Power Ballads and The Wash is the sophomore album from London-based multi instrumentalist James Howard, due for release on 6th November 2026 via boutique
label Faith & Industry. James is known as founder of critically acclaimed 2010’s band Blue House and collaborator with luminaries such as Rozi Plain, Dana Gavanski, Kate Bollinger and Alabaster Deplume.
For Power Ballads and The Wash James has worked with producer Mike Lindsay, co-founder of folktronica group Tunng. Power Ballads and The Wash follows James's debut solo album Peek-A-Boo, released to great acclaim in April 2023.
All eight songs of Power Ballads and The Wash began life as intimate live takes of
guitar or piano and voice, recorded at Howard’s studio in Deptford, south London.
Steeped in the energy of the local environment, each session was preceded by a visit to the Thames to ask for its muddy blessing, with the DLR rumbling by. The sessions at Lindsay’s Margate studio built a widescreen world around Howard’s original performances, from the restless Eventide vocal treatments on Seven Seconds to the Hollywood string samples of The Moon In The Movies and the Moog bass that quietly anchors the record throughout. Howard also praises violinist Magdalena MacClean's (Caroline) contributions.
Beneath this gentle absurdity, though, lies something quietly powerful. Howard’s
song-writing explores the notion that, despite our ever-shortening attention spans,
there is still the possibility of quiet reflection and the discovery therein of revelations hidden in plain sight. The world of these lucid dream-esque reveries is unmistakably London. The record began with a wing-and-a-prayer visit to the Thames, and ends there too: the wash from the Thames Clipper / nearly breaks through your shoe / like some feelings sometimes do.
21 Bum Salute is the fifth album from Sydney experimental psych-noise-pop duo Party Dozen. The work of Kirsty Tickle (saxophone, vocals) and Jonathan Boulet (drums, loops, production), 21 Bum Salute finds the critically-acclaimed, semi-improvised duo feeling liberated - from their peers, their worries, and what the nell they're supposed to sound like now.
Emerging in 2017 from the warehouses of the Sydney experimental noise-rock scene, Party Dozen arrive at the release of their fifth album, 21 Bum Salute, in peak form. Over the course of four, increasingly perverse albums of psych-tinged rock peppered with pop noise and bursts of doom in equal measure, they've transformed from gleeful noise-makers producing DIY albums from a tiny room in Marrickville, NSW, to globe-hopping, critically-adored favourites - producing DIY albums from a tiny room in Marrickville.
As well as tours with Amyl and the Sniffers, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Tropical F*ckstorm, Algiers and more, Party Dozen had Nick Cave appear on 2022 single Macca The Mutt', collabed with New York rapper billy woods, performed an incendiary live set on KEXP, signed international deals, firstly with Temporary Residence LTD (Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky,
Along the way Party Dozen self-released their first two albums, The Living Man (2017) and Pray For Party Dozen (2020), struck a chord internationally with album The Real Work (2022), which sent them on tours of Europe, North America, Japan, China and New Zealand, while fourth LP, Crime in Australia (2024), an ode to Aussie noir that leaned beyond rock into moodier moments, repeated it.
Party Dozen recorded, mixed and mastered 21 Bum Salute completely themselves, over a three month span. Inspired by spooky "old recordings" as well as the primal impulses of acts like ESG and Bikini Kill, 21 Bum Salute - named after a peculiar, larrikin ritual in Australia's arid Northern Territory - condenses consecutive years of jam sessions, loops and improvisations into just over half an hour's worth of fizzing, strutting, striking sonics from the fringes.
21 Bum Salute is the fifth album from Sydney experimental psych-noise-pop duo Party Dozen. The work of Kirsty Tickle (saxophone, vocals) and Jonathan Boulet (drums, loops, production), 21 Bum Salute finds the critically-acclaimed, semi-improvised duo feeling liberated - from their peers, their worries, and what the nell they're supposed to sound like now.
Emerging in 2017 from the warehouses of the Sydney experimental noise-rock scene, Party Dozen arrive at the release of their fifth album, 21 Bum Salute, in peak form. Over the course of four, increasingly perverse albums of psych-tinged rock peppered with pop noise and bursts of doom in equal measure, they've transformed from gleeful noise-makers producing DIY albums from a tiny room in Marrickville, NSW, to globe-hopping, critically-adored favourites - producing DIY albums from a tiny room in Marrickville.
As well as tours with Amyl and the Sniffers, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Tropical F*ckstorm, Algiers and more, Party Dozen had Nick Cave appear on 2022 single Macca The Mutt', collabed with New York rapper billy woods, performed an incendiary live set on KEXP, signed international deals, firstly with Temporary Residence LTD (Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky,
Along the way Party Dozen self-released their first two albums, The Living Man (2017) and Pray For Party Dozen (2020), struck a chord internationally with album The Real Work (2022), which sent them on tours of Europe, North America, Japan, China and New Zealand, while fourth LP, Crime in Australia (2024), an ode to Aussie noir that leaned beyond rock into moodier moments, repeated it.
Party Dozen recorded, mixed and mastered 21 Bum Salute completely themselves, over a three month span. Inspired by spooky "old recordings" as well as the primal impulses of acts like ESG and Bikini Kill, 21 Bum Salute - named after a peculiar, larrikin ritual in Australia's arid Northern Territory - condenses consecutive years of jam sessions, loops and improvisations into just over half an hour's worth of fizzing, strutting, striking sonics from the fringes.
Nashville’s Jess Kerber focuses on the profound resonances of simple moments, pairing delicate acoustic guitar lines with her rich and captivating tenor. The World Is Dark, but I Want It to Be Funny, her second LP for Felte, is a deeply affecting collection of homespun poetry and natural artistry that finds the artists reflecting on personal history, the emotional intricacies of relationships, and the value of cosmic perspective. She explains,“These songs come from a space of feeling a little left behind, so a lot of the album is about realizing and accepting impermanence, and learning how to be good to yourself and to others.”
Opening with “Familiar Strangers”, Kerber gets to the heart of her greatest talents: fluid fingerpicking, emotive vocal cadences, feather-light touches of piano, and subtle harmonies. “Louisiana Song” positions a lyrical chain of childhood recollections up against the literal rising waters that will one day submerge a cherished place: “I think about being southern / and the sand on the gulf coast / When I think about returning / I am wading in a graveyard”.
Throughout The World Is Dark, Kerber navigates an emotional tightrope, fully aware of the ills of the world while trying to find connections and peaceful corners. Even with all their nuances and challenges, she suggests, our relationships are essential to staying grounded, even when we lose them. “Much of my writing is about facing the struggles head-on, balancing what you need to do to survive while remaining true to yourself,” she says. There are echoes of influences like Joni Mitchell, Gillian Welch, and Lomelda, though Kerber injects her own unique wit, wonder, and humility into every passage, allowing the listener into her head for a spell while quietly taking up residence in theirs.
The music on ‘Remanens’ is the result of a commission by Art Cinema OFF off and B.A.A.D.M to score the short silent film ‘Positano’ made by french actor and filmmaker Pierre Clémenti in 1969. The film itself is an ever-shifting series of glimpses, without much context, of a family vacation to the island Positano. The short cuts are similar to a dream or obscured, residual memories where chronology has fallen apart.
The score was reworked into album format on ‘Remanens’, the title being the Swedish word for remanence. The word has several meanings, most commonly residual magnetism left behind in a material. It is consequently used when referring to residue on magnetic tape, as well as data remanence, which is the residual digital data that remains even after attempts have been made to erase a hard drive. The music was reworked with remnant traces of memory in mind, of the film, but also of how glimpses of memories from another life, when the future was undecided, can make a person feel – and how it can unveil one’s own traces of what the future felt like.
Linus Hillborg (b. 1989) is a Swedish composer, musician and multidisciplinary artist based in Stockholm. His diverse creative practice spans experimental music across both electronic and acoustic realms, as well as compositions for film, theatre, and interactive installations. In 2021 he released his acclaimed solo-debut 'Magelungsverket' through Moloton, derived from the installation 'Orphan Works' which he built with an obsolete computer game engine. In 2023 he released 'Four Works' through Kali Malone and Maria W Horn’s label XKatedral, which featured a series of instrumental works by himself and Theodor Kentros.
Wewantsounds is proud to present the first official release of a legendary 1977 concert capturing Don Cherry, Collin Walcott, and Leon Thomas in their only documented performance together. Recorded live on March 5, 1977, at Pease Auditorium in Ypsilanti, Michigan, the performance featured the three musicians playing an immersive hypnotic set, joined for part of the evening by the rest of Oregon. Long circulating among a few Don Cherry fans, the full concert is now available as a deluxe, remastered 2-LP gatefold set featuring Moki Cherry artwork and new liner notes by Jason Weiss—licensed by the Don Cherry Estate and producer James Quinlan.
Don Cherry’s huge influence has steadily grown over the years, as fans and new generations of listeners continue to uncover the vast breadth of his global musical vision. Sunrise captures Cherry during a particularly fertile late-1970s period, when the American jazz trumpeter blended global and Eastern spiritual concepts into his "Organic Music" philosophy, drawing deeply from Eastern and African traditions. Moving fluidly between trumpet, the West African doussn'gouni (a traditional hunter's harp from Mali), bamboo flutes, percussion, and vocals, Cherry creates a deeply resonant world music soundscape.
Recorded live on March 5, 1977, at Pease Auditorium in Ypsilanti, Michigan, the show took place just a month after Don Cherry participated in the recording of Collin Walcott's ECM album Grazing Dreams. With Walcott playing alongside Cherry and vocalist Leon Thomas, bringing his unmistakable yodel-style vocal approach—and joined for part of the night by the rest of Oregon (Ralph Towner, Paul McCandless and Glen Moore)—the performance stands as a stunning, hypnotic forerunner to the formation of CODONA. The newly remastered audio is so vivid and intimate that it feels as though you are sitting directly in the room with the musicians.
The release also serves as a vibrant homage to Don and Moki Cherry’s creative partnership, featuring a reproduction of Moki’s striking 1975 Mandala tapestry on the front cover.
The concert was produced by James Quinlan, a central pillar of the U.S. Jazz and World Music scene who worked as a sound engineer for Carla Bley, booked Fela Kuti’s major U.S. tour in the 1980s, and went on to direct the Creative Music Studio and found Miami’s Rhythm Foundation. In the album's liner notes, Quinlan reflects in conversation with writer Jason Weiss on the surprise magic of that night:
"Don brought Leon Thomas with him... as a guest, unannounced. It was not part of the advertisement or contract... I don't know of any other time that they recorded or performed together. So, that was completely unique... The audience had no idea what was coming... It was a sound that was just mesmerizing, almost like a mantra."
Licensed by the Don Cherry Estate and James Quinlan, Sunrise is available as a deluxe 2-LP gatefold set featuring new liner notes by Jason Weiss—an essential document in the rich, ever-evolving Don Cherry musical journey.
Kings of Leon return with 10th album, ‘O My Beloved’.
For this release, the four-time Grammy-winning family band draws from their own history and builds on their storied legacy to deliver their most personal effort to date.
Frontman Caleb Followill describes this—their first self-produced studio album—as “emotional" and a “love letter to family” that explores themes of "gratitude and appreciation."
Available on 2LP and CD, featuring packaging adorned with vintage family photos.
Kings of Leon return with 10th album, ‘O My Beloved’.
For this release, the four-time Grammy-winning family band draws from their own history and builds on their storied legacy to deliver their most personal effort to date.
Frontman Caleb Followill describes this—their first self-produced studio album—as “emotional" and a “love letter to family” that explores themes of "gratitude and appreciation."
Available on 2LP and CD, featuring packaging adorned with vintage family photos.
Devotional and visceral, patient and euphoric, a poem, a hymnal. Shygirl calls Swallow! a reintroduction. Her 2022 debut Nymph announced an artist fluent in sonic languages: slippery club structures, toothy pop hooks, juicy production—music that invites you to come closer, pay attention, keep up. That magnetism took her from the electronic underground to the foreground of contemporary pop. She’s collaborated with producers Sega Bodega and Mura Masa, Charli xcx, Arca, SOPHIE, fka twigs, and Björk, and performed on stages across the globe. Swallow! is a new kind of rapturous indie songwriting, woven through the electronica she came from, recorded with Karma Kid and Casey MQ. It is the scripture of the cult of falling in love—radiant, clear-eyed, all-encompassing, divine transformation. “I want people to remember how big the world is even when you feel so small and singular,” she says. “Swallow! is the soundtrack to that experience. “This record is my message in a bottle. Let’s see who picks it up.”
alex albrecht returns to mule musiq with his second release for the label, following his 2022 ep “a clearing.” while “a clearing” explored a more delicate and slow-moving side of his sound, this new four-track ep finds albrecht moving deeper into the rhythm. warm, organic textures, subtle melodies and hypnotic grooves come together to create a sound that feels both deeply electronic and strangely natural.
“in service” opens the record with a driving, spacious groove, gradually revealing layers of melodic detail. the title track, “in the turpid heat of the afternoon,” follows with a deeper and more hypnotic ap-proach, balancing a steady pulse with hazy, atmospheric textures.
on the b-side, “shutter encoder” pushes the rhythmic element further, with a restless, intricate groove and a more kinetic energy. “folding & unfolding” then brings the ep to a more spacious and reflective conclusion, slowing the pace while retaining the subtle movement that runs throughout the record.
across all four tracks, alex albrecht finds a beautiful balance between club music and more contempla-tive listening. it is a natural continuation of his relationship with mule musiq, but also a clear step for-ward from “a clearing” — deeper, more rhythmic and quietly psychedelic.
With “Rides Again Again And Again” US born and London resident singer, songwriter, producer, arranger und multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire Shawn Lee releases the third part in a series of very personal albums.
“Returning to my ‘Rides Again’ project feels like a home coming of sorts-familiar yet completely different from how I remembered it,” Shawn Lee says. “This time out it felt really fresh and freewheeling. Discovering things which were already there but somehow had remained hidden just out of sight. The genius of JJ Cale provided a lot of inspiration for this album. I had to pay tribute with the song ‘JJ’ in his honour. I also wrote a song for my dad called ‘Helluva Way’ who sadly passed while I was finishing the album. Multiple US tours last year with Young Gun Silver Fox informed lyrics on several tunes particularly ‘Hot Food’ and ‘Plastic Forks and Paper Plates’. The latter features a motley cast of characters on the ‘hell yeahs and the outro sing -a-long. My wife Kiren, Andy ‘Young Gun’ Platts, his wife Jodie and daughter Frankie plus all the live members of YGSF band, Ederlezi, as well as Smith & Liddle and our tour manager Claire Darling all contributed to the cause on ‘Plastic Forks’. Songs about Evel Knievel, my dog Carla, Tacos and Abilene Kansas round out the album as-well as a few instrumentals to boot. Three albums into the ‘Rides Again’ trilogy and I feel like I’m just getting started. So saddle up partners and join me on this musical ride!”
Amidst their illustrious presence in dance music, Âme have been - and seen - a tumultuous evolution in all that surrounds. Genres have splintered and sharpened, melodies reinvented.
Yet, Frank and Kristian continue to stay true to their own meticulously individual art form. The pair muse on all that's been in latest album, "Love Is The Dance", where they reflect on a multitude of sounds that have shadowed their career for 20 years and counting - presenting a collection of tracks that flicker between different worlds and feelings, whilst harmoniously paying tribute to icons such as Underground Resistance and Compass Point Studios.
Between slower gems such as "Water Be My Crown" and "Of Courage", where buttery chords melt into sleek solitude, comes catchy pop-leaning numbers like "Shadow Of Love" and "Pha Na Pha" that carve their own vibrancy; having already painted endless dance floors with endless memories following individual releases. Cemented with club-focused cuts "Asa" and "Love Is The Dance", the album also moves towards familiar Âme territory; and still, threaded through its DNA is the art of collaboration. A substantial essence to Âme's work throughout the years, the duo level-up, as they invite a curated list of friends and artists, including RY X, Henrik Schwarz, Curses and Busiswa. The result forms a curious, all-expansive record that sees Âme creating avenues bolder, stronger - and even more musically diverse.
Amidst their illustrious presence in dance music, Âme have been - and seen - a tumultuous evolution in all that surrounds. Genres have splintered and sharpened, melodies reinvented.
Yet, Frank and Kristian continue to stay true to their own meticulously individual art form. The pair muse on all that's been in latest album, "Love Is The Dance", where they reflect on a multitude of sounds that have shadowed their career for 20 years and counting - presenting a collection of tracks that flicker between different worlds and feelings, whilst harmoniously paying tribute to icons such as Underground Resistance and Compass Point Studios.
Between slower gems such as "Water Be My Crown" and "Of Courage", where buttery chords melt into sleek solitude, comes catchy pop-leaning numbers like "Shadow Of Love" and "Pha Na Pha" that carve their own vibrancy; having already painted endless dance floors with endless memories following individual releases. Cemented with club-focused cuts "Asa" and "Love Is The Dance", the album also moves towards familiar Âme territory; and still, threaded through its DNA is the art of collaboration. A substantial essence to Âme's work throughout the years, the duo level-up, as they invite a curated list of friends and artists, including RY X, Henrik Schwarz, Curses and Busiswa. The result forms a curious, all-expansive record that sees Âme creating avenues bolder, stronger - and even more musically diverse.
Following their self-proclaimed LP trilogy (2020-2024), Straw Man Army returns with a new songwriting experiment in the form of True North; a collection of 11 songs written for acoustic instruments over three 72 hour sessions at a cabin, isolated in the woods north of NYC. The result is a concept album in practice as opposed to subject alone. Attuned to both the spiritual and political dimensions of seeking refuge in our times, it asks what exactly we mean by “peace” in this era of increasing violence, incarceration, and skepticism towards a future worth living. Does it feel like relaxation, does it tend towards silence? Is it the cooling of our collective rage? Not here. On True North, peace is a spiritual contradiction; a chimera incorporating our innermost desires and the brutality of the world that surrounds us. The album’s central character is a “sleepwalker” trudging through the waking nightmares that have defined daily life since the release of 2024’s Earthworks. Because True North is music that dreams. Sonically, the band toys with the aesthetics of psychedelia, folk, and kosmiche music for contrast, creating a still pool into which their deepest anxieties ripple and flow and flower into ever darker shapes. And while the musical palette plays on tropes of peace—lush piano instrumentals, fingerpicking guitars, gong, vocal harmony—the subject remains steeped in environmental collapse, death, mental breakdown, and the rejection of our most closely held myths. The clash of these forces is the engine that turns the musical wheel. True North is the sound of music mourning a future that never took place and a bout of anticipatory grief for something that’s only just begun…
Celestial Echo Records presents Nathaniel Best – Set Your House In Order, an incredible gospel soul LP from 1986, finally back in circulation.
Originally released on Spirit Records of Nevada, the album is very much of its time in the best way — gospel music with drum machines, warm synths and basslines that push it right into modern soul and boogie territory. Nathaniel Best’s voice carries the whole record with real conviction, joined by group vocals and arrangements that give the album that rich, uplifting 80s gospel soul sound.
For us, the standouts are clear. “Call Him” is the boogie dancer — bright, driving and full of movement, the kind of gospel cut that sits perfectly in a modern soul or boogie set. The title track, “Set Your House In Order”, is something else entirely: a beautiful downtempo soul glider, deep and heartfelt, with that slow-burning quality that makes the whole LP feel so special.
Those two tracks tell the story, but the magic runs through the whole record. Scattered across the album are these amazing slower gospel soul moments, balanced with enough groove and lift to keep it moving. It’s not just a one-tracker, it’s a proper LP with feeling, range and a sound that collectors have been chasing for years.
Best’s musical story runs deep. He grew up around gospel, recorded from a young age, played piano in church, sang with the Love Center Choir under Bishop Walter Hawkins, and later worked with names including The O’Jays and The Fairfield Four.
Original copies have always been hard to come by, and the album has built a serious reputation with gospel, soul and boogie collectors over the years.
Celestial Echo Records presents Nathaniel Best – Set Your House In Order, an incredible gospel soul LP from 1986, finally back in circulation.
Originally released on Spirit Records of Nevada, the album is very much of its time in the best way — gospel music with drum machines, warm synths and basslines that push it right into modern soul and boogie territory. Nathaniel Best’s voice carries the whole record with real conviction, joined by group vocals and arrangements that give the album that rich, uplifting 80s gospel soul sound.
For us, the standouts are clear. “Call Him” is the boogie dancer — bright, driving and full of movement, the kind of gospel cut that sits perfectly in a modern soul or boogie set. The title track, “Set Your House In Order”, is something else entirely: a beautiful downtempo soul glider, deep and heartfelt, with that slow-burning quality that makes the whole LP feel so special.
Those two tracks tell the story, but the magic runs through the whole record. Scattered across the album are these amazing slower gospel soul moments, balanced with enough groove and lift to keep it moving. It’s not just a one-tracker, it’s a proper LP with feeling, range and a sound that collectors have been chasing for years.
Best’s musical story runs deep. He grew up around gospel, recorded from a young age, played piano in church, sang with the Love Center Choir under Bishop Walter Hawkins, and later worked with names including The O’Jays and The Fairfield Four.
Original copies have always been hard to come by, and the album has built a serious reputation with gospel, soul and boogie collectors over the years.
With the stunning Planes In Reverse, Sascha Funke, the Berlin-born producer and DJ, and long-time member of the Kompakt family, releases his first album in almost a decade, since 2017’s Lotos Land. It’s a welcome return for one of the most eloquent and elegant producers in electronic and dance music, someone who’s always been able to say more with less, and the ten tracks here, moving effortlessly between techno, house, minimalism, disco house, and home listening tunes, are all gorgeously sculpted miniatures. With guest appearances from partner Julienne Dessagne (Fantastic Twins), with whom Funke has also worked in Saschienne, there’s something homely and family about it, too; a family of sounds, a home of tone. There’s also something consummate about Planes In Reverse, as though Sascha Funke has perfected the album format. There’s no flab here, no excess – it plays out like a perfectly designed experience, ten tracks, coming in under fifty minutes, an album where every moment matters.
It’s full of variety, but everything has the unmistakable Funke thumbprint, one that was developed during the late ‘90s / early ‘00s minimal techno and microhouse moment, but which was always open to other ideas and other sounds, too. Planes In Reverse came together quickly for Funke: “Last winter, I had two or three new tracks, which gave me a core feeling: ‘Ah, this could be the direction of something like an album.’ Sometimes it can be very easy that you wrap it up and then it becomes something coherent and solid. This happened within two or three months; it was very fast and direct.” Everything fell into place – the ten tracks revealed themselves, the album sat together as a whole, and the final piece of the puzzle was returning home again to Kompakt, who have supported Sascha Funke from the very start, releasing his first single, “Campus”, back in 1999.
Planes In Reverse opens stealthily with “What You See”, where rhythms percolate and bass prowls while gaseous textures fill the sonic spectrum. It’s also the first appearance of Fantastic Twins on the album; here, she speaks a hypnotic mantra, a prelude to the title track, where Dessagne has a pure pop moment, her voice ecstatic and vibrant. Indeed, Planes In Reverse plays out like thesis and antithesis ending in synthesis, the tracks nestling next to each other even as they shuttle between sounds, genres, perspectives. There are some beautiful moments dropped throughout Planes In Reverse – the heavenly textures that make the title track feel so cloud-bound; the glassy and orbital tones that drop from the skies through the disco house inspired “Karat”; the clamour and clatter of hyper-edited voices shuffling through “Splitter”; or the field recordings of Sascha’s son football training session that drop “Zockers” into a different place and space, slowly giving way to a beautifully paced electro-pop mantra. “In Germany,when the kids play a computer game, or when they play football, we describe it as zocken. They’re the players, they’re the Zockers.“ Funke explains.
Planes In Reverse winds down with the beautiful “Kruso”, where ticklish, loving arpeggios careen around the room, and drift-work chords shimmer and shuttle between your ears. It’s a perfect comedown to an album that feels breathes in and out at an organic pace, nothing above 130 BPM, everything sitting together just so. Indeed, that’s the feeling you take away from Planes In Reverse; it sums up the spirit of Sascha Funke productions perfectly, while also existing beautifully as its own world dreamt unto itself. It’s Sascha Funke down to the very essence. Nothing unnecessary, nothing extraneous: Pure Funke.
For the seventh edition of the Vega Records 5 Pack Unreleased series, Louie Vega once again opens the vault to reveal a special collection of unreleased recordings, alternate versions, remixes, demos, tribute reworks and deep cuts from the Vega Records musical family.
5 Pack Unreleased VII brings together 15 tracks across five 12-inch records, showcasing the wide musical spectrum that has always been part of the Vega Records story. From soulful house and deep grooves to jazz, soul, Brazilian influences, live instrumentation, Latin influences, powerful vocals, disco-rooted rhythms and the freedom to experiment in the studio, this collection moves through many different sides of the music.
Some of these recordings have been waiting patiently in the vault. Others represent alternate versions of songs that continue to evolve through different interpretations. Together, they create another musical journey through the sounds, collaborations and ideas that have shaped the Vega Records universe.
These final recordings speak to something that has always been important to Louie’s musical journey: respecting the music that came before while finding a way to reinterpret it through his own musical language.
From Loleatta Holloway and Duane Harden to Elements Of Life, 2SoulFusion, Domo Domo, Brutha Louie & Brutha Basil, and the tribute recordings, 5 Pack Unreleased VII brings together different generations, different voices and different musical influences under one roof.
The Elements Of Life sound continues throughout the collection, with “Sunshine (I Can Fly),” “Every Step” and “Dreamer” offering special previews into the musical direction of the forthcoming 2027 Elements Of Life album.
This is the seventh chapter of the series, but the philosophy remains the same:
Open the vault.
Share the music.
Let the DJs discover it.
Let the dancers feel it.
Five records.
Fifteen tracks.
A collection of unreleased music, special versions, studio discoveries, tributes and musical experiments from the world of Vega Records — with plenty more waiting inside the vault.
A soaring new chapter unfolds from the forthcoming Elements Of Life album with the release of “Soar,” an uplifting and deeply moving collaboration featuring the incomparable Lisa Fischer. Written by Josh Milan and Louie Vega and produced by 2SoulFusion—Louie Vega and Josh Milan—the song is a powerful testament to resilience, transformation, and the limitless possibilities that emerge when spirit, soul, and music unite.
Built upon a rich tapestry of live musicianship, “Soar” embodies the signature sound that has made Elements Of Life a beloved musical movement around the world. At its core is Lisa Fischer’s breathtaking vocal performance, delivering a message of hope, elevation, and self-discovery with the emotional depth and conviction that have made her one of the most revered voices of her generation.
At the heart of “Soar” is a message of encouragement, resilience, and unconditional support. Through its uplifting lyrics and soaring melody, the song speaks to anyone navigating life's uncertainties while striving to become their fullest self. Lines such as “Clouds hang low, but the sky's still wide” acknowledge the challenges we all face, while the recurring refrain, “I just want you to soar,” serves as a powerful affirmation of faith in another person's journey. Equally moving is the song's central sentiment, “The more you do for you, the better I feel,” expressing a selfless form of love that celebrates growth, healing, and personal fulfillment. Universal in its message yet deeply personal in its spirit, “Soar” reminds us that one of the greatest gifts we can offer is the encouragement to rise, evolve, and embrace our own potential.
The production blends organic instrumentation with sophisticated arrangements, creating a timeless soundscape that feels both expansive and intimate. Multi Grammy Award-winning bassist Christian McBride anchors the composition with his masterful upright bass work, while Josh Milan's lush keyboards, piano, organ, clavinet, and atmospheric textures provide the song's harmonic foundation. Live drums from Tony Cintron and vibrant percussion from Luisito Quintero infuse the track with an irresistible pulse, while Ivan Renta's expressive soprano saxophone solo adds another layer of emotional richness, and a tasteful guitar groove by Sherrod Barnes.
The song's message is elevated further through a powerful vocal ensemble featuring background vocals from Lisa Fischer, Dawn Tallman, Ramona Dunlap, and Lea Lorien, creating moments of communion and uplift that echo the song's central theme of hope, growth, and believing in the possibilities that lie ahead. For Louie Vega and Josh Milan, “Soar” represents another defining moment in their longstanding creative partnership. Through Elements Of Life, they have continually blurred the boundaries between house music, soul, jazz, Latin rhythms, gospel, and global influences, creating music that resonates as deeply on the dance floor as it does in the heart. “Soar” continues that tradition, offering listeners a song that inspires movement, reflection, and renewal.
Recorded at Honeycomb Studios in Pennsylvania and Manhattan Center Studios in New York City, and mixed at Daddy's Workshop in New Jersey, the production benefits from the expertise of recording engineers Yas Inoue & Josh Milan, with final mastering by the Maestro of mastering Herb “Pump” Powers for PM Mastering.
As anticipation builds for the forthcoming Elements Of Life album slated for February 2027, “Soar” offers a powerful glimpse into the project's next evolution— a celebration of musical excellence, spiritual connection, and the enduring power of song to lift us higher.
Following his appearance on Artist Series 2, Beppu returns to Alt Dub with Forms, a new release exploring the deeper, more experimental side of his dub aesthetic.
Recorded and shaped through analogue equipment, tape, mixing desk and effects, Forms is an exercise in space, texture and repetition. Deep bass weight, drifting echoes and finely layered electronic tones move through each piece, creating a sonic world that feels both stripped back and richly detailed.
Forms sits comfortably on the exploratory edge of the Alt Dub catalogue, drawing on the fundamental principles of dub while pushing them into more atmospheric and experimental territory. It is music built for deep listening—minimal in its ingredients, expansive in its effect.
The release is completed by two remixes of Traces from Stephen Hitchell, appearing under his CV313 and Intrusion monikers.
His respective Morning Dub and Evening Dub interpretations take the track in contrasting directions, extending its hypnotic qualities through deeper, more spacious treatments.
With its combination of analogue warmth, deep-space atmospherics and restrained dub experimentation, Forms is a carefully crafted addition to the Alt Dub catalogue.
Toronto’s Lammping is a project built on the idea that music can exist across timelines. Founded by Mikhail Galkin and Jay Anderson, the band’s sound draws equally from heavy psych rock, hip-hop, classic songwriting, and experimental collage, creating records that feel both familiar and impossible to place within a single era or genre.
Their latest album, So What, What?, is the clearest expression of that approach. Built from fragments of memory, influence, and lived experience, the record moves seamlessly between sampled textures, personal storytelling, and adventurous songwriting. References to everything from Soviet-era recordings to golden-age hip-hop sit alongside reflections on family, parenthood, and the uncertainty of the present moment. Yet despite its wide-ranging influences, the album remains firmly rooted in songcraft rather than nostalgia.
Rekombinant is the solo project of Rome based composer and sound artist Alfonso Montagnese. Blending electroacoustic composition, analogue electronics, magnetic tape and sound design, his work explores the physical qualities of sound, embracing imperfection, transformation and degradation as expressive compositional tools.
Borrowing its title from the physical principle of parity symmetry, the album is less interested in scientific theory than in the possibility that an identity may endure even after profound change. Sound is treated as matter, it is stretched, reflected, saturated, compressed and displaced, yet never entirely separated from its origin.
Magnetic tape is the medium through which this question unfolds. Magnetic tape does not preserve sound faithfully, it reshapes the sound. It compresses, saturates, colours and gradually erodes it, producing not a copy but another state of the same material. Every recording becomes both document and transformation.
Most of the instruments used throughout the album were selected from more recent generations of electronic equipment compared to previous works. Their character is not defined by nostalgia, but by their functional and sonic qualities: instruments chosen for how they behave under pressure.
The album consists of fourteen compositions, each one approaching sound as a material in continuous state of alteration and was conceived within what feels like a new Middle Ages, one that is still unfolding. An era marked by increasing fragmentation, uncertainty and the erosion of shared cultural references. The music does not illustrate this condition; it absorbs and inhabits it.
Throughout these fourteen pieces, sound continuously changes its appearance without abandoning its identity. What remains after every inversion, every saturation and every layer of magnetic degradation is not certainty, but persistence.
Parity Symmetry is Conserved is ultimately an exploration of that persistence: the fragile possibility that memory, identity and human experience may continue to exist, even after passing through irreversible transformation.
Forty years of cassette releases, pressed for the first time on vinyl
First of two instalments exploring the previously unreleased sonic archives of one of Poland’s most enigmatic
living artists - with its first volume focused on his deep listening practice and spiritual reverie (recorded 1990–2013)
The last time Andrzej Dudek-Dürer took a banknote bearing the face of the Polish anarchist Jarosław Dąbrowski from his pocket to trade it for a pair of shoes was in 1969. He bought them for 120zł - the equivalent of 100€ today - and never replaced them since then. Only rebuilt them, year after year, drawing a needle and thread through the leather each time it split, closing one wound before the next one opened. It became a ritual of precision, stitching a record of another year into their soles.
That same year, in Wrocław, he arrived at a conclusion that would recalibrate everything that followed. Convinced he was the reincarnation of Albrecht Dürer, he adopted the surname Dudek-Dürer, stopped cutting his hair and began wearing the same garments every day. It was the first ritual of many, though he wouldn't have called it that yet. Look closely enough, over the decades, and it is always the same gesture, returning in different material: hair growing in a single unbroken strand, a needle drawing thread through leather, sitar strings pulled taut across a neck he built with his own hands and magnetic tape spooling forward inside the cassette boxes stacked against his walls.
None of this began in a vacuum. Dudek-Dürer emerged from the Wrocław neo-avant-garde, in a Polish art world where an exhibition could be cancelled overnight by the stroke of a censor's pen. In 1973, his exhibition Auto-crucifixion was shut down by the state, and for a time he found himself blocked from exhibiting his own art at all - the one force in his life that ever came close to cutting the thread.
He seemed to experience it differently. In 1974, after long, patient research into sitar craftsmanship, he built his first prototype with his brother, a knowledgeable luthier. In 1978, in a smoked-out jazz club, he took his first steps into sound recording with the unreleased album Jazz From Underground with his first band. By 1979, recognition started to travel further than he could.
Turning toward Far-Eastern philosophy, meditation and the idea of reincarnation was another language of freedom for him. It was a way of claiming an inner territory the state could not reach, a border it could not close. Mail Art served a parallel function, reaching further out: in a country that restricted travel and expression, sending and receiving art through the postal system became an act of quiet rebellion.
The body, in his understanding, is only an envelope readied for constant transformation. From this came Metaphysical Telepathy: during the years he could not leave Poland, he treated that confinement as a rehearsal room, sending his mind out ahead on the same thread his body would later follow. Living Sculpture grew from the same root with performances of stillness beside static art objects, until the boundary between the object and the man beside it simply dissolved. Camera Meditation extended the same instinct into photography: a shutter click flattening three dimensions into two so that a single instant could be held forever. Inspired by the pioneers of self-portrait photography like Robert Cornelius, he used it to document time itself, and kept explaining to me: "You know. This is not about vanity. This is about observing time passing.”
The isolation did not end suddenly. It ended the way his own philosophy had already predicted it would, from the inside first. Mail Art quietly solved the problem politics couldn't. Correspondence built during years of confinement slowly worked its way through doors the state itself had kept locked. Contacts made through folded paper and stamps became invitations. Ultimately, invitations became passports.
In 1983 he made his first trip outside Poland, to Germany, in search of the audio technology he couldn’t get his hands on before. In 1985, he was invited by the Indian embassy in Poland to give a sitar concert on an instrument he had spent a decade patiently stringing together - half sitar, half tanpura, built from patience and determination. After the collapse of the People's Republic of Poland, the travels kept unspooling: South Korea, then Mexico, then Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan and the United States - each stop leaving behind its own small knot of tape, tied off and carried home.
In the decades since, recognition arrived at the same unhurried pace: he conducted workshops at UC Berkeley, served as vice-president for artistic affairs of the Union of Polish Art Photographers and the Union of Polish Visual Artists between 2010 and 2014 and received the Bronze Medal for Merit to Culture - Gloria Artis. His visual work gradually entered collections including the National Museums of Warsaw, the Stedelijk Museum, Tate Modern, MoMA and the Venice Biennale. His musical practice, by contrast, never found that kind of room - left to circulate quietly, sharing his cassette tapes directly, waiting for someone willing to follow it further.
It took months before I could find a way to reach Andrzej Dudek-Dürer - his presence online is very close to nonexistent. Surprisingly, LinkedIn turned out to be the only door still open, a faintly absurd irony given everything else about him. I packed the strict minimum for a three-day trip and an empty notebook and made my way to Wrocław. His headquarters sits in the neighbourhood of Grabyszyn: a two-storey pre-war house that has belonged to his family for generations. The man who opened the door was long-haired, long-bearded, in his trademark leather shoes and patched jeans. We sat in his living room, in front of a computer where decades of recordings sat organised in cryptically named files, surrounded by books and objects that had arrived one layer at a time, leaving room for only two chairs in the middle. His shoes sat by the door, rebuilt so many times they had become their own quiet sculpture. Cassette tapes filled boxes against the walls, almost unlabelled, each one a spool of thread holding decades of sound that had never once been asked for, until now.
I listened for hours: meditating in front of strangers on the porch of a Seoul temple until the tourists stopped taking photos and simply waited with him; a stand-off with border guards at the US–Mexico crossing over an instrument they couldn't identify and didn't trust; a session with the Stockhausen family that he still, decades later, describes like it happened last week. All of it interrupted, occasionally, by the smell of soup boiling and fresh bread warming on the ceramic stove. After two days, it felt like being handed the end of a very long thread and asked, gently, to keep following it. I left with a USB drive holding his full discography, signed with his unmistakable signature.
Astral Meditations From A Living Statue is a length of that thread, drawn out from the boxes stacked against his walls - recordings gathered from different rooms, different countries, different decades. This first record breathes slowly: incense-thick, meditative, built for stillness. A cutting-edge séance in outer space where machines learn how to dream.
It begins with the neo-classical improvisations of Andrzej, space-delayed, recorded at Klub Muzyki i Literatury in Wrocław in 2002. 'When..So' opens the curtains with a deep-rooted meditation accompanied by slow-decaying piano figures illuminated by a candle-lit spirit gathering.
Los Angeles, 1990: a dormant villa, a grand piano, the voice of Bonnie Barnett. 'Exception' is captured in a single room, in a single afternoon - voice and keys circling each other, neither one leading, until the silence between the notes starts to feel like the instrument.
'The Meta...' and 'Tired Of...', recorded at Studio Morandi in Ponte Nossa, Italy, in 1992, settle into a sitar drone built entirely from patience - overtones stacking and beating against each other, strung by a man who never once set foot in India. 'Mastery Of...' follows, recorded the same year at Studio Suski in Łomianki, pushing that same hum further still, until pitch dissolves into a spectral reverie. 'Transcendental Sound', from 2000, closes the first record in a slow bath of celestial frequency - better heard beside the shores of the Odra river.
More than fifty years after deciding that a life could become an artwork, Andrzej Dudek-Dürer continues to inhabit that decision. His shoes keep wearing thin against the earth's crust. His hair keeps growing, one strand at a time. His cassette tapes keep spooling in the dark of their boxes.
Now the thread finds its last shape: a single unbroken groove, spiralling inward from the outer edge to the label at the centre. Never cut - the way nothing else in his life ever was. Drop the needle and it will find that groove and follow it, the same way a needle once followed leather, once followed a border it couldn't cross, once followed string into an instrument that didn't exist until he built it. This record is the other end of a thread that has been travelling for fifty years. For the length of both sides, it rests here, in your hands. This is a timeless proof that the Lord of the New Age was never lost."
12 Inch Lovers - Celebrating 15 Years of Vinyl Culture!
Belgian vinyl-only event concept 12 Inch Lovers celebrates its 15th anniversary with two new additions to its established sampler series. Now entering its seventh year, the series reflects the music and atmosphere of the events, combining dancefloor favourites with carefully selected discoveries.
Samplers 13 & 14 bring together sought-after classics, hard-to-find gems and selected tracks and versions making their vinyl debut. Each volume features nine full-length tracks across two 12-inch records, making both releases essential additions for DJs and collectors alike.
Sampler 13 includes Sorry I Am Late by Kollektiv Turmstrasse, Marea (We've Lost Dancing) by Fred again.. & The Blessed Madonna, and Lifetimes by Slam feat. Tyrone Palmer. Further highlights include Tocadisco's Morumbi and the Martijn ten Velden Remix of Guitarra G.
Sampler 14 features Dreams by Deep Dish feat. Stevie Nicks, All That Matters by Kölsch feat. Troels Abrahamsen, and the NiCe7 Remix of It's Yours by Jon Cutler feat. E-Man. Belgian favourites Decoy & Roy with Inner Life and The Mackenzie with Higher In The Sky add to the selection.
Rooted in 15 years of vinyl-only events, these two compilations capture the distinctive sound of 12 Inch Lovers, offering lasting appeal for long-time fans, record collectors and DJs looking tobring proven classics back to the dancefloor.
Nothing But (Future) Classix, Straight From Vinyl!
Sampler 14 opens with Jon Cutler feat. E-Man - It's Yours (NiCe7 Remix). This remix pairs the recognisable vocal with a punchy house groove. A fresh take on a familiar classic that sets the tone straight away. Next comes Sterac Electronics - Destination Reached, with Steve Rachmad
showcasing his feel for electronic funk. Tight rhythms and an infectious groove make this a record with lasting appeal.
Side B features Swen Weber - Maya (Rerub), a powerful club track whose build and driving rhythm keep the dancefloor moving. Deep Dish feat. Stevie Nicks - Dreams then delivers a familiar moment. Stevie Nicks' distinctive voice and Deep Dish's warm, immersive house sound
give this well-known song a character all of its own.
Side C brings Kölsch feat. Troels Abrahamsen - All That Matters, a melodic track in which the vocaland gradual build complement each other beautifully. The kind of record that feels equally at home deep into a club night or under the first rays of sunshine at a festival. Next is Chew Fu feat. Steve Clisby - Purple Rain (Mousse T.'s Home A Lone Mix). Mousse T. gives this interpretation of the Prince classic a warm, soulful house groove, leaving plenty of room for Steve Clisby's voice to shine.
On side D, Jürgen Paape - We Love takes over. Playful, melodic and full of character, it adds a different flavour to the selection. Decoy & Roy - Inner Life follows with a generous dose of nostalgia and a sound that perfectly reflects a love for Belgian club classics. Closing the sampler is The Mackenzie - Higher In The Sky, whose dreamy melodies and uplifting energy provide a fitting finale.
Nine tracks across two 12-inch records, each in its full-length version. Much-loved classics, inspired remixes and lesser-known gems, brought together withthe same love for music that has driven 12 Inch Lovers' events for 15 years.
One of the few artists who has seen the Cécille story unfold from the very beginning is Joey Daniel.
From our side, Joey has always been someone we wanted to work with and have on the label. So we’re really happy that the time has finally come. We have huge respect for him - not only as an artist, but just as much as a person - which makes finally welcoming him to the Cécille family even better.
We’ve been working closely together on this EP for quite some time, taking our time to get it exactly where we wanted it to be, and we’re sure we’ve ended up with a seriously massive club EP.
The Need I Say More EP brings together three proper club records - pure groove, built for the dancefloor and connecting Joey’s signature sound with what Cécille has always been about.
Following his Daybreak Survivors album project for Western Lore and last year's Back II Me EP for Wilderness, L own returns with Emotional Rescue, an EP that further explores the unique themes and intricate textures from those previous releases, characterized by a soulful, otherworldly and emotional sound channeling jungle, techno and rave inspirations into something completely fresh and new.
Bristol trio Jabu return with their first release for two years. Following on from their widely acclaimed third LP ‘A Soft and Gatherable Star’, this stand-alone double A-side Disco Mix 12” features four exclusive new tracks, while signposting fresh material currently being written, recorded and mixed for their forthcoming LP, due 2027.
If 2023 LP ‘Boiling Wells’ documented Jabu learning to be a live band, leaning into writing collectively in-the-moment, ‘A Soft and Gatherable Star’ took that record’s ad-hoc/mixtape blueprint, and fleshed out their transformation from an outfit rooted in hiphop and dubstep, to a guitar-based band with a unique take on dream-pop. It saw them described by The Face as “an experiential trio blending the raw edge of industrial dub with dreamy layers of ambient pop and shoegaze", and by The Wire as “like Mazzy Star remixed by The Mad Professor“.
Jabu have continued to grow in the space between releases, touring regularly for the first time, playing festivals such as Rewire and Le Guess Who?, and supporting the likes of Maria Somerville and AR Kane. Their extended live line-up now regularly incorporates those that contributed to ‘A Soft and Gatherable Star’, with new material often further developed as it gets passed back and forth between collaborators. Cellist Josh Horsley (Powders / Nightingale Floor) and multi-instrumentalist Will Yates (aka Memotone) both feature here, under the guiding hand of Birthmark’s mixing.
Titled after the rural, estuarine landscape bordering their Bristol hometown, ‘Severn Flood Plain’ sees the band pivot towards a more jagged and up-tempo, post-punk sound. It runs on a nagging drum machine pulse that feels closer to Joy Division than Sly Stone; while the echo-laced vocals and tremolo guitar phrasing hark back to the ‘50s slapback sound of Lee Hazlewood or Duane Eddy. Written and sung by Jasmine Butt, the lyrics describe a visit to a friend near the mouth of the Severn, and hint towards a darkness that can also be felt across that tidal landscape.
Dropping the pace to a languorous, sensual sprawl, ‘Where You Run To’ is plaintive and yearning, an opiated, ethereal flipside to ‘Severn Flood Plain’s more urgent, anxiety-laced opener. Alex Rendall’s vocals glide over a stripped, metronomic backdrop, eventually entwining with Memotone’s ghostly, processed clarinet.
If the band’s musical reference points appear to have shifted, their process remains indebted to dub and still very much rooted in the multicultural cross-pollination peculiar to their home city of Bristol. Both tracks are extended, with dub versions courtesy of Birthmark. The band sat in on those sessions, completing the circle that began with J’s on-stage mixing of their live sets. The strands provided by Will and Josh provide introspective counterpoint to the sound system leanings.
Jabu’s influences are threaded together as naturally here as on their long-running NTS radio show, ‘Music For Lovers’, which now occasionally guests on the Early Bird show slot. They are due to play World of Echo’s ‘Expected Music 2.0’ at London’s Walthamstow Trades Hall on 21st November with Loopsel, Insides, Giulio Erasmus, Thomas Bush, and Raime amongst others.
U//D welcomes Swedish maestro Arkajo to the label with Fourier Dust, a four-track EP built for deep dancefloors. Across the record, Arkajo moves through breakbeat techno, dark 2-step, broken techno and dubstep, with close friend and Naarm/Melbourne stalwart Pugilist rounding things out with a remix of “Chasm”.
A1, “Fourier Dust”, opens the record with a breaky techno groove driven by a ferocious acid bassline, razor-sharp percussion and deeply atmospheric pads. Tough, spacious and hypnotic, it sets the tone for the EP perfectly.
A2, “Illusion”, shifts into darker 2-step garage territory. Wobbling bass, submerged vocals and rolling percussion build throughout, with bongos keeping the groove moving as the track gets progressively deeper. There are clear echoes of the darker UK garage lineage of SP:MC and EL-B.
Flipping to the B-side, “Chasm” moves into techno-bass territory, pairing a wonky 4x4 groove with hypnotic, heavily dubbed vocals. The result feels both spacious and eerie, balancing club pressure with a distinctly psychedelic edge.
Closing the EP, Pugilist’s remix of “Chasm” takes things in a dubstep-leaning 2-step direction. Heavy rolling sub, signature dub stabs, swung percussion and the occasional wub give the remix serious weight — one designed to be felt properly on a big system.
There's an eerie yet exciting limbo in which rave culture has decayed enough to shift and meet alien sensibilities, becoming a medium for entirely different meanings. We could call it "doom jungle" though that label doesn't quite reach the real core of the matter. Pushing the envelope again and again toward the true epicenter of the emotional spectrum's abyss, it feels like reaching a dimension where boundaries collapse, and different sonic languages converge into something consistent and coherent, a portrait of the very bottom of the human soul. Stepping into FREAKS puts you exactly in that place: everything is rusty, raw, and muddy yet incredibly seductive. Both XHL UNIT and VIRUS VOICE (aka Luciano Lamanna) carry a vast range of influences behind their electronic arsenal, most of them drawn from the darkest and hardest fringes of the musical world.
Scott Fagan’s new album Soon, 55 years in the making, revives songs from his lost 1971 Broadway rock opera.
Alongside songwriting partner Joe Kookoolis, Fagan conceived and wrote the rock opera, an age-old story of an artist forced to make a devil’s bargain between their principles and success, intending it to be the follow-up to his classic 1968 debut, South Atlantic Blues. But fate intervened. The production (which starred Fagan and a young Richard Gere) closed early, the album was shelved, never to be recorded or heard. Until now.
Recorded over seven days in July 2025 at the hallowed Sam Phillips Recording Service in Memphis with a crack rhythm section, the thirteen songs on Soon illustrate Fagan’s extraordinary facility and range as a singer and songwriter of great sensitivity, passion, and humour.
From its rousing gospel opener (“Let The World Begin Again”), through fiery, protest songs (“Faces Names and Places”, “Straight”), and tender-hearted ballads (“Child of Sympathy”, “To Touch the Sky”), the album is by turns, uplifting, mournful, righteous, giddy, soulful (title track, “Soon), and anthemic (closer, “Please Be Well”). This feels like an album of lost classics waiting to be rediscovered.
Scott Fagan has been waiting a long time for the world to hear these songs. The long, long wait is over, Soon.
At 23, daine has spent the last few years drifting between scenes faster than the internet could fully name them: digicore, emo revivalism, hyperpop, bloghouse nostalgia. But "In Endless Awe & Agony", her debut album arriving this November, feels less like another pivot than a consolidation - the point where all those fragments collapse into something strangely singular.
Die großen Eurodance-Hits der 90er gibt es jetzt auch auf Vinyl! Mit der „90s Eurodance Collection“ erscheint die beliebte Compilation-Serie erstmals im klassischen VinylFormat und bringt das unverwechselbare Feeling der 90er zurück auf den Plattenteller.
Mit dabei sind einige der größten Namen dieser Ära: Ace of Base, Rednex, Gigi D‘Agostino und Whigfield sorgen für jede Menge Dancefloor-Nostalgie und unvergessliche Melodien. Ob treibende Beats, große Refrains oder die typischen Sounds der 90er – diese Vinyl-Compilation versammelt die Hits einer Zeit, in der Eurodance die Charts und Clubs eroberte.
„90s Eurodance Collection“ auf Vinyl – die großen 90er-Hits, jetzt im kultigen Vinyl-Format! Für alle Fans von Eurodance, 90s-Nostalgie und dem ganz besonderen Sound einer legendären Dekade.
Teenager-Idol, Style-Icon, Pop-Phänomen – mit global gefeierten Megahits wie „(I‘ll Never Be) Maria
Magdalena“, „In The Heat Of The Night“ oder „Little Girl“ gehört Sandra zu den erfolgreichsten und
stilprägendsten Solokünstlerinnen der späten 80er Jahre. Nach vier Dekaden veröffentlicht die Kultsängerin
nun ihr 1985 erschienenes Debütalbum „The Long Play“ als strikt limitierte 40th Anniversary Edition im
Original-Artwork.
Nachdem „(I‘ll Never Be) Maria Magdalena“ erst in Italien an die Spitze der Single-Charts klettert, erobert
das Stück im August 1985 schließlich auch Platz #1 in West-Deutschland sowie in Österreich, der Schweiz,
Norwegen, Portugal, Finnland, Schweden und viele andere. In Deutschland wird „(I‘ll Never Be) Maria
Magdalena“ mit einer Goldenen Schallplatte prämiert. Im darauffolgenden Herbst erscheint das Debütalbum
„The Long Play“, aus dem die beiden weiteren Chartbreaker „Little Girl“ und „In The Heat Of The
Night“ hervorgehen, mit denen Sandra und Michael Cretu ihr einmaliges Gespür für zeitlose Pop-Hits
unterstreichen.
„The Long Play“ erscheint zum 40-jährigen Jubiläum im aufwändigen Original-Artwork mit der OriginalTracklist in grünem Vinyl. Statt die Stücke nachträglich zu remastern oder anderweitig zu verändern, sind
alle Tracks bewusst in ihrer ursprünglichen Fassung zwischen einem unverfälschten Eighties-Feeling und
einer zeitlosen Poppigkeit belassen.
Marking Dwarde’s debut on Up Ya Archives, the first single ‘Show Me’ from his forthcoming EP ‘Energy Exchange’ carries the torch of ‘94-style hardcore while sitting comfortably alongside the new-gen jungle spirit both the label and DJ himself hav e become known for. Built on the energy and rhythmic vocabulary of the old school, but bringing the rawness and euphoria of that era onto modern dancefloors.
Speaking on the single, Dwarde said:
“I was in the middle of making lunch as the house tune with the piano sample came on the radio. It’s a big fave of mine and I was surprised that although it’s 32 years old it hadn’t ever been sampled in hardcore before, so I made the tune immediately after - it came together really quickly.”
Hailing from Darlington and now based in London, Dwarde is a key figure in the contemporary breakbeat and jungle revival as a producer and DJ. With releases on labels like Future Retro and Deep Jungle, and gigs at parties like Rupture, Dekmantel, Distant Planet and Outlook - he’s established himself as one of the scene’s most distinctive voices.
‘Energy Exchange’ brings both sides of that sound together across four tracks: two jungle cuts and two leaning into the brighter, happier end of hardcore, each with big vocals at its centre. Speaking on the EP, Dwarde said:
“I wanted to represent both jungle and the happier hardcore styles, so I’m glad that two of each will be released, all with big vocals at the centre! They’re actually the first set of tunes I’ve finished in a couple of years so I was buzzing to put them all out.
Matu Miranda has grown up in a state of constant movement. Changing homes, cities, schools, and horizons has shaped his worldview and fueled a body of work deeply informed by themes of displacement, transformation, and belonging. With APUAMA, his second album, the Brazilian singer, songwriter, and guitarist delivers his most personal work to date:a collection of songs exploring how we each construct our own sense of home through the encounters, departures, and returns that mark our lives. Driven by sensitive songwriting and organic production, APUAMA navigates a landscape of contemporary MPB, tropical folk, popular poetry, and Brazilian acoustic influences. From one song to the next, Matu charts an intimate journey where saudade is never synonymous with stagnation; instead,it becomes a driving forcethat compels him to move forward, discover, and forge connections. From the radiant landscapes of "E Bom Voltar" to the existential inquiries of "O Que Sera de Nos"-and the poetic manifesto of the title track, "Apuama"-the album tells the story of an artist learning to turn every place he visits into a form of home. The album also features notable collaborations with two of the most distinctive voices on the new Brazilian music scene.Singer-songwriter Josyaralends her sensitivity to "Ceu Azulzin," while Chico Chico joins Matu on "Estetica da Fome," a track inspired by major Brazilian cultural and social reflections. These collaborations extend the collective spirit that runs through the entire record and highlight Matu Miranda's ongoing dialogue with his artistic generation. The sound production was helmed by Leo Marques-a producer, sound engineer, and musician recognized as a key figure in Brazil's independent music scene. Marques notably won a Latin Grammy Award for his work on the album Sim Sim Sim by the group Bala Desejo, one of the most significant Brazilian records of recent years. This approach gives APUAMA a warm, vibrant, and timeless sound, allowing the songs to breathe and highlighting the richness of the acoustic arrangements. More than just a collection of songs, APUAMA is a journal of an inner journey. It is an album that speaks of movement, memory, nature, and the passing on of things-reminding us that, beyond borders, distances, and absences, there is always a place where one can feel at home.
Pablo Sánchez´s new solo album “Archipiélago” is out now. The new long player, a follow-up to his “Nocturnal” album as Basic Need will be released on Sisternoise Records and is a 42 minute voyage sailing through uncharted waters.
Every archipelago is a constellation of islands, distinct yet bound by invisible tides. Archipiélago, the latest work from Pablo Sánchez, follows this same geography of sound and memory. Its islands are not of sand and rock, but of places which inspired the artist throughout his life; Buenos Aires, Caracas, Puerto Rico, New York, Madrid, Berlin, and Barcelona. Each city has left a trace, a shoreline carved into Sánchez’s musical journey and left a distinctive musical mark.
The ten songs gathered here are like sovereign entities, each with its own character, its own rhythm, its own language. Together they form a single territory, a map drawn by musical experience, longing, and imagination. They are ports of call, but also fragments of a larger voyage, where tradition and experimentation, nostalgia and discovery, coexist to create a common territory. Along the way guest magicians Animal Feelings and Salomeya add their vocal sparks to the voyage.
Archipiélago is not a destination but a map of crossings, a territory of sound where the journey itself becomes home.
MASA 007 sees DJ Sodeyama at his most incisive and introspective, delivering three cuts of direct, mental techno, complemented by a powerful remix from Atomic moog. Across four tracks, the record flows with clarity and purpose, driven by sharply defined drums and acid-tinged textures, while layered with expansive ambient pads and evolving atmospheres, resulting in a sound that is both forceful and deeply immersive. Atomic moog’s reinterpretation, a signature of this modular wizard duo, built around earthy psychedelic pads, field recordings and organic synths, cements MASA 007 as a refined statement of modern techno’s cerebral intensity and emotional depth.
6 Track E.P. from Sarasota features 2 piano house tracks from 1997 enhanced for 2026 "Come One Now" & "Pleasure", a new remix of the 1996 track "We're Gettin' Hot" by Kenny Hayes and 3 new tracks. The Paradox (I Got A Feeling, Yeah) is a pumping house track that features a well known replayed melody and catchy vocal. The Paradox is the instrumental version. "Requiem For D.W." is a pumping trance monster with atmospheric piano and pads and a banging synth riff.
Rebecca Delle Piane makes her return on EMERALD with six tracks covering' Titania EP'. Driven by a steely determination to push herself further through sonic exploration and new creative approaches, she unveils a new direction in sound. A direction that feels both harsh and precise, yet equally clear and refined.
A much loved and missed record label headed up by Jacob Kelly (J.Cub) & Leena Sharma. A label that isn’t there to follow fashion, trends or be the next big thing, but a record label that is a platform to release music from Artists they love and support.There are no boundaries with the style of music they release, after all it is an Eclectic Avenue. WE ARE EAR!
Kicking things off on the A side is "Baby I’m 4 Real" is a summertime feel Deep House groove with a beautiful Soulful vocal running throughout.
On the flip is "That Storied Word" another Deep House groove with Steve Cobby playing a beautiful bassline that takes you throughout the whole track.
Rounding off the EP is "Juvenile Delinquent" which takes a step back in time with a break beat, heavy baseline and a familiar vocal sample, one for the “Heads”.
