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Next up on Intrepid Skin, MarcelDune readies four heaters direct from the scuzziest corners of the rave, out on Friday 13 December on digital / vinyl.

Based in London but hailing from Athens, they draw upon a lifelong relationship with music spanning jazz studies, opera singing, and the punk DIY scenes of their hometown.


In connecting the dots between these disparate aspects, they've committed to engaging with music that honours resistance and authenticity, and draws inspiration from those seeking liberation from oppression and societal frameworks.

With this new release MarcelDune hones in on the ethos that underpins their aesthetic, with touches of euphoria, huge drums, and quintessentially fun.

Title track 'Buy Success' brandishes raw serrated edges and an industrial core whilst never losing the groove. 'Remedy for evil' moves into bouncier feels with the hardest groove. On 'Tell Me Who They Are', vocal chops ricochet over angular percussion and glitching machines. Closing things off, 'Romantic and Other Fantasies' lays down some weighty percussion driving a madhouse of effects forward.

8 straight sound system wreckers from Dionysian Mysteries , with each artist commanding their own sonic terrain. Embracing intensity on the dance floor by devolving ravers from a flock to a pariah of freaks. Dedicated to the outcasts, weirdos, and big booty cadets generating all that steam heat. 400 vinyl copies NO REPRESS (12'' Featuring tracks by DJ DISRESPECT , Kovyazin D , Wee DJs , DJ DR-660, and Nastia 6.9)

Mastered by DECODE BERLIN. Artwork work by Michael Idehall. Distribution by Lobster Distribution.

Ben Lukas Boysen’s new album, Alta Ripa, signifies a seismic shift in his artistic journey. It revisits the foundational impulses of his youth, shaped amidst the serene beauty of rural Germany—a bucolic backdrop where his creative palette flourished. However, it was his move to Berlin in the early 2000s that electrified his sound, infusing it with the city’s pulsating energy and diverse cultural influences. Alta Ripa captures this transformative experience, blending the introspective melodies of his rural beginnings with the bold, experimental tones born from Berlin’s vibrant electronic music scene. This album is a testament to Boysen’s evolution, showcasing how geographical shifts can profoundly shape artistic expression.

Boysen’s fourth studio album under his own name, Alta Ripa is a nod to his beginnings as much as a hint to his future, and as a work, it’s almost contradictory in its boldness and humility. He invites the listener on a journey of self-discovery; both for himself and for them, describing the music as “something the 15-year-old in me would have liked to hear but only the grown-up version of myself can write.”

His last two albums involved working closely with other musicians, including cellist Anne Müller, flugelhorn player Steffen Zimmer, and drummer Achim Färber. However, inspired in part by a recent return to live performance, Alta Ripa sees Boysen circling back to his passion for pure computer music.

For Boysen, the return to his youthful musical language marks a major turning point in his career. It represents a departure from his roots in classical music – his mother was an opera singer and his father an actor with an appreciation for Wagner, Arvo Pärt, Keith Jarrett, and Stockhausen. Although these are still important influences, Alta Ripa encapsulates a new, exploratory interplay between Boysen’s careful craft and his ability to let go of some of the process.

The album’s title comes from the original Roman name of the town that Boysen grew up in, Altrip, where he lived until his early twenties. This formative period is central to the ideas behind this album, from Boysen’s parental ‘schooling’ in classical music through to his sonic journeys through drum and bass, Aphex Twin, and Autechre — all of which changed his idea of what music could be. The extreme energy of tracks like ‘Acperience 1’ by Hardfloor, ‘Tracks & Fragment’ by Cari Lekebusch, ‘Focus2 Implan’ by Jiri.Ceiver, and ‘Low On Ice’ by Alec Empire are also pivotal influences.

For Boysen, this time of his musical development also involved knocking down the pillars that he previously thought had carried his world. A key moment for Boysen was being given a precious (pre-internet) club cassette at school that featured artists like Source Direct, Photek and Goldie. Excited by this new discovery, he introduced his father to the song ‘Dred Bass’ by Dead Dred. After the song finished, Boysen Sr. turned off the tape and proclaimed it was “the end of all music”. This heated exchange sparked a new, and more mature dialogue between the two that involved them sharing and discussing music on a regular basis.

Boysen’s classical and jazz music upbringing might not be easily noticeable from the electronic palette that he uses. But it can be found in its bones; the structure of the tracks and their dynamic shifts. On Alta Ripa, he intentionally embraces a spirit of controlled chaos, churning out sonic ideas to see what sticks.

One of Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategy cards contains the phrase “gardening, not architecture”, and the trajectory of Boysen’s creative path reflects this metaphor. In much of his previous work he followed a sort of Brutalist architect’s approach; here, he was fully responsible for the tracks’ austere structures and planned them with deliberate care. But by sacrificing some of that control on Alta Ripa, he sets the right conditions for a dark and unpredictable, organic growth. It’s a push forward into a new world.

Rhythm Cult's unstoppable momentum continues after achieving consecutive

number-one positions across online and physical platforms. RCM019, their most

recent release, welcomes the incredibly gifted Chilian producer Dinky into the fold.

Dinky's hypnotic blend of deep house, strong techno, and precise minimalism has

earned her a residency at the famed Panorama Bar, in Berlin confirming her position

as a unique voice in the electronic industry.



The EP kicks off with the soulful and uplifting "Come Hold Me," a futuristic house

anthem that effortlessly fuses tribal rhythms with intricate stuttering synth patterns.



Dinky provides the unmistakable and irresistible vocal hook that suggest this will be

a summer anthem in the making. "She's Got Nowhere To Go" follows, riding on an

insistent one-note bass line and yet more addictive vocal snips, complemented by

disco stabs that complete the party vibe. Dinky's skilful use of stuttering glitches and

inventive sample manipulation showcases her love for minimal detail and angular

funk.



Finally, dOP turn in not one but two remixes of their unique and unconventional take

on house and techno. First, their reinterpretation of "Come Hold Me" takes us on a

journey to the deeper realms of house, riding on a low-slung acidic bass groove

while enveloping the listener in waves of lush synths, perfect material for warming up

dancefloors or setting the mood for the early hours. Then they wrap “She’s Got



Nowhere To Go’ around an elastic bass and dosed with warped synth lines to create

an irresistibly explosive dancefloor weapon.



The EP exudes sophistication, weaving intricate futuristic house sounds that are

imprinted with the influences of Balearic, acid, and deep house. These heaters are

undoubtedly set to light up dancefloors throughout the summer season. With this

exciting collaboration, Rhythm Cult further cements its position as one of the

industry's most cutting-edge labels, and Dinky's addition adds a distinctive

dimension to their roster.



Prepare to find yourself absorbed by this exceptional release from two forces

shaping the future of electronic music.

It is the year 1995 and it’s summer, the second extremely hot summer after 1994, and the asphalt on Gladbacher Straße in Cologne is glowing. Ravers in much too wide and much too colorful clothes doze off in the glaring midday heat. These are the last days of the legendary Delirium record store, a socio-cultural biotope that would later become KOMPAKT. In June 1995, the store moved deeper into the Belgian Quarter, to Brabanter Straße 42 near Friesenplatz.

Wolfgang Voigt liked to wear too-big sunglasses even back then, just as he already had the master plan for the next few years, the new store, the renaming to KOMPAKT, and the upcoming takeover of the musical world order by minimal techno in his head. On less sunny days, the musician Wolfgang Voigt was tinkering with his very own label Profan, a new sound, new pseudonyms and masquerades. His alter ego Mike Ink had grown tired, another self, one of many, was now pushing forward to become the next torch in the storm.

By early 1995, the first Grungerman EP, "Hout," had been released on Profan. A nucleus of ambient loops that already announced the sonic aesthetics of GAS, stoic rhythmic structures that would shape the coming decade of minimal house and techno, and an all-encompassing gloom and heaviness that didn't want to fit at all with the gaudy reality of the nineties between Loveparade, Mayday and VIVA House TV. This probably most hedonistic decade of the 20th century had celebrated, besides techno, above all a rough guitar music called Grunge, coined and immortalized by a depressive, hyperactive and narcoleptic young man with matted blond hair who had taken his own life a year before. In no other track has Wolfgang Voigt packed these inner and outer contradictions of his art as well as of the mid-nineties more ingeniously than in "In Tyrannis". From wall to wall there are four steps.

"Klang" by Wolfgang Voigt originally comes from the first and only GAS EP on Profan, "Modern", from the spring of 1995 and is one of the most beautiful exhibits of Voigt's sound of those years, which relentlessly runs its course somewhere between glistening sunrises on Ecstasy and bad drugs in the dark Liquid Sky Cologne. With "Hocker DJ 1" and "Hocker DJ 2" there are two more musical references to this myth-enshrouded place in Kyffhäuserstraße, where for a few years the entire, so-called Sound Of Cologne had literally settled down.


Wir schreiben das Jahr 1995. Es ist Sommer, der zweite extrem heiße Sommer nach 1994, und der Asphalt auf der Gladbacher Straße in Köln glüht. Raver in viel zu weiten und viel zu bunten Klamotten dösen ihren Rausch aus in der grellen Mittagshitze. Es sind die letzten Tage des legendären Delirium Plattenladens, eines soziokulturellen Biotops, aus dem später die Firma Kompakt hervorgehen sollte. Im Juni 1995 erfolgte der Umzug tiefer hinein ins Belgische Viertel, in die Brabanter Straße 42 in der Nähe des Friesenplatz.

Wolfgang Voigt trug schon damals gerne zu große Sonnenbrillen, so wie er bereits den Masterplan für die nächsten Jahre, den neuen Laden, die Umbenennung in KOMPAKT sowie die anstehende Übernahme der musikalischen Weltordnung durch Minimal Techno im Kopf hatte. An weniger sonnigen Tagen tüftelte der Musiker Wolfgang Voigt an seinem ureigenen Label Profan, an einem neuen Sound, neuen Pseudonymen und Maskeraden. Sein Alter Ego Mike Ink war müde geworden, ein anderes Ich, eines von vielen, drängte nun nach vorne, um die nächste Fackel im Sturm zu werden.

Anfang 1995 war die erste Grungerman EP “Hout” auf Profan erschienen. Ein Nukleus aus ambienten Loops, die bereits die klangliche Ästhetik von GAS ankündigten, stoischen rhythmischen Strukturen, die das kommende Jahrzehnt Minimal House und Techno prägen sollten, sowie einer allumfassenden Düsternis und Schwere, die so gar nicht zur knallbunten Realität der Neunziger Jahre zwischen Loveparade, Mayday und VIVA House TV passen wollte. Dieses wohl hedonistischste Jahrzehnt des 20. Jahrhunderts hatte neben Techno vor allem eine raue Gitarrenmusik namens Grunge gefeiert, geprägt und unsterblich gemacht von einem depressiven, hyperaktiven und an Narkolepsie leidenden jungen Mann mit verfilzten blonden Haaren, der sich ein Jahr zuvor das Leben genommen hatte. In keinem anderen Track hat Wolfgang Voigt diese inneren und äußeren Widersprüche seiner Kunst wie auch dieser Zeit Mitte der Neunziger genialistischer verpackt als in “In Tyrannis”. Von Wand zu Wand sind es vier Schritte.

“Klang” von Wolfgang Voigt stammt ursprünglich von der ersten und einzigen GAS EP auf Profan, “Modern”, aus dem Frühling 1995 und ist eines der schönsten Exponate des Voigtschen Sounds dieser Jahre; ein Track, der irgendwo zwischen gleisenden Sonnenaufgängen auf Ecstasy und schlechten Drogen im dunklen Liquid Sky Cologne unerbittlich seine Bahnen zieht. Mit “Hocker DJ 1” und “Hocker DJ 2” finden sich zwei weitere musikalische Referenzen an diesen mythenumrankten Ort in der Kyffhäuserstraße, an dem sich für einige Jahre der gesamte sogenannte Sound Of Cologne im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes niedergelassen hatte.

"This is the time that we, who have benefitted from the Last Poets shouldbe able to say, 'it's the Last Poets. It's them we should be honouring, because we did not honour them for so many years_"

KRS One wasn't just addressing the hip hop fraternity when he uttered
those words by way of introducing the video for Invocation - a poem
written thirty years ago, around the time of the Last Poets' last significant comeback. He was speaking to everyone who's been affected by the word, sound and power issuing from the most revolutionary poetry ever witnessed, and that the Last Poets had introduced to the world outside of Harlem at the dawn of the seventies.

In 2018 the two remaining Last Poets, Abiodun Oyewole and Umar Bin
Hassan, embarked on another memorable return with an album -
Understand What Black Is - that earned favourable comparison with theirseminal works of the past, whilst showcasing their undimmed passion andlyrical brilliance in an entirely new setting - that of reggae music. Trackslike Rain Of Terror ("America is a terrorist") and How Many Bullets demonstrated that they'd lost none of their fire or anger, and their essential raison d'etre remained the same.

"The Last Poets' mission was to pull the people out of the rubble o f their lives," wrote their biographer Kim Green. "They knew, deep down that poetry could save the people - that if black people could see and hear themselves and their struggles through the spoken word, they would be moved to change."

Several years later and the follow-up is now with us. The project started when Tony Allen, the Nigerian master drummer whose unique polyrhythms had driven much of Fela Kuti's best work, dropped by Prince Fatty's Brighton studio and laid down a selection of drum patterns to die for. That was back in 2019, but then the pandemic struck. Once it had passed, the label booked a studio in Brooklyn, where the two Poets voiced four tracks apiece and breathed fresh energy, fire and outrage into some of the most enduring landmarks of their career. Abiodun, who was one of the original Last Poets who'd gathered in East Harlem's Mount Morris Park to celebrate Malcolm X's birthday in May 1968, chose four poems that first appeared on the group's 1970 debut album, called simply The Last Poets. He'd written When The Revolution Comes aged twenty, whilst living in Jamaica, Queens. "We were getting ready for a revolution," he told Green. "There wasn't any question about whether there was going to be one or not. The truth was many of us still saw ourselves as "niggers" and slaves. This was a mindset that had to change if there was ever to be Black Power." He and writer Amiri Baraka were deep in conversation one day when Baraka became distracted by a pretty girl walking by. "You're a gash man," Abiodun told him. The poem inspired by that incident, Gash Man, is revisited on the new album, and exposes the heartless nature of sexual acts shorn of intimacy or affection. "Instead of the vagina being the entrance to heaven," he says, "it too often becomes a gash, an injury, a wound_" Two Little Boys meanwhile, was inspired after seeing two young boys aged around 11 or 12 "stuffing chicken and cornbread down their tasteless mouths, trying to revive shrinking lungs and a wasted mind." They'd walked into Sylvia's soul food restaurant in Harlem, ordered big meals, then bolted them down and run out the door. No one chased after them, knowing that they probably hadn't eaten in days. Fifty years later and children are still going hungry in major cities across America and elsewhere. Abiodun's poem hasn't lost any relevance at all, and neither has New York, New York, The Big Apple. "Although this was written in 1968, New York hasn't changed a bit," he admits, except "today, people just mistake her sickness for fashion." Umar is originally from Akron, Ohio, but had arrived in Harlem in early 1969 after seeing Abiodun and the other Last Poets at a Black Arts Festival in Cleveland. That's where he first witnessed what Amiri Baraka once called "the rhythmic animation of word, poem, image as word- music" - a creative force that redefined the concept of performance poetry and stripped it bare until it became a howl of rage, hurt and anger, saved from destruction by mockery and love for humanity. When Umar's father, who was a musician, was jailed for armed robbery he took to the streets from an early age where he shined shoes and raised whatever money he could to help feed his eight brothers and sisters. By the time he saw the Last Poets he'd joined the Black United Front and was ready to join the struggle. Once in Harlem, Abiodun asked him what he'd learnt in the few weeks since he'd got there. "Niggers are scared of revolution," Umar replied. "Write it down" urged Abiodun. That poem still gives off searing heat more than fifty years later. In Umar's own words, "it became a prayer, a call to arms, a spiritual pond to bathe and cleanse in because niggers are not just vile and disgusting and shiftless. Niggers are human beings lost in someone else's system of values and morals." And there you have it. It's not just race or religion that hold us back, but an economic system that keeps millions in poverty and living in fear - a system born from political choice and that's now become so entrenched, so bloated on its own success that it's put mankind in mortal danger. It was many black people's acceptance of the status quo that inspired Just Because, which like Niggers Are Scared Of Revolution, was included on that seminal first album. Along with their revolutionary rhetoric, it was the Last Poets' use of the "n word" that proved so shocking, but it would be wrong to suggest that they reclaimed it, since it never belonged to black people in the first place. There's never any hiding place when it comes to the Last Poets. They use words like weapons, and that force all who listen to decide who they are and where they stand. Umar's two remaining tracks find him revisiting poems first unleashed on the Poets' second album This Is Madness! Abiodun had left for North Carolina by then where he became more deeply enmeshed in revolutionary activities and spent almost four years in jail for armed robbery after attempting to seize funds related to the Klu Klux Klan. Meanwhile, the 21 year old Umar was squatting in Brooklyn and had developed close ties with the Dar-ul Islam Movement. A longing for purity and time-honoured spiritual values underpins Related to What, whilst This Is Madness is a call for freedom "by any means necessary," and that paints a feverish landscape peopled by prominent black leaders but that quickly descends into chaos. "All my dreams have been turned into psychedelic nightmares," he wails, over a groove now powered by Tony Allen's ferocious drumming. Those sessions lasted just two days, and we can only imagine the atmosphere in that room as the hip hop godfathers exchanged the conga drums of Harlem for the explosive sounds of authentic Afrobeat. Once they'd finished, the recordings and momentum returned to Prince Fatty's studio, since relocated from Brighton to SE London. This was stage three of the project, and who better to fill out the rhythm tracks than two key musicians from Seun Anikulapo Kuti's band Egypt 80? Enter guitarist Akinola Adio Oyebola and bassist Kunle Justice, who upon hearing Allen's trademark grooves exclaimed, "oh, the Father_ we are home!" Such joy and enthusiasm resulted in the perfect fusion of Nigerian Afrobeat and revolutionary poetry, but the vision for the album wasn't yet complete. He wanted to create a new kind of soundscape - one that reunited the Poets with the progressive jazz movement they'd once shared with musicians like Sun Ra and Pharoah Sanders. It was at that point they recruited exciting jazz talents based in the UK like Joe Armon Jones from Mercury Prize winners Ezra Collective, also widely acclaimed producer/remixer and keyboard player Kaidi Tatham, who's been likened to Herbie Hancock, and British jazz legend Courtney Pine, whose genius on the saxophone and influence on the UK's now vibrant jazz scene is beyond question. The instrumental tracks on Africanism are in many ways as revelatory and exciting as the Last Poets' own. It's important to remember that the kaleidoscope of styles and influences we're presented with here aren't the result of sampling but were played "live" by musicians responding to sounds made by other musicians. That's where the magic comes from, aided by Prince Fatty's peerless mixing which allows us to hear everything with such clarity. Music fans today have grown accustomed to listening to all kinds of different genres. Their tastes have never been so broad or all- encompassing, and so the music on this new Last Poets' album is as groundbreaking as their lyrics, and perfectly suited to the era that we're now living in. John Masouri

‘Live at the Royal Albert Hall’ is Katie Melua’s third live album, newly recorded at the Royal Albert Hall, London on 16th May 2023 to a sold-out audience. Bookending Katie’s ‘Love & Money’ tour in 2023, promoting her ninth studio album of the same name, ‘Live at the Royal Albert Hall’ is a celebration of her remarkable 20-year career to date.

Initially postponed from 2020 due to the global pandemic, the concert was the fulfilment of a long-held personal ambition of Katie’s. The 21-track setlist takes in beautiful live renditions of some of Katie’s best-loved and classic songs, including ‘The Closest Thing To Crazy’, ‘I Cried For You’ and ‘Nine Million Bicycles’, as well as the first live recordings of newer songs like ‘Golden Record’ and ‘Quiet Moves’

The Tattooist of Auschwitz is a 2024 six-part TV miniseries based on the international bestselling novel by Heather Morris, inspired by the real-life story of Holocaust prisoners Lali and Gita Sokolov.

The story follows one man, Lali, a Slovakian Jew, who, in 1942, was deported to Auschwitz, the concentration camp where over a million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. Shortly after
arrival, Lali was made one of the Tätowierer (tattooists), charged to ink identification numbers onto fellow prisoners’ arms. One day, he met Gita when tattooing her prisoner number on her arm, leading to a love that defies the horrors around them. The cast features Harvey Keitel, Melanie Lynskey, Jonah Hauer-King, and Anna Próchniak.

• 180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
• INCLUDES 4-PAGE BOOKLET
• ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK TO THE 2024 SKY TV MINISERIES STARRING JONAH HAUER-KING, ANNA PRÓCHNIAK, MELANIE LYNSKEY AND HARVEY KEITEL
• MUSIC COMPOSED AND PERFORMED BY LEGENDARY FILM COMPOSER HANS ZIMMER AND KARA TALVE
• SOUNDTRACK NOMINATED TWO TIMES AT THE PRIMETIME EMMY AWARDS
• FEATURING “LOVE WILL SURVIVE” PERFORMED BY BARBRA STREISAND
• BLACK VINYL

Music for the series was composed by multi Academy Award-winning composer Hans Zimmer and Kara Talve. The soundtrack also features the brand new song “Love Will Survive” by global music icon Barbra Streisand. The music for the show received 2 Primetime Emmy nominations, for “Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics” and “Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special (Original Dramatic Score)”

The Tattooist of Auschwitz is available on black vinyl and includes a 4-page booklet.

Prairiewolf make easy listening music for an age of fracture. They almost do it in spite of themselves. No one can seriously question the head music bona fides of the members of this Colorado-based trio.

Guitarist Stefan Beck has already assembled a formidable discography of jewel-toned guitar zone-outs under his Golden Brown moniker. And keyboardist and guitarist Jeremy Erwin and bassist Tyler Wilcox have both made their reputations as chroniclers of the vast world of out-music. Erwin helms the indispensable Heat Warps blog, a performance-by-performance archive of Miles Davis’s labyrinthine electric period. And Wilcox has been covering the ragged edges of psychedelia and experimental rock at Aquarium Drunkard and other publications, not to mention his own virtual basement for heads, the great bootleg blog Doom and Gloom from the Tomb.

These guys come by it honestly. And yet, given their backgrounds, Prairiewolf’s self-titled debut last spring was remarkably free of face-melters, brown acid blowouts, and ascendant spiritual jazz odysseys. Instead, they dropped a record of beautiful, elegant, low-key cosmic groovers that sounded like the piped-in background music to a resort hotel on Jupiter. It was an unlikely psychedelia, brocaded with mid-twentieth century sonic threading from the hi-fi era: vintage synthesizers, smears of spaghetti western, luxe tropical details, the faint schmaltz of space age pop. Imagine something like a Harmonia residency in the airport lounge. And yet somehow it all worked brilliantly. Prairiewolf became last summer’s cool-down standard. After a year woodshedding around Colorado’s Front Range region, the Prairiewolf boys have fired up their trusty Korg SR-120 drum machine for another outstanding collection of suborbital exotica. The appropriately titled Deep Time operates in its own chronology, unspooling at its unhurried pace. All its incongruous period and stylistic references—the new age pulses, Hawaiian steel, shaggy hippie rambles, lysergic guitar spirals, and orchestral synthesizer flourishes—float atop the album’s own singular temporality. Deep Time makes its own time.

From the moment Beck folds his slide guitar, origami-like, into a sound resembling the call of gulls on the tranquil album opener, “Peach Blossom Paradise,” there is a sense of departure from everyday life. The shimmering “Lighthouse” has a similar sunbaked nonchalance, like an afternoon passed day-drinking in a seaside bar. That they named their lush, kaleidoscopic downtempo track “The Meander” pretty much says it all. The ranging, propulsive “Saying Yes to Everything” seems like a nod in the direction of Rose City Band’s brand of wookie krautrock. And the motorik noir of “Demon Cicadas in the Night” also goes hard. Beck and Erwin’s intertwined guitar jam on the eerie album standout “The Cold Curve” evolves into something that sounds like primitive computer music. A genteel bassline from Wilcox on another album highlight, “Revisionist Mystery,” sets the stage for a loopy space jazz turn from guest clarinettist Matt Loewen of Rayonism. The title of post-rock cowboy tune “Another Tomorrow” might refer to the alternative future that so many critics heard in the music of Prairiewolf’s first album. Or it might simply refer to the persistence of time, however deep. Either way,

I’m thankful for the way Prairiewolf make each of their tunes a little oasis or sanctuary, each subsisting according to its own crystalline little logic for a few minutes. It is no simple task to filter out the omnipresent anger and anxiety of everyday life these days. But Prairiewolf are out here making it seem easy.

Brent S. Sirota

Ben Lukas Boysen’s new album, Alta Ripa, signifies a seismic shift in his artistic journey. It revisits the foundational impulses of his youth, shaped amidst the serene beauty of rural Germany—a bucolic backdrop where his creative palette flourished. However, it was his move to Berlin in the early 2000s that electrified his sound, infusing it with the city’s pulsating energy and diverse cultural influences. Alta Ripa captures this transformative experience, blending the introspective melodies of his rural beginnings with the bold, experimental tones born from Berlin’s vibrant electronic music scene. This album is a testament to Boysen’s evolution, showcasing how geographical shifts can profoundly shape artistic expression.

Boysen’s fourth studio album under his own name, Alta Ripa is a nod to his beginnings as much as a hint to his future, and as a work, it’s almost contradictory in its boldness and humility. He invites the listener on a journey of self-discovery; both for himself and for them, describing the music as “something the 15-year-old in me would have liked to hear but only the grown-up version of myself can write.”

His last two albums involved working closely with other musicians, including cellist Anne Müller, flugelhorn player Steffen Zimmer, and drummer Achim Färber. However, inspired in part by a recent return to live performance, Alta Ripa sees Boysen circling back to his passion for pure computer music.

For Boysen, the return to his youthful musical language marks a major turning point in his career. It represents a departure from his roots in classical music – his mother was an opera singer and his father an actor with an appreciation for Wagner, Arvo Pärt, Keith Jarrett, and Stockhausen. Although these are still important influences, Alta Ripa encapsulates a new, exploratory interplay between Boysen’s careful craft and his ability to let go of some of the process.

The album’s title comes from the original Roman name of the town that Boysen grew up in, Altrip, where he lived until his early twenties. This formative period is central to the ideas behind this album, from Boysen’s parental ‘schooling’ in classical music through to his sonic journeys through drum and bass, Aphex Twin, and Autechre — all of which changed his idea of what music could be. The extreme energy of tracks like ‘Acperience 1’ by Hardfloor, ‘Tracks & Fragment’ by Cari Lekebusch, ‘Focus2 Implan’ by Jiri.Ceiver, and ‘Low On Ice’ by Alec Empire are also pivotal influences.

For Boysen, this time of his musical development also involved knocking down the pillars that he previously thought had carried his world. A key moment for Boysen was being given a precious (pre-internet) club cassette at school that featured artists like Source Direct, Photek and Goldie. Excited by this new discovery, he introduced his father to the song ‘Dred Bass’ by Dead Dred. After the song finished, Boysen Sr. turned off the tape and proclaimed it was “the end of all music”. This heated exchange sparked a new, and more mature dialogue between the two that involved them sharing and discussing music on a regular basis.

Boysen’s classical and jazz music upbringing might not be easily noticeable from the electronic palette that he uses. But it can be found in its bones; the structure of the tracks and their dynamic shifts. On Alta Ripa, he intentionally embraces a spirit of controlled chaos, churning out sonic ideas to see what sticks.

One of Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategy cards contains the phrase “gardening, not architecture”, and the trajectory of Boysen’s creative path reflects this metaphor. In much of his previous work he followed a sort of Brutalist architect’s approach; here, he was fully responsible for the tracks’ austere structures and planned them with deliberate care. But by sacrificing some of that control on Alta Ripa, he sets the right conditions for a dark and unpredictable, organic growth. It’s a push forward into a new world.

Welcome to the second in the Knite Force Crew series. This is a series of limited edition triple albums from the very best and dedicated of the Kniteforce artists.

This triple pack vinyl album contains 10 superb tracks from Sunny & Deck Hussy, plus two remixes from rave legends Luna-C, and from Jimmy J. The beautiful old skool rave styled artwork was hand drawn by the original Kniteforce Records artist, Rebecca Try.

It will never be repressed and is limited in number!

Alton Ellis is one the finest soulful voices to come out of Jamaica. As well as writing hit singles himself, he could make a cover version known as a foreign tune sound like a Jamaican reggae tune with the greatest of ease.

As the more upbeat rhythms of the earlier 'Ska' period began to slow down around the turn of 1966 some say due to the extreme heatwave that hit the island of Jamaica that year, slower rhythms suited the people to groove to at the various sound systems and dances. This also allowed the singers to express themselves more and allow the song to shrine through. No one did this better than Alton Ellis.

Alton Ellis (b.1944, Kingston, Jamaica) started off singing at an early stage as part of a duo with singer Eddie Perkins and recorded for both Studio One and Randy's as 'Alton and Eddy' and had a massive hit with the song 'Muriel'. The singing pair went their separate ways with Alton going solo with Studio One and being a much in demand voice also recorded with Duke Reid's Treasure Isle Studio as 'Alton Ellis and The Flames'. As we stated earlier as the beat slowed down the top singers shined through and Alton Ellis reigned supreme. One of his tunes that we feature on this set 'Get Ready(Do the Rocksteady') even gave this period in reggae's history its name 'Rocksteady'. It's this fantastic period Rocksteady 1966-1968 that we feature on this release. This set carries all the big hits 'Ain't That Loving You', 'Girl I've Got A Date', 'Cry Tuff' alongside many more classics. All the cut at Treasure Isle songs that really defined the era.

So sit back and enjoy the Rocksteady sound it's finest....
We hope you enjoy the set....

BRAND NEW VINYL PRESSING ON GREEN VINYL FOR FIRST TIME

Recorded in 1996, the second album from this NYC quartet featured a new line up & sound. Clean, warm, spacious guitars paired with repetitive, hypnotic songs showcased the band reaching a new peak. Beloved by those initiated, it continues to find new devotees.
RELATED TO: The Lapse, Native Nod, Blonde Redhead, Enon, Jets to Brazil, Vague Angels

90s NYC indie heroes The Van Pelt have had a lasting power far greater than so many of the other once bigger bands of that era have had. The sort of interest that has neither waxed nor waned over the decades since they disbanded, yet just mysteriously continues on despite their discography being out of print since the end of the last millennium. So what is it that sets them apart?
Too soft to have ran with the AmRep or Touch and Go crowds, not hip enough to have made sense on Matador or Merge, ernest yet not histrionic enough to make it onto the “best emo bands” lists, not weird enough to be on bills with Arto Lindsay and Thurston Moore, etc. In a sense, their outsider status comes not from the wings, but from the dead center eye of the storm. The 90s were happening all around them, they were witnesses thereof, yet they emerged transcendent of it all. You Follow? Maybe it’s worth having a listen to see what I mean.
Barcelona’s La Castanya records is treating us with the first ever rerelease of the two Van Pelt albums to mark the 20th anniversary of Sultans of Sentiment, their benchmark album. They teased us in 2014 that this might be on the docket with the release of Imaginary Third, a collection of singles and unreleased Van Pelt tracks which were originally intended to have been the components of their third album, including the alt-famous “Speeding Train”. Now we’ll finally have access to their entire discography. The first album, Stealing From Our Favorite Thieves is an explosion of anthems belted out as if the war was already lost yet they were hoisting that tattered banner anyhow until there wasn’t a shred to salvage. The momentum coming out of that album had every major label in the States salivating at the possibility of turning them into the next Nirvana. Instead, The Van Pelt followed it up by pulling the van into the garage, leaving the engine running, funneling the exhaust into their lungs, and blissfully deciding to bow out of the race with the epic Sultans of Sentiment. Of course as the story goes, their intended financial flop was the exact opus that jettisoned them into the history books. Buy both albums. You’ll need them both.

Blue and orange Stardust vinyl, limited to 500 copies. Since 2016, Indiana's Wraith have been emitting their incendiary brand of blackened thrash and speed metal into the world. Summer 2024 will see them release their debut full length under the Prosthetic Records label banner; prepare for Fueled By Fear. What started as a one-man band many moons ago has evolved into a propulsive beast of a band. Channeling a reverence to classic metal from a bygone era, Wraith incorporate their distinctively blistering sonic signature to create something urgent and contemporary. The band have previously described their collective mission as follows: a war of aggression on the dour confines of the modern metal scene and total sonic annihilation. Fueled By Fear captures the raw punk edge of their previous releases; a sound that will already be familiar to converts who have caught the band live in all their full-throttled abrasive glory. The album was self-produced by the band in Griffith, Indiana -, with engineering, mixing and mastering handled by CJ Rayson. Each member brings their own influences and stylistic flourishes to the table, combining to create a tightly wound, cohesive collection of scorching tracks that reflect their individual personalities and tastes.

550 limited copies, hand numbered, vinyl only, mastered by DJ Steaw,
Made in Berlin

Formed in 2019, Lawne is the result of a meeting of minds between old friends and self confessed music nerds Joe Nicklin and Joe Martin. Their sound draws upon myriad influences with dub, electronics, hip hop, psych, jazz, post-punk and Afrobeat all somehow ingrained within the mix.

It's something that evolved during at a time of change for both of them, as Joe Nicklin explains:

"The start of this project coincided with me moving onto a canal boat, which was a hugely rewarding time of my life but not without its challenges. You can hear some of my boating vents coming through in the lyrics of Beta Pan and Ame Tova.

Another challenge during this time was trying to figure out a way of still playing and recording drums that wasn't going to break the bank. I decided to start renting a tiny storage space near Caledonian Road in North London, that I would convert into a makeshift studio and soon learned that corrugated iron sheets aren't the best walls for a drum booth. My friend cut me some curtains and a few egg boxes later we were able to insulate the thing, sort of.

These limitations meant that we had to keep recordings pretty simple and I feel like this set the tone for the whole record. Whether it was digging out my childhood bass guitar for Joe to play, squeezing every last drop out of Logic presets or mumbling into a SM57 for the first time, we made do with what we had and I'm proud of the charming thing we were able to create. I felt like I was learning on the job at times for this album and I'm grateful for what it has taught me, whilst being excited for what we can do next. As I was moving off the water and out of my lockup, the album masters were also starting to trickle through. A fitting close to that chapter of my life and the making of our first album."

Joe Martin reflects more on how their unique sound came about:

"It's interesting thinking back to the sound we were exploring when we first started writing together, and how different much of the record is to that original sound. We didn't set out a clear musical direction and that meant we were rarely constrained stylistically, we could shift between genres and feels and grooves, take inspiration from the new and the old and it still sat comfortably with what we were trying to do. I think the eight tracks we landed on illustrates that nicely.

The record's named after the self storage unit we used as a studio for many years, there's something quite poetic about parting ways with the space within weeks of the album coming out; a final homage to the place it all started."

Phonica AM proudly introduces the latest release from upcoming Irish-born producer and DJ, Rhythms Of Prescott. For fans of Pepe Bradock and Derrick Carter, this record is a must-have.

The A-side kicks off with 'Beat Heat', a driving filter house monster underpinned by dubbed-out percussion, playful vocal interjections, and infectious disco stabs. Following up is 'RGRT', which delves into a deeper vibe with slick jazz samples and a pulsating filtered bass line. The B-side brings 'The Instigator', a tension-filled mind melter perfect for early morning trippiness, featuring Rhythms Of Prescott's masterful sample manipulation and unique wonkiness.

This release showcases Rhythms Of Prescott's raw approach and jackin' sample manipulation to rock any dancefloor.

Summer of 2023: Koralle wants to escape the heat of Bologna for a few weeks. He is heading south and rents a small hut by the sea near Ravenna. One night he meets Francesco Giampaoli, a seasoned jazz & world musician at a bar on Bassona beach. The two had worked on music before and Koralle visits Francesco the next day at his studio which is stuffed with analogue gear and instruments. He stops by every single day for the next weeks and the duo creates some incredible strange music.
As a special treat, they’ve invited a talented lineup of artists, including Twit One, The Offline, Slim, Mr.Käfer, Midan, Opek, and Darius Heid, to offer unique reinterpretations of their tracks.

Gavin Vanaelst runs the space Aboli Bibelot in Antwerp where exhibitions and musical performances can happen side to side with dealings in centuries-old furniture and unique pieces of folk art or volkskunst. Gavin makes music under the aliases DJ Charme, Kassett and So Sorry. This is the first album under his birth name. Takeaway Loops cycles back to the days when Gavin was working as a courier for .

is a food delivery company. Their couriers - ehm, brand ambassadors, as the company prefers to call them - dressed in bright orange, they race their bikes around the city. They deliver meals and groceries for all sorts. Thanks to them, the privileged can stay tucked in their private spaces. Interaction between the two groups - the privileged and the brand ambassadors - is mostly kept to the bare minimum. And sparse communications are often driven by annoyances - “my Coke is warm because you kept it too close to the French Fries.” And on the streets the general public dis-approaches the brand ambassadors with pity. We tell our peers: “That’s not a good job,” and “stay away from the Sharing Economy.” Because, you know, in our capitalistic dollhouse we all stand our grounds and play our parts wholeheartedly.

During his shifts for , Gavin recorded location sounds on his phone at fast food restaurants while waiting on the orders he had to pick up and deliver. Later in his home studio Gavin added piano and electronics to this source material. The result: a gloomy soundtrack for a shadow world. Seven songs in evening blue with a bright orange glare.

A few years ago, our favorite Belgian publishing house Het Balanseer released Seizoenarbeid by Heike Geissler (available in English trough Semiotext(e)). Geissler writes about her job at Amazon in Leipzig. Because her writing and freelance work did not pay the bills any longer, she was forced towards this underprivileged shadow-world of unwanted jobs. Seizoenarbeid shed a light on freedom in an unfree world. A monument of ‘we are all in this, but not together’. Takeaway Loops gives us a similar peak in a world that is at the same time so visible, but then also very veiled for many. A world that we prefer to use, yet that most of us prefer not to see - a world that we don’t like to enter.

Last year at Harbourland subway station in Kobe i was mesmerized by its sound design, created by Hiroshi Yoshimura. For each part of the subway station he composed a short phrase. While walking trough the station, a full composition grows in your head. The looping melodies guide you trough a microworld. Trough a blue world of commuters, of the homeless, of the lonely, of the fast paced, of the tourist. Gavin creates a similar effect with Takeaway Loops. The tonality somehow corresponds to Yoshimura’s work. Yet instead of being guided trough a building, we are now taken to the after dark. You feel the concrete evening heat of the city. You hear the rain. Stiff fingers during cold winters’ nights. You are alone on the bike, cruising. Your maps app telling you where to go. You just left the fake leather bench of the well-lit pastiche interior of a fast food restaurant.

Next order, number ECN44! Please wait outside, sir?

Mint Condition - A record label focused on excavating the outer fringes of classic House and Techno. Unreleased mixes, classics, overlooked gems and never heard before material, mined from the last 30+ years of contemporary dance music are the order of the day. From Chicago, Detroit and New York to London, Nottingham and beyond. Mint Condition have got their digging hats on to bring you exclusive heat and those rarer than rare jams that have been in your wants list for years. Dig in!

Forged in the fertile acid house scene of the late 80s, A Trifle Too Far comprises childhood friends Simon Ward and Tony Grimley from Hornchurch, on London's outer fringes in Essex. Their insatiable thirst for seeking out new sounds led them to countless shindigs, parties and raves, eventually inspiring them to craft their own music based on their adventures on the dancefloor.

Their studio collaboration culminated in the creation of the remarkable record you currently hold in your hands: 'Catch Your Ear / Meringueatang'. This two-track release, recorded in 1992, offers forward-thinking and fresh prog-house cuts, as rare as hen's teeth and as exhilarating as they were upon their original release over three decades ago. Catch Your Ear was expertly engineered by Evren Omer, boss of Essex-based techno bunker Strategy Records, while Meringueatang was helmed by Matt Clayden, one half of M&M and Acorn Arts and the proprietor of X-Gate Records, another stalwart in Essex's underground dance scene.

'Catch Your Ear / Meringueatang' remains the only musical collaboration between the duo. When Mint Condition approached them to reissue this highly sought-after EP, both Simon and Tony were surprised and delighted in equal measure by the proposition. Now, a few months down the line, we find ourselves with yet another top-tier addition to the MC reissue catalogue, fully licensed from the artists, mastered and cut by Keith Tenniswood at Curve Pusher, and available once again for purchase. Do not resist the beat!

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 loved listening to their self-released debut album Trouble In The Shed so much we eventually released it on vinyl for the first time. They now have a second album! Vocalist/drummer Peter very kindly talks us through the (train) tracks_ * "The Trainspotting Song" - Now, as a train geek, I go out filming trains an awful lot, and one thing you can't help noticing whilst out in the wilds of Staffordshire or the moors of Lancashire are a whole load of unnecessary 'Private Land' signs. This song is my response_ * "The Talyllyn Railway" - The history of the Talyllyn Railway is a fascinating one that I've long since wanted to explore, due to its unique nature as the first railway to ever be taken over by volunteers. This is the result! * "The Middleton Railway" - As a volunteer at the Middleton Railway, I had felt that a song needed to be written for quite a while. However, our guitarist Michael, ended up beating me to it! * "A Model World" - It was late one night, and I was lying on my sofa, trying my hardest to gain an ounce of enjoyment from 'Hornby; A Model World.' It was proving quite hard, due to the alarming lack of substance in the programme, so instead I decided that its name was rather good, and could be the basis of a song explaining my 'model world.' And, well, here it is! * "The Fifth Black Five" - This song is dedicated to the railway preservationists of old, who spent countless hours in cold, damp, dreary sidings, all to make sure us future generations would be able to enjoy the smell of a steam train. Thanks guys! * "Case Study" - This song is a commentary on the sensationalisation of disasters, when there's a massive tragedy and people at home just sit in their comfy sofas, watching the news and drinking tea. We know what's going on, but we can just choose to turn off the TV and forget it ever happened and continue with our lives. It also relates to the dehumanisation of those disasters you experience in school, where you have to write essays on someone who's just become homeless. It seems quite heartless sometimes_ * "Loco Motives" - This song is a fictional story of a man's personal struggle with a railway company, and the drastic measures he took to fix them_ * "That Would Never Suit His Grace" - With model railways, you always seem to get a few people who can never be satisfied with a layout or a model - no matter how hard someone's tried, there's always something to improve on, and they're never nice about it either. This song is a reality check for them_ * "Small Black Shunter" - This is our second homage to Zounds - Electrification would never be truly complete without its B-side. And this B-side is the story of a little loco who wanted to see the world. * "Rhydyronen" - Slowly but surely, we're going to pick off all of the stations on the Talyllyn Railway. Starting where Abergynolwyn left off, this is the story of our second favourite station on the TR. * "Typically English Day" - This is an homage to Mark Astronaut, a true punk genius who was gone before his time. Although there were many songs we could've picked to cover, it only seemed right to punk up one of his most popular tracks, and one of the main ones that got me into the Astronauts in the first place - Typically English Day, a heart-wrenching tale of an elderly couple trapped in the middle of a nuclear war, following their last moments before their inevitable demise. * "Just For The Record" - There is too much misinformation in the media these days, and one case I found particularly egregious was the gross misrepresentation of the strikers, who aren't so evil as the media want you to believe_

Next up on Feral Child comes the debut vinyl release from Austin Tx psych outfit NEON LEMON.

Having caught the eye of label head Dom on some cool looking, local Spacemen 3 themed nights’ posters; further digging revealed this incredible, richly melodic, yet deep psychedelic beauty with -seemingly- no home for a release on wax, so it was pretty easy to step in and offer to release it. “Hypnagogic Visions” is a superb, fuzz n’ drone drenched 6 track 10” LP in a sleeve designed by the legendary Jim Franklin (a friend of the band) who famously designed beautiful posters, flyers and gig tickets for the Elevators, Shiva’s Headband and Canned Heat amongst others, in his role as owner of the Vulcan Gas Company, a revered 60s Austin psychedelic club and concert hall. As Ben Siebert from the band explains: “This record was mostly written and recorded in a warehouse space outside of Austin (that no longer exists) called The Inner Chamber. We tried best to capture our live sound in this space, and with most band members in a state of constant turmoil at the time of its recording, this space offered a refuge from our personal lives and a place to transcend reality through creation of this music.” Neon Lemon blends together mind altering psychedelic sounds of the 60's with transcendent space rock of the early 70's. Finding their own balance between free form psychedelia and a mainline of roots rock and roll.

Limited one time 10” pressing, distributed by Forte Music Distribution and available late October 2024.

Marc Mac's Visioneers project returns after a long anticipated wait with a summary of everything we've loved about the project and more. The classic Hip Hop joints reimagined, BBOY bombs and the super-fly Jazz n' funky lounge originals have all become Visioneers trademarks. The record has you sitting back chilling and head nodding for one song and wanting to jump up and bust a move on another. The addition of guest musicians from all parts of the globe brings another dimension to the grooves and compositions. A very dope welcomed return for the Visioneers.

Available in 2 x 12" 180g Heavy Weight Vinyl and CD (with bonus tracks)

For number 84 in the Brazil 45 Series, we head to the North of Brazil with this dancefloor monster, double-sider by Magalhães & Os Panteras.

'Xangô' by Magalhães is taken from his 'E Sua Guitarra' album, from 1986, and originally released on Gravasom Records. A stunning, driving Lambada track with haunting vocals and a compelling gusto energy. It has been gaining popularity over recent years with DJs and is a sure-fire get-out-of-jail dancefloor saver.

On the flip, we find another biggy from Os Panteras, 'Lambada Pauleira’. Also released on Gravasom Records, but a year later in 1987. It is best known for Joutro Mundo's fine re-edit of the track, but here we have it in its original form, in all its quirky brilliance. It is easy to see why, over the years, it has been a staple of some of Brazil's finest DJs’ sets, such as Augusto Olivani (aka Trepanado).

We are super happy to present these two red-hot tracks back-to-back. Now let the dancefloors return so we can heat things up!

- Next installment in BRAZIL 45 Series.

- Two dancefloor focussed cuts.

- Sought-after original of an edit made famous by Joutro Mundo.

The title track, Pink Velvet is as smooth as velvet and as playful as pink. Featuring a full string and horn section in the choruses. Harking back to the glory age of musical sounds heard at iconic places like Paradise Garage and The Loft, but with modern production and arp synth lines and solos filling verses.

A2 Don’t Wait was a 'note to self'. Life’s short, do the thing, do the thing now. Funnily enough the track is kinda the opposite, it meanders, it noodles, it’s a journey, until… until the choruses, then it doesn’t wait, it drops, it happens, just like life!!

Flipping over to the B side, On My Mind is a love song, a ballad if you will. This dubbed out, solo ridden number explores existential themes like life, love, thought and spring reverb… all things fundamental to human existence.

And rounding out the EP, really giving you something for every occasion - B2 features Inkswel’s masterful REMIX/reinterpretation of On My Mind featuring two new vocalists LYMA bringing that sultry magic he is becoming renowned for and Elf Trazporter laying down the absolute heat. It’s broken beat in feel and party in nature.

Napoli based Gigi Testa brings the heat yet again on his third Rush Hour Store Jams release with some spicey Sichuan flavours, straight from the Dragon Temple... Milk not included...

Seth Troxler’s Slacker 85 imprint prepares to expand its repertoire of ne’er do wells and inspired outsiders, with two new singles shining a flashlight on talent at the characteristically esoteric producers on the fringes of Troxler’s always increasing circles.

American-Ecuadorian sound engineer and musician Andre Salmon has already left his fingerprints on underground dance music’s global scene, developing the current iteration of Inner City with Kevin Saunderson, as well as collaborating with house icons Paul Johnson and K’Alexi Shelby. Having already made a fixture of his supremely effective ‘Heartless’ mashup of Saint Etienne’s classic ‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart’, Slacker now welcomes Salmon to the family to exercise his studio technique and ‘sacred resonance’ deepness. The result is ‘La Mano de Dios’, a voluminous dance on the edge of house and techno, as smooth and impressive as the jets descending above the Terrace at DC10.

From Detroit to the East Coast, TB-203 delivers a contrasting energy on ‘Movin’. A fresh alias of NYC DJ, producer & label owner Tommy Bones, this bubbling, raw acid workout finds fresh heat at the intersection of jackin’ hip house and latin freestyle, driven by loose and lively vocals from DannyP. Underscoring Slacker 85’s commitment to party over posture, ‘Movin’ has been tried and tested to deliver on its old-school promise.

2024 Reissue

The syndicate manifests its sonic potential in full glory. Giving rise to this collection of colossal heavyweights, Sentry demonstrates its spotless record of selecting certified heavyweights for the discography once again, twenty-fold. Stepping into the ring are some of the scene's most prolific artists alongside a plethora of promising, choice newcomers.

Boasting more than an hour of supercharged sound system pressure with names like Caspa, Truth, Bukez Finezt, Nomine and Youngsta himself on the controls - the subsequent inferno proves to be an authoritative display of quality bass music, that is sure to reach roaring stacks of speakers all around the globe for years to come."

"Vintage flavours transmute into fiery low-end excursions in 'Sun Ra' as Onhell reigns with fire and brimstone and makes way for what's to come. Rolling on, Taso lays waste with dimly lit half-time flows as we enter the smoke-filled mansion of Argo's meticulously crafted 'Since Then' - a prime cut of hip-hop infused breakbeats and bass.

Abstrakt Sonance & Substance set the heater into overdrive and blunts aflame as we proceed into the shelling of 207's 'Gypsy Dub' - then promptly being crunched to bits by 'Crocodile' - encapsulating Dayzero's cold-blooded dance floor armaments. Brace yourself for battle as we step to the drums of Caspa's tribal warfare, full-frontal assault engineered for the club.

Unrestrained power surges propelling us onwards in Coltcut & Ourman's decidedly high-grade collaboration as listeners march through Khiva's haunting sound system belter 'Teeth' and a zealous dosage of Dubstep as envisioned by Truth. Led through eerie alleys and pressure-ridden environments with LSN on the buttons, the onslaught proceeds with the relentlessly driving 'R U Broke' in Mr. K's signature style.

Opus merciless injects straight fury in an auditory form in the spiked 'Lime Pickle' - Bukez Finezt keeping pace with a murderous Cembalo-ridden thug anthem, lunacy! Minimal instrumentation to its fullest effect, Sukh Knight's 'Modulate' keeps it spicy - as does the claustrophobic sub-bass chiming by Leftlow. Thanom ignites what's left of the residual air in 'Tumble It' - dangerous goods.

The subsequent time bomb armed by A:Grade & Feonix, cast into the abyss that is Nomine's space-bending 'Judas' - big speaker business. The clock strikes its final hour - Youngsta & Cimm finish off the survivors with a no-holds-barred showdown, the 'Last Judgement' executing its massive verdict.

Finally back on vinyl, this 2011 release was the first proper full-length showcase for the Grammy Award-winning superproducer. The signature soulful style of 9th’s beats was a sensation in hip hop and R&B--for underground fans and in the mainstream--and he played a leading role in bringing North Carolina to the forefront of American music culture in the 21st century.

Described by Steve Lamacq as “so elegant and haunted, in an almost gothic way, but with that bass momentum of proper post-punk”. This is the debut album from bloody/bath. 10 tracks inspired by the unsettling sounds of horror soundtracks, early 2000’s indie rock guitar lines and mental illness, ‘In An Empty Space, I’m Screaming’ is as anthemic and cathartic as it is eerie. Produced by Matt Peel (Yard Act, WH Lung, Dream Wife, Divorce, Eagulls), the record is dissonant post-punk filtered through a myriad of sonic palettes. Lead single ‘Suffering’ evokes catchy indie rock while opener ‘Strangling of the Dog’ finds itself firmly in the harsher edges of the genre. The album also features ‘Idle Hands’ which was championed by Iggy Pop and played on BBC Radio 6Music by Iggy, Steve Lamacq and Lauren Laverne. This limited edition vinyl on translucent red with black smoke marble is limited to only 100 distro copies. Link to Soundcloud tracks - ‘Strangling of the Dog’, ‘Heather’ and ‘Unholy Cross II’

Robert Sotelo is a bedroom pop songsmith who lives in Glasgow. Sotelo has released six albums since 2017, three of which came out on Upset The Rhythm. He also performs in Order of the Toad, Dancer and Nightshift. Mary Currie is best known as half of touchstone DIY experimentalists Flaming Tunes, alongside Gareth Williams (of This Heat). Currie also performed in Officer! with Mick Hobbs amongst others.
Introduced via a mutual friend, Sotelo approached Currie last year about collaborating on four songs he was constructing with producer/electronic guru Joe Howe. This resulted in the ‘Dream Songs’ 7” EP (out October 4th on Upset The Rhythm).
Not only does the title capture the hazy, reflective nature of the music it also expounds on the origin of tracks. Sotelo experienced several lucid dreams in the first half of 2023 that left him in a state of confusion. He recalled visiting parts of London vividly, including a disused theatre of great familiarity, yet it slowly transpired that these places and circumstances were not real, much to Sotelo's disbelief.
These reveries informed the lyrical narrative of the four songs from the forthcoming EP. Currie took a similar approach with her lyrics, focusing on memory and time for her passages on the record. Currie recorded her parts in London (assisted by her good friend Alison Craig) and then sent them to Howe, alongside additional location recordings to consolidate into the mixes. These four tracks flutter with a minimalist bass, drum machine and keys dynamic, allowing Sotelo and Currie’s vocals to speak deeply into the back of your mind. ‘Expectations’ is a pensive triumph of whirled moments and momentum with Currie’s final words lending much gravity “the outcome of my days is always the same, a void that must be filled, a battle against time that drags us along; mutating, spinning, ebbing, flowing. Begin again, we work to give value to time.” ‘Telegraph Hill’ boasts a glossy fluidity, as it plays with images of motorways, ancient citadels, crows, paralysis and emanations. ‘Lady Fortune’ meanwhile is a tranquil treatise on fate, imbued with finessed electronic embellishments and clarinet flourishes. You can't quite trust where these songs will take you, they feel particularly mercurial. Dreams indeed.
‘Dream Songs’ by Robert Sotelo & Mary Currie will be released on October 4th, followed by some live performances from the band. These will include the aforementioned EP tracks, as well as recreated cuts from the Flaming Tunes era, leaning into happenstance rather aptly.

REMASTERED AND REISSUED!!! GIRL TALK’s (aka GREGG GILLIS) third album on Illegal Art! Night Ripper is focused less on beat-fuckery and more on bringing heat to the party than previous outings. Hip hop hits, soft rock radio standards, party classics, grunge masterpieces, R&B singles, glossy club-shakers and rock anthems are all layered and placed together into one nonstop celebration of pop and excess. Night Ripper was awarded “Best New Music” by Pitchfork, and has made many proclaim Girl Talk the next Danger Mouse. “One endlessly entertaining mega mash-up”—Rolling Stone.

Heated Garage is a sonic snapshot of what happened when boundless musical energy and middle American moxie combined to create a cultural phenomenon. The tracks are drawn from a vast archive of Kay Bank master tapes - some are ultra rarities you’d be hard pressed to snatch from the collectors’ market without mortgaging a kidney. Others are alternate versions and outtakes never before released in any form! “The joke was, some bands didn’t become garage bands because it was too damn cold...you can’t go outside when it’s 25 below zero. So, a lot of people are honing their craft in their basements.” High Spirits guitarist Owen Husney explains. Knowing more about them is not only unnecessary, it would mar their mystique. They exist forever in a moment of raw rock ‘n’ roll glory that transcends time, a space shared by their Heated Garage brethren. Looking back on The Pagans’ songs, for example, Kip Sullivan says, “They feel sacred to me.” Recollecting his High Spirits adventures, Owen Husney sighs, “I would go back to those heydays in a minute.” Now he can. And we can all come along.

Latin funk at its finest. A kingpin player of Miami’s Cuban music scene, Ray Fernandez, brought together his ‘court’ for this sensational Afro-Cuban funk triumph. Largely a family affair, the album features his wife, two sons and a range of other talented musicians including Rickey Washington on saxophone, father of the contemporary jazz maestro Kamasi Washington. Originally released in 1973 on Manuel J. Mato’s iconic and collectible Sound Triangle Records, Ray & His Court is a dose of Miami heat fuelled by a Cuban fire, taking in salsa, soul, funk, calypso and Afro-Cuban rhythms.

A kaleidoscopic album that draws influence from a range of different genres and scenes blended together in true Ray Fernandez style. Side A, showcases an array of traditional Latin workouts including the addictive enticing opener 'La Señorita Lola' and the pulsating 'Lo Sabia' with its punchy horns and Ray’s wonderful, quirky bubbling organ groove. The tantalising ‘Venimos Acabando’ and bouncing organ stabs of ‘El Alacran’ are two further tickets to get a dancefloor vibing.

The B-side then steps things up, slipping a hit of heavy-weight Miami funk into the mix. Take the DJ favourite ‘Cookie Crumbs’ with its fiery bassline, tripped-out voiceovers and breakbeat drums. Or the amazing, memorable and truly unique funk instrumental ‘Soul Freedom’ with some mighty fine bass clarinet work courtesy of Gary Gottfried. Also featured is a seductive organ-led Cuban funk rework of Bobby Hebb's 'Sunny' (are there any bad versions of this song?), with a sumptuous female vocal that combine to serve up a seductive take us this much-loved classic.

'Ray And His Court' is a brilliant blend of Afro-Cuban gems and Miami funk heat from an influential group on Miami’s Latin music scene. A majestic and magnetic classic where every track is a surefire winner.

Kaum eine Hardrock-Band hat in den letzten Jahren so abgeräumt wie die Ladies von THUNDERMOTHER! Ihr Album "Heat Wave" (2020) erreichte Platz 6 der deutschen Albumcharts (und später einen beeindruckenden Chart-Wiedereinstieg (Platz 16) mit der Erweiterung "Heat Wave Deluxe"). Nicht mal die Corona-Pandemie konnte die Band komplett ausbremsen und so spielte man u.a. Konzerte vom Dach eines Feuerwehr-Trucks. THUNDERMOTHER sind für die Bühne geboren, ihre energiegeladenen Liveshows muss man gesehen haben. Mit Ecken, Kanten, Attitude und einem feinen Händchen für große Melodien spielt sich die Band Schritt für Schritt Richtung Rock-Olymp. Und dieser kann nun, mit dem am 19.08.2022 erscheinenden neuen Album "Black And Gold", eingenommen werden. Die Band um Frontfrau Guernica Mancini fackelt ein wahres Hit-Feuerwerk ab. Die erste Single "Watch Out" sendete bereits die richtige Message: Achtung, hier sind THUNDERMOTHER und "Black And Gold" ist ihr Meisterwerk!

First time vinyl reissue of Univers Zero's legendary Crawling Wind, originally released in 1981 on the Japanese 'Chaos International Series' label, with the original cover artwork has been beautifully redesigned by Thierry Moreau.

Toujours Plus à l'Est, as the title suggests, is heavily influenced by the traditional music of Eastern Europe, particularly Bulgaria., and paying tribute to the iconic catchphrase of Professor Calculus (Tournesol), the character from the Belgian comic series Tintin. Before The Heat, played live a few times, is an ambient composition by Andy Kirk, who is part of the EP's lineup alongside Daniel Denis, Guy Segers, Alan Ward, and Dirk Descheemaeker. Central Belgium in the Dark is a live improvisation from a period when Univers Zéro dedicated part of their concerts to complete improvisation. What makes this recording unique is that one of Andy Kirk's effects pedals picked up and emitted the sound of a mysterious radio signal, seemingly coming from "nowhere," especially noticeable at the end of the piece. The title of this improv is a nod to contemporary composer Charles Ives' work Central Park in the Dark. Central Belgium refers to the concert venue where the piece was recorded (Haine-St-Pierre).

Univers Zero represents one of the longest-living bands in Belgium. It was established in 1974. Drummer Daniel Denis had the brilliant idea to gather together a team of professionals sharing the same taste for music. The band has adopted an instrumental progressive style. Over the last couple of decades, the band has also implemented a series of influences from chamber music - most commonly, chamber music from the 20th century. Even if the line-up changes a lot over the years, the overall sound of UZ remained fairly consistent.

Dar Embarks, the hardware-based collaboration of Chicagoans Dan Jugle and Ken Zawacki, share four precious recordings of bouncing, highly-acidic machine funk and industrial ambiance. This is a posthumous release for Dan Jugle, who departed in 2018.

Dan was a multi-instrumentalist and a pillar of Chicago's techno scene who left an indelible mark on it with his distinctive sound. His infatuation with electronic music began in the mid-90s when he found his way to Midwest raves as soon as he was old enough to drive to them. He began working with analog gear to create his own expression of the music he heard there. Jugle, Zawacki, and Mike Broers started experimenting with a thrifted Roland TR-707, figuring out the controls through trial and error. They performed together as Ghost Arcade in the early 2000s.

Years later, Jugle and Zawacki reunited creatively, forming Dar Embarks and building the foundation for their project. Jugle gained a reputation for crafting washed-out, saturated club tracks as Juzer, a project formed with Beau Wanzer. Dar Embarks' debut EP Fleer (released on CLEAR USA) and Juzer's Horseplay (on Anthony Parasole's label The Corner) were both released in 2014, both elevated by Dan Jugle's live-action knob-twisting and button-pushing composition inspired by sci-fi and comic books. Despite his early passing, Jugle's legacy lives on through his work and his passion for Midwest techno that his friends and fans still remember and carry.

Lovingly wrapped up and presented to Acid Camp by Ken, these heaters are finally set free to move asses and minds.

"• 25th Anniversary expanded edition available on CD and for the first time on vinyl. • Contains five previously unissued tracks recorded live, November 14, 1999 on Mountain Stage. • Packaging contains lyrics, photos, and liner notes from Peter Blackstock (No Depression, Austin American-Statesman) While gigging in Austin, Texas, in the late 1980s, Kelly Willis developed a strong fan base. Among her fans were other Texas musicians like Lyle Lovett and Nanci Griffith. Griffith introduced her to producer Tony Brown who signed Willis to MCA Records. Soon, she would find herself in the films Thelma And Louise and Bob Roberts, as well as receiving a nomination as Top New Female Vocalist at 1993’s Academy of Country Music Awards. After three records on MCA, and an EP on A&M, Willis finished her fifth release and signed with Rykodisc, who released What I Deserve in 1999. Featuring originals by Willis, three co-writes with The Jayhawks’ Gary Louris, and songs by Paul Kelly, Paul Westerberg, Nick Drake, Dan Penn, and more—What I Deserve became her highest charting album to date, hitting #30 on the Country charts and #24 on Heatseekers Albums. It is also now revered as a landmark release in Alternative Country and Americana circles—with good reason. To celebrate its 25th Anniversary, What I Deserve returns—expanded with five previously unissued live performances of songs from the album recorded November 14, 1999 on Mountain Stage. In addition to an expanded CD reissue, the release sees its first appearance on vinyl as a double-LP! In addition to the 17 tracks (appearing on both formats), the packaging contains lyrics and new liner notes from Peter Blackstock (No Depression, Austin American-Statesman), all done with Kelly’s approval. What I Deserve has always deserved another look and listen for those who may have missed it the first time—what you deserve is to lose yourself in Kelly Willis’ incredible What I Deserve and celebrate 25 years of this landmark album.
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