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Whitelands' second album Sunlight Echoes builds on their elemental debut - that won them fans from Slowdive to David Jonsson - with a more expansive sound that takes them out of the shoegaze shadows to somewhere bigger, better and brighter. Produced by long-time collaborator Ian Flynn and mixed by double Grammy Award-winner Eduardo De La Paz (New Order, The Horrors, The Charlatans, The KVB, Drug Store Romeos), there are soaring string arrangements (by Iskra Strings) and Lush guest vocals from labelmate Emma Anderson. "We're coming back with a lot more maturity and realness," says singer and guitarist Etienne Quartey-Papafio of their step up. "It shows in how much more emotional our music has become." With maturity comes a newfound confidence, so not only are there stunning melodies everywhere, but Etienne's vocals are front and centre throughout. "It's been really cool to watch Etienne push through boundaries," adds bassist Vanessa Govinden. "I like the direction we've taken on this album. We're taking a risk. It's half and half." She's right - the first half of the album has an almost Britpop breeziness, that belies the serious subject matter that inspired the songs, while the second half gets heavier, in all senses, with added grit and gravitas."This album is one of enduring," says Etienne of the overarching theme. "We had family that were dying, I was broke, there was a shortage of my ADHD medication_ I was suffering, but not just me, everyone around me was too." "The last two years have been challenging," concludes Vanessa. "The universe really fucked with us. That's why there are themes of loss, disconnection, fragmentation and yearning, but on the other side there is also unity and hope." Sunlight Echoes is a poetic, melodic statement of intent from this formidable band. Whitelands have fought back and triumphed in the face of adversity.

The Modern Sound Quartet represents one of the most treasured, yet least documented, outfits in the history of Italian library music. An exceptional studio band of session musicians with a formidable groove, they released only a handful of albums under this name in the second half of the 1970s. However, their sound indelibly shaped dozens of "invisible" soundtracks, often without ever receiving an official credit on the back sleeve.

Led by pianist and composer Oscar Rocchi, and featuring Andrea Surdi (drums), Luigi Cappellotto (bass), and Ernesto Verardi (guitar), the quartet embodies the more jazz-funk, cinematic, and irresistibly groovy side of the 1970s Milan scene. They established themselves as a compelling alternative to the already established groups operating primarily out of Rome, such as I Marc 4 or I Gres.

Juggling late-night club jam sessions, tours supporting Italian pop giants like Ornella Vanoni, and creating rhythmically intense library records, the Modern Sound Quartet forged a unique sonic aesthetic: sophisticated, electric, and profoundly metropolitan.

This boxset celebrates their funkiest side—an irresistible combination of incandescent drum breaks, tight grooves, and high-intensity fusion passages—bringing together some of the most sought-after tracks from legendary LPs like Erbe Selvatiche (1977), Floreama (1977), Horoscope (1978), and I Tarocchi (1980). The selection also delves further back to the roots of their sound, including two powerhouse tracks from Pop-Paraphrenia (1973), a project where Oscar Rocchi—backed by a young, lethal Tullio De Piscopo on drums—sowed many seeds that would fully blossom in the subsequent Modern Sound Quartet output.

Created with DJs, beatmakers, and collectors of Italian library music in mind, this boxset deliberately features tracks that were never previously released on 7 inch—an ideal format for maximizing the rhythmic punch of the quartet's sound.

Available in a limited worldwide edition (500 copies), enriched by iconic 70s-style artwork conceived and designed by Eric Adrian Lee.

Psyché is an eclectic project rooted in the Neapolitan music scene. Conceived in 2018, the project includes Marcello Giannini (Nu Genea Live Band, Guru, Bassolino, La Famiglia), Andrea De Fazio (Nu Genea Live Band, Parbleu, The Funkin Machine), and Paolo Petrella (Nu Genea Live Band, Fratelli Malibu). They were recently joined by Roberto Porzio (Parbleu, Fitness Forever, 24 Grana, The Funkin Machine).

"Hurriya (We Must Resist)" is a sonic bridge crossing the Mare Nostrum, connecting the shores of Naples and Tunisia.

At the heart of this fusion is the voice and soul of Tunisian musician Ziad Trabelsi, whose Arab roots intertwine with the psychedelic, Mediterranean sound of Psyché.

In this track, Afrobeat and Arabic sonorities meet to create a hypnotic journey, one where Ziad's oud weaves an evocative groove that gallops like horses in the desert.

The song carries the echo of the ancient dominations and cultural exchanges that have shaped Naples—a millennia-old crossroads of civilization—where traces of Arab and North African influences continue to resonate in its streets and, most notably, in its music.

"Hurriya"—the Arabic word for freedom—is an anthem of resistance and resilience, a dialogue between East and West that dissolves the rigid boundaries of geography and politics. It is a collective song for the freedom of all peoples, against oppression, abuse, and injustice everywhere in the world. As Psyché emphasize: "Even if life tests us severely, and we often feel like giving up in the face of injustice, we must resist. We must refuse to disappear."

The single is available digitally and physically, on January 23rd, as a 7" vinyl. The B-side of the physical release includes an exclusive, extended version of "Hurriya (We Must Resist)", available only in this format.

Waiting is the essence of travel. Patience is its own reward.

Two people. A Telecaster guitar with a few effect pedals. A drum machine. An audio interface is connected to a laptop. The ingredients are simple yet effective.

But any suggestion of four-track cassette machines and vintage bedsit productions is quickly dispelled by digital dubbiness and refined arrangements. A tail of reversed echos. The crystalline flourish of octave-pitched delays. Riddled hi-hats tickle and taunt. A bass drum asserts its space.

Winkler's guitar patterns have a fragmented, almost haphazard connotation. Searching in a shimmer of reverb. Until the beat, the framework, sets in to reveal structure. Intentionality. Reihse's programmed rhythms go just to the point of a groove, holding the moment of tension, knowingly delaying the gratification. Beats that have scratchy patina anda subtly playful edge; their crispness stands in contrast to the contemplative drift of the guitar. Is it a trance? Or a dance? Yes.

There are some apparent references here: a good portion of Les Disques du Crépuscule, some kraut-esque electronica, even a smidgen of Morricone / Spaghetti Western, blending into a kind of Musique Noir – yet these serve as a set of orientational coordinates, rather than quotations.

This is so far the most assured release by Periode, perhaps eschewing some of the naiveté that was wilfully cultivated in earlier output – there is no cheeky cover version this time. And no singing either. The nine pieces have the quality of a series, a variation on a mood, or a subset of moods. What emerges is an inviting swagger in the face of bleakness. There is a profound melancholy, but it is not the darker kind, and does not exclude humour.

First impressions may suggest that this is purely nocturnal music. Yet it equally evokes the harsh sunlight and baking summer heat. Or a rainy day. And transportation: the music suggests the motion of travel, even if that travel only happens within the mind. And waiting. Waiting while doing nothing much. Because that's all you can do. (Alexander Paulick)

Berlin-based Swiss vocalist Lucia Cadotsch returns with her celebrated Speak Low trio for their second album, released by We Jazz Records on 27 Nov. "Speak Low II" features Cadotsch on voice, Otis Sandsjö on tenor saxophone and Petter Eldh on double bass, and introduces guest artists Kit Downes on hammond organ and Lucy Railton on cello. "Speak Low II" picks up where their genre-bending and forward-looking debut album left off, introducing new shades into the band's sound and also diving even deeper into the songs they tackle. What makes Speak Low special is their approach to really get to the heart of each composition with seemingly minimal means, yet generating a sound which is both instantly recognisable and remarkably impactful.

"Speak Low II" comes almost five years after the band's lauded debut, and proves the depth of the band's approach right from the start. At the core of the trio's operation is an openness to their love of the music and to their surrounding scene(s). The album comes across as a unified collection of songs made truly theirs and found through listening to records and spending time with their musician friends, often on the road. The highly evolved band sound and the equality of the musicians shines through on the Speak Low sound, as the group uses their 100+ performances together as a vehicle for the development of their music.

"The first album was filled with pretty famous songs, but that was actually not at all intentional" explains Cadotsch. "Those were just my favourite songs of the previous 10 years and we started working on making them ours, musically. We were playing around with concepts for the second album, but soon realised that we just needed to find the right songs and adapt them organically, which comes through in how we interact with the songs and each other. This time around, we wanted to dig deeper and made finished arrangements of around 20 tracks, half of which we ditched in the process. The ones that made the cut have been through a lot and they just felt right for us."

In a way, the Speak Low approach could be described as archaeological. Three music lovers connecting with songs found at various sources, readily throwing away any ideas that don't seem natural to them, and hanging on tight to the ones that do.

Turns out there is a concept to "Speak Low II". It's the band itself, their shared musical development and their love of music.

"Speak Low II" will be available on We Jazz Records on vinyl (PURPLE and BLACK editions), CD and digitally. The vinyl versions come with a heavy duty tip-on sleeve and a printed inner sleeve. CD in digisleeve with no breaking plastic parts.

After two decades in the experimental music scenes of New York and Western Massachusetts, Wednesday Knudsen might be known equally as a sought-after improv collaborator and the vocalist and guitarist for the beloved long-running psych band Pigeons or, more recently, as a member of the New England psych-folk ensemble Stella Kola. Though her forthcoming release, Atrium, is Knudsen’s fifth solo album, it is both her first solo work to appear on vinyl and a double LP, marking her rich recording history with a stunning masterwork. Channeling the “atmosphere of presence” alongside the legions of Éliane Radigue, Hiroshi Yoshimura, and Joanna Brouk, on Atrium, Knudsen plays it all—alto saxophone, flute, guitar, synth, piano, autoharp, bass guitar, and vocals. The collected compositions are studies in the tones, timbres, and pacing particular to the woodland environment of the Taconic Mountains where she lives. Atrium’s tracks are sculptural rather than ambient, with a release into the gorgeous hold of gravity that insists we don’t escape or drift away. This is music for remembering time. This is music that reinforces the power of art as resistance. The songs on Atrium distill our attention in a language that Knudsen calls “the opening of the heart,” reminding us that subsistence and community results from our own actions and engagement with our exterior. Atrium is a refuge, vital in our current moment and imbued with resonant power for our future.

SPIRIT!, the third LP from HUNNY, is about embracing the weird-an album born from uncertainty and built on instinct. It"s a testament to breaking free, starting over, and tuning out the noise. Now the sole project of longtime frontman Jason Yarger, HUNNY has shed its past shape to become something more fully itself. SPIRIT! doesn"t reinvent the wheel so much as keep it spinning forward. Across 15 tracks, the album-co-produced by Yarger and former bassist Kevin Grimmett with drums by former drummer Joey Anderson-leans into the sounds that have always lit HUNNY"s fuse: hooky post-punk, gleaming synths, and shout-along choruses praised by Alternative Press, Kerrang!, and Rock Sound. But it also pushes further-into abstraction, playfulness, and freedom. It"s the latest turn for HUNNY, a band long celebrated for shapeshifting through genres and decades with style on fan-favorite releases like Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. (2019) and new planet heaven (2023)-always evolving, yet unmistakably themselves. That dynamic energy carries into their high-voltage live show, sharpened on tours with Joywave, Mom Jeans, Waterparks, and State Champs.

Here, Flavien departs from his usual creative process to embrace collaboration—because plouf! (Léviathan) is also the story of a dive, his first collective adventure with musicians he had always dreamed of working with: Michelle Blades (guitar), Kiala Ogawa (keys), Akemi Fujimori (bass), Cédric Laban (drums), and Thibaud Merle (winds).



Reworking these songs is a way of revisiting forgotten musical landscapes, shedding new light on them with a different perspective. It’s about transforming a solitary electronic record into a collective piece by exploring new textures and instrumental approaches.



With this album, Flavien Berger uses his early tracks as raw material—as if the 2015 Léviathan were now a kind of demo from which to extract the essence and create something entirely new. The project, like the music that drives it, is rooted in the idea of reinvention.



The result is a fresh sonic exploration where Léviathan’s tracks take on new forms—some staying true to their original versions, others completely reimagined, blending past and present.

Since their formation, The Hirsch Effekt have carved out a unique niche in the German-speaking music scene. Yet, despite—or perhaps because of—their elusiveness, the band has captivated a devoted audience. Musically, The Hirsch Effekt have always embraced limitless possibilities. Acoustic, introspective moments—where bassist Ilja John Lappin brings out his cello or guitarist Nils Wittrock returns to his classical roots—sit naturally alongside massive progressive metal onslaughts. The band is equally at home on intimate club stages as they are at international festivals, evidenced by repeated appearances at Euroblast and numerous events across the UK. Recently, they toured Germany alongside scene giants like Leprous, Tesseract and traversed Europe with Caligula’s Horse. Yet between these extremes, The Hirsch Effekt continually create songs that flirt with radio accessibility—almost—because the band steadfastly resists any form of standardization. With their seventh album, Der Brauch, they continue this course uncompromisingly. While earlier works, despite their diversity, were still labeled “metal albums,” this new record explores paths first hinted at on the multilayered second album, Holon : Anamnesis—the same album that fans of VISIONS magazine voted the only German-language entry among the 20 best albums of all time. Der Brauch can be seen as a return to that pivotal point—and simultaneously as a bold step forward. Drummer Moritz Schmidt doesn’t entirely forgot blast beats, but the record demands a new heading. In the end, though, there is only one truth: it unmistakably sounds like The Hirsch Effekt.

2026 Repress

We are happy to welcome LA re-edit crew Boogie Down Edits first up is their De La Soul's reworks, re-inventing some of their best-loved hip-hop cuts as party-starting house jams. Wisely, they've chosen to retain many of the key musical ingredients of their source material, subtly shifting the grooves to aid slick mixing and peak-time joy.

We kick off with the loose-limbed hip-house punchiness of 'Saturday’ then move into a more jackin’ bumpy groove on the classic ‘'Me Myself and I'

On the Flip we have a bass heavy Hip House style rework of ‘Buddy’ rounding off the package with a housed up groovy vocoder laden version of ‘ Say No Go’.

A great start from the BDE crew watch out for more..
Limited Vinyl pressing.

Beijinho do Brasil announce their second release with the highly anticipated follow-up from LA-based producer and multi-instrumentalist James Matthew Seven, featuring guest vocals on the A-side by Rio de Janeiro's Fabio Santanna.

Recorded in a small studio on the beach in Oaxaca, Mexico, "Feels Good, Do It" brings to mind a lost recording from Marcos Valle's time with Leon Ware. Funky and soulful with warm Fender Rhodes and a horn section reminiscent of Banda Black Rio, the tune is a breezy, mid-tempo ode to embracing life's pleasures. Originally with vocals in English, the track was translated and re-recorded in Rio de Janeiro by Fabio Santanna. Fabio has a long-established reputation in Brazil as a torchbearer of modern funk and boogie, continuing in the lineage of artists like Robson Jorge and Lincoln Olivetti. But with his releases on labels like Onda Boa and Dippin' Records (which sold out nearly instantly), his international reputation is steadily growing. He has a new 7" due out on Dippin' Records on October 10th, pushing his name to the forefront once again, right on time to generate more buzz for our next 45!

About the flip side, "Ilha Racional" (a nod to Tim Maia's Racional era):
I had this dream where I was in a dive bar discotheque somewhere in the Caribbean. A thick cloud of smoke hung in the air as the selector dropped this bass-heavy bop that had the whole crowd vibing. Then, out of nowhere, in walked Tim Maia with a bag of mushrooms. He proceeded to grab the mic and preach about this alien world of rational energy. Shit was bugged out. When I woke up, James Matthew Seven had sent me this track to check out.

" A very limited 7” for the tropical heads, beat travellers and cosmic cumbia astronauts on the new imprint Sun Of A Beach — the free-spirited daughter of Editions de Lux, who skipped town, fell in love somewhere between Kingston and Cartagena, and came back glowing, barefoot, and heavy on the bass.

At home in the steaming rainforest as much as the urban jungle of the Chapinero district of Bogotá, Colombia’s psychedelic groove pilots Ácido Pantera deliver a double-sided tropical weapon aimed straight at late-night sweatboxes, boat parties, and sun-soaked terraces.

"Te quiero, te amo” is a declaration of love at 132 bpm, bouncing along like a low-rider over cobblestones while neon synths float in the humid air.

Flip it for “Pájaro cantor”, a sound system destroyer that will lock the floor in an acid trance that feels both ancestral and futuristic in the same breath. This one’s featured on the FC26 soundtrack and will have you shimmying like Luis Díaz right before he bangs one into the top corner!

You know what to do!"

Delve into the quirky and psych-tinged world of Brazilian pianist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Mauricio Fleury.

With more than a hint to Brazilian jazz greats like Azymuth, Deodato and CTI Records in their prime, Revoada is a groove based jazz-framed record, primed with other transitory musical vignettes which touches on Turkish psych and soul-jazz born out of the 70's film soundtrack genre.

Revoada is a 6 track album and storyboard of Mauricio's migration and travels through Brazil's geographical oddities , its rural and urban enclaves. Recorded in Brazil, it's the result of numerous treks through funky flea markets, soaking up old vinyls and vintage cultural artefacts combined with a new life led in Berlin since 2022.

Mauricio, as well as a founding member of Bixiga 70 (google Brazilian Afrobeat pioneers), a band he fronted for over 12 years, is also an in-demand collaborator and musician who as a pianist, guitarist and even percussionist has shared stages and studios with the likes of Brazilian greats including Gal Costa, Emicida, Lucas Santtana, João Donato and Liniker.

In 2007 he had a life-changing experience meeting Tony Allen, at the Red Bull Music Academy. After hanging out, chatting music and life, Tony insisted to Mauricio to participate with Tony in a jam with blacktronica and soulful house music pioneers Ron Trent, Theo Parrish and Steve Spacek. Mauricio sums it up, "From that moment on, I was never afraid to collaborate musically with anyone, no matter who's playing. It also brought me to researching the connection between Brazilian music and Afrobeat which is something that still means the world to me".

Another unforgettable session Mauricio undertook happened alongside João Donato and Marcos Valle, playing Donato's classic album Quem É Quem, live, a record seen as a blueprint for second generation bossa nova. Mauricio has worked with Gal Costa on two albums, Estratosférica Ao Vivo and her last studio album A Pele do Futuro. Fabio Sá and Vitor Cabral (bassist and drummer on Revoada) were playing with Gal at her last concerts, including in Berlin in 2022 before she passed.

In contemporary music, Mauricio was part of Toy Selectah and Mexican Institute of Sound's Compass project. He's worked with Colombia's Los Pirañas and has even recorded a mysterious and unreleased album with Quantic.

Revoada shows signature traces of Thelonious Monk, Ramsey Lewis' swinging soul sound, Deodato's drama, and styles from further afield, spreading into Turkish psych and Ethiopian jazz, when the time is right. Each track, led always by Mauricio playing multiple instruments with a choice selection of guests and core members on bass and drums, highlights Fleury's meticulous approach to finding the right timbre, utilising his arsenal of organs and effects pedals to set the mood, taking the listener to a specific place or memory that has shaped him.

A vinyl DJ for over 25 years and someone who is immersed in digger and collector's culture, Mauricio places a lot of emphasis on the importance of the complimentary relationship between two artforms (DJ and composer/producer) in the sense of having a broad repertoire of musical knowledge, references and perhaps predictably, being a Brazilian, understanding the connection between rhythms. This is an impressive debut album that struts itself right into the runout groove.

Cristi Cons makes his Crosstown Rebels debut with his latest EP, ‘Give Me Love’.

The three-track exploration of rhythm, tension, and hypnotic club craft lands on 16th January 2026.
Damian Lazarus’ Crosstown Rebels imprint opens its 2026 release schedule with a special label debut from Romanian favourite Cristi Cons, as he delivers a magnetic three-tracker in the form of his ‘Give Me Love’ EP. Known for his precise, minimal-infl ected approach and unwavering command of groove, Cristi’s arrival onto the label brings a release that distils his signature tension-and-release architecture into some of its most direct club form yet.

The title track, ‘Give Me Love’, unfolds with subtle vocal refrains, shadowy atmospheres, and a rolling, elastic groove built for late-night momentum. On the B-side, ‘Can You Hear Me’ channels a sleeker, more hypnotic pulse, with dubby textures, restrained bass pressure, hooky vocals, and a snaking groove to keep dancers moving. Closing the EP, ‘You Ain’t Got Nothin’ brings vibrant synths, tight drum programming, and more captivating vocal use into a head-down trip that leans into Cons’s innate ability to craft late-night and early-hours journeys.

A longstanding architect of Romania’s influential underground, Cristi Cons has carved a reputation through his solo work, his collaborative SIT project with Vlad Caia, and their shared imprint, Amphia, which now stands as a true force within the minimal landscape. Alongside regular appearances across Europe’s key institutions and collaborations with revered names, including Raresh as part of their Verico project along with Caia, Cristi continues to evolve with each release - and ‘Give Me Love’ delivers yet another side to his diverse sound as he steps into the Crosstown Rebels fold to open the year.

High-definition audiophile pressing - 180g premium vinyl - the complete album plus bonus track from the same session, but not included on the original LP

This special edition presents the complete Grant Green LP 'Gooden's Corner' (1961) with an additional track recorded at the same session with saxophonist Ike Quebec joining the quartet on the seldom heard standard, Count Every Star by Bruno Coquatrix and Sammy Gallop. Grant Green - guitar Sonny Clark - piano Sam Jones - bass Louis Hayes - drums Ike Quebec - tenor sax (on 'Count Every Star' only) Rudy Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, December 23, 1961. Original sessions recorded by Rudy Van Gelder & produced by Alfred Lion. "This is an album of real beauty and synergy between Green and pianist Sonny Clark, who along with Sam Jones on bass and Louis Hayes on drums rounds out the quartet. Green, an expert with standards, offers 'Moon River', 'What Is This Thing Called Love?', and 'On Green Dolphin Street'." - ****1/2 Michael Erlewine, All Music

ATA Records proudly present the latest release from The Flying Hats, Blender 7” Following the buzz surrounding their debut LP and the soft limited pre-release of Blender, anticipation for this single has been huge - and with good reason.
“I've never heard something so perfectly combine funk and reggae and do it in a way that is dancefloor gold”. - Monkeyboxing.
The Flying Hats - the Leeds quartet responsible for one of the standout albums of the year - return in phenomenal form with two previously unreleased cuts of the highest calibre. Both tracks strike hard somewhere between Kingston and New Orleans, as if The Meters were channelling Jackie Mittoo or Sound Dimension were jamming with Jimmy Smith.
Thick, funky-reggae organ leads the charge with killer breakbeats, bass pressure, and rhythm-section fire designed to light up any dancefloor worth its salt. Both sides are built for selectors, collectors and dance DJs alike.

Mike Majkowski makes his debut on Hands in the Dark Records with Invisible, a selection of six moody and mysterious pieces produced between 2019 and 2025.

The prolific Australian double bassist and music maker has been involved in a diverse array of contemporary, improvised and experimental music since the early 2000s. This time, the Berlin-based artist is venturing deeper into downtempo, meditative and hypnotic minimal electronic realms.

While time and space are constraints, they also define our identities, creating inexplicable bonds with others flowing through shared moments and shared places. The state of being invisible obliterates these confines, allowing one to return to their pure essence. In this setting, Majkowski’s compositions display a discreet and profoundly emotional language characterised by vulnerability, darkness and confusion, while also embodying hope, soothing and resilience. A dim light, transcending love, space, memory and time.

Announcing Perseverance Flow, the latest album from acclaimed Chicago-based ensemble Natural Information Society (NIS), release date 2024-10-24. After a trilogy of double LPs by expanded manifestations of the band that began in 2018 with Mandatory Reality & continued through Since Time Is Gravity (a Pitchfork Best Jazz & Experimental Album of the Year selection & Mojo’s #1 Underground Album of 2023), NIS returns to its core formation of Lisa Alvarado on harmonium, Mikel Patrick Avery on drums, Jason Stein on bass clarinet, & composer/multi-instrumentalist Joshua Abrams on guimbri for one continuous 37 minute composition across a single LP. As the rocket boosters on spaceship earth sputter closer to burnout, lower your stylus into a soundfield that grows stronger the deeper you travel into it; a dose of the medicine many of us look to music to deliver awaits you inside.

One of the deep contemplations of this natural information (thanks Bill Callahan) is the wide range of source materials Abrams draws from over the band’s more than 15 year history: Ideas from minimalism, modal jazz & traditional musics are regularly reimagined in these compositions. The 2021 double LP descension (Out of Our Constrictions), with guest soloist Evan Parker, reflected aspects of Abrams’ love of party music, Chicago house, & John Coltrane. *But even veteran travelers with the NIS best brace themselves for the Perseverance Flow.

Speaking to the history & the inspirations behind the album, Abrams offers: “We played the piece for a year in concert before the recording. At Electrical (Audio Studios, Chicago) we went in at 11 & were done in time to pick our kids up from school.” Abrams continues: "In a reference world, I imagine Perseverance Flow like a live extended realization of a Jaylib lost instrumental as remixed by Kevin Shields. Or vice versa. I also think it has sympathies to some of the more rhythmically intricate dance musics out of Chicago & Lisbon.”

The core NIS ensemble heard on Perseverance Flow always address Abrams’ writing with the discipline of orchestra musicians & the creativity of improvisers. But this time around, instead of inviting living legend status musicians Evan or William Parker or Ari Brown as honored guests to solo freely over the composed materials, Abrams’ invited guest collaborator was the medium of the recording studio itself. Situated at the board with engineer Greg Norman, Abrams pushed post production techniques found only sporadically on earlier NIS records deep into the heart of the music, distorting & reshaping instruments to subtly &, at times, aggressively mutate timbre & texture, color & time.

Refracting the band’s signature mesmerizing chains of overlapping rhythmic patterns through the sonic funhouse of dub makes Perseverance Flow the most formally experimental NIS album to date. Now a soundworld fully unique to itself is listening to itself, consoling & humoring itself, & consoling & humoring you. A destruction myth & a creation myth of a soundworld together at once —”energetically nutritious” (October 2025 Issue 500 The Wire) supernatural information society.

“Perseverance Flow is skipping rope in slo-mo. A dance of co-operation to rally guts & humors & keep marching through pouring tears” (Abrams).

The Just Joans' new album Romantic Visions of Scotland finds the Glasgow band in characteristically melancholic form, pairing shambling indie pop with sharp observations on romantic pratfalls and everyday dis-appointments, all delivered with sardonic Scottish wit, fronted by siblings David and Katie Pope, whose wry lyrics and heartfelt vocals remain at the heart of the band’s distinctive sound.
Originally inspired by a grandiose exhibition title spotted on Glasgow buses in 2019 for a show at the Nation-al Museum of Scotland called Wild and Majestic: Romantic Visions of Scotland, the new album arrives six years later as a collection of semi-autobiographical snapshots from the Central Belt of Scotland. Whilst some of the details have been exaggerated for comic (or tragic) effect, the songs are based on personal experience of mundane failings, bitter regrets and missed opportunities that make up an unremarkable life.
Recurring themes of nostalgia for a bygone era and the fear of being left behind by lovers, friends and peers run throughout the album. Musically and lyrically, the band channels Village Green-era Kinks, with nods to The Television Personalities, The Smiths and Dolly Mixture.
In the past they have always recorded by themselves in a variety of bedrooms, living rooms – and the occasional toilet. For the first time they have abandoned their DIY recording practices to create what songwriter David Pope calls, “a corporate behemoth in an actual studio.” The album was recorded at Chem19 in Blan-tyre with Paul Savage, who is best known as a founding member of local legends The Delgados. He has also produced and recorded the likes of Teenage Fanclub, Arab Strap and Camera Obscura, and has captured a slightly more muscular version of the band while retaining their ramshackle charm.
The album artwork by vocalist and painter Katie Pope depicts Motherwell Train Station – an ordinary, boring place that speaks to the subject matter of the songs, but with a hint of potential escape. As David Pope ex-plains, “For me, the painting reminds me of the ending of Billy Liar in which Billy tries and fails to leave his hometown for the bright lights of London. Half the band also live in Motherwell, so it seemed appropriate.”
Funded by Creative Scotland, the recording allowed the band to bring in bass and cello arrangements, adding depth and a sheen of musical proficiency to their signature sound.
About The Just Joans - The Just Joans were formed in Glasgow in 2005 by songwriter David Pope. Early demos were collected together and released as a loose concept album, Last Tango in Motherwell, in 2006. Chris Elkin joined on guitar and was followed shortly after by David’s younger sister, Katie, on vocals and Fraser Ford on bass. Over the years they have released EPs and albums on WeePOP! and Fika Records and have gained a cult following as Scottish pop miserabilists.
The current line-up consists of Katie Pope (vocals), David Pope (vocals, guitar), Chris Elkin (lead guitar), Fraser Ford (bass), Arion Xenos (keyboards) and Jason Sweeney (drums).
Press Quotes:
“They fit snugly into the scratchy, low budget Scottish indie tradition of The Delgados and Arab Strap… There’s mischief in this miserabilism.” - Mojo 4*s
“Glasgow’s The Just Joans have documented the romantic pratfalls of a generation of indie kids with sardonic wit and a shambling musical style where Stephin Merrit lies down with The Vaselines.” - Uncut
“Funny and sad, it’s the kind of song that made Red House Painters, The Magnetic Fields and The Wedding Present’s early albums so easy to embrace; an unpretentious sharing of relatable gloom.” - Record Collector

A great mixture of jazz, funk, afrobeat and house on new album by Italian outfit Asakaira for Quattro Bambole. "Asakaira is the name of a place that does not exist, an "invisible city" that is the backdrop to the meeting of four musicians. Michele Vassallo (sax and efx), Giuseppe Desiderio (bass), Francesco Fasanaro (percussion) and Giuseppe Limpido (drums) who together have already gone through various experiences to immerse themselves in an imaginary space, of the border! So, they exploit this nature to transcend the limit, throwing caution to the wind with carefree abandon, but not before carefully noting the history and legacy of jazz, hip-hop and afrobeat. Asakaira' s sound is psychedelic, fluid, constantly evolving: afrobeat & jazz punk alternate with funk, electronic music of Mediterranean culture. An absolutely "stateless" sound, while maintaining its own timbre and stylistic coherence to make it recognizable. The choice of not having a harmonic instrument present in the lineup gives ample space to electronic effects and the groove, creating a sort of modern ritual. The eponymous debut album, released by Quattro Bambole Records, consists of seven tracks, in which the ability to reinterpret their native sounds with polysemic rhythms emerges in a work where layered drums and percussions intertwine with effected saxophones and psychedelic bass lines. A path that moves between songs with a more "ethereal" ancestry, such as the opening track "Night Tales", an acoustic groove that rests on the use of the handpan, an idiophone instrument that gives the song a psychedelic vibration and like "Chatting With You" where a soft and extended overlapping of multiple musical meters emerges, between neo soul, jazz and hip-hop."