Search:harm’s way

In 2023, Kraków-based composer Martyna Basta and Los Angeles-based sound artist claire rousay were invited to Poland by Unsound for a short residency, where they spent a few days trading ideas and concepts, and brainstorming their first collaboration. Initially motivated to create lengthy, expansive pieces together, they also ended up experimenting with shorter vignettes, and ‘hotel room’ expresses these two extremes, featuring three long-form tracks and three brief, euphoric songs. “It wasn’t something we specifically planned,” explains Basta. “It just unfolded that way.” The most important stage of the process, however, was the period that followed the residency, when rousay and Basta began working on their sketches in isolation, trading drafts and sculpting the sounds independently before rousay handled the final mixdown. In the comfort of their own bedrooms, they were better able to reflect their individual creative routines, organically reaching a junction where their music felt truly unified. Even while they were in Poland, the duo joked that it might have been easier if they’d been holed up in separate rooms emailing each other.

Both artists have had an energetic few years: after steadily building a reputation for her diaristic and candid concrète experiments, rousay signed to Thrill Jockey in 2023, releasing the acclaimed ‘sentiment’, ‘a little death’ and the more eaze collaboration ‘no floor’; Basta, meanwhile, followed up 2023’s hallucinatory ‘Slowly Forgetting, Barely Remembering’ and her debut for Belgium’s Stroom imprint, ‘Diaries Beneath Fragile Glass’ with a studio album on !K7’s 7K sublabel: ‘Winged in Collapse’. The title of their collaboration reflects rousay and Basta’s hectic touring schedules in the wake of these releases, the constant feeling of displacement and the emotions that emerge when the environment is in flux. “I know we aren’t the only musicians traveling and creating work at the same time,” says rousay, “but being able to speak about that experience and all the things that come with it was comforting.” And the music itself, assembled from hypnagogic field recordings, spectral voices, electronics and filtered instrumental improvisations, sounds bewitchingly unmoored, not tied to a specific location but hovering around the uncanny space in-between.

Scratchy ASMR sounds introduce us to the opening track ‘zoom’, initially obscuring the duo’s elegiac harmonies. They are careful to let the various elements evolve at their own pace, with the fictile guitar drones melting into the foreground while Basta’s dissociated whispers and rousay’s illusory synths pick out the subtlest subliminal shades. It all builds to the piece’s dramatic third act, when layered chords ring out like organ blasts, enveloping the negative space. The shorter, more anxiety-provoking ‘denim’ is remarkably divergent, a dismantled folk memory pieced together from skeletal piano notes, vaporous choral echoes, haunting string plucks and pulsating feedback. Where the music aligns is in the mood itself, capturing a feeling that’s neither completely abstract nor fully referential. Not ambient exactly, ‘hotel room’ is a suite of soundscapes that gesture towards structure while repeatedly folding in on themselves.

On ‘Lost and Found’, wordless Autotuned ad-libs spiral around delicate guitar plucks and washing waves, coalescing into a faded Polaroid of opiated Americana, and on ‘Where Are You Now’, operatic squeals and corroded orchestral scrapes are juxtaposed with nauseous low-end tones. Evaporating until only industrial whirrs and music box chimes remain, the latter encapsulates the entire album’s chilling liminality, smudging saturated voices with casual electro-acoustic interjections before it erupts abruptly, transforming into a dense, pitch-skewed hymn. ‘hotel room’ plays like a surreal travelogue, teasing listeners with airy familiarities as it humidifies dry, awkward spaces. More a labyrinth of catacombs than a single, fixed chamber, it’s Escher-like – cryptic and seductive – and decked out with personal asides and intimate details that reward the most patient, curious listeners.

Five Special were a five-man harmony vocal group all from Detroit, formed during 1975. Founding members Mike Pattillo of ‘The Explosions’ and Steve Harris of the group ‘Trouble’ both unhappy with their then situations decided to unite to form their own group. They were soon to be joined by Zeke Stanley of “Deep Velvet”. As a threesome, the sound they created was fantastic but they all agreed a five-man group with five potential lead singers was the way forward.

It was around this time that Mike Pattillo’s lifelong neighbour Ron Banks (of The Dramatics’) introduced the guys to Charles “Chuck” Underwood. Chuck had been involved in the music business from the early 60’s as a show promotor, one of many acts he promoted was The Dramatics. Chuck had known the group from their earliest days and later became their road manager. After a failed attempt to buy the Dramatics contracts from Groovesville Music, Chuck pressed ahead with his plans to form T.E.A.I Record Corporation (T.E.A.I being an abbreviation for “Tellin’ Everybody About It”) with Ron Banks joining the label in an executive role only. This young and aspiring record company sprung into production during 1974 with initial releases on a local artist’s Renee Williams “Special To Me/Are You My Brother”, followed by ‘The Gaslight’ “Just Because Of You/It’s Just Like Magic” in 1975.

Now under the auspice of Chuck, Mike, Steve and Zeke were introduced to Greg Finley formerly of the ‘Innovations’. Now four, the quest for a fifth member continued. After months of disappointing auditions, Ron Banks decide it was time for his younger brother Bryan to embark on a professional career after initially resisting due to him being a 16-year-old school boy. After many daily rehearsals in each other’s respective basements until Bryan’s graduation the full and dynamic sound of these five young men was finally honed. Still nameless, it was Steve Harris that came up with the group’s name ‘Five Special’ stating that these five young men were “very special and unique entertainers, with each member being a complete show in himself” with Bryan on lead they sometimes sounded like “The Dramatics” with Mike they sometimes sounded like “The Temptations” high comparisons indeed.

Five Special’s first recording for T.E.A.I was the 1976 joyously uplifting dancer “The More I Get To Know You” a Jimmy Roach and Marcella Henderson composition featuring Bryan on lead, released as a part I and part II deemed to be a more disc-jockey friendly practice at the time. The record was popular with radio stations throughout the Detroit metropolis and Chuck went on to precure a deal with Polygram which resulted in a release on their nationally distributed Mercury label. A second Five Special release followed in 1977, the Jimmy Roach penned mellifluous “(Let’s Stop Making) Small Talk” backed with the Ron Banks/Paul Clark penned psychedelic soul styled “Oh, Oh (Look What We’ve Done)” with Greg Finley and Zeke Stanley exchanging tenor and baritone parts throughout.

Through our ongoing working relationship with T.E.A.I we have gained access to some previously unissued material on Five Special. From the tapes we have taken “The More I Get To Know You” in its 5:50 minutes entirety backed with the previously unissued mid-tempo delight “You Got To Be The One That I Love” with interchanging leads from Bryan and Steve. The second b-side track is the psychedelic soul “Oh, Oh (Look What We’ve Done)” with interchanging leads between Greg and Zeke. Three songs, three different styles all of the highest quality, with more to come from Five Special, so watch this space!

2027 Repress

With Panorama, Frank Maston pays homage to the classic era of library records and Italian soundtracks of the 70s. A blissed-out, grooving collection of filmic cues, it continues the unique brilliance of Tulips and Darkland. Elegant and easy, subtle and stylish, breezy and beautiful; this is his Maston-piece. Commissioned by legendary label KPM, Panorama cements Maston as a master of modern classics and the most mesmeric of contemporary composers.

In early 2020, Be With suggested to Frank that he should make a KPM record. He wasn't aware that they were still putting out new library records - but he was super keen: "It was completely surreal and it still hasn't fully sank in that I have a record in that catalog, sitting alongside those incredible albums that were so influential to me."

Frank was visiting family in his hometown of LA in March 2020 when the world ground to a halt so the KPM project arrived at a fortuitous moment. Having fantasised about committing to a record with no distractions, with a proper budget, access to his gear and space to work in - to really dig in and try to write and arrange the best work he could possibly make - it was a real "be careful what you wish for" moment. But, as Frank explained, "it completely saved my year and sanity to have something to focus on and get excited about. It was my lifeline." He spent seven months on it, working almost every day.

Maston had already been making library-influenced music so when KPM outlined the criteria for the tracks it was exactly what he had been doing all along. He thought the best approach would be to make a follow-up to Tulips that had a parallel life as a KPM record. Enjoying complete creative freedom, “gave me the drive to power through and dig in deep. I'm not sure if I could have kept myself on such a rigorous recording schedule under my own steam, and I think the momentum I had writing and recording it is part of the strength of this record."

Maston’s sleek retro-groove instrumentals emulate the classic KPM “Greensleeve” reel-to-reel recordings that provided mood-setting music for mid-century cinema, television, and radio programs. Apparently in close conversation with the John Cameron-Keith Mansfield KPM pastoral masterclass Voices In Harmony, Maston's Panorama could be heard as that record's funky follow-up. Yes, it's *that good*. Another reference point from the hallowed library would be Francis Coppieter's wonderful Piano Viberations.

Opener "First Class" is a blissed-out groove, featuring the soothing vocals of Molly Lewis and a glistening harp over drums, a two-note bass motif (from Eli Ghersinu of L'Eclair) and an assemblage of guitars, synths, French horn and glowing vibraphone. Acid Lounge, anyone? The irresistibly funky "Easy Money" is a gorgeous cut led by more of Molly's vocals, pastoral flute and Rhodes, underpinned by drums and percussion, grooving bass, chilled guitars and synth strings. Kicking the tempo up, the percussive "Storm" is a vibin' filmic-fusion jam where psychedelic guitars (courtesy of Pedrum of Allah Las/Paint) organ, jazzy flute, Rhodes and vibes all compete for a place in the sun, over drums and walking bassline.

The heavenly "You Shouldn't Have" is a delicate, melancholic wonder; a dreamy instrumental where the melody is shared by a whistle, harpsichord and celeste, over a cyclical piano chord sequence and bass, synths, guitars, organ and distant French horn. The tempo rises again with the passionate, sticky "Fling", a summery, nostalgic groove with skipping drums and percussion, warm bass and electric guitar, yearning flute and synth strings. The brilliantly titled "Fool Moon" has that Voices In Harmony sound down pat. A romantic slow-mo dreamscape of Rhodes and harpsichord, piano, light drums and softly strummed acoustic guitar.

Side B opens with "Medusa", a hopeful, mellowed-out track with shuffling drums, feel-good flute, muted horns, glowing Rhodes and synth strings. The soft and gentle "Morning Paper" is an elegant way to start the day; a beatless blend of flute, guitar, percussion, ambient synths and vibes. The upbeat head-nod jam "Scenic" has that widescreen car-chase feel, uptempo drums and percussion, grooving bass, piano, synths and ambient electric guitar. "Adieu" is a smooth summer vibe, relaxing with brushed drums, Rhodes, flutes and horns. Molly Lewis's gorgeous vocals steal the show, alongside vibes, jamming organ and synth strings.

"Hydra" is another laid-back 70s-sounding retro cinema cue with light drums and percussion, walking bass, spacey synths, clavinet, glowing vibraphone, vintage organ and electric guitar. Closer "Jet Lag" is a laconic bow out; bass-driven drum machine soul, featuring hand percussion, Rhodes, vibes, synths and organ.

Multi-instrumentalist Frank played a bit of everything across Panorama. Yet, humble as ever, he believes the time, energy, and enthusiasm of all of the musicians invited to the sessions helped him realise his vision: "There were two Italian flautists who really understood what I was going for. Two french horn players, cor anglais, a vibraphonist and a flügel horn player. I've never involved this many people in my projects before, and yet the result is the most "me" record I've ever made."

Musically, a strong Italian theme runs through the record. Frank is fascinated by ancient Rome and both his parents are Italian (Maston was originally Mastrantonio before anglicisation). So, it felt natural to fully embrace these strands and tie everything together with the striking artwork. The Romans were influenced by Greek culture, emulating their art and architecture, which, in turn, influenced Renaissance era artists. Frank acknowledged this tradition when reflecting on his place in the lineage of library and soundtrack composers. He then asked his friend Mattea Perrotta, a painter and sculptor, for some sketches. What he received was exactly what he had in mind: "Especially the theater mask, which really captures the range of moods on the album". Frank arranged them as per the cover and it soon felt right: "I wanted to make a cover that was reminiscent of the classic KPM albums without making it too pastiche - so it has its own identity and looks at home alongside other library records, while still fitting in nicely in the KPM catalogue." The last step was for us to introduce Frank to Be With-KPM’s Rich Robinson, who helped put together the back and centre labels and align it all within the KPM standard.

Panorama is a perfect title for the album. With no opportunity to travel for tours or recording projects, Frank arranged postcards from his collection on his desk with beautiful views of the mediterranean coast, the Roman Colosseum and Cinque Terre. These also served as visual prompts: "That was part of the sonic concept - imagining myself driving down the mediterranean coast with this music on, with the top down." Additionally, the range of moods and vibes - "I tried to make each song very different from the previous one in terms of tempo and arrangement and feeling" - speaks to the idea of a Panorama of music and sounds and emotions. The last track was originally called Panorama, but KPM already had that title in their catalogue so it was changed to "Jet Lag", which, as Frank notes, "is perhaps even more fitting, since the trip is over".

For his sixth solo album, Ezéchiel Pailhès returns with a new collection of songs infused by a sunny wandering spirit.
Within each of the twelve songs on SOL is a thread of melancholic happiness that has permeated much of Pailhès’ music and songwriting. He addresses love, the passing of time, hope, lost illusions, fleeting moments of grace, the temptation of forgetting, a need to escape, and desire. All this is
insulated by understated orchestrations that blend acoustic and electronic instrumentation with deft confidence.
The Portuguese and Brazilian concept of saudade—a form of melancholic longing and nostalgia— pervades, thanks in part to Pailhès decision to record the album in Rio de Janiero and to reinterpret some of the finest works of Música Popular Brasileira (MPB). In particular, he revisits a handful of
lesser known classics from the mid-century samba and bossa nova era—originally written or performed by talents including Vinícius de Moraes, João Gilberto, Tom Zé, Dorival Caymmi, João Donato, Os Tincoãs, and Ataulfo Alves.
The shift from Brazilian Portuguese to French and the decision to adapt rather than perform a straightforward cover versions, allows Pailhès to invent a form of prosody and euphony (the musicality and harmonious combination of words) that feels vibrant and unlike anything else in today’s French
chanson landscape.
“Some lyrics are simple translations from Portuguese, in what I’d call an expanded version. For others, I started from a single word or a single phrase and embroidered an entirely new text that carried me elsewhere,” explains Pailhès. “I allowed myself great interpretive freedom, while preserving the humanist dimension of the original songs. I’ve always been deeply moved by the way Brazilians transfigure reality through heightened emotion. I love this visceral and spontaneous country, which always seems to live through emotion. And above all, I love its music both popular and unifying,
bringing together all social classes. In that sense, it’s very political music, but even more so utopian, made by the people and for the people.”
On this new album, however, the French artist was keen to avoid cliché. Each song is therefore built around a carefully balanced interplay between Pailhès’ piano and synthesizers, alongside restrained arrangements of percussion, brass, bass, and cavaquinho (a small four-string plucked guitar). These parts were recorded in Rio de Janeiro with two musicians who regularly perform alongside the legendary Caetano Veloso—Kainã Do Jêje and Alberto Continentino—joined by Thomas Harres, Antônio Neves, Eduardo Neves, and Gabriel Loddo.
Since the 1960s, France and Brazil have shared a long-standing cultural and musical relationship. Some Brazilian artists, most famously Gilberto Gil, took refuge in France during the dictatorship years (1964–1985). But above all, French chanson quickly fell in love with the richness and ingenuity of
bossa nova and samba, translating and reinventing them in the language of Molière. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, albums and hits by Henri Salvador, Georges Moustaki, Pierre Barouh, Pierre Vassiliu, and Claude Nougaro all drew from the MPB repertoire.
Fifty years later, with SOL, Ezéchiel Pailhès reinvents this rich Franco-Brazilian musical legacy, bringing to it a personality and modernity that stand confidently alongside those of his forbears.

If – in some parallel universe (or perhaps a not-so-distant-future version of the one we’re already sentenced to living in) – the evil overloads of artificial intelligence were actually successful in their attempts to create convincingly enjoyable “original music,” more specifically tasked with wholly encapsulating my own personal tastes by data-chugging some cocktail of – oh, I don’t know – the posters on my wall, the records in my “most listened to” pile, the mixtapes I made for others, intensive physical scans of my auditory cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, heart strings, whatever else they have splayed out on their autopsy table with the intention of generating one all-encompassing “perfect band” based on the fruitful sum of their findings – that band, for me, would be (or would at least sound exactly like) the Tara Clerkin Trio. It is, quite simply, without exception, the music I wish to hear.

Formed in Bristol UK (where none of them are from yet all of whom are deeply engrained) in 2020, the Tara Clerkin Trio – as it somewhat democratically exists today, despite the singular authority implied by its name – consists of the titular Tara Clerkin, her partner Sunny Joe Paradisos, and Sunny’s brother, Patrick Benjamin. I’ll confess, I don’t know what their respective roles are within the operation and there’s only a very small part of me that cares to learn, as one of my favorite qualities in an objective listening experience is the mystery of who is playing what, which sounds are “authentic” versus synthesized, which chunks are performed “live” in a room together versus meticulously Frankenstein’ed from measure to measure, or how exactly the overall sound is so (seemingly) effortlessly achieved. Though, I suspect, if and when I do witness a live performance by this band at any point, my enjoyment of the music will not be lost in my better understanding of it.

With two extraordinary mini-albums – In Spring (2021) and On The Turning Ground (2023) – making a splash on London’s formidable World of Echo label in wake of their self-titled 2020 debut, this upcoming Somewhere Good LP is, in many ways, the band’s most realised work. In running their usual gauntlet of idiosyncratic (*an overused adjective for which here there is regrettably no sufficient alternative) approaches, Clerkin & co. colour in and outside of compositional lines over the course of 40+ celebratory minutes - never wallowing, despite inherently somber subject matters of self-defeat, disease, displacement, restlessness, gentrification - allowing their arrangements and improvisations ample space and time to situate, stretch out, breathe, cross-pollinate, and ultimately take deeper hold on the listener’s imagination – all while somehow sounding more like themselves than ever before.

Of course, there are traceable influences herein, if one felt that such comparisons were necessary to properly examine and enjoy this music (they aren’t)… Being the big dumb American from the small boring town that I am, cornfed on ‘90s alternative radio with the enchantingly exotic sounds of Maxinquaye and Mezzanine emanating from my chunky tube television, I can’t help but to make a blatantly obvious reference to a “Bristol sound”, ie the whole trip-hop trip, the pastoral crooning over the suggestive urban grime of cracked electro/piano treatments, the digitally-yet-primitively reconstructed James Bond soundtrack string-beats, etc.. But the Tara Clerkin Trio is so infinitely much more than that. There are elements of avant-pop, modern classical, kraut-folk, audio verité, dare I say indie rock (and not of the beer guzzling, masturbatory fuzz-flex variety but perhaps more like a Trish Keenan-fronted Faust, Adrian Sherwood at the mixing desk of If You’re Feeling Sinister, or – in expanding on our alternate reality – a world in which High Llamas cut a full-length for Warp Records with Andrew Weatherall on coffee duty).

The hazy, unmappable skyline-mirage of droning harmonium, upright bass, peculiarly accentuated wind instruments, acoustic guitar, hushed yet literally mighty keys combine to hypnotizing effect. The band may make underlying nods to jazz, sure, but it’s not appropriation, it’s that they have the actual chops to build it out. Beneath the janky samples and oddball percussive embellishment lies actually great drumming. Beyond the manipulated vocal witchery and woefully reflective plain-spoke moments are Tara’s subtly inspired melodies, sung with what might honestly be the glue to the whole crazy equation. A calming consistency throughout the otherwise unpredictably dynamic, boldly intuitive, uniquely British exploration of this (their own) universe in song. – Ryan Davis (Chicago, February 2026)

A new voice enters the orbit. MBM carves three slow-burning studies in tension and release – merging patterns with fragile harmonics, melancholia, and restraint. Everything feels carefully placed yet emotionally exposed. Moments of pressure give way to space, steel meets softness, rhythm turns inward. No peaks. No breaks. Just pulse, texture, and tone – in constant negotiation. Music for the body, drawn from the depths. Soultones hits hard. Feel it.

High-definition world building collides with incisive physical urgency around 170 BPM as Pianeti Sintetici makes his first appearance on Samurai Music. Davide Perrone's vivid production style found a more downtempo outlet on last year's release for Samurai sub label Saibai, but he pivots naturally towards the weightier presence of the Exoverse with a richly rendered suite of sonic systems teeming with life and pockmarked with mystery. The spacious drums that lead on 'Agilus' have an acoustic, in-the-room quality that instantly grounds the track before the myriad layers of synthesis start spiralling skywards, pitting twinkling pads against rapid, undulating acid wielded with assured control. By way of contrast 'Mimoide' burrows downwards, using needlepoint marks to puncture the brooding beds of sound looming in the middle distance. At the same time, Perrone weaves lithe, rubbery shapes across the foreground of the mix for a three-dimensional expression you can almost reach out and touch. Opening up a B side tipped towards a mellower pace, 'Living Plasma' leans into a 4/4 meditation as a vessel for another distinctive tapestry of modulating sound design from Perrone's seemingly infinite sonic resources. 'Exoverse' edges towards a more melodic standpoint with its teased flutters of arpeggio that sneak in and out of the mix and a harmonic dimension to the atmospheric layers that shape out the size of the track. Across all four pieces, the sheer detail at play in the Pianeti Sintetici universe is mind-boggling. By rights it should be a busy, stress-inducing experience, but Perrone's gift lies in the ability to take a macro view on these incredibly complex creations, zooming out by boiling the parts down into a symbiotic whole that feels patient and considered. The reward for the listener comes from taking the time to zoom in and marvel at every micro detail writhing across the surface.

Jess Sah Bi is well-known as half of the legendary duo Jess Sah Bi & Peter One who brought homegrown Country-Americana to the West African masses with their smash debut Our Garden Needs Its Flowers in the mid-1980s. Touring stadiums and reaching listeners worldwide, their music has racked up millions of spins on YouTube and remains imprinted in the hearts of Ivorians of a certain age. ATFA reissued their album in 2018, garnering critical acclaim from publications including Pitchfork and Rolling Stone and reaching a new generation of listeners outside Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire). Sometime in the early 90s, Die Sahbi - or Jesse, as he known to friends-became gravely ill with an unknown ailment and almost died. He visited various doctors and all kinds of religious healers and nothing helped. One day he went down to an Evangelical Christian revival in his neighborhood. They prayed over him and he was delivered. He says, "Their prayers helped chase out whatever demons and unhealthy spirits were inside me. After that my illness went away. When I went to the United States a few months later on an exchange program I wanted to make music to thank God because I was saved." He recorded an album of music praising God in order to honor a promise he made to himself at the depths of his desperation in the hospital. The album Jesus-Christ Ne Deçoit Pas Jesus Christ Does Not Let Us Down came out in 1991 and sold around 3000 cassettes in Ivory Coast. The master tape was lost along the way so the recording has never been on digital platforms until now. Jesse didn't have much time to record while visiting South Carolina, hence the relatively short album, 6 songs including two reprises for filler. A local pastor connected him with a studio and some American musicians (Robert Fortner and Gary Davis) to help. They added acoustic guitar, percussion and keyboard accompaniment to Jesse's soaring French and Gouro vocals, harmonica and finger-picked acoustic. The resulting recording is deeply soothing and contemplative music that perfectly compliments the songs already embraced by millions. But he had to find the rest of the studio expenses-$600 total-which he secured drawing cartoons for UNICEF. Jesse is Ivory Coast's first political cartoonist, a vocation for which he was widely celebrated at the time. It also made him a few enemies which lead to him leaving the country permanently a few years later. Jesus-Christ Ne Deçoit Pas is Jess Sah Bi's first and only gospel album. Fortunately, fans responded with enthusiasm: widespread radio airplay and concerts followed, along with a growing solo profile in the country. The first big gospel artists in Ivory Coast were the duo Mathieu et Constance, who emerged in 1989. There was a bigger gospel music movement in English-speaking counties like Ghana and Nigeria (Christians make up roughly 40% of the population in Ivory Coast, slightly less than Muslims). Jesse didn't have any intention of working in Christian music but he realized, "You don't make music to make money-you want to send a message." In the years since Jesus-Christ's release, gospel music in Ivory Coast has grown to become a key part of music culture in the country. Spiritual music appears in community actives across the public and private spectrum from religious gatherings and parties to television broadcasts and music festivals. And, as it has evolved and indigenized locally, gospel music has picked up elements of traditional Ivorian music, reggae and soul. The album ultimately precipitated the demise of the duo, who were soon separated geographically as Peter One relocated to Nashville. He went on to become a nurse and release a successful solo album on Verve following the ATFA collaboration. Nowadays Jesse lives in the Bay Area and continues to record and perform music wherever and whenever he has the chance. He is publishing a new book of humorous cartoons in 2025 and his most recent album Never Give Up came out in 2020

Gap Mangione's monumentally influential Diana In The Autumn Wind. AKA BEWITH200LP. And, without question, Be With's White Whale.

They said it could never be done. And with good reason.

We've spent the past 12 years trying to license this legendary 1968 recording from Gap and, after much work, it's finally here. Remarkably, this is the first ever vinyl reissue of Gap Mangione's Diana In The Autumn Wind, produced with the full and extensive participation of Gap. An exceedingly rare album, it's been coveted by funk, soul, jazz and hip-hop sample fiends for decades.

It's unarguably *the* most sought after album for J Dilla / Madlib sample collectors. It has also been brilliantly sampled by A Tribe Called Quest, Large Professor, Ghostface Killah, Kendrick Lamar and Talib Kweli.

But this record is so much more than a sample-spotters curio. It's solid gold throughout. Bursting with killer funky-jazz grooves and tracks adorned with warm electric piano, the release is notable for featuring some extremely significant players at the very outset of their careers; Tony Levin, at 21, whose superb playing on both acoustic and electric bass was the harmonic mainstay of the trio and Steve Gadd, at 23, one of the greatest drummers of his generation.

With acceptable copies of this holy grail changing hands for $400, to call this reissue "much-needed" underplays just how vital it is. Gap's story is told in his words alongside rare photos across a sumptuously designed 2-page insert and, to augment this deluxe edition further, its all wrapped up in a beautiful, no-expense-spared luxury tip-on sleeve, as per the original hens-teeth release. And, while we're talking packaging, just take a look at that cover - a work of art in and of itself.

The tracks are short but complex, with that extraordinary rhythm section backing the beautiful piano, organ and electric piano work of Gap. It's like the best ever library funk breaks record you never heard - but all your favourite golden age rap producers were all over it, long ago. It's a stunning blend of the vibrant, driving music of the Gap Mangione Trio coupled with the sensitive composition and superb orchestration of Gap's legendary brother, Chuck Mangione, who helmed an amalgam of seemingly disparate elements – rock, big band jazz, solo improvisation and "classical" music - into a spectacularly cohesive whole that has aged wonderfully well. As Gap himself notes in the liners, "with this group I was able to explore and add new and exciting elements from rock, Brazilian and then-current pop music."

Opener "Boy With Toys" triumphantly swaggers out the gate, all big band horns, flutes and dextrous organ work. The synthesis of everything going on is nothing short of stunning. When one wise YouTube commentator called this tune "old school superhero music", Gap agreed. Rap luminaries did, too, amongst them Talib Kweli, who rapped over DJ Scratch's chopped up intro for "Shock Body" on his Quality album back in 2002.

You've barely recovered from that incredibly affecting opener when you get hit over the head with the exquisite title-track. And now you see how two of the greatest beats of all time emerged from one single track produced nearly 50 years earlier. Unforgettably utilised by Dilla for Slum Village's heartbreakingly good "Fall In Love" and then Madlib for his "Official" beat for Dilla to rap over, on the Jaylib record. Regardless of the records it went on to spawn, this is just a staggering tune in its own right. Be beguiled by the flutes and the flutter tonguing, the counter-melody from the trombones, the soprano sax solo. All of it. Simply beautiful.

The questing organ and horn workout "Long Hair Soulful" deserves a lot more attention, overshadowed somewhat by the opening two monsters but no less fantastic. It swings, it grooves and Gadd and Levin truly cook. Up next, Gap's wonderfully percussive, mellifluously piano-heavy cover of "Yesterday" by some fellas called The Beatles. It's a subtly arresting gem. "The XIth Commandment" is damn fine, with thick, gorgeous electric piano and snappy drum work underpinning chaotic soundtracky horns. To close out the side, "St. Thomas" showcases the "fourth" member of the Gap Mangione Trio, conga drummer Dhui Mandingo. Having performed with the Trio since 1965, Dhui‘s African-based and jazz-latin-influenced style amazed listeners and its way to hear why.

Opening the B-Side, standard "You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You" breezes along in the late-night jazz club fashion before things get super deep with the outstanding and - up to now - un-sampled "Pond With Swans". It's simply heavenly, and how its moody, melancholic intro has yet to be pilfered is anybody's guess. It oscillates between gentle, sombre movements and bombastic grooves, equally hypnotic and joyous. The rendition of "You Are My Sunshine" is yet another showcase for Gap's virtuoso playing and Gadd's mastery of the pocket. Indeed Gadd's drumming on "Free Again" is nothing short of neck-SNAPPING! Ghostface took it for not one but two "Iron's Theme" tracks across his seminal Supreme Clientele. It's got that Galt MacDermot "Coffee Cold" feel. Suuuuuper cool. The frantic "Dream On Little Dreamer" hurtles along and must've surely had the whole room absolutely swinging from the chandeliers back in Rochester in the late 60s. The album closes with the magnificent Graduate Medley, featuring memorable renditions of "Scarborough Fair", "The Sounds of Silence" and "Mrs. Robinson". The warm electric piano lines of the former were sampled by The Ummah (Dilla again!) for Tribe's "Pad & Pen" from their reappraised final album, The Love Movement, as well as by Large Professor on his much-loved "The LP (For My People)".

Under the watchful eye - and extremely attentive ears - of Gap Mangione himself, the audio for Diana In The Autumn Wind has been carefully remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, with a few much needed tweaks here and there, according to the artist's wishes. At the prestigious Abbey Road Studios, Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at the always stellar Record Industry in Holland. The artwork restoration has taken place here at Be With HQ and has that drop-dead gorgeous cover artwork popping like new. Buy on sight!

Nicaraguan-American artist Dagmar Zuniga makes music that feels both intimate and expansive: songs drift like disrupted signals, carried by harmony, tape hiss, and a strong sense of touch. Her debut solo album in filth your mystery is kingdom / far smile peasant in yellow music — written and recorded in New York, Norway, and Athens, Georgia over a period of five years on her longtime companion, the Tascam 424 — was uploaded to Bandcamp and YouTube in January 2025, quickly garnering over two hundred thousand views and the attention of artists such as Mount Eerie, who invited her to tour with them that summer. This year, what was once a jewel of tapped-in algorithms and message boards will meet the world at large, with in filth arriving digitally on March 4, and physically on April 10, via AD 93.

in filth is an atmospheric, devotional collage where one voice multiplies into a chorus of selves, sometimes delicate, sometimes severe; an effect created by Zuniga’s masterful layering of texture and complex harmonies. Synths glitter out like spears of sunlight from beneath clouds of moody, time-distorted guitars, and songs spin about themselves like tightly-wound music boxes, making use of a kind of hypnotic repetition, before melting apart into their components or slipping into the following track.

Zuniga began recording to tape as a teenager, drawn to the physicality of the medium — how a tape recording is fragile, mutable, and alive. Though her ethereal sound may draw easy comparisons to other female pioneers of psychedelic folk, she is influenced just as much by the darker sounds of Syd Barrett and The Fall. Like Barrett, Zuniga is a painter, and she is interested not only in recording music but in creating a full, self-contained artistic universe: she creates her own artwork, merchandise, music videos, and bootleg tapes of new and unfinished music that she exclusively sells at live shows (“If something is not material, it does not exist,” she insists). Her world has not gone unvisited, garnering her a monthly show on NTS Radio ‘World of Pain’, as well as a forthcoming appearance at Rewire Festival in April 2026.

Though Zuniga’s work explores themes of solitude and suffering, the suffering in her songs is not borrowed or displayed; it is held, then opened outward through empathy — an exacting practice of attention that insists on shared ground. Solitude, in her work, is not withdrawal but a starting point for connection. Likewise, over time, her recording process has become increasingly communal, with in filth featuring musicians Hayes Hoey, Austyn Wohlers (Tomato Flower), and Zach Phillips (Fievel Is Glauque). Newer recordings widen the circle even more. For Zuniga, collaboration is a way to “find a place between worlds,” echoing Badiou’s idea of love as a vision refracted through the prism of difference. Meaning emerges there — in the space between voices, between artist and listener. “I hope my music helps people work through difficult experiences,” she says. “The same way it helps me.”

WRWTFWW Records is pleased to announce its fifth collaboration with NY-LA ambient / jazz / downtempo musician Danny Scott Lane with the first ever vinyl release of his 2022 full-length album Holy Goodnight, available on limited edition LP (500 copies worldwide) housed in a heavyweight sleeve.
After Home Decor, Shower, Caput, and Songs For Sex, here’s another Danny Scott Lane classic. On Holy Goodnight, he handles synths, keyboards, bass, guitar, percussion, and field recordings for a smooth nightride through city pop, contemplative jazz, vaporwave, slow funk, cozy ambient, library music vibes, and relaxed moods.
Holy Goodnight feels like cruising through a half-asleep city with the windows down and the radio low—lush harmonies and soft grooves guiding the way. It’s warm and hazy music for late hours and early mornings, introspective, comforting, cinematic, intimate…
Following the release of chillout staples on WRWTFWW, Danny Scott Lane further cements his unmistakable sonic universe. Complete the collection and sink deeper into the night.
Points of interest
For fans of ambient jazz, city pop, downtempo, smooth funk, vaporwave, library music, night drives, neon lights, quiet introspection, cozy late hours, and peaceful goodnights.
Super limited edition vinyl (500 copies worldwide) of Danny Scott Lane’s Holy Goodnight, available on vinyl for the first time ever.

Clock Poets returns with Get Down, the seventh release on the label and a floor-focused statement from Spanish producer Baltazar, based in Palma de Mallorca and founder of the Sapernika platform. Known for selecting and developing distinct, groove-centred voices from the underground, Clock Poets hands the reins to an artist who understands hypnosis, repetition and tension as tools rather than effects.

The A-side, “Get Down”, is a pumping minimal cut shaped by slightly tribal percussion loops and a locked-in groove that builds momentum through subtle shifts rather than overt peaks. Hypnotic male vocal samples circle like a mantra, weaving ritual into rhythm as the track steadily tightens its grip on the floor. On “Try On Trust Me”, the formula expands: a female vocal, washed in reverb and echo, floats between melodic textures and soft pads, creating a more spacious, emotive framework while maintaining the same disciplined drive and forward motion. Closing the record, “On My Way” dives deeper — a stripped-back 4/4 minimal construction infused with Arabic and double harmonic scale influences. Spatial, meditative and profoundly hypnotic, it stretches time and space, offering a moment of emotional suspension within the dancefloor continuum.

With Get Down, Baltazar doesn’t chase trends — he commits to groove, sophisticated repetition and unique atmospheres. In doing so, he both reinforces Clock Poets’ sonic identity and injects it with a fresh, trance-like intensity, proving once again the label’s consistency without predictability.

Black Truffle is pleased to present Radis, the first recording by the Oslo-based trio of Andrea Giordano (voice and organetto), Kalle Moberg (accordion) and Jo David Meyer Lysne (guitar and snare drum). Now based in Norway, Giordano is a native of Cuneo, in the Piedmont region in the north-west of Italy and her exploration of the Piedmontese language provides the starting point and conceptual anchor of the trio improvisations heard on Radis, which make use of the words of 20th century Piedmontese poets Nino Costa, Bianca Dorato and Oreste Gallina. As the musicians explain, the project is an attempt to preserve the beauty and singularity of a language at risk of extinction.

Fittingly, the first sound we hear on the opening piece ‘Fiorìa’ is Giordano’s unaccompanied voice. She sings a poem from Oreste Gallina as a kind of floating cadenza, the accompanying silence sensitizing the listener to the pellucid quality of Giordano’s voice and the unique sound of the Piedmontese language. The voice dies away and into the silence swells a single tone, sounded by Moberg’s accordion and—special guest on this opening piece—the alto saxophone of Mario Gabola. Extended techniques and preparations create unexpected timbres from the acoustic instruments: Gabola’s saxophone is augmented with tin cans and springs and Moberg’s unorthodox techniques allow the accordion to generate wheezing, buzzing textures and patterns of microtonal beating. Giordano’s voice returns, picking up the thread of the languorous opening melody, coexisting for a while with the shifting drone before the piece takes an unexpected yet organic left-turn into a delicate saxophone solo of sorts.

Recorded in several locations across Italy and Norway over the course of three years, Radis documents an ensemble who have developed both a distinctive sound-world and a remarkably sensitive group dynamic. Moving from folkish duets between accordion and Giordano’s organetto (the small accordion used in Italian folk music) to episodes of metallic guitar scraping from Meyer Lysne, the music is both quietly contemplative and gently chaotic. Ensemble roles shift with disarming ease. If on ‘Profij dëspers’ Meyer Lysne’s prepared guitar adds a haywire noise element to a lyrical episode of organetto and accordion, the next piece, ‘D’antorn a lor’, is grounded in chiming guitar chords of stunning beauty; once Giordano’s joins, the result calls up the most spacious moments of Maria Monti’s Il Bestiario. Throughout the seven pieces, the trio explore countless possibilities of group interaction and the margin between conventional euphony and pure abstraction: at times the voice floats against silence or seems almost disconnected from the gentle clatter of the instruments (sometimes reminiscent of Nikiforas Rotas’ haunting settings of Cavafy), while at other points the instruments touch on conventional harmonic accompaniment. What is perhaps most striking of all is the way that voice and instruments relate to each other, the extended technique reframing the voice as a kind of abstract sound object, while the melodic beauty of Giordano’s voice lends a contemplative, almost melancholic air to the wheezing and scraping of accordion and guitar.

Captured in gorgeously intimate recordings, Jim O’Rourke’s careful and beautifully spacious mix highlights the wealth of textural detail in each element. Accompanied by notes, session photos and the text of the Piedmontese poems, Radis is a work of stunning beauty that demonstrates the vitality of exploratory music in Norway today.

As Nathan Fake rises from the nocturnal subterranea and rave catharsis of his previous records, on Evaporator, he resurfaces into the domain of daylight, bringing a tangible sense of air rushing against your face, of big skies, and endless landscapes. The idea of pop accessibility that trickled into 2023’s Crystal Vision is refracted here through the prism of sweeping ambient, deep electronica, and trance uplift. Evaporator is Fake’s idea of “airy daytime music”, with each track a different barometer reading across the album’s varying atmospheres, which range from vibrant sunbursts, bracing rainscapes, and fine mists of clement melodics. “It’s not overtly confrontational electronic club music,” states Fake. “It’s quite pleasant, it’s accessible. As I was progressing through making the tracklist, I called it a daytime album. It doesn’t feel like an afterparty album.” For the past decade Fake has been gingerly introducing collaborations with heroes and friends alike into his lone, idiosyncratic working process. Border Community alumni Dextro AKA Ewan Mackenzie transmutes his ferocious drumming for Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs into the blurred choral thump of ‘Baltasound’. ‘Orbiting Meadows’, meanwhile, is his second collaboration with Clark, an eerily idyllic duet where microtonal 18EDO piano clangs slowly twirl around wailing pads. Evaporator marks the junction point of old technology and ever fresh creativity for Nathan. The trusty “dinosaur” age software, particularly Cubase VST5, that has powered two decades of music is rarely updated. “I used to sort of feel a bit ashamed of using such old software, and then I kind of had an epiphany – that’s just how I work”, comments Fake. “That’s just how I play. I’m very fond of these old tools, and I get the most joy out of them, but now I’ve incorporated new technology too.” When an artist accumulates so much synergy with their instrument, music making becomes instinctual. By Fake’s account, much of Evaporator just fell into place. The album title arrived randomly in his head (“it felt completely perfect. Airy.”), ideas looped and developed until things locked into place and just felt right. ‘The Ice House’ is a fleeting glimpse of the sonic world he taps into in this creative state, its glassy FM synths built around a counterpoint between rough-hewn crystalline arpeggios and sparse yet gravitas-bearing bass. “That riff I just wrote out on the keyboard, I just played it forever and ever and ever. The original track ended up being really short. Here you go, and it’s gone!” These unplanned channellings of sound call forth records from Fake’s past while he looks ahead, perhaps getting at the very essence of his musicianship. The opener ‘Aiwa’ (“the breeziest,” he muses) reminds of the introspection that characterised Providence, excited by the fire and grit of Steam Days’ textural experiments, its chunky slams and clatters surging into a flood of harmonic buzzing as they reach out for old wisdom. ‘Hypercube’ stampedes in a similar chronological confluence, infusing an incessant synth line reminiscent of the golden age of rave with the crackling, ecstatic energy of modern festival anthems. Like the vaporisation of liquid to particles, everything that Evaporator presents has a mutant desire to be amorphous. Sounds rarely settle; the irradiated garage beat of ‘Bialystok’ is pitched downwards to driving, rebounding effect, while ‘You’ll Find a Way’ warps static into shivering energy, cinematic synth strings building anticipation into a gradual gush of chords. This translates into a more expansive stereo field than Fake has explored before. ‘Slow Yamaha’ saves the wildest, most kinetic transformations for last with a cornucopia of crispy melodies and fried drums; a sibilance of cymbals on the left, a susurrus of shakers on the right, and kaleidoscopic lasers pulsing and fizzing all around. Evaporation culminating in pure excited atoms. In a world where music has increasingly become background content, making albums remains lifeblood for Fake: “It makes me realise how long; twenty years is ages! It’s weird to see how much the world has changed. Release day back then you did fuck all, now you spend all day on socials. When I grew up the people who made the electronic music I was into were quite mysterious, and the artwork was very abstract. There was a massive distance between you and that music, and that was a key part of it, really. Now it helps to be an extrovert, and I'm just not, but the album marks the first time my face has graced the cover art. I’ve never wanted to do this before, I'm very shy, and generally I don’t like being seen,” he professes. “But, twenty years in, I supposed I could try something new. I'm very lucky that I'm somehow surviving in this world, where the media world favours extroverts and interesting looking people. It’s not my world but somehow I’m still in it.” Evaporator continues to prove Nathan’s necessary presence, with some of his most engaging, varied, and magical music yet.

"Ed DMX has been part of Shipwrec since the label's inception. Under his DMX Krew moniker, this analogue wizard has released four Eps and one LP on the Nijmegen imprint. DMX Krew returns to Shipwrec for a brand new album, a collection that displays yet another side of this sculptor's sound. Brutal and cold, shadows are long and shades dark from the outset. Drum patterns twist in tempo and intent, from hard and punishing to gentle and fragile. Elements of breaks and industrial are also present in the percussion, this fragmenting allowing deep and soulful melodies to counter the battery. In fact, echoes of electronica permeate the harmonies across the LP such as deep and divergent "Interrupt." No single style is adhered to. Instead, the full palette of machine music is employed. From the squelchy Tudor electrofunk of "I Wonder Why" to the melancholic braindance of "Rephlections in Time", genre boundaries are given little credence. Instead, Ed DMX draws on his decades of experience to create sounds that are both familiar and completely one of a kind. The deep-sea dive of "Final Comedown" is juxtaposed with the ambling calypso of "Dinosaur Reaction", styles reimagined and reshaped to the creator's evolving purpose. Echoes of the halcyon days of Rephlex permeate the 2LP. The harshness and softness of the Cornwall imprint being present throughout, those more subtle tones coming to the fore in the delicate beauty of the "Phaser Level 2." A transcendent album and a certified future classic. To accompany this very special release, there will be a limited edition run with full cover art by Ruwedata. An artist very close to Shipwrec's heart, Ruwedata was responsible for the sleeve work on DMX Krew's Cosmic Awakening."

The upcoming release scheduled for 2026 is made by the Irish London-based artist Cherrie Bea. Emerging electronic artist carving out a distinct space in the UK scene with thoughtful, deep and atmospheric productions that blend house, ambient textures and soulful guitar work. Their debut EP Jafar’s 21st introduced a warm, late-night sound that’s already earned support from underground tastemakers and NTS. Their latest release, Pearlescent, highlights Cherrie Bea’s playful, experimental edge, a collection of carefully crafted tracks that invite listeners to feel, interpret and experience the music in their own way Cherrie Bea stands as a reserved and introspective figure within the electronic scene, serves as a true statement piece, live instrumentation, ethereal synths, processed vocals, and dense harmonies wrapped in a late-night / early-morning atmosphere. The forthcoming “Pearlescent” EP, released on Series of Taboo, fully embraces that mindset: 4 tracks blending house, funk, and a touch of electro.

Black Truffle is thrilled to announce Dalbergia Retusa, an extensive double LP selection of the solo guitar music of Hans Reichel, compiled by Oren Ambarchi. Last heard on Black Truffle as one quarter of the joyously anarchic Bergisch-Brandenburgisches Quartett, Hans Reichel (1949-2011) is one of the great figures of experimental guitar music. Though perhaps lesser known than peers like Derek Bailey, Fred Frith and Keith Rowe, Reichel’s rethinking of the instrument was in some ways the most radical of all. Early on, he dispensed with existing guitars to build a series of his own that explored the use of additional strings and fretboards, moveable pickups, extra bridges, special capos, and other innovations documented in the extensive booklet accompanying this release.

Reichel was a long-term resident of Wuppertal, the small Western Germany city that became an unlikely centre of European free jazz in the late 1960s, also home to Peter Brötzmann and Peter Kowald. His solo debut Wichlinghauser Blues was an early entry into the FMP discography and began a relationship with the label that stretched into the 1990s; all the solo performances heard here were first released on FMP. As Reichel says in the charming archival interview with Markus Müller included here, he was ‘always a cuckoo’s egg at FMP’, a label that began as an outlet for roaring European free jazz. What strikes the listener right from the opening selection on Dalbergia Retusa—‘Return of the Knödler show’, from 1987’s The Dawn of Dachsman—is the extraordinary beauty of Reichel’s music, at once alien in the shimmering sonorities and unconventional pitch relationships made possible by his invented instruments, and deeply lyrical, even romantic in its harmonic content. Growing up in West Germany in the 1960s, Reichel’s formative influences were mainly British and American rock bands, a background that shines through in many of the pieces included here: ‘An old friend passes by’ is haunted by the ghost of Hendrix’s rhythm guitar, and the wild closer ‘Heimkehr der Holzböcke’, taken from a rare 1975 7” and the only piece to use overdubbing, layers errant hammer-on and slide tones over a Canned Heat boogie chug.

Reichel was an important source for the development of Oren Ambarchi’s own extended approach to the electric guitar. Appropriately enough, his selection opens with the very first piece by Reichel he ever heard, on a flexidisc included with a 1989 issue of Guitar Player magazine. Though Reichel collaborated with others extensively in many settings and also performed on violin and his other major contribution to instrument invention, the daxophone, his music for solo guitar remains at the core of his oeuvre. Focusing exclusively on solo pieces recorded between 1973 and 1988, the 23 pieces on Dalbergia Retusa showcase the range and consistency of Reichel’s work, allowing the listener to see how his performances developed hand-in-hand with his instrumental inventions. On a piece from his very first LP, played on an 11-string instrument (partly strung with piano strings and using a schnapps glass a slide), we hear his intensive exploration of fret-hammering to create zither-like, chiming tone, which Reichel would hone further in later years with a double fretboard guitar specifically designed to be hammered rather than fretted and picked. On a piece from 1979’s Death of the Rare Bird Ymir, Reichel uses two steel-string acoustic guitars at once, with beautiful results: ‘some even say too beautiful’, he jokes in the interview included here. Many of the pieces from the 1980s make use of varieties of the ‘pick behind the bridge guitar’, instruments of uncanny harmonic richness primarily designed to be played on the ‘wrong’ side of the bridge. At times the unexpected behaviour of attacks, resonance, and decay can almost seem electronic, conjuring up the technology-assisted work of Henry Kaiser or even Fennesz, but realised solely through Reichel’s unorthodox techniques on his invented instruments. Extensively illustrated with photos and Reichel’s own plans and drawings of his instruments, Dalbergia Retusa is an essential introduction to the unique world of Hans Reichel. Rarely has music been at once so strange and so beautiful.

2026 Repress

A gift to the overthinkers and overworked. Those who are over-concerned and always preoccupied. This is an invitation to hang up the bootstraps, take a load off, and visit a place in the mind where the sun is shining, the breeze is soft and the waves lap softly at your feet. Vacation From My Mind is a sonic realignment of melancholic soul, breezy soft rock, & mellow jazz-funk.

This album is a thoughtfully curated collection of 12 rare and obscure tracks from 1973 to 1981. From Jeanette Baker’s hypnotic 70’s soul title track “Vacation From My Mind” to the Latin rhythms of David Buckland’s jazz-funk “Celia”, this compilation was lovingly crafted to ease the stresses and worries of modern life. The Care Package’s song “The Storm” is a larger-than-life production of dreamy harmonies not often found on privately released 45s. Utopia’s “Lejos De Mi” is a slow-burning slice of Bolivian psych that will have you searching for similar sounds. Whatever your preference, we hope that this album will give you a vacation from your mind.

the debut single by germany’s rising talent harmon is being released on mule musiq.
it was one of the finest demos we have received in recent years, and we signed it immediately.
colorful, dreamy, and highly addictive, this alternative house track is unique and evocative of early dj koze and superpitcher productions.
a fresh and killer release that seamlessly absorbs a wide range of influences—in the best possible way.

Lovski, alias Igor Sekulović, is redefining the Balkan musical landscape. A master guitarist and erstwhile “Projekt Rakjia” band member, he forges an uncanny blend of traditional folk melodies with dance, electronic and rock energy.
His debut solo album, Discoteka Jugoslavija—produced in collaboration with Napoli’s producer Raffaele “Whodamanny” Arcella—ventures through Italo-disco pulses, reggae grooves and psychedelic swirls, all anchored by the call-and-response warmth of Balkan traditional instruments. Each track feels like a borderless road trip: hypnotic rhythm sections give way to soaring guitar solos that nod to ancestral folk tunes, while propulsive synth arpeggios push listeners into tomorrow’s club.
Lovski’s signature lies in his seamless genre alchemy. He honors regional roots without succumbing to nostalgia, instead reframing folk elements as raw material for global dancefloors. As a performer, his live shows pulse with communal ecstasy—drawing dancing crowds around campfires of light, smoke and bass.
In a scene ripe for innovation, Lovski stands out as both torchbearer and trailblazer—proof that the Balkans still have surprises to offer, and that the old and new can coexist in brilliant harmony.

Blue Lake reveals his most ambitious album yet, which finds its visionary creator Jason Dungan harnessing the collective alchemy of his band, with ten spirited tracks that resonate with a powerful directness, evoking an ecological connection to the wider world.

The solo project (Blue Lake), now on its fifth album, found its name and inspiration via Don Cherry's 1974 live album, sparking a creative epiphany in Dungan, who set off on a path into his own untapped sonic world, guided by what he cited as the emotional potential found within non-lyrical composition. With a newly inspired ethos aimed toward creating direct and simple instrumental music imbued with a deep sense of feeling, Jason began combining an array of musical elements that gave rise to his highly revered album 'Sun Arcs' (2023), with its "ornate, zither-led lattices" (Pitchfork, Best New Music). Conceived in the blissful isolation of a Swedish cabin set in the woods, this was music that soundtracked spring in full bloom. Then, in contrast to the solitary approach of 'Sun Arcs', the highly lauded mini-album 'Weft' (2025) began to set the tone for a more band-oriented approach to delivering the Blue Lake sound. Jason had by this time experienced a special collective energy with his band during a swathe of live performances, which he then sought to harness and distill on 'The Animal', leading him to take the project into a traditional recording studio (The Village) and its limitless potential along with his gifted cohorts.

'The Animal' at its core vividly celebrates human collaboration and is deeply rooted in a sense of community and non-hierarchical connectivity. The group's creative alchemy transcends outwards and beyond the musicians performing together, to summon an inclusive, existential and ecological connection to the wider world and its inhabited spaces. The album contemplates the idea of the human as an animal as Dungan explains: "I'm quite fascinated in thinking about humans more as part of the animal environment and not as something that's so separated into a "human" realm, or sitting on top of a hierarchical pyramid. So the Animal is also me, or us - that we are just living, existing, in the same way as a piece of moss or a sparrow or a cow.

'The Animal' is a form of musical metamorphosis, still acoustic, yet more amplified, elevating it to new dimensions. The Blue Lake project takes on a new lease of life to encompass collaboration with Jason Dungan bound in a universal connectivity, resulting in his most ambitious album to date. A harmonious rejoicing that cements his reputation as a transformative presence in contemporary music.

Default Mode by Raleigh & Takenaga continues the newly established X series – Harmony’s platform for new voices and limitless exploration. Hailing from Prague, the duo embodies the next wave of adventurous sound design and musical talent from the imprint’s home town.

Incentive Program opens the EP’s A side with a drifting, trance-tinged flow wrapped in sweeping pitch movements and fractured vocals. The track sets a shadowy, almost sinister atmosphere, pulling all witnesses into its slow-burn gravity. It’s a steady build, tipping the floor over the edge. Stiff Envelope pulls you into its depths as it continues to build tension with resonating synth hits that quiver over a powerful trance foundation. With a few moments of silence that let its unsettling atmosphere settle across the stereo field before swinging back in at full force, this one is tailor-made for big systems.

B side’s Ground Floor carries on with metallic swells and shimmers that ring underneath the surface as the tension built on the A side bursts, settling into a grounding four-on-the-floor moment and leaving just enough time to breathe before Raleigh stirs up a concoction of devious vocals, snappy percussion, and a seductive bassline that lifts the mood tastefully. Takenaga wraps up the record with Head Count, a razor-sharp blend of crisp percussive cuts and stuttered crumbles that are seeking the perfect pitch all the way, climbing up and down. Heads are counted on a lively groove that radiates playful momentum and commands the dance floor to get in formation, keeping a tight rhythmic focus. Infused with the pulse of UK club culture, this track delivers a fresh and forward-thinking sound perfect for adventurous turntables.

Ambroos De Schepper and Pepijn Gyssels became roommates when PiP moved to Brussels in 2021. Both paid close attention to each other’s musical approach and interests. One year later, Ambroos moved out. When he swung by to pick up some boxes, they decided to record something for the fun of it. Between May '23 and November '24 they continued experimenting with textures and improvisations. This collaboration has become the deepening of a friendship and a way to maintain it at the same time.

PiP: “We would have coffee or the occasional beer and everything we recorded came very organically. Ambroos would just bring his saxophone, a clarinet, some FX pedals or a weird flute. Whatever he felt like on that particular day. A few hours later he would usually be on his way again, leaving me with the recordings. I could treat them as I pleased.”

Ambroos: “I liked the idea of working with someone focussing on the physical side of music. Not so much on chords and tonality, but on texture and atmosphere. This gave me a framework with less concrete references, using words like “dark” or “busy”. I could improvise freely and we would try and catch a particular moment."

“l’Esprit de l’Escalier” is meant to be a musical meditation, opening up a continuous and detailed sound palette, aimed for the right mental state to listen with. Ambroos came up with the melody in COVID times and later in PiP’s studio, they recorded it on clarinet.
“Sans Loup” is the first jam the duo did together, after Ambroos and Lou moved out of the apartment they shared. Lou Wéry eventually found her way back to the album, as she can be heard playing the wing piano in this track.

PiP: “We recorded in the apartment we used to rent together. Since the title track and the entire album are named after Lou being absent in this dynamic, it seemed only natural to invite her in a later stage.”

“Spring Whistle” was an attempt to embed Ambroos’ musicality in dreamy textures and “Bring Back Bones” was built around an endlessly evolving krakeb recording that PiP took home from on a trip to Morocco. Both tracks are not aimed to end or evolve drastically, they just make the clock tick slower.

To conclude this release, “Velours de Tendre” is built out of a deconstructed groove and a field recording of the “Ronde van Vlaanderen”, a small reference to the countryside where PiP grew up. The reverberating chords you hear are the echoes Tijn Driessen squeezed out of an old harmonium, in a staircase of De Grote Post in Ostend.

PiP: “During a residency in De Grote Post we recorded in a staircase with a spaced pair of omni microphones. And you can take ‘spaced’ quite serious; one was positioned 5 stories higher and the other 3 stories lower.”

Sans Loup is the first vinyl to release on PiP’s label. They look alike, but none will be identical. The cover is screen printed in various combinations + a risograph insert. A highly personalized object.


credits

Released on Zitstill Records
Recorded in Brussels, Horebeke, Morocco and elsewhere, between September 2021 - November 2024

Music, mixing and production by Pepijn Gyssels
Saxophone, flute and clarinet by Ambroos De Schepper
Grand piano on “Sans Loup” by Lou Wéry
Harmonium on “Velours de Tendre” by Tijn Driessen
Mastering and lacquer cut by Anne Taegert at Dubplates & Mastering
Pressing by Objects Manufacturing
Layout and graphic design by Liselotte Van Daele & Otis Verhoeve
Photography by Willem Mevis

Special thanks to: Stijn Cools, Victor De Greef, De Grote Post

The album delivers masterful arrangements, inventive rhythms, rich harmonies, and a perfect balance of flute and saxophone interplay. Funk, Jazz, Gospel, Afro, and traditional elements all merge seamlessly into something unique and timeless.
Joshua Sithole (1947–1999) was a self-taught multi-instrumentalist and vocalist from South Africa who first started busking with the Kwela kids in 1959 and then went solo in 1978. He became popular in the 80’s, performing widely in Durban and Cape Town.

Originally released in 1975, this overlooked masterpiece is now reissued for the first time by Voom Voom Records — the first 500 copies include a poster of Vladimir Tretchikoff's painting, "The Pennywhistlers" which captures the beauty of Joshua's playing.

“Joshua Sithole, Errol Dyers, and Jonathan Butler come from some of the most influential and esteemed musical families in South Africa. You cannot write about Jazz in Cape Town and not mention some of these families and their contributions to the art form.” — Fanie Jason (Music Photographer - Cape Town)

"South African spiritual funk gem. slick guitar, banks of horns" - Chris Albertyn (Matsuli Records)
"Dynamic South African funk. An album that will make you want to dance from start to finish" - Franck Descollonges (Heavenly Sweetness)

'Find a Way' is the new album from Manchester-based pianist, composer, and producer Matt Wilde, released via his own imprint Hello World Records. The album serves as a reminder that creativity should be accessible and the importance of opening yourself to the unexpected as you 'Find a Way' through all endeavours. Digging into improvisation and jazz harmony on the LP, he crafts a sound that bridges jazz, hip hop, and electronic music, adding: "The creative act is not a matter of waiting for the perfect conditions, but of moving gently, insistently, through the imperfect".

Focus and title track "Find a Way" encapsulates this journey of process. Humans are known for adaptation and response when they face challenges, seeking solutions towards a better world. "Find a Way" leans into our instinctive reaction to improvise and reshape, taking the listener on an unexpected journey. The opening loop could as easily feel at home as part of an electronic soundscape, developing into a clock-like effect from the drums. This keeps time, allowing a duet between keys and trumpet to unfold, symbolising the individual, imperfect and non-linear paths we all carve out day to day.

The album was funded by Arts Council England and created in close collaboration with trumpeter and composer Aaron Wood, with the pair recording in Aaron's rural DIY studio in Huddersfield. Through improvising upright piano, Rhodes and trumpet over intricately programmed beats, the duo captured the spontaneity that makes jazz feel alive, but with the forward-facing touch of Ableton live production. "I actually had live drums recorded for this project and then deleted all of them and instead programmed intricate drums on Ableton live myself to create the kinds of drum sounds I could hear in my head," Matt adds, explaining the onerous process that truly made 'Find a Way' a labour of love.

Matt Wilde discovered jazz through an unconventional journey, and 'Find a Way' is an introspective map of this musical development. Starting out as a self-taught beatmaker, growing up Matt made tracks for friends in the grime scene before falling in love with jazz through the sample-heavy works of Madlib, J Dilla, and Pete Rock. Hints of this influence can be found on "Windup", driven by a deeper bass and a glitchy intensity not commonly associated with jazz. There are also nods to the weekly DJ residencies Matt had in his late teens, establishing a love for club music at iconic Manchester venues like Sankeys. "It's Ok, Feel it" incorporates pitched-up kicks and crisp, papery snares that pay tribute to UK dance culture and the foundation of connection in this world.

Guided by values of accessibility and creativity, Matt has become a key voice in the UK's boundary-pushing jazz and beats scene. His debut album 'Hello World' alongside EPs and single releases, have been championed by the likes of BBC Radio 1, Jamie Cullum and Soweto Kinch (BBC Radio 2), 'Round Midnight (BBC Radio 3), and across BBC 6Music, Jazz FM and Worldwide FM. He has performed headline shows at Band on the Wall (Manchester) and The Lower Third (London) and showcased his music at Brick Lane Jazz Festival and London's iconic Jazz Café.

A proud Mancunian with Polish roots, Matt's values-driven approach reflects his passion for community and empowering others through the arts. Matt founded the UK's first youth-led charity and is a trustee of Manchester music charity Brighter Sound. Driven by these values of equality and inclusion, Hello World Records strives to champion grassroots music with a backbone of fairness built into the business model. The imprint is named after Matt's debut album, released via Band on the Wall Recordings; simultaneously championing the music scene and global musical footprint of Manchester and highlighting the importance of artists reminding people: Hello World, I've made it. I'm still here.

- Martha Cleary, Glow Artists

'Transplant Rejection’ is the work of Estonian artist and IDA Radio co-founder Robert Nikolajev, this collection of seven ‘almost’ dark ambient tracks embody the melancholy of autumn whilst hinting at the forthcoming eternal winter. A man with many hats, Nikolajev operates on the fringes of the leftfield house underground for labels such as Incienso, Collect-Call and Sad Fun as well as being one half of the sporadic DIMA DISK act with Ragnar Rahouja. Eschewing the more rhythmic side of his productions for this Muscut tape, Nikolajev taps into the fictional soundtrack atmospheres the label is known for and brings his own brand of wistful, introspective world-building by way of machine harmony to the now Tallinn based imprint.

There’s a lo-fi, grainy quality running throughout the collection, a kind of sepia-toned nostalgia that envelops the listener and disorientates any perception of time or place. Buried vocal fragments sit in the mix on ‘Stifled’ alongside decaying synthesiser drones whilst ‘DDM’ channels an edgy post-rock dirge with its use of sagged bass guitar. Overall, an inspired look into the more ‘at home’ side of this increasingly prolific Estonian artist.

During this summer’s European tour with Junior Dell & The D-Lites, we were honoured to share the stage at This Is Ska Festival in Germany with none other than The Pioneers.

After the show, fate had me driving Jackie and George back to the hotel. On the way, we got to reminiscing about our last collaboration — Jump Up!, released on Original Gravity Records in December 2023. Mid-conversation, Jackie casually said: “Hey Neil, I’m in England all of July, we could record something.”

I dropped the guys off, said goodnight, but as soon as my head hit the pillow, an idea sparked: wouldn’t it be cool to have them record Jackie Edwards’ northern soul classic I Feel So Bad — but reimagined in an early reggae style?

So in July, we set up a session at Farm Factory Studios in Welwyn Garden City. George and Jackie came down, and it was nothing short of magical to hear these legends harmonising together once again in the booth. The result captures that late-60s moment when soul and reggae collided on dancefloors, raw and full of energy.

To add another dimension, we also created a version as if it had traveled from Kingston to London. The “Boss” version imagines the raw Jamaican master — while the A-side reflects how Trojan Records might have “sweetened it up” with horns and strings for the UK pop market.

Two sides, one timeless tune — a tribute to both the grit and the gloss of reggae’s golden era.

With their musical roots deeply immersed in the fertile soil of Afro-American music, the Buttshakers have found a new direction for their nostalgia-heavy soul music. With Lessons In Love, their third album on Underdog Records, their early heartaches and furies have faded in favor of a more composed harmony – a sound enveloped in love and soaked in the blues. Guided by their singer Ciara Thompson, the Buttshakers have taken a more intimate path, whose compass, in the chaos of emotions and the modern world, points only in one direction: the light.



Seen from the sky, the view appears limitless. Accentuated by the sun, the ochre and sandy hues of the open road only reinforce this feeling of immensity. The sky stretches and the green stands out in striking contrast. In lighter tones, a road is drawn -- without bends or contours. This is the worn and weary road of soul music, which The Buttshakers explore on each album in new and unique ways. Soul music – a rare place to find a French band.

Vast, the musical direction could have taken them to lighter pastures. Yet the Buttshakers chose to evolve in a different way; to take a heavier load. Two paths – one sparked by social unrest, the other purely sentimental, Lessons In Love explores the deep roots of soul music, in the steps of Curtis Mayfield or Al Green. It is here that the heart and mind cross paths, merge, and become one. A weary road -- that brings together the agitation of a world where good intentions never rise above the level of digital outrage, and a faith in love which, however it manifests and expresses itself, remains the only truth that never loses its power.



Less rage and more compassion, it is through the haunting words and now tempered inflection of Ciara Thompson's voice, which opens to distinct emotions and perspectives, that the listener is guided. With its gaze fixed on the horizon, the acoustic guitar of Gotta Believe invites us on an intimate stroll through the open plains, while Dream On carries us away with a clavinet riff and a possessed saxophone; reconnecting the electric heat and neurosis of a city full of dreams. The senses are moved by the conjuring potion of the guitar which distills throughout Troubled Waters; the body is brought back into a visceral dance by the keys and brass section that are put to the test by Sure As Sin and its irrepressible rhythm. Passing through clouds of dust and sand has left a bluesy imprint on their groove: the miles travelled became hundreds, then thousands.



All of this leaves the listener bewitched by the halo of resilience that now surrounds Ciara's performance, as the ten tracks let the light fade. But certainly not hope in a better day. Like the sunflower that always lifts its head towards the sun’s rays, the Buttshakers continue to resource their sounds in the deep roots of soul music. Into the rich layers of African-American music of the 60s and 70s, The Buttshakers capture the spirit as much as the musical aesthetics of the epoch. A sound that reaches into the meanderings of the soul, bringing light to dark places and hope for all. A sound for the most parched of hearts, living in a damaged world, Lessons In Love confirms that even the tiniest beam of light can illuminate one’s path.

"Pretty Close", Ethel Lindsey's debut LP, marks the beginning of a new musical journey, showcasing the talent and heartfelt nostalgia of this gifted singer-songwriter. Deeply rooted in the sound and spirit of the 1970s, her work draws from the golden age of Soul, Funk, Disco, and AOR, blending these genres with elegance and authenticity. Her songwriting and vocal delivery are so true to the era that one could easily imagine this album emerging straight from a California studio in 1976.

Entirely composed, written, and performed by Ethel Lindsey, Pretty Close is a deeply personal and cohesive body of work. From lush harmonies to groove-driven arrangements, the album captures the warmth and depth of vintage recordings while offering a fresh and intimate take on these timeless sounds.

Once again, Favorite Recordings brings its signature dedication to the project, ensuring every step of the process—from production to final mix—remains faithful to the sonic and aesthetic codes of the era. The album was produced using a maximum of vintage analog equipment, staying true to the texture and character of original 70s productions.

This is not merely a nostalgic tribute—it’s a sincere continuation of a musical tradition. With a deep respect for the past and a forward-thinking spirit, Ethel Lindsey breathes new life into classic genres, reaffirming their relevance in today’s musical landscape.

As Ethel herself puts it:
"The songs on this album offer but a fleeting glimpse into the whimsical, melodic reveries that may have danced through the mind of a young girl growing up in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France during the early to mid-1980s. They are, perhaps, the earliest echoes of a fraternal musical upbringing—an inheritance both consciously absorbed and unconsciously imprinted—shaped by shared moments, half-remembered sounds, and the mysterious alchemy of childhood imagination. This collection is, in essence, a first distillation of that early inner world: playful, imperfect, sincere."

On September 26th, 2025, two decades and seven albums into his career, American musician, composer, and academic John Maus will release his most transcendent work yet: Later Than You Think. Arriving via his new label YOUNG, the album explores themes of grief, justice, rebirth, transformation, and spiritual warfare - coalescing into a work of confession and confrontation: an aural metaphysics where affect, intellect, and spirit converge in search of the beautiful, the truth and the real. Written, produced, and recorded in the Ozarks of Southwest Missouri, Later Than You Think spans 16 tracks and contains multitudes - the lush and the bare, the sacred and the profane, minimalist discipline and maximalist indulgence, counterpoint and simple pop harmony. At its core, the album reaffirms John Maus’ commitment to radical sincerity and emotional truth in an age of alienation. Powered by confrontation, faith and transformation - driven by the urgent belief that meaning still matters, and time is of the essence. Holding a degree in experimental music from CalArts and a PhD in political science from the University of Hawaii, Maus has been dubbed a “philosopher pop star” and “analog futurist” for the way he merges academic rigor with lo-fi synth-pop aesthetics. His influence spans genres and generations—from UK grime icon Skepta, who sampled his track “I’m Only Human,” and Gen-Z rapper nettspend, to filmmaker Josh Safdie, actor Natasha Lyonne, and photographer Wolfgang Tillmans. His track “Cop Killer” features in the 2025 film Friendship, underscoring his continued relevance across high and low culture. With five previous albums under his belt - Songs (2006), Love Is Real (2007), We Must Become The Pitiless Censors of Ourselves (2011), Screen Memories (2017) and Addendum (2018) - Maus has carved out a singular path where irony, grief, joy, and absurdity can coexist and gained a cult following along the way. On Late r Than You Think Maus doesn’t just return—he confronts, confesses, and transforms. The result is not only a career-defining work, but a rare artistic offering: one that dares to believe in meaning, beauty, and the possibility of transcendence

First things first, I want to thank Nectax for his patience, because he's been regularly sending me his music for well over 2 years & I was so swamped with other music being sent to me on a regular basis from other people, that I never made the time to actually check most of what he was sending me or to properly get back to him in response to the tracks of his that I did check. It's hard making time for listening to demos submitted for Future Retro London, amongst all the other commitments I have to take care of on a day-to-day basis, but he kept at it until I was finally able to realise what I had been sleeping on for so long.

Now that's out of the way, I was first made properly familiar with his music through his release on Over/shadow, as well as seeing some of his sets in London and hearing other people supporting his music, which made me more vigilant towards any music he'd send to me.

He sent me "London Bridge" and I really liked it, so much so that it gave me some ideas that I wanted to add to it & we turned it into a collab. He also sent me "Akaizen" which to me, is my favourite track of his that I'd heard of everything he'd sent me (that I actually made effort to check!), which Harmony has done a great job remixing. And then to complete the release, he met up with Champa B (who's based near him) to work on "Prisoners Of Psilocybe", and like that, it all came together in the end!

Big thanks to Nectax for his music (& again, sorry for being so consistently slow to respond!), to Harmony for his quality version of "Akaizen" & to Champa B for collaborating on "Prisoners Of Psilocybe".

Demon Music group in conjunction with the Hughes family are proud to present the first official compilation of music
from the movies of legendary filmmaker John Hughes, covering the classic eighties period 1983 – 1989.
For anyone growing up in the 1980s, the films of John Hughes are some of the most iconic of the decade and have
created a lasting cultural impact still felt and referenced across TV, film and music. As well as the characters and
stories created in these iconic movies, what made John Hughes’ movies different from the rest was the symbiotic
relationship between scene and music. Whether Cameron Frye staring at the painting in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off set to
The Dream Academy’s “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want (Instrumental)”, Duckie and Andie from Pretty
In Pink at prom set to Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s “If You Leave”, or even Neal and Del’s classic “Those aren’t
pillows” scene from Planes, Trains and Automobiles set to Emmylou Harris’ “Back In Baby’s Arms”.
“Music was a huge part of filmmaking for him, it was a thing he seemed to like the most.” Matthew Broderick
Curated by John Hughes’ music supervisor Tarquin Gotch, this 6LP vinyl boxset includes 73 tracks from the movies
National Lampoon’s Vacation, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty In Pink, Ferris Bueller’s Day
Off, Some Kind Of Wonderful, Planes, Trains And Automobiles, She’s Having A Baby, The Great Outdoors and Uncle
Buck.
“Back when we were working on these movie soundtracks, the best way to send music around the world was the
cassette, by Fedex. We sent John cassettes of newly released music, of demos, of just finished mixes (and in return he
would send VHS videos of the scenes that needed music).” Tarquin Gotch
The films of John Hughes spawned many classic tracks, some licensed for the films, some commission specifically, and
many going on to become huge international hits from acts such as Simple Minds, Kate Bush, Furniture, Yello, and
The Psychedelic Furs.
“It serves as a reminder not just to the musicians he championed in the 1980s, but to how intensely his search for
music expanded beyond this era. Until his final days, he was still collecting outrageous amounts of music from around
the world, galaxies removed from the New Romantic and new wave sounds that, to many, still define him.” James
Hughes
Also includes an extensive 24-page booklet including memories from Matthew Broderick, James Hughes, Tarquin
Gotch, Ron Payne, plus track-by-track sleeve notes.
“John said he only made movies so he could choose what music to put in them, so as his success at the Box Office
grew, and thus his power with the studios, the number of tracks in his films, by up and coming UK bands, steadily
grew.” Tarquin Gotch


Billy Idol - "Catch My Fall" (From The 1987 Movie 'Some Kind Of Wonderful')
The Association - "Cherish" (From The 1986 Movie 'Pretty In Pink')
Penguin Cafe Orchestra - "Music For A Found Harmonium" (From The 1988 Movie 'She's Having A Baby')
Zapp - "Radio People" (From The 1986 Movie 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off')
Blue Room - "Cry Like This" (From The 1987 Movie 'Some Kind Of Wonderful')
Ray Charles - "Mess Around" (From The 1987 Movie 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles')
Joe Turner - "Lipstick, Powder & Paint" (From The 1989 Movie 'Uncle Buck')
Darlene Love - " (Today I Met) The Boy I'm Gonna Marry" (From The 1984 Movie 'Sixteen Candles')
Marvin Gaye - "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" (From The 1988 Movie 'She's Having A Baby')
Perry Como/Mitchell Ayres & His Orchestra/The Ray Charles Singers - "Juke Box Baby" (From The 1989 Movie 'Uncle Buck')
The Chordettes - "Mr Sandman" (From The 1989 Movie 'Uncle Buck')
Ray Anthony & His Orchestra - "The Peter Gunn Theme" (From The 1984 Movie 'Sixteen Candles')
Lindsey Buckingham - "Holiday Road" (From The 1983 Movie 'National Lampoon's Vacation')
Emmylou Harris - "Back In Baby's Arms" (From The 1987 Movie 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles')
Hugh Harris - "Rhythm Of Life" (From The 1989 Movie 'Uncle Buck')
Spandau Ballet - "True" (From The 1984 Movie 'Sixteen Candles')
Propaganda - "Abuse" (From The 1987 Movie 'Some Kind Of Wonderful')
The Dream Academy - "The Edge Of Forever" (From The 1986 Movie 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off')
Yello - "Lost Again" (From The 1987 Movie 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles')
Bryan Ferry - "Crazy Love" (From The 1988 Movie 'She's Having A Baby')
The Rave-Ups - "Positively Lost Me" (From The 1986 Movie 'Pretty In Pink')
Los Lobos - "Don't Worry Baby" (From The 1985 Movie 'Weird Science')
Steve Earle - "Continental Trailways Blues" (From The 1987 Movie 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles')
The Revillos - "Rev Up" (From The 1984 Movie 'Sixteen Candles')
Boston - "More Than A Feeling" (From The 1988 Movie 'She's Having A Baby')
Balaam & The Angel - "I'll Show You Something Special" (From The 1987 Movie 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles')
The Rave-Ups - "Rave Up/Shut Up" (From The 1986 Movie 'Pretty In Pink')
Pop Will Eat Itself - "Beaver Patrol" (From The 1988 Movie 'The Great Outdoors')
The Vapors - "Turning Japanese" (From The 1984 Movie 'Sixteen Candles')
Silicon Teens - "Red River Rock" (From The 1987 Movie 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles')
out

The writer Max Sebald often pondered over the nature of human memory, specifically, how our thoughts and desires - and their results - overlap and mutate over time. In A Place in the Country, he writes of the significance of what see as “similarities, overlaps and coincidences”. Are they the “delusions” of the self and senses, or manifestations of “an order underlying the chaos of human relationships, ... which lies beyond our comprehension”?

Song of the Night Mists, the new album by post-classical composer Stefan Wesołowski, often feels it draws on Sebald’s premise.

On a simpler plane, the one where the market dictates the neatly ordered information we consume, Song of the Night Mists can be described thus: recorded in the main by Stefan Wesołowski in Gdańsk, both in his studio and in Saint Nicholas' Basilica, the album incorporates acoustic instruments - piano, violin, double bass - and classic synthesizers such as the Roland Jupiter-8, the Soviet Polivoks. A Roland Space Echo RE-150 tape delay was also pressed into service as an instrument. We also hear the basillica’s organ and field recordings from the Tatra Mountains. Other musicians were Maja Miro, who played the flute parts on ‘Glacial Troughs’ and brother Piotr Wesołowski, who played the organ on ‘Wilhelm Tombeau’. Sound engineer was Marcin Nenko, who was also on hand to record the basilica organ parts. The album was mixed in New York by Al Carlson (Oneohtrix Point Never, Jessica Pratt, Zola Jesus, Lady Gaga, and Liturgy) and Rafael Anton Irisarri handled the mastering.

Ostensibly, Song of the Night Mists is the last in a trilogy, following on from albums Liebestod (2013) and Rite of the End (2017). All three deal with existential matters such as love, death, decay and “an ultimate end”; apocalyptic and Promethean in spirit, and betraying very human conceits. The Sebaldian nature of the new record starts to make itself felt when Wesołowski talks of how he used sampling. One element is unexpected, that of sampling himself: “I go back to dozens of my own unused sketches and recordings, treating them as raw material to cut, slow down, reverse, and transform in every possible way.” Memory as sound, to be reemployed by the listener through their own imaginings.

Another set of samples made by Wesołowski plays another role. These are field recordings, originally created for an audio illustration of the formation of the Tatra Mountains, and used in a film by sound designer Michał Fojcik. Wesołowski: “You can hear cracking ice, streams, footsteps in the snow and the wind, and a real avalanche, recorded from the inside.” The “Tatra connection” on the album is also found in samples referencing composer Karol Szymanowski. The album’s title alludes to a poem about the mountains by Polish poet, Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer.

Wesołowski’s Tatra recordings are “about a world without humans - about the fact that the world existed, was beautiful, and had meaning long before people arrived, and for the vast majority of its history, it was a place without us.” Wesołowski, using one iteration of the natural world, plays out in sound Sebald’s idea of another order, underlying the chaos of human relationships lying beyond human comprehension.

These feelings play themselves out on the five album tracks. Sonorous and rich, they illustrate tectonic shifts we have no control over. Wesołowski hints that the overall sound is a “meditation on the metaphysics of the non-human set against the spirituality that human presence has brought into it.” In that light, the opening number, ‘Core’, with its slow build, and crackling and straining sound effects, create an effect of the earth groaning into life in a creation myth. Once the piano part raps out a simple melody and modulated tonguing trumpet samples add to the overall atmosphere, the listener can certainly find a cue in the “spiritual”, or “human” side of the story. Human versus nature: from the strains and harmonic muscle stretches of the second number, ‘Glacial Troughs’, through to the powerful and filmic ‘Stalagmite’ and heart-on-sleeve romance expressed in closer, ‘Wilhelm Tombeau’, we listeners are cast as Friedrich’s wanderer, looking out over a landscape that will appear only if we engage with it.

Formations of melody appear incrementally, almost appearing by chance - like hidden footings in the rock shelves to give us something to grasp onto. Rhythms are used sparsely: the prolonged percussive taps on ‘Glacial Troughs’ are an anomaly and maybe there to give pace to the album to come; essentially to keep the listener strapped in. Elsewhere, percussion is used as an aid to mood, the two thudding, timpani-style passages on ‘Peak’ there to offset the short, beautiful, kosmische passage that splits them.

Elements of the borderline religious spirit that drove German electronic music in the late 1960s and 1970s also find a place on Song of the Night Mists. The swells and recessions of the organ find their emotional climax on ‘Wilhelm Tombeau’, a track which summons up echoes of the “mountain magic” vistas created by Popol Vuh or Tangerine Dream, especially with the slightly atonal wobble of the Mellotron that counters it.

This is a dramatic album, but it does feel a strangely short, or curtailed listen on ending, evoking the feeling one gets when waking from a dream, and, for all its incipient grandeur, a track like ‘Stalagmite’, for instance, ends on a minor note. Wesołowski admits that Song of the Night Mists is born of the all too human process of temptation, doubt and recalibration - Sebaldian overlaps and coincidences forming something that must live another life, away from its creator. In Wesołowski’s words, the album is “a newborn foal must stand up and walk right after birth.” Now it is yours to ponder.

A highly respected figure for dancers and artists alike, Markus Suckut offers his signature built-to-last sound to Fuse with 'Moments'. In this style, confidence is key and Suckut provides soul to club music in a way few have been able to. Simple yet ever so refined, the German artist furthers his sound with the Belgian label with rolling tracks that reach beyond the dancefloor yet again. 'Moments' is just that, a collection of instances spent inside the mind or outwards into the world in order to move and connect.


The A1 remains usually the first impression of every record, so it makes sense that 'Patience' would mark the beginning of this eight release for the Brussels' club. A bubbly yet impactful track, 'Patience' rolls through six minutes in no time with eccentric percussion and a viscous low-end. Unafraid to break the codes in order to push his sound forward while respecting the essence of what makes the genre great, Suckut puts years of mastery at work in order to find balance and air between his elements. This impressive low-end rhythm is continued into 'Resurrection' - which is more of an exploration of dissonance and texture than its predecessor. With hi-hats whipping around the stereo field through metallic bends and a harmonic kick/bass, the record knows for what context 'Resurrection' is reserved for. 'Myth' then comes along to lighten the load with a positive groove and an extraverted arrangement, maintaining balance to the overall EP. Complete with a subtly modulating live-played percussion that echoes the character of a vocal and layered over an almost vintage drum sequence, the persistence of 'Myth' finds a sweet spot between techno and house, making it a versatile tool in almost any record bag. The soul of the EP, however, belongs to its title track 'Moments'. Appropriately named, this fourth piece concludes Markus Suckut's latest statement for the dancefloor. A suspension of time in structure as much as in melody, the producer takes the time to unveil each element of the record while maintaining a burning intriguing throughout. A truly timeless piece reserved for only the most special moments and most deserving crowds, Suckut proves once again that his understanding of emotion through his medium will echo his music across the world for years to come.

INDEPENDENT RECORD SHOP AND LABEL KLANG TONE RECORDS RE-ISSUE DEBUT ALBUM BY 8 PIECE INSTRUMENTAL EHTIOPIAN JAZZ/AFRO-BEAT/PROG COLLECTIVE;
TEZETA

“Absolutley gorgeous from start to finish…”
- Deb Grant, BBC 6 Music

“An instant obsession. Impeccable rhythms and hypnotic melodies—Tezeta crafts a spellbinding fusion of Addis and Avon that takes you on a journey."
- Don Leisure

“Gorgeous mood music with more than a nod to Addis. Lovely tapestries and textures”
- Matt Temple, Matsuli Music


'Formed in Bristol back in2014 Tezeta were an experimental 8 piece instrumental group effortlessly combining Ethiopian jazz, Afrobeat, prog and improvisation. The band spawned out of the much loved Bloom Collective - a collective of musicians and friends from an experimental corner of the city’s buzzing music scene.

Led by composer, pianist and bandleader Daniel Inzani (Spindle Ensemble, Cosmo Sheldrake) the band also featured tenor saxophonists Andrew Neil Hayes (Run Logan Run) and Lorenzo Prati (Count Bobo, the Evil Usses, Itchigo Evil), Harriet Riley (Spindle Ensemble, Paraorchestra) on Marimba, vibraphone and percussion, Pete Gibbs (Count Bobo) on bass, Conrad Singh (Alabaster dePlume, the Evil Usses) on electric guitar and finally two(!) drummers Matthew Jones (The Brackish, Slate Trio) and Daniel Truen (Yama Warashi, The Evil Usses, Rozi Plain, Count Bobo).

They initially got together to play music from ‘The Ethiopiques Volumes’, in particular, the work of Mulatu Astatke, hence the name Tezeta (Ethiopian for nostalgia) but quickly evolved into their own style with all original material, incorporating many other influences along the way. Their much loved, debut album 'Seventh Place' was released in Sept 2016.

“We at Klang Tone have been admirers of Daniel Inzani’s work with Spindle Ensemble and I was fortunate to catch Tezeta perform before they disbanded. I bought one of the last available copies of their home released cdr at their gig at local Stroud venue The Prince Albert. It became a firm favourite - a recording I keep playing and never got tired of. It’s such a beguiling mix of styles - always evolving and resolving in different ways to what you might expect - some thrilling ensemble playing rhythmically propelled by two drummers and a percussionist with Daniel’s evocative melodies at the centre. I was convinced this was a recording that deserved a bigger audience and felt it needed to be heard on vinyl so I started a conversation with Daniel about releasing it on Klang Tone as it perfectly encapsulated the raison d'être of the shop and label. We didn’t want this recording to languish online barely listened to - I felt it was in danger of becoming a lost classic. I hope that this vinyl release is a worthy testament to this great band and helps draw attention to the creative genius of composer Daniel Inzani and the talented ensemble of players featured on the recording.” - Sean Roe, Klang Tone Records

Tezeta had a cult following among other musicians and were known for their wild group solo wig outs, virtuoso musicianship and creative use of unusual rhythm, harmony and melody. They toured across the UK at various venues and festivals including Glastonbury, Shambala and Green Man, and subsequently released an EP named ‘Curious Bubble’ in 2020.

In 2023 Tezeta performed a sold out final show at Strange Brew, Bristol as Inzani decided to pursue solo releases, notably his critically acclaimed triple vinyl album ‘Selected Worlds’ released on Hidden Notes Records which landed in the Guardian Top 10 Contemporary Albums of the Year in 20204. The third disc ‘Play’ was a clear continuation and development of the music Inzani had developed with Tezeta and featured many of the same musicians.'

The cover image is from ‘Project Rewind’, a double exposure photography collaboration between Karen Dews and Paul Blakemore.
Graphic design by Adam Hinks.

Tom Esselle, staple of the South London music scene, hits his stride on Rhythm Section release Revolutions and Evolutions. Building on the success of his previous releases (Lou’s Groove on Rhythm Section’s Shouts 2021 compilation, Praise Bes EP on Wolf Music in 2022), his latest EP further showcases the breadth of his sound. Drawing on influences from across the house music spectrum and honing skills developed in the studio with Chaos In The CBD, Revolutions & Evolutions delivers a sound that looks boldly to the future while remaining firmly grounded in the classics.

The A-side is primed for peak dance floor action: Baddies features a mid-2000s RnB vocal that did serious damage when Bradley Zero played it at Circoloco last summer, while Plaything, a big-room tech-house banger, echoes Moon Harbour's tougher catalogue, or a skunked-out Gavin Herlihy.

The B-side is a slice of sunshine with One Of These Days, an uplifting daytime house track featuring a deft keys solo from Dave Koor (Albert’s Favourites, The Expansions, Modified Man). Harmonise rounds off the EP: a smoky, dreamy groover to warm up the party or lock it in during the early hours.

Tom has been producing music since 2010, patiently refining his sound. His 2015 debut, the choppy drum workout Until She Spoke on Wholemeal Music, became a quiet underground success played by luminaries like Ruf Dug and Gilles Peterson, and remains a staple in many a record bag to this day. His productions have also found their way into the collections of DJs from Moxie to Mr Scruff and Osunlade to DJ Harvey

Majestic Fantasies, debut album from the duo Space Ghost & Teddy Bryant, is the second release on Space Ghost’s new record label, Peace World Records. Produced by Space Ghost, with Teddy Bryant’s powerful vocals at the forefront, this new album sees the two artists effortlessly blend their shared influences from the late '80s and early '90s.

Over three years in the making, in Majestic Fantasies Space Ghost & Teddy Bryant look to the past for inspiration as they explore genres, techniques, and moods. Across the record, Bryant’s vocals shine as he demonstrates a strong ability to create memorable nostalgic hooks and catchy backing harmonies. Similarly, Ghost displays his knack for dissecting vintage production tropes and breathing life into them in a modern context.

Filled with underground, soulful gems, Majestic Fantasies draws deeply from the duo's passion for R&B, UK Street Soul, New Jack Swing, House, and G-Funk. Their 10-track LP freely blend these genres, paying homage to song writers like Teddy Riley, Jam & Lewis, Carl McIntosh, an DeVante Swing. On the album you’ll find tracks like “Some Things Last Forever” which explore New Jack Swing drum patterns and vocal hooks. Additionally the record holds dancefloor-ready House tracks including “Majestic Fantasies”’ and “Unconditional” which sit side by side with heartfelt ballads such as “Cheer Me Up, ” and “Ultimate Love, ”

Although the two have never met in person, Space Ghost and Teddy Bryant still find a way to connect through their music. Throughout the album, they demonstrate a mutual understanding of the sound they like to produce together: tasteful and playful love songs that feel positive and optimistic, bringing classic songwriting styles from the past into the modern music landscape.

Majestic Fantasies lands on Peace World Records June 13th, 2025.

The Aachen Jazz Files

A collection of essential jazz from the NABEL record label (1980-1994), compiled by miche & Rainer Truby.

The Aachen Jazz Files celebrates the pioneering spirit of NABEL Records—one of Germany’s most underrated yet influential independent jazz labels. Founded in 1980 by Rainer Wiedensohler, NABEL became a home for innovative musicians blending classic acoustic jazz with fusion, Brazilian rhythms, and avant-garde flourishes.

This compilation collects some of the label’s finest moments, including the soulful and Latin-tinged brilliance of Monika Linges Quartet (whose album *Floating* was reissued last year by PANORAMA Records for RSD Black Friday), the cosmic jazz explorations of John Thomas & Lifeforce, the deep jazz-funk grooves of Hipsters In The Zone, and the stunning, expressive vocals of Maria João’s quintet.

Nestled in the far west of Germany, near the Dutch and Belgian borders, Aachen has long been a hidden gem for jazz lovers. Its vibrant scene, fueled by music schools and the legendary Malteserkeller jazz club, cultivated a unique sound that resonated far beyond its city limits. In fact, the city didn’t just birth a jazz movement—it also lays claim to opening Germany’s first discotheque in 1959.

From London to Tokyo, NABEL’s releases became secret weapons for jazz DJs seeking deep, danceable cuts. The label’s trademark blend of acoustic jazz, fusion, and Brazilian influences made its way onto turntables in underground clubs and festival stages worldwide.

Expect elegant samba jazz, spiritual grooves, and modal masterpieces that capture the essence of NABEL’s golden years. Monika Linges’ contributions shine with her rich harmonies and heartfelt compositions, while John Thomas & Lifeforce deliver a perfect storm of fiery instrumentation and deep soul. Maria João’s early recordings showcase her extraordinary vocal range, and Hipsters In The Zone bring a forward-thinking, acid jazz-infused perspective to the NABEL sound.

As co-compiler Rainer Truby puts it:

'NABEL Records always had this special ‘Aachen sound’—a jazz flavor that carried its own energy, somewhere between the cool sophistication of fusion and the warmth of Brazilian music. It’s a pleasure to finally bring together some of these classics in one essential collection.'

Compiled by miche & Rainer Truby.

PANORAMA Records is a London-based label dedicated to unearthing and reintroducing rare and essential music to new generations. With a focus on jazz, funk, and global grooves, the label has built a reputation for high-quality reissues that capture the spirit of the originals while providing fresh context for today’s listeners. Their past releases have garnered support from tastemakers like Gilles Peterson, Patrick Forge, and Mr Bongo DJs.

Mr Bongo proudly presents the third album by Melbourne/Naarm multi-instrumentalist, Don Glori, entitled ‘Paper Can’t Wrap Fire’. A kaleidoscopic genre-surfing odyssey that brings together the worlds of jazz, soul and funk. Feeling both contemporary and classic, familiar yet novel, it’s an assured third release that sees an artist in full flight, showcasing their creative prowess and the uniqueness of their musical voice.

Steering in a new direction, Don Glori (aka Gordon Li) has delved headfirst into his songwriting with ‘Paper Can’t Wrap Fire’. Deftly showcasing his talents as a writer and bandleader, he brings with him a whole host of friends from the creative crossroads that is Naarm. It’s an album enriched with more soul, R&B, and funk-oriented songs than his previous jazz-rooted productions, yet there’s still plenty of jazz material for those familiar fans of Don's earlier works.

The album’s title is an old Chinese proverb, roughly translated as 'you can’t deny the truth'. This underlying thread is woven between the songs. “A lot of them are in some way about truth-seeking, observations and the masks you put on to deal with life (hence the cover art)”, Don mentions. Take, for instance, the sensational soul single 'Brown Eyes' featuring silky lead vocals by ML Hall. A dissection of the minority experience, and the power and comfort in building those communities. Elsewhere, 'Disaster' is a satirical take on the structures serving everyone but the artists, and 'Flicker' tackles notations of truth and clarity after introspection.

To marry that meaning with the level of musicianship on these tracks is what really stands out. Don has set out his stall here as an artist who can write songs that hit home in the heart, as much as they do in the head. It’s a journey infused with a glistening jazz finesse, layered with nourishing vocal harmonies and powered by an instantly relatable human soul.

Recorded over two hot summer days in Rolling Stock Studios in Collingwood, Naarm, the lineup of musicians is built up of Don's friends and family. Featuring the backbone team of Tim Cox, Al Kennedy, Joel Trigg, Robyn Cummins and Lachlan Thompson, who were part of Don's touring band before he relocated to London, and a stunning selection of vocalists in the form of ML Hall, Ruby Dargaville, Isadora Lauritz, and Bianca Kyriacou. Also gracing the album are trumpeter extraordinaire Audrey Powne, saxophonist Joshua Moshe, and Alcides Neto who sprinkles some Brazilian magic into the record.

Taking influence from artists including Azymuth, SAULT, Jordan Rakei and Lynda Dawn, as well as from London musical beacons such as NTS and Total Refreshment Centre, Don has run with this, leaned in and come out with a record truly unique to himself and his distinctive core, with no mask necessary.

South Street Soul are on a roll with another fantastic re-issue, this time championing two singles by US Funk band Father's Children. Originating from Washington DC, the band rose to prominence in the mid-to-late 70's, releasing a debut album on Mercury Records, which Wayne Henderson of The Crusaders produced. Notice to collectors and diggers; this takes the two killer tracks from the album nicely replicating the 1979 original 45, which would set you back over £100.

On the A-side, 'Hollywood Dreaming’, is a laidback revivalist soulful groover that will undoubtedly give your hips and shoulders a shuffle. On the flip, feel the funk with ‘Shine On’. A commanding slap bassline runs throughout the track with harmonised vocals and stabbing horns. Lace them up people, it's time to cut some rug!