Shake Down, the debut album from the much-respected London-based Savoy Brown Blues Band was originally released on Decca Records in September 1967 - It was produced by the influential team of Mike Vernon and Gus Dudgeon - This re-issue faithfully replicates the original 1967 Decca UK stereo release and is pressed onto high quality 180g vinyl Led by Kim Simmonds, Savoy Brown were one of the UK's most successful and exportable outfits. Shake Down is viewed as one of the strongest and most respectful captures of the US blues they worshipped, bringing songs by Albert King, Willie Dixon and John Lee Hooker to eager UK purists. Recorded in West Hampstead rather than Chicago, the 11 covers showcased the remarkably tight playing of the band, which had formed in Battersea two years earlier. Savoy Brown on this recording comprised Trinidad born Brice Portius on vocals (his only album with the group), Simmonds and Martin Stone trading blues licks on their guitars, underpinned by the rhythm section of Ray Chappell on bass and Leo Mannings on drums. US critic Dave Marsh was to say that Shake Down was "as sympathetic a rendering of the blues as any English group has managed to lay down."
Shake Down by Savoy Brown Blues Band, released 26 April 2024, includes the following tracks: "Black Night", "Rock Me Baby", "Oh! Pretty Woman", "The Doormouse" and more.
This version of Shake Down comes as a 1xLP.
Buscar:hi rhythm
Ever since their auspicious beginnings, more than a decade ago, Laughing Bastards have giddily delighted in impurity. Initially a reeds-guitar-bass trio modeled after the classic Jimmy Giuffre 3, the band has remained truthful to its original spirit. Saxophone player Michel Mast and guitarist Jan-Sebastiaan Degeyter have remained its core, but the band went through several permutations, first welcoming Eline Duerinck (cello) and Marcos Della Rocha (for Unanimal in 2019) and solidifying its present-day line-up with bassist Cyrille Obermüller.
Bastards. It's kind of a rude word to throw around carelessly, but there has always been that element of being irregular, being too stubborn to comply with what is expected, that has set them apart. This is nowhere more evident than in the material contributed by Degeyter, who wrote more than half of the album's compositions. A talented illustrator and designer (he created a few of their striking album covers) as well as a versatile guitarist, Degeyter always manages to add a strong visual component to his material. In combination with his knack for pulling exotic influences into the band's overall sound, it leads to a playful, cinematic eccentricity.
"Tigraman" and "Black Spoon" are examples of this. Both are infused with an Ethiopian-tinged sound, but while the first one develops the catchy throbbing of a trance-like soul/rock tune, the second exudes the lush cadence of Golden Age Ethio jazz, the kind that gets under your skin with those sensual, irrepressible rhythms. They are a nice match with the increasing drama of the Slavic-tinged "Red Lemon", the slow, dreamy flow of the Jamaican dance hall-inspired "Sand", a strong feature for Duerinck, and "Dosi", that shows Obermüller's knack for propulsive melody.
The synesthete in Degeyter gets free reign in "Calliope", chamber jazz in which sweeping sax and cello are kept grounded by guitar, bass and drums. Mast's odd meter-song "Fetish" is another showcase for the band's effortless dancing and some gorgeous tenor schmooze. Della Rocha's "Turquoise" starts off in brooding, contemplative way and keeps simmering on a low, glowing fire. To top it off, there are a few covers that remind you of the band's origins. A new take on Giuffre's rootsy "The Train and the River" stresses their loose flexibility with an Americana style somewhat reminiscent of Charlie Haden, while Carla Bley's evergreen "Vashkar" gets a carefully constructed makeover to close out the album with grace.
On their latest album, Laughing Bastards prove they are a quintessential Belgian band - soaking up sounds and influences from all over the place while maintaining a tight unity - with an international appeal. Combining jazz and chamber music with ideas from pop music and multi-colored strains does not only give their music an iridescent edge, but also keeps the interplay fresh and inspired, something to return to while waiting to see them live on stage.
Skylax Records Is Proud to Introduce You to the Sound of RotorMotor With Their Astounding "Dream Beams" Ep That Encapsulates the Essence of Early '90s Trance, Italo Disco, and Ebm, While Evoking the Nostalgic Sound of Kompakt From 2004 to 2007. Hailing From Ljubljana, Slovenia, RotorMotor Is a Dynamic Duo Whose Tracks Have Gained Popularity Through Their Association With Lesyeuxorange, Feinstoff, Sexy Dinosaur From Outer Space, and Esteemed Remix Luminaries Like Neurotiker. Prepare to Be Transported Into an Audio Realm Where Pulsating Beats and Infectious Melodies Collide. the Ep Kicks Off With "Size of a Photon," a Track That Encapsulates the Signature Sound of Kompakt in Its Purest Form. "Feel My Pulse" Follows Suit, Immersing Listeners in a Rhythmic Journey That Resonates Deep Within. One of the Ep's Standout Moments Is the Remarkable Remix by Italian Producer Amarcord, Recently Acclaimed for His Releases on Ombra International, Eskimo Recordings, and Curses' Excellent Compilation "Next Wave Acid Punx". Amarcord's Remix of "Flashblinded" Flawlessly Blends Breakbeat and Trance Elements, Resulting in an Elegantly Treated Sonic Masterpiece. on the Flipside, RotorMotor Collaborates With Pholia on "Flashblinded," Delivering Both an Instrumental and a Vocal Version. the Vocal Rendition Adds a Post-Apocalyptic Touch as Pholia's Robotic Voice Sings in Slovenian, Creating an Atmospheric and Haunting Experience. "Dream Beams" Is a Demonstration to RotorMotor's Ability to Fuse Influences From the Past With a Contemporary Twist, Creating a Sonic Landscape That Captivates the Senses. With Their Relentless Energy and Creative Vision, RotorMotor Never Ceases to Amaze. This Vinyl Release Is a Must-Have for Any Enthusiast of Electronic Music Seeking an Extraordinary Sonic Adventure. Grab Your Copy and Experience the Hypnotic Power of RotorMotor....
Malegra, Reyna Tropical's long-anticipated debut full-length album, is at once a vibrant arrival and an electrifying bridge. The album is a contemporary celebration and continuation of wide-reaching cultural traditions - from Congolese, Peruvian, and cumbia rhythms to revolutionary artists like lesbian Mexican guitarist-singer Chavela Vargas - these influences meld and are remixed through the distinctive lens of trailblazing guitarist and songwriter Fabi Reyna. Traversing themes including queer love, feminine sensuality, and the transformative power of intentional relations to the earth, Malegría spotlights narratives often pushed to the margins and offers them a sonic homeland. The portmanteau, born from a 1998 Manu Chao song by the same name, is akin to bittersweet and blends the Spanish "mal" which means "bad" and "alegria" which means "happiness." Malegria marks Reyna Tropical's return to centering creative joy and movement through music. Whether enjoyed during listening parties or infectious live sets, the music will move listeners and irresistibly command a jump - into action in protection of the land, into the arms of a crush, into your own power and fearlessness, into steady body rolls along to the beat. Malegria offers us all a chance to witness history in the making.
You get older, you have a family, and you start to slow down-that's how things are supposed to go, right? Not for Montreal band Corridor, who have returned on their fourth album, Mimi, with a sound and style that's more widescreen and expansive than anything that's preceded it. The follow-up to 2019's Junior is a huge step forward for the band, as the members themselves have undergone the type of personal changes that accompany the passage of time; even as these eight songs reflect a newfound and contemplative maturity, however, Corridor are branching out more than ever with richly detailed music, resulting in a record that feels like a fresh break for a band that's already established themselves as forward-thinkers. Mimi immediately recalls the best of the best when it comes to indie rock-Deerhunter's silvery atmospherics immediately come to mind, as well as the spiky effervescence of classic post-punk-but despite these easy comparisons, Corridor remain impossible to pin down from song to song, which makes Mimi all the more thrilling as a listen. "The goal was to work differently, which is the goal we have every time we work on a new album-to build something in a new way," Robert explains. "This time, we took our time." And so in the summer of 2020, Corridor's members-Robert, vocalist/bassist Dominic Berthiaume, drummer Julien Bakvis, and multi-instrumentalist Samuel Gougoux-holed away in a cottage to engage in the sort of creative experimentation that would lead to Mimi's ultimate creation. Corridor tinkered with the songs' raw parts digitally and remotely over the next few years, with co-producer Joojoo Ashworth (Dummy, Automatic) lending their own specific talents in the theoretical booth. The process was a byproduct of not having access to their rehearsal space due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but also a result of the four-piece leaning harder into incorporating electronic textures than on previous records. "For a long time, we identified as a guitar-oriented band, and the goal of making this whole record was trying to get away from that," Berthiaume states. Berthiaume also describes Mimi as a record about "getting older" and "figuring out new parts of life"-but despite any claims of transitional growing pains from the band, Mimi is a record bursting with new energy and life, a vibrance that's owed in no small part to Gougoux joining the band full-time after pitching in on live performances in the past. "I come more from a background of electronic music, so it was nice to involve that with the band more," he explains, and Mimi contains a distinct rhythmic pulse reminiscent of classic era-post-punk's own melding of dance and rock textures. Over bright, chiming guitars and ascending synths, Robert addresses his looming mortality on "Mourir Demain": "I wrote it when my girlfriend and I were shopping for life insurance," he laughs. With our little daughter growing up, we also considered making our will. I said to myself, 'Oh shit, from now on I'm slowly starting to plan my death." Don't mistake this as music about dead ends, though, as Mimi embraces and champions unfettered creativity while paving a way for Corridor's own bright future. "We just focused on making a record that sounded the way we wanted," Gougoux exclaims while discussing the band's aims. "There were no limitations when it came to what was possible."
WRWTFWW Records is flying high as it announces the reissue of the 1997 ambient masterpiece Quiet Logic by electronic music visionaries Mixmaster Morris (The Irresistible Force), Jonah Sharp (Spacetime Continuum), and Haruomi Hosono (Yellow Magic Orchestra). For the first time ever, this iconic album is available on vinyl as a double LP with a heavy 350gsm sleeve, as well as on digipack CD and digitally.
Quiet Logic invites listeners to embark on a captivating sonic odyssey, blending intricate rhythms and celestial environments that push the boundaries of electronic music. Co-crafted at Haruomi Hosono's Tokyo studio in 1997, this album represents a time of rapid transformation in the genre, with these three artists at the forefront of redefining soundscapes.
With its unique blend of influences from Hosono's immense contribution to electronic, pop, and experimental music to Morris' worldwide chill out DJ performances and Sharp's pioneering label, Reflective, Quiet Logic remains a timeless piece of ethereal electronica. It was originally only released in Japan in CD format on the Harry Hosono-curated Daisyworld Discs label.
Remastered for 2024, this reissue is a must-have for fans of Haruomi Hosono / YMO, The Irresistible Force, Spacetime Continuum, Dreamfish, Tetsu Inoue, FFWD, H.I.A., Fax +49-69/450464, and mind-expanding musics.
Immerse yourself now.
Quiet Logic is pressed on biovinyl, a sustainable alternative to traditional vinyl. Biovinyl replaces petroleum in S-PVC by recycling used cooking oil or industrial waste gases, resulting in 100% CO2 savings in bio-based S-PVC production. Furthermore, it is 100% recyclable and reusable, embracing the circular economy ideology.
- A1: Magic Momentum
- A2: Rockets To Mars
- A3: The News These Days
- A4: Life (Skit)
- A5: Love Vibration
- B1: Original Flow
- B2: Hold On
- B3: Surviver (Skit)
- B4: Tatamaka Pt.1
- B5: Tatamaka Pt.2
- C1: Time (Skit)
- C2: Time
- C3: Jinja (Skit)
- C4: Kochirakoso
- C5: Our Tactus
- C6: Nah Personal
- D1: No Chains
- D2: Push Comes To Shove
- D3: We No Let Y'all In
- D4: Mexico (Skit)
- D5: Future For Our Children
We Release JAZZ is very happy to announce an exciting new body of work by Joseph Deenmamode aka Mo Kolours. The singular musical spirit’s new 21-track album Original Flow is available as a double LP housed in a heavy 350gsm sleeve with original artwork by Mo Kolours himself and the classic WRJ obi strip, as well as in digipack CD and digital formats.
A catalog of critically acclaimed records, including his self-titled debut (2014), ‘Texture Like Like Sun’ (2015), 2018 album ‘Inner Symbols’ and three companion EPs, established Deenmamode as a prodigious musician and vocalist. Pitchfork extolled his “hypnotic, tribal-infused dance grooves”, DJ Mag appreciated the “colourful celebration of soundsystem culture”, and Resident Advisor advocated that “no one sounds quite like Mo Kolours”. Musical analogies were drawn by The Guardian as “The best album Curtis Mayfield never made with A Tribe Called Quest and Lee Perry” and Mojo as “like Marvin Gaye produced by J Dilla”.
Five years ago, Deenmamode moved to the Japanese countryside. Far away from familiarity, he contemplated his place and further questioned his identity. “I had none of my ‘own’ people around. I had time to really find what makes me tick musically. Japan has helped me go back to those subconscious leanings, really go deep, and reflect the aspects that make up my story”.
The tracks on ‘Original Flow’ have been constructed from sessions, improvisations and soundbites captured around the world during this time; collecting contributions from musicians including Deenamode’s brothers Reginald Omas Mamode and Jeen Bassa plus Andrew Ashong, Charles Bullen, Dwaye Kilvington, Eddie Hick, Stefan Asanovic, Myele Manzanza, Ross Hughes, and Tom Dreissler. Deenamode says “I’m proud of this album’s creative process. Coming from a tradition of scouring through hours of records, I wanted to create my own samples, to find that perfect loop that no other producer could put their hands on. I decided to invite a group of friends and acquaintances, who also happen to be incredible musicians, to a studio in Crystal Palace to improvise based on some loose ideas I had. We spent all day, and recorded everything”.
‘Original Flow’ is an album of UK street-soul nouveau, future indigenous jazz fusion, Rasta Segga, Nyahbinghi jazz, Malagasy Hebrew hip hop. While retaining a spirit of exploration and improvisation, it sees Deenmamode grow and flex beyond beat tape brevity, expanding composition and stretching his musical muscle to play live with other musicians. Themes of empowerment, overcoming adversity, and mental liberation coexist with notes from ancient history, futurism, and science, as well as musings on family and togetherness.
‘Magik Momentum’ springs from a discussion that features at the start of the song, an inspiring mentor answering a question from Deenmamode about improvisation and what role it plays in life when planning and manifesting the future. ‘Rockets to Mars’ questions the lack of care for the billions of people with nothing, while governments plan to explore space. “This sparked a comparison in my mind to a Sonny Okuson song that I would reference when performing. Okuson’s song talked of the lack of resources in many communities in the world, while governments go to the moon”.
He says the music behind ‘The News These Days’ is “possibly my favourite on the album”. Looped like he would a late sixty jazz-fusion sample, there was nothing added and the track was complete within a matter of minutes. “It was the first and best moment from the entire Crystal Palace session”, he adds. The album’s contrasting title track with minimal instrumentation played solo by Deenamode. While frustratingly searching for gems in past recordings, he thought in a burst of ego, “I don’t need no-one else to make a dope beat!” picked up his ravanne, (the traditional frame drum of his fathers home-land of Mauritius), pressed record, and started to play. He says, “In my thoughts were the rhythms of the Nubians in Upper-Egypt and Sudan, the swing of the huge drums played by Mauritanian women, of-course the Sega beat of Mauritius, and the ever inspiring beat of James Yancey”.
Driven by UK broken beat, Cuban congas, Nigerian and Mauritian inflections, ‘Love Vibration’ follows the concept that all emotions carry a vibratory frequency and pays homage to the frequency of creation and the power of love. The two part ‘Tatamaka’ tells of the history of Deenmamode’s ancestors, the maroons of Mauritius. “We are people who managed to run from our oppressors and find refuge in a corner of the island called ‘Le Morne’ where they could not reach us. One bloody day they came in numbers to re-capture, to revenge. Many of us chose to jump to our deaths, rather than be taken back into subjugation. The poem by Creole Richard Sedley Assonne says; “there were hundreds of them, but my people, the maroons chose the kiss of death over the chains of slavery”. Tatamaka was the name of a famed maroon leader who was murdered for claiming his, and our people’s freedom. The song is the imagined journey of escape and freedom by an ancestor of the maroons of Le Morne”.
Born in the west midlands and raised on the traditional sega music of his father’s Indian Ocean homeland of Mauritius alongside records by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Santana and Michael Jackson; his influences expanded with late 90s jungle and drum and bass nights in Bristol, experiments at art college in Camberwell, and the rich culture of Peckham, “at the time we called it the Afro Quarters of London” says Deenmamode, adding hip hop, dub, soul and soundsystem styles to his individual sound.
He explains, “I love drum music, from hand-drums to 808s. I love music from the ancient past, heritage music, indigenous music, traditional music passed down from the beginning of time. Music from the body, hand claps, grunts and foot stomps. Music with audible depth, busy, bustling, highly charged. Music from the soul, the music from beyond. I love music from the islands and the mountains. The music of the streets, hustle music, alleyway beats. Club music”.
He describes the creative process as thinking in images. “The visual world and the world of sound seem to intermingle in my thought process. When I play the drum with my eyes closed, a world of imagery dances and moves with beat. Improvised drumming feels like I am listening to what I want to hear, rather than trying to play what I want to hear. Following the rhythm and finding new pathways to walk within the patterns is what I experience. In this way I often feel I am just a listener, instead of the player”.
Original Flow is pressed on biovinyl, a sustainable alternative to traditional vinyl. Biovinyl replaces petroleum in S-PVC by recycling used cooking oil or industrial waste gases, resulting in 100% CO2 savings in bio-based S-PVC production. Furthermore, it is 100% recyclable and reusable, embracing the circular economy ideology.
Die Debüt-Solo-EP CA von Canaan Amber wurde in dem Jahrzehnt aufgenommen, nachdem Duster sich in ihre Pause verabschiedet hatten, und zeigt die Vorliebe des in Kalifornien geborenen Gitarristen für San Francisco Jangle und Santa Cruz Surf. Mit dem Tempo einer Bananenschnecke verpackt Canaan Amber die einsamsten einsaitigen Gitarrensoli um eine Ansammlung hohler Rhythmen und geisterhaften Gemurmels. Für diese Wiederveröffentlichung wurde die ursprüngliche Fünf-Song-CD von 2012 um sechs weitere Demos erweitert, die aus dem Fundus des produktiven Songwriters geplündert wurden. Mehr Wolf Moon als Black Moon, erforscht und kartographiert CA weiterhin die versteckten Galaxien, die das Duster-Universum ausmachen.
Die Debüt-Solo-EP CA von Canaan Amber wurde in dem Jahrzehnt aufgenommen, nachdem Duster sich in ihre Pause verabschiedet hatten, und zeigt die Vorliebe des in Kalifornien geborenen Gitarristen für San Francisco Jangle und Santa Cruz Surf. Mit dem Tempo einer Bananenschnecke verpackt Canaan Amber die einsamsten einsaitigen Gitarrensoli um eine Ansammlung hohler Rhythmen und geisterhaften Gemurmels. Für diese Wiederveröffentlichung wurde die ursprüngliche Fünf-Song-CD von 2012 um sechs weitere Demos erweitert, die aus dem Fundus des produktiven Songwriters geplündert wurden. Mehr Wolf Moon als Black Moon, erforscht und kartographiert CA weiterhin die versteckten Galaxien, die das Duster-Universum ausmachen.
New Heaven, INTER ARMA’s latest album, is a compelling testament to perseverance, top to bottom. Its thicket of ever-dense layers of doom, death, and black metal occasionally let bits of light slip in, fleeting reminders to keep going amid the tumult. New Heaven marks a sharp turn for the band, showcasing some of the most extreme and angular songwriting INTER ARMA has ever laid bare. Known for their cinematic take on sludgy, extremely cavernous, and borderline psychedelic Metal, the Richmond band broadens their dynamics by seesawing between piledriving momentum and swirling oblivion. New Heaven crushers and conquers, and illustrates what INTER ARMA can truly be. Take the title track, with its hair-raising lead riff stemming from drummer/songwriter TJ Childers’ challenge to himself to write a nonsensically dissonant part that he ended up loving. The song spirals upward into a punishing Death-Metal march, Meanwhile, vocalist Mike Paparo’s stentorian bellows the bludgeon, above an impossibly complicated web of riffs and rhythms. From the get go, New Heaven and the opening title track eschews any restraint - INTER ARMA is completely unchained. Paparo’s keen and empathetic lyrics about innocent victims of war, addiction, and social apathy affirm that feeling, as a survivor grimaces at the carnage behind him and presses ahead best he can. “You stared into the brutish jaws of strife’s heartless device,” he growls into a chthonic blitz during “The Children the Bombs Overlooked,” a late-album powerhouse. “And you turned your back to hell.” That forward march out of madness is New Heaven in an armor-plated nutshell. Though this is indeed another INTER ARMA triumph, it is not a triumphant album, meant to offer some glib or naïve assurance that everything will be fine. What evidence is there for that, really, either on a record where friends are forced into submission, addiction, suicide, or retreat to a world where suffering remains the lingua franca? No, INTER ARMA and New Heaven are too realistic and experienced for that. This is, instead, a record about enduring brambles and curses and lasting long enough to make something profound, honest, and even affirming about it all every now and again—exactly as INTER ARMA has on New Heaven. FFO: Amenra, Neurosis, Full of Hell, Cult of Luna, Yob, Primitive Man, Thou, Ulcerate, Mastodon, The Body, Panopticon
Wenn du nach Jena willst, dann musst du erst einmal durch diese einschüchternde, massive Mauer von elfgeschossigen Plattenbauten in Jena-Lobeda. Und SNOW TRAIL aus eben jener Stadt liefern mit "Abandoned Capsule" den perfekten Soundtrack fürs nächtliche Schlafwandeln durch diese oder andere Betonwüsten. Auf ihrem Debütalbum für It's Eleven Records treibt der Rhythmus mit stoischer Gelassenheit die Schatten voran, während die verhallte Gitarre und der pulsierende Bass in Melodiebögen durch die Dunkelheit mäandern. Der Gesang transportiert eine unterschwellige Aggression, die sich in gelegentlichen Ausbrüchen manifestiert, doch eine spröde, fließende Anmut behält insgesamt die Oberhand. Das Trio agiert minimalistisch und konzentriert die Songs auf ihre Essenz. Behutsam eingesetzte Synths (z.B. bei "Fragments Repeated" oder "Constructions") oder überraschend Alt-Saxophon bei "Murky Acrylic Windows" verstärken die düstere Sogwirkung. Die Songs für "Abandoned Capsule" entstanden größtenteils in den Pandemie-geprägten Jahren 2021/22. Die Perspektivlosigkeit dieser Zeit wirkt als Hintergrundstrahlung auch in den Texten noch nach. Dennoch haben SNOW TRAIL nun mit ihrem Album und einer stärkeren Einbindung von elektronischen Klängen einen neuen Weg beschritten, der ihren ursprünglichen Sound trotzdem nicht verleugnet.
- You're The Voice
- Place In This World (With Michael W Smith)
- She Believes
- To Hell With The Devil (Rise)
- Checking In (With Lee Brice)
- You Make Everything Beautiful (With Rebecca St. James)
- Rhythm Of My Heart
- Unsung Hero
- Harmony (With Sleeping At Last)
- Lead Me On (With Amy Grant)
- I Surrender All (With Hillary Scott & Michael W. Smith)
For KING + COUNTRY musicians Joel and Luke Smallbone just announced the April 26 release of their “The Inspired By Soundtrack” album, based on their upcoming movie UNSUNG HERO. “The duo drops their latest track from the soundtrack today, ‘Crazy,’” The Christian Beat reported on Tuesday, “featuring the Smallbones and GRAMMY Award-winner (and sister) Rebecca St. James, along with a soundtrack version of the title track, ‘Unsung Hero.’”
[d] To Hell With the Devil (Rise) [With Lecrae & Stryper]
Melbourne/Naarm-based musician and curator Rama Parwata, known for being the backbone drummer in bands such as Kilat, Whitehorse and Rinuwat, releases his second major solo album titled ‘Ceases’ on Cassauna/Important Records.
Parwata's gripping new electro-acoustic work is a sonic exploration within the realms of post-free-jazz and experimental electronics. At its core, ‘Ceases’ navigates the liminal spaces between rhythm and noise, structure and chaos. The album traverses a vast emotional and conceptual landscape, touching upon themes of impermanence, transformation, and the cyclical nature of existence.
At the forefront of the album is Parwata's emotive compositional and performative approach, which serves as both anchor and catalyst for the album's journey. The percussion performance is cymbal heavy accompanied by deeply meditative drones and slow moving melodies. The wash of sound touches on a spiritualism akin to Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme Part 4: Psalm”, albeit with a modern electronic vision á la Tim Hecker. With a keen sense of textural intricacy Parwata favours the emotional expression of electro-acoustic composition, weaving complex poly-textures that ebb and flow with hypnotic, prayer-like intensity. Each performative gesture creates a visceral immediacy that draws the listener deeper into the celestial, otherworldly sonic framework.
The diverse array of electronic elements, meticulously crafted and seamlessly integrated into the fabric of the album are a testament of Parwata’s capacity for acousmatic composition. From pulsating synthesizers to glitched-out samples, the electronic timbres in "Ceases" serve as both sonic embellishments and structural foundations, blurring the boundaries between organic and synthetic, acoustic and digital. Honing in on the electronics, a listener could be convinced they were hearing anything from spiritual-jazz, 90s rave, dungeon synth or doom. Through judicious composition, Parwata imbues each sound with a sense of transcendental allure and paints a soundworld that has a distinct ‘outerness’. At times the narrative is pointedly bleak but over a few passages the sonic language often bends toward rejuvenation; finding respite in cadence. The title itself suggests a sense of cessation, of endings and beginnings intertwined—a motif that reverberates throughout the album.
Keepsakes returns to Perc Trax for his first full EP for the label,following his appearance on the 'Forever 2' various artists release back in 2020.
On 'Rant 4 Cash' James Barrett (aka Keepsakes) turns his attention to the lies and fakery of the current dance music scene, with lead track 'Scene Analysis' refusing to hold back when it comes to calling out the issues facing today's techno scene. A deep Green Velvet style vocal floats over a swinging junkyard percussion groove to drive the original mix forwards.
Label boss man Perc can't resist remixing such a memorable vocal track and swaps the swinging groove of the original with a pounding kick heavy rhythm to add even more intensity to the raw rage of the original mix.
Flip the record over and the B-side serves up another two punchy groove based tracks, pairing Keepsakes' unique brand of swinging percussion with cut up vocal shouts and grinding synth lines. B1 track 'Industry Anthem' repeats and warps the word 'money' as an extension of the cash grab call out of 'Scene Analysis' whist closing track 'Prey For Hype' uses other-worldly robotic vocal shouts over a tough kick led groove to finish the EP on an energetic high.
Surface Noise, a brand new LP of well-turned guitar pop, complete with roaring chords and propulsive rhythms behind Dunlap's clever and cultured lyrics. Austin, Texas quartet Gentlemen Rogues celebrate aggressive guitar pop anthems _ bearing the influences of The Replacements, Superdrag, Jawbreaker, and similar visionaries _ and have been gaining momentum and increased attention. Since their debut in 2011, the band _ Danny Dunlap (guitar/vocals), Josh Power (drums), John Christoffel (guitar), and Dave Hawkins (bass, vocals) _ have honed their hooks over numerous singles, EPs, and the 2022 full-length collection, A History of Fatalism. Gentlemen Rogues have supported diverse acts like the Lemonheads, Smoking Popes, the Dandy Warhols, Mrs Magician, and Riverboat Gamblers on stages across the U.S. and the UK. In 2021 Gentlemen Rogues opened for both indie-punk icons Superchunk and Bob Mould, who personally selected the band to provide sole support on the Texas leg of his Distortion and Blue Hearts tour. Little Steve Van Zandt, Springsteen's steady side-kick, has been strong supporter, Pressed on Transparent Electric Blue vinyl! Includes hand-numbered obi-strip and download card.
Sleap-e is reclaiming herself. The Italian singer-songwriter’s second album, 8106, captures the spirit of play; the child-like instinct to pursue what you love without compromise - and here it is, that particular magic that rarely survives adulthood, remarkably intact. Each of its eleven songs are vibrant shards which build a mosaic of Asia Martina Morabito’s world: the growing pains of your early twenties, remaining faithful to your dreams despite the hostility of adulthood, places of escape both real and imagined - and the pulse of Bologna, her home and north star. As a student of old-school iconoclasts like The Fall and inspired by the outsider streak of Jimmy Whispers and Daniel Johnston, it was not any particular musical quality of theirs which Asia wanted to channel in Sleap-e, but their confidence to “explode in a raw, free and authentic way.” Though her sound has shifted from the tender bedroom pop of her 2020 EP Mellow and her 2022 debut album Pouty Lips which was bedecked with jubilant brass and Mediterranean rhythms, it’s her self-belief which endures. 8106 is Sleap-e’s most raucous, unpolished and playful offering to date, steeped in the influence of “egg-punk”, an internet-grown genre which seeks to satirise the tropes of punk with its danceable irreverence. There is joy to be found, Asia feels, in refusing to conform, and it has brought her closer to herself than ever before. But to gain her sense of self, first, she had to lose sight of it. Summer of 2023, when the outlines of the record were made, was a difficult time for her. 8106 was the number of the hotel room she felt confined to, alone and adrift from comfort when she was working away from home. Writing this album was her getaway car. “It represents an important choice I made,” she explains. “I chose happiness. I chose myself.” The title represents a kind of mental post-it note reminding herself to stay focused on what she loves; it’s a talisman to protect her from hard times. She returned home, and there she began recording the album in residency at the Bronson Club, a hive of like-minded creatives and mentors who helped it take its final form. At home, her own music was played freely and instinctively. The artwork for 8106 is by Noemi Vola, a prolific Bolognian illustrator and author who specialises in designs for children, which reflects the “funky, fairytale mood” of the record itself.
. Legs Akimbo, the latest offering from the eclectic producer and DJ, Skwirl, released by Cold Busted, is a vibrant tapestry of sound that dances boldly across genres, much like its title suggests a stance of uninhibited exuberance. The album is a playground of audacious sounds and rhythms, each track splayed out with a creative audacity that's both refreshing and exhilarating. From the space-age funk of "Ur M8's Jetta," with its electrified beats and wisps of harp, to the orchestral cut-ups and synthetic soul of "Inside," Skwirl crafts a soundscape that is as diverse as it is cohesive. The album is an open invitation to experience the world through Skwirl's genre-agnostic squiggles, blips, and booms, where musical conventions are playfully disregarded. "We'll Be Here" encapsulates this ethos perfectly, blending a snazzy rhythm with snatches of jazz-infused flute, creating an ambiance akin to a midnight fog enveloping city streets. The music, much like the artist himself, is an amalgamation of varied influences and experiences, from teenage roots in the Atlanta suburbs to transformative encounters in Berlin's vibrant music scene. Each track on Legs Akimbo is a testament to Skwirl's unique approach to music-making, where disparate musical universes don't just meet; they dance together in perfect harmony
Amadis and The Ambassadors" are a music group who came together in London, through front man Amadis Ferreira; cooking up a blend of music with flavours of Afro, Funk, Reggae and Soul on the menu. Rich in melody and groove, it will take you on a journey of rhythm and conscious vibration.
I want to express my unconditional gratitude to my mother and my father for all the love they have given me, all the guidance and for showing me how to share the same with all peoples in the most prosperous manner. I would like to thank my musical family, The Ambassadors, for their courage, advice, musicianship and having believed in this vision, without visionaries beside me the journey would be much harder and dimmer to see. Words alone cannot describe the joy in my heart, this is why we play music. You are blessed. My infinite gratitude also spreads to my beautiful sisters and nieces along with family dotted around various parts of the world, Angola, Portugal, India, Switzerland, Spain, Luxemburg, France, England; and to my spiritual family of dear friends, cousins, uncles and aunties spread throughout this planet all under one firmament. You are loved. Last but not least, I would like to praise my brother and friend Jonathan Rogers for opening up his studio and being the binding cord that enabled the possibility of this album to come to fruition along with the love that only true higher spirituality brings.
South African Warrick Sony is a ground breaking composer who was behind the Kalahari Surfers project which now gets a vital spotlight courtesy of Emotional Rescue. This compilation shows how effortlessly eclectic his sound was - from jive rhythms to jazz, tabla to political speeches and much more in between. A Hindu pacifist who was once conscripted into the South African Defense Force, he founded this group as a way out getting his ides out there, calling on other musicians as and when he needed them. It was the first radical white anti-apartheid pop in South Africa and as this vital collection shows it explored polyrhythms, slow motorik, dub sound collage and even a goofy cover of Nancy Sinatra.
UK mainstay Subb-An makes a welcome return with this fresh new EP on Aesthetic. It finds him in great form with opener 'Seeing Colours' heading off down a nice liquid minimal route with crisp tech drums and twinkling synths up top to bring the magic. On the flip side is 'Plants', a rather serene and sublime cut with more rolling drums and plenty of deft synth designs that bring a certain celestial charm to the fizzing leads. Snad's remix then shuts things down with a more driving sense of tech house rhythm to complete a tasteful EP of heady sounds.




















