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Le jazz homme is the 2nd album of Black To Comm related entity Mouchoir Ètanche. This time heavily influenced by French Jazz (?) as well as the usual suspects: Nurse With Wound, Luc Ferrari, JG Ballard, Surrealism. The human entity has finally been replaced.

"Program music, instrumental music that carries some extramusical meaning, some “program” of literary idea, legend, scenic description, or personal drama. It is contrasted with so-called absolute, or abstract, music, in which artistic interest is supposedly confined to abstract constructions in sound. It has been stated that the concept of program music does not represent a genre in itself but rather is present in varying degrees in different works of music." (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Prompt 1: Pascal Comelade's toy piano falling down the stairs , Hector Zazou pushing from behind, laughing

Prompt 2: Cool jazz played on antique mellotron, low in fidelity, and sad, Glenn Miller‘s grandma crying silently

Prompt 3: A hippie commune version of jazz as played by a cheap computer fed by Chat GPT with medieval buisine fanfare information and samples, trained on the entire Amon Düül II history, heavily looped yet unsynchronized

Prompt: 4: Same, but flutes and synths and trance and chants

Prompt 5: French female artist philosophizes about Shirley Temple, mysterious atmosphere, insensitive homme laughing nervously, heavily looped, hynotic 18th century orgue de salon underneath

Prompt 6: Cool jazz, Echoplex, strange rhythm, Blue Note daydreaming

Prompt 7: Hammond jazz with fake Cyro Baptista loop, Madagascar indri indri lemurs chanting fake sax solos in Malagasy language, electronic bells

Prompt 8: German jazz and artificial prayers, and Shirley Temple returning, with defect Publison recorded at GRM, destroying the voice recording

Prompt 9: Andrei Tarkovsky's moustache meets Johann Sebastian Bach's wig, a well gently lapping in the background, fifths, car crashing into a poor violent onsen geisha

Marc Richter records as Black To Comm for Thrill Jockey and under the Mouchoir Ètanche and Jemh Circs monikers (and solo) for his own Cellule 75 imprint. He collaborated with visual artists such as Ho Tzu Nyen, Jan van Hasselt and Mike Kelley. He also produces soundtracks and acousmatic multichannel installations for institutions such as INA GRM Paris, ZKM Karlsruhe and Kunstverein Hamburg.

Lisbet Fritze and Louise Foo have shared artistic trajectories for half of their lives, having been two thirds of pop noir purveyors Giana Factory. As Glas, the duo reveals a patchwork of everyday observations rooted in significant life changes: moving countries, becoming a mother, keeping sane with and without a significant other. The music conveys a quest for balance, riding the line between doomy drama and playing it cool.

Their 10 song, self-produced debut, Kisses Like Feathers, will be released, worldwide in March 2023, through Hamburg’s hfn music. All lyrics, vocals and instruments were performed by Glas, and recorded in their studio. The album was mixed by Anders Trentemøller, with artwork by Brunswicker studio The Copenhagen-based duo have never been short on inspiration. Lisbet has lent her vocal and guitar talents to Trentemøller, in both the studio and on stage. Louise has explored immersive music with avant-pop project SØSTR, along with her sister, Sharin Foo of The Raveonettes. Lisbet’s other life involves architectural design. Louise works with sound installations in a visual arts context. The musical ideas of these two polymaths find coherence in the newly-formed Glas.

Kisses Like Feathers embody Nordic duality. Dark at times, it also presents with an open ethereality. Some songs feel tailor-made for a club’s sound system. Others lend themselves to intimate, headphone moments. While Lisbet and Louise’s harmonious vocal stack is the common thread throughout the album, the musical fabric is interlaced with acoustic, electric, and electronic instruments. Lo-fi piano and acoustic guitars share a reciprocal space with rich, synthetic orchestration. Galloping, modern rhythms and folk arrangements are often featured in the same song. These elements, and so many others, buttress the pair’s hymns.

One of the most successful and enjoyable debuts in history, The Cars' self-titled album doubles as a greatest-hits collection. That's because not one song here is unrecognized or unknown. A huge reason why the Boston quintet became America's most popular new-wave band, The Cars launched eight tracks still regularly heard on radio stations everywhere. Consider the hit list: "You're All I've Got Tonight." "Good Times Roll." "Just What I Needed." "Moving in Stereo." "My Best Friend's Girl." "Don't Cha Stop." If you're a fan of pop music, this album is mandatory. Just call it the best new-wave rock album ever made.

And now, The Cars sounds better than it has in any previous incarnation. Mastered from the original analogue tapes, Mobile Fidelity's numbered-edition LP allows the music's oscillating rhythms, futuristic keyboard passages, panned stereo images, and rippling textures to be experienced like never before. The songs take on a surreal quality, the Cars manipulating the vibrant music at will to mesmerize the listeners' senses and hold them at bay. Mobile Fidelity's pressing epitomizes the sensation of "moving in stereo."

Led by Ric Ocasek and Benjamin Orr, the Cars managed to unite then-disparate styles: bubblegum pop melodies, angular art rock, progressive arrangements, and terse minimalism. Orr's low, understated singing and Ocasek's cool, detached vocals lend shades of doubt and double meaning to the lyrics, which are further counterbalanced by orchestral keyboard flourishes and electronic beats. The brilliant arrangements also benefit from a laidback cool and understated irony that remain uncommon in the over-the-top world of mainstream music. Obsessed with incorporating the latest technologies and sounds into its palette, the band spiced its tunes with delightfully quirky accents — country-tinged guitar fills, echoing Syndrums, reggae splashes, hard-rock tones, robotic pulses.

The results are the sounds of a creative landmark. At once accessible and eccentric, edgy and catchy, The Cars explodes with emotion, energy, and hooks. It's impossible not to get caught up humming and singing along to every song, an appeal that comes courtesy of Roy Thomas Baker's stellar production. The legendary producer, best known for his work with Queen, ensured that the record seamlessly packed a smooth midrange, spacious imaging, and call-and-answer choruses in one tight package. Baker's trademark touches with harmony vocals abound.

"The MoFi disc is much better than the original in every way. It's more dynamic, much more natural on top, and all three dimensions have a lot bigger space. This disc is great from start to finish, but "Moving in Stereo" will blow you away on a great system in a big room."
—Jeff Dorgay, TONEAudio

ORANGE VINYL

Daniel Boeckner understands the grit and gravel that accumulates in the heart and that it takes an unwavering courage to crack through that clutter and burrow to the other side. And in Boeckner's hands, that quest comes via post-apocalyptic synth and guitar heroism, a rallying cry for those always coming home through the scorched clouds. Throughout his work with Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs, Divine Fits, Operators, Atlas Strategic, and more, the iconic Canadian indie rocker recognizes that few feelings are more gratifying-more memorable, more generative, more abundant-than hope. But it takes getting the hell out of your own way. A culmination of that deep library of musical reference, Boeckner is set to release his first album under his own name: Boeckner! No matter where his genre exploration has taken him, there's something about growing up in punk and DIY spaces that puts collaboration in Boeckner's blood. Composed of a collection of intimately familiar elements, Boeckner! elicits the same thrill of young passion and discovery. It's a jet-powered chase through a tech-noir cityscape-fueled by a dream and that special someone in the passenger seat. That urgency and passion have always been a trademark of Boeckner's, and writing on his own pushes those feelings further into the center of the scope. But while Boeckner may be the clear driving force behind the album, he's not without collaborators for his solo debut. After meeting producer Randall Dunn while contributing to the soundtrack to the Nicolas Cage-starring psychedelic horror film Mandy, Boeckner knew he'd found the perfect counterpart for his solo debut. "I'd been a fan of his forever, especially the Sunn0))) records he produced," Boeckner says. "Working with Randall really unlocked some suppressed musical urges, things that I enjoy in my private life but don't normally weave into what I'm releasing-like occult synth, pseudo-metal, krautrock, and heavy psych influences." That base allows Boeckner to thoughtfully weave between emotional imagism and more grounded storytelling. Throughout the record, his imagery delves into science fiction, but it's charged first and foremost by experience. The trio of Boeckner, Dunn, and drummer Matt Chamberlain (Pearl Jam, David Bowie, Fiona Apple) formed a sort of dark engine for the album, and Chamberlain's ingenious approach of triggering a vintage Arp synthesizer simultaneously with each drum track helped Boeckner shape the record's atmosphere. That tense futurism was influenced by Boeckner's time staying in Dunn's Circular Ruin studio, a dusky, electronic aura burned into every track. By the end of the album, Boeckner! eases from sci-fi epic into something more akin to a torched VHS copy of a John Cassevetes film, the chemtrails and nuclear fallout fading long in the distance. Like all good sci-fi, the emotion and pain hits home for the author and listener alike, and the genre flourishes bolster the human experience. In revealing more than ever before, Boeckner! ratchets up the musical intensity to unforeseen levels and hopes to find some peace at the end of the journey.

Los Angeles duo crushed announce their signing to Ghostly International and the first vinyl pressing of their 2023 debut EP, extra life. A love letter to `90s radio, the first collaboration from musicians Bre Morell and Shaun Durkan finds them tuning a shared taste for maximalist dream pop. Open-hearted hooks and melodic riffs move through a haze of breakbeats, spliced sound design, and distortion. Faithful yet fluid in its channeling of golden age alt-rock, Britpop, trip-hop, and electronica, there's a refreshing freedom to the sound, which quickly resonated with fans and critics upon initial release. Pitchfork called it "effortless, widescreen dream pop that's serene without being sentimental," and NPR cited its "deep sense of place and time." The music also struck Ghostly, and the first measure for crushed and their new label home is to give extra life a wider physical release paired with remixes from band favorites Real Lies and DJ Python. The story of crushed is written across midnight transmissions. In the early 2010s, Morell, who fronts the band Temple of Angels (Run For Cover Records), hosted a graveyard shift college radio show and used to play music from Durkan's former band Weekend (Slumberland Records). In 2020, Durkan, having focused on production work (Tamaryn, Young Prisms) following Weekend's run as a formidable shoegaze act, hosted a late-night program on a community radio station in San Francisco. Driving one day, he heard Temple of Angels by chance and was immediately drawn to Morell's voice. He added a song that night to his on-air tracklist. Morell saw it and reached out to thank him and point to that connection made a decade earlier. The exchange sparked a long-distance project. First, they filled an audible moodboard with `90s classics from the likes of Natalie Imbruglia, Sneaker Pimps, and The Sundays. Songs that transported them back to places of comfort and discovery; Morell's memories of a metallic, lavender boombox that dispatched past sounds from a world beyond her Houston suburbia, and Durkan, in his mom's car on the way to band practice. These touchpoints provided a palette for crushed to experiment without expectations, purely for the fun of it. A creative intimacy emerged; stepping outside the reverb walls of her full band, Morell embraced more clarity and a range of emotions in her vocals, while Durkan looked inward as a producer, collaging fragments from their everyday lives: voice memos, piano recordings, even the panting of Morell's late dog on "milksugar." The wistful ballad embodies extra life's feeling as a whole. "I am home again," sings Morell; her refrain cycles above a drum machine beat as Durkan colors their universe with star-lit strums, synth swells, and the crackle of fireworks in the distance. Elsewhere, the duo's uptempo mode is equally effective, like the super-charged duet "coil" or the propulsive opener "waterlily," which sets a cinematic tone for the set. Bold, bright, and replayable, extra life presents crushed as a project of immense promise, two artists unlocking something special within themselves, a space to hold both melancholy and bliss. Durkan adds, "To me, extra life is true and pure - in a way I haven't felt about music in a really really long time."

12 tracks originally released on the indie dance label GOMMA RECORDS between 2001 and 2010. (Gomma was the label Toy Tonics did before starting Toy Tonics.)

Along with DFA and Output records Gomma released a wild mix of electronic dance music, indie rock, undergound disco, post punk and new wave funk that was big in the 2000s. The Y2K sound!

Gomma released music by artists like Peaches, Whomadewho, The Rammellzee, James Murphy, LCD soundsystem and artists like Nick McCarthy of Franz Ferdinand.

Now it’s 2023 and its feels fresh to put a spotlight on some of these tracks again.

And so here comes a 2nd compilation part of Gomma tracks:
Nancy Whang the singer of LCD Soundsystem, WhoMadeWho (the band started their career on Gomma), Italian disco producer Bottin, UK Indie Disco hero The Deadstock 33s aka Justin Robertson, NY Disco hipsters In Flagranti, German producers Munk and many more on this compilation.

Gomma not only was a record label, but was also a home for cutting edge design, wild T-shirt styles, underground exhibitions with new artists from the Berlin scene and crazy poster and fanzine design.
Many graphic design trends of the last years were preceded by what the artists on Gomma were doing. And many record and street wear labels of today look a bit like Gomma was looking before ... copying the images that Gomma preceeded: ironic cartoons, trash aesthetics, greek symbols, ugly design ideas and lot of ironic things.
The Gomma visuals world was exposed in a couple of exhibitions around the world and at a big exhibition at #hausderkunst München before the label was closed in 2015. (when Toy Tonics took off...)

Embark on a sonic odyssey with "Between Poetry and Catastrophe," a 15-year labor of love by Norwegian electronic artist Ars Dada. The title draws inspiration from the poignant words "Music lives in the span between poetry and catastrophe", of the late Norwegian composer Arne Nordheim.

In this album, Ars Dada delves into the extremes—where chaos intertwines with serenity, and violence meets the poetic. Every track is a meticulously crafted journey, featuring real instrumentation such as vocals, piano, and strings, including a grand collaboration with the chamber orchestra of the Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra. From intense breakbeat chaos to delicate neoclassical string pieces, Ars Dada invites you to experience the visceral beauty of this musical tapestry.

This isn't just an album; it's an exploration of the human condition at its most extreme.

Thank you to the performers and Arctic Philharmonic

Written and recorded with support from Fund for Performing Artists

All music written, arranged and produced by Erlend Bilsbak/Ars Dada
All strings recorded in Kysten studio by Sivert Henriksen

Violin on all tracks except Fjordyp, End of September, Skyggespill, and Du Må Ikke Sove performed by Brynjar Lien Schulerud

Violin on Fjordyp, End of September, Skyggespill, and Du Må Ikke Sove performed by Sander Tingstad

Viola on all tracks except Tjernet performed by Heidi Schulerud Bilsbak

Cello on all tracks except Tjernet performed by Håvard Bilsbak

Grand Piano on Fjordyp and Skyggespill performed by Yegor Shevtsov

Alto soprano on Fjordyp, End of September, Sub Luna Saltamus, Du Må Ikke Sove, and Grief performed by Marika Schultze

All strings on Tjernet by performed by Arktisk Filharmoni (Arctic Philharmonic)

Mastered by Julien Guillot at Electric Voyage Studio

Album photo and design by Erlend Bilsbak

The album "Folkhemmet" by Raa is a captivating musical journey that was released by Malmos Diskografiska. With its unique blend of folk and indie pop, this album offers a refreshing and soulful listening experience.

Raa, a talented Swedish singer-songwriter, showcases her exceptional storytelling abilities throughout the album. Her heartfelt lyrics delve into themes of love, loss, and self-discovery, resonating with listeners on a deep emotional level.

The melodies in "Folkhemmet" are beautifully crafted, combining acoustic instruments with subtle electronic elements. The arrangements are intricate yet understated, allowing Raa's enchanting vocals to take center stage. Her voice effortlessly glides over the melodies, conveying both vulnerability and strength.

Each track on the album has its own distinct personality. From the hauntingly beautiful ballad "Lost in Time" to the upbeat and infectious "Wanderlust," Raa showcases her versatility as an artist. The songs are expertly produced, creating a rich sonic landscape that draws the listener in from start to finish.

"Folkhemmet" is not just an album; it is an immersive experience that transports you to another world. Whether you're looking for introspective moments or catchy tunes to sing along to, this album has something for everyone.

With its thought-provoking lyrics, mesmerizing melodies, and impeccable production quality, "Folkhemmet" is a must-have addition to any music lover's collection. Immerse yourself in Raa's enchanting world and let her music touch your soul.

Hand-numbered limited edition in 200 Black vinyl (PVC Bag, printed inner-sleeve and MP3 download card included).

Musica Automata is an album by the Italian composer Leonardo Barbadoro (formerly known by his electronic alias Koolmorf Widesen), comprised of music performed by the largest robots orchestra in the world: 70 automated instruments controlled by digital impulses from a laptop computer.

It is music that brings together two dimensions often perceived as incompatible, even antithetical: the boundless expressive possibilities of electronics implemented by an acoustic instrumental body in a sensory reality, beating, vibrating, and blowing.
The album received excellent media coverage from the international press (Clash, Billboard, Redbull, Vice, CNN and more), radios (BBC Radio 3, RAI, Radio 1, VRT, ERR, WFMU, NTS, etc) and has been selected by a few websites and stores (such as Soundohm) as one of the best album of the year.

Brazilian producer and DJ Pedro Bertho, now based in France and an active member of Lyon's electronic music scene, releases his first EP on Cracki Records.

With "Mêlé", he attempts to translate what it feels like to be a black, Brazilian man living in France in the 21st century.

A complex patchwork of experiences, accents and heritages that he translates on this powerful record, mixing baile funk, house, electro or acid house, sprinkled with TR-808 and iPhone recordings.

The mix extends to the remixes, with Brazilian underground queen Badsista signing a hard-hitting version of "Jour 4", while Chilean Alejandro Paz tackles the bouncy "3333".

Kane Pour is a songwriter and multimedia artist who lives in Gainesville, FL, and has been making loop and guitar-based electronic music since 2004. His work often leans into the subtle and murky emotions that dwell beneath the surface, calling forth themes of care, sadness, and tenderness of the human soul. With a wide sonic palette and sense of humor, he puts his love of harmony and space first, slowly dimming through soft landscapes of various textures. The Last Wave is a spiritual successor to Sun People Sleepwalker, an album Kane Pour released as Pospulenn in 2010. The album is a series of ambient guitar meditations on reconciling painful memories, growing, and reclaiming identity. The Last Wave was recorded at the onset of the Covid pandemic when Pour was home isolating. He put together the songs and walked around at night listening to them, feeling intense loneliness in the present, but finding comfort in having time to reflect on his past. The tone and aesthetic of the album evolved over time but Pour named it The Last Wave because he thought it might be his last album or the last living remnant of his soul left after the world fell apart.

Punk pioneers Crass continue their vinyl reissue series, re-pressing their limited releases by adjacent artists through Crass Records, in association with One Little Independent. The series, including over twenty bands and solo artists recorded at the legendary Southern Studios and produced by Penny Rimbaud, continues with two more historic pieces from the Crass Records catalogue; ‘Barbed Wire Halo’ by Annie Anxiety and ‘Neu Smell’ by Flux of Pink Indians.

They follow records from the likes of Captain Sensible, Omega Tribe, Honey Bane, Jane Gregory, Lack of Knowledge, Sleeping Dogs, Rudimentary Peni and Zounds. First released on 7” vinyl, limiting the sound, the new series has been remastered for 12” by Alex Gordon at Abbey Road Studios, allowing them to be heard as never before. This, plus enlarged replicas of the original covers, brings new gusto to their already radical sound.

New York City musical maverick and performance artist Annie Anxiety, aka Little Annie aka Annie Bandez, began her illustrious career (including work with Adrian Sherwood, Coil, Current 93, and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry) with Crass. They released her first solo single, 1981’s ‘Barbed Wire Halo’ alongside ‘Cyanide Tears’, an extraordinarily prescient piece of jagged electronics, samples, and skeletal rhythms, led by Annie’s nightmarish vocals.

She tells us; “When creating this single with Penny I hadn’t heard the word ‘avant-guard’ nor could I spell it – I only got explained ‘concretism’ via an interview I did in Berlin regarding some of my work three years ago – My father was a printer so I grew up with sound of printing press and subway train beats and always heard melodies and cross rhythms within those beats – I was just making dance music / disco tunes to my mind and Pen heard those same tunes I was hearing – my first recording, in retrospect I guess, was pretty ‘out there’ at its release, but to us it was dance floor for a club yet to be invented- one day”.

Penny Rimbaud expands; “Annie Anxiety is a total enigma, a passionate voice in the wilderness of consensual reason. Dada in instinct, Monroe in affection, Rambo in inflection, Annie rams it home with divine thunder. An instigator and innovator, she’s the bonkers angel of Yonkers, NYC. With no time to spare, Annie takes to the road with complete conviction, overtaking Kerouac halfway down 5th Avenue. Catch her if you can”.

Most audiophiles know Alan Parsons Project's I Robot by heart. Engineered by Parsons after he performed the same duties on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, the 1977 record reigns as a disc whose taut bass, crisp highs, clean production, and seemingly limitless dynamic range are matched only by the sensational prog-rock fare helmed by the keyboardist and his creative partner, Eric Woolfson. Not surprisingly, it's been issued myriad times. Can it be improved? Relish Mobile Fidelity's stupendous UltraDisc One-Step 180g 33RPM box set and the question becomes moot.


Mastered from the original master tapes and pressed at RTI on MoFi SuperVinyl, I Robot comes to life with reference-setting realism on this numbered, limited-edition reissue. Boasting immaculate highs and lows, generous spaciousness, and see-through transparency that takes you into the studio with Parsons and Woolfson at Abbey Road, this definitive edition is designed to demonstrate the full-range capabilities of the world's best stereo systems while offering listeners the convenience of having all the music on one LP.

Featuring a nearly inaudible noise floor, this transcendent UD1S edition functions as a repeat invitation to savor reference-grade soundstages, immersive smoothness, sought-after instrumental separation, three-dimensional imaging, and consummate tonal balances. Able to be played back at high volumes without compromise or fatigue, it is a demonstration record for the ages – the likes of which are no longer being made. This is the very reason you own and invest in high-end audio gear.

The special characteristics of this UD1S version extend to the premium packaging. Housed in an elegant slipcase, the reissue features special foil-stamped jackets and faithful-to-the-original graphics. Aurally and visually, it is made for discerning listeners who prize sound quality and production, and who desire to fully immerse themselves in everything about this conceptual landmark. The Alan Parsons Project's most famous record deserves nothing less.

Inspired by and loosely based around the Isaac Asimov stories of the same name, I Robot delves into themes of artificial intelligence and technological dominance that make the record extremely relevant in the 21st century. Indeed, Parsons and Woolfson's pinnacle creation dovetailed with the ascendency of Star Wars, which itself is experiencing a rebirth in an age of self-driving cars, smart devices, and mindless automation. Lyrically, songs such as "The Voice" call into question human behavior – and their relationship to increasing robotic supremacy – in everyday life. Parsons and Woolfson reflect the associated paranoia, dichotomy, and transformation via shifting sci-fi arrangements steeped in drama and moodiness.

The absorbing tunes on I Robot also continue to fascinate due to their perfectionism and innovation. Borrowing from Pink Floyd's strategies, Parsons and Woolfson utilize a looped sequence on the title track to create new downbeats. "Some Other Time" employs two different lead vocalists and yet gives the illusion that only one is involved. Captivating strings, a piccolo trumpet, and bona fide pipe organ grace "Don't Let It Show." The origins of "Nucleus" stem from a unique analog keyboard concoction dubbed "the Projectron," devised by Parsons and electronic engineer Keith Johnson. Andrew Powell's orchestral and choral arrangements top it all off, with "Total Eclipse" arriving as a frightening track that presages the climactic "Genesis Ch. 1 V. 32."

Does man or machine win in the end? Decide as you get lost in Mobile Fidelity's UltraDisc 180g 33RPM LP pressing. Secure your numbered copy today!

More About Mobile Fidelity UltraDisc One-Step and Why It Is Superior
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab's UltraDisc One-Step (UD1S) technique bypasses generational losses inherent to the traditional three-step plating process by removing two steps: the production of father and mother plates, which are created to yield numerous stampers from each lacquer that is cut. For UD1S plating, stampers (also called "converts") are made directly from the lacquers. Since each lacquer yields only one stamper, multiple lacquers need to be cut. Mobile Fidelity's UD1S process produces a final LP with the lowest-possible noise floor. The removal of two steps of the plating process also reveals musical details and dynamics that would otherwise be lost due to the standard multi-step process. With UD1S, every aspect of vinyl production is optimized to produce the best-sounding vinyl album available today.

MoFi SuperVinyl

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

MidnightRoba is Roba El-Essawy, the voice of UK trio Attica Blues. Golden Seams marks Roba's return to music, this time both as vocalist and producer. Recorded during lockdown of 2020, Golden Seams features artists Jason Moran, Ben Williams, Edward Wakili-Hick, Junius Paul, David Mrakpor, Robert Mitchell, Tony Nwachukwu, Artyom Manukyan, Bubby Lewis, Mike King, Alec Harper, Dezron Douglas and Tommaso Cappellato. The album's foundation is firmly inspired by jazz, but in a style of her own. From electronic tracks such as Safe With Me, Self Doubt and Shelter Within, to the ballads Don't Let This Change, Reminded and jazz ballad Be Still, to the spiritual Bitter Boy (ft Jason Moran) and the classical title track Golden Seams.

The album was supported by Gilles Petterson on both BBC Radio 6 (as a feature artist) and Worldwide FM and by Kevin Le Gendre on BBC Radio 3's J to Z; by Tony Minvielle, Anne Frankenstein and China Moses on Jazz FM, where Don't Let This Change featured as Track of the Week, as well as by Kev Beadle, Alexander Nut, Leanne Wright, Charlie Dark, etc on NTS, Totally Wired Radio and Worldwide FM.

HJirok is a mythical figure, conceived as a fictional character by Iranian-born Kurdish singer and artist Hani Mojahedy. Together with versatile music producer And Toma of Mouse On Mars, she combined a variety of sounds collected during their joint travels to Iraqi Kurdistan and elsewhere with heavily processed recordings of Sufi drum rhythms and setar melodies. The result is a driving, dubbed-out, and deeply intricate soundscape that perfectly sets the stage for Mojahedy's extended, unconventional vocal techniques and polyglot lyrics. Both informed by tradition and rigorously forward-looking, »Hjirok« (with a lowercase J) is at once a profoundly personal album and a universal utopian promise. As a ghost from the past, HJirok draws on Mojtahedy's memories to mould a new future out of them.

The foundation for »Hjirok« was laid in the city of Erbil in the Kurdish part of Iraq. During one of their stays in the region, Mojahedy and Toma recorded the three percussionists Hadi Alizadeh, Jawad Salkhordeh and Serdar Saydan as well as setar player Ali Choolaei from Motahedy's backing band while they were playingthe rhythms and notes that she had grown up with in the house of her grandfather in the Iranian city of Sanandaj. Her memories of that place revolve around hypnotic Sufi music, dervishes in deep trance, and ecstatic singing. Much like this music seemed to open a portal to other dimensions, the inhabitants of the house lived in a sort of alternative reality: It provided them with a hideaway from political circumstances. Following the Iranian revolution in 1979, a Kurdish rebellion ensued but was met with the utmost brutality by the new regime, which resulted in the death of thousands.

It is no coincidence that the music on »Hirok« would draw on rhythmic patterns that were passed on from one generation to the next for hundreds of years. »The project is rooted in the figures of the Sufi dervishes and thus a culture that precedes today's political, social, cultural, and religious systems,« explains Mohtahedy. »The Sufi sound travelled around the entire world. I like to think of it as a dialogue between peoples-one based on the rhythms of the drums and the sound of their voices.« Toma adds that by electronically transforming the recordings and enriching them with field recordings from both rural and urban spaces, they were able to use the stories told by the drums and the setar to create an entirely new narrative.

The story told by these eight pieces is hence a deeply personal, but also inherently political one. Moitahedy herself left Iran in 2004 and relocated to Berlin in 2010. Having continued to use her art as a platform to tirelessly advocate for the rights of the Kurdish people and women under oppressive regimes, she has not been allowed to return to her country of origin ever since. »Hani is singing for equality and there are people who are afraid of that-her femininity, her strength.« Toma says. Much like earlier Hirok sound installations addressed human-made climate change and other systemic ills, also »Hjirok« can hardly be disconnected from far-reaching struggles for liberation and equality.

This is also true on a thematic and even linguistic level. »The lyrics are about a promise,« Mojahedy says, citing Kurdish writer Ebdulla Pesêw as an inspiration. »At their core, these are about that day on which violence and fear become a thing of the past; what they tell you is ot not give up, to keep hoping,« she adds. The promise embedded in them is an emancipatory one. These contents are mirrored on a linguistic level: The lyrics were written in both Kurdish and Farsi, blurring the lines between the two languages and thus, Kurdish and Persian cultures.

Mojahedy, or rather HJirok, conveys these philosophical themes with elegance. Herversatile vocal performance is only loosely basedo n established styles. »Of course everything started with traditional rhythms, but we kept pushing things further and further, so Idid the same with my voice,« Mojahedy explains. »There were no boundaries.« The same can be said of the field recordings that she and Toma used. Whether it's conversations between members of the Pesmerge, the Kurdish armed forces, having a chat in meadow full of bunnies or the humming and buzzing of metropolises like Tehran: »Hirok« paints a sonic picture that is quite literally autopian one; that of a non-place in which different soundscapes, cultures and ways of life coexist peacefully.

What the album conjures up from Mojahedy's memory is not only a very specific place during a unique time in history as experienced by a single person. It is also ametaphorical home open to anyone who wishes to enter - promise of a better, more egalitarian future for everyone. Hence, HJirok will bring it on tour, presenting the material as an audio-visual live show that makes use of the photo and video material that Mojahedy and Toma have collected during their travels through Kurdistan.ja

Twin giant towers of amps grinding out minimal beat bloop, the transient sound molecules smell of burning gear and the floor of the pit—this is organic, electronic music at its finest. Dance? Why not. Freak out? For sure. Brothers from a different mother (Bjorn Copeland and Aaron Warren) à la two-thirds of Black Dice have come together with this fantastic debut Flaccid Mojo for us. These are mean beat vipers, spitting and tumescent on the abattoir floor.

I would call it drug music, but I’m not sure what drugs these humans consume. Stem cell and adrenal gland cocktails I’m guessing. Futuristic and primal it is, beats from the Thunder-Dome, fight music for fuckers. I’ve seen them on two separate occasions blow the power for an entire building. Baller move, boys. Produced perfectly by Chris Coady (look him up to be impressed). This record is a burning car in a field and I love it.

For fans of Black Dice, Container, Whitehouse, Negativland, Ralph Records, minimal beats à la Profan, vintage Japanese noise, Severed Heads, windburn and chapped lips. (John Dwyer)

Straight From the Republic of Bashkortostan (!), the Excellent Dj Producer Apollon Telefax (Who Was Already in the Band Arash & Quasar for Their Last Release on Mellah - One of Our Sub-Label), Is Back This Time on Skylax Records Alone. "Fantasia Planet" Is a Captivating Journey Into the Realm of Balearic-Inspired Melodies and Italo Disco Vibes. This Ep, Meticulously Crafted by the Talented Electronic Artist, Showcases a Fusion of Leftfield House and Disco That Will Transport You to Euphoric Soundscapes. the Mesmerizing Opening, "Mbira," Sets the Tone With Its Intricate Rhythms and Ethereal Melodies. "Not Wet Wipes" Follows Suit, Captivating Listeners With Its Infectious Groove and Hypnotic Basslines. as You Delve Deeper Into the Ep, "Macarena" Unveils a Blend of Nostalgic Sounds and Contemporary Beats, Igniting a Dancefloor Frenzy. the Titular Track, "Fantasia Planet," Takes You on a Cosmic Voyage With Its Cosmic Arpeggios and Pulsating Synths, Creating an Otherworldly Atmosphere. "Sex on Astrakhan Fur Coat" Seduces Your Senses With Its Seductive Melodies and Sensuous Rhythms, Offering an Irresistible Invitation to the Dancefloor. Concluding the Journey, "Moodoom" Embraces a Darker and Mysterious Tone, Immersing Listeners in a Captivating Blend of Intricate Percussion and Haunting Melodies. Apollon Telefax Is a Versatile Musician, Multi-Instrumentalist, Dj, and Illustrator. With an Extensive Collection of Vintage Synthesizers and Drum Machines From the 80s, Pavel Masterfully Combines Elements From Various Musical Traditions, Infusing Them With His Own Unique Touch. His Dedication to Remixes and Constant Exploration of Rare Vinyl Records Ensures a Constant Flow of Intriguing and Innovative Compositions. Experience the Magic of Apollon Telefax's "Fantasia Planet" Ep and Let the Irresistible Rhythms and Captivating Melodies Transport You to a World of Boundless Musical Enchantment. Unveil the Secrets of This Extraordinary Release, Where the Past Meets the Present in a Harmonious Embrace of Sound and Creativity....

Idriss D officially launches the brand new label Nedjma with his own 2-vinyl, 8-track album as first release. The imprint will serve as a platform for up and coming talents from the Arabic world who are not represented in the current musical landscape. A very bold statement from Idriss himself, this record sees the Franco-Algerian dj and producer infuse his personal history into what he loves the most and share it with the rest of the world.

First track Tsakhbira works as the perfect opener for the album with a melodic ambient-like mood and Arabic chants, with second track Beld el fen following in the same vein with raditional instruments interspersed with synth stabs and eerie atmos.

Chazil’s upbeat rhythm spices up the vibe, a mix of ethereal
singalongs and bouncy percussions. Mohamed is the first foray into Electronic territory, a downtempo piece featuring French vocals and plenty of analog industrial clanks that lead into subsequent Hey Galbi, an exquisite melodic house number with acid synth melodies and piano keys.

Electro (Leila Moon Remix) delves into more experimental landscapes, with darker tones, blurred vocals and pulsating beats, while Elf Leila is quintessential Electroclash Arabic music, blending these two genres together, with a syncopated super catchy bassline. Closing track Harramt is a whirlwind of snare rolls, 303 arpeggios and nods to North African heritage sounds.

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Roche Musique is unveiling its 3rd compilation "HOUSE OF GROOVE". 9 tracks featuring the label's long-standing artists FKJ, Darius, Kartell, Zimmer... and international guests from the emerging scene Enchantée Julia, Lossapardo, Flaurese, Barney Bones...

These new tracks, characteristic of Roche's groove, bring a richer electronic musical colour with diverse influences.

One of New Zealand’s fastest-rising electronic producers, Sanoi aka Jonas Fischer announces the release of his new album, ‘Echoes Of Home’. Rooted in melodic house and techno, the album is a journey through electronic music, one that is as at home on the dancefloor as it is on headphones.  Having previously released on labels such as Bar 25, Stil Vor Talent, Beat & Path, Magician On Duty, Sounds Of Sin and Tube & Berger’s Zehn Records, Loop are proud to present Sanoi’s second full-length. The New Zealand-based, German-born producer has crafted deeply personal electronic music that pushes the boundaries of creativity, skill and production techniques, while influenced by organic deep house and electronic techno from Berlin.  Created at his home in Auckland, and road tested across countless live performances across New Zealand and Australia over the past two years, ‘Echoes Of Home’ sees Sanoi’s songwriting step up to another level. Constantly developing as an artist and finding expression through music are some of the key factors that drive him, whether it be in the studio or behind the decks. His deeply danceable, meticulous though mischievous DJ sets see him move seamlessly across warm, melodic, groove-driven techno and beyond.  Featuring vocals by Beacon Bloom on ‘Silver’.

The Knife’s Olof Dreijer continues his new adventure as a solo producer with a three-track EP, also marking a unique sonic chapter in his work.Olof has been pushing the borders of electronic music for two decades, both as a part of The Knife and with the secret pseudonym Oni Ayhun - releasing music that traverses experimental avenues, exploring themes surrounding gender.

The Coral EP draws inspiration from the lively steel-drum experiments featured in last year's "Souvenir" EP with Mt. Sim

Vibrant compositions and distinct melodies create an ambient progression where electronic and acoustic sounds delicately dance together, forming friendships and blending seamlessly, reminiscent of white magic.

Olof has recently co-produced several tracks on Fever Ray’s critically acclaimed 2023 album “Radical Romantics”, produced Tunisian multi-instrumentalist and composer Houeida Hedfi’s debut album “Fleuves De L'âme”, as well as helped create music with Planningtorock and Zhala.

6-track EP compilation with Terada's work for the Ape Escape games, tip!

Outside of the international house underground, where his early ‘90s works for the Far East Recording label he co-founded with Shinichiro Yokota are rightly celebrated as bona-fide classics, Soichi Terada is best-known for his work composing music for video games. Yet until now, few of his productions for video games have been released outside of Japan, especially on vinyl.

Apes In The Net, a six-track EP featuring music composed for the popular PlayStation 1 series Ape Escape, sets the record straight. It not only showcases Terada’s quality as a composer and producer, but also his versatility. Like much of Terada’s work on the Ape Escape series, the tracks featured don’t explore deep, New York and New Jersey influenced house sounds, but rather his lesser-celebrated love of jungle and drum & bass – a sound he fully explored on 1996 album Sumo Jungle.

“The producer of the Ape Escape games heard that and got in touch,” Soichi remembers. “They asked me to make the soundtrack, and then work on the music for the sequels after that. I used to love making music with AKAI hardware samplers, synthesisers, and computers, so I played and recorded the tracks using almost the same methods as I did when I made house music. Using breakbeats and audio samples with a sampler was the most useful way to make the soundtracks.”

The six tracks on show, which were originally recorded in the ‘90s but reconstructed and remastered for Japan-only CD and digital releases over a decade ago, mix elements of Terada’s familiar deep house style – think warming chords and pads, memorable melodies, and emotive musical motifs – with blistering D&B breakbeats, 16-bit synth sounds, electronic bleeps and undeniably weighty basslines. They’ve stood the test of time and arguably sound just as fresh now as they did at the turn of the millennium.

For proof, check the soaring, spellbinding ‘Spectors Castle’, where uplifting lead lines and sumptuous chords dance atop punchy beats and growling bass, the jazzy and saucer-eyed rush of ‘Mount Amazing’ (all twinkling piano motifs, alien synth sounds, squelchy bass and skittish drums) and the intergalactic, liquid D&B excellence of ‘Time Station’, whose whistling melodies and stargazing chords are undeniably alluring.

There are plenty of other delights to be found across the EP, too, from the bustling, race-to-the-finish breathlessness of D&B/bleep techno fusion workout ‘Spectors Factory In’, and the rumbling sub-bass, creepy pads and suspenseful melodies of ‘Haunted House’, to the bombastic, all-out-assault on the senses that is ‘Coaster’, the set’s most “purist” jungle workout – albeit one that also doffs a cap to the pulsating world of big room techno.

Apes In The Net, then, celebrates Soichi Terada’s mastery as a video games composer and early Japanese junglist. Props are well and truly overdue.

Love Makes Magic, the debut LP by JIM - aka Jim Baron of Crazy P & Ron Basejam notoriety - was released in June 2023 and the album has connected with an ever growing number of fans; lured in by great songs, Laurel Canyon singer-songwriter acoustics, 60’s psychedelic folk-rock, a dash of Balearic, discoid funk and a healthy dose of yacht-rock.
The album was voted Album of the Year in the Bill Brewster Furtive 50 chart for 2023 - like a Balearic BAFTAs - and Still River Flow (Generalisation Dub) came 2nd in the tracks of the year... which was nice.

Disco Pogo, Piccadilly Records and Mr Bongo all gave the LP honourable mention in their end of year charts too.
As you’d expect with an artist who has 25 years of dance music connections the accompanying remixes weren’t bad either... Crooked Man, Ruf Dug, Flying Mojito Brothers and Generalisation all came up with fine reinterpretations. Luke Unabomber hailed The Crooked Goth version of Phoenix as his track of the year. The vinyl run of the Crooked Mixes sold out in record time.

As the remixes racked up we considered collecting them together for a remix LP. And so here we are...
presenting Love Makes Magic - The Remixes.

The five aforementioned mixes will be joined by five brand new ones from X-Press 2, Mang Dynasty, Chris Coco, Begin ( James Holroyd) and Brown Fang. Spanning pumping club bangers, perfect sunsets soundtracks and left-field electronica.
We love them.
We hope you do too..

When accidents happen, they are normally over in seconds, sometimes minutes; this one has been going on for 20 years. It is two decades since the members of Emile Parisien’s quartet played a jam session together. At the end, they looked at each other in disbelief. They had not just been hit by a collective musical thunderbolt, they also knew they had just brought...well...something...into being. The common ground between them was jazz, but each had all kinds of seeds to sow in it, from classical music and contemporary sounds to rock, electronica and chanson. Saxofonist Emile Parisien, Pianist Julien Touéry, Bassist Ivan Gélugne and drummer Julien Loutelier rip up labels, break down barriers, upset codes, and yet they know exactly where they are headed. There is a shared obsession with narrative. “The central axis of the quartet has always been storytelling,” Parisien emphasizes.

“Let Them Cook” is like a breath of fresh air, and with a band sound now firmly and unmistakably of 2024 rather than 2004. There was a particular turning point: at a concert in Sweden near the end of their “Double Screening” album tour, they had taken a chance and tried out a move from an entirely acoustic sound to incorporate some electronics.It worked, so they stayed with it: they found that these electronic punctuations never polluted the band’s DNA, but rather stimulated it. The electronic apparatus was clearly additive to the stories of these compositions, the way it all fitted together was astounding.

Which brings us back to the ever-present question: how do you get away from the classic jazz quartet of sax, piano, bass and drums? “We’re always trying to find the answer! There’s no point in redoing what the John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter groups did, because in many ways you’ll never reach their level.” “There’s a certain road in life most people walk on,” Wayne Shorter once said, “because it’s familiar, and they can jostle to get in front. I prefer to take a different road that’s less crowded, with many forks, where you get a wider view of life. I call it ‘the road less travelled’. That’s where I want to be.” In the year which marks its 20th anniversary, Emile Parisien’s quartet has never been more in tune with the thinking of one of its main influences.
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Les Égarés

Les Égarés

ARN4L2 (pronouced arn-al-dos) aka Arnaldo Berdugo is a producer and DJ from Cartagena, Colombia. He grew up surrounded by music, namely the vinyl treasures that his grandfather accumulated as director of a local radio station in San Estanislao de Kotska, Bolívar, a Colombian Caribbean town with a large Afro-descendant population.
In his productions, ARN4L2 combines Colombian musical traditions such as Bullerengue, Chalupa and Tambora with electronic elements such as synthesizers, samplers, and drum machines, resulting in a unique sound that reflects his own, strongly African- influenced Caribbean vision.
Galletas Calientes is proud to release his first solo project on vinyl: a collection of 5 upbeat tunes for the floor, blending Congolese soukous, Colombian Bullerengue, Nigerian highlife, Caribbean soca, and House; with a uniquely distinctive, progressive and psychedelic touch.
His Colombian, Caribbean and African roots have been shaping this young producer’s personality as an artist and a human being, and the distinguished style he has developed over the years is definitely the result of all these influences.
“Caribe” is the third volume of Galletas Calientes Records “Colombian Singles Series”, a series with a purpose of awakening interest in modern Colombian electronic music.

Except from Rachid Taha, who allowed himself a few forays into the teeming, vibrant heaths of techno, no raï singer other than Cheb Malik has ever ventured into this terrain known for its abundance of sound. If you know about Malik Adouane's ancestry, this is hardly surprising. Born in Librecourt, near Lens, he comes from a union between an Italo-Celtic mother who instilled Western sounds into his ears and a father, a former miner born in Biskra (north-east Algeria), a palm grove near the desert, musically renowned for its lively diwan that could be called Saharan opera. In addition, the town is renowned for its chakhchouka, a dish called after its rich blend of various ingredients and spices. Just like Malik’s music, as he was a fan of James Brown, Barry White, classical Arabic and raï music. He had been thinking about it from the beginning, but the dream took a long time to materialize. In January 1986, many raï idols turned up in Bobigny, France, for a historic and seminal festival. In the midst of the audience, the young man, dressed in black leather, provided security for the concerts of many stars before becoming one himself. He would rub his eyes, not because he was dazzled, but because they were clouded by a nostalgia that remained him of itself. So, with his head full of sounds warmly recommended by the best DJs, he set out, a little provocatively, to position himself at the cutting edge of music with a new concept called "After raï". It combined the sweet and precious past with an almost uncontrollable creative audacity. It's a balm made in a test-tube-studio from a mix of Arabic melodies and lyrics - a kind of "Arabeat", and the arrogant modernity produced by samplers, electronic spinning, roaring bass and guitars made for house music. The pinnacle of the record is a masterful cover of Isaac Hayes' Shaft, which set dancefloors on fire in Paris, London, Ibiza and New York, and became internationally known thanks to its presence on a Paris Dernière compilation curated by French musician and DJ Béatrice Ardisson along with Claude Challe's iconic Buddha Bar series. Now, shall we dance?

Following 2022' acclaimed 'Topical Dancer' album with Charlotte Adigéry, here comes 'Letter To Yu', the debut solo album by Bolis Pupul : produced by fellow Belgians Soulwax & released on DEEWEE/Because Music. Exploring many themes including loss, grief, ancestry, culture, belonging/not belonging and identity. It's no coincidence that Bolis Pupul's music sounds the way it does. Born in Belgium to a Chinese mother and Belgian father and raised in the super-cool creative city of Ghent, Bolis' music is a joyous cross-cultural assemblage. Mixing widescreen electronica with the warm-hearted and wonky naivete of Belgian New Beat, Bolis' singular sonics are at once playful, emotive, unrelenting and tender. The real key to unlocking Bolis' musical secret, however, is that conversation he has between his Eastern and Western roots. The creation of the album is built around Bolis' trip to Hong Kong earlier this year, made to reconnect with his late mother's roots.

It all started with a crashed computer and it certainly didn’t end there. »Cinnte le Dia« is the third collaborative album by Hanno Leichtmann and Valerio Tricoli, their first entry into Ni Vu Ni Connu’s duo series that focuses on Berlin’s Echtzeitmusik scene and beyond. Having already released two joint records on the now-defunct Entr'acte label, the two musicians wanted to document a 2018 concert in Berlin, but technology failed them. Undeterred, the sound artist and percussionist and the electroacoustic composer went to the former’s Static Music Studio to record six of the eight tracks on this record straight to tape, with two additional ones being recorded during a performance at Eupen’s Meakusma festival in 2019.

After 2016’s »The Future of Discipline« saw the duo enter the studio for a one-take session with added synth-bass overdubs and 2018’s »La Casa delle Chimere« documented a live gig in Kyiv, »Cinnte le Dia« presents a synthesis of the two approaches. Mixing the album together and adding overdubs—Leichtmann with his synth-bass again, Tricoli with his trusted Revox B77—the duo combined the special energy of their performance in front of a live audience with the intimate atmosphere of a studio session between two exceptional improvisers and composers. The pieces are accordingly marked by their sonic density, but also a rhythmic intricacy that makes the album as a whole negotiate its place in music history between bass-heavy, dubbed-out club music and electroacoustic as well as musique concrète techniques.

Leichtmann worked with a mix of acoustic percussion routed through a modified looper and a granular live sampler as well as electronic drums consisting of three modular sampleplayers, a Syncussion drum synth and a bass drum module. Depending on the current set-up, the two fed this input through Tricoli’s B77 either individually or collectively to further manipulate single elements or the entire sound. What might look complicated on a tech rider sounds intuitive on record: these are two versatile musicians engaging in a play of difference and repetition, acting and reacting to each other in real-time, but also creating additional layers by inserting new elements after the fact. In a very literal way, »Cinnte le Dia« is the duo’s most refined album, yet at the same time a testament to the uncanny energy they unleash during their improvisations. It’s solemn and moody, spontaneous and driving at once. Of course a computer couldn’t handle that.

Moor Mother is an American musician, poet, and interdisciplinary artist known for her avant-garde and experimental work. The Great Bailout is an expansive meditation that acts as a non-linear word map about colonialism, slavery, and commerce in Great Britain. Featuring guest contributions from Lonnie Holley, Angel Bat Dawid & Sistas of the Nitty Gritty, Vijay Iyer, Mary Lattimore, and more, it"s Moor Mother"s most uncompromising vision to date. Moor Mother has gained recognition for her unique blend of spoken word, noise, and electronic music, addressing themes of race, gender, and socio-political issues. She hails from Philadelphia and has been an influential figure in the city"s vibrant arts and music scene. She has received critical acclaim for her albums, with reviewers praising her fearless approach to sound and her thought-provoking lyrical content on albums like "Jazz Codes" and "Analog Fluids of Sonic Black Holes", showcasing her boundary-pushing sonic experiments.

No Wahala Sound Orchestra is a contemporary, London-based collective with members from backgrounds as diverse as Jamaica, Ghana, Bangladesh, Poland, Trinidad, Denmark, Ireland and the UK.Gideon Coe ( 6Music) Neil Luscombe (BBC Radio 3) and Steve Barker ( BBC Radio Lancashire) have all offered their support over the years.

The music takes in elements of electronica, jazz, reggae, dub poetry, Afrobeat, classical Indian music and many other global sounds."On Gossamer Clouds" is a compilation of some key recordings over the last ten years. It features 12 tracks which vary in styles and mood, but form a coherent whole.

Post-Punk (Originally Called New Musick) Is A Broad Musical Genre That Emerged In 1977 In The Wake Of Punk Rock. Post-Punk Musicians Moved Away From Punk's Traditional Elements And Raw Simplicity, Adopting Instead A Broader, More Experimental Approach That Included A Variety Of Avant-Garde Sensibilities And Non-Rock Influences. Inspired By Punk's Energy And DIY Ethos, But Determined To Break With Rock Clichés, Artists Experimented With Styles Such As Funk, Electronic Music, Jazz And Dance Music; Dub And Disco Production Techniques; And Ideas From Art And Politics, Including Critical Theory, Modernist Art, Film And Literature.

These Communities Have Produced Independent Record Labels, Visual Art, Multimedia Performances And Fanzines. These Three Compilations Are By No Means 'Best Of' Or Collections Of Chart Hits. They Are Compilations That Endeavour (And We Think They Do Well) To Take A Wide-Ranging Look At The UK And American Post-Punk Scene In The Years From 1978 To 1984, But Here Almost Everything Stops In 1981, Giving Space To Bands And Artists That Almost Always Didn't Make It Beyond The 45 Rpm Mark. A Representation Of The True 'Outside Of Everything' Of The Era.

An intimate, vast, and mineral landscape, that's MaMaMa’s first album.

« Hier Sera Meilleur » (« Yesterday Will Be Better ») is the most personal project the musician has ever undertaken. It's an album of confessions and echoes. The echoes of the world within him, those of the past that haunt and drive the present, and also the echoes of the future that are already speaking to us.

Entirely composed, written, arranged, and mixed by Elliot, the tracks that make up this album blend organic recordings with synthetic productions. Euphonium, saxophone, clarinet, or a string quintet recorded in the studio coexist and intersect with various synthesizers and electronic plug-ins.

Ancient textures meet modern sounds. Black and white turns into color.

Everything changes and nothing is ever just what we perceive it to be, MaMaMa seems to tell us, however for the duration of a song, we are there. Yesterday will be better.

Stuck on common ground is the debut album of the Italian Power Trio hijss. With a mixture of heavy blues influenced riffs and synthesized Krautrock parts hijss tries to create a high dynamic range that will keep your attention at all time. On top of gritty basslines and ferocious drums lie cosmic guitars, tantalizing vocals and arpeggiated electronic drones. All three band members come from a vast musical background. Their common denominator is with out a doubt a punkish attitude. The album was produced by Toni Quiroga and hijss, drums were recorded at Nologo Recording Studio, Laives by "holy barbarian" Fabio Sforza. Engineered, mixed and mastered at accept productions by Toni Quiroga, album cover by Luca Guarino.

Mercurio is the debut album by Opuntia, the solo project of Mexico City producer Camila de Laborde. After three albums with her duo/band, Camila Fuchs (ATP/Felte, etc.), Camila decides to embark on a new path of musical and interpersonal exploration with Opuntia as her new alias, and with the album Mercurio as a statement of metamorphosis and creative process.

Broadly speaking, Mercurio is a direct impact of beautiful melodies, rhythms, and voices that traverse a leftfield electronic pop axis, sprinkled with elegant nods to experimental transitions. In Mercurio, you can sense the spaces, textures, and echoes, akin to a sort of retro Sci-Fi analogy. Bass hits or percussions carry a weight that bursts forth yet delicately dissolves instantly – perhaps another analogy, akin to liquid metal. From softness to fury across the ten songs, Opuntia proposes an artistic reinvention in constant movement. Speeds and spaces change, but the narrative remains consistent from beginning to end – finding a place, a resolved utopia. Mercurio is darkly joyful, with substantial doses of sophisticated pop.

The king of Colombian Bass is back on another low-end adventure!
In the vein of his previous work "Colombian Party", "Sendero" is another homage to the diversity of Colombia’s musical cultures and the artist's all-time favorite genres such as bass music, Hip-Hop and Dancehall. The album was entirely recorded between Bogotá and Sunka’s countryside farm, where the artist has been living for the past few years, growing all kinds of fruits and vegetables, Sunka’s new album “Sendero”, featuring Medellin-based hip-hop and reggae singer Raspapulaman, rising stars La Bembera and Zam El Caribean, Bogotá-based hip-hop and punk singer Jacob DMC, hip-hop maestros Kontent Thug and Santacruz Medina of Kartel Pacifico, is not your typical tropical album.
As accustomed , Sunka delivers a perfect blend of sub frequencies, heavy electronic drums and organic elements. Sweet and sharp at the same time,"Sendero" will make you
whine your waist at home and in the club, and will certainly go heavy on your speakers!

Scottish alt/post/progressive-rock outfit Midas Fall release their Fifth studio album, ‘Cold Waves Divide Us’ on March 8th, 2024 worldwide on Monotreme Records. Michael Hamilton joins founding members Elizabeth Heaton and Rowan Burn for the follow-up to their 2018 Prog Magazine Awards ‘Limelight Award’ winning album, ‘Evaporate’. ‘Cold Waves Divide Us’ sees Midas Fall at their most confidently visceral, each song moving beautifully between quiet and loud, gentle and crushing. “This album is a heavier and bigger experience than the last album”, says Heaton. “We kept the atmospheric strings and 80s synths of Evaporate but wanted to add heavier layered elements, to represent more what we sound like live.” Opener ‘In the Morning We’ll Be Someone Else’ starts quietly with serene piano and vocals, ominously ratcheting up the tension to walls of crashing guitars and Heaton’s soaring vocals. ‘I Am Wrong’ thunders along on pounding rhythmic drums swirling around heavy swathes of low and delicate melodic highs. On ‘Monsters’, the band are more contemplative, with an ethereal beginning making way for gorgeously syncopated guitar and drums, whilst ‘Cold Waves Divide Us’ builds slower, allowing Heaton’s voice to gracefully float over the growing force beneath it. ‘Avalanche’ is a bittersweet lullaby showcasing Heaton’s heart-rending vocals in one of the quieter moments on the album. ‘Point of Diminishing Return’ sees a more electronic influence, with glittering shimmered synths taking the space where guitar melodies were, but with all of the Post Rock beauty that the duo are known for, something ‘Little Wooden Boxes’ showcases perfectly, expertly hovering between gentle clean guitar and piano, and exhilarating, uplifting full-band, full-bore epic. Credits: Elizabeth Heaton - vocals, guitars, strings, synths, piano, drums // Rowan Burn - guitars, synths, piano, drums // Michael Hamilton - bass, synths, drums // Music by Elizabeth Heaton and Rowan Burn/Lyrics by Elizabeth Heaton

The newly reborn Danish label, tech-nology, is reintroducing its first two releases.

The second release on tech-nology back in 2003 by El Far, alsoknown as Bjorn Svin, stands as a true techno masterpiece andis now rereleased as the label has been relaunched in 2023. Bjorn Svin has taken the lead again, contributing a remix that kick-starts the label in 2023 with TN EDITS 02 Lotte kaersa:"Prov og gor li'som jeg" - played by Luca Bacchetti at Burning Man 2023.

Additionally, the track gained attention on the latest Michael Meyer podcast,

But this is all about the beginning of the label and the beginningon the dancefloor Bjorn Svin was one of the first electronic musician in Denmark spearheaded an uprising Scandinavian rave scene, developinga unique, recognizable sound inspired by Detroit techno and British early IDM pioneers: playful and melodic but simultaneously groovy and entrancing.

In 1997, April Records released Bjorn Svin's debut full-lengthalbum Mer Strom; the opening single became an unofficialanthem for the entire generation of Scandinavian ravers.

Tech-nology captured a mature Bjorn Svin in 2003 and releasedwhat is arguably his best techno track ever produced, featured on this EP that highlights his techno skills under the moniker El Far. This authentic techno experience transports you back to theorigins of electronic dance music, going back to the old abandoned warehouses where social and casual dancing defined the essence of the scene.

Yet, the record captures what it is still all about, the love to themusic, the love on the dancefloor, this is him, her and wet area.

By the turn of the 80s, the impact of David Bowie’s ground- breaking Berlin recordings – the synths, the alienation, the drily futuristic production – was being felt on music across Europe. What’s more, the records being made were reflecting back and influencing Bowie’s own work – 1979’s Lodger and 1980’s Scary Monsters owed a debt to strands of German kosmische (Holger Czukay), new electronica (Patrick Cowley, Harald Grosskopf), and the latest works from old friends and rivals like Robert Fripp, Peter Gabriel and Scott Walker, all of whom had been re-energised by the fizz of 1977.

Compiled by Saint Etienne’s Bob Stanley and the BFI’s Jason Wood, Fantastic Voyage is the companion album to their hugely successful Café Exil collection, which imagined the soundtrack to David Bowie and Iggy Pop’s trans-European train journeys in the mid-to-late seventies. “Fantastic Voyage” is what happened next.

Bowie’s influences and Bowie’s own influence were rebounding off each other as the 70s ended and the 80s began, notably in the emergent synthpop and new romantic scenes as well as through the music of enigmatic acts like the Associates and post-punk pioneers such as Cabaret Voltaire.

Like Low and Heroes, some of the tracks on Fantastic Voyage are spiked with tension (Grauzone’s ‘Eisbär’) while some share those albums’ sense of travel (Simple Minds’ ‘Theme for Great Cities’, Ryuichi Sakamoto’s ‘Riot in Lagos’) and others find common ground with “Lodger’s” dark, subtle humour (Thomas Leer’s ‘Tight as a Drum’, Fripp’s ‘Exposure’).

This is the thrilling, adventurous sound of European music before the watershed moment when Bowie would abandon art- pop for America and the emerging world of MTV with “Let’s Dance” in 1983. Fantastic Voyage soundtracks the few brief years when the echo chamber of Bowie, his inspirations, and his followers created an exciting, borderless music that was ready to challenge Anglo American influences.

Italian hard techno DJ-producer MAIKE DEPAS announces EP "Rave the Planet" (out 29 February) ahead of MAIKE DEPAS 2.0 audio-visual makeover

"Depas strikes a fine balance between raw energy and subtle melodic hooks." (DMY)

"Throughout the pounding track Midnight Ride, the Italian beatsmith expertly blends lush synths with intricate rhythmic components and gritty bass." (EDM com)

"Depas' approach to techno is a veritable melting pot of influences, blending sounds from the 80s and 90s with contemporary symphonic and cinematic elements." (Magnetic Mag)

Upon the return from the dark and dreamy regions of his previous EP "Euphoria", Milanese hard techno DJ-producer MAIKE DEPAS (Michelangelo De Pasquale) announces new EP "Rave the Planet", out 29 February via The Innovation Studio, ahead of MAIKE DEPAS 2.0 audio-visual makeover. Sending tremors through the electronic underground scene, Depas joins Kobosil and In Verruf in carrying the torch of uncompromising Berlin techno while keeping his feet firmly planted in the melodic 1990s trance of Push, Jam & Spoon, and Cygnus X.

Introducing his new heavy-duty fusion of face-melting techno and trance carrying "Go Hard or Go Home" warning sign, Depas makes the crowd grind their teeth with a behemoth of an opener "Heartbreaker" only to fill the dancefloor with dread on the shiver-inducing "Vortex", a power move designed to set the scene for the title track"s fervent rave sermon delivered in a cyborg voice by Depas, followed by the erotic undertones of throbbing closer "Float Together" including the blistering remix by the Italian DJ Amstra.

"Rave the planet / Stay together / In techno we trust / Rave the planet" - MAIKE DEPAS, Rave the Planet

At its core, "Rave the Planet" is Depas" personal paean to the true spirit of the original rave culture as represented by Lukas Havlik"s (Ludenworks) Luis Royo-esque artwork of a pulsating cybernetic planet of complex, interconnected nerve fibres wrapped around the Depas globe logo. “As a raver, you feel this sense of unity with community and it"s similar to a religion we"ve had for thousands and thousands of years,” Depas compares. “We are the planet, we are the culture, so both are the reflection of ourselves in the wider world.” For Depas, the concept of solidarity runs deep within techno culture. Coming right from the heart, Depas is driven by the opportunity to bring people together for one thing and one thing only: “Just for the love of techno and to celebrate the music in a club.”

"As a raver, you feel this sense of unity with a community similar to a religion we"ve had for thousands and thousands of years." - MAIKE DEPAS

"Rave the Planet" is released in conjunction with MAIKE DEPAS 2.0, a tectonic audio-visual shift that entails a wide array of digital content as varied as DJ sets live streamed from Berlin"s Teufelsberg and other dystopian locations around Europe as well as enhanced PR-photos featuring cyberpunk-inspired outfits designed by Demobaza, a cyberpunk-inspired casual couture brand best known for their sustainable Dune X Demobaza collection. Over the course of upcoming metamorphosis from a flesh-and-blood individual into a mysterious CGI character, Depas is another step closer to revolutionising the dance music scene through the metaverse.

Nils Økland is interested in the journeys and dialogues of music across time and space, a music without national and traditional borders. At the same time, he is also very inspired by local music from many places and often prefers old fiddlers and singers who have a unique personal playing style. The first concert with Nils Økland Band took place in 2014, and since then, they have released the Norwegian Grammy nominated "Kjølvatn" on ECM and "Lysning" on Hubro, which won the award. It has been seven years since their last release. On March 1st, the highly anticipated album "Gjenskinn" (Gleam) is set to be released. The band has been working on the album for a long time, resulting in a genre-defying, cohesive work inspired by influences from around the world. Nils Økland, known for his innovative playing style on the Hardanger fiddle, violin, and viola d'amore, comes from the folk music tradition and is internationally recognized. He has collaborated with major orchestras, composed music for various mediums, and played on albums with notable musicians. Additionally, he is a member of the rock trio Lumen Drones (ECM), their latest release (Umbra) was released on Hubro, and he was a member of the improvisation band 1982 (Hubro), bridging folk, classical, and improvisational music. The Nils Økland Band consists of several of the foremost musicians in Norway: Rolf-Erik Nystrøm (saxophone), Sigbjørn Apeland (organ), Håkon Mørch Stene (percussion), Mats Eilertsen (double bass). These are musicians who, individually, have collaborated with Økland for a long time, but many of them had not played together before Økland formed the band. Rolf Erik Nystrøm has played in the genre-crossing contemporary music trio Poing for several decades, in addition to being a soloist with large orchestras, playing with world and folk musicians, and in various jazz bands. Sigbjørn Apeland has a long history of collaboration with Økland. They play a lot as a duo and have also played in the band 1982 for ten years, along with drummer Øyvind Skarbø. Percussionist Håkon Mørch Stene plays in the contemporary ensemble Asamisimasa and has also released critically acclaimed albums featuring music by Laurence Crane, Gavin Bryars, and Michael Pisaro on Hubro. Mats Eilertsen is the leading jazz bassist of his generation. He has played with a number of prominent jazz musicians such as Tord Gustavsen, Trygve Seim, Bendik Hofseth, and has released several albums under his own name on both Hubro and ECM. The Band - Nils Økland: Hardangerfiddles and violin, Rolf-Erik Nystrøm: Alto and baritone saxophones, Sigbjørn Apeland: Harmonium and Fender Rhodes, Håkon Mørch Stene: Percussion, vibraphone and electronics, Mats Eilertsen: Double bass.