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Re-issue of this hyper rare single from 1978 on Whirl (West Indies Records Limited). George Clinton's Parliament getting funked up in the Caribbean. TIP!

The Outfit was one of the funkiest bands ever coming from The Caribbean. They showed (together with other top bands from Barbados like The BRC or The Organization) the potential of Spouge music and the many creative possibilities that this genre can lead to.

This single is one of the finest examples of Spouge and Funk blended perfectly together in an explosive, ultra funky cover of the Parliament's "Dr. Funkenstein", titled for the occasion "Dr. Spougenstien". Despite being an extremely rare single, this song used to be quite popular in Barbados, to the point where most people on the Island used to think this was an original song. B side "Theme From Peter Gunn" serves up a punchy and groovy Cosmic disco tune on the very popular Theme from the Peter Gunn tv show.

This single is proposed to you as a first issue on the newly born Lava On Wax Records, started by Dj and Collector Matteo Fava, who have been to Barbados multiple times and works together with former Wirl label since 2020. The release has been possible thanks to help of GUTS from France, who worked since the start of this project to the end in close collaboration with Matteo. Here is what he has to say about this release: " Lava on Wax , It's putting love into old things to make them new with conscience and respect "

Sol Power Sound returns with an EP of two blistering (and rare) island disco cuts remixed by Bosq and the Sol Power All-Stars that will make you forget that summer has come to a close. Officially licensed from the estate of Nappy Mayers, who wrote and produced both originals, both tracks capture Nappy’s exquisite sound that dominated the Trinidadian discotheques in the late 1970s and early 1980s but never received the international acclaim they deserved.

Bosq, a long-time friend of the label, leads things off on the A-side with his fiery dance floor flip of Nadie La Fond’s “Three Way Situation.” In his classic yet understated style, Bosq adds just enough, enhancing the captivating groove, while preserving the true essence and of the original. Using both vocal and dub parts Bosq turns up the funk and transforms the tune into a blistering modern disco cut that works equally well on the beach, in a dark club, or at your favorite underground afterhours.

On B1, the Sol Power All-Stars present an extended disco dub of the 1980 Nappy Mayers tune “Let Yourself Go.” The Sol Power crew opts to work with the b-side version of the original, which bypasses the lead vocal and instead focuses on the synth-bass led groove, an unforgettable chorus, and powerful disco horns. Toss in some chopped up flute, guitars, and synth and you’ve got yourself a party. And did we mention drums and perc? Don’t miss the massive soca break that will take you straight to a carnival jam in the islands.

Alongside remastered extended 12” versions of both original vocal cuts, Trini Disco Dubs highlights the genius of Nappy Mayers, a legendary Caribbean songwriter, producer, and performer, through the lens of modern producers who are at the top of their game.

Fohn brings connection, displacement and new identities into the moment, on pastoral debut album Seanteach - informed by island life, marine folklore and musical tradition.

Connection to the land, the severing of earthly ties, explorations of environment, mythos and generational memory: under the moniker of Fohn, English violinist and producer Tom Connolly (Quade, AD93) takes to the fiddle on which he learned his craft as a child. Forging new bonds with his family’s island home off the coastal west of Ireland, their story is retold in Seanteach (Irish for ‘old house’), released on Odda Recordings.

“Seanteach explores the nature of my relationship with Ireland, and Connemara in particular, where my dad’s family is from,” explains Connolly, speaking on a long-form work that blends new compositions on traditional Irish fiddle with ambient electronics and evocative field recordings.

“It explores how the island of Maighinis became an almost mythological space for me, growing up in England - we would spend every summer there, but it felt equally present for me when we were back in the UK, a sort of mental solace that I found through music especially.”

Each track on the album is a reflection of aspects of that relationship to island life - where physical features intersect with mythology. Such as, ‘Boreen’, named after a colloquial term for rural byroads sometimes shared with otherworldly neighbours. ‘Aisling at Sea’ draws on the primal, unstoppable momentum of the water, while the folklore of ‘Immram’ reflects on generationally-kept tales of marine bravery and supernatural accomplishment.

“The compositions often sit at the fraying edges of memories I’ve inherited from my own experiences, that of family lore, or from stories that I have come across. I wanted the compositions to tread the space between documentation and fantasy that feels so reflective of my relationship with this place.”

Tying these worlds together is the presence and memory of Connolly’s ‘Mamó’ (Irish for grandmother), Bríd. Despite passing during Connolly’s childhood, this “larger-than-life character” shaped his imagination with anecdotes and stories, representing both a familiar figure, and the poignancies of potential and regret.

“Even at a young age I sensed a sadness emanating from her. Through a series of unfortunate and fortunate circumstances, she found herself leaving Ireland and settling in Boston like so many others. Under the impression she was an illegal immigrant in the US she didn’t return to Ireland for decades.”

‘Between the Shoreline and the Gorse’ channels her early childhood, born to a large Catholic family in the island’s ‘Seanteach’, and cast adrift from her old life - a severance of ties that Connolly attempts to make ethereal amends for, with the album named for her family home.

“It’s something that feels so visibly prominent in Connemara with its landscapes charcoaled with deserted ruins. It’s a feeling I also experience, despite never having lived in Ireland, which prompted me to want to explore the idea of longing for something/somewhere ‘un-experienced’, and to a certain extent, fictionalised.”

Andrew Davie (Gitarre, Lead Vocals), Joey Haynes (Gitarre) und Kevin Jones (Drums, Bass) sind Bear's Den. Ihre schon jetzt große und ergebene Fanschar haben sich Bear's Den mit ihrem Sinn für Songwriting und berauschende Harmonien und sicher auch mit ihrer DIY-Attitüde, ihren individuell per Hand gestalteten Konzert-CDs und ausführlichen Touren erspielt. Nun erscheint ihr Debütalbum Islands. Vorbote ist der Song 'Elysium', zu dem der Filmemacher Marcus Haney ein bewegendes Video gedreht hat. Wie der Song selbst angelegt als eine 'Ode an die Freundschaft', kam es bei den Dreharbeiten, bei denen er Studenten während der letzten ausgelassenen Tage ihres Semesters begleiten wollte, zu einer dramatischen Wendung, die dem Song im Nachhinein eine ganz neue Bedeutung gab. Ein bewaffneter Einzeltäter erschien auf dem Campus, erschoss einen Freund der Gruppe und verletzte zwei weitere Menschen. Nach reiflicher Überlegung beschlossen die Beteiligten, die Dreharbeiten fortzusetzen und den Opfern mit dem Video ein Denkmal zu setzen.

Zur Feier des 10-jährigen Jubiläums des gefeierten Debütalbums „Islands“ von Bear's Den aus dem Jahr 2014 wird das Vinyl in einer neuen limitierten Farbe veröffentlicht. Das Album enthält Fan-Lieblingssingles wie „Agape“ und das für den britischen Ivor Novello Award nominierte „Above the Clouds of Pompeii“.

For the next reissue in Mr Bongo’s Cuban Classics series, we look to Raúl Gómez’s entrancing 1977 Instrumental album. Presenting a unique blend of orchestral disco and jazz-funk, with Afro-Cuban flavours and soundtrack influences, it’s rich with drum breaks, energy and evolving compositions. A record that forever keeps you guessing, powered by an exemplary orchestra at the top of their game.

Cuban composer and singer Raúl Gómez is most known for featuring in the groups Mirtha Y Raul and Los Bucaneros alongside producing the Cuban classic Los Reyes 73 album, amongst a whole host of other incredible productions over the years. Released on Cuba’s state-owned label Areito, Instrumental sees Gómez not only as an instrumentalist and author, but also as a producer and arranger.

It's an album that deftly evades pigeonholing. Floating between instrumental mood music and library/soundtrack mastery, followed by explosions of cosmic-Latin funk, psych guitar workouts and compositions that reflect the orchestrated disco coming out of the US at the time, from greats such as Love Unlimited or MFSB. Lace that together with a healthy serving of Afro-Cuban magic to underpin the tracks and it’s a recipe for a record that captivates from start to finish.

Predominantly an instrumental album as the title suggests, the record showcases the Orquesta EGREM in full flow, soaring strings and vibrant horns at every turn. Highlights include 'Mi Samba Carnaval' with its breathtaking drum break, bubbling synths and sublime arrangements and the romantic film music impressions of ‘Tema De La Sierra', that have been a sampling source for many a producer. Elsewhere, ‘6 Son’ is a mind-melding psych guitar powerhouse, with 'Dacapo', written by Gilberto Peralta, offering up a slice of atmospheric and energetic Latin shuffle. One of only a handful of tracks where scat vocals compliment the orchestral tones, a Brazilian percussion theme marries with dancefloor sensibilities for a dose of feel-good, brilliance.

A wide-ranging, multi-dimensional release, Instrumental exhibits musicianship, composition and creativity at its finest and demonstrates another key example of the rich output of music that flowed from the island of Cuba post revolution.

Meine Liebsten, ich habe ein neues Album gemacht und ich bin überglücklich. Es heißt „Addio“. Ich freue mich, euch nach so langer Zeit zeigen zu dürfen, an was ich so gearbeitet habe. Es ist wild, ich schwörs.“ Faber sagt sich somit erst einmal los von messbar gemachter Kunst, von Musik, die nicht mehr nur für sich selbst stehen darf, sondern unmittelbar spiegelt, wie massenkompatibel sie ist. Faber hat seine Gedanken frei gemacht, die neuen Lieder werden es ebenfalls bald sein. Kommt mit!

Distance as a measure of time and place informs Kelly Finnigan's, A Lover Was Born with a grit and grace that turns passion into virtue. The latest solo release from The Monophonics frontman roots itself in the best traditions of midwest soul labels like King, Curtom, Dakar, and the Bodie Recording Company. A Lover Was Born is a testimony that these deep cut grooves are not resigned to nostalgia, instead, they are at the burning heart of longing and hope. The journey Finnigan takes listeners on over Lover's eleven tracks echo the state of motion and growth since his solo debut, The Tales People Tell (2019). These two records bookend a prolific period of output, including a pair of Monophonics albums, a Christmas album, a mixtape, and a full slate of producing other artists (The Ironsides, Alanna Royale, the Sextones). "There's nothing like making records," says Finnigan. "It feels like that's my purpose _ the reason I was put on this earth." Written in California, Ohio, and Staten Island, Kelly Finnigan collaborated with old friends in and outside the studio. "I enjoy working alone but it's not how you want to make a record_almost everybody I brought in for this album I've worked with, toured with or spent a great deal of time with." Max and Joe Ramey (The Ironsides), Jimmy James (Parlor Greens), Sergio Rios (Orgone), Joey Crispiano (Dap Kings) and Jay Mumford (aka J-Zone) all contribute to the overall sound of A Lover Was Born. Dramatic influences like Isaac Hayes (check out the piano on "Be Your Own Shelter") and Jerry Ragovoy are chopped and folded into Northern Soul uptempo numbers to create stompers like "Get a Hold of Yourself" or "Chosen Few". Finnigan's take on Deep Soul is captured brilliantly on "Walk Away from Me" and "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)", while Boom Bap pervades on hard hitters "His Love Ain't Real" & "Cold World". Slower songs such as "Let Me Count the Reasons", the emotional "All That's Left", and the soul-stirring album closer "Count Me Out" show the honest and tender side that has become Finnigan's calling card. All the while, the voice is raw and earthy _ in the best tradition of R&B shouters like Otis Redding, Lee Moses, and David Ruffin. The songs on A Lover Was Born reconfigure the spliced and sampled DNA of hip hop (extracted by crate diggers like Dilla and RZA) to create something new, underscoring both the spectrum and depth of soul while making a case to the timelessness of Finnigan's sound.

Distance as a measure of time and place informs Kelly Finnigan's, A Lover Was Born with a grit and grace that turns passion into virtue. The latest solo release from The Monophonics frontman roots itself in the best traditions of midwest soul labels like King, Curtom, Dakar, and the Bodie Recording Company. A Lover Was Born is a testimony that these deep cut grooves are not resigned to nostalgia, instead, they are at the burning heart of longing and hope. The journey Finnigan takes listeners on over Lover's eleven tracks echo the state of motion and growth since his solo debut, The Tales People Tell (2019). These two records bookend a prolific period of output, including a pair of Monophonics albums, a Christmas album, a mixtape, and a full slate of producing other artists (The Ironsides, Alanna Royale, the Sextones). "There's nothing like making records," says Finnigan. "It feels like that's my purpose _ the reason I was put on this earth." Written in California, Ohio, and Staten Island, Kelly Finnigan collaborated with old friends in and outside the studio. "I enjoy working alone but it's not how you want to make a record_almost everybody I brought in for this album I've worked with, toured with or spent a great deal of time with." Max and Joe Ramey (The Ironsides), Jimmy James (Parlor Greens), Sergio Rios (Orgone), Joey Crispiano (Dap Kings) and Jay Mumford (aka J-Zone) all contribute to the overall sound of A Lover Was Born. Dramatic influences like Isaac Hayes (check out the piano on "Be Your Own Shelter") and Jerry Ragovoy are chopped and folded into Northern Soul uptempo numbers to create stompers like "Get a Hold of Yourself" or "Chosen Few". Finnigan's take on Deep Soul is captured brilliantly on "Walk Away from Me" and "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)", while Boom Bap pervades on hard hitters "His Love Ain't Real" & "Cold World". Slower songs such as "Let Me Count the Reasons", the emotional "All That's Left", and the soul-stirring album closer "Count Me Out" show the honest and tender side that has become Finnigan's calling card. All the while, the voice is raw and earthy _ in the best tradition of R&B shouters like Otis Redding, Lee Moses, and David Ruffin. The songs on A Lover Was Born reconfigure the spliced and sampled DNA of hip hop (extracted by crate diggers like Dilla and RZA) to create something new, underscoring both the spectrum and depth of soul while making a case to the timelessness of Finnigan's sound.

Distance as a measure of time and place informs Kelly Finnigan's, A Lover Was Born with a grit and grace that turns passion into virtue. The latest solo release from The Monophonics frontman roots itself in the best traditions of midwest soul labels like King, Curtom, Dakar, and the Bodie Recording Company. A Lover Was Born is a testimony that these deep cut grooves are not resigned to nostalgia, instead, they are at the burning heart of longing and hope. The journey Finnigan takes listeners on over Lover's eleven tracks echo the state of motion and growth since his solo debut, The Tales People Tell (2019). These two records bookend a prolific period of output, including a pair of Monophonics albums, a Christmas album, a mixtape, and a full slate of producing other artists (The Ironsides, Alanna Royale, the Sextones). "There's nothing like making records," says Finnigan. "It feels like that's my purpose _ the reason I was put on this earth." Written in California, Ohio, and Staten Island, Kelly Finnigan collaborated with old friends in and outside the studio. "I enjoy working alone but it's not how you want to make a record_almost everybody I brought in for this album I've worked with, toured with or spent a great deal of time with." Max and Joe Ramey (The Ironsides), Jimmy James (Parlor Greens), Sergio Rios (Orgone), Joey Crispiano (Dap Kings) and Jay Mumford (aka J-Zone) all contribute to the overall sound of A Lover Was Born. Dramatic influences like Isaac Hayes (check out the piano on "Be Your Own Shelter") and Jerry Ragovoy are chopped and folded into Northern Soul uptempo numbers to create stompers like "Get a Hold of Yourself" or "Chosen Few". Finnigan's take on Deep Soul is captured brilliantly on "Walk Away from Me" and "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)", while Boom Bap pervades on hard hitters "His Love Ain't Real" & "Cold World". Slower songs such as "Let Me Count the Reasons", the emotional "All That's Left", and the soul-stirring album closer "Count Me Out" show the honest and tender side that has become Finnigan's calling card. All the while, the voice is raw and earthy _ in the best tradition of R&B shouters like Otis Redding, Lee Moses, and David Ruffin. The songs on A Lover Was Born reconfigure the spliced and sampled DNA of hip hop (extracted by crate diggers like Dilla and RZA) to create something new, underscoring both the spectrum and depth of soul while making a case to the timelessness of Finnigan's sound.

The Well is the second album by the duo So Sner, composed of Susanna Gartmayer (bass clarinet) and Stefan Schneider (electronics). Recorded over nearly two years in various studios and spaces, the album reflects So Sner's extensive touring across Europe. The final mixing took place in Vienna at the studio of Martin Siewert, who served as both co-producer and mastering engineer. Known for his meticulous attention to sonic detail, Siewert brings his unique techniques and distinctive sound enhancements to the album, resulting in a work that is both stylistically cohesive and daringly uncompromising.

So Sner’s critically acclaimed debut album REIME (TAL26, 2021) was celebrated for its innovative fusion of bass clarinet and electronic sounds in unexpected and surprising ways. With The Well, the duo explores both fluid and dissonant sonic landscapes, embracing different structural and sonic challenges. The result is a quieter, more introspective set of compositions than many might have anticipated. The album is a statement of two confident collaborators crafting complex, spatial musical moments in their own distinct manner.

The music on The Well generates a multiplicity of effects that transcend conventional oppositions such as hand-played versus programmed, composition versus improvisation, or analog versus digital. The album suggests a re-articulation of these categories, allowing the ten tracks to gradually blend one musical idea into another, and one musician into another, in a circular and complementary fashion. The polymetric permutations and exploratory reed components create a soundscape where all elements coexist harmoniously, without compromising or diminishing each other’s presence.

With its sparse sound architecture, The Well invites listeners into a space of effective emptiness, offering room for the mind and body to explore—a sonic island where one can develop sensuality through patient movement.

For So Sner, live performance is a passion of the mind, and since they began working together in 2020, their music has taken them to many different places. The live experience has deeply influenced the recorded music on this album, with the interplay between live performance and studio work informing their creative process. The Well captures the genuine act of exploring new territories, serving as a storage place for the time and space shared by the duo, re-filtering their experiences of performing and traveling together.

The Well is a lucidly playful and ambitious album by two contemporary musicians who are continually learning to create and respond to the subtle and significant changes in their music, maintaining momentum throughout the entire work.

In addition to her work with So Sner, Susanna Gartmayer has recently collaborated with artists such as Joe McPhee and Maria Portugal, and remains a member of her long-running band, the Vegetable Orchestra. Stefan Schneider, founder of the label TAL, has recently performed with Garth Erasmus from Cape Town and fine art luminary Katharina Grosse.

The most iconic holiday record in Verve Records’ repertoire and one of the most successful jazz holiday albums of all time like you’ve never heard it before! This expanded edition of Ella Fitzgerald’s classic 1960 album Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas features a second LP with six tracks making their vinyl debut - for the first time, all of Ella’s holiday recordings for Verve Records and Decca Records are together on one collection. Housed in a beautiful gatefold jacket featuring a “deluxe” take on Gene Grant’s classic 1960 album artwork, the package also includes a beautiful 8-page booklet with detailed session notes and essay from journalist Will Friedwald, plus a sheet of cut-out holiday ornaments – the perfect gift for any music fan. Nearly 65 years after its original release, Ella’s beloved holiday classic is now twice as long as it was in 1960. As Ella herself once said, “the only thing better than singing is more singing,” and the only thing better than the original Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas is the new, expanded edition!

Nour Mobarak’s Dafne Phono is an adaptation of the first opera, Dafne, composed and written by Jacopo Peri and Ottavio Rinuccini in 1598. Drawing on the myth of Daphne and Apollo from Ovid’s Metamorphoses—a story of unrequited love, patriarchal possession, conquest, and transformation—Mobarak’s multimedia and multispecies reimagining splinters the opera’s Italian libretto. Alongside English and Greek versions, it is translated into some of the world’s most phonetically complex languages—Abkhaz, San Juan Quiahije Eastern Chatino, Silbo Gomero, and !Xoon. In this process, the narrative—and an artifact of Western culture—is dismantled, metabolized, and rendered into unruly utterances that shape the sensorium as much as they do the capacity for sense-making. These voices are given material form by a cast of mycelium sonic sculptures whose rhizomatic compositions and broadcasted recordings resemble the formation and mutation of language over time, reconstituting speech into a new, polyphonic body politic, composed of voices whose striking, poetic utterances transfix and transcend meaning.

The A-Side of the record presents a stereo version of Mobarak’s 15-channel sound installation, Dafne Phono. The B-Side uses a recording of a portion of the translation process the libretto underwent in Namibia, live-processed by the artist.

The LP is published on the occasion of Nour Mobarak’s exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, New York (October 26, 2024–January 12, 2025), with support from Sylvia Kouvali.

Artist Bio:
Nour Pamela Mobarak (Lebanese-American, b. 1985, Cairo, Egypt) lives and works between Los Angeles; Bainbridge Island; and Athens, Greece. Her works have been shown at Sylvia Kouvali (formerly Rodeo), London/Paris; Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin; MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA; Amant, Brooklyn; JOAN, Los Angeles; Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga; Miguel Abreu Gallery, New York; Hakuna Matata, Los Angeles; and Cubitt Gallery, London. Exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and Castello di Tivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin, are forthcoming. She has performed at Western Front, Vancouver; 2220, the Hammer Museum, and LAXART, Los Angeles; Cafe OTO, London; Renaissance Society, Chicago; the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; and elsewhere. Her music has been released by Recital (Los Angeles), Cafe OTO’s TakuRoku (London), and Ultra Eczema (Antwerp), and she has had sessions on BBC Radio 3, NTS Radio, and Dublab Radio. Mobarak’s writing has been published in Triple Canopy, F.R. David, The Claudius App, and the Salzburg Review, and her first catalog, Sphere Studies and Subterranean Bounce was published by Recital (2021). She received a BA in English and Media Studies from Sussex University and did further studies at Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris IV. She has held residencies at Denniston Hill, New York and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and was the recipient of the 2023 FOCA fellowship award. Mobarak was a 2024 faculty at Bard College MFA program.

Dafne Phono Vocalists:
Apollo: Renato Grieco (Italian)
Cupid: Arnou Argun (Abkhaz)
Dafne: Agnes | xaye (!Xoon)
Ovid: Olivia O’Dwyer (Latin)
Venus: Don Eugenio Darias (Silbo Gomero)
Abkhaz Chorus: Liana Ebzhnou, Murman Guaramia, Fatima Kharzalia, and Gunda Osia
Chatino Chorus: Felix Daniel Peña Mendes, José Vasquez Canseco, Catalina Candelario Matias, and Claudia Garcia Baltazar
!Xoon Chorus: Franco Tsame, John Djujui Klosi Barase, and Charity Tsame
Clarinet: Steve Kado

In Cornish slang it is said that things get done ‘dreckly’; that is, not now, not necessarily tomorrow, but, at some indefinite point...in the future...soon...

Fitting then that when Bristol’s Langkamer decamped to their de facto home-from-home in the picturesque south-west seaside town of Falmouth to record their third album in as many years (with an EP thrown in there too) - there was no particular need to rush things: “The process was much slower and more considered for Langzamer.”, drummer/vocalist Josh Jarman explains: “The first two albums felt pretty urgent, and each was finished in about 6 months, but this one feels a lot more deliberate. It’s taken us two years to get this done.”

Equally fitting too that Langzamer kicks off proceedings with ‘Heart of Tin’: the first bars are languidly lugubrious, so deliciously plucked-out and scuzzed-up that they linger in the air like passing smoke, magically, slowing time down to their own assured and steady will. And in so much time, that also feels like no time at all, comes an opening line of such stark, disarming confessionalism as might be found in the David Berman/Silver Jews songbook: “Do you want the good news or the bad news first? // They’re both bad news, but the bad is worse” It’s Langkamer in a nutshell: embattled, heart-on-sleeve Slacker Rock slaked with twinges of fret-sliding Americana, yet deeply embedded in the folk mythologies, colloquialisms and experiences of the band’s West Country roots.

Throughout Langzamer, confronting the listener again and again is this conflict between the band’s breezy, melodic charm, and the threat of something more sinister lurking in the undergrowth. While those more familiar with Langkamer’s oeuvre to date will have already come to know and love their often self-deprecating yet witty lyricism, the songs on Langzamer take this trademark ebullient gloominess to more challenging plains: “Principally this is an album about grief, and everything that entails...” explains Jarman. “in a sense death brought these songs to life.”

This thread is felt no more so than on ‘Salvation XL’. Inspired by a “particularly bad batch of food poisoning I had in Morocco”, Jarman explains, and beginning with the memorable opening line, “Jesus came to me a Burger King in Marrakech”, the band wind their way through the ‘big topics’: death and God.

“This trip was shortly after a few of my friends had passed away, and I think a lot of my thoughts and actions at that time were being influenced by my grief without me realising it.”, he explains, “Whenever I dwell on grief, and how death has given my life a new context, I come back to that. The ongoing battle between agnosticism and atheism. I wasn’t raised in a very strict religious home, but I come from a long line of methodists, and it’s interesting to think about the way theism and religion have shaped my life without me knowing it. I think that’s being channelled on this album a lot. The uncertainty that comes with disbelief.”

Our collective mortal frailties are also felt on lead single ‘Richard E Grant’. With a trademark bittersweetness, a track that begins as an appreciation of the actor’s humorous social media presence unfolds as a study on “finding healthy coping strategies to deal with loss.”. Elsewhere, ‘At The Lake’ - to the tune of mournful, folk-like balladry - explores binge-drinking culture and the troubled association between unhealthy behaviour and creativity. The listener is left in no mind as to the meaning behind the references to James Joyce and Janis Jopin as “souvenirs stolen from the dark”.

With themes as weighty as these strewn across the album’s 10 tracks, It seemed like a particularly astute move then for the band to personally approach Ben Woods, founder of the Golden Dregs, to assist on production duties. Not only would the delicate intimacies of Woods’ main project - see 2023’s On Grace & Dignity for reference - add an appropriate moodiness, but Woods was also born and raised in Cornwall, where the album was recorded; amidst “eating pasties” and breaks by the sea, Woods and the band transformed the vaults underneath iconic Falmouth venue The Cornish Bank into a makeshift studio for a weeks’ worth of recording. Occasionally friends would drop by to lighten the load; Zander Sharp tracking violin on ’Double Island’ and ‘Flight’; Josh Law and Ben Sadler of Breakfast Records labelmates Getdown Services, both of whom contribute to the soul-stirring ‘mountain’ chorus on ‘Aberfan’.

When compared to the brightness of 2023’s The Noon and Midnight Manual, Woods’ influence on the record seems indisputable. On the aforementioned ‘At The Lake’, for instance, which features backing vocals from Woods. Or, most acutely, on the piano strains of harrowing closer ‘Bluff’, a track with such chilling, spectral severity as to effect the band’s most heartbreaking effort to date. While it’s particularly sombre note on which end proceedings, it's also an appropriate one: Langzamer bravely stands tall as their most restrained, matured, and sincere collection to date. And almost by virtue of its impeccable honesty, those moments of sunshine-joy that creep through the cracks feel that much more golden.

Zur Feier seines 10-jährigen Jubiläums veröffentlicht der in Island lebende australische Komponist Ben Frost auf Mute eine limitierte rote Vinyl-Edition seines Studioalbums 'A U R O R A'.

Die limitierte Vinyl-Edition enthält ein alternatives Artwork und einen exklusiven Download seines mitreißenden Live-Auftritts von 2014 im Berliner Berghain.

'A U R O R A', das in den vergangenen Jahren nichts von seiner eindringlichen Kraft eingebüßt hat, wurde von allen Seiten gelobt und stand auf den Listen der Alben des Jahres von NPR, Rolling Stone, Clash, Crack, FACT, Stereogum und anderen.

Das von Frost zusammen mit Greg Fox (ex-Liturgy), Shahzad Ismaily und Thor Harris (ex-Swans) eingespielte und größtenteils im Osten der DR Kongo geschriebene Album verzichtet gänzlich auf Gitarre, Klavier, Streichinstrumente und natürliche hölzerne Intimität und bietet eine trotzige synthetische Welt aus wild geformten Klängen und galaktischen Interferenzen, stampfenden Fellen und reinem Metall.

Frost ist bekannt für seine bahnbrechenden Beiträge zu Komposition, Produktion, Klangkunst und Regie in den letzten 15 Jahren. Dazu gehören Soundtracks für Film- und Fernsehserien wie Fortitude, Raised by Wolves und die Netflix-Serien Dark und 1899 sowie Opernkreationen wie The Wasp Factory und The Murder of Halit Yozgat (die am Royal Opera House in London und an der Staatsoper Hannover aufgeführt wurden). Im Jahr 2024 veröffentlichte er sein erstes Studioalbum seit sechs Jahren mit dem Titel 'Scope Neglect', ein experimentelles, genreveränderndes Album, das aus Frosts Bewunderung für den Metal geschmiedet wurde, wobei er sich bewusst von dessen konventionellen Attributen entfernte.

Obijuan & YUNGMORPHEUS join forces on SLANG CASINO. Smoked out raw hip hop that sees Obijuan's unique flow tread across a range of soul & funk laced beats produced by YUNGMORPHEUS. But since both artists are of Bahamian and Jamaican descent respectively, they wanted to bring it back to their Island roots and blend some reggae with the grittier hip hop sound they're known for. Slang talk, bravado and esoteric maundering run throughout the record, with guest features from Rahiem Supreme, Bisk, and looms.

Lee Holman's forthcoming release, 'NECH026,' marks his return to NECHTO, following his 2022 EP on Nastia's imprint. With an uncompromising underground ethos, Holman has built a solid international reputation through his distinctive techno sound. His performances as a live act and DJ have taken him to prestigious venues like TRESOR Berlin, Khidi Tbilisi, and Corsica Studios London. Known for his vast record collection and dynamic performances, Holman's productions have earned international acclaim.
The upcoming EP evolved organically, with three of the five tracks being part of Holman's live shows for NECHTO events. The lead track, "Wave upon Wave," was recorded live after an event in Kyiv, while the other two were from a session at Khidi Tbilisi. Holman initially did not plan to release these tracks, keeping his live performances unique for each night. The bonus track, "It's Not Over," features a beautiful vocal piece and soulful techno accompaniment.
Inspired by nature, particularly the sea surrounding his island home, Holman channels this inspiration into his music. The five tracks of 'NECH026' reflect his signature deep, raw, and energetic techno
sound.

The Congos were formed by Cedric Myton (born 1947 St Catherine, Jamaica) and Roydel ‘Roy’ Johnson (born 1943 Hanover, Jamaica), around the mid-seventies, a time when the Rasta message coming out of Kingston and other pockets of the Jamaican Island was at its most prominent. Cedric Myton’s singing career began back in the rocksteady era in Reggae’s musical story.

He formed the ‘Tartans’ group taking lead vocal duties alongside Devon Russell, Prince Lincoln Thompson and Lindbergh Lewis. They cut ‘Dance All Night’ (1967) and ‘Coming On Strong’ (1968). The line-up reduced to a two piece, Cedric and Devon Russell, when tracks like ‘What a Sin Thing’ and ‘Short Up Dress’ were cut. This line-up became the Royal Rasses, Cedric formed The Congos, on meeting Roydel Johnson. Roydel previously sang as a member of Ras Michael and the Sons of Negas, cutting such tracks as ’Go To Zion’ (1973). As we can see Cedric’s and Roydel’s Rasta roots were firmly in place by the time they had formed The Congos sometimes called ‘The Congoes’.

The Congos possess what all bands look for,that unique sound that draws the listener to them.Lead singer Cedric Myton’s style and phasing, with his distinctive Falsetto voice makes this just the case.Built on a foundation of classic rhythms and with the aid of then Producer, Lee Perry, the groups statement of intent was laid down with one succinct message. The Congos mighty 1977 ‘Heart of the Congos’ album, is quite simply one of the best reggae albums ever recorded.

Producer Lee Perry had wanted to record a classic Jamaican vocal group in his newly built Black Ark Studio. The voice of Watty Burnett was added at the time to cover baritone vocal duties. The studio after various changes in equipment etc. was finally finding its way. A sound built in Lee Perry’s back yard in Cardiff Crescent, Washington Gardens, Kingston, but existing until then in Mr Lee Perry’s mind. The album they cut would be the defining group release to come out of The Black Ark studios, when the vital elements, vibes, musicians, songs and singing would gel to form ‘Heart Of The Congos’. Come the time of it’s release 1977, Lee Perry was in dispute with Island Records and opted to release the record on his own ‘Black Art’ label. Without the high-profile push of a major label, the record undersold and caused a split between producer and band. Under different circumstances maybe this album would be sitting in thousands of homes alongside the Bob Marley, Culture, Burning Spear releases. Cedric Myton went on to release albums with the French arm of the CBS label and Roy Johnson records and tours as Congo Ashanti Roy.

Cedric Myton the central force carries on the mantle of the Congos and we at Kingston Sounds are proud to pick up the story with another set of vocal statements, which sees Cedric cut some of his finest tunes. Helped along by another reggae legend Brent Dowe, lead singer of the Melodians (Rivers of Babylon), over some classic 1970’s rhythms. Yet again we find that magic formula of strong statements working alongside classic rhythms making the balance work. The Rasta message is still strong on modern classics like ‘King Rastafari Is His Name’, ‘Rasta Congo Man’ and the injustices of the world dissected in tunes ‘Some A Thief’, ‘Watch & Pray’ and the prophetical, ‘Citizen Of The World’.

Once touched by magic it does not fade away, but resurfaces as it has with what we believe to be some of the Congos most heartfelt and meaningful set of songs ...... Let the feast begin.

The sophomore effort from Gray/Smith refines their petroleum-based, hard-lullaby sound with a decidedly dusty precision. To call this pair's brand of country-rock détournement "cosmic" would be too breezy: L. Gray and Rob Smith prefer to stare into sunken depths, channeling their recondite affections for lay-by mauve zones and red-dirt guitar wanderings. Formed in the outer-edges of Kings and Richmond counties circa 2020, Gray/Smith is something of an East-Coast involution. L. Gray (guitar and vocals) and Rob Smith (drums, guitar and vocals) are both trusty veterans of "band's bands" like Pigeons (Soft Abuse), No-Neck Blues Band (Revenant, Locust), Rhyton (Thrill Jockey), and The Suntanama (Drag City), freewheeling groups known for mining from polyglot sources: rough-hewn folk and the spiritual avant-garde, bargain-bin hard rock and and collector's-choice psychedelia alike. On their first, self-released LP Gray/Smith, serendipitously recorded at Gary's Electric at the top of 2021, the pair trained their assured chops onto the great American song-form, honing a murky but tight approach that variously cribs "urban cowboy" and finger-picked primitivism. A string of cryptic appearances soon followed, including a short-lived residency at a now-shuttered vodka dive; a micro-tour with Coloradan songstress Josephine Foster; and a series of backyard and barroom gigs sharing stages with compatriots like Stella Kola, Blues Ambush, Samara Lubelski, and Wednesday Knudsen. Heels in the Aisle is the slipshod, burnt-out, mid-'70s unter-prog comedown to their debut's backwoods, bushy-tailed, early-'70s, country-rock meanderings_expect more unrestrained riffs, artful studio wizardry, and worn-down introspection. Joining the ranks of bloodshot-eyed, blues-rock medleys à la Canned Heat's "Parthenogenesis" and Grand Funk's "Into The Sun," "The SDSPS" is the nearly side-length opening cut, an expanded song-cycle condensing and riffing on the themes of their debut. "Help Me" ventriloquizes Pomona College outlaw Kris Kristofferson's slow-roaring ballad of libidinal woe. On the flip side, "Verrazano Tile" and the title track pay heed to lower bays of Staten Island, while their arrangement of the traditional Zimbabwean tune "Guabi Guabi" is a bright Dead/Feat-like jaunt with blissed-out wah-wah pay-off. "Gaslight Boulevard" is lean, mean, and eight-beers-in space rock, and the closing track "Kekule's Ring" is a slack-jawed, wistful crash back down to earth. All this, packaged in a luxe, expertly-printed sleeve photographed by downtown artist Lary 7 and designed by Eric Wrenn (Sophie's Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides).

Death metal can hardly get more dedicated and passionate about the old school Floridian sound than
TEMPLE OF DREAD on their fifth album "God of the Godless". Luckily, the East Frisians from German
island Spiekeroog are not mired in a swamp of stale nostalgia. Although "God of the Godless" comes
with the brutal power of harsh winter storms and the gritty texture of the often fierce North Sea
weather, the East Frisians have also refined the cinematic aspects of their sound that they had firmly
established on the predecessor "Beyond Acheron" (2023).

Der isländische Komponist Snorri Hallgrímsson veröffentlicht «Longer Shadows, Softer Stones», sein Debüt
bei der Deutschen Grammophon. Die EP erscheint als 180g Vinyl und enthält sechs von ihm geschriebene
und produzierte Stücke. Der Multiinstrumentalist Hallgrímsson, der bereits mit gekonnten Neuinterpretationen von Werken Saties, Schumanns und Boulangers beeindruckte, übernimmt den Gesang und spielt
Klavier sowie elektronische Elemente. Unterstützt wird er von Streichern des Reykjavík Orchestra unter
der Leitung von Viktor Orri Árnason. »Snorri Hallgrímsson gelingt es, mit seinem tiefen Verständnis von
Raum und Stille ein Statement zu setzen«- Higher Plain Music

Kill Emil is a Greek DJ and producer, based in Athens, who since 2009 has produced tracks with powerful and sophisticated rhythms and vaporous atmospheres.

Influenced as much by Latin and Jamaican music as by Hip-Hop, Kill Emil regularly collaborates with artists such as l'Entourloop (on their album “Le Savoir Faire”), The Architect, Taiwan MC and Marina P.

Deja Vu is a sonic journey through nostalgic rhythms and fresh beats, offering listeners a blend of the familiar and the new. Each track is a testament to Kill Emil's dedication to the craft, featuring meticulously crafted layers that invite repeated listens.

Saxophonist Walter Smith III pays homage to his hometown of Houston, Texas on his sophomore Blue Note album, three of us are from Houston and Reuben is not, the follow-up to 2023’s return to casual. The album’s wry title signifies the lineup, which includes fellow Houston natives – pianist Jason Moran and drummer Eric Harland – while bassist Reuben Rogers, who hails from the Virgin Islands, rounds out the quartet. Together they enliven 10 compelling Smith originals and an imaginative rendering of a Sam Rivers composition – all of which speaks to Smith’s ascending status as one of modern jazz’s most engaging talents of his generation.

Ursprünglich im Jahr 2020 veröffentlicht, ist some kind of peace ein persönlicheres und introspektiveres
Album, als Ólafur es je zuvor veröffentlicht hatte.
some kind of peace handelt davon, was es bedeutet, lebendig zu sein, sich zu trauen und verletzlich zu
sein. Es ist eine persönliche Reise, die Ólafur mit seiner bisher introspektivsten Musik vor dem Hintergrund
einer ins Chaos gestürzten Welt erzählt. Auf dem Album verarbeitet er reale Teile seiner Lebensgeschichte,
wobei er meisterhafte Sampling-Techniken einsetzt, um dem Hörer ein Fenster in seine Erfahrungen zu
öffnen.
Neben Ólafur Arnalds selbst sind auch befreundete Musiker auf dem Album vertreten, wie der britische
Musiker Bonobo, der isländische Sänger und Multiinstrumentalist JFDR und die deutsche Sängerin und
Komponistin Josin. ”All diese Menschen waren zu diesem Zeitpunkt Teil meines Lebens oder haben mit
mir die Erfahrungen gemacht, die das Album beeinflusst haben”, erklärt er. ”Es wäre seltsam, ein so
persönliches Album zu schreiben und meine Freunde nicht einzubeziehen.”
Mit einer Art Stück fordert Ólafur Arnalds das Leben mit all seinen Facetten heraus, zu akzeptieren, wie
es ist, loszulassen und vor allem zu reagieren und darüber nachzudenken, um unseren persönlichen inneren
Frieden zu finden. Sein atemberaubendes Album wäre definitiv der richtige Ort, um damit zu beginnen.

Das ursprünglich 2015 veröffentlichte ”The Chopin Project” ist eine wunderschöne Erkundung von Chopins
Musik, die hier zum ersten Mal auf farbigem Vinyl zu hören ist.
Die Musik von Frédéric Chopin ist schon hunderte Male aufgenommen worden. Aber noch nie auf diese
Weise. Das Chopin-Projekt bringt den preisgekrönten isländischen Pop-/Klassik-Musiker Ólafur Arnalds
und die gefeierte deutsch-japanische Pianistin Alice Sara Ott für eine aufregende neue Interpretation der
Musik von Chopin zusammen. Arnalds wählte ein Programm von Chopin-Werken, um einen emotionalen
Bogen durch das Album zu spannen, und komponierte dann verbindende Abschnitte für Streichquintett,
Klavier und Synthesizer, die auf der Atmosphäre und den Motiven dieser Stücke basieren.

Massive... Oldschool early UK Hardcore !

Île Flottante is Mr. Beatnick´s 5th album, following 2023’s Joy In Variation (including the notorious cover of Love on a Real Train) and his well-received off-beat collaboration with London-based avant-garde agitator Richard Greenan – Coasty – this is his first contribution to the International Feel trademark. Probably best known for some big deep house revivalist tunes circa 2013 on the now dormant Don’t Be Afraid record label, Beatnick now converts that aural quality and dimensionality into the Balearic system.
Île Flottante takes its name from the tastiest French pudding of Mr. Beatnick’s childhood holidays. The name, also a jeux de mots - floating island - hinting at the album’s inspirations and sense of identity, as a danceable soundtrack to a fictional island. Explored with high intensity and over a yearlong process, the sounds of the well-worn, but never failing Balearic universes were a mind expanding influence. Think of genre staples like Software, Manuel Goettsching, Mark Barrott, Len Leise, Don Carlos, Gaussian Curve, Joan Bibiloni or Yasuaki Shimuzu.
„I spent a year listening to a lot of synthesized island music, and marveling at the many twinkling wonders of the Balearic musical universe. Struck by a sense of belonging that had often eluded me on my musical journey thus far, as the weirdo at the back of the club who had orbited many scenes for 20 years, but never felt like I fitted in, I found music that made me feel like I had come home. The songs that came out of this process are presented in the order that they were written - an open book of ocean hymns, honest and spoken from the heart.“
Île Flottante tries its very hardest to avoid being any one thing in particular. At one point, it is a gentle beach walk accompanied by polyrhythmic drum plod and flourishes of Guzheng. At another, the infamous James Yancey septuplet swing is repurposed against a marimba melody that wouldn’t be out of place in one of Link’s forest adventures.
Elsewhere, there are the bellows of distant whales, touches of Italian dream house and a splash of vintage madchester, all working to create a space that feels both familiar and loaded with well worn tropes, but with its own quirky sense of personality, facets which are often attributed to Mr. Beatnick’s holistic b-boy approach. This is his understanding of a Balearic (b-boy) stance. Just with a float instead of a freeze.

The 2nd album from the Franco-Swedish songwriting duo. An album that blends airy poetry and pointillist pop, accompanied by the groove of drummer Larry Mullins (Swans, Nick Cave, Iggy & The Stooges redux) along with superb brass arrangements.

For the first time since its inception 36 years ago, Steve Hiett’s elusive Down On The Road By The Beach is finally made available outside of Japan. Most recognized in the fashion sphere as an English photographer and graphic designer, Hiett‘s transportive audio portraits amplify his serpentine guitar to the infinite blue, recorded across Paris, Tokyo and New York with no coastline in sight. Now widely celebrated as a desert island disc, very little is actually known of its unfathomable genesis.

A career devotee of Brian Wilson’s ground breaking harmonies, Hiett shot The Beach Boys for Rolling Stone - as well as The Doors, Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix (in one of his final performances at the 1970 Isle Of Wight Festival) - while establishing himself as a fashion photographer. Decamping to Paris in 1972, he began what would become 20-year collaborations with Vogue Paris and Marie Claire, printing his signature warm, saturated and vibrantly hued snapshots.

In 1982, representatives from Tokyo’s Galerie Watari visited him to propose a solo exhibition. Asking if he could insert a 7” of original music into the back of the exhibition catalogue, Hiett laid down ‘Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach’ in a Parisian radio station, playing all of the instruments himself, and two more cuts in New York with Yoko Ono, The Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan hired-gun Elliot Randall. Once dispatched, the phone began ringing off the hook with requests for him to fly to Tokyo. Assuming these long-distance callers were wanting him to check proofs for the book, it wasn’t until he arrived that he discovered CBS/Sony had facilitated an entire album. Heitt hastily gripped some petty cash, bought a guitar and retreated to his hotel room to start writing.

Entering the studio the following day, he was further surprised by a waiting room of session players known as Moonriders - one of Japan’s most acclaimed rock bands of the 1980s. Intimidated by their indecipherable sheet music, Hiett suggested Randall join them and with money being no object for major labels at the time, his wingman was on the next plane out of New York to finalise the high production indulgence. Near-ambient arrangements that float in a space between The Durutti Column, Steve Cropper and Ashra, Down On The Road By The Beach also crowns Hiett the master of recontextualization with his zero-gravity blues visions of Roll Over Beethoven, Santo & Johnny’s Sleep Walk and the 1967 Eddie Floyd soul hit Never Found A Girl.

Produced in coordination between Be With, Efficient Space and the artist, this definitive reissue is restored from original masters with vivid reproductions of the Down On The Road By The Beach exhibition catalogue, intended to accompany its original release, and extensive liner notes penned by fellow Steve Hiett obsessive Mikey IQ Jones.

Signed to Island Records, his Iggy Pop/Jim Morrison side was cultivated, the weirdness dialled down, leathers were worn and a rock'n'roll microphone stand was utilised. The lead track "World Shut Your Mouth" gave Cope his first solo UK Top 20 hit, a big, brash slice of garage rock, it was a post-punk equivalent to David Bowie returning with Let's Dance; simple, straightforward. Backed by what Cope called his 'two-car garage band', the album reached No 11 in the UK chart, his highest placing to date whether solo or in The Teardrop Explodes, it also entered the US Billboard Hot 200. It's not all straight-ahead stomp, the eight minute closer "A Crack In The Clouds" harks back to the Teardrop Explodes' Wilder, and Kate St. John's oboe on the title track evokes his Mercury albums. Released in March 1987, Saint Julian was seen as a storming return to form for Julian Cope - This re-issue faithfully replicates the original 1987 Mercury Records UK release and is pressed onto high quality 180g vinyl.

Riding a wave of critical praise and positive feedback for his most recent Emperor Machine album, the fabulous Island Boogie, Andrew Meecham returns with a typically wild and dancefloor-focused set of dubs, ‘versions’ and remixes.

According to Meecham, Island Boogie is his most personal set to date – a full-length excursion that not only delivers perfectly formed expressions of his dub-tinged, off-kilter synth-boogie sound, but also tracks that draw deeply on his earliest influences and long-held musical expressions.

It’s fitting, then, that this remix EP begins with his own sparse, stripped-back ‘version’ rework of ‘S-S-S-Single Bed’, a fine cover of the mid-80s Fox single featuring the vocals of Michelle Bee. Meecham’s dub-wise revision is a skeletal and driving affair, with snippets of echoing guitar, colourful synths and Bee’s distinctive vocalisations rising above a weighty dub disco bassline and rock-solid percussion.

It's followed by two revisions of album favourite ‘Wanna Pop With You’ from A Love From Outer Space main man Sean Johnston under his now familiar Hardway Brothers alias. Combining his own love of raw, analogue-sounding electronics and trippy dancefloor psychedelia with select elements of Meecham’s original – percussion, synth sounds, crisp guitar licks and elements of Severine Mouletin’s lead vocals, Johnston’s main ‘remix’ is a weighty, mid-tempo treat. Arguably even better is his accompanying dub, which is more groove-and-effects focused and makes more of Beecham’s superb original bassline. It’s heavy, spaced-out and undeniably intoxicating.

To round off the package, long-time friend of the label (and sometime contributor) Rose Robinson dons her Tigerbalm pseudonym and gets to work on ‘La Cassette’. Brilliantly cutting up Severine Mouletin’s vocals, she delivers a driving slab of spaced-out, synth-heavy dub disco that adds more weight and energy to Meecham’s original. It’s a fittingly on-point way to close out a superb selection of club-ready revisions.

Die Musik ist tief in der DNA der Buddha-Bar verwurzelt und hat schon immer eine Schlüsselrolle in unserem Universum gespielt. Unsere musikalische Handschrift, die 1996 in Paris entstand, spiegelt die traumhafte Atmosphäre unserer Restaurants perfekt wider. Subtile und hypnotisierende Mixe, eine perfekte Mischung aus mystischen House- und elektronischen Rhythmen mit afrikanischen, asiatischen, indischen, lateinamerikanischen oder orientalischen Klängen... Buddha-Bar Music verbreitet seit 1996 seine guten Vibes in der ganzen Welt. Dieses dreifache Best Of zeichnet unsere Geschichte von 2014 bis 2024 nach und versammelt von Ravin sorgfältig ausgewählte Titel und Künstler, darunter Buscemi, Sahalé, Desert Dwellers, Kenneth Bager, Ali Kuru, Santi & Tugçe, El Bùho, Troels Hammer, ...

The 2nd album from the Franco-Swedish songwriting duo. An album that blends airy poetry and pointillist pop, accompanied by the groove of drummer Larry Mullins (Swans, Nick Cave, Iggy & The Stooges redux) along with superb brass arrangements.

Welcome to the fascinating musical universe of EXOTIC ROOSTERS! It emerges as a burst of freshness and originality, blending an eclectic variety of musical influences to create a truly unique and exciting auditory experience. Comprised of experienced and virtuosic musicians on their respective instruments, the group captivates audiences of all ages with its energy and unmistakable style. Exploring the intersection between tradition and modernity, EXOTIC ROOSTERS combines the rich soundscapes of marimba, vibraphone, double bass, percussion, and drums to create an expansive and nuanced musical landscape. From frenetic rhythms that invite dancing to captivating melodies that transport the listener on an emotional journey, each performance aims to be a celebration of cultural diversity and artistic expression.

In the relentless musical era of the late 90s, two passionate souls, Eugeni Camacho and Rafa Navarro, embarked on a unique sonic odyssey by blending the melodious marimba with the pulsating drums. Together, they successfully created STAMINA PERCUSSIO in their concerts. However, life composed its own score, separating Rafa, who was abducted by the Canary Islands, and Eugeni, who was drawn to vibrant New York. Upon their return, after years of musical exploration in different projects with the Oscars (Oscar Cuchillo and Oscar Rocher), their hearts aligned with a new melody. In the loom of destiny, they discovered the emerging talent of Bernat Cucarella. A prodigy with drumsticks and a 4.0 brain. By uniting Rafa's island experiences, Eugeni's resonant jazz from the Brooklyn alleys, and the rich musical diversity harvested in life's journeys by each of the members, they gave birth to a magical musical tale: EXOTIC ROOSTERS

Calm's superb Before album is the gift that keeps on giving as Hell Yeah serves up a collection of the best remixes from it. Willie Graff, Gallo and Aura Safari all step up on a fresh 12" that lands this summer.

Before arrived on double vinyl in 2022 after a CD-only release in Japan in 2021. Since then it has become a Balearic mainstay and go-to record for lovers of lavish downtempo sounds. Now, remixes of three tracks from it all appear on this one record with Ibirican-American Willie Graff going first. He is a deep house don who has held several key residencies around the world while dropping his sublime sounds on the likes of Leng, Music For Dreams and many more. His remix of 'I Love You' is a gloriously horizontal one with blissful piano keys rippling over the bubbly drums and bass. Yearning reed melodies add an emotional romantic edge to make this a standout in any setting. Then comes Gallo, the Balearic Gabba Sound System member and resident at Berlin Balearic nightspot Buena Onda. His 'Tropical Hinterhof' remix of 'I Love You' is expertly exotic and soothing as mellifluous keys rain down over a groove as smooth as silk. It's a heart-achingly beautiful sound that will make for truly special moments on the dance floor.

Italian collective Aura Safari then offers two different remixes. They are master musicians who have served up a superb double album Islands Dreams here in late 2023 where they showcased their escapist blend of dub, jazz, Afro-cosmic, Balearica and boogie. First up, 'Feel It' (Aura Safari Desert mix) is six minutes of oriental melody over loose drums. There's a playful feel to the dancing piano keys and richness in the percussion that makes this one a sophisticated sound for both early evening warm-ups or moments of late-night reflection. 'Kunpoo' (Aura Safari Daydream mix) has a nineties feel with its gentle breaks, hypnotic string loops, and sustained chords. They break over you in gentle rays of earth and euphoria to ensure utterly blissed-out results.

These four versions all bring sophisticated dance floor energy to the timeless originals.

repress !

If one band could be cited for the emergence of Ska music, that band would be the Skatalites.

Formed around June 1965 and built around the many musicians that had honed their craft at the Alpha Boys School in Kingston, Jamaica. The early line up consisted of Don Drummond (Trombone), Roland Alphonso (Tenor Saxophone), Tommy McCook (Tenor Saxophone), Johnny ’Dizzy’ Moore (Trumpet), Lester Sterling (Alto Saxophone), Jerome ’Jah Jerry’ Hines (Guitar), Jackie Mittoo (Piano), Llyod Brevett (Bass) and Llyod Knibbs (Drums).

Named originally The Satellites after the big news of the day, the Soviet space satellite. They became The Skatalites when band member Tommy McCook introduced a play on the characteristic ‘Ska’ sound, made by the guitar when following the’ after beat’ of the music.The group had already cut its musical teeth by playing under various guises around the Jamaican island in numerous ‘hotel bands’. When the big Sound System operators Sir Coxsane Dodd, Duke Reid and King Edwards needed new material to play out with and their usual source of the material, American R & B records were drying up. They turned to this pool of musicians to back up their main singers of the day. Delroy Wilson, Alton Ellis and Lord Creator to name but a few. Also to cut the many instrumental tracks they needed usually under the tutor ledge of Don Drummond, official band leader and main musical director. Their knowledge of the old mento tunes and an understanding of Jazz and R&B music somehow blended to make this musical sound that was to dominate the island from the early 60’s up until around 1966 when the sound would slow down to what we now know as Rocksteady.

The time span of the Skatalites career considering their output of litually 100’s of sides of music, was a relatively short one of just over two years. We have delved into the vaults of Wirl Records and have selected some tunes that show the dexterity of the band and what great sounds this group of musicians were capable of producing and the high quality they maintained. They recorded before they were named as a collective The Skatalites, when personal and financial problems became an issue the band split into two halves. Jackie Mittoo and Roland Alfonso going on to form The Soul Brothers band for Coxsone Dodd. Tommy McCook moving over to work with Duke Reid as musical director. Sadly, Don Drummond suffering for years from depression would see his career cut short ending in Belle Vue hospital in 1969.

But while together they cut some of the finest Ska Sounds to be found on record. We hope you enjoy this set as much as we have in putting it together.
So, stand Up, Listen Hard and do the Ska……

Limited to 350 copies

Stop what you're doing and give us your full attention because Hell Yeah mainstay My Friend Dario's new album Senza Estate is going to define the sound of summer 2024. It's an eclectic eight-track collection that has something for everyone and is inspired by dreamy Italian soundtrack composers Piero Piccioni and Umiliani.

Curveball Italian talent Dario is a real dance floor don who collides acid, nu-disco, breakbeat and electro. His take on Balearic is unique and always sends dance floors wild, as proven with his last outing Food For Woofers Vol 2 earlier in the year. His new album is the sound of life by the Mediterranean, Balearic audio pleasure for daytime dreaming and nighttime dancing with vocal tracks written and performed by the UK's Space Echo Records associate Darene Obika.

Dario hails from Catania on the island of Sicily and his inspiration for Senza Estate, which translates as 'without summer,' was an imaginary holiday, weekends at the seaside, car journeys in the sun, relaxing sunsets and late-night dancing. 'For five years, I worked in a shop six days a week so despite living on a Mediterranean island I could never enjoy these things. Instead, I locked myself in the studio and jotted down the ideas, sensations, melodies and rhythms I had about another lost summer.'

'Keep On Cruising' is a downtempo opener with innocent synths that are filled with hope and promise for the warm months ahead. 'Zingarella' is a wide open sea view with wispy pads, seductive flutes and jazzy melodies that bristle with life and the tropical title cut gets more dancey on shuffling broken beats and radiant synth glows. There's a seductive laid-back cool to the tumbling keys of 'Marittimo' and 'What You Need' is a horizontal groove with loved-up vocals, 'Falò' pairs sensual acoustic guitar with work with pillowy drums and 'Il Pianeta Proibito' layers up sci-fi synths and stuttering bass into a bubbly sound that leads to cosmic take-off. 'Acid Panorama' is the melancholic closer which hints that the summer sun is setting one final time after weeks of carefree fun.

But the good news is, you can repeat the joys of My Friend Dario's masterful Senza Estate over and over again.

For fans of Mount Kimbie, Damon Albarn, Beach House, King Krule. London based singer-songwriter Rollo Doherty releases his debut EP on Lewis Recordings. Frontman for the indie guitar band ISLAND, his solo work is a radical departure from what fans would previously have known him for. As the title suggests, Rollo began this new DIY project from the tranquility of his own home and drew inspiration from the many small, subtle occurrences happening just on the other side of his bedroom window. 90’s Hip-Hop, Movie Soundtracks and Shoegaze are just a few of several influences explored across this diverse piece of work. ‘Out of My Window’ features some scratching from the infamous DJ Yoda as well as crossing the pond, landing in the hands of Brooklyn based duo The Still Brothers, who provided new life through their brilliant analogue production and arrangements alongside the expertise of producer Mike Hill (Arlo Parks, ISLAND) at Lemontree Studios, L.A. The circle became complete when by chance the LA mastering legends Becker Mastering (Doja Cat, Tyler The Creator, Harry Styles) happened upon the unreleased music when mixing engineer Mike visited their studio and asked to hear his latest work. The EP’s duration serves as a metaphor for a single day, as it spans over approximately the duration of 24 minutes, each representing an hour of the day. Ambient soundscapes are heard in-between each track, all moments captured at corresponding parts of the day on Rollo’s handheld microphone which he poises from his window.

IAMX haucht seinem hyper-emotionalen Elektronik-Projekt mit dem neuen Album "Fault Lines " neues spirituelles Leben ein. Es ist der Nachfolger der aggressiven, kultigen Machenschaften, die auf dem 2023 erschienenen Album "Fault Lines " zu hören waren.
Dieses Sequel ist halb Mutant, halb Ballkönigin-Schwester mit pochenden Bassmonstern wie "Neurosymphony" und "Infinite Fear Jets", die ätherisch in Tracks wie "The Ocean" übergehen, in dem die großartigen Gesangstalente von Hafdis Huld im isländischen Intro und Outro zu hören sind.

Rising UK label Human Worth proudly present TORPOR's third full length album Abscission. A fine tapestry of sludge metal, lumbering doom riffs, forward thinking post-rock dynamics, cerebral drone passages, ambient textures and stark spoken poetry. Recorded by producer Wayne Adams (whose credits include Wallowing, Green Lung, Possessor and more), 'Abscission' is a paean to earth shattering tones, subtle detailed textures, immersive sound design and most importantly... ABSOLUTELY CRUSHING HEAVINESS. For their third album, TORPOR were compelled to withdraw into the bleak and elemental vistas of rural Wales, embracing isolation and solitude in order to craft this autumnal sonic landscape. The trio brought producer and frequent collaborator Wayne Adams (Petbrick, Big Lad) out of his London city studio to work at Giant Wafer Studios.

TORPOR's excursions into the wilderness can really be felt across these lengthy songs. Bludgeoning riffs show a new found density and weight reminiscent of gallant trees standing tall amongst battering wind and rain. All of this sonic magnitude has been finely captured by Adams, with the final master by James Plotkin (Khanate) completing this all-encompassing experience – quite fittingly the trio were also invited to showcase the album in full at the 2023 Roadburn Festival, on the day that Khanate headlined! Abscission is the sound of Torpor fully realising their visceral and cinematic vision, turning an unflinching gaze towards the unrealised lives we all carry with us. Human Worth have pressed a limited edition of environmentally conscious Eco-Mix Vinyl in a stunning packaged designed by Jack Burley, featuring a 12" foldout insert, with 10% of all proceeds donated to charity Second Step – a leading mental health charity in Bristol and the South West.

Mystery colored vinyl (a unique and kooky mix-up from an exotic palette) and including an insert with a unique drink recipe by Martin Cate and more. Limited edition of 600 copies only!

Lush and exciting, rich and vibrant, the modern masters of exotica - Ixtahuele's 2nd album is finally available again. Guiding your mind's eye over oceans and mountains, through jungle and desert, teasing and enticing your ears with layered soundscapes and catchy melodies, you'll find yourself whistling along on a winding mountain road, stalking through the rainforest, or humming lazily on a tropical beach. Building on their previous releases, both musically and thematically, the group flirts with jazz, mambo, and space age pop, all the while retaining their classic acoustic exotica sound and a high level of musicianship. This is music to lounge by the pool to, to armchair travel, to share a cocktail with a lover or a friend or to imbibe sacred libation in the rumpus room or Tiki bar. Sophisticated and savage, it's exotica for the modern age!.