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Today sees Belgian-Caribbean provocateur Charlotte Adigéry and her long-term musical partner, Bolis Pupul announce their debut album Topical Dancer, due for release on March 4 2022 via Soulwax’s iconic label DEEWEE.
Cultural appropriation. Misogyny and racism. Social media vanity. Post-colonialism and political correctness. These are not talking points that you’d ordinarily hear on the dancefloor but Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul are ripping up the rulebook with their debut album Topical Dancer. The Ghent-based duo, who broke out with their 2019 Zandoli EP, are rare storytellers in electronic music: they take the temperature of the time and funnel them into their playful synth concoctions – never didactic and always with a knowing wink.

Their debut studio record – which cements them as a duo under both their names for the first time and is co-written and co-produced by Soulwax – is both a triumph of kaleidoscopic electro-pop and “a snapshot of how we think about pop culture in the 2020s.” It captures Charlotte and Bolis’s essence as musical collaborators and the conversations they’ve had over the past two years on tour, as well as their perspectives as Belgians with an immigrant background, Charlotte with Guadeloupean and French-Martinique ancestry and Bolis being of Chinese descent.

Beyond the album’s thematic heft, Topical Dancer reflects Charlotte and Bolis’s idiosyncratic sound: it’s thoughtful but it bangs. Their take on familiar genres is always off-kilter; songs sound undone or a little wonky; but these are nocturnal heaters to make the club throb. “We like to fuck things up a bit,” laughs Bolis. “We cringe when we feel like we're making something that already exists, so we're always looking for things to combine to make it sound not like a pop song, not like an R&B song, not a techno song. We’re always putting different worlds together. Charlotte and I get bored when things get too predictable.”

Topical Dancer is fizzing with ideas – there’s certainly no filler among its 13 tracks. But above all, perhaps, it has a restlessness, a desire not to be boxed in and to escape others’ narrow perceptions of who they are. It’s summarised by the refrain of their new single, ‘Blenda’: “Don’t sound like what I look like / Don’t look like what I sound like.” “One thing that always comes up,” says Bolis, “is that people perceive me as the producer, and Charlotte as just a singer. Or that being a Black artist means you should be making ‘urban’ music. Those kinds of boxes don’t feel good to us.”

‘Blenda’ in particular references how “I am a product of colonialism,” says Charlotte, “and I feel guilty for taking up space in a white country.” The song was inspired in part by Reni Eddo-Lodge’s book Why I’m Not Longer Talking To White People About Race. “It talks about the colonial past and post-colonial present in the UK,” Charlotte continues, “but that isn’t merely a British or American problem, Belgium is part of that as well.” She says that her home country is likewise “oblivious to a big part of its history” which “results in general ignorance and a lack of understanding and empathy towards Belgian inhabitants of immigrant descent.”

On Topical Dancer, it’s less about finger pointing or being dogmatic about all the things they speak about. It’s about emancipation through humour. “I don’t want to feel this heaviness on me,” says Charlotte. “These aren’t my crosses to bear. Topical Dancer is my way of freeing myself of these issues. And of having fun.”

Ltd Black & White LP

Today sees Belgian-Caribbean provocateur Charlotte Adigéry and her long-term musical partner, Bolis Pupul announce their debut album Topical Dancer, due for release on March 4 2022 via Soulwax’s iconic label DEEWEE.
Cultural appropriation. Misogyny and racism. Social media vanity. Post-colonialism and political correctness. These are not talking points that you’d ordinarily hear on the dancefloor but Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul are ripping up the rulebook with their debut album Topical Dancer. The Ghent-based duo, who broke out with their 2019 Zandoli EP, are rare storytellers in electronic music: they take the temperature of the time and funnel them into their playful synth concoctions – never didactic and always with a knowing wink.

Their debut studio record – which cements them as a duo under both their names for the first time and is co-written and co-produced by Soulwax – is both a triumph of kaleidoscopic electro-pop and “a snapshot of how we think about pop culture in the 2020s.” It captures Charlotte and Bolis’s essence as musical collaborators and the conversations they’ve had over the past two years on tour, as well as their perspectives as Belgians with an immigrant background, Charlotte with Guadeloupean and French-Martinique ancestry and Bolis being of Chinese descent.

Beyond the album’s thematic heft, Topical Dancer reflects Charlotte and Bolis’s idiosyncratic sound: it’s thoughtful but it bangs. Their take on familiar genres is always off-kilter; songs sound undone or a little wonky; but these are nocturnal heaters to make the club throb. “We like to fuck things up a bit,” laughs Bolis. “We cringe when we feel like we're making something that already exists, so we're always looking for things to combine to make it sound not like a pop song, not like an R&B song, not a techno song. We’re always putting different worlds together. Charlotte and I get bored when things get too predictable.”

Topical Dancer is fizzing with ideas – there’s certainly no filler among its 13 tracks. But above all, perhaps, it has a restlessness, a desire not to be boxed in and to escape others’ narrow perceptions of who they are. It’s summarised by the refrain of their new single, ‘Blenda’: “Don’t sound like what I look like / Don’t look like what I sound like.” “One thing that always comes up,” says Bolis, “is that people perceive me as the producer, and Charlotte as just a singer. Or that being a Black artist means you should be making ‘urban’ music. Those kinds of boxes don’t feel good to us.”

‘Blenda’ in particular references how “I am a product of colonialism,” says Charlotte, “and I feel guilty for taking up space in a white country.” The song was inspired in part by Reni Eddo-Lodge’s book Why I’m Not Longer Talking To White People About Race. “It talks about the colonial past and post-colonial present in the UK,” Charlotte continues, “but that isn’t merely a British or American problem, Belgium is part of that as well.” She says that her home country is likewise “oblivious to a big part of its history” which “results in general ignorance and a lack of understanding and empathy towards Belgian inhabitants of immigrant descent.”

On Topical Dancer, it’s less about finger pointing or being dogmatic about all the things they speak about. It’s about emancipation through humour. “I don’t want to feel this heaviness on me,” says Charlotte. “These aren’t my crosses to bear. Topical Dancer is my way of freeing myself of these issues. And of having fun.”

For the first time ever, here is the soundtrack from the 1983 post-apocalyptic flick directed by Joe D'Amato, Endgame - Bronx Lotta Finale. A compelling Carlo Maria Cordio's mighty Vangelis-meets-John Carpenter score. With hangovers from previous Giallo-based outings, Endgame's themes are more gentle and introspective than, say, Claudio Simonetti's muscular work for The New Barbarians and Hands of Steel but also, arguably, musically more diverse. In particular, the opening title track 'Atomic Contamination" is genuinely chilling when set against the stock footage of a nuclear bomb going off.

While liberally pinching the vibe of Blade Runner's more symphonic textures, Cordio's synthesizers also do bombast, melancholy and menace when required, whilst the pretty pieces for Lilith are like semi precious jewels shining out of the murk and machismo.

IDRIS MUHAMMAD was born Leo Morris in New Orleans in 1939. He mastered the drums at a very early age and can be heard on Fats Domino’s “Blueberry Hill” at just seventeen! His early career was steeped in R&B before moving to New York to emnbrace the jazz scene. “I’m A Believer” is the perfect fusion of the two genres and features the sublime vocals of his wife Dolores LaLa Brooks of the Crystals (aka Sakinah Muhammad).

Our chosen B-side by Chicago soul singer JEAN SHY is the rare modern soul masterpiece “What Can I Do I’m So In Love With You” reissued here for the first time.

The long awaited third volume of our "Algo salvaje" series, featuring untamed 1960s beat and garage nuggets from Spain. "Algo salvaje" is an anthology devoted to a rich period when hundreds of bands appeared all over Spain and, after paying attention to what their US and British contemporaries were doing, found their own way to vent their teenage rebellion through loud guitars. With amazing results! Many of the 28 tracks are reissued for the first time, including very hard-to-find records. This double LP gatefold package includes extensive notes by Vicente Fabuel featuring all the original record sleeves and artist photos. "Algo salvaje" ("Something Wild"), now reaching its third volume, celebrates the darkest, neglected and rebellious side of Spanish beat. Internationally labelled as nuggets (after the original compilation of the same name concocted by Jac Holzman and Lenny Kaye in 1972 for the Elektra label), the more common garage rock label has been used to place and describe one of the most fertile chapters of rock & roll history during its most creative years. An underground story which has luckily become known, with participants from all around the globe which included anonymous musicians, independent record labels with impossible names and ridiculously limited pressings, often not more than a few hundred copies. The tracks chosen for the occasion, a selection filtered strictly by their musical value, adhere to the rules of the classic nugget genre while demonstrating the permeability of garage sound and its inevitable evolution at the turn of the decade (1967-1974) through mixes that embraced psychedelia, soul and even prog rock. Epic and pretty wild. Just the kind of material that this record label usually handles. Many of the 28 tracks are reissued for the first time, including extremely hard-to-find records. This double-LP package includes extensive notes by genre-expert Vicente Fabuel featuring all the original record sleeves and artist photos. So let the band play...

**LTD BLACK AND RED MARBLE**

As humans, we are aware of our inner beast and should therefore be able to control it. We understand our hard-wired primal urges and why they exist in an evolutional sense. We understand the relationship between mind and body. Highly evolved and intelligent, we should be able to recognize these genetic hangovers and control them as a means to act positively and move forward as a compassion-ate species. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Recent global events have proven this. The human race is consuming itself.

World Eater, the new album by Benjamin John Power's Blanck Mass project, is a reaction to this. There is an underlying violence and anger throughout the record, even though some of these tracks are the closest Power has ever come to writing, in his words, actual love songs.'

Maybe subconsciously this was some kind of countermeasure to restore some personal balance,' Power explains.

On World Eater, Power further perfects the propulsive, engrossing electronic music he has created throughout his impressive decade-plus career, both under the Blanck Mass moniker and as one-half of Fuck Buttons, as he elaborates upon the sound of 2015's brilliant double album Dumb Flesh. As massive as the sonic world of the new record often feels, its greatest achievement is in its maximization of a limited set of tools, a restriction intentionally set by Power himself.

As an exercise in better understanding myself musically, I found myself using an increasingly restricted palette during the World Eater creative process. Evoking these intense emotions using minimal components really put me outside of my comfort zone and was unlike the process I am used to. Feeling exposed shone a new light on this particular snapshot. I feel enriched for doing so.'

(A) 1. John Doe's Carnival of Error
(B) 2. Rhesus Negative
(C) 3. Please
(D) 4. The Rat
(E) 5. Silent Treatment
(F) 6. Minnesota / Eas Fors / Naked
(G) 7. Hive Mind

Solo acts of Paula Rebellato (RAKTA) and Douglas Leal (DEAFKIDS), members of two of the most thriving and groundbreaking bands coming out of Brazil to the world lately. The fusion of traditional and acoustic instruments with electronic and processed sounds highlights the strong characteristics of both projects, melted into a journey within timeless soundscapes. Buh Records presents "Gnose", the joint full-length by the solo acts of Paula Rebellato (RAKTA) and Douglas Leal (DEAFKIDS), members of two of the most thriving and groundbreaking bands coming out of Brazil to the world lately. Produced between 2019 and 2020 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, some of the compositions were first conceived for a live performance in late 2019 and then expanded into a full-length album, part recorded in studio and part at home during the first months of the pandemic. Inspired by the ritualistic potentials of music, "Gnose" offers a vertical and circular narrative throughout its 7 themes, exploring atmospheres that may contribute to experiences of displacement and inner silence. The fusion of traditional and acoustic instruments with electronic and processed sounds highlights the strong characteristics of both projects, melted into a journey within timeless soundscapes. Paula Rebellato is an artist based in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Her journey with music and sound started at young age and became a more consistent path when she co-founded the genre-bending group Rakta.

Diego el Cigala is, with any doubt, one of the greatest flamenco geniuses of our times. Not only because of his voice and charisma, but also for recording such vast and wide discography singing with majesty and no complex any style he could be challenged to perform. At Flamencoenvinilo we wanted to re-catch one of his early works back to his flamenco roots: "Entre Vareta y Canasta" (18 Chulos) was originally published in the year 2000 and, as many of his works, this album has proved the test of time and it has become a true classic. This will be the first time this album comes out on 12". Limited to 500 copies. Accompanied by Niño Josele (guitar) and a large group of percussionists, "Entre Vareta y Canasta" the second album by Diego El Cigala made him known among many people outside the traditional nucleus of flamenco for his simplicity, purity and mastery. The unique voice of this artist moves with naturalness and feeling in styles as different as martinete, bulería or fandangos.

Diablo Swing Orchestra is an Swedish eight-piece ensemble known for pairing elements of jazz, swing, classical, progressive rock with just about everything in between. Since the start in 2003 the band has released four studio albums pushing musical boundaries with humor, creativity and a healthy dose of positive aggression. Together they have dug deep into each genre explored on the 13 tracks on the album and worked hard to find the appealing characteristics within that genre and forged it into their own sound. This approach has resulted in a impressive list of guest musicians and some very interesting clashes between sounds which, at least on paper, shouldn’t work. But listeners with an open mind will be rewarded since there are a lot of goodies to be found on the album ranging from the tribal assault that is “War Painted Valentine” to the Zeppelin gospel infused “Snake Oil Baptism”. The band presents new interesting ways of looking upon rock and metal music while managing to stay quite accessible in spite of the fact they’re often described as avant-garde metal.

Heiko Voss has earned near mythical status as a torchbearer for the emotional, deeply felt and quietly radical style of electronic music. The blissed-out radiance of his Kompakt Pop single, “I Think About You” remains one of the label catalog highlights and a stellar run of collaborative singles as Schaeben & Voss; others might know him for his stewardship of the excellent, much-underrated Firm imprint. But with his new album, 3:30 Minutes To Live, released by Michael Mayer’s label Imara, Voss returns after a long silence with a beautiful collection of songs that hymn heartbreak with a lusciously melodic touch.

There is something definitive and newly confident in 3:30 Minutes To Live that has it feeling like a real statement of intent if compared to his earlier releases. “Although it’s not, 3:30 Minutes To Live feels like my debut album,” Voss reflects. “All releases before were more song sketches or electronic dance tracks.” Bunkering down in Teary Eyes Studio, Voss worked up somewhere between thirty and forty sketches of songs, which he whittled down to the twelve collected here, all of them situated in a unique space, but very much in accord with Voss’s defining aesthetic, which he describes as “indie pop music with a lot of guitar, electronic elements and a great love for melancholic ‘80s synth-lines.”

Voss is sensitive to both variety and consistency – 3:30 Minutes To Live sits together as an assured, vibrant collection of pop songs, but it’s marked by all kinds of surprising incident, like the guitar solo that erupts out of “This Is My Life”, or the acoustic guitar-led melancholy of the closing “This Summer”. It’s all borne of the alchemy of the studio process and the intimate romance of music-making. “If you constantly feel a little bit like you’re in love while writing and producing your music – simply because of the sound of the synth flowing warmly and gently through the room, or because the sequence of notes awakens something in you, or even a randomly arising groove in the loop of a guitar lick makes you shout, ‘Ha!!’ – then it usually becomes a beautiful song,” Voss nods. “Those moments make me happy.”

There’s also a delicious tension between the push of the music, its melodic lushness and gliding, ballerina-like movement, and the darker currents that pull through Voss’s lyrics, inspired by a “short, dramatic and toxic love affair.” This may read like familiar terrain for a pop album, but the way Voss weaves language through both the extra-linguistic joys of music and the inarticulate speech of the heart somehow allows for direct communication that is simultaneously plain-spoken and deeply profound. “Say It” is a simple, devastatingly effective plaint of alienation; “She Wasn’t Lonely” a simple portrait of everyday living set to chiming, clacking guitars, the music in the bridge taking astral flight as the titular character ‘lets herself go.’

A smart and sharp collection of songs that captures you with its gorgeous melodicism just as it blindsides you with its aching heart, 3:30 Minutes To Live is Heiko Voss at his most assured and open-hearted best.

Heiko Voss hat sich als Fackelträger einer emotionalen, von ganzem Herzen kommenden und nicht auf den ersten Blick radikalen Spielart von elektronischer Musik einen nahezu mythischen Status erarbeitet. Das schiere Glück, welches seine Kompakt Pop-Single "I Think About You" aus dem Jahr 2003 immer noch ausstrahlt, macht sie nach wie vor zu einem der Highlights des Label-Katalogs, wo sie neben einer ganzen Reihe hervorragender Singles als Schaeben & Voss steht; andere kennen Heiko vielleicht durch das tolle und vielfach unterschätzte Label Firm, für das er zusammen mit Thomas Schaeben verantwortlich war. Mit seinem neuen Album “3:30 Minutes To Live”, das am 4. März 2022 auf Michael Mayers Label Imara erscheint, kehrt Voss nun nach einer langen Pause mit einer wunderschönen Sammlung von Songs zurück, die den Herzschmerz – getragen auf den Schwingen unwiderstehlicher Melodien – ausgiebig besingen.

“3:30 Minutes To Live” kommt mit einer gehörigen Portion Überzeugung und Selbstbewusstsein daher, was im Vergleich zu seinen früheren Veröffentlichungen wie ein bewusstes Statement wirkt. "Obwohl es das nicht ist, fühlt sich ‘3:30 Minutes To Live’ wie mein Debütalbum an", meint Voss. "Alle meine vorherigen Veröffentlichungen waren eher Song-Skizzen oder elektronische Dance-Tracks."

Im Teary Eyes Studio arbeitete Voss zwischen dreißig und vierzig Songskizzen aus, die er auf die zwölf hier versammelten Songs reduzierte, die alle ihren eigenen Raum einnehmen, dabei aber sehr gut mit Voss' übergeordneter Ästhetik harmonieren, die er als "Indie-Pop-Musik mit viel Gitarre, elektronischen Elementen und einer großen Liebe für melancholische 80er-Jahre-Synthies" beschreibt.

Voss ist sowohl für Abwechslung als auch für Konsistenz empfänglich - “3:30 Minutes To Live“ ist eine selbstsichere, lebendige Sammlung von Popsongs, die aber auch von allerlei Überraschungen geprägt ist, wie dem Gitarrensolo, das aus “This Is My Life” herausbricht, oder die von einer Akustikgitarre getragene Melancholie des abschließenden “This Summer”.

Das alles ist entstanden aus der besonderen Alchemie des Studioprozesses und der intimen Romantik des Musikmachens. "Wenn du beim Schreiben und Produzieren deiner Musik ständig das Gefühl hast, ein bisschen verliebt zu sein – einfach weil der Klang des Synthesizers warm und sanft durch den Raum fließt, oder weil die Notenfolge etwas in dir weckt, oder sogar ein zufällig auftauchender Groove im Loop eines Gitarren-Licks dich ein 'Ha!' ausrufen lässt – dann wird daraus meist ein schöner Song", nickt Voss. "Diese Momente machen mich glücklich."

Es entsteht eine besondere Spannung zwischen dem positiven Elan der Musik, ihrer melodischen Verschwendungssucht, den gleitenden, Ballerina-artigen Bewegungen und den dunkleren Strömungen, die durch Voss' Texte ziehen, die von einer "kurzen, dramatischen und giftigen Liebesaffäre" inspiriert sind. Das mag sich wie ein vertrautes Terrain für ein Pop-Album anhören, aber die Art und Weise, wie Voss die Sprache sowohl durch die nonverbalen Elemente der Musik als auch durch den nicht artikulierten Ausdruck des Herzens verwebt, ermöglicht eine Art direkte Kommunikation, die gleichzeitig ausgesprochen klar und trotzdem tiefgründig ist. “Say It" ist eine erschütternd einprägsame Anklage von Entfremdung; "She Wasn't Lonely" ist ein einfaches Porträt des alltäglichen Lebens, untermalt von klappernden Gitarren, in dem die Musik einen astralen Flug unternimmt, während die Titelfigur sich "gehen lässt".

“3:30 Minutes To Live“ ist eine kluge und scharfsinnige Sammlung von Songs, die den Zuhörenden mit ihren wunderschönen Melodien fesseln, aber auch mit einer Menge schmerzenden Gefühlen konfrontiert. Ein Album, auf dem Heiko Voss ganz bei sich ist und Euch dabei mehr als nur sein Herz öffnet.

A new hub solely for the Icelandic talent’s unreleased material, BJARKI will also serve as a platform to launch a wealth of forthcoming audiovisual projects in the coming months, with the label logo designed by Paul Nicholson, NUMBER 3, and all artwork designed by Thomas Harrington Rawle - the creative behind the Care More project. Operating and creating its own storyline with every release, intertwining projects between Harrington Rawle and Bjarki across various mediums, the imprint will also drop a series of offshoot white label releases while being reactive and unveiling random drops across its upcoming schedule. Delivering his first solo release since ‘Oli Gumm’ on трип in 2018, late-February marks the first release on the new label as he unveils his four-track ‘I Wanna Go Home’ EP.

“I want to share more of my unreleased works, especially the tracks that I have created specifically for parties in each city I play. People impact my work a lot, and I would like to share this music directly before or after the show. I don’t see any other way than to set up my own channel or label where I can share all these ideas. Next year will be a lot about sharing stuff and being in direct contact with the audience.” - Bjarki

Opening the label with authority, ‘I Wanna Go Home’ welcomes a quartet of cuts showcasing the genre-spanning polymath at his best, delivering a medley of serious yet playful productions which arc back to previous material while also looking ahead to the future. A creative force with an unrelenting swathe of experimental ideas, influences and directions, this new eponymous imprint looks set to home some of Bjarki’s finest and most unpredictable material to date.

Der in Berlin lebende Rapper und Produzent hat für Künstler unterschiedlicher Genres wie Samy Deluxe, Wallis Bird und Hundreds produziert. Erste eigene Bekanntheit erlangte LLUCID mit dem Release zweier EP's zusammen mit MADANII, einer deutsch-iranischen Sängerin, die alternative Popmusik mit Elementen aus R&B & Hip-Hop kombiniert. Nach den ersten beiden Solo-Singles 'Fooled' und 'Habits'" erscheint nun seine erste 6-Track-Solo-EP 'Getting In Touch'.

SUGARTOWN existed for a short period of time, but long enough for the country-soul voice of Gwen Stewart to make its mark - Two albums were released in Germany on the Marina label, and Sugartown performed live occasionally as guests of The Bathers.

The albums, 'Swimming In The Horsepool' and 'Slow Flows The River' were produced by Douglas MacIntyre and Paul McGeechan. McIntyre also wrote the bulk of the material specifcally with Gwen's voice in mind. Her vocal performance on the tracks featured on the PNFG album are sad and soulful, channeling the melancholia of Bobbie Gentry and Dusty in Memphis.The album title, 'Mount Florida', is named in honour of the location where the songs were written, with the exception of 'Valentine', which was written by Willie Nelson. The 12 songs on the album are down-tempo and resigned, Gwen's voice imbues a tenderness for the wee small hours.

Since the demise of his previous band, Ultimate
Painting, Jack Cooper - under his Modern Nature
guise - has never stopped looking ahead,
exploring and reaching for something further.
Since 2019, he’s released an EP, mini album
‘Annual’, one full length LP, one 7” and three live
cassettes - in the process mapping out astonishing
new terrain. ‘Island Of Noise’ presents an obvious
new peak in his discography.
 180g recycled vinyl in 3mm spined sleeve printed
on recycled board.
 “Mesmerising... A treasure trove of interesting
musical ideas, as well as a source of restorative
solace.” - The Guardian (****)
 “On ‘Island Of Noise’ Modern Nature’s Jack
Cooper folds together much of what he’s already
done - illuminated pop, exploratory improvisations,
post-Canterbury prog - and locates a common
thread, expanding outwards with the help of freemusic pioneers saxophonist Evan Parker and
bassist John Edwards.” - Uncut (9/10)
 “Jack Cooper captures a sense of mystery and
magic on his second album as Modern Nature,
using gentle folk rock as the base for a subtle
evocation of peacefulness.” - The Times (****)

Dutch symphonic metal band Delain released their third studio album We Are the Others in 2012 to positive reviews from music critics. The album title was inspired by the murder of 20-year-old Sophie Lancaster, whose murder was likely a hate crime due to her being part of the goth subculture. The album spawned two single releases: “Get The Devil Out of Me” and the title track, for which the band shot a music video that included many well-known people from the metal scene, including George Oosthoek, Sharon den Adel, Robert Westerholt and Rob van der Loo. The album features guest contributions by the likes of Burton C. Bell (Fear Factory) and Marko Hietala (Nightwish) and was produced by Jacob Hellner (aka Tripod), who is best known for producing most of Rammstein’s albums.

"Black Vinyl 2022 edition, gatefold sleeve. Huge star in her native France, Christine and the Queens (partially) rerecorded her radiant debut album in English. The language shift has diluted nothing from the LP’s allure.
“The French sensation taking to the world stage with grace and apparent ease” - Vogue “Owing as much to Weimar cabaret as 1970s-era David Bowie - beguiling” - Sunday Times Culture “Empowering, bold, and vulnerable, and made for dancing” - Pitchfork “Jonathan is an implausibly beautiful ballad” - The Guardian ""The charismatic French pop sensation on the verge of international stardom” - i-D"

Lauren Alaina is in the upper echelon of country music's most authentic voices, beloved personalities, and open hearts. She’s earned a reputation as one of the genre's most compelling storytellers by boldly incorporating her struggles and heartache into her critically acclaimed first two albums. Lauren’s third studio collection, Sitting Pretty on Top of the World, is an artful evolution of immaculately penned, unflinching reflections of the mountains and valleys on her journey. Lauren Alaina has earned three No. 1 hit singles in just under three years. Her critically acclaimed sophomore album, Road Less Traveled, landed on multiple “Best Of” lists, including Billboard, Rolling Stone and Amazon, and it became the top-streamed female country album release of 2017. The Georgia native has played on some of the highest-profile stages in the world, including US national television performances on Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, TODAY, ABC’s Good Morning America, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and more, including a performance at the White House for President Obama for a PBS special.

Originally released in 1999, Vagabond Ways was recorded at Teatro Studios in California and produced by Daniel Lanois and Mark Howard.

Vagabond Ways is a collection of original material; including Faithfull’s own compositions as well as interpretations of songs written by some of the finest songwriters of her generation such as Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Leonard Cohen and Roger Waters.

The vinyl format is issued here for the very first time on heavyweight vinyl.

The reissued CD format includes a selection of previously unreleased bonus material of demos and an unheard studio recording and features new liner notes.

With songs that run the gamut from heart-breaking to satirical and a host of unforgettable film scores, Randy Newman has used his many talents to create musical masterpieces widely recognized by generations of audiences. After starting his song writing career as a teenager, Newman launched into recording as a singer and pianist in 1968 with his self-titled album Randy Newman. Throughout the 1970s, 80s, and 90s he released several acclaimed albums: 12 Songs, Sail Away, Good Old Boys, Little Criminals, Born Again, Trouble in Paradise, Land of Dreams, and Bad Love.
Good Old Boys is the fourth studio album by Randy Newman, released September 10, 1974 on Reprise Records. It was Newman’s first album to obtain major commercial success, peaking at #36 on the Billboard 200. Good Old Boys was initially envisioned as a concept album about a character named Johnny Cutler, an everyman of the Deep South. Newman made a demo of these songs on February 1, 1973; they were released as the bonus disc for the 2002 CD reissue, titled Johnny Cutler’s Birthday and are now being included on vinyl for the first time in this Run Out Groove deluxe edition.
In addition to his solo recordings and regular international touring, Newman began composing and scoring for films in the 1980s. The list of movies he has worked on since then includes The Natural, Awakenings, Ragtime, all four Toy Story pictures, Monsters Inc. and Monsters University, Seabiscuit, James and the Giant Peach, A Bug’s Life, and Meyerowitz Stories. Randy Newman’s many honors include 7 Grammys,® 3 Emmys,® and 2 Oscars,® as well as a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013—the same year he was given an Ivor Novello PRS for Music Special International Award. Newman was presented with a PEN New England Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence Award in 2014.

"Cape" was recorded in five days
at a cottage in west barnstable, massachusetts,
with ciat-lonbarde instruments, norns and op-1,
the sounds of surroundings, fused with memories,
pleasant and bittersweet,
finding fragments of what once was.

Reissue of a 1969 trio recording by American guitarist Jim Hall, who
resides at the top of the jazz guitar pantheon
At the time of his death in 2013 at the age of 83, he had long been considered
one of the jazz greats, a major influence on generations of jazz guitarists. It
seems that virtually every major musician wanted to play with Hall. His work as a
sideman ranged from swing era giant Ben Webster to new music pioneer Ornette
Coleman. HIs recording credits include a series of classic albums with groups
headed by Jimmy Guiffre, Sonny Rollins, and Bill Evans; Hall often spoke of
Rollins and Evans as two of his major influences.
This intimate June 1969 musical get-together was due in large extent to the close
friendship between the Hall and legendary German writer/ critic and producer
Joachim-Ernst Berendt. As Hall, his wife and daughter were visiting him in Berlin,
Berendt noticed that, although he had been recording extensively with a number
of major jazz figures over the last years, including several collaborative gettogethers, Hall had not recorded an album solely under his own name in over a
decade. Berendt immediately set up a trio recording for Hall that included two
internationally renowned musicians with whom Hall had previously worked, the
American expatriate bassist Jimmy Woode and Swiss- French drummer Daniel
Humair.
In such a transparent setting, Hall unfurled his finest qualities. Humair
perceptively summed it up: Hall played with "more clarity, more purity, more
sensitivity" than any other guitarist of the period. It resulted in an album of
intensely introspective music.

Reissue of Oscar Peterson's 1969 album 'Motions & Emotions' pressed
on blue vinyl
On 'Motions & Emotions' Oscar Peterson presents jazz versions of popular pieces
from pop, easy listening and classic songwriters, as the quartet of long- time
companions are washed in rich orchestral colours. Arranged and conducted by a
magician of the guild, the great Claus Ogerman, who had previously worked for
Tom Jobim. The Brazilian is also represented with his standard "Wave", in which
the orchestra builds a luminous tropical backdrop for Peterson's fantastically
dragged phrasing. Peterson and Ogerman pay tribute to another great orchestra
leader, Henry Mancini, in "Sally's Tomato" with feather- light trilling brilliance.
Jimmy Webb's "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" experiences a metamorphosis
almost into the classical - Ogerman opens infinite sound spaces here with the
distantly indulging strings. Bobby Gentrys "Ode To Billy Joe" cleverly abducts
Countryfolk into Bigband Jazz by means of fiery keyboard playing.
Finally the hits: from soul comes Bobby Hebb's "Sunny", whose theme the pianist
here cleverly harmonises out to then decorate it bluesy in dialogue with the wind
instruments. Burt Bacharach's "This Guy's In Love With You" shines with a
leisurely late night mood and a pompous finale. Yesterday" is provided with a
sparkling bossa substructure, while the second Beatles homage "Eleanor Rigby"
oscillates between loose groove, deep melancholy and swing. Peterson plus
quartet plus orchestra: Enthusiastic detail work also in the popular sector.
"The question about favourite albums is basically not an easy one, except in my
case, because Motions & Emotions by Oscar Peterson is actually my absolute
favourite album. I think Motions & Emotions might even be the perfect
instrumental album." - Till Brönner (German Jazz trumpeter and professor)

Reissue of Oscar Peterson's 1969 album 'Motions & Emotions' pressed
on blue vinyl
On 'Motions & Emotions' Oscar Peterson presents jazz versions of popular pieces
from pop, easy listening and classic songwriters, as the quartet of long- time
companions are washed in rich orchestral colours. Arranged and conducted by a
magician of the guild, the great Claus Ogerman, who had previously worked for
Tom Jobim. The Brazilian is also represented with his standard "Wave", in which
the orchestra builds a luminous tropical backdrop for Peterson's fantastically
dragged phrasing. Peterson and Ogerman pay tribute to another great orchestra
leader, Henry Mancini, in "Sally's Tomato" with feather- light trilling brilliance.
Jimmy Webb's "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" experiences a metamorphosis
almost into the classical - Ogerman opens infinite sound spaces here with the
distantly indulging strings. Bobby Gentrys "Ode To Billy Joe" cleverly abducts
Countryfolk into Bigband Jazz by means of fiery keyboard playing.
Finally the hits: from soul comes Bobby Hebb's "Sunny", whose theme the pianist
here cleverly harmonises out to then decorate it bluesy in dialogue with the wind
instruments. Burt Bacharach's "This Guy's In Love With You" shines with a
leisurely late night mood and a pompous finale. Yesterday" is provided with a
sparkling bossa substructure, while the second Beatles homage "Eleanor Rigby"
oscillates between loose groove, deep melancholy and swing. Peterson plus
quartet plus orchestra: Enthusiastic detail work also in the popular sector.
"The question about favourite albums is basically not an easy one, except in my
case, because Motions & Emotions by Oscar Peterson is actually my absolute
favourite album. I think Motions & Emotions might even be the perfect
instrumental album." - Till Brönner (German Jazz trumpeter and professor)

Nach ihrem von Fans & Kritikern gefeierten, 2019-er Meisterwerk Oscillation, stehen die schwedischen Post-Rock Meister von OH HIROSHIMA nun mit ihrem vierten Studioalbum Myriad in den Startlöchern, welches am 4. März 2022 über Napalm Records veröffentlicht wird. Die Zeit der anhaltenden Pandemie hat die Band mehr als kreativ genutzt um hier einen epischen Nachfolger abzuliefern, der zweifelsohne eine Schippe drauflegt und mit absoluter Post-Rock Bravour zu brillieren weiß!

Es ist die Mischung aus Emotionen – von unendlicher Traurigkeit bis hin zu Momenten der Klarheit und herzzerreißenden Melodien, die sich zu einem grollenden Vulkan aus ästhetischem Noise und einer wilden Urkraft zu vermischen scheinen, aber auch ihr einzigartiger Einsatz von Trompeten, Cello und Posaunen im Gegensatz zu den Synthesizern – lässt OH HIROSHIMA in Post-Rock Kreisen und darüber hinaus herausstechen.

Wie bereits der Album Vorgänger, wurde Myriad von niemand Geringerem als CULT OF LUNA‘s Magnus Lindberg gemixt und gemastert, wieder einmal mehr beweisen OH HIROSHIMA herausragendes Können – und liefern ein majestätisches Post-Rock Meisterwerk ab, welches sich ohne Zweifel an die Spitze der Alben
des Jahres 2022 einreihen wird!

Amatori’s second various release, a dark/dub 12” EP on heart murmurs, emotional changes, and turbulence.

Heart sounds are noises generated as a Lub and a Dub that occur in sequence. Emotions can interfere with the force and rhythm of the heartbeat and murmurs can be a normal condition or a symptom of abnormality. The album goes through different emotional states of the 4 authors living in unprecedented times.

The new record by Eric Chenaux is his most immaculate and pristine. Say Laura perfectly incarnates the counter-intuitive interplay of instrument and voice that Chenaux has been revealing and revelling in throughout the past decade: his gently unhinged juxtaposition of resplendently smooth, seductively assured singing and puckish, frazzled, thoroughly destabilized guitar could come from no other musician. The five wandering, wondering ballads on Say Laura bring Chenaux's semi-improvised but keenly intentional songwriting to its fullest, clearest, warmest and coolest articulation; uncompromising and generous, hyper-specific and loose, spartan and luxurious, elemental and ornate. Say Laura might as well be a jazz record_certainly as much as his previously acclaimed albums Slowly Paradise and Skullsplitter tread that genre-adjacent territory_though it also features moments and melodies that come as close to pop flirtation as Chenaux is likely to get. But above all, Say Laura breathes like no other Chenaux album. Voice and guitar are inscribed with elemental clarity in a wondrously open, symbiotic sonic space. His pure tenor croon glides through a crisp, reverberant ether while his fried guitar careens dizzily and giddily, every gesture and timbre captured in unflinching detail by engineer Cyril Harrison. Chenaux has also made his most minimal, controlled, regulated and rhythmic record.

Much is made of Detroit techno progenitors proximity to the auto plants. Similarly, overlooked electronic pioneer Jeff Phelps was raised just blocks from a Western Pennsylvania steel mill_close enough to smell the sulphur and hear the roaring blast furnace. When Tascam released their ground breaking Portastudio in 1984_allowing multi tracking on the far more financially inclusive cassette tape_Phelps purchased one immediately, and quickly added a Roland SH-101 monophonic synthesizer, Fender Rhodes suitcase piano, Roland drum machine, and a basic Radio Shack stereo mic. Those basic tools were employed on his first commercial productions for his own Engineered For Sound label: 1985's "Magnetic Eyes" LP and Antoinette's "Now You're Gone" 45. These DIY sketches generated few profits, and Phelps kept his day job in the energy business. Jeff Phelps eventually found his way back into performance and recording, starting with The Next Level Band near the end of the decade. Houston gourmands might have caught them at the opening of Texas's first Cheesecake Factory. "Magnetic Eyes" has already had a few lives, between TomLab's 2010 replica pressing and inclusion on Dante Carfagna's genre-defying Personal Space compilation. This 2021 edition features the heretofore un-re-released second mix, completed after discovering flaws in the initial 1985 pressing. Enjoy this technically perfect, artist-approved version of a visionary techno-adjacent masterwork.

Lemonheads’ seminal album ‘It’s A Shame About Ray’, lovingly reissued for it’s 30th Anniversary. The long overdue reissue includes a slew of extra material, including an unreleased ‘My Drug Buddy’ KCRW session track from 1992 featuring Juliana Hatfield, B-sides from singles ‘It’s A Shame About Ray’ and ‘Confetti’, a track from the ‘Mrs. Robinson/Being Round’ EP, alongside demos that will be released for the first time on vinyl. This reissue celebrates their prestigious fifth album, these deluxe bookback editions feature new liner notes and unseen photos.

Described by music journalist and author Everett True as “A 30-minute insight into what it’s like to live hard and fast and loose and happy with like-minded buddies, fuelled by a shared love for similar bands and drugs and booze and freedom.”. ‘It's A Shame About Ray’ had a considerable impact back in those heady, carefree days of '92, the record perfectly captures Dando’s ability to effortlessly encapsulate teenage longing and lust over the course of a two-minute pop song.

Singles such as 'My Drug Buddy' and the breezy perfect pop of the title track might stand out (plus the add-on of 'Mrs. Robinson' which later copies included), but the album's real strength lies in the tracks in-between; the truly fantastic 'Confetti' (written about Evan's parents' divorce), and the eye-wateringly casual acoustic cover of 'Frank Mills' (from the "hippie" musical Hair), a version that seems to resonate with every ounce of pathos and emotion felt for the lost 1960s generation. To hear Evan Dando sing lines like 'I love him/but it embarrasses me/To walk down the street with him/He lives in Brooklyn somewhere/And he wears his white crash helmet' is to truly appreciate how wonderful and tantalising pop music can be. Then, there's the rush of insurgency and brattishness on the wonderfully truncated 'Bit Part'; the topsy-turvy 'Ceiling Fan In My Spoon'... this was male teenage skinny-tie pop music on a level of brilliance with The Kinks, early Undertones, Wipers.

On a balmy Brazilian night in February, 1981, a crowd gathered in Rio de Janeiro's Gávea neighbourhood under the iconic dome of the city's Planetário (Planetarium). Alongside musicians like Helio Delmiro and Milton Nascimento (who were in the audience that night), they were there to see the great "Bruxo" (sorcerer) Hermeto Pascoal live in concert, with his new band formation which would become known simply as "O Grupo" (The Group).

Growing up on a farm in Brazil's northeastern state of Alagoas, Hermeto has always been deeply in tune with, and inspired by nature. In his youth he would make his own flutes to play call and response with the birds and frogs. He would build scrap-metal instruments in his blacksmith grandfather's forge, and sit for hours by the lake listening to the sounds of nature. On the Planetário Da Gávea recordings though, Hermeto is cast as the "sorcerer" or the "cosmic emissary" (as the great Brazilian guitarist Guinga once called him), exhibiting an intuitive sense of harmony and melody beyond that of our own world.

"Tudo e Som" (All is Sound). It's a phrase Hermeto regularly returns to, and it points to the fact that not only can music be made from anything, but also alludes to something much more profound. It's an understanding of the universe as being in a state of constant movement, forever vibrating at the quantum level, like the string of a guitar, or a saxophone's reed. "Tudo e Som" is a declaration of the mystical and spiritual power of sound, as a fundamentally vibrational force.

The series of concerts at the Planetário marked the birth of "O Grupo" which would last with the same line-up (apart from Zé Eduardo Nazário) for the next eleven years. Every member of O Grupo was a phenomenal musician in their own right. It was one of saxophonist/flautist Carlos Malta's first gigs with the group, and the concert unusually featured two drummers, Zé Eduardo Nazário and Marcio Bahia. Nazário, from São Paulo, had played with Hermeto during the mid-70s (as well as with Milton Nascimento, Egberto Gismonti and Toninho Horta, to name a few). Bahia though had just joined the group. Acclaimed keyboard player Jovino Santos Neto was on keyboards, piano and organ, and the great Itiberê Zwarg (who remains in Hermeto's band to this day), played bass. Rounding the group off was the percussionist Pernambuco. During this period (up until the early 90s) the group would rehearse for hours on end, virtually seven days a week, with a total dedication to music and Hermeto's musical vision.

Most of the compositions performed that night at the Planetário had never been recorded before, and many are unique to this album, including the wild 'Homônimo Sintróvio', the exaltant 'Samba Do Belaqua', 'Vou Pra Lá e Pra Cá' and 'Bombardino', which features Hermeto's wonderfully absurd call and response mouthpiece soliloquy. Then there's the stunning 7/4 Samba 'Jegue' which builds with inventive dissonance, before releasing yet another celestially colourful, celebratory refrain. The show also features the first recorded performances of 'Era Pra Ser e Não Foi' and 'Ilza na Feijoada' (inspired by Hermetos' wife Ilza's famed black bean and meat stew), which Hermeto later recorded on his 1984 studio album "Lagoa Da Canoa Município De Arapiraca".

Dubbed by Miles Davis as "one of the most important musicians on the planet", a Hermeto Pascoal live show was (and still is) an experience like no other. Across the recording of the Planetário concert, wild improvisation meets groovy, virtuosic vamping on progressive, extended psychedelic jams. The tracks are generally built around a beautiful, transcendent melody; instantly recognisable as being Hermeto's, and for the most part, the musicians then solo over extended two chord vamps. There's a plethora of powerfully delivered rhythms, wild solos and the performances are punctuated by Hermeto's unpredictable, at times comical sonic antics.

Over forty years since this historic happening, Far Out Recordings is overjoyed to release this magical recording of Hermeto Pascoal e Grupo Live at Planetário Da Gávea, on double vinyl LP, CD and digitally for a February 4th 2022 release.

Limited!
Gaïsha - Oriental Psychedelic Sounds and Funky Grooves

Gaïsha is a collaboration between the Belgian-Moroccan singer, Aicha Haskal, and Les Cerveaux Lents.

Aicha Haskal’s voice is smooth and warm voice and switches seamlessly between Arabic chants, parlando and even rap. The Arabic lyrics of the song ‘Ghalat’ were written by the Egyptian poet Abdelhamid Farag, who calls himself a ‘poète de l’ éloignement’. His lyrics are permeated with deep melancholy and romance. The song is a tribute to Abdelhamid, who passed away in 2020.

B-side ‘L’Amour Digital’ is based on ‘Sihtou Wajdan’, a traditional Muwashah. Muwashah is a poetic form that originated in Al- Andalus (Muslim Spain in the 11th century). Aicha adds to the poem a reply in French, giving the song a universal and interconnecting flair.

‘Ghalat’, een ode aan de Egyptische dichter Abdelhamid Farag, knalt uit je speakers met een geweldige levenslust”- Cutting Edge

Wie fan is van de muziek van Altin Gün, heeft met deze nieuwe single van het Gentse Gaïsha er een leuke ontdekking bij. - Indiestyle

"Het ritme, de synths en de groove lijken westers, maar verder ademt alles aan deze track een oosterse melancholie uit.” - Damusic

Genetic Funk and Mr V present The Believe EP, a deep, soulful, spoken word groover that gets a sublime make-over from the mighty Atjazz. Jazz injected, ethereal business that instantly dissipates any worries as you float on the hypnotic tones of this celestial track. On the flip a stripped back, tougher beats, bass and vocal led dub for the dancers.

Jungle, an ever evolving genre still rooted in it's birth some 30 years ago. Paying homage to this evolution, E-Beamz presents Continuum-z, 9 tracks of retro-futurism crafted by some of today's leading artists.

Featuring a core of UK talent such as Tim Reaper, Mani Festo and Denham Audio as well as a smattering of international artists from places as far afield as Brazil & New Zealand, Continuum-Z encapsulates Jungle's enduring global appeal, with the genre in ruder health than ever before in 2022.

The US-born, Norwegian-Mexican musician and producer Carmen Villain, real name Carmen Hillestad, has spent the last nine years and four albums gently unraveling song into the sound of emotional impulse. From the tilt and croon of her first two albums to the expansive warmth that flows and pulses beyond ambient in her more recent output, Hillestad's journey is artful musical deconstruction but also somehow spiritual growth.Hence new album Only Love From Now On, her fourth full-length and the culmination of a build-up that really began with the turn in sound evident from third album Both Lines Will Be Blue (2019, Smalltown Supersound) and the subsequent releases Affection In A Time Of Crisis (2020, Longform Editions) and Sketch For Winter IX: Perlita (2021, Geographic North). While the seed of her aesthetic was planted earlier, it has blossomed into something unexpected, benevolent in its composure and altogether luxuriant in its sensuality. If her themes, especially now, are wide, philosophical, and occasionally abstract, the emotional tenor of Hillestad's music is clear and purposeful. Makes sense that her key musical touchstones are dub, ambient, and cosmic jazz - flexible vehicles for tranquil wonder. While it may not contain voice or lyrics, as her two earliest records do, she describes it as, "wishing to maintain a sense of careful optimism for the future, while on the cusp of something unknown." Listening to Only Love From Now On is simultaneously comforting and alluringly strange. Partly it's the contributions of guests Arve Henriksen (trumpet, electronics) and Johanna Scheie Orellana (flutes). Partly it's the fluidity between instruments - such as clarinets - field recordings, the studio, jam, and careful composition. She calls the process a conversation with sound that occurs in her deliberate attempts to experiment with new methods, like granular synthesis, for her music-making. But mostly that strange comfort is in the peace and grateful contentment she has found via the stark recognition of her own privilege - laid bare by the pandemic. Only Love From Now On is fueled by the sense of scale in feeling small in the face of things so large, the contemplation of how the biggest impact we can have is in the people close to us, the attempt to make sure that impact is a positive one, and the choice to try to focus on love instead of fear.

Seit jeher ist die Natur für den Künstler Dominik Eulberg eine Quelle für Inspiration, ein Ort der Kraft und des Rückzugs. Nun veröffentlicht der studierte Naturschützer sein sechstes Album: Avichrom. Dieses Kunstwort bedeutet soviel wie "Vogelfarben". Denn Eulberg widmet sich diesmal den Farben im Gefieder von Vögeln, von deren über bordenden Vielfalt es elf in die deutschen Namen heimischer Vogelarten geschafft haben, von Grünfink, Goldregenpfeifer über Blaumeise bis hin zu Purpurreiher und Schwarzhalstaucher. Sie dienen ihm als Führer auf seiner musikalischen Expedition in die Ornithologie. Eulberg zeigt sich hier als ein hart arbeitender Handwerker, als jemand, der alle Schritte der Produktion von Grund auf beherrscht und versessen an kleinsten Details feilt. Avichrom ist in dieser Hinsicht konsequent für den im Westerwald lebenden DJ und Produzenten: ein Werk, das im besten Sinne des Wortes zeitlos ist. Es läuft nicht Trends der Gegenwart hinterher, sondern schreitet auf dem eigenen Weg voran, den Eulberg seit frühester Karriere eingeschlagen hat und der ihm zahlreiche Preise und Chartplatzierungen eingebracht hat. Entstanden ist mit Avichrom ein Album, das schon beim allerersten Hören berührt, das aber dennoch bei jedem weiteren Mal neue Details offenbart. Ähnlich wie bei einem Gang durch die Natur zeigen sich immer neue Strukturen, immer andere elaborierte Verästelungen denjenigen, die genau hinhören: erst mit der Zeit zeigt sich die wahre Schönheit, die sublime Komplexität.

Limited Edition Vinyl LP – 1971 album cover, thick tip-on sleeve, 700 copies only

Finally putting an end to a long wait for library music lovers, Four Flies Records is proud to present the first reissue of Piero Umiliani's Paesaggi – a record that, despite remaining for many years pretty obscure compared to other titles in the maestro's discography, is now regarded by collectors and experts as the gold standard in Italian library music.

Originally released in two versions with different sleeves, the first on Liuto Records in 1971 and the second on Ciak Record in 1980, the album features tracks composed by the maestro himself (under his alias Zalla) and performed by the legendary super-group of Italian session players I Marc 4, this time with Angelo Baroncini instead of Carlo Pes on guitars (which probably explains the name being spelled with a 'k' instead of a 'c' on the album cover).

The Italian word paesaggi means "landscapes", and that is exactly what the music in the album has been designed to evoke – a journey of moods and emotions, through exotic and pastoral scenery, with loungey sounds that caress your ears like the song of an enchanted nightingale. Mysterious yet captivating soundscapes transport you to a faraway and peaceful place, possibly somewhere in rural Asia. While listening to the record, you'll feel as if you are sitting under a pavilion, right in the middle of a tea plantation, enjoying a freshly brewed green tea and watching the calm sunset.

In addition, Paesaggi is paradigmatic of Italian library music and its genre-defying nature. By using a multitude of instruments, such as flute, vibraphone, harpsichord, sitar, gong and others, it brings together a variety of arrangements, styles, and genres spanning from bossa nova to jazz, easy listening to psychedelic, Latin, exotica, and many more.

Under Umiliani's brilliant direction, the pianos and keyboard instruments of Antonello Vannucchi, the guitars of Angelo Baroncini, the bass of Maurizio Majorana, and the drums of Roberto Podio dance together and – enriched by other instruments played by top session musicians like Bruno Battisti D'Amario (sitar), Franco De Gemini (harmonica), or Franco Chiari (vibraphone) – create the sound that makes Paesaggi so unique.

With the honour of reissuing this masterpiece so many decades since its release comes a responsibility to do full justice to one of the greatest Italian composers of the 20th century and his now celebrated legacy. Four Flies have done their best to put out a record that replicates as closely as possible the value of the original as a cultural artefact, providing Italian library connoisseurs and novices alike with an exquisite sonic, and tactile, experience.

It's a little known fact that in 1969, Motown Records boss Berry Gordy organised a holiday trip to Jamaica for his label's stars. It's even less well known that while they were there, a number of those same stars worked with an up-and-coming local producer to record versions of established hits over instrumental riddims from the newly emergent reggae genre. Unfortunately, perhaps due to the plentiful supply of herbal entertainment during the recording sessions, the masters were believed lost. Until now. Happily, their recent re-discovery means you finally get to hear Uptight Boss and Beg For A Dollar - the massively crowd-pleasing consequences of giving a brace of mid-sixties Motown classics the boss reggae treatment!

Alright, maybe it didn't go down like that. Maybe the sound of this release was born instead out of people occasionally mishearing the name of Mako & Mr Bristow's 'Stank Soul Edits' series as 'Skank' Soul Edits. Which got them thinking. What would 'skank soul' sound like? Hello Trojan – meet Motown. Mojan? Trotown? Either way - reggae most definitely got soul!

Favorite Recordings proudly presents the new 12" of Magic Source. The all-star group around producer Björn Wagner (known also for his cosmic and tropical-flavoured disco music as Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band and The Mighty Mocambos) creates here a hypnotic four-on-thefloor sound that is both earthy and spaced out and all their own.
Recorded on 16 track analogue tape with inexpensive vintage gear, the crew explores the more unusual facets of disco music off the beaten track in favour of more otherwordly and international stylings. In their music, one could hear echoes from lost tropical disco records, cinematic flavors from library soundtracks and a healthy dose of DIY garage funk rawness.
On A side, "Riviera Drive" is an extended Mediterranean disco groove based on hypnotic percussions and soulful horn themes that alternate with trippy keyboard excursions. The tune is equally at ease on the dancefloor as in a chill-out zone, but of course, prefers to be in its natural habitat in a classic car somewhere between Nice and Monaco.
On the flip, Tom Tom Club's "Genius Of Love" is reimagined as a jazzy yacht soul instrumental with an echoed flute taking the lead. You'll also find a shorter Radio Edit of "Rivieria
Drive".

A genre blur of decorative art punk psych overflow, mixed and mastered by KRAMER on “Blessence Blue” Vinyl LP ltd edition of 500. RIYL: WEEN, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Dat Politics, Prince Buster, Captain Beefheart, Deerhoof, Thinking Fellars Union Local 282, Young Marble Giants, Jad Fair. As an energetic force in the downtown New York perfor1mance art noise scene for over ffteen years, Lumberob is releasing his debut solo LP - Language Learner - on Shimmy-Disc. Having collaborated now for over 23 years, Kramer and Lumberob understand how to make rather majestic messes. This music is urgent madness, overfowingly decorative, lusciously spastic, with an unpredictably eclectic sonic vaudeville energy. Lumberob emerged from a year in Costa Rica with a bag full of pandemic recordings. As a rejuvenated yet still scrappy loop artist expanding his sound with synth bass and drum machines, yet still rooted in improvised vocal phrase looping and skanky guitar, Lumberob insists this album Language Learner to be a bold exercise in genre discovery or genre blur, proudly assuming its position in high contrast to other recent gorgeously crafted Shimmy-Disc releases. It is this contrast that’s reminiscent of the wildly divergent and inventive catalog curated by Kramer from decades past. This debut is an odd blend of ingredients, but the concept is relentlessly pure Lumberob. Participants in Costa Rica include David Mendez playing nylon string, Alicia Cigna singing, Ariel Soto playing partial kit and conga, and Juan Jose Lopez playing bongos. Additional sessions in Brooklyn include Tobin Scroggins playing guitar and Becca Stabile singing. Kramer added bits and pieces throughout during his mixing and mastering of the album. Call it Dada Ska - a skanky electro-bounce. This is dance music for working things out. This is workout music for dancing things, and the live show is truly the dafy psychedelic roughneck business.

I was invited to perform in Melbourne, Australia. It happened thanks to my dear old friend Mick Glossop, who made the suggestion to Sophia Brous, at the time the curator of a music-festival called Supersense' at the Melbourne Arts Centre in summer 2015. In addition to the solo performance I'd planned, Sophia proposed an additional collaboration or session performances with some of the other participating musicians. I had never been very happy in performing public sessions". I've always tried to first look for a conceptual approach, and my wife, Ilona J. Ziok, came up with the idea of performing some Ash Ra Tempel classics. That's when the idea for an Experience' was born. I decided that pieces from the second and third Ash Ra Tempel albums Schwingungen' and Seven Up' (both from 1972) would be most appropriate for a group performance with Ariel Pink, Shags Chamberlain and Oren Ambarchi. We conversed by email, and much to my surprise, they all claimed to be very familiar with this music. ... It felt a bit like pushing at open doors - or, to put it another way - it felt like being welcomed with open arms. We finally met in Melbourne for a relaxed afternoon rehearsa

The words legendary, seminal, and classic get thrown around at will these days, but Rudimentary Peni’s debut album is all of them. Recorded over two days at Southern Studios by John Loder and originally released in 1983 by CRASS off-shoot label Corpus Christi, “Death Church” showed a band moving away from the urgency of their two early 7”s and into their own realm. Creating a template that bands have been trying to replicate ever since, while ticking all the boxes to become a genre-defining album. Iconic artwork, a unique sound and their own lyrical universe. All merging seamlessly. Sonically the album is full of Nick Blinko’s extraordinary vocals and equally remarkable guitar, Grant Matthews’ big meandering driving basslines and Jon Greville's tight and relentless drum work which together made something intricate and hard hitting, with a sequence that makes the 21 songs on the album flow perfectly. Visually, the album is every outsider art lover’s wet dream. A six-panel poster sleeve with every inch covered in Nick Blinko’s claustrophobic black and white line drawings, while lyrically the songs deal with madness, religion, death, and questioning humankind from a dark poetic place rarely found in any art form. Remastered from the original master tapes by Arthur Rizk and housed in a replica poster sleeve, including the original insert, “Death Church” is back in print in LP, CD and cassette after nearly a decade of no official reissues.