Composed over a period of twenty years, these four electroacoustic pieces by Ivo Malec reflect the richness of his sonic universe and reveal the unique power of his musical writing. His strength lies in an ability to harness emerging sounds and techniques (ranging from complex editing to early computer music and electronic synthesis) and develop them through an exploratory approach, giving rise to musical ideas of rare clarity. This sense of determination, not only in terms of the future of sounds but also of musical forms, is what makes Ivo Malec an essential composer on the contemporary music scene and a key figure in the GRM’s repertoire.
François Bonnet, Paris, 2025
Duality, the second studio album by American rock band RA, originally released in 2005, captures the group at a moment of creative expansion. Building on the heavy, melodic foundation of their debut From One, the band broadened its sound with richer arrangements, deeper emotional themes, and a more polished production approach.
With Duality, RA refined their blend of alternative rock, hard rock, and atmospheric textures. The album features several fan‑favorite tracks, including “Fallen Angels”, “Sky”, “Tell Me” and “Got Me Going”. One of the album’s standout moments is RA’s cover of “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”, originally by The Police and written by Sting.
Duality is available on vinyl for the first time and includes an insert with lyrics.
The first wave of British punk was overrun with smart kids from upper-class backgrounds playacting at being working-class yobs. Sham 69 was different; every bit as thick-headed and provincial as the band sounded, they took a perversely populist pride in its lack of musical or intellectual sophistication, just like The Exploited and Anti-Nowhere League.
Side one of Tell Us The Truth was recorded live, and it perfectly captured the Cockney vibe, complete with football chants and a spontaneous chorus of "Knees Up, Mother Brown." Frontman Jimmy Pursey's banter with the audience is impressive, and all the songs are brimmed with straight-ahead live energy. The studio side is a template for brash UK punk rock: snotty, in-your-face, fast and loud.
Tell Us The Truth is now available on black vinyl.
Built with the immediacy that comes from limitation, iPhone Grime is almost exactly what it says on the tape case. Pulled directly from the portable communication device of Front Left Life's Louis Payne, iPhone Grime is the perfect distillation of raw ideas through a simple medium. When producers can drown in the infinite possibilities of the DAW vortex, a simple phone app can steer you swiftly to the sharpest results. Snippets of real world sound captured on the mic ground these quick-fire beats in a time and place, dynamic and street-level like grime and early dubstep was when it was being imagined on PlayStation games and filmed on ropey phone cameras.
Payne is undoubtedly bringing perspective to his sketches, having forged a connection with London's club scene through his part in the widely hailed Front Left Life parties in Catford, at Venue MOT and elsewhere. With a roll call of guests that cuts a sharp line through the best of bassweight club music right now, his taste and knowledge precedes his first steps into the production arena. Rather than puzzling out the path to a thousand likes for a hardware jam reel, he's opted for a direct line between his brain and the beat at the end of it.
You can hear the naivety behind vocal loops like the one nagging away on 'Follow That', calling to mind the first time you ever tried making a Fruity Loops beat. But these are no amateur throwaways — the technology has moved on and Payne's instincts guide him towards legit constructions that could easily do damage in the club. Sometimes they exist as no more than an eight bar loop, while others like 'Wind It Up (Dream Dealers Version)' or 'Extra Dimensional Being' stretch an idea out. Throughout it all, the looming throb of square wave bass glues the record together and anchors the grime dimension of Payne's job lot of phone jams.
Payne's work is all his own, and the snatches of real life around the beats anchor this music in his own London life. But, like previous shifts in technology and accessibility, iPhone Grime also raises an important prospect—that anyone with one of these apps, a Bluetooth speaker and an idea can bring music out of studios and into the world. History has already proven, when that happens the possibilities become thrillingly unpredictable.
Melissa Weikart and her piano have proceeded through life in step, from her early classical
training to the experimental practice that defines her work today, a blending of sounds and forms that has never been so clear—and so fully realized—as on her new album, Contact. Across twelve shifting and evocative tracks that examine the connective tissue binding us to ourselves and others, the Franco-American musician’s voice and piano navigate personal and emotional terrain with clarity and nuance, forging a rich dialogue between artist and instrument, artist and self, and artist and listener.
Winner of the 2022 Nancy Jazz Pulsations emerging artist award and the instrumentalist prize at the 2023 La Défense National Jazz Competition, Weikart has released two EPs and an album as a solo artist, and one EP and an album—Surprise and Secret—with her electronic duo Beatrice Melissa. A student of jazz and ’70s folk-pop, and a keen lover of improvisation since her time at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Weikart has always conjured the confessional candor of the singer- songwriter in her music, even as she dispenses her lyrics across rich, shifting, dreamlike tableaux.
On Contact, written and arranged entirely by Weikart (aside from “New angles”), she pushes her sound further than ever before. The album is animated by a pressing need for connection, observing what brings us together and what drives us apart, and the life-saving revelations that emerge along the way. The album’s opener, “Crash,” is a dreamy telephone-hour ode, a message in a bottle, to connections new and old. On the wistful “Mesurer le vent,” Weikart conjures Debussy or Ravel, layering contrasting sounds like an Impressionist painting. The title track begins as a showcase of Weikart’s frank lyricism, a splice-reel of missed connections and wasted time, then glides into a hazy, euphoric galaxy of pleas, circling around her thesis—“I wanted to make contact”—that ushers us into “The Intersection,” a song that recalls her the beginning of her career, when it was just Weikart and her keys. “Appétit.e” is built around a sample of her down-the-hall neighbor’s drumming—another subtle, affecting gesture toward proximity and connection—while pulsating synths reminiscent of Air lend the track an unsteady atmosphere. On the Carpenters-inspired “Expectations,” Weikart muses on the relationship patterns, universal and specific, that have always been a hallmark of her songwriting.
The psychedelic “L’amour de construit” is a slow-motion fall down the rabbit hole, as Weikart
considers the way her own emotions are captured and commodified by the confining ways we think about love. The interlude—“L’amour pt. 2”—finds her near the end of that trip, shouting into the void as a last-ditch effort to rescue herself from the fall. The drums near the end of the interlude warn us that there may be no cushion for, until she is saved, again, by the power of revelation, on the confident, resilient “Not Right”—on which a show-stopping, frenetic conversation between singer and piano is gracefully interrupted by a rush of transcendent strings, lifting her back up.
On solid ground anew, “New angles,” featuring Manu Delta, creates a percussion-less groove that relies on experimental synth sounds. The 11-o’clock stunner “Catching up”—composed in a church—meets the singer in a state of ecstatic confession, bringing her to the formative memory that propels “Bicycle,” the album’s closer. Younger, more wide-eyed, she reflects on her move from Boston to Strasbourg, those early days, when Weikart had no other companion than that loyal hunk of scrap metal that took her to the shores of her own soul. She seems to suggest, on “Bicycle,” that a backward-glance is not always troublesome, not always anxiety-producing, but can be grounding: a reminder of where we come from, so that we can keep moving forward.
Isaac Kniveton (fka Keplrr) steps out with Daydreaming, a four track deluge of psychedelic club projections for Call Super and Parris’ can you feel the sun imprint.
Having boasted a notable reputation as Keplrr for labels like Control Freak and Midgar, Isaac Kniveton now embraces transition. On Daydreaming, his debut release under his own name, he maintains an unclassifiable sound with newer purpose; a sound that cascades in brighter colours. It’s a renewed sense of focus and subtlety that produces some of his most arresting work to date.
The ornate funk of opener Flutter angles for the wide-eyed, a cosmic stepper that pins tight drums to a weightless melodic base. Love Groove’s inebriated swing trips out further, a steady cut that binds vocals from GRACE founder Katiusha with entangled melodies. Symmetry’s wayward rhythm ups the ante with subtle rave tension, gently rising as its circular bassline swells. On closer Molecule, he locks in for an exploratory dive, offering shades of Detroit and twisted theremins.
A fascinating new era for Isaac Kniveton that finds solace in can you feel the sun’s forward-leaning club manifesto.
Ossie lands back on Heist after his 2025 hit ‘Are U still smiling?’ with a 4 track EP featuring Miraa May.
How on earth do you follow up your debut when that record got dancefloors moving across the world and picked up radio & dj plays from dance music’s finest selectors?
Many producers would get instant writer’s block, but not Ossie. His new EP on Heist is full of joyous melodies, catchy vocals and euphoric dancefloor moments. Across 4 tracks, Ossie takes us on a trip through rolling electronics, catchy UK sounds and big room anthems.
His Heist debut in 2025 did not go by unnoticed, and Ossie kept a busy calendar since, with regular shows in London and Hï Ibiza with Skepta’s Mas Tiempo crew, his own Supercali imprint as well as his appearance alongside heavyweights Louie Vega, Kerri Chandler, Cinthie and more on Heist’s ‘House of House’ much celebrated compilation.
The Motivation EP kicks off with a bumpy UK track that somehow reminds us of Bicep early day hit ‘Vision of love’. Where the Bicep boys went for a big sample, Ossie landed a surprise studio session with Algerian born-London native Miraa May where they wrote ‘Motivation’ in a single session. The track is stripped back to its core with catchy scats and chants from Miraa May and keys that’ll stick with you far after the track is over. If you’d need any extra motivation for your daily routine, to get out of bed or to go out dancing, this is your jam.
‘Can it get any better’ is a loopy house affair with soulful vocal chants, hints of disco and a subtle piano theme that drives the track into big room territory. It’s energetic without ever getting over the top; a thin line Ossie navigates effortlessly on this record.
On the flip, we’ve got ‘Left side’; a deep groover built around a synth & disco loop and cleverly sampled vocals singing ‘I believe… oooh yes I do’. This one is definitely a lowkey banger, where Ossie turns that one simple loop into a powerful theme made to ignite dancefloors.
The EP closes with the heavy warehouse groove of ‘Don’t stop’. A cavernous low end, rough percussion and chopped synth stabs all come together on this beast of a track. Ossie cleverly plays around with vinyl backspins, vocal chops and small changeovers to keep things interesting, while the groove just keeps on going.
Ossie’s ‘Motivation’ EP has dancefloor written all over it and with all its forward energy, there’s no doubt you’ll be hearing this one a lot in clubs all over the world.
Ibiza-based Jazz N Palms is back with more musical dispatches from the calmer side of the island that follow on from his Ses Rodes album in 2022. That record was focused on a double album assembled, as if over a Cartesian grid of space-time. While one record was about space/the environment, the other was following the times of the day. This 7" expands that with more music inspired by magical island spaces.
These tracks were recorded in Magrana Studio in Ibiza with three new musicians and, after the post-production, the mixing was made with the help of Ben Westbeech and his beautiful Unfairchild II, an amazing Californian reproduction of the holy grail of tube compressor that has been present in Abbey Road studios since the 60s.
Opener 'El Valle' ('the valley') captures the different shades of light that pass over Ibiza, from early spring light to the arrival of looming clouds and the first thunders of a summer storm. It is the organ which serves as the main character to convey those sensations and the passing from light to dark as a live, loose and dusty groove bounces below. On the flip side, 'La Costa' simulates cruising on the open sea, riding choppy swells as waves lap at the boat and you gaze at the passing landscapes. Only drums and bass have been used to convey the feeling, and the result is a wonderfully uneven, ever-evolving and funky groove full of life.
With Phosphène Island, Pairi Daeza explores a territory at the crossroads of fourth world, jazz fusion, experimental electronics and new age.
Acoustic and electronic instruments merge into a fluid, shifting music, where an apparent lightness finds its way into carefully crafted compositions.
The melodies seem to emerge from an imaginary folklore, born of an inner world, utopian and lush: Phosphène Island.
It brings to mind the borderless landscapes of Jon Hassell, the synthetic elegance of Wally Badarou, or the opening credits of a yet-unmade season of The White Lotus.
Following the international praise for their 2024 debut album Where Did You Go?, Sandman Project return with Hearts Forever, the first album entirely composed, arranged and produced by guitarist, composer and bandleader Tal Sandman. Rooted in psychedelic groove, Middle Eastern musicality, funk, jazz and desert rock, it is a record driven above all by a wider spiritual belief in music as a force for connection.
If Where Did You Go? introduced Sandman Project as a borderless, brass-heavy outfit with a cinematic sound, Hearts Forever takes that vision somewhere more intimate and self-assured. Written following Tal's move from Jaffa to Leipzig, the album reflects a period of personal and creative transformation. Arriving in Germany without knowing whether she would find the right collaborators, she gradually assembled a new band through recommendations from fellow musicians, discovering a group capable of bringing her musical vision to life. For Tal, the music is not about drawing neat lines between styles or traditions. It is about taking inspiration from wherever it appears and reshaping it into something honest and alive. "If music touches my heart, it inspires me", she says. "So much music already exists, but what we are doing is creating something new out of inspiration. You take the ingredients and make a new thing".
This is the quiet force behind Hearts Forever. Almost entirely instrumental, the album deliberately leaves space for listeners to find their own stories within it. Without lyrics, the music is never confined to one language, nationality or identity.
Following support for Where Did You Go? from All About Jazz, DJ Magazine, Bayern Radio, Greedy For Best, Pipelines Magazine, Ban Ban Ton Ton and Laurent Garnier, Hearts Forever finds Sandman Project entering a new chapter: more confident, broader in vision and more deeply rooted in Tal Sandman's own creative voice. Rich, restless and full of feeling, Hearts Forever is music for uncertain times; a record about holding on to innocence, choosing compassion and believing, however quietly, that connection is still possible.
,Bands Like It When You Yell `YAR!' At Them" war ursprünglich eine Promo-EP von Minus the Bear, die 2002 als Vorgeschmack auf das Debütalbum ,Highly Refined Pirates" erschien. Was als einfache Werbe-CD begann, entwickelte sich schnell zu einem Fan-Favoriten und erscheint 2026 erstmals offiziell auf Vinyl. Die Veröffentlichung zeigt die Band in ihrer frühen Hochphase und vereint ihren charakteristischen Mix aus Indie-Rock, Math Rock, Funk, verspielten Gitarrenfiguren und elektronischen Elementen. Neben frühen Albumtiteln enthält die EP mit ,Drop It Like It's Hot" auch einen exklusiven Song, der die kreative Experimentierfreude der Band eindrucksvoll dokumentiert. Heute gilt ,YAR!" als wichtiges Zeitdokument der Anfangsjahre von Minus the Bear und als perfekte Ergänzung zu ,Highly Refined Pirates", einem der prägendsten Indie-Rock-Alben der frühen 2000er-Jahre. Von Bernie Grundman für Vinyl remastert und mit bei 45 U/min geschnittenen Lackplatten trägt diese limitierte Auflage von 1.000 Exemplaren auf "San Juan Sands" Vinyl dazu bei, die aufregenden Anfangsjahre einer der beliebtesten Bands des amerikanischen Indie-Rock zu dokumentieren und zu bewahren.
There's a moment during every great dance floor experience when the music takes over and everyone becomes part of something bigger. "SHOUT!", the latest release from 2SoulFusion Presents Ascension, captures that feeling in its purest form. Featuring the powerhouse voices and ad-libs of Dames Brown and Dawn Tallman, along with an all-star ensemble of master vocalists including Josh Milan, Rahsaan Patterson, Lisa Fischer, Cindy Mizelle, Audrey Wheeler, Ramona Dunlap, and Lea Lorien, this joyful anthem is an invitation to let go, lift your spirit, and celebrate through music.
Produced, written, arranged, and mixed by 2SoulFusion—Louie Vega and Josh Milan—"SHOUT!" draws inspiration from the communal spirit of gospel while embracing the energy and freedom of house music. Driven by simple yet powerful affirmations—"Shout," "Sing," "Move," "Love," "Get Up On Your Feet," "Listen Up," and "Let This Music Take You Higher"—the song transforms into an experience where every voice becomes part of the celebration. It's a journey of anthemic hooks, soaring harmonies, infectious grooves, and unforgettable melodies designed to ignite dance floors, uplift hearts, and remind us that music has the power to unite people through rhythm, joy, and love.
The inspiration for "SHOUT!" was born from a creative exchange between Louie Vega and Charaf Tajer, founder and creative director of the internationally acclaimed fashion house Casablanca. Introduced by longtime friend Joseph Capriati, Charaf shared a bold vision—to bring together the worlds of fashion, gospel, and house music for one unforgettable Casablanca runway presentation in Paris.
Louie Vega recalls: “Charaf was introduced to me by my friend Joseph Capriati, who said Charaf was looking to meet me about an idea he had. His vision was to marry fashion, gospel, and house music within Casablanca's collection. At first, he wanted me to DJ and play gospel house music. I said, 'Instead of playing existing music, why don't I create an original song with a gospel house flavor?' I immediately got together with my 2SoulFusion partner Josh Milan, and together we came up with 'SHOUT!'”
That vision came to life during Casablanca's spectacular Paris presentation inside a breathtaking cathedral, where Louie Vega premiered the original twelve-minute and nine-second composition live. As the music echoed through the cathedral, Dames Brown joined the London House Gospel Choir in a soul-stirring performance while the models walked the aisle on Casablanca's carpet made of their signature green color and a dashing vibrating giant mirror echoing the runway visually. Renowned DJs Luciano and Chloé Caillet were among those who walked the runway, while friends of Charaf Tajer and special guests—including Jaden Thompson, Folamour, Dimitri From Paris, Kapela, and many others—were in attendance, making it an unforgettable gathering where music, spirituality, fashion, and culture merged into one extraordinary experience.
Inspired by that magical evening in Paris, Louie Vega and Josh Milan returned to the studio to expand the original composition into the powerful recording heard today. Built around rich live musicianship, Josh Milan's keyboards, organ, piano and synth bass provide the foundation alongside Axel Tosca's expressive grand piano recorded live, Sherrod Barnes' soulful guitar, and Gene Perez's unmistakable bass groove. Together they create an infectious, organic driving sound that allows the vocals to soar while delivering the unmistakable musical depth and musicianship that define 2SoulFusion.
Leading the celebration are Dames Brown and Dawn Tallman, whose commanding performances are elevated by an extraordinary choir of world-class vocalists. Dames Brown's spirited sermon and ad-libs, and Dawn Tallman’s powerful ad-lib vamping out together with the soaring harmonies of Lisa Fischer, Cindy Mizelle, Audrey Wheeler, Rahsaan Patterson, Ramona Dunlap, Lea Lorien, and Josh Milan, recreate the feeling of a joyful gospel congregation—not confined to four walls, but alive on dance floors around the world. Every chorus encourages listeners to get up, listen up, feel it, sing, move, love, and become part of the experience. Recorded between Honeycomb Studios in Pennsylvania, The Hub Ibiza and Manhattan Center Studios, New York City, and mixed at The Hub Ibiza, "SHOUT!" reflects the continuing vision of the Ascension project, where spirituality, musicianship, community, fashion, and dance music become one.
Back in May of '25, Body/Head's Bill Nace and Purling Hiss' Mike Polizze launched an improv duo with an unhindered exhibition of full-spectrum free string playing at Philadelphia's Pageant Soloveev. Mike + Bill, on gtr & taishogoto respectively, their unique idioms colliding with sibilant crunch across twenty-three minutes of forever captured on iPhone and carved into vinyl. Wild molten rock to keep noise freeks spinning for eternity.
This new 12"EP contains three long-form compositions that peer through a glimmering aperature into diaphanous realms of textural experiences: "What are the pros and cons of being lost in a thought?"
Long Distance Operators (LDO) is a collaboration between the Australian musician Hugo Race and the Belgian violinist Catherine Graindorge. Hugo Race, singer, songwriter, producer and author, has a long and wide-ranging history, from the trans-global Dirtmusic and his groups True Spirit and Fatalists to his origins in the 80's Melbourne post-punk scene with Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds and The Wreckery. Catherine Graindorge, violinist and composer, is known for her solo work and collaborations with International artists such as Iggy Pop, John Parish, Pascal Humbert (16 Horsepower), Simon Huw Jones (And Also The Trees). She also plays and composes for theater and cinema. The music of LDO is an intensely atmospheric dreamweave of violins, electronics and Hugo's darkly evocative voice. The duo explores metaphysical lyrics, experimental sounds and retro-baroque orchestrations in a romantic, song-based context.
Long Distance Operators (LDO) is a collaboration between the Australian musician Hugo Race and the Belgian violinist Catherine Graindorge. Hugo Race, singer, songwriter, producer and author, has a long and wide-ranging history, from the trans-global Dirtmusic and his groups True Spirit and Fatalists to his origins in the 80's Melbourne post-punk scene with Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds and The Wreckery. Catherine Graindorge, violinist and composer, is known for her solo work and collaborations with International artists such as Iggy Pop, John Parish, Pascal Humbert (16 Horsepower), Simon Huw Jones (And Also The Trees). She also plays and composes for theater and cinema. The music of LDO is an intensely atmospheric dreamweave of violins, electronics and Hugo's darkly evocative voice. The duo explores metaphysical lyrics, experimental sounds and retro-baroque orchestrations in a romantic, song-based context.
Dis Fig, producer and vocalist Felicia Chen, embraces every facet of heaviness. Chen is driven by a desire to express deeper emotions through meticulously crafted, innovative production and expressive vocals. On acclaimed collaborations with The Bug, The Body, and Asian Dope Boys, Chen"s sound is indelible. Her solo work utilizes electronic, industrial, and bass-forward music as filters for sonic plentitudes, unbounded and wholly her own. Every granule of sound is in service of alchemizing intense emotion and vulnerability. What To Make Of These Mortal Hands is an ambitious widening of Dis Fig"s scope, traversing tectonic dynamic shifts and heartrending arrangements in a filmic study of humanity"s capacity to create both beauty and devastation. Dis Fig has a preternatural ability to ground massive sounds with tactile rhythms and her instinctually connective voice. The album is a staggering display of innovative songcraft and unfathomable emotion-a musical world like no other.
Dis Fig, producer and vocalist Felicia Chen, embraces every facet of heaviness. Chen is driven by a desire to express deeper emotions through meticulously crafted, innovative production and expressive vocals. On acclaimed collaborations with The Bug, The Body, and Asian Dope Boys, Chen"s sound is indelible. Her solo work utilizes electronic, industrial, and bass-forward music as filters for sonic plentitudes, unbounded and wholly her own. Every granule of sound is in service of alchemizing intense emotion and vulnerability. What To Make Of These Mortal Hands is an ambitious widening of Dis Fig"s scope, traversing tectonic dynamic shifts and heartrending arrangements in a filmic study of humanity"s capacity to create both beauty and devastation. Dis Fig has a preternatural ability to ground massive sounds with tactile rhythms and her instinctually connective voice. The album is a staggering display of innovative songcraft and unfathomable emotion-a musical world like no other.
Thematically, the album revolves around movement - excursions, outings, journeys, and the various vehicles and vessels that make them possible. It is music for those who drive, sail, walk, and fly. For those already on the move, and for those who are about to set off.
Each track functions as a vehicle of its own, collectively built and designed for different conditions and purposes. You can travel solo or collectively. The album is introduced by the single "ULYSSE."
Tropical Soldiers In Paradise:
Lush as tropical forests inhabited by fruit bats, fluorescent frogs, and giant millipedes. Comforting as paradise beaches from a screensaver. Absurd and psychedelic as the mission of Lieutenant Colonel Channon and the First Earth Battalion, where the paranormal abilities of warrior monks revolutionize the armies of the world.
A structure without status, uniforms without uniformity, and unity powered by diversity.
Tropical Soldiers In Paradise play crooked lounge (if such a genre existed). Their music blends a generous dose of improvisation with hip-hop-rooted beats and a distinctly new-wave approach to jazz. Since 2018, TSiP have released three albums and performed countless concerts on both intimate and major stages, bringing joy and solace to audiences along the way.
Stoked to announce the debut record by Faulsk on Ruff Kutz!
Sometimes life can feel cyclical and having the first solo release on the label by someone other than myself had to be the right choice, it just so happened to be the producer from Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland, which is where I started my lifelong obsession with Electronic music.
Shortly after playing a gig together at Whakamana in late 2024, we started exchanging tunes and I immediately wanted to put a release together with the first track he sent.. The release also features 2 collaborative tracks with myself and consists of 4 deep psychedelic grooves across the tempo ranges, built with the sound system in mind. This is an outrageous debut EP, and I am stoked to have it on Ruff Kutz!
Whilst having a low social media profile and only a few tracks released into the wild, Faulsk seems to have carved out a honed in sonic identity. Mixing Techno and Dub production techniques whilst still having swagger and depth that appeals to the bass heads. Expect expertly crafted soundscapes, interesting loopy grooves, lush evolving pads/stabs and low end wizardry. Genre - Faulsk, just how we like it.
Galvanize was the first track to build the EP with a relentless 4x4 groove, perfectly balanced low end and washy atmospherics, the track gradually evolves to show that less is more sometimes - with it's use of stripped back restraint and negative space to create energetic mood shifts.
On the A2, the first collaboration track Exhalation slows the tempo to 100 BPM for some kind of bass mutation straight from the underworld. This one taps into the tense atmospherics of Galvanize whilst cranking up the intensity with evolving drones and razor sharp percussion to sit amongst the dense soundscape.
The title track on the flip, is a 9 min roll out, reminiscent of early Forest Drive West. The subtle modulation and dubbing on musical parts draws you in and is a nice juxtaposition to the crunching percussion, militant groove and precise low end. Chugging away at 115 BPM, this is a versatile track to inject some kinetic energy into your local underwater dancehall.
Closing out on the B2 we have another collaboration. Upping the tempo to the mid 120s, Retrospect sinks deeper into hypnotism with polyrhythmic grooves and an unresolving feel which creates steady momentum, coupled with lush and evolving synth work which take the track into serenity. Regulate your sound system.
Italian percussionist Umberto Vitiello takes us on a journey into a vanished world. Mixed by Italian techno master Donato Dozzy, the album draws on memories spanning decades, including Vitiello's years living on Yarakh Beach on the outskirts of Dakar, Senegal. There, the rhythms of daily life flowed with the tides: fishermen launching their pirogues at dawn, griots and vendors gathering beneath three towering palm trees, and the Atlantic Ocean providing a serene soundtrack.
Named after the Lébou people whose fishing culture has shaped the coastline around Dakar for centuries, the record is both a tribute to a community that welcomed Vitiello as one of their own and a reflection on what has been lost.
Those years left a profound mark on both his life and his music. Yet this is not simply a work of remembrance. It is also a meditation on change.
Today, the beach that inspired these recordings has been transformed by pollution and environmental decline. Where fishing boats and palm trees once stood, a sculpture by Senegalese artist Serigne Gorgui Mbaye now depicts two giant ears facing the sea-a reminder of the need to listen: to one another, to nature, and to our own conscience.
Blending percussion, atmosphere and storytelling, the album revisits formative experiences from the 1980s through the perspective of the present day. Featuring vocal contributions from Olympia Ndiaye, Anna Caragnano and Mariangela Morais, and guided by Dozzy's spacious, immersive mix, it unfolds as a deeply personal journey through memory, place and transformation.
UK experimental multi-instrumentalist Oli Heffernan (aka Ivan The Tolerable) returns to independent label Riot Season Records on October 23rd, 2026, with The Planets, a fierce, tension-fuelled reinterpretation of Gustav Holst’s iconic orchestral suite tailored for the modern age.
Originally composed over a century ago to capture the astrological characters of the cosmos, Holst's masterpiece receives a radical, uneasy update. Where the original composition leaned on grand symphonic sweeps, Ivan The Tolerable strips away the comfort of the orchestra, replacing it with fracturing analog synthesisers, claustrophobic tape loops, and the hypnotic, nervous pulse of modern kosmische music and avant-garde noise.
The Planets is an album forged in the specific dread of 2026—a year defined by geopolitical instability, climate weariness, and pervasive societal tension. Rather than looking up at the stars in awe, Heffernan turns the telescope back toward a fractured Earth. From the staggering, industrial-tinged dread of "Mars" to a hollow, melancholic take on "Jupiter," the album transforms familiar motifs into an immersive exploration of collective psychological fatigue.
Recorded in isolation by Heffernan, the project captures the signature solo vulnerability seen on his recent landmark releases like Psychogeography. It balances moments of deep, meditative stillness with sudden, jarring eruptions of noise, offering listeners a space to both confront and process the overwhelming static of the everyday world.
Put your hands together and please welcome Linda Lo to Shall Not Fade's Time is Now imprint. The LA producer/DJ's new 12" EP "Masa" drops 23rd Oct 2026 and f**k is it sick.
Linda Lo fuses* mambo, samba, and salsa with UK garage, dubstep, and club rhythms to make guaranteed rewind material that is gonna light up the dance…
* imma talk about this fuses sh*t in a minute.. First we need to get a bit philosophical. Cos rewinds and fusions aside, this EP is alive. It's part of something bigger and cyclical, without a start or an end. It is music. It was part of someone else's music before and it will be part of other people's music in the future. Right now though, it's Linda Lo's music.
Too esoteric? Let me elaborate and, let's talk about fusion. There is the fusion that is – steal a bit of genre X and culture Y, chuck it on the grid and strut about professing fusion – and then there's actual fusion: Music that is something "new" and real and genuine. Music that you end up describing excitedly as a "fusion of" things (even if it inevitably ends up doing it a disservice). Music that is simultaneously one thing and not that thing, and also something else and not that something else too. Music that is just "music" to the creator but is also part of the progression and evolution of music for others. Mala wasn't making "dubstep". Skream & Benga ended up not making Garage. Like many before and after they were making their music and Linda Lo is making her music so let's hear from her about it. Big up Linda. This is real.
Notes from Linda:
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“Like Croydon by way of Havana”
“Masa, or corn-based dough used to make tortillas and tamales, is a traditional staple food for many in Mexico and throughout LatAm. In the Maya worldview, people's flesh is made out of masa. In order to make masa, corn must be dried, nixtamalized, ground, and mixed (often by hand) to create the right textured dough. I find much of my music work is a collision and a mixing of many elements, all worked into one product. In this way, I've worked these songs, transforming raw rhythms and sub bass into hand-mixed tunes. ‘Masa - EP' presents four delicious heaters. The title track explodes with a fiery double-time dubstep groove. Mambo horn stabs bite through a bass inferno. ‘Cenote' looks down upon a subterranean pool of sound—still on the surface but impossibly deep. ‘Minifalda', pure flirt and gyration, calls in cuica and other voices from a samba bateria. Finally, claves stitch across ‘Mestiza', a fusion of blooming lush orchestration and jagged 2step rhythm.
Around 1960, my grandparents were regular dancers at the Palladium in Los Angeles: young, Mexican, and falling in love to dance music, specifically big band mambo. My mom, consequently, is a fantastic dancer, and her mambo collection along with my dad's exotica records formed the base of my own vinyl collection. When I first discovered garage and dubstep, there was something indescribably familiar to me, something mambo-like about the syncopated offbeat hits and drama. Later, as I began stitching together mambo claves and 2step drums, I assumed I was trying out something totally new. The farther I go, the more I see that I was wrong.
Dubstep, garage and jungle share a parental lineage back to dub reggae, originating from Jamaica. Mambo hails from Cuba, and sister genres of salsa to NYC & PR, and bachata and meringue to the Dominican Republic. Yet, these musical genres of the Caribbean have not developed in isolation. Reggae, mambo, dancehall, salsa, even son jarocho from Veracrúz, Mexico (where my family is from), all developed together, influencing each other fundamentally. Ultimately, all musics of the Caribbean have come from West African polyrhythmic musical heritages. Garage, mambo, dubstep, and salsa are points in time along one musical continuum.
I feel very honored to be a selector working in Los Angeles (and elsewhere!). I hope I can share some music for the next generation of young people to fall in love to. "
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I'm moved by what Linda writes here. #1 Doing what you love, and finding you are part of something bigger. Creating for yourself freely and hoping to inspire others with healthy amounts of care, humility, freedom, self awareness and enjoyment. (It is inspiring and I'm honoured we are now a part of sharing Linda's music). #2 There's something wonderful about finding connection and a sense of place. A place physical, spiritual and in time. Music can help us all find connection and be part of a place. Wheel it up wherever you are.
PRESS PLAY is the new studio EP from artist, entrepreneur, and global superstar LISA, released in collaboration with ODDATELIER & RCA. The 6-song offering includes 3 physical-exclusive tracks not available anywhere else. Contains explicit audio.
In 2014, to mark 20-years since the release of their landmark album The Holy Bible, Manic Street Preachers embarked on a sold-out tour playing the record in full. More than a decade later, The Holy Bible Live captures an unforgettable show at London’s Roundhouse, documenting a band revisiting a defining chapter of their history. Out on 23rd October, this deluxe edition features the complete live show on CD and 2LP Blue Marble vinyl, including a special Side D etching, as well as the Director's Cut of Kieran Evans' acclaimed live concert film Be Pure – Be Vigilant – Behave on Blu-Ray. The package also includes a brand-new Steven Wilson mix of the original album on CD, an exclusive 16-page book and a Pennie Smith photo print; making it an essential addition to any Manics collection. Pre-order yours now.
As part of the 20 Years of BM anniversary celebrations, Bondage-Music proudly presents Bondage Games Pt. 11 — a special five-part vinyl series. Each release is named after a constellation, together forming a unique tribute to two decades of Bondage-Music.
With Bondage Games Pt. 11, the label's iconic vinyl series returns in its most ambitious edition to date. Created to celebrate 20 years of Bondage-Music, the series unfolds across five constellation-themed releases, each featuring four exclusive productions from artists closely connected to the label.
The first chapter, Ursus, brings together four exclusive tracks from Roger Gerressen, Sascha Dive, Rhadow and Lola Palmer. From Roger Gerressen's hypnotic groove-driven Patterned Shards and Sascha Dive's unmistakable deep house craftsmanship on Dub Chronicles #10 to Rhadow's atmospheric Ripples and Lola Palmer's warm and emotional Slow Down, the record perfectly reflects the timeless musical identity that has defined Bondage-Music since day one — deep, soulful, groove-focused and made for both intimate listening and late-night dancefloors.
Pressed on heavyweight 180g vinyl and housed in an individually printed sleeve, Ursus continues Bondage-Music's longstanding commitment to exceptional quality in both music and design. The artwork was created by BM's longtime Head of Artwork, Pete Bombart — a close friend and an integral part of the label since its earliest days. His unmistakable visual language has become inseparable from the Bondage-Music identity, earning a loyal following far beyond the music itself.
Whether collected as part of the complete anniversary series or enjoyed on its own, Bondage Games Pt. 11: Ursus is a celebration of the artists, the friendships and the unmistakable sound that have shaped Bondage-Music over the past twenty years.
As part of the 20 Years of BM anniversary celebrations, Bondage-Music proudly presents Bondage Games Pt. 11 — a special five-part vinyl series. Each release is named after a constellation, together forming a unique tribute to two decades of Bondage-Music.
With Bondage Games Pt. 11, the label's iconic vinyl series returns in its most ambitious edition to date. Created to celebrate 20 years of Bondage-Music, the series unfolds across five constellation-themed releases, each featuring four exclusive productions from artists closely connected to the label.
The first chapter, Ursus, brings together four exclusive tracks from Roger Gerressen, Sascha Dive, Rhadow and Lola Palmer. From Roger Gerressen's hypnotic groove-driven Patterned Shards and Sascha Dive's unmistakable deep house craftsmanship on Dub Chronicles #10 to Rhadow's atmospheric Ripples and Lola Palmer's warm and emotional Slow Down, the record perfectly reflects the timeless musical identity that has defined Bondage-Music since day one — deep, soulful, groove-focused and made for both intimate listening and late-night dancefloors.
Pressed on heavyweight 180g vinyl and housed in an individually printed sleeve, Ursus continues Bondage-Music's longstanding commitment to exceptional quality in both music and design. The artwork was created by BM's longtime Head of Artwork, Pete Bombart — a close friend and an integral part of the label since its earliest days. His unmistakable visual language has become inseparable from the Bondage-Music identity, earning a loyal following far beyond the music itself.
Whether collected as part of the complete anniversary series or enjoyed on its own, Bondage Games Pt. 11: Ursus is a celebration of the artists, the friendships and the unmistakable sound that have shaped Bondage-Music over the past twenty years.
Tommy Lefroy has never been afraid of existential questions. From their critically acclaimed debut EP, Flight Risk, the band has captured audiences with their candor wrapped in wit. Both lyrically intimate and sonically vast, the band’s catalog is confessional and commentative, balancing irony with sincerity. They broach their biggest subjects yet on their first full length album, The Precariat. An economic term, the precariat refers to a growing class of people facing increasing instability. “Most people we know are experiencing an unprecedented level of precarity, permeating into the collective psyche. We feel like the best we could strive for in a body of work is an unflinching capture of the moment. The Precariat felt like the perfect title, and emblem of how it feels to be alive these days.” Recorded in Los Angeles at Blue Canyon Studios, The Precariat was produced by band members Wynter Bethel and Tessa Mouzourakis, with co-production from Stephen Sesso, and executive production by Mike Crossey (The 1975, Wolf Alice, MUNA). The album’s songs were written by Bethel and Mouzourakis, over the tenure of their friendship, across apartments and tour vans, phone calls and late night conversations. With themes of friendship, coming of age, personal and collective grief, environmental uncertainty and political decay, The Precariat offers a sonic landscape in which to contend with our rapidly changing world. The album’s title track (largely inspired by Springsteen’s critical narratives mistaken for bleeding heart patriotism) grapples with constant exposure to global suffering, and feeling entrenched within systems that fail us. “The Precariat” disintegrates into the ‘American cities’ outro, an idea started while the band lived in London, about missing home while watching it destabilize from afar. The Precariat faces this head on – all the sheen of the American empire has worn off, and there is much work to be done. “We hope to foster an antidote to precarity – community.”
Strawberry Guy’s new album ‘Give Me A Dream’ unfolds as a tender, fragile and intimate record. The 14 track album arrives as the ultimate hopecore long player, in a time when we need it most. It's a guiding light, healing for the mind, exploring the tight-rope balance that is making it through life intact. Strawberry Guy evolves from the dreamy indie-pop home recordings to a perfectly formed crystalline vision, utilizing an immersive studio approach. Shifting from sparse & fluid piano parts to rich, engulfing layered strings, infectious melodies and an exquisite rumination on manhood from fraught emotional states. Give Me A Dream is a big step up, brimming with ideas, glistening production, and a tender heart.
IGNEA explores nostalgia on their upcoming album, Monumental (October 23, 2026, via Napalm Records). The Ukrainian four-piece navigates through unique facets of the past—from the grandeur and ambition of Cold War space dreams to the melancholy of urban decay and forgotten modernist structures, all the way to the emotional weight of personal and collective memory. All lyrics on Monumental were written by vocalist Helle Bohdanova. Mixing and mastering were handled by Grammy Award-nominated producer Jacob Hansen (DELAIN, Amaranthe, Volbeat, Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy, and more). Monumental is IGNEA’s second full-length that was written during the full-scale war in Ukraine. The recording process mostly took place in the winter of 2025-2026, during icy temperatures and long power outages in Kyiv.
Brutal, uncompromising Slam from Greece. Years of obsession, ignorance, and absolute contempt spent keeping slam locked in its lowest, most primitive caveman state. Through collapse, and complete disregard for ourselves, we persevere. The "Embryectomy" project clawed its way from a deranged slam duo into a fully armed three-body beatdown slam monstrosity through uncompromised fury alone. No trends. No mercy. No concern for acceptance. Anyone who stood in the wreckage with us knows what it took to get here. We are now signing with Unique Leader Records. What you will endure in our next release is not meant to inspire or connect. It was composed in a chaotic state of antipathy, and absolute emotional absence. This is the most brutal material we have ever created—not for everyone, not for growth, but for those who understand that misanthropy is the only constant. We thank Unique Leader Records, who pushed us beyond what we thought possible: brutality to its limit while stripping away anything human. No benevolence. No empathy. No relief. Only violence, executed with intent.
The title of the fourth full‑length by A SECRET REVEALED already serves as a dark omen: "The Ruin I Summoned Forth" sounds powerful, oppressive, and inescapable. And that very weight permeates all eight songs of the album. The band from Würzburg crafts a sonic landscape defined by immense emotional force, urgent intensity, and a density that feels almost impossible to contain. Their wall of sound is never an end in itself, but the foundation of an existential expression that hits immediately and resonates long after. Stylistically, the quintet moves within the tension field of post‑metal - a sound that doesn’t deny its core roots, yet highlights more clearly than ever their affinity for black metal, melodic death metal, and modern, forward‑driving heaviness. Time and again, fragile, searching passages open up, giving the massive sound room to breathe, occasionally interwoven with subtle, almost folkloric accents. Fittingly, the opener 'Disheartened' sets an early exclamation mark: with Nikita Kamprad of Der Weg einer Freiheit as guest vocalist, the track gains additional depth and sharpness. "The Ruin I Summoned Forth" marks the band’s third release on LIFEFORCE RECORDS, following "Sacrifices" (2019) and "When The Day Yearns For Light" (2021). Their debut "The Bleakness" was released in 2015 via Bastardized Records. Across all four records, a clear narrative thread emerges: A SECRET REVEALED consistently strive to craft strong thematic arcs and a massive, uncompromising sound that grips listeners from the very beginning and leaves a lasting impact. Once again, the band presents a cohesive work in which individual elements rise into an overwhelming whole, until, in the end, the inevitable unfolds: "The Ruin I Summoned Forth".
From a Beaumont Bar is Pug Johnson's third full-length album and his most complete collection of heartbreak songs to date. Rooted in classic country storytelling, the record draws from the bars, backroads, and late nights that shaped him, turning years of lived experience into songs full of regret, humor, longing, and hard-earned perspective. Written with the benefit of hindsight, these stories don't try to rewrite the past—they simply tell it. From barroom anthems and dancehall shuffles to slow-burning ballads, From a Beaumont Bar captures the moments after love has gone wrong, when all that's left is memory, acceptance, and another round. While Beaumont, Texas provides the backdrop, the album's themes reach far beyond one place. It's a record about heartbreak in all its forms, told with the wit, warmth, and honesty that have become Pug Johnson's calling card. Rich with pedal steel, fiddle, accordion, and timeless country grooves, From a Beaumont Bar is both a tribute to traditional country music and a reminder that the best songs don't just tell stories—they make you feel like you've lived them.
The vibraphone may have gone quiet, but the groove hasn't. Roy Ayers passed away on March 4, 2025, in New York City, at the age of 84, but the man they called the Godfather of Neo-Soul left behind a vault deep enough to keep dancefloors moving for generations. BBE Music now hands the keys to Berlin's own Delfonic, whose second volume of reworks digs even further into that treasure chest for six fresh, floor-ready reimaginings. The series began when Delfonic shared a spontaneous edit with BBE founder Pete Adarkwah, and listener demand for a vinyl pressing turned the idea into a full official release. Volume 1 sold out fast and moved through collector circles at speed; Volume 2 arrives with even higher expectations attached, and record heads who missed out the first time won't want to sleep twice. Everything here is pulled from deep, previously-vaulted Ayers sessions. The reworks draw from BBE's celebrated Virgin Ubiquity compilations, a trove of unreleased Roy Ayers recordings cut between 1976 and 1981. These are the rarer cuts serious collectors have been chasing for years, now given a second life courtesy of BBE Music Delfonic is the alias of Markus Lindner, a Berlin lifer. He's been DJing professionally since 2004, building his name across Berlin and wider Europe with a sound rooted in hip-hop but stretched across many genres. For anyone who needs the primer: Ayers pioneered jazz-funk through his group Roy Ayers Ubiquity and was widely regarded as the godfather of neo-soul. His breakthrough came young; he got his first vibraphone mallets at age five after watching Lionel Hampton's band, and by 1963 he had his own recording contract. His records have been sampled for decades by artists including Mary J. Blige, A Tribe Called Quest, Common, and Kanye West, cementing him as one of the most sampled figures in soul-jazz history; a status that only grows with every year that passes. About BBE Music: This is a label with real archival credibility on Ayers specifically. BBE has held the license to the Virgin Ubiquity sessions since 2004, and this rework series is a natural extension of that decades-long relationship. Buyers trust the BBE stamp on soul-jazz reissues and edits precisely because of that history and the care, thought and quality that goes into every physical release, as BBE celebrates 30 years of real music for real people.
Dusky return to Anjunadeep with their forthcoming studio album ‘Signals’. The London duo first debuted on Anjunadeep in 2011 with their critically acclaimed album Stick By This. Expanding the boundaries of deep house and UK club music, the record marked the beginning of Dusky’s rise as one of the scene’s most respected acts. Their breakout track ‘Careless’, released via Aus Music, further cemented their reputation, amassing more than 14 million streams and becoming one of the defining UK house records of its generation. In 2014, the pair launched their own imprint, 17 Steps, which has since hosted releases and remixes from artists including Nathan Micay, LTJ Bukem, Interplanetary Criminal, Denham Audio and Shed. Since then, Dusky have released two further studio albums, Joy and Pressure, alongside a string of acclaimed singles. Their music has earned support from Pete Tong, Danny Howard and Sarah Story on BBC Radio 1, as well as widespread backing from leading DJs including Jamie Jones, Peggy Gou, Gorgon City, TEED and TSHA. While 'Signals' represents a natural continuation of the Dusky story, it also ventures into more reflective territory than previous releases. The album's wider range of influences and more contemplative mood offer a fresh perspective on the duo's sound, while also paying subtle homage to their acclaimed debut album ‘Stick By This’. Featuring multiple collaborations with vocalist Rromarin, alongside a contribution from Nadeem and Pritt, 'Signals' reflects a creative process that unfolded over many years. Some tracks grew from ideas first sketched long ago, while others emerged more recently, giving the album a sense of both history and momentum. Across its 13 tracks, 'Signals' balances Dusky's club-rooted instincts with downtempo offerings. Tracks such as 'Next Life', 'Kadhalan' and 'Lab' showcase the duo's signature combination of bold basslines, driving rhythms and emotional resonance. Elsewhere, 'Elm' and 'Bindweed' slow the tempo and draw on the warmth of soul, the deeper edges of disco and richly textured live instrumentation.
If it's extreme, leave it to us. Challenging the sound, playing with the sound, laughing at the sound. A docking of debut recordings from the most talked-about street artists and "sound collages & sound gags" by pro musicians with eccentric ideas. An exciting, bold, and humorous "bright" New Wave omnibus album. Featuring artists like: Kaoru Sato (EP-4), Masumi Hara & BANANA, Shingo Tomoda, Chinju, Mammy, MUZEUM, and more.
Following the acclaimed Milano Undiscovered, Italia Undiscovered and Italia Synthetica series comes Italo International: a new collection celebrating the enduring legacy of Italo Disco. Eight exclusive tracks by established European artists reimagining one of Italy's most influential musical movements with originality, respect, and a contemporary vision.
Italo International is a journey through the many shades of elegant and visionary electronic music, moving between Italo Disco, Synth Pop and dancefloor-oriented sounds. The talented and steadily rising Polish producer Rafał Lachmirowicz, aka Also Playable Mono; Hungarian artist Gianni Durante, aka Electro Potato, who for years has been bringing back the sound of early-Eighties Italo Disco with passion and a contemporary sensibility; Norwegian Tommy Holsen, aka DJ TinTin, who together with the Eighties band Go explores the classic sounds of Nordic Synth Pop; British producer Mark Wilkinson, aka Kid Machine, who for over fifteen years has been creating productions made for the dancefloor; Tyrell Corporation, the alias of Dutch producer Alden Tyrell, who joins forces with Italian duo Italoconnection to rework a track destined to set the dancefloor on fire; Swedish multidisciplinary artist Tobias Bernstrup, who for three decades has been reinventing the more sophisticated side of Italo Disco with elegance and a distinctive vision; the Dutch project Sfera Celeste Project, which blends Moroder-inspired sounds with a hypnotic minimalism reminiscent of Jeff Mills; and, closing the journey, British artists Heartbreak, Ali Renault and Sebastian Muravchik, with a poignant and slow-burning excursion into the melancholic world of Synth Pop.
“Slide in the party like three monkeys wearing a trench,” GDP says in the opening seconds of Cross Off Matthew, his first solo album in over a decade. The line is indicative of the New Jersey emcee/ producer’s relationship with music, one that’s ebbed and flowed throughout his career and eclectic discography. Entirely self-produced, Cross Off Matthew feels like a reintroduction as well as an expansion of what makes the cult rapper so beloved. GDP came up in the respective punk, hardcore, and skateboarding scenes of New Jersey, roots that inspired his DIY approach to making hip-hop. He applied a decidedly punk ethos to his brand of neo- boom bap on early releases like 2009’s Realistic Expectations and 2011’s Useless Eaters, albums that celebrated his youthful indiscretions but also signaled an old soul lying beneath the surface.
He opted to release them on punk/indie labels (including Run For Cover and Ride The Fury Records) instead of more traditional hip-hop outlets, and along with an ambitious touring schedule, he carved out a dedicated fanbase throughout the early 2010’s. Cross Off Matthew is a slow-cooked labor of love, born out of taking enough time away from something to understand the journey with greater perspective and appreciation.“I’m older, arguably wiser, but that creative fire stayed with me,” he says. “I wanted to make something that felt nuanced, something that I could feel proud of.” Throughout the album, the production toggles between foreboding and facetious just as deftly as his bars. Tracks like “Island In The Sky” and “Location Therapy” make rap confetti out of caustic guitars and glaring distortion, while “Seroquel” and “Rock For Light,” (the latter a nod to NJ rap royalty, The Outsidaz) embrace GDP’s signature blend of East Coast hip-hop and punk sensibilities, with lyrics that highlight the sharp wit and heady philosophizing that he made his name on. GDP examines vices, interpersonal relationships, the collective dread of late-stage capitalism as well as the pitfalls and rewards of trying to lead a creative life throughout it all. The wiseman that peaked out from beneath the shield of debauchery on his early releases has now come to the forefront, as GDP’s trademark humor and commentary feel refined by years of life lived experience
Revisiting the sound and spirit of Jazzy Sport, rooted in Japan and carried forward by a new generation. Compiled by Nina Yamada, featuring Cro-Magnon and Grooveman Spot, with remixes by DJ Mitsu the Beats and Idjut Boys.
Founded in 2002, Jazzy Sport emerged at a particularly fertile moment in Japanese music. Beginning as an independent label and record shop, with its first store in Morioka and Jazzy Sport Music Shop Tokyo opening in Shibuya the following year, it became a home for artists including GAGLE, DJ Mitsu the Beats, Cro-Magnon and Grooveman Spot. Its releases moved freely between hip-hop, house, jazz, broken beat and live musicianship, helping define a distinctly Japanese strain of open-minded club culture.
But the music was only the beginning. Jazzy Sport developed into a network of record shops across Japan, alongside its label and distribution work, apparel and design, dance studios, and a Morioka record shop joined to a bouldering gym. These were not unrelated side projects. They expressed the same founding idea: that music, sport and everyday life could come together to create community.
PAST FORWARD: SILVER marks the first release on the Jazzy Sport London label, distributed by Time Capsule. Established in 2022, the London project first took shape through parties, radio shows and community collaborations connecting Japan and the UK. This compilation carries the Jazzy Sport archive and its values forward through a new generation.
At the centre is Nina Yamada, the daughter of one of Jazzy Sport’s core members. She grew up within the community that shaped the collective, and her selection is not a conventional greatest-hits survey, but an inside view of the catalogue and an intergenerational handover made audible.
The music moves naturally between hip-hop and house, electronic production and live performance. That openness has always been central to Jazzy Sport, where club music, musicianship and community are part of the same conversation rather than separate scenes.
DJ Mitsu the Beats’ remix of Cro-Magnon’s “Eclipse” brings the refined, soulful depth that makes him such an important figure in Japanese beat music. Idjut Boys’ deep, dubwise Cro-Magnon rework reflects the long exchange between Japan and the UK, while Grooveman Spot’s “Do The Dance” finds a sweet spot between acid-tinged 808 groove and warm soulfulness.
Elsewhere, Nubian Lady’s “In☆Flu☆Enza” draws on Detroit techno and Chicago house but sharpens those influences into something lean and distinctive. Physical Sound Sport’s “Magical Kalimba” captures the communal energy and openness of a live session. Bottom Fly’s “Rhyme Or Reason,” rooted in Morioka, pairs rough-edged beats with mellow samples and a quiet sense of nostalgia.
What comes through is not only the strength of the individual tracks, but the sensibility that connects them. That keeps PAST FORWARD: SILVER from feeling like a nostalgic best-of. For longtime followers, it offers rediscovery; for new listeners, a way into the breadth of Jazzy Sport; and for DJs, a selection made for the record bag, not just the archive.
Riding the least likely commercial success of the 90s with Modern Rock chart topper "Pepper," Austin odd rockers Butthole Surfers returned to the studio in 1998 for the followup, After The Astronaut. Leaning further into experiments with electronics, hip-hop, acid grooves, and the otherwise unusual, the result is a dizzying orbital trip expanding the idea of what's possible in rock music.
Disputes between the Butthole Surfers and Capitol Records left the album unreleased, while the band regrouped and re-recorded some of the material for 2001's Weird Revolution, released through Hollywood Records. After The Astronaut collected dust, eventually developing a mythic status.
A quarter century later, Butthole Surfers are realizing their vision for After The Astronaut. Newly mixed by guitarist/producer Paul Leary, After The Astronaut corrects the record on the band's activity in the late 90s with a bold, idiosyncratic evolution of their sun-fried psychedelia.
Fishtailing across a trimmed sod lawn, the parking lot of a box-store strip mall, a fast food drive-thru––it’s a hyperreal Americana fantasy that calls Caroline Rose (she/they) home on 'Gentling the Horse at the Walt Whitman Mall'. The release doubles as the debut of SUCK records, the LA based artist’s own imprint—a fitting next form for an enigmatic musician whose work resists settling into one shape.
'Gentling the Horse at the Walt Whitman Mall' stretches the ordinary into the uncanny. The record pairs sharply observed, memoiristic songwriting with expansive guitar textures that render the everyday with violent clarity and mythic scale. Beneath its melodic sweep and signature hooks runs a current of violence and American dream leakage.
It’s Ennio Morricone with an AR15: surf guitars, spaghetti westerns, and suburban dread colliding until they become their own sharp vernacular. Reality is unstable, so we’ll keep telling stories—and for Rose, the sinister slickness of the everyday grows a new head.
Working with producer John Congleton, Rose built the record through humor, layering, and instinct rather than polish. Songs like “Conversations with Shiv,” “Goddamn Train,” and “Everything in its Right Place” were recorded in studio for the first time, with sessions that prized first impulses over perfection. The result is panoramic but never precious—songs that feel meticulously constructed while always threatening to mutate.
Over the last six years, Rose’s music has evolved alongside their work organizing around stronger labor protections and collective bargaining rights for musicians and crews. Creative and political practice have increasingly become the same project as Rose’s career has taken on its hyper-independent form. Those concerns echo throughout 'Gentling the Horse'. Its landscapes are populated by inherited systems that feel absurd yet inescapable, where humor becomes a survival tactic and satire reveals the quiet violence embedded in everyday Am
Kay Slice’s music is more than meets the ear. He channels a movement. His sound moves beyond borders, blending highlife rhythms and poetic verses into a sonic force that connects the soul of Africa with its scattered children across the globe. Slice is rooted in legacy but speaks to the now. Bold, layered, and deeply aware.
This isn’t fusion. It’s ancestral alignment with a futuristic edge.
From the electrifying grooves of West Africa to the sharp truths of hip-hop, Kay’s music isn’t merely entertainment; it’s a cultural awakening. His performances are highlights: Ghanaian drums, balafon chants, and rhythmic prophecy shaking stages to their core. His storytelling is vivid, raw, and intentional. The immigrant experience reimagined through sound and soul. And as Kay says about this new single, “Moving with purpose, driven by the will to put in the work. The time is now to raise Mother Africa.”
Following his powerful debut From Back To Back (2022), Kay is stepping into full artistic clarity. In 2026, it all comes to a head with Kay’s next album, scheduled for autumn 2026, forged across borders, driven by the spirit of his Ghanaian ensemble and a love letter to highlife, elevated with modern energy.
No longer bound by survival, Kay is moving like a general of sound. Leading with grace, grounded in legacy, but always forward-moving. His shows? Think rituals. Think liberation. Think sweat, spirit, and rhythm. Kay Slice isn’t finding his voice. He is the voice of diasporic pride, ancestral rhythm, and future Africa.
For over 25 years, David Madson (aka Odd Nosdam) has been stationed away from the light of the mainstream, diligently working the nightshift. Every so often, we awake to find another of his bleary and beautiful missives slung into the waking world – albums whose assemblages of sampled grooves, atmospheres and voices are unified by a hallucinatory sense of melody, like disparate visions strung together through ribbons of sleep-talk. From his earliest days as a member of the seminal group cLOUDDEAD, through his remixes for artists such as Boards of Canada and Black Moth Super Rainbow, Nosdam has been reporting back from his rounds upon the perimeters of culture and consciousness, forging a musical language all of his own.
On Patrol is the second Odd Nosdam LP to be released on The Notwist’s imprint Alien Transistor – following on from the 2019 album Mirrors – and continues a collaborative history that begun with a 2008 remix of The Notwist song, “Sleep”. It’s a love letter to the vinyl format, produced with the aim of optimizing for a single LP. This objective permeated every aspect of the album’s production, from the duration of each side through to the vinyl mastering (Jessica Thompson) and lacquer-cutting (Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin). As we've come to expect, the album is built almost entirely from found sounds, many of which were taken from obscure and second-hand vinyl gathered during Nosdam’s ceaseless crate-digging escapades. Other sources include field recordings made in 2022 at the Catalonia summer home of artist Salvador Dalí, which are baked into the swirling sci-fi glide of “Here to Know (Adéu Mix)”, and a sumptuous clunking bass line courtesy of Organi’s Mike Walti, which runs like an infinite highway through the fuzzy, sunbaked sprawl of “Deepsimple”.
Odd Nosdam’s work has always swept the entire atmospheric spectrum, from rhythmic vigour to levitational beauty. On Patrol is perhaps his finest assimilation of these extremes. “Sgt. Pepsi” is the perfect case in point: a formidable slow groove capsizes into vinyl crackle after a mere minute, before the song resurrects itself through sweeping strings and vocal harmonies, sliding against each other like the overlain romantic denouements to a dozen Hollywood films from the 1940s. Elsewhere, “Get You In (Belong Mix)” drapes shoegaze guitar over a trundling funk backbeat, straddling the physical world and the outer realms, while hushed voices point toward the song's implied themes of cultural cliques, critical consensus and the plight of the eternal outsider: “Sure, I can get you in... these people are my friends, I’m one of them - I belong.”
This is music that both endures and disappears. Odd Nosdam has always wielded a strange relationship with time, scrambling association with any specific era, weaving together numerous tempos simultaneously. There is no master clock. Each track could happily hold up as an infinite loop, yet Nosdam clearly favours the potency of the gone-too-soon, applying the fadeout just as hypnosis starts to crest. Indeed, the songs are both the product of meticulous long-term construction and spontaneity. While the foundations of On Patrol have come together over several years, the recording process involved channeling vibes through a vintage Roland Space Echo and bouncing song fragments back and forth from hard disk to cassette 8-track, gifting a phased permanence to creative decisions made on the fly – a hat-tip to the production processes of Nosdam's longtime hero, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry. Like a recurring dream, On Patrol appeals to both the plains of momentary ephemera and the long-established backchannels of the unconscious, equal parts revelation and deja vu.
Zur Feier des 25-jährigen Jubiläums ihres siebten Albums aus dem Jahr 2001 (ihres letzten mit Brant Bjork) veröffentlichen Fu Manchu die California Crossing 25th Anniversary Edition. Das Album, das von der Band gemeinsam mit Matt Hyde (Deftones, Slayer, Monster Magnet) in den legendären Sound City Studios in Los Angeles aufgenommen wurde, ist die kommerziell erfolgreichste Veröffentlichung der Band. Die aus 11 Songs bestehende Sammlung enthält "Mongoose" (bekannt aus einem Toyota-Super-Bowl-Werbespot sowie aus Sons of Anarchy, The Hot Chick, Boondock Saints II u.a.), "Squash That Fly" (ihre erfolgreichste Radio-Single), "Bultaco" (mit Gesang von Keith Morris von den Circle Jerks) sowie die Fan-Favoriten "Separate Kingdom", "Hang On" und den Titelsong. Diese auf 1.000 Exemplare limitierte Ausgabe erscheint als El Camino Sand Splatter-farbiges Vinyl im Gatefold-Jacket. Für die optimalste Klangqualität wurde das Audiomaterial des Albums nun neu gemastert. "a strangely nihilistic celebration of all things Cali." - The Guardian "Fu Manchu are the stoned Ramones, a matey Motorhead: a band who can rewrite that album into the infinite future and rule perpetually." - NME
For their eagerly awaited third album, the Parisian trio Howlin' Jaws have teamed up with Swedish producer Kalle Gustafsson Jerneholm (bassist with The Soundtrack Of Our Lives and producer for Foals, The Hives, Jose Gonzalez and Junip) and have taken a major step forward, affirmingthe universal appeal of their explosive yet elegant psych-rock. This new album, Living The Dream, crystallises just about everything we'd ever dreamt of hearing from Howlin' Jaws. Here, more than ever, their dreams take the form of unifying choruses, transforming grief ("Troubled Mind") or separation ("Do What You Gonna Do", "So Sorry") into genuine bursts of hope. Rich in texture (with the Omnichord and Mellotron featuring on the spellbinding "Miss You" and the twilight-tinged "Up On The Roof" respectively) and in wit (led by the biting "Living The Dream"), the eleven-track album is equally diverse in its range of influences. Disco looms large on "Terminal Buzz", country creeps in on "Sunset Laundromat", whilst the fiery "Maximum Speed" is a joyful reminder of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard's trippy flights of fancy. The trio are stunning when they're in full swing, but just as impressive when they slow the tempo down. Behind its layers of cosmic keyboards, "Time Has Come" immediately sets the scene and subtly invites introspection. Like an echo at the end of the journey, "That Kind of Pain" rubs shoulders with the stars of the French Touch (the Air school), letting the strings of the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra burst forth amidst its melancholic swells. All in all, whether he simmers his albums like an omelette or a beef bourguignon, Howlin' Jaws proves he's never short of imagination.
With NIGHTS AFTER VAMP, Magnolia Park have spun an electrifying mix of hard rock, punk, nu-metal, hip-hop and metalcore into a dizzying, multisensory experience. Throughout its 17 songs, the record soundtracks an ominous journey through the fictional world of Nocturne Nexus; where rulers and rebels battle with the future hanging in the balance. Heavily inspired by the band's love of anime, horror and fantasy, the album's narrative was spurred by the long-running Vampire Hunter D, iconic works like Star Wars, Dracula and Joseph Campbell's legendary monomyth. Produced by the band's in-house producers alongside Andrew Wade (A Day To Remember, Wage War), Hiram Hernandez (blessthefall) and Andy Karpovck (408, Taylor Acorn) and mixed by Zakk Cervini (Bad Omens, Bring Me The Horizon) - Magnolia Park soundtrack this dramatic tale of crimson blood and chrome-plated courage through their own mix of man and machine, stacking whirring electronics and industrial undertones alongside sledgehammer breakdowns, walls of detuned guitars and Roberts' seam-splitting vocals.
GERMit Everything in Readiness legt Shovel Dance Collective sein drittes Album vor und bestatigt damit die Ausnahmestellung des neunkopfigen Ensembles innerhalb der aktuellen Folk-Renaissance Großbritanniens. Aufbauend auf der Resonanz der Vorganger The Water is the Shovel of the Shore und The Shovel Dance entwickelt die Gruppe ihren Ansatz konsequent weiter: Traditionelle Lieder werden aus unterschiedlichsten Quellen zusammengetragen, neu arrangiert und zu vielschichtigen Klangcollagen verwoben. Dabei verbindet das Kollektiv akustische Instrumentierung, Improvisation, experimentelle Aufnahmetechniken, Field Recordings und gemeinsame Gesangsarrangements zu einem unverwechselbaren Gesamtbild. Inhaltlich rucken soziale, politische und historische Perspektiven in den Vordergrund, ohne den Charakter der uberlieferten Songs zu verlieren. Erscheint auf dem tak:til-Imprint von Glitterbeat Records und positioniert sich gleichermaßen fur Folk-, Experimental-, Avantgarde- und World-Music-Kundschaft.[ENG]The nine-piece ensemble Shovel Dance Collective have been at the forefront of the resurgence of interest in traditional music since they came together in late 2019 and their two albums thus far - "The Water is the Shovel of the Shore" and "The Shovel Dance" - have been celebrated within, and far beyond, the confines of the folk scene in the UK and internationally.After recent acclaimed releases from artists such as Brighde Chaimbeul, Sirom, Alison Cotton and Cerys Hafana, Glitterbeat's tak:til imprint feels like a natural home for their exhilarating third album "Everything in Readiness".
Area records delivers their first release from ADMNTi, with a 4-tracker that spans through electro tinged tech house, breaks and 2-step, making up the GigaHertZ EP.
REPRESS of LOS NATAS third album Corsario Negro. Corsario Negro was another milestone in the band's career. A true monolith, build of heavy psych riffs, big grooves and extensive jams, showcasing the pure essence of stoner rock. The album was produced by the mighty Billy Anderson (The Melvins, Neurosis, Acid King & many more) - The Obelisk
Green Vinyl, limited to 300 copies. REPRESS of LOS NATAS third album Corsario Negro. Corsario Negro was another milestone in the band's career. A true monolith, build of heavy psych riffs, big grooves and extensive jams, showcasing the pure essence of stoner rock. The album was produced by the mighty Billy Anderson (The Melvins, Neurosis, Acid King & many more) - The Obelisk
SPIKE & THE GIMME GIMMES sind zweifellos die unterhaltsamste Coverband aller Zeiten. Die Band, die bis letztes Jahr noch unter dem Namen ME FIRST AND THE GIMME GIMMES umherreiste, hat sich den Titel Supergroup redlich verdient: Jedes der fünf Gründungsmitglieder konnte bereits auf eine ernstzunehmende Musikkarriere zurückblicken. Ursprünglich fanden Spike Slawson (Swingin' Utters), Fat Mike (NOFX), Chris Shiflett (Foo Fighters), Joey Cape (Lagwagon) und Dave Raun (Lagwagon) durch ihre gemeinsame Liebe zum Punk zusammen. Mittlerweile tritt die Band in wechselnder Besetzung rund um Sänger Spike Slawson auf. "Shit the Bed", das Debüt von Spike and the Gimme Gimmes, bietet genau das, was man von einer Veröffentlichung der Gimmes erwartet: sofort eingängige Songs und herausragendes musikalisches Können - ihre Versionen deiner Lieblingslieder musst Du einfach lieben. PUNKt. Alle Einnahmen aus der hochkarätig besetzten Version von "We Are the World", die hier als Abschluss des Albums enthalten ist, gehen an den Sweet Relief Musicians Fund, du bist also moralisch dazu verpflichtet, mindestens ein Exemplar zu kaufen. Falls die Unterstützung notleidender Musiker als Grund nicht ausreicht: Die fantastische Gruppe von Sängern, die für dieses Projekt zusammengekommen ist, besteht aus den Gimmes mit Spike, CJ, Swami, Pinch and Jake as well as Milo, Nikki Corvette, Tony Reflex, Har Mar Superstar, Dani Miller, Dickey Barrett, Robert "El Vez" Lopez, Stacey Dee, Greg Antista, Johnny Bonnell, Joe Principe, Jolie Holland, Darius Koski, Jesse Wagner, Eva Walker, Chaki Funk Wizard, Jim Lindberg, Efram Schulz, Matt Caughthran, Jon Snodgrass, Blag Dahlia & Miss Guy! Auf Europatour im Oktober/November 2026. EU exklusive braune Vinyl-LP sowie CD mit Falt-Booklet erhältlich.
SPIKE & THE GIMME GIMMES sind zweifellos die unterhaltsamste Coverband aller Zeiten. Die Band, die bis letztes Jahr noch unter dem Namen ME FIRST AND THE GIMME GIMMES umherreiste, hat sich den Titel Supergroup redlich verdient: Jedes der fünf Gründungsmitglieder konnte bereits auf eine ernstzunehmende Musikkarriere zurückblicken. Ursprünglich fanden Spike Slawson (Swingin' Utters), Fat Mike (NOFX), Chris Shiflett (Foo Fighters), Joey Cape (Lagwagon) und Dave Raun (Lagwagon) durch ihre gemeinsame Liebe zum Punk zusammen. Mittlerweile tritt die Band in wechselnder Besetzung rund um Sänger Spike Slawson auf. "Shit the Bed", das Debüt von Spike and the Gimme Gimmes, bietet genau das, was man von einer Veröffentlichung der Gimmes erwartet: sofort eingängige Songs und herausragendes musikalisches Können - ihre Versionen deiner Lieblingslieder musst Du einfach lieben. PUNKt. Alle Einnahmen aus der hochkarätig besetzten Version von "We Are the World", die hier als Abschluss des Albums enthalten ist, gehen an den Sweet Relief Musicians Fund, du bist also moralisch dazu verpflichtet, mindestens ein Exemplar zu kaufen. Falls die Unterstützung notleidender Musiker als Grund nicht ausreicht: Die fantastische Gruppe von Sängern, die für dieses Projekt zusammengekommen ist, besteht aus den Gimmes mit Spike, CJ, Swami, Pinch and Jake as well as Milo, Nikki Corvette, Tony Reflex, Har Mar Superstar, Dani Miller, Dickey Barrett, Robert "El Vez" Lopez, Stacey Dee, Greg Antista, Johnny Bonnell, Joe Principe, Jolie Holland, Darius Koski, Jesse Wagner, Eva Walker, Chaki Funk Wizard, Jim Lindberg, Efram Schulz, Matt Caughthran, Jon Snodgrass, Blag Dahlia & Miss Guy! Auf Europatour im Oktober/November 2026. Die goldige Vinylversion ist nur dem Indie-Handel vorbehalten!
For their eagerly awaited third album, the Parisian trio Howlin' Jaws have teamed up with Swedish producer Kalle Gustafsson Jerneholm (bassist with The Soundtrack Of Our Lives and producer for Foals, The Hives, Jose Gonzalez and Junip) and have taken a major step forward, affirmingthe universal appeal of their explosive yet elegant psych-rock. This new album, Living The Dream, crystallises just about everything we'd ever dreamt of hearing from Howlin' Jaws. Here, more than ever, their dreams take the form of unifying choruses, transforming grief ("Troubled Mind") or separation ("Do What You Gonna Do", "So Sorry") into genuine bursts of hope. Rich in texture (with the Omnichord and Mellotron featuring on the spellbinding "Miss You" and the twilight-tinged "Up On The Roof" respectively) and in wit (led by the biting "Living The Dream"), the eleven-track album is equally diverse in its range of influences. Disco looms large on "Terminal Buzz", country creeps in on "Sunset Laundromat", whilst the fiery "Maximum Speed" is a joyful reminder of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard's trippy flights of fancy. The trio are stunning when they're in full swing, but just as impressive when they slow the tempo down. Behind its layers of cosmic keyboards, "Time Has Come" immediately sets the scene and subtly invites introspection. Like an echo at the end of the journey, "That Kind of Pain" rubs shoulders with the stars of the French Touch (the Air school), letting the strings of the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra burst forth amidst its melancholic swells. All in all, whether he simmers his albums like an omelette or a beef bourguignon, Howlin' Jaws proves he's never short of imagination.
Animative is new work by composer, producer, saxophonist and synthesist Josh Johnson (SML, Jeff Parker ETA IVtet, Flea and The Honora Band), his third album under his own name, and his first for International Anthem/Nonesuch. The album further advances Johnson deep into a territory he has been exploring for years: live-processed electro-acoustic takes on deconstructed rhythmic jazz. The ten track album - co-produced by Johnson and Paul Bryan, featuring contributions from Meshell Ndegeocello, Macie Stewart, Marquis Hill, Ben Lumsdaine, and more - is a marvel of electro-acoustic innovation that combines compositional brilliance and technological ambition into a mesmerizing blend of skeletal soul-jazz, post-bop, electronic minimalism, and dreamy ambience.
Animative is new work by composer, producer, saxophonist and synthesist Josh Johnson (SML, Jeff Parker ETA IVtet, Flea and The Honora Band), his third album under his own name, and his first for International Anthem/Nonesuch. The album further advances Johnson deep into a territory he has been exploring for years: live-processed electro-acoustic takes on deconstructed rhythmic jazz. The ten track album - co-produced by Johnson and Paul Bryan, featuring contributions from Meshell Ndegeocello, Macie Stewart, Marquis Hill, Ben Lumsdaine, and more - is a marvel of electro-acoustic innovation that combines compositional brilliance and technological ambition into a mesmerizing blend of skeletal soul-jazz, post-bop, electronic minimalism, and dreamy ambience.
Fishtailing across a trimmed sod lawn, the parking lot of a box-store strip mall, a fast food drive-thru––it’s a hyperreal Americana fantasy that calls Caroline Rose (she/they) home on 'Gentling the Horse at the Walt Whitman Mall'. The release doubles as the debut of SUCK records, the LA based artist’s own imprint—a fitting next form for an enigmatic musician whose work resists settling into one shape.
'Gentling the Horse at the Walt Whitman Mall' stretches the ordinary into the uncanny. The record pairs sharply observed, memoiristic songwriting with expansive guitar textures that render the everyday with violent clarity and mythic scale. Beneath its melodic sweep and signature hooks runs a current of violence and American dream leakage.
It’s Ennio Morricone with an AR15: surf guitars, spaghetti westerns, and suburban dread colliding until they become their own sharp vernacular. Reality is unstable, so we’ll keep telling stories—and for Rose, the sinister slickness of the everyday grows a new head.
Working with producer John Congleton, Rose built the record through humor, layering, and instinct rather than polish. Songs like “Conversations with Shiv,” “Goddamn Train,” and “Everything in its Right Place” were recorded in studio for the first time, with sessions that prized first impulses over perfection. The result is panoramic but never precious—songs that feel meticulously constructed while always threatening to mutate.
Over the last six years, Rose’s music has evolved alongside their work organizing around stronger labor protections and collective bargaining rights for musicians and crews. Creative and political practice have increasingly become the same project as Rose’s career has taken on its hyper-independent form. Those concerns echo throughout 'Gentling the Horse'. Its landscapes are populated by inherited systems that feel absurd yet inescapable, where humor becomes a survival tactic and satire reveals the quiet violence embedded in everyday
Third time’s a charm, or possibly an anomaly. Johannes Volk returns to Running Back for another five exercises in perception, memory and dance-floor physics.
Following Extra Dimensions and Lightweave, this third instalment finds Volk continuing his particular way of making machine music feel strangely human and vice versa.
Shining Force starts somewhere above ground. Gliding across an unfamiliar planetary surface, optical illusions and physical anomalies slowly interfere with the senses. Unknown landscapes,
peculiar vegetation, nature behaving unnaturally: techno as field research. Switching From Bicycle to Spaceship does exactly what it says on the tin, more or less: trading pedal power for propulsion as a deceptively simple groove gathers speed, sheds gravity and quietly leaves the atmosphere behind.
Hidden In Dark belongs to a more immediate kind of archaeology: fog, strobes, bodies and those inexplicably intense emotions that only seem to exist on a dance floor at the right (or wrong) hour.
Back Alley Dancers turns the telescope around and looks backwards. Vocal fragments, pitched, delayed, reversed and removed from their original meaning trigger half-memories of youth, and of
encountering music and culture before you quite understood what any of it meant. Familiar feelings in unfamiliar shapes.
Finally, Drumatury dispenses with introspection and gets down to elementary forces. Morphing bass drums meet a Chicago jacking snare-roll massacre. Drama becomes drumaturgy. Or the other way around.
Five tracks, several states of consciousness, one Johannes Volk. No protective equipment supplied.
Earlier this year, Blue Hour released his debut album Selva, a record steeped in the imagery of lost and forgotten worlds. Now, rather than let that world stand still, Blue Hour opens it up, inviting a handpicked crew of fresh talent to step inside and make it their own.
The result is a remix companion that reimagines Selva through fresh eyes and ears. Each remix artist brings their own sonic fingerprint to the source material, some peeling back the original's dense atmospherics to expose skeletal rhythms underneath, others pushing further into the album's dreamlike haze. What emerges isn't a simple tribute, but a genuine dialogue: new talents in conversation with an album that was already asking questions about memory, erosion, and what gets left behind when a world disappears.
It's a fitting extension of Selva's original premise: if the debut album conjured ruins and jungles swallowed by time, this remix project treats those same soundscapes as living, mutable spaces, ready to be excavated, reinterpreted, and given new life by a new generation of voices.
Das Gründungsmitglied von Black Sabbath und der „Godfather of Heavy Metal“ kehrt mit seiner ersten
neuen Solomusik seit 21 Jahren zurück – zugleich seine erste Veröffentlichung in voller Länge seit dem
letzten Black-Sabbath-Album *13*. In acht einfallsreichen, weitläufigen und fesselnden Songs haben Tony
und sein langjähriger Produzent Mike Exeter eines der prägenden Rockalben des Jahres 2026 geschaffen.
Klanglich wuchtig und reich an musikalischen Texturen, lässt Tony hier eine Vision Wirklichkeit werden, an
der er lange gefeilt hat, und liefert dabei einige der besten Gitarrenleistungen seiner Karriere ab. Die erste
Single „World Alone“ ist ein rasanter, gitarrenbetonter Song, der von Tonys unverkennbaren, gewaltigen
Riffs angetrieben wird. Der Track ist hart und doch eingängig; dank des Textdichters und Sängers Jorn
Lande wirkt er zudem aufbauend. Dies ist klassischer Iommi: Das Stück vereint alle Markenzeichen seines
legendären Gitarrenspiels mit einer modernen Note.
Despite the widespread popularity of reggae music in the UK, following its explosion onto the international music scene in the late 1960s, many of these in charge of Britain's mainstream media were reluctant to give the exciting new sound coverage, wither in print or over the airways.
In an attempt to counter this prejudice, Trojan Records took the bold step of embellishing recordings from Jamaica with sophisticated orchestration, with the resultant ‘commercial reggae’ sound immediately finding favour with the country’s reggae fans.
Consequently, the company not just maintained, but in fact extended the procedure, employing producers to record the country’s finest British-based reggae acts. The result was the release of an abundance of superbly crafted recordings, the production values of which rated with the best that British pop had to offer.
Mit „Tranquilo II“ schlagen In Extremo ein neues Kapitel ihrer beeindruckenden Erfolgsgeschichte auf. Am
23. Oktober 2026 erscheint das außergewöhnliche Akustikalbum mit 17 Songs, die mehr als drei Jahrzehnte
Bandgeschichte in überraschend neuem Klang präsentieren.
Statt ihre Klassiker lediglich leiser zu spielen, haben In Extremo Stücke wie „Spielmannsfluch“, „Frei
zu sein“, „Störtebeker“, „Liam“ und „Feine Seele“ komplett neu arrangiert. Swing, Rockabilly, Ska, Reggae und osteuropäische Einflüsse treffen auf historische Instrumente und den unverwechselbaren Sound der
erfolgreichsten Mittelalter-Rockband der Welt. Eingespielt wurde das Album in einem kleinen Studio in
Dornbirn – live, unmittelbar und mit viel Raum für spontane musikalische Ideen.
Unterstützt werden In Extremo von hochkarätigen Gästen: Metal-Ikone Doro Pesch verleiht „Feine Seele“
besondere Intensität, Jan „Monchi“ Gorkow und Max Bobzin von Feine Sahne Fischfilet sorgen bei „Störtebeker“ für eine ebenso ungewöhnliche wie mitreißende Begegnung, während Faun-Sängerin Laura Fella
den Klassiker „Liam“ bereichert. Mit „Heute wird der Himmel brennen“ enthält das Album außerdem einen
brandneuen Song.
Ein besonderes Highlight für Fans ist die exklusive Bonus-EP „Sternhagelvoller“, die der Deluxe-CD sowie
dem streng limitierten Vinyl-Bundle beiliegt. Das Herzstück bildet eine sechsminütige XXL-Version des
Partyklassikers „Sternhagelvoll“, aufgenommen mit zahlreichen Weggefährten aus der Mittelalter-Rock- Szene – darunter Mitglieder von Feuerschwanz, d’Artagnan, Faun, Tanzwut, Subway to Sally, Versengold,
Fiddler’s Green und Corvus Corax. Ergänzt wird die EP durch den exklusiven neuen Song „Amontillado“
und eine besondere Version von „Ave Maria“ mit der kroatischen Vokalformation Metaklapa.
Im November und Dezember bringen In Extremo „Tranquilo II“ auf große Akustiktour. In ausgewählten
Spielstätten wie dem Berliner Admiralspalast, der Hamburger Laeiszhalle, der Alten Oper Frankfurt und
dem Circus Krone in München stehen Nähe, Atmosphäre und musikalische Feinheiten im Mittelpunkt.
„Tranquilo II“ ist weit mehr als eine Reise durch die Vergangenheit: Es ist ein mutiges, vielseitiges und
überraschendes Album, das bekannte Hymnen neu entdecken lässt und zugleich eindrucksvoll zeigt, warum
In Extremo auch nach mehr als drei Jahrzehnten musikalisch unberechenbar bleiben.
"From the Toolkit of Lovers" is the latest from Brian Leeds, known publicly under several monikers: Huerco S., Pendant, and Loidis - a play on his own surname. Recorded over the summer of 2025, Leeds expounds upon the sound of One Day in a 110-minute meditation on life, love and dub
Flamingo Pier, the New Zealand–born, London shaped trio of Luke Walker, Dominic Jones and Brad Craig, step confidently into a new chapter with the announcement of their second album ‘Woven Together’ arriving in October. Long celebrated as one of the southern hemisphere’s best kept dancefloor secrets, the group now move firmly into global view with a record written, produced and released entirely on their own terms. Since first emerging with their Kitsuné debut in 2015, Flamingo Pier have carved out a distinctive space in contemporary dance. Their 2019 Soundway EP earned international acclaim was played on BBC Radio 1 and KEXP, with their 2021 debut album featuring jazz icon Nathan Haines.
Further releases on Razor 'N' Tape and Soundway included collaborations with Nigerian disco legend Steve Monite.
The first glimpse of ‘Woven Together’ arrives with lead single ‘Cool Nights’, a modern, playful take on 80s Italo Disco - powerful on the dancefloor yet built for top down drives along the Italian coastline. A late night story of connection and possibility, the track sets the tone for an album that brings Flamingo Pier’s melodic warmth, rhythmic precision and global influences into sharp, confident focus.
Get Used To It, a “uniformly excellent” album (PopMatters) first released in 2006, marked the return of N’Dea Davenport, whom The New Yorker described as “a lithe dynamo with a sensuous voice and an arresting presence.” Her voice remains inseparable from The Brand New Heavies’ classic sound, “an accessible hybrid of soulful grooves and smooth funk,” as The New Yorker put it
Celebrating 50 years of dancing, Amnesia represents the heart and soul of electronic music in Ibiza. Telling a story that spans five decades, the 50th anniversary vinyl/CD compilation is a window into a legendary venue that has helped establish some of the world's biggest tracks.
From the iconic piano riff of Eric Prydz' 'Pjanoo' to the laid-back groove of 'Benediction' by Hot Natured. A club that spans eras and genres - the disco of Chic's 'Good Times', the synth-pop of New Order's 'Blue Monday', or the gritty electro of Alter Ego's 'Rocker'.
The soundtracks of 50 summers are represented across 50 tracks spanning 10 vinyl/5 CDs. A hand-picked selection that reflects the incredible breadth of Amnesia's cultural influence, featuring music from Calvin Harris, Donna Summer, Paul van Dyk, Candi Staton, Fred Again.., Robert Miles, Laurent Garnier, Binary Finary, and many more.
LUCIANO LAMANNA — A CARLO Blackwater Label — 2026 Distributed by Triple Vision More than ten years in the making, A CARLO is a single-sided EP by Luciano Lamanna for Blackwater Label, dedicated to Carlo Giuliani and to the memory of the events that unfolded during the G8 protests in Genoa in 2001. This record is the result of a long process, one that began more than a decade ago and has remained unfinished until now. Two tracks, both carrying the name and memory of Carlo, finally complete a circle that has been open for years. The first track, “Il Giorno del Sole”, was previously released on physical CD through Blackwater Label. The second, “Amore Infinito”, arrives more than ten years later, completing the dialogue between the two pieces and giving the project its long-awaited counterpart. Together, the tracks form a deeply emotional and personal statement: melancholic, haunting and at the same time driving and hopeful. Lamanna moves through the industrial language that has always characterised his work, while “Amore Infinito” explores a darker, more intimate territory, evoking the emotional intensity of Coil. A CARLO is not intended as a historical reconstruction or a conventional political statement. It is an act of memory.
Underoath reinvents the balance between chaos and harmony with each successive release. Their compositions, conjured from creative tension, become iconoclastic anthems. Even when the band almost combusts, the crackling energy coalesces into something deeply resonant for millions.
Each time they have a chance to do something safe, Underoath challenges themselves instead, with integrity and attitude. Their pair of gold albums and three Grammy nominations stand in stark defiance of the idea of commercial compromise. The Underoath catalog weaponizes noise, aggression, and ambiance as skillfully as melody.
This year the band celebrates 20 years of their album Define The Great Line. Coming on the heels of 2004’s They’re Only Chasing Safety, Define The Great Line saw Underoath pivoting towards a more aggressive sound. The record’s unconventional – and, at times, jarring – intensity served as a stark contrast to the pop-leaning trends that were taking over heavy music at the time.
Featuring fan favorites like “Writing On The Walls”, “In Regards To Myself”, and “You’re Ever So Inviting”, Define The Great Line defied expectations when it debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. It is widely regarded as one of the definitive heavy records of the early 2000s, solidifying Underoath’s legacy as one most influential bands of the genre.
The heart of their sound, which delivers naked vulnerability with thrilling force and cinematic lushness, can be heard in generations of bands who’ve pursued their trailblazing spirit. But Underoath refuses to sit still. Walking an artistic tightrope between immersive access and isolationist otherness, Underoath owns the space between huge choruses and forward-thinking heaviness, both on record and onstage.
Harvey McKay’s “Table for One” returns to Systematic Recordings for a special and deeply meaningful vinyl edition. Originally released digitally on Systematic, the EP captures the unmistakable sound of the Glasgow producer: powerful, hypnotic and uncompromising techno, driven by raw energy while always retaining the musicality and soul that defined Harvey’s work. Following Harvey’s passing in Spring 2026, this release inevitably carries a different weight. For Systematic and Marc Romboy, it is first and foremost a celebration of
his music and the lasting impression he left behind.
For the first time, “Table for One” will be available on vinyl, presented as a strictly limited 12” picture disc pressing of only 500 copies. The original version takes the A-side, while Marc Romboy’s remix opens the Bside, offering his own interpretation of Harvey’s distinctive sound. The release is completed by “Mycelium”, another powerful example of McKay’s ability to combine hypnotic repetition, precision and sheer dancefloor energy. More than a vinyl edition of an outstanding Systematic release, this record has become a tribute to an
artist whose music will continue to live on through clubs, DJs and dancefloors around the world.
The release follows a run of major live moments, including supporting Frankie and The Witch Fingers at The Garage, standout festival appearances at Wild Paths and Down Stokes, and three packed-out sets at Left of the Dial, including highlight performances at De Doelen and V11 in Rotterdam. Sharing stages with Wine Lips and The Bug Club, Dreamwave have quickly become one of the most exciting and fast-rising live acts in the UK psych scene. Two EPs, one essential 12"-Drifter on one side, Moon Dogs on the flip.
Der legendäre Dance-Klassiker „Bla Bla Bla“ von Gigi D‘Agostino erscheint jetzt als hochwertige 12“ Picture Vinyl – ein echtes Highlight für Sammler und Fans elektronischer Musik.
Diese exklusive Edition vereint insgesamt fünf verschiedene Versionen des weltbekannten Club-Hits, der mit seinem unverwechselbaren Sound und Kultstatus bis heute die Tanzflächen begeistert. Das aufwendig gestaltete
Picture Vinyl macht diese Veröffentlichung nicht nur zu einem musikalischen, sondern auch zu einem optischen Sammlerstück.
Ob als Erinnerung an die goldene Zeit der Dance-Musik oder als besondere Ergänzung jeder Vinyl-Sammlung – „Bla Bla Bla“ auf 12“ Picture Vinyl ist ein Muss für alle Fans von Gigi D‘Agostino und zeitlosen Club-Klassikern
This compilation containing both super limited and sold out EPs "Naehe & Flackern" and "Es laesst nicht los, mich jedoch laengst" on one 12" Vinyl. The band Nidare presents their EP "Naehe und Flackern", a collection of three powerful songs that thematically deal with the feeling of hate. The singer's lyrics paint a vivid picture of hate in different facets: the hate towards society, the hate the singer faces in his life and the hate the singer himself carries outward. "Naehe und Flackern" is an EP that takes listeners on an emotional journey while also being a profound emotional exploration. Nidare manages to channel the darkness in her lyrics and music. The EP is an expression of pain, anger and despair, but also a call for self-reflection and understanding of the complex nature of human emotions. "Es laesst nicht los, ich jedoch laengst" is a visceral, unapologetic journey through the emotional landscape of a fractured world. Built around themes of political disillusionment, mental health struggles, and the crushing weight of existential dread, this EP serves as both a cry for help and a reflection of the suffocating atmosphere of modern life.
Set to expand the footprint of his recent album Make-Up Is A Lie, his 14th solo album, legendary singer and songwriter Morrissey highlights “Zoom Zoom the Little Boy” on 7" vinyl, accompanied by a previously unreleased B-side from the album sessions, "Without Music the World Dies". The single features a vintage cover shot by Tina Dehghani.
Set to expand the footprint of his recent album Make-Up Is A Lie, his 14th solo album, legendary singer and songwriter Morrissey highlights “Kerching Kerching” on 7" vinyl accompanied by a previously unreleased B-side from the album sessions, "Isle Of Dogs". The archival sleeve photograph, seen above, was taken by Jake Walters.
The songs of Jules de Corte are condensed, folky gems with an almost effortless charm. Poised between the intimate and the universal, between lightness and darkness, they touch on religion, love, loss, and the small dramas of everyday life. Yet they resist easy translation. Packed with wordplay, de Corte’s signature alliterations, humor, and local cultural references, the songs inevitably lose something in another language. Still, when a Belgian quartet of improvisers takes them on, joined by American songwriter Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, the songs are reborn rather than merely transposed: literal fidelity gives way to interpretation, and what is lost in words is often gained in spirit.
Even without tracing every change, their overall effect is fascinating. Songs are slowed down, often doubled in length, and filled with unexpected musical intrusions. They gain fuller arrangements and are placed in an entirely new context. Replacing de Corte’s piano with guitar can create a radically different vibe, as in “Mariska.” An added solo can heighten the contrast between childlike perspective and the almost matter- of-fact brutality of “Little Anita.” In “The Stranger,” another use of contrast unsettles the everyday harmony, transforming it with a subtle, disorienting twist.
Ultimately, these performances show that interpretation is not successful simply because it is literal. With the groundwork laid by Linus, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy further liberated the songs from their original versions. Lyrics and melodies become malleable, shaped by his recognizable cadences, timbre, and personal quirks. Like his collaborators, he allows himself the freedom to bend the material to his own approach. There is no radical break between this performance and his other records. Listeners familiar with the originals may be puzzled at first; for those new to de Corte, it is a wholly different experience.
Does it really matter that the original “Little Jesus, Mighty God” is a 100-second nugget combining playful naivete with biblical fervor? In the hands of these five explorers, the song becomes an intriguing contemplation, with subtle musical shades and a recitation in which every syllable carries a maturity that offers a new perspective. Then there is “The Outsider,” which feels as genuine as any original American folk song. The musicians’ process is more than reinterpretation—it is reimagination, bringing new musical compatibility and emotional depth. Whether that depth was there from the start, waiting to be uncovered, or created in the process is beside the point. What matters is that Linus and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy have made the essence of these songs their own, paying homage yet dancing to their own tune.
Linus is the Belgian duo of guitarist and banjo player Ruben Machtelinckx and reedist and synthesiser player Thomas Jillings. Across five previous albums — Onland (2014), Linus + Skarbø / Leroux (2015), Felt Like Old language at the crossroads of folk, jazz, minimalism, chamber music and free improvisation. Their music is adventurous, shaped by a particular sensitivity to texture, timbre and the subtle interaction between musicians.
What began as a duo gradually grew into a flexible musical world, bringing Linus together with musicians such as Nils Økland, Ingar Zach, Niels Van Heertum, Øyvind Skarbø and Frederik Leroux. Yet each new constellation has remained recognisably Linus: music in which carefully considered forms leave space for intuition, interaction and the unexpected.
For their sixth album, Linus takes a new step by moving into the world of song and text. Inspired by a shared love for the late Dutch songwriter Jules De Corte, the album is a reimagining of De Corte’s unique repertoire. More than simply interpreting De Corte’s songs, they absorb and reshape them, bringing them into dialogue with their own musical language. In keeping with this open approach, they are joined by celebrated vocalist Bonnie “Prince” Billy. With albums such as 1999’s I See a Darkness appearing on several greatest album lists, Bonnie “Prince” Billy is a cult figure in the alternative folk scene, and his highly intuitive way of singing seamlessly matches the subtle interplay Linus has developed over more than a decade.
Slammer Weapons EP es la tercera referencia en 12” que firma el artista Colombiano de electrónica oscura, Filmmaker.
Slammer Weapons EP is the third 12” release from Colombian dark electronic artist Filmmaker.
Side A kicks off with “Swordmaster,” a combative track with a syncopated rhythm and a powerful punch. It’s followed by “Power Overturn,” an exercise in oppressive tension and binary rhythm driven by dense synth lines. The EP closes with “Leveling,” a downtempo track featuring acid arpeggios that evolves from an initial lightness into a dense and sophisticated soundscape.
Side B opens with the relentless energy and unrelenting break of “Restoration Quest.” Next, “Knighthood” showcases a rich texture where the percussion blends with highly intense melodic sequences. The EP closes with Dob41’s reinterpretation of “Swordmaster,” who, after an expansive introduction, transforms the original track into an extremely powerful track.
The impeccable mixing and mastering are handled by Dan Böhler, and all the visual imagery surrounding the record is the work of Lucas Salinas.
At the foot of the mountain. Our gaze is inclined toward the summit.
Toward the ascent. The destination that awaits us.
From the valley, we look up at the summit: our destination. But also the path: the true destination.
We can already trace our route, and we are already imagining ourselves walking up there. Along the small ridge, just above the tree line. There, we take a short break and look for the exact spot in the valley where we were standing earlier. It is strange to grasp that we have actually climbed this mountain. To look down from up here at the place where we were just moments ago – the same place we looked up from, toward the place where we are standing now.
And now, knowing what it is like to be up here, we remember what we imagined it would be like back then. What we believed it would mean to stand here.
Along the way, our gaze wanders back and forth. Up toward the mountain, down into the valley, sometimes only at our shoes. We keep walking, one step after another. Our thoughts detached. Our body functioning purely mechanically.
Step left. Step right. Step left. Step right.
Our mind has completely detached itself, and our thoughts race at an immense speed. They summon the most different moments. Moments from our lives. Moments that shaped us, that made us who we are. Or are we perhaps simply trying to understand who we are and how we got here?
It is strange that reaching the summit and looking down could make us believe that we have finally reached, or are striving toward, some superior, triumphant position. When in fact, it is really only about looking at the path we inevitably have to take. Processing impressions from a certain distance. Reconsidering what we have experienced, without losing sight of what lies ahead.
Our gaze turns back toward the summit.
Is there a destination?
An ascent? A summit? A descent? The return?
Or is it only about the insights we encounter along the way?
Am Fuß des Berges. Unser Blick ist zum Gipfel geneigt.
Auf den Aufstieg. Das Ziel, das uns erwartet.
Vom Tal aus blicken wir auf den Gipfel: unser Ziel. Aber auch den Weg: das wahre Ziel. Unsere Route kann man jetzt schon abstecken, und wir stellen uns bereits vor, wie wir dort oben laufen. Über den kleinen Grat, leicht oberhalb der Baumgrenze. Dort machen wir eine kleine Pause und suchen genau die Stelle im Tal, an der wir vorhin noch standen. Es ist verrückt, zu begreifen, dass wir diesen Berg tatsächlich hinaufgestiegen sind. Von hier oben auf den Ort hinunterzusehen, an dem wir eben noch waren – an denselben Ort, zu dem wir hinaufgeblickt haben, als wir noch dort unten standen. Und jetzt, da wir wissen, wie es ist, hier oben zu sein, erinnern wir uns daran, was wir uns damals darunter vorgestellt haben. Was wir geglaubt haben, es würde bedeuten, hier zu stehen.
Unterwegs wandert unser Blick hin und her. Hinauf zum Berg, hinunter ins Tal, manchmal nur auf unsere Schuhe. Wir gehen weiter, einen Schritt nach dem anderen. Unsere Gedanken losgelöst. Unser Körper funktioniert rein mechanisch. Schritt links. Schritt rechts. Schritt links. Schritt rechts.
Unser Geist hat sich völlig losgelöst, und unsere Gedanken rasen mit einer ungeheuren Geschwindigkeit. Sie rufen die verschiedensten Momente herauf. Momente aus unserem Leben. Momente, die uns geprägt haben, aus denen wir geworden sind, wer wir sind. Oder versuchen wir vielleicht einfach nur zu verstehen, wer wir sind und wie wir hierhergekommen sind?
Es ist schon seltsam, dass das Erreichen des Gipfels und der Blick nach unten uns glauben lassen könnten, dass wir endlich eine überragende, triumphale Position erreicht haben oder anstreben würden. Dabei geht es doch eigentlich nur um den Blick auf den Weg, den wir zwangsläufig beschreiten müssen. Eindrücke mit etwas Abstand zu verarbeiten. Erlebtes noch einmal Revue passieren zu lassen, ohne den Blick nach vorne zu verlieren.
Unser Blick wendet sich wieder dem Gipfel zu. Gibt es ein Ziel? Einen Aufstieg? Einen Gipfel? Einen Abstieg? Die Rückkehr? Oder geht es nur um die Erkenntnisse, die uns unterwegs begegnen?
IRST ALBUM IN 10 YEARS.
TOURING WITH TROPICAL FUCK STORM IN NOVEMBER (DATES BELOW).
PRODUCED BY DAN LUSCOMBE (THE DRONES) WHO IS ALSO PART OF THE LIVE BAND.
PREVIOUS ALBUMS ON HARDLY ART/SUB POP AND REMOTE CONTROL.
VERY LIMITED BLACK VINYL AND INDIES ONLY PINK VINYL . NON-RETURNABLE.
‘Jarrod Quarrell, creator of Lost Animal, is one of the most underrated songwriters in Australia and one of our all-time favourites. He creates poetic expressions. His work is very interesting in a highly original way and richly emotional. The songs reveal themselves more over many listens and always feel fresh. His powerful, beautiful, transformative, and unforgettable songs possess the vast depth of the human spirit.’ - GIMMIE GIMMIE GIMMIE ZINE
‘Quarrell has developed a collaged techne that embodies a heart-on-sleeve attitude. Lush melodic delays wash with an influx of lyrics that pierce with uncanny imagery and diction.’ - VICE
It’s not every day you hear about a new Lost Animal album. In fact, it’s been ten years between drinks. The debut Ex Tropical (Hardly Art/Sub Pop) was released in 2011, and followed by You Yang (Remote Control) in 2016. So what happened, and where’s frontman/mastermind Jarrod Quarrell been for the last ten years?
From the horse's mouth, “I don't give a fuck about productivity”. A humbling reply. It confirms Quarrell's MO: here’s an artist as a non-conformist. And when he does see fit to bless us with his unique vision of what music can sound like, it has the ability to completely charm and disarm. Amongst a sea of rock bands, LA is essentially a solo act. Simply put; LA is JQ. But on the other hand, amongst an ocean of solo acts, LA possesses the grandiosity of a full band, punk in spirit, but without being fast, or heavy.
Armed with keys and synths, timbres align more with what a toucan might listen to, as opposed to what's heard commonly throughout Melbourne's gig economy. Strings are gently plucked and horns are tenderly blown. These are the colourful brush strokes that decorate the upper frequencies. They’re the ticket to a far away land;exotic, and potentially very dangerous. If the crew from Hear My Eyes are reading this, consider Lost Animal performing Give Some Get Some as the soundtrack to the next time you screen The Hangover Part 2. Yeah, the one where shit gets super fried in Thailand.
The album examines the underbelly of what a ten year journey might rub up against. As one may expect, a lot of that action is below the belt. Tracks like Do That Thing, and In
Rewinding, a few things have happened in the past ten years that are worth illuminating. Shags is no longer commandeering the bass full time. Though he does make an appearance on a couple tracks. The main difference from present day to yesteryear LA is Dan Luscombe (The Drones). Luscombe has jumped into the role of producer (and also part of the live band). One could say he’s a producer of the Spector-ilk: playing a hands-on approach and assisting Quarrell's song crafting. He may have suggested to add a chorus or two, but the chord progressions remain distinctly Lost Animal. You'll recognise them easily by their beauty, combined with either fragility or rigidity. Luscombe is arguably the defining force that made this album happen. Perhaps he had Quarrell at gunpoint. Yet to be confirmed. Regardless, thank fuck for Luscombe because it may have been another decade.
But the album's defining feature is arguably Quarrell's lyricism. He may not cross-examine where he's been, but his voice does unmask where he is: absolved and reincarnated. The decade-long journey has resulted in him looking inwards and unlocking himself. The album's many mantras suggest that he may be a bird (I'm a Bird Now), or that he is living on another planet (Never is Forever). Whatever and wherever he may be,
Give Some Get Some invites the listener to reflect on their own journey over the past decade. Because the game's got a price. So ask yourself what have you taken, and what have you given? Life ain't a box of chocolates. It's a bowl of berries. And when fruit symbolizes temptation, get some.
