K Edinburgh – La Belle Angele , 07/02 U.K Newcastle – Riverside , 09/02 IRELAND Dublin – Academy , 10/02 U.K Belfast – Limelight 2 , 11/02 U.K Liverpool – Camp & Furnace , 12/02 U.K Nottingham – Rescue Rooms ,14/02 U.K Leeds – Stylus , 15/02 U.K London – Forum , 18/02 GERMANY Hamburg – Knust , 19/02 DENMARK Copenhagen – Amager Bio , 20/02 SWEDEN Gothenburg – Pustervik , 21/02/23 SWEDEN Stockholm -Slaktkyrkan , 22/02 NORWAY Oslo – Rockefeller , 23/02 SWEDEN Malmo – Moriska Paviljonen , 25/02 GERMANY Berlin – Festsaal Kreuzberg
- A1: Superman Lost
- A2: Only For You (Feat Rachel K Collier)
- A3: Easy (Feat Porter Robinson)
- B1: Called Id
- B2: Little Damage
- B3: Pyramid Scheme (Feta Chuck D)
- C1: The Sky (Feat Linnea Schossow)
- C2: Like It Used To Be
- C3: Time On Your Side (Feat Janai)
- C4: Moderate Stimulation
- D1: Lucid Dreams
- D2: Ez
- D3: Hurricane (Feat Eyes That Lie)
- D4: Fall Into Dreams (Feat Pete Josef)
While so many follow the status quo, Mat Zo has always danced to the beat of his own drum. From his days topping both the drum & bass and trance charts simultaneously (releasing on Hospital Records as MRSA), to his current status as a big room innovator, collaborating with Public Enemy's Chuck D and dropping genre-blurring 70-track contributions to BBC Radio 1's Essential Mix, the precocious talent is destined to play by his own rules.
Supported by DJs as diverse as Skrillex, Madeon, Pete Tong, Above & Beyond, Steve Aoki and A-Trak, the LA-living producer's much anticipated debut LP 'Damage Control' is a bold, brilliantly diverse statement of intent from one of the scene's most unique talents. In a world of EDM sound a likes, this is electronic dance music with integrity and ambition. The release of the album will coincide with an extensive upcoming world headline tour, which sees Zo playing renowned dance music hubs such as Ministry of Sound in London, Light in Las Vegas, Create/Avalon in Los Angeles, Miami's LIV nightclub, Toronto's Guvernment and New York City's famed Pacha. (See full list of dates below).
The product of nearly three years dedicated work, 'Damage Control' represents a star of the future coming of age. Including his Beatport No.1 smash 'Easy' (feat. Porter Robinson) and recent hook-up with hip-hop legend Chuck D (Public Enemy) on 'Pyramid Scheme', Zo's 14-track LP also features the sun-soaked melodies of his innovative future single 'Lucid Dreams' - another track that perfectly embodies his uniquely quirky take on big room sounds.
What really sets the album apart from the pack are its diversions away from the dancefloor. 'Damage Control' takes in everything from electro-charged French house ('Only For You' feat. Rachel K. Collier), classy trance vibes ('The Sky' feat. Linnea Schossow) and big room progressive, through to wonky, trap-styled beats ('Caller ID' and 'Little Damage'), UK garage updates ('EZ') and hip-hop ('Moderate Stimulation').
Retaining a cohesive thread throughout thanks to Zo's unmistakable sense of fun and infectious grasp of melody, 'Damage Control' is tipped as one of the most forward-thinking debut artist albums of 2013.
Channeling his background in classical music, SUUNS' Ben Shemie combines string fractals, manipulated vocals, and synth-powered chaos to bridge the universes of past, present, and future. Over the course of ten tracks, Shemie chronicles a wandering soul tangled in its own dark orbit, searching for meaning in a world of stardust and astral mirages. Breathing life into Shemie's orchestral maneuvers was the Molinari String Quartet, one of Canada's most celebrated contemporary ensembles. Recording the album's ten tracks in two single-takes, the urgency and dynamism of these compositions can be heard as much felt. The listener can sense the stuttering pulse of Shemie, flanked by five amplifiers and wading in electronic bedlam, as the Molinari Quartet switchbacks measures of strings and chimes. Sometimes, the only way to make sense of the world is to travel to its absolute end. While Shemie's image of a faraway universe is equal parts inspiring and chaotic, he assures the listener _ everything and everyone is exactly as it should.
- A1: Another Sketch
- A2: Be Cool (Feat Little Dragon)
- A3: Vera (Judah Speaks) (Judah Speaks)
- A4: Leave It (Feat Charlotte Day Wilson)
- A5: September
- A6: To The Floor (Feat Badbadnotgood)
- B1: Backwards (Feat Sampha)
- B2: What If? (Feat Skiifall)
- B3: Colours
- B4: About Us (Feat Elmiene)
- B5: Still (Feat Sampha & Ghetts)
- B6: Ends Now (Feat Serpentwithfeet)
One of the UK’s most consistently inventive production minds of recent times, Lil Silva has perhaps one of the most varied resumes in the world. Causing a seismic effect on the world of club music with smashes such as ‘Seasons’ and releases with the likes of Night Slugs, production credits for a diverse range of artists such as Adele, BANKS, Mark Ronson and serpentwithfeet, and a collaborative project with George FitzGerald as OTHERLiiNE even before factoring stellar solo releases under the Lil Silva moniker using his own vocal, he has continuously combined a broad range of influences to create a transformative, varied discography. After the release of ‘Backwards’ last month alongside Sampha, today Lil Silva announces his long awaited debut album, Yesterday Is Heavy.
Over 10 years in the making, ‘Yesterday Is Heavy’ is a cumulative product of an already remarkable career filled with highlights. An album about stepping out: outside of a comfort zone, and, for Lil Silva, outside of himself. It’s a debut album of heft and heart, but most of all hope – and trusting the process. Buoyed on by the encouragement of long-time collaborators like Jamie Woon and Sampha early in his career (they both implored him to commit his own voice to record), and bolstered by incomparable session experience working with Mark Ronson, Adele and more, the Lil Silva story that started aged 10 in Bedford is beginning full circle. Created primarily in the town he grew up in (and continues to live now), the pervading solace of home courses through the project, while providing the thrilling moments of sleight of hand that Silva has always been capable of.
As he so often does, Lil Silva shares the spotlight with an astonishing international cast of guests. He fuses well-versed modern legends in the shape of Sampha, Ghetts, and Little Dragon with rising stars serpentwithfeet, Charlotte Day Wilson and Skiifall to thrilling effect, the whole time never allowing his deftly dynamic yet considered touch to be outshone throughout. The album has also been created with musical direction from Louis Vuitton musical director and BBC Radio 1 tastemaker Benji B, as well as creative direction from award winning visual artist BAFIC. It’s with the opening track ‘Another Sketch’ however, where his singular talent introduces itself.
With a visual directed by UKMVA Award winner Fenn O’Meally, ‘Another Sketch’ is a prime example of the vast array of talents that Lil Silva possesses. A video that transcends generations of Black Britons (featuring Lil Silva’s own family as well as Sampha), ‘Another Sketch’ focuses on the subject of time. Looking at generations of black britons as monuments, the visual centres on the idea that despite time being able to wear down your appearance, what’s inside of you can never depreciate. The main centrepiece of this is heritage, with archive and newly recorded footage showing Silva’s family and friends enjoying the same activities they did generations ago, spliced with footage and voice notes from one of the lands of his dual heritage, Jamaica. The track itself focuses on a central theme of actions, their consequences and changing our inevitable future, with Lil Silva’s stunning falsetto shining alongside background vocals from serpentwithfeet and an instrumental that initially opens minimalistically before gradually unfurling to unveil elements of his electronic beginnings; a thumping hip hop infused beat and swelling melodic embellishments.
With ‘Yesterday Is Heavy’, Lil Silva reaps the rewards of over a decade of influence to create the debut album he’s always imagined. Simultaneously riding the line between pertinent storytelling and virtuosic production, ‘Yesterday Is Heavy’ charts the story of one of UK music’s unsung heroes taking his time to build something that is truly timeless. Yesterday Is Heavy, but tomorrow is forever.
restock
“Fabula” is the 9th full length album by AUTiSM. The artist is dealing with organic crossover sound mixing influences like IDM, ambient, dubstep, trip-hop, and various in-between music phenomena.
Vocals by Akabedhead and PANE
Guitars by Sergey Popovich
More speech synthesis
Wider stylistic diversity “In modern electronic music, we quite often see some distinct traces coming from the past,” says Vadim Militsin, the core of AUTiSM. “Sometimes, I think that the past we notice in those tracks can easily be our future.”
One of the most violent thrash metal albums ever! Raging riffs, outraging drums, screaming solos and totally pissed vocals. Total aggression! Death metal wouldn’t sound like it does without that album. Then the 10 tracks on this legendary album... Let’s start with Side A: The opener “Malleus Maleficarum/Anthropomorphia” sets the tone and remains a classic to this day, with a switch after 50 seconds and then a full on thrash attack only comparable to the best and most intense moments on “Pleasure to Kill”. The mid-tempo part and the solo’s/leads are haunting still and hint at more melodies to come in the future. “Parricide” is brutal Thrash, surely echoing a bit of Slayer/Infernal Majesty as well, but just very intense and brutal. Next up is “Subordinate to the Domination”, another bulldozer song, that simply pounds you into ashes, very thrashy, but also brutal. As a short intermezzo we get “Extreme Unction”, which with it’s one and a half minute echoes a bit the crossover/thrash metal attitude of the late 80’s, and it is in its intensity and compactness a strange, yet fitting track that leads us to the closing song on Side A of the LP (yep, bands did think on closers on album sides when vinyl was the standard)... “Commandments” that is, starting with its acoustic intro, fully bursting out after 35 seconds into one of the standout songs of this album, to some possibly the best song on the album (who am I to disagree) because it is one of those brutal thrash songs that is among the best ever recorded, and a song that everyone knew back then, because of the “Stars on Thrash” compilation.
- A1: The Poet Acts
- A2: Morning Passages
- A3: Something She Has To Do
- A4: “For Your Own Benefit”
- B1: Vanessa And The Changelings
- B2: “I'm Going To Make A Cake”
- B3: An Unwelcome Friend
- B4: Dead Things
- C1: The Kiss
- C2: “Why Does Someone Have To Die?”
- C3: Tearing Herself Away
- D1: Escape!
- D2: Choosing Life
- D3: The Hours
‘Was there ever a more perfect film for Glass’s lyrical manner? He refers to his own past, but the way in which the material is treated transforms it inevitably into that eternal present. Such a feeling of fragile beauty is a rare achievement.’ – Gramophone
‘Simple and complex by turn, Glass’s score adds dignity and depth to the movie, and to the tragedies and triumphs, big or small, of ordinary life.’
– Guardian
‘Underpinning the anguish at the heart of The Hours a beautiful score. Glass’s motifs capture the passage of time and the universality of human experience.’ – Classic FM’s Best Soundtracks
Nonesuch releases Philip Glass’s award-winning soundtrack to The Hours on vinyl for the first time to coincide with its 20th anniversary and Glass’ 85th birthday concert season. Originally released in December 2002, Glass’s score to the Academy Award-winning film was itself nominated for an Academy Award, as well as a Golden Globe and a Grammy, and went on to win a BAFTA and a Classical BRIT.
Directed by Stephen Daldry, The Hours is the story of three women searching for more potent, meaningful lives. Based on Michael Cunningham’s 1999 Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, with a screenplay by David Hare, the film interweaves the stories of three women – a book editor in New York (Meryl Streep), a young mother in California (Julianne Moore), and the author Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman). Their stories intertwine, and finally come together in a surprising, transcendent moment of shared recognition.
Philip Glass’s score was conducted by Nick Ingman, with Michael Reisman on piano and the Lyric Quartet, and recorded at Abbey Road Studios and Air Studios, London. The score was a key element in this acclaimed triptych of dramatic tales. ‘The inter-cutting of personal stories over a wide span of time,’ said NPR, ‘is held together by a single music approach.’
In his original liner note, Michael Cunningham wrote, ‘Each novel I’ve written has developed a soundtrack of sorts; a body of music that subtly but palpably helped shape the book in question. The one constant since I started trying to write novels, however – my only ongoing act of listening fidelity – has been the work of Philip Glass. I love Glass’s music almost as much as I love Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. Glass, like Woolf, is more interested in that which continues than he is in that which begins, climaxes, and ends; he insists, as did Woolf, that beauty often resides more squarely in the present than it does in the present’s relationship to past or future. So, when I heard he’d agreed to contribute the music to the film version of The Hours, it seemed both inevitable and too good to be true. I’m not sure if I can offer any higher praise than this: When I saw the movie with the music added, I thought automatically of how I could use the soundtrack, when it came out, to help me finish my next book.’
“This is a movie about art and how art affects life," explains Philip Glass. “The story is very complicated and the music could take on a very important role in the film, as I saw it – to make it viewable, to make it comprehensible, so the stories of the three women in the film didn’t seem separate, that they were tied together. The music had to be the thread that tied the movie together. There’s no question that the emotional point of view is conveyed by the music. Music is the arrow you shoot in the air. Everything follows that.’
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1937, Philip Glass is a graduate of the University of Chicago and the Juilliard School. By 1974, Glass had created a large collection of music for The Philip Glass Ensemble. The period culminated in the landmark opera, Einstein on the Beach. Since Einstein, Glass’s repertoire has grown to include music for opera, dance, theater, orchestra, and film. His scores have received Academy Award nominations (including Kundun and The Hours, both released on Nonesuch, as well as Notes on a Scandal) and a Golden Globe (The Truman Show). Recent works include Glass’s memoir, Words Without Music, Glass’s first Piano Sonata, opera Circus Days and Nights, and Symphony No. 14. Glass received the Praemium Imperiale in 2012, the US National Medal of the Arts from President Barack Obama in 2016, and 41st Kennedy Center Honors in 2018.
Nonesuch’s relationship with Glass began in 1985, with the release of the score for Paul Schrader’s Mishima. In addition to The Hours (2002) and Kundun (1997), over the years other Glass works on Nonesuch have included Einstein on the Beach (1993), Music in Twelve Parts (1996), the soundtracks for Powaqqatsi (1988) and Koyaanisqatsi (1998), Glass Box (2008), and Kronos Quartet’s Performs Philip Glass (1995), amongst others.
The future and history of bleeding edge dance music collide on DJ Nigga Fox's new Crânio EP, where the relentless young artist crafts an even deeper level of musicality into his innovative, riotous creations.
Following his appearance on the seminal CARGAA compilation series, this collection feels deeply fitting for a Warp project, as it manages to un-self-consciously straddle the bass and bleep alchemy of the label's early club classics while sitting firmly in the artful post-genre nexus of the current roster of artists.
Ever pushing forward, DJ Nigga Fox (néRogério Brandão) has enlisted a veteran percussionist from his home country of Angola to expand the manic palette of his sound. The outcome is a constantly shapeshifting form of psychedelia made for dancefloors, that still manages to spark synapses as a complete listening experience. Yet another beguiling leap forward for the sound of contemporary Lisbon.
Limited to 1000 copies worldwide
DJ Scriby - Izingoma zeGqomu / DJ MARIIO - ZULU MAN / DJ Skothan – Nevegation. Highlighting the continuing evolution of Durban's globally influential gqom sound, this special trilogy of releases showcases three separate artists from South Africa's fertile musical landscape. The set captures a fresh wave of gqom innovation from veteran producer DJ Skothan/DJ Scoturn, DJ Scriby, and 20-year-old DJ MaRiiO. DJ Skothan/DJ Scoturn has been a key figure in Durban's underground scene for many years, producing alongside Phelimuncasi, Bhejani, Tweeyking, Lafaristo, MaRiiO and DJ MP3. His gqom and house tracks have quietly provided a rumbling engine for the city's scene, and "Nevegation" is his debut full-length, providing a complex diagram of his dancefloor versatility. This isn't the gqom you might expect to hear: immediately on opener 'The Gringo' familiar sounds - shovel kicks, chopped vocals, sampled gasps, horror movie strings - are shuffled into atypical patterns, creating jerky soundscapes rather than the expected four-on-the-floor bump. 'Salut to DJ Lag' pays respect to Durban's Beyoncé-approved pioneer, but twists the template into a propulsive new form, adding rolling and evolving percussion that teases fractal shapes each bar. But the album's most unexpected and forward-thinking moment arrives with the aptly titled 'The King of Gqom', a track that simmers the genre's percussive sounds into limber sci-fi club futurism, tweaking the bass sounds into patterns that nod to dubstep, Jersey club and ballroom. 25-year-old DJ Scriby has been working behind the scenes since 2013, assisting the first wave of gqom innovators promote their sound both inside Durban and beyond. In 2017 he joined London's Trax Couture to release "The Clermont EP", and here he introduces his long-awaited follow-up "Izingoma zeGqomu". Scriby's approach to gqom is well-studied and self-aware, which gives him the ability to stretch the sound's scope across the diaspora: just peep the Atlanta trap synths on the dynamic 'Friday 13th', or the absorption of tight grime snares on opening track 'Goi'. Scriby's engineering skill pushes his productions to the next level, lending slithering downtempo tracks like 'Ouuu1' and 'Igqom Libuye' a widescreen, big-room punch without losing the genre's undulating funk. And the producer even eyes the EDM mainstage with 'Qumqum!!', balancing saccharine synths with jerky kicks, claps and rolling toms. The youngest artist featured in the collection, DJ MaRiiO started producing when he was just 12 years old, watching YouTube production videos. "No one told me how to use FL Studio," he admits, "and no one helped me doing different genres." This might be why his music sounds so completely unique; the basic structure of gqom is still present, but MaRiiO augments these elements with youthful energy and carefree use of unusual sounds and production methods. "Zulu Man" opener 'GQom NyeGe' manages to mash together trance synths, DMZ bass and a driving woodblock rhythm that reminds you of its Durban roots, while the bizarre 'Ngom ya Phesh', featuring MaRiiO's regular collaborator Hot Chicks on vocals, pushes the gqom template into the red, with overdriven kicks and disorienting environmental sounds. All three records provide a 360 degree view of Durban's contemporary underground, nodding to the past, present and future of gqom. It's a genre that's constantly in flux as it moves from South Africa's bedrooms and basements to main stages and movie screens across the globe.
Limited Clear Grey Vinyl 7". For Fans Of… Piero Umiliani, Amedeo Tommasi, Dorothy Ashby, Sandro Brugnolini, El Michels Affair, Sven Wunder. Breezy and carefree, Dragatto reminisces on a day spent exploring the streets of Madrid with only a camera, a few rolls of film and the shoes on his feet. Heavily inspired by the European adaptation of Bossa nova in the 1960’s, Salvator creates his own unique mood that’s equal parts sunny and joyful using simple melodic themes opposite lush string arrangements. A surefire companion for the next road trip down the coast or excursion through a foreign city. On the B side, as if delivered from the future, the sweet and punchy Return to Normal is a message of hope and optimism letting us know that things will indeed get better. Dreamy harp arpeggios float effortlessly atop a crushing rhythm section tip-toeing the line between calmness and urgency. Turn this one up loud, light one up and let go.
Tracks 1. Mind On Madrid 2. A Return To Normal
Space Summit is a collaboration between the omnipresent Marty WillsonPiper (ex-The Church) and Minneapolitan Jed Bonniwell
Writing the music together, Marty handles the luminescent electric guitars and
the bass whilst Jed is in charge of lead vocal duties, and lyrics. The music
created on Space Summit's debut album is simultaneously modern and classic
dream pop – the subtle shading of dark and light with layered, sonic textures on
every track.Conceived in cyberspace, the album is produced by Marty and
producer/ engineer Dare Mason who also plays keyboards. Phoebe Tsen sings
harmony vocals, Olivia Willson- Piper plays the strings, Eddie John plays the
drums and Anekdoten's Nicklas Barker and Sophie Linder play Mellotron. All the
usual suspects from Marty's recent Noctorum and MOAT projects make an
appearance. Bringing together musicians from England, the USA, Sweden, and
even Borneo where Phoebe lives, is recognition of a new future in music.
This album is the first of Marty's intriguing Sessioneer Series working with newly
discovered collaborators from around the globe.
The year is 2050, humanity is collapsing and overrun by an anonymous entity, known as the Robodroid. The mission of the Robodroid is to end civilization as we know it. After their successful collaboration debut "The Darkness Is Coming" on Crobot Records, Robodroid is back once again with a new release. Now the Robodroid has traveled back through time to reprogram the future. The EP includes four dark and aggressive electro originals and two remixes by none other than Maelstrom and Dexorcist. Robodroid is a futuristic electro project ran by Przemek Kuduk (Robodrum) and Ben Evans (The Droid).
Purple Vinyl
BEATCONDUCTOR comes in with two dubby & emotive future bass reworks of GLADYS KNIGHT'S "NEITHER ONE OF US." "EMOTIONAL TRAP" repurposes a classic WHITNEY HOUSTON acapella to create a dark gospel house influenced groover. “SIMMER DOWN" surprises with a upbeat, catchy, danceable club edit of HALLEY WILLIAMS "SIMMER." Don’t sleep on this one.
Red Vinyl[24,58 €]
Sounding simultaneously from the past, the present, and the future, the debut album 'MLDE' by Marxist Love Disco Ensemble seeks to eradicate both the trite from disco and the sobriety from political music. Half poetic, half tongue-in-cheek, this stunning compact eight-track album is influenced by Eastern European and Mediterranean 70s disco records. In the words of band member Paolo, ''it was written in response to hearing 'I love America' by Patrick Juvet. The song prompted the question: why does disco, a genre originally created by oppressed minorities, eventually become synonymous with American capitalist excess?" MLDE seeks to break this connection.
Merging disco, post-disco 80s pop, and boogie into the fold, 'MLDE' was recorded using only analogue instruments, giving it warmth and space. Recorded on cassette, ¼ and ½ inch tape, this gives moments of lo-fi abstraction between the beats of an aggressive, tight drum kit. Instruments used for this recording range from saxophone, trumpet, harpsichord, guitar, and rare analogue synthesisers. The bass sound is shaped by early 80s boogie records, whilst the influence of artists such as Hamlet Minassian can be heard in some of MLDE's more driving-disco outings, such as 'Hues of Red'. In the tradition of Soviet vocal group records, which the band has studied, some songs are sung by a vocal quartet in homage to this tradition.
Tracks such as '1905' and 'Brumaire' have a greater pop aesthetic, with Paolo's vocal style on these more pop-driven songs evoking early 80s bands such as Orange Juice and Chas Jankel.
The format and message of pop and disco are commonly viewed just to entertain and move bodies around a dancefloor; however, lyrically, the subjects range from dialectical and historical materialism, class struggle, Marxist theory and praxis, as well as the concept of Marxist disco music.
Adding the icing to the cake, mastering don Joker aka Liam McLean dusted the album with his magic, giving the songs space where the room is needed, as well as the kick and punch demanded by the modern dancefloor.
Yes, this is a press release, and they are always full of hype, but we were blown away when we heard this album, and we hope it enriches you too.
Belgian label founded by Viernulvier Arts Centre (formerly Vooruit) to release music composed for theatre, dance and performances.
Viernulvier Records‘ first release will be The Shedding of Skin, the debut album from the Belgian-Iraqi Use Knife, set to be released on September 30, 2022.
Use Knife is the music project of Stef Heeren, Kwinten Mordijck and Saif Al-Qaissy, in collaboration with multidisciplinary artist Youniss Ahamad. The project first emerged when Stef and Kwinten, both also active members of Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat, met Saif during auditions for a dance performance. The musical possibilities that presented themselves gave the gentlemen the drive to start the journey of uniting their Belgian and Iraqi musical backgrounds.
The album’s title, The Shedding of Skin, refers to the human survival instinct, the desire to leave war and disaster behind and build a new life in a completely different environment.
In addition to making music and composing together, Saif, Kwinten and Stef had countless conversations in order to gain insight into each other’s lives. These conversations are reflected in the song lyrics: for one of them, the worst is all behind them and they are focused on a brighter future, while the other is aware of all the privileges he has been given. The need to address this inequality is reflected in the combination of dreamy Arab songs with punky Dadaist touches.
For the recordings of the Arabic percussion, vocals and wind instruments, the band worked together with Joris Caluwaerts (Stuff., Lady Linn, Hydrogen Sea,…) in his Finster Studio. The mastering was done by Frederik Dejongh aka Jerboa Mastering. Youniss Ahamad provided the artwork, Farah Fayyad converted the English album title into Arabic script and Jef Cuypers and Chloé D’hauwe realised the graphic design of the cover.
Brandneue 6-Track-Vinyl-only-EP von Kelela, eine der stärksten Vertreterinnen des Future-R&B, frisch gesignt auf Warp Records, z.T. produziert von Arca. Die "Hallucinogen EP" - von den Meinungsmachern bei Pitchfork als "sinnlicher, feinfühliger Hi-Definition R&B-Ansatz" bezeichnet - erzielte bereits mehrere "Album Of The Week" Platzierungen in den Trendmedien (Spin, Stereogum) und besitzt laut Guardian "mehr Ideen in den 6 Songs als manche Künstler in 6 Alben haben". Auch das Radio hierzulande zeigt sich sehr aufgeschlossen.
There’s no escaping the motherlode - that eternal continuum of high drama and overheated amp stacks fit to raise the pulse and revivify the spirits. It’s merely an unmistakable band chemistry that transforms base hard rock into gemstones, and this process is an increasingly rare phenomenon in the here and now. Luckily for Stockholm’s alchemists LUGNET, they are one of the few. Here in these steamrollering grooves and strident anthems is just the kind of swagger and bravado on which rock built its foundations in the ‘70s, yet without any of the cliches or the bloated self-importance. The roots of LUGNET may be visible to see, and the primal stomp of early Deep Purple, the apocalyptic sermonising of Black Sabbath and the cinematic majesty of Rainbow can easily be detected in the almighty sturm-und-drang. Yet this sound is delivered with charisma and maverick energy that effortlessly summons fresh vibrant life to a classic form. The spark that lit LUGNET originates in 2009, when Fredrik Jansson-Punkka (also drummer of Angel Witch, and whose storied history includes stints in Witchcraft, Abramis Brama and Count Raven) met bassist Lennart ‘Z’ Zethzon at Sweden Rock Festival and the two first discussed getting together to jam. Three years later this finally came to fruition and guitarists Bonden Jansson and Mackan Holten joined the fray, alongside vocalist Roger Solander. An original plan to play ‘70s blues-rock with Swedish lyrics was ultimately warped and transformed into the monumental attack of 2016’s self-titled debut proper on Pride & Joy Music. The road to ‘Nightwalker’ saw changes afoot in the band, as Solander was replaced by the soulful pipes of Johan Fahlberg, who matches the swashbuckling charm of the Dio/Coverdale tradition with flourishes and personality all his own, whilst Bonden Jansson made way for wunderkind new guitarist Matti Norlin. This was a quantum leap on from the debut, replete with fiery interplay and incisive song writing, from the slow Zeppelin-esque catharsis of ‘Death Laughs At You’ to the monstrous ‘Stargazer’-esque grandeur of the mellotron-assisted finale ‘Kill Us All’. The aftermath saw Lugnet traverse from strength to strength, a notable highlight being packing out their tent at Sweden Rock Festival in 2018 even whilst a certain Birmingham-birthed Prince Of Darkness himself occupied the main stage across the field. Michael Linder (formerly of Troubled Horse) soon replaced Mackan Holten, and this line-up has subsequently amassed enough material for two albums, with all members throwing their hat into the ring song writing-wise. One of these ‘Tales From The Great Beyond’ has already been recorded at SolnaSound Recording with the dream-team of Simon Johansson (Wolf/ Soilwork) and Mike Wead (King Diamond/ Mercyful Fate) at the helm / mixed by Marcus Jidell (Avatarium/ Candlemass). Just like for the debut album, the front cover artwork was designed by Vance Kelly. Whatever the future holds for Lugnet, only a fool would bet on the result not being a spectacular explosion of righteousness. This machine is firing on all cylinders, and rockers of all persuasions would be well advised to get on board or get out of the way. Track listing: Still A Sinner; In Harvest Time; Another World; Out Of My System; Svarv; Eaten Alive; Pale Design; I Can’t Wait; Black Sails; Tåsjö Kyrkmarsch
Khidja continue to develop their tripped out vision with their first full EP for Hivern since 2019's 'Impossible Holiday'. In 'Something In The Water' the Romanian duo presents three new tracks that drift between genres and moods through open minded studio experimentation. "The Future Has Disappeared" and "Back To Vid" rely on contrasting sound palettes and a smart use of the stereo field to build up tension while 'Science of Ghosts' is an expansive number of galactic electro-funk. The 12" features a stripped out mystical remix by Azu Tiwaline while the digital release includes two extra oddball dancefloor cuts. Artwork by cm-dp.
Luca LTJ Trevisi (LTJ Xperience) began his dj/producer career in the 80s. As resident dj in two of the most famous Italian clubs of the time, Kinky in Bologna and Cap Creus in Imola, he was one of the first Italian jocks to spin House and to re-propose those black music, jazz and latin-bossa classics from the 70s that at the end of the same decade would have given birth to the Acid Jazz and Rare Groove movements. His first single release in 1988, titled First Job, together with Kekkotronics, was also the first release ever on Bologna based Irma Records. It was featured in a lot of compilations of the time and entered several playlists, rapidly reaching cult status for many UK and US djs. During the early 90s LTJ delivered a couple of singles in a kind of pre-breakbeat style: Dont Stop The Sax, released all over Europe, and Funky Superfly. He also produced US singer Tameka Starrs single Going In Circles, always for Irma Records, still a classic in the downtempo/r&b field. In the second half of the nineties Luca began to produce acid jazz bands like Bossa Nostra, still today one of Irma Records main acts. Their first album had Vicky Anderson as special
guest and today is still considered one of the most important European acid jazz albums. In the following years he concentrated on developing his activity as collector and rare vinyl merchant, which gave him the chance to get in touch with djs from all over the World and to discover many forgotten gems from the past years. Thanks to this experience he was able to create two extremely successful rarities series on Irma Records:
Groovy and Suono Libero. In the meanwhile LTJ started to dj outside Italy too, performing in important venues like the Blue Note and Jazz Café in London, Giant Step in New York and Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. In 1999 saw the release of his first solo album under the LTJ Xperience moniker. The album was produced with the collaboration of fellow Irma artist and producer Ohm Guru and had Taka Boom and Jackson Sloan among the guests. Two of the main tracks on the album are brazil house classic Sombre Guitar and title track Moon Beat, which became a true hit of the Chill Out genre, featured in dozens of important compilations.
After making countless productions for Irma Records, including their second album When The Rain Begins To Fall (with the participation of the historic Spanish-American singer Joe Bataan), and the recents singles as ORGAN MIND / I LOVE YOU (favorite track by Larry Heard ) & ON THE FLOOR / SOUND MACHINE, LTJ is devoted almost exclusively to re-edit and reconstruct tracks from the past with the addition of sounds and rhythms in post production for labels like SUPER VALUE, SMALL WORLD DISCO, HOT GROOVY RECORDS, OH CRISTO! increasing the production of this new musical genre that is currently defined as beatdown/slo-mo, working with international labels such as Far Out Recordings, Sleazy Beats, Future Classics, E.A.R. Music For Dreams, Apersonal Music, Roam Recordings, !K7.
Planet Uthboar is a conceptual album that takes the listener on a journey to the fictive planet of Uthboar, where two heroes are on a quest to stop the supervillain Art from exterminating every living being on the planet. The album is inspired by old comics and 70’s sci-fi animation movies, so think of a kind of H.G. Wells dark sci-fi style mixed with lofi house and electro - all recorded straight to an old dusty cassette recorder!
Planet Uthboar is the first release on the new Copenhagen-based label Uthboar run by C.M. Art
Key dj support:
Vladimir Ivkovic - Salon Des Amateurs: Cassette culture indeed. Nice, enjoyable one. Thank you!
Bill Brewster - Late Night Tales, Home Taping Is Killing Music: Art is super gloopy Chicago-style electrosoul.
Sean Johnston - Hardway Bros, A Love From Outer Space: Great EP!
Massimiliano Pagliara - Panorama Bar, Ostgut Ton, Live at Robert: nice tunes!
Mr Ties - HOMOPATIC: chicago from the future
Diego Cortez Salas - Correspondant, Live At Robert Johnson: love it!
Richard Sen - Firehouse, Emotional Response, D-Edge Re: Art is the sound of late 80s Chi-tow
Raised somewhere between Ministry Of Sound’s ‘The Annual’ and early music message boards, Kolya’s taste still extends from obscure tape-only releases to turn-of-the-millennium trance anthems.
As a DJ, it’s taken the South Londoner from Bugged Out! to Berlin – at home supporting Demdike Stare with coldwave, spinning runway house alongside MikeQ while a House Of Trax resident, or unleashing noughties fidget at the closing of Camden’s infamous Lock Tavern. All of which is to say, his debut EP for Ecstasy Garage Disco arrives steeped in musical history.
Recorded during lockdown, it draws on perhaps his greatest love, deep (deep, deep) house. A soaring synth work out, opener ‘Stick Together’ is a case in point, standing on the shoulders of giants like Peter Daou, but with a life-affirming exuberance all of its own. ‘Miss Honey Prancin’ In The Twilite’, meanwhile, is a tribute to Moi Rene, as well as a love letter to Project X Records in general, her vocal recast over a groove that alternates between outer space iciness and snare-rolling high drama.
On the flip, ‘Crying Over Spilt Poppers’ blends the flavour of amyl-soaked Gherkin with the emotional nuance of Nu Groove, joyous and reflective in equal measure. And ‘Jamais Vu’ signs off, its bumping kick pattern and intertwining melodic layers connecting glimmering 90s electronica and contemporary, future-facing house.
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Uruguayan music that sheds light on a new path, guarded by candombe & hip hop. An hypnotic, contemporary and ancestral record. To listen from beggining to end, in a trance. Include contributions of Hugo Fattoruso y Ruben Rada. Txt: Martín Buscaglia . DESCRIPTION Sankofa is the debut album by Avr (Alvaro Silva), a work that takes form through the research and fusion of Candombe and other Afro rhythms from Río de la Plata region with Hip Hop and Black American Music. Avr, the great-grandson of Juan Julio Arrascaeta (one of the first afrodescendant poets to be published in Latin America) writes throughout the album, using several "africanisms" and lost words that date back from colonial and slavery times, giving the lyrics a connection with his great-grandfather's work, introducing himself as a skilfull MC who travels through past, present and future while using several Candombe rhythms in his flow. Highlighting several personalities from the Afrouruguayan culture and from across the American continent, it also presents itself as a valuable work for those interested in researching cultural figures of Black America, especially, Uruguayan. Under the production of Felipe Fuentes, an album knitted with tons of messages, some direct, some to be discovered, came to life. Sankofa means "to look back, to go forward" which is exactly from the beggining what this musical journey is, from a very heavy and dense, ancestral, drum presence, to complex harmonic compositions and arrangments, a work that counts with important contributions of some of the main afrouruguayan artists. A musical "Guiso" (South American stew) Sankofa is the vision of the world of a young black male, his way of feeling and interpreting the past, present and future; and how to transform it in order to generate something new.
Purple Vinyl
Concentric Records present this special edition EP by the Berlin-based duo YHDESSA - composed of Dutch-Italian composer and poly- instrumentalist Grand River and Sardinian electronic music experimentalist Enrica Falqui.
Entitled Along The Simple Line, the 5-track EP is a unique sonic journey that merges in pure form the distinct worlds of the two composers, exposing a warm and delicate essence. Perfectly punctuated, and in a pace of its own, the album gently and precisely unfolds through touching musical spaces, dramatic textures, entrancing rhythms and unexpected vocal lines, revealing a wonderful depth. The result is so perfectly uniting as if woven by the same two hands.
Yhdessa is a collaborative project made up of Grand River and Enrica Falqui which was conceptualised in 2017 while the duo shared a music studio and were living as a couple in Berlin. Their first piece, released in 2018 on the label One Instrument Records, was named after the Vermona E-Piano and is composed entirely using the analogue synthesizer that was built in 1978. Following this came their lingering soundscape Waldorf Micro Q featured on the record “One Instrument Volume 01” as well as an impelling remix of Dunes by Jiska Huizing and Rudi Valdersnes.
Aimée Portioli is a Berlin-based Dutch-Italian composer and sound designer who records and performs as Grand River. The name Grand River evokes nature, scale, and movement, all key forces in Portioli’s work. Her first release as Grand River was the resolute 2017 Crescente EP, which includes Flies, a composition named by XLR8R as one of the best tracks of that year. She followed this with her melodious debut album Pineapple (Spazio Disponibile, 2018), which garnered praise from The Quietus, amongst others. The moving and dynamic subsequent album, Blink A Few Times To Clear Your Eyes (Editions Mego, 2020) was lauded by Resident Advisor and The Verge, and was elected among the best albums of 2020 by Inverted Audio. Separately, Grand River’s work has appeared on compilations by Ghostly International, Tresor, Longform Editions and has composed an official remix for Tangerine Dream.
Enrica Falqui is a Sardinian music producer and DJ currently based in Berlin. With artistic versatility as one of her defining traits: she comfortably traverses between the dimensions of electronic music. For over a decade she has dedicated herself to the study of sound and the relentless excavation of lesser-known music, which has earned her bookings all over the world and commissions for her productions from some of the most respected labels including Marignal Returns which released Plexus, a mini-album of cool, divergent compositions. Enrica is also part of the coveted duo, ERIS, whose debut and sophomore EPs, Moments and Champions League, found their home on the illustrious Cabaret Recordings. The releases entwine the forceful with the ethereal and create an original, future-facing and club-orientated sound. Moloko, a drum-focussed track laced with weaving synths, was considered by Resident Advisor as one of the best tracks of 2019.
Aimée and Enrica’s musical union through Yhdessa, is one of colour and warmth. It expresses an experimental electro-ambient side of the two composers, to form a style that is meditative, other-worldly and at times introspective. Although, the two are now, no longer romantically engaged, they maintain a passionate friendship to match this profound musical partnership.
Divino Niño are no strangers to bold reinvention. When Camilo Medina and Javier Forero_friends whose bond dates back to their childhoods in Bogotá, Colombia_moved to Chicago and recruited guitarist Guillermo Rodriguez to form a band, they were psych-pop outsiders playing live shows with a drum machine. With the addition of drummer Pierce Codina, their 2019 breakthrough and debut LP for Winspear, Foam, solidified their place as local indie rock mainstays. Soon after, multi-instrumentalist Justin Vittori joined to round out their lineup. Once again, with their masterful, unpredictable, and eminently danceable new album, the band has done something radical: They totally upended the way they write songs, eschewing practice room jams for unrelentingly collaborative beats, implied grooves for immersive dance floor heaters, and mellow vibes for frenetic doses of reggaeton, electropop, and trap on their most adventurous and ambitious work to date. Welcome to the Last Spa on Earth. Written and recorded over the past two years, Last Spa on Earth deals in release and catharsis: confronting your darkest moments and coming out better for it. The album artwork, done by Medina, a longstanding visual artist, depicts a dreamy, yet graffiti-tagged spa, void of physical bodies so listeners can envision themselves in this unique environment. It represents the yin and yang approach Divino Niño took while creating the album: the serenity of the spa and the chaos of the party. Ultimately, the band's desire is to provide healing in the same way one feels after sweating, shivering, stretching, and resting at the spa against the backdrop of the world's darkness. Last Spa on Earth is the cathartic product of Divino Niño letting go of their musical preconceptions, past traumas, and future anxieties to embrace change, chaos, and each other's contributions both to these songs and to each other.
Divino Niño are no strangers to bold reinvention. When Camilo Medina and Javier Forero_friends whose bond dates back to their childhoods in Bogotá, Colombia_moved to Chicago and recruited guitarist Guillermo Rodriguez to form a band, they were psych-pop outsiders playing live shows with a drum machine. With the addition of drummer Pierce Codina, their 2019 breakthrough and debut LP for Winspear, Foam, solidified their place as local indie rock mainstays. Soon after, multi-instrumentalist Justin Vittori joined to round out their lineup. Once again, with their masterful, unpredictable, and eminently danceable new album, the band has done something radical: They totally upended the way they write songs, eschewing practice room jams for unrelentingly collaborative beats, implied grooves for immersive dance floor heaters, and mellow vibes for frenetic doses of reggaeton, electropop, and trap on their most adventurous and ambitious work to date. Welcome to the Last Spa on Earth. Written and recorded over the past two years, Last Spa on Earth deals in release and catharsis: confronting your darkest moments and coming out better for it. The album artwork, done by Medina, a longstanding visual artist, depicts a dreamy, yet graffiti-tagged spa, void of physical bodies so listeners can envision themselves in this unique environment. It represents the yin and yang approach Divino Niño took while creating the album: the serenity of the spa and the chaos of the party. Ultimately, the band's desire is to provide healing in the same way one feels after sweating, shivering, stretching, and resting at the spa against the backdrop of the world's darkness. Last Spa on Earth is the cathartic product of Divino Niño letting go of their musical preconceptions, past traumas, and future anxieties to embrace change, chaos, and each other's contributions both to these songs and to each other.
Divino Niño are no strangers to bold reinvention. When Camilo Medina and Javier Forero_friends whose bond dates back to their childhoods in Bogotá, Colombia_moved to Chicago and recruited guitarist Guillermo Rodriguez to form a band, they were psych-pop outsiders playing live shows with a drum machine. With the addition of drummer Pierce Codina, their 2019 breakthrough and debut LP for Winspear, Foam, solidified their place as local indie rock mainstays. Soon after, multi-instrumentalist Justin Vittori joined to round out their lineup. Once again, with their masterful, unpredictable, and eminently danceable new album, the band has done something radical: They totally upended the way they write songs, eschewing practice room jams for unrelentingly collaborative beats, implied grooves for immersive dance floor heaters, and mellow vibes for frenetic doses of reggaeton, electropop, and trap on their most adventurous and ambitious work to date. Welcome to the Last Spa on Earth. Written and recorded over the past two years, Last Spa on Earth deals in release and catharsis: confronting your darkest moments and coming out better for it. The album artwork, done by Medina, a longstanding visual artist, depicts a dreamy, yet graffiti-tagged spa, void of physical bodies so listeners can envision themselves in this unique environment. It represents the yin and yang approach Divino Niño took while creating the album: the serenity of the spa and the chaos of the party. Ultimately, the band's desire is to provide healing in the same way one feels after sweating, shivering, stretching, and resting at the spa against the backdrop of the world's darkness. Last Spa on Earth is the cathartic product of Divino Niño letting go of their musical preconceptions, past traumas, and future anxieties to embrace change, chaos, and each other's contributions both to these songs and to each other.
With his Arjunamusic label and a growing catalog of category-defying releases, Samuel Rohrer
continues to quietly, yet confidently, make a name for himself as a genuinely unique figure within
the European electronic music realm. Over the past decade he has assembled a repertoire of
music that fills a sadly neglected gap in the modern musical landscape. That is to say, he has
made a number of “electronically”-aided works that never seem to make “electronic-ism” the main
selling point or raison d'être. Rohrer understands that we inhabit a networked media landscape
that no longer sees a novelty value in every synthetic or technological sound, and by realizing
this, he makes a music that fully engages with the present without completely disregarding the
exciting speculative sensibility that has allowed electronic music to solidify into a tradition. His
latest solo album, Hungry Ghosts, again shows the high quality of sonic design that can be
achieved by conceptualizing musical passages as living, breathing entities rather than as
signposts to some still distant reality.
Maybe more so than any of Rohrer’s solo records to date, Hungry Ghosts is the one that
most unambiguously displays the artist as a kind of inspired sound “cultivator” or landscaper
rather than just a straightforward “producer”. The emphasis here seems to be biological growth
processes rendered in musical form, and in fact some track titles namechecking the biodiversity
of the external world (“Slow Fox”, “Ctenophora”) and neurochemistry (“Serotonin”) lend some
additional credence to this interpretation.
As with previous outings, Rohrer starts with his skills as a genre-resistant percussionist
and builds from there, with dense clusters of drum hits and icy cymbal exclamations leading the
way into a wide-open atmosphere full of fragmented phrases, marked with strange reversals or
compressions of time. The percussive portions and other ambiences merge together in such a
way that the latter seems like a kind of shifting, holographic camouflage for the former; an effect
which makes for a greater than usual number of shifts in mood. Rohrer’s already established
ambiguity and mystery are the moods that permeate throughout, to be sure, but there are also
surprising moments of humorous whimsy (the flourishes of cartoon mischief and teasing silences
on the tracks “Human Regression” and “Bodylanguage”), reverence (the optimistic organ swells
and steady sequencer guiding “Ceremonism”), and meditative focus (the slow-motion spectral
waltz of “Treehouse”). Also notable here are very brief etudes, such as “Window Pain,” whose
dark, lush ebb and flow actually seem tailored to repeated or looped listening.
It’s particularly remarkable that almost all of this material is recorded solo and in a “live /
no overdubs” mode, given how much it feels like well-rehearsed ensemble playing, and given the
impeccable timing involved in continually exchanging the sounds at the very forefront of the mix.
And here we come full circle to the idea of “electronic music” mentioned at the beginning here:
instead of making us feel that we are in the presence of some fully-realized form brought back
from “the future,” Rohrer invites us instead to witness fascinating processes of transition and
mutation, and to value them for what they are now as much as for where they are headed.
Breezy and carefree, Dragatto reminisces on a day spent exploring the streets of Madrid with only a camera, a few rolls of film and the shoes on his feet. Heavily inspired by the European adaptation of Bossa nova in the 1960's, Salvator creates his own unique mood that's equal parts sunny and joyful using simple melodic themes opposite lush string arrangements. A surefire companion for the next road trip down the coast or excursion through a foreign city. On the B side, as if delivered from the future, the sweet and punchy Return to Normal is a message of hope and optimism letting us know that things will indeed get better. Dreamy harp arpeggios float effortlessly atop a crushing rhythm section tip-toeing the line between calmness and urgency. Turn this one up loud, light one up and let go.
- 01: Mania D. - Zukunft (Sender Freies Berlin)
- 02: Mania D. - Radiator (Zossener Strasse Cute Version)
- 03: Malaria_ - I Will Be Your Only One (,,Malaria_ Ep)
- 04: Matador - Nite Time (,,A Touch Bcl_ Album Version)
- 05: Mania D. - Herzschlag (7Inch Single, Monogam)
- 06: Matador - Paradise (Demo Version)
- 07: Malaria_ - White Sky White Sea (Edit, ,,Weisses Wasser_ Ep)
- 08: Mania D. - Zukunft (Live In Dusseldorf)
- 09: Mania D. - Komm Darling Lass Uns Tanzen Gehen (Live In Dusseldorf)
- 10: Malaria_ - Madels Sind Toll (Live Berlin)
- 11: Malaria_ - You You (Live In Washington D.c., 9_30 Club, 1983)
- 12: Matador - Schreiender Tag (M_Sessions - Remaster)
- 13: Matador - Mother (Demo Version)
M_Sessions - Rare Originals is offering a selection of Mania D., Malaria and Matador’s music for the 40th anniversary. Bringing the past into the now and into the future. The original core team of Beate Bartel, Bettina Köster, Manon P. Duursma and Gudrun Gut selected "Rare Originals" from the repertoire of the 3 bands where they saw special relevance and beauty. There are live tracks, living room recordings and demo versions from times long gone.
The project M_Sessions focuses on the All Female bands Mania D., Malaria! and Matador in the West Berlin music and art scene of the late 1970s and 1980s. The three bands around their members Beate Bartel, Bettina Köster and Gudrun Gut played concerts in different formations from 1979 on, released records and toured around the world. The self-determined appearance of the musicians was new, raised some eyebrows and was reflected both in the music and the lyrics, but also in their unique style and the genre-crossing approach of "more art in the music, more music in the art". To this day, the bands are considered visionary, they shaped a new image of women in pop culture and are pioneers and role models for the still important and necessary emancipatory movement in the music industry. Far beyond the borders of Berlin.
- A1: Good News
- A2: More Time
- A3: Tell The Vision (Feat Kanye West & Pusha T)
- A4: Manslaughter (Feat Rick Ross & The-Dream)
- A5: Bout A Million (Feat 21 Savage & 42 Dugg)
- B1: Brush Em (Feat Rah Swish)
- B2: Top Shotta (Feat Pusha T, Travi & Beam)
- B3: 30 (Feat Bizzy Banks)
- B4: Beat The Speaker
- B5: Coupe
- C1: What's Crackin' (Feat Takeoff)
- C2: Genius (Feat Lil Tjay & Swae Lee)
- C3: Mr Jones (Feat Future)
- C4: Woo Baby (Interlude)
- C5: Woo Baby (Feat Chris Brown)
- D1: Demeanor (Feat Dua Lipa)
- D2: Spoiled (Feat Pharrell)
- D3: 8-Ball (Feat Kid Cudi)
- D4: Back Door (Feat Quavo & Kodak Black)
- D5: Merci Beaucoup
Das postume Album „Faith“ der New Yorker Drill- und Rap-Ikone Pop Smoke ist ab sofort auf Vinyl erhältlich! Sein neustes Meisterwerk debütierte auf Platz #1 der Billboard 200 Charts und auf Platz #7 der deutschen Albumcharts. Auf seinem Projekt ist die Crème de la Crème der Rap und Pop-Welt vertreten, darunter Megastars wie Kanye West, Pharrell, Kid Cudi, Chris Brown, Rick Ross, Future, Dua Lipa und viele mehr. Auf 20 fulminanten Tracks stellt Pop Smoke sein Talent und seine Vielseitigkeit wieder einmal unter Beweis, darunter die hitverdächtigen Songs „Demeanor“, „Woo Baby“ und „Tell the Vision“. Pop Smoke konnte in seiner kurzen Karriere bemerkenswerte, globale Erfolge zelebrieren und erreichte mit seinem Debütalbum „Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon“ als erster posthumer Künstler die Spitze der deutschen Hip Hop Album Charts. „Faith“ ist ein weiteres Testament an die Rap-Welt, welches seinen Legendenstatus nochmals untermalt. Rest in Peace Pop Smoke – gone but never forgotten.
Mighty Eye Records is proud to present the first single off its debut release, the self-titled full length album by 10th Street. Comprised of some of the best NYC musicians to grace the music scene in the past 20 plus years, this ode to late ‘70s disco, funk and bogie is sure to be a future classic!
Recorded at Soul Fire Studios (Williamsburg, Brooklyn) over the course of two years, more than twenty musicians were involved in the making of this album, boasting members of El Michels Affair, Lee Fields & The Expressions, The Dap-Kings, Antibalas and more.
“Hot Tonight” is a tight and sexy mid-tempo groover, driven by sultry female vocals from Terri Walker, Katt Rockell, Camille Sledge and a string arrangement by Leon Michels. B-side can seamlessly be mixed into the A-side for a five minute total play time. Get your doubles today!
Black Vinyl[25,42 €]
Sounding simultaneously from the past, the present, and the future, the debut album 'MLDE' by Marxist Love Disco Ensemble seeks to eradicate both the trite from disco and the sobriety from political music. Half poetic, half tongue-in-cheek, this stunning compact eight-track album is influenced by Eastern European and Mediterranean 70s disco records. In the words of band member Paolo, ''it was written in response to hearing 'I love America' by Patrick Juvet. The song prompted the question: why does disco, a genre originally created by oppressed minorities, eventually become synonymous with American capitalist excess?" MLDE seeks to break this connection.
Merging disco, post-disco 80s pop, and boogie into the fold, 'MLDE' was recorded using only analogue instruments, giving it warmth and space. Recorded on cassette, ¼ and ½ inch tape, this gives moments of lo-fi abstraction between the beats of an aggressive, tight drum kit. Instruments used for this recording range from saxophone, trumpet, harpsichord, guitar, and rare analogue synthesisers. The bass sound is shaped by early 80s boogie records, whilst the influence of artists such as Hamlet Minassian can be heard in some of MLDE's more driving-disco outings, such as 'Hues of Red'. In the tradition of Soviet vocal group records, which the band has studied, some songs are sung by a vocal quartet in homage to this tradition.
Tracks such as '1905' and 'Brumaire' have a greater pop aesthetic, with Paolo's vocal style on these more pop-driven songs evoking early 80s bands such as Orange Juice and Chas Jankel.
The format and message of pop and disco are commonly viewed just to entertain and move bodies around a dancefloor; however, lyrically, the subjects range from dialectical and historical materialism, class struggle, Marxist theory and praxis, as well as the concept of Marxist disco music.
Adding the icing to the cake, mastering don Joker aka Liam McLean dusted the album with his magic, giving the songs space where the room is needed, as well as the kick and punch demanded by the modern dancefloor.
Yes, this is a press release, and they are always full of hype, but we were blown away when we heard this album, and we hope it enriches you too.
- B2:
- A1: Nekta - Who´s Sorry Now
- A2: Mop Mop - Hot Pot (Ezequiel Lodeiro "Latinazo " Dub)
- A3: Gabriele Poso - Freedom
- A4:
- B1: Aromabar - Calling
- B3: Metropolitan Jazz Affair - You Can Dig
- B4: Dublex Inc Feat. Stee Downes - Something´s Missin
- B5: Valique - Herbie's Delight
- C1: Jhelisa - Love Is A State Of Mind
- C2: Woodland Conclave - Celebration Of Life (Song For Simon)
- C3: Matthias Vogt Trio – Driver (Joash Remix)
- D1: Taxi – The Accessory
- D2: Rime - Smoke And Regret
- D3: Shantel - Considerando (Video Version)
- D4: Kosma - La Seule Fleur Dans Le Jardin (For Karen)
INFRACom!, one of the longest operating Independent labels in Germany, celebrate it´s 30yrs anniversary with a vinyl compilation consisting of tracks that have never been released on vinyl before. Label co-founder Jan Hagenkötter handpicked these from various artist in the catalog, true to the spirit of the label and its operator – We couldn´t save the entire planet but we still like to save your soul.
The artwork was once again designed by Rafael Jimenez Heckmann, a well-known graphic designer from Offenbach. He is responsible for most of the artworks and designs on INFRACom!... his covers have already been awarded several times e.g. in Lürzers Archive and others.
The inlay was designed by the long time friend & well known artist Jim Avignon. In the nineties before Jim went to Berlin and New York to get world famous he lived in Frankfurt for a few years and drew and partied a lot with Jan Hagenkötter & Namé Vaughn…the two DJ´s, friends and founders of INFRACom! He even contributed a song to the very first INFRACom! production. Since that time they cultivate a lovely friendship and Jim was happy to contribute an artwork to this anniversary release.
Most of the tracks included on the compilation were released only on CD and then digitally in the so-called 2000s or noughties, as it was very difficult to release any album on vinyl during that time due to the situation in the music market while the transition from physical to digital products and the piracy phenomenon. Fortunately, today the different formats can coexist again.
INFRACom!, once started locally in Frankfurt with artist like Shantel who released his first recordings on the label. He is featured by a collaboration with the Brazilian duo Rosanna & Zélia. Soon INFRACom! expanded to an international platform for artist from all over the world like Jhelisa (USA), Mop Mop & Gabriele Poso..both from Italy, Metropolitan Jazz Affair the brainchild of French producer and musician Patchworks, Taxi from the UK, Rime from Finland or Aromabar from Austria…all with different styles of music.
The vision of the two founders Jan Hagenkötter & Namé Vaughn was and still is artistically oriented and has never favored just only one style of music.
The roots of INFRACom as a label are based in the various form of black music culture - conditiopned to the influences and personal history of the two founders - but also deeply rooted in the club and DJ culture and various forms of electronic music. The compilation can only show a small glimpse into the universe with tunes that stand the test of time.
One of the best examples is Matthias Vogt with whom the label has a long standing collaboration and who just this year released the album PIANISSIMO on INFRACom!. He can be heard with his Matthias Vogt (Jazz) Trio in a cinematic remix from Joash and two pieces by the highly successful re:jazz band which he leads.
With Valique we are happy to feature a Belarus/Russian artist on the release these days….one who already showed ten years ago on his album artworks what he thinks about the politics of his government. As an open minded label and ethnical diverse ppl. we think “Fuck Putin and his disciples and like-minded people, but let's not condemn all Russian-born people. Some prefer to worship Herbie Hancock...like Valique and we want to support that.”
With Nekta, Dublex Inc. feat Stee Downes and Kosma this release features three more artists from various regions in Germany, each with their great moments.….and last but not least the mysterious Woodland Conclave (UK)…a waltz and a story yet to be told and hopefully will be…on INFRACom!…in the near future!
d A4 | re jazz Feat N'dea Davenport - Don't Push Your Luck (Wagon Cookin´ Vocal Remix)
f B2 | re jazz Feat Mediha - Tears
d A4 | [Re:Jazz] feat. N'Dea Davenport - Don'T Push Your Luck (Wagon Cookin' Vocal Remix)
[f] B2 | [Re:Jazz] feat. Mediha - Tears
Clear Vinyl
"The making of this album first started as a recollection of music and sound design I've produced over the last couple of years for events and installations - interactive and immersive AV experiences. It was like creating a specific atmosphere for visitors where I'd take them into this sensorial but artificial experience within a very confined spatial domain. This is how the "Climats" concept emerged.
Longer ambient and generative pieces thus found their own space in my repertoire, allowing me to explore more in-depth, non-linear execution with soft, moody and padded textures. Eventually, all this freeform material became available so I could extract parts of it to build more club-centered and straightforward tracks, but nonetheless, the list grew and all this softer-edged, more introspective works were aggregating over time.
At the time of the lockdown, it felt very natural to get back to it and finalize it as a cohesive whole. It was a very healing and a smooth process to work on these. From isolation, I could open this window to thoughts where I made up my very own Science Fiction story while working on the music. I really wanted it to be a one-hour soundtrack experience that I'd listen at home or driving while my mind would travel across all those musical scapes. It was never a formalized script, but the music spoke for itself with themes of anticipation, collapse, utopia, the world as we know it, the near and far future...
Creating the album was quite a sporadic production process that stretched over several years but it all came together and made a lot of sense in the context of the title I chose : TERRAFORM. The narrative of the album simply unfolds from Dawn to Dusk, and the listener navigates through the different climates that each track embodies."
- TENEBRE
Old-School-Hip-Hop how it has to be! Creamy soul samples and sing-along choruses. With this release we celebrate 2 things: our (Lonestar’s) 20th anniversary (yes, we’re old!) and the 10th anniversary of this excellent album. It was originally released only in a small edition on vinyl done by the band. Now it gets a proper re-release with an exclusive-coloured version. But it’s limited to only 300 copies. So be fast or regret it later! "Party people hold onto your hats!" Ugly Duckling presents their fifth full-length album Moving at Breakneck Speed. After more than a decade in the music business, Young Einstein, Andy Cooper and Dizzy Dustin are well accustomed to the recording process. For their latest LP, the boys dug deep into their bag of tricks to create what they feel is their most dynamic and complete release to date. Moving at Breakneck Speed is an exciting and musically exotic adventure story that has our desperate heroes circling the globe to outrun an evil gang of super-criminals determined to put an end to UD once and for all. The record is made up of 14 power packed tracks that showcase Ugly Duckling’s classic production sound as well as the flavourful and humorously soulful vocal styles of Dizzy and Andy. “By the time you work on your fifth record, you ought to know how to do it, right?” asks Andy, “I think we put all of the pieces together to make a really, really good album”. We've made a habit of finding talented artists to create our artwork and this album is certainly no exception. This time around we enlisted the help of Justin Ridge. A native of smoggy Southern California, Justin has enjoyed making silly drawings and directing on animated shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender, Star Wars: Clone Wars, The Cleveland Show, and most recently Black Dynamite: The Animated Series. You can see more of his stuff on his website at justinridgeart. It has been a pleasure working with Justin on this venture and look forward to seeing what the future has in store for this very gifted animator. Also contributing his talents to this album is photographer Noel J. Hadley. We have Noel to thank for the awesome photos that you see displayed throughout the site. Noel's specialty is actually wedding photos, but he was kind enough to join us on a fun-filled afternoon in Los Angeles to capture the theme images for the new album. He was also along for the ride during the filming of the Elevation video, set to be released later this year. You can check out photos from the video shoot on Noel's blog. In addition, there are a number of people who donated their time and effort to help bring this album to life. Comedian TJ Miller can be seen in the Elevation video, a combination live-action/cartoon which will be animated by Justin Ridge. We would also like to thank Andy Carpenter, Jon St. James, Josh Barlow, Josh Fischel, Victor, Dago, Tamika, Tiko, Hiroko, Missy, Brian, Ashley-Dominique, Clout, and the entire Tru Beatz Crew for their contributions. You are all valued members of the UD family. Track listing: Keep Movin’; Momentum; $100 Weekend; Elevation; I Wonder Where She Is Now; One Horse Town; Anything Can Happen (In The Big City); How It Used To Be; Einstein Got A Monkey; Run For The Light; Sprint!; The Homecoming; The Breakneck Theme; Endless Summer
- A1: Goi
- A2: Esheee!!!
- A3: Friday 13Th
- A4: Igqom Libuye
- B1: Ouuu1
- B2: Qumqum!!!
- B3: S3
- B4: Siyangqongqoza
- B5: The Night
- C1: Gqom Nyege
- C2: Pink Light
- C3: Ngom Ya Phesh*
- C4: Izandla
- D1: Umshini*
- D2: I Xhaphozi
- D3: Ushukela
- D4: Ubhuku
- E1: The Gringo
- E2: Salut To Phelimuncasi
- E3: Salut To Dj Lag
- E4: Qhafaza
- F1: Section A
- F2: Shadow
- F3: The King Of Gqom
- F4: Congo Dance
- F5: Uzalo
Highlighting the continuing evolution of Durban's globally influential gqom sound, this special trilogy of releases showcases three separate artists from South Africa's fertile musical landscape. The set captures a fresh wave of gqom innovation from veteran producer DJ Skothan/DJ Scoturn, DJ Scriby, and 20-year-old DJ MaRiiO. DJ Skothan/DJ Scoturn has been a key figure in Durban's underground scene for many years, producing alongside Phelimuncasi, Bhejani, Tweeyking, Lafaristo, MaRiiO and DJ MP3. His gqom and house tracks have quietly provided a rumbling engine for the city's scene, and "Nevegation" is his debut full-length, providing a complex diagram of his dancefloor versatility. This isn't the gqom you might expect to hear: immediately on opener 'The Gringo' familiar sounds - shovel kicks, chopped vocals, sampled gasps, horror movie strings - are shuffled into atypical patterns, creating jerky soundscapes rather than the expected four-on-the-floor bump. 'Salut to DJ Lag' pays respect to Durban's Beyoncé-approved pioneer, but twists the template into a propulsive new form, adding rolling and evolving percussion that teases fractal shapes each bar. But the album's most unexpected and forward-thinking moment arrives with the aptly titled 'The King of Gqom', a track that simmers the genre's percussive sounds into limber sci-fi club futurism, tweaking the bass sounds into patterns that nod to dubstep, Jersey club and ballroom. 25-year-old DJ Scriby has been working behind the scenes since 2013, assisting the first wave of gqom innovators promote their sound both inside Durban and beyond. In 2017 he joined London's Trax Couture to release "The Clermont EP", and here he introduces his long-awaited follow-up "Izingoma zeGqomu". Scriby's approach to gqom is well-studied and self-aware, which gives him the ability to stretch the sound's scope across the diaspora: just peep the Atlanta trap synths on the dynamic 'Friday 13th', or the absorption of tight grime snares on opening track 'Goi'. Scriby's engineering skill pushes his productions to the next level, lending slithering downtempo tracks like 'Ouuu1' and 'Igqom Libuye' a widescreen, big-room punch without losing the genre's undulating funk. And the producer even eyes the EDM mainstage with 'Qumqum!!', balancing saccharine synths with jerky kicks, claps and rolling toms. The youngest artist featured in the collection, DJ MaRiiO started producing when he was just 12 years old, watching YouTube production videos. "No one told me how to use FL Studio," he admits, "and no one helped me doing different genres." This might be why his music sounds so completely unique; the basic structure of gqom is still present, but MaRiiO augments these elements with youthful energy and carefree use of unusual sounds and production methods. "Zulu Man" opener 'GQom NyeGe' manages to mash together trance synths, DMZ bass and a driving woodblock rhythm that reminds you of its Durban roots, while the bizarre 'Ngom ya Phesh', featuring MaRiiO's regular collaborator Hot Chicks on vocals, pushes the gqom template into the red, with overdriven kicks and disorienting environmental sounds. All three records provide a 360 degree view of Durban's contemporary underground, nodding to the past, present and future of gqom. It's a genre that's constantly in flux as it moves from South Africa's bedrooms and basements to main stages and movie screens across the globe.
- A1: Sclavis Romano Texier - Soweto Sorrow
- A2: Roy Hargrove The Rh Factor - Ill Stay
- A3: Lalo Schifrin - Panamericana
- A4: La Banda De Santiago De Cuba - Chan Chan
- B1: Mccoy Tyner Sextet - Manalyuca
- B2: Milt Jackson Hank Jones All Stars Quartet - Delilah
- B3: Gilberto Gil - Toda Menina Baiana
- C1: Abraham Reunion - Tryin Times
- C2: Leon Phal Quintet - Soulful
- C3: Arnaud Dolmen Quartet - On Dimanch Maten
- C4: Jasual Cazz - Baby Rover
- D1: Emile Londonien - Strength
- D2: Ishkero - Oliloqui Valley
- D3: Gin Tonic Orchestra - Do You Have
Not every day do you celebrate a 40th birthday. That’s why, the most famous French Jazz Festival, “Jazz at Vienne” is marking the four-decade – emerald – anniversary of France’s signature jazz and blues event not once, but twice. After a truncated 2021 edition, the festival’s storied history, dating back to 1981, is being celebrated with a full concert schedule this year, alongside a compilation album, Past & Future in collaboration with Heavenly Sweetness. The album - an amalgam of stories, emotion and resonant echoes – captures the festival’s essence. Listen in closely, then once again.
PAST
Listen to the best moments of live music in Vienne Antic Theater. With prestigious names of jazz : McCoy Tyner, trio Romano / Sclavis / Texier, Hank Jones, Milt Jackson, Lalo Schiffrin, Roy Hargrove and world music Gilberto Gil, Banda de Santiago de Cuba.
FUTURE
A selection of the best young artists of the French jazz scene, chosen following a call for candidates of several months ! 7 unreleased tracks specially recorded for this album. The young talents who will hopefully be part of the festival in the coming
One of the most highly awaited records on the planet. In true Bad Company UK style, going against the grain to bring you what you want. Oxygen - Prolix Remix and Dogs on the Moon - Delta Heavy Remix have been immortalised together on one piece of vinyl #1, kickstarting the BCUK Remix vinyl project which has been evolving and developing over the past 7 years, to bring you something very special. As supported by the likes of Andy C, The Prototypes, AMC, Audio and everyone else, these tracks are locked and loaded.
Dogs On The Moon Delta Heavy Remix - A bouncy catchy remix by Delta Heavy, with a bass line and drop that is an energetic anthemic Bad Company UK dance-floor classic. Fit for the old school Drum & Bass heads while also being a perfectly modern new age banger with a fast tempo for those who like to move, dance, run, exercise or just enjoy DnB at its best.
OxygenProlix Remix - An uptempo Drum & Bass remix from the highly talented Prolix, of the classic Bad Company UK deadly sinister theme - Oxygen. The old school Drum & Bass generation are thrilled to see the ‘Drilla Killa’ classic updated for 2022, giving the new age fans who are more and more interested in the foundation of the scene, a slice of the past with a modern twist. This rhythmical beast will get you showing off your best moves while screwing up
your face.
Dj support: UKF, Andy C, A.M.C, DC Breaks, Ed Rush, Audio, Prolix, Futurebound, The Proto- types, Dj Marky, Bryan G, Mampi Swift, Jumping Jack Frost.
Limitierte Loser Edition, gepresst auf "Misty Kiwi Fruit Green" farbiges Vinyl. "When The Wind Forgets Your Name" ist das erste neue Built to Spill -Album seit der Veröffentlichung von "Untethered Moon" aus dem Jahr 2015 und das achte Studioalbum dr langlebigen Band um Mastermind Doug Martsch. Es wurde von Martsch produziert, von Martsch, Lê Almeida, Joao Casaes und Josh Lewis gemischt und von Mell Dettmer gemastert. Das Cover Artwork wurde von dem Comiczeichner Alex Graham (Dog Biscuits; Fantagraphics Books) gestaltet, der auch den fünfzigteiligen Comicstrip für das Klappcover des Albums illustriert hat (erhältlich mit den CD-, LP- und MC-Ausgaben des Albums). Seit 1992 wollte Doug Martsch, Gründer von Built to Spill, dass seine geliebte Band ein gemeinschaftliches Projekt ist, eine sich ständig weiterentwickelnde Gruppe von unglaublichen Musikern, die gemeinsam Musik machen und live spielen. Nach mehreren Alben und EPs auf Independent-Labels stand Martsch von 1995 bis 2016 bei Warner Brothers unter Vertrag. In dieser Zeit nahmen er und seine wechselnden Mitstreiter sechs unbestreitbar großartige Alben auf - "Perfect From Now On", "Keep It Like A Secret", "Ancient Melodies Of The Future", "You In Reverse", "There Is No Enemy", "Untethered Moon". "When The Wind Forgets Your Name" setzt nun die Erweiterung des Built to Spill -Universums auf neue und aufregende Weise fort. Im Jahr 2018 brachten Martschs Glück und seine Intuition ihn mit dem brasilianischen Lo-Fi-Punk-Künstler und Produzenten Le Almeida und seinem langjährigen Mitstreiter Joao Casaes zusammen, beide von der psychedelischen Jazz-Rock-Band ORUA. Als Martsch ihre Musik entdeckte, verliebte er sich sofort in sie und bat sie bei Built to Spill mitzumachen, als er eine neue Begleitband für Auftritte in Brasilien brauchte. Die Auftritte in Brasilien liefen so gut, dass Martsch, Almeida und Casaes beschlossen, 2019 weiter zusammen zu spielen und durch die USA und Europa zu touren. Bei Soundchecks erlernten sie neue Songs, die Martsch geschrieben hatte, und als die Tournee zu Ende war, nahmen sie die Bass- und Schlagzeugspuren in seinem Proberaum in Boise auf. Nachdem sie nach Hause geflogen waren, begann Martsch selbst mit dem Overdubbing von Gitarren und Gesang. Das gemeinschaftliche Abmischen fand während der Pandemie übers Internet statt, in dem die Tracks hin und her geschickt wurden. Herausgekommen ist "When The Wind Forgets Your Name", eine komplexe und schlüssige Mischung aus den unterschiedlichen musikalischen Ideen der Künstler. Neben den poetischen Texten und Themen von Built to Spill sorgen die Experimente und die Liebe zum Detail für ein Album voller einzigartiger, lebendiger und zeitloser Klänge.
Key player of the French electronic music scene, DAMIEN ALMIRA launches his new vinyl only label ALMIRA RECORDS.
On the 1st release, he take his famous pseudonym TIMID BOY to deliver a contemporain house banger.
IO MULEN makes a future house remix, an new classic from the Ukrainian microhouse hero.
"What took you so long?" might be a valid question concerning the ten year gap between Zanshin's new album "In Any Case By Any Chance" and his first album "Rain Are In Clouds".
Of course it is a question that the Viennese musician has asked himself quite startled in his usual self-critical manner, just to realize at a closer look that it has not been a lack of creativity or laziness at least. He used the Zanshin moniker on four EP releases and several remixes, plus a game soundtrack. Not to forget all his output as one half of producer duo Ogris Debris (the album "Constant Spring" from 2016 and roughly two dozen singles and remixes) and the many, partly award-winning audiovisual installations and performances with Leonhard Lass as DEPART (depart.at). Furthermore he has also built two sound installations in 2021, "I Gong" at Elevate Festival and "Cymatic Sands" at Ars Electronica. In addition, Zanshin performs with the Max-Brand-Synthesizer from time to time as part of the compositions by Elisabeth Schimana, and together with label mate Dorian Concept he has also composed and performed the piece "Half Chance/Music for Moogtonium" for this unique instrument, built by Bob Moog himself.
Not spared by certain global developments of recent years, but rather invigorated by exploring his own resilience, Zanshin had a talk with Affine Records Operator Jamal in the beginning of 2021, speaking of future ideas and releases. And what was initially a single release spawned into a whole album in seemingly no time. An old skit ("Polar Polychrome") on the Roland MC-505 groove-box that had never really been forgotten, but was rather waiting patiently somewhere in the back of his mind, suddenly proved to be the initial spark for the album.
The term "Zanshin", roughly translated as un-focussed attention, is in fact more than just a pseudonym but rather a directive in the artists life. Zanshin really likes to go in several directions at once, kind of according to Wittgenstein's claim that "The world is everything that is the case.", to find out where his love for music might lead him this time. He also somehow went back to his roots with this album. Not necessarily in the sense of certain musical influences or genres, because then the album would be even more eclectic than it already is. More like a focus on the core values in the fabrication process of the music itself, the freedom to rather follow the structures and sounds than to shape them in a completely predetermined way. Somebody once called it, "to weave what the music demands."
In this regard, Zanshin often feels more like a sculptor and tries not toadhereto strongly to the rules of specific sub-genres of electronic music. Searching for sounds and designing them is one of the energies that fuels his interest the most, thus at the beginning of a lot of tracks there are small skits and ideas that have the freedom to grow in whatever direction.
Hence this album has no elaborate story to tell, there is no extensive "narrative" or big time "storytelling" at work. "In Any Case By Any Chance" is not a novel but rather a collection of short stories (which are certainly dense and have complex plots nonetheless). The result is a long-player where playful electronica, skillful songwriting, extrovert dance music and symphonic film music enter into a symbiotic relationship. Returning to another Wittgenstein quote, "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent", the emotional impact of music is the main focus and the results can be quite solemn at times, but around the corner always lurks the next bone-breaking rhythm pattern and gnarly sound design.
The infamous saying, "writing about music is like dancing about architecture", is another brick in the wall of sound in Zanshin's approach to music. He rarely roots himself in traditions or uses them too overtly, he really likes to agglomerate sounds, to challenge the listeners. It seems like he tries to avoid classification on purpose, because he knows that everyone has their own perception anyway. The only thing that this music demands implicitly is a willingness to listen attentively.
Very dense, at times really heavy and massive, then again airy and playful. "Music for clubs that don't exist.", might be another fitting caption to describe this album, which lasts for a little more than an hour.
The opener "Heatseeker" rushes to a sudden head start with its steel pan extravaganza, tropical vibes meet a bass line drenched in electro funk, and electrified synth stabs support the declaration of love in the lyrics. Kind of Jamie XX meets Electro meets Diva House. The monster that is "Bronteroc Brawl" is up next, a serious test for the speakers and a wild ride with metallic, growling sounds. The aggressive sound design reminds of suspense ridden shark chases, vicious dogs and cunning dinosaurs, in any case a track for people who love a proper bass stomper.
A new approach for the "indie discotheque" brings the emotional roller-coaster "In Gloom" with snappy drums and hypnotic synth motives á la Alessandro Cortini, creating an epic atmosphere together with the multi-layered vocals. A psycho-acoustic treat is position 4, the crisp instrumental "Polar Polychrome", you could even go as far as calling this a Zanshin signature track. Like mentioned before, the roots of this track go back to 2002 and you can hear the unmistakable influence of beat wizards like Photek, a piercing bass line is supported by poly-rhythmic drums, while dense pads try to escape the claustrophobic lockdown mood of winter 2020/21.
Another round of intense pathos waits for the listeners in the ensuing track "In Search Of". Moderat say "Hello", a melancholy piano melody is rushed to a climax by a wild bass arpeggio and forceful drums, the desire for a perfect sunrise at the next after-hour to the max. Initially just an appendix to the preceding track, "Time After Thought" swiftly developed from a mere improvisation to an ambient epic with a croaking alien piano, as if Keith Jarrett were on his way to Alpha Centauri.
Up next is the first single "Because Why", a breakbeat driven, synth-heavy track with winged vocals and a popular film quote. The title refers to the movie "Alphaville" by Jean-Luc Godard, a dystopian science fiction film noir, in which an omniscient computer system named Alpha 60 is ruling society and humans can only say "because" but never "why". As if the gears of a galactic mechanism were spinning into motion sounds "Identity Slices". A raspy chord structure finds its counterbalance in a kind of stumbling, wonky beat, and Zanshin would never deny the huge influence that Autechre's sounds and structures always have had on his music. Micro- and macrocosm meet on the same level and this friction is also a metaphor for questions of identity and self-awareness, without using voices or lyrics.
Off we go into the IDM bubble bath of "Enzyme Enigma", the bass drum is stomping and a fizzy acid-line is twisting in all directions behind rolling dub-techno chords. "Corrosion Creak" is a kind of acoustic degradation process, the rave dogs are finally let loose and everything happens at once, funky synths shred, string sounds wail and then there is this bass that sounds like smashing a rusty metal plate in the junk yard with a vengeance.
Towards the end everything slows down a bit, the beat in "Whatever Words" is Warp school cerebral hop at its best and therefore loads of glittery, creaky sounds swarm out until the synapses are overloaded, cumulating in a mighty bass ending. Last but never least, "Rebus Redux" guides us into the limitless night sky, with long indulgent pads dotted by an aimlessly wandering piano, while a compact net of tamed resonances and meandering sub frequencies unfolds in the background, enticing navel-gazing imagination.
A legendary indie audio artist blurring his lifelong attachments, from spontaneous composition (in the late 70's with John Zorn) to experimental rock (with Bongwater and other bands in the 80's) alongside his recent inquiries into the intricacies of ambient-folk songcraft (with his most recent solo LP, "And The Wind Blew It All Away"), Kramer continues to explore the possibilities of shaping naturally occuring aural landscapes into intoxicatingly affecting music. Sound and language - not just melody and ambient textures - has been his raw material for decades. He nowjuggles them more deftly than ever on his newest ambient opus. In the ten compositions that comprise this new LP, mournful at times yet mysteriouslylife-affirming and generous in their scope, Kramer sees films where there arenone, and composes his accompanying ambient soundtracks in a state of interrupted grace. Words, text, complete screenplays, character arcs, shooting scripts and storyboards swirl through his head as he puts his imagery to sound, and the results evoke a world in which moths, drawn to the bright flickering lightsof Cinema and the low humming lights of Dreams, in Kramer's own words, "...might never die". The LP's nature reveals an interior dialogue between musician and choice. Each piece represents Kramer's encounter with the blank canvas of silence that greets him as a composer. Embracing sounds as objects and instruments of Truth, the end result of his process is as much about what is absent and what has been removed or edited away than what is left in its wake as artifacts of emotion. These pieces are the Spring frost of lost imaginings, vanitas to broken connections, visions nearly unrecordable by the human eye. Kramer envisions a music that functions to stoptime, as an event that always plays in the present and never needs a past to give it a reference point. It is music that communicates in the most intimate way possible, as intricately and as deeply as the way it blossoms and shifts and evades categorizationwhen exposed to thin air. Drawn toward the light of a multitude of influences, we hear echoes of the feverishly frozen dreams of composers Morton Feldman, Terry Riley, Brian Eno and Arvo Part, melting alongside the surreal cinemas of David Lynch and The Brothers Quay, all parts converging to evoke a time and place that does not exist outside of the mind's eye of the listener. These ten works are fluid adventures in fathomless landscapes, emotions distilled and offered as a paintless painting without a physical home. Each individual composition is an offering to a future memory, a chalice to be filled with the listener's own reactions to them. As a whole, the ten pieces form an image of ten circling planets in an expanding galaxy that colors itself anew with each subsequent listen. Movement, grace, and Peace.
It’s nearing a decade since William Doyle released his Mercury Music Prize nominated debut album, Total Strife Forever, as East India Youth in 2014. A year later, he had toured the world and was releasing his second album, Culture of Volume, but it would be another four years before Doyle returned with his third full album, and the first official release under his own name. The dizzyingly ambitious Your Wilderness Revisited arrived in 2019 and was followed last year by the artpop masterpiece, Great Spans of Muddy Time. In the years between leaving the old project behind and re-emerging under his own name, Doyle self-released a string of ambient-leaning albums, The Dream Derealised, Lightnesses Vol I & II and Near Future Residence, which are now to receive a first vinyl pressing via Tough Love. The Dream Derealised is a collection of nine abstract, lo-fi pieces that were recorded during the summer of 2016, when focusing on creating them helped guide Doyle through a “difficult period of anxiety, panic and a regular dissociative feeling called derealisation.” At the time, doing something creative in a quick and immediate fashion felt vital to Doyle, carrying him to a new place: “I’m releasing them now as a cathartic measure, and as a message for others who may be going through difficult times themselves. What I told myself at the time, what I can tell you now: You are not in danger. You are not going insane. You are not alone.”
The second extended EP by London synth cyberneticians 3 Electro Knights is Rave One, which is human and machine in hot synergy. If Blixa Bargeld played the synthesizer he would probably come up with something like the crazed lead on Rave One. I Move In Another Dimension is a remix of very limited lathe cut single, which Rough Trade shops described as “Electro sqwonk and clatter meet Patti Smith style beat poetry’. This, the “Mandy” remix ups the psychedelic energy, with Mandy referring to the acid drenched Nicholas Cage starring film of the same name. The flip side track, I_tense, is a 14 trip into territory somewhere between Berlin School synth and early Aphex Twin driven by perhaps the greatest synthesizer ever made, the Roland System 100m, and was recorded in one take with no overdubs Very limited copies – 250 only – on white vinyl with orange swirl. The sleeve design is by acclaimed graphic designer Asif Khan. Destroy/Exist wrote of their cassette album Sketches For Another Future: “Through krautrock, psychedelic, synthpunk, and modern electronica passages, 3 Electro Knights fully realize their analog electronic sound, exposing their warm connection with their synths.” 3 Electro Knights are Daren Pickles (Supercharger, bushpilot), Nik Clifford (Jesus Licks, bushpilot) and Ross Holloway (bushpilot).
- A1: Jadu Jadu, Tambala, Apltn, Makzo - Senzu Bean
- A2: Joe Bae - For Louis
- A3: Suff Daddy - Raki For 600
- A4: Flobama - No Screen
- A5: L.dre - Fool's Gold
- A6: Gnarly - On The Horizon
- A7: Moshun - Evening Loner
- A8: Saaaz - Too Much
- B1: Tenderlonious - Seventh Wonder
- B2: Baro Sura, Silentjay - Goodmorning
- B3: Arrangement Studio - Operator
- B4: Fredfades, Kristoffer Eikrem - Gold
- B5: Kuzich - All These Feelings
- B6: Silentjay - Limerence
- B7: Tropical Hifi - Subtropic (Butter Edit)
Vol. 1[17,52 €]
823 is a multifaceted Perth-based record label, fashion brand, and artistic community, founded by Australian producer and all-around creative, Ta-ku (846k monthly listeners on Spotify). With an ethos of attention to detail and appreciation for the everyday things in life, 823 doesn’t stick to any particular genre. 823’s releases include Cabu’s (800k Monthly Listeners on Spotify) “So Far To Go” EP, Ta-ku and matt mcwaters’s duo project “Black and White,” which featured Masego collaboration “Flight 99” (14 million streams on Spotify), their debut release with Australian producer and instrumentalist Kuzich, and multiple sold out clothing capsules. “All Things Considered Vol. 1” set off a collaborative series of curated compilations, featuring both budding and well-established artists around the world including Idealism, Wun Two, pastels, SwuM, Jinsang, Saltyyyy V, and more. “All Things Considered Vol. 2” sees the continuation of this project, this time in partnership with fellow Perth-based powerhouse, Butter Goods.
Butter Goods is a Perth clothing brand rooted in skating culture and style, but drawing inspiration from hip-hop, jazz, and music at large. Butter Goods has been featured in major publications, including GQ, Complex, and HYPEBEAST. They’ve collaborated on releases with Peanuts and Puma, and have reached international levels of popularity. Butter Goods co-founder Garth Mariano’s deep love for and eclectic tastes in music drive his creativity, and are front and center in his partnership with Ta-ku and 823 on “All Things Considered Vol 2,” where the two team up to curate a wide-ranging compilation.
Arriving on September 2nd, 2022, “All Things Considered Vol. 2” is an exploration of Ta-ku’s and Mariano’s extensive and often overlapping musical palettes in two parts. The record pays homage to the love of instrumental music and hidden gems of new school jazz and funk that act as a source of inspiration and nostalgia for the both of them. The collaboration brings together over a dozen producers and instrumentalists from Sydney to Chicago, including Jadu Jadu, Gnarly, Tenderlonius, silentjay, and more. Side A is curated by Ta-ku and 823. It’s as much a love letter to the past as it is a nod to the future of beat-making. Featuring sample heavy, drum looped beats, sprinkled with the occasional ear candy for the attentive listener, it presents cruisy soundscapes & easy listening. Side B is curated by Garth and Butter Goods. It’s a raw and eclectic companion to Side A, leaning heavily into the texture and grit of multi-layered jazz and funk-driven beats.
As with any 823 release, the project is as visual as it is sonic. The artwork and visualizers are a celebration of Garth’s love of thrift culture and old nature documentaries, fused with 823’s design aesthetic of bringing everyday inspirations to the forefront. CRT style visuals are paired with 90’s spin, slide and fade away transitions. When partnered with the music, each visualizer could easily work as the intro for an episode of a VHS series of nature docos.
1st single, “senzu bean,” arrives on July 7th and kicks off Side A, showcasing Ta-ku’s hip-hop-centric tastes. Sydney producer Jadu Jadu teams up with UK-based TAMBALA, apltn, and Makzo for a vibrant instrumental. From a head-nodding bassline beneath fuzzy synths, to soft horn licks sprinkled over electronic drums, “senzu bean” is sonically rich and multilayered.
2nd single, “Too Much” by UK producer saaaz arrives July 20th. It’s a moody and low-tempo beat that builds itself up over time, complete with cryptic vocal samples and syrupy drums and bass. Also off of 823’s Side A, “Too Much” maintains a laid-back hip-hop theme but with saaaz’s signature and definitive lo-fi twist.
3rd single, “Goodmorning” from Baro Sura and silentjay of Melbourne arrives August 3rd, kicking off Butter Good’s Side B. The track is bright from start to finish and is a sun-filled track perfect for closing out the summer with. Final single, “Fool’s Gold” by Los Angeles producer L.Dre arrives August 17th. The infinitely creative beatmaker layers soft hums and the sounds of crashing waves over crisp drums and an infectious bassline. Together, it makes for a beat that sounds like it was made outside, under the sun, and is best enjoyed in the same way.
Focus track, “Seventh Wonder” by Tenderlonius, comes off of Side B, and is a window into the ideas and palettes on both sides of the compilation. The beat slowly fades in, one sound at a time, until it reaches a full-fledged groove, soaked in synths, bass, and horns, that’s impossible not to move to.
On the whole, “All Things Considered Vol. 2” is a forward-focused, sonic journey into the minds behind two of today’s great creative brands, and is as artistically eclectic and varied as those minds are, and a proud follow-up to its first volume.
LP contains A2 poster on uncoated stock.
5 Year Anniversary Repress of the seminal debut album, on Black Ice vinyl with special Black Foil Gatefold packaging. Original Sales Text Below: The new project from The Dillinger Escape Plan's Greg Puciato, Telefon Tel Aviv/Nine Inch Nails's Josh Eustis and programmer Steven Alexander, The Black Queen have announced details of their debut album. 'Fever Daydream' will be released on 5th Feb, supported by a couple of new live dates: one on the day at Complex LA in Glendale, California and one on 5th February at Oslo in Hackney, London. The band have also unveiled a video for featured track 'Maybe We Should' Setting down somewhere between goth soaked synth pop, shoegaze and the neon bathed desolation of the Blade Runner soundtrack, Fever Daydream showcases frontman Greg Puciato's unquaestionable artistic talent. An album of Raw Nerves, dense textures and confessional fervour for fans of Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails and Joy Divison. The ten song Fever Daydream was written, recorded and produced by the band themselves, with Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Beck, M83, The Naked and Famous) executive producing and offering insight along the way. With the level of talent, innovation, and the air of mystery that surrounds the band, it is an unexpected journey through sound merging the past and laying groundwork for a hauntingly beautiful future. Band Members: Greg Puciato Josh Eustis Steven Alexander
The Globeflower Masters Vol. 1 takes its inspiration from classic soundtrack and cinematic composers such as Axelrod, Morricone, Gainsbourg, Jean-Claude Vannier and Piero Umiliani. Created during Summer 2020, this album is the product of a fruitful collaboration between Brighton-based musicians Glenn Fallows (The Impellers / Andres y Xavi) and Mark Treffel (Blue States / The Soul Steppers). These seasoned performing and recording artists have put their abundance of experience and skilful musicianship into effect with aplomb on this album. This is as accomplished a debut release as you will ever hear, and dare we say, a future classic in the making.
The Globeflower Masters project was borne from an idea Glenn had to create an album that leant on the influence of soundtrack and library composers - particularly of the late 60s and early 70s. This rich sonic palette had previously been innate in his writing and composition but, for this album, the direct inspiration was placed front and centre. After penning several sketches, Glenn contacted Mark to fulfil the vision he had for a complete sound. Mark had an arsenal of vintage synths, pianos and other fun toys which could supplement the drums, guitars and bass that Glenn had been working on. As the album progressed, the pair worked increasingly collaboratively, with each of them starting and sharing ideas to curate the final eight finished tracks.
The results are an album of lush, warm, timeless productions that are drenched in strings and classical instrumentation. Awash with atmospheric excursions, it is a listening experience that moves you through moods whilst transporting you to a world of deeply evocative settings and imagined scenarios. The Globeflower Masters Vol. 1 resonates equally as well on a dark melancholic Winter's day as it does sound-tracking a halcyon Summer day. Though influenced by 60s and 70s productions the record is not a simple pastiche, feeling both simultaneously brand new as well as authentically retro.
- Stunning debut album filled with lush, warm, timeless productions.
- Taking inspiration from classic 60s and 70s soundtrack, and cinematic, composers such as Axelrod, Morricone and Gainsbourg
Restock
If you've ever had the feeling that things just don't make sense, that there's a hidden world of dark magic waiting in the dead spaces, the forgotten corners... well this is the music for you.
Dutchman Erik Griffioen's obsession with the esoteric is well known, and for some time his Lloyd Stellar alias has focused on this sense of the world just out of view.
Griffioen runs LDI Records as an outlet for his prolific creativity, but this release for Gated pulls from his early works, the tracks that almost got away.
This is one-strobe-in-a-dark-room electro, which rides the fine line that exists somewhere between euphoria and madness. It's relentlessly underground. And we love it.
UK-based producer Yak is one of the strongest talents in percussive, bass-heavy club music. His debut record Mido, which appeared on Version in 2017, remains an ultimate DJ weapon (Hard Wax) up until this day and is still tearing up clubs and festivals everywhere. After releases on Martyn's 3024 and the es-teemed R&S label, Yak delivers his third record (vinyl & digital) on Version, Balmora Blue/Swex.
This is a proper double A-sider that will surely get your dance bubbling. Swex and Balmora Blue are future rave anthems coming with earth-shattering sub, warm, elevating synths - and the trademark Yak drums to resurrect a dead soundboy's nana. Both tracks range around 120 bpm, but will sound as crisp at high-er/slower pitch or rpm too, making them versatile tools in every DJ's chest. Another essential bit from Yak and Version. Played by Vladimir Ivkovic, Moxy, Madam X, Or:la & Breaka.
- A1: Opening Credits
- A2: The Chase
- A3: Saved/Captured
- A4: The Bracelet
- A5: Council Of Draags (Part 1)
- A6: Terr & Tiwa
- A7: The Knowledge (Part 1)
- B1: The Fight
- B2: The Knowledge (Part 2)
- B3: The Initiation
- B4: Escape
- B5: The Big Tree
- B6: The Ritual
- B7: The Duel
- C1: Theft/Zarek
- C2: The Bird
- C3: The Free Oms
- C4: The Purge
- C5: The Journey To Ygam
- C6: Council Of Draags (Part 2)
- D1: The City Of Free Oms
- D2: Robot Attack
- D3: The Fantastic Planet
- D4: The Final Battle
- D5: Terr
- D6: End Credits
Black LP[29,79 €]
New pressing on double coloured vinyl, (Disc one White & Disc two Pink), Gatefold sleeve, DL card. René Laloux’s celebrated 1973 sci-fi animation ‘La Planète Sauvage (Fantastic Planet)’, is overhauled with a re-imagined soundtrack by electronic modernists Stealing Sheep and legendary sound innovators The Radiophonic Workshop. This exclusive release is part of Fire Records’ re-imagined score series. “No institution has had a greater impact on the development of electronic music than the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.” The Vinyl Factory. It’s a real pre-Avatar conundrum that Stealing Sheep, with the help of Bob Earland, Dick Mills and Roger Limb from the Radiophonic Workshop, unravel. Creating an ethereal excursion that’s narrated by Roger Limb; like a futuristic Martin Denny, or Dr Who gone ambient techno, with a hint of Forbidden Planet 50 years on. It’s an analogue swirl set in an off-world paradise; a field recording from the future. This is a creative, generation-spanning, union brought together to score this unique cult film. A must for fans of psyche electronica and Stealing Sheep’s formidable ‘Big Wows’ album. “Stealing Sheep devour a broad range of styles, incorporating everything from the dark dance-pop of Grace Jones to the experimentations of Radiophonic Workshop pioneer Delia Derbyshire and John Carpenter soundtracks.” The Guardian // ‘La Planète Sauvage’ is a thing of ambient beauty punctuated with electronic earworms that switches from intensely ominous to otherworldly dream like moments. Track listing: Side A A1 Opening Credits A2 The Chase A3 Saved/Captured A4 The Bracelet A5 Council of Draags pt.I A6 Terr & Tiwa A7 The Knowledge pt.I Side B B1 The Fight B2 The Knowledge pt. II B3 The Initiation B4 Escape B5 The Big Tree B6 The Ritual B7 The Duel Side C C1 Theft/Zarek C2 The Bird C3 The Free Oms C4 The Purge C5 The Journey to Ygam C6 Council of Draags pt.II Side D D1 The City of Free Oms D2 Robot Attack D3 The Fantastic Planet D4 The Final Battle D5 Terr D6 End Credits
When Rey Sapienz was eight years old, the Democratic Republic of Congo was plunged into the Second Congo War. The conflict last five years and was the bloodiest since World War II, leaving an indelible mark on East Africa and creating mass displacement and loss of life. But Sapienz endured, cutting his teeth as a young rapper at twelve, first performing to celebrate Congo's independence day. When he finished school, he headed to nearby Kampala to hone his craft and collaborate with local producers. But civil war broke out back home and he was forced to extend his stay in Uganda. Since then, Sapienz has established himself as a force to be reckoned with, co-founding the Hakuna Kulala label, teaching his Ableton Live skills to Kampala's young producers and releasing two acclaimed EPs. For his debut album, Sapienz embarks on an ambitious project that travels beyond the avant beatscapes of his early material. Alongside traditional percussionist, vocalist and dancer Papalas Palata and rapper Fresh Doggis, he has formed The Congo Techno Ensemble, utilizing their skills and experience to offer a statement that speaks to the past, present and future of the DRC. On "Eza Makambo", the trio channel rich musical traditions and historic tension, evolving electronic and traditional forms into boundless sci-fi mutations. The track breaks open the stories all three artists accumulated in the DRC, augmenting radioactive techno-dancehall beats with radical, open-hearted words and rhymes. "Eza Makambo" is a heady cocktail of stylistic futurism and harsh reality that could be compared with Zizou Bikaye's seminal "Noir et Blanc or Danis Mpunga & Paul K.'s genre-breaking electronic experiments. But marked by the DRC's recent scars, it's a critical work that stands painfully alone.
Red Vinyl[27,10 €]
The iconic US blues-rock guitarist Walter Trout is set to release his 30th
solo album, Ride on 19 August via Provogue/Mascot Label Group.
However fast or far a man travels, he can never truly outrun his past
On his new album he found himself eyeing the horizon and the green shoots of
his triumphant late career. There was a new record deal with Mascot/Provogue. A
move from California to Denmark with his beloved family. Even now, aged 70,
Trout was still writing fresh chapters of his life story.
The last time we saw Trout stepping out, he was on the road in support of 2020's
Ordinary Madness. The campaign ended in frustration, when Covid rendered live
work too dangerous, both for this liver- transplant survivor and his fans,
condemning Trout to an enforced downtime in Denmark that he hadn't known in a
half- century. "I've been at this since '69, when I started out in the New Jersey
bars," he reflects. "Suddenly, I'm sat on my ass for sixteen months, although I did
still practice guitar every day. My wife and manager Marie knew I needed to make
music. So her present to me for my 70th birthday was a brand-new record deal
she had negotiated. My producer, Eric Corne, scoped out a new studio in LA, and
my plan was to fly home to make a new album."
The result is Ride, providing an emotional release-valve – both for its creator and
his loyal listeners – perhaps this veteran artist can reconcile with his past, accept
his future and live in the present as it unfolds. "I think you can interpret this album
title a few different ways," he concludes. "I mean, this album is definitely a
musical ride and I certainly tried to cover a lot of ground. But, really, life is kind of
a ride too, isn't it? And I want to live mine to the fullest."
Black Vinyl[27,10 €]
The iconic US blues-rock guitarist Walter Trout is set to release his 30th
solo album, Ride on 19 August via Provogue/Mascot Label Group.
However fast or far a man travels, he can never truly outrun his past
On his new album he found himself eyeing the horizon and the green shoots of
his triumphant late career. There was a new record deal with Mascot/Provogue. A
move from California to Denmark with his beloved family. Even now, aged 70,
Trout was still writing fresh chapters of his life story.
The last time we saw Trout stepping out, he was on the road in support of 2020's
Ordinary Madness. The campaign ended in frustration, when Covid rendered live
work too dangerous, both for this liver- transplant survivor and his fans,
condemning Trout to an enforced downtime in Denmark that he hadn't known in a
half- century. "I've been at this since '69, when I started out in the New Jersey
bars," he reflects. "Suddenly, I'm sat on my ass for sixteen months, although I did
still practice guitar every day. My wife and manager Marie knew I needed to make
music. So her present to me for my 70th birthday was a brand-new record deal
she had negotiated. My producer, Eric Corne, scoped out a new studio in LA, and
my plan was to fly home to make a new album."
The result is Ride, providing an emotional release-valve – both for its creator and
his loyal listeners – perhaps this veteran artist can reconcile with his past, accept
his future and live in the present as it unfolds. "I think you can interpret this album
title a few different ways," he concludes. "I mean, this album is definitely a
musical ride and I certainly tried to cover a lot of ground. But, really, life is kind of
a ride too, isn't it? And I want to live mine to the fullest."
Somewhere in the middle of the first track, “Torres e Baldios”, there’s a sudden change of pace with percussion rhythms interfering with the trance-like sound of the first six minutes. It sounds like steps, people running away on a corridor bashing their feet. It dazzles you because of how unexpected it is, how unpredictable those sounds sound like and, most of all, how it makes perfect sense. It is a monstrous piece. And the beginning of a new age for Ondness, in the same year he defied his Serpente moniker to create an absolute classic, “Dias da Aranha”.
What makes “Oeste A.D.” so remarkable is the intangible idea of nostalgia. “Aqua Matrix Alternative Nation” recreates with a slowed down mentality the theme of one of the main events of the Expo 98 in Lisbon. It’s nowhere similar to the original, what it does is to mess around with the global ideas that were such a big part of that event. The Portuguese musicians that were invited to collaborate with Expo 98 were mesmerized by the ideas of union and globalization, creating overpriced music that sounds like shit today. “Aqua Matrix Alternative Nation” messes around with that vibe in a positive way. Think Mark Leckey playing around with his rave memories. Same thing, but in Portugal we had Expo 98.
Jokes aside, B Side is more futuristic with “Torres e Baldios II” and “Endless Domingo”, a nod to “Endless Summer”, by Fennesz, and “Endless Happiness” (from “Beaches And Canyons”), by Black Dice, mashing up – freely - both covers and reminding of how great 2001/2002 was for experimental music. Both tracks are full of sci-fi drama and this sickness of the future that has been travelling with Ondness since its early days. But the approach here is somehow different. Before “Oeste A.D.” the Ondness sound was fragmented, sparse and intensively reflexive. There was this uncertainty to it that made the previously releases so good. But “Oeste A.D.” is full of clarity, the phrases are straightforward, and the music moves in one direction, continuously. Before, there were loads of unanswered questions. The only doubt is when will the world start to care and listen to Bruno’s brilliant music. Now sounds like a good time.
For Thee Sacred Souls, the first time is often the charm. The band’s first club dates led to a record deal with the revered Daptone label; their first singles racked up more than ten million streams in a year and garnered attention from Billboard, Rolling Stone, and KCRW; and their first fans included the likes of Gary Clark Jr., The Black Pumas, Princess Nokia, and Timbaland. Now, the breakout San Diego trio is ready to deliver yet another landmark first with the release of their self-titled debut on Daptone Records.
“Every step of the way has just been so organic,” says drummer Alex Garcia. “Things just seem to happen naturally when the three of us get together.”
Indeed, there’s something inevitable about the sound of Thee Sacred Souls, as if Garcia and his bandmates—bassist Sal Samano and singer Josh Lane—have been playing together for a lifetime already. Produced by Bosco Mann (aka Daptone co-founder Gabriel Roth), Thee Sacred Souls is a warm and textured record, mixing the easygoing grace of sweet ’60s soul with the grit and groove of early ’70s R&B, and the performances are utterly intoxicating, with Lane’s weightless vocals anchored by the rhythm section’s deep pocket and infectious chemistry.
Hints of Chicano, Philly, Chicago, Memphis, and even Panama soul turn up here, and while it’s tempting to toss around labels like “retro” with a deliberately analog collection like this, there’s also something distinctly modern about the band that defies easy categorization, a rawness and a sincerity that transcends time and place.
- A1: Let The Light In (Feat Douglas Dare)
- A2: Wknd (Feat Liz)
- A3: Don't Wanna Dance With U (Feat Albertina)
- A4: Sweat (Feat Liz)
- B1: X Hopeless Romantic (Feat Little Boots)
- B2: Remember To Forget Me (Feat Chester Lockhart)
- B3: Joyful Death (Feat Tyler Matthew Oyer)
- B4: Remember 2 Forget Me (Feat Douglas Dare - Piano Version)
SONIKKU announces the release of their new album ‘Joyful Death’, via Bella Union. “I love songs that make you want to cry and dance at the same time,” says Tony Donson, the London-based musician who records as SONIKKU. That sense of unfettered release and liberation drives their new album, ‘Joyful Death’. A fluent, fertile and full-colour hybrid of vibrant Italo-house, liquid synth-pop, righteous disco and French philosophical asides, it’s an album that signals the emergence proper of SONIKKU - a fully formed dancefloor artist. It’s also a farewell of sorts, perhaps, but with an emphatic rebirth at its heart. “This album feels like a transformation in the sense that I’m creating the music I’ve always wanted to make. A fully realised, coherent pop record that showcases my craft as a song-writer and producer.” Total control of their craft is swiftly asserted on ‘Let The Light In’, where the
influences of lost-in-music disco and the Pet Shop Boys merge under vocals from immersive, exploratory British singer-songwriter Douglas Dare. The pace accelerates as ‘WKND’ gets into a groove pitched somewhere between Madonna, Daft Punk and Indeep, with LA future-pop singer LIZ primed for dancefloor abandon on vocals. Meanwhile, SONIKKU’s independent intent is firmly asserted on the freestyle-inspired ‘Don’t Wanna Dance with You’, where singer Aisha Zoe coolly brushes off unwanted advances in favour of dancefloor pleasures.
LIZ assumes vocal duties again for ‘Sweat’, a song fully equipped to make dancefloor devotees do as its title suggests. Dreamily melodic evidence of SONIKKU’s dynamism (and love of melancholy Swedish electro-pop queen Robyn) beckons on ‘X Hopeless Romantic’, where Little Boots contributes a sweetly loved-up vocal over a sublimely
infectious chorus. Pummelling synths signal a dramatic shift of pace on the almost electro-darkwave dash of ‘Remember To Forget Me’, where actor/singer Chester Lockhart presides over a summit meeting between Depeche Mode and New Order. Performance artist Tyler Matthew Oyer takes the vocals for the Italo-disco-inspired title-track, a vividly imagined album manifesto - of sorts - inspired to varying degrees by an 1892 poem, French thinker Gilles Deleuze’s concept of the “body without organs” and a 1997 anime called The End Of Evangelion. Finally, that grand piano takes over as Dare returns, presiding over an achingly stripped-back version of ‘Remember To Forget Me’. With help from friends and artists they admires on vocals, ‘Joyful Death’ is a hugely confident and self-contained leap forward for SONIKKU after his time as a feted DJ. Having moved from Derby to London at the age of 18, Donson worked as an intern (at MTV, Dazed & Confused, SHOWstudio and elsewhere) then turned to DJing (from
London to Tokyo, Paris and Berlin) after they were signed to London label Lobster Theremin. Though they continues to DJ regularly at Tottenham’s LGBTQ rave-up Adonis, they have extra ambitions in mind: “I love DJing but I’m more looking forward to developing a live show.” LP pressed on mint green vinyl with digital download.
180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
• GATEFOLD SLEEVE
• INCLUDING INSERT WITH LINER NOTES
• HIGH RESOLUTION AUDIO MASTER, CUT ON 45 RPM
• GRAMMY AWARD NOMINEE, THREE-TIME ECHO AWARD
NOMINEE, THEODORE PRESSER AWARD RECIPIENT JAZZ MUSICIAN THEO CROKER
• FEATURING ARI LENNOX, GARY BARTZ, CHARLOTTE
DOS SANTOS, MALAYA, IMAN OMARI, KASSA OVERALL &
WYCLEF JEAN
• LIMITED EDITION OF 750 INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED
COPIES ON TURQUOISE COLOURED VINYL
Every trip needs a guide. Through the trumpet, the Grammy Award-nominated artist, producer, composer, tought leader, influencer and tastemaker Theo Croker narrates a human story rooted in intimate experience, yet cognizant of cosmic consciousness. This journey unfolds in technicolor on his sixth full-length offering, BLK2LIFE || A FUTURE PAST.
“BLK2LIFE || A FUTURE PAST is meant to be a deeply impactful, personal experience for the listener. One that you can also dance to - it is Black music after all,” Croker says.
BLK2LIFE || A FUTURE PAST consists of 13 tracks and is inspired by the forgotten hero’s journey towards self-actualization within the universal origins of blackness. It’s a sonic celebration of Afro-origin, and ultimately a reclamation of the culture, for the culture. Joining Croker on the album are Ari Lennox, Charlotte Dos Santos, Gary Bartz, Iman Omari, Kassa Overall, Malaya, and Wyclef Jean.
BLK2LIFE || A FUTURE PAST is cut on 45 RPM with a high resolution audio master. The album is available as a limited edition of 750 individually numbered copies on turquoise coloured vinyl, housed in a gatefold sleeve.
Brewing another supremely heavy release on the horizon, Moonshine Recordings is stealing the spotlight once again. Proudly presenting Violinbwoy's first solo album, unadulterated sound system pressure at its finest. Slavic chants and drum rhythms meet the unrivalled power of Violinbwoy's eccentric take on modern bass music 'Fyetisov' kicks off the stellar 3x12' release with a high-powered Stepper emission. Setting the tone with a rumbling bassline and supremely energetic lead instrumentation, full force sound system music down to its core. Shining in a different light, 'Moonspell' reveals its melancholic nature - gradually intensifying through otherworldly percussion and anthemic vocal sample placements. Stripped down to its bare bones, 'Dubplate' unleashes its detuned, percussive shackles for a massive onslaught of four-to-the-floor, while keeping true to Jamaica's music roots. Warbling tape echo spheres and excellence in emotive expression Violinbwoy's collaboration with singer Marina P turns out to be an anthem by itself enthralling, whoever gets caught into the midst of this hymn of a track. Not backing down one step from the established level of quality, 'Sound System' featuring Junior Dread excels once more in a crystal-clear demonstration of modern roots music - mandatory repeat listening. Rejoicing in simplicity, 'Rig Alert' holds true to what the name suggests - cinematic bass meditation, fluidly scaling with the size of its speaker counterpart. Moving on to Dan's vocal skills in 'Wanted': Rastafarian wisdom chanting along a skanking rhythm and orchestral atmosphere. Ethereal bells being submerged in moving air and scattered white noise, 'Run & Hide' demonstrates a more experimental side within the LP - exhibiting Downtempo/Ambient inclinations in a magnificent combination with Dub characteristics, only increasing in energy to the call of the dub siren. Ready for more, the title track 'død' captures us within the expressive, introductory playing of the violin, deserting it for echoes and sub oscillations alike. Calling upon the prowess of Rider Shafique, his harmonic toasting is being escorted by a forward-minded halftime groove in 'Find The Way'. Topping the LP off with Sis' excellence in telling a story through song on a hypnotic instrumental. The nature of last tunes is often powerful, serving to concede with an explosion, appropriate of the session - as is the case with 'Surfacing' closing off the monumental EP with visceral lead movements, setting the tone alongside driving drums and one more murderous bassline, sure of receiving countless rewinds in the near future. Encompassing a plethora of current Roots- Dub- and Steppa- influenced styles, Moonshine's next LP installment is sure to be received for what it is: a definitive, quality expedition of what's firing up dance floors around the globe.
TOPS were formed in Montreal when song-writing duo David Carriere and Jane Penny decided to join forces with drummer Riley Fleck. Since then they have become one of the most influential underground bands of the past decade, creating a space for sophisticated pop music in the indie world. Their tendency to opt towards making straight-forward, stripped down and honest recordings lets their pop songwriting shine out in the open. With a heart firmly attached to their sleeves, their songcraft delves into the emotional intricacy of personal relationships, asking questions about power and desire. Riley Fleck’s measured drumming and David Carriere’s trademark guitar licks mesh with Marta Cikojevic’s lush keyboards. All these elements work in tandem and in service of Jane Penny’s unmistakable, wistful voice. The result of this mixture is a collection of four self-produced records and a handful of singles that cover a range of moods and a complex emotional realm while maintaining a groove and musicality. Soft rock infused pop hits flow easily, surrounded by their signature moody ballads.
- A1: Scared Of The Dark
- A2: Deeper Shade Of Blue
- A3: One For Sorrow
- A4: Heartbreak In This City (With Michelle Visage)
- A5: Tragedy
- B1: Love's Got A Hold On My Heart
- B2: What The Future Holds
- B3: Last Thing On My Mind
- B4: It's The Way You Make Me Feel
- B5: Stomp
- B6: Something In Your Eyes
- C1: Chain Reaction
- C2: Story Of A Heart
- C3: Summer Of Love
- C4: 5, 6, 7, 8
- C5: Better The Devil You Know
- D1: Neon Blue
- D2: Better Best Forgotten
- D3: Heartbeat
- D4: Hard 2 Forget
- D5: The Runner
Rose City Band is celebrated guitarist Ripley Johnson. A prolific songwriter, Johnson started Rose City Band to have an outlet to explore songwriting styles apart from Wooden Shjips and Moon Duo, where he is often not the lead songwriter. Rose City Band allowed him to follow his musical muses as they greet him and not be bound by the schedule of bandmates and demands of a touring group. Stepping out from behind the psychedelic haze that envelops his other output, Rose City Band"s lean yet richly textured arrangements lay bare the beauty of his songcraft. On Earth Trip, Johnson reveals more of himself than ever before, coloring the project"s country-rock twang with a melancholic, wistful undertone. It charts a journey of personal growth and introspection with surprising honesty, from pining for summers spent with friends to meditations on space, stillness and the splendor of the natural world. It continues Rose City Band"s celebration of summer warmth and the great outdoors, seen from a new vantage point, and with newfound appreciation for the freedom and joy that nature provides. Earth Trip was written during a period of sudden shocks and drastic lifestyle changes for Johnson. Forced to cancel extensive touring plans for 2020, the guitarist found himself home for an extended period for the first time in years. No longer in constant motion, he was able to experience and enjoy the simple pleasures of home life, of being in one place: hikes in nature, bathing outside, and waking with the dawn. Forming new connections to his surroundings, from tending to a garden to sleeping out under the stars, Johnson found hope and healing in a more mindful relationship with the natural world. Themes of recalibration and finding personal space are equally mirrored in Earth Trip"s lean production. Recorded at his home studio in Portland and mixed by Cooper Crain (Bitchin" Bajas, Cave), Johnson makes deft use of space while experimenting with new sonics. Shimmering pedal steel, woozy harmonica melodies, and stately piano enhance the album"s introspective tone without ever clouding arrangements. Psychedelic elements that nod to Johnson"s other projects and influences still appear throughout, but hover at the edge of perception, a subtle halo adding colour and texture to Johnson"s songwriting rather than taking centrer-stage. He elaborates: "I told Cooper I was trying to capture that feeling when you take psychedelics and they just start coming on - maybe objects start buzzing in the edges of your vision, you start seeing slight trails, maybe the characteristics of sound change subtly. But you"re not fully tripping yet. He got the idea right away and his mix really captures that feeling." Johnson"s lithe guitar playing throughout treads a fine line between country and cosmic, taut melodies spiralling out into long reverb trails or free-form solos buoyed by a breeze, radiating summer warmth. Through its daring honesty and masteful arrangements, Earth Trip cements Johnson"s place as a singular songwriter of inimitable skill. It"s message of mindfulness and our interconnectedness to the environment expands on a long country and blues music tradition that draws a symbiotic relationship between storyteller and the land, capturing the beauty of the natural world while also emphasising our responsibility in preserving it for future generations
- A1: My Thoughts 3/Pop's Prayer
- A2: 6 Mile Show (Feat Icewear Vezzo)
- A3: Sincerely Face
- A4: Tunnel Vision
- A5: Overtime (Feat Yung Lean)
- B1: Blood, Sweat & Tears (Feat G Herbo)
- B2: Go Yard
- B3: Me, Wife & Kids
- B4: Idols
- B5: Same Pain
- C1: Let Me Down (Feat 42 Dugg)
- C2: Steak N Lobster
- C3: Needed Some Love
- C4: Mob
- C5: Dancing With The Devil (Feat Landstrip Chip & Pusha T)
- D1: Palm Angels, Palms Itching
- D2: Kush & Codeine (Feat Wiz Khalifa)
- D3: Seduction
- D4: Richard Flair
- D5: Motown Music
Following the commercial success of the 2021 album Unf*ckwitable and an overall banner year for the Detroit rapper, Babyface Ray comes with the aptly titled and highly anticipated album, FACE, which sees him stake his claim as “The Face of the City.” Production on the twenty-track album is largely handled by 808 Mafia, DJ Esco and others, and features appearances from Icewear Vezzo, Yung Lean, Pusha T, G Herbo, Wiz Khalifa, 42 Dugg & Landstrip Chip. With an already impressive list of cosigns from artists such as Future and Tyler, The Creator, Babyface Ray continues his all-out assault to put Motor City on the map and isn’t taking his foot off the gas anytime soon.
DJ Sarin is a new name for most, but it is a new project from an artist that has been with Kniteforce & Knitebreed for some time now. Otherwise known as TNO Project, Sarin has made a great name for himself in the breakbeat hardcore scene and he is now moving into a more classic style of jungle. No one is surprised that he doesn’t disappoint! The amen drums are chopped within an inch of their lives and then backed up with hoovers and pads. This is the sound of many a dark jungle rave from the mid 90s brought up to date. Keep an eye for more because we see a big future for DJ Sarin.
What Plus instruments? The title implies the secondary nature of the tools used to produce the sounds, maybe even of the sounds themselves. The means of making sound are not important, but the sounds themselves are, but even beyond them there is a force, a grumbling. Maybe best represented by the first sound heard on Plus Instruments “Februauri- April 81”, a sound that is more felt than heard. The grumbling persists throughout the album, not in the same sonic way but things gyrate and repeat until they are mineral and not purely auditory. Using toys, drum machines, and other homemade electronics designed by front person Truus de Groot, the band manages to obscure every song into a hard to maintain mix of No Wave drive, New Wave sheen, and dance music groove. Consisting of Truus, Lee Ranaldo and David Linton, the trio smashes the sound of early 80s New York with the equally as progressive European experimentation of the time. Completely without total contemporaries, Plus instruments make music free of bounds from time, labels, and place. Originally released by Kremlin records, run by Sonic Youth’s future manager Carlos Van Hitfje, Domani Sounds proudly presents Febrauri-April 81' featuring brand new liner notes by Hitfje himself.
Moroccan Jajouka master Bachir Attar meets American experimental musician Elliot Shrap for a live jam of drum machines and traditional Moroccan instruments in 1990. Bachir Attar's Career spans five decades and represents the transcendental sounds of Jajouka, a small Moroccan village situated between Fes and Tangier, known for its unique mystical sound. Fans include William Burroughs and The Rolling Stones with which Bachir recorded with in 1989. A year later Attar collaborated with the prolific avant-garde jazz musician Elliot Sharp on this very Album. Both Sharp and Attar have dedicated their careers to exploring the meeting points between east and west and this album is a unique example of two brilliant minds creating a new, ultra trippy sonic experience. This release is the first collaboration between Fortuna Records and our friends Dikraphone Records out of Morocco, serious unearthers of lost Moroccan music. Look out for more Dikraphone-Fortuna collaborations in the future!
As Spacemoth's Maryam Qudus was hard at work in her recording studio, synthesizers piled high, she found her mind in another place, hypnotized by the questions swirling inside her: “How could I ever face this world alone?” she wondered. “How long will I be able to stay in this place that I love?” Attempting to understand her position in the universe, the relationships that hold her together, and the climate crisis unfolding around her, she realized ruminating over these concerns was paradoxically taking her away from precious experiences. No Past No Future is the reckoning point between nostalgia and nihilism: the struggle to hang on to a moment as it warps in time.
Devotion to music has driven Qudus—a performer, composer, and producer based in the Bay Area—for as long as she can remember. At age twelve, she traded chores for guitar lessons; at sixteen, she took on after school jobs to pay for voice lessons. As a first-generation Afghan-American child of working-class immigrant parents, finding a place in music has been nothing short of a challenge for Qudus.
The bulk of performance on Spacemoth songs comes from Qudus herself, who favors vintage synths like the Yamaha CS-50 and Korg Polysix alongside fluttering tape manipulations; these create cosmic, lush soundbeds, drawing comparisons to beloved projects like Broadcast and Stereolab. On songs like “Waves Come Crashing,” a whirlwind of noise leads into darker, bass-heavy instrumentation as she confronts the inevitability of death: “These fears, they have taken our years,” she laments about the anxiety of mortality. On “Pipe and Pistol,” Qudus explores the experience of being an immigrant starting over in America. The song showcases punchy rhythms, reminiscent of Devo’s post-punk dynamism: “I see your face / my powers, they raise,” she sings with potency. Identifying cyclical habits inspired “Round In Loops,” which highlights patterns we endure in our lives and minds. “Boss is waiting / we run / love is fading / we run,” Qudus commands, encouraging escapism and a break to the cycle of mundanity.
Every track flows with Qudus’ low timbered vocals, in harmony with the watery, glowing synthesizers that anchor the album. The result is a record rich in intergalactic, avant-pop, radiating in astonishment at the vast, emotional landscape humans contain within ourselves, and in wonder at the preciousness of our time on earth.
Sacred Bones celebrates its 15th year label anniversary with this pink vinyl repress of the critically acclaimed The Turning Wheel. "It's weird to think that every classic album was new once; that even Purple Rain had a release date. As hyperbolic as the sentiment may seem, taking The Turning Wheel for it's inaugural spin for the first time gave me the distrinct feeling of hearing a record that it's impossible to imagine the world without." - The Wire
- A1: Black Summer
- A2: Here Ever After
- A3: Aquatic Mouth Dance
- A4: Not The One
- B1: Poster Child
- B2: The Great Apes
- B3: It's Only Natural
- B4: She's A Lover
- C1: These Are The Ways
- C2: Whatchu Thinkin
- C3: Bastards Of Light
- C4: White Braids & Pillow Chair
- C5: One Way Traffic
- D1: Veronica
- D2: Let 'Em Cry
- D3: The Heavy Wing
- D4: Tangelo
Red Hot Chili Peppers will unveil their new album and twelfth full-length offering, Unlimited Love Warner Records, on April 1, 2022. It notably marks their first recording with guitarist John Frusciante since 2006 and first with producer and longtime collaborator Rick Rubin since 2011. To herald Unlimited Love, the Los Angeles band just shared the first single and music video “Black Summer.”
“Our only goal is to get lost in the music. We (John, Anthony, Chad and Flea) spent thousands of hours, collectively and individually, honing our craft and showing up for one another, to make the best album we could. Our antennae attuned to the divine cosmos, we were just so damn grateful for the opportunity to be in a room together, and, once again, try to get better. Days, weeks and months spent listening to each other, composing, jamming freely, and arranging the fruit of those jams with great care and purpose. The sounds, rhythms, vibrations, words and melodies had us enrapt.
We yearn to shine a light in the world, to uplift, connect, and bring people together. Each of the songs on our new album UNLIMITED LOVE, is a facet of us, reflecting our view of the universe. This is our life’s mission. We work, focus, and prepare, so that when the biggest wave comes, we are ready to ride it. The ocean has gifted us a mighty wave and this record is the ride that is the sum of our lives. Thank you for listening, we hope you enjoy it.
ROCK OUT MOTHERFUCKERS!” - Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Chad Smith, John Frusciante
On lead track “Black Summer,” ethereal guitar underlines introspective lyrics as the rhythm unlocks a hypnotic drum groove highlighted by evocative bass. It quietly inhales only to exhale with a massive refrain, “It’s been a long time since I made a new friend, waiting on another black summer to end,” before a guitar solo echoes to the heavens and back.
Unlimited Love resumes a three-decade partnership with Rick Rubin Johnny Cash, Adele. Their creative collaboration spans legendary albums, including the diamond-selling Blood Sugar Sex Magik 1991, Californication 1999, By The Way 2002, and Stadium Arcadium 2006.
The interplay between the band borders on intergalactic once again—yet elevated to another stratosphere altogether. Unlimited Love represents the united spirit of four individual souls still fearlessly exploring the future of their eternal friendship and musical congregation.
This summer, Red Hot Chili Peppers will launch their first tour in support of Unlimited Love. They’ve invited a dynamic cohort of guests along for the ride at select dates, including Anderson.Paak & The Free Nationals and Thundercat and will be playing stadium dates in the UK in June 2022.
Following appearances on London's Threads Radio, Balamii and Lobster Theremin's own Rinse FM show, in addition to contributions to Juke Bounce Werk's JBDUBZ Vol. 9 and a recent release on Leeds based Gimme A Break Records, LA based DJ Introspekt prepares to be welcomed into the Breaks N Pieces family under a brand new alias.
Pulling inspiration from the UK-laden worlds of UKG, jungle and dubstep, Sage de Lestrogen has conjured up four killer cuts of heavyweight bass-pressure brimming with skippy riddims, chunky low-ends and low-ceiling energy.
'Slippy Bxtch' walks the line between melodic and lairy; a seemingly sun-kissed cut of 2-step quickly evolves into a sludging sequence of large wubs and gun-finger aesthetics. The tempo is raised ever so slightly on 'Femme Fatale', a jungle influence distinctively noticeable above the crisp percussion that highlights this as a certified stepper.
'Tough Technician' makes use of a familiar vocal-sample twisted into a love triangle between warehouse rave, breakbeat and the future-facing sounds heard at FWD>>, before 'System Test Dub' abandons the dark energy in favour of a bubbling cut of dubbed-out house-garage.
Also available via digital download are two dub mixes of 'Slippy Bxtch' and 'Tough Technician'.
A luminary of anthemic and melodic-driven techno, Enrico Sangiuliano’s path to the upper echelon of dance music has been a rapid, yet authentic one. Taking us on his newest exploration into the world of sound design and story-telling, the Emilia-native unveils the first chapter in a series of opuses under his time-limited NINETOZERO record label. The highly-anticipated countdown of releases begins today with number 9; the 4-track “Silence” EP - out now across all streaming platforms.
The extended-player opens with the reserved ‘inner mix’ of “Silence”; a cinematic masterpiece that challenges the format and flow of techno cuts and instead, radiates a measured and reflective spirit. Bright, twinkling synthwork ebbs and flows between its crisp percussion and distorted bassline, creating a push and pull effect that allows each element its moment in the spotlight. The second offering, “Future Dust”, is teased with the sound of a ticking clock that morphs effortlessly into a strong percussive line, commanded by the raw hollow sensibilities of its kick. The distinct ticking returns to welcome in the break, bringing with it a hypercharged melodic sequence and pitch-bending rave stabs. The components soon flurry together in preparation for the monumental drop, which is succeeded by an unrelenting peak-time worthy drive to the finish.
“New Expression Of Love” is the next to play; a quirky cut with plenty of intrigue and unpredictable twists and turns. Laced with offbeat synth hits that ooze a nostalgic timbre, the tune’s intro airs a subtle swing groove. As it reaches its all-important core, we’re cloaked in an intoxicating melody that serves as pure rapture for the ears, and will no doubt satiate the modern audience’s craving for euphoric sequences. Entering the break, Enrico flares his experimental capabilities, providing us with a moment of break-beat bliss that’s fuelled by acid goodness. A ‘vocal mix’ of “Silence” rounds out the EP with the distinct mantra, ‘we live in silence’, whilst its modular ‘beeps’ signal a countdown clock in reference to the project’s embedded concept of time.
Championing music on a deeper conceptual level, Enrico’s NINETOZERO output is a reflection of his tenacious appetite for evolution and refinement. Producing with a level of finesse well beyond his years, his artistic vibrancy has ensured quick elevation to the top, all the while maintaining a sound that is discernibly his own. Now standing as one of the circuit’s most cherished visionaries, and with an unrivalled back catalogue of Beatport No.1’s to his name, the contemporary sound designer’s first and forthcoming bodies of work under the NINETOZERO umbrella are further proof of his impending rise to dance music royalty.
- A1: Stephen Brown – Level Steps
- B1: Claude Vonstroke – Moody Fuse
- C1: Denis Horvat – Monomono
- D1: Daniel Avery – Your Future Looks Different In The Light
- E1: Jeroen Search – Subversive Elements
- F1: Marco Bailey – Kanai
- G1: Damiano Von Erckert – 500 People, 500 Hearts, 1 Love
- H1: Yokto – Vision99
- I1: Jonathan Kaspar – Ccc
- J1: The Emperor Machine – The Art Of Electronics
- K1: Carl Finlow – Surface Control
- L1: Defekt – Terraform
Cocoon Recordings presents: Cocoon Compilation T
Limited Vinyl Box Set including 6x blue vinyl & download code
Another year, another expertly curated compilation touches down courtesy of Cocoon Recordings. Somehow, the world keeps turning and with it the Cocoon universe keeps expanding, causing subtle yet persuasive shifts in the sonic soundscape that continue to
capture and captivate the imagination. In time-honored tradition the old guard and the new combine with devastating effect, to define the current state of play…
Veteran Techno producer Stephen Brown makes it clear the compilation series is back with a bang, opening things up in epic fashion with the lucid dreamscape ‘Level Steps’ - a true work of art. Another heavy-weight hitter steps straight up in the form of Claude von Stroke, who adds his own unique swagger to proceedings with those trademark shuffling beats and freaky, hypnotic bleeps scuffling for dominance on ‘Moody Fuse’. Denis Horvat then slows things down on ‘Monomono’, with post-raveNew Release Information
abstractions and disobedient synth-patches causing mayhem before the track finally unfolds in all its terrifying beauty.
Motoring on, the collection wastes no time reaching that familiar tipping point as we enter the techno phase of the journey. A very special appearance from Daniel Avery makes it all the more worthwhile amid a dense forest of chiming melodies and blistering electrical surges on ‘Your Future Looks Different In The Light’, before Jeroen Search’s aptly titled ‘Subversive Elements’ lead us deeper and
deeper, into the matrix.
Marco Bailey then kicks off a triptych of trance with some massive filtered piano action on ‘Kanai’ that’s destined to trigger a serotonin smile with everyone it touches. Revisiting the huge,
ever-growing pulsating brain of planet Orb, Damiano van Erckert continues the loved-up vibe on the gorgeously titled ‘500 People 500 Hearts 1 Love’, expertly complimenting the classic ambience with
some slick 909 snare and cymbal interplay. The melodic pull of ‘Vision99’ then signifies that the party is peaking at just the right moment as YOKTO concocts a glistening, psychedelic groove. The
emotional resonance climbs ever higher with brittle melodies endlessly circling a lush, throbbing bass drone to create the sense of something stirring out of reach.
Just when you think the acid sound is done and dusted, up pops a track like Jonathan Kaspar’s ‘CCC’ that somehow manages to offer an entirely new perspective. Riding in on a wave of expectant
arpeggios, the squelching bass and noise filter go toe to toe before Kaspar gets busy with a freaky tempo excursion that’ll be destroying dance floors all year long. ‘The Art of Electronics’ is, as the title
suggests, another superlative example of pure analogue fire, served up by UK legend, Andrew Meecham aka The Emperor Machine. The funk starts to flow as the bass drops, the machines cut loose and a swarm of cascading bleeps ride the trans-europa express to oblivion.
Electro overlord Carl Finlow, has come to define the UK take on the genre over the last couple of decades. Here, he makes his long overdue label debut, taking us into the closing straight with a
nervous sliver of dystopian futurism, complete with molten basslines and a fuzzy logic that underpins the tight, laser-guided groove on ‘Surface Control’. DeFeKT then draws this great adventure to a close
with the deliciously dark robo-disco overtones of ‘Terraform’ creating a dusky landscape that skillfully seduces the listener before the tension finally breaks in a wash of ecstatic chords.
All in all, it’s a supremely ambitious collection of tracks, generously featuring some of the most inspirational and durable artists of their respective generations. In fact, is this perhaps the best Cocoon
Compilation to date
"Die Band hatte sich eine Woche in einem Chalet in den Schweizer bergen eingeschlossen und dieses album geschrieben .. Doom Blues und Nasty No-Future-Wave und Synth Folk Trash - REVEREND BEAT-MAN & THE UNDERGROUND ist eine Kollaboration Arbeit zwischen dem PALP Festifal und Reverend Beat-Man, eine Woche Aufenthalt in Bruson (wallis, Westschweiz) mit Weisswein und Raclette und Musik kreieren, ich hab dann meine Lieblings Musiker kontaktiert: Milan Slick an den Tasten, er und ich haben bereits das Synth-Punk-Duo-Projekt Entartete Musik dann die Unglaublichen Beats von Beatrice Graf von Ester Poly. Benjamin Glaus von Skinny Jim Tennessee ist einer der meist unterschätzten Rockabilly-Performer Berns, und K.Lou aus Athen kümmerte sich um unser Catering und präsentierte uns die ganze Woche über neue Musik aus ihrer Schatztruhe. was du auf diese Platte hörst ist ein Prozess, ein finden einer Musik u.a. eine Doom Blues Version vom 'Jesus Christ Twist' oder die verliebte Kuschelrock Nummer 'It's a matter of time'. Die meisten Songs wurden im Lockdown geschrieben wo ich und Benjamin Glaus akustische Musik spielte ,slave to the phone' oder 'banned from the internet' sind 2 von denen. Unser schlecht beheizter Übungsraum war über einer Schaffarm wo wir den ganzen tag probten und alles aufnahmen, dies sind alles 1 Take aufnahmen.. keine Overdubs.. ist alles live eingespielt.. und ein paar Wochen später von Matteo Bordin im Ouside inside Studio abgemischt, dies ist Doom Blues oder No-Wave Rock'n'Roll von den Schweizer bergen" Die Band: Reverend Beat-Man (vocals, guitar), Beatrice Graf (drums), Milan Slick (keys), Benjamin Glaus (lead guitar) 12" LP: + Free Download Card + Inlayposter Booklet + Rotes Vinyl (limited 1000 copies) + Free Brainfuck CD: comes in double gatefold jacket incl 12 side booklett (no plastic exept the CD)
Brand new label GIM Records is landing on the moon for the debut release, a very limited EP signed by the Italian duo “HP” (House Pleasure).
Three original tracks moving across seas in space, tides and nocturnal undertows; taking off with the hypnotic arpeggiators of ‘Mare Imbrium’, falling into an earthly nostalgia with the electro-balearic reflections of ‘Mare Vaporum’ and then fluctuating at zero gravity into the deep and groovy atmospheres of ‘Mare Nectaris’.
To complete the package a couple of hot remixes: the Italian “Raoh” opens the flip-side with an electro psychedelic & orbital cut on ‘Mare Imbrium’, followed by “The Mechanical Man” (Bosconi, Forbidden Dance, Cognitiva Records ..) who gets deeper on ‘Mare Nectaris’ moving on the dark side of the ‘moon’ to elaborate a smokey & late-night minimaldeep vision.
A future classic !
With the project XV | 1 Affin leaves 15 years of its existence behind and looks expectantly and full of optimism into the future.
The A side starts with MTRL's (co-founder of the Munich IO label), "Spice Fields" who celebrates his Affin debut here with a delicate, driving track. Another premiere is the first collaboration between Cauê and Joachim Spieth, who celebrate here with "Alpha", an atmospheric multi-modulated piece of club music.
The B side starts with an old acquaintance, Reggy Van Oers, who makes a massive reappearance with "niffA" after a few years of abstinence. Svarog closes the first episode of our 15th anniversary with the pushing "Psalm". All tracks were mastered at the Berlin-based Artefacts Mastering Studio. Markus Guentner, a label artist from the early days, is responsible for the graphic design and also did a logo redesign.
- A1: Smiley
- A2: Satan
- B1: Where Is It Going (Feat Stephen Hawking)
- B2: Impact
- C1: Chime
- C2: Halcyon
- D1: The Box
- D2: Belfast
- E1: The Girl With The Sun In Her Head (Floex Remix)
- E2: Belfast (David Holmes Remix)
- F1: Halcyon & On (Jon Hopkins Remix)
- F2: Chime (Eli Brown Remix)
- G1: Impact (John Tejada Remix)
- G2: Are We Here? (Dusky Remix)
- H1: Belfast (Anna Techno Remix)
- H2: The Box (Joris Voorn Remix)
- H3: Are We Here? (Shanti Celeste Remix)
Deluxe cardboard box cmyk+special panton UV Matt,
4 x 180 G vinyl boxset each in a dedicated vinyl sleeve cmyk+ special panton ,matt uv. 12’’ x 12’’ fold out booklet with new sleeve notes by Andrew Harrison. Plus exclusive ’30 Something’ Slip Mat !
Orbital missed their actual thirtieth anniversary due to lockdown, but it gave Paul and Phil pause to think and find a way to celebrate their past that was actually about the future. Unlike other Best Of’s, the ‘30-Something’ album contains reworks, remakes, remixes and re-imaginings of landmark Orbital tracks based on the duo’s unrivalled live show. Satan, The Box, Impact, Belfast and more appear in new 30-something guises, familiar yet new, time reversing, yesterday becoming tomorrow. Plus new track ‘Smiley’ Also including remixes from Yotto, ANNA, Jon Hopkins, Dusky, Joris Voorn, Logo 1000, Eli Brown, Shanti Celeste and more.
Deluxe 4x 180 Grs Vinyl Boxset , with Slip Mat & 12’’x12’’ Booklet. / 2 X CD edition .
The LP ‘All Welcome on Planet Ree-Vo’ due for release on 29th July could only really have been made in one city steeped as it is in Bristol’s decades of less conventional hip hop and bass music. Tweaked and fine tuned during the summer of 2020 the record punches with a mix of red eyed paranoia to a playful future funk.
The album was all recorded, produced and mixed by Andy at Christchurch Studios, Bristol (home of Mezzanine era Massive Attack) with all vocals written and performed by T. Relly.
During 2021 the first two singles from the LP were released. The first was the juggernaut that is ‘Groove With It’. T. Relly growling out polemic against the relentless cacophony spun by Andy Spaceland, The brutality of the bass and horns is temporarily smoothed with Relly’s soulful, swaggering placation of ‘Turn your speakers on/ Till ya speakers blown baby/ If you’re feeling strong baby/ We can keep it going baby’.
This was followed in April by the 12” release of Combat featuring a thumping remix by Surgeon (Tresor Records) and an extended electro remix by Ree-Vo themselves.
2022 began with the limited red 7” release of remixes by NØISE and Batbirds with stunning original artwork by Shepard Fairey who came to the project via mutual friend Joe Cassidy (Butterfly Child). The release was announced on OBEY’s website
‘Spacebox’ which will be the last single to be released in time with the album is their hookiest, a party throwing chorus spinning tipsy visitors around the intergalactic control booth of mission control.
“Lift off, blast off, shirt off, dance off! Naked in the dancehall SPACE BOX!” is the beamed mantra, Relly transmitting to all occupants of the galaxy.
“We wanted to make a hedonistic and colourful dancehall track, a bold response to the suppressive circumstances of the last two years”.
About Ree-Vo:
T. Relly is pure Bristol hip-hop royalty – known in the community variously for his links to all of the city’s major club nights, his passion and support for the most disadvantaged (through his work with the youth and prison leavers), through to compering stages at St Paul’s Carnival and his seminal 2018 LP with DJ Rogue ‘Let Them Know’. He collaborates with many crews including Innalife and Killer Crab Men.
Andy Spaceland (AKA Andy Jenks) got involved in Bristol bass music as soon as he moved to the city with Static Sound System and a collaborative 12” with Rudy Tambala (AR Kane) as Sugarboat Vs Sufi, before his band Alpha were signed to Massive Attack’s label Melankolic, whilst he also became one of their tour DJ’s. His CV of collaborations range from Smith and Mighty to Madonna. He has released music on Dj Die’s label, Gutterfunk as White Bully and he is also currently releasing music with US producer Butch Vig in the band 5 Billion in Diamonds, whilst working on new tracks with Mark Stewart (The Pop Group) including remixes by Adrian Sherwood. His signature sound can also be heard on this remix for Elizabeth Fraser -
The LP ‘All Welcome on Planet Ree-Vo’ due for release on 29th July could only really have been made in one city steeped as it is in Bristol’s decades of less conventional hip hop and bass music. Tweaked and fine tuned during the summer of 2020 the record punches with a mix of red eyed paranoia to a playful future funk.
The album was all recorded, produced and mixed by Andy at Christchurch Studios, Bristol (home of Mezzanine era Massive Attack) with all vocals written and performed by T. Relly.
During 2021 the first two singles from the LP were released. The first was the juggernaut that is ‘Groove With It’. T. Relly growling out polemic against the relentless cacophony spun by Andy Spaceland, The brutality of the bass and horns is temporarily smoothed with Relly’s soulful, swaggering placation of ‘Turn your speakers on/ Till ya speakers blown baby/ If you’re feeling strong baby/ We can keep it going baby’.
This was followed in April by the 12” release of Combat featuring a thumping remix by Surgeon (Tresor Records) and an extended electro remix by Ree-Vo themselves.
2022 began with the limited red 7” release of remixes by NØISE and Batbirds with stunning original artwork by Shepard Fairey who came to the project via mutual friend Joe Cassidy (Butterfly Child). The release was announced on OBEY’s website
‘Spacebox’ which will be the last single to be released in time with the album is their hookiest, a party throwing chorus spinning tipsy visitors around the intergalactic control booth of mission control.
“Lift off, blast off, shirt off, dance off! Naked in the dancehall SPACE BOX!” is the beamed mantra, Relly transmitting to all occupants of the galaxy.
“We wanted to make a hedonistic and colourful dancehall track, a bold response to the suppressive circumstances of the last two years”.
About Ree-Vo:
T. Relly is pure Bristol hip-hop royalty – known in the community variously for his links to all of the city’s major club nights, his passion and support for the most disadvantaged (through his work with the youth and prison leavers), through to compering stages at St Paul’s Carnival and his seminal 2018 LP with DJ Rogue ‘Let Them Know’. He collaborates with many crews including Innalife and Killer Crab Men.
Andy Spaceland (AKA Andy Jenks) got involved in Bristol bass music as soon as he moved to the city with Static Sound System and a collaborative 12” with Rudy Tambala (AR Kane) as Sugarboat Vs Sufi, before his band Alpha were signed to Massive Attack’s label Melankolic, whilst he also became one of their tour DJ’s. His CV of collaborations range from Smith and Mighty to Madonna. He has released music on Dj Die’s label, Gutterfunk as White Bully and he is also currently releasing music with US producer Butch Vig in the band 5 Billion in Diamonds, whilst working on new tracks with Mark Stewart (The Pop Group) including remixes by Adrian Sherwood. His signature sound can also be heard on this remix for Elizabeth Fraser -
Essential for fans of Celtic Frost, Vader, Obituary and S.O.D - Jungle Rot was founded in 1992 and remain a staple name in the Death metal genre. The band's moniker refers to Jungle rot, an infection of the skin that occurs in tropical climates. New album 'A Call to Arms' sees the first Unique Leader offering emerge with a punishing Dan Swano mix and eerie Voodoo themed artwork - a brutal culmination of the band's past sound melding with a slick, devastating polish bringing them firmly into 2022. A welcome addition to the iron clad ULR roster, JUNGLE ROT have decimated live stages worldwide with Deicide, Goatwhore, Cattle Decapitation, Krisiun, The Black Dahlia Murder, 25 Ta Life, Hate Eternal, Incantation, and Vital Remains, Six Feet Under, Suffocation, Obituary, Broken Hope and Decrepit Birth.
A central theme in the life and work of the British DJ pioneer Greg Wilson, UK electro is a page turner. With the seminal Street Sounds compilation from 1984 (please see Greg’s blog for the whole story) being the beacon, there are still a few overlooked corners.
XXXO by Equip is one of them. Originally intended to be part of said release and produced by Greg Wilson, Martin Jackson and Andy Connell (like most of the comp), it was turned down at the time. Sounding like a like a proto -house template with a dash of Klein & MBO, it wasn’t considered strong enough at the time, but found it’s way to the public as a one-sided 12“ in 2006, it felt like a brand-new track as it perfectly correlated with the electro influenced underground dance music mainstream at the time (Chicken Lips et al.). Here it is again: remastered, rekindled and unreduced cut to 45rpm. For full disclosure please see the liner notes on the back cover.
Pressed and released for the first time on this planet though are the ICA Beats Pt 1 & Pt 2. Intended to be backing tracks for a UK Electro live appearance in August ´84, they haven’t seen the light of day until now. Both Restored and re-edited with some help of label owner Gerd Janson, they are fierce examples of the sound at the time. Sitting between rhythm tracks and experimental drum machine compositions (and a short greeting from their creators’ other project Syncbeat), it makes you wonder how one could have lived for so long without them. The history of the past enables you to dream of the future.
Cognitive Prophecy - a new project from the mind of Skatman, lands with ‘Pelennor Fields’ - a sonically diverse, deep and dreamy 3-track EP from UK-Based producer Jozef K.
A new platform focussed on true artistic expression and empowerment - Cognitive Prophecy aims to push boundaries, ignore trends, and thinking outside of the box; drawing inspiration from the past, but always looking to the future - encouraging artists to draw inspiration not only from the niche in which they sit, to create timeless electronic music going forward.
The title track ‘Pelennor Fields’, eases the listener in to the release, with intriguing, broad soundscapes, lush, ethereal pads, and gritty, lo-fi drums that collectively take the listener through a 8-minute sonic day-dream. A beautiful, melancholic and catchy lead melody keeps the track driving along throughout - playing wonderfully off the soaring background synths and ambiences, and leaving the listener craving more.
‘Aria’ continues the dream-like aesthetic, teasing the listener in with shimmering chord stabs, and a signature deep, organic drum groove - which is glued perfectly together with the constant motion of the bassline. The introduction of a strong breakbeat adds a unique twist, providing an intriguing contrast to the lush synth work - making this a truly memorable piece of dance-floor euphoria.
‘Every Face Becomes A Skull’ is certainly the tougher of the three tracks, and perfectly juxtaposes the ethereal qualities of the previous two tracks. A punchy, classic 909-drum groove - coupled with a hypnotic and groovy bassline and trippy melodics take the listener into a journey through the darker side of Jozef K’s sound, to round out Cognitive Prophecy’s first EP with a bang.
Recorded under a loft bed in the guest bedroom of his Nashville home, Michael Ruth aka Rich Ruth’s “I Survived, It’s Over” starts in a humble space. And while many contemporary music projects are produced in such an environment, “I Survived, It’s Over” sets itself apart in its transformative properties as well as its transparency. What we have here is honest sound exploration, session musician-level instrumentation, and a true love for nature run through the fingers of a dude who can channel some acute and undeniable magic. This music goes deep. "I conceived much of this record amidst the quiet and tumult of 2020 in my neighborhood that had recently been ravaged by a tornado," Ruth recalls, "I spent most of my days working on these pieces between bicycle rides - watching the beautiful Tennessee ecosystem flourish in Shelby Park, listening to Keith Jarrett’s The Koln Concert and John Coltrane’s Ascension." Underneath the swell of the strings and the shredding of the guitars, this record has hard working, rustbelt, drum-heavy roots all over it (which makes sense as Ruth hails from outside of Toledo, the album was mixed by John McEntire from Chicago band Tortoise). Many of the flutes, saxophones, pedal steel, and other instruments were recorded remotely because we live in the future, but this only adds to the collage of sampled and sample-able material that Rich Ruth has to offer. The organic relationships between the artist and other musicians on the album is evident even in the compilation style sampling that needs to occur in putting such a project together. "Working on this music is a daily meditation," says Ruth. "I constantly experiment with sound until it reflects the way I am feeling and attempt to sculpt something meaningful from it. Through years of being a touring musician, it is a constant inspiration and privilege to collaborate with the individuals that graced this record with their voices." And those relationships pay off, because “I Survived, It’s Over” is a sonic meal. It’s rich (no pun intended) with massive instrumentation that’s usually reserved for more symphonic delights. But at the same time it’s simple and leaves space to breathe–space you didn’t know you needed. In his own words; "I Survived, It’s Over is a meditation on healing, confronting trauma, surrendering, and finding peace. I wanted to encapsulate the tranquility and disarray found within this process." Ruth’s heart and the peace that his presence produces is all over this album. And despite his midwestern humility and willingness to brush off any praise, he’s put together something really special that carries its own weight. It's the kind of record that only comes around every once in a while and it's worthy of all the head-bobs, acclaim, and celebratory potlucks that Mike and the gang have coming their way. “I Survived, It’s Over” is a record you should buy for your friend, your foe, and yourself. It’ll sit perfectly on your shelf between Alice Coltrane and Hiroshi Yoshimura.
When he's not dishing out breaks-y garage and slick retro-future electro, Burnski still finds time to exercise his decades deep prowess in the art of tech house. On this new drop for Constant Sound he's clearly having a lot of fun sculpting a hefty, big room sound with Ibiza in its sights. 'Trigger' hinges around an epic breakdown-build up which goes off like a rocket when it drops, swinging with glee and leaning in on playful synth licks. 'Go' is an absolute monster too, which nods to Burnski's recent UKG explorations with some rough bass and a killer 4x4 groove. If you want to do some damage in the dance in the classiest of ways, look no further.
California-based label Ritual Release introduce new & as-yet unknown duo Guruku. Love Runaway is their debut EP and comes with remixes by disco don Ray Mang.
Title track ‘Love Runaway’ features criminally underheard Tamara Lee on vocals and co-writing duties. LA funk/R&B/future twang auteur Harriet Brown (Innovative Leisure, Phantom Island, World Building) provides guest vocals on the EP’s second original track, ‘Crimped Hair’.
On the flip, Ray Mang delivers a masterclass in honing ‘Love Runaway’ for peak dancefloor effect in a choice of extended remix or dubby reprise.
“Absolutely essential release. A really good song is turned into a modern disco monster by Ray Mang, channeling Prelude Records circa 1982.” – Bill Brewster (DJ History, UK)
Renowned German artist Jonathan Kaspar will make an eagerly-awaited return to Kompakt next month via his Umfang EP, with the four-track offering acting as his first full-length solo release on the label since March 2021. “My third Kompakt EP feels particularly special as it is the first time I’m releasing on my home label with dancefloors being open again. The result is four different tracks producing four different vibes, each of which transport my pandemic desires into today’s world.” - Jonathan Kaspar.
The title track leads the way, taking the form of a retro-leaning cut that features whirring synth stabs throughout. Kupfer comes next, a track packed full of emotive chords and a delicate underlying bassline, before Am Raster leads us to the dancefloor and beyond courtesy of minimal-laced kick patterns. Gemach, Gemach Herr Rabe ends proceedings on an incandescent note, as symphonic keys combine with intermittent crow samples to form a slice of wholesome, nature-inspired musical bliss.
Hailing from Bonn, Germany, Jonathan Kaspar is an integral part of the scene in Cologne. He is a resident at the city’s renowned Gewölbe club and also one of the current main figures at the legendary Kompakt label. His discography boasts releases on some of contemporary dance music’s most esteemed labels, including Innervisions, Cocoon Recordings and Crosstown Rebels to name a few, whilst performances at Watergate (Berlin), NDSM (Amsterdam) and Extrema Festival (Hasselt) have brought his sound to global audiences. The Umfang EP proves exactly why he has become one of Germany’s most exciting prospects in recent times and with a highlight year ahead, the future certainly shines bright for Jonathan.
Jonathan Kaspar ist mit einer neuen EP zurück auf KOMPAKT. Die vier Tracks unter dem Titel “Umfang EP” sind seine erste Solo-Veröffentlichung auf dem Label seit März 2021.
"Meine dritte KOMPAKT EP fühlt sich als etwas ganz Besonderes an, weil es das erste Mal ist, dass ich etwas auf meinem Heimatlabel veröffentliche und die Clubs wieder geöffnet sind. Dabei herausgekommen sind vier verschiedene Tracks mit vier unterschiedlichen Stimmungen, die meine pandemischen Sehnsüchte in die Jetztzeit transportieren", so Jonathan Kaspar.
Den Anfang macht der Titeltrack, retro-orientiert und mit flirrenden Synth-Stabs. Es folgt “Kupfer”, ein Track voller gefühlvoller Akkorde und einer zarten Bassline, bevor “Am Raster” uns mit minimalistischen Patterns auf die Tanzfläche und darüber hinaus führt. Mit “Gemach, Gemach Herr Rabe” schließt sich der Kreis, ein Stück glühender musikalischer Glückseligkeit, in dem sich symphonische Keys mit hier und da eingestreuten Samples von Krähen verbinden.
Der aus Bonn stammende Jonathan Kaspar ist fester Bestandteil der Kölner Elektro-Szene. Er ist Resident im renommierten Gewölbe Club und einer der aktuellen Protagonisten des KOMPAKT Labels. Seine Diskographie umfasst Veröffentlichungen auf einigen der angesehensten Labels der zeitgenössischen elektronischen Tanzmusik, darunter Innervisions, Cocoon Recordings und Crosstown Rebels, um nur einige zu nennen. Als DJ ist Jonathan international in den wichtigsten Clubs und auf den renommiertesten Festivals unterwegs, um seinen Sound einem weltweiten Publikum nahezubringen. Die “Umfang EP” ist ein neuerlicher Beweis, warum Kaspar in letzter Zeit zu einem der aufregendsten Produzenten aus Deutschland geworden ist. Dass ihm als Künstler weiterhin Großes bevorsteht, dem sollte nichts entgegenstehen.
Aside from being one of Anamanaguchi’s most streamed songs, “Miku,” featuring the vocaloid pop star Hatsune Miku, is an anthem for a new type of musical icon, one that doesn’t need to be attached to a physical human body. Miku, which was officially released in 2013, is a Vocaloid software voicebank developed by Crypton Future Media. Her voice is based around Japanese actress Saki Fujita and uses Yamaha Corporation's Vocaloid 2, Vocaloid 3, and Vocaloid 4 singing synthesizing technologies. Anamanaguchi wrote “Miku” with the virtual musician and were the first band to perform live alongside the Hatsune Miku hologram on the Miku Expo tour in 2016. Since then, the song has been streamed tens of millions of times around the globe and given way to several viral TikTok moments with 20K+ unique videos, signature dance moves, and millions of views.
Consistently engaging their audience in both the real world and the virtual internet-sphere, Anamanaguchi has had TV performances on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Adult Swim’s Fish Center, multiple appearances at Porter Robinson’s Secret Sky Fest, and co-curated one of the first major live stream events for indie musicians with the Nether Meant Festival, which was featured in the New
York Times and The Washington Post. The band has also continued to stay true to a uniquely cohesive collaborative spirit, sharing tracks with artists such as HANA, Planet 1999, Flux Pavilion, Porter Robinson, Dorian Electra, Pussy Riot, Village People, and POCHI.
For 2022, Polyvinyl is proud to announce the release of Miku on vinyl for the first time. The release will feature the original composition as well as 8 bonus versions of the song including remixes from LLLL, Carpainter, Ben Aqua, Mino Mino, Lazerdisk, as well as an NES version, a Japanese version, and an instrumental version.
A voice in the ether. A calm, clement drone. A gentle, pulsing throb. Like the ghost of a forgotten future as imagined by the distant past, Certain Creatures' sophomore LP Nasadiya Sukta is a study in timelessness - crystalline, heartfelt ambient music designed to push light through shadow. Nasadiya Sukta is the debut release on Mysteries of the Deep, a record label dedicated to total sensory immersion. Mysteries (as it's known colloquially and affectionately) launched in 2011 after a particularly fruitful late-night mixing session, first as a cult podcast series dedicated to narcotic music of all kinds, subsequently expanding into a series of seasonal events. Now, with the release of Nasadiya Sukta, Mysteries of the Deep becomes a full-fledged outlet for music to play in the dark. Certain Creatures is the alias of Brooklyn-based artist Oliver Chapoy, and Nasadiya Sukta was crafted especially for Mysteries of the Deep. Its genesis came when Grant Aaron, Mysteries' proprietor, tapped Chapoy to perform at Mysteries' Halloween event in 2015. His performance was the night's axis point, bridging earlier subdued sounds with late-night upbeat moods. Two years later, reworked and reconfigured, this performance is reborn as Nasadiya Sukta. Although divided into six tracks, Nasadiya coheres into a single extra-terrestrial mass, its beautiful understated elegance encouraging repeat listens. Simultaneously harking back to ambient classics from the '90s (you know who they are) while cementing Chapoy as a visionary artist with his own unique voice, Nasadiya Sukta is one for the space travellers indeed. Releases on Styles Upon Styles, Medical Records Label Promo + Tour
"From the time they were formed, Set It Off have never been your standard emo band. Or pop group. Or pop-punk band. They are all of those things and more. Just listen to the lead single “Skeleton” from their new album Elsewhere – moody, melodious pop-rock with fast rapping tearing up the break. The song is about embracing who you are unapologetically and without filters. “Skeleton” epitomizes Set It Off now – a group both fully committed to its roots and diving into its future by embracing inevitable change.
While the band’s full-length debut album ‘Cinematic’s in 2012 embraced their moodier rock side, later efforts took on an upbeat pop twist that culminated in a darker synergy of those styles on their last album Midnight. ‘Elsewhere’ is a transitional, moody, and forward thinking release, one in which they have faced their demons and come out happier and more full of life than ever before."
- A1: A Spindle, A Darkness, A Fever & A Necklace
- A2: A Scale A Mirror & Those Indifferent Clocks
- A3: The Calendar Hung Itself
- B1: Something Vague
- B2: The Movement Of A Hand
- B3: Arienette
- C1: When The Curious Girl Realizes She Is Under Glass
- C2: Haligh Haligh A Lie Haligh
- C3: The Center Of The World
- D1: Sunrise, Sunset
- D2: An Attempt To Tip The Scales
- D3: A Song To Pass The Time
It’s the desire to celebrate their sonic bounty that first got Oberst and the band excited about
the idea of comprehensive reissues. But this wouldn’t be a Bright Eyes project if a moment
devoted to appreciating the past weren’t turned into an opportunity to connect with the future.
That’s where the companion EPs (on Opaque Gold vinyl) come in. Or as Oberst puts it, “the
supplemental reading” for the primary reissues: one six-track EP per reissued album, each
featuring five reworked songs from that album. “My thing was they had to sound different from
the originals, we had to mess with them in a substantial way.” Plus one cover that felt “of the
era” in which that particular albums was made - a song that meant something to the band at
the time. To help the EPs come alive in the fullest way, Bright Eyes called in lots of old friends,
like Bridgers, M. Ward, and Welch and Rawlings, as well as new ones like Katie Crutchfield of
Waxahatchee.
‘Fevers And Mirrors’ is pressed on Merlot Wave coloured double vinyl
Red Vinyl[22,48 €]
Cabaret Voltaire co-founder Stephen Mallinder's second solo outing for Dais further distills his signature fusion of minimal synth, oblique wordplay, and "wonky disco" into a riveting rhythm suite ripe for our Age of Escalation: Tick Tick Tick. Channeling the temporal malaise of lockdown through a lusher palette of modular electronics and stereo strings, the songs embrace ambiguity and plasticity, loose systems of percolating circuitry and airless funk. Recorded across a handful of sessions at Meme Tune Studios in Cornwall with frequent collaborator Benge (aka Ben Edwards), Mallinder cites no guiding aesthetic premise for the collection beyond "cowbell on every track, and entirely no reverb." From the first coiled cybernetic groove of opener "Contact," the album's spatial dynamics are disorienting and asymmetrical, alternately cold and sensual, opiated and claustrophobic. But, throughout, "rhythm is the default, the bedrock, the building block-even the melodies are rhythmic." Across 40-plus years of electronic musicianship, Mallinder's sense of timing and tempo has honed into a rare tier of mastery, limber and fluid but knotted with strange frictions. Shades of Detroit technoid industrial ("ringdropp," "Shock To The Body") crossfade into now avy punk-funk ("Guernica Gallery," "Galaxy," "The Trial"), bad trip IDM ("Wasteland"), and jittery vapor house ("Hush"), at the threshold of modes both familiar and foreign. Lyrically the record is equally evasive, rich with allusions and associative linguistics, surveying liquid notions of societal noise, ecological ruin, art world pretension, and the trials of daily life. But the lack of fixed meaning remains Mallinder's main muse: "Music should draw you in; lyrics should make you think. Most interpretation is misinterpretation." This is music of countdowns and comedowns, fleeting pleasures and opaque futures, observing the great decline while dancing on its ashes. Flux is deathless and forever; the rest, illusion: "I will be a constant figure / Flickering a moving picture / Turning in your head forever / Split apart but held together."
Black Vinyl[21,22 €]
Cabaret Voltaire co-founder Stephen Mallinder's second solo outing for Dais further distills his signature fusion of minimal synth, oblique wordplay, and "wonky disco" into a riveting rhythm suite ripe for our Age of Escalation: Tick Tick Tick. Channeling the temporal malaise of lockdown through a lusher palette of modular electronics and stereo strings, the songs embrace ambiguity and plasticity, loose systems of percolating circuitry and airless funk. Recorded across a handful of sessions at Meme Tune Studios in Cornwall with frequent collaborator Benge (aka Ben Edwards), Mallinder cites no guiding aesthetic premise for the collection beyond "cowbell on every track, and entirely no reverb." From the first coiled cybernetic groove of opener "Contact," the album's spatial dynamics are disorienting and asymmetrical, alternately cold and sensual, opiated and claustrophobic. But, throughout, "rhythm is the default, the bedrock, the building block-even the melodies are rhythmic." Across 40-plus years of electronic musicianship, Mallinder's sense of timing and tempo has honed into a rare tier of mastery, limber and fluid but knotted with strange frictions. Shades of Detroit technoid industrial ("ringdropp," "Shock To The Body") crossfade into now avy punk-funk ("Guernica Gallery," "Galaxy," "The Trial"), bad trip IDM ("Wasteland"), and jittery vapor house ("Hush"), at the threshold of modes both familiar and foreign. Lyrically the record is equally evasive, rich with allusions and associative linguistics, surveying liquid notions of societal noise, ecological ruin, art world pretension, and the trials of daily life. But the lack of fixed meaning remains Mallinder's main muse: "Music should draw you in; lyrics should make you think. Most interpretation is misinterpretation." This is music of countdowns and comedowns, fleeting pleasures and opaque futures, observing the great decline while dancing on its ashes. Flux is deathless and forever; the rest, illusion: "I will be a constant figure / Flickering a moving picture / Turning in your head forever / Split apart but held together."
Limited promo restock!
Catch 'n' Release - About the Record With 'Catch 'n' Release', the first solo vinyl from the Big Bait labelhead since his 'Peter Clamat EP' back in 2011, the shuffle-don delivers a highly elaborated house music EP - extremely warm, soulful, sparkling with energy and fully loaded with refreshing grooves.
Bethinking himself of his roots, Peter this time handsomely digged into the history of Disco Music (his first contact with Disco was at the age of 5 - in the early 1980s - after discovering the record collection of his parents, what probably laid the cornerstone for his future musical career). However, none of the tracks on 'Catch 'n' Release' seem to be just disco edits in the classical sense. Far from it! Pete picks the cherrys from the past, amalgamating it with his very distinctive contemporary style to create four unmistakeable Peter-Clamat-style slowhouse compositions.
Future Cannibals The EP kicks off with the bubbly disco house smasher 'Future Cannibals', inviting the listener immediately to the dancefloor - and when the moog synth solo starts after a few minutes, you're gonna be blown away by the airiness of this ass-shaking monster. Disqualified
'Disqualified' is a reminiscence to hip-hop antihero 'Sensational' and somehow Pete's examplification of musical simplicity. In spite of its perfection, the track doesn't need any more than 6 tracks on the multi-track tape to develop a Theo- Parrish-like flow and create an outstanding stripped-to-the-bone slowhouse smasher.
Unhooked Strokes
Certainly the most energetic and housey track on the EP, 'Unhooked Strokes' pushes the dancer to the peak. Most certainly from the moment the wobbly Juno- chords burst in, you gonna feel the urgent need to jump. Adumblated airy pads in the second part of the tune polish the composition and lead to an audible orgasm you won ´t get enough from.
Clubs And Feedings
The B2 side, 'Clubs and Feedings', is a very moody composition on pretty low bpm, funkin' alongside the incredibly groovy rhodes chords for highest afterhour pleasures. With this unmistakeable reference to 70's disco-funk Peter brings his 'Catch 'n' Release'-EP to the 'Grande Finale'.
The Exit Planet Earth series continues with the first ever collaboration between two undisputed electro-funk heavyweights Egyptian Lover & Soul Clap. Egypt knows how to rock the TR 808 like no other and has been a true player on the LA electro scene since 1984. While Soul Clap have forged their unique E-Funk sound coming out of New York City as part of the Crew Love collective. The resulting track 'Hai Karate' is a slice of superbly produced classic electro designed to rattle bass bins from Miami to Mars.
Following form in classic electro directions, Futurenauts present their debut track 'We are the Futurenauts' that brings a slower based groove reminiscent of 'A Love from Outer Space' into the cosmos and delivers a powerful message to humanity. The flip sees a welcome return to 20/20 Vision from the Maltese magician Sound Synthesis who continues the vocoded vocals but adds a state-of-the-art assault on the senses with a slamming track aimed firmly at the discerning dancefloor. EPE 08 is finished off in fine style by Mick Wilson & August Artier with 'Akira's Cry', which fuses a deep house bassline and chords with tight break beat programming and powerful lead strings.
Tartelet are proud to introduce the blissful, psychedelic electronic soul sound of ABUNAI on his sophomore album Chrysalis out May
20th. Across 11 songs the Oakland, CA-based multi- instrumentalist lays down a dreamlike style which should chimewith fans of Tame Impala, Khruangbin and James Blake alike. As well as the sun-soaked surrounding of his Californian home, ABUNAI’s family connection to Hawaii casts its influence over an album which has all the makings of a crossover success. Look no further than early support from the likes of Gilles Peterson, Don Letts, and Wayne Snow for further proof this album is set to blow up.
“My sound is definitely influenced by the live music I grew up with in the Bay Area,” says ABUNAI. “There's plenty of musical legacy here, including the '60s psychedelic and counterculture movements, the '90s rave scene, and the hyphy movement. "I'm always trying to connect the dots and blend all of my influences.
Chrysalis was, like so many recent albums, a project made largely in isolation during the pandemic, although ABUNAI did reach out to close collaborators Gravity and Raquel Marie to contribute some guest vocals, Kevin Farzad from Sure Sure for the acoustic drum parts and a few additional production touches from Tartelet regulars Glenn Astro and Max Graef. He bills the songs as an exercise in therapeutic self-care through lockdown as much as a balm for others. “It's music for healing,” ABUNAI explains, “for the listener to be able to marinate in the slow tempos, the dreamy textures, the swirling vocals, and the lush synthesizers. It’s very much about growth, re-emergence, and dreaming of a better future.”
As well as dealing in ear-catching pop melodies and sweet vocals, there’s an underlying theme of the ocean, which stems from his coastal surroundings and his family roots in the Pacific. “I think the album is aquatic,” he reflects, “and it feels like a voyage to me, or like a long shower, being reborn in the water. I played the album for my grandpa, who's a veteran sailor and pilot from Hawaii, and he said it was the perfect music to play when you're sailing on the open ocean at sunset.” Cast in nostalgic, soft-focus tones and endlessly soothing for the soul, Chrysalis is your new favourite record for tender moments, hazy days and starry-eyed reveries alike.
3 Electro Knights are cybernetic synthesizer group from London playing science fiction music for the 21st century. The 4 track Red Admiral EP is their first proper release following a very limited lathe cut single which was available through Norman Records and Rough Trade in very small quantities and sold out immediately, and a limited cassette album, Sketches For Another Future. The single I Move In Another Dimension was described by Rough Trade as “Electro sqwonk and clatter meet Patti Smith style beat poetry on this unbelievably scarce 7”. Destroy/Exist wrote of their cassette album Sketches For Another Future: “Through krautrock, psychedelic, synthpunk, and modern electronica passages, 3 Electro Knights fully realize their analog electronic sound, exposing their warm connection with their synths.”
The trio meld the ‘live-improvisation allied with editing approach’ of Krautrock legends Can to contemporary outboard synth music. Influences and inspiration include Tangerine Dream, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Derrick May, Vangelis, Craven Faults. 3 Electro Knights are Daren Pickles (Supercharger, bushpilot), Nik Clifford (Jesus Licks, bushpilot) and Ross Holloway (bushpilot). The next EP will follow soon and is called Rave One. Red Admiral EP 1. Red Admiral 2. Hidden Intent 2 3. Why Don't You Cry For Me 4. Apparently Peaceful
For Fans Of: Green Day, The Lillingtons, The Queers, The Copyrights, Ramones, Lookout Records. Playing rare reunion shows in the USA and Europe! This is a limited pressing and will be gone in days! We'll be doing PR, taking out ads, and giving it the full Red Scare push! This record was originally released 15 years ago and we finally got off our ass to do the vinyl in time for some fun reunion shows. Here’s the album description from 2007… Chicago’s Methadones got our attention with their last proper album, Not Economically Viable, which came out on Thick Records in 2004. It was their breakthrough, and anyone who overlooked that LP missed out on the BEST pop punk record of 2004. We then hooked up to release a hilarious party album (21st Century Power Pop Riot) that featured The Methadones with a number of guest vocalists covering Cheap Trick, Costello, and more. Now it’s back to business, and the ‘Dones have a new batch of originals that pick up where they left off with the great Not Economically Viable. It’s called This Won’t Hurt… and they recorded it at the famed Atlas Studios in Chi-Town. The same guys that brought you stuff from The Lawrence Arms and Alkaline Trio have captured The Methadones in all their glory and have them sounding better than ever. Fronted by the venerable Dan Vapid, they have yet another album full of undeniable hits, and on top of all this, they have two tours booked in the near future…hide your beer and chicken wings!
Matte Silver 180g. Free MP3 Download. GUM aka Jay Watson is a multi-instrumentalist, founding member of POND and touring member of Tame Impala. Gum’s solo debut album was originally released in 2014 and has now been newly remastered by tour mate Kevin Parker. Delorean Highway is a collection of 10 songs, described as “paranoid pop songs, mostly about falling in love and all of the things that he thinks are going to kill him”. ‘Delorean Highway’ is the first track off the album of the same name, inspired by a dream Gum had of driving through the desert in the silver car from Back to the Future, before taking off into the night. In the real life, Gum can’t drive, but he has seen Back to the Future and it’s fair to say he does look a little bit like Doc. The second single, ‘Growin’ Up’ was unleashed onto willing ears towards the end of 2013 and taps into every emotion that the name would suggest – a sense of paranoia, doubt, fear, honesty and hopefulness.
Following the precursor singles of 2021, Formality Jerne-Site’s unveiling is finally cast upon her already-growing fanbase. Trained classically as a composer and completing a masters at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Jura introduces a highly-anticipated playground of carefully sculpted characters, plots and lessons - sometimes charming, sometimes nefarious, always absolute and sincere. A fictional land opens its doors and roof to us. A trio of trans kids run amok in rural suburbia. Various sorcerers of the wild future enter the scene on some songs; on others, the mind is cast to sun-drenched drives and journeys of yesteryear. At the heart is a pop sensibility: yearning, reflections, vanity, guesswork, hope. Jura is adamant about practice and precision. Dead seriously she offers, about making music: ‘Nothing should be half-hearted or an accident.’ There’s a maturity and elegance to her compositions, arrangements that - although at first sound seem abstract - lean away from experimental, somehow. She sing-speaks in English, and somehow not typically theatrically for such a play of a record. The theatrics are all real. It’s a fantasy land for sure, but it's based on hard facts. Like academia subdivided into poetry. It’s that weird-ass specificity she mentioned. Opener ‘Someone’s Lifework’ introduces less a choir of voices, than a choir of personalities. The art of storytelling is at the center of the musical expression. A protagonist relinquishes control of chaos that’s bigger than them on a perilous journey on some vessel: they comfort their co-passengers. There’s a sense that the hero - or anti-hero - might be more canny and cunning than the sweetness they first sell to fellow players. 'Is this our getaway chance?’ sings fellow Copenhagener Ydegirl amongst swelling synths and reverb that become so definitely Jerne-Site as the quest continues. The search? For intimacy, perhaps. ‘Same late Age (dIcK bIfFeReNcE)’ imbibes at once, some further disorientation, perhaps a little hallucinatory feeling which may come over the listener. Through a synthesizing of political themes that work across time ‘Same Late Age (dIcK bIfFeReNcE)’ bears reminiscences of the musical expressions of anti-capitalism in the 1980es, although in a new body and context. “I have a feeling that music reconjures societal morals and ideas from the time in which it was written when we press play or hear a live performance. From the moment at a concert when the symphonic orchestra starts tuning in, the time traveling begins. So I imagined how it would be to be trans sitting there playing the first violin, having the job of producing that first tone that all the other musicians around me tune in ona, ” Jura explains. The listener yearns for more; and subsequent tracks deliver. On ‘How Intimate It Gets,’ Jura meditates on the futility of closeness, begging the audience to enter the blood and guts of their own entanglements, the blueprints of focusing entering. Jura sings richly about fingers being lines, pointing or bending, and we’re reminded of their own wicked ways we can’t control. A history of singing in choirs informs the harmony of myriad inner voices heard across the album. At once prophetic and enigmatic, some of the songs rearrange historical events out of pop musical language. The enormously entertaining ‘Pinot-Botticelli Toast to European Users’ conjures scenes of Cold-War world leaders stuck on a cruise in the Transatlantic vacuum, and the protagonist watches a devastating heartbreaker careen on into the picture, led by his own hips on ‘The Lasceaux Associate’. Finally, on title track ‘Formality Jerne-Site’, American English rises to the occasion like a verdict around the narrative of three trans teenagers in rural Colorado: language turns into something sensual and haptic, playing with the snare and sizzle of syllables. The words twist and bend, while the music follows its own synaesthetic logic: “around us pop culture made a vow to a normative desire, drawing in like water color percussion”. Anyines is a site of play and documentation, with a canon so far quite nice. Their future is one that envisions supporting the galaxies their dear friends embody, be it music, performance, video games or beyond. Highlights from their discerning back catalogue include myriad formats: live and digital, plus releases binded to physical artefacts that enhance the live experience such as sculptures and scents. Their history also includes disappearing time-sensitive shadow-tracked material and cross-disciplinary opportunities that reflect deep professionalism and a totally non-schooled semblance of sound and drama. Recent releases include a dance-theatre soundtrack, a traditional shiny pop record, and the acclaimed ML Buch sophomore, Skinned.
Third pressing on transparent pink vinyl. At the 2018 edition of Roadburn Festival - a congregation of all things obscure, heavy and experimental in Tilburg, the Netherlands - two generations of Japanese Krautrock genius took to the stage for a live collaboration that was just as hypnotic as it was inevitable. The artists in question were Tokyo's Minami Deutsch and the legendary ex-Can frontman Damo Suzuki. With Minami Deutsch's heady metronomic jams providing the backdrop on which Suzuki was left free to deliver his distinct improvised vocals, the Live At Roadburn LP is challenging, raw and, at times, totally alien. Divided into three parts, from start to finish the LP is consumed by an unrelenting motorik rhythm section that never lets loose for a second. At the flick of a switch, intricate guitars veer from hypnotic and meditative to skewed psychedelic freak-outs drenched in fuzz. Where Minami Deutsch's playing is sharp and meticulous, Suzuki's stream-of-consciousness ramblings steer the music into whatever direction he sees fit. The result is equal parts disorientating, sporadic and totally all-consuming - the only thing keeping you grounded being that distorted and seemingly-endless 4/4 drive. Repetition. Minimalism. Improvisation. Transcendence. That was the ideology of seminal Krautrock pioneers Can, whose 1970-1973 work with Damo Suzuki at the helm unleashed something in music that would change it forever. Some 45 years since Can's final record with Suzuki - the inimitable Future Days - and the spirit of that era still lives on. Not least because ever since then Suzuki has embarked on an endless one-man tour, traveling around the world and taking to the stage backed by countless different bands. Crossing paths at Roadburn, Suzuki's ensuing performance with Tokyo via Berlin-based group Minami Deutsch is now available to relive on wax.























































































































































