quête:fields

Andrea opened this sophomore album Due In Color mostly during 2020 and 2021. You may reverb that those times were slightly crazy due to the small matter of a pandemic which is what lead the artists to explore a world of more hazy and experimental jazz sounds. That in turn inspired him to use more acoustic sounds in his music and so this is a record that turns its back on dark and booming club spaces and heads instead towards blooming fields of expansive downtempo, textured ambient and dreamy soundscapes.

Brånd is one weird/post black metal act from the Upper Austrian town of Linz.

Started off in 2015 as a solo act by Vritra (also in Kringa and Weathered Crest) with the need for a form of expression free from perfection or boundaries, over the past ten years the ever-evolving project ventured into various soundscapes, from crude black metal to lo-fi ambient and from ferocious post-punk to psych downer rock, all while splitting releases with extreme underground torchbearers like Absolute Key, Calvary and Rosa Nebel.

Joined by musicians to evolve old and new ideas, Brånd debut full-length album grew from 4-track demos gathered over the last decade to become an album of richly arranged songs from all over the fields of interest, breaking from their lo-fi tradition to new horizons.

To describe thoroughly “Tåg & Nåcht” is possibly the hardest task to do, given all the influences that are skilfully intertwined and perfectly balanced. In this witches’ brew the most schooled listeners will hear some angular post-punk à la Gang Of Four sustaining pagan declamations in the vein of Fenriz folk metal excursus Isengard. Straight forward dark anarcho punk assaults are mitigated by almost new age juxtapositions. Traces of 70’s German krautrock like La Düsseldorf are melted into a heavy metal cast, while wind instrument raids that are equally James Chance and Death In June seem to drop when least expected.

The sound is crunchy and surprisingly warm, contrary to what one might expect of a band emerging from a black metal background. But right now, Brånd is so much more than this: they can master a wide range of sounds that span from 70’s space rock, passing through 80’s post-punk and UK82, reaching 90’s black metal and 2000’s blackgaze, all in one incredibly coherent album. If this sounds too good to be true, suit yourself and press Play.
Split released with Tour De Garde in US/CA.

Replicant Memories is the seismic fallout from the clash between bvdub and East of Oceans: two of Brock Van Wey's three aliases representing different stylistic directions, while being vessels for the same unbridled oceanic creativity.

Within the four chapters of this epic, the bottomless emotion of bvdub melts into the euphoria of East of Oceans, electricity discharging and mists rising from their collision while they together reach new heights of intensity.

This music changes you. Like being exposed to forces of nature, there is no holding back and no place to hide within its wild embrace. It is music for surrendering into. And be left in gratitude for.

Pressed on 140 gram 10”.

D.D. Mirage return with new single “Echoes”, a lovers meditation featuring North Carolina’s Teddy Bryant, who delivers a velvet vocal performance steeped in yearning and late night reverie. The chorus “the things you do for love echo in my mind all night” hits the melancholy sweet spot, wrapped in the rich and authentically 80s sounding production we’ve come to expect from D.D. Mirage.

The Sydney based duo, now expanded into a full four piece live band, continue to stretch their sound beyond the Balearic and Dub tinted palette of their debut Exotic Illusions released earlier this year. With production assistance from Jono Ma, they capture a lush, cinematic space where street soul sentiment meets modern dream pop psychedelia, the kind of record that slips perfectly between Sade, Tom Tom Club and a lost Compass Point B-side. Flip the record for the Introspective Dub: a drifting, dubbed out companion that strips back the vocal to its echoes and lets the rhythm bloom.

Following live appearances at Dark Mofo and SXSW Sydney in 2025, D.D. Mirage round off the year with a live performance at Victoria’s Strawberry Fields festival mid November.

artwork and sticker by Bradley Pinkerton.

'Yara Asmar’s new album presents 11 pieces recorded over the past year between the small town of Alfred in upstate New York and Beirut. These sometimes fragile and tentative sound sketches reflect the times as Yara steps out, as if onto ice, into a new life on a new continent during a time of tragedy, turmoil and upheaval. She works with unfamiliar instruments, new materials and new sounds to build on her intimate style; homemade mechanical music boxes and a personal archive of family recordings form the backbone of its delicate textures. Asmar explores the peculiar resonance of the metallophone and her collection of deconstructed toy pianos, and guides her music into ever more surreal territories. The result is a work that is dreamlike, fragmentary and strangely timeless.'

Making this album was an absolute joy. We used Rothko’s artwork as a major influence. His use of colour fields, blending, mood and scale really helped us build an album of tracks that could stand on their own and also work together as a coherent whole across all the tones we had been working with. It was also a chance to fall back in love with our 909, 808 and 707.

While working on music for several other projects, the “Rothko” project got renamed Loud Ambient because it did not really sit right with the My Brutal Life series. We often talked about what people make of The Black Dog and whether they think we only make ambient music. We do not. Over the last year or so, one of us would be working on something and someone else would say, “That is a Loud Ambient track.” The name stuck. We liked the funny side of it.

With Loud Ambient, everything just fell into place creatively. Surprisingly for us, the tracklisting never changed, just small tweaks here and there. That rarely happens. It marks a first for us as a band. All the stars aligned and the confidence in this album is the strongest we have ever had.

Loud Ambient was made to dance to, something we have not done in a while. We welcome the return to the dancefloor with both hands. Will you join us?

Updated remixes of two big Balearic classics on Best Record! "Describing Linda Di Franco is no easy task: a reserved, sometimes elusive artist with a career that is difficult to define. From an early age she was interested in various artistic fields. Working as a DJ in clubs, then on the radio, she took the opportunity to record her first musical demo, Stage, obtaining international recognition which quickly took her to England and to the States, where she recorded her first compositions, My Boss and T.V. Scene. The songs are of great value and achieve unexpected success, also included in The Rise Of The Heart, a milestone in the nascent revolution of club culture, a Balearic classic supported by DJs in love with the indefinable sound of Ibiza. But Linda is extraordinarily ahead of her time and despite the enormous fame has gained with her songs she is already oriented towards a career as a music video director. For this reason the Turin singer-songwriter turns out to be one of the least fruitful artists of her time, while her CV in Hollywood is impressive in various roles which she holds, in addition to that of actress and director, that of impeccable sound technique. Intelligent artist, full of good and positive feelings and certainly also ambitious, but extremely scrupulous by subjecting sounds in cinema to careful review. Yes! The "sound" is an investigative tool for her, a way of understanding art. Linda Di Franco is - willy-nilly - still the undisputed queen of the Balearic sound today. So, she decided to produce Redux, a limited edition album published by Best Record, in which her most intrepid and famous songs are re-proposed in the jazz versions edited by her friends from Turin and Los Angeles. Then she had to give in to the boundless passion of Danilo Braca, the Italian DJ based in New York, who deserves credit for the successful combination of refined and ethereal songs with the disco genre. TV. Scene - Epic Remix, TV. Scene - Costa del Sol Mix and My Boss - Remix are Danilo's pearls, created with the help of excellent international musicians who with more defined and current sounds have added their art to that of Linda."

Ritual Dance - is a sound journey, where futurism and the obsolete merge into a new world. Arash & Quasar (truth and star) - is a duo of electronic producers, friends, DJs, rare record collectors and artists, Pavel Grachev and Vitaly Zhul'kov. Their approach for music making compiles elements of various cultures and eras, resulting in fresh and trippy sonic labyrinths. The title track puts the listener in a state of trance and wild fields, where shaman dance moves take over the existense. Powerful percussion, rich synth textures and traditional instruments are mixed in one. 'Acid Krishna' extends the trip, adding acid basslines and meditative flavour. A true morning anthem of a proper rave trip. 'Lokum' is exploring the deepness of the East through melodies, that sweeten up your adventure away from the daily reality. The flip side starts with 'Opium', where slow beats suck you in the abyss more and more. 'Truth & Star' - is an energy exchange ceremony, where Arash & Quasar become rhythm wizards and dictate how you move and feel, just like snakes dance to the magic flute... The Truth refers to the inner awakening and The Star is the symbol of the external shine. 'Desert' is the final chapter of the trip, evolving into eternity, just like a caravan dissolves in the endless desert, hot air and the blue night... Besides studio work, Arash & Quasar share videos of their own trips and adventures via Youtube-chanel, called DIG LOTO. Together with their best friend, the portative Vestax Handy Trax vinyl player, they search for rare records in remote destinations.

Perhaps you've chanced upon a Number Station, unwittingly as you scour the shortwave bands, and heard a cold, disconnected voice repeating simple commands endlessly into the ether. Or maybe you've scanned past a series of bleeps and pips, or pockets of noise, thinking nothing of them, as you seek a favoured music station. These are messages, to those who know how to receive them, and are able decode them in their various forms and configurations.

Shropshire Number Stations - Recordings of Covert Shortwave Radio Stations charts the covert shortwave radio stations broadcasting silently through the air around us, to aspirant agents in the fields of Shropshire, UK and the counties which surround it. These two continuous sides include recordings of 19 such lay-stations, captured by Eric Loveland Heath at various points over the last few years. The true nature of these amateur networks may never be known, nor might their cyphers ever be revealed. These are recordings of their activities, made conceivably for the sake of posterity alone, offering a glimpse into clandestine worlds otherwise obscured from view.

This is the fourth volume in the collection dedicated to the Arlecchino nightclub in Santa Maria Codifiume, in the province of Ferrara. It's once again a double-vinyl set that gathers the best of Afro, Funky, Rare Groove, and Black Music, as played at the club by resident DJs Giancarlo Lelli, DJ Ghello, and DJ Frank.

Continuing the percussive-driven and emotive themes from his previous EPs, CAIN reaches beyond the boundaries of experimental electronic and Celtic music from the Scottish Highlands. "Lineage" is the result of a life-long goal to combine his passion and experience in these respective worlds. The album includes Brighde Chaimbeul on Scottish small pipes, James Mackenzie on flute and vocals by Katie Mackenzie.

The common thread that connects his discography is the intense rhythmic and melodic elements that convey his love of ‘infectious rhythm, ethereal beauty, or an otherworldly strangeness’. His productions have garnered support from DJs like Ben UFO, Gilles Peterson, Peggy Gou, Hunee, Haai, Erol Alkan, Ame, Oneman, and Midland, amongst others. Balancing rhythmic precision with profound harmonic depth, CAIN weaves evocative builders that ignite dancefloors at peak time and reveal intricate sonic tapestries in the intimate confines of headphones.

CAIN's musical background is rooted in traditional Scottish bagpipe music, which evolved through his competitive performances on an international level. His experience and knowledge enhanced CAIN’s understanding of how regional folk music reflects specific environments and cultures. Through the competition circuit he met Brìghde Chaimbeul, out on the scenic games fields of Uist, Glenfinnan and many others. He also competed against James Mackenzie, an amazing piper and flautist. James is a former member of the band Breabach. His wife, Katie Mackenzie is a superb Gaelic singer.

The recordings with James and Katie were done on the island of Bernera, off the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides and recordings with Brìghde were made in Edinburgh.

Mastered by Sam at Precise, Design by Alexander Horne, Pressed and printed at Record Industry

MCRV017 – Transient States. Feedback is an evocative four-track compilation that captures the deep essence of dub techno—equally suited for the dancefloor and for immersive, focused listening. Label veterans Eric Louis, Genning, Osman Oz, SUBMINIMAL (with a Tvardovsky remix), and Etzu Mahkayah all contribute. From the very first listen, the EP draws in discerning ears with its richness and detail.

Each track unfolds smoothly, evoking deep emotional textures and building a sensuous, introspective atmosphere. The release moves from subtle cues to vast sonic terrains, weaving through warm harmonics and resonant low-end thumps that captivate the body as much as the mind.

These tracks are ideal for transitional moments in a DJ set, yet stand strong on their own. Whether elevating the narrative arc, introducing mid-set tension, or closing a journey with emotional depth, each piece functions as a zealous tool for navigating sensation—crafted not just for movement, but for lasting memory.

Transient States exudes quiet power beneath a deliberate veil of restraint. Emotionally charged, sonically rich, and full of nuance, this release is a standout addition to any selector’s arsenal.

Limited edition

Swearing allegiance to always bring the ruckus, Intermood is an instrumental four-piece hailing from the far reaches of planet Earth—Melbourne/Naarm, Australia. Since their debut show in October 2022, the band’s electrifying live performances have caught the attention of the city’s thriving dance and instrumental music scene, earning them spots at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival and Strawberry Fields Festival.

Blending psychedelic jazz with high-energy neo-disco, Intermood is guaranteed to make you move. Their debut EP, Casuarina, backed by Stone Pixels Records.

Flickering, the holodeck screen displayed the decrypted data… Schematics for an illegal type of field generator… Waves of Full Metal Frequencies could override any anti-music technology… A tetrad fusion core is required… Scour the edges of the planet to find it… “These guys from Zeta Reticuli are no joke”… “You’d have to be insane to pilot this thing”…


An expanded and remastered reissue of the 2009 debut album the collaborative musical project. Vocals and songs from Julianne Regan (All About Eve), Monica Richards (Faith & the Muse), Evi Vine and Amandine Ferrari. Enhanced by violin from Van Morrison/ Penguin Café"s Bob Loveday, Steve Carey on guitars, Fields of the Nephilim"s Tony Pettitt on bass, plus many friends. The album came about from Carey & Pettitt exploring music they enjoyed, and deciding on a revolving line-up of female voices. The result was an amalgam of trip-hop, prog rock and exotic goth-rock, enriched by lyrics and vocals from four exceptional female artists. The album now includes an additional six songs recorded around the same sessions as the original album. The band subsequently had five more releases and regularly toured the UK & Europe.

The landscapes of Orlan 19 resembled the dream of a mad cartographer: cliffs were floating above the surface, horizons were bending and vanishing into infinity, and energy vortices were flaring up beneath their feet in psychedelic patterns. The familiar laws of physics didn’t apply here — gravity shifted chaotically, and time flew with unpredictable intensity. As Spacelunch, absorbed in thought, stroked the ground which distorted like a mirage under his touch, Cat’s grumbling echoed simultaneously from the past and future:

— Doc, don’t you think we’re just walking in circles?
— No wonder. That’s how inverse modelling works. Every action we take reshapes the surrounding space.
— Can you explain it in simpler terms? There’s only one genius here.
— Ever heard of the Philadelphia Experiment?
— Of course! You know how much I love sushi rolls!
— Well, I set myself up for this predicament… Back in my university days, we experimented with magnetic fields trying to program them by thought. You get where I’m going, don’t you? The planet is reacting to our intentions. So, focus on visualizing the portal.

The confusion on Cat’s face gave way to a mask of detachment. Clusters of matter began to tremble pulling the threads of reality to their breaking point before finally forming a vortex. Having devoured as much as it could, the vortex snapped shut with a loud pop and dissolved in a blinding flash.

As the scene began to take shape, silhouettes emerged under the soft glow of a desk lamp, evoking an overwhelming sense of nostalgia. A worn desk and a small bed stood by the wall adorned with faded photographs, while the floor let out a gentle creak underfoot. The clearer the interior came to be, the more paralyzing the realization, and the more elusive the explanation for what had happened became.

— Holy…! Cat, are we looking at the same thing?
— Yeah, but… This can’t be real.

Spacelunch slowly approached the window and froze still. A single thought raced through his mind: “The only force strong enough to pull me this far… was love.”

What happens when you combine SUMAC: a band that uses the volume, distortion, and guitar-centric approach of metal to make music that has the malleability of jazz and textural exploration of noise with Moor Mother: a poet and sound artist that has deconstructed hip hop to a point where it"s less about rhyme and rhythm (though obviously both are present in her work) and more about oratorical cadence and power.

The Film is an album that takes attributes of both artists" work and finds common ground in shifting musical patterns, and expressive force. The record is a musical thumbing of their noses at the more traditional approaches of their respective fields, an innovative, powerhouse of an album. The Film"s moniker speaks to the fact that it is conceived and delivered as a complete album, a full story or narrative. Moor Mother puts it best: "The idea is to create a moment outside of the convention. This is a work of art.

Thinking about the work as a Film, instead of an album or a collection of songs. This task is impossible in an industry that wants to force everything into a box of consumption. You won"t understand or get the full picture until the artwork is completed. This work is developing and is requesting more agency within the creative process." The Film is just such a work, a nebulitic collaboration between SUMAC and Moor Mother.

A Colourful Storm proudly presents a remastered first-time vinyl editions of Lone Capture Library's modern-day DIY environmental masterpiece, All Natures Most Mundane Materials. "Environmental"? While this certainly wasn't recorded for dinner party ambience nor was it commissioned by Harrods, it does document a haphazard wander through the English countryside, feeling the air and the earth, detaching oneself from confinement and attempting to make sense of it all. Its protagonist is Rory Salter, London's restless improvisor extraordinaire, who has contributed to dozens of solo and collaborative releases in an ecosystem branched from his Infant Tree private press. Under his alias Malvern Brume, he is responsible for some of the most enchanting sides of contemporary concrète that's graced our ears: dérives revealing beauty and curiosity within London's urban banality. And while we'd argue that Lone Capture Library applies this approach but seeks the peculiar within the pastoral, there also lies a certain hermetic recklessness, with its disruptive details and discarded sonic bric-a-brac.

"I'd walked from Swindon to Avebury and back, which is about a 21-mile round trip. I'd been a muppet and did the whole thing down the A4361, which is not a road suitable for walking on - there was a lot of jumping into the hedges to avoid lorries. Turned out, there was a really nice walk across the fields I could have done instead. But maybe that sums it up quite well. Instinctive and very impulsive. The day following, I was at home and recorded it in single takes, improvised and straight to the tape. There was a good deal of significance for me in walking to the stones, passing the Hackpen Horse, being in the landscape and dealing with some brain rot after being stuck in a house, anxious and depressed. There was a sense of freedom and detachment. It was all about the materials of the earth and the body and fucking the brain off for a bit - just wanting to move between places. I dunno, it's all very cliché."

Placid aka Paul Wise is the chief in command at ‘We’re Going Deep’ – an online community and record label, born out of a lifelong affair with the many shades of electronic rhythm and obsession for collecting records since 1988.

Known to many in underground House and Techno circles, he’s spent the last 3 decades moving heads and feet at select venues, parties and fields across the UK and beyond. On a mission to share and release new music via his imprint: you’ll find only the best in Acid, Electro, IDM, Techno and Deep House for the dance floor, front room or even just your headphones.

For the latest solo series edition, Paul reaches out to the talents of UK based songwriter and producer James Shinra, for a heavyweight 4 track EP of 303 fuelled excursions. Hitting the floor head on with the muscular tones of “Jaunt” on A1 – punchy 808 percussion builds with jarring rave-etched synthesis, before rushing into the roar of a 303 grabs you by the scruff of the neck and unleashes a rolling groove that jacks hard until the twisted end. Do not be fooled by the calmer overtures of A2 “Venture”, Shinra unleashes another rolling 4 to the 4 floor workout. Balancing airy leads and shifting pads to precision programmed beats, the TB saws its way through to maximum frequency exposure over the course to brazen effect.

On the B-Side, B1 “WASP” takes control via deeper bass tones, squelching tweaks and A-A-Acid vocal chants, all paced at a solid mid-tempo groove that really brings things to the boil: just when you need it. Signing off with the stunning IDM inflected melodies of “Flexion” on B2 – Shinra shows his mastery of space and warmth with this beautifully balanced slice of Electronica that really is the icing on the cake.

** Cassette release

""A Synonym for Repetition" weaves together a tapestry of parallels, all intricately linked to Japan. The project initiates with a collaboration with a Tokyo-based musician, which ultimately fails to materialise during Jason Kolar’s recent visit to the country.

From an original approach that has to mutate in its starting phase, the record was conceived from the beginning to embody a sincere homage to Ryuichi Sakamoto, also a Tokyo native. Shaping ideas within the context of a city with a vibrant soundscape, through an exploration where tradition and modernity intersect in an ongoing quest for correspondences.

Yet, the barriers of language and cultural disparity emerge, casting a veil over the perceived connections and rendering them more projection than reality. This dynamic delineates the space observed from an external perspective, perpetually distant from true understanding, framing it in the fields of imagination, both Japan and Sakamoto. Nonetheless, Kolar tries to pay an honest ode to the artist and its scenic background, with all the implications and contradictions of this kind of process, even with the risk of falling into clichés, pastiches, and Eurocentric bias.

Connecting it to ‘vertical listening’ rather than to an obvious tribute exercise, he has morphed his sound to a synthetic and midi approach, aiming to set an ironically fictitious stage, one that resembles something, but it’s not really it."

180 G. BLACK VINYL WITH LINER NOTES IN CREOLE, FRENCH, ENGLISH

Originally released in 1979, "Spiritual Sound" lives up to its name, a soaring, triumphant album, six tracks of spirit magic from Guadeloupe.

Telluric, intense, terribly alive, the gwoka drums of Guadeloupe carry the identity of a painful and fervent island. Marked forever by the crime of slavery, Guadeloupe's créolité cherishes the ka drums and their natural environment: the low-pitched boula drum with male goatskin, the high-pitched soloist makè drum with female goatskin, the chacha, ti bwa, triangle, calabash and other percussion instruments that surround them, and the voices - the fiery, proud, timbred, urgent voices of the gwoka.



This album is also a legend for its voices: in his then dazzling youth, singer Lukuber Séjor was one of the first gwoka artists to largely feminize the chorus of répondè, who converse with his text delivered in a straight and powerful voice.

And everything here sets new standards. In 1979, Mizik Filamonik - Spiritual Sound proclaimed a spiritual patriotism of ferocious intensity. The album by Lukuber Séjor - whose spelling alone is a battle - sets out to give Guadeloupe the intangible weapons of self-respect and self-knowledge, through a singular practice of traditional music.

The genesis of gwoka music is less straightforward than one might imagine... The drums performed the servile task of accompanying the work of slaves in the fields and during the “corvées” imposed by the administration, before being freely practiced by the common people after the abolition of 1848. At the heart of the conviviality of the Guadeloupeans furthest from the cities - geographically and socially - the gwoka drums come out for carnival, funeral wakes and neighborhood celebrations, but also during strikes, fits of anger and armed vigils of the riots and revolts that have punctuated the island's history. For generations, governors of the colony and then the prefects of the overseas department of Guadeloupe have been viewing the gwoka as a potential for turbulence and a threat to public order.

But as the Beatlesmania, “chanson engagée” and rock revolutions unfolded in Europe, young people turned to the drums of mizik a vié nèg (“bad negro music”, in Creole), which Guadeloupeans had learned to despise by following the “assimilation” process advocated by the school system and most of the political class. At the end of the sixties, in a Guadeloupe mourning the deadly repression of the May 1967 social movement, they played traditional music, refusing to wrap it up in tourist prettiness and madras folk costumes. Instinctively, they played a rough and contemporary gwoka, led by the incendiary Guy Konkèt. This was the era of decisive 45 rpm records such as Robert Loyson's Kann a la richès, which brought to light the fieriest words of union rallies.

At his home in Sainte-Anne, Lukuber Séjor played with flautist Olivier Vamur and his brother Claude Vamur, who cobbled together a drum kit from tin crockery and became, a few years later, the most influential drummer in Kassav'.

These were the years of the Bumidom program, when young Guadeloupeans were encouraged to emigrate to mainland France. At the age of twenty, Lukuber Séjor embarked on the liner Irpinia, disembarking at Le Havre and taking the train to the Gare Saint-Lazare - the route taken by thousands of young West Indians who went on to study or looked for work, all the while trying to maintain a link with their homeland. In this case, it's at the Antony university residence, where Lukuber played the drum and participated in a thousand gwoka updates and aggiornamentos, while exile reinforced the need for a spiritual link with the native land.

In 1978, Guy Konkèt played at the Salle Wagram, a historic event for West Indian music. After serving as répondè - i.e. backing vocalist - on one of his home-recorded albums, Lukuber joined his live band. Little by little, he became one of the key artists on a circuit parallel to French show business. At a student party in Caen, he met a young woman from Martinique who, at the time, was more motivated by her ambitions as a visual artist than by her vocation as a musician. Her name was Jocelyne Béroard and, a few years before she plunged into the Kassav' adventure and became the greatest West Indian singer of her generation, she designed the cover of Lukuber Séjor's LP.

This ambition was obvious and imposed its will. A more or less regular band was formed, with Roger Raspail, Rudy Mompière and Éric Danquin on ka drums, Claude Vamur on ti bwa, Olivier Vamur and Françoise Lancréot on flutes and Annick Noël on keyboards. Lukuber Séjor is set on wanting to extend the gwoka palette to other instruments, as the jazz-rock revolution opens a thousand new doors. Annick Noël will play a wide range of timbres and textures on electric piano and synthesizer. Another novelty: the répondè are two men and two women, Roger Raspail, Olivier Vamur, Françoise Lancréot and Maryann Mathéus ...

Mizik Filamonik - Spiritual Sound is a self-production in which the singer and leader sank all his savings, allowing him no more than a single day in the studio. The first side is more of a musical manifesto, with the first two tracks, Éritage and Penn é plézi, being instrumentals. The third, Son, forcefully celebrates the need for Guadeloupeans to connect with the gwoka. In fact, Jocelyne Béroard's cover shows a tambouyé in the shadow of a cloudy sky, against which a radiant sun is rising and whose light will soon flood the entire landscape. The silhouette and face of this man strongly evoke the immense Vélo, master of the ka, rejected at the time on the fringes of society.

The second side of the LP is surprising. Formally, three tracks are explicitly linked like the three parts of a triptych. Primyé voyaj evokes the appalling tribulation of Africans deported as slaves to Guadeloupe; dézyèm voyaj speaks of the Bumidom program and the economic, political and social forces driving young Guadeloupeans towards the mirage of prosperity in France; twazyèm voyaj closes the cycle with the emigrants' return from Europe after years away from their island...

This gwoka, obsessed with the need to save Guadeloupe spiritually, appeals far beyond the politicized audience. Mizik Filamonik - Spiritual Sound instantly became a classic, although Lukuber Séjor never really made a career for himself as a musician.

After all, the album was released in 1980, with no promotional resources in France or Guadeloupe - and therefore no concerts. The thirty-two-year-old author, composer and performer made his own third trip back to Guadeloupe. He set up a small woodworking business, which he lost in Hurricane Hugo in 1989. His other activity, teaching in a medical-educational institute, became the core of his professional life. He continued to be an active campaigner - a campaigner for the Creole language, a campaigner for the reawakening of identity, a campaigner for special education, a campaigner for a thousand causes that he ignited with his generous and perceptive enthusiasm, such as the defense of breadfruit fries...

The echoes of his 1979 album have not died down. Of course, the use of Penn é plézi as the theme tune for Radio Guadeloupe's funeral notices from 1980 to 1992 kept him in the collective memory, but he continues to sing and compose sporadically, as with his all-female

vocal group Vwapoulouéka... Still convinced that music is a means of liberating the spirit, he continues the journey of a young man eager to deploy the power of Creole music and language.

Bertrand Dicale

Chris Ryan Williams (trumpet & electronics) and Lester St. Louis (cello & electronics) work together as HxH (H by H). Their skills have seen them move smoothly across various situations, constantly carving out new terrain and working in new configurations of musicians at a rapid pace. While worth reading, their biographies capture only a part of their complex rhizome.

HxH started about three years ago. The project is a direct response to all their activity with others and more importantly all their future leaning sonic desires. Their debut album STARK PHENOMENA is both their first studio recording and their first physical release. The album is appropriately set to be released by KMRU on his growing label OFNOT. It’s an ideal introduction to their sound world and their approach.

HxH describe their music as “electroacoustic,” but until recently the presence of Black musicians in this field has been greatly overlooked and largely ignored, making this phrase only partially appropriate. What HxH do really is to always be unpredictable. Every gig is a new soundscape. Sometimes you might hear echoes of Autechre or Robert Hood but then the sound-field will open up into a new terrain all their own. Chris and Lester bring together techniques from across the sound spectrum of electronic music and also draw on their deep backgrounds in Jazz, Improvisation, Classical and Noise scenes to create a sound that is true to them. After all, these two have worked with the likes of Bennie Maupin and the music of Black Fluxus artist Ben Patterson. Their rhizome is deep.

One of the ways that their unique approach manifests is in their merging of both acoustic instruments and electronic instruments in real time. This is something few have managed to do – but their spontaneous leanings work in both complex and accessible ways because of their deep understanding of landscape crafting. You can hear this clearly on the track “Pyrex Vision.” Their approach makes it tempting to compare their music to Sun Ra jamming with Laurel Halo – a comparison that would be only partly accurate.

Chris and Lester note that the sounds on STARK PHENOMENA are “imbued with such hopeful, gracious care; one that is far flung from obsessive carefulness or fuck the world carelessness, but more a caring embrace without the fuzziness of nostalgia.”

They note that when they began working together, they would “always come back to speaking on our concepts of an architecture of the expanse,” noting that their live sets often take on the joyfully noisy task of “dreaming big.” For HxH it was essential that STARK PHENOMENA have a quality that is “almost sculptural.” They consider the album “an object to be viewed from all sides.” This kind of thinking has resulted in them directly engaging with numerous sculptors and artists including Torkwase Dyson. Shape wise HxH’s sound fields work in a parallel to Dyson’s black architectural works.

They also note that the opening cut “BEACH” (the opening and longest track from the album) was “written weeks after our first gig in a studio session donated to us by our dear friend jaimie branch.” And that Pyrex Vision “was continually being edited months after sending our ‘final mixes’ to KMRU.” Their sound sources and samples come from studio sessions, live gigs, durational installations, 3am improvised downloads and more.

KMRU notes: "I think there is an in-between layer on this record. I was first caught by the Pyrex Vision track which organically flows between monologue, subtle field recording, and instrumentation. It's such a beautiful track, evoking deep emotion through simplicity. STARK PHENOMENA effortlessly glides in between imaginative mosaics of sounds — free yet complex — unlocking memories within its layers."

Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes is the debut album from Gregory Uhlmann (SML, Anna Butterss, Duffy x Uhlmann, Perfume Genius), Josh Johnson (SML, Jeff Parker ETA IVtet & New Breed, Meshell Ndegeocello, Anna Butterss, Leon Bridges), and Sam Wilkes (Sam Gendel, Louis Cole, Chaka Khan). The three improviser/arranger/producers' impressive individual credits encompass such a wide stylistic pendulum swing that a collection of group music from the trio could mine any number of musical territories with masterful results. I n these 11 instrumental songs, the trio explores a spacious lyrical curiosity that could b e described as a jazz-informed take o n progressive electro-acoustic chamber music.

Conceived during two live shows at ETA and a session at Uhlmann's house in Los Angeles, the album maintains a focus on beauty, melody, and rhythm as the pieces unfold, with the trio pushing their instruments and highly-dialed effects to sculpt otherworldly sounds with the collective sensibility o f a rhythm section. The ethos of these instant compositions is arrangement-minded improvisation that showcases the mournful beauty of Uhlmann's fingerpicked electric guitar, the hybrid rhythm-lead of Wilkes' bass chording, and the textural harmonic worldbuilding of Johnson's effect-laden alto saxophone.

Karen has launched her solo career with Essentials, a collection that summaries her career as a jazz singer.

repress !

Paranoid London, the electronic band of Gerardo Delgado and Quinn Whalley, has become synonymous with stripping acid house back down to its basics, rescuing the sound from smiley faces, rave, and sugary excess while paying respects to its gay, black, American roots. Performing mainly live with hardware only, often with vocal guests, as well as unique hybrid DJ sets, the duo has established a tongue in cheek, grumpy punk sound and attitude without taking it too seriously.

Following 2019’s latest album PL and a bunch of 12” singles and edits, their new long-player Arseholes, Liars, and Electronic Pioneers refers to the cavalcade of c***s we find ourselves surrounded by. Our only respite being the joy that musical geniuses bring. The cover artwork and gatefold of the vinyl reflect this with a collage-like poster including personalities of all kinds, from politicians and royalty to music legends. When we asked them to highlight key music pioneers from their picks, they mentioned American electro don Aldo Marin, British producer Andrea Parker and Post Punk band WIRE.

Inspired by early ‘90s British prog house on the likes of Sabres Of Paradise Records and Guerilla Records, the album presents a step up on their production while the anarchic attitude remains unaltered, unadulterated and undiluted.

In Quinn’s words: the album has a slightly more Hi-Fi sound than previous efforts, but retains the urgency and punk rock attitude that we're known for. It was tested over the summer, where it lit up festival stages at Glastonbury, Houghton, Love International, and many, many others.

As expected, PL has recruited a bunch of special guests on vocals including Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie, US house veteran Monica “DJ Genesis” Lockett, the novo-New Romantic/gothic, Jennifer Touch, and Joe Love, from Fat Dog, Brixton’s current ones-to-watch. As well, previous collaborators Josh Caffe and Mutado Pintado return for new recordings. All bring something unique to the party, while integrating perfectly with PL’s Fuck you! circuitry.

Mark Hawkins has had a career in music spanning the past 25 years.
It has encompassed torturing Goa trance ravers with esoteric techno records on Welsh hillsides in the mid '90s, hanging with UK house heads like the DiY and Smokescreen sound-systems around quarries, fields, clubs and pubs in the Midlands, after which he found his initial niche in producing punky techno around the turn of the millennium for labels like Djax Up Beats and Mosquito.
After an eight-year stint producing, releasing and playing out proper underground house music as Marquis Hawkes on labels like Houndstooth and Aus Music, making techno records for DVS1's Mistress imprint and Len Faki's Figure recordings as Juxta Position, alongside other work under the names Contactless and Falcon Black Ops for Unknown To The Unknown, Hawkins now embarks on the next phase of his career, which will gradually amalgamate his broad influences into one unique sound.

The Alarm 40th Anniversary release History Repeating is new Double CD and LP collection. The CD features 44 of The Alarm’s biggest singles and greatest songs and the double LP features 27.
Spanning all eras of The Alarm Timeline, History Repeating brings together all of the band’s ‘Crown Jewels’, including a brand new and previously unreleased recording of the title track.
History Repeating features all of the keynote tracks that have helped create The Alarm’s phenomenal and loyally dedicated following. The Double CD comes in a replica LP gatefold sleeve configuration and is the most comprehensive ‘Best Of’ ever released by the group since 1998’s Best of The Alarm and Mike Peters.
The Double LP comes in a gatefold configuration and is the first ‘Best Of’ compilation to appear on vinyl since 1990’s Standards. This is the record every single Alarm fan will want to own with its distinctive Red Poppy cover and beautiful depiction of The Alarm family across the inner gatefold.
Upon release, lead singer Mike Peters will be hosting a series of completely SOLD OUT Alarm Rock and Roll Staycations in the band’s hometown while telling the story of The Alarm through thealarms internet broadcast platform
The Big Night In, that will feature weekly shows dedicated to every single year of the band’s history.
In 2022, a major touring itinerary begins with the already SOLD OUT official 40th Anniversary Concert in St. David’s Hall, Cardiff Wales on January 21st 2022 followed by an international 40th Anniversary concert schedule all the way through to 2023.

DINTE presents a cassette-only two-part Japanese post-punk, goth & new wave mixtape, the first in a tranche of regionally-focused mixes produced in partnership with Philadelphia's punk archivists World Gone Mad.

Thick chords, swirling organs and timeless grooves intermingle on Unrestful Mind, the latest entry from A Thousand Details on HAYES.

ROD MODELL : MUSIC FOR BUS STATIONS

MUSIC FOR BUS STATIONS is an astonishing work that pours into the soul of those allowing themselves to be transported in a dimension where sound turns into background noise. Sound becomes part of us, of our movements, our thoughts, our looks and our silences. There is no reason for resistance. Let's be silent. The noise around us is quite good.

"Generative sonic backdrop for bus stations. Designed to enhance space and portray a mod of progressiveness, grandeur, and ethereal calm. A slowly shifting static backdrop designed to enhance modern architecture, rather than compete with it. Sounding as if the structure itself was resonanting. Hovering sound-fields that utilizes sonic phenomena proven to induce states of calm. Can be presented as a multichannel, polyrhythmic installation with different components of the composition emanating form different areas within the structure, and elements constantly shifting in relationship to other elements, creating an organic sonic-tapestry that never repeats the same way. In essence, the soundscape becoming a living organism with unpredictable behavior. Inspired by avant-garde bus station designs such as Domitianus Arquitectura's station in Rio Maior, Portugal; Bluck & Morgen's Busbahnhof Poppenbuttel in Hamburg, Germany; and Metaraum Architect's bus station in Pzorzheim, Germany."
Rod Modell, January 2024

ROD MODELL (Deepchord): MUSIC FOR BUS STATIONS BS (Part 2/2)

MUSIC FOR BUS STATIONS is an astonishing work that pours into the soul of those allowing themselves to be transported in a dimension where sound turns into background noise. Sound becomes part of us, of our movements, our thoughts, our looks and our silences. There is no reason for resistance. Let's be silent. The noise around us is quite good.

"Generative sonic backdrop for bus stations. Designed to enhance space and portray a mod of progressiveness, grandeur, and ethereal calm. A slowly shifting static backdrop designed to enhance modern architecture, rather than compete with it. Sounding as if the structure itself was resonanting. Hovering sound-fields that utilizes sonic phenomena proven to induce states of calm. Can be presented as a multichannel, polyrhythmic installation with different components of the composition emanating form different areas within the structure, and elements constantly shifting in relationship to other elements, creating an organic sonic-tapestry that never repeats the same way. In essence, the soundscape becoming a living organism with unpredictable behavior. Inspired by avant-garde bus station designs such as Domitianus Arquitectura's station in Rio Maior, Portugal; Bluck & Morgen's Busbahnhof Poppenbuttel in Hamburg, Germany; and Metaraum Architect's bus station in Pzorzheim, Germany."
Rod Modell, January 2024

RAWAX welcomes Vinyl Speed Adjust to the Family! We are very happy to present you this talented Duo on our RWX-Series on two ep's! This first outstanding release, called "All About Us" will be out first week of July. The second release will be out in September. Stay tuned!

For over a decade, Mako has been a distinctive presence, both as an individual and through his music, a talent we've proudly showcased at Metalheadz.



This September, we are honoured to release his third album on the label, and his second solo endeavour, which serves as a seamless continuation of his earlier work. His 2020 album, 'Oeuvre', represented years of dedication and refined production, solidifying Mako's esteemed place within the Metalheadz family.



Now, four years later, we're thrilled to present 'Oeuvre – Part 2'. This 12-track album is a celebration of Mako's deep passion for music, while also reflecting his sometimes disillusioned views on a modern era that often seems to pass us by. In a world where individuality can struggle to shine amidst an overwhelming flood of content, Mako's superior production stands out as a beacon, demanding not just recognition, but active listening.



Mako's commitment to his musical community is evident throughout the album, with contributions from long-time collaborators Fields, Hydro, Villem, and Mikal, each bringing their unique expertise to the project. The album also features a special collaboration with the late Marcus Intalex, a friendship that blossomed in the years before Marcus' untimely passing and one that continues to bear fruit.



Diving into the heart of the album reveals Mako's charm as a producer: from the captivating vocals in 'Feed You', the sleek homage to techstep in "Suspension', to the pure dancefloor energy of 'Direct Source', a track long favoured by Goldie. As expected, Mako also delivers deeper, more contemplative pieces like the album's opener 'True Expression' and the graceful melodies of 'Overshare'.

For over a decade, Mako has been a distinctive presence, both as an individual and through his music, a talent we've proudly showcased at Metalheadz.



This September, we are honoured to release his third album on the label, and his second solo endeavour, which serves as a seamless continuation of his earlier work. His 2020 album, 'Oeuvre', represented years of dedication and refined production, solidifying Mako's esteemed place within the Metalheadz family.



Now, four years later, we're thrilled to present 'Oeuvre – Part 2'. This 12-track album is a celebration of Mako's deep passion for music, while also reflecting his sometimes disillusioned views on a modern era that often seems to pass us by. In a world where individuality can struggle to shine amidst an overwhelming flood of content, Mako's superior production stands out as a beacon, demanding not just recognition, but active listening.



Mako's commitment to his musical community is evident throughout the album, with contributions from long-time collaborators Fields, Hydro, Villem, and Mikal, each bringing their unique expertise to the project. The album also features a special collaboration with the late Marcus Intalex, a friendship that blossomed in the years before Marcus' untimely passing and one that continues to bear fruit.



Diving into the heart of the album reveals Mako's charm as a producer: from the captivating vocals in 'Feed You', the sleek homage to techstep in "Suspension', to the pure dancefloor energy of 'Direct Source', a track long favoured by Goldie. As expected, Mako also delivers deeper, more contemplative pieces like the album's opener 'True Expression' and the graceful melodies of 'Overshare'

Following on from his previous debut album Tape 1/Tape 2 on Soundway, Felbm delivers Tape 3/Tape 4 : an intimate, emotional, lilting and melodic solo project. These 14 lo-fi, instrumental, jazz-infused sketches were written on guitar, with cascading keyboards, vibraphone and drum machine. Possessing a restorative and soothing quality, it goes some way to balancing out a chaotic year for the world
at large.

With echoes of the dreamier end of 1980s English indie-pop, minimal ambient music and Brazilian bossa-nova, Topper’s musical storybook includes touches of The Durutti Column, hints of Antônio Carlos Jobim and Baden Powell, whilst all set firmly in the summer fields of Germany and the Netherlands. The recording method used for the creation and recording of Tape 3 and Tape 4 follows the same as his previous release: all sketches were initially recorded onto cassette on a 4-track tape machine. Most notably a vibraphone finds its way onto
almost every track fitting Topper’s sound-palette perfectly: warm yet distinctive, a percussive as well as sustaining sound that evokes some melancholy and a certain timeless nostalgia. Features that most certainly also apply to the other ‘new’ instrument on the tapes: mellotron flutes.

Tape 3/Tape 4 navigates the space between quiet, open, meditative tunes and more solid instrumental works, reflecting his constant search for an optimal balance between stillness and movement.

how do we live in times when nothing seems safe, how do we listen to music when rockets and bullets make the air scream, how do we produce music when the building with our studio is simply no longer there?

over the last 2 years, AMAS and KONSTANTIN KOST have been trying to produce a techno EP across the borders of the war in ukraine. KONSTANTIN KOST was never able to leave ukraine for this, while we were able to move freely through europe.

this ambivalence is part of this album, it is part of every note and every line of the poems that can be heard here. we all associate techno with bass-heavy and dancing through the night, but ODESSA is more, it is a journey without being able to travel, an experience without being able to experience, an escape without being able to escape and a life without really being able to live ...

neither AMAS was able to travel to odessa during this time, nor KONSTANTIN KOST to europe, neither was able to experience the other personally. however, the exchange of music and lyrics has built up a relationship to a country at war, as well as to its people, musicians, women and children.

while we were dealing with our everyday problems in germany, the situation in ODESSA became increasingly confusing. the constant fear of being drafted and producing videos and images for the album at the same time were extremely ambivalent moments.

how do you deal with your counterpart in such moments and what do you say to someone in a situation that we can hardly imagine? we often talked about friends simply disappearing and corrupt officials and soldiers embezzling money and in the next sentence it was straight back to the vinyl production. these conversations were very rational and at the same time extremely surreal.

this EP is not meant to be a political EP, it is meant to be a human album and to take away the feeling of powerlessness from the people who were and are involved. this production and its music is a triumph over the destructive and dark side of war, it is meant to show that art is boundless and that people are connected all over the world even in the darkest times.

in the first track RED GLOW our guest TANYA (musician and djane from Odessa) stoically repeats the words LOVE and FEAR, followed by the words: “i meet you with red glow, in your eyes i quickly dissolve!” the track is part of everyday life, everywhere you meet this red glow and yet everything has to flow on and yet people still live and dance ...

in NIGHTCALL we walk through the streets and follow the call of darkness. the words “through the night” are used here repetitively like a percussion. but the highs and lows also give us hope and the belief that we will wake up again tomorrow and start a new day. in the dark there is always light, which must be preserved and found.
OLD KINGS is also the title of the poem we have written, based on the poem OZYMANDIAS by percy bysshe shelley. OLD KINGS determine our times and our political systems, seemingly unteachable old men hold the world in a stranglehold and it seems as if there are an infinite number of them. yet we continue to fight against these people, we cannot and do not want to do otherwise ...

in TALK TO GOD, KONSTANTIN KOST reads from the well-known ukrainian poem “a cloud floating behind the sun” by TARAS SHEVCHENKO, a famous ukrainian poet and writer. he is considered the founder of modern ukrainian literature and, in part, of the ukrainian language. it is about red fields, the fog and its darkness, as well as the sea and the calmness of the heart in nature, the longing for peace and peace with god.

in addition to poetry and music, all photographs and videos are original recordings by KONSTANTIN KOST of his city ODESSA. although we cannot visit each other, we still share strong visual impressions of a city that, in all its beauty and resilience, will hopefully soon be open to the world again. the cover is therefore also a picture of the port of odessa, a place where people and goods from all parts oft he world will soon be able to sail in and out again.

From Pasha With Love (love in times of war)

Pasha is a soldier on the front line, fighting those who till the day before were friends from the town next door, probably fighting his
own brothers-in-law, Natasha’s brothers, his great love, mother of his children in a senseless war if only wars had a meaning …

In the evening when the madness slows down.. Pasha takes his cell phone and talks about the horrors and the desperation but also the
infinite gratitude he feels for having had her as a gift in his life. His texts always end with "From Pasha with Love"

The atrocities, pain and the inhumanity he experiences every day, every hour, are alleviated in the pauses between one explosion and
another by his most intimate memories... Natasha's laughter as they chased each other in the sunflower fields in their first summer
together, his Yes! to her at the altar, her kisses first thing every morning.

While he runs surrounded by the screaming of the wounded and the whistling of bullets in the woods, in every moment that could be
the last, he searches for that tree where at their first date they carved that little heart with the words ..
Pasha & Nasha-Timele.