Search:drum cult

Brighton’s Moon Attendant team up with Go! Team's leader and drummer Ian Parton for new LP ‘Dum Evol’. Following their debut ‘One Last Summer’ with this incendiary, heart-pounding, drum-led masterwork full of untutored surf-guitar, Scarlet Rivera style fiddle, psychedelic orchestration and sharp-playful lyrics, all within just over 30 thrilling minutes.Since their debut, Paul Blewett and Nick Holton had been knee-deep in experimental music and needed something or someone to smash the shit out of the new songs. Instead of making heavier music, the result left lofty but wobbly structures teetering on fractured Giacometti-like frames, exposed, more arresting. Paring back the Musical palette from previous wash of synths and reverb to surf guitars, Moog, and violin, leaving Blewett's vocal (often compared to Colin Bunstone) leaning into an unvarnished, direct sound like Jimmy Campbell. Thematically, Dum Evol turns inward. Where their debut asked questions, this record sits with the answers, exploring love, conflict, and growth as experiences that must be lived first hand - “It’s such dumb evolution, you still have to learn the hard way”. Their lyrics get under the skin and under The Establishment in a wistful worm like way. Nudging at the truths. Smiling but always ready to bare some fangs.The fantastic instinctive violinist, Roger Proctor, joined as fourth member, bringing raw fragile beauty to ‘Look The Other Way’ & ‘Difficult Ifficult’, blending swooping string lines with the monster-surfing-Sonic Youth racket elsewhere. They explain - “We kept to a first take policy generally as it keeps everything just fresh and daisy like.” Dum Evol’s restraint allows the band’s more experimental instincts to land with greater weight. Musically, the record occupies a space somewhere between the slacker-rock nonchalance of Pavement and the gypsy swagger of Dylan - 'Desire' through a lens that is consciously, almost defiantly, English. It’s a sound that channels the 60's pastoral folk tradition alongside the sharp-edge of The Auteurs, an honest version of England, one to be proud of, existing in stark contrast to the hollow jingoistic nationalism of flag-shaggers climbing lamp posts. Jagged, lived-in, and entirely vital, Dum Evol is a record that feels fully realised, yet remains dangerously built to unravel in a hair's breadth.“Psychelelic grungy synth-pop - Moon Attendant marry analogue electronics to a lovely burbling pop sound, like Felt exploring the recesses of krautrock. Trippy, ramshackle and a cult in waiting.” Shindig!

Brighton’s Moon Attendant team up with Go! Team's leader and drummer Ian Parton for new LP ‘Dum Evol’. Following their debut ‘One Last Summer’ with this incendiary, heart-pounding, drum-led masterwork full of untutored surf-guitar, Scarlet Rivera style fiddle, psychedelic orchestration and sharp-playful lyrics, all within just over 30 thrilling minutes.Since their debut, Paul Blewett and Nick Holton had been knee-deep in experimental music and needed something or someone to smash the shit out of the new songs. Instead of making heavier music, the result left lofty but wobbly structures teetering on fractured Giacometti-like frames, exposed, more arresting. Paring back the Musical palette from previous wash of synths and reverb to surf guitars, Moog, and violin, leaving Blewett's vocal (often compared to Colin Bunstone) leaning into an unvarnished, direct sound like Jimmy Campbell. Thematically, Dum Evol turns inward. Where their debut asked questions, this record sits with the answers, exploring love, conflict, and growth as experiences that must be lived first hand - “It’s such dumb evolution, you still have to learn the hard way”. Their lyrics get under the skin and under The Establishment in a wistful worm like way. Nudging at the truths. Smiling but always ready to bare some fangs.The fantastic instinctive violinist, Roger Proctor, joined as fourth member, bringing raw fragile beauty to ‘Look The Other Way’ & ‘Difficult Ifficult’, blending swooping string lines with the monster-surfing-Sonic Youth racket elsewhere. They explain - “We kept to a first take policy generally as it keeps everything just fresh and daisy like.” Dum Evol’s restraint allows the band’s more experimental instincts to land with greater weight. Musically, the record occupies a space somewhere between the slacker-rock nonchalance of Pavement and the gypsy swagger of Dylan - 'Desire' through a lens that is consciously, almost defiantly, English. It’s a sound that channels the 60's pastoral folk tradition alongside the sharp-edge of The Auteurs, an honest version of England, one to be proud of, existing in stark contrast to the hollow jingoistic nationalism of flag-shaggers climbing lamp posts. Jagged, lived-in, and entirely vital, Dum Evol is a record that feels fully realised, yet remains dangerously built to unravel in a hair's breadth.“Psychelelic grungy synth-pop - Moon Attendant marry analogue electronics to a lovely burbling pop sound, like Felt exploring the recesses of krautrock. Trippy, ramshackle and a cult in waiting.” Shindig!

With S.I.K. (Sociedad Internacional de la Kumbia), Conjunto Media Luna maps a constellation of sounds, friendships, and underground connections stretching across Colombia, Mexico, the United States, and beyond.
Produced in Bogotá between 2024 and 2026 by Iván Medellín, the album draws energy from rebajada culture, low-end frequencies, vinyl obsession, rap, and the hypnotic pull of cumbia. Accordion melodies, sampled fragments, drum machines, and sound system pressure intertwine throughout the record, creating a world where tradition is constantly reimagined through contemporary urban culture.
Featuring contributions from artists such as La Gallo 3:20, Turbo Sonidero, Amantes del Futuro, Mextape, León Pardo, Mismo Perro, and Hito de Piedra, S.I.K. unfolds as a dialogue between scenes that have spent years exchanging records, ideas, aesthetics, and frequencies.
The artwork comes from Mateo Rivano, one of the key visual architects of Bogotá's experimental tropical underground, whose imagery perfectly captures the album's blend of street mythology, sonic futurism, and tropical psychedelia.
Part sound system manifesto, part love letter to the global kumbia underground, S.I.K. is dedicated to everyone expanding the culture from their own corner of the map, through music, dance, graphics, fashion, and noise.

Edition of 600 copies, not sealed

Made with Love by Little Beat More 2026
Published by Little Beat More

Previously unreleased proto-metal album by this criminally forgotten UK band. Sweaty Betty were neighbours and friends of Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, all hailing from the West Midlands region of England. The Sweatier The Bettyer, was recorded in 1974/75 and features Budgie drummer Pete Boot. Also, on vocals was future NWOBHM cult legend: Rik Staines, who went on to form Dark Star. Their debut 45: Lady of Mars is considered a classic of the genre. After several years of strenuous research, Rise Above Relics is excited to bring this long-lost jewel from the crypts of the 1970s British underground scene. Mastered and cut from the original 1/4" tapes, it is a gargantuan feast for fans of the era

Ghetto House music is one of Chicago’s most unapologetic cultural exports. Born from the city’s underground party scenes in the late ’80s and ’90s, it carried a different kind of energy than traditional house music. While Chicago house was known globally for soulful grooves and club elegance, Ghetto House came from the basements, the neighborhood parties, the dance circles, and the DJs who pushed the tempo and the attitude. The sound was simple but powerful—heavy drums, bold chants, and rhythms designed to move bodies instantly. It wasn’t about perfection; it was about impact. The music reflected the creativity and resilience of young people across Chicago who turned turntables, drum machines, and neighborhood culture into a movement. With “Ghetto House Music 3,” DJ Slugo continues that legacy, reminding listeners that this sound isn’t just history—it’s still alive, evolving, and moving the culture forward. credits released April 24, 2026 license all rights reserved

"The electroclash genre sure has been having a bit of a renaissance moment. During its first coming an odd 25 years ago the French act Sweetlight was a favorite over here. Originally active between 2002 and 2010, they quickly positioned themselves within a refined strand of the global underground scene: inspired by 90s acid house club culture, they rose to prominence by releasing a sparse selection of original tracks and a multitude of remixes that were both dancefloor-effective and immediately recognizable. After the EPs stopped coming, the project seemed to have faded. But their tracks never left our bag: they combined minimalism with ambiguous elegance and retained a distinct, timeless quality, easily transcending the turn-of-the-century style they were most closely associated with. We are delighted, in what we consider nothing less than a full-circle moment, to release "Selected Recordings: 2004 - 2006" and shed light on an underrated yet, in our eyes, absolutely essential project. ALT022 is an anthology release featuring four extensive, remastered cuts. Abusator, arguably the act's hallmark track and a crossover hit, kicks off the EP. It is joined by Mecaniques Remontees, which opened the milestone Suck My Deck mix by Ivan Smagghe, and Too Shy, both initially part of the same EP back in 2004. Noir Comme Le Beat, an unreleased curiosity from the same era, closes the record. You will find dark, endless, ever-modulating arpeggiator basses, Detroit-via-Paris chord progressions, and spartan drums. The work is, in the artists' own words, low-profile, detail-oriented, and built for late hours. It's an ideal compilation or - depending on the case - introduction, especially now that new work is rumored to be finally on its way."

'Channel Zero is a new release produced by the London-based Brazilian artist Protocol. It is made up of 4 unprocessed live jam recordings of heavy, stripped-down techno. Composed over a period of 2 years, the artist focuses on experimenting on the far edges of techno, inspired by early avant-garde music, drone, and Musique Concrete. It comes in a hand-numbered limited edition of 180g black labels, in a 3mm inside-out cover with a black inner-sleeve.
'The work is a confirmation that techno still thinks forwardly, but pays homage to its mostly overlooked origins. The titles come from one of the early Cybernetic Culture Research Unit essays, also named Channel Zero.
'Lost Signal (Noise) opens up the EP with reverberated static noise, followed up by a deep bass with more layers of percussion and atmospheric noise patterns, slowly evolving into unexpected rhythms. The second track, Blind Belief, is composed of a deconstructed kick sequence, with machinic-like sound structures in the background and a hi-hat that morphs with various envelopes, together with a nostalgic 909 rim-shot. Turning to the B side, Electromagnetic Shadow is an atmospheric four-to-the-floor techno track, where deep kick drums and polyrhythmic noise soundscapes move into industrial noise pattern. Closing Protocol's debut EP, Black Snow Cult brings together the EP's sound palette into aggressive patterns of Birmingham-esque industrial percussions, where synthetic sounds are put together in primitive sounding sequences together with high pitched frequencies.'

The Gates of Slumber’s debut album and EP reissued in August Svart Records continue to reissue the works of Indiana’s true doom metal legends The Gates of Slumber by bringing back their debut album The Awakening and early EP Like a Plague Upon the Land in late August 2026. Crushing debut The Awakening from 2004 is an album of raw, slow, monolithic traditional doom with a gritty sound. Featuring heavy, battleaxe-in-the-gut riffs and depressing, slow leads, The Awakening is strongly influenced by Pentagram and Candlemass, with Conan-style lyrical themes and Ozzy-like vocals. An essential, cult classic album for the fans of true doom. The Gates of Slumber was formed by Karl Simon in 1998. Various people were in and out of the group between 1998 and 2001, when the Blood Encrusted Deth Axe demo was recorded with Jamie Walters aka Dr. Phibes/Athenar (Boulder, Midnight) on drums and bass. In 2003 Jason McCash took over the bass duties and was a long-time member of the band until his untimely demise in 2014, after which Simon decided it was time to call it quits. That was until 2019 when the renowned metal festival Hell Over Hammaburg wanted to bring the band back on stage to perform at the festival’s 2020 edition. Simon reformed the band with its original member Chuck Brown on drums and Steve Janiak on bass and got back to work, which resulted in the new self-titled album released in 2024 on Svart Records.

The Gates of Slumber’s debut album and EP reissued in August Svart Records continue to reissue the works of Indiana’s true doom metal legends The Gates of Slumber by bringing back their debut album The Awakening and early EP Like a Plague Upon the Land in late August 2026. Crushing debut The Awakening from 2004 is an album of raw, slow, monolithic traditional doom with a gritty sound. Featuring heavy, battleaxe-in-the-gut riffs and depressing, slow leads, The Awakening is strongly influenced by Pentagram and Candlemass, with Conan-style lyrical themes and Ozzy-like vocals. An essential, cult classic album for the fans of true doom. The Gates of Slumber was formed by Karl Simon in 1998. Various people were in and out of the group between 1998 and 2001, when the Blood Encrusted Deth Axe demo was recorded with Jamie Walters aka Dr. Phibes/Athenar (Boulder, Midnight) on drums and bass. In 2003 Jason McCash took over the bass duties and was a long-time member of the band until his untimely demise in 2014, after which Simon decided it was time to call it quits. That was until 2019 when the renowned metal festival Hell Over Hammaburg wanted to bring the band back on stage to perform at the festival’s 2020 edition. Simon reformed the band with its original member Chuck Brown on drums and Steve Janiak on bass and got back to work, which resulted in the new self-titled album released in 2024 on Svart Records.

Following the cult success of the first 2 EPs, Common Saints presents the debut album "Cinema 3000", the theme continues, blending soul, funk, and psychedelic influences with the organic sound and rich instrumentation that Common Saints has become known for Conceived in 2020 by writer / producer Charlie J Perry the production approach for Commons Saints consists of him playing and recording real instruments in his London home studio. One mike for the drums, his beloved piano and amps up loud! The album encapsulates the old school recording approach and musicianship the discerning ear craves but with a more modern punch - a true sonic bath for all the connoisseurs out there. Think, UK"s equivalent to Tame Impala and Khruangbin.

At the Moers Festival 2018, OXBOW got together with Peter Brötzmann to deliver a memorable performance, bringing out the best of two legends in their very own genres while playing old and new Oxbow songs together. Oxbow, formed in 1988 in San Francisco, plays a blend of noise rock, avant garde jazz, musique concrè te and blues, creating intimate soundscapes, with overtones of paranoia, revulsion and exaltation. They released a couple of cult albums, eg. on. Neurot, Hydra Head. Peter Brötzmann , active since the 60s with his distinct saxophone sound, is one of the key musicians in European Free Jazz. ,I think we have at least one thing in common: a certain kind of energy, which we could share and where we will meet." Peter Brötzmann *** Peter Brötzmann -saxophone / Eugene S. Robinson - vocals / Niko Wenner - guitars, piano / Dan Adams - bass guitar / Greg Davis - drums

2026 Repress

WRWTFWW Records is extremely excited to announce the first ever vinyl release for Pizza Hotline’s brilliant 2022 full-length Level Select, originally only released on cassette and digital. The liquid drum & bass meets Y2K era video gaming aesthetics monster is now available in a limited edition transparent vinyl double LP with a glorious 45rpm cut, packaged in a heavyweight 350gsm sleeve.

Entirely written and composed by UK producer Pizza Hotline (apart from "GLACIER ZONE", a collaboration between Pizza Hotline and DJ Total 90), the stellar 8-song album was initially released as a limited cassette in January 2022 and quickly gained cult status - making a full-on vinyl release quite the necessity. It’s here now with the the previously unreleased track "POLYGON DREAMSCAPE" (which sounds as magical as its title) and 45rpm cut for louder, bigger, deeper bass rumbling.

Spellbinding, atmospheric, and beautifully melodic, Level Select is a large scope dreamy adventure of liquid DnB filled with ambient escapades, ethereal jungle, high vibe breaks, and a heavy loving dose of late 90s / early 2000s video game influences. Hypnotic late night hype and pensive chill moods mesh with ease in a cinematic soundscape that re-contextualizes and gives a new life to a beloved music genre - LTJ Bukem, Peshay, the Wipeout OST or Soichi Terada's Ape Escape come to mind, and sounds and soundtracks from the Sony Playstation, the Nintendo 64, and the Sega Saturn resonate from the speakers. It’s all fresh with a subtle nostalgia and so much heart. An instant classic.

Emotional Rescue returns after a much-needed year hiatus, refreshed and ready, as it moves into its 15th year, to further explore the environs of oft-forgotten musical secrets and present them to new heads and minds.

To celebrate, the label looks back to one of its favourite collaborations, the music of French ‘Ethno-Industrialists’ Vox Populi! in presenting a truly unique EP of “In Dub”, inspired remixes by 4 fellow Paris based artists of today in Full Circle, Froid Dub, Krikor and Shelter.

“In Dub” takes a selection of songs from the series of albums reissued or compiled on Emotional Rescue and sister label, Platform 23, and gives the Master tapes to this talented ensemble to offer their own, unique dub reworks. The project explores the on-going advances in technology offered, mixed with pure talent and a respectful homage.

Formed by Axel Kyrou and including wife Mitra, as well as long-term music and art partners Pierre Jolivet aka Pacific 231 and Francis Lafont aka FR6 Man, they forged a path from obscure, drum and drum-based cassette releases on to fully realized albums and compilations on their now cult Vox Man Records.

Alexis Le Tan and Joakim’s Full Circle project starts, with their electronic dub remake of Soleyman Dub from the ‘Alternatif Réalisme’ compilation (ERC079). With releases on Good Morning Tapes, Offen and their own “Released” label, their plaudits as master diggers and producers of dubby tripped-out inspired electronics – releasing slowed Trance some 10 years before anyone else – is inspired. Tuning in and turning on the original dub into a mantra style slow-breaks (Digi)dub is the perfect experimental flavour.

Jube Man is next, a twisted, psychedelic dub out by rising stars Froid Dub. The stand-out from the ‘Magiques Creations’ release (ERC052), an album that explored Vox Populi’s furtive post-industrial period of 1984 to 1988, Jube Man was the perfect selection by the duo of François Marché and Stéphane Bodin.

Froid Dub have steadily developed their “cold” Digidub style to acclaim –

releasing a steady flow of dub inspired electronics on their own label Delodio, as well as recently appearing on sister label Emotional Response’s 10th year anniversary collection, ‘All Trades’. Their haunting, shuffling and murky acid / piano dub, with the drifting “Space Echoing” of Mitra’s vocals from the live desk mix, creates a ghostly version to effect.

Next, master mixer, producer and engineer Krikor serves a steppers remake with his “OverDub” of Zen-Dub. With a career that spans releases on Tigersushi, LIES and Soul Jazz, his sound has developed from Electro, House and Techno, to Acid, Bleep, Dancehall, Dub and touches of Gabba.

Taken from Vox Populi!’s master-opus Aither (ERC030), the first of our reissues dating back to 2016, Zen-Dub’s pacey, lo-fi dub experience is transformed and overdubbed into an incessant sound system throb, a true bass quaking “steppa”.

To close, Micro Climax is put through Shelter’s increasing avant dub exposition. Appearing on the likes of Growing Bin, Emotional Response and his own Protopost, as well for – and being in-house designer – on the much-missed Séance Centre, Alan Briand aka Shelter productions have developed from Balearic, Edits and House to explore Avant, Raga and live Dub productions.

Appearing on the recent ‘Ethniques Pyschedeliques’ compilation on Platform 23 (PLA032), in original form Micro Climax is a sprawling 10-minute ethno-dub of whispered vocals, drone and sub bass. Shelter strips it back, keeping background effects, adding live bass and percussion to create a wonky, slow, shuffling ska-lite excursion to complete a true “In Dub”.

Gilles Peterson presents Norma Winstone Live at Maida Vale is a live album that comes as part of an amazing collaboration between BBE Music and UK DJ and radio legend Gilles Peterson. Pre-empting the future release of Gilles' compilation BBC Sessions Vol 2 – Maida Vale: the end of an era on BBE Music, this Norma Winstone concert is an absolute must have for anyone who is part of the Jazz fanbase. Released as a vinyl LP this recording captures vocalist and composer Norma Winstone with a group of contemporary and emerging musicians that include her sons Leo and Alex Taylor on drums and vocals respectively, the world renowned tuba player Oren Marshall, pianist and composer Elliot Galvin (Shabaka Hutchins, Emma-Jean Thackray) and saxophonist Mark Lockheart (Polar Bear, Radiohead, Robert Wyatt). As BBE Music celebrates 30 years as one of the UK's (and the world's) pre-eminent and innovative Black music record labels this collaboration with Gilles Peterson is an apt partnership to curate, release and highlight some of the music from Gilles' groundbreaking BBC Sessions recorded at the globally famous Maida Vale studios. To feature a concert by a legend such as Norma Winstone, who has worked with everyone from Joe Harriot to Michael Garrick to Ian Carr's Nucleus in her over 50 year career, is clearly a highly personal moment for Gilles as he described the Maida Vale gig as 'possibly the biggest highlight of all my years at the BBC'. Released on BBE Music as a five track vinyl LP, Gilles Peterson presents Norma Winstone Live at Maida Vale comes in a gatefold sleeve which features photographs from the session and sleeve notes by the excellent music and culture writer Emma Warren.

ROSE KEELER-SCHAFFELER

UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE

Magic Hollow (MH002)

Before we learn language, we learn the voice.

Universal Language is the second release on Magic Hollow and an exploration of the voice before song and before speech. Written and recorded during pregnancy and early motherhood, Rose Keeler-Schaffeler's album draws inspiration from the earliest forms of human communication: coos, cries, sighs and instinctive vocalisations that precede language yet already contain the seeds of music.

Best known as Keel Her, the cult DIY songwriter, producer and NTS Radio DJ whose fiercely independent body of work helped define a generation of bedroom pop, Rose reveals a strikingly different side of her musical practice here. Produced by Daniel O'Sullivan, Universal Language places the human voice at its centre, treating it not as a vehicle for lyrics but as the raw material from which music, language and relationships emerge.

With the exception of a handful of bass vocal parts performed by O'Sullivan, every voice heard on the album is Rose's own.

Across twelve meticulously composed pieces, layered vocal arrangements intertwine with subtle electronics, tape manipulation, synthesizers and understated drum machines. At times the music evokes the luminous purity of medieval sacred music; elsewhere voices dissolve into hazy ambient textures or unfold through hypnotic loops that blur the distinction between singer, choir and atmosphere.

The album was recorded during the first year of her son’s life. Many of its melodic contours and vocal gestures were inspired directly by his earliest sounds. His pre-linguistic attempts at communication became compositional material, guiding Rose towards a deeper exploration of the voice at its point of origin.

Deeply personal yet reaching towards something universal, Universal Language is a meditation on the human voice: our first instrument, our first language and our first experience of belonging.

Within the broad church of metal and its many offshoots – rock, doom, stoner and all the rest – it remains a minor thrill to stumble across a group who seem to exist at a slight tangent to everything else. Crumbling Ghost is one such anomaly. Crumbling Ghost are not newcomers. They've been operating for some time, releasing records sporadically, Four' is in fact their fourth release. Along the way they've accumulated a fervent coterie of followers, not to mention the occasional nod of approval from tastemakers such as Stuart Maconie, Stewart Lee and Tom Ravenscroft. And though they've appeared at Roadburn, shared stages with Hawkwind and even Damo Suzuki, they remain (possibly by design) curiously under the radar.
The group's core idea is deceptively simple: traditional folk material refracted through the haze and heft of heavy, fuzzy stoner rock with a chunk of psyche and a smattering of doom. But crucially, this is done without the costumery and theatrical tics that often accompany such collisions. No mock pagan pageantry, no graveyard cosplay, no cartoon Satanism.
What Crumbling Ghost latch onto is not folk as a museum piece, but as a lived experience, the dramas rooted in the culture, stories, and daily lives of ordinary people, the folklore, the tales of love and death, murder and adultery, freedom and oppression. Singer Katie Harnett says. "Doting mothers, possessive, violent partners, vulnerable women, seasonal workers and Royal scandals this album is our representation of the trials and tribulations of human existence and universal experiences that still feel relevant today.

Guitarist John adds. "Themes of murder, betrayal, loss, jealousy, and love are found across the record. In particular, the songs of Martin Carthy have been a particular source of inspiration".
The result is a set of murder ballads, supernatural reckonings and cautionary tales, all wrapped in slabs of heavy, thumping fuzz and atmospheric sonics. Harnett's voice sits at the centre: unmistakably folk rooted, but shorn of prettification, melodic yet capable of real bite.

The album opener 'Bows Of London' is a murder ballad of sisterly hatred and grim sibling rivalry, centred on a haunted fiddle fashioned from a dead sister's bones. The loping relentless, hypnotic backing chillingly and perfectly accompanies the narrative. Of course, the story doesn't end well. 'Bill Norrie' follows, a hooky melody propelled by an insistent bassline and a haunting psych tinged haze punctured with sheets of noise.. The story of young Bill Norrie who sends a token to a married woman, whose jealous husband beheads him, without knowing he was his wife's son from an earlier affair. An instrumental palate cleanser arrives in the shape of 'Valtz Efter Tor Lohne' a Norwegian traditional the band jokingly describe as a "banger".
Then we have 'Lovely Joan' which offers a rare note of sly triumph: a quick witted woman outmanoeuvres a predatory nobleman, escaping with his ring and his horse. Muscular riffs give this tale of empowerment a welcome sense of teeth. 'Gower Wassail' is a traditional Welsh folk tune that captures the raucous spirit of communal ritual, noise making and drink fuelled hope for a good harvest. Captured perfectly here by CG complete with wah wah guitar and a drunken groove catching the song's celebratory chaos. Then we have a little gem in 'Last Of All Sleep' , an original band composition and a genuine highlight: a heavy lidded, shoegaze tinged folk reverie, equal parts distortion and delicacy. It's a drop-dead gorgeous shoegaze-tastic psychedelic grunge mini epic. The album closer 'The Unquiet Grave' is a very apt place to finish. It's about a young man whose constant grief at the death of his true love disturbs her eternal sleep so she cannot rest. Even though the playout on this track, complete with a demonic repeated riff and feedback feels suitably bleak, even this song allows a glimmer of release ... we think.
And there we have it, 7 songs, 7 worlds, all honed to perfection by producer Wayne Adams (Green Lung/Big Lad) that will reward every repeated listen.

Folk and metal/heavy rock do have a connection of course, just look at Green Lung and their 'folk horror' infused musical universe, but Crumbling Ghost are a very different beast.
'Four' amply and beautifully demonstrates that when it comes to 'folk horror' there's nothing quite as horrible as folk ... Here, the horror such as it is, and it must be said, the moments of light, comes not from theatrics, but from the songs themselves – which, after all, is where it's always lived.
Crumbling Ghost are John Mosley – Guitar / Donny Hopkins – Guitar / Ruth O’Loughlin – Bass / Katie Harnett – Vocals / Matthew Atkins- Drums.

Skyjack — the borderless five piece band spread across South Africa and Switzerland — announce their fourth studio album, Let The Sky Open Under Your Feet, out 3rd July.

Recorded in December 2025 at a secluded studio outside Stellenbosch, South Africa, the album captures the vibrant live energy of the band at its most expansive — drawing together free improvisation, South African jazz traditions, chamber music, kinetic groove, and ecstatic collective interplay into a singular body of work.

“This record is a very articulate representation of our sound, having grown deep roots into the earth with high branches reaching upward and outward”, says bassist Shane Cooper. “My desire is always to create sonic universes that can envelope the listener.”

The album’s title comes from a line in a poem by the 13th-century Persian poet Rumi, reflecting the music’s balance between groundedness and transcendence. Here, Skyjack move fluidly between meditative improvisation and lush orchestration across twelve tracks of free-spirited, cosmic journeying. Inspired both by the cultural traditions and natural environments of South Africa, Let The Sky Open Under Your Feet is a testament to the band’s intuitive connection and innate musical curiosity.

It arrives just over a year after Light Cycle (2024), a short gap that reflects the momentum built on tour. After exchanging sketches remotely across two continents, the band reunited in Johannesburg in late 2025, workshopped the new material onstage across South Africa, and then headed directly into the studio, where much of the album was recorded live in first takes — preserving the looseness and unpredictability central to Skyjack’s sound.

Comprised of Kyle Shepherd (piano), Shane Cooper (bass), Jonno Sweetman (drums), Andreas Tschopp (trombone), and Marc Stucki (saxophones), Skyjack first formed in Cape Town in 2013 during a fertile moment in South African jazz, as a new generation of musicians pushed against rigid genre definitions and opened the music outward toward broader sonic possibilities. Over the past decade, the band has built a singular sound drawing equally on South African groove traditions and European improvisation.

Individually, the members move between jazz, electronic music, film scoring, rock, hip-hop and experimental composition, with collaborations spanning artists including William Parker, Lionel Loueke, Zim Ngqawana, Ben LaMar Gay, Jorge Rossy, Shabaka Hutchings, William Kentridge, Makaya McCraven and Sylvie Courvoisier.

Since their self-titled debut in 2015, followed by The Hunter (2019) and Light Cycle (2024), the group has developed a reputation for immersive live performances and music that continuously reshapes itself in motion — rooted in what they describe as “warm menacing African grooves,” while refusing fixed stylistic borders.

The return of Jonne Lydén aka 53X is an exhilarating welcome for Emotional Especial with 4 more seismic analogue psychedelic jams that are becoming recognisably a unique and hypnotic statement.

Lydén’s studio time is distillation for personal contemplation and perfection just 3 releases in 5 years that are worth the wait. The heady demand for his debut ‘Synapse’ and the following ‘Zen ‘23’ on Especial (limited repress incoming!) show constant development a sound of widescreen technoscope where dub beats trance pyrotechnics and 303 mind-melt swirling in a cosmic matter.

His return takes this further his music heritage in Finland’s hardcore punk scene to finding the techno of Detroit and Berlin before submerging in synths and drum programming jamming recording and mixing these trip-out electronic journeys live.

This heavy 4/4 jack is apparent on opening Sanctuary. Like his recent outings ‘Radar’ found on the Especial 50th “sampler” release ‘Gracias Especial’ (EES050) and also ‘Simulaato’ hidden away on blink and you miss it cult label Avidya (AVI003) this is a pure undiluted bang. Straight forward heavy bass kicking charged with acid 303 and monotonic vocal insights the track is a flourishing temple a call of embrace.

The eponymous Cyan Haze showcases 53X’s cinematic finest panoramic audio and sound design creating expansive phonics. BPMs drop samples flourish around break drops and rolling bass – breathing looping shouting lifting.

Owls enlightens. Hardware rumbles cerebral a temporal universe awakening. The collage of found sound successive sequential all encased by hypnotic broken chords rolling bass and melancholic piano refrain. Meta worming braindance ecstatic tribal industrial gliding by Shiva into the night.

Dust closes apt its basement collage pounds Lydén to techno genesis. Proto-zeitgeist steppa dark room incantation pulling and expanding the fantasy to strange dreamscapes. Reincarnation and hope in 2026.

The legends of the golden era of Italian soundtracks and library music go by many names, but the backbone of that era’s definitive sonic identity is most often identified as I Marc 4 (also known as Marc 4 or I Marc Quattro). While the moniker might be less familiar to the uninitiated, it is a simple acronym derived from its founding members: Maurizio Majorana (bass), Antonello Vannucchi (organ), Roberto Podio (drums and percussion), and Carlo Pes (guitar). The number "4" serves to highlight the core synergy of these four master musicians. Their journey began in Rome’s vibrant jazz scene of the 1950s and early 1960s, where they honed their craft as members of the RAI national orchestra and collaborated with the most prominent jazz and pop icons of the day. However, it was their pivotal role in defining the Italian cinematic sound of the 1960s and 1970s that secured their legacy. Their unmistakable style was an eclectic fusion of beat, jazz, classical, and Latin influences—textured with early synthesizers, experimental sound effects, and a blend of electronic and baroque instrumentation. Consequently, their initials are etched into the credits of countless landmark recordings by legendary composers such as Nino Rota, Armando Trovajoli, Gianni Ferrio, Alessandro Alessandroni, Piero Umiliani, and Ennio Morricone.

Beyond their work as session luminaries, they produced a vast body of library music under their own name at the legendary Telecinesound Studios in Rome. These recordings were released through prestigious library labels like Sermi, Ricordi, and Fonit Cetra, as well as through their own imprints: Nelson Records, Silver Men, and Silver Music, spanning a definitive series of sixteen albums. Ten of these volumes were issued on Nelson Records during the 1970s, featuring the now-iconic military stencil design. Each release was color-coded: red (G.L.P. 1001), dark blue (G.L.P. 1002), gold (G.L.P. 1003), light green (G.L.P. 1004), brown (G.L.P. 1005), black (G.L.P.1006), light blue (G.L.P. 1007), yellow (G.L.P. 1008), orange (G.L.P.1009), and cool green (G.L.P. 1010). The series was completed by two elusive companion releases: S.M. 2001 on Silver Music and S.M. 2002 on Silver Men, both presented in the same distinctive brown sleeve. Rediscovered in the 1990s and 2000s, these Nelson releases have since achieved cult status among collectors, producers, and DJs worldwide. The final two installments, S.M. 2001 and S.M. 2002, remain the rarest and most enigmatic of the set.

Often overlooked, they contain some of the most profound "hidden gems" in the group’s catalog. The tracklist traverses a wide stylistic spectrum: from the rare groove and proto-hip hop energy of "Trama Nella Metropoli", "Beat Morbido", and "Candy", to the lush cinematic atmospheres featuring the ethereal vocals of Edda Dell'Orso on "Summer In Love", "On The Rain", and "Arcobaleno". The collection is rounded out by sophisticated jazz pieces like "Flauti Ensemble", "Passeggiata", and "Atmosfere Dolci”. Sonor Music Editions has meticulously curated the finest moments from these two rare albums for this first-ever dedicated reissue. Bringing together the best of Silver Music (S.M. 2001) and Silver Men (S.M. 2002), this release retains the iconic stencil artwork but introduces a striking silver finish. This design choice honors the original ten-album sequence while shedding new light on these outstanding recordings—works that remain, in every sense, golden.

In a world currently defined by unrest, uncertainty, and cultural fracture, acclaimed saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Isaiah Collier returns with Joy, a 5-track EP that reframes one of humanity’s most nuanced emotions both as a devotional grounding and political act.

Collier’s deeply personal compositions present joy as an act that isn’t rooted in escapism or abstraction, but rather, as something hard-won rooted in lived experience, shaped by transformation, and sustained through connection. Throughout the album’s five compositions, Collier positions joy as a guiding light during challenging times, an expression of challenging yourself to utilize your gifts, an affirmation of love and discovery, and as an affirmative source of reassurance.

“We are in a paradoxical time, where so much is being revealed to us,” Collier shares. “Everything feels political from every scope… our collective hearts feel the heaviness in the air. Yet I say to you all—don’t despair. For right now, the most political thing we can do is share joy.”

That ethos is made clear in the opening title track and lead single “Joy.” A pulsing rhythmic motif anchors the melody with a sense of both searching and certainty. Collier conceived the piece around 3 years ago reflecting on a time where many people in his life were experiencing loss of family and friends and experiencing profound life transitions. “Everything just felt like it was falling apart with no aim in sight,” he reflects. “Yet, there is a light at the end of it all.”

As he played the chords with a sense of urgency, he could feel the vibration of yellow in the piece. That initial triplet motif serves as the guiding light on the piano and the only word Collier could hear was Joy. In addition to Collier at the helm singing and playing piano and tenor sax on the track, it features an expansive 11-piece ensemble with a full horn and string section allowing Collier’s propensity for composition and arrangement to shine with an eclectic sonic palette.

“Landscape of Dreams” finds Collier serendipitously leaning into utilizing his gifts as a multi-instrumentalist. While he had a sketch of the piece going into the studio, a traffic delay caused musicians to be late arriving at the studio. Never one to waste time in the studio environment, Collier stepped into new creative territory and took up the challenge of executing playing all instruments himself as an act of trust and experimentation. “I’ve never done this before, and so it was a leap of faith for me,” he asserts. “I always dream of doing stuff like this, and being part of the small percentage of people who can do it like Prince, Steve Lacy, Frank Zappa, and Stevie Wonder. The end result finds Collier immersed in a hypnotic soundscape playing layered flutes, drums, Metatron, Wurlitzer, and auxiliary percussion.

Another layer of joy is revealed in “Where I’m Loved” that serves as a love letter and leaning into the process of stepping into the willingness to explore life and love with a partner. On the intimate meditation of vulnerability and connection, Collier's vocal prowess is on full display, exerting effortless falsetto reminiscent of D’Angelo over soulful Wurlitzer and guitar as he crosses over into more R&B-inspired realms. “I believe everyone deserves this feeling or to honor the memories of it. Furthermore, I believe you should also go where you’re celebrated and not tolerated.”

“When the Dust Settles” captures the electricity of live collaboration and Collier further steps out of being confined to any specific genre. He had just gotten a microKORG keyboard from co-producer Sonny Daze and was exploring the vast array of sounds on the instrument. Collier plays synth bass on the microKORG joined by the electrifying improvisation of Cole Runge on guitar and the combustible rhythm of his brother Jeremiah Collier on drums with additional post-production work from Sonny Daze.

The album’s final track “God’s By Your Side” reflects on perseverance and artistic legacy, directly inspired from the passing of D’Angelo, whose life’s work was a huge part of Collier’s childhood growing up in the late 90s and early 00s. With gospel flavor and direct influence both from D’Angelo’s vocal and instrumental arrangements, the track speaks to resilience and persistence in the face of obstacles—an affirmation of source and reassurance. “And what’s better than having God by your side, right?” asserts Collier.

Joy is a through-and-through expression of the arc of joy in its truest form. Joy transcends fleeting happiness and is conscious gratitude shaped by taking chances, leaning into your gifts, fostering community, and lived experiences.

“Joy is partially happiness,” Collier explains. “But to me it means happily being grateful for family, friends, lovers, teachers, and good times. These are the things that anchor us.”

The release of Joy comes off the heels of significant momentum for Collier, whose work continues to garner accolades and resonate across cultural spheres. He was featured on the cover of DownBeat’s April 2025 issue, where he was named “The Next Sax Giant,” and profiled on NPR’s Jazz Night in America for his ambitious 13-movement interdisciplinary suite The Story of 400 Years, that traces 400 years of Black American History. He released two full-length albums in 2024 with The World Is on Fire highlighted in The New York Times’ Fall Arts Preview and The Almighty named among the publication’s Best Jazz Albums of the year.

Beyond performance and recoding, Collier’s influence is recognized in broader cultural and intellectual spaces as he was the recipient of the Jazz Journalists Association’s 2025 Up and Coming Artist of the Year Award, the 2024 Chicagoan of the Year in Jazz, and was named a Steve Jobs Archive Fellow joining an elite cohort of the next generation of artistic visionaries through a yearlong program.

In addition to the release of Joy, Collier is touring his “Collier Plays Coltrane” program throughout 2026 in honor of John Coltrane’s centennial. Rather than presenting Coltrane’s expansive catalog as repertory, Collier approaches this music as something living, reshaping it in real-time with a sense of space and improvisational dialog reflecting both reverence to the past and present times.

In the wake of the release of Swedish post-rock luminaries OH HIROSHIMA's 6th studio album And The Dead Tree Gives no Shelter, Pelagic is reissueing OH's Oscillation (2019) and Myriad (2022) on vinyl. Myriad captures OH HIROSHIMA at their most focused and ambitious. The album moves between crushing despair and fleeting moments of catharsis weaving heart-wrenching melodies into towering walls of noise and explosive crescendos. The incorporation of trumpet, cello and trombone adds new dimensions to the band's sound, resulting in a record that resonates far beyond the post-rock scene and highlights the band's continued artistic evolution. Following the departure of bassist Simon Forsberg in early 2021, OH HIROSHIMA were reduced to a duo _ a shift that challenged the band to rethink and expand their creative approach. While Myriad remains firmly rooted in post-rock, brothers Jakob Hemström and Oskar Nilsson use the album as an opportunity to push beyond the genre's familiar boundaries, drawing from a far broader musical palette than ever before. To get a sense of what the album has to offer, watch the music video for "Humane". Guitarist & vocalist Jakob Hemström comments: "Humane might be the most direct and intense song we've created as a band. For us it marks a somewhat new direction that we wanted to explore and we're very proud of how it turned out. We felt right away that this was the first song of the new album we wanted our listeners to hear. The lyrics revolve around themes of human hubris and the video was filmed, directed and edited by our drummer, Oskar." Recorded by Kristian Karlsson (pg.lost, Cult of Luna) and once again mixed and mastered by Magnus Lindberg of Cult of Luna, Myriad blends soaring melodies with immense emotional weight and dynamic intensity and stands as a compelling testament to the band's continued evolution. Classic black or rosé (Dead Flamingo) vinyl available. FOR FANS OF Alcest Mogwai God Is an Astronaut Karnivool pg.lost

In the wake of the release of Swedish post-rock luminaries OH HIROSHIMA's 6th studio album And The Dead Tree Gives no Shelter, Pelagic is reissueing OH's Oscillation (2019) and Myriad (2022) on vinyl. Myriad captures OH HIROSHIMA at their most focused and ambitious. The album moves between crushing despair and fleeting moments of catharsis weaving heart-wrenching melodies into towering walls of noise and explosive crescendos. The incorporation of trumpet, cello and trombone adds new dimensions to the band's sound, resulting in a record that resonates far beyond the post-rock scene and highlights the band's continued artistic evolution. Following the departure of bassist Simon Forsberg in early 2021, OH HIROSHIMA were reduced to a duo _ a shift that challenged the band to rethink and expand their creative approach. While Myriad remains firmly rooted in post-rock, brothers Jakob Hemström and Oskar Nilsson use the album as an opportunity to push beyond the genre's familiar boundaries, drawing from a far broader musical palette than ever before. To get a sense of what the album has to offer, watch the music video for "Humane". Guitarist & vocalist Jakob Hemström comments: "Humane might be the most direct and intense song we've created as a band. For us it marks a somewhat new direction that we wanted to explore and we're very proud of how it turned out. We felt right away that this was the first song of the new album we wanted our listeners to hear. The lyrics revolve around themes of human hubris and the video was filmed, directed and edited by our drummer, Oskar." Recorded by Kristian Karlsson (pg.lost, Cult of Luna) and once again mixed and mastered by Magnus Lindberg of Cult of Luna, Myriad blends soaring melodies with immense emotional weight and dynamic intensity and stands as a compelling testament to the band's continued evolution. Classic black or rosé (Dead Flamingo) vinyl available. FOR FANS OF Alcest Mogwai God Is an Astronaut Karnivool pg.lost

Soul Music legend Candi Staton returns to her down-home Alabama roots on her 32nd album, Back to My Roots. The twelve-track Americana set features an array of Staton-penned originals and some well-chosen covers.

"These songs represent my roots," Staton adds as she reflects on her many trials and triumphs. "Even the new songs on some level represent something I've experienced and that's what real soul music is about." Back to My Roots was produced by Staton with her second eldest son, Marcus Williams, a professional drummer who has toured with the likes of Peabo Bryson, Isaac Hayes, and Tyler Perry. They brought in Mark Nevers of Lambchop fame, who produced three of Staton’s prior Americana albums for Honest Jon’s and Thirty Tigers, to sweeten certain tracks. “Some of the first songs I ever heard were songs like `Peace in the Valley’ and `It’s Gonna Rain,’” says Staton. “The new songs or cover songs are tracks that remind me of that era when I was growing up as a child and evolving as a young woman. That’s why I named the album Back to My Roots because I’m going back to the roots that made me who I am.”

Staton received the Americana Music Association UK’s highest honour, the International Lifetime Achievement Award, at the UK Americana Music Awards ceremony at Hackney Church in London last year for her southern soul work that stretches from her 1969 Muscle Shoals hits to her more recent collaborations with the likes of Americana kings Jason Isbell and John Paul White.
The album opens with a mid-tempo Bonnie Raitt-styled contemporary blues “I Missed the Target Again” that finds Harry Connick Jr.’s longtime guitarist Jonathan DuBose Jr. (aka the Prophesying Guitarist) showing off his skills that set the tone for the song and the album.

Staton’s older sister, Maggie Staton Peebles (who alongside Staton was a member of the Jewel Gospel Trio in the 1950s), joins her for two duets. The first, “It’s Gonna Rain,” features just a drum, steel guitar and vocals. “My mother used to sing that song to us all the time when I was a child,” Staton recalls. “It’s a really soulful kind of song I wanted to revisit.” They then take turns leading Thomas Dorsey 1939 gem “There Will Be Peace in the Valley” that Elvis Presley popularized in the 1950s.

“Hang on in There” is a new, mid-tempo song that has an old school gospel flavour and features vocals from veteran bluesman, Larry McCray.
While in Europe in 2023 for her farewell concert tour that took her to the Glastonbury Festival and Love Supreme, Staton and her British band, PUSH, went into a London studio to record a new version of The Rolling Stones’ 1972 gem, “Shine A Light.” “I love the way that came out,” Staton says. “We put a big choir on it and put our own twist on it.”
From there, Staton revives another Thomas Dorsey classic, “The Lord Will Make a Way Somehow,” with a bluesy vibe. When Al Green started recording gospel in the early 1980s, he re-introduced this song into the culture.

“God’s Gonna Use Me Anyway” is a new mid-tempo blues with subtle Caribbean influences.

The mood takes a turn on “1963.” It’s a poignant, spoken-word reflection on September 15, 1963, when four black girls were killed in the Birmingham Church bombing. “I was in the city that day and I remember the chaos and horror after the bombing,” Staton recalls. “Just thinking of how racism and hatred caused those men to kill those girls was so emotional for me that I could only do it in one take.”

It's a perfect segue into "Reach Down and Touch Heaven," a haunting, plea for divine intervention into the affairs of mankind. "That's straight Baptist," she says. "I used to be a church pianist back in the 1960s. I've never played piano on one of my records before so that's a unique song for me because I’m finally playing on one of my records. The message of that song is about the homeless. It came to me when a homeless person on the street asked me for $5. When God touches your heart to help somebody else that’s heaven to God’s hears. So, when we reach into our purse or wallet to help someone, we’re touching heaven."

Staton offers love as an antidote to hate on the bouncy, Motown-styled, “Love Breakthrough.”

Her publicist brought Aaron Frazer & the Flying Stars of Brooklyn NY’s 2017 cut “My God Has a Telephone” to Staton’s attention. She shifts the track from a retro 1960s groove to more of a 1980s Malaco Records arrangement, a subtle but distinct variation. Staton brought in her longtime friend and STAX Records legend, William Bell (“I Forgot to Be Your Lover” and “Trying to Love Two”), to add raspy seasoning to the track.

The album closes with the wistful, “In God’s Hands We Rest Untroubled,” that was originally written and recorded by the late country star, Lari White, who died in 2017 at the age of 52. “Lari sent me that song to consider at least ten years ago and I always loved it,” Staton says. “The record label didn’t want it on the album or something, so I just held it.”
Staton says, “I grew up hearing a lot of these old songs when they were new songs. I toured with the Jewel Gospel Trio in the 1950s and we got to know people like Mahalia Jackson, Sam Cooke and others who sang these types of songs. So, I’m sort of paying tribute to them and the influence they had on me by refreshing these songs and making new songs in the old style.”’

Bruised and bloodied, Knocked Loose opens up the pit with a brutal sound that falls between hardcore, punk and metal. Back in 2014 frontman Bryan Garris, Guitarists Isaac Hale and Cole Crutchfield alongside bassist Kevin Otten and drummer Pac Sun were most likely jamming in a garage or basement somewhere like every other wannabe World touring band. After the release of this, their debut EP, the band have gone from strength to strength with fans among their peers. This EP is where is all began. If you’re looking for a release that delivers heavy, driven riffage, together with vocals that cover subjects ranging from atheism to suppressing personal insecurities then you found it.

This special collector's edition is available in a strictly limited run of only 250 copies. The vinyl version is pressed on transparent vinyl and features metallic paper packaging along with a printed inner sleeve made from dyed paper stock. The entire release was designed by the exceptionally creative graphic designer Weronika Lipniewska, resulting in an edition that is as captivating visually as it is musically.

EY AY (Deluxe Slay Jazz) is the second album by Piotr Checki - an artist who, following the intimate, home-recorded debut PE, returns with something radically different: a living, spontaneous work captured in real time. If PE was a personal document of moments enclosed within a controlled studio environment, EY AY is its opposite - a sonic organism that breathes, pulses, and unfolds in the here and now.
The album was created in just two weeks during a period of intense inspiration. Ch?cki developed a series of compositional sketches which were then expanded together with drummer Tymek Papior and pianist Marcel Balinski during a single six-hour recording session. Crucially, the entire album was recorded as one-take performances. No overdubs, no edits, no second attempts. It is a document of pure presence - a moment that can never be repeated.
The subtitle Deluxe Slay Jazz carries an additional personal layer of meaning. It serves as a subtle yet significant nod to one of Checki's greatest passions: ski jumping. The initials "DSJ" may also evoke the cult classic ski-jumping computer game released in 1999, beloved by an entire generation of players.
With EY AY, Checki redefines his approach to music-making. Instead of constructing rigid structures, he places trust in the process. Instead of production, interaction. Instead of perfection, authenticity. This is music that does not strive to be finished - it simply exists.

K' Alexi Shelby is a prominent figure in electronic music with a career spanning decades. The cultivation of his massive music catalogue has overflowed into albums and the three labels he heads. It's also led to legendary collaborations with artists like The Pet Shop Boys, Robert Owens, Kenny Dixon, Roy Davis Jr., Joe Smooth, Steve Silke Hurley, Tyree Cooper, Ron Trent, Glenn Underground, Larry Heard, DJ Pierre, Carl Craig, Felix da Housecat, Marshall Jefferson and more. He makes a welcome return to COD3 QR with the jazzy house of opening track, "House Music de Chicago".

Voltaire has built his career through passion and a perfectionist approach to music, creating a richly emotional eclecticism, with inspiration from the pioneers of Detroit to the glorious electro decades of the 2000s and 2010s. Today he's a COD3 QR regular and released his debut album, "Echoes" on the label last year. He leans into the realms of house with a deep techy edge, for new track "Some House".

Finder is the alias of Radial (Jeroen Liebregts), originally from The Netherlands but today residing in Spain. He started mixing records around '98 and in 2002 teamed up with Bas Mooy to started the now legendary label, Audio Assault. He's also released on Token, Perc Trax, Mote-Evolver, Numb, Drumcode, Planet Rhythm, Mord, Will & Ink and MDR, alongside his label, Radial Records. As Finder he goes in a new direction with "Team Dream".

Benny Rodrigues a.k.a. ROD's other moniker, The Lost Souldancer has already seen him drop "No More Voices" and "Life and Death" for the label. In his own words, Benny says: "The Lost Souldancer is about coping with the loss of what once was. Finding comfort in the invisible rather than what can be seen. Disconnect to connect in order to be loved rather than liked." He returns with another emotional journey on "Magnolia".

Producer and manager of Slates Records, Squal G is a French artist who has been passionate about electronic music since the '90s. Initially a DJ, he soon turned to machines and computers. This enabled him to progress with his production and remixes. He never tries to stick to a single style, which, depending on his inspiration, can lead him to be more or less hard, while remaining in the spirit of techno. A popular COD3 QR regular, he's back with the intense techno of "Crackle".

French producer, DJ and live artist, Electric Rescue is world renowned. His productions have been signed on labels like Cocoon, Virgo, Arts, F Communications, COD3 QR, Soma, Sci + Tec, Boys Noize and his own Skrypto¨m. Ahead of his forthcoming artist album (to be released on COD3 QR in October) he closes the vinyl with the electro-tech and wonderfully wonky machine funk of "Internet Was an Illusion".

DYING VICTIMS PRODUCTIONS is proud to present the highly anticipated debut album of Poland’s TORPOR, Ɖungeon Ɖescent, on CD and vinyl LP formats. TORPOR were formed in Warsaw by three school friends and music fans under the huge influence of Bathory. While recording their first release, Burning Realms / Behold the Spell of Black Fortress, in dusk of 2017, the band were laying their music foundations inspired by the epic side of black and the haunted / melancholic side of early ‘80s heavy metal. Since their last release – 2021’s The Ancient Tales EP, which was actually recorded in 2019 – TORPOR parted ways with their drummer, who alongside Mike Magister I.V. and Franciszek Archont, was a founding member of the trio. Upon the arrival of a new drummer and long-time friend, Bloodhammer, they recorded their debut album. It marks the result of their work and path undertaken. "We knew it was our direction to follow and polish, so now, after some time, we can happily present our debut album, Ɖungeon Ɖescent,” the band state. “It is our first real record that pictures our vision exactly how we liked to. After years of wandering around basement rehearsal rooms and two self-released demos, we are finally coming out of our lairs with this LP under the banners of DYING VICTIMS." Their past connections with fellow labelmates ARMAGH and FUKKIN’ VENGEANCE somewhat explains TORPOR’s link to the idiosyncratic side of ancient heavy metal, which has taken far more prominence on Ɖungeon Ɖescent over the first-wave black metal side – but that’s only part of the picture. Some might call it “cleaning up,” others might liken it to a harnessing of feral energies, but TORPOR’s emphatic-yet-stoic strut conveys equal amounts of energy and mystery, finesse and fine-tuning. Of course, the power-trio can kick into high gear when they want to, be it heroic gallop or even hypnotic blast, but their sense of movement from one moody segment to the next imparts a narrative flow that’s part and parcel of their lyrical imagery. Or, perhaps it’s true swords & sorcery metal without belaboring the point – no “COOL IMAGERY DUDE” without the music & atmosphere to back it up, more specifically – that harkens to a glorious, sadly bygone era. However you approach this Ɖungeon Ɖescent, TORPOR have surely delivered a cult classic in the making. Passion, authenticity, the reverberating ring of truth…ancient powers arise from time immemorial

DYING VICTIMS PRODUCTIONS is proud to present JORDSJØ’s highly anticipated new album, Pestkrønikene, on CD and vinyl LP formats. JORDSJØ released their first tape in 2015. With the fourth tape, 2017’s Jord, the band got a wider audience outside their native Norway and subsequently released full-lengths on such labels as Karisma, Pancromatic, and Apollon. The band works as a duo in the studio, but for the last eight years, they have played live as a quintet. JORDSJØ are led by multi-instrumentalist Håkon Oftung, who has been a part of Oslo’s psychedelic, progressive, and heavy rock undergrounds for many years, and has played in Black Magic, Tusmørke, The Chronicles of Father Robin, Wobbler, Zenon, and labelmates FLIGHT to mention but a few. He’s joined by longtime companion and childhood friend Kristian Frøland, who plays drums and percussion, and also produced and mixed Pestkrønikene. Pestkrønikene is a part of JORDSJØ’s 10-year anniversary, and their ninth release overall. The record started out as a compilation of studio outtakes from 2020-2025, but then took on a form of its own, with the songs linked together thematically. Lyrically, those themes reflect war, upheaval, the fall of kings and the rise of a new dawn, and cults and sects. Sonically, Pestkrønikene encapsulates the JORDSJØ experience as well as extends beyond it. Mythical and magickal, the album honors the band’s background in hard rock and heavy metal, and combines this with their own analog and organic blend of progressive / psychedelic folk rock.

From 1993, a hallmark UK Dub album returns to the light. Originally pressed in a small run and extremely hard to find, this record was produced at Earthquake Studio by TNT Roots and Winston Dread.

Together, they provided a raw contribution to the early UK Dub scene using a basic setup: a Siel DK-80 synth, a Yamaha home keyboard, a Casio RZ-1 drum machine, and an Atari 1040 computer running Cubase V2.0. The tracks were shaped through an old Dynamix 8-channel mixer and captured on a Casio portable DAT machine.

TNT Roots provided the drum, bass, and chord patterns, while Winston Dread added the lead lines and performed the mixing duties. This raw, undiluted music reflects the evolution of Dub and contains the seeds of all their future work. Their dubplates were staples for legendary UK sound systems like Aba Shanti-I and Iration Steppas, becoming sought-after anthems that defined the "heavyweight" digital roots sound.

These are heavy sounds that stand the test of time. Back on the streets after 30 years, the album has been fully restored and remastered to honor the dubplate masters of UK Sound System culture

Jon Schaffer's Sons of Liberty - Thought Crimes (Volumes 1 & 2) is a bold new mix that fuses the raw essence of the "Brush-fires of the Mind" LP (2009) and the "Spirit of the Times" EP (2011), breathing fresh life into a message that has proven eerily prophetic in an era of escalating world challenges. " Thought Crimes (Volumes 1 & 2) " is out now on all streaming platforms, inviting listeners everywhere, old or new, to discover its urgency. For collectors, a special physical rollout will arrive via The Circle Music on July 4, 2026 , marking the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. At its core, Sons of Liberty's music exposed the machinations of a fraudulent financial system and the insidious creep of authoritarianism, serving as a stark warning to humanity. Today, with those shadows cast longer than ever, this music stands as a timeless testament to truth, unfiltered and unapologetic.

What sets Sons of Liberty - Thought Crimes (Volumes 1 & 2) apart is its transcendence of partisan divides. This is not an echo chamber of political agendas; it's a universal wake- up call, championing freedom as the bedrock of peace and prosperity for every person on the planet. In a world fractured by division, Schaffer's lyrics rally for pro-freedom/pro-humanity ideals: anti-authoritarian, non-partisan, and rooted in the unyielding principles of liberty. It's a reminder that true empowerment comes from questioning and resisting systems that promote aggression and erode our shared dignity, fostering unity through principles of liberty, individual sovereignty, and collective resilience. Elevating the original material to new heights, this release features thunderous, newly recorded drums by longtime friend Mark Prator , whose precision and groove has powered classics from Iced Earth ( The Dark Saga , Something Wicked This Way Comes ), Demons & Wizards (Self- Titled Debut), and Jon Schaffer's Purgatory (EP 2018).

Paired with a cutting- edge modern mix by Jim Morris , the result is a sonic powerhouse that has matured like a fine wine - delivering an intensity and honesty that's all too rare in today's pop culture landscape. In an age where ideas can be silenced, this stands as the most censored and cancelled heavy metal music in history. It begs the question: Why? Are thought crimes an inevitable reality in a world that fears unbridled truth? Dive in, reflect, and educate yourself-- because freedom isn't a spectator sport; it is difficult, it requires action, and it's the only path to a better world for all of us

Jon Schaffer's Sons of Liberty - Thought Crimes (Volumes 1 & 2) is a bold new mix that fuses the raw essence of the "Brush-fires of the Mind" LP (2009) and the "Spirit of the Times" EP (2011), breathing fresh life into a message that has proven eerily prophetic in an era of escalating world challenges. " Thought Crimes (Volumes 1 & 2) " is out now on all streaming platforms, inviting listeners everywhere, old or new, to discover its urgency. For collectors, a special physical rollout will arrive via The Circle Music on July 4, 2026 , marking the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. At its core, Sons of Liberty's music exposed the machinations of a fraudulent financial system and the insidious creep of authoritarianism, serving as a stark warning to humanity. Today, with those shadows cast longer than ever, this music stands as a timeless testament to truth, unfiltered and unapologetic.

What sets Sons of Liberty - Thought Crimes (Volumes 1 & 2) apart is its transcendence of partisan divides. This is not an echo chamber of political agendas; it's a universal wake- up call, championing freedom as the bedrock of peace and prosperity for every person on the planet. In a world fractured by division, Schaffer's lyrics rally for pro-freedom/pro-humanity ideals: anti-authoritarian, non-partisan, and rooted in the unyielding principles of liberty. It's a reminder that true empowerment comes from questioning and resisting systems that promote aggression and erode our shared dignity, fostering unity through principles of liberty, individual sovereignty, and collective resilience. Elevating the original material to new heights, this release features thunderous, newly recorded drums by longtime friend Mark Prator , whose precision and groove has powered classics from Iced Earth ( The Dark Saga , Something Wicked This Way Comes ), Demons & Wizards (Self- Titled Debut), and Jon Schaffer's Purgatory (EP 2018).

Paired with a cutting- edge modern mix by Jim Morris , the result is a sonic powerhouse that has matured like a fine wine - delivering an intensity and honesty that's all too rare in today's pop culture landscape. In an age where ideas can be silenced, this stands as the most censored and cancelled heavy metal music in history. It begs the question: Why? Are thought crimes an inevitable reality in a world that fears unbridled truth? Dive in, reflect, and educate yourself-- because freedom isn't a spectator sport; it is difficult, it requires action, and it's the only path to a better world for all of us

Jon Schaffer's Sons of Liberty - Thought Crimes (Volumes 1 & 2) is a bold new mix that fuses the raw essence of the "Brush-fires of the Mind" LP (2009) and the "Spirit of the Times" EP (2011), breathing fresh life into a message that has proven eerily prophetic in an era of escalating world challenges. " Thought Crimes (Volumes 1 & 2) " is out now on all streaming platforms, inviting listeners everywhere, old or new, to discover its urgency. For collectors, a special physical rollout will arrive via The Circle Music on July 4, 2026 , marking the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. At its core, Sons of Liberty's music exposed the machinations of a fraudulent financial system and the insidious creep of authoritarianism, serving as a stark warning to humanity. Today, with those shadows cast longer than ever, this music stands as a timeless testament to truth, unfiltered and unapologetic.

What sets Sons of Liberty - Thought Crimes (Volumes 1 & 2) apart is its transcendence of partisan divides. This is not an echo chamber of political agendas; it's a universal wake- up call, championing freedom as the bedrock of peace and prosperity for every person on the planet. In a world fractured by division, Schaffer's lyrics rally for pro-freedom/pro-humanity ideals: anti-authoritarian, non-partisan, and rooted in the unyielding principles of liberty. It's a reminder that true empowerment comes from questioning and resisting systems that promote aggression and erode our shared dignity, fostering unity through principles of liberty, individual sovereignty, and collective resilience. Elevating the original material to new heights, this release features thunderous, newly recorded drums by longtime friend Mark Prator , whose precision and groove has powered classics from Iced Earth ( The Dark Saga , Something Wicked This Way Comes ), Demons & Wizards (Self- Titled Debut), and Jon Schaffer's Purgatory (EP 2018).

Paired with a cutting- edge modern mix by Jim Morris , the result is a sonic powerhouse that has matured like a fine wine - delivering an intensity and honesty that's all too rare in today's pop culture landscape. In an age where ideas can be silenced, this stands as the most censored and cancelled heavy metal music in history. It begs the question: Why? Are thought crimes an inevitable reality in a world that fears unbridled truth? Dive in, reflect, and educate yourself-- because freedom isn't a spectator sport; it is difficult, it requires action, and it's the only path to a better world for all of us

Jon Schaffer's Sons of Liberty - Thought Crimes (Volumes 1 & 2) is a bold new mix that fuses the raw essence of the "Brush-fires of the Mind" LP (2009) and the "Spirit of the Times" EP (2011), breathing fresh life into a message that has proven eerily prophetic in an era of escalating world challenges. " Thought Crimes (Volumes 1 & 2) " is out now on all streaming platforms, inviting listeners everywhere, old or new, to discover its urgency. For collectors, a special physical rollout will arrive via The Circle Music on July 4, 2026 , marking the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. At its core, Sons of Liberty's music exposed the machinations of a fraudulent financial system and the insidious creep of authoritarianism, serving as a stark warning to humanity. Today, with those shadows cast longer than ever, this music stands as a timeless testament to truth, unfiltered and unapologetic.

What sets Sons of Liberty - Thought Crimes (Volumes 1 & 2) apart is its transcendence of partisan divides. This is not an echo chamber of political agendas; it's a universal wake- up call, championing freedom as the bedrock of peace and prosperity for every person on the planet. In a world fractured by division, Schaffer's lyrics rally for pro-freedom/pro-humanity ideals: anti-authoritarian, non-partisan, and rooted in the unyielding principles of liberty. It's a reminder that true empowerment comes from questioning and resisting systems that promote aggression and erode our shared dignity, fostering unity through principles of liberty, individual sovereignty, and collective resilience. Elevating the original material to new heights, this release features thunderous, newly recorded drums by longtime friend Mark Prator , whose precision and groove has powered classics from Iced Earth ( The Dark Saga , Something Wicked This Way Comes ), Demons & Wizards (Self- Titled Debut), and Jon Schaffer's Purgatory (EP 2018).

Paired with a cutting- edge modern mix by Jim Morris , the result is a sonic powerhouse that has matured like a fine wine - delivering an intensity and honesty that's all too rare in today's pop culture landscape. In an age where ideas can be silenced, this stands as the most censored and cancelled heavy metal music in history. It begs the question: Why? Are thought crimes an inevitable reality in a world that fears unbridled truth? Dive in, reflect, and educate yourself-- because freedom isn't a spectator sport; it is difficult, it requires action, and it's the only path to a better world for all of us

The band was founded by Miriana Santamaria (vocals and bass) and Daniel Sick (guitar), both formerly of VoodooPank. They were soon joined by Micol Ottina (drums), who was replaced in 2022 by Eugenio Bordacconi. After a period of live performances in the Macerata area and two EPs, the power trio signed with Overdub Recordings, on which their debut album "Manaus" (2024) will be released. Their influences range from the heavy rock of Pentagram to Blue Oyster Cult, from TAD to Spaceman 3. Dystopian, swirling guitars create a claustrophobic atmosphere, guided by an ethereal yet raw voice: an alternation of drawn- out, dreamlike moments and tight, relentless passages.

Does the complexity that defines us as individuals already have a sacred function, or do we need to connect the cells we are made of to something more? This is what the new and third album by Le Pietre dei Giganti titled Pastorale asks itself and the listener. Lorenzo Marsili (vocals, guitars), Francesco Utel (guitars, synths and samples, vocals, percussion), Niccolo Pizzamano (bass) and Francesco Nucci (drums, percussion) draw inspiration from the interaction between humans and nature, from the idea of the universe as a physical and chemical system. This inspiration melds perfectly with the cover artwork by Morgan Sorensen (See Machine), where the subject and space are represented according to a rational vision. The color red and the circle above it trigger an emotional response. Our brains follow the rules of the world around us, but culturally we associate this emotional reaction with a depth that goes beyond matter.

*Repress*

From the slamming science of “Ricochet,” through the jittery ghost-rave of “Survival” and the outer-space lover’s rock of “Dubbing You,” to the manic magic of “Finest Illusion,” this collection of early EPs by rave legends Foul Play tracks an astonishing evolution across barely more than a year. Some of the top tunes to come out of the hardcore > jungle > drum & bass journey? Yes, but also some of the most thrilling and gorgeous music of the entire ‘90s.

Simon Reynolds, author of Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture.

Re-mastered by Beau Thomas of Ten Eight Seven Mastering and re-issued for your aural pleasure. Don't sleep on this one!

One of the true, undisputed pioneers of Dutch techno, Steve Rachmad appears on Dekmantel for an EP of peerless machine music. On the 3-6-9 EP, the artist also known as Sterac, Parallel 9 and many other names plies a powerful trade in funked up, gritty and soulful techno made the proper way.

The connection between Rachmad and Dekmantel reaches back many years via his frequent appearances at the Dekmantel Festival — he has two performances at the 2026 edition as well as sets at Dekmantel Selectors lined up later in the summer. The 3-6-9 EP lands ahead of an album and world tour that marks 45 years in service to electronic music, nodding to Rachmad's earliest roots in electro funk through to his day-one embrace of house and techno as it made its way across the Atlantic from Chicago and Detroit.

There's a rowdy, rave-spirited energy to the synth hook bucking its way through the centre of '3 Creation Energy', coming on in brassy tones laced with artful distortion while the drums dutifully jack the way they ought to. There's a more linear, pressure cooker quality to the tidal filter work guiding '6 Physical Manifestation' to its own energetic peaks, while '9 Completion and Delivery' surfs on coursing waves of arpeggiated lead lines before breaking through to the oceanic calm of grandiose pad tones.

There's no mystery to unpick here — this is quite simply techno perfection made with the instinct and experience of a master of the form, whose life is synonymous with every inch of the culture.

These days – on the new, ninth Fink album – Greenall is operating within a lineage of authentic, quietly revolutionary artists from England’s verdant southwestern toe. Artists like Michael Chapman. In 1970, the elusive acoustic guitar wizard released an album called Fully Qualified Survivor. The cult-classic served as a lodestar for Greenall – along with bandmates Tim Thornton and Guy Whittaker – as he began jigsawing together The City Is Coming to Erase it All, the follow-up to 2024’s Beauty In Your Wake. He even considered covering a song from it, but in the process, inadvertently stumbled into what became the album’s opener. ‘Wishing For Blue Sky’ circles a universal teenage ache: waiting for life to start. “No point dying of patience” goes the first lyric as crunching footsteps cue a resonant, open-tuned acoustic swaying into view. By 18, Greenall was fed up with waiting, so he left suburban Bristol and saw the world, sending postcards from the edge, waiting tables, squirreling away tips for the next flight. Thornton had similar experiences when the guitarist/drummer busked across Eur

This is nowstalgia more than nostalgia, though; there’s a parallel between these 18-year-olds and Fink’s autumn-aged family men. “You’re expected to be boring and settling down at this age,” Thornton says. “But we’ve still got this tremendous wanderlust. We want to go and discover, and also achieve things. It’s a nice life – home and family – but fuck, I can’t wait to get back out there.” City is a product of this hunger for discovery, and idolatry of the album as a form – like we had in 1974. City’s cover mirrors its interior, the first song is the greeting, the instrumental closer the conclusion. It’s a story. It’s a record for people who, like its creators, are curious. People who happily face a little cold for music, who light a crackling fire back home, who sit with these songs until they’re ready to chase after their own blue sky

Ever since the late 1950s bossa-nova revolution, Brazil’s influence on French music has been undeniable. Pierre Barouh, Georges Moustaki and a vast array of lesser known artists, all made the Musica Popular Brasileira (MPB) an axis of promotion at the service of a cool and metaphysical, modern and mixed Brazilian lifestyle. Some were seduced by the poetic languors of the bossa, some were looking for fun, and others just loved the American hybridization of jazz-bossa, jazz-samba.



What is bossa nova? One of its creators, Joao Gilberto said: "Its style, cadence, everything is samba. At the very start, we didn't call it bossa nova, we sang a little samba made up of a single note - Samba de uma nota so .... The discussion around the origins of bossa nova is therefore useless”. It is nevertheless useful to remember that these magnificent Brazilian songs, which the guitarist describes as samba, were shifted and balanced around improbable chords. "I like things that lean, the in-betweens that limp with grace," said Pierre Barrouh, quoting Jean Cocteau.



With emotion, arrangements for violin and supple guitar licks, bossa nova rapidly changed. A transformation that can be heard in the Tchic, tchic, French Bossa Nova 1963-1974 compilation, the result of a cultural reappropriation, which traveled through the United States and supplemented itself in France.

A musical revolution that has remained significant, bossa nova was born in Rio. From 1956 to 1961, Brazil lived through its golden years. In five years, the country had invented its modernist style. Elected president in 1956, Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, an elegant man with a broad forehead, brandished a promising slogan: "Fifty years of progress in five years". He quickly got to work. Not worried about increasing debt, he launched the project for a new federal capital, Brasilia, designed by the communist architect Oscar Niemeyer. Volkswagen opened state-of-the-art factories and created the “fusquinha”, the Beetle. In Rio, the Vespa made its first appearance. The Arpoador Surf Club crew run into the “girl” from Ipanema, Helô Pinheiro - the tanned garota ("chick"), between a flower and mermaid, who at 17 walked by the Veloso bar, where the fiery author and composer, Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, were getting drunk on whiskey. From then on, bossa symbolized cool.

In 1958, Joao Gilberto recorded Chega de Saudade, which the directors of Philips denied, calling it "music for fagots". The marketing director, who believed in it, secretly pressed 3000 78-inch vinyls and distributed them at schools around Rio, creating a tidal wave.

American jazzmen then took over. In particular, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and guitarist Charlie Byrd. In November 1962, the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs funded a "Bossa-Nova" concert at Carnegie Hall in New York, inviting the genre’s pioneers. Unprepared, the show soon turned to disaster. But the troupe was invited to the White House by Jackie Kennedy. The first lady loved "the new beat" and in particular Maria Ninguem, a song by Carlos Lyra, later covered by Brigitte Bardot.

In Brazil, the 1964 military coup quickly ended this euphoria. The destructive atmosphere that ensued pushed many Brazilian musicians to leave, if not to exile. Thus, Tom Jobim, Sergio Mendes and Joao Gilberto arrived to the United States. In New York, Joao Gilberto met saxophonist Stan Getz. At the time, he was married to the Bahianese Astrud Weinert Gilberto, who had a German father. She had never sung before, but she knew how to speak English. Getz therefore asked her to replace her husband on The Girl From Ipanema. The Getz/Gilberto record with Tom Jobim on piano, was released in March 1964. Phil Ramone, the "pope of pop" was in charge of sound.

Bossa nova arrived in Paris through the classic “guitar-voice” channel (Pierre Barouh, Baden Powell, Moustaki…) But France loved jazz and Paris had already welcomed its American contributors. All these good people were to pass through Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The cabaret l'Escale became the Mecca of Latin American sound where one could find Pierre Barrouh and his friends, such as the Camara Trio, samba-jazz aces, whose only record was published by the Saravah label. With a band strangely called Les Masques (a band that included Nicole Croisille and Pierre Vassiliu, among others), the Camara Trio recorded an interesting Brazilian Sound, including the track Il faut tenir which is present on this tasty compilation of rarities.

Other enlightened musicians can also be found on the compilation, such as Jean-Pierre Sabar (songwriter for Hardy, Auffray, Leforestier ...) and the French pop rock organist Balthazar. In 1975, Sabar recorded Aurinkoinen Musiikkimatka on a Finnish label, which featured the crazy Vai, Vai, included on this record. We are now following the footsteps of Brazilian electronic musicians such as Sergio Mendes, Eumir Deodato or Marcos Valle who created funk and disco sounds on their keyboards and synthesizers. A style that influenced Véronique Sanson when she wrote Jusqu’à la Tombée de la nuit in 1969 for Isabelle de Funès, the niece of Louis and a great friend of Michel Berger - Sanson did end up singing this track on her 1992 Sans Regret record.


The pinnacle of exoticism and travel, Sylvia Fels’ Corto Maltese includes bongos, sea mist and ocean sounds. The title was taken from Jacky Chalard’s concept album written in 1974, Je suis vivant, mais j’ai peur (I am alive, but I am scared), based on Gilbert Deflez’s science fiction novel.


However, bossa nova extended the scope of popularity. "In the 1970s, I was a fan of Sergio Mendes, Getz / Gilberto. I fell in love with this music that I knew because I had been an orchestral singer, " explained Isabelle Aubret, who in 1971 delivered a composite record of covers by the very funky Jorge Ben, Orfeu Negro, Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Morais and Jean Ferrat. "I recorded this album for Meys Records in Paris, far from Brazil, with wonderful musicians, François Raubert, Roland Vincent, Alain Goraguer...". The latter wrote the arrangements for Casa Forte, a very percussive title borrowed from Edu Lobo, one of the initiators of the bossa who spent time in California. "Jazz and bossa came together and produced very rhythmic music. I love singing, it allows me to dream, to have fun, to feel a high on stage, and these songs brought me joy, made me swing, my singing felt like a dance.”


The world tours of French singers and their desire for the tropics, often brought them to Rio with its hills, forests, caipirinhas and tanned bodies. There are surprises though, like this Iemenja (Iemenja is the goddess of the sea in the Afro-Brazilian candomblé religion). Not unlike the composer and musician Jean-Pierre Lang, based in Sao Paulo, Claire Chevalier taught Brazil to Brazil. In 1970, the singer and painter published a 45-inch vinyl, Mon mari et mes amants (My husband and my lovers), under the improbable pseudonym of Clarinha (little Claire). She was then living in Rio, with her husband, Joël Leibovitz, who founded a band called Azimuth, and who owned a record label specialized in "sambas enredos" songs for samba school parades.


For its B side, she asked Pierre Perret to come up with lyrics for a song composed by Carlos Imperial: "Oh goddess of the sea, o goddess Iemenja, I bring a white rose to adorn your long hair ..." . "Perret came to see us, and we had fun, remembers Joël Leibovitz. We wrote Lemenja for fun, we recorded it at the Havaí studio, behind the Central do Brasil the central station. Erlon Chaves, the arranger who worked with Elis Regina, joined us" adding his share of Afro-Brazilian percussions and funky brass to the mix.

There is a common misunderstanding in Franco-Brazilian history: that bossa, admittedly hedonistic, is perceived as funny, even though the poets who wrote the texts are often philosophizing on the human condition. Its French interpreters pull it towards a carnival inspired universe, far removed from its fundamental essence. Thus, Jean Constantin covered the famous Samba da minha terra, an ode to the art of samba written by the classic Bahian composer Dorival Caymmi, renaming it with the enticing title of Pas tant de tchi tchi pompon: "On your pier there is no tchi tchi / when you arch your back, you know everything is alright ”(lyrics by Gérard Calvi). This expedited bossa aims for the absurd, but retains a certain elegance.

Indeed, Jean Constantin was not an idiot, the rather large man had a huge mustache and liked fantasy, (Les pantoufles à papa, Le pacha, inspired by cha-cha-cha-cha, salsa and jazz) but he was also the lyricist of Mon manège à moi interpreted by Edith Piaf, the composer of Mon Truc en plume by Zizi Jeanmaire and the soundtrack of François Truffaut’s 400 Blows. Le Poulpe, published in 1970, from which this bossa is extract, was arranged by Jean-Claude Vannier, an accomplice of Serge Gainsbourg’s Melody Nelson. In short: "There is enough of samba / By looking at the parasol / Because my poor cabeza / Is going to die in the sun".

Even the American actress Marpessa Down, who was at the heart of the bossa nova revolution with her role as Euridyce in Marcel Camus’ film Orfeu Negro, winner of the 1959 Cannes Palme d'or, fed the clichée with Je voudrais parler au petit cuica - "Tell me how you manage to always make people want to dance / It's true, I must admit that I cannot resist your magic" - in consequence, once can hear the cuica, a little drum inherited from the Bantu.


But bossa nova had many angles. Societal, of course, pushing actresses who were symbols of women's liberation like Brigitte Bardot, Jeanne Moreau, or Sophia Loren to engage in the exercise of accelerated bossa. In February of 1963, Sophia Loren made a record in French in Rome, Je ne t'aime plus, featuring the song De jour en jour, a bossa written by two Italians, Armando Trovajoli and Tino Fornai, which was released a little later by Barclay. Bossa accompanied the 1960s, a decade of moral liberation. Ann Sorel, who interpreted La Poupée des favellas, caused a sensation with L’amour à plusieurs, a provocative song written by Frédéric Bottom and Jean-Claude Vannier. As for the actress Andrea Parisy, she displayed her bourgeois cheekiness in Marcel Carné's Les Tricheurs before interpreting Les mains qui font du bien. And Magalie Noël, the friend of Boris Vian, who sung Johnny fais-moi mal, was hired to sing Une énorme Samba, composed by Alain Goraguer (arranger to Gainsbourg, Bobby Lapointe and Jean Ferrat) with lyrics by Frédéric Botton.

But in the end, of what wood is bossa nova made of? The answer is given by Christianne Legrand, daughter of Raymond the conductor, and sister to Michel the composer: "With me, with jà" - jà means "immediately" in Portuguese. In 1972, the singer, an expert in vocal jazz and a member of the Double Six, published Le Brésil de Christianne Legrand. Two songs included on the Tchic Tchic compilation that demonstrate how bossa, jazz, funk, rock, etc. work like a swiss army knife: the music is used to denounce broken systems, or miracles, HLM et ciné roman, Cent mille poissons dans ton filet, two songs from the O Cafona soundtrack, a successful telenovela broadcast, at the time in black and white, on TV Globo. The first was adapted in French by the fighter and friend of the Legrand tribe, Agnès Varda. The second is content with a play on words, jostling them into a summer fun.



Véronique Mortaigne

Alt Dub label head Federsen links with Belgrade’s Estray for a deep, percussive exploration of dub house—where analogue weight meets globally-rooted rhythm and hypnotic late-night energy.

A key figure within Eastern Europe’s electronic landscape, Estray has spent over a decade shaping a sound that travels far beyond his home base. With releases on Rebellion, Neptune Discs, Sol Selectas, Akumandra and Buddha Bar, alongside an extensive international DJ presence, his output reflects a balance of cultural depth and dancefloor functionality.

His productions draw on a wide palette of influences, fusing African and Latin rhythmic structures with rolling, dub-informed low-end. Intricate drum programming and fluid groove design sit at the core, while his basslines—heavy, warm and propulsive—remain a defining signature. Federsen, known for releases on Echospace Detroit, Grayscale, Synchrophone, Lempuyang and Avant Roots, continues to refine a sound rooted in analogue process, spatial detail and textural precision. His work leans into restraint, allowing depth and subtle modulation to drive momentum.

Recorded at Devon Analogue Studios, the pair’s collaboration unfolds across four tracks built on dense sub frequencies, shifting percussion and evolving atmospheres. Each piece is carefully structured yet organic, moving between stripped-back dub frameworks and more rhythmically charged passages.

The result is a cohesive body of work that sits comfortably within the dub house tradition while introducing a broader, multicultural rhythmic language—equally suited to immersive listening and deep dancefloor moments.