Pablo Volt and J.G.G. make dub-folktronica the unpolished way: guitar, horns, drums and synths, recorded loose, drenched in echoes and tape saturation. They met in Barcelona over a shared love of experimental beers and even more experimental sessions, determined to see how far their musical chemistry could take them. "Mordida", their 2023 tape, spent months on repeat at the Pingipung office. Now comes the debut LP: Aqui me quedo. It's a record built on the gap between two childhoods. Pablo Volt (aka Pope, as producer) grew up in Mendoza, Argentina; Jordi Gege aka J.G.G. in a suburb of Barcelona. What they share is a language and a curiosity about each other's memories and musical roots - the studio is where they embrace their different origins in improvisations. A ditch from Pablo's childhood becomes "Zanjon". A mountain Jordi used to roam becomes "Emisora". An ice cream shop, a Sunday market, a football club: small doors into a past the other never lived, but somehow recognises. Aqui me quedo, "I'm staying here", is also the name of the Barcelona bar where they toast after a good session. Two friends, tracing their way back through the past, decide the present is where they'd rather be. Handmade, melodic, unashamed of a smile as they greet from the LP sleeve: this is the spirit in which Pingipung was founded 24 years ago and these two guys, muy simpatico, are living proof of it.
Long Distance Operators (LDO) is a collaboration between the Australian musician Hugo Race and the Belgian violinist Catherine Graindorge. Hugo Race, singer, songwriter, producer and author, has a long and wide-ranging history, from the trans-global Dirtmusic and his groups True Spirit and Fatalists to his origins in the 80's Melbourne post-punk scene with Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds and The Wreckery. Catherine Graindorge, violinist and composer, is known for her solo work and collaborations with International artists such as Iggy Pop, John Parish, Pascal Humbert (16 Horsepower), Simon Huw Jones (And Also The Trees). She also plays and composes for theater and cinema. The music of LDO is an intensely atmospheric dreamweave of violins, electronics and Hugo's darkly evocative voice. The duo explores metaphysical lyrics, experimental sounds and retro-baroque orchestrations in a romantic, song-based context.
Long Distance Operators (LDO) is a collaboration between the Australian musician Hugo Race and the Belgian violinist Catherine Graindorge. Hugo Race, singer, songwriter, producer and author, has a long and wide-ranging history, from the trans-global Dirtmusic and his groups True Spirit and Fatalists to his origins in the 80's Melbourne post-punk scene with Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds and The Wreckery. Catherine Graindorge, violinist and composer, is known for her solo work and collaborations with International artists such as Iggy Pop, John Parish, Pascal Humbert (16 Horsepower), Simon Huw Jones (And Also The Trees). She also plays and composes for theater and cinema. The music of LDO is an intensely atmospheric dreamweave of violins, electronics and Hugo's darkly evocative voice. The duo explores metaphysical lyrics, experimental sounds and retro-baroque orchestrations in a romantic, song-based context.
Light Touches Records is devoted to shed new lights on hot rarities, unknown grooves as well as forgotten classics.
As the attention to the older volume is rising, Light Touches camp pushes things further with four uncompromising tunes.
On A side, “Do It This Way” is an intense lost disco roller with oniric string machine and thundering bass, while “It’s True” goes deeper with a relentless Philly groove with psychedelic tones. On the flipside, “Jus’ta Funky Jam” opens things up with some killer groovy arrangement, and “Dance With You” closes the release with a dreamy, mellow jazzfunk tune.
All tracks have been carefully edited without overdubs, in order to bring the spirit of classic disco manipulators to today’s dancefloors!
IGNEA explores nostalgia on their upcoming album, Monumental (October 23, 2026, via Napalm Records). The Ukrainian four-piece navigates through unique facets of the past—from the grandeur and ambition of Cold War space dreams to the melancholy of urban decay and forgotten modernist structures, all the way to the emotional weight of personal and collective memory. All lyrics on Monumental were written by vocalist Helle Bohdanova. Mixing and mastering were handled by Grammy Award-nominated producer Jacob Hansen (DELAIN, Amaranthe, Volbeat, Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy, and more). Monumental is IGNEA’s second full-length that was written during the full-scale war in Ukraine. The recording process mostly took place in the winter of 2025-2026, during icy temperatures and long power outages in Kyiv.
“Slide in the party like three monkeys wearing a trench,” GDP says in the opening seconds of Cross Off Matthew, his first solo album in over a decade. The line is indicative of the New Jersey emcee/ producer’s relationship with music, one that’s ebbed and flowed throughout his career and eclectic discography. Entirely self-produced, Cross Off Matthew feels like a reintroduction as well as an expansion of what makes the cult rapper so beloved. GDP came up in the respective punk, hardcore, and skateboarding scenes of New Jersey, roots that inspired his DIY approach to making hip-hop. He applied a decidedly punk ethos to his brand of neo- boom bap on early releases like 2009’s Realistic Expectations and 2011’s Useless Eaters, albums that celebrated his youthful indiscretions but also signaled an old soul lying beneath the surface.
He opted to release them on punk/indie labels (including Run For Cover and Ride The Fury Records) instead of more traditional hip-hop outlets, and along with an ambitious touring schedule, he carved out a dedicated fanbase throughout the early 2010’s. Cross Off Matthew is a slow-cooked labor of love, born out of taking enough time away from something to understand the journey with greater perspective and appreciation.“I’m older, arguably wiser, but that creative fire stayed with me,” he says. “I wanted to make something that felt nuanced, something that I could feel proud of.” Throughout the album, the production toggles between foreboding and facetious just as deftly as his bars. Tracks like “Island In The Sky” and “Location Therapy” make rap confetti out of caustic guitars and glaring distortion, while “Seroquel” and “Rock For Light,” (the latter a nod to NJ rap royalty, The Outsidaz) embrace GDP’s signature blend of East Coast hip-hop and punk sensibilities, with lyrics that highlight the sharp wit and heady philosophizing that he made his name on. GDP examines vices, interpersonal relationships, the collective dread of late-stage capitalism as well as the pitfalls and rewards of trying to lead a creative life throughout it all. The wiseman that peaked out from beneath the shield of debauchery on his early releases has now come to the forefront, as GDP’s trademark humor and commentary feel refined by years of life lived experience
Time to turn on and turn it up, theres a brand new Carlton Melton in the offing… its been a good couple of years since the West Coast space/sike travellers have dropped new music.
‘Phantomize beyond the window, into the portal, the panes of eternal returns, wooden spirals, roots into the realms of everything and nothing, the reason beings’
With Anthony Taibi fully ensconsed in the metaphorical Melton Dome, this four piece is ready to soar, go deeper and wider into the sike psyche than on previous recordings, now fully recording live with drums, bass, guitars and keys...recorded at 3D Light in Freshwater, CA by Anthony Tiabi in 2025, and mastered by the inimitable John Mcbain in 2026.
We have a single LP of 40+ minutes spanning 4 tracks, that have textures, and waves and patterns to lull you into some fever dream of motorik psych! Touchstones like Träd, Gräs Och Stenar / Kandodo / Guru Guru / Eno & Fripp / Birds of Maya / Parson Sound come into view.
There are moments of gentle ambience bordered by speaker shredding guitar soloing, whole passages of Krautrock inspired jams that have form and focus.. you blink and your live flashes before you, the record ends, you want more..
There are moments of gentle ambience bordered by speaker shredding guitar soloing, whole passages of Krautrock inspired jams that have form and focus.. you blink and your live flashes before you, the record ends, you want more.. Carlton Melton masterfully blend hypnotic, long-form psychedelic jams with drone and Krautrock influences.
Band:
Rich Millman
Andy Duvall
Clint Golden
Anthony Taibi
Announced to celebrate summers solstice.. released on the Autumn equinox.. with a full UK tour to boot..
Fishtailing across a trimmed sod lawn, the parking lot of a box-store strip mall, a fast food drive-thru––it’s a hyperreal Americana fantasy that calls Caroline Rose (she/they) home on 'Gentling the Horse at the Walt Whitman Mall'. The release doubles as the debut of SUCK records, the LA based artist’s own imprint—a fitting next form for an enigmatic musician whose work resists settling into one shape.
'Gentling the Horse at the Walt Whitman Mall' stretches the ordinary into the uncanny. The record pairs sharply observed, memoiristic songwriting with expansive guitar textures that render the everyday with violent clarity and mythic scale. Beneath its melodic sweep and signature hooks runs a current of violence and American dream leakage.
It’s Ennio Morricone with an AR15: surf guitars, spaghetti westerns, and suburban dread colliding until they become their own sharp vernacular. Reality is unstable, so we’ll keep telling stories—and for Rose, the sinister slickness of the everyday grows a new head.
Working with producer John Congleton, Rose built the record through humor, layering, and instinct rather than polish. Songs like “Conversations with Shiv,” “Goddamn Train,” and “Everything in its Right Place” were recorded in studio for the first time, with sessions that prized first impulses over perfection. The result is panoramic but never precious—songs that feel meticulously constructed while always threatening to mutate.
Over the last six years, Rose’s music has evolved alongside their work organizing around stronger labor protections and collective bargaining rights for musicians and crews. Creative and political practice have increasingly become the same project as Rose’s career has taken on its hyper-independent form. Those concerns echo throughout 'Gentling the Horse'. Its landscapes are populated by inherited systems that feel absurd yet inescapable, where humor becomes a survival tactic and satire reveals the quiet violence embedded in everyday Am
Animative is new work by composer, producer, saxophonist and synthesist Josh Johnson (SML, Jeff Parker ETA IVtet, Flea and The Honora Band), his third album under his own name, and his first for International Anthem/Nonesuch. The album further advances Johnson deep into a territory he has been exploring for years: live-processed electro-acoustic takes on deconstructed rhythmic jazz. The ten track album - co-produced by Johnson and Paul Bryan, featuring contributions from Meshell Ndegeocello, Macie Stewart, Marquis Hill, Ben Lumsdaine, and more - is a marvel of electro-acoustic innovation that combines compositional brilliance and technological ambition into a mesmerizing blend of skeletal soul-jazz, post-bop, electronic minimalism, and dreamy ambience.
Animative is new work by composer, producer, saxophonist and synthesist Josh Johnson (SML, Jeff Parker ETA IVtet, Flea and The Honora Band), his third album under his own name, and his first for International Anthem/Nonesuch. The album further advances Johnson deep into a territory he has been exploring for years: live-processed electro-acoustic takes on deconstructed rhythmic jazz. The ten track album - co-produced by Johnson and Paul Bryan, featuring contributions from Meshell Ndegeocello, Macie Stewart, Marquis Hill, Ben Lumsdaine, and more - is a marvel of electro-acoustic innovation that combines compositional brilliance and technological ambition into a mesmerizing blend of skeletal soul-jazz, post-bop, electronic minimalism, and dreamy ambience.
Fishtailing across a trimmed sod lawn, the parking lot of a box-store strip mall, a fast food drive-thru––it’s a hyperreal Americana fantasy that calls Caroline Rose (she/they) home on 'Gentling the Horse at the Walt Whitman Mall'. The release doubles as the debut of SUCK records, the LA based artist’s own imprint—a fitting next form for an enigmatic musician whose work resists settling into one shape.
'Gentling the Horse at the Walt Whitman Mall' stretches the ordinary into the uncanny. The record pairs sharply observed, memoiristic songwriting with expansive guitar textures that render the everyday with violent clarity and mythic scale. Beneath its melodic sweep and signature hooks runs a current of violence and American dream leakage.
It’s Ennio Morricone with an AR15: surf guitars, spaghetti westerns, and suburban dread colliding until they become their own sharp vernacular. Reality is unstable, so we’ll keep telling stories—and for Rose, the sinister slickness of the everyday grows a new head.
Working with producer John Congleton, Rose built the record through humor, layering, and instinct rather than polish. Songs like “Conversations with Shiv,” “Goddamn Train,” and “Everything in its Right Place” were recorded in studio for the first time, with sessions that prized first impulses over perfection. The result is panoramic but never precious—songs that feel meticulously constructed while always threatening to mutate.
Over the last six years, Rose’s music has evolved alongside their work organizing around stronger labor protections and collective bargaining rights for musicians and crews. Creative and political practice have increasingly become the same project as Rose’s career has taken on its hyper-independent form. Those concerns echo throughout 'Gentling the Horse'. Its landscapes are populated by inherited systems that feel absurd yet inescapable, where humor becomes a survival tactic and satire reveals the quiet violence embedded in everyday
"Memory Remains" A Vinyl Cover Painted by 20 Children Who Believed They Could
A new album where the artwork is as personal as the music, created entirely by first-graders from Croatia.
When it came time to design the cover for Memory Remains, there was only one group of artists who felt right for the job: the first-grade class 1A of Osnovna škola Luka in Sesvete, Croatia.
Every single child in the class took part. Each student was given the chance to draw whatever came to mind: memories, dreams, imaginary worlds, the people and animals they love, and every one of those drawings made it onto the final cover. Nothing was left out, nothing was "corrected." The front and back panels of the vinyl are a patchwork of more than two dozen individual visions, side by side, unfiltered and unmistakably their own.
The idea grew directly out of the album's centrepiece track, "World Child", a song about the simple, often-overlooked truth that every child carries a talent that belongs only to them, and that no two ways of seeing the world are the same. Rather than illustrate that idea with a single artist's interpretation, it felt right to hand the canvas to an entire classroom of six- and seven-year-olds and let them prove the point themselves.
The result is a cover that doesn't try to look polished or professional, because that was never the goal. It looks like a classroom wall covered in a year's worth of drawings, each one different, each one someone's best effort, each one worth keeping. Which is exactly what "World Child" is about.
Memory Remains is out on vinyl.
Track of note: "World Child"
Artwork by: The students of 1A, Osnovna škola Luka, Sesvete, Croatia 2026
Despite the widespread popularity of reggae music in the UK, following its explosion onto the international music scene in the late 1960s, many of these in charge of Britain's mainstream media were reluctant to give the exciting new sound coverage, wither in print or over the airways.
In an attempt to counter this prejudice, Trojan Records took the bold step of embellishing recordings from Jamaica with sophisticated orchestration, with the resultant ‘commercial reggae’ sound immediately finding favour with the country’s reggae fans.
Consequently, the company not just maintained, but in fact extended the procedure, employing producers to record the country’s finest British-based reggae acts. The result was the release of an abundance of superbly crafted recordings, the production values of which rated with the best that British pop had to offer.
Celebrating 50 years of dancing, Amnesia represents the heart and soul of electronic music in Ibiza. Telling a story that spans five decades, the 50th anniversary vinyl/CD compilation is a window into a legendary venue that has helped establish some of the world's biggest tracks.
From the iconic piano riff of Eric Prydz' 'Pjanoo' to the laid-back groove of 'Benediction' by Hot Natured. A club that spans eras and genres - the disco of Chic's 'Good Times', the synth-pop of New Order's 'Blue Monday', or the gritty electro of Alter Ego's 'Rocker'.
The soundtracks of 50 summers are represented across 50 tracks spanning 10 vinyl/5 CDs. A hand-picked selection that reflects the incredible breadth of Amnesia's cultural influence, featuring music from Calvin Harris, Donna Summer, Paul van Dyk, Candi Staton, Fred Again.., Robert Miles, Laurent Garnier, Binary Finary, and many more.
Mit der „TECHNO CLUB CLASSIX VOL. 1 - VINYL EDITION“ erscheint erstmals eine Vinyl-Ausgabe der beliebten Technoclub Classix-Reihe. Welche Tracks auf die farbige Doppel-LP kommen, haben die Technoclub-Fans selbst
entschieden: In einer Umfrage konnten sie für ihre Favoriten abstimmen. Das Ergebnis sind 13 Trance-Klassiker aus einer Zeit, die den Sound des Technoclubs bis heute prägt.
Mit dabei sind Chicane mit „Saltwater“, Nikolai mit „Ready To Flow“, The Thrillseekers mit „Synaesthesia“ und Veracocha mit „Carte Blanche“. Dazu kommen weitere bekannte TranceTracks in ausgewählten Maxi-Versionen und Remixen, unter anderem von Talla 2XLC, DJ Quicksilver und Rank 1. „TECHNO CLUB CLASSIX VOL. 1 - VINYL EDITION“ bringt die von den Fans gewählten Technoclub-Favoriten gemeinsam auf Doppel-Vinyl - für alle, die diese Trance-Klassiker damals gefeiert haben und heute noch feiern
FROM THE HEART OF STAR TREK – 60 YEARS
From the Archives – Vol. 2 Vinyl Box
60 Jahre Star Trek – die Jubiläumsreise geht weiter! Vol. 2 der zweiteiligen Vinyl-Box-Edition widmet sich der großen Kinofilm-Ära von Star Trek: The Next Generation. Enthalten sind die Soundtracks zu Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek: First Contact und Star Trek: Insurrection – drei prägende Klangwelten zwischen Jahrhunderten, Kino-Geschichte(n) und Emotionen.
Ergänzt wird die Box durch TV Series Soundtracks, eine Compilation mit musikalischen Höhepunkten aus dem StarTrek-Serienkosmos.
Enthaltene Vinyls:
· Star Trek: Generations
· Star Trek: First Contact
· Star Trek: Insurrection
· Star Trek – TV Series Soundtracks (Doppel-Vinyl)
From the Archives – Vol. 2 ist eine besondere Jubiläumsedition für Vinyl-Liebhaber, Soundtrack-Sammler und Trekkies – ein weiteres Stück Star-Trek-Geschichte zum Auflegen.
This compilation containing both super limited and sold out EPs "Naehe & Flackern" and "Es laesst nicht los, mich jedoch laengst" on one 12" Vinyl. The band Nidare presents their EP "Naehe und Flackern", a collection of three powerful songs that thematically deal with the feeling of hate. The singer's lyrics paint a vivid picture of hate in different facets: the hate towards society, the hate the singer faces in his life and the hate the singer himself carries outward. "Naehe und Flackern" is an EP that takes listeners on an emotional journey while also being a profound emotional exploration. Nidare manages to channel the darkness in her lyrics and music. The EP is an expression of pain, anger and despair, but also a call for self-reflection and understanding of the complex nature of human emotions. "Es laesst nicht los, ich jedoch laengst" is a visceral, unapologetic journey through the emotional landscape of a fractured world. Built around themes of political disillusionment, mental health struggles, and the crushing weight of existential dread, this EP serves as both a cry for help and a reflection of the suffocating atmosphere of modern life.
At the foot of the mountain. Our gaze is inclined toward the summit.
Toward the ascent. The destination that awaits us.
From the valley, we look up at the summit: our destination. But also the path: the true destination.
We can already trace our route, and we are already imagining ourselves walking up there. Along the small ridge, just above the tree line. There, we take a short break and look for the exact spot in the valley where we were standing earlier. It is strange to grasp that we have actually climbed this mountain. To look down from up here at the place where we were just moments ago – the same place we looked up from, toward the place where we are standing now.
And now, knowing what it is like to be up here, we remember what we imagined it would be like back then. What we believed it would mean to stand here.
Along the way, our gaze wanders back and forth. Up toward the mountain, down into the valley, sometimes only at our shoes. We keep walking, one step after another. Our thoughts detached. Our body functioning purely mechanically.
Step left. Step right. Step left. Step right.
Our mind has completely detached itself, and our thoughts race at an immense speed. They summon the most different moments. Moments from our lives. Moments that shaped us, that made us who we are. Or are we perhaps simply trying to understand who we are and how we got here?
It is strange that reaching the summit and looking down could make us believe that we have finally reached, or are striving toward, some superior, triumphant position. When in fact, it is really only about looking at the path we inevitably have to take. Processing impressions from a certain distance. Reconsidering what we have experienced, without losing sight of what lies ahead.
Our gaze turns back toward the summit.
Is there a destination?
An ascent? A summit? A descent? The return?
Or is it only about the insights we encounter along the way?
Am Fuß des Berges. Unser Blick ist zum Gipfel geneigt.
Auf den Aufstieg. Das Ziel, das uns erwartet.
Vom Tal aus blicken wir auf den Gipfel: unser Ziel. Aber auch den Weg: das wahre Ziel. Unsere Route kann man jetzt schon abstecken, und wir stellen uns bereits vor, wie wir dort oben laufen. Über den kleinen Grat, leicht oberhalb der Baumgrenze. Dort machen wir eine kleine Pause und suchen genau die Stelle im Tal, an der wir vorhin noch standen. Es ist verrückt, zu begreifen, dass wir diesen Berg tatsächlich hinaufgestiegen sind. Von hier oben auf den Ort hinunterzusehen, an dem wir eben noch waren – an denselben Ort, zu dem wir hinaufgeblickt haben, als wir noch dort unten standen. Und jetzt, da wir wissen, wie es ist, hier oben zu sein, erinnern wir uns daran, was wir uns damals darunter vorgestellt haben. Was wir geglaubt haben, es würde bedeuten, hier zu stehen.
Unterwegs wandert unser Blick hin und her. Hinauf zum Berg, hinunter ins Tal, manchmal nur auf unsere Schuhe. Wir gehen weiter, einen Schritt nach dem anderen. Unsere Gedanken losgelöst. Unser Körper funktioniert rein mechanisch. Schritt links. Schritt rechts. Schritt links. Schritt rechts.
Unser Geist hat sich völlig losgelöst, und unsere Gedanken rasen mit einer ungeheuren Geschwindigkeit. Sie rufen die verschiedensten Momente herauf. Momente aus unserem Leben. Momente, die uns geprägt haben, aus denen wir geworden sind, wer wir sind. Oder versuchen wir vielleicht einfach nur zu verstehen, wer wir sind und wie wir hierhergekommen sind?
Es ist schon seltsam, dass das Erreichen des Gipfels und der Blick nach unten uns glauben lassen könnten, dass wir endlich eine überragende, triumphale Position erreicht haben oder anstreben würden. Dabei geht es doch eigentlich nur um den Blick auf den Weg, den wir zwangsläufig beschreiten müssen. Eindrücke mit etwas Abstand zu verarbeiten. Erlebtes noch einmal Revue passieren zu lassen, ohne den Blick nach vorne zu verlieren.
Unser Blick wendet sich wieder dem Gipfel zu. Gibt es ein Ziel? Einen Aufstieg? Einen Gipfel? Einen Abstieg? Die Rückkehr? Oder geht es nur um die Erkenntnisse, die uns unterwegs begegnen?
"Fragments of Light" documents seven years of creative dialogue between Purl (Ludvig Cimbrelius) and Ecovillage (Emil Holmström & Peter Wikström). Their journey began with a spontaneous meeting in Los Angeles during October 2019, evolving into a transcontinental process where Ludvig refined ideas during Sri Lankan train journeys while Emil and Peter furthered their ambient dreaming in northern Sweden. Sonically, the album inhabits a space between pop ambient and new age—combining atmospheric textural depth with accessible melodies, while also carrying forward the contemplative nature central to the artists' work and personal lives. Ecovillage, who has collaborated with many revered artists (such as Laraaji, Carlos Niño, and Fennesz), here pour their own deep sensibilities into the ever widening river of Purl—this initial, ambient-rooted alias of Ludvig Cimbrelius. Featuring original, hand-painted artwork by Steven Jackson and delicate mastering work by Ludvig for a special limited physical edition released via his own LILA लीला imprint, “Fragments of Light” carries the hallmarks of an ambient classic-to-be. The album fits naturally alongside works by artists like Brian Eno, Harold Budd, and Hiroshi Yoshimura, as well as contemporary artists who bridge the ethereal with melodic sensibility.
Blume presents The Days Pass Quickly Immersed in the Shadow of Eternity, a new work by Lea Bertucci commissioned by the ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe and premiered in Karlsruhe in November 2025. Written for, and created in collaboration with, the flutist Norbert Rodenkirchen, it draws on his collection of Renaissance, Medieval, and Neolithic instruments, harnessing sounds that have been largely absent from the modern world. What does it mean to employ one of humanity's oldest known technologies, the flute, appearing in human hands tens of thousands of years before the advent of the wheel, within an experimental, electroacoustic composition that is inherently forward-thinking?
Since her emergence within New York City's Noise scene during the early 2010s, Bertucci has balanced a fierce dedication to the DIY ethos and immediacy of the underground with a refined sense of creative rigor and ambition, moving from brittle, challenging compositions for saxophone, electronics, and tape toward investigations of acoustic phenomena, site-specific resonance, and complex harmonic interplay. Following her return to the rural environments of Upstate New York where she was born and raised, her work has entered a more introspective phase, with an expanded instrumental, technical, and vocal palette that has found her increasingly composing for others, as on 2023's Of Shadow and Substance and on Fata Morgana, a work for organ released earlier this year.
The piece grew from a meeting with Rodenkirchen after a performance by the early music ensemble Sequentia, to which he belongs. Struck by his ability to conjure "spirits from deep within human memory, as a clarion call into the present", Bertucci began a series of conversations that led the pair into the studio at ZKM in the summer of 2024. Conceived for ZKM's 42.4 speaker system, grouped into 8 discrete outputs before being mixed down to stereo, the work aligns with the collaborative process she has honed alongside her solo efforts, in duos with Ben Vida, Lawrence English, and Olivia Block: a dialog with personal and responsive agency offered to both musicians.
It carries forward her inquiry into the fundamentally human aspects of listening ("I am looking for sounds that call from somewhere deep within the listener and that tap into archetypal human knowledge and feeling") and her investigation of psychoacoustic phenomena and otoacoustic emissions through a meticulous alignment of pitches and timbres. Where many of her most celebrated efforts played, and played with, the room, this one is rooted in an implied space: the flutes recall and blur the boundaries between the eras and environments in which those instruments were originally played, from acoustically engineered Renaissance and Medieval halls to the naturally reverberant caves of the Neolithic, and those of the present.
Bertucci is not the first to bring ancient sound sources into experimental music: Harry Partch's instruments drew on Greek, Chinese, and Japanese precursors, Alvin Curran regularly plays a conch shell, and Walter Maioli has spent decades working at the borders of experimental music and archaeology. Her piece occupies a more rarefied position through its hybridity, combining advanced technology with archaic sound sources while sidestepping the exoticism and romantic primitivism that can hobble such efforts. Compared with its closest cousin, Phill Niblock's Four Full Flutes, where the instruments are manipulated beyond clear recognition, here the flutes remain recognizable and embrace the layers of history they carry. The result is an electroacoustic work that largely forgoes the auditory signifiers of the idiom: it could easily pass for a live ensemble, and only attentive listening reveals that it could only have been made through advanced technology.
As Rodenkirchen's playing interweaves with Bertucci's computer-facilitated arrangements of flute samples, ranging from pulsing clusters to dense combinations of sustained tones, timbres, and distances, the piece draws connections with folk and spiritual traditions across human history: Medieval polyphonic ecclesiastical music, Sardinian canto a tenore, Pygmy vocal music, Buddhist chant. By conjoining one of our earliest known technologies with our most advanced, Bertucci proposes that our tools are not the message, but rather the unending continuum of humanity itself. Issued by Blume in a highly limited vinyl edition of 300 copies on transparent light blue vinyl, with newly commissioned liner notes by Bradford Bailey.
Cruising at the intersection of their classic deep house glide & dedicated jazz funk wizardry. Side A sports a lowkey mid-tempo keyboard affair, cut with an electro undercurrent while the flip presents an elegant piece of late-night dancefloor dreaminess with "PERFECT DESIGN".
When the first JIM album Love Makes Magic was released in 2023, it was the end product of an experiment that had begun during the strange days of the pandemic. Cooped up in his studio, James Baron started fiddling about with an as-yet unnamed new album idea. It became Vicious Charm’s first LP release. Labelled variously as Balearic, folktronica, blue-eyed soul and Laurel Canyon, Love Makes Magic was perhaps all and none of those things: a record rooted less in Californian mythology than in Baron’s own musical world, somewhere between Sherwood, Nottingham, classic songwriting, electronic soul and the no-nonsense good times that have long run through his work under his other monikers (principally the anagrammatic Ron Basejam and, of course, Crazy P) One thing was indisputable, it connected with people... and still does.
The album was a minor hit, appearing in many a Best of 2023 chart and voted Album of the Year in Bill Brewster’s Furtive 50. A tour and a few memorable festival appearances – his 2024 We Out Here Festival being one of those wonderfully timed ‘moments’ - perfectly captured the horizontal vibes on the album, while injecting some live energy into its delivery. While there was a follow-up remix album for Love Makes Magic, JIM was already preparing a sophomore LP: “I wrote the majority of The Curious Case Of Existence in a couple of months at the beginning of 2024, then it was just a case of making the record over the next couple of years in between everything else.”
Though Scratch may have at times seemed crazy, it is worth noting that creative
genius appears so because geniuses see things others do not see and inhabit
realities unseen. As the music on this album reveals, Lee Perry's Black Ark creations
re-arrange the familiar into something new and magical.
Lee spent his early days working with legendary producers Coxsone Dodd, Duke Reid,
Joe Gibbs, Clancy Eccles and Prince Buster, and by 1968 he was an independent
producer, naming his studio musicians The Upsetters and scoring instrumental hits
with innovative rhythms that helped forge the new reggae style. In 1970-1971 he
produced what many consider the greatest works by the Wailers; in 1968 one of his
Upsetters productions hit #5 on the UK pop chart and more hits followed. That gave
him the funds to build his own studio and in 1973 the legendary Black Ark was born.
Among the many landmark classics cut at Black Ark are such incisive political
commentaries as Max Romeo's "War Ina Babylon," and Junior Murvin's "Police and
Thieves" (covered by the Clash). The Congos' "Heart of the Congos" album is a roots
classic and there are many wonderful obscure singles such as Carlton and the Shoes'
"Better Days." Many dub creations made innovative use of Scratch's sonic wizardry via
echo, phasing, reverb, fanging, wah-wah and various sound effects.
It all came to an end in 1978 as Lee, besieged by extortionists, freeloaders, religious
fanatics and assorted pilgrims, let the studio lapse. And then he set it on fre, some
say due to frustration, others say from mental collapse. He left Jamaica, collaborated
with musicians around the world, toured as a sort of mystic trickster/ shaman and
prospered. But his work at Black Ark will always stand as his ultimate creative
achievement.
Fans and headz worldwide have been clamoring for a follow- up, but all Emapea wanted to do was just 'zone out.' And that's what happened, with the release of Emapea's twenty song album Zoning Out, Volume 1. Emapea's cuts are meant for the listener to get lost in - but they're not only for chilling, or when deep in thought, but also for getting in that crucial head-nod zone, like when the DJ drops the dopest beat. Expertly crafted and sequenced, the album presents a boom-bap journey that's dreamy and spacey while remaining tough and jazzy. "Check It Out" exemplifies the mood with its smooth drums, chiming keys, subtle sax riffs, and hip hop shout-outs. The vibe expands on "Motion", adding an exotic, worldly flavor to the seductively loping rhythm. And "Classy" features a smokey saloon piano melody that cruises smugly out of jeep-beat speakers.
Following on from his electric appearance on Diamonds in the Night, Tallac returns with a four‑tracker of low‑orbit elation. Tessitura blends floor‑facing energy with sleek space synths, elegant undercurrents washed in bold bars to produce a one‑of‑a‑kind sound. Drums hit hard on “Carbon Copy,” driving percussion providing the launchpad for synthlines to swoop and soar. Tempos are taken down a notch for the analogue embrace of “Kiss Me Quick.” Notes bend and flow in this smoky dreamscape, samples pulling the listener ever deeper. The rumbling kicks and hissing hi‑hats of “Pythia” are punctured by a throbbing beat; gliding above the rolling snares and luxurious breaks is a melody that thrums with palpable intensity and unbridled joy, a track made to ignite audiences. Never adhering to genre tags or style pigeonholes, Tessitura closes with “Cybersyn.” Touches of cosmic melt into late‑night glow‑stick energy, dawn’s light piercing the warehouse windows while the speakers continue to bounce blissfully.
Ismael Pinkler lives in Buenos Aires. Belly Dance Services head Nick Hanzo in Vienna. Turns out the exact midpoint between the two is somewhere in open ocean. So they abandoned the plan to meet on Earth at all, and met on planet 126 in outer space.
It turned out to be a strange, hospitable little world — spinning at its own pulse, 126 beats per minute, changing landscape every few kilometers, as if it couldn't decide what kind of planet it wanted to be either. Ismael and Nick wandered it together, letting each new terrain talk them into a different song, until ten tracks had quietly assembled themselves. What they brought back drifts somewhere between shoegaze, techno, ambient, trippy tribal house and pop — grounded and gravitational, emotional and mental, to put it in terms Earthlings might understand.
Now, speaking seriously: Ismael and Nick built Planet 126 by passing sounds and ideas back and forth across the ocean, night after night, for eight months. The entire process — composition, vocal recording, production and mixing — took just eight months, a dream scenario for any electronic musician. The collaboration stayed positive, proactive and fresh throughout, letting the project move forward effortlessly. All tracks were written and produced by both musicians together; Nick wrote the lyrics and recorded the vocals, Ismael handled the mix. No samples, no references — just two people building a world from scratch.
Planet 126 also marks a milestone for Belly Dance Services: the label's 30th release, and likely its last. BDS began with BDS001, a vinyl EP by label founders Hanzo & Yaman, and has been solely helmed by Nick Hanzo for the past five years. Now it comes full circle — laid to rest with a big bang: a double vinyl gatefold album co-produced by Ismael Pinkler and label head Nick Hanzo.
Michael Rawls, Frontmann von Sunken Man, wuchs zwischen Suffolk und Norfolk in Virginia auf. Auf der einen Seite die Stille einer Kleinstadt, auf der anderen der Lärm der Großstadt. Rawls baute sich ein erfülltes Leben abseits der Musik auf: Finanzberater, Unternehmer, Familie _ und trotzdem tauchten die Songs immer wieder auf. Dann ging eine Ehe in die Brüche, und in der Stille eines Hauses, in dem ein Kind schlief, fing er an, ernsthaft zu schreiben. Songs über Liebeskummer und Neuanfänge. Darüber, jemanden neu zu lieben, während man das, was vorher war, immer noch mit sich trägt. Rawls brachte die Songs zu Matthew E. White ins Spacebomb Studio in Richmond. White produzierte das Album; Alan Parker, der unter anderem schon mit Bon Iver, Lucy Dacus und Dijon zusammengearbeitet hat, spielte alle Instrumente selbst. Das Album wurde vom dreifachen Grammy-Gewinner Alex De Jong abgemischt und von TW Walsh gemastert. Das Ergebnis sind neun Songs, die irgendwo zwischen Springsteens emotionaler Direktheit und Wilcos melodischer Intelligenz angesiedelt sind. Liebeskummer, ja - aber auch Hoffnung. Die Art von Hoffnung, die man sich erst verdienen muss.
Label-resident Stefan Vincent drops his first vinyl for Dynamic Reflection. And what an EP 'Elephant's Foot' is; three mesmerizing originals and an outstanding Linzatti remix on top.
Stefan's shedding his 'upcoming' status more and more and turning himself into an artist to watch. This EP is another solid step in that direction.
This latest project by Groovedesign Kollective is rooted in movement, thoughtful tension, joyful repetition and dreamy release.
United Tribes
The Groovedesign factor shapes itself in the opening track 'United Tribes' by repositioning intimacy over chaos, a life affirming sound that belongs to those magic early morning hours that really shape experiences. And generations. A unique blend of Afro, Funky beat and Disco Clubby grooves merging with visionary House piano's themes within a rich, deep electronic tapestry and dubby effects.
Supremes
This track perfectly complements the previous yet it is its own groove and carries great dancefloor weight. Further developing the concept of exquisite fusion and fine contamination between already blurred genre's lines, where feelings and emotions meet their sonic counterparts.
Feeling the dancefloor comes as a second nature to Groovedesign: unrelenting yet subtle, innovative yet grounded. Their music carries experience and innovation without announcing itself, guided by an intuitive sense of energy rather than formulas.
Best known for his frankly insane 32-year Subculture residency at Glasgow's legendary Sub Club, Domenic Cappello also played a foundational role in 20/20 Vision's early days as part of Urb n Ri alongside founder Ralph Lawson and Carl Finlow. Space City revives that out-of-print cult classic with a fresh remastering of 'Dream of a Groove' and 'Aquans Realm'. Next to those, the team have unearthed two lost DAT cuts in 'Marvin' - a loosey-goosey and beautifully deft melodic dreamer - and 'Nice n Slow,' a more angular slow-motion workout. Classic US deep house tropes and jazzy invention characterise what a super tasteful EP is.
MEKONS - OUT OF DESPERATION (LUXURY CHICKEN SONG): ,Ein Luxus-Huhn ist was ganz Besonderes und Einzigartiges und hat einen hohen Wert. Es gibt auch ein handbemaltes Mekons-T-Shirt mit einem Huhn drauf, das eine Zigarette raucht. Hagar the Womb sind auch ganz besonders und einzigartig und haben einen hohen Wert, und ich bin froh, dass sie sich an dem Abend im Hawley Arms nicht wirklich getrennt haben, obwohl sie unseren Rider geklaut haben." - JON LANGFORD (Gründungsmitglied von Mekons, Three Johns und Waco Brothers), 2025 // HAGAR THE WOMB - FARE DODGING WITH THE MEKON'S RIDER (3 BEERS & A LEMON): Geschrieben von Ruth Elias & Chris Knowles. Aufgenommen bei Church Road Recording Company, Hove, von Paul Pascoe 2025. Hags: Ruth, Karen, Paul, Lorna, Mitch, Chris. Coverdesign & Illustration von Lorna Tiefholz. Text von Ruth. Der Labelaufdruck zeigt Chris, wie er eines der drei Biere im Zug trinkt. Dieser Song entstand kurz nachdem das dritte Bier getrunken war. ,Fare Dodging with the Mekon's Rider" entstand, nachdem wir vor ein paar Jahren in Brighton unsere Lieblingsband The Mekons supportet hatten. Im Gegensatz zu den Hags hatten sie einen reichhaltigen Rider, darunter eine Obstschale mit einer prächtigen Zitrone. Als wir uns auf den Weg zum Zug zurück nach London machten, steckte Ruth heimlich drei Bier aus dem Rider der Mekons in ihre Tasche und konnte sich dann nicht von der Zitrone trennen! Von Gesetzlosigkeit erfüllt, sind wir aus dem Zug ausgestiegen, nachdem uns gesagt wurde, dass wir nicht einsteigen könnten, weil wir die falschen Fahrkarten hatten. Wir haben die Biere getrunken, bevor der Zug den Bahnhof verließ, aber, liebe Leser, die Zitrone wurde nie verzehrt. Ein trauriges Ende für die Zitrusfrucht, aber in diesem Song, der unsere Errungenschaften des Abends feiert, wird sie nie vergessen werden.
NYC dance music legend Joey Longo has been a part of the dance music soundscape for those in the know from way back when, his first records surfacing in 1989 under a variety of monikers and on a slew of labels out of NYC.
One of his lesser known aliases was Dreamhouse, which only produced two tracks Jump & Prance and I Can Feel It, both in 1990 and contained here on this official reissue. Special mention to the Dream Mix which has long been sort after by collectors and DJ's worldwide and repressed here for the first time since it's original release in 1990. Finally an opportunity to own a slice of Joey's signature raw New York sound.
Function has long since cemented his legacy in the underground world but it's always worth reminding yourself where an artist's story began. In David Summer's case, that's with this EP, which dropped on Damon Wild's Synewave, who now reissue it in full, 30 years on. It's an impressively fully-formed sound for a debut: 'F1' is a jacked-up techno rhythm with a fat bassline and frazzled synths that bring it to life. 'F2' is a more experimental and beatless piece with modular pulses, echoing frequencies and decaying sine waves then 'F3 rides a dreamy dub rhythm that undulates gently amid some gorgeous sustained pads that recall Thebes of Detroit. 'F4' comes with more Millsian-style minimal that fires up your brain.
Delsin is pleased to announce the second volume of their extensive compilation series combing through the catalogue of landmark Dutch techno label Djax-Up-Beats. The series, curated by Rush Hour co-founder Christiaan Macdonald, continues with a look at the label's legacy in the development of Dutch techno through the early 90s. This second volume in the Djax-Up-Beats 1990-2005 series comprises 25 tracks, presented again as a main triple-vinyl album plus three additional 12" EPs. The compilation also features again all-new illustration from Alan Oldham, design by Lost Communication and liner notes from music journalist Oli Warwick. Crucially, every track featured on the series has been carefully mastered by Johanz Westerman, bringing the best out of tracks that often had very little post-production treatment before they were originally pressed to wax. Volume 2 - The NL Connection takes a deep dive in the development of Dutch techno. Saskia Slegers didn't run her label with a specific focus on any one place, but she naturally connected with artists close to home. Emergent producers from across the Netherlands found a vital outlet in Djax-Up whether they were short-lived dabblers or dance music devotees on their way to lifelong careers. Volume 2 - The NL Connection looks at the first outings in Dutch techno by originators such as Stefan Robbers as Terrace, Dylan Hermelijn as Planet Gong and Edge Of Motion (with Gert-Jan Schonewille) and Sander Friedeman as Random XS. Whether it was sensitive, melodious machine dreaming, gnarly acid tweaking, jackhammer techno or oddball outliers, you could count on Slegers' label to point you to the best underground club music coming out of the Netherlands. With four more, equally extensive, volumes to come in this series, Djax-Up-Beats 1990-2005 is a thorough exploration of a true totem of techno culture -- a renegade label that operated on its own terms and carried surprises and slammers in equal measure.
After a five-year-long hiatus, CVBox is back with six tracks between techno, acid, electro and IDM that are more suited to those super dark times we're currently living through than ever before. On "Pattern Based On", the Dresden-based artist and long-running Uncanny Valley-comrade (four EPs and one album) proves that he hasn't lost his touch when it comes to creating electronic cyberspaces that might drive you mad a bit. With majestic sounds and constantly evolving arrangements, the tracks are strangely entertaining on the dancefloor while you can't help but still feel a queasy sensation in your stomach. While some describe the tunes as milky, permeated by translucent membranes, for others they are an aural embodiment of urban landscapes in the post-apocalypse. Only two things are true: No one sounds like CVBox and all his tracks sound like CVBox. The title refers to structures derived from repetitions, sequences and, indeed, patterns. Although the sounds within these patterns usually follow clear paths, they are allowed to overlap and falter. At the same time, it is music through which CVBox comes to terms with his time as a paramedic. The artwork extends this idea with a special twist. A medical-based test pattern with its clinical functionality is set against a backdrop that is clearly placed in a natural environment. A process that creates a kind of artefact and triggers immediate reflection on what will remain of us many decades from now. What role will music play in defining this?
Take a trip back to the golden age of popular music with Golden Oldies, a 2LP collection bringing together 40 timeless favourites from the 1950s and early ’60s. Featuring legendary artists including Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Sam Cooke, The Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison, Chuck Berry, Etta James and Bobby Darin, this hit-packed set captures an unforgettable era of rock ’n’ roll, pop, soul and rhythm & blues. Highlights include Johnny B. Goode, Heartbreak Hotel, The Wanderer, Mack The Knife, Crying and Smoke Gets In Your Eyes – classic recordings that still sound as good today as they ever did.
For over 30 years the Midwest machine menace that is Paul Birken has been developing and exploring his love for the limitless potential that exists when you chain together synths, sequencers, samplers and beat makers, he is a true audio explorer communicating his own unique sonic exploration through his machines + odd dreams. Starting out back in the day merely with a Commodore 64 computer and a few synths, his studio gear arsenal has constantly evolved over the years into a myriad of unfathomable boxes, cables and bangin’ in his attic allowing him to freely manipulate his random audio creations into the most serious and fun grooves anywhere in the techno realms. Along-with his own imprint Tonewrecker Recordings, Paul’s appeared on a huge stack of the most impressive labels including Don’t Recordings, Fun In The Murky, Earwiggle, Mord and of course a plethora of remixes and tracks on our very own RIOT Radio Records.
From within a tomb in ancient lands comes this 'Bandage Boogie.' A hallowed homage to all things that are non-stop breakin' n' stompin' n' boppin' to the RIOT beats that have now manifested themselves on a 'Mummificated' dance floor near you. This aint street life, this is tomb life, and you'll need as many sacred tanna leaves to keep you movin’ as your fiendish high priest will bestow upon you. This brewed techno fluid that we're administering will ultimately invoke 'The Curse of RIOT’ and you’ll be doomed to eternal bouncin' aboot to its 'Pyramid Pongo' beats that go mysteriously THUMP in the night. Each track on here, and especially in his infamously legendary live sets, are unique in that they get erased from his machines after their creation and won’t ever be spawned again, but ssssssssssssssh, Mummy's the word.
The full digital release also features two bonus immortal tracks delving you deeper into the life-giving sounds of this ‘Mummy Wrapsody.’
WARNING: THESE UNWRAPPED TECHNO BEATS CREATE A WONK-A-THON YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE FROM
