Titled after the track "Todavía Me Amas (You Still Love Me)" from their highly successful album, We Broke the Rules, this greatest hits collection is a love letter to Aventura fans worldwide. Previously only available on CD, and digitally, it is finally coming to turntables in the form of a double LP on Ruby Red vinyl. The Kings of Bachata have never sounded so good.
Coloured[9,87 €]
With a little bit of old and a little bit of new, Chicago's enigmatic Rudy De Anda is back with two tracks out on a super-limited 45. The A-side, 'Take Me For A Little While' is a cover of the Royal Jester's version of the track, taken from the Numero Group catalog. It's an up-tempo, irresistible tune in both Spanish and English. The B-side, '83,' is a brand new Rudy original recorded in his current home of Chicago. It's a collaborative effort that came naturally from building on grooves and jamming with his band. It's a taste of what's on the horizon for Rudy, something fresh, moody, and intriguing. It's an ode to 70s funk, with just the right amount of groove and low-fi charm. The two tracks compliment each other and make for a well rounded 45, while demonstrating the breadth of Rudy's sound.
Okokon returns to Other People with his sophomore album, 'Offering', delving deeper into the lush and cinematic soundscapes he first explored on his debut album, 'Turkson Side'. While primarily working in visual arts, Africanus Okokon, who records under his surname, bridges his artistic practices in 'Offering', using his masterful collage techniques to create his most personal work yet. Defying easy
categorization, the album melds influences from dream pop, avant-garde folk, psychedelia, trip hop, and dub, with traces of field recordings seamlessly blended throughout to form a cohesive whole.
'Offering' sees Okokon confronting and negotiating a sudden and unexplained death that occurred in his childhood and the complex emotions left in its aftermath, acting as his main inspiration when
making the album. This ambiguity is something that permeates throughout, with Okokon wanting to explore the ambivalence and sometimes uneasiness of contradicting emotions appearing
simultaneously, alluded to in the album title. This is also reflected in how the album tracks each inhabit different narrators with varying perspectives on the same events. The result being a hauntingly
beautiful album, with recurring themes of death, growth, sacrifice and spirituality ever present.
‘Only Fans’ ft. Digital Liquid, taken from Joseph Malik’s acclaimed ‘Proxima Ebony’ album of last year, gets the first-class remix treatment from London’s legendary production duo, X-Press 2. Joseph delivers an impactful vocal, waxing lyrical on his memories of being brought up around sex workers, underpinned by Digital Liquid’s acid worm lead, as X-Press 2 unleash a sublime dance floor slayer loaded with catchy hooks, jackin’ beat wizardry and dynamic production. Propelling the song into another stratosphere, the duo have created the chugging Lo-Fi 'Back Room' behemoth, armed with slo-mo breakbeats and a badass dubby bass groove, culminating in hypnotic groover that would make the late and great Mr Weatherall very proud.
Scotland’s Joseph Malik has crafted a fantastic catalogue of music over the decades and is highly respected for his distinctively soulful voice and on point song writing skills. Together with co-producer, David Donnelly, he released his first album, ‘Diverse Part 1’ (Compost) in 2002. This was followed by ‘Aquarius Songs’ album (2004), and ‘Diverse Part 2’ album (2018) on Ramrock Records which was ‘Album of the Month’ on Gilles Peterson’s BBC 6Music show. Joseph’s ‘Diverse Part 3’ album (2018) was Craig Charles’ BBC 6Music ‘Album of the Year’. Joseph then released ‘Diverse Part 3 Variant Issue’, the remix album (2022) and most recently his outstanding ‘Proxima Ebony’ album (2023) on Ramrock Records to great acclaim.
London’s X-Press 2 have been at the vanguard of British electronic music for three decades. In that time this acclaimed DJ and production duo, alongside Ashley Beedle, have turned out many hits. Both Rocky and Diesel have a truly pioneering spirit that fueled early nineties underground anthems such as the percussive ‘Muzik Express’, ’Kill 100’, the 2003 Ivor Novello Award winning single ‘Lazy’ and ‘Give It,’ with vocalists Talking Heads’ David Byrne and Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner. They’ve continued to turn out powerful club cuts such as ‘Tonehead Chemistry’ and ‘Siren Track’, and recently delivered big remixes for Gabriels, David Holmes, JIM and David Kitt. To date, X-Press 2 have released 4 albums, including their recently released, ‘Thee’, album on Acid Jazz. Rocky and Diesel are still fanatical about the music they play and produce, they still very much have their finger on the pulse and continue to lead from the front.
Steel Panther ist eine US-amerikanische Comedy-Glam-Metal-Band aus Los Angeles, Kalifornien. Die Band um Sänger Michael Starr wurde 2000 als Metal Shop gegründet und war auch unter dem Namen Metal Skool bekannt, bevor sie sich 2008 in Steel Panther umbenannte. Die Band ist bekannt für ihre profanen und humorvollen Texte und dafür, den stereotypen Glam-Metal-Lifestyle zu parodieren. Am 8. Juni 2009 veröffentlichte die Band in Europa ihr erstes Studioalbum 'Feel the Steel'. Die Titel 'Fat Girl', 'Stripper Girl' und 'Hell's on Fire' sind Neuaufnahmen von der 2003 erschienenen EP 'Hole Patrol' (die noch unter ihrem alten Namen Metal Shop veröffentlicht wurde), während es sich bei 'Death to All but Metal' um eine Neuaufnahme ihres 2004 erschienenen Beitrags zur Metal-Sludge-Compilation 'Hey That's What I Call Sludge!' handelt. Zum 15. Jubiläum erscheint das Album nun als 15th Anniversary Edition auf limitiertem purple marbled Vinyl. Diese Veröffentlichung enthält eine komplett neue Verpackung mit selten gesehenen Fotos vom ursprünglichen Fotoshooting für das Album. Diese Pressung enthält auch die Songs 'You Don't Make Me Feel Dumb' und 'I Want Your Tits', die bisher nur in Japan erhältlich waren.
12” paddling pool blue vinyl, is an edition of 500. CD Digifile. Following the runaway success of their critically acclaimed 2021 second album Contender, the question for fast-rising London four-piece Fightmilk was always going to be “what next?” With a tight indie-pop sound that defined their early recordings, the answer was obvious to a band who seem hellbent on the notion of evolve or die… The band originally formed in 2015 in a Brixton pub garden by Lily and Alex, who had both, separately, just been dumped and thought being in an angry punk band would cheer them up. Then they found Nick and Healey to hold the rhythm down and make them sound good. With three albums under their belt, they’ve perfected their chaotic, melodic brand of joy and rage-filled pop with full-throated yelling and sparkling guitar riffs as their trademark. They’ve graduated from angsty whippersnappers in their mid-twenties to overgrown teenage 30-somethings with mild ongoing back and shoulder pain. Their previous 2 albums Not With That Attitude (2018) & Contender (2021) marked them out as an ambitious and rising prospect, and now on their forthcoming new album No Souvenirs the band eschew their former Britpop ties and edge further into DIY punk and heavier rock influences to reveal a leaner, meaner, more abrasive side to their cathartic lo-fi anthems. Whilst collectively diving into their passion for Jimmy Eat World, frontwoman Lily Rae made a conscious decision to strengthen her “big loud yell” with influence from Alicia Bognanno (Bully), Nat Foster (Press Club), and Missy Dabice (Mannequin Pussy). “My voice is the biggest it’s ever been and I’m constantly thrilled when people are surprised at how loud I am, considering I’m so small in stature,” she grins. “Lyrically I always look to Bruce Springsteen for inspiration but I also really enjoyed the angsty candour of Sour by Olivia Rodrigo, and Kacey Musgraves’ impeccable one-liners.” There are a few genre experiments on the record—Yo La Tengo in ‘Paddling Pool’, ‘Canines’ is part The Strokes and part Neu!, and ‘Back From Tour’ was heavily influenced by long term friends Johnny Foreigner. “You could probably make a case for ‘Inferno’ having a bit of Counting Crows to it, but we were never writing to emulate,” explains guitarist Alex. “The references and touchstones just happened along the way. As far as we’re concerned, they just sound like Fightmilk - and that’s a really nice place to be nearly a decade in.” “That said, we’ve also been REALLY picky with the songs that made it onto the album - there’s probably an-other album’s worth of songs that didn’t feel right, even if we loved them. We got really good at finding the “magic thing” in each song that made it work.” Spilling over with candid lyrics about death, doomed love, and dog bites, framed by endless punk energy and the kind of full-throated riff-rock that sounds just at home in a giant stadium as it does in a sticky-floored toilet bar, No Souvenirs is a triumphant return from the band, who are equally enthused by the album. “I only realised after we put the songs together how personal to me this album was,” explains Lily. “Not just because I’m writing about extremely specific sitcom episodes in my life (getting fired from bridesmaid duty, being bitten on the arse by a dog, being relentlessly asked when I’m going to have kids), but because whilst we were making it, I turned 30. It’s a significant age for women, especially in music, because aside from being something called a ‘geriatric millennial’, there’s an unspoken rule that there’s a cut-off point for you to have ‘made it’ and after that you have to settle down and be normal.” For Lily, writing for the album also aligned with the 10th anniversary of the death of a close friend, with the resulting track ‘No Souvenirs’ lending its title to the album as a whole. “It had taken me that long to write about it in a way I felt ok with. But I realised that I couldn’t have written it before,” she explains. “I needed that distance, and that maturity, to be able to articulate those feelings. It feels to me now like the album is about scorched earth, moving on, taking nothing with you for the next ‘thing’ - and realising that getting older is a privilege.” Bringing a huge amount of energy and joy with them whenever and wherever they hit a stage, interacting with the audience is a vital part of the Fightmilk live experience. “Without people singing and dancing at us we wouldn’t have gigs at all, so we want everyone to get involved!” says Lily of the band’s future tour plans
Just a little over two years since the release of his debut album Opening the Door, Jack re-emgerges with a new full length album. On Blue Desert, the Australian-born Vancouver-based multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter and producer wades deeper into the stylistically prismatic pool of his own creation: melancholy dub-funk, jangling psychedelia, moon-burnt sophisti-pop and stained glass folk mutations float freely together.
Just a little over two years since the release of his debut album Opening the Door, Jack re-emgerges with a new full length album. On Blue Desert, the Australian-born Vancouver-based multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter and producer wades deeper into the stylistically prismatic pool of his own creation: melancholy dub-funk, jangling psychedelia, moon-burnt sophisti-pop and stained glass folk mutations float freely together.
Entirely self-produced at Mood Hut Studios in Chinatown, Vancouver between 2022 and 2024, the album picks up where Opening the Door left off; the songwriting concise and refined, the voice front and centre on almost every song, the pensive mood irresistible and dense.
The apparently effortless melodic interplay of voice, guitar, synthesizers and bass that Jack is well known for is ever present but despite the clear-eyed harmonies and energetic rhythms there is a shadow that quietly haunts the album. The lyrical buoyancy of his early EPs and even some of the more explicitly sunburnt instrumental moments of his last record have continued to fade and peel like paint. Regret, remorse and melancholy are woven into almost every turn of phrase; the self-deprecating longing of Tracey Thorn and Sade Adu can be heard alongside the plaintive echos of Mark Hollis and Arthur Russell. The Mood Hut Records founder and NTS host digs deeper in all the directions that he only brushed upon on Opening the Door, creating a kaleidoscopic index of his omnivorous listening habits: from Underworld to Kate Bush, Disco Inferno to Bryan Ferry, Julian Cope to Arthur Verocai.
The LP will be released on Jack’s own Mood Hut Records on November 1st and will be followed by a live tour in the UK and Europe in November and December, featuring a string of dates opening for revered Los Angeles artist Jessica Pratt.
- Mood Hut Records, Vancouver
Produced by Jack Jutson at Mood Hut Studios, Chinatown Vancouver
Mixed by Jack Jutson and CZ Wang
Saxophone by Linda Fox
Strings on Falling Down a Well by Aiden Ayers
Bass on Down the Line by Diego Herrera
Additional synth on Red Cloud by Liam Butler
Artwork by Mela Melania + Jack Jutson
e A5. Pink Shoes Part I
Part II
We are pleased to announce the launch of a new series at Innervisions called “Quantum Spits”.
House music has been around for decades, and throughout its evolution, it has spawned numerous sub-genres. “Quantum Spits” aims to explore and celebrate this diversity by dedicating each release to a particular aspect of this thing we call House.
Our goal is to provide a platform for both established and up-and-coming producers to express their unique take on house music while also paying homage to the roots of the genre.
We are kicking off the series with Skatman, the Tunisian-born producer, DJ and label head. On „Rewarped“ he slams old school hip-hop samples into some raw and pumping house tracks, providing a fresh and up to date connection between these distinct musical eras to deliver six new cuts of raw concise electronic music.
“Taking familiar elements and giving them a fresh twist,” says Skatman aka Aziz Haddad.
Homer Steinweiss has an incredibly storied career in music that started when he was just a teenager. He's drummed for nearly every "retro soul" group that mattered and his distinctive stickwork helped blend the raw-but-receptive soul sound back into the mainstream via the likes of Amy Winehouse & Sharon Jones. He's now one of the most in demand drummers in the world, playing with Jonas Brothers, Clairo, Solange, Adele, and Bruno Mars to name a few. With his debut solo release Ensatina, Homer is stepping to the forefront as both musician and producer. His new record is a reection of who he is now and a testament to how struggle often brings about a needed change. In 2020 Homer had to reckon with considerable emotional turbulence; at the same time that his band Holy Hive broke up, a personal relationship of 20+ years fell apart putting Homer in an uncertain place mentally. The fallout was signi‑cant enough for him to seek professional help. "I was going through these super manic highs and then very depressive lows," Homer describes. "And being in all that, it's just so tough to imagine that the other side is there, that it'll be ok." But, with time, professional help, and support from friends and family, Homer made it through and has been forever changed. This album is a product of that period of his life. The ‑rst song from these sessions, "Now That It's Over" perfectly sums up Homer's triumph through those tough times. It's a song of changing perspective and contemplation with haunting vocals from Hether and Flikka. "Paul (Castelluzzo_ aka, Hether), as a friend, saw me through these highs and lows," Homer points out. "I only had the one line, 'Now that it's over, I'm alright,' but he felt that lyric so much that he wrote all these sections and lyrics and basically completed the song. It was like he was writing to me." Hether also features on album standouts "Deep Sea", a modern love song, "Start Select", a juxtaposition of inspiration and melancholy, and "Forever and Ever and Ever and Ever" which is an incredible contemporary take on the B side soul ballad. Homer uses his innate gift for bringing seemingly opposing energies together on "Racecar Driver", pairing the vocals of Hether & long time friend and collaborator KIRBY to make a genre challenging banger. KIRBY also graces the album opener "Rollin'", an airy, warm-weather invoking song that her raspy voice perfectly compliments. He puts his drumming front and center on "So Get Up!", a bottom heavy infectious track that MINOVA's vocals turn into an instant hit that is sure to smash speakers. On "Wishing Well" & "Hide It Behind the Light I'm Shining Through" Homer is joined by girl named GOLDEN, who's unique voice effortlessly ‑nds the pocket in each tune. The man on trumpet, and fellow Big Crown label mate Dave Guy, puts his incomparable playing on the album closer "Goldie" which Homer says is the part of the movie where the credits roll. Making this album was a refuge for Homer and it put him back on track. Ensatina is a glimpse into the different energies and inuences that make Homer tick. To say he was always much more than a drummer would be an understatement, and this ‑rst solo offering is just the beginning of his next chapter.
Homer Steinweiss has an incredibly storied career in music that started when he was just a teenager. He's drummed for nearly every "retro soul" group that mattered and his distinctive stickwork helped blend the raw-but-receptive soul sound back into the mainstream via the likes of Amy Winehouse & Sharon Jones. He's now one of the most in demand drummers in the world, playing with Jonas Brothers, Clairo, Solange, Adele, and Bruno Mars to name a few. With his debut solo release Ensatina, Homer is stepping to the forefront as both musician and producer. His new record is a reection of who he is now and a testament to how struggle often brings about a needed change. In 2020 Homer had to reckon with considerable emotional turbulence; at the same time that his band Holy Hive broke up, a personal relationship of 20+ years fell apart putting Homer in an uncertain place mentally. The fallout was signi‑cant enough for him to seek professional help. "I was going through these super manic highs and then very depressive lows," Homer describes. "And being in all that, it's just so tough to imagine that the other side is there, that it'll be ok." But, with time, professional help, and support from friends and family, Homer made it through and has been forever changed. This album is a product of that period of his life. The ‑rst song from these sessions, "Now That It's Over" perfectly sums up Homer's triumph through those tough times. It's a song of changing perspective and contemplation with haunting vocals from Hether and Flikka. "Paul (Castelluzzo_ aka, Hether), as a friend, saw me through these highs and lows," Homer points out. "I only had the one line, 'Now that it's over, I'm alright,' but he felt that lyric so much that he wrote all these sections and lyrics and basically completed the song. It was like he was writing to me." Hether also features on album standouts "Deep Sea", a modern love song, "Start Select", a juxtaposition of inspiration and melancholy, and "Forever and Ever and Ever and Ever" which is an incredible contemporary take on the B side soul ballad. Homer uses his innate gift for bringing seemingly opposing energies together on "Racecar Driver", pairing the vocals of Hether & long time friend and collaborator KIRBY to make a genre challenging banger. KIRBY also graces the album opener "Rollin'", an airy, warm-weather invoking song that her raspy voice perfectly compliments. He puts his drumming front and center on "So Get Up!", a bottom heavy infectious track that MINOVA's vocals turn into an instant hit that is sure to smash speakers. On "Wishing Well" & "Hide It Behind the Light I'm Shining Through" Homer is joined by girl named GOLDEN, who's unique voice effortlessly ‑nds the pocket in each tune. The man on trumpet, and fellow Big Crown label mate Dave Guy, puts his incomparable playing on the album closer "Goldie" which Homer says is the part of the movie where the credits roll. Making this album was a refuge for Homer and it put him back on track. Ensatina is a glimpse into the different energies and inuences that make Homer tick. To say he was always much more than a drummer would be an understatement, and this ‑rst solo offering is just the beginning of his next chapter.
The eighth and latest slate of refined retro-futuristic synth-pop by Liz Wendelbo and Sean McBride aka Xeno & Oaklander is named after and inspired by "the study of what not to do, a negative image of a positive, the other side, the other:" Via Negativa (in the doorway light). Recorded in the fall of 2023 at their modernist Connecticut home fashioned into a two-story synthesizer laboratory and mixing studio, the album is uniquely visionary in spirit yet precision in execution, a contrast central to the duo's enduring chemistry. Embryonic piano sketches were translated to nuanced modular systems, which McBride weighted with "harmonic padding," tuned percussion, and a spectral transfer device capable of "rendering spasms of rhythmic overtonal filigree." Despite the technological complexity of their craft, emotively the songs require no deciphering - these are technicolor widescreen anthems of the cybernetic age. The eponymous opening track sets the pace, soaring sleekly over glittering synths and call-and-response vocals about arias, shattered light, and faces in stereo. From there the record expands and contracts, cycling through a gallery of moods and masks, animated by the band's fascination with drama, "the idea of personae," and theatrical characters. Track by track, a murky, tragic backstory reveals itself: forlorn figures navigating a treacherous mercury mine, alternately poisoned by fumes or buried in collapsing caverns. The tension between Teutonic, utopian synthetic pop and lyrical narratives of ghosts in silos, ruined mills, and the traumas of mineral excavation creates a compelling friction, alternately futurist and obsolete, elevated and subterranean. Wendelbo describes the music's polarities perfectly: "The heavy machinic din of extraction in contrast with the enchantment of the mined precious gems and metals." From bilingual odes to bloodstones ("O Vermillion") to cosmic chrome dance floor classics ("Lost & There" "The present tense can never feel real / So many pasts conspire in the burning sun") to strutting EBM sensualities ("Actor's Foil"), Xeno & Oaklander re-prove themselves masters of the axis of technology and poetry, snaking cables and synesthesia, mining melodies and myths across 15 years of focused artistry. Theirs is a muse still gilded and gleaming, burnished red and silver, attuned to "the unobservable, the unfamiliar, that which you don't see directly."
The eighth and latest slate of refined retro-futuristic synth-pop by Liz Wendelbo and Sean McBride aka Xeno & Oaklander is named after and inspired by "the study of what not to do, a negative image of a positive, the other side, the other:" Via Negativa (in the doorway light). Recorded in the fall of 2023 at their modernist Connecticut home fashioned into a two-story synthesizer laboratory and mixing studio, the album is uniquely visionary in spirit yet precision in execution, a contrast central to the duo's enduring chemistry. Embryonic piano sketches were translated to nuanced modular systems, which McBride weighted with "harmonic padding," tuned percussion, and a spectral transfer device capable of "rendering spasms of rhythmic overtonal filigree." Despite the technological complexity of their craft, emotively the songs require no deciphering - these are technicolor widescreen anthems of the cybernetic age. The eponymous opening track sets the pace, soaring sleekly over glittering synths and call-and-response vocals about arias, shattered light, and faces in stereo. From there the record expands and contracts, cycling through a gallery of moods and masks, animated by the band's fascination with drama, "the idea of personae," and theatrical characters. Track by track, a murky, tragic backstory reveals itself: forlorn figures navigating a treacherous mercury mine, alternately poisoned by fumes or buried in collapsing caverns. The tension between Teutonic, utopian synthetic pop and lyrical narratives of ghosts in silos, ruined mills, and the traumas of mineral excavation creates a compelling friction, alternately futurist and obsolete, elevated and subterranean. Wendelbo describes the music's polarities perfectly: "The heavy machinic din of extraction in contrast with the enchantment of the mined precious gems and metals." From bilingual odes to bloodstones ("O Vermillion") to cosmic chrome dance floor classics ("Lost & There" "The present tense can never feel real / So many pasts conspire in the burning sun") to strutting EBM sensualities ("Actor's Foil"), Xeno & Oaklander re-prove themselves masters of the axis of technology and poetry, snaking cables and synesthesia, mining melodies and myths across 15 years of focused artistry. Theirs is a muse still gilded and gleaming, burnished red and silver, attuned to "the unobservable, the unfamiliar, that which you don't see directly."
Transcendental poetry meets Southern Nightmare Jazz on the third album by Alabama-based artist Johnny Coley Mister Sweet Whisper is the meeting of poet & artist Johnny Coley and the band Worst Spills, led by guitarist & arranger Joel Nelson. (Imagine "King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown," but more like "William Burroughs Meets Lounge Lizards in Ghost Swamp"). Joined by vibraphone player and recordist of the group, Jasper Lee, Mister Sweet Whisper centers Coley as a gifted writer and unique elder voice, supported by an eclectic cast of friends & collaborators. Tapping into French surrealism and transgressive American poets such as John Ashbery, the songs in Mister Sweet Whisper evolve, cinema-like, with Coley as an uninhibited, almost mystical, narrator. Textural, jazz-like playing complements Coley's decadent landscapes, which glide by like cigarette-inspired invocations. Echoing, and at times, dissonant notes of saxophone, crystalline tones of vibraphone, and jagged guitar arrangements punctuate Coley's dreamlike visions, populated by ballet dancers, haunting nightclubs, and ghostly car drivers. Wistful and expansive, the songs in Mister Sweet Whisper speak of Coley's talent and natural ability to channel his poetic world into songs. A remarkable follow-up to Coley's first two albums_Antique Sadness, from 2021, and Landscape Man, from 2022_which were praised as "exquisitely haunting, sublime, hilarious" and falling "somewhere between Robert Ashley, David Wojnarowicz, and Intersystems," Mister Sweet Whisper arrives in full form: unpredictable and brilliant. LP comes with a 4-page booklet featuring artwork and writing by Johnny. Pressed in black vinyl.
Turning their gaze to the buoyant culture of wyrd, modernist German folk music, Quindi welcome a spectacularly idiosyncratic offering from Johannes Schebler, aka Baldruin. Bewildering narrative twists, high drama and intricate delicacy make Mosaike der Imagination an engrossing listen from the outset, as baroque atmospheres and tumbledown drums intertwine with tactile string plucks and needlepoint synthesis in an authoritative bridging of ancient and hypermodern sonic sensibilities.
Schebler's catalogue as Baldruin is extensive, reaching back to the late 00s and covering a lot of ground through cassette albums on respected underground labels like SicSic, A Giant Fern and Lullabies For Insomniacs. Meanwhile, his work has been recognised as part of a broader movement of experimental electronic music in Germany taking inspiration from folk traditions, as documented on last year's essential Bureau B compilation, Gespensterland. Beyond his solo work, Schebler also works with Jani Hirvonen as Grykë Pyje (mappa), and both collaborate with Paul Wilson as Yayoba (Not Not Fun). Christian Schoppik of leading dark folk project Brannten Schnüre joins him as Freundliche Kreisel (STROOM). It's a tangled, fascinating and evocative sound world which Mosaike der Imagination offers a compelling window into.
No two tracks on the album follow the same pattern or palette, whether gliding through the Giallo synth undulations and post rock tonal arcs of 'Stimme des Wegelagerers' or spelling out miasmic incantations through flickering flames on 'Aus dem Feuer, aus dem Licht'. 'Hinein, hinaus, hinüber' revolves around meditative drum mantras and cascading melodic phrasing, densely layered and evolving with purpose. 'Gemeinsam hindurch' flicks between swooping strings and pizzicato plucks in a purely romantic expression of orchestration, 'Mit verbundenen Augen' is a bewildering choral voice study and 'Im Sternstrom' revels in ecstatic synth arpeggios. Nothing can be predicted except the vibrancy and clarity of Schebler's vision.
It's a vision which extends to the front cover artwork for Mosaike der Imagination — a glorious tapestry created by Finnish artist Jan Anderzén, with a responding design and layout from Schebler adorning the rear sleeve.
Stepping to the side of the cosy daydream reveries that inhabit much of the Quindi output, Mosaike der Imagination indulges the label's penchant for sophistication in a freakily fascinating new framework from the heart of an exciting movement in experimental folk music.
On his latest full-length, Low End Activist swerves towards weightless grime and suspended hardcore miniatures to tell a very personal story. The UK-rooted producer continues his habit of zeroing in on a distinct approach for each release, leaving a logical breadcrumb trail of soundsystem science in his wake as he channels decades of bass absorption into 14 atmospheric cuts that prize patience and precision over obvious club functionality.
Municipal Dreams plays out as a semi-autobiographical tour through the Blackbird Leys estate that the Activist grew up on. It’s a lived reflection on inequality and the ripple effect it has in working class communities, using the sonic palette to set the mood and scattering pointed samples throughout to spell out the story.
In sampling the exhaust of a stolen Subaru Impreza, ‘TWOC’ looks back to the recreational car theft which was standard entertainment for the kids in his community. There’s an underlying idea that this ‘council estate sport’ wouldn’t have been so prevalent if there were public services and opportunities presented to the scores of disaffected youth looking for somewhere to direct their energy and frustration.
In ‘Just A Number (Institutionalised)’ LEA alludes to the shattered juvenile detention system, growing up seeing friends and family members locked up at ease with little to no support on being released back into society, just meant that the same cycles of behaviour would play out over and over.
‘Violence’ samples from a short film shot by the drama division of the Blackbird Leys Youth Club to evoke the physical threat which formed a background hum to life on the estate. The industrial mechanics of the local car factory, which served an integral role as a workplace for many in the community, gets sampled in ‘They Only Come Out At Night’ while the ‘Everyone I look up to are either junkies or criminals’ sample in ‘Broke’ looks to a lack of positive role models.
Municipal Dreams isn’t a one-note indictment of life on the estate, ‘Innocence’ captures the simplicity of a child at birth before their environment has time to shape them. The Hope interludes cut through the grim honesty of the longer tracks while a subtle thread of wry humour finds its way into some of the talking heads cutting through the signature LEA murk.
But honesty is the operative word here, and the message feels all the more meaningful at a time when the UK’s social divisions are laid bare in the wake of a devastating stretch of austerity. Returning to Blackbird Leys to shoot images for the photo-zine and album cover, the Activist found the local community centre being demolished. The local pub stands derelict, its faded Welcome sign a grimly ironic portent of the options facing children of the estate in the wider world.
Funnelling his memories, hopes and fears into a singular twist on the bass weight tradition, LEA captures evocative scenes that land somewhere between kitchen sink realism and rave futurism.
Indignation Meeting are punky rail fans from Leeds. 15-year-old Peter is the driver - he's the drummer and lead singer, writes most of the songs, and also plays bass and trumpet on the album. The rest of the crew is his dad Michael on guitar, Hugo on bass, and with Keith, Heather and Sally often along for the ride when they play out. Here at DGHQ we loved listening to their self-released debut album Trouble In The Shed so much we eventually released it on vinyl for the first time. They now have a second album! Vocalist/drummer Peter very kindly talks us through the (train) tracks_ * "The Trainspotting Song" - Now, as a train geek, I go out filming trains an awful lot, and one thing you can't help noticing whilst out in the wilds of Staffordshire or the moors of Lancashire are a whole load of unnecessary 'Private Land' signs. This song is my response_ * "The Talyllyn Railway" - The history of the Talyllyn Railway is a fascinating one that I've long since wanted to explore, due to its unique nature as the first railway to ever be taken over by volunteers. This is the result! * "The Middleton Railway" - As a volunteer at the Middleton Railway, I had felt that a song needed to be written for quite a while. However, our guitarist Michael, ended up beating me to it! * "A Model World" - It was late one night, and I was lying on my sofa, trying my hardest to gain an ounce of enjoyment from 'Hornby; A Model World.' It was proving quite hard, due to the alarming lack of substance in the programme, so instead I decided that its name was rather good, and could be the basis of a song explaining my 'model world.' And, well, here it is! * "The Fifth Black Five" - This song is dedicated to the railway preservationists of old, who spent countless hours in cold, damp, dreary sidings, all to make sure us future generations would be able to enjoy the smell of a steam train. Thanks guys! * "Case Study" - This song is a commentary on the sensationalisation of disasters, when there's a massive tragedy and people at home just sit in their comfy sofas, watching the news and drinking tea. We know what's going on, but we can just choose to turn off the TV and forget it ever happened and continue with our lives. It also relates to the dehumanisation of those disasters you experience in school, where you have to write essays on someone who's just become homeless. It seems quite heartless sometimes_ * "Loco Motives" - This song is a fictional story of a man's personal struggle with a railway company, and the drastic measures he took to fix them_ * "That Would Never Suit His Grace" - With model railways, you always seem to get a few people who can never be satisfied with a layout or a model - no matter how hard someone's tried, there's always something to improve on, and they're never nice about it either. This song is a reality check for them_ * "Small Black Shunter" - This is our second homage to Zounds - Electrification would never be truly complete without its B-side. And this B-side is the story of a little loco who wanted to see the world. * "Rhydyronen" - Slowly but surely, we're going to pick off all of the stations on the Talyllyn Railway. Starting where Abergynolwyn left off, this is the story of our second favourite station on the TR. * "Typically English Day" - This is an homage to Mark Astronaut, a true punk genius who was gone before his time. Although there were many songs we could've picked to cover, it only seemed right to punk up one of his most popular tracks, and one of the main ones that got me into the Astronauts in the first place - Typically English Day, a heart-wrenching tale of an elderly couple trapped in the middle of a nuclear war, following their last moments before their inevitable demise. * "Just For The Record" - There is too much misinformation in the media these days, and one case I found particularly egregious was the gross misrepresentation of the strikers, who aren't so evil as the media want you to believe_
TRANSPARENT YELLOW VINYL[22,27 €]
Emilia Sisco's debut album on Timmion Records, "Introducing Emilia Sisco", takes you on a smooth ride in the world of vintage soul, featuring 10 beautifully crafted original songs written by Sisco in collaboration with the renowned Cold Diamond & Mink band. The album showcases this young talent's unique ability to blend classic soul influences with contemporary flair, building mesmerizing harmonies by layering her voice, and through these channeling a sound that is both timeless and fresh. From the opening track "Say Yes" - grooving like an independent gospel soul jam that somebody discovered in dank Midwest cellar - to the closing "Secretly," each song is a testament to Sisco's deep connection to the emotional core of soul music. As one of the album's highlights, "Don't Let Nobody," stands out as a sweet anthem of love and encouragement for your fellow human. With its heartfelt lyrics and Sisco's gently floating vocal performance, the song displays the essence of the album_soulful, sincere, and deeply moving. The Cold Diamond & Mink band provides lush, downtempo arrangements throughout the record, perfectly complementing Sisco's voice and bringing her compositions to life with a rich, organic sound. In "Introducing Emilia Sisco" the singer's signature style of downtempo soul shines brightly, offering listeners a blend of introspective ballads and uplifting grooves. After her string of exquisite and well-received singles on Timmion, this album documents the impressive progress of a formidable new voice, one that is sure to resonate with fans of classic and contemporary soul alike.
