It all began in the late 1980s with *Calypso of House* by K.T.E. (released by Irma Records), a track that made history
in Italian house music.
The man behind the project, Francesco "Kekko" Montefiori, went on to collaborate with Claudio Rispoli (aka DJ
MozArt) under the name SOFTHOUSE COMPANY, creating cult classics like *What You Need*.
He later formed the duo Montefiori Cocktail with his twin brother, Federico "Chicco" Montefiori, touring the world together.
Now, the story continues.
Kekko Montefiori and Lorenzo "Meo" Meoni (resident DJ at BICIO PAPAO)
are launching OTUM Records to revive the Softhouse Company and Keytronics Ensemble projects.
The goal: to capture the original energy of the Italian House Music "Golden Age" and project it into the future.
No nostalgia—just high-quality dance music.
"Otum" means "excellent" in the slang of Italy’s Romagna region.
Acclaimed, Swedish composer, producer and live artist Sebastian Mullaert, and Georgian electronic artist Tamarma (Tamara Davitashvili), are set to release the deeply personal and genre-fluid album ‘Holds the Sky’ on the 25th September via Awesome Soundwave, the label curated by Christopher Coe and Carl Cox.
Spanning ambient, experimental and alternative electronic forms, alongside a set of dancefloor-oriented reworks that expand the project’s sonic spectrum, at its core, the album is the result of an unusual artistic convergence that traces back to 2020. Tamarma entered Mullaert’s successful In Bloom mentorship programme on a scholarship, and over a year-long deep exploration of album creation, her work revealed a rare clarity and emotional depth.
One piece in particular became the catalyst. Developed further through Mullaert’s 4 step studio process, it unfolded into a full length album collaboration. What began as a single composition has since grown into an album that documents an organic and intuitive exchange between two distinct artistic voices.
The result is less a collection of tracks than a continuous unfolding; a dialogue shaped by trust, listening and shared curiosity. Rather than aiming for a fixed genre position, the album operates as a living process: a meeting point between tradition and experimentation, between voice and synthesis, between two artists allowing something larger to emerge through their collaboration.
With compositions such as the chiming ‘Being Colours’ and hypnotic ‘Holds The Sky,’ Mullaert and Tamarma have created a body of work that resists easy categorization. The album moves through intimate, meditative passages and more rhythmically driven moments, always anchored in a sense of presence and emotional immediacy. The flickering beats of ‘Winnow’ and ambient manifestations of ‘Lost In Dimension’ and ‘Field of Us’ add a sense of tranquillity, stillness and convergence.
Tamarma’s voice carries both a personal and cultural depth throughout the album, while remaining fluid and responsive to the moment. The result is a sound that feels both intimate and spatial, where voice, texture and atmosphere are closely connected. Her Georgian musical heritage combined with Mullaert’s open-ended electronic exploration, allows something beautiful to emerge, shaped by listening, space and a sense of something larger than either artist alone.
Widely celebrated in the electronic music community, Mullaert has spent the last three decades moving beyond the boundaries of electronic music, from shaping the sound of cult duo Minilogue to creating the fully improvised global platform, Circle of Live, which has seen him perform and collaborate with artists such as Mathew Jonson, Âme, Amp Fiddler, Aurora Halal, Speedy J, Sam Barker, Dorisburg, Move D, Sleep D, Kuniyuki, Pantha du Prince, Leafar Legov, Wayne Snow, Laurence Guy, VRIL, Neel and Erika.
Initially making a name for himself in the world of techno, his performances have moved fluidly between environments, from underground spaces including Berghain’s Panorama Bar to festivals around the world, and venues including the Barbican, London, where he has appeared alongside artists including Joep Beving, Laura Misch and JakoJako. Platforms such as ARTE have featured his performances, placing his work within a broader European cultural context, while support from Resident Advisor and Boiler Room reflect his continued presence within the core of electronic music culture. He has received a Swedish Grammy and the P3 Guld award from Swedish National Radio.
His 2020 album ‘Natthall,’ developed in collaboration with Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich and performed with Subchamber Ensemble, saw Mullaert enter the world of contemporary composition, and merged electronics with chamber music and improvisation. The album was later named among the top post classical releases of the year by BBC Music Magazine.
A new documentary film by Ableton, set for release this summer, captures Mullaert’s Circle of Live project through a performance at Brighton Dome in the UK, featuring Mullaert and electronic artists Clark and Rival Consoles. The film offers a rare insight into the inner workings of collective improvisation at a high artistic level, further cementing Mullaert’s role as a leading voice in contemporary live electronic practice.
Tamara's background is rooted in the landscapes and traditions of Georgia. Raised near the Caucasus Mountains, classically trained in piano and shaped by years as a jazz vocalist, her work carries traces of Georgian polyphonic singing and a strong connection to nature and place. Her transition into electronic music is not stylistic but transformational; a recontextualisation of heritage into new sonic forms.
‘Holds The Sky’ will be available on vinyl and digitally on the 25th September via Awesome Soundwave. The digital release includes three exclusive album track reworks from Mullaert.
You've never played a game like Blippo+ before, and you've never heard a video game soundtrack quite like Greatest Hits from Planet Blip.
Composed by Rob Kieswetter and Jona Bechtolt from the LA-based trio YACHT, the soundtrack collects 71 tracks from the cult classic video game Blippo+, reworked and sequenced into a continuous listen for this special release —a TV static-speckled gatefold double LP, out Oct. 16 via Hologram Opera, marking the soundtrack’s physical debut.
Taking the form of a cable TV simulator, Blippo+ captures the magical feeling of seizing a mysterious signal from outer space and discovering the television programming of an alien culture. Soundtracking the game’s pastiche of programs is Rob and Jona’s genre-spanning score—synth-heavy, eccentrically electronic, with a skewed sensibility that pays homage to cable access, library music, video art, and the late-night margins of the 80s and 90s underground.
TV obsessives will find plenty to love in Greatest Hits from Planet Blip: with surreal theme songs, jangly jingles, zippystings, catchy kitsch, period-accurate menu music and even pop hits from the alien airwaves, this propulsively playful soundtrack will have channel-flippers tingling with nostalgia.
“Planet Blip is an alien planet where art and music are the only currency and ‘consciousness particles’ form the basis of all media. To capture the spirit of this world, we drew inspiration
from all the music we felt best embodied this ethos and ran it through our own utopian blender,” say Bechtolt and Kieswetter.
Blippo+ is an award-winning, experimental, live-action video game created by YACHT and Telefantasy Studios, along with developers Noble Robot and Dustin Mierau, and published by Panic Games. It was released for Steam, Playdate and Nintendo Switch in 2025 to widespread
critical acclaim and has earned a devoted fandom. A Mac version followed earlier this year, and was nominated for an Apple Design Award.
"Simultaneously nostalgic and futuristic, otherworldly yet
welcoming, Blippo+ is an absolute artistic triumph.
" —Deven McClure, Screen Rant
"Blippo+’s presentation might ape old traditions, but the collective impact of its content is richer, deeper, and more entertaining than any mere remembrance.
" —Garrett Martin, Paste/Endless Mode
"In the increasingly reactionary and prescriptive landscape of video games, it is remarkable to encounter something so distinctive, so hopeful, so celebratory, so devoted to expanding the possibility space of art beyond a single medium." —Sam Bodrojan
Over the last two decades, Ste Roberts has quietly established himself as one of the UK's more distinctive underground electronic producers. Drawing equally from house, techno, electro, IDM and experimental electronic music, his productions blur the line between dancefloor functionality and sonic exploration. His debut release for Cyphon Recordings continues that trajectory. Four transmissions exploring machine rhythms, synthetic environments, and fractured dancefloor architecture, where melody emerges through corrosion and groove survives mutation.
(remastered classic incl DL card) Environ is proud to present the Metro Area 15th Anniversary Edition, Metro Area's eponymous debut album, meticulously remastered using the original source tapes and generously spread across three slabs of vinyl. The12-track triple LP and digital package combines all the songs from both the original US and licensed European releases, and features new commemorative artwork unique to this edition. In the late nineties, the budding producers Morgan Geist and Darshan Jesrani bonded over their shared love of slower tempos and '70s and '80s NYC club culture. Obsessed with record digging and the sounds they heard on late-night "club classics" radio shows—and turned off by current releases they saw as artlessly "updating" sublime disco by sampling, filtering and subjugating them with huge kick drums —the duo set out to discover how their favorite old 12" records were made. They naturally gravitated towards extended dubs of songs—full of strange mistakes and echoing backing tracks—instead of the better-known vocal versions. Lacking the big budgets and gear that made so many of their favorite classic records come together, they were forced to take a guerrilla approach. They reprogrammed their techno-oriented arsenal of secondhand synths and samplers, using novel digital recording technology to capture live instrumentation and prioritizing mood over hooks, and the resulting music was just wrong enough to sound unlike anything else being released at the time.After just four underground 12" releases, the duo—now well-known as Metro Area—released their first and only album, Metro Area, in the fall of 2002. Fifteen years later, it's time to celebrate the culmination of their shared history and inspiration once again. Environ is proud to present the Metro Area 15th Anniversary Edition, Metro Area's eponymous debut album, meticulously remastered using the original source tapes and generously spread across three slabs of vinyl. The 12-track triple LP and digital package combines all the songs from both the original US and licensed European releases, and features new commemorative artwork unique to this edition.
The Discos Panorama series heads back to Colombia again for PAN016, pairing a heavyweight cumbia classic from Andrés Landero Y Conjunto with a wild Colombian take on one of the great Afro-funk records.
On the A-side, “La Pava Congona” is Landero in full flight. Known as El Rey de la Cumbia, Landero had that rare ability to make the accordion feel raw, hypnotic and completely dancefloor-ready. This one is all about the rolling rhythm, the call-and-response feel, and that unmistakable sabanero swing. Proper Colombian cumbia with weight behind it.
On the flip, Afrosound take on Manu Dibango’s “Soul Makossa” and send it straight from Colombia’s northern coast. Where the original is already a landmark Afro-funk groove, Afrosound bring their own Colombian flavour to it: fuzzed-out guitar, tropical percussion and loose psychedelic touches and that brilliant energy that made their records so special. A track that when we heard Hugo “Crucial Juice” spin, we knew we had to reissue.
Together, it’s exactly what the Discos Panorama series is about.
As always, PANORAMA Records is here to bring rare and essential music back into circulation with care, respect and admiration. Proper records, properly pressed, and ready for the dancers.
Live Ones is an LP compilation of refixes and remixes of older material and brand new tracks that have all featured in New Jackson live sets in recent years available on vinyl for the first time.
It features contributions from Rory Sweeney and Rita Lynn and long-term collaborator Richie 'Jape' Egan. Cover photography shot by long time collaborator Rich Gilligan at a New Jackson show in Dublin.
According to New Jackson himself 'This started out as a way to put out new tracks and remixes of older stuff as quickfire digi releases without the pressure of making a cohesive body of work that normally comes with making an album yet ironically I feel this works better as a cohesive vinyl release then my last album proper and features some of my favourite music I've made.'
With Cycles, Tomos explores the different phases of a relationship through a boundless blend of jazz, disco, dub, broken beat, and deep house. Each track captures a specific moment in this cycle—from the spark of first feelings to heartbreak, seduction, and the beginnings of a new start.
Throughout the EP, trumpets, saxophones, and flutes intertwine with dub echoes, broken beat rhythms, and driving disco basslines. Tomos’s precise production ties these different elements together to create a record that moves seamlessly between the energy of the dance floor and the warmth of early evenings.
Following the success of his previous EP, Soul Feels Good, on Noire & Blanche, Cycles continues the exploration of the boundless musical universe that has become Tomos’s signature—a blend of warm instrumentation, groove-driven production, and a collage-like approach deeply rooted in his early French house influences.
Palms Trax returns to production with his first release since 2019. The first single off his upcoming 2 track EP 'Soft Trance, Hard Gossip' is a journey through bold basslines, ear tingling acid lines and hopeful synth lines. It feels measured in its temperament for a listen on the bus home whilst punchy enough to earn its place across festival and club sets this summer. The title track Keys To A Printed Garden captures him at his best, moving deeper into a lush, melodic setting that stretches beyond the dancefloor while never fully leaving it behind. The track is built around warm deep house grooves, hazy nu groove textures and subtle IDM notes. The record unravels with a dreamlike smoothness. Swirling synth work, jazz-inspired saxophone lines and soft lo-fi textures give the record an immersive, almost weightless quality, while moments of glitch and ambient drift push it into more experimental territory. Even at its most reflective, steady percussion and rolling grooves maintain a subtle club-rooted pulse, balancing emotional depth, introspection and atmosphere with movement, rhythm and understated precision.
MEMORIALS jump off the waterslides and head above the clouds with their stunning second album, ‘All Clouds Bring Not Rain’. The duo of Verity Susman and Matthew Simms (formerly of Electrelane and WIRE) locked themselves away in a studio in a barn secluded deep in the woods in southwestern France and re-emerged with a beautiful, unusual record that is both melodic and unconventional. For such an ambitious album it’s striking that it was written, performed, recorded and mixed solely by the two of them. Sounding like an unearthed classic, MEMORIALS twist their influences into their own unmistakable sound. Imagine Nico singing with Can produced by David Axelrod and you’re somewhere in the right ballpark.
The record draws inspiration from a wide range of music including folk, dub, post punk, experimental tape music, 60s soul, garage rock, 70s spiritual jazz and Canterbury prog. This attention to detail in their sound meant finding several other studios to get what they needed to record with, including a harpsichord at 4AD’s studio in London and a vibraphone and vintage Leslie speaker in Stereolab drummer Andy Ramsay’s studio Press Play. Verity’s distinctive, unadorned singing is a focal point of the record, moving from tender to wild. Her vocal melodies quickly become earworms, providing the tuneful heart around which the songs’ more unorthodox elements are arranged, which is where Matthew’s unconventional approach to recording and production comes to the fore. With their adventurous arrangements, classic songwriting skills and innovative production techniques, MEMORIALS have created another mesmerising listen that’s accomplished and compelling in its unique approach yet remains dizzyingly immersive - just like their acclaimed live shows.
Jasmín returns to fabric Originals with the second instalment in her four-part series, Concrete Summer / Skeletal.
Following her debut release It’s Girls Night / Long Hair, the Dutch-Argentinian producer delivers two stripped-back, percussive techno cuts shaped by the architecture, tension and atmosphere of cities after dark.
Concrete Summer opens with a primordial pulse: saturated drums and feverish shaker rhythms lock into a raw, hypnotic groove. On the flip, Skeletal pushes deeper into the night, pairing a driving kick and syncopated percussion with distorted drones and mounting pressure.
Sparse, physical and deeply immersive, both tracks leave space for the dancer to complete the picture, continuing Jasmín’s singular exploration of stripped-back techno and the nocturnal worlds at the heart of her ongoing collaboration with fabric.
Two of the most prolific remixers in the world of Disco,Dave 'Love' Lee and John Moraleshave teamed up for one of their biggest projects to date - 'Mixed To The Maxxx'. After gaining access from the legendary original artists, the pair take the multi-track tapes of many classic Disco, Funk & Soul tracks and re-work them...to the Maxxx!
Where Remixed With Love stands as Dave Lee's own gold-standard body of work, Mixed To The Maxxx sets that legacy alongside Morales' own decades-deep M+M body of work: Lee brings his musically dense, groove-first touch to the likes of Harold Melvin, Syreeta, Lenny Williams and The Brand New Heavies, while Morales applies his extended, dancefloor-built M+M treatment and crushes the likes of Barry White, The Temptations and Loleatta Holloway, plus Dennis Coffey's breakbeat classic "Scorpio" for the DJs and collectors alike. Both work from original tapes, surfacing parts barely audible or entirely unheard in the source mixes, and both know when to let a classic breathe rather than bury it under modern production. It's a pairing a long time in the making. Lee and Morales first talked about working together around a decade ago, and getting Mixed To The Maxxx off the ground took five years of patient work: tracking down usable stems, securing approvals, and navigating a licensing landscape where much of the best material is now tied up with major labels increasingly cautious about clearing remixes. What's landed here is the product of that graft as much as the pair's shared ear for a great record, the sound of two people who know exactly what they're looking for and are willing to put in the time to find it.
A double 12" sampler in summer 2025 previewed the record's range. A bass-driven overhaul ofThe Brothers Johnson's "The Real Thing" and an extended mix of Philly legends Bell & James' "Livin' It Up (Friday Night)" showcased Lee's side, while an anthemic take on Inner Life's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and a tempo-lifted Light Of The World"London Town" flew the flag for Morales. Both drew strong early support ahead of the full LP.
Fused around saxophonist Ornella Noulet and a shared devotion to the spiritual jazz of John Coltrane, OLA TUNJI is a Brussels-based quartet whose music channels the intensity and openness of the 1960s “New Thing” movement.
Deeply inspired by John and Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, and Albert Ayler, the group embraces improvisation as a political and spiritual act. On stage, their performances often take on a trance-like intensity, carrying musicians and audience alike toward a sense of shared elevation. The music becomes a reminder that it can still be a medium for love, sister and brotherhood, and collective uplift.
Debut album ‘TRUST’ was born from a long artistic and spiritual journey, with music playing a central role as a space for inner exploration. Trust, a key concept for the group, lies at the foundation of this journey. The album’s title embodies an approach rooted in self-awareness, connection, and the sharing of love.
‘TRUST’ presents itself as a cohesive body of work, moving through moments of intensity, calm, spirituality and joy, each track contributes to a shared intention: to remind us that personal transformation is the starting point for a more authentic relationship with ourselves, with others and with the world around us.
Compositions such as ‘DEVOTION,’ WE CHOOSE LOVE’ and ‘SPEAK UP! (YOUR VOICE IS YOUR STRENGTH)’ reveal the album’s guiding thread: self-knowledge, resilience and the awakening of consciousness. Each track invites the listener to reconnect with their inner voice, cultivating a deeper sense of awareness and view of the world through a lens of reflection and humanity. Modal and physical, the album is built on long-form playing and moves between a deeply meditative and ecstatic sound.
For Louis Johnstone, making music has never been about waiting for the right equipment, the right environment or the right moment. Across more than a decade of work as both Wanda Group and A Large Sheet Of Muscle, the Huddersfield-based musician has built one of British experimental music's most singular bodies of work by embracing whatever happens to be within reach, allowing instinct, improvisation and circumstance to shape the outcome as much as conscious composition.
"'Chinese Benefits' was made over a year ago on an iPhone that had a broken microphone and was on its way out," he explains. "I have made many records after this with clearer sounds. Sharper ideas. That is never the point, though. You work with what you hold in your hands."
Recorded entirely on a failing iPhone 6 that stopped working shortly afterwards, 'Chinese Benefits' isn't a record about damaged technology. It is a record shaped by it. Rather than resisting the limitations of the device, Johnstone allows them to become part of the music itself, where distortion, interference and deteriorating fidelity are inseparable from the recording process.
Across twenty brief but disquieting pieces, corroded spoken word, environmental recordings, abrasive noise and fractured electronics continually emerge and dissolve. Voices drift in and out of range, reverberation stretches everyday sounds beyond recognition, and bursts of white noise interrupt moments of uneasy calm. There are echoes of radio transmissions, field recordings and musique concrète throughout, yet 'Chinese Benefits' never settles comfortably into any one tradition. Instead, it inhabits a space where accident and intention become almost impossible to separate.
That philosophy has long defined Johnstone's work. Through a vast catalogue of self-released recordings on his Umbro G imprint, alongside releases for labels including The Trilogy Tapes, he has consistently favoured immediacy over refinement, embracing imperfection not as an aesthetic but as a practical reality. His recordings are less concerned with perfection than with capturing the conditions in which they were made.
Looking back on 'Chinese Benefits', however, Johnstone's own assessment is characteristically understated.
"Listening back fully, it's quite a nice record actually. Fair enough, I make them and never really listen again TBH. Even better, it was the last Large Sheet Of Muscle record made on that phone with grit and damaged guts."
Like much of his work, 'Chinese Benefits' offers few fixed meanings. Its titles remain cryptic, its voices partially obscured and its structures deliberately unstable. What emerges instead is a deeply personal document of process over perfection, where the limitations of the tools become inseparable from the music they produce, and where the act of making something matters far more than the conditions in which it was made.
Love or its absence dominates the intimate songs on the new album from ARBORIST – the musical outlet of Mark McCambridge. Looking For Love, Arborist’s fourth album of exquisitely inventive Americana, places us firmly in his hometown of Belfast, allowing it to act as a microcosm of the wider-world, with all its foibles and charms. We find fictional protagonists scouring the dark corners of the city, wiling-away afternoons in strip clubs, wandering the streets in all weather and reflecting on the harsh reality of modern society, all in search of an elusive love – emphasising our need for it now more than ever.
Looking for Love is ARBORIST’s first album to be self-produced by McCambridge, largely from his home studio in Belfast – and at times it feels like we are in the room with him. It’s a different kind of record for him as previously he has always sought collaboration; whether it be with Kim Deal who chose to sing intertwined harmony on his debut single “Twisted Arrow”, or recording in The Curfew Tower owned by The KLF’s Bill Drummond who described Mark’s songwriting as being “riven with more loss than any record since Leonard Cohen quit this world”, and who Matthew E White and his Spacebomb band collaborated with to such astonishing effect on the previous Arborist LP, 2023’s An Endless Sequence of Dead Zeros, winner of the prestigious Northern Ireland Music Prize. This time, with no outside producer steering the way, McCambridge found that the quiet hours were where he felt most at ease, despite periods of trial and error, and, by his own admission, moments of feeling genuinely lost in it all.
Despite playing many of the parts himself, McCambridge still called upon old friends from the community around him; Spacebomb’s resident bassist Cameron Ralston (Bonnie Light Horseman, Hiss Golden Messenger) again features throughout the record, alongside Eamon Ferris (The Waterboys) on drums, with the great and the good from Belfast’s vibrant music scene. Grainne Meyer plays concert harp and Aga Olek plays violin for the quasi-title track “Looking 4 Love” – an off-kilter love-letter to Belfast. Meilana Gillard provides a sleazy saxophone on “Bye Bye Johnny Cash” – a seedy tale of a man obsessively visiting a dancer in a club, and The Larne Community Youth Choir provide backing vocals for “Go Kill The Fatted Calf” – a song Mark wrote about his son growing up, a take on the parable of the prodigal son, with Jonny Ashe’s blistering guitar solo adding an album highlight. The Errigal Ensemble String Quartet and Aisling Agnew’s breathtaking flute solo feature on “What Is It You’re Asking” – a song about love, or its absence, both personally and universally in these times.
McCambridge was recently honoured with a “Fellowship” by the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen's University Belfast where he collaborated with such illustrious names from the literary world as Nick Laird, Caoilinn Hughes and Conor McPherson. Through the University he was given access to the music department's Steinways and pipe organs, and decided to try one out for the album’s centrepiece “I’ve Been A Flaneur”. As Mark explains, "The drone on the pipe organ — and the sound of it starting and stopping — was so visceral that I decided to try a half-written song against it right there and then, and this came out in one take… The song was a breakthrough artistically - I don't think I'll ever record in the same way again after this."
The album was engineered by longtime collaborator Ben McAuley (Van Morrison) and mixed by Jimmy Robertson (Anna Calvi, Beth Gibbons, Fat Dog). The results are staggering, devastating and uplifting in equal measure, calling to mind albums such as Songs Ohia’s Magnolia Electric Co., The Divine Comedy’s Regeneration, The Blue Nile’s Hats and Wilco’s Ode to Joy, as well as early-70s records from John Cale, John Lennon and Bill Fay.
Belfast native Mark McCambridge played his first show as Arborist supporting James Yorkston. A solo tour followed, and impressive performances led to notable support slots alongside Low, Cat Power, Echo & The Bunnymen and Guy Garvey. Arborist's debut single, the Americana-tinged "Twisted Arrow," caught the attention of the critics with an astonishing duet with Kim Deal of The Breeders. The debut album Home Burial (2016) and its follow-up, A Northern View, both received glowing praise, from The Guardian ("instant classic" ----) to MOJO ("devastatingly bleak… upliftingly beautiful" ----) to Uncut (8/10), with BBC 6 Music play from Cerys Matthews, Cillian Murphy, Lauren Laverne, Radcliffe and Maconie and Gideon Coe — and Steve Lamacq calling single "Taxi" "one of those records that makes you immediately stop what you're doing." He went on to even greater success with the 2023 Northern Irish Music Prize winning third LP, An Endless Sequence of Dead Zeroes, which was recorded at SpaceBomb Studios in Virginia with musician and producer Matthew E White. For his fourth LP, Looking For Love, he has signed with Fika Recordings and with a tour approaching in November, 2026 looks set to be a seminal year for the Irish artist.
Murmuration’ is the low hum made by vast, beautifully choreographed flocks of starlings as they simultaneously flap their wings and take to the sky. Some people say that the frequency of this unique, rumbling, oscillating sound can cure diseases...
One of the most exciting live bands in the UK, British Birds combine the garage-punk energy of Billy Childish, the wry English sophistication of XTC and the witty pop inventiveness of The Lovely Eggs. Like a murmurating flock of starlings, they create a unique sound, and might even be able to cure diseases.
Based in Chorley, Lancashire, British Birds are a resolutely DIY band. Bobby records and mixes all the music; Emma creates all the artwork. Their first two albums were self-released, selling hundreds of copies at gigs and at a few chosen record stores. British Birds didn’t wait for permission to take flight. They just got on with it. Their songs are sophisticated, hard-hitting, and very skilful. It may be DIY, but it’s big and it’s ambitious.
Sessions for Marc Riley and Gideon Coe have followed, along with tours supporting The Bug Club, BC Camplight and Lovely Eggs.
‘Murmurate, Oscillate’ kicks off with Lie Down With Dogs, Stand Up With Fleas, a rousing expression of exasperation at our passivity in the face of lame authority. British Birds are acute observers of the English political scene, shrouding their observations in humour and surrealism. Polka Dot Eyes is another piece of sharp social observation: it portrays Lancashire lads – friends from school – who join the Army and return home physically and mentally damaged. The song is simultaneously disturbing, funny and catchy as hell. From the fog of disinformation and doubt that surrounds us all in 2020s Britian, British Birds embrace the darkness, but with wit and verve – no slogans, no easy answers – and with an energy that helps us escape the mundanity of a declining island. This might all sound a bit bleak, but it’s not: every single one of the songs on this album has a chorus as big as a house.
There are personal songs too: Scary Movies is a poignant description of Bobby and Emma’s grandfather, who delighted in showing them horror films when they were kids – giving them sneak previews of the darkness they’d come to embrace as adults; Just Like Them is a celebration of introversion: it might not be fun, but it’s better than being an idiot. (Paradoxically, any other introverts who hear this song will feel impelled to join in in the chorus.) Blame Game and Thunder Claps examine the darkness inherent in relationships: there is always an impending storm, if you recognise the low hum of the imminent thunder. Once again: the choruses of these songs confound the melancholy sentiment.
You’ll get the same impression if you see British Birds live: Bobby’s ferocious guitar and dark lyrics are counterpointed with Emma’s sometimes haunting, sometimes playful vocal responses and insistent rhythms. You’ll be swept away by the energy of a band who don’t know the meaning of limits. And as the songs get darker and darker the smile on your face gets wider and wider.
The core members of British Birds are siblings Bobby and Emma Townson, working from their HQ-cum-nest in Chorley. Drums are by Dominic Lawson (apart from Michael Aindley on ‘Just Like Them’). Bass is by James Robinson.
British Birds will be embarking on a headline tour of the UK in early 2027.
Curren$y & Wiz Khalifa link up with Harry Fraud on Roofless Records For Drop Tops, the latest chapter in the rappers collaborative series. This Fraud-produced installment is considered Disc 2 in the series and follows up the Digital-Only 'Disc 1', which was produced by Cardo. Backed by Fraud's smooth production, Curren$y and Wiz deliver the laid-back flows, sharp lyricism, and effortless chemistry fans have come to expect. Built for cruising and easy listening, the project continues the sound and style that has made these three some of hip hop's most consistent names for a decade. Now available on vinyl, Roofless Records For Drop Tops is a must have for collectors and fans looking to add another essential release from Curren$y, Wiz Khalifa, and Harry Fraud to their shelves.
On Dummy’s new album, do you love the color of the sky?, the Los Angeles-based 5-piece deliver a breathtaking piece of work that introduces new textures and rhythms to their already varied and refined catalog. For the band’s third album, and first for new label home Polyvinyl, the group split time between self-recording at their home studio as well as Studio 22, linking up with frequent collaborator and engineer Joo-Joo Ashworth (Corridor, Automatic, Spiral XP). The band focused on intentionality and experimentation, exploring downtempo dance beats and electronic music while pushing the guitar as far as they could, using new self-sampling and processing techniques. Percussionist Alex Ewell’s overall sound design and production skills can be heard across the album, with layered drum sounds and rhythmic tremolo techniques shining throughout. Tracks like “Full Spectrum Dominance” and “Alluvial Fan” showcase the band’s tasteful pop sensibilities, while closing track “Heaven’s What You Make Of
It” features perhaps the strongest vocal delivery yet from vocalist/keyboardist
Emma Maatman. Additionally, the dynamic exchange between guitarists Joe Trainor and Nathan O’Dell is absolutely gorgeous, adding a new layer of immersion and directness that is unlike anything the band has done before. The result is Dummy’s most ethereal and sincere record to date, with more feminine and delicate undertones that sit beautifully alongside the gritty and noisy textures the band has become known for. Dummy has been praised in numerous outlets such as Paste, Stereogum, Aquarium Drunkard and Pitchfork, who described their second album, Free Energy, as “the
sound of a band turning all its potential energy into music that’s dazzlingly kinetic and powerful." The band has toured the US, UK, and EU extensively, with festival appearances at Austin Psych Fest, Treefort Music Festival, and others. In addition to larger outlets and festivals, the band’s strong ties to community and DIY ethos are ever-present, oftentimes preferring to play and connect with different local artists on tour, uplifting those around them while shining a light on the history of independent music.
On Dummy’s new album, do you love the color of the sky?, the Los Angeles-based 5-piece deliver a breathtaking piece of work that introduces new textures and rhythms to their already varied and refined catalog. For the band’s third album, and first for new label home Polyvinyl, the group split time between self-recording at their home studio as well as Studio 22, linking up with frequent collaborator and engineer Joo-Joo Ashworth (Corridor, Automatic, Spiral XP). The band focused on intentionality and experimentation, exploring downtempo dance beats and electronic music while pushing the guitar as far as they could, using new self-sampling and processing techniques. Percussionist Alex Ewell’s overall sound design and production skills can be heard across the album, with layered drum sounds and rhythmic tremolo techniques shining throughout. Tracks like “Full Spectrum Dominance” and “Alluvial Fan” showcase the band’s tasteful pop sensibilities, while closing track “Heaven’s What You Make Of
It” features perhaps the strongest vocal delivery yet from vocalist/keyboardist
Emma Maatman. Additionally, the dynamic exchange between guitarists Joe Trainor and Nathan O’Dell is absolutely gorgeous, adding a new layer of immersion and directness that is unlike anything the band has done before. The result is Dummy’s most ethereal and sincere record to date, with more feminine and delicate undertones that sit beautifully alongside the gritty and noisy textures the band has become known for. Dummy has been praised in numerous outlets such as Paste, Stereogum, Aquarium Drunkard and Pitchfork, who described their second album, Free Energy, as “the
sound of a band turning all its potential energy into music that’s dazzlingly kinetic and powerful." The band has toured the US, UK, and EU extensively, with festival appearances at Austin Psych Fest, Treefort Music Festival, and others. In addition to larger outlets and festivals, the band’s strong ties to community and DIY ethos are ever-present, oftentimes preferring to play and connect with different local artists on tour, uplifting those around them while shining a light on the history of independent music.
Wewantsounds it delighted to announce a deluxe reissue of Frank Foster's 'The Loud Minority' LP. Released on Bob Shad's Mainstream Records in 1972, it's a landmark album and one of the key political works of the 70s. Featuring an all-star cast of superb musicians including Elvin Jones, Stanley Clarke, Airto, Cecil Bridgewater and Marvin 'Hannibal' Peterson, it is also Dee Dee Bridgewater's earliest full recordings. This special edition includes a 20-page booklet featuring amazing unseen session photos recently unearthed, an introduction by Judd and Mia Apatow (Shad's grandchildren), an essay by British journalist Kevin Le Gendre and an exclusive interview of Cecil and Dee Dee Bridgewater by Paul Bowler. The album's original artwork as been recreated with original photos and the audio newly remastered from the original tapes.
When he recorded "The Loud Minority" in 1972 for Bob Shad's Mainstream Records, Frank Foster had been a solid sax player for nearly twenty years, playing with the likes of Donald Byrd, Thelonious Monk and The Count Basie Orchestra. For this special session, he gathered a stellar line up of old fellow musicians like Elvin Jones and Harold Mabern and young turks including Stanley Clarke, 'Hannibal' Marvin Peterson, Cecil and Dee Dee Bridgewater. Cecil Bridgewater remembers: "Frank, his thing was, any group that he had he wanted to give young musicians a chance." As usual for Mainstream sessions, the studio was booked for two days and the record was cut live, supervised by Bob Shad's trusted men, arranger Ernie Wilkins and engineer Carmine Rubino.
What came out of these two days is now the stuff of legend, four long funky jams fuelled by two distinct line ups playing simultaneously augmented with a powerful 6-piece brass section led by Foster. The album kicks off with the anthemic "The Loud Minority" (sampled by United Future Organization and DJ Shadow) with its long brass introduction followed by Dee Dee Bridgewater fiery poem, a politically charged statement expressing the fight for civil rights, before the whole group comes together for a funky explosion clocking at 14 minutes. "That was a period where we were really into our African consciousness" reminisces Dee Dee in the interview.
The album continues with the funky uptempo "Requiem for Dusty" while "J.P.'s Thing" adopts a slightly more spiritual feel, with a beautiful Fender Rhodes solo and Foster's soprano sax improvisation. The album ends with "E.W. Beautiful People", a long dreamy improvisation climaxing with Dee Dee Bridgewater's poignant vocals.
The Loud Minority is a key militant jazz manifesto and one of the landmark jazz funk albums of the 20th Century. The album was recorded in two days but its legacy lives on and still resonates loudly in the BLM days. Wewantsounds is delighted to reissue this major works with newly remastered audio and a deluxe 20-page booklet full of breathtaking unseen session photos and insightful texts telling the whole story of this superb album.
Over & Even was a breakout album for Joan Shelley. Originally released in 2015 and recorded in Louisville, Kentucky - with Shelley and her then neighbor Nathan Salsburg on guitar. The record was an album of the year at NPR Music and in The Los Angeles Times. Rolling Stone called it, "a masterfully turned set of folk reflections" in their 4 star review. This expanded edition features 8 never before heard demos, performed and recorded solo by Shelley who shared them only with Salsburg so he could learn the songs.
A stylish selection of city pop, funk and modern soul from Japanese label Nippon Columbia, selected by DJ Notoya and featuring cult classics and rarities by Hiroshi Sato, Hatsumi Shibata, Hitomi 'Penny' Tohyama & many more.
Annotated by Notoya with journalist Nick Luscombe and artwork by Optigram.
Newly remastered audio.
The selection on ‘Tokyo Glow’ starts with 'Kimugare' a relaxed mid-tempo track by Kumi Nakamura, actually a famous actress who only recorded one album in 1980 for Columbia.
The set continues and flows effortlessly with the sunshine grooves of Miyuki Maki, Hatsumi Shibata and cult keyboard player Hiroshi Sato before the pace starts going faster and funkier with New Generation Company, Kengo Kurozumi - with his superb boogie, 'Juggler'
- and one of the queens of the genre, Hitomi 'Penny' Tohyama with 'Tuxedo Connection'.
Another fine example on the set is the mid-tempo groove of "I Wander All Alone Part III" by New Generation Company, an aggregate group of some of the best Japanese session musicians led by arranger Katz Hoshi and including Hiroyuki Namba (key), Kazuo Shiina (gtr) and Yutaka Uehara (ds) who all played with Tatsuro Yamashita among many others.
There are many other excellent examples in 'Tokyo Glow', showcasing the diversity and specificity of Japanese City Pop during the late 70s and 80s.
Nippon Columbia opened their much-guarded vaults to curator DJ Natoya. Tracks were remastered in Tokyo and the result, ‘Tokyo Glow’, is a unique insight into a most creative period in Japanese music.
And they can't. Tiny things are important - This house could be anywhere, These things could happen to anyone." With this reflection, Charlie Parr introduces the characters of Rooming House, a conceptual folk opera that chronicles the lives of Upper Midwesterners through his quietly raucous, deeply rooted, and empathetic blues. These are songs of lost memories and hardship, but also of the improvised acts of kindness that help neighbors make do. Joined by celebrated drummer and fellow Minnesotan Dave King (The Bad Plus, Happy Apple), Parr cements his role as one of the great troubadours of our time with an album that becomes its own small yet profound offering of care. * "A gritty blend of Delta blues and Depression- era roots music soaked in his hardscrabble voice. It's a sacred realm of folk wisdom and sorrowful vulnerability." - Rolling Stone * "Expertly-picked resonator guitar and lyrics that puncture the soul" - NPR * "Arguably America's finest living troubadour." - Songlines (UK) * Compelling character-driven portraits on a folk opera concept album that chronicles the lives of Upper Midwesterners through his quietly raucous, deeply rooted, and empathetic blues. Driving, groove- driven resonator guitar pulls you in. Working through the material realities of our contemporary moment but also weaving that narrative with his hypnotic sound reveals the near-mythic scale importance of these stories
Forwards! moves roughly chronologically through moments in Brummie history; from the Lunar Society/Priestley Riots, through post war brutalist redevelopment, to the current era of apathy, strikes, mystery fires, and grifters stoking dangerously misguided "patriotism" The record grew from the band's view of the city as both a microcosm of the wider country, and testing ground for 200 years of unaccountable Westminster experimentation. The title itself is taken from the Birmingham's oft- derided civic motto. Throughout the record, fellow Birmingham punx Luxury Nan Smell take the role of The City Elders, providing backing vocals that interrupt, question or comment on the songs like a running director's commentary. Meanwhile, Bryn Bowen, whose CV stretches across numerous Birmingham bands of the 2000s, appears as The Lords of Change, a recurring voice embodying the landlords, lawmakers and civic powerbrokers who shape the city from above.
The Dutch composer and conductor, born in 1993, has assembled a powerful collective with his "hugely inventive and fast- thinking" (UK Jazz News) Brainteaser Orchestra, uniting the vanguard of the current Amsterdam scene - including guitarist Teis Semey , saxophonist Kika Sprangers , drummer Jamie Peet , violinists George Dimitriu and Yanna Pelser , trombonist Nabou Claerhout , clarinetist Federico Calcagno, and bassist Alessandro Fongaro. This lineup has been making international waves, highlighted by invitations to major European festivals and a recent performance alongside Pat Metheny at the North Sea Jazz Festival. Now comes Tonepool Paradox, the orchestra's second album, commissioned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Amsterdam's legendary BIMHUIS. Wybenga's compositional approach radically breaks with big band conventions. His process mirrors that of a hip- hop producer: he records solo improvisations by his musicians, chops the material into pieces, and uses these fragments as samples to build entirely new tracks. Wybenga layers jazz, electronics, and contemporary classical music without ever sounding academic or overintellectualized. For Tonepool Paradox , he expanded this concept internationally, bringing in guests such as Berlin-based saxophonist Otis Sandjo, Parisian violinist Theo Ceccaldi, singer Lizz Wright , and hip- hop vocalist Pink Oculus . Mixed by Grammy winner Nic Hard (Snarky Puppy), the sound brings together the diverse musical styles of everyone involved, juxtaposing the angular lines of the horns with sweeping, melodic string passages.
A genre- blurring statement born from bedrooms and late- night studio sessions, the album fuses live drums, analogue synths, samples, and dense percussion into something critics struggled to pin down - baggy grooves meet electro-pop meets rave culture. Originally designed as an extension of the band's unpredictable live shows, Harder Than It Should Be captures a rotating cast of collaborators and a core four-piece that expanded into an eight-member spectacle. Tracks like Atom Bomb City, Cut It Loose and the cult single These Boys Are Athletes (featuring Bis vocalist Manda Rin) earned radio play and industry buzz - yet the album itself was never formally released. Recovered from early recordings and demos, this reconstruction reflects the original intent: a high- energy journey mirroring the band's live intensity. A document of a moment when MySpace buzz, indie discos and electro experimentation collided in small venues and word-of-mouth scenes.
In their own words, it's "more focussed, paced and thought-out." Over 13 tracks that explore the horrors of the outside world and the internal minefield of the brain, Mould's debut also hits with the thrills of a brilliant live band who've distilled that energy to tape. The title comes from a line taken from the time signature-warping 'Emotive Language' that distills what it means to be a band in 2026 down to one concise sentiment. "This has always been the dream, playing with your mates and making good songs and getting to tour and make records," says Kane. "But the realities of trying to start a band now, when you're 30 and also have other goals at the same time are hard. We'd be doing it regardless, but you have to learn a lot. " This duality runs throughout the record, where tracks like lead single 'Float' speak of "strolling through hellscapes" of social media yet surround their frustrations with the sort of barbed, visceral musicality that sounds like if Interpol had grown up in gloomy, rain- soaked Britain. "You're endlessly doom scrolling, past a funny video of a sausage, and then there's Farage and then there's an ad for something," Joe says of the track. "That mindnumbing flashy distraction turns you into idiots."
In their own words, it's "more focussed, paced and thought-out." Over 13 tracks that explore the horrors of the outside world and the internal minefield of the brain, Mould's debut also hits with the thrills of a brilliant live band who've distilled that energy to tape. The title comes from a line taken from the time signature-warping 'Emotive Language' that distills what it means to be a band in 2026 down to one concise sentiment. "This has always been the dream, playing with your mates and making good songs and getting to tour and make records," says Kane. "But the realities of trying to start a band now, when you're 30 and also have other goals at the same time are hard. We'd be doing it regardless, but you have to learn a lot. " This duality runs throughout the record, where tracks like lead single 'Float' speak of "strolling through hellscapes" of social media yet surround their frustrations with the sort of barbed, visceral musicality that sounds like if Interpol had grown up in gloomy, rain- soaked Britain. "You're endlessly doom scrolling, past a funny video of a sausage, and then there's Farage and then there's an ad for something," Joe says of the track. "That mindnumbing flashy distraction turns you into idiots."
An evolution of her radio show, event series and Bandcamp community under the same name, this compilation plots a globe-spanning day-into-night voyage across 16 tracks, from artists, countries and scenes that have shaped Jamz' musical worldview. Each track, many of which are exclusive to this comp, tells a story of heritage and roots, whilst pushing boundaries and pioneering new sounds in their respective regions. From the Reunion Island to Latin America, East Africa to the Caribbean and Pacific, it's a 24-hour cycle moving from downtempo to dancefloor. The concept of Dance Around The World began in the summer of 2025 but has ultimately been a part of Jamz' journey in music since the beginning. At the centre of it is her 15-year career as radio presenter - her tastes evolving from the early days on Reprezent Radio, to a 1Xtra residency and now a Saturday daytime show on BBC 6Music. There has always been a desire to highlight music from underrepresented scenes to new audiences.
Standing up for joy and pain and all the messy, confusing, beautiful details that make life worth living. Soulful and timeless, her songs tell stories of the heart, finding universal truths in the honesty of personal experience. Released on UK label Mr Bongo and College of Knowledge in Australia and New Zealand, Triumph & Sadness is her most profound album yet - a powerful and unique record inspired by a classic sweet soul sound and rooted in the contemporary moment. Reaching out with vulnerability and poise, it is a plea for connection in a world gone numb. Recorded over four fruitful days at an all- analogue studio in the stunning natural surroundings of rural Victoria (with additional sessions for horns vocals and overdubs at Sound Park in Northcote), Triumph & Sadness was cut directto-tape with all the urgency and warmth of the iconic '60s and '70s sessions that first inspired her. Written alongside Liam McGorry (Temporary Blessings), featuring collaborators from bands Surprise Chef and Karate Boogaloo and mixed by Daptone and The Womack Sisters collaborator Wayne Gordon, it captures the live energy of a band at the top of their game.
Phonogramme drops Analog Stories Vol. 3 , 4 new exclusive deep house gems by Abacus – raw, stripped-back grooves straight from the analog underground. A deep dive into gritty, hypnotic house for those who know. Limited coloured edition
Three decades since Global Underground began defining what a superstar-DJ mix album could sound like, this anniversary release breaks from the format entirely. Instead of just one artist focus, the focus is on the decadal number: here there are 30 artists, 30 new exclusive tracks - and no mixing. Guy J, Rodriguez Jr., Quivver & Dave Seaman and an unexpected Nadia Ali/Frankey & Sandrino pairing headline the tracklist, compiled to represent the current state of the progressive-house lineage. Collector's edition aside, the standard triple-vinyl set on purple, orange and aqua vinyl is the one you wanna own.
Global Underground ist stolz darauf, diese wegweisende Veröffentlichung anlässlich unseres 30-jährigen Jubiläums präsentieren zu dürfen. Dreißig Künstler, dreißig brandneue, exklusive Tracks – zur Feier von dreißig Jahren, in denen wir euch die allerbeste elektronische Musik präsentieren. Auf „THIRTY“ sind einige der dynamischsten Künstler der Dance-Musik vertreten: Guy J, Rodriguez Jr., Quivver & Dave Seaman, Nicky Elisabeth, Yulia Niko, HotLap, Spencer Brown, eine ganz besondere Zusammenarbeit zwischen der legendären Nadia Ali und Frankey & Sandrino sowie viele weitere.
For UnExposed Records first vinyl release, Uruguay’s Marcos Coya wanted to show the world a different side of his artistic approach. In a world of monotonous copy/paste, Marcos wanted to bring something unique to the table. A compilation of spacey, dreamy & emotional tunes custom built for the dance floor yet still experimental as well. Deep grooves & long developments. No fluff. No overbearing bangers. True underground production principles. Crafted for those with a refined palate.
The A-side is dedicated to Marcos Coya’s four to the floor production work. This sonic expedition begins w/ a bang: the record’s title track “Moon Trippin”! A showcase of freaky melodies accompanied by groovy percussions which bolster a vocal of Prince speaking his mind about the true essence of creating musical art & his disdain for mainstream music industry critics.
“Delirium” closes out the A-side w/ a dreamy acid house tune adding an emotional touch to the record. After hours material. A real step forward for Marcos and his production work. Leaning heavier than ever into trusting his melodies. Taking a bit more risk with his approach by creating something you’ve never heard from him on any of his nearly 20 vinyl releases over his career.
For the B-side we shift over to a more breakbeat approach with 2 absolute heaters. B1 introduces the track Hearthug has claimed to be one of the tracks of the year: “Rage Dog”. Rage Dog is a Marcos Coya signature track due to its rock & hip hop influences developed during his adolescence. Marcos even purchased new synthesizers specifically to improve this track & its melodies. The cherry on top is the vocal from Rage Against The Machine’s front man, Zack de la Rocha, which adds a rebelliously political undertone to the record, something UnExposed & Marcos both are very proud to address w/ passionate conviction during this time of war and injustice.
We close out the record with “D.N.A.”, the most experimental piece of art on this vinyl release. A wild combination of breakbeats, guitars, melodies & crazy vocals. The perfect bizarrely fascinating conclusion to this wild trip to the moon and back.
Early support from heavy hitters such as: DJ Koolt, Anthea, Velasco, KT, Hearthug, Mario Liberti, Daïf & many more!
Green Goose Vol. 2 marks the second chapter of the label’s various artists series, bringing together a handpicked selection of artists who embody the sound and spirit of the project.
Featuring Jesse You, Kashawar, Nicolas Duque, and Ducato Driver, the EP explores a diverse spectrum of house and techno influences, blending deep grooves, hypnotic rhythms and late-night energy into a cohesive journey.
Teal return on October 2 with Love Comes Thru, the trio's nine-track debut album. Expanding their emotionally resonant blend of downtempo trip-pop, the record reaches into street soul, dub, and experimental grooves, marking a confident new chapter for the group.
At its core, Love Comes Thru is a reflection on the quiet strength of love—not through grand gestures, but through the steady presence that carries us through uncertainty, change, and connection. Written over the course of a year of bi-coastal collaboration, the album became a testament to the bond Teal share as artists, friends, and family.
From the lush synth landscapes of "Aries Moon" to the footwork-inspired pulse of "Time Is Blind," the album explores themes of patience, vulnerability, longing, and intimacy. Standout singles "Kissing in a Dream" and the title track lean into left-field street soul, while stripped-back, 808-driven tracks like "Change Your Mind" and "Anomaly" demonstrate the power of restraint without sacrificing momentum. Building on the group's love of ambient improvisation, Love Comes Thru also features instrumental pieces with percussion by Brandon Valdivia (Mas Aya/Lido Pimienta).
The album closes with the sensual "Bubbling," bringing the journey full circle with a reminder that love ultimately comes through in its most embodied, physical form. Love Comes Thru is presented in a deluxe, limited-edition matte-finish, double-embossed jacket with a printed inner sleeve. Available on LP and digitally through Rubadub, In Sheep's Clothing, and Forced Exposure beginning October 2.
Wewantsounds is delighted to continue its Ziad Rahbani reissue program with Ana Moush Kafer, a classic album by the Lebanese legend Ziad Rahbani, recorded at his By-Pass Studio in Beirut during the height of the Lebanese Civil War in 1985. Showcasing Rahbani’s signature blend of Arabic music infused with touches of jazz-funk and bossa nova, the album has attained cult status over the years. Originally released on cassette, it has never before been available on vinyl. Newly remastered, this edition features the original Relax-In cassette artwork from 1985 and includes new liner notes by Mario Choueiry of the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris.
Ziad Rahbani, who passed away in 2025, remains one of the most influential figures in modern Arabic music and a cultural icon in Lebanon. A musician, composer, pianist, producer and playwright, he helped modernize Arabic music over five decades. The son of composer Assi Rahbani and singer Fairuz, he shaped her late 70s–80s recordings producing Wahdon and Maarifti Feek, while building a major solo career with classics such as Abu Ali and Houdou Nisbi, which have become cult favourites for a new generation of DJs and music lovers.
Released in 1985 in Lebanon, Ana Moush Kafer stands as one of Rahbani’s key achievements. Recorded at his By-Pass Studio during the Lebanese Civil War, it blends Arabic melodic traditions with jazz-funk, bossa nova and Western arrangements. Originally cassette-only, it became one of his most revered releases. Throughout the album, Rahbani’s writing reflects the turbulence of wartime Beirut with a blend of sharp social observation, political satire and melancholy. It captures a moment in Lebanese cultural history where experimentation, satire and popular song intersected, giving the album its enduring influence among music lovers.
Sung by Rahbani and Sami Hawat, alongside Beirut-based musicians, the album features both Western and traditional Arabic instruments. It balances refined arrangements with lyrical irony, social commentary and political reflection, which remain deeply resonant in today’s context in Lebanon.
One of the highlights of the album is the song “Shou A’ada Ma Bada,” with lyrics by Joseph Harb, which reveals a clear bossa nova influence, while the closing track, “Al Mokawama Al Watania Al Lobnani,” offers a deeply human view of war, avoiding patriotic cliché in favour of a nuanced perspective rooted in lived experience.
As Mario Choueiry observes in his liner notes, “Ana Moush Kafer stands as one of the high points of modern Arab political songwriting, yet transcends its historical and geographical context through the universal relevance of its themes and the timeless quality of its music.”
Forty years on, Ana Moush Kafer remains a landmark of Arab music. Wewantsounds presents it on vinyl for the first time, newly remastered and featuring original artwork. This long-awaited reissue restores one of Ziad Rahbani’s most important works to circulation, reaffirming its place as a defining statement in modern Arabic music.
a 1. Ana Moush Kafer 5:03
b 2. Shou Hal Ayyam 5:46
c 3. A'anitham 4:37
d 4. Shou A'ada Ma Bada [3:45]
[e] 5. Yessa'ed we Yea'en [5:05]
[f] 6. Bi Halyawmayn [3:46]
[g] 7. Bharf Esheen [1:12]
[h] 8. Bhaneek [5:34]
[i] 9. Al Mokawama Al Watania Al Lobnani [3:06]
[a] 1. Ana Moush Kafer [5:03]
[b] 2. Shou Hal Ayyam [5:46]
[c] 3. A'anitham [4:37]
[d] 4. Shou A'ada Ma Bada [3:45]
[e] 5. Yessa'ed we Yea'en [5:05]
[f] 6. Bi Halyawmayn [3:46]
[g] 7. Bharf Esheen [1:12]
[h] 8. Bhaneek [5:34]
[i] 9. Al Mokawama Al Watania Al Lobnani [3:06]
[a] 1. Ana Moush Kafer [5:03]
[b] 2. Shou Hal Ayyam [5:46]
[c] 3. A'anitham [4:37]
[d] 4. Shou A'ada Ma Bada [3:45]
[e] 5. Yessa'ed we Yea'en [5:05]
[f] 6. Bi Halyawmayn [3:46]
[g] 7. Bharf Esheen [1:12]
[h] 8. Bhaneek [5:34]
[i] 9. Al Mokawama Al Watania Al Lobnani [3:06]
[a] 1. Ana Moush Kafer [5:03]
[b] 2. Shou Hal Ayyam [5:46]
[c] 3. A'anitham [4:37]
[d] 4. Shou A'ada Ma Bada [3:45]
[e] 5. Yessa'ed we Yea'en [5:05]
[f] 6. Bi Halyawmayn [3:46]
[g] 7. Bharf Esheen [1:12]
[h] 8. Bhaneek [5:34]
[i] 9. Al Mokawama Al Watania Al Lobnani [3:06]
[a] a1. Ana Moush Kafer [5:03]
[b] a2. Shou Hal Ayyam [5:46]
[c] a3. A'anitham [4:37]
[d] a4. Shou A'ada Ma Bada [3:45]
[e] b1. Yessa'ed we Yea'en [5:05]
[f] b2. Bi Halyawmayn [3:46]
[g] b3. Bharf Esheen [1:12]
[h] b4. Bhaneek [5:34]
[i] b5 Al Mokawama Al Watania Al Lobnani [3:06]
[a] a1 | Ana Moush Kafer [5 03]
[b] a2 | Shou Hal Ayyam [5 46]
[c] a3 | A'anitham [4 37]
[d] a4 | Shou A'ada Ma Bada [3 45]
[e] b1 | Yessa'ed we Yea'en [5 05]
[f] b2 | Bi Halyawmayn [3 46]
[g] b3 | Bharf Esheen [1 12]
[h] b4 | Bhaneek [5 34]
[i] b5 | Al Mokawama Al Watania Al Lobnani [3 06]
[a] a1 | Ana Moush Kafer [5 03]
[b] a2 | Shou Hal Ayyam [5 46]
[c] a3 | A'anitham [4 37]
[d] a4 | Shou A'ada Ma Bada [3 45]
[e] b1 | Yessa'ed we Yea'en [5 05]
[f] b2 | Bi Halyawmayn [3 46]
[g] b3 | Bharf Esheen [1 12]
[h] b4 | Bhaneek [5 34]
[i] b5 | Al Mokawama Al Watania Al Lobnani [3 06]
[a] a1 | Ana Moush Kafer [5 03]
[b] a2 | Shou Hal Ayyam [5 46]
[c] a3 | A'anitham [4 37]
[d] a4 | Shou A'ada Ma Bada [3 45]
[e] b1 | Yessa'ed we Yea'en [5 05]
[f] b2 | Bi Halyawmayn [3 46]
[g] b3 | Bharf Esheen [1 12]
[h] b4 | Bhaneek [5 34]
[i] b5 | Al Mokawama Al Watania Al Lobnani [3 06]
Polarity Records returns with its eighth release. After years of experimentation with live performance, new technologies and evolving setups, Luca Piermattei returns his focus to studio production.
Natural Recording Vol.2 marks a new phase in his artistic trajectory: a more essential and distinctive sonic language, balancing emotional depth, harmonic sensitivity and a stronger focus on musicality, dynamics and performance-inspired arrangements. A refined approach where every element finds its place with intention.
As intended from the start, Acid for the Grandma moves without a fixed direction. No clear starting point — just a path taking shape along the way.
No common ground, except the need to keep making music: instinctive, personal, at times compulsive. Each track stands as a standalone fragment, driven by the same impulse — turning tension into sound.
