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Eardmann is a true trailblazer—a traveler in search of ever-new paths, both metaphorically and literally. On his field studies between Jeju Island and Lake Titisee, he accidentally landed his first release on the New Work and Corporate Well-Being label Way to France.

Spanning the space between House and Italo Disco, the debut of this Renaissance personality unfolds. Additional features come from Jiin Yoon (M1) and Brauer & Stein (B1). As the cherry on top, hip-hop legend Hulk Hodn delivers a hard-hitting techno remix under his new alias Rüdiger (B2).

Over Under marks a significant evolution in Secondo's artistic journey, showcasing a refined balance between the functional and the experimental within house music and techno. The release reflects two decades of musical exploration and innovation, while drawing inspiration from his early production style. Now, fueled by the lessons learned over the years, Secondo returns, synthesizing new ideas from his roots in the ’90s.

Opening with the beatless, kosmische pulse of Occhi Nuovi, Over Under crosses different tempos and moods, shifting from club-ready tracks — like the alien funk of the first single Unlikely Companions and the album’s tense coda Nowhere Man — to the bubbling, mid-tempo step of Slow Space, and deeper, more reflective moments like the modulating jazz moods of the title track and the centerpiece Solar Funk. The album’s progression ebbs and flows, guiding the listener through a carefully crafted narrative. Narrative, it seems, is key to Over Under.

"First time on vinyl for ‘Died In The Wool’, the 12 song remix companion to David’s 2009 album, ‘Manafon’, plus the non-album track “When We Return You Won’t Recognise Us”
Features remixes by David Sylvian, Dai Fujikura, Jan Bang & Erik Honoré.
“When We Return You Won’t Recognise Us” was specially commissioned by the 2nd Canary Islands Biennial of Architecture, Art and Landscape 2008-2009."

Beijing-based artist/producer Howie Lee interprets Tibetan Buddhist chants on his new album 'At The Drolma Wesel-Ling Monastery', the follow up to 2021's critically acclaimed 'Birdy Island'.

Recorded over two weeks at Drolma Wesel-Ling Monastery in the mountains of north-eastern Tibet, Beijing-based multi-disciplinary artist/producer, Howie Lee combines Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist singing with Kode9-channeling bass/footwork science, glitched-out hyper-rhythms and sampled Chinese-Tibetan instrumentation for his latest album on Mais Um.

Invited to contribute and interpret chant recordings from the sound archive of monastery founder and master, Tuga Rinpoche's self-built recording studio, Howie Lee connects parallels in electronic music, deep meditation and devotional chanting to present eight reconstructed, IDM-warpedVajrayanamantras, journaling the beginnings of his journey into buddhism, and to continue Lee's career-long threading of ancient, cross-generational practice, modern Chinese history and experimental club-futurism.

Record includes 2 page insert and download

Flipping rhythms from Guadeloupe, Cuba, Senegal and Puerto Rico, Time Capsule founder Kay Suzuki releases an acid-soaked collection of remixes that transcends time and space.

From the blacked-out basement of Plastic People to the psychedelic dancefloor of Beauty and the Beat, Kay Suzuki’s musical world has been shaped by some of London’s most iconic sound systems. High quality audio, he says, can open portals to new universes. Rhythm is time made plastic and beauty is the space between the beats.

Spanning over fifteen years of music from the prolific DJ, producer, Time Capsule label boss and one time Brilliant Corners sushi chef, this collection of remixes is the logical conclusion of Kay Suzuki’s musical thinking. Drawn to unique percussive or syncopated rhythms, he describes remixes as conversations between the original artist’s sense of time and his own. Weaving broken beat, house and dub influences into rhythms from across the Black Atlantic, these four tracks find each other kinship on the dance floor.

The A-side begins with a dubbed-out rework of the Gwoka celebration rhythm ‘A Ka Titine’ by Guadeloupe’s Gaoulé Mizik that was originally released by Beauty and the Beat in 2022. Layering electronic flares, dub sirens and space echo reverb across the shuffling toumblak beat, Suzuki leans into the track’s creole heritage, turning the track into a sought-after dancefloor jam, played by everyone from Colleen Cosmo Murphy and John Gomez to Yu-Su and Bradley Zero.

Skipping to Puerto Rico, Broki’s ‘Es Que Lo Es’ emerged from a collaboration between Bugz in the Attic’s Afronaut and Seiji and local musicians. Here Suzuki reworks the Afro-Latin percussion into a subtle bruk, conjuring a third space between London and San Juan that remains both of and outside the era in which it was made.

Blackbush Orchestra’s ‘Sortez, Les Filles!’ opens the B-side, taking apart the original and kneading the Senegalese percussion into a chugging Balearic house track, buoyant and full of life. Also first released by Beauty and the Beat, the track features new synth and structural elements that bring out the innate dancefloor potential beneath the surface of the original.

The final track on the collection heads back to the Caribbean and the island of Cuba, where Sunlightsquare a.k.a. Claudio Passavanti worked with vocalist Rene Alvarez and expert in Afro-Cuban percussion, Giovanni Imparato, on ‘Oyelo’. Here, Suzuki strips out the kick completely, leaving an implied rhythm which he calls an “imaginary four-to-the-floor” - a groove that is felt rather than heard, leaving the listener floating in another universe entirely.

To coincide with its 20th anniversary, Clint Mansell's haunting score to Darren Aronofsky's 2000 film, Requiem for a Dream, performed by Kronos Quartet, returns to vinyl. This was Mansell’s second of several collaborations with Aronofsky, following 1997’s π, and features arrangements by David Lang of Bang on a Can. The film stars Academy Award-winner Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly and Marlon Wayans, and was adapted from the 1978 novel by Hubert Selby, Jr. (Last Exit to Brooklyn), who also wrote the screenplay with Aronofsky. Set on the rusted mean streets of Coney Island, Brooklyn, Requiem for a Dream tells the parallel stories of four people pursuing their dreams of better lives. The reissue features the original soundtrack, plus two bonus tracks.

Clint Mansell, a musician, composer, and founding member of the band Pop Will Eat Itself, first worked with Darren Aronofsky on the score for his 1998 film π. Also released by Nonesuch are Mansell’s scores for Aronofsky's The Fountain (2006), nominated for a Golden Globe, and Noah (2014). His other scores include The Wrestler (2008), Moon (2009), Black Swan (2010), Filth (2013), Stoker (2013), High Rise (2016), for which he received an Ivor Novello nomination, and Loving Vincent (2017).

For more than 40 years, San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet – David Harrington (violin), John Sherba (violin), Hank Dutt (viola), and Sunny Yang (cello) – has combined a spirit of fearless exploration with a commitment to continually re-imagining the string quartet experience. In the process, Kronos has become one of the world’s most celebrated and influential ensembles, performing thousands of concerts, releasing more than 50 recordings, collaborating with many of the world’s most eclectic composers and performers, and commissioning over 850 works and arrangements for string quartet. A Grammy winner, Kronos is also the only recipient of both the Polar Music Prize and the Avery Fisher Prize. Most recently, in 2019, Nonesuch released Kronos’s ground-breaking collaboration with composer Terry Riley, Sun Rings, and, in 2017, Folk Songs, featuring Sam Amidon, Olivia Chaney, Rhiannon Giddens and Natalie Merchant.

Baby I’m serious! Frits Wentink’s Bobby Donny Ace Series welcomes the illusive Prince Palmer for his first vinyl release on the label. Frits himself steps up on remix duties alongside another Bobby Donny artist, Joy Jenkins to round off another killer release from the Bobby Donny camp!

Brian d’Souza, better known as Auntie Flo, delivers his brand-new fourth studio album, ‘In My Dreams (I’m A Bird and I’m Free)’, set for release on 21st November. The album, a rich blend of electronic music, live instrumentation, and global influences features collaborations with the likes of Nicola Cruz, Joshua Idehen, Shingai Shoniwa, Yohan Kebede (Kokoroko) and even his Goan Auntie Florie, where the Auntie Flo moniker is derived from. Each track on the album transports you to a different location: Goa, Istanbul, Nairobi, Mexico City, Waiheke Island, Rio De Janeiro, Havana, Seoul are all destinations to nest in across its ten tracks. It will be available in both digital and vinyl formats on his own label, A State of Flo Records.

Auntie Flo’s latest body of work is the culmination of a five-year journey that has seen d’Souza expand both personally and musically. Known for his unique ability to fuse electronic sounds with rhythms and influences from across the globe, d’Souza takes his craft to new heights in this album, offering listeners an intimate look into the experiences, places, and stories that have shaped his artistic evolution. The groundbreaking DJ and producer presents an expansive, deeply personal exploration of global sounds, collaboration, and migration.

Following the success of the Afro-disco single Green City—a dynamic tribute to the legendary Fela Kuti and Luke Una’s ‘track of the year’—In My Dreams (I’m A Bird and I’m Free) ventures further into uncharted musical territory. The album, however, is more than just a continuation of Auntie Flo’s signature sound. It is a reflection of d’Souza’s life and career, capturing his exploration of identity, migration, and cultural fusion. With tracks that draw inspiration from field recordings collected around the world, the album resonates with a profound sense of place and memory.

In My Dreams (I’m A Bird and I’m Free) is not only a reflection of d’Souza’s creative journey but also a commentary on migration—both human and musical. The album draws on the freedom of birds to migrate across borders as a metaphor for artistic and personal freedom, juxtaposed with the challenges that political barriers impose on human migration. As d’Souza explains, “Birds have the freedom to migrate wherever they choose, while humans face constant barriers”.

A State of Flo supports Earth Percent. 10% of the revenue generated from this release will be paid to environmental charities.

Jónbjörn's 'Gárur' re­ects the ebb and ­ow of life, and is a sonic exploration of the nether regions of atmospheric electronic music. Jónbjörn, an Icelandic producer and purveyor of organic textures and soundscapes has just released his debut full-length LP titled ‘Gárur’. Translated to ‘Ripples’ in English, the album is a colourful display of intricately woven electronic grooves and hypnotic atmospheres. The 10-track LP unfolds like a 1-hour mixtape, each song seamlessly blending from one to the next. ‘Þeytt smjör’ sets the scene with a sequence of generative ambience – lush pads and synthesizers atop a backdrop of found sound textures. The album pushes forward into many beat-centric tracks across various genres – everything from Downtempo, Deep House, Electronica, and Electro can be found throughout. While each track borrows in­uences from across the dance music spectrum, the album is held together by Jónbjörn’s melodic and harmonic tendencies that encourage you to lose yourself in. Jónbjörn's process is heavily sample-based, often jamming carelessly to unearth new sonic possibilities. He records tracks live, triggering loops and effects spontaneously, and separates the creative process from mixing to maintain a sense of naivety. This approach allows him to capture the purity of initial demos, without falling into the temptation to overly polish the ¬nal product and lose that initial magic. Over the past three years, Jónbjörn has released a string of singles and his last full release on the Helsinki label ‘OO Recordings’, which featuredsix tracks on cassette. He has also been putting out music on his own label, Lagaffe Tales. In March 2020, he released his ¬rst full vinyl EP on his own label series, BROT, at a time when the global pandemic had closed almost all clubs worldwide. Additionally, he has released music on reputable labels such as D.KO Records, Neo Violence, Gestalt Records, Móatún 7, Bitterfeld Musik, Yellow Island Records, and FALK.

After a string of ambient and experimental releases across labels such as Bedroom Suck, Best Effort, Ken Oath and Analogue Attic, Matthew Hayes - veteran bassist of Z*F*E*X, welcomes his latest project Xpress Point, designed to keep your hips moving rather than kicked back on your couch. Born out of jam sessions and collaborations with artists such as Dreamcastmoe, Jitwam, Ziggy Zeitgeist, Finn Rees and Allysha Joy and an obsession with reclaiming the nostalgic sound sounds of the Korg M1 and Yamaha DX7, Xpress Point, which takes Its name from a local surf break off the coast of Phillip Island, draws heavily from the boogie tradition with a nod to vapourware, downtempo, balearic and funk breaks.

Assembled in 2023 across Melbourne/Naarm, London and Berlin, from surf breaks to crusty drum breaks, Xpress Point is a vehicle for Hayes to search for the perfect bass line, explore funk minimalism, continue nurturing longtime musical relationships with close friends and offer his own take on music to make you move.

A sonic portal to a parallel universe where neon-soaked dreamscapes transform the stark realities of a post-pandemic world. Music for a forgotten future, where echoes of the 80s cast long, enigmatic shadows through a rich tapestry of emotion that charts a journey from isolation and fear towards healing and hope. This is the journey of Season One and Season Two, the debut companion albums for the solo project of Italian composer Battaglia, both out this fall on Four Flies Records.

In 2020, as the world retreated onto itself due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Battaglia entered the recording studio. Driven by a desire for experimentation, she decided to focus on the classic synths that have made history to create a sonic and emotional alchemy that reimagines the 80s to resonate with our current experiences and sensibilities.

Drawing inspiration from the cinematic magic of iconic early-80s films, and especially the haunting soundtracks of Tangerine Dream and John Carpenter, she crafted a soundscape that goes beyond nostalgia to capture the spirit of a generation navigating uncertain times.

Season One and Season Two explore the complexities of a world grappling with lethal pandemics, climate catastrophes, and nuclear disasters through themes such as longing, fear, and hope, set against a scenario that blends elements of dystopian and post-apocalyptic science fiction and, at times, horror.

Season One delves deeper into the darker aspects of this new reality, evoking a sense of unease and uncertainty, occasionally interspersed with soothing flashes of light. In Season Two, while darkness still lingers, the sonic landscape is infused with a sense of optimism and determination, offering glimpses of a possible salvation.

With Battaglia's signature blend of dark wave, synth-pop, suspenseful electronica, and cinematic vibes, Season One and Season Two create a sonic world that is at once hauntingly familiar and utterly captivating -- the perfect soundtrack, one is tempted to say, for the countless sci-fi/horror-fantasy series that have been flooding streaming platforms in the last decade.

The covers of both albums were designed by Eric Adrian Lee, who conceived them as two sides of the same image, two versions of a world in crisis but whose ruins contain the potential for rebirth.

Battaglia's Season One and Season Two will be available on black vinyl LP starting from October 25th. Digital versions of both albums will also be released on the same date, featuring five bonus tracks (two on Season One and three on Season Two).

Have you ever been to Miyazaki? It’s a prefecture on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu, facing the Pacific. Palm trees. Humid subtropical climate. This is the home of Maple Fyshh, a musical artist whose late-80s/early-90s recordings have been collected and reissued here. Liberated by the advent of 4-track cassette home recording technology, inspired by a love of 60s pop oddball production mavens like Phil Spector and Joe Meek, as well as American hot rod and surf music, these Maple Fyssh songs glow with an outsider’s love of the transformative power of newly-available sound technology, allowing him to pull his inspirations across decades and oceans to his 1990s Miyazaki home studio. The tracks here are a d.i.y. dream-pop wonderland, compiling songs from his first LP “Mariko” and second LP “Dokitto Station!!”, both self-produced, both released in 1995. The A-side of this release features tracks from the concept album “Mariko”, a masterpiece of daydream pop introspection, recorded in 1994-95, inspired by a poem submitted to a manga magazine. The B-side features tracks from “Dokitto Station!!”, slightly earlier recordings that draw inspiration from a range of 60s pop including girl groups, surf music and acid folk. All the music here demonstrates Maple Fyshh’s deep understanding and appreciation 60s pop moves, and also his mastery of the limited technology at his disposal.

Remastered in 2024, the sound of Miyazaki has been reborn for a new audience. Available on Vinyl LP and download, with a DL card, English/Japanese lyrics and entertaining and informative English/Japanese liner notes by the artist.

DJ Support: Grant Nelson, Dr Packer, Purple Disco Machine, Cj Mackintosh, Mark Knight, Sam Divine, Jamie Jones, Funkerman, Vanilla Ace, Roog/Hardsoul

Birdee has managed to carve out quite a path for himself, remixing luminaries such as Aeroplane and Michael Gray, collaborating with legendary singers Barbara Tucker and Angela Johnson, as well as releasing on Glitterbox, Big Love, Nervous and of course Tinted. On his latest single Birdee remakes the Jomanda classic 'Don't You Want My Love' (As sampled later by Felix) in true Birdee style, as a complete disco reinventio, crafting an all original backing of dynamic drums, funky bass and some classy synth and string arrangements that glide across this timeless ear-worm.

Protecting the past by projecting it into the future, preserving identities, encouraging conversations across generations, and above all, safeguarding the island of Procida's vast intangible cultural heritage from extinction. Not the romantic and visionary notion of an island anchored to its roots, but a determined path aimed at revitalizing the ritual celebrations of the Procida community.

“Wild Boy …” is a reissue of the well-known 2016 release curated by Brian Chidester, renowned researcher and biographer of Eden Ahbez. Especially for this album, Brian wrote an interesting text about Abi’s life, which definitely became the decoration of the release.
With the new 2020 re-release, we went a little further and kept what is commonly referred to as studio cuts. It’s a few more minutes in the studio with ahbez himself, full of emotion and life. In addition, to the delight of fans, the edition includes an additional composition Nature Boy (Mantovani Orchestra).
Especially, it is worth noting the outstanding mastering prepared from practically decomposed tapes by the Grammy-nominated Jessica Thompson, which guarantees the deepest and warmth possible sound. Jessica a huge ahbez fan and we’re highly appreciated for what she has done to save his music for the future.
Eden Ahbez is definitely at the origin of psychedelic music and this release can be taken as further proof. Over the past twenty years, the iconic figure of the world’s first hippie Eden ahbez has become famous primarily for his 1948 song “Nature Boy”, praising universal love, and his amazingly solo album from the 1960s called “Eden’s Island” – one from the first concept albums in the history of music and probably the first psychedelic music album. “Wild Boy: The Lost Songs Of Eden Ahbez” deepens understanding of the origins of the psychedelic movement in the 1950s.
The disc contains a musical selection of works by Eden ahbez himself, written by him in the period after Nature Boy. The inclusion of songs such as “Palm Springs” – Ray Anthony Orchestra and “Hey Jacques” by Erta Kitt gives the listener the chance to discover for the first time the little-known recordings of world-famous artists composed by Eden ahbez. Through “Wild Boy” and “Surfer John” you can hear the author’s handling of absurd rock and exotic experimentation, as well as sweet psychedelic pop like Monterey (with Paul Horn on flute). Overall, Wild Boy: The Lost Songs Of Eden Ahbez offers an overview of the lost works of 1949-1971 with seven unpublished recordings and eight rare singles.
If in 2020 you are missing the hallucinogenic content in Eden Ahbez, it amazingly makes up for that deficiency with simple chords, expansive arrangements, and lyrics about travel, relaxation, free love, and spirituality. Thus creating the standard of psychedelic music. Eden Ahbez’s songs weren’t only fantasy and his personal philosophy was the real thing that he lived.

reviews:

“This carefully and extensively researched compilation culls covers by top notch mainstream artists juxtaposed with unreleased Eden recordings. What might sound like a mixed bag is actually more like a chronological, musical non-fiction novel about Eden Ahbez. While Eden was writing hundreds of songs and performing live and making recordings in various styles, his songs were also being picked up by popular artists like Nat King Cole and Eartha Kitt who recorded with a more polished mainstream style. There are also some early rock n roll style recordings here. Eden’s professionally recordings often end up as Novelty Pop records such as “Child of Nature” and “The Clam Man” but if you read between the lines and listen to the lyrics it is pretty eye-opening that he is singing about Eastern-religion-style and pre-hippie philosophies about being at one with the planet Earth.
All of this is explained in the lengthy liner notes inside the lp along with a few choice photos that establish Eden as a founding father of Southern California mystic/psychedelic music.” – Tiki_News
“Eden Ahbez’s life philosophy was summed up in the lyrics of his most famous song, “Nature Boy,” a 1948 hit for Nat King Cole: the song describes a “strange enchanted boy” who wanders the world in search of truth. “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn,” he concludes, “is to love and be loved in return.” Ahbez was a pre-cursor of California’s beatniks and hippies, and an exalted icon of ex-otica via his rare 1960 album Eden’s Island. Beyond “Nature Boy” and Eden’s Island, though, there were nu-merous lesser-known Ahbez record-ings. Ahbez biographer Brian Chidester has been doing an exemplary job of archiving and documenting that catalog of work. The Exotic World of Eden Ahbez (reviewed in UT#38) appeared a few years ago, gathering together 14 Ahbez-related rarities” – Ugly Things

Death Is Not The End's 333 series continues with this killer slice of digi roots out of late 90s NY, also a big Jah Shaka selection at the time.

Take It Easy was produced by Ricky "Mad Man" Myrie - a reggae/dancehall producer active since the early 90s, and who was also providing writing and production on breakthrough albums for VP from Sean Paul, Capleton & others at this time. Featuring a sharp and poignant vocal from Gumbae Culture, it was recorded at the legendary Philip Smart's Long Island-based HC&F Studio, under the engineering guidance of Smart's brother-in-law and long time studio partner, Michel McDonald. The record's haunting xylophone licks, razor sharp snares and menacing subs perfectly combine throughout the vocal cut, and really come to the fore on the version for a raw and stripped back masterclass in digital dubwise.

Repress!

A deep and sincere tribute to the idm and electro sound through out 16 tracks from Artificial Intelligence Records.

Mastered and cut on 140g transparent vinyl by legendary mastering engineer Matt Colton at Metropolis Studios, London. Pressed at optimal media, Germany.

About the Album

‘Isthmus’ is Ross Tones’s 5th album for Houndstooth in 10 years.
It only seems fitting for it to return to the eclecticism of 2014’s ‘Mosaic’.

An isthmus is a narrow strip of land that connects two larger bodies.
The two islands contrast in time, topography, chaos and character.
One sears.
The other, buried by blizzards.
A land bridge fights the tide; offering harbour.

Connecting the estranged.
Giving battle to the noise.

It is uncertain who won.

“Valsadeira” is a pulsing uptempo excursion from the African island nation of Cabo Verde, with driving percussion, impassioned vocals, and tasty synth work. Sung in Portuguese, the track begins on a romantic note which builds toward a dramatic flip halfway through that gives way to a hypnotic tropical vamp. The drum tool extends the rhythmic breaks of the song into a useful standalone percussion jam. Odo Kakra Sika Kakra is a bouncy and joyous slice of Ghanaian highlife. With crisp 90s-era production and sweet vocal melodies, JKriv edited this one with love for maximum booty shaking and smiles. "Batonga" is a mid tempo slice of Afrofunk with a mid 1980s downtown NYC feel, led by angular and funky guitars, layered synths, and a female vocal with African chants. The drum break features a textured beat including big electronic drums, percussions and an interlocking kalimba line.

2024 Repress

Mariah was a Japanese outfit in the field of art pop, way back in the very late 70s and early 80s with 5 albums up their score from 1980 to 1983. The album from 1979 entitled as “Mariah” was actually made before the band Mariah was formed, and was released as a solo album by Yasuaki Shimizu. The album at hand is the fifth and for the time being last album in this row, released as a double vinyl back in 1983. Original copies, that are at least in very good condition, are hard to find. The brand new reissue on Everland, unlike the original and the first vinyl reissue from 2015, comes housed in a thick and artfully designed gatefold sleeve with OBI, which finally does justice to the progressive spirit of the music you will find here.

The musical basement of Utakata No Hibi is a fusion of dreamy synthesizer pop and haunting new wave music, that could be found all around the globe back in 1983. In the vein of TEARS FOR FEARS or more adventurous DAVID BOWIE stuff, with a touch of KRAFTWERK or even BRIAN ENO here and there, but all this gets spiced up with an atmosphere of Japanese traditionalism, with a few bits and pieces from the old music from this Far East island, which sounds so magic to us Westeners. The progressive, wacky art pop of this project was led by the popular Japanese composer and musician Yasuaki Shimizu, a relentlessly exploratory saxophonist who even dared to rework Johann Sebastian Bach’s cello suites for saxophone.

As brilliant as this man is, the music on „Utakata No Hibi“ turns out to be. And the master himself approved and much appreciated the brandnew remastering of this album by assisting a highly professional team of sound engineers who dusted off the ancient tape reels. For certain the record sounds and feels 80s through and through, electronic to the very rhythmical bone of each song sugar coated with catchy melodies that resemble Japanese classic and Enka music, which is a kind of folksy pop music. The listener gets directly drawn into a feverish dream of steaming Far Eastern cities and their darkest and most depraved corners where you find everything cheap in sleazy bars and unlighted backyards and alleys. The next moment he strolls through a beautiful Japanese park surrounded by a sea of blossoms. This change in mood and style you will experience in the sparsely instrumented tune „Shisen“, which indeed comes closest to classic Japanese folk tunes without any too catchy and pop oriented melodies. But we certainly find these harmonies allover the album. Some tunes even feel like ancient BEACH BOYS compositions and Brian Wilson creations played by a then contemporary electronic pop act and sung in Japanese.

An amazingly colorful album with songs that are based on solid substance rather than cheap pop structures. This is music for the bold listeners and music lovers and this awesome reissue should quickly find it’s way into the record collections of 80s synth and art pop aficionadoes.

Yasuaki Shimizu did what he wanted with MARIAH, pushed the borders of popular music further than anybody would have thought. Listen to a track like „Shonen“ with a repetitive rhythm pattern that hypnotizes you and somehow silky melodylines by saxophone and synth piano upon which a female voice sings in a very spiritual way. Praising pop or whatever this can be called, it is sheer magic put in music. I wonder if this would have made it into the charts back then, but you never know. It is a piece of musical art that shall be listened to.

Der Nachfolger ihres von allen Seiten gefeierten selbstbetitelten Debüts von 2014, das Minimal Techno mit orchestralen Schnörkeln und schwereloser Produktion neu interpretierte - ist endlich da. "II" ist lebendiger, aber es behält immer noch den charakteristischen Kiasmos-Stil des Übergangs von einer flüsternden, ruhigen Atmosphäre zu einem explosiven Dance-Beat, der aus den Socken haut. Kiasmos - sind weiterhin der isländische Komponist Olafur Arnalds und der färöische Musiker Janus Rasmussen - haben sich diesmal zehn Jahr Zeit genommen für ihr Nachfolgewer und die Entstehung von "II" war eine Bewährungsprobe für ihre Freundschaft, aber auch ein Beweis dafür, dass eine großartige musikalische Chemie immer noch genauso gut sein kann, wie sie einmal war. Kiasmos hatten schon immer ein beneidenswertes Gespür dafür, komplexe Emotionen und eindrucksvolle Bilder mit Instrumentalmusik zu vermitteln. Die gesammelte Erfahrung als Produzenten, auf die sie zurückgreifen können, die Filmmusikarbeiten von Olafur Arnalds als Grammy-nomminierter Komponist für Film und Fernsehen sorgen für ein reifes elektronisches Album. Sie verlagerten ihre Melodien subtil von Four-to-the-Floor auf die frenetischen gebrochenen Beats der britischen Tanzmusik, indem sie mehr mit BPMs experimentiert haben, was an Janus" Zeit als DJ in den großen Venues weltweit erinnert. Es gibt immer noch die schmerzenden Melodien, die die Fans kennen und lieben, aber sie sind auch eingängiger.

Ever since he made his first trip to Japan to DJ, Optimo Music founder JD Twitch has been bewitched by Japanese music, and particularly the vibrant, imaginative, and often far-sighted sounds which emerged from the island nation during the 1980s. Now he’s put years of digging in Japanese record shops to good use on Polyphonic Cosmos, the latest release on his compilation-focused Cease & Desist imprint.

Subtitled ‘A Beginners Guide to Japan In The ‘80s’, the collection offers a personal selection of Japanese gems recorded and released between 1981 and ’86 – a period when advances in recording and musical technology offered the nation’s artists and producers a whole new tool kit to employ. When combined with the unique musical culture of Japan, where local traditions are frequently fused with Western styles to create timeless, off-kilter aural fusions, this embrace of locally pioneered music technology had spectacular, often unusual results.

Eight years in the making, Polyphonic Cosmos provides an endlessly entertaining musical snapshot of Japanese music of the early-to-mid ‘80s with all of the open-minded eclecticism and sonic twists that you would expect from the Glasgow-based DJ.

Compare and contrast, for example, the gently breezy, morning-fresh folk-plus-electronics bliss of ‘ばら二曲 Baranikyoku (Fellini&Rota)’ by World Standard – the most familiar alias of long-serving musician/producer Sohichiro Suzuki – and the hallucinatory, slow-motion tribal rhythms, post-punk rhythms and tape delay-laden electronics of Imitation’s ‘Exotic Dance’. Or, for that matter, the tipsy mid-‘80s electronic reggae of Pecker’s ‘Sha La La’, the grungy but melodic post-punk strut of ‘You Go On Natural’ by Earthling (a track Twitch accurately describes as “sheer unrelenting groove”), and the unearthly, swirling sonics, new age instrumentation and flotation tank vocals of prolific (and seemingly mysterious) act Geinoh Yamashirogumi’s ‘Rimme Kohkyogaku Meiki’.

It’s a credit to JD Twitch’s curatorial skills that the quality never dips, and sonic surprises lurk around every corner. Consider for a moment the hard to describe, far-sighted audio immersion of D-Day’s ‘Ki-Ra’ – all languid post-pop guitar, enveloping chords, spoken word vocals, shuffling 808 beats and marimba melodies – and the two contributions from video games soundtrack specialist (and driving instrumental synth-pop specialist) Hiroyuki Namba.

The collection naturally includes some selections that have long been favourites in Twitch’s DJ sets – see Masumi Hara’s ‘Your Dream’ – as well as a handful of tracks from artists who may be more recognisable to those with only rudimentary knowledge of Japanese musical culture. The great Yasuaki Shimizu, whose work as Mariah has become far better known in recent years thanks to reissues of some of his most magical albums, is represented via ‘The Crow’, a picturesque chunk of horizontal, hard-to-define jazz-not-jazz smokiness, while the collection fittingly concludes with a sublimely funky, oddball electronic workout from Yellow Magic Orchestra legend Ryuichi Sakamoto (the frankly incredible ‘Wongga Dance Song’).

Matt Anniss

Death Is Not The End together all three LP volumes of the critically acclaimed If I Had a Pair of Wings LP compilation series for a bundled edition.

"...all of the music on this compilation is the result of the forward-thinking artists and producers that realised the worth of local Jamaican artistry during a time when the island's leading political figures had not yet managed to throw off the colonial yolk. These are sounds with a certain innocence and the optimistic promise of better to come, with the influence of American pop ballads and doo-wop looming large, yet already pointing to the innovations of the future. Listen keenly and take in the sounds of the Jamaican music industry at its very beginnings, its singers and players drawing from the popular styles of the island's larger neighbour and already changing those styles into something their own." - David Katz

Lauren Laverne's comp of the week on BBC Radio 6 Music w/c 11th Jan.

The symbol on side A is a more than 3000y old Chinese letter signifying "dance", probably a shamanic dance for the gods or a rain dance.

The illustrations on side B are both from France, the menhir is the "Dame de Saint Sernin" and the bison "de la Madeleine".
Picture in the background was taken in Yakushima, a southern island in Japan that is the model for Gibli's Princess Mononoke
Concerning the music, take a break and relax

Coral Morphologic and Nick León’s Projections of a Coral City marks a series of collisions between distant
worlds: the organic and the artificial, the Eocene and the Anthropocene, sea and cement—and even, perhaps, ambient music and activism.

Coral Morphologic are the Miami duo of marine biologist Colin Foord and musician J.D. McKay; since 2007, they have used a variety of multimedia projects to generate environmental awareness of marine biodiversity—most notably Coral City Camera, an underwater webcam streaming live from an urban reef ecosystem in PortMiami.

Their citymate Nick León is a linchpin of South Florida’s contemporary leftfield electronic scene, with releases for Tra Tra Trax, Future Times, and NAAFI, and credits on records by Rosalía, GAIKA, and Iceboy Violet, among others.

This collaborative project dates back to 2022, when Coral Morphologic mounted a monumental projection-
mapping installation on Biscayne Boulevard. For five nights in late November and early December, macroscopic films of corals played out across the exterior of Knight Concert Hall. The installation was, on the one hand, a glimpse into a possible future, imagining how the city’s skyline might appear if unchecked global warming and rising seas led coral reefs to colonize the built environment. But it also represented a look back into the deep past, a reminder that Miami is literally built from marine limestone mined from the Everglades. Its concrete foundations began life, eons ago, as a marine ecosystem—the same ecosystem that may one day reclaim them. As above, so below.

As an album, Projections of a Coral City is a suite of interconnected movements spread across two sides of vinyl. The tones are watery, the mood elegiac, the colors a washed-out pastel. Forms that appear static on the surface gradually open up to reveal hidden depths teeming with microscopic movement. You might detect resonances with other aquatically minded works—Jürgen Müller’s Science of the Sea, Harold Budd’s liquid piano compositions, even the slow-moving melancholy of Dr. Roger Payne’s Songs of the Humpback Whale. But ultimately Projections of a Coral City creates the impression of a world unto itself—a hauntingly beautiful space at the meeting point between sorrow and hope.

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Balmat is a label with a cloudy outline. Jointly shepherded by Albert Salinas and Philip Sherburne, two friends living in Cardedeu, Catalonia, and on the Balearic island of Menorca, Balmat grew out of Lapsus Radio, a weekly show born almost ten years ago. Balmat’s mission is simple: to foster new ideas, expand upon personal obsessions, and put enveloping sounds out into the world.

“Balmat” means “empty” or “void” in Catalan. But quite apart from any negative connotations, we prefer to think of it in terms of possibility: a space waiting to be filled.

Reunion's major musical genre, Maloya, becomes "gazé" (crazy) through the sounds composed by Grèn Sémé for this new EP.
A gassed maloya that combines direct inspiration from the purest line of this traditional réunionese music with the highly contemporary evolution that is the Grèn Sémé group's signature.
Composed during the studio sessions for their latest album, "Zamroza", the first three tracks on this new EP reveal the sunny side of the Creole band.
You can taste their love of lyrics and their thirst for discovery. And the right mix of compositions. Inspired by the tradition of the greatest song/percussion pieces in the island's history, Grèn Sémé offers three anthems that lend themselves perfectly to the remix exercise.

Deluxe bonus: the 3 Remixes of Voilaaa + La Dame + Guiss Guiss Bou bess
Voilaaa and the fabulous Bruno Patchworks take on "Siko" to create a Cape Verdean ballroom hit.
funana with its heady melodies, it's ultra danceable!
La Dame, producer and DJ from Belgium, remixes the eponymous track into an effective batida for the dancefloor, DJs and dancers alike.

Guiss Guiss Bou Bess take remixing a step further, adding Senegalese sabars and the vocals of group leader Mara Seck to Carlo de Sacco's Alkol.

Once upon a time, many years ago,
when fairy tales existed...

Fairy tales help you stay young,
just like Peter Pan, young forever.

Peter Pan had to invent an island to stay young,
we instead invented Music to stay young.

After over a decade as a digital-only album, Larry Manteca's Zombie Mandingo gets its first vinyl release, making a fresh comeback in a completely renewed version.

Like Manteca's previous full-length releases, this album too is conceived as a soundtrack to a non-existent exploitation film, drawing inspiration from the classic Italian B-movies of the 1970s. This time, cinematic references encompass both the zombies found in Lucio Fulci's horrors and the cannibalistic adventures directed by Umberto Lenzi, creating a strange mash-up between Jacopetti's Mondo Cane and Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust.

The setting is an unspecified island in the Atlantic Ocean, nestled halfway between equatorial Africa and the Caribbean. A handful of Western tourists, having miraculously survived a plane crash, collide with the age-old rituals of an indigenous tribe who perform human sacrifices to appease their local god—the Zombie Mandingo of the title—a monstrous creature with superhuman strength, half Haitian zombie, half African cannibal.

This fusion of genres and cultures is reflected in the music. Manteca creates horror-tinged exotica that evokes and re-imagines the soundscapes of distant lands and dreamlands, from Africa to South America, to the mysterious islands in the Bermuda Triangle. He boldly and brilliantly combines Les Baxter with Fela Kuti, Joe Zawinul with Piero Umiliani, Janko Nilovic with KPM libraries, sprinkling the mixture profusely with psychedelia, Afro-groove, and Italian soundtrack vibes.

The album's nine tracks, recorded between 2013-2019, were meticulously remixed and remastered in 2023. This process made it possible to add new solo instruments, including the Fender Rhodes on the title track. The result is a captivating, kaleidoscopic journey taking us into the sonic depths of the tropical jungle to unveil its dark secrets and surrender to the primary emotions behind every B-movie: action, adventure, erotic desire, and fear.

The album is embellished with a 650-gram hardcover sleeve featuring breathtaking artwork by Matteo Fumagalli.









i 09: Zombie Mandingo (Trailer Music) Remastered

Issued on his crescive Afroterraneo imprint, Kiko Navarro reunites with longtime collaborator and friend, Latin-Grammy award winning vocalist Buika, for new single ‘El Silencio’.

First meeting back in 1997 on their native island of Mallorca, Navarro and Buika most recently worked together for the heart-rending Latin House song ‘Lo Siento’, one of the highlights of Navarro’s 2017 album ‘Everything Happens For a Reason’, as well the 2006’s ‘Soñando Contigo’ on Pacha Recordings, which remains an enduring classic.

Originally written in 2010 but never released at that time, ‘El Silencio’ comes complete with a brand new club version, for which Buika has recorded fresh vocals. When the pair returned to the studio in September 2023, it was as if they’d never been apart. “It was like the time didn’t really pass” says Kiko. “We have this connection that doesn’t go anywhere. We know each other so well, and we know what we want. Working with her has brought me many good things, and I’m so excited to share the new music we’ve made together with the World.”

‘El Silencio’ (‘The Silence’) is a slinky, mid tempo groover with subtle jazz-funk touches, accompanying a universal song about love. “It’s about a couple who have loved each other through hard times, and a desire to be together still. There’s a message of hope here, saying ‘let’s try’. No drama, no anger, just love” says Kiko.

New Parisian label, Disques Messager, presents its new and second release. As its name suggests, the label has a simple leitmotiv: to place itself among the best messengers for rarities and sought-after gems of the international rare groove. A mission which began like fire last year with a 7inch reissue release including two Brazilian Disco bangers by Cristina Camargo. For this second efforts, the label doesn’t deviate from the artistic and quality path taken, however also making quite a U-turn, this time presenting 2 underrated kind of musical UFO, both from the French scene.
Not many info can be found about Yoanson & Karamie, two young artists from the French African diaspora, who randomly met with Nessim Saroussi and his label Ness Music in the late 80s. Nessim himself doesn’t remind much about the 2 guys, except that he quickly offered to produce them, which resulted in their only EP release, Kalimba (1988). Part of this EP, “African Leaders” is a stunning track melting Afro-Tropical percussions, Disco bass, Early-Electro beats and Leftfield vocals in a way that could remind of Doctor L or Arthur Russel productions.
On the contrary, Philippe de Lacroix-Herpin (aka Prof Jah Pinpin) has a long musical career started in the mid-70s and became a renowned saxophonist playing and recording for many famous French acts such as Jean-Jacques Goldman, Alain Chamfort, FFF, or even rap band NTM. In 1994, he moved definitely to the Reunion Island where he quickly launched the Prof Jah Pinpin 4tet, in his own words willing to play “free/funk/jazz/rock/tropical” music… Quite a vast and large musical tag, but which immediately make sense when listening to the surprising “The Final Bird” track. Only released as CD in 1996, this instrumental production has indeed a unique sound and flavor mixing all kinds of elements together (even samples of Weather Report).
Well as you can understand, words are not the best way to describe these 2 hidden treasures, so we strongly recommend the spinning to make your own view!

Utopia is an unimaginable alter world that is created by Mastering Black’s universe of sonic escapism.

When I have been overwhelmed with the amount of work that I've been doing in the past years, I have decided that I needed a certain get away - a certain sacred space for me to pursue the reason why I actually signed up for this in the beginning. Music composing that love is!

Earlier this year , during a trip in African island group Cabo Verde, we went to this night excursion to the Viana desert. We have taken some random photos shot some videos of the Moon thru a telescope. That didn’t struck me as an amazing experience yet I was there many distorted feelings in my mind trying to enjoy and forcing myself trying to be in the moment.

So when I have looked at these pictures back on a calmer state when I was home In NL , I've seen the vast amount of breather - a space - enough that is needed in life to let the blood flow in vein the way it’s suppose to flow. Envisioning your life from moon to create clarity - looking to life on earth - to understand what our mistakes are as human beings - or learning from 8 years old’s pure heart - that’s when my 8 year old daughter collaborated with the fist opening track to summarize the main purpose of our life - love or so called Utopia!
- Īlker (October 2023)

Soms is haat het enige waar je over hoort, maar er is in deze wereld meer liefde dan je je ooit kunt voorstellen.