Konsudd finds the hyperkinetic Konduku teaming up with close pal Aa Sudd as they match subtlety with intensity. Their high-definition production leads on these spacious works of art, with dynamic layers of atmospherics punctured by dense kick drums. They take care to address soundsystem physicality, loading their kicks with irresistible subs down low and finely chiselling the double-time rhythms up top for an extra boost of energy.
Boxset w/ 12" + 7" + Tape + Magazine, Posters
Embryo Issue 5 - Interviews and Mix series Exome
Quiet Husband
Jim KirkwoodSvartvit
Trenchfoot
Necropolis Festival White Centipede Noise Cryptworm Hyperdonitia
Crawl of Time
Night Terror Records Disengagement
Snet
Ineffable Slime
Marie Queau
Personal Hell
Natural Sciences Recs started in 2015 before mutating into the Embryo magazine series. Flesh Renewed marks ten years of the label with the fifth issue of Embryo. A light into the gutter of the fringe underground, through new tracks from the labels catalogue, 100 pages of interviews by labels and artists kicking against the grain and ties forged from the 80’s tape network. We invite you to witness the next stage of the evolution.
e A1. Osiris - Starlight Scorpio 1989 - 7"
f B1. SEEMEN - Floating Gently 1989 - 7"
Please welcome Roseen to the a.r.t.less label family! His debut on the Mojuba sublabel brings four uncompromising, club-ready belters in the finest Detroit Techno manner-relentlessly kicking, timelessly grooving, and delivering minimalistic sci-fi techno escapism of the highest order! Some of you might be familiar with his music from releases as Ausgang on Key Vinyl and Frameworks together with Decka.
For vinyl enthusiasts, we have included an endless loop and a locked groove. On the so-called X-side, you will find a very rare parallel cutting technique, first introduced and realized by the legendary Ron Murphy of NSC, Detroit fame! To honor Ron's legacy and craftsmanship, we teamed up with Mike Grinser from Manmade Mastering to reintroduce this one-of-a-kind cutting method to a new generation of vinyl lovers. Discover and enjoy!
aya's incredibly inventive Hyperdub debut album im hole distilled the incisive sonic experimentation of her early run of releases, the tongue-in-cheek giggles of her DJ sets and radio show, and the identity-fluxing lyricism of her live shows into a delirious tug of war between pleasure and dysmorphia. The album was championed from all corners, 'Best New Music' in Pitchfork to Radio 6 DJ Maryanne Hobbs 'Album of the Year', followed by a run of incredible live shows which drew new listeners further into her world. hexed!, aya's second album, confronts the desperation and dysfunction of addiction. Internalised phobias and suppressed traumas haunt the corridors and golden hours once romanticised on 2021's im hole; daymares concealed by nocturnal afters-hopping and key bag circles. Opener `I am the pipe I hit myself with' exposes the gray portrait secreted somewhere between the 8th and 9th floors of her previous record. `I used to say some shit for sure', `I used to say it when I was me-less'. hexed! is about what happens when aya turns the lights on.
On a creative roll of late, Linkwoods productions have branched out in many directions, a collaboration LP with jazz Genius Greg Foat, Another with Local Edinburgh Legend Other lands and a load more yet to surface. Linkwood now comes back to solo work with a hyper focused piece of electro goodness. Lo-fi but all the better for it, Mono comprises 14 deeply distilled tracks. After producing some more complex records it was time for a pure palate cleanser so we locked Nick in the Athens of the north studio for a week with his friends Moog and Oberheim to see what might happen. Somewhere between Electro, Early 80s Synth pop and techno the album is an extremely listenable piece as a whole, unpretentious and timeless. Sprinklings ofDave Stewart pop noodles, Newbuild, Early Era Nu Groove but very much Linkwood at the same time, I cant recommend this enough.
"Daft Punk brought me here, he brought me Daft Punk"
Just knowing that this slice of hyper-rare disco dynamite was crafted by Thomas Bangalter's dad should be enough for you to buy this on sight, if only to understand a little bit more about Thomas and Daft Punk's background. But this is so much more than a Daft Punk family curio.
Born Bangalter in 1947, Daniel Vangarde is a French songwriter and producer. In 1975, Vangarde founded his label, Zagora Records, who we have worked closely with on this lovingly curated reissue. For years, Vangarde wrote and produced songs that remained underground, under several pseudonyms and for various artists. Dubbed "the secret father of French disco" this here groove-fulled firecracker - using his Who’s Who moniker - is for disco-funk, library music and cosmic beat lovers.
The intense, evocative opener "Palace Palace" positively throbs with raw energy and sounds, honestly, like something off Daft Punk's Discovery. The title refers to the fashionable Parisian club Le Palace, essentially the Parisian Studio 54. "I’d been to a nightclub in New York, a big ring where people were roller skating with a whistle. The atmosphere was great. The music was all disco. I made this song when I came back. A vocoder transformed my voice. Back then, it wasn’t used much." The track rides a killer groove and is deceptively complex, with layers of fantastic percussion and ace synth work going on all over it. Listed to on repeat, it's brilliance is simply undeniable.
The louche, slo-mo heater "Hypno Dance" is, in Be With's opinion, *the* deadly dancefloor track. A svelte slice of ace space disco again geared towards the roller skating dance mania of the day. So deep, so disco, so instrumental. An unreal track and, as the title hints at, totally hypnotic. The side closes with the somewhat throwaway "Popeden" - it's a jaunty number that you're probably best skipping, in all honesty. Have we ever steered you wrong?
The B-Side opens with the frankly enormous "Roll Jacky Roll" is another thrilling, high class roller-rink jam with beautiful melodies that's adored the world over. The wonky, abstract "Ad Libitum 80" is a super dope, swirling, staccato electro-funk bounce which sounds light years ahead of its time. This might be the real lowkey sleeper gem on this record. CHECK! This remarkable LP rounds out with the huge "Dancin' Machine". It's got sleek drums that emit an absolutely ace swagger and elements of Italo synth funk feels. A relaxed, slow rhythm throughout ensures you can't help but get your funk on when this crashes soundsystems. We'll leave the final word on this to Daniel: "It amuses me to think that my son Thomas was influenced by "Dancin’ Machine" for "Around The World", he says. Both songs being based on an hypnotic repetitive refrain. Both songs being, of course, timeless pieces of Euro genius.
Who's Who really is a fantastic late-70s-early 80s roller disco-funk essential. The audio has been carefully remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring it sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at Record Industry in Holland.
When it came to the sleeve for this we were presented with an unusual problem: we usually have to rely on an original sleeve as the starting point for the restoration, but instead we were able to scan the original 35mm transparency of the front cover photo. The problem is that with a modern scanner the results were far sharper than when they made the original sleeve. We’ve played around with the exposure and the colour grading but we’re sorry to say that our version of the front cover still ended up looking too good! Don’t hate us.
Sunset edition - 300 copies
Driving is Sam Wilkes’ Indie Rock record. Iit is the first release on Wilkes Records, an imprint borne of the artist’s emergent need to self-release. The songs presented here exist comfortably within the ever-expanding Wilkesian cosmos, characterized as they are by virtuosity, torqued experimentalism, and collaboration with a range of talented musicians. But Driving’s influences, its sincerity, and its allegiance to a certain pop sensibility reflects a departure for an artist who has primarily staked his claim within the experimental jazz idiom.
Take the first track, “Folk Home,” which inaugurates the album’s fecundity—a bright, green, humid, summer feel. A swirling, freakout coda of reversed vocals gives way, in no short order, to a caterwaul of flute work that conjures Van Morrison’s (in)famous Astral Weeks sessions. Standing beside Morrison, the usual suspects are all present, if somewhat abstractedly. Dylan, The Dead, Joni, the Fab Four. Wilkes has developed a reputation as an experimental jazz luminary, but his deep affinity for the pop/rock/folk idiom of the latter twentieth century rings clear throughout Driving. More so than any Wilkes release to date, Driving is a collection guided by and dedicated to the man’s attention to songcraft.
Written and recorded during a period of rain-damage induced renter’s itinerance (and the attendant desire to produce a kind of therapeutic, self-soothing, home-feeling music), Driving loosely charts the trajectory/experience of “a protagonist,” both Wilkes and not, “who has figured out how to live an enlightened and fulfilled life, but is unable to do so because he thinks about it too much.” This friction is surely relatable — a symptom of our compulsively self-aware present. But Wilkes avoids the obvious pitfalls of public hand-wringing. Rather, Driving’s nine tracks evince a genuine, and mature searching-ness, both sonically and lyrically. The ending refrain of “Own” serves like something close to a thesis— “Letting go // isn’t a concept // it’s an action.” In an attempt to beat back ego, hyper-cogitation, language itself, Wilkes arrives at an axiom that feels so true and familiar, you’d swear you’d heard it one hundred times before.
Driving’s final third is, fittingly, its most emotive and cathartic. Tracks seven and eight, “Again, Again” and “And Again,” form a diptych, joined most obviously by the jangling, recursive grooves of guitarist Daryl Johns. Wilkes is said to have encouraged Johns to go “full Lindsey Buckingham” (clearly a welcome and resonant prompt), but one also catches stray Knopfler vibes, some intermittent Fripp, and (perhaps more-so in tone than technique) the spirit of DIY prophet and jangling man himself, Martin Newell (the Cleaners from Venus). Wilkes has stated that he finds joy in creating musical environments suitable to the contribution and flourishing of his favorite musicians. Throughout Driving, and in these two tracks especially, he has more than succeeded.
The record closes with the titular track: a story-song that, according to Wilkes, poured out of him (melody, composition, and lyrics) in a single sitting. The tale is told plainly, bravely, starkly; a mistake was made, regrets have been had, and all is wrapped up in the recollection of a deeply felt adolescent heartsickness—a time when the narrator was first afire with music and automotive freedom. The song captures the moment when meaning inexplicably falls into place, when a long-nagging memory suddenly assumes narrative form, and the subsequent sense of lightness and unburdening. It is fitting that Driving, a record conceived as a form of self-therapy, should culminate with a sense of humble revelation. That Wilkes is plainly eager to share the vulnerable fruits of this labor constitutes Driving’s joyful offering.
Words by Emmett Shoemaker
Neue erweiterte Deluxe-Version des Debütalbums "fishmonger" (2021) der gefeierten Hyperpop-Produzentin underscores (aka April Harper Grey) aus San Francisco, das sie bislang nur im Eigenvertrieb auf den Markt brachte. Eine aussergewöhnlich frische, experimentelle Produktion zwischen Electronic, Pop, Dubstep und Pop-Punk, mit den Fanlieblingen "Spoiled Little Brat" und "Second Hand Embarrassment". Die neue "deadAir Legacy Edition" enthält eine zusätzliche LP mit 6 Single/EP-Tracks, 5 Remixen (Lunice, six impala, Virtual Riot, carolesdaughter) und 2 Bonustracks, dazu ein 24-seitiges Songtext-Booklet. Transparent-hellblaues und transparent-kobaltblaues Doppelvinyl.
An imperial phase Actress commits a lushly amorphous installation piece made for the Berliner Festspiele to vinyl, rendering a post-industrial symphony full of iridescent shifts in gyring, OOBE-like spatial coordinates landing somewhere between nutopian ambient, kankyō ongaku and sawn-off bass science.
‘Grey Interiors’ was made in collaboration with Actual Objects and is an absorbing animation and navigation of those post-human ideals that have prompted Darren J. Cunningham to his best work across the preceding two decades. In its hypnagogic symphony of the elements, he short-circuits distinctions of classical music’s metric freedoms and the hyperspatial sensuality of concrète/electro-acoustic and ambient musics with an artistic license that has come to distinguish his work in the contemporary field, and arguably identified him as this generation’s most vital electronic abstractionist.
The first half of the album is bewitchingly airless, materialised in a twinkling vacuum. Naturalistic environmental recordings and a half-heard piano swirl around nauseous airlock whooshes and eerie bass drones. It's all pulverised to a powdery, shimmering residue; if Actress's music is defined by its character and texture - that sweet spot between the bedroom and the soundsystem - then this one advances the narrative without losing its backbone. And like a lot of his best work, it comes into its own on the back of zonked eyelids, conjuring a play of shifting geometric patterns within its imaginary physics and nuanced narration of ephemeral melodic phrasing and vaporous textures.
At about the halfway point, that dissociated piano finds its groove, coalescing into a jerky drum machine rhythm popping like bubbles in the stifling atmosphere. We can draw some intersecting lines here thru electronic music lore - traces of vintage AE, Push Button Objects, UR - but Actress always leaves an indelible fingerprint on anything he touches. Even when he's rubbing against the gallery-industrial complex, he manages to fill a stagnant space with electricity and wit; look at the title itself: is it a reference to the "landscape beyond man" as the installation's press release might have us believe, or the institutions themselves?
Now available on LP, the versatile Owain Park adds another two roles--those
of singer and director--to his burgeoning Hyperion discography, with this
recording marking the debut of The Gesualdo Six to Hyperion
Their programme of motets ranges widely across the religious musical landscapes of
medieval and Tudor England.
The Gramophone 'Record of the Year' winning team of Stephen Hough and
the CBSO are joined by the principle conductor Sakari Oramo in this
benchmark recording of Saint-Saens' complete concertos
Forming part of Hyperion's iconic 'Romantic Piano Concerto' series, these
performances combine all the elegance required for the Frenchman's music with the
utmost bravura. Saint- Saens himself was a formidable pianist and his rare 1904 (!)
78rpm recording of Africa has until now been matchless; finally in Stephen Hough's
performance he has a rival
Six track EP full of warm deep house music, spacy jazz not jazz, african and brasil rhythms, plus a portion of psychedelic funk poetry.
‚Children Of Zu Zu‘ is Charles Petersohn‘s restart after his previous label release from 18 years ago, besides some experiments on Bandcamp and SoundCloud. On this EP sound merges into each other, is producing an organic flow. Smooth deep house, different kinds of jazz and jazznotjazz, african rhythms, Brasil batucada, psychedelic funk poetry, inspired by Dr. John and most of all the space music and afrofuturist philosophy of Sun Ra and his Arkestra. Soundscapes and atmos in the background of each song give the music a deeper feel. It took its time to get the music ready. There was the desire of having Web Web pianist Roberto di Gioia in the music, took months. But it was worth waiting. Roberto planted some magic moments in to it. On other hand Charles is hyper critic with his own sound. If jumping into to arena again, there should be something special. When he will be okay with every inch of his sonic work, then its done! ‚Children Of Zu Zu‘ became a collage of thick, warm and smooth housemusic, spacy Ambient Jazz and two dancefloor tools with a deep Afro and Brasil feel.
Here we go with six tracks full of love, full of dreams and full of space.
"Children Of Zu Zu" ist Charles Petersohns Neustart nach seiner letzten Label-Veröffentlichung vor 18 Jahren mit dem Pianisten Jasper van't Hof bei "Jaro". Deep House Music, Jazz Not Jazz, afrobrasilianische Jazz-Grooves, Ambient Jazz, eine von New Orleans Legende Dr. John inspirierte spirituelle Botschaft, einen Gesang von Frauen und Mädchen aus Samoa vom "British Commonwealth Sound Archive" und nicht zuletzt die intergalaktische Poesie von Sun Ra und seinem Arkestra. Soundscapes im Hintergrund fast aller Tracks versetzen die Musik jeweils an einen fiktiven Ort. Es hat seine Zeit gedauert, bis die Musik fertig war. Der Wunsch, den Web Web Pianisten Roberto Di Gioia für die Musik zu gewinnen, schien fast unmöglich. Seine Teilnahme verzögerte sich um mehrere Monate, denn Roberto ist ein vielbeschäftigter Musiker und Produzent. Am Ende hat sich das Warten gelohnt. Er hat der Musik einige magische Momente beschert. Auf der anderen Seite ist Charles mit seinem eigenen Material meist überkritisch. "Wenn ich mich parallel zu so vielen großartigen Musikern und Produzenten überall in der Welt und darüber hinaus mit einer eigenen Botschaft in die Welt begebe, muss das schon etwas Besonderes werden!" Nach endlosen Sessions in seinem Mini-Studio ist 'Children Of Zu Zu' um einiges mehr geworden, als er sich vorgenommen hat. Statt zwei, sind es am Ende sechs Tracks und zwei Bonus-Versionen voller Liebe, voller Träume und voller Space, innerspace und outerspace, geworden. Musik für den Dancefloor, für Jazz Clubs, Chill Zones und obendrein für Kinderzimmer!
compiled by tsunaki kadowaki
artwork by yoshirotten
mastering by kuniyuki takahashi
Tsunaki Kadowaki, a staff member at Kyoto’s record store Meditations, the supervisor of "New Age Music Disc Guide", and the founder of Sad Disco, curates the fourth installment of "Midnight in Tokyo" themed around Ambient Kayō.
The Midnight in Tokyo series by Studio Mule focuses on Japanese music, serving as a soundtrack for Tokyo nights—whether for home listening, club play, or as a driving BGM, transcending location and space. After a six-year hiatus, the fourth volume takes "Ambient Kayō" as its new perspective, compiling genre-defying tracks released between 1977 and 1999 to explore the intersection of Japanese ambient and pop music.
For this long-awaited fourth installment, selections were made regardless of record label status (major or independent), era, format (vinyl or CD), original release price, or prior reissues. Instead, the focus was on music that deeply moves the listener, is open-minded and evocative, brims with inspiration and spiritual insight, and embodies the "utagokoro" (singing heart) of Japanese artists.
Opening the compilation is "Umi e Kinasai" by Yōsui Inoue, a legendary Japanese singer-songwriter whose works have recently gained renewed interest as hidden gems of Walearic and ambient pop
Composed and arranged by Katsu Hoshi—who is also known for his arrangements on Inoue’s masterpiece Ice World—the track features renowned players such as Masayoshi Takanaka, Hiroki Inui, and Shigeru Inoue. The song embodies a yearning for Balearic horizons, tinged with youthful vibrancy and sentimentality.
Next, "Oritatamu Umi", compiled from Keiko Nosaka, a 20-string koto player, and George Murasaki, a pioneer of Okinawan rock, is an instrumental track from their album "Niraikanai Requiem 1945". As the title suggests, it carries themes of requiem and remembrance, conveying poetic lyricism even without words. Blending Ryukyuan/Okinawan harmonies and indigenous elements, it unfolds as an intimate and nostalgic piece of progressive rock.
Also featured is "Natsu no Kowareru Koro" by Higurashi, a folk-rock band led by Seiichi Takeda, formerly a guitarist of The Remainders of The Clover, the predecessor of RC Succession. Like the opening track "Umi e Kinasai", this song was also produced by Katsu Hoshi. It stands as a folk/new music piece that takes a step into an "otherworldly" realm, recommended for fans of Twin Cosmos and Masumi Hara.
From the enigmatic Blue, the only work left by the mysterious composer S.R. Kinoshita, comes "Mangrove", a hidden treasure of Japan's ambient/new age scene from the CD era. With an oriental and enigmatic atmosphere, the track evokes a mystical world of deep, uncharted jungles, unfolding as an otherworldly New Age Kayō.
"Yaponesia Sakura", selected from Rehabilual’s sole album New Child, is a masterpiece of Japanese new age music. Produced by Swami Dhyan Akamo, a disciple of Indian meditation teacher Osho and a renowned balafon player, the track features Michio Ogawa (Chakra) and Atsuo Fujimoto (Colored Music). Their collective artistry creates an exquisite spiritual ambient pop sound.
"Asa no Hitoshizuku", the opening folk song from Sachiko Kanenobu’s album Sachiko, is also included. Known for her legendary folk album Misora, produced by Haruomi Hosono, Kanenobu’s fourth album after resuming her career was inspired by her experiences living in San Francisco and revolves around the theme of "love." This track carries the same intimate poetic world as Misora, imbued with a pure, crystalline innocence.
From the synth-pop band E.S. Island, known for the Haruomi Hosono-produced *Teku Teku Mami", comes "Yume Fūrin ", selected from their long-lost new age classic Nanpū from Hachijo. Created while the band’s core duo was living in Hachijō Island, the album aimed to sonically capture "the high and happy vibrations of everyday island life." This track offers a dynamic, tribal-infused New Age Kayō experience.
Dubbed "the world's first Min’yō House Mix" "Esashi Oiwake (Maeuta) " comes from Kanazawa Akiko HOUSE MIX Ⅰ, a collaboration between Japanese house music pioneer Soichi Terada and Akiko Kanazawa, a renowned min’yō singer. Through the prism of club music, Hokkaido's Esashi Oiwake, one of Japan’s most iconic folk songs, is transformed into a futuristic ambient pop piece with intricate sound design.
The compilation also includes "Sweet Ong Choh", a track from Voice From Asia, a group active between 1989 and 1992 featuring vocal artist Shizuru Ohtaka. Taken from their imaginative minimal work Voice From Asia, released under Aoyama Spiral’s music label Newsic, the song presents a tranquil, tribal-minimal soundscape enriched by ethnic instruments.
Hailed by Haruomi Hosono as having “a shaman residing in her voice,” singer-songwriter Nami Hōdatsu also appears in the selection. Known for her collaborations with Henry Kawahara, her debut album featured "Asa-Hikari-Ame-Yume", a track that now stands as a precursor to modern vocaloid/synthesized vocal music—a hidden gem of post-choir aesthetics that deserves rediscovery.
Likewise, "Tennessee Waltz", from Naomi Akimoto’s album One Night Stand, supported by members of Mariah, serves as another early prototype of vocaloid/synthesized vocal music. The track weaves fragmented vocal samples, pastoral yet sweetly minimal synth sounds, and mechanical beats into a strikingly unconventional piece in the history of Japanese music.
Closing the compilation is "Heaven Electric", a track from Nav Katze’s album Gentle & Elegance, which featured remixes by Autechre, Seefeel, and Sun Electric. Merging elements of IDM, ambient techno, and chillout, the song embodies an optimism reminiscent of space music while seamlessly blending a mystical Japanese aesthetic—an ambient pop masterpiece.
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The album presents 12 exquisite pop tracks infused with an ambient feeling, resonating deeply with the evolving landscape of the mid-2020s—a time of post-hyperpop and Y2K revival.
Tsunaki Kadowaki (Compiler)
Born in 1993 in Yonago, Tottori, Tsunaki Kadowaki is a staff member and buyer at Kyoto’s Meditations record store. He is the editor of New Age Music Disc Guide (DU BOOKS) and a contributor to Music Magazine, Record Collectors' Magazine, ele-king, and more. Kadowaki has written liner notes for multiple Japanese releases (Brian Eno, Masahiro Sugaya etc.) and runs the Sad Disco music label under Disk Union. He also curates Spotify’s official New Age Music playlist and performed as a DJ at YCAM’s Audio Base Camp #3 in 2024.
Felix's impassioned F minor quartet was the fiercely personal response to his
sister's death in 1847, only a few months before his own
The Takacs Quartet frames it with equally committed accounts of a much earlier
work, and Fanny's own important contribution to the genre.
Now available on LP for the first time
