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Les Disques du Crepuscule presents The Wood, a brand new studio album by Scottish singer and songwriter Paul Haig, previously frontman with cult Postcard post punk legends Josef K.

Paul's fourth solo album for Crepuscule since 1983 was written and recorded over a three year period between 2015 and 2018, and explores glitchy, twisty sonic territories in the vein of Four Tet, Floating Points and Love Over Entropy.

'We can think of the wood or forest as a metaphor for the mystery of the human psyche,' says Paul. 'Like the human soul, it can be a place of hidden meanings and unrevealed secrets. I wanted to try and evoke this through the music and worked hard on finding the right balance of electronic and organic sound samples across a broad range of musical genres.'

Cover art by Kendris MacLeod. Design by Emma Quinn Design. Available on CD and vinyl LP (vinyl format includes a free digital copy on MP3).

Tired of reading the words 'classic', 'masterpiece', 'missing link', 'cult', in every press release Just trust us on this one: We have no choice but to use those words and urge you to(re)discover one of the ultimate Afro-Disco lost classics.
How could such a masterpiece stay in obscurity for so long Well, no one knows where N'Draman is. He's presumed dead, and so is Mr Patrick, the label owner, an ex-football player
who turned his focus into fashion after suffering a career ending injury. Selling jeans from an outlet in Monrovia (Liberia), he only ventured in the music business for a short period of time,
releasing a handful of incredible albums on his Cosmic Sounds imprint. The word on the street was that Nigerian legend William Onyeabor was somehow involved with the production of the album, or maybe playing synths on it. Both were inaccurate, although N'Draman Blintch's previous and first record Cikamele, was indeed recorded at Willfilms, Onyeabor's studio. And some of the musicians playing here were also key members in his pool
of session musicians. Cosmic Sounds is many things: Psychedelic, politically engaged, funky to death, full of synths,
with an artwork to die for, a perfect crossover of African and Western culture: Music for the body and soul, Cosmic disco before the genre even existed. Did DJ Danielle Baldelli hear it
Was it ever played by Larry Levan or Mancuso In a pre-internet era, it's unlikely but not impossible. We are extremely honored in carrying the reissue of this gem and have treated the task with
utmost respect: both artwork and audio were restored by specialists, and liner notes were written by Temitope Kogbe, Afro-Funk expert who runs the Odion Livingston label, founded
with legendary producer Odion Iruoje. 38 years after its original release, the world is finally ready to hear Cosmic Sounds in all its glory.

In Sudan, the political and cultural are inseparable. In 1989, a coup brought a hardline religious government to power. Music was violently condemned. Many musicians and artists were persecuted, tortured, forced to flee into exile — and even murdered, ending one of the most beloved music eras in all of Africa and largely denying Sudan's gifted instrumentalists, singers, and poets, from strutting their creative heritage on the global stage.

What came before in a special era that protected and promoted the arts was one of the richest music scenes anywhere in the world. Although Sudanese styles are endlessly diverse, this compilation celebrates the golden sound of the capital, Khartoum. Each chapter of the cosmopolitan city's tumultuous musical story is covered through 16 tracks: from the hypnotic violin and accordion-driven orchestral music of the 1970s that captured the ears and hearts of Africa and the Arabic-speaking world, to the synthesizer and drum machine music of the 1980s, and the music produced in exile in the 1990s. The deep kicks of tum tum and Nubian rhythms keep the sound infectious.

Sudan of old had music everywhere: roving sound systems and ubiquitous bands and orchestras kept Khartoum's sharply dressed youth on their feet. Live music was integral to cultural life, producing a catalog of concert recordings. In small arenas and large outdoor venues, musical royalty of the day built Khartoum's reputation as ground zero for innovation and technique that inspired a continent.

Musicians in Ethiopia and Somalia frequently point to Sudan's biggest golden era stars as idols. Mention Mohammed Wardi — a legendary Sudanese singer and activist akin to Fela Kuti in stature and impact in his music and politics — and they often look to the heavens. A popular story is of one man from Mali who walked for three months across the Sahel to Sudan because the father of the woman he wanted to marry would only allow it if he got him a signed cassette from Wardi himself. Saied Khalifa is said to be the one of the few singers to make Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie smile.

Such is the stature of Sudanese singers and the reputation of Sudanese music, particularly in the "Sudanic Belt," a cultural zone that stretches from Djibouti all the way west to Mauritania, covering much of the Sahara and the Sahel, lands where Sudanese artists are household names and Sudanese poems are regularly used as lyrics until today to produce the latest hits. Sudanese cassettes often sold more in Cameroon and Nigeria than at home.

But years of anti-music sentiment have made recordings in Sudan difficult to source. Ostinato's team traveled to Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, and Egypt in search of the timeless cultural artifacts that hold the story of one of Africa's most mesmerizing cultures. That these cassette tape and vinyl recordings were mainly found in Sudan's neighbors is a testament to Sudanese music's widespread appeal.

With our Sudanese partner and co-compiler Tamador Sheikh Eldin Gibreel, a once famous poet and actress in '70s Khartoum, Ostinato's fifth album, following our Grammy-nominated "Sweet As Broken Dates," revives the enchanting harmonies, haunting melodies, and relentless rhythms of Sudan's brightest years, fully restored, remastered and packaged luxuriously in a triple LP gatefold and double CD bookcase to match the regal repute of Sudanese music.
A 20,000-word liner note booklet gives voice to the singers silenced by an oppressive regime.

Take a sail down the Blue and White Nile as they pass through Khartoum, carrying with them an ancient history and a never-ending stream of poems and songs. It takes two Niles to sing a melody.

The first in a series of all-time CLASSIC hip-hop anthems from the Nervous vaults, pressed onto high quality dinked 45's.
Remastered from the original source material and featuring the unedited 'dirty' version on the A-side, and the full instrumental on the B-side, these 45's are for the heads who know what time it really is! Black Moon's 'Who Got The Props' needs no introduction, it's place in hip-hop history is fully solidified. The combination of vintage Beatminerz SP1200 beats paired with the legendary MC's Buckshot and the 5 Ft. Accelerator's streetwise NYC raps is a heady mixture indeed. Often speaking of street life in New York in the 1990's, Black Moon gained cult status via their 1993 debut LP 'Enta Da Stage', one of the most celebrated hip-hop debut albums of all time. The Beatminerz production changed the game, their deep knowledge and understanding of samples, records and digging in the crates gave their sound a real style and edge. 'Who Got Da Props' is the perfect example of this, one of those timeless rap records that appeals to the hardcore and can ignite the party. Truly essential. Every home should have one (or 2!).
Fully legit, licensed and reissued by Above Board distribution in conjunction with Nervous Records, NYC. 2018.

The 8 track album features new collaborations with DJ Phil, Gantman, DJ Paypal, and Sirr Tmo, and a previously unreleased classic from 2013, co-written with DJ Rashad. WFM will be available in Vinyl and digital formats on September 7th 2018. Listening to WFM, the first thing that jumps out at you is Heavee's masterful use of synthesizers and sound design. You get the sense that these elements have been lovingly crafted during countless hours of sonic experimentation and invention in the studio. As Heavee explains, the primary focus on synths represents a departure from his usual creative process: 'Usually in my method of production, synths or sounds come somewhat close to last, likely after I find structure or rhythm. Basically, it's not something I particularly go for first, but this time around they became the building blocks'. Heavee has made a conscious decision to challenge himself, adopting a different approach to his past productions. In doing so, he moves away from the familiar sampling techniques which characterised his earlier work: 'I am a child of the last days of ghetto house culture as it shifted into juke/footwork. My parents, aunties, and uncles played house and ghetto house music at family functions, BBQs and house parties. That's my roots and where I came from. However, on this record, I chose to stray away from vocal samples, to give myself room to grow in different areas.' Heavee finds his voice in emphatic fashion on Cloud Ride feat. DJ Phil. His lyrical content and flow are on point as the track flips seamlessly from hip hop to footwork and back again. DJ Phil features on 3 tracks in total, a reflection of Heavee and Phil's close friendship and musical connection. As Heavee explains: 'Phil's studio is a safe space for me. Whether he is in the room or not, I don't feel weird about trying something that might be silly, taking it to the next level, or coming from a place of pure inspiration. Phil has historical, musical and cultural knowledge relevant to Chicago. He shares a lot of invaluable knowledge with me' WFM features It's Wack a classic collaboration with DJ Rashad that still sounds fresh today. Heavee remembers how Rashad would always stay connected, even during his relentless touring schedule: 'We'd get calls no matter where he was. We would talk about everything! He ALWAYS had new info; what new music was popping, scenes that were really accepting or supportive of what we were doing, blends that made the party go off, sites, adventures and just fuel us with support from him and give us living proof of the global support that was to come and the journey that was ahead of us.' Although Heavee makes music with the dancefloor firmly in mind, the sheer quality of his music transcends that space. So sit back and enjoy the next chapter in the Teklife story. All that remains is for Heavee to sign out with a message for the worldwide Teklife family: 'First, Thank you to everyone who supports what I do as an Individual, and Teklife Music as an entirety. You don't understand how much your support means to us, it literally keeps us moving. The takeover is far from over! Second, thank you to everyone involved in this project, I couldn't have made it without you. This process taught me so much about what it takes to become the person you want to be. It starts inside of you, and you have to really work for it, you can't wait and wonder. I feel beyond blessed to present this gift to the world, walking this journey of self -discovery through music with you!!!

On Respective Edges Of America — Oregon And Maine — Keith Kenniff Records Quiet Music At Night. 'when Things Are Calmer,' He Says. 'my Mind Is Less Distracted When I Know That Everything Is Dark Outside.' For Over A Decade, Such Has Been The Mode — Nocturnal, Unrushed, Using The Same Mini-cassette Recorder, "a Lovely Little Imperfect Way To Treat Sounds" — For One Of The Country's Most Understated Composers. Kenniff Has Housed Dozens Of Ambient Releases Under The Name Helios Since 2004, Alongside Post-classical Output As Goldmund, Shoegaze Pop With His Wife Hollie As Mint Julep, And Commissions For lm And Television. It Is A Reliably Transportive Body Of Work That's Earned Kenniff A Cult Following, And A Genuine Modesty That's Kept Him On The Fringes, Right Where He Prefers, In The Dark.

Kenniff Mostly Lets His Music Breathe Free Of Explanation, Open To Interpretation. As Listeners, We Follow Subtle Suggestions — The ery Sky On The Cover Of 2012's Moiety, The Countryside Daydream Of 2015's Yume — Extracting Meanings From Imagery And Inscriptions. Veriditas, The Sixth Helios Full-length, Shares Its Name With Twelfth-century Philosopher Hildegard Von Bingen's Notion Of "the Greening Power Of The Divine," The Term Derived From The Union Of Two Latin Words: Green And Truth. Bingen Saw The Abundance Of The Earth As Vitality To Be Cultivated, Interconnected With The Body And Spirit. Take The Concept In Concert With Veriditas' Vistas Of Sound, Gazing Beyond The Tree-lined Wonder On Its Artwork, And We Undoubtedly Recognize The Album's Rooting. Kenniff Elaborates, "while I'm Not A Very Spiritual Person As It Relates To A Religious Belief, I Do Feel An Overwhelming Connection Between The Aesthetics I nd Pleasing In My Experience Of Nature And My Experience Of Writing Music."

WRWTFWW Records is overjoyed to announce the release of two never-released-before soundtracks by French award-winning composer, audio experimenter, electroacoustic and musique concrète magician, and all-around sound visionary Bernard Parmegiani, sourced from the original reels, and neatly packed together in a gatefold sleeve double LP with English and French liner notes. The 2 albums are also available in an all-in-one digipack CD. Les Soleils de l'Île de Pâques (1972), by French director Pierre Kast, is a sci-fi feature which secured itself a well-deserved place in the pantheon of mysterious cult films thanks to hallucinatory (and superb) cinematography, exploration of supernatural phenomenons and occult symbolism, and one hell of a trippy atmosphere. La Brûlure de Mille Soleils (1965) also comes from Pierre Kast, but this time with the help of none other than writer, photographer, multimedia artist, homme à tout faire Chris Mar

Music From Memory return with a further six tracks from Dutch musician Richenel. Continuing with recordings taken from his debut album 'La Diferencia', originally released in 1982 on the cult Amsterdam cassette only label Fetisj, the tracks on Music From Memory's second EP 'Perfect Stranger' includes alternate takes drawn from Richenel's personal copy of the album alongside a further composition which didn't make it onto the original Fetisj cassette.
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Studying set and costume design whilst making a name for himself as a singer and performer in Amsterdam's underground clubs, Richenel played with several disco acts and cultivated an extravagant cross-gender stage persona before connecting with members of the local label. Hooking up through their time together at the Rietveld art academy in Amsterdam, Fetisj was an experimental multi media collective which revolved around a loose mix of various young artists and musicians. Having developed a house band with artists going by a number of different pseudonyms the label set up their own small makeshift studio and would produce and sell the cassettes through their distribution network and at events across the city. Recorded amongst the turmoiled punk and squatter scene of Amsterdam against a backdrop of drugs and social unrest, the 'La Diferencia' sessions reflect a unique mix of punk aesthetics with a synthesized bedroom funkiness.

A somewhat illustrious figure in Dutch pop history with his flamboyant appearance as well as having one of the more exceptional male voices to come out of the country, Richenel would go on to record a number of successful albums and hit singles in the Netherlands and beyond. This largely unknown album on Fetisj however, seems to embody the spirit of another time; a particularly unique and richly creative moment in Amsterdam's musical and cultural history and one that is deserving of a much wider audience.

'Perfect Stranger' is co-compiled by Orpheu De Jong

Unreleased baroque jazz horror score to controversial lesbian sex cult witchcraft exploitation drama from 1973, composed by the man who wrote the Catweazle theme! Hell yeah!

HISTORY:
Ted Dicks is not that well known as a composer these days, but back in the mid 1960s he was composing library music as well penning some of the greatest comedy songs of the era, including 'Hole In The Ground' and 'Right Said Fred'. His work was performed by Kenneth Williams, Petula Clarke, Bernard Cribbins, Topol and more. But until now, little has been known of his brief flirtation with film music.

Virgin Witch was his first brush with film scoring - one of only two score he wrote. The film was produced by legendary wrestling commentator Ken Walton (under his Sexploitation pseudonym of 'Ralph Solomans'), with the help of Hazel Adair, a woman famed for co-creating the long running UK TV soap Crossroads. Virgin Witch was a racey film, turned down at least once for certification by the BBFC, passed uncut with an X for release just in London, then cut and passed for general release shortly afterwards.

The score itself is a unique and quite beautiful pop baroque work, utilizing the cimbalom, an instrument more than likely played here by 'Ipcress file' musician John Leach.

This is a very limited release of a most unique 1970s pop horror lesbian witch score. Get it before they are all sold and you start moaning you didn't order it in time.

LPost-Heretic Dracula X Chronicles is Nicola Kazimir's debut album. It features 30min full of diverse, rough, evil, melancholic electronic music compositions either partly sampled out of important melodies in his life or fully produced by him. Post-Heretic Dracula X Chronicles LP draws from contemporary and past cultural references evolving around institutional-critique, occultism and dividualism and manifests those via metatags or sonic compositions.

Nicola Kazimir is a part of the collective Les Points based in Zürich, Switzerland.
His art/music draws from 90's rave utopias, decentralized & dividual thought, institutional-critique, occultism, progressive & accessible frameworks as showcased at their offspace Mikro -
a physical room which has no doors and opening times during exhibitions and raves - making an institution available to all social layers.
His recordlabels "Les Points" and the newly founded "Gentrified Underground" appropriate those ideas and transfer them to the distribution channels of electronic music.
Nicola refuses genre-stigmas and explores a vast number of genres in his dj-sets and productions - his newest LP "Post-Heretic Dracula X Chronicles" being an example of that diversity.

Shortly before the turn of the year 2017/18, my friend Jan Müller wrote me an e-mail: »Dear Martin, I'll send you the new album of my band ›Dirty Dishes‹ now. The album is titled ›Kabinett Von Papen‹. It is a concept album, which has the third-last government cabinet of the Weimar Republic as a subject. So, please tell me how you see it - whatever your verdict, I'll use it as an incentive to put my mind and body in the service of global pop culture even more so in the future«.

Dirty Dishes is founded in 2005 by Jan »Rasmus Engler« Müller (Tocotronic) and Rasmus »Jan Müller« Engler (MHerrenmagazin, Little Whirls, Ludger) when the two are bored during recording sessions for the second album of their group Das Bierbeben. Immediately, they write two pieces of music (»Bon Giorno«, which has alcohol and drug abuse as a subject, as well as »Drink a Coke«, a Brigitte-Mira-dedicated anthem for the caffeine-containing soft drink), which are released in the same year as a single under the title »Hurra...! Endlich Ferien!« on the label K.i.N.d.V. Two years later, the duo releases their debut album »Tea Is Not Our Cup of Coffee«. Here one can hear the first experimental and more conceptual works such as »Dirty Dishes as Goofy as Asterix«. The following albums (»Mit uns nicht!«, 2009, and »Von der raffinierten Kunst, jemanden in einen Tümpel zu stoßen«, 2013) juxtapose song and experiment. The first pure concept album, including now-permanent members ALEXANDER (Schrottgrenze, Station 17), Guido vom Flockenberg (Back On The Road), Isabella Stellmann (pedagogue) and Zopfus (ByteFM), is »Der Egel vom Tegel - Die kleine Rock-Operette der Dirty Dishes« (2010), followed by »Round about Ignaz Kiechle«(2013). The latter brings together songs that deal with significant events in the life of former Agriculture Minister Kiechle and were recorded freely improvised in just one recording session.

On the now-available »Kabinett Von Papen«, composed in monastic retreat, each piece is named after a minister from Papen's presidential cabinet (1.6.1932-3.12.1932) and represents them tonally and/or lyrically succinct.

Another very special EP on Al Zanders A to Z label

Teaming up this time with vocalist Sheyi, for a one-off foray into Broken Beat territory.
The story of its inspiration begins with a trip to Notting Hill Record & Tape Exchange...
After asking for some broken beat, the assistant ventured a withering opinion that "won't be monotonous enough, try the house music section instead"
Turns out it was Phil Asher of Co-op fame - who, after establishing a genuine desire for said genre - sold Al a bunch of West London music which became the influence for this EP.

Allowing Sheyi to shine over a bare bones, syncopated rhythm track on the title cut and an equally stripped down 'Satisfy' Al amps up the groove, with the G.I.T dub, which was made for IG Culture's radio show.

Limited run on these - don't snooze !

It is said that every generation casts its mind back to a previous era in times of crisis; the resources that will allow us to decode the questions of our moment may lie in the myths of another era.

Le Renard Bleu, the new musical and cinematic collaboration between Lafawndah and composer Midori Takada, and filmmakers Partel Oliva, takes a cross- generational echo as ground zero for recovering a crucial myth for uncertain times: the blue fox.

As transmitted by Takada, the fox appears in both ancient Senegalese and Japanese folktales as the trickster archetype; belonging both to the heavens and to the earth, the fox is the agent of chaotic good, shaking the world up when its energy has become stagnant. Above all else, the fox is famous for its cunning nature.

Renard Bleu marks the first new music released by Takada in nearly twenty years; it would be difficult to overstate the importance of her return to the public eye. Her first solo record, 1983's Through the Looking Glass, has been rediscovered and heralded as a lost classic; the influence of her percussion trio, the Mkwaju Ensemble, continues to permeate and inspire a new generation entranced by its lucid beauty, playfulness, and sensual patience. Takada has performed in numerous film score orchestras, including the ensemble for Akira Kurasawa's Dreams, coincidentally a key influence on Renard Bleu.

In the ensuing years, Takada has worked closely with theater group the Suzuki Company of Toga on productions of Electra and King Lear, an experience, she says, that allowed her to pursue 'a unity of music, body and space.' Recent live solo performances have evinced the depths of her exploration of all three.

Equally, it is Lafawndah's freedom of tone, decentralized maps of ancient and modern music cultures, and alloying of devotional intensity with modern songcraft casts her as a distinct relative of Midori Takada's.

Over the course of two EPs, self- directed music videos, and countless live performances, Lafawndah has drawn out an uncompromising exploration of how theater, situational intervention, and choreography can amplify the affective palate of forward pop music. One can trace the influence of artists such as Meredith Monk, Carlos Sara, and Andy Kaufman as much as musical antecedents AR Rahmann, Missy Elliott, or Geinoh Yamashirogumi.

It is in a mutual commitment to this unity that Lafawndah, Takada and Partel Oliva find fertile aesthetic common ground.

The music of Renard Bleu originated in Takada's preoccupation with the legend of the fox; after constructing a vivid instrumental composition dramatizing the spirit animal's journeys through waterphone, bells, marimba and various forms of drums, Lafawndah responded - in her inimitable mix of fairytale and undertow-- with melodies and lyrics capturing a dialogue between her and the fox himself. Eventually, the duo met in Tokyo for a week of communing with the material at Avaco Creative Studios, where new elements were composed on site.

Created in partnership with KENZO and premiered today via their channels, it was Partel Oliva who imagined a contemporary cinematic frame for the myth of the fox to re- appear, creating a hybrid of choreography and narrative around Takada and Lafawndah's performance of their joint composition (also titled Le Renard Bleu.) Returning to film in Japan for the third time, Partel Oliva's moving image work (Club Ark Eternal, The Pike and the Shield) has set the standard for and revolutionized the fashion art film. Their deployment of original music, dance, and a highly stylized mis en scene coalesces here in the casting of Los Angeles krump artist Qwenga as the eponymous fox, stalking the halls of the ancient Noh theater in which Takada and Lafawnda's performance takes place.

Why call up the myth of the fox now In Le Renard Bleu, Lafawndah and Takada's collapsing of distance between generations, styles, and milieus intimates that the relationship to time must be shaken. The future lies in fragments in the past; to remember is to recover it; the fox rises to thicken the plot.

2022 repress

currently the rediscovery of long forgotten japanese electronic, jazz and new age music is at a peak like never before. but although many re-issues already flood the record stores around the world: the large, diverse musical culture of japan still got some gems in store that are really missing.

for example, it is still quiet around the the work of japanese bass player, new-age and ambient musi-cian motohiko hamase. when the today 66-years old artist started to be a professional musician in the 1970's, he quickly gained success as a versed studio instrumentalist and started to be part of the great modern jazz isao suzuki sextett, where he played with legends like pianist tsuyoshi yamamoto or fu-sion guitar one-off-a-kind kazumi watanabe.

he also was around in the studio when legendary japanese jazz records like 'straight ahead' of takao uematsu, 'moritato for osada' of jazz singer minami yasuda or 'moon stone' of synthesizer, piano and organ wizard mikio masuda been recorded.

in the 1980's hamase began to slowly drift away from jazz and drowned himself and his musical vision into new-age, ambient and experimental electronic spheres, in which he incorporated his funky medi-tative way of playing the bass above airy sounds and arrangements.

his first solo album 'intaglio' was not only a milestone of japanese new-age ambient, it was also fresh sonic journey in jazz that does not sound like jazz at all. now studio mule is happy to announce the re-recording of his gem from 1986, that opens new doors of perception while being not quite at all.

first issued by the japanese label shi zen, the record had a decent success in japan and by some overseas fans of music from the far east. with seven haunting, stylistically hard to pigeonhole compo-sitions hamase drifts around new-age worlds with howling wind sounds, gently bass picking and dis-creet drums, that sometimes remind the listener on the power of japanese taiko percussions. also, propulsive fourth-world-grooves call the tune and all composition avoid a foreseeable structure. at large his albums seem to be improvised and yet all is deeply composed.

music that works like shuffling through an imaginary sound library full of spiritual deepness, that even spreads in its shaky moments some profound relaxing moods. a true discovery of old music that oper-ates deeply contemporary due to his exploratory spirit and gently played tones. the release marks another highlight in studio mule's fresh mission to excavate neglected japanese music, that somehow has more to offer in present age, than at the time of his original birth.

The music on this EP was conceived in China, between 1989 and 1993. The original tracks were mixed to DAT in real time, in a small neighbour-proof studio inside my apartment in Macau, a 19th floor with a view to the hurricanes. There's a small, unexpected or improbable story behind each track, some little magic fused with the local atmosphere, certainly guaranteeing their lasting authenticity 25 years later.

TAIPEI DISCO
Late 80s Guangzhou was an exotic city where the traditional past coexisted in harmony with the present and even already with the future.
I'd rather spend my weekends in Guangzhou than diving into Hong Kong consumerism - as most ex-pats in Macau did. I took a cab at the border and travelled 150 Km through chaotic roads with family and friends until reaching the hot, humid, mega South China metropolis.
We ate on street joints in the evenings, went on to a karaoke bar and ended up at Taipei Disco, the only proper club in town. All the others were inside hotels and played generic music or they were seedy, sleazy, smoky cabarets.
Taipei Disco used to be a cinema and played cantonese pop music and anglo-saxon pop/rock (that was new). The spacious dance floor was generously lighted, the atmosphere was airy and modern. Boys and girls were in the habit of dancing in pairs, one in front of the other, observing a respectful yet sensual distance. When the girl took a few steps back, the boy went along and vice versa. With legs and feet (more than the upper bodies) synchronized with the music, they never exceeded in extroversion. Cool.
I always carried a MicroComposer and a portable DAT recorder in my travels through China and weekends in Canton. Any spontaneous musical idea was imediately recorded and memorized. The MicroComposer allowed multitrack recording, which was very handy on the road. Based on the emphatic choreography of Taipei Disco's dancers, i started to compose a rhythm track while sitting at a table, with headphones, listening to Cantopop in the background. As if by magic - not a rare occasion in music - everything began fitting together. Odd as it may seem, the track ended up sounding more germanic (Kraftwerkian) than Cantonese pop.

The story ends in a circle: the cantonese DJ at Taipei Disco, whom i used to ask to play certain records, wanted to play my music at the disco when it was basically only just a rhythm track and little else. From a cupboard under his set up he took out a battered keyboard (unrecognizable brand) and invited me to play over the track with the available sounds on the keyboard. The circle was complete, with Cantonese clubbers happily dancing forwards and backwards, as if it were another Cantopop hit.
I didn't get payed but the house offered us free ice cream cups in which little Portuguese flags were sticked.
The track would be finished later, in studio, with vocoder strings ensemble and synth solos.

TAIPEI DISCO (LIVE)
The live version of 'Taipei Disco' was recorded during a live set at the China Pop venue, in Macau, 1993. China Pop was a rock club built in the ample space of an old fishing warehouse, located in the labyrinthic Inner Harbour area. It was decorated with large Mao Zedong and Cultural Revolution posters and memorabilia and had a unique atmosphere, fusing Pop Art with film noir. We began our performance at 1AM, pretty early for Macau's nightlife standards. We were lucky. An audience showed up. And in Macau there were always several friends among the audience, which tranformed a musical performance into a relaxed party.
The atmosphere was particularly surreal on that night. The front row was dominated by French Crazy Horse dancers, a sort of Oriental Moulin Rouge. The girls had finished their last performance of the evening at the Crazy Horse and were still energized from their show. During our performance, right in front of us and perfectly synched, we could hear the famous irreverent screams of can-can dancers. You always had to expect the unexpected in Macau.

RED MAMBO (IMPROMPTU)
I was familiar with the Portuguese-speaking African countries well before having lived in China. I found myself returning several times to one in particular, always attracted by its magic and very distinct, identitary culture and music: Cape Verde.
During the early years of DWART a lot of the inspiration for drum machine rhythms (Roland's TR series) came from African music, especially from new musical trends that gained full autonomy with Cape Verde's independence from Portugal, as was the case with funaná.
I had the privilege of having known and befriended some of the greatest Capeverdian composers, musicians and singers during the 70s and 80s, such as Bana, Luís Morais, Cesária Évora, Paulino Vieira, Chico Serra, Tito Paris, and historical bands such as Bulimundo (ambassadors of funaná) and Os Tubarões (great innovators of morna, coladera and funaná, with the sonic impact of an afro-beat big band).
When Luís Filipe de Barros began playing Os Tubarões for the first time on Portuguese radio, that was the turning point for African music in Portugal. The 'Tabanca' album was so widely heard and talked about that it quickly got a Portuguese release through one of the big labels of the time.
The mystic of this band from the Santiago Island would reach the East. Os Tubarões played to a packed room in Macau in 1992, and after the bombastic gig we arranged a dinner and party at my place.
We ate and drank generously and the moment came for a jam session at the small studio on the 19th floor. Because Os Tubarões didn't all fit in the studio, we recorded an impromptu with only three of the musicians: Tótó Silva (electric guitar), Mário Russo Bettencourt (bass) and Zeca Couto (piano). And there we were improvising without barriers, suddenly detached from cultural roots, labels and constraints, a truly unique moment. The track is now being released exactly as it was recorded, imbued with the real communion between the musicians. And it could only be titled 'Red Mambo'. I wish to dedicate it to the memory of Ildo Lobo and Jaime do Rosário, founders of Os Tubarões, sadly and too soon departed from the land of music.

Original Soundtrack - Super Deluxe Version, (including 4 tracks never released on vinyl before, this feature is exclusive to this edition, see the tracklisting), 180g vinyl, mastered at half speed, heavy cardboard old Stoughton tip-on sleeve, obi, gold sticker Info We Release Jazz is delighted to present the official reissue of the original soundtrack of Jean-Pierre Melville's 1970 film noir classic Le Cercle Rouge (starring Alain Delon, Bourvil, Gian Maria Volontè, and Yves Montand) composed by French soundtrack master Eric Demarsan, available on limited edition 180g vinyl LP mastered at half speed and including 4 bonus tracks not available on previous pressings of the album. Eric Demarsan's compositions for Le Cercle Rouge draw from the orchestral spirit of the Modern Jazz Quartet (as requested by Melville who loved John Lewis' work), abstraction and minimalism to create a suspenseful and hypnotizing audio landscape which elegantly underlines the tense atmosphere of unavoidable fate that shrouds the movie and the doleful beauty of its characters. Simply put, it's the finest combination of underworld existentialism, coldblooded chic, and crime jazz! Le Cercle Rouge boasts the participation of celebrated jazz players Guy Pedersen (bass), Daniel Humair (drums), Georges Arvanitas (piano), and Bernard Lubat (vibraphone). Starting as a collaborator of François de Roubaix and Michel Magne in the 60s, Eric Demarsan went on to become a mainstay of French cinema soundtracks, composing for directors such as Jean-Pierre Mocky, Costa-Gavras, and Patrice Leconte among others. He also recorded the cult album Pop Symphony (for Pierre Cardin in 1970) under the Jason Havelock pseudonym.

The wonderfully monikered Golden Flamingo was one of many labels operating alongside the now legendary P&P Records imprint in late 70's to early 80's NYC. Fans of deep Disco, raw gritty Soul and rare as hen's teeth Electro and early Rap know of the cult status of it's brief but influential output and in recent years the P&P label and it's associated entities have enjoyed further popularity through the exposure of it's music by some of the world's most respected DJ's and selectors, and rightfully so. An amazingly lo-fi, endearing and overtly underground aesthetic runs through all of the labels, from the label artwork down to the music itself. This style is evident on Margo Williams' epic 'God Save And Protect All The Children', a colossally rare 12" from back in 1980.
A huge, drifting soulful Gospel number, 'God Save...' has been an oft overlooked gem in the wider P&P related catalogue. Not much info is known about Williams other than she contributed backing vocals to some classic Disco records including Inner Life's 'Inner Life II' and The Salsoul Orchestra's christmas LP as well as appearing on other P&P projects. The production on this record was handled by the absolute powerhouse duo of Peter Brown and Patrick Adams so it oozes that amazing quality that these 2 legendary studio figures brought to all of their projects - the trademark P&P sound. It's all here in this beautiful stirring plea to the lord to look after all of us set to some incredible arrangement and production. It's obvious these self-made music industry legends were at the top of their game back then and one only has to explore the rich and diverse catalogue of amazing music they've given us over the decades. Absolutely essential repress action here.

This is a 100% legit reissue, made in conjunction with Above Board distribution and the Demon Music group, lovingly remastered with love by Optimum Mastering, Bristol UK. Housed in original 1980 release full sleeve artwork.

Fernando Sanz has been steadfastly dedicated to the craft of beats and breaks since he was a young sprout of 14 years in the sun baked southern Spanish port city of Algeciras. Under the imprint Orbe Records, Sanz has cultivated his own thriving techno community as artist and label head. Since 2014 Orbe Records has been lashing the block rocking techno of Sanz's comrades Eduardo De La Calle and Steve Stoll, but mostly of Sanz's own prolific moniker, Orbe. As DJ and producer Orbe keeps the mood surreal and dreamy while deploying understated drum machine patterns to hammer the platonic solids that keep his beloved community in tact.

His forthcoming 3-track 'Hohenheim' EP for the Barcelona label, Lone Romantic, keeps the Orbe buzz rolling. 'Hohenheim' kicks the record into motion with the resounding thuds of a multilayered big-room kick while bright synths and sharp edged sci-fi machinery climb the walls in obscure and narcotic patterns. 'Shimano's Tribute' is a study in the fundaments of techno that lull the listener with an extended 4X4 intro into a state of high mental absorption, just in time to drop the centre piece of the track, an eloquently ovular stutter sliced percussion sample. 'Edelweiss' sets the record on a outward course for somewhere between the hypnotic dance floor bliss of a pre-dawn Sunday morning and the impending angst beholden to glimpsing the dystopian sprawl of civilisation when flying out Monday morning.

To coincide with the release of their eagerly awaited debut album Gate Of Grief (now due out on 20 July), US dark electronic outfit WHITE RING release a double AA side 7' single of the two lead tracks on the album 'Leprosy' and 'Nothing'. Blending heavy, distorted electronics with eerie, unsettling vocals they push the boundaries further, subverting genre ideas and mashing them all together, with industrial, metal, rave, chopped and screwed, rap, grunge, neo folk, post punk and new wave all in the mix

'Leprosy' is brooding, abrasive and ethereal all at once, the track draws from a varied and challenging palette, steeped in existential dread. It was the first song they wrote for the album and features the vocals of co-founding member Kendra Malia. As Bryan Kurkimilis explains; 'This song was the first time we really wanted to start exploring aggression in our music.'

'Nothing' is underpinned by gothic 80s beats and sinister synth bass-lines. It crackles and fizzes with arcade bleeps with wraith-like melodies floating over the top. In this song, nothing is true and everything is permitted. It features the first collaboration with newcomer Adina Viarengo, who added her vocals in 2016 to the existing instrumental track that Bryan Kurkimilis created for the first set of WHITE RING demos in 2009.

WHITE RING were originally formed by Bryan Kurkimilis and Kendra Malia, before they were joined by Adina Viarengo, with Bryan and Adina currently touring as a duo. Gate Of Grief arrives a full eight years since their benchmark EP, Black Earth That Made Me, which sold out almost instantly, making their records some of the most highly sought after on the underground scene and earning them a cult following across the globe.

Swerving from aggressively abrasive to beautifully ethereal, musically they draw from varied and challenging palette, whilst tackling themes of loss and acceptance due to struggles with drug addiction and existential dread on a broader scope.

Dwelling on the outskirts of pop music, WHITE RING grew up in the age of the internet and were exposed to a huge range of music. They have developed a unique style while pushing the boundaries of accessibility and musical genre. They have created a piece of art that is brimming with symbolism and underlying tensions, that seduces and scares in equal measure.

Harlem's legendary Disco label Queen Constance has long been a cult favourite among fans of underground dance music for decades.

One of many labels operating under the equally legendary P&P family of imprints Queen Constance was operated by one Peter Brown, a truly colossal figure in NYC's music scene, it's catalogue still fascinates music lovers to this day. Covering a wide range of styles including Gospel, early Rap and Disco the label's output continually finds it way into the playlists of respected DJ's and selectors across the globe. High Fidelity will be the first in a series of Queen Constance rarities to be reissued, an extremely rare and coveted record that can change hands on the second hand market for big big money, avoid those low rent bootlegs that are out there and cop this fully licensed repress.

The group's self-titled sole long-player is a fantastic 6 track set of gritty, soulful and uplifting funky Disco with a DIY edge. Not too much is known about the artists themselves, or even when the record was performed, recorded or released but it certainly sounds like a group who knew their craft inside out. The energy is high across the record and the group sound like they're on fire, just check the outrageously funkified 'Magic Carpet' and you'll see what we mean. Amazing. The whole project has that enchanting lo-fi, back-street feel to it in terms of production and the mind boggles as to how such a record would have come off had it been recorded at a Motown or any other 'big' studio, but no matter as this release is perfect the way it is, an essential piece of street-level NYC Disco straight from the underground.
This is a 100% legit reissue, made in conjunction with Above Board distribution and the Demon Music group, lovingly remastered with love by Optimum Mastering, Bristol UK.

Repressed!


Following his collaboraton with Nicolas Jaar's Clown & Sunset label,
Ecuadorian-based producer Nicolá Cruz has self-produced and self-recorded this landmark
album.
Infuenced by new digital technology, blended with local culture, Cruz builds his tracks layer
by layer, instrument by instrument, drum by drum, exploring local
indigenous and Afro-cosmologies in a modern setng - using homeland traditons and
rhythms to build on a vibrant history of visual and sonic art, catapultng them into the 21st
century. The results of which will easily apply to fans of John Talabot, Romare, Clap! Clap!
and Nicolas Jaar.
'drifs efortlessly and at will between down-tempo electronica and woozy, beat-
driven house' Consequence Of Sound
'Woozy club music of lost innocence' Oslo World Music Festval

Taking a turn to some of its roots, Emotional Rescue offers a reissue of Ramjac Corporation's UK house/breaks anthem Cameroon Massif!. First released on the increasingly cult-status Irdial Discs in 1990, this was very much the sound of the big bang explosion of Acid House morphing and splintering, as subsequent multi-genres developed, formed, imploded and reformed in new ways that still subsists today.

Within the melting pot of anything goes, chemically-enhanced optimism that spread across the UK during that return to the summers of love from 1987 onwards, the nascent sounds coming from Chicago and Detroit were mixed with a hybrid of 80s British influences, taking in European synth pop, US electro, new beat, hip hop and reggae. Out of this appeared a new sound, mixing that love of techno and house with dub bass and break beats into a proto-jungle swirl.

Like many growing up through the ever-evolving 60, 70s & 80s British music scene, Paul Chivers' early years of learning piano and guitar, moved from Beatles era pop to take in punk, jazz and anything an eager musical mind could explore. Developing a long-term interest and study of Cuban and Afro-drumming, his acquisition of an Atari and sampler soon moved to programming of both drum machines and TB303 and with that, Ramjac Corporation was born.

Playing live at some of the earliest raves in 1988, as often through luck and "right time, right place", including the infamous Back To The Future and Energy parties, Ramjac went from playing from 50 to 10,000 ravers in a matter of months, as the nation was gripped, depending on your cultural standing, by either a mixture of drug apocalypse paranoia or ecstatic celebration.

It was a meeting with Akin Fernandez, founder of Irdial Discs, that led some of the first studio experiments and creation of Cameroon Massif!. Utlising Akin's in-house studio and production skills, alongside Chivers' jazz influenced outlook of improvisation over arrangement, the track took shape, mixing the live programmed percussion, heavy doses of phase, delay and reverb and Sun Ra inspired keys that resulted in a number of mixes of Massif!.

Collected here are the original 12" "Massive" and "Massing" mixes, plus a special live version taken from the "Live At The Brain" reunion gig of 2009. The sought after 1990 versions and original Live mix are taken a step further with this 13 mins + mix, in essence a resampling and remixing reversion with didgeridoo and live on mic MCing, that gives a real glimpse of those early live sets. With more Ramjac Corporation material upcoming and a live reel-to-reel show appearing soon, the return of Cameroon Massif! is now.

Dalmata Daniel continue their work with the 7th release in the main flow, and this time they assigned the new experiment to the Teslasonic lab.

In this research, Teslasonic examined the case of 'Quantum Paradox' with the help of another well-known scientist: The Hacker.

The code name of the project is DD007, in which Teslasonic, a citizen of the world, has invented certain new and useful tracks. These tracks are not just sounds, they also create visions, because while we're listening to 'Quantum Paradox' and 'Aether', we feel the energy of the melody, and in our minds, we travel with them through space and time to discover new things. Furthermore, through Blitz Ciphers' and Unified Field Theory's dark and raw electro sound, we find ourselves in the cold and sterile laboratory of the spaceship, where the miracle is born and science is cultivated.

However, thanks to The Hacker, we get a new viewpoint, as in his remix, he re-examines the main theme and at the same time he invents something different - a perfect echo of the original 'Quantum Paradox'.

* "Of all the dubplates in my bag from this last few years, the ones I've selected most often have Walton's name scribbled on the sleeve. 'Black Lotus' is a unique creative statement; I'm very proud to release it on Tectonic and to support Walton, who I believe is a true talent." Pinch

* On July 6th Tectonic recordings presents the game-changing second album by 26 year old Mancunian Sam Walton, better known as simply Walton.
* 'Black Lotus' follows his inclusion on Tectonic's landmark 100th release - Riko Dan's 'Hard Food' EP, plus the 'Praying Mantis'/ 'Koto Riddim' 12' (also on Tectonic) and the 'Taiko' EP on Kaizen - the latter two of which hinted at the album's sound, but didn't fully prepare us for the brilliance to come.

* Abstract electronics, grime, dubstep and new styles that don't even have a name yet coalesce perfectly on this classic in the making. It finds Walton at peak power, reaching just as far (if not more so) than anything on the Pan, Different Circles, Boxed or Tectonic catalogues for pure futurism and new-terrain-traversing brilliance.

* Spacious and modern sounding, with just the right amount of grit, on 'Black Lotus' Walton has taken things the next level - setting an impressive new high bar. This is the best music to take inspiration from far eastern culture since Photek's seminal 'Ni - Ten - Ichi - Ryu' and 'The Water Margin'.

* Cinematic may be a term bandied about too often, but on this record it unquestionably applies, with the whole thing playing out like an epic movie, full of highs, lows, action, reflection and changing scenes.

* The album kicks off with 'Black Lotus', which makes it quickly evident that this isn't just another generic longplayer; a weightless/sino style intro segues into a mystical kalimba line, which is then is enveloped by huge waves of synthesized, pitched-down brass.

* 'Point Blank' offers locked, harsh mechanical funk, full of aggravated excitement, before sleek, spacious grime and disguised pop garage achieve twisted anthem status, on the hugely satisfying 'Koto Riddim'.

* 'No Mercy''s Yakuza crime riff is perfect for Riko Dan's threatening menace, especially at the point his voice gets distorted into a guttral and unsettling, demon-like wretch.

* 'Mad Zapper' is abstract, comprised of simple yet challenging beats, tones and stutters, whilst 'Angry Drummer''s taiko/kumi-daiko style percussion has a rousing, heavy thump.

* 'Pan' sounds equally enthralling whether soundtracking a dark movie scene of impending danger, or carying enratptured ravers on a danceflor journey, especially one suited to the synapse-prodding drama of a high production, lazer-heavy festival set.

* Choppy drums and bouncy bass tones are laced with the georgeos melody of 'Ehru', and 'Vectors' is sleek 'n' deep breakbeat-garage-meets-IDM.

* Although already known for elements of musicality, Walton raises his game even higher with the beautiful closing track 'White Lotus', which has a wow factor akin to hearing Aphex's Twin's 'Jynweythek Ylow' for the first time.

* 'The title came from the idea that I wanted it to be sweet and melodic in areas, but dark and grimey at the same time', recalls Walton. 'I never really listened to much Japanese and Chinese music before working on this, and that element originally came from listening to a lot of Sino grime stuff. It wasn't until I was deep into the process of making the album that I started listening to loads of traditional stuff on YouTube for melodic ideas, which changed how it turned out. The whole dubstep techno crossover thing was also a big influence.'
* 'I'm really happy to have Riko Dan & Wen on there', he adds. 'I've done a few remixes of Riko tunes which have had a great response, so it's been wicked to get some original material done together. The track with Wen was first started a while back, so I'm glad it was finally finished and will see a release.'
* Walton has been steadily gaining serious clout through releases since 2011 on Hyperdub, Keysound, Tectonic and Kaizen, with supporters including Mumdance, Logos, Slimzee, Laurel Halo, Wen, Hodge, Mary Anne Hobbs, Giles Peterson, Paleman, Teki Latex, Commodo, Loefah and Kode9. Key club, festival and radio shows include FWD at Plastic People, Fabric, Outlook, NTS, Rinse and BBC 1xtra.

While notorious in the Chicago streets, RP Boo's music had been unfairly confined to a few white labels and self-released mixtapes until his two archival Planet Mu LPs Legacy and Fingers, Bank Pads & Shoe Prints introduced broader audiences to his sonic history, some of it fifteen years after it was first recorded. I'll Tell You What! is the next step in his mission, and the first time he's released an album of contemporary material. The title, a favorite maxim of his, welcomes listeners to sit down and let him narrate in the unforgettable abstract fashion he's known for. He explores familiar motifs such as the cosmos, movement, and opposition, using densely interwoven vocals, unpredictable percussion, and evil humming bass as his tools of choice. RP Boo's music doesn't follow the traditional rules that most compositions do. Layering decades of samples from yesteryear to the present over his commanding vocal cut-ups, he transports the listener to their own realm of the space-time continuum. The main difference between this record and his prior work is now we hear Boo tell new stories about preaching his gospel outside of Chicago, from his experiences frantically touring the globe over the last five years. The words 'things ain't been the same / since I hopped the plane' are repeated on top of engine sounds and rumbling bass on Flight 1235, a glorious paean to his new jet-setting adventures. The spirit of competition runs through RP's veins as much as blood does, something you can't unlearn when you've been making music for Chicago's footwork circuit as long as he has. The local culture has served as a shelter from the violence that has plagued the city, pitting kids against each other with their feet rather than weapons. On At War Boo reminds us 'we are at war in the streets', a double meaning to both the mayhem in this world and the sweetness of rivalry on the dance floor. Another battle-themed track Cloudy Back Yard, one of the spacier moments on this album, is an abstract on the state of footwork's home. Chicago remains the backyard of this artform even though it's left the porch and traveled to new neighborhoods worldwide. Back at home though, competition among the DJs and dancers continues, and as the man himself says, 'with all this hate, there's smoke, and it's cloudy'. I'll Tell You What! throws more than a few curveballs into the mix. Footwork has always borrowed from hip-hop, and many vocal tracks are almost condensed raps, dating back to the street chants pioneered on Dance Mania Records in the ghetto house days. On Bounty, Boo grabs the mic and brazenly lays down a full-on verse of terror over a thick atmosphere of his signature sweltering low-end and erratic Roland R-70 patterns. While he's most famous for his confrontational battle anthems, his melancholy moments are just as powerful. You get the best of both of those worlds on U-Don't No, with soulful samples finishing his own cocky sentences, one of the most elegant tracks RP has made to date. Deep Sole closes the record out, with the words 'It's always beautiful at the end' looping over waves of hypnotic synthesis, confidently looking death straight in the eyes.

When Ann Arbor's Tadd Mullinix began exploring hip-hop under the name Dabrye 20 years ago, he soon honed in on a startling vision of what the genre could be: ingenious, refined, daring. This vision came to life across two albums for Ghostly International — 2001's One/Three and its 2006 follow-up Two/Three— with each record further positioning the quiet Michigan producer as one of his generation's best, equally comfortable creating minimalist instrumental meditations or sharp rap salvos. In the late 2000s, following critical acclaim and accolades from both peers and inspirations (including the late Jay Dee with whom Mullinix collaborated before his untimely passing), Mullinix put the Dabrye moniker on ice and dedicated himself to other genres and ideas. All the while the influence of his work on a new generation of electronic musicians continued to make itself felt in subtle but meaningful ways.

All this changes in 2017 as Dabrye makes his long-awaited return with Three/Three, a razor-sharp rap album that brings to completion a prophetic trilogy. Mullinix's incisive productions provide the backdrop for equally acute rhymes that run the gamut from intergenerational observations and being your best self to back alley deals and having fun in the ride. Guests include indie rap legend DOOM, whose previous collaboration with Dabrye remains a point of reference for many, Wu Tang storyteller Ghostface Killah, L.A word fanatic Jonwayne, and Long Island's rugged surrealist Roc Marciano. Most importantly Three/Three is, much like its predecessor, an unfettered celebration of Detroit-area talent with Guilty Simpson, Phat Kat, Kadence, Quelle Chris, Danny Brown, Shigeto, Clear Soul Forces and more all lending their touch to Dabrye's return.

The blend of American and British dance music, hip-hop sampling, and Jamaican sound clash energy that underpinned Two/Three remains a quiet, guiding principle. At the same time Mullinix rejoices in a refreshed perspective, having had time to incubate ideas and find clarity in the distance between albums and the evolution of scenes.The beats are looser and less angular, more embracing of repetition. Organic techniques inspired by soul and jazz round off some of the harsher sonics. The resulting broad palette of tracks reflects both this evolution and the range of the Dabrye persona: relaxed headnod ("Tunnel Vision"), nervous, slow-motion electro ("The Appetite"), glacial motifs ("Emancipated"), jazzy, cut-up funk ("Sunset"), minimal brutalism ("Electrocutor"), intricate layering ("Culture Shuffle").

Three/Three marks the return of an innovator after close to a decade of silence. Despite what the title might imply, the album isn't the end of the story but rather the completion of a creative arc. Expect more Dabrye in the near future. The game is far from over.

- Final installment of the /Three series, started in 2001
- Guests include Ghostface Killah, Jonwayne, Doom, Danny Brown, Shigeto, and more.
- Media support from: The Wire, FACT Magazine, The Detroit Free Press, Pitchfork, XLR8R
- Past collabs with Jay Dee (J Dilla), MF DOOM, Beans & more
- Vinyl is housed in a matte jacket with black hot foil and includes 24-page zine designed by Michael Cina.

'syncho Sound System & Power' Features The Music Of Nigeria Fuji Machine,
Which Includes Some Of The Country's Finest 'fuji' Master Drummers And Singers, And Is Newly Recorded By Soul Jazz Records In Lagos, Nigeria. Fuji Is The Heavily Percussive And Improvisational Style Of Nigerian Popular Music, At Once Modern And Yet Deeply Rooted In The Traditional Islamic Yoruba Culture Of Nigeria.
Here On This Album Nigeria Fuji Machine's Striking And Powerful Lead Vocalist Taofik Yemi Fagbenro Soars Above A Wild And Energetic Backdrop Of Polyrhythms Played On Traditional Talking Drums, Trap Drums, Electronic And Street Percussion To Create A Powerful Wall Of Intense Sound. Fuji Is A Hi-energy Street Music, Heavily Percussive Which Evolved Out Of The Islamic Celebration Of Ramadan, Which Became A Major Event In Mid-20th Century Lagos. Groups Of Young Men Walked Through Muslim Neighbourhoods At Night Singing Improvised 'wéré' Music To The Accompaniment Of Pots, Pans, Drums, Bells
And Anything Else Available, Waking Believers For The Early Morning Prayer. By The Early 1970s This Music Had Crossed-over Into Popular Nigerian Culture Where It Came To Be Known As Fuji, First Made Popular By The Artist Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, As The Music Began To Be Performed Commonly At Parties And Social Events. In The 1970s And 1980s Three Nigerian Artists - King Sunny Adé, Chief Ebonezer Obey And Fela Kuti - All Secured International Major Record Deals Bringing Popularity To The Nigerian Musical Styles Of Juju (adé And Obey) And Afro-beat (fela Kuti's Unique Mixture Of Highlife, Funk And Jazz) Abroad, But In The Process Ignoring Much Of Nigeria's Rich Musical Landscape. Fuji Is, Alongside Highlife, Juju, Afro-beat, Sakara, Afro-reggae, Waka, Igbo Rap, Apala And Numerous Others - One Of These Central Styles Of Nigerian Music. The Singer Barrister Described The Music As Follows: 'fuji Music Is A Combination Of Music Consisting Of Sakara, Apala, Juju, Aro, Afro, Gudugudu, And Possibly Highlife.' Juju Performer King Sunny Adé Described The Difference Between The Two
Styles Of Fuji And Juju Somewhat Competitively Thus: 'fuji Music Is More Or Less Like My Music Without Guitars. It's Like I'm Singing In A Major Key And They Are Singing In A Minor. The Music Itself Is The Music Of Juju Music.' Today Fuji Remains A Powerful Popular Music With Deep And Powerful Islamic Roots
Which Continues To Modernise And Attract New Generations Of Young Nigerians And Nigeria Fuji Machine's 'syncho Sound System & Power' Is A Powerful And Intense Musical Experience. This Album Is Released As A Limited-edition Heavyweight Vinyl Edition (+free Download Code), Deluxe Cd And Digital Format.

When Michaela Meise performed at WestGermany at Kottbusser Tor in Berlin-Kreuzberg on March 20, 2015, accompanying herself on the accordion, I was perplexed. I knew her first album from 2010, which was about hymns (»Preis dem Todesüberwinder«, originally released on Clouds Hill, available as a download and stream through my label from July 2018 on), but what she was playing weren't spiritual songs! I wanted to put this music out on my label: the songs sounded sad, aloof and wistful but also proud, determined and unerring.

The album title »I am Greek« is a tribute to Melina Mercouri's album »Je Suis Grecque!«, which was released in 1971 when Mercouri was deprived of citizenship by the Greek military junta. Mercouri lived - like Mikis Theodorakis and many other cultural workers - in exile. Meise's album is dedicated to the chanson scene of post-war Europe, whose songs were popularly folksy, but also political. Some talk about the experience of war, the Shoah and labor migration. Michaela Meise has translated the Greek, French and Romanian songs into German (with the help of Aliki Marini and Carmen Gheorghe) so that the lyrics are understandable to a German audience, a gesture that was also common in the European chanson scene. More than half of the songs are by Mikis Theodorakis. He knows the translations and new recordings, gave his blessing and just noted a wrong tone ... The other pieces on the album are by the French artists Barbara and George Moustaki and the German musician Alexandra. There is also a Romanian folk song.

The album was recorded by Michaela Meise together with members of the group Isolation Berlin as well as the guest singers Carmen Gheorge and Dirk von Lowtzow (Tocotronic). The producer was David Specht (Isolation Berlin).

Michaela Meise and me both have intimate relations with Greece - Michaela has innumerable holiday memories with parents and brother, I have a friend who lives in Athens and whom I have been visiting regularly for about ten years now. This friend, the graphic designer Vasilis Marmatakis, styled Meise's album using an impressive, scary photograph taken in May 1985 during the occupation of Polytechnio Athens. Together, we opted for an elaborate packaging made by a bookbinder, a so-called Japanese tip-on-gatefold cover. The packaging reminds us of the records that were made in Greece for export and taken by German tourists as a souvenir back home.

New Zealand based EBM auteur Body Beat Ritual makes his debut on Bergerac with an incendiary EP of full throttle intense dark wave bangers. Growing up in North West England immersed in hardcore punk and rave culture led to musical experiments and Body Beat Ritual is his unique splicing of both aesthetics.
Using a combination of hardware, audio samples and midi sequencing, Body Beat Ritual reclaims the moment when underground musicians in Manchester, Chicago and Ghent put down their guitars and picked up drum machines and sequencers bringing the intensity, rawness and aggression of the band environment to the dancefloor. Mortal Sin is a certified smasher. Absolute dancefloor decimation whenever it's played out. No more description necessary. No Mercy evokes the Lost Boys vibe with an equally high octane raw workout. Trent Reznor meets Jeff Mills at a DAF gig on a flatliner. The EP closes with Body Politics which lowers the tempo to a chuggier zone, with an ode to female empowerment which keeps up that Body Beat pressure and intensity.

Unusual Colour And Complex Microtonality Found In The Classical Music Of Iran / Blurts Of Noise, Sour Tones, And A Vaguely Technoid Or Dubwise Impression Expose The Inner Rhythm And Counterpoint Embedded In This Strummed Music / Emotional, Mathematical And Polyrhythmic Principles Underpinning Persian Music, The Record Reveals A Dramatic Blend Of Acoustic Persian Instrumentation And Contemporary Electronics. Sote Aims To Devise An Idealised Fusion Of The Musical Heritage And Tradition Of Iran With The Forward-thinking Vision Which Has Propelled His Storied Career Producing Techno, Hardcore And Computer Music For Labels Like Warp, Ge-stell, Morphine And Repitch. Now Living In Tehran, His Music Has Frequently Grappled With The Strict Cultural Restrictions Imposed In His Country Over The Past Few Decades, Finding A Space And Setting To Nurture New Developments In Experimental Sound And Performance. Working With Arash Bolouri Who Plays The Santour (persian Hammered Dulcimer), And Behrouz Pashaei On The Long-necked, Four-string Setar, Sote Frames And Responds To Their Traditional Artistry. On Occasions He Directly Manipulates The Music Emanating From Their Ancient Instruments, Cultivating And Thickening Up A Surreal And Beautiful Tonality Plucked From Their Strings With A Series Of Processing Techniques, But Mostly Each Track Is A Peaceful Arrangement And Partnership, Sote Electro-acoustically Augmenting Their Movements Within His Own Cybernetic Framework.

Very nice compilation on this artists work - on the ever excellent Born Bad imprint!
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For many decades until quite recently, little was known about music from Burkina Faso (which was formerly known as the Upper Volta). It is still one of the lesser known forms of popular music from West Africa. A few years before the country changed its name to Burkina Faso, thanks to Thomas Sankara's dream of a new society, Voltaic music emerged as some kind of true cultural revolution in the wake of the country's independence in 1960. Remote, poor and isolated, Upper Volta musicians coveted the orchestras and artists from abroad while creating a music of their own, based on rich cultural traditions

Popular music that sprung up from Burkina Faso owed much to the music from neighboring countries like Mali, Ghana, Ivory Coast or Benin, and to the longing for cultural authenticity' conveyed through Guinean music. In capital city Ouagadougou, as well as in Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina's cultural capital until the 1980s), the first two decades of independence saw the upcoming of such orchestras and artists as Amadou Balaké, Georges Ouedraogo, Volta Jazz, l'Harmonie Voltaïque, Les Imbattables Léopards, Abdoulaye Cissé, Tidiane Coulibaly or Pierre Sandwidi.

Nicknamed the troubadour from the bush', Pierre Sandwidi stands as one of the finest Voltaic artists from the 1970s. He belonged to an unsung elite of Francophone artists such as Francis Bebey, G.G. Vickey, Amédée Pierre, André-Marie Tala, Pierre Tchana or Mamo Lagbema. His entire released output consists of less than ten 7 inches, two LPs and a bunch of cassettes. A man from the provinces, he always favored social engagement and carefully crafted lyrics over instant fame. His words and music challenged General Lamizana's dreary presidency, which ruled the country from 1966 to 1980.

* Arikon is a solo project of Berlin-based drummer & producer, Arik Hayut - half of doom-tech duo Gainstage with Pierce Warnecke. Loyal to the sonic concepts of Gainstage, Arikon presents The Prophet's Blood Is Boiling, a solo enterprise into deepest 'drum & drone'. Hypnotizing distorted polyrhythms puncture through shards of fragmented melodies, producing potent mixtures of desperate tin can banging, a panoramic sonic scope, and the bleakest of soundsystem nightmares. Across the album, Arikon deploys an arsenal of samples plus electronic, acoustic, and self-constructed percussion instruments, constructing eight powerful productions that manage to embody both brute force and delicate decay.

* Formerly active in Tel Aviv's leftfield experimental scene during the 90's, Hayut made Berlin his permanent home for working on his own projects while composing and performing music for off-theater and contemporary dance. In 2004, a severe health crisis initially threw Hayut into crisis, slowing down his activity to a standstill. However, the precarious process of his fortunate recovery contributed to Hayut involving himself more deeply with concepts of time, death, and decay.

* Inspired by the decadent still life paintings of the Flemish Baroque, the cover artwork for The Prophet's Blood Is Boiling comprises a bowl of decomposing fruit. Like the music, its aim is to illustrate the beauty and perfection of the decay process, whilst also referring to the West's hyper-capitalistic, technology-centric culture. In recent years a new form of 'digital life' has been born, whereby all data - regardless of its worth or importance - is mummified, reproduced, and distributed with no real disintegration or loss in quality. This new digital life is resulting in a sort of 'frozen death', ending the hitherto natural cycle of life.

* The songs on themselves are inspired by the 'beasts of holiness' - mythological monsters that appear   in the Hebrew bible and the Jewish apocrypha (non-canonical scriptures). There's the punching of bassy thuds out of an oceanic ambient swell throughout 'Tanin Gadol', named after the ancient water monster of Babylonian times. The dense net of fumbling scrapes and amp-busting hits of noise on 'Nahash Akalaton' similarly refer to a titular sea-snake monster, its tendrils lashing out of the speakers aggressively. These demons symbolize a force of evil equal in power, yet in direct opposition to the monotheistic deity of their time. They were therefore neither acknowledged nor canonized in much dominant scripture. Arikon invokes these demons across The Prophet's Blood Is Boiling, setting them loose across these gnarled noisy chambers of pummeling percussion and cracked sampled detritus.

Sfetsas formed GFO in 1976, in order to accomplish an ambition dating back to his 1960's Avant-garde period in Paris: to create a piece of work that would expand the boundaries of Greek traditional music. The result is a Progressive-Jazz Fusion masterpiece comprising complex and intriguing compositions, and performed by Athens' best musicians of the day.
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Sfetsas grew up on the island of Lefkada where he studied classical music from an early age at the local conservatory. At the same
time he was genuinely connected to traditional music and especially to the sound of the clarinet, the lead instrument in the region's
folk music. From a young age Sfetsas would perform with Gypsy orchestras in local feasts. It was this experience that inspired him
to create the GFO after his return from Paris in 1975. Sfetsas founded the orchestra while working at the National Radio, an orchestra comprised mostly of members of the Variety Music Orchestra, who had a solid background in both classical and traditional music. In that way, he was able to realise his ambition. Something he could not do in Paris, since it was impossible to find musicians trained
in both musical cultures.

The recordings on this album, forming only a small part of his overall body of work with GFO, are previously unreleased. The music
was recorded Stereo on Reel Tape and with high standards for the time, with the current mastering process highlighting even more
the quality of the recordings. The result is a truly impressive and pure audiophile album.

Swinging Flavors is BACK! After releasing material from names such as Simon Off aka Sun People, Moresounds, DJ Madd, Ticklish, Sully, Addison Groove, Itoa and Lynch Kingsley our 7' vinyl series devoted to Bass Culture and dancefloor vibes is back again with the the Sixth One aka BMRSF006. After having a Japan vs USA Chicago Footwork sound clash with DJ Fulltono and DJ Earl's 'Tribal Dancer', now it's time for an atlantic connection - in the name of Bass Music obviously.
On the A Side you'll find Sinistarr's '55555': the Detroit bass producer - with a 10yrs experience in sound design and recently appeared with an astonishing work on legendary dBridge label Exit Records - gives us a pure example of his sonic craziness with a minimal-but-high-impact work, with chopped vocal samples, magic flutes and heavy basses.On the B Side '55555' gets a full treatment by Philip D. Kick: Cosmic Bridge honcho Jim Coles - well known in the worldwide bass scene as Om Unit - surprisingly comes back with his iconic footwork moniker giving to the original vibes a more accentuate rave touch, with hyper speed drum patterns, amen breaks and piano notes.

Beautiful 1 LP Edition with 350g cardboard old Stoughton tip-on sleeve, Sticker - MKWAJU ensembleâs highly sought-after album reissued on vinyl for the first time since 1981. Also available on CD. - 33 rpm LP mastercut by Emil Berliner from original tapes! WRWTFWW Records is over the moon to announce the official reissue of legendary album KI-Motion by Japanese percussionist Midori Takadaâs MKWAJU ensemble, sourced from the original masters and available in two versions: a vinyl LP cut at Emil Berliner Studios and housed in 350g old Stoughton tip-on sleeve, and a digipak CD. A highly creative and transcendental fusion of marimba, vibraphone, bamboo percussion and synthesizers, KI-Motion was recorded in 1981 and captures the birth of Midori Takadaâs exploration of minimalism, African rhythmic tradition, and ambient music. The album takes its conceptual inspiration from the tamarind ( âmkwajuâ in Swahili), a drought resistant tree notably used to craft some of the first mallets and marimbas but also known for its culinary and medical uses, an essential symbol of life and identity for the Central African grasslands. Drawing from the regionâs culture and music as well as the crucial notion that rhythms represent the very fabric of life, Midori Takada leads her ensemble into environmental heaven to create one of the highlights of her recording career and an absolute must-have from the golden age of Japanese ambientâ¦the ideal companion to her majestic Through The Looking Glass opus!

Iberian Juke Is Extremely Proud To Present 'take Me Back To The South', Sophomore Album By Label Founders Bsn Posse And Our First Ever 12" Vinyl Release. After Their Debut Lp 'forever' For British Label Slime Recordings 2015, The Duo From Málaga Has Been On Quite A Strong Form With A Handful Of Powerful Releases Including Several Eps For Iberian Juke, Modern Ruin Records, Below Music And Breaking Bass, The B-sides, Bootlegs And Remixes Project 'summer Madness Series', And Incursions For Label Imprints Sequel One Records, Hyperboloid Records Or Vandal Records.

With This Album Bsn Posse Want To Reflect Their Love, Respect And Passion For The Footwork Culture In General And For The City Of Chicago In Particular, With Its Guetto Suburbs Being The Origin And Starting Point Of The Juke And Footwork Movement. 'take Me Back To The South' Combines Masterfully In Eight Tracks Elements Of Jungle, Drum & Bass, Soul And Funk With The Classic Juke And Footwork Take At 160bpms.

The Lp Is A Sincere 'thank You' From The Duo To All The Humble Artists That Work Extremely Hard To Put Footwork Into The International Electronic Music Scene. Thanks To This Culture We Have Travelled To Incredible Places And Meet New People With The Only Aim Of Sharing Our Passion For The 160bpms.

WHITE RING mark a triumphant return with a brand new full-length Gate Of Grief, due out on Rocket Girl on 22 June 2018. Their debut album arrives a full eight years since their benchmark EP, Black Earth That Made Me, which sold out almost instantly, making their records some of the most highly sought after on the underground scene and earning them a cult following across the globe. Swerving from aggressively abrasive to beautifully ethereal, musically they draw from varied and challenging palette, whilst tackling themes of loss and acceptance due to struggles with drug addiction and existential dread on a broader scope.

WHITE RING were originally formed by Bryan Kurkimilis and Kendra Malia, before they were joined by Adina Viarengo, with Bryan and Adina currently touring as a duo. One of the most acclaimed proponents of the "Witch House" movement, WHITE RING blend heavy, distorted electronics with eerie, unsettling vocals. However, their new material, created over the course of seven years, pushes the boundaries further, subverting genre ideas and mashing them all together, with industrial, metal, rave, chopped and screwed, rap, grunge, neo folk, post punk and new wave all in the mix. As Bryan Kurkimilis explains; 'We treat our influences like tools to create a certain feeling. We are interested in covering more ground than sticking to a certain formula.'
Bryan and Kendra originally met on Myspace in 2006. At the time Bryan lived in New Orleans and Kendra was in New York, and they didn't even meet face-to-face until 2008 after they had already released a few singles. In 2010 they released the EP Black Earth That Made Me, which was a collection of songs that they mostly recorded before they met in person. The record confounded expectations by selling out immediately on pre-order, making it very rare and highly sought after, with copies going on Ebay for large sums. It was reissued by Rocket Girl in 2011 and still continues to sell in voluminous amounts.

They started playing live in 2009 and rapidly grew a reputation for their captivating performances, usually bringing their own lighting equipment and putting on a spectacular laser show. They have played for large crowds in their hometown of NYC and toured the UK in 2010 in support of their sold out split 7" with oOoOO, playing InTheCity and SWN festivals - which were their first shows outside of New York. They have since shared the stage with the likes of Cold Cave, araabMUZIK, Liturgy, Blank Dogs, Gatekeeper, Blondes, oOoOO, Clams Casino, and others.  
They started recording Gate Of Grief in 2010, with the hope of exploring new musical territory, however they took a while to find their path. Bryan and Kendra had some tough personal battles to fight, a sense that pervades the whole album. Thematically it delves in to some pretty dark places whilst exploring the concept of time and what it does to people, relationships and society. As Bryan explains; 'There is a lot of tragedy in this album but there is also hope at the end of it.'
By 2016 pressure was building to finish recording, however due to Kendra's ill health, they needed to bring in someone new to assist with vocals. Fortunately they found Adina Viarengo, who had played in various bands and gave them the impetus needed to complete the album. Shortly after meeting in Brooklyn, Bryan and Adina moved to Joshua Tree, California to finish recording the album, before settling in Massachusetts. Her vocal style fitted in seamlessly with what Kendra had been doing, and although she sang on half the songs, it's almost impossible to tell who is singing on which track, thus making her the perfect addition to the band.
Gate of Grief can be considered the second part of Black Earth That Made Me, or rather, they are the first two chapters in an overarching trilogy about evolution. As Bryan explains; 'First you are born but then you realize what you are and what is against you and it's a flood of emotion that you can only hope to hold on for and let it pass.'
The album title, Gate of Grief, refers to the real gate between Africa and Saudi Arabia that is believed to be the spot where the first humans migrated out of Africa and went on to populate the rest of the world. The album art ties in with this concept, with an image depicting a group of settlers in the USA in early 1900 during a parade. They were actually from a cult in the early 1900s in Bryan's hometown of Fort Myers, Florida.













M 13) Burn It Down

Left of centre experiments from the Dutch underground of yesteryear. Muziekkamer was the name of the home recording studio that gave birth to the twelve tracks on 'Popmuziek', an intriguing document of sketch arrangements and primitive, fairytale sampling wave cuts. This is music which excels due to its inherent naivety; the limitless ambition of 'Black Box' almost sounding like a precursor to the 90s ambient techno of Likemind or Stasis. On 'Being Home Tonight' we can hear an early form of what the likes of Tolouse Low Trax have been bringing to the forefront of contemporary club culture whilst the erratic art-rock of 'Walkman' mirrors what Leven Signs & co were doing over the pond. In trying to create something which represented 'intrusiveness' as a contrast to an earlier ambient tape the trio incidentally blurred the lines between various musical fashions to come. An amazing snapshot of time and place!

For its third release, Here To Hell welcomes Melbourne (via Adelaide) veteran, Rambl, and his incredible groover 'Doss'.

This third release on the label happened purely by surprise, and what a discovery! The track itself is no accident, but the signing took place after a chance encounter. Richard Campbell aka Rambl, who is one of Melbourne's best and most consistent DJs since the last two decades, had developed a small cult following of viewers via facebook, where he had been providing live video coverage of Australia's wild weather in a kind of comedy-weatherman format. Once these updates caught our attention, the magical facebook algorithm placed all of his content at the top of our feed.

One day his video moved away from the wild South Australian coast and into the studio. Rich - who we also know for his huge stature akin to an NBA basketballer, and his brain for Mathematics and Computational Biology - was bopping that giant brain up and down and making his 'bass face', with a mixing desk and some speakers (and some beers) in the background. The soundtrack to this video was completely mesmerising. We sent him a private message immediately: 'what the hell is THIS!!!'

His reply: 'This is one of mine, it's not finished yet but it feels good'. Our reply: 'It feels INCREDIBLE!!! Finish it and let's put it on wax!'

So today we bring you 'Doss' and we expect you'll love it.

On the flipside we've invited another Melbourne man, Sly Faux, to demonstrate why he's appearing in the playlists of Richie Hawtin and Maceo Plex, and why his EP on Nicole Moudaber's Mood was a bestseller. He's also just remixed The Presets and continues to impress with his tight productions. Sly Faux's remix takes the original Detroit-inspired techno-funk and twists it into a different kind of main room banger.

More CULT EDITS from IÑIGO VONTIER, PIETNEV, DREEM LION, and ALEXI LE FAN. Everyone loves these. No one has them. Only edits in circulation requiring a vow of silence and a paid subscription. Cannot be stolen, shared, or caned to death. Rename the track titles in a random internet café for maximum secrecy/exclusivity/emotional well-being. CULTED002 - blood in, blood out.