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In an ever-expanding musical universe, Azymuth have long existed as a celestial giant, drawing countless artists, musicians and followers into their orbit. Marking fifty years since their 1975 debut album Azimuth, their new album Marca Passo proves that the band’s alchemic brew of Brazilian jazz-funk and cosmic samba soul remains as vital as ever, as the group honours the profound legacy of their departed founders.

Recorded in Rio de Janeiro, Marca Passo is the first full-length release since the passing of founding drummer Ivan "Mamão" Conti in 2023, following the earlier loss of keyboardist José Roberto Bertrami in 2012. Alex Malheiros, the sole remaining original member, sees his stewardship of the band’s musical legacy as his spiritual duty. He is joined by the equally devoted Kiko Continentino (Milton Nascimento, Djavan) on keyboards, who has been with the group since 2016, and new recruit Renato Massa (Marcos Valle, Ed Motta) on drums.

Yet since their earliest recorded music, Azymuth have always been far greater than the sum of their parts. The "three-man orchestra’s" unmistakable sound is rooted in Brazil's MPB studio scene of the 1970s and early 1980s—a time when artists blended traditional Brazilian rhythms with global jazz, rock, and emerging psychedelic and progressive elements. Marca Passo continues this legacy, seamlessly fusing Brazilian musical traditions with global influences while showcasing the exceptional musicianship that powers Azymuth's distinctive, multi-dimensional sound.

The album is produced by studio mastermind Daniel Maunick, responsible for Azymuth’s two previous studio albums, Fênix in 2016 and Aurora in 2011. Daniel’s credits also include albums by Marcos Valle, Sabrina Malheiros and Terry Callier. Azymuth also invited Daniel’s father, British jazz-funk royalty Jean Paul “Bluey” Maunick, of Incognito, to play guitar on a new version of Azymuth’s eighties classic “Last Summer In Rio”, in tribute to the song’s composer, José Roberto Bertrami. Equally, “Samba Pro Mamao” is a new composition dedicated to Azymuth’s beloved original drummer, Ivan “Mamão” Conti.

Credits:

Alex Malheiros - Bass, Acoustic Guitar & Vocals: 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Kiko Continentino - Keyboards, Organ, Vocoder & Vocals: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Renato Massa - Drums & Vocals: : 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10
Ian Moreira - Percussion: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10
Sidinho Moreira - Percussion: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10
Dudu Viana - Keyboards & Vocals: 1
Victor Bertrami - Drums: 1
Mangueirinha - Repinique: 3
Jean Paul ‘Bluey’ Maunick - Electric Guitar: 5
Jose Carlos Bigorna - Soprano Sax: 9
Daniel Maunick: Additional Percussion, Synths & EFX: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Produced, Engineered, Mixed & Arranged by Daniel Maunick
Co-Produced & Arranged by Alex Malheiros
Executive Producer: Joe Davis


Recorded by:
Daniel Maunick & Leonardo Vieira @ Estúdio Nos Trilhos, Santa Teresa, Rio, Brazil
Daniel Maunick & Amadeu Signorelli @ Sigstudio, Niterói, Rio, Brazil
Daniel Maunick & Alex Malheiros @ Estúdio Basslab, Piratininga, Rio, Brazil
Mixed by Daniel Maunick @ The Sugar Shack, Carluke, Scotland


Artwork & Design: Tyler Askew

AN ATLAS OF LOSS

Do minerals dream of becoming semiconductors? Do they yearn to carry charges, amplify, switch, and convert energy into emotions comprehensible to humans? And what if, from the darkness of the underground, they had been listening to us sing in caves before the emergence of the first flute? Could they have guided us, through the course of history, to find them, extract them, and create new sounds through sinusoidal waves, to form valves and bend circuits?

If so, minerals would transition from what philosopher Eugene Thacker defines as the ‘planet’—that virginal and unreachable realm for humans that we study through geology, paleontology, and environmental sciences—to the ‘world,’ the space we inhabit, interpret, and synthesise in our daily lives. Sadly, we only remember the world when it erupts violently, through climate catastrophes or when a new virus emerges. Sometimes a tsunami collides with a nuclear plant, or viruses are cultivated as biological weapons in high-security laboratories, provoking a deep biological anxiety, hard to quell, which we all feel beneath our skin.

There exists a third realm, disconnected from both the world and the planet: the ‘earth’, an immense, dense rock floating in space alongside other planets, situated in the cosmological dimension. Relating to the earth is so complex that we only do so through theoretical speculations of a scientific nature or through science fiction, interweaving until one becomes the prophecy of the other, in an infinite, pendular dance. Beyond the darkness of space and Lovecraft’s cosmic horror, the fantasy of human extinction is the most recurrent: to reach a collapse so devastating that we do not survive it, even though the earth does, without us.

In a world where we quantify everything through body sensors, financial algorithms, nanometre-scale robots, and surveillance drones—a world in which everything that can be domesticated and controlled can also be commodified—a superior artificial intelligence would survive the collapse of the species (some speculate it might even cause it) and learn from our mistakes, thanks to our obsessive gathering of data.

Long after our voices fade, minerals will persist in the darkness of screens, in the silicon of chips, and in their pure form, still unexploited underground. Over the millennia, this intelligence might piece together fragments of our reasoning, as if an alien civilization finally connected with one of our spacecrafts loaded with messages cast into the void. It would sort through endless streams of data, unable to grasp the depths of emotion behind what it quantified, recreating simulations of our past, stripped of the nuance that once defined us and conducting experiments in sandboxes.

Some remnants of our existence—faint echoes of forgotten beauty—would be pieced together in an atlas of loss, buried beneath layers of numbers, decayed bots, and corroded hard drives. What will follow? Perhaps bison will once again roam—trotting to the strange pulse of techno, their ancient forms framed by the ruins of our cities.

Buildings will crumble, slowly dissolving under the soft touch of ambient music, and a thousand flowers will bloom with that ancient music created through electrical signals and computation. 7 songs for a future both improbable and inevitable—a final message from a world lost to itself, from planet Earth to planet Earth.

Alfons Pich, 2025

DJ Support: Chris Stussy, Dungeon Meat, Job de Jong, JambackFounded by Dennis Quin, Eardrums is all about timeless house music, deeply influenced by the sounds of the UK, US, and the Netherlands. Dancefloor-oriented and driven by authenticity, the label provides a platform for both established artists and emerging talent—no hype, just pure quality

After some time fostering the birth of Melbourne/Naarm’s Solace Bar & Club, circuit|breaker returns with the last offering in our initial run of three Various Artists releases: CBRK003. As always, our focus is razor sharp on cultivating connection, between our home and the global artistic domain. With our third release, we bring you five of the boldest talents, both emerging and established, that are sure to set the standard for forward-thinking electronic music.

** Cassette release

""A Synonym for Repetition" weaves together a tapestry of parallels, all intricately linked to Japan. The project initiates with a collaboration with a Tokyo-based musician, which ultimately fails to materialise during Jason Kolar’s recent visit to the country.

From an original approach that has to mutate in its starting phase, the record was conceived from the beginning to embody a sincere homage to Ryuichi Sakamoto, also a Tokyo native. Shaping ideas within the context of a city with a vibrant soundscape, through an exploration where tradition and modernity intersect in an ongoing quest for correspondences.

Yet, the barriers of language and cultural disparity emerge, casting a veil over the perceived connections and rendering them more projection than reality. This dynamic delineates the space observed from an external perspective, perpetually distant from true understanding, framing it in the fields of imagination, both Japan and Sakamoto. Nonetheless, Kolar tries to pay an honest ode to the artist and its scenic background, with all the implications and contradictions of this kind of process, even with the risk of falling into clichés, pastiches, and Eurocentric bias.

Connecting it to ‘vertical listening’ rather than to an obvious tribute exercise, he has morphed his sound to a synthetic and midi approach, aiming to set an ironically fictitious stage, one that resembles something, but it’s not really it."

When SW. AKA, Stefan Wust, first established SUED in 2011, their compelling, cosmic and anonymous material struck a rare chord, emanating far beyond the freeform Berlin underground in which it was written. Unknowingly, Los Angelean Oliver Bristow had
established a parallel musical universe, founding the hyper-specific label Acid Test, inviting pioneering artists such as Donato Dozzy, Tin Man and Pepe Bradock to indulge in glorious interpretations of 303 control. Without compromise, these were records that quietly
reinvigorated electronic music.
Some years later, a new label, SWOB, unites Wust and Bristow in a very different landscape. And while it would be easy to transform the purity and integrity of this special alchemy into something like nostalgia, yearning for an alternative culture before
influencers and against algorithms, SWOB endeavours to find inspiration in arguably tougher truths.
“By the mid-90s, the techno scene had already reached a breaking point”, recalls Wust.
“Today, the scene is so highly professionalized that it barely resembles what was once called the "underground. But "underground" was never more than the simple reality that music circulated on cassettes among friends or that dubplates were played at illegal
parties... The consequence of today’s professionalization is the death of the original movement.”
Still, no one can kill an idea. Here, inspired by the “Outside Tekno” or “Outkast Techno” that emerged to subvert even back in the day, SWOB are proud to introduce the tekkNOthing trilogy, a new project from SW. beginning on cassette and culminating later
on vinyl. Some years in development, tekkNOthing first began to take shape during the 2020 global pandemic, when ‘the underground’ quickly began to mean something radically different once again.
“I noticed how everything was accelerating while simultaneously spinning in circles – existing in a kind of creative limbo on a global scale”, recalls Wust. “And that’s where true freedom lies: for artists – in any sense – to consciously engage with this necessity. In
other words, irrationality or nonsense can eventually generate meaning.” While hardly capitulating to the contemporary hammering of techno’s most recent developments, tekkNOthing’s first chapter quickly establishes a frenetic pace; tracks like ‘nuclearFALLoutX’ and ‘paslolESmess’ interlock and unfold at a tempo removed from that typically associated with SW. while ‘euroBSS’ and ‘viscousHEAT’ successfully experiment with a more guttural palette, veering far into a rejuvenating and previously uncharted leftfield.
A resolutely human endeavour, the music of SW. is nonetheless written and recorded in the looming shadow of AI, whose free-form adoption of pop culture, hip-hop and techno reminds Wust of “when photography emerged in the 19th century... painting was no
longer bound to naturalism. Similarly, music today is no longer bound to fixed standards – through AI, it can become truly free.”
If not in competition, than taking inspiration from this landscape of new opportunity, tekkNOthing diversifies further with eight unpredictable tracks across part II, taking in stuttering machine-funk on ‘crAMPDUNK’, a freeform organ jam via ‘sonicENdo’ and the
inexplicable piston-percussive, post-punk exotica heard on ‘poorTENOOR#a#01’ DJs with dual cassette decks skills might even find function in the more overtly floor-focused ‘DU ¨NEhowSE#1takeÄ’ or ‘lookLOOK’.
The times may have changed, but the promise remains simple; more music, more freedom.

Each release from the label follows a spiritual trajectory, inspired by the chakra system. This third EP is dedicated to the solar plexus chakra, symbolizing self-confidence, action, and connection to one's inner power. Its name, "Chiron Key", refers to the Chiron key in astrology, associated with healing deep wounds and resilience.
This vinyl-only EP features four deep, hypnotic, and percussive tracks, crafted for both dancefloor energy and immersive listening. It brings together a mix of international and emerging artists:

* Luca Ruiz
* Cakkou
* Monile

After the last solid work “Stellar Wind” released by Oraculo Records in 2020, Zero Call is coming back with another strong release on Emerald & Doreen Records and Italo Italians Record.

Distant Victory is a tribute to the darker sounds with a touch synth-pop sound that embodied his previous releases in the years; The song carries forward the themes of the human condition in a pessimistic outlook that began with the LP ‘Soft Power’ in 2015.

LOCKJAW is up first with a moody yet optimistic progression through the traffic. There are upbeat and urgent tones just on the dry side of squelch, with arpeggiators emerging from the white noise of the hats’ long tails into clean synth work, as elongated tones gently push their way out of the filter, drawing out against the shorter synth loops that shimmer and echo with tight delays.

AROUND comes in punchier and with more pronounced percussion, gives a sense that something is up, and haze has been left behind.It acts as a precursor to more arpeggiated bass tones, gently meandering as they make their way to menacing metallic chords and modulations, allowing the keys which follow to have a sense of place before you’re pushed back into grooves and reprise.

ADAPT builds a slow and steady groove layered with, rather than punctuated by, metallic soaked chords like Basic Channel in bed with a fever. Vocal loops and lead lines creep their way out of the filter and cymbals gently exhale into, then inhale out of existence, blending with the reverberating chords and sedated pads which weave their way among the foggy reflected tails.

CONTACT slows things back down but punches through harder, with expansive sinister tones from the word go, in a Carpenteresque fashion that suggests it’s now time to make that Escape From Los Angeles. A feeling perpetuated by the vocal samples, pulsing synths and slower arpeggiated bass which act as groundwork for clean, moody strings and chords which perfectly round out this dystopian futurescape.

Swedish EBM hero Celldod is back on Electronic Emergencies with a full album on transparent magenta vinyl! Pa Liv Och Dod is an electronically driven emotional bomb with references to D.A.F. and Front 242. It features collaborations with Leroy Se Meurt from Paris and Michael Zodorozny of Crash Course in Science, as well as Anders Karlsson's own Swedish lyrics about death and the meaning of life. Each track is a wild invitation to dance away our fears in this complex world of impending doom.

Mathame Unveil Their Latest Masterpiece: "ANGEL"

Renowned for their groundbreaking contributions to electronic music, Italian duo Mathame is set to captivate audiences once again with their latest single, "ANGEL" Conceived in January 2024 amidst their vibrant tours across Mexico and Asia, the track marks a new pinnacle in Mathame's illustrious career. Critics have lauded "ANGEL" as a real summer anthem, perfectly capturing the essence of summer vibes with its infectious energy and uplifting melodies.

In February 2024, Mathame's journey took them to the heart of Manhattan, NYC, where they collaborated with the equally illustrious Italian duo Parisi. Known for their collaborations with industry giants like Fred Again and Swedish House Mafia, Parisi has been close allies of Mathame since Mathame invited them to perform their first-ever live shows in London and NYC during 2023 and 2024 at Mathame’s events.

This union of brotherhood and musical genius birthed "ANGEL" a track co-written by both duos and perfected through electrifying live performances during the spring. The creative process culminated in the iconic setting of Ibiza, where the final touches were added, ensuring "ANGEL" would emerge as the definitive summer anthem of 2024.

Critics have hailed "ANGEL" as a testament to the innovative spirit and profound synergy. The track showcases their ability to blend mesmerizing melodies with pulsating rhythms, creating an unforgettable experience for listeners worldwide.

Wilson Tanner return to dry land with Legends, a wine-soaked agricultural fantasy, made among the grapevines at Manon Farm in South Australia. Where their earlier works settled into the sun-struck torpor of a suburban Perth backyard (69) or drifted off-course on a riverboat on Port Phillip Bay (ii), Legends trades salt air for vineyard sweat, the scrape of boots on dry earth and workers’ radios humming with the summer test cricket season.

Through this agricultural haze an image of a working vineyard emerges - ducks, dogs and plovers intrude; tractors and quads fly-by; stainless steel gleams at the edges. Recorded without mains power, the Manon demos overflow with farmyard ingenuity. Wind, brass, balalaika, balloon, pipe and synth are trained onto the staff with wire, tape and string.

A caricature of Australian viticulture, Legends is packed to the horns with the mythology and manure of natural wine. Swigging and belching in camaraderie, Wilson Tanner press their surroundings into something raw and unfiltered, letting bum notes, leftovers and sediment linger in the bottle. A cornucopia of biodynamic sounds.

The first release to document the solo cello work of musician and composer Lucy Railton, the 40-minute composition Blue Veil recorded at Église du Saint-Esprit in Paris invites listeners into the realm of precision-tuned states of resonance: states made manifest through Railton's careful traversal of her cello's most subtle acoustic characteristics as they harmonically interlock with mind's embodied modalities of attention and imagination. Blue Veil arises out of, is sustained in and finally dissolves back into Railton's momentary presence with her intimate connection to the cello, a way of hearing that allows for a deeper engagement with harmonic resonance, one that opens a space for immediate encounters of mind and sound. Railton's exploratory practice of harmonic perception emerges from a focus on the physical qualities of intervallic and chordal sounds, their textural qualities, degrees of friction, and inner pulsations. Composing in the moment guided by resonances within the cello's body, her own, and their shared vibrational space, Railton moves through Blue Veil by giving sounds what they ask for: sounds of pure texture manifesting as a move through temporal transparency, sounds of rough texture marking regions of dimensionally dense space. Railton's creative and highly refined use of just intonation harmony deforms sound's inner movements in ways that suggest a mode of listening that actively supplies imagery of sounds implied or completely absent rather than merely savouring those fully present. This active mode of "listening-with", playfully and semi-metaphorically referred to by Railton as "sing-along music", allows listening to reflexively participate in the music's movement as it gradually passes through richly saturated domains of harmonic imagination. And just as the precision-tuned tones of Blue Veil lose their individuality when fusing multifaceted uniformity, listening's structures of reference and recognition dissolve into nameless waves of intensity, continuously unfolding themselves upon and merging with the listener. Blue Veil is the result of a deep exploration of the inner worlds of tuning, an undertaking in turn informed by and emerging out of Railton's realisations of the music of Catherine Lamb and Ellen Arkbro, her collaborative work with Kali Malone and Stephen O'Malley as well as her interpretive practice in performing the work of Maryanne Amacher, Morton Feldman and others.

Poni Hoax, a French band born in the early 2000s under the impulse of Laurent Bardainne, immediately emerged as the union of converging forces: on one side, the precision of a composer and instrumentalist breaking away from jazz conservatory traditions; on the other, the magnetic presence of Nicolas Ker, a terminal new wave crooner with a sepulchral voice. Surrounded by Arnaud Roulin on keyboards, Vincent Taeger on drums, and Nicolas Villebrun on guitar, they made an instant mark with Budapest—dark and haunting—followed by the unstoppable She’s on the Radio, crafting a unique identity that blended the venomous elegance of Roxy Music, the tension of New Order, and the fervor of Larry Levan. With Images of Sigrid, Poni Hoax achieved the miracle of an instant classic before continuing their journey with A State of War and Tropical Suite, sonic odysseys haunted by memory and distant horizons. On stage, it was either an apocalypse or a revelation—a Formula 1 driven by a gang of Gremlins, a blazing energy leaving only burning embers in its wake. The adventure came to a tragic end with the passing of Nicolas Ker in 2021, as the notes of Laurent Bardainne’s saxophone rose into the gray skies of Père-Lachaise, the final echo of a dazzling odyssey.In 2025, Poni Hoax celebrates its 20th anniversary with the release of Greatest Hits: Everything is Real.

Repress!

Emotional Rescue and Utopia Originals join forces to release the pop, new wave, funk of Obscure Desire, a one-off project and EP from effervescent 80s Auckland, New Zealand that saw three friends come together to make a perfect piece of club pop history.

Revolving around the musical talent of Andrew Waldergrave, a trained pianist, music degree drop-out, who moved to the island’s cultural centre of Auckland and emersed himself in the arts and nightlife scene the city had to offer.

Working at Obscure Desire, a Fashion Boutique meets Salon, he became friends with Grant Mitchell and Giselle Trezevant, together forming not a band, but as they saw it, a project to make a record for their scene and beyond.

Coming from outside of the established band route of endless rehearsals, local gigs, growing a fan base and home recordings, they fell did not have the support network of indigenous New Zealand labels. As so often the case in unearthing these lost reissue gems, the artists took matters into their own hands, seeking to write, record and release themselves.

After meeting Trevor Reekie, head of the local Pagan Records label, he took on production duties. Collating the necessary musicians, the project grew from the one song to become a full EP, recording between a home 16 track studio and a full 24 track desk at Harlequin Studios.

Centred around the title song, it is a perfect pop moment. Waldergrave’s piano leads into an infectious groove of slap bass, gated drums, Reekie’s acoustic guitar and cut vocals, before Trezevant’s vocals propel the song to an 80s swing out vibrations. Coming in Extended, Harlequin and Instrumental (digital only) mixes, this was an overload of White Funk.

Here reduced to the best two versions, more room is given to let the other recordings breathe, first the gloriously anthemic instrumental Bullet. Intricate programming and production, lead into the pop sensibility of I Wonder, some kind of wonderful antipodean reimagining of Chris & Cosey finest pop moments, an optimistic paene that permeates the whole EP. Closing 4A, espouses the Jazz Funk, with Trezevant’s simple French lyrics telling of dreams of a lover’s image.

Released in 1986 with no local support from radio and TV, it became something of a “hit” record in New Zealand’s more discerning clubs, however the members soon moved to London and the project remained a one-off moment. Over time the EP has gained cult status to become globally desired that sees copies of the original 12” selling for $000s. Now at last available for a global reach, while remaining a personal, uplifting moment of time.

Galactic Plastic Launches with “Roboto Machine EP” by Bænglund

A new force in underground electronic music emerges: Galactic Plastic. Built on a foundation of raw, unfiltered sound, our label is dedicated to releasing high-quality music regardless of subgenre—if it’s electronic and pushes boundaries, it belongs here.

For our debut release, we welcome Bænglund with his Roboto Machine EP, a fusion of machine-driven grooves, hypnotic textures, and deep, underground energy. Expect forward-thinking sounds that transcend trends and genres, staying true to the essence of the underground.

Galactic Plastic is here to keep the underground alive. Stay tuned for what’s next.

"Acid Floresta" is the result of a process of sonic recognition and translation. A term that has taken shape over the past few years to name a search that, in reality, began more than a decade ago: the intersection between foreign rhythms and the music that inhabits the streets, with its social dynamics and its irreducible vitality.



This album is born from the observation and listening of the everyday sounds that shape the sonic identity of the neighborhood: the corner store, the metro, the billiard hall, the street corner. Spaces where music is not a choice but a constant pulse of life. The percussion of the street, the echo of a distant radio, the spontaneous phrasing of a conversation—these become raw material. From there, the process moves to the studio, where bass, synthesizers, drum machines, and samplers serve as tools of translation: what begins as a documentation of reality transforms into a musical interpretation.



At this point, a tension emerges between what is learned and what is felt. For years, tropical music and vallenato were part of a sonic landscape that coexisted with external influences, generating both distance and affinity. But within that push and pull—between the familiar and the unknown—a common thread was revealed: sabor. Not as a genre, but as an essence, a vital and irreplace able force.



"Acid Floresta" is structured in three and the performative stage, where music returns to the streets, closing the cycle. It is in this final moment that its true nature emerges: in the shared vibration, in danceability, in what connects beyond geography and context.

The album proposes a dialogue between intimacy and collective experimentation, between latineo and electronic music, between the raw and the processed. A space where the music of the streets and the music of the floresta converge to create a new sonic memory.