Search:h two o

Shell Company & Older Brother tap into the Mancunian continuum to deliver heavy sounds for heavy times on 'Shards', their debut release on Numbers.

Born from voice notes sent between Manchester, London and Lisbon, the release took shape remotely before being recorded inside Manchester’s The White Hotel, then refined in the sonic labs of Numbers and La Chunky in Glasgow.

Set across one night, 'Shards' is the fragments of the never ending process of breakdown and placing pieces back together. Along four tracks, the voices of Shell Company (Rosabella Allen) and Older Brother begin far apart, then argue, reflect and collide, trying to find the ground they stand on, with the music laid by brothers Rob and Chris Banks. The two voices work both together and against each other, rendering images that could only exist in limbo: running taps, cans on the floor, and crumbling walls.

Shell Company & Older Brother say of the release —

“Shards is a scream that sings softly. A record that shifts between confusion and sense, hopelessness and hope. Despite moments of intense and perfect connection, the shards rarely fit. Shards is a record not about giving up, but giving in. A recording of the victory that comes from surrendering to float, all because 'it will all make sense one day'. Shards is about love that begins and ends with broken pieces."

A new vinyl album from Nat Birchall, this is the Dub version of his Dimension of the Drums LP, a roots reggae instrumental set that was very enthusiastically received last year, ending up on many best Of The Year lists.
For this album Nat has remixed the tracks in classic early to mid - 1970s style. Inspired by the classic Dub LPs like Keith Hudson’s ‘Pick A Dub’ and Winston Edwards’ ‘King Tubby Meets The Upsetter at the Grass Roots of Dub’ the tracks have been reimagined in Roots Dub fashion, some with new horn lines and all with hand drums, giving the album a very authentic Rootsy sound. Additionally there are two different mixes of a new rhythm track that wasn’t on the previous album.
Once again Nat plays all the instruments and did all the recording, mixing and mastering.
Drums in Dub features eight tracks of instrumental Dub delight, specially designed for the 1970s Dub connoisseur.

STAR CREATURE's Global Caress series started this year off with a bang with newcomer ARSENE's "JACK SHIT" 7" selling out almost immediately. The followup here might just do the same… Another gruesome twosome of hard hitting, left field, electro acid. The half-Finnish, half-Estonian duo LLL add a distinctly Baltic outsider edge to the classic combo of Chicago jackin' house meets UK sound system culture. The fellahs tap an arsenal of original gear rescued and revived over the years to create hyper-saturated textures, thuggish rhythmic beats, squelchy acidic synths and mischievous microphone miscellany

Green Sonic Opaque w/ White Ink Cassette & Red Opaque w/ White Ink Cassette. Minecraft is a dreamscape, a limitless world where anything is possible. Minecraft is a tool, a means of bringing the imagination to life. Minecraft is a community, a platform on which inventive minds of all ages can share their creations and ideas. Minecraft, of course, is also a game, the most popular and best-selling video game of all time. Created in 2009 by Swedish programmer Markus "Notch" Persson, this cultural phenomenon speaks volumes of our current zeitgeist's love for virtual spaces, but its unprecedented success couldn't be pinned on one factor alone. Countless layers of thoughtful artistry flow through Minecraft's singular experience, not the least of which is its transportive soundtrack by C418, the project of German composer and musician Daniel Rosenfeld. Minecraft Volume Alpha, the first installment of a two-part OST, helped breathe life into the game's voxel-based universe. Upon release, fans and critics were universally enamored with C418's beatless, nuanced electronic pieces. Popular gaming site Kotaku named it among The Best Game Music of 2011, calling the music "remarkably soothing." The Guardian compared Rosenfeld's delicate piano and sparse ambient motifs to legendary artists Erik Satie and Brian Eno. Polygon distilled Volume Alpha to its essence: "It's not bound by the retro aesthetic of Minecraft's graphics. It transcends them. The album is an attempt to uplift the combined game/music experience into the sublime."

Icons Of Hip Hop a new label out of Toronto with their second 45. Two hip hop heavyweights make use of an unmistakeable 70’s soul legend sample to killer effect.

Limited hand-stamped dinked 45s.

Included are all 9 tracks from the two titles that have been highly acclaimed and talked about overseas.
This is an analog vinyl record pressed in Japan by Memory-Tech, the developer of high-quality CDs and UHQCDs, on 180g heavy vinyl.

Analog vinyl featuring all 9 cover and original songs from the 2024 album “Beyond The Window ~Mado no Mukou ni~” and the 2021 album “Another Answer”
by Kanae Izutsu, a singer who boasts strong popularity among music fans and audiophiles.
The two titles, which were ranked No. 1 on the domestic distribution site rankings and also ranked high on overseas distribution and streaming sites, were cut
by Katsutoshi Kitamura (MIXER'S LAB), one of the best cutting engineers, and by Memory-Tech, the company that developed UHQCD, a high-quality sound
quality CD. The 180g weight vinyl is made by analog pressing, which is also concerned about the sound quality. Please enjoy Izutsu's unique worldview, which
has both strength and fragility, and is clothed in lingering sound and space, on the analog disc as well.

With their EP triptych "Thee Church Ov Acid House Volume 1–3," Oliver Bradford and Jörn Elling Wuttke created a holy trinity of diverse dancefloor variations, a self-contained circle of rave history.

In itself already a heavyweight statement, which they now crowned with “Bells & Whistles - Thee Remixes”. So to speak the quadrature of the circle And as with their original material, this release also reveals a profound knowledge of dance history in the selection of remixers - combined with the best of the here and now.

A1:
The trip begins with Jamie Hodges' ( Born Under A Rhyming Planet ) version of “Acid House Planet”. Hodge was responsible for a number of legendary EPs on Richie Hawtin's Plus 8 label in the early 90s, which explored the deep poetry of techno music. In this sense his remix is also a delicate affair of rarely heard beauty.

A2:
There's Thee Church Ov Acid House themselves, who stretch the swinging groove of Tyson's “G Phunk”, far too short in the original, to almost six minutes. A groove that won't stop.

B1:
And that brings us to the next two legends, this time from the local area. D-Man and Move-D have had a significant influence on dancefloor culture between Heidelberg and Mannheim since its inception. Their lysergic “Theme” remix, with Terrence McKenna vocals and acid twist in the middle, is an epic open air classic to come.

B2:
Lennard Poschmann's aka O-Wells' version of “Rave Mantra”, on the other hand, is deep, digging bass techno for the darkest moments of the night.

Vinyl EP2 featuring remixes of Man Power, As One ( Kirk Degiorgio ), HRDVSION ( Nathan Jonson ), Cosmic Cars ( Pudel Produkte, Smallville, Bureau B )

Cool Up Records is excited to launch its latest 12" Maxi single with Spanish singer Yeyo Perez, featuring two tracks that each come in two versions. This Digital Reggae vinyl, titled "King inna di Ring/Burning in Flames," exemplifies authentic deejay style on the mic, infused with a rich homage to foundational Jamaican MCs.

On the A-side, "King inna di Ring" delivers a dynamic song powered by a powerful bassline and sharp lyrics. Yeyo Perez demonstrates his vocal talent and strong presence, with vocals that pay homage to the style of traditional reggae music clashes. The track’s music mainly comes from the old-school Casio MT-40 keyboard, providing that signature Digital Reggae rhythm produced by Cool Up.

The B-side features "Burning in Flames," where Coronel Brown joins with his smooth voice on the chorus, creating a powerful lovers rock song that blends well with Yeyo Perez's tougher style. Musicians Pedro Caballero on saxophone and Javibi Martin Boix on guitar contribute to a rich riddim with their impressive playing.

This release is well-crafted, with a dub and riddim version on the A-side and a sax and riddim version on the B-side, showing off Cool Up’s clever production skills. The cover art, designed by Mr. John Vanilla, keeps the style of previous singles and highlights his outstanding artwork.

This is the seventh 12-inch record from Cool Up Records, a must-have for Reggae fans, with more exciting records coming soon.

oop of Life is presenting the diverse palette of analog synthesizers and drum machines of Kuiper Belt. A wide range of tracks kicking off with a harsh and heavy 808 slow burner filled with 303 acid. 'Prg Select' and 'Two Voice' both drawing inspiration from the underground techno scene with pulsating beats and bleeps that truly resonates. An melancholic analog machine soul electro track with vocoder vocals closing off the EP in style.

Hand stamped black label release with an urge to break out of the algorithm and to be released on vinyl available at your specialised record store.

Reverie is a soundtrack of atmospheric chamber music for violin, cello, and piano by sisters Rebecca Foon and Aliayta Foon-Dancoes, and marks the first full-length album collaboration between the two players/composers. Reverie melds cellist Rebecca's post-rock and semi-improvised sensibility forged from over two decades playing in DIY/indie bands like Esmerine, Thee Silver Mt. Zion, and Set Fire To Flames, with violinist Aliayta's more recent trajectory from award-winning virtuosic performer to academically-shaped explorations of interdisciplinary composition. Following several years in London at the Royal Academy and Royal College of Music, Aliayta's move to Princeton in 2023 for a Composition PhD put the sisters back on the same continent, regularly meeting and collaborating at Rebecca's Lost River studio in Quebec's Laurentian mountains. Working with co-producer Jace Lasek (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Patrick Watson, The Besnard Lakes), the result is an immersive suite of thematic variations that balances intimacy and detail with wide-spectrum spatial lushness. Subtle electronic interventions and gently blown-out acoustics ebb and flow throughout, further conveying Reverie's overriding mission to weave a meditative pastoralism with the underlying anxiety, sorrow, and tragedy of ecocide.

Violent Delights is an anthology of stories that meanders through themes of grief, rage, desire and identity. There are stories of the toxicity of addiction, and growing up around religion; stories of overwhelming obsession, isolating abandonment, and empowering anthems of identity, and stark laments about sexual violence. They are each lived experiences, laid bare, reclaimed with every syllable whether dripping in spite or swagger, anger or anxiety. "Loss is a central theme of the album," explains vocalist Kate Price. "For us, we have our own specific version of what that is in these songs, but for anyone listening, it could be the loss of something else - a loved one, a relationship. But we're never mourning loss. We're celebrating it. Loss is almost universally looked at as a negative, but we're finding the positives in those moments. We had to go through hell to get to heaven. Violent Delights is about looking back with gratitude, and even fondness, the closing of one chapter and beginning of another." Jools - comprised of Kate Price, Mitch Gordon, Chris Johnston and Callum Connachie, Joe Dodd, and Chelsea Wrones - has been a name on the lips of clued-up fans and tastemakers since its collective of musicians found each other in the earliest days of 2023. Quickly gaining a reputation for their cathartic, unpredictable and specular live performances, the band have been consistently championed by BBC Radio One, including two `Tune of the Week' placements on Daniel P Carter's esteemed Rock Show. Violent Delights was recorded across two week-long stints at Southampton's The Ranch studio in August and December of 2024, with Lewis Johns helming production and mixing duties. When pressed, Jools may identify as a punk band - in its truest sense that punk is a mentality, rather than a sound - but Violent Delights equally lends from the worlds of metal, rap, post-hardcore and hip-hop as much as it does the post-punk of its surface layer. Gordon and Price are as likely to point to Turnstile, Mannequin Pussy and Amyl & The Sniffers as influences on the record as they are to Little Simz and The Streets' Mike Skinner. "We don't necessarily look at music in sounds or structures," nods Gordon. "Instead we look for attitudes."

I must admit to being a sucker for two-guitar bands. Ok, Hendrix pulled off a trio. But I don’t care what anybody says: The Yardbirds were a better band than anything that came out of them (Ok, maybe not Zep. But Cream?).

Maybe the reason I go back so far in my references is that, within the two-guitar band format, original new roles are difficult and rare. There’s the classic (socially problematic and often boring) “rhythm/lead” solution. There’s the JB’s or Nile Rodgers’ chicken pickin’ vs comping solution (which avoids chordal clashes by relegating one of the guitars to the role of single-note percussion instrument). There’s Ornette’s Prime Time division between Bern Nix’s rolled-off “jazz” tone and Charles Ellerbee’s trebly wah. Almost everything else is a variation on one of these.


In Ches Smith’s record Clone Row, each piece is built around a different concept for guitar interaction. The delightful and gifted weirdness of Mary Halvorson’s playing is counterpointed, contrasted, unisoned with, played off, juxtaposed (that is to say, enters every relationship possible) with Liberty Ellman’s equally amazing sound palette, chops, and imagination. This definitely ain’t your father’s guitar band.
The overall vibe of the record—despite Halvorson’s occasional noise outbursts or Ellman’s distorted guitar lines (see Mixed Fridge) is neither punk/funk, nor Zorn-ish metal—and certainly not the looser parameters of Ornette’s improvised harmolodics. Smith’s vibraphone playing, Halvorson’s guitar tone (whammy pedal squiggles aside), the brilliant electronics, and (most of all) the compositions themselves are somehow strangely West Coast cool. It’s as if I’m hearing a Jim Hall concert in which one of us did a lot of mushrooms, or (dare I write this?) some post-punk post-Dave Brubeck post-trip-hop experiment with classical form.

This recording is, most of all, about Ches as composer. He’s picked up a lot on his long, strange trip of the last few decades. The Haitian funkiness of his work with We All Break is audible—but deeply buried, encoded in the polyrhythms (check out Heart Breakthrough). His long-running side musician collaborations with John Zorn and Tim Berne are also evident but sublimated here into something new.

Not that improvising is absent. Check out the compelling collective statements in Sustained Nightmare and Ready Beat. Check out the brilliant interplay and bass soloing on Abrade With Me (a Weather Report for the age of extreme weather?) Nick Dunston is my favorite bassist of the new generation, and he plays brilliantly throughout. And Ches’ drumming here has all the groove, energy, and incredible range that have kept him in demand from Saturday night Vodou services to jazz and new music recording sessions (…the thinking man’s rock barbarian?).
The sus chords in Abrade With Me do build, for a moment, towards a fusion type of climax...but just at the moment I was gritting my teeth in anticipated defense against some horrible synth solo, the drums drop out, and we’re transported to the ambient lounge at the rave, and we suddenly understand we’re in the hands of a composer with the power to transport us just about anywhere.
So, this is a composer’s record most of all; a composer’s record performed by musicians who happen to be great improvisers. Ches Smith builds here on his reputation as a gifted new voice with an important vision, while showcasing some of the most creative musicians of our time.

The Ottawa composer/performer and head of Black Bough Records plays every instrument on his CST debut: an accessibly avant-garde work of dark/ambient modern chamber music. Mark Molnar has been a linchpin of the Ottawa experimental music scene for over two decades, spanning contemporary classical, electroacoustic, industrial/noise, and improv. As a string player in a wide range of projects, an organizer and curator of innumerable shows, and via his own avantgarde label Black Bough Records, Molnar's unflagging contributions to independent music culture in Canada's capital city have been significant. EXO is his Constellation debut: a remarkable and bracing suite of post-classical composition on which Molnar plays every instrument. Meticulously self-recorded, primarily with strings, harp, and piano, EXO balances thematic melodicism, polytonality, and dissonance across three elegiac pieces of exquisitely expressive dynamism. This is exacting modern chamber music that blends formal and harmonic complexity with a solemn emotive sensibility accessible to a broad audience. Listeners that yearn for some edge and disquietude in a landscape of often all-too-approachable post-classical music should find EXO eminently worth their time and attention. While Molnar is a highly trained string player, and studied music under Aubrey Wolfe, microtonality with James Tenney, and composition with R. Murray Schafer, his trajectory has been entirely and intentionally outside the academy, signalling a socio-artistic commitment to DIY culture, forged from an early passion for the sonic worlds of post-hardcore, post-punk, no-wave, free improv, power electronics, and other independent/underground musics. His classically-informed works have been described as "tense currents of musical modernism invigorated with punk's raw vitality." EXO carries an undercurrent influenced by dark industrial and ambient metal in particular, with microphones purposely placed to pick up the low-end frequencies of the piano body, and of a bass drum positioned as a resonant skin in the acoustic space; an electroacoustic strategy organically meshed to the crisply defined and pristinely recorded pointillisms and polychords of strings, harp, and piano, which feed into this noisefloor of crepuscular sub-bass disquietude and decay. It's a production aesthetic that lends EXO a distinct undertow of tension and feeling, a sort of roiling maximalism where the chamber instrumentation traces arcs and waves of form and flow as if drawn from a dark, impervious ocean below. It also reinforces the profound hermeticism of Molnar's process, as a forbiddingly solitary creative act of immersion and navigation. The album artwork, featuring semiabstract stills of the sea by British photographer Ed Allen, further reifies this metaphor. The album's opening piece 'Sub Luna' (and its shortest at 8 minutes) showcases Molnar's adeptness at naturalistic and flowing complexity: tight cascades of climbing and descending chordal clusters hold their polytonal densities for various durations, yielding to more clarified harmonic suspensions and motifs, as melodic themes led primarily by violins in the higher registers provide a fractured lyricism. Molnar says: "the opening and closing figures of this piece act as opposing shorelines; the shorelines provide a reliable expression of range and key signature, and the tides come in and swallow them up, the motion of a body that addresses the relationship between states of lucidity and melodic figures." On 'Terre Sacer' everything happens in soupier waters, as a slow and doleful theme, anchored by grinding bass notes, circles in a gyre of dark resonances, until glistening strings gradually ascend to enrobe a plaintive and gently harrowing single-voiced ostinato over the composition's final third. Molnar's drone, ambient, minimalist, and goth-industrial influences are on display here. Side Two of EXO features the 18-minute multi-movement 'pallida Mors' (pale death): a waterfall of heterophony introduces dense chordal movements where strings are recorded and mixed to evoke pipe organ, in the album's most overtly dissonant and (anti)liturgical sequence. This gives way to ever more open and fragile spaces, before a resurgence of dark clusters and noise treatments introduces a final repeating piano coda, shrouded in devastated bass resonance, settling into what Molnar calls "a meditative hollow." Constellation is honoured to release this work by Mark Molnar, a longtime fellow-traveler whose selfless and boundlessly generous activities as an independent arts enabler sometimes obscure his own accomplished and uncompromising artistry. We trust EXO can help shed some much deserved light on this fine composer. Thanks for listening.

XXX the label starts of 2025 fresh with it's 17th original EP.
Four house tracks, each with it's own signature sound. Peak time throbbing, electrifying house vibes with a distinguished layer to it alternate with more melancholic house for the after hours, mimicking that feeling of never wanting the night to end. The EP comes with two remixes by Venice Arms (Curses) and upcoming Amsterdam based talent Kyra Khaldi who both add another layer to the record.

On her debut album, Lucy Gooch stays true to her electronic foundations, while incorporating more acoustic instrumentation and digging deeper into her folk roots through songwriting. But at the heart of Lucy's music is her rapturous vocal, with which she has experimented more than ever over the course of her first full-length. Many of the pieces on 'Desert Window' started out as vocal improvisations from which she pulled a narrative. Taking cues from the incantatory chanting found in middle English poetry such as 'The Names of the Hare', as well as the prescient imagery in contemporary works like 'The Hearing Trumpet' by Leonora Carrington (1974). "To a larger extent, this became an experiment in placing my voice in a more narrative way, while remaining oblique," Gooch explains. While her previous work could be compared to drawn-out landscapes punctuated with moments of romance and radiance, this album feels grounded in materiality and the everyday. Gooch's voice is at times strident, while elsewhere restrained and broken. "I lost connection to my voice and then had to rediscover it, which was exhilarating. There were these bursts of energy where I'd be messing around and occasionally stumble upon something". There are hushed melodies and exhausted squalls, creating dissonance and space. The result is an atmospheric balance between Kate Bush and Cocteau Twins harmonies, Vangelis major chords, and a juxtaposition of folk ambience reminiscent of the offset madrigals of The Third Ear Band and Italian cult film composers Goblin. It is a complex and elegant album, an all-consuming series of songs that reach into jazz, electronica and classical song construction.

On her debut album, Lucy Gooch stays true to her electronic foundations, while incorporating more acoustic instrumentation and digging deeper into her folk roots through songwriting. But at the heart of Lucy's music is her rapturous vocal, with which she has experimented more than ever over the course of her first full-length. Many of the pieces on 'Desert Window' started out as vocal improvisations from which she pulled a narrative. Taking cues from the incantatory chanting found in middle English poetry such as 'The Names of the Hare', as well as the prescient imagery in contemporary works like 'The Hearing Trumpet' by Leonora Carrington (1974). "To a larger extent, this became an experiment in placing my voice in a more narrative way, while remaining oblique," Gooch explains. While her previous work could be compared to drawn-out landscapes punctuated with moments of romance and radiance, this album feels grounded in materiality and the everyday. Gooch's voice is at times strident, while elsewhere restrained and broken. "I lost connection to my voice and then had to rediscover it, which was exhilarating. There were these bursts of energy where I'd be messing around and occasionally stumble upon something". There are hushed melodies and exhausted squalls, creating dissonance and space. The result is an atmospheric balance between Kate Bush and Cocteau Twins harmonies, Vangelis major chords, and a juxtaposition of folk ambience reminiscent of the offset madrigals of The Third Ear Band and Italian cult film composers Goblin. It is a complex and elegant album, an all-consuming series of songs that reach into jazz, electronica and classical song construction.

One of the most politically charged terms of the 20th century, the Iron Curtain was a metaphor for political and cultural division. In a post-war telegram Winston Churchill referred to the fault line that ran through Europe between East and West as "an Iron Curtain is drawn down upon their front. We do not know what is going on behind".



In this two-part album, as far as jazz is concerned, we will showcase, describe and celebrate exactly what was 'going on behind'. We see that music is the power supreme, with the ability to transcend all barriers, be they physical, political or metaphorical.



Our liner notes illustrate the complex and contradictory history of Soviet jazz, and the tracks we've chosen cover the key period of the early 1960s to the 1980s. It was during these dark years of the Cold War that the Soviet Union and its satellite states produced a number of outstanding artists playing in a variety of styles. The impact of modernism, from hard bop and Latin to modal and cool jazz, had found its way through cracks in the curtain. The deeply-felt ancestral strains of traditional European folk music were combined with the exciting new and progressive sounds of the West, and a radical, intoxicating brew was created that no amount of guns, tanks or polonium tea could overcome.



We chronicle the triumph of jazz at a time of extreme geopolitical conflict. What went on behind the Iron Curtain in these countries was once mysterious and unknown to the West, but the perseverance of their artists provided sound and light amid the secretive, dark days of the communist-capitalist standoff. There was no end of life-affirming spiritual jazz behind the Iron Curtain.



"Whether it's by improvisation in the African-American jazz tradition, or by a village kobza player standing on top of a damn hill - he feels connected to the stars."

ALDORANDE is a band of five groove adventurers, led by their founder and captain Virgile Raffaëlli, who are pushing the boundaries of music with boundless passion and unparalleled instrumental mastery. After two critically acclaimed albums, the group returns with Trois, the final chapter of their cosmic trilogy, recorded on tape at a prestigious Parisian studio.

Trois is an epic album, driven by bold instrumental explorations and waves of celestial choirs. Drawing inspiration from the 70s fusion movement, it honors the genre’s masters while adding a unique, contemporary twist. The galactic textures and sophisticated arrangements transport the listener on an unforgettable astral journey.

Once again, Favorite Recordings has poured its heart and soul into this album. Every note, every arrangement has been meticulously crafted to capture the essence of that era, with a relentless drive to ensure that every step of production and recording stays as true as possible to the genre’s iconic references.

On drums, Mathieu Edouard lays down a killer groove that leaves no one indifferent. Florian Pellissier, on keyboards, unfolds an interstellar sound palette with a spectacular collection of instruments: Fender Rhodes, Yamaha CP-70B, Moog Minimoog Model D, Sequential Prophet 5, ARP Solina String Ensemble, Roland Juno 106, Roland Jupiter 8, and Oberheim OB-8. On percussion, Erwan Loeffel scatters a jungle of intoxicating rhythms. Laurent Guillet, on guitar, fires off hypnotic, irresistible riffs, while Virgile Raffaëlli, on bass, anchors the entire experience with deep, melodic bass lines that give the band a captivating and unique dimension.

Get ready to take off with ALDORANDE and their album Trois, which promises to take you beyond the stars.

"Layers of Afternoon" soll eine bestimmte Zeiterfahrung widerspiegeln - etwas Greifbares und zugleich Unbestimmtes, das gefühlt, aber nicht leicht beschrieben werden kann. Diese Momente tauchen oft in Mustern auf, manchmal mal kurz, mal lang anhaltend, aber immer prägend. Wir erkennen ihre Einzigartigkeit, und doch sehnt sich etwas Unbewusstes in uns danach, diese Muster zu erkennen und ihnen zu frönen. Vielleicht vermeiden wir es, über sie zu sprechen, weil wir befürchten, dass sie banal oder belanglos klingen, doch sie kehren oft in unsere Erinnerungen zurück und bieten uns kollektiven Trost. Für Keith Kenniff alias Goldmund kann die Sprache diese Erfahrungen kaum vermitteln; nur Kunst und Musik scheinen das, was sie besonders macht, am ehesten einzufangen. Kenniff erklärt: ,Mein Ziel für die Musik in Layers of Afternoon war es, diesen Zwischenraum zu finden und von dort aus zu schreiben, in der Hoffnung, meine Erfahrung der Welt als ideal zu vermitteln - frei von Zielen, musikalischer Ausbildung oder emotionaler Komplexität. Ich wollte diesen Raum aufsuchen und die Momente im Akt der Schöpfung frei schweben lassen." In Zusammenarbeit mit dem Geiger Scott Moore erschafft Kenniff eine Klanglandschaft die sich zwischen Nostalgie und flüchtiger Gegenwart bewegt und es dem Hörer ermöglicht, sich durch die verschwommenen Ränder der Erinnerung treiben zu lassen.

Divine Dances. In plural form.
The fourth album from DjeuhDjoah & Lieutenant Nicholson couldn't have a more explicit title.


Masters of emotions and feelings, the duo has always known how to express melancholy and nostalgia with precision. Yet this time, all their efforts have concentrated on a single goal: taking listeners by the hand—no, by the ear, obviously!—to bring everyone back to the dance floor and explore a variety of atmospheres together.


And naturally, a variety of styles. Funk, ndombolo, electro, hip hop or zouk, each new vibration discovered carries away the previous one to form a dancefloor where all eventually come together.
Divinely light.


The body, surrendered to this call to dance in all its forms, has been so caught up in the whirlwind of groove that the mind has fallen in behind it to continue as one. Words explode into syllables that metamorphose into notes, then perfectly align with those from the score.


One second. A bit of attention. Caught by an irrepressible groove, then comes the moment to slalom through melodies to discover, at the turn of a rhyme, a new meaning. Approached head-on, certain overly serious themes would empty the room and bring the atmosphere down to lead levels. The diagonal approach, humor, and apparent nonchalance of the two men are the best weapons at their disposal. Their Trojan horse to put substance into their form(s). To evoke transidentity, consent, economic malaise as well as the spiritual, or to tell little stories of frustrated loves, seemingly insoluble but which will end well.


Anthony Hilaire for Creole words, Sarah Solo for hip-swiveling soukous, Patrick Bebey for pygmy flute notes, and Grégoire Mahé to bring electricity to DjeuhDjoah & Lieutenant Nicholson's songs; styles blend in a musicality worked into its smallest interstices.


Gathered on this dance floor illuminated with 80s disco brilliance, you observe brassy notes slithering under the electronic veneer, synthesizer keys splashed by furious hip movements. To raise your eyes to connect with the spiritual is to watch the sky become constellated with crystalline Fender Rhodes notes, destined to fall like rain on the heavy bass of afrobeat groove.
Smiles attached to faces, no one should think they can get through the ten tracks of Divine Dances while remaining seated : he's doomed to fail.


OUT MAY 2025 DELUXE WHITE VINYL 180 G /CD / DIGITAL

ARCHITECTS are back and charging forward in the heavy rock world with their latest sonic masterpiece, The Sky, The Earth & All Between. After two relentless years on the road-featuring massive European summer tours with Metallica and top billing at festival stages across Europe, (Rock Am Ring, Rock Im Park, Hellfest, Download, Graspop, Full Force to name a few and headlining Bloodstock) - the band has returned to the studio to deliver their most powerful collection of songs yet. With the creative force of Jordan Fish (Bring Me The Horizon) behind the boards, Architects have captured the explosive energy of their live performances while elevating their signature melodic edge. This album reflects the perfect blend of raw intensity, emotional depth, and innovative production. Already making waves, singles like "Curse" and "Seeing Red" have drawn rave reviews from all major metal press worldwide. "Seeing Red" the "anthem powerhouse" landed because of global success in the top 10 of charts worldwide-amassing over 45 million streams along the way. The Sky, The Earth & All Between builds on the momentum of their 2022 album, the classic symptoms of a broken spirit, which stormed to the top of the UK Rock and Metal Charts. With this new release, Architects are once again set to push the boundaries of modern heavy music, cementing their status as one of the most exciting and essential bands of our time.

A noughties classic, an earworming anthem, an eventual schoolyard ringtone favourite; Roman Flügel’s once inescapable ‘Geht’s Noch?’ celebrates turning 21 on Running Back, refreshed and remixed by a scene-spanning set of artists paying keen tribute to its absurdist energy.
Casually released as part of a Cocoon Records compilation in 2004, ‘Geht’s Noch?’ rose from the depths with the support of Sven Väth, becoming an international phenomenon, conquering and uniting the dominant scenes of minimal and electroclash alike. Some have said it laid the foundations for the ‘Dirty Dutch’
house scene, albeit from over the border in Germany.
Well known for injecting much-needed levity into the contemporary club landscape via her Live From Earth parties, DJ Gigola adds additional firepower to ‘Geht’s Noch?’, inducing a planet-shaking kick drum, before sending the track’s signature bleeps into nonsensical Morse code for even greater pleasure. Another rave
culture connoisseur, Luca Lozano, offers two alternate takes; his ‘Technocs’ mix rolls deep with additional cowbells, robotic voice commands and stadium-sized claps. Meanwhile, the ‘Gehts Garage Remix’ draws a savvy connection with the original’s as-yet-untapped UK funky potential.
Peder Mannerfelt, who straddles the line between innovation, functionality, humor and seriousness quite like its original author, takes ‘Geht’s Noch?’ to truly wuthering heights. His remix builds unexpected drama and catharsis around the enduring riff, before a collaboration with studio partner Par Grindvik as Aasthma
spins the club out with a glossy, anime-tinted take, full of whimsy and colour.
And while the digital release of Geht’s Noch? also spans interpretations from Audion, Domnik Eulberg & Moguai, this vinyl release presses Steve Angello vs Who’s Who remix to wax, that which helped take ‘Geht’s Noch?’ out of the underground and into the stratosphere. Twenty years on, and Flügel’s offbeat hit is always ascending. Love it or hate it, ‘Geht’s Noch?' will still get you good.
Words by John Loveless

Silva Screen Records is proud to announce the release of Music from House of the Dragon, a new album featuring the epic score from

HBO’s hit series House of the Dragon reimagined by London Music Works and renowned cellist Nick Squires. This collection of music from the show’s first two seasons –

originally composed by Emmy Award-winner Ramin Djawadi – offers fans a fresh way to experience the grandeur and drama of Westeros through powerful new performances.

From the thundering battle themes to the haunting melodies of the Targaryen saga, the album brings to life the sounds that have become an integral part of the House of the Dragon experience.

The vinyl is a collaboration between two indie labels KXNTRAST and U JAZZ ME.

The record was pressed on 180g vinyl with printed innersleeve.

HER NAME WAS YUMI is the title of hoshii's second studio album, created by saxophonist Kuba Więcek in late 2022. On this album, the musicians deliberately free themselves from the burden of European music genres, exploring sounds that carry a spark of hope and a free spirit. In the musical layer, they focus on deep synthesizer basslines, intensification of electronic sounds and an extensive layer of samples, redefining their approach to composition.

The album title refers to YUMI (夢美 - from Japanese "beautiful dream") - a friend of hoshii who brings him to Earth when he feels tired of life on the distant planet Versus. However, even among earthly sounds, loneliness becomes inevitable. At the right moment, YUMI, overcome with longing, decides to fly and find her friend.

HER NAME WAS YUMI is a musical journey full of experiment, freedom and a new sonic identity. The album shows hoshii in a new version - even more conscious, bold and not limited by genre frames.

Kuba Więcek - alto saxophone, electronics

Grzegorz Tarwid - synthesizers

Max Mucha - bass guitar, synthesizers

Miłosz Berdzik - drums, glockenspiel

Winner of Channel 4’s ‘The Piano’, Brad Kella
releases his debut album, ‘Phoebe’s Melody’.
Since winning the show, Brad has recorded with
world renowned string arranger Rosie Danvers in
RAK Studio, sold out The Liverpool Philharmonic,
played The Royal Albert Hall and sold out two
nights at The Southbank Centre’s Purcell Rooms.
Brad has also worked alongside John Lewis for
last year’s Christmas campaign, as well as
Liverpool Football Club and EA sports, as he was
nominated as a super fan and ingrained into the
‘FC25’ game.
Brad is also going on a 36-date tour supporting
Gary Barlow across the UK and Ireland.

Mit Songs so lässig und charmant wie alte Hollywood-Filme stellt sich der 21-jährige Amerikaner aron! (nur echt mit Ausrufezeichen) als neues Signing des Verve-Labels vor. Mit einer für die digitalen Welt angenehm analogen Musik hat er auf Instagram und TikTok schon Millionen von Klicks generiert.

Mit Strubbel-Frisur und Slacker-Look könnte man aron! für einen Indie-Rocker halten, aber der Eindruck täuscht. aron! schreibt swingende Melodien und clevere Texte, croont wie ein neuer Sinatra und ist fingerfertig an Gitarre und Tasten. Seine Lieder über die Liebe und das Leben im Allgemeinen sind Popmusik einer anderen Art, nostalgisch und gleichzeitig zeitlos modern.

aron! studierte Jazzgesang und Komposition für Film. Seinen „Vintage Pop“, wie er seine Musik nennt, veröffentlicht er jetzt bei Verve Records. „Es ist eine Art Singer-Songwriter-Jazz“, erklärt er. „Ich habe mich schon immer für die echten Romantiker interessiert. Die Leute machen heute dasselbe durch wie damals. Liebeskummer ist Liebeskummer, und Liebe ist Liebe. Wir sind alle Menschen, und darum geht es in den meisten meiner Songs“.

Sechs ins Ohr gehende Songs erscheinen jetzt beim berühmten Label von Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong und Blossom Dearie. Ein Kreis schließt sich und für den jungen aron! beginnt eine vielversprechende Musikkarriere.

James Holvay is a key figure in the world of Chicago soul, whose songwriting helped shape the sound of the '60s alongside icons like Curtis Mayfield. Known for penning four Top Ten hits for The Buckinghams — including the million-selling US #1 "Kind of a Drag" — Holvay's influence runs deep. His career began on the road with The Chicagoans before co-founding The MOB, one of the first horn-driven rock and soul bands. With releases on legendary labels like Chess, Constellation, and Onederful, Holvay's work captured the heart of the Windy City's rich musical scene. His music has been championed on influential stations like WLS Chicago and earned him spots in the South Dakota Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and the Lyons Township High School Hall of Fame.

Now, LRK Records proudly presents two new tracks, "Love That Lady" and "Don't Take Your Love", on a limited-edition 45. Drawing from his Chicago soul roots and a Curtis Mayfield-inspired sound, these songs bring that timeless, heartfelt groove to modern listeners. With the growing appetite for vintage soul, this release is essential for collectors, DJs, and fans of classic soul music.

"U.S. Maple's first album, before they fell all apart on """"Sang Phat Editor"""". This is the album that """"rocks"""". Disjointed machinations, poppy locksteps and jarring sideways excursions all leading down a path to nowhere's-ville. Engineered by Jim O'Rourke with a cold. Pressed on Muleta Maroon Colored Vinyl LP includes a vinyl-only bonus track plus a Two-Sided Footlong OBI and Lyric Sheet.

In high school, the members of U.S. Maple never said a word to anyone. And although this had disastrous results (stolen shoes, constant de-pantsing, gum in the hair, etc...), a fire was burning inside each one of them.

A beginning was struck in Chicago, early in 1995. The four met near the corner of Grand and Western Avenues to devise a working method for reorganizing rock and roll, keeping what was felt to be it’s most important core elements.

The mumblings are slick. The melodies are souped-up and soured. The drums are spastic bursts of laughter, rocket fuel and confetti. It is fronted by a singer who reminds one or the other of Kevin Costner's stoner bro. A 7” single and a version of AC/DC’s Sin City are the first to be recorded.

U.S. Maple’s debut full-length, “Long Hair In Three Stages” was recorded late in 1995 with Jim O'Rourke at Solid Sound Studios in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. This was Jim's first legitimate recording session with a rock and roll band. The album receives critical acclaim. Soon thereafter, U.S. Maple find themselves flying coach to Deutschland for a European tour. The extensive six-week tour spans 12 countries and includes a Peel Session for the BBC's John Peel Show. More history is made.

""""Long Hair In Three Stages"""" goes on to be ranked #85 on the Alternative Press “90 Greatest Albums of the '90s” list. We all know better."

Produced by Chez Damier and Ron Trent, the track was born in NYC, inspired by a transformative night at the legendary Sound Factory Club. In the early morning haze, as the echoes of basslines and rhythms lingered, the duo channeled the energy of the dancefloor into their studio. The result captured the raw, soulful essence of Deep House, reflecting the dancefloor communion that transcended time and space. To extend the feeling while honoring the original, Atjazz was invited to bring his jazz-influenced touc

With his deep understanding of groove and texture, he reimagined the track through two distinct remixes, each offering a fresh perspective. While both versions explore different nuances, they remain faithful to the track’s core essence, maintaining its hypnotic flow while adding a renewed vibrancy to the dancefloor. The duo of Chez Damier and Ben Vedren, proudly welcome French producer Fred H, one of the closest members of their extended musical family, to deliver a special remix of their track "Berlin Nights In Paris".

The result is a re-imagination of the track, introducing a percussive soundscape that drives the rhythm forward while offering a space for the listeners' minds to wander, immersing them in an atmospheric journey. This reinterpretation preserves the original’s essence while infusing it with new textures, dynamic movement, and a hypnotic flow that deepens its emotional impact.

This collaboration is more than just a remix. It’s a testament to the creative synergy within their musical circle, reinforcing the timeless spirit of house music while pushing it forward. er. Through his deep connection to what truly ignites the dancefloor, DJ SOURIRES maintains the emotive spirit of the original track, keeping its essence intact, yet injecting fresh dynamics that transforms it into a high-octane dancefloor heat track. His intricate, oscillating drum programming and masterful arrangement drive the rhythm forward, creating a compelling urgency that commands attention and movement. The remix swells with intensity, amplifying the hypnotic elements of the original while layering in driving percussion, rich basslines, and sharp, yet spacious synths that build tension and release in all the right moments. Every twist and turn in this remix is an invitation to lose yourself in the dance.

Orbital London returns after a three - year hiatus with "Revenant EP" , marking its lucky number seven release — this time featuring Jack Michael and the debut of Romanian duo The Apricots , consisting of Alexandra and DJ Slim Fit . A destined musical match, as Alexandra has been an Orbital fan since the very beginning.

Staying true to its concept, the release features two original tracks — one from each artist — while pushing creative boundaries as they remix each other's work.

On Side A , Jack Michael’s “Infinity” goes fast and driving with a heavy bassline, blending breakbeat and techno flavors. A haunting winding melody and a mysterious vocal add to the track’s hypnotic energy. The Apricots’ remix of Jack’s track blurs the lines between electro and breakbeat, with a trance vibration in the underneath layers and surprise dubstep insertion with a dirty bassline.

On Side B , The Apricots’ “Subdued” is powered by the rich, broken - beat percussion and a wild, rave - inspired bassline. As the title suggests, the heaviness of the bas s is m omentarily tamed by the emotive pads and melodies — only to return stronger for a different , yet electrifying bass interlude, topped with a deep male vocal. Jack Michael’s re shape of "Subdued" takes a dreamier approach, crafting a deeper breakbeat journey, dominated by long hefty bass wave s and bathed in quirky synths and etherial pads.

The Understated Debut That Launched a Peerless Career: Bob Dylan Is the Clearest Connection to the Singer-Songwriter's Folk Roots
Pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl for Reference Playback: Mobile Fidelity 33RPM SuperVinyl Mono LP Features the Direct Sound Dylan Intended

1/4" / 15 IPS analogue mono master to DSD 256 to analogue console to lathe

Bob Dylan's self-titled 1962 debut is as understated of an entrance as any significant musician as ever made. Well-versed in American roots music, Dylan simultaneously pays homage to tradition and extends it by putting his own stamp on classic material that metaphorically functions as the soil of contemporary songs and styles. Free of ego, and performed with masterful conviction, Bob Dylan ranks with the initial efforts of giants like Elvis Presley and the Rolling Stones.

Nodding to Woody Guthrie and re-imagining Blind Lemon Jefferson's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean," Dylan straddles the past and future. He authoritatively displays the ability to handle weighty topics such as death, sorrow, and lamentation with the vaudeville flair, bluesy mannerisms, and poignant command of an artist three times his then-20-year-old age.

Sourced from the original master tapes, housed in a Stoughton jacket, and pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl at Fidelity Record Pressing, Mobile Fidelity's numbered-edition 180g 33RPM mono SuperVinyl LP brings the contents of this seminal release as close as they've ever come to live-in-the-studio quality. Transparent to the source, Dylan's voice, acoustic guitar, and harmonica come across with exceptional realism — the "husk and bark" to which Robert Shelton referred in his legendary New York Times review of a Dylan appearance at Gerde's Folk City — courtesy of the format’s nearly non-existent noise floor, groove definition, and quiet surfaces.

Heard in the original mono configuration, Dylan’s vocals are in the heart of the musical action and as one with the accompaniment. This reissue paints an incredibly accurate portrait of the concrete mass of sound that features no artificial panning and offers a straight-ahead immersion into the music producer John Hammond recorded in just two days in November 1961.

Though much has been made of the commercial indifference that greeted the album upon its low-key release, focusing on sales figures and the reaction of a public not yet hip to Dylan's name miss the forest for the trees. Distinguished from the era's other folk efforts by way of the singer-songwriter’s determination, brazenness, and lived-through-this worldliness, Bob Dylan lays the groundwork for the path he'd soon trailblaze and everyone else would follow.

As Dylan scholar and pop-culture critic Greil Marcus observed in 2010: "Everybody knew Joan Baez and the Kingston Trio; if you knew Bob Dylan, you knew something other people didn't, something that soon enough everybody had to know. Within a year, an album could put an adjective in front of the singer's name as if it were already common coin."

Mono is how almost everyone first heard Dylan’s opening salvo. A career like none other starts here.

MoFi SuperVinyl:

Developed by NEOTECH and RTI, MoFi SuperVinyl is the most exacting-to-specification vinyl compound ever devised. Analog lovers have never seen (or heard) anything like it. Extraordinarily expensive and extremely painstaking to produce, the special proprietary compound addresses two specific areas of improvement: noise floor reduction and enhanced groove definition. The vinyl composition features a new carbonless dye (hold the disc up to the light and see) and produces the world's quietest surfaces. This high-definition formula also allows for the creation of cleaner grooves that are virtually indistinguishable from the original lacquer. MoFi SuperVinyl provides the closest approximation of what the label's engineers hear in the mastering lab.

In an ever-expanding musical universe, Azymuth have long existed as a celestial giant, drawing countless artists, musicians and followers into their orbit. Marking fifty years since their 1975 debut album Azimuth, their new album Marca Passo proves that the band’s alchemic brew of Brazilian jazz-funk and cosmic samba soul remains as vital as ever, as the group honours the profound legacy of their departed founders.

Recorded in Rio de Janeiro, Marca Passo is the first full-length release since the passing of founding drummer Ivan "Mamão" Conti in 2023, following the earlier loss of keyboardist José Roberto Bertrami in 2012. Alex Malheiros, the sole remaining original member, sees his stewardship of the band’s musical legacy as his spiritual duty. He is joined by the equally devoted Kiko Continentino (Milton Nascimento, Djavan) on keyboards, who has been with the group since 2016, and new recruit Renato Massa (Marcos Valle, Ed Motta) on drums.

Yet since their earliest recorded music, Azymuth have always been far greater than the sum of their parts. The "three-man orchestra’s" unmistakable sound is rooted in Brazil's MPB studio scene of the 1970s and early 1980s—a time when artists blended traditional Brazilian rhythms with global jazz, rock, and emerging psychedelic and progressive elements. Marca Passo continues this legacy, seamlessly fusing Brazilian musical traditions with global influences while showcasing the exceptional musicianship that powers Azymuth's distinctive, multi-dimensional sound.

The album is produced by studio mastermind Daniel Maunick, responsible for Azymuth’s two previous studio albums, Fênix in 2016 and Aurora in 2011. Daniel’s credits also include albums by Marcos Valle, Sabrina Malheiros and Terry Callier. Azymuth also invited Daniel’s father, British jazz-funk royalty Jean Paul “Bluey” Maunick, of Incognito, to play guitar on a new version of Azymuth’s eighties classic “Last Summer In Rio”, in tribute to the song’s composer, José Roberto Bertrami. Equally, “Samba Pro Mamao” is a new composition dedicated to Azymuth’s beloved original drummer, Ivan “Mamão” Conti.

Credits:

Alex Malheiros - Bass, Acoustic Guitar & Vocals: 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Kiko Continentino - Keyboards, Organ, Vocoder & Vocals: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Renato Massa - Drums & Vocals: : 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10
Ian Moreira - Percussion: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10
Sidinho Moreira - Percussion: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10
Dudu Viana - Keyboards & Vocals: 1
Victor Bertrami - Drums: 1
Mangueirinha - Repinique: 3
Jean Paul ‘Bluey’ Maunick - Electric Guitar: 5
Jose Carlos Bigorna - Soprano Sax: 9
Daniel Maunick: Additional Percussion, Synths & EFX: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Produced, Engineered, Mixed & Arranged by Daniel Maunick
Co-Produced & Arranged by Alex Malheiros
Executive Producer: Joe Davis


Recorded by:
Daniel Maunick & Leonardo Vieira @ Estúdio Nos Trilhos, Santa Teresa, Rio, Brazil
Daniel Maunick & Amadeu Signorelli @ Sigstudio, Niterói, Rio, Brazil
Daniel Maunick & Alex Malheiros @ Estúdio Basslab, Piratininga, Rio, Brazil
Mixed by Daniel Maunick @ The Sugar Shack, Carluke, Scotland


Artwork & Design: Tyler Askew

Wewantsounds is delighted to continue its Algerian music reissue program with the release of Les Abranis' coveted 1983 LP, Album No. 1. Originally recorded in Paris and privately pressed by the group, the album is now being reissued for the first time. Curated by Cheb Gero, who recently compiled the Sweet Rebels Rai set for Wewantsounds, Album No. 1 is a masterful blend of Kabyle grooves, funk, and hints of reggae. Also known as Id Ed Was, the album is reissued with its original artwork, remastered audio by Colorsound Studio in Paris, and a two-page insert with new liner notes (in French and English) by journalist Rabah Mezouane.

2LP silk screened + insert

Before Guaracha UFO propelled Meridian Brothers onto the international stage, Eblis Álvarez was already shaping his singular sonic universe in the shadows. Released only on CD in between 2009 and 2012 via local label La Distritofónica, Meridian Brothers VI and VII never had wide distribution or media exposure. Yet, these albums represent a crucial phase in the band’s evolution, capturing the energy of Bogotá’s experimental cumbia scene at the time.

On VI, Álvarez crafts a hallucinatory patchwork of cumbia and vallenato, using his guitar as the guiding thread before layering other instruments on top. VII pushes experimentation even further with a custom-built sampling algorithm, generating unpredictable loops and grooves. These two albums laid the foundation for the radical fusion and irreverent spirit that would later define Meridian Brothers.

Now reissued on vinyl for the first time, these historic recordings offer a raw and fascinating glimpse into the origins of one of Latin America’s most forward-thinking musical projects

2LP silk screened + insert

Before Guaracha UFO propelled Meridian Brothers onto the international stage, Eblis Álvarez was already shaping his singular sonic universe in the shadows. Released only on CD in between 2009 and 2012 via local label La Distritofónica, Meridian Brothers VI and VII never had wide distribution or media exposure. Yet, these albums represent a crucial phase in the band’s evolution, capturing the energy of Bogotá’s experimental cumbia scene at the time.

On VI, Álvarez crafts a hallucinatory patchwork of cumbia and vallenato, using his guitar as the guiding thread before layering other instruments on top. VII pushes experimentation even further with a custom-built sampling algorithm, generating unpredictable loops and grooves. These two albums laid the foundation for the radical fusion and irreverent spirit that would later define Meridian Brothers.

Now reissued on vinyl for the first time, these historic recordings offer a raw and fascinating glimpse into the origins of one of Latin America’s most forward-thinking musical projects.

Recorded in Kobe, Kyoto, Tokyo, September 2015 Photos by Jim O'Rourke. Layout by Shunichiro Okada Despite decades of activity and having crossed paths in various collaborations Editions Mego is honoured to release the first ever duo recording from two of the most highly regarded citizens of planet experimental electronic. Individually, Jim O'Rourke and Christian Fennesz have been responsible for numerous legendary works which merge the traditional avant-garde with contemporary sensibilities. On It's Hard For Me To Say I'm Sorry these giants of experimental electronic practice come together for an immensely powerful sonic experience. The signature of both O'Rourke and Fennesz cohabit this new release with O'Rourke's gurgling harmonies swimming amongst the shimmering frequencies and strummed melodies produced by Fennesz. Two side long tracks situate themselves as a warm electronic adventure. Simultaneously radical and comforting these works shift from gentle sonorities to fully distorted explosions all of which reside within a template of tension between musical and non-music matter. Timeless in execution and presentation It's Hard For Me To Say I'm Sorry is a deeply rewarding sonic experience from two of the most romantic gentlemen active in experimental music today.

Exclusive vinyl with the singles released by the Watford post-punk band between 1981 and 1983.

"Before I began to write this piece I listened to some of the tracks and I admit there was a small tear or two as I remembered… Pet Sounds Studios, an 8 track reel to reel studio in a basement under a pet shop in Kennington, South London, our first studio experience as fresh faced 20 year olds. Surrey Sounds, a studio above a milk depot where Siouxsie and The Banshees had recorded singles, we got some studio time through the night when The Professionals (ex Sex Pistols) weren’t recording. Silo Studio in Hammersmith, the engineer was stoned, I smoked at least three packets of cigarettes during the session and having arrived at the studio with a song we believed in, we came out disillusioned and slightly underwhelmed; maybe greatness wasn’t destined to descend upon us at that stage of our career. Spaceward in Cambridgeshire, an old school building turned into a professional recording studio, where we recorded our first album Epic Garden Music over a weekend working through the night with about an hour of sleep. We returned there to record our second album, Feeding The Flame which took two months rather than two days. But my moist eyes are not for the broken dreams, the incredible highs or even the camaraderie with fellow band members, all of whom I may add we are still in touch with. My slight sadness is for my lost youth and the courageous optimism of those early days so viscerally evoked by this collection of songs. The glory of the world fades but in reality Sad Lovers & Giants goes from strength to strength, albeit in a very understated English way mainly because that’s the way we like it. So enjoy these songs which were created with passion and energy over forty years ago but still remain vivid and exciting to a new generation of listeners today." From Garce/Simon Allard's exclusive liner notes (October 2024)

For years, whispers circulated through the jazz scenes of Denmark and Poland - rumours of a lost recording session featuring the legendary Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko and a group of Scandinavian and Polish musicians. Now, nearly a decade after the session and seven years after Stanko's passing, these long-awaited recordings are finally seeing the light of day. The project originated at Vallekilde Højskole in Denmark, where Stanko was invited to teach at JazzDanmark's annual Summer Session. A storied program that has hosted luminaries including Bill Frisell and Anat Cohen, the summer school became the birthplace of this unexpected ensemble. Here, alongside a dynamic ensemble of young musicians, Stanko found renewed inspiration, embracing their compositions as much as his own - a rare occurrence for an artist known for leading his own groups. Scandinavian Art Ensemble with Tomasz Stanko is the result: two albums of expansive, deeply expressive music that merge the melancholic depth of Polish jazz with the spacious, atmospheric qualities of the Scandinavian sound. As trumpeter Tomasz Dabrowski recalls, Stanko wasn't just a mentor - he was an equal, driven by curiosity and the desire to push boundaries. "He wanted to play our music. He was always listening, always searching." Across these two albums recorded at The Village Recordings in 2016, listeners will hear Stanko's unmistakable tone interwoven with compositions by both himself and the ensemble members. Pieces like 'The Dark Eyes of Martha Hirsch' and 'Before the Rain' showcase not just his signature lyricism, but also his willingness to step back, listen, and let the younger generation shape the sound. Beyond his unmistakable sound, Stanko's influence was about energy - his presence elevated those around him. Bassist Richard Andersson put it simply: "He brings together the energies, and makes us all play better than usual." This project captures that essence: a legendary artist meeting the next generation on equal footing, creating something entirely unexpected. A decade after the session, the members of the Scandinavian Art Ensemble have forged their own paths, shaping the jazz landscapes of Copenhagen, Malmö, Reykjavik, and beyond. But the impact of their time with Stanko remains profound. "Releasing these albums is about more than just the music," D?browski says. "It's about preserving the spirit of Stanko - his generosity, his curiosity, his way of bringing people together. Even after all these years, his presence can still be felt in every note we played."

IZIPHO SOUL is thrilled to release two star studded jazzy soul winners - back to back on a 7” picture sleeve single - MON CHER AMOUR b/w YOUR LOVE KEPT CALLING MY NAME.

‘Mon Cher Amour’ is a sensational new song, featuring top vocal smooth-jazz recording artist Maysa and the legendary Bobby Lyle on piano. Known for his selective collaborations, Bobby Lyle was thrilled to join Shaun on this project after hearing the captivating track.

The B Side ‘Your Love Kept Calling My Name’ from last year again features Maysa, Stokley and also Jeff Lorber, Patrick Lamb and Maurizio Metalli. This sexy soulful jazz ballad anchored by Shaun LaBelle’s soulful yet funky synthesiser bass and bass guitar chops that make the melodic hook lines and groove undeniable! It secured a spot in the Billboard Top 20 for two months in a row and hit number 1 in the U.K Soul Chart. Attached compressed 64 kbps MP3s and artworks

With over 2 decades of formal exploration and exhilarating abstraction Get On is, somewhat surprisingly, only the fourth solo Pita full length. Peter Rehberg has always been vouched for pushing the very limits of the technology du jour, be it software or in recent years a complex modular set. Rehberg’s motives are one of unbridled exploration often resulting in extreme and exhilarating audio works.

Having spearheaded the contemporary electronic sound with his uncompromising explorations of noise, rhythm and extreme computer music, he has also worked with numerous experimental musicians in collaboration. Rehberg stands in the wake of a sonic revolution, once fringe, which transformed over time into the sound of a generation of experimental geeks and club freaks worldwide.

Get On follows on from the 2016 release Get In. As with other titles in his ‘Get’ series we have an unwieldy blend of noise, abstraction, gnarled rhythm and blurred melody. Both analogue and digital tools are deployed as a means of expressing something outside of everyday electronics. ‘AMFM’ launches proceedings with some delightfully disorientating ricocheting electronics setting off a subversive sonic spectrum. ‘Frozen Jumper’ presents some ugly skittering electronics which rotate into exquisitely mangled forms before launching into an unsettling euphoria. The last piece ‘Motivation’ is a towering sensitive work, simultaneously haunted and emotionally moving. Get On marks another monumental work in the ongoing evolution from one of the ground zero pioneers of contemporary radical electronic music. As uncompromising as ever this is Pita in his prime. Emotion rung from the most twisted of frames.