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With 'The Electro Guilde III EP' Zodiak Commune Records once again presents a selection of well-known and label-recurring electro-acid producers who take you on their various adventurous musical journeys.

'Collateral Funk' is a one shot live recording funky acid Electro track by Acidulant and inspired by the likes of Dynamix II

'We Will Survive' by Dima Gastroler is a fantasy about robots fighting for their rights in the future world of global robotisation. Dynamic electro and psychedelic pads make it sound like that battle. We will survive!

Step into the world of pozek with 'EPT', a 128 BPM electro-acid tune that takes inspiration from 80s toys like Speak & Spell and classic old-school electro. The track weaves quirky, retro acid lines with driving electro beats, creating a perfect fusion of nostalgia and futuristic energy.

When johnfaustus start an electro track for Zodiak commune Records, he always have in mind the journey of a spaceship to the edge of a dark galaxy. No exception with 'Oberon', syncopated rhythms, abrasive basslines and a dark spacy theme

A Modern Revisit to a Cult Classic: A fresh "Twentysix Mix" of the 2016 underground staple In Your Body, updated for 2026 dancefloors with contemporary BPM and sharp remaster.

Ten years after defining the early sound of his own label, Berlin-based electronic explorer Cosmin TRG revisits a cornerstone of his discography. In Your Body (Twentysix Mix) sees the Romanian-born producer breathe new life into the 2016 underground anthem that helped cement the Sportiv label's reputation for high-end, functional techno.

This updated iteration retains the propulsive, hypnotic spirit of the original while sharpening the edges for a contemporary club environment. The package is rounded out by the driving, industrial-tinged cuts "Erodat" and "Iradiat," plus an exclusive digital remix by mysterious newcomers TRYL. Delivered as a classic hand-stamped white label, this release continues the Sportiv tradition of marrying stripped-back, high-impact club aesthetics with meticulous sound design.

YL Hooi returns with 'Running Around (83)', the project's first release since 2019's Untitled. Valya Ying-Li Hooi and Tarquin Manek finally commit a long road-tested live favourite to tape, welding together engine room doom, disembodied vocals, cryptic lyricism and a smouldering dub-techno bassline, recast and overdriven.

The hand-stamped white label 12" honours its roots with three heavyweight remixes. After corrupted audio files erased YL Hooi's recent live collaboration with Mad Professor, the Ariwa boss gives their encounter lasting form with a percussion-dripped halftime stepper featuring veteran Black Steel and new blood Karmelody.

The flipside immediately detours with Ulla's full-scale tear down and rebuild, layering woodwind, keys and subtle percussion into an improbably elegant convergence of ambient, minimal jazz and modern classical. John T. Gast's Midas touch then drags it into bardo dancehall territory, a rugged soundsystem destroyer that's scuzzy, screwed and wired with punk instinct.

World Of Echo are proud to announce the long-awaited reissue of the self-titled debut album by Bristol’s Movietone. Originally released in 1995 by Planet Records and reissued on CD in 2003 by The Pastels’ Geographic Music imprint, this is the first time Movietone has been reissued on vinyl. An expanded double-LP edition, it includes the extra tracks from the 2003 CD (their first two singles, and an unreleased demo of “Chance Is Her Opera”), and adds three more unearthed gems: demos of “Alkaline Eye” and “She Smiled Mandarine Like”, and an early take of “Late July”, recorded in a garden by Dave Pearce (Flying Saucer Attack) in 1993.

Taken together, this is the definitive collection of music from the first phase of one of Bristol’s most remarkable groups. Movietone was the cumulation of a series of events, explorations, and discoveries, starting at secondary school – the group’s core membership of Kate Wright, Rachel Brook, Matt Elliott and Matt Jones met at Cotham School in Bristol. As for many other groups, their early years were all about experimenting, and finding ways to ‘make do’, a DIY sensibility that would inform Movietone through their decade-long lifespan. From formative rehearsals in a shed in the garden of Brook’s family home, to recording early material to four-track in Redland Library, and on into the Whitehouse and Mr Grin’s studio sessions for their debut album, Movietone’s music fell together in a creatively unpredictable, yet conceptually rigorous manner.

By the time they released Movietone, they’d found a home with Bristol’s Planet, run by author Richard King and James Webster, who had both released their first two singles, “She Smiled Mandarine Like” and “Mono Valley”. There was other music happening around them in Bristol, too, from the Jones brothers’ avant-rock outfit Crescent (who were Movietone’s closest conspirators), through Elliott’s jungle/electronica project Third Eye Foundation, and Brook and Elliott’s membership of Flying Saucer Attack. A closely knit community, Movietone are the centre of this nestling architecture of groups. The vision in the music, mostly, belongs to Wright, but Movietone ran in democratic creative consort. Listening back to Movietone, you can hear this democracy in action through the wildness of the music, which is balanced by the poetics of Wright’s lyrics and melodies.

Full of half-captured memories and entangled abstractions, there’s an elliptical, ruminative quality to much of the writing here that shows the deep influence of the Beat Generation writers, along with a twilight environment captured in the songs that’s pure third-album Velvets, Galaxie 500, early Tindersticks, Codeine. Unpredictable interventions – the crashing glass in “Mono Valley”, the sudden explosions of “Orange Zero” point towards the noise blowouts of My Bloody Valentine, the unpredictability of Sonic Youth; Wright’s understated vocal cadence suggest a deep, embodied understanding of John Cage’s Indeterminacy.

Movietone would go on to make 3 fantastic albums for Domino: Night & Day (1997), The Blossom Filled Streets (2000) and The Sand & The Stars (2003) and their Peel Sessions were released earlier this year on Textile. Still held in high regard by artists like Steven R. Smith, and The Pastels, whose Stephen McRobbie once described them as “one of the great unknown English groups,” it’s an absolute thrill to listen to Movietone anew – still inspired, still seductive, still magic, still mysterious.

We release our second record, COPPIES002. Another hand stamped white label EP, collecting tunes from thecommunity, for the community. This time with tracks by Kerr Wilson, Salomo, illousion and APRS. Kerr starts on A1 with his "The Key To My Heart". He showed the first version of the track to Robert around 4 years ago in a memorable summer spent together. We made the promise that this will be pressed on record one day and, here it is! Thanks Kerr! It's a melancholic late-summer tune that makes you tear up and feel like the warm euphoria won't last forever, but it will surely return if you're patient. Salomo follows with a similar moody approach on "Say less (on the DF)", even though we can argue about the meaning of the title ;). illousion builds more tension on the flipside with "Masc or Mask". Entering dubby, rolling terrains with more high intensity drum patterns for later moments of the night. APRS is closing the EP with "I Want to Speak" on B2, maybe the counter argument to Salomos desire of a less noisy dancefloor. He crafted a minimal, loopy trip that drags you down the rabbit hole and won't iet you go til the party is over. COPPIES002 is available on vinyl only with digi download option

Jan Kincl, a Croatian producer, DJ and live performer with releases on BBE Records, Far Out Recordings, Sonar Kollektiv, and Get Physical, returns to his own Cycle Records with "Lights Out", the label's sixth release. Written and produced at Cycle Studio in Zagreb, it arrives in Main and Alternative mixes. The remixes come from Trinidadian Deep, a deep house producer and DJ mentored by Ron Trent, with releases on Neroli, Vision Recordings, Toto and Makin' Moves, as well as his own Native Bush - Many Moods of Music imprint. "An appropriate title. This is definitely a tune you want to hear when you closes your eyes on the dance floor, the vibe gets deep and you the lights go down." - said DJ Kemit. Intergalactic Gary called the record "Deep, atmospheric and emotional", while DJ Lady D summed up the contrast at the heart of the release: "Love the original, gives classic house vibes and TD offers a modern deep take." Early supporters include DJ Deep, Volcov, Ian Friday, DJ Kemit, Intergalactic Gary, Michael Reinboth, DJ Lady D, Bill Brewster (NTS Radio), Iron Curtis, Delfonic, ?me, Rohan Rakhit (Worldwide FM), Laani (Rinse FM / Worldwide FM / Jazz re:freshed) and Sebastian Hampf (ByteFM), among others.

The latest update to the Dream Software sonic catalogue is a glossy re-mastered version of the 2003 release ‘Fears’ from ‘Shuffle Progression’. A soundtrack for the space between reality and the higher spiritual planes. Grounding yet otherworldly, an organic groove doused in a warming sensuality and atmospheric liminality. This one is optimised for hazy spaces, morphing layers of floating essence, slowly obscuring all thats visible into blurry shapes of an abstract existence.

Electronic tastemaker Reznik makes his Defected debut with a remix of Chasing Kurt's 2014 club favourite, "From The Inside." Following his critically acclaimed "Cloudy Eyes" featuring Jesse Boykins III, Reznik continues to build momentum across the global club circuit with 2026 appearances at The Loft Amsterdam, Scorpios Mykonos, Gate Club Paris, Hï Ibiza, Extrema Belgium, KOKO, and more. Championed by Keinemusik, Tripolism, DESIREE and more, the remix has become a sought-after ID among underground selectors.

Following the instant success and subsequent repress of its inaugural release, Stones Taro’s self-release experiment "Foglore" returns with its second installment, further expanding the captivating universe built in Part 1. Rooted in the same core concept—a seamless blend of dubby, fog-laden sound design and a timeless aura reminiscent of ancient folklore—this four-track EP solidifies the very definition of "Foglore." On the A-side, "Weather Wheel" sets an energetic tone as masterfully mixed, chopped breakbeats seamlessly dissolve into hazy, atmospheric pad sounds. It is followed by "Moss Pulse," a track whose precise sound design acts as a natural hub bridging the worlds of Dub Techno and Dubstep. On the flip, "Whorls Of Smoke" delivers a fresh, hypnotic dance cut driven by an intricate interplay between a half-step groove and tam strikes. Closing the EP, "Acid Fog Ritual" combines sticky acid basslines with a deliberate, low-tempo beat to generate a deeply immersive psychdelia. Expanding on its predecessor while boldly redefining its own boundaries, Foglore#2 stands as a brilliant testament to Stones Taro’s evolving sonic vision.

Chase & Status announce their forthcoming album Generic Everything, out 9th October 2026, alongside new single “Gone Too Far” featuring Debbie. The 10-track project brings together an expansive cast of collaborators including J Hus, Little Simz, Skrillex, Giggs, D Double E, Blanco, IRAH, Col3trane and more, continuing the duo’s long-standing ability to connect scenes, generations and sounds across British music.

Generic Everything follows a landmark period for Chase & Status, which has seen “Baddadan” spend over 15 weeks in the UK Top 10 and achieve Platinum status, while “BACKBONE” featuring Stormzy became their first ever UK Number One single. Alongside a BRIT Award for British Producer of the Year, a record-breaking sold-out UK arena tour and their Milton Keynes National Bowl takeover, the duo continue to operate at a career-defining level more than two decades in.

Built around the idea of resisting creative conformity in a world increasingly shaped by algorithms, endless content and more, Generic Everything sees Chase & Status once again refusing to be confined by genre.


Moving between rave, rap, soundsystem culture and electronic music, the album pairs their unmistakable production with some of the most distinctive voices in UK music and beyond, capturing a duo still driven by the instinct to keep evolving, collaborating and pushing their sound forward.

EM Records is proud to release Three Movements from “Some Kind of Seasoning” by the eminent Warren Burt: composer (and performer, writer, instrument builder, educator) of genius. Burt was born in 1949 in the USA, and moved to Australia in 1975. Throughout his long and inspired career, his expansive aesthetic has eagerly embraced microtonality, improvisation and technology, fusing these elements in often humorous and/or irreverent compositions based on live interaction with intelligent or semi-intelligent machine processes. He sets up machine-generated musical environments and then “wanders through” their rules and behaviors, exploring the resulting possibilities in a manner which never results in tech-driven alienation or alienating randomness; Burt’s keen and personable musical intelligence is always evident. This release features music from the final sections of a near-six-hour epic cycle of interactive computer and synthesizer pieces from 1990-91, investigating the magical intermediate space between the human and the mechanical. Dedicated to Kenneth Gaburo, the music draws on wide-ranging inspirations including Sun Ra and Elliott Carter, Quincy Jones’ “Setembro” and Charles Ives, Portsmouth Sinfonia and ancient Greek modes. With good-natured humor, an openness to the excellence of “mistakes” and a wide range of timbres, the music includes progressions of "traditionally musical" pitches, delicate textures of sustained electronic tones, raucous and noisy combinations of sound. Available on 12” LP, CD and DL, with liner notes by the composer.



c 03: A Post-Modern Object-Oriented Chaotic Cellular Microtonal Teledildonic Virtual Simulacra! (Buzzwords (that might have gotten you tenure) for sampled orchestra) 1991 for computer-controlled synthesizer



[c] 03: A Post-Modern Object-Oriented Chaotic Cellular Microtonal Teledildonic Virtual Simulacra! (Buzzwords (that might have gotten you tenure) for sampled orchestra) [1991] for computer-controlled synthesizer



[c] 03: A Post-Modern Object-Oriented Chaotic Cellular Microtonal Teledildonic Virtual Simulacra! (Buzzwords (that might have gotten you tenure) for sampled orchestra) [1991] for computer-controlled synthesizer

DJ Support: FISHER, ACRAZE, AFROJACK, Rebuke, ALOK, Mau P, Tchami, MEDUZA, James Hype, Joel Corry, Hot Since 82, Dombresky, Oliver Heldens, OFFAIAH, Danny Howard, MEDUZA, Bob Sinclar, Joel Corry, Groove Armada, Sam Feldt & more.

Toolroom’s next Sampler showcases 4 big releases from Malaa, Zaark, ESSEL, Cristoph, Mark Knight & Wh0.

he Congos possess what all bands look for, that unique distinctive sound that draws the listener in. Alongside the great songs, lead singer Cedric Myton's singing, phasing and falsetto voice makes that just the case.
The Congos were formed by Cedric Myton (b. 1947, St Catherine, Jamaica) around the mid-Seventies when the
Rasta message was central to the reggae sound coming out of Kingston, Jamaica. But he had started out in the
Rocksteady era, when he formed the vocal group 'Tartans', taking lead vocal duties alongside Devon Russell, Prince Lincoln Thompson and Lindbergh Lewis.They cut 'Dance All Night' (1967) and 'Coming On Strong' (1968). The line-Up became The Royal Rasses and from this Cedric moved on to form the Congos on meeting Roydel Johnson, who had previously sang with Ras Michael and the Sons of Negas. Cedric's Rasta roots were firmly in place when he went to work with producer Lee Perry to cut the seminal album 'Heart Of The Congos' at Perry's just built, Black Ark Studios in 1977. Cedric Myton has carried on the mantle, cutting a set of tunes with the help of his good friend Mr Brent Dowe, who had previously sang lead vocals with the Melodians.This is the Dub set to the vocal album released on the Kingston
Sounds label called 'The Congos Feast'(KS008).With such strong songs, rhythms and vocals it always had the chemistry for a great dub set. Hope you agree and enjoy the dub excursion...

Two decades have passed in the land of Gnod, yet the psychic travelogue only becomes more enthralling as it goes on. And whilst this band has flourished via dauntless conviction, hive-mind magic and a fierce and uncompromising spirit, one ingredient has served as a crucial fuel for the fire – the monolithic singularity of the riff. 



This second chapter of Gnod’s sort-of-anniversary trilogy also originates in the same six day sessions as the first, at Hellfire Studios near Dublin with producer Spud Murphy (Lankum, Black Midi etc). Yet the focus this time is on the transcendental heaviness and repetition that the band have often used as a primary fulcrum of their approach. This volume captures the sound of strings flayed, throats shredded, skins punished by the organic chemistry of this formidably powerful band in a room.


The results are amongst the most fearsome and kinetic material that Gnod have summoned to date. As has often been the case for a band heavily driven by serendipity and intuition, the best plan is no plan at all. “We find quite regularly that spontaneity and the no thought approach works better than over analysis and detailed planning” clarifies the band's Chris Haslam


Maximal yet minimal, claustrophobic yet expansive, free in approach yet mercilessly disciplined in their intensity – Gnod like every truly great band are a mass of contradictions. On Chronicles Of Gnowt (Vol 2), this thunderous paradox has never sounded fiercer. To paraphrase Nietzsche: “Is man merely a mistake of Gnod's? Or Gnod merely a mistake of man?”

Almost Starlight is the extraordinary new album by Jem Finer (hurdy-gurdy) and John Matthias (violin). Produced by Jay Auborn and recorded in a Medieval Church, deep in the Devon countryside, in the Summer of 2025, the music is suffused with light, heat and the natural acoustics of the space.

The album defies categorisation; forced to pigeon hole it the nearest approximation would be ‘modern-classical’ but this ignores its myriad influences and explorations which encompass inspiration from Arvo Pärt through Terry Riley to Can via Delius, Alice Coltrane and a subtle reimagining of electronic music played purely with acoustic instruments, bending and shaping their possibilities in surprising and unexpected directions.

Jay Auborn plays cello on a number of the compositions and his production opens up and expands the music through a skilled and imaginative use of space, paying homage to the atmosphere of the church; ‘the sound evolved… chasing the imagined acoustics of that church in my mind; a place for worshipping light with sound.’

Almost Starlight will be released on the 4th September by Touch, available as CD, vinyl, cassette and on streaming platforms.

BIOS OF THE ARTISTS

Jem Finer

Since studying computer science in the 1970s, Jem Finer has worked in various fields, including photography, film, experimental and popular music, sound recording, sculpture and installation.

Much of his work relates to systems, extended processes and extremes of scale and includes Longplayer, a musical composition repeating once every 1000 years, and the Gurdy and Hurdy stones, ancient rocks set upright in fields in East Sussex and Gloucestershire with Jimmy Cauty. Their work together includes a band, The Standing Stones, whose most recent release is Twa Sisters, featuring Iona Zajac and Daragh Lynch.

He was a founder member of The Pogues, with whom he has played, written and recorded since 1981.

Recent music revolves around a fascination with the hurdy-gurdy and includes hrdy-grdy, a cassette released by Benedict Drew’s Thanet Tape Centre. His latest collaboration, with John Matthias, Almost Starlight, will be released by Touch in September 2026.

John Matthias

Since studying Theoretical Physics in the late 1980s and 1990s, John has created music and sound in many forms, including for installation, popular music, music for film, for dance and orchestra.

Much of John’s work plays with the physics of complex systems but he is also greatly influenced by stories and song. John has collaborated with Matthew Herbert, Stanley Donwood, Jay Auborn, Radiohead, Thom Yorke, Nick Ryan and many others to create music with a variety of textures and sonorities. He is particularly interested in simplicity and form and how context informs the way music sounds.

His latest collaboration, with Jem Finer, Almost Starlight, will be released by Touch in September 2026.

DIGITiSE knüpft dort an, wo HAAis Album HUMANiSE aus dem Jahr 2025 aufgehört hat, und versetzt uns direkt auf die Tanzfläche. Die zehn Tracks bewegen sich klanglich über verschiedene Genres und Stilrichtungen hinweg und sind von HAAis legendären All-Night-Long-DJ-Sets inspiriert.
Mit DIGITiSE setzt HAAi ihre Auseinandersetzung mit der Frage fort, was es bedeutet, in einer zunehmend digitalen Welt Mensch zu sein. Das Album beleuchtet das rasante Tempo von KI und technologischer Entwicklung, die Spaltungen, die dadurch entstehen, sowie die Belastungen, die damit einhergehen. Gleichzeitig bietet es ein Gegenmittel: Gemeinschaft. Menschen in einem Raum oder auf einer Tanzfläche zusammenzubringen, ein Gefühl von Zusammenhalt und Zugehörigkeit zu schaffen – dafür steht HAAi seit jeher mit voller Überzeugung. DIGITiSE öffnet sich diesem Geist vollkommen.
Für das Album arbeitet die in London lebende, australischstämmige Produzentin, Songwriterin und DJ mit neuen Kollaborateur:innen wie Echonomist, Skybreak und Cantoalegre (einem Kinderchor aus Medellín, Kolumbien) zusammen. Darüber hinaus sind auch Künstler:innen vertreten, mit denen HAAi bereits zuvor gearbeitet hat, darunter Pat Alvarez, ILA, James Messiah und Kaiden Ford.
DIGITiSE nimmt HUMANiSE an die Hand und führt es direkt in den Club.

Möge es den Menschen im bekannten Universum gefallen, dass das musikalische Ensemble mit zahlreichen Namen, das rechtlich unter dem Namen ,Kay-Bee Funk Music Group" firmiert, sein - alphabetisch gesehen - erstes Album mit dem Titel ,Access All Areas" veröffentlicht. Diese Aufnahmen, die mit der von Karate Boogaloo patentierten ,Lovely Recording Technique" entstanden sind, machen deutlich, dass jeder ein VIP ist, wenn man KB hört. ,Access" war das einzige Wort, das The Old Kar-Boo's bei diesem Projekt philosophisch leitete. Wurde ein Stück zu verworren, landete es im Papierkorb. Nur diejenigen, die von jedem und allen gesummt werden konnten, blieben erhalten. Dieses Sieb kam während des gesamten Prozesses zum Einsatz; Arrangements und Formen wurden straff gehalten, Schnickschnack auf ein Minimum reduziert. War ,Hold Your Horses" aus dem Jahr 2024 noch ein Epos, so ist ,Access All Areas" ein Haiku. Der bewährte Aufnahmeprozess der Band wurde gewissenhaft eingehalten, abgesehen von einer wunderbaren Ergänzung: den großartigen ,Sound Recordings" unter der Leitung ihres Inhabers und außergewöhnlichen Toningenieurs Alex Bennet. Alex, der den 4-Spur-Ampex 440 bei Bedarf abseits der ausgetretenen Pfade steuerte und stets dafür sorgte, dass die Stimmung stimmte, ist ein waschechter Booger. Auch wenn es sich nur wie ein Augenblick anfühlt, sagt uns die Uhr, dass fast 20 Jahre vergangen sind, seit Kay's Bees zum ersten Mal versuchten, die Songs ihrer musikalischen Helden - The Meters, Booker T & The MG's und The JB's, um nur einige zu nennen - zu spielen. Seitdem haben die Famous Flying Karate Boogaloo Brothers einen Schritt nach dem anderen gemacht und ihren eigenen Sound entwickelt - einen, der die Geschichte der instrumentalen Funk- und Soul-Musik respektvoll würdigt und die Zeit widerspiegelt, die sie damit verbracht haben, ihren unverwechselbaren Sound zu entwickeln. So sehr jedes Mitglied auch für sich allein glänzt, ist es doch ein besonderes Ereignis, wenn alle vier Planeten im Booger-System in einer Linie stehen. ,Access All Areas" ist eine solche Finsternis - ein künstlerischer Ausdruck, an dem jedes Mitglied gleichermaßen beteiligt ist und der einen Schatten wirft, der einzigartig für diesen Anlass ist. Jede Sekunde der Musik wurde unter voller Beteiligung aller Mitglieder komponiert und produziert; das Mixing übernahm Henry Jenkins, das Artwork stammte von Hudson Whitlock und Callum Riley, und Darvid Thor vollbrachte Dinge, die man gesehen haben muss, um sie zu glauben. Musik ist ein Mannschaftssport, und es gibt kein ,Ich" im Funk. Das Album erscheint bei den beiden großartigsten Plattenlabels der Galaxie: ,Colemine Records" aus Loveland, USA, und ,College of Knowledge" aus Coburg, Australien. Hören Sie sich bitte das neue Album ,Access All Areas" von Karate Boogaloo an.

Möge es den Menschen im bekannten Universum gefallen, dass das musikalische Ensemble mit zahlreichen Namen, das rechtlich unter dem Namen ,Kay-Bee Funk Music Group" firmiert, sein - alphabetisch gesehen - erstes Album mit dem Titel ,Access All Areas" veröffentlicht. Diese Aufnahmen, die mit der von Karate Boogaloo patentierten ,Lovely Recording Technique" entstanden sind, machen deutlich, dass jeder ein VIP ist, wenn man KB hört. ,Access" war das einzige Wort, das The Old Kar-Boo's bei diesem Projekt philosophisch leitete. Wurde ein Stück zu verworren, landete es im Papierkorb. Nur diejenigen, die von jedem und allen gesummt werden konnten, blieben erhalten. Dieses Sieb kam während des gesamten Prozesses zum Einsatz; Arrangements und Formen wurden straff gehalten, Schnickschnack auf ein Minimum reduziert. War ,Hold Your Horses" aus dem Jahr 2024 noch ein Epos, so ist ,Access All Areas" ein Haiku. Der bewährte Aufnahmeprozess der Band wurde gewissenhaft eingehalten, abgesehen von einer wunderbaren Ergänzung: den großartigen ,Sound Recordings" unter der Leitung ihres Inhabers und außergewöhnlichen Toningenieurs Alex Bennet. Alex, der den 4-Spur-Ampex 440 bei Bedarf abseits der ausgetretenen Pfade steuerte und stets dafür sorgte, dass die Stimmung stimmte, ist ein waschechter Booger. Auch wenn es sich nur wie ein Augenblick anfühlt, sagt uns die Uhr, dass fast 20 Jahre vergangen sind, seit Kay's Bees zum ersten Mal versuchten, die Songs ihrer musikalischen Helden - The Meters, Booker T & The MG's und The JB's, um nur einige zu nennen - zu spielen. Seitdem haben die Famous Flying Karate Boogaloo Brothers einen Schritt nach dem anderen gemacht und ihren eigenen Sound entwickelt - einen, der die Geschichte der instrumentalen Funk- und Soul-Musik respektvoll würdigt und die Zeit widerspiegelt, die sie damit verbracht haben, ihren unverwechselbaren Sound zu entwickeln. So sehr jedes Mitglied auch für sich allein glänzt, ist es doch ein besonderes Ereignis, wenn alle vier Planeten im Booger-System in einer Linie stehen. ,Access All Areas" ist eine solche Finsternis - ein künstlerischer Ausdruck, an dem jedes Mitglied gleichermaßen beteiligt ist und der einen Schatten wirft, der einzigartig für diesen Anlass ist. Jede Sekunde der Musik wurde unter voller Beteiligung aller Mitglieder komponiert und produziert; das Mixing übernahm Henry Jenkins, das Artwork stammte von Hudson Whitlock und Callum Riley, und Darvid Thor vollbrachte Dinge, die man gesehen haben muss, um sie zu glauben. Musik ist ein Mannschaftssport, und es gibt kein ,Ich" im Funk. Das Album erscheint bei den beiden großartigsten Plattenlabels der Galaxie: ,Colemine Records" aus Loveland, USA, und ,College of Knowledge" aus Coburg, Australien. Hören Sie sich bitte das neue Album ,Access All Areas" von Karate Boogaloo an.

Common Primitives is the second collaborative album between Andy Bell (Ride guitarist, Oasis bassist) and Essex-based harp and synth duo Masal. It’s a stunning, meditative collection which veers from kosmische to astral jazz by way of Turkish folk tunes and all the way back again.


Their first outing, 2023’s acclaimed Tidal Love Numbers, consisted of four lengthy and almost ambient tracks and is included here on vinyl for the first time as part of a two-record set with the new album. By contrast, the seven tracks that make up Common Primitives are almost concise, but also a lot more layered and complex.


“We tend to work from initial, free-jammed ideas, building form and arrangement from there,” explains Masal’s Al Johnson. “Above all, we believe you should go where the vibe takes you.”


For Andy, that vibe was very much jazz legend Pharoah Sanders’ classic 1977 album Pharoah, which was reissued a few years ago.


“It puts me into a hypnotic state,” he explains. “That’s why I worked with more guitar loops on this record. The Tisziji Muñoz part on ‘Harvest Time’ has had me in a vice-like grip for the last three years and it arrives here via the Vini Reilly filter.”


For Özlem Simsek, there is nostalgia, too, and she even adds vocals as well as her heavenly harp to the opening track, ‘After Kâtibim’, based on a traditional Turkish folk song she had sung as a child growing up in Istanbul.


From there, the album takes us on a real journey, with the apt, impressionistic titles added by Andy once it had all been pieced together. There’s the beautiful, elegant ‘I Swear We Are Infinite’; the atmospheric ‘Yuzuki Fighting Spirit’ and the beatific ‘Soap And Water’. ‘Tower Of Babylon’ was named after the novelette by Ted Chiang, its structured creation reflecting that in the story; first single ‘The Morning Of The Trip’ finds Andy playing his guitar “as if it was a waterfall”. The journey ends with ‘Rudi’s Dream – The Third Bardo’, the trio accelerating onto the autobahn for a krautrock crescendo inspired by their studio’s resident cat.

Common Primitives is the second collaborative album between Andy Bell (Ride guitarist, Oasis bassist) and Essex-based harp and synth duo Masal. It’s a stunning, meditative collection which veers from kosmische to astral jazz by way of Turkish folk tunes and all the way back again.


Their first outing, 2023’s acclaimed Tidal Love Numbers, consisted of four lengthy and almost ambient tracks and is included here on vinyl for the first time as part of a two-record set with the new album. By contrast, the seven tracks that make up Common Primitives are almost concise, but also a lot more layered and complex.


“We tend to work from initial, free-jammed ideas, building form and arrangement from there,” explains Masal’s Al Johnson. “Above all, we believe you should go where the vibe takes you.”


For Andy, that vibe was very much jazz legend Pharoah Sanders’ classic 1977 album Pharoah, which was reissued a few years ago.


“It puts me into a hypnotic state,” he explains. “That’s why I worked with more guitar loops on this record. The Tisziji Muñoz part on ‘Harvest Time’ has had me in a vice-like grip for the last three years and it arrives here via the Vini Reilly filter.”


For Özlem Simsek, there is nostalgia, too, and she even adds vocals as well as her heavenly harp to the opening track, ‘After Kâtibim’, based on a traditional Turkish folk song she had sung as a child growing up in Istanbul.


From there, the album takes us on a real journey, with the apt, impressionistic titles added by Andy once it had all been pieced together. There’s the beautiful, elegant ‘I Swear We Are Infinite’; the atmospheric ‘Yuzuki Fighting Spirit’ and the beatific ‘Soap And Water’. ‘Tower Of Babylon’ was named after the novelette by Ted Chiang, its structured creation reflecting that in the story; first single ‘The Morning Of The Trip’ finds Andy playing his guitar “as if it was a waterfall”. The journey ends with ‘Rudi’s Dream – The Third Bardo’, the trio accelerating onto the autobahn for a krautrock crescendo inspired by their studio’s resident cat.

OTHELLO is the debut album by pianist and composer Orson Claeys. Bringing together influences from jazz, hip-hop, urban culture, and everyday life, the record offers the clearest portrait yet of an artist shaped as much by the worlds around him as by music itself.

The title refers to Claeys' full name, Orson Dwight Othello Claeys, and reflects the album's central concern:identity. Throughout the record, personal experiences, cultural influences, and artistic inspirations converge into a body of work that seeks to understand how an artist is formed, both within and beyond music. Musically, OTHELLO builds on jazz, strongly intertwined with hip-hop, contemporary culture, and ideas beyond traditional musical frameworks. For Claeys, music is not a fixed genre, but an open and evolving form of expression.

This broad perspective is evident in the album's carefully chosen collaborations. A track like "WHAT A NIGHT" first took shape during a studio session with indie-soul singer Sevens, whose harmonic ideas laid the foundation for the track. As the composition evolved, Claeys felt it called for a stronger hip-hop voice. Through a recommendation from Mixmonster Menno of STUFF., he was introduced to L.A. rapper IAMOMNI, whose contribution brought exactly the energy and perspective the track needed. The result unfolds like a late-night journey through Los Angeles, with IAMOMNI's contribution adding a sense of movement, character, and place.

Elsewhere on the album, "SPIRAL", featuring Belgo-Brazilian vocalist Helena Casella, grew out of a long-standing mutual admiration. Conceived as a meeting point between R&B and jazz, the composition balances the groove and emotional depth of the former with the improvisational spirit and spontaneity of the latter. The collaboration developed naturally from the outset, with Casella instinctively understanding the atmosphere Claeys envisioned while enriching the music with her own warmth and nuance.

A long-held ambition materializes on "SHADOWBOXING", where Claeys is joined by drummer, producer, and one of the key figures in contemporary Belgian jazz, Lander Gyselinck. Gyselinck's work, particularly his collaboration with Zwangere Guy on Pourriture Noble, was instrumental in showing Claeys how the language of hip-hop could coexist naturally with jazz, an idea that runs through OTHELLO. Drawing inspiration from boxing, the track is a musical equivalent of a fighter's walk towards the ring: focused, intense, and driven by the sense of anticipation that precedes stepping into the fight.

After this heightened intensity, the album gradually moves toward its closing statement. OUTRO / HANIN", featuring oud player Akram Ben Romdhane, a longtime collaborator whose playing forms a natural bridge between Claeys' previous work and the broader musical landscape explored across the album. The title references the Tunisian Arabic word hanin, meaning "nostalgia", a fitting conclusion to a work deeply concerned with memory, identity, and personal history.

Beyond music itself, OTHELLO is informed by a wider cultural landscape. Urban culture, with its visual language, creative independence, and sense of community, forms an important backdrop to the record. Sport also plays a significant role, particularly boxing and basketball, whose emphasis on discipline, focus, and resilience mirrors Claeys' own creative process. Rather than being treated as separate influences, these worlds coexist without hierarchy, reflecting an artistic vision that resists rigid boundaries and allows different disciplines, communities, and experiences to inform one another.

To mark ‘PUNK50’ (1976-2026) Mal-One has pulled his ‘Future Nostalgia’ track for 12” release. To remind us all that there is nothing wrong with nostalgia and looking back at events that have shaped our lives. Our collective futures are built on the actions of our pasts. As the lyric points out in the song:

‘Future Nostalgia we carry all our pasts’ Future Nostalgia

Also to enhance this release he has added an exclusive dub mix of the tune ‘Future Dub’. The flip side has taken two tracks from his forthcoming dub album ‘Punk Dub Sessions’. ‘Dub King’ is a version of his ’God Save The King’ track an update to the Sex Pistols ‘God Save The Queen’ and ‘Holiday Dub’ a version to his ‘Holiday In Someone Else’s Misery’ track. Which tells the story of the Sex Pistols ‘Holiday In The Sun’ release.

Hope you enjoy the Future Nostalgia journey and the dub excursions.

Komponist und Pianist Alexis Ffrench veröffentlicht sein neues Album "24". Es ist eine musikalische Reise, die den Zuhörer sanft vom Morgengrauen bis zum Abend begleitet. Es vereint 24 von Ffrench komponierte Originalstücke für Klavier, Streicher und dezente Percussion. Jedes Stück spiegelt die alltäglichen Momente wider, die unser Leben prägen. Das Album hat einen simplen und zugleich unerwarteten Entstehungspunkt: Bei einem Spaziergang durch London bemerkte Alexis ein Schild vor einer Kirche. Darauf wurde eingeladen "guten Kaffee für gute Zwecke" zu genießen. Die Wärme dieser Idee, die Alltäglichkeit, das Gefühl eines kleinen täglichen Rituals, das zu etwas Bedeutungsvollem wird - blieb ihm im Gedächtnis und wurde zur Inspiration für "Coffee Song". Alexis stellte sich die Frage: "Was wäre, wenn wir für jede Aktivität im Laufe des Tages ein bestimmtes Musikstück hätten?" Musik, die uns dabei hilft, jedem Moment bewusst zu begegnen und ihn wirklich zu erleben. Musik, als Weg zu einem achtsameren Leben. Alexis Ffrench ist ein Künstler mit einer besonderen Fähigkeit, Musik für die Seele zu schaffen. Seine Erfolge sprechen dabei für sich: Er hat über eine Milliarde Streams und ist damit einer der meist-gestreamten Pianisten weltweit. Im Laufe seiner Karriere hat Ffrench sich immer wieder eine Frage gestellt: "Was brauchen meine HörerInnen von mir?" Mit "24" ist die Antwort darauf ebenso einfach wie tiefgründig: Musik, nach der man leben kann.

EM Records is proud to present the first new album release in 25 years from Australia's Sheriff Lindo, dubmaster of the Southern Hemisphere.
His "Ten Dubs That Shook The World" EM1119CD/LP, released in 1988, has been growing in stature since its release, supported by its re-issue on EM Records, and in the meantime the Sheriff has been working steadily, deep-local style, honing his skills with the Australian sound systems Firehouse Sound and Earthlink Sound. The tracks on "Aftershock Dubs", recorded between 1990 and 2005, while never officially released, have been played as dub plates at sound system parties, proved movers, tested in the heat of action. Recorded at Lindo's 4/5 Studios, these specials were chosen by Japanese sound system savants Takuto Kuratani (Ruv Bytes) and Atsushi Muneshige (Touch the Sky/Corner Stone Music) from a cornucopia of goodness supplied by Sheriff Lindo, mastered by Kuratani for maximum impact. EM Records' first-ever Dancehall release is available on vinyl and CD, with two bonus tracks on the CD. One track features the vocals of Ras Roni; all tracks feature the experience-forged Dub sense of the Sheriff. More than a quarter-century of love, knowledge and soul-science has been distilled here. Don't miss it.

Cameron Winter kündigt sein erstes Live-Album "Live at Carnegie Hall" an. Das Album dokumentiert Winters historischen Auftritt im Dezember 2025, bei dem er als einer der jüngsten Solokünstler überhaupt als Headliner im Hauptsaal der legendären Konzerthalle auftrat. Ganz allein, über sein Klavier gebeugt und mit dem Rücken zu einem ehrfürchtigen, ausverkauften Publikum, interpretierte der Frontmann der Band "Geese" Songs aus seinem gefeierten Debütalbum "Heavy Metal" neu. Ein Album, das von GQ in ihrem ausführlichen Bericht über diesen Abend in der Carnegie Hall als "eine der kühnsten und selbstbewusstesten Singer-Songwriter-Platten dieses Jahrhunderts bisher, ein Fiebertraum voller Gefühle von jemandem, der die Regeln gut genug verstand, um zu wissen, dass sie ihm kaum etwas bedeuteten" beschrieben wurde.

Auf dieser berühmten Bühne präsentierte er zudem drei bisher unveröffentlichte Kompositionen, von denen jede einen Einblick in seinen Fundus an Material bot. Die gesamte Darbietung war von einem unbestreitbaren Gefühl der Einmaligkeit geprägt, das die Bedeutung des Augenblicks einfing: Zeuge zu sein, wie ein Künstler, wie er nur einmal in einer Generation vorkommt, die Bühne eines der ehrwürdigsten Veranstaltungsorte der amerikanischen Musikszene beherrscht.

Es war ein Coup, als Gründer und Bassist Lee Payne vor drei Jahren ankündigte, dass Harry „The Tyrant“ Conklin, der nach Griechenland gezogen war, seiner Band Cloven Hoof beitreten würde. Der ehemalige Jag-Panzer-Frontmann war der perfekte Nachfolger für Russ North, der für die Fans bis dahin als der ultimative Cloven-Hoof-Sänger galt – leider weilt er nicht mehr unter uns. Daher waren die Reaktionen auf das erste Album der Band mit Harry Conklin am Mikrofon herausragend. »Heathen Cross« wurde 2024 bei High Roller Records veröffentlicht.
Nun folgt Cloven Hoofs zehntes Studioalbum mit dem Titel »Never A Prophet In Your Own Land«. Wieder einmal ist die Gesangsleistung vom „Tyrant“ absolute Weltklasse. Lee Payne grinst: „Das Lob gebührt einzig und allein Harry. Wir können uns glücklich schätzen, einen so brillanten Sänger und Frontmann in der Band zu haben.“
Kontinuität ist für jede Band wichtig, und Cloven Hoof hatten in der Vergangenheit mehr als einen Besetzungswechsel zu verzeichnen. Diesmal nicht, wie der Bassist nicht ohne Stolz erklärt: „Wir haben dieselbe feste Besetzung wie auf »Heathen Cross«, das kann ich mit Freude sagen. Am Gesang der einzig wahre Harry Conklin und an den Gitarren Luke Hatton sowie Chris Coss. Dazu Ash Baker am Schlagzeug. Luke, Chris und Ash sind nun seit über zehn Jahren bei Cloven Hoof; sie kennen ihre Rollen in- und auswendig. Ich selbst bin seit 1979 in der Band, also sollte ich inzwischen eine Vorstellung davon haben, was ich mache (lacht).“
„»Never A Prophet In Your Own Land« ist keine direkte Fortsetzung von »Heathen Cross«“, fährt Payne fort. „»Heathen Cross« hatte seine eigene schwere und düstere Atmosphäre. »Never A Prophet In Your Own Land« ähnelt eher »A Sultan‘s Ransom«, doch diese Ähnlichkeit war weder konstruiert noch geplant. Es ist einfach so gekommen.“

Tramhaus aus Rotterdam wurden nach der Veröffentlichung ihres Debütalbums "The First Exit" (2024) und zahlreichen Shows in ganz Europa (und weit darüber hinaus!) bereits als "DIE holländische Post-Punk-Sensation" beschrieben und wahrgenommen. Im Oktober 2026 erscheint das neue Album "Blister" bei Siluh Records. Die Band bewegt sich seit ihrer Gründung 2020 zwischen treibendem Post-Hardcore und Indierock-/Shoegaze-Anleihen, garniert mit einem Schuss kalkulierter Dissonanz. Dabei verorten sich Tramhaus, über die musikalischen Einflüsse hinaus, explizit als Teil einer organisch gewachsenen, internationalen Szene, eines Netzwerks aus unabhängigen Agenturen, Labels und Veranstaltern mit deren Hilfe die Band nach der Veröffentlichung ihres Debütalbums innerhalb ein, zwei Jahren zum Szene-Tipp und must-see avancierte. Kraftvoll, laut und selbstbewusst gewinnt Blister bei wiederholtem Hören an Format. Das Album besticht durch eine neue Eleganz sowie spürbarem Raumgefühl und enormer Wucht. Dies rührt zum Teil aus einer gewachsenen, detailierteren Produktion her, die auch die vielen Zwischentöne einfängt. Die schwindelerregende Natur des fast zweijährigen, ununterbrochenen Reisens spiegelt sich im Titel des ungeduldigen Eröffnungsstücks "Plovdiv" wider (ein Ort, an dem sie übrigens tatsächlich gespielt haben): Ein Glam-artiger Stampf-Rhythmus und eine federnde Basslinie treiben eine Reihe bedrohlicher Gitarrenriffs voran - Elemente, die allesamt jenen Sound widerspiegeln, mit dem Tramhaus in letzter Zeit die Konzertbühnen in Schutt und Asche gelegt haben. Auch weitere Stücke wie "Rat Race" und "I Was Never Alone" klingen ganz ähnlich. Die langsameren Titel des Albums offenbaren bisweilen eine ,rockistische" Erhabenheit, die sie zuvor lediglich angedeutet hatten: vielleicht im Stil der Pixies oder der späten Nirvana (man höre und staune!) - oder, an anderer Stelle als leises Flüstern, das an Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds erinnert. "Overachiever, Big Believer" und "Sly (Like Ever)" zeichnen sich durch eine beißende, knurrende Grundstimmung sowie geduldig ausgearbeitete Melodielinien aus - Eigenschaften, die im Jahr 1991 zweifellos hervorragend ins musikalische Zeitbild gepasst hätten. An anderer Stelle besticht "Solace" mit seinem offenen Akkordanschlag durch eine lässige Attitüde, die direkt einem Stück der Saints oder der Bad Seeds entstammen könnte. Das Beste wird sich für den Schluss aufgehoben: Bei "Swarm" bricht nach einem monolithischen, an die frühen Pere Ubu erinnernden Bass-Grollen ein grandioses, Sabbath-artiges Riff über den Hörer herein. Es ist ein hymnisches, transzendentes Stück, das in früheren Zeiten ein garantierter Hit gewesen wäre - eine Single, die Teenager auf der ganzen Welt dazu animiert hätte, ihre Air-Guitar-Künste vor Mamas Schlafzimmerspiegel zu perfektionieren. Also, das zweite Album der genau richtig neben dem Mainstream verorteten Postpunk-Niederländer*innen nicht verpassen!

Tramhaus aus Rotterdam wurden nach der Veröffentlichung ihres Debütalbums "The First Exit" (2024) und zahlreichen Shows in ganz Europa (und weit darüber hinaus!) bereits als "DIE holländische Post-Punk-Sensation" beschrieben und wahrgenommen. Im Oktober 2026 erscheint das neue Album "Blister" bei Siluh Records. Die Band bewegt sich seit ihrer Gründung 2020 zwischen treibendem Post-Hardcore und Indierock-/Shoegaze-Anleihen, garniert mit einem Schuss kalkulierter Dissonanz. Dabei verorten sich Tramhaus, über die musikalischen Einflüsse hinaus, explizit als Teil einer organisch gewachsenen, internationalen Szene, eines Netzwerks aus unabhängigen Agenturen, Labels und Veranstaltern mit deren Hilfe die Band nach der Veröffentlichung ihres Debütalbums innerhalb ein, zwei Jahren zum Szene-Tipp und must-see avancierte. Kraftvoll, laut und selbstbewusst gewinnt Blister bei wiederholtem Hören an Format. Das Album besticht durch eine neue Eleganz sowie spürbarem Raumgefühl und enormer Wucht. Dies rührt zum Teil aus einer gewachsenen, detailierteren Produktion her, die auch die vielen Zwischentöne einfängt. Die schwindelerregende Natur des fast zweijährigen, ununterbrochenen Reisens spiegelt sich im Titel des ungeduldigen Eröffnungsstücks "Plovdiv" wider (ein Ort, an dem sie übrigens tatsächlich gespielt haben): Ein Glam-artiger Stampf-Rhythmus und eine federnde Basslinie treiben eine Reihe bedrohlicher Gitarrenriffs voran - Elemente, die allesamt jenen Sound widerspiegeln, mit dem Tramhaus in letzter Zeit die Konzertbühnen in Schutt und Asche gelegt haben. Auch weitere Stücke wie "Rat Race" und "I Was Never Alone" klingen ganz ähnlich. Die langsameren Titel des Albums offenbaren bisweilen eine ,rockistische" Erhabenheit, die sie zuvor lediglich angedeutet hatten: vielleicht im Stil der Pixies oder der späten Nirvana (man höre und staune!) - oder, an anderer Stelle als leises Flüstern, das an Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds erinnert. "Overachiever, Big Believer" und "Sly (Like Ever)" zeichnen sich durch eine beißende, knurrende Grundstimmung sowie geduldig ausgearbeitete Melodielinien aus - Eigenschaften, die im Jahr 1991 zweifellos hervorragend ins musikalische Zeitbild gepasst hätten. An anderer Stelle besticht "Solace" mit seinem offenen Akkordanschlag durch eine lässige Attitüde, die direkt einem Stück der Saints oder der Bad Seeds entstammen könnte. Das Beste wird sich für den Schluss aufgehoben: Bei "Swarm" bricht nach einem monolithischen, an die frühen Pere Ubu erinnernden Bass-Grollen ein grandioses, Sabbath-artiges Riff über den Hörer herein. Es ist ein hymnisches, transzendentes Stück, das in früheren Zeiten ein garantierter Hit gewesen wäre - eine Single, die Teenager auf der ganzen Welt dazu animiert hätte, ihre Air-Guitar-Künste vor Mamas Schlafzimmerspiegel zu perfektionieren. Also, das zweite Album der genau richtig neben dem Mainstream verorteten Postpunk-Niederländer*innen nicht verpassen! Dieses frisch grüne Vinyl ist limitiert (100 Stück weltweit)!

Tramhaus aus Rotterdam wurden nach der Veröffentlichung ihres Debütalbums "The First Exit" (2024) und zahlreichen Shows in ganz Europa (und weit darüber hinaus!) bereits als "DIE holländische Post-Punk-Sensation" beschrieben und wahrgenommen. Im Oktober 2026 erscheint das neue Album "Blister" bei Siluh Records. Die Band bewegt sich seit ihrer Gründung 2020 zwischen treibendem Post-Hardcore und Indierock-/Shoegaze-Anleihen, garniert mit einem Schuss kalkulierter Dissonanz. Dabei verorten sich Tramhaus, über die musikalischen Einflüsse hinaus, explizit als Teil einer organisch gewachsenen, internationalen Szene, eines Netzwerks aus unabhängigen Agenturen, Labels und Veranstaltern mit deren Hilfe die Band nach der Veröffentlichung ihres Debütalbums innerhalb ein, zwei Jahren zum Szene-Tipp und must-see avancierte. Kraftvoll, laut und selbstbewusst gewinnt Blister bei wiederholtem Hören an Format. Das Album besticht durch eine neue Eleganz sowie spürbarem Raumgefühl und enormer Wucht. Dies rührt zum Teil aus einer gewachsenen, detailierteren Produktion her, die auch die vielen Zwischentöne einfängt. Die schwindelerregende Natur des fast zweijährigen, ununterbrochenen Reisens spiegelt sich im Titel des ungeduldigen Eröffnungsstücks "Plovdiv" wider (ein Ort, an dem sie übrigens tatsächlich gespielt haben): Ein Glam-artiger Stampf-Rhythmus und eine federnde Basslinie treiben eine Reihe bedrohlicher Gitarrenriffs voran - Elemente, die allesamt jenen Sound widerspiegeln, mit dem Tramhaus in letzter Zeit die Konzertbühnen in Schutt und Asche gelegt haben. Auch weitere Stücke wie "Rat Race" und "I Was Never Alone" klingen ganz ähnlich. Die langsameren Titel des Albums offenbaren bisweilen eine ,rockistische" Erhabenheit, die sie zuvor lediglich angedeutet hatten: vielleicht im Stil der Pixies oder der späten Nirvana (man höre und staune!) - oder, an anderer Stelle als leises Flüstern, das an Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds erinnert. "Overachiever, Big Believer" und "Sly (Like Ever)" zeichnen sich durch eine beißende, knurrende Grundstimmung sowie geduldig ausgearbeitete Melodielinien aus - Eigenschaften, die im Jahr 1991 zweifellos hervorragend ins musikalische Zeitbild gepasst hätten. An anderer Stelle besticht "Solace" mit seinem offenen Akkordanschlag durch eine lässige Attitüde, die direkt einem Stück der Saints oder der Bad Seeds entstammen könnte. Das Beste wird sich für den Schluss aufgehoben: Bei "Swarm" bricht nach einem monolithischen, an die frühen Pere Ubu erinnernden Bass-Grollen ein grandioses, Sabbath-artiges Riff über den Hörer herein. Es ist ein hymnisches, transzendentes Stück, das in früheren Zeiten ein garantierter Hit gewesen wäre - eine Single, die Teenager auf der ganzen Welt dazu animiert hätte, ihre Air-Guitar-Künste vor Mamas Schlafzimmerspiegel zu perfektionieren. Also, das zweite Album der genau richtig neben dem Mainstream verorteten Postpunk-Niederländer*innen nicht verpassen! Dieses frisch grüne Vinyl ist limitiert (100 Stück weltweit)!

With Lost Lost Lost, Pratt & Moody gather the defining moments of their journey and package it with fresh soul gold into one cohesive, slow- burning statement. What began as a series of cult 7” vinyl releases – often mistaken online for forgotten soul classics from another era – now finds its natural home in album form. Written and recorded with Timmion’s trusted house band Cold Diamond & Mink, the record captures the duo’s unmistakable chemistry: emotionally rich songwriting wrapped in warm, analog textures that blur past and present.
From the velvet sway of “Addictive Touch” to the cinematic tension of “You Bring Me Joy” and the beat ballad ache of “Hard Way To Live,” the album moves effortlessly between bedroom-soul intimacy and widescreen drama. “Hang Tight” opens with a blissful piano figure that nods to gospel-tinged 1970s soul before unfolding into a full-bodied groove, while “Hooked On Your Love” glows with golden-age group soul harmony sweetness. Across both sides, Pratt’s finely tuned vocals and Moody’s expressive guitar work anchor songs that feel timeless rather than nostalgic.

At its core, Lost Lost Lost is an album steeped in atmosphere – lush downtempo moments sit alongside sweet harmony-driven soul, cinematic builds dissolve into dark restrained grooves. Analog string synthesizers, vibraphone accents, tremolo guitar, and deep-pocket rhythms create emotional tension without excess. Pratt & Moody’s strength lies in their melodic instinct: songs that feel big without being pompous or losing their human quality. The result is a record that feels cohesive, immersive, and that real thing – reaffirming the duo as key architects of the contemporary lowrider soul revival.

With Lost Lost Lost, Pratt & Moody gather the defining moments of their journey and package it with fresh soul gold into one cohesive, slow- burning statement. What began as a series of cult 7” vinyl releases – often mistaken online for forgotten soul classics from another era – now finds its natural home in album form. Written and recorded with Timmion’s trusted house band Cold Diamond & Mink, the record captures the duo’s unmistakable chemistry: emotionally rich songwriting wrapped in warm, analog textures that blur past and present.
From the velvet sway of “Addictive Touch” to the cinematic tension of “You Bring Me Joy” and the beat ballad ache of “Hard Way To Live,” the album moves effortlessly between bedroom-soul intimacy and widescreen drama. “Hang Tight” opens with a blissful piano figure that nods to gospel-tinged 1970s soul before unfolding into a full-bodied groove, while “Hooked On Your Love” glows with golden-age group soul harmony sweetness. Across both sides, Pratt’s finely tuned vocals and Moody’s expressive guitar work anchor songs that feel timeless rather than nostalgic.

At its core, Lost Lost Lost is an album steeped in atmosphere – lush downtempo moments sit alongside sweet harmony-driven soul, cinematic builds dissolve into dark restrained grooves. Analog string synthesizers, vibraphone accents, tremolo guitar, and deep-pocket rhythms create emotional tension without excess. Pratt & Moody’s strength lies in their melodic instinct: songs that feel big without being pompous or losing their human quality. The result is a record that feels cohesive, immersive, and that real thing – reaffirming the duo as key architects of the contemporary lowrider soul revival.

R&B singer and songwriter Michi’s debut album Dirty Talk is a nostalgic trip through the ups and downs of love – “an excellent debut from a confident vibes conjurer” (Hearing Things).

Now, Michi teams up with Stones Throw label mates Knxwledge and Mndsgn for Dirty Talk: Sunshine Hotline Mixes – remixes of Dirty Talk tracks, plus two brand-new covers.

Knxwledge has remixed four tracks, while Mndsgn has remixed two and joins Michi for covers of “Emotions” by the Bee Gees / Destiny’s Child and “Are You Lonesome?” by The Feminine Complex.

Norman Blake und Raymond McGinley machen seit 37 Jahren gemeinsam Musik bei Teenage Fanclub, und auch wenn manche Aspekte des Bandlebens mit der Zeit einfacher geworden sind, können ihnen die einfachsten Dinge immer noch einen Strich durch die Rechnung machen. Blake sagt dazu: "Es ist schwierig, wenn es darum geht, sich einen Namen für ein Album auszudenken. Vor allem, wenn man schon 12 davon gemacht hat." Der Titel ,Do Not Dare To Dream" leitet sich ab von Blakes ,I Do Not Dare To Dream", einem mitreißenden, hymnischen Song, der von klangvollen Akustikgitarren getragen und am Ende von einem Duell elektrischer Gitarren begleitet wird, die sich wie eine beruhigende Umarmung umeinander schlingen. Blake erklärt, dass der Titel jene Memes verspotten soll, die die Menschen dazu auffordern, zu träumen, was für ihn irgendwie lächerlich ist. "Ich glaube nicht, dass die Welt so funktioniert." Das 13. Album von Teenage Fanclub ist voller Songs, die ruhig und entschlossen sind und eine Bestandsaufnahme des angespannten Zustands der Welt vornehmen, ohne der Verzweiflung zu verfallen. Blakes warme, von Orgelklängen untermalte Midtempo-Ballade ,Day In The Sun" und Raymond McGinleys ,Over And Over" sprechen beide davon, wie jeder einen neuen Sinn im Leben finden kann, indem er sein Herz öffnet. "Wir können immer noch fröhlich und optimistisch sein, auch wenn die Lage nicht gerade rosig ist", sagt McGinley. Blake und McGinley werden auf ,Do Not Dare To Dream" von ihren Bandkollegen Euros Childs (Keyboards und Gesang), Francis Macdonald (Schlagzeug) und David McGowan (Bass) begleitet. Dieses Quintett spielt nun schon so lange zusammen, dass keiner der beiden Hauptsongwriter und Gitarristen von Teenage Fanclub das Bedürfnis verspürt, sich vor dem Gang ins Studio über ihre Songs den Kopf zu zerbrechen oder Arrangements auszuarbeiten. Sie warten lieber auf die Beiträge der übrigen Bandmitglieder. Die Aufnahmen fanden im Black Bay Studio in der Ortschaft Kirkibost auf der schottischen Insel Great Bernera in den Äußeren Hebriden statt. Wie langjährige Fans wahrscheinlich wissen, nimmt Teenage Fanclub jedes Album an einem neuen Ort auf, damit die einzigartige Atmosphäre dieses Ortes die Musik beeinflussen kann. Great Bernera war ihr bislang abgelegenster Aufnahmeort, was der Band half, sich auf die Arbeit zu konzentrieren, sie aber auch in einen Zustand der Ehrfurcht versetzte, da sie von der tosenden See und antiken Ruinen umgeben waren. Das Ergebnis ist eine Sammlung von Liedern, die von der richtigen Perspektive von Musikern durchdrungen ist, die schon eine Weile im Geschäft sind, aufgenommen an einem Ort, der schon noch länger existiert. Wie Blake es ausdrückt: ,Ich glaube, es läuft einfach so ab, dass man von einer Sache zur nächsten übergeht, und ehe man sich versieht, sind 30 Jahre vergangen." McGinley fügt hinzu: ,Ja, es ist schon eine ganze Weile her, seit wir mit dem angefangen haben, was wir tun, aber für uns kommt es uns vor, als wäre überhaupt keine Zeit vergangen. An dem Ort, an dem wir das Album aufgenommen haben, wurde schon vor Tausenden von Jahren gesungen. Das Leben ist kurz, aber die Musik ist ewig."

Norman Blake und Raymond McGinley machen seit 37 Jahren gemeinsam Musik bei Teenage Fanclub, und auch wenn manche Aspekte des Bandlebens mit der Zeit einfacher geworden sind, können ihnen die einfachsten Dinge immer noch einen Strich durch die Rechnung machen. Blake sagt dazu: "Es ist schwierig, wenn es darum geht, sich einen Namen für ein Album auszudenken. Vor allem, wenn man schon 12 davon gemacht hat." Der Titel ,Do Not Dare To Dream" leitet sich ab von Blakes ,I Do Not Dare To Dream", einem mitreißenden, hymnischen Song, der von klangvollen Akustikgitarren getragen und am Ende von einem Duell elektrischer Gitarren begleitet wird, die sich wie eine beruhigende Umarmung umeinander schlingen. Blake erklärt, dass der Titel jene Memes verspotten soll, die die Menschen dazu auffordern, zu träumen, was für ihn irgendwie lächerlich ist. "Ich glaube nicht, dass die Welt so funktioniert." Das 13. Album von Teenage Fanclub ist voller Songs, die ruhig und entschlossen sind und eine Bestandsaufnahme des angespannten Zustands der Welt vornehmen, ohne der Verzweiflung zu verfallen. Blakes warme, von Orgelklängen untermalte Midtempo-Ballade ,Day In The Sun" und Raymond McGinleys ,Over And Over" sprechen beide davon, wie jeder einen neuen Sinn im Leben finden kann, indem er sein Herz öffnet. "Wir können immer noch fröhlich und optimistisch sein, auch wenn die Lage nicht gerade rosig ist", sagt McGinley. Blake und McGinley werden auf ,Do Not Dare To Dream" von ihren Bandkollegen Euros Childs (Keyboards und Gesang), Francis Macdonald (Schlagzeug) und David McGowan (Bass) begleitet. Dieses Quintett spielt nun schon so lange zusammen, dass keiner der beiden Hauptsongwriter und Gitarristen von Teenage Fanclub das Bedürfnis verspürt, sich vor dem Gang ins Studio über ihre Songs den Kopf zu zerbrechen oder Arrangements auszuarbeiten. Sie warten lieber auf die Beiträge der übrigen Bandmitglieder. Die Aufnahmen fanden im Black Bay Studio in der Ortschaft Kirkibost auf der schottischen Insel Great Bernera in den Äußeren Hebriden statt. Wie langjährige Fans wahrscheinlich wissen, nimmt Teenage Fanclub jedes Album an einem neuen Ort auf, damit die einzigartige Atmosphäre dieses Ortes die Musik beeinflussen kann. Great Bernera war ihr bislang abgelegenster Aufnahmeort, was der Band half, sich auf die Arbeit zu konzentrieren, sie aber auch in einen Zustand der Ehrfurcht versetzte, da sie von der tosenden See und antiken Ruinen umgeben waren. Das Ergebnis ist eine Sammlung von Liedern, die von der richtigen Perspektive von Musikern durchdrungen ist, die schon eine Weile im Geschäft sind, aufgenommen an einem Ort, der schon noch länger existiert. Wie Blake es ausdrückt: ,Ich glaube, es läuft einfach so ab, dass man von einer Sache zur nächsten übergeht, und ehe man sich versieht, sind 30 Jahre vergangen." McGinley fügt hinzu: ,Ja, es ist schon eine ganze Weile her, seit wir mit dem angefangen haben, was wir tun, aber für uns kommt es uns vor, als wäre überhaupt keine Zeit vergangen. An dem Ort, an dem wir das Album aufgenommen haben, wurde schon vor Tausenden von Jahren gesungen. Das Leben ist kurz, aber die Musik ist ewig."

Composer and multi-instrumentalist Koen Holtkamp has spent more than two decades shaping a body of work at the intersection of ambient, experimental, and electroacoustic music. Known for his role in the influential duo Mountains, as well as a solo catalog defined by texture and spatial awareness, Holtkamp has long explored how sound interacts with environment and perception. With Nightlife, he enters a new phase of that inquiry, one shaped as much by physical relocation as artistic evolution.

After leaving Brooklyn for the relatively rural setting of New York’s Hudson Valley, Holtkamp found himself immersed in nature and embracing a slower way of life, a shift that directly informed the album’s creation. Rather than rushing into a new project, he allowed the space itself to guide him, focusing on experimentation and play instead of a fixed outcome. Over time, a new instrument emerged from his modular system, built around physical modeling techniques that emulate plucked string sounds. Drawing on a deep affinity for acoustic traditions, from guitar soli to the kora and other chordophones, he began translating those influences into an electronic language, creating music that feels tangible, effusive, and even intimate, despite its synthetic nature. As the pieces took shape, Holtkamp expanded the project into a kind of imagined ensemble. Composed with specific collaborators in mind, the album features extensive contributions from drummer Greg Fox and saxophonist and flutist Matt Bauder, whose performances subtly reshape the material and draw it toward more fluid, song-like forms, alongside a guest appearance from Ben Vida on synth bass. Yet even as Nightlife occasionally resembles a band in motion, its construction resists traditional cohesion. Acoustic and electronic sources coexist to create a hyper-dimensional sense of space, with each element deliberately placed in its own distinct environment, yielding a complex yet inviting setting that feels both otherworldly and completely natural.

Much of the album was created during late-night sessions, which became a kind of personal ritual and ultimately inspired its title. Nightlife unfolds as a series of finely detailed environments, where stillness, texture, and subtle interplay take precedence over momentum. Each piece invites close listening while remaining open and unforced, reflecting both a change in pace and a deepening of focus. The result extends Holtkamp’s ongoing interest in how sound can shape, and be shaped by, the spaces we inhabit.

Beneath the sleek, confident guitar line that powers “Overdrive,” the lead single of All Over You, another guitar marks the time more impatiently, as if the groove its locked into is the timebomb- tightness of a pre-hookup heartbeat. Its energy isn’t nervous — after all, it’s hard to be nervous with Will Schwartz cooing come-ons like “I just wanna get you in the bed / Light you up like a cigarette” in your ear — but it is urgent. Excited. Titillated.


That’s the word that best describes the prospect of a new Imperial Teen record: titillating. They come out every five or six years, each new album acting as, to quote Roddy Bottum, “an episodic piece of where we are now, where the world is now, who we have become, and the geography of our collective consciousness.” There is considerable distance between Imperial Teen, its members — Bottum (guitars, keyboards, vocals), Schwartz (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Jone Stebbins (bass, vocals), and Lynn Truell (drums, vocals) — having made lives for themselves in different cities, but the collective consciousness that exists between them makes distance and time seem immaterial to the listener.


Time, especially time together, is not immaterial to Imperial Teen: it is precious. “For the last few records,” Stebbins explains, “the process has been similar. We live great distances away from each other, so initially, we get together to collaborate, write, and create. When we have enough material, we reconvene to record. Both scenarios, creating and recording, take multiple trips, sometimes with big lapses of time in between due to our various schedules.” Bottum concurs: “The biggest challenge in writing and recording is the distance between us, but the longing and desire and the ultimate coming together becomes more potent as a result.”


All Over You is a triumph of maximized moments together, four people bringing the force of their personalities to bear on years of built-up ideas. Title track “All Over You,” initially built over the computer, gained its charming sneer in the studio, where Stebbins’ buoyant, fuzzed out bassline added bounce to the song’s punchy, sloganeering lyrics, a perfect set-up for Truell to drive the song home, screaming the last line of the chorus, “We’ve got nothing to do,” like a rallying cry for a generation that’s been given nothing and told to deny themselves everything. “In my head,” Truell says, “I just went back to punk, to that feeling of prowling around looking for anything to do and being so mad about how boring everything is that you just have to yell.” The track had an attitude, it had an unexpected texture thanks to Truell’s playing improvised percussion, but her scream is what took it to the next level, transforming it into a signature Imperial Teen song.


One of Imperial Teen’s less magical concerns on All Over You is the effect capitalism has on the creation of art. This expresses itself in the headspinning rush of music industry success and disappointment that plays out in “Hands All Up,” and also in Imperial Teen’s sound. All Over You features the band’s most expansive, textured palette to date, and much of it’s steeped in — bubblegum music and boy/girl harmonies, electro beats and grungy distortion, power pop mall anthems and kiss-off lyricism — has been dismissed, at one point or another, as a fad. Time, of course, has proven otherwise, and All Over You makes a case for Imperial Teen as four of that time’s architects, inheriting, preserving, and pushing the boundaries of what pop music can be from one song to the next.


“We want to make people dance and think and feel,” says Schwartz. In all of those ambitions, All Over You crushes, brought to life by four musicians who found each other in the clubs of San Francisco over three decades ago and have remained family ever since. It is less a return from hiatus than a broadcast from the sonic utopia Imperial Teen has long ruled over, where the music is bratty and sexy and the parties don’t stop until everyone’s found euphoria. A raveup for mind, body, and soul, best enjoyed in a dark room packed with as many sweaty bodies as possible

Beneath the sleek, confident guitar line that powers “Overdrive,” the lead single of All Over You, another guitar marks the time more impatiently, as if the groove its locked into is the timebomb- tightness of a pre-hookup heartbeat. Its energy isn’t nervous — after all, it’s hard to be nervous with Will Schwartz cooing come-ons like “I just wanna get you in the bed / Light you up like a cigarette” in your ear — but it is urgent. Excited. Titillated.


That’s the word that best describes the prospect of a new Imperial Teen record: titillating. They come out every five or six years, each new album acting as, to quote Roddy Bottum, “an episodic piece of where we are now, where the world is now, who we have become, and the geography of our collective consciousness.” There is considerable distance between Imperial Teen, its members — Bottum (guitars, keyboards, vocals), Schwartz (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Jone Stebbins (bass, vocals), and Lynn Truell (drums, vocals) — having made lives for themselves in different cities, but the collective consciousness that exists between them makes distance and time seem immaterial to the listener.


Time, especially time together, is not immaterial to Imperial Teen: it is precious. “For the last few records,” Stebbins explains, “the process has been similar. We live great distances away from each other, so initially, we get together to collaborate, write, and create. When we have enough material, we reconvene to record. Both scenarios, creating and recording, take multiple trips, sometimes with big lapses of time in between due to our various schedules.” Bottum concurs: “The biggest challenge in writing and recording is the distance between us, but the longing and desire and the ultimate coming together becomes more potent as a result.”


All Over You is a triumph of maximized moments together, four people bringing the force of their personalities to bear on years of built-up ideas. Title track “All Over You,” initially built over the computer, gained its charming sneer in the studio, where Stebbins’ buoyant, fuzzed out bassline added bounce to the song’s punchy, sloganeering lyrics, a perfect set-up for Truell to drive the song home, screaming the last line of the chorus, “We’ve got nothing to do,” like a rallying cry for a generation that’s been given nothing and told to deny themselves everything. “In my head,” Truell says, “I just went back to punk, to that feeling of prowling around looking for anything to do and being so mad about how boring everything is that you just have to yell.” The track had an attitude, it had an unexpected texture thanks to Truell’s playing improvised percussion, but her scream is what took it to the next level, transforming it into a signature Imperial Teen song.


One of Imperial Teen’s less magical concerns on All Over You is the effect capitalism has on the creation of art. This expresses itself in the headspinning rush of music industry success and disappointment that plays out in “Hands All Up,” and also in Imperial Teen’s sound. All Over You features the band’s most expansive, textured palette to date, and much of it’s steeped in — bubblegum music and boy/girl harmonies, electro beats and grungy distortion, power pop mall anthems and kiss-off lyricism — has been dismissed, at one point or another, as a fad. Time, of course, has proven otherwise, and All Over You makes a case for Imperial Teen as four of that time’s architects, inheriting, preserving, and pushing the boundaries of what pop music can be from one song to the next.


“We want to make people dance and think and feel,” says Schwartz. In all of those ambitions, All Over You crushes, brought to life by four musicians who found each other in the clubs of San Francisco over three decades ago and have remained family ever since. It is less a return from hiatus than a broadcast from the sonic utopia Imperial Teen has long ruled over, where the music is bratty and sexy and the parties don’t stop until everyone’s found euphoria. A raveup for mind, body, and soul, best enjoyed in a dark room packed with as many sweaty bodies as possible

Creole Culture is the triumphant return of Dawn Richard’s King Creole era. Steeped in history but with its flag planted firmly in the future, Creole Culture pulls elements from Richard’s heritage as a Black and Native American woman who has spent a lifetime making and engaging with music. Following New Breed (2019) and Second Line (2021), Creole Culture is akin to a panel of a triptych: a fully-realized sonic and narrative universe in which Richard, as King Creole, rebuilds her hometown of New Orleans in her image. She not only honors her city for what it was or what it gave her, but stakes a claim for it as a cradle of global culture now and for all time.


Creole Culture follows two acclaimed avant-garde R&B albums with composer Spencer Zahn — the later of which, 2024’s Quiet in a World Full of Noise, found Richard exorcising the specters of grief and trauma in the wake of her father Frank Richard’s health struggles and the killing of her cousin Cisco. It is a softer take on the brass-soaked swagger of Richard’s previous King Creole efforts, an evolution brought about when she realized she had left a crucial viewpoint out of her exploration of New Orleans: her own. “New Breed was the story of New Orleans through my father’s eyes,” Richard explains. “I used his samples, his music, his cultures, his work with Chocolate Milk, his side of the family. Second Line was my mom — her interludes riddled the album with her depiction of what is meant to be a Creole woman in New Orleans. The masculine and feminine sides of King Creole had expressed themselves through them, but the story felt unfinished, like my version of the story was untold.”
That story is, for lack of a better word, complex: at turns triumphant and tragic, sexy and mournful, braggadocious and contemplative. Creole Culture presents Richard’s New Orleans as a utopian soundscape — an intoxicating blend of R&B, soul, hip-hop, pop, and jazz — that’s survived and thrived despite the dystopian circumstances visited upon it. Richard presents the melange of influence and artifact on Creole Culture with the care of a botanist nurturing new hybrids in a rose garden.


What emerges from that care is at once delightful and unexpected, enlisting a crew of guest stars including Big Freedia, Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph, Tarriona “Tank” Ball, and Durand Bernarr for features that play against type. Tank’s turn at spoken word verse on “l v r” serves to add dimension to King Creole’s New Orleans, as does Joseph’s undeniable voice on “chuuuurch.” “I’m not normally a features girl,” says Richard, ”but King Creole can’t build a world from scratch without help. What’s beautiful about the features here — which is also true of my band and producers — is they come from people who understand the materials of the world they’re from, they’re people I love, and they’re people who are just extraordinary at what they do. They’re part of the atmosphere of this place. You need them for the record to breathe.”
In the end, that’s what King Creole creates: a space where Dawn Richard can breathe, can be at peace with herself, and let loose with others. From finding love in opening single “enough” to relishing in the Afrocaribbean futurism of “fiesta,” Creole Culture is a tremendous, freeing breath of fresh air. It captures the resolve of a woman and a place who’ve survived the unimaginable and sees the future not as something to be endured, but as something to be created. Dawn Richard has been making that future one album at a time over the course of her career. Creole Culture is her most stunning one yet.

Creole Culture is the triumphant return of Dawn Richard’s King Creole era. Steeped in history but with its flag planted firmly in the future, Creole Culture pulls elements from Richard’s heritage as a Black and Native American woman who has spent a lifetime making and engaging with music. Following New Breed (2019) and Second Line (2021), Creole Culture is akin to a panel of a triptych: a fully-realized sonic and narrative universe in which Richard, as King Creole, rebuilds her hometown of New Orleans in her image. She not only honors her city for what it was or what it gave her, but stakes a claim for it as a cradle of global culture now and for all time.


Creole Culture follows two acclaimed avant-garde R&B albums with composer Spencer Zahn — the later of which, 2024’s Quiet in a World Full of Noise, found Richard exorcising the specters of grief and trauma in the wake of her father Frank Richard’s health struggles and the killing of her cousin Cisco. It is a softer take on the brass-soaked swagger of Richard’s previous King Creole efforts, an evolution brought about when she realized she had left a crucial viewpoint out of her exploration of New Orleans: her own. “New Breed was the story of New Orleans through my father’s eyes,” Richard explains. “I used his samples, his music, his cultures, his work with Chocolate Milk, his side of the family. Second Line was my mom — her interludes riddled the album with her depiction of what is meant to be a Creole woman in New Orleans. The masculine and feminine sides of King Creole had expressed themselves through them, but the story felt unfinished, like my version of the story was untold.”
That story is, for lack of a better word, complex: at turns triumphant and tragic, sexy and mournful, braggadocious and contemplative. Creole Culture presents Richard’s New Orleans as a utopian soundscape — an intoxicating blend of R&B, soul, hip-hop, pop, and jazz — that’s survived and thrived despite the dystopian circumstances visited upon it. Richard presents the melange of influence and artifact on Creole Culture with the care of a botanist nurturing new hybrids in a rose garden.


What emerges from that care is at once delightful and unexpected, enlisting a crew of guest stars including Big Freedia, Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph, Tarriona “Tank” Ball, and Durand Bernarr for features that play against type. Tank’s turn at spoken word verse on “l v r” serves to add dimension to King Creole’s New Orleans, as does Joseph’s undeniable voice on “chuuuurch.” “I’m not normally a features girl,” says Richard, ”but King Creole can’t build a world from scratch without help. What’s beautiful about the features here — which is also true of my band and producers — is they come from people who understand the materials of the world they’re from, they’re people I love, and they’re people who are just extraordinary at what they do. They’re part of the atmosphere of this place. You need them for the record to breathe.”
In the end, that’s what King Creole creates: a space where Dawn Richard can breathe, can be at peace with herself, and let loose with others. From finding love in opening single “enough” to relishing in the Afrocaribbean futurism of “fiesta,” Creole Culture is a tremendous, freeing breath of fresh air. It captures the resolve of a woman and a place who’ve survived the unimaginable and sees the future not as something to be endured, but as something to be created. Dawn Richard has been making that future one album at a time over the course of her career. Creole Culture is her most stunning one yet.

OK, so the original pressing of the Heartstopper vinyl box set sold out in 2.5 hours.... Incredible!
We're making another version available. This is basically the same version, except it's NOT numbered. Also, this pressing will be released on October 9.

Heartstopper is the critically acclaimed Netflix coming-of-age romance that has captured the hearts of millions around the world. Based on the bestselling graphic novels and webcomic by Alice Oseman, the story follows Charlie Spring and Nick Nelson as they navigate friendship, love, identity, and growing up. Praised for its authentic representation and warmth, Heartstopper has become a cultural phenomenon, earning a devoted global fanbase and widespread critical acclaim. The series comprises three seasons, which aired between 2022 and 2024, followed by a feature-length film in 2026.

An essential part of the series’ emotional impact is its music. Across the series and film, Adiescar Chase’s music beautifully underscores the characters’ journeys, capturing the excitement of first love, the uncertainty of growing up, and the quiet intimacy of everyday moments. Her compositions have become an integral part of the Heartstopper experience, adding depth and atmosphere to the story’s most memorable scenes.

In collaboration with Netflix, Music On Vinyl proudly presents the complete Heartstopper soundtrack on vinyl for the very first time. This deluxe box set brings together the original scores from all three seasons of the series and feature film across four releases, pressed on stunning marble-coloured records in blue, pink, yellow, and orange, and housed in a beautifully crafted collector’s box. The set is complemented by an 8-page booklet featuring exclusive liner notes by Alice Oseman, four A4 art cards showcasing the original artwork from each release, and a Heartstopper diary for personal use, inspired by the series. Together, these carefully curated elements make this the definitive collector’s edition, celebrating the music and legacy of Heartstopper in a truly special format.