Search:hav

MD Records, a small independent label started in 2018, are pleased to present the debut single from “Lost in Rio” on the new MD Gold series imprint.
Their debut single which will be out in August, ‘Little Piece of Heaven’ is a festival summer feel good slice of Latin pop featuring energetic musicianship and the vocals talents of Highland based Miss T.It is also something the guys are, rightly, very proud of.
The vinyl release of this single is presented as a double A side as both sides are phenomenal, with the remix bringing a NYC disco mix, designed purely for dancefloors with thumping bass, chic style guitars and soaring strings, think Studio 54 and the heady crossover soul of Philly meeting the early disco of New York.
Early plays by several funk and soul radio stations (Totally Wired Radio and FACE radio) has attracted interest from DJs keen to feedback with so many positive vibes and offers to collaborate on future songs.
Who Are Lost In Rio:
The band herald from the Highlands of Scotland. Inverness provides the base for a collection of musicians that have made their home here, whether they originated from Manchester, Melbourne, Malaysia or indeed the Highlands! The band has taken the funk and soul sound from their former incarnation, The Leonard Jones Potential (LJP) who were BBC6 Craig Charles Funk & Soul Show favourites with whom they undertook several live interviews on the show with Craig and also a popular live session as well as a number of joint live dates at Kendal Calling Festival, Inverness and Aberdeen. The guys were also asked to undertake some prestigious live work with world renowned DJ Carl Cox, on the bill at his personal request and alongside other acts such as Brand New Heavies, Danny Rampling, Gilles Peterson and of course, Carl himself.
The songwriting team behind all this - Anthony, Andy, Neil and Ruairi quickly set up Lost in Rio upon the demise of The LJP and began collaborating with a number of singers and a rapper (MC Butterscotch). They developed their sound into a smaller, tighter, groove based soul vibe.
From 2017 the grouped honed their sound with a number of live appearances across the Highlands including festivals and supporting acts such as Smoove and Turrell. Utilising guitars, bass, drums, Hammond and percussion, the guys set about leaning on key influences - Acid Jazz Corduroy and Brand New Heavies, dynamite disco guys Chic, Northern Soul, rare soul and a whole plethora of funky hip hop acts - The Allergies, The Herbaliser and Tribe called Quest to write a lot of new tunes. Latin influence comes to the fore in much of the groups new sound, particularly highlighting the impressive skills of Aussie percussionist Andy Pearce.
Live, the band have a good reputation and have been much sought after by promoters. Audiences have loved the tight rhythmic groove that these guys produce, meaning gigs are full of dancing and long encores. Recently the guys have been concentrating on driving up the already high standard of songwriting and production. This hard working band has plenty of material they are eager to share with those ears who are partial to quality funk, soul and pop and are looking for the right partners to work with and spread the message. Future releases will seek to exploit the wordsmith alacrity of MC Butterscotch who as well as Lost in Rio, also features as part of Scottish award winning hip hop act, Spring Break.
MD Records specialise in Unreleased soul and funk on its Yellow Series, contemporary soul and funk artists on the Gold Series, re-issue soul and funk on the Black Series and Missouri Soul and Blues via its Blue Lotus UK imprint.

Italian mainstay Leon makes a long-awaited debut on Hot Creations with Disco 3000. Set for release on 9th October, the three-track EP draws inspiration from a range of influences, most notably the early American house scene.

As the title suggests, Disco 3000 kicks things off in a feel-good fashion with punchy kick drums and an echoing lyric that states “making it for sure.” Groove It makes an appearance next, as spacey synths conjoin on a no-nonsense, up- tempo bassline to form a real peak-time dance number, before T-House rounds off proceedings with a fast-paced kick-hat backbone and infectious, echoing vocals.

A regular in the electronic music scene for more than a decade, Leon is no stranger to producing dance floor ready house music, having released on the likes of Relief, Defected and Crosstown Rebels to name a few. Performances at places such as Sunwaves and Pacha have helped cement his standing as one of the true heavy-hitters, whilst his recent releases, including those on Crosstown Rebels and Moan Records, have further confirmed his reputation.

Society is shaped by its history, stories that have evolved over time and held to be true. Stories of the imagination, stories from the ill-informed, stories conjured by favored subjects, but all loosely wrapped in the truth. Systems such as morals, religion, politics, and a culture are powerful enough to influence the mind of one and the minds of many and therefore direct the evolution of the species. Unseen Forces is a conceptual work that dissects this idea. A collection of four songs cause the listener to re-examine not only what they believed to be real and true but also why. Side A dives head first into testing your belief system by introducing the first stage of influence - Disruption and Experimentation. Introducing a simple question into the belief system that cannot be answered and observing the result. The Disruptor - subtle but powerful making its point with eerie, off center synth lines, and synthesized drums. Driving a wedge between the listener and the comfort of familiarity. Dr. Blowfin's Experiment - a long time and highly revered classic previously released on SID, continues to re-evaluate beliefs with modifications to the original. The question of why is still unanswered. Beliefs are broken and chaos ensues. Side B begins to take direct the chaos with another classic - Crossphaze - injecting live funk and modulated filters with this flexible floor mover previously released on Accelerate. Crossing into another realm unfamiliar to the listener as new beliefs are formed. Deconstructing the Immortals - leaves the listener with no other choice but to eagerly leave their old world behind and everything they know in ruins. This offbeat and mesmerizing anthem makes the question of why unimportant, because the answer is what now.

East London-born music legend and all round boundary-breaking innovator, Dizzee Rascal, today announces the release of his 7th studio album, entitled ‘E3 AF’ and new single ‘L.L.L.L (Love Life Live Large)’, out via Island Records.

This new release marks the genesis of a new era for Dizzee and is the first album wholly written, recorded and produced in the UK in over a decade. ‘E3 AF’ is a 10-track layered, purposeful statement of intent, rooted in Dizzee’s inedible ties to both east London and Black British music’s legacy. He sound is sharper, stronger and more self-assured than ever, and it is obvious that he has poured the creative energy of the past few years into ‘E3 AF’ as a body of work. First single, L.L.L.L (Love Life Live Large), features Tottenham born MC Chip and kicks open the door with the force of a steel toe capped boot. Chip, adds another thwack of bravado to the rumbling, Dizzee-produced beat. ‘E3 AF’ confirms Dizzee’s status as an artist still very much in his prime, sonically it draws on the infectious pace of grime and resolutely forward-thinking UK rap. From one song to the next, you are taken on a journey through Black British musical excellence. Ice-cold UK drill drips on Smoke Boys-featuring ‘Act Like You Know’ (produced by MK the Plug) and Eastside pulses with pure grime courtesy of Chubby Dreadz and Platinum 45. Self-produced opener ‘God Knows’ (featuring P Money) and high-octane ‘You Don’t Know’ pull from dubstep, grime and drum ‘n’ bass while threatening to wreak havoc with your speakers. By the time Alicai Harley’s warm up vocals float over sunny syths on the deeply personal ‘Energies + Powers’ (produced by Steel Banglez), the album practically radiates heat. Dizzee Rascal is a unique artist that has inspired many for multiple generations. From his 2003 debut album release, the Mercury Prize-winning ‘Boy In The Corner’ to date, Dizzee has continued to push expectations and boundaries. He is British musical royalty. Every album that followed stacked up another marker of success. Between 2004 and 2017 all album releases blasted firmly into the Top 10 Official album chart, won awards, critical acclaim and amassed Dizzee a huge following of devoted fans. ‘E3 AF’ is set to confirm Dizzee Rascal’s status as the master at the top of his game.

DOWNFALL is the first album under the name SAITO created by Lena Saito, aka Galcid, and produced by accomplished analog synthesizer guru, Hisashi Saito, aka Lena’s husband. Having descended from a long line of Japanese sword-smiths, the industrial sound of smashing steel is embedded in Lena’s DNA and reflected in her music, however there are also refined, hypnotic tones showing a side with more finesse. The music itself is not scored and is predominantly improvised. Words and vocals are ad libbed as well. Sometimes the machines respond as if through telekinesis, altogether emitting a sound which can be categorized somewhere in the range between modern experimental dance music and something possibly making more sense to enlightened minds a thousand years in the future.




There is a new addition to the forge of talents of Mille Plateaux, a Japanese musician by the name of Saito whose album has been released on the label under the title of Downfall. After a whole series of releases under the signature tag clicks & cuts, there comes out a work, much more suited for a dance hall, that is different in terms of the genre from everything that has been published so far.
Like a bucket of ice-cold water poured over the head, erratic agressive hardcore rhythms pour all over the audience in the first track, interrupted only by grinding noises and minimalistic technogenic clicks.
Downfall won't fail to infect even the most experienced music connaisseur with its out-of-control energy, while offering a wide range of techniques: at times, robotic voices, one second long fragments of looped melodies and many other audio gimmicks.
Lena Saito (that is the author's name) is not afraid of conducting experiments in her chemical laboratory, freely mixing sound reagents without taking any precautions. It feels like, this new chemical substance, that she has been working on so thoroughly, contains quite a long list of ingredients, although its main component is the various rhythm breaks.
The synthesizer part of Red Hammer sounds in the best traditions of the acid style, and the rhythm section is akin to African tribal dances of the future. Downfall is absolutely unrelenting in its concept.
The melody of the composition Nucleosome is a little bit like the melancholic IDM of the 00s, finding itself secondary to the dominating, yet again convoluted rhythmical web meticulously woven by Saito.
This album can be definitely named as a big contender aspiring to start a new golden era of Mille Plateaux, and Saito as the hidden treasure of the label that can challenge even the veterans for the right to be the headliner.

Nasser Baker’s talent precedes him. A handpicked protégé of Dennis Ferrer, the blossoming talent is now carving his own niche in the house space. His ascension continues today with the release of ‘Tribes Of The Metronome,’ marking his DIRTYBIRD debut.

“Tribes Of The Metronome” uses sputtering bass and distorted vocals to make its impact, maintaining a consistent, yet driving pace that keeps energy levels high from start to finish. “About You” sees Baker laying on the heavy grooves, with a reverberated bassline, off-kilter synths, and crisp hi hats joining together with its vocal elements for a tech house piece with a classic flair. Both have been sought-after set weapons for Claude VonStroke, making their release particularly exciting for the DIRTYBIRD flock.

Beyond his work with Dennis Ferrer, Nasser Baker’s keen ear for house has been recognized by plenty of industry greats. His ‘Say Something’ EP on Circus was an instant hit, receiving remixes from the likes of Paul Woolford and Rebūke. Nasser’s work has also appeared numerous times on Objektivity, and recently, he was tapped by Green Velvet for an EP on Relief. It’s clear this young producer is here to stay!

With current album ‘Automatic’, Mildlife have made a step-change from their debut. It’s more disciplined, directional and more danceable. As on ‘Phase’, they are unafraid to let a track luxuriate in length without ever succumbing to self-indulgence. The arrangements, tightly structured thanks to Tom Shanahan (bass) and Jim Rindfleish’s fatback drumming, permit space for the others to add spice to the stew, topped off with Kevin McDowell’s ethereal vocals as Mildlife effortlessly glide between live performance and studio
songwriting.

The two remixers tackling ‘Automatic’ track ‘Vapour’ here need little introduction. JD Twitch, one half of Glasgow’s Optimo Espacio and discerning curator of all things Caledonian and beyond, takes the reins for remix two, adding some clattering post-punk energy to the rhythm, turning ‘Vapour’ into something approaching a take-no-prisoners anthem.

Cosmodelica is the remix handle for Colleen Murphy (aka DJ Cosmo), the hostess of the hugely popular Classic Album Sundays series. She is fresh off the back of a superb Róisín Murphy reworking and her offering here is simultaneously faithful to the original while lending it some serious dancefloor power.

London duo Andy Clutterbuck and James Hatcher – better known as HONNE – have cultivated a huge and fiercely dedicated global fan base since the release of their critically-acclaimed debut LP, ‘Warm on a Cold Night’, in 2016. Boasting over 150 sold-out shows outside of the UK, collaborations with everyone from Tom Misch to BTS and over 1.4 billion global streams, their music is deeply emotive; from the glistening, sugar-coated highs of international hit ‘Day 1’, to the heartache and angst played out on ‘Sometimes’ – both standout cuts from 2018’s sophomore record, ‘Love Me / Love Me Not’. Laying themselves bare in their songs, HONNE are hyper-connected with fans both in the UK and all over the world – in 2018 alone, they played a sold-out Brixton Academy for the first time, embarked on an extensive, 26-date US headline tour and saw ‘Warm on a Cold Night’ officially certified as 6x Platinum in South Korea.

t’s Indian Summer again and it’s like an unwritten rule to please you with another Atelier release at this beautiful time of the year.
So here we are with a collection of superb re-interpretations of a few tracks taken from the duos debut album “Varsam Court”. Delivering the goods we have no one less than Dutch high flyer’s Tunnelvisions, Lisboa’s LuxFrágil resident Switchdance, Heidelberg’s Lopazz & Casio Casino, Lossless co-head Mathias Schober and Alexander Inggs – one half of Atelier.
No doubt that we’re proud about this line-up and couldn’t be happier with the music we’re going to share with you now – enjoy!
Atelier quoting on the remixes:
“After writing the album Varsam Court, it was truly exciting to hear the songs in a different context. Originally, the album was not written for the clubs, but the remixes on the EP transcend that line, bringing the original ideas to a wider audience and into a new space. These reinterpretations by the artists are a great testament to how
everyone really does hear and feel music differently.”

White Vinyl Pressing!
Diffrent Music, So Far.. Speaks for itself really, this brand new vinyl series brings together a handful of carefully selected tracks that until now have been available only as digital downloads. This is the first offering, and a whole lot of love has gone into making this product a real milestone for the label.
The A side, titled "Foundations" brings together two of the original Diffrent Music artists, with their debut single's title tracks; Jekyll - "Drainpipe" slimy and clogged up with bass as you can imagine, now remastered and cut into the analogue realm, along with Arkaik's 2010 "Stress Relief" which has always been way ahead of its time. The flip-side, "Movements", carries two slightly newer productions, Dexta & Hyroglifics "Boxgroove" which caused a lot of damage earlier in 2014 now sounding double thick cut deep into the vinyl grooves, the last and by no means least track is Fearful's 2013 "Tongues" - Not only was this one of the most popular track's that'd ever seen the day of light, but it's also one of the most experimental yet dance-floor jams we have to offer. Everyone involved is truly proud of this record and we all hope you enjoy it as much as we have over the past 4 years or so!

Running the anything goes travelling warehouse rave "Fusion mes Couilles"
Emma DJ and Ishaq have created a unique situation with their party series in Paris. The two have been able to do what not many have, which is create a party environment strictly on their own terms, with no outside influence, no pandering to agents or the trends of the day and no outside money rearing its head trying to influence. This endeavor is no small feat considering the oversaturated and bland nitelife climate over the last years in the city. The result of their hard work, has been a large scale dedicated fanbase that trust them, hands down.

Over these years both Emma DJ and Ishaq had been working independently on their own productions as well, with Emma DJ recently releasing a slew of tapes in a hyperactive, machine gun manner, while Ishaq makes his first appearance on wax here.
On the "Fusion" split lp we get four tracks from Emma DJ on the a-side and four tracks from Ishaq on the b-side...both artists bring their unique takes on modern dance music on each side of the record from gnarled acid, to tweaked IDM, to broken techno, or ADD chopped guitar loop beats, this is a truly unique release documenting the sound of the top crew in the Paris underground.
Artwork licensed from NYC street photographer Richard Sandler

Recorded live during their headline North American tour in the summer of 2019, A Royal Affair Tour was a must-see best-of-British-rock show and featured support by Asia with the return of founding member Steve Howe in a special performance, John Lodge of The Moody Blues, and Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy with guest vocals by Arthur Brown. The Yes performing line up was Steve Howe (guitar – joined 1970), Alan White (drums since 1972), Geoff Downes (keyboards; first joined in 1980), Jon Davison (vocals since 2011) and Billy Sherwood (guitar/keyboards in the 1990s and the late Chris Squire’s choice to take over bass/vocals in 2015), with Jay Schellen on additional drums. Yes performed songs from their storied career, one of rock music’s most prized bodies of work, and their set was in honor of the memory of YES members Chris Squire and Peter Banks.
Continuing the British theme, the set featured Alan White of YES’ tribute to John Lennon; White was the drummer on Lennon’s solo material including the recording of “Imagine.” Of the tour, Steve Howe said “Yes is delighted to headline this celebration of British music which has been so warmly received in America over the past five decades.” Alan White: “I’m looking forward to joining a number of classic British talents that have delighted so many fans over the past half century.” Geoff Downes: “This is a unique celebration of the British contribution to classic rock over many decades. It will be inspirational to be a part of. And I know it is what John Wetton would have wanted.”
A Royal Affair Tour – Live was recorded live at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, Friday 26 July 2019.

The packaging features brand new artwork by legendary artist and longtime Yes collaborator, Roger Dean.

LTD release

Collabs and acid labs !

Progressives bangers on the A-side... digging more mental on the flip...

What exactly happened in the Italian underground / post punk scene 30 years ago, is not entirely clear. Therefore, this collection of 13 incredible tunes helps track down the feeling and focuses on the blurry images of a period that was mixing influences from the UK/USA scenes with a more national' approach to new music developments. The damage began in 1977 when a series of urban / suburban musical agitators, whether skilled or complete amateurs, decided to embrace instruments as weapons for a war against sonic stereotypes. Here's the result: a multiform sonic attack that marks the history of a movement that may have remained local in most cases but whose echo reflected the amazing creativity of a generation.

Selva Discos keeps broadening horizons. Its next release celebrates the start of a new series called Novaterra, this time focused on showcasing the music of contemporary Brazilian artists. First up is Zopelar, known not only for his work with the anarchic-techno-punk act Teto Preto but also for the project My Girlfriend and his solo LP, both on Apron Records.

Novaterra vol. 1 by Zopelar is a mini-LP featuring 6 tracks that range from the introversion to the extraversion. In one hand you have an A-side banger like "Be Together", with its addictive looped-sample, and in the other, you get the laidback interlude of "Modo Avião", which sounds like one of those MF Doom's instrumentals – and between both, you will find a whole spectrum of music where you can experience the duel between super crispy beats (a signature in Zopelar's work) and the richness of melodies and harmonies that he's able to knit stitch close to perfection.

The opener "Livre" has a great deep house vibe that makes you think of Prescription Records and Jazzanova, featuring a catchy bossa ad-lib. "NOX" is a Hammond-led tune with a groove bassline and lead that gets you going in no time as if Cesar Camargo Mariano and Larry Young toured together in the late 70's, like, a big, fat jazz-funk tune. "Dias Tensos" is a nervous drum workout led by an automat Tony Williams as if jamming in a 16-bit version of The Tony Williams Lifetime. And to wrap things up, "Boogie da Paz" is one of those perfect comedown tunes – a true tearjerker that works its melody line like a good pill works your serotonin, making it one of those tracks that you keep under your sleeve for those special 6 AM moments on a dancefloor.

The artwork is courtesy of Colletivo Design Studio in Sao Paulo.

In 1990 Neil Hannon started recording and releasing under the name
The Divine Comedy. Thirty years and twelve great albums later,
Hannon is rightly adjudged one of the finest singer songwriters of his
generation. To celebrate, Divine Comedy Records are remastering
and reissuing nine of the band's classic albums.
The nine reissued albums have been remastered from the original
tapes at the legendary Abbey Road Studios by mastering engineer
Frank Arkwright (Blur, The Smiths). Overseeing the audio throughout
the campaign is engineer / mixer / producer Guy Massey, whose
work on the Beatles Stereo Remasters won him a Grammy Award.
‘Casanova’ was the band’s third album and the first to bring real
success. First released in 1996 it explored and dissected a world of
casual affairs, loose morals and a thousand anxieties in between.
From the NME: “‘Casanova’ fairly teems with sex, with suppressed
desires... with ample evidence of what dicks men can be.” Mojo
described it as a “glorious... sumptuous paean to life, love and
longing.” Select said “Only a barren heart could resist it... Sensible
people simply swooned.” Singles ‘Something For The Weekend’,
‘Becoming More Like Alfie’ and ‘The Frog Princess’ became chart hits
and airplay staples while an alternate version of ‘Songs Of Love’
became the theme music for legendary Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted

The horn of plenty arrives at your door, full of freshly harvested produce. It contains fruits of artists you already know and from others waiting to be introduced to you. Don’t be afraid though – they are only your new neighbours. Clear Memory Farms recommends this five track Various Artist EP: EDM-free, sustain-able, enriched with biodynamic electro spells and mystic funk chants. Have a try at this asymmetric game but don’t be surprised to turn into a hairy rebel. Is it worth it? Will you experience all die goede dingen? Seems like we can’t find any good answer for that – find out for yourself.

Mastering by Rude 66
Artwork by Dr. Rekorder

-Dedicated to Theo-

GRITTY, ODD & GOOD is a new weird, pseudo-music compilation curated by avant-garde experimental composer and audio artist Francisco López.

As far as creation itself is concerned, big cities do not manifest anymore as the catalytic cultural centers they used to be. Their iconic status as hip locations seems more symbolic than real. The combined mighty forces of neocapitalist gentrification and telecommunication / information decentralization might have generated a substantially different landscape of geographical cultural distribution. And so unlikely places are also sources of physically-isolated, but culturally-interconnected, new creation. This is just but one more example of the larger phenomenon of techno-cultural atomisation (not to be confused with the more restricted so-called “democratisation”) that allows millions of people to create and share, pre- and post-internet. The amateur is the new potential master; and that is decided by the crowd in the circus and the stadium, not at the academy. With all of this comes the potential for new aesthetics, or at least the open-ended evolution of the previous ones, –far better than the current confusion between ethics and aesthetics- from the uninformed and the unknown. Atomization of this kind also brings for some the desire and the right to anonymity. And so it is for the unknown obscure artists of this compilation of weird experimental music –“gritty, odd & good”, with drones, glitches, cut-ups and more- who won’t reveal anything beyond their unlikely locations: San Marino, French Guiana, Philippines, Lesotho, Oman, Faroe Islands, Tuvalu, Liechtenstein, Kyrgyzstan. An innovative compilation presenting a world of unusual experimental de-constructed and recombined music casting a strong and exciting light into the unusual corners of our world. Dive in.

Compiled and Mastered by Francisco López
Vinyl mastered by Rashad Becker

a 1 Ragazza Raddrizza (Live Excerpt) - Giuseppe Moretti San Marino 3:00
b 2 SCVB - Daryana Jean French Guiana 4:39
[c] 3 One One Six Bee - James Ocampo [Philippines] 5:37
[d] 4 Coogan Radio - Thabiso Makhetha [Lesotho] 3:18
[e] 5 micro-Sister (Al'ukht Alsaghira) - Rashid Al Balushi [Oman] 3:59
[f] 6 Mond - Lív Jacobsen [Faroe Islands] 3:10
[g] 7 Sansobavo Mix - Eteroa Apinelu [Tuvalu] 8:38
[h] 8 Sans Titre (Fumée v.3) - Zzodiakk [Liechtenstein] 6:38
[Kyrgyzstan] 1:17

We met Franck Vigroux for the first time years ago at Berlin's Berghain during a soundcheck. At that time he performed with Mika Vainio, with whom Vigroux often worked together.

The first track on »Ballades sur lac gelé« dates back to that time. It was created under the impression of this collaboration and friendship with Mika Vainio. This album is dedicated to him.

Vainio's oeuvre is also significant in connection with the history of raster, so it was only logical and our wish to release this album by Franck Vigroux.

With the beginning of the corona pandemic, Franck Vigroux took up this early material again, he continued to formulate it and completed the present album »Ballades sur lac gelé«. The title already defines the theme of the ballad, a "song/poem with very minimal structures" (quote Vigroux).

"Ballade" is also a play on words with the French word "balade", in this sense a ramble, a ramble over a frozen lake. The reduced, cool structures reflect this. But at the same time, under the surface, the (often distorted) sound carpets steadily increase to immense power. Like ice that grows and tectonic forces that have to erupt, glacier-like.

Vigroux is very skilled at creating music in this minimalist setting. The intertwining of very few musical elements creates a kind of soundtrack that is multi-layered and at the same time universally intelligible.

»Ballades sur lac gelé« will be released on June 26th, 2020 as a digital pre-release exclusively on our sites. The physical formats, i.e. CD and vinyl, can be pre-ordered. The official worldwide release date will be announced at a later point in time.

Electronica duo Echaskech have been part of the Balkan Vinyl family since the very first releases back in 2010, but this is their debut solo outing. A mini-album of deep space electronica and cosmic ambience. A soundtrack across our solar system and interstellar travel onwards for 27 million light years.

Available on a limited edition of 30 hand-numbered cassettes.


A1: Dawn Over The Red Planet
A2: Kuiper Belt Life Support
A3: Andromeda
A4: Oort Cloud
A5: Machine Code
B1: Into Eta Carinae
B2: Disorder
B3: Pluto At Night
B4: Onset Of Panic
B5: Escape From Tau Ceti
B6: Messier 63

It's been four years since Sweatbox Dynasty, the fourth solo LP from Pennsylvanian experimentalist TOBACCO. In that time, Tom Fec's project has toured with Nine Inch Nails, provided the theme song to HBO series Silicon Valley, and teamed with Aesop Rock for a collaborative album as Malibu Ken. He now returns to Ghostly International for Hot Wet & Sassy, a full-length album oozing with his most playful and approachable songs to date, which, conversely, express notions of antilove, self-hate, and disappointment in others. Pop impulses have always surged beneath the surface of his sound - blown-out bass, analog synths, drum machines, and Fec's unmistakable analog gurgle and hiss - here they've bubbled to the top. "I feel like it's the most I've been able to refine what I'm doing," says Fec. "For the past decade I've had this motherfxcker on my shoulder that makes me pick away at structure and melody. Purposely covering up moments because I can. That really came to a peak on Sweatbox. So I wanted the opposite this time. Write the songs without ripping them in half. I went from 'what would the Butthole Surfers do?' to 'what would Cyndi Lauper do?'" And what would Trent Reznor do? Fec found his answer straight from the source. Their collaborative track, "Babysitter," fuses their voices into one deranged presence: "I'm the new babysitter," they alert, before pivoting into a menacingly saccharine bridge. The track tumbles on a tom fill, then a punishing synth line rips into a cacophony of drums and feedback like a lawnmower gnawing through the living room carpet. "This was new for me, but I wanted to write a song that was everything I am and have been, and then like one notch further. Trent was the notch further," adds Fec. The collaboration is a work of alchemy seamlessly blending TOBACCO's trademarks with Reznor's industrial rust and sonic gore. Downcast, sincere, woozy, "Jinmenken" might be the closest Fec has come to a ballad. "Maybe you can find me down the line," his vocoded delivery bounces along the beat. "It's me trying to write a Jets song," says Fec. Album opener "Centaur Skin" presents the stylistic concoction that has been the TOBACCO MO from the beginning, crossing dreamy melodic shimmer with the sinister tones and slime. This has become easier to digest, but also far more potent. A motorik beat steadies the track's galloping arpeggio, acting as a springboard for Fec's dark ruminations as well as an uncharacteristically crystalline synth solo. "It's my feel good self hate anthem. Don't worry, I'm good. It was fun to write." TOBACCO hasn't been reinvented, but it has been refined and distilled. Brighter, sharper, and far more dangerous because of it. Hot Wet & Sassy is practically staring at the sun without shades and feeling those corneas roast. Everything looks good as your vision fades. The pop-forward structures exert their undeniable hooks with baneful precision, pulling listeners into their clutches; once there, sugary melody rewards submission.

Marian Himburg, the artist known as Causa, believes that less is more, both in his productions and his release schedule. With a lean and heavy catalogue built from releases on labels like Crucial Recordings, Infernal Sounds, and Artikal Music UK, Causa is as focused on producing quality dubplate ammo as he is with proper releases. His second chapter for ZamZam is exactly what you’d hope: heavy 140 wares for dark dances- soon may they return!!

"Hiss" is nothing if not cinematic: a queasy melody circling in a dying orbit until it crashes into its first monstrous drop. Led by a squelching, lumbering single-note bassline that crushes like an unstoppable beast freed from its chains, no-nonsense kick-snare power and a steadily rising hum increase our fight-or-flight response until the very end.

Causa says the tune was created after “re-listening to my very first couple of beats and getting inspired by how little I cared about certain placements and how I worked drums at that time… I didn’t follow any rules - because I didn’t know any back then."

“Palms” is the perfect companion, another 140 stormer with drums seemingly built from white noise and distortion, funked-up by syncopated brush hats & an utterly swarming bassline. Add paranoid textures and a bizarre monosyllabic vocal pitched this way and that, and you have another dystopian side to fall in love with in the bunker or the ball.

MEET THE CHOIR THAT HOUSE BUILT

The late great Frankie Knuckles once called house music: “church for people that have fallen from grace.” Anyone who has been caught up in the rapture of a true house classic can testify to its power to unify and uplift.

HGC is an electrifying House meets Gospel experience that never fails to get audiences clapping, dancing and singing along. HGC shows bring together a group of outstanding singers, a full house band and DJ, creating an effortless live fusion of the biggest house and gospel tunes that never fail to raise the roof!

House Gospel Choir’s magic is their ear for production, thanks to the songwriters, producers, vocal arrangers and selectors who make up the collective. The choir have been bubbling away in studios across London, working with a roll call of iconic dance music producers, from global house icons Todd Terry, DJ Spen, Grammy Award winner Alex Metric, to Toddla T and UK gospel icon Nicky Brown. Their monthly public Mass Choir open rehearsal, at Rich Mix in East London, has featured guest appearances from house and techno icon The Black Madonna, and electro pop singer Georgia.

The current House Gospel Choir has grown to over 150 members of all religions and backgrounds. They take us to church, literally and metaphorically and remind us, whatever spiritual inclination we may have, of the sonic swells in our ribcage that truly great harmonies can inspire.

We Are One has become the choirs mantra, Founder & Creative Director Natalie Maddix explains “We can’t all speak at the same time and have our voices heard, but we can sing together as one voice and be understood”.

“The choir have a really unique energy. Beyond the uplifting vibes of Gospel Music…they’re like family” Annie Mac

“I’m so crazy about them” – THE BLACK MADONNA

From 1963 to 2014: "Peace Chant - raw deep and spiritual jazz" exhibits 51 years of music. A well matched anthology with sounds to dive into, hard rhythms to dance to and vocals to meditate on.

The Tramp Records crew has compiled 8 tracks in nice order and dramaturgy. Some tunes you might have never heard before unless you own one of the rare original vintage vinyl records. Peace Chant is released on two separate LPs with own catalogue numbers and on one CD. Some songs I can't get out of my mind.

These days Mabon Dawud Quintet from Ethiopia is on the trail of Mulatu Astatke. Tramp Records provides the first release of "Abeba" - a funky and stoic track in Amharic mother tongue sung by a high male lamenting voice.

Even more haunting is "Ain't Gonna Wait Too Long" by Thomas Meloncon. The self-taught guitar player recorded this protest song at the age of 20. Voice, guitar, congas and double bass are plenty enough for a heavily pushing song complaining that black man's slavery isn't gone after 400 years. Artist, poet and civil right activist Meloncon (alias Muntu Mwaminifu) wrote and directed theatre and radio plays. His works are collected at Texas Southern University in Houston. "Ain't gonna wait too long" probably is his earliest artistic outing, he just had left school in 1968.

The compilation concludes with a song by Now, a band no one outside Munich might know. "Easy Tune for Dancing" can be found on a record of cultural and concert location Feierwerk form 1990. It really was a surprise to hear the quintet of trumpeter Konstantin Kern and Klaus Pfister on sax playing Afro-Cuban jazz that easily and nonchalant. If Dizzy Gillespie turned up with his bent trumpet and Lalo Schifrin sat in like he did on "Gillespiana Suite" I wouldn't be astonished!

Award-winning International DJ and Producers The Prototypes release their third album ‘Ten Thousand Feet & Rising’. The Brighton based Drum & Bass duo were previously signed to tastemaker label ‘Viper Recordings,’ home to Matrix and Futurebound.

The Prototypes’ potent, hard-hitting production and broadsword body of work on seminal labels such as UKF, Viper Recordings, Shogun Audio, Ram Records, Technique Recordings and Formation. Anthems that have been supported across the entire D’N’B scene such as ‘Pale Blue Dot’, ‘Pop It Off’ and ‘Kill The Silence’.

Their expansive and versatile remixes of acts ranging from Ed Sheeran to Avicii to Friction by way of their sought-after bootlegs of Fisher and Knife Party and unreleased dubplate remixes of Bad Company and Pendulum. Not to mention their extraordinary debut album ‘City Of Gold’ that exploded in 2015, took them around the world several times over and elevated them to headline status.

‘Shadows’ is the first single from the new album, which they explain as ”a throwback to the Hardcore scene from the late 90s, with a piano line influenced by pivotal names through the history of the UK’s rave scene such as Vibes & Wishdokta, DJ Dougal, Slipmatt, and Nookie, to which we added a straight up banger of a bassline”.

Featuring Ulta Music’s singer Lily McKenzie, known for her collaborations with industry heavyweights including Giggs, Conducta and Wiley, as well as featuring on Crazy Cousinz’s 2017 smash hit, ‘No Way’, alongside Yxng Bane and Mr Eazi signed to Ultra Music.

Previously supported by the likes of Zane Lowe, Annie Mac, Andy C, Roni Size, Friction, J Majik & Wickaman, Pendulum, DJ Fresh plus many more.

Svart Records is proud to present the original soundtrack to the supernatural thriller series Requiem! Debuted by BBC One in the UK and NETFLIX globally, psychological horror series Requiem became an instant hit, not least because of it’s haunting, spine-tingling score. Conjured by award-winning composers Dominik Scherrer (The Missing, Ripper Street & Marple), and Natasha Khan of Bat For Lashes, Requiem is an eerie landscape of sharp, scraping cello, soothing harps and tense string sections. From the urban uncanny to folk horror, there is a distinct atmosphere in the fresh collaborative dynamic between the British-Swiss decorated grandmaster of unique television series soundtracks Scherrer, and the rising enigma of alt-pop, twice Mercury Music Prize-nominated singer/songwriter Khan. Of their alchemical and otherworldly creative chemistry, composer Dominik Scherrer recalls: “Natasha Khan and I spent some weeks in my studio in Brick Lane, coming up with themes and recording outlandish vocals and terrifying sounds. There is a cheeky element to the show, as well as a genuinely scary one. Together with a pastoral spookiness of the cello and strings themes started to give Requiem its own unique atmosphere. We experimented with deviant playing techniques and unconventional recording approaches, to complete a moody air of retro horror and pastoral spook.” Available for the first time on CD and LP, this highly celebrated “spooksome” score harkens back to the 1970s lo-fi soundtracks from BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop or 1970s horror soundtracks. Winning an Ivor Novello award for the “Best TV Soundtrack” in 2019, Requiem is a one of a kind treasure, now rightfully preserved and beautifully presented on lush vinyl and CD format by Svart Records. “Requiem promises much, not least in way of sound. Nominally just another spooksome BBC tingler – old castle in Wales, birds flying into windows, locked room, pagan symbols, creepy locals – it is rendered a whole cut above by not having the heroine’s every move into peril foreshadowed by dissonant eek-eek string” (The Guardian)

John Winston Ono Lennon would have been 80 on October 9th 2020. In celebration of his life and the incredible pleasure his music has brought to millions in his lifetime, a new Best Of will be released. A multi-format collection, entitled GIMME SOME TRUTH., this set has been personally curated by the Lennon estate and mixes the biggest hits like the classic and timeless “Imagine” with campaigning songs such as “Give Peace A Chance” and the evergreen classics like “Happy Christmas (War Is Over)” and is culled from all of his solo albums including the posthumous “Milk And Honey”.

John Lennon is simply one of the most recognised and respected musicians of the modern era. As one half of perhaps the most successful songwriting partnerships of all time he deserves his place in history. That this partnership was with Paul McCartney in The Beatles means that he is also one of the most successful recording artists in history. With every succeeding generation falling for their genius, their legend continues to grow and they dominate the pop landscape.

Their split in 1970 allowed each of the band members, by now literally some of the most famous people on the planet, to find their own voice as solo artists and to grow beyond the confines of the band. For John Lennon, this meant throwing himself headlong into life with his new wife, Yoko Ono and eventually a new life in New York City.

Being a solo artist meant that he could delve deep within himself and realise music that was both deeply personal and challenging and which sometimes required a commitment from the audience too. His songs during his solo career mixed accessible pop melodies with sometimes stark and heart-rending simplicity and all points inbetween. His lyrics ranged from deep introspection and self-analysis to subjects that were more concerned with politics (of self, of relationships, of the campaign for peace, of the place of mankind as well as global politics). After a first rush of creativity, he took a step back from the limelight to care for his son, Sean, at home in New York, but when he was ready he returned to recording with one of his most successful and impactful albums. Double Fantasy, preceded by the single (Just Like) Starting Over had been released the month before his life was tragically cut short on 8th December 1980. But this album joins the rest of his solo canon as testament to one of the truly great and truly iconoclastic musicians and personalities of the era.

From the fertile electronic, post-folk depths of Colombian music, the tasty "Colombian Singles series" has emerged to cast light on a blooming, rapidly expanding scene. The series is envisioned as a showcase for the country’s growing number of producers who, drawing upon their Indigenous, African and European roots and cultures, are creating new approaches to electronic dance music. Hailing from the countryside near Bogotá, where the huge city reaches down into its more tropical surroundings, Los Bulldozer is the perfect combo to inaugurate this new musical adventure. Led by the unearthly guitarist Fabian Morales and his mind-bending experiments, Los Bulldozer have their own particular way of bringing international influences like Soukous, West-African blues and post-punk to the already exquisite musical diversity of key Colombian styles such as Currulao, Champeta, and Reggaeton. Partly produced by the German godfather of global beats Daniel Haaksman, highlights on this first volume include the heavy indie dance cut ‘Pepa’, emotive Pacific blues guitars and eerie haze of ‘Currulaomali’, and the industrial reggaeton ‘Commin Down’. And there’s (a lot) more... Not your usual sun-kissed summer vibe, but a deeper, moody interpretation of the dualities felt under equatorial latitudes.

Between Christmas 2000 and New Year 2001 producers Ekkehard Ehlers and Stephan Mathieu recorded an album of warm, soft, delicately crackling electronic music in the space of that week. It was christened with the ambivalent title "Heroin" and was released on CD via the label Brombron in 2001 and later in 2003 re-issued on Kit Clayton's Orthlorng Musork on double-LP with remixes the pair had commissioned as expansions.

17 years later Heroin sees its first vinyl release to include all 13 tracks from the original CD track-list on this LP + 12“ set. The centerpiece "Herz" finally receives its long deserved vinyl treatment (side C, at 45rpm) and on the flip side Thomas Brinkmann contributes a mirror in a magnificent remix of that very piece on side D.

Ehlers and Mathieu were both highly prolific solo artists during the period 2000-2004, and in just two years after the initial release of "Heroin" each had produced over half a dozen new solo recordings: among them the serial masterpiece Ehlers' "Plays" (Cornelius Cardew, Hurbert Fichte, John Cassavetes, Albert Ayler, Robert Johnson) released as 5 stunning LPs in a series on Staubgold, while Mathieu's 'Full Swing Edits' spread over five 10" records plus his album 'FrequencyLib' on Mille Plateaux, 'Die Entdeckung des Wetters' on Lucky Kitchen and ‘The Sad Mac’ on Atsushi Sasaki’s Headz label were greeted to critical acclaim.

Both artists were expanding their conceptual sonic approaches in the glow of developing laptop technologies which would to these times in 2020 seem quite primitive, but these two in that period used the state-of-the-art to aid and abet their conceptual visions, while at times the duo used unorthodox experimentation - yet always had a distinctively melodic and musical form at its heart and soul.

Ehlers can be seen as a conceptualist, as a meta-musician who interrogates the mediums and methods of sound production - reflecting on the conditions and possibilities of improvisation (e.g. "Plays Albert Ayler") and exploits ideas of mutation and distortion of popular aesthetics played out within a ghostly form of divine pop beauty in his project März.

Mathieu, originally a drummer and co-founder of what has come to be known as the Berlin 'Echtzeitmusik' scene. His approach could be similarly described as working a critical analyst and researcher: Subtly and precisely working in the realm of processing as a method of intervening in melodious/harmonic analog sound sources.

Ehlers and Mathieu may not think too much about their singular productions and publications outcomes, but instead concentrate on the process and musical personality that characterizes their gesture- style itself stays in the background - and they usher a music from small minimal sound sources coaching a patient music of slow intervention - much like a refraction of light than a concrete painting or a blurred photograph - beatus accident.

And indeed, "Heroin" is an album that embraces the happy accident being made up of reduced, often very catchy and very direct micro hooks which seem laser-guided into a space accepting obvious melodic beauty in what feels like an observation of musics unfolding and revealing it's DNA, embed with for a kind of yearning for innocence and naiveté - as if Satie were on the jukebox in "The Crying of Lot 49". Not to say the music is "reduced", but rather: 'restricted' and born from acceptance of limitations, and the artists allowing the sounds to just "be.." with some incremental degrees of coercion.

The album not only sounds like that of 2 producers who are both dreamers and scientists, but that Ehlers and Mathieu chose to work with these means in a dialogue together to reduce pop music to its musical/tonal core, it is not Pop music anymore, rather a ghostly pointilistic itteration of song. "Heroin" is located at this transition, around that point at which tracks, that were or could have become pop compositions, irrevocably slip into a static harmonic nirvana. We are invited to follow the arch of Heroin in a slow-motion morphine musical haze.

Heroin sounded timeless when originally released and proof is that it remains so, one wishes that Ehlers and Mathieu would convene again for a week, a month or an entire year to continue this process of slow rumination, picking affectionately over the sounds they both love - and then maybe when everything is condensed, evaporated they would write more songs with those sonic refractive elements that remain.

180g black vinyl Star Birth and downloadcode for "Star Birth" and "Star Death". Gatefold.

'Star Birth' is a flung fisherman's net, mighty in scope, irrevocable as looking up from the stone floor of a cathedral – there is space, yet there is profound intimacy from the immediacy of the lyrics, our thoughts rattling around like panicky goldfish. Race has taken aspects of areas
previously explored, and made a quantum leap into the unknowable. With opening track Can't Make This Up, the gauntlet is flung down – 'what is need, what is greed / it's a new crush, the brain trust/ hive mind rewrite rewind/ falsehood streaming'

'Star Birth' is international maverick and music icon Hugo Race's 15th album with his band of True Spirits. It's a double album and the twin album's name is 'Star Death'. Star Birth was recorded during Australia's bushfire summer apocalypse of 2019 and mixed as the 2020 covid-19 pandemic hit. When the stars align it all makes sense, Hugo explains, adding that one oceanic evening while writing the album a bright star exploded right before his eyes, the sign of a sudden end and a new beginning...

Hugo's writes of trials, tribulations, hopes, fears, heartaches, loves, losses, highs and lows – 'everyday I die a little bit more, in a thousand ways I fight my little wars – and he sings with exquisite pathos and depth, like he's singing just for you about the times in which we live –
political disasters, our planet, the absence and the presence of spiritual values, broken promises, cracked hearts and if any of it really matters anyway. With hell raising lyrics like,Expendable, you'd have to wonder if anyone of us will make it through alive – 'hey sister, are
we all expendable? nobody wins, but so many of you think they do / don't try to fool yourself people, deep down you know the truth - everybody gets their one hot shot but no one's bullet proof'. But then The Rapture reminds us that there will always be stars dying in the glory of
new life – 'give us this day comfort and bread / implant in us the living word / empower us with divine love and deliver us from evil / for you are the one true light / the power and the glory / forever /amen'

Hugo's True Spirit deliver a lush, sonic love letter of rock, electronica and dramatic orchestration, based in blues, hypnotic repetition and sonic exhilaration. Michelangelo Russo is a huge part of this atmosphere; his approach to music is that of an artist with a palette of
mysterious implements and machinery, but the entire band and production is incredible from start to finish. Star Birth is 48 minutes of mind expanding, mind blowing, heel tapping tunes, with its sister album 'Star Death', a dub version of remixes that will send you searching for
your own exploding star somewhere in the sky…

JAM CITY (Chicago, USA) & IZIPHO SOUL RECORDS (Surrey, UK) collaborate to bring you one of the finest discoveries of the year, tracked down and first played on Starpoint Radio’s Soul Sermon Show. Blown away on first listen, we knew what we had to do and quickly got to work with producer and writer Al Wordlaw. Back in the late 80s, the singer simply known as ‘RUSHING’ was a local sensation, performing to sold out crowds whenever he was booked for Chicagoland performances; no surprise when you hear these incredible vocals!

Both songs were recorded in 1987, but never released. Thankfully the original reels were kept and have been restored, transferred and mastered for a vinyl release thirty three years later!

In demand 7 inch sees a limited edition in translucent yellow vinyl.

Regarding the album: "This has not been off the decks since I first got it and have been hammering it to death on the show. One of the ESSENTIAL albums of 2011. Perfect in every sense and totally irresistable" Craig Charles (BBC 6Music) Two cover versions taken from the essential album GITANO REAL. I Believe in Miracles is an overwhelming take on the Jackson Sisters classic in a rumba funk fashion. Party stomper!! And on the other side, a longer trip departing from McFadden and Whitehead's seminal Ain't Non Stoping Us Now and touching the revered latin disco version of Charanga 76, only to end up as a fabulous clap-driven rumba stormer. Two very necessary sun-soaked tunes for any self-respecting dj on neat black vinyl. And yes, it's a limited edition!

2xLP: Gatefold, pressed on Gold Nugget vinyl


“I wanna thank me,” Snoop Dogg said as he accepted his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, “I wanna thank me for believing in me. I wanna thank me for doing all this hard work. I wanna thank me for having no days off.”

An Entertainment Icon, Snoop Dogg has reigned for more than two decades as an unparalleled force who has raised the bar as an entertainer and globally recognized innovator.  Snoop has released 19 studio albums, sold over 40-million albums worldwide, reached No. 1 countless times on Billboard charts internationally and received 20 GRAMMY® nominations. Snoop Dogg most recently released his highly praised and award-winning Gospel album, Bible of Love. He is currently working on his next studio album, I Wanna Thank Me, releasing this summer through EMPIRE.

In addition to his extensive work in music, Snoop Dogg has made his mark in the television and film space, including an Emmy Award nomination for his role as Executive Producer and Co-host of VH1’s hit show, Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner, Executive Producer of MTV’s Mary + Jane, Executive Producer and Host of TNT’s game show, Joker’s Wild and Executive Producer of acclaimed Netflix’s show, Coach Snoop.

You have reached the Infolines. Tonight, we send you on a journey packin’ east to play in the magnificent halls where thespians and rock & roll once played. ‘The Theatre’ features a compilation of cuts that inspire those who listen to sweat in the soon to be humid weather of Detroit.

Bendersnatch is back again, this time with their funky groove ‘Vice Versa’, tooled as a call to the dance floor with a kick that cuts, and bleeps reminiscent of the second wave of techno. Remote Viewing Party brings us a break beat rhythm joined by instrumentalists Ezuch & Bcota with ‘Outpost’. The duo brings shows us their depth creating an atmosphere that will bring you chills, and tears that you will probably think is sweat running down your face. Newcomer Dev-Lish is joined by Maxlow with their head banger ‘Faith In The Machine, in a collaboration inspired by the Detroit birthed genre ‘sludge’. Evil grinding tones with huge bass and dark vocals will make you want to breath. Last, but not certainly least is Francois Dillinger. This artist has been churning out his art and making waves in the electro and techno communities. He brings to the table ‘Lost Loops’ with nothing short of huge bass, large spatial tones designed to hit all frequency ranges leaving room for the crowd to breath while being taken on a journey.

As always, keep an eye on this space and be sure to call in for the waypoint to the party.

Limited edition, stocks might have to be allocated! Baker's Dozen is a vinyl series that shines a spotlight on instrumental music and the personalities behind the craft. To commemorate the 13th release in series history, Fat Beats Records aims to focus on thirteen of its most respected producers with the aptly titled compilation "Baker's Dozen: XIII".

After months in the making we would finally like to welcome Kiko Navarro into the Rocksteady Disco family with E-MA GIN (b/w Sex & Love Affair). Kiko is a man who really needs no introduction, so we're pretty excited to be bringing you two of his biggest previously unreleased dance floor bombs on a shiny sheet of black plastic.

The A-side holds "E-MA GIN", an uplifting jazz-fusion tinged afro-house joint with live drums and Kiko's notorious dancefloor drive and pulse. On the flip is "Sex & Love Affair", a peak hour disco/house bomb with even some hints of Moroder nestled in there. Both tracks have been tearing up dance floors until the pandemic hit, and they've been delighting chat rooms for our radio shows. It's the life-affirming and sensual music you've come to expect from Rocksteady Disco, now from our hermano Kiko Navarro.

Opale was born in 2012- from the musical affinity shared between Rocío and Sophia, a connection that blossomed into the duo’s debut, L’incandescent, released on May 26, 2013. - On the Record-Labels Heia Sun (FR), Stellar Kinematics (FR) & We Be Friends (US).

Opale have toured in Europe, the United States, and Canada with acts such as Austra, TRST and Xeno & Oaklander. Without ever making a promise to time- and while remaining faithful to their intuitive direction, Opalehave constantly produced music to satisfy their creative impulses.

Opale has collaborated with artists such as Maya Postepski
(Princess Century/Austra/Trst) & Maya features on their upcoming Second Album. Invariably-Sensitive to the Authenticity of their Music- and infinitely attached to their aesthetic, Opale have created an ethereal air that the listener can float through its density!

New Finnish imprint VIENO, kicks off with 10 track compilation of Finnish ambient, electronica & experimental music. Selection draws an emotionally infused red line throughout.

Travelling starts with "Pumpuli". Beautiful soft opener for ears and other senses. However, more deeper agenda follows. For darker soul searching Roberto Rodriguez provides 80´s synth driven "Third Act" followed by techno producer Satoi´s melancholic journey "Unohda".
B-Side goes on with dubby triphop influnced "Heimo M" by Aleksi Myllykoski with Finnish saxosphone legend Tapani Rinne. Paving the way for young and gifted Sansibar´s spacey techno breathing "ISS". Last track of the compilation, ”Ukki”, is a very personal, intriguingly gloomy, yet unpolished piano composition dedicated for recently deceased great grandfather of the artist, Mierka.

”I was just asked what’s my reason to create VIENO and bring out this compilation just now? I’ve been exploring the Finnish urban music and club scene for more than two decades and I recognize the space and craving is now present. Now is the right time to recreate and bring life to this art of subtle melancholy we Finns have always carried deep in us. In a way i´m tryin´to awaken the emotional energy more than just to paint insipid and expectedly ear friendly, atmospheric soundscapes.” - Jaako Hurme

Videosphere, the debut album by Kompakt’s latest signing, the London-based artist Lake Turner (aka Andrew Halford), swoons into focus with “The Sunbird”, a teasing drift of lilting, ambient tones, riding out a submerged piston-pulse rhythm. Across its brief 109 seconds, it manages to traverse evocative terrain – something mythopoetic, something both humble and grandiose, a glimpse of the other behind the sky’s curtain. “I wanted to conjure up something resembling an ancient ceremony or death procession,” Turner nods. “Like a hymn to the surroundings of a faraway hill.” It’s both sky-bound and earthen, a ritual incantation to call in the music of the spheres.

Turner was introduced to the Kompakt family by his sometime collaborator Yannis Philippakis of Foals. He’d previously made music in post-punk and indie groups Great Eskimo Hoax and Trophy Wife, but Videosphere is the first time he’s fully articulated his own vision of electronic music, aside from one limited lathe-cut 12”, 2018’s Prime Mover EP, on Algebra. The lush ambient-disco-techno dreams of Videosphere were constructed and completed in his London studio and at his parents’ arable and sheep farm in Worcestershire, which might help explain the hazy, unhurried pastoralism of the album.

“There was a slight bittersweetness in finishing the record (in Worcestershire) as my parents were in the middle of selling my childhood home,” he sighs, before quipping, “on the plus, I ended up shearing a lot of sheep over the summer.” A student of archaeology and ancient history, Turner is no doubt carefully attuned to the twisting cogs of history and memory, and it’s no surprise that Videosphere has a nostalgic, melancholic cast; much of its beauty rests in the way it tugs, gently, at the heart strings – see the tear-stained cheeks of the lush, dappled “Honeycomb”, or the sweetly sad electro-roundelay of “No Way Back Forever.”

It’s not all drift-dream hypnosis, though – Videosphere is very much grounded in the now. ““No Way Back Forever” is a nod to the linear nature of time,” Turner explains by way of example, “and the tipping point of the world climate crisis that scientists have now declared.” Jayne Powell’s vocals are sent spinning through the song, wound like candyfloss; she takes centre stage on the techno hymnal title track, too. Throughout, there’s a sense of forward movement, despite the life stasis we find ourselves collectively bound by in mid-2020; there’s also a yearning for the communal, for community, that’s captured in the album title, a nod to an object Turner encountered at London’s Geoffrey Museum, “a television set in the shape of a spaceman’s helmet from the 1970s.”

“The vision I loosely had was to make an electronic record that had a communal warmth and almost ceremonial or ritual feel. I wanted to examine the relationship of our archaic minds in the trappings of the modern world,” Turner concludes. “What the Videosphere also symbolizes for me is the oneness of humanity and community, prevailing.”
Eröffnet wird "Videosphere", das Debütalbum von Kompakts jüngstem Signing, dem in London ansässigen Künstler Lake Turner (alias Andrew Halford), mit "The Sunbird" - einem herausfordernden Strom aus Ambient Sounds, die zu schweben scheinen, um sich dann in einen subtilen, maschinellen Rhythmus zu verwandeln. In gerade mal 109 Sekunden gelingt es dem Stück, ein gewaltiges Terrain abzuschreiten - etwas Mythopoetisches, bescheiden und grandios zugleich, gibt uns eine Ahnung davon, was sich hinter dem Himmel verbirgt. "Ich wollte etwas heraufbeschwören, das einer alten Zeremonie oder Totenprozession ähnelt", sagt Turner, "wie eine Hymne an die Umgebung eines weit entfernten Hügels." Himmlisch und irdisch zugleich, eine rituelle Beschwörung von Sphärenmusik.

Der Kompakt Label-Familie wurde Turner von dessen zeitweiligen Mitarbeiter Yannis Philippakis (Foals) vorgestellt. Zuvor hatte er in den Post Punk- und Indie-Bands Great Eskimo Hoax und Trophy Wife gespielt. Bis auf eine limitierte lathe-cut 12", der "Prime Mover EP" auf Algebra von 2018, artikuliert Turner mit "Videosphere" zum ersten Mal seine eigene Vision von elektronischer Musik.

Die üppigen Ambient-Disco-Techno-Träume von "Videosphere" hat Turner in seinem Londoner Studio und auf der Schaffarm seiner Eltern in Worcestershire produziert, was den nebulösen, gemächlichen und beinahe pastoralen Charakter des Albums erklären könnte.

"Es gab einen bittersüßen Moment als ich mit der Platte (in Worcestershire) fertig geworden war, da meine Eltern gerade dabei waren, das Haus meiner Kindheit zu verkaufen", seufzt er, bevor er witzelt, "das Positive war, dass ich im Laufe des Sommers eine Menge Schafe geschoren habe". Als Student der Archäologie und der Geschichte des Altertums ist Turner zweifellos mit den sich unaufhörlich drehenden Rädern der Geschichte und der daran geknüpften Erinnerungen vertraut, und es ist keine Überraschung, dass "Videosphere" einen nostalgischen, melancholischen Einschlag hat; viel von seiner Schönheit liegt in der Art und Weise, wie es einem sanft ans Herz geht - die Tränen benetzten Wangen von "Honeycomb" oder der ambivalente Elektro-Reigen von "No Way Back Forever".

Trotz allem hypnotischen Driften und Träumen - Videosphere ist sehr stark im Jetzt verankert. "`No Way Back Forever`ist eine Anspielung auf die lineare Natur der Zeit", erklärt Turner beispielhaft, "und auf den Wendepunkt der globalen Klimakrise, den Wissenschaftler gerade ausgerufen haben". Jayne Powells Gesang wirbelt dabei wie Zuckerwatte durch den Song und steht auch im Mittelpunkt des technoid hymnischen Titelstücks. Überall ist ein Gefühl der Vorwärtsbewegung zu spüren, trotz der Stagnation, in der wir uns Mitte 2020 kollektiv befinden; trotzdem existiert eine Sehnsucht nach dem Gemeinsamen, nach Gemeinschaft, die im Albumtitel eingefangen ist - eine Referenz an ein Objekt, dem Turner im Londoner Geoffrey-Museum begegnete, "ein Fernsehgerät in Form eines Raumfahrerhelms aus den 1970er Jahren".

„Die lose Vision, die ich hatte, bestand darin, eine elektronische Platte zu machen, die eine soziale Wärme und eine fast zeremonielle oder rituelle Atmosphäre ausstrahlt. Ich wollte die Beziehung unseres archaischen Geistes in den Fallstricken der modernen Welt untersuchen", so Turner abschließend. "Was `Videosphere` für mich auch symbolisiert, ist die Einheit von Menschlichkeit und Gemeinschaft, die am Ende obsiegt".

This fifth record, On/Off, Bachar wanted to record it in his native Lebanon. More precisely in the main room of his family house, a stone house standing alone in the mountains north of Beirut.

In this big room there is all that’s needed: a piano, a chimney, the stove and some rare instruments who have been sleeping there for years, serving as decorations. For two whole weeks, Bachar welcomes, shapes and celebrates the urgency of creation. The recording takes place in decembre 2019, it’s rhythm follows that of the popular uprising which is shaking Lebanon since october.

In his own way, Bachar contributes to it - emotion is raw, his music is stripped down, just liked his country.

In the house, electricity goes on & off twice, a day. During the night, hostile and freezing, hyenas are heard; during the day, the birds whistle with serenity, and the light of day shines through the windows, each day slightly differently…

This constant duality becomes a source of inspiration for Bachar, obsessed as he is by this rustic environment which exacerbates the senses.

The record has 11 tracks, all written on the spot, as well as a duo recorded in 2017 with the french singer Christophe -Jnoun (unreleased up to now).