The brilliant My Point of View was Herbie Hancock’s second album for Blue Note, a 1963 session featuring an all-star lineup: Donald Byrd, Hank Mobley, Grachan Moncur III, Grant Green, Chuck Israels, and a young Tony Williams. Each track radiates a deeply engaging musicality, showcasing Hancock’s masterful arranging skills. With standout compositions like King Cobra and A Tribute to Someone, this is a timeless classic—an essential reissue not to be missed.
Originally from Bristol, England, Ben Jacobs, aka Crackazat, is a multi-Instrumentalist and electronic producer. Since his emergence on the international scene, he has quickly become recognised for his unique fusion of Jazz and House music. He now presents his latest EP, ‘The Nervous Chill’, releasing on longstanding House label Nervous's sublabel ‘Nervous Chill’.
Crackazat’s influences range from the underground hip hop of Madlib to the Jazz-funk of Jamiroquai, showcasing downtempo beats and synthfunk. In 2015, he released his debut album ‘Crescendo’ to critical acclaim, as well as forming an alliance with Swedish house label Local Talk and performing supporting sets for Bonobo and Floating Points. Crackazat’s growing popularity has led to remixes by Joey Negro, Moulinex, and Tom Misch.
He now debuts on Nervous Chill with four sophisticated and downbeat tracks. Rooted in jazz, Crackazat’s signature keyboard solos, gilded violin chords, and glistening textures blend swinging grooves with silky melodies. Wind instruments anchor the tracks without limiting versatility, paired with dynamic percussion and featherweight pads. ‘The Nervous Chill’ sees Crackazat crafting a joyous, soulful EP that works both on and off the dancefloor.
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Presenting the 3rd outing from the DMV crew, thank you for waiting patiently inline. On the A we have Busta Bus, flexing his lyrical flow all over Rick’s sweet Mary Jane. On the flip side, 90s underground stalwart “Red Hot Lover Tone” gives his approval to the Stars in Herbie’s eyes.
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Japanese crossover and fusion are hot again now. As either an outgrowth of, or a spin-off phenomenon from, the global reappraisal of
city pop, Japanese fusion has been rapidly rising since around last year.
Widely known as a support member for YMO and also popular on the overseas club music scene through Colored Music, her cuttingedge dance-pop unit with Atsuo Fujimoto, keyboardist, composer, and vocalist Ichiko Hashimoto released this, her second solo work, in
1985. Released on DOMO, the label headed by Kazumi Watanabe, and naturally produced by Kazumi Watanabe himself, who also plays
guitar on the album.
A truly crossover work of remarkable freedom, moving across fusion, techno, piano pieces, danceable music, classical, Japanesque
sounds, bossa nova, ambient, and more. Her fleeting singing voice is wonderful as well.
Japanese crossover and fusion are hot again now. As either an outgrowth of, or a spin-off phenomenon from, the global reappraisal
of city pop, Japanese fusion has been rapidly rising since around last year.
This is the 1978 debut album by Carioca, one of Japan’s leading Brazilian fusion units of the 1970s and 1980s.
The group began as the backing band for Kiyoshi Hasegawa, and on this debut release they used the name "Samba Calioca." True to that
band name, they were quite unusual at the time for presenting samba and bossa nova with a resort-flavored sound, and they also
produced specialists such as drummer Antonio Ishida and guitarist Masami Sato. This highly club-popular first album also features a
diverse lineup of guest musicians including Masayoshi Takanaka, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Shuichi "Ponta" Murakami, and Shigeharu Mukai.
Japanese crossover and fusion are hot again now. As either an outgrowth of, or a spin-off phenomenon from, the global reappraisal of city pop,
Japanese fusion has been rapidly rising since around last year.
This was the second release on AURA, the band’s own label established under Polydor, and their 13th studio album overall.
Because they had continued recording overseas for some time, they chose not to bring in guest musicians for this album, instead settling into their
home base at STUDIO JIVE and creating it solely with the band members.
As a result, the album offers a fresh and lively sound that returns to the group’s roots.
Alongside the live staple "SUPER SONIC MOVEMENT," it is also packed with new attempts, including the Japanese-flavored "Old Times," the technodriven big band-style jazz track "SOLID SWING," and the high-speed Latin funk number "RED ZONE."
This also became the final CASIOPEA album for the duo of Tetsuo Sakurai and Akira Jimbo.
Two-time BRIT Award winner Becky Hill will release her eagerly anticipated third album ‘REBECCA’ on September 25th.
‘REBECCA’ was written during a period of intense personal and artistic reflection and sees Becky exploring ambition, identity, visibility and the contradictions of her life from a place of greater openness and creative freedom. Across the record, she examines the tension between desire and self-preservation with clarity, humour and brutal honesty, resulting in her boldest, emotionally charged body of work to date.
Described by Becky as “curated chaos”, ‘REBECCA’ also marks a significant evolution in her sound. It sees her reconnecting with the wider influences that shaped her early musical identity, pulling inspiration from guitar music alongside the dance and drum & bass foundations that have defined her career. ‘REBECCA’ blends that collision of worlds with heavy electro production, alternative influences and euphoric electronics into an album that feels both expansive and unpredictable.
Two-time BRIT Award winner Becky Hill will release her eagerly anticipated third album ‘REBECCA’ on September 25th.
‘REBECCA’ was written during a period of intense personal and artistic reflection and sees Becky exploring ambition, identity, visibility and the contradictions of her life from a place of greater openness and creative freedom. Across the record, she examines the tension between desire and self-preservation with clarity, humour and brutal honesty, resulting in her boldest, emotionally charged body of work to date.
Described by Becky as “curated chaos”, ‘REBECCA’ also marks a significant evolution in her sound. It sees her reconnecting with the wider influences that shaped her early musical identity, pulling inspiration from guitar music alongside the dance and drum & bass foundations that have defined her career. ‘REBECCA’ blends that collision of worlds with heavy electro production, alternative influences and euphoric electronics into an album that feels both expansive and unpredictable.
,fantastische Songs" - The Sunday Times ,hypnotisch und eingängig" - Brooklyn Vegan ,7ebra sind auf lange Sicht dabei" - So Young Magazine Es gibt keinen Fahrplan für die Mitte bis Ende der Zwanziger, und auf ,How to Land a Plane" verwandeln die schwedischen Zwillingsschwestern Inez und Ella Johansson von 7ebra diese Ungewissheit in ihr bisher fesselndstes Werk. Das zweite Album des Duos aus Malmö erkundet die Unsicherheiten, Frustrationen und stillen Absurditäten des frühen Erwachsenenalters durch ihr bisher direktestes und weitreichendstes Songwriting. Aufbauend auf dem eindringlichen Minimalismus ihres gefeierten Debüts ,Bird Hour" aus dem Jahr 2023 verbindet das neue Album mitreißende Hooks, summende Synthesizer und treibende Rhythmen mit scharfsinnigen Beobachtungen über Identität, Arbeit, Beziehungen und den Druck, in einer zunehmend unwirtlichen Welt seinen Weg im Leben zu finden. Geschrieben im Anschluss an ausgedehnte internationale Tourneen und gemeinsam mit Produzent Jens Lindgård gestaltet, fängt ,How to Land a Plane" eine Band ein, die in ihr Selbstbewusstsein hineinwächst, ohne dabei die Verletzlichkeit zu verlieren, die sie ursprünglich auszeichnete. In Songs, die dunklen Humor, Selbstreflexion und spätkapitalistische Ängste miteinander verbinden, verwandeln 7ebra persönliche Kämpfe in hypnotischen, emotional mitreißenden Indie-Pop. Im Kern ist das Album ein Zeugnis der einzigartigen kreativen Verbindung der Schwestern, zweier Stimmen, die sich verflechten, gegenseitig herausfordern und unterstützen, und bestätigt 7ebra als eine der markantesten und spannendsten Bands, die in den letzten Jahren aus der schwedischen Indie-Szene hervorgegangen sind.
,fantastische Songs" - The Sunday Times ,hypnotisch und eingängig" - Brooklyn Vegan ,7ebra sind auf lange Sicht dabei" - So Young Magazine Es gibt keinen Fahrplan für die Mitte bis Ende der Zwanziger, und auf ,How to Land a Plane" verwandeln die schwedischen Zwillingsschwestern Inez und Ella Johansson von 7ebra diese Ungewissheit in ihr bisher fesselndstes Werk. Das zweite Album des Duos aus Malmö erkundet die Unsicherheiten, Frustrationen und stillen Absurditäten des frühen Erwachsenenalters durch ihr bisher direktestes und weitreichendstes Songwriting. Aufbauend auf dem eindringlichen Minimalismus ihres gefeierten Debüts ,Bird Hour" aus dem Jahr 2023 verbindet das neue Album mitreißende Hooks, summende Synthesizer und treibende Rhythmen mit scharfsinnigen Beobachtungen über Identität, Arbeit, Beziehungen und den Druck, in einer zunehmend unwirtlichen Welt seinen Weg im Leben zu finden. Geschrieben im Anschluss an ausgedehnte internationale Tourneen und gemeinsam mit Produzent Jens Lindgård gestaltet, fängt ,How to Land a Plane" eine Band ein, die in ihr Selbstbewusstsein hineinwächst, ohne dabei die Verletzlichkeit zu verlieren, die sie ursprünglich auszeichnete. In Songs, die dunklen Humor, Selbstreflexion und spätkapitalistische Ängste miteinander verbinden, verwandeln 7ebra persönliche Kämpfe in hypnotischen, emotional mitreißenden Indie-Pop. Im Kern ist das Album ein Zeugnis der einzigartigen kreativen Verbindung der Schwestern, zweier Stimmen, die sich verflechten, gegenseitig herausfordern und unterstützen, und bestätigt 7ebra als eine der markantesten und spannendsten Bands, die in den letzten Jahren aus der schwedischen Indie-Szene hervorgegangen sind.
Die Legenden der elektronischen Musik, Soft Cell, bestehend aus Sänger & Frontmann Marc Almond und Multiinstrumentalist & Produzent Dave Ball, veröffentlichen mit "Danceteria" ihr sechstes und letztes Studioalbum - zugleich ein Liebesbrief an das New York der frühen 80er Jahre, wo Soft Cell ihre ersten drei Alben aufnahmen. "Danceteria" ist ein großartiger, stilvoller und verspielter Abschied von 47 Jahren gemeinsamer Musikgeschichte von Marc & Dave als Soft Cell und präsentiert Darbietungen, die für die Karriere dieser Electro-Pop-Legenden prägend sind. Mit Anklängen an Sparks und die Pet Shop Boys sowie Texten, für die Lady Gaga töten würde, nimmt das Album den Hörer mit auf eine lebendige Reise durch einen Tag im New York der frühen 80er Jahre – eine Reise, die rund um die Uhr von der Nacht über den verschwommenen Tagesanbruch bis zum direkten Wiedereintritt in den Club führt.
"Danceteria" ist gleichermaßen eine Hommage an den verstorbenen, großartigen Dave Ball. Dieses letzte Album gehört zu den letzten Werken, an denen Ball als Co-Autor und Produzent mitwirkte, bevor er am 22. Oktober 2025 auf tragische Weise viel zu früh verstarb. Marc Almond führte die Reihe der Nachrufe an und bezeichnete Dave als "geniales musikalisches Genie". Die weltweiten Medien und Musikstars wie Neil Tennant & Chris Lowe (Pet Shop Boys), Daniel Miller (Mute Records), Cabaret Voltaire sowie Richard Norris aus Daves Techno-Duo The Grid würdigten ihn voller Anerkennung und Wehmut als Pionier der elektronischen Musik. Dave stellte "Danceteria" zwei Tage vor seinem Tod fertig, und ganz in seinem Sinne wurde die Veröffentlichung des Albums wie geplant durchgeführt. Auch aufgrund von Daves Tod muss "Danceteria" zwangsläufig das letzte Soft Cell-Album sein, wie Marc erklärt: "Ohne Dave kann es keine weiteren Aufnahmen von Soft Cell geben; das wäre schlichtweg unmöglich. Die traurige Realität ist, dass Dave Ball die eine Hälfte von Soft Cell war, und abgesehen von Live-Auftritten kann ich ohne ihn keine Soft-Cell-Songs schreiben."
"Ich möchte lieben und geliebt werden, aber ich will mich auch frei fühlen. Die Spannung zwischen diesen beiden Dingen ist die zentrale Frage meines Lebens", sagt Julia Jacklin - und genau diese Ambivalenz durchzieht ihr viertes Album The Gem. Nach ihrem Umzug nach Melbourne 2017 fand Jacklin in einer kleinen Bar namens The Gem einen Ort der Selbstfindung - ein Sinnbild, das dem neuen Album seinen Namen gibt. Acht Jahre später, nach den hochgelobten Erfolgen ihrer ersten drei Platten - Don"t Let the Kids Win (2016), Crushing (2019) und PRE PLEASURE (2022) - schlägt sie ein neues Kapitel auf: Erstmals veröffentlicht sie bei dem renommierten, stilprägenden Label 4AD, das seit Jahrzehnten für künstlerische Vision und ikonische Indie-Veröffentlichungen steht. Ohne äußeren Druck und frei von Erwartungen schuf Jacklin in Melbourne ihr bislang persönlichstes Werk. The Gem entstand im engen Kreis vertrauter Musiker:innen und entwickelte sich über Monate hinweg - ein intensiver Prozess, geprägt von Selbstreflexion, Zweifel und dem Mut, eigene Entscheidungen kompromisslos zu vertreten. Songs wie "Brand New" oder "Real Life" wurden dabei grundlegend neu gestaltet, bis sie sich ehrlich und richtig anfühlten. Der eröffnende Track "Brand New" setzt ein elektrisches Statement zwischen Aufbruch und Selbsttäuschung, während Stücke wie "God Sometimes" oder "The Hardest Thing" von Selbstbestimmung, Verlust und innerem Wachstum erzählen. Klanglich erweitert Jacklin ihre bisherigen Indie- und Folk-Ansätze um kraftvollere, teils nahezu hymnische Momente. Auch die besondere Aufnahmeumgebung - ein Studio über einer lebhaften Kneipe - prägt den Sound: roh, direkt und atmosphärisch dicht. Mit The Gem gelingt Julia Jacklin eine eindringliche Rückkehr zu sich selbst. Zugleich knüpft sie an die Stärke ihrer bisherigen Alben an und entwickelt ihren Sound konsequent weiter - ein weiterer Beweis dafür, warum sie zu den prägendsten Stimmen des modernen Indies zählt.
"Ich möchte lieben und geliebt werden, aber ich will mich auch frei fühlen. Die Spannung zwischen diesen beiden Dingen ist die zentrale Frage meines Lebens", sagt Julia Jacklin - und genau diese Ambivalenz durchzieht ihr viertes Album The Gem. Nach ihrem Umzug nach Melbourne 2017 fand Jacklin in einer kleinen Bar namens The Gem einen Ort der Selbstfindung - ein Sinnbild, das dem neuen Album seinen Namen gibt. Acht Jahre später, nach den hochgelobten Erfolgen ihrer ersten drei Platten - Don"t Let the Kids Win (2016), Crushing (2019) und PRE PLEASURE (2022) - schlägt sie ein neues Kapitel auf: Erstmals veröffentlicht sie bei dem renommierten, stilprägenden Label 4AD, das seit Jahrzehnten für künstlerische Vision und ikonische Indie-Veröffentlichungen steht. Ohne äußeren Druck und frei von Erwartungen schuf Jacklin in Melbourne ihr bislang persönlichstes Werk. The Gem entstand im engen Kreis vertrauter Musiker:innen und entwickelte sich über Monate hinweg - ein intensiver Prozess, geprägt von Selbstreflexion, Zweifel und dem Mut, eigene Entscheidungen kompromisslos zu vertreten. Songs wie "Brand New" oder "Real Life" wurden dabei grundlegend neu gestaltet, bis sie sich ehrlich und richtig anfühlten. Der eröffnende Track "Brand New" setzt ein elektrisches Statement zwischen Aufbruch und Selbsttäuschung, während Stücke wie "God Sometimes" oder "The Hardest Thing" von Selbstbestimmung, Verlust und innerem Wachstum erzählen. Klanglich erweitert Jacklin ihre bisherigen Indie- und Folk-Ansätze um kraftvollere, teils nahezu hymnische Momente. Auch die besondere Aufnahmeumgebung - ein Studio über einer lebhaften Kneipe - prägt den Sound: roh, direkt und atmosphärisch dicht. Mit The Gem gelingt Julia Jacklin eine eindringliche Rückkehr zu sich selbst. Zugleich knüpft sie an die Stärke ihrer bisherigen Alben an und entwickelt ihren Sound konsequent weiter - ein weiterer Beweis dafür, warum sie zu den prägendsten Stimmen des modernen Indies zählt.
A classic album recorded in 1976, featuring a superb lineup including Sam Jones, Kazumi Watanabe, and Fumio Karashima, with expansive cello solos. Highlights include an exhilarating duo number with the seasoned bassist Sam Jones, as well as Kazumi Watanabe’s hip guitar solos throughout.
East Wind was a groundbreaking jazz label established in 1974 through the full cooperation of Ai Music, as it was then known, and Nippon Phonogram, as it was then known. Over a period of about five years, the label produced albums not only by Japanese musicians such as Masabumi Kikuchi, Sadao Watanabe, and Terumasa Hino, but also by musicians who were engaged in creative activity on the global jazz scene at the time. In addition to the quality of the performances, the artwork, created with leading designers and photographers, brought a fresh new image to jazz albums and had a major influence on later record production.
Kosuke Mine’s electric album, with a strong rock and funk flavor, is set for reissue as part of "Spin This Now!" Vol. 9. This classic album shines with the outstanding combination of Mine’s saxophone with a wah-wah pedal and Mikio Masuda’s psychedelic keyboards.
East Wind was a groundbreaking jazz label established in 1974 through the full cooperation of Ai Music, as it was then known, and Nippon Phonogram, as it was then known. Over a period of about five years, the label produced albums not only by Japanese musicians such as Masabumi Kikuchi, Sadao Watanabe, and Terumasa Hino, but also by musicians who were engaged in creative activity on the global jazz scene at the time. In addition to the quality of the performances, the artwork, created with leading designers and photographers, brought a fresh new image to jazz albums and had a major influence on later record production.
World-famous pianist Tsuyoshi Yamamoto’s second East Wind release, "Life," appears in the lineup for "Spin This Now!" Vol. 9. Backed by a golden rhythm section with Sam Jones on bass and Billy Higgins on drums, Yamamoto delivers a supremely swinging performance. His delicate ballad playing on "If You Could See Me Now" is also essential listening.
East Wind was a groundbreaking jazz label established in 1974 through the full cooperation of Ai Music, as it was then known, and Nippon Phonogram, as it was then known. Over a period of about five years, the label produced albums not only by Japanese musicians such as Masabumi Kikuchi, Sadao Watanabe, and Terumasa Hino, but also by musicians who were engaged in creative activity on the global jazz scene at the time. In addition to the quality of the performances, the artwork, created with leading designers and photographers, brought a fresh new image to jazz albums and had a major influence on later record production.
Jason Dungan (aka Blue Lake) and Johan Carøe find beauty in the rhythms
and repetitions of domestic life for collaborative album, 'Routine' - out September 25
Copenhagen-based multi-instrumentalists Jason Dungan and Johan Carøe didn't set out to make an album. Instead, as the title 'Routine' suggests, they found their way there through a process of habitual making and listening, developing an intuitive musical language to reflect the dreamlike meanderings and creative play of life's quiet moments. 'Routine' blends pop orientated sounds, Avant-garde minimalism, folk and new age with the emotive depth of film-score.
Their meeting was not entirely coincidental. Previously in bands such as Squares and Triangles, Jason Dungan has since recorded multiple albums under the moniker Blue Lake, including the lauded 'Sun Arcs', pursuing his passion for self-built percussion and multi-string instruments. Johan Carøe meanwhile is a composer whose film soundtrack work has seen him collaborate with Angelo Badalamenti, Arp, and Sofie Birch, at whose Andersabo residency (curated by Dungan) the pair first met, resulting in the highly praised album 'Repair Techniques' written by Birch and Carøe.
'Routine' emerged organically over many years against the backdrop of great personal change. As Carøe said goodbye to his father and welcomed his first child, the pair sent each other fragments of melodies and patterns, working up responses when time allowed to assemble a sonic palette that combined acoustic instrumentation of zither, clarinet, cello, saxophone (among others) with the textures of tape, drum machine and Yamaha DX7 synth. Inspired by the vulnerability and DIY ethos of Arthur Russell's home recordings, the vision of labels like Disques de Crepescule, and the art pop, experimentation inherent to late '70s and early '80s recordings from NYC and Japan alike, Dungan and Carøe conjured new forms for their folk, leftfield pop and avant garde influences from the low-lit living rooms of Copenhagen and rural Sweden. "I'm very interested in the ways in which music and art emerge from our wider experiences as people, workers, parents and in the daydreaming activity of making music," Dungan explains of a process which allowed the duo's individual styles to drift apart and merge together seamlessly. "I think the process was definitely capturing moments in time, but over a long time," Carøe adds. "It was a bit like improvisation, but with time stretched."
The music floats with grace and humility, remaining sophisticated yet acutely introverted.
Whether on 'Clouds', where soft layers of zither and clarinet are moved along by a featherlight bass riff and the hypnotic clip-clop of the primitive groovebox, or the gentle grandeur of cello rising and falling through 'Routine 1', the album reveals itself over 10 instrumental tracks, evoking the ineffable calm that descends when the light changes and the world turns inwards. The act of time passing became a key creative ingredient to the evolution of the album, enriched with the exciting challenge to transform their passing rounds of home recordings via a slow release musical dialogue. Jason found creative moments in the twilight hours to lay down zither, melodica, acoustic guitar to name but few, while Johan utilising "line-in and headphones" would manipulate, stretch and pitch Jason's melodic pathways during newly born naptimes.
Carøe rhythmically plucks and slides the stringed cello instrument, leaving palpable foundations on 'Hymn' and 'Chords', in a treated, stylistic approach akin to Mabe Fratti, while 'Silence' draws to a close with a gospel touch. Dungan's harp-motion zither flourishes reveal more classical connotations on 'Reunion' with inspiration of Bedroom Community's Nico Muhly as organs rise with Moogs, culminating with a climatic choral outro from friend, mezzo-soprano Anna Caroline Olesen.
'Routine' then is their first collaboration, an album of deep and sincere reflection with inviting overtones that gesture with unrushed authenticity. A document of a new-found friendship that opens a window into the most personal of spaces, where the daily practices of music and life exist side-by-side to wondrous effect.
"Solaris", das zwölfte Studioalbum von The Ocean, würdigt die bisherige Entwicklung der Band und verleiht ihr eine neue, intensive Note. Mit Mitgliedern aus sechs verschiedenen Ländern im Kern-Line-up kehrt The Ocean zu einer kollektiven Besetzung zurück und schöpft aus dem Erfahrungsschatz und Talent eines Pools außergewöhnlicher Musiker. Nachdem man mit dem Vorgängeralbum "Holocene" einen anderen Weg eingeschlagen hatte, zeichnet für den weitläufigen, organischen Klang von "Solaris" erneut der schwedische Produzent Jens Bogren verantwortlich, der bereits die beliebtesten Alben der Band - "Pelagial" sowie "Phanerozoic I" und "II" - abgemischt hat. Das neue Album stellt die Sänger*innen Lane Shi und Enrico Tiberi sowie die Gitarristen Emmanuel Jessua und Marco Gennaro vor; sie ergänzen den Gründungs-Gitarristen Robin Staps, den langjährigen Bassisten Mattias Hägerstrand und Schlagzeuger Jordi Farré. Jeder von ihnen bringt seine ganz eigene Note ein, um dieses fast 70-minütige Opus zum Leben zu erwecken - ein Werk, das für The Ocean hinsichtlich Ambition und erzählerischer Tiefe einen neuen Höhepunkt darstellt. Für die Aufnahmen wurde der Kreis der Mitwirkenden noch weiter gefasst: Thorsten Quaeschning (Tangerine Dream) steuerte modulare Synthesizer bei, der griechische Komponist Orestis Zafiriou (Playgrounded) lieferte ebenfalls Elektronik- und Synthie-Elemente, und Simen Eifring von der norwegischen Post-Rock-Band Spurv übernahm den Posaunenpart. Aufgenommen wurde das Album in den legendären Berliner Hansa Studios, wo bereits Klassiker wie David Bowies Low und Heroes, Iggy Pops Lust For Life und Depeche Modes Construction Time Again entstanden. Innerhalb dieser Studiowände entwickelte sich "Solaris" zu einem lebendigen Zeugnis für die Kraft von Entdeckergeist und Teamarbeit. Da der neue Sänger Tiberi zudem ein versierter Pianist und Multiinstrumentalist ist, wurden Klänge von Celesta, Flügel, Rhodes-Piano und Hammond-Orgel zu einem integralen und unverwechselbaren Bestandteil des Solaris-Sounds. Der für The Ocean typische, atmosphärische Post-Metal wird durch den experimentierfreudigen Geist der neuen Mitglieder sowie die Beiträge der exzellenten Gastmusiker bereichert. Die CD und 2LP Gatefold-Sleeves sind jeweils auf 360g Spezial-Karton gefertigt und auf Vorder- wie Rückseite mit roter Metallic-Heißfolien-Prägung veredelt. Die CD mit 6seitigem Fold-Out-Booklet, die 2LP in bedruckten Innenhüllen kommt zusätzlich mit A2-Poster.
Albert Bouchard is best known as one of the founding members of Blue Öyster Cult. The original band sold millions of albums for Columbia Records with such
classic songs as “Don’t Fear the Reaper” and the #1 hit on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart “Burning For You”. As a songwriter, he wrote many BÖC songs including the very popular “Astronomy” (which was covered by Metallica on their 1998’s release Garage Inc) and the live staple “Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll”, which he also sang lead vocals.
Albert’s famous cowbell on “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” was the basis of the popular SNL skit with Will Ferrell and Christopher Walken, which has gained over 32 million views and spawned the phrase “More Cowbell”. Imaginos IV–Rhyme Of The Starclock sees Albert continuing the story of Imaginos, a concept album about an alien conspiracy that is brought to fruition during the late 19th and early 20th century through the actions of Imaginos, an agent of evil. The album weaves scripts and poems by the late Sandy Pearlman. This is the follow up to the initial Trilogy and goes back to a young Imaginos. It features guests Blue Coupe, Ross The Boss (Dictators), Joe Cerisano (Silver Condor, TSO), and many others. The first single “Four Winds Bar” is due out July 31st, with the follow up single “Germany Minus Zero” coming on August 28th.
*Re-release of Holy Fuck’s 5th album originally released in 2020, now on clear vinyl limited to 500 copies*
Holy Fuck have today announced details of new album 'Deleter', which will be released on January 17th and is further previewed with the video for acclaimed latest single 'Luxe' (ft. Alexis Taylor). Having just concluded a US tour alongside Hot Chip, the seminal Canadian band will play a selection of European headline dates later this month (with a London show at Moth Club on October 23rd selling out immediately).
Arriving at a moment where attention spans are shot and anxieties are going into overdrive, 'Deleter', Holy Fuck’s fifth studio LP, is a defiantly full-bodied affair. Polyrhythmic and pleasure- focused, 'Deleter' sees Brian Borcherdt, Graham Walsh, Matt Schulz, and Matt “Punchy” McQuaid utilises their signature sound - seamlessly fusing the gauzy drive of krautrock and deep house’s dreamy ineffability, expertly blending purring motorik percussion with the sort of fuggy synthetic fizz and tang they are renowned for.
From the thrusting minimalism of opener ‘Luxe’ through to the triumphant chug of closing track ‘Ruby’, via club-ready rollocker ‘Free Gloss’ and the cosmic clatter of ‘San Sebastian’, Deleter is a record that joins the Holy Fuck dots within their widescreen, technicolour, crescendo- heavy sound.
The Yummy Fur’s first album of new material in over 25 years is seductive and ambiguous; a fast-paced flip through scenes from art, myth, life and fantasy; a witty whole made from glittering scraps. The band’s original incarnation – fronted by singer, songwriter and guitarist John McKeown from 1992 to 1999 – morphed from making quick-hit cartoon-art songs to Eno and Cale-influenced creepers, populated by characters from McKeown’s life in Glasgow and the films, books and poetry that he lived a parallel life through. Everybody Talks About The Weather delights in using every past iteration of the band as potent collage material: a melee of sounds and ideas existing at once, revealing themselves then dipping back into hiding.
Recorded by the original core trio of McKeown, Brian MacDougall (guitar) and Paul Thomson (drums), Everybody Talks About The Weather comes 17 years after the band reformed for sporadic live shows, and seven years after the release of their sorta-greatest hits compilation Piggy Wings (Rock Action). Ten tracks long with nothing to spare, it is as condensed and vital as their best songs, with a new clarity of sound that allows their ambiguities to come into the light.
The album begins with “Cogs”, a taunting inquisition from within. As McKeown stages a fight between his id and ego, the tension heats up between conversational guitar lines and minimalist repetition; threatening sing-song melody and real, palpable menace. The band members are forced in tandem only to break apart, sustaining a genuine sense of just-hidden danger throughout the whole record – except, arguably, “Headphones”, a looser moment which sees McKeown make an existential something out of nothing while waiting for someone in the car (“I should have brought a book.../My ears are bleeding from the compression on your album”)
The songs are riots of reference: “Unity Over Europe” is a slyly complex two act play about the Mitford sisters – Diana, Unity, and Nancy, in a wink to the YF canon – smashing tragic biographical detail together with allusions to Thomas Pynchon and Francis Bacon. Pynchon is also lifted to serve “Blue Sunshine”, a collision of school shooters, serial killers and fictional fuck-ups (“Fast forward to Compton/Fast forward to Pynchon/Fast forward to Columbine'”) whose buzzy guitar lines are taunting and confrontational like a smarmy teenager. The innocuous title of “My Lasagne” belies a song that exists in several time periods at once: a visit to see Guernica, 50 people with their backs to the portrait of Dora Maar; the time that Picasso painted from; the Reina Sofia and the dirty streets of the Malasaña; myth-making musicians and the myths they’re riffing off overlapping and leering at each other.
All this could be laboured in lesser hands, but cultural verbosity is second nature to The Yummy Fur, who transform all this source material into songs that are weird, sexy, funny and absurd. Meaning is not happily understood or flattened. Susan Sontag's essay Against Interpretation accompanied McKeown as he wrote this album, and she’s paraphrased in “Semolina Ballerina”, the album’s justification of artistic ambiguity. Thomson’s motorik beat leads a gathering of back-and-forth instrumental phrases – including a wiry contribution on saxophone – embodying the futility of trying to parse something definitive from repeated action. “Listen to the very first thing that’s in your head,” Sontag-via-McKeown commands directly, then slinks sideways: “Interpretation is a conversation in an unmade bed”
The album features two more focused portraits, or at least The Yummy Fur’s version of such a thing. “Wanda” merges the life of filmmaker Barbara Loden and the title character of her semi-autobiographical 1970 feature film, with Loden’s then-husband Elia Kazan joining the fray of no-good men in her film. It’s a mix of adaptation and avant-criticism, with McKeown’s wordplay and mannered pronunciation mirroring the way that non-fiction and fiction twist around each other in the song. The title track is a series of vignettes and impressions from the lives of the band’s ‘90s inner circle, positing painter Mac McNaughton as a kind of Falstaffian ringleader. As with Piggy Wings and the recent single “New T-Shirt”, McNaughton painted the cover of Everybody Talks About The Weather – like the album’s music, the image of a coy girl in a white dress is an uncanny amalgamation of styles, suggestions and references just out of reach, as though seen in an art museum in a dream.
The album ends with two reads of the same frustration. “King of Nothing” is the closest The Yummy Fur will ever get to sludge-rock: the band melts together into a dusty, dreary haze as McKeown drowns in a drudgery of personal struggle (“Two jumpers on in Babylon/And only cats to talk to”) and the rhythmic toppling of heroes (Rowlands, Duvall, Munro). The majority of visible dirt is cleaned off for “Say Hello”, an uncharacteristic depiction of throwing the windows open after a dark night of the soul. Here, the situation is still cold and hard (“When the sun burns gold, but the heat never reaches your fingertips”) but it feels surmountable. Everybody Talks About The Weather is an unpredictable album from an unpredictable group, but ending on a moment of almost uncomplicated light is maybe its biggest surprise. - Claire Biddles (2026)
The Yummy Fur’s first album of new material in over 25 years is seductive and ambiguous; a fast-paced flip through scenes from art, myth, life and fantasy; a witty whole made from glittering scraps. The band’s original incarnation – fronted by singer, songwriter and guitarist John McKeown from 1992 to 1999 – morphed from making quick-hit cartoon-art songs to Eno and Cale-influenced creepers, populated by characters from McKeown’s life in Glasgow and the films, books and poetry that he lived a parallel life through. Everybody Talks About The Weather delights in using every past iteration of the band as potent collage material: a melee of sounds and ideas existing at once, revealing themselves then dipping back into hiding.
Recorded by the original core trio of McKeown, Brian MacDougall (guitar) and Paul Thomson (drums), Everybody Talks About The Weather comes 17 years after the band reformed for sporadic live shows, and seven years after the release of their sorta-greatest hits compilation Piggy Wings (Rock Action). Ten tracks long with nothing to spare, it is as condensed and vital as their best songs, with a new clarity of sound that allows their ambiguities to come into the light.
The album begins with “Cogs”, a taunting inquisition from within. As McKeown stages a fight between his id and ego, the tension heats up between conversational guitar lines and minimalist repetition; threatening sing-song melody and real, palpable menace. The band members are forced in tandem only to break apart, sustaining a genuine sense of just-hidden danger throughout the whole record – except, arguably, “Headphones”, a looser moment which sees McKeown make an existential something out of nothing while waiting for someone in the car (“I should have brought a book.../My ears are bleeding from the compression on your album”)
The songs are riots of reference: “Unity Over Europe” is a slyly complex two act play about the Mitford sisters – Diana, Unity, and Nancy, in a wink to the YF canon – smashing tragic biographical detail together with allusions to Thomas Pynchon and Francis Bacon. Pynchon is also lifted to serve “Blue Sunshine”, a collision of school shooters, serial killers and fictional fuck-ups (“Fast forward to Compton/Fast forward to Pynchon/Fast forward to Columbine'”) whose buzzy guitar lines are taunting and confrontational like a smarmy teenager. The innocuous title of “My Lasagne” belies a song that exists in several time periods at once: a visit to see Guernica, 50 people with their backs to the portrait of Dora Maar; the time that Picasso painted from; the Reina Sofia and the dirty streets of the Malasaña; myth-making musicians and the myths they’re riffing off overlapping and leering at each other.
All this could be laboured in lesser hands, but cultural verbosity is second nature to The Yummy Fur, who transform all this source material into songs that are weird, sexy, funny and absurd. Meaning is not happily understood or flattened. Susan Sontag's essay Against Interpretation accompanied McKeown as he wrote this album, and she’s paraphrased in “Semolina Ballerina”, the album’s justification of artistic ambiguity. Thomson’s motorik beat leads a gathering of back-and-forth instrumental phrases – including a wiry contribution on saxophone – embodying the futility of trying to parse something definitive from repeated action. “Listen to the very first thing that’s in your head,” Sontag-via-McKeown commands directly, then slinks sideways: “Interpretation is a conversation in an unmade bed”
The album features two more focused portraits, or at least The Yummy Fur’s version of such a thing. “Wanda” merges the life of filmmaker Barbara Loden and the title character of her semi-autobiographical 1970 feature film, with Loden’s then-husband Elia Kazan joining the fray of no-good men in her film. It’s a mix of adaptation and avant-criticism, with McKeown’s wordplay and mannered pronunciation mirroring the way that non-fiction and fiction twist around each other in the song. The title track is a series of vignettes and impressions from the lives of the band’s ‘90s inner circle, positing painter Mac McNaughton as a kind of Falstaffian ringleader. As with Piggy Wings and the recent single “New T-Shirt”, McNaughton painted the cover of Everybody Talks About The Weather – like the album’s music, the image of a coy girl in a white dress is an uncanny amalgamation of styles, suggestions and references just out of reach, as though seen in an art museum in a dream.
The album ends with two reads of the same frustration. “King of Nothing” is the closest The Yummy Fur will ever get to sludge-rock: the band melts together into a dusty, dreary haze as McKeown drowns in a drudgery of personal struggle (“Two jumpers on in Babylon/And only cats to talk to”) and the rhythmic toppling of heroes (Rowlands, Duvall, Munro). The majority of visible dirt is cleaned off for “Say Hello”, an uncharacteristic depiction of throwing the windows open after a dark night of the soul. Here, the situation is still cold and hard (“When the sun burns gold, but the heat never reaches your fingertips”) but it feels surmountable. Everybody Talks About The Weather is an unpredictable album from an unpredictable group, but ending on a moment of almost uncomplicated light is maybe its biggest surprise. - Claire Biddles (2026)
This album is the soundtrack to Absolum, a fully hand-drawn universe with a unique story, created by the team behind Streets of Rage 4, TMNT: Shredder's Revenge, and more.
Known for Ori and the Blind Forest and Halo Infinite, lead composer Gareth Coker brings his signature emotional depth, blending dark fantasy orchestration with medieval-inspired themes and somber atmospheres.
From orchestral soundscapes to thrilling boss battle themes, this soundtrack features guest tracks from Mick Gordon (DOOM 2016, Wolfenstein: The New Order, Atomic Heart), Yuka Kitamura (Elden Ring, Dark Souls III, Dark Souls II), Motoi Sakuraba (the Dark Souls series, Mario Golf, Star Ocean), and Rachel Hardy (Stray Gods, Eternal Strands), setting the tone for the events unfolding in this cute yet twisted fantasy world.
Magic may be forbidden in these lands, but the music is no less enchanting!
Trá Pháidín are a mutable collective of musicians who are geographically, culturally and mentally torn between Conamara Theas, Cathair Chorcaí, Ciarraí, Uíbh Fhailí, Sligeach and Port Láirge, active in one form or another since 2019. The music they make, which to date has mostly been self-released, is of an ambitious breadth, embracing traditional Irish absurdity, jazz, folk and krautrock influences, whilst remaining tantalisingly beyond any one specific understanding of either the world around them or even themselves. More defined however, is their overall conceptual approach, focusing upon original Gaelic music and what lies beyond simply “conas atá tú?”.
Cloch ‘s Claí (trans. Stone & Wall), their first record to be released by World of Echo, develops their established interests into more adventurous waters (and walls!) than ever. Based on the historical significance embedded into dry-stone walls, the album presents a satirical view of Éire’s relationship with her native tongue and the Gaeltacht (regions where Gaeilge - Irish Gaelic - remains the primary language). Constructed of ten tracks, each representative of a stone in a metaphorical stone-wall, Cloch ‘s Claí draws from styles of improvisation in Irish traditional music, exploring avenues of ornamentation and accompaniment in the tradition. As such, the arrangement changes in every performance, a new stone-wall articulated each time - the recording on this album represents just one such arrangement in one such performance. Inspired by Myles na gCopaleen’s An Béal Bocht, the wall comes to embody a variety of themes scattered across the landscape and psyche of na Gaeltachtaí - tokenism, housing, gentry politics, ribbon developments and so on. The result is a music expressive of regional styles in traditional music, krautrock, free jazz, post-rock, minimalism and drone presented in a way that feels instinctively fluid and reflective of a hushed existentialism from the west of Ireland.
On Cloch ‘s Claí, Trá Pháidín are: Conal Ó hAinmhuighe, Ultan Ó Labhradha, Peadar-Tom Mercier, Micheál Fitzgerald, Pól Ó Lionáird, Ruairí De Búrca. Cloch ‘s Claí will be released digitally and as a limited edition LP on 25th September via World of Echo. This record was created through the support of the DEIS Recording Grant & Ealaín na Gaeltachta.
Founded in Germany in 2019, CONSVMER. have spent the last few years carving out a space that’s entirely their own: progressive metal, beatdown, and metalcore delivered entirely in German, with an unflinching focus on subjects most people would rather look past. Their 2024 record Seelenfrieden turned heads inside and outside the German metal scene, with coverage from outlets including Nik Nocturnal and a collaboration with Paleface Swiss that confirmed the band were operating at a level far beyond their years. Live, they have earned their place on stages at Summer Breeze, Core Fest and Bembel X Core Festival. Now, with new vocalist Jacques Gronert and a vision sharpened to a point, CONSVMER. return with Abgrund.
Where Seelenfrieden refined the template, Abgrund dismantles it. Across eleven tracks the band push further into territory that feels genuinely unique and uncompromising: the title track opens the record on collective collapse and a society steering towards the edge with no intention of stopping, while songs like "Gier" tear into systemic greed and exploitation with brutal clarity, "Willenlos" descends into dissociation and the erasure of identity, and "Sucht" confronts addiction and self-destruction with a rawness that is hard to shake. Closer "Gottverlassen" leaves the listener exactly where the title suggests. The collaboration with brutal deathcore veterans Acranius on "Sucht" hits like a freight train, their English-language verses locking into CONSVMER.'s German delivery to devastating effect. Fellow German hardcore outfit DOGBITE also appear, adding another dimension to a record that never loses focus.
Starcleaner Reunion ist eine schnell aufstrebende neue Band aus alten Freunden, die in NYC leben. Sängerin Jo Roman, die Gitarristen Pat Drummond und Neil Torman sowie Bassist Adam Kenter machen schon seit ihrer gemeinsamen Highschool-Zeit in New Jersey in verschiedenen Besetzungen gemeinsam Musik. Im Jahr 2022 fand die Band in NYC zusammen und hat seitdem eine Reihe von ausverkauften Konzerten in NY gespielt, die begeistert aufgenommen wurden, sowie landesweite Tourneen mit TOPS, This is Lorelei und anderen absolviert. Ihre erste Vinyl-Veröffentlichung, eine 10"-EP bei Take Care Records, erschien im Jahr 2025 und war sofort ausverkauft. Die Vorfreude auf ihr Debütalbum ,Umbrella" ist groß, da sie für 2026 noch bedeutendere Auftritte und Tourneen planen, darunter das Psychfest in Austin, das Total Bummer Fest in Brooklyn und Termine an der Westküste mit Blondshell.
Over the years, Faust has become many things, distinct as fingers, yet united as the hand that forms the fist. This series of new LPs on Bureau B sees each living member of the legendary 1971-1974 line up present their own interpretation of the Faustian myth, working alone or with collaborators to create new material that reflects their contemporary vision of what Faust can be.
Over the years, Faust has become many things, distinct as fingers, yet united as the hand that forms the fist. This series of new LPs on Bureau B sees each living member of the legendary 1971-1974 line up present their own interpretation of the Faustian myth, working alone or with collaborators to create new material that reflects their contemporary vision of what Faust can be.
Over the years, Faust has become many things, distinct as fingers, yet united as the hand that forms the fist. This series of new LPs on Bureau B sees each living member of the legendary 1971-1974 line up present their own interpretation of the Faustian myth, working alone or with collaborators to create new material that reflects their contemporary vision of what Faust can be.
Over the years, Faust has become many things, distinct as fingers, yet united as the hand that forms the fist. This series of new LPs on Bureau B sees each living member of the legendary 1971-1974 line up present their own interpretation of the Faustian myth, working alone or with collaborators to create new material that reflects their contemporary vision of what Faust can be.
Over the years, Faust has become many things, distinct as fingers, yet united as the hand that forms the fist. This series of new LPs on Bureau B sees each living member of the legendary 1971-1974 line up present their own interpretation of the Faustian myth, working alone or with collaborators to create new material that reflects their contemporary vision of what Faust can be.
Over the years, Faust has become many things, distinct as fingers, yet united as the hand that forms the fist. This series of new LPs on Bureau B sees each living member of the legendary 1971-1974 line up present their own interpretation of the Faustian myth, working alone or with collaborators to create new material that reflects their contemporary vision of what Faust can be.
Over the years, Faust has become many things, distinct as fingers, yet united as the hand that forms the fist. This series of new LPs on Bureau B sees each living member of the legendary 1971-1974 line up present their own interpretation of the Faustian myth, working alone or with collaborators to create new material that reflects their contemporary vision of what Faust can be.
Over the years, Faust has become many things, distinct as fingers, yet united as the hand that forms the fist. This series of new LPs on Bureau B sees each living member of the legendary 1971-1974 line up present their own interpretation of the Faustian myth, working alone or with collaborators to create new material that reflects their contemporary vision of what Faust can be.
Starcleaner Reunion ist eine schnell aufstrebende neue Band aus alten Freunden, die in NYC leben. Sängerin Jo Roman, die Gitarristen Pat Drummond und Neil Torman sowie Bassist Adam Kenter machen schon seit ihrer gemeinsamen Highschool-Zeit in New Jersey in verschiedenen Besetzungen gemeinsam Musik. Im Jahr 2022 fand die Band in NYC zusammen und hat seitdem eine Reihe von ausverkauften Konzerten in NY gespielt, die begeistert aufgenommen wurden, sowie landesweite Tourneen mit TOPS, This is Lorelei und anderen absolviert. Ihre erste Vinyl-Veröffentlichung, eine 10"-EP bei Take Care Records, erschien im Jahr 2025 und war sofort ausverkauft. Die Vorfreude auf ihr Debütalbum ,Umbrella" ist groß, da sie für 2026 noch bedeutendere Auftritte und Tourneen planen, darunter das Psychfest in Austin, das Total Bummer Fest in Brooklyn und Termine an der Westküste mit Blondshell.
“Man has such a predilection for systems and abstract deductions that he is ready to distort the truth intentionally, he is ready to deny the evidence of his senses only to justify his logic”
Fyodor Dostoevsky - Notes from Underground (1864)
The Intermittent Signal is the sound of resistance.
In the year since The Sick Man Of Europe’s debut album was released, the world has moved on. Steady hands have slipped from the levers of power, logic has shifted underground and the message grows more urgent with every passing day.
Repetition has been relearned and the machine rhythms repurposed, this time with increased intensity. Arrangements have moved beyond the bare bones economy of the first record and there’s a newfound melodicism in places. Clarity and conviction ring true through the static and noise, while utopian ideas to remodel a broken system gain traction. This is a rejection of the attention economy and a call to reconnect through community and organisation. Those simple acts that were once commonplace have become increasingly radical as new fractures emerge.
“Through repetition the message has gained weight and become something more urgent,” The Sick Man Of Europe explains. “The vehicle for this message needed to evolve, grow to gain the strength to carry it. We’ve landed on something more expansive, immediate and immersive. Less is more. Until it isn't.”
“Man has such a predilection for systems and abstract deductions that he is ready to distort the truth intentionally, he is ready to deny the evidence of his senses only to justify his logic”
Fyodor Dostoevsky - Notes from Underground (1864)
The Intermittent Signal is the sound of resistance.
In the year since The Sick Man Of Europe’s debut album was released, the world has moved on. Steady hands have slipped from the levers of power, logic has shifted underground and the message grows more urgent with every passing day.
Repetition has been relearned and the machine rhythms repurposed, this time with increased intensity. Arrangements have moved beyond the bare bones economy of the first record and there’s a newfound melodicism in places. Clarity and conviction ring true through the static and noise, while utopian ideas to remodel a broken system gain traction. This is a rejection of the attention economy and a call to reconnect through community and organisation. Those simple acts that were once commonplace have become increasingly radical as new fractures emerge.
“Through repetition the message has gained weight and become something more urgent,” The Sick Man Of Europe explains. “The vehicle for this message needed to evolve, grow to gain the strength to carry it. We’ve landed on something more expansive, immediate and immersive. Less is more. Until it isn't.”
Meg Lui is a Northern California-born singer-songwriter, based in the Hudson Valley since 2015. In her songs, vivid lyrics and poignant melodies intertwine with a voice that feels both intimate and lasting. Through reflections on love, resilience, and the human experience, she offers listeners a window into her world.
A Californian by birth, Boston-educated at Berklee College of Music, musically raised in Brooklyn, and now settled in the Catskills, Meg has released music under the names M. Lui, Grover, and as part of the trio Ember Isles.
Her influences-ranging from Freddie Mercury, The
Cranberries, No Doubt, Sheryl Crow, and Bonnie Raitt-reflect her love for artists whose fearless individuality continues to shape her dynamic songwriting and performance.
Over the past two years, Meg has lent her voice to records including Sufjan Stevens' Javelin (2023), Sam Evian's Plunge, Denison Witmer's Anything At All, John Legend's My Favorite Dream, Keenan O'Meara's forthcoming record Bathe In The Everlasting Light, and Liam Kazar's Pilot Light. She performs regularly with Keenan O'Meara and Hannah Cohen and occasionally when the stars align, with the Hudson Valley country band Critter Bonus.
Pressure is the medium of wind players. Wind instruments all sound thanks to pressure differentials, whether that’s the rush of wind over a lip plate or a steady, buzzing exhalation through pursed lips. Ka Baird and Chris Ryan Williams (HxH) are wind players well- schooled in the power of using pressure and movement to amplify the mystery of an invisible force animating a metal tube. They augment their instruments, flute and trumpet respectively, with electronics, sometimes obscuring the acoustic sound source, sometimes making it hyperreal. Flutters of lip and tongue slither over the listener’s ear, and sustained tones become a dense fog, pushing on other kinds of visceral, emotional pressure points.
On Enthalpy, Baird and Williams’ first album as a duo, the energy they conjure feels barely contained, the pressure built up to a breaking point before spilling out in multiple directions at various speeds. They borrow the title from thermodynamics, referring to the total energy of a system based on its pressure and volume. The music flies out in bursts; it seeps and oozes, flows with intention. It is an incredibly rhythmic work without any hint of meter, full of sounds that punctuate with the thud of a dart hitting a bullseye. Williams’ capability to conjure swirling atmospherics, as well as his remarkable ability to pull fragments of melody from the haze, fit puzzle-like into Baird’s exclamations and the eruption of electronics that often dovetail them. The duo draws on tones from nearly the entire range of human hearing, from nimble but bulbous throbs of sub-bass to pinprick flickers of ultra-high end.
The sessions that produced Enthalpy were completely improvised, showcasing a degree of mind-meld that belies each participant’s thrill at approaching the unknown. This isn’t a casual conversation, but an omnidirectional tangle that ties and reties itself into new knots as the album progresses. Williams and Baird have both become ubiquitous presences throughout the New York City experimental music communities, collaborating with innumerable others and learning how their unique approaches work in tandem with similarly expansive thinkers and players. Even in the album’s most spacious moments, there’s a tension between the feeling of being unmoored and yet completely locked in, like the abyss is just one more river to cross. They ford it together before moving on to the next idea in lock step.
For the listener, Enthalpy is often felt in the body as much as it reverberates within the ears. We’re tossed from side to side, made to shoulder the impact of detonating electronics, absorbing these sounds with the feet, gut, and crown. Baird reaches into the back of their throat for guttural growls, and we can almost feel the scratch. As we tread the border of the synthesthetic, it's a reminder of the physical nature of sound, that the space between our ears and the speakers is its own enthalpic system of energy conduction. Move with it, let it move you, and see how it feels.
Across a glitching, glimmering constellation of 10 tracks, the record redraws the boundaries of her own subconscious through daring harmonic modulations, glitchy electronica, and frenetic orchestral sequencing. Deeply informed by Nordic folklore, it moves through a journey confronting body dysmorphia, control, and a staccatoing sense of self - reaching toward creative and emotional liberation through ethereal, amorphous avant-pop.
Within the work, the artist made the deliberate choice to take the focus away from her physical self - a protest, but also a tribute to the countless versions that form one person. "It's not about disappearing or being anonymous," she says, "more about loosening the grip of appearance, and letting the work exist without being defined by it."
Named for Bach's Inventions - played on piano growing up - Inventio carries a Baroque sensibility: trilling polyphonic textures and lush vocal harmonies rising above it all. Sonic touchstones include Björk, Elizabeth Fraser, and the kulning-style singing of Lena Willemark. Made across three years in Sweden, the album was built without Murex knowing it would become one. Collaborators including Pelle Westlin, Isak Hedtjärn, and Elvira Anderfjärd gave the work what Murex calls "extra arms." All music videos are directed by Murex herself.
"Making this album gave me back authority and power. I hope it's just as freeing to listen to."
