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The American cable-television industry exploded in the 1980s, pushing broadcasts of diverse programming and emissions of low-laying cultures into homes. Community stations piggybacked on the digital developments of the time, extending their existence through telephony and broadcast a iliates. For those growing up in this time, in locations such as New York City, the localized communications beamed into their homes exposed them to an impressionable array of disparate sounds and visions.
Move into the 1990s and New York was filled to the brim of emergent cultures drawing from this ebullition of communication. From Rammellzee’s shapeshifting to the late Judy Russell and Frank and Karen Mendez’s Nu Groove imprint fusing reggae, poetry and house, nascent ideas emanated from the city walls, from within stores such as Sonic Groove store and on VHS releases such as Stakker’s The Evil Acid Baron Show, a legendary technicolor psychedelic trip along the wildest frontiers of acid house. As scenes expanded and identities developed, such individuals weather the events of the visceral now, expressing themselves right into an unpredictable future.
Function’s long career has seen him uncover a vast range of sonic identities, a mainstay through house, techno and industrial with collaborations with the likes of Regis, Damon Wild alongside his highly influential Infrastructure imprint. With influences deeply tied to pop art, rave and gay scenes, and early memories of block-parties emitting Kraftwerk and Strafe, he found himself seeking out the undercover illegal nights of the 90s on a quest of sexual unearthing, mixing the ever-yearning escapology mission of disco with the influential DJ sets of Jeff Mills.
For his new album Existenz, he marks a clear step away from the corporeal techno of his recent releases. Pivoting around themes of religion, sexuality, trauma and healing, it is a work expansive and celebratory, a clear liberation from a deeply internalized past. Formed from a collection of recordings made in a period from late 2016 to mid 2019, Existenz takes the form of a creative outburst in reaction to a number of traumas - recent, childhood and throughout Function’s life. Life partner Stefanie Parnow assisted the production process in its entirety, providing inspiration, spiritual healing and featuring vocal contributions.
Cosmic synths soar and swoop in ‘Pleasure Discipline’ through towering stacks of rhythm that stutter and creak to a halt before rebooting, a firm robotic response to human intervention. ‘Zahlensender’ reflects a spatial tetris of urban life, as digitalization set within an XYZ matrix confronts the sprawling city. Constant arpeggiated meditations echo synaptic transmissions, e ecting a dissolution of boundaries. ’The Approach’ recalls the unification of the self, a state of delirium non-subjective and smooth, as all connections and functions give way to simple intensities of feeling, crossing the threshold into spirituality. ’Golden Dawn’, featuring Stefanie Parnow, marks a further elevation of dubbed-out euphoria, as once more positive rays emerge. His ode to the effortless short-trip urban navigation 'Kurzstrecke' finds Function in motion, upfront and bold, snapshots of conversation and flickers of light. 'Ertrinken' finds metallic bass jabs swamping snipped synthetic voices, with hidden stores of emotion set as a nod to the history of vocoders as a tool for encrypted military communication. House icon Robert Owens features on 'Growth Cycle' and 'Be', entrenching a celebratory atmosphere over Function's clubwise leanings. Closing track 'Downtown 161' reflects the unmistakeable filtered and squashed interjections of television, and sampled dance vocals - a sound for the curious, dreamers and dancers.
With Existenz, Function reveals an essential body of work, spread over 4LP - thought experiments on the role of identity and spirituality after a lifetime of upheaval and trauma. Leading up until the release date, Function will undertake an album promo tour with select dates - A/V shows at Berlin Atonal and Rural festival in Japan, and three dates as part of his Bassiani residency.

There are records that follow the rules, and others that rewrite them in real time. With O R G A S M A N I A, Byron The Aquarius returns to Skylax with a deeper, freer and more unpredictable statement — where jazz instinct meets raw machine funk, and structure dissolves into pure feeling. Rooted in the lineage of Detroit yet never confined by it, Byron operates in that rare zone where house music becomes expression rather than format. His sound doesn’t chase functionality — it breathes, it stretches, it resists. The EP opens with Back 2 Zion (Tomorrow), a spiritual and meditative journey built on loose drums and luminous chords, carrying a sense of elevation — early morning music where the dancefloor begins to think again. Enter the Co$mos (Fool) pushes further into abstraction, with drifting synths and broken rhythms unfolding in a non-linear structure, navigating between Sun Ra’s cosmic language and Detroit futurism. On the flip, Mr. Captain Crunchhh brings a raw, playful energy — crunchy textures, off-grid swing and an almost improvised groove, alive and unpredictable, a leftfield tool designed to disrupt expectations. Finally, O R G A S M A N I A stands as the centerpiece — hypnotic, sensual and immersive, locking into a deep repetitive groove while evolving in subtle layers, a late-night body experience guided by a sharp musical mind. Across four tracks, Byron The Aquarius confirms his unique position between jazz musician, house producer and sonic storyteller, with a trajectory spanning Sound Signature, Axis, Eglo, Apron and Shall Not Fade, continuing to resonate from Detroit to Berlin and beyond. Artwork by H5 — the iconic studio behind Daft Punk, Air and Vitalic — reinforces Skylax’s timeless and art-driven identity. This is not fast music, this is not algorithm music — this is music for those who still listen. Strictly for the heads. Vinyl only. No repress. Skylax Records.

Get In Where You Fit In, was originally released in October of 1993 and would be his fourth album in a row to be certified platinum. Production was handled by Ant Banks and The Dangerous Crew, which featured live instrumentation, incorporated P Funk samples, and G Funk synths. The lead single "I'm a Player" sampled Bootsy Collins' funky bass of "Hollywood Squares" and Quincy Jones' son QDIII produced the epic Bay Area G Funk laden classic track "Just Another Day". And it wouldn't be a Too $hort record without some pimp and sex tales like "Blow Job Betty", "All My Bitches Are Gone" and the upbeat "Gotta Get Some Lovin". Bay Area legends Spice 1, Ant Banks, and Mhisani aka Goldy join in on the posse cut "The Dangerous Crew" followed by a track with more Bay Area legends Rappin' Ron and Ant Diddley Dog dissin' ex Dangerous Crew member MC Pooh on the title track. Get On Down has repressed this Too $hort 90's fan favorite album on Purple-In-Clear Colored Vinyl.

Somewhere between the after-hours haze and the first flicker of sunrise, Nebraska re-emerges - this time with a twist in the signal. Long respected for his deep-cut sensibilities and dancefloor intuition, Ali Gibbs returns to Delusions Of Grandeur not just as Nebraska, but with a handover to his new alias: Dubl Drat. The Alter Alter Ego EP plays like a transmission from both sides of his creative psyche - one rooted in warm, groove-led house and disco mutations, the other drifting deeper into dubbed-out, heady abstraction.

The A-side opens with Alter Alter Ego in its Nebraska OG Mix form - a crunchy, funked-up mid-tempo burner. Chopped Rhodes solos flicker in and out of the mix while a rolling bassline locks into a low-slung groove - equal parts party-starter and late-night dancefloor hypnosis. Next, The Teckel Track slides the tempo down into a proper slo-mo four-on-the-floor bumpy groove. Fat stabs punch through layers of glitchy FX while a melodic bassline snakes underneath, forming a hazy, infectious earworm tailor-made for those early-night mood-setting sessions. Closing the A-side, Olive (Dubl Drat Dub) signals a shift. Here, Gibbs leans fully into his Dubl Drat persona, dissolving structure into a blissed-out dub excursion.

Chopped breaks scatter across the stereo field, chiming melodies echo into the distance, and granulated percussion parts build a dense, immersive landscape - one to get lost in rather than dance through. Flipping over we have Alter Alter Ego (Dubl Drat Remix) which reconfigures the title track into a stripped-back boogie workout. The groove is leaner but no less potent, driven by a killer bassline and punctuated with signature Rhodes licks - pure, understated club pressure. Finally, Olive (Nebraska Version) offers a gentle comedown. This alternate take softens the edges, introducing additional guitar textures that drift into Balearic territory. It’s nostalgic, introspective, and quietly expansive - a closing chapter that lingers long after the last note fades. The Alter Alter Ego EP isn’t just a new release - it’s a dual-state exploration, a conversation between rhythm and space, between Nebraska and Dubl Drat, and marks the last ever Nebraska release as Ali closes the chapter and the alias for the final time.

Originally self-released in 2023, Stella Kola, the debut album from Beverly Ketch (Jow Jow, Weeping Bong Band) and Robert Thomas (Sunburned Hand of the Man, Dalthom), now returns in a renewed edition—bringing wider attention to a record that already felt like a quietly essential artifact from the moment it first appeared.

Given the pair’s respective roots—and the presence of collaborators drawn from across the Northeast experimental underground—one might expect “a brutal blast of acid swirl.” Instead, what emerges is something far more unexpected. The album is “steeped, not in noise and dissonance, but in the fragrant, captivating folk of Linda Perhacs, Judee Sill, Karen Dalton, and Bridget St John.”

From the opening moments, especially on “Rosa,” the record reveals its core sensibility: “a ballad that digs deep into the psychedelic-folk tradition until it takes root in a freshly sporous permaculture.” What follows is a set of songs that feel both carefully assembled and organically grown—delicate structures held together by a wide circle of contributing musicians, including Wednesday Knudsen (flute), P.G. Six (harp, guitars, keys), Gary War (synth), Jen Gellineau (viola, violin), Willie Lane, L. Gray, and others.

Rather than functioning as studio additions, these collaborators form a genuine collective presence. “The family affair feeds into the album’s charms,” and the feeling is unmistakably communal. Like many of the ‘60s folk records it echoes, Stella Kola carries “the feeling of community and camaraderie” at its core, shaping a warmth that runs through the entire release.

The album’s emotional palette leans toward a quiet, persistent melancholy: “the best records from that era also carried with them an inherent sadness and Stella Kola’s songs wash over the listener with a beautiful woe.” Its sound edges into the terrain of Fairport Convention and Pentangle, with references to “Beggar’s, Kings, Dark Damsels, and Tarot,” yet never settles into revivalism. Instead, Ketch and Thomas extend the tradition outward, refracting it through their own distinctly American, underground language.

As one early description of the album notes, “the masterful restraint of ‘Rosa’ and the rest of Stella Kola’s shimmering debut evokes Anne Briggs, C.O.B., Pentangle and similar ancestors that knew the best way to honor traditions was to widen the heritage even further.”

Even among a prolific and unpredictable network of underground musicians, Stella Kola stands apart. “It’s early in the year, but it’s hard to see an album, especially a debut, capturing the heart as hard as this one.” With its return in reissue form, the album reasserts itself not just as a hidden gem, but as an essential document of contemporary folk experimentation—an intimate, collective work that continues to unfold with time.

Kennedy continues to sketch out imaginary worlds where thoughts and sensations are converted into sound via the power of machines. On this fifth instalment of Hi-Tech Soul, the Dutch producer channels fragments of midnight memories and daytime visions into something tactile yet elusive. As with previous chapters, the process remains shaped by surprise as hands and hardware entwine in a quiet, freeform dialogue.

The music itself drifts rather than drives, unfolding like shifting cloud forms that never quite settle. Loose, frayed house patterns hover in a state of flotation as basslines anchor just enough to stop everything dissolving completely. Each track has a sense of elevation where melodic synths filter through the mix like heavenly sunbeams breaking overhead. There's a constant progression to something that never comes, instead leaving you free to find your own meaning as textures blur into something soft, indistinct and gently euphoric.

A pure state of celestial suspension, 'Dream 5' is the newest offering in a series that takes you to a weightless world of infinite interpretations.

Ltd. Blue Vinyl. Conceived during a period of intense personal crisis, the album tackles many topics from Embury's 2023 autobiography Life?...And Napalm Death, including battles with addiction and mental health. Joining Napalm Death in 1987, Embury is the longest serving member, featuring on 15 of the band's 16 albums. Despite initial bemusement from the media, Napalm Death enjoyed global success, propelled by the support of John Peel. They are credited with the invention of grindcore, an extreme metal sub-genre characterised by ultra-fast songs. In 2017 Napalm Death became the first extreme metal act to play Glastonbury. They have also won Kerrang! and Metal Hammer awards. Embury's several projects include Lock Up, Brujeria, Dark Sky Burial and collaborations include Buzz Osbourne (Melvins), Tim Owens (Judas Priest), Billy Gould (Faith No More), Jello Biafra, Cardiacs, and Yard Act.

METLASR is an album for microtonal idiophones and modular synthesizer by composer/producer Tyler Friedman for Radicant_Editions.

Drawing on the legacies of downtown minimalism, METLASR connects avant-garde composition, aspects of global traditional musics and advanced synthesizer technique into an ambitious and singular hybrid. Animated by generative modular sequencing and grounded by undulating bass, the album focuses on an endless cascade of pirouetting geometric melodics, which are spread across a spectrally fused ensemble of crystalline FM and sampled pitched percussion – specifically gamelan orchestra, marimba, mbira, vibraphone and tingklik. The assemblage of voices interlace in fractal mirrors, aggregating into pointillist harmonizations heightened by multiple layers of dub processing. The use of alternative tunings — primarily 24-note per octave just intonation — infuses the poly-modal progressions with lush radiance, staging tension between the strange and the beautiful through neon inflections of subtle dissonance.

Entirely improvised, a fact belied by the contrapuntal complexity of it all, METLASR’s seven tracks were each recorded in a single pass and subject to minimal edits. Although the sound palette and...

WRWTFWW Records unleashes the first ever release of legendary post-disco, funk, soul and electronic UK trio Imagination's cult album Night Dubbing in (well deserved) double LP format. The limited edition full-length comes with pristine audiophile treatment and luxurious packaging : a 45rpm and Half Speed Mastered DLP housed in heavyweight silver cardboard sleeve.
Imagination's singular 1983 album Night Dubbing is a refined deconstruction of black British soul and club pop, filtered through the deep studio and mixing techniques of dub music. Elegant, restrained, and, in its very own subtle way, radical, the record reshapes choice selections from the group's stellar catalogue into an immersive and out-of-this-world listening experience.

The special mixes on Night Dubbing are built on time and space. Basslines elongate and dissolve. Vocals appear, vanish, and reappear like ghosts. Drums fall away into vast silences, while echoes, tape edits, and precise engineering manoeuvres smoothly slide across the stereo field, revealing themselves like magic over repeated listens. Far from simple extensions or 12" versions, Night Dubbing treats the studio itself as an instrument, opening new dimensions of sound.

Often cited as a foundational record in the genesis of the house genre, the album also features the historic Larry Levan remix of "Changes", a Paradise Garage anthem that helped shape the direction of club music for decades to come.

More than 40 years on, Night Dubbing remains a seminal work. Its influence continues to echo through contemporary dance music, offering a blueprint for how pop could be transformed into something darker, stranger, more physical - a timeless sound that drifts effortlessly from the dancefloor into space.

Important note : it sounds amazing played on 33rpm too !

You are Spring!" beginnt mit einer gewundenen Klangwand, A-cappella-Stimmen, die sich in üppiger Harmonie überlagern und den halb-titelsgebenden Frühling besingen. Sofort entführt uns Tasha aus dem tristen, grauen Winter in eine Welt voller Bilder und Empfindungen von neuem Leben. Stell dir vor: ein Feuerwerk aus glockenförmigen Blüten; Rosa, Citrin und Buttergelb; der Himmel klar, eine Lunge voll Blau; Wärme, überall, die die über den Winter geheilte Haut küsst und sich nach Berührung sehnt; Leichtigkeit nach dem Leiden; ein tiefer Atemzug nach dem Ersticken. "Don't die now / There's life to be found now,", beginnt sie. In Texten, die von Gwendolyn Brooks' Gedicht "To The Young Who Want To Die" inspiriert sind, formuliert Tasha die These dieses Albums mit exquisiter Präzision. Es gibt Jahreszeiten der Härte, Jahreszeiten der Schwierigkeit, ja. Aber hier, in diesem Album, meditieren wir über den Frühling über eine Zeit des Feierns, die umso süßer ist, weil wir wissen, was man ertragen muss, um dorthin zu gelangen. "Alive now / It's spring now / Alive now / You're spring now" schließt sie, getragen von den samtigen Stimmen von Jamila Woods und Taja Cheek von L'Rain, die auf diesem Track zu hören sind, und lädt uns in die paradiesische Schatzkiste ein, die sie hier geschaffen hat. Für Tasha ist der Frühling ein Ort, an dem wir ankommen, aber auch ein Zustand, in dem wir uns befinden, eine Art, wie wir geworden sind. Wenn sie darüber spricht, was das Album ihrer Hoffnung nach vermitteln soll, erläutert sie die Bedeutung von "You Are Spring!" weiter und sagt: Es ist eine Art zu sagen, dass du das bist, worauf sich andere Menschen freuen; du bist das, worauf wir warten; du bist das Schöne." Wenn es im vorherigen Album um Sehnsucht ging, darum, sich nach einer Fülle zu strecken, von der du weißt, dass sie kommt, dann ist "You are Spring!" eine Gelegenheit, innezuhalten und alles in dich aufzunehmen, sobald du in deine Fülle eingetreten bist. Das heißt, You Are Spring!" ist in seiner Aufmerksamkeit für die Glückseligkeit so eindringlich wie sein Ausrufezeichen, aber es hat auch einen klaren Blick auf die Welt um sich herum. Die zweite Hälfte des Albums bewegt sich auf diesem schmalen Grat zwischen Wonne und Untergang. Sieh dir zum Beispiel "Actor" an und seine Auseinandersetzung mit den Gesten, die wir in einer Liebe machen, die hohl geworden ist, gefolgt von Special" und seinem aufwendig arrangierten Klangteppich, komplett mit Tashas Klarinetten-Debüt. Im letzten Titel, Quick!", steigt Tashas Stimme in einer fast Stephen-Sondheim-artigen Tonfolge empor und drängt uns singend: "Quick! See how this beauty rushes by?" Es gibt Dissonanzen im Klimpern der Akkorde, das Keuchen ihrer Finger, die über den Gitarrenhals gleiten, eine raue, fast wie von einer Kassette klingende Qualität der Produktion, wieder von Gregory Uhlmann. Aber wir werden noch nicht aus dem Garten vertrieben; der Song klingt langsam aus, zurück in den Glockenblumenhain von Tashas sanftester Stimmlage. "You Are Spring!" fordert uns heraus, uns an unserer Gegenwart zu erfreuen, uns selbst als die lang ersehnte Jahreszeit des neuen Lebens und Wachstums zu sehen. Und wenn der Winter wiederkommt, wie er es immer tun muss, die Trauer sich einschleicht, Herzschmerz vor der Tür steht, gibt Tasha uns etwas, an dem wir uns festhalten können. Die Gewissheit, dass der Frühling wiederkommen wird, selbst dann. Dass die Schönheit und Fülle, die uns jetzt umgibt, uns wieder umgeben wird, noch einmal.

‘They went beyond punk before punk had properly started…the entire album is a controlled explosion of ideas. Nearly fifty years on, This Heat’s debut is something the world has still not completely caught up with.’ - Simon Reynolds

‘Over the years, there have been bands to play as aggressively, or even as strangely, but very few have been able to rise from their collective influences and histories to create music so singularly distinctive and inspiring.’ – Pitchfork 9/10

‘This Heat sounded like the future then ... and still do now.’ - Dan Snaith (Caribou)

Although widely considered to be Post-Punk’s finest, This Heat actually began performing and recording their music in 1976, the early days of London’s punk era. Within their two albums and an EP they perfected a strange and volatile new strain of avant-garde rock that time has proved to be massively influential, a blueprint for much that would follow: post-rock, math rock, homemade musique concrète, experimental electronica.

Numerous critics have recognised the band's influence on the music of Sonic Youth, Glenn Branca, Steven Wilson, Public Image Ltd., Radiohead, Swans, Shellac, Young Knives, Black Dice, Lightning Bolt and numerous other experimental and post-rock bands. Disbanding in 1982 they have left an undeniable legacy that has only continued to grow in stature and relevance.

The album This Heat, also known to fans and critics as the ‘Blue and Yellow’, was their eponymous debut release, recorded in sessions between February 1976 and September 1978 in a variety of studios including their own Cold Storage, a converted cold storage room in the Acme Studios complex. Innovating throughout, they combined loops and tape manipulation (producing for example the proto-drum and bass ‘24 Track Loop’) with live performance and haunting vocals to a complex, dissonant whole. The band recorded everything they ever did – including gigs – and tracks such as “Water” were entirely improvised in the studio.

Having recently passed the 50 year anniversary of their first gig, and the recording of material that appears on their debut album, the group’s surviving members Charles Bullen and Charles Hayward, true to their DIY roots, have set up an imprint to release their recordings for their growing fan base that is increasingly recognising their influential place in music history. 


* Begleittext vom legendären Musiker, Autor und Compiler Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith, Nuggets) * Das Booklet enthält bisher unveröffentlichte Fotos und Raritäten * Das Cover wurde restauriert und auf ein Gatefold-Cover erweitert * Neu remastert * Platz 5 auf Kurt Cobains Liste der 50 Lieblingsalben 1968 schnappten sich drei Schwestern aus Fremont, New Hampshire, ihre Instrumente und nannten sich ,The Shaggs". In diesem Moment begann eine eigentümliche Geschichte, die weit über die fünfjährige Existenz der Gruppe hinausreichen sollte. Dot, Betty und Helen (und gelegentlich Rachel, die vierte Schwester) spielten in der Gruppe auf Drängen ihres Vaters, Austin Wiggin Jr., der überzeugt war, dass sie groß rauskommen würden. Jahre zuvor hatte Austins Mutter ihm aus der Hand gelesen und vorausgesagt, dass ihr Sohn eine strohblonde Frau heiraten würde, dass er nach dem Tod seiner Mutter zwei Söhne bekommen würde und dass seine Töchter eine beliebte Musikgruppe gründen würden. Die ersten beiden Vorhersagen traten ein, also war Austin sicher, dass auch die dritte eintreffen würde. Mit unerschütterlichem Selbstvertrauen und der kühnen Vorhersage seiner Mutter beschloss Austin, dass seine Töchter auf den Besuch der örtlichen Highschool verzichten und stattdessen zu Hause unterrichtet werden sollten, unterbrochen von einem strengen Programm aus Instrumental- und Gesangsübungen sowie Jumping Jacks und Sit-ups. Bald darauf betraten The Shaggs die Fleetwood Recording Studios in Revere, Massachusetts, um ihr einziges Album ,Philosophy Of The World" aufzunehmen, eine Sammlung von Garage-Rock-Songs, die Charme und Dissonanz gleichermaßen in Einklang brachten. Austin gab den Großteil seiner Ersparnisse nicht nur für die Aufnahmen aus, sondern auch für die Produktionskosten, um 1.000 Exemplare des Albums zu pressen (von denen 900 nach Fertigstellung auf mysteriöse Weise verschwanden). Im gesamten Album werden einfache Wahrheiten durch die Feder von Schwester Dot, der Songwriterin der Band, offenbart. Die Reichen wollen das, was die Armen haben, genauso wie die Armen das wollen, was die Reichen haben. Deine Eltern lieben dich. In der Nähe liegt Glück und in der Ferne Traurigkeit. Das Album erfüllte Austins Erwartungen an den Rockstar-Ruhm nicht, doch die Gruppe blieb bis zum Tod ihres Vaters zusammen und trat regelmäßig im Rathaus von Fremont und in einem örtlichen Pflegeheim auf; weitere Alben wurden jedoch nicht veröffentlicht. Das hätte das Ende sein können, bis die Rockband NRBQ eine Kopie bei einem Radiosender in Massachusetts entdeckte und sie 1980 neu veröffentlichte. Der damalige Rezensent des Rolling Stone beschrieb es als ,die atemberaubend schrecklichste wunderbare Platte, die ich seit Ewigkeiten gehört habe". Fast 50 Jahre später zählt das Album zu den polarisierendsten LPs aller Zeiten. Manche sagten, es sei das Schlimmste, was je produziert wurde. Andere empfanden es als eines der großartigsten Langspielalben des 20. Jahrhunderts. Frank Zappa bezeichnete die Band bekanntlich als ,besser als die Beatles", während Kurt Cobain das Album auf Platz 5 seiner Liste der 50 Lieblingsalben setzte. Originalausgaben des Albums erzielen Preise von 10.000 Dollar. Jahrzehnte später könnte man argumentieren, dass Austin vielleicht die ganze Zeit recht hatte. Wir sind alle hier und immer noch fasziniert von der Reinheit der Shaggs.

Pon is Tujiko Noriko’s sixth album for Editions Mego and a further extension of her already significant body of work as both a solo and collaborative artist. Dedicated to her cat who she adopted as an infant and passed away due an accident having been born deaf, Pon is imbued with abstraction, tenderness and a deep emotional resonance.

Noriko’s palette of electronics, romantic melodies and surprising sonic details are all fully present here, and like her last full length, 2023’s Crépuscule this is an epic work, released as a 2LP by Editions Mego alongside a Japanese CD release.

The unmistakable hue of Japan hovers throughout this emotional rich landscape. Subtle field recordings and fragile, abstract motifs drift through the album, all cloaked in a warmth and humanity that only Noriko seems able to conjure.

Pon moves effortlessly between the childlike and the obscure. There are moments of deceptive simplicity where unexpected elements suddenly surface — strange voices emerge on Boku Wa Obaka, Knife of Yonder is a standout: a startling ten-minute unfolding that begins with a warm, almost Eno-esque drift before launching into a soaring mid-section and finally landing somewhere unexpectedly blues-adjacent.

Kikoeru Pon is brimming with childlike wonder — a heartfelt ballad that dissolves into domestic field recordings, including sounds of the feline for whom both the album and track are named. A quietly devastating ending that brings the personal nature of the record into sharp focus.

There is a deep sense of the human in the way Noriko embraces technology. This is far from cold abstraction; rather, Ponfeels like a colourful photo album, documenting Noriko’s inner world and instincts with remarkable intimacy. Hovering in liminal states between pop, ambient and abstraction, this is a deeply affective and moving release that reveals new surprises with each listen.

The emotional range of Noriko’s latest offering inspires hope in a world in disarray. It is both gentle and epic and one which we feel embodies the work of an artist fully at the height of her powers.

Crash is a debut EP of Abel Dalum, aka KennyKrazyWorld. Often appearing on tracklists of many, now breaking through with his highly anticipated 4 piece solo, no-remix EP. Across four movements, KennyKrazyWorld sketches a system in flux: fragments of noise, texture, and space dissolving into one another. As he likes to say himself, "its all about the percussions".

Petrichor opens with the residue of a storm — metallic air, wet circuitry, the pulse of machines breathing beneath the rain and a broken up kick. Like a scene from Blade Runner or a concert hall opening somewhere deep in the megalopolis. The 10-minute track is there to pull in and not let go. Dust follows, bone-dry and disintegrating, rhythm shedding its structure until only motion remains, hooking the listener to lose himself in its enchanting wormhole of evolving percussions and atmospheres.

At its core, the 3rd "backbone" track of the same-named EP, Crash, is already breaking apart: percussive tension folding in on itself, and a memorable voice over to seal the deal. Divergent closes the loop — but doesn't leave the listener with breadcrumbs, rather with a feeling like a party in full effect being closed at 3AM due to some scumbag cops…
Crash is techno as erosion, but also a study of groove and flow — repetition worn into form, emotion distilled through pressure.

Newly signed to Heist or Hit (Westside Cowboy, Her’s, Nature TV), Georgian's forthcoming debut EP 'Crackled Grounds' reads like an anthology in the vein of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. These aren’t just songs, but scenes, self-contained worlds that glimmer with strange detail before dissolving into mirage. “We recorded on a farm just north of Amsterdam” states James. “It gave us space and focus and helped us channel the Western feel we wanted to impress upon the tracks. Arno gave us lots of pedal board options and guitar choices. Those things in particular helped us fine-tune the sound we were chasing.” The resulting collection chronicles the ups and downs of existence and blooms with natural imagery. ‘Strike a Wound’ seethes with revenge. The slow attack on the guitars has the onomatopoeic effect of enacting each blow. ‘Crackled Grounds’ conjures an apocalyptic wilderness that wouldn’t be out of place on the ‘Kill Bill’ soundtrack. ‘Medusa’ is a parable of strong women overcoming obstacles and jolts with the energy of those early Johnny Cash Sun recordings. ‘Gardens’ lingers on the awkward tenderness of running into a long-lost lover; while ‘Californian Jeans’ pays homage to denim as talisman, armour, and second skin.

Roland Kirk was an extremely talented multi-instrumentalist, who lost his sight at a very early age, and played unconventional jazz, which was not entirely free but in which melodic and very beautiful phases alternated with moments of complete dissonance and conjured up his urban background, especially reflecting his view of the world as a handicapped man. Kirk was not only famous for his unique sound achieved through his playing several instruments simultaneously and his innovative approach to music but also for his dynamic live performances.

In November 1967 Kirk left EmArcy for Atlantic Records, leading his quartet through a highly introspective, somewhat melancholy programme, which was based in the blues and groove traditions of the mid-60s. Kirk himself played flutes, the stritch, manzello and tenor saxophones, the whistle, clarinet and more – precisely those instruments that had created his unique sound, particularly when some of these instruments were played simultaneously by him. Jazz critics who had previously criticised Kirk’s sound now praised him once they had heard the restrained and elegantly layered "Black And Crazy Blues", the breathtakingly executed Creole "Love Call", the razor-sharp soul in "The Inflated Tear" and the gyrating lyricism of the winds in "Fly By Night" – and quite rightly so.

Roland Kirk convinced his listenership anyway and sold over 10,000 copies of the present LP in the very first year of its release. This is Roland Kirk in his most competent and visionary form; his reading of jazz harmony and capricious sonances is virtually incomparable.

Formed in 2022 and already moving with the assurance of a band far beyond its years, Hanry stands at the confluence of atmosphere and impact, restraint and eruption. Hanry return with `What Came From Silence`, their first full-length album that captures the band at a decisive moment in their evolution. Their performance at the legendary Trans Musicales in Rennes, broadcast nationally to an audience of thousands, marked a defining moment, and the forthcoming live session with KEXP signals Hanry's international ascent The new album is a cinematic journey that is all at once introspective, soaring and meticulously curated. Hanry transform restraint into resonance, and `What Came From Silence` is an album that invites immersion; it begins in stillness and slowly, inexorably, unfolds into something vast and luminous Sonically, the album deepens Hanry's exploration of contrast. Clean guitar tones shimmer with crystalline precision, only to dissolve into waves of saturated distortion. Ambient passages feel suspended in time, yet the band resists drifting into passivity. Even at their most delicate, there is motion; subtle pulses and evolving textures that suggest forward momentum. When the band unleashes its full force, the sound remains articulate; each instrument retains its identity within the surge. "The main new element on this album is our collaboration with the pianist Mariposa, who worked with us on the track Phantom Rush. His sensitivity and musical depth brought a new dimension to the piece. He took the composition into a space we likely would not have explored on our own, adding both emotional intensity and richness to the track." (Hanry) FOR FANS OF Explosion in the Sky * Boards of Canada * Massive Attack

Formed in 2022 and already moving with the assurance of a band far beyond its years, Hanry stands at the confluence of atmosphere and impact, restraint and eruption. Hanry return with `What Came From Silence`, their first full-length album that captures the band at a decisive moment in their evolution. Their performance at the legendary Trans Musicales in Rennes, broadcast nationally to an audience of thousands, marked a defining moment, and the forthcoming live session with KEXP signals Hanry's international ascent The new album is a cinematic journey that is all at once introspective, soaring and meticulously curated. Hanry transform restraint into resonance, and `What Came From Silence` is an album that invites immersion; it begins in stillness and slowly, inexorably, unfolds into something vast and luminous Sonically, the album deepens Hanry's exploration of contrast. Clean guitar tones shimmer with crystalline precision, only to dissolve into waves of saturated distortion. Ambient passages feel suspended in time, yet the band resists drifting into passivity. Even at their most delicate, there is motion; subtle pulses and evolving textures that suggest forward momentum. When the band unleashes its full force, the sound remains articulate; each instrument retains its identity within the surge. "The main new element on this album is our collaboration with the pianist Mariposa, who worked with us on the track Phantom Rush. His sensitivity and musical depth brought a new dimension to the piece. He took the composition into a space we likely would not have explored on our own, adding both emotional intensity and richness to the track." (Hanry) FOR FANS OF Explosion in the Sky * Boards of Canada * Massive Attack

Michigan Band EJ & the Echoes: Rediscovering a Soul Legacy

The story of EJ & the Echoes represents a remarkable chapter in Michigan's music history and the early American soul scene. Its origins date back to the late 1950s, when Everett J. "EJ" Gronda was already active as a young musician. While studying at Central Michigan University in the early 1960s, he met the talented vocalist Manuel "Manny" Holcolm. Together with other musicians, they formed vocal groups that soon performed throughout the state and even recorded near Detroit's legendary Motown studios.

In 1963, Gronda founded EJ & the Echoes, a band that quickly gained popularity at dances, clubs, and weddings across Michigan. With Manny Holcolm as lead singer, the group developed a distinctive harmony-driven sound, blending influences ranging from the Beatles to James Brown. The band served as a house band in Traverse City, opened for national acts, and performed regularly at well-known Detroit venues.

Between 1964 and 1967, EJ & the Echoes released several singles on the Diamond Jim Records label. Although major commercial success eluded them at the time, their recordings later found international recognition. Today, their songs remain staples of the British Northern Soul scene.

After the band dissolved, the members pursued different paths. EJ Gronda became a schoolteacher but remained devoted to music throughout his life. In 2006, the musicians reunited for an emotional jam session. EJ Gronda passed away in 2022, followed by Manuel Holcolm in 2024. Their musical legacy endures-on this vinyl release, dance floors, and in the memory of a remarkable era.

Our sincere thanks go to author and blues historian Fred Reif. He wrote the accompanying text and provided all the pictures of the band printed in the gatefold cover. Without him, this project would not have been possible.

Baby T is a space away from her work as B.Traits in which Brianna Price can lean more into the junglist, drum ‘n’ bass and hardcore sounds which she loves so dearly. With BSHEE02, the second drop on Price’s own Banshee label, Baby T delivers a darkside masterclass of an EP. This record is a quartet of system blowers which doesn’t let up for a single second from start to finish.

Opener ‘Times Up’ is urgent from the off - the initial strains of this joint find sirens wailing in the monitors over a twitchy kick/drum/hats combo. From here on it’s distilled raver perfection, the drums taking us on a wild Wipeout-style ride as the subbiest of bass skulks at the bottom of the mix. Imagine a more technoid take on the classic breakbeat freerides of Skanna and you’re not far off the ‘Times Up’ sound.

A remix of ‘Times Up’ from man like Aloka leans with devilish glee into the murky underworld that lurks beneath Baby T’s original. Aloka’s version is extremely eerie in a manner which makes you think of the darkest corners of a DMZ party. When things really kick into gear, driven by an irresistible kick dembow, the effect is hypnotic - think the dubwise junglism of the UVB-76 cohort.

BSHEE02’s B-side kicks off with ‘Coercive Control’. This is a cut which delivers on its title in spades, putting the listener in a trance with an interplay of low-slung bass, whirligig synth tones and more of those perfectly executed broken beats. The acid starts to kick in around the minute mark, and it turns out to herald a total earworm of a lead melody.

There’s plenty of dimly-lit malevolence to BHSEE02 closer ‘Dense Dickwood’s grinding atmospherics and gurgling bass throbs. However, Baby T opting for a half-time drum break here gives the cut a vibe not dissimilar to the weightiest jams of classic Massive Attack - that is, until an absolutely remorseless switch-up occurs halfway through, delivering volley after volley of intense drum hits.

Collaborating for more than two decades, Oren Ambarchi and Will Guthrie arrive at a place of expansive, intuitive interplay on "Cold Shoulder." Their musical dialogue, which previously moved through abstraction and volatile electro-acoustic experimentation, now unfolds with relaxed confidence, melding drifting Leslie tones, shimmering percussion, and fluid pulses that emerge and dissolve. It's a document of experience; music that feels freer, more direct, perhaps quietly fearless.

Dj Immortal invites you to dive into his obscure experimental laboratory with “dissociation EP”, the first release on his own label, Glue Recordings. Oscillating between breakbeat, house and electro bits, the project blends genres and moods into a four-track journey made for sticky dancefloors and nocturnal explorations.

Bolka is known as the man with the cap. His cap has lived through a lot: his glitchy and microtonal experiments, studies at Institute of Sonology in The Hague or through countless performative works. A few years ago, Bolka’s cap fell apart. By that time he was already a fixture on the slovak experimental scene, but only releasing his debut album, “smutné stropy.” He started wearing new caps from then: somehow reminiscent of the old one, but much more varied — same as “smutné stropy,” bubbling with motifs, charming humour and pop sensitivity layered over detailed soundscapes popping with surprises.

On schwarzkopf, Bolka returns wishing for a thick black hair. With his charming love songs, that are positioned somewhere between a tightly run freak folk orchestra, deconstructed ballads and colorful ecstatic melancholy, he creates an album that thrives on juxtapositions that are completely unique, yet strangely familiar. Bolka’s songwriting is at once tender and irreverent — lovestruck whispering suddenly tripping over absurdist jokes and surreal images that fizz like soda. His songs move in that strange space between vulnerability and mischief, where intimate confessions collide with radical playfulness and the poetic rubs shoulders with the delightfully ridiculous.

On schwarzkopf, Bolka expands his world with a wide circle of collaborators and an even richer sonic palette. The album is meticulously detailed yet carefree: delicate moments sit next to sudden explosions, drifting from gentle pop to bursts of noise. Toward the end, the album even slips into a footwork-infused remix by Kodiki, passes through Julek ploski’s signature neon-baroque string perspective, and briefly wanders into Lénok’s cinematic sonic world. Bolka sings that he wants to dissolve into a healing ointment, to be ground in a mortar with calendula — and he invites us into this musical spa with him: a place that stings a little but ultimately soothes, a gorgeous soundscape that is both painful and joyful at the same time.

DJ Pone returns to his roots with Bass Culture (out March 6, 2026), a new 19-minute mixtape. A renowned turntablist, DJ Pone delivers an immersive and mesmerizing mix. Following his success with Birdy Nam Nam, he has released several genre-blurring projects, including the cinematic Radiant and the deeply introspective 1978. These albums showcase a producer with a meticulous ear for detail, atmosphere, texture, and storytelling—at times overshadowing the full extent of his talent and charisma behind the decks. With this new release, he reconnects with his first love: sound collage, razor-sharp cuts, and the magic of real-time manipulation. The mix fuses a burst of tracks into a seamless journey, punctuated by precise breaks and UK and tropical inflections. The sound design feels both cathartic and transient—a subtle blend of beats and sonic landscapes that echo and dissolve into one another with remarkable finesse. From an opening manifesto paying tribute to DJ Shadow and DJ Qbert to a rawer section infused with urbex textures, recalling the energy of Company Flow, Pone crafts a narrative that is as thoughtful as it is intensely joyful—yet paradoxically soothing. Mostly instrumental but never lacking soul, Bass Culture is filled with glitched melodies and vocal samples, echoes of his recent travels to Barcelona and beyond. The project stands as a personal, tactile canvas—instinctive and unembellished—pushing back against an era dominated by digital excess. It resonates as a true statement of faith in the art of DJing, reminding us that, even as a producer, DJ Pone’s touch on vinyl remains grounded and almost magnetic, far removed from today’s passing trends.

The Flat Earth is the second studio album by English new wave and synth-pop musician Thomas Dolby, it was released on 10 February 1984 and peaked at No. 14 on the UK Albums Chart. The first single from the album was "Hyperactive!", which peaked at No. 17 in the UK Singles Chart, and was a minor hit in the Netherlands too.

The album has held up very well 40 years after its release; a crisp production, brilliant songwriting by Thomas Dolby and a fantastic ensemble of supporting players makes this record a classic in its own kind.

The Flat Earth is available as a limited edition of 750 individually numbered copies on silver vinyl, and contains an insert.

Fuse leans further into its proposed aesthetic of biting club tracks with a brand new release by Cirkle. ‘Infinity Drift’ balances powerful sound system sound design with lush ambiance, creating standout moments on a dancefloor with a taste of nostalgia. These tracks explore the richness in themes that techno can have when made by someone who’s spent years meticulously crafting it. ‘Skyland’ asserts itself first with impressive pace. Swift chord stabs open and close to create waves of excitement and craze in the track while percussion shuffles along to add impact; Cirkle is an artist of all rooms and dimensions. Shrill sound design cuts through the stereo field creating a wormhole in the middle of rhythmic determination. Tension balance and anticipation are his specialty and every transition whips his dispersed elements into singularity in the EP, specifically the title track. A truly musical piece that embraces the crowd with vintage warmth, ‘Infinity Drift’ tones down the dissonance in exchange for something closer to astral exploration. These larger than life themes are never lost on dancers and serve to unify the dancefloor into an organism instead of pushing sound system violence. This is a theme that is omnipresent in Cirkle’s music and carried through into ‘Stimulus’. Here, the Greek producer dips into the hypnotic bordering on psychotic, stretching arpeggios and delays across drum transitions and time. The dimension of ‘Stimulus’ matches the preceding tracks with ease, but stands out in its effect, rolling a powerful synth through reliably tuned percussion. For the final track, ‘Impulse’ sees Cirkle prioritizing the importance of drums. Pressing hard on the drive of the kick, rides and filtered claps squeeze their way out of the low end to create an infectious groove. Stabs of ethereal pads envelope the rest of the EP, leaving space for the rest to breathe. Bumping along the way, Cirkle lands the EP with class, cementing himself further as an artist whose knowledge of the dancefloor creates a singular experience.

Magic Tuber Stringband act in communion with the natural world around them. Highly skilled players and writers, the trio are leaders within the burgeoning Avant-Folk world. Growing up in Appalachia studying the folk traditions of the region in tandem scientific and observational work in nature, their music appears to weave in and out of the fabric of the landscape. The ensemble continues to stretch the parameters of acoustic instrumental expression with masterful flourishes of dense, textural arrangements, subtle minimalist gestures and deft improvisation. Heavy Water addresses the impact of nuclear production on the environment and the communities within, a musical evocation of destruction and resilience, an embrace of dissonance and tension within moments of transcendence.

There is a particular kind of strangeness that arrives on long drives across Europe. Flat light, service stations and fields stretching endlessly past the window. It might look mundane at first glance, but becomes faintly surreal when the tiredness of touring blurs the edges of everything.

That feeling became the quiet engine behind Driving Through Belgium, the debut solo album from Anton Pearson, best known as one of the guitarists in respected post-punk outfit Squid. The title grew from a track that felt like the record’s centrepiece, which itself came from the recurring image of extensive periods on the road across the continent. It is a record shaped in the margins of touring, and finessed in the in-between hours.

Across six pieces, Pearson leans into atmosphere, texture and space. It is ambient in spirit, adjacent to contemporary classical in feeling, but composed less with notes in mind than with sound itself. The compositions rarely began with harmony or melody, with Pearson instead responding to his environment and sounds in real time, placing trust in his instinct.

Although initial inspiration came from the road, the album was recorded in a studio he shares in Brighton, and marks his first fully solo project made in that setting. It gave him access to not only new tools and techniques, but a hitherto un-experienced freedom. Much of the process began experimentally, feeding instruments into unfamiliar chains, pitching loops into unexpected registers and playing with previously unused synthesizers simply to see what they might reveal. Many of the sounds were created out of pure curiosity, wanting to understand a piece of equipment or technology, and then following wherever it led.

The album was built with this experimentation at its core, as Pearson would layer then extract, processing stacks of sound until things blur and confuse. Guitars dissolve into drones, a Pianet Clavinet dances against muddier textures whilst a Korg PS-1000 occasionally cuts through with its glittering top end. On ‘Driving Past the Muscular Cows in Belgium’, a flat, still drone is pushed through valve amps until it growls and tightens with tension, before receding again. Even the trumpet, which Pearson freely admits he is not technically proficient at, is embraced in its naivety, its squeaks left intact rather than corrected. The twin ‘Tintinnabulation’ pieces frame the record with looping, pitched bell like tones, accidental discoveries that became structural anchors. Meanwhile, ‘Teeth to Cut the Grass’ deliberately introduces abrasion, some of the harshest textures on the record, a refusal to become passive background music.


That embrace of imperfection is central. In contrast to the hyper-analytical precision of his band, Pearson was keen to honour first takes. If something felt good, it would stay. The end result is an album that favours looseness, instinct and the energy of creation itself. If Squid thrives on propulsion and tension, Anton Pearson finds his energy in suspension on Driving Through Belgium. It is curious rather than declarative, creating a space where experimentation feels playful again.

"Carol Maia & Jeremy Gustin’s haunting collaborative album is the result of a long distance partnership during which tracks were traded back and forth across thousands of miles, Jeremy working from his home studio in Brooklyn and Carol from hers in Rio De Janeiro. Later they enlisted support from a number of key players in the Rio scene, Frederico Heliodoro, Paulo Emmery, Ricardo Dias Gomes, and from Brooklyn’s musical community, Will Graefe and Ryan Dugre, to shape this understated masterpiece of sophisticated global pop and quiet experimentalism.
"It's hard to describe what Carol, Jeremy and their guests have achieved on 'it's nice to see a lake in your eyes', a kind of pop music that stands outside of time and is neither Brazilian, American or of any other recognisable place. Maybe it's risen out of the lake they imagined into being? Maybe it's formed like rain in the thousands of miles of air between Rio and New York? Whatever happened was certainly alchemical as you will hear.
"Carol told me her writing on this record was greatly influenced by her reading of Marcelo Ariel's poetry book A água veio do sol, disse o breu so maybe the best thing to do to describe this music is to let you read one of his poems:

A luz do ser é como a água
também veio do Sol
onde todos os planetas querem entrar

Dentro do Sol
O ser é imóvel
como a gratuidade de um êxtase
parecido com a respiração

Fora do Sol
o ser é móvel
Tempo eternidade
e tempo cronológico

The light of being is like water
it also came from the Sun
where all the planets want to enter

Within the Sun
Being is immobile
like the gratuitousness of an ecstasy
similar to breathing

Outside the Sun
Being is mobile
Time eternal
and chronological time

"Jeremy Gustin is an unorthodox drummer, percussionist and songwriter who has toured and recorded with Joan as Policewoman, Iggy Pop, David Byrne, Marc Ribot, Delicate Steve, and Norah Jones. If you follow Hive Mind then you probably know him best from his amazing work on Ricardo Dias Gomes' Muito Sol. Jeremy is also in the experimental pop bands Star Rover and Blurry the Explorer.
"Carol Maia is one of Rio's new generation of singers and musicians currently lighting up the city's vibrant music scene. She also featured heavily on Wolfgang Pérez's album Só Ouço, which was released on Hive Mind in 2025."

The second release from the legendary Celluloid label since its rebirth after 35 years of silence, Honk Gong is a brand-new trip-hop / no wave duo built around the wild, dreamlike sampling of Paul Ramon(Pleasure Principle, Bryan"s Magic Tears) and the contagiously laid-back flow of the San Francisco"s MC & Producer,Robin Jiro Margerin (Salopecia, There"s Ifs, Marginal Tow). Conceived as the diary of a chemical wreck, Dissociate drifts somewhere between the intelligence of an A Tribe Called Quest track and a YouTubecollage. Recorded by Paul Rannaud (Fat White Family, Insecure Men)and mixed by Maxime Maurel (Departure Kids,Ventre de Biche), this debut track kicks off a series of concerts and showcases ahead of the release of a first album, "Eau de Low", due in spring 2026. "Dissociate" is released in partnership with agnès b.

Chins For Lefty is the debut album and first recording by Gichard, a new duo chronicling the absurdities of end-stage capitalism and mouldering social rituals from their vantage point in Glasgow, Scotland. Recorded primarily in the band’s home studio straight to tape, Chins For Lefty combines gorgeous, ramshackle melody, DIY kosmische punk, drum machine + synth and, in vocalist/lyricist Lisa Jones, an absurdist commentator on the human condition as it navigates the anxieties of the modern world. Instrumentalist Chas Lalli’s swirling music accompaniment stitches an evocative mix of musical styles, the ragged wind beneath the lyrics’ wings.

Although the duo first collaborated in their previous group Dragged Up, their disparate musical and artistic backgrounds make for an alluring mix in Gichard. Lalli has spent the last 20 years in the Glasgow underground, most notably in the noise rock group VOM, while Lisa Jones’s practice was in poetry and spoken word. Beginning as co vocalist in her previous band, in Gichard her lyrics are centre stage; the vision concocted alongside Lalli amounts to a total world-build.

Chins For Lefty scans almost like a novel, with each track elucidating a skewed universe that bears only some resemblance to the one you and I partake in. Like all works of fiction Gichard’s songs are rooted in reality and the lived experiences of its authors, but here characters are exaggerated, social mores and habits are pulled apart to reveal their inherent alienness. Universal emotions are laid bare, the bright light of anxious examination searching out every hairline fracture in our relationships. Distorted and cracked, the mirror that Gichard hold up to our world is also pretty damn funny.

Opener Cholesterol Test launches an expansive, cosmic guitar and synth intro that belies the Tascam-tape recorder it was recorded onto, like a Chromatics cut substituting anxiety for overt sexuality. Here Jones intones an apology to a non-responsive recipient, in the medium of a long voice note forensically deconstructing an interaction from the night before. Over punk guitars and shuffling, lo-fi drum machine splutters, the narrator in Asking The Apes “prefers things to people” before being taken hostage in the city zoo to confess an obsession which consumes the protagonist, ending with the immortal two liner “I sleep in a cocoon of old newspapers at the end of your street / And I think I have been fired from my job,” On album standout Posthumous Hologram, the narrator is faced with a human simulacra, in this case an undead pop star; the face of the encroaching technological singularity. Yes, it does requests, it can do My Way in 200 different language options. But what are the implications? While you’re left pondering, the alternating deadpan verse delivery and undeniably catchy chorus keep you company.

By the time Break Up With Johnny Dogbirth rattles into view, the band are satirising a suburban inanity blown up to cartoon proportions, soundtracked with a drawled musicality that recalls Rowland S. Howard’s post-Birthday Party balladeering. This approach is furthered on Human Resources: over an angular guitar+bass track, Jones’s short story recalls Dry Cleaning’s erudite lyrical post punk. On Soft Face, Lalli’s guitar and drum machine are swathed in echo and delay, as Jones dissects dating rituals with a west of Scotland drollness. Hamming It Up brings a porcine perspective in a short story that begins with the line “I was breastfeeding discreetly in the service station. She didn’t mind.” What follows is a passage punctured with canned laughter and a narrative involving tribute acts, modern farming techniques.

Brilliant first single Your Private Hell closes the album, the closest the group get to earnest perhaps, filtered through a surreal central Scottishness. While Your Private Hell might seem like a sardonic take down of romance, perhaps it’s the very distillation of love in all its awkwardness, selflessness and weirdness. Here there’s a distinctive Glasgow-ness to this doomed romance: the protagonist falls for an outsider, offers them cheap jarred hot dogs and carbolic soap (the infamous, excoriating soap dished out in schools and government buildings throughout Scotland), offers to cover up a murder, stalks them in the all-night Spar. It’s a short story of intrigue, murder and the irresistible pull of self-sacrifice to share in someone else’s suffering. If that’s not love, what is it? You can see this vision mapped out in black and white on their video for 'Your Private Hell'.

The wait is finally over…With their new longplayer “Unseen Horror Scenes”, Mexican electro- industrial icons Hocico return with a new descent into the abyss… On this new studio assault, Erk Aicrag and Racso Agroyam dissect the digital age’s paranoia, addiction, betrayal and spiritual decay with surgical aggression. No escape, pure confrontation. Track by track, “Unseen Horror Scenes” drags listeners through algorithmic madness (“Brainrot”), online cowardice (“The Screen”), scorched-earth rage (“Hey Tú!” feat. Rafael Reyes of Prayers) and the smoldering ruins of a “Fallen Paradise.” From the opening attack “Dark Paradigm” to the apocalyptic closer “Echoes of the End,” the album pulses with hyperkinetic drum & bass injections, punishing industrial beats, razor-edged EBM sequences and Erk’s unmistakable, venom-drenched vocals. It’s raw, furious and thematically disturbingly accurate for our times. Hocico openly critique modern decay - yet they also amplify it, distort it, and make you dance inside it.

“Dressed In Black” was curated and annotated by Cathi Unsworth, author of the book Season Of The Witch: The Book of Goth – a woman who considers herself fortunate to have had Siouxsie Sioux, Lydia Lunch and Diamanda Galàs for role models while she was growing up. For further illumination in Cathi’s own words, read on.

“The music gathered here is an aural manifestation of turbulent times, made by women possessed of supernatural abilities. The music I fell in love with emerged from the dark end of the 1970s: The Winter of Discontent of 1978-79, when intractable industrial action left the dead unburied and mountains of rubbish in the streets. All the promise of punk came to a brutal end with the deaths of Sid and Nancy in New York; IRA bombs exploded in central London and a seemingly uncatchable ripper roamed West Yorkshire with 13 murders under his belt. Ill omens that augured badly for the events of 3 May 1979, when Margaret Thatcher became our first woman prime minister. Dressed in blue and ready to whip the country to her heel.

“But at night, malcontent youth were united by forces of opposition, whose dissenting voices were aired across the land on John Peel’s Radio 1 show, set to the sound of slasher guitars, swirling fairground keyboards, loping basslines and percussion that recalled the echo of jackhammers or the march of insect feet. Here, punk’s unruly offspring distilled the dissonance of the times into a new kind of music. Flirting with the fetishist and taboo, drawing upon horror and science fiction imagery, they were the outlaw leaders of the greatest style tribe of the decade: the goths. Dressed in black, these kohl-eyed women voiced the alienation of their generation during the decade of the Cold War, the Miners’ Strike, privatisation and AIDS.

“To make sense of the absurd is genius enough. But to then cast the glamour of sublime music around those insights – I come back to my point about supernatural abilities. I hope you will find illumination within. You know the dress code.”

Shaped from fragile, emotionally charged piano motifs that distort, disappear and transform into dense, cinematic textures, 'CANALS' is a debut that's finely matured, the result of years of friendship and growth. Italian artist Vanja Sturno and Montréal-based Belgian-Spanish composer Pablo Geeraert (aka Sanea Ima) have worked together extensively on various projects up until now, but 'CANALS' is their first official release as a duo. Having both studied music academically, the pair were eager to work more intuitively, so applied their well-honed set of skills to sound that, instead of fitting into a conceptual box, reflected more personal experiences.

Back in 2023, Geeraert travelled to Rome to support his friend at a difficult time and, during the trip, received some bad news of his own. The complicated feelings unconsciously surged through a series of delicate Ryuichi Sakamoto-inspired piano improvisations and a new project began to coalesce. They didn't realize it at the time, but once the record was finished, Sturno and Geeraert began to understand that the entire process had been a form a joint catharsis - a release of pressure. They were able to function so effortlessly and swiftly because they had already provided the space for each other to resonate emotionally and the music flowed from that point.

So the album's title, while remaining ambiguous, suggests its formation: a sequence of eight interconnected channels that feed a creative whole. On the first segment, Sturno and Geeraert's initial recordings can be perceived most nakedly, the melancholy, Satie-like phrases floating peacefully for a moment before the tranquility is agitated by stormy distortions and swelled into thick waves of harmony. The piano provides the record with its emotional anchor, offering focus and clarity as multi-dimensional noise wells up around it before inevitably dissipating, leaving gentle, unadorned sounds once again.

And the familiar instrument is reshaped into a wheezing artificial organ on the animated 'CANALS III', punctuated by percussive, tape-warped pitch fluctuations that seem to bite into its very essence. Gauzy acoustic granulations snowball into a powerful, bass-heavy crescendo on the fourth part, setting the tenor for the album's second half. But after the crushing 'CANALS VI', possibly Sturno and Geeraert's heaviest track, a brief tremolo-heavy vignette that ripples through experimental rock and ambient music's braided history, the duo clear the air with a jazzy diversion, introducing soft woodwind blasts as a palate cleanser before an epic, widescreen finale.

It's an album that's best absorbed as a whole, a vortex of ritualistic, rhythmic repetitions that Sturno and Geeraert appropriately refer to as "spiral listening".

London experimental spoken word and electronics duo BAG land on Phantom Limb with mesmerising new album This House is a Body, marrying visceral poetry with exploratory production to achieve beguiling, occasionally screwy and occasionally dreamy sonics.

“This album functions as a floor plan, a house in itself, collecting and containing the ecosystems of multiple rooms,” write BAG - Canadian artist and poet Jody DeSchutter and London producer Daniel Allison. “The roles we play can be defined by the room we are in; and it can be near impossible to tell what room we are in without looking from outside. This album maps out a number of rooms which hold such relations, memories, or experiences and builds them all into a single house, a single body.” Formed from Allison’s headspinning, depth-mining production for synthesis, field recording, and acoustic instrumentation, and DeSchutter’s lysergic and prophetic spoken word, the palette of This House is a Body can turn on a dime from claustrophobia and dread to hyperreal dream sequence, illuminated in sunstreamed glory in places and dripping with basement effluvia in others. Throughout, words, meaning, and imagery all dissolve into an architecture of alternately familiar and unknowable sound.

"Blinded by Fame", das zweite Studioalbum von Dutch Interiors, ist ein Fan-Favorit. Es wurde noch nie zuvor auf Vinyl gepresst. Die sechsköpfige Band aus Long Beach begleitet sich schon seit fast zwei Jahrzehnten. Jack Nugent, Conner Reeves, Shane & Hayden Barton, Davis Stewart und Noah Kurtz waren alle Freunde aus Kindertagen, und die Band ist das Ergebnis einer kreativen Verbindung, die durch bereits bestehendes Vertrauen und vertraute Verbundenheit entstanden ist. Man kann die unterschiedlichen Stile und Persönlichkeiten der Bandmitglieder an den Songs erkennen, die sie unabhängig voneinander schreiben, bevor sie sie der gesamten Band vorstellen, wo die Stücke oft zu ganz neuen Formen heranwachsen. Trotz dieser individuellen Herangehensweise an das Songwriting beschreiben sie sich gegenseitig als ,Zweige desselben Lebensstamms", deren aufeinanderprallende Einflüsse und Erfahrungen alle in die Songs einfließen. Mit Einflüssen, die von Ambient über Southern Rock und Jazz bis hin zu Dance-Musik reichen, wandelt sich die Band und oszilliert zwischen Alternative Country, kantigem Indie-Rock und Anklängen an dissonante Ambient-Klänge, während sie dennoch wie eine Band klingt, die sowohl ihre eigene private Sprache spricht als auch diese in etwas Universelles übersetzt. Nach der Veröffentlichung ihres jüngsten Albums ,Moneyball" und einer neuen EP, ,It's Glass", über Fat Possum ist Dutch Interior gekommen, um zu bleiben. Lob für Dutch Interior kommt von Pitchfork, Rolling Stone und anderen.

Magic Tuber Stringband act in communion with the natural world around them. Highly skilled players and writers, the trio are leaders within the burgeoning Avant-Folk world. Growing up in Appalachia studying the folk traditions of the region in tandem scientific and observational work in nature, their music appears to weave in and out of the fabric of the landscape. The ensemble continues to stretch the parameters of acoustic instrumental expression with masterful flourishes of dense, textural arrangements, subtle minimalist gestures and deft improvisation. Heavy Water addresses the impact of nuclear production on the environment and the communities within, a musical evocation of destruction and resilience, an embrace of dissonance and tension within moments of transcendence.

Peach’s Soak Vol. 1 is a cross-Canadian link-up with Mood Hut that moves through slower, deeper waters.

The mini-LP was written after a tour through Asia that opened up something new in how Peach approaches making music. The turning point, as she tells it, came during a visit to a neighbourhood sento in Tokyo, while surrounded by steam rising in suspended time, something clicked about the relationship between the body and the sounds she wanted to make.

She’d been learning about cycle synching and working out with the phases of her hormonal cycle, respecting energy fluctuations throughout the course of a month, and decided to apply the approach to writing music. She allowed shifts in energy to guide tempo, density, and emotional tone rather than strictly answering to the floor.

Soak came out of this exploration, sketched and layered with field recordings from her trips to Vietnam and the Philippines during a challenging time in her life. Fragments of heat, air, and shoreline are absorbed into the music itself. Vapourous pads, low-end weight, fractured percussion, and melodies hover at the edge of dissolution. Water runs structurally through the record in surges, in tidal pacing, in the slow accumulation of texture.

Wherever this music finds you, please enjoy the Soak.