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In September last year, Josh Tillman stopped by our Nashville headquarters on an otherwise ordinary Tuesday afternoon and surprised us all with a lunchtime solo, acoustic set before his sold-out Ryman Auditorium performance. We, of course, had our 1955 Scully Lathe warmed at the ready to capture the occasion.

As is typical for direct-to-acetate recordings in the Blue Room, Josh warmed up the room (and our engineers) with two songs before we started cutting the LP. He began with the debut performance of his newly penned 'Mr. Tillman' (foreshadowing its release as the first single on God's Favorite Customer 9 months later). We then used the second song as an opportunity to carve a 12' on-the-spot single of 'Now I'm Learning to Love the War,' which was promptly handed it to a lucky attendee for safe keeping. If you want to know more about that, you'll have to scour the depths of FJM's fan net.

Live at Third Man Records covers songs from all three Father John Misty albums out at the time of its recording, heard here stripped totally bare





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Taylor Swift, seven-time GRAMMY award winner, and the
youngest recipient in history of the music industry's highest
honor, the GRAMMY Award for Album of the Year. She is the
#1 digital music artist of all-time and is the first artist since the
Beatles (and the only female artist in history) to log six or more
weeks at #1 with three consecutive studio albums. Taylor has
an album on Rolling Stone's prestigious The 50 Greatest
Albums of All Time (by women) list, Time magazine has named
her one the of the100 Most Influential People in the world, and
she is Billboard's youngest-ever Woman of the Year. Taylor
has career record sales in excess of 30 million albums and 75
million song downloads worldwide, and has had singles top both
the pop and country radio charts around the globe.
LONDON, 18th August 2014 - Taylor Swift, announced her new
album 1989 and it is available immediately for pre-buy on
TaylorSwiftand iTunes. In addition, Taylor released Shake
It Off, the first single and video from her fifth studio album.
1989 is a touchstone - Taylor's songwriting and sonic evolution
surprises us more than ever before. Heavily keyboard and beat
driven, the pop sensibilities that have always been the hallmark
of Taylor's music now move front and centre on 1989. "I spent
two years making 1989. Two years gives you enough time to
grow and change and let things inspire you. I was listening to a
lot of late 80's pop music and how bold those songs were and
how that time period was a time of limitless possibilities. In
thinking about that, this album is a rebirth for me. This is my
very first documented, official pop album. 1989 is the most
sonically cohesive album I have ever made and my favourite
album I have ever made," said Taylor.

Soma welcome the debut album from the ever-growing roster of youthful talent as Lewis Fautzi drops The Gare Album, named in homage to The Gare Club, Porto, where Lewis made his discovery of Techno. A bold 4 track single debut gave rise to the album process midway through 2013 and under the careful supervision of Soma, Lewis has provided a definitive peak in his sound cultivated on the back of years of studio work. A collection of deep, dark and twisted techno awaits.

A definite maturity in production shines through on this fantastic LP from Fautzi as he creates a cold and calculating output, clearly focused on the future. The Gare Album has allowed Fautzi to express himself fully through electronic music, a task that he has taken to whole-heartedly.
The Gare Album will be released on limited double LP.

Pink Vinyl

User D opens the dance with an acid grower in the Mr Gasmask state of mind, 152 BPM. Tom Tommers dig the second cut on the A side with a large fat kick at same speed... A swing core acid track ! Bangbass and User D did the thirst track of this gentle EP. Swingcore as well, about 152 PMB as well... Vikkei complete the global figure with all the talent we know from him, with a Hardcore frontier swinger... A label with a style is born !!

It would be fair to say that Leng co-founder Paul “Mudd” Murphy is a born collaborator. Since first donning the Mudd alias at the dawn of the century, Murphy has released numerous collaborative albums and singles with regular collaborators Ben Smith (as Smith & Mudd) and Kevin Pollard (Mudd & Pollard), as well as playing a key role in “super-groups” Paqua and Bison. “Susta”, which marks his first single on Leng since 2009, sees Murphy add some new names to his growing list of collaborators. It was made in cahoots with singer/songwriter David Harks, a regular Satin Jackets collaborator who also appeared on Jack Cutter’s superb “Serpent Strut” cut on Murphy’s Claremont 56 label.

“Susta” is a bubbly, evocative and ear-pleasing chunk of mid-tempo nu-disco pop featuring lead vocals from Jaanika Leino AKA JaneLy – a former X-Factor Finland contestant whose sultry and evocative voice simply soars above Murphy and Harks’ sparkling, life-affirming instrumentation. Rich in twinkling synth solos, rich Clavinet lines, chugging arpeggio lines and eyes-closed piano, “Susta” is a strong song that will squat inside your head and stay there for days.

Our advice is to welcome it in – it’s as joyous and life-affirming a track as Leng has ever released. It’s accompanied by a predictably strong remix by British electronic music veteran Andrew Meecham (Bizarre Inc, Chicken Lips etc.), who dons the now familiar Emperor Machine alias to deliver a dub for the ages. Combining his own analogue and modular electronics with snippets of Leino’s vocal and some of the warmest instrumentation from Murphy and Harks’ original mix (think Clavinet and Rhodes for starters), Meecham offers up an epic slice of electronic dub disco that bubbles away for ten mesmerizing minutes. It’s a superb interpretation of a high quality cut.

Bristol-based multi-instrumentalist producer Memotone returns to Diskotopia for the stunning full-length LP Invisible Cities, undoubtedly his most accomplished work to date, effortlessly joining the dots between Martin Denny, Yasuaki Shimizu, Nurse With Wound, and Mark Isham…

Memotone is the principal alias for Bristol-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer William Yates. As a solo artist, he has released on labels such as Black Acre, Bedouin, Project Mooncircle, and Brownswood either as Memotone or under his other alias Halfnelson. In addition to doing composition work for film and television, he works as a session musician for the likes of Dmitry Evgrafov, Connie Constance, and Phaeleh. He's also part of the Avon Terror Corps project helmed by Bokeh Versions, Giant Swan. Noods et al., and is a member of ATC-affiliated Pheasantry Society. His music has been championed on the radio, a key influential medium for Yates growing up, by the likes of Gilles Peterson, Mary Anne Hobbs, Tom Ravenscroft, Nick Luscombe, and more.

Drawing from Bristol's own sonic history, from the late 80s to the present, as well as the writing of Italo Calvino, Yates has put together 10 tracks on Invisible Cities that sit somewhere between neo-classical, ambient, fourth-world exotica, and post-krautrock. The mix of different timbres of live string and wind instruments, astute synthesizer touches, and skittish drum machine strokes creates an organic and ethereal energy deftly manipulated into a delicately interwoven narrative through Yates's production prowess. Already garnered support from the music press and radio DJs, the album will strongly appeal to a wide range of music lovers and fans of Ryuichi Sakamoto, Dorothy Ashby, Alberto Iglesias, Labradford, Delia Derbyshire, Peverelist, Toshifumi Hinata and more…

Another win for the Glowing Pin as Müller & Wandt drop a fresh new age groover on a killer club dub tip. Elsewhere Phazer Boys, Suzanne Kraft, Philipp Otterbach and River Yarra remix the pscht out of their favourite tracks from ‘Instrumentalmusik..’. Expect Goan hits, cosmic trips, loved up rave and chilled out wave on this flawless five tracker.

Growing Bin becomes Glowing Pin for the most anticipated rematch of the century. Back at the beginning of 2018, Wolf Müller and Niklas Wandt went head to head for a box office smash, throwing a high school percussion tray, wall of hardware and voodoo skull into the ring for the tribal trip of ‘Instrumentalmusik Von Der Mitte Der World’. Now the multi-instrumental duo face off once again, but this time it’s a royal rumble with Phazer Boys, Suzanne Kraft, Phillip Otterbach and River Yarra all bringing the noise to the Glowing Pin.

Müller and Wandt dominate the action on the A1, playing loose with sampler vox, serene pads and future primitive rhythms on the unreleased ‘Fun Dub’ of the also unreleased ‘Dub Dub’. Imagine Ferris Bueller’s trampoline tumble trading Chicago to the Weissenhof and you’ll sense the mood of this New Age groove. Germany’s number one party dudes, those freaky Phazer Boys take a break from dropping killer Candomblé cuts to reach for the lasers on the A2, taking ‘Ahu’ to another dimension. Dripping in neon body paint and armed with fire poi, the Düsseldorf duo power up progressive house sequences, didgeridoo bass and thumping tribal house percussion for a wall-shaking, speaker-breaking remix.

The B1 belongs to synth whiz Suzanne Kraft who revels in glistening, gliding glory on an expansive remix of ‘Auflösung’. Sleek, serene and futuristic, the track shimmers like Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, free from inequality and rendered with the 5D(ub?) majesty of a DMT breakthrough.
B2 hears Salon associate and serious talent Philipp Otterbach take over on a stripped back and psychedelic post punk dub of ‘Expedition’. Angular bass by Süne Große and a stuttering rhythm underpin astral flourishes and the hazy vocals of Lucas Croon before the African elements begin to move to the forefront.
Last man standing is Australian outlier River Yarra, who leads us into the Krautback with a chugging dub of ‘Weltraumsandalen’. Lent a lysergic sparkle by a percolating one-note bassline, this slow motion stunner masters perpetual motion amid the eerie echoes of the bush, organic percussion and electronic animal cries fading into the night. Let the pins glow again.

Patrick Ryder

Fabrizio Lapiana's Attic Music label reaches release number 20 on the main series with a new EP from the boss himself: Collective Chaos features remixes from fellow Italian techno luminaries Neel & Laertes.

Rome's Lapiana has been a vital voice in the global techno underground for more than 10 years now. His Attic Music label has played a key part in that, while his own evocative techno soundscapes have come on the likes of M_Rec ltd, Figure Jams, ARTS and Out-Er. This is his first outing of 2020 and is a superbly stylish techno trip.

Opener 'Crystal' is deep, drawn out techno with perfectly smooth and supple drum programming that soon gets you in a state of hypnosis. Subtle synth loops rise up through the mix as things grow more urgent, and once the percussion joins you're utterly locked. The title track is a more turbulent and edgy affair that sound tracks a dystopian urban wasteland - the synths are riddled with static, the hurried drums are punchy and there is an urgency in the molten synth lines that keeps you right on the edge of your seat.

Sound sculptor Neel runs Spazio Disponibile with collaborative partner Donato Dozzy and has an impeccable knack for sound design. Here he links with Laertes (half of Modern Heads with Dino Sabatini), a Mental Modern and Concrete Records associate who produces artful techno. Together, they remix 'Collective Chaos' into a dark and moody techno roller with glitchy textures and high speed synth lines that sweep you off your feet.

Closing out this terrific trip is 'Koyuk', a Millsian adventure into an intergalactic techno future, with polyphonic synths rippling above a rubbery drum line that is both propulsive and pensive.

This is high grade, perfectly distilled and meditative techno from some of Italy's finest exports.

Welcoming, 'Come Together' - a five track various artists EP drawn from our network of associates locally and internationally. With artists hailing from Japan, Italy, the USA and Australia the 12" features the sounds that bring our families together on dance floors around the globe.Italy's Matisa opens the record with a designer italo-house trip "Garbadine", armed with punchy drums, a warped guitar loop and hypnotic bass line. Melbourne group Polito's "Wallis Axiom" juxtaposes this with a guttural, gurgling outsider-techno piece. Frenetic percs and crunchy distortion collide with alien FX and bleepy modular synthesis for a dark journey.On the flip, New York City master producer Physical Therapy jumps into the deep end with "10000% Pure Love", a raw, hard hitting club weapon. The Allergy Season boss distils the pure, unbridled energy of a sweaty dance floor through a woozy bassline and manic cowbell action. Slowing the pace slightly, Berlin via Japan producer Yuzo Iwata delivers "Acid House" a rugged, growling beast which trips and chugs along as a monstrous 303 weaves in an out of the penetrating vocals "ACID HOUSE". The mysterious Serpent finishes you off with "In The Garden" a syncopated drum workout imbued with a ritualist, primitive energy by the heavily layered percussion and flickering synths.

As a long-time friend of the Connected label, Le Croque makes his debut with a superb single that comes with a remix from Themba. At the forefront of the ever-growing Greek afro-house scene and part of The Madorasindahouse team, Le Croque has also released on Open Bar Music and King Street, and DJed alongside such legends as Black Coffee, Adam Port and &Me. For this release he teams up with Berlin via Munich vocalist HRRSN who came to electronic music from soul and R&B and has released on such labels as Stil Vor Talent, Suol and Noir Music. This latest partnership leads to a beautiful deep slice of electronic hypnosis on 'Melancholia.' The track has a driving rhythm that is sparse and simple, with lush keyboard refrains and vocals soaring in the drop. It is the sort of majestic and melodic offering that will make for a fantastic high point in any set, while the dub keeps things even deeper for more intimate moments. Remixer Themba has swiftly risen to prominence over the last few years and is at the forefront of the South African house scene. Here he delivers a sharp and striding groove that is joined by stabbing bass, with fading, string-like notes and dubbed vocal refrains taking things to another level as HRRSN comes into the spotlight and delivers a message from the heart. This is a subtle but celebratory house package packed with plenty of emotion.

Any botanist will extol the virtues of cross-pollination, and musical hybrids are a Growing Bin speciality. For the latest release Parisian outfit Maât splice jazz with Balearic, dub, house and Afro to create a free thinking LP dedicated to world fusion fore-runners Codona.

If Singu found calm amongst the chaos of Tokyo for ’Siku’ (GBR017), then Maât map out a Sunday stroll through the sun dappled streets of the Parisian banlieue on ’Solar Mantra’. Humming reeds converge into a pre-dawn chorus before dewy sequences and drifting syncopation signal sunrise over La Vilette, a perfect place to start ‘The Walk’. Skirting the Périphérique, the Parisian ensemble pick out a street percussionist by Boulevard d’Algérie then detour to Pré-Satint-Gervais to draw a bassline out of the Metro Area, adding an Environ cool to the uptempo ‘Jaki & Bryn’. With icy bells, brooding guitars and melancholic vocals, ‘Feuglace’ transports Miko’s garten to the 20th arrondissement while the polyrhythmic patter and micro-tuned guitars of ‘Solar Mantra’ see out the A-side with a fourth world hymn.

Chakras cleansed and ready for a B-side rebirth, Maât take us dancing through Père Lachaise via organic house bomb ‘Quetzal Pacino’, an emotive exploration of rhythmic mallets, dreamy pads and propulsive bass, which moves like the Innerzone Orchestra re-arranged by Jon Hassell. Rest comes with the soothing pianos and swelling sine waves of the pastoral ‘Clarière’, a hazy homage to the noon sun on a clearing. Circular motifs, limber grooves and dubby bass mean we’re on the move again, slipping into Montreuil with the echo-drenched scat and firm back beats of ‘Mount Beuvray’, before ‘Llomé Dub’ takes us home in time for a cool beer and much needed smoke on the balcony. Acoustic guitar, lilting piano and a gorgeous female vocal ride the punchy bass and clattering drums to perfection, keeping us company until the day fades into a contented haze.

Patrick Ryder

Alabaster DePlume is a Manchester UK-born, London-based bandleader, composer, saxophonist, activist and orator.
He's a resident at the legendary London creative hub Total Refreshment Centre, a recording artist for the off-grid Scottish Hebridean island label Lost Map, and now the latest arrival into Chicago-based International Anthem's growing family of progressive musical explorationists.

Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba’s double-bill Lesotho concert was a daring, defiant and ultimately dazzling act. For the first time since its limited release in South Africa in 1981, Matsuli Music is proud to re-issue this gem of a pan-African, funk-infused, extended audio double album with unpublished photographs and new liner notes from Atiyyah Khan. The Christmas-weekend stadium-filled concert deeply challenged and disturbed South Africa’s apartheid regime. Makeba and Masekela were banned from entering South Africa, yet tens of thousands of their South African fans invaded Lesotho to party with their musical heroes. Live in Lesotho documents an inspired Hugh Masekela and his stellar New York band putting a new spin on crowd favourites. Another South African jazz gem from Matsuli Music’s growing catalogue of essential high-quality reissues. For an artist as prolific and famous as Hugh Masekela, it is a real surprise that this particular recording took so long to resurface.

"The two Portuguese-speaking African islands of Sao Tomé & Principe, located in the Gulf of Guinea, created an unique music called Puxa : a refined mixture of various musical components from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. A blend of Semba, Merengue, Kompas, Soukouss, Coladeira patterns, often pushing forward with a voodoo-like energy, solid bass lines, delicate melodies and backing harmonies of the rich Sao Tomean melodic traditions. Very first compilation focusing on the golden age of these island’s sounds, the 16 tracks selected will surely set fire on all dance floors !

Léve-Léve is the first ever compilation devoted to music from São Tome and Principe, two small islands situated off the coast of Gabon in central Africa. The album unravels a story of liberation where the music of Africa, Europe and the Americas unify with a carefree spirit personified by a phrase the islanders use all the time: “léve, léve” (“take it easy”). With echoes of Angolan semba and merengue, of Brazilian afoxê, of coladeira from Cape Verde and dance music from the Caribbean, it is a sound fiercely proud of its island heritage, sung in local dialects and using distinctive local rhythms.

On this record you can hear the cultural and social history of São Tome and Principe, and how live music represented its beating heart. Once known as the “Chocolate Islands” (remarkably, these two tiny islands were the largest cocoa producers in the world, though now this title acts as a reminder of its colonial past), through the years leading up to independence from Portugal, music would be a fundamental voice of liberation and conviviality. Os Úntués were one of the first groups to make an impression, releasing a couple of 7 inches in Angola – the litmus test of success for any of the islands’ groups. They united unique rhythms and dances like socopé, puita and dança-congo – borne from the islands’ largely slave-descendant population – with the sound of pop music beamed in on the radio from Europe, even adding in a little bit of soukous and Brazilian instrumentation. Their main rivals were Conjunto Mindelo, who fused São Toméan rhythms with rebita, an Angolan style, to create high energy puxa, a truly original island rhythm.

From the mid-1970s, coinciding with independence from Portugal in 1975, the islands’ groups featured an even stronger African influence and nowhere was that more apparent than with Africa Negra. They would listen to the latest records from Gabon, Zaire and Cameroon, taking inspiration and trying out phrasing from the greats of Central African guitar playing, developing a devoted fan base off the islands, as well as on. A score of other bands would follow a similar musical path, with a few getting their dues overseas in Angola, Cape Verde, Portugal and across Africa.

Os Leonenses (led by the iconic Pedro Lima), Conjunto Sangazuza, Sum Alvarinho and Conjunto Ecuador were just some of the other bands that formed a lively home-grown music scene that lit up the islands’ bars and open-air shows from the 1950s through to the mid-90s. Regardless of class or age, they were responsible for keeping the population entertained come the weekend, with Sunday matinee shows the highlight of the week, the music not stopping from midday until midnight.

As a Portuguese island colony that was for many years populated with slaves brought from Africa, São Tome and Principe has much in common with other Lusophone countries and boasts a richly complex and idiosyncratic musical DNA. Whilst the musical tapestries of Angola and Cape Verde are well known, São Tome and Principe’s secrets were assigned to the islanders themselves. Until now."

States of Fugue SF02 is the adventurous & uncompromising new record from Zoë Mc Pherson. It follows the success of her critically acclaimed 2018 album String Figures SF01, an audiovisual project that earned her invitations to perform around the world.

States of Fugue SF02 also inaugurates her new hybrid label SFX, a collaborative project with fellow multimedia artist Alessandra Leone. The label presents an opportunity for the pair to fully embody their creative vision whilst building bridges between, and for practitioners working at the intersection of different creative fields.

Zoë Mc Pherson's recent recorded work includes collaborations with Rupert Clervaux and Christina Vantzou, and a remix for Contagious, which was released on Rabih Beaini's Morphine imprint. SoF features collaborations with Elvin Brandi and dutch free improv scene singer Greetje Bijma, a cast which reveals Zoë's punkish & deviant taste and who's vocal work provides moments of both ballistic & mystic power.

Brandi features on Learn Ur Language with a rabid diatribe, somehow flowing through Zoë's staccato barricades. On album closer Bug, Greetje's alien annunciations are neatly vaporised into the year 3000.

The album relentlessly toys with typical dance music meter, creating complex organic structures that activate forgotten muscles in those exposed at sufficient volume, puppeteering the obedient dancer into new patterns of movement. Tenace is the prime example, where wormhole rhythms pull you in with the gravity of an unknown planet.

The album within it's singular feeling for electro-naturalism is rich in humanity and personality, aided throughout by the diverse terrain of Zoë's voice - a tool she uses for full spectrum expression, from whispers to screams. With the launch of SFX and a clutch of multimedia collaborations alongside, we are witnessing her evolve in all directions.

SFX is a new hybrid label from Zoë Mc Pherson and Alessandra Leone. After collaborating for three years on their multimedia String Figures project, the label will build on this foundation, continuing to develop and release objects and experiences across various mediums.

The labels first release will be Zoë Mc Pherson's sophomore LP
States of Fugue, released February 20th 2020.

Syrian wedding singer turned global dance icon Omar Souleyman releases his 4th studio album Shlon via Mad Decent / Because Music.
On Shlon (Arabic for “how,” or literally “which color”), Omar Souleyman presents 6 new techno-meets-dabke songs of romance and love — singing poetry of a woman’s lips as sweet as Hillah’s dates on “Layle”; an intriguing woman he watches from afar whose kiss would be worth 10 million other kisses on “Shlon”; a lover ready to offer his beloved anything she wishes under the sun on “Shi Tridin” (“What Do You Wish For?”); a man in admiration of a woman with green eyes and blonde hair on “Abou Zlilif” (“Her Face is Like The Moon”); a song about love that will last forever on “Mawwal”, a traditional — all superimposed on complex techno arrangements by Hasan Alo, and based on the hi-speed Kurdish and Arabic dabke and baladi styles with the exception of “Mawwal” being presented in its traditionally slower pace. Shlon features double keyboard work from Hasan Alo, a fellow native of the Hasaka region in Northeastern Syria who has recently been active in the vibrant nightlife scene of Dubai. Azad Salih, a young Syrian man currently living in Mardin, Turkey, accompanies on saz, with the lyrics and love poetry written on the spot during the album’s recording session by longtime Omar collaborator Moussa Al Mardood - also currently based in Turkey.
Omar Souleyman, who has collaborated with Björk and Four Tet, began his career as a prolific wedding singer, releasing nearly 500 live albums before civil war broke out in his native Syria in 2011. He then moved to Turkey and in 2013 released his Four Tet-produced debut studio album Wenu Wenu via Ribbon/Domino, which NPR called, "...a jam so visceral, thrilling and intense as to make the mysterious matter of earthly borders seem hardly worth the time to contemplate." His 2015 sophomore album Bahdeni Nami (various producers including Four Tet, Gilles Peterson and Modeselektor) garnered widespread critical praise including The Guardian, who proclaimed "It's so fast that the only appropriate way to engage with it is to wriggle your limbs. Melodies are both abrasive and ebullient, chattering endlessly like raucous birdsong," and 2017’s To Syria, With Love via Mad Decent placing Omar firmly in the canon of global electronic music.
Souleyman has bolstered his growing status as a world and electronic music icon establishing an extensive international following after touring widely and performing at major festivals including Glastonbury, Bonnaroo, Pitchfork Paris and Roskilde. Since its founding in 2013, Souleyman has been an advocate for the charity "Our Heart Aches for Syria," which operates in collaboration with Doctors Without Borders. In that same year, he performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Norway.

Completing a red hot trio of remix EPs of Calm’s By Your Side album is this final part with Lucas Croon, Cantoma and Gallo and Yuri Shulgin all serving up expansive and mind altering new versions.

He doesn’t release often but when he does you need to listen to Lucas Croon. His unique take on ‘Before Landing’ is a proper dance floor heater to get you on your toes. Once you're there, a gentle rush of rave euphoria tases over you and sends shivers down your spine as old school breakbeats and glowing pads complete the trip.

Elsewhere, long time Balearic pin up, scene hero and all round blissed out boss man Phil Mison has a new album corn gin the spring. Before that, he becomes Cantoma for a timeless version of ‘You Can See The Sunrise Again’ that has bright blue skies and jaunty chords making you move.

Regular label artist homie Gallo is in the form of his life right now - he's resident DJ at Hell Yeah's weekly Balearic night Buena Onda in Berlin, has a growing reputation for being one of the best eclectic selectors in the game and is currently working on compiling the forthcoming BUENA ONDA comp with label head Marco. He gets long legged on his deep cut remix of ‘Sky Color Passing’ which is another killer that slowly but surely works you in a slow motion acid trance.

Completing this most exquisite outing is Yuri Shulgin, a multi-instrumentalist music producer from Tajikistan with credits on Cocktail d'Amore Music. His spellbinding take on 'Ending of Summer, Beginning of Autumn' is a fusion of jazz, leftfield and electronica will have you in a spin and your head lost in the clouds amongst the twinkling stars and cosmic pads.

Caroline True Records are very happy, by public demand (honestly!) to release, on limited wax, a true dancefloor gem-a track that has been described as a “Sax-Banger” of the very highest order.

A remix that’s hard to pigeonhole-but one that has been featured heavily by DJ luminaries such Ben UFO (Hessle Audio) & Job Jobse at Dekmantel where the track ruled the evening back in 2017 & again this year. It’s grown in popularity totally organically across Europe’s more discerning dancefloors & has many admirers..

Brand new Bastard Jazz signing Buscrates comes out of the gate swinging with his first release for the label full of the bubbling, electronic funk he's become known for. "Lost & Found" features the vocal talents of Sally Green over a slappin' bassline, guitar licks and airy synths while "Cruise Control" goes on an instrumental ride with it's heavy drums, catchy g-funk lead and growling bass. Another funky affair from the Pittsburgh producer.

Wewantsounds is delighted to continue its Akiko Yano reissue program with the reissue of her superb double album recorded with YMO at a time when she was part of the group’s touring line up between 1979 and 1980. The album is pure Akiko Yano featuring her superb singing and piano playing, enhanced by touches of YMO’s synth-pop sound (check her cult version of YMO’s classic, “Tong-Poo”). It is the first time the album is released outside of Japan and the deluxe 2-LP set features the original artwork with gatefold sleeve and 4-page insert.
When "Gohan Ga Dekitayo" came out in 1980, Akiko Yano had been touring with Yellow Magic Orchestra for more than a year. She'd play keyboards alongside the three founding members, Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi, plus guitarist Kenji Omura and Synth wizard programmer Hideki Matsutake (as part of the 1980 North American tour, she'd also feature in the group's cult TV appearance on Soul Train for a memorable rendition of "Tighten Up") and they are all present on "Gohan Ga Dekitayo."
The double LP, whose title could be translated by "Dinner is ready," was co-produced with Ryuichi Sakamoto and recorded at two legendary studios: Tokyo's Alfa Studio "A" and Los Angeles' Sound City. It was Akiko's first shift towards a fuller synth sound following four studio albums mixing Pop and Jazz Funk, including her landmark debut from 1976, "Japanese Girl". A shift that would continue with the release of "Tadaima" in 1981, also featuring the YMO musicians.
?The fourteen tracks featured on "Gohan Ga Dekitayo" find Akiko in top form mixing her singer-songwriter's sensitivity with the electro-pop sound of YMO. It's interesting to note though that it is very much an Akiko Yano album even if the group is present on the album (interestingly they do also play analog instruments on the album). Akiko is clearly the one in charge with a string of beautiful compositions and the rendition of one of the group's classics, "Tong Poo" which she reinvents as a slower, less metronomic-paced song adding her own lyrics.
?Other highlights on the album include "Dogs Awaiting..." an hypnotic composition featuring fascinating electro arrangements or "Coloured Water" sung in English by Akiko accompanying herself on Fender Rhodes with subtle percussion by Tatsuo Hayashi and electronics by Ryuichi Sakamoto.
There are many more great moments on this superb album which announces the further experiments of "Tadaima". "Gohan Ga Dekitayo" is an album that urgently needs to be (re)discovered by her growing international fanbase and Wewantsounds is happy to reissue it worldwide for its 40th anniversary.

Rhythm Syndicate Records is proud to present their debut vinyl release. Both tracks come from a true veteran of the Drum & Bass scene, and an exclusive release from top level producer Blade. DJ Blade, has a sound that is much sought after amongst headz, and his following has continued to grow steadily over the past few years. His production style is distinctive, and has seen him have various releases on labels including, Good Looking Records, Fokuz Recordings, Soul Deep Recordings, Smooth N Groove, Liquid V, Think Deep, and Flight Pattern, to name a few. Known for producing big anthems, and a prolific unreleased back catalogue die hard fans can only dream of owning, its no surprise that Blade receives continuous heavy support from some of the top Deejays in the game. The song, "China Town Womad", has been supported consistently by scene legend, LTJ Bukem. Now this sought after track is available on a limited vinyl run, so get one while they last!

Samuel Rohrer CONTINUAL DECENTERING
With his Arjunamusic label and a growing catalog of categorydefying releases, Samuel Rohrer continues to quietly, yet confidently, make a name for himself as a genuinely unique Gigure within the European electronic music realm. In the current era, talk of blurring boundaries between musical genres and attitudes is more the rule than the exception, but not always something done with any degree of success. Rohrer is one of those rare alchemical explorers to have truly created a hybrid which is all his own, one that does not just exist to melt distinctions for its own sake, but is a natural result of years of experimentation with both the determination of electronic music and the ludic spirit of ‘free improvisation.’ On his newest offering, Continual Decentering, this vision is applied to a set of mostly in real time (live) performed explorations. 
In keeping with his many years’ worth of fruitful collaborations, the tonal palette on this new record is one that is expectedly rich for those familiar with his work, yet still surprising in terms of how exactly the differing tonal colors come together. Representative tracks like Spondee and The Fringe are brimming with dub pulses, noir shivers and blooming timbral variations that are in many places carefully isolated / focused and in other places blended together in vivid fusions. In terms of the emotional atmosphere created here, the pensive and questioning tone hearkens back to the ‘wide open’ state of electronic music in the mid-late 1990s, yet with a greater clarity and maturity of vision that makes this music feel like a possible answer to aesthetic questions being raised at that time. As with Rohrer’s most recent solo work, like the Range of Regularity LP, Continual Decentering showcases the artist’s skill in turning the drum kit into a lead instrument. While the term “lead instrument” denotes a kind of exuberant “Glash,” or a clear separation from the rest of the voices in an ensemble, we can take the term to mean something different throughout this listening program of 13 short vignettes: that is to say, everything else within the audible environment exists to complement the character of the percussive playing rather than to stand apart from it. It helps that Rohrer has, in fact, developed a unique and complex hybrid system in which drum hits trigger modular synthesizer processes, the use of which makes for an incredibly fluid response time between distinct sonic events. In contrast to the previous Range... LP, this new offering is propelled less by interlacing threads of intensity and more by a shared sense of deep listening. As displayed on pieces like All Too Human, there is a profound sense of attention to silences or thoughtful pauses that maybe hints at another crucial aspect of Rohrer’s style: over the course of this program, we tend to hear the player not only playing but listening, an activity which makes perfect sense given the sense of instrumental dialogue already mentioned. All of the above come together to give Continual Decentering a “live”-ness that will easily translate from recorded document to dynamic performance.

Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and collaborator; the mighty Ásgeir returns with highly anticipated third album ‘Sátt (The Icelandic version of ‘Bury The Moon’).

The Icelandic artist returns to his folk roots for lead single ‘Youth’ written in collaboration with his admired poet father, the song documents his childhood growing up in his small Icelandic town, unburdened by worry and full of unbridled joy.

The stunning new track swells with horns and hushed acoustic guitars, Ásgeir’s unmistakable honey-soaked vocal soaring across weaving instrumental melodies, culminating in a anthemic peak that exudes nostalgia. ‘Sátt’ will be available via One Little Indian 7th February 2020.

Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and collaborator; the mighty Ásgeir returns with highly anticipated third album ‘Bury The Moon’.

The Icelandic artist returns to his folk roots for lead single ‘Youth’ written in collaboration with his admired poet father, the song documents his childhood growing up in his small Icelandic town, unburdened by worry and full of unbridled joy.

The stunning new track swells with horns and hushed acoustic guitars, Ásgeir’s unmistakable honey-soaked vocal soaring across weaving instrumental melodies, culminating in a anthemic peak that exudes nostalgia. ‘Bury The Moon’ will be available via One Little Indian 7th February 2020.

Fresh off a collaborative release on Underground Quality under Grand Combo with DJ Jus-Ed and a solo EP on Patrice Scott's Sistrum, Henry Maldonado (p/k/a Son Of Sound) returns on his home-grown District 30 imprint with 4 tracks of deep, New York City grit in Machines On The Dresser.

This debut album, by prodigious keys player, composer and producer Joe Armon-Jones, is buoyant, celebratory and welcoming. With a background in jazz, he draws from influences in dub, hip-hop and soul. Different traditions are infused and commingled together. Soulful brass arrangements are coloured with carefully-tuned atmospherics, individual flashes of brilliance are bound into the album's bigger picture.

He's part of London's young, jazz-influenced music scene. Drawn from that same close-knit circle, the album features the likes of Moses Boyd, Nubya Garcia and Oscar Jerome. It's playing with those - along with Ezra Collective, which he co-founded, and touring with the likes of Ata Kak and Pharoahe Monch - which has honed his playing and grown his ideas.

It's made for a record with an unmistakable depth. He draws on deep musical understanding, making music which is warm and has a feeling of joy. A document of his vision for bringing together his different influences, it's also a testament to hard-earned, head-turning musical virtuosity.

- non-gatefold sleeve without 7"

Rush Hour announces their second artist compilation Patchwork, curated by one of the label’s most loved family members, Sassy J. The Swiss DJ is the very embodiment of passion and long-standing dedication to the craft of the DJing, but also to the community surrounding the music that she lives and breathes. For the past fourteen years Sassy J has run the Patchwork night in her native Bern and in London, with guests ranging from Theo Parrish and Little Dragon to Floating Points and MF Doom invited to share their respective musical visions. Her collaborative approach stands out in a DJ world that is too often weighted in favour of promoting the individual. This compilation grows out that unique sensitivity, foregrounding a theory of curation that centres on long-term bonds, articulated through Sassy J’s personal relationships with the contributing artists.

Patchwork speaks to the grass roots values that Sassy J espouses, showcasing music by many of the artists that have joined her throughout the years in clubs, on the radio, and at home. It is an expression of Sassy J’s individual musical path that casts its gaze firmly in the future: Patchwork is made up almost entirely of new and unreleased songs that are exclusive to this collection. Patchwork captures a sound that has continued to evolve in its restless search for new musical directions. Across thirteen tracks we find forward thinking electronic music rubbing elbows with cosmic jazz and deep percussion workouts from Brazil and beyond.

There are irresistible calls to the dancefloor: 2000 Black’s UK boogie and the syncopated rhythms of WaH-chU-kU nod to the West London sound, whilst the early rave of Nu Era and Aardvarck’s sub-rattling techno channel the grittier edges of the club experience. We find machine music imbued with humanity in Larry Heard’s deep house classic “Survivor” and in Ron Trent’s WARM project, whose gentle breeze points to a different side of the legendary producer. Patchwork also opens a more immersive listening space in which the radical indie soul of Georgia Anne Muldrow, the ambient spiritual jazz of bandleader Carlos Niño & Friends, and the lament for the Amazon rainforest by Azymuth’s drummer Ivan Conti can channel the overall spirit of group interplay and solidarity. Patchwork also includes Sassy J’s collaboration with veteran producer Alex Attias, marking her own place in a universe that is held together by her singular thread.

"This is the compilation of the year!" - DJ Spinna

repress

2LP 140G VINYL + 12 PAGE BOOKLET.

"Space Echo - The mystery behind the "Cosmic Sound" of Cabo Verde finally revealed!" is the 20th release by the fabulous Analog Africa Label.

In the spring of 1968 a cargo ship was preparing to leave the port of Baltimore with an important shipment of musical instruments. Its final destination was Rio De Janeiro, where the EMSE Exhibition (Exposição Mundial Do Son Eletrônico) was going to be held.

It was the first expo of its kind to take place in the Southern Hemisphere and many of the leading companies in were all eager to present their newest synthesisers and other gadgets to a growing and promising South American market, spearheaded by Brazil and Colombia.

The ship with the goods set sail on the 20th of March on a calm morning and mysteriously disappeared from the radar on the very same day.

One can only imagine the surprise of the villagers of Cachaço, on the Sao Nicolau island of Cabo Verde, when a few months later they woke up and found a ship stranded in their fields, in the middle of nowhere, 8 km from any coastline.

After consulting with the village elders, the locals had decided to open the containers to see what was inside - however gossip as scintillating as this travels fast and colonial police had already arrived and secured the area.

Portuguese scientists and physicians were ordered to the scene and after weeks of thorough studies and research, it was concluded that the ship had fallen from the sky. One of the less plausible theories was that it might have fallen from a Russian military air carrier. The locals joked that again the government had wasted their tax money on a useless exercise, as a simple look at the crater generated by the impact could explain the phenomena. "No need for Portuguese rocket scientists to explain this!" they laughed.

What the villagers didn't know, was that traces of cosmic particles were discovered on the boat. The bow of the ship showed traces of extreme heat, very similar to traces found on meteors, suggesting that the ship had penetrated the hemisphere at high speed. That theory also didn't make sense as such an impact would have reduced the ship to dust. Mystery permeated the event.

Finally, a team of welders arrived to open the containers and the whole village waited impatiently.

The atmosphere, which had been filled with joy and excitement, quickly gave way to astonishment. Hundreds of boxes conjured, all containing keyboards and other instruments which they had never seen before: and all useless in an area devoid of electricity. Disappointment was palpable. The goods were temporarily stored in the local church and the women of the village had insisted a solution be found before Sunday mass.

It is said that charismatic anti-colonial leader Amílcar Cabral had ordered for the instruments to be distributed equally in places that had access to electricity, which placed them mainly in schools.

This distribution was best thing that could have happened - keyboards found fertile grounds in the hands of curious children, born with an innate sense of rhythm who picked up the ready-to-use instruments. This in turn facilitated the modernisation of local rhythms such as Mornas, Coladeras and the highly danceable music style called Funaná, which had been banned by the Portuguese colonial rulers until 1975 due to its sensuality!

The observation was made that the children who came into contact with the instruments found on the ship inherited prodigious capabilities to understand music and learn instruments. One of them was the musical genius Paulino Vieira, who by the end of the 70s would become the country´s most important music arranger. 8 out of the 15 songs presented in this compilation had been recorded with the backing of the band Voz de Cabo Verde, lead by Paulino Vieira, the mastermind behind the creation and promulgation of what is known today as "The Cosmic Sound of Cabo Verde".

The field of electronic music were involved. Rhodes, Moog, Farfisa, Hammond and Korg, just to name a few.

DJ Mad A (Adam Embleton) & Dr. Stevie The Ambient Guru (Stevie Hewitt) originally met when Adam picked up the Saturday shift at 'Record Mart', a record store run by Stevie back in the late 80's. They quickly bonded over shared tastes and enthusiasm for the growing dance club culture in England.

'Balearic Beat' had arrived from Ibiza, house music was taking over, and clubs were pushing boundaries, encouraging DJs to experiment with the dancefloor. Stevie was a regular selector at classic venues like 'Club Havana' and 'Flixx', where he blended house, electro & techno for the loaded English youth. Adam had signed to Island records, at 17, the first signee for newly appointed A&R rep Darcus Beese. Their collaborations in the Island studio is where the early 'Mad A' production techniques were cultivated.

With Adam behind the programming and Stevie on guitar, the two assembled a few songs to add to their explorative DJ sets. They printed a white label tiny pressing of 'The Mad Vibe', four tracks, "sending out waves that shock", their sound was a frantic blend of electro and house. The E.P. sold out fast locally, with their tune, 'Levitating Pharaohs' catching the attention of Drum 'n' Bass duo 'Spring Heel Jack' and labels like Mo'wax. As the 90's rolled on, the two continued to DJ as residents at clubs like Corner House, Brody's, Arena & Dickens.

Smiling C 2019 repress of this cult 12". Remastered and housed in a die-cut 12" jacket with pharaoh's head sticker.

"Play The Trax. Feel The Vibes. Mad as....."

Christopher Joseph is back on his Flexxseal label with four enthralling tracks entitled "Eye in the Sky".
He's an emerging talent from from Massachusetts who now resides in Berlin. His productions encapsulate, his vast musical background which includes studying Jazz percussion and living in the vibrant musical hubs of New Orleans and Berlin.

"Eye in the Sky" sees Christopher return to his invigorating Flexxseal imprint following releases from himself and Philadelphia's DJ Richard which together garnered heavy support from the likes of Ben UFO, Call Super, A Made Up Sound, I-F and many more.

"Eye in the Sky" kicks off proceedings with ethereal leads floating underneath electro-fuelled percussion and swirling synths together sending the emotions skyward while vigorously, resonant drums fused with rave- induced modulations and twisted melodies lay the focus in "Lick The Honey".

On the flip, "Nothing69" delivers growling resonations, breaks-tinged drums and otherworldly arpeggios that keep you enticed throughout until "Leaving Ringworld" rounds things off with a vintage, warehouse techno track featuring an effervescent, rolling groove sequence, spiralling oscillations and industrial feels throughout.

After the major success of Part 1, Cosmo Vitelli & Malka Tuti are presenting Holiday in Panikstrasse Part 2, the 2nd and final part of Cosmo’s 2XLP on the label.

After collaborating with Fantastic Twins on Part 1, the amazing Julienne Dessagne’s vocals are back on Part 2 as well for the opening track Fragments of Reality. Another collaboration on the record is with Croatian singer and vocalist Tanja Vezic, whom we’ve already seen collaborating with Cosmo on his Les Disque De La Mort release, and who gives a cinematic sort of feeling to the track Party old boy.

With “He just wanted to hang out with the DJs” Cosmo creates a slow burning dark banger that will not go unnoticed.
The final track Irritable is the perfect mixture between German Krautrock heritage and the French disco-synth touch of the 80s - emotional, growing and cathartic, one cannot stay indifferent to it.

... After his first appearance on Subaltern’s 'Kaleidoscope Vol.1’ with the scorching ‘Alter’, far-east sonic assassin and Back To Chill member Helktram makes his comeback on Subaltern Records with a heavy-as-stone three tracker. Each of the cuts is a dance-floor weapon which shows a different side of the Japanese mastermind’s razor-sharp production.

- Recoil: Opening with a crunchy guitar melody, ‘Recoil’ sets the pace
of the EP: a catchy and relentless bass-line takes us on a march
through forests and mountains, as distant pads and SFXs remind us
to stay alert. After the first round the guitar comes back, warning us
we’re not done yet. A straight hitter which will keep playing in your
head long after the night is over.

- Mineral: The aptly titled ‘Mineral' is hard as diamond and rough as
coal. This triplet juggernaut tramples systems all over the world
leaving its mark on any raver who encounters it. A sinister
thereminesque melody paves the way to a stripped-down beat with a
militant bass riff. Skilfully executed distortion engulfs the low-end
turning it into a powerful growly wobble.

- Beware: A threatening melody paints the post-apocalyptic landscape
of the EP’s third cut in what is Helktram’s trademark style. In this
track distortion is the name of the game: an unforgiving lead
matched by grimy and glitchy stabs evolves into an uninterrupted riff
which carries the rhythm leaving space for the bass melody. As the
title suggests, extreme caution is required when handling this
blaster.

"The first series comprises six related movements, usually organised in pairs, electronic sounds with instrumental and more rarely, concrete sounds: Incidences/resonances brings into play controlled resonances akin to sounds of concrete origin in a process that helps to expand the variable electronic sound sources.

Here, 'incidents' are opposed to one-off 'accidents' in the second movement: Accidents/Harmoniques (Accidents/Harmonics). In the second movement, very short events of instrumental origin change the harmonic tone of the continuum they interrupt or overlap.

Moreover, the high notes are underplayed, which stimulates the attention given to other phenomena generally hidden by the melodic form applied to the instrumental play. Géologie sonore (Sound Geology) is similar to a flight over an area where different 'sound' layers come to the surface one after the other.

When seen from high above, instrumental and electronic sounds seem to fuse ... Dynamique de la resonance (Dynamics of Resonance) is a microphonic exploration of a single sound resonating through different forms of percussion. L'Etude élastique (Elastic Study) places together various sounds produced by 'touching' elastic or instrumental skins (baloons, doumbeks) or vibrating strings and a number of instrumental gestures close to this 'touch', using electronic processes to generate white noise.

Conjugaison du timbre (Conjugated Tone), the last movement in the series, uses the same substance to apply rhythmic forms onto a perpetually varying tone continuum. "The second series of movements draws its inspiration from concrete and electronic sources rather than instrumental ones. Incidences/battements (Incidences/Beatings) is a reminder of the first movement in the first series which then quickly moves into Natures éphémères (Ephemeral Natures): ephemeral play on instrumental and electronic sounds, singled out by their internal trajectory rather than by the material itself. Matières induites (Induced Matters): just as molecular effervescence triggers a changes of state, it seems that the different states of these sound materials can be generated by each other or through induction processes.

In Ondes croisées (Crossed Waves), the pizz vibrations interfere with somehow 'visible' water drops on the surface of a similar material. Pleins et déliés (Downstrokes and Upstrokes) can be listened to as the energies absorbed in the motion of bouncing bodies, while hollow 'bubbles' and points bring together some people's gravity and others' downwards movements. The work finishes with Points contre champs (Reverse Angle Points).

Here, the notion of perspective of the different sound threads weaving a kind of network, or field, traps the occasional iterative elements in the foreground and progressively absorbs them, giving more space for the angle - and the chanted sound - to grow." (B.P.).

Oh, Juan! We love thee, we love but thee with a love that shall not die ‘till the sun grows cold and the stars grow old.
Once in a blue moon, there is a star for whom we see limitless possibilities, whose inevitably long and fruitful œuvre all but insists we do everything in our power to nurture and provide support.

We diligently examine that sky, seeking rarefied meaning from an often desperate and banal universe, and over this past decade you have surely proven one of the brightest, most wondrous and tenacious cosmic forces we’ve encountered.
Your kaleidoscopic wealth of personality, your emotionally urgent storytelling, your obsessive-compulsive weaving of voices siphoned from the pop culture æther, your ability to synthesize teachings from the Atlantic Northeast, Caribbean and Fatherland to pen an ever-evolving musical autobiography; these superhuman strengths are not lost on us.

The 'Oxford House' EP is particularly special, as 'Fahrt Im Himmel' was our fateful introduction to your work, and though that meeting in a writhing maniacal pit of half-naked sweaty bodies was nearly five years ago, it still lives romantically close to our hearts. We just know the world will fall in love and 'Let It Go', just as we did.

It’s exciting to see you merge a musical adolescence with the now evolved Juan Ramos of 'Oxford House', recognizing your significant coming-of-age and never shying away from your roots, but rather confronting and embracing them at your every turn.

We will continue to champion your creative process and output, in hopes of fueling your inherent quest to illuminate uncharted regions of your vision.
... With all our love, always and forever, the ESP Institute.

Through the combined brilliant minds of Fabrice Lig, Kiko Navarro, Karim Sahraoui and Jean Vanesse, the new musical force known as Quadra 163 has arrived. Working together in Jean Vanesse's Belgium studio, their debut EP, "Spin Coaster EP" was born.

Through intense live collaboration over 3 full days, the results are these incredible original tracks and a remix from the American house legend, Osunlade (Yoruba Records). Belgium's Elypsia Records have an absolutely essential release here for those looking for proper club weapons - each track dreamt up by a crew of producers with decades of critical acclaim and club credibility.

Osunlade kicks off the release on A1 with his rework of 'Spin Coaster.' The remix is a late night machine jam saturated with sharp synth textures and a shuffling rhythm which will lock the dancefloor tightly in place. A perfect blend between House and Techno, it's a shining example of Osunlade's keen ability to capture imagination with function, tension with release.

'Ghetto Beat' steps up as the A2, with a drum heavy cut full of off-kilter hits and tones which twist and turn in frequency and timbre. It's the type of track that will get the crowds cheering and jackin' and dancing without a break. A proper tool to slam into the set whenever energy levels need to lift higher and things need to get slightly twisted.

Title track 'Spin Coaster' sets up the B-side with a master session of prime time techno making magic. A playfully thick bassline resonates in and out of the analog rhythms while a synth tone builds tension over the track's entire duration. A few breaks for the clubbers to catch their breath are placed in the perfect spots - but only for a brief moment before things kick back in.

Rounding out the release is 'Ghetto Train,' an absolutely mental banger designed to melt the minds of those fortunate enough to be on the dancefloor when it's dropped. Relentless rhythms, huge hand claps and a sharp staccato shuffle drive the tune whilst synth stabs grow filthier with each passing phrase. Clearly the results of an insane studio session from the crew.

Following January’s acclaimed vinyl debut from Exterior and summer’s much-loved Kota Motomura EP, Edinburgh’s Hobbes Music label ends 2019 with its first album release, also a debut, from GAMING, a fresh new braindance electronica project straight outta Glasgow.

GAMING is a new solo outing that brings together a lifelong love of music and technology and creating left field, rhythmic electronica. It’s the sound of IDM, nineties techno and mensch maschine computer music that is as spontaneous as it is programmed. It's a bit of a grower and may take time to get under your skin....

“Scenes From A Deserted City is a collection of tracks that started as a set of riffs, loops, rhythms and grooves and unfurled around a sense of growing unease about the future of the urban environment around me.

It’s an album that started out as sound…and ended up as a way of telling stories about the age of anxiety we live in, how our world is changing, and how we find a way through that.

This is DIY electronica from Glasgow – it was made on a growing collection of digital and analogue synths and FX units, including a bunch of modular racks, each with its own idiosyncrasies and character that belies the assumption of the binary.

The studio where it was recorded – an abandoned, and often very cold, school building reclaimed by the community some twenty years ago – offered up stories of resilience, even when all seems lost. (I’m not sure what the mice contributed but they definitely climbed in and out of some synths).

This album is ultimately about my changing relationship with Glasgow, a city I’ve lived in for more than 25 years. It’s about how I feel now about the increasing sense of urban decay and how the city can be a very isolating place. It’s about how I reflect on my younger creative self trying to find a direction but mainly feeling a sense of dislocation and not fitting in. And it’s about the questions I have about how that relationship is changing, how it will be forced to move forward.
The result is a soundtrack for walking home on your own, in that headphone bubble when it’s just you focusing on that music that makes sense to you alone. It’s for early in the morning, after the night before, or going to work with the memories of that slipping and sliding inside your head. It’s about how it feels to be both elated and lonely, to be lost in the familiar, despairingly hopeful.”

Yes, at last! Kinky keyboard porn! Whisper porn! Vinyl Porn! And all at the same time.! And what an ASMR treat we have for you here.
Recordings of 12 incredible bespoke mechanical keyboards made and recorded by the master of this modern art, Taeha Types. Yes, this is actual typing sounds on amazing future/retro/cutting edge keyboards. Every track different. Every keyboard different. Listen and weep - Or sleep - Or something ... An INCREDIBLE & UNIQUE listening experience. The first mechanical keyboard album EVER !!!

For the last few years a small scene has been growing. The mechanical keyboard scene. It’s now quite a big scene actually.
It makes total sense as most of us use keyboards everyday, so why not have an amazing keyboard to use instead of the total crap one you have. I mean just look down. It’s shit isn’t it. So, some people worked out that things could be improved - A lot. - So they started to make incredible, kinky keyboards, using both old and new tech: and the possibilities and options in construction are endless.

There are key cap options (GMK ABS, PBT etc etc), spring options (Cherry MX, Pandas, Alps etc etc) and even backplate options (steel, aluminum, copper etc etc), and of course case options too. And all these options make a big or little difference. And once made these keyboards are carefully lubricated spring by spring to give them that little extra smoothness and “ping”.

The results are beautiful, fetishistic, futuristic in an odd retro style, and they sound AMAZING when they are typed on. This is classic ASMR / whisper porn, the gentle click and rattle of carefully lubed springy keyboards make the hairs on the back of your neck rise. Either that or they gently woo you into a peaceful, sublime state. This is a classic and groundbreaking new Trunk album for our modern stressful times.

The recordings on this album are the first ever release of mechanical keyboard sounds. They are from a selection of (enhanced) keyboards from the 80s, 90s and now. They were recorded by the master maker of the modern mechanical keyboard, Nathan from Taeha Types.
He has a large following on Instagram, YouTube (videos of his hands typing on his keyboards hit 10K in just a couple of days after upload), and he now has over half a million views on his Twitch channel where he constructs keyboards live.

Sleevenotes on the album have been put together by Jonny Trunk and Stu London (AKA Futurecrime) from the London mechanical Keyboard scene. He knows what the fuck he is talking about. And you might not understand it, but you can catch up real quick - like I did.

- Album mastered by Jon Brooks, who also really understand these
sounds. And if you don’t, don’t worry - lots of others will.

I remember the first time I read W.E.B. DuBois eclectic masterpiece The Souls of Black Folk. The way in which this Weberian scholar flowed from personal account to prose to sociological analysis to music and even political intervention has had a lasting impact on my own work as a cultural anthropologist. It made me understand that as scholars we must use different means in order to give expression to the totality of the lived experience: There is only so much in an academic text.

The experience of alienation has always been at the heart of my scholarly and artistic practice. I have used academic writing, lecturing, theatre performance and electronic improvisation to understand and represent it as a theoretical concept, postcolonial condition and lived experience. I believe, some issues need to be told like a story, some analyzed in most abstract terms and others need to be sung like a gospel. The medium changes the message.

In this sense, I guess, I’m a singing cultural anthropologist.

For some time now I have been engaged in the use of dystopian themes and sounds to paint a sonic picture of structural racism and whiteness of our present. But recently I have grown weary of this Ballardian idea of Future Now and the resulting phantasmagorian aesthetics myself and others have been invested in. The widespread availability of Digital Audio Workstations, sequencers, loopers and delay pedals has lead us into a futuristic cul de sac best described by Mark Fisher as the very absence of future.

Likewise, I am most skeptical of the “naturalist” countermovement, the return of folk. Especially in Germany, I am convinced there is no such thing as an innocent or progressive folk musical expression as it is always connected to the idea of the homeland (“Heimat”) which in turn produces the colony. It seems to me, the current zeitgeist is stuck between a “museum of a dystopian future” and a “museum of an idealized past”, but I wanted to sing about the present.

So, I involuntarily returned to pop music in its two-folded meaning of something popular and addressing not an essentialist notion of “Volk” or its woke cousin “communities”, but society as a whole.

I entered the studio just with a few lo-fi sounding melodies and rhythms from my circuit bent CASIO synthesizer. I had no clue what the finished product would sound like. But as soon as Markus started drumming, in a way strangely reminding me of CAN’s Ethnographic Forgery Series, my uptight sounds were suddenly embedded within a warmer global sound spectrum. The alien at home and abroad and the strange overlapped: We were seeing one and the same sound differently but were gently held together by Tobias’ producing.

Making music is about building coalitions. It’s about suggesting an articulation of styles, sounds and people, that hasn’t materialized, yet, but may help us in the current crisis: I wanted Amon Düül II to send their drug induced archangel thunderbird to rescue the refugees, that had tried to escape the police by climbing up a tree in Munich in 2016. I wanted Sun Ra to taunt far-right protesters in Chemnitz in 2018. And I wanted to mourn the loss of a former kebab shop cum discotheque that served as proof that there is such a thing as a minoritarian universalism.

SCHLAND IS THE PLACE FOR ME is a pop album featuring songs of alienation, not only as a tragic experience, but as a pop-cultural promise. Maybe Bill Callahan sung it best, “I am Star Wars today, I am no longer English grey”. I want those who suffer from alienation to stand in alliance with those who seek alienation, and vice-versa. A coalition, that tolerates the possibility that we are moved by the same groove for contrary reasons.

Fehler Kuti
Munich, Autumn 2019

Music by Julian Warner, Markus Acher & Tobias Siegert
Saxophone on RINDERMARKT by Franz Brunner
Trombone on RINDERMARKT and IL by Matthias Götz
Recorded and mixed by Tobias Siegert in Munich.
SONTAGSFAVORIT mixed by Dario Albiez in Dusseldorf.
Mastered by Duphonic in Augsburg.
Artwork by Atelier Grande, Munich.

Ellen Allien Keeps It Raw with the Third Release from Her UFO Label Ellen Allien returns with the third release from her label UFO. Focused on a raw aesthetic, UFO serves as a space for artists to explore the dark, rugged side of the music. On this third installment from the label we get three deliciously dark productions... First out of the block is 'La Musica Es Dios' (Music Is God), which comes in two mixes. The first works from the deep tremor of its juddering bassline, subtle beats tease this cut along with a contagious rhythm. As a master of vocal hooks, Ellen skillfully introduces a distorted clip that repeats over and over as the drama unfolds. Wistful pads and a sombre riff keep it melancholy. On the second mix the mood is a little more upbeat with brighter frequencies and skipping beats. Though, once the main body of the track comes in, a menacing swathe of analogue growls and snarls at you with aplomb. A breakdown tinged with 8-bit leads us into a rousing section of the track before another slight break ushers in more menace in the low end. Finally, 'Junge' penetrates our minds with its punchy drums and snares. The pace is quicker and more energi- sed with a pervading sense of dread emanating from the background. This cut is downright nasty, with a snee- ring riff and shadowy atmospherics. Rough, rugged and raw analogue technoid funk from an unknown future.