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First new LP in over 15 years. Builds on 3 successful ATFA reissues of Mergia's music. Legendary artist still active after decades of historic work. Modern Ethiopian jazz built on ancient scales and standards. Capping several successful years traveling the world performing to audiences big and small, Hailu Mergia's Lala Belu has been a long time coming. It builds on Mergia's remarkable career resurgence over the past few years. Beginning in 2013 with the reissue of his dreamy Hailu Mergia and His Classical Instrument followed by the enormous success of his seminal Ethio-jazz masterpiece Tche Belew and continuing with last year's widely acclaimed Wede Harer Guzo, Mergia has received considerable accolades from listeners and press globally, including The New York Times, Pitchfork and The Wire. His old recordings are cherished revelations for Ethiopian music fans; however, Mergia's return to the stage has been just as inspiring and electrifying. Mergia's vintage recordings are known for an inherently mysterious and worn-in quality, while his new recordings echo his band's 21st century live show with modern instrumental interpretations of crucial Ethiopian standards and Mergia's own original compositions. Tony Buck (drums) and Mike Majkowski (bass), who have backed Mergia on tour throughout Europe and Australia, form the bass-drums trio on the recording. Having played venues from Radio City Music Hall and the Kennedy Center to jazz festivals, rock clubs and DIY spaces all over North America, Europe and Australia, Mergia and Awesome Tapes From Africa want to document this moment in his landmark career with a snapshot of Mergia's current sound. Since he emigrated from Ethiopia and built a life in Washington, D.C. around 1981—where he remains working as an airport taxi driver when he is not on tour—Mergia's career has followed a humble trajectory. He made a few recordings in America but they didn't easily reach fans back home. He kept making music on his own and with friends but after the early 80's his gigs in the U.S. mostly dried up. It wasn't until he began working with Awesome Tapes From Africa and putting together bands with the help of booking agents and musicians in Europe and the U.S., that he was able to chart a new path. With a broad audience of young listeners in diverse venues and distant locales, at age 71, Mergia is enjoying his comeback and is not slowing down.

DELUXE VINYL EDITION !!! By the start of the 1980s, following a string of multi-Platinum albums and electric live performances - due in no small part to the onstage chemistry between guitarist Eddie Van Halen and singer David Lee Roth - Van Halen were an unstoppable force. Their 1982 album Diver Down followed peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard chart and went four times Platinum in the U.S. alone. In support of the album, the group toured worldwide through 1982 and 1983. 1983 would also be the first and only time the group would travel to South America, and it is from this leg of the tour that the show featured on this release originates. Recorded at the first of three dates at Venezuela's 20,000-capacity Poliedro de Caracas, the performance was broadcast simultaneously over FM radio. On top form and playing a rich selection from their current and back catalogue - including '(Oh) Pretty Woman', 'Eruption' and 'Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love' among numerous other Halen classics - this extraordinary show is now finally available for fans of this enduring collective to add to their collections.

* Brazilian producer L-Side releases his highly anticipated new album 'Carnal Mind' on the 6th April.

* Featuring American rapper Jeru The Damaja, British rapper DRS, dancehall/grime artist Lady Chann, and drum and bass vocalists MC Fats, MC Darrison and MC Conrad, the release is via the legendary drum and bass record label, V Recordings.

* Taking his influence from Hip Hop artists such as Jazz Liberatorz, The Pharcyde and Tribe Called Quest, L-Side is making his mark in the world of raw dancefloor focused drum and bass. Originally producing hip-hop beats before branching into Drum and Bass, he is known for his meticulous mix of upfront and aggressive sounds merged with funk and soul styles, forging a flawlessly fresh take on drum and bass.

* Leonardo de Jesus Silva, aka L-Side, began his career as a DJ and Producer in 2008 and the Sao Paulo born producer has gone on to cement himself as one of the most formidable producers to hail from the flourishing and highly respected Brazilian drum and bass scene, which is home to some of the most inventive and funkiest contributors to drum & bass this century.

* As a nation bursting at the seams with prolific and highly talented producers, L-Side has managed to emerge as one of the most exceptional and 'Carnal Mind' proves the point.

* 'Holding On' ft. Lady Chann, is a dark, brooding, half time number, full of menacing atmosphere - infusing elements of dancehall and grime, complemented perfectly by Lady Chann's ferocious, trademark vocal delivery while tracks like 'High Times' unleash unrelenting breakbeat right from the gate. Pulsating synths add momentum, channelling subterranean depths as MC Fats patois-tinged vocals ride overhead. The dark storm clouds clear briefly, allowing celestial pads to momentarily reset the atmosphere before hurling the listener straight back into the thick of it.

* Having released music on such labels as Philly Blunt, Chronic, Celsius and Soul Deep, his music has been supported by DJs from around the world, including DJ Marky, Bryan Gee, LTJ Bukem, Bailey and Doc Scott, while new single 'Holding On' received it's first official play from Mista Jam on BBC Radio 1Xtra.

* In addition to his solo recordings, L-Side has collaborated with fellow V producers, Subsid, Andrezz and Critycal Dub among others.

* The legendary drum and bass record label, V Recordings, was set up in 1993 by Jumpin' Jack Frost and Bryan Gee. Few record labels can claim to have changed the face of their respective scene. Celebrating their 25th anniversary in 2018, since its birth, the label has released over 100 cuts from the likes of Marky & XRS, Krust and Die, Adam F, Lemon D, Scorpio, Dillinja and Roni Size

Returning to Giallo after the as-played-by-Helena-Hauff et al split 'Black Gloves II', Bogdan Dražic is back with 'Four Trax On Black Wax'. Three new blisteringly blown out grained to fuck voodoo bangers plus a remix from the mighty Dmitry Distant. Haunted organs, lost jungle tribes, hot cannibal nights... all documented under piles of dirt and ancient spells. Not to be missed!

About this release *First 10 tracks only come with the limited edition Nijmegen's ESHU welcomes co-founder Ivano Tetelepta for his first solo release on the label. It is also the imprint's first full length, but Tetelepta's second album after the hypnotic drum workout that was True Colours, his debut on Fear of Flying in 2012. It comes as a double vinyl release with the first disc being limited, and finds the producer casting himself free from the dance floor and serving up a beautifully atmospheric soundtrack that would be a perfect companion for a nature documentary. When making EPs and 12"s, Tetelepta's smooth and infectious drums are always front and centre in his work, whether solo or as producing with label mates under the ESHU alias. He's also worked with labels like Siena and KERING, but here he shows another side that focusses on short pieces, melody and blissful sound design. To give this album its perfectly warm analogue sound, the whole thing was recorded via cassette and revox tape. The first ten tracks are short, immersive musical worlds with poignant chords and glistening melodies. Some twinkle and shimmer, some sound like an underwater eco system coming to life, and others seem to come from deepest space where solar winds and sonar pulses pass you by. It's cinematic and evocative stuff that takes you away from the here and now and into a different realm. The four tracks on disc two then start with Senang, a suspensory and multi-layered piece of music that has keys, modulations and samples wrapping all around you before Whistle Of Patience has a supple minimal drum line that slowly gets under your skin. Ede 2 Nijmegen is then a turbulent dub track which builds a darker mood before closer De Test sinks back into supple, rubbery and warm drums laced up with hypnotic pads that circle all around. This is an ambitious album of meditative music that offers a beautiful place to lose your mind.

New York City has had a long history of dance music fused with confrontational performance. Whether it came from within the late 70's No Wave canon projected through venues like the Mudd Club or the downtown avant-garde galleries such as The Kitchen, the feeling that influences and infects Brooklyn-based duo Wetware's overall being as a cohesive and confrontational unit is as much enigmatic as it is familiar. Formed in 2015, Wetware eased into its performative role with their live shows around their home base of Brooklyn, NY.

Vocalist Roxy Farman, who's familiar voice was last seen on Drew McDowall's 'Unnatural Channel' album, stole audience's attention from the moment they started, using her body in tandem with her voice as a weaponised vehicle for the band's anxiety filled performance. Matthew Morandi cut his teeth in the electronic music world through his solo tech-industrial project Jahiliyya Fields and partner to Inhalants, the techno collaboration of Morandi and Max Ravitz (Patricia). The synergy that developed between Farman and Morandi has been explosive. Wetware's live antics and behaviour has caused alarm and envy amongst their local audiences, causing Wetware the group to 'not be missed' on any particular bill that they are allowed to take part in.


Wetware stepped out from their live persona and self-recorded a selection of songs that viewers had grown accustomed to and were debuted on the flawlessly curated Primitive Languages imprint. Shortly following their recorded premier was an EP collection of demo recordings on the much praised Bank NYC label. Once the band reconciled with documenting their work, they set out, with the help of engineer Kris Lapke (Alberich / Hospital Productions) to formalise their most recent output in the context of their first full length album entitled 'Automatic Drawing'.

Given Wetware's penchant for endurance, as displayed by their 3 hour long production at Koenig & Clinton Gallery in the Summer of 2017, one would expect the usual restlessness on Wetware's debut full length. All of the apprehension and unease in Wetware seems to have been channeled into a string of cohesive electronic statements found on songs 'Frequent Dreamlands' and 'Ode to Joe'. Industrial dance rhythms bounce around Farman's poetic stance on 'Where Ever You Were', causing flashbacks of an early 80's dystopia that jumps around a confusing, uncomfortable backdrop. Inter-spliced with modular electronic instrumentals like the album's opener 'Pantomime', Wetware's devastating portrait is that of a society in peril.

Sonic Groove Records presents the advent of a new strain of contemporary techno for 2018 and advancing electronic music culture further into the future with this release. This is a document of the convergence and alliance of two distinct artistic visions, that of veteran and pioneer Thomas P Heckmann under his Drax moniker and current dedicated activist Blush Response. The results of this cutting edge collaboration are pure dance floor revelations of the infectious and mind expanding kind. Four cryptic transmissions initiating a sequence of combined sonic DNA output.

This is an interpretation of techno rooted in radical experimentation and upgraded to the next level with compelling innovation. Side A initiates the drama with mysterious analog machine signals of both purist and experimental dark techno that are composed of elements crafted at the molecular level. Side B continues with intensity delivering more of the combined audio expression of the artists. The intense coded communication weaves through in waves of perfectly balanced synthesis that is reinforced with heavy percussion and complex intertwined and engaging rhythms. A new key to other dimensions in sound. Essential

Maya Deren (1917-1961) was a Russian-American filmmaker and one of the most important voices in avant-garde cinema of the mid-20th century. When she decided, between the end of the 40s and the beginning of the 50s, to make an ethnographic film in Haiti, she was criticized for abandoning the avant-garde film world where she had made her place, but she was ready to expand to a new level as an artist. Deren not only filmed, recorded and photographed many hours of voodoo ritual, but also participated in the ceremonies. It was in working on this film that Deren recorded the Haitian musicians found on these sides originally released in the very early days of Elektra records. 'Voices Of Haiti' (here repressed as a 12" with new mastering) -a beautiful artifact of percussion and chant heavy ritual music- is one of the earliest and best Western ethnographic documents of voodoo culture in Haiti. It is unmissable both for its historical value and for the beauty and spiritual power of the music it contains.

Support for recent album release - Push On

Observer Magzine Feature Dec 2017

Radio:

BBC 6 Music Craig Charles Album of The Year

BBC 6 Music Album of the Day

'That's a great song for the summer' - Alan Carr

"I challenge you not to get down to this!" - Zoe Ball (Entitled to That quote)

'Entitled to That' - Radio 2 (Zoe Ball, Alan Carr & Mel Sykes, Craig Charles) 6Music (Craig Charles, Steve Lamacq, BBC introducing Bristol)

'Main Event (feat. Andy Cooper)' 'Since You've Been Gone' - 6Music (Nemone)

Love That I'm In (Craig Charles, Nemone)

WW International and specialist radio: Jazz FM, WNCW, Solar Radio, Radio One Italy, Radio Krimi, WNCW, Radio Nova Portugal, Kane FM, Radio Pepper Greece, Radio Fg, Radio Z Nurenburg, WUTK FM 90.3, 100.3 Thessaloniki, 1BrightonFM, FM4 Vienna, Radio Z Nuremburg,

Online press: We Plug Good Music, Stereofox, 45Live, Monkeyboxing, The Dutch Guy, Life Support Machine, KBPS magazine, Flea Market Funk, Sphere Of Hip Hop, 45's Corner, AAA badboy,

DJ support: JFB, DJ Food, Renegades Of Jazz, Basement Freaks, Utah Saints, Qdup, Nutritious, Kid Kenobi, Doc Scott, Featurecast, Mat The Alien, Marc Hype, DJ Love, DJ Format

Summary for previous album 'As We Do Our Thing'

Album of The day on BBC 6 music with additional support from Shaun Keaveny, Lauren Laverne, Nemone, Craig Charles, Don Letts, and Radcliffe and Maconie

Andy Cooper (Ugly Duckling) and the Allergies also performed a Dermot O' Leary BBC Radio 2 session and a Loose Ends session on BBC Radio 4.

Hit top 3 in the iTunes UK Hip Hop chart (47 main overall)

#1 on Juno Download

The previous single Rock Rock featuring Andy Cooper was featured on TV Channel 4's Sunday Brunch and

Rock Rock used to soundtrack Euro football qualifiers on ITV (both National television station)

Rock Rock was Tune of the Month in Mixmag

Rock Rock also went to # 1 on Juno Download Hip hop chart on release.

DJ Support: DJ Yoda, Renegades of Jazz, Featurecast, A Skillz, Dom Servini , The Next Men, Aldo Vanucci, All Good Funk Alliance, Mr Benn, Marc Hype, Smoove, Dr Rubberfunk, Fab Samperi, Slynk

After his well acclaimed soundtrack lp on Hivern Discs,Brussels based producer Lawrence Le Doux is returning to homebase Vlek for his next offering. And what a project it has become: Le Doux, heads first, dived deep into the Belgian national history of electronic music, and came up with a   sampler covering the various fields the Belgians have explored over the last 30 years.  
From digi dub over simple drum computer house to one­man industrial cassettes: 'Host' has it all." 
Lawrence Le Doux opened for   Matias Aguayo in one of Brussels' major venues: Ancienne Belgique earlier this year.   
Lawrence Le Doux' latest album was released on Hivern Discs (Music For Documentaries' -  3,8/5 on RA)
VLEK designer Dimitri Runkkarri's take on the analog type press / glass printing process: With Lawrence Le Doux, from the beginning (with "Terrestre", 2014) we used different materials to print out the sleeves. We used cork, overlapping letters, plastic cross for wall carving.
This time, I had some glass left at the workshop. We wanted to try. We broke it on the press then printed it with all the texture, scratch, accidents caused by the pressure of the press..."

Les Shadoks (50th Anniversary Edition) - Collector's VINYL Edition (LP + 7"): High glossy gatefold sleeve, French + English liner notes / poster inlay with Shadok drawing by Robert Cohen-Solal, hype sticker

- Les Shadoks soundtrack by Robert Cohen-Solal available for the first time ever in its entirety, cut and mastered from the original reels, made in cooperation with the artist.
- For fans of musique concrète, electro-acoustic, psychedelic, early electronics, experimental, soundtrack, library, oddities, cartoons, 60s and 70s music, Prospective 21ème Siècle series, Bernard Parmegiani, Jean-Jacques Perrey, Luc Ferrari, Pierre Schaeffer, Pierre Henry, Bruno Spoerri, Groupe de recherches musicales (GRM).

WRWTFWW Records is delighted to announce the release of the complete soundtrack of cult French animated TV series Les Shadoks (1968-1974) by Robert Cohen-Solal, available for the first time ever in its entirety. Right in time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jacques Rouxel and René Borg's legendary television cartoon, this collector's item comes in two versions: a limited edition 12" + 7" vinyl album housed in a high glossy gatefold and with an exclusive Shadok drawing by Robert Cohen-Solal, and a digipack CD. Both versions are cut and mastered from the original reels under the supervision of the artist, and contain liner notes in French and English.

Electro-acoustic pioneer and eminent member of the illustrious GRM (Groupe de recherches musicales, the French equivalent of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop), Robert Cohen-Solal has explored music and sound alongside luminaries such as Bernard Parmegiani, Pierre Henry, Luc Ferrari, and Iannis Xenakis, and is responsible for numerous projects in the field of applied music, soundtracks (documentaries, shorts etc.), and experimental recordings. His work on Les Shadoks is simply extraordinary - a fascinating and bizarre collage of wacky electro pop (à la Jean-Jacques Perrey), drones, musique concrète, classical, and dadaist sound experiments seamlessly mixing into a cohesive and cinematic listening experience. The ideal soundtrack for what will remain one of the weirdest animated TV series ever created!

A true literary, cultural and philosophical phenomenon in France, Les Shadoks caused a sensation while airing between 1968 and 1974. Its unique combination of Alfred Jarry-style surrealism, off-centered British humor, and US comic strip inspiration, all brought to life by illustrated bird-like creatures (reminiscent of Paul Klee's La machine à gazouiller), left a lasting mark, making the term Shadok an often-used satirical expression to describe policies and attitudes considered to be absurd.

Inspired by a longstanding respect for the pioneering sounds of Cluster, Neu!, Harmonia & John Foxx, the legendary K. Leimer fuses tape loops, Moog tones and a variety of real and imagined instruments into an immersive journey brimming with electronic emotion throughout this homage, 'Mitteltöner.'

A key figure in America's musical avant garde, Leimer's experiments with tape manipulation, fractal loops and textured ambience have been well documented in recent times, with RVNG and VOD both offering excellent and exhaustive retrospectives of the artist's seventies and eighties output. Tracing Leimer's discography from 1979's 'Translucent: / Memory' to 1983's 'Installation View', via the dislocated rhythms of the Savant project, these archival releases detail a move from the pastoral synthesis of kosmische into more angular, experimental territories. Simultaneously looking to the past and the future, this Origin Peoples release is both a return to Leimer's earliest stylistic explorations, and his first vinyl release of original work in twenty five years.

Oddly for such a sonic outlier, 'Mitteltöner' (midrange to non teutophones) takes its conceptual cues from the idea that the midrange contains all the core information. Over ten tracks, Leimer employs subtlety and skill to navigate the emotional depth of the kosmische genre while maintaining the focus and detail which has remained constant in his work.

Opener 'Dunne Luft' owes as much to post rock as krautrock, evolving from chiming harmonics and understated rhythms into an optimistic roar of motorik percussion and towering guitars. From there, 'Webermelodie' dives into crystalline calm, tracing delicate arps around a processed groove before 'Anode' sends us skywards, drifting through glistening piano refrains and hypnotic sequences. Te dramatic 'As Long Ago As This' glides through a deserted city of metal and glass leaving the measured ambience of 'Entferntemusik ' to close out the side in a swell of static.

Leimer shifts tone as we move onto the flip, segueing the stomping, cybernetic Sturm Und Drang of 'German Defaults' into the propulsive electronics of 'London Interiors', a dynamic sample-topped suite in the tradition of Bill Nelson. The addition of graceful piano motifs and swathes of hazy synthesis lends a tranquillity to the pulsating bass of 'Auf Einem Fahrrad', while 'SHM' marries soothing melody and crunching rhythm into a thoroughly medicated experience. Finally, 'Café Florian' pays homage to Schneider or Fricke with a euphoric fusion of metallic percussion and esoteric energies.

Far from a simple homage to the electronic idols of his youth, 'Mitteltöner' finds K. Leimer reimagining their nuanced sonic framework through a lifetime of musical experience and experimentation.

Nach zwei ausverkauften 7inch Singles, Festivalauftritten auf so ziemlich jedem namhaften deutschen Musikfestival und Opener-Slots für Bands wie Balthazar, Future Islands oder Battles veröffentlicht das Kölner Quartet Xul Zolar mit - Fear Talk am 19.01.2018 seine Debut LP

auf dem von der Band mit-gegründeten Label Asmara Records. Um diese Vision in die Realität umzusetzen hat sich die Band sowohl mit dem Kölner Produzenten Marvin Horsch (Woman, Keshavara) zusammengetan, als auch die Besetzung mit Dennis Enyan zum Quartett erweitert.

Vielleicht ist es kein Zufall, dass die Musik auf Fear Talk, dem Debütalbum der Kölner Band Xul Zolar eine gewisse malerische Qualität aufweist. Immerhin hat sich die Band nach einem Maler aus dem 20. Jahrhundert benannt, dem Argentinier Xul Solar (mit bürgerlichem Namen Oscar Agustín Alexander Schulz Solari).
Genau wie die Bilder der Impressionisten vermittelt ihre Musik ein Gefühl der Nostalgie und Unmittelbarkeit und versprüht eine Aura, die man romantisch nennen könnte. Trotz der deutlich hörbaren Einflüsse von Künstlern wie The Smiths, Talking Heads oder sogar Phil Collins, ist Fear Talk - das vom visionären Kölner Produzenten Marvin Horsch aufgenommen wurde - ein Album auf der Höhe der Zeit, wie der Einsatz stark prozessierter Vocals, an frühen Dubstep erinnernde Sub-Kick Samples und von Electronica beeinflussten Clicks-and-Cuts belegt. Das Alte wird verbogen, verformt und in etwas völlig Neues verwandelt.
Textlich kreist das Album um persönliche Themen wie Liebe und Verlust, wenngleich auf höchst abstrakte und metaphorische Weise. Doch das Persönliche ist immer schon politisch und findet niemals in Isolation des Individuums von seiner Umgebung statt. Dies spiegelt sich auch im Titel des Albums, Fear Talk, wieder, der sowohl als Anspielung auf die wachsende Unsicherheit einer Generation verstanden werden kann, als auch als Kommentar zu der weltweit um sich greifenden Panikmache durch Populisten und Demagogen, die der Zeit, in der Fear Talk entstanden ist, ihren düsteren Stempel aufgedrückt hat.
Fear Talk wurde im Sommer und Herbst 2016 von Marvin Horsch (Woman, Keshavara) im Gottesweg, Köln aufgenommen und produziert. Gemischt wurde das Album von Marius Bubat (Coma) und Jan-Philipp Janzen (Von Spar, Cologne Tape), gemastered von Robin Schmidt. Die Album PR übernimmt Nordic By Nature, Berlin. Das erste Video wird premiert von Intro.de.

"Happy Freedom Tour 2017
präsentiert von INTRO, DIFFUS Magazin & Musikbox
24.11.17 Köln, Arthefter
01.12.17 Essen, Hotel Shanghai
05.12.17 Hamburg, Über & gefährlich
06.12.17 Berlin, Kantine am Berghain
07.12.17 Leipzig, Kulturzentrum So&So
08.12.17 Stuttgart, Kellerclub
09.12.17 Frankfurt am Main, Lotte Lindenberg
Tour 2018 TBA

Henrique Oliveira aka HNQO, is the man responsible for this exciting full album release on DOC Records.

HNQO

is one of the fastest rising young stars in the techno, house and indie dance scene in Brazil.
Causing much attention and hype with his recent EP release on DOC Records (Balinese Death - also featured in MAGNUM VOL 1) and having reach the

#1 spot at Hot Creations Top selling single, it is time to introduce his first album "The Old Door", (influenced by Marlin Stimming and Anders Trentemøller, two of his heroes).
A weird string sound marks the opening of "The OId Door".

By mixing old sounds with new ideas, while recording different instruments, the track shows HNQO's life and it features Urzula Amen in the vocals.

"The Death of the Elephant' is a soundtrack to remind us how destructive human kind has been to the nature. Using sounds of Pizzicato Violin, "40s Cartoon' continues to take us to a journey through the artist's imagination.


The album is filled with the Henrique life moments during the year it took to produce the album.

For an example in "Egyptian Lover" HNQO describes how nice it would have been to have a lover flying overnight.

On this track Russian singer Cotry interprets the lyrics.

"Fallen Angel" is a dramatic piece telling a story still about flying.

"If" is another collaboration with the amazing Urzula Amen.


As we get closer to the end, when its finally time, 'Light a Cigarette' reaches a melancholic state where all melodies were recorded with eyes shut and in complete darkness.

A spiritual moment that became Henrique's favourite track of this project.

The scratch of a match, the flame and then a foggy synth that releases all the feelings in sound waves.
The album cover was inspired on a door.

A door that HNQO was able to enter by playing certain keys on his synths, percussions and strings that allowed him to reach a organic level while making it all a bit more human in terms of groove construction.
A poem from Rai Knight was perfect fit to give the density for the digital bonus track.
To get a better feel of what this album has to say, HNQO invites you to open 'The Old Door"

Most of the musicians who gathered to record this fantastic spiritual jazz record for the Strata-East label on May 24th, 1974 had crossed each other's paths in various musical pairings over the preceding few years. Husband and wife team Dee Dee Bridgewater (vocals) and Cecil Bridgewater (trumpet) had been working together on albums like Frank Foster's "Loud Minority", and Roy Ayers' "Coffy" and "Virgo Red". Ten weeks before the "Freedom Of Speech" session, the couple had been joined in Tokyo by Cecil's brother Ronald Bridgewater (tenor saxaphone) to record Dee Dee's debut album, the beautiful "Afro Blue". Also in the studio on May 24th, 1974 was Donald Smith, (piano, vocals), fresh from recording on his older brother Lonnie Liston Smith's "Cosmic Funk" - on which Ronald Bridgewater had also played percussion. Cecil McBee (bass) was also there - just two weeks before, he'd completed his own Strata East date "Mutima", and in February he'd played on Mtume's "Rebirth Cycle" - with both albums also featuring Dee Dee Bridgewater on vocals. He'd also played on Lonnie Liston Smith's "Astral Travelling".

So 1974 was a huge year for all five of these people. Donald Smith and Cecil McBee were six months away from recording on Lonnie Liston Smith's massive "Expansions", with McBee fitting in a few Pharoah Sanders albums in between.

AND THEN, THE MYSTERY ... So with all this fervent activity, the question has to be asked ...Who was Billy Earl Parker Jr (drums), the leader of this session

Billy Parker remains unlisted as a musician on all major jazz sites. His only other recording appears to be as a percussionist on Charles Tolliver's "Impact" in 1975. Then there's nothing.

Finally, by backtracking one of those Zoom info pages, I found a summary of a "SUNY Rockland Community College" 2002 press release that no longer exists :

"Billy Parker's Fourth World Legacy Concert ...The concert, Billy Parker's Fourth World Legacy, is the eighth annual tribute honouring the late percussionist and RCC educator, Billy Parker. A long-time Rockland County resident, Parker began his affiliation with RCC in 1987, building its jazz program and maintaining his life-long tradition of teaching and inspiring others. A lifelong student himself, Parker was near completion of his doctorate in music education at New York University when he died in 1996.

But then people began to read this blog post, and in the comments, Aaron Fuller said :

"Billy Parker was my uncle. He was an incredibly talented, smart, and kind man. I'm very happy to see that folks are still enjoying his masterpiece. Just to give you a bit more information about him... He was born and raised in Buffalo, NY and then attended college at Michigan State University. He met my aunt in Lansing. They lived in NY and toured in Europe for quite a while. Sometime later they relocated to Nyack, NY and he ended up on the faculty of the community college while he pursued advanced degrees from NYU. He was an Ellington scholar. Although his name isn't well-known even among the most avid jazz fans, I think that if you were to talk to some of the great NY musicians that were around in the late 60s and 70s you would find that most knew him. He also had a huge impact as a music educator and I have no doubt that his former students are all over the place, continuing to put his love of the art into practice."

Milan based collective Just This return with two VA releases to continue their 'Broken Promises' series. With the aim of documenting the progression of cultural movements, the label have pursued underground material since 2010. Broken Promises Part 3 and Part 4 are due for release on 1st December and 8th December respectively, and each feature four new tracks channelling refined techno with minimalist, ambient sentiments.
Hunter/Game open Part 3 with 'Distance', a meditative journey through ambient textures using expansive synths and vast acoustics. Next, Architectural brandishes 808 drums for a tense workout on 'Electric Soul'. On the B-side, label co-owner Pisetzky explores the darker side of minimal on 'Anterial', whilst Altman plays with moody bass and ricocheting percussion on 'Shapes'.
Part 4 opens with a shuffling rhythmic framework on Inland's 'Aechmea', followed by 'Zona', a pointillist groove by Ben Gibson, aka one half of the collaborative project Dyad. On My Flower's 'Kundal', a cyclical melody wanders through eerie acoustics whilst Hiver navigates a broken beat framework with glitchy distortions and dub echoes on 'Stellar Parallax Landing'. 

After nearly a decade in the making, Zomby finally dispatches Mercury's Rainbow, his astonishing and uniquely formulated dedication to Wiley's series of Eskibeat releases, a.k.a. the cornerstone of grime.
Originally recorded over an intense couple of weeks while suffering from circadian dysrhythmia,
Mercury's Rainbow documents Zomby riffing on intricately hand-programmed arpeggios, using theories of colour and its relation to the sonic chromatic spectrum - the circle of fifths - to place an expressively avant spin on the Wiley Kat's slyding Triton squares and frozen, post-garage drum patterns.
Rather than simply imitating Wiley's foundational unit of grime currency, Zomby innovates with a structure of bewildering, modal styles, refracting 16 diamond-cut permutations according to a colour-sound spectrum of tonalities. In the process he effectively loosens up and liquifies the Eski riddim, rendering its bones and sinew in varying states of reactive, physical deliquescence or GIF-like micro-organisms.
For dancers and DJs, the fluid contours and viscous, displaced rhythmic anticipation of Mercury's Rainbow suggests myriad geometries for movement in-the-mix, and serves to single-handedly put to sleep a whole genre of also-ran, prosaic 'future grime' thru its methodical, inventively ground-up construction.
While it's difficult to say with certainty, if Mercury's Rainbow was issued at the same time it was created, it may have arguably altered the course of UK grime instrumentals in much the same way
Wiley's original template coined a whole new genre, essentially making it the last word in grime futurism, proper.

Rauch is a sonic interpretation of the work of photographer Friederike von Rauch, composed collaboratively by Berlin-based producers Felix K, Marcel Dettmann, Sa Pa and Simon Hoffmann. Arranged and mixed by Marcel Dettmann, the recording stands in dialogue with von Rauch's architectural images of post-World War II European monasteries, including La Tourette by Le Corbusier and Iannis Xenakis near Lyon, Roosenberg Abbey near Ghent and Maria Regina Martyrum in Berlin. The images were first exhibited together with the music on this LP as part
of an installation for von Rauch's solo show insgeheim ('in secret'), held at the Goethe-Institut Paris during the international Paris Photo art fair in November 2017.
While the complimentary relationship between the sounds of Rauch ('smoke') and the images exhibited in Paris invites interpretation, both can also be experienced as separate artistic entities. On the 42-minute-long LP, drones, modulating harmonic soundscapes and implied rhythms maintain an abstract emotional core while occasionally taking on vaporous, amorphous qualities. Similarly, von Rauch's images - often borderline abstract in composition - resist being identified by location or spatial context. Nevertheless, they also hint at their spiritual origin.
Rauch is part of an ongoing artistic collaboration between Marcel Dettmann and Friederike von Rauch, which includes 2011's Ash installation and three photographic works for Dettmann releases on Ostgut Ton.
(de) Rauch, geschrieben und produziert im Kollektiv von den Berliner Producern Felix K., Marcel Dettmann, Sa Pa und Simon Hoffmann, zusammengestellt und abgemischt von Marcel Dettmann, ist als ku¨nstlerische Anna¨herung und Dialog zu den Fotografien von Friederike von Rauch zu verstehen. In ihrer Ausstellung insgeheim im Goethe-Institut Paris, anla¨sslich der Paris Photo 2017, zeigt die Ku¨nstlerin Arbeiten, die in verschiedenen Klo¨stern der Nachkriegsmoderne - von La Tourette von Le Corbusier entworfen u¨ber Roosenberg Abbey nahe Gent zur Klosterkirche Maria Regina Martyrum in Berlin - entstanden sind und klanglich untermalt werden durch die Musik von Rauch.
Die Musik und die Bilder menschenleerer Ra¨ume stehen in unmittelbarem Bezug zueinander, suchen die Auseinandersetzung durch Begleitung und Interpretation. So entstand die 42-minu¨tige Komposition modulierender Klangschleifen und angedeuteter Rhythmik, den Namen von Rauchs beim Worte nehmend, musikalisch abstrahierend und doch im Detail ergreifend. Die Arbeiten Friederike von Rauchs lassen dabei kaum Ru¨ckschlu¨sse zu, welcher Ort sich dem Betrachter offenbart, der ra¨umliche Kontext bleibt verborgen und dennoch transportieren die konzentrierten und beinahe abstrakten Kompositionen, etwas von ihrem spirituellen Ursprung.
Rauch ist auch die Fortsetzung der ku¨nstlerischen
Kollaboration zwischen Marcel Dettmann und
Friederike von Rauch. Die beiden in Berlin
lebenden Ku¨nstler arbeiten hier nach Ash (2011)
zum zweiten Mal an der Schnittstelle Fotografie-Musik, daru¨berhinaus pra¨gten Friederike von Rauchs Fotografien drei Dettmann-Vero¨ffentlichungen auf Ostgut Ton.

Felix Kubin (org, electr,sampler)
Milosz Pekala (vib, xyl, sampler, perc, effects)
Magdalena Kordylasinska (mar, perc, effects)
Hubert Zemler (glsp, dr, perc)

Music composed by Felix Kubin, tracks A1+2 together with Milosz, Magda and Hubert.

The pieces are soundtracks to educational and industrial 16mm films dealing with the subject of "work".

They were commissioned by NDR das neue werk (North German Radio).

Recording engineer: Robert Migas, Black Kiss Studio, Warsaw
Mix: Tobias Levin, Electric Avenue Studio, Hamburg
Mastering: Rashad Becker, D&M, Berlin
Production: Felix Kubin

Film archive: Metropolis Kino, Hamburg
NDR editorial department: Dr. Richard Armbruster

Artwork: Stephen O'Malley

Originally developed as a film score "Takt der Arbeit" is inspired by a handful of industrial and instructional films from the early 1960's until the early 1990's that portrait different forms of work. Felix Kubin is translating these historic documents into a musical poem of conceptual depth. "Takt der Arbeit" - the beat of work - is not only serving as a title but also as constructive element in this endeavour.

Being hunted down by the ever accelerated pulse of our reality is an omnipresent issue in capitalist societies of the the Western world. Living in times of constant exhaustion, it's not only our bodies that have been disciplined by and synchronized to the rhythms of working processes, but also our minds that rage in the tempo of our surroundings. Following an almost analytical effort, Kubin and an ensemble of 3 percussionists are investigating the different qualities and intensities of time that are catalyzed in working processes. While picking up precise temporal and motoric motives of the films, condensing paces and excavating rhythmic patterns, the ensemble is mapping out an animist choreography, shifting from a time when labour was still relying on bodily efforts to a time when machines and ticking clocks seem to reign and model our perception. While Side A is dedicated to procedures that are still based on manual and mechanical movement, Side B is inspired by the digital age, marked by invisible processes and subcutaneous pulses that we internalize.

The result is a critical and poetic reflection on the rhythms of our daily life and yet another example of Felix Kubin's skills as a composer, placing him in the field of orchestral music.