Professor Roth's debut EP, self-released on his newly formed label Maestro, is music that feels half remembered. Familiar enough to settle into, strange enough to keep shifting beneath your feet, it lives in that sweet spot where groove and abstraction lean into one another. Dusty textures, hazy melodies and understated rhythms never demand attention, yet quietly refuse to let go. Every track feels like another realm of the same dream: warm, weightless and just slightly out of focus.
‘Daydreaming’ is an inviting first step into the haze, opening the door without ever fully revealing what's on the other side. Gentle movement carries drifting melodies that seem to appear and disappear with every listen. An ethereal vocal breakdown creates the feeling of being quietly carried away from its hypnotic groove before pulling you back under its spell. Patient and understated, ‘The Way It Is’ lets the groove do the talking while subtle details gradually come into focus. Dubby percussive chaos is softened by warm, lifelike pads, encouraging your body to move while your mind wanders elsewhere.
As the name suggests, ‘Swells’ arrives in waves. Layers fold over one another, building and dissolving without urgency. There's a beautiful tension between motion and stillness, leaving the track suspended somewhere between the dancefloor and a reverie. ‘Shades’ is a fitting close that blurs the edges even further. Soft, hypnotic and quietly psychedelic, it feels less like an ending and more like waking up slowly. Content to linger in that in-between a little longer, glitchy samples drift through swirling soundscapes, keeping the dancefloor gently spun until the very end.
Nuclear Waste is arriving to the LP series with the album called “Uranium Dealer”. The Spanish based artist is a long friend of the label who has already appeared on Exarde, therefore is a great honour to welcome him back with such profound and complete body of work. Per usual completed with the art of graffiti artist Gkoner the album is really shining through with the radioactive particles it consists of. Whether it’s brutal electro numbers or more spiritually infused dense techno the album may find a home with its listener. The elements appearing to be colliding at an intensive speed to form the fuel for the nuclear audio warfare.
The “Late Loop” LP by Andy Stott is released on Modern Love and marks the producer’s return after a five-year break from the studio. The album brings Alison Skidmore, Stott’s long-time vocal partner, and for the first time Elaine Howley to the forefront; their voices are used partly as full vocal performances and partly as fragmented, pitch-shifted loops, forming the emotional center of the record. Stott largely avoided established production tricks: no basslines, no reverb, just a delay as the sole effect, giving the arrangements an unusual clarity and fragility.
“Late Loop” sits somewhere between downbeat, electronica, and leftfield, and emerged from an experimental process that ranged from drone passages and brass-like concrète moments to song-oriented structures. Rhythm often emerges indirectly here: a drum machine was played back into the room, re-recorded, and pitched down; a pump organ was recorded with a microphone placed on the floor; valves and an aging mixing console audibly contribute to the atmosphere. Lyrically, themes of separation predominate; the voices were layered multiple times, then pared back until only the essentials remained. Mastering was handled by Rashad Becker, and the cover photo is by Myriam Boulos. With “Late Loop,” Modern Love presents an austere, meticulously crafted album whose details gradually reveal themselves with repeated listening.
Some records suggest another version of themselves.
STRIKER SECRET SERVICE is an anonymous white-label series built around that possibility.
For SSS001, Hardrock Striker takes “I Feel So Free” into different territory. Across twelve minutes, the track is dismantled and rebuilt around the pulse of late-'70s electronic disco: sequenced bass, repetition, tension and gradual release. Familiar elements remain, but the arrangement opens out, the machinery takes over and the vocal slowly becomes part of the rhythm itself.
On the reverse, the full instrumental reveals the machinery underneath : an extended DJ tool built for long blends, layering and late-night sets.
Pressed on heavyweight 180g Milky White vinyl, housed in a clear poly sleeve with the STRIKER SECRET SERVICE sticker.
UK pals Andy Riley and Laurence Ritchie have been Drop Music mainstays since before the turn of the millennium. They put out a veritable ton of house music and this EP first dropped back in 2004, but has long been ripe for a reissue. 'Already' sits somewhere between tech, new jack swing and deep house and is assembled from chopped-up samples, jazzy stabs and a rigid mix of drums that all get held together with a warm, swinging groove. 'Amber Gambler' on the flip is another collage made from distinctive patches - gun shots, MJ vocals, crashing hits, wiggy synths, minimal percussion and bursts of synth strings. The result is a busy, characterful groove that never stops grabbing your attention.
Five extended cuts taken from Yung Prado’s latest album GUFI (Gremio Underground, Fiesta Infinita), featuring collaborations with Mexican producer Theus Mago and Catalan producer Tibi Dabo.
Solid drum machines, analog basslines and a playful, eclectic approach run throughout the record. House, electroclash and tech house collide across five dancefloor-driven tracks, keeping things raw, groovy and unpredictable.
Released by Mainline Planet, with graphic design by Totxres.
Devo Marries Gritty Guitars with Expansive Keyboard Canvasses on Duty Now for the Future:
Transitional Album Furthers the Band’s Satirical Stance, Includes Cover of “Secret Agent Man”
Hear the 1979 Record in Audiophile-Grade Sound and at 45RPM for the First Time:
Mobile Fidelity’s Numbered-Edition 180g 45RPM 2LP Set
Benefits from Enhanced Definition and Presence
1/4” / 15 IPS Dolby A analogue master to DSD 256 to analogue console to lathe
“Pop music needs a big enema.” Devo created Duty Now for the Future with that mission statement, relayed to the press by co-founding bassist/vocalist Gerald Casale, in mind. Though unfairly pegged by some as an example of the common sophomore slump, the record spurred the group’s interest in electronic instrumentation, extended its penchant for biting social satire, and contained another transformative cover song in the form of “Secret Agent Man.” Above all, the 1979 work proved the Ohio pranksters were anything but a joke even if they would have to wait one more year until for their mainstream breakthrough.
Sourced from the original master tapes, mastered by engineer Krieg Wunderlich, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing in California, and housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, Mobile Fidelity's numbered-edition 180g 45RPM 2LP set presents Duty Now for the Future in audiophile-grade sound. Benefitting from the extra groove space on this first-ever 45RPM version, it plays with enhanced definition, deep-black backgrounds, and ultra-quiet surfaces.
Though certain band members later expressed regret with some of his decisions, the merits of Ken Scott’s production emerge like never before. A lurking edginess serves as a signpost in Devo’s progression before it fully embraced keyboards as a primary tool. Guitars possess punch and grit and, along with the crisp arrangements, are sharpened with an ear toward accuracy and vibrancy. It all helps give Duty Now for the Future a direct immediacy that answers the complaints of listeners who felt the affair too processed or sterilized.
Notably, a majority of the material here stems from the same grab bag of songs Devo banked before Warner Bros. signed it to a deal. The album marks a capstone to Phase One of a career that for all intents and purposes began in 1973. And just like many of the group’s performances of that era, Duty Now for the Future remains just as famous for the critical disdain it inspired as the music itself. A vicious review in Rolling Stone — the very publication that a few decades later would trumpet the band as one of the most important of its age — ended with the writer offering to send readers shards of the LP he planned on smashing to bits.
Perhaps he just needed to experience this new-wave effort with the restored sound that makes everything now feel so explosive and urgent. Whatever the case, the songs hold up and, amid a contemporary period which gives increasing license to artificial intelligence and behemoth conglomerates, seem more apt than ever before.
Consider “Blockhead,” which skewers the predictable appearances and numb-to-the-world actions of a rule follower. Or the similarly themed “Clockout,” an uptempo ditty whose thumbing-its-nose bravado and sardonic lyrics send up corporate culture with an irresistible smirk. As for the wiry, hard-hitting urgency of “Wiggly World” and Mark Mothersbaugh’s loud declaration that “They say the fittest shall survive/Yet the unfit may live”: Evidence these art-school rabble-rousers still had some punk fury to flush out of their system. And the sincere allure of the charged power pop and wishful circumstances of “The Day My Baby Gave Me a Surprize” cannot be denied.
To point to an interesting bit of history that makes Duty Now for the Future all the more intriguing, particularly for the most committed Spuds, more than half its tracks were selected for Greatest Misses — a 1990 anthology that celebrates lesser-known cuts and functions as a rejoinder to a hits compilation from the same year. (The only track from the 1979 album to make the “hits” disc: “Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA.”)
Indeed, tunes like the riff-driven albeit controversial “Pink Pussycat,” atmospherically twitching “S.I.B. (Swelling Itching Brain),” and ceremonial instrumental “Devo Corporate Anthem” may lack the catchy appeal and all-together coherence of what follows on the group’s third and most commercially successful effort, Freedom of Choice. Yet in order to get there, to de-evolve if you will, the band needed the smorgasbord that is Duty Now for the Future.
Move in Stereo: The Cars’ Eponymous Debut Album Functions as a Greatest-Hits Set with Classics Such as "You're All I've Got Tonight," "Good Times Roll," and "Just What I Needed"
Experience the Six-Times-Platinum Record in Definitive Sound on
Mobile Fidelity’s UltraDisc One-Step 180g 45RPM 2LP Box Set:
Strictly Limited to 4,000 Numbered Copies,
It Plays with Reference Definition and Presence
1/4” / 15 IPS analogue master to DSD 256 to analogue console to lathe.
Among the most critically and commercially successful debuts in history, the Cars' eponymous album doubles as a greatest-hits collection. Not one song on it is widely unrecognized or unknown. Consider the list: "You're All I've Got Tonight." "Good Times Roll." "Just What I Needed." "Moving in Stereo." "My Best Friend's Girl." "Don't Cha Stop." “Bye Bye Love.” Just call The Cars the best new-wave rock album ever made. And a natural candidate for preservation on a Mobile Fidelity UltraDisc One-Step pressing.
Sourced from the original analog tapes, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing in California, mastered by engineer Krieg Wunderlich, and strictly limited to 4,000 numbered copies, MoFi’s UD1S 180g 45RPM 2LP box set presents the six-time platinum record in the most vivid, wide-spanning, three-dimensional sound it has enjoyed on vinyl. Compared to the label’s outstanding and out-of-print 180g 33RPM version, this collectible edition features richer textures, broader openness, greater presence, and bigger dynamics.
Benefitting from the extra groove space on 45RPM by playing with enhanced definition, deep-black backgrounds, and ultra-quiet surfaces, this reissue portrays the band’s oscillating rhythms, futuristic keyboard passages, and panned images with stunning realism. Songs take on an absolutely surreal quality. The Cars and producer Roy Thomas Baker manipulate arrangements at will to mesmerize listeners' senses. The concept of "moving in stereo” has likely never been truer.
The industry-leading packaging of the UD1S set gives fans another reason to gravitate towards the 1978 album. A deluxe slipcase, two foil-stamped jackets, faithful-to-the-original graphics, and MoFi inner sleeves make for a premium tactile experience. It invites you to immerse yourself in everything about the record, including the now-familiar cover art depicting Nataliya Medvedeva behind the wheel. Enhanced by her glistening ruby-red lips, her face flashes an expression caught between surprise, ecstasy, and disbelief — an apropos way of responding to The Cars whether you’re hearing it for the first or 1,115th time.
Introduced in 2024 into the National Recording Registry for its significance, and ranked the 353rd Greatest Album of All Time by Rolling Stone, The Cars explodes with emotion, energy, and hooks. Its songs unite then-disparate styles: bubblegum melodies, art-rock angularity, progressive structuralism, terse minimalism, and power-pop sheen. The stylish arrangements also benefit from a laidback cool and understated irony that remain uncommon in the world of contemporary mainstream music.
Equally rare is the deep chemistry the members shared before they entered London’s AIR Studios and knocked out the record in less than a month. Benjamin Orr and Ric Ocasek began their first band together in the early ‘70s. A subsequent group with future Cars keyboardist Greg Hawke preceded Orr and Ocasek bonding further by temporarily performing as a duo. One final pre-Cars ensemble, Cap’n Swing, brought guitarist Elliot Easton into the fold. A decision by Ocasek to take the band in a rock direction, a crucial lineup shuffle, and a name change begat the Cars so many listeners know and love.
Already a going concern in Boston, the quintet cut its teeth and woodshopped songs for nearly a year and a half before signing with Elektra and partnering with Baker. The Cars enjoyed success right out of the gate, hitting No. 18 on the Billboard Top 200 chart and netting a pair of Top 40 singles in the form of “Just What I Needed” and deceptively happy “My Best Friend’s Girl.” The sarcastic “Good Times Roll” climbed to No. 41, but soon enough, almost every track on The Cars became a radio staple — an honor far more meaningful than chart positions.
Obsessed with incorporating the latest technologies and sounds into its palette, the band spiced tunes with delightful and quirky accents — country-tinged guitar fills, echoing Syndrums, reggae splashes, hard-rock tones, robotic pulses. Orr's low, nuanced deliveries and Ocasek's cool, detached vocals lend shades of doubt and double meaning to the lyrics, which are further counterbalanced by synthesizer flourishes and electronic beats.
Accessible and eccentric, edgy and catchy: The results comprise a landmark whose characters come to vivid life with nuclear boots, dry-drip gloves, ribbon-festooned coiffures, suede-blue eyes, and rock ‘n’ roll hair. It's practically impossible to avoid humming along to every song, all enhanced by Baker's stellar production. Best known for his work with Queen, he ensured the record packed a punchy midrange, opened up with instrumental and vocal separation, and breathed with airy harmonies.
Indeed, from the timeless music to the sleek production and sonic restoration, The Cars on UD1S is just what you needed.
Dan Piu and Grant's Theory of Movement project is rather sporadic - we last heard from it more than a year ago - but that only makes fresh drops all the more essential. This return to When The Morning Comes opens with the swirling ambience and deft house depths of 'The Geometry Of Leaving', which is a heady scene-setter before 'Suspended Motion' floats you amongst more airy pads. 'The Distance Between Things' has a joyful feeling of hope and optimism in the luminous keys, and the Acid version beefs it up for extra club impact. Artful sounds from two seasoned heads.
Discosabotage Records is an evolution of the collective founded by Luval in Amsterdam in April 2024. Having recently relocated, he felt the need to create something that truly reflected his own vision and the music he loves. What started with selecting records gradually evolved into selecting demos, driven by an increasing desire to shape a distinctive identity and sound.
DSB001 is the label’s first various artists release, featuring Luval, Massi, Two Opposites, and Paradise City Breakers. Each artist brings a unique perspective while remaining connected to the vision behind Discosabotage. The release moves through different shades of electronic music, from deep and hypnotic grooves to darker, more introspective territories, always maintaining a strong sense of definition and purpose. While each track speaks its own language, together they form a cohesive journey rooted in underground electronic culture.
This first VA marks the beginning of a label that is still taking shape, defining its path through dark atmospheres, refined rhythms, and carefully crafted electronic textures. A first statement from Discosabotage, and the starting point of what is yet to come.
No, we’re not yelling at you. That’s the answer. WHO ASKED? is the long-awaited sophomore album from the French-born Domi Louna and Texas native JD Beck. Following two GRAMMY nominations, including Best New Artist for a debut album (2022’s NOT TiGHT), WHO ASKED? is unlike anything they’ve done before. Bringing together a small sinfonietta of seasoned classical players, WHO ASKED? showcases the duo’s incredibly singular, super maximalist, and strikingly beautiful orchestral vision.
Diso Gram is based in Barcelona and deals in global disco, nu-disco and edits with in-house production from we don't know who, but we do know they're skilled in the studio. 'Bobby' is a life-affirming opener with proud trumpets and classic disco vocals before 'The King' taps into a funky bassline and slapping hits that all feel wonderfully live. 'Me Enciendes' brings more strutting disco house with massive claps and falsetto vocals that will take any crowd to a better place and 'Tropical' closes the account with a more subdued, early evening dub-disco builder with Afro flourishes.
“In This House” is the new 4-track EP from Kenneth Graham, a deep and elegant journey into the world of underground house music. Hypnotic grooves, warm atmospheres, and immersive rhythms come together in a release designed for both late-night listening and the dancefloor. A sophisticated and timeless collection that captures the pure essence of deep house.
Damage Code is the result of the convergence of two long-standing figures from the underground industrial and EBM scene: Carlos Grabstein (89s✝) and Ben Bunzen (Hammershøi). Released in partnership with Miseria records, their first collaboration unfolds through proto-industrial sequences, oppressive atmospheres, repetitive structures, and distorted transmissions, all wrapped in body-driven percussion that pulls the listener into a controlled state of sensory overload. Harsh yet precise, ritualistic yet futuristic, the record advances with relentless intensity while maintaining a raw, physical energy throughout. Somewhere between the diseased electronics of Front Line Assembly and the primitive industrial tension of Esplendor Geométrico, Digital Slave channels a sound that is both confrontational and hypnotic. With “Digital Slave”, Damage Code opens a new portal into industrial body music: dense, punishing, and engineered to trap the mind inside its circuitry. Presented in ONE-OFF truly limited edition of 300 copies lacquered pressed on 180 gr. high quality solid BLACK vinyl. All tracks have been specially remastered and mastered for vinyl by Daniel Hallhuber at Young and Cold Studios (Germany).
Music From Memory presents 'Mood Programs – Extended Play', a two-track release by LA MARR, a new project conceived by Ron Trent. Representing the first in an ongoing series of releases on Music From Memory, ‘Mood Programs - Extended Play’ opens a new chapter within Trent’s deep and continually evolving body of work, rooted in mood-driven composition, spatial depth and the emotional resonance of sound within physical space.
Influenced by ambient and environmental music, New Age, dub traditions, New Wave, Krautrock and HiFi sound system culture, LA MARR reflects many of the formative ideas that informed Trent’s evolving approach to sound and sonic architecture from the early 1980s onward. Rather than revisiting these influences nostalgically, the project recontextualises them through a contemporary production language, balancing analog warmth with precision and spatial depth.
Developed through years of sonic experimentation and research into the physical and psychological qualities of sound, LA MARR extends Ron Trent’s long-standing interest in the relationship between rhythm, acoustics and human connection. Built through a combination of analog processes and contemporary computer-assisted production, the project explores warmth, resonance, depth and sonic clarity through carefully sculpted environments of tone and texture.
Gently unfolding within a spacious, ambient-leaning framework, 'Mood Programs – Extended Play' moves beyond passive background listening toward something more intentional and immersive. Across both tracks, ‘Good Magic’ and ‘Clear’, layers of hypnotic synthesizer arpeggios and gently floating pads gradually unfold alongside organic percussion and subtle low-end movement, creating compositions that feel simultaneously meditative, physical and emotionally responsive. Sound is treated not simply as musical information, but as an environmental force capable of shaping perception, mood and awareness within a room.
'Mood Programs – Extended Play' will be released digitally and on vinyl through Music From Memory on July 15th. Sleeve art and design by Michael Willis.
‘Signs Of The Time’ is a powerful, driving roots reggae anthem by Azizzi Romeo calling for global unity. The track features the legendary Max Romeo in what would be his final recording before his passing.
The track is fuelled by the lush, authentic arrangements of Denmark's premier 11- piece roots collective, Guiding Star Orchestra.
Blending heavy traditional rhythms with a modern conscious edge, the track boasts dynamic brass lines and an irresistible groove. Essential for modern roots, cultural reggae, and global conscious playlists celebrating the enduring legacy of a reggae icon.
The release comes with a dub version by Tippy I-Grade who weaves heavy, foundational basslines through echoed horn stabs and beautifully fragmented vocal chops that ripple seamlessly across the stereo field.
It’s an essential addition for listeners who crave the meditative depth of classic 70s dub reimagined through a modern, high-fidelity lens.
Synaptic Cliffs proudly welcomes Annie Hall for her label debut. With the Future Sports EP, she once again expands the boundaries between machine funk, speculative sound design, and forward-thinking club music. Delivering her signature fusion of IDM, electro, fractured breakbeats and experimental electronics, she sculpts a metallic, high-definition vision that feels as though it has been transmitted directly from centuries ahead.
Future Sports imagines the sonic landscape of sport in the year 3024. In a future where society has paradoxically stripped itself back to the essentials, aesthetics have returned to the elegance and restraint of the 18th and 19th centuries. Amid this cultural shift, fencing has emerged as the defining global sport, elevated from historical discipline to mass obsession.
Throughout the EP, the sounds of these future arenas become musical raw material: the sharp clash of advanced foils, the resonant impact of engineered protective gear, the tension of ritualized competition, and fragments of other, unnamed sports from a distant age. Annie Hall transforms these imagined athletic acoustics into intricate rhythmic structures and futuristic melodies, allowing the machinery and choreography of competition to shape the record's sonic identity.
The result is a vivid soundtrack to a world yet to come - precise, kinetic, and unmistakably futuristic, where sport, technology and sound merge into a singular vision. Future Sports is both a speculative narrative and a club-ready statement from one of electronic music's most distinctive voices.
As a special bonus, the EP features an animated picture label. When played at 45 RPM and viewed under a stroboscopic light operating at 9 Hz, the artwork comes alive, revealing a hidden motion sequence. Blurring the boundaries between sound, design and optical illusion, this kinetic visual layer extends the EP's futuristic narrative into the physical realm, transforming the record itself into an artifact from the year 3024.
There’s no direct English translation for the word “hiraeth”. In the Welsh language, it describes a form of longing for an intangible something, somewhere or someone that no longer exists. Sofie Birch and Antonina Nowacka draw on the concept to guide their second collaborative album, a suite of vulnerable, open-hearted improvisations and reflections that attempt to grasp an image of the past that’s chimeric, dissolving almost as soon as it materializes. The duo’s process follows the same distant beacon; unlike Languoria, their critically acclaimed debut, Hiraeth is, at heart, an acoustic record, informed by in-person improvisations with voices and string instruments that gesture to an era before computers, AI and DAWs. It’s just as lush, but Hiraeth is warmer and more muted than its predecessor.
Nowacka and Birch conceived the album in the wake of a slew of collaborative live concerts, spurred on by serendipitous improvisations and an interest in paring down their setup. Unsound arranged a retreat in Sokołowsko, an idyllic village nestled in the verdant hills of Southern Poland, close to the Czech border. Sokołowsko surrounds a large ruined sanatorium that’s rumored to have inspired Thomas Mann’s 1924 novel The Magic Mountain, and has long been a magnet for artists. The two took the opportunity to rethink their approach completely, arriving with just a guitar, a zither and a portable Nagra reel-to-reel machine. Recording directly to tape, they sketched out ideas with just their voices and instruments, reflecting their surroundings without being distracted or mediated by modern technology.
“We wanted to get away from screens as much as possible,” says Birch, “to bring to the world something vulnerable and honest. Without advance preparation, every day we went out into the open air, finding places to sit, during sunset or the midday sun. We discovered new tunings on our instruments, picked up a melody, and started the machine, playing over
and over till we got a take.” In the autumn, they met again in a Copenhagen studio, sparingly and carefully layering old synths and organs to add more depth without muddying the mix.
Both Nowacka and Birch sing throughout, their voices threading the acoustic instruments and tangling with each other, almost becoming one. But it’s the environment of Sokołowsko, “the birds and the light, even the wind playing against the harps,” that’s woven into the music’s lining. Affected by time spent meditating and in nature, as well as the fact that Birch was pregnant whilst recording, the album feels alive and remarkably present. Even the sound quality of the tape machine gives Hiraeth a tactile, organic quality, as Nowacka puts it, “like being in a warm bath.”
They still have the raw recordings from Sokołowsko on old reels, physical souvenirs of their time spent making music in a “habitat for intuitive songs, a little ecosystem, alive and spirited.” The outmoded gear and remote setting helped the duo disengage from the modern world for a few moments and imagine an existence that’s been lost to time and nominal progress. With digital technology receding into the background, Nowacka and Birch had space to make “intuitive connections with frequencies and people,” as Birch explains. Hiraeth is a testament not to nostalgia, but to the power of kinship.
TALCO melden sich mit ihrem bisher wohl ambitioniertesten Werk zurück. "Freek" erscheint am zweiten Freitag des Jahres 2027! Eine kühne und unverblümte Reise durch mentale Käfige, ruhelose Gedanken und schwebende Träume. Das Album präsentiert TALCOs unverkennbare Punk-Ska-Energie mit einer schärferen, introspektiveren Note. Geschrieben von Tomaso De Mattia (Dema), Sänger und Frontmann von TALCO, setzt sich das Album mit den unsichtbaren Strukturen auseinander, die uns in einer von Image und Performance besessenen Welt prägen. Im Zentrum steht die Frage: "Lohnt es sich, den Traum vom offenen Meer aufzugeben, nur um ein von anderen entworfenes Rennen zu gewinnen?" Es ist ein Konzeptalbum, das mit surrealem Storytelling eine statische, dekadente Gesellschaft reflektiert, die unfähig scheint, kulturelle oder politische Risiken einzugehen. Die italienischen Alternative-Ska-Punk-Rocker aus Marghera/Venedig haben sich mit ihrer Kombination aus schnellem Punkrock, Ska-Einflüssen, Blasinstrumenten und italienischer Volksmusik sowie ihren sozialkritischen, oft politischen Texten in ganz Europa einen Namen gemacht. Freek markiert eine Rückkehr zu den Wurzeln des Albums "Gran Galà", angetrieben von der kalifornischen Punk-Energie von "Videogame". Und dies ist erst der Anfang einer Reise, die weit über die Musik hinausgeht. Viele Überraschungen erwarten uns. Ein volles Dutzend Tracks im beliebten Punkchanka-Stil zum Genießen (plus vier weitere (die B-Seiten)), darunter das bereits digital veröffentlichte "Dalla Mia Parte Ella Strada" und die kommende Single "Disco Inferno". Das "Freek"-Konzept wird von einer Geschichte begleitet, die in den offiziellen Videos, den zusätzlich digital veröffentlichten B-Seiten (auch als Bonustracks auf CD erhältlich) und einem Graphic Novel/Comic aufgegriffen und erweitert wird. Das Comicbook ist Bestandteil der limitierten Freek Deluxe Pizzaboxen der beiden Formate. Als LP schwarz, LP farbig, CD mit Bonustracks und limitierte Deluxe Pizzaboxen mit Extras erhältlich.
TALCO melden sich mit ihrem bisher wohl ambitioniertesten Werk zurück. "Freek" erscheint am zweiten Freitag des Jahres 2027! Eine kühne und unverblümte Reise durch mentale Käfige, ruhelose Gedanken und schwebende Träume. Das Album präsentiert TALCOs unverkennbare Punk-Ska-Energie mit einer schärferen, introspektiveren Note. Geschrieben von Tomaso De Mattia (Dema), Sänger und Frontmann von TALCO, setzt sich das Album mit den unsichtbaren Strukturen auseinander, die uns in einer von Image und Performance besessenen Welt prägen. Im Zentrum steht die Frage: "Lohnt es sich, den Traum vom offenen Meer aufzugeben, nur um ein von anderen entworfenes Rennen zu gewinnen?" Es ist ein Konzeptalbum, das mit surrealem Storytelling eine statische, dekadente Gesellschaft reflektiert, die unfähig scheint, kulturelle oder politische Risiken einzugehen. Die italienischen Alternative-Ska-Punk-Rocker aus Marghera/Venedig haben sich mit ihrer Kombination aus schnellem Punkrock, Ska-Einflüssen, Blasinstrumenten und italienischer Volksmusik sowie ihren sozialkritischen, oft politischen Texten in ganz Europa einen Namen gemacht. Freek markiert eine Rückkehr zu den Wurzeln des Albums "Gran Galà", angetrieben von der kalifornischen Punk-Energie von "Videogame". Und dies ist erst der Anfang einer Reise, die weit über die Musik hinausgeht. Viele Überraschungen erwarten uns. Ein volles Dutzend Tracks im beliebten Punkchanka-Stil zum Genießen (plus vier weitere (die B-Seiten)), darunter das bereits digital veröffentlichte "Dalla Mia Parte Ella Strada" und die kommende Single "Disco Inferno". Das "Freek"-Konzept wird von einer Geschichte begleitet, die in den offiziellen Videos, den zusätzlich digital veröffentlichten B-Seiten (auch als Bonustracks auf CD erhältlich) und einem Graphic Novel/Comic aufgegriffen und erweitert wird. Das Comicbook ist Bestandteil der limitierten Freek Deluxe Pizzaboxen der beiden Formate. Als LP schwarz, LP farbig, CD mit Bonustracks und limitierte Deluxe Pizzaboxen mit Extras erhältlich.
TALCO melden sich mit ihrem bisher wohl ambitioniertesten Werk zurück. "Freek" erscheint am zweiten Freitag des Jahres 2027! Eine kühne und unverblümte Reise durch mentale Käfige, ruhelose Gedanken und schwebende Träume. Das Album präsentiert TALCOs unverkennbare Punk-Ska-Energie mit einer schärferen, introspektiveren Note. Geschrieben von Tomaso De Mattia (Dema), Sänger und Frontmann von TALCO, setzt sich das Album mit den unsichtbaren Strukturen auseinander, die uns in einer von Image und Performance besessenen Welt prägen. Im Zentrum steht die Frage: "Lohnt es sich, den Traum vom offenen Meer aufzugeben, nur um ein von anderen entworfenes Rennen zu gewinnen?" Es ist ein Konzeptalbum, das mit surrealem Storytelling eine statische, dekadente Gesellschaft reflektiert, die unfähig scheint, kulturelle oder politische Risiken einzugehen. Die italienischen Alternative-Ska-Punk-Rocker aus Marghera/Venedig haben sich mit ihrer Kombination aus schnellem Punkrock, Ska-Einflüssen, Blasinstrumenten und italienischer Volksmusik sowie ihren sozialkritischen, oft politischen Texten in ganz Europa einen Namen gemacht. Freek markiert eine Rückkehr zu den Wurzeln des Albums "Gran Galà", angetrieben von der kalifornischen Punk-Energie von "Videogame". Und dies ist erst der Anfang einer Reise, die weit über die Musik hinausgeht. Viele Überraschungen erwarten uns. Ein volles Dutzend Tracks im beliebten Punkchanka-Stil zum Genießen (plus vier weitere (die B-Seiten)), darunter das bereits digital veröffentlichte "Dalla Mia Parte Ella Strada" und die kommende Single "Disco Inferno". Das "Freek"-Konzept wird von einer Geschichte begleitet, die in den offiziellen Videos, den zusätzlich digital veröffentlichten B-Seiten (auch als Bonustracks auf CD erhältlich) und einem Graphic Novel/Comic aufgegriffen und erweitert wird. Das Comicbook ist Bestandteil der limitierten Freek Deluxe Pizzaboxen der beiden Formate. Als LP schwarz, LP farbig, CD mit Bonustracks und limitierte Deluxe Pizzaboxen mit Extras erhältlich.
Mit „Golden Chart Hits Of The 80s & 90s Vol. 6“ erscheint die nächste Ausgabe der beliebten Vinyl-Serie und bringt erneut die größten Pop- und Dance-Hits zweier legendärer Jahrzehnte auf den Plattenteller. Die neue Compilation vereint internationale Chart-Klassiker und echte Kultsongs der 80er und 90er Jahre in einer hochwertigen Vinyl-Edition.
Mit dabei sind unter anderem Hits von Ace Of Base, Soft Cell, The Rainbirds, Corey Hart und Kim Wilde. Die Zusammenstellung bietet eine perfekte Mischung aus New Wave, Synth-Pop, Dance und Pop-Rock – ideal für Sammler, Vinyl-Liebhaber und Fans unvergesslicher Radiohits.
Die „Golden Chart Hits“-Reihe von ZYX Music steht seit Jahren für nostalgische Musikmomente und sorgfältig kuratierte Hit-Compilations auf Vinyl. Vol. 6 setzt diese Erfolgsgeschichte konsequent fort und liefert den perfekten Soundtrack für jede 80s- & 90s-Party.
Trelik is an A-grade label for minimal heads and now the founder, Baby Ford, welcomes back fellow micro-house specialist Ion Ludwig for vital two-tracker. 'It Broke With Speed' starts with jittery rhythms and blurts of synth as the rubbery bass rolls on and the percussion is spindled lightly up top. It's a more fulsome sound than you might expect from this producer but the art is in the intricacies of its layers. 'Archa Edel' on the B is quick and deep, speedy but tightly controlled with fluttering snares peeling off the groove and cosmic whimsy existing in the pads. Classy cuts as always.
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Lena Willikens & Sarah Szczesny feat. Viktoria Wehrmeister and Detlef Weinrich
"Phantom Seance Ballett is a boombox orchestra, Nō mimes, Vicky’s protection spells, Detlef’s psychic shuffles, a smoke machine, a strobe light chamber, painting, Margit Carstensen’s chiffre, Susie Greene’s insults, Schleim, Ebichu’s echoes and Anna Oppermann’s limbo."
Thus we welcome Lena Willikens & Sarah Szczesny's ethereal Phantom Kino Ballett project to Utter with 'Phantom Seance Ballett', an unusually tangible manifestation of what has become an on-going series of live performances and installations that incorporate sound, video, costume, still imagery and beyond. The themes explored weave in and out of grasp, touching on the otherworldly and mysterious, on hypnotic rites and ceremonies, on the fetishisation of cultural tropes and curios.
While carefully documented, these happenings had not been distilled or presented in a cohesive format until now. Of course, an attempt to harness and package such an experience required an imaginative leap beyond the traditional 'record-in-sleeve' approach and Lena and Sarah have overseen every aspect of this remarkable collection themselves.
Working with designer Till Sperrle, Lena and Sarah have conjured up a fold-out box containing an LP, a riso-printed credits poster detailing the samples and snippets collaged into the sound, a 36 page book with imagery from various shows and an essay by Thomas Vorreyer plus sticker pack. The limited 50 copy artist edition contains an additional 10 special riso-prints within an artist stamped hand-numbered box. For all, the LP contains twenty hidden locked grooves cut into the run-out on each side presenting snippets from the artists' archive.
The first of these pieces - 'Identikit Arkaden Seance' - took place on the 2nd of October 2019 at NAK Neuer Aachener Kunstverein and is a live recording. This performance was part of their exhibition "Chambers of Phantom Kino Ballett", where they showed new video works and displayed the now infamous costumes and slippers worn by Lena, Sarah and a rotating cast of guest phantoms.
At this performance, the seven performers carried boomboxes playing individual audio tracks inside and outside the Kunstverein, while Viktoria Wehrmeister and Detlef Weinrich improvised music alongside the phantoms' moving soundtracks of sonic snippets, poetry, field recordings and soundscapes.
The second piece - 'Studio Chamber Seance' - contains diverse audio tracks of performances that were held by Willikens and Szczesny in collaboration with Wehrmeister and Weinrich. It has been deconstructed and rearranged with additional sound material from the Lena Willikens & Sarah Szczesny archive, then edited and mixed by Lena and Sarah in Amsterdam and Cologne last year. Additional music by Detlef Weinrich and Viktoria Wehrmeister features throughout, recorded live in Aachen 2019 and Frankfurt 2020.
Mastered by Gordon Pohl. Transfer, additional mastering & lacquer cut by Helmut Erler at D&M.
IT Recordings presents ITR005 — a debut solo EP from Corium.
First spotted on the label’s V/A release and having played in some of the most iconic clubs such as Berghain or RSO, Corium steps up with a solo 4-track EP that perfectly mirrors his universe as a DJ — a complete vision, with a steady precision of groove and depth.
The opener, Liberation, catches immediately the attention with its infectious rhythmic drive and soaring vocal. An uplifting energy perfect for peak time.
Event Horizon follows as a playful and hypnotic building tool, woven with a deep drone atmosphere.
Tabula Rasa is an absolute beauty — Soft as silk, yet underpinned by a rolling, relentless bassline. A breathtaking moment of contrast and grace with emotional depth.
Total Eclipse closes the EP: atmospheric, playful and mental all at once. Equally effective as a peak-time weapon or a tension-building tool.
Taken together, ITR005 is a remarkably complete EP showing the artist’s ability to hold a floor from every angle. A perfect introduction to Corium’s world.
Die internationale Rocksensation The Hives, die beste Liveband der Welt und immer noch eure neue Lieblingsband, hat wieder einmal, schneller als erwartet, ein neues Werk geschaffen, wie man es noch nie gehört hat und wahrscheinlich auch nie wieder hören wird. Ihr siebtes Album 'The Hives Forever Forever The Hives' erscheint am 29. August auf dem ehrwürdigen Label Play It Again Sam. Ein neues Album voller Energie, Freude, Wut und Leben! Jeder einzelne Song eine Single, jede einzelne Single ein Hit, jeder Hit ein Volltreffer mitten ins Gesicht. Diese neue Meisterwerk entstand unter der Leitung des langjährigen Kollaborateurs Pelle Gunnerfeldt in Stockholm. Mike D von den legendären Beastie Boys ist als Gast vertreten und auch Josh Homme (Queens Of The Stone Age) stand mit Rat und Tat zur Seite.
The Hives, bestehend aus Howlin’ Pelle, Chris Dangerous, The Johan And Only, Nicholaus Arson und Vigilante Carlstroem, haben sich in über dreißig Jahren in die Annalen der Rockgeschichte eingeschrieben. Dank ihrer Erfolge füllten sie große Stadien und teilten die Bühne mit so monumentalen Acts wie AC/DC und den Rolling Stones. Die BBC bezeichnete sie als „Naturgewalt“, und der Rolling Stone kürte ihr Album 'Veni Vidi Vicious' zu einem der 100 besten Alben des Jahrzehnts. Mit Millionen verkaufter Alben, Platin-Auszeichnungen und zahlreichen Preisen - Grammys, MTV Awards, NME Awards - gelten sie als Titanen der Musikwelt. Oder wie Joe Strummer es gesagt hat: The Hives haben den Rock ’n’ Roll gerettet!
The Gravitate label is back with a new drop from an artist who has chosen to remain anonymous. The EP is anything but, however: it's the sort of characterful garage, minimal and tech melange that is going to announce itself in any setting. 'Track 1' builds with layers of percussion and a rolling bassline that becomes more sleazy on 'Track 2' with retro stabs and soulful pads harking back to early US garage days. 'Track 3' is another gritty bumper with plenty of details that make it pop before the closer flips the vibe with a more wavy slice of comically inclined space tech for smooth late-night cruising.
Top-notch Synthwave/Italosynthhorror on a sexy flexy, reworked by Aipd Q41/B47.
The two tracks were composed by pdqb while he worked for Silvio Berlusconi's Mediaset TV production company. The flexi was originally included in the November 1985 issue of the Italian Playboy Magazine (cover girl: Grace Jones) and is extremely sought after.
To recreate it as faithfully as possible, pdqb reconstructed the track from memory - using a self-conducted cognitive interview, instructing AI exactly how it had to sound.
The original conditions no longer exist: no broken synths, no absurdly long cables, no direct-to-tape chaos, no instant flexi pressings.
So every flaw, limitation and imperfection was carefully re-introduced - by design.
The result sounds nothing like the original. Except that it does.
Gravity Pleasure welcomes Maude Vôs for their most intimate EP offering to date, Medicinal Properties. Dripping in serenity and grounded in connection, Medicinal Properties is a musical elixir concocted with the healing modalities of the natural world and derived from the intentional planting and nurturing of sapphic seeds. Through minor modes, swimming cinematics and mineral-rich textures, Vôs traverses an ecosystem of sensuality and bonding, a symbiotic journey of long-distance love colored and shaped by their affinity for the earth.
Taking root in California and continuing throughout Ireland, Iceland, and Montreal, the EP translates this cross-continental connection by blurring the lines of timezones, genres, and natural landscapes. Inspired by sea swims, country oyster cottages, diner pancakes, snow flurries, geothermal soaks, mossy mornings, and adventures to igneous formations, Vôs invites you to experience this potent body of work, which forms the harmonious emotional bedrock of both kinship and creation.
Support comes from Yushh (“LOVE, so good!!!”), Jossy Mitsu (“Incredible <3”), Mixtress (“v pretty”), Peder Mannerfelt (“hot”), Batu (“like Maude Vos, downloading”), Vladimir Ivkovic (“Good! Thank you”), and OM UNIT (“Orr kore is lush”), amongst others.
"MTV Unplugged" brachte Shakira ihren ersten Grammy Award für das beste Latin Pop Album ein. Es war die erste Unplugged-Show, die komplett auf Spanisch ausgestrahlt wurde und ermöglichte ihr den Durchbruch auf dem US-Markt. "MTV Unplugged" a valu à Shakira son premier Grammy Award pour le meilleur album de pop latine. Il s'agissait du premier spectacle Unplugged diffusé entièrement en espagnol et lui a permis de percer sur le marché américain.
French ambient composer Franck Zaragoza continues the evolution of his Ocoeur project, moving beyond intricate sound design and beat-driven constructions into expansive, cinematic, beatless terrain.
On his eleventh album, Greener Grass, Clearer Water, Zaragoza deepens the eco-ambient themes introduced on 2024’s Breath, shap-ing a work that feels both intimate and quietly monumental. From its opening moments, a sense of stillness takes hold.
The album unfolds like a series of vignettes, glimpses of an unspoiled world rendered with clarity and restraint. These are not nostalgic visions but speculative ones, reflecting what the natural world might yet become should humanity alter its course.Rather than delivering overt statements, Zaragoza allows the message to resonate through atmosphere and tone.
The result is a subtle but persistent undercurrent, an awareness of fragility and of beauty at risk. In this way, Greener Grass, Clearer Water becomes less a warning than a quiet invocation, drawing attention to what stands to be lost. It is an arresting and finely balanced work, positioning Ocoeur at the intersection of ambient, neoclassical, and cinematic drone with renewed focus and purpose.
The arrival of REAL, Vol. 1 marks a seismic shift in the global music landscape, uniting two of Nigeria’s most formidable forces for a project that defines the current zenith of Afrobeats. This collaborative effort sees Wizkid, the smooth-talking pioneer of the genre’s international expansion, and Asake, the "Mr. Money" whose neo-Fuji sound redefined the street-pop aesthetic, finding a middle ground between luxury and grit. The project serves as a sonic bridge between eras, blending the minimalist, high-fashion sensibilities of Wizkid’s recent output with the high-octane, choir-backed energy that has made Asake a household name. It is less of a competition and more of a conversation between two masters of their craft, exploring themes of spiritual gratitude, the weight of superstardom, and the unyielding pulse of Lagos.
With soundscapes both cinematic and deeply rhythmic, the production moves beyond standard club formulas, opting instead for a sophisticated fusion of traditional Yoruba percussion, shimmering synths, and the heavy, resonant log drums of Amapiano. Wizkid provides the effortless, melodic swagger that acts as the project's anchor, while Asake injects a spiritual intensity through his signature layered chanting and rapid-fire flows.
Ultimately, REAL, Vol. 1 is a celebration of authenticity in an era of global crossover. By stripping away the pressure of conforming to Western pop standards, Wizkid and Asake have created a body of work that is unapologetically Nigerian yet universally resonant. It captures the spirit of a city that never sleeps and the ambition of two artists who have conquered the world without losing their souls. This is more than just a collection of hits; it is a blueprint for the future of African music, proving that when Wizkid and Asake occupy the same frequency, the result is nothing short of legendary.
Istanbul-based producers Grup Ses and Gökalp K present their collaborative album on SOUK Records, showcasing a distinctive fusion of musical styles such as hip hop, grime, dubstep, and jungle. Two years in the making, their self-titled album features contributions from Cologne-based multi- instrumentalist Elektro Hafız, Marseille-based DJ Syr from Scratch Bandits Duo and Ethnique Punch, a Turkish MC & producer now based in Bremen.
Grup Ses project began in 2007, initially focusing on edits and breakcore mash-ups. By 2008, it evolved into a beatmaking project incorporating elements of humor and local materials such as records, tapes, and radio broadcasts, which have become the signature Grup Ses sound. Grup Ses has previously collaborated with sub-labels of Discrepant, releasing two albums on SOUK and three mixtapes on Sucata Tapes.
Gökalp K, the alias of composer and sound designer Gökalp Kanatsız, has been releasing music since 2011. Under this name, he has released two albums and performed as a DJ. Alongside his beat production, he also composes electro-acoustic music and collaborates with creative studios as a sound artist on various interdisciplinary projects.
A sprawling, meditative journey into inner and outer space, the new double album from Ivan The Tolerable sees Oli Heffernan retreat fully into the solo realm - crafting an expansive sonic world that feels both intimate and cosmic in scope. Recorded entirely alone and released via Riot Season, this latest work drifts away from structured forms and toward something more fluid, exploratory, and transcendent.
Drawing on the devotional atmospheres of early ambient pioneers and the hypnotic pulse of kosmische music, the album unfolds as a series of slowly shifting soundscapes—analog synths breathing in long, patient waves, tape loops dissolving into shimmering drones, and melodies that seem to emerge from nowhere before gently receding again. There are echoes of ritual, of vast landscapes, of time stretching and folding in on itself.
Across its two discs, Heffernan embraces a deeply immersive approach—less concerned with destination than with the act of drifting itself. It’s music that invites stillness and surrender, equally suited to deep listening or quiet disconnection from the noise of the everyday.
Unbound by genre yet rooted in a rich lineage of experimental sound, this is Ivan The Tolerable at his most introspective and transportive - a double album that doesn’t just ask for your attention, but your presence.
Chontane returns to Mutual Rytm with a more raw and aggressive sound than before across six powerful new tracks on his latest EP, 'Permanent'.
Berlin-based Ukrainian DJ/producer Chontane has had a busy twelve months. Capped off by recently launching his own new TANE label, the exciting talent has been working hard to reinvent and refresh his sound in the studio. Mastering new techniques to push things to the next level, this EP and return to SHDW & Obscure Shape's Mutual Rytm proves he has succeeded and then some. Where previous works on the likes of ARTS and Rekids were full and more melodic, here he has restricted himself and gone for a more visceral sound. Developed and built in all new ways with an innovative approach to sound design and arrangement, the tracks on the package showcase a more serious and harder-hitting side to his sound as he unveils his impactful 'Permanent' EP.
Opener 'Graze' has a monstrous feel to it, with ghoulish synth loops and industrial textures all coming on strong and heavy. As it bangs along, incendiary hi-hats and lithe pads all bring extra weight and detail. 'Cumaru' is a highpaced techno workout with a frenzy of synths and percussion, all making for dense layers of heavily textured sound. 'Schima' brings some big techno bounce in the drums and more hurried, rusty synth loops that lock you into the darkness. Showing yet another side, 'Lauan' is a little more paired back with pounding tribal grooves and bright synths, bringing relentless yet funk-fuelled intensity. 'Vevis' is the most melodic of the lot - a heavy track but with subtle optimism in the rising background synths that will surely get hands in the air.
Last of all is digital bonus 'Makore', a cauldron of intensity with scraping hits and relentless drums, vastly oversized hi-hats and slamming bass. This high-impact, beautifully brutal yet groove-heavy techno takes Chontane's sound into new realms, and delivers an impressive return on a label continuing to push the genre forward.
Originally composed by Collage in 1985, Herzschlag returns in a newly recorded cover version by Berlin-based synth-wave duo Bionda e Lupo. Describing themselves as a “boy/girl band like no other,” Lupo recreated the NDW-electro tune from the ground up using an impressive array of vintage instruments and studio equipment, including classic synths such as a Pro-One, a Roland Juno-60, and a Farfisa Syntorchestra. Bionda’s distinctive voice adds a new emotional depth to Katrin A. Kunze’s lyrics while still remaining true to the original spirit of the song.
Lupo of Bionda e Lupo has long been a devoted fan of Mit den Puppen tanzen, Collage's only release at the time, originally issued as a 12" single in 1984. Despite never managing to acquire an original copy, he considers the record unique within the German NDW landscape thanks to its unmistakable "Bravo-breakdance-meets-synth-pop" character. Indeed, Markus Kammann, Jürgen Grah, and Katrin A. Kunze drew significant inspiration from the electro-funk pioneers of the era, particularly Afrika Bambaataa's iconic Planet Rock. When we approached Bionda e Lupo about re-editing a track from the Collage's Motel d'amour release, they instead proposed recording an entirely new cover version.
Work on the project began in spring 2025 in coordination with Markus Kammann, who, together with Jürgen Grah, originally composed the music. Sadly, Kammann, born in 1958, passed away unexpectedly on October 17, 2025. This release is dedicated to his memory.
The liner notes reveal additional details about Kammann's remarkable life and achievements. He was the founder of the legendary Beatbox club in Wuppertal, which was once recognized as the "Best Club in Europe," and a co-founder of the Groove Attack record store. Groove Attack would later grow into one of the world's most influential music distributors, especially for Hip-Hop.
The 12" release is limited to 200 copies. Pressed on transparent red vinyl with black "smoke" effects, it comes housed in a picture-disc sleeve with an accompanying sticker. As an additional highlight, the record includes a previously unreleased NDW bonus track recorded around 1983 by Collage. It features Katrin A. Kunze as well as Thomas Kohl, the vocalist of Schwarze Bewegung.
- Red transparend vinyl with black smoke
- Housed in a picture-disc sleeve with large sticker
- Released in memory of Markus Kammann (1958-2025)
- Contains A4-sheet with liner notes
- 5 tracks, including the vinyl only bonus track "Hallo E.T.",
- Quality lacquer cut by Manmade Mastering
Maltese talent Human Safari debuts on Mutual Rytm with jazz-influenced techno EP, 'Culture Shock'.
Human Safari is a key player in his native scene in Malta. He's a resident at Glitch Festival, has played cult spots, and has a dynamic sound that brings jazz improvisation to techno, often featuring live instrumental elements. His music has found its place on top labels like R&S Records, and most of this new EP for SHDW's Mutual Rytm imprint was produced during his Colombian summer tour last year - written and recorded amongst inspiring and unusual settings with just a laptop and headphones.
"This EP represents embracing new beginnings that, though might bring uncertainty and fear, the
light always guides you to where you were always meant to be." - Human Safari.
Opener 'Mouse on Keys' has been a key cut for the label boss across the past year, a unique track that peaks curiosity from dancers to DJs whenever it's played. Its cantering techno rhythm is overlaid with delicate, heartfelt piano keys straight from a smoky jazz bar, making for a great counter to the physical drums. 'Fragments' is a deeply personal track dedicated to the artist's late grandfather. It's a funky, soulful techno roller with blissed-out and sunny chords full of hope.
Next, 'Classique' gets more gritty with loopy drums and bass and glitchy percussion that fizzes with energy, while 'The Labyrinth' features piano motifs recorded in just one take. It brings a dark paranoia in the uneasy, off-grid keys which dart about with nervous energy over the booming low ends. There is just as much intensity and edge to the unresolved keys that loop over the raw drums on 'A Rainy Day in Bogota', before digital bonus cuts 'Dorian' and 'Phantom' bring more jazzed out techno madness with warped keys and expressive elements bringing great invention.
The free folk/jazz sound of modern Los Angeles. Featuring a heavy bunch of musicians and vocalists including Moor Mother.
"Fearlessly Accessing the Divine Spirit From Here on Out" is the vinyl debut from pianist, composer, and producer Diego Gaeta. He has previously released projects as Club Diego and with the trio Human Error Club (whose members Mekala Session and Jesse Justice helped produce this record). He has quickly become a fixture in a number of Los Angeles musical environments, working with Lionmilk, The Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, Carlos Niño, Black Nile among others. This album is a synthesis of these many LA environments, and carries chamber, jazz, ambient, and folk influences, ultimately giving it an uncategorizable feel similar to works by Arthur Verocai or David Axelrod.
Gaeta recorded the initial ideas for the album by himself after experiencing a burst of creativity during the lockdown of 2020, in the aftermath of a season of protests in Los Angeles, on a piano at his home in El Sereno. "I was constantly not in tune with myself, always awaiting outrage and tragedy in a very unstable world. However, hitting the streets in support of various ongoing pandemic community actions felt necessary and it marked a point in time that ushered in large societal changes. The weight of that era made me feel allergic to making art at the time. All of these ideas came after that period, expressing my reflections subconsciously. I remember that the ideas came in a short amount of time, and then they developed."
Once he had created the tracks as Ableton sessions, he realized the gravity and context of how he was processing his ideas so he, as he puts it, "felt like taking them outside the hands of midi and into the hands of friends." Gaeta was able to assemble his dream band, which ended up being a 9-piece ensemble, or a nonet. "I felt that at some point I was channeling the geometrical balance of that nonet...it's almost as if I had a sextet and then the three of the sextet that's not the rhythm section were doubled. It's a really dense sextet, that's how I see it."
The recording process began the following summer in June 2021 as the musicians were all adjusting to the newfound dynamic of getting tested for COVID, waiting a few days, and then meeting up to record. "We were eating Indian food, some of us were smoking, it was a nice memory, but I felt a little stressed, because I was the bandleader, and I felt the emotional weight of my music."
The title track and single, featuring vocals by Jimetta Rose, begins with a speech by Gaeta delivered when playing with Black Nile in 2019 at the Levitt Amphitheatre in MacArthur park. Gaeta provides the following account: "Even though it was in 2019, socio-political tensions and issues were at the forefront for me at that time. I wrote a speech that was intended to be critical of the US but it ended up becoming a collage inspired by different women that had messages of freedom that spoke to me the most. I quoted Nina Simone and Georgia Anne Muldrow, it wasn't something that I read but something that she said "kicking it with consciousness and style" that phrase stuck with me, so I used it in that speech. Although critical, the speech had a positive feeling to it, and it was hopeful. I gave that speech while fireworks were going off."
Moor Mother & Zeroh are found on their respective tracks, Memory Screen & Eccolo - both delivering a distinct, commanding vocal performance. Low Leaf colors the track Soft Spot with harp, a beautiful ballad nestled in the center of the album. Other players include Gregory Uhlmann on guitar, Jon Kaye on violin, Devin Daniels on alto saxophone, Caleb Buchanan on bass, Dante Luna on vibraphone, Patrick Behnke on viola, Bryan Baker on tenor saxophone/flute, and Mekala Session on drums.
"I’d like for us tonight to embody a freedom oriented life. Freedom isn’t just a dream, it’s a place we must all arrive at together, as one by one the people of the Earth help each other to be Free of power, hate, and insecurities. Let’s kick it with consciousness and style. Can y’all dig that? YEAH. I can too. So now we’d like to present to you a spiritual transmission I like to call: 'Fearlessly Accessing the Divine Spirit of Freedom From Here On Out.' YEAH" - Diego Gaeta
