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BROKE/ returns to JITNEY MUSIC with the brand new "TEXTURES" LP, a mix of crucial boom bap ranging from smooth and soulful to gritty and hard-hitting. TEXTURES is a tapestry of sound composed of fully realized tracks, unfinished ideas, and rough sketches. Full pic sleeve.

Île Flottante is Mr. Beatnick´s 5th album, following 2023’s Joy In Variation (including the notorious cover of Love on a Real Train) and his well-received off-beat collaboration with London-based avant-garde agitator Richard Greenan – Coasty – this is his first contribution to the International Feel trademark. Probably best known for some big deep house revivalist tunes circa 2013 on the now dormant Don’t Be Afraid record label, Beatnick now converts that aural quality and dimensionality into the Balearic system.
Île Flottante takes its name from the tastiest French pudding of Mr. Beatnick’s childhood holidays. The name, also a jeux de mots - floating island - hinting at the album’s inspirations and sense of identity, as a danceable soundtrack to a fictional island. Explored with high intensity and over a yearlong process, the sounds of the well-worn, but never failing Balearic universes were a mind expanding influence. Think of genre staples like Software, Manuel Goettsching, Mark Barrott, Len Leise, Don Carlos, Gaussian Curve, Joan Bibiloni or Yasuaki Shimuzu.
„I spent a year listening to a lot of synthesized island music, and marveling at the many twinkling wonders of the Balearic musical universe. Struck by a sense of belonging that had often eluded me on my musical journey thus far, as the weirdo at the back of the club who had orbited many scenes for 20 years, but never felt like I fitted in, I found music that made me feel like I had come home. The songs that came out of this process are presented in the order that they were written - an open book of ocean hymns, honest and spoken from the heart.“
Île Flottante tries its very hardest to avoid being any one thing in particular. At one point, it is a gentle beach walk accompanied by polyrhythmic drum plod and flourishes of Guzheng. At another, the infamous James Yancey septuplet swing is repurposed against a marimba melody that wouldn’t be out of place in one of Link’s forest adventures.
Elsewhere, there are the bellows of distant whales, touches of Italian dream house and a splash of vintage madchester, all working to create a space that feels both familiar and loaded with well worn tropes, but with its own quirky sense of personality, facets which are often attributed to Mr. Beatnick’s holistic b-boy approach. This is his understanding of a Balearic (b-boy) stance. Just with a float instead of a freeze.

'Wish On The Bone' is Why Bonnie's sophomore LP and debut for Fire Talk. It's untethered from any landscape or genre, propelled by this freedom and resulting in Why Bonnie's most catchy, hopeful body of work to-date. Ranging from twangy country infused rock jams to more intimate and lo-fi arrangements, ‘Wish on the Bone’ is wide-eyed and waiting. It’s a coming of age film in which the protagonist rejects the forces that have tried, and failed, to shape her into something other than herself. It leaves you with a hard-fought sense of hope, which is among songwriter Blair Howerton’s greatest gifts. “You owe it to the people who are experiencing the worst to just keep pushing,” Howerton says. That’s the throughline of “Wish On The Bone”, a record that rewards with repeated listens.

'Wish On The Bone' is Why Bonnie's sophomore LP and debut for Fire Talk. It's untethered from any landscape or genre, propelled by this freedom and resulting in Why Bonnie's most catchy, hopeful body of work to-date. Ranging from twangy country infused rock jams to more intimate and lo-fi arrangements, ‘Wish on the Bone’ is wide-eyed and waiting. It’s a coming of age film in which the protagonist rejects the forces that have tried, and failed, to shape her into something other than herself. It leaves you with a hard-fought sense of hope, which is among songwriter Blair Howerton’s greatest gifts. “You owe it to the people who are experiencing the worst to just keep pushing,” Howerton says. That’s the throughline of “Wish On The Bone”, a record that rewards with repeated listens.

Rhetoric & Terror is Berlin-based Hemphill’s second album since leaving Liars back in 2016.

No stranger to reinventing his approach towards composition, Rhetoric & Terror feels like we are – perhaps for the first time – opening a doorway into Hemphill’s personal life, to his disparate sonic influences, his wide-ranging journeys through philosophy, and his own reflections on his role as an artist.

Like different thoughts and feelings emerging in a state of meditation, Hemphill invites you to pause on one ‘scene’ for a moment before moving onto the next. There’s space to get lost here – both emotionally and in the colour of the album’s wide-ranging textures.

With his wife Angelika Kaswalder on vocals throughout the album and multi-instrumentalist Morgan Henderson – a longtime friend of Hemphill’s since Henderson’s time in the post- hardcore band The Blood Brothers - adding woodwind, Nonpareils is no longer simply a solo project – and it’s apparent in this openness.

The name of the album – Rhetoric & Terror – describes this split that Hemphill is making from the conceptual nature of his first solo album (2018’s Scented Pictures), and the new direction that he – perhaps – hopes to continue taking. The title comes from a chapter in Giorgio Agamben’s book, “The Man Without Content”, where he describes the concepts of rhetoric and terror to describe two different types of writers: the rhetorician and the terrorist. The terrorist is a misologist who is only into the feeling; the rhetorician is committed to logic and form.

“With Rhetoric & Terror, I wanted to start with emotions and feeling. I was playing with my kids, listening to Cocteau Twins, I have a wonderful partner, and it seemed very contrary to any sort of growth to sequester myself from this life in order to get into character as a musician. Instead, I tried to remove the boundaries between my creative life and my. responsibilities and have it all be one fluid thing. All things at all times, and trust that this will guide my music rather than more intellectual concepts or limitations.”

Despite its catalysts being in philosophy and conceptual art, Hemphill has created an album that’s deeply “emotionally available”. It’s also helped him take a new stance on life that combines his life as a partner and parent in a kind of unity with his role as the artist. It’s plain to hear as a listener – Rhetoric & Terror, despite its intimidating name, is welcoming
and playful, even during its most intense moments.

Mit "The Machine in the Ghost" erreichen HAUJOBB den beeindruckenden Meilenstein des zehnten Studioalbums. Auch ihr neuestes Werk unterscheidet sich von all seinen Vorgängern. Das derzeit in Leipzig residierende Duo verweigert sich weiterhin standhaft jeder Wiederholung. "The Machine in the Ghost" unterscheidet sich bereits durch die Verwendung von Feldaufnahmen, um die Sounds für dieses Album zu erzeugen. Um die gewünschten Effekte zu erzielen, haben HAUJOBB bewusst auf eine Mischung aus Software und Hardware gesetzt - letzteres in Form von mit Alltagsgegenständen erzeugten Tönen. Diese symbolische Anspielung auf eine Zeit, in der es weniger Software und mehr analoges Drehen an den Reglern gab, ergänzt das Thema von "The Machine in the Ghost" um einen Hauch von Retro-Feeling - ohne jede nostalgische Verklärung. Das Album dreht sich um die spannungsgeladene Beziehung zwischen analog und digital, Geist und Materie. Als sich HAUJOBB im ostwestfälischen Bielefeld zunächst zu einem Trio formierten, kamen ihre Haupteinflüsse noch aus der Vancouver-Schule des Industrial - und speziell SKINNY PUPPY sowie FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY. Dies ist auf ihrem ersten Album "Homes & Gardens" (1993) noch hörbar, doch schon bald wurden HAUJOBB selbst als Aushängeschilder eines modernen elektronischen Industrial-Sounds angesehen. Auf den folgenden Alben "Freeze Frame Reality" (1995) und "Solutions for a Small Planet" (1996) entfernten sich die Deutschen zunehmend von den kanadischen Einflüssen, indem sie damit begannen, IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) mit Industrial und EBM zu verschmelzen. Damit katapultierten sich die Deutschen mitten in die internationale Szene und verschafften sich sogar in den USA einen Kultstatus. Auch nachdem HAUJOBB zum Duo mutiert waren, blieben sie einflussreich und insbesondere ihr 2011 in Eigenregie veröffentlichtes Album "New World March" gilt als weitere Großtat. Mit "The Machine in the Ghost" schlagen HAUJOBB ein neues spannendes Kapitel in ihrer bemerkenswerten Karriere auf. Unmittelbar zu Beginn der nächsten industriellen und kreativen Revolution, die der rasante Aufstieg der künstlichen Intelligenz auszulösen verspricht, legen HAUJOBB ihre metaphorischen musikalischen Finger erneut direkt an den Puls der Zeit.

THE CULT is fronted by Ian Astbury on vocals and Billy Duffy on guitar. Their fourth album Sonic Temple is not just an iconic record, but a sonic tour de force that defies classification. Released in 1989, the album"s sound is rooted in classic rock and heavy metal, but incorporates a range of influences, from punk to psychedelic rock, creating a sound that is both familiar yet unique. The album"s production is slick and polished, thanks to the contributions of legendary producer Bob Rock, who helped to craft a sound that was both commercially appealing and artistically adventurous. Sonic Temple had four massive hits; "Fire Woman", "Edie (Ciao Baby)", "Sun King" and "Sweet Soul Sister". The album catapulted The Cult into superstar status and remains their most commercially successful release. Declared platinum in 1990, it was also a critical success, cementing The Cult"s place in the pantheon of hard rock and heavy metal bands and earning them a devoted following that endures to this day.

Mark Templeton is a Canadian media artist and the founder of Graphical, an audiovisual label dedicated to publishing his own musical and image based experiments. Mark’s audio compositions are constructed from reel-to-reel tape loops and sampled cassettes that are contrasted with contemporary sound techniques. In his published photobooks, he incorporates his own 35mm pictures and found images, focusing on intangible fantasies and realities. During his audiovisual performances, he utilizes digital instruments while projecting his own photographs, VHS footage, Super 8 film, and other sampled video.


Mark Templeton’s reinterpretation of outdated media as musical instruments makes him a compelling artist for the Faitiche label roster. For his debut on Faitiche, he browsed his old hard drives and invited Andrew Pekler to listen through and co-produce a selection of Mark’s unreleased works. The compositions act as a series of snapshots: a look back at a decade of archived sounds, re-envisioned and re-imaged for Faitiche.
The album contains nine tracks that follow an AB song structure. Each piece begins with verse A, transitions into verse B, and then ends. This simple formula creates a dichotomy that is also present in Mark’s diptych photographs, featured in the artwork. Throughout the album, both juxtaposition and inherent connections are simultaneously at play. One way or another, Two Verses provides a beginner’s guide to Mark Templeton's highly idiosyncratic catalog.

Shlomi Aber & Kashpitzky join forces once again to make their Blueprint Records debut with four formidable techno tracks on the "Sonic Underworld EP".



Barcelona-based Shlomi Aber brings over two decades of production and DJing experience to his music, drawing inspiration from Jazz, Funk, Acid and the old-school Detroit Techno scene. With releases on Cocoon, Ovum, R&S, Figure, CLR, Drumcode, BPitch, Renaissance and his own Be as One Imprint, along with his dynamic mixing technique, has gained him global success while headlining clubs, festivals and venues worldwide.



Growing up, Kashpitzky began his musical path playing guitar in a metal-core band, before trading amps for drum machines. After relocating to Berlin, he graduated from the SAE Institute. A DJ who's hard to pigeonhole, he has a track for every occasion. His definition of techno is best exemplified by his energetic, yet deep and groovy productions, often combining broken beats with organic textures via releases on the likes of MindTrip, Monnom Black and of course, Shlomi's Be As One.

Mike Paradinas, veteran producer and Planet Mu label owner has written a new album called 'Grush' and it's full of weird bangers that reclaim the 'dance' part of the woeful term IDM. A back-to-first-principles record, inspired in part by the group of artists IDM was coined for; melodic dance music that didn't come out of urban scenes, but interpreted them from a distance. The tracks on 'Grush' are all road-tested live favorites developed with feedback from Mike's touring partner and visuals guy Mora (Jan Moravec). It's a detailed and energetic journey which replicates the flow of a live gig. A lot of the tracks have been made in hotel rooms in response to shows, 'Imperial Crescent' is named after a Japanese Hotel, as is 'Belvedere' in Prague, while some tracks such as 'Hyper Daddy' were created specifically to play live. Drums are confidently at the fore here and the album feels like it traces Mike's musical history and interests neatly around his sweetly nostalgic melodies, with atmospheres and structures which twist and turn with a charming softness which contrasts with the tension in the drums. Take 'Hyper Daddy's' spiralling notes and twinkling piano which remind one of early Black Dog or Omni Trio rushing alongside splashy jungle drums, or the aquatic acid footwork of the title track with its drums softly bubbling and kicking. Elsewhere there's territory which harks back to his Tusken Raiders pseudonym, like the heads down Drexciyan funk of 'Windsor Safari Park,' which transforms from moody electro into a sunny hardcore track midway. The album is interspersed with Reticulum A, B and C at the start middle and end of the album which suggest a theme which carries across the music in an effortless and joyful way. 'Grush' is a strong album that works both for listening and DJing and a great snapshot of where Mike Paradinas musical head is at in 2024.Tracklist Vinyl A: 1/Reticulum A 2/Hyper Daddy 3/Fogou B: 1/Magic Pony Ride (Pt.4) 2/Imperial Crescent 3/Reticulum B 4/Grush C: 1/Belvedere 2/Raver 3/Windsor Safari Park 4/Hastings D: 1/Manscape 2/Metaphonk 3/Reticulum C

Riding a wave of critical praise and positive feedback for his most recent Emperor Machine album, the fabulous Island Boogie, Andrew Meecham returns with a typically wild and dancefloor-focused set of dubs, ‘versions’ and remixes.

According to Meecham, Island Boogie is his most personal set to date – a full-length excursion that not only delivers perfectly formed expressions of his dub-tinged, off-kilter synth-boogie sound, but also tracks that draw deeply on his earliest influences and long-held musical expressions.

It’s fitting, then, that this remix EP begins with his own sparse, stripped-back ‘version’ rework of ‘S-S-S-Single Bed’, a fine cover of the mid-80s Fox single featuring the vocals of Michelle Bee. Meecham’s dub-wise revision is a skeletal and driving affair, with snippets of echoing guitar, colourful synths and Bee’s distinctive vocalisations rising above a weighty dub disco bassline and rock-solid percussion.

It's followed by two revisions of album favourite ‘Wanna Pop With You’ from A Love From Outer Space main man Sean Johnston under his now familiar Hardway Brothers alias. Combining his own love of raw, analogue-sounding electronics and trippy dancefloor psychedelia with select elements of Meecham’s original – percussion, synth sounds, crisp guitar licks and elements of Severine Mouletin’s lead vocals, Johnston’s main ‘remix’ is a weighty, mid-tempo treat. Arguably even better is his accompanying dub, which is more groove-and-effects focused and makes more of Beecham’s superb original bassline. It’s heavy, spaced-out and undeniably intoxicating.

To round off the package, long-time friend of the label (and sometime contributor) Rose Robinson dons her Tigerbalm pseudonym and gets to work on ‘La Cassette’. Brilliantly cutting up Severine Mouletin’s vocals, she delivers a driving slab of spaced-out, synth-heavy dub disco that adds more weight and energy to Meecham’s original. It’s a fittingly on-point way to close out a superb selection of club-ready revisions.

Tip!

Polido has been fantasizing with the idea of free music throughout his artistic career. Free from restraints, logos, musical genres, but also from this modern obsession with narratives, plans, business plans, algorithms and bubble wrapped ideas for comfort of those of you that can’t breathe without everything making sense.
“Hearing Smoke” has nothing of that. It has been four years since Holuzam released the double album “A Casa e os Cães / Sabor a Terra” and for four years I have been daydreaming about what would come next. This is it, eleven new pieces about the future of the future of music. It is the result of years of study, research and sound consolidation. Sound as matter, mutating, transforming, absorbing all around, a shapeshifting entity connecting with the principles of freedom.

"Polido has been researching Portuguese contemporary composition, its very own sounds and ideas. Its origins, the web of repression, tension and censorship before the April 25th revolution in 1974; secondly, as an afterthought, freedom, equality and a unique sense of community and belonging screaming through the music. He absorbed those states of mind and made an album that listens to the current world and presents globalization as a mental trap.
If the music that inspired him somehow comes from a post-colonial world, “Hearing Smoke” questions how we can create something new in this permanent state of cultural colonization, where new trends or forms of music only thrive if they are accepted by the dominant cultures. The physical world has been transformed, but ideas like “world music” or “ghetto music” still show that dominance, the Strange can only be accepted if it incorporates the rules and codes of that dominant force. What I am saying is that it is hard for Portuguese musicians to present themselves as original. They will never have that credit unless the music relates to something that exists in another

realm. Never for their benefit, but for the power of association. I may sound arrogant here, but Polido is unique, original, one of a kind (all those words, all those redundant synonyms). I knew it four years ago when I got lost in the way “A Casa e os Cães” is assembled and how he makes something memorable out of the most commonplace conversations. “Hearing Smoke” continues the flow and puts us in the centre of these ever evolving masses of sound.
Somehow his music finds you, it starts speaking with you until it asks you to be a part of it. Polido’s beats and harmonics are combined in such a tender way that you mellow out while listening to these beats - thinking of the brilliant “Saque”. Even when he exposes you to something more harsh - “Canto D’Amorte” or the closing moments of the last track “Custa A Crer” - there’s still a cradle effect.
But what keeps me returning to this album is how it seems to transform in my ears. Not every time I listen to it, but while I am listening to it. The sound seems to move, embracing me and controlling my inner thoughts. These start to move along at the same pace, with the same feeling of cloudiness. Nothing new here, the thing is how it feels different from time to time, how the music, because of something that changes or moves, comes as a catharsis/revelation. It drives me nuts how the beats come and go in tracks like “Fogo Firme (Encomendação)” or “The More I Think, The Less I Can Speak“, leaving everything suspended and, simultaneously, relieved. When dramatic - ”Prova De Existência“ - it is sad af and gorgeously epic.

Trap, bass music, dubstep, ambient, hauntology and contemporary music flow side by side here, no pushing around, free of interpretation, and you are free to feel or listen to whatever you want in “Hearing Smoke”. That’s free music for you. Not a hard concept, something for you to enjoy, feel, reflect about. This is what the future will sound like."

André Santos // Holuzam

"Moon Mirror, Nada Surf’s new record, has everything fans love and expect from them. Bittersweet anthems that begin quiet but explode into soaring harmonies? Check. Songs that are play-on-repeat heart punches? Check. Songs that are poetic and thought-provoking while also being absolute belt-at-the-top-of-your-voice-with-the-windows-down masterpieces? Check. It’s all here.

For the past 30 years, Nada Surf has had the same core lineup: Matthew Caws, Daniel Lorca, and Ira Elliot. Moon Mirror, their first for New West Records, was produced by the band and Ian Laughton at Rockfield Studios in Wales. For the recording, Matthew, Daniel, and Ira were joined by their friend and longtime keyboard player Louie Lino.

Moon Mirror is a thrilling and moving leap forward for Nada Surf. The songs on the album are true to the human experience—as meaningful and mysterious and sometimes absurd as it is. There’s love, yes, but also grief, deep loneliness, doubt, wonder, and hope. These are not the songs of a band in their 20s. There is hard-won wisdom here, and hard-won belief in possibility—the kind that comes from falling down and getting back up."

Mit einer Mischung aus feinstem Power-Metal und Hard Rock Spirit, erwartet uns am 1. März 2024 mit ‚Stand United‘ das stärkste Album der Bandgeschichte!

In dieser turbulenten Zeit ist es wichtiger denn je, als Menschheit eng zusammenzustehen, anstatt sich gegenseitig zu bekämpfen. Und genau darum geht es im neuen FIREWIND-Album ‚Stand United‘! Neben top aktuellen Themen, die in Zehn neuen Tracks besungen werden, erwartet uns textlich wie auch musikalisch das wohl stärkste Werk ihrer bisherigen Bandgeschichte. Passend zum neuen Release verbreitet die Band rund um ex Ozzy Osbourne-Gitarrist Gus G. und Sänger Herbie Langhans (ehemals Avantasia) im Frühjahr 2024 ihre Botschaft von ‚Stand United‘ in Europa. Gemeinsam mit MASTERPLAN geht die Band auf große Co-Headliner Tour, u.a. in Deutschland, Frankreich, Spanien, Schweden und vielen weiteren Ländern. So erblickt ab dem 01.03.2024 ‚Stand United‘ das Licht dieser Welt - verfügbar als limitierte Splatter- und Marbled-Vinyl-Versionen, CD-Digipak und Digital!

Farbiges Vinyl-Doppelalbum-Set mit Etching/Gravur auf der D-Seite.

Nur sehr wenige Bands schaffen es, Jahrzehnte zu überdauern, aber bei denen, die es schaffen, ist es oft einfach, sich niederzulassen und es sich ein wenig zu bequem zu machen. Allerdings gibt es nichts Bequemes an „Devourer“, dem explosiven neuen Album von Cursive. Die kultige Band aus Omaha hat in den letzten 30 Jahren eine kühne Diskografie geschaffen, die sich sowohl durch ihren kathartischen Sound als auch durch ihre gewichtigen, herausfordernden lyrischen Themen auszeichnet. Ihr 10. Album „Devourer“ ist so kühn wie eh und je Es steckt voller intensiver und prägnanter Songs, die untermauern, warum Cursive so einflussreich und beständig waren - und dass sie auch heute noch genauso vital sind. In den Jahren seit ihrer Gründung 1995 haben sich Cursive zu einer der wichtigsten Gruppen entwickelt, die Ende der 90er/Anfang der 00er Jahre entstanden sind, als die Grenzen zwischen Indie-Rock und Post-Hardcore zu etwas völlig Neuem zu verschwimmen begannen. Alben wie „Domestica“ (2000) und „The Ugly Organ“ (2003) wurden zu wichtigen Prüfsteinen, deren Widerhall auch heute noch in neuen Bands zu hören ist. „Devourer“ untersucht die bodenlose Fähigkeit der Menschheit zum Konsum durch eine Reihe von Songs, die wie Vignetten wirken, angetrieben durch den nie endenden Appetit von Frontmann Tim Kasher, sowohl Kunst aufzunehmen als auch zu schaffen. „Ich bin besessen davon, die Künste zu konsumieren“, erklärt er. „Musik, Film, Literatur. Ich habe erkannt, dass ich all diese Kunstformen verschlinge und dann wiederum meine eigenen Versionen dieser Dinge erschaffe und sie in die Welt hinausspucke. Das ist positiv, man ist Teil eines Ökosystems. Aber der Begriff 'Verschlinger' kann auch etwas Unheimliches, Unheilvolles verkörpern.“ Die Fans erwarten von Cursive mittlerweile solch brisante Themen, aber „Devourer“ setzt einen neuen Standard. Während die Musik von Cursive nicht bequemer geworden ist, wird sie vielleicht in eine Welt entlassen, die zumindest ein bisschen mehr nach ihrem Bild geformt ist. „Devourer“ klingt dringend und frisch, das Werk einer Band, die immer noch experimentiert und nach neuen kreativen Höhen strebt. Auf dem Album-Highlight „Consumers“ klagt der Protagonist: "I saw our future and I want to go back." Aber Cursive bewegen sich nur vorwärts.

Anyone who’s overcome mental, physical, emotional, or spiritual barriers will relate deeply to Soraia’s music. Their instrumentation and lyrics showcase tragic romance, awakened passion, fiery desire, and lost identity - yet their message is ultimately filled with a consistent foreboding of hope. It's the band's drive to empower the listener to make the change they choose that helps Soraia stand apart, defining them not simply as a rock n' roll band, but even more: a hard-rocking force of nature.

Balancing glitch-pop and contemporary piano, the Belgian pianist explores the edges of her voice, language and twisted electronica



The Belgian pianist and producer maya dhondt releases a new album titled 'wow, x', marking her debut solo album under her own name. Navigating between bedroom glitch-pop and contemporary piano, she presents sounds of alienating beauty.



The album ‘wow, x’ will be released on September 13 on vinyl and all digital platforms via VIERNULVIER Records.



“I find beauty in the uncomfortable and disorienting" - maya dhont



The first single, 'desire,' is a mutated synth-pop track that gets under the skin. The song centralizes longing for something you don't know (yet). Perhaps it's the smell of damp earth, which can be both pleasant and unsettling? The single is now available on all streaming platforms and comes with a schizophrenic video by Sakis Brönnimann.



The first release show is scheduled for Saturday, October 5, at De Koer, Ghent.

More shows will be announced soon.



A postmodern cramp, that's how one could describe the music of pianist and producer maya dhondt. Her music is an intuitive and a never ending exploration that has the potential to be and become a multitude of things at once.



On her first solo album under her own name, 'wow, x,' she presents 10 varied tracks in which she creates equally idiosyncratic sound worlds. She takes the liberty to endlessly experiment with vocals, piano, and a mix of distorted lo-fi electronic sounds with an open mind. The result is sometimes synthetic and weird, sometimes compellingly beautiful, and always captivating, drawing you into its underlying melody. These intelligently crafted productions are connected by a penchant for alienating beauty: like a warm, but damp cave where it’s pleasant to linger just a little longer. Her original sound moves within a sonic spectrum reminiscent of contemporary artists such as Lolina, Astrid Sonne, claire rousay, aya or Carla Dal Forno.



"What I create never stands alone, it can be many things at once"



If the world were a sculpture garden, maya dhondt eagerly picks from it to draw inspiration from both visual and literary passages as well as personal experiences. Her highly personal bedroom productions are grounded firmly in the world due to philosophical references and politically charged messages. And the world she lives in is being questioned on 'wow, x', as the title refers to "What Or Why?". This is evident in the single 'desire': "What is the thing that matters / to exist / or to know you’re existing?" What does one choose in life: to live in the moment or to live to remember that moment?



In the lyrics on 'wow, x', maya dhondt plays - at times childishly - with language and its boundaries. On 'tip toe tip,' banal wordplay leads to an unexpected confession, and the seemingly simple phrases in 'untitled' conceal hidden life lessons. dhondt's world of words is multilayered and multilingual: Dutch ('kleine cijfers, groot verlies'), English ('desire'), and French ('untitled') are at her disposal. And on the fierce track that is 'minimalinvasiv,' not only she turns to hardstyle, but also to German - a language dear to her due to her Swiss heritage.

Opium Warlords' sixth album "Strength!" out on Svart Records in September 2024! Opium Warlords, led by Sami Albert ”Witchfinder” Hynninen (Reverend Bizarre, The Puritan, The Candles Burning Blue), return with their sixth album Strength! It is a versatile but tight combination of pussy techno, sludge, industrial pop, hardcore punk, drone, shamanistic pulse, noise, heavy metal, old school gothic rock and march music. It is a take on European rhythmic patterns: stagnant factory beat – no groove, no swing, just a rhythm of industrialism that pierces through different genres and styles. Comparing to the dark and oppressive Nembutal (2020), Strength! is significantly more light-hearted, with its postmodern lyrics emitting from sources such as shampoo bottles and television UFO series to the Pan-Europa myth or morbid lore of death-hungry Transylvanian Iron Guard. However, the sting of irony and sarcasm is balanced with more serious subjects: Strength! is a hate/love letter to Europe and a self-reflection on Machiavellian and Nietzschean philosophies of strength and elitism. True to the band’s soul everything is covered with pure toxic misanthropy. Strength! 2LP/digital/2CD will be released 13th of September on Svart Records. Album’s first outtake, Erotomania, is out right now via digital services worldwide.