quête:electric guitars

Clear Purple Marble Vinyl

Stone Machine Electric return with ‘FACES’, a deep and immersive exploration of their signature Doom Jazz sound, where slow burning grooves, atmospheric distortion and meditative heaviness merge into a single hypnotic flow.

The Texas trio expand the boundaries of doom, stoner and psychedelic rock with six expansive tracks shaped by textured guitars, fluid basslines and ritualistic drumming, creating a sense of weight and space that pulls the listener into a raw and introspective dimension.

‘FACES’ is an album built on tension and release, repetition and movement, crafted for those who seek heavy music that pushes beyond the traditional framework and into a more spiritual and experimental territory.

LP pressed onto Clear Purple Marble vinyl.

Essential for fans of Monolord, YOB, Shrinebuilder, Om and early Earth.

Soul Visions is an instrumental journey into the world of Deheb, who, after several years of continuous sound research, continues to draw inspiration from jazz, soul, funk, and progressive rock records, first discovered through his father and then through his fellow collectors and DJs, including his partner DJ Marrrtin from Funky Bijou.
The Breton artist is renowned in the beatmaking world for his collaborations in New York in the mid-2000s (Moka Only, Sean Price, Torae, Tye Phoenix, Apani B, etc.) and for his album “LEAF”, released in 2015 with Swiss producer Chief. He is best known for producing classic Funky Breaks in the global breakdance scene with Marrrtin under the name Funky Bijou, whose tracks have been played at the world's biggest breakdance events since 2011 (Battle Of The Year, Red Bull BC One, etc.). All their tracks have been listened to more than 30 million times on various platforms and social networks.
A prolific artist who draws much of his inspiration from funk and jazz, he is based in Nantes and has collaborated with groups from the French Neo Soul scene, such as J-Silk from Bordeaux, Jo Wedin from Sweden, and Keysuna from Nantes. Close to the dance scene, he has also collaborated with dancer and choreographer Mackenzy Bergile, which led him to join the CCNRB's choreographic project “Earthbound” by choreographers Saïdo Lehlouh and Johanna Faye in 2023.
Deheb has also been composing for documentary projects since his first collaboration with director Shyaka Kagamé in 2015 for “Bounty”. In 2024 and 2025, he worked on two critically acclaimed projects: “Boulevard du village noir”, produced by Radio Television Suisse, and “IMIHIGO, le pacte rwandais”.
This year, 2025, he brings us “Soul Visions”, a journey through the cinematic sound of the early 1970s to the soul funk and jazz funk of the late 1970s, a pivotal period in his own musical identity that contributed to the funk sound of his guitars and the texture of his synthesizers and electric pianos.
Soul Visions is first and foremost a tribute to the artists and composers, the geniuses of that era, such as the Mizell brothers in “Larry and Fonce”, the Bell brothers in “Ron and Don”, and giants of the genre such as Isaac Hayes, Yuji Ohno, Roy Ayers, and Clarence Reid. All these masters of the genre had their own distinctive sound and arrangements, which were easily recognizable and which are among Deheb's major inspirations.

Rich musical history of Yugoslavia reveals a long-lasting love for the music of Latin America.
Entwined in Afro-Cuban rhythms, ballrooms were shakin', swayin' and swingin', gathering musicians who were heavily into jazz bands and orchestras, most notably in Ljubljana, Zagreb, and Belgrade. Jazz could be heard on the streets of Split way back in 1919 when dancing became a symbol of freedom. Radio was the most loved household item, newest sheet music was in demand and collecting records was hip like today. In the aftermath of Second World War, jazz went underground but little by little, things changed and Ella, Satchmo, Dizzy and Miles came to visit, among others. Music festivals shaped the music for entertainment and variety of popular styles showed influences from all over the world. In the early sixties, one particular rhythm crashed on the coast of the Adriatic Sea: the rhythm of bossa nova!

In the whirlwind of various musical styles, Latin American music still played important part of the scene in the early sixties Yugoslavia. Beguine, tango, rhumba, samba, calypso, mambo and cha-cha-cha all found their place on the festivals inspired by famous Sanremo, festival of Italian popular song that largely shaped the musical taste of Europe. It was the era of instrumental rock, R & B and rock'n'roll - sounds of "imperialist America" now played freely on imported and hand-made electric guitars. While dancing halls had been turning into concert venues, bossa nova has come! Eydie Gorme with Blame It on the Bossa Nova and Paul Anka with Eso Besso (That Kiss!) tried to make us learn some new dance moves but it was Joao Gilberto's gentle singing and his new way of playing samba songs, along with Tom Jobim's modern dissonant harmonies and poetry of Vinicius de Moraes that created the magic. When American alto saxophonist and flautist Bud Shank visited Zagreb and Ljubljana in 1963 (with Boško Petrović in his quintet) "it was the first time we heard bossa nova!" remembers Stjepan Braco Fučkar. Jugoton, the biggest record company in Yugoslavia, released 4-track EP Bossa Nova by Bogdan Dimitrijević and his ensemble that same year! While not being fully accepted or understood completely, the archives of Jugoton reveal to us various interpretations of this new trend from their vast catalogue.

From out of the dark, sparks of feedback birdsong signal a return to the singular sonic environments of Rafael Toral"s sound-world. A year after Spectral Evolution, his acclaimed album of electric guitar conceptions, comes the companion work Traveling Light. Sharpening his focus around a set of jazz standards, his move from abstract form to solid song elicits glints from beyond time and space, crafting a unique listening lens for deep listeners. In the early years of his practice, Toral used the guitar as a generator to create discreet texture and droning tones. Later, he abandoned the guitar entirely, focusing on self-made electronics to render his music with a post-free jazz perspective. For the music of Spectral Evolution and Traveling Light, Toral has combined his methodologies: radically expanding the space within their harmonies with his self-made machines, while engaging directly with his instrument and the chords of the material. In addition to Toral"s proxy orchestra of guitars, sine wave, feedback and bass guitar, Traveling Light features the sounds of clarinetist José Bruno Parrinha, tenor saxophonist Rodrigo Amado, flügelhorn player Yaw Tembe, flautist Clara Saleiro, who each guest on one song. In every contour of Traveling Light"s path - arrangement, improvisation and production - the spring of the old pours through the new in an unstoppable flow. The result is a listening experience of these standards that remains "in the tradition", even as the elongated harmonies seem to alter time such that, as Toral notes, "the chords become events on their own."

Paul Murphy’s Claremont 56 label welcomes a genuine legend of UK music to its roster – Chaz Jankel, the man whose dizzying musicality and love of soul, funk and disco did much to shape the sound of Ian Dury’s Blockheads band in the late 1970s and early ‘80s.

A virtuoso keyboardist with a deep love of Black American music, Jankel’s arrangements and compositional skills were key to the success of their records, the funkiest of which not only became crossover pop hits – see ‘Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick’ and ‘Reasons To be Cheerful, Part 3’ in particular – but also saw heavy rotation in now iconic New York clubs including the Paradise Garage and Studio 54.

This continued during the formative years of his solo career, with ‘My Occupation’, ‘Questionnaire’ and ‘Glad To Know You’ (later famously re-edited and dubbed out for nu-disco dancefloors by Todd Terje) all becoming club hits. The great Quincy Jones also covered Jankel’s infectious single ‘Ai No Carrida’, while experimental, club-ready synth-jam ‘3,000,000 Synths’ was also influential during the early years of the electro movement.

For his Claremont 56 bow, Jankel has delivered an all-new workout recorded earlier this year, the simply titled ‘Rhumba Jam’. A typically warm, groovy and rolling affair, it features Jankel delivering infectious, stretched-out Rhodes electric piano solos over toasty bass, clipped guitar licks, warm bass, accordion-style synth motifs and a densely layered Rhumba rhythm. While relaxed and sun-soaked, it also has bags of Balearic dancefloor potential.

Murphy remixes under his now familiar Mudd alias, leaning into the track’s languid Balearic vibe while keeping a firm focus on the dancefloor. Beginning with an enticing mix of metronomic drums and jangly acoustic guitars, Murphy slowly layers up key elements of Jankel’s original – think rubbery bass, rhythmic handclaps, mazy synth sounds and those wonderful, stretched-out solos. It’s a version that pays due reverence to the quality of Jankel’s musicianship, production and arrangement while subtly extending it and reframing it for 21st century Balearic dancefloors.

Following a string of acclaimed collaborations, including Agua Dulce with percussionist Laura Robles and Mapambazuko alongside Congolese guitarist Titi Bakorta, Peruvian artist Alejandra Cárdenas (aka Ale Hop) returns with her most personal work to date yet, A Body Like a Home. Marking her first album under her birth name, the project is a sonic memoir exploring the tangled realms of trauma, recovery, and love through autobiographical soundscapes.
A Body Like a Home is the artist at her most exposed. Comprising 13 songs and 15 poems, the album sees her set aside collaborative fusions for solo catharsis, channeling years of turbulence - intergenerational scars left by colonialism, racism, domestic violence, and alcoholism - into a work that oscillates between brutality and tenderness. Cárdenas states: “I grew up under Alberto Fujimori’s dictatorship, when a veil of hopelessness seemed to settle over everything. This is the backdrop of the album. The songs and poems trace the inevitable loop between private wounds - addiction, domestic violence, fractured intimacy - and Peru’s national scars, carved by colonialism. It’s not a straight story or a resolution. Writing and composing became a ritual of digging for meaning, into what’s buried, disguised, or renamed, until the body itself became a living archive.
” At the heart of the album is Cárdenas’s own voice - part witness, part confessor - reciting over layers of electric guitars, electronic textures, the haunting violin of Mexican musician Gibrana Cervantes, and a collage of field recordings, from rainfall, muffled whispers, broken glass, to archival protest footage from Peru. The result is a work that resonates like a diary written in sound.
The first single, "Motherland", is a searing testimony where Cárdenas voice cracks under the weight of history and personal loss. Amid a storm of distorted guitars, she traces the cyclical legacies of colonialism, from state massacres branding Indigenous bodies as “terrorists” to the spiral of addiction as an unavoidable future. The lyrics draw parallels between political and domestic violence: a mother’s drunken knife pressed to her chest, and a motherland where racism is currency. She utters: “sacrifice demands a body.” Yet, amid the wreckage, a willful grip on love and faith persists. Ultimately, A Body Like a Home is a document of transformation. Tracks like "Evangelina" and the title piece "A Body Like a Home" hold space for resilience, spirituality, and love, while "Early Road" and "Going South" thread subtle nods to Peruvian folklore, opening up bright vignettes into a sense of belonging.
The poetry chapbook accompanying A Body Like a Home (five of its pieces are also recited on the album) extends the work, building a parallel architecture. Oscillating between the documentary and the mythic, the intimate and the forensic, the profane and the oniric, these poems practice a theology of the ordinary, where everyday objects - cameras, knives, moth-eaten cotton - are charged withspiritual and historical weight. Here, the body is land, house, battlefield, collective pain, geological territory; and trauma is, in contrast, archival, cellular, ritualistic, inherited. Read alongside the music, the stories refract across two mediums: songs give them breath and poems give them bone.

Following releases on Longform Editions and her own Paralaxe imprint, Dania descends on Somewhere Press with crepuscular, quixotic pop that hits a sweet spot between Mark Clifford’s Cocteau Twins remixes and Massive Attack.

Parked next to Alliyah Enyo, Slowfoam, and Angel R, Dania’s found an ideal home at Somewhere Press, and »Listless« is her most confident, transcendent set to date. Her last few albums were steeped in meaning – a way for the Iraq-born, Tasmania-raised artist to explore her identity and probe the impacts of colonisation. Here, she gives herself more room to breathe, thriving in the mysteries of nighttime – a direct reference to her nocturnal existence as an emergency doctor in Australia. The album was completely composed in the midnight hours, but it’s not self-consciously dark in the way you might expect. Opening track »On a Grassy Knoll« is one of the prettiest – and poppiest – tracks Dania has released, cracking open her voice with thrumming harmonies that she complements with granulated, Guthrie-esque guitars and, most unexpectedly, half-speed drums. It’s the first time Dania’s used percussion, and it suits her extremely well.

In fact, even when the powdery breaks drop away in the album’s final breaths, you can almost hear an outline of where they might remain. On »Write My Name«, Dania loops her voice between waved strings and slippery piano phrases, and the hypnotic closer »A Hunger« is a thudding, sub-heavy 4/4 away from being Peak Oil-style contemporary dub techno.

But the big draw here is Dania’s batch of hazy dream-pop miniatures, like the Seefeel-adjacent »Heart Shaped Burn« (with Rupert Clervaux on drums), and the Bristolian »Car Crash Premonition«, that features a rolling bassline taking us right back to 1998. Very strong – peak listening if you’re into Bowery Electric, MBV, or Mark Van Hoen.

Released here for the first time on vinyl, Science-Fiction is one of Mazalda's early albums, originally released in 2008 on CD only. Mazalda is a legendary band for anyone who's been to French venues and festivals in the last 20 odd years ; the Lyon-based collective have played – literally – thousands of shows, always with a high level of breathtaking musicianship, sensitivity and energy.

Although mostly known for their fruitful collaboration with raïsinger Sofiane Saidi in the late 2010's, Mazalda started off as a street brass-band circa 2001. Soon, they integrated specific modern elements to their sound : 70's analog synths, psychedelic guitars, electric mandoline, Wurlitzer piano, Ewi electronic saxophone.

Stéphane Cézard, Mathieu Ogier, Lucas & Adrien Spirli, Gilles Poizat and Julien Lesuisse were influenced by numerous styles of instrumental music from across the Eurasian continent since their teenage years ; yet with Science-Fiction they broadened their field of inspiration to both pop and experimental horizons. Gilles Poizat (Orchestre Tout-Puissant Marcel Duchamp) and Julien Lesuisse (Crimi)'s clear and melodic vocals pair with a great sonic depth created by the countless possibilities of instrumental combinations.

Mazalda chose to record a handful of cover versions such as the majestic opener " Thu Og Eg " by Icelandic prog musician Gunnar Thordarson, or a funk-fuelled version of a 1920's protest song by Neapolitan singer Alfredo Bascetta. A majority of the selection, though, is masterfully penned by members of the band.

Science-Fiction captures the fresh and boundless creativity of a young band of mates who, as well as being top-rank interprets, draw unique inspiration from timeless musical wells. It just wasn't fair that this album never got released on vinyl or online. Meanwhile, Mazalda are still alive and well, as they released their latest album Special Key in 2023 (Airfono) and are currently playing shows across France and Europe with Franco-Egyptian singer Hend Alrawy (Orange Blossom) as "Zerzura".

Long-time NuNorthern Soul contributor, B.J. Smith is a man in demand, dividing his time between solo work, playing guitar in Crazy P man James Baron’s popular JIM outfit, collaborating in a variety of well-regarded projects (Smith & Mudd, Bison and White Elephant amongst them) and composing for TV. Due to this impressive list of musical commitments, solo releases have been few and far between of late, with Smith’s most recent NuNorthern Soul release, a stripped back version of his Big Sur single, dropping late 2023.

It's been ever longer since he delivered a volume in his popular and ongoing Dedications To The Greats series, where the singer-songwriter and composer successfully turns his hand to other people’s songs. Since debuting the series on NuNorthern Soul in 2013 via revelatory and inspired covers of tracks by Mos Def and the Pharcyde, Smith has covered cuts by Outkast, Prefab Sprout and Soul II Soul.

On volume four, Smith’s first volume in the series for five years, he delivers a “cover of a cover” – a revolutionary and imaginative interpretation of Billy Swan’s ‘Don’t Be Cruel’, itself a version of a song first made famous by Elvis Presley. It was their mutual love of Swan’s version that brought Smith together with the release’s most prominent guest artist, Joe Harvey-Whyte, whose lilting, bittersweet and deeply emotive pedal steel performances can be heard across the EP.

Smith provides three contrasting takes. The EP is led by the ‘Mother Earth’ version, a slowly unfurling epic in which waves of effects-laden pedal steel and sun-splashed picking acoustic guitars usher in Smith’s eyes-closed vocalisations, settling into a groove reminiscent of his collaborative work with long-time friend and collaborator Paul ‘Mudd’ Murphy that showcases Harvey-Whyte centre stage to joyful effect. As the 14-minute epic progresses, we’re treated to long, languid electric guitar solos, percussion-laden slow-motion builds and hazy, stretched-out organ solos. It’s a breathlessly brilliant concoction that’s a million miles away from either Swan or Presley’s versions.

In contrast, the similarly epic ‘Earth Heart’ version – available in full vocal and instrumental takes – pushes the song front and centre. Following an extended build up, where Tamar Osborn’s gorgeous and fluid flute motifs rub shoulders with languid guitar solos and Harvey-Whyte’s pedal steel, Smith takes to the mic, delivering an emotive performance of the song’s heartfelt lyrics over a hushed, slow-motion groove. The track builds in waves as it progresses, with Smith layering up instrumentation as it rolls towards a fine conclusion.

Completing a superb package is the ‘Root Heart Version’, a Balearic-meets-Americana take built around shuffling drums, toasty bass guitar, extended pedal steel instrumentation, flashes of flute and Smith’s sun-bright acoustic guitar. Loved-up and more than a little saucer-eyed, it’s a bona-fide sunset delight.

Bumping pop winners from this cool Danish Duo.. TIP! info soon

Music and lyrics by Snuggle: Vilhelm Tiburtz Strange, Andrea Thuesen Johansen

Produced by Snuggle

”Sun Tan” produced by Snuggle and Nis Bysted
Mixed by Snuggle and Nis Bysted at Grapehouse Studios
Mastered by Emil Thomsen

Andrea Thuesen Johansen: Vocals, electric guitars, acoustic guitars, piano, synths
Vilhelm Tiburtz Strange: Electric guitars, acoustic guitars, electric bass, piano, synths, drums, percussion
Tobias Laust: drums on “Woman Lake” and “Dust”
Naja Soulie: cello on “Woman Lake”, “Marigold” and “Driving Me Crazy”

First time on vinyl reissue of this indiepop classic, 15 years after its original release.

Living & Growing was the debut album from The Felt Tips, a Glasgow-based indiepop band that gloriously combined gritty lyrics with sublime jangly guitars. Set For October 17th Vinyl-Only Reissue On Unspun Heroes.

• A band synonymous with the 2010’s indiepop renaissance
• Ten melodious, infectious and utterly unforgettable songs
• Reissued for the first time on EcoVin™ Bio Vinyl

October might not appear to be the ideal time to release a bright and sunny set of songs, but autumnal days bring a mix of dark and light that perfectly matches the overall vibe of the debut album by the jangly indiepop band, The Felt Tips.
 
The Felt Tips debut album was originally released by Peruvian label Plastilina Records in 2010 to much acclaim in the international indiepop scene. The ten songs are crammed full of catchy melodies and chiming guitar riffs, with memorable lyrics covering everything from religious hypocrisy (Boyfriend Devoted) to what teenagers get up to in the park after dark (Lifeskills).
 
It’s clear that these four lads grew up listening to The Smiths – not only name-checking the 80’s indie darling’s frontman and his ever-expanding girth but also deftly leaning into similar unconventional lyrical themes. And while there’s an obvious Belle and Sebastian comparison being Scottish, musically the enigmatic and skillful guitar playing from Miguel Navarro owes more to Bernard Butler and Johnny Marr – and his talents learning flamenco guitar in his native Spain. The weaving of the guitar’s melodic musical backdrop, alongside the pulse of Kevin Carroll’s inventive drumming and Neil Masson’s intricate bass playing, is what truly elevates The Felt Tips.

 And it’s this juxtaposition of bright melodic tunes from the band and the exploration of the darker side of human nature conjured by Andrew Paterson’s lyrics makes The Felt Tips such a noteworthy addition to the indiepop scene.

Originally recorded at CaVa Sound in Glasgow, the album has been remastered and cut for vinyl by Guy Davie at Electric Mastering, and pressed on INEOS EcoVin™ Bio Vinyl at Press On Vinyl in Middlesbrough. New liner notes have been written by Roque Ruiz, the owner of legendary US-based indiepop label, Cloudberry Records. An extremely limited selection of the reissued albums will ship alongside a make-your-own cardboard rose sculpture created by London-based indie illustrator and maker, Hey Kids Rock ‘n Roll.

Phoenician Drive is a six-piece band from Brussels, blending Western rock with traditional Eastern music into a style they describe as Dune Krautrock. Oud, darbuka, and riq meet distorted guitars and pop textures, weaving connections across the Mediterranean. Inspired by East–West fusions from the 1970s (like Erkin Koray and Orient Express) and the German krautrock scene (Neu!, Can, Faust…), their music explores borderless, hypnotic landscapes rooted in both rhythm and experimentation.

Following a debut EP released on EXAG' Records in 2017, the band put out a self-titled LP and collaborated with choreographer Wim Vandekeybus in 2018. In 2019, Phoenician Drive reimagined their sound in an acoustic format, which they toured extensively for two years throughout the post-Covid period.

Between 2021 and 2022, the group returned to electric instrumentation and recorded Glow, an EP released in June 2023 via EXAG' Records. The release was celebrated with a powerful live show at Brasserie Illegaal in Brussels — a performance captured in the live album Live in Brussels '23. The record channels the band’s raw stage energy and deepens their sonic exploration of trance, tension, and Mediterranean melodies.

François and Sylvain Rabbath have turned six years of touring into a joint album that patiently and intensely distills a variety of musical flavors gathered from around the world.

Since the early 1960s, François Rabbath's double bass has resonated through enough landmark recordings to fill several shelves in a record collection. As an arranger, composer, and musician, his imprint on music goes far beyond his collaborations with Barbara, Paco Ibáñez, Charles Aznavour, or Édith Piaf. Aspiring double bassists owe him a groundbreaking method for learning the instrument. Born into a lush musical universe that quickly became his own, his son Sylvain first accompanied him on his travels before settling at the piano and sharing stages around the world at his side.

Those years of accumulating visas in their passports were put to good use by father and son. The continents, countries, and cities they passed through became a rich source of inspiration for composing Amall, the album by the Rabbath Electric Orchestra.

Long hours spent in the air or on the road, watching passing landscapes that never stayed the same, were transformed into compositions imbued with the atmospheres of the places they crossed or visited. Inspiration sometimes struck with force, like a green oasis appearing in a desert of stone—unexpectedly, as glowing red rocks suddenly dominated an otherwise open landscape with an endless horizon, while the mind wandered into a state between meditation and introspection.
Born from these travels, the pieces took on their final colors once brought into the studio, refined, and finally arranged to welcome the guitars of Keziah Jones and Matthieu Chedid, the piano of Laurent de Wilde, the bass of Victor Wooten, the saxophone of Raphaël Imbert, and the percussion of Minino Garay. Enhanced by the scale of the jazz-soul orchestrations, by the richness of arrangements bursting from strings, brass, rhythms, or keyboards, the epic breath of vast plains became ingrained. The urban tension of funk, echoing their movements, found its place—alongside more electric expressions or the ambience of a darkened room.
Melancholic and melodious, expressive and edgy, the bowed double bass—played in the high register where few dare to go—emerged as the musical guide. One that draws a path between Seville and Minneapolis, connects François Rabbath's native Syria to France, and bridges South America to Europe. It sets the tone to follow—the emotion that will carry the piece, and if not filled with light, will carry it there nonetheless.
Musical visions packed in luggage, transported in cargo holds, or imprinted in their minds just long enough to cover the distances to the next stop—father and son deepened their bond, beyond family and art. And their hands have never held each other more tightly.

François et Sylvain Rabbath ont fait fructifier six ans de tournées pour un album commun distillant patiemment et intensément la variété de parfums musicaux récoltés autour du monde.
Depuis le début des 60’s, la contrebasse de François Rabbath résonne dans assez de références pour combler plusieurs étagères d’une collection de disques. Arrangeur, compositeur, musicien, l'empreinte laissée dans la musique va bien au-delà de ses collaborations avec Barbara, Paco Ibanez, Charles Aznavour, ou Edith Piaf. C’est à lui que les
apprentis contrebassistes doivent une méthode novatrice pour apprendre l’instrument.

Né dans un univers musical luxuriant qui est vite devenu aussi le sien, c’est d’abord dans ses voyages que son fils Sylvain l’a accompagné, avant de s’installer au piano, et parcourir les scènes du monde à ses côtés. Ces années où les visas se sont entassés sur leurs passeports, père et fils les ont mises à profit. Continents, pays, et villes qui se sont succédés sont devenues un gisement pour composer Amall, l’album du Rabbath Electric Orchestra.

Les longs moments passés dans les airs ou sur la route à contempler un paysage qui défile sans pour autant rester le même, se sont convertis en compositions habitées par les ambiances de ces endroits traversés ou visités. Là où l’inspiration s’est imposée parfois brutalement, sous
la forme d’un oasis de verdure surgissant au milieu d’un désert de pierres. Au hasard d’imposantes roches rougeoyantes s’invitant dans un paysage jusqu’alors dégagé sur un horizon sans fin, quand l’esprit se laisse aller à un mélange de méditation et d'introspection.

Nés de ces pérégrinations, les titres ont pris leurs couleurs définitives une fois ramenés en studio, peaufinés puis, enfin, pensés pour y inviter les guitares de Keziah Jones et de Matthieu Chedid, le piano de Laurent de Wilde, la basse de Victor Wooten, le saxophone de Raphaël Imbert, les percussions de Minino Garay. Sublimé par la dimension des orchestrations jazz-soul, par la richesse des arrangements jaillissant des cordes, des cuivres, des rythmiques ou des claviers, le souffle épique des plaines immenses s’est imprimé.
La nervosité citadine du funk rythmant les déplacements a trouvé sa place, non loin d’une expression plus électrique ou d’une atmosphère de salle obscure.

Mélancolique et mélodieuse, expressive et nerveuse, la contrebasse jouée à l’archet, dans les notes hautes du manche où peu s’aventurent, s’est érigée en guide musical. Celui qui trace le chemin entre Séville et Minneapolis, relie la Syrie natale de François Rabbath à la France,
réduit la distance entre l’Amérique du Sud et l’Europe. Donne la note à suivre, l’émotion qui traversera le morceau qui, s’il n’est pas habité par la lumière, le portera néanmoins jusque là.

Visions musicales mises dans le coffre, transportées en soute ou imprimées dans l’esprit le temps de couvrir les distances qui les mèneront aux prochaines, c’est côte à côte que père et fils ont prolongé leur lien par delà des seules limites familiales et artistiques. Et leurs mains ne se sont jamais serrées aussi fort.
credits

Disasternoon is an album of psychedelic melancholia, a carousel of dreams, otherworldly and fantastical, each song sculpted into an allegory, elegant, rich, textured and authentic. Crayola Lectern explore memories, separation, isolation and the times that changed us, with lyrics scattered sparingly throughout. Crayola Lectern is the project from Chris Anderson, often compared to the piano led jazz of Robert Wyatt, the psychedelic folk of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, with echoes of Mercury Rev, or Flaming Lips, and experimentalism of Fred Frith. In 'Disasternoon' Chris Anderson performs on vocals, piano, mellotron, synths, organs, sax, guitars and bass, with Alistair Strachan on trumpet, cornet, glockenspiel and Damo Waters on drums and percussion. Bic Hayes performs electric guitar solos on Disasternoon and Coscoroba, and Maria Marzaioli plays violin in Coscoroba. The live show often also featuring the likes of Jon Poole (Cardiacs, Widhearts) heading-up electronics, gadgets, sounds and keyboard parts, Bob Leith (Cardiacs) on drums, and Bic Hayes (Cardiacs, Levitation) on guitar.

Gastr del Sol"s second album returns at last to the vinyl format - its first physical manifestation in well over a decade. Once again, a drop of the needle may ignite any number of queries, summed simply in one: What IS this music? Such is the potent energy of Crookt, Crackt, or Fly, retaining its otherworldly qualities some 32 years and countless musical movements since. Crookt, Crackt, or Fly expands upon The Serpentine Similar"s minimalist stance in unexpected ways, imposing further austerity in the soundscape but for an unpredictable expansive quantity periodically overflowing, waves of blood sluicing through the elevator doors. This is partially due to a change within the group dynamic: the departure of bassist Ken "Bundy" Brown and the arrival of a new partner for guitarist and singer David Grubbs - guitarist and sound fuckerer Jim O"Rourke. O"Rourke"s initial work with Gastr involved editing and recomposing recordings of the Grubbs-Brown-&-sometimes-John-McEntire lineup, producing an utterly outré collage of cut-ups and other types of tape processing. This became the "20 Songs Less" single, after which he was invited to play with the group. It was a time of flux; Brown recalls playing a Gastr show at the Metro around this time featuring himself, John McEntire, Grubbs and O"Rourke - and one of the pieces played was a Tortoise song! Throughout these shifts, Gastr del Sol"s music was never less than fully considered and composed, even in moments redolent with the suggestion of the random and the non-sequitur. Grubbs and O"Rourke made no attempt to replicate Serpentine"s arrangement of thick, scaly drones and hypnotic song-visions in their own partnership, finding Crookt, Crackt,"s sound instead in spiny, gamelan-like interactions between their (mostly acoustic) guitars, played precisely in and out of formation with bright, fleet-fingered abandon. O"Rourke"s fondness for field recordings and his capacity for tape manipulation intersected with Grubbs" sensibilities, edifying his evolving song style: written with increased sharpness and sly surreal humor, sung closer to silence. Halfway into "Work from Smoke", the sudden collapse of the sound-walls around us signals Crookt, Crackt"s major departure. From the thicket of guitars, a swell of drones and free-jazz squeals, made up of bass clarinet, vibraphone and organ, pulls the listener into an entirely other acoustic space. "Every Five Miles" derails in similarly tactile fashion: a guitar duet boils up thunderously, then fragments and spirals apart. As a free electric guitar part crops up, improbably holding the center, the acoustic space around it continues to disintegrate in ambient stereo. A wedding of folk music idioms to classical, improvised and modern compositional modes (including Gastr"s own formative post-punk mode), Crookt, Crackt, or Fly is a song-based reality steadily giving way to its alternative alchemies playing out within.

Welcome to a kaleidoscopic picnic where you can feast on a music scene that was rich, sparkling, multi-colored, ground-breaking and it'll blow your mind. A prodigious soundscape that blends the Caribbean and the Amazon sophistication and flavors; raw yet delicate textures. "Joropop. Psych Pop & Folk in Venezuela, 1968-1976" features infectious Latin rock rhythms and timeless folk melodies across 15 ultra-rare tracks-most of which have never been reissued until now. Let's set off together to discover the magic of Caracas in the late '60s! DESCRIPTION Welcome to a kaleidoscopic picnic where you can feast on a music scene that was rich, sparkling, multi-colored, ground-breaking and it'll blow your mind. A prodigious soundscape that blends the Caribbean and the Amazon sophistication and flavors; raw yet delicate textures. "Joropop. Psych Pop & Folk in Venezuela, 1968-1976" features infectious Latin rock rhythms and timeless folk melodies across 15 ultra-rare tracks-most of which have never been reissued until now. The golden age of Caracas pop started in 1965. It replaced the wave of cloyingly romantic song writing as fresh talents leant into richer and more complex styles: folk-rock, psychedelia, soul, hard blues, symphonic pop, Latin rock etc. Singer-songwriters, experimental electric guitars and jam sessions all appeared on the scene, creating music that became increasingly refined and free. The industry took a while to catch on to this new trend and leave behind the teen idols and dream lifestyles. By the late 60s, there was a long list of new bands in the capital city. Young people finally found their voice. Let's set off together to discover the magic of Caracas in the late '60s!

Following on from his highly acclaimed debut Len Parrott"s Memorial Lift, Baxter proves that this was no fluke. His 2nd album Floor Show sounds like it was recorded in St Paul"s Cathedral, with vocals added in the whispering gallery. Narratively, it"s seems to be about a disintegrating relationship, although this is no confession booth moment. Guitars float like ectoplasm, Wurlitzer"s spin beneath mirror balls, summoning the presence of spectral beings, swaying to luxurious, narcotic music that predates trip-hop by a good sixty years. Stand-out tracks include the single "Lisa Said", "Cocaine Man" and the wonderful "Francesca"s Party". The album was produced by Baxter, Nick Terry and mixed by Craig Silvey (The Coral, Magic Numbers) in West London in the winter of 2004 / 2005. The band are Damon Reece on drums and Mike Mooney on the electric guitar- both former members of Spiritualized.

Ben Nichols is best known as the frontman and songwriter for the long-running Memphis rock band Lucero. Now, at age 50, he is releasing one of his most personal pieces of work, a rare solo album titled In the Heart of the Mountain.
The album features Nichols on acoustic guitar and vocals, as well as the occasional electric guitar solo and percussion. He is accompanied by Morgan Eve Swain (The Huntress and the Holder of Hands, The Devil Makes Three, Brown Bird) on violin and backing vocals, Cory Branan on electric and acoustic guitars, and Todd Beene (Chuck Ragan, Glossary) on pedal steel and electric guitars. It was recorded at Southern Grooves studio in Memphis, Tennessee with Matt Ross-Spang as the recording and mixing engineer.

Says Nichols 'I'd say In the Heart of the Mountain is the closest I've come to making an album completely on my own terms. I had help from a great engineer and great friends who also happened to be amazing studio musicians, but it was self produced. I wrote it without input from anyone else. There were no band members to negotiate parts and approaches with. It wasn't based on a novel or a theme. The only inspiration was that desire to create something that lived in my memories of those rivers, fields, and mountains,
in that mythological Arkansas my family called home, where I grew up. I haven't been able to get back there nearly as often as I would like."

Discos Fantástico presents: Los Shapis – The Electric Pulse of Peruvian Chicha In 1980s Peru, during a time of crisis and mass migration, chicha music emerged as a joyful, rebellious sound from the people. A fusion of Andean cumbia, huayno, and psychedelic rock, the genre found its most iconic expression in Los Shapis. With electric guitars, emotionally charged lyrics, and rainbow-colored outfits inspired by Incan symbolism, they reshaped Peru’s popular music landscape. Discos Fantástico proudly presents an exclusive compilation of their best singles—restored and remastered for vinyl. A vital tribute to one of the most colorful and revolutionary movements in Latin American music history.

'Mei Semones' sweetly evocative blend of jazz, bossa nova and math-y indie rock is not only a way for her to find solace in her favorite genres, but is an intuitive means of catharsis. "Blending everything that I like together and trying to make something new - that's what feels most natural to me," says the 23-year-old Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter and guitarist. "It's what feels most true to who I am as an artist." Plinking guitar tones and asymmetrical time shnatures exemplify her forays into angular indie rock more now than ever before, especially on her debut Bayonet Records single "Wakare no Kotoba"-its wide-interval arpeggios in odd meters being some of the most technically difficult guitar work Mei has ever implemented in her songwriting. Translated to "parting words" in English, the self-described "anti-love song" serves as a farewell to a toxic friendship, complete with orchestral swells and crashing guitars. Originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Semones began playing music at a young age, starting out on piano at age four before moving to electric guitar at age eleven. After playing jazz guitar in high school, she went on to study guitar performance with a jazz focus at Berklee College of Music. College is where she met her current bandmates, including string players Noah Leong and Claudius Agrippa, whose respective viola and violin add softness and multidimensionality to Mei's intricate guitar work. After releasing a slew of singles and an EP in 2022, coinciding with her move to New York City, Mei and her band have since gone on to collaborate with post-bossa balladeer John Roseboro and embark on their first-ever tour with the melodic rock outfit Ravi, Semones chronicles infatuation, devotion, and vulnerability in her songs, complete with sweeping strings, virtuosic guitar-playing and heartfelt lyrics sung in both English and Japanese, that have all become part of her sonic trademark: ornately catchy, genre-fusing compositions serving as the backdrop to tender lyrics touching on the universalities of human emotion.

'Mei Semones' sweetly evocative blend of jazz, bossa nova and math-y indie rock is not only a way for her to find solace in her favorite genres, but is an intuitive means of catharsis. "Blending everything that I like together and trying to make something new - that's what feels most natural to me," says the 23-year-old Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter and guitarist. "It's what feels most true to who I am as an artist." Plinking guitar tones and asymmetrical time shnatures exemplify her forays into angular indie rock more now than ever before, especially on her debut Bayonet Records single "Wakare no Kotoba"-its wide-interval arpeggios in odd meters being some of the most technically difficult guitar work Mei has ever implemented in her songwriting. Translated to "parting words" in English, the self-described "anti-love song" serves as a farewell to a toxic friendship, complete with orchestral swells and crashing guitars. Originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Semones began playing music at a young age, starting out on piano at age four before moving to electric guitar at age eleven. After playing jazz guitar in high school, she went on to study guitar performance with a jazz focus at Berklee College of Music. College is where she met her current bandmates, including string players Noah Leong and Claudius Agrippa, whose respective viola and violin add softness and multidimensionality to Mei's intricate guitar work. After releasing a slew of singles and an EP in 2022, coinciding with her move to New York City, Mei and her band have since gone on to collaborate with post-bossa balladeer John Roseboro and embark on their first-ever tour with the melodic rock outfit Ravi, Semones chronicles infatuation, devotion, and vulnerability in her songs, complete with sweeping strings, virtuosic guitar-playing and heartfelt lyrics sung in both English and Japanese, that have all become part of her sonic trademark: ornately catchy, genre-fusing compositions serving as the backdrop to tender lyrics touching on the universalities of human emotion.

Released for the first time on vinyl - 2002's Can You Do Me Good? saw Del Amitri return after a 48 month hiatus with a new sound and a remarkable, yet almost entirely overlooked album - For the album's debut on LP it has been pressed on high quality 180g vinyl and includes a full-colour 16 page lyric booklet. By 2002, the pop world had turned; four years earlier, Del Amitri had released Hatful Of Rain, their greatest hits collection marking more-or-less a decade of success. Can You Do Me Good? relied on keyboards, samples and drum machines as much as previous albums centered on electric and acoustic guitars. Featuring its soulful lead single Just Before You Leave, Can You Do Me Good? is truly fascinating, and could well have been the groups biggest album ever had it come five years earlier. Ive got cash and prizes, but I don’t know who I am, Currie sings on Cash & Prizes; and the song seems to encapsulate the album.

After what seems like an aeon of anticipation, Yugen Blakrok returns bolder than ever with The Illusion of Being, a raw, fearless exploration of emotion and resilience. This album is a call to triumph. Through poetic lyricism and experimental soundscapes, this project offers the listener a journey into the heart of uncertainty and the power of perseverance. Created and recorded in a world in flux, The Illusion of Being reflects the artist's evolution as a storyteller and resonates directly with the era that shaped her. Driven by incisive lyrics andsoundscapes blending grunge, trip-hop, and 90s spirit, this project tests the boundaries of alternative hip-hop. Here, rhythm speaks louder than reason, and the acceptance of "Being" becomes the thread that ties each track together. This album captures a bold new chapter in Yugen Blakrok's discography. While rooted in the lyrical mastery and poetic precision that fans cherish, it marks a departure from the familiar, embracing a more unfiltered and experimental approach. The collaborations seem purposeful, and match this intensity: Sa-Roc delivers combative and sisterly energy,Cambatta brings his visceral urgency, while Hannah Allen offers a touch both delicate and impactful. Instrumentally, the arrangements dare to break new ground: wailing electric guitars,enchanting flutes, and hypnotic beats create a striking sonic alchemy. As described by Yugen in three words: Free. Involved. Anti.Free from convention. Involved in the fight. Anti-establishment. In many ways this album is a sonic manifesto. Each track resonates as a call to rebellion, an anthem for those who refuse to bow down. The Illusion of Being is not just a work of art; it’s a statement: for freedom, for community, against oppression. A mirror of our collectivestruggles and a light for those who keep moving forward. It promises its listeners a deeply personal connection, offering a glimmer of hope amidst despair and a soundtrack for their fight.

Seven years after their last release (Helltown, 2018), Electric Citizen returns with their fourth album, EC4-a powerful statement of renewal and raw energy. Written by Ross Dolan with contributions from the full band, the album was meticulously crafted over several years and recorded with Mike Montgomery and John Hoffman at Candyland Studio in Dayton, KY. The album was mixed by Collin Dupuis (Lana Del Rey, The Black Keys) in Detroit and mastered by JJ Golden at Golden Mastering in California. The album art was created by Neil Krug (Lana Del Rey, Tame Impala, Weyes Blood), who the band worked with for their first album, Sateen. Now signed to Heavy Psych Sounds, the band is ready to unleash their most potent work yet-a fusion of hypnotic grooves, searing guitars, and Laura Dolan's mesmerizing vocals. EC4 is both a homecoming and a rebirth. Electric Citizen is back!

Solid red vinyl, limited to 350 copies. Seven years after their last release (Helltown, 2018), Electric Citizen returns with their fourth album, EC4-a powerful statement of renewal and raw energy. Written by Ross Dolan with contributions from the full band, the album was meticulously crafted over several years and recorded with Mike Montgomery and John Hoffman at Candyland Studio in Dayton, KY. The album was mixed by Collin Dupuis (Lana Del Rey, The Black Keys) in Detroit and mastered by JJ Golden at Golden Mastering in California. The album art was created by Neil Krug (Lana Del Rey, Tame Impala, Weyes Blood), who the band worked with for their first album, Sateen. Now signed to Heavy Psych Sounds, the band is ready to unleash their most potent work yet-a fusion of hypnotic grooves, searing guitars, and Laura Dolan's mesmerizing vocals. EC4 is both a homecoming and a rebirth. Electric Citizen is back!

Acclaimed director and musician Jim Jarmusch and experimental lute player and composer Jozef van Wissem met nearly 20 years ago, forming a close bond after they ran into each other on the streets of New York City. In 2011, they began performing and producing records together. The follow up to “American Landscapes “ entitled “ The Day The Angels Cried” releases June 6 and coincides with a world tour. The duo weaves an intricate Lute and guitar string tapestry of droning, minimal free-folk compositions destined to captivate listeners with their dark hypnosis. This time vocals and electronics are added as well. Van Wissem’s work comes from a tradition of avant-garde minimalism and lends itself well to the director’s stark cinematic works. Jarmusch has played guitar in bands on and off since the late ‘70s. Van Wissem’s compositional style involves hypnotic circular musical phrases that allow for a lot of contemplative space between the notes. Their first live performance was in Issue Project Room in Brooklyn in October 2011, where they appeared together for a Van Wissem curated concert program called “New Music for Early Instruments.” The idea for their first album, Concerning the Entrance Into Eternity (Important Records) developed from their live performance. Jarmusch has said that he considers these songs as Van Wissem’s compositions, and sees himself as someone filling in the background to Jozef ’s foreground, like the “scenic” on a film shoot, the one who paints the backdrops. “The sound of the lute is as bright as the sun, a beautiful red color and my stuff sounds sort of like the moon, more like blue, like mercury.” .According to Van Wissem: We started with layers of instrumental parts.. Jim recorded a otherworldly Passerelle bridge guitar part to which we added vocals. This became the title track " The Day The Angels Cried" The lyrics for this song came to me during a vision I had in a dream. It was much like a vision Swedenborg writes about. In it he converses with angels. In my vision the angel looked down from the heavens upon the earth engulfed in flames. Recent events in Los Angeles and other parts of the world, have led me to believe that this dream was a premonition. “The Day The Angels Cried” ( Inc 040/41) releases June 6th on Incunabulum Records, right before the duo start their World tour. releases June 6, 2025 Jozef Van Wissem Voice, Baroque And Renaissance Lutes, 12 String Electric Guitar, Slide Guitar, Electronics, Found Recordings Jim Jarmusch Voice, Electric Guitars, Acoustic Guitars, Passerelle Bridge Guitar, Electronics, Found Recordings

Germany's iconic deep funk collective digs into a new soundscape: "A Higher Frequency" was recorded with a nine-piece live to tape at legendary MPS studio in the Black Forest, adding an airy, jazzy flavour to their trademark raw and breaks-heavy funk. Ten tracks full of spiritual grooves, soulful themes, loose funkiness and organic interplay, captured with state-of-the-art 1960s gear in a super-vibey room - but the title A Higher Frequency is not just about the pristine analogue sound quality of the recording, it is also a reference to a trancendant wavelength where minds meet and music connects.

Together with long-time friends and collaborators Daniel Kimaz on flute and Guillame Métenier, who worked his magic on the studio's historic Bösendörfer grand piano and Hammond organ, the group spent a week in the Black Forest, with full focus on the mission to capture the live energy and togetherness of the ensemble.

The result is an album bursting with positive energy and power, rooted in a universal funk groove with excursions into many colourful branches like outernational, cinematic, soulful jazz, psychedelic & disco.

The common thread is a propulsive, driving-forward feel: "Open The Gate" welcomes us with hard-hitting breakbeats and dramatic crime brass, followed by the cool groovin' piano-led soul jazz of "Get Loose", while "Spinning" takes us on a ride through cinematic horn choruses and folky-psych flute and guitars. "Back And Better" is Nichola Richards' time to shine, laying her sweet vocals over the sparse hiphop-infused soul beat to tell a comeback story. "Sweet Company" is a lighthearted uptempo tune inspired by TV and library themes of the 1960s. The swampy groove of "Sparks Of Joy" best reflects the fun of the band playing together and "Phantom Power" combines a trademark Mocambo breakin' theme with an unusual instrument, an electric phin from Thailand – a nod to the many so-called "world music jazz" recordings that the MPS studio gave birth to. On "Can't Stop This Fire", soul singer Carlton Jumel Smith from New York City takes over the mic as a special guest and brings the house down with a heavy funk delivery. "When We Roll" builds another highlight where bouncy drums play off disco-jazz horn themes and finally, the gospel-flavoured cine-soul epic "Homebound" drives it all home.

The vinyl record comes in a limited first edition in hand-made tip-on sleeve.

U.K. progressive post-rock supergroup Crippled Black Phoenix is a musical collective that has featured nearly 30 members in it's rotating roster. The constant driving force is multi- instrumentalist Justin Greaves (Electric Wizard, Iron Monkey Se Delan), who formed the band in 2004 with Mogwai bassist Dominic Aitchison. Creating what they describe as "endtime ballads" to signify both the slightly macabre nature of their songs & the unusual blend of styles as the final evolution in music. The band have made live shows a focus by performing in unusual venues across the world as well as using Victorian-era instruments in tandem with more modern instruments, often involving more than a dozen members onstage. In 2006, Crippled Black Phoenix released their first album, 'A Love Of Shared Disasters', followed in 2009 by 'The Resurrectionists' & 'Night Raider', but it was their fourth album released in 2010 on Invada Records - 'I, Vigilante' - an album of uncompromising soundscapes that garnered the band & album widespread critical acclaim within the media worldwide. On 'I, Vigilante', CBP create songs that feel both sky-crackingly epic & intimate at the same time. "We Forgotten Who We Are" is an 11 minute thundering storm which powers through sections of head-nodding chugging guitars to a sunrise of happy melody & back, "Fantastic Justice" is a staggering display of songwriting, with twists & turns that make the band sound like a mini orchestra - horns, strings, crashes & swoons with Greaves the dark conductor. The spoken-word opening to "Bastogne Blues" is perfectly evocative for a genuinely troubled song, CBP's command of bleakness is at it's strongest here; cinematic doesn't come close to describing the song's emotional resonance. When 'I, Vigilante' threatens to disintegrate into a black hole of misery, a faithfully screaming version of Journey's "Of A Lifetime" shows a sense of humour & some sweet guitar tones. This edition of 'I, Vigilante' is presented on black vinyl LP & is the first time the album has been released on single vinyl

Born from a desire to explore her background in film composing to create a music film, Hannah Holland’s upcoming album 'Last Exit On Bethnal’ is set for release via PRAH Recordings on 18th July. Together with director Lydia Garnett, the multi-faceted London producer shaped ideas born out of images the pair weren’t finding in film, inspired by queer icon filmmakers like Kenneth Anger and Derek Jarman. “We wanted to craft something unapologetically for dykes: a poetic, surreal exploration of dyke power and sexuality set in a fantasy underworld,” explains Holland. Once the film was shot, she channelled its stunning imagery and the energy of the cast into making the record. Seductive and bass-driven, its nine tracks merge sleazy guitars with 707 machine drums, beautiful evolving arps, and surreal moments of Lynchian dreaminess and Aphex Twin-inspired atmospherics. "It was a really amazing collaborative experience and coming together of a community to make something totally unique….and hot!” she continues. The first single ‘Biker’ features a filthy synth hook atop Hannah’s signature bass-guitar, perfectly capturing the raw and sexy energy of the album and its visual centrepiece. You can listen to it here. The film will be screened at a one-off club night at London’s ICA on 11th April in association with Culture Divided, Somesuch and Bala Project.

Hannah Holland has played a pivotal role in London’s alternative and queer London club scene since the mid-noughties. Rooted deeply in London’s fertile musical community, musical exploration and the transcendent potential of dancefloor have always been her biggest inspiration. Her recent delve into experimental theatre, film and TV scores has proved a future further artistic voyage to explore her creative vision. Holland first arrived on dancefloors sharing electro-tinged techno, with equal inspiration taken from the sounds of DnB and jungle heard at legendary parties such as Metalheadz, which she had frequented in her early teens. Having already been “borrowing” (and perhaps never since returning) Kraftwerk, Grace Jones and Talking Heads records from her parents, the influence of this metropolitan musical soup ensured that Holland emerged on the decks with a unique musical character and diverse taste, hallmarks of her sound that she has not lost since. This has been reinforced with trusted residencies at iconic parties such as Trailer Trash, Adonis, Glastonbury’s NYC Downlow, or undertaking far-reaching marathon sets at Berlin’s Panorama Bar. In 2006 Hannah started Batty Bass with vocalist Mama. Immediately a roadblock party and then a record label with releases from Josh Caffe and The Carry Nation sitting in its discography, Batty Bass explores the disparate strains of electro, acid, techno and house. Hannah also released her own music on the label including the ever-anthemic Paris’ Acid Ball.

A steady stream of releases have followed on Shall Not Fade, Super Rhythm Trax, Crosstown Rebels, Classic, Nervous, as well as remixes for Blessed Madonna ft. Kylie Minogue, Planningtorock, The Knife and Goldfrapp among others. Hannah also finds the time to play bass in several bands including Black Gold Buffalo whose debut album she also co-wrote. Her much-anticipated debut album, Tectonic, came out on PRAH Recordings in 2021, with a second on the way. Hannah’s latest venture into the world of film scores have included queer icon Bruce LaBruce’s ‘The Visitor,’ Channel 4 series Adult Material and award-winning indie feature Electrician.

Hannah Holland continues to push the boundaries of electronic and live music, telling stories and carving her own path in the deeper frequencies.

Skyjoggers, the innovative band from Tampere, Finland, fuses the exhilarating elements of space rock and psychedelic soundscapes. Their music captures the essence of cosmic exploration, characterized by hypnotic riffs and an experimental approach that pushes boundaries. With a focus on dynamic performances and rich instrumental textures, Skyjoggers invites listeners on a journey through uncharted musical territories.
On ”12021 : Post-Electric Apocalypse” Skyjoggers focus on themes such as death, loss and despair. Writing of the album took place during the pandemic, forest fires in the Amazon and wars around the planet - the band took inspiration from such themes trying to channel the hard topics into something beautiful shining a ray of hope and light into the world through music. The album showcases the heaviest side of Skyjoggers heard to this day, bringing elements of black and doom metal into the band's unique mix of modern space rock.
Skyjoggers are:
Alexi Belle - guitars & effects - Juan Rico - bass, synth & vocals - Gabo Sabor - drums & vocals

Fit for Consequences: Original Recordings, 1984–1987 is the first ever archival release from Repetition Repetition, the “two-man electric minimalist band” consisting of Ruben Garcia and Steve Caton hailing from Los Angeles in the mid 1980’s. Repetition Repetition’s unique blend of cosmic art-rock minimalism / maximalism was self-released across a series of cassettes produced in micro editions, and while garnering the attention and participation of luminaries such as Harold Budd, remained under the radar during the band’s existence. Fit for Consequences: Original Recordings, 1984–1987 collects select material from across the duo’s catalog.

It was over a plate of Mexican breakfast food when Ruben Garcia and Steve Caton first told Harold Budd of Repetition Repetition and the worlds they intended to explore by respective way of synthesizers and guitars --- a rendezvous instigated by the former’s fan mail to the legendary composer. If the upstarts entered this restaurant from a one-way street of admiration, they would leave with not only Budd’s interest but, sometime later, a blessing in the wake of many hours shared by the three in Garcia’s Los Angeles home recording studio: “This is going to be difficult, but God help them, I think they’re great,” noted Budd in a USC lecture in 1985. Now several degrees removed from prior rock music aspirations, the real game was afoot.

Between 1984 and 1988, Repetition Repetition operated within something akin to the underground of the experimental underground, although even that designation perhaps overstates the case. The duo’s sparse output consisted of three cassettes self-released on Garcia’s Third Stone Music label: Repetition Repetition (1985), Lakeland (1987), and The Machinist (1987). Their songs would also be included during this period on Trance Port Tapes’ vital scene-scanning compilations assembled by A Produce. Live performances occurred with similar infrequency, but Garcia and Caton counted converts in quality over quantity, numbering among them the aforementioned Budd, a Chambers Brother, and, judging by a memorably drop-jawed reaction following a rare Repetition Repetition gig, Jackson Browne.

Likewise, critical support materialized in the form of KCRW deejays Brent Wilcox and Dean Suzuki, whose steady airplay positioned Repetition Repetition’s music amidst fearless company like Jon Hassell, Hiroshi Yoshimura, and Richard Horowitz. Yet, to hear fellow Trance Port featured players like Tom Recchion and Bruce Licher of Savage Republic tell it, Garcia and Caton moved as ghosts --- a notion more vexingly endorsed by the silence of record companies that failed to come knocking --- and therein lies an overarching truth to the work itself.

Journey to the heart of Repetition Repetition and one discovers a collective ear impossibly attuned to the hypnotic possibilities of stylistic convergence, the resulting music possessed of seamless multimodalities which beckon to a glimmering plane of the disembodied. Where Caton sought his artistic fixes at an intersection of popular genres, Garcia zoned in on the sonically spare, drawing from the same wellspring as the Enos and Rileys of his personal avant-garde pantheon, and in their coming together the two tapped into a deeper cosmic source. Synthetic walls of keyboard sound in forever states of reprise met waves of shimmering --- and at times even punishing --- guitar in reply, their soundscapes hovering convincingly between, as suggested in fittingly dualistic fashion in a press kit assembled by Garcia, such disparate sensations as bird flight in one song and oil drilling in the next.

But don’t call it a push-pull dynamic, as this was a creative partnership founded upon fluidity and organicism by way of, naturally, repetition. In contrast to, say, the Bressonian ideal of repetitive motion as a great stripping away, the concept in the hands of Garcia and Caton equated to ascendancy via continuous unfolding, a maximal route to minimalism. To be sure, their recording philosophy morphed over the course of the act’s short history, and what started as a process defined by consistent in-person interplay developed into a more isolated method formulated by Garcia, who eventually took to his own one-man bedroom-studio sessions in order to fully chart any and all potential ostinato-loaded paths which he could travel down, the Tascam-captured resonances subsequently provided to Caton as blueprints from which to take flight himself, adding layer upon layer of steel to the proceedings.

If the practice and execution changed, however, the evidence certainly didn’t rest in the results: The seamlessness remained, and, despite the brevity of their time together, so has Repetition Repetition. With this finely calibrated collection of songs in Fit for Consequences: Original Recordings, 1984–1987, Freedom To Spend sees to it that the private worlds of Garcia and Caton can now be visited by all rather than just the count-‘em-on-both-hands lucky few whose musical endeavors or collector vocations carried them into this once-distant dimension.

Repetition Repetition’s Fit for Consequences: Original Recordings, 1984–1987 will be released on Freedom To Spend in vinyl and digital editions on May 30, 2025. The collection includes extensive liner notes from Bill Perrine, and wil be offered alongside Over & Over, a supplemental collection of music available exclusively as a mail order cassette from Freedom To Spend and RVNG Intl.

Grails - the experimental rock institution who have cultivated a quarter-century career out of crate-plunging cultural curiosities - returns a mere two years after the lauded Anches En Maat with their most personal and emotionally resonant album to date. While the band still revel in rearranging bizarre and obscure sources into something often revelatory and surreal, Miracle Music does so with an ascendant melodic power that feels hallowed. The Miracle Music lineup includes cofounders Emil Amos (Om, Holy Sons, Lilacs & Champagne) and Alex Hall (Lilacs & Champagne), alongside returning members, AE Paterra (Zombi, Majeure), Jesse Bates, and Ilyas Ahmed. Produced by Amos, Miracle Music reunites the group with recording engineer Jason Powers and his Type Foundry studio in Portland, Oregon, where the earliest Grails records were made more than two decades ago. Replete with acoustic and electric guitars, synths, woodwinds, brass, samples, percussion - and featuring horn arrangements by Kelly Pratt (David Byrne, M. Ward) - Miracle Music unveils an exquisite new horizon for Grails. Creatively tireless as ever, Grails balance the boundary-pushing claustrophobia of early Industrial music with the airy melodies of Classical compositions to craft the heavy mood that is Miracle Music. In a catalog defined by mercurial departures, this is Grails' most sentimental and high-minded trip yet.

Grails - the experimental rock institution who have cultivated a quarter-century career out of crate-plunging cultural curiosities - returns a mere two years after the lauded Anches En Maat with their most personal and emotionally resonant album to date. While the band still revel in rearranging bizarre and obscure sources into something often revelatory and surreal, Miracle Music does so with an ascendant melodic power that feels hallowed. The Miracle Music lineup includes cofounders Emil Amos (Om, Holy Sons, Lilacs & Champagne) and Alex Hall (Lilacs & Champagne), alongside returning members, AE Paterra (Zombi, Majeure), Jesse Bates, and Ilyas Ahmed. Produced by Amos, Miracle Music reunites the group with recording engineer Jason Powers and his Type Foundry studio in Portland, Oregon, where the earliest Grails records were made more than two decades ago. Replete with acoustic and electric guitars, synths, woodwinds, brass, samples, percussion - and featuring horn arrangements by Kelly Pratt (David Byrne, M. Ward) - Miracle Music unveils an exquisite new horizon for Grails. Creatively tireless as ever, Grails balance the boundary-pushing claustrophobia of early Industrial music with the airy melodies of Classical compositions to craft the heavy mood that is Miracle Music. In a catalog defined by mercurial departures, this is Grails' most sentimental and high-minded trip yet.

***Four years after his rock juggernaut Puritan, Chris Brokaw delivers Ghost Ship, a landscape meditation (at sea) for vocals and electric guitars. "I set out to make an 8 song statement like Desert Shore or Raw Power, but it became a 9 song... something else. I've described it to friends as Twin Peaks-ish but that feels only part right. The songs were written on a 60's Teisco Del Rey electric guitar, set up by the Belgian luthier Flip Scipio with heavy gauge flat wound strings and an .80 gauge low E string tuned down to a low A, which reframes how you play the instrument. I wrote them all quickly in a kind of fever."—Brokaw

Compiled by Bob Stanley to document the acid folk scene, “Gather In The Mushrooms” was first issued in 2004 on Sanctuary as a CD-only release; it proved popular enough for a sequel entitled “Early Morning Hush” two years later.

This new edition of “Gather In The Mushrooms” contains the cream of both long-deleted compilations with a few additions – COB, Roy Harper, Fotheringay – that weren’t available to Sanctuary at the time. Though they aren’t traditional, these songs have an authenticity of their own, an autumnal atmosphere and a naivety which proved influential in the 00s neo-folk boom (Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, Alasdair Roberts, Tuung et al) but impossible to replicate. For many of these acts at the end of the 60s, folk music and the hippy world that surrounded them was a way of life, a way of opting out from the Vietnam war, Angry Brigade and three-day-week early 70s. Anne Briggs lived in a caravan in Suffolk, Shelagh McDonald lived in a tent, Vashti Bunyan eschewed electricity; they weren’t part-timers. Listening to “Gather In The Mushrooms”, we are transported to a time when no one used the term post-modernist.

It may not have resonated with dyed-in-the wool political folkies, but over five decades later this music sounds very evocative of an England of yore – not necessarily one of poachers and pedlars, but one of long-haired youths in tie-dye T-shirts, bikers and hippies, acoustic guitars played in white stone cottages. Groups such as Stone Angel, Midwinter and Oberon made primitive, privately recorded folk albums; today they sound as distant and mystical as the field recordings of Alan Lomax. The sincerity and folk knowledge of a group like Forest becomes irrelevant once you hear something as eerie and evocative as ‘Graveyard’. Home-made, homely, warm as soup or chilling as a hoar frost, this is music of innocence and rare beauty.

Wild ecstatic vocals, distorted electric guitars, rocket bass, and the amphetamine beat! // Unlike anything else, this is THE high life music you've always wanted // Ceremonial music played with abandon and extreme intent, honoring the living and dead alike // Recorded on location in SW Madagascar by Maxime Bobo // “Tsapiky music from Southwest Madagascar features wild ecstatic vocals, distorted electric guitars, rocket bass, and the amphetamine beat! Unlike anything else, this is THE high life music you've always wanted - ceremonial music played with abandon and extreme intent, honoring the living and dead alike. In Toliara and its surrounding region, funerals, weddings, circumcisions and other rites of passage have been celebrated for decades in ceremonies called mandriampototse. During these celebrations – which last between three and seven days – cigarettes, beer and toaky gasy (artisanal rum) are passed around while electric orchestras play on the same dirt floor as the dancing crowds and zebus. The music, tsapiky, defies any classification. This compilation showcases the diversity of contemporary tsapiky music. Locally and even nationally renowned bands played their own songs on makeshift instruments, blaring through patched-up amps and horn speakers hung in tamarind trees, projecting the music kilometers away. Lead guitarists and female lead singers are the central figures of tsapiky. Driven as much by their creative impulses as by the need to stand out in a competitive market, the artists distinguish themselves stylistically through their lyrics, rhythms or guitar riffs. They must also master a wide repertoire of current tsapiky hits, which the families that attend inevitably request before parading in front of the orchestra with their offerings. This work, a constant push and pull between distinction and imitation, is nourished by fertile exchanges between various groups: acoustic and electric, rural and urban, coastal or inland. What results during these ceremonies is a music of astonishing intensity and creativity, played by artists carving out their own path, indifferent to the standards of any other music industry: Malagasy, African or global. Recorded live on location by Maxime Bobo, this vinyl LP includes a 4-page full-color insert with detailed liner notes plus photos of the musicians and surroundings.”

Debut EP from Sweden's most exciting new band, the Stockholm four-piece Clutter. Following their critically acclaimed Jesus/Holy Brother 7" released in late 2024, the band returns with their much-anticipated debut EP, Loves You. Six tracks that channel the spirit of grunge and post-hardcore through distorted guitars and fuzzy vocals, blending the tones of '90s rock into their post-modern indie core. A band that comes close to chaos but just holds on, Clutter's electricity is built around their own crackling potential. For Fans of The Breeders, Horsegirl, Sweeping Promises, Dehd, bar italia.

Every so often an album of such deceptive genius, of such aesthetic clarity, comes across our desk and transfixes us. Thought Leadership's III Of Pentacles is one such work of art. It's an instant classic and glides into the pantheon of timeless guitar-soul totems. Originally out on cassette only, we present the first ever vinyl issue. It's a hideously limited pressing of 300 for the world, so don't sleep on this.

Thought Leadership has already garnered big support from such tastemakers as Ruf Dug, Jason Boardman, Nathan Gregory Wilkins, J Walk, Evan Woodward, Justin Robertson and Heavenly's Jeff Barrett. The first time we heard III Of Pentacles, we nearly wept at the thought that something so beautiful, so bursting with real hope, could even exist in this brutal world. To quote the Quietus, "imagine if Stockport was situated somewhere along the Pacific Coast Highway rather than the M60, and you’ll have some idea of the coordinates to the post-industrial, sunburnt dream space opened up here."

So, who is Thought Leadership? What do we know about them? They reside in Stockport and are obsessed with ethereal guitar records. That’s about it. That and these X ideas shared with you, the listener.

Captured on a multitrack recorder in a terraced house in Stockport, this is as DIY as it gets. Glaringly obvious is a love for classic Factory and early 4AD. Perhaps it is the proximity to the River Mersey where the ideas arrived, and there being but three miles between where this and the Durutti Column’s classic “LC” was recorded, as the two operate across a familiar aural plain. Be it geographic or otherwise, limited by a true economy of means, namely guitar, pedals and drum machine, the fruit borne from these humble tools has been indelibly shaped by the perma-gloom that hangs low over the Manchester and Stockport environs.

Ushered in on 808 kicks, “I” opens the record as a beautiful Sketch for Stockport; a chiming maj7 chord dripping in chorus and delay sets us on our way. The Vini Reilly comparisons are unavoidable. “II” is all John McGeoch, with its trippy goth-psyche arpeggiated pattern cascading across the stereo image. Do those drums swing? But goths don’t swing?! They do here. We’re treated to a bit of crunch on the lead guitar part and some really lush reverb. We even step forth into shoegaze territory, albeit briefly, for the middle eight. “III”, a firm Be With favourite, continues the dreamy psyche leanings of the previous track, with an even bigger melody this time. We’re hearing The Teardrop Explodes on quaaludes here. A proto-dream pop cut soaked in melancholy. But watch out! The coda finds Johnny Marr has gotten into the ‘ludes and gatecrashed the final bars with some incredibly ignorant B minor pentatonic noodling.

“IV” ditches the drum machine for the first in a suite of three beatless electric guitar duets. The first of these semi-improvised rubato ideas is a striking departure from the earlier playful pieces, coming over emo and moody. Greyscale sulking for Stratocaster. Sign us up. “V” contains some really lyrical phrasing; a gorgeous conversation between two guitars. Real Stopfordian Primitive; meditative, crude, rain-soaked. We cycle through the same feels, then end on an alluring chord that breaks the pattern. Sometimes thoughts are like this. “VI” creeps in all plaintive, then a huge reverberating descending guitar line comes tumbling in like something off those classic Dif Juz 12”s. There’s some Maurice Deebank in there too, for sure, and the coda nods to early Meat Puppets.

“VII” rounds out the A Side, and succinctly presents a summary of all ideas explored thus far on our journey. The drum machine is back, this time with some wispy delay, before both guitars enter together playing interlocking lines. As we start, we end, with the delayed 808 guiding us out.

Opening Side B, “VIII” sees us embark on the other side of our journey as we slow down and space out. The drum machine is here, but the guitars are different now. Think Sensations Fix or Göttsching at his most peeled out. Drones, ambient drifts of broken chords and distorted lead lines all swirl round the mix. Side B is one for headphones for sure. “IX” is almost too exquisite for words. A New Age Mixolydian voyage through the cosmos. If you’re unmoved by the end you’ve probably got no pulse. We were left blunted ineffable by this one, such is the smudged elegance radiating from this idea. All hail the Thought Leader.

“X” is a full circle moment, and a fitting end. If you’ve not already elsewhere across the platter, you will be getting heavy Robin Guthrie vibes from this piece. Like the rest of Side B, this improvised jam sticks within a framework of related chords but the celestial energies channelled might invite us to wander “outside”, especially when the Tubescreamer is engaged.

RIYL Durutti Coulmn, Cocteau Twins, Dif Juz, Sensations Fix, Spike and adjacent guitar musicks – but, ultimately, this is just its own thing; such is the strength of ideas presented. "It’s good music to chill out to." (??)

Be With is honoured to present the first ever vinyl release of III Of Pentacles, carefully remastered by Be With's engineer Simon Francisco to ensure it sounds better than ever after its initial tape release. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at Record Industry, in Holland. The original tape cover artwork, so crucial to Thought Leadership's striking visual aesthetic, has been rejigged for vinyl issue here at Be With. Its stark presentation befits the music contained within. They inform us that they shuffled their tarot deck to ask what the album should be called and the card you see on the cover popped out. The III Of Pentacles tarot card represents teamwork, shared vision and the ability to achieve goals through collaboration. We like to think Thought Leadership and Be With have nailed this one.

It's hard to imagine El León Pardo, a loyal advocate of some of the most advanced projects in which folklore is the road map and the destination itself, without his kuisi. It's hard to see him with his hands free. Always holding on to that ancestral instrument, that pre-Colombian flute that survived the conquest and has become a symbol of resistance, overcoming the ravages of time, the imposition of ideologies, dogmas and religions. Despite all that, the kuisi continues with its liberating sound, the power of its cry, its invitation to dance, its sound a cure and a blessing. That's why it leads the way in this Viaje Sideral ("Space Voyage"), an astral journey in which the kuisi is the vehicle and the life force of the rhythm. Viaje Sideral feels like floating eternally in the infinite cosmos. This second long player from El León Pardo is inspired by humanity's relationship with the stars, escaping to mythical planes and led into a trance by Caribbean percussions, analog synths, deep bass, electric guitars and the hypnotic vibrations of the kuisis and trumpets that complete the soundtrack of this voyage. Through these nine songs, El León Pardo continues to create a sound of his own, evolving in his intention to pay tribute to the psychedelia of the tropical world of the Caribbean in the 1970s and 80s, but this time also taking as reference artists like Terry Riley, Kraftwerk and Mad Professor, including the roots of ambient and electronic music with the characteristic sound of the kuisi, an encounter of dreamlike and astral sounds, with the music of the bandas pelayeras of the tropics and figures like Pedro Laza and Juan Lara. In this new universe the Cartagena trumpeter dialogs with the past, processing the ideas that have emerged over the years and morphed into his personal search that gives an identity to his ideas, nurtured by figures like producer Diego Gómez (Llorona Records, Discos Pacífico, Cerrero) who awoke his interest in electronic instruments, Edson Velandia and kuisi maestros like Juan Carlos Medrano and Fredy Arrieta. In his sound there is a particular feature, one that contains histories of personal experiences, accompanied by the kuisi, including ancient Zenú flutes dating from between 600 and 800 AD and which helped create the atmosphere of "Invocación." "Viaje Sideral," the song that gives the album its name, was born from a dream in which two stars speed towards the earth and an imminent collision. As the record continues, the stellar connection becomes clear with songs like "Urmah" with Edson Velandia, inspired by an article about extra-terrestrial races and how the Urmah were a race of hominid felines, the greatest geneticists of the universe; and "Cumbia espacial," featuring rapping from N. Hardem, seeking to create that aura of immensity and consciousness of the infinity of the universe.

Born from a childhood friendship, the five members of Ciao Kennedy have crafted their own sound and feeling after exploring a variety of different musical horizons. Following the release of EPs 'Keldercave' (2021) and 'the problem is' (2022), as well as being featured on the compilation Lefto presents Jazz Cats Vol. 3 in the spring of 2024, it was only a matter of time for the Brussels-based band to reappear on the music circuit.

As part of the Magma collective, alongside groups like TUKAN and ECHT!, they started to stand out with their instrumental music merging the playfulness of jazz,the repetitive facets of post-rock, and the overtly grand electronic sound evident in what is nowadays described through the grapevine as the 'Brussels sound'.

With Solarium, their debut album set to be released under the Sdban Ultra label, they have found a course and common denominator in guitars drenched with post-rock effects, steered by hypnotic electronic beats, creating an atmosphere of rare, dense melancholy, peppered with a sound that belongs in a blockbuster sci-fi movie.

Ciao Kennedy and its debut album are a tangy candy bursting in your mouth, the thrill of an afternoon at the fair, modernity meeting up with the nostalgia of childhood. Or standing beneath the shimmering neon lights of a rainy night, like colourful poetry, blending tenderness with electric intensity. Many of these musical descriptions would be completely off the mark, but after a few listens, they don't seem to miss the mark either. There's something for everyone to discover on this album, oscillating between the familiar and the unexpected, melancholy and cheer, and while everyone keeps on talking about something being a 'vibe', we can only conclude that Ciao Kennedy is the only one putting this into action.

To celebrate the release of Solarium, the band will host a release party at the Brussels venue Botanique on April 17, 2025. A must-attend event for everyone who wants to see if the live reputation which precedes Ciao Kennedy is actually true. Whatever happens, make sure to keep that date free.

Release show: 17/04 Botanique, Brussels.