"This area of the throat," says Chelsea Jade, resting three fingers roughly where her neck meets her chest. "It's particularly soft, and it's connected ... it's halfway between the heart and the mouth. And that's an interesting place of vulnerability." Soft Spot, the Los Angeles-based New Zealand artist's second album, dwells somewhere between feeling and expression, certainty and doubt. It ventures beyond the exploration of delusions of grandeur that formed the focus of the critically acclaimed Personal Best (2018), and simultaneously promotes and undermines romance, specifically, in a more solemn way. "Less glib," offers Jade, who has opened for Lorde and Cat Power among others. Still deliciously glib in places: "Give your worst my best," she sings on the wryly antagonizing, bass-heavy "Tantrum in Duet." Soft Spot's big pop tracks go hard on the interpersonal, physical and amorous, inviting the listener to entertain flirtation, lust, sex, even the experience, rare during its recording in 2020, of being in a room with more than three other people.
Re-release of Swedish Lustre's second album "A Glimpse of Glory" on CD and coloured vinyl. Long-since sold out and highly sought after - this classic is being treated to a proper packaging. The new cover artwork comes courtesy of Joan Llopis Doménech, the Valencian illustrator who made the amazing piece that adorns the "Night Spirit" re-issue from 2021.
Lustre is one of Nordvis' oldest and still-running collaborations. We discovered this band with "Night Spirit", and so had high expectations when "A Glimpse of Glory" came out in 2010. For anyone who appreciated the debut, this was a treat. Filled to the brim with the same atmosphere-driven lo-fi black metal as the first: the sound which has now become characteristic for Lustre. Majestic soundscapes built on hypnosis-inducing repetition, tastefully curated with various theatrical elements in the form of nature samples.
Sound Like: Summoning, Caladan Brood, Stellardrone, Carbon Based Lifeforms, Midnight Odyssey, Dead Can Dance
Provogue / Mascot Label Group have three special vinyl reissues of
blues-titan Joe Bonamassa's back catalogue
'You & Me', 'The Ballad of John Henry' and 'Live from the Royal Albert Hall'.
His fifth studio album, originally released in 2006, 'You & Me' has been
remastered from single to 180g heavyweight 2-LP transparent orange vinyl - on
coloured vinyl for the first time. When released it hit the #1 spot on the Billboard
Blues chart and featured a crack band of Carmine Rojas (Bass), Jason Bonham
(Drums), Rick Melick (Piano/Organ) and Jeff Bova (Orchestration). At the time it
was declared his best work to date by Allmusic and features his takes on
Led Zeppelin's "Tea for One," Sonny Boy Williamson's "Your Funeral and My Trial"
and Charley Patton's "High Water Everywhere" as well as Bonamassa originals
including "Bridge to Better Days" and "Asking Around for You."
With 25 #1 albums, yearly sold-out tours worldwide and custom annual cruises,
he's a hard act to beat. These albums are a testament to his credentials and a
toast to his longtime fans who remember them originally and new fans who can
experience them for the first time. It's Joe Bonamassa at his finest, ready to rock.
'You & Me', 'The Ballad of John Henry' and 'Live from the Royal Albert Hall'.
The 2009 fan favourite and iconic 'The Ballad of John Henry' will be also available
on coloured vinyl for the first time, has been remastered on 180g heavyweight
2LP brown vinyl and includes a bonus track – B.B. King's "Chains and Things."
Bonamassa's seventh studio album saw him steamroll into another US Billboard
Blues #1 as well as it making waves across the charts around Europe. Well on his
way to becoming a superstar, several Bonamassa originals adorn the album as
well as covers of Tom Waits, Sam Brown and Ike & Tina Turner, highlighting the
sheer scope of his palette.
With 25 #1 albums, yearly sold-out tours worldwide and custom annual cruises,
he's a hard act to beat. These albums are a testament to his credentials and a
toast to his longtime fans who remember them originally and new fans who can
experience them for the first time. It's Joe Bonamassa at his finest, ready to rock.
TANGERINE DREAM'S 'MALA KUNIA' IS BACK AVAILABLE ON VINYL -
'Mala Kunia', the mini-album & roughly Tangerine Dream's 140th release
was originally released in tangent with the bands' 2014 Australian
concerts - The album features seven new compositions including two of
which were co-composed by new band member Ulrich Schnauss together
with Edgar Froese
With this release, a new Tangerine Dream era began, "The Quantum Years", which
focused on a more back to basics approach to composition influenced by
quantum physics. The album itself is named after two Aboriginal tribes, which,
according to Aboriginal mythology, living a long time ago around Uluru, also
known as Ayers Rock. The Mala tribe lived on the sunny side & the Kunia on the
shady side of the rock.
Tangerine Dream have been a fundamental influence on electronic music since
Edgar Froese founded the band in West Berlin, 1967. Providing the groundwork
for multiple electronic music genres including ambient & electronica, inspiring
musicians & other art forms.
The group have also received seven Grammy nominations, written over 100
studio albums & were led by Froese, who developed an instantly recognisable
synth-based instrumental music based on a meditative musical experience that
came to prominence in the 70's & 80's.
Although Edgar Froese passed away in 2015 with a new phase in the bands
history only just beginning, he left direct orders to remaining members: "Carry on
& make my vision for the Quantum Years phase of the band happen!"
'MALA KUNIA' WILL BE ISSUED VIA KSCOPE ON GATEFOLD DOUBLE LP
Deluxe Reissue of "House With No Home" - Pressed on Clear Blue with
Gray Streaks Colour Vinyl with bonus 7" included
The cover of House with No Home, the second full- length album from Horse
Feathers, a dusty west coast folk duo comprised of Justin Ringle and Peter
Broderick, depicts a wintry farm dusted with snow It's an image that's easily
conjured throughout each of the 11 songs that make up Home, a subtle, nuanced,
and quietly noble collection of Americana-kissed alternative folk that echoes the
work of Bonnie "Prince" Billy, James Yorkston, Iron & Wine, and Bon Iver. Ringle,
who blends Richard Buckner's soft, serpentine delivery with Andrew Bird's "I can't
open my mouth all the way" mumble populates his songs with the kind of
woodsy, heart and soul-broken characters that one would expect to find lurking
between the pines on a frosty Oregon morning in February, but it's Broderick who
provides the chill. His string arrangements are grandiose in their simplicity and
busy without ever interfering with Ringle's poignant, icy prose. From the heady
opener "Curs in the Weeds" to the surging, banjo-led "Working Poor," the two carve
up each track like master craftsman, finding the perfect middle ground between
the sparse, reverb- laden landscapes of the Great Lake Swimmers and the
orchestral, aching beauty of Hem. This deluxe reissue includes a bonus 7" with a
2021 reworking of 'Curs In The Weeds' with a full band as well as 2 songs from a
radio session recorded during the European tour for the original album release.
THE DEBUT STUDIO ALBUM OF EERIE DEATH/DOOM METAL DEPRAVITY
FROM GREG WILKINSON & CHRIS REIFERT OF US GORELORDS,
AUTOPSY
Static Abyss is the new mouthpiece for a rotten age consisting of the duo of Greg
Wilkinson (Guitars/ bass) & Chris Reifert (drums/ vocals), both members of
legendary American masters of sickness Autopsy, with Greg (also of cult act
Deathgrave) recently welcomed as new bass player for the long-running US act's
next studio opus & beyond.
Static Abyss' debut studio album, 'Labyrinth of Veins', presents an unnerving,
multi-layered eerie concoction of dirty doom & death, including themes exploring
the echoes of insanity manifested through human existence. The result, a sinister
onslaught of at times slow & bludgeoning brutal metal whilst at others whipped
into a storm of chaotic vile hysterics. The spirit of Autopsy is at times present in
the truly titanic riffs swathed in chilling atmospheric guitar leads, whilst Chris'
seemingly bottomless pit of morbid inspiration from the dark & twisted corners of
life permeate the release with his highly distinguishable delivery to further the
descent into madness.
'Labyrinth of Veins' was recorded at Earhammer Studios in Oakland, CA, & Great
American Music Hall, with engineering, mixing & mastering overseen by Greg
himself. Cover art appears courtesy of All Things Rotten.
EXTENSIVE COLLECTION OF SIGH'S EARLY DEMOS, EP's & RARITIES,
PRESENTED ON DOUBLE CD FORMAT - INCLUDES INTERVIEW & LINER
NOTES COURTESY OF MAINMAN MIRAI KAWASHIMA ON THE
FORMATIVE YEARS OF THE JAPANESE LEGENDS.Cult Japanese black
metal legends Sigh formed in 1989/90, featuring mainman Mirai
Kawashima, Satoshi Fujinami & Kazuki Ozeki
Following initial demos, Shinichi Ishikawa was brought into the band, & Kazuki
removed from the line- up. It was following this shift that the band set about
recording the masterpiece debut 'Scorn Defeat' for Euronymous' Deathlike Silence
Productions, going on to become one of the country's greatest & most revered
metal exports. With a journey through the strange & the psychedelic,
incorporating a whole eclectic mix of genre styles & experimentation throughout
their career, Sigh has remained a vital creative force in the avantgarde field.
However, at its core, Sigh has always remained true to its roots of old school
metal. 'Eastern Darkness' contains a comprehensive collection of Sigh's early rare
works showing their swift musical evolution as well as the strong utilisation of
keyboards in their compositional process throughout. The collection includes the
band's legendary demo tapes, 'Desolation', & 'Tragedies', plus their EP's & rarities,
as well as contributions to various compilation releases in the mid 1990's.
Considering Sigh's well- known regard for UK legends Venom throughout their
career, 'Eastern Darkness' also contains the band's own tribute to the 1980's black
metal pioneers, in the form of tribute 'To Hell & Back', originally released on tape
in 1995.
This edition of 'Eastern Darkness' is presented on double disc CD format &
includes a 12- page booklet featuring an interview with Mirai Kawashima about
the early years of the band, along with his recollections of the origins of each title
contained within the release, three decades on from Sigh's formation.
Northlane are a chart topping, award-winning metal band from Sydney,
Australia
Their new offering, Obsidian, is their most expansive and dynamic album yet. Selfrecorded and self- produced, the sound Northlane have been working towards
over the span of their career has been fully realised on Obsidian.
Sonically spanning the gamut of their entire discography, Northlane's trademark
heavy comfortably coexists with techno, drum and bass, intriguing synths,
perplexing time signatures and widescreen choruses. It's this fearless evolution
that keeps them light years ahead of everyone else in heavy music.
Back in 1998, RZA had already cemented his status as Wu-Tang Clan's man behind the boards, producing the entirety of the group's respective solo albums - When it came to his own breakout moment, the producer opted to introduce the world to Bobby Digital, a cartoonish, hedonistic mad-rapping alter ego and grew so fond of the character that he released another album under the moniker before finally delivering 2003's Birth of a Prince as the RZA.
Now it seems Bobby Digital is back in the picture and potentially set to square up with his host New album RZA vs. Bobby Digital features the hard- hitting single, Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater. According to a press release, DJ Scratch handles production on the album. "Giving Scratch the reins as a producer and me taking the reins as an MC, that's what frees me up creatively and lets me play more with lyrical gags and lyrical flows because I don't have to be focused on everything", RZA explained in a statement.
out of Stock
Last delivered 4 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
Continuing with the theme of finding and releasing quality 21st century CD-only tracks on to 7” vinyl, Jai Alai now are proud to present their fourth release which showcases the stand-out tracks from the only two albums released under the name Sir Wick.
Chad ’Sir Wick’ Hughes is probably best described as a musician (trombone, piano, percussion), composer, teacher, adjudicator and clinician, but somehow that doesn’t seem quite enough to describe such a unique musical talent. Born in Detroit, and graduating from the same High School as Diana Ross, Paul Thompson, & Ron Carter, he went on to study composition and arranging, and holds regular clinics around the north and mid-west US states sharing his expertise.
The topside on this limited edition release is the lead track from his debut album “An Interpretation Of A Universal Language” (2007 Sir Wick Entertainment LLC) which features the sublime vocals of Sedalia Marie, a beautiful mid-pacer, whilst the other side “I Love You” features the mellow vocals of Anthony Saunders on a track from Chad’s opus work “A Tale Of Two Fools”, which he began in 1996 but only finally orchestrated and released as his second album in 2017 - a soundtrack featuring a full orchestra comprising eight woodwind parts, full strings, big band brass, and seven-piece rhythm section.
Originally intended as an operetta, it was evolving into something bigger; an opera, musical or stage play maybe, but he finally referred to it as a ‘novical’ (a musical novel), which best describes this story of a young musician falling in love for the first time. A biopic, maybe?
One could easily take these two fabulous tracks at face value as simply just another great double-sider, but isn’t it nicer to know the full story?
Famed free jazz concert registration of an early New Direction for the Art performance. Recorded in 1971. Old-style Gatefold LP, with rare photographs & extensive liner notes by Alan Cummings.
The performance by Takayanagi Masayuki New Direction for the Art at the Gen’yasai festival on August 14, 1971 was an intense, bruising collision between the radical, anti-establishment politics of the period in Japan and the febrile avant-garde music that had begun to emerge a few years before. The ferocious performance that you can hear here was received with outright hostility by the audience, who responded first with catcalls and later with showers of debris that were hurled at the performers. Takayanagi though described the group’s performance to jazz magazine Swing Journal as a success, “an authentic and realistic depiction of the situation”.
In 1962, Takayanagi, bassist Kanai Hideto and painter Kageyama Isamu went on to form an AACM-style musicians’ collective called the New Century Music Research Institute. Every Friday, members gathered at Gin-Paris, a chanson bar in the fashionable Ginza district of Tokyo, to push the outer limits of jazz creativity.
But the pivotal moment for his music was the creation a new trio version of his New Directions group in August 1969, with the free bassist Yoshizawa Motoharu and a young drummer Toyozumi (Sabu) Yoshisaburō. Experiments eventually led to the creation of two basic frameworks for improvisation that Takayagi referred to as Mass Projection and Gradually Projection.
“La Grima” (tears), the piece that was played at the Gen’yasai festival, is a mass projection and listening to it, you can get a clear sense of what Takayanagi was aiming at. Mass projection involves a dense, speedy and chaotic colouring in of space that destroys the listener’s perception of time, and thus of musical development.
The ferocity of the performance of “La Grima” at the Gen’yasai Festival in Sanrizuka on August 14, 1971 was consciously grounded by Takayanagi in a particular historical moment, ripe with conflict and violence. A month after the festival, on September 16, three policemen would die during struggles at the site. This was the context that the three-day Gen’yasai Festival existed within. The line-up reflected the radical politics of the movement, with leading free jazz musicians like Takayanagi, Abe Kaoru, and Takagi Mototeru appearing alongside radical ur-punkers Zuno Keisatsu, heavy electric blues bands like Blues Creation, and Haino Keiji’s scream-jazz unit Lost Aaraaff.
New Direction for the Arts trio topped the bill on the opening day, playing an aggressive, uncompromising “mass projection” set of polyphonic improvisation. Alongside drummer Hiroshi Yamazaki and saxophonist Kenji Mori, Takayanagi soloed hard and continuously for forty minutes. This was performance as precisely calibrated metaphor: three musicians responding to the demands of the moment with instinctive force and fury, untethered by rules, leaderless yet not rudderless (the direction part of the group’s name was no accident). The piece was entitled La Grima – tears - and the fusion between the palpable anger of the performance and hopeless sadness of its title were also perfectly apt for the situation. This was a fight that the state was always going to win. Yet, by all accounts, the band’s set went down like a fart at a funeral. The band were showered with catcalls and debris throughout, and by chants of “go home” when the music finally came to an end.
However, looking back at the event in the year-end issue of Japan’s leading jazz magazine, Swing Journal, Takayanagi was surprisingly upbeat: New Directions brought a solid political consciousness to our performance and succeeded in an authentic and realistic depiction of the situation. But journalism revealed its superficiality in its inability to penetrate the core of the music. I don’t know much about anyone else, but we at least left behind a competent record.
It’s a fascinating statement in many ways. Perhaps on one-hand it can be read as stubborn, solipsistic and self-justifying, yet in conjunction with his statement in 1971 there are points that guide us towards an understanding of just what Takayanagi intended with his performance at the festival. As Kitazato Yoshiyuki has argued, it becomes an almost religious act, directed at the earth deities of the land. A union of anger, sorrow and malevolence that can be placed nowhere effective, all it can do is find expression and channeling. The forcible land seizures at Narita, the eviction of farmers from land that had been in families for generations, the destruction of communities: none of this can be prevented, not least by an artistic action. All that can be done is an attempt to mark the land itself, to soak it with the combined force of emotions and the volume of the performances, to bury something there that cannot be drowned out, even by the coming roar of jet engines.
Ferocious JP / US free jazz bomb. A rare meeting between the NYC free jazz scene and the Japanese free music scene. Old-style Gatefold LP, with rare photographs & liner notes by Alan Cummings.
Following hot on the heels of the first, mid-sixties generation of Japanese free jazz players like Kaoru Abe, Masayuki Takayanagi, Yōsuke Yamashita, Motoharu Yoshizawa, etc., an exciting second wave of younger players began to emerge in the seventies. Two of its leading members were the saxophonist Kazutoki Umezu and multi-instrumentalist Yoriyuki Harada. Both were post-war babies and immigrants to the city, Umezu from Sendai in the north and Harada from Shimane in the west. They first met as students in the clarinet department at the Kunitachi College of Music, a well-known conservatory in western Tokyo. Harada was already securing sideman gigs on bass with professional jazz groups and was active in student politics, making good use of his connections to set up jazz concerts on campus. It was around this time that the two began to play together in an improvised duo, with Umezu on clarinet and bass clarinet and Harada on piano. They also experimented with graphic scores and prepared piano.
These experiments eventually led to the creation of a trio, with a high-school student called Tetsuya Morimura on drums, that they decided to name Seikatsu Kōjyō Iinkai (Lifestyle Improvement Committee) in joking reference to the Marxist discourse of the student radicals of the time. Around 1973, Umezu and Harada decided to call it a day and go their separate ways. Umezu began playing with the Toshinori Kondo Unit and Harada with the Tadashi Yoshida Quintet. In 1974 Harada formed his own trio and began to play at jazz coffeehouses across Japan.
Then, in September 1974 Umezu travelled alone to New York, where he set about building connections with the loft jazz scene in the city. It was a fortuitous moment to arrive in New York. Rents were cheap in the Lower East Side, possibilities for squatting existed, so many musicians and artists had moved to the area. Umezu soon became known on the scene as Kappo and he started to make connections with some of the young musicians like David Murray, Arthur Blythe, and Oliver Lake. He recalls making the rounds of the lofts every evening, checking out the performances, and getting the chance to sit in with many groups including Juma Sultan’s Aboriginal Music Society and trumpeter Ted Daniel’s orchestra.
Things were going so well that Umezu wrote to Harada and invited him to come to New York. He accepted and arrived in the city in July 1975. Harada and Umezu took the opportunity to resume their artistic collaboration. Their first concert together in over two years took place on July 20th at another loft, Sunrise Studios at 122 2nd Avenue. Umezu remembers Sunrise as an unusually sunny loft with the rarest of things, a grand piano. He invited along Ahmed Abdullah, a trumpeter he had got to know while playing with Ted Daniel. Abdullah led his own group and was a long-term Sun Ra sideman. William Parker, one of the key figures in the loft jazz scene of the period, was on bass. Abdullah also brought along Rashid Sinan on drums. Sinan drummed in Abdullah’s units throughout the seventies, but he had also played on Frank Lowe’s immortal Black Beings album and collaborated with Arthur Doyle, playing on Doyle’s Alabama Feeling album. By all accounts the evening was a huge success, with speed and dynamism of Harada’s piano playing gaining him lots of support.
Since they had managed to save some money from their day jobs, Umezu and Harada decided to set up a recording session with the same line-up on August 11 at Studio We, where there was a well-equipped studio on the third floor. Umezu recalls the session as follows, Of course, we recorded our performances in one take, with zero retakes as far as I remember. On all the tracks we recorded, we moved as one unit, sharp and fast. That was the nature of Lifestyle Improvement Committee, New York Branch.
Umezu and Harada would later become known for the elements of parody and entertainment that they brought to their music, a freewheeling blend of pastiche, humour and on-stage performativity that paralleled the approaches of the Art Ensemble, Sun Ra, and Holland’s ICP. But here, on their first recordings, the humour element is not yet present. Instead, there is a febrile sense of joy in creation and connection. On the Umezu-penned “Kim”, for example, Harada opens the piece with a speedy exploration of the full-range of the keyboard, hitting hard on the bass keys to create a rhythmic bed out of which patterns begin to emerge. Umezu enters at a much slower pace, longer held notes that at first float weightlessly over the urgency of the piano before they begin in splinter and accelerate. When Parker and Sinan kick in, it’s a rollicking tempo with Parker plucking deep and hard and the left-handed Sinan skittering hard across the topside of his kit. Abdullah kicks in a glorious solo twelve minutes in, bright and breathy at once. The piece slows and grows more spacious towards the end, giving Parker a chance to showcase some arco work that shades beautifully into the air against Abdullah’s trumpet.
This sprawling collection by Belgian loner blues savant Bram Devens aka Ignatz encapsulates the mystery, murk, and melancholy of his uncanny craft at its most windswept and wayward. Originally issued via Goaty Tapes in September of 2015, this long-anticipated vinyl edition expands the saga with an additional 17 minutes of archival material. Deven’s palette remains constant throughout: feathery fingerpicking, modal loops, and intuitive six-string navigations interspersed with candlelit passages of mournful voice, alternately whispered, mumbled, moaned. His is an aesthetic of embers and resin, cracked masks and distant lights, of what’s left behind and what lingers on.
I Live In A Utopia was recorded following a relocation from his longtime base of Brussels to Landen, with a second child due soon: “I remember the weather being nice and having just bought a hammock.” The change of scenery seeded a promise of slower days and lighter times – no utopia perhaps, but a sense of faint hope glowing on the horizon. The songs slide between loose acoustic spirituals and smoky basement ragas, late afternoon haze and midnight moons, a seesawing restlessness reflected in the titles (“I Have Found True Love,” “Time Does Not Bring Relief,” “We Used To Smoke Inside”). The fidelity is grainy but vivid, refracted by tape warp and Flemish dust.
As always, Deven’s playing is deceptively elegant, raw but precise, attuned to resonance, radiance, and negative space. Echoes of Fahey and Jandek reverberate in certain moments but ultimately the world Ignatz maps is one incomparably his own. A landscape both doomed and dawning, weary but undefeated, tracing outlines of lengthening shadows. “I walk in the sunshine,” he sings, uneasily. This is music of a rare inner wilderness, poised at cryptic crossroads, devoted to its ghosts. I Live In A Utopia stands as an apex work by one of the underground’s most veiled and visionary talents.
Double album in gatefold sleeve with artwork by Zully Adler. In co-production with House Rules & released in an edition of 500.
Tony Rolando's debut »Breakin' Is A Memory« could be your soundtrack. This worldbuilding album of electronic music leaves room for the listener to make big personal connections through subtly complex music resembling a sonic mobile which, as it spins, reveals new forms and colors. This is a collection of very human music with a deceptive simplicity and relaxed intensity. RIYL early OPN, Alessandro Cortini, Caterina Barbieri, Tangerine Dream.
These is cleverly assembled music that you want to flip over and play again, like Rolando's recent cassette on Imprec's Cassauna label. As with all Imprec vinyl releases, great care has been taken to ensure that this is a high quality pressing with low noise floor and loads of sonic detail.
On "Breakin' is a Memory" Tony Rolando invites the listener on tiny adventures questing insignificant treasures. Minimal percussion only suggests rhythm, allowing your mind to wander the crystalline lattices Tony weaves from handfuls of simple arpeggios. Soft analog bass frequencies make your travels more comfortable and the Strega instrument, a recurring recognizable character, is there to lead when you are too lost. The pace of "Breakin' is a Memory" oscillates from restless roadway motion to meditative exploration. The record closes with a celebratory decimation of the graphic memories of these tiny adventures. Play it again to rekindle them.
For more than a decade, Tony Rolando has composed electricity into musical instruments at Make Noise. When he collaborated with Alessandro Cortini in 2019 to create the Strega instrument, the experience rekindled Tony's love of composing and recording music. In 2021 he released "Old Cool Echoes" with IMPORTANT Records/ Cassauna. A third release of music composed entirely for the Shared System instrument he designed will follow later this year.
T. Gowdy has kept up a productive albeit mostly virtual pace since the release of Therapy With Colour (his third full-length album and first for Constellation) which dropped just as things were locking down back in spring 2020: performances at numerous festivals including MUTEK Montréal, Node Festival and NEW NOW; audiovisual pieces exhibited at various European galleries and events; a track and video for Constellation's Corona Borealis Longplay Singles Series; sound design for the documentary Atalaya by filmmaker Emma Roufs. Gowdy now returns with Miracles, his second full-length for Constellation, which draws on source materials originally performed in 2018 for an unreleased audio/visual project based around surveillance footage_a precursor to videocapped, monitor-based horizons that soon took on new meanings. Re-immersing himself in those recordings, Gowdy disassembles and deploys them as raw source material for new experiments with vactrols, noise gates and analog-to-digital triggering and aliasing, the original recordings juxtaposed anew amidst their successive textural and rhythmic treatments. Gowdy keeps this re-composition process stripped down, elemental and purposive, guided by an ascetic Aufhebung: synthesis as sublation_subjecting a temporal material/theme to analysis and transformation, reintegrating to form a whole that overcomes what it preserves without erasure, reshaping and intrinsically carrying its origins forward. Where Therapy With Colour was strictly and rigorously a set of stereo live performances, Miracles fuses iterative_though still spartan_layers of performance. "Therapy With Colour was about healing through self-hypnosis; Miracles is about forging a future with memory through subjection to trigger mechanisms" notes Gowdy. The result is a captivating collection of minimal IDM and oscillated electronics from the Montréal/Berlin producer, working primarily in a 120-140 BPM zone of tonal percussion and corrugated pulse. Gowdy's sensibility and sound palette gets deeper and dirtier, summoning new pathways of alluvial flicker and abraded euphoria. As the album progresses, low-pass gate vactrols coalesce into a clear and vital theme, conveying immanence through woody timbres at times reminiscent of the Shinrin-yoku aesthetic (Japanese `forest bathing'), though always with a grainy transcendence rather than invoking any clean pure sheen. Gowdy consistently heats and heightens the presence of each component in the mix, balancing different elements in democratic compression/distortion, attaining an unornamental and earnest form of mantric-industrial majesty. Miracles is live, corporeal, activated electronic music of the highest caliber, deployed with monastic and meditative focus.
New York-based duo Bottler, Pat Butler and Phil Shore, are the vanguard of their own distinctly eclectic sound. Raw, emotive, bold and highly creative, the duo has successfully carved out their own path with a series of EPs that represent the broad scope of their production prowess. Over the last five years Bottler have been working on their debut album, ‘Journey Work’, a milestone achievement that marks a pivotal moment in their music career. The LP is a distillation of the duo’s multifaceted upbringing, blending a variety of styles together bound together by an overarching attitude and approach that embraces creative freedom and self-acceptance.
Pat and Phil are childhood friends whose bond is akin to that of blood relatives. Their parents are best friends and they grew up side by side, developing their deep love for music together; sharing discoveries and inspirations, learning to play and perform, and nurturing their creativity together. Now formally ordained as Bottler, they channel their eclectic tastes into a sound that encapsulates the love and trust that forms the foundation of the friendship. The duo blends a myriad of styles to create songs that emanate warmth, joy, sorrow, pain and the full spectrum of human emotion.
The album title, like their music, is open to interpretation. The duo reveals themes related to chronicling life’s many ups and downs, the deep preparation that must be taken ahead of a spiritual ceremony or psychedelic experience, and, simply, the journey taken during the conception and creation of an album. A quote from Walt Whitman also partly inspired the title; “every leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of the stars”. However, the intention behind the title is to allow for ambiguity, giving the listener an opportunity to write their own narrative.
Across 11 cuts Bottler illustrate their distinct take on electronic music, weaving in elements of indie, pop, rock, house and techno with confidence and panache. ‘Journey Work’ starts at ‘Home’, a song that is fizzing with positive energy, Pat’s vocals welcoming the listener to the start of this meandering audio adventure.
‘Chrysalis’ opens with delicate piano keys that guide us into a bombastic bassline and energising drum beats. As it progresses, scintillating layers of synth and strings are added, creating a highly affecting, uplifting atmosphere.
‘Melatonin’ follows up next, merging heartfelt vocal delivery with a sombre instrumental, and a stirring guitar riff. A glorious demonstration of Bottler’s songwriting capabilities, which are also evident on ‘Vinyl’, an uptempo dance number with an unbelievably catchy chorus. Here we see the duo channel their experience of playing in multi-member bands, as the breaks and arrangement feel perfectly suited to a festival-sized crowd.
On ‘Tacoma’, Pat and Phil channel their appreciation of house and techno into a haunting cut that utilises reverse strings and extended vocal refrains to chilling effect. A heady club track for the twilight hours. ‘Meds’ incorporates muted singing, mystical pad work and a mesmerising riff to produce a captivating slice of uncomplicated dance music.
This is followed by ‘Hot Water’, which feels like a trip to a Californian beach, circa 1965. The vocals drift over a bouncing bassline with a complementary guitar riff. ‘Mako’ features Samurai Velvet singing about fireflies and afterlife in a wonderfully heartrending manner, Bottler’s instrumental keeping things simple, yet highly effective.
We head back underground with ‘Weed’, a dense, gloomy cut with inspired use of chopped up vocal clips, stuttered throughout, alongside a mean bassline. ‘You’re Old’ is the soundtrack to an explosion of festival euphoria, dancing shoulder to shoulder with your best friends, forgetting all your troubles and living in the moment. An anthemic song that transposes Bottler’s idiosyncratic style onto the pop blueprint. Finally, ‘Cicada Rhythm’ closes the LP with a pensive, yet joyful feeling. A chunky bassline is juxtaposed with Pat’s angelic vocals cascading over the top. A hint of tribalism comes through, as we approach the end of the Journey Work…
Five years in the making, fuelled by the desire to express their deep love for music of all varieties, Journey Work is symbolic of the long road it takes to accept oneself and be comfortable expressing one’s truth. Diverse, dynamic and daring with a rawness and honesty that is rare to find, the album marks a triumphant debut for Bottler and one that crystalises their unique identity.
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Pink Clear Vinyl
Nottingham based artist Cyclonix launch new journey Little Red Hand and kicks off its schedule with heavy 3 track "Metal Bass" EP from him. Label aim is to champion the sounds of modern electronic fusion music on the broken beat and future jazz spectrum taking in hints of house, techno and breakbeat culture. Music that will stand the test of time - like the handprint in the logo - one of the oldest forms of human expression. POWERED BY ART-AUD
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"Every 4,044 years comet Calanhi enters the inner solar system, returning from its long and silent voyage through the Oort cloud. As it approaches perihelion, billions on Earth gaze into the night sky, transfixed by the celestial spectacle of their lifetime. While solar winds tear at the comet's surface, deep inside the glowing ball of ice, ancient machinery springs to life..." Over the past five years Daniel Lodig and Martin Sovinz aka /DL/MS/ have been continually commuting through the electro singularity, constructing their unique brand of fragile bass music from extradimensional sound salvage, and spreading their frequency patterns via the subspace channels of Frustrated Funk, Pomelo, and TRUST. 'Calanhi' is the Viennese duo's debut album - 12 tracks that combine the eternally fresh aesthetics of Detroit-style electro with a relentless curiosity for rhythmic and harmonic experimentation. Seismic club thumpers like 'Invisible Bits', 'Mountains', and 'Trusted Funk' alternate with moody ambient interludes, boldly constructed beat inventions, and blissfully melodic acid breaks. Two collaborations further switch up the flow: Nigerian artist G.Rizo (Hezekina Pollutina, Deejay Gigolo) drops her cryptic rhymes on 'Divide & Conquer', and Spanish singer Xx Isis xX provides vocals for 'Accelerated Frequency'. Mastered by Keith Tenniswood aka Radiocative Man. Sleeves designed by dextro_org. Vinyl version ships with postcard and Bandcamp download code.
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Storming into 2022 with a flurry of high-octane remixed from a stellar array of artists, Anfisa Letyago continues to solidify her position as one of techno's most talked about names. An intrepid selector with a positive attitude regarding all things art and dancefloor related, she's been making seismic waves within the industry for a few years. Letyago launched her own imprint - N:S:DA last year, originally a celebration of her own dark-brooding style of techno, the label has entered a metamorphosis of sorts, welcoming in a host of established producers to remix the labels first two remix EP's.
Kompakt head-honcho and German techno extraordinaire Michael Mayer opens up the floodgates of this remix project with an alluring interpretation of "Nisida". Decades of industry experience have finely tuned Mayer's taste making to an impeccable standard, his extensive knowledge of dancefloors and deep cuts serves as an excellent explanation for his undeniable ability in the studio. Ethereal vocal snapshots from the original mix are weaved intricately amongst the machine-orchestra of arpeggiated synths and stalwart drum loops. "My aim for this remix was to crystallize this yearning sentiment in Anfisa's whispers by adding more warmth and drama to the track" adds Michael.
The Italian-born, multi-faceted DJ Tennis steps into the arena with his unique take on the original mix of "Nisida". Elegant pads flourish through the mix, carrying listeners weightlessly into warping basslines and razor-sharp drum work. The droning synths seem to induce hypnosis, circling and swaying around the driving kick and scattered hi-hats. A production powerhouse since the early nineties, DJ Tennis continues to juggle event promotion, running a label and booking agency. A hugely talented all-rounder.
1979 draws the EP to a close with a swirling techno edit of "Orizzonte", tastefully minimal and precisely crafted with compelling sound design from the analog synth wizard. Classically trained with a deep penchant for attending illegal raves in his youth, 1979 has been making waves with a flurry of breakout hits in recent years. The arrangement climbs through cycles of high-pitched tones and rolling mid-range bass, taking listeners on a sonic journey steeped in warmth with classic drum machine hits. "'Orizzonte' caught me in many ways, and I decided to use the beautiful space-arpeggios and the shoegaze pads made by Anfisa to create my own version of the track" he adds. The perfect track for highway driving and rocking dancefloors.
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After high rotation online, Ghent's finest dub crew finally bring 'Furious' to wax, with an exclusive dub version by Kosmo Sound's drummer Marius Couvreur on the flipside. One for the bassheads!
The instrumental sextet mix heavy bass lines and tight drums with spacy melodies into an organic trip that sets every venue on fire. They have already performed twice as the support act for dub legend Adrian Sherwood and became winners of Sound Track in 2019.
“It's a slow motion dub explosion.” - Woodburner
“As a mixture of Slimmah Sound, El Michels Afffair and Khruangbin in which deep dub basses flirt with thin desert blues guitars, jazzy drum patterns and tufts of saxophone.” - Indiestyle
“The canvas that these six musicians span as Kosmo Sound has a musical breadth that effortlessly ranges from dub over jazz to psych.” - daMusic
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Bolle di Dolore (Bubbles of Pain) is a journey through the emotions and feelings that affect us closely, which are related to what is happening around us today.
The suffering of men, women and children in the world who - looking for a better life - flee everyday from hopeless situations cannot leave us indifferent: the title track Bolle di Dolore is the perfect match with our sound and voice, which we wish could reach everyone's heart. In Flauto Magico (Magic Flute), through a strident sound resembling a lament, we are perfectly connected to such human tragedy, almost with a distant scream and tribal tones that give hope for a positive outcome.
Ricordi is the track related to all the experiences that end up in chaos and that do not lead to anything good.
These latter must teach us to walk away without making too much noise, while always bringing respect for those around you.
Closing the EP, the acid sounds of Swedish-South African boyband Off the Meds rework Bolle di Dolore together with their distinctive guttural vocals, in an evocative pidgin-like stream of consciousness interweaving with our narration.
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HIGHLIGHTS: 1965 samba jazz gem recorded by Humberto Clayber, Hermeto Pascoal and Airto Moreira in the early days of their careers. Includes the killer 'Joao Sem Braço' featuring Hermeto's howling flute and Airto's overwhelming percussion work. This is the only album ever released by this Brazilian all-star group and has remained unavailable for decades. First time vinyl reissue. More: 1965 samba jazz gem recorded by Airto Moreira on drums, Humberto Clayber on double bass and Hermeto Pascoal on piano in the early days of their careers. As the original notes state it, the recording session of the album was such a stunning experience for those involved in the studio work: "After going through 'Aleluia' and 'Samba Novo', as a prelude to a sound cataclysm that was transmitted in the tense atmosphere of the studio, they gave us a composition by José Neto Costa (Hermeto's brother), which left everyone amazed. The arrangement created for 'Duas Contas', soft, whispery, subtle, broke the local tension as if on impact. But behold, when they no longer seemed to see the possibility of new surprises, they then performed 'Nem O Mar Sabia' and 'Arrastao', the first revealing totally unknown concepts regarding the trinomial piano-bass-drums.
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Martin Matiske's superb new six-track EP Circle Of Enlightenment on LDI Records is based around the concept of one-mindedness and togetherness. This German artist was fascinated with mixing records as early as his 10th birthday and had his first release on the legendary International Deejay Gigolo Records aged just 15. In the 20 years since he has released a selection of records on labels like Moustache Records and Bordello A Parigi. His timeless sound comes with a vintage touch and always fuses electro, italo and techno in fresh new ways. This new EP aims to describe the direct connection between human beings and the universe. Martin says: "Human beings are aliens always looking for answers to questions like why are we here and what life is about? We know the answer but won't accept it. We are made up of the elements of space and are directly connected to the universe. Each person contains the energy of the universe and is connected with everything that surrounds it. We are one! We are here because we are here! Our mission is to be!" The EP opens with 'Memory', and Martin explains that "Remembering is the ability to do things right but most of the time it causes pain." The track is a slick and icy electro workout with gorgeous retro-future pads bringing a cosmic sense of soul while the corrugated bass keeps busy below. 'Breakout' describes breaking out of normal thought and reaching a state of "no-mind." It is a playful and dynamic electro cut with characterful bass and synth stabs like shooting stars as shimmering arps ride up and down the scale. 'Lost In Space' deals with the idea that human beings on earth are just as lost in space as aliens. It's an interplanetary electro trip with glistening synths shining bright next to more twisted, tortured bass. 'Microbot' is about miniature robots that make our lives easier and ride on a punchy bassline, with neck-snapping snares and pads that circle around like spacecraft during battle. It is another lush electro workout that leads into 'Stars' and pays homage to the importance of these twinkling rays of light. It's a widescreen track with withering leads, cyborg vocals, and a real sense of hope as the snappy drums march into an unknown future. Last of all, 'Solaris' pays tribute to the life-giving force of the sun with another super crisp electro groove, slithering arps and conversational pads that make both a physical and emotional impact. Circle Of Enlightenment is a brilliantly adventurous and storytelling new EP from the ever-excellent Martin Matiske.
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The latest storming 45 from Mukatsuku is a vocal version fronted by Tyra Hammond & is classic textbook explosive femme funk with brass stabs galore and twangy southern styled guitar.On the flipside an exclusive never heard before instrumental unleashes b boy drums and enough melody to carry on its own merit compacted into a loud cut funky dinked 45.
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1900 to 1930: The Dawn of Dementia; The Oldest Novelty Records of All
Time from Dr Demento.The world famous Dr
Demento's influence on pop culture is undeniable and to commemorate his 50th
anniversary, we celebrate the earliest days of novelty and comedy records.
He is a world- renowned record collector and music historian, whose lifelong
passion for music of all kinds (from Frank Zappa to punk rock and everything in
between) is reflected in his radio show and most importantly, in this unique
collection of rare songs from the early days of records.
The Epitaph debut from pop punk upstarts, MAGNOLIA PARK
Contrary to what some may say, pop punk is alive and well in 2021, and groups
like MAGNOLIA PARK are making sure it stays that way. Hailing from Orlando,
Florida, MAGNOLIA PARK is a five- piece consisting of lead vocalist Joshua
Roberts, guitarists Tristan Torres and Freddie Criales, bassist Jared Kay, and
drummer Joe Horsham.In recent years, experimental sounds and more personal
lyrics have dominated the pop punk scene. While staying true to the genre's roots,
the members of MAGNOLIA PARK bring their own twist to the table with louder,
angrier vocals and a fusion of genres ranging from hip-hop and emo to hardcore
and alt rock.
Architect by day and musician by night, Jaime Tellado picks up as Skygaze, and returns to the fold of Flumo Recordings with his brand new 12”, the ‘Astral Trip’ EP; combining his knowledge of architecture with a love for sound to construct and merge acid house, broken beat and atmospheric melodicism.
The 'Astral Trip' EP follows releases on Guayaba records, Riverette and Thirty Three Circular. And remixes for Ed is Dead and Contours & Yadava, earning support/plaudits from the likes of Mr. Scruff, Simbad, k15, Andrew Jervis, Gilles Peterson, amongst others.
The common denominator throughout the release is the balance and combination of various elements, exploring a multifaceted contemporary dance sound whilst paying homage to the foundations of the sounds that we listen to today.
‘Minor Mood’ pays tribute to Chicago and Detroit with its high paced house rhythm, acid synths, and piano lines, whilst ‘City Cathedratics’ slows the tempo down to lay the groundwork for a dreamy synth-laden soundscape.
Whilst the majority of the project is a solo exploration in dance music and its multi-layered context and history, the contributions of vocalist Ruben Ondina lift the high-paced, synth house grooves of ‘Gimme Five’ to another level. Meanwhile, the broken beat influence of London is keenly felt on ‘Nigh Heat’ and ‘Wagwan’, their rhythms emphasised further by harmonic and melodic exploration via atmospheric synths, melodic improvisation and irresistible synth bass lines.
Skygaze reconstructs the rhythms and synths into his own fresh and unique package to paint a picture of spiritual wonder, richness and excitement.
DJ Support:
Severino / Horse Meat Disco
Ashley Beedle
Fouk
Just Her
John Digweed
Oliver Dollar
DJ Feedback:
Ashley Beedle - Fantastic EP and difficult to pick one track! 'Wagwan' will be ft. on my April 'Heavy Disco Spectacular' radio show on Worldwide FM.
Michel De Hey - Very nice release
Diynamic / Connaisseur - Very nice cosmic vibes!
Xinobi - serious knowledge of groove on this release.
Lex Ludlow - Super nice!!!
Joshua James - Groove on this...
Just Her - Gimme five is really nice
Fouk - Loving this!
Tom Simpson - some good stuff ....summer is coming.
Junior Simba - peng !
Willie Rosado - nice soulful sound
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This acoustic body experiment will intoxicate your ears and veins. “Ectomorphin” by Chris Baumann is a straight confession for athletic acid underground – as the artist himself describes his style: “The border between timeless old school quality and new school upfront innovation in today’s techno music – just call it raw, hypnotic techno.” And this new release on Snork Enterprises presents a full load of proof for this bold hypothesis.
Ironically referring to some curious scientific concepts such as “Ectomorphin”, “Brainwave limiter”, “Neurotraxin”, and “Bioport” one may ask himself how the artist may well hypnotize our body and brain. Listening to the four forward moving techno tracks, you will soon know the answer. Just turn up the volume and get your body cells moving.
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Less than a year after the well-received release of “Quicksand”, Stand High Records presents “Midnight Rock”. A new fundamentally Roots 7” single, the result of a second collaboration between Joe Yorke, Eeyun Purkins and Stand High Patrol.
This brand new single was mixed the old school way at the Kerwax studio. In a true traditional roots reggae manner, the A side offers Joe Yorke’s vocal version while Pupajim’s “Deejay Style” reply sits on the flip. These two tunes address social divisions in our modern society, which is in contrast with the unity felt and temporarily expressed within the dancehalls. Grooving all together to the rhythm, fuelled and constrained by our individual social condition, as soon as the music ends we remain alone.
On the two sides, the words “Midnight Rock” resonate on a riddim built for soundsystem sessions. “Midnight Rock”, an invitation for all skankers to enjoy the moment and make it last after the lights come on, a call to fight together against what divides us. “Midnight Rock”, time to join the dance. “Midnight Rock”, time to engage in combat.
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Milanese producer Nelson of the East sets out on a deeper exploration of percussive house/techno on Sub Erotic, the first release on Tartelet Record’s new dance floor-focused sub-label DANCEMPORIUM – out May 6th.
Following his 2021 album release of Kybele, Nelson of the East (Nicolas Meyer) is embarking on a new area of sonic exploration rooted in club music motifs. His forthcoming EP, Sub Erotic, builds on his accomplished artistic imprint, balancing the urgent pulse of dance music with the rhythmic sensibilities of non-Western cultures. “After the release of Kybele, it took me a while to figure out what would be a good sequel, and I found myself deconstructing tracks from the album,” says Nelson. “I came to the conclusion that the most important thing on the new EP would be the relationship between the different elements, while trying to use fewer layers.” While the lilt and sway of organic musicality remains at the heart of his sound, the Berlin-based producer applies these qualities in a variety of ways. On “Ellipsis”, for example, live percussive patterns were recorded and recreated using synthesis, which Nelson found to be more effective than the acoustic originals. The result is three tracks that pivot around danceable structures while moving well outside the established norms of house and techno. From the pinging textures and staggered beat impulses of “Ellipsis” to the Go Go-flavored funk of “Sub Erotic” and the trance-inducing acid incantation of “Memoria”; Nelson’s distinctive inspirations spill out of his music in intriguing formations.
Danish mainstay Kasper Marott rounds out the EP, applying a seductive pulse to push “Ellipsis” towards a psychoactive peak. The perfect brooding partner to the original, while reinforcing Nelson’s vision of an electronically minded album. Sub Erotic marks the first release on DANCEMPORIUM, Tartelet Records’ new home for dance floor-oriented music. Having grown to become a broad church of musical modes and expressions, the label is now breaking out into more focused sonic spheres. With his use of rich timbres and adventurous spirit, Nelson of the East is the perfect inaugural candidate.
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Benoit B aka Terra Utopia breaks out into another auspicious alias for Step Ball Chain, Blu:sh - metamorphosed; coming in hot and heavy, sexy and sophisticated. Bass down, *ss up! The ambitious 6 tracker “Lovebite” fuses forms of dance; reworking elements from niche corners of the Step stratosphere that can result in freaky combustion. Breathing life and lust into every phrase, we are fortunate to be offered an intimate glimpse into a complex world of sound, filled with bold and brash inspired statements, rhythmically rolling the dice with snap lock precision. The cherry on top is served via a vocal collusion from fellow associate noff, the web expanding as the label delves deeper into futuristic tech territory, the prolific producer pushing their own boundaries and desires for new meticulous audio spectrum and ethereal realms.
The trio of flirtatious tracks laid bare on the A side read as a love letter to 4/4 naughty nocturnal testimonies. Opening auspiciously; Tighten Up dips into nasty grit, a sub centered excursion into the technological domain, sleazy and stripped back with modest tenacity. Candy Land sugarcoats the status quo of pumped up prog, playfully in the driver's seat and revving 100 miles per hour toward Hush highway; narrated by Greek cyber enigma noff.. An atmospheric deep trance kissed club chant. Opposites attract and find points of connection on the flip of Lovebite, the B side boasting a mutually slick sharpness permeating the record; blending sparse bass focused broken beat expeditions with liquid dnb; genially abstract mood boards of sampling mayhem; cut and spliced in addictive fashion. Flushes of gorgeous esoteric harmonic soundscapes fill out the rhythmical chaos, grounding and expanding the mind through a lush & plush tint woven in Recess and Heaven Spot alike.
A perfect prophecy destined for Step Ball Chain, Blu:sh’s first, yet expertly curated EP sets the bar high as hell. Divine dance music that can’t help but push boundaries; confronting and challenging our archival references and perceptions of genres and classifications, arguably the best kind of auditory statement.
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Originally released in 2008 following the birth of his daughter, Show You The World takes Living Legends MC, The Grouch, on a new path of growth and maturation as he navigates his new world of fatherhood and the new perspectives it brings. With topics ranging from his experience as a new father, partner, and son to drug addiction in the family, as well as his own personal struggles and triumphs, The Grouch succeeds in showing us his world. At 16 tracks, the album features appearances from Murs, Bicasso, Scarub, Mike Marshall, Raphael Saadiq, Abstract Rude, Marty James, & One Block Radius, and is best known for the hit singles, "Artsy," "The Bay To LA," &"Breath."
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One part War, two parts Santana, and a dash of Motown, immersed in a rich Puerto Rican stock, Los Nombres were the undisputed kings of Northern Ohio’s Rust Belt barrios. Following successive explosions of brown-eyed and Latin soul in Los Angeles and New York during the mid and late ’60s, Willie Marquez led a rotating cast of Latino teens through numerous underfunded recording sessions for the Day-Wood, Beth, and Lorain Sounds imprints. “Trivialities” was initially recorded in 1972 for release on Beth label and was again re taken in 1977 for the Lorain Sound imprint. Both releases are today as rare as Caribbean pirate’s doubloons and were backed on the flipside by the incredibly groovy barrio banger “Todos”. Here we present the 1977 version of Trivialities and the only existing take of Todos, finally at an affordable price.
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"Off-kilter melodies, dense instrumentation and lyrical explorations of the darkest side of the human condition" -- The Guardian
With B FLAT A this much acclaimed quartet from Gdansk, Poland have
produced their most epic and visceral statement to date.
A universe where echoes of Can, Syd Barrett and Fugazi lovingly collide. Cryptic and possessing of a great moral force, Trupa Trupa is a band for these times, whether we are ready for them or not.
The frst single "Twitch" is already out and is receiving strong airplay from BBC6 Music. Clash magazine wrote "Polish art-rock group Trupa Trupa return with the storming 'Twitch.' The band's imposing physicality is matched to some truly ground-breaking artistry - imagine a kind of Eastern European answer to Swans and you'd be close. With their intense live shows and crunching studio output,
Trupa Trupa have built an imposing catalogue, one with an international reach."
UK GIGS
19.02.2022 – UK – London – Lexington
21.02.2022 – UK – Brighton – Green Door Store
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Muddy Monk was revealed alongside Parisian artists Myth Syzer, Ichon and Bonnie Banane on 'Le Code'. From his native Switzerland, he imposes a fine, synthetic universe that plays a major role in the renewal of French-language song. The journey began in 2018 with 'Longue Ride', a cathartic first album that he describes as 'a kind of therapy' and that was unanimously acclaimed by the critics. In 2020, he returns with 'Ultra Tape', a mixtape which, with the benefit of hindsight, is the first step towards his second album. We discover a more raw universe. Darker too. A superb launching pad for his second album.
With Ultra Dramatic Kid, Muddy Monk delivers a radical new piece, a bubble of just over thirty minutes in which he manages to work his magic and make us dance on the edge of his emotions. As if everything could change in an instant towards happiness or chaos. An electric album and a sublime dive into his universe, which draws equally from Daft Punk, Rage Against The Machine and Travis Scott. A project that takes the form of a global experience, both auditory and visual, since almost all the tracks on the tracklisting have been put into images by Felix de Givry, the whole forming a short film to be discovered with the release of the project. In the end, Ultra Dramatic Kid is an uncompromising album in which it is a pleasure to get lost. An album that further establishes the Swiss artist as one of the artists capable of redefining the contours of French-speaking music for many years to come.
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Limited Edition hand numbered 12” – 1000 Copies: 40th Anniversary 12” release of much sampled “Baby Don't You Know” by fusion flautist, former Blue Note jazz artist Bobbi Humphrey, produced by Roy Ayers.re-created on original Uno Melodic art. Bobbi is from Texas who came to Uno Melodic after highly acclaimed music for Blue Note (including ”Harlem River Drive”) and Epic (“The Good Life”). She also recorded for Duke Ellington and Stevie Wonder. Out of the two versions of this record, the instrumental has gained particular notoriety over the years. Both the original 7” and 12” are extremely rare, the music production from Bobbi, Roy Ayers and his team in their element.
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»Tides« marked a radical change in direction for Arovane. After Uwe Zahn had made a name for himself with cutting-edge IDM rhythms and slick ambient textures on a slew of releases, his sophomore album saw the prolific producer opt for a sample-based approach that resulted in a more organic sound and laid-back downbeat grooves. Having reissued Arovane’s seminal »Atol-Scrap« as a double LP in 2021, the Berlin-based Keplar label now makes »Tides« available on vinyl for the first time since its original release in 2000 through the legendary City Centre Offices. The new version has been remastered by Kassian Troyer at Dubplates & Mastering and comes with a brand new cover artwork. It shines a new light on a release for which Zahn quite literally ventured into previously unknown territory — »Tides« is an album that emits a timeless, quiet calm and nonetheless stays constantly in motion.
»The idea for the album came to me after a vacation in France«, says Zahn. Inspired by the landscape, especially the coastline and the sea, he made field recordings throughout his trip that were also used on the record, giving it its sensual feel. The foundation of the album however, the loose yet gripping grooves at the heart of every track, result from Zahn working extensively with samples. »I wanted to make use of drum sounds and small excerpts from old jazz vinyl records«, he explains. He maintained the unique sound signatures and rhythmic flutter of the source material while building intricate beats with them. Most of the material was culled from the record collection of Christian Kleine, whose spontaneous guitar improvisations over the first musical sketches were recorded and edited by Zahn and can be heard on four tracks. Also employing the occasional cembalo or spinet sound, he worked with a hardware sequencer and a delay to integrate the different, discrete elements into nine tracks that feel both dense and light at once.
What’s astonishing still 22 years later is how spacious »Tides« sounds. This is due to the fact that Zahn not only paid close attention to the sonic idiosyncrasies of his source material, but also to what happened in between those sounds. »Mark Hollis’s solo album was a huge inspiration at that time«, says Zahn. »What I find fascinating about it until this day is how silence and the subtle hiss of the mixing boards were being used on that record.« Silence was also an important stylistic element on »Tides« and adds greatly to the overall atmosphere of an album that with the appropriately named »Theme« immediately sets the mood with intricate spinet melodies: Zahn opens a door for his listeners and invites them to follow him to see a specific part of the world through his very own lens.
As a whole, the album mirrors Zahn’s trip that took him along the steep cliffs on a foggy day (»Seaside«), to an abandoned house in which he found old maps (»A Secret«), along the coastline during a long car ride (»Deauville«), to a sleepy village and the slowly moving sea (»Tides«) and finally back home to his native Germany where he started reflecting upon his experiences, ultimately deciding to translate them into music (»Epilogue«). »Whenever I listen to this album now, the images and memories it evokes are incredibly vivid and vibrant«, he says. It’s not hard to see — or rather hear — why. »Tides« may have been a deeply personal project, but it effortlessly evokes universal feelings by (re-)building an entire world in the course of only a few pieces of music.
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After a series of self-released vinyl singles, PM Warson emerged in 2021 with the album "True Story", combing elements of vintage R'n'B and Soul with an authenticity and energy that appealed fans and critics alike. Breakout single "(Don't) Hold Me Down" had surfaced initially among soul collectors, before finding a wider audience, first on a Fred Perry editorial, and then on mainstream European radio. Having tipped the album on his Funk & Soul Show, the BBC's Craig Charles also included the single on his popular "Trunk of Funk" compilation series. Not one to wait around, despite the various challenges of the pandemic, Warson returns, just over a year on, with his second offering: "Dig Deep Repeat".
While his debut record waited in line at the pressing plant, he began trying out ideas at a makeshift studio in an industrial storage space in Stoke Newington. As lockdown was lifted enough to bring in his rhythm section, a new set of tunes started to emerge. Despite a growing thirst following his first release, there was little opportunity to play live, with social and travel restrictions remaining in place on-and-off throughout the year. It became clear that his best way through was to make another LP. He expanded the operation, bringing in players, working to an 8-track recorder to forge a new record. Subsequent sessions at Gizzard Recording also produced a direct-to-tape session for Blues Kitchen.
On "Dig Deep Repeat" he further explores his vocabulary, with elements of 60s rock and soul, shades of New Wave, and some cosmic colors beneath the moody blues. It's a direct and focused LP, presenting an artist on the move, two albums deep, with time to make up for.
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Toma Kami returns to Livity Sound for a third EP of provocative, experimental club gear. At the helm of his own Man Band label the French producer continues to explore a hybridised style which favours fractured beats, playful samples and occasional psychedelic flourishes.
Compared to the busier sound of previous releases, minimalism informs Toma’s approach on LIVITY053 as he sits his crunchy drums and weighty low-end in a tangibly spacious mix on ‘Amapicante’. Even within a stripped-down context, his unique approach shines through as ‘Later To The Bone’ progressively ramps up in scratched and scuffed sonic interference and ‘Mzecal’ trips over its own fragmented found-sound drum formations.
Livity Sound is a label set up by Peverelist in 2011 as a vehicle for a raw and exploratory strain of UK techno, rooted in the heritage of UK dance music and sound system culture. It has since become one of the UK's foremost protagonists for cutting edge underground electronic music.
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