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AGT Records are back for number 008 and the smoke machine is on full blast.

Christian Llopis put out a handful of releases in the early 2000’s, each capturing the progressive machine-groove of the time, but with his own signature twist and turn that made his sound stand apart from his contemporaries. The Lobster Tan EP, first released in 2005 on Play. Out. Right. Now. Recordings, shows offhis unique style perfectly.

Each track has its own distinct personality while maintaining a relentless momentum that throws each kick drum into the next. The title track ‘Lobster Tan’ has an almost elastic groove in the low end, balanced deftly with swirling samples and melody lines. ‘Simulation’ is a more heady offering, perfect for those late night/ early morning moments where the heads are down and the lights are low. The
mood is sinister, and its growling bassline and vocal samples barrel the tune forwards. Pick of the bunch is ‘Back in the Day’, a tribal roller that combines organic melody lines and pads with an ever-evolving bassline that will refresh any discerning dance floor back into life.

Llopis is an expert at keeping things subtle while moving the gears, and this release is a prime example of prog done right. We are happy to have this one back on the shelves, all in good time.

DiscoGram rolls out another tasteful EP on their own self-title label and it's all about global disco with a Brazilian touch. 'Amigo' marries lush strings and loose percussion with call and reposes vocals and MPB vocals in Portuguese that lend a natural flair. 'Disco Samba' picks up the energy and is just that - a clap-laced and speedy groove with elegant strings and expressive vocals. 'Do Grito' means more into funk with its low slung grooves but is packed with vocals, chanting, steel drum hits and horns for a fully vivacious sound. 'Queixume' with a little more light and feathery female spirit, sunny vocals and jazzy horns. Tasty stuff.

Força Maior combines the vital saxophone explorations of Pedro Alves Sousa with the infinitely subtle electronic processing of Pedro Tavares. Sousa (aka Má Estrela) is known for manipulating his woodwind through guitar pedalboards & amplifiers, creating far-from-ordinary sonics rooted in unceasing curiosity. For his part, Tavares (aka funcionário) conjoins video & sound work to create space for the pensive wanderings where memory and imagination interlace.

The album Morte Lilás was recorded over a week in June 2023 in Pedro Alves Sousa's family farm, located in the village of Ferreirim, near Lamego, in Portugal. The partly abandoned farm served as the residency, studio, and inspiration for the album: it is a 400-year-old granite farm that belonged to a member of the "40 conspirators"—a group that led the revolution for Portugal's independence from Spain in the 17th century.

Morte Lilás is a remarkable album of committed meditation. Each day on the farm was a recording day for the two Pedros: Sousa on sax & electronics, Tavares on sampler & processing. Apart from slight sonic incursions from the surrounds—the birds on 'Quinta à tarde'—and the sporadic use of sine tones, the source sounds all start from the saxophone. It is then processed both by Sousa & Tavares. The album unfolds as a saxophonic tapestry that breathes with quiet intensity. Each piece invites close listening, revealing fine gestures and tonal shifts that shape a contemplative, ambient space. Força Maior move with calm precision.

The album opens with the unhurried overture 'Quinta à Tarde' a Portuguese pun on Eno's Thursday Afternoon that announces the textures at play. Sousa's breathy entrance is paired with a soft, delicately shifting, backdrop. As the track progresses, time seems to stretch. The arrangement resists urgency, favouring subtle evolution over dramatic turns. Pensive layers shift & drift, creating a sense of suspended motion that brings the listener into the environs of Morte Lilás. 'Quinta à Tarde' is a long-form fade, shifting emphasis from Sousa to Tavares.

'Cubos' continues the gauzy feel, but with a more up-tempo tilt. Rhythmic clicks & pings setup a swung time for the sax to interpose melodic lines that are fed back & bent with cascading delays. Força Maior in distilled form.

Força Maior is in top form on the title track 'Morte Lilás', a sprawling centrepiece that showcases their command of atmosphere & emotional pacing. By turning up the reverberation & leaning into a continuous format, they dissolve the gap between hypnotic trance & articulate reverie. Then, a moment of stillness. The track pauses, not abruptly but like a tide pulling back, revealing the contours beneath. What follows is a return to the album's more relaxed architecture: understated rhythms, softened textures, and a sense of spaciousness that opens space for reflection. It is a transition that feels organic, as if the song itself needed to exhale before settling back into its contemplative groove.

'Menta' is another short-form miniature of the band's signature contours: beautiful loops of air pressure gradients that carry an emotive weight & light.

The album closes with 'Cascata do Inferno'. The title suggests violence, but the music whispers instead—an atmospheric cascade of breath & tone that emerges in slow, deliberate waves. Short melodic cycles are matched by shimmering electronic chords. It's a piece that rewards patience, draws the listener in to drift downstream, eyes closed, into the serene turbulence of its current.

Repress

Anthony Naples returns with his second full length album, "Take Me With You", arriving first as a 'Mixed Version' cassette inspired and commissioned by the Good Morning Tapes series, followed by Digital, Vinyl and even Long Sleeve T-Shirt formats.

Originally conceived as a D.J. mixtape dedicated to friends and the time spent with them in the morning hours after the parties over (or beginning) - it quickly morphed into a soft focused meditation on all things warm and intangible.

'Take Me With You' fires off in all styles - the opening triptych of the extra-cosmic 'Alto', post-rave pianos of 'Goodness' and slow-dance-inducing 'Drifter' bring the attention inward — taking cues from a host of personal favorites including: 'Space' LP by Space, The Theater Of Eternal Music, Panda Bear's 'Person Pitch' , Atlas Sound's 'Let The Blind Lead...', Arthur Russell's 'World Of Echo', Suzanne Ciani's 'Buchla Concerts: 1975', The Microphones 'The Glow Pt. II' & 'Mount Eerie', A mixtape of Krautrock from DJ Ivan Berko and most definitely Holger Czukay, 'Take Me With You' is a fresh turn for Naples as he ascends into a blend of his most personal work to date — touching on trip-hop, psychedelic pop, ambient house, and much more along the way.

Make no mistake - 'Take Me With You''s message is undoubtedly about escapism, given away by its happy-abductee cover art done by the legend Biscuit— but first and foremost it reflects on that lingering feeling one gets when walking away from the ones they love.

DJ Maestro, geboren als Martijn Barkhuis in Nederland, is een gerenommeerde Nederlandse DJ, producer en componist, vooral bekend om zijn werk aan de fameuze Blue Note Trip-compilatieserie. Met een diepgewortelde passie voor jazz en een scherp oor voor eigentijdse grooves, verwierf Maestro naam door klassieke jazzopnames te combineren met moderne beats, wat resulteerde in een verfijnde fusie die zowel traditionele jazzliefhebbers als een nieuwe generatie luisteraars aanspreekt. Zijn vermogen om naadloze, atmosferische en muzikale verhalen te creëren leverde hem erkenning op van het prestigieuze Blue Note Records-label, dat hem het vertrouwen gaf om hun klassieke catalogus te gebruiken voor moderne, genre-overstijgende mixes. Met de lancering van de Blue Note Trip-serie in de vroege jaren 2000 hielp DJ Maestro de interesse in klassieke jazz nieuw leven in te blazen door tijdloze tracks te koppelen aan subtiele elektronische elementen en soulvolle interpretaties. De serie werd een vaste waarde in lounges en hi-fi luisterruimtes over de hele wereld. Elke release weerspiegelt Maestro’s respect voor muzikaal erfgoed en zijn talent om verhalen te vertellen via geluid, waarbij hij luisteraars meeneemt op een muzikale reis die zowel nostalgisch als vooruitstrevend is. In 2015 begon DJ Maestro aan een opmerkelijk project: Little Girl Blue Remixed, een eigentijdse herinterpretatie van Nina Simone's iconische debuutalbum uit 1958. Het album werd geprezen om zijn respectvolle, maar inventieve remixes. Dit project onderstreepte Maestro's vermogen om de brug te slaan tussen klassieke jazz en hedendaagse muziek, en verstevigt zijn status als visionair binnen de jazz fusion scene. Naast deze albums heeft DJ Maestro samengewerkt met een breed scala aan artiesten, bigbands en jazzmuzikanten. Hij heeft zijn repertoire ook uitgebreid naar filmmuziek, liveoptredens en remixes – allemaal met behoud van zijn kenmerkende stijl geworteld in jazz, soul en downtempo. DJ Maestro blijft een culturele brug slaan tussen tijdperken, waarbij hij de rijkdom van jazz viert en tegelijkertijd innovatie, dansmuziek en moderniteit in zijn mixen verwelkomt. Na zijn geprezen reeks genre-overstijgende compilaties keert Maestro nu terug met Deep Trip – een gloednieuwe mixcompilatie die zal verschijnen op Black Hole Recordings. Deze keer kiest hij voor een meer house-georiënteerde richting, met warmere grooves, diepere ritmes en een weelderige sfeer, maar altijd met Maestro’s onmiskenbare signatuur. Deep Trip verschijnt zowel als een mixed CD als in een triple vinyl set met alle tracks in ongemixte versie. Het is een reis door hedendaagse deep house-texturen, met soulvolle percussie en een hypnotische opbouw. De compilatie laat Maestro’s muzikale evolutie horen: trouw aan zijn jazzwortels, maar volledig omarmend wat de moderne house te bieden heeft.










h 4. I Hadn't Known I Only Heard








h 4. I Hadn't Known I Only Heard








[h] 4. I Hadn't Known [I Only Heard]








[h] D2 | Herbert - I Hadn't Known [I Only Heard] (7 15)

London-via-Accra artist BLACK FONDU shares his seven-track debut EP ‘BLACKFONDUISM’, following the underground momentum of singles ‘im not sleeping’ and the Steve Lamacq BBC 6 Music-premiered ‘holla back girl’. Available on vinyl, and with a self-directed video for ‘#music’, the project marks the first full expression of a voice emerging as one of the UK’s most uncompromising new forces.

‘BLACKFONDUISM’ captures that evolution in its rawest form. The EP came together quickly through instinct and freestyling, recorded between his room in London and a short period in Paris. Each track reflects a world he understood only after living through it. ‘IN D4 CLUB’ channels the exhilaration of acceleration, ‘BOYS’ explores the foundation provided by maternal love, ‘im not sleeping’ confronts denial after more than twenty revisions, ‘C00N V2’ marks a moment of creative rebirth, and ‘BLACK1E’ navigates the tension between self-perception and the world’s gaze. Closing track ‘#music’ distills the entire project into one statement.

Working alone has brought challenges, but he has learned to trust the emotional volatility that fuels the work. “I care so much and would die for this, but I cannot let it kill me. I have to trust myself the same way I trust myself when I make music.”

At 21, BLACK FONDU has carved out a sound that collides hyperpop, noise, rap, punk energy and abstract grime into something instinctive and volatile. Influenced by everything from Rachmaninoff to MF DOOM to Xiu Xiu, he writes, produces and performs every element, including the fractured visuals that accompany his tracks. Praise from BBC 6 Music, Pitchfork, NME, The Quietus, Pigeons & Planes, METAL and Line of Best Fit has positioned him as one of the most intriguing new voices in the UK underground, with explosive live shows across London, the UK and Europe.

With BLACKFONDUISM, he introduces a universe that refuses to sit still. “I wanted this EP to act as an introduction to my worlds. It felt important to put this out so I can do anything after.” He hopes listeners feel alive when they hear it, and jokes that he wants the record to “evolve music, even just a little.”

BLACK FONDU’s sound remains a paradox, abrasive and fragile, chaotic and meticulous, always guided by instinct. Or, as he puts it, “A bit fucked. But alive.”

Mit Laughter In Summer präsentiert die legendäre Singer-Songwriter-Ikone Beverly Glenn-Copeland (bekannt durch das Kultalbum Keyboard Fantasies) ein zutiefst berührendes neues Werk – entstanden in Zusammenarbeit mit seiner Partnerin, der Künstlerin und Produzentin Elizabeth Copeland. Das Album ist ein musikalischer Liebesbrief, der Erinnerung, Hingabe, Verlust und Freude miteinander vereint.
In neun emotionalen Songs – allesamt in One-Takes aufgenommen – entfaltet sich eine außergewöhnliche Intimität, getragen von Glenns charakteristischer Stimme, warmen Chorarrangements und einem unverwechselbaren Gefühl spiritueller Verbundenheit. Der Sound reicht von kontemplativen Balladen wie „Children’s Anthem“ bis zu leuchtenden, hoffnungsvollen Momenten wie „Let Us Dance (Movement One)“.
Produziert wurde das Album von Elizabeth Copeland und Alex Samaras (Hotel2Tango / Howard Bilerman). Es folgt auf Glenns gefeiertes Album The Ones Ahead (2023) und seine Zusammenarbeit mit Sam Smith für Ever New (2024).
Laughter In Summer erscheint auf rosefarbenem Vinyl, als limitierte Dinked Edition auf milchklarem Vinyl inklusive Bonus-7" mit Coverversionen von Marvin Gaye – „What’s Going On“ / „Save The Children“ – sowie digital und auf CD.
Für Fans von Alice Coltrane, Terry Callier, Joanna Newsom, Sam Amidon und spiritueller Folk-Avantgarde.

Konfiguration: 140g Pink 12" vinyl, 3mm spined sleeve, Gloss machine varnish, 12" printed insert, Gloss machine varnish

Haf is the third album from Carwyn Ellis & Rio 18 in little over a year, no mean feat in and of itself but especially considering Carwyn’s work with other artists (including Edwyn Collins and the North Mississippi Allstars) this year too.

The album picks up where their last (Fontana Rosa) left off, with around half the album being recorded analog to tape at Gizzard Studios in London, with one last tune remaining from their sessions at the legendary (but now closed) Toerag Studios.

There are echoes here of their first album, Joia! - the recordings were once again instigated by the great Brazilian producer and multi-instrumentalist who happened to be visiting London earlier in the year. He suggested doing something.... so they did. And there is a return to more definite Brazilian influences too - Tonnau Ar Tonnau is an homage to ‘Onda’ by Cassiano, Keep On Smiling has a distinct samba / chorro feel. Gwenyn y Gwanwyn (about helping a bee out if you see it struggling) is very much a nod to the psychedelic samba funk of Antonio Carlos e Jocafi. But other Latin styles still loom large: on the sultry salsa of Bella Estrella or the melancholic Andean ballad, Lagrimas Frias.

Anglo-Brazilian singer Nina Miranda features on the Lalo Schifrin goes samba Shades of Red, while new addition to the Rio 18 family (at least on record), Miriam Isaac adds a real RnB edge to the record, along with some beautiful duets: the Salsoul banger Como Te Amo and the gorgeous Whistling Sands (about a beach in North Wales) are standouts.

In reverse to how Carwyn made the first two Rio 18 albums, Haf was recorded in London
and Wales and mixed over five hectic days in Rio. Three days later, it was mastered and at
the pressing plant. Time doesn’t wait for Carwyn Ellis & Rio 18!!

Finally, the song ‘Haf’ and the album itself are dedicated to Haf Morris, Carwyn’s late music teacher - he says, “her focus, guidance and patience shaped me like no other. I hope she’s enjoyed my musical journey, from wherever she’s watching. Diolch, Haf”.

Koma Saxo, the explosive quintet led by Berlin-based Swedish bassist/producer Petter Eldh, returns on We Jazz Records with their new album, cut live at We Jazz Festival in Helsinki, December 2019. Whereas their lauded debut was a triumph of remapping the goal posts for an acoustic jazz combo for the 2020's, "LIVE" takes you right to the heart of the actual ensemble sound, with 5 musicians tearing the place down, no post production. From the fiery opening sequence kicking off with "Euro Koma", on to the much calmer beauty of "Waltz Me, Waltz Me Baby, All Night Long" and the first single "Fiskeskärsmelodin", the 8-song set is pure fire, never failing to convey the extraordinary intensity of the group: Eldh on bass, Otis Sandsjö (Y-OTIS), Jonas Kullhammar and Mikko Innanen on saxes, and Christian Lillinger on drums.

An excerpt of liner notes by Peter Margasak:

"When I first saw Petter Eldh's quintet Koma Saxo in Berlin in September of 2019 I was floored. The raw, sprinting energy of the band was both infectious and astonishing, but what I most remember was a sense of cognitive dissonance. Was this the same combo that recorded a fantastic eponymous 2019 studio album that represented one of the most convincing, pleasurable, and driving hybrid's of searing post-bop and the production ethos of hip-hop? There have been endless stabs by producers trying to remap the machinations of an organic, all-acoustic jazz band with electronic post-production, but Eldh, channeling a sonic language heavily informed by J Dilla, nailed it in a way I'd never experienced before. Having the trust of his three imaginative, high-octane saxophonists—Jonas Kullhammar, Otis Sandsjö, and Mikko Innanen—he used their grainy sound as raw material, smudging and smearing it like a painter creating new hues on a palette, and then extending, editing, and powering it up within the imperturbable grooves meted out by he and drummer Christian Lillinger. He didn't really alter the essential core of the band's performances. There's no question that a seriously burning quintet had laid the tracks down, even if the performances reflected the kind of concision many jazz groups adapt for a studio endeavor. But the way his jacked-up bass lines and Lillinger's impossibly peripatetic, stuttering rhythms buffeted the massed saxophones elevated Koma Saxo to plane all its own, and I repeatedly returned to that place—half the time trying to figure out what the hell Eldh had done, and the other half lost in giddy ecstasy.

The live show, on the other hand, featured the band without any production tricks. Its soaring, pithy repertoire came alive in a different way, and this excellent live recording from the 2019 We Jazz Festival, has reminded me of how fun and visceral that experience was."

Koma Saxo "LIVE" is released by We Jazz Records on 30 April 2021 on two vinyl editions (silver + black), as a bundle with an unreleased 7" (+ silver vinyl edition), on CD and digitally. The vinyl versions plus the CD come complete with silver embossed lettering. The vinyl is delivered on heavy-duty tip-on sleeve, complete with an insert featuring liner notes by Peter Margasak, Andreas Müller, Matti Nives and Petter Eldh.

a 01: Euro Koma (Live) feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger
b 02: Puls Koma (Live) feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger
c 03: Fanfarum for Komarum III (Live) feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger
[d] 04: Waltz Me Baby, Waltz Me All Night Long (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[e] 05: Otis and Christian (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö & Christian Lillinger]
[f] 06: Blumer (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[g] 07: Fiskeskärsmelodin (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]

Silver Vinyl

Koma Saxo, the explosive quintet led by Berlin-based Swedish bassist/producer Petter Eldh, returns on We Jazz Records with their new album, cut live at We Jazz Festival in Helsinki, December 2019. Whereas their lauded debut was a triumph of remapping the goal posts for an acoustic jazz combo for the 2020's, "LIVE" takes you right to the heart of the actual ensemble sound, with 5 musicians tearing the place down, no post production. From the fiery opening sequence kicking off with "Euro Koma", on to the much calmer beauty of "Waltz Me, Waltz Me Baby, All Night Long" and the first single "Fiskeskärsmelodin", the 8-song set is pure fire, never failing to convey the extraordinary intensity of the group: Eldh on bass, Otis Sandsjö (Y-OTIS), Jonas Kullhammar and Mikko Innanen on saxes, and Christian Lillinger on drums.

An excerpt of liner notes by Peter Margasak:

"When I first saw Petter Eldh's quintet Koma Saxo in Berlin in September of 2019 I was floored. The raw, sprinting energy of the band was both infectious and astonishing, but what I most remember was a sense of cognitive dissonance. Was this the same combo that recorded a fantastic eponymous 2019 studio album that represented one of the most convincing, pleasurable, and driving hybrid's of searing post-bop and the production ethos of hip-hop? There have been endless stabs by producers trying to remap the machinations of an organic, all-acoustic jazz band with electronic post-production, but Eldh, channeling a sonic language heavily informed by J Dilla, nailed it in a way I'd never experienced before. Having the trust of his three imaginative, high-octane saxophonists—Jonas Kullhammar, Otis Sandsjö, and Mikko Innanen—he used their grainy sound as raw material, smudging and smearing it like a painter creating new hues on a palette, and then extending, editing, and powering it up within the imperturbable grooves meted out by he and drummer Christian Lillinger. He didn't really alter the essential core of the band's performances. There's no question that a seriously burning quintet had laid the tracks down, even if the performances reflected the kind of concision many jazz groups adapt for a studio endeavor. But the way his jacked-up bass lines and Lillinger's impossibly peripatetic, stuttering rhythms buffeted the massed saxophones elevated Koma Saxo to plane all its own, and I repeatedly returned to that place—half the time trying to figure out what the hell Eldh had done, and the other half lost in giddy ecstasy.

The live show, on the other hand, featured the band without any production tricks. Its soaring, pithy repertoire came alive in a different way, and this excellent live recording from the 2019 We Jazz Festival, has reminded me of how fun and visceral that experience was."

Koma Saxo "LIVE" is released by We Jazz Records on 30 April 2021 on two vinyl editions (silver + black), as a bundle with an unreleased 7" (+ silver vinyl edition), on CD and digitally. The vinyl versions plus the CD come complete with silver embossed lettering. The vinyl is delivered on heavy-duty tip-on sleeve, complete with an insert featuring liner notes by Peter Margasak, Andreas Müller, Matti Nives and Petter Eldh.

a 01: Euro Koma (Live) feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger
b 02: Puls Koma (Live) feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger
c 03: Fanfarum for Komarum III (Live) feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger
d 04: Waltz Me Baby, Waltz Me All Night Long (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[e] 05: Otis and Christian (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö & Christian Lillinger]
[f] 06: Blumer (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[g] 07: Fiskeskärsmelodin (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]

[a] 01: Euro Koma (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[b] 02: Puls Koma (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[c] 03: Fanfarum for Komarum III (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[d] 04: Waltz Me Baby, Waltz Me All Night Long (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[e] 05: Otis and Christian (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö & Christian Lillinger]
[f] 06: Blumer (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[g] 07: Fiskeskärsmelodin (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]

St. David Unleashes 'Deep House Damage EP' on Definitive Recordings.

Definitive Recordings is proud to present a brand-new four-track outing from Italian house innovator St. David, titled 'Deep House Damage EP'. Following his acclaimed remixes earlier this year for label classics like 'Good Music' (John Acquaviva, Dan Diamond, Alex D'Elia, Nihil Young) and 'Do It' (Las Americas), St. David now steps forward with a full EP that delivers nothing less than pure oldschool house fire.

The release opens with 'Touch Me (Sexy Hard Dub)', a shuffling house cut with a vintage edge, driven by a rolling bassline and a sensual spoken-word female vocal that sets a playful, club-ready tone. 'I Like It Deep' heads into deep house territory, pairing organ stabs and a steady oldschool beat with both male and female spoken-word phrases, creating a hypnotic, afterhours mood. On 'Dub Swagin'', the energy kicks back up with stomping drums, chopped samples, and filtered percussion. All wrapped in unmistakable 90s house flavor. Closing things out, 'Gonna Work It' is a peak-time smasher stacked with classic vocal samples and grooving organ chords that lift the track into euphoric territory.

Born in Bari, St. David (real name Davide Disanto) has carved a reputation as one of today's most authentic purveyors of oldschool house. Deeply inspired by the American house scene, his tracks blend groove, funk, and raw analog warmth, consistently topping vinyl charts and earning support from global heavyweights like The Martinez Brothers, Riva Starr, Jovonn, and Chris Stussy. He is the founder of Theory of Swing Records, a vinyl-only label dedicated to preserving the magic of 90s house. His music has been featured on Cinthie's DJ-Kicks and he has released on respected imprints including Snatch! Records, Body N' Deep, Heist Recordings, Skylax, and Let's Play House.

With 'Deep House Damage EP', St. David confirms his role as one of the most vital voices in contemporary house, channeling the spirit of the past into tracks made for the dancefloors of today.

The Helsinki-based Bowman Trio return with their second LP on We Jazz Records on October 18. "Persistence" is a strong effort, showcasing the young trio's knack at creating dynamic, sparse and memorable music which carries well the term "loft jazz" occasionally attached to it. Here, drummer Sami Nummela, trumpeter Tomi Nikku and bassist Joonas Tuuri present 9 strong originals, 8 of which are penned by Nummela and one by Nikku.

On the course of the new album, Bowman Trio moves from the introspective, calm moments of "Badwater", "Mac Elliot" and "Mä en jaksa" to the full swing of "The Chase" and the solid grind of "Persistence". The album closing track "Sista sommardagen" ("The last day of summer" in Swedish) is a hauntingly beautiful, delicately breezy ballad. Two years in the making, the album is a testament to the album title and a fine example of a band taking time in developing their sound to perfection.

Bowman Trio debuted in 2016 with the group's first LP also being the first release on Helsinki's We Jazz Records, and since then their reputation has grown in Finland and beyond. The trio is known for making music which invites the listener in and takes it sweet time in unraveling its secrets. Their sound is somewhat dry, naturally relaxed and there's a lot of room for manoeuvre within it for all of the players. That being said, each of the musicians in the trio know how to play for their team, and the compositions move forward constantly and effortlessly. Bowman Trio makes music which always feels close to you, like you're right there in the room with the band. That's "loft jazz".

Vintage recording equipment has long been a bit of a fetish, but to sound pioneers Voka Gentle, even the most magical machines are a means to an end. The band, made up of twins Ellie and Imogen Mason, along with Imogen’s husband, William J Stokes, are a family band in the truest sense. Whilst they started as a folk trio, their new album Domestic Bliss is an album of throat-grabbing, avant-garde indie rock songs studded with eccentric choices: a synth with its keys jammed, playing a tune of its own making; field recordings – Morris dancers, motorbikes – captured on binaural headphones.

Domestic Bliss is concerned with power: the abuse of it, being on the cusp of it, and what it really means. The album is
teaming with imaginary people in picaresque scenes that reveal the band’s rich cultural storehouse. The songs draw on history, literature, everyday life and pop culture references (specifically Jude Law’s 1995 Vogue cover), with tracks like Cheddar Man reflecting on climate change and prehistory and Creon I tracing the unease of authority through the lens of Greek mythology.

Recorded in the orchestral studios of City University, the album folds intimacy into scale, from phone-recorded vocals and samples of breath to heavy, tribal electronics in grand acoustic spaces. The result is by far their most refined record yet, where the band treat the recording studio like an instrument.

Djo, the musical project of Joe Keery, returns with his fourth studio album, The Crux Deluxe—an expansive, 12-track companion album to The Crux, written, recorded and produced by Keery and his collaborator Adam Thein. Following the massive success of his single “End of Beginning,” which topped both the US and Global Spotify charts and amassed over 2 billion streams worldwide, the deluxe record is full of songs that were written at the same time as The Crux album sessions and recorded at Electric Lady Studios in NYC.

Brooklyn based baritone saxophonist Jonah Parzen-Johnson presents his new work "Imagine Giving Up" on Helsinki's We Jazz Records. The album, to be released on 17th January of 2020 sees Parzen-Johnson move into new domains of sound as he uncovers newfound energy and pulse in his music.

In addition to the sonically rich analog synth elements that accompany his earlier solo saxophone work, Jonah has layered heavily sound designed samples of his own saxophone to create truly one of a kind percussive snaps, reverberant basses, and warbling leads. At it's core, the music remains deeply devoted to almost vocal sounding melodic lines and patiently developed compositional ideas.

A compact set of 6 originals, "Imagine Giving Up" is Jonah Parzen-Johnson's most ambitious album yet. While taking a step away from the previous world of "ambient jazz", his new music stems from the use of drone-like sounds for baritone saxophone, a style which is uniquely his own. Electronics are blended in for good measure, creating a coherent vision of abstract jazz with depth. As with all of Parzen-Johnson's releases, the music comes with a deeper narrative which he will continually explore in live performance.

The manifesto for the album reads as follows: "Only a few people can really start over. Everyone else is left to struggle down the path they were assigned. The option to give up, to choose your own path, is power, and, hopefully, a call to action: take a risk to help someone." "Imagine Giving Up" by Jonah Parzen-Johnson, will be available via 'We Jazz Records' on violet and black vinyl versions, CD and digitally.

If art is to be exhibited, then Ulrika Spacek will ensure that their art is collective; that even as the world becomes inhospitable to community, their intentions are an act of resistance.

Whether it is Oysterland, the self-curated night the band have been Hosting for over ten years to platform artists of other disciplines in live music spaces, or Total Refreshment Centre, the East London studio Syd runs which connects the dots between the jazz scene and like-minded experimental artists of the capital and beyond, or their creative bleed as musicians and producers over the years with the likes of Crack Cloud, caroline, DIIV, Holy Wave and Slowdive, the band’s existence is inseparable from their community.

In a hyper-individual world, the band’s fourth album, ‘EXPO’, offers an antidote. It’s there, in the shared dream logic of the music, the off-kilter melodies, jagged guitars and cirrus cloud atmospherics. It’s there, in all the things that are said and unsaid between them; there in the writing, producing and mixing processes they share in. And even as each of their parts Moves toward a unified vision, it’s never more keenly felt than in the bigger Picture to which Ulrika Spacek belong.

Though their well-established foundations are in the art-rock world - and though they are inspired by electronic elements more than ever - Ulrika Spacek are interested in the glitch that exists between the two. Their Music reckons with human warmth and digital isolation, equal parts welcoming and altogether alienating. “Our music has always been a collage - a bit patchwork, sonically - but what makes this album a landmark for us is that we went one step further and made our own sample bank,” explains singer / guitarist Rhys. They create their own doppelgängers in a world of almostreal, where the band appear as if in a hall of mirrors. Digital drums are sampled layered upon real drums, and the effect is almost like birth in reverse - pulled from the ether and returned back to the tangible world.

“There’s a lot that can be said about writing when there is no aim, there is a freedom and a purity in it which opens a door to more music, and in this case, it set a mood for a new album, one that would be colder, darker and one that would embrace electronics and new instrumentation in a new terrain,” the band share. “The album’s greater theme is isolation and alienation in an online world where it seems everybody around you is constantly exhibiting themselves, living in public wanting to be seen and heard. The age of ‘individuality’ is lonely, it’s a room of concave mirrors, and with this in mind, we set upon making our most collective effort; ‘It’s back to strength in numbers, count in fives.”

For fans of Radiohead, Moin, DIIV, Astrel K, Slowdive.

LP presented on Crystal Clear vinyl.

Jadu Heart’s Wanderflower and Ezra’s Garden reissued together on vinyl for the first time.

Since their 2016 debut EP, Wanderflower, Jadu Heart has been slowly building a catalog of electro-pop, R&B, and psychedelic bops. The UK-based duo, consisting of Alex Headford and Diva Jeffery, now has roughly 30 songs that are a collective myriad of immersive soundscapes.

Jadu Heart's Wanderflower was a project released as part of a school project at The British and Irish Modern Music Institute in 2016. Diva described the project as a "story of two characters - Dina and Faro - who get cursed in a temple and every song in Wanderflower corresponds to a different chapter in their story." Their tutor sent the EP to Mura Masa who immediately took a liking to the duo and made them an opening act for his album release show. They were subsequently signed to his label and given the same manager.

The couple's sophomore EP, Ezra's Garden, is a continuation of Jadu Heart's now-signature DIY, psych-funk sound inspired by Jai Paul. The tracks are accompanied by a visual component on Youtube, as Spotify hadn't quite explored the necessity of visualizers yet. After the fantastical characters were introduced in Jadu Heart's first EP, the second EP explores the relationship between Dina and Faro when they are whisked out of the cursed temple and stumble upon a friend who takes them to a machine that shoots them through the galaxy.

Originally released in 2005, this standout EP returns as part of the much-anticipated reissue campaign from cult New York imprint Drugsex — a label that quickly became a treasured name among heads who lived and breathed the underground. Born from the creative partnership between UK producers Rob Pearson and Simon Copleston, Drugsex carved out its own raw, hypnotic corner of the international tech house movement.

For the second instalment in the reissue series, label head Rob Pearson teams up with Daniel Poli under their Distant Strangers moniker — a project that, even back then, was whispered about among selectors for its deep, rolling grooves and stripped-back intensity. Both artists had already made their mark with releases on some of the most respected labels of the era — from Rekids and Swag Records to Evasive Records, Rescue Recordings, and beyond.

The pair’s first collaboration, the Lost Souls EP, became a highly limited, in-demand underground gem, pressed in small quantities and played by those in the know. This follow-up, crafted at Online Studios in Croydon, took their sound to the next level — two original tracks built for dancefloors that like things hypnotic, physical and uncompromising.

On the A-side, Virtual Morality is a slick and driving slice of tech house pressure. Crisp percussion, rolling low-end and a subtle but addictive hook make it a peak-time weapon that never goes out of style. Flip it over for Take Us In Deeper — a track that lives up to its name with a shadowy groove, atmospheric layers and a perfectly balanced push and pull that draws dancers further into the late-night haze.

Adding even more weight to the release, Adam Collins — known for his work with Omni AM and Euphoria Records — steps in with a remix of Virtual Morality on B2. His version injects an unmistakable acid edge, elevating the original into a tripped-out, floor-focused burner that fits as comfortably in a basement sweatbox as it does on a sunrise terrace.

Nearly two decades later, these tracks still carry the same raw power and effortless groove that made them cult favourites in the first place. This reissue isn’t just a nod to the past — it’s a reminder of why this sound endures.

Loaded with tension and anchored by bold textural and stylistic contrasts, Sam Slater’s third solo full-length finds the British sound artist, composer, and engineer grappling with his creative contradictions head-on.

Having spent a life time in bands and producing records, Sam transitioned somewhat by accident through his work with Johan Johansson into working as a composer on high profile projects such as his collaboration with Hildur Guðnadóttir on the Grammy Award-winning Joker and Chernobyl, and with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mstyslav Chernov on the soundtrack to the lauded 2000 Meters to Andriivka. Having a vast set of interests and influences is an asset when helping realise a directors vision for a soundtrack, but one's own musical voice can end up being constrained. In Lunng, Slater has gone back to his wildly divergent range of influences and rather than shy away from the extremes, he's used them to create a singular vision.

Take the opening track “Heatsick”: Slater imagines an extravagant fusion of 2000s drone metal and vintage British brass, welding ear-splitting overdriven drones and blown-out choral vocals to stirring trombone swells from veteran player Hilary Jeffery. On paper, it’s hard to imagine—but Slater’s intentionality conducts these polarizing elements into a surreal blur of sonic extremes, with the guitars’ relative harshness softened by Jeffery’s eerily nostalgic colliery echoes.

His last solo album, I do not wish to be known as a Vandal (Bedroom Community, 2022), showcased this breadth by assembling a team of collaborators including Sam Dunscombe and Yair Elazar Glotman. On this record he’s linking up with acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Maria W. Horn, idiosyncratic sax virtuoso Bendik Giske, versatile percussionist Adam Betts, and the aforementioned Jeffery, Slater ushers these players toward a lattice of calculated confutations.

Working to explore the tension between the divergent practices of his collaborators—Lunng was meant to be challenging. On “Praya”, Giske’s familiar overblown horn phrases are almost vaporized, vanishing among Slater’s weightless synths and Horn’s chillingly hoarse vocals. There are traces of Horn’s Funeral Folk project, but Slater shifts the emphasis, letting her voice brush past the other elements like a hallucination.

Slater’s use of extremes isn’t just in the micro; dynamics drive the album’s overall flow. “Praya” sets the stage for the record’s heaviest, most prickly moment: “Passengers”. Here, Horn’s voice cracks, rasps, and gurgles over serrated synths and Betts’ ritualistic drums. Slater turns an industrial symphony into a folk opera—dark, dramatic, and strangely beautiful—etched with Giske’s fluttering phrases.

But the mood soon shifts. Slater careens toward chaos, unleashing double-time rhythms and piercing textures familiar to anyone with a soft spot for classic black metal. These grotesque incongruities are deliberate; Slater surveys years of musical conflict and leans in, using dissent as fuel to build kinetic energy.

The weight of sentimentality bears down on “Black Metal Rewind (Night Drive Astra, 2006)”, melting teenage memories into hypnagogic ambience—shoegaze dreams whirled with angelic choral delusions. On “Death by Nostalgia, 1688”, he ventures further into polarizing territory, distorting AutoTuned voices with cryptic strings and medieval tonalities, unsettling any stable sense of past or present.

In this record Slater focuses on pure energy, color, and mood. Lunng distills years of listening into a bracing brew—boiling each sound down to its essence, then serving it with unflinching intent.

John Twells, 2025

Big Sigh brings together the best of Marika's previous works as an indie musician and adds a new layer of epic sounds and full-bodied production. Big Sigh is the "hardest record" Marika has ever made. As the title suggests, it is a relief of sorts - of sadness, of stress and lust, but mostly relief. Co-produced with Sam Petts Davies (Frank Ocean, Radiohead, Red Hot Chilli Peppers) & Charlie Andrew (Alt J, Wolf Alice, London Grammar). Lyrically there's always romance a longside grief, with elements of vulnerability and feeling trapped. "This album took a long time I got to the end of it I was quiet. I wanted to be away from it and let it sit in its own space. Now the dust has settled and I've got to re-enter the world of big sigh, and I'm excited." Stepping into a new world, moving forward, chipping away. Breath in, breath out. Big sigh."