Fresh from fine outings on Legofunk Records and Scruniversal Records, Frank Virgilio pops up on historycal Hollywood Records with a quartet of warm and seductive workouts. He kicks things off via the sun down beauty and latin mood of "Is This The Spirit Of The Party ?", before joining the dots between beatdown, disco 80' and dancefloor on the bubbly and hypnotic "That's The Groove!" The other side is dedicated to a double version of a classic killer dancefloor of 80' " DJ's Talk" by the american singer Vivien Reed . Frank Virgilio and L.D.F. aka Lello Di Franco give 2 different ways to read the track . A slightly bolder than the original (but no less deep) mixture of drifting melodies, head-nodding house beats, groovy bass, select vocal snippets and enveloping chords.
Nectax returns to Up Ya Archives with a single that throws three of the most physically demanding genres in club music into the same crucible. Juke’s stuttering vocal chops collide with footwork’s 160bpm grid-locked percussion and jungle’s time-stretched breaks. When asked on his process behind ‘Schematics’, Nectax said:
“I really like how Schematics turned out, it sounds like it was done on an old MPC but in truth was just trusty FL 11. Re-chopping all the breaks into triplets was a meticulous quest, but it’s given the track quite a unique flow & pacing.”
One of modern jungle’s most in-demand producers, Nectax has built a reputation for releases that treat adjacent genres as raw material rather than reference points - as featured on the upcoming EP.
Nectax on the EP:
“Newcastle Juke Party EP taps into the synergy between Chicago Footwork & UK Jungle, two styles I personally love & feel don’t get enough credit for how well they compliment each other.”
Recent output on Over/Shadow, play:musik and Future Retro has cemented him as a key figure in the current wave of UK club music pushing junglism forward.
Back on Celestial Echo Records with a true modern soul classic — Jan Jones “Independent Woman”, finally given the treatment it deserves.
A record that’s been circulating in DJ sets and collector circles for years, often via bootlegged pressings as the originals are incredibly rare, this is the first fully licensed reissue, presented properly and with both sides intact - something the bootleggers didn’t do.
A-side Part 1 delivers the track in its purest form — tight, uplifting, and driven by that unmistakable modern soul groove. On the flip, Part 2 stretches things out into a longer, more open version, letting the arrangement breathe and giving the dancefloor the 6 minutes it deserves.
Musically, it sits right in that sweet spot for us — rich vocals, warm keys, and a rhythm section that just grooves. It’s one of the ultimate modern soul tracks.
Licensed officially, as always. Celestial Echo is here to put proper soul records back into circulation — respectfully cut, properly pressed, and ready to play.
One of the UK’s best loved and most respected dance music producers, Michael Gray, unveils his exciting third artist album, ‘You & Me’, on his own ever vibrant Sultra Records. Featuring a superb array of both fresh and regular vocal and musical collaborators, Michael delivers another superb helping of lovingly crafted discofied, boogie and soulful dance treats, where meaningful songwriting, passionate vocal performances and impeccable musicianship combine to create one of Michael’s best bodies of studio work to date!
“I’m really excited about this album. I enjoyed making ‘Optimism’ 2 years ago, but I feel like my sound and creativity have developed further during the production of my third album ‘You & Me’. I think there will be a few tracks that people are not expecting from me… and that’s the joy of making an album! You can really get creative”. – Michael Gray
Across the album, Michael brings together an impressive array of world class talent. Rising 29 year old vocalist Bran Mazz features prominently, delivering fresh performances on the standout cover of Maxwell’s ‘Ascension (Don’t Ever Wonder)’, as well as on ‘I Like The Way’, ‘Medicine’ and ‘Breaking Away’. Chi town house legend Mike Dunn joins Michael on the title track ‘You & Me’, built around a clever sample of Freeez’s ‘Flying High’. Vocal powerhouse Tania Foster turns up the heat on the Latin disco flavoured ‘Shake’. New York singer Kelli Sae lends her unmistakable soul to ‘Give It To Me’ and ‘Detonate’, the latter also featuring singer/songwriter Errol Reid (China Black / Axwell). Jamiroquai’s Derrick McKenzie adds his signature live drums to ‘Detonate’ and ‘I Like The Way’. Sian Lee appears on the current single ‘Gravity’, which is sitting at the top of the Traxsource chart. ‘Universe’ sees Michael deliver an instrumental jackin’ house twist, set for a full single release on Toolroom in June. Adding further depth to the album, superstar diva Phebe Edwards brings her impeccable soulful tone to a cover of Cleo Sol’s ‘Life Will Be’, Brit soul favourite Dyanna Fearon shines on ‘I’m Falling For You’, and Audrey Martells lifts ‘Beautiful’ with her stunning, uplifting vocal.
Curated by Brian d'Souza (aka Auntie Flo), Plants Can Dance is a forthcoming new compilation bringing together a global community of artists, exploring the creative possibilities of biosonification - transforming signals from plants, ecosystems and the natural world into sound. Out June 26th, the project marks the culmination of several years of d'Souza’s work across music, ecology and technology.
The album arrives at a time when more artists are turning toward nature as both subject and collaborator, such as Brian Eno’s Earth Percent, which formally recognises “Nature” as an artist. Plants Can Dance sits within a wider cultural shift, which is redefining the relationship between sound and the living world.
The project builds on several years of work by d'Souza, whose Plants Can Dance events have taken place across the UK, Europe, India and Africa, appearing in institutions including the V&A, Tate and the Design Museum. What began as a series of intimate gatherings has since evolved into a global platform, reflecting a growing appetite for work that reconnects music with the natural world.
The compilation features contributions from leading practitioners including Modern Biology (Tarun Nayar) in collaboration with saxophonist Zekarias Musele Thompson, OMMA (Olga Maximovam founder of Playtronica), Jason Singh, Dr Helen Anahita Wilson, Justin Wiggan in collaboration with celebrated Norwegian jazz musician Arve Henriksen, Lamine Touré, Bit Marten and Balam, alongside new work from d'Souza himself. Using a range of tools - from commercially available devices to bespoke modular systems - artists translate electrical activity, environmental data and organic processes into musical material.
The processes behind each piece differ - from interpreting plant biodata to translating wind patterns into compositional structures - and the results are as varied as they are compelling. The record spans ambient, jazz, electronica and modern classical, yet all pieces are unified by a shared intent: to reimagine music as a space of collaboration between human and more-than-human worlds.
At the core of Plants Can Dance is a question about how we define music, and how we choose to listen. Traditional musical forms, with their fixed tempos and predictable structures, give way here to something more fluid and less easily controlled. The listener is invited to surrender expectation and engage with sound as an evolving environment rather than a linear narrative. In this context, the compositions function as what d'Souza describes as “acoustic ecologies” - sonic systems shaped by biological, environmental and elemental forces unfolding in real time.
Accompanying the release is a printed zine offering reflections from each artist, and deeper insight into the ideas and debates surrounding this practice. Rather than presenting definitive answers, Plants Can Dance positions itself as an artistic exploration grounded in curiosity, experimentation and critical thought.
Ultimately, Plants Can Dance is less concerned with proving whether plants “make music” than with changing how we listen. By inviting audiences to engage with sound shaped by non-humans, it opens up new ways of perceiving the environments we inhabit - not as passive backdrops, but as active, dynamic participants in a shared ecological network. In doing so, it offers a quietly radical proposition: that by listening differently, we might begin to relate to the natural world differently too.
Queensbridge duo Mobb Deep were already untouchable by the time Hell On Earth arrived, but this was the record where Havoc and Prodigy stopped sounding hungry and started sounding completely numb to everything around them. The production is brutally spare. Tiny piano fragments repeat for minutes at a time while drums hit with the force of metal doors slamming shut somewhere down the corridor. 'G.O.D. Pt. III' still feels poisonous nearly 30 years later, Prodigy rapping with such flat menace it barely even registers as performance anymore. 'Drop A Gem On 'Em' turns a diss track into psychological warfare, and then 'Nighttime Vultures', alongside Raekwon, moves through the album's nocturnal haze with exhausted precision. Even now, the whole thing feels airless in a way few rap records manage.
Gorizont Sobytiy (Event Horizon), the duo of veteran electronic musician Nocow and his wife, DJ Designer, mark the project's debut with an album worth of material of 'frogg-step' / Pankratov Step. It's safe to say this is an intriguing proposition for even those well-initiated into the world of the contemporary Russian underground. What is perhaps most immediately obvious across the 11 tracks is a clear appreciation for golden-era Rephlex records, as if the duo are reflecting on how the iconic label was perceived in the Eastern bloc at the time. There's a nostalgic touch tugging at the heart strings with the warm ambient tones of 'Bananoivy Twist' or even the ballroom-esque organ melodies of follow up 'Chacha', both swiftly followed by a switch back into frantic gabber style kicks that recur across the album.
To give a little more away in terms of a background story, Nocow and DJ Designer draw influence from a film called Winter Evening in Gagra, a somewhat distant feeling artefact of late-Soviet cinema about a tap dancing champion's late nights spent gallivanting across the glitz of Moscow's pop music scene in the 1980s. Maximalist in its sound design, Pankratov Step draws its name from actor-protagonist Pankratov, not quite an out-of-time soundtrack as such but at the least a wry nod to the former world in which the film takes place. The cascading, brittle synthesis of 'Cemetry's Boss' forms an icy cinematic fusion again with a gabber influence at play whilst a fierce acid line works alongside myriad glitch rhythms and repeating keys on 'Octopus Werk'. Influenced by the local humour and sentimentality surrounding the film, a melodrama with themes of lost art and a kind of old-world transcendence the young circus performer yearns for, the duo use it as a vessel to describe the projects sound - a coalescing of vintage Soviet soundtracks, early IDM, Jake Slazenger and Expert Knob Twiddlers album. 'Pankratov-Step' becoming their own fictional genre. The LP marks another avant-garde chapter in Nocow's long back catalogue, as well as a fully formed collaborative debut for the currently enigmatic DJ Designer. Pankratov Step is the second release on GOST ZVUK sub-label MEMONT, curated by Kuzma Palkin.
Welcome to THE VAULT for 1985. A collection that digs deeper into the year’s musical landscape – uncovering singles that may not have always reached the highest chart positions but remain essential to the rich and diverse pop story of 1985. Some were overshadowed at the time, some were highlights from albums that had already sold huge amounts, some found greater success internationally – but all deserve their place in this continued celebration of 80s pop.
45 tracks across 3-LPs – pressed in gorgeous green vinyl – NOW Yearbook – The Vault: 1985.
LP1 opens with a trio of tracks from huge-selling albums:- Bruce Springsteen’s ‘My Hometown’, the sixth single in the UK from ‘Born in the U.S.A’ - one of the best-selling albums of the decade, followed by Bryan Ferry with the stunning ‘Windswept’ from ‘Boys And Girls’ and Sting’s ‘Love Is The Seventh Wave’, taken from his solo debut ‘The Dream Of The Blue Turtles’. Next up, Go West with a U.S single release ‘Eye To Eye’, Scritti Politti with ‘Perfect Way’ – their biggest hit in America, and ABC with ‘Be Near Me’. The first side closes with two established bands; Heaven 17 and Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark… Flip the LP over for Adam Ant with ‘Vive Le Rock’, Midge Ure, Blancmange and the second collaboration between Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder with ‘Good-Bye Bad Times’. The Style Council’s ‘Welcome To Milton Keynes’ leads to LP1’s closer’s from Simply Red and Fine Young Cannibals who followed their debut ‘Johnny Come Home’ with ‘Blue’.
LP2 opens with Cocteau Twins and the dream-pop atmospherics of ‘Aikea-Guinea’, ahead of The Jesus And Mary Chain with ‘Just Like Honey’, and The Dream Academy with ‘The Love Parade’.
Brilliant with their cover of James Brown’s ‘It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World’ and jazz-influenced pop from Matt Bianco are up next ahead of the sublime ‘Castles In The Air’ from The Colourfield and Elvis Costello & The Attractions, who released the 1979 track ‘Green Shirt’ to promote their ‘Best Of’ collection … and the side closes with The Clash’s ‘This Is England’ which would become their last originally released hit…whilst on the other side…celebrate the dancefloor, with a vibrant mix of Hi-NRG, soul, electro and club-influenced pop:- Opening with Sheryl Lee Ralph’s ‘In The Evening’ and Barbara Pennington’s equally superb ‘On A Crowded Street’, the hi-energy continues with Miquel Brown and Hazell Dean ahead of a US hit from Laura Branigan (‘Spanish Eddie’) and Divine’s cover of ‘Twistin’ The Night Away’. LP2 finishes with a massive U.S. dancefloor smash for Eddie Murphy with ‘Party All The Time’.
The final LP kicks off with a bunch of singles that achieved bigger hit status in the US than here and opens with Billy Joel’s ‘You’re Only Human (Second Wind)’, a track written exclusively for his ‘Greatest Hits – Volume I & II’ compilation, ahead of pop-rock from John Mellencamp plus an anthemic smash from Bon Jovi. Pat Benatar’s ‘Invincible’ features ahead of The Power Station’s third US Top 40 hit…whilst back in the UK Chris Rea enjoyed his biggest chart hit to date with ‘Stainsby Girls’ and the side is completed by Marillion with ‘Heart Of Lothian’ the third hit from their huge ‘Misplaced Childhood’ album… Flip to the final side for the stellar vocals on ‘Act Of War’, the huge collaboration between Elton John & Millie Jackson ahead of dancefloor smash ‘New Attitude’ from Patti Labelle and ‘Show Some Respect’ a U.S. single from Tina Turner. Sophisticated pop-R&B from Michael McDonald and Daryl Hall & John Oates come ahead of the collection’s closers- and two outstanding vocal performances: Chaka Khan’s ‘Through The Fire’ and the U.S. breakthrough hit from Whitney Houston with ‘You Give Good Love’ – signalling the arrival of one of the decade’s brightest new stars.
NOW Yearbook – The Vault: 1985 – A deeper dive into an unforgettable year in pop.
Jungle by Night Speaks Out on their latest full length album, Bar Dancing: An Ode to Friendship, the Dance Floor, and the Voice
Since their teenage years, the Amsterdam-based groove collective Jungle by Night has been conquering music venues and festivals with their ever-expanding mix of styles—krautrock, nu-disco, electro-pop. After six largely instrumental studio albums, the group—now consisting of six musicians—changes course on their seventh long-player. On Bar Dancing, set for release in early 2027 via the Amsterdam-based Rush Hour label, the band does something they have never done before: they sing.
Where brass, percussion, and synths previously told the stories, lyrics and vocals now demand their space as well. It gives the band room to put words to the topics that occupy their minds: the pitfalls of digital addiction, the dark sides of fake news, toxic masculinity, and the connection they experience while touring together.
The title Bar Dancing captures the essence of the album. It is an ode to friendship, connection, and the night. The record radiates the atmosphere of a pub where you sit at the bar discussing life, only to find yourself dancing in that very same bar moments later. Analog and warmly produced, the album builds on influences from '80s pop, krautrock, and Neue Deutsche Welle. Think of the playfulness of Talking Heads, the dub influences of UB40, the electronic layers of Air, and the tight "computer love" of Kraftwerk.
Band member Hy Tienson explains: "For the first time, we are literally giving a voice to our thoughts. It makes the music more personal, more direct, and more layered, without losing that signature, uplifting Jungle groove."
With Bar Dancing, Jungle by Night delivers an album that invites both listening and dancing. It marks a new phase for the band, taking another step forward with a renewed sound and their own lyrics.
Internationally acclaimed underground hit record that has been championed by who's who of the good dance music circle in the last 3 years since its first release. Lately it has been picked up and hammered by Jane Fitz. The only way was to give it a new life with fresh new remixes by DJ Sneak, Elia Nafzger, Basic 7 and new deeper subliminal version by Tripmastaz Enterprises.
Baby T is a space away from her work as B.Traits in which Brianna Price can lean more into the junglist, drum ‘n’ bass and hardcore sounds which she loves so dearly. With BSHEE02, the second drop on Price’s own Banshee label, Baby T delivers a darkside masterclass of an EP. This record is a quartet of system blowers which doesn’t let up for a single second from start to finish.
Opener ‘Times Up’ is urgent from the off - the initial strains of this joint find sirens wailing in the monitors over a twitchy kick/drum/hats combo. From here on it’s distilled raver perfection, the drums taking us on a wild Wipeout-style ride as the subbiest of bass skulks at the bottom of the mix. Imagine a more technoid take on the classic breakbeat freerides of Skanna and you’re not far off the ‘Times Up’ sound.
A remix of ‘Times Up’ from man like Aloka leans with devilish glee into the murky underworld that lurks beneath Baby T’s original. Aloka’s version is extremely eerie in a manner which makes you think of the darkest corners of a DMZ party. When things really kick into gear, driven by an irresistible kick dembow, the effect is hypnotic - think the dubwise junglism of the UVB-76 cohort.
BSHEE02’s B-side kicks off with ‘Coercive Control’. This is a cut which delivers on its title in spades, putting the listener in a trance with an interplay of low-slung bass, whirligig synth tones and more of those perfectly executed broken beats. The acid starts to kick in around the minute mark, and it turns out to herald a total earworm of a lead melody.
There’s plenty of dimly-lit malevolence to BHSEE02 closer ‘Dense Dickwood’s grinding atmospherics and gurgling bass throbs. However, Baby T opting for a half-time drum break here gives the cut a vibe not dissimilar to the weightiest jams of classic Massive Attack - that is, until an absolutely remorseless switch-up occurs halfway through, delivering volley after volley of intense drum hits.
Seven - a number steeped in mystery and meaning, woven into the very fabric of time and space. Throughout history, the number seven has stood as an immutable symbol: from the days of the week to the alchemical metals, from the kings of Rome to its seven hills. An archetype that unites astronomy, myth, and ancient civilizations, finding its deepest expression in Rome.
According to legend, the Eternal City guarded seven sacred relics, the Pignora Imperii, objects whose possession ensured divine protection, prestige, and political authority. Ovid referred to them as the "pledges of power": testimonies of Rome's Trojan heritage and its connection with peoples such as the Sabines, Etruscans, and Greeks. These artifacts, now lost, were:
I. Lo scettro di Priamo
II. Il velo di Iliona
III. Il Palladio
IV. Le ceneri di Oreste
V. Lo scudo ancile
VI. La quadriga di Veio
VII. L'ago di Cibele
From this mythology emerges the new project by Lykos Records: a narrative journey in seven chapters, each dedicated to one of these relics, unfolding through the various artists releases corresponding to catalogue numbers 7, 14, 21... up to LYKOS-XLIX.
Chapter I, "Lo scettro di Priamo" LYKOS-VII, is dedicated to the symbol of Troy's power, brought to Latium by Ilioneus on Aeneas' command as a pledge of alliance and reconciliation. It is said to have been kept on the Palatine Hill.
To inaugurate this journey, seven Roman artists - PixFoil, DJ Red, Brando Lupi, Luigi Tozzi, Feral, Sunday Bath, and Worg - will give life to a sonic mosaic celebrating the musical heritage of the capital. Their tracks will form a collective work that bridges generations and diverse artistic visions.
Each double vinyl will feature an original illustration by Roberto Mulliri, wrapping the entire front and back cover and included inside as a poster.
Within the Pignora Imperii lies the strength and power of Rome, witnesses of the city's epic saga; likewise, Lykos Records weaves its destiny into the history of these sacred Roman objects, becoming a messenger of their enduring legends.
POEME ELECTRONIQUE was Dave Hewson (synthesisers, production), Sharon Abbott (lyrics, lead and backing vocals), Julie Ruler (backing vocals) and Les Hewson (bass), formed in 1980 by Dave Hewson in South London, UK, in 1980. Dave was studying music and as a rare kind of student species he had a deep fascination for New Wave and electronic music thus also playing and recording electronic music ever since like using the Boss DR-55, Cosmo Sound Super Drum, Elka Rhapsody 610, EMS Synthi AKS, Korg MS-20(X2)/Polysix/Polyphonic Ensemble 1000/VC-10 Vocoder, Linn Electronics LM-1, Octave Kitten, Roland RS-09/VP-330 Vocoder Plus, Simmons SDS-V Kit and Yamaha CS-80 on this retrospective POEME ELECTRONIQUE album with original material from 1981/82 only. Over the period of more than two years, Dave has remastered these tracks using the latest high-end tools making them sound better than ever before. The deluxe 2LP vinyl album comprises 16 tracks of which 14 have never been published before. “The Echoes Fade” and “Voice” are the original versions taken off their original 7” from 1982. The album “The Echoes Fade” cannot be described other than being a masterpiece and one of the best-ever early 80’s electropop records ever, and it surely has to be lined up with Rational Youth or Experimental Products’ cult albums (in terms of being minimal synth/wave scene reference albums), but to be frank, Anna thinks that POEME ELECTRONIQUE were even above their level.
Truly, they had deserved to go on the successful path like Depeche Mode, OMD or Soft Cell, but fate was against them as it seems. The main difference to other electropop groups of the time was definitely that Dave did not only master his synths technically-wise, no, he also knew how to actually play, and when you hear his amazing multi-track ‘manual sequencing’, programming skills, great harmonies and melodies throughout the tracks, along with the two girls’ performances – well they can really sing! – you will agree there is some something remarkably extraordinary in these tracks. You will find minimal electropop super hits like “Rendezvous”, “She’s an Image”, “Fragile”, or “Dilemma”; hauntingly beautiful melancholic tracks like “A Mourner’s Lament”, “This Night” or “It’s in the Atmosphere”; darkest minimal electronics on “Inside his Head”; and even more poppier tracks like “Follow”. This record will hopefully be loved by any electronic music lover and most probably marks the highlight in the growing Anna Logue Records catalogue – therefore Anna did not shy away from any costs and the album is truly an outstanding release in every single aspect including sound and artwork presentation. Apart from the bonus tracks you will find in the 2LP deluxe vinyl edition glossy inner sleeves with lyrics to all songs, as well as individual mini 7” sleeves for each song designed by our dear graphic designer Steve Lippert plus many additional group photos on the gatefold sleeves’ inner. After so many efforts and more than two years passing by, Anna is so over the moon to see this release being ready now and we have done all we could to make this an outstanding release, so now it’s up to you to give the band their final glory, but Anna is in no doubt that – at least after hearing the sound samples – you will.
Basking in the glow of Lightsaber, the swashbuckling synthesizer synergy of Tending Tropic, Kay-Chi and Sharlese debuts. A cross-continent collaboration that bridges the Atlantic, this group joins forces through a shared passion for italo and wave with their sound set firmly on the floor. The title track is analogue brightness, drums drive a melody that dips and soars next to Sharlese’s uplifting lyrics. Energy levels are high from the needle drop. Cymbals crash for “Timeloop.” Vocoder words are softened by gently scaling chords before generous builds give way to sparking synthwork. Disco flourishes and bongos break to spiralling notes in the playful “Luminara.” Cosmic influences radiate through key shifts and understated toms in this celebration of the night sky. “Inertia” marches to a heavy-hitting beat. Industrially dipped, the percussion is fortified by a simmering melody that spills over into a bold body-throbbing close. Despite being oceans apart, this is a partnership light years ahead.
Baby T is a space away from her work as B.Traits in which Brianna Price can lean more into the junglist, drum ‘n’ bass and hardcore sounds which she loves so dearly. With BSHEE02, the second drop on Price’s own Banshee label, Baby T delivers a darkside masterclass of an EP. This record is a quartet of system blowers which doesn’t let up for a single second from start to finish.
Opener ‘Times Up’ is urgent from the off - the initial strains of this joint find sirens wailing in the monitors over a twitchy kick/drum/hats combo. From here on it’s distilled raver perfection, the drums taking us on a wild Wipeout-style ride as the subbiest of bass skulks at the bottom of the mix. Imagine a more technoid take on the classic breakbeat freerides of Skanna and you’re not far off the ‘Times Up’ sound.
A remix of ‘Times Up’ from man like Aloka leans with devilish glee into the murky underworld that lurks beneath Baby T’s original. Aloka’s version is extremely eerie in a manner which makes you think of the darkest corners of a DMZ party. When things really kick into gear, driven by an irresistible kick dembow, the effect is hypnotic - think the dubwise junglism of the UVB-76 cohort.
BSHEE02’s B-side kicks off with ‘Coercive Control’. This is a cut which delivers on its title in spades, putting the listener in a trance with an interplay of low-slung bass, whirligig synth tones and more of those perfectly executed broken beats. The acid starts to kick in around the minute mark, and it turns out to herald a total earworm of a lead melody.
There’s plenty of dimly-lit malevolence to BHSEE02 closer ‘Dense Dickwood’s grinding atmospherics and gurgling bass throbs. However, Baby T opting for a half-time drum break here gives the cut a vibe not dissimilar to the weightiest jams of classic Massive Attack - that is, until an absolutely remorseless switch-up occurs halfway through, delivering volley after volley of intense drum hits.
UnOwn deepen the intrigue of their debut record with a second clutch of shadowy edits, again courtesy of the elusive Fava Luva and Dr. Professor. First up is the airy, mystical 'Sent Ra' which drifts on a Balearic current with an aquatic pulse and low-slung groove. It's for late-night moments on intimate floors and is hella steamy. Flip it and 'Love Giver' is more extroverted but just as sensual with teasing spoken words opening up before a swaggering, gentle groove and deft keyboard flourishes awaken and coalesce into a boogie-tinged delight. Anonymous in name, perhaps, but unmistakable in taste.
Sometimes the title of an album tells you everything you need to know. Laurence Pike’s Possible Utopias for Jazz Quintet is like that: The music within represents a search for freedom, potentiality—liberatory strategies that transcend the ego and the solitary, atomized figure.
But in this case, the album title is also a red herring, because there is no jazz quintet here—just Pike, his drums, and his machines, not so much an ersatz ensemble as a purely notional one, a thought experiment equipped with drumsticks, circuitry, and the desire to go beyond hardwired limits.
And the results, strictly speaking, aren’t really jazz, though they incorporate the vocabulary of jazz, along with that of ambient, electronica, and post-rock. They are some other thing, cognizant of genre but never beholden to it. Again, we’re talking about a search for freedom here.
The Sydney-based musician has a long history of coloring outside the lines, not just in his solo recordings—including four albums for the Leaf label between 2018 and 2024—but also in the trio Pivot (later PVT); Szun Waves (alongside saxophonist Jack Wyllie and Border Community’s Luke Abbott); Triosk, which recorded an album with Jan Jelinek in 2003; and even post-punk titans Liars, whom he joined in late 2018.
Of his first album for Balmat, Pike says, “My loose concept was: What does music sound like when the expectations of late capitalism are removed from it? How might a jazz musician from an idealised culture of the future, or even another world, utilise musical language when the conventions of style and marketing are no longer a factor in music making?”
That inquiry, he says, connects to his “guiding principle: that the purpose of music is to access something bigger than the individual, and reveal a sense of possibility and freedom in the world to the listener. To create an understanding that the future can be something other than what we imagined or expect, even unconsciously.”
Heady ideas, but plug into his stream-of-metaconsciousness flow and you may start to intuit what motivates him. There is a deeply lyrical expression in these pieces—in the ruminative piano of opener “Guardians of Memory,” for example—but also a sense of exploded perspective, of ideas approached from more angles than any one mind could dream up. Of a collectivized consciousness, of mycelial networks branching across tone and rhythm and timbre, of ideas articulated in distributed fashion, nodal points dancing across drum heads.
Pike’s imaginary quintet is hardly without precedent; it’s a continuation of concepts floated across Jan Jelinek’s Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records, Burnt Friedman’s many guises, and much of the recombinant improv of the International Anthem roster, not to mention the far corners of ECM’s catalog in the late 1970s and 1980s, which Pike says have been integral to his development since he was a teenager. Possible Utopias for Jazz Quintet is a point in a continuum, a voice in a conversation, a question with no obvious answer: How can the search for otherness in music manifest something true about ourselves?
The world of discovering Soul music and artists can lead to sheer moments of jubilation. The thought of igniting a long lost sound, reviving the energy of a once exuberant individual . But not every story that's told is filled with joy. Some are peppered along the way with struggles and heartache. Over time artists have battled with over powering label owners, record executives who just don't back what you do. The story of Tommy Hill is one such story. Tommy along with friend and longtime collaborator Ricky Tarbo had a deal with Motown records back in the early 1980's which turned sour very quickly. His release "Flame"/"Super Star Of Love' was dropped pretty quickly with no promotion and record boss Sylvia Rhône calling the shots within the duo questioning skin colour within the group and even trying to get vocals wiped off the release to sabotage it.
This said the single didn't amount to much and nothing else was recorded for Motown records. The duo did record some 4 demo's in LA before Tommy headed to re-record them again in New York circa 1982.
The A side has never been released until now, which is such a crying shame as the quality is so damn good. It's an uptempo boogie cut called "All My Love" which we gave a sexy 45 mix so you get some slamming synth work half way in. Tommy Hill's vocal range is nothing but astonishing. Just check out the 2 step ballad of "Can't Get Over You", which was recorded and released back in 1980 by The James Simpson penetration Band written by Tommy Hill, who went back into the studio 2 years later to give the song much more depth not only within the production but also to his vocal range. Tommy Hill headed back to LA after not securing a record deal and a few years later tried to get this singing career back on track. Like many of the artists who have moved on to a higher place Tommy succumbed to his own mental health issues and took his life. We hope this record does you proud Tommy Hill
Luke Lund is a self-taught producer and sound artist from Finland. Over the past eighteen years, his work has absorbed influences ranging from the darkest fringes of club culture and the most caustic strains of industrial noise, to the subtlety of musique concrète and the rawness of rock.
It all started when he discovered that abstract sound design could stand as music in its own right, a revelation that ignited his enduring commitment to noise, sound art, dub techniques, and experimentation.
“Peel the Scab” emerges from this premise as a visceral and frenetic immersion into his “lo tech” facet, a term the artist himself employs to define the album’s style.
Allergic to programming, these are pure dub-blooded sessions pushed straight to tape, twisted until they yield under their own weight. It is a work constructed upon dense, disjointed rhythms: brutalist grime infused with a suffocating mutation of dub.
With festival season in the air, Vince Watson lets loose on his big summer track for 2026. Piano-heavy ‘The Awakening’ hits right on the money - full-on hands in the air piano and some E-Dancer-style bass give this track the ‘Summer Anthem’ vibes. This is a hit record! It’s backed up with a stripped-back version, letting go of the big orchestral strings to make way for more heat from that E-Dancer baseline. On the flip side, there is a faster BPM edit of ‘Flashback’ from his 2023 album ‘Another Moment In Time’, not only bringing a more friendly club tempo, but also extra heat and intensity in the build-ups.
