Cerca:free son

Pink Butter’s debut EP is a bold fusion of jazz, R&B, hip-hop, and indie, blending structured composition with raw improvisation. Rooted in deep grooves and spontaneous creativity, the project channels influences like J Dilla, D’Angelo, and Robert Glasper while carving out a sound uniquely their own.

With live instrumentation at its core, the band brings an organic, dynamic energy that bridges classic and contemporary influences. Collaborations with legendary artists like T3 of Slum Village and Jermaine Holmes (D’Angelo) add an undeniable depth, reinforcing their vision of modern soul-jazz innovation. This release isn’t just a collection of songs—it’s an experience where musical chemistry and fearless creativity take centre stage.
Pink Butter is a Scandinavian collective of four musicians—Oskar Bettinsoli (guitar), Björn Lehnert (keys), Malte Bergman (bass), and John Bjurström (drums)—dedicated to the art of live performance and improvisation. Merging jazz’s freeform energy with the rhythmic pulse of hip-hop and the soulful depth of R&B, the band’s sound is both timeless and forward-thinking. Their approach embraces the rawness of live musicianship, creating a fresh sonic landscape that resonates with the essence of legends like J Dilla and D’Angelo. With a deep respect for both classic and modern influences, Pink Butter is not just making music—they’re redefining the space where jazz, soul, and hip-hop converge.

Pink Butter’s debut EP is a bold fusion of jazz, R&B, hip-hop, and indie, blending structured composition with raw improvisation. Rooted in deep grooves and spontaneous creativity, the project channels influences like J Dilla, D’Angelo, and Robert Glasper while carving out a sound uniquely their own.

With live instrumentation at its core, the band brings an organic, dynamic energy that bridges classic and contemporary influences. Collaborations with legendary artists like T3 of Slum Village and Jermaine Holmes (D’Angelo) add an undeniable depth, reinforcing their vision of modern soul-jazz innovation. This release isn’t just a collection of songs—it’s an experience where musical chemistry and fearless creativity take centre stage.
Pink Butter is a Scandinavian collective of four musicians—Oskar Bettinsoli (guitar), Björn Lehnert (keys), Malte Bergman (bass), and John Bjurström (drums)—dedicated to the art of live performance and improvisation. Merging jazz’s freeform energy with the rhythmic pulse of hip-hop and the soulful depth of R&B, the band’s sound is both timeless and forward-thinking. Their approach embraces the rawness of live musicianship, creating a fresh sonic landscape that resonates with the essence of legends like J Dilla and D’Angelo. With a deep respect for both classic and modern influences, Pink Butter is not just making music—they’re redefining the space where jazz, soul, and hip-hop converge.

Explosiv, emotional, kompromisslos und zu laut. In einer Rocklandschaft, die zunehmend zwischen Retro-Glanz und digitalem Kalkül pendelt, übernehmen THE EXTRAS eine Rolle, die längst verwaist scheint: Die einer Band, die Emotionalität nicht mit Pathos verwechselt, die Punk-Wurzeln mit Songwriting-Können paart - und die Haltung hat, ohne Parolen zu schreien. Gegründet 2023 in Köln, aber mit internationaler DNA, zwei der vier Mitglieder stammen aus den USA, verbindet sie den rohen Geist des amerikanischen Undergrounds mit europäischer Gegenwartskultur. Die Gründer Elmar Freels (Köln) und Jon Manierre (New York) werden komplettiert durch Transgitarristin Killer Krissy, Drummer extraordinaire Leroy Kaldenbach und Bassist Pat Bewick. Mit ihrem eigenständigen Breitwandsound, ausgefeilten Lyrics und Rollkragenpullovern nach Lou-Reed-Vorbild (nur in weiß) sind THE EXTRAS eine stilvolle Ausnahmeerscheinung. Sie vereinen rohe Energie mit Zugänglichkeit, Melancholie mit Wut, Punk mit Pop - und zeigen, dass Empowerment auch laut, chaotisch und kollektiv sein kann.

Strut present a new single vinyl reissue of Vambe"s sought-after privately pressed album from 1982, Drumland Dreamland. A self-taught drummer, inventor, and sonic experimentalist, Vambe holds a unique place in British music. The creator of his own instrument, the drumgita (pronounced "drumguitar") or string-drum, he aimed to create music that had never been previously made to pursue access to the fourth dimension and forge a radical new musical language - intuitive, polyrhythmic and metaphysical. Drumland Dreamland is deep and haunting; a dense tapestry of layered percussion, time-warped tape loops, and spiralling drumgita figures, all underpinned by hypnotic improvisations from Brazilian pianist Rafael Dos Santos. It is both ecstatic and unsettling, a landmark recording in black British experimental music.

Grinderman entstand 2005, als Nick Cave Material für das Album „Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus“
von Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds schrieb. Gemeinsam mit Martyn Casey am Bass, Warren Ellis an Violine
und Gitarre und Jim Sclavunos am Schlagzeug erarbeitete die Band gemeinsam Songs. 2006 ging sie in
ein Londoner Studio und begann eine Marathon-Session mit Songwriting und Demoaufnahmen. Mit dem
Ziel, den raueren, ursprünglicheren Sound von Caves gefeiertem Post-Punk-Projekt „The Birthday Party“ nachzubilden, wichen die Texte und die Musik von Grinderman deutlich von Nick Caves früheren Arbeiten
mit The Bad Seeds ab.
Im darauffolgenden April nahmen sie die besten dieser neuen Songs auf und nahmen mit Hilfe ihres langjährigen Freundes und Produzenten Nick Launay ein Album auf. Ihr am 5. März 2007 veröffentlichtes Debü-
talbum „Grinderman“ mit elf Songs wurde von der Kritik hoch gelobt und enthält die Singles „No Pussy
Blues“ und „Get It On“. Das Quartett kam 2009 wieder zusammen, um „Grinderman 2“ aufzunehmen, das
2010 erschien. Im Dezember 2011 gab Cave die Auflösung der Band auf einem Musikfestival in Australien
bekannt.
Das „unglaublich aufregende Debütalbum“ (Observer Music Monthly) ist auf schwarzem Öko-Vinyl und im
CD-Digisleeve-Format erhältlich

KYOTO JAZZ SEXTET's new work is a folk song cover!
KYOTO JAZZ SEXTET, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2025, has released an emergency 12-inch. It is a cover of "DOSOJIN NO UTA",
a folk song handed down in Nozawa Onsen Village, Nagano Prefecture, with a spiritual and danceable jazz arrangement.
In 2022, the demo version was used for the video distribution of the Dosojin Festival and secretly attracted attention, and was completed in 2025
with new recordings of drums and bass.
It was also selected as the commercial song for "THE GIN SODA", which uses gin from Nozawa Onsen Village Distillery and will be released at Lawson stores
nationwide in March 2025, and has attracted a lot of attention.
The coupling is Extra Freedom, which has been played more than 1 million times on Spotify and became KYOTO JAZZ SEXTET's biggest hit. In addition, the album includes a new jazz version of Still In Love, a cover of Shuya Okino's global anthem, featuring Navasha Daya and Tomoki Sanders.

This is a supreme album that breaks new ground for KYOTO JAZZ SEXTET and features their strongest songs.
This is also the first release from KJCC (Kyoto Jazzy Creative Council), a voluntary organization that Shuya Okino founded with Yukari BB (Jazz Sport Kyoto) and Masaki Tamura (DoitJAZZ!). Shuya Okino himself wrote the Japanese title on the front cover.

After 30 years of playing music professionally, Willie Watson is releasing his debut album. A founding member of Old Crow Medicine Show, and a staple on the folk and americana circuit - Willie is no stranger to the stage and to audiences. But this is his first album of original music, aptly self titled, and a bold and confident statement in both song mastery and sonics. This record is about beating the devil. Willie didn't make any specific pact with him, but he had been tangled up with him his whole life. This album is about finding himself free of that devil, and learning to love himself again. It is about no longer leaning on old sounds and old folk singers and the music they made, and instead about learning to express himself freely and without limits. The result is a masterpiece. Co Produced with Gabe Witcher (Punch Brothers) and Kenneth Pattingale (Milk Carton Kids), and co written with Morgan Nagler (Phoebe Bridgers, Haim, Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings)

Japanese acid pop outfit Cho Co Pa Co Cho Co Quin Quin channel the globe-trotting spirit of Haruomi Hosono’s 1970s tropical boogie on their debut album, Tradition.

Named after one of the basic rhythms of Cuban folk music and drawing on influences from across the globe, Cho Co Pa Co Cho Co Quin Quin are quite simply a world unto itself.

Comprised of three childhood friends, Daido, Yuta and So, who reconnected during the coronavirus pandemic, Cho Co Pa initially emerged as a playful way for the three 23-year-olds to pass the time. Tapping into their youthful connection, they created a sound that exudes confidence and curiosity, a homage to the masterful world of YMO’s and Happy End’s Haruomi Hosono, rooted in the trio’s own idiosyncratic experience of the present.

Recorded at home and promoted on hugely popular DIY TikTok videos, their debut album Tradition is a technicolour exercise in armchair travelling – a kind of lockdown exotica for the housebound whose nostalgic flights of fancy are laced with a sense of whimsical melancholy for the lost freedoms of youth.

Referencing everything from Afro-Cuban percussion to lo-fi beats, Buddhist spirituality to trap, each member of the band brings different musical inspirations to the table. Latin American and Middle Eastern styles sit adjacent to a fascination for the electronic music of Aphex Twin, Dorian Concept, Underworld and Daft Punk. At times, the music verges on acid pop bliss, at others, it grooves with the instrumental funk sensibility of BADBADNOTGOOD.

“In the first place, when I create a song, my goal is to transport the listener to a mysterious place,” vocalist Daido explained in a recent magazine interview. Using lyrics as another sonic texture in the composition of ideas, Cho Co Pa paint beguiling sonic postcards of far-flung moods across 12 highly original tracks.

Marrying the organic and the electronic on rhythmically sophisticated compositions like ‘Chichibu’ and ‘Watatsumi’, it is on the album’s standout track ‘Gandhara’ that the experimental sound of Cho Co Pa comes to the fore. Referencing the ancient city of Gandhara through which Buddhism made its way from India to China, the track is a vocoder-trap-inspired, Udu drum-driven pop jam that lilts with unmistakable Balearic flair. If that’s difficult to imagine, then know simply that ‘Gandhara’ sounds like nothing else on this side of Saturn. Even Daido seemed surprised by the outcome: “I feel like we were able to create something that exceeded our abilities. That was huge!”

Hugely popular in Japan, with festival appearances lined up alongside BADBADNOTGOOD at Asagiri Jam in October, it's safe to say the success of Tradition has taken Cho Co Pa by surprise. You won’t have heard anything like it."

Tuesday The Sky's origins could almost be considered accidental. Guitarist Jim Matheos, famed for his work with progressive metal giants Fates Warning alongside projects such as OSI and his collaboration with John Arch, Arch/Matheos, penned a few songs that did not fit in with any of his established outlets, and intrigued by this, decided to write more and see where this took him. The result was 2017's Drift, a record that drew influence from the likes of Brian Eno, Sigur Ros, Boards Of Canada and Explosions In The Sky, and now he returns with its successor, The Blurred Horizon.

Best of' albums are invariably repackaged collections of old recordings, so Vice Squad's `Punk Rockers' is a breath of fresh air The songs have been lovingly recorded and remastered, keeping all the original fire and adding decades of experience gained from punishing tours and continuous songwriting Beki is the original architect of the songs and the Vice Squad name, and she is the sole surviving member of the original lineup to have continued as a full-time musician Vice Squad are 100% DIY and record everything in their home studio with guitarist/riffmaster Paul Rooney engineering and mixing. There is nothing sloppy here; the whole album is concise and intelligent with lightning-speed diction, passion, and intent. The glorious `If I Knew What I Know Now' and `The World Is Wrong' are examples of Vice Squad's ability to write instantly catchy, witty songs, and the more gut-wrenching material from their last album, `Battle of Britain', showcases some enormous riffs and a voice that is a million decibels from Beki's untried teen vocals. The album opens with the deliciously effervescent `If I Knew What I Know Now', followed by the sparkling old-school tongue-twister `Out of Reach'. Next up is the visceral `Get A Life', an angry anti-suicide note to the desperate, originally the title track from their 1998 comeback album. This is followed by a shimmering version of Vice Squad's old-school classic `Resurrection'. While the treatment of the old songs remains true to the original teenage renditions, the upgraded versions pack more of a punch with detuned guitars and growling bass. The tribal tom-toms of `Allergy' underpin just over two minutes of punk protest about the delights of pollution and asthma. Then comes the sublime `Sniffing Glue', a near-perfect punk love song that would be a huge hit if not for its subject matter. `Ordinary Girl' is punk-pop perfection brimming with hook lines and harmonies, warmly mocking the life that could have been chosen instead of the grindstone at the sharp end of the music industry. `The World Is Wrong' is anthemic, joyous, and wonderfully contrary, and one would expect nothing less from a band that has soldiered on and grown through the decades. It's always great when bands lead by example. In these increasingly tough times where our survival is threatened by the gargantuan greed of a few individuals, it's important to continuously stick two fingers up to the grabbers and spoilers. 'The World Is Wrong' does just that in an impassioned, melodic, and optimistic style. 'Hold your head up, stand your ground, and don't let the bastards grind you down.' Then we roar into the final single Beki wrote with original and now sadly deceased guitarist Dave Bateman, `Citizen', and continue with another teenage opus, the quite brutal `Scarred For Life'. `Voice of the People' is a bulldozer of a song, all swagger and ballsy riffs, and the chorus, `Freedom of speech is against the law; now we're all criminals,' snarls its derision at red-handed red tape. `Punk Police' sneers over a catchy-as-COVID guitar riff, and the lyrics, `Regulation cut, you must measure up, down on the street, PR companies, monied families, running the scene,' call out the hierarchies that now permeate Punk. Baritone guitars add extra darkness to one of the first-ever animal rights songs, `Humane', and I'm struck by how relevant the older songs are. Chocks away, and the awesome 'Spitfire' takes flight like Motörhead on extra amphetamines. Merlin engines fade into `Born In A War', the second in the triumvirate of conflict-themed songs, an absolute stonker with huge muscular riffs and lyrics that roar pure outrage. Then comes the ominous Last Rockers, with all the angst of the original plus added depth and resonance. Beki: ' "Last Rockers" is a typically depressive adolescent song about nuclear war and being too young to die but too late to live. I believed Punks were the `Last Rockers', the final youth cult before the Apocalypse. I was obsessed with punk, and all I wanted to do was sing in a band and be part of the movement, so I would often romanticise the idea of punk in my lyrics.'

Best of' albums are invariably repackaged collections of old recordings, so Vice Squad's `Punk Rockers' is a breath of fresh air The songs have been lovingly recorded and remastered, keeping all the original fire and adding decades of experience gained from punishing tours and continuous songwriting Beki is the original architect of the songs and the Vice Squad name, and she is the sole surviving member of the original lineup to have continued as a full-time musician Vice Squad are 100% DIY and record everything in their home studio with guitarist/riffmaster Paul Rooney engineering and mixing. There is nothing sloppy here; the whole album is concise and intelligent with lightning-speed diction, passion, and intent. The glorious `If I Knew What I Know Now' and `The World Is Wrong' are examples of Vice Squad's ability to write instantly catchy, witty songs, and the more gut-wrenching material from their last album, `Battle of Britain', showcases some enormous riffs and a voice that is a million decibels from Beki's untried teen vocals. The album opens with the deliciously effervescent `If I Knew What I Know Now', followed by the sparkling old-school tongue-twister `Out of Reach'. Next up is the visceral `Get A Life', an angry anti-suicide note to the desperate, originally the title track from their 1998 comeback album. This is followed by a shimmering version of Vice Squad's old-school classic `Resurrection'. While the treatment of the old songs remains true to the original teenage renditions, the upgraded versions pack more of a punch with detuned guitars and growling bass. The tribal tom-toms of `Allergy' underpin just over two minutes of punk protest about the delights of pollution and asthma. Then comes the sublime `Sniffing Glue', a near-perfect punk love song that would be a huge hit if not for its subject matter. `Ordinary Girl' is punk-pop perfection brimming with hook lines and harmonies, warmly mocking the life that could have been chosen instead of the grindstone at the sharp end of the music industry. `The World Is Wrong' is anthemic, joyous, and wonderfully contrary, and one would expect nothing less from a band that has soldiered on and grown through the decades. It's always great when bands lead by example. In these increasingly tough times where our survival is threatened by the gargantuan greed of a few individuals, it's important to continuously stick two fingers up to the grabbers and spoilers. 'The World Is Wrong' does just that in an impassioned, melodic, and optimistic style. 'Hold your head up, stand your ground, and don't let the bastards grind you down.' Then we roar into the final single Beki wrote with original and now sadly deceased guitarist Dave Bateman, `Citizen', and continue with another teenage opus, the quite brutal `Scarred For Life'. `Voice of the People' is a bulldozer of a song, all swagger and ballsy riffs, and the chorus, `Freedom of speech is against the law; now we're all criminals,' snarls its derision at red-handed red tape. `Punk Police' sneers over a catchy-as-COVID guitar riff, and the lyrics, `Regulation cut, you must measure up, down on the street, PR companies, monied families, running the scene,' call out the hierarchies that now permeate Punk. Baritone guitars add extra darkness to one of the first-ever animal rights songs, `Humane', and I'm struck by how relevant the older songs are. Chocks away, and the awesome 'Spitfire' takes flight like Motörhead on extra amphetamines. Merlin engines fade into `Born In A War', the second in the triumvirate of conflict-themed songs, an absolute stonker with huge muscular riffs and lyrics that roar pure outrage. Then comes the ominous Last Rockers, with all the angst of the original plus added depth and resonance. Beki: ' "Last Rockers" is a typically depressive adolescent song about nuclear war and being too young to die but too late to live. I believed Punks were the `Last Rockers', the final youth cult before the Apocalypse. I was obsessed with punk, and all I wanted to do was sing in a band and be part of the movement, so I would often romanticise the idea of punk in my lyrics.'

Vice Squad are 100% DIY and record everything in their home studio with guitarist/riffmaster Paul Rooney engineering and mixing. There is nothing sloppy here; the whole album is concise and intelligent with lightning-speed diction, passion, and intent. The glorious ‘If I Knew What I Know Now’ and ‘The World Is Wrong’ are examples of Vice Squad’s ability to write instantly catchy, witty songs, and the more gut-wrenching material from their last album, ‘Battle of Britain’, showcases some enormous riffs and a voice that is a million decibels from Beki's untried teen vocals. The album opens with the deliciously effervescent ‘If I Knew What I Know Now’, followed by the sparkling old-school tongue-twister ‘Out of Reach’. Next up is the visceral ‘Get A Life’, an angry anti-suicide note to the desperate, originally the title track from their 1998 comeback album. This is followed by a shimmering version of Vice Squad's old-school classic ‘Resurrection’. While the treatment of the old songs remains true to the original teenage renditions, the upgraded versions pack more of a punch with detuned guitars and growling bass. The tribal tom-toms of ‘Allergy’ underpin just over two minutes of punk protest about the delights of pollution and asthma. Then comes the sublime ‘Sniffing Glue’, a near-perfect punk love song that would be a huge hit if not for its subject matter. ‘Ordinary Girl’ is punk-pop perfection brimming with hook lines and harmonies, warmly mocking the life that could have been chosen instead of the grindstone at the sharp end of the music industry. ‘The World Is Wrong’ is anthemic, joyous, and wonderfully contrary, and one would expect nothing less from a band that has soldiered on and grown through the decades. It’s always great when bands lead by example. In these increasingly tough times where our survival is threatened by the gargantuan greed of a few individuals, it's important to continuously stick two fingers up to the grabbers and spoilers. 'The World Is Wrong' does just that in an impassioned, melodic, and optimistic style. 'Hold your head up, stand your ground, and don't let the bastards grind you down.' Then we roar into the final single Beki wrote with original and now sadly deceased guitarist Dave Bateman, ‘Citizen’, and continue with another teenage opus, the quite brutal ‘Scarred For Life’. ‘Voice of the People’ is a bulldozer of a song, all swagger and ballsy riffs, and the chorus, ‘Freedom of speech is against the law; now we’re all criminals,’ snarls its derision at red-handed red tape. ‘Punk Police’ sneers over a catchy-as-COVID guitar riff, and the lyrics, ‘Regulation cut, you must measure up, down on the street, PR companies, monied families, running the scene,’ call out the hierarchies that now permeate Punk. Baritone guitars add extra darkness to one of the first-ever animal rights songs, ‘Humane’, and I’m struck by how relevant the older songs are. Chocks away, and the awesome ’Spitfire’ takes flight like Motörhead on extra amphetamines. Merlin engines fade into ‘Born In A War’, the second in the triumvirate of conflict-themed songs, an absolute stonker with huge muscular riffs and lyrics that roar pure outrage. Then comes the ominous Last Rockers, with all the angst of the original plus added depth and resonance. Beki: ' "Last Rockers" is a typically depressive adolescent song about nuclear war and being too young to die but too late to live. I believed Punks were the ‘Last Rockers’, the final youth cult before the Apocalypse. I was obsessed with punk, and all I wanted to do was sing in a band and be part of the movement, so I would often romanticise the idea of punk in my lyrics.' The four bonus CD tracks kick off with ‘Coward’, another teen Bateman/Bond composition. ‘No You Don’t’ is just over two minutes of vocal acrobatics over a Dexedrine-driven Devo-esque chord sequence, and the frantically brilliant ‘I Dare To Breathe’ from ‘Battle of Britain’ continues the aural assault. Then the final sombre entreaty of ‘You Can’t Buy Back The Dead’ warns us that ‘Enough’s never enough; absolute power will corrupt; the war machine still rumbles on’ before fading into the future.

Nach den Erfolgen des Merchcowboy Mixtapes Vol. 1 und Vol. 2 erscheint am 18. Juli 2025 der dritte Teil des Benefizsamplers. Dieses Mal unterstützt man #LeaveNoOneBehind sowie PRO ASYL und stellt sich so klar gegen Rechtsruck und Ausgrenzung und positioniert sich für bedingungslose Humanität. Unter anderen unterstützen Die Toten Hosen, Die Ärzte, Deichkind, Broilers, Heaven Shall Burn, Donots, Madsen, Grossstadtgeflüster, Sondaschule, Montreal, Deine Cousine, Juli, Ebow, Lara Hulo, H-Blockx, Heisskalt und viele weitere der bekanntesten Namen der deutschen, alternativen Musikszene das Projekt. Allesamt Bands und Künstler*innen, die politisch aktiv sind und sich für eine weltoffene, tolerante Gesellschaft einsetzen. Das Merchcowboy Mixtape Vol. 3 wird durch Musik Spenden für die Organisationen #LeaveNoOneBehind sowie PRO ASYL sammeln. Also genau die Organisationen, die sich täglich für die Förderung gelebter Demokratie, die Unterstützung von Geflüchteten sowie Bekämpfung von Faschismus einsetzen. Alle Bands und Künstler*innen verzich-ten hierbei auf Gagen - der Erlös aus dem Verkauf des Samplers wird vollständig zu gleichen Anteilen an beide Organisationen gespendet.

Laura Jane Grace, Emmy-nominierte Musikerin, Autorin, Aktivistin und Against Me!-Gründerin/Songwriterin meldet sich mit ihrem dritten Studioalbum "Laura Jane Grace In The Trauma Tropes – Adventure Club" zurück – ein kraftvolles neues Statement mit einigen ihrer intensivsten und anregendsten Songs. Aufgenommen in Athen (GR), enthält es sensationelle Features externer Kollaborateure, bekannt als "The Trauma Tropes", darunter Graces Frau Paris Campbell (vocals) sowie die Athener Musiker Jacopo Fokas (bass) und Orestis Lagadinos (drums). Auf dem Keytrack "Your God (God's Dick)" schmettern sie die wohl hymnischsten Texte in Graces Historie, mit einem an Queens Power-Pop erinnernden A-cappella-Intro. In "Wearing Black" kritisiert Grace die Kommerzialisierung und Polizeipräsenz bei Pride-Veranstaltungen und stellt dabei ihren charakteristischen Punk-Ethos und ihre raue, unverhohlene Haltung voll zur Schau. Grace arbeitete mit Künstlern wie Miley Cyrus, Joan Jett und Weezer zusammen, trat auf Festivals wie Coachella, Reading & Leeds Festival oder Lollapalooza auf, erhielt einen Emmy-Nominierung für ihre Arbeit an der AOL-Serie "True Trans" und platzierte sich mit ihrer Autobiografie "Tranny: Confessions Of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout" auf der Billboard-Liste der 100 besten Musikbücher aller Zeiten.

Though Scratch may have at times seemed crazy, it is worth noting that creative
genius appears so because geniuses see things others do not see and inhabit
realities unseen. As the music on this album reveals, Lee Perry's Black Ark creations
re-arrange the familiar into something new and magical.
Lee spent his early days working with legendary producers Coxsone Dodd, Duke Reid,
Joe Gibbs, Clancy Eccles and Prince Buster, and by 1968 he was an independent
producer, naming his studio musicians The Upsetters and scoring instrumental hits
with innovative rhythms that helped forge the new reggae style. In 1970-1971 he
produced what many consider the greatest works by the Wailers; in 1968 one of his
Upsetters productions hit #5 on the UK pop chart and more hits followed. That gave
him the funds to build his own studio and in 1973 the legendary Black Ark was born.
Among the many landmark classics cut at Black Ark are such incisive political
commentaries as Max Romeo's "War Ina Babylon," and Junior Murvin's "Police and
Thieves" (covered by the Clash). The Congos' "Heart of the Congos" album is a roots
classic and there are many wonderful obscure singles such as Carlton and the Shoes'
"Better Days." Many dub creations made innovative use of Scratch's sonic wizardry via
echo, phasing, reverb, fanging, wah-wah and various sound effects.
It all came to an end in 1978 as Lee, besieged by extortionists, freeloaders, religious
fanatics and assorted pilgrims, let the studio lapse. And then he set it on fre, some
say due to frustration, others say from mental collapse. He left Jamaica, collaborated
with musicians around the world, toured as a sort of mystic trickster/ shaman and
prospered. But his work at Black Ark will always stand as his ultimate creative
achievement.

In celebration of its 10th anniversary, Aesthetical Records is honoured to reissue Peau Froide, Léger Soleil, the groundbreaking collaboration between Finnish electronic music luminary Mika Vainio and French experimental music pioneer Franck Vigroux. Originally released in 2015, this new edition revives a work of unparalleled sonic intensity and textural exploration. The album is set to release on double vinyl and CD on May 24, 2025.

This iconic album is the result of a three year recording process that began after Vainio and Vigroux’s first live performance in Paris in 2012. Their collaboration serves as an intricate balance of minimalist meditations and maximalist energy, pushing electronic music into radical new directions. Peau Froide, Léger Soleil is a journey through psychic resonance and spatial abstraction, constructed through Vainio’s intense, brutalist grooves and Vigroux’s explorations in tonal extremities. Spanning a total of nine tracks, the album unfolds like an odyssey, densely layered yet free from structural limitations, traversing vast emotional landscapes where each sound feels at once intimate and tectonic.

Beginning with the ominous, bass-heavy textures of “Deux,” Vainio and Vigroux establish a dynamic atmosphere, setting the stage for the intense soundscapes to follow. “Mémoire” introduces ghostly voices that weave through thick waves of sub-bass and distorted noise, while “Souffles” explores uncharted sonic territories with its microtonal landscapes and spectral ambiance. Vigroux’s mastery over spatial abstraction comes to life in “Le Souterrain,” adding an atmospheric weight reminiscent of Ennio Morricone’s stark loneliness or Neil Young’s Dead Man soundtrack. In contrast, tracks like “Parabole” and “Le crâne tambour” unleash fierce, maximalist grooves, making them some of the most aggressive and memorable moments in Vainio’s discography.

Peau Froide, Léger Soleil represents a landmark in its sonic identity, embodying a vision of uncompromising, avant-garde sound design. This anniversary reissue on Aesthetical honours that legacy while inviting new listeners into Vainio & Vigroux’s collaborative universe—a space where electronic music becomes both weapon and sanctuary.

The 10th-anniversary edition promises a fresh listening experience, preserving the legacy of two artists who have redefined the boundaries of sound.

Mexico City based "street jazz" maestro Soni Orbita is on a spiritual quest in sound. Jazz is what he uses to communicate messages of love and freedom, and this new album for Departamento does just that across 8 magnificent new tracks. They are brilliantly complex in their arrangements but also hugely accessible thanks to their universal grooves and emotions. Elements of house, funk and disco all feature with piano anchoring each piece. The result is a deeply personal and meditative body of work that invites introspection while moving the body and soul with endlessly rich harmonies. This is bold, brilliant jazz for anyone seeking a path to higher consciousness.

Strut present the first international release in over 30 years by legendary Afro-jazz group Oneness Of Juju with their new album Made Through Ritual on 11th July 2025.

In 1975, the late DJ / producer and jazz distributor Jimmy Gray and James “Plunky” Branch joined a musical revolution, founding Black Fire Records and releasing the label’s debut album, the classic African Rhythms by Oneness of Juju. This July, Plunky brings this important musical relationship full circle with Made Through Ritual, produced by Plunky’s son Jamiah “Fire” Branch and Jimmy’s son Jamal Gray.

The album takes a novel approach to beat culture. Working from demos created by Jamal using a selection of original jazz samples, Plunky took the tracks, replayed and re-interpreted the arrangements using live musicians. “The album explores the art of deconstruction and reconstruction in music - sampling, sequencing, and live improvisation merge with multi-track recording to craft intricate harmonies and arrangements,” explains Plunky. “The process became a ritualistic expression of creativity and transformation.”

The resulting album is a fascinating listen. Opening with the meditative soul chant ‘Share This Love’ voiced by regular Oneness vocalist Charlayne “Chyp” Green, the album opens out into a series of jazz vignettes including the title track, ‘In Due Time’ and ‘Free Spirit’. The powerful album closer, ‘Children Of The Drum’ celebrates black culture and legacy through the poetry of Roscoe Burnem.

Released on 1LP and 1CD with specially commissioned cover artwork by contemporary Ivorian artist Maxime Manga, Made Through Ritual represents an important new chapter in the Oneness story. The album will be supported by a selection of European tour dates during Autumn and Winter 2025.

Pelican has always been a band that's not just from Chicago, but distinctly of Chicago. Formed in 2000 by guitarists Trevor Shelley de Brauw and Laurent Schroeder-Lebec alongside brothers Bryan and Larry Herweg on bass and drums respectively, Pelican's foundation was built upon the rule-free, genre-agnostic scene synonymous with the Fireside Bowl. "The `90s in Chicago was a free-for-all. Everyone was just coming from a place of pure creativity," says Shelley de Brauw. With Schroeder-Lebec returning to the band following Dallas Thomas' departure in 2022, this reunified version of Pelican allowed the band to tap back into the spirit of their formative era and build something distinctly new with Flickering Resonance. While longtime Pelican fans will recognize the album as an update to the band's ethos_one that's been constantly evolving since their very first EP_their new partnership with Run For Cover Records emphasizes something that's always been implicit to the Pelican formula. These songs take as much inspiration from titanic `90s post-hardcore, space-rock, and emo as they do traditional metal, showing that though Godflesh and Goatsnake records occupied the shelves of Pelican's songwriters, so too did Quicksand, Christie Front Drive, and Hum. "A lot of people didn't hear it at first," says Schroeder-Lebec. "I was like, well, I guess the metal world is where we fit. But now, we're more willing to acknowledge all the suits we're wearing."On Flickering Resonance, Pelican doesn't attempt to reinvent itself as much as emphasize the elements that were so often overlooked. Though Pelican's thick sonic backbone remains intact, the songs on Flickering Resonance show a more humanistic side of the band. Tracks like "Evergreen" and "Indelible" tease Pelican's doom-metal roots, but these songs feel equally, ebullient and truthful, playing like Texas Is The Reason songs transmuted into a post-rock landscape. Recorded with longtime musical compatriot Sanford Parker, who recorded their first EP, Pelican begins this new chapter of their career with an album that's neither full reinvention nor back-to-roots revivalism. After so much time apart, and with so much life having been lived between the original Pelican lineup's last recording sessions together, the band approached it with renewed vigor and a more communal spirit."There was more room for openness and critique with the understanding that we're all trying to craft the best song possible and that every suggestion is valid until it's proven invalid," says Shelley de Brauw. That process allowed everyone to embrace the material with a shared vision. "We didn't move forward unless we all wanted to move forward, and that felt like real community building," says Schroeder-Lebec of this unified approach. "I went from seeing it as my art and my craft to our craft that we were shaping together."In doing so, Pelican allowed themselves to look at their music less as a means of hard-earned catharsis and more as an appreciation for the glimmers of joy that occur even in the bleakest landscapes. Songs like "Cascading Crescent" and "Indelible" don't languish in what's been lost, these tracks see the band embracing what remains in their hands instead of lamenting what's slipped through their fingers. It's a concept that's mirrored in the artwork of Christian Degn that graces the cover of Flickering Resonance. It's a piece built off the concept of flame meditation, and how the smallest flames can often bring about the biggest transformations. A song like "Flickering Stillness" exemplifies this feeling through its sonic expanse, putting the band's sonic density and hyper-focused clarity on display, but with an emphasis on the profound human connections that have kept Pelican going all these years. "When Laurent left and we were able to carry it through, there became a real sense of gratitude for the fact we still have this artistic outlet and a community of people who want to be a part of it" That feeling of deep, grounded appreciation isn't just one that's within the band members, it's expressed in every track on Flickering Resonance. Because at the very core of Pelican, are four individuals who have grown both separately and together, and always will.Like a distant light faintly glowing in the darkest night, Flickering Resonance is a reminder of all that has passed us by, but also all that is still to come.

For her second full-length as Plume Girl, Sowmya Somanath crafts a space where boundaries of language, feeling, and sound start to dissolve. ‘Unnameable Glory’ ruminates on the limits of expression, and the luminous freedom that emerges when we let go of the need to name. Elaborating on the exploratory songs of her debut, Plume Girl continues to bring together Hindustani classical improvisation, ambient soundscapes, and experimental pop.

Somanath’s voice—from gentle murmur to radiant call—guides the listener through dreamlike arrangements: sunrise guitar arpeggios, humming choirs, heartbeat kickdrums, and synths tremble. Elsewhere field sounds and old family recordings are collaged, a woman’s giggle transposed into a piano melody, a sloshing body of water mirrored by synth bleeps. Plume Girl conjures moments of revelation, drawing from the natural beauty and intuition, that unnameable glory.

Is there a divinity or a wholeness that exists beyond language, belief, or tradition? Unnameable Glory both celebrates and gently challenges the notion: Can we honour the creative richness of culture while also seeing through the divisions it creates? Can we meet the world—and each other—without assumption, without fear, with eyes made new? In these songs, the sacred is found not in grand gestures, but in the anonymous freedom of simply being: the iridescence of oil and water on a street, the smile of a stranger, the hush that settles by a creek.

At the heart of the album is a sense of curiosity and surrender—a willingness to listen without judgment, to let the moment be unnameable, to allow wonder to arise and dissolve. And yet, as Somanath notes, there’s an impulse to capture that’s tough to ignore; a need to replicate and remember. Unnameable Glory dwells in this tension: between holding and letting go, between the urge to define and the beauty of what cannot be contained. There is a quiet, revolutionary joy in simply living and sensing together. Music becomes a meeting place for the whole, the holy, and the unnamable.