quête:format

Recommended. Compilation format, six producers, one shared idea of dub house done properly. Erratic and Nicola Brusegan open heavy on the low end, dubby without overdoing the effects. Nick Italy keeps the A side moving, no drama, just groove. Flip side goes warmer. Lorenzo Dada and Michura work more melody into the pulse, Peter Kir shuts it down slow and hypnotic. Nothing flashy, nothing filler either. Solid all the way through.

2026 jährt sich die Veröffentlichung von Koop Islands, dem gefeierten dritten und letzten Studioalbum des schwedischen Duos Koop, zum 20. Mal. Mit seiner einzigartigen Verbindung aus Jazz, Swing, Electronica und filmischer Orchestrierung etablierte das Album Koop als international renommierten Act. Umfangreiche weltweite Tourneen und ein Katalog, der bis heute eine große globale Streaming-Hörerschaft begeistert, folgten.Mit Gaststimmen von Ane Brun, Yukimi Nagano von Little Dragon, Mikael Sundin und Earl Zinger enthält Koop Islands den internationalen Streaming-Hit ,Koop Island Blues", der inzwischen mehr als 100 Millionen Streams auf Spotify verzeichnet. Das Album bietet außerdem ,Strange Love", Koops zweiterfolgreichsten Song im Streaming, der hier als Bonustrack enthalten ist. Zuvor war der Titel nicht auf einer regulären europäischen Vinyl-Ausgabe erhältlich - nun erscheint er erstmals in diesem Format.





e 5STRANGE LOVE [BONUSTRACK]





[e] 5STRANGE LOVE [BONUSTRACK]

Melissa Weikart and her piano have proceeded through life in step, from her early classical


training to the experimental practice that defines her work today, a blending of sounds and forms that has never been so clear—and so fully realized—as on her new album, Contact. Across twelve shifting and evocative tracks that examine the connective tissue binding us to ourselves and others, the Franco-American musician’s voice and piano navigate personal and emotional terrain with clarity and nuance, forging a rich dialogue between artist and instrument, artist and self, and artist and listener.


Winner of the 2022 Nancy Jazz Pulsations emerging artist award and the instrumentalist prize at the 2023 La Défense National Jazz Competition, Weikart has released two EPs and an album as a solo artist, and one EP and an album—Surprise and Secret—with her electronic duo Beatrice Melissa. A student of jazz and ’70s folk-pop, and a keen lover of improvisation since her time at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Weikart has always conjured the confessional candor of the singer- songwriter in her music, even as she dispenses her lyrics across rich, shifting, dreamlike tableaux.


On Contact, written and arranged entirely by Weikart (aside from “New angles”), she pushes her sound further than ever before. The album is animated by a pressing need for connection, observing what brings us together and what drives us apart, and the life-saving revelations that emerge along the way. The album’s opener, “Crash,” is a dreamy telephone-hour ode, a message in a bottle, to connections new and old. On the wistful “Mesurer le vent,” Weikart conjures Debussy or Ravel, layering contrasting sounds like an Impressionist painting. The title track begins as a showcase of Weikart’s frank lyricism, a splice-reel of missed connections and wasted time, then glides into a hazy, euphoric galaxy of pleas, circling around her thesis—“I wanted to make contact”—that ushers us into “The Intersection,” a song that recalls her the beginning of her career, when it was just Weikart and her keys. “Appétit.e” is built around a sample of her down-the-hall neighbor’s drumming—another subtle, affecting gesture toward proximity and connection—while pulsating synths reminiscent of Air lend the track an unsteady atmosphere. On the Carpenters-inspired “Expectations,” Weikart muses on the relationship patterns, universal and specific, that have always been a hallmark of her songwriting.

The psychedelic “L’amour de construit” is a slow-motion fall down the rabbit hole, as Weikart
considers the way her own emotions are captured and commodified by the confining ways we think about love. The interlude—“L’amour pt. 2”—finds her near the end of that trip, shouting into the void as a last-ditch effort to rescue herself from the fall. The drums near the end of the interlude warn us that there may be no cushion for, until she is saved, again, by the power of revelation, on the confident, resilient “Not Right”—on which a show-stopping, frenetic conversation between singer and piano is gracefully interrupted by a rush of transcendent strings, lifting her back up.

On solid ground anew, “New angles,” featuring Manu Delta, creates a percussion-less groove that relies on experimental synth sounds. The 11-o’clock stunner “Catching up”—composed in a church—meets the singer in a state of ecstatic confession, bringing her to the formative memory that propels “Bicycle,” the album’s closer. Younger, more wide-eyed, she reflects on her move from Boston to Strasbourg, those early days, when Weikart had no other companion than that loyal hunk of scrap metal that took her to the shores of her own soul. She seems to suggest, on “Bicycle,” that a backward-glance is not always troublesome, not always anxiety-producing, but can be grounding: a reminder of where we come from, so that we can keep moving forward.

Strong Limited and hand numbered white Label! The second release on Observer’s imprint marks the project’s debut on vinyl, delivering four cuts of dub-leaning techno.

Black Truffle is pleased to present Even Colder Spring, the latest release from the mysterious and wildly prolific Cities Aviv (a.k.a. Wilbert Gavin Mays, who also records as African-American Sound Recordings), a rare appearance from the artist outside his own D.O.T. Audio Arts label. For over a decade, Cities Aviv has twisted hip-hop conventions into the most skewed and splayed forms, layering and lacerating twitching loops, extreme production techniques and his mercurial vocal stylings into hermetic décollage. Across 16 tracks, Even Colder Spring charts Mays’ restlessly experimental approach: what sound like fully formed productions are interrupted suddenly after seconds; interjections of field recordings cue unexpected shifts; details drown under layers of fuzz. His vocal delivery takes in rhythmically intricate rap, barely articulate murmurs and freely melodic song, the latter often with a disorientating lack of connection to the track’s harmonies. The lyrical shifts are as paratactical as the musical movements. Apocalyptic visions of social and cultural uniformity alternate with reflections on mortality, glimpses of everyday life and head-scratching one-liners: ‘Maybe Mars is bougie?’ His reference points are as surprising as ever, the Dante quotes of previous releases joined here by a track named after Henri Bergson’s idea of the élan vital. Australian listeners, in particular, might be especially taken aback to hear ‘Closing Door’ open with the phrase ‘the tyranny of distance’.

While Mays’ work can sometimes be claustrophobically bleak, the productions here are often sparkling, at times touching on the shimmer of private-issue New Age sounds and the more playful end of krautrock. The instrumental ‘Martine Drift’ could almost be a snatch of Cluster’s Zuckerzeit caught through dial-up internet. The distant echoing drums of ‘L_area’ cross Persona’s Som with lo-fi IDM, while closer ‘Final Heaven’ dissolves a cloud of loops across almost seven minutes into ecstatic, rippling distortion. The graphic design, at the artist’s request closely modelled on the format of Corwood Industries, offers as good a clue as any to what awaits the listener on Even Colder Spring: a world at once impossibly opaque and intensely personal.

A document of chill-out room dreamscapes transmitted from San Francisco circa 1993-1994.

Rooted in live improvisation and arriving at the sweet spot where nascent dance music collided with dub tradition, Selene Songs marked an early highpoint for Sunshine and Moonbeam Jones' enduring partnership as Dubtribe Sound System. This collection of dreamy, harmonious grooves and ambient excursions were recorded between November 1993 and January 1994, captured live in the chill-out room at the duo's legendary Come-Unity parties held at their home on Bryant Street in San Francisco.

Selene Songs was originally released on Chicago-based label Organico in 1995 as a CD and abridged 12" EP. Now it receives a full reissue that spreads the blissed-out majesty of the full seven-track album across a double vinyl pressing and CD digipak edition. Across all formats, Kristen Anderson's original artwork has been faithfully reproduced.

“… All the elements of classic ambient dub with the Tribe’s own sense of love wonderment. One from the heart." - Muzik Mag - 1995

“ We have faith that the universally accessible warmth oozing from these tracks will eventually entice a larger audience." - Billboard - 1995

Number 1 on the Eastern Bloc shop chart - Muzik Mag - 1995

A document of chill-out room dreamscapes transmitted from San Francisco circa 1993-1994.

Rooted in live improvisation and arriving at the sweet spot where nascent dance music collided with dub tradition, Selene Songs marked an early highpoint for Sunshine and Moonbeam Jones' enduring partnership as Dubtribe Sound System. This collection of dreamy, harmonious grooves and ambient excursions were recorded between November 1993 and January 1994, captured live in the chill-out room at the duo's legendary Come-Unity parties held at their home on Bryant Street in San Francisco.

Selene Songs was originally released on Chicago-based label Organico in 1995 as a CD and abridged 12" EP. Now it receives a full reissue that spreads the blissed-out majesty of the full seven-track album across a double vinyl pressing and CD digipak edition. Across all formats, Kristen Anderson's original artwork has been faithfully reproduced.

“… All the elements of classic ambient dub with the Tribe’s own sense of love wonderment. One from the heart." - Muzik Mag - 1995

“ We have faith that the universally accessible warmth oozing from these tracks will eventually entice a larger audience." - Billboard - 1995

Number 1 on the Eastern Bloc shop chart - Muzik Mag - 1995

Alveromancy is a method of divination performed by attending to and interpreting certain sounds, so that the loudness of sound is taken to indicate the severity of predicted event and from its proximity how soon the event will come to pass.
The label’s first divination session is made up of 4 selected cuts originally composed between 1994 and 1996 coming from Fred Exelby’s archives, bringing his All Broken solo project back to a renewed life more than 30 years after his last release.
Rooting its core into Canada’s 90s DIY electronic scene and drawing inspiration from themes such as anti-pop culture, shared knowledge, music programming and his formative frequentation of the seminal Rivoli in Toronto, this record might also be seen as a picture in time, a reflection of Fred’s world back then.

“Cue Blue”, the latest and fifth studio recording from Australian down under, gritty jazzfunk grooves ensemble Kerbside Collection sees a return to a more classic, stripped back, meat-and-potatoes, home-cooked, quartet formation sound of guitar, bass, drums and brass.


A sound formed on previous, recent recordings (incl. Golden Rules compilation tune “Fleet Streak” etc), seemingly harking back to the approach of the group’s first recordings (2013’s “Mind The Curb”, “Night in Tunisia” etc), whilst embodying inspirations from more ‘true school’, classic, bluesy New Orleans funk and soul groove flavours à la early Meters, Boogaloo Joe Jones, Melvin Sparks, Billy Butler etc. But it’s not all completely ‘retro’ and ‘looking back’, the album definitely taps into some of the current exponents and leaders of the contemporary deep funk sound – The Greyboy Allstars, Eddie Roberts, The New Mastersounds, The Mighty Mocambos, Breakestra and fellow Aussie funksters Cookin’ on 3 Burners, Lance Ferguson and The Bamboos etc.


The lead single and first tune “Shivers” gives us a clear, picture and definitive opening statement to the record with all the characteristics you’ve come to expect from the Kerbside gritty jazzfunk sound: silky guitar line phrasing, rubbery bass-lines, tight crusty drum breaks, and sweet brass arrangements. Then it’s straight into a frenetic, jangly, mod-funk workout complete with Northern Soul & Motown inflections in the surging B sections. “City Park Avenue” conjures up classic New Orleans funk flavours with its strutting brass, slinky guitar and swinging tambourine groove. There’s classic, b-boy funk territory covered in “Coffee Grinder” (a breakdance move) with its razor-sharp drum break groove and chunky riff complete with sizzling trombone solo. Before the pace of the record changes up with the finger-clicken’, hand-clappin’ boogaloo, reminiscent of early 60s Harlem x Puerto Rican Bronx sounds (à la Willie Bobo, Mongo Santamaria, Ray Barretto) loaded with a scintillating baritone sax solo from long standing part of the collection ‘Papa Joe’ Roberts.


“Sittin’ On The Porch” cools the temperature down even more, delving into slight Southern Louisiana Delta blues territory, while suggesting some of the hot and muggy atmosphere and imagery of their home town location in suburban Brisbane Australia, complete with kooky Casio percussion representing familiar yard sounds such as sprinklers (spinning lawn watering devices) and ‘mozzies’ (mosquitos), passing cars indicated by trombone, and guitarist TC Tyler, channelling some bluesy John Lee Hooker, R.L. Burnside guitar flavours - you can almost feel the humidity on your skin.


Then it’s time for a stroll down memory lane, with their version of a People Under The Stairs hip hop classic “San Francisco Knights”, bringing the tune full circle back into band mode, also with another tasty guitar solo. The album then enters its final stages with a mesmerising, soulful, jazz ballad “Shimmer”, complete with Elliott Parker’s sultry upright double bass, and trombone taking the melody for a gentle stroll down the street. The album finally closes and arrives at its title “Cue Blue”, a classic blue-eyed soul number (penned by bassist Parker), emitting the scent of true school, vintage R&B and soul (à la Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gaye).


An album of funky arrangements and refined compositions, mostly penned by recent new-ish member, guitarist Tyler (for fans of Tower of Power & John Scofield guitar playing) taking the ensemble through their paces with all the usual characteristics of the Kerbside sound, on top a groove that will take you round-the-block-and-back :P Gritty jazzfunk and rustic soul grooves with definite bluesy overtones, some classic 60s, 70s flourishes and down-home funk flavours.

Finnish-American guitarist Raoul Björkenheim and Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love join forces on their new album PING, released by We Jazz Records on 30th October on LP, CD and digital formats. Recorded in Helsinki, the album finds the seasoned duo firing on all cylinders and delivering a remarkable set of contemporary free music.

PING brings together nine excursions beyond “guitar + drums” and way beyond “free jazz”. That being said, those are still good touching points for the music that is wild, imaginative, raw, yet also at times delicate and introspective. Friends and collaborators for decades in groups such as the lauded Scorch Trio, Raoul and Paal have the history and the trust to create memorable and original improvised music that stuns and moves the curious listener.

Raoul Björkenheim (b. 1956) is a Finnish-American guitarist and composer who has been creating original music for the past four decades living in New York City and Helsinki, where he is presently based. Describing his on-going work as investigative guitarism, he is best known for an expressionistic and lyrical guitar style. Björkenheim’s eclectic discography numbers 50+ albums, ranging from ambient soundscapes to visceral free jazz, from duo to big band. His large-scale works for symphony orchestra have yet to be recorded, and he has also composed scores for over ten films and dance productions. Björkenheim has collaborated musically with Bill Laswell, Toshinori Kondo, William Parker, Mats Gustafsson, Hamid Drake, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Gerald Cleaver, Henry Kaiser, Lukas Ligeti, Morgan Ågren, Paul Schütze, Edward Vesala and Juhani Aaltonen, for the labels ECM, Rune Grammofon, Cuneiform, Tum Records and Long Song records. Björkenheim has been awarded various prizes including the Emma prize for best jazz recording of the year, and been nominated three times for the Nordic Music Award.

Paal Nilssen-Love (b. 1974) is a Norwegian drummer, composer, bandleader, and producer known for his central role in Scandinavian free jazz and improvised music. Since the mid- 1990s, he has appeared on more than 280 albums, including 70 released through his label, PNL Records. He has performed with influential groups including Atomic, The Thing, Peter Brötzmann’s Chicago Tentet, Scorch Trio, and Frode Gjerstad Trio, and collaborates regularly with artists such as, Ken Vandermark, Akira Sakata, Otomo Yoshihide, David Murray, Arto Lindsay and more. Paal Nilssen-Love’s fascination with traditional and experimental music has taken him around the world. Since his first visit to Ethiopia in 2009, he has built strong connections with musicians and artists in Addis Ababa, leading to collaborations, performances, teaching, and artist exchanges with Norway. Since his first trip to Brazil in 2013, he has returned regularly, developing collaborations with artists and musicians across the country. His musical explorations have also brought him to Tsugaru and Aomori in northern Japan, where he has developed an interest in the region’s traditional music. Nilssen-Love is also an active organizer and educator. He started both Oslo’s all-Ears festival, the Blow Out festival and FRAM Kunstfest, and has led workshops internationally and in Norway.

Shape of the Unknown’ is kind of a double LP that fully embraces the idea of exploration. It is CHLOÉ’s most expansive and immersive work to date. ‘Shape of the Unknown’ is CHLOÉ’s fourth proper studio album. Its predecessor, ‘Endless Revisions’, was released in 2017. Nine years have passed. Nine years during which CHLOÉ has continued digging for music, DJing at internationally renowned clubs and festivals including Rex Club, Robert Johnson, Panorama Bar, Nuits Sonores, Glastonbury and many more, releasing EPs and remixes, while also allowing herself the time to explore entirely new creative paths.


The challenge is to capture the unknown, make it her own, endlessly reshape its textures, and ultimately preserve its mystery.


The first single ‘Drifter’, released back in June, already offered a striking glimpse of the sonic territories the album would venture into, driven by its hypnotically contoured basslines. The album's two other singles offer different windows into her world. 'Shapeshifter' captures CHLOÉ at her most hypnotic, balancing stripped-back techno and melodic house through deep rolling grooves, expansive bass chords and subtle rhythmic shifts that constantly reshape the listener's perception without ever disrupting the flow. Later, 'Repeating The Obvious' takes a more leftfield route, pairing staggered rhythms with retro-inspired harmonics and an understated indie dance pulse that feels simultaneously familiar and unpredictable.
CHLOÉ has ventured into live performance through new formats, notably alongside percussionist Vassilena Serafimova; immersed herself in film scoring with soundtracks for Paris la Blanche, Arthur Rambo, The Mountain, Blanquita, Guru and Unsubmissives; and developed compelling collaborations, from High Season, her project with Ben Shemie of Canadian band Suuns (which resulted in the album The Call), to her own organic, experimental audiovisual performances under the name Slo/Mo AV.


Throughout Shape of the Unknown, CHLOÉ blurs the boundaries between deep house, hypnotic techno, electronica and cinematic sound design with remarkable fluidity. The album unfolds as a continuous narrative rather than a sequence of tracks, moving effortlessly between beatless ambient passages, rolling analogue grooves and emotionally charged club music. Organic percussion, sweeping bass movements, melancholic harmonies and richly textured synthesisers create a body of work that constantly evolves, where no section feels static and every transition reveals another layer of depth. There is an unmistakable warmth running through the record, with grainy analogue textures and spacious production giving even its most driving moments an intimate, almost tactile quality.
The album’s title is no coincidence. It evokes a form that has yet to be named, something language itself struggles to grasp. CHLOÉ approaches it through an organic creative process. Each piece must first be performed in the studio, almost as if it were being played live. The album will be followed by a series of live performances and DJ sets, including a show at the Olympia on March 18, 2027.


She is joined by a handful of steadfast collaborators. Jazz trumpeter David Enhco appears on two tracks, ‘Undertow’ and ‘Inner Bass’. But above all, there are the voices: Ben Shemie lends his unmistakable presence to the radiant ‘More Than Just a Feeling’. Olivia Merilahti, singer, songwriter and one half of The Dø, appears on the otherworldly ‘TWYR’. Working with Olivia’s already hypnotic voice, CHLOÉ has approached it like a sculptor, enhancing its strangeness and dreamlike quality.
And finally, impossible to miss is the instantly recognizable voice of Kittin. A longtime accomplice, she lends her distinctive phrasing to CHLOÉ’s music here for the very first time. The strongest collaborations are often those that take their time, arriving only when the moment is right. Same kind, same bass, same vibe, same pride.


The result is an enigmatic, nocturnal record, drifting between introspective listening and dancefloor functionality, revealing an artist who remains far more interested in atmosphere, movement and emotional storytelling than conventional club structures. It is an album that invites us to dream more deeply and to dance again, both within ourselves and out in the open.

This is the sound of dream Texas, the cinematic Texas conjured in film and 20th century literary and art myth… big dark blueing horizons swallowing the infinite distance, a lonely poetry of sound, but also a stock taker of the iconoclastic, psychedelic, art rebel side of Texas… the cracked rock music side of Texas, the avant-garde in concrete cracks, the recklessly used, mind expanding drugs Texas, the dripping eastern swamps, the Houston house parties with the sounds of records blasting down the block and becoming musique concrète in the hot summer night.

Chrome Chasm’s debut album Interpreter is ambient, minimal in feel, maximal in texture, beautifully disorienting, vastly spacious— until it isn’t. It's a naturalistic shapeshifter, taking majestic form in the aforementioned elements and then dissolving back to raw genetic material to form anew. Spiritual jazz overtones, pedal steel moans and buzzing, noisy ambient visions are upended by grey-folded psychedelic unveilings. Interpreter’s three expansive tracks present a most detailed performance by its three deft musicians and the outcome often feels like a gorgeous collage in real-time.

Chrome Chasm was formed in 2024 by three of Houston’s brightest underground stars: Mlee Marie (Hearts Of Animals) on alto saxophone, flute and voice (whose long-form experimental sax performances helped inspire the formation of the band), Will Adams (Lower Dens/ Ka-Nives) on pedal steel, synth, percussion and voice, and Tom Carter on guitar. Carter has been casting a long shadow over Texas psychedelia and American underground music for over 3 decades, most notably with the Houston based Charalambides, a powerful creative force of the pre-new weird America era of experimental and avant psychedelic music, and most notably since with his solo guitar magnum opus Long Time Underground (which was deemed among the best experimental albums of 2015 by Pitchfork).

Interpreter’s opening track “The Star,” recorded almost completely live in one room and one take, is a 16-minute manifesto on ‘Dream Noir.’ An astute scholar of cross-genre connectivity and the through-lines of kosmische and spiritual-leaning sonic realms can hear echoes of Cluster, the skronk and beauty of Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and the architectural ambient flow of Harold Budd and Philip Glass in the tidal lapping of distorted guitar, mantra-like saxophone and pedal steel flow. From its deconstructed, pastoral opening moments to its proto-electronic center that crests into a bombastic polytonal climax, Chrome Chasm never neglect narrative arc for experimentation and avant technique. In fact, as a group, they effortlessly control, open, fill and contract space in abeyance to emotional vibration. “The Star,” and indeed the album as a whole, feels more like a communion or extended poem, in direct communication with the listener, than it does a ‘captured experience.’

Across the three longform tracks of Interpreter, Chrome Chasm conducts a masterclass in fusing real time performance energy with an abstract, cut-up master’s reimagining of the literal. They demand the listener meet their music with dream logic and then, like the best dream peddlers, they present a labyrinth to fall into and experience, a place where explanation and conclusion become obsolete, and engagement and immersion become sublime.

MALEDICTUS is a Portuguese metal band formed in Lisbon. Bringing together experienced musicians with a shared vision, the band creates dark, powerful and atmospheric heavy music. With a foundation of aggressive riffs, haunting melodies and emotional vocals, the band blends modern heavy metal with darker, more melodic influences.

The group was formed by musicians seeking to explore a heavier and more expressive sound, combining technical musicianship with compelling songwriting and a cinematic atmosphere. Their music strikes a balance between intensity and melody, moving between crushing guitar passages, dynamic rhythms, and dramatic vocal performances. ""Our music reflects who we are and how we process life and our own emotions. Music is life manifested through an artist's soul. We all process life with a sense of dark melancholy”, comments guitarist Ben Stockwell. As history has taught us, Portuguese metal bands are known for their melancholic sound, which reflects their cultural identity.

Since their formation, MALEDICTUS has been focused on creating music that reflects the darker and more emotional aspects of the metal genre. Drawing inspiration from classic and contemporary metal acts, the band aims to create a sound that feels familiar yet distinct, appealing to fans of powerful, atmospheric metal.

Boasting a line-up of seasoned performers and a clear artistic vision, MALEDICTUS is developing new material and establishing its presence in the Portuguese metal scene and beyond. Their debut album, „Lazarvs“, is set to be released on Friday 13th of November. The album title draws heavily on the biblical story of Lazarus in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus performs the great miracle of raising his deceased friend Lazarus from the dead after he had been in the tomb for four days.

With Rez on vocals, the band has an exceptional singer with a distinctive, powerful voice. „He is undoubtedly one of the best out there having power, soul, range and timbre. Everything fits perfectly with our sound. We couldn't have asked for a better voice or frontman"", says the guitarist. Rez’s lyrics are another perfect addition to the band's dark, epic and partly progressive sound. The lyrical themes focus on life's darkest moments. „Death brings an opportunity for renewal, as do our most difficult struggles, which require part of us to die in order to be overcome.

X Clan emerged from Brooklyn, New York as one of the most distinctive and politically charged groups of the early 1990s. The original lineup, Anthony “Sugar Shaft” Hardin, Claude “Paradise” Gray, Jason “Brother J” Hunter, and Lumumba “Professor X” Carson, became the driving force behind the Blackwatch movement, a collective that also included artists such as Lin Que aka Isis and Queen Mother Rage.

Renowned for their Afrocentric vision, militant activism, and unmistakable sonic identity, X Clan quickly rose to prominence. Their 1990 debut album To The East, Blackwards sparked both acclaim and controversy, reaching No. 11 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and No. 97 on the Billboard 200. The record delivered several standout singles, including “Heed The Word Of The Brother” backed with “Raise The Flag”, “Funkin’ Lesson” backed with “Shaft’s Big Score”, “Grand Verbalizer, What Time Is It?”, and the funk-driven, sample-heavy track “Verbal Milk”.

The group’s original formation dissolved in 1995, and tragically, both Sugar Shaft and Professor X passed away later that year.

To The East, Blackwards is now reissued on vinyl for the first time since 1991, honouring one of hip‑hop’s most influential and culturally resonant albums.

Das rare German New Wave-Kultalbum von 1982 neu aufgelegt! Inkl. sagenhafter Versionen von "Psychokiller" (Talking Heads) & "Mongoloid" (Devo) sowie der ERNST-Originale "C2H5OH" & "Autonome Einheit" "Ernst entstand wegen der Talking Heads. Ernst ist keine typische Neue Deutsche Welle Band. Ernst kam nicht aus dem Punk. Ernst war auch kein Spaß-Produkt der Plattenindustrie. Ernst gab eine so eigenwillige wie charmante Antwort auf die Frage, wie New Wave in Deutschland klingen könnte. - Auf dem ersten, einzigen, unbetitelten und nun wieder veröffentlichten Ernst-Album von 1982 finden sich gleich mehrere Coverversionen der Talking Heads - ins Deutsche übersetzt, gesungen von Bassistin Dorle Bausinger. Die New Yorker hatten die Tübinger dazu inspiriert, eine New Wave Combo zu gründen. Auch ihre geniale Version von Devos "Mongoloid" steht dem Original in nichts nach. Die Band verstand sich aber nicht nur darauf, sich coole Musik aus Amerika anzueignen, sondern schrieb selbst sehr gute Songs wie "C2H5OH (Alkohol)" oder "Autonome Einheit". - Also veröffentlichten Ernst ihre Platte kurzerhand im Eigenvertrieb. "Wir schickten ein paar Exemplare ans Radio, und bestückten die Plattenläden in der näheren Umgebung, viel mehr unter-nahmen wir nicht." Beim Tübinger Plattenladen Rimpo waren die Verkaufszahlen so hoch, dass Ernst, das Album, mehrmals Platte des Monats wurde. Die knallblau-roten Cover füllten über Wochen ein ganzes Schaufenster. - Dennoch blieben die Band und ihr außergewöhnliches Album bis heute ein Geheimtipp. Ernst bekam nie die Anerkennung, die er verdient hätte. Zeit, dass sich das ändert." - Ulrich Gutmair (Kulturredakteur taz, Autor u.a. "Wir Sind Die Türken Von Morgen" (2023), "Die ersten Tage von Berlin" (2013)), 2026 aus den Linernotes zur Neuausgabe von ERNSTs "Ernst". Wiederhergestelltes original Artwork! Transparent rotes Vinyl in Glanzlack-Sleeve mit ausführlichen deutschsprachigen Linernotes und Fotos auf 6-seitigem, gefalztem 12"-Insert oder inside-out Digipak-CD (das Format erstmals überhaupt) mit den Linernotes in 28seitigem Booklet. Beide Formate sind in den Erstausgaben streng limitiert auf nur 500 Stück weltweit!

Eine historische Begegnung zwischen zwei der größten und legendärsten Bands des ehemaligen Jugoslawiens: LAIBACH - international anerkannt für ihre kompromisslose Auseinandersetzung mit Ideologie, Ästhetik und Macht - präsentieren "Die Kanone". Dabei handelt es sich um eine Neuinterpretation von "Top", der ersten, 1974 veröffentlichten Single von BIJELO DUGME, den Pionieren der jugoslawischen Rockkultur, gegründet von Goran Bregovic. Gemeinsam verwandeln sie einen historischen Song in ein neues Statement über die Zyklen der Geschichte und die Mechanismen, die die Gegenwart prägen - ein Werk, das tief in der Kulturlandschaft des ehemaligen Jugoslawiens verwurzelt ist, aber ebenso deutlich darüber hinausweist. Die Version von Laibach, unter Mitwirkung von Bijelo Dugme und insbesondere Goran Bregovic an der Gitarre, erschien 2025 digital, sowohl in deutscher als auch in slowenischer Sprache. Nun zusätzlich von DIE KRUPPS, THE LINCOLNSHIRE POACHER, BLACK DOT und dem RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra neu gemischt und interpretiert, um die allererste physische Veröffentlichung auf 12"-Vinyl und CD zu vervollständigen. Mehr als fünfzig Jahre nachdem das Debüt von Bijelo Dugme ein neues Kapitel in der Geschichte des Balkan-Rock aufschlug, greifen Laibach dieses ikonische Material auf und interpretieren es in ihrer eigenen, monumentalen Klangsprache neu. Das Ergebnis ist ein Dialog zwischen zwei Epochen, zwei künstlerischen Visionen und zwei Herangehensweisen an die Symbole, durch die sich Gesellschaften selbst definieren. "Die Kanone" ist nicht bloß eine Neuinterpretation eines historischen Songs - es ist ein zeitgenössischer Kommentar zum sich wandelnden Verhältnis zwischen Industrie, Technologie und Militarisierung. Der Titel evoziert den Wandel der industriellen Produktion und die beunruhigende Neuausrichtung etablierter Fertigungstraditionen hin zur Herstellung von Waffen und Kriegssystemen. Durch das Aufeinandertreffen der ursprünglichen Rock-Mythologie von Bijelo Dugme und dem Industrial-Ritualismus von Laibach untersucht der Song, wie wirtschaftliche Macht, technologischer Fortschritt und militärische Ambitionen miteinander verflochten sind. Das Stück reflektiert eine Welt, in der die Sprache der Produktion zunehmend mit der Sprache des Konflikts verschmilzt. "Die Kanone" und die slowenische Version "S topom te bom ciljal moja mala" erscheinen erstmals physisch, mit Remixen der deutschen Industrial/EBM-Legenden DIE KRUPPS (die eine episch-wuchtige Version beisteuern, welche ein Hit in ganz eigener Sache ist), des britischen Produzenten The Lincolnshire Poacher sowie des slowenisch-kroatischen Elektronik-Duos Black Dot. Der sechste Titel der 12"-Vinylversion ist eine Live-Aufnahme aus der Oper von Ljubljana, eingespielt mit dem RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra. Erhältlich ist klassisch schwarzes oder limitiertes farbiges Vinyl sowie CD mit zwei Bonustracks (iTurks Symphonic Mix der slowenischen Version und eine Instrumental-/Karaoke-Version). Beide Formate mit Obi-Banderole.

Al Wahem (“The Illusion”) is the new full-length release by PRAED, the Swiss–Lebanese duo of Raed Yassin and Paed Conca. Recorded between Beirut and Berlin, the album returns to the group’s central aesthetic: a rhythm-driven weave of Egyptian shaabi, electronics, improvisation and the gritty pulse of street-level sound. Nearly twenty years into the project, PRAED have distilled their approach into four pieces that subtly shift the listener’s bearings, reordering grooves and fragments until familiar elements take on new identities.
The twenty-minute title track sets the tone. A tightly interlocking two-drum foundation from Pascal Semerdjian and Ayman Zebdawi shapes a structure that expands steadily: synth figures branch outward, clarinet and bass lines act as internal guideposts, and brief vocal calls from Yassin and guest singer Mayssa Jallad sit inside the texture rather than leading it. PRAED’s shaabi keyboard language is present, but the duo stretch it outward, building tension and movement through patient accumulation.

“Al Hathayan,” at 4:46, tightens the focus. Conca’s clarinet moves between melodic arcs and clipped rhythmic gestures, threading through electronic loops that surface and disappear. Zebdawi’s percussion adds a raw, tactile quality, placing acoustic patterns and electronics in direct conversation. The piece acts as a bridge between the album’s two long-form compositions.
Side B begins with “Al Maraya,” a thirteen-minute piece that relies on electronic, bass and clarinet interplay. The atmosphere nods to the breadth of PRAED Orchestra!, but remains anchored in the duo’s rhythmic foundations. Rather than building mass, the layering creates a sense of depth, as if new spaces were opening inside the groove.
The album closes with “Assarab,” featuring keyboardist Amr Said. Semerdjian and Zebdawi again form a dual percussive axis, while synths hover between melody and pulse, and themes recur in widening circles rather than building vertically. The porous boundary between electronic and acoustic sources — processed clarinet mistaken for a sequencer, rhythmic figures springing from live drums — is where the album’s theme of “illusion” shows itself most clearly.

Al Wahem follows a long arc: early releases on Annihaya, a key appearance on Ruptured Sessions Vol. 5 – Live at Radio Lebanon (2013), later albums on Akuphone, and the large-scale PRAED Orchestra! documented on Morphine Records. This new Ruptured/Annihaya co-release brings the duo back to a concentrated format, reorganizing their familiar materials with renewed clarity and intent.

Bosconi Records reissues one of its most sought-after releases: BOSCO004 by the British duo 100Hz (Lee Renacre & James Chapman), a three-track EP seamlessly blending Robert Hood-style minimal Detroit techno with dubstep/techno crossover influences.

At the heart of the record is “The Field”, a rediscovered DJ-favorite driven by a deep, trippy groove and the magnetic vocals of Patrick Stanley (AKA “The Voice”), accompanied by the sleek, suspenseful atmospheric vibe of “Tension”. Rounding out the EP is “Cinqo”, a timeless 137 BPM avant-garde smasher originally released in 1995 on Format Records that bridges the gap between Benga, Tobias, and Marcel Dettmann.

In 1979, Neil Fraser (artistically known as Mad Professor) founded Ariwa Sounds, the longest-serving and one of the most influential independently owned Reggae studios and record labels in the UK. From humble beginnings set up in the front room of Neil's home in South London recording on 4-track and homemade equipment, Ariwa would go on to record and release over 300 albums including works from some of the most impactful and storied artists of their time in the genres of Reggae, Dub, and Lovers Rock

Whilst our previous release in collaboration with Ariwa captured the label's early sound, a shared performance with Neil in Osaka and regular visits to his South London studio inspired us to assemble this 15-track compilation, showcasing the label's output across 45 years. Our release emphasizes some of the label's greatest vocalists: Johnny Clarke, Sandra Cross, Kofi, U Roy, Sister Nancy, Queen Omega, Aisha, Garnett Cross, Abel Miller, Horace Andy and more — presenting the Motown and Stax influences in the Lovers Rock, but also provides a glimpse into the dubbier and more experimental side of the label, showcasing Ariwa's commitment to quality but also their personality, philosophy and their humour. Love songs, break-up songs, socially engaged songs, dub experimentations — this compilation is not a "best of" Ariwa but a diverse and honest celebration of the label through the lens of Melodies International.

The compilation will be out in July in vinyl 2xLP, CD, digital formats, mastered from the original tapes by Frank Merritt (the Carvery), pressed at Optimal, artwork created by Jason Evans with design and assembly contributions from Nevil Bernard and Will Sweeney, animated teaser by Nevil Bernard and Melozine designed by Mafalda Meireles.

Twenty-five years after its original release, Markus Guentner's debut album In Moll returns in a special anniversary reissue on Black Knoll Editions, reaffirming its place as one of the defining ambient recordings of the early 21st century.

Released in 2001 during the formative years of Kompakt's influential Pop Ambient series, In Moll emerged from a period of rapid transformation in electronic music. New technologies, expanding digital networks, and shifting creative possibilities allowed artists to imagine entirely new sonic worlds. Amid this fertile landscape, Guentner's music stood apart. Combining delicate melodic fragments, slow-moving harmonies, and a remarkable sense of spatial depth, In Moll introduced a distinct artistic voice whose impact can still be felt a quarter-century later.

The album arrived shortly after Guentner's contributions to the inaugural Pop Ambient compilation, including the now-beloved "Regensburg 1," named after his Bavarian hometown. Those early recordings immediately captured the attention of Kompakt founders Michael Mayer and Wolfgang Voigt. Recalling his first encounter with the music, Mayer describes listening to a demo CDR with Voigt while wandering through Cologne late into the night, replaying the tracks for hours. "We knew that we had found something outrageously beautiful and we wanted the whole world to listen."

Across its running time, In Moll unfolds like a series of dreamlike landscapes, inviting the listener into a world that feels both familiar and strangely other. Bells, hisses, distant textures, and slow-moving bass tones drift through vast expanses of atmosphere while luminous synthesizer washes seem to blur the horizon in a fine digital mist. The album's transportive qualities are matched by a remarkable sense of compositional discipline. Every gesture feels deliberate, every texture carefully placed. Balancing warmth and melancholy with restraint, Guentner created a body of work that rewards both close listening and complete surrender.

Reflecting on the album twenty-five years later, Wolfgang Voigt describes Guentner as "one of the first, but also one of the most important ambient artists" associated with Kompakt, calling his music "an integral, timeless part of the long history of pop ambient." Music critic and former Pitchfork Editor-in-Chief Mark Richardson, who reviewed In Moll upon its original release, similarly noted that the album "marked the arrival of an important new voice," and today regards it as "one of the finest ambient releases of the decade."

The album's influence continues to extend far beyond its original audience. For many listeners, In Moll served as an entry point into a new understanding of what ambient music could be. Black Knoll boss Rafael Anton Irisarri first encountered the album shortly after its release in 2001. "It immediately opened a door to a world of music I didn't know existed," he recalls. "At a time when I was still discovering my own creative voice, Markus showed me entirely new possibilities for what electronic music could communicate." Simply put, "The Sight Below would not have existed without In Moll paving the way."

Far from a historical curiosity, In Moll continues to feel strikingly contemporary. What once sounded futuristic now feels timeless, its patient pacing, attention to detail, and sense of wonder remaining entirely intact. The album's enduring power lies not only in its influence, but in the curiosity it continues to inspire, inviting listeners to step inside its world and lose themselves within it.

To mark its twenty-fifth anniversary, Black Knoll Editions presents the most complete edition of In Moll to date. Newly remastered in full analog by Rafael Anton Irisarri, this expanded release pairs the original album with a newly reworked interpretation by Markus Guentner himself, revisiting the material through the lens of twenty-five years of artistic development. The anniversary edition also features a new visual presentation designed by Guentner, offering a visual counterpart to the album's continued evolution. Together, these recordings and visuals celebrate both the enduring legacy of In Moll and its ability to reveal new dimensions twenty-five years later.

This 25th Anniversary Edition on Black Knoll Editions celebrates a recording whose quiet impact has only grown with time, preserving a work that remains as evocative, singular, and essential today as it was in 2001.

Twenty-five years after its original release, Markus Guentner's debut album In Moll returns in a special anniversary reissue on Black Knoll Editions, reaffirming its place as one of the defining ambient recordings of the early 21st century.

Released in 2001 during the formative years of Kompakt's influential Pop Ambient series, In Moll emerged from a period of rapid transformation in electronic music. New technologies, expanding digital networks, and shifting creative possibilities allowed artists to imagine entirely new sonic worlds. Amid this fertile landscape, Guentner's music stood apart. Combining delicate melodic fragments, slow-moving harmonies, and a remarkable sense of spatial depth, In Moll introduced a distinct artistic voice whose impact can still be felt a quarter-century later.

The album arrived shortly after Guentner's contributions to the inaugural Pop Ambient compilation, including the now-beloved "Regensburg 1," named after his Bavarian hometown. Those early recordings immediately captured the attention of Kompakt founders Michael Mayer and Wolfgang Voigt. Recalling his first encounter with the music, Mayer describes listening to a demo CDR with Voigt while wandering through Cologne late into the night, replaying the tracks for hours. "We knew that we had found something outrageously beautiful and we wanted the whole world to listen."

Across its running time, In Moll unfolds like a series of dreamlike landscapes, inviting the listener into a world that feels both familiar and strangely other. Bells, hisses, distant textures, and slow-moving bass tones drift through vast expanses of atmosphere while luminous synthesizer washes seem to blur the horizon in a fine digital mist. The album's transportive qualities are matched by a remarkable sense of compositional discipline. Every gesture feels deliberate, every texture carefully placed. Balancing warmth and melancholy with restraint, Guentner created a body of work that rewards both close listening and complete surrender.

Reflecting on the album twenty-five years later, Wolfgang Voigt describes Guentner as "one of the first, but also one of the most important ambient artists" associated with Kompakt, calling his music "an integral, timeless part of the long history of pop ambient." Music critic and former Pitchfork Editor-in-Chief Mark Richardson, who reviewed In Moll upon its original release, similarly noted that the album "marked the arrival of an important new voice," and today regards it as "one of the finest ambient releases of the decade."

The album's influence continues to extend far beyond its original audience. For many listeners, In Moll served as an entry point into a new understanding of what ambient music could be. Black Knoll boss Rafael Anton Irisarri first encountered the album shortly after its release in 2001. "It immediately opened a door to a world of music I didn't know existed," he recalls. "At a time when I was still discovering my own creative voice, Markus showed me entirely new possibilities for what electronic music could communicate." Simply put, "The Sight Below would not have existed without In Moll paving the way."

Far from a historical curiosity, In Moll continues to feel strikingly contemporary. What once sounded futuristic now feels timeless, its patient pacing, attention to detail, and sense of wonder remaining entirely intact. The album's enduring power lies not only in its influence, but in the curiosity it continues to inspire, inviting listeners to step inside its world and lose themselves within it.

To mark its twenty-fifth anniversary, Black Knoll Editions presents the most complete edition of In Moll to date. Newly remastered in full analog by Rafael Anton Irisarri, this expanded release pairs the original album with a newly reworked interpretation by Markus Guentner himself, revisiting the material through the lens of twenty-five years of artistic development. The anniversary edition also features a new visual presentation designed by Guentner, offering a visual counterpart to the album's continued evolution. Together, these recordings and visuals celebrate both the enduring legacy of In Moll and its ability to reveal new dimensions twenty-five years later.

This 25th Anniversary Edition on Black Knoll Editions celebrates a recording whose quiet impact has only grown with time, preserving a work that remains as evocative, singular, and essential today as it was in 2001.

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.

Polygonia and Simon Popp present ‚Apiformes‘, the second collaborative release from the two Munich-based artists.
As with 2023‘s ‘Candid’, ‘Apiformes’ was born from pure improvisation. Originating from the stems of four concerts, additional elements were built on from a foundation of live recordings — an intuitive endeavor by the musicians with such integrated effects to give one the impression of a sole sonic organism, and mystifying which sound is coming from which performer. Rapid creative decisions create an intriguing sense of aliveness, producing a uniquely vibrant buzz of jazz and electronic influences.

The duo set an otherworldly tone in their latest release, with leanings towards acoustic and percussion-heavy instrumentation, combined with playful synthetic musings which create a sense of opening up: an intriguing and earnest exploration of the ethereal, and what is available in nature as a window to the divine. Named for the scientific name for bees, the project’s mix of warm, dynamic improvisation and sequenced synth instrumentalisation mimic the similarly complex mathematical structures of a bee colony: a visual and sonic world made up of geometric shapes, mating dances and navigation patterns, sensations perhaps most energetically available through a sense of wonder rather than logical extrication.

,Settle Down City" war 2006 das Debütalbum von Young Widows und markierte den Neubeginn der Musiker nach dem Ende der Hardcore-Band Breather Resist. Die Gruppe aus Louisville entwickelte darauf ihren charakteristischen Stil aus Post-Hardcore, Noise Rock und düsterem Post-Punk, geprägt von schweren, basslastigen Grooves, kantigen Gitarren und einer intensiven, oft beklemmenden Atmosphäre. Einflüsse von Bands wie Fugazi, Hoover, The Jesus Lizard und den Melvins sind deutlich hörbar, werden jedoch zu einem eigenständigen Sound verarbeitet. Im Zentrum stehen das kreative Gitarrenspiel von Sänger Evan Patterson sowie das kraftvolle Zusammenspiel der Rhythmussektion mit Nick Thieneman und dem damaligen Schlagzeuger Geoff Paton. Die Songs verbinden rohe Energie mit ungewöhnlichen Songstrukturen und legten den Grundstein für die spätere Entwicklung der Band zu einer der wichtigsten Noise-Rock-Formationen ihrer Generation. Zum 20-jährigen Jubiläum erscheint ,Settle Down City - Anniversary Edition" in einer umfassend überarbeiteten Fassung. Das Album wurde von James Plotkin neu remastert, mit restauriertem Original-Artwork versehen und um den bislang unveröffentlichten Bonus-Track ,White Water" erweitert, der bereits während der ursprünglichen Aufnahmesessions entstand. Die limitierte Neuauflage auf opak-gelbem Vinyl bietet damit die definitive Version eines Albums, das den Beginn der inzwischen zwei Jahrzehnte andauernden Karriere von Young Widows dokumentiert.

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.

2026 Repress
Rights: World excluding FR & UK

Packaging: 2 x Gold-On-Clear Splatter Vinyl, 5mm spine sleeve, 2 x printer inner sleeve, marketing sticker

SHORT BIOG & KEY POINTS
" Goldie's 1995 debut Timeless is often described as one of the greatest dance music albums of all time. As one of the founders of Metalheadz, one of the most influential drum and bass labels, Goldie helped shape the sound of a generation, and a genre that has spanned over 3 decades.
" "Listening to Timeless is like taking an adventure. If the limits of music are the limits of society, then Timeless is going to create new worlds. It's a record that travels from darkness to light across electronic oceans, across streetsoul, ambience and jazz."

" London Records celebrate 30 years of Timeless with limited edition vinyl formats, re-imagining the original white sleeve and putting the album on double vinyl for the first time since '96, with new liner notes from Tim Carr. Remastered audio.

After a stellar debut on the No Guestlist label Blay steps back into the light with an ambitious new record Wave Formations. This record finds Blay pushing further into the space where afro-centric jazz and deep house collide, weaving together synth heavy production with organic rhythms and live instrumentation.

From its opening moments its title track ‘Wave Formations’ holds you captive. From field recordings blurring into a dreamy atmosphere, taking you on a 9-minute spiritual journey across the cosmos.

Its counterpart ‘Rhythm Of Love’ is equally dreamy; A reverb-soaked vocal track with live-band-like energy shape-shifts around its steady and forward pushing rhythm before unwinding into a meandering, melancholic piano outro.

On the flipside, ‘New Teacher’ is an invitation to dance — call-and-response synth phrases on top of driving percussive polyrhythms. What starts off simple and stripped down transforms into a full-on celebration; a boisterous rush of sonic afrofuturism that tries to reach the sun.

Keeping the joyful spirit high, the record closes off with the festive and playful ‘Faith In Us’. This highlife and afro funk inspired record reimagines band members feeding off of one another, switching from recognisable motifs to energetic solos pushing each other further into the light.

2026 repress!

Here is the debut, self-titled album from a.s.o., singer/songwriter Alia Seror-O'Neill, and producer Lewie Day. 'a.s.o.' is a thematic consolidation of the previous three singles and an impressive artistic progression. Day and Seror-O'Neill show they've mastered the format of the radio-friendly pop song and found how to subvert it completely. Across eleven songs, they have built a rich and compelling body of work.

We know where we are now, emotionally complex, trip-hop torch songs for club freaks. But the palette has broadened to encompass ethereal dream pop à la Cocteau Twins, slow- burning AOR-soul, and dubwise stylings. As a result, 'a.s.o.' is a satisfyingly coherent listen but never a musical monoculture. Variously there are nods toward Julee Cruise, Fleetwood Mac, and the uneasy listening of Portishead. It's an album that wears its influences lightly, is never weighed down by them, and always sure of its own identity.

It's anchored by Alia's unique voice. Her words speak of restraint and release, taking us from the elegiac to the euphoric. This elegantly crafted, perfect pop music sounds like it has had enough of your shit. And Day's music is the perfect foil; deep, slightly menacing, restrained, and powerful. The album has a cinematic texture, as with David Lynch; the seemingly familiar becomes uncanny and strange the closer we look. a.s.o. take our emotions for a joyride before leaving us floating in space.

'a.s.o.' is a journey; by its end, we all are changed

Ltd pressing, Widespine, black paper inners.

Tectonic Recordings presents Tectonic Sound: Vol. 2, the second instalment of the various artists series curated by label founder Pinch. Following the first Tectonic Sound collection, released in 2025 to mark the twentieth anniversary of the label, the series continues Tectonic’s forward-facing approach; bringing together artists from their wider family and connecting dots across the underground.
Longstanding figures of the UK Bass scene such as J:Kenzo and Roska sit alongside a new gen of artists including Ehua, Manami, Cimm, Denham Audio, Henry Greenleaf and SHXCXCHCXSH. Beatrice M. also returns following the release of their acclaimed debut album Sinking earlier this year, while Jay Carder and Sir Hiss make their first outings as solo artists on the label, after both appearing as collaborators on Sinking.
Pinch says: ““As Tectonic enters its third decade, the spirit and passion behind the music hold true to its roots. I love every single track on this compilation and how it shows off the various corners of the label's sound. Each artist has delivered something truly special!”
Each artist arrives with a distinct sound and history of their own, but across these twelve original tracks there’s a shared understanding of what Tectonic represents. Different strains of the UK bass continuum come together, creating a space where sounds collide, and new forms take shape. 
Pinch leads the charge with ‘Hold On!’, an upfront, high-definition 4x4 propulsion tool that pairs rolling momentum with seismic bass pulses. Manami enters with ‘Turning Point’, further solidifying her newer direction, leaning into deep, dubbed-out territory with a sound that feels both vast and exploratory, while remaining heads-down and locked in. Henry Greenleaf steps in with ‘Whist’, an ominous and otherworldly offering, reminiscent of early dubstep productions that fell somewhere between the lines of dark garage, 2-step and grime.
Elsewhere, SHXCXCHCXSH’s ‘NexxxD’ and Sir Hiss’s ‘2TUFF’ form a middle climatic point of pure chaos, with Sir Hiss serving up a raw slab of gnarled grime waveforms and cascading claps. Beatrice M. & Cimm bring things back down with ‘Pad City’, a cool, meandering cut of shuffling house, while Lorem closes the compilation with ‘Console Corners’, exploring the outer rims of sound manipulation and deconstruction before tying it all together.
Since its formation in 2005, Tectonic has been a trailblazing force in electronic music, helping to define and continually redraw the boundaries of dubstep and its surrounding sounds. The compilation arrives in the middle of a serious run for the label. Earlier this year, Tectonic released Beatrice M.’s debut album Sinking, a major moment for the label that was embraced across the electronic music community. Pinch has also continued his long-running creative relationship with legendary grime MC Trim this year, following their joint 2025 EP No Caller ID, with recent single Striker.
Across Tectonic Sound Vol. 2, those different strands of Tectonic’s history and present day meet head-on. The music moves between familiar forms and stranger territory, with rhythms and frequencies refracting across the collection. It’s a record that feels cohesive without being uniform, reflecting a label whose sound has always been defined by forward movement.

Bogdan Ra's Love Affair label is still in its infancy, but thus far has yet to make a misstep. On his previous EP for the imprint, the Lisbon-based artist explored his love of TB-303 powered acid house insanity; here, he drops a much more diverse but no less impressive five tracker. He begins with 'Tour De Acid', a punchy electro-meets-acid house workout featuring nods aplenty to Kraftwerk, before blurring the boundaries between formative acid house, bleep and deep nu-disco on title track 'Light Boom'. 'Take Your Time' and 'Manic and Cool' are both peak-time ready slabs of peak-time-ready house nostalgia, while closing cut 'Strictly Business' is a brilliant blend of bass-heavy breaks and acid-fired dancefloor psychedelia.

WOW! An early ’80s New Wave, Electro, Proto-Electronica, Industrial and Kraut-Pop album that has never been released before is now coming out on Elaste Records and it’s a perfect fit! History is being made.

Quotes: “A pearl” (Hans Nieswandt) / “Great album” (Hell, Gigolo) / “Awesome album” (Patrick Pulsinger) / “Magnificent material” (Roman Flügel) / “An ’80s electronic gem… an ’80s Krautpop highlight” (Sankt Otten).

In the early eighties, Michael Heinkel was one of those quiet electronic musicians hardly anyone knew — at least outside of Munich. While machine rhythms were being perfected in Düsseldorf, dilettantism was elevated into an art form in Hamburg and West Berlin was soundtracking its own feverish coldness, Munich seemed to be a place where, apparently, nothing was happening. Or almost nothing. Because beneath the radar, far removed from the grand narratives of those years, Michael Heinkel was already creating his own electronic cosmos — stripped-down, idiosyncratic and often ahead of its time. Electronic minimalist music, born somewhere between a home studio, nightlife and the longing for a future that could only just be imagined back then. But the recordings disappeared into drawers, onto cassettes and tape reels. For decades, they remained a secret shared only among friends, insiders and a handful of close companions. It was only 45 years later that Andreas Dorau and Ralf Hertwig (Palais Schaumburg) — two defining figures of that early avant-garde — insisted that the recordings finally be made accessible. Not as an exercise in nostalgia, but as the overdue release of a missing piece in the history of German electronic music. This music is not a nostalgic retrospective. It is a delayed signal from a future that had already begun back then. Format: Heavyweight black vinyl incl. printed inner sleeve + download card



Quotes: -"Michael Heinkel's long-lost LP is a treasure trove. I'm constantly amazed at the musical gems from the early '80s that are still waiting to be discovered." - Hans Nieswandt (Whirlpool Productions) - „Some München musical history that somehow got missed at the time finally gets released after 40 years. Great album.“ - Hell (Gigolo) - “Awesome album! Today, we can only imagine just how groundbreaking electronic music at this level was back then. When gems like these are heard for the first time in perfect sound quality, it’s like a trip back in time to the early days of electronic music. Back to the future!!!” - Patrick Pulsinger (Cheap / iO / Sluts’n‘ Strings & 909 / The Private Lightning Six) - “Terrific material!” - Roman Flügel (Acid Jesus / Alter Ego / Sensorama / Warp 69) - “ELASTE has unearthed an 80s electronic gem! A German minimal wave gem-freshly unearthed! Minimal, rare, brilliant - an 80s Krautpop highlight.” - Sankt Otten - „Pure and delicious 80s Electronics from Munich. We love it.“ - Gorilla Aktiv

Volume 1 - Growth
Resurrection is a long-term musical work that has accompanied Christine Benz for almost twenty years. The first track was created in 2007 (track id - Born after Code), with another piece added nearly every year thereafter.
Throughout this time, she continued to produce other music while steadily developing her artistic language.
Musically, the album moves between minimal techno, ambient and experimental electronic music. Across different phases of her life, Resurrection gradually grew into an archive of her personal and musical evolution.
The complete work unfolds as a trilogy across Volumes 1-3.
At its core lies her fascination with sound as material. Rather than thinking in terms of conventional melodies, she works with textures, vibrations, and spatial relationships. A small number of elements give rise to complex sonic spaces, where minimal changes can have a profound effect. Mistakes, chance occurrences, and unexpected responses from the systems she uses also become part of the music. Even from chaos, remarkable structures
emerge. Whenever unplanned beauty reveals itself, she preserves it as a small “miracle” in which control and chance intertwine.
The complete work unfolds across three chapters: Growth, Structure and Resonance, exploring repetition, frequency, perception, consciousness and technological development in the relationship between humans and
machines. It moves from origin through the formation of an internal order towards connection and interaction.
Volume 1: Growth, draws upon the Fibonacci sequence and the spiral as symbols of natural development, with the music growing through repetition and minimal change into increasingly complex forms. Throughout the
project, technology appears as a tool, a partner and a mirror of our perception, raising the question of whether consciousness, responsibility and empathy can evolve alongside technological progress.
During the project’s long evolution, Donato Dozzy developed an interest in Christine’s distinctive sound design.
In 2021, this led him to propose his own interpretation of Our Determination for Volume 1, subtly reworking the track through his own musical perspective.
The artwork developed by Christine also went through a creative process of its own. The original photographs were taken in a basement around 2019, with a wet curtain draped over her. In 2026, she decided to transform
this visual world into a moving-image artwork. For the production, a film crew reconstructed the entire setting.
The video shoot demanded a great deal from Christine: after several hours beneath the wet curtain, the cold was no longer merely part of the staging. This elaborate creative process gives the artwork its distinctive character
and makes it an essential part of Resurrection.
The first chapter will be released in November 2026 as a double-vinyl edition housed in a distinctive gatefold sleeve with an inside-out finish, matte varnish, and partial raised spot UV varnish. Two further double-vinyl
releases, Structure and Resonance, will complete the trilogy. All three volumes will be released on Pirat Records.Records.

2026 Repress

Kampana’s essential 7” series continues with another unmissable EP, featuring mysterious jazz and soul groove-magician Vanilla. The UK producer brings his beat-making skills to the disco format with stunning results.

'Turn Me Loose' blends an early 80s jazz funk groove, vocal chops and modern synths, creating an infectious mid-tempo disco number.

'Into My Eyes' - remastered for 2021 - features a percussive slap bass, with catchy vocals and classic filters for another timeless, uplifting anthem.

Second Circle returns with a reissue of ‘Rainsong’ by Gus Till, presented here alongside a new remix from Japanese producer Kuniyuki Takahashi.

Originally emerging from Melbourne’s post-punk and new wave underground in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Gus Till has spent more than four decades navigating a remarkably diverse musical path. From early electronic experimentation with Third Eye alongside Ollie Olsen, through a pivotal role in the formative years of the global psy-trance movement and collaborations with artists including Michael Hutchence, System 7, Manu Dibango, Todd Terry and Bim Sherman, Till’s work has consistently resisted easy categorisation, moving fluidly between ambient music, downtempo, house, trance and psychedelic electronica.

First released on Japan’s Dakini Records in 2006, ‘Rainsong’ captures many of these threads in a single expansive composition. Built around a pulsating bassline, layered live percussion and soaring vocal elements, the track sits comfortably between the dancefloor and more immersive listening environments. Unfolding patiently across nearly thirteen minutes, it combines hypnotic rhythmic momentum with a rich sense of atmosphere and musicality.

For the B-side, Kuniyuki Takahashi offers a distinct reinterpretation of the original. His remix gradually unfolds from a patient introduction into a deep and richly textured exploration of the track’s core themes. Subtle spatial processing, nuanced arrangement shifts and his unmistakable sense of atmosphere transform the source material while preserving its emotional core.

'Rainsong' will be released digitally and on vinyl through Second Circle on July 29th. Sleeve art and design by Michael Willis.

Elypsia Records presents A Future Tribe, the new album from Italian electronic music producers CEM3340 & 2030. Rooted in the formative language of electro and early techno, A Future Tribe channels the past through a lens very much focused on the future. Across the album, analogue warmth, machine-driven funk, synthetic textures and futuristic atmospheres come together in a sound that channels the pioneering spirit of early Detroit while remaining unmistakably connected to the present. For CEM3340 and 2030, machines are not simply tools, they are central to the creative process. Both producers have spent years immersed in the culture of electronic hardware. They've been carefully building and refining their own approach to production through an extensive collection of synthesisers, drum machines, sequencers and studio equipment. Based in Bari, southern Italy, their work reflects a deep fascination with the physicality of electronic music: oscillators, circuitry, voltage, rhythm and the unpredictable character of machines programmed and played with a human touch. That philosophy is deeply embedded in A Future Tribe. Rather than treating the early years of techno as a museum piece, CEM3340 & 2030 approach its foundational ideas as a living language - one that can be stripped back, re-translated and taken somewhere new. The influence of Detroit's first generation of electronic innovators is unmistakable. There are echoes of the futuristic electro and techno pioneered by artists including Juan Atkins and his contemporaries, where funk, science fiction, machines and the possibilities of tomorrow became part of a new musical vocabulary. It is an approach that has already earned the duo recognition within that lineage. Their previous Machines Awake EP, released through Atkins' Metroplex Records, was described as paying homage to the classic foundations of the genre while pushing them into new territory. Juan himself gave the release his sonic approval. But A Future Tribe is not an exercise in retro-futurism for its own sake. The album comes from two producers who understand the history, have the hardware to explore it and, crucially, are interested in what happens when those influences are given space to evolve. The result is electronic music that is full of funk, groove and a kind of nostalgia that is pure and intentional without being a pastiche. Together, they make music that is rooted in one simple truth: machines can't come to life without human creativity.

Format: LP , Limited
With his first longplay EUROSTAR, the Danish disco-dj-turned-rock-crooner Boogie Rookie seeks to bridge the troubled waters between UK new-wavey rock and sleazy euro-disco. It's a ten track italo-rock outburst uniting extreme hedonism, climate crisis and the European railnet.

The album is produced partly in Copenhagen with Danish disco royalty Vinnie Who and balearic-proghouse wunderkind William Winding, and partly on the hills of Napoli with the Neapolitan Italo-don Whodamanny. In the middle of the album there are steamy vocal features from the Parisian disco queen Corine and the Danish model-chanteuse Klara Kristin.

The album is already remixed by the likes of Prins Thomas, Italo Deviance and Danger Boys and has gained traction amongst DJ's all over who fear neither kitsch or raw rock'n'roll power.

When he's not busy making punky HI-NRG tunes, Boogie Rookie is one of the busiest European cosmic disco dj's. On weekend nights, you're very likely to find him with a glass of red wine behind the booth of his countless Copenhagen residencies, his residency at Paris' hyped disco La Fète or at happening disco dances elsewhere in Europe.

Crypt of the Wizard is proud to make available two legendary underground albums by Slutet on vinyl and digital formats.
Slutet originated in Uppsala well over a decade ago, first emerging as a loose idea around 2010. The original cluster of strangely like minded individuals - Dingir, Ryttersson, J.P., Sviatopolk, were equally set on starting a cult as they were a band, the former emerging as a loose collective known as The End Commune, while the latter eventually began rehearsing together as Slutet on September 1, 2013.
From this constellation three notorious demo tapes sprung which were self-released in very limited numbers, and only available by trading bodily fluids, blood, and/or hair for the cassettes. “A very loose guess but we made probably around 20-30 hand-drawn/custom demo tapes of the first three releases. We got blood and hair from many places, actually the very first offering was from INDONESIA. Slovakia, Germany, USA, Argentina, Norway, Canada, Finland followed.... if my memory serves..... hazy years indeed”
J.P. left early 2015. Later that year, after trying the band as a bass-drum-vocals outfit for a while, Fjalar joined on guitar. This is the classic constellation. Dingir, Ryttersson, Fjalar, Sviatopolk. The same troupe playing to this very day.
Following on from the compilation Slutet began work on their next offering entitled Jihad. While the departure of J.P. left them temporarily without a guitarist, a chance meeting with Fjalar at a rave ushered in a new era for the band. “I met the drummer and the bass player at a psytrance rave in the forest. I didn’t have any band and I wanted to play music and I saw this fucking weirdo with long dreads and a Hellhammer shirt and I just went up to talk to him”.
After Fjalar joined the rather chaotic fray, songwriting duties were spread out more broadly and Jihad was rehearsed and recorded in a haze. First released as a cassette by Manifest Of Hate Creations, and later on vinyl in an edition of 100 by Goatowarex the release quickly sold out and became as legendary, and as incredibly difficult to obtain as the previous releases. “It has got some psychedelic improvs, some very unorthodox and quite genius vocal work, some electronic undertones, some noisy ambience, a message of existentialism; all this wrapped up in some sloppy but very authentic and intense black metal-ish music.”
“After the vinyl compilation was out (early 2015) we felt probably a bit directionless, and, having parted ways with a befriended and talented guitar player, we felt maybe a bit morally weakened to continue. First, for a year almost, we toiled on without the 6-strings and rehearsed quite lengthy material for a proposed upcoming LP. However, that material never surfaced. Then we got a new guitar player (Fjalar) and created and recorded this mess”.
It is with great pride that we make these albums available to a general audience and in a wider pressing without need for bloodshed.

New stunning 4-track EP from Tom Carruthers on House Of Underground's sublabel!

Diffuse Reality presents Rotor Militia - Exit Human A double LP on vinyl, also available in digital format. Eight tracks that will flood your heart, mind, and soul with emotion. Robust and powerful Techno built on off-beats, broken rhythms, and industrial sounds, layered with celestial textures and atmospheres. A constant interplay of immersive drums drives the energy throughout the record. Without a doubt, a very special vinyl, a timeless piece. Prepare yourself for a journey with no return!