Tara Cunningham’s guitar glitch miniatures draw patterns in negative space on new mini-album Warm Ground. Operating predominantly within improvisational and experimental music, guitarist Tara Cunningham has developed a discrete sonic language that reveals the full textural and timbral range of her instrument.
Marking a new chapter for Cunningham that builds on her solo debut, Almost – Not Exactly, released on Non Classical in 2025, Warm Ground unfolds across seven compelling instrumental dialogues - each a conversation of rhythms and found sounds, syncopated and juxtaposed, open to encounter.
Implied by the title of first single ‘Following a Thought’, Cunningham weaves an exploratory melody into the spaces between field recordings. At once introspective and highly relational, each track ushers the listener into a world of different scales, seeking beauty and meaning in the everyday, from the discrete mechanisms of ‘Fridgelight’ to the delicately unhinged organism of ‘Flying Ant Day’.
Cunningham finds a natural home on Odda’s roster of artists sensitive to the details of their materials and surroundings, finding kinship alongside the intimate songcraft of Kirk Barley and Fohn in the gaps between composition and improvisation.
In 2026 she released a self-titled LP as The Sleeves with Jack Cooper, performing at Cafe Oto ahead of a US tour in the autumn. She continues to pursue a range of projects as collaborator and side person with Modern Nature, Sebastian Rochford, Red Snapper, Liam Noble, Laura Jurd and Caius Williams.
Where other bands seem to be hellbent on pushing an energy of exhilaration, London’s premiere grief peddler’s SECRECY seem to be more interested in reminding us all what deep shit we are in. Their debut recorded outing captures the morbid and grandiose power of their successful string of London shows, refining the message to a promising and bewildering first release. Taking compositional cues from THE EXECUTE, SOUTHERN DEATH CULT, and THE CHAMELEONS, the room filling instrumentals carry a bleak and punishing prophecy of moral turmoil and hysteria, opting to drive the notion of post punk off a cliff through force of will alone. The sound is crisp and wide without giving up the austerity necessary to carry the prophetic sense of dire urgency in the vocals, driving and marching drums and bass lines carrying almost danceable guitar parts to climax. Soaring guitars over driving drums push the corpus to blistering movement, restrained by lyrics about fucking and dying, an Eros/Thanatos act delivered with a refreshing lack of irony or sarcasm. Lyrical influences from RIMBAUD and BAUDELAIRE abound, veering from the brink of poetry back down to primitive taunts and cries.
The 2013 action-adventure game The Last Of Us was originally published in 2013 by Sony Computer Entertainment and was developed by Naughty Dog. The game is played in a third-person perspective and the player controls Joel, a smuggler who is escorting the teenager Ellie across a post-apocalyptic America. The game received critical acclaim, with praise for its narrative, gameplay, visuals, sound design, characterization, depiction of female characters. The Last Of Us became one of the best-selling video games, selling over 1.3 million units in its first week. The game won multiple Game of the Year awards and has been cited as one of the greatest video games ever made.
The Last Of Us also received acclaim for its score, which was made by composer Gustavo Santaolalla. Santaolalla is also known for his work on Brokeback Mountain and Babel, for which he both won the Academy Award for Best Original Score. The Argentinian composer also created the music for the series Jane The Virgin and Netflix’ Making A Murderer. His soundtrack to The Last Of Us was his first in the video game industry. In 2020, he also returned to compose the music to the sequel, The Last Of Us Part II.
The soundtrack of The Last Of Us: Season 1 is available as a limited edition of 4000 individually numbered copies on yellow marble vinyl. This 2LP is packaged in a deluxe gatefold sleeve with linen laminate finish. It includes printed innersleeves and an 8-page booklet with liner notes by writer and creative director Neil Druckmann.
Four solid dub house and deep house cuts from Alessandro Crimi, pressed on blue green marbled vinyl. Get Up opens on a rolling groove, hats ticking against a bassline that breathes rather than pushes. Interstate tightens the low end into something more direct, built for the peak of a set. Look At The Stars slows the tempo down into dub house territory, chords smeared and delayed until they blur into the drums. Multiverse closes the record on a dubbier note again, echoes trailing off into silence between hits. Across the four tracks the mood stays controlled, functional, made for rooms where space and repetition do the work.
The upcoming debut solo album, Lee Richards And Friends, marks an ambitious milestone for American musician, songwriter, and producer Lee Richards. Best known as an original guitarist for Godsmack and a core songwriter for Dropbox and Another Animal, Richards wrote, performed, and produced the entire record himself.
Joining him on this project is a powerhouse lineup of seasoned rock veterans: late drummer Justin Pacy (Digital Summer), legendary guitarist Billy Loosigian (The Boom Boom Band, The Joneses), and bassist/vocalist Sean Corcoran (RA, Fight or Flight).
Combining decades of high-caliber hard rock heritage and exceptional craftsmanship, Lee Richards And Friends delivers a captivating fusion of hard-hitting riffs, rich melodies, and pristine production. Reflecting Richards' extensive musical journey—from touring with international legends to writing alongside rock icons—the album stands as a compelling testament to his enduring artistic vision.
Bondage-Music proudly welcomes back Markus Homm with his latest vinyl EP, "It's Safe To Say." Continuing his long-standing relationship with the label, Homm once again delivers the warm grooves, crisp rhythms, and unmistakable dancefloor sensibility that have become his trademark.
Across four carefully crafted tracks, Markus Homm combines rolling basslines, soulful vocal touches, and refined house grooves with subtle techno influences. From the infectious swing of "My Alibi" and the driving title track "It's Safe To Say" to the soulful energy of "I Got All This Love For You" and the hypnotic flow of "Rush," the EP is built for both peak-time club moments and extended listening sessions.
As a special treat for vinyl collectors and DJs, two exclusive tracks are available on vinyl only, continuing Bondage-Music's tradition of offering unique content for the format.
Available again for the first time since 1970, Lobo’s melancholy masterpiece epitomizes the experimental evolution of MPB. With new liner notes by Edu Lobo.
Released in 1970, Cantiga de Longe is a defining record in the career of Brazilian singer, composer, and guitarist Edu Lobo and a significant contribution to Música Popular Brasileira (MPB). Created during Brazil’s military dictatorship, the album reflects the subtle, poetic strategies that artists use to convey meaning while subject to censorship. Rather than overt protest, Lobo expresses longing and introspection through refined musical language and evocative lyrics.
Musically, the album captures the sophistication of MPB at the turn of the decade. A foundation of acoustic guitar blends with jazz-influenced harmonies and elegant arrangements. The sound is both intimate and expansive: delicate vocal lines unfold over complex progressions, supported by understated rhythms, rooted in Brazilian traditions. Lobo’s controlled yet expressive vocal delivery keeps the lyrical nuance at the forefront.
A key element of the album’s texture is the involvement of Hermeto Pascoal. His imaginative instrumental contributions add subtle harmonic color and atmospheric depth, enriching the refined arrangements and enhancing the sense of openness.
Thematically, the album explores memory, distance, solitude, and time—personal reflections that resonate with the broader climate of uncertainty that dominated Brazil in 1970. This remains one of Lobo’s most mature recordings, exemplifying the emotional depth and artistic subtlety of Brazilian popular music in a creatively fertile era.
The legendary Charlemagne Palestine returns to Black Truffle with KKKAAARRREEENNNIIINNNAAA, capturing a 2025 performance in London alongside two close collaborators of recent years, multi-instrumentalist Daniel O’Sullivan and guitarist Oren Ambarchi. While perhaps still best known for the ecstatic piano clouds of his ‘strumming music’ performances, Palestine’s life-long search for what he calls the ‘golden sound’ has taken in an enormous variety of methods of sound production. Now stretching back an incredible six decades, his exploration of continuous sound forms has led him to mega-instruments from the carillon bells of the Saint Thomas Episcopal Church to the synthesizer armada of the Moog Sound Lab, with stops along the way at many of Europe’s grandest church organs. Just as important, though, has been Palestine’s practice as a singer, beginning with his childhood experience of sacred Jewish music and growing through his studies of Indian and Javanese musical traditions in the 1970s.
KKKAAARRREEENNNIIINNNAAA reimagines a key work showcasing Palestine’s voice, the haunting ‘magic song’ Karenina for falsetto singing and harmonium, recorded in Paris in March 1997 to honour the spirit of Palestine’s recently departed black labrador. In this trio version, which Palestine describes as the ‘karaoke’ version, O’Sullivan controls three cassette machines playing the original recording, their slow drift out of phase creating complex patterns of delays and ricochets as the recorded voice chants the syllables of Karenina’s name and other trance words. Beginning with a held organ tone that gradually expands to fill out the frequency spectrum, the piece soon grows into a dense psychedelic mass, as Palestine’s electric organs and the echoing pre-recorded voices are joined by Ambarchi’s swirling Leslie guitar tones and O’Sullivan’s viola, synthesizer and additional vocals. Atop it all sits Palestine’s live voice, in an extraordinary performance of keening, shamanic intensity, sometimes delivered in melodic unison with his keyboard playing.
Though clearly a work of Palestine’s design that sits squarely within his oeuvre, Ambarchi and O’Sullivan are far from simple accompanists on KKKAAARRREEENNNIIINNNAAA. As the elements of the teeming, emotionally charged stew writhe and twist, different elements come momentarily to the surface, O’Sullivan’s spaced-out viola taking the lead in moments that recall Kosugi’s Catch Wave, Ambarchi’s gliding chords and signature stuttering tones enriching the details of many of the quieter episodes. Throughout all its transformations, the music is buoyed up by a sacred aura, as Palestine intones his hypnotic prayer for the soul of his departed pet. Arriving emblazoned with a striking labrador painting by O’Sullivan on the cover, KKKAAARRREEENNNIIINNNAAA is an essential slice of modern ritual music.
Following the success of the rework releases of Trip To Your Mind by Delfonic, LTJ Xperience, and DJ Friction, the time has finally come to reissue the original mixes of this essential and still highly sought-after Disco Funk classic.
Both the original Hithouse Mix and the re-mix by Chris Hill & Robbie Vincent were released in 1979. However, newly uncovered evidence has revealed that the track was actually recorded much earlier. After extensive research, including the rediscovery of Reginald Hudson's original flight ticket dated September 7, 1976, from Los Angeles to London, proof has emerged that the recording sessions took place in late 1976.
Due to unfortunate circumstances, the track remained shelved for several years and did not see release until 1979. By that time, the original backing band, Body Heat-a group of U.S. Army musicians stationed in Germany-had already disbanded. As a result, the record was released under the project name Hudson People.
Reg Hudson has since shared additional photographs and previously unknown information, which will be revealed in the coming months. To further celebrate the record's legacy, an official music video is currently in production and is scheduled for release this summer, marking the track's 50th anniversary.
As the original master tapes have unfortunately been lost, the audio has been transferred and restored using highest end equipment from the best available sources. In particular, the original Hithouse Mix now sounds better than ever before.
The 12-inch release will be presented in a faithful reproduction of its rare original "Disco 45" sleeve, believed to have been included only with the earliest pressings.
The Story Behind the Record
For decades, Trip To Your Mind was celebrated as a Brit Funk classic, although its true origins remained largely unknown. While the track was recorded at London's Advision Studios, Hudson People were neither a British group nor a London-based project-a fact first brought to light through the official 2022 reissue on Backatcha Records.
In interviews with label owner DJ Scientist, songwriter and producer Reg Hudson revealed that the musicians behind the recording were actually members of Body Heat, a GI band based in Germany. Like Hudson himself, most of the musicians originally came from the Chicago area.
"The band included Tony Palmer on guitar, Herva Middleton on drums and lead vocals, Charles Walker on saxophone, Harvey Perry on trumpet and trombone, and Rickey on bass-a five-man lineup," Hudson recalls.
Recorded in late 1976, the track remained unreleased for several years. By the time it finally appeared in 1979, Body Heat was already on the verge of breaking up, prompting the decision to release it under the Hudson People name.
Since the late 1990s, Trip To Your Mind has been heavily bootlegged, widely compiled, and continuously championed by DJs and collectors worldwide, cementing its reputation as one of the most enduring and in-demand Disco Funk records of its era.
50 year anniversary edition! Recorded in 1976, first released in 1979.
Scott Pilgrim EX, the newest video game from the Scott Pilgrim franchise developed by Tribute Games, is out now with an all new original soundtrack from Anamanaguchi. The sprawling soundtrack, which accompanies a brand-new storyline co-written by series creator Bryan Lee O’Malley, perfectly connects the band's legendary electronic past with their fuzzed out garage rock present while maintaining their unmistakable punchy style. Known for resonant world building across past projects, the depth of emotion and the range of styles displayed on Scott Pilgrim EX are uniquely Anamanaguchi while delivering a host of melodically anthemic and new energetic hooks that are sure to pack a punch for both newcomers and old school fans of the band alike.
Anamanaguchi's collaborative relationship with the Scott Pilgrim universe goes back to the early days of the band. After cutting their teeth programming music with playable Nintendo cartridges and helping to bring a wider audience to a largely internet based 8-bit chiptune scene, the band was brought in to score the fan-favorite soundtrack for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game. The success of this game soundtrack would help them to launch an early crowdfunding success story with their campaign for their debut album, 2013's Endless Fantasy. From there the band would go on to collaborate with virtual pop star Hatsune Miku (resulting in the perpetually viral, Fortnite featured hit, “Miku”), and later develop the intricately soundscaped compositions displayed across their second album, USA, but throughout it all the connection between the band and the Scott Pilgrim universe would remain a pivotal source of inspiration.
After being brought in to score the animated Netflix series, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, in 2023, band members Peter Berkman and Luke Silas would credit the live kinetic energy they channeled when writing songs for the in-universe garage band Sex Bob-Omb with helping them get back in touch with the roots of how they learned to play music even before Anamanaguchi's earliest releases. This process would eventually lead to Peter and Luke alongside the remaining two band members — Ary Warnaar and James DeVito — flipping their typically meticulous digital writing process for the more collaborative, straight to tape, distorted angst that can be found on 2025's Anyway, marking another significant evolutionary turn for the band to come out of their relationship with Scott Pilgrim.
Now fresh off the heels of a nationwide tour in support of Anyway, Anamanaguchi have returned to the 8-bit beat em up world of Scott Pilgrim with a relentlessly high energy and genre defying original soundtrack for Scott Pilgrim EX. A return to form that comes with a depth of knowledge and innovative skills that have allowed the band to continue to evolve and grow alongside the characters in the Scott Pilgrim universe and the multi-generational fanbase that continues to follow along with them.
The new soundtrack for the latest installment in the Scott Pilgrim franchise, Scott Pilgrim EX
Helene Rikhard had remained a hidden gem in the Norwegian electronic music underground for years, before she fully emerged on the international scene with these two critically acclaimed albums. Her sound is an ingenious mix of psychedelic disco, 80’s wave music, techno, krautrock, ambient and it truly operates in a world of its own. Drawing inspiration from the cosmic disco of Daniele Baldelli, the jazzy depths of Detroit techno and the esoteric dreamscapes of Laraaji, it’s astral music for astral people! Psychedelic to the core, but also warm, adventurous and highly original.
Her debut album Unpredictable Express is a dark, brooding masterpiece combining elements of cosmic disco, electro and techno Everlasting High serves as a beautiful, atmospheric counterpoint to its moody and mysterious predecessor, Feeling like a blissed out, hazy summer day, echoing childhood memories from Helenes youth, in the beautiful southern part of Norway. Everlasting High also sees Helene’s vocals coming more to the front. Mad Girl and Lions Eye are both beautiful, dubbed out synth pop with traces of 80’s synth, shoegaze, and reveals a fine-tuned pop sensibility, with a vocal style that’s sits somewhere between Kate Bush, Enya and Fever Ray.
Both as a producer and DJ, Helene’s style is easily recognized for her bold, genre-blending approach to electronic music. Mixing elements of ambient, techno, and experimental sounds, creating immersive, intricate and psychedelic tracks. Her DJ sets work the same way, blending Italo, High Energy and synth nuggets, effortlessly with strange, modern club sounds.
Krone, uno de los nombres más representativos de la escena nacional, con presencia en algunos de los sellos más potentes del género, vuelve a ser el encargado de dar vida a una referencia física de nuestro sello con dos tracks ya presentes en el catálogo Digipot.
En la cara A/ Phantom Magnet nos atrapa en un túnel en el que breaks potentes cortan a través de atmósferas frías y sintes robóticos, un track que atrapará a los aficionados al sonido neurotech y que ahora podrán disfrutar en el mejor de los formatos.
Para el lado B/ Pupeteers Carnival (ft. Moce) presenta unas baterías dinámicas y afiladas envueltas por sintes inquietantes proyectando un viaje oscuro y mental perfecto para crear momentos de tensión antes de dar el siguiente paso en tu set.
En resumen, Melting Pot 24 trae de vuelta (esta vez en formato vinilo) dos tracks representativos del sonido que marcó una época en nuestra evolución como sello.
Un Canto por México, Vol. 2 is Natalia Lafourcade's second album dedicated to the reconstruction of the Centro de Docementación del Son Jarocho, a cultural building that was damaged after the 2017 Puebla earthquake. The album features unique new interpretations of her earlier songs, as well as collaborations with artists such as Caetano Veloso and Silvana Estrada. This album really showcases the enduring strength of her songs, which remain powerful in any form.
The album was very positively received by fans and critics. It even got nominated for multiple Latin Grammy Awards (Album of the Year, Best Engineered Album) and Grammy Awards (Best Regional Mexican Music Album).
Un Canto por México, Vol. 2 is available as a limited edition of 2000 individually numbered copies on smokey marble vinyl, packaged in a gatefold sleeve, with printed inner sleeves.
The Godfather of Hardcore, Marc Acardipane, needs no introduction. His outstanding releases over the past 30 years speak for themselves. He has been instrumental in helping to create electronic music history, with countless well-known productions which have been unsurpassed by any other artist of this calibre. His timeless masterpieces have been and always will be heard at hardcore raves spanning the circumference of the Planet. With "9 Is A Classic", "Slaves To The Rave", "Pitch-Hiker", "Stereo Murder" and "We Have Arrived", just to name a few, he clearly proves who's the boss. "The Most Famous Unknown" is a well compiled collection of Marc's music, which showcases a mere portion of what he has composed and produced since the early nineties! The vinyl and digital selection of "The Most Famous Unknown" features remixes by Body Sushi a.k.a. VTSS & Randomer, Dasha Rush, Gabber Eleganza feat. Delirio, Jasss, Kilbourne, Minimum Syndicat, Nina Kraviz, Perc, Solid Blake, Stranger, Umwelt and VTSS, which all deliver excellent interpretations of tracks they have chosen to revamp. All original tracks have been re-mastered to the highest possible standard of quality.
This autumn sees the release of ‘En de stilstaande tijd voor (elektro-)akoestisch ensemble’ (And Stationary Time for (electro-)acoustic ensemble), the new album by composer and musician Sietse van Erve. With this release, Van Erve marks a definitive turning point in his artistic career: bidding farewell to his long-standing pseudonym Orphax to continue under his own name.
From Rewire to the Studio
The foundations for this album were laid during a memorable live performance at the Rewire Festival 2025 in Den Haag (The Hague). There, Van Erve presented the composition for the first time with an ensemble featuring Anne La Berge (flute), Gareth Davis (bass clarinet), and Dario Calderone (double bass). The leading Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant praised the performance as "incomprehensibly still", drifting on a single, drone-like tone through which the instruments softly float.
Van Erve recalls the intensity of that debut: “I don’t think I’ve ever been as nervous for a performance as I was for Rewire. A packed hall in Amare, during such a major festival”. Following a second successful performance at Festival Musica in Strasbourg, the decision was made to capture the work permanently in the studio.
A New Vision of Nostalgia
The composition originates from Van Erve’s fascination with time and nostalgia, inspired by a 1960s postcard of a Spanish village where time seemed to freeze. While based on a solo piece from 2020, the (electro-)acoustic instrumentation provides a completely new interpretation. The transition from solo electronics to an ensemble brought unique challenges. Van Erve explains: “Certain effects can be triggered with a single knob on a synthesizer, but they result in almost unplayable parts for other instruments. In those situations, I presented the challenge to the group and we searched for a solution together.’’
Identity and Evolution
The album also marks a personal transition for the artist. Regarding the departure from his moniker, he states: “I was looking for the right moment, and now it feels right. With this project, I have finally been able to do what I’ve had in my head for a long time... I feel I have achieved something, and that is why I think it is a good time to initiate the name change."
Realisation through Crowdfunding
Recorded in the spring of 2026 at Studio 150—located in a former church in Amsterdam-Noord known for its exceptional acoustics—the album was captured by Joeri Saal. The production of the deluxe vinyl LP and CD was made possible through a successful crowdfunding campaign via Dutch platform Voordekunst, where supporters contributed to the studio and production costs.
One of the most influential dub albums ever made. The remixing techniques used – radically new for 1973 – helped transform the role of the producer and the engineer to that of creative artists in their own right.
First released in Jamaica in December 1972, Upsetters 14 Dub Black Board Jungle is widely regarded as one of the first full-length dub albums and a true landmark in reggae history. Produced by the visionary Jamaican innovator Lee “Scratch” Perry, it marks the decisive moment when dub evolved from incidental B-sides into a fully realized long-playing art form. At a time when Jamaican sound system culture was flourishing, producers were beginning to strip down popular reggae tracks into instrumental “versions,” emphasizing the bass and drums for sound system deejays to toast over while adding echo and reverb effects to make things more interesting and dynamic. While King Tubby, who was in charge of mixing the tracks, was pioneering the technical foundations of dub, Perry expanded the approach by adding the hypnotic and psychedelic sound effects that made this record so rich in ideas, rendering the album more conceptually bold.
The album reworked previously released rhythm tracks by the Upsetters, which were recorded between 1970 and 1972, shortly before Perry opened his own studio – the legendary Black Ark Studio in Kingston. Their tight, groove-driven playing provided a solid backbone for these radical studio manipulations. Using the mixing desk as an instrument, tracks were deconstructed in real time – dropping vocals in and out, isolating drumbeats, pushing bass lines to the front of the mix, and sending fragments of sound spiraling into space through the heavy use of a spring reverb and tape delay effect units. Silence became as important as sound, and the interplay of rhythm and echo created a hypnotic, immersive listening experience.
Upsetters 14 Dub Black Board Jungle established dub as a genre defined by creative studio intervention. It demonstrated that the remix itself could be the main attraction, influencing generations of reggae producers and resonating far beyond into the techniques and aesthetics of post-punk, electronic music, hip-hop, and ambient sound design. By transforming the studio into a creative laboratory and elevating the “version” to an art form, this foundational album reshaped not only Jamaican music, but the whole of modern music production culture.
Chris Liebing's collaboration with Daniel Miller, Pascal 'Stubbleman' Gabriel and Terence Fixmer, aka The Alte Stuben Modular Ensemble, 'Entangled Circuits', has been remixed by Hayden Payne, better known as Phase Fatale. Originally released on Chris Liebing's 'Evolver' LP earlier this year, the remix will be released via CLR 20th November 2026. The original track is a collaboration between Liebing and The Alte Stuben Modular Ensemble made up of Mute founder Daniel Miller, Pascal 'Stubbleman' Gabriel and Terence Fixmer. New York-born, Berlin-based Phase Fatale has held residencies at Berghain, Brooklyn's Merge and Tbilisi's KHIDI, and has built a catalogue across Ostgut Ton, Dekmantel, Jealous God and his own BITE imprint, carrying a lineage that runs from New York's cold-wave underground through to the sharper industrial edges of Berlin's club circuit.
Phase Fatale rebuilds 'Entangled Circuits' around a hypnotic bassline, pitching the original's synth stabs up a notch.
Weighted kick drums, relentless repetition, and industrial texture anchor the rework in techno mastery, delivering a peak-time weapon without loosening its grip on the source material.
The original version of 'Entangled Circuits' appears on 'Evolver', Liebing's first solo techno LP, released 27th March 2026 on CLR. 'Entangled Circuits' was composed on a skiing trip to Oberlech, Austria with The Alte Stuben Modular Ensemble, Mute founder Daniel Miller, Pascal 'Stubbleman' Gabriel and Terence Fixmer, blending dark, modular synth textures with driving rhythmic sequencing. Marking a distillation of over three decades at Techno's core, the album pairs introspective depth with immediate, floor-driven impact, bringing together contributions from the likes of Luke Slater, Charlotte de Witte, Speedy J and The Advent, while ultimately remaining rooted in Liebing's singular vision.
Balaise was the original title of Vers le Nord’s debut album. In French slang, balaise means something in between badass and flamboyant. The word keeps popping up throughout the record, like a teenager’s graffiti scrawled on a bus shelter after a few drinks. Balaise robots. Balaise ghosts lurking in the shadows. Balaise is the barfly who fantasies about becoming a street vigilante. In many ways, Matthieu Pellerin's new solo project is entirely contained within that word: a gigantic piece one man against the world cobbled together, a monument shaped by hand using layers of synthesizers sounding like cathedral organs cast in concrete.
Stitching this type of freak together took time. Five years, or what sounds like forever in an age obsessed with career trajectories and content strategies. But for Matthieu Pellerin, it was never about career plans or taking the easy road. Or he would have dug up the rotting corpse of Oi Boys, his now-defunct band, whose brief existence and explosive popularity once united sullen skinheads, gothic street punks, and old school punks alike. Or he would have fully embraced the Metz scene, now that the Great International Triple Alliance of the East (Noir Boy George, The Dreams, The Feeling Of Love...) and rising solo acts like Tune Zitoune, Josy Bazar, Fantôme Josepha, and Tony Gerrano have somehow transformed this sprawling open-air heroin camp into an unlikely capital of cool. But Vers le Nord doesn't point East, and it is as a lone rider that Matthieu Pellerin can fully reveal his songwriting scope.
With Le Seul Élément, his first solo project, the Lorraine native had already shown a rare gift for crafting worlds. Picture vast sonic masses stretching like industrial zones, noise-filled fog pierced by pale neon lights and landscapes caught somewhere between the gnarliest dive bar and a doomsday bunker. And slipping through the soul-crushing slowness and fractured blackened atmospheres, one could perceive a throwback to his years plotting in black metal-tinged Loth and Bishop.
Vers le Nord populates those landscapes that once were rough sketches. Damaged characters reign supreme, with a plethora of exquisite mutts brought to life, rather than outcasts committed to the cause. Where Nuits Blanches —his new supergroup featuring members of Rixe, Lion's Law, Headbussa and La Femme— pulls no punches with raw confessions, Pellerin switches gear for tales of robot apocalypses, vagrants and fam-seeking school shooters, delivered with William Sheller-esque rhymes and striking images. Yet even within fiction, he manages to create something deeply intimate, almost defining, showing very little effort: he is a natural. All in all, à l’aise (at ease). Songs resonate deeply with the listener, perhaps because of Pellerin’s odd way or always addressing someone without ever really naming them, a floating, obsessive and inescapable “you” calling us out.
Despite all of the darkness, Vers le Nord stirs deep emotions. There is something of Type O Negative or Anna von Hausswolff in its constant collision of the ludicrous and the epic gothic, its bleak romanticism that never tells a sordid tale. While the vocals remain rooted in a distinctly French punk lineage—think No Class, La Souris Déglinguée and OG Bérurier Noir—the reactor core is hidden somewhere else. Oneohtrix Point Never feels like a closer relative with his ultra-emotional music made of cold synths and disembodied anthems, swallowing and regurgitating forty years of icy, contemplative new wave across ten songs. It comes as no surprise that Lila Ehjä and Aimable, two rising specialists in lowering the temperature below seasonal norms, appear on “Enterrez-moi bordel” (“Bury Me, for fuck's sake”), a grandiose, spectral and magnificently arrogant finale. And in the end, Vers le Nord starts where the original idea was hiding all along: somewhere amid the ruins, definitely balaise and yet somehow, completely à l'aise.
22, A Million is a record of dualities. First released in 2016, Bon Iver's third album found Justin Vernon reckoning with pain and love, suffering and redemption, omens and happenstance. Such ambiguity is the core of how Justin composes words: there are always two ways to see something. Inside a fragmented language of symbols and numbers is a sonic distillation of past years of turbulence and how to recover. Across ten songs, 22, A Million shattered expectations of what a Bon Iver record could be. Through different groups of friends—close, passing, new, old—he began to assemble proto-melodies, vague textures and specific moods from hundreds of hours of recorded improvisations. Songs like “22 (OVER S--N),” “33 ‘GOD’,” “715 - CRΣΣKS” and “8 (circle)” traded familiar structures for fractured electronics, pitch-shifted vocals and dense layers of sound. What initially felt like a radical departure has since become one of the most influential and enduring works in Bon Iver’s catalog. 2026 marks the ten-year anniversary of 22, A Million. To celebrate,
Bon Iver and Jagjaguwar will release a deluxe anniversary edition pressed on Frosted Silver vinyl, featuring new alternative artwork with soft-touch finish and spot UV gloss detailing. The package will include the original 28-page lyric booklet, represented here in 3x silver inks, with an additional 12-page full-color inlay booklet documenting the album’s creative process through previously unseen artwork and an essay penned by Eric Timothy Carlson. The Brooklyn-based artist’s visual work has shaped the Bon Iver world since 22, A Million and his visual language has become inseparable from the album itself. A custom 12-panel ‘inverted cross’ CD edition will also be available.
Eve 6 is the debut studio album by American alternative rock band Eve 6, originally released in 1998. The lead single and popular song "Inside Out" became a hit and reached #1 on the Modern Rock charts. Other singles include "Leech", "Superhero Girl", "Open Road Song" and "Tongue Tied", all contributing to the album's wide recognition.
The album was produced by Don Gilmore, known for his work with Linkin Park and Good Charlotte. Eve 6 became certified Platinum, selling over one million copies in the United States and achieved high positions on the Billboard charts, making it a hugely successful rock debut.
Eve 6 is available as a limited edition of 1500 numbered copies on yellow & white marble vinyl. The record comes in a deluxe sleeve finished with leather laminate and includes an insert with lyrics and liner notes.
