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Neue erweiterte Deluxe-Version des Debütalbums "fishmonger" (2021) der gefeierten Hyperpop-Produzentin underscores (aka April Harper Grey) aus San Francisco, das sie bislang nur im Eigenvertrieb auf den Markt brachte. Eine aussergewöhnlich frische, experimentelle Produktion zwischen Electronic, Pop, Dubstep und Pop-Punk, mit den Fanlieblingen "Spoiled Little Brat" und "Second Hand Embarrassment". Die neue "deadAir Legacy Edition" enthält eine zusätzliche LP mit 6 Single/EP-Tracks, 5 Remixen (Lunice, six impala, Virtual Riot, carolesdaughter) und 2 Bonustracks, dazu ein 24-seitiges Songtext-Booklet. Transparent-hellblaues und transparent-kobaltblaues Doppelvinyl.

Born from a childhood friendship, the five members of Ciao Kennedy have crafted their own sound and feeling after exploring a variety of different musical horizons. Following the release of EPs 'Keldercave' (2021) and 'the problem is' (2022), as well as being featured on the compilation Lefto presents Jazz Cats Vol. 3 in the spring of 2024, it was only a matter of time for the Brussels-based band to reappear on the music circuit.

As part of the Magma collective, alongside groups like TUKAN and ECHT!, they started to stand out with their instrumental music merging the playfulness of jazz,the repetitive facets of post-rock, and the overtly grand electronic sound evident in what is nowadays described through the grapevine as the 'Brussels sound'.

With Solarium, their debut album set to be released under the Sdban Ultra label, they have found a course and common denominator in guitars drenched with post-rock effects, steered by hypnotic electronic beats, creating an atmosphere of rare, dense melancholy, peppered with a sound that belongs in a blockbuster sci-fi movie.

Ciao Kennedy and its debut album are a tangy candy bursting in your mouth, the thrill of an afternoon at the fair, modernity meeting up with the nostalgia of childhood. Or standing beneath the shimmering neon lights of a rainy night, like colourful poetry, blending tenderness with electric intensity. Many of these musical descriptions would be completely off the mark, but after a few listens, they don't seem to miss the mark either. There's something for everyone to discover on this album, oscillating between the familiar and the unexpected, melancholy and cheer, and while everyone keeps on talking about something being a 'vibe', we can only conclude that Ciao Kennedy is the only one putting this into action.

To celebrate the release of Solarium, the band will host a release party at the Brussels venue Botanique on April 17, 2025. A must-attend event for everyone who wants to see if the live reputation which precedes Ciao Kennedy is actually true. Whatever happens, make sure to keep that date free.

Release show: 17/04 Botanique, Brussels.

There's iconic. Then there's *iconic*.

A MASSIVE speaker-smashing release, decades overdue. It's been bootlegged - shamefully so, many times over the years - but finally we present the first ever officially licensed reissue of this truly special Afro-disco-not-disco LP from 1979. A favourite of Harvey, Antal, Young Marco and, er, every great DJ to ever play deep records ever, basically. It's not hard to see - or, indeed, *feel* why.

Gem after gem of relentless, irresistibly funky gold, it's an incredibly revelatory album with endlessly complex drum patterns and basslines to dive into, throughout. Truly, this is uniquely FIRE music, unlike anything else you've ever heard, based on Gwo ka music from the gorgeous islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. A thrilling synthesis of primal, hypnotic drums - the most tribal of percussive elements high in the mix throughout - with the loping synth pyrotechnics of, amongst a whole host of other greats, Wally Badarou and bass power of disco funk don Sauveur Mallia (Arpadys, Spatial & Co.)

Originally released on the seminal French label Barclay, you'd be hard pressed to even find an original copy in nice condition anywhere, let alone for a reasonable price, so it's high time an officially licensed, remastered reissue came around. It's just the latest in a long line of Be With reissues where the music sounds like the - drop-dead dazzling - cover. This here is a true drum attack. BUY ON SIGHT!

Tumblack was a short-lived project, produced and arranged by electronic wizard Yves Hayat and it can certainly be regarded as one of the first examples of Zouk, mixing powerful disco-funk arrangements with Gwo ka, traditional music from Guadeloupe. Gwo ka is an Antillean Creole term for "big drum". You can say that again! It refers to both a family of hand drums and the music played with them, which is a major part of Guadeloupean folk music.Whilst the first side is credited to the exceptional Tumblack band, the flip is given over to "Tumblack & Friends". These weren't just any old friends. Oh no, they were the absolute cream of the French scene (think Arpadys, Voyage, Le Club, Giant, CCPP, Synthesis, Swing Family) such as Sauveur Mallia, Wally Badarou, Marc Chantereau on percussion, Slim Pezin on guitar and Jean-Paul Batailley and Pierre Alain-Dahan handling drum duties.

The urgent, frantic "Fracas" gets things moving straight away with a cavalcade of drums and percussive funk before giving way to the stratospheric "Invocation", one of the album's many, many highlights. It's effectively one long heavenly drum break, a really hard, raw, tribal drum workout without a whole lot else going on - and all the better for it! One to make you sweat, no question. Up next, "Jubilé" is announced with a bellowing accapella voice, chanting the titular name before the heaviest of kicks smashes out your system and lulls you into an absolute state of bliss for nearly 6 minutes. Whoooooosh! Rounding out the sensational A-Side, "Vaudou" is a scratchy, funky patterned drum workout which - yep, yet again - absolutely slays your neck muscles, making them snap and contract in extraordinary fashion. TURN IT UP!

Ushering in the B-Side, the brief, fidgety, African chant-funk of "Parlement" segues seamlessly, beautifully into "Waka", an overwhelmingly rich gem of percussive funk. You do not want this to end, once it hits its stride. For maximum heavenly drum pleasure, you'd need to go a long way than the moment "Waka" feels like it's fading out before it kick-drum-blend into the mighty "Caraïba (Intro)". It's just staggeringly good. It's a minute-long layered drum prelude to the gigantic track which follows. Indeed, "Caraïba" is arguably the best loved and most well-known cut off the LP. And with good reason...featuring that Mallia bass, warm Rhodes and clavs, synth magic, memorably alto sax lines and, of course, tribal chanting.

Another mighty super-ahead-of-its-time classic, the bouncing bass heavy synth funk of "Chunga Funk" deploys Mallia and Wally Badarou (on Mini Moog) exceptionally well. I mean, come on, that bassline is just ridiculous. Try not to move to this one. This extraordinary record closes out with the more traditional Gwo ka sounds of "Bateau La Passé", the tribal chorus making the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

Tumblack really is a gorgeous late-70s disco-not-disco essential. It's an absolute MONSTER that will completely blow you away; and, yes, it's as compelling and trance-inducing as the cover. The audio for Tumblack has been carefully remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring it sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at Record Industry in Holland. The cover of Tumblack is so iconic and we sought special permission from original artist Hélène Majera to recreate this at Be With HQ. It absolutely zings off the print and serves as the perfect finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

When saxophonist Lou Donaldson hooked up with the funky drummer Idris Muhammad on Alligator Bogaloo it began a run of great groove-oriented albums including Say It Loud with trumpeter Blue Mitchell, organist Charles Earland, and guitarist Jimmy Ponder for a deeply soulful set opening with a cover of James Brown’s ‘Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud)’. This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

BusCrates is a Producer / Synthesist / DJ hailing from the Steel City -Pittsburgh, PA
BusCrates blurs the lines between boogie funk and boom bap hip hop beats
Returning to Bastard Jazz following two well loved albumsBlasting Off(2020) andControl Center(2023)
BusCrates' increasingly popular Twitch channel streams live every Thursday and Friday night to over 13,500 followers
A noteworthy resume production credits including Mac Miller, Wiz Khalifa, Curren$y, and Phonte & Eric Roberson
He's toured throughout the US playing with artists like RJD2, DJ Epik, J Rawls, Tall Black Guy and more
BusCrates counts big names such as Jazzy Jeff, Francois K, Dâm Funk, Rich Medina and Spinna as fans

Exzellenter Sampler mit einer sorgfältigen Auswahl 10 unveröffentlichter Songs der 1970er AOR-/Folk-Rock-Band Synod aus Chicago, Illinois. Die Tracks wurden zwischen 1972-1984 für Alben aufgenommen, die nie erschienen sind. Tramp Records bringt nun in Kooperation mit der Band diese Schätze erstmals heraus - digital, auf 7" Singles vorab und nun zum ersten Mal gesammelt als limitierte Deluxe-LP-Auflage, gepresst auf recycletem Biovinyl, im Gatefold, mit ausführlicher Biografie, unveröffentlichten Fotos und Downloadcode.

Geniusz, Minor Talent, Generational Talent. Let the old folks fight it out. Sharp Pins are too busy staying up late watching vampire movies. Fathers and Children of the Revolution. Finally cartographed and designed by the actual Youth in Revolt "Nothing Stands in their way, they ARE the face of today". How can you tell you've been in the presence of the Sharp Pins? You see their sticker on yr phone, yr car, yr guitar, yr drums, yr bass, yr clarinet, yr flugelhorn, yr tuba, yr dog - its a MOD MOD WORLD, we're just living in it. 14 tracks 33RPM. Sharp Pins is the super solid lo-fi noise pop project of talented Chicago musician Kai Slater of Lifeguard and Dwaal Troupe."Radio DDR" originally released at home as a Hallogallo tape. "Youth Revolution Now".

Unverfälschter, kaputter Art-Punk aus San Diego's Gravity-Szene Mitte der 90er Jahre. Hier gibt es drei Alben von Clikatat Ikatowi - "Orchestrated And Conducted By...", "River Of Souls", und eine erstmalige Vinyl-Pressung ihres 1993er Demos, alle neu abgemischt und remastered von den analogen Originalbändern. Das 24-seitige Begleitbuch enthält Tony Rettmans farbenfrohen Essay mit Dutzenden von Fotos und Flugblättern aus dieser Zeit, die die Geschichte einer Stadt und einer Szene erzählen, die die spätere Form des kommenden Lärms definierte.

Unverfälschter, kaputter Art-Punk aus San Diego's Gravity-Szene Mitte der 90er Jahre. Hier gibt es drei Alben von Clikatat Ikatowi - "Orchestrated And Conducted By...", "River Of Souls", und eine erstmalige Vinyl-Pressung ihres 1993er Demos, alle neu abgemischt und remastered von den analogen Originalbändern. Das 24-seitige Begleitbuch enthält Tony Rettmans farbenfrohen Essay mit Dutzenden von Fotos und Flugblättern aus dieser Zeit, die die Geschichte einer Stadt und einer Szene erzählen, die die spätere Form des kommenden Lärms definierte.

- Also available on black vinyl - First ever official reissue - Produced in full cooperation with Hiroshi Yoshimura's estate - Liner notes by contemporary music writer and professor Junichi Konuma - Remastered from original sources by John Baldwin - First time on vinyl, cassette, and streaming - 2xLP vinyl housed in gatefold jacket - Discs cut at 45 rpm for optimal sound quality // Following their 2024 reissue of Hiroshi Yoshimura's classic album, Surround, Temporal Drift proudly presents the first-ever reissue of FLORA, Yoshimura's underappreciated ambient classic. FLORA was originally recorded and completed in 1987, and remained unreleased until 2006, nearly three years after Yoshimura's passing in 2003. The album is chronologically and stylistically a follow-up to his acclaimed 1986 works GREEN and SURROUND, wherein Yoshimura continues to play with the ambience of sound and the sound of ambience, underscoring his mastery in the field of environmental music. Yoshimura's other recorded works include Music For Nine Post Cards (1982), originally produced to be played back inside a museum space, and Pier & Loft (1983), commissioned as accompaniment to a contemporary fashion show.

The Austin, TX-based singer-songwriter—whose decades-long career has seen six full-length studio albums, three EPs, countless collaborations, and an illustrious supergroup project in Glorietta—spent a season of rest away from his focus on writing songs. In the wake of the end of a long relationship, he wanted to prioritize processing his grief as a human, not as an artist bleeding on the page. “I love all the records I’ve made in the past. But in making them, there was always the thought in the back of my mind of where and what it could get me. I made both creative and business decisions with a goal in mind... a goal that often never came. This time it was all about just the joy of making it, about having fun with it.”

Way back in 1962 all roads led to Dartford in Kent when a coming together of influences would result in the formation of the world’s greatest rock and roll band,The Rolling Stones...
Mick Jagger the singer and Keith Richards lead guitarist were both fans of early rockers Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, whilst rhythm guitarist and harmonica player Brian Jones and pianist Ian Stewart would be immersed in the Blues that were coming from Chicago,the same influences would bring the original bassist Dick Taylor and drummer Tony Chapman to the party.

Kicking 2025 off with a NEW LIFE, Kito Jempere resumes operations retro-outfit shining, all machines blazing, pulling up with a boiling four-trackpackage bound to get dance floors quivering in excitement. A stick ofdynamite flung into the mouth of today's corporate dance music blandness, 'New Life' finds the Saint Petersburg producer spitting multi-strain madnesswith reckless fun and adventurous panache. Take New Order in theirTechnique days, sprinkle with early hip-hop breaks and finish it with a funk-savvy mix of acid, happy hardcore and ghetto tech jack, and you prettymuch have the opening track and lead-single 'New Life' capsulized to a tee.
A blissed-out, choppy ride spinning recklessly into dance-y abandon, 'LoveFilter' takes us on a heavy-lidded trip across dreamy electronic folds andonto vaporous apexes, where drum-heavy jolts and sliced vocals collidewith spacious pads from outer space. As hypnotic as it reveals hard-hitting, 'Killer Line De-Part' deploys a warped kaleidoscope of trancey shades,grunge-y grit and largely '80s informed analogue wizardry, convergingtowards the most hair-raising finale with your feet in the air and a dumbsmile across the face. Rounding off the record, 'Put Love Into Your Heart(Club Mix)' is a luminous slice of trippy, feelgood electronics engineered fordance floor communion and uplifting let-go. Fill your heart with love.

ProleteR, French producer and iconic figure in the international electro swing and swing hop scene, makes a strong return with a highly anticipated new album. Announced and available for pre-save on streaming platforms five months before its release on March 14, 2025, Temperamental Cats promises a unique musical journey through genres, blending jazz samples, hip-hop rhythms, and electro-soul melodies, while showcasing the distinctive style that has earned this independent beatmaker over 200 million streams across platforms.

Temperamental Cats affirms ProleteR's desire to mix genres, eras, and cultures. This new album will feature American rapper Napoleon Da Legend, Canadian artist Spark Houston, and Japanese producer Takada Fu.

ProleteR is also preparing for his grand return to the stage with a tour titled Swing Hop Party. This will be an opportunity for his fans to see him live, accompanied by a brass section, for a timeless moment driven by his expert patchwork of samples and the rhythms that have made him famous.

Two Times Juno awards listed and 2 times Polaris price listed, Canadian Soul Star Tanika Charles unleash the new album "Reason To Stay that drops on May 16 via independent soul label Record Kicks. Reasons To Stay is Tanika Charles' fourth full-length album, and her most introspective to date. Where her songs have typically touched on romantic love and heartache, the core love and loss of this record is family focused. It has taken years for Tanika to be able to publicly reflect on the childhood trauma and family breakup that occurred during her teens. The majority of the album was composed by Tanika with the tight knit team of Scott McCannell (Lydia Persaud, Henry Nozuka), Kyla Charter (Aysanabee) and Chino de Villa (Jessie Reyez). Kelly Finnigan of the Monophonics joined in to mix the bulk of the project and apply some trademark analogue grit to Tanika's sheen. Guests include Quebec-based Soulful singer/songwriter Clerel on the last track "Win", as well as Toronto soul artists Aphrose and Claire Davis providing additional vocals. "I love this album. I love singing these songs. I love that it's made me step outside of my comfort zone. It's forced me to face the root causes of my own insecurities that I carry to this day. Why am I striving so hard to seek validation, and why take it so personally when it doesn't come? That distortion has prevented me from celebrating my own successes at times. This album is me trying to change that." "I love the conversations that have begun with these songs. It's about childhood trauma, but it's not a victim story. I'm doing well, despite the baggage I carry. I want others to be able to carry theirs too." In the last few years, Canadian Soul/R&B powerhouse Tanika Charles has transformed from an emerging solo artist to a commanding performer and bandleader, cementing her status as a staple in the Canadian soul scene. Her previous studio albums - "Soul Run" (2017), "The Gumption" (2019), and "Papillon De Nuit" (2022) - have propelled her to international acclaim, earning her two JUNO nominations, two Polaris Prize listings, and a growing global fanbase. Extensive touring across North America and Europe has further solidified her reputation, with standout performances at festivals such as Trans Musicales in France, Fusion Festival in Germany, Mostly Funk & Soul Festival and Jazz Festival in the UK, Holy Groove Festival in Switzerland, and Canarias Jazz Festival in Spain. She has also shared the stage Estelle, Mayer Hawthorne, Haitus Kayote, Lauryn Hill, Bedouin Soundclash and Macy Gray. Tanika's meteoric rise and undeniable artistry have been widely championed by outlets such as KCRW, KEXP, BBC6 Music, Exclaim!, CBC Music, Uncut Mag, PopMatters, Albumism .. further solidifying her position as a global soul sensation.

Sagacious reggae lyricist Vaughn Benjamin’s words are particularly cutting during Sow And The Reap, the final recording of Vaughns immense catalog of works with I Grade Records. Produced by Zion I Kings, and taken from 2021’s album Polarities, Sow And The Reap folds topics of political dominance, mass migration, and injustice into a thought provokingly coherent whole. The song brims with Vaughn’s characteristic dual-meaning word-play, using evocative metaphors of nature and agriculture to illuminate global policy. Sow And The Reap’s timeless lyrical principles are matched by its inexorable reggae rhythm, featuring hefty programmed drums by Romain “Teflon Zincfence” Arnett, and sombre trombone and space age synth, both supplied by much missed multi-instrumentalist Drew Keys. Backed by its correspondingly haunting dub.

This series honours both the vocal and version culture of the reggae sound system and the profound lyricism of Vaughn Benjamin. We have consistently received two requests in relation to releasing the LPs: "Can we have dub versions?" and "Where can we read the lyrics?" Our response is the 'Akae Beka - vocal, version and word-sound collection.' Before Zero Records worked with Tippy I Grade to mix a series of dub mixes from a carefully curated selection of his extensive works with Vaughn Benjamin. The vocal and corresponding dub mixes were then cut to wax by Lewis Hopkin of Star Delta and wrapped in a collage made of Ras Marcus's artworks, which he crafted for various LP covers of Vaughn's works throughout the years with the lyrics transcribed and printed on the rear of each sleeve.

"“It clicked for me one day, that the album was going to be about hornets,” explains Sputnik, the mononymous songwriter behind the noise-pop project Weatherday.

“It just made sense to me.” Hornet Disaster, Weatherday’s follow-up to their 2019 debut Come in, and spiritual successor to 2022’s collab release Weatherglow, is their most expansive work to date. In Weatherday’s initial bout of inspired writing and recording, they produced over 70 songs for the record, but not before they had a complete, overarching narrative that was coherently tied back to Sputnik’s previous work.

It’s a bustling record with disparate songs each vying for space like wasps in a swarm. It can inspire caution and chaos, but there’s wonder, purpose, and a certain familiarity there, too. Weatherday has extended the knotted, thrashing maximalism of Come in by doubling down with the uncompromised, no-stone-unturned nature of Hornet Disaster. Where Come in was the product of an artist searching for their voice, Hornet Disaster represents the joyful abandon that comes from having found it."

"“It clicked for me one day, that the album was going to be about hornets,” explains Sputnik, the mononymous songwriter behind the noise-pop project Weatherday.

“It just made sense to me.” Hornet Disaster, Weatherday’s follow-up to their 2019 debut Come in, and spiritual successor to 2022’s collab release Weatherglow, is their most expansive work to date. In Weatherday’s initial bout of inspired writing and recording, they produced over 70 songs for the record, but not before they had a complete, overarching narrative that was coherently tied back to Sputnik’s previous work.

It’s a bustling record with disparate songs each vying for space like wasps in a swarm. It can inspire caution and chaos, but there’s wonder, purpose, and a certain familiarity there, too. Weatherday has extended the knotted, thrashing maximalism of Come in by doubling down with the uncompromised, no-stone-unturned nature of Hornet Disaster. Where Come in was the product of an artist searching for their voice, Hornet Disaster represents the joyful abandon that comes from having found it."

"When the Distance is Blue" is Macie Stewart"s International Anthem debut. The Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser describes the collection as "a love letter to the moments we spend in-between" - a letter realized via an intentional return to piano, her first instrument and the origin of her creative expression. Here Stewart creates a striking and cinematic work through collages of prepared piano, field recordings, and string quartet compositions, one that gives shape to a transient universe all its own while tracing the line of her musical past, full circle.

This album is produced by Neil Perch in the Alte Ziegelei studio and features the world reknowned Zion Train brass section along with vocals from Zion Train singer `Cara' and the award winning poet Roger Robinson. Featured on several tracks is Paolo Baldini playing guitars and bass guitar alongside veteran musicians - Trinny Fingers, Blacka Wilson, Dreada One and Professor Skank who hails from Crete. For this album Zion Train return to their roots with copious amounts of analogue Dub mixing performed by Perch on his TAC Scorpion vintage mixing desk. With mastering at the Pressure Mastering, and artwork by the highly acclaimed anarchist artist Marko Gin from Croatia, this album presents Zion Train at their creative, anarchic best. Zion train are one of the most unique and enjoyable live dub acts on the planet, their use of dynamic onstage dub mixing whilst performing alongside acoustic instruments and exceptional vocalists, make Zion Train one of a kind.

Based in Ottawa, Ontario, the capital city of Canada, The Riptides have been cranking out high-energy blasts of melodic, poppy punk rock for over 25 years. With their new LP Burn After Listening, the band makes the move to Pirates Press Records, and are ready to bring their sound to an all new worldwide audience! Originally formed in 1998, the band wasted no time assembling their own studio and label, putting out their own records as well as their fellow Ottawa bands. Word spread quickly, and the band's notoriety grew, particularly in the US, and soon the band found that they enjoyed rising to the challenge of leaving home and recording at noted US studios, with Burn After Listening being no exception. This album was recorded at the legendary Blasting Room in Fort Collins, CO, with Andrew Berlin at the helm for tracking and Jason Livermore in charge of the final master. These studio sessions included a cavalcade of friends & guest musicians, including members of Teenage Bottlerocket, All American Rejects, Screeching Weasel, and The Queers. A number of songs on the record also bear co-writing credits from fellow Pirates Press Records artist Matt DeeCRACK. Blending attitude-driven downstroke riffs with irresistible hooks and harmonies, combined with an aesthetic informed by everything from nerdy pop culture and surfing, they've already amassed quite the following across the decades, but this record stands poised to introduce them to many new fans.

REPRESS of the Warble Womb double album. Warble Womb is the sixth studio album by American psychedelic rock band Dead Meadow. It was released in November 2013 under Xemu Records

REPRESS of the Warble Womb double album. Warble Womb is the sixth studio album by American psychedelic rock band Dead Meadow. It was released in November 2013 under Xemu Records

Repressed for the first time in 2 years, Note price change. Sermonizing Black Nationalism, Pan-Africanism and the benefits of a healthy and just lifestyle during the height of the Bad Boy/Roc-AFella era of nihilistic excess in the late 90's, Dead Prez also signed to a major label (Loud/Columbia) despite leaning much more towards the burgeoning indie aesthetics of the day. But this was a good thing – using major label muscle to wake up righteous hip-hop fans who might have fallen asleep at the wheel. The group itself – consisting of MCs stic.man and M-1, who produced or co-produced most of the duo’s music – was formed in Tallahassee, Florida in the early 1990's.

By later that decade, the duo had started making significant waves, having their music heard on the soundtracks to “Soul In The Hole” and “Slam,” as well as appearing on albums by Big Pun and The Beatnuts. By 1998, they released their first official single, the serious, stark “Police State,” on Loud, appropriately brought to the label by Lord Jamar of Brand Nubian. After building a solid rep over the next two years with fiery live performances, in 2000 they unleashed their debut album, Let’s Get Free.

The album was a welcome return to provocative and often radically political rhetoric that hearkened back to hip-hop forebears including The Coup, Public Enemy and KRS-One (as well as poetic descendants like the Last Poets and Watts Prophets). Let’s Get Free was critically acclaimed and benefited from multiple singles, including the infectious, thick analog drive of “Hip-Hop” “It’s Bigger Than Hip-Hop,” with a remix co-produced by a young Kanye West; “Mind Sex” (with Abiodun Oyewole of the Last Poets); and the poignant “I’m An African.”

But the singles weren’t the only worthy songs, as just about every cut here has deeper meaning than most full albums by their early 2000's peers. Highlights: the thought-provoking, anti-drug album opener “Wolves”; “We Want Freedom” “They Schools” and “Propaganda” . All in all, this is one of the more underrated and possibly Top 5 fully-realized political hip-hop albums of all time.

Francesco Sotgiu has forged a unique and very swinging project of songs. With a quintet consisting of Luigi Bonafede on piano, Emanuele Cisi and Riccardo Luppi on woodwinds, Salvatore Maiore on bass, Francesco on drums, and with special guest Paolo Fresu on trumpet to cap off this heartfelt collection. There is also a nice diversity of groups within this larger collection. A nice trio piece called “Calm” featuring Paolo Birro sitting in with Marco Micheli and Francesco. And one called “Lotus Blossom” where Francesco shows his considerable skills and soul on violin. But the bulk of the material is straight-ahead jazz and is totally swinging and soulful, proving that jazz has no borders and is a worldwide language to which Francesco has added to that tradition with this project and all the great voices he has included here. Bravo maestro.

This is the comment of Gil Goldstein, American accordion player who won 5 Grammys and collaborated with giants such as Gil Evans, Wayne Shorter, and Michel Petrucciani.

This record was recorded in the middle of the pandemic times, and most of the work for preparing this record took place via the telephone: the selection of the songs on paper, the exchange of ideas on arrangements, staff and instruments, a sort of “phone rehearsal” of the structure of the songs, with the choice of a solo; everything else, everything that will happen in the recording sessions, is the result of a controlled improvisation, a jam session masterfully captured in the studio through the use of well-positioned ribbon microphones.

This is why “Passing,” literally “passing” or “crossing”: because the musicians have gone through listening to these songs as teenagers, and find themselves today, as a mature meeting of old friends who create an informal game made of nostalgic fun, great personality, confrontation, and deep spirituality. In the classic “Caravan” by Ellington and Tizol or “Afro Blue” by Mongo Santamaria, Coltrane toning, the Latin accent of the rhythm section supports the interpretation of the theme and the interplay in the solos between the soprano and tenor saxophones by Cisi & Luppi, and the piano by Bonafede.

A certain elegance in the execution distinguishes pieces such as Duke Ellington’s “Sound of Love,” yet another tribute by Mingus to the Duke, with a calibrated solo on the double bass of Maiore and the flute by Luppi, the immortal “Take Five” by Paul Desmond, with the highlighted soprano by Cisi, “Wishes,” “7th Street,” and the eponymous “Passing,” all pieces composed by Sotgiu, characterized by the precise medium/fast drive of the drums and a certain “cinematic” taste of the main themes.

In songs such as “Black Bats and Poles,” composed by trumpeter Jack Walrath for the Mingus Orchestra, and in “Stranatole,” an original piece in which Sotgiu writes a theme of Monk’s influence and enjoys overturning the traditional “Anatole Jazz” structure, the quintet opts for an effective hard bop language, with exciting moments of dazzling virtuosity in Bonafede’s solo. While in Coltrane’s “Wise One” and McCoy Tyner’s “Ballad for Aisha,” we enter a modal, mystical, and ceremonial jazz, of a cosmic depth, which seems to hover in the sweet volume of the great hall of the recording studio. These are truly magnificent interpretations.

A special separate mention for two classics such as “My Foolish Heart” by Victor Young, performed in trio by Sotgiu, Maiore, and the unmistakable trumpet by Paolo Fresu, and the (unfortunately very short) “Lotus Blossom” by Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington, which in the piano-violin duo of Birro and Sotgiu, in a minute gives a suspended momentary magic, sums up the roots of African-American jazz music, and also referencing an old-fashioned Italian musical sensitivity, typical of Nino Rota’s music for Federico Fellini’s films.

Here is an expanded edition of one of Nurse With Wound's most intense and unique albums, so much so that for long-time fans, it was a strange, chaotic lounge oddity upon its release. For the first time, all four audio sides are complete (originally, there were only three sides).

To top it off, there is a stunning new cover by the great and talented Babs Santini, who is none other than Steven Stapleton using his artist pseudonym, continuing in the luxurious tradition of the "silver collection" at Rotorelief Records.

The album Huffin' Rag Blues by Nurse With Wound is unique in the NWW discography. Stapleton teams up with composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Liles, his co-creator of musical terrorism, to tackle the genres of exotica and lounge, crushed into a joyful cacophonic mess. Longtime NWW friends Colin Potter and Matt Waldron also join in.

Blues, jazz, cop movies, bachelor pads, and TV show music are treated, discarded, then chopped up and recycled into a mix that contains tons of space but also overflows with dynamic tension, hilarious asides, sexually suggestive poetry, and a certain rock & roll abandon. It's a very surprising album for long-time fans, like a soundtrack that could accompany a David Lynch film.

It's brilliant, exasperating, hilarious, and dark enough to earn a spot in any collection that appreciates a bit of weirdness and eccentricity.

Huffin' Rag Blues incorporates more familiar musical elements—including live-played instruments, rhythm, and vocals—than nearly any other Nurse With Wound album to date. As always, the album's main focus is to create environments for lucid dreaming rather than music per se.

Cross Record's new album, Crush Me, is steeped in the pressures and wonders of existence—a profound statement, especially coming from artist and death doula Emily Cross. A two-and-a-half-year gestation period offered challenges, disappointments, and joys reflected in the cramped space of the album, which explores how we handle the weights we carry. Emily Cross had held hundreds of Living Funerals and was as many episodes deep into her podcast, What I’m Looking At. She was five years into serving clients as a death doula and fresh off a tour with Loma, her band with Jonathan Meiburg (Shearwater) and Dan Duszynski, when she began work on her fourth album. After moving from Austin, TX to Dorset, UK, she established the Steady Waves Center for Contemplation (named after a track from her second record, Wabi-Sabi ), where she hosted Living Funerals, met clients, scheduled mindful tea sessions, and showcased experimental music nights. All the while, she was scribbling down song ideas. Cross’s Tascam four-track demos finally reached readiness, and she sent them to an interested major independent label. She was encouraged to push her imagination to the limits of what a record could be. So, unlike her usual process of recording as inexpensively as possible, she prepared a two-week recording session in Germany with a group of skilled musicians from around the world. True to her previous work, Cross left plenty of room in her demos for experimentation, collaboration, chance, improvisation, and complete obliteration, then resurrection when necessary. Comfort and traditional structure were eschewed in favor of unaccountable magic, prayers whispered into The Void. Cross is comfortable with the chaotic and unpredictable, a perspective demanded by her work and writing style. The Berlin Airbnb was packed with people, instruments and luggage. During a ride down in a tiny elevator to the studio, Cross realized how central the sense of being crushed was to the album. “I thought of it later and it dawned on me that ‘Crush Me’ perfectly embodied the record,” says Cross. Yes, the weight of a body laying limply atop yours, or the tight squeeze of a hug, can be pleasant. Go too far, and you’re in the hands of a cruel, adolescent god. Upon leaving Germany, the record was unfinished, and without a roadmap. As passages were recorded as isolated parts, Cross and musician Marcin Sulewski collaborated, facing a haphazard brick pile, waiting to be assembled. Work dipped in and out of view like a buoy bobbing in a violent sea over many months. During that time, the aforementioned interested label went radio silent, suddenly not seeming so sure of a thing. Collaborators disappeared, continuing the themes of abandonment, surrender, and disarray that followed the project. Cross physically felt her entire body go numb: In a twist of fate, the record was rescued by long-time friend and supporter Ben Goldberg at Ba Da Bing Records who was eager to help realize the project. Cross worked for months on the album, all the while nursing a pregnancy and continuing her full-time funeral work. The last minute participation of Seth Manchester of Machines with Magnets, who mixed and mastered, was an essential liferaft. He gave true final form to the abstracted songs. Crush Me has the effect of a spell being cast, with songs balancing heaviness and levity. Vocals, guitars, and keyboards float above, as drums and upright bass (often bowed) lurch beneath. On “Rolling Backwards” percussion wanders about while feedback squeals and persists in the distance. “Dorset Area Of Natural Beauty” starts with a thick, unhinged church organ progression punctuated by the disquieting sounds of laughter reaching the point of hysteria. “God Fax” is a slow-moving panic attack, with shallow breaths in and out framing a guttural cacophony like a wooden freighter encountering increasingly turbulent waters and vocals struck emotionless by autotune. The album ends with “Twisted Up Fence,” a reflection on life from outside the wall--wistful, warm, and comforting. Cross, likely with a smile on her face, sings: “You say it’s an endless abyss” “And I say the abyss is the best”

"Released in 2002, Head on Straight marks Tonic's third studio effort, a testament to the band's steadfast dedication to their sound amidst a rapidly evolving alternative music landscape. The album garnered significant recognition, earning a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album at the 45th Grammy Awards, while the track ""Take Me As I Am"" received a nod for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
Producer Bob Rock introduced a more polished sound to the album but still showcases Tonic's signature blend of driving rock rhythms and emotive ballads. Head On Straight is available on vinyl for the first time and includes an insert."

“One of the most compelling and complex releases of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s post-Black Ark canon, Mercy is the fruit of a long and complex working process that has yielded exceptional results. Spearheaded by the maverick artist and musical outlier Peter Harris with Fritz Catlin, the drumming co-founder of industrial funk dub act, 23 Skidoo, Mercy’s experimental sonic occupies its own space.” David Katz (People Funny Boy: The Genius of Lee “Scratch” Perry).

Dash the Henge are excited to announce the vinyl release of Mercy an innovative record featuring the legendary Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and the work of Peter Harris and Fritz Catlin. It will be preceded by vibrant visual representations of key tracks ‘Reggae Poison’, ’Row Fisherman/Whale Song’ and ‘This is Hell’ created by Peter Harris and Llyr Williams. “I always saw Lee as a performance artist rather than a musician in the traditional sense, so this conceptual backing feels like a more accurate setting for his stream of conscious performance art,” Peter Harris explained. “There is an attention to Lee’s history here too, something that elevates the musical collage with the echoes informed by albums like Super Ape where earlier tracks were recorded over again. In ‘Big Fish,’ the lyrics pay homage to Bob Marley’s ‘Small Axe’ and the tune references Perry’s version of ‘Sugar Sugar,’ which he recorded with the Silvertones. Although the structure might seem chaotic, the songs were crafted over a long period of time and the approach was the same as making a painting, where foundations are worked on then painted over and over until it is full wrested.” Nathan Saoudi (founder Dash The Henge/Fat White Family) boils it down. “It’s kind of quintessential outsider music - I can’t explain what they are doing, but they have a why, and that’s enough. That’s why I needed to get involved.”

45 Pounds is a record of thrilling cacophony: whirring drums meet the sound of instruments which have been twisted and bent into new shapes, all of which are paired with the arresting growls of Zack Borzone. Across the record the four-piece re-imagine what is possible within the confines of a band set up, creating music that perfectly encapsulates the information overload of our times.

The band have become known for their stellar live performances and now with 45 Pounds they have set that electrifying feeling to record. With 45 Pounds YHWH Nailgun have created a statement that is short to cut through the modern day post-algorithmic sludge. Stay tuned for more news.

Mute US is excited to announce the release of Dance Therapy, the sophomore album from worldwide signing Nora Schjelderup, aka Ora the Molecule. The album will be available on black vinyl and digital formats on March 21st. Dance Therapy follows a transformative period for Schjelderup, whose DJ career took off postpandemic. She has shared the stage with fellow Norwegian legends like Todd Terje and Lindstrøm, and opened for Røyksopp, earning her the title of Norway’s queen of disco. Inspired by her DJ sets, ‘70s sci-fi sounds and Italo-disco, Dance Therapy is a retro-futuristic fever dream which Schjelderup crafted in a remote cabin in the woods while navigating a series of severe losses. “I had a lot of pain,” she reflects. “This was my own way of dealing with it. A way to get energy back in the body.”
For Fans Of: Robyn, Neil Frances, Fever Ray, Todd Terje, Raffaella Carrà, Goldfrapp, Daft Punk

Cornflake Zoo was one of many untamed garage rock bands that burst out of Sweden in the wake of The Nomads. Their debut single, Hey Conductor, dropped in 1985 on the legendary Tracks On Wax label – the same stomping ground as the early days of The Creeps. With fuzzed-out guitars, a swirling Farfisa organ, and raw energy, they tore through the scene, releasing an EP, another single, and making stellar appearances on international garage rock compilations. But by the time they pulled the plug in 1990, their sound had transformed from ragged, riff-heavy garage rock to shimmering, melodic wimp-pop. And every note they played was pure magic. Now, we’re thrilled to announce the release of the ultimate Cornflake Zoo compilation, Knights Of Fuzz! This collection captures all their released tracks and throws in a few bonus tracks for good measure. It’s time to unearth Haninge’s best-kept secret and experience the sounds of a band that truly deserved to conquer the world. Set for release April 2205.

Features members of Pansy Division, Avengers, Camper Van Beethoven, Anohni and the Johnsons, Oranger, Enorchestra and the State Band of Guanajuato. Panorama is an LGBTQIA+ album and it is a bilingual Spanish/English album .Recorded in Leon, Guanajuato with a cross section of notable US underground music stalwarts and emerging Mexican instrumentalists. VIDA VELLA is the manifestation of a dream a lifetime in the making. Apocalyptic yet optimistic balladry. Tijuana native and NYC transplant Luis Gabriel Illades, longtime member of Pansy Division, Avengers and touring drummer for countless acts steps in the singer/songwriter role with VIDA VELLA, a bilingual exploration of universal human emotional themes.

Yellowstone is an American neo-Western drama television series. The series stars Kevin Costner, Luke Grimes, Kelly Reilly and follows the conflicts along the shared borders of the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, a large cattle ranch, the Broken Rock Indian reservation, Yellowstone National Park, and land developers. The first part of the fifth and final season premiered on November 13, 2022, with the second part scheduled to premiere on November 10, 2024. Composer Brian Tyler, who once worked and performed in a Native American musical group, said he worked hard to blend his knowledge of traditional Native American music with the melting pot of western cultures in his score. “What I ended up doing was finding ways to incorporate some of the percussion, some of the woodwinds, some of the instrumentation and weave it into things like cellos, basses, cimbaloms and all these exotic instruments,” Tyler said. The package includes an insert.

Fourteen records in eight years. Side-projects records, experimental EPs, a double album of B-sides, splits and collections of demos: in just a few years, Bordeaux-born Thoineau Palis has built up a discography as fascinating as it is plethoric, in which he pays tribute in his own way to the heroes of a rock pantheon all his own, populated by lofi geeks and beautiful losers of all kinds.

Negative Freaks, TH da Freak's fifteenth album, sets the record straight in a way, since it's the first album by TH da Freak "the band", a collective incarnation hitherto reserved for the stage. This first album, composed entirely by the five of them, breaks a pattern established several years ago, with Thoineau contributing finished compositions that were then reworked collectively for live performance. The 5 Bordelais impose on themselves the use of what they call the "negative scale", dissonant and disturbing sonorities that they apply to compositions initially structured as pop tracks. This approach, combined with the casual, surreal lyrics written by Palis (influenced by intensive listening to the likes of Oingo Boingo, Devo and P-Model), lends an unprecedented coherence to the tracks on the album. Negative Freaks sounds like a massive grunge monolith, driven by a collective, radical vision that is assertive from start to finish. Impressive for a debut album

As the leader of new outfit Sarter Kit, saxophonist Tara Sarter is creating a unique form of minimal, experimental jazz drawing on humanist principles and shared experiences. Her uncluttered and emotionally heavy debut album 'What I am and What I'm Not' creates an open, instrumental soundworld, where breaks and silences command equal gravitas as the notes and beats.
The masterful drumming of Lukas Akintaya dances between oblique patterns in odd meters, into rolling grooves and afrobeat inspired rhythms. On keys and synth, Elias Stemeseder creates tension and releases, with lingering chords and fragile melodies. Stemeseder's synthesizer work throughout the album is subtle yet masterful. Stalking the silence between the sax, drums and piano, creating a haze of digital textures within the margins of the music. Much of the album was recorded live, preserving the raw, unedited energy of their performances.
Beyond its musical qualities, 'What I am and What I'm Not' is a reflection of Sarter's belief in the power of music as a form of human connection. For Sarter, music is not about proving technical prowess but about creating something meaningful, something that transcends barriers and speaks to the shared experience of being human.

Repress on white vinyl featuring enhanced artwork, inspired by the original 2001 release.

Armagedda’s debut album, “The Final War Approaching”, is a hateful slab of youthful fervour. Originally released by the iconic cult label Sombre Record in 2001, this is black metal distilled to its purest, most unadulterated form. While drenched in lo-fi minimalism, the production is absolute perfection for the material. The piercing guitar leads cut through a dense fog of reverb, while the prominent bass and drums impart a malevolent force – all of which culminates in a sinister authenticity, inimitable and true.