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Straight out of a New Jersey Funky Trunk, we have two of the funkiest fresh cuts
this side of the Hudson. “Butter Fat” is a wah-wah guitar full fat jam, which will
have the heads nodding. “Feel The…” is a more up-tempo soul drenched classic,
both edited to perfection.

DINTE presents a cassette-only two-part Japanese post-punk, goth & new wave mixtape, the first in a tranche of regionally-focused mixes produced in partnership with Philadelphia's punk archivists World Gone Mad.

Indian born, UK artist Michael Diamond, co-founder of Vasuki Sound label and club night, announces new EP Placid Wakefulness, featuring single ‘Reverse Entropy’. available on all platforms 5th December via Vasuki Sound.

A uniquely multifaceted talent, Michael Diamond’s unforgettable ‘jazzed electronic’ sound is informed by a spectrum of influences, not least by intersection of the scientific and practical worlds of electronic music. From the music scholarship he won to read Medicine at Oxford where he quickly discovered new ways in which the two worlds can co-exist, his days were spent immersed in academic studies of music perception and cognition, while his nights were spent alongside the likes of Ben UFO, Batu & Ross From Friends, playing at one of UK’s most long-established nights ‘Simple’. A chance encounter there also led him to connect with musical collaborator Alex Wilson – the BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year semi-finalist and then musical director of Oxford’s Jazz Orchestra – who appears frequently across Diamond’s compositions and on Placid Wakefulness.

No stranger to a concept piece, Diamond’s previous project, the highly personal and critically acclaimed exploration of culture and identity, Third Culture (album of the month/year acknowledgments from Stamp The Wax, Juno and Phonica Records, also earning him a DJ Mag ‘One To Watch’, a Youth Music Awards ‘Rising Star’ nomination and a Gilles Peterson’s ‘Future Bubbler’ accolade) explored the experience of being a ‘third culture kid’ born in Kerala, India and growing up in the UK with a sense of fractured identity.

On Placid Wakefulness, Diamond honours his academic research working alongside world-renowned musicologist Professor Eric Clarke. Specifically how music may affect our sleepfulness and wakefulness, how instinctively we are soothed by some sounds and energised by others - ‘what it is about dance music that makes people go hard all night long?’ and ‘what is it about ambient music that makes people feel the opposite way - to lull them into this sense of calmness or rest?’, mindful of the unconscious ways his findings were already manifesting in his work as an artist. And while his research provides a framework for some of the ideas within the piece, Placid Wakefulness can be viewed as more of an unintentional byproduct, or case-in-point of his findings, rather than a piece consciously constructed in their image.

Across Placid Wakefulness’s four tracks we find the artist unpacking a range of sonic ideas on this theme, from ambient calm to club-adjacent rhythms. The EP opens with hypnotic lullaby of ‘A Way of Listening’ complete with transcendent flutes provided by Alex Wilson, cello by George Lloyd-Own and a mellow groove. On the more energised ‘Reverse Entropy’, rhythmic ambiguity moves to rhythmic disambiguation with a four-to-the-floor beat as the track progresses, releasing tension and inviting an urge to dance as a jazz sax moment transmutes into glorious techno percussiveness.

On ‘Turning and Turning’ the bpm shifts down a gear, a sonic dreamstate where tough textural rhythms create a kind of liminal state tension. Closing out the EP we return to a sense of restfulness with the EP’s title track, where a gorgeous picked guitar loop interplays with vibrating ambient pads and a slow and steady beat. The Placid Wakefulness EP is a captivating testament to Diamond’s singular artistic talent and the fascinating interplay of neuroscience and how we experience and enjoy music.

No Static / Automatic top off 2024 with ‘Are Hands Waterproof’ a vinyl EP from sci-fi electro futurist Second Storey. One of the first artists to release on fabric’s Houndstooth, he’s also released on respected electro labels Trust, Mechatronica and Frustrated Funk and is resident at London’s bastion of underground-grade techno and electro - Natural Selection. Storey takes his foundational love for electro and blends it with advanced level sound design, dropping 5 new intelligent and effective sound system tracks on this record.

Das von der Kritik hochgelobte Debüt-Studioalbum der amerikanischen Rockband The Strokes. Aufbauend auf ihrer 2001 erschienenen EP "The Modern Age" formten die Bandmitglieder ihre Kompositionen hauptsächlich durch Live-Takes während der Aufnahmesessions, während Songwriter und Leadsänger Julian Casablancas weiterhin das Leben und die Beziehungen der urbanen Jugend detailliert beschrieb. Aus dem Album wurden drei Singles veröffentlicht: "Hard to Explain"/"New York City Cops", "Last Nite" und "Someday". Jetzt auf rotem Vinyl erhältlich.

xd H2 Rockers Revenge - Walking On Sunshine feat. Donnie Calvin (12" Version)

Mark Barrott’s 2024 album, 'Everything Changes, Nothing Ends', is a profound and deeply personal exploration of life, love, and loss. Released on Anjunadeep Reflections, this album is a follow-up to his critically acclaimed 2023 release, Jōhatsu (蒸発). Unlike his previous works, this album chronicles a more intimate and emotional journey, reflecting the life Mark had with his late wife, and the harrowing experience of her illness and eventual passing. It stands as both a tribute to her memory and a reflection on the profound impact she had on his life and music. Mark has been a constant innovator throughout his nearly four-decade-long career. He’s best known to some as Future Loop Foundation, the alias under which he created ambient drum and bass in the mid-90s. Others know him for his ‘Sketches From an Island’ series, released under his own name, which played a significant role in the revival of the Balearic music scene. He’s also the founder of International Feel, a label that was instrumental in the bespoke vinyl movement of the 2010s and played a role in bringing DJ Harvey back into the spotlight. Barrott’s work has always pushed the boundaries of genre, and 'Everything Changes, Nothing Ends' is no exception. However, this album is perhaps his most personal and emotionally charged work to date. The album’s creation was born out of tragedy. Barrott began writing music for the album during the eleven weeks of his wife’s illness, using it as a form of therapy to cope with the overwhelming grief and loneliness that followed her passing on January 25, 2023. “I actually started writing music most nights throughout this process—it was therapy to mitigate the loneliness of coming back to a cold, dark winter home after spending the day with her at the hospital,” Barrott explains. What began as a way to process his emotions evolved into a project that would ultimately become 'Everything Changes, Nothing Ends'. The album traverses genres, blending orchestral, ambient, and jazz elements to create a rich and varied soundscape. Each track on the album serves as an audio diary, capturing specific moments from the eleven weeks of his wife’s illness. The music oscillates between intense emotional peaks and more soothing, delicate moods, reflecting the rollercoaster of emotions that come with facing such a profound loss. Ultimately, this album is about acceptance and gratitude for what was, not grief for what could have been. It addresses the fundamental issue that confronts all human beings: life and death. ‘Everything Changes, Nothing Ends’ is out on 29th November on Reflections.

It’s abundantly clear from the first bars of their 5th studio album Through Other Reflection, that this is, and could only ever be, The Soundcarriers. From the enchanting vocal duets of folk-bidden Chanteuses Leonore Wheatley and Dorian Conway; to the precise bass lines of Paul Isherwood and the limber, jazz-cool, Hal Blaine-esque drums of his his co-songwriter Adam Cann; from the fairy-like flutes, 60s-garage guitars and organ sounds pilfered from the archives of exotica - listening to the Soundcarriers resembles a rediscovery of all the most prized, esoteric corners of the 1960s, all bundled up, warped and refracted through the quartet’s astutely modern cultural lens. Channelling Tropicalia, Middle Eastern psychedelic Jazz/Funk, The French Library sounds of Nino Nardini, and a whole host of lavish obscurites beside, Through Other Reflection delivers another sonic adventure from one of the most unique and distinctive voices of British Psychedelia. After an 8 year wait for their album 4 - 2022’s Wilds - it thankfully didn’t take so long for the follow-up this time round. In many ways, this feels like a companion to Wilds; recording again at their Nottingham warehouse studio, Through Other Reflection retains that same organic glow, all the passions and imperfections of a tightly clipped unit jamming out these living, breathing pop-art nuggets as if straight onto the acetate.”We wanted to keep an air of spontaneity with this album and not get too bogged with the recording process”, explains Cann, “It was more a case of getting the songs as tightly written and arranged as possible first so we could get them down quickly in the studio. It always takes longer than you think” Less packed with strident pop hooks as its predecessor however, the music of Through… has been given extra licence to breathe, stretch out, and wander more uncharted terrains. While gleaming psych-pop of tracks like ‘The City Was’, or ‘Already Over’ confidently carry on from where they left off, from the album’s 2nd track ‘Always’, the trip becomes a little less predictable. Starting out as a smoky Procol Harum-meets-French-Psych organ ballad, the music drifts, as if of its own accord into an eerie, garage trance that lingers, cycles, and hypnotises, growing ever stranger, reaching ever-further away from its point of conception. And almost every track on Through Other Reflections holds that outer-body moment, where the band fix themselves on a limber, lysergic groove, lose all grip on time and reality, and melt themselves away into a liquid state of blind euphoria. There are sequences on this record that feel more like rituals than songs, built upon a single hypnotic rhythm which, like the centre of a vortex, pulling everything under its beatific command. Take the finale to ‘What We Found’ for instance, sounding like a ghostly march across the psychedelic moors, or ‘Feel The Way’, where a single athletic drum-loop rises and rises, growing ever more urgent and suspenseful underneath its frantic harpsichords and rasping flutes. Full of such rich stylisms as these, The Soundcarriers showcase themselves as abstract storytellers par excellence by virtue of their textures and arrangements alone. Resembling Romantic composer Maurice Ravel, but if he had just a four-piece rock band at his disposal, Through Other Reflects is rich with detail; there’s shakers, rattles, clarinets, booming drums; there’s synthesiser swarms, chiming xylophones, vintage organs and experimental Cluster & Eno-esque ambiences. Within all this nuance the music flows like some undisclosed narrative swathed in a magnetic secrecy. “It almost comes across like a story in some ways”, says Cann of the album, “the music is quite sectional with elements of exotica and cinematic type layers, it's a good balance of grooves, tunes and weirdness”. No more is this “epic cinematic feel” heard more proudly than on short instrumental ‘Sonya’s Lament” - its innate, hauntological atmospheres befitting a Peter Strickland soundtrack, or the classics of Lex Baxter, the so-called ‘Founder of Exotica’ himself. On the other hand, providing a greasier undercurrent to all these bucolic sounds is a leaning towards a more “direct” lyricism referencing more “external concerns. Laying down the first tracks for the album in the wintry gloom of pre-lockdown 2020, and drawing inspiration from time spent in Berlin, Through Other Reflections returns to some of the post-apocalyptic futurism explored in 2014’s Entropicalia - a loose concept album inspired by J.G Ballard’s The Drowned World. “The songs explore a disillusionment with the way things are going particularly after 40 years of neoliberalism”, says Cann, “They follow that folk-song tradition of wanting to escape to an imagined time, but here it’s more urban than pastoral. The first couple of ideas I came up with when doing some music in Berlin and had some time to wander aimlessly. And think the atmosphere seeped in, particularly on The City Was and Already Over. He continues, “One aspect of the title, ‘Through Other Reflections’ is about synthesis and layers of influence. How things can be filtered through other things and change the perspective. This is something you get in cities as well.” Though, as with everything The Soundcarriers make, “It can mean anything. It also just sounds kind of cool.”

Sweetheart is the first Cassie Ramone album in ten years, a crowning glory for a singular artist who has forged a unique path through the underground. Breaking out in the late 00s with the revered Vivian Girls, to her current status as a traveler on the
heartworn highway, Cassie Ramone has survived and thrived. Sweetheart is Ramone's greatest recorded statement to date:
focused songwriting shot through with American tragedies, distorted guitars and tear-stained fretboards. Recorded with
collaborator Dylan White in Richmond, VA in the latter's Valley Structures barn studio between December 2023 and March
2024, Sweetheart is Ramone's songwriting rendered direct but with a sweeping cinematic quality. Smeared with reverb and
scintillating like stars in the pitch black night, these songs fulfill the promise of Ramone's songwriting prowess.
Ranging from heart-stealers like I'm Going Home or Joy to the World to the riotous guitar scree of the titular Sweetheart,
Ramone's songwriting here is raw and direct, bolstered by White's perfectly balanced instrumentation. White's work on
Sweetheart blows up Ramone's songs to epic proportions, with waves of shoegazed guitars crashing and cresting with
emotion. As a result, Sweetheart fits effortlessly in with the best of Ramone's work with Vivian Girls and The Babies. With the
emotional vulnerability at its core, Sweetheart is Cassie Ramone emerging as one of the most honest and vital songwriters of
the underground.
Sweetheart, released on White and Ramone's new CD-R Records, builds on Cassie Ramone's legacy as a DIY pioneer. With Vivian Girls, Ramone and her bandmates forged a distinctive sound from 80s Punk, Shoegaze and 60s Girl Groups, delivering it with a dedication to world-building and Do It Yourself pragmatism. CD-Records and this first release are a continuation of Ramone's mission to maintain creative and aesthetic control over her art, communicating directly and honestly. Sweetheart may
also be the best record of her career.
Released on Cassie Ramone and Dylan White's label CD-R Records

2024 Repress
In early 2023, Tresor Records will reissue the sole output from Shifted Phases entitled The Cosmic Memoirs Of The Late
Great Rupert J. Rosinthrope. Initially released in 2002, soon after James Stinson passed away, this LP plays a mysterious and
compelling role in the Drexciya journey. While other records of Drexciya and related projects have received numerous reprints
and editions, The Cosmic Memoirs... has remained out of print since its release. This rarity leaves it more open to
interpretation with its place in the Drexciyan storm series, as it became increasingly hard to find and underexplored.
Track titles Solar Wind, White Dwarf, and Lonely Journey of the Comet Bopp reveal a focus on cosmic realms, suggesting a link
with the Drexciya LP Grava 4 that moves from the underwater to the galactic. As it launches with mechanical blows on a
precise orbit, each repetition entrenches the gravitational pull in the galaxy of Shifted Phases. In many places, it sounds like
the readout of frequencies harvested from outer space, pockmarked with packet loss from the millions of kilometres distance
travelled.
The music is hard to contain, intuitively restless in motion through its unfolding universe and achingly resonant. It shapeshifts
across aectedly melodic sequences such as in Lonely Journey..., to the sparse, hard-hitting timbres found in Alien Vessel
Distress Call and the mangled reverse vocals in The Freak Show, somewhat reminiscent of another Drexciya side-project, Glass
Domain. The mythology of Drexciya is evident in how keenly James Stinson and Gerald Donald created their imaginary worlds.
In Crossing Of The Sun-Ra Nebula, there is an undisputable reference to another Afro-futurist who delved deep into a galaxy of
their own making.
This reissue does not merely close the loop on Tresor's reissue series of the Drexciya catalogue but brings Shifted Phases to
fresh ears more than other records. Accompanied by newly commissioned artwork from Matthew Angelo Harrison, the 3xLP
vinyl reissue also features the tracks Crossing Of The Sun-Ra Nebula and Alien Vessel Distress Call, which were previously only
on the original CD release.

Dixie Dregs' private press debut album / Original recordings of Dregs classics that would be re-recorded for their Capricorn and Arista albums / First-ever LP reissue / White Vinyl - STEVE MORSE - Guitars / ANDY WEST - Bass Guitar / ALLEN SLOAN - Violin / ROD MORGENSTEIN - Drums - The Great Spectacular is Dixie Dregs' original 1975 demo debut album, recorded at the University of Miami as a class project, pressed independently by the band, and distributed locally in limited quantities. Yet The Great Spectacular also functions as a greatest hits of sorts, debuting tracks which would later be re-recorded across Dixie Dregs' classic 1977-1980 Capricorn and Arista albums, as well as during guitarist/band leader Steve Morse's stint in Kansas. It includes the first recordings of key Dregs tracks including "What If," "Leprechaun Promenade," "Holiday," "Refried Funky Chicken," "Country House Shuffle," and more. Original copies of The Great Spectacular are rare collectors' items. For its first-ever LP reissue, the album has been pressed on white vinyl.

For the first release of AKIHI DRIVE on Bright Sounds, wepresent an immersive journey through complex soundscapesthat seamlessly blend intricate rhythms and abstract melodies.This debut is a bold exploration of experimental electronictextures, evoking deep atmospheres that challenge conventionallistening.

Expect a fresh yet familiar sound with roots in the most iconicmovements of IDM, where organic beats meet synthetic beauty,inviting listeners into a space of introspective discovery andsonic experimentation. Perfect for those seeking music thattranscends traditional genres, AKIHI DRIVE's release is set toresonate with both seasoned electronic enthusiasts and curiousnewcomers alike.

Mischievous festa punk meets astral steppas, kalaedoscopic free ambient meets harsh noise, scattered amen breaks with IDM and free jazz trumpets meets the earthly plod of digidub. It can only be Felinto from Sao Paulo.
UTOPIA MILHÃO honors the life forces that allow us to transform the darkness where dreams reside. The album brings a new moment of intimacy for Felinto's musical expression flowing through dirty, raw, dense and brilliant dub fractals, ready to transform unexpectedly into a new shape then another, and another, and another... featuring collaborations with magical people: Sarine (Deafkids), Douglas Leal (Deafkids), Guizado (Afrobombas), Sandra X, Paula Rebellato (Rakta), Lorena Hollander, Yao Bobby, Kiko Dinucci, Paulo Papaleo, Cint Murphy, Rodrigo Lima.
Felinto is a political agitator and musician at the heart of the São Paulo underground - a movement that confronts the various effects of the capitalist system of racial, sexual, ,,,,, and 22222 lawand material oppression.

His provocations range from yoga for children and parenting studies (SACYOGA), theatre (PROJETO CRIOULOS and PROJETO JAMES BALDWIN), web series highlighting the black presence in electronic music in São Paulo (MODULAÇÃO PRETA), reflective groups on gender violence and masculinities, occupation of public spaces for political art q(Coletivo Sistema Negro), artistic curatorship (Residência SOMSOCOSMOS) and studies with sound as a tool in conflict mediation practices. Felinto composes for film, theatre and immersive installations such as MEGACITIES presented at the National Gallery of Victoria, Canada in 2023.

He is currently researching - as part of a masters project in clinical psychology - the collectivised dream realities of black people. A field of action that contemporary anthropology, psychoanalysis and psychology call ONIROPOLITICA.

His interest in affinity groups, autonomous networks of micro-political articulation and penal abolitionism led him to the questions: what do black people dream about within the permanent context of civil war and state violence (like the one in Brazil)? How does this experience create dreams and how does the dream affect the construction of identities beyond the boundaries established by the capitalist unconscious?

To celebrate the first anniversary of "EARQUAKE: Wolfgang Voigt 1991 - 1999", a limited double vinyl series is starting in December 2020. With each release one EARQUAKE year is honoured with a kind of "Best Of". For the loyal vinyl fans and all those who want to become one. The first strike, the double 12inch “EARQUAKE 1991“ with a total of 7 tracks, includes "Love Inc.: Trance Atlantic XS" and "Mike Ink: Dialogue E.P." - two absolute cult classics of the early nine-zero-nine and three-zero-three acid-hysteria era. As a kind of "original sound commentary" on the music of that time, there is also a new interpretation of the interview-based art piece "Wolfgang Voigt - Du musst nichts Sagen", which is combined with a Wolfgang Voigt hit that has been out of print for a long time and which the connoisseur will immediately recognize.

This piece is only available on the vinyl version of “EARQUAKE 1991“!

Zum einjährigen Jubiläum von “EARQUAKE - Wolfgang Voigt 1991-1999“ im Dezember 2020 startet eine limitierte Doppel-Vinyl-Reihe auf Profan, mit der jeder EARQUAKE-Jahrgang durch eine Art “Best Of“ gewürdigt wird. Für die treuen Vinyl-Fans und alle, die es noch werden wollen. Der erste Streich, die Doppelmaxi “EARQUAKE 1991“ mit insgesamt 7 Stücken, beinhaltet die beiden, seit fast 30 Jahren nicht wieder aufgelegten Maxis “Love Inc.: Trance Atlantic XS“ und “Mike Ink: Dialog E.P.“ – zwei absolute Kultklassiker der frühen Neun-Null-Neun und Drei-Null-Drei Acid-Hysterie Ära. Als eine Art “O-Ton Kommentar“ zur Musik dieser Zeit, gibt es außerdem eine Neu-Interpretation des, auf einem Interview basierenden Kunst-Stückes “Wolfgang Voigt – Du musst nichts Sagen“, welches in der vorliegenden Version mit einem sehr lange vergriffenen Wolfgang Voigt-Hit kombiniert ist, den der Kenner sofort heraushören wird.

Dieses Stück gibt es ausschließlich auf der Vinyl Version von “EARQUAKE 1991“!

San Jose slowcore/space rock outfit Duster returns with surprise album "In Dreams," continuing their of inclination of sonically capturing an open-ended question. These thirteen tracks hone in on their trademark dark, droning guitar tones, dialed back percussion, and alluring hard-panned vocals while expanding and exploring synth-heavy and drum machine avenues. it's the fifth duster album, ok

Aqua Tofana Colourless Vinyl. San Jose slowcore/space rock outfit Duster returns with surprise album "In Dreams," continuing their of inclination of sonically capturing an open-ended question. These thirteen tracks hone in on their trademark dark, droning guitar tones, dialed back percussion, and alluring hard-panned vocals while expanding and exploring synth-heavy and drum machine avenues. it's the fifth duster album, ok.

San Jose slowcore/space rock outfit Duster returns with surprise album "In Dreams," continuing their of inclination of sonically capturing an open-ended question. These thirteen tracks hone in on their trademark dark, droning guitar tones, dialed back percussion, and alluring hard-panned vocals while expanding and exploring synth-heavy and drum machine avenues. it's the fifth duster album, ok

Excited to present Australian dub label ‘Cry No More’s first vinyl album release, ‘Innerversions Volume 1’. This is a Limited-Edition vinyl comp reimagining classic songs through a reggae and dubwise filter. They've included fresh takes on timeless hits like ‘Heard It Through The Grapevine’, ‘Sweet Dreams’, ‘Teardrops’, ‘As Long As You Love Me’, ‘Walking On The Moon’, and the genre bending ‘Bass Is The Place’. Each is transformed and given the spaced out treatment by some of the best Australian dubwise producers.

Meltface returns in “Melt In Unison,” another high-octane action comedy erotic thriller with four jaw-dropping scenes soundtracked by Rhyw. “Drool” is an underwater mutant-octopus romance that will change how you feel about tentacles forever. "Calippo" is a jungle romp that's part Apocalypse Now!, part Tropic Thunder, part Lethal Weapon 4, all white-knuckle intensity. “Greetings” is actually the intro but, for some reason appears as the third track.... don't worry about that. Main thing is it will rewire your DNA and change every fibre of your being in such a way that you'll actually pity the person you were in all the years you lived before you heard this track. This rollercoaster ride of thrills and chills ends with a bang: a face-off against the final boss, he whose name is said only in terrified whispers when it is said at all, the horrifying, twisted, slime/goo-coated final boss... “Lavalantula."

Some other stuff you should know about this record: this is the first time our guy Rhyw sang on his own music (initially), but then chopped up and pitched syllables from acapellas to match the recordings instead, if that makes sense. His actual voice features on the other three. Also two of the tracks came from his live set in case you care about that.

‘American Band’ is the 11th studio album by DriveBy Truckers and was released during the tumultuous year of 2016, its politically charged lyrics reflecting those troubled times.

The Chicago Tribune called it “one of the band’s strongest front-to-back albums.” Rolling Stone and NPR deemed it one of the best albums of that year.

It is reissued here, in another election year, with a bonus LP of live recordings and updated liners from Patterson Hood and repackaged with archival

artwork from Wes Freed

San Jose slowcore / space rock outfit Duster return with surprise album, ‘In Dreams’, continuing theirinclination of sonically capturing an open-ended
question.

These thirteen tracks hone in on the band’s trademark dark, droning guitar tones, dialled back percussion, and alluring hard-panned vocals while expanding and exploring synth-heavy drum machine avenues.

It’s the fifth Duster album.

LP available on Aqua Tofana coloured vinyl and black vinyl.

San Jose slowcore / space rock outfit Duster return with surprise album, ‘In Dreams’, continuing theirinclination of sonically capturing an open-ended
question.

These thirteen tracks hone in on the band’s trademark dark, droning guitar tones, dialled back percussion, and alluring hard-panned vocals while expanding and exploring synth-heavy drum machine avenues.

It’s the fifth Duster album.

LP available on Aqua Tofana coloured vinyl and black vinyl.

Die Slowcore-/Space-Rock-Band Duster aus San Jose kehrt mit ihrem Überraschungsalbum "In Dreams" zurück und setzt damit ihre Vorliebe fort, eine offene Frage klanglich zu fassen. Die dreizehn Tracks konzentrieren sich auf die für sie typischen dunklen, dröhnenden Gitarrentöne, die zurückgenommene Perkussion und den verführerischen, harten Gesang, während sie gleichzeitig Synthesizer-lastige und Drum-Machine-Alleen erforschen und erweitern. Auf dem Höhepunkt ihrer Lo-Fi-Power liefern Duster ein Album ab, das den charakteristischen atmosphärischen Sound der Band gekonnt einfängt und noch weiter ausbaut.

Physical release of Gleemer "End of the Nail" Fort Collins, Colorado based band that mixes indie rock with dream pop and shoegaze.

A Very Laufey Holiday: The Winter Wonderland Edition: GRAMMY-winning Icelandic-Chinese artist, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Laufey brings her annual holiday series, A Very Laufey Holiday, to vinyl for the first time. The Winter Wonderland edition features a red 7 inch disc with the holiday classic on side A and "Christmas Dreaming" on Side B.

A Very Laufey Holiday: The Christmas Waltz Edition: GRAMMY-winning Icelandic-Chinese artist, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Laufey brings her annual holiday series, A Very Laufey Holiday, to vinyl for the first time. The Christmas Waltz Edition features a green 7 inch disc with a cover of the Christmas classic on side A and dodie collaboration "Love to Keep Me Warm" on side B.

Yabby You aka Vivian Jackson, as singer, songwriter, and producer, has created some of the greatest roots reggae recordings of all time, many of which are rare and among the most sought-after records by serious reggae fans. Dread Prophecy Crucial Cuts is a killer collection of 10 magnificent Vivian Jackson productions featuring himself as Yabby You, his Prophets vocal group, and his discovery, Michael Prophet, including some extended mixes and dubs via King Tubby.

The Norwegian indie-pop super-group with members from Making Marks, The Little Hands of Asphalt, Mildfire, Flight Mode and Elva return with a third album of original Christmas songs.

Get into that alternative, Nordic Christmas spirit! Christmas III at its heart is an alt-Christmas album: the songs are firmly rooted in December’s festivities, albeit not usually relying on the season’s traditional reference points. The songs hone in on the more ambivalent sides of Christmas - family, customs and the passing of time - with a keen eye towards the holidays’ most obvious function in countries close to the Artic circle: getting through the cold and dark times to celebrate the winter solstice and the turning of the sun. Drawing from Sufjan Stevens’ epic indie Christmas compendium and Phil Spector’s wall of sound classic A Christmas Gift From You, Christmas III is built on shimmering guitars, snow filled piano lines, gentle strings, springy vocals and dynamic drums - all steadily conducted by Sunturns’ own Sjur Lyseid (Flight Mode, The Little Hands of Asphalt) in the producer’s seat at his Globus studio in Oslo. With 3 songwriters (Ola Innset, Einar Stray & Sjur Lyseid) contributing to Christmas III, there’s an ever shifting sense of reflections. Parenthood and the struggles of the dark Norwegian winter is behind Ola’s track First Winter. “Sometimes I feel bad about bringing children into such a difficult world. Not so much with respect to daylight and the seasons, they’re just going to have to learn how to live with it, but with many other things – like war, poverty, climate change and even just death.” Back In Town might have been inspired by a discussion over whether Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys Are Back In Town” is a Christmas song or not, but it’s written about his youngest daughter Klara, to his elder daughter, about taking holidays with your family in a town you once lived. Einar pulls in Phoenix and Mew by the way of Jesus and Mary Chain on Crash Course Christmas, resulting in a seasick wave of a pop tune. “It’s a song about the guilt of not prioritizing your relationships. It’s been year of rainchecks and Christmas finally gives you some time to reflect. You’ve experienced so much and changed so much as a person that you almost forget your origins. Coming home for Christmas can then be a ritual of finding your way back to what you left behind." Drawing on the knitwear from the film Love, Actually, Turtle Neck, taps into the Backstreet Boys by way of Mac Demarco, with a sneaky reference to the legendary Norwegian Christmas hit En Stjerne Skinner I Natt. Album closer This Christmas / Next Christmas leans in on the hook for the Norwegian Christmas TV show Jul i Blåfjell, a multi-generational seasonal staple (essentially a daily children’s advent calendar kids show). “The song is about your parents ageing and needing your help – possibly really far away - while at the same time having your own children to take care of”. The cover artwork is a homage to Christmas dress codes for Norwegian men. Suits and shirts are a rarity in day to day life, but there are a handful of occasions that require some form of formal attempt at a suit: New Year’s Eve, National Day, weddings & funerals, and Christmas Eve: resulting in various degrees of sartorial elegance on the day (and on this instance, a hot summer’s day stifling the Christmas vibes, with ambiguous apparel instructions ahead of the photoshoot!).

Merry Christmas! Sunturns are Ola Innset – vocals, guitars, banjo. Sjur Lyseid – vocals, guitars. Einar Stray – vocals, keyboards, guitars. Eivind Almhjell – guitars, bass. Simen Herning – guitar. Jørgen Nordby – drums.

RIYL: Portishead, Thom Yorke, BEAK>, SUUNS, TR/ST, Radiohead. Solo project of Robert Toher who was the creator of ERAAS. Covered by Quietus,Pitchfork, NME, Stereogum, Earmilk, The 405, Clash, BBC Radio, Clash and more.... Public Memory is a mixture of damaged and dubbed-out percussion, unfurling synths and sparse sampling - all strung together by producer Robert Toher's spectral tenor. The project's sophomore LP, Demolition follows 2017's Veil of Counsel EP and 2016's Wuthering Drum LP with cinematic fortitude. While Public Memory's prominent krautrock and trip-hop rhythms are represented here, Demolition explores a greater range of tempos and an expanse of alien emotions with layers of electronic drums, live drums, Korg synths and samples from nature. Themes of rebirth and reflection imbue the album's atmosphere, rich in tape delay, spring reverb, and textures that conjure a sci fi and supernatural narrative. Opener "The Line" sets the album in motion with a driving energy and introspective unease, as if estranged from the world it was created in. A meditation on impending collapse, "Red Rainbow" begins with an arpeggiated melody that hints at a sense of dread. Like the darkness of night descends, the track unfolds with haunting atmospherics and howling synths, finishing with an unexpected climax that ominously builds until at last it falls apart, quickly, softly, without incident. The slowtempoed "Aegis" reflects on the banal reality of love lost, with shuffling rhythms, lingering inflections and a growling synth at its core. Toher's adept use of space and tension articulates the world of Demolition as eerie, emotive, and above all, narcotic. Each track is an existential procession. "Turning out the lights on your illusion," Toher sings to close the album, accepting that change is an inescapable condition of being.

2024 Re-Edition

Strangelove's personal Inventory of NZ 1980's odd pop; 'Kiwi Animals' recasts the local charts in a parallel universe of misfit melodics, gonzo-tronics & strange waves. Channelling South Pacific voodoo and edge of world melancholia, the album highlights electronic tangents from iconic NZ groups Blam Blam Blam & Headless Chickens. It dredges the cassette revelations of art avante-gardists' Drone & Kim Blackburn, alongside bittersweet moments from Rupert & Norma O'Malley. There's the infectious minimal wave of Ballare and a reprised electro-boogie dance suite (?!) from Tom Ludvigson & Graeme Gash. The furthest depths of Flying Nun's catalog are also plundered- a brilliant earworm from Stiff Herbert and a mysterious "Roger" Knox birthday promo. Mining disparate seams of a local indie label awakening, the various tangents of 'Kiwi Animals' congeal with a future/primitive sensibility and an underlying Antipodean mischievousness…

Kapitel 3 der "The Suns of Perdition"-Tetralogie, ein unverwechselbarer Sound zwischen rabiatem Black Metal und geschmolzene Post/Dark Metal Melancholie. Massiv und hypnotisch!

Warehouse Find!

Janeret makes his FUSE debut as the Paris-based talent serves up a selection of cuts across ‘Quasar’.

When it comes to artists at the forefront of France’s rich house and minimal scene, a name at the top of most people’s lists would have to be Janeret. A core figure at the heart of Paris’ electronic landscape and a key part of the Yoyaku family, a flag-bearer of the country’s now globally renowned minimal landscape, the Joule boss has grown and evolved to bring his unique take on the genre to the masses with a selection of diverse releases via the likes of Up The Stuss, Berg Audio and Rutilance Recordings. Having featured on line ups for London mainstays FUSE while also playing for their sister label LOCUS, March welcomes the Frenchman’s first music on the label as he makes his debut with five slick productions across his expansive EP, ‘Quasar’.

Title track ‘Quasar’ is a bumping peak-time affair as skipping drums meet sweeping pads and echoed vocals, while ‘Elevated’ brings a warping, tunnelling bassline accented by breaks-influenced drums and spiralling electronics for yet more energy-charged output. On the flip, vinyl-only effort ‘Murk’ is driving late-hours effort armed with punchy kicks, further vocal interjections and hefty low-ends, with tight drum and fluctuating synths guiding the groove of ‘Spire’. Closing proceedings, digital exclusive ‘Pitch’ showcases signature Janeret sonics old and new, merging snaking grooves with dubby chords for a rich and peppy journey through soundscapes.

A classic of the genre, “Way Out West” was tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins’ first album for west coast label Contemporary Records when released in 1957. The first album to employ the “strolling” technique, Rollins was backed by Ray Brown (bass) and Shelly Manne (drums). This new edition, released as part of the Acoustic Sounds Series, features (AAA) lacquers cut from the original master tapes by Bernie Grundman and is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at QRP, and presented in a tip-on jacket.

Riccardo Teri, Also Known as Quasar, Is Set to Make a Triumphant Return to Skylax Records With an Exciting New Ep That Pays Homage to the Golden Era of 90s Uk Garage. This Forthcoming 12-Inch Release Comprises Four Mesmerizing Tracks, Each of Which Carries the Distinct Imprint of Quasar's Signature style.

The Ep Kicks Off With "Told You Once," a Track That Immediately Transports You to the Halcyon Days of Uk Garage, With Its Infectious Beats and Soulful Vocal Samples. "For Your Love" Follows, Seamlessly Blending Classic Garage Elements With a Modern Twist, Demonstrating Quasar's Mastery of the Genre's Evolution. as You Move Further Into the Ep, "Morning Bells" Beckons With Its Entrancing Melodies and Rhythmic Grooves, Drawing You Deeper Into Quasar's Sonic World. Finally, "Inside My Love" Completes the Quartet of Tracks, Delivering an Exceptional Experience With Its Lush Harmonies and Finely Crafted beats.

What Sets This Ep Apart Is the Remarkable Cohesion Between Its Tracks. Each Piece Contributes to an Exceptional Whole, With No Single Track Standing Out as a Weak Link. Every One of Them Stands Alone as a Dancefloor Banger, but When United, They Form a Remarkable Sonic Journey That Will Undoubtedly Leave a Lasting Impression. in an Era Where House Music Often Leans Towards Various Sub-Genres and Experimental Directions, Quasar's Work on This Ep Serves as a Refreshing Reminder of the Classic Uk Garage Sound. It Harkens Back to the Days When the Genre Was at Its Peak, and Yet, It Feels Contemporary and Relevant. This Perfect Fusion of Nostalgia and Innovation Is a Testament to Italy's Enduring Love and Respect for the Pioneers of the genre.

In "Told You Once," Quasar Brings Us a Release That Exudes Absolute Class and Authenticity, Showcasing His Profound Dedication to the Essence of Uk Garage. With This Ep, He Not Only Pays Homage to the Masters of the Genre but Also Cements His Own Place Among Its Contemporary Torchbearers. It's a Must-Listen for Anyone Looking to Relive the Magic of 90s Uk Garage While Embracing the Evolution of the Genre. Skylax Records Welcomes Back Quasar With Open Arms, and Fans of Quality House Music Have Reason to Celebrate....

RSD 2024

First time ever release on vinyl format. 180 GRAM BLACK VINYL. After The Sabres of Paradise split in 1995 Andrew Weatherall underwent one of many reinventions. He began working with Keith Tenniswood as Two Lone Swordsmen which released several records on the Warp label, set up a new electronic imprint under the Rotters Golf Club banner and fully explored new DJ personas departing from his house-based sets into dub, electronica and rockabilly. Renowned for unconventional sets where he’d raise the roof dropping an unexpected but exactly right track into the mix, he’d push the audience to new heights by introducing them to music they’d never even thought of exploring. The experiments went down especially well in Japan where he’d tour playing solo sets as well as performing alongside pioneers like Underworld, Adrian Sherwood and The Orb. In 2003 his new label, Rotters Golf Club, was approached by the Italian fashion house Emigliano Zegna to create some music to help launch their first foray into Japan. Andrew always had a keen eye for quality and agreed to provide some music. At the time it wasn’t envisaged as an album. He’d just grabbed some tracks he and Keith had been working on, polished them up and swapped them for a small advance and a large raid on their Bond Street store. He then let them get on with the release and turned his attention to the next TLS album proper. This was Double Gone Chapel where rock and psychobilly were mixed in with electronica and controversially Andrew added his own vocals. The Zegna album ‘Still My World’ was sidelined by a live band and a whole new direction. Andrew’s untimely death refocused attention on his historical recordings and ‘Still My World’, previously only released on CD in Japan, now sees the light of day in the rest of the world.

Indulge in 4 Extraordinary Edits and Remixes Crafted by Heavyweight Producers, Each Track Highly Sought-After and In-Demand. Essential Item Limited Edition No Re-Press...

Self-released in 1969 ‘Our Thing’ is the debut album of the performing Houston unit known as Kashmere Stage Band. The Texas student band came together at the Kashmere High School and under the direction of musical director Conrad O. Johnson, released a series of cult album on Kram Records, before disbanding in 1978. Raw funk, that’s basically what they’ve been playing and clearly there was a blacksploitation feel all over the place, but their drive was quite unique. Rediscover the myth.

The red and blue marbled vinyl sets the scene for a housey and funky time. "Pass It Around" is a complete MPC production full of samples and drums. "House Bullet" is an unstoppable, faster tune flirting with rumba rhythms and classic house voice samples.

Original soundtrack for the Nippon Television drama "Matsuribayashi ga Kikoeru" starring Kenichi Hagiwara (Shoken) aired in 1977. The album features two theme songs, "Dream Racer" and "Stranger", arranged in various arrangements.

Written and arranged by Katsuo Ohno, who has worked with The Spiders, PYG, Takayuki Inoue Band, and has provided music for "Taiyo ni Hoero!", "Kizudarake no Tenshi", and the popular anime "Meitantei Conan" which began in 1996. The music is performed by George Yanagi and the NADJA Band, known for backing Shoken, and this pinnacle of Japanese groove is finally being reissued on vinyl.

Liner notes written by lyricist Ryo Shoji (summer 2024) for this reissue are included.

Nach jahrelanger Zusammenarbeit mit Plattenlabels und Produzenten kann sich Du Blonde - ähnlich wie beim Vorgänger "Homecoming" (2021) - endlich musikalisch auf eine Weise ausdrücken, die ihre vorherige Situation nie zuließ. Die Freiheit in Produktion und Technik eröffnet ihr eine neue Klangwelt, eingängiger, farbenfroher und aufregender als alles zuvor. "Sniff More Gritty" ist komplett von Du Blonde eingespielt und produziert (ausser die Drums) - eine Ein-Mann-Pantomime aus Glamrock, Punk und einem mit Acrylnagel geschmückten Mittelfinger. Ihr zue Seite stehen Skin (Skunk Anansie), Laura Jane Grace (Against Me!), Paul Smith (Maximo Park), Ross Millard (The Futureheads) und Sam Grant (Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs).

Andrew Macari's next offering comes on the small but already well-formed Vessel Recordings label and it delves into some super deep house sounds. 'U Hold Me Tight' is a shuffling, gently percussive number with swaying drums and the sort of groove to lock you in. 'Don't Make Me Wait' is a slower groove with drums that drag their heels in an intriguing way then 'Hana's Jazz Cafe' gets more funky with some playful swing. 'Curiously' shuts down with a nice raw and dusty sound topped with some freaky vocals.

Forest On Stasys takes the plunge here and launches a new label, Aura Sonora, which debuts with a hugely limited and high-quality new 12" from the boss. The imprint will be "a platform designed for sound experimentation" and the first missive backs that up with a great blend of drum & bass, half-time and techno. 'Magnetismo' is a prickly opener with slippery rhythms underpinned by bold bass. 'Domo' is a darker sound with menacing low ends and prickly percussive patterns while 'Sideral' is another late-night prowler with low sling sounds, eerie atmospheres and a real sense of futurism. A great start to life for Aura Sonora.

Die Songs auf der EP erscheinen in der Reihenfolge, in der sie geschrieben wurden. Sie wurden in dem kleinen Gästezimmer seiner Wohnung in West Philadelphia direkt auf vier Spuren aufgenommen. Es ist ein Bogen von vier Liedern, ein gespenstischer Durchgang, ein kurzes und fließendes Werk, das von der schwermütigen Eröffnung von „Mountain Dew Hell“ bis zu den hochgepitchten Vocals von „Pain Meds“, einem winzigen Lied, das in der Unermesslichkeit der Trauer schwankt, zusammenhängt. Die Erfahrung des Durchhörens ist wie das Aufwachen aus einem halb erinnerten Traum, ein Schatten in der Zimmerecke, eine seltsame Einsamkeit, ein zeitlicher New Yorker Herbst mit grauem Himmel und nackten Bäumen. Aber während die Veröffentlichung spärlich und spontan ist, ist sie taktil und verzehrend, ein Einblick in die schönen, einsamen Welten, die im Kern eines Greg Mendez Songs leben.



Jeder Aspekt von Mendez' Welt trägt etwas Handgemachtes in sich. Das Cover von „First Time / Alone“ ist eine Sammlung von Sternen aus dem Skizzenbuch eines Freundes, die Mendez mit Ölpastellkreiden ausgemalt hat - jeder Strich fühlt sich schwer an, drückt sich von der Seite ab und lebt von einer menschlichen Note. Das Gleiche könnte man über das Cover des selbstbetitelten Albums sagen, eine Farbstift-Illustration einer verzweifelten Mutter Maria, gezeichnet von Mendez und seiner Frau und Bandkollegin Veronica; in dem Porträt sind ihre massiven Augen nach oben gerichtet, die Hand ausgestreckt, Gnade entweder angeboten oder weggenommen.



Mendez ist ein intuitiver Songwriter, dessen Melodien durch den Äther gejagt werden, ein Geschichtenerzähler, der in seinem Katalog von Gewalt und Instabilität berichtet, aber auch von Liebesliedern, von Oden an die Freundschaft, an wahre Hingabe, an die Dinge, die einen durch das Schlimmste hindurch tragen können. Mendez hat die Angewohnheit, diese Dinge zu bemerken, das Licht zu finden und selbst aus den düstersten, beschissensten Situationen Poesie zu machen. In seinen Liedern gibt es eine angeborene Fähigkeit, Härte mit Sanftheit auszubalancieren, Grausamkeiten durch übernatürliche Süße umzuschreiben, ein Herz, das unaufhörlich, zuversichtlich, durch die Dunkelheit pocht.

For Greg Mendez, reflection doesnüft mean a static image in a mirror, or even a face he recognizes. Itüfs more a kaleidoscopic mirage, where paths taken shapeshift with the prospect of paths untread, and the subconscious merges with the intentional. On his self-titled new album, the Philadelphia-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist investigates the shaky camera of memory, striving to carve out a collage that points to a truth. But there isnüft a regimented actuality here; instead, Mendez highlights the merit in many truths, and many lives, and how even the hardest truths can still contain some humor. While this is technically Mendezüfs third full-length album, his back catalog boasts an extensive range of EPs and live recordings. Heüfs a prolific and thoughtful songwriter, understanding the joy in impulse, and shying away from the clinical sheen of overproduction. 2017üfs ügüP/ _(c)_ /üPüh and 2020üfs Cherry Hell garnered acclaim for their quiet, lo-fi urgency, exploring themes of addiction and heartbreak with an intentional, authentic haze, and itüfs this approach that has solidified Mendez as a staple in the DIY community for years. Greg Mendez was written in fragments, some stretching across more than a decade, with Mendez reworking old ideas and arrangements, and others blossoming much more recently. The weight of time..and perhaps the anxiety in running out of it..clouds the album, as Mendez prods at some painful experiences from his childhood and early adulthood. The common thread connecting the characters is their evident imperfections, and the various degrees of damage they cause, both knowingly and unknowingly. But where do we draw the line between a good person and a bad person? For Mendez, itüfs never been that easy. Greg Mendez is an intimate dialogue between the chapters weüfve experienced, and how they can inform the reality we perceive. Itüfs a reminder that we are constantly shifting, ever-changing selves and that if we ruminate too long, we may find ourselves stuck in the seriousness of it all. Here, Mendez allows us to take the time to notice what happens outside of the framework we may have built for ourselves, and the beauty that can occur when we finally do.

Get ready to sail into the vibrant rhythms of Romperayo with their new single, "La canoa del soldado," now available on Little Beat More!.

Romperayo brings a fresh take on Colombian tropical music by blending traditional coastal sounds with essential electronic elements and mixing nostalgic tropical vibes with modern beats.

The single also features a remix by Captain Planet with his fusion of global roots music adding a unique danceable twist to the original track.

Let’s paddle on Romperayo’s eclectic sounds and get your hands on the limited 7-inch vinyl that will carry you through sun-drenched landscapes and the bursting stream of millennial water flows.

Pedro Ojeda: Drums, percusion, composition, mixing.
Ivan Medellín: Accordion
Marco Fajardo: Clarinet
Nicolas Eckardt: Bass
Juan Manuel Toro: Synth
Recorded by Daniel Michel at MamboNegro Studios, Bogotá, 2023

Remix produced and mixed by Captain Planet

Master by Simone Squillario
Artwork by Michael Boulton

Hitting Number 1 in 19 countries on release, Hackney Diamonds marked the return of The Rolling Stones as their first original studio album since 2005’s A Bigger Bang.

The album includes the GRAMMY nominated lead single Angry alongside Sweet Sounds of Heaven featuring vocals from Lady Gaga and keys & piano from Stevie Wonder.

Late drummer Charlie Watts features on two tracks, ‘Mess It Up’ and ‘Live By The Sword’ alongside Bill Wyman. The album also includes collaborations with Paul McCartney & Elton John.

This special limited edition 1 year anniversary 2LP version of Hackney Diamonds includes Live at Racket NYC featuring the 7 tracks the band performed at the intimate launch event in New York on 19th October 2023 with debut live performances of Angry, Bite My Head Off, Whole Wide World and Sweet Sounds of Heaven with Lady Gaga. The 24 page booklet includes photos from the performance by Kevin Mazur.

Debut collaborative album from Troth, the Nipaluna-based duo of Amelia Besseny and Cooper Bowman, and kindred spirit and legendary Mancunian free-form guitarist Jon Collin. A lavish dreamscape conjuring the dramatic beauty of uncharted mountains and streams, it documents both the crystilisation of ideas first shared during an Australian encounter in early 2023 and years of mutual appreciation.

Troth’s sonic universe, a constellation of drifting atmospherics, bedroom pop impulse and modern classical motifs, is deeply intimate and never rushed. Recent sides Forget The Curse and Idle Easel and live performances supporting the likes of Maxine Funke and Treasury of Puppies have seen Besseny’s soaring, celestial voice take centre stage, delicately adorned with Bowman’s synthesiser flourishes and homespun instrumentation. At their heart lies Bowman’s tireless collaborative instinct: his decade-long involvement in the Australian underground and his countless musical outfits (including contemporary trio Th Blisks, with Besseny and Yuta Matsumura).

Summer 2023 saw the duo host two shows for Collin in their former home of Mulubinba, regional New South Wales. Collin is perhaps best known for his playing, deconstructing and reconfiguring of the guitar and other stringed instruments, realised in solo works on his own Early Music and Winebox Press imprints, and collaborations on a trio of albums with Demdike Stare and live sessions with Sarah Hughes and Bill Nace. His unique style of playing, sometimes delicate, at other times frictional, refutes expectations of traditional instruments and fits perfectly within both Troth’s ethos and their lush sonic mise-en-scène.

The objects of devotion perhaps symbolise the group’s devotion towards each other during their music-making process, and the fruits from which they are borne. “I think, any music I have a hand in, is a dialogue with by the people I'm making it with. It's an ongoing conversation between people and sound”, reflects Bowman. The sacredness and ominousness of remote Tasmania is just as affecting, the interplay of Besseny’s haunting vocal washes, Bowman’s sparse instrumentation and Collin’s ritualistic strum evoking the eeriness that lurks beneath the seemingly limitless Australian landscape. “When I think about it, it sounds like being together at the bottom of the Earth. Watching, listening and playing together with no-one else in sight."

Horrible Occurrences is the title of the new Advance Base album, and there is truth in advertising. In these songs_all centered around a fictional town called Richmond and featuring an interlinked cast of characters_you will hear stories of death and disappearance, climactic confrontations and unsolved mysteries. "Richmond is just this place where all the bad memories live," Owen Ashworth explains, and nearly 30 years into his songwriting career, none of his records have packed quite the emotional intensity of this one. And yet something alchemical happens in the telling of these tales. Like a masterful short story collection, Horrible Occurrences is inspiring and alive, idiosyncratic and electric, pulling you closer with each word. In the six years since his last full-length collection of originals, 2018's Animal Companionship, Ashworth gathered ideas from performing live and traveling around the country, returning to cities that he once called home and revisiting old ghosts, memories, and fragments of unfinished ideas. Blending truth and fiction into a dreamlike composite, the songs convey the winding path our memory takes as the years go by, giving voice to a subconscious that is still unpacking old memories for new wisdom. Drawing inspiration from the otherworldly loneliness depicted on '80s masterpieces like Arthur Russell's World of Echo and Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska, the music never crowds Ashworth's detailed storytelling but it also never feels auxiliary. These are beautiful songs, but they stick with you for their ability to strike dissonant, unforgettable emotional chords. It is this pervasive empathy in Ashworth's songwriting_along with his writerly gift for clear settings and complex characters_that has made him a guiding light for so many independent artists. The things that happen throughout Horrible Occurrences are what we tend to call "unspeakable"_events that draw gut-level responses just from acknowledging that they could happen. But part of the triumph of the record is how simply and generously Ashworth finds the language to share them. For the characters in these songs who make it out okay, these are the types of memories they will be tossing and turning their whole lives, waiting for quiet moments to confide them among the people they trust. For the rest of us, they are signs of life along the highway on a dark, snowy night: reminders that, as isolated as we may feel, we are not alone on the road.

Single from Albin, Swedish Grammy Nominee in the Singer-Songwriter category. His single ‘Forget About Us’ went top 40 in the airplay charts. He has won multiple awards: Anchor award at Reeperbahn Festival, Germany, MMETA (Music Moves Europe Talent) Award, EU prize celebrating emerging artists. Upcoming shows include Dauwpop Festival (May), Rotterdam (June), Margate Dreamland with Jack Savoretti (July). Sold out headline arena shows across Scandinavia, including the Avicii Arena in Stockholm, and Berlin. Single “Elvis, I Love You” currently on BBC 2 playlist made record of the week there. Double ‘Ear Candy’ Track of the week on Radio Veronica, the only time this year. +350m career streams. Instagram (66k) | Facebook (36k) | Twitter (1.9k) | TikTok (6.6k) | YouTube (24.6k)

Bliss, the latest release of french producer Cezaire is an 8 tracks project blending hip-hop, funk and soul sounds.

Transversales Disques proudly presents Thelonious Monk / Live in Paris (1966).
LOST ORTF RECORDINGS. A unique pianist and composer, Thelonious Monk (1917-1982) is one of the greatest jazz legends of all time. Thelonious is surrounded by his legendary quartet featuring Charlie Rouse (saxophone ténor), Larry Gales (bass),and Ben Riley (drum).
First ever official release of this lost ORTF recording performed live in Paris at Studio 104, Maison de la Radio.Release with the full permission and cooperation of the National Audiovisual Institute (INA).
Deluxe Tip-On Jacket / Exclusive Liner notes

Acclaimed pianist Renee Rosnes fell in love with the music of Brazil as a teenager, from the moment that she first heard the iconic Bossa Nova singer Elis Regina. With "Crossing Paths," her brilliant new album for Smoke Sessions Records, Rosnes brings to stunning reality a dream held for decades: to explore the intersection between Brazil's scintillating sounds with her own visionary approach to modern jazz. Due out on December 6, 2024, "Crossing Paths" reimagines compositions from master composers like Antonio Carlos Jobim, Milton Nascimento, Caetano Veloso, and others. The album brings together a remarkable band - saxophonist Chris Potter, trombonist Steve Davis, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Adam Cruz - with contemporary Brazilian voices (percussionist Rogério Boccato and vocalist Maucha Adnet) and special guest appearances by legendary vocalist/composers Edu Lobo and Joyce Moreno.

DJ und Produzent Brennan Heart (Fabian Bohn) ist seit mehreren Jahren in Hochform. Ein wahrer Star der Hardstyle-Szene mit vielen Studio- und Mixalben, Golden Awards und Kollaborationen mit den Grössten der internationalen Szene - von Steve Aoki über Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike bis Ben Nicky.

"Save Euphoric" ist sein bisher persönlichstes Album, ein Spiegelbild seines jüngeren Ichs. Brennan: ""Save Euphoric" handelt davon, diesem fröhlichen, lebhaften Kind in mir endlich den Raum zum Atmen zu geben. Zu lange habe ich mich hinter der Arbeit versteckt, hinter "Leidenschaften", die mir viel gebracht, mich aber völlig aus dem Gleichgewicht geworfen haben. Es ist ein persönlicher Spiegel, eine Erinnerung daran, auf dem Boden zu bleiben. Ich glaube, unser geliebter Hardstyle ist genug gereift, dass ich all dies jetzt durch unsere Musik teilen kann."

Dieses Meisterwerk von einem Album enthält 19 Titel und jeder davon erzählt einen anderen Teil von Fabians Geschichte. Sie alle gehen zurück zu den euphorischen Wurzeln des Hardstyle und zeigen seine Liebe zu grossen Melodien, orchestralen Breaks und Ausdruckskraft in seinen Songs. Die Entstehung war eine Zusammenarbeit von Fabian mit einigen seiner musikalischen Freunde, darunter Timmy Trumpet, Jonathan Mendelsohn (u.a. bei "Running Up That Hill"), Toneshifterz, u.v.a. Die CD enthält eine persönliche Nachricht von Fabian selbst und bietet über eine Stunde Hardstyle vom Feinsten. Ein absolutes Muss für alle Fans von euphorischem Hardstyle!

Autobahn, Feldwege, Landstraßen. Thees Uhlmann ist längst sein eigener Road Movie. Doch erst dieses Album zeichnet den Trip mitreisetauglich nach. Er führt vom AJZ bis ins Stadion, von Hemmoor bis nach New York, durch mehr als drei Jahrzehnte wiedervereinigtes Deutschland. Rock, Indie, Punk und was nicht sonst noch alles. Lichthupe aber nur im äußersten Notfall. "Sincerely, Thees Uhlmann!" ist eine Best Of Zusammenstellung der Tomte Years (1994 - 2010) und Thees Solo Years (2011 - Present).

Autobahn, Feldwege, Landstraßen. Thees Uhlmann ist längst sein eigener Road Movie. Doch erst dieses Album zeichnet den Trip mitreisetauglich nach. Er führt vom AJZ bis ins Stadion, von Hemmoor bis nach New York, durch mehr als drei Jahrzehnte wiedervereinigtes Deutschland. Rock, Indie, Punk und was nicht sonst noch alles. Lichthupe aber nur im äußersten Notfall. "Sincerely, Thees Uhlmann!" ist eine Best Of Zusammenstellung der Tomte Years (1994 - 2010) und Thees Solo Years (2011 - Present).

Chapter 3 der erfolgreichen Compilation-Serie. 14 moderne Kraut-Elektronik-Tracks (3 davon exklusiv und vorher unveröffentlicht) inspiriert von Kraftwerk, Can, Neu!, Cluster, Klaus Schulze und vielen anderen. Kuratiert und zusammengestellt von Compost-Künstler Fred und Luna. Die Collage auf dem Cover wurde - wie schon auf Vol. 1 und 2 - exklusiv von der fantastischen Künstlerin Norika Nienstedt aus der Kraut-Metropole Düsseldorf gestaltet.

Rainer Buchmüller aka Fred und Luna ist leider nach langer Krankheit im Januar 2024 verstorben. Er war ein herzensguter Mensch, begnadeter Künstler, Freund und Wegbegleiter. Wir trauern sehr um ihn. Rainer Buchmüller hatte uns ein paar Tage vor seinem Tod das Tracklisting für Vol. 3 (und auch schon Ideen für Vol. 4) geschickt, mit der Bitte, dies posthum zu veröffentlichen, es würde ihn sehr freuen, wenn seine Fans und alle die es noch werden, ein „Lebenszeichen“ von ihm erhalten. Gar nicht einfach oder im Grunde unmöglich, den Begriff „Kraut“ stilistisch zu beschreiben. Dennoch begeben sich Compost Records und Fred und Luna auf eine Zeitreise, um die unterschiedlichen Elemente deutscher elektronischer Musik der 1970er- und 1980er-Jahre und ihre Auswirkungen auf die neuere deutsche und weltweite Musikszene zu entdecken. Nach dem großen Erfolg von Volume 1 und 2 knüpft Vol.3 stilistisch an seinen Vorgänger an, und darüber hinaus – da dies eine der Grundideen der Reihe ist – das musikalische Spektrum Schritt für Schritt um neue krautige Elemente erweitert.

Expanding beyond the Folk and Pop stylings of his fi rst album, Waits" second studio release The Heart of Saturday Night established his reputation as a versatile and distinctly American songwriter. It"s bluesy jazz arrangements featured bass, drums, sax and Waits on piano. The title track, a melancholy ode to Saturday night rituals, and the tenderly romantic hymn-like "San Diego Serenade" are enduring classics covered by an array of artists from Diana Krall and Nancy Griffi th to folk hero Eric Anderson. The album also features "Diamonds On My Windshield", the fi rst of what would become a signature for Waits", the spoken word-poetry song. Waits" delivers these lyrics as pure beat jazz in the stylings of Kerouac, Langston Hughes and Bob Kaufman.

In der Musik von Forndom atmet die Vergangenheit mit einer Vitalität, die die Zeit übersteigt. „Moþir“ ist so komplex wie die Gottheiten, die es porträtiert, und verwebt Themen wie Fruchtbarkeit und Treue, Liebe und Verrat, Licht und Schatten. Es ist eine Erkundung der göttlichen Zweideutigkeit, wo die nährende Umarmung einer Mutter ebenso leicht in die kalte Hand der Unausweichlichkeit verwandeln kann.
Ludvig Swärd entledigt sich des modernen Synthesizer-Equipments und wendet sich einem rein akustischen Klang zu. Die Musik fühlt sich an, als sei sie aus der Erde gemeißelt, geboren aus handgefertigten Instrumenten, mit Ehrfurcht für das Alte. Aufgenommen und abgemischt von Swärd selbst, wird „Moþir“ von den Talenten von Thomas von Wachenfeldt (Bards of Skaði), dessen Geige sowohl Licht als auch Dunkelheit beschwört; Janne Posti (Häxkapell, Sons of Crom), dessen Chorklänge eine numinose Tiefe verleihen; und Draugurinn, dessen eindringliche Präsenz wie ein Geist aus einem vergessen Zeitalter lingt, veredelt.
Forndoms neuestes Werk ist eine Meditation über den ewigen Kreislauf von Leben, Tod und Wiedergeburt, gesehen durch die Linse der alten skandinavischen Spiritualität. Ludvig Swärd steht weiterhin an der Kreuzung von Vergangenheit und Gegenwart und bietet einen Einblick in das Herz der alten Weisheit durch die Augen eines modernen Suchenden

Mit dem Begleitalbum "Best of Jethro Tull Redux" lässt sich das Erlebnis von "Aqualung Redux" noch erweitern und vertiefen. Mit beiden Werken zollen Magnetic Eye Records gemeinsam mit zahlreichen Freunden der britischen Rocklegende JETHRO TULL und ihrem Meilenstein-Album "Aqualung" aus dem Jahr 1971 respektvollen Tribut. Auf "Best of Jethro Tull Redux" bieten weitere spannende Künstler ihre Neuinterpretationen aus dem ebenso einzigartigen wie umfangreichen Gesamtwerk der Briten an.
JETHRO TULL sind musikalische Riesen mit einem einzigartigen Sound - oder besser gesagt Sounds, die im Kanon der Rockmusik unvergleichbar geblieben sind. Die 1967 in Blackpool, Lancashire, von dem Schotten Ian Anderson gegründete Band hat im Laufe ihrer jahrzehntelangen Karriere immer wieder stilistische Veränderungen und Imagewechsel durch- und überlebt. Vor allem die charakteristische Stimme ihres Frontmanns und die Einbeziehung der Querflöte als wesentliches Instrument haben JETHRO TULL dennoch mit einem unverkennbaren klanglichen Fingerabdruck versehen.
JETHRO TULL haben von Anfang an die Grenzen der Rockmusik neu vermessen. Durch die Einführung von Elementen aus der klassischen Musik, des Jazz sowie der traditionellen Musik haben die Briten zahlreiche Impulse gegeben, weshalb sie zunächst dem Art Rock zugerechnet wurden und mittlerweile unter anderem zum Progressive Rock zählen. Die britische Legende schaffte den Spagat zwischen Kunst, Breitenwirkung und kommerziellem Erfolg stets mit nur scheinbarer Leichtigkeit. Dazu trug auch die herausragende Bühnenpräsenz von Frontmann Ian Anderson bei, dessen theatralischen Auftritte sogar mit denen seines Zeitgenossen, dem legendären britischen Sänger Arthur Brown, konkurrierten.
Die Magnetic Eye Redux- Reihe lässt ausgewählte Künstler handverlesene klassische Alben aus der Geschichte des Rock und Metal komplett neu interpretieren und respektvoll in das neue Jahrtausend übertragen. Bisher hat das Label solche Meilensteine wie PINK FLOYDs "The Wall", HELMETs "Meantime", BLACK SABBATHs "Vol. 4", JIMMY HENDRIX' "Electric Ladyland", "Dirt" von ALICE IN CHAINS, AC/DCs "Back in Black" und den SOUNDGARDEN-Klassiker "Superunknown" in Redux-Versionen veröffentlicht. Unter vielen anderen haben sich solch herausragende Künstler wie MATT PIKE, PALLBEARER, THE MELVINS, ALL THEM WITCHES, KHEMMIS, ASG, ZAKK WYLDE, MARK LANEGAN, SCOTT REEDER an diversen Redux-Projekten beteiligt.

Mit dem Begleitalbum "Best of Jethro Tull Redux" lässt sich das Erlebnis von "Aqualung Redux" noch erweitern und vertiefen. Mit beiden Werken zollen Magnetic Eye Records gemeinsam mit zahlreichen Freunden der britischen Rocklegende JETHRO TULL und ihrem Meilenstein-Album "Aqualung" aus dem Jahr 1971 respektvollen Tribut. Auf "Best of Jethro Tull Redux" bieten weitere spannende Künstler ihre Neuinterpretationen aus dem ebenso einzigartigen wie umfangreichen Gesamtwerk der Briten an.
JETHRO TULL sind musikalische Riesen mit einem einzigartigen Sound - oder besser gesagt Sounds, die im Kanon der Rockmusik unvergleichbar geblieben sind. Die 1967 in Blackpool, Lancashire, von dem Schotten Ian Anderson gegründete Band hat im Laufe ihrer jahrzehntelangen Karriere immer wieder stilistische Veränderungen und Imagewechsel durch- und überlebt. Vor allem die charakteristische Stimme ihres Frontmanns und die Einbeziehung der Querflöte als wesentliches Instrument haben JETHRO TULL dennoch mit einem unverkennbaren klanglichen Fingerabdruck versehen.
JETHRO TULL haben von Anfang an die Grenzen der Rockmusik neu vermessen. Durch die Einführung von Elementen aus der klassischen Musik, des Jazz sowie der traditionellen Musik haben die Briten zahlreiche Impulse gegeben, weshalb sie zunächst dem Art Rock zugerechnet wurden und mittlerweile unter anderem zum Progressive Rock zählen. Die britische Legende schaffte den Spagat zwischen Kunst, Breitenwirkung und kommerziellem Erfolg stets mit nur scheinbarer Leichtigkeit. Dazu trug auch die herausragende Bühnenpräsenz von Frontmann Ian Anderson bei, dessen theatralischen Auftritte sogar mit denen seines Zeitgenossen, dem legendären britischen Sänger Arthur Brown, konkurrierten.
Die Magnetic Eye Redux- Reihe lässt ausgewählte Künstler handverlesene klassische Alben aus der Geschichte des Rock und Metal komplett neu interpretieren und respektvoll in das neue Jahrtausend übertragen. Bisher hat das Label solche Meilensteine wie PINK FLOYDs "The Wall", HELMETs "Meantime", BLACK SABBATHs "Vol. 4", JIMMY HENDRIX' "Electric Ladyland", "Dirt" von ALICE IN CHAINS, AC/DCs "Back in Black" und den SOUNDGARDEN-Klassiker "Superunknown" in Redux-Versionen veröffentlicht. Unter vielen anderen haben sich solch herausragende Künstler wie MATT PIKE, PALLBEARER, THE MELVINS, ALL THEM WITCHES, KHEMMIS, ASG, ZAKK WYLDE, MARK LANEGAN, SCOTT REEDER an diversen Redux-Projekten beteiligt.

British Funk Renegades - Baker Brothers: A Legacy of Groove and Innovation

Since 2001, British funk luminaries the Baker Brothers have been at the forefront of the UK funk scene, consistently redefining the genre while staying true to its roots. Their groove, deeply embedded in soulful nostalgia, draws inspiration from legendary acts such as Steely Dan, Sly and the Family Stone, The Doobie Brothers, D'Angelo, The Roots, The Meters, and Prince.

Renowned for their electrifying live performances, the Baker Brothers deliver an "in-your-face" experience that takes audiences on a journey through their extensive back catalogue, spanning eight studio albums and four live albums. These albums feature collaborations with notable artists, including Hamish Stuart of the Average White Band, Snowboy, and soul divas Vanessa Freeman, Hannah Williams, Acantha Lang, and Katie Holmes.

With over ten tours in Japan and numerous European tours under their belt, the Baker Brothers have proven their enduring appeal. They continue to navigate the challenges of band life with unwavering creativity and passion, using music as their vehicle to overcome life's hurdles.

As they forge ahead with new creations, the Baker Brothers' signature sound—characterised by tight horns, a driving rhythm section, and irresistibly funky guitar riffs—remains as killer as ever. Their journey is a testament to their longevity and their unwavering commitment to pushing the boundaries of funk.

Hank Mobley was inspired by Birth of the Cool on his 1966 album A Slice of the Topfeaturing Duke Pearson’s arrangements for an octet that added euphonium and tuba to a group with James Spaulding on alto sax, Lee Morgan on trumpet, McCoy Tyner on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums. This stereo Tone Poet Vinyl Edition was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, and packaged in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket.

Eric Hilton, bekannt für seine Arbeit mit Thievery Corporation, bringt seine neue Single "Little Odessa" an den Start. Der Track markiert eine dynamische Weiterentwicklung seines Sound, indem er treibende Beats mit der für ihn typischen Ambient-Eleganz verbindet. Mit Vocals von Kristina Westernik-Dandridge von The Infinite Daisy Chains fusioniert "Little Odessa" Bossa Nova- und Dream-Pop-Elemente, um eine verträumt-kultivierte Stimmung der Sorte "Cocktails-auf-einer-Wolke" zu erzeugen. Diese Zusammenarbeit unterstreicht Hiltons kontinuierliche Innovation innerhalb des Downtempo-Genres und bietet eine neue Perspektive auf seinen etablierten Stil.

Bass music OG Jeremy Sylvester returns to Shall Not Fade sister label Time Is Now for his second full EP on the label.

Jeremy again shows on The Lights EP why is highly regarded as one of the OG's of bass music, having been a producer of non stop consistent releases for the last 20+ years. The Lights EP has everything from dreamy synths, bass warpers, choppy breaks and infectious vocals, all merging together to create a truly unique take on bass music. All topped off with a weighty remix from artist of the moment Soul Mass Transit System on the B-SIDE. BIG TIP!

The Lights EP drops December 6th via Time Is Now.

Parisian production duo Radio Cargo steamroll onto Shall Not Fade with the killer 'Like You Move' EP!

Like You Move EP showcases why the Paris duo are one of the most exciting names to watch in the current French dance music scene, their debut for Shall Not Fade is a luscious blend of groovy breaks, dreamy synths and warm basslines, all merging together to create a stunning body of work.

Rolf Kühn war einer der deutschen Jazzmusiker von Weltformat und hinterlässt mit "Fearless" sein letztes Studioalbum. 2022, wenige Wochen vor dem Tod des Musikers in den Berliner Hansa Studios aufgenommen und 2023 mit Streicheraufnahmen des Cuareim
Quartet ergänzt, zeigt der Ausnahme-Klarinettist, warum er von Kritiker Bert Noglik als ein Musiker der Königsklasse angesehen wird.
Auf "Fearless" fi nden sich sieben eigene Kompositionen Kühns sowie drei Coverversionen, die zusammen mit seiner Band um Frank Chastenier (Piano), Lisa Wulff (Bass) und Túpac Mantilla (Drums, Percussion) aufgenommen wurden. Die balladesken, aber auch die schnellen, vorantreibenden Kompositionen von Kühn lassen stets Freiräume zu für das, was für ihn den Jazz ausmachte: die Musik gemeinsam entstehen zu lassen, fl iegen zu lassen in einer sich im Zuhören und Fühlen entwickelnden Improvisation. Ein musikalisches Testament von immenser Strahlkraft.

Transparent Curacao Vinyl. Award-winning composer for video games and Scottish artist, Barry "Epoch" Topping (PARADISE KILLER, SENTRY, THATCHER'S TECHBASE, ENCOUNTERS) returns with "The Needs", 11 songs of lavish reflection in a modern city pop style. The album takes the listener through an emotional exploration of identity and change set against the backdrop of late summer. It fuses city pop, rock and dance music into a rich, dreamy blast of video game-tinged modern pop music. But "The Needs" is more than just an album title, like Barry explains: "It's a new ensemble built around a core of the musicians that worked with me on Paradise Killer: Fiona Lynch, Fabian Hernandez, Thomas Temple and Kyle Murray-Dickson. A new trio of horns Elin Andersson, Nicklas Dahlin and Simon Fransman round out the full lineup. Having such talented musicians involved in a much bigger way has allowed us to challenge ourselves and make the best, most over the top music we've made yet. 'The Needs' was created as a vehicle for my own reflections and is intended to help listeners reflect and find solace too. No album can be universal but if 'The Needs' can help people feel seen or understood then I'll feel like it's been a success. Getting to make the album has been an extremely rewarding experience."

"You're traveling through another dimension - a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination". This iconic introduction is from Rod Serling's timeless and influential television program, The Twilight Zone. Perhaps he would also apply this description to Can Con, the debut album by The Psych Fi's. The group is an offshoot of Canadian singer-songwriter Jerry Leger's rock 'n' roll side project, The Del Fi's. Just as The Psych Fi's describe themselves as "spontaneous psychedelic rock", The Del Fi's recorded two albums characterized by spontaneity, spirit, and trust. This time Leger brings his songs to a revolving door of musicians and singers (18 members, including Jerry, in the case of Can Con). Most of the performers have not heard these compositions before recording them. They have no chance to second-guess; they must be fearless and jump in with both feet and perform live in studio. Leger acts as a sort of loose conductor, allowing certain soloists to emerge from the musical collage. The group takes you on a hypnotic journey from the epic opening medley "Alone in a Room of Mirrors / James Cagney" to the groove of "You Know that I Love You, I Do" and the openness of "Song for Vultures". You'll get lost in "Summer's Right Around the Corner", which also features Don Stevenson (founding member of the legendary 60s psychedelic rock band Moby Grape) on backing vocals, alongside Kate Boothman (Katie Cruel) and Angie Hilts. This sound has evolved out of Del Fi performances, specifically when musicians Nichol Robertson, Jason Kenemy, Dave Clark (The Rheostatics, Woodshed Orchestra), and Michael Eckert were involved. Leger and these "Fi's" eagerly ventured down less-traveled roads to destinations unknown. Other Psych Fi's include Ken Yoshioka, Matthew Cooke, Les Armstrong, Chris Bennett, Shawn Clarke, Katie Methot, and members of "Jerry Leger & The Situation" (Dan Mock, Kyle Sullivan, Alan Zemaitis). Leger tells us at the beginning of the record, "I'm excited to live again", and by the end of Can Con, he's singing in his dreams and ours. This album will continue to grow, live, breathe, and expand as we share in each other's minds. It's a happening, and it's happening - you can hear it throughout the grooves. Here is your mantra: "I AM A PSYCH FI". File under: Psychrock, Crazy Horse, Electric Dylan.

Gelb/Orange/Olive/Weißes Spot-Splatter-Vinyl. Limitiert auf 500 Exemplare. Gatefold. Wenn das Gefühl für Raum und Zeit verschwindet... Psychedelische Sounds fusionieren zu einem endlosen Klangteppich, wirklich zuordnen lässt sich hier nichts mehr. Muss ja auch nicht, lieber den Kopf ausschalten. Nur selten erscheinen Platten wie "ada" (Release: 06.12.2024), die scheinbar endlose Möglichkeiten zum Wegträumen bieten - weil so viel Geschichte in ihnen steckt: "Das neue Album ist so etwas wie die Essenz aus über 30 Jahren Electric Orange", erklärt Dirk Jan Müller, der das langlebige Projekt schon 1992 in Aachen gestartet und später zu einer großartigen Band ausgebaut hat. Electric Orange sind eindeutig im Krautrock der Siebzigerjahre verwurzelt (und nutzen teilweise auch das Equipment dieser Ära), so erinnern viele Tracks an die altbekannten Legenden des Genres: Can, Tangerine Dream, Amon Düül - eine Mischung aus all dem, was die Bandmitglieder lieben. In dieser Welt ist jeder Groove noch besser, wenn man ihn minutenlang durchzieht. Die Musik von Electric Orange entwickelt sich durchgehend weiter, sphärische Klänge kommen dazu und gehen wieder... oder werden von experimentellen Wah-Wah-Gitarren abgelöst. Weltall-Soundeffekte? Film-Samples? Yes! Electric Orange legen eine weitläufige Welt offen und führen den/die Hörer*in dann hindurch; ihre Musik ist treibend und verträumt zugleich.

The Fluid are arguably the great unsung band from the fertile underground rock scene of the late '80s and early '90s. The Denver five-piece - John Robinson (vocals), James Clower (guitar), Matt Bischoff (bass), Garrett Shavlik (drums), and the dear departed Ricky Kulwicki (guitar) - fused the fire of '80s hardcore with crunching Detroit protopunk, '60s garage rock, and '70s rock swagger. Think MC5, Faces, '70s Stones, all cranked up and really high on Sex Pistols and Black Flag singles. Rising from the ashes of early-'80s Denver bands Frantix (whose "My Dad's a Fuckin' Alcoholic" is a true gem of American punk) and White Trash, The Fluid were the first non-Seattle band to sign to Sub Pop, and Clear Black Paper was the second full-length album the label ever released. The label honchos were fans of Frantix, and happily got involved with The Fluid when the opportunity arose via the label's European licensing partner, Glitterhouse. Witnessing The Fluid's dominant live presence helped - a particularly fiery early show at Seattle's Central Tavern featured The Fluid, Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone, and Soundgarden all trying to outdo one another on stage. The band fit right in on Sub Pop's nascent roster of acts who, wherever they stood on the spectrum of punk/rock/metal, shared a commitment to thunderous riffs and explosive live shows. Legendary for their ferocious stage presence, The Fluid toured all over the US and Europe, holding their own and then some on bills with Mudhoney, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Dinosaur Jr., and other powerhouses of the era. From 1986 to 1993, The Fluid put out four albums and a number of EPs and singles, including a split 7" with Nirvana in 1991, before doing one album for a major label and promptly disbanding. Yet, while their partners-in-crime bulldozed into the mainstream, The Fluid remained something of a cult band, their audience confined to those who got hip during the band's existence, and crate diggers who nabbed original vinyl or CDs, which had quickly become rarities after selling through their original runs. Why? Record industry machinations? The fickle finger of pop culture? Being from Denver, not Seattle? Who the hell knows_ and who cares! The point is the band ripped, and the world deserves to hear them again. The Fluid took influences they shared with their contemporaries and ran in their own direction, focused on ass-shaking grooves more than misanthropic sludge. Rock anthems like "Cold Outside" sit alongside Stooge-oid rhythmic poundings ("Black Glove"), bluesy romps ("Leave It"), the occasional grungy dirge ("Wasted Time"), and raw punk bangers ("Is It Day I'm Seeing?" from the seminal 1988 Sub Pop 200 compilation). The band wasn't shy about their inspiration, either: scattered through their catalog are covers of The Troggs, The Rolling Stones, MC5, Iggy Pop and James Williamson, and Rare Earth. The Fluid stand out as champions of a feral, urgent, exuberant approach to rock 'n roll. As it turns out, that wasn't a recipe for stardom in the era of hyper-slick pop, boomer dinosaurs crying tears in heaven, and hair-metal power-ballads. But someone had to do it. To set things right, Sub Pop, The Fluid, and producer Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden, High on Fire, Mudhoney) teamed up to refresh and reissue The Fluid's entire indie-label catalog: their 1986 debut, Punch N Judy; 1988's Clear Black Paper; 1989's Roadmouth; the 1990 Glue EP (produced by Butch Vig, of Nevermind fame); and a treasure trove of rarities and previously unreleased material. All the music has been remastered from original tapes by Endino and JJ Golden, and the bulk of it has been meticulously remixed by Endino and the band, righting some sonic quirks that diminished the impact of the original records. Now, with their definitive material sounding better than ever, it's high time The Fluid get their due.

The Fluid are arguably the great unsung band from the fertile underground rock scene of the late '80s and early '90s. The Denver five-piece - John Robinson (vocals), James Clower (guitar), Matt Bischoff (bass), Garrett Shavlik (drums), and the dear departed Ricky Kulwicki (guitar) - fused the fire of '80s hardcore with crunching Detroit protopunk, '60s garage rock, and '70s rock swagger. Think MC5, Faces, '70s Stones, all cranked up and really high on Sex Pistols and Black Flag singles. Rising from the ashes of early-'80s Denver bands Frantix (whose "My Dad's a Fuckin' Alcoholic" is a true gem of American punk) and White Trash, The Fluid were the first non-Seattle band to sign to Sub Pop, and Clear Black Paper was the second full-length album the label ever released. The label honchos were fans of Frantix, and happily got involved with The Fluid when the opportunity arose via the label's European licensing partner, Glitterhouse. Witnessing The Fluid's dominant live presence helped - a particularly fiery early show at Seattle's Central Tavern featured The Fluid, Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone, and Soundgarden all trying to outdo one another on stage. The band fit right in on Sub Pop's nascent roster of acts who, wherever they stood on the spectrum of punk/rock/metal, shared a commitment to thunderous riffs and explosive live shows. Legendary for their ferocious stage presence, The Fluid toured all over the US and Europe, holding their own and then some on bills with Mudhoney, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Dinosaur Jr., and other powerhouses of the era. From 1986 to 1993, The Fluid put out four albums and a number of EPs and singles, including a split 7" with Nirvana in 1991, before doing one album for a major label and promptly disbanding. Yet, while their partners-in-crime bulldozed into the mainstream, The Fluid remained something of a cult band, their audience confined to those who got hip during the band's existence, and crate diggers who nabbed original vinyl or CDs, which had quickly become rarities after selling through their original runs. Why? Record industry machinations? The fickle finger of pop culture? Being from Denver, not Seattle? Who the hell knows_ and who cares! The point is the band ripped, and the world deserves to hear them again. The Fluid took influences they shared with their contemporaries and ran in their own direction, focused on ass-shaking grooves more than misanthropic sludge. Rock anthems like "Cold Outside" sit alongside Stooge-oid rhythmic poundings ("Black Glove"), bluesy romps ("Leave It"), the occasional grungy dirge ("Wasted Time"), and raw punk bangers ("Is It Day I'm Seeing?" from the seminal 1988 Sub Pop 200 compilation). The band wasn't shy about their inspiration, either: scattered through their catalog are covers of The Troggs, The Rolling Stones, MC5, Iggy Pop and James Williamson, and Rare Earth. The Fluid stand out as champions of a feral, urgent, exuberant approach to rock 'n roll. As it turns out, that wasn't a recipe for stardom in the era of hyper-slick pop, boomer dinosaurs crying tears in heaven, and hair-metal power-ballads. But someone had to do it. To set things right, Sub Pop, The Fluid, and producer Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden, High on Fire, Mudhoney) teamed up to refresh and reissue The Fluid's entire indie-label catalog: their 1986 debut, Punch N Judy; 1988's Clear Black Paper; 1989's Roadmouth; the 1990 Glue EP (produced by Butch Vig, of Nevermind fame); and a treasure trove of rarities and previously unreleased material. All the music has been remastered from original tapes by Endino and JJ Golden, and the bulk of it has been meticulously remixed by Endino and the band, righting some sonic quirks that diminished the impact of the original records. Now, with their definitive material sounding better than ever, it's high time The Fluid get their due.

The Fluid are arguably the great unsung band from the fertile underground rock scene of the late '80s and early '90s. The Denver five-piece - John Robinson (vocals), James Clower (guitar), Matt Bischoff (bass), Garrett Shavlik (drums), and the dear departed Ricky Kulwicki (guitar) - fused the fire of '80s hardcore with crunching Detroit protopunk, '60s garage rock, and '70s rock swagger. Think MC5, Faces, '70s Stones, all cranked up and really high on Sex Pistols and Black Flag singles. Rising from the ashes of early-'80s Denver bands Frantix (whose "My Dad's a Fuckin' Alcoholic" is a true gem of American punk) and White Trash, The Fluid were the first non-Seattle band to sign to Sub Pop, and Clear Black Paper was the second full-length album the label ever released. The label honchos were fans of Frantix, and happily got involved with The Fluid when the opportunity arose via the label's European licensing partner, Glitterhouse. Witnessing The Fluid's dominant live presence helped - a particularly fiery early show at Seattle's Central Tavern featured The Fluid, Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone, and Soundgarden all trying to outdo one another on stage. The band fit right in on Sub Pop's nascent roster of acts who, wherever they stood on the spectrum of punk/rock/metal, shared a commitment to thunderous riffs and explosive live shows. Legendary for their ferocious stage presence, The Fluid toured all over the US and Europe, holding their own and then some on bills with Mudhoney, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Dinosaur Jr., and other powerhouses of the era. From 1986 to 1993, The Fluid put out four albums and a number of EPs and singles, including a split 7" with Nirvana in 1991, before doing one album for a major label and promptly disbanding. Yet, while their partners-in-crime bulldozed into the mainstream, The Fluid remained something of a cult band, their audience confined to those who got hip during the band's existence, and crate diggers who nabbed original vinyl or CDs, which had quickly become rarities after selling through their original runs. Why? Record industry machinations? The fickle finger of pop culture? Being from Denver, not Seattle? Who the hell knows_ and who cares! The point is the band ripped, and the world deserves to hear them again. The Fluid took influences they shared with their contemporaries and ran in their own direction, focused on ass-shaking grooves more than misanthropic sludge. Rock anthems like "Cold Outside" sit alongside Stooge-oid rhythmic poundings ("Black Glove"), bluesy romps ("Leave It"), the occasional grungy dirge ("Wasted Time"), and raw punk bangers ("Is It Day I'm Seeing?" from the seminal 1988 Sub Pop 200 compilation). The band wasn't shy about their inspiration, either: scattered through their catalog are covers of The Troggs, The Rolling Stones, MC5, Iggy Pop and James Williamson, and Rare Earth. The Fluid stand out as champions of a feral, urgent, exuberant approach to rock 'n roll. As it turns out, that wasn't a recipe for stardom in the era of hyper-slick pop, boomer dinosaurs crying tears in heaven, and hair-metal power-ballads. But someone had to do it. To set things right, Sub Pop, The Fluid, and producer Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden, High on Fire, Mudhoney) teamed up to refresh and reissue The Fluid's entire indie-label catalog: their 1986 debut, Punch N Judy; 1988's Clear Black Paper; 1989's Roadmouth; the 1990 Glue EP (produced by Butch Vig, of Nevermind fame); and a treasure trove of rarities and previously unreleased material. All the music has been remastered from original tapes by Endino and JJ Golden, and the bulk of it has been meticulously remixed by Endino and the band, righting some sonic quirks that diminished the impact of the original records. Now, with their definitive material sounding better than ever, it's high time The Fluid get their due.

The Fluid are arguably the great unsung band from the fertile underground rock scene of the late '80s and early '90s. The Denver five-piece - John Robinson (vocals), James Clower (guitar), Matt Bischoff (bass), Garrett Shavlik (drums), and the dear departed Ricky Kulwicki (guitar) - fused the fire of '80s hardcore with crunching Detroit protopunk, '60s garage rock, and '70s rock swagger. Think MC5, Faces, '70s Stones, all cranked up and really high on Sex Pistols and Black Flag singles. Rising from the ashes of early-'80s Denver bands Frantix (whose "My Dad's a Fuckin' Alcoholic" is a true gem of American punk) and White Trash, The Fluid were the first non-Seattle band to sign to Sub Pop, and Clear Black Paper was the second full-length album the label ever released. The label honchos were fans of Frantix, and happily got involved with The Fluid when the opportunity arose via the label's European licensing partner, Glitterhouse. Witnessing The Fluid's dominant live presence helped - a particularly fiery early show at Seattle's Central Tavern featured The Fluid, Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone, and Soundgarden all trying to outdo one another on stage. The band fit right in on Sub Pop's nascent roster of acts who, wherever they stood on the spectrum of punk/rock/metal, shared a commitment to thunderous riffs and explosive live shows. Legendary for their ferocious stage presence, The Fluid toured all over the US and Europe, holding their own and then some on bills with Mudhoney, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Dinosaur Jr., and other powerhouses of the era. From 1986 to 1993, The Fluid put out four albums and a number of EPs and singles, including a split 7" with Nirvana in 1991, before doing one album for a major label and promptly disbanding. Yet, while their partners-in-crime bulldozed into the mainstream, The Fluid remained something of a cult band, their audience confined to those who got hip during the band's existence, and crate diggers who nabbed original vinyl or CDs, which had quickly become rarities after selling through their original runs. Why? Record industry machinations? The fickle finger of pop culture? Being from Denver, not Seattle? Who the hell knows_ and who cares! The point is the band ripped, and the world deserves to hear them again. The Fluid took influences they shared with their contemporaries and ran in their own direction, focused on ass-shaking grooves more than misanthropic sludge. Rock anthems like "Cold Outside" sit alongside Stooge-oid rhythmic poundings ("Black Glove"), bluesy romps ("Leave It"), the occasional grungy dirge ("Wasted Time"), and raw punk bangers ("Is It Day I'm Seeing?" from the seminal 1988 Sub Pop 200 compilation). The band wasn't shy about their inspiration, either: scattered through their catalog are covers of The Troggs, The Rolling Stones, MC5, Iggy Pop and James Williamson, and Rare Earth. The Fluid stand out as champions of a feral, urgent, exuberant approach to rock 'n roll. As it turns out, that wasn't a recipe for stardom in the era of hyper-slick pop, boomer dinosaurs crying tears in heaven, and hair-metal power-ballads. But someone had to do it. To set things right, Sub Pop, The Fluid, and producer Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden, High on Fire, Mudhoney) teamed up to refresh and reissue The Fluid's entire indie-label catalog: their 1986 debut, Punch N Judy; 1988's Clear Black Paper; 1989's Roadmouth; the 1990 Glue EP (produced by Butch Vig, of Nevermind fame); and a treasure trove of rarities and previously unreleased material. All the music has been remastered from original tapes by Endino and JJ Golden, and the bulk of it has been meticulously remixed by Endino and the band, righting some sonic quirks that diminished the impact of the original records. Now, with their definitive material sounding better than ever, it's high time The Fluid get their due.

"This is the time that we, who have benefitted from the Last Poets shouldbe able to say, 'it's the Last Poets. It's them we should be honouring, because we did not honour them for so many years_"

KRS One wasn't just addressing the hip hop fraternity when he uttered
those words by way of introducing the video for Invocation - a poem
written thirty years ago, around the time of the Last Poets' last significant comeback. He was speaking to everyone who's been affected by the word, sound and power issuing from the most revolutionary poetry ever witnessed, and that the Last Poets had introduced to the world outside of Harlem at the dawn of the seventies.

In 2018 the two remaining Last Poets, Abiodun Oyewole and Umar Bin
Hassan, embarked on another memorable return with an album -
Understand What Black Is - that earned favourable comparison with theirseminal works of the past, whilst showcasing their undimmed passion andlyrical brilliance in an entirely new setting - that of reggae music. Trackslike Rain Of Terror ("America is a terrorist") and How Many Bullets demonstrated that they'd lost none of their fire or anger, and their essential raison d'etre remained the same.

"The Last Poets' mission was to pull the people out of the rubble o f their lives," wrote their biographer Kim Green. "They knew, deep down that poetry could save the people - that if black people could see and hear themselves and their struggles through the spoken word, they would be moved to change."

Several years later and the follow-up is now with us. The project started when Tony Allen, the Nigerian master drummer whose unique polyrhythms had driven much of Fela Kuti's best work, dropped by Prince Fatty's Brighton studio and laid down a selection of drum patterns to die for. That was back in 2019, but then the pandemic struck. Once it had passed, the label booked a studio in Brooklyn, where the two Poets voiced four tracks apiece and breathed fresh energy, fire and outrage into some of the most enduring landmarks of their career. Abiodun, who was one of the original Last Poets who'd gathered in East Harlem's Mount Morris Park to celebrate Malcolm X's birthday in May 1968, chose four poems that first appeared on the group's 1970 debut album, called simply The Last Poets. He'd written When The Revolution Comes aged twenty, whilst living in Jamaica, Queens. "We were getting ready for a revolution," he told Green. "There wasn't any question about whether there was going to be one or not. The truth was many of us still saw ourselves as "niggers" and slaves. This was a mindset that had to change if there was ever to be Black Power." He and writer Amiri Baraka were deep in conversation one day when Baraka became distracted by a pretty girl walking by. "You're a gash man," Abiodun told him. The poem inspired by that incident, Gash Man, is revisited on the new album, and exposes the heartless nature of sexual acts shorn of intimacy or affection. "Instead of the vagina being the entrance to heaven," he says, "it too often becomes a gash, an injury, a wound_" Two Little Boys meanwhile, was inspired after seeing two young boys aged around 11 or 12 "stuffing chicken and cornbread down their tasteless mouths, trying to revive shrinking lungs and a wasted mind." They'd walked into Sylvia's soul food restaurant in Harlem, ordered big meals, then bolted them down and run out the door. No one chased after them, knowing that they probably hadn't eaten in days. Fifty years later and children are still going hungry in major cities across America and elsewhere. Abiodun's poem hasn't lost any relevance at all, and neither has New York, New York, The Big Apple. "Although this was written in 1968, New York hasn't changed a bit," he admits, except "today, people just mistake her sickness for fashion." Umar is originally from Akron, Ohio, but had arrived in Harlem in early 1969 after seeing Abiodun and the other Last Poets at a Black Arts Festival in Cleveland. That's where he first witnessed what Amiri Baraka once called "the rhythmic animation of word, poem, image as word- music" - a creative force that redefined the concept of performance poetry and stripped it bare until it became a howl of rage, hurt and anger, saved from destruction by mockery and love for humanity. When Umar's father, who was a musician, was jailed for armed robbery he took to the streets from an early age where he shined shoes and raised whatever money he could to help feed his eight brothers and sisters. By the time he saw the Last Poets he'd joined the Black United Front and was ready to join the struggle. Once in Harlem, Abiodun asked him what he'd learnt in the few weeks since he'd got there. "Niggers are scared of revolution," Umar replied. "Write it down" urged Abiodun. That poem still gives off searing heat more than fifty years later. In Umar's own words, "it became a prayer, a call to arms, a spiritual pond to bathe and cleanse in because niggers are not just vile and disgusting and shiftless. Niggers are human beings lost in someone else's system of values and morals." And there you have it. It's not just race or religion that hold us back, but an economic system that keeps millions in poverty and living in fear - a system born from political choice and that's now become so entrenched, so bloated on its own success that it's put mankind in mortal danger. It was many black people's acceptance of the status quo that inspired Just Because, which like Niggers Are Scared Of Revolution, was included on that seminal first album. Along with their revolutionary rhetoric, it was the Last Poets' use of the "n word" that proved so shocking, but it would be wrong to suggest that they reclaimed it, since it never belonged to black people in the first place. There's never any hiding place when it comes to the Last Poets. They use words like weapons, and that force all who listen to decide who they are and where they stand. Umar's two remaining tracks find him revisiting poems first unleashed on the Poets' second album This Is Madness! Abiodun had left for North Carolina by then where he became more deeply enmeshed in revolutionary activities and spent almost four years in jail for armed robbery after attempting to seize funds related to the Klu Klux Klan. Meanwhile, the 21 year old Umar was squatting in Brooklyn and had developed close ties with the Dar-ul Islam Movement. A longing for purity and time-honoured spiritual values underpins Related to What, whilst This Is Madness is a call for freedom "by any means necessary," and that paints a feverish landscape peopled by prominent black leaders but that quickly descends into chaos. "All my dreams have been turned into psychedelic nightmares," he wails, over a groove now powered by Tony Allen's ferocious drumming. Those sessions lasted just two days, and we can only imagine the atmosphere in that room as the hip hop godfathers exchanged the conga drums of Harlem for the explosive sounds of authentic Afrobeat. Once they'd finished, the recordings and momentum returned to Prince Fatty's studio, since relocated from Brighton to SE London. This was stage three of the project, and who better to fill out the rhythm tracks than two key musicians from Seun Anikulapo Kuti's band Egypt 80? Enter guitarist Akinola Adio Oyebola and bassist Kunle Justice, who upon hearing Allen's trademark grooves exclaimed, "oh, the Father_ we are home!" Such joy and enthusiasm resulted in the perfect fusion of Nigerian Afrobeat and revolutionary poetry, but the vision for the album wasn't yet complete. He wanted to create a new kind of soundscape - one that reunited the Poets with the progressive jazz movement they'd once shared with musicians like Sun Ra and Pharoah Sanders. It was at that point they recruited exciting jazz talents based in the UK like Joe Armon Jones from Mercury Prize winners Ezra Collective, also widely acclaimed producer/remixer and keyboard player Kaidi Tatham, who's been likened to Herbie Hancock, and British jazz legend Courtney Pine, whose genius on the saxophone and influence on the UK's now vibrant jazz scene is beyond question. The instrumental tracks on Africanism are in many ways as revelatory and exciting as the Last Poets' own. It's important to remember that the kaleidoscope of styles and influences we're presented with here aren't the result of sampling but were played "live" by musicians responding to sounds made by other musicians. That's where the magic comes from, aided by Prince Fatty's peerless mixing which allows us to hear everything with such clarity. Music fans today have grown accustomed to listening to all kinds of different genres. Their tastes have never been so broad or all- encompassing, and so the music on this new Last Poets' album is as groundbreaking as their lyrics, and perfectly suited to the era that we're now living in. John Masouri

Smile Sessions presents its most ambitious release to date, the highly anticipated second edition of the Workout Sessions series!

This double vinyl showcases an electrifying lineup, featuring both renowned artists and fresh talent, all coming together to create a diverse soundscape. Listeners can expect a dynamic mix of old school grooves, cutting-edge modern techno, and tribal influences, expertly crafted to ignite the dancefloor. This release is more than just a collection of tracks; its a celebration of the vibrant techno community and the energy that drives it.

Groovadelica is a New Zealand-based record label that comes through now with its third offering in the form of this 7" from young and fast-rising new artist Soul Prophet. His 'Back To Dilla' features the buttery tones of UK soul sensation Omar and pays tribute to the great beat maker that was the late J Dilla. It's a jam full of dusty beats and jazzy key samples with a laid-back and late-night feel. The lush flute sounds come from Nathan Haines with extra tabla for even more musical richness. This one has already been getting plays from the likes of Gilles Peterson, Patrick Forge and Mr. Thing so expect to hear it plenty more this winter.

'Distorted Clamor', the latest full-length album from legendary Spanish ambient composer Suso Saiz. Marking his eighth release with our label, the album showcases Saiz at his spellbinding best, continuing a prolific creative phase in a career that spans over 40 years.

Building upon 'Resonant Bodies' and 'Nothing Is Objective', his most recent full length releases for Music From Memory, Saiz's dedication to experimentation and conceptual approach to sound lie at the centre of 'Distorted Clamor'.

Discussing his process and the concept behind the album, Saiz says: “Thousands of beings cry out for their lives, for the sustainability of their habitats, for their future. Their

clamouring together generates a distorted, deafening and incomprehensible noise. Trying to go deeper into that distortion and understand all the voices and discover the strength and beauty in all of them. This was the first image I had when I started composing Distorted Clamor. Can distortion and all those sounds (clicks, clips, ticks, tocs, pluks, crashes) that we normally discard, generate beauty? This question has also accompanied the entire whole project.”

The transit of sound through various materials is also central to the work, with Saiz using water, wood, and metals as filters and sound-transforming pedals. The album was created without the use of synthesizers, relying entirely on acoustic sounds that were transformed in an unnatural way to achieve something completely new.

Spanning eleven compositions, Saiz's mastery of timbre and ability to paint layers of sound with the subtlest of touches stand out unmistakably to the listener. As always, his radiant drones are a nest of hidden feelings; they glisten with complex emotions and textures, teasing out moods of vulnerability and hope.

Sleeve art and design by Michael Willis.

On their debut 45 for Batov Records, Indonesia-based BABON deliver two irresistible jams, cooked from a recipe full of Indonesian flavours, Afro Latin funk, Morricone grooves, Bollywood breaks and blues, they call “Tropical Desert Music”. A must-hear for fans of Surprise Chef, Khruangbin, or Sababa 5.

Drummer Wahyudi T. Raupp and multi-instrumentalist Rayi Raditia, friends since high school in Jakarta, via university life in Melbourne, formed BABON in 2023 to address environmental issues through instrumental music, thus combining
two mutual passions.

Working in their home studio free of time restraints, Babon developed their “Tropical Desert Music’’ sound, mixing the energy and influences of Melbourne’s vibrant music scene, with traditional Indonesian forms, from the pulsating rhythms of dangdut, and gamelan, the ritualistic percussion ensemble music native to Java and Bali, to keroncong, a popular and melodic folk style; while addressing environmental concerns and societal complexities, such as the
impact of ruthless exploitation on tropical regions.

On the A-side, “Desert Rose” is a spaghetti blues dedicated to the widows marginalised and objectified by mine workers. Rayi’s electric guitar gently wails with the cinematic effect akin to a Tarantino soundtrack, over a hypnotic groove that never grows tired.

On the flip, “TNT” explores the moral dilemma faced by a miner torn between the destructive nature of his occupation and the dire financial needs of his family, leading to a downward spiral of alcohol abuse. Slowly raising tension levels,

BABON pit somber organ riffs over bass guitar fuzz and Indonesian-sounding guitar motifs, leading to a final explosion
of guitars and drums. BABON’s “Tropical Desert Music” perfectly complements Batov Records’ rich catalogue of Middle Eastern grooves and is an irresistible sound its own right with a poignant message.