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“The one-man disco machine and pop superstar in waiting” – NME “a euphoric celebration of nightlife”- GQ “One of the most sought-after music makers in the game” – Notion

Der britische Sänger, Produzent und DJ SG Lewis veröffentlicht am 27.01.23 sein zweites Album „AudioLust & Higher Love“.

Ganz im Stil von SG Lewis überzeugt auch das zweite Album durch seine musikalische Vielseitigkeit und schafft einen gelungenen Spagat zwischen 80’s, Dance und Pop-Sound.

Auf 15 Tracks spannt Samuel Lewis einen Bogen von dem vom Nachtleben und Raves geprägten Sound von AudioLust bis hin zur zeitlosen Pop-Ekstase von HigherLove. Als Features auf dem Album sind u.a. Tove Lo, Lucky Daye, Ty Dolla $ign vertreten.

SG Lewis hat sich in den letzten Jahren als einer der gefragtesten Produzenten etabliert – so kollaborierte er bereits u.a. mit Elton John, Clairo, Khalid, Aluna, Chad Hugo und vielen mehr. Auch schrieb er an Dua Lipas Hit „Hallucinate“ von ihrem Hitalbum „Future Nostalgia“ mit. Sein Debütalbum „times“ (VÖ 2021) wurde von Kritikern und Fans gleichermaßen gefeiert und bescherte ihn die Nr. 1 der britischen Dance-Charts.

„AudioLust & Higher Love“ erscheint auf Doppelvinyl.

Nonesuch releases Sorry I Haven’t Called, the new album by Vagabon, the moniker of Lætitia Tamko. Co-produced by Tamko and Rostam (Vampire Weekend, Haim, Clairo), it finds Tamko reinventing herself once again and features the most playful and adventurous music of her career, as evidenced by its lead track and opening song ‘Can I Talk My Shit?’. Vagabon has also announced an autumn tour that includes a headline run in the US, as well as European dates with Weyes Blood.



“I didn’t feel like being introspective,” says Tamko of her new album. “I just wanted to have fun.” Following her intimate 2017 debut Infinite Worlds, the New York artist favoured expansive and evocative electronic textures in her breakthrough 2019 self-titled follow-up. But her latest album feels like a wholly new era for Tamko, one that’s transformational and uncompromising. Across 12 vibrant tracks she wrote and produced primarily in Germany, she channels dance music and effervescent pop through her own confident sensibilities. These conversational songs are alive and unselfconscious, a document of an artist fully embracing her vision and reclaiming her joy.



The first words she sings on the album are, “Can I talk my shit? / I got way too high for this.” It’s a statement of purpose for the rest of the album that this is an unapologetic artist. “This whole record is how I talk to my friends and how to talk to my lovers,” says Tamko. “I think honesty and conversational songwriting can become poetry. There’s beauty in plainly speaking without metaphors and without flowery imagery.”



The story of Sorry I Haven’t Called started in grief after Tamko’s best friend died in 2021. This devastating and unexpected loss unmoored Tamko but also gave her a newfound clarity. “The things that I thought I cared about, I no longer cared about,” she says. “I had a realization that I need to make sure to feel everything that comes my way.” She decided to sell her things and move to a small lakeside village a few hours north of Hamburg in northern Germany to process everything. “There's no linear path to grief, and everyone handles it differently, but uprooting my life just felt like exactly what I had to do,” says Tamko. “I needed a place to think and go through my discomfort privately but to also explore the newness and urgency I was feeling in my life.” In the village, her phone didn’t work and there were no close grocery stores or restaurants, so she spent her time alone working on music.



Despite the palpable absence in her life, her new songs were her most disarming and ebullient yet. The first one she wrote was ‘Carpenter’, a mesmerizing track anchored by a tangible bass groove, where she sings, “I wasn’t ready to move on out / but I'm more ready now.” It’s a fully-realised track and feels like the culmination of her catalogue so far. “A lot of the music that I was making there had nothing to do with my grief at all,” says Tamko. “Once I gave myself permission to make a record that's full of life and energy, I realized that’s the point of this album. In the midst of going through all of these tough things, it became a record because of the vitality that these songs had.” For Tamko, there’s power in pursuing happiness.



While writing in Germany, Tamko nurtured her love for dance music and let it seep into her new songs. “The only things that were giving me access to a feeling were dance music and going to a rave in an extremely dark club where if I wanted to cry, I could do it and be around other people,” she says.



After a few months in Germany that included marathon writing sessions and a whirlwind romance, Tamko decided to stay with friends in Los Angeles and finish her record. She enlisted co-producer Rostam to help her unify her vision.



Sorry I Haven’t Called is a warm and resilient album about embracing the ecstatic moments wherever you can by knowing how you love and how you mourn. It’s an album born of both communal dancefloor revelations and the clarifying peace from solitude, an emotional rebirth as well as an artistic one. “This record feels like what I've been working towards,” says Tamko. “When I think of this album, I think of playfulness. It's completely euphoric. It's because things were dark that this record is so full of life and energy. It’s a reaction to what I was experiencing at the time, not a document of it.”

Read any article or comment thread about the Seattle noise-rock outfit GREAT FALLS and you're likely to see descriptors like cathartic, heavy, crushing, and unhinged. Maybe even psychotic. And sure, those are all apt: For over a decade, vocalist/guitarist Demian Johnston and bassist Shane Mehling (who also played together in the early-2000s noisecore band PLAYING ENEMY and the experimental duo HEMINGWAY) have honed their sludgy, overwhelmingly intense brand of heaviness, punctuated by delectably discordant riffs, terrifyingly low, thwacking bass lines, and mesmerizingly tight percussion. In the live setting, too, they’re notorious for a stage presence that is so aggressively confrontational and menacing that Mehling once broke his own arm mid-set.

But the most striking aspect of GREAT FALLS, setting them apart from the murky sea of sludge metal and AmRep-inspired noise-rock bands, is their ability to paint a deeply, utterly human story through an all-out assault on the senses: an art the band has perfected on their fourth full-length album OBJECTS WITHOUT PAIN, out September 15 via NEUROT RECORDINGS.

The album is not only their NEUROT debut, but also the first LP featuring drummer Nickolis Parks (GAYTHEIST, BASTARD FEAST), who joined the band prior to the release of their exhilarating, cacophonous 2023 EP,FUNNY WHAT SURVIVES.

OBJECTS WITHOUT PAIN takes us on a bleak, purgative journey through a separation–a snapshot of the turmoil and indecision that occurs after the initial realization of someone's misery, and before the ultimate decision to end a decades-long partnership. From the foreboding intro riffs of “DRAGGED HOME ALIVE” to the end of the 13-minute closer “THROWN AGAINST THE WAVES,” its eight tracks explore the thoughts that come up when a person is staring down the barrel of blowing up their life: How did this happen? Is it too late for a new life? Will the kid be OK? What will make me happier: familiar torment or unknown freedom?

'Higher Than High' ist eine gefühlvolle Disco-Nummer mit unerbittlichem Beat. Der Track wurde zusammen mit drei anderen Nummern um 1976 für den GRC aufgenommen. Die B-Seite ist eine Aufnahme von John Edwards. 'It's Got To Be The Real Thing For Me This Time' ist ein Uptempo-Song von Sam Dees.

Dark Entries and Papi Juice Records team up for No Jack Swing, the solo electronic debut of multi-hype man Brontez Purnell. The Southern-raised, Oakland-based musician and writer has centered his queerness and Blackness in projects Gravy Train and Younger Lovers as well as in his award-winning books 100 Boyfriends and Since I Laid My Burden Down. On No Jack Swing, Purnell gives us a love letter to the most beloved (and secularized) of drum patterns - that is, the electronic 808 “Amen Break”. Beginning recording in 2020, Purnell conceived of No Jack Swing as an audio zine of found sound materials: chain letters of instrumentals recorded in bedrooms, poems from boys in France, found gospel tapes from his childhood family Baptist Choir, and the sound of records skipping on his bedroom turntable. No Jack Swing is as much a homage to No Wave and New Jack Swing as it is an answering to the gods of Indie, Electroclash, Disco, and Gospel. Amidst all this background noise, the unexpected occurs: all the niche pretensions collapse to a singularity - the sound of High Pop! No Jack Swing was produced by Nightfeelings. Each copy of includes a lyric sheet with a photo of Brontez.

The latest project by "El Gusano", a moniker of the elusive Pablo Arrangoiz, aka Dj Fitness, Bauzer Vep, Señor Faxwater, Glue Boy, Goiz and too many more to list (seriously, check out his Bandcamp/discogs). Arrangoiz is a Mexican native based in Miami, known as much for his ever varying aliases as he is for his scrupulous production and sui generis live and DJ sets. Focused on incorporating Latin ritmos with contemporary elements of his other influences such as house, techno, free jazz, German new wave, electro, Miami bass, noise, and more, Arrangoiz’s production, much like the artist himself, is one of a kind.

Saka La Bolsita", the inaugural release on Impacto, the new label and love child of Miami powerhouse producers Nick León and Jonny From Space, is a sonic conglomeration of acid cumbia with slivering jazz chords, microtonal reggaetón constructed with a tuning system made by finding the overtones of air conditioners, demonic dembow with a dash of house, Autotune Festival sex music, and all out pure ratchet core with an El Chavó sample. Including collaborations with lifetime friend Matt Angel AKA "El Descarao".

BBA was a short-lived super group made up of Jeff Beck (Guitar/Vocals), Tim Bogert (Bass/Vocals), and Carmen Appice (Drums/Vocals). Their brief, meteoric trajectory as a band included the 1973 release of their eponymous debut studio album, Beck, Bogert & Appice. On May 18th and 19th 1973, they recorded a live show at Koseinenkin Hall in Osaka, Japan, which was released as Live In Japan. The album was only released in Japan and has not been in print widely for some time.
Jeff Beck’s team also discovered a previously unreleased live show recorded at the Rainbow Theatre in London on the 26th of January 1974. The original masters were located and cleaned up where necessary by all three band members, with full approval by Carmine Appice, Tim Bogert, who passed away in 2021 and Jeff Beck, who passed earlier this year. These two amazing live shows will now be properly released or the first time in five decades as Beck, Bogert & Appice Live 1973 & 1974.
Both shows include an eclectic mix of rock, blues, boogie and experimental cuts that reflect the musical prowess of the super group. “Superstition” appears in both concerts, with a heavy pocket groove, highlighted by Beck’s solo and Talk Box contributions. “Going Down” and “Morning Dew,” featured in the Japan set, went on to become ongoing staples in Beck’s live show. The skill and musicianship of Appice and Bogert are displayed throughout and Beck’s unmatched guitar process is in full effect.
Beck, Bogert & Appice Live 1973 & 1974 will include an expansive booklet with extended liner notes detailing the story of the group by music journalist/manager Bruce Pilato, along with memorabilia, archival photos, and a replica poster.

A true surprise success for Paharas Musica, originally written during the end of the pandemic, 'White Isle Memories' captured the loss of not being able to visit the white isle of Ibiza and combines the producer talents of Ridney & Inner Spirit (aka Richard Earnshaw).

A production aimed at the beach bar culture of the island the production duo are joined by multiinstrumentalist, vocalist and loop pedal extraordinaire Michael Sebastian. In it’s original guise the track has racked up well over 1.3 million streams and in that gained the attention of German producer SOMMA (1.7 million monthly listeners), who was keen to grab the stems and deliver a special 2023 remix.

Adding to the package Ridney’s sunset reprise from his Café Mambo Ibiza DJ sets and Inner Sprits own incredible 2023 remix.

DJ Support:

Mark Knight (support on Kiss FM), Purple Disco Machine, Mousse T, Ken Fan (Café Del Mar), Ryan McDermott (Café Mambo Resident), Hector Romero, Des Mitchell (Radio One Mallorca), Mr V, Lenny Fontana, Loeca, Jazzy M, Dario D’Attis, Danny Rampling, Chad Jackson, Brandon Block, Booker T, Black Legend, David Dunne, Graham Sahara, Lizzie Curious, Martyn the Hat.5

Pure Noise Records and Pabst Blue Ribbon have teamed up again to present ‘Dead Formats Volume 2’, a 15-track compilation featuring the Pure Noise Records roster sharing their takes on classic songs from Elton John, New Radicals, The Kinks and scene favourites Taking Back Sunday and more. The concept with Volume 1 was originally curated as a way for fans to discover new, like-minded bands, the same way legendary comps like Atticus’ Dragging The Lake, Punk O Rama, or the Vans Warped Tour Compilations did in the 90’s and 2000’s. Volume 2 will open up a wealth of artists from across the years.

2023 Repress

Taking the basics from the past we seed our future. Apparently the songs hosted in this 12" are just techno tracks but the man behind them knows what he is doing.

Expect the unexpected: trap breaks, Chicago swinged rhythms, epic breaks and a lot of cowbell. All out of the ordinary to surprise the crowd, the listener and your neighbor if you play it loud enough during lockdown. All written and produced by one of those underrated genius who has studied and mastered the history and culture of rave music.

Dj Plant Texture is a sublime vinyl DJ, he owns a record store in the south of Italy and his prolific producer catalog along genres speaks for itself. Honored to have him in this second edition of Música Techno para Discoteca Presenting his new alias A.662

Disruptive techno music for believers, disc-jockeys and collectors. Play under your own risk.

Recorded in 1995 and 1996, mostly in John Fahey"s room at a Salem, Oregon boardinghouse, the performances on Proofs and Refutations prefigure the ornery turn of the page that marked Fahey"s final years, drawing another enigmatic rabbit from his seemingly bottomless musical hat. Cloaked in the language of dogma - what is he proving? refuting? - this is Fahey dancing a jig in the Duchampian gap, jester cap bells a-jingling. True believers? He"s got something for you: an uncompromising vision that you can sneer at ("guy can"t play anymore and refuses to concede!") or embrace as evidence of his genius ("the reinventor does it again!"). Skeptics? He"s there with you, too: sending up the fallacy of certitudes altogether. Institutions, systems, accepted wisdoms. Heroes. Alternative facts, indeed. Right out of the gate, Fahey re-materializes before us, somewhere between Oracle of Delphi and Clown Prince at Olympus. Mounting a thundering dialectic from on high, "All the Rains" resembles nothing else in his extensive discography - betraying roots in everything from Dada to Episcopal liturgical chant - and contains nary a plucked guitar note. You can"t fool him! When the lap steel of yore appears on "F for Fake," it serves more as soundbed for an extended sequence of vocal improvisations, running the gamut from wordless Bashoian caterwauling to free-form (but decidedly fake) Tuvan, even revealing a burnished falsetto in the process. Fahey takes on a different kind of provocation in the two acoustic guitar-based tracks closing Side 1 - "Morning" parts 1 and 2 - the first of 4 recordings in this session that have him wrestling with the ghost of Skip James, perhaps Fahey"s effort to wrench the "bitter, hateful old creep" (his words) back into the grave. Anchoring Side 2 is the two-part "Evening, Not Night," the second half of his extended cathexis on James (and the latter"s avowed castration complex - another story for another day, perhaps). Bit of a chill in the air - where"s the impish Fahey from earlier? Unmistakably working through some psychic wounds here, we might think: the unheimlich rendered in glistening viscera. Or is he playing with our notions of authenticity, of his reputation as troubadour of raw emotional states, a pilgrim of the ominous, the simmering unconscious? These cards are kept decidedly close to the vest. The opening and closing pieces again feature Fahey"s guitar as drone soundbed - employing distortion, oscillation, and an altogether absurd quotient of reverb to create texture and harmonics that are - if we wanna go there - not dissimilar to the sustained tonic clusters of Tibetan singing bowls, the hurdy gurdy, Hindustani classical music, or La Monte freaking Young. Portions of this material appeared on obscure late "90s vinyl in the 7" or double-78 rpm format, but as a "session" it has lain dormant more than a quarter century now. Taken together, we can now see these tracks as secret blueprints to latter-day Fahey provocations, several years prior to records like 1997"s City of Refuge and Womblife.

ENG Jay-Jay Johanson released an EP around his new single « Amen » The song is a piano voice piece which turns out to sound like a classic that could come from the «Great american songbook ». Jay Jay talks about all the cultural exchanges that shapes & rhythm a love story, to be more accurate : a failed love story. In addition to the «Addictive Youth remix » of the song, 2 others remixes are featured on the EP produced by the french singer/composer Léonard Lasry . On « Romeo » we can hear his piano touch and his background vocals mixed with the presence of a funky guitar, rare in Jay Jay's discography. On « Why Wait until tomorrow » he has invited Amina for a great vocal featuring.

On the occasion of its exceptional evening at the Cabaret Sauvage, Tricatel is releasing a superb vinyl compilation of thirteen tracks, including several previously unreleased ones. It's a collector's item for long-time fans and for those who want to discover the label.

The Tricatel Machine compilation pays tribute to this unique evening, including each artist present at the party. But not only that! Of the thirteen tracks, many are new or unreleased on vinyl.

The Nag's Head was a warts-and-all vessel for the sonic meanderings of Brighton artist Stephen Maskell - taking in richly textural techno, corrupted pop and ASMR drone sculptures. His four releases on Kit Records documented the ecstatic mundanity of life in broken Britain, compositions welded together with snippets of pirate radio, ear-tickling art installations, altercations in terrible pubs, and other end-of-pier hallucinations.

Honky Tonk Cheeseballs is perhaps Maskell's final release, and represents the culmination of his digital dream diary approach. Gone is the Nag's Head moniker (pub burnt down in a possible insurance job?). In the embers we find Basil Neptune: a kind of sentient Airbnb profile, seeking out the smelliest, strangest sonic vestiges of Albion. Expect richly harmonic ambience, ghostly spoken word, and a few trademark booty shakers. All shot through the lens of... Scooby Doo? Zoinks.

The Barcelona trio behind the excellent Isla Fantasia from a few years ago are back to enliven another summer season with an anthemic, Ibiza-esque dance floor filler. Reminiscent of an early 90s Euro-house stomper, the production does what it says on the tin: solid four to the floor action, enchanting female vocals(courtesy of Brigitte Emaga), and a refrain that will have 'the brightest light' still lodged in your brain way into autumn.

The flip side, Mistura Magica, is a percussively-driven instrumental that feels like dancing through a tropical rainforest. With just the right amount of rise and fall to keep the rhythmic tension tight with anticipation, it's a journey of Brazilian beats peppered with exotica electronica. Sandwiched between a heavy pounding drums is the sweetest flute (courtesy of Irene Reig), taking the limelight like a bird in flight. A synesthetic track that has you listening in full colour!

Belgian jazz veterans W.E.R.F. records and JazzLab are celebrating their 30th anniversary together with three unique creation projects for which they are joining forces. One of them is with percussionist Chris Joris, a veteran of Belgian jazz who is releasing a haunting new project.

Until the Darkness Fades' immediately says something about Chris Joris' career path, in which the musical and the personal invariably overlap. This percussionist has written one of the most colorful chapters of Belgian jazz. For many years he was active within various genres, but is now mostly praised as the percussionist who constantly demolished boundaries. Not only between all those oppressive genre boxes - pop, experiment, theater, world music, jazz - but also between complete worlds.

Chris Joris was playing "world jazz" long before there was that term, and he signed on for some hot-blooded jazz classics, with "Out Of The Night" perhaps the best-known example. That album was originally released in 2003, was then unavailable for years, but is back on shelves in 2023 and on vinyl for the first time. And rightfully so. Joris also eagerly seized the prospect of a new tour and a brand new album for a musical self-portrait. With "Until the Darkness Fades," he highlights different aspects of his musical identity, both expected and unexpected.

Joris composed new material, but also keeps a prominent place for free improvisation. It will be a tantalizing dichotomy full of hybrid sounds, with familiar and less familiar sounds, between romanticism and uninhibited adventure. He explores these in the presence of notable associates on violin and cello. In this way, he combines earthy percussion with the freedom of jazz and the elegance of chamber music. Discover this story of a Belgian master who is far from finished.

An aura of mystery hangs over Jacky Giordano, a studio musician who has mostly worked for library music.He is the one behind the amazing label Freesound (Schifter, Philopsis, Challenger), but as well on Montparnasse 2000 with Pop in Devil's Train (reissued on Le Tres Groove Club), on Timing (Timing N?1 and Timing N?5, under the nickname Jacky Nodaro), on Musax with Boucles Rythmiques (under the nickname Joachim Sherylee, reissued as well on Le Tres Groove Club) or Black Devil Disco Club whose paternity for this record is still disputed between him and Bernard Fevre. Jacky Giordano wasn't an altar boy, far from it, and will have sadly been more known for his troubles with justice than for his music.This is his work for the label l'Illustration Musicale (IM) which can now be rediscovered thanks to this new reissue on Le Tres Groove Club.Organ Plus (IM26) is the sequel to Organ (IM 24), also reissued by Le Tres Groove Club. The title is misleading here, an organ not being preponderant part of the record which honours the Fender Rhodes, string machine, bass synth and clavinet. 'Be Careful', 'Riffologic', 'Twillight' : Jacky Giordano offers slow tempo jazz-funk, without losing his melancholy and low-fi groove that make his tracks immediately recognisable regardless the record label or nickname.

At the end of the 60s and early 70s Brazil was a dream. It was fashionable everywhere in Europe and therefore in France too. One thinks of 'Samba Saravah' from the Un homme et une femme OST, Françoise Hardy and her record produced by Tuca, Isabelle Aubret and her 'Casa Forte' or France Gall with 'Zozoi'. Three Brazilian musicians exiled in France, Edson Lobo (bass), Fernando Martins (piano) and Nelson Serra (drums) form the Trio Camara. They met a group of friends who loved Brazilian music, all professional musicians, but who wanted to remain anonymous, hence the name of the band : Les Masques (The Masks)…

Claude Germain (Les double six), José Bartel, Marie Vassiliu, Pierre Vassiliu … Indeed the singers forming Les Masques are from being unknown. In 1969 they entered Studio Davout with le Trio Camara to record "Brasilian Sound". Composed of 11 tracks, it is a superb album, masterfully produced and recorded, a gripping record to listen in one go and transports us in atmospheres both dreamy and naïve which belong to that period. Produced in 500 copies on CBS, 'Brazilian Sound' was not, unfortunately, a success and it is today impossible to find the original French pressing (which sounds much better than the Canadian pressing released at the same time). This reissue on Le Très Groove Club is welcome, so that 50 years after its release, a larger audience can discover this beautiful record, echo of a once and for all past era.

Formed in Berlin, via an instagram notice board "We Formed A Band" set up by the band Gurr, LOBSTERBOMB had no idea at the time it would lead to them signing to the label that discovered Gurr, Duchess Box Records.

The Trio Nico Rosch, Vik Chi and Crayon Jones all immigrated to Berlin looking for the same escape and lust from the places they had left behind. After connecting with eachother during the pandemic of 2020 they started writing songs drawing on their environment, fears and frustrations of the time but had an desire for seizing the moment and making the world their own, a feeling they still have today..

"I have a bit of an obsession with a band from Germany called LOBSTERBOMB, I think they are magnificent" says legendary Duran Duran frontman Simon Le Bon on his American radio show on Sirius XM.

A.R. Kive collates the three most astonishing works from that most miraculous of duos - A.R. Kane - comprising the ‘Up Home’ EP from 1988 that signified the band’s dawning realisation of their own powers and possibilities, their legendary debut LP ‘sixty nine’ (1988) and its kaleidoscopic, prophetic double-LP follow up ‘i’ (1989).

In founder-member Rudy Tambala’s new remastering, the music on these pivotal transmissions from the birth of dream pop, have been reinvigorated and re-infused with a new power, a new depth and intimacy, a new height and immensity. Vivid, timeless and yet always timely whenever they’re recalled, these records still force any listener to realise that despite the habits of retrospective myth-making and the
safe neutering effects of ‘genre’, thirty years have in no way dimmed how resistant and dissident to critical habits of categorisation A.R. Kane always were. Never quite ‘avant-pop’ or ‘shoegaze’ or ‘post-rock’ or any of those sobriquets designed to file and categorise, A.R. Kive is a reminder that those genres had to be coined, had to be invented precisely to contain the astonishing sound of A.R. Kane, because
previous formulations couldn’t come close to their sui generis sound and suggestiveness. This is music that pointed towards futures which a whole generation of artists and sonic explorers would map out. Now beautifully repackaged, remastered and fleshed out with extensive sleeve notes and accompanying materials, ‘A.R. Kive’ reveals that 35 years on it’s still a struggle to defuse the revolutionary and inspirational possibility of A.R. Kane’s music.

A.R. Kane were formed in 1986 by Rudy Tambala and Alex Ayuli, two second-generation immigrants who grew up together in Stratford, East London. From the off the pair were outsiders in the culturally mixed (cockney/Irish/West Indian/Asian) milieu of the East End, with Alex and Rudy’s folks first generation immigrants from Nigeria and Malawi, respectively. The two of them quickly developed and fostered an innate and near-telepathic mutual understanding forged in musical, literary and artistic exploration. Like a lot of second-generation immigrants, they were ferocious autodidacts in all kinds of areas, especially around music and literature. Diving deep into the music of afro-futurist luminaries such as Sun Ra, Miles Davis, Lee Perry and
Hendrix, as well as devouring the explorations of lysergic noise and feedback from contemporaries like Sonic Youth and Butthole Surfers, they also thoroughly immersed themselves in the alternate literary realities of sci-fi and ancient history (the fascination with the arcane that gave the band their name), all to feed their voracious cultural thirsts and intellectual curiosity.

It was seeing the Cocteau Twins performing on Channel 4 show the Tube that spurred A.R. Kane into being - “They had no drummer. They used tapes and technology and Liz Fraser looked completely otherworldly with those big eyes. And the noise coming out of Robin’s guitar! That was the ‘Fuck! We could do that! We could express ourselves like that!’ moment”, recalls Tambala - and through a mix of
confidence, chutzpah, ad hoc almost-mythical live shows and sheer innocent will the duo debuted with the astonishing ‘When You’re Sad’ single for One Little Indian in 1986. Immediately dubbed a ‘black Jesus & Mary Chain’ by a press unsure of WHERE to put a black band clearly immersed in feedback and noise, what was immediately apparent for listeners was just how much more was going on here - a
tapping of dub’s stealth and guile, a resonant umbilicus back to fusion and jazz, the music less a conjuration of past highs than a re-summoning of lost spirits.
The run of singles and EPs that followed picked up increasingly rapt reviews in the press, but it was the ‘Up Home EP’ released in 1988 on their new home, Rough Trade that really suggested something immense was about to break. Simon Reynolds noted the EP was: Their most concentrated slab of iridescent awesomeness and a true pinnacle of an era that abounded with astounding landmarks of guitar-reinvention, A.R. Kane at their most elixir-like.

If anything, the remastered ‘Up Home’ that forms the first part of ‘A.R. Kive’ is even more dazzling, even more startling than it was when it first emerged, and listening now you again wonder not just about how many bands christened ‘shoegaze’ tried to emulate it, but how all of them fell so far short of its lambent, pellucid wonder. This remains intrinsically experimental music but with none of the frowning orthodoxy those words imply. A.R. Kane, thanks to that second generation auto-didacticism were always supremely aware about the interstices of music and magic, but at the same time gloriously free in the way they explored that connection within their own sound, fascinated always with the creation of ‘perfect mistakes’ and the possibilities inherent in informed play.

‘sixty nine’ the group’s debut LP that emerged in 1988 had
critics and listeners struggling to fit language around A.R. Kane’s sound. As a title it was telling - the year of ‘Bitches Brew’, the year of ‘In A Silent Way’, the erotic möbius between two lovers - and as originally coined by the band themselves, ‘dream pop’ (before it became a free-floating signifier of vague import) was entirely apposite for the music A.R. Kane were making. Crafted in a dark small basement studio in which Tambala recalls the duo had “complete freedom - We wanted to go as far out as we could, and in doing so we discovered the point where it stops being music”. There was an irresistibly dreamy, somnambulant, sensual and almost surreal flow to ‘sixty nine’s sound, but also real darkness/dankness, the ruptures of the primordial and the reverberations of the subconscious, within the grooves of remarkable songs like ‘Dizzy’ and ‘Crazy Blue’. Alex’s plangent vocals floated and surged amidst exquisite peals of refracted feedback but crucially there was BASS here, lugubrious and funky and full of dread, sonic pleasure and sonic disturbance crushed together to make music with a center so deep it felt subcutaneous, music constructed from both the accidental and the deliberate, generous enough to dance with both serendipity and chaos. ‘sixty nine’ remains - especially in this remastered iteration - ravishing, revolutionary.

The final part of this ‘A.R. Kive’ contains 1989’s astonishing double-LP ‘i’ which followed up on ‘sixty nine’s promise and saw the duo fully unleash their experimental pop sensibilities over 26 tracks, plunging the A.R. Kane sound into a dazzlingly kaleidoscopic vision of pop experiment and play. Suffused with new digital technologies and combining searingly sweet and danceable pop with perhaps the duo’s strangest and boundary-pushing compositions, the album did exactly what a great double-set should do - indulge the artists sprawling pursuit of their own imaginations but always with a concision and an ear for those moments where pop both transcends and toys with the listeners expectations. Jason Ankeny has noted that “In retrospect, ‘i’ now seems like a crystal ball prophesying virtually every major musical development of the 1990s; from the shimmering techno of ‘A Love from Outer Space’ to the liquid dub of ‘What’s All This Then?’, from the alien drone-pop of ‘Conundrum’ to the sinister shoegazer miasma of ‘Supervixens’ — it’s all here, an underground road map for countless bands to follow.” Perhaps the most overwhelmingly all-encompassing transmission from A.R. Kane, ‘i’ bookended a three year period in which the duo had made some of the most prophetic and revelatory music of the entire decade.

After ‘i’ the duo’s output became more sporadic with Tambala and Ayuli moving in different directions both geographically and musically, with only 1994’s ‘New Clear Child’ a crystalline re-fraction of future and past echoes of jazz, folk and soul, before the duo went their separate ways. Since then, A.R. Kane’s music has endured, not thanks to the usual sepia’d false memories that seem to maintain interest in so much of the musical past, but because those who hear A.R. Kane music and are changed irrevocably, have to share that universe which A.R. Kane opened up, with anyone else who will listen. Far more than other lauded documents of the late 80s it still sounds astonishingly fresh, astonishingly livid and vivid and necessary and NOW.

Setting out to create a future Balearic anthem while doffing a cap to street soul and synth-heavy Italo-disco B-sides of the early 1980s, Orbs of Light’s debut single, ‘Billion Days’ lands on Leng after a tip-off from Mind Fair duo Dean Meredith and Ben Shenton, who booked the duo to play live at their Rotation festival last summer.

Orbs of Light’s Baz Bradley and A Girl Called Kate have been friends for decades and have collaborated musically in the past, though it was only a couple of years ago that they dreamed up this project. It was first trialled via a 2021 remix for Andres y Xavi on Hollis Recordings (‘Perfect Timing’) on which Kate added new vocals to Bradley’s interpretation of the track. Since then, regular recording sessions have taken place, with the duo first crafting tight instrumental tracks before – in Bradley’s words – “dream up the best songs we can” with “melodies that will hopefully stay in your head all day”.

It would be fair to say that they’ve achieved that goal on ‘Billion Days’, a hooky and addictive affair whose vocal hooks and strong chorus could well inspire Balearic sing-alongs in the months ahead. Their original mix (B1 on the vinyl version of the EP, track 2 on the digital EP) is joyous, cheery and kaleidoscopic, with steel pan style melodies, bouncy synth stabs, jaunty lead lines and Kate’s wonderful lead vocal riding a shuffling, post street soul beat and a bubbly bassline.

The accompanying remix package is naturally very strong too. San Francisco crew 40 Thieves, fresh from dropping a killer single of their own on Leng (‘The Gift’, with disco legends Gary Davis and Cinnamon Jones), step up first with a take that stretches out and builds on Orbs of Light’s original mix – think wobbly nu-disco synth bass, fresh flute sounds, dubbed-out vocal snippets and a locked-in groove that’s just perfect for sun-soaked alfresco dancing.

Fittingly, the second and final revision comes from Mind Fair, whose email to Leng HQ about Orbs of Light got the ball rolling. Opting for a rubbery, body-popping beat inspired by vintage electro, they deliver a joyful, effects-laden Balearic dancefloor ‘Dub Mix’ that somehow makes a genuinely life-affirming record even more loved-up and saucer-eyed – despite the presence of only a fraction of Kate’s addictive lead vocal.

Moiss Music released a hot pair of EPs in February and repeat the same trick in May with another quality double drop. It is a various artists offering as always with DJ Delivery's 'Never Gonna Give You Up' a sure-fire floor-filling anthem to start things off. It's got loopy drums and string samples as well as sumptuous vocal harmony then Borka & The Gang keep the feel-good vibes alive with 'Kidding Feelings and Even Funkier's' Dance With Your Feet' is another smile-inducing bit of disco warmth with withering sic-fi synths and hip swinging claps. Jordan Reece's 'Prayer' has hints of gospel in the vocal while noodling keys and tight kicks all get looped to perfection.

The follow up to 'Sun Circles' is here: 'Jour De Fete' (French for "day of celebration") is a sweltering slab of festive inner city disco of the highest order. Flip the record for a mighty, extended dub by cult hero Conrad McDonnell of Idjut Boys fame. 'Nuff said.

Disco re-edit master Moplen sprinkles his magic on the golden grooves of Jackie Moore’s classic, ‘Holding Back’ for the third release on A’s and Bees backed with the original Breakdown and Chin-Mental mixes from the mighty John Morales and Sergio Munzabai (M&M).

Continuing their run of heavyweight pressings that marry remastered originals with new interpretations of those prized cuts, A’s and Bees look to ’83 with this sensuous slice of disco heat, blending beefy slap bass with a soaring string section and Jackie’s soulful vocal tones. A cover of David Simmons’ 1979 classic ‘Holdin' Back’ penned by Gregg Diamond and Steve Love, Moore’s interpretation is a high energy disco hit from across the Atlantic.

Opening up the release, re-work whiz Moplen was graced with the stems to the original recording, tweaking, finessing and squeezing out all the best bits of the original building the tension across 7 sublime minutes, that balances deftness with full frontal power. Taking the A2, the original vocal mix in all its glory, produced and arranged by MFSB’s Bobby Eli.

On the B side two masterful M&M mixes from the legendary duo of John Morales and Sergio Munzabai in the form of the Breakdown and Chin-Mental versions.

50% of the profits from this release will be donated towards the British Beekeepers Association.

Repress!

Oliver Dollar debuts on Rekids with disco-fuelled three tracker, ‘Strings for Life’ EP.

Initially appearing on Rekids as a remixer in 2012, Berlin-based Oliver Dollar returns to Radio Slave’s imprint with the Spring-time funk of his ‘Strings for Life’ EP this April.

The rich, stirring strings of the title track open ‘Strings for Life’ with real soul. Warm, euphoric and built atop a rocksteady discoid groove, it’s a track that’s familiar, new and classic all at the same time. ‘School Daze’ follows with rhythmic shakers, funk-infused chopped guitar and bass licks while nifty vocal samples and cosseting chords provide the hooks. Closing out is ‘Sophisticated Funk’ which sees Dollar double down on the disco with an epic, emotive beatdown.

With releases from Radio Slave, Eddie Fowlkes, Cromby, Dave Angel, Star B and Alinka on Rekids in
recent months, Matt Edward’s imprint is as fresh as ever and Oliver Dollar’s ‘Strings of Life’ EP joins the catalogue in fine style.

: Daft Punk, SAULT, BADBADNOTGOOD, Surprise Chef. Eraserhood Sound's mysterious, intergalactic house band Fantasy 15 are finally ready to unleash their debut LP, Zoltandia. After years of rising anticipation which saw the group release a handful of now-sold out, highly sought-after 45s, Fantasy 15 have delivered a modern synth-funk opus. The album, named after the group's remote home planet, is a dazzling display, and features an audacious blend of soul, funk, disco, boogie, house, hip hop, New Wave, and much more. Zoltandia is a true sonic journey, a concept album that tells the fantastical tale of the beloved freedom fighters Fantasy 15. The group, whose true identity has always been a mystery, push the limits of their musical experimentation further than ever. Leading single "Interplanetary Lover" features the show-stopping Kendra Morris on lead vocals, and serves as the group’s first proper love song. Elsewhere, the title track "Zoltandia" features chanting group vocals and a disco-boogie groove that nods to legends like William Onyeabor and Kiki Gyan.

In Rumi's poem A Great Wagon he writes of a place of total acceptance. "Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there," It is a boundless, liminal space where we can release the judgments we make and carry of ourselves, and the comparisons to others. When we think of this field, there is a sense of tranquility that only comes when we are undisturbed by the shadow self and see existence as neither bright nor dim, white nor black. But as lead singer Greg Bertens explains, arriving there is a whole different story. "This is a poem I've returned to over the years, and I love the idea of this place, but getting there is life's journey." Bertens adds "I think the longing for and elusiveness of this field is a recurring theme in our music." Field is enveloped by themes of regret, disconnection and frustration but with the space to understand that these feelings are a natural part of the struggle between reconciling the inner and outer self. The Los Angeles/San Francisco-based group have been indie shoegaze stalwarts since their formation in 2001. After two decades and a handful of line-up changes, their extensive discography presents a dynamically textural, lush psychedelic rock that has featured guest appearances by members of Pavement, My Bloody Valentine, and Snow Patrol, among others. 2021's LP We Weren't Here was hailed for its dense instrumental blanket, where unrelenting hi-hats and heavy kicks exist alongside dreamy drone guitar. This propulsive nature permeates Field, as members Bertens, Noël Brydebell (vocals), Nyles Lannon (guitar), Jason Ruck (synths), Justin LaBo (bass), and Adam Wade (drums) produce a kaleidoscopic sonic landscape. Patient, sprawling instrumentation builds a foundation in which Bertens' themes of endurance, perseverance and clarity can bloom with a considered poise. As a lyricist who writes in response to the instrumental arrangements, rather than a focus on a specific theme or person, Field is a testament to Film School's ability to create in the moment, and to showcase the magic that stems from when we are truly present. Album opener "Tape Rewind" is a swirling rush of color, as sustained guitars, darkened bass lines and urgent, percussive swells dance alongside each other. "This is the newest of all the songs on the record and feels like a new level of heaviness for the band," Bertens explains, noting that its lyrical context of struggling to move past trauma adds to its cathartic essence. Field is bookended by heavier themes, with closer "All I'll Ever Be" taking on the perspective of those we hurt when we embrace our own toxic behaviors. Originally written to be a simple acoustic guitar and vocals song soon turned into an ethereal, effects-laden composition, with Noël's hazy lead vocals ushering in a new-found acceptance. "It's all I want / To be released / And all I can be," she laments, cementing Field's message of accepting ourselves in whatever form we find ourselves in. "Defending Ruins" is a murky relentless underworld, inspired by the freewheeling tones of Texas-based band Holy Wave. "Defending the ruins, defending remains," Bertens spits, among a richly-layered outro. "Don't You Ever" confirms Film School's ability to merge both delicate and growling instrumentation throughout the album, with the song's softly spoken section hovering above sparkling guitar. "Is This A Hotel" bends towards the electronic aspects of the band, with wailing synths accompanying a story of bitter desire. With over two decades in the industry, Field cements Film School as a distinct, dominant force in the shoegaze scene. Soaked in an emotionally open, imaginative atmosphere, the album is both singular and expansive, and leaves the door open for a constantly evolving interpretation. Film School have never confined themselves to the rigidity of specifics, and it's on Field that they urge us to look beyond the binary of certainty, and to take a second look

Athens, Georgia's Telemarket emerges with force and finesse on its debut full length, Ad Nauseum, due out August 25th on Elephant 6 label affiliate Cloud Recordings and Science Project Records. The record by tums navigates loops of existential quandary, heartache, and hilarity in a world gone awry. Running at 34 minutes and 34 seconds, this thirteen track odyssey discovers itself through bouts of exuberant feedback and snappy hooks, and ultimately finds resolution surrounded by good friends in its musical home of Athens. Among these friends is John Fernandes of Cloud Recordings, a former member of projects Olivia Tremor Control and Circulatory System and longtime Elephant 6 collaborator, who teamed up with Telemarket to release and distribute the group's LP. Ad Nauseum features artwork from late Georgia artist Patrick Dean, to whom the record is dedicated. Dean’s piece ‘Welcome to Athens, Y'all” was featured on Athens GA publication Flagpoles cover in August of 1999, and now adjourns the Telemarket cover reflecting the themes of repetition, redundancy, and relief. Telemarket provides a distorted vessel for the shape-shifting songeraft of vocalist / guitarist Adam Wayton, and features collaborations with many of his talented Athens friends. Wayton together with guitarist and engineer Will Wise hunkered down in their Odd Street home studio (originally built by a former Widespread Panic fiddle player) for much of 2021-2022 a piece of time many would just as soon forget and managed to create something memorable together in Ad Nauseum

YMO DRUMMER YUKIHIRO TAKAHASHI'S SOPHISTICATED CITY FUNK CLASSIC FROM 1978 CO-PRODUCED BY RYUICHI SAKAMOTO AND FEATURING HARUOMI HOSONO, MINAKO YOSHIDA AND TATSURO YAMASHITA. RELEASED FOR THE FIRST TIME OUTSIDE OF JAPAN - WITH REMASTERED AUDIO, LP COMES WITH OBI AND FOUR PAGE INSERT

Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the release of Yukihiro Takahashi's debut solo album 'Saravah!'. One of the key Japanese albums of the 70s, it was released in 1978 at a key time when, following his tenure with Sadistic Mika Band, Takahashi had just joined the nascent line up of Yellow Magic Orchestra. A sophisticated mix of Disco Funk, synth Pop, Ambient, French Exotica and Bossa Nova, the album has the stylish feel of a night out clubbing in Paris circa 1978. It’s the missing link between the City Pop scene of the late 70s and the synth sound of YMO which was about to revolutionise the world. Newly remastered by renowned engineer Mitsuo Koike, the LP features original artwork with photos by Masayoshi Sukita (David Bowie's Heroes), a 4-page insert and a new Introduction by Benjamin Barouh (Saravah records).
The month before recording the YMO debut album that would help alter the course of music, Yukihiro Takahashi entered the studio with his fellow band-members Ryuichi Sakamoto and Haruomi Hosono to record 'Saravah!' together with the cream of the Japanese scene. He drew his inspiration from globe-trotting French musician Pierre Barouh who had introduced Bossa Nova in France in 1966 with "Samba Saravah" (featured in soundtrack the Oscar Winner A Man And A Woman which he co-wrote) and subsequently launched Saravah Records.
'Saravah' starts off with a couple of French and Italian exotica classics ('Volare' and 'C'est Si Bon') with delicious touches of synth while 'Saravah!' a nod to Pierre Barouh, is a languid Bossa Nova with beautiful soulful strings arranged by Ryuichi Sakamoto. The album gets hotter with 'La Rosa' a superb mid tempo ambient funk featuring Takahashi's beat backed by Haruomi Hosono's bumping bass line, Sakamoto's Hammond Organ and Shigeru Suzuki's fluid guitar.
The first side ends with an amazing exotica-synth version of the standard 'Mood Indigo', announcing the midi revolution that was to come before things get funkier on Side Two starting with Ryuichi Sakamoto's superb up-tempo Disco instrumental ‘Elastic Dummy’ featuring soulful strings and horns with solos by Sakamoto and guitarist Tsunehide Matsuki. The album then moves on to the ambient synth pop of ‘Sunset’ before switching back to Disco Funk with 'Back Street Midnight Queen’ which. like 'Elastic Dummy' has become a dancefloor cult classic over the years.' Saravah! ends on a perfect note with the beautiful 'Present' a perfectly crafted pop song which Takahashi wanted to do in a City Pop mode, featuring a superb melody and high-class arrangements. The perfect soundtrack to an early morning stroll in the Paris streets as illustrated by Masayoshi Sukita's photos featured on the album cover.
A sophisticated album full of glitz and fun, 'Saravah!' gives a unique insight into the versatility the YMO musicians and how funky they could play under Yukihiro Takahashi's influence. This was a key time when the three musicians were just transitioning to a sound that would be dominated by synthesizers and 'Saravah' catch them just at that fascinating moment.

Pierre-Alain Dahan & Slim Pezin's Neo Rythmiques is an absolute KILLER Tele Music library classic from 1976. It's absolutely sensational throughout, all scorching, uptempo jazzy soul funk that Mr James Brown himself would've been envious of. This is serious business with breaks for days. French drummer, percussionist and composer Pierre-Alain Dahan was a key member of the legendary Arpadys, Disco & Co, Voyage, Tumblack (with Wally Badarou, Mallia et al!) and Jef Gilson Septet. With Neo Rhythmiques, he's joined by his eternal guitar colleague Slim Pezin (Voyage, Manu Dibango, Nino Ferrer), so you know this Be With reissue is fundamentally vital.

Opener "Soul Car" is a swaggering, horn-drenched jazz-funk beast whilst the slick JBs funk of "Happy Penalty" is just plain irresistible. Definitely influenced by American funk flavours, it stands alone on its own right as a brilliant piece of music, no question about that. The blazing "Kuzi-Kuza" is again horn-fuelled but has a more exotic, Latino feel, all loose grooves and bastard blues with funky organ and shredding guitars. The stomping, proto-disco of "Mercy Boa" is a guitar-sizzled Bohannon-esque hypno-groove for adventurous dance floors the world over. Outstanding. And if all that wasn't enough from one half of a 70s French library LP, the A side ends with the monumental, stratospheric "Slim Bertha"! I mean, what can you even say about this absolute monster?! Slo-motion, deep drama funk breaks with jazzy guitar and gleaming percussion. Just sensational.

Side B opens with "Country + Country", a rather forgettable slice of piano driven bluegrass funk (?!) Aaaaannyway, "Super Airship" follows and is a driving fuzz-guitar psych-rock workout of the highest order. We're back on track now. The brilliantly titled "Electronic Mutation" is a total highlight, the funk most definitely returning and, indeed, strong in this one with its deep clean breaks (with some particularly ace hi-hats), echoey effects and funky clavs. "Africa Semper" follows, all funky percussion, trippy echo and distorted, psychy guitar licks. To close out the set, "Neo Rythmiques 1 and 2" form a great salvo of top-tier, percussion-heavy synthy-funk-fusion. For our money, the bugged-out echoey space-soul of "N° 2" just about edges it.

One of the very best French drummers ever, Pierre-Alain Dahan began his career at the Blue Note in Paris with Sonny Stitt, Dexter Gordon and Daniel Humair. Some start, eh?! He also participated in the recording of Serge Gainsbourg's cult album 'La Ballade de Melody Nelson' before going on to make countless KILLER library funk records and be a key member - alongside his partner here, Slim Pezin - in the legendary Arpadys, Disco & Co and Voyage. Dahan also featured in Tumblack (with Wally Badarou, Sauveur Mallia et al) and Jef Gilson Septet (alongside Henri Texier), whilst the CCCP Pezin backed, among others, Manu Dibango and Nino Ferrer. Some pedigree.

The audio for Neo Rythmiques has been remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring this release sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the original, iconic Tele Music house sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

NOTE. WITH THE PURCHASE OF THE VINYL YOU WILL ALSO RECEIVE THE TRACKS OF THE TOTAL 23 DIGITAL VERSION AS A DIGITAL DOWNLOAD. THE DOWNLOAD CODE CARD CONTAINS ALSO ALL TRACKS OF THE CD.

Okay, you’re listening to the 23rd edition of Kompakt’s annual compilation series TOTAL… hold on… 23??? It’s impossible to look at this number without thinking of William S. Burrough’s Captain Clark anecdote, the Illuminatus trilogy and the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu. But don’t you worry, we’re not giving in to eikositriophobia. We’re enlighted folks, after all.

Total 23 kicks off in a disco mood with a well tempered double punch from label co-founders Michael Mayer and Jürgen Paape. Jörg Burger calls out a trippy new genre named Cinematic Dance before C.A.R. and Patrice Bäumel resurface with a club mix of their early 2023 single ‘Four Down’. Sofia Kourtesis’ sultry remix of Perel ‘Matrix’ finally gets a well deserved vinyl release. ‘Ice Cream Cake’ by Cologne’s newcomer M.A.P.E. helps cooling things down a bit before another debutante, Argia from Madrid makes her first entry to the Kompakt catalogue. Gui Boratto’s recent single ‘Drink In Paris’ raises the energy levels just in time for Reinhard Voigt’s ruthless closing track ‘Endlich XXL’, an ode to some of the best things in this world: Beer and techno.

Okay, du hörst die 23. Ausgabe der jährlichen Kompilationsreihe TOTAL von Kompakt. Moment mal… 23??? Man kann diese Zahl unmöglich betrachten, ohne an William S. Burroughs’ Anekdote über Captain Clark, die Illuminatus-Trilogie und die Justified Ancients of Mu Mu zu denken. Aber keine Sorge, wir erliegen nicht der Eikositriophobie. Immerhin sind wir aufgeklärte Leute.

Total 23 beginnt in Discostimmung und einem wohltemperierten Doppelschlag von den Mitbegründern des Labels, Michael Mayer und Jürgen Paape. Jörg Burger ruft ein psychedelisches neues Genre namens Cinematic Dance aus, bevor C.A.R. und Patrice Bäumel mit einem Club-Mix ihrer Single ‘Four Down’ aus dem Frühjahr 2023 wieder auftauchen. Der tropisch-schwüle Sofia Kourtesis Remix von Perels ‘Matrix’ erhält endlich eine verdiente Vinyl-Veröffentlichung. ‘Ice Cream Cake’ von M.A.P.E., einem Newcomer aus Köln, sorgt für etwas Abkühlung, bevor mit Argia aus Madrid eine weitere Debütantin ihre ersten Spuren im Kompakt Katalog hinterlässt. Gui Borattos aktuelle Single ‘Drink In Paris’ steigert rechtzeitig das Energielevel für Reinhard Voigts gnadenlosen Schlusstrack ‘Endlich XXL’, eine feierliche Ode an einige der besten Dinge dieser Welt: Bier und Techno.

The ‘imaginary’ soundtrack to the adventures Of Kindaichi Kosuke, the cult detective book series by writer Seishi Yokomizo is on many DJ want-lists. Arranged by soundtrack master Kentaro Haneda and featuring a mysterious group of the best 70s Japanese Funk musicians, the album is pure undiluted Disco Funk. This reissue is the album's first official release outside of Japan. Remastered from the original tapes, it features artwork by renowned illustrator Ichibun Sugimoto, OBI strip and a 4 page insert with a new introduction by British journalist Anton Spice.

RYUICHI SAKAMOTO'S LANDMARK 1981 ALBUM REISSUED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN DECADES OUTSIDE OF JAPAN. THE ALBUM WILL BE REISSUED IN ITS RARE JAPANESE EDITION TOGETHER WITH A 2-LP LIMITED EDITION FEATURING THE ALBUM PLUS A 2ND LP FEATURING ITS NEVER-RELEASED FULL INSTRUMENTAL MIX, ALL REMASTERED BY BERNIE GRUNDMAN.

Wewantsounds is proud to announce the reissue of Ryuichi Sakamoto's third solo album "Hidari Ude No Yume" (Left Handed Dream), originally released in 1981 on the Alfa label. Save for a small-scale Dutch vinyl release in 1981, it is the first time the album's original Japanese edition is released outside of Japan (the European release on Epic Records included significantly different tracks and mixes). Newly remastered from the original tapes by renowned engineer Bernie Grundman, this LP edition comes with original artwork featuring a striking cover shot by famous photographer Masayoshi Sukita (sourced from the original negative), OBI strip and 4-page insert with new introduction by journalist Anton Spice. The album will also be released as a 2-LP limited edition gatefold including the album's full instrumental mix.
Ryuichi Sakamoto's third album, "Hidari Ude No Yume" was recorded at the legendary Alfa Studio 'A' in Tokyo during the Summer of 1981. it came after "B-2 Unit" in 1980 and his debut album "Thousand Knives Of" in 1978, the very year Sakamoto was invited by Haruomi Hosono to join Yellow Magic Orchestra alongside Yukihiro Takahashi. In the process, they became global stars as the group rewrote the rules of electronic pop and toured around the world, yet Sakamoto was keen to remain active as a solo artist.
?In 1981, the musician decided to record an album rooted in Pop, following "B-2 Unit" which had a more of an experimental edge and his landmark electro debut from 1978. For this new album entitled "Hidari Ude No Yume," Sakamoto invited British producer Robin Scott, who had had huge hit with 'Pop Muzik,' to co-produce. They entered the Alfa studio in July 1981, accompanied by a handful of musicians. These included his fellow YMO musicians Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, keyboard programmer extraordinaire Hideki Matsutake who'd been on Sakamoto's first two albums and became YMO's unofficial fourth member, violinist Kaoru Sato, saxophonist Satoshi Nakamura and American guitarist Adrian Belew who'd played with David Bowie, The Talking Heads' "Remain In Light" and more recently, Tom Tom Club’s debut (co-writing 'Genius Of Love').
?Together, they created a fascinating mix of pop, ambient and electronic music with elements of avant garde and traditional Japanese music, the whole firmly rooted in a solid groove. Sakamoto wanted to give the album a spontaneous feel and decided to let ideas flow and evolve organically during the sessions as musicians would develop them together. From the funk of 'Relâché' to the new wave feel of 'Venezia' and the ambient minimalism of 'Slat Dance,' the album is remarkably consistent while displaying a wealth of global influences as shown by the diversity of instruments featured on the credits: Marimba, didgeridu, traditional Japanese instruments such as the Sho and Hichiriki flutes.
?The album was released in Japan in 1981 and Epic Records picked it up for Europe a year later but decided to release it in a significantly altered version. The sequencing was completely reshuffled and two tracks, 'Saru No Ie' and 'Living In The Dark' were completely dropped while three others, ‘Relâché’, ‘Tell 'em To Me’, ‘Venezia’ were heavily remodelled with english lyrics and became 'Just About Enough', 'Once In A Lifetime' and 'The Left Bank'. Last but not least, a new English-sung track, 'The Arrangement,' was added, making the album nine tracks instead of ten for the Japanese edition.
Altogether this International version called "Left-Handed Dream" was a very different album from the Japanese one and although both were successful at the time and further established Ryuichi Sakamoto as a global solo artist, the Japanese edition of "Hidari Ude No Yume" remains largely unknown to international ears.
Wewantsounds is now delighted to release this original Japanese edition for the first time in decades as a single LP together with a 2-LP limited-edition set adding, as a bonus, its fascinating instrumental mix, discovered in the label's vaults a few years ago (Note that 'The Garden Of Poppies', 'Slat Dance' and 'Saru No Ie' are instrumentals but for the consistency of the album we kept them on the Instrumental Mix). "Hidari Ude No Yume" is an essential album in Ryuichi Sakamoto's rich discography. It is now available in its purest original Japanese form.

You have said too much to a stranger in a bar bathroom; your back is killing you because of everything you haven’t said; you’ve overwatered your houseplants again. Small Million is here for you. Flowing from the collaboration of longtime creative partners Ryan Linder and Malachi Graham, the Portland-based indie pop outfit welds deeply affecting sonic production to smart lyrics about intuition and inhibition, losing control and ending up in unexpected places, being willing to fuck up, bodies hurt and bodies joyful.

The effect is both intimate and epic, delicate and fierce. Listen to it to ache, dance to it to heal. In the time since Small Million's last release, years of chronic pain have led lead vocalist and lyricist Malachi Graham to deep explorations of embodiment that have changed everything from her singing voice to her dance moves to her observation of human frailty. “There’s one side of chronic pain that leads you towards intuition, self-discovery, and listening closely to yourself. But it also means you end up sitting on the side of the room a lot, watching people and paying attention. Also you’re pissed,” notes Graham. Producer and instrumentalist Ryan Linder’s background as a filmmaker informs the textured richness and intelligent restraint of his song building. He approaches production with obsessive technical rigor that’s always in service of centering intense emotion.

Graham’s clear, unadulterated vocals breathe at the heart of Linder’s rich sonic terrain, drawing comparisons to The Cranberries and Florence + the Machine. Linder and Graham have been writing as a duo for a decade, but for their newest chapter they've expanded the band, enlisting Ben Tyler (Small Skies) on drums and Kale Chesney (Lo Pony) on bass and harmonies.

Small Million's evolution into a four-piece has expanded the band’s sound from their synth pop origins to encompass more organic, raw indie rock energy. Small Million has played with artists like Fakear, IDER, Hatchie, HÆLOS, Lo Moon, and Loch Lomond, and their tracks have been featured on compilations by Tender Loving Empire, PDX Pop Now!, and Vortex Music Magazine. They released their debut EP Before the Fall in June 2016, their follow-up, Young Fools, in Fall 2018, and singles “Saintly” and “Tarot” in 2019. Their newest music is dropping throughout 2022.

Audiophile reviews rave about saxophone master John Coltrane's immortal Impulse! records, A Love Supreme (1964) and Ballads (1963). In fact, jazz critics have lauded A Love Supreme as Coltrane's most important recording. The rave reviews which appeared in the magazines Downbeat, Jazz Hot, Jazz Podium and Swing-journal reflected this: critics all over the world, in America, Europe and Japan recognized that Coltrane's deep religious belief had influenced both his approach to life and his music-making.

You're about to experience A Love Supreme at its peak of vinyl perfection — in UHQR format on Clarity Vinyl, with the added bonus of a double 45 RPM cut by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound. Ryan's cut has his characteristic clarity and transparency all set against Quality Record Pressing's usual noiseless backgrounds on 200-gram flawless records. Each UHQR will be packaged in a deluxe box and will include a booklet detailing the entire process of making a UHQR along with a hand-signed certificate of inspection. This will be a truly deluxe, collectible product.

For this 45 RPM 2LP edition you'll also receive a 12" x 12" 12-page booklet featuring liner notes by Ashley Kahn and images from the Coltrane home.

The original master tape is available but it's not in the best shape. This LP was cut from a flat tape copy made by Rudy Van Gelder and used for cutting in the UK in April of 1965. Of course, the original recording was in December '64, so only a handful of months later. This tape was discovered at Abbey Road and had been untouched between 1965 and 2002. So while the original tape is available and while we would always opt for the original whenever we can, in this case this copy was the better choice as the tape has incurred less overall wear and sounds much better than the original.

A Love Supreme was Coltrane's pinnacle studio outing that at once compiled all of his innovations from his past, spoke of his current deep spirituality, and also gave a glimpse into the next two and a half years (sadly, those would be his last). Recorded at the end of 1964, Trane's classic quartet of Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, and Jimmy Garrison stepped in and created one of the most thought-provoking albums of their relationship.

The album not only enabled Coltrane to express himself with great intensity but also lent him the necessary inner peace to conceive a work of almost 40 minutes in length and to lead his quartet along the same path as himself.

Next on Allchival is a compilation tracing the musical pursuits of Cork’s (via Belfast) Finbarr Donnelly and his trilogy of bands – Nun Attax, Five Go Down To The Sea? and Beethoven - before his untimely death by drowning in London’s Hyde Park in 1989. From the post punk of the first band via the discordant indie of the second to the chaos of Beethoven’s short lived existence this compilation shines some light on one of Irelands most enigmatic frontmen over a ten year period. Released on 18th April Record Store Day on a 15 track LP and an expanded CD version with 24 tracks. Featuring tracks released on Setanta, Creation, Kabuki & Abstract plus previously unreleased Fanning Sessions, the LP also comes with a fanzine with detailed liner notes and ephemera.

Nun Attax, formed in the late 70s, are synonymous with the Downtown Kampus at Cork’s Arcadia Ballroom, the lynchpin of the city’s post-punk music scene. Their live performances being the stuff of Southern legend - unforgettable, incendiary events, examples of which can be heard on the tracks here White Cortina, Reekus Sunfare. In the early-80s the band changed its name to Five Go Down To the Sea? and recorded the Knot A Fish EP 7’’ for London–Irish label Kabuki Records and soon after the band left recession-ridden Cork for the UK capital.

Squatting south of the River, working on building sites and collecting welfare under several aliases recording and gigs were sporadic but by 1984 they had hooked into the early Creation scene, and played gigs at Alan McGee’s Living Room club. Working with The Mekons Jon Langford they release The Glee Club on Edward Christie’s Abstract Sounds label. Following it up with the last of their three releases as Five..on Creation itself the band’s chaotic existence led to its demise only re-emerging in 1988 as Beethoven. Down to two original members – Donnelly and guitarist Ricky Dineen – plus two new additions their only release – a 12” on the fledgling Setanta records – features a cover of “Day Tripper” backed with original tracks and was NME’s Single of the Week in the summer of ‘89 when such things carried weight. The planned second single doesn’t go ahead after Donnelly’s death.

Selected Songs 1997-2003 compiles some of the finest moments in the recording history of Hydroplane, the Melbourne-based indie-pop three-piece that operated alongside The Cat’s Miaow through the second half of the nineties. It’s the third release in what feels, now, like a loosely planned series by World Of Echo, documenting the music made by this group of friends in Melbourne sharehouses (The Cat’s Miaow’s Songs ’94-’98, 2022), or in the case of The Shapiros (Gone By Fall, 2023), while traversing the International Pop Underground.

Hydroplane would be familiar to anyone already following these breadcrumb trails – Andrew Withycombe, Bart Cummings and Kerrie Bolton were the group’s core, all members of The Cat’s Miaow. With Cat’s Miaow drummer Cameron Smith itinerant, having moved to London, the trio used this opportunity to expand their music. It’s a subtle, but important shift. If The Cat’s Miaow was about the perfect, minimalist, two-minute pop song, Hydroplane’s music was far more open-ended, embracing the loops and drones, sampled house-y shuffle beats, the burbling of a Roland Jupiter-4 synth, all of which the trio joined, effortlessly, to their endless capacity for moving, elegant melodicism.

They may have only planned to release one seven-inch single, but the sound Hydroplane created was so bewitching, so compelling, that the project’s lifespan ran for around half a decade, and they ended up releasing three albums, including a self-titled debut recently reissued by Efficient Space, and seven singles. There are all kinds of compelling things happening in the music compiled here – the hazy repetition of the gentler side of Krautrock is in here, somewhere, which also suggests Stereolab at their most intimate and disarmed; the gently drifting guitars, gauzy and oneiric, set the songs adrift and floating, each one lost in its own imagined, distracted world. Songs like “The Love You Bring” set indistinct tonal floats across dance rhythms, in a way not quite heard since My Bloody Valentine’s “Instrumental” – but with the added gift of Bolton’s gorgeous voice.

This loose coalition with dance music, and the quiet experimentalism at the heart of Hydroplane, also gestures towards peers like Hood, Acetate Zero and Other People’s Children, and releases on renegade labels like Wurlitzer Jukebox and Enraptured. Like those groups and labels, The Cat’s Miaow were reconciling independent pop music’s past – sweet melody and melancholy, chiming and droning guitars – with the futures promised by DIY electronics and nascent digitalia, the interface of indie and IDM that led to some of the underground’s most blissful, texturally swoonsome music. All that is here, but also, the poise of the melodies is pure Cat’s Miaow, though, with Bolton’s voice sailing, pacifically, over some of the most pared-down, gorgeous music made during their decade.

It was a time, too, when such music could make waves – “We Crossed The Atlantic”, one of their early singles, was picked up by John Peel, who played it repeatedly on his legendary radio show, the song reaching #13 on his 1997 Festive 50. That the song itself was a cover of a tune by 1960s Australian beatnik-pop-poet Pip Proud felt even more perfect – a group of outsiders paying tribute to another outsider, played on the radio one of the few broadcasters brave and human enough to take a chance on this music. But it was a time where everything was up for grabs, and genres were flowing into each other: folk songs went drone; indie re-discovered noise; ambient pop floated, again, out onto the dancefloor. And while they may have been sequestered away in Melbourne, Australia, Hydroplane felt core to that scene, a quietly driving force.

Compiling material from across their brief but mercurial career, this double album perfectly captures the magic and mystery of Hydroplane’s dreamlike, perfect pop songs.

Monsieur Dimitri from Paris works his magic on Casbah 73's organic disco grooves with a remix treatment that surpasses all expectations.

'To Be Free' and 'Doing Our Own Thing' had a fantastic response when released on 12", at the end of 2019. It received wide support from people in the know like Red Greg, Danny Krivit, Folamour, Soul Clap, Kenny Dope and many others. The first pressing quickly sold out and the tracks were sounding strong on discerning dancefloors until, well, "The Thing" hit and everything stopped.

Despite this, the record has continued to grow by word of mouth, and so we thought it would be wonderful to have a 7" version with an edit or even a remix of the jazzy funky disco banger 'Doing Our Own Thing'. No one better than Dimitri from Paris for the job, one of the DJs who happened to tell us he loved the track. His two-part edit of 'Doing Our Own Thing' is a bomb that will make people dance for years to come.

The recent find of four Joe Graham recordings in the GRC/Aware tapes has shown there was much more to Joe’s talents than the southern soul of his 60s Chant recordings and the synthesiser, electro pop he recorded for various Atlanta labels in the 80s. ‘Higher Than High’ is a soulful disco number featuring a relentless beat. The track already has a strong following, thanks to advance plays in Europe and the UK from DJ Dave Thorley. This track, along with three other numbers, were recorded around 1976 for the GRC stable – just as the company was floundering so badly that the songs were left as unmixed multi-track tapes. Now mixed the demand for this one will be high.

We’ve taken the opportunity of including another excellent, unreleased at the time, recording from the revered John Edwards. ‘It’s Got To Be The Real Thing For Me This Time’ is an uptempo Sam Dees song, unheard until the 1990s release of the first batch of GRC/Aware tapes

Laura Nyro Live In Concert in 1994! Previously available only in Japan Includes live versions of the classics “And When I Die,” “Wedding Bell Blues,” “Stoned Soul Picnic,” and more Member of both the Songwriters and Rock & Roll Halls of Fame A member of both the Songwriters and Rock & Roll Halls of Fame, Laura Nyro not only wrote songs that became hits for acts including The 5th Dimension, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Three Dog Night, Barbra Streisand, and many more, but has been cited as a major influence by Kate Bush, Elton John, Elvis Costello, Cyndi Lauper, Todd Rundgren, Broadway composer Stephen Schwartz Godspell, Wicked, and countless others. She recorded 10 studio albums (one released posthumously), but a live performance from Nyro was always an event. Originally issued only in Japan as Live In Japan in 2003, these 16 tracks recorded at Kintetsu Hall, plus 5 recorded at On Air West return as Trees Of The Ages: Laura Nyro Live In Japan. From Nyro-penned hits including “And When I Die,” “Wedding Bell Blues,” and “Save The Country,” to covers of Bacharach/David, Smokey Robinson, and Phil Spector classics, Trees Of The Ages is an essential document of Laura’s February 1994 historic visit to Japan. With Laura on piano and vocals, with harmonies by Diane Wilson, Dian Sorrell, Diane Garisto, the performances are sublime. Newly remastered by Grammy®-winner Michael Graves, and produced for release by Grammy®-winner Cheryl Pawelski and George Gilbert with the approval of The Laura Nyro Trust, the packaging contains updated artwork and new liner notes from author and musician John Kruth. Looking and sounding incredible, this essential addition to Nyro’s discography is available worldwide for the first time. Trees Of The Ages: Laura Nyro Live In Japan cements the legend of the incomparable Laura Nyro.