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Enumclaw aus Tacoma, WA, angeführt von Sänger/Songwriter Aramis Johnson, ist eine Bewegung von Menschen für Menschen. Mit ihrer neuen, zweiten LP „Home in Another Life“ ist Enumclaw mehr als nur eine Rockband. Stattdessen sind sie eine Gemeinschaft von Kreativen, Videofilmern, Fotografen, Schriftstellern, Kritikern und Skatern. Sie sind für die punkigen Kids in den Skateparks in jeder Stadt, für die Kids, die die Hähnchenstreifen im Supermarkt essen, ohne zu bezahlen, für die Kids, die vielleicht nicht in den Theatern und Amphitheatern anzutreffen sind, aber auf jeden Fall im Punk-Treffpunkt die Sau rauslassen. „Home in Another Life“ packt ein ganzes Leben voller Emotionen in seine elf Songs - Johnson gibt gleich beim Opener „I'm Scared I'll End Up All Alone“ den persönlichen Ton an, einem schwankenden, aber heftigen Auftaktsong, der sich an Bands wie Dinosaur Jr und Archers of Loaf orientiert, aber einen modernen Touch hat. Singles wie „Change“ und „Not Just Yet“ zeigen, dass sich die Fähigkeit der Band, Hooks zu schreiben, seit ihrem Debüt „Save the Baby“ aus dem Jahr 2022 komplett verbessert hat. „Would you want me to change?“ schreit Aramis über einem krachenden Riff von Gitarrist Nathan Cornell, während das aggressive Schlagzeug- und Bass-Duo Ladaniel Gibson und Eli Edwards bei „Not Just Yet“ zum Headbanging-Tempo des Songs beiträgt. Nach einem hektischen Tourneeplan mit Bands wie Nothing, Illuminati Hotties und Toro Y Moi gibt es bei Enumclaw keine Anzeichen für eine Verlangsamung ihres Non-Stop-Tempos. Von Anfang an waren sie stolz darauf, eine Band der Arbeiterklasse zu sein, die so viel wie möglich unterwegs ist und CDs an Merch-Tischen brennt, wenn es nötig ist. „Home in Another Life“ fängt diese Energie ein - es ist ein Soundtrack, den man verdammt laut aus dem Fenster einer Mittelklasse-Limousine oder durch die Wände des Wohnhauses des Nachbarn schmettern kann. Es ist ein Album, das darauf abzielt, sich mit dir zu verbinden - das ist die einzige Art und Weise, wie Enumclaw funktionieren.

Indignation Meeting are punky rail fans from Leeds. 15-year-old Peter is the driver - he's the drummer and lead singer, writes most of the songs, and also plays bass and trumpet on the album. The rest of the crew is his dad Michael on guitar, Hugo on bass, and with Keith, Heather and Sally often along for the ride when they play out. Here at DGHQ we've been listening to their self-released debut album Trouble In The Shed since last year and finally spoke with the band and agreed to release it on vinyl for the first time. It was very good timing as they've just been in the studio to finish recording their second album, so we'll be releasing that later in 2024. Welcome on-board! We caught up with Peter to ask as few questions about the band_ Q: "In a week when the Labour Party promised to return the rail network to public ownership, we ask how did your fascination with trains begin?" A: "Honestly, I don't really know - I've just loved them ever since I can remember. It's not like with some people who had a family connection or watched Thomas the Tank Engine; I've just always loved them. I guess it's just a childhood obsession that never went away!" Q: "'Trouble In The Shed' is quickly becoming a firm office favourite here at DG. There's a touch of punk, indie and new wave about it. What would you say are the key influences that make up your musical DNA?" A: "My main influence when this album was released was Blyth Power. They'd been my favourite band for years when this was recorded, so everything on it was influenced by them in some way. They've had so many different musical styles over the years that they kind of conglomerated into this album, to create yet another eclectic mix of songs. The only real exception to that on this album is Electrification - no prizes for guessing the influence there! If you see us live, however, you may notice another influence pervading through our songs. That influence is the anarcho-hippy band 'The Astronauts,' whom I discovered midway through the recording process, and have quickly become one of my all-time favourite bands!" Q: "What's the story behind your song 'Hornby Horrors'?" A: "Hornby Horrors is an interesting one. People who haven't heard it may assume it's about some ill-fated model railway endeavour, but it's actually a tale of corruption in, of all places, the model train company Hornby! This song was the result of several minor scandals at Hornby HQ making their way to the modelling masses, the main ones of which were an ill-fated tier list, which placed retailers in three categories as to whether or not they received Hornby's products, with tier 3 retailers barely getting anything at all. Interestingly, the UK's former biggest retailer, Hatton's Model Railways, was a tier 3 retailer due to their 'competing products' (made by their own small brand Hatton's Originals') and has recently announced closure due to financial hardship. Now as we all know, correlation does not equal causation, but I wonder_" Q: "The album is being released on a specific shade of green vinyl. What's the significance?" A: "The shade of green on the vinyl is very similar to the shade worn by the locomotives from the Great Western Railway in the 1870s - 1940s. Due to this connection, we thought it was only proper we picked this colour, which we have dubbed 'Great Western Green!'" Q: "The album release coincides with an appearance at Rebellion Festival in Blackpool this August. Can you give the readers three reasons why they should come and see your performance?" A: "1 - We like to think we provide something different with our music - it is very obviously punk, but it's a bit more light-hearted than a lot of the political stuff, with nearly all the songs being about some sort of obscure steam loco engine. If you just want something light-hearted to enjoy, we might just be the band for you! 2 - We've got a rather interesting line up - instead of the usual line-ups you see, we've got a 15 year-old singing drummer with his dad on guitar, a newly-turned adult with a massive ginger afro playing the bass, the guitarist from the old anarcho band 'Dog On A Rope' playing some gnarly lead parts, and all topped off with some beautiful backing vocals from the drummer's sister and mother. As Attila the Stockbroker described us, Blyth Power meets the Partridge Family - not to be missed! 3 - Here's something you won't forget in a hurry - as well as his vocals, our 15-year-old frontman Peter plays drums and trumpet at the same time! If that's something you want to see, make sure you get down to see us!"

Strut present the first definitive retrospective of an icon of 1970s and ‘80s soul, jazz and disco, Patrice Rushen, covering her peerless 6-year career with Elektra / Asylum from 1978 to 1984. Joining Elektra after three albums with jazz label Prestige, Patrice had shown prodigious talent at an early age and had first broken through after winning a competition to perform at the Monterrey Jazz Festival of 1972. By the time of the recordings on this collection, she had become a prolific and in-demand session musician and arranger on the West coast, appearing on over 80 recordings for other artists. She joined the Elektra / Asylum roster in 1978 as they launched a pop / jazz division alongside visionaries like Donald Byrd and Grover Washington, Jr. “The idea was to create music that was good for commercial radio / R&B,” Patrice explains. “We were all making sophisticated dance music, essentially.”

Drawing on some of the leading musicians in L.A. like saxophonist Gerald Albright, drummer “Ndugu” Chancler and bassman Freddie Washington and keeping an open minded approach from her training in classical, jazz and soundtrack scores, Patrice’s music was a different, more intricate proposition to many of the soul artists of the time. “L.A. musicians were not so locked into tradition,” she continues. “None of us were accustomed to limitation and the record label left us to take our own direction.”

Early classics like ‘Music Of The Earth’ and ‘Let’s Sing A Song Of Love’ were among Patrice’s first as a lead vocalist before her ‘Pizzazz’ album landed in 1979, featuring the unique disco of ‘Haven’t You Heard’ and one of her greatest ballads, ‘Settle For My Love’. “Although ballads make you feel more vulnerable as an artist because they are often personal, I think listeners relate to that sincerity,” she reflects. By now, Patrice’s records were supremely arranged and produced as her confidence as an all-round writer, producer, arranger and performer grew. Slick dancefloor anthem ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ and the ‘Posh’ album in 1980 led to her landmark album ‘Straight From The Heart’ two years later. Receiving little support from her label, Patrice and her production team personally funded a promo campaign for the first single from it, ‘Forget Me Nots’. It went on to peak at no. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the album was later Grammy-nominated, while the track became a timeless anthem and popular sample, inspiring Will Smith’s theme for the film ‘Men In Black’ and George Michael’s ‘Fastlove’.

Patrice’s final album for Elektra, ‘Now’ kept the bar high with sparse, synth-led songs including ‘Feel So Real’ and ‘To Each His Own’. It concluded a golden era creatively for Patrice which remains revered by soul and disco aficionados the world over.

‘Remind Me’ features all of Patrice Rushen’s chart singles, 12” versions and popular sample sources on one album for the first time. Formats included a 3LP set and 1CD fully remastered by The Carvery from the original tapes. Both formats include an exclusive new interview with Patrice Rushen and rare photos.

• First definitive Patrice Rushen compilation released on vinyl since the ‘80s
• Includes all of her chart hits, DJ favourites and sample sources
• Official release featuring full interview with Patrice Rushen about her career and music • Features rare photos from her personal collection + some of the photographers she has worked with during her career
• Fully remastered by The Carvery from the original ¼” tapes
• Start of full Patrice Rushen reissue programme from her Elektra era

Strut introduces a pioneering new compilation 'A Dancefloor In Ndola,' curated by revered East African DJ, Kampire. This release marks an evolution in Strut's approach to compilations, showcasing emerging DJ talent from across the world and embracing an innovative approach to musical discovery from the next wave of selectors. Forging her reputation through memorable sets for the Nyege Nyege Festival in Uganda over the last decade, Kampire now tours worldwide and is celebrated for her brilliantly curated sets spanning the full range of African music styles from the ‘70s and ‘80s to the present day.

Although born in Kenya to Ugandan parents, Kampire spent her formative years in Ndola, Zambia. ‘A Dancefloor In Ndola’ is inspired by artists and songs that formed part of her soundtrack during that time. “It is important for me to continually reference Africa’s own musical history,” she explains. “At 17, I didn’t pick up on my Dad’s music but now I love and collect those records. I’m constantly referencing them in my music sets today. I love that feeling of shared nostalgia where people recognise a song they haven’t heard in a long time. It is a touchstone for me when I’m playing.”

The compilation flows through different East African and South African genres from Congolese rumba and soukous to 1980s township bubblegum and the rich guitar-led sounds of Zambian kalindula. “There are styles of music on the compilation which are often considered unsophisticated from rural areas. I and other contemporary African artists and DJs draw inspiration from them; it is part of what makes us ourselves.” Kampire also shines the spotlight on many incredible women in African music from the ‘80s, including Congolese legends like Pembey Sheiro, Feza Shamamba and Princesse Mansia M’bila to V-Mash and Di Groovy Girls from South Africa.

‘A Dancefloor In Ndola’ is released on 2LP and CD and features exclusive new edits by Kampire alongside personal liner notes tracing her links to the music. Cover artwork montage is by Canon Rumanzi and vinyl restoration / mastering by The Carvery
Debut compilation by one of East Africa’s leading new generation DJs, Kampire.
Mix of African classics and rarities spanning 1970s – 1990s from Congolese soukous, South African bubblegum and Zambian kalindula.
Shining the spotlight on women in African music Pembey Sheiro, Feza Shamamba and Princesse Mandisa M’bila.
Exclusive cover artwork collage by Canon Rumanzi.
Worldwide DJ dates supporting release during Summer and Autumn 2024.

Veyl is pleased to welcome Velvet May for his debut LP on the label. Enchanted By The Muse marks a new and exciting direction for the Italian-born, Berlin-based artist whose aesthetic focuses on post-punk, techno and industrial music. This album embodies May’s exploration and experimentation of various musical directions, reflecting a fusion of industrial, rock and electronic elements. It also symbolizes a new approach, spanning genres and styles and exploring his sound from every angle.
Conceptually, the album reflects a realm of emotional dissonance in an industrial desolation - where harsh electronic textures mingle with gritty industrial and rock elements. Also present are echoes of punk's raw energy and adrenalinic drive, a musical journey through shifting moods and atmospheres, serving as a soundtrack to different aspects of life and capturing the essence of its high and lows.
From the opening track, “Now That You Have Left It All”, we are lured into a thrilling sonic dimension with a shot of energy that sets the stage for journey ahead. “Keep On Falling” injects a dose of rock which we find throughout the record fused with the artist’s signature blend of postpunk, industrial and techno strains. Tracks like “The Outsider” and “Slithering Serenade” conjure raw, distorted rhythms and a menacing fuzz which bleeds out of the speakers while “Scales of Gold” traverses back through infectious body and wave. “Illusion In Control” is the perfect climax, a musical assault that shatters boundaries and blurs the lines between reality and fantasy.

Coloured vinyl repress of Penguin Cafe album Rain Before Seven… A sense of optimism infuses Penguin Cafe’s fifth studio album, not the braggadocious, overconfident kind, but more a blithe, self-effacing optimism in keeping with the national character. Even when all signs point to the contrary, it operates within the certainty that things are going to be alright. Probably.

The title comes from an old weather proverb with the rhyming prognostication — fine before eleven — hinting at a happy ending, irrespective of the science: “I found it in a book and I'd never heard it before,” says Arthur Jeffes, leader of Penguin Cafe. “It has faintly optimistic overtones and I quite like it. It's fallen out of usage recently but it does describe English weather patterns coming in off the Atlantic.”

From the widescreen reverie of opener ‘Welcome to London’ with its cheeky nod to Morricone to ‘Goldfinch Yodel’, the self-described “Maypole banger” at the denouement, there’s a welcome sense of sanguinity, always with an undercurrent of exotic rhythmic exuberance. Playfulness pervades, with a titular nod to A Matter of Life... from 2011, the last album title that concluded with an ellipsis. That Penguin Cafe debut is the bridge between the legendary Penguin Cafe Orchestra, led by Arthur’s father Simon Jeffes, and the much- loved descendent, led by Arthur.

“Stylistically it's really satisfying to get back to playful rhythms and instruments,” says the younger Jeffes, who kept the group’s debut from 12 years ago in mind when writing the new album. “Certainly when starting out, I became aware that we’d stopped using quite a few of the textures that had been there at the beginning—and it was certainly there in my dad's earlier stuff. So there's a lot of balafon and textures from completely different parts of the world, musically and geographically: ukuleles, cuatros and melodicas that you can hear.”

Encouraged by co-producer Robert Raths, the rhythmic elements of Rain Before Seven... have never been more to the fore and, at times, even hint at the electronic. ‘Find Your Feet’, for instance, is underpinned with more than just a pulse. Mixed by Tom Chichester-Clark, it brings to the musical melange what Arthur describes as a “near electronic feel”. He adds, excitedly: “There are elements of fun here which we haven't really done with the last three records.” Another ebullient highlight is ‘In Re Budd’, dedicated to the late ambient godfather Harold Budd, who Arthur discovered had died on the day he’d been writing the celebratory ear worm with a deceptively tricky syncopation. Played on an upright piano with some “prepared” felt to accentuate the bounce, Jeffes feels a track with an Afro Cuban Cafe vibe would appeal to Budd’s contrariness.

I needed to do some recording to cheer myself up. The studio I usually use was booked all month, but before the disasters of Brexit & Covid I’d met pianist Yves Meerschaut in Gent, and he’d shown me his recording studio, Room 13, and that did have a couple of days free in January… I decided to make a record of old songs that other people have liked, and / or that I play differently now, and / or that haven’t appeared on vinyl before. So, here, there’s: “Pennypot Lane”, a fox song that people like, “Winter Turns to Spring” that was Tony Benn’s favourite song, “The Blue Sea Says Yes”, a song about how the sea welcomes us all, heroic or fragile, equally in our mortality (something like that anyway) , that I had forgotten about till people started saying how much they liked it, “More Than Enough”, that Roy Bailey and Martin Simpson have kindly rescued from the obscurity of its previous appearance on a CD in 1992, “Babbecombe at the Closing of the Day”, a song about going to Babbecombe model village, “At the Siege of Madrid” which quite a few people like, but is one of those songs that always somehow eludes a definitive performance, “A True History of Couscous”, a song I like that is more or a less fictionalized autobiography, and lastly.. “You Don’t Have to Say Goodbye”. This is a song from my first CD; Thames Valley folk-stalwart Terry Silver used to enjoy performing it so that afterwards he could shock audiences who’d been happily singing along to it by revealing it had been written by that dreadful lefty Robb Johnson, It’s also, more recently, a song our son Arvin likes very much too, and he graces this version with his characteristically modest tasteful Spanish guitar playing. He also nagged me into doing the artwork for the cover. Three of these songs are lucky enough to have Yves’s breathtaking, exquisite piano playing embellishing them, and Sian Allen gifts “Madrid” some beautiful trumpet accompaniment too. But primarily, for good or ill, it’s mainly me with an acoustic guitar. Robb Johnson, May 24. “in my view one of the best songwriters this country has produced in many a year… the appellation National Treasure is often over-used, but in Robb’s case it is entirely appropriate (St Edith’s Folk) // “an English original”, (Robin Denselow, the Guardian) // “a national treasure” (Mike Harding) // “one of this country’s most important songwriters (no argument!)

Garden City Movement, the critically acclaimed Indie Pop/Rock duo who is celebrated for their

dynamic sound and experimental approach, is delighted to announce the release of three sets of

singles, paving the way for their highly anticipated sophomore album, "Never On Time",

scheduled for release on July 19 via Anova Music.

From their early days, Garden City Movement has captured hearts and minds across the globe,

earning acclaim from Pitchfork, FADER, and FACT, and gracing stages at Glastonbury, Primavera,

and Pukkelpop. Despite the challenges posed by cancer and the departure of a band member,

the duo has emerged stronger than ever, marking their territory in the music world with notable

achievements, including "Summer Night" being chosen by EA-Sports as the FIFA 22 official

soundtrack and a performance at the 2023 Formula 1 race in Singapore.


Garden City Movement, comprised of Roy Avital & Johnny Sharoni, is globally recognized for their

experimental soundscapes. They've drawn attention from prestigious platforms like Pitchfork and

FADER, and earned the title as the official soundtrack for EA Sports' FIFA 22, for "Summer Night".

Their resilience in the face of adversity, including a battle with cancer that put a temporary hold

on their music, only fueled their creative fire. In 2019, they made a triumphant return, further

solidifying their international presence with a successful tour in Japan, which earned them a spot

on the Top 100 "J-Wave" Japanese charts for "Miss You Under Shimokita Sky". A few years later in

2023, they were invited to perform at the renowned Formula 1 event in Singapore. Despite recent

changes, with Joe departing and the band transitioning to a duo, Garden City Movement

continues to evolve. Their upcoming album promises exciting collaborations across genres,

reflecting their diverse influences and the personal growth from their challenges. This next

chapter is not only a testament to their artistic innovation but also their enduring spirit.

Michael Bublés Album aus dem Jahr 2009 ist auf
limitiertem Lemonade Yellow Vinyl erhältlich.
Der mehrfache Grammy-Preisträger nimmt 11 Standards
plus zwei neue Originale als ultimative Platte über die
unvermeidliche Achterbahnfahrt der Beziehungen auf.
Mit "Haven't Met You Yet", "Cry Me a River", "You're
Nobody Till Somebody Loves You" und mehr, produziert
von David Foster, Bob Rock und Humberto Gatica.










j b3 - Baby (You've Got What It Takes) [with Sharon Jones










[j] b3 - Baby (You've Got What It Takes) [with Sharon Jones

Fellwarden was a concept forged by The Watcher (Fen, De Arma) back in 2014 to give voice to an epic, exultant form of black metal that nonetheless carries with it echoes of deep lamentation and remembrance. The Watcher’s goal was simple – to tell tales of sacrifice, of long-forgotten heroism and the rearing timelessness of the storm-forged landscape against a backdrop of windswept extreme metal. Fellwarden’s sound is steeped passionate vocals, subtle waves of keyboards, acoustic guitars, booming choirs and powerful riffs, underpinned by a cavernous percussive battery courtesy of Havenless (also of Fen).

After two years of careful crafting, the debut album of Fellwarden ‘Oathbearer’ is now ready to be proudly unleashed by Eisenwald – six stirring hymns of strident ambience and powerfully emotive songwriting. A heavily layered, textured release, ‘Oathbearer’ at once convokes the essence of contemporary acts such as Drudkh and Negura Bunget whilst simultaneously channelling the spirit of the old masters – Summoning, Bathory, Abigor, (early) Emperor and (early) Ulver.

Two brand new tracks by The Courettes on RED coloured vinyl. The A-side will also feature on the band's next album! The B-side exclusive to this release! Both tracks feature guest vocals by La La Brooks of The Crystals! 'California' is a song we wrote on our first tour in California last year. We wanted to bring all the sunshine and some psychedelic vibes from The Byrds, the Laurel Canyon, and tons of 12-string guitars to our songwriting. But somehow the lyrics kept some black clouds. It talks about traveling and leaving your loved ones behind. Any musician on the road can relate to this. Although you can have a great time around the world, you're always missing someone. Home is really where your love is. We are very proud of this track, and on top of it we have a guest vocalist. The legendary singer La La Brooks - yes, from The Crystals, the lead voice on the classic 'Da Doo Ron Ron', one of our favourite Phil Spector produced songs of all time. To have La La singing with us is an absolute delight and honour. It's so surreal that we haven't even realised it has really happened! For the mixing our producer Soren Christensen has teamed up with the fantastic Darian Sahanaja (who produced and mixed no less than Brian Wilson's SMiLE album) to enlighten even more the Californian good vibrations. So open up your windows, let the sunshine in and play this one to the max!

In the late 90s, the bands that Mike Badger had been part of vanished in the rear-view mirror. The La’s and The Onset were no more. With a young family and his tin-can sculptures emerging as his primary source of income, the evenings in Allerton (south Liverpool) found him quietly strumming his acoustic guitar, careful not to disturb the sleeping children. Weekends often led to the Penny Lane Wine Bar and later to Henry Epstein’s residence, a haven for revelry after closing time. A place where acoustic guitars adorned the walls, and impromptu musical sessions unfolded. In the midnight hours at Henry Epstein’s house, Paul Hemmings conceived the idea of compiling an album featuring Mike’s new tunes, which seemed to carry a basic “pastoral” theme reflective of settled domestic life. Demos were recorded on a porta-studio, and the album, initially titled “Naked and Beyond,” was crafted with starkness and simplicity, adorned with selected embellishments contributed by associates who shared drinks and stages. Recording took place at “The Lab” studio just north of the city, utilizing a Teac 24 Track machine and the warmth of analogue recording. The studio featured an old Italian “Eko” acoustic guitar, a classical guitar, Louis Johnson’s cello arrangements, and Tommy Scott’s backing vocals. Once the core of the album was laid down, the journey continued to Anglesey, to Henry Priestman’s “Gossamer Dome” Studio, where a baby grand piano, Farfisa organ, and “Parrot” accordion were added to enrich the songs with colors, harmonies, and magic, all against the backdrop of a sea view. The front cover of the album was adorned with an objet d’art created from a spiraled frying implement, part of Mike Badger’s “Lost and Found” exhibition. As the need to release the album arose, Mike Badger and his collaborators established their own label, “Viper,” and secured a distributor. The album, titled “Volume,” reflected its creation – from its initial sound considerations to the organic body of work composed in recent years. The recording process, though thorough, embraced imperfections, as Mike Badger believed that completeness emerged from these flaws, giving the performance its distinct character. The spirit of the performance took precedence over perfection, resulting in a product that felt genuine, unfettered, and honest – created simply because it was meant to be made. Now the album turns 25 it is released on vinyl for the first time via Nine X Nine Records.

Through the folded sky to America

Ten albums in three years. That's still the cosmic mission of the Berlin post-kraut trio YELKA with Daniel Meteo, Christian Obermaier, and the namesake Yelka Wehmeier.

With the album "For," there was a Label change. After releasing three albums in 2023 with Maurice Summen, head of Fun In The Church they passed the label responsibilities to Karaoke Kalk. Karaoke Kalk is a friendly label founded in Cologne known for establishing the Berlin post-wende scene (fall of the wall scene).

The trio's fourth album was also created with Arne Berger at Popschutz Studio, and the team is definitely well-rehearsed. Instead of recording the planned tracks, the band decided to improvise the session, and all tracks, except for the krauty Doors cover "The Crystal Ship," were created in 5 days in the studio, mostly on the first or second take, but with significantly more overdubs - keyboards, backing vocals, second and third guitars, percussion, and piano. The sound of "For" has become warmer, and the album begins with a kind of 60s-Kinks feeling. Overall, the current record has become much more exuberant - like Alice in Wonderland, YELKA seem to want to restore innocence to things in the opener "Smile (Into Skies)," resulting in an uplifting hiking song for experimental outdoor bohemians.

The follow-up piece "The Boar" speaks to everyone from the north, south, west, and east and here YELKA encounter a horde of wild boars on their travels, before the vocals become hardly understandable and ghostly spooled in reverse, suddenly sounding like Damo Suzuki from CAN at the height of Tago-Mago times.

Finally, YELKA‘s "Crystal Ship," simply sails away with the wild boars into remote 4D worlds between the Cocteau Twins and X-Mal Deutschland.

In the first instrumental of the album "Is this enough?", the band reverse tracks like Jimi Hendrix in his Electric Ladyland, and we dive deeper and deeper into the endless sky until YELKA finally arrive on newly trodden sound paths with "MM" to their beginnings on their debut album "Nowhere Jive." At the popular intersection of post-rock and jazz, where guest singer Bela Hagel also likes to linger for a moment: "Sie wissen" (They know), he knows that too! Surely Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser would have had a lot of fun with his shamanistic singing on his "Kosmische Kuriere" label. The guitars sound like a desert, and the reverb reminds us of the expansive space in the opening track "Skies."

Finally, we land in Amerika, or rather, YELKA ponder the melancholic question of whether anyone still wants to travel to America with them, to the land of unlimited possibilities, the haven for artist souls all over the world. "Do you wanna dance?" Yelka Wehmeier finally asks, while a chorus in the best Sun Ra manner mantra-like repeats "Cold dogs, cool cats." The whole band sings. Everything sounds good.

Nothing Makes Sense Without It, the seminal sophomore LP by Kind of Like Spitting, is finalyl getting the deluxe reissue that it deserves.. The group's second album, originally released in 2000, is a heartbreakingly tender effort, with songwriter Ben Barnett's signature, sullen voice aching across twelve slow-burners. Now, 24 years after its original vinyl pressing, the album has been reissued as a deluxe 2xLP featuring an entire extra LP of demos and unreleased tracks. Whether you're replacing your worn out original pressing or just discovering Nothing Makes Sense Without It, this reissue is a must have for both longtime die-hards or any fan of the music of Kind of Like Spitting's northwest indie contemporaries like Death Cab For Cutie, Pedro The Lion and Elliott Smith.

Blue Smoke Vinyl. To celebrate Minus the Bear's 10th anniversary, Suicide Squeeze will issue the band's earliest recordings on vinyl. "Highly Rened Pirates," is Minus the Bear's rst proper album. Originally released in 2002, this edition is being remastered from the original tapes, for vinyl, by the legendary Bernie Grundman, the Hollywood-based legend behind many of the industry's landmark recordings. The initial pressing will be limited to 2000 copies: 1000 black (180gram), and 1000 `translucent' blue vinyl; each copy comes with a download coupon. A real chance to hear where this sound started...

Written, recorded, produced and mixed by OMD – Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys – ‘English Electric’ is a 12-track letter to technology, space, love and a grand return to form for a band whose 1980 hit ‘Enola Gay’ occupied the world’s stage at last year’s Olympics Opening Ceremony.

As percolating synth-pop is pulled along at different speeds and executed with needle-sharp finesse, late night electro ballads collide with big sounding club cuts on a record which also features three interlude tracks, including dystopian missive ‘Please Remain Seated’ and ‘Decimal’, which is accompanied by this suitably mechanical video, directed by German motion and graphic designer Henning M. Lederer.

As Andy McCluskey says of the album; “the overarching feel tends to be a sense of loss, of melancholia, that things haven’t turned

out the way you wanted them to, whether it be with technology or personal relationships.” The title itself – taken from a British industrial manufacturing company

Nova Vida is a unique producer's album project injecting new life into classic songs, colouring them with the broad palette that are DJ / Producer Chris Bangs’ influences from his lifetime in music. 10 classic songs have been given the distinctive Nova Vida treatment, Ritmo Da Vida features unknown vocalists and musicians Chris has discovered and incorporated into the project from around the globe. Drawing on Bangs' influences such as Sergio Mendes and the sounds of Brazil, Samba, Bossa etc thru Classic British Pop, 70’s West Coast and beyond Nova Vida fuses all of the above with ten truly classic songs taking them into new musical arenas they haven't previously graced.

The first single “My Only” ft Klei came out in July 2023 on limited vinyl, got lots of club plays , specialist radio support and spent a month on the Jazz FM A List. The album already has serious upfront tastemaker support many who are digging Empty Faces (Vera Cruz) , the sublime instrumental Affirmation and the sultry samba vocal version of Stormy. Our favourite in the BDQ office is Each and every one, its fabulous, the whole album is just perfect for summer 2024. We here at BDQ are privileged to release this album on the label, as usual vinyl will be super limited.

Limited vinyl edition of 300 copies on 180g white vinyl with download card. Deleted Scene, the 8th studio album from UK producer Stumbleine, overflows with beautiful nostalgia-tinged electronica. The album is steeped with cloud-like beauty, with opener I Can Stop Anytime I Like fusing addictive sampled vocals with soft, glassy guitars, as if a reflecting pool of the listeners' memories. Cinderhaze ripples that pool with a more driving, magnetic force, shifting and pulling its emotional weight in cyclic waves. Ursa Minor Sleeps Forever is fittingly sleepy, circling soft slow synth arpeggios in a dreamy haze, a sound built upon by Somnia to an epiphany-like string bed, never straying too far from Stumbleine's serene haven of melodic grace. On Catastrophette Stumbleine crafts a more dramatic and poignant web of sound, as if running through the memories created by the rest of Deleted Scene. The album as a whole is an escape to a dream-state of Stumbleine's making, captivating, yet familiar, and completely enveloping. According to Peter, "Deleted scene refers to the memories that play over and over inside your own head, replaying hazy copies of hazy copies that evolve into a bittersweet fever dream. Everybody has their own unique collection of deleted scenes slowly distorting and fading away." 'Stumbleine is the alias of Peter Cooper. With roots in the UK post rock scene, the reclusive producer began blending slow dream-like pop with fractured lo-fi beats as Stumbleine in 2012. Melancholic rnb vocals ebb and flow above submerged guitar ballads. Sand blasted samples intertwine with broken beats to create music with a nostalgic fragile warmth. Stumbleine is known for a DIY ethic, releasing music directly to fans or via the independent label Monotreme Records.'

A continuation of the extensive research project initiated last year between Sound Metaphors, Transmigration and surviving eye-witness/historian Ray Castle. An in depth analysis of the dancefloor landscape that developed in Goa during the 80s' and early 90's well before "Trance" became the unfortunate dirty word it is today. Before "trance" was even a genre, Goa was brewing a scene with unparalleled aesthetics, with a constant influx of dedicated collectors and DJs coming and going to this tropical underground dancefloor haven, filtering through vast amounts of emerging electronic music of the times and distilling only the finest of "Special Goa Music". Here is another compilation of our chosen most impactful tracks that would have been soundtrack to a very special and pure moment of freedom in dancefloor culture before the bastardisation of what we now know as "Goa Trance". A highly sought after selection of New Beat, Proto Techno, early Progressive/Trance, Industrial, EBM and House Music. Featuring photographs of the events presented in a double LP gatefold with poster and liner notes by Ray Castle himself. Re-mastered at Manmade mastering in Berlin. A generous body of research essential to any well rounded record collection.

Folly Group become the first band on Ninja Tune imprint Technicolour
(Elkka, Sofia Kourtesis, VTSS) with their new EP ‘Human and Kind’.

The four-piece of Sean Harper, Louis Milburn, Kai Akinde-Hummel and Tom Doherty formed in the tumultuous melting-pot of the London musical circuit. They released their debut EP ‘Awake and Hungry’ last year, receiving wide acclaim for their electronic infused post-punk sound and furiously brilliant live shows, landing coveted slots at Pitchfork Music Festival, in NME’s 100 Artists On The Rise and a co-sign from IDLES’ singer Joe Talbot.

Speaking about the EP, Folly Group said: “Where ‘Awake and Hungry’
doubled as a diary of the band’s formative months and encapsulation of our live show, ‘Human and Kind’ is a projection of our ambition, and our desire to push ourselves through what we might previously have
perceived as the ceiling of possibility for four players.”

For fans of Black Country, New Road, Squid, Yard Act, Black Midi, Dry Cleaning, Shame, Do Nothing.
140g crystal clear vinyl in 12” sleeve with spine and printed inner, plus
digital download code. Pressed sustainably within a 99% circular
environment at Deepgrooves.

“Every track is so good. They haven’t released anything that isn’t
amazing.” - Joe Talbot (IDLES, speaking on BBC 6 Music)
“thriving in well-crafted chaos.” - NME
“brilliant, experimental jungle rock” - i
“Give me that post-punk syncopation any day of the week” - Lauren
Laverne, who has made the band’s last three singles (including ‘I Raise You…’) her While You Were Sleeping Track Of The Day.
Headline UK Tour starting 31 March, taking in London, Bristol,
Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Nottingham, Margate, Newcastle,
Southampton, Milton Keynes and more.

Cher and Christina Aguilera, together? On the same soundtrack? Who cares that the Burlesque film garnered mixed reviews at best (though a lot of folks now regard the 2010 feature as a camp classic)? The soundtrack had no such difficulties; the album release went Top 20 on the charts, won a Grammy nomination, and Cher’s performance of “You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me” won a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. Aguilera’s star turn was something of a coming-out party, too; not only did she enjoy critical acclaim for her first leading role in a film, but her musical contributions—featuring a couple of Etta James songs and a cover of Marlene Dietrich’s “A Guy What Takes His Time’’—were sassy, jazzy, and brassy, not unlike her work on her #1 album from 2006, Back to Basics. In short, this one’s a must for fans of either artist, and for this pressing, we at Real Gone Music have created a bling-y metallic gold vinyl edition housed inside a gatefold cover boasting some sensational production stills!

Sect have a lot on their minds. With the release of their brand new single, New Low and the promise of Plagues Upon Plagues, the follow up full-length to 2019’s Blood of the Beasts, Sect explore the intersection of issues which have cascaded over us for the last five years, the “plagues” of the title referring to the literal pandemic, and the metaphorical plague of the political state and the rise of fascism.

Comprised of an international cast of stellar musicians, who cut their teeth in a formative moment of political, cynical, antagonistic extremes, Sect unites Scott Crouse (Earth Crisis, Tooth & Claw) & Jimmy Chang (Undying, Catharsis) - guitars, Steve Hart (Day of Suffering, Mania For Conquest) - bass, Andy Hurley (Fall Out Boy, Racetraitor) - drums and Chris Colohan (Cursed, Unwell) - vocals. They released No Cure For Death in 2017 and Blood of the Beasts in 2019.

Plagues Upon Plagues opens with the bereft waves of “No Uncertain Terms”, a side of the band we haven’t seen before. Vocalist Chris Colohan describes this album as “a funeral rather than a trial”, the activism of previous releases fading to sorrow and grief.

Lead single New Low follows with the advent of marching drums, a funereal procession for the world we hoped to build. There’s frantic horror on the album too, with the track “Drowning in Sorrows” taking a look at the ways in which we numb ourselves as a society. “#ForeverHome” is a bitterly angry track about how people used animals for both narcissistic virtue signalling and one-way comfort in the pandemic, and abandoned them en masse just as selfishly when social life came back. Speaking to their straight-edge principles and how that continues to feed into their songwriting, Chris says, “the only kind of straight edge songs I’m interested in writing are dynamic ones that address human realities that you don’t have to be straight edge to engage with.”

On Plagues Upon Plagues, Sect pierce through the veil of complacency, forcing listeners to confront uncomfortable truths about the fragility of our world. The band wields their sonic arsenal like a prophetic warning and with raw vocals and uncompromising lyrics, they confront the harsh realities of existence in these tumultuous times. As society teeters on the brink of chaos, Sect's cold hard statement resonates with an urgency that cannot be ignored.

Unadorned with any post-production tricks or overdubs, Garcia/Grisman breathes with naturalism and presence. You will effortlessly detect the full body of the instruments, witness the woody grain textures, and get lost in the surprisingly velvety qualities of Garcia's lullaby-like singing. Our pressing also marks the first time this delightfully joyous affair has been issued in analogue form. You will never hear a better-sounding Americana-styled recording.

Pals since the mid-1960s, Garcia and Grisman bonded over their love for traditional folk and bluegrass. The two teamed up amidst what became a gold rush of top-notch productivity and creativity for Garcia. Partnering with bassist Jim Kerwin and percussionist/fiddler Joe Craven, the pair approaches every passage with innate ease, as if either musician could finish the others sentence. The affable chemistry and soothing interplay wash over a selection of songs as notable for their diversity as the way Garcia and "Dawg" turn them into the equivalent of old friends you haven't seen in years.

Exquisite melodies and jewel-shaped notes decorate the simple, convivial structures of tunes that hop, jump, skip, skitter, and bop. The atmosphere is reminiscent of the legendary gypsy-jazz exchanges between Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli, and equally sharp. Swirling with Middle Eastern modality, the closing 16-minute-plus rendition of Grisman's rippling "Arabia" – complete with a section based on a Cuban fold theme - is alone enough worth the price of admission to this sensational session. But there's so much more.

The quartet delves into Celtic themes ("Two Soldiers"), jazz-grass ("Grateful Dawg"), old-world ballads ("Russian Lullaby"), and Appalachian flavours ("Walkin' Boss") with nonpareil skill and soulfulness. Garcia and Grisman's tandem picking throughout epitomize sublime. And for many listeners, the duo's revised version of the Grateful Dead staple "Friend of the Devil" ranks as the finest-ever recorded, the pace patient, the narrative vocals heartfelt, and the synchronous solos tailor-made for the enveloping progression. Better yet, it's all captured in astonishing fidelity.

The current lineup of New Haven's long running Mountain Movers (guitarist/vocalist Dan Greene, bassist Rick Omonte, guitarist Kr yssi Battalene, & drummer Ross Menze) have been playing together for over a decade now, making their recorded debut on a slew of singles released from 2011-2013, but it wasn't until 2015's "Death Magic" (released on New Haven label Safety Meeting) that the potential of that iteration of the group became clear; Mountain Movers are a force of nature. The camaraderie & sensitivity to each others playing has only grown over time, cr ystallizing on the group's trio of albums for Trouble In Mind; 2017's eponymous "Mountain Movers" served as a reintroduction of the group to a larger audience, while 2018's "Pink Skies" raged like a group confident in its strengths, and 2020's prescient "World What World" - written & recorded before the world shut down - slightly shifted focus away from the jams & back toward the weight of guitarist/songwriter Dan Greene's poetic tales of magical realism. The band's ninth album "Walking After Dark" finds a happy medium between both aspects of the band's strengths; Greene's lyrical compositions and the group's long-form improvised jams. To those that are tuned in, that feeling of communion is evident in the Movers' playing. The members swap & cycle effortlessly through instruments without missing a beat, utilizing the downtime of lockdown to write & record every jam in their practice space. Those piles of tapes would eventually get edited & sequenced into "Walking After Dark", a tour-de-force double-album that balances fried, stony brilliance with outré excursions of experimental serenity. Consider the opening track "Bodega On My Mind" that ambles in like a road-worn traveller, its lysergic folk strums peppered with acidic lead lines from Battalene's Telecaster, eventually giving way to "The Sun Shines On The Moon, where the group's sizzling guitars are buoyed by Omonte's pillowy bass & Menze's percussion. From there on out, tracks like "Factory Dream" give the listener a taste of The Movers' modus operandi here; a mixture of (more) traditional song craft interspersed between long-form, improvised pieces of modern psychedelia. The group shuffles through instruments; synths, drum machines, auto-harp, various forms of percussion (and whatever else was laying around) as well as the trad guitar/bass/drums configuration to craft a suite of songs that - while not necessarily similar in composition - feel unified in their overall sonic scope. Tracks like the 14-minute "Reclamation Yard", whose deep-space electronic pulse is juxtaposed against side C opener "See The City "s persistent acoustic strum that showcase similar ideas of the `spirituality ' of losing ones self in repetition, but executed differently. In many ways "Walking After Dark"s duality feels like a merger of "On The Beach"-era Neil Young & the collective freak-outs of Amon Düül, taking inspiration in the `incorporeality ' of free music and lacing it with Greene's hazy, haunting lyricism and is an exciting step forward for a band that's already a few steps ahead. "Walking After Dark" is released on black double-vinyl in a full color gatefold jacket & includes an insert with artwork & lyrics by member Dan Greene.

Nathaniel Russell is a multi-disciplinary artist from Indiana who creates drawings, paintings, prints, murals, objects, videos, and music, often with friends and fellow artists. And in 2023, he packed up his car and drove from his home in Indiana all the way to North Carolina to record new music with his long-time friend Amelia Meath (Sylvan Esso, The A's) at Betty's, the wooded studio haven of Sylvan Esso, where recent releases from The Tallest Man on Earth, Caroline Rose, Wednesday, The A's, The Mountain Goats, Flock of Dimes, Indigo de Souza, and many more have been born. This record began with a funny and sad idea Russell had about a funeral. "I imagined a picture of a funeral with a merch table. It was an idea full of darkness and sweetness to me. Immediately I thought about what my merchandise would look like, what it would be. I began to think about what the record for sale at my funeral would sound like. I started to think about the songs I have made up and sung to and with my friends, family, and myself over the years. I noticed how the songs I had sung the longest seemed connected to others from a different time. I had changed some words and how I played them but they were all of me and my time on earth. I heard how these things fit together. Of course I now needed to see this project become a reality." Songs Of was produced by Meath, engineered by Alli Rogers, and features additional performances from Joe Westerlund (Megafaun, Califone) and Nick Sanborn (Sylvan Esso, Made of Oak).

The legend continues. The pioneer cult band Esplendor Geométrico offers us their new album, Strepitus Rhythmicus, of machine-like and futuristic post-industrial music. The new album includes 9 tracks on a limited-edition vinyl LP and 11 tracks on the CD digipack version. After recording an album of the amazing new project ASA together with Uwe Schmidt/ATOM TM (Raster 2023), the pioneer cult band Esplendor Geométrico offers us their new album. Electric pulse of mechanical rhythms, hidden voices, and factory noises. E.G. reinvent themselves again and again without losing their unique essence. Based now in Islamabad and Rome, Arturo Lanz & Saverio Evangelista have not stopped their live performances all over the world in the last years with great success. Born in 1980 as a trio, and currently a duo formed by Arturo Lanz (founding member) and Saverio Evangelista (member since 1991), Esplendor Geométrico is an influential and international electronic cult band and also a rare case in the Spanish music scene, as they have developed their own independent path aside from tags, fashion or trends, in spite of being often classified as industrial music. Their career during this four decades hasn't had interruptions. They haven't stopped composing, releasing albums or playing live (with more intensity since the nineties), and they have continued for the simple pleasure of making music. Esplendor Geométrico has achieved a personal and distinct style that can be appreciated from their 80's albums, when they used analog synthesizers and primitive electronic percussion, to the present time with new digital tools. Their influence has marked many later artists, usually classified in the so-called industrial music or rhythm & noise, as well as artists from current techno and certain types of experimental noise music.

Nach ihrem von der Kritik gefeierten UK-Top-20-Album 'As Days Get Dark' kehren Arab Strap mit ihrem zweiten Album für Mogwais Rock Action Records zurück, das den treffenden Titel 'I'm totally fine with it don't give a fuck anymore' trägt. Fast 28 Jahre nach ihrem Debüt klangen Arab Strap noch nie so essentiell, so unentbehrlich wie jetzt, und dieses neue Album ist ein glühender Beweis für ihren Laserfokus auf breitere Horizonte. Das Album, das ausschließlich von Malcolm Middleton und Aidan Moffat geschrieben und eingespielt wurde und an dem auch Paul Savage, ein langjähriges Mitglied der Band, mitgewirkt hat, unterstreicht die Wandlung der Band von melancholischen Slow-Core-Romantikern zu wütenden Alt-Pop-Chronisten.

Nach ihrem von der Kritik gefeierten UK-Top-20-Album 'As Days Get Dark' kehren Arab Strap mit ihrem zweiten Album für Mogwais Rock Action Records zurück, das den treffenden Titel 'I'm totally fine with it don't give a fuck anymore' trägt. Fast 28 Jahre nach ihrem Debüt klangen Arab Strap noch nie so essentiell, so unentbehrlich wie jetzt, und dieses neue Album ist ein glühender Beweis für ihren Laserfokus auf breitere Horizonte. Das Album, das ausschließlich von Malcolm Middleton und Aidan Moffat geschrieben und eingespielt wurde und an dem auch Paul Savage, ein langjähriges Mitglied der Band, mitgewirkt hat, unterstreicht die Wandlung der Band von melancholischen Slow-Core-Romantikern zu wütenden Alt-Pop-Chronisten.

Ein Albumtitel, der gleich in doppelter Hinsicht perfekt passt: ‚Silver Romance‘ heißt die neue Scheibe der süddeutschen Melodic-Powermetaller Freedom Call. Der Name symbolisiert nicht nur das 25-jährige Bestehen der Band – von Sänger/Gitarrist und Bandgründer Chris Bay augenzwinkernd als „unsere Silberhochzeit“ bezeichnet –, sondern trifft auch inhaltlich zu: „Dem Edelmetall Silber werden Eigenschaften wie Klarheit, Freiheit und Leichtigkeit zugeschrieben“, erklärt Bay und fügt hinzu: „Außerdem soll Silber das Selbstbewusstsein und die Fantasie stärken können. Allesamt
Attribute, die auch zu Freedom Call passen und die wir sowohl musikalisch als auch textlich in unseren neuen Songs haben einfließen lassen.“

Veröffentlicht wird ‚Silver Romance‘ als CD, Doppel-LP, Box-Set und digitaler Download am 10. Mai 2024 über Steamhammer/SPV, bereits wenige Tage später starten Bay und Co. ihre 2024er Konzertaktivitäten. Um den Fans die Wartezeit bis dahin zu versüßen, werden vorab gleich vier Singles ausgekoppelt: Am 21. Februar startet die Reihe mit dem Titeltrack ‚Silver Romance‘ inklusive eines Making-Of-Videos, am 20. März und 10. April folgen ‚In Quest Of Love‘ bzw. ‚High Above’ jeweils mit Lyric-Clips. Zwei Tage vor dem Album-Release, genauer gesagt am 8. Mai 2024, rundet dann der Song ‚Supernova‘ mit einem sehenswerten Video das Single-Quartett ab

Made in M is known for his smooth lofi beats. This new release picks up where his other releases have left off.
Cranking up the bpm a notch but keeping his signature organic grooves in his house debut LP.
FLUX is jazzy lofi house at its best for those lofi beat graduates that haven’t forgotten their roots.
Full LP dropping May 3rd on ear-sight and limited to 350 black vinyl.

BELFAST PARTY THE NIGHT INSTITUTE LAUNCHES NEW ELECTRONIC MUSIC LABEL

The Night Institute, the legendary cult club night at the forefront of Belfast's thriving electronic music scene, announces eponymous new record label.

Spearheaded by scene stalwarts Timmy Stewart of Black Bones fame and Jordan Nocturne, known for his contributions to labels like Correspondent and Polari, this new venture aims to showcase Belfast's true independent club scene on a global scale.
The Night Institute has long been synonymous with cutting-edge music, providing a haven for the city's electronic music aficionados.
With the label, the vinyl and digital project features tracks by both resident artists as well as global artists who've played at the party.
The inaugural release boasts a stellar lineup.

Alongside Night Institute residents Timmy Stewart (Ft. Northern Irish vocalist Megan Sylvan) and Jordan Nocturne, the record showcases guest appearances by Justin Cudmore, resident of New York's renowned The Bunker and regular contributor to Phonica Records, and Hifi Sean, who has been making waves with his collaborative project alongside David McAlmond while working with icons like Ce Ce Peniston and Yoko Ono.

The label aims to capture the essence of Belfast's underground electronic music scene, while joining the dots with global collaborators across four tracks of acid, odd-ball house and dance floor electronics.

Good Vibes for Uncertain Times

In 2012 we at Soul Junction were able to release two previously unissued songs on the Internationally renowned recording artist, Oliver Cheatham. The songs recorded in Detroit circa 1974/75 were cut under the supervision of Olivers cousin William R. Miller. “Don’t Pop The Question (If You Can’t Take The Answer)” went on to become Soul Junction’s biggest seller, selling in excess of over a thousand copies, but such is the enduring quality of the song that there hasn’t been a week gone by where we haven’t received a sales enquiry for a copy. So, after much deliberation we have decide to re-release the 45 again with a nifty 300 limited press run to hopefully satisfy this continuing demand. During the ensuing years the soulful sweet soul ballad b-side “Good Guys Don’t Make Good Lovers” has also grown in stature with collectors of this genre with many of the sales enquiries received coming from the direction of the West Coast’s lowrider scene.



Oliver Cheatham will forever be remembered for his timeless 1983 R & B hit “Get Down Saturday Night” on MCA records, which he co-wrote with fellow Detroit musician and ‘One Way’ group member Kevin McCord. Oliver’s own career began way back in the mid 1960’s when his future brother-in- law Allen Cocker invited Oliver to join his group the ‘Young Sirs’ to recorded the mellifluous “There’s Something The Matter (With Your Heart)” for Ernest and Barbara Burt’s Magic City label with Oliver now being the groups lead singer.

Into the 70’s the Young Sirs, briefly became ‘Butch & The Newports’ who under the auspices of George McGregor recorded “I’m Only A Man/Out Of My Mind” on the Black Rock label, with Butch being Oliver’s nickname. “I’m Only A man” was released for a second time on Marvin Higgin’s Grand Junction label, this time credited to ‘The Gaslight’ along with a further two releases. A subsequent Gaslight release “Just Because Of You/It’s Just Like Magic” reputedly came out on the local T.E.A.I label before being picked up for national distribution by Polydor Records. Under the guidance of influential Detroit radio DJ and record producer Al Perkins, Oliver firstly became the lead singer of the group Sins Of Satin later re-named Roundtrip and then following a further re-naming just becoming known as Oliver.



Following on from “Get Down Saturday Night” Oliver continued to score chart success with “SOS”, “Celebrate Our Love” followed by two duets with Jocelyn Brown “Turn Out The Lights” and “Mind Buster”. Further chart success came in 2003 when Oliver featured as a guest vocalist on Room 5’s UK No1 hit “Make Luv” which incidentally sampled Oliver’s “Get Down Saturday Night”. Oliver at this juncture was residing in England and had previously recorded a garage version of the old standard “Our Day Will Come” with the London based band, Native Soul. Sadly, Oliver passed away in November 2013.

Since they shook up the scene with their 'Space Mambo' ten years ago The Limboos haven't stopped touring and reinventing themselves. However, it is in their fourth album, 'Off The Loop', where they inaugurate a new cycle that confirms the restlessness and nonconformity of the band in the search for their own sound. How to define 'Off the Loop'? The nine songs and 35 minutes of music included here reflect this broad perspective: lysergic passages, baroque pop, and beautifully crafted psychedelia intertwine with cinematic atmospheres, fuzz guitars, galactic keyboards and unique arrangements. In short, The Limboos' sound has reached a place you never suspected. It's time for you to discover it

Nia Archives is the star at the forefront of the latest era of jungle. Since her emergence in 2020, her collagist soundscapes have helped bring the sound to a new generation of clubgoers (though fair warning: don’t call her a “revivalist” – she’s the first to point out that the scene never went away). So when it comes to talk of the 24-year-old producer, DJ, singer and songwriter’s much-anticipated debut album, the odds are you’re thinking of a full-length record of weightless jungle tracks with basslines so intense they’ll leave your ears ringing.

But the reality of the Bradford-born, Leeds-raised artist’s first ever album – while very much replete with that exquisite jungle sound she does so well – is also doing something a little different. On the thrilling and freeing Silence Is Loud, Nia Archives is looking to make music for beyond the rave. As she explains: “I think music can be experienced in different ways, and there’s different kinds of music for different scenarios. Say you’re at a festival listening to music with thousands of other people, that can feel really uniting. But then you might listen to an album on your own in the bus, or in a taxi; and this project is definitely more a record to sit and listen to than a collection of club tracks.” Nia is intent that Silence Is Loud is taken in as a full body of work of something “more song-focussed, putting interesting sounds on jungle.” It means that this is a record which finds gloomy Britpop, warm Motown, soaring indie, a love for Kings of Leon’s Aha Shake Heartbreak, skittering IDM, Madchester, classic rock, old skool hardcore and more, woven and fused into her ragga and junglist tapestry, all layered with feeling, imbued with her songwriterly lyricism about loneliness, relationships, family, navigating her 20s, and the intense potential power of silence.

The vast sonic palette on Silence Is Loud comes down to Nia’s broad array of influences through her life. With her Jamaican heritage, Nia remembers hearing jungle as a child via her nana, as well as at Bradford Carnival, where she was drawn to the soundsystem culture, dancing carefree on the floats in the parade. The first album she ever bought was Rihanna’s debut, Music of the Sun, and she also went to Pentecostal church back then, and was obsessed with gospel. Aged 16, she moved to Manchester, where she didn’t really know anybody: and so, her solution to meeting people was going out. “Partying was a huge part of my life,” she says, “They used to do little freestyle cyphers at the house parties and I would join in – that’s kind of how I got into singing.” She had found music boring at school, but in meeting all these new people she became interested in making her own music as a hobby. “I was making boom-bap kind of stuff which I didn’t really like in the end,” she laughs, “My lyrics are quite deep, so on a hip-hop beat it all sounds really depressing. I wanted people to dance to my music.” And so she began experimenting with faster tempos alongside that melancholy songwriting, teaching herself how to make beats on Logic: “It’s all been a lot of trial and error, really.”

Nia went to study music in London, and was also interested in visual art, making collages and VHS: “Before the music, I was trying to make a visual archive of my life and the people around me,” she explains, “And then my music was like my diary, and a sonic archive, as well.” Hence, she paired the word “archives” with her middle name, Nia. To this day, in her spare time she’s working on pulling together a documentary on the global nature of the jungle scene.

Back on those first two EPs, Headz Gone West (2021) and Forbidden Feelingz (2022), she honed that junglist sound, painting it with new flecks of colour and vibrance. It was only after she started releasing work that she realised pursuing music could be a viable life path for her. The decision has been paying off ever since. Nia Archives placed third in the prestigious BBC Sound Poll for 2023, alongside garnering a nomination for the Brit Awards’ Rising Star prize, plus wins at the DJ Mag, NME, the MOBOs and Artist and Manager Awards. She has also toured the world – be it North America, Europe or Asia – and even opened a show in London as part of a little something called Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour. She’s renowned as a party-starter in her own right, too, with takeovers at Glastonbury, Warehouse Project and her own Bad Gyalz day event. She’s done official remixes for the likes of Jorja Smith, had a huge summer hit with her Yeah Yeah Yeahs rework ‘Off Wiv Ya Headz’, and worked with brands like Corteiz, Nike, Flannels, Burberry, FIFA and Apple. In just three years, it’s fair to say that Nia Archives has become a need-to-know name in dance music.

But Nia is not interested in being one fixed thing. Building on the terrain from her third EP, Sunrise Bang Ur Head Against Tha Wall, the universe of Silence Is Loud is not totally unfamiliar territory; but it’s still emblematic of a bolder scope than we’ve heard from the artist before. Working with Ethan P. Flynn (the songwriter and producer known for his work with FKA twigs and David Byrne), the resulting record is an impressive feat of deftly-sculpted textures; sometimes big and euphoric, like the wobbly, lusty bass of ‘Forbidden Feelingz’, or elsewhere notably gentle and quiet – see: the gorgeous, surprisingly drumless ‘Silence Is Loud (Reprise)’, a heartfelt number that sits somewhere in the school of Adele. “I really sharpened my songwriting skill on this project,” Nia says, “I was really intentional about what I was writing about, and I really loved co-producing with Ethan. His process is so different to anyone I’ve worked with before, and he’s got a kind of DIY set-up like me.” Flynn’s flat overlooks the Barbican, adding that unquantifiable futurist urban quality that the area holds to the music. The pair enjoyed the collaborative process so much that the album was done within three and a half months.

Perhaps this is why Silence Is Loud maintains an exuberant immediacy while still being sleek and spacious, interspersed with flourishes of metallic beats, lush melody and topped with her sugary but powerful vocal, floating over it all. There is an intimacy to the record, perhaps in part due to Nia writing most of her lyrics while sitting in bed in her flat in Bow (once a bedroom producer, always a bedroom producer). You can hear it on the refrain for lead single ‘Crowded Roomz’, which finds rippling guitar lines cutting taut through the beats as Nia refrains: “I feel so lonely crowded rooms.” The song is an examination of life on tour, constantly surrounded by people, but not necessarily those she can be herself around; more than that, the track is exemplary in the category of sad bangers.

Silence Is Loud often finds itself in that push and pull between melancholy and euphoria. There’s a celebration of her unconditional love for her younger brother (the title track), a rumination of an evening with an Irish boy she met by Temple Bar (‘Cards On The Table), or a letter to herself on the light and airy ‘Unfinished Business’, even coming to terms with a lover having a past they haven’t quite processed yet (“nobody comes with a clean slate”). The latter was recorded the week after a music festival, and accordingly captures Nia’s vocal in its not quite healed, husky state.

Nia’s work is always a snapshot of where she’s at when she’s making it. This might not be the debut album you were expecting, but that’s what makes Silence Is Loud so special. Nia Archives has learned the rules of her sound, and is unafraid to break them, pushing jungle and herself into new, unchartered territories that, in turn, go some way to map the history of the greats of British dance music. More than that, it plants her firmly in that lineage.

The Good the Bad and the Zugly have been delivering premium class, antiquated rock for almost 15 years straight. They’ve always been the real deal. True heroes of the Armageddon. Whenever responsibility came knocking at the door they stuck to their guns and kept living the rock life to the fullest. Their contemptuous look at everything and
everyone who doesn’t fit into their world view has always been prominent in their sound, and their musical and lyrical expression has stayed uncompromised.

No one has yet dared to confront their satirical know-it-all attitude, but recently water has started to seep through their seemingly waterproof façade. Band members have on several occasions been observed at the Oslo’s local shopping malls wearing reading glasses, down jackets, and sensible footwear, pushing strollers filled with blaring,
chocolate devouring children. With wistful eyes they’re seen pushing strollers through to the suburbs, far away from dirty dens credible dark nooks and shitty toilets.

To mend this rapidly declining rock image they´ve decided to release what they consider to be their worst album so far: A collection of B-songs that have never made the list when assembling the list of Norwegian Grammy nominated classics. This upcoming album is
nothing less of a wonderful bouquet of contemptuous elegies who haven't yet found a place on the big, dark web. Truth be told the opinionated armor GBZ has been hiding behind was mostly for show, they’ve always beat around the bush – or as we say in Norwegian: had a walk around the porrid

The Good the Bad and the Zugly have been delivering premium class, antiquated rock for almost 15 years straight. They’ve always been the real deal. True heroes of the Armageddon. Whenever responsibility came knocking at the door they stuck to their guns and kept living the rock life to the fullest. Their contemptuous look at everything and
everyone who doesn’t fit into their world view has always been prominent in their sound, and their musical and lyrical expression has stayed uncompromised.

No one has yet dared to confront their satirical know-it-all attitude, but recently water has started to seep through their seemingly waterproof façade. Band members have on several occasions been observed at the Oslo’s local shopping malls wearing reading glasses, down jackets, and sensible footwear, pushing strollers filled with blaring,
chocolate devouring children. With wistful eyes they’re seen pushing strollers through to the suburbs, far away from dirty dens credible dark nooks and shitty toilets.

To mend this rapidly declining rock image they´ve decided to release what they consider to be their worst album so far: A collection of B-songs that have never made the list when assembling the list of Norwegian Grammy nominated classics. This upcoming album is
nothing less of a wonderful bouquet of contemptuous elegies who haven't yet found a place on the big, dark web. Truth be told the opinionated armor GBZ has been hiding behind was mostly for show, they’ve always beat around the bush – or as we say in Norwegian: had a walk around the porrid

Singles V1 is a 6 track, 12-inch beautiful marine blue coloured vinyl EP. It is also the first physical release by Low Girl. As the title suggests the EP is a collection of the band’s singles up to the end of 2023 which features Big Now, So Cool, Blessing, Bored, Uh-Oh and Pockets. If you haven’t yet heard of Low Girl, be in no doubt, you will do soon. The band are a four-piece fronted by singer songwriter Sarah Cosgrove with band mates Toby Morgan, Tom Cosgrove and Bradley Taylor and it is clear to see that their popularity has been steadily growing since the release of their first single Big Now in 2021. The band have featured on the BBC Introducing Stage at the Reading Festival and played at the Texas SXSW Festival at the invite of The British Music Embassy in 2022. They have also regularly toured and provided support for acts such as October Drift, Pale Blue Eyes, The Murder Capital, Dream Wife and most recently Dekker. Low Girl’s indie pop, lo/fi sound, attributable to its vulnerable lyrics, synth licks and guitar driven riffs, has attracted admirers and radio airplay on BBC Radio 1, Radio X and particularly at BBC Radio 6 music, who have play listed a number of the band’s singles. Indeed, their single ‘So Cool’ was one of BBC Radio 1 Introducing’s singles of the week in April 2022 and ‘Bored’, was featured on the Late in the Day program’s International Women’s Day 2023 edition alongside Arlo Parks, Bjork, Sade, Nina Simone and other premier female artists. Sarah Cosgrove has also joined the panellists on one of August’s editions of Steve Lamacq’s round table together with Felix White and Deadletter’s Zac.

Just when you thought you had Kasper Bjørke figured out he comes back with another great musical surprise. His new album Puzzles, which will be released April 5th on hfn music, follows two recent collaborative EPs on Live at Robert Johnson and Mule Musiq as well as his second Kasper Bjørke Quartet neoclassical/ambient album Mother on Kompakt.
Puzzles is Kasper’s love letter to the sound of early 2000s New York - merged with his Scandinavian sense of producing songs that goes beyond conventional club music; combining disco tinged instrumentations mixed with elements of 80s funk, jazz and contemporary pop songwriting, creating something familiar yet, something very fresh and innovative at the same time.
The album includes collaborations with a wide range of musicians and vocalists. From California based indie-disco troubadour Woolfy (DFA, Rong, Permanent Vacation etc.) to the Icelandic dream-folk trio Systur aka Sísý Ey (who also featured on Kasper’s 2014 single Apart, where the Michael Mayer remix became a timeless club anthem), as well as other longtime collaborators and artist friends: Toby Ernest, Jacob Bellens, WhoMadeWho’s Tomas Høffding on bass, Posh Isolation affiliate Frederik Valentin on guitar and the young, rising jazz star Oilly Wallace on saxophone and flute. Essentially, the majority of Puzzles is played and recorded live, including the drums by Rasmus Littauer (School of X, MØ). Many of the songs emerged from chord progressions written during studio sessions between Kasper and Toby - which Kasper then produced into a colourful and effective album, rooted in an expressive live feeling far from programmed patterns.
Puzzles is a new step for Kasper as a producer and artist, showcasing his ability to move and flow freely between genres and expressions, however still deeply rooted in his love and affection for the classic disco groove - which is only natural after more than two decades as an active DJ.
Another piece has been added to the musical puzzle of Kasper Bjørke

Omit’s in/Sec is “new,” but not new. Recorded in 2013, the masters lost in the label’s murky somewheresville that always shows up when moving. For those who don’t know, Omit is an experimental electronics artist from New Zealand’s south island who, since 1990, has released thirty-some xerographed cassettes and CDrs in the Dead C orbit for those who do. It’s not enough to say that in/Sec is an ambient masterpiece bringing to mind a John Carpenter soundtrack performed by the Hub because listening to it engineers new species. The infectious and corrupting sounds synthesize new life forms in your brain's enzymes. If you specialize in a niche too much, you are prey to predators outside, but Omit never goes for low-hanging fruit and isn't simulating anything. I can vomit a better looking face than the ones on these little fuckers eating my brain right now. In this century that flatters itself to be of drinking age, it is a queer thing we haven’t come face to face with aliens. There is a time for everything and they're all intermixed. Besides the xenobiological effects, Omit constructs your sentiment through timbral concepts that repeat and shift with minimal reference to harmony, melody, key, or mode. Streams jump and skitter, knitting tightly high and low in a dense rattling driven to the long and most plaintive tones amongst the countless gizmos (that’s including you, but not “you”). This one is for big fans of Anode/Cathode, Ikue Mori, Papa Srapa, Fronte Violeta, and Insignia refrigerators.

An expanded 3-LP edition of Sonny Rollins’ essential and legendary live trio album A Night At The Village Vanguard: The Complete Masters is added to Blue Note’s acclaimed audiophile vinyl series in Q1, mastered for the very first time from the original tapes. (The first release and subsequent reissues were made from a tape transfer.) This deluxe tri-fold edition includes a plethora of great editorial, including a new interview with Rollins in conversation with Blue Note President Don Was.

“As we began to prepare for this album, I made my customary call to Capitol tape vault archivist Jack Arenas to inquire about the analog master tapes. Naturally, I assumed there would be a set of Rudy Van Gelder assembled 15ips analog masters of all the material. Indeed, there was, but then Jack said something that caught my ear. ‘Now there are these other tapes, but they haven’t been assembled, and they are all recorded at 7.5ips.’ I sat straight up and probably looked a bit like the mind-blown emoji. With this issue of Sonny Rollins ‘A Night At The Village Vanguard: The Complete Masters’ we are finally able to hear the actual masters that were recorded that afternoon and evening.” — Joe Harley

Rancid-Sänger Tim Armstrong ist auch als Chef seines Labels Hellcat immer wieder für Überraschungen gut. Bestes Beispiel: The Interrupters. Angeführt von der sehr umtriebigen Singer-Songwriterin Aimee Allen begann die Ska-Band aus Los Angeles ihre Arbeit mit Armstrong mit einer Single für dessen populäre Tim-Timebomb-Serie. Davor veröffentlichte Allen ein recht erfolgreiches Soloalbum und war als Backgroundsängerin auf dem von Armstrong produzierten und mit einem Grammy ausgezeichneten Jimmy-Cliff-Album "Rebirth" zu hören. Auf "The Interrupters" verbinden sie und ihre Kollegen Ska, Reggae und Punk, nicht ohne jedoch auf Humor zu verzichten, wie etwa in Songs wie "White Noise" und "Liberty". Für Fans von Rancid, The Distillers, Streetlight Manifesto, Sublime, Operation Ivy, Two Tone.

Los Angeles duo crushed announce their signing to Ghostly International and the first vinyl pressing of their 2023 debut EP, extra life. A love letter to `90s radio, the first collaboration from musicians Bre Morell and Shaun Durkan finds them tuning a shared taste for maximalist dream pop. Open-hearted hooks and melodic riffs move through a haze of breakbeats, spliced sound design, and distortion. Faithful yet fluid in its channeling of golden age alt-rock, Britpop, trip-hop, and electronica, there's a refreshing freedom to the sound, which quickly resonated with fans and critics upon initial release. Pitchfork called it "effortless, widescreen dream pop that's serene without being sentimental," and NPR cited its "deep sense of place and time." The music also struck Ghostly, and the first measure for crushed and their new label home is to give extra life a wider physical release paired with remixes from band favorites Real Lies and DJ Python. The story of crushed is written across midnight transmissions. In the early 2010s, Morell, who fronts the band Temple of Angels (Run For Cover Records), hosted a graveyard shift college radio show and used to play music from Durkan's former band Weekend (Slumberland Records). In 2020, Durkan, having focused on production work (Tamaryn, Young Prisms) following Weekend's run as a formidable shoegaze act, hosted a late-night program on a community radio station in San Francisco. Driving one day, he heard Temple of Angels by chance and was immediately drawn to Morell's voice. He added a song that night to his on-air tracklist. Morell saw it and reached out to thank him and point to that connection made a decade earlier. The exchange sparked a long-distance project. First, they filled an audible moodboard with `90s classics from the likes of Natalie Imbruglia, Sneaker Pimps, and The Sundays. Songs that transported them back to places of comfort and discovery; Morell's memories of a metallic, lavender boombox that dispatched past sounds from a world beyond her Houston suburbia, and Durkan, in his mom's car on the way to band practice. These touchpoints provided a palette for crushed to experiment without expectations, purely for the fun of it. A creative intimacy emerged; stepping outside the reverb walls of her full band, Morell embraced more clarity and a range of emotions in her vocals, while Durkan looked inward as a producer, collaging fragments from their everyday lives: voice memos, piano recordings, even the panting of Morell's late dog on "milksugar." The wistful ballad embodies extra life's feeling as a whole. "I am home again," sings Morell; her refrain cycles above a drum machine beat as Durkan colors their universe with star-lit strums, synth swells, and the crackle of fireworks in the distance. Elsewhere, the duo's uptempo mode is equally effective, like the super-charged duet "coil" or the propulsive opener "waterlily," which sets a cinematic tone for the set. Bold, bright, and replayable, extra life presents crushed as a project of immense promise, two artists unlocking something special within themselves, a space to hold both melancholy and bliss. Durkan adds, "To me, extra life is true and pure - in a way I haven't felt about music in a really really long time."

DOODSESKADER (Dutch for “Death Squad”) is a merging of the minds of Tim De Gieter (Amenra, Much Luv Studio) and Sigfried Burroughs (Kapitan Korsakov, Paard).

Throughout their three years of existence, DOODSESKADER has been relentlessly pushing the envelope of what it means to be a “heavy” band. From the grunge-infused sludge on their EP “MMXX : Year Zero” to the punishing blend of hiphop and hardcore of their debut album “Year One” and the sonic onslaught of relentless rapping on standalone singles such as “FLF” and “Still Haven’t Killed Myself”, they’re breaking free of any form of categorization.



The duo has been compared to genre-defying trailblazers such as Ghostemane, Show Me The Body, and Ho99o9, however, they clearly bring their own sonic palette to the table.

The red thread in all of this has been their brutally honest and introspective lyrics. Far from your run-of-the mill type of band, DOODSESKADER uses their instrumentation as a sonic backdrop for the emotion and message they try to convey; their music serves as a mirror for life itself. Sometimes brutal, sometimes fragile, sometimes energizing, but always unexpected.



Now, on March 8th, with the arrival of their sophomore album “Year Two”, DOODSESKADER takes things up another couple of notches. From silky-soft “Pastel Prison” to the absolute carnage of “The Sheer Horror Of The Human Condition”, this record is a testament to both their creativity and their will to leave their mark on this world. It’s a trip in every sense of the word, tapping into even more genres such as R&B, techno, hardcore punk, and moody ballads reminiscent of the 90s, all blended seamlessly in their musical vocabulary and making for a sonic journey unlike anything you’ve heard before.

Where their last record “Year One” saw the duo struggling with their inner demons both past and present, “Year Two” is an undeniable display of progress; not only introspectively, but also musically. De Gieter and Burroughs sound outright bloodthirsty, ready to take on anyone in their way. Tracks like “Bone Pipe” or “I Ask With My Mouth, I’ll Take With My Fist” paint a vivid picture of the band’s will to plot their own their path through this world, while at the same time slowly coming to terms with their pasts on tracks like “Peine” or “People Have Poisoned My Mind To A Point Where I Can No Longer Function”. “Year Two” undeniably sees DOODSESKADER’s promise fulfilled: it’s both a complete teardown of genres and boundaries, a sonic wrecking ball wielded by two people trying to get better.

Live, DOODSESKADER proves to be an absolute must see, translating into their sold out AB-release and a sleuth shows over Europe playing with acts such as Brutus and Amenra and on the stages of festivals such as Hellfest (FR), Mystic Fest (PL), Lokerse Feesten (BE), Fluff Fest (CZ) and much more.

The renowned Disco Dandies have made a triumphant return, emerging from their creative haven at the Old Course of the St. Andrews Golf Club. Following the success of their previous chart-topping hit, “Inside Your Love” (2 People), which went to number one TWICE at Traxsource, they present their latest offering, a rework of the Miami T.K. Disco classic by Tamiko Jones, “Let It Flow.”

This new release showcases a heightened tempo and a fresh interpretation that irresistibly beckons the dance floor. The Disco Dandies, known for their meticulous attention to detail, have patiently crafted a musical gem that has received the coveted final seal of approval. Now, in the year 2024, they are ready to unveil their creation to the world.

n stark contrast to the hurried pace of some, the Disco Dandies adhere to a philosophy where haste has no place; instead, they embrace patience as the key to their artistic process. The anticipation surrounding their latest work has been met with great reward, and the wait for this musical delight has proven to be truly worthwhile.

Get ready to immerse yourself in the infectious rhythms and the Japanese, Cherokee soulful voice of Tamiko Jones and the Disco Dandies.

Chicago hip-hop outfit Angry Blackmen made up of Quentin Branch & Brian Warren (ABM) have been stretching their arms and tapping into different sounds since they smashed onto the scene with their debut single “OK!” in 2017. A prime introduction starring two emcees showing they deserve to wield the microphone and do so with good cause. Then barely a month later ABM released sophomore single ‘Riot!’ a complete shift in sound that still housed the foundation set in ‘OK!’ A few years later the duo would drop their debut project ‘Talkshit!’ which saw them amass the following they have today.
‘The Legend of ABM’ immediately smacks the listener in the eardrum leaving no second wasted and jumping straight to the point. The 11-track adventure truly presents an expression of hip-hop that we haven’t seen before, infusing multiple sounds with the 50-year old genre. To go even deeper, Quentin Branch & Brian Warren are teaching a masterclass in top-notch poetic lyricism, creating both accessible and mind-bending music. “Stanley Kubrick” has both heroes shattering the beat with their braggadocio for what is just the appetizer to prepare the listener for what’s to come in the next ten tracks. ‘Sabotage’ tells the story of two Black men hustling through the trenches of capitalism and the effect that this journey has on them. While the album exudes catchy wordplay and spine-splitting production, if you lift up the hood, ABM is spinning a tale of depression, existentialism and self-reflection that isn’t always pretty. “Dead Men Tell No Lies” is another mutation in sound for the duo, where the industrial sounds clash, violently yet perfectly together with a blistering hook harkening to the end of time. Warren & Branch’s raw poetry educates the listener of the pre-apocalyptic world we’re already living in throughout this project. ‘The Legend of ABM’ is not an excursion for the weak, the production is meant to snap your spine in half, the lyrics from Quentin & Brian are pathos-infused and relatable to anyone simply trying to survive.

His Lordship ist eine Band mit einer Mission. Das hat auch die britische Mojo erkannt: “This band absolutely has a mission and that’s to rip people’s heads off with blistering rock’n’roll. It’s something we haven’t seen for way too long.”
Der 2021 in London gegründeten Band eilt der Ruf einer der aufregendsten Livebands voraus, die Großbritannien in den letzten 20 Jahren hervorgebracht hat.
Lorbeeren die sich das 2021 gegründete Duo aus James Walbourne (Gitarre/Gesang) und Kristoffer Sonne (Schlagzeug/Gesang) redlich erspielt hat.
Live wird die Band um Bassist Dave Page (von den Pretenders) ergänzt.
Co-produziert von David Wrench (XX, Hot Chip, Courtney Barnett etc.) und abgemischt von Wrench und Tchad Blake (The Black Keys, Arctic Monkeys etc.), kommt auf dem knapp über 30 Minuten langen Debütalbum der Band keine Langeweile auf.
Ein wilder Ritt aus 50er-Jahre-Rockabilly, New Wave, Surf-Instrumentalmusik, Post-Punk und glühendem Garagenrock der Jahrtausendwende.

Je prie pour que la goutte ne tombe pas" (I pray that the drop does not fall) is the first international release by Japanese trio Chi To Shizuku. While they have released five albums and a 7” in Japan, their spectral, haunted rock songs haven’t yet reached a much wider audience overseas. With this album, then, a live recording taken at Koenji HIGH, Suginami, Tokyo on 23rd November 2021, the unique, quartz-like character of Chi To Shizuku’s music is writ large, the bleak bliss of their songs carved onto twelve-inch vinyl.

Perhaps the best-known member of Chi To Shizuku, at least for audiences with an ear turned to Japanese psychedelia, is drummer Takahashi Ikuro, known for his membership of almost every group worth a damn from that scene – Fushitsusha, Nagisa Ni Te, Ché-SHIZU, Kousokuya, High Rise, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, LSD March, the list goes on. But the core of Chi To Shizuku’s music is the collaboration between vocalist, bassist and lyricist Morikawa Seiichirou, and guitarist and arranger Yamagiwa Hideki. Morikawa is a member of long- running punk/goth group Z.O.A., and has also played with YBO2, Zzzoo, and as collaborator with Takeshi and Atsuo of Boris in A/N; he’s also recently been performing with Mitsuru Tabata. Yamagiwa’s history takes in stints with Katsurei and Cock C’ Nell, and he also recently guested with la scene 裸身.

All this contextual information does relatively little, though, to prepare you for the unique vibration of Chi To Shizuku’s lustrous songs. They shimmer in the same half-light, perhaps, as Shizuka and the quieter moments of LSD March, sharing a similar poise and classicism, and there’s a tenderness and wracked poetry to Morikawa’s voice that reminds of the emotional intensities both of traditional Japanese folk, and of British folk music: on “Musuu No Nemuri No Naka De Kumo Wo Tukamu”, the combination of his singing, backed with gorgeously plangent guitar, reminds of no-one so much as it does The Pentangle or Spriguns Of Tolgus. Chi To Shizuku’s love for the ballad as form gifts their music an archaic, sometimes arcane resonance, and from what you can hear on this album, it’s clear they’re in love with graceful melancholy.

But this is not a folk album, by any means; it just shivers with the same eternal spirit. There are also hints of prog rock, and you can catch some passages of scratchy, distended free rock, on the extended spirit invocation of “Nanhito Hanhito”. je prie pour que la goutte ne tombe pas is an extraordinary album, a melancholy surprise, that reminds dedicated listeners of the seemingly bottomless well of great music to be found via the Japanese underground in its many forms. Perhaps Michel Henritzi says it best, though, in his liner notes, when he writes, “Chi To Shizuku’s music reminds us that our life is a dream that lasts only a season, and that oblivion will follow.”

Waxwork Records in collaboration with Walt Disney Records announce the pre-order for the highly anticipated Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Original Video Game Soundtrack vinyl album. Composed by Stephen Barton and Gordy Haab, this 2xLP vinyl edition is set for release on February 2, 2024, offering fans an immersive musical experience from the acclaimed video game.

The soundtrack, comprised of 27 tracks, is pressed on 150-gram colored vinyl and presented in heavyweight gatefold jackets with a matte satin coating. To enhance the collector's experience, the vinyl will be accompanied by an 11” x 11” four-page booklet, providing a glimpse into the creative process behind the mesmerizing score.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor received a GRAMMY® nomination in the Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media category. This marks the first GRAMMY® nomination for composers Stephen Barton and Gordy Haab. The album is produced by Nick Laviers, Stephen Barton, Gordy Haab, Alan Meyerson, and Steve Schnur.

About Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor continues the story of Cal Kestis. This narratively driven, single player title picks up five years after the events of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and follows Cal’s increasingly desperate fight as the galaxy descends further into darkness.

Svaneborg Kardyb are Nikolaj Svaneborg – Wurlitzer, Juno, piano and Jonas Kardyb – drums, percussion a multi award winning duo from Denmark, with a fast-rising international reputation and with an NPR Tiny Desk concert – number one on many artist’s wish lists - in the bag before even the release of their Gondwana Records debut album Over Tage last November.



Their beautiful, exquisite compositions draw on Danish folk music and Scandinavian jazz influences, resulting in a joyful melding of beautiful melodies, delicate minimalism, catchy grooves, subtle electronica vibes, Nordic atmospheres and organic interplay. All of this and more shines through on their NPR session, first broadcast in May 2022 on YouTube. But of course, not everyone watches YouTube and so here, remastered for vinyl and download, is a strictly limited to 1500 vinyl, four tracker - At Home (An NPR Tiny Desk Concert) featuring bespoke artwork from Gondwana Records’ Daniel Halsall.



Here is what Kara Frame had to say for NPR, “Svaneborg Kardyb's Tiny Desk (home) concert was recorded in the countryside of Djursland, Denmark. "You have to drive for a while on a gravel road, and then you come to a lovely old house surrounded by hills and a stream on one side and a very flat landscape on the other, where you can see 10 miles away," the band wrote to us, describing the location of the shoot. It's this place that inspired Svaneborg Kardyb's second album, Haven (or "garden" in English). "Haven celebrates places we like to be," the duo said.



The Danish jazz duo is composed of Nikolaj Svaneborg on the Wurlitzer, synthesizer and piano, and Jonas Kardyb on drums and percussion. Their instrumentation set-up is untraditional, with the drums and keys facing each other, a position that they play in on stage just as they do in Kardyb's kitchen and living room here. They open up their set with the title track from Haven, which begins with a quiet melody over an effervescent loop. The sound mimics the shimmy of leaves in the breeze.”

This is the last album from Rico Puestel. After somehow three decades, Rico misses the cultural impact of Techno music as it has been and declares its spirits gone – at least personally. There's nothing more to tell. The self-consuming scene has reached its grotesque climax and left an empty shell of something once filled with so much passion, warmth, strength, heart and hope. The times just haven't changed – they lost their self-fulfilling purpose and authenticity.

Heavily influenced by prehistoric, tribal rhythms and trance-inducing dances within redundant structures, Techno music once had a natively true and unadulterated essence. A free spirit on the run. Rico found the right spot in time to gather all of his origins in Techno music for a last act of connecting to it. Being on an all-time high as a producer, he crafted the whole album on a course of twelve hours and relived all those deeply rooted moments and memories with Techno in fast motion. While the track titles are counting down from ten to zero in Esperanto, Rico clears up in peace and balance...

What once was, is now without form and void.
I left.
Everybody left.
Techno has left the building.

Farewell!

Vladislav Delay's complete "Hide Behind The Silence" series. Intuitive and raw music, momentary and reflective, released on Ripatti's own label Rajaton.

Stillness is a myth. Consider concepts such as ”still water”, or ”still air” for that matter. Go to a restaurant, ask them for a glass of still water, hold it against the light and see where we’re at. Even though the water itself has been captured and imprisoned in the glass, it never stops breathing. It’s filled with tiny particles, dancing. Everything can be explained on a molecular level, but since we’re not scientists – and even if you happen to be – it’s the natural world of perception that moves me.
Still air is very similar. A hot summer’s day with zero wind feels completely still. It’s the closest I have felt to complete stillness. Or for a more urban adaptation, imagine the same vibe inside a normal apartment. In those moments, revelations and mind- blowing experiences can be had with experiments in stillness.
Try this: Just sit down for a minute on a sunny day, making sure there’s enough natural light. Do absolutely nothing. Try not to breathe for a bit. (If you need a mental anchor, you can play Cage’s 4’33” in your head but nothing else.) Watch the tiny dots of dust dancing :..’ ̈.:; ́ ́*°.,’:,. ̈ ̈ ̈ ̈:,.’
The movement is crazy, but the feeling of stillness comes from witnessing how subtle it is. In (perceived) complete stillness, every act of microscopic mobility seems to speak volumes. Yet, it feels both reassuring and oddly threatening that the stillness is never complete. What if we would need absolute stillness? Or is it just enough that we can perceive something as such? Extremes attract, so for both water and air, extraordinary movement is equally fascinating. That is also a luxury item of sorts. For us to enjoy a very ”loud” body of water or air, we need to be safe, in enough control of the situation. So when you are, it’s worthwhile to pay attention and take it all in.
A rapid flowing free with extreme strength and just barely in control. Look at that water go! No still water on this one, only ”sparkling”. A windy day when birds seem surprised how hard it is to fly, but in the end they make it. Trees bend but don’t break. The wind shows you its movement but doesn’t hurt you. It feels friendly, like a big clumsy dog that doesn’t quite understand its size.
It’s beautiful to be a guest of the elements, but not at the mercy of them. A new kind of dialogue forms.

Q&A with Sasu Ripatti:

1) Tell us something about the EP series ”Hide Behind the Silence”, what’s the idea and what can we expect?

Exploration of inaction. Of many kinds. In arts and in personal life, or at bigger and more serious levels. Questioning myself as a human being as well as an artist. Acknowledging the growing activism all around, and the very clear need for it, and how it reflects my own inaction.
Musically speaking, after Rakka, Isoviha and Speed Demon, I finally found some relief, but more importantly lost the need to go musically ever more outward and intensive. I felt quite strongly certain periods/moods from the past and they made me revisit some musical ideas or states of mind I was exploring early on.
It’s about live moments being captured, not much premeditation or editing. More intuitive and raw, even though the end result (to me) feels and sounds quite introspective and calm. It’s not very ambitious. Momentary and reflective.

2) Your music doesn’t sound very silent. Does it come from somewhere behind the silence?

Oh, this time to me it sounds quite quiet and playing with space if not silence. I don’t know what’s actually behind silence, but I think silence is the source of everything. We just don’t understand it yet.

3) What kind of thoughts or experiences gave inspiration to this series?

Writing this in Nov ’22, it’s not a stretch to say the world has been really unwell. Sometimes, like Mika Vainio put it, the world eats you up. I feel a bit like that. And I try to hide in my studio and stay away from it all, but it’s getting harder by the day. I’ve been questioning myself and thinking if what us artists are doing is worth anything, and whether it’s just a selfish thing I’ve been doing for the past 25 years, running away from everything. I haven’t come to a conclusion yet.

4) Is it easy for you to be in silence, or around silence?

Absolutely. I not only hide behind silence but I also love silence. It’s only since I started going back to nature as a grown-up person that I sensed and was enveloped by silence, true silence. I have begun to appreciate it a lot. I think all the people should spend more time in silence.

All tracks composed and produced by Sasu Ripatti.
Artwork by Marc Hohmann, photography by Shinnosuke Yoshimori.
Mastering by Stephan Mathieu for Schwebung Mastering.
Vinyl cut by SST Brueggemann.
Publishing by WARP Music Ltd.

Sasu Ripatti's complete "Dancefloor Classics" series. Music for imaginary dancefloors, released on Ripatti's own label Rajaton.

”Look up, into the light” she said, while the camera shutter clicked. ”Like this? Does it look holy?” His neck felt stiff. Her reply: ”Yes, just like that. What do you mean holy? Like religious? ”No, more like trying to look very far, somewhere beyond what we can see.” ”Okay, stand still, I’m going to come close to you now. The light hits your face great.” click, click, click.
He noticed her fingernails. They were not polished. Natural. Even somewhat rugged, as if something wore out the fingers slightly. What had these hands held besides the camera? What made the edges of her fingernails drift off?
He thought it’s weird to look straight into the camera. The photographer had closed her left eye, the one not looking into the lens. Then it opened, she looked up, perusing the surroundings, then she closed her eye again, then looked up, closed, looking up, very quickly. It all seemed very professional. Maybe she calculated the light, making sure it’s close to perfect. ”What will these photos look like?” – the thought popped into his head briefly. It was liberating to think it wouldn’t matter.
”What’s that song playing?” he asked. ”Wait a sec, Ol’ Dirty Bastard?” she replied. ”Oh yeah, right. But the sample?” ”Hey, could you look up again, like that. No, lower.”
New directions: ”Look out from the window, turn left.” ”My left or yours?” ”Yours, I always try to think from the direction of my model.” How professional! This is a good shoot, so natural. Should I worry about how the photos look like? No, I don’t want to. His thoughts bounced around. What would the story be like? It’s a big newspaper, everyone will read it. Maybe someone drinks coffee and eats a stroopwafel while they do it. Will they place the waffle on top of the mug for a brief while, so that it gets hot and the syrup melts a little? Then it feels wet, and you can bend the cookie.
She broke his train of thought off midway through: ”Now turn right, but look left, and slightly up, but don’t turn your face right.” ”Umm, like this? Sounds like a set of pilates instructions.” she laughed ”You do pilates?” ”Yeah, it’s hard sometimes. Have you tried?” ”No”, she said. ”I’m not good for sports that are done in groups.” ”Yeah, but in pilates you can just be inside your mind, drowning in your private thoughts.”
”What are you thinking in pilates?” she asked, taking more photos. ”Well, mostly just which way is right. And which left.” click, click.

Q&A with Sasu Ripatti:

1) Tell us something about the EP series ”Dancefloor Classics”, what’s the idea and what can we expect?

I’ve been slowly writing these sort of dance music pieces and finally curated them together for a conceptual release. I like to create music for a dancefloor that exists only in my imagination and doesn’t try to suck up to the standardized reality.

2) Your vinyl format is 10” which is quite special (as opposed to LP / 12”). Why did you choose it?

It’s my favourite format, absolutely. The size is perfect, and you can make it sound really good @ 45 rpm. And you still can make great artwork.

3) You seem interested in sampling/repurposing, what does it mean to you as an artist to approach something already existing from a new angle? How does the source material inform you about the approach to take?

I guess i could flip it around and just say I’ve outgrown synths or electronic sounds to a great extend, and having gotten rid off all my synths already good while ago I’ve used samples as my main source material a lot. It’s obvious on this series that i’ve sampled existing music, but I also sample instruments and things in the studio and resample my own library that I have built over the years, it’s quite large. To me the end result matters, not so much how I get there. Once I have something on my keyboard and play around, it’s all an instrument, though with sampling other music it becomes a really interesting and complex one as you’re possibly playing rhythm, but also harmonic content and maybe hooks or whatever, all at once.
I never sample premeditadedly, like listening to records and looking for that mindblowing 3 sec part. I just throw the cards in the air and see what lands where, just full intuition and hopefully zero mind involved, playing tons of stuff, trying things, just recording hours of stuff. Then comes the interesting part to listen to hours of mostly crazy stuff and finding that mindblowing 3 sec part.

4) What is your relationship with the dancefloor (conceptually and/or in experiences / as a performer)?

Very complicated. I have never really felt comfortable on a dancefloor but have always wanted to. There’s something in club music, in theory, that really speaks to me. It has never really materialized for me – speaking mainly from a performer’s point of view who goes to check on a dancefloor for a moment after a concert. I never have DJ’d or felt much interest towards it. But again, I love the idea and concept of DJing. As well as producing music for imaginary DJs. Lately, as in the past 10+ years, I haven’t even performed in any sort of club spaces. So my relationship to the dancefloor is quite removed and reduced, but there’s quite a bit of passion and interest left.

All tracks composed and produced by Sasu Ripatti.
Artwork & photography by Marc Hohmann.
Mastering by Stephan Mathieu for Schwebung Mastering.
Vinyl cut by SST Brueggemann.
Publishing by WARP Music Ltd.

Die gefeierte irische Singer-Songwriterin Sinéad O'Connor veröffentlichte 2014 ihr brandneues Studioalbum "I'm Not Bossy, I'm The Boss" über Nettwerk Records. "I'm Not Bossy, I'm The Boss" enthält zwölf brandneue Songs, die das Beste von Sinéad zeigen und verdeutlichen, was sie so besonders macht: leidenschaftlich und direkt, aber mit einer übergeordneten zerbrechlichen Schönheit. Sinéads Stimme und Texte sind ebenso kraftvoll wie zart. Unter Vertrag bei Nettwerk Records ist "I'm Not Bossy, I'm The Boss" ihr zehntes Studioalbum in einer Karriere, die Jahrzehnte umspannt. Sinéad ist in der populären Musik eine seltene Erscheinung, eine absolut einzigartige Künstlerin. Von ihrem ersten Durchbruchshit, "Mandinka" von 1987, über den globalen Multi-Platin-Erfolg von 1990 mit "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got" und seinem unvergesslichen Nummer-eins-Hit "Nothing Compares 2 U" hat Sinéad ständig überrascht und erfreut. Von einer Millionen verkaufenden Künstlerin zu furchtlosen genreübergreifenden Ausflügen in die irische Folklore und Roots-Reggae sowie Zusammenarbeiten mit Künstlern so vielfältig wie Peter Gabriel, Massive Attack und The Chieftains hat Sinéad einen einzigartigen Weg beschritten und ist zur ikonischsten irischen Künstlerin der letzten dreißig Jahre geworden.

Wrestling Music is Kean Kavanagh's most intriguing work to date, illustrating his vulnerabilities and contextualising his journey from hopelessness to vindication. Speaking on the EP, Kean explains that, “In May 2022 I suffered a vocal injury which meant that for the majority of the last year, I haven’t been able to sing or record. While I’ve been working on a lot of different music and writing a lot of songs, it has been heartbreaking and depressing at times to not be able to realise their full potential and to sing them how I hear them. On the 1st of May 2023, I wrote and recorded “The Magic” at home in Portlaoise and it helped me to embrace whatever the last year was and point me in a direction to go towards. It felt important to me and I didn’t want to just sit on it, so I gathered some instrumentals I had and worked quickly to create this EP, the Wrestling Music EP, as a timestamp of this period of my life and the loops of arrogance, introversion and acceptance that I’ve been spinning.”

Co-founder, producer and A&R of Irish Label Soft Boy Records, Kean Kavanagh is a story-teller with a strong imagination who set out his stall as both a singer-songwriter and world creator in 2020, with the release of his acclaimed project Dog Person. In what turned out to be a big year for him, 2020 also saw Kean make an appearance on the Everything Is Recorded project FRIDAY FOREVER, (curated by Richard Russell of XL Recordings) alongside Aitch, Flohio, Maria Somerville, Ghostface Killah and others, aligning himself with a tastemaker and a hotly tipped selection of musical peers.

Gonzalez Smith's debut album: "Roll Up A Song" is an album of classic popular songs with music by Jay Gonzalez and lyrics by Pete Smith. Best known as the guitarist/keyboardist for rockers Drive-By Truckers, Jay's musical tastes range from 'baroque' to 'A.M. Gold' and 'power' pop. His collaborations include local pop legends The Possibilities, power pop stalwart Scott McCaughey (The Young Fresh Fellows), and performances with Chris Stamey of The dB's and Bill Berry of R.E.M. Pete Smith, acclaimed lyricist, made waves with his contributions to the legendary jazz composer Gary McFarland's album "Butterscotch Rum". His journey led him to comedy writing for Adult Swim's animated shows. Classic pop composer Brent Cash's exceptional string arrangements elevate the album's depth and emotion, enriching Gonzalez and Smith's melodies and lyrics. Jay Gonzalez and Pete Smith are like a modern day Bacharach/David, if Burt spent his nights tearing it up with one of the best live rock bands in America, and Hal was a writer for Space Ghost Coast to Coast and The Brak Show. Their debut album as Gonzalez Smith, "Roll Up a Song," is a seamless fusion of power pop, piano ballads, bossa nova, and pure spun sugar confection. Jay brings the same multi-instrumental compositional skills found on his first three solo albums, and Pete pens lyrics by turns honest, romantic, arch and comedic, sometimes in the same verse. The results are so stellar, it's a shock to find out that the Drive-By Truckers guitarist/keyboardist and the Adult Swim comedy scribe haven't been writing together for decades. Arriving in December 2023, via Bobo Integral Records, "Roll Up A Song" transcends eras and genres. It's a harmonious journey, uniting melodies and lyrics into a timeless masterpiece. Get set to roll up the music, immersing in captivating soundscapes.

INTRODUCING OAKS23, FROM HAVEN'S LABEL BOSS KEEPSAKES. AFTER YEARS OF PLAYING HIS RECORDS, I AM PROUD TO INTRODUCE THIS SPECIAL RELEASE FROM HIM. IT DIVERGES FROM HIS USUAL INDUSTRIAL CONTEXT AND BRINGING IT MORE TO THE OAKS STYLE, SURE WEAPON FOR DISC-JOCKEYS.

EXPLORING NEW DIMENSIONS TO HIS SOUNDS WITH A FOCUS ON FUNK AND GROOVE, SPRINKLES OF EUPHORIA, ZANY ACID AND HIS USUAL DARK ATMOSPHERES.

Orphax & PONI (person of no importance) is a collaboration between the two Dutch brothers, Sietse (Orphax) and Tjeerd (PONI) van Erve. Since their early years they share a broad interest in music, fed mostly from their fathers’ record collection, ranging from early blues to Pink Floyd or Beethoven. But also listening to Belgian radio channel Studio Brussels (which during the late 80s and early 90s was a common listening close to the borders between The Netherlands and Belgium), and the late night Dutch radio inspired them in exploring the rough edges of underground music.

An exploration that gave them a common interest in indie and noise rock, but soon enough both followed their own path in music. Tjeerd moving more into underground guitar music, whilst Sietse developed a wider interest in (experimental) electronic and contemporary music. Both as listeners, but also exploring their own interests as musicians.

Now many years later these musical paths cross again in this album Inheritance (with a slight imagination, a translation of their last name van Erve). An album where Tjeerd brings in his dark and noisy lo-fi guitar songs and Sietse brings in his drones and electro-acoustic composition styles.

The album opens with its longest track, “As Received”. This combination results in a slow developing drone, with the intensity and tension of a well build-up post-rock track, that slowly unfolds Tjeerd his guitar layers and vocals. The title of the song refers to one of the PONI projects, where Tjeerd would send rough recordings to befriended musicians who than would rework those recordings without any restrictions which then would be released side by side with the original rough recordings. A project which actually sparked the idea of this collaboration (and that can still be listened to on PONI’s bandcamp-page).

On the flip side of the record, three shorter works give more room for regular song structures. In “Sunburns” this results in slowcore with subdued vocals, melancholic guitars and nasty synth and organ drones. When Tjeerd wrote the basis for the song, he actually had been listening to a lot of Codeine and Bedhead. One does not need much fantasy to recognize the influences of these bands.

“The Tears Are Necessary” is build up around various broken up piano tracks accompanied by moody drones to develop a fragile song.

The album closes with “Lockdown”, opening with silence as a moment of contemplation after the previous work but then quickly develops in a playful song where improvised play on piano, guitar and modular synthesizer create a lo-fi gem that clearly shows that both brothers still haven’t lost their love for Sentridoh or Guided By Voices.
All together resulting in an album that is an ode to the love of music, experiment, and creativity and a celebration of brotherhood.

Rochester emo band CARPOOL released their debut album Erotic Nightmare Summer to widespread critical acclaim in 2020, and have now reissued the LP along with their signing announcement to SideOneDummy Records! Pressed on Blood Red and Black Splatter Vinyl! “Erotic Nightmare Summer is a pretty undeniable collection of mathy, anthemic emo/punk – somewhere in the middle of Joyce Manor, Algernon Cadwallader, Cap’n Jazz, Dogleg, etc. If you like any or all of those bands and haven’t heard this yet, that’s worth changing.” —Brooklyn Vegan

One of the very first compositions by Bruno Sanchioni (Age of Love, BBE), released in 88 just at the beginning of the New Beat phenomenon that marked the history of Belgian music.



Along with Confetti's and Amnesia, it was one of the most popular tracks of its time and marked the start of a long and promising career for Bruno Sanchioni. Just 2 years later, he composed the original bassline for the legendary track "Age of Love", which, thanks to Jam & Spoon's remix, was to stamp the electronic music scene for several generations. Based on video clash created by the visionary Lil'Louis, the original slow tempo was enhanced by the highly recognisable vocal "The Story" and a simple but highly effective melody. It was already remixed 10 years later by Viper, with a rhythmic pattern once again inspired by the Chicago pioneers.



25 years on, this track still evokes emotion and still inspires a good number of artists to want to touch it up, and for the track's 35th anniversary it seemed appropriate to pay it a vibrant tribute by offering several remixes split into two different vinyl projects. In a faster, more acid-influenced style, the first project features a remix by DJHS, Manu Kenton and Furax, emblematic artists from the north of France, and is completed by Viper's excellent 98 remix for those who haven't heard it yet. DJHS is behind the legendary acid track 'Spokesman', Manu Kenton is one of the flagship artists of the 'Ghoststyle' label and Furax is behind 'Big Orgus'.

A commemorative edition of the two Death In June albums Take Care And Control (1997) and Operation Hummingbird (1999) packed into a single, normal sized, foil blocked LP sleeve and retitled Death In June - Operation Control. In total a limited run of 1,000 x double LPs. All LPs will be packed in black inner sleeves, and there will be no posters/postcards or download code. It will be attractive to both collectors and those who don't have these titles, which haven't been available since 2007, when both were deleted from the Death In June catalogue due to an internal dispute. This has now been resolved.

A commemorative edition of the two Death In June albums Take Care And Control (1997) and Operation Hummingbird (1999) packed into a single, normal sized, foil blocked LP sleeve and retitled Death In June - Operation Control. In total a limited run of 1,000 x double LPs. All LPs will be packed in black inner sleeves, and there will be no posters/postcards or download code. It will be attractive to both collectors and those who don't have these titles, which haven't been available since 2007, when both were deleted from the Death In June catalogue due to an internal dispute. This has now been resolved.

A commemorative edition of the two Death In June albums Take Care And Control (1997) and Operation Hummingbird (1999) packed into a single, normal sized, foil blocked LP sleeve and retitled Death In June - Operation Control. In total a limited run of 1,000 x double LPs. All LPs will be packed in black inner sleeves, and there will be no posters/postcards or download code. It will be attractive to both collectors and those who don't have these titles, which haven't been available since 2007, when both were deleted from the Death In June catalogue due to an internal dispute. This has now been resolved.

"From the first fuzzed out note of guitar on this record you'll know you're dealing with two heavy instrumental Psychedelic Funk sides. For our 14th regular release, we reached back into our acetate archive to bring you the never heard before Chordata. This recording seems to be related tangentially to Mancefield & Brother Man Band. And though we believe the group is likely from NJ/NY, we haven't been able to pin it down.

""Super Dynamite"" on the a-side features heavy guitar work, punchy horn stabs and arrangements, and heavy percussion. And what great Funk song doesn't have a drum break? Two thirds of the way through the side, Chordata delivers a pure drum and percussion break that extends while the guitar player and horns add a discordant layer to the mix.

The b-side, ""What It Is"" takes us on a jazzy trip that is like a group of teenagers dropping acid and trying to recreate a mix of Miles Davis' ""Bitches Brew"" and a lost Funkadelic session. It’s heavy, sonic, drenched in sweat, and amazing. The guitar player goes off on this side and is the focus. And while this is a less accessible recording, it might end up being your favorite side after repeated listens. "

"From the first fuzzed out note of guitar on this record you'll know you're dealing with two heavy instrumental Psychedelic Funk sides. For our 14th regular release, we reached back into our acetate archive to bring you the never heard before Chordata. This recording seems to be related tangentially to Mancefield & Brother Man Band. And though we believe the group is likely from NJ/NY, we haven't been able to pin it down.

""Super Dynamite"" on the a-side features heavy guitar work, punchy horn stabs and arrangements, and heavy percussion. And what great Funk song doesn't have a drum break? Two thirds of the way through the side, Chordata delivers a pure drum and percussion break that extends while the guitar player and horns add a discordant layer to the mix.

The b-side, ""What It Is"" takes us on a jazzy trip that is like a group of teenagers dropping acid and trying to recreate a mix of Miles Davis' ""Bitches Brew"" and a lost Funkadelic session. It’s heavy, sonic, drenched in sweat, and amazing. The guitar player goes off on this side and is the focus. And while this is a less accessible recording, it might end up being your favorite side after repeated listens. "

God knows enough has been written about Workshop. Surely you haven't read it, but this group has been around since 1985, and what they did was this: musically quite limited, they made the music they wanted to hear, but in an ingenious way. Some played the instruments skillfully and others not so much. Something came out of it! One says: that's just the way I like it. The other one boasts: yes, I understood everything how you play here, sometimes you hit it, or sometimes you play so that the parents cry with joy. In fact, seven records were recorded, which, with the exception of the second LP, are still more than worth listening to today. Are they in danger of being forgotten?

Yes and no. What is worth listening to here has often been banned. One must bring it out again. Make attentive. Against the forgetting. These impetuous songs - just let them get close to you again and listen to them in a new context and forget all the smart-ass talk that was said about them. That means to put the self with all its reality entanglements in the pillory. This is of course not only pleasant. Bravo!

After the release of their highly successful self-titled album in summer 2021 (#1 in Germany and Spain etc.), HELLOWEEN -- one of the most respectable German metal exports and pioneers of German melodic speed metal -- are finally bringing their new anthems to the packed arenas, leading them all around the globe with their »United Forces« tour. The creators of the albums »Keeper Of The Seven Keys, Pt. I & II« (87‘/88‘), which are considered to be among the most successful German metal records of all time and are reckoned internationally as absolute milestones of power metal, haven’t only cemented but even expanded their status as giants of the scene. Caused by the pumpkinheads‘ aforementioned triumphant wave of success, the group’s back catalogue albums are also more in demand than ever which is why Atomic Fire are now set to release a series of brand new vinyl editions including the following hot HELLOWEEN records: »The Dark Ride« (2000), »Rabbit Don’t Come Easy« (2003), »Keeper Of The Seven Keys - The Legacy« (2005), »Gambling With The Devil« (2007), »Straight Out Of Hell« (2013), »My God-Given Right« (2015), and last but not least their latest offering »Helloween« (2021).

After the release of their highly successful self-titled album in summer 2021 (#1 in Germany and Spain etc.), HELLOWEEN -- one of the most respectable German metal exports and pioneers of German melodic speed metal -- are finally bringing their new anthems to the packed arenas, leading them all around the globe with their »United Forces« tour. The creators of the albums »Keeper Of The Seven Keys, Pt. I & II« (87‘/88‘), which are considered to be among the most successful German metal records of all time and are reckoned internationally as absolute milestones of power metal, haven’t only cemented but even expanded their status as giants of the scene. Caused by the pumpkinheads‘ aforementioned triumphant wave of success, the group’s back catalogue albums are also more in demand than ever which is why Atomic Fire are now set to release a series of brand new vinyl editions including the following hot HELLOWEEN records: »The Dark Ride« (2000), »Rabbit Don’t Come Easy« (2003), »Keeper Of The Seven Keys - The Legacy« (2005), »Gambling With The Devil« (2007), »Straight Out Of Hell« (2013), »My God-Given Right« (2015), and last but not least their latest offering »Helloween« (2021).

After the release of their highly successful self-titled album in summer 2021 (#1 in Germany and Spain etc.), HELLOWEEN -- one of the most respectable German metal exports and pioneers of German melodic speed metal -- are finally bringing their new anthems to the packed arenas, leading them all around the globe with their »United Forces« tour. The creators of the albums »Keeper Of The Seven Keys, Pt. I & II« (87‘/88‘), which are considered to be among the most successful German metal records of all time and are reckoned internationally as absolute milestones of power metal, haven’t only cemented but even expanded their status as giants of the scene. Caused by the pumpkinheads‘ aforementioned triumphant wave of success, the group’s back catalogue albums are also more in demand than ever which is why Atomic Fire are now set to release a series of brand new vinyl editions including the following hot HELLOWEEN records: »The Dark Ride« (2000), »Rabbit Don’t Come Easy« (2003), »Keeper Of The Seven Keys - The Legacy« (2005), »Gambling With The Devil« (2007), »Straight Out Of Hell« (2013), »My God-Given Right« (2015), and last but not least their latest offering »Helloween« (2021).

After the release of their highly successful self-titled album in summer 2021 (#1 in Germany and Spain etc.), HELLOWEEN -- one of the most respectable German metal exports and pioneers of German melodic speed metal -- are finally bringing their new anthems to the packed arenas, leading them all around the globe with their »United Forces« tour. The creators of the albums »Keeper Of The Seven Keys, Pt. I & II« (87‘/88‘), which are considered to be among the most successful German metal records of all time and are reckoned internationally as absolute milestones of power metal, haven’t only cemented but even expanded their status as giants of the scene. Caused by the pumpkinheads‘ aforementioned triumphant wave of success, the group’s back catalogue albums are also more in demand than ever which is why Atomic Fire are now set to release a series of brand new vinyl editions including the following hot HELLOWEEN records: »The Dark Ride« (2000), »Rabbit Don’t Come Easy« (2003), »Keeper Of The Seven Keys - The Legacy« (2005), »Gambling With The Devil« (2007), »Straight Out Of Hell« (2013), »My God-Given Right« (2015), and last but not least their latest offering »Helloween« (2021).

The Blips self titled debut, 'The Blips', struck lightning when Little Steven's Underground Garage declared "Inside Out" The Coolest Song In The World in the spring of 2021. And here we are with The Blips, 'Again'. Back with more boogie, beast and beauty

This band swaggers like The Stones, Haggards like Merle, and snots like Mike Ness. 'Again' carries you on a not-too-long trip through a varied landscape of far out, well made and dusty rock songs that stick to your black boots and go with you when you go. While there are four different lead singers and writers throughout this album, it is apparent 'Again' is executed by a band, rather than disparate musicians playing along on a track in a cold studio. A band that sweats. The Blips haven't "grown" or "matured" with their "sophomore effort" --These ideas don't apply to the Blips. The band is wholly made up of veteran front men of some of the most revered bands of the Birmingham rock scene. Making records is what all of these guys do on the regular. Once upon a time, The Blips came together, rose above, braved the elements, forced the issue, carried the weight and dealt with the demons that require the making of a record. And now they have done it . . . 'Again'.

Back in the 1990s video games were still largely seen as nerdy: fun, sure, but basically a guilty pleasure that you’d soon grow out of. The release in 1995 of wipE'out'', a lightning-fast, razor-sharp, futuristic racing game that helped to launch the PlayStation in Europe and North America, changed all that. This was a game that looked and sounded both adult and cool, the kind of game you would put on display in your living room, rather than hide away under your bed. Key to this was the fact that wipE'out'' borrowed unashamedly from the clubbing experience and electronic music, in a way that put it at the heart of progressive mid 90s culture. It soon became a phenomenon.

wipE'out'' looked sensational, with Sheffield agency The Designers Republic - known for their work with Warp - creating the visuals, packaging and manual for the game, drawing heavily on the bright colours and excitable geometric shapes of the rave and club flyers of the early 90s.

wipE'out'' also sounded like a new rave dream. The European version of the game included music from The Chemical Brothers, Leftfield and Orbital, the kind of fashionable game syncs that were almost unheard of at the time. Equally striking was the game’s original music, which came from Welsh musician Tim Wright, aka CoLD SToRAGE, by this point already a veteran in the video games world, having worked on the music for Amiga titles such as Lemmings and Shadow of the Beast 2. His music for wipE'out'' was, if anything, even more extreme than the big-name syncs, mixing the accelerated beats of drum & bass with the pure synth rush of trance to make music that sounded as breathlessly exciting as playing the game felt.

These tracks were burned into the brains of millions of gamers; the soundtrack to a generation of late-night anti-gravity racing, as the sun gingerly rose beyond the curtains. But they haven’t, perhaps, quite got the respect they deserve, something that this release will address. In 2023, video game music is finally getting its dues; here, remastered and repackaged –and also remixed by cutting edge producers such as Kode9, μ-Ziq, Brainwaltzera, Simo Cell, Wordcolour, James Shinra, Surgeons Girl and Dattassette– are some of the most important, thrilling, innovative and most fun songs ever committed to game release.

lim. two color Vinyl. Gatefold Cover with sticker and download code on postcard.

Welcome Back, friends, to the Yacht Soul cruise that never ends!
This theme, explored at length in the previous installment of this series, is a fertile one that just keeps on giving, and give it certainly does on the tracks we have dug up for your perusal, enlightenment, edification and enjoyment on Yacht Soul 2.
For those just joining us, the concept here concerns R&B and soul artists mining the songbooks of their white contemporaries for cover versions that serve the dual purposes of potentially garnering some crossover radio airplay as well as introducing great songs to segments of the listening public who might otherwise miss them. Some of these versions might have come about because they were personal favorites of the artist in question, others might have been strongly suggested by their labels or by the publishing company, but all of them provide an entirely new perspective on what were already fantastic songs to begin with.
So there you have it--a further dig into this nebulous concept that reveals more unexpected connections and crossed paths. Understanding the hows and whys of the way these particular covers and collaborations came to be is as fascinating as just enjoying the music itself, and there really is a lot of great music to dig into this time around! We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we did putting it together.

VITAL SALES POINTS:

- Second volume from the YACHT SOUL series. First volume is the second best selling "Too Slow To Disco" compilation so far.…
- Extensive Global Promo by Tobias Kirsch/Germany and Special Requests UK
- Record Relase Parties planned.

The late percussionist Milford Graves was one of the most unique artists the world has ever seen. Born in Jamaica, Queens in 1941, he began his career in the early '60s as a part of New York's vibrant Latin jazz scene. His focus quickly turned inward, shifting towards a practice that explored the very nature of self. From his work in the New York Art Quartet and collaborations with Albert Ayler, Sonny Sharrock and more to his important contributions during NYC's loft era – he is, simply put, free jazz royalty.

In April 1966, the duo of Graves and pianist Don Pullen played at Yale University. As John Corbett writes in the liner notes, "This performance was something of a turning point for Graves. Until then he had been working in other people's bands or collective ensembles. He was phenomenally busy. In 1965 alone, he recorded with NYAQ (two LPs), Giuseppi Logan Quartet, Paul Bley Quintet and Lowell Davidson Trio, and he made his first recording released under his own name, Percussion Ensemble. Every one of these is important in its own way, but none of them quite anticipate how radical was the music that he and Pullen would unleash that evening in New Haven."

Originally released on the artists' own Self-Reliance Program label, this legendary one-night performance would be split into two volumes: In Concert At Yale University and Nommo. While rooted in African rhythms, Graves' music has its own sense of time. As the drummer stated in a 1966 DownBeat interview, "Time was always there, and the time I see is not the same as what man says time is. It works by impulsion."

The late percussionist Milford Graves was one of the most unique artists the world has ever seen. Born in Jamaica, Queens in 1941, he began his career in the early '60s as a part of New York's vibrant Latin jazz scene. His focus quickly turned inward, shifting towards a practice that explored the very nature of self. From his work in the New York Art Quartet and collaborations with Albert Ayler, Sonny Sharrock and more to his important contributions during NYC's loft era – he is, simply put, free jazz royalty.

In April 1966, the duo of Graves and pianist Don Pullen played at Yale University. As John Corbett writes in the liner notes, "This performance was something of a turning point for Graves. Until then he had been working in other people's bands or collective ensembles. He was phenomenally busy. In 1965 alone, he recorded with NYAQ (two LPs), Giuseppi Logan Quartet, Paul Bley Quintet and Lowell Davidson Trio, and he made his first recording released under his own name, Percussion Ensemble. Every one of these is important in its own way, but none of them quite anticipate how radical was the music that he and Pullen would unleash that evening in New Haven."

Originally released on the artists' own Self-Reliance Program label, this legendary one-night performance would be split into two volumes: In Concert At Yale University and Nommo. While rooted in African rhythms, Graves' music has its own sense of time. As the drummer stated in a 1966 DownBeat interview, "Time was always there, and the time I see is not the same as what man says time is. It works by impulsion."

Morikawa Seiichirou, vocals, bass
Yamagiwa Hideki, electric & classical guitar
Takahashi Ikuro, drums & percussion

je prie pour que la goutte ne tombe pas
(I pray that the drop does not fall) is the first international release by Japanese trio Chi To Shizuku. While they have released five albums and a 7” in Japan, their spectral, haunted rock songs haven’t yet reached a much wider audience overseas. With this album, then, a live recording taken at Koenji HIGH, Suginami, Tokyo on 23rd November 2021, the unique, quartz-like character of Chi To Shizuku’s music is writ large, the bleak bliss of their songs carved onto twelve-inch vinyl.
Perhaps the best-known member of Chi To Shizuku, at least for audiences with an ear turned to Japanese psychedelia, is drummer Takahashi Ikuro, known for his membership of almost every group worth a damn from that scene – Fushitsusha, Nagisa Ni Te, Ché-SHIZU, Kousokuya, High Rise, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, LSD March, the list goes on. But the core of Chi To Shizuku’s music is the collaboration between vocalist, bassist and lyricist Morikawa Seiichirou, and guitarist and arranger Yamagiwa Hideki. Morikawa is a member of long-running punk/goth group Z.O.A., and has also played with YBO , Zzzoo, and as collaborator with Takeshi and Atsuo of Boris in A/N; he’s also recently been performing with Mitsuru Tabata. Yamagiwa’s history takes in stints with Katsurei and Cock C’ Nell, and he also recently guested with la scene 裸身.

All this contextual information does relatively little, though, to prepare you for the unique vibration of Chi To Shizuku’s lustrous songs. They shimmer in the same half-light, perhaps, as Shizuka and the quieter moments of LSD March, sharing a similar poise and classicism, and there’s a tenderness and wracked poetry to Morikawa’s voice that reminds of the emotional intensities both of traditional Japanese folk, and of British folk music: on “Musuu No Nemuri No Naka De Kumo Wo Tukamu”, the combination of his singing, backed with gorgeously plangent guitar, reminds of no-one so much as it does The Pentangle or Spriguns Of Tolgus. Chi To Shizuku’s love for the ballad as form gifts their music an archaic, sometimes arcane resonance, and from what you can hear on this album, it’s clear they’re in love with graceful melancholy.

But this is not a folk album, by any means; it just shivers with the same eternal spirit. There are also hints of prog rock, and you can catch some passages of scratchy, distended free rock, on the extended spirit invocation of “Nanhito Hanhito”. je prie pour que la goutte ne tombe pas is an extraordinary album, a melancholy surprise, that reminds dedicated listeners of the seemingly bottomless well of great music to be found via the Japanese underground in its many forms. Perhaps Michel Henritzi says it best, though, in his liner notes, when he writes, “Chi To Shizuku’s music reminds us that our life is a dream that lasts only a season, and that oblivion will follow.”

Recorded at Koenji High Suginami, Tokyo, 23 November 2021
Mix & Mastering: Taku Unami, photography : Noriko Akiyama
Liner notes by Jon Dale Printed by Alan Sherry

Sven Torstenson's notorious Drugs is a loopdigga's fever dream, bursting with breaks for days and featuring possibly the most iconic cover of all library music's cult classics. First released in 1980, it's now a hyper-rare and seriously sought-after electronic album full of experimental soundscapes and samples just waiting to be flipped. It's both terrifying and terrifyingly good. So much so, it's been brilliantly sampled by Kendrick Lamar and Chance The Rapper.

The sleeve describes Drugs as containing "the newest dimensions of electronic sounds. Dramatic underscores for all problems of today's life and society, at the border between reality and delusion." That's pretty spot-on. The fast moving "Euphoria" is an incredible, unignorable opener. It's loaded with disorientating effects and really needs to be heard to be believed. It's followed by the gorgeous "Soft Hallucinations", containing quiet, meditative and beautiful sounds - as the title suggests. One listen and you'll want to live in the warm embrace of this beatless, harmonic gem. Sinister squelchy synth stabs don't distract from the sheer beauty of the track's main (gentle) thrust. They only serve to elevate its trippy magic.

Next up, "Sky Move"'s agitated and repetitive rhythm makes it an intense listen but with a broad melody that will appeal to many. "Destroyed Dreams" utilises a muffled church organ and it sounds heavenly to begin with but it gradually invites increasingly distorted elements. Yes, you've had trips like this, we're pretty certain. Mental! Talking of bad trips, never have they sounded so good as "Horror Trip"; this fractured drama-synth just needs some some dusty beats to hold it up - get involved.

"Floating Illusions" almost sounds like a beatless Spiritualized bomb from the early-mid 90s; melodic, synthy, church organ-drenched. The mournful, dramatic "Lost Chance" pulses along on a bed of acidy synths whilst "The Morning After" is the sonic equivalent of the extreme fear and doom experienced in the aftermath of the previous night's carnage. Whilst somewhat uncomfortable listening, again, it's pretty compelling thanks to the myriad effects being expertly utilised. Fascinating. The sprawling, fragmented "Random Thoughts" is described as containing "confused melody phrases" - yeah, pretty much sums this one up.

The B-Side is ushered in by "Heroin" and it's as sketchy as you might think, all mysterious minor chords with a dominating - but not overbearing - bass refrain. Next up, the dream-like synthy fanfare of "Night Trip" climaxes after a few minutes of dramatic, ecclesiastical sounds whilst "Day Trip" layers its melody over a repetitive rhythmic base.

Next up, one of the *REAL* highlights makes itself known. Absolutely not to be missed, "Dealer's Corner" is all shifting tenors from quiet to hectic and back around again. The hectic parts are like a totally synthed-out-the-eyeballs jazz-funk collective wigging out with the latest electronic toys from 1980. This one totally SMOKES.

The dramatic "Sad And Hopeless" is appositely replete with dissonant, minor church-organ chords whilst "Riding Pegasus" uses a creepy ostinato bass melody to create irrational bleepy menace that's ripe for sampling. The penultimate track, "Hopeless Chaos" is another disorientating trip, a bleepy confection of sounds and phrases whilst closer "Goin' Mad" is all electronic percussion with an unpleasant rhthymic feel and irritating melody. Music to annoy your partner with!

Established in Munich in 1965 by Gerard and Rotheide Narholz, Sonoton introduced library music to Germany. Initially intended to cater to the country's new TV market, the library also provided an avenue for Gerhard Narholz's astonishing musical prolificacy, and soon became a haven for a wide range of European composers and musicians. In 1969, Sonoton struck a deal with the British label Berry Music for international publishing rights, exposing its catalog to a worldwide audience; when Berry was bought out by EMI in 1973, Sonoton transitioned into a full-fledged international label, with successes in the library and commercial fields and many innovations to its credit. Now a worldwide operation with hundreds of producers and composers under its employ, Sonoton nonetheless remains an independently run business still helmed by its founders - a remarkable achievement in an era when nearly every other major library has been absorbed by a multinational conglomerate.

The audio for Drugs has been remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring this release sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the original, iconic sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

Heading to a new millennium, people in the 80s and 90s were looking for brighter days to come and Techno was the music of this utopic future, themed by rushed beats made by electronic instruments that resembled a new era of technology, endless excess and possibilities.

40 years later the world is more complicated and dystopian than ever as we face crises everywhere. Mental issues are a natural consequence of the troubled environments we live in and more people around the world suffer from them. At the same time, we haven't lost the appeal for euphoric and fast dancing, either to leave our problems behind or face them head-on on the sweaty dance floor.

This EP is dedicated to some of the feelings associated with the tribulations of mental issues. What seems like a dark take still points out that we are not alone, as music unites us being the source for help and change. Mental States 777_31 offers four sick cuts perfect for insane clubs - fast and furious like an attack, rushed and energetic embracing positivity in the darkness.