quête:full force records

Following his recent EP, The Circle of Life, on Pushmaster Discs, Milan's rising techno star Maike Depas returns with a brand-new release on his renowned The Innovation Studio Records. Titled “Sexy Devil Horse”, it is a powerful 10-track collection, featuring many iconic international artists from the Hard Techno space such as Etruria Beat’s headmaster Luca Agnelli, Dutch-based sensation OGUZ and the “Demon of hard techno” also known as Michael Katana, as well as Southern Italian talents CHRS and Gianni Di Bernardo.
This release marks a pivotal moment in Maike Depas’ journey to become one of the highest rated talents in the Hard Techno scene. It will also be followed by a key paradigm shift his label’s business model in 2025. For this occasion, Maike has lined up an amazing group of artists to celebrate those who have shared his musical vision along the way.

The title is meant to be provocative and captivating, just like its content: catchy and fresh enough to attract ravers and clubbers from around the world. Its artwork was created by the master Luden Works. It features a plastic female figure with an undefined appearance, yet with sensual curves and a powerful surge of energy, like a wave enclosed in a sphere, representing Maike’s and The Innovation Studio Records’ logos.
From the galloping rhythm of “Sexy Devil Horse” and “Hear The Sound” to the groovy and elegant “Ce Soir” there is an immediate feel about the artist’s singular touch and eclecticism. Same goes for the tangible contrasts which make a key element of this release, where the minimalistic mood of “StarKiller” and its maximalist counterpart “Dark Serenade” carry the listener through a full-spectrum emotional rollercoaster.
Hard Techno and Psy Trance vibes go hand in hand with ‘90s Trance and Rave echoes, creating a blend of recognisable and innovative samples that can resonate with many different types of audience and like-minded artists. This aspect is fundamental in the direction Maike and his team have decided to take.

It all comes from afar: starting with a classical musical background – playing the piano at Conservatory level for many years, including Berlin’s own Funkhaus. This theoretical and practical knowledge, mixed with a long-time passion for electronic music, made it easier for Maike to shape and cultivate his authentic sound since a very young age.

As part of its evolution, The Innovation Studio Records will officially open its doors to new talent and renowned artists starting in 2025. The team’s vision is to create an international reference point for quality and innovation, shaping a brand-new artistic movement based on combining the modern vision of our generation with our cultural heritage from the past, thanks to the team that we put together, both in terms of approach and technique.
It'll be a structure built from the ground up, combining the best of analogue technology in a modern workflow with the highest level of music hardware, audio monitoring and studio design. In their view, there are two types of productions: those that stay ‘inside the box’ and those that get into your heart.

The desire to unite instead of dividing, to join forces instead of competing, is the key to Maike’s success and a real drive to turn the studio lights on every single day. Despite playing a lot with dystopic, cyberpunk-like atmospheres throughout his artistic journey, music doesn’t feel like a means to escape reality for Maike. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

The definition Maike uses the most to describe what The Innovation Studio Records wants to become is “a mysterious display cabinet”: a place where an artists will never know what emotion will arise or what direction will be taken next. Although hard work, professionalism and common inspiration will ultimately still be its main fuel, a true sense of community and empathy will be crucial to shape the future Maike and his team have in mind for it.
In a very romantic way, the idea is to re-create the same atmosphere from the Italian Renaissance masters’ workshops. Places where different artists - with opposite backgrounds and styles - could all mingle and inspire each other, in order to foster the creation of something unique. A collective effort for a greater good.

About MAIKE DEPAS
Young hard techno DJ-producer Maike Depas (born Michelangelo De Pasquale) has seen the future of music and it’s called metaverse: “In the future it will blow up,” he predicts. “And it’s going to revolutionize the way we experience music.” Bowled over by Skrillex and Martin Garrix by the age of eight, and DJing at smaller Milan clubs by the time he was eleven, Depas went on to study composition and piano at the prestigious

Milan Conservatory before learning ‘life- changing” lessons from the best in the business at Catalyst’s 4-week Advanced Sound Design course in Berlin’s Funkhaus . His production gets inspired by huge 90s trance synths as much as pounding hard techno from artists such as Kobosil, In Verruf and Amelie Lens.
2024 marked the launch of MAIKE DEPAS 2.0, a tectonic audio-visual shift that entails a wide array of content from DJ sets livestreamed from Berlin’s Teufelsberg and other dystopic locations around Europe to cyberpunk-inspired outfits designed by Demobaza, a cyberpunk-inspired casual couture brand best known for their sustainable Dune X Demobaza collection. Over the course of a developing metamorphosis from a flesh-and-bone individual to a mysterious CGI character, Depas is another step closer to revolutionize the dance music scene through the metaverse.

Iconic UK punk band X-Ray Spex co-founder Lora Logic was unexpectedly ousted before the recording of their debut album 'Germ Free Adolescents' in 1977. Undeterred, Lora went on to form and front the post-punk band Essential Logic. With trademark angular sax lines and her unmistakable vocal stylings, she went on to create some of the most liberating and exciting music of the early post-punk era, not only as Essential Logic, but also as a solo artist. 'Beat Rhythm News (Waddle Ya Play?)' is the band's debut studio album. Originally released in December 1979 on the Rough Trade Records label, whose founder Geoff Travis provided enthusiastic encouragement. The album reached number 11 in the UK Indie chart. Lora's solo album 'Pedigree Charm' followed in 1982. Lora and Poly Styrene would later reform X-Ray Spex for the band's sophomore and final studio album 'Conscious Consumer' in 1995. Essential Logic returned from an extended hiatus in 2022 with the 5 x LP boxset 'Logically Yours', including the new studio album 'Land of Kali', co-produced by Lora and Youth (Killing Joke), followed by 2024's remix album thereof - 'Rekalibrated', which enlisted the talents of an ambitious and diverse set, including Grammy Award winner - Dave Audé, Rave-pop legend - Adamski and Scottish Kandy-poppers - bis, amongst others on remixer duties. This 45th Anniversary 'Deluxe' edition compiles the original studio album together with a bonus album containing the complete Essential Logic studio recordings from 1978 - 1983, including the iconic Cells Records debut single 'Aerosol Burns' (1978), the 'Wake Up' EP (1979), included here for the first time on any physical release since its original pressing, together with the non-album b-side 'Flora Force' and 3 post album Rough Trade Records single releases: 'Eugene' (1980), 1981's 'Music Is A Better Noise' and 'Fanfare In The Garden', and their respective b-sides. Repackaged in a high gloss accented, spot varnished sleeve, on 2 x black and white splatter vinyl, foiler stickered, with inner-sleeves including full lyrics and new sleeve notes by Lora. This release also marks the long overdue and highly championed CD debut of the original album and bonus tracks. Following their recent UK tour with fellow punk legends Penetration, featuring Pauline Murray, in November 2024, Essential Logic show no signs of stopping or slowing down as they plan extensive live celebrations of the album throughout 2025 as well as the recording and release of their next studio album. Press Quotes : "Lora's voice is always doing the right, thrilling things...she frets and somersaults in such an intoxicating way" - NME // "A stunning record that remains a benchmark of the punk era" - AllMusic // "Beat Rhythm News suggests an impromptu brainstorming session between Kate Bush, Talking Heads and Captain Beefheart" - Louder Sound // "An intelligent and fluid benchmark for any band willing to dabble in both punk and dance music at the same time" - PopMatters

The mood is dark to melancholic, but also majestic and epic. Hailing from Rome, THE FORESHADOWING are something like the musical equivalent of the city they come from. Founded in 2005, the group can look back on a successful and eventful history. Listeners of gothic, doom and dark metal are very familiar with the quartet's work. THE FORESHADOWING gained popularity in the international scene with four acclaimed albums released between 2007 and 2016: "Days of Nothing" (2007), "Oionos" (2010), "Second World" (2012) and "Seven Heads, Ten Horns" (2016). In 2023, THE FORESHADOWING ended a forced break of several years with the EP "Forsaken Songs" and a European tour with Saturnus and In The Woods. Now, "New Wave Order" is the group's fifth full length album and their debut on LIFEFORCE RECORDS. The formation from Rome emphasizes its strengths on the album and offers cinematic tracks of dark music that is nevertheless immensely catchy and mood-enhancing. While listening to "New Wave Order", you are whisked away into a world full of secrets and allusions. The path is THE FORESHADOWING's goal, which manifests itself in all-encompassing, organically developed musicality. The Italians are outstanding songwriters who create captivating arcs of suspense and also keep an eye on the overarching strands. Nothing else can be expected from this eternal band.

Soul Jazz Records are issuing this album as a one-off pressing special orange coloured vinyl edition, fully remastered and with exact reproduction artwork especially for Black Friday 2024.
In similar vein to groups such as Mandrill, Jimmy Castor Bunch, The Blackbyrds, Pleasure and Kool and the Gang, Tribe blends together elements of funk, jazz, rock, latin and soul music into a unique sound (their first album was aptly named ‘Ethnic Stew’).
‘Dedication’ is a fantastic long-lost album of deep funk, soul and jazz from the group, originally released independently in 1977 and out-of-print for over 45 years.
Tribe was the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Earl J Foster, who put together the band along with producer Big Dee Ervin in 1974. Aside from Earl Foster the band features Clyde Jardine Powell on bass, Billy Soto on guitar, Jimmie A. Clapper on sax, Benjamin Taylor and Harold Clayton on vocals and Harold Davis on drums.
The group made three albums, but ‘Dedication’ remains their tour de force, a fantastic slice of spaced-out funk, jazz and soul.

Obscure & outstanding free jazz album reissued for the first time since it’s original release in 1969. Old-style gatefold sleeve LP, with liner notes by Ed Hazell.

In the late 1960s, young jazz musician Bobby Naughton, a keyboardist and vibraphonist, faced significant challenges as he sought to record his first album. With major record labels and jazz clubs catering only to big names, Naughton and other creative musicians of his generation found themselves sidelined by the mainstream music industry. They turned to self-reliance and self-production, becoming part of a movement of independent musicians. Naughton’s debut album, Nature’s Consort, was a DIY effort in every sense—recorded on home equipment and featuring a hand-printed woodblock cover. The album was distributed independently at concerts and by mail, receiving little attention initially, but over the years it gained a reputation as a rare, sought-after artifact of the period.

Though recorded during an outdoor concert in Connecticut, Nature's Consort reflected the "loft jazz" scene in New York City. This avant-garde jazz movement centered around musicians who lived and played in loft spaces in lower Manhattan. Naughton commuted from his home in Southbury, Connecticut, to play with his bandmates Mark Whitecage, Mario Pavone, and Laurence Cook in New York's lofts. These musicians regularly performed at venues like Studio We, a key gathering spot for free-form jazz, where musicians could experiment and develop their sound, often with no audience present.

Naughton’s journey into jazz was a winding one. Originally from Boston, he played rockabilly and blues-rock before transitioning into free jazz. Inspired by avant-garde artists like Carla Bley and Paul Bley, Naughton sought to explore new forms of music that went beyond traditional jazz structures. His bandmates, Mark Whitecage and Mario Pavone, were both deeply affected by the death of John Coltrane in 1967, which prompted them to quit their day jobs, attend Coltrane’s funeral, and move to New York to pursue jazz full-time.

Nature’s Consort was a collective project, with band members sharing equally in any profits. However, Naughton was the driving force behind the group’s creative direction. He composed much of the original material and selected pieces by Ornette Coleman and Carla Bley for the band’s repertoire. Jazz critic Nat Hentoff praised the album for its “high-risk improvisation” and the musicians' ability to anticipate each other’s moves. Though Nature’s Consort received little press at the time, it has since been recognized as a significant early document of the loft jazz era, representing Naughton’s disciplined, improvisational approach to music.

Red Brut’s third album, "On Bare Ground", is a sonic tapestry woven from the final threads of her Rotterdam existence. Entirely composed of soundscapes captured during her last two years in the city, the album evolves into a poignant farewell as its creation mirrors the passage of time, culminating in a profound departure from her life there.

A Coherent States, Dead Mind Records and Econore co-release. 200 copies on white vinyl, comes with obi-strip.

“On Bare Ground” is a sculptural work blending its lo-fi with haunting melodies, field recordings, and ethereal soundscapes. Uncompromising in its approach, the album evokes the echoes of experimental music from a spectrum that ranges from dark bedroom pop to rhythmic noise, crafting a cloudy and dreamlike atmosphere. With meticulous attention, it unfolds as a strong hypnotic journey, where intricate sounds emerge from a hidden center, while, in a parallel narrative, they gradually expose On Bare Ground’s underlying deep melancholic core.

Red Brut is the artistic alias of Dutch artist Marijn Verbiesen, who recently moved to Groningen and has been a vital force in Rotterdam's art scene. Her work reveals a particular sensitivity to everyday sounds, the soundscapes of cassette music, musique concrète, and spontaneous sound collage, combining these elements into a unique and truly personal avant-garde expression. This expression is present in various forms, in a wave of releases that began with limited-edition underground cassette releases in the mid-2010s and culminated in her two full-length albums, "Red Brut" (2018) on the Belgian label (K-RAA-K)³ and "Cloaked Travels" (2020) on the Finnish labels Lal Lal Lal and Ikuisuus. She has appeared at many important European festivals such as Rewire, KRAAK festival, Inversia, Colour Out Of Space and in numerous smaller venues worldwide. In addition to her career as Red Brut, Marijn is a member of the free improv/weirdo electronic pop duo Goldblum and before in the experimental no wave/noise trio Sweat Tongue.

“On bare Ground works as like an homage to self discovery amid urban malaise” The Wire

James Brown had several incredibly talented funky divas in his late 60s and early 70s stable, including Vicki Anderson and Marva Whitney. But as great as those two powerhouse singers were, Lyn Collins was the strongest hitmaker of that funky JB era. Her strong voice and commanding stage presence - which earned her the nicknames The Female Preacher and Mama Feelgood - quickly proved to be a potent addition to the People Records universe. In the spring of 1972 her second single, the driving and ridiculously funky “Think (About It)” hit the R&B music world like a ton of bricks. As fans young and old know, thanks to its timeless, relentless groove and powerful vocals, “Think” gained a powerful second life in the 1980s thanks to the hip-hop generation, fueling the platinum smash “It Takes Two,” by Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock in 1988 and additionally sampled by dozens of hip-hop and dance music artists up to the present day. But Collins was far from a one hit wonder: she was as vocally adept on ballads as she was with full-blown funk. She proves this throughout her debut album, which was released in 1972 on James Browns new People Records - the imprint's second full-length release. To wit, aside from the title smash: a powerful and emotional cover of Bill Withers "Ain’t No Sunshine"; the socially progressive "Women’s Lib"; the Gamble & Huff-penned "Never Gonna Give You Up" (originally done by Jerry Butler); and even a daring, muscular take on the song “Fly Me To The Moon,” made famous by, among others, Frank Sinatra. Throughout Think (About It), Collins shows that she was a vocal force to be reckoned with. Backed by a James Brown assembled musical crew that included Pee Wee Ellis, Fred Wesley and, of course, James Brown himself, the platter was bound to impress and succeed. And that it did.

‘Well let me tell you a little story that should not be forgotten something i’ll call the ballad of Johnny Rotten’

As the opening line states in Mal-One’s latest single release, Mr Rotten lead the charge and in many respects took most of the impact. Whether that be from the media, the government, the people or in fact from his own management. His stance and attitude made it all the easier for us all to follow through the many doors he pushed open.

Although Neil Young mentioned his name in song many years ago, Mal-One felt that his deserved the full nine yards, or 3 minutes. So here is his heartfelt sonnet to the man. They took his name away and forced him out of the country. The leader of the pack and come judgement day he will be the one who cannot be forgotten..

‘God Save Liberty and God save Johnny Rotten’….

In the beginning, THERE WAS DOOM. The five piece gathers its forces together with the clear intention of celebrating in music one of the first raw appearances of metal: Doom! After a year or so of songwriting and the usual lineup setups, the 5-piece throws in what will become their first studio effort in 2005: a Heavy, Drunken, Doom, Metal demo (with their 700 sold-out copies, now fully downloadable due to popular demand), where the title "Heavy Drunken Doom" clearly and quickly reveals the attitude of the band. Cold Grave Marble, the 6th Doomraiser full doom length, is a frozen view in the darker side of life: Death, the Omega of our earthly dimension. The album is made up of raw riffing seasoned up in heavy, dark and gloomy dreaming atmospheres, and explores a plethora of styles with different sounds and solutions. The songwriting approach is rougher than before, experimental, suggestive, still preserving the classic Doomraiser characteristic sound.

Ltd. Marbled Vinyl. In the beginning, THERE WAS DOOM. The five piece gathers its forces together with the clear intention of celebrating in music one of the first raw appearances of metal: Doom! After a year or so of songwriting and the usual lineup setups, the 5-piece throws in what will become their first studio effort in 2005: a Heavy, Drunken, Doom, Metal demo (with their 700 sold-out copies, now fully downloadable due to popular demand), where the title "Heavy Drunken Doom" clearly and quickly reveals the attitude of the band. Cold Grave Marble, the 6th Doomraiser full doom length, is a frozen view in the darker side of life: Death, the Omega of our earthly dimension. The album is made up of raw riffing seasoned up in heavy, dark and gloomy dreaming atmospheres, and explores a plethora of styles with different sounds and solutions. The songwriting approach is rougher than before, experimental, suggestive, still preserving the classic Doomraiser characteristic sound.

Ava Mendoza has never made an album quite as personal as her second solo full-length, The Circular Train. Through her decades of collaborations with Nels Cline, Carla Bozulich, William Parker, Fred Frith, Matana Roberts, and Mick Barr—plus years leading her power trio Unnatural Ways and playing in Bill Orcutt’s quartet—the guitarist’s name has become synonymous with virtuoso technique, raw passion, and visceral resonance, a player pushing the edges of the guitar’s possibilities. Along the way, from 2007 to 2023, Mendoza was writing these slow-burning, incandescent songs. The Circular Train is comprised solely of her single-tracked guitar playing and, on two songs, her corporeal singing. Her first solo LP of original material since relocating from California to New York City a decade ago, much of The Circular Train was honed amid pandemic years that clarified the virtues of slowing down. This expressive avant-rock is a definitive introduction to one of the most uncompromising and inquisitive visions in creative music. Mendoza’s thrilling melange of free jazz, blues, noise, classical training, and blazing experimental rock’n’roll all coheres with ecstatic feedback, with picking and solos that crest with shimmer. Sometimes she sounds like a one-woman Sonic Youth with guttural and poised vocals that equally evoke Patti Smith and blues greats like Jessie Mae Hemphill. Conceptually, The Circular Train is presented as a psychogeographical train ride through certain of Mendoza’s musical homelands. The songs draw on ancestral and recent familial memories, notably of her parents’ roots in mining towns—in her father’s home country of Bolivia and mother’s hometown of Butte, Montana, each country with its own history of colonialism, racism, forced labor, the eradication of culture and the subsequent excavation of it. These adventurous songs were composed in cars and planes, in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, in Los Angeles and upstate New York—which is to say in motion. “Ride to Cerro Rico,” named for the mountain and silver mine at the center of Potosi, Bolivia, was inspired by Mendoza’s great grandmother’s life there in a Quechua mining family. “Dust From the Mines” drew from that history as well as Mendoza’s familial lineage of miners in Montana, building up to stunning swaths of shredded iridescence. “Pink River Dolphins” was inspired by a visit to the Amazon rainforest, swimming with dolphins alongside her father—the pink bufeos that inhabit both Bolivia and Columbia—and the song is dedicated to the memory of Mendoza’s late friend, the Colombian-American trumpeter jaimie branch. They shared a fascination with those intelligent and agile creatures who often communicate by echolocation. “Make a sound, it comes back around,” Mendoza sings, and later, “Echo, echo/The answer in a sound,” evoking what branch knew well: through music we navigate life. The Circular Train contains one cover, “Irene, Goodnight,” composed by Gussie Lord Davis and popularized by Leadbelly; Mendoza has been performing it for over 20 years. Almost as deeply embedded in her repertoire is the penultimate track, “The Shadow Song.” “Treat your shadow kind and it might treat you good,” Mendoza sings on this song that she’s been reworking for over a decade, an emblem of devotion. “Treat your shadow kind and it might treat you right,” she repeats, becoming a blues mantra. What is a shadow self if not one’s secret world, which, once laid bare, awaits an echo, a return?

Following his collaboration with 9th Wonder on "The Don & Eye" earlier this year, Bronx lyricist The Musalini teams up with another Jamla representative, this time joining forces with Khrysis on brand new full-length "Pure IZM". Luxurious lifestyle bars delivered on Khrysis top tier productions, featuring guest appearances by Planet Asia, Ian Kelly, Reuben Wright, King Draft, Izzy Hott, O Finess and Ice Lord, and killer artwork by Huey P.

Mysterious, multifaceted collective i Häxa have unveiled their epic self-titled, full length debut; a ground-breaking conceptual double album shaped by a collision of ancient gods and bleeding-edge technology_ Released as four distinct Parts over the course of the year, `i Häxa' now comes together as a singular vision that weaves together genre-defiant soundscapes, abstract cinema and ancient meteorological mythologies from singer-songwriter and visual artist Rebecca Need-Menear (also of electronic alt-rock duo Anavae) and forward-thinking producer Peter Miles (Architects, Dodie, Fizz). i Häxa is a ritualistic dissection of the world as we know it, a forceful separation of the monotony of modernity from the rites and rituals that for centuries formed the foundations for who we are, how we came to be and where we claim to belong. Disjointed fragments of time collide. Two sides, one of logic and one of chaos, seeking unity and balance through an expression of freedom. This is i Häxa. Whilst the album is composed of four distinct movements, each consisting of four distinct tracks themselves; pulling them apart into easily digestible, standalone singles isn't an easy feat and, as is now clear from the project's sprawling cyclic nature, was never the intention. In an age of fast fun and instant gratification, the ties that bind these works together are intended to transcend tracklisting. With aural, visual and lyrical themes freely intertwining, i Häxa is something to be consumed whole; just as it will, in time, consume you. Charting an existential journey to the very depths of what makes us who we are, with every dark corner illuminated in glitched out, discordant glory; i Häxa is a project years in the making that draws simultaneously from rituals for old gods and the modern day deification of data. i Häxa is both heartwarming and horrifying; i Häxa is ancient history and hyper-real; i Häxa is everybody and no one at all. Check out if you like Radiohead, Julie Christmas, Agnes Obel, Bjork, Fever Ray, Massive Attack, Dead Can Dance, Emma Ruth Rundle, Jenny Hval, Cult of Luna, Eivor, Zola Jesus, Marissa Nadler, Soft Moon

After winning three leading Belgian music awards with Humo's Rock Rally, De Nieuwe Lichting and Sound Track, girl band BLUAI is expanding its horizons. On their debut album Save It For Later, the trio leaves for a road trip through the sonorous areas populated by the likes of Big Thief, Pinegrove, Haim, and Alabama Shakes.
Save It For Later is a record not unlike a Polaroid picture. Belgian songwriter Catherine Smet captures the memories of her youth in lyrics with a perfume of Americana, country pop, and indie folk. The stories areset in her native Flanders, but close your eyes, and galloping horses on a ranch in Mississippi form the backdrop of BLUAI's debut album.

Catherine Smet (vocals, guitar), Mo Govaerts (drums), and Caitlin Talbut (bass) joined forces with producer Willem Ardui (blackwave.) for this record. BLUAI's instrumentation was expanded with banjo, twelve-string guitar, and lap steel. Engineer Tobie Speleman received 'Nashville tuning' as a briefing. BLUAI thus shifts the focus from indie rock to Americana and breaks open the band's frame of reference, with influences ranging from Maggie Rogers to Alabama Shakes to The Japanese House.

Save It For Later is the creation of a group that came together two years after the formation of BLUAI, found a common drive, and is now cruising at full speed. BLUAI is here to stay.

PIFF Records welcome 4 in - demand artists to the label on their latest release, also available as a limited 500 press vinyl release. Home to forward-thinking house, trance, and techno, PIFF Records boasts a diverse yet united musical output. Cosmic, dub - driven techno, atmospheric house beats, and everything in between coalesces under the imprint’s distinctive output of thoughtful, club - ready sounds. All aspects of PIFF Records come together on this release as the featured artists balance the cerebral and visceral in their productions.

Cybernet kicks off the release with Resonant Shifter. Pumping kicks lay the foundation for captivating synth arpeggios and warped call and response basses in this ‘90s - inspired cut of contemporary progressive trance. The perfect soundtrack for any location from sunset on the Ibiza seafront to sunrise as the shutters open at a warehouse rave.

Goa elements are out in full force on Hoe Down, courtesy of Glen S. Squelchy 303s, low textures, and metallic arpeggios resonate above a pulsating bassline and weighty kicks, relentlessly pushing forward and ascending to a new sonic dimension - taking you along for the ride.
Body Clinic substitutes the progressive trance for progressive house on Love X, bringing down the tempo but keeping intensity intact. An infectious, syncopated plucked bassline dances around groove - rich drums, psychedelic effects and leads indebted to early ‘90s releases. A masterful blend of the past, present, and future together on one track.

Closing the EP with Empty Clip, Tom Jarmey disrupts the 4x4 rhythms of the preceding tracks w ith a genre - bending cut of electro - infused breaks. Two-step drums are matched with clinical sound design, deep basses, and mystical arpeggios. Sure to add depth to any set and turn heads in the process.

The Wild Classical Music Ensemble is a Belgian experimental rock band formed in 2007 by artists with mental disability within the social-artistic non-profit organisation Wit.h in Kortrijk. Their unique sound is a blend of punk/rock riffs, fanatical rhythms and soaring flutes and fiery synths, over which gravitate multiple, multilingual voices that scratch harshly as much as they comfort. There's something very Belgian about this harshness and noisiness. We often think of compadre Arno, from the TC Matic era. During the Covid crisis, the disabled members of the Wild Classical Music Ensemble were undoubtedly subjected more than others to the harsh conditions of confinement, alone in their rooms. Damien Magnette was still able to visit them with sound equipment. This was one of their all-too-few windows onto the world. Forbidden to meet, let alone play together, the members of Wild were nevertheless able to compose songs in tandem with Damien. The tracks were then sent to musician friends - Fabrice Gilbert, Ava Carrère, Wim Opbrouck, Shht, Arthur Satàn, Nathan Roche and Julien ZLDR - who added their artistic touch. Jean Lamoot and Carl Roosens joined the adventure, one as mixer, the other as video director. It's a result of the conditions under which it was created, this is the band's most highly-produced album, and perhaps its most accessible: frankly rock, with a great deal of freedom in production, and sometimes with a certain pop allure. Jean Lamoot's contribution to the mix had a lot to do with it. In addition, the forced slowdown allowed us to devote much more time and attention to writing the lyrics. Leader Damien Magnette says: "For over a year, we were all confined. But what about when you're a mentally handicapped person? Well, it's very different from you and me... We have the right to choose, the luxury of deciding for ourselves what rules we want to follow or not. We have free will. They don't. This series of confined songs is dedicated to all the people who have gone through this crisis, deprived of their free will. We send them our thoughts, hugs and kisses full of true love! The songs respond to a deep desire to look out for each other in adversity (the so obvious "Comment ça va?" by Johan Geenens and Wim Opbrouck, or "Waarom ben je boos" by Sébastien Faidherbe with Wim Decoene, the latter full of empathy). A sense of loneliness is logically present on the album ("Dat is mijn verdriet" by Linh Pham, a very real, very concrete and particularly touching poem, or "Loneliness", whose text was improvised by Wim), if not an understandable rage ("Je ne veux pas" and "My Frustrations"). It worth noting that on "On reste heureux", Sébastien Faidherbe composed all the parts in one go, with an optimism that stands out from the anger expressed in his other songs. Let's make no mistake: none of this is really over. All these emotions, suffering, pain and hope, speak to us far beyond this grim story of covid.

In-demand, groove-fuelled producer Opolopo and 24 Carat singer-songwriter Angela Johnson join forces for the eagerly awaited album ‘Best Of Both Worlds’ – a stellar collection of uplifting, struttin’ soulful house, disco & beat-laden music.

Stockholm-based DJ-producer Opolopo can boast two decades’ worth of productions right across the soulful dancefloor spectrum for labels such as Local Talk, Z Records and Defected. His remix discography includes Gregory Porter, Jungle, Leroy Burgess and Mother’s Favorite Child. NYC native Angela Johnson was a member of acid jazz group Cooly’s Hot Box before enjoying solo success via a string of acclaimed R&B albums including They Don’t Know, It’s Personal and Naturally Me & featuring on a host of singles from Reel People Music.

The album follows previous collaborations and provides another stylish pooling of these two soulful talents. The chemistry fizzes and uplifts as ever, Johnson’s rich, fully-flavoured vocals riding confidently upon struttin’ disco, soulful house & dancefloor dynamite.

Something About Livingis an album of live recordings by experimental jazz composer/multi-instrumentalist Robert Stillman. The music was captured over the course of Stillman's time as the solo support act for The Smile (Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Tom Skinner). The album weaves excerpts from various theater and arena shows along the tour's North American routing into a seamless whole, creating a 40-minute program that represents an expanded version of Stillman's ever-transforming live set.

Something About Livingis the product of a steady, on-stage evolution that happened over the course of the nearly 60 shows opening for the Smile across the EU, UK, US, Canada and Mexico. However, the creative origins of the set began in relative isolation during the pandemic, through Stillman's work on projects like his multi-media installationUnseen Forcesand his monthly broadcast for Margate Radio, both of which drew upon solo improvisation using saxophone, cassettes, Yamaha DX7 synthesizer, and effects.

"At the time The Smile asked whether I'd like to open for them on their first tour, I felt like I'd already been preparing without really knowing it," says Stillman. "I'd been doing this music constantly, but always for a hypothetical audience" During the pandemic, Stillman's solo set-up served as the research lab where he worked on all the concepts he was interested in: solo improvisation, creating and manipulating cassettes, FM synthesis, analogue delays chains, no-input mixing, and non-metric rhythmic pulses. So when he was offered the first Smile tour, the idea was to bring "the lab" onto the stage.

What Stillman could not have prepared for was the experience of playing in venues with capacities of up to ten thousand listeners. "The first tour was in summer 2022, so not that long after the worst of the pandemic, when I had pretty much made peace with the idea that I might never be able to perform for an audience again. Then all of a sudden I found myself in front of huge numbers of people, and felt the massive responsibility of being with an audience, of this thing I'd done alone for so longactually being witnessed, and it was completely overwhelming!" On the flip-side, Stillman also recalls, was a new appreciation of how powerful the live performance was as a social phenomenon. "It's a cliche, but also true: the moment of making and hearing music in a shared time and space has a very specific meaning and power; there was a sense that everyone in the venue was necessary to make it real, regardless of what they were doing, or how they felt about it. There was an inevitability about it that I'd never fully appreciated."

Over the course of the tours that followed, Stillman transformed this appreciation of the shared moment into an ethic of spontaneity that guided the development of his live set. "An important reference for this set has always been an Animal Collective show I saw when I first moved to New York, probably in 2001 or so, that has always set the high-water mark for what I wanted to do live- they were improvising a lot, and out of what would seem to be absolute chaos they'd find their way to something structured, and then back out again into the unknown. It was so thrilling to witness".

ThoughSomething About Livingcompiles recordings from different dates along the tour, Stillman has edited and mixed them into a work that seeks to reflect the ebb and flow between 'chaos and control' that characterizes his live set. Among the compositions featured are some from previous album releases ("Time of Waves", "What I Owe", "What Does it Mean to Be American") as well as some new compositions ("The Dream of Waking", "Renaissance 2.0," and the title track, "Something About Living").

The album/track title "Something About Living" is a reference to a line from Stillman's favorite film,My Dinner With André: "André Gregory is explaining the value of life experiences that, as he says, are'to do with living'.That really struck me, the way he articulated it. I strongly believe live music situations can ask these kinds of questions, for performers and audiences. I hope that's reflected in this music."

[a] 01: Time of Waves (Live in Miami FL) [Live]
[b] 02: What Does It Mean to Be American (Live in Forest Hills NY) [Live]
[c] 03: The Dream of Waking (Live in St Augustine FL) [Live]
[d] 04: Something About Living (Live in Richmond VA) [Live]
[e] 05: What I Owe (Live in Chesterfield MO) [Live]
[f] 06: Renaissance 2.0 (Live in Chesterfield MO) [Live]

Under 1 House is the blazing new mixtape from Blue Hawaii - a six track tour-de-force showcasing the duo's trademark blend of liquid beats, dance-floor euphoria, and soaring diva-vocals.Under 1 House was written during Blue Hawaii's 2019 North American and European tours, and recorded at a wood cabin in rural Québec. Finding each other trapped on different sides of the Atlantic, the record was then finished over long-distance between Montreal and Berlin due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. This music is dedicated to the spirit of togetherness. Unity achieved through confidence, in the seductive redemption of one's own sexuality, finding power in feelin' one's self. Under 1 House honours the magnetism of impulse and first takes. This flow can be found in the brooding, early Warp Records reminiscent "Where are the Keys???", the sub-heavy, lustful organ groove of "Feelin'", the lo-fi high energy "I Felt Love" or the chanting of "I'm my own damn woman" during the screeched ending of "Not my Boss!". Blue Hawaii have been around for a decade, having released 3 full length albums and two EPs to date. Consisting of Ra and Ag, the duo met throwing parties and shows in Montreal and continue to create together despite living in separate cities - split between Montreal and Berlin.

In collaboration with musicians and parody artists Auralnauts, Stumpy Frog Records has pressed the soundtrack to their ongoing series of ‘As Seen on TV’ parodies known as the ‘Infomercial Wars’. During an unspecified point in time, a faceless dystopian company pushes out products under the guise of improving the quality of life for humanity. The commercials have a sexy presentation to them, designed to lull the viewer into a hypnotic state and gloss over what is really being sold to them: enslavement to an evil entity. The true purpose of these products is clear to anyone with an iron will: to imprison your mind, strip away your humanity and weaponize what remains. Humanity’s only hope is a scrappy group of freedom fighters whose key to success is convincing you to buy their products instead of the enemy’s. May the best infomercial win. Beyond humanity. Beyond Copper. The parody series is made up of real life infomercials with complete audio makeovers. The products themselves vary from one commercial to the next, but a popular trend in these ads is the seemingly unlimited uses for copper, which is taken even further by the parody versions. The bubbly pitchman from the source material has been replaced by a soothing, yet vaguely threatening alien presence. This mysterious voice paints a picture of a world that would make David Cronenberg and James Cameron blush, and all of it is held together by a dystopian soundtrack that is perfect for ushering humanity into the next step of this forced evolution. Side A of the album contains six full length studio versions of the music featured in each ad. 1) 300% More Human 2) Techromancer 3) Full Body Copper System 4) Master of Reality 5) Final Boss (Sock Defense Grid) 6) Beyond Copper Side B features the ads themselves, presented faithfully as they appear on the Auralnauts Youtube channel.