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ANATHEMA'S NIGHT OF ETHEREAL DOOM METAL MAGIC FROM
KRAKOW, POLAND, 1996, WITH A SELECTION OF CLASSICS FROM THEIR FIRST TWO ALBUMS - PRESENTED ON VINYL FOR THE FIRST TIME'A

Vision Of A Dying Embrace' contains a night of spellbinding Doom Metal from Anathema's live show in Krakow, Poland, in 1996 Whilst still reasonably early in the career of the band & with rhythm guitarist Vincent Cavanagh taking on vocal duties only relatively recently for the sublime 'The Silent Enigma' opus, the set contained a whole selection of now-established classics from Anathema's first two studio albums & 'Pentecost III' EP, with epics like 'A Dying Wish', 'Sleepless', & 'Mine is Yours' captured in their purest & rawest form in the live setting. Anathema has spent most of their career making music that defies description. As part of the "Peaceville three", along with Paradise Lost & My Dying Bride, Anathema have carved a strong legacy since their inception at the turn of the 1990's, to become a widely revered & respected band within both the metal world & beyond, as their sound & compositions progressed from doom/ death metal into more rock & progressive territory with each subsequent release, becoming one of the UK's most cherished & critically acclaimed rock bands. This edition of 'A Vision Of A Dying Embrace' is presented on the vinyl format for the first time & includes printed inner sleeve.

We welcome back Stockholm house stalwart Viggo Dyst for his second contribution to our Classic Cuts series: an uplifting cut of five melodic tracks, including a remix from SNF mainstay, Earth Trax.

Tech-house banger 'These Knits' kicks off proceedings, with cosmic undertones that imbue it with a sense of buoyancy and playfulness. On the flip, Earth Trax teases out the track's cooler elements, introducing a more definitive pulse and replacing the melody's warmth with a greater sense of unease: catch this one reverberating around a cavernous warehouse. 'Promises' maintains the driving propulsion, introducing an acid melody which lends it anthemic grandeur before the sultry whisper of cymbals and female vocals on the modest deep house track 'CAT' strip things right back. Finally, the ambient closer 'Bubble Wrap' pays testament to Viggo Dyst's musical ambidexterity and his capacity for creating atmosphere with a full-bodied soundscape and rich tonal depth.

These Knits EP drops 10th June 2022 via Shall Not Fade

The other well known 7” from STARFIRE, titled “Almost Insane”, was initially meant to be the “flagship” single for the Long Player “Get Off With Us” released in 1976 on the Dynamic Artists label. Almost no one was aware of the existence of this ultra rare biscuit, once simply thought to be just an LP track. Soon after being unearthed, the luxurious Funk infused seventies soul arrangement and high audio fidelity of “Make The Most of It” backed by the insanely good “Out of The Ghetto” made it one of the most sought after 45 in the rare soul community soon becoming a firm play of a handful spinners to include Dave Ripolles and Yours Truly. Hard work to track the guys down, all well in their seventies, all in the name of spreading the love. Enjoy and support the venture, and if you like the Spice of Ice too, please bundle up and spare something. One in every home!

140g Black vinyl LP – Printed inner sleeve – Sealed plastic sleeve



In Trux We Pux is an editorial project organized by the Porto based label and collective Favela Discos. Focusing on the city’s thriving experimental and improvised music scene, it sets out to portrait in a series of four volumes some of the characteristic sounds and collaborative practices that have been in development in Porto during the last few years.

In Trux We Pux 04 is the last in a series of four records organized by Favela Discos, set out to shine a light on Porto’s thriving experimental and improvised music scene. Throughout the collection the label tries to expose the eclectic sound and collaborative practices that have been in development in the last few years in the city by promoting the collaboration between artists and the creation of new collective improvisation pieces.

As the first album dwelled into the electronic spectre of the scene, this volume veers itself to the physical side of experimental and improvised explorations. Although there is space for outsiders manipulating the sound by electronic means, most of the music in this album is plucked, bowed, percussed or sung. The artists themselves are as varied as the music they played, among the 13 artists that collaborated for the creation of this album are many promising newcomers but also some of the more recognizable and relevant names in the scene, with the presence of the Sonoscopia founder Gustavo Costa, João Pais Filipe one of the most characteristic drummers in Portugal, and the DIY duo and underground staple Calhau!.

As we could suspect, the diverse selection of musicians, while providing us a view on the various kinds of musical languages that populate the city’s scene, also creates a dynamic collection of sounds. Spanning a large gamut of sub-sub-genres, from near-musique concrète to tribal noise, the album is a rollercoaster collage that miraculously achieves logic and cohesion, like a voyeur listener taking us on a journey through an abandoned mall where most of the bands in Porto rehearse, whose halls reverberate with a cacophony of music.

As Motorist, LA native Joe Rihn makes music which points in the direction of the soulful, jazz inflections of artists like Wax Doctor and Peshay. Time Is Now White Vol.20 pays testament to his dexterity in creating fully-immersive atmospheres, as well as his penchant for rhythmic experimentation.

The EP's smooth-as-silk opener 'Drip' typifies this, luring you in with the psychedelic-funk tones of wah-pedalled guitar plucks, and the instrumental quality of percussion which cruises along at half-time before Amen breaks pick up the pace. 'Balamb Garden' captures D'n'B's meditative potential, driven by a dynamic syncopation which swings beneath airy pads and piano tinkles before the harder-hitting raw club track 'Caldoria' brings the A-side to a storming close.

'Blast Route' picks things right back up again, together with 'Prism', which nod more to the hardcore proclivities of the likes of DJ Die with distorted drum breaks and warped basslines. 'Rover' strips things back once more, boasting Motorist's capacity for teasing out the slower, more mellow side of 160.

Kenn hat es wieder getan... Es würde Sinn machen, sein vorheriges Werk "Dancing with the Past" als das neue Anacrusis-Album zu bezeichnen und das nicht nur, weil das meiste darauf enthaltene Material mit der Absicht geschrieben wurde, ein Comeback zu feiern. Acht Jahre später meldet sich Mr. Nardi mit einem weiteren Epos zurück, das zwar eine Stunde kürzer ist als der Vorgänger, aber von der Qualität her "Trauma" atmet seinen Nacken. Die epische Länge beider Alben sollte den Hörer aber nicht zurückhalten, denn das hier ist wirklich fesselndes Material von Anfang bis Ende, dunkle Progressive/Thrash-Scheiben, die nichts von dem vermissen lassen, was das Repertoire von Anacrusis zu einem der beliebtesten in der Szene gemacht hat. "Trauma" ist dynamischer und ein bisschen weniger atmosphärisch, was an der geringeren Anzahl der Balladen liegt. Hier sind es nur drei, die sich jeweils einem bestimmten Segment zuwenden aus dem balladesken Bereich, ansonsten bestimmt eine brachiale Kombination aus Progressive und Thrash die Handlung, das schnellere Material pulverisiert, vielschichtige Thrasher voller voller inbrünstiger Tempowechsel und abrupter Stimmungswechsel. Das Herzstück des Albums ist die 11-minütige Odyssee "The Orphan", eine zusammenfassende Reise durch alle Ecken und Winkel des des Anacrusis-Katalogs, ein fesselndes Epos, wie es Anacrusis bzw. Nardi noch nie versucht haben.

Wir wollen glauben, dass die Anacrusis-Fans bereitwillig ins Nardi-Lager gewechselt sind, das in nicht allzu regelmäßiger Folge deftige Genüsse verspricht. Das ist auch gut so, solange er einen ganzen Vormittag füllen kann, wird er bei allen ganz oben auf der Liste stehen.

Für Fans von: Anacrusis, Nevermore, Atheist, Voivod, Forbidden, Control Denied

World renowned extreme Metal titans KREATOR are back. 5 Years after their incredibly successful “Gods Of Violence” album (2107, #1 in the German album charts, #4 in Austria, #7 in Czech Republic and Finland + chart entries in numerous other territories), the genre-defining band presents their most political effort to date. “Hate Über Alles” (in tradition of US punk icons DEAD KENNEDYS’ “California Über Alles”) is a bold statement against hate and the division of society in today’s world. While perfecting their signature sound of thrash metal that inspired countless other bands over the past 4 decades, KREATOR have managed to close the gap between the old and new school, still reaching new audiences, playing sold out shows to even bigger crowds as they move on. “

Hate Über Alles” features 11 tracks that once again show who’s boss in this game that many begin but only few ultimately last in. The crushing frenzy of the title track, the pounding “Strongest Of The Strong” featuring world famous vegan strongman Patrik Baboumian, the nostalgia of “Become Immortal” or the extravaganza of “Midnight Sun” make the band’s 14th album their most diverse and thrilling so far. “Hate Über Alles” will be accompanied by massive online and out-of-home campaigns, leading up to the band’s European co-headlining tour with Grammy-nominated US powerhouse LAMB OF GOD in November/December 2022. The album is available in various lavish vinyl editions featuring a beautiful, yet grim trifold artwork by famous artist Eliran Kantor (TESTAMENT, SOULFLY, HELLOWEEN, HEAVEN SHALL BURN, HATEBREED among others) as well as in a noble CD Digibook and bold box set including an extended Making-Of Book, a live album of the band’s 2021 Bloodstock Open Air appearance, an art print of the cover and a pin of the band’s iconic logo.

Limited Edition 180g Vinyl LP! All-Analogue Mastering by Kevin Gray!
Pressed at RTI!

This mid-period masterwork from jazz piano's most uncommon voice finds Monk and his quartet (Charlie Rouse on tenor, Ben Riley on drums and Larry Gales on bass) exploring every texture, tone and melodic turn of seven expansive tracks. This group was subtle, mature and confident, easily supporting Monk's more idiosyncratic side-tracks (check out the solo on "Locomotive" or the restless exposition on "Japanese Folk Song") while allowing listeners freedom to move through or contemplate all the sublime subtexts Monk conjures from the endless well of his inspiration.

This emphasis on laid back and mature presentation aided the recording as well. These master tapes sound amazing and getting them to disc was a pure pleasure. Subtle changes in atmosphere, tone and melody fill the space between the speakers, a wide soundstage and expansive dynamics the gift of music indelibly played. This is one sonic powerhouse for the ages.

Available for the first time on 180-gram 2-LP with the full performances of the original tracks and including two bonus tracks, this new Impex release gets you closer to Monk's genius than ever before. Kevin Gray and Robert Pincus used analogue master tapes and minimal processing to great effect, while original session and jacket images were culled to create the deluxe gatefold jacket. Add in the sound-of-silence pressings from RTI and you have a can't miss jazz disc ready to delight and inspire every time it spins on your turntable. Impex has pulled out all the stops on this mesmerizing Monk classic. All you have to do is get one and enjoy before they're all gone.

Strictly limited to 10,000 numbered copies, pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl at RTI, and mastered from the original master tapes, Mobile Fidelity's ultra-hi-fi UltraDisc One-Step 180g 45RPM 2LP collector's edition enhances the blockbuster work for today – and the ages to come. Surpassing the sonics of any prior version, it peels away any remaining limitations to provide a transparent, lively, ultra-nuanced presentation of a record that won six Grammy Awards – including prizes for Album of the Year, Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, and Best Rock Song. The expanse and depth of the soundstage, fullness of tones, natural snap and extension of the guitar strings, realistic rise and decay of individual notes, and roll of Clapton's vocals all attain demonstration-grade levels.

Housed in a deluxe box, the UD1S Unplugged pressing features special foil-stamped jackets and faithful-to-the-original graphics that illuminate the splendor of the recording and the reissue's premium quality. No expense has been spared. Aurally and visually, this UD1S reissue exists as a curatorial artifact meant to be preserved, touched, and examined. It is made for discerning listeners that prize sound quality and production, and who desire to fully immerse themselves in the art – and everything involved with the album, from the images to the finishes.

Truly, everything about Unplugged matters. Having sold more than 10 million copies in the U.S. and more than 26 million copies worldwide, the 1992 work resonates with listeners of all generations and speaks a universal language. Recorded for MTV before a very small audience on January 16, 1992, the 14-track set became the signpost for future acoustic-based endeavours that witnessed artists of all stripes re-examining their catalogues and, in many instances, as Clapton does here, placing familiar originals in fresh contexts and unveiling spirited versions of cover material. Needless to say, Clapton's session turned MTV's series into can't-miss programming for which the likes of Rod Stewart, Tony Bennett, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and more would soon participate.

Kicking off his performance with a spirited instrumental to establish the mood, Clapton immediately wades into the style that originally caught his attention as a British teenager in the early 1960s: American blues. Backed by a superb band that includes guitarist Andy Fairweather Low, pianist Chuck Leavell, bassist Nathan East, and drummer Steve Ferrone, Slowhand delivers a rhythmic, toe-tapping rendition of Bo Diddley's "Before You Accuse Me" that announces he's come to reconnect with his muse. What follows over the course of nearly the next hour stirs the heart, shakes the soul, moves the mind, and invigorates the senses.

Of course, there's no talking about Unplugged without keying in on "Tears in Heaven," the striking ballad Clapton penned about the death of his four-year-old son. More emotional, direct, spare, and healing than the studio version released a year prior, it crackles with an intimacy, maturity, poignancy, honesty, sweetness, and integrity that inform the entire concert. Indeed, how Clapton frames other favorites here – transforming "Layla" into a relaxed, comfortable stroll and ruminating on the seasoned ripples flowing throughout "Old Love," for example – indicate both a creative rebirth and gleeful acceptance of the next phase of his career.

And that very direction (two of Clapton's next three albums would be all-blues projects) is what really makes Unplugged so indispensable. Equivalent in mastery if not in volume to the output that earned him his "God" nickname, interpretations of Jesse Fuller's "San Francisco Bay Blues" (complete with kazoo!), Big Bill Broonzy's "Hey Hey," Robert Johnson's "Walkin' Blues" and "Malted Milk," and Muddy Waters' "Rollin' & Tumblin'" showcase a learned professor in his element and all the wheels turning.

In every regard, Clapton's Unplugged session was appointment listening when it came out in August 1992. With the arrival of MoFi's UD1S pressing, that sensation is more urgent than before.

More About Mobile Fidelity UltraDisc One-Step and Why It Is Superior

Instead of utilizing the industry-standard three-step lacquer process, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab's new UltraDisc One-Step (UD1S) uses only one step, bypassing two processes of generational loss. While three-step processing is designed for optimum yield and efficiency, UD1S is created for the ultimate in sound quality. Just as Mobile Fidelity pioneered the UHQR (Ultra High-Quality Record) with JVC in the 1980s, UD1S again represents another state-of-the-art advance in the record-manufacturing process. MFSL engineers begin with the original master tapes and meticulously cut a set of lacquers. These lacquers are used to create a very fragile, pristine UD1S stamper called a "convert." Delicate "converts" are then formed into the actual record stampers, producing a final product that literally and figuratively brings you closer to the music. By skipping the additional steps of pulling another positive and an additional negative, as done in the three-step process used in standard pressings, UD1S produces a final LP with the lowest noise floor possible today. The removal of the additional two steps of generational loss in the plating process reveals tremendous amounts of extra musical detail and dynamics, which are otherwise lost due to the standard copying process. The exclusive nature of these very limited pressings guarantees that every UD1S pressing serves as an immaculate replica of the lacquer sourced directly from the original master tape. Every conceivable aspect of vinyl production is optimized to produce the most perfect record album available today.

MoFi SuperVinyl

Developed by NEOTECH and RTI, MoFi SuperVinyl is the most exacting-to-specification vinyl compound ever devised. Analog lovers have never seen (or heard) anything like it. Extraordinarily expensive and extremely painstaking to produce, the special proprietary compound addresses two specific areas of improvement: noise floor reduction and enhanced groove definition. The vinyl composition features a new carbonless dye (hold the disc up to the light and see) and produces the world's quietest surfaces. This high-definition formula also allows for the creation of cleaner grooves that are indistinguishable from the original lacquer. MoFi SuperVinyl provides the closest approximation of what the label's engineers hear in the mastering lab.



SACD



Mastered from the original master tapes, Mobile Fidelity's numbered hybrid SACD enhances the blockbuster work for today – and the ages to come. Peeling away remaining sonic limitations to provide a transparent, lively, ultra-nuanced presentation of a record that won six Grammy Awards (including prizes for Album of the Year, Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, and Best Rock Song), it places Clapton and company in your room. The expanse and depth of the soundstage, fullness of tones, natural snap and extension of the guitar strings, realistic rise and decay of individual notes, and roll of Clapton's vocals all attain demonstration-grade levels. A perennial audiophile favourite, Unplugged now tosses its hat into the ring as a demonstration disc.

Label favourites Balearic Ensemble return to the fore following last summer's spectacular 'Cachonda' EP, this time with a 12" treasury of wonderful, eclectic dancing music of the highest balearic order. They're joined by Das Komplex, notable for recent excursions on DJ Harvey's Mercury Rising, to round out their five-track excursion for the label: this is the Mediterráneo EP.

Opener 'Pitiusas First' sets the tone with dizzy, downbeat percussions as a bass guitar skates and glissades underfoot; soaring, starry-eyed synth work and Latin organ stabs in concerto. This homage to the islands and islets of Ibiza comes with a note of melancholy, or nostalgia: waking up to find that your best years might have evaded you - and celebrating the fact. It's a maturing of the Residentes sound in a way we haven't heard before; a gorgeous moonlight serenade, the last tango on Formentera, and a tip for orange-tinted sunsets all summer long.

Second track 'Almendros y Drones' takes us deeper into the throes of that distinctive Mediterranean sound with dizzying arpeggios and analogue bass over teetering hihats and fizzing synths; it's an eruptive, volcanic beast of a track that will take liberties with your dancefloor. Over-the-top filter action and driving piano perforations, crashing snares and resonant howls, Almendros, Drones.

The third offering is 'Mojada', taking cues from classic deep house with its deep-set bassline and modular squeaks. It's a slow burner, an aquaplane on Eivissa, cueing 303 squelches and 90s drum machine riffing before its eventual, explosive peak.

After Mojada we enter the chugging, gritty realm of Das Komplex's remixes. He refashions the heady throes of 'Mojada' into a driving, churning unit; percussions, distorted into infinity; basslines bent and buckled into submission; slabs of piano lathered with space echo delay. Wonky late-nite dancing music at its very best.

Extra treat: Das Komplex also left us his 'Pineapple Bonus Mix' of Mojada, which is a more sunset-suited affair altogether. This special mix lasers in on that exuberant piano part, then plays with percussions and dynamics to create a full-on dub version of the original track.

Late notice on this one, please get orders in ASAP. Clear vinyl is for Indies only. For Fans Of.. Durand Jones & The Indications, Aaron Frazer, Kelly Finnigan, The Altons, Thee Sacred Souls, Thee Sinseers, Malik Malo. Producer, songwriter, and member of Thee Sinseers. Forthcoming debut album on Colemine Records. Joey embodies the East LA sweet soul scene. Featuring Joey Qionones’s debut Colemine single ‘Love Me Like You Used To,’ this 45 epitomizes the artist. Drowning in lush and soulful tracks, both ‘There Must Be Something’ and ‘Love Me Like You Used To’ bring you into Joey’s world, where he embodies the East LA sweet soul scene. This is Joey’s second 45 in collaboration with Colemine Records, but expect a dynamic, rich, and stacked debut LP from him later this year.

Late notice on this one, please get orders in ASAP. Clear vinyl is for Indies only. For Fans Of.. Durand Jones & The Indications, Aaron Frazer, Kelly Finnigan, The Altons, Thee Sacred Souls, Thee Sinseers, Malik Malo. Producer, songwriter, and member of Thee Sinseers. Forthcoming debut album on Colemine Records. Joey embodies the East LA sweet soul scene. Featuring Joey Qionones’s debut Colemine single ‘Love Me Like You Used To,’ this 45 epitomizes the artist. Drowning in lush and soulful tracks, both ‘There Must Be Something’ and ‘Love Me Like You Used To’ bring you into Joey’s world, where he embodies the East LA sweet soul scene. This is Joey’s second 45 in collaboration with Colemine Records, but expect a dynamic, rich, and stacked debut LP from him later this year.

Rock 'n' roll is often hard to define, or even to find, in these fractured
musical times - But to paraphrase an old saying, you know it when you
hear it - And you always hear it with The Wallflowers
Exit Wounds, which stays true to its title, is an album that is an ode to people -
individual and collective - that have, to put it mildly, been through some stuff. 'I
think everybody - no matter what side of the aisle you're on - wherever we're going
to next, we're all taking a lot of exit wounds with us,' says Jakob Dylan. 'Nobody is
the same as they were four years ago. That, to me, is what Exit Wounds signifies.'
To be sure, Exit Wounds is populated by scarred souls and the things they carry
with them. Those are your exit wounds. And right now, we're all swimming in
them. Pressed on Pink and Purple Splatter Color Vinyl.

Dawn of Demise entstand, als die Mitglieder Bjørn Jensen und Martin Sørensen beschlossen, dass sie einfachen und schweren Death Metal
spielen wollten. "Lasst uns etwas spielen, was wir auch wirklich können, etwas wie die schweren, groovigen Parts von Bands wie Suffocation, Pyrexia, Internal Bleeding, Dying Fetus, früheren Cannibal Corpse und so weiter". "Hate Takes Its Form" ist das Ergebnis dieser ersten Gedanken und Ideen. Die Band hat jahrelang hart an dem gearbeitet, was später ihr Debütalbum werden sollte.

Das Line-Up, das für das Album verantwortlich war, bestand neben Bjørn und Martin, die immer noch in der Band sind, aus Jakob Nyholm (der später bei Koldborn und Hatesphere einstieg), Kim Jensen (spielte auch bei Koldborn und Illdisposed) und nicht zuletzt Scott Jensen. Scott, der früher in der Death Metal-Band Infernal Torment aus Silkeborg spielte, hat sich aus dem Death Metal-Ruhestand zurückgezogen, um der Band beizutreten. Zuvor hatte er erklärt, dass er mit dem Spielen in Bands fertig sei und keine Lust mehr habe. Vielleicht konnte ihn sein jüngerer Bruder Bjørn überzeugen.


Das Album hat sich im Laufe der Jahre den Titel eines modernen dänischen Death-Metal- Klassikers verdient. Die Band ist immer noch stark, aber viele Fans schwören immer noch auf das Debüt und bezeichnen es als die beste Leistung der Band. Auf die Frage nach dem Erfolg des Albums sagte die Band: ... "Wir waren eine sehr neue Band, verwirrt und wussten nicht genau, wie wir klingen wollten. Vielleicht war diese "Verwirrung" und das "Experimentieren" eine gute Sache".

"Hate Takes Its Form" wurde von Marco Angioni in den Angioni Studios neu gemastert.

Homemade ambient synth songs that will lead you to a state between deep relaxation and pleasant chemical high. Subtle, sincere, but also strange, Leoni Leoni's music has a powerful attraction and a unique bewitching force. The synthesizers sizzle, the drum machine moves forward sometimes throbbing. Upon it, the Bernese musician and producer sings about life, about love, in their banality and magnificence. With 4 homemade cassettes released since 2019, Leoni Leoni has established herself as a major figure of the Swiss underground. With dozens of concerts across Switzerland and France, she distills to perfection her music in the weirdest places, the craziest parties. A bit of magic, the scent of drugs, the caress of a summer white night... let yourself be carried away.

repress

London-based composer/bassist, Daniel Casimir returns with his solo debut album Boxed In, a dynamic collision of pulsing modern jazz and orchestral instrumentation.

Featuring Casimir's quintet of fellow British jazz luminaries, including Nubya Garcia, Moses Boyd, Al MacSween and James Copus, the album astutely bridges traditional and contemporary jazz forms enveloping strings, woodwind & brass arrangements.

Boxed In represents Casimir's debut set of compositions written for orchestra. Despite his interest in writing for orchestra while studying jazz and classical music, attending conservatoires and completing a masters degree at Trinity Laban, he was never given the opportunity or choice to fulfil his aspiration. Casimir notes that as only one of two black musicians in his study cohort the normalisation of the situation made it almost easy to miss its inherent injustice.

Coming up through the essential development foundation Tomorrow's Warriors, Casimir has gone on to feature on all of Nubya Garcia's recorded output to date as well as projects by Makaya McCraven and Ashley Henry and has performed with Lonnie Liston Smith and Jason Rebello amongst others.

This album reflects the experiences of navigating prescribed labels traditionally placed on black musicians. As well as being inspired by Wayne Shorter's hybrid orchestral jazz projects, Boxed In was also influenced by a conversation Casimir had in 2018 with legendary composer and producer Quincy Jones who talked a lot about classical music orchestration.

The album is also inspired by Derek Owusu's book Safe which reflects on the Black British male experience and becomes the broad thematic skeleton of Boxed In with the track Safe split into three parts across the album, the first of which opens proceedings in a purposeful up-tempo style with stylistic touches of Roni Size-esque drum & bass (in part courtesy of producer/polymath Moses Boyd). The album's title track follows, with Garcia's soaring tenor taking lead, followed by New Waters and the introduction of vocalist Ria Moran.

Flute, woodwind and brass melodies envelop Casimir's charming string arrangments on Your Side and Safe Part 2, showing off Casimir's command and ease in an orchestral setting. Get Even and Rewind The Time confirm Casimir's penchant for weaving brooding pop vocals with jazz composition while the fanfaric Into The Truth leads literally into The Truth where Copus and MacSween engage throughout to the track's triumphant close.

The closing track Outro is a lively Afrobeat-tipping style with Casimir's deft bass manoeuverings and large ensemble arrangement on full show.

On their first official collaboration, Japanese noise pioneer Masami Akita aka Merzbow and Australian sound sculptor Lawrence English present a harrowing, surrealist portrait of nocturnal industrial activity, spawned by field recordings made in a sprawling factory complex seven hours north of English's home in Brisbane. He characterizes the area as "uneasy and unsettling," awash in the sickly glow of smelters and refinement machinery, somehow not of this world - a liminal quality vividly captured in Andrei Tarkovsky's sprawling purgatorial opus, Stalker, to which the title alludes. Akita, too, described early drafts of Eternal Stalker as feeling "like the soundtrack to a dystopian science fiction opera." A mood of mechanical dread and ruined futures permeates each of the album's seven potent compositions. Opener "The Long Dream" sets the stage with steady rain on sheet metal, punctured by thunder and metallic echoes, reverberating to the rafters in a collapsing warehouse. Quickly the tempest rises. "A Gate Of Light" and "Magnetic Traps" both convulse in churning furies of electric demolition and rattling chains, roaring and relentless. "The Visit" and "Black Thicket" operate more at a distance, surveying the topography of steam, rust, and liquid metal from above, their flickers of violence swallowed by blankets of darkness. This is noise at its most elemental and unknowable: brooding, bristling, and opaque, stalking forbidden peripheries of chaos and creation. Discussing Akita's music, English refers to its "intense substrata that is purely psychedelic; it consumes and confounds." The seasick swells of friction and fracture subsume the listener, forcing an auditory surrender: "this saturation of the senses can be a euphoria." Proof comes halfway through "The Golden Sphere," when the howling mayhem subtly recedes, revealing an eerie siren drone hovering in the void, like the resonance of a dead star galaxies away. Slowly a seething, venomous wall of volume returns, shredding the signal until its frequencies fray, whipping away into the eye of the storm. The combined effect merges obliteration and liberation, rapture and ravagement; it's the sound of dissolution as resolution, uprooted and unmoored, finally freed from form.

On their first official collaboration, Japanese noise pioneer Masami Akita aka Merzbow and Australian sound sculptor Lawrence English present a harrowing, surrealist portrait of nocturnal industrial activity, spawned by field recordings made in a sprawling factory complex seven hours north of English's home in Brisbane. He characterizes the area as "uneasy and unsettling," awash in the sickly glow of smelters and refinement machinery, somehow not of this world - a liminal quality vividly captured in Andrei Tarkovsky's sprawling purgatorial opus, Stalker, to which the title alludes. Akita, too, described early drafts of Eternal Stalker as feeling "like the soundtrack to a dystopian science fiction opera." A mood of mechanical dread and ruined futures permeates each of the album's seven potent compositions. Opener "The Long Dream" sets the stage with steady rain on sheet metal, punctured by thunder and metallic echoes, reverberating to the rafters in a collapsing warehouse. Quickly the tempest rises. "A Gate Of Light" and "Magnetic Traps" both convulse in churning furies of electric demolition and rattling chains, roaring and relentless. "The Visit" and "Black Thicket" operate more at a distance, surveying the topography of steam, rust, and liquid metal from above, their flickers of violence swallowed by blankets of darkness. This is noise at its most elemental and unknowable: brooding, bristling, and opaque, stalking forbidden peripheries of chaos and creation. Discussing Akita's music, English refers to its "intense substrata that is purely psychedelic; it consumes and confounds." The seasick swells of friction and fracture subsume the listener, forcing an auditory surrender: "this saturation of the senses can be a euphoria." Proof comes halfway through "The Golden Sphere," when the howling mayhem subtly recedes, revealing an eerie siren drone hovering in the void, like the resonance of a dead star galaxies away. Slowly a seething, venomous wall of volume returns, shredding the signal until its frequencies fray, whipping away into the eye of the storm. The combined effect merges obliteration and liberation, rapture and ravagement; it's the sound of dissolution as resolution, uprooted and unmoored, finally freed from form.

Manchester rock band Oceansize built a career and reputation of constructing sonic soundscapes from out of nowhere into the most monolithic, dynamic behemoths heard in aeons.

The band formed in 1998 and released four albums before calling it a day in 2011. They gained favourable comparisons in the press to bands like Mogwai, Tool, Nirvana, Jane’s Addiction, My
Bloody Valentine, Can and Faith No More among
others.

Oceansize challenged themselves and thus by the same token ensured the listener didn’t become comfortable while listening. And let's face it, - comfortable is, after all, boring.

‘Everyone Into Position’ was Oceansize’s second
studio album. Beggars Arkive are reissuing the
album on splattered yellow double vinyl.

Am 3. Juni erscheint das 3LP Album ”The Matrix (The Complete Score)” mit der gesamten Musik aus dem Original-Blockbuster-Film.

Mit insgesamt 44 neu gemasterte Tracks und ein exklusives Interview mit Komponist Don Davis! Die Matrix gilt seit langem als einer der einflussreichsten Filme aller Zeiten und läutete bei seiner Veröffentlichung 1999 eine neue Ära des Kinos ein. Unter der Regie der damals noch relativ unbekannten Wachowski-Geschwister schildert der Oscar-prämierte Film eine futuristische, dystopische Gesellschaft, in der die Menschen unwissentlich in einer simulierten Realität leben. Mit Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne und Carrie-Anne Moss in den Hauptrollen verbindet The Matrix philosophische Grundsätze, CyberpunkKriegsführung und ausgefeilte Kampfsporttechniken mit bahnbrechenden Spezialeffekten. Der geschickt komponierte Soundtrack von Davis ist das Bindeglied zwischen der atemberaubenden Optik und der verblüffenden Handlung des Films.

Wie der Filmmusikjournalist Kaya Savas in seinem Interview mit Davis im Jahr 2020 feststellt, war die Filmmusik ”anders als alles, was man bis dahin in einem Action- oder Science-Fiction-Film gehört hatte.
Das gilt auch heute noch. Abgesehen von den Fortsetzungen gibt es keinen anderen Stil und keine andere Herangehensweise an die Vertonung von Science-Fiction- und Actionfilmen als die von The Matrix.”

Covet was founded by guitarist Yvette Young with the intention of fusing lush post rock soundscapes with the subtle technical intricacies of progressive rock, After playing numerous local shows in Northern California the band released the Currents EP in late 2015. The band toured throughout the west coast building a buzz for their dynamic live show. In 2017 Covet highlighted the year by supporting Polyphia, Jason Richardson tour and followed that up with the Chon, Tera Melos, Yvette was recently named one of the top 50 sensational female guitarists by Guitar Player Magazine, Early 2018 the group entered VuDu studios with Mike Watts (The Dear Hunter, O’Brother, Gates, Dillinger Escape Plan) to record its upcoming sophomore release effloresce.

CAIVA and Julian Muller deliver their first collaborative release on Live From Earth Klub. „Without You“ is an expressive work of art that transports CAIVA‘s vocals on driven and club ready dynamics. With the eponymous single the duo sets a high standard for post isolation dance energy. We are eager to present the project as well as interrelated performances in the future.

Dynamite Cuts is proud to be able to press for the first time on 7” vinyl the explosive and super funky “I’ll say it again”. With it super funky cover art work. This heavy funk rock Groove and the powerful uplifting vocal from the wonderful Linda Tillery aka Sweet Linda Divine. This track is the back-bone groove for the Black sheep hip hop bands classic “Choice is yours”

Dynamite Cuts is proud to be able to press for the first time on 7” vinyl the explosive and super funky “I’ll say it again”. With it super funky cover art work. This heavy funk rock Groove and the powerful uplifting vocal from the wonderful Linda Tillery aka Sweet Linda Divine. This track is the back-bone groove for the Black sheep hip hop bands classic “Choice is yours”

First released in the UK in 2003, British singer-songwriter Carina Round followed the release of her critically acclaimed debut album “The First Blood Mystery” with her sophomore offering “The Disconnection”, solidifying herself as one of UK’s most enigmatic songstresses. Marking its official vinyl debut this special pressing combines the original album, including the UK singles “Into My Blood” and “Lacuna” on 180g black vinyl alongside an exclusive “Bonus Record” of rare live and previously unreleased recordings from the albums era on 180g silver vinyl, compiled by Carina especially for this release. In addition to her subsequent solo releases “Slow Motion Addict”, “Things You Should Know”, “Tigermending” and her most recent, the retrospective compilation “Deranged to Divine”, Carina has garnished further international recognition as a member of the LA and Jerome AZ based band - Puscifer, alongside fellow band mates including Maynard James Keenan, also of the bands Tool and A Perfect Circle. This limited edition release is presented in a unique silver printed sleeve, incorporating the original UK cover by acclaimed art photographer Anoushka Fisz.

From the very beginning in 2011 the concept was simple and crystal clear.

Mad Mats & Tooli's new label Local Talk had two main focus points.
First, the actual music was to be inspired around those magical 4/4 house rhythms...and beyond.

Second, the logo! The idea was that a simple and direct visual point together with a strong dance MUSIC message would make the label stand out among other labels in their northern neck of the woods.
In Scandinavia, the main theme is electronic 4/4 rhythms (techno, tech-house etc) and with Local Talk being more inspired by black dance music this has made them the black sheep in the hometown of Stockholm.

To set the musical direction straight from the very start they released Bassfort's 'Moon Shadow' which got instant attraction from both house heads and the more open-minded clubbing community.
With its warm, melodic chords, infectious piano theme and big strings it's always been the label's fave jam from their now +150(ish) releases.
When they decided to choose a track that would define the label for their 10-year anniversary, the choice was simple.

Mats & Tooli thought long and hard about who they wanted to interpret 'Moon Shadow' and after months of discussing options they decided that the only one they could trust to give the track a quality boost was NYC legend Joe Claussell.
Back in the late 90's, Mats used to book Joe for his legendary Raw Fusion parties in Stockholm so the connection and mutual respect were already in place. The result is a +11 minute long musical house journey that builds and builds until those characteristic piano chords make an entrance and transform the dynamics into a rainbow of sounds. Epic is not a word big enough to explain this grand musical production !

But the goodness does not end there, we're only halfway in on this anniversary release. The blood brothers Javi & Luis aka Kyodai (and 2/3 of Bassfort) made their own mix on the B side track from the original release, Moonlight.
As schooled jazz musicians they diverted from the electronic soundscape and went for a live jazz-funk production.
The final product is a warm and musical version with live drums, bass, piano, strings and even vocals from the brothers themselves.
The track almost comes across as something 4 Hero would put out back in the day.

All we can say, enjoy the dance!

Setting up a futuristic style, Pera Sta Ori’s music blends senses from DnB, IDM and bleep music, without forgetting the bass impact. Roars Crack Fossil breaks the label's silence delivering an elegant bass gem, charged with IDM elements, breakbeat and shiny bass-melodies. A four-track EP where high-class arrangement, dynamism and narrative evolution stand out with strong coherence.Immortal shouts for those who know the language, but also for those who are still training their ears.

Lowest Form of Animal — Kublai Khan TX

Texas metalcore band Kublai Khan TX recently released the new song "Resentment," and now they've announced a new EP, Lowest Form of Animal, featuring that song and four others. Along with the announcement comes new single "Swan Song," which features guest vocals from Terror (and Buried Alive and World Be Free) frontman Scott Vogel.
"'Swan Song' re-tells many of life's harshest realities — both from afar and close to home," says vocalist Matthew Honeycutt. "Seeing the mental and physical damage of the sex trade in every corner and pocket of the USA — most remaining nameless and unsung. For what it's worth, we seek to share a single story: To reflect the thousands of lives lost in the unforgiving system that operates, unrelentingly, day and night."

For the next release on Sync 24's Cultivated Electronics, dynArec presents his first full EP for the label with 'Murder is The Number'. French musician, dynArec started making music in 1994 but it wasn't until 2003 that he released his debut EP on Delsin. A string of critically acclaimed releases has followed on other labels including Puzzlebox, Solar One Music, Nature, Return To Disorder, Electrix, Bass Agenda, his own Vaporwave label and more, which has established him as an artist with a unique sound. dynArec now brings that seminal craftsmanship to Cultivated Electronics over four new tracks from the imposing 'Stop and Stall' via the electronic funk of 'First in Motion' and deeply grooving ' Specialized In Anything', to the twinkling closer, ' Lowest Perceived Legitimacy'.

Joona Toivanen Trio makes their We Jazz Records debut with their new album "Both Only", out 25 Feb 2022. A landmark work for the long standing group, the album showcases a new sound for the band, trekking deep into new ideas for an acoustic jazz piano trio. Since their formation as teenagers in mid-1990's, the trio of pianist Joona Toivanen, bassist Tapani Toivanen and drummer Olavi Louhivuori (of Superposition, Ilmiliekki Quartet and Linda Fredriksson "Juniper") has developed their remarkably coherent band sound step by step, touring the world over. Nowadays, the trio is geographically split between Gothenburg, Sweden (Joona), Copenhagen, Denmark (Tapani), and Helsinki, Finland (Olavi), but the unit has never sounded so together as one, and as adventurous as on "Both Only".

"Both Only" by Joona Toivanen Trio is a cocoon, a welcoming shelter of sound that opens up naturally for the listener to inhabit. The album is moody and introspective, even dark at times, but by the time you get to the closing track, "This and This", you'll likely notice something hopeful brewing up. This is not music dealing with nostalgia or a world lost. Instead, it's a body of work with delicate dynamics, taking a minute just to listen and to look inwards to learn something, to move forward.

The first single "Enlightened" is perhaps the most traditional piece on the album, yet it flows like a vessel beyond genre, conveying a mood, a feeling and an idea. Listen to how the piano, bass and drums discuss, how the groove moves with the instruments having their clear roles but also supporting each other and documenting a musical aging process exactly as that of a quality bottle of red wine. As a song like "Direction" proves, the melody is there all the way, yet there is nothing obvious about how it's carried by the trio. Things remain surprising, fresh and moving at all times. "Except For" keeps its intensity, while nearly erupting into a full on 4-to-the-floor banger. Nearly! The key here is how the energy sustains itself, building the intensity within the music.

"Both Only" is a powerful statement from a band ready to renew itself time and again, and one willing to do it slowly, outside of the hype. This process makes the impact enduring, nuanced and lovely.

WJLP37 Joona Toivanen Trio "Both Only" is available on vinyl as a black vinyl edition and as a LP+7" bundle also including WJ0716 "Except For (7" Edit)" / "Keyboard Study No. 2".

“More excellent poetic soundscapes from We Jazz! Love the flow through the tracks here – textural pieces moving into more rhythmic jazz abstractions. Beautifully recorded too.”
Quinton Scott — Worldwide FM

“Following on from the excellent Linda Fredriksson album We Jazz extend the journey with this innovative Joona Toivanen Trio set.”
Paul Bradshaw — Straight No Chaser

“You’ll look in vain here for extravagant splashes of color or bright swathes of sound, but what you will discover are a finely-chiselled set of compositions that make the most of the trio’s limited palette: flint-sharp melodies hewn from the ice, crisp and crackling rhythms.”
Cal Gibson — Ban Ban Ton Ton

“Incredible album from Joona Toivanen Trio and a strong start to the new year from We Jazz.”
Kerem Gokmen — Dubmission

“Encapsulating a new movement in jazz.”
Jay Scarlett — Sounds Supreme

“Interesting listen on the shortest day of the year. They have a very definite and saturated style.”
John Chacona — All About Jazz

“Airplayed the track”
Tom Ravenscroft — BBC6 Music

“Jazz album of the year released already in February?”
Ralf Sandell — Hufvudstadsbladet

“★★★★★”
Iida Simes — Voima Magazine

Demon Music is proud to bring together a selection of popular and exciting classic Northern Soul Anthems on a new 2LP thirty-three track collection. These are the original recordings by some familiar names and one or two that may have passed you by.

As the Sixties came to a close and the initial success of labels like Atlantic and Motown began to wane, there remained a dedicated fanbase of Soul devotees who would rather be out on the floor than wearing flowers in their hair. They continued to seek out new and previously overlooked releases, many on small labels that had never enjoyed chart success, making surprise hits of a few in the process.

Northern Soul could easily have passed into music history as a fad, something on the fringes of mainstream popular music; instead its popularity has remained and even grown. It is no longer the preserve of venues in the north of England (who had always attracted coachloads of devotees from across the nation), with Soul clubs opening in Europe, Asia, Australia and even - in perhaps the ultimate example of "coals to Newcastle" – America

Every few years Northern Soul enjoys a resurgence in popularity and welcomes a new generation of younger fans, keepers of the faith. This collection is for those with a passing interest and fans both old and
new - music fashions may change but the quality, the infectious excitement and the urge to get up and dance has endured in these fantastic records.

Kicks & Hugs, a multi-disciplinary platform established in 2017 to hold space for like-minded creators, now launches its own label showcasing emerging sonic spheres that reach beyond momentary hype and trends alike. Based in Berlin, the foundation of Kicks & Hugs lies at intersectional crossroads of music and art, with their first record establishing a definite attitude towards contemporary artistry. Kicks & Hugs celebrates an immersive spectrum of talent across different mediums and promotes ideas composed of color to challenge a steady current of long exhausted black & white patterns within the realm of electronic music. The debut EP available on black & limited edition colored marble vinyl assorts a kinetic flow of ideas produced by a seemingly divergent roster. Completely ecstatic & exhilarating maze of rhythm by The Lone Flanger, additionally reworked with Varg2TM versus contrasting yet innovative dancefloor mechanics by Bertrand., ending with a hypnotic mix by Dasha Rush, the record is an absorbing material of dynamics that subtly surprise and leave nothing but an ambitious statement for what’s yet to come. KH01 is dedicated to a musical shape-shifter, a paramount figure, ephemeral talent & a dear friend – Andrew Smith. To end in his own words, Keep It Fungki. The Lone Flanger was an audio-visual project from the artist Jasen Loveland also known as Andrew Smith (1980-2021). Dedicated to exploring the intersection of music and visual arts in the expanded dimension, the work of TLF picked up where Loveland’s eponymous acid-based project left off, aspiring for a kind of transcendence that takes the listener beyond the previously known concepts to experiments with the possibility of creating a resonant bridge between frequencies, worlds and dimensions. The work of TLF questions, obfuscates and complexifies notions of rhythm, melody and musical genre… even our ability to rely on our senses for accurate information about the work in question Varg2TM also known as Jonas Rönnberg casts a cryptic shadow from the North over contemporary aesthetics, continuing to create in his largely collaborative and always thrilling approach. Tempering a caustic rhythmic sensibility with a pneumatic palette for high definition synthesis, his unique embrace of risk tests the reliability of the forms he works in as well as the genre borders he surveys. Bertrand.’s work as a producer incorporates a wide spectrum of influences and aims to create beyond the common means of electronic dance music. Bertrand.’s restless nature and desire for technical perfection bleed into his productions of bass-heavy futuristic soundscapes often juxtaposed with playfully intense dancefloor fundamentals. Dasha Rush constructs a rather wide assortment of electronic music and arts projects. She sees the genre as a starting place, not a destination. Rush brings up a mixture of rather rare electronic experimentation more akin to the brief movement of underground music. Credits: Mastering and mastercut by Andreas LUPO Lubich at Loop-O Cover artwork by Fredrik Altinell Graphic Design by Marta Braga Inner label artwork by Tommy Dwane Vocals by Kawala Bravo

Released on Karl Kronfeld's Synoptik Records, it was the label's only release, thus becoming a rare, sought after, private pressing.
Weird, intriguing atmospheres and a plethora of synthesized sounds, sequencers, cold sounding keyboards and even mellotron parts make this a darker offering than Aphorisms Insane.
Venturing into stark, spooky post-industrial territories it manages to combine the primitive cosmicism of early Tangerine Dream with the dystopic sound-scapes of Asmus Tietchens, 80's Conrad Schnitzler or the synthetic gothicisms of Peter Frohmader.
An album that should appeal not only to fans of cosmic synthetic music, but also those interested in the more experimental strains of cold wave & minimal synth (Robert Rental, Dome, a.o.)

The Wah Wah edition is the first ever reissue of this rare sought after collector's item.
100% analogue lacquer cut direct from the original master tape by Moritz illner @ Duophonic Gmbh and reproducing the original Dalí-esque sleeve artwork in a strictly limited edition of 500 copies only.

It started, as it so often does, with two old friends hanging out.

John Shima and C P Smith were joking around one evening in their home city of Sheffield. At some point, Smith challenged Shima that, if the latter could produce a record using nothing more than a small modular synth setup, then Smith would release it on his Central Processing Unit label. As heads will know, while Shima has drops on imprints like FireScope and Subwax Excursions to his name, he had never previously released anything via CPU. Shima accepted, and thus we now have his CPU debut, the four-track EP CPU Modular 1.

The specific setup that Shima worked with for these tracks was Smith's Doepfer A-100P6 Suitcase, a small but mighty combination of modules and programmers. It's no surprise that Shima was able to familiarise himself with the equipment in double-quick time - after all, Shima was an early adopter of the Eurorack modular format back in the day. What emerged from the CPU Modular 1 sessions was a quartet of devastatingly effective DJ tools, mid-set rollers which will get the dance moving something crazy.

Opener '003' kicks the EP off as it means to go on. There's something at once stiff-necked and buoyant about the rhythms here, all thwacking Roland tones and snares which crack like someone whipping a length of sheet metal. While the beat barrels unyieldingly onwards, the programming in the tuned modulars is more exploratory and even trippy, full of delay-laced bleeps and flighty rhythmic motifs. It comes together for a cracking mix in the vein of artists like Jerome Hill and London Modular Alliance. Second A-side cut '010' is no different, the street-beat groove and grumbling low-ends underpinning all manner of modular wizardry.

CPU Modular 1 is really timeless stuff, a set of percussion-heavy, future-focussed beats which recalls Smith's own CPU drop 'DJ Tools Vol.1 - 808 Tracks'. '011' kicks of CPU Modular 1's second-half with a dose of Drexciyan dystopia, playing an atonal loop off of an insistent bass wiggle and neurotic hi-hats. Even when Shima tightens or slackens the modulars here, '011' remains unyielding, a dose of pure 'Wip3out' energy that you could happily groove to all day long. The EP closes out with '005', a gnarled, gurgling production which still retains the dancefloor punch of the rest of the record.

For his Central Processing Unit debut, John Shima was tasked to produce four tracks using a single small modular setup. Unsurprisingly given the pedigree of this seasoned machine-funk pro, Shima aced the assignment.

Modes continues the forward thinking soundscapes explored on Dyne’s recent album Teal, which garnered acclaim from peers and fans alike -including Late Night Tales, Toddla T, Ransom Note, and BBC6 Music presenters - and sold out quickly on vinyl.

Lush synths and dreamy vocals are paired with up-tempo afro-inspired house, with tinges of percussive jazz and future soul. Dyne's trademark slick production can be relied upon once more, as well as the music's insistent rhythmic drive and intensity.

Modes employs some of New Zealand's most well known and iconic vocalists, in addition to many new rising stars. Frequent collaborators Lord Echo, Ladi 6 and Mara TK (Electric Wire Hustle) return, alongside soul legends Dallas Tamaira aka Joe Dukie (Fat Freddys Drop), Che Fu and Troy Kingi.

2022 Repress On Elephantine, Cairo-based Maurice Louca guides a 12-piece ensemble through a 38-minute masterwork that might best be described as panoramic. Elements of free improvisation, Sun Ra's cosmic jazz, gorgeous Arabic melody, trancelike African and Yemeni music and minimalism meet in his wholly unique compositional vision. Louca also makes vital contributions on guitar and piano, and inspires stirring performances from a global lineup.

One of the most gifted, prolific and adventurous figures on Egypt's thriving experimental arts scene, Louca has in recent years garnered a global reputation through two previous solo albums and an expanding, evolving lineup of genre-defying collaborations. The Wire called his 2014 sophomore solo effort, Salute the Parrot, "remarkable music-dense, driven and splashed with colour." In 2017, the self-titled debut by Lekhfa, the trio of Louca and vocalists Maryam Saleh and Tamer Abu Ghazaleh, was praised as an "edgy triumph" in The Guardian and picked by BBC Radio 3's Late Junction as one of the very best 12 albums of 2017.

For Louca, 36, Elephantine serves as both the pinnacle of his wide-ranging experience and a bold next step in his development as a composer, arranger and bandleader. The celebrated Egyptian visual artist Maha Maamoun has created the album cover art, following her contribution to Salute the Parrot. "There was a blessed thing about the process of making this record," Louca says of the sessions, held last year in Stockholm and featuring the leader on guitar and piano. "The dynamic between us musically but also as people ...What these musicians delivered was really more than I could ask for, Everyone played their hearts out on this record."

The music-from its pensive lulls through its stretches of hard-grooving hypnosis and moments of avant-jazz catharsis-testifies to that rapport. Best absorbed as a continuous performance, Elephantine's six individually named tracks nonetheless present striking self-contained landscapes. "The Leper" entrances through a deft use of repetition that Louca gleaned from cosmic jazz, African and Yemeni music and other transcendental modal traditions. (Those who've followed Louca's work might be reminded of the Dwarfs of East Agouza, his mesmeric unit with Shalabi and Sun City Girls' Alan Bishop.)

"Laika" manages to evoke the minimalists, though on the combustible terms of '60s and '70s free jazz; "One More for the Gutter," on which Louca ingeniously pits one half of his ensemble against the other, albeit in a synergistic way, mines similarly fiery terrain. "The Palm of a Ghost" distills the band to a Cairo-rooted core, featuring stirring spontaneous melodies from oud player Natik Awayez, violinist Ayman Asfour and vocalist Nadah El Shazly. The album's title track follows, and it too blurs the border between composition and improvisation with gorgeously atmospheric results. "Al Khawaga," with its colossal ensemble riffs, beautifully dirty swing and impassioned blowing, is an ideal finale.

Generation '22: Chanson mit Seele

Wenn andere Jubiläen begehen, dann schwelgen sie in Erinnerungen. Le Pop ist anders:
Unsere Nummer 10 schaut nach vorn. Sie ist jünger, femininer und souliger als ihre
Vorgänger. Und stellt 16 neue Namen vor, die zuvor auf keiner anderen Ausgabe zu finden
waren. Die neuen Stars heißen Emma Peters, Iliona, UssaR, P.R2B, Ariane Roy und
Clou. Viele dieser Namen stehen am Anfang ihrer Karriere, haben bisher erst eine EP, ein
Album oder ein paar Singles draußen und doch ist spürbar, dass diese neue Generation das
Nouvelle Chanson prägen wird. Nicht alle sind Newcomer, aber Künstlerinnen und Künstler
wie KCIDY, Voyou, Malik Djoudi und Laura Cahen haben in den letzten 4 Jahren (so lange
ist Le Pop 9 schon draußen) eine so fulminante Entwicklung gemacht, dass wir sie diesmal
unbedingt vorstellen wollten. Dazu gesellen sich Schauspielerinnen wie Edwige, Elisa Erka
und Suzanne Lindon, die sich zum ersten Mal als Sängerinnen präsentieren. Ganz
besonders erwähnenswert: Camélia Jordana – einerseits als Musikerin in der Charts-Welt
etabliert, anderseits César-prämierte Schauspielerin, trägt sie in dieser illustren Runde sicher
den glamourösesten Namen.

Doch was macht sie aus, diese neue Generation? Zuerst einmal das Offensichtlichste: Nur
vier der hier vorgestellten Stimmen sind männlich. Das Chanson wird weiblicher und
orientiert sich damit an den Erfahrungen der letzten 20 Jahre. Denn meistens waren es die
Frauen der aktuellen Szene, die sich in der Breite auch im Ausland durchgesetzt haben (man
denke nur an Zaz, Coeur de pirate und Angèle). Le Pop 10 ist nicht nur femininer, die neue
Generation ist auch viel stärker durch die Präsenz von HipHop und R'n'B geprägt. Ein
richtiges Crossover findet zwar nicht statt, dafür merkt man, dass das heutige Chanson
grooviger geworden ist, soul-lastiger auch und punktuell tatsächlich Rap-Anklänge mitliefert.
Besonders deutlich wird das bei P.R2B, die gelegentlich in den Sprechgesang wechselt, bei
Emma Peters, die sogar ein ganzes Album mit Coverversionen von französischen Rap- und
R'n'B-Hits veröffentlichte, bevor sie eigene Songs aufnahm und bei UssaR, der als
Bühnenmusiker auch Rapper wie Kery James und Youssoupha begleitet. Vielleicht nicht
ganz so deutlich, aber wunderschön und subtil binden Iliona aus Belgien (was für eine
Entdeckung!) und Ariane Roy aus Kanada Soul-Elemente in ihre Musik mit ein. Selbst bei
Uptempo-Nummern wie "Le confort" von Voyou ist ein Hauch Motown zu spüren.
Selbstverständlich fehlt auch diesmal nicht der Einfluss von britischem Pop und Americana.
Die Band Palatine etwa ist gitarrenlastig, bringt Folk-Elemente mit und verbindet dies sehr
elegant mit Chanson-Tradition. Bei Laura Cahan finden wir Einflüsse der Cocteau Twins,
Kate Bush aber auch Anklänge an Camille oder Keren Ann. Eine erstaunliche Entwicklung
legte KCIDY hin, die nach einer längeren Phase des Experimentierens mit Elektro und Wave
auf einmal einen mit Vocal-Harmonien, Kraut- und 70ies-Elementen veredelten Gitarrenpop
aus dem Hut zaubert, der nur theoretisch aus der Zeit zu fallen scheint und sich doch ganz
harmonisch in den Gesamtklang der Compilation einfügt.

Und dann ist da auch noch Edwige, eine belgische Schauspielerin, der es nicht mehr
genügte gelegentlich auf Theaterbühnen zu singen. Sie hat ein traumhaftes, in dezenten
Gitarrenarrangements ausgekleidetes Debüt-Album aufgenommen, das im Herbst 2022
erscheinen soll. Ihren Song "Corps & Ame" hat sie uns vorab exklusiv für diese Compilation
überlassen. Den Tipp, uns mit Edwige zu beschäftigen, bekamen wir übrigens von Albin de
la Simone (seit Le Pop 2 immer wieder vorgestellt), der auch schon ein Duett mit ihr
aufgenommen hat.

Mit De La Simone, seit seiner Arbeit für Carla Bruni und das Durchbruch-Album von Pomme
(Le Pop 9) einer der meist gebuchten Produzenten der Szene, sprachen wir anlässlich
seines Konzerts bei der Kölner Reihe "Le Pop La Série" über junge Künstlerinnen wie Iliona,
Clou, Emma Peters und über deren Karrierewege. Dabei machte er uns auch auf Ariane
Roy aufmerksam. Wie sie sind viele der hier vorgestellten Namen Labelmates oder Protegés
etablierter Künstler.

Das sind nicht immer zufällige Beziehungen. In Frankreich erntet das neue Chanson zudem
immer mehr die Früchte des Casting-Show-Booms der letzten 15 Jahre. Hier bekommen
viele Teilnehmer irgendwann die Chance mit renommierten Musikern zusammenzuarbeiten.
Carla de Coignac zum Beispiel flog zwar noch vor dem Finale bei "Nouvelle Star" (2017)
aus dem Wettbewerb, trotzdem nahm Louane (die bei der Konkurrenz-Sendung "L'école des
stars" entdeckt wurde) fünf Songs in ihr Repertoire auf, die die Aussortierte für sie
geschrieben hatte. Teilnehmerin der gleichen Show war auch Camélia Jordana, allerdings
schon 2009. Jordana scheiterte damals im Halbfinale, bekam aber beim Major Sony einen
Vertrag. An ihrem Debüt-Album arbeitete sie mit Jean Felzine (Mustang, auf Le Pop 8
vorgestellt), BabX (Le Pop 8), "L" (Le Pop 7) und Mathieu Boogaerts (seit Le Pop 1 dabei)
zusammen. Inzwischen ist Jordana in der Musik- und Filmwelt etablierter Star und Celebrity.
Wir lernten sie abseits glamouröser Welten bei einer "sièste acoustique" kennen, einem
speziellen Konzertformat in Paris, bei dem das Publikum tatsächlich Siesta hält. Dort trat sie
mit Le Pop-Künstlern wie Armelle Pioline (Holden), BabX und Siesta-Gastgeber Bastien
Lallemant auf. An diesem Beispiel sieht man einmal mehr, wie durchlässig die französische
Szene geworden ist. Jordana ist heute ihre eigene Songwriterin – bei dem hier vorgestellten
Song, dem wunderbar groovenden "Jusqu'au bout des cils" stammen Musik und Text aus
ihrer Feder.

Der Mainstream zeigt sich immer wieder offen für Impulse von Indie-Acts, Kooperationen
zwischen diesen scheinbar gegensätzlichen Szenen sind inzwischen nahezu
selbstverständlich und verschaffen dem Underground zusätzliche Unabhängigkeit.
Le Pop 10 zeigt die Vielfalt dieser Welt auf authentische Weise und formt daraus eine
kohärente Einheit. Wie immer hat auch diese neue Ausgabe keinen Anspruch auf
Vollständigkeit. Wir lassen bewusst Künstler außen vor, die manche Fachleute hier erwarten
würden, die aber nicht "unsere Tasse Tee" sind. Im Vergleich zu ihren Anfängen ist die
Szene heute dynamischer und diverser. In den 50er und 60er Jahren haben Jazz und Brazil
ihre Einflüsse im Chanson der Gegenwart hinterlassen. Zu Beginn der Le-Pop-Reihe waren
es Indie, Electro und Reggae. Heute sind darüber hinaus die Einflüsse von HipHop und R'n'B
zu spüren. Das neue Chanson ist in Bewegung und wird es sicher auch in Zukunft bleiben

Nathan Hose, known more commonly as N8NOFACE, has built a heavy history behind his name. Known for his previous work with Crime Killz and a string of solo mixtapes, EP’s and collab projects, he comes out swinging to close out 2021 with “Homicide”.
For Fans of: Screamers, Le Shok, Suicide, Xiu Xiu, Atari Teenage Riot
Both a full-length album of all new material and his debut Blackhouse release, N8 shows up with a catalog of raging synth-punk jams, knocked out with only a synthesizer, a computer, and the true-life humility and humanity only he can deliver. The dose of reality that lives within N8NOFACE’s lyrics resonate with a population of people who have stayed true to themselves all the while feeling disenfranchised. People needing an outlet and something raw and new over a year and a half long pandemic (and counting) is the allure behind N8NOFACE, and this record is sure to deliver that and more.
Southern California. A Jekyll-and-Hyde atmosphere of glitz and glamour, with a seedy dark side that lays as an unspoken wasteland in the streets. There’s a thriving underground that has always existed among the Southwest United States. It’s a melting pot of the punk, metal, and hip-hop scenes, skateboarding, art, underground fashion, and custom car cultures. It’s also a hotbed for some real-life shit, to say the least. Crime, drugs, homelessness, porn, and shady activity is part of the life; proof that the city is not only wide awake at night, but it burns white hot. With all the musings one would need to inspire nothing less than a prolific output, when it comes to Long Beach-by- way-of-Tucson synth-punk dynamo N8NOFACE, calling him prolific is an understatement.