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AOW is a new collaborative project from Dan Ghenacia and Tolga Fidan emerging from a new period of creativity and inspiration for the Lisbon-based artists.

Long time friends and fellow lynchpins of the European house and techno scene, Ghenacia and Fidan started working closely together through 2020 and 2021 while sharing studio space at Boa Lab. They found themselves at the heart of an artistic community of musicians, designers and engineers, which took shape around Ghenacia’s experiments with alpha wave generation, inspired by Bryon Gysin’s Dream Machine.

Ghenacia and engineer Anine Kirsten developed a modern update on Gysin’s 1950s design, which has been installed at exhibitions in London, Lisbon and Paris. At its heart, the project explores the natural hallucinatory effects of alpha wave projections on the eyelids, and the therapeutic benefits of the experience. Out of this spirit of psychedelically-charged experimentation, Ghenacia and Fidan have been working beyond the confines of their typical club-oriented material, creating ambient soundtracks to artist exhibitions in Boa and auditory backdrops to Alpha Wave Experience installations.

AOW bridges the gap between this new period of creativity and Ghenacia and Fidan’s life-long passion for electronic dance music. Compared to the strictures of house and techno they’re best known for, the three tracks on Hear the Light explore a more open, inquisitive sound with roots in UK electronica and West Coast psychedelic breaks (a seminal scene when Ghenacia was in the Bay Area in the 90s). Crucially though, it’s not a pointedly retro sound, but rather a result of rich streams of inspiration meeting and passing through crisp, modernist production techniques to offer something
genuinely fresh on the ears.

Working outside of their comfort zones and guided by creative philosophies springing from research, shared experience and community, Hear the Light marks a new step forward for Ghenacia and Fidan, with many more developments promised for the future.

purple marbled vinyl

VA - 08
Creating a distorted reality, Jacidorex chose to reunite various artists from different horizons with strong personalities bringing all bunches of stuff to the table, creating a dark reality helped with sonorities reaching from trance to UK dubstep.

Disk Space - Matrix
A good introduction to what trance blended with techno can do and how a repetitive beat can sharpen a track transcending trance, techno and more. This track will definitely create a matrix in you, thanks to the use of low and quick riffs creating a tension that will keep you dancing.

Charlie Sparks - Senshi
Charlie Sparks may have discovered how to break jaws with the simple use of a baseline. Starting with a Japanese sample and a mysterious vibe, this track sound like a heart warming remembrance of hooligans songs, and the 90's Gabber spirit all mixed to create a new GTO manga soundtrack, but better.

Axyom - Blackout
It all started with a dark riff and a sharp voice, then it went crescendo creating a UK dubstep Burial kind of track in a more rhythmic way. A melodic synth and a whispering female voice achieving to create a forgotten memory lost on the dance floor, served with a crunchy acid side. This track mold with concrete and sounds, will surely leave a loud deeper feeling in your mind.

Dorian Parano - Locked Down
After years of lockdowns and stay at home jobs, there's one sentence that nobody wants to hear anymore, and as you may imagine reading the name of this track, French artist Dorian Parano have is own way to cope with the pandemic. Hopefully, his cinematic piece makes things much easier using a synthetic voice and a dark futuristic aesthetic. This track will definitely be locked in your mind!

Originally released in May 1982, ‘Combat Rock’ is the final album from The Clash line up of Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Topper Headon. Featuring two of the band’s most well-known songs, ‘Should I Stay Or Should I Go’ and ‘Rock The Casbah’. Now rereleased as a 180gm 3LP special edition, with an additional 12 tracks compiled by The Clash.

Having returned to London following their pivotal 17 show residency at New York’s Bond’s Casino in 1981, the band rehearsed and recorded at The People’s Hall in the squatting Republic of Frestonia near Latimer Road in London and from there they embarked on a tour of the East and South East Asia, during which the album sleeve image was captured by Pennie Smith in Thailand.

The tracks on ‘The People’s Hall’ chart the period from what was their last single Radio Clash right up to the release of Combat Rock, including unheard, rare and early versions of tracks.

Also includes rare Pennie Smith images + history of Frestonia essay by Tom Vague.




















t d5 The Fulham Connection aka The Beautiful People Are Ugly Too




















[t] d5 The Fulham Connection [aka The Beautiful People Are Ugly Too]

Born out of an underground Buenos Aires party and first launched in 2008, ZZK Records has spent more than a decade at the forefront of Latin American music, carving out space for artists putting a futuristic (and often electronic) spin on classic rhythms and folklore traditions. Along the way, the label spread across the globe and helped launch a few stars-Nicola Cruz, Chancha Vía Circuito, La Yegros and Son Rompe Pera among them-but ZZK's search for new artists, sounds and perspectives is never complete. ZZK Sound Vol. 4 brings together a fresh crop of talent from across Latin America, along with a pair of choice selections from veteran acts Maga Bo (Brazil) and Tremor (Argentina). Compiled by ZZK co-founder DJ Nim-the label's original A&R (and Chancha Vía Circuito's older brother), he'd actually taken a five-year hiatus from the project prior to 2020-the compilation's origins can be traced back to the early days of the pandemic. As the world went into lockdown, he put out a call for submissions, and within three months, he'd received more than 1000 tracks. Nim literally listened to them all, whittling the pile down to his 11 favorites, and after hearing his selections, Grant C. Dull-another ZZK co-founder, who runs the label's day-to-day operations-couldn't believe his ears. Nim had done it again. There were no notes, and no changes to the tracklist. ZZK Sound Vol. 4 was quickly put into production. At this point, few music fans need to be sold on the appeal of Latin music, but ZZK, which has been operating in this sphere long before the genre became the "next big thing," is dedicated to the idea that the potency of these sounds extends well beyond the pop charts. Hopping between continents and recontextualizing rhythmic lineages that date back centuries, ZZK Sound Vol. 4 is both an arresting snapshot of Latin America's electronic avant garde and a thrilling preview of its next wave.

"Turn To See Me" is yet another step forward for The Dining Rooms, an artistic duo that never lacked creativity. This ninth album of theirs is a further confirmation: an intense record, inevitably influenced by the events of the last two years and therefore imbued with dark and melancholy sounds, but at the same time positive and aimed at a hopefully better future. Once again, there are numerous collaborations and blends of various musical genres (hip-hop, folk, jazz, electronic, trip hop) that do not, however, betray the 'cinematic' trademark of the Milanese outfit.

Repossessed by the past, bitten once again and forced to relive drama, history, memories, tradition and roots. A past that needs exorcizing, bending and re-imagining in order to move forward and depend on. This is ‘Rimorso’, Mai Mai Mai’s colossal mediterranean gothic album.

Known for his incredible blend of Southern Italian Folklore, industrial drone, proto-techno & punishing miasmic electronic music, Toni Cutrone aka Mai Mai Mai approached ‘Rimorso’ with a clean slate. Following ‘Nel Sud’ (La Tempesta International, 2019) and his mediterranean trilogy ‘Theta’ (Boring Machines, 2013), ‘Δέλτα’ (Delta) (Yerevan Tapes, 2014) and ‘Φ’ (Phi) (Not Not Fun Records / Boring Machines, 2017) the Roma based noise artist recreated his spirits of the past by collaborating with musicians and ethnomusicologists that work on the present, on traditions that are still passed on and morphing continuously, healing our nostalgia for a lost future. ‘Rimorso’ sheds the past heavy use of samples and sound manipulation in lieu of a human element: voices, percussion, lap steel guitar all embedded in a rich cultural heritage.

Years in the making – ‘Hillbillies In Hell’ (13) presents 16 timeless tribulations - a Lovecraftian clutch of Ancient Terrors, Sinful Seductions, Grinding Poverty, Debilitating Disfigurement, Hell's Eternal Maze of Hardships and God's Blazing Light of Redemption.

A misty shroud of marginal 45s - some of these sides are impossibly rare and are reissued here for the very first time. All for your cautionary listening pleasure.

SEE Little Richard Miller witness THE FIRE CAME DOWN! HEAR Dee Mullins declare I AM THE GRASS! ATTEST to Eddie Noack's brutal final fate in BARBARA JOY!

The Carter Family - 2001 (Ballad To The Future), Henson Cargill - Skip A Rope, Porter Wagoner - Julie, Eddie Noack - Barbara Joy, Waylon Jennings - The Road, Sammi Smith - Birmingham Mistake, Norma Jean - One's On The Way, Wendy Bagwell And The Sunliters - This Train, Dee Mullins - I Am The Grass, Hank Thompson And The Brazos Valley Boys - I Cast A Lonesome Shadow, Porter Wagoner - Lonely Comin' Down, Henson Cargill - The Pain Will Go Away, The Carter Family - Poison Red Berries, Bobby Bare - When I've Learned, Roger Miller - I Know Who It Is (And I'm Gonna Tell On Him), Little Richard Miller - The Fire Came Down

RIYL: Beach House, Cocteau Twins, Cigarettes After Sex, Slowdive. Isolated from any kind of music scene and enveloped by the cold Brutalism of Preston, White Flowers are a young, enigmatic band developing their own eccentricities away from the influence of big cities. New EP ‘Are You’ is a sonic and aesthetic collage drawing deeply from their environmental and social surroundings. The songs on the EP may at first seem delicate and beautiful, but closer listening reveals dark undertones and dry humour fuelled by the frustration of feeling trapped with no way out. Driven by this sense of claustrophobia, the duo have sought to create a form of escapism outside of their physical and geographical limitations. Recorded late 2021 between Preston and Bristol, ‘Are You’ weaves together a mixture of intuitive home recordings and refined studio production aided by producer Ali Chant (PJ Harvey, Portishead, Perfume Genius). The four songs on the EP are an intentional collection of contrasts and paradoxes - beauty and repulsion, calmness and mania, anxiety and stasis - all combined to form a balanced whole. Whilst influenced in part by the writings of the late Mark Fisher and his idea that we are haunted by futures that failed to happen, that what might have been may yet be the dream that saves us, White Flowers have also found inspiration in the Brutalist architecture that adorns their hometown - futuristic yet dated buildings that serve as an appropriate visual metaphor for Fisher’s theories. Bleakly imposing yet comfortingly familiar, the monochromatic starkness of these structures has fed into the imagery for the record, as well as the sounds found within. Not intending to wallow in cynicism, however, White Flowers’ art ultimately aims to provide a way out of these dystopian fever dreams and spiralling thoughts into a forward facing place.

19 minutes of brutally up front and relentlessly rowdy hardcore punk, that slams a firm British stamp on the classic Swedish Hardcore blueprint. This wrecking ball sits somewhere between the 80’s Hudiksvall sounds of MISSBRUKARNA, the damaged NO FUTURE confessions of THE PARTISANS and the sheer rock and roll audacity of the SKITKIDS. Back to back riffs that'll stick to your brain like the glue at the bottom of your bag and steaming drums blasts that’ll plough through your skull like a juggernaut driven by a maniac high on amphetamine. Mylo Oxlo provides the artwork once again, perfectly capturing the claustrophobic animosity of the Rat’s latest 12 song romp and rampage. Fittingly dropping on the year of the Rat while the Tories take a strangle hold of the U.K for another 4 years. Hold onto your seat, feel the burn and don’t you dare turn this fucker down.

A new 6-track mini album from a musician with a long list of credits including South African trumpet legend Hugh Masekela, afrobeat co-creator Tony Allen and Ethiopian jazz originator Mulatu Astatke as well as many Brit-jazz and international roots artists. "It's Time" blends spiritual Afro-jazz groove with free improv, spoken poetry and other-worldly atmosphere, with lyrics and titles hinting at unorthodox takes on reality and the times we live in.

Phil Dawson is a top London guitarist who has worked and schooled himself extensively in many different African, Latin and Brazilian music traditions together with styles that more typically cross the radar of someone with a similar British background: roots reggae, punk rock, blues, soul, R'n'B, jazz and funk. As a sideman, he's played with a host of living legends of Afro-fusion music including South African jazz trumpet giant Hugh Masekela, Nigerian afrobeat co-creator Tony Allen, Ethiojazz pioneer Mulatu Astatke, the Algerian "king of rai" Khaled, and London based Ghanaian afro-rock dons Osibisa. Heavy company for sure.

Now he's releasing a new mini 6 track album of original compositions under his own name and band - Phil Dawson ٤-tet - and he's joined by a stellar cast of London's finest players who include Rowland Sutherland (flutes - Airto Moreira, David Murray, Carla Bley), Khadijatou Doyneh (spoken word - The Heliocentrics, Danny Keane), Gaspar Sena (drums - Alfa Mist, Maria Chiara Argiro), Marius Rodrigues (drums - Oriole, Hermeto Hermeto Hermeto), Lekan Babalola (percussion - Cassandra Wilson, Ali Farka Toure) and Matheus Nova (bass - Antonio Forcione, Ed Motta, Jazzinho). Phil himself features on guitars, Fender Rhodes and piano.

'This is great' - Gilles Peterson, BBC Radio 6 (on 'It's Time)

'Beautiful' - Kassin (producer Caetano Veloso, Sonzeira etc) (on 'It's

Time')

'Rapid-fire guitar work with variety and energy' – The Guardian, UK

'A great guitarist' – Tony Allen

'An absolute killer - irresistible' - Snowboy (on 'Gnostic Hilife')

'Phil Dawson and his (quintet) are really smoking at the mo. No wonder the London jazz young guns are ripping it up with bands

like this leading the way. Miss them at your peril' – Russ Jones (Future World Funk)

Jazzwise Review

The British guitarist Phil Dawson is a fixture of a plethora of Brit-jazz bands and international roots outfits; his nuanced stylings have graced the work of A-listers from Ethio-jazz guru Mulatu Astatke to such late African greats as Tony Allen and Hugh Masekela. Like any an in-demand session player worth his chops Dawson also fronts his own trio/quartet/quintet, all of which allow him to stretch out and do his own thing, which – with his quintet - he does to pleasing effect here.

Buoyed by flute, bass and percussion, It's Time is a six-track brew combining free improv and spoken word with Afro-spiritual groove and a far-out esotericism befitting these strangest of times. Opener 'It's Time (Radio Edit)' is a psychedelic romp through a beneficent cosmos where ringing chords and woodwind trills underpin Khaditjatou Doyneh's pathos-laden musings on love and the universe and one of three variations on a theme. Over three minutes longer at 9:34, 'It's Time (aka Ougama)' is a freewheeling instrumental made dazzling by Dawson's silver-fingered guitar work; Doyneh resumes her pronouncing on the more dissonant but equally mind expanding 'It's Time (Fully Spoken)'. Then there's 'Gnostic Hilife', whose three interpretations each juxtapose the structures of this West African lingua franca in ways tight, spacious and inventive

Returning with a signature live approach, John Swing drops
the latest Warm Sounds 12" with infectious evolution and a reflection of the future.

Fractal percussion locks 4 bass-minded grooves that blend techno and house with a hypnotic jazz industrialism recalling both
the modern and the ancient. Inter-modular paganism built
for primitive dance sessions.

Trust is a testament to resilience. The past two years have been tough for just about everyone, and while it would have been easy for Catnapp to let feelings of despair soak into her creative process, she refused to succumb to darkness. The Berlin-based Argentinian was determined to make something bright, energetic and uplifting, and nothing—not even a global catastrophe—was going to stop her from rallying people to the dancefloor.

Her new LP is loaded with futuristic pop hooks, yet Trust offers so much more than a simple sugar rush. This a record that defiantly smashes through genre boundaries, hoovering up high-octane bits of hip-hop, R&B, rave and even numetal along the way. Catnapp—an accomplished shapeshifter who’s never been afraid to get weird—is just as comfortable throwing down brash rhymes as she is singing dreamy ballads or unleashing a primal scream, and on Trust, all of those things (and more) frequently happen within the confines of a single song. Call it hyperpop if you must, but pop concentrate might be a more accurate term.

Following releases with YAM, Tiff’s Joints, Dr Banana and Touching Bass, artist Romaal Kultan (Ollie Malin) now inaugurates his own record label, Personal Discs.

No Time Like The Future showcases Romaal Kultan’s finest productions, charting a distinct personal trajectory between hiphop, house and broken beat. Opener One Moment Please is a sassy boom bap affair, with an unexpected nod towards jungle. Music Room, made in collaboration with producer Cypriano, is a patient, moody chugger — a tapestry of piano, organic percussion and crackly vinyl samples laced with acid.

On the B-side, Personal Effects delivers a unique, hypnotic broken beat groove, where swelling synths and a twinkling Rhodes meditate together in careful arrangement. Finally, the intimate title track No Time Like the Future stomps off into the sunrise, carried along by a rolling, yearning dreaminess.

Each one of these tracks represents a special, all-too-rare moment of ecstasy in the studio. I hope that this feeling lives on in the music.

So far the record has received support from Alexander Nut, Mr Scruff, Lefto, Kai Alcé, Bradley Zero, Mary Anne Hobbes, K15, Dr Banana, Alex Attias, EVM128, Zakia, Shy One, Tereza, Alia, Earl Jeffers, Footshooter, K-Lone, Poison Zcora, Dean Chew, Marcia Carr, Leanne Wright, Dead Man’s Chest and more.

And now that we are celebrating the past at every occasion, it seems that the future is not what it used to be.

Released for the first time in CD and Digital format in 2017 this is the sixth album by Luca Trevisi LTJ Xperience.

It contains some of his most played songs such as Get Down, Let There Be Groove, Put Me Down and the one that gives the title to the album Beggar Groove here in its two versions.

The release is in a limited edition double album on White vinyl. Luca LTJ Trevisi (LTJ Xperience) trained as a producer DJ in the late 1980s. Resident first at the Kinki Club in Bologna and then at Cap Creus in Imola, he is one of the first Italian DJs to program house and above all to re-propose Black Music, Jazz and Latin Bossa, all the genres that then over time gave way to Acid Jazz and Nu Jazz.

He began his work as an artist and producer with Irma Records and in the 90s also his activity as an international DJ who saw him play at the Blue Note and the Jazz Café in London, at the Giant Steps in New York and at the Jazz Festival in Montreux.

In 1999 he released his first solo album under the name LTJ Xperience. To date he has released 7 albums all on Irma Records, several compilations, many singles and remixes also collaborating with international labels such as Far Out Recordings, Sleazy Beats, Future Classics, E.A.R., Music For Dreams, Apersonal Music.

Pachakuti is a musician and producer with family roots in Colombia. He plays keys, tenor saxophone and clarinet. While living and working in Berlin, he draws inspiration from the natural world, investigative travels, and ancestral traditions of Latin America and beyond. His expressive and rhythmical playing and his instantaneous compositions are directed at the human core, arousing subtle experiences. While not being conformed to one style, it always invokes a sense of liveliness and depth to be delved in. young.vishnu is a producer and DJ. He has studied philosophy and music in Hildesheim, Germany, which heavily influenced his views on meaning and mythology in music. In his DJ sets he selects and plays classic and contemporary Funk, Soul and Afrobeat. His practice as a DJ informs his work behind the boards directly, adding also more organic grooves and broader spectrum of musical styles to his in Hip-Hop based production. If you had to put one single tag on their forthcoming album Dédalo, the best choice would be Jazz. That being said, Pachakuti and young.vishnu's sound worlds might be better described in their own words: "We just make music and try to incorporate what we love about it". They are musical freethinkers with shared interests in eastern philosophy and botany who interweave Hip-Hop, Latin and Funk with musical storytelling and world mythology. Undoubtedly, their most ambitious work to date, Dédalo (Spanish synonym for labyrinth), recorded and produced over the course of a year, shows Pachakuti & young.vishnu's ambitions and growth. Where their debut work Semilla (2020) centered around the image of the seed, Dédalo takes on the entire garden. Besides playing multiple instruments by themselves, Pachakuti & young.vishnu invited a growing group of befriended musicians into the studio, including percussionist maestro Eric Owusu (Pat Thomas, Ebo Taylor, Jembaa Groove) and drummer Leon Raum (Bokoya, Wyl), as well as Brazilian newcomer vocalist Laíz, and members of their former band project Soularkestra. The 16 recorded songs, ranging from 1:19 to 14:58 minutes, take you on an emotionally honest, metaphoric journey through the maze of human existence, of modern society and mythic poetry. The mostly instrumental tracks build on expressive melodies, layered rhythms, and a wide range of musical instruments, merging the sounds of Jazz with the classical word of orchestras and choirs, and urban soundscapes with traditional instruments such as the Andean Kena and Charango, the Colombian Gaita and Marimba de Chonta, and an Indian harmonium. The Album thus weaves together past and future, and diverse cultural threads, sounds and ideas in an act of cultural appreciation and global conscience. Mixed and mastered by Roe Beardie at The Brewery Studios, Berlin. The album artwork itself merges the visionary art of Mexican painter Sergio Chávez Hollar with an original artwork-inlay of Brazilian artist Laíz and the work of Carsten Pölking of the Nima Compositions Archive.

Dédalo will be available digitally and on double-vinyl with inside-out print cover and colored inlay with credits and painting by Laís De Mello Barbero.

With some of the best DJs and selectors there is a certain mysterious sound or underlying feeling which unites the music they play, regardless of genre, year or tempo Luke Una is a master of telling a story through music and this compilation is a perfect example of his musical alchemy in action. Featuring tracks from Yusef Lateef, Airto Moreira, Crooked Man, Henri Texier and many more, it is a collection of new, old, rare and under-discovered music from around the world, all united by Luke under the banner of "E-Soul Cultura".It's best described by Luke himself, who writes: "As the 5AM city sleeps and the strobe lights are slowly turned off, we gather on the wrong side of town in a transcendental journey alone together. We are the late night disenfranchised holding on in various after parties, flats, lofts, random kitchens and basements into the outer cosmos with É Soul Cultura.

Music from exotic tear jerkers, Afro- spiritual jazz, cosmic Brazilian celestial grooves, machine street soul, dark horses, lost B- sides, £1 bargain- bin bombs, hidden gems, late night Italo dubbing, deep velvet N.Y.C garage, bass buggin sonic futurism, wrong speed 33BPM pitched up +8 new beat, majestic sunset strings, sweet vocals from heaven, no half steppin jazz dancing in outer- space and odd numbers. Yes… magical moments, together, holding on in witness protection suburban cul- de- sacs and Castle Court flats. Cosmic É high, 3000ft above the city getting evangelical to murky, wonky timeless beautiful music. This thing of ours dreaming of better days. Fail we may, sail we must, the sun will come up again."

When it comes to floor-filling tracks that balances smart drum programming with pure melodic bliss, you can always rely on John Beltran to deliver. The five track EP contains masterful ambient pieces with a Detroit/Chicago analog house vibe brining a warm and psychedelic feel. He joins the label’s third release with a brilliant chill-out EP entitled ‘The Peninsula’, united by another Detroit legend Luke Hess, bringing his traditional 303 upbeat sound remixing ‘Begin Again’. Visual artist Alona Rodeh also joins the release showcasing her stunning High-Vis (Future, Black) which featured in her first solo exhibition at the Christine König Galerie in Vienna last year.

Red Vinyl

Time has come for Futurepast to release a long format album: Alarm Phase Red - catalogue number FPLP01 - will be the first full-length work from Futurepast founder Davy Vandegaer, appearing here under a new name: Brainwashed Today.

Rooted in a conceptual approach of electronic music, this double LP ranges from industrial ambient to experimental techno. Like an antidote to a twisted reality of controlled screens and mental isolation, Alarm Phase Red uses the raw language of electricity
to reach the core of the machine and sabotage it, reverse its effects by mirroring them. Fighting fire with fire, deflecting the pressure and strain of a world driven by fear and anger, the music of Brainwashed Today acts like a cathartic escape from technological enslavement.

With the purchase of the vinyl comes a batch of three digital bonus tracks pursuing further the sound research of the album.

Futuropaco’s long sold out debut is finally repressed! it’s a wet, enigmatic cocktail of part 1970’s Italian library music, part krautalicious beat-galore and part riff-driven heavy psych. Justin Pinkerton, from Oakland, California, is the one-man army behind the opaque merge of seemingly different forces: from mad fuzz guitar breakdowns à la Morricone at his most intense, to the syncopated drum learnings of Can’s Jaki Liebezeit, Justin weaves a blanket of sound that’s simply loaded with deep vibes

Strut continue their deep dive into the archives of Black Fire Records with a new reissue of Oneness Of Juju’s Bush Brothers & Space Rangers, showcasing the band at the peak of their powers in 1977.

Oneness had enjoyed two fruitful years with Black Fire prior to these recordings, breaking through with the African Rhythms and Space Jungle Luv albums. “When we recorded African Rhythms we didn’t use a guitar,” explains bandleader Plunky Branch. “So, when vocalist Jackie Eka-Ete and guitarist Ras Mel Glover came in in around ‘75, that moved our sound into a more soulful direction. The drummer on this album, Tony Green, was the drummer with Gil Scott Heron and he added a little more sophistication to our soulfulness. African percussionist Okyerema Asante was also fully incorporated into the band after joining in 1976. By 1977, we were in full production mode recording songs; one or two of the tracks here also feature Brian Jackson, known for his work with Gil.”

Primarily recorded at Arrest Studios in Washington DC, the album is packed with landmark Oneness tracks including ‘Be About The Future’ (“possibly the first ecology-themed song that I know of”) the George Clinton-influenced ‘Plastic’, an acoustic alternative version of ‘African Rhythms’ and strong covers of Caiphus Semenya’s ‘West Wind’ and Bobby Womack’s ‘Breezin’’. Plunky continues,

Strut continue their deep dive into the archives of Black Fire Records with a new reissue of Oneness Of Juju's Bush Brothers & Space Rangers, showcasing the band at the peak of their powers in 1977. Primarily recorded at Arrest Studios in Washington DC, the album ispacked with landmark Oneness tracks including 'Be About TheFuture' ("possibly the first ecology-themed song that I know of") the George Clinton-influenced 'Plastic', an acoustic alternative version of 'African Rhythms' and strong covers of Caiphus Semenya's 'West Wind' and Bobby Womack's 'Breezin''. Plunky continues, "The album is composed of several different sessions featuring different personnel and only first came out as an album in its own right when Black Fire MD Jimmy Gray started working with P-Vine Records in Japan during the '90s. For me, it's one of the hottest periods for the band."

Your Old Droog is back with the new album, TIME. It features appearances by MF DOOM, Aesop Rock, Mick Jenkins, Elzhi, Blu, and Wiki. As the title indicates, the project is the culmination of years of work. "This is basically my debut album," Droog explains. "Some of this material was recorded back in 2017, but I suppose the universe felt it would make more sense if it was released at another point in the future. Hence the name, TIME." Featuring production by Quelle Chris, 88 Keys, Edan, Mono En Stereo, and more, TIME= was a surprise release on digital outlets, and is now available on vinyl for the first time:

English thrash metal outfit Xentrix is commonly referred to as one of the “big four” of English thrash metal, given their popularity in the underground metal scene of the mid-1980s to mid-1990s. The band was formed in 1984 under the name Sweet Vengeance, but after signing with Roadrunner Records they changed their name to Xentrix in 1988. Not long after, Xentrix released its debut album Shattered Existence in 1989. In support of the album, the band toured with Sabbat. The album set the tone for future works and lifted Xentrix to many metalheads’ treasured band.

Shattered Existence is available as a limited edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on translucent red coloured vinyl and includes an insert.

The final installment of the electronic fusion projects that Walter Bachauer concocted for Klaus Schulze’s Innovative Communication label, Visions of Audio delves further into minimalist musique concrete, extending themes developed on Memorymetropolis in drawing on non-European vocal chants, here applied in dissociative layers. The diverse, complex arrangements include the symphonic synths of ‘Promised Land’ and the war-mode Sensurround of ‘1922 In Baku,’ as well as the obtuse loops of ‘The Final Ritual,’ the work inspiring future hitmaker Pilooski. Mondshine fans, Berlin School freaks and abstract electronica lovers should bag it.

The second album from the transatlantic duo Wilma Vritra is richly orchestrated, replete with references to faith, mythology, and the cosmos, its 11 tracks grapple with themes of self-preservation and refuge from the world, even as they edge their way to a sort of redemption. Grotto is the work of two musicians separated by an ocean but undoubtedly operating on a shared wavelength. One is Will Archer, a Newcastle-born but London-based multi-instrumentalist and composer who today records as Wilma Archer, but who you might also know for his writing and production for artists like Celeste, Nilufer Yanya and Jessie Ware. Wilma Archer’s debut solo album A Western Circular, featured guest spots from the late MF DOOM, Future Islands’ Samuel T Herring, Sudan Archives and Laura Grove. The other is Hal Donell Williams Jr, aka VRITRA - a Los Angeles-based rapper whose tales of graft and grind are often couched in spiritual or cosmic terms. VRITRA has previously collaborated with Matt Martians via The Jet Age of Tomorrow, Pink Siifu and YUNGMORPHEUS. Grotto’s striking cover image is by Swampy, an enigmatic Californian street artist whose itinerant lifestyle – tales of squatting and train-hopping across North America – have made him a demi-mythical figure. A playful image, but it communicates the album’s themes – of a voyage through darkness, and the promise of light at the end of the tunnel.

RIYL: Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, Nick Cave, Patti Smith, Leonard Cohen, Iggy Pop, Radiohead & Tom Waits. "If you have never heard the Doctors of Madness, you should. Musically they are the Velvet Underground, New York Dolls with shades of glam, hippie, prog and punk all rolled into one, yet are still totally original. Vastly underrated, they should have been huge. Pure genius" Vic Reeves…. The DOM are “the missing link between David Bowie & The Sex Pistols” (The Guardian May 2017). Exploding onto the music scene in 1975 with their theatrical, William Burroughs-inspired Sci-fi nightmare, they were misunderstood by many, but those who knew understood the importance of the band’s dangerous, uncompromising approach to lyrics, to music and to performance. Among the many fans of the band were acts as diverse as The Damned, Vic Reeves, Joe Elliott of Def Leppard, Spiritualized, Julian Cope, The Adverts, The Skids and Simple Minds. The Sex Pistols supported them, so did The Jam & Joy Division. They were the first to combine the avant-garde approach of The Velvet Underground with a distinctly European aesthetic. The blue hair, exotic stage-names, the lyrical themes of urban decay, political propaganda, mind control and madness were all taken up by the punk bands who followed in their wake. The DOM were trailblazers, pioneers, adventurers…pushing the boundaries of rock music and theatre to see how far it would go before it bust. What happened after them was due, in no small part, to what they achieved in 3 short years. They may not have been Jesus Christ, but they were, arguably, John the Baptist!!! Now, 40 years after they imploded, they are back…with an album seething with lyrical anger and passion. It is the most potent and incisive musical dissection of modern life and contemporary politics released the decade. With tracks titles like “So Many ways To Hurt You”, “Sour Hour”, “Make It Stop!” and the ground-breaking sonic assault of the title track “Dark Times”, Richard “Kid” Strange proves once again that he has his finger firmly on the pulse of our times, just as he had when he founded the band in 1974. Produced by John Leckie (Radiohead, Stone Roses, Pink Floyd), the new album, Dark Times, features contributions from Joe Elliott (Def Leppard), Sarah Jane Morris (Communards), Terry Edwards (PJ Harvey, Nick Cave etc), Steve ‘Boltz’ Bolton (The Who, Scott Walker) and the young protest singer Lily Bud, alongside the current thrilling and thunderous DOM rhythm section of Susumu Ukei (bass guitar) & Mackii Ukei (drums) of the Japanese extreme glam-metal band Sister Paul, and Dylan O Bates (violin and keyboards). Julian Cope, another rock star who, like Strange, found the confines of music too tight for his ambition, his energy and his imagination, was blown away when he first heard the songs, declaring, “These Dark Times are enormously informing: the RULES OF THE FUTURE are indeed being forged right now”. Top producer Martyn Ware (Human League/Heaven 17) said the album “…reminds me of Iggy Pop’s Kill City album – love it.” and Biba Kopf (The Wire) declared, “Still listening to new DOM album with immense interest and pleasure”. The first single, Make It Stop!, is an impassioned howl against the global drift to right wing extremism and persecution of minorities, and is already a live showstopper for the band. It features the thrilling cross-generational combination of Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott and Lily Bud on backing vocals. In the period since the last DOM gig in 1978, Richard has written a memoir, collaborated on a cantata with internationally celebrated composer Gavin Bryars, worked as an actor on films with Tim Burton, Martin Scorsese, Harmony Korine & Jack Nicholson, toured the world in a Russian version of Hamlet with James Nesbitt as his grave-digging co-star, played Glastonbury, sung baritone in the British premiere of Frank Zappa’s200 Motels at the Royal Festival Hall, directed a multi-media evening celebrating the life and work of William Burroughs, won Best Art Film Prize at the Portobello Film Festival last year, had his own live talk show, worked with Tom Waits and Marianne Faithfull on the William Burroughs/Robert Wilson stage play The Black Rider, curated events for the Tate Gallery, and sung Walt Disney songs with Jarvis Cocker.

Ex RSD LP on transparent red vinyl, gatefold sleeve with lyric inner sleeve and DL card. Final copies now reduced to £7.99. The tracks on this album have never been officially released before now. The eight songs on this album were recorded in 1978 on a 2-track stereo Revox A77 tape recorder. The recordings are unashamedly analogue, using one microphone and guitars plugged directly into the tape recorder. Bouncing down tracks irreversibly as they went on, forced to make creative decisions that could not be undone. Some hard choices had to be made with the mix, but with no record company meant no record company agenda. TV Smith & Richard Strange could write and record whatever they wanted – and did! It has been an enormous pleasure to rediscover these recordings, the result of a friendship of two artists emerging from broken bands and each about to embark on a lifelong adventure in words and music. TV SMITH - I wasn’t having a lot of fun in 1978 when Richard asked me to collaborate on a song he was writing called “Summer Fun.” I was in the final stages of songwriting for the second Adverts album “Cast Of Thousands,” a project that already seemed doomed to failure given an unenthusiastic record company, a band in the throes of falling apart, and a dwindling audience - but my creative juices were in full flow and I was ready for something different. I already knew Richard, of course, from the Doctors Of Madness, who I’d followed in the years before punk when I was still living in Devon and they were one of the few bands to come and play in the area. I considered them a warped poetic glam band with gothic leanings, and was slightly surprised when the song I’d been invited to work on turned out to be a kind of California surf pastiche. But I was game to get involved, and after we’d finished it and ventured forward with regular writing and recording sessions over the following weeks it soon became clear that “Summer Fun” was just a gateway drug, and the songs that were emerging from our combined forces were going to quickly become much deeper and much darker // RICHARD STRANGE - Watching the remnants of a musical dream being swept away by the juggernaut of corporate punk rock in 1976, I felt a combination of jealousy and resentment towards many of the key players who had been responsible for our demise. The Sex Pistols had supported my band Doctors of Madness early in their career and nicked not only our future but £12.00 from a pair of trousers in our dressing room in Middlesbrough Town Hall! The Jam, who supported us over four shows at London’s fabled Marquee Club, were how I imagined The Who would be if they’d joined the Young Conservatives. Warsaw, our go-to support band in Manchester, had just changed their name to Joy Division, and Johnny and the Self-Abusers, our Scottish flag wavers, had become Simple Minds. All were being feted by the all-powerful music press, while we were being buried. But there was one punk band for whom I never had anything but the greatest affection…The Adverts.

Cruel Summer’s sound evokes the dazed, fuzzed-out, swirling noise of the late 1980s UK sound while still sticking to their pop roots--they’ve aptly been crowned San Francisco’s “jangle darlings.” Their first full-length album “Ivy” is forthcoming from Sacramento’s art/vinyl imprint Mt. St. Mtn. Following their 2013 ST/EP (Mt. St. Mtn.,) they released the sold-out lathe-cut 7” for “Leeches,” accompanied by a video. In 2016 Cruel Summer released “Around You, Around Me,” recorded for L.A.’s Part Time Punks, the 7” B-side features a moody cover of Pylon’s “Crazy.” Mastered by Kramer (Galaxie 500 and Low). “Ivy” is the long-awaited, first full-length album from this quartet, who have become a mainstay in the San Francisco and Oakland club scene. Recorded at Santo Studio in Oakland, California by Jason Kick (Sonny & the Sunsets, Once and Future Band, Mild High Club, Maus Haus), the record is a love poem to San Francisco, with all its changes and disappointments. "Bands have begun to push the boundaries of genre in a unique and satisfying way, and San Francisco’s Cruel Summer is a prime example. They are a group of voyagers into this uncharted territory, and their album Ivy is a joyful, dreamy blend of everything you might love about shoegaze and everything you thought shoegaze could never be... Cruel Summer is proof that shoegaze is alive and well, at least in San Francisco. The band is doing some creative, compelling work with a genre that is so often elusive - besides being an interesting act of musicianship, Ivy is also simply a joy to experience from beginning to end. If you need further convincing, take a listen to Ivy and let it take you somewhere warmer."

Known for his work on Transient Force, Gigolo, and of course as a contributor for Fundamental's Time Capsule a.k.a. 808 Box project, -=UHU=-'s album is a selection of his best unreleased tracks. Compiled from an old folder full of tracks that have that twenty years old spirit in each of them, that futurist funk that -=UHU=- can deliver so well. ''Ezzential Electro'' is the biggest project Electro Records has done so far. It consists of 36 vinyl records produced by artists they consider essential for the current underground electro movement. The first six parts of the series come in beautiful white silkscreen printed sleeves on recycled cardboard and include a real puzzle piece on the front cover, indicating which part of the series you have in your hands.

Retro-Future beats for stubborn ravers.
Phase O'Matic is a London based promising producer.
Philoxenia is delighted to have him on board.

UFC is proud to presents R.I.P. Bestiaʼs second outing on the label. Starting out with “Resurgence of Rave Echoes” R.I.P. Bestia delivers an influenced rave breakbeat track with chopped vocals, big bass, acid and piano raves that take you to a new future rave dimension. "Anarchic Alien Fuel" takes over a trance breakbeat influenced with a heavy ambient pad and cyberdelic vocals. Finally “Extraterrestrial Shamanic Ceremonial Rite” rounds up the EP with a tribal and breaks drums, epic synths, an hypnotic vocals that will keep you in the shamanic rite going from start to finish.

Back in 2017, Moderat announced that they’d be taking an extended break following a final concert in front of 17.000 people in their hometown of Berlin. And now they return. MORE D4TA, the group’s fourth album, arrives more than six years after its predecessor (2016’s III). Created largely during a time when touring (and most traveling) was off the table, MORE D4TA is an album that wrestles with feelings of isolation and information overload—issues that have become particularly pronounced over the past two years. The ten songs on MORE D4TA are rooted in collaboration, but long before any of its tracks were laid down, Moderat spent months hanging out and getting musically reacquainted, indulging in extended bouts of experimentation and slowly fleshing out ideas as they dove into modular composition, field recordings and other sonic oddities.
But no matter how far the band ventures into music’s outer realms, they always wind up back in their own unique soundworld, a place where emotive pop and fluttering electronic soundscapes walk hand in hand. Many of its lyrics are rooted in Ring’s frequent trips to Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie museum (often with his infant daughter in tow), where he’d seek refuge in the great paintings of the past while worrying about the future.
What they make isn’t necessarily dance music, but it is something that shines brightest in the dark of night, the group’s rich melodies and Ring’s ethereal vocals emitting a warm, almost bioluminescent glow. After spending the better part of two decades making music together, they’ve carved out a sound and aesthetic that are all their own, and MORE D4TA showcases a group that’s creatively recharged and fully dedicated to its craft.

Deluxe Edition / LP+Poster

Back in 2017, Moderat announced that they’d be taking an extended break following a final concert in front of 17.000 people in their hometown of Berlin. And now they return. MORE D4TA, the group’s fourth album, arrives more than six years after its predecessor (2016’s III). Created largely during a time when touring (and most traveling) was off the table, MORE D4TA is an album that wrestles with feelings of isolation and information overload—issues that have become particularly pronounced over the past two years. The ten songs on MORE D4TA are rooted in collaboration, but long before any of its tracks were laid down, Moderat spent months hanging out and getting musically reacquainted, indulging in extended bouts of experimentation and slowly fleshing out ideas as they dove into modular composition, field recordings and other sonic oddities.
But no matter how far the band ventures into music’s outer realms, they always wind up back in their own unique soundworld, a place where emotive pop and fluttering electronic soundscapes walk hand in hand. Many of its lyrics are rooted in Ring’s frequent trips to Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie museum (often with his infant daughter in tow), where he’d seek refuge in the great paintings of the past while worrying about the future.
What they make isn’t necessarily dance music, but it is something that shines brightest in the dark of night, the group’s rich melodies and Ring’s ethereal vocals emitting a warm, almost bioluminescent glow. After spending the better part of two decades making music together, they’ve carved out a sound and aesthetic that are all their own, and MORE D4TA showcases a group that’s creatively recharged and fully dedicated to its craft.

Heist welcomes, late 80’s DMC World DJ Championship contender, Techno veteran, and house royalty Orlando Voorn to the label
with his ‘Heist Mastercuts’ EP.

Orlando Voorn is a man who needs little introduction. He’s played a pivotal role in the development of the electronic music scene in the Netherlands, as well as in the USA where he now lives. With countless aliases, he has released everything from old school hiphop to sample heavy breaks, to banging Detroit techno to soulful house music. His recent outings as ‘Frequency’ on Clone, as well as his latest EP on our sublabel Transient Nature, are proof that even after 30+ years, the man is still very much on top of his game.

The Heist Mastercuts EP sees Orlando dig deep in his archive for some of his undercover hits from the nineties that have been remastered for
this EP. On top of that, he delivers a new track in the form of soulful house bomb “Be with you.”

“Be with you” starts off with a hazy groove and distant pads. The steady beat and funky electronic chops set a steady foundation for a rush-inducing string sample that works together with looping diva vocals for maximum dancefloor excitement. No heavy drumrolls, FX or other tools necessary here: It’s clever sampling and Orlando’s soulful touch that make this track tick.

Next up is the vinyl only track “Love Feelings” – originally released in ’96 on Urban Sounds of Amsterdam-. Think 130+ BPM vintage house grooves with hazy pads and you’ll get an idea of what’s coming. Love Feelings is an up-tempo dreamhouse track that, even though it’s almost 25 years old, still ticks all the boxes of a contemporary festival groover.

On the B-side you’ll find 2 versions of “Tenderness”: The original mix and the Late nite dub, both originally released on Clubstitute records back in ’95. The original has a 90’s garage groove with male vocal chops, old school house keys and strings. The late night dub is exactly that: a dreamy ethereal deephouse groove with warm synth hits, introverted percussion some very on point sax loops.

The Heist Mastercuts EP is the first EP of Orlando Voorn on Heist Recordings but considering the connection we’ve built with him over the last year and having heard the music he’s shared with us, we’re sure you’ll see much more of him on Heist in the future.


Yours sincerely,

Maarten & Lars

Culture III is the fourth studio album by American hip hop trio Migos. It was released by Capitol Records, Motown Records, and Quality Control Music on June 11, 2021. The album features guest appearances from Drake, Cardi B, Polo G, Future, Justin Bieber, Juice Wrld, Pop Smoke, and YoungBoy Never Broke Again. It is the follow-up to their 2018 album Culture II and serves as the conclusion to their Culture trilogy

LNDFK (aka Linda Feki) presents her ground-breaking debut album, "Kuni" on Brooklyn-based Bastard Jazz Recordings. Undeniably on the rise after her 2019 breakout performance at Primavera Sound, LNDFK has already caught the attention of Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Clash Magazine, Noisey, and Brooklyn Vegan (among many others) while being championed by the likes of Gilles Peterson, Tom Ravenscroft, and Jamz Supernova & landing spots on tastemaker playlists like Spotify's "Pollen" and "Fresh Finds."

"Kuni" is a spellbinding exploration of dichotomies: Love & Death (Eros & Thanatos), Flower & Fire, Delicacy & Violence, Poetry & Realism, Purification & Destruction. These opposites are reified in the 10-track LPs multifarious and multifaceted sounds, elegantly meandering through a variety of styles and genres, spearheaded by Linda and features the production wizardry of Darrio Bassolino who co-wrote the album.

"Kuni" opens with "Hana-bi," an ambient instrumental piece that sets the tone for the album. Inspired by the Takeshi Kitano 1997 film of the same name – particularly Joe Hisaishi's stunning soundtrack, as well as Kitano's paintings which appear in the film. "Hana-bi" expresses the dialoguing opposites of flowers and fire, the first of many dichotomous representations throughout the album. "Takeshi" acts as an extension and to "Hana-bi," albeit one of opposing sound, with its driving, highly syncopated drums (which reappear throughout "Kuni") – à la Karriem Riggins, Questlove, or Yussef Dayes – frenetic bass line, and jazz chords. Linda's sultry voice is interspersed, initially jumping around in scat fashion, being triggered as if a sample, before her lyrics come in; her vocals are used like an additional instrument, adding to the song's rich texture. "Kuni" truly hits its stride with the next song, "Smoke – a moon or a button" (its title lifted from the 1959 book by Ruth Krauss and Remy Charlip), which is structured like a jazz standard yet flows into neo-soul territory sonically with those prodigious drums a highlight once again.

LNDFK touches on experimental hip hop in two songs on the record (both of which were released as singles in 2021): "Don't Know I'm Dead or Not (feat. Chester Watson)" – track #4 – and "How Do We Know We're Alive (feat. Pink Siifu)" – track #9. Although they embrace a more hip hop-leaning sound, these songs by no means shy away from the exploratory theme, and feature two of the alt-rap scenes rising stars with Chester Watson and Pink Siifu who offer provocatively impressing verses, combining dense word play with unconventional flows. While these tracks may first appear to be outliers on the album, they are undeniably in tune with "Kuni's" message and sonic palette, acting as testaments to LNDFK's willingness to explore and experiment.

Meanwhile, "Ku" – the third and last single before the album release – furthers the pre-established future soul sound while meandering through nu jazz and left-field electronic. Inspired by the graphic novel and film, "Sin City," and its female assassin protagonist Miho, "Ku" is a musical interpretation of Miho's story, incorporating both her beauty – the first half of the song – and murderous tendencies – the second half – to create a stunning juxtaposition, culminating in an ambient finale that suggests the character's vulnerability and inner peace. The song gracefully bridges the gap between Hiatus Kaiyote-esque songwriting, Dilla's rhythmic syncopation, and Thundercat's instrumental prowess (LNDFK has shared a stage Brainfeeder labelmate Kamasi Washington).

Mixed in throughout "Kuni" are a series of instrumental pieces that function as something akin to an interlude. The aforementioned intro, "Hana-bi," and the album closer "se mi stacco da te, mi strappo tutto:" act as bookends, while "Om" indicates the half-way mark, and "Ktm" sees Jason Lindner add his sound the album. These tracks are the ambient foundation of "Kuni," representing the thematic duality of the work. Clocking in at only 24 minutes, "Kuni" packs an astonishingly diverse array of sounds, styles, and themes, all while showcasing virtuosic musicianship and instrumental prowess.

Appearing on "Hana-bi" and "Ktm," renowned international artists Asa-Chang and Jason Lindner add an additional perspective to "Kuni": Asa-Chang on "Hana-bi," and Jason Lindner on "Ktm." Asa-Chang - famously of the Japanese avant-garde group Asa-Chang & Junray - provides vocals and percussion to an alternate version of the instrumental opener, while the acclaimed keyboardist Jason Lindner offers his synth expertise on "Ktm." These features highlight the spirit of collaboration found in LNDFK's music, always willing to try out new ways of working.

LNDFK is a singer and songwriter, born of two cultures – an Italian mother and Arab father. She grew up in Naples, away from her father, the Sahara, her homeland and traditions, which has helped nourish the desire to rediscover – through art – an engagement to her roots. Her music melts with jazz, neo-soul and hip-hop influences, filtered through her experiences and sensibility.

Her first EP, "Lust Blue," was composed with the artistic production of Dario Bass and released by Feelin' Music; after that she released several singles that saw international radio support (BBC, NTS, Wordwide FM) and gained a massive audience on digital platforms. Together with her band, she toured around Europe, performing alongside such notable artists as Kamasi Washington and Mndsgn, among others. Most recently she toured Italy, and performed at Primavera Sound Festival 2019 in Barcelona.

"Kuni," is due out on NYC label Bastard Jazz Recordings in February, 2022, while the vinyl LP will follow shortly after.

Having embraced the wide wired world of modular synthesis, Prince of Queens aka Felipe Quiroz has already proved fit and formidable in dialing in the necessary sonic component of his current stargazing outfit Combo Chimbita. His first two solo records on NYCT have only added to an already wide-ranging electronic fluency, yet have also brought a flare and understanding of dance music foundation that in combination is rarely matched.

For his next release, Prince of Queens teams up with the voice of El Julius, his Colombian countryman and New York neighbor. As a seasoned member of Names You Can Trust alumni, Bulla En El Barrio, El Julius helps to bridge the classic with the contemporary. "Rompe Cadenas" is a traditional arrangement with poignant lyrics, but it's still funneled through the unpredictability of POQ's machinery. It's a modern day reinterpretation of sound system cumbia at its heart, and just a further example of the breadth of POQ's production possibilities. Much of that potential is realized on the second track of this double-sided release, "Acidosa." Like his earlier releases, POQ's quintessential future leanings are on display here with all of his remarkable synthesis. It's worth the trip alone. Just imagine a wild and hypnotic meeting of cumbia and pitched-down acid and off we go.

Brazilian talent Classmatic is next up on Hot Creations with the two-track Toma Dale. Having already set dancefloors alight at the hands of label heads Jamie Jones and Lee Foss, the eagerly anticipated release drops this April.

Toma Dale achieves exactly what Classmatic set out to do. The track opens proceedings with enticing congas that instantly transport you to Latin America. Punchy drum pads pounce in and combine with the percussion to create a highly energetic base, as finely cut Spanish vocals are embedded to fuse everything together. Bape pays homage to the Hot Creations sound. Warm, soft, bouncy kick drums lead the track, joined by subtle acid sounds that tantalise the ears. The breakdown is perfectly placed with the addition of mesmerising vocals that fade in and out before the punchy, bass-heavy drums are hauled back in.

Classmatic has built up a lot of traction over recent years, catching the eyes and ears of major heavyweights in the field, releasing under such labels as Solid Grooves and Hottrax and in 2021 he remixed Cloonees’ major hit, When The Sun Goes Down. Receiving support from artists such as Seth Troxler, Michael Bibi, Pete Tong and Loco Dice to name a few, it comes as no surprise when we say there is a bright future ahead for the talented artist.

A superb banging new Hazardous Sound !
The Mentalcore original style stepping ahead thanks to Industrial Tekno skills . Dark is the flavour !

Repress !

(November Collective Title) Meditative but heaving with energy, Son Lux's third full-length weaves disparate elements into songs both strange and welcoming. On the heals of being named NPR's 'Best New Artist of the Year', Son Lux has created an album that sits as comfortably next to the compositions of Stravinsky, John Adams, David Lang and Ben Frost, as it does to those of Jamie Lidell, Björk, Flying Lotus, and Radiohead. Equal parts producer and composer, Son Lux (aka Ryan Lott) bridges an unusual gap between old-world music theory and next-level experimentation. Meditative but heaving with energy, 'Lanterns' finds a peculiar congruency between futuristic soul and ancient sentiment. Driving orchestral electronica (Lost It To Trying, No Crimes) is placed alongside creepy minimalism (Pyre), often starkly juxtaposing densely layered arrangements with Lott's fragile voice. In recent past Son Lux has gained notoriety both for his s/s/s project (with Sufjan Stevens and Serengeti), and from being named NPR's 'Best New Artist of the Year'. His third full-length album, and his first for Joyful Noise (Kishi Bashi, Sebadoh, etc.), positions Son Lux at the helm of an impressive ensemble of instrumentalists and singers, including Chris Thile (The Punch Brothers), Peter Silberman (The Antlers), DM Stith, Lily & Madeleine, Darren King (Mutemath), Ieva Berberian (Gem Club) and yMusic (Dirty Projectors, Bon Iver).

Until recently, it was thought that we had heard all there was to hear from Saâda Bonaire. The German studio project's 1980s recordings had been compiled on the now cult-classic double LP Saâda Bonaire, released by Captured Tracks in 2013. Though the group had continued working until 1994, founder Ralph "von" Richtoven had firmly stated that all of their post-1986 work was lost. Released now for the first time ever, 1992 compiles the band's long-lost early nineties material. Produced between Bremen and New York City, the 12 songs presented here capture the group's attempts at steering their trademark fusion sound (reggae, afro-funk, Eastern music, and sultry German female vocals) into uncharted nu jazz, trip-hop, and house territories. It's no surprise, given both the time lapse and the fluid nature of the project, that these recordings differ sonically from the 1980s material. 1992 finds Saâda Bonaire folding new influences from the time (house, hip-hop, rap) into their eclectic sonic universe. Vocalist Andrea Ebert's soulful voice -the result of a church choir background and an early love of American soul and jazz music- offset Stephanie Lange's laid-back, more German-sounding vocals. This unique interplay bolstered the band's new direction - evident in their inspired takes on James Brown's "Woman" and Syreeta Wright and Stevie Wonder's "To Know You Is To Love You". The American influence was also made literal via contributions by renowned DJ Matthias Heillbronn and rapper Jimmy Lee Patterson, both of whom lent some stardust to the tracks at François Kevorkian's Axis Studios in NYC. Unfortunately, the demo recordings were considered too bizarre for 1990s record label standards, and as a result were never published. As with all things Saâda Bonaire, the discovery of these discarded recordings feels like a sort of magical impossibility. It's been nearly ten years since the release of the last compilation, and thirty since the recordings were originally captured. That they still manage to sound fresh and avant garde is a testament to Saâda Bonaire's flair for creating pop music for past, present, and future outsiders.

JOYFULTALK returns with its third album for Constellation; another vibrantly divergent stylistic take on the analog materiality and sensibility of electronic composer-producer Jay Crocker, whose previous two records forged trance-inducing polyrhythmic intricacy, each from a distinct angle and sound palette, each enlisting a single instrumental collaborator. Familiar Science rallies contributions from a larger cast of musicians into a looser, cosmic recombinant combo_still shot through with JOYFULTALK's singular mixing desk kinetics, but this time deep-diving into gnarled and twisted, spliced and diced out-jazz. Crocker draws inspiration from 1980s M-Base music and Ornette Coleman's harmolodic funk period, while his own prior history as an improv guitarist also resurfaces for the first time in many years_an element in this polyvalent artist's chemistry set that hasn't appeared prominently in his own music for over a decade. Familiar Science finds Crocker folding time (as lockdown will do), immersed in his present-day kaleidoscope of solitary art and music practices in rural Nova Scotia, while channeling his former life as a bustling jazz collaborator in Calgary, Alberta. Building outwards from roiling resampled acoustic drums, Crocker extracted additional sonic and rhythmic textures, then formed the head of each song using dusted-off archival recordings and his own bass, keys and midi sequencing. Albertan percussionists Eric Hamelin (Ghostkeeper, Chad Vangaalen) and Chris Dadge (Lab Coast, Alvvays) provided improvised drum tracks to be chopped and harvested; Nova Scotia-based Nicola Miller (Ryan Driver, Doug Tielli) laid down resplendent excursions on saxophone and flute; Crocker's own dexterous guitar appears on several cuts. Familiar Science also poignantly features samples from live recordings by the late Calgary saxophonisticonoclast Dan Meichel, catalysing some of the album's heaviest contortions. Crocker weaves all these raw materials into exuberant compositions that blur the line between sizzling corporeal combo and sampledelic futurist jamz, variously conjuring (leftfield) Flying Lotus, (later) Tortoise, BADBADNOTGOOD and Squarepusher's Music Is Rotted One Note. The rubbery hyper-compression of boom-bap opener "Body Stone" initiates the séance, and the album offers a panoply of skittering grooves and soaring melodic pathways thereafter, through quags of heady jazz alternately streaked with dayglo delirium and other more vaporous states of revelry. Crocker's own wordless stacked vocals are the giddy secret sauce on several cuts, and his lead guitar work (in kinship with the lean progressions of Mary Halvorson or Jeff Parker) features on "Take It To The Grave", "Stop Freaking Out!" and the album's title track. More honeyed passages on songs like "Blissed For A Minute" and "Ballad In 9" center around Miller's bouyant alto sax and flute. Familiar Science is a rousing feast of noise-tinged polychrome electronic avant-jazz: richly harmolodic compositions teeming with intersecting textures and turbulences; exploratory, exhilarated and indeed joyful.

, Ivor Novello award-winning band The Feeling have announced a new chapter in their career with their sixth studio album, Loss. Hope. Love - out May 6th on Island Records - back where it all started in 2006 for their Top 3 debut album Twelve Stops and Home. Self-produced, predominantly at their East London studio during lockdown, Loss. Hope. Love is the sound of a band who have reconsidered their identity, taken control of their sound and embraced the Queen-esque theatrical elements of their DNA, recently realised by the success of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. The Feeling return a whole new perspective. 15 years since their multi-million selling debut record Twelve Stops and Home - the new album is bursting with joy, but with the thread of melancholy that’s always been synonymous with their flawless songwriting.

Having scooped the prestigious Record Store Day Unsigned 2020 award, her debut album 'In The Blue Corner' was released as a limited edition run on turquoise sparkle vinyl in November 2021. Now available on a full digital and physical release including a new vinyl pressing on dusk blue coloured vinyl. "Loving this. Really cool voice_ love the voice!" Craig Charles (6Music) // "The most original sound. Like Little Richard, Mark Ronson, Nina Simone and Nick Cave all got locked in a New Orleans speakeasy" Record Store Day Unsigned Panel 2020 // "Wow, I mean what's not to like about that? That is sensational! How groovy is that?! Mark Radcliffe, BBC 6Music // "What a voice!" Robert Elms, BBC London // "Her voice is stunning, powerful and unique, and her stage presence hits the back of the room at any venue she plays" DJ Anne Frankenstein, Jazz FM // Included in Craig Charles' Funk and Soul 'Ones to Watch 2022' list. From London via Lagos, charismatic chanteuse Sister Cookie will take you on an eclectic excursion into the roots & fruits of black music. Old sounds, new tricks. Sensuous, seductive and moody. As well as possessing a distinctive voice that's tender and sweet when it needs to be, she's a composer and self-taught pianist who writes honest and raw songs about pain, heartbreak, suffering - all that bad (meaning-good) stuff. A mainstay on the vintage Soul & R'n'R circuit since 2015 with slots at Wilderness, Latitude, Red Rooster, Port Elliot and more under her belt - as well as touring across Europe with her band - Sister Cookie has so far been supported by Craig Charles, Mark Radcliffe & Cerys Matthews at 6Music, Robert Elms on BBC London plus plays on Resonance, Jazz FM and Amazing Radio. Craig Charles is a big supporter on BBC 6 Music and has played current single 'Ain't No Good (But It's Good Enough For Me)' several times. Steve Lamacq and Lauren Laverne have also given the track multiple plays. The track has also been playlisted at Jazz FM. Singles from the album have been played many times across European radio stations including France Culture, Rock Radio (Greece), Radio Nova (Portugal), Mach 5 (Italy), HR Radio Sijeme (Croatia). She's performed at some of the UK's most esteemed venues including the 100 Club and Union Chapel, The Round Chapel and has enjoyed a number of stints as a guest vocalist with The Soulful Orchestra, Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind, Future Shape Of Sound & MFC Chicken. Sister Cookie Is going to be part of the judging panel for Record Store Day Unsigned competition in April, the competition she won in 2020.

This sprawling collection by Belgian loner blues savant Bram Devens aka Ignatz encapsulates the mystery, murk, and melancholy of his uncanny craft at its most windswept and wayward. Originally issued via Goaty Tapes in September of 2015, this long-anticipated vinyl edition expands the saga with an additional 17 minutes of archival material. Deven’s palette remains constant throughout: feathery fingerpicking, modal loops, and intuitive six-string navigations interspersed with candlelit passages of mournful voice, alternately whispered, mumbled, moaned. His is an aesthetic of embers and resin, cracked masks and distant lights, of what’s left behind and what lingers on.

I Live In A Utopia was recorded following a relocation from his longtime base of Brussels to Landen, with a second child due soon: “I remember the weather being nice and having just bought a hammock.” The change of scenery seeded a promise of slower days and lighter times – no utopia perhaps, but a sense of faint hope glowing on the horizon. The songs slide between loose acoustic spirituals and smoky basement ragas, late afternoon haze and midnight moons, a seesawing restlessness reflected in the titles (“I Have Found True Love,” “Time Does Not Bring Relief,” “We Used To Smoke Inside”). The fidelity is grainy but vivid, refracted by tape warp and Flemish dust.

As always, Deven’s playing is deceptively elegant, raw but precise, attuned to resonance, radiance, and negative space. Echoes of Fahey and Jandek reverberate in certain moments but ultimately the world Ignatz maps is one incomparably his own. A landscape both doomed and dawning, weary but undefeated, tracing outlines of lengthening shadows. “I walk in the sunshine,” he sings, uneasily. This is music of a rare inner wilderness, poised at cryptic crossroads, devoted to its ghosts. I Live In A Utopia stands as an apex work by one of the underground’s most veiled and visionary talents.

Double album in gatefold sleeve with artwork by Zully Adler. In co-production with House Rules & released in an edition of 500.

T. Gowdy has kept up a productive albeit mostly virtual pace since the release of Therapy With Colour (his third full-length album and first for Constellation) which dropped just as things were locking down back in spring 2020: performances at numerous festivals including MUTEK Montréal, Node Festival and NEW NOW; audiovisual pieces exhibited at various European galleries and events; a track and video for Constellation's Corona Borealis Longplay Singles Series; sound design for the documentary Atalaya by filmmaker Emma Roufs. Gowdy now returns with Miracles, his second full-length for Constellation, which draws on source materials originally performed in 2018 for an unreleased audio/visual project based around surveillance footage_a precursor to videocapped, monitor-based horizons that soon took on new meanings. Re-immersing himself in those recordings, Gowdy disassembles and deploys them as raw source material for new experiments with vactrols, noise gates and analog-to-digital triggering and aliasing, the original recordings juxtaposed anew amidst their successive textural and rhythmic treatments. Gowdy keeps this re-composition process stripped down, elemental and purposive, guided by an ascetic Aufhebung: synthesis as sublation_subjecting a temporal material/theme to analysis and transformation, reintegrating to form a whole that overcomes what it preserves without erasure, reshaping and intrinsically carrying its origins forward. Where Therapy With Colour was strictly and rigorously a set of stereo live performances, Miracles fuses iterative_though still spartan_layers of performance. "Therapy With Colour was about healing through self-hypnosis; Miracles is about forging a future with memory through subjection to trigger mechanisms" notes Gowdy. The result is a captivating collection of minimal IDM and oscillated electronics from the Montréal/Berlin producer, working primarily in a 120-140 BPM zone of tonal percussion and corrugated pulse. Gowdy's sensibility and sound palette gets deeper and dirtier, summoning new pathways of alluvial flicker and abraded euphoria. As the album progresses, low-pass gate vactrols coalesce into a clear and vital theme, conveying immanence through woody timbres at times reminiscent of the Shinrin-yoku aesthetic (Japanese `forest bathing'), though always with a grainy transcendence rather than invoking any clean pure sheen. Gowdy consistently heats and heightens the presence of each component in the mix, balancing different elements in democratic compression/distortion, attaining an unornamental and earnest form of mantric-industrial majesty. Miracles is live, corporeal, activated electronic music of the highest caliber, deployed with monastic and meditative focus.

Martin Matiske's superb new six-track EP Circle Of Enlightenment on LDI Records is based around the concept of one-mindedness and togetherness. This German artist was fascinated with mixing records as early as his 10th birthday and had his first release on the legendary International Deejay Gigolo Records aged just 15. In the 20 years since he has released a selection of records on labels like Moustache Records and Bordello A Parigi. His timeless sound comes with a vintage touch and always fuses electro, italo and techno in fresh new ways. This new EP aims to describe the direct connection between human beings and the universe. Martin says: "Human beings are aliens always looking for answers to questions like why are we here and what life is about? We know the answer but won't accept it. We are made up of the elements of space and are directly connected to the universe. Each person contains the energy of the universe and is connected with everything that surrounds it. We are one! We are here because we are here! Our mission is to be!" The EP opens with 'Memory', and Martin explains that "Remembering is the ability to do things right but most of the time it causes pain." The track is a slick and icy electro workout with gorgeous retro-future pads bringing a cosmic sense of soul while the corrugated bass keeps busy below. 'Breakout' describes breaking out of normal thought and reaching a state of "no-mind." It is a playful and dynamic electro cut with characterful bass and synth stabs like shooting stars as shimmering arps ride up and down the scale. 'Lost In Space' deals with the idea that human beings on earth are just as lost in space as aliens. It's an interplanetary electro trip with glistening synths shining bright next to more twisted, tortured bass. 'Microbot' is about miniature robots that make our lives easier and ride on a punchy bassline, with neck-snapping snares and pads that circle around like spacecraft during battle. It is another lush electro workout that leads into 'Stars' and pays homage to the importance of these twinkling rays of light. It's a widescreen track with withering leads, cyborg vocals, and a real sense of hope as the snappy drums march into an unknown future. Last of all, 'Solaris' pays tribute to the life-giving force of the sun with another super crisp electro groove, slithering arps and conversational pads that make both a physical and emotional impact. Circle Of Enlightenment is a brilliantly adventurous and storytelling new EP from the ever-excellent Martin Matiske.

Pink Clear Vinyl
Nottingham based artist Cyclonix launch new journey Little Red Hand and kicks off its schedule with heavy 3 track "Metal Bass" EP from him. Label aim is to champion the sounds of modern electronic fusion music on the broken beat and future jazz spectrum taking in hints of house, techno and breakbeat culture. Music that will stand the test of time - like the handprint in the logo - one of the oldest forms of human expression. POWERED BY ART-AUD

Back from past and fired into the future. Intimate dancefloor funk. No matter how hard you throw it, it still comes back around.

Includes a totally re-groove mix from Da Gama with a personal touch!

BLO is new sensation in LA’s the New Beat scene. Their classical song structures and arrangements with a modern twist capture and transport immediately to the golden era of the Belgian macro clubs of the late 80’s. Their debut EP include 3 original songs and a cover of Depeche Mode classical hit “Breathing in Fumes”

Future Jazz Ensemble is a project from multi instrumentalist Nicola Penna. With Future Jazz Ensemble, Nicola is exploring of the intersected sonic paths of jazz, ethnic and electronic music; trying to recall the past and evoke the future. His previous two Future Jazz Ensemble releases; The Mankind's Place 12" LP and Art For Art's Sake 7" were limited runs and are now very sought after. We are very proud to have Nicola releasing music on Ten Lovers Music and look forward to future projects.

It’s been more than a year since our last release on Suction Records, and we’re excited to be back with the introduction of a new artist to the label’s roster. In fact, this split 12” serves as an introduction to both Useless Idea, and Seven Nights Alone, two aliases from the same Italian artist and producer, Cesare Bignotti. The split also serves as a taster for two forthcoming Suction Records full-length LPs, coming soon from both aliases.

Useless Idea, with previous under-the-radar cassette album releases on WéMè Records (2018’s “Acid Hologram”) and EVES Music (2020’s “Xa Peh”), has been quietly recording his own brand of inventive, playful, and melodic IDM/braindance for more than 20 years. We’ve been slowly compiling Useless Idea’s debut vinyl full-length for several years now, and the resulting “Glitch In The Colors” will be released later this year on 2LP vinyl, covering the span of his 20+ years of recording. From “Glitch…” we’ve included standout cut “Mello Tron” alongside two tracks that are exclusive to this split 12”.

Seven Nights Alone is a more recent alias, and outside of 1 track released on a compilation, this marks the new alias’ debut release. There is an undeniable Boards Of Canada influence here, but this is a unique and sophisticated take on BOC’s woozy and melancholy electronica. Both “Soft Where” (a menacing, futuristic instrumental hip hop killer) and “Walkman” (like a BoC “Campfire Headphase” outtake but on an optimistic tip) are taken from Seven Nights Alone’s debut 2LP vinyl full-length “Another Place”, to be released on Suction Records in 2023, alongside a 3rd track that’s exclusive to this split 12”.



Vinyl is limited to 200 copies, and comes with a Bandcamp download card.

Benoit B aka Terra Utopia breaks out into another auspicious alias for Step Ball Chain, Blu:sh - metamorphosed; coming in hot and heavy, sexy and sophisticated. Bass down, *ss up! The ambitious 6 tracker “Lovebite” fuses forms of dance; reworking elements from niche corners of the Step stratosphere that can result in freaky combustion. Breathing life and lust into every phrase, we are fortunate to be offered an intimate glimpse into a complex world of sound, filled with bold and brash inspired statements, rhythmically rolling the dice with snap lock precision. The cherry on top is served via a vocal collusion from fellow associate noff, the web expanding as the label delves deeper into futuristic tech territory, the prolific producer pushing their own boundaries and desires for new meticulous audio spectrum and ethereal realms.

The trio of flirtatious tracks laid bare on the A side read as a love letter to 4/4 naughty nocturnal testimonies. Opening auspiciously; Tighten Up dips into nasty grit, a sub centered excursion into the technological domain, sleazy and stripped back with modest tenacity. Candy Land sugarcoats the status quo of pumped up prog, playfully in the driver's seat and revving 100 miles per hour toward Hush highway; narrated by Greek cyber enigma noff.. An atmospheric deep trance kissed club chant. Opposites attract and find points of connection on the flip of Lovebite, the B side boasting a mutually slick sharpness permeating the record; blending sparse bass focused broken beat expeditions with liquid dnb; genially abstract mood boards of sampling mayhem; cut and spliced in addictive fashion. Flushes of gorgeous esoteric harmonic soundscapes fill out the rhythmical chaos, grounding and expanding the mind through a lush & plush tint woven in Recess and Heaven Spot alike.

A perfect prophecy destined for Step Ball Chain, Blu:sh’s first, yet expertly curated EP sets the bar high as hell. Divine dance music that can’t help but push boundaries; confronting and challenging our archival references and perceptions of genres and classifications, arguably the best kind of auditory statement.

Purveyor of lovecore, fabba and cakebeat, bestie and all-round DJ-inspo Angel D’lite blesses Ritual Poison with her ‘Re4mat’ EP.

‘Werk My Body’ is a swirl of feminine energy, empowered vocals blending with hardcore breaks and hyper bass, a four four switch warping temporally before the track drops again. Local Group return the remix favour from their own recent EP, slowing ’Werk My Body’ to a 140 emo-banger, trance melodies sandwiching a proggy mid-section, the bass bumping throughout.

‘R u Ready’ keeps the NRG and BPMs high, breakbeats rolling over booming sub and dubbed out rave stabs, the sexual charge of the female ragga vocal frank and unashamed. ‘Re4mat’ signs off, the hallowed B2. Drawing on rave anthems of the past, it looks boldly to the future. 
“This particular historical juncture holds possibilities for change that we’ve never before experienced,” declares Angela Davis, as the euphoria subsides for a moment. ‘Re4mat’ and start again.

Vier Jahre nach dem Ende seiner Progrock-Band Mess brachte der estnische Musiker Sven Grünberg 1981 das bemerkenswerte Album "Hingus" heraus. Das 23-minütige Titelstück beschwört, mitunter beeinflusst von fernöstlicher Tonalität, mit einer Kirchenorgel, extrem seltenen Synthesizern und außergewöhnlichen Percussion-Effekten faszinierende futuristische Klangwelten. Die beiden anderen, ebenfalls großartigen Tracks erinnern stilistisch eher an die Berliner Schule um Klaus Schulze und Tangerine Dream. Grünberg ist in Estland ein bekannter Bühnen- und Filmmusiker - und ein alter Hase, was elektronische Musik betrifft. 1974, noch während seines Musikstudiums, gründete er zusammen mit Härmo Härm die Progrock-Band Mess. Grünberg war damals der erste Musiker im Baltikum, der einen Synthesizer einsetzte. Mit dem Album "Hingus" (zu Deutsch: "Atem"), das er zwischen 1978 und 1980 einspielte, widmete er sich dem Ambient, versetzt mit einer Prise Space- und Progrock sowie intensiven asiatischen Einflüssen. Basis der Aufnahmen waren die Orgeln der Kirche in Rapla und des Doms von Tallinn. Die sakrale Anmutung wird durch Synthesizer und Percussions gebrochen oder auch ins Rauschhafte gesteigert. Röhrenglocken (die von Mike Oldfield bekannten Tubular Bells), Paarbecken (Piatti), eine Ratsche (Raganella), ein Tamburin, ein ostasiatischer Metallgong namens Tamtam, Glockenspiel und Kastagnetten kommen zum Einsatz. Zudem spielt Grünberg diverse ungewöhnliche elektronische Instrumente, die Härmo Härm und andere teilweise als Einzelstücke selber bauten. Dennoch zählt dieses außerirdisch schöne und zum Teil hochpsychedelische Album hierzulande zu den noch zu entdeckenden Klassikern dieses Genres.

What would you do if a never before released jazz funk album from 70s Yugoslavia had dropped suddenly into your arms? An album which sounds like a crate diggers holy grail!? Album full of heavy drum breaks, repetitive bass grooves, superb sax solos and world class jazz arrangements finely intertwined with Yugoslavian folk music elements?! - “PRESS IT!” ~ That’s what we said always striving to present the future of unheard sound of Yugoslavia! With the help from Mr. Cosmic himself (Željko Kerleta), Jovan Maljoković and his wife Nevenka and, of course, Radio Belgrade who provided the recordings buried deep in their library, here we present Jovan’s first vinyl release since 1989 and his album nr. zero. If this LP was released in 1976, sounding this clear and impressive as it sounds today, it would be up on the pedestal with cult Yugo jazz-funk releases such as Sećanja by Miša Blam (also released on Everland) – and believe me – it would burn a whole through your wallet. Don’t allow me to get started on the Jovan’s ensemble personnel here, represening the crème de la crème of jazz and funk instrumentalists of Yugoslavian Jazz (Goce Dimitrovski, Miloš Krstić, Kire Mitrev, Miodrag Maljoković, Aleksandar Sanja Ilić, Miša Blam, Uroš Šećerov...). The raw execution, top recording and compositions resembling but not imitating the greatest contemporary western jazz-funk ides of the time, that sound like something that could have been easily released on Mainstream, Columbia, MPS or even be an authentic Kudu hit record if it had been released at the time by Creed Taylor. Just listen to the track A1 Ponor Naviše with a whirlwind of big band arrangement turnovers or track B1- Uspomena (hint: Sećanje...) where Jovan takes on the ‘Lame donkey’ in a strong downbeat rearrangement released just two years after Volker Kriegel published it on his album Lift! (MPS/BASF 1973.). You’ll be blown away by the instrumental prowess of the ensemble and Jovan’s ideas! ~ Dr. Smeđi Šećer

For their ninth iteration, Hamburg's The Press Group punches back in with the sizzling hot debut to a VA series bound to scout and shed a broader light on exciting artists from various territories and backgrounds.
Pulsating to the bone, "Future Prospects vol.1" showcases a quartet of heaters courtesy of Germany-based Robert Dietz and Aii PS on the A-side and Kyiv-based Vlad Stuparenko & Ghetto Sunrise plus Sasha Zlykh on the flip. Either sides of the
disc inbound for optimal and non-pareil impact on the dance floor. Dietz's "Salbung" paves the way old-school style, grinding everything from lethal breaks to rowdy drums, via lysergic synth flights straight out a wild sci-fi scenario.
Aii PS' bouncy and oneiric contribution "Donteven" is more of a low-slung affair with its mischievous fusion of filtered synths and acid-informed bass spurts painting the sky all shades of radioactive green.
Flip it over and Stuparenko/Ghetto Sunrise's stealth, aqueous weapon "Pine Water" ushers us in a corridor of groove-enslaved echolocation, delayed stabs and propulsive bleepin' n bloopin' from the depths. A further dusty, shuffling affair
blazing with clanky hats on a Chicagoan tip and futuristic electroid inflections, Zlykh's "Pidozepam" tops it all off in implacable fashion, casting a spell of exquisitely thrilling menace upon the ravers.

German Army is a duo from the San Gabriel Valley. Born between Sydney Possuelo and Paulo Freire, this project is as prolific and productive as it is shrouded in mystery.

Characterised by a certain amount of experimentation aimed at sound collage, the most industrial plunderphonics and the darkest noises, the enigmatic Californian collective has accustomed us to a certain variability of musical genres, but also, without a doubt, to an unquestionably high level of quality and a perennial dark emotional component, which reveals itself in an exquisitely overbearing manner in their work.

Der Hamburger Synthesist Richard von der Schulenburg kehrt mit dem Nachfolger von "Moods & Dances 2021" aus dem letzten Jahr zu Bureau B zuruck. Mit Hardware-Crunch, kryptischen Klangfundstucken und FieldRecordings macht er sich auf die Suche nach "Cosmic Diversity". Inspiriert von der eindringlichen Elektronica von Boards of Canada und Plaid, die hier durch die Linse eines Zeiss-Objektivs gebrochen wird, navigiert RVDS durch das musikalische Multiversum und spannt in acht experimentellen Kompositionen den Bogen zwischen Electro, IDM, Cosmic und Dub. Das wahrend des Lockdowns als Flucht aus der Isolation entstandene Album wirft einen Blick nach außen, erreicht mit gefuhlvollen Melodien aber auch stets das Innere.

Honeyglaze are the South London-based, Haiku-loving trio comprised of vocalist and guitarist Anouska Sokolow, bassist Tim Curtis and Yuri Shibuichi on drums.

 Born out of lead songwriter Sokolow’s un-desire to be a solo act, the group met officially at their first ever rehearsal - just three days ahead of what was to become a near-residency, at their favoured Windmill in Brixton. Forming a mere eighteen-months ahead of a subsequent eighteen-months of mandatory solitude, a parallel that’s both aligned and universally un-timely, Honeyglaze, at first appearance, are a group who play with chance, time, and synergetic fate, in mannerisms few others are able to do.

 Pricking the ears of seminal producer Dan Carey and his team of merry tastemakers, the Speedy Wunderground / Honeyglaze partnership would manifest into a dynamic that, despite not having met prior, quite simply just worked.

 Much like the eponymously debuted statements of contemporary folk-singer Bedouine’s ‘Bedouine’, ‘Crosby, Stills and Nash’, or, dare we suggest Madonna’s ‘Madonna’, ‘Honeyglaze’ the album presents to the world an audibly picturesque documentation of soul-searching, in all its figment’s of reality; a proclamation of cultivated intent which in turn creates a subliminal safe-space between relatability and self-projection, and creative-comradery paired with introspective artistry.

 A self-described “opposite to a concept album” that sonically encapsulates the who, what, where and how of their individual circumstances coming together as one, Honeyglaze is a meticulously transformative feat of which, in their own eyes, is a “quite accurate” sonic encapsulation of who the trio believe to be.

 This is storytelling at its most soulful, and ‘Honeyglaze’ presents human instinct in a manner that accepts all of the insecurities that come from their present adolescence, whilst acknowledging the formative maturity that’s earned when we allow ourselves to embrace the unknown, of our futures ahead.

 “If someone is going to find you special - then you want to show what’s most special about yourself,” notes Curtis. “Then you can do what you want from there.”

 Mixing the personal with romanticised ideals in ways that are simultaneously heart-wrenching, and humorous to a dead pan effect, there is no one trajectory for Honeyglaze, whose greatest ability is finding ways to present what’s written in-between the lines, in moments of beautifully well-versed clarity.

 In their own words: “Hi we are Honeyglaze, and there’s no time to explain.”

The Wastelands' is an album of material made around the same period as 'The Entire City' though never released commercially. The album expands on 'The Entire City's shadowy, futurescape, featuring foreboding, percussive songwriting, with euphoric choral swells. 'The Wastelands' also features the captivating photo collage artwork of British artist, Suzanne Moxhay.

First volume – though the 2nd never happened – of this ongoing collaboration between post-punk stalwarts Cherry Red and home of the western dub On U Sound. Adrian Sherwood obviously sitting behind the desk and a cast of marvelous artist leading the way for a reggae renaissance. Stolen and contaminated songs, we may take this as a reference point for 12 unreleased tracks showing the best of the UK underground rhythms. A further development of the Jamaican heritage, with handmade electronics and a forward thinking production. Mothmen ‘Afghani Dub’ is one of the leading track here, with future members of Durutti Column and Simply Red on board, this is a mystical post-industrial trip through upbeat rhythms. Along the way you’ll find the over the top vocal performance of Judy Nylon – more akin to certain no wave expressionism – futuristic vibes from Sun Of Arqa, contribution from New age Steppers supergroup and Creation Rebel teaming up with the so-called Jamaican ‘Voice of Thunder’ Prince Far I. All in all a (natural) mystic experience.

Swiss musician Delia Meshlir didn’t realize what her voice could do when she started out playing music. Through such groups as the drudge-rock Cheyenne and experimental Primitive Trails, Meshlir let the music lead her singing along. It wasn’t until she began writing the songs for Calling The Unknown that she started allowing her vocals to preside. Unbounded by structure, Delia Meshlir’s first full-length under her name brings layers of beauty, intensity and strength, all coming to a head with her striking vocal delivery.

Having acquired a stocking job at Irascible, a label based in Lausanne, Switzerland, dedicated to promoting local talent, Meshlir had the ideal launching point for her music. Now, in coordination with Irascible, Ba Da Bing will be releasing Calling The Unknown in North America.

Meshlir lost her grandmother while preparing the album, and many of the tracks reflect seeking a path through grief with love. On “A River”, she explores where feelings can exist when they are for someone who has passed. She sings: “I’m calling the unknown / but no one remains.” As the first song on the album, it serves as a perfect introduction, with refined drumming, reverb-wrapped guitars and tasteful saxophone lines. At command of a full band, Meshlir never abuses the opportunity, often having members hold back in restraint and add mere touches of color to her songs. However, when more urgency is required, she adapts beautifully, as on the raw and driven track “Dirty Colors”. Ultimately, the album is an invitation to peace after suffering.

Delia Meshlir is a trained visual artist who is creating her own videos and doing her own artwork for Calling The Unknown. It is a singular artistic work with stunning breadth.

Prolific and singular Japanese producer Hoshina Anniversary presents Hyakunin Isshu, a two tracker of extended jaunts deeper into the mystery than he’s yet dared to venture. With a growing reputation for sizzling productions combining propulsive house rhythms with gyrating arpeggios and textured sound design punctured by jazz-inflected keys, Hyakunin Isshu further expands the limits.

On Hyakunin Isshu, Hoshina Anniversary paces it out over the course of two complimentary side-long runs. The A side Karakurenaini rides on a steady 4/4 as cycling percussion loops, squelchy acid basslines and angular piano chords float in and out of the mix. Deployed and rinsed to peak effect, it's relentless repetition evolves just enough to get completely lost in.

On side B Kirigirisu slows the pace down to a crawl, a lurching rhythm and haunting riff ascending almost to the point of vertigo toppling and giving way to a sci-fi drum break, a stirring prolonged break and triumphant culmination, it’s slow-mo future strut equally indebted to melodies of the past.

Hyakunin Isshu is named for Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, an anthology of delicate, reflective Japanese poetry comprised of works from the 12th and 13th centuries. Both tracks share their titles with different entries in the series.

Hoshina Anniversary is the alias of Yoshinobu Hoshina, a reverent reinterpreter of jazz, dance music and traditional Japanese instrumentation. The last couple of years have seen the producer from the Tokyo suburbs release a torrent of inimitable missives on esteemed maisons disques like ESP Institute, Osare Editions, Alien Jams and Youth. Also forthcoming in the summer of 2022 is an LP on Impatience.

Dutch boss of House and Techno Orlando Voorn on Michel de Hey's In The Future label. Totally in your (Detroit) alley! Coming with a mega remix of Anil Aras with the best strings you will hear

"Way back in the 1990s, Mark Hand, Neil Iceton & Jez Nicholl channelled their love of sci-fi-fired Motor City techno into a string of inspired releases under the alias Cubic Space Collective.

After reuniting for a memorable machine jam at Freerotation festival in 2016, Hand & Iceton headed back into the studio for a one-off session and recorded 'Holiday in Beta Centauri', a musical love letter to Mad Mike and the rest of Detroit's most militant futurist techno crew.

Sending us surging skywards via 'Binary System', where lilting lead lines, fizzing electronics and enveloping chords dance atop a snappy, cymbal-heavy drum machine rhythm, before 'Arps in Hyperspace' sees them step things up a notch via layered waves of synths, sparkling melodies and a driving, hyper-speed groove.

The North-East-based twosome then attempt to warm us to the core in the shape of 'Rigil': restless organ stabs, undulating Michigan bass, alien electronics, psychedelic acid lines and Galaxy 2 Galaxy style chords catching the ear. Bringing us gently back down to earth, they complete their deep space mission with 'Beyond The Nebula (Holiday in Beta Centauri)', a bustling electro number full of stabbing analogue bass, star-burst electronics, meditative ambient chords that shimmer full of night-sky melodies.

A fine return to action for this Teesside UR-loving techno twosome... 3,167 miles away in Detroit, their achievement will be noted."

LDI Records serves up a celebration of The Hague's famous electro sound with native Cliff Dalton aka Sander Evers behind four originals and fellow West Coast legends Legowelt and Rude66 both remixing. Cliff Dalton is a relatively new project from a long-time Dutch music great. Sander Evers is the drummer in psychedelic stoner rock band Monomyth and has played with other notable groups including 35007 and Gomer Pyle. Next to those projects, he has always had his ear tuned into the region's enduring techno and electro scene and now offers up his own fresh take on it. The EP's title refers to the fact that all these artists are bound by geography, but is also a nod to the fact that The Hague is the largest Dutch city by the sea. The opener 'We Are The Little Ones' is about an evil robot factory in a futuristic dystopian city. It is a coruscated electro-funk workout with crisp analogue drums and nimble bass overlaid with withering sci-fi melodies. 'We Don't Need A Real World' is a superbly cinematic eight-minute excursion with widescreen synth work taking you to the stars as you ride an elastic bassline. The majestic 'City Under The Sea' then layers up neck-snapping snares with cosmic arps and plunging bass and 'Cleopatra's Matrix' soundtracks an ancient Egyptian city with its mystic leads and eerie pads luring you into a late-night electro trance. West Coast pin-up and hugely prolific electronic innovator Legowelt remixes 'We Are the Little Ones'. His version has plenty of his textbook intrigue, lo-fi texture and magical synth charm, and finally key Bunker Records associate Rude 66 flips 'City Under The Sea' into a snaking dub rhythm with hypnotic acid lines and seductive vocal whispers woven in deep. The Blue City EP is a timeless package of West Coast electro direct from the source.

Our final William Stuckey release unfortunately did not make it on time for the man himself who sadly passed last year, with support of his family we are very happy to do this 45 justice.

The previously unreleased 'Everything That's Good In Life' A Very suitable unreleased track up there with his finest moments, it's got everything that would have made this a classic over the years and no doubt will make it a future classic for years to come, flipped with an alternate 7" Mix of 'Hold Me Close' this is a rock solid 45. You know what to do.

Transparent Blue vinyl (Limited to 500). DENT is the ­fifth LP from Cleveland, OH rock band Signals Midwest, recorded by J. Robbins (Against Me!, Jets to Brazil, The Promise Ring). Inspired by a stolen and ultimately totaled van, the album confronts the uncertainty of a world at halt, and transmits the shaken-up-soda-can energy that fueled its writing process. With a feedback squeal and a quick four-count, DENT hits the ground running, and what follows is just over a half-hour's worth of big songs about little moments, ominous futures, the lure of nostalgia, and ­finding shards of peace in an almost all-consuming wreckage. In a world up in flames, DENT is a project born from the ashes. ABOUT SIGNALS MIDWEST: Signals Midwest is a loud, smiley punk rock band, made up of Maxwell Stern on guitar and vocals, Steve Gibson on drums and backup vocals, Jeff Russell on guitar, and Ryan Williamson on bass, all (he/him). Signals Midwest has been creating punk/indie music in Cleveland, OH since 2008, and is about to release their 5th album.

Clear Vinyl

Written and conceived by Stephan Crasneanscki, ‘LOVOTIC’ is a concept album by Soundwalk Collective, composed in collaboration with lauded actress and singer/songwriter Charlotte Gainsbourg. Featuring veteran techno stalwart AtomTM, rising singer/composer/performance artist Lyra Pramuk, celebrated actor Willem Dafoe, and writer/philosopher Paul B. Preciado, the album is released by the new Berlin-based Analogue Foundation.

Inspired by a relatively new field of research that seeks to explore and develop the possibilities of sexual and emotional relationships – and even love – between humans and robots, ‘LOVOTIC’ interrogates the impulses, ideas, and needs underlying this phenomenon. The project ventures into a future where sex, intimacy and desire are reformulated through the connection of humans, robotics, and artificial intelligence.

In an age of such hybrid entanglement with the machine, human identity requires the construction of new forms of intimacy, gender, and sexuality. At present, however, such technologies are primarily used to produce programs of limited sexual iterations that do not question the preformatted categories of gender and sexual orientation. In contrast, on ‘LOVOTIC’, Soundwalk Collective ask whether the future of sex and sexuality could instead be an exponentially expanding kaleidoscope. Where does the impulse of preference come from? What sets of words from our vocabulary can be communicated to the AI mind to generate a new identity for desire? Could the machine be another technology that brings us closer together?

Sonically ‘LOVOTIC’ is unidentifiable, artificial, and genuinely futuristic, occupying an amorphous androgynous netherworld at the borderlands between biotic and android. Traditional musical signposts are virtually non-existent, instead offering a mercurial, formless sound which mirrors the flourishing of gender fluidity it suggests could be on the horizon.

The production tangibly evokes the odd, rubbery textures of faux flesh, the slick virtual glide or glitchy mishaps of software, and the sleek shine of hardware. Gleaming sound design creates shard-like surfaces redolent of Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto’s ‘Glass’, the slippery stretched sonics Gabor Lazar, and the unsettling dark ambience of TOWERS and Hallmark ‘87.

At turns intimate and inviting, with whispering-in-your-ears ASMR vocals evoking blissful, heightened sexual states, within ‘LOVOTIC’ there’s optimism, but also unease; As well as the positive, it implies the negative ramifications of technology. At points a synthetic siren’s call appears to lure the listener to a darker place, with audio malfunctions suggesting dystopian science. Voices morph from gentle to distorted – a glitch in the system causing the mask to slip, like virtual lizards – ‘They Live’ or ‘V’ (?), for the metaverse age.

Here, Charlotte Gainsbourg invokes a being of unknown identity – an artificial eve, the oracle and the portal – speaking from an unspecified time in the future. The voices of AtomTM, Lyra Pramuk and Willem Dafoe weave in and out of Charlotte’s, often overlapping, merging into one another, expressing the entity of a being that’s ephemeral and in constant flux, oscillating between the natural and artificial. The record’s other bonafide singer, Lyra Pramuk’s delivery alternates between spoken word, operatics and partially- unintelligible language.

A multi-media project, ‘LOVOTIC’ also features the work of writer, philosopher and curator Paul B. Preciado – a leading thinker in the study of gender and body politics. Paul contributes a post-apocalyptic, quasi scientific and fictional text, which adds further fantasy, artistic and intellectual depth, augmenting the listener’s experience. Like all the best Sci Fi, his words seem prescient, describing what could become a likely reality in the future. Paul performs his written texts on the opening and closing tracks of the album; ‘The Age Of Mutation’ (in Spanish) and ‘Primate Love’ (in English).

Soundwalk Collective is an experimental sound collective helmed by Stephan Crasneanscki in collaboration with Simone Merli, which operates in a continuously rotating constellation of sound artists and musicians. The Collective’s approach to composition combines anthropology, ethnography, non-linear narrative, psycho- geography, the observation of nature, and explorations in recording and synthesis.

All you need is Lava. Lava is all you need…

Disco’s most erotic walking, talking light show Sexy Lazer makes his debut on Riotvan with three delightfully cosmic oddities and odysseys. At points sleazy, at other points sparkling, forever loaded and coded with space, each of the three originals promises full immersion and escapism.
Zone out to the woodwind wonderment of ‘Fluting In Space’, freak out to the synth-powered bliss of ‘Future’ and totally trip out to the much darker and pensive Black Strobe-like ‘Jing Jang’. Meanwhile on the remix front label co-boss Panthera Krause gets his prowl on with the swampy, sweaty tropical twist on ‘Future’ while Axel Boman gets his dub on with his take on ‘Fluting In Space’.

Three stellar originals, two star-gazing versions, one beautiful trip into the deep unknown. Show some lava!

Acclaimed saxophonist, producer and composer Yasuaki Shimizu will release Kiren, his unreleased album from 1984, on the Palto Flats record label on February 25, 2022.

Liner notes by music historian Chee Shimizu, and credits in both Japanese and English.

By the early 1980s Yasuaki Shimizu had established himself on the Japanese new wave scene, producing many important experimental pop records and releasing several albums as the bandleader of
Mariah. Following the release of his widely regarded solo classic Kakashi, from 1982, and the otherworldly Utakata No Hibi, by Mariah in 1983, he went into the studio the following year with frequent
collaborators, producer Aki Ikuta and Morio Watanabe (bassist of Mariah), to record a mystifying collection of experimental dance music. Utilizing cutting-edge technology and studio trickery, Kiren
showcases Shimizu's trademark playfulness, marrying richly layered production techniques to off-kilter, sometimes traditional sounding rhythms and melodies. Portending his work with the Saxophonettes as well as forecasting trends in techno, new wave, and futuristic rhythmic music, this formerly lost album represents an important period of Shimizu's artistic expression, an artist at his peak, while successfully exploring the intersections of fusion, synthpop, new wave, and jazz.

As Chee Shimizu (no relation) writes in the liner notes, Kiren, and his concurrent release Latin were “born out of a free environment of collaboration that existed between Yasuaki and Aki Ikuta ... (exemplifying) his most energetic works.” In listening to Kiren, we might share with Yasuaki Shimizu the joy and excitement of experimentalism and movement that went into the making of this album, now released for the first time many years later.

Co-produced with Metronomy's Joseph Mount, electro-pop artist TATYANA's debut album is a careful fusion of her classical harp training with her keen sense for pop production and songwriting. Inspired by late-2000s indie pop and Swedish pop auteurs, Treat Me Right is a sparkling, catchy collection of `80s synths and futuristic auto-tuned vocals. TATYANA has lived in Holland, Russia, Singapore, and Boston - where she attended Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship - before settling back in her hometown of London in 2018. The transient nature of her upbringing has certainly informed her music: from underground raves to viral YouTube covers to playing harp on tour with Neneh Cherry, there seems to be no scene that she doesn't thrive in. Last year, she released her thrilling debut EP Shadow On The Wall via Sinderlyn. The self-produced collection was met with praise from tastemaker outlets like NYLON, FADER, Office, Bandcamp, Line of Best Fit, and Crack, as well as an exclusive vinyl pressing with Vinyl Me, Please's Rising program. Treat Me Right is the irresistible product of these impressive first steps, the kind of precisely produced, impossibly catchy pop that takes other artists their entire careers to nail.

After a cameo appearance on the Spektrum compilation, DC Salas lands on TAU with his first full EP. The Belgian producer has been active for more than a decade and brings with him depth of experience and maturity, along with a clear understanding of the dance floor. His Time Well Spent EP showcases these core skills, along with his distinct flair and emotive nuance...

To avoid the “Quésaco?” on the sleeve of Piano Dazibao, François Tusques explains everything: A wall mural on which the Red Guard expressed their opinions during the Chinese proletarian cultural revolution. So much for the “Dazibao”, very good; but the piano in all that?

The piano, François Tusques was self-taught and his work was influenced by Jelly Roll Morton and Earl Hines before discovering Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell and then... free jazz. In Paris in 1965, Tusques mixed with Michel Portal, François Jeanneau, Jean-François Jenny-Clark, Aldo Romano or Jacques Thollot. He also met Don Cherry and above all recorded, with other like-minded Frenchmen (Portal and Jeanneau alongside Bernard Vitet, Beb Guérin and Charles Saudrais), the first album of free jazz in France, named... Free Jazz.

In 1967, Tusques again served up Le Nouveau Jazz, this time in the company of Barney Wilen (and Guérin, Jenny-Clark, Romano). Three years later his thirst for freedom led him to isolation; between May and September 1970, the pianist recorded, at his home, the first of two albums that he would release on Futura Records: Piano Dazibao and Dazibao N°2.

Under the influence of Mao and Lewis Carroll, the free spirit roamed and composed seven tracks which are not so much free as libertarian. As an homage to some friends (Don Cherry, Sunny Murray, Archie Shepp, Clifford Thornton but also Colette Magny, Michel Le Bris or the Théâtre du Chêne Noir), the pianist played cascading bouquets of notes, free-form wanderings, blues-ambushed dances, growls, discords, a fatal requiem... A cherished freedom, songs of hope and demands, François Tusques offers the most unrelenting of independent records.

Contemporary pianist and composer James Heather announces his
second album, ‘Invisible Forces’, via Ahead of Our Time, Ninja Tune
founders Coldcut’s first record label.
 An album influenced by the sensibility of electronic, ambient, orchestral
and post-rock music but channelled through solo piano and Heather’s
classical and jazz grounding.
 With regards to his “superb” (Crack Magazine) and “masterful”
(Electronic Sound, Dummy) debut, ‘Stories From Far Away On Piano’,
the songs are grander, deeper and broader in emotional range and are
developed through a series of improvisation techniques. Heather
describes it as ‘pulse music’, with each track performed in a single take
and with their roots in this live improvisation, often honed on the road
where he moves between tender to more propulsive, trance-inducing
dynamics.
 For fans of Jean-Michel Blais, Sarah Davachi, John Carroll Kirby, Otto A.
Totland, Ólafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm, The Cinematic Orchestra.
 CD in slipcase with printed inner.
 140g violet vinyl with holofoil detail sleeve.
 “The sound Heather makes is captivating.” - Electronic Sound
 “Masterful contemporary piano.” - Dummy
 “A remarkable piece of music that yields more secrets the more it’s
played” - Clash
 Featured in Coldcut’s ambient compilation ‘@0’ alongside Suzanne
Ciani, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Helena Hauff, Skee
Mask, Julianna Barwick, Steve Roach, Laraaji and Mira Calix.
 Notable supporters of Heather’s music include James Lavelle (UNKLE),
Nils Frahm, Cillian Murphy, Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder (via the live
session he did for them in 2021), The Cinematic Orchestra, The Bug,
Leandro Taub, Actress, Bicep, Martyn and Tim Noakes (Dazed).
 James has collaborated with the likes of Dawn Richard, Coldcut,
Mumdance and Roger Robinson (King Midas Sound).

Formed in Oxford where they lived, hung out and rehearsed
together on campus, eclectic group Mandrake Handshake
were christened after a song by The Brian Jonestown
Massacre, incorporating their influences of Krautrock, funk,
Japanese animation and Latin pastoral poetry to create a
unique brand of ‘Flowerkraut’ that vividly defines their sound.
 Having initially teamed up with the cult indie label for their
‘Nice Swan Introduces…’ series (in partnership with RIP
Records) late last year, the creative outfit have since found
labelmates in the likes of Courting, SPRINTS and Anorak
Patch, and fast established themselves as one of the most
enticing new acts in the UK psychedelic scene.
 With widespread acclaim arriving via multiple key indie press
titans (NME, NPR, DIY, The Line of Best Fit, Dork, So Young,
Clash, Loud & Quiet, Gigwise), the newcomers certainly
seem to be attracting the right kind of attention following the
release of mesmeric debut effort ‘Mandragora’ and
exhilarating follow-up ‘Gonkulator’, with their first few plays
on BBC Radio 1 (Jack Saunders) already opening them up
to a vast new audience.
 Detailing their EP, the band explained: “‘Shake the Hand
That Feeds You’ represents the culmination of many strands
of thought over the process of several months. It is designed
to announce the coming of the Mandrake in all her forms and
the ascent into her realm; as it soundtracks the listener
coming to know what will be expected of them for all future
sonic explorations.
 “No expense has been spared to bring the listener to the
zenith of psychedelic high-fidelity and have them fully
understand what they otherwise might only hint at knowing.
This is ‘Flowerkraut’. This is the beginning. This is the
Mandrake.”
 Recorded at Press Play Studios in Bermondsey with one of
their heroes - Stereolab’s Andy Ramsay.