Search:i am x

Fohn conjures a dreamlike landscape of introspective beauty, loneliness and transience from analogue tape and field recordings on new album, Porcelain.

A late summer evening in southern France. The dry mistral wind billows the washing that hangs outside the windows on narrow streets, bringing with it the first whispers of autumn. In the distance children are playing in the square, their shouts caught in the dust whipped up by their feet. A bell tolls, the light dies, and a rich, compelling solitude descends.

Violinist and multi-instrumentalist Fohn, aka Tom Connolly, describes the act of making music as “building fictional environments that become places of solace,” and a process of translation and projection that bridges his internal and external worlds.

While musicians like John Also Bennett, Oren Ambarchi and Connolly’s own group Quade drift behind his sound, Porcelain draws its temperamental inspiration from films like Call Me My Your Name and Andrei Tarkovsky’s The Mirror, as well as the sculptures of Anthony Gormley, whose solitary figures stand isolated in expanses of water along the UK coastline.

How does Connolly describe the atmosphere he wants the music to evoke? “It's the feeling of the inevitability of something having to pass,” he answers. “It's compelling because it's fundamentally unattainable. You're searching and grasping for something that you can never fully hold.”

A moving, intimate and deeply personal album, Porcelain shimmers in the illusive light of melancholy. For Connolly it provided the release of catharsis, but it’s a feeling that will mean something different to everyone who listens.

Roughly two years after the release of their initial statement of intent, debut single “Toutpartout PT2” with its hypnotic ripples, Andi Haberl and Florian Zimmer aka Bella Wakame have successfully channeled the magic of a 2024 live recording (captured at Berlin’s Donau115 & Silent Green) into their first proper studio offering. You can hear inspirations ranging from Bitchin Bajas, Jeremiah Chiu to Groupshow (Jelinek, Leichtmann, Pekler), the hypnotic, intricate battle between form and freedom (the fun of momentary formlessness) continues to unfold over the course of 10 new tracks, featuring album guest Indra Dunis (Peaking Lights). Their first single "Shades of Nambei" was very much inspired by the wonderful band Spirit Fest and their song "Nambei".

You can either shorten the reins, or you can loosen them – and give things more slack. With Bella Wakame, it’s definitely the latter. Constantly challenging each other, they’re tapping a whole new energy. Tons of different energies.

Based on the impulsive, propulsive interplay between drums/sensory percussion (Andi Haberl) and modular synthesizer (Florian Zimmer), the frenzied, free-form results take listeners into completely new dimensions – sonic worlds that don’t really sound anything like their other musical outlets (The Notwist, SUN, Saroos, Driftmachine etc.).

Whereas most bands tend to notoriously overthink names/monikers, these guys obviously only care about the ecstatic push-and-pull that occurs once their instruments meet and overlap: it’s wildly explosive textures with a booming heart. Moving restlessly between motorik club, electro-acoustic jazz experiments, ambient excursions, and fast-paced instrumental anthems that seem to explode at the seams, one can immediately tell how much they enjoy the newfound freedom, the turbulent encounters born on the spur of the moment.

It’s all about a quick-paced exchange of friendly blows, a chasing of tails into ever-new musical terrains. Relying on just enough form for that wildness to blossom within, their just-in-time dashes continually unfold, refold, return, grow bigger – and leave you startled.

Ecstatic’s dreamiest cadets bliss out on a new album of acoustic and electric guitar, harmonium and synth tapestries, notably nestling a Romance cameo within a genteel toggle of atmospheric pressure.

Back on (side) road after releasing quietly acclaimed kosmische gem ‘I Had too Much to Dream Last Night’ back in 2021 and the lysergic lushness of ‘Listen to the Sky’ a couple of years later, Celestial suggest a more sublime return to earth with the shine-eyed wonders of ‘I Can Hear the Grass Grow’, an album that soothes to the supine in eight shimmering parts of pearlescent melodic motifs marbling harmonious backdrops intended to tenderly comb nerves straight.

The duo take their role as seductive sandmen with a curious melodic wit that leaves something to the imagination whilst nudging it along the album’s narrative thread. A courtly flamenco lick flickers in opener ‘The Endless Stair’, one of the most restrained recordings we've heard from the childhood friends; blessed with just a little reverb and echo, as if a mic's been lowered into some dimly lit basement while Celestial puzzle out mystifying, interlocking harmonies. It hits a mid-point between John Fahey's raga-inspired Americana and Vini Reilly's rain-soaked Northern blues - the emotion throbs from every note.

Celestial's music is never too polished, giving it the fuzzy, uninhibited flair of a long-lost mail order private press and instilling it with a level of humanity that's rare to discover in the new-new age. Even when mysterious labelmate Romance turns up to ornament 'Mermaid Boulevard' with backmasked electronics, it's their low-slung Ry Cooder-esque guitar/bass that provides the narrative anchor, while the title track and spongiform analog textures of ‘Song For The rainy Season’ dial it right down to a Harmonia-via-BoC pastoral sublime. Vini Reilly and Eno’s influence is most surely felt on the swaying elegance of ‘Sweet Sleep, Angel Mild’, with a central motif that lingers on the mind long after it’s stopped playing, whilst their closing couplet perfectly resolves the cycle with a melancholic kiss-off for the ages.

The story of each re-release begins with the original. In the late 90s, Uwe Zahn (Arovane), along with Robert Henke (Monolake) and Stefan Betke (Pole), began releasing music on Torsten Pröfrock’s (Dynamo) newly launched DIN label. This was a very inconspicuous undertaking, but fans of the flourishing IDM, glitch, and constantly evolving abstract techno genres quickly picked up on the quality of sound coming out of Germany. After a few successful EPs, Zahn began working on his debut full-length, Atol Scrap. The release was a success, at least in the underground circles, where followers of the melodic harmonies, stuttering off-beat rhythms, and, most importantly, advanced sound design feverishly consumed the imprint’s output. There was only one thing missing – the album was never pressed on vinyl, and for decades remained in the digital domain. The fans, of course, inquired. There were multiple offers on the table, but Zahn retained control until he was assured that it was properly attained. “I thought of taking everything into my own hands and releasing the record myself,” says Zahn, “but at the end of last year, Matthias from Keplar asked me to re-release Atol Scrap on vinyl.” The label and its owner revolve in the Morr Music universe, and so it made sense for Zahn to trust the platform to treat the record right.

Listening to Atol Scrap over twenty years later it is inane not to admit how well it has held up. Where other genres clearly aged, becoming stale, bland, and dull, the music on eleven tasty tracks still keeps the neurons tickled with each note. More than an echo of the past, the bottled sound truly has matured. Many of the newly evolving techniques are recognizable on the album. “I created the digital artifacts with a digital multi-track recorder, the Fostex D80,” recalls Zahn. “The thing had a scrub wheel with which I could achieve wonderful glitch effects by winding through the audio data. I have sampled and further processed these artifacts.” And this approach is still embedded in Zahn’s sound design. “I still use my 24-track analog desk from Tascam to mix my audio. I love to use hardware synths and samplers. I’ve definitely built upon my studio experience in the 90s.” From this debut to the most recent output, Arovane’s sound has evolved to become more intricate, detailed, and pronounced. “My music has become much quieter and much slower. But that’s probably also due to the noise in the world.” And just as Atol Scrap reminds Zahn of the past, retaining charm preserved in a container traveling through time, it also jitters memories of long ago, when we were twenty years younger, less experienced, and bold. For me, among the many records of the time, this album held a special place in life, my heart, and many CD boxes moved across the world. And now I’m only happy to restock the vinyl space, where Atol Scrap belongs among the beloved records. Welcome home. - Mike Lazarev

Remastered and cut to vinyl by Kassian Troyer @ D&M. Cover art by Jim Kühnel based on a photograph by Uwe Zahn.

Since the release of DAMAGED in 2024, Michael Fiedler aka GHOST DUBS has been surfing intensifying waves of adulation, earning praise from such diverse underground legends as Justin Broadrick (Godflesh/Jesu), Regis, Stefan Betke (Pole) and Steve Von Till (Neurosis). With second album Oblique, his mastery of sculpting sound waves results in a spellbinding set of alien soundscapes: larger in scale, richer in tone and considerably more cinematic than its predecessor. Lower, deeper and moodier, its cloudy abstractions, shadowy pulsations and submerged rhythms find Fiedler reaching further into his own sonic void, crafting blurred melodies and addictive narco loops into something simultaneously heavyweight and hypnotic. Album opener "Low Times" sets the atmospheric pressure to maximum, resembling a dream date between prime dirt-house era Andy Stott and Berlin dub-tech pioneers Basic Channel. From there, Oblique descends into a series of enchanting mood scenes: the furtive, balletic gyrations of "After All", the haunting ambience and buried heartbeat throb of "Soft Collapse", and the noirish atmospherics of "Blackout Dust", which worms its way into the mind like some forgotten David Lynch scene. The spirit of reggae is more distanced here than on DAMAGED, but the ghost of Jamaican dub still permeates these foggy soundscapes, particularly on "Bombed Suburbs", where Augustus Pablo-style melodicism is chopped, screwed and slowed into a magnetic lock groove. Superficially minimal but maximal in its minute detail, Oblique is a record of contorted reflections, mesmeric echoes and tantalising audio mirages. By the vaporous mist of closing track "Almost a Structure", obvious rhythm has been craftily filtered away, leaving a blurred and blunted residue full of mystery and implied narrative. Dense in the best possible sense and crushing when played loud yet equally potent played quiet, Oblique imagines dub techno burning its own rigid rulebook: sensual, funky and concussive rather than dry or alienating. "Second album from electronic producer Michael Fiedler's GHOST DUBS project. "Follows up from the highly-acclaimed 'Implosion' album with The Bug from 2025. "Debut album 'Damaged' sold out its three initial pressings and has just been repressed "Michael Fiedler recently scored 'Sound of Falling' which won a Cannes award in 2025 and made the shortlist for an Oscar, too.

,Memoria", das neueste Album von Carmen Villain auf Smalltown Supersound, beginnt wie ein geöffnetes Ventil; ausatmende Flötenakkorde füllen langsam eine weite Klanglandschaft und laden den Zuhörer dazu ein, das Tempo zu drosseln und in einen Zustand des tiefen Zuhörens einzutreten. Es ist eine Einleitung, die gekonnt in ein Album aus verlangsamten, spektralen Dub-Klängen führt, die schimmern, knurren und über die narrativ geordneten sieben Titel hinweg ausklingen. In dieser Hinsicht knüpft ,Memoria" dort an, wo Villain mit ihrem 2022 erschienenen Album ,Only Love from Now On" aufgehört hatte, auch wenn der Schwerpunkt des aktuellen Albums auf Klang als Erinnerung liegt - und auf Erinnerungen als sich wandelnde, nicht statische Unvollkommenheiten. Wiederholung fungiert als neu erzählte Erinnerung; die Bearbeitung zersetzt und formt den Klang neu, und Abstraktion ermöglicht eine Art Freiheit von Linearität. Inspiriert von Pauline Oliveros' Schriften über innerlich abrufbare Klänge, die für andere unhörbar sind, sowie von Apichatpong Weerasethakuls Film ,Memoria" aus dem Jahr 2021, betrachtet Villain die Erinnerung sowohl als kognitive Fähigkeit als auch als Form der Komposition und formt Samples aus ihrem eigenen Archiv zu einer kosmischen Selbstbeobachtung - wenn auch zu einer, die das Gegenteil von Solipsismus ist. Der nach innen gerichtete Blick des Albums lässt sich vom tiefen Zuhören als Form der Empathie inspirieren, das uns gleichzeitig mit uns selbst und unserer Umgebung verbindet. Die Arbeit der letzten Jahre an Kompositionen für zeitgenössischen Tanz und Installationen - darunter Kooperationen mit der Choreografin Eszter Salamon und ein Aufenthalt am IRCAM, bei dem sie erstmals ambisonische Räumlichmachung erforschte - prägt ebenfalls die verstärkte Aufmerksamkeit, die ,Memoria" dem Klang als physischem Raum und immersiver Umgebung widmet. Ein Großteil von ,Memoria" basiert auf einer Kombination aus neuen Aufnahmen und älterem Archivmaterial: Aufnahmesessions mit der häufigen Mitwirkenden Johanna Orellana (Flöten) sowie Eivind Lonning (Trompete) werden neben Villains eigenen Klarinettenaufnahmen zerlegt und zu einer dichten, aber luftigen Sample-Bank neu zusammengesetzt. Die viszerale menschliche Präsenz (Atem, Wind, die Körperlichkeit der Luft, die durch Instrumente strömt) und harmonische Stränge des Free Jazz treten durch mehrere Bearbeitungsschichten hindurch zutage, als hörte man sie aus der Ferne - oder durch die Zeit hindurch. Rhythmen und Texturen lösen sich auf. Der Klang erodiert. Erinnerungen werden neu gestaltet. Und Melodien sind, anders als auf Villains früheren Veröffentlichungen, weniger deutlich und weichen anderen musikalischen Leitmotiven. Es lässt sich eine Tradition zurückverfolgen, die zu Rhythm & Sound, Clicks-and-Cuts, Pharoah Sanders, Jon Hassell, Actress und Ricardo Villalobos führt - wenn auch oft in abstrakten Formen: Kleine Klänge werden groß, während große in einen feinkörnigen Rhythmus zurücktreten. Minimalismus ist der Schlüssel, um die Details wahrzunehmen: knisternde Elektronik, Einatmen und Seufzer hallen in weiten Räumen nach und ruhen auf einem Fundament aus Rhythmus. Diese Zurückhaltung unterstreicht Villains Neigung, Klänge und ihre geisterhaften Klanggedächtnis-Doppelgänger nach Frequenzen chirurgisch voneinander zu trennen. Paradoxerweise lässt sich jedes Artefakt als Annäherung an eine Erinnerung mit äußerster Präzision hören. Für Villain scheint die Erinnerung im Klang bequem hinter dem Mischpult eines Dub-Labors Platz zu nehmen und dort gekonnt und unvorhersehbar Lautstärken, Texturen, Filter und alle anderen Parameter - bekannte wie unbekannte - in einer sich ständig wandelnden Erinnerung zu steuern.

The fifth instalment in the label’s well-established Fluid Files series, this new mosaic of sun-streaked joints summons the voices of faces old and new, sewn together with that similar Chicago-typical, laid-back attitude and a thread of unstoppable funkiness.

Diving first with a slice of velvety, looped out piano house boogie on a solid French filtered house tip, Dutch outfit Fouk lays down a proper enticing number for the late summer hours, packed with elastic bass jack, anthemic stabs and a sun-kissed shimmer straight out a blissed out coastal escape. Label alum Danou P follows up with a further bouncy number, dishing out a seriously infectious mix of acid-abraded bass and warped floor dynamics, ready to knock dancers askew with its lush, synth-flooded hooks and fun-loving, oddball swing.

More on the muscular side of things, Ben Diggins clocks in with the steroid-fueled balearic hoodoo of ‘Mascotte’ - a tune built for the undying after vibes, when the sun begins to rise and the crowd’s levels of serotonin hit a new high. Prismatic and powered-up, Diggins’ track injects any heavy-lidded engine with his own concoction of driving percussion, utopian motifs and fluttering, ambient-leaning harmonics.

Rounding off this four-part sonic journey, Colombian vibist DFRA teams up with Argentinian singer Denise Izaguirre on the heavily Latin jazz-informed, ‘Impulse’. Soulful and oneiric, the song taps in both artists’ musical heritage whilst pushing for new directions through the combined use of electronic and acoustic instruments (congas, trumpet, synths, drum machine…) - contrasting and complementary, shaping an entirely new and singular vision that is drenched in a bittersweet blend of warm melancholy and bracing hopefulness

Previously unreleased jazz funk from Suriname, recorded in 1981 by keyboardist Sonny Khoeblal and his band Thalamus.

The music of Thalamus is a time capsule and the best kept secret of post-independent Suriname. During this turbulent time, the band used the language of jazz to express their desire for unity and freedom.

The generation of Thalamus envisioned a future beyond the ethnic divide their parents knew as social barriers. After independence, young people met at work or in universities and shared principles of unity and international solidarity. Jazz played an important role in translating tensions and experimenting with a sound of the future.

The band members of Thalamus shared interests in jazz-fusion from Weather Report, Chick Corea, Bob James and Carlos Santana. Compared to contemporaries with more pop appeal, their sound remained obscure in Suriname. Still, people listened to them bending conventional rules of jazz, pop, latin, rock and funk. This fusion reflected the band, its diverse members and their country: Suriname is a multi-ethnic country by colonial force. If diamonds are formed under pressure, love and solidarity emerge under oppression.

Thalamus is a unique recording of this revolutionary period, with new people finding each other based on a universal language: jazz-fusion. It culminated in six songs, two of which are 'Summer of Love and Music' and 'Lady Amazone'. This 7" vinyl brings you their story, their experimentation with jazz-fusion and tells the parallel history of Suriname.

Lityk deivers 4 tunes for a complete travel.
Starting with a freebreak tune that turn 4/4 banging in a old school Okupe style...
Then comes a pure Pumpin booster.

The flip opens with a cheezy pumpin teknoDub old school tune, pure tribounette :)
Last track is a revendicative hardfloor banger !

Wicked open minded sounds !

With Where We’re At, Tonique & Man deliver a warm and vibrant second album blending indie pop, soul and soft disco. Staying true to the groove that has become the duo’s signature, the record reveals a more mature and personal side of Jean Tonique and Mi Man.


Both recently becoming fathers, the two musicians are entering a new chapter in their lives, one that naturally shapes the album’s songwriting: a more intimate reflection on how far they’ve come, what they’ve built, and what continues to drive them to create.


Recorded at the legendary Studio Ferber in Paris, Where We’re At also features collaborations with Girl Ultra and Rejjie Snow, bringing new textures to the duo’s sound. An elegant and generous album where pop immediacy meets more intimate songwriting, opening a new chapter for Tonique & Man.

1982 4-Piece Demo' is the first official, fully-licensed and unreleased material to be released under the name Strawberry Switchblade in 30 years. Since disbanding amid major record label acrimony and personal differences in 1986, the already-cult band have since grown in stature and legend. Trailblazers in many ways, the band's mythology justifiably centers around the charismatic duo of Jill Bryson and Rose McDowall, but that isn't a complete picture. Bryson and McDowall's growing friendship, having met some years earlier on the punk scene, became a creative partnership: Bryson's art school background and McDowall's history in avant-punk group The Poets meant Strawberry Switchblade was a band pitted against many established norms. The band's very first incarnation, an all-female 4 piece, recorded one demo at Glasgow's Hellfire Club and played a handful of gigs. Friends Janice Goodlett and Carole McGowan completed the line up on bass and drums respectively. Strawberry Switchblade would eventually pair down to a duo and go on to chart success but it's in these raw, passionate recordings that the songwriting and vocal elements were being hammered out and explored in real time.


Spanish Song' is a previously unreleased song. With Rose McDowall's instantly recognizable lead vocal dovetailing with Bryson's harmonies and lead guitar, it's the first glimpse at an alternative history of Strawberry Switchblade. This incarnation could easily have been featured on a Nuggets compilation or a precursor to the indie-pop revolution that would take over British bedrooms a couple of years later. "Trees & Flowers" is instantly recognizable, a bona fide classic that would earn the band its first record deal. Here it's given a more forceful rhythm section: Goodlett and McGowan's playing is in fact accomplished and doesn't hint at the bands' youth. "Go Away" would also surface later on the band's debut LP but here it is a moody-garage stomper with a psychedelic, haunting refrain. These 3 songs point to a tantalizing future of the band that was never realized.


Remastered and restored by Sean Pennycook from the original cassette, with artwork based on a single photographic contact sheet (the only visual evidence of the band in this form) and with a booklet of photographs and new text. Pa

Following the success of Denshi Ongaku No Bigaku Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, Cosmocities returns with the third instalment of its celebrated compilation series dedicated to the rich and ever-evolving world of Japanese electronic music. Compiled by label owner Matt Soulie, Denshi Ongaku No Bigaku Vol. 3 continues the journey through Japan’s diverse sonic landscape, bringing together pioneering artists, cult favourites and contemporary innovators across ambient, house, jazz-infused electronics and experimental sound design.

A carefully curated snapshot of Japanese electronic music past and present, Denshi Ongaku No Bigaku Vol. 3 showcases the depth, innovation and enduring influence of one of the world’s most inspiring musical cultures.

Since its inception, the Denshi Ongaku No Bigaku project has paid tribute to a musical culture that has profoundly influenced the Cosmocities vision. Where the first volume explored dreamy ambient textures and deep electronic moods, and the second shifted focus towards boogie-laden rhythms and jazz-fuelled dancefloor excursions, Volume 3 finds a natural balance between introspection and movement.

The compilation opens with Yosi Horikawa’s sublime “Bubbles”, an ambient masterpiece whose delicate organic textures gently set the tone. Chari Chari’s “Luna de Ritmos” follows with deep, ethereal house atmospherics before Force Of Nature’s hypnotic “Skyy High” guides listeners further into immersive territory.

The journey continues through the experimental electronics of XTAL’s “Skygazer” and the analogue warmth of Takuya Matsumoto’s “Jump Rope Music”, while regular Cosmocities contributor Yuu Udagawa delivers the sophisticated high-tech jazz house groove of “Little Secrets”.

On the second half of the collection, Kuniyuki’s remix of Slow Didi’s “Follow Me” brings rich jazz-inflected elegance, leading seamlessly into the futuristic techno-swing fusion of DJ Eiji Takehana featuring Yusuke Nakamura’s “Deep Track Jazz”. Tominori Hosoya’s “Summer Dreamers” adds a deeply emotional and dreamlike house moment before Azzurro’s “Just A Touch Of Love” shifts the focus firmly towards the dancefloor with a hypnotic late-night thumper.

Closing the compilation is AcidGelge’s “Fatality 4”, a beautifully spacey and atmospheric finale that leaves the listener suspended somewhere between the club, the cosmos and the imagination.

The unconscious element to the conscious process.

The practice of dub techno and its tendrils is a fundamental for me, both aesthetically and from an engineering perspective.

I start every recording session with a dub inspired jam, the first piece I ever recorded in 1996 was an effort to recreate Phylyps Trak with only a Korg X3 and an Ibanez PUE5 (borrowed from Gary Howell). It was an awesome introduction to jamming, and the footing stones of noise, delay and saturation were explored with my foot hard on the enthusiasm pedal.

These practice jams are in some sense cathartic, the first step taken again & again, which helps me move forwards each session and additionally helps to 'warm the circuits' both of myself and the machines.

After realising the genius of Basic Channel is akin to the genius of peasant food, using every ingredient with nothing left to waste, (up to and including the oft maligned working noise of the machines themselves), this was a watershed moment for my own subjective progression. No longer tied to just emulation of something inspiring, but taking these learned tools into other areas of music helped to break free from a strong current of influence and also to progress into other areas with the new toolbox.

Dub:

The importance of the dub pioneers should never be understated, in modern music and my own practice. Yet with my initial inspiration being two german dudes issuing extreme techno variants with obscured label designs, who then signposted their listeners to their own inspirations (via their Wackies re-issues or nodded to on their Rhythm & Sound/Burial Mix sub-labels), meant that I started late and travelled backwards.

Learning to notice the live mixing of Mikey Dread or Lee Perry when the faders are bleeding through even when turned down, (echoed in BC's Quadrant Dub), or the brash send effects literally thrown into the mix also taught me that 'rough' mixing can inject a recording with life, uniqueness and the most right wrongness. Looking back Basic Channels very few elements helped me realise that the rules to be understood, are also the best ones to be broken.

Push the mixer into the red.

Amp that noise up from the tape delay cos it sounds sick.

Pseudo side-chain effects cos the kicks are way too loud and the mixer can't sum it nicely.

Spam the send knob into the delay units now, now and now.

Carelessness.

Noise:

Once I wrapped my head around the intrinsic 'noise' element that set those records apart, this became a torchlight into the alt noise movements which I was tentatively exploring at the time, and also is evidently a connection or thread into them.

Whether the Industrial/Post Punk UK scene (This Heat, TG, A Tent, F.E.) or the prolific output of the US Noise scene (Wolf Eyes, Live & Shave in LA, and subsequently following the lineage all the way back to Chrome's Alien Soundtracks), I had finally discovered a connection from techno to this 'free for all' corner of music.

This input from the Noise arena of sound is, in my experience, an all important step for a sonic artist, taking it's roots and extending out from Stockhausen/Pierre Henry and utilised/warped/mangled by thousands of adventurous pioneers ever since, I now see the line separating the high brow and the low brow is actually an artery carrying information from the head to the heart.

Vault is a selection of these jams that precede each of my solo recording sessions, for 30 years I've recorded hundreds of these 'workouts'. They are never intended as serious statements, just moments of naive enjoyment, yet most importantly they are time & space captured as practice.

The objective is always a warm up exercise, but sometimes those exercises turn a different corner, with a certain focus or direction dependent on what random samples are left in my machines from the previous session, instead of conscious choices, these unconscious elements can facilitate those 'positive mistakes' that make a piece of sound retain a different feel or colour and thus become special, or at least special to the creator.

I am quite conscious that the 'record everything' aspect of my ethos has been invaluable in cataloguing and saving these jams, while the attitude of carelessness during this process (after all, it's only a warm up jam) invites more enjoyment than seriousness ever could. Even if you don't feel the piece at the time, record it, because some years later it may well fit, or become relevant in a way you never intended.

-Miles

"Ich möchte lieben und geliebt werden, aber ich will mich auch frei fühlen. Die Spannung zwischen diesen beiden Dingen ist die zentrale Frage meines Lebens", sagt Julia Jacklin - und genau diese Ambivalenz durchzieht ihr viertes Album The Gem. Nach ihrem Umzug nach Melbourne 2017 fand Jacklin in einer kleinen Bar namens The Gem einen Ort der Selbstfindung - ein Sinnbild, das dem neuen Album seinen Namen gibt. Acht Jahre später, nach den hochgelobten Erfolgen ihrer ersten drei Platten - Don"t Let the Kids Win (2016), Crushing (2019) und PRE PLEASURE (2022) - schlägt sie ein neues Kapitel auf: Erstmals veröffentlicht sie bei dem renommierten, stilprägenden Label 4AD, das seit Jahrzehnten für künstlerische Vision und ikonische Indie-Veröffentlichungen steht. Ohne äußeren Druck und frei von Erwartungen schuf Jacklin in Melbourne ihr bislang persönlichstes Werk. The Gem entstand im engen Kreis vertrauter Musiker:innen und entwickelte sich über Monate hinweg - ein intensiver Prozess, geprägt von Selbstreflexion, Zweifel und dem Mut, eigene Entscheidungen kompromisslos zu vertreten. Songs wie "Brand New" oder "Real Life" wurden dabei grundlegend neu gestaltet, bis sie sich ehrlich und richtig anfühlten. Der eröffnende Track "Brand New" setzt ein elektrisches Statement zwischen Aufbruch und Selbsttäuschung, während Stücke wie "God Sometimes" oder "The Hardest Thing" von Selbstbestimmung, Verlust und innerem Wachstum erzählen. Klanglich erweitert Jacklin ihre bisherigen Indie- und Folk-Ansätze um kraftvollere, teils nahezu hymnische Momente. Auch die besondere Aufnahmeumgebung - ein Studio über einer lebhaften Kneipe - prägt den Sound: roh, direkt und atmosphärisch dicht. Mit The Gem gelingt Julia Jacklin eine eindringliche Rückkehr zu sich selbst. Zugleich knüpft sie an die Stärke ihrer bisherigen Alben an und entwickelt ihren Sound konsequent weiter - ein weiterer Beweis dafür, warum sie zu den prägendsten Stimmen des modernen Indies zählt.

The fifth LP in the long history of the label comes from another Belgian producer who is ready to fly high. After San Soda, Metrobox, Uni Son and label boss Red D it is now time for Tom Smeyers to step up and take us into his universe of warm grooves and sweet house music…with a twist.

Taking in influences from around the full spectrum of electronic music these six tracks represent what Tom is about at the moment. From deepest old school inspired house to more broken beat action right into drum’n’bass territory, with an attention to detail and experienced sound design.

As if that wasn’t enough Tom also took care of the artwork to match his music. We here at WPH call that a 360 artist. Welcome to the family Tom Smeyers!

DTM Funk: Super Dope!

DJ Bone: Really great release. I love every track!

Owain K: Classy grooves for dancefloor moves.

Séa: Lovely!

Simon Caldwell: Beautiful machine house music. Takes me back and takes me forward.

Satoshi Fumi: Really love all!

Severino Panzetta: Great sound.

Ame: Thanks for these.

DJ Merci: Top release!

Red D: So good I just had to release these J

Originally released in 1989 with the tagline “Bringing house music into the living room,” Fade Out is a landmark Japanese pop/club crossover produced by Haruo Chikada. At the dawn of Japan’s club culture, the track became a staple around Tokyo’s legendary Shibaura GOLD scene, widely embraced as a “danceable kayōkyoku (Japanese pop)” classic.

Today, among European diggers, Japanese techno kayō is undergoing a strong revival and growing reappraisal. Positioned at the heart of this movement, Fade Out now sees its long-awaited official release, featuring previously unreleased remixes with Soichi Terada, Haruo Chikada & OMB.

Performed by Kyoko Koizumi - still evolving as a cultural icon in Japan - Fade Out stands as one of her defining works and a key contribution to the Japanese underground music scene. A timeless piece, ready to be rediscovered in 2026.

1989年、「お茶の間にハウスを」をキャッチコピーに、近田春夫プロデュースのもと日本で発表された、小泉今日子「Fade Out」。

本作は日本のクラブシーン創世記において、芝浦GOLD周辺で「踊れる歌謡曲」として支持を集めた重要作です。

現在ではヨーロッパのディガーたちの間で再評価が進み、リバイバル真っ最中の「和製テクノ歌謡」ムーヴメントの中核を成す楽曲ともいえる本作が、秘蔵リミックスを収録し待望の公式リリース！

現在進行形で日本のカルチャーアイコンとして更なる進化を遂げているキョンキョンこと小泉今日子による、ジャパニーズアンダーグランドシーンでの貴重な功績のひとつであり代表的な国宝級ワークスを是非！

2026年のあなたのお茶の間にお迎えしましょう。

Bad Company has helped shaped the sound of an entire rock era with iconic powerhouse rock anthems and popular ballads. Having unearthed the original multi-track tapes and discovered previously unreleased tracks, takes, and mixes the band has remastered their first two albums to create new Deluxe Editions.

Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Rodgers, along with guitarist/songwriter Mick Ralphs, bassist Boz Burrell, and drummer Simon Kirke released the band's second album Straight Shooter in April 1975, 40 years to the month of the new deluxe edition. The album rose to #3 on the U.S. album chart and was certified 3x platinum behind the hit singles Feel Like Makin' Love' and Good Lovin' Gone Bad' as well as the rock radio staple Shooting Star.'

All bonus tracks on the Deluxe LP version are previously unreleased. Among the standouts is a stripped-down version of Shooting Star,' and a remix of Good Lovin' Gone Bad' with alternative guitar and vocals tracks.

Side One
1. Good Lovin' Gone Bad
2. Feel Like Makin' Love
3. Weep No More
4. Shooting Star

Side Two
1. Deal With The Preacher
2. Wild Fire Woman
3. Anna
4. Call On Me

Side Three
1. Good Lovin' Gone Bad (Alternate Vocal & Guitar)*
2. Feel Like Makin' Love' (Take Before Master)*
3. Weep No More (Early Slow Version)*
4. Shooting Star (Alternate Take)*

Side Four
1. Deal With The Preacher' (Early Version)*
2. Wild Fire Woman (Alternate Vocal & Guitar)*
3. Anna (Alternate Vocal)*
4. Call On Me (Alternate Take)*

Crafting another beautiful experience in sensorial delight, fleet.dreams returns to Vinezza with the label’s 3rd offering “A Voice Without Color” - born from an ever-deepening practice of groove-powered depth tech melded with realms of dubwise kineticism, enchanted cognition, and expressive, dreamlike synthesis.

“A Voice Without Color” finds fleet.dreams’ music in its most rave-activated mode yet, crafting 4 pieces of infinitely mixable spectral matter - all part of their own universe beckoning to be heard under the glow of stars in the night sky, or floating amidst the mesmerizing fog & lights pumping out of the system on your favorite dancefloor.

Awash in kaleidoscopic splendor and psychedelic intrigue, “A Voice Without Color” finds kinship in everything from the best of expansive dancefloor kineticism, time dilated wonder, and the vivid reverbations of the natural world floating in the mix. At once quintessential, contemporary, and ubiquitous is fleet.dreams’ own remarkable production technique, each track unfurling in seemingly endless swells of simmering rhythm and hypnotizing atmospherics - new memories of circadian entrancement in their molten essence, designed to blissfully guide you deeper and deeper towards the primordial exhilaration of movement. Undulating with vivid pulsations and clarion calls for the hips and mind echoing across a spiraling gyre, the sprawling waltz of “A Voice Without Color” glides through dazzling chroma and effulgent radiance greater than the sum of its parts.

Painting with bold, prismatic strokes of iridescent friction amidst the listless gray of our increasingly dispassionate timeline, fleet.dreams delivers another EP of style, substance, and vision for the dancers and DJs alike - a future classic of a possible world ready to be activated together.

*words by Kiernan Laveaux

Early support from: Kiernan Laveaux, Daniel Rincón (NAP), Scott Zacharias & Amelia Holt

Modern Apartments arrive on Dark Entries, with Light on Water, an LP featuring 8 cuts of instrumental cosmic-kosmische analog synth workouts. Modern Apartments is Ryan Ambridge, the musician and producer best known for his work with dark synth projects Linea Aspera and Lust Pattern. While both of those outlets lean towards the greyscale and robotic, Ambridge wanted to explore a more colorful palette with Modern Apartments, a livelier, looser sound. The medium of film plays a major role here; Ambridge works as a projectionist, screening archival prints of 35mm and 16mm films, and the textures and temporality of the medium fed directly into the Modern Apartments aesthetic. But it isn’t all blurry edges and fuzzy optimism on Light on Water. Says Ambridge, “Regular beats from old rhythm boxes and the sharp angles of post-punk found their way in. The contrasting imagery from those old film prints, of dense cities and open countryside, is reflected back in the dialog between looser sounds and rigid stylistic choices.” This tension shines through on tracks like album opener “Completely,” which pairs the icy minimalism of John Foxx with the meandering grooves of Cluster, or the eponymous “Light on Water” which leans even further into the sun-bleached vibes of Roedelius. Artwork for this record was designed by Eloise Shir-Juen Leigh. Light on Water is perfect late-summer listening, as the last gasps of seasonal radiance fade into autumnal splendor.

New full-length album from Posthuman, veering deeper into electro and leftfield territory than usual. The A side opens with the Drexciyan ‘What U Need’ then straight into the Rother-style machine funk of Test 14 and Reps, through to the downtempo dubby closer of Torus Dreams. The flipside starts more heavy duty with industrial rave in Break Bones before dropping back to chilled ambient house with Chronophobe. Facts Not Opinions and Detramental close off the album with more classic electronica sounds reminiscent of Posthuman’s early 2000s releases on Seed and Skam. Released on unique starburst/splatter/glitter coloured 12” vinyl. It may be computer music, but no humans were harmed in the making of this album; 100% guaranteed AI free material.

Recorded spontaneously in Brooklyn and created entirely without written compositions, this album is an essential release for fans of ambient music, spiritual jazz, meditation, and deep listening. Features ISAIAH COLLIER on drums and tenor sax and produced by SONNY DAZE

Solid Groove hits naughty 40 and marks the occasion by serving up some 90s and 00s cuts from this and the Mysterious Dark label that have been hard to pin down ever since. 'Straight Ahead' is a loose-limbed and percussive tribal jumble, ''Dark 4' is fizzing, Basic Channel-style dub techno and 'Travel' is a grainy, textured deep techno cut that loops back and forth and causes your mind to wander amid the dewy pads. Previously CD-only track 'Dawn Over The Blue Planet' from Aubrey's Liquid Funk LP on Offshoot also makes its vinyl debut and is a brain-soothing deep house jam with stray melodic twinkles and an Omar-S style groove.

Straight up dancefloor heat again with this monster from Armand Van Helden plus the original disco track that was jacked on the back!

PRAANA unveil their highly anticipated album Insight Out on Colorize, a deeply immersive body of work that explores reflection, connection and emotional growth through the duo’s signature cinematic lens.

Built around themes of reflection, presence and human connection, Insight Out creates a rich sonic landscape where atmospheric textures, subtle rhythms and emotive songwriting coexist with effortless grace. Featuring collaborations with Susie Ledge, Tina Parol, Freddie Elmberg and Courtney Storm, the album showcases PRAANA’s ability to create music that feels both intimate and expansive. An alias of Tritonal, PRAANA have amassed over 30 million streams, earned sustained support on SiriusXM Chill and recently completed U.S. tour dates in Chicago, Denver and a sold-out Elsewhere Rooftop show in Brooklyn.

Insight Out stands as a fully realised artistic statement, offering a space for stillness, reflection and meaningful escape through sound.

Gnod's now twenty year journey through spiritual and audial exploration has been driven by relentless curiosity, magpie irreverence and a fierce countercultural imperative, their project has always refused to acknowledge all or any rules and boundaries, internal or external. The latest adventure of this band may never have been intended to celebrate their two-decade anniversary, but in true Gnod fashion by, what began as a trip into a residential studio setup in Hellfire Studios with producer John `Spud' Murphy (Lankum, Black MIDI, Caroline) for six days, resulted in more potent material than anyone bargained for. The end result has been three studio albums to be released over the next year. "This trilogy revealed itself to us in the studio" says Paddy. "We were hoping to get a good album out of the session and lo and behold we got three of the fuckers. It's interesting that we did pretty much capture the full spectrum of the Gnod sound across all three". In fact, this intrepid first instalment of the `Chronicles Of Gnowt' trilogy covers an alarming amount of sonic territory all on its own. Driven as always by the power of repetition as well as Gnod's alchemical marriage of the maximal and the minimal, this album is imbued with a vivid focus that's testimony to the chemistry of the sessions, coupled with a detailed and spacious production from Murphy that brings out the psychedelic sound worlds of the band in vivid colour. This is a travelogue which delves into pastoral tranquillity (as on `Three Trees Parts 1&2') just as adeptly as expansive Earth-tinged riff monoliths (`All Tunnel No Light') and just as formidably as the closing epic `Ekstasis' - a hallucinatory vista where kraut-tinged experimentalism meets Swans-style intensity. Yet all the while, truly sounding like no one but Gnod.

Uncompromising Italian DJ/producer The Southern makes his vinyl debut on Mutual Rytm's sub-label, Spectra, with remixes from Alarico, Temudo and Sciahri. An EP marking an impressive label debut, Carmine Portarulo, aka The Southern, lands on Mutual Rytm’s sub- label Spectra with a powerful showcase of his much-loved sound. With the lead track featuring as one of label head SHDW's most requested IDs of the year so far, and packaged alongside outstanding remixes by close label associates Alarico, Temudo and Sciahri, the EP comes having established himself with a sound rooted in old school value and pure techno, favouring energy and authenticity over hype. The track’s backstory comes from the moment Carmine and his partner found out they were expecting a child and went for their first ultrasound appointment. Overwhelmed by the emotion of the moment and the beauty of what nature is capable of, he returned home and poured those feelings into the music. The result, ‘Ultrasound’, is an anthemic, punchy techno cut with euphoric energy rising up through the synths and its catchy lead melody. Joyful melodies sparkle amid vocal groans, adding a raw emotional pull as the warm, driving drums march on. Berlin-based artist Alarico is the first to remix on his return to the label, and his ‘Sad Mix’ has a more melancholic mood, with dark chords and tightly programmed drums that bring lo-key funk. Hayes Collective founder Temudo also returns and flips the vibe on his ‘Neuro Interpretation’ with a more psyched-out, twisted tune featuring trippy synths and booming drums for peak-time impact. Italo-Iranian Sublunar Records head Sciahri then drops his trance- inducing, hypotonic ‘Tunnel Vision Mix’, followed by two digital bonuses: ‘The Stripped Mix’, a bouncy workout with futuristic melodies, and Temudo’s ‘Neuro Interpretation 2’, which is raw, textured, and dark.

Japanese crossover and fusion are hot again now. As either an outgrowth of, or a spin-off phenomenon from, the global reappraisal of
city pop, Japanese fusion has been rapidly rising since around last year.
Widely known as a support member for YMO and also popular on the overseas club music scene through Colored Music, her cuttingedge dance-pop unit with Atsuo Fujimoto, keyboardist, composer, and vocalist Ichiko Hashimoto released this, her second solo work, in
1985. Released on DOMO, the label headed by Kazumi Watanabe, and naturally produced by Kazumi Watanabe himself, who also plays
guitar on the album.
A truly crossover work of remarkable freedom, moving across fusion, techno, piano pieces, danceable music, classical, Japanesque
sounds, bossa nova, ambient, and more. Her fleeting singing voice is wonderful as well.

Courant Zéro is the new moniker of Montréal multi-media installation artist and Kohlenstoff label co-founder Maxime Corbeil-Perron, signalling his return to purely recording-based electronic music production following several years focused on award-winning experimental film and audio-visual works. Solari channels his cinematic sensibility and decade-long exploration of sound art and electroacoustic counterpoint into deep cuts of maximalist ambient electronica. Drawing on his early background as a pianist and jazz drummer, Corbeil-Perron weaves a fabric of melodic and rhythmic vectors with his unique timbral palette, intersecting modern composition, IDM, ambient, glitch, and noise on a debut album brimming with sonic detail and emotive resonance. A fixture of Montréal's sound art community as both creator and curator since the early 2010s, Corbeil-Perron's work has ranged from "hypnotic A/V onslaught" (FACT Magazine) to the "richly nuanced acousmatic journey" of his 2018 EP Polychrome (Bandcamp Best Contemporary Classical Of The Month), with earlier electronic and techno-adjacent projects like Political Ritual, Dresden, and Le poisson d'argent garnering accolades from avant-music outlets A Closer Listen, Silence and Sound, and Musicworks, among others. Courant Zéro mobilizes this cumulative wealth of explorative sonic experience in the service of distinctive compositional architectures and electronic music pathways that fans of Floating Points, Jan Jelinek, Squarepusher, Tim Hecker, and Oneohtrix Point Never should find compelling. Title track "Solari" opens the album with a cavernous ambient glitch-drone soundscape that envelops ever-shifting timbres of modular arpeggiation, serving as introduction to the clarion call of "En deçà du réel", an homage to video artist Manon Labrecque, where layers of interweaving melodic counterpoint played on Buchla and other synths slowly build to widescreen immersive intensities; "I have this vision of Labreque vibrating eternally between two frames of magnetic VHS tape_ the slow pace of the piece also inspired by Tarkovsky's approach to scenography" says Corbeil-Perron. "Strange Aorta" is ectoplasmic ambient with wistful melody lines transmuting along a central filament, awash in shifting waves of low-end and ricocheting tonal glitch, the title a reference to "the thumping rhythm beating around the main melody_and the heavy remnants of grief related to my father's passing and a brutal confrontation with my own mortality a few years back." Tracks like "La peau des dents" and "Eroding Us" are more firmly rooted in electroacoustic and aleatory systems music, where colliding loops are shaped into unstable flows of deconstructed slippage and reconvergence. Those two pieces bookend the album's pivotal center: the gorgeous piano digitalia of "Horizon n'arrête" and the skittering electronica of 9-minute opus "Unyeldd", its loping broken beat and cascading melodic glitter like a cluster of wind-up music boxes in a dappled forest _ and for Corbeil- Perron also partly inspired by now fellow Constellation labelmates Do Make Say Think: "I spent a lot of time rediscovering their records after seeing them last September 2024 which definitely influenced this piece." Courant Zéro's debut is a vibrant sonic rebus at the junction of electronic, electroacoustic, noise and ambient music that resists easy categorisation. Solari strikes a compelling balance of unsettled disorientation and hospitable warmth, teeming with real feeling throughout. The album's cover art painting Cryptography I by Yen-Chao Lin represents this prevailing sensibility, its mazelike circuitry distinctly carved and crisply rendered, while filigreed with handmade detail and artisanal patina. Thanks for listening.

Tropical East Asian folk fused with psychedelic electronic rock and noise driven by a winding and jagged Sanshin guitar, shape forming vocals, odd percussion and spacey sounds. A Sgt. Peppers tour through the folklore of Okinawa. Amamikyu is the creation Goddess of the colourful Island of sound visited by Phil MFU ( formerly Vanishing Twin ) on his journeys through expanding his scope of experimental electronic music effortlessly locking style in with master Sanshin player and vocalist Yuko Tsubame to create a psychedelic trippy island of sound, revisiting classic folk songs in a new far out funky light. Amamikyu are a London based band of Phil MFU ( ex Vanishing Twin ) and Okinawan electric Sanshin player and singer Yuko Tsubame, with an expanding group of live musicians.

Courant Zéro is the new moniker of Montréal multi-media installation artist and Kohlenstoff label co-founder Maxime Corbeil-Perron, signalling his return to purely recording-based electronic music production following several years focused on award-winning experimental film and audio-visual works. Solari channels his cinematic sensibility and decade-long exploration of sound art and electroacoustic counterpoint into deep cuts of maximalist ambient electronica. Drawing on his early background as a pianist and jazz drummer, Corbeil-Perron weaves a fabric of melodic and rhythmic vectors with his unique timbral palette, intersecting modern composition, IDM, ambient, glitch, and noise on a debut album brimming with sonic detail and emotive resonance. A fixture of Montréal’s sound art community as both creator and curator since the early 2010s, Corbeil-Perron’s work has ranged from “hypnotic A/V onslaught” (FACT Magazine) to the “richly nuanced acousmatic journey” of his 2018 EP Polychrome (Bandcamp Best Contemporary Classical Of The Month), with earlier electronic and techno-adjacent projects like Political Ritual, Dresden, and Le poisson d’argent garnering accolades from avant-music outlets A Closer Listen, Silence and Sound, and Musicworks, among others. Courant Zéro mobilizes this cumulative wealth of explorative sonic experience in the service of distinctive compositional architectures and electronic music pathways that fans of Floating Points, Jan Jelinek, Squarepusher, Tim Hecker, and Oneohtrix Point Never should find compelling.


Courant Zéro’s debut is a vibrant sonic rebus at the junction of electronic, electroacoustic, noise and ambient music that resists easy categorisation. Solari strikes a compelling balance of unsettled disorientation and hospitable warmth, teeming with real feeling throughout. The album’s cover art painting Cryptography I by Yen-Chao Lin represents this prevailing sensibility, its mazelike circuitry distinctly carved and crisply rendered, while filigreed with handmade detail and artisanal patina. Thanks for listening.

Es war ein Coup, als Gründer und Bassist Lee Payne vor drei Jahren ankündigte, dass Harry „The Tyrant“ Conklin, der nach Griechenland gezogen war, seiner Band Cloven Hoof beitreten würde. Der ehemalige Jag-Panzer-Frontmann war der perfekte Nachfolger für Russ North, der für die Fans bis dahin als der ultimative Cloven-Hoof-Sänger galt – leider weilt er nicht mehr unter uns. Daher waren die Reaktionen auf das erste Album der Band mit Harry Conklin am Mikrofon herausragend. »Heathen Cross« wurde 2024 bei High Roller Records veröffentlicht.
Nun folgt Cloven Hoofs zehntes Studioalbum mit dem Titel »Never A Prophet In Your Own Land«. Wieder einmal ist die Gesangsleistung vom „Tyrant“ absolute Weltklasse. Lee Payne grinst: „Das Lob gebührt einzig und allein Harry. Wir können uns glücklich schätzen, einen so brillanten Sänger und Frontmann in der Band zu haben.“
Kontinuität ist für jede Band wichtig, und Cloven Hoof hatten in der Vergangenheit mehr als einen Besetzungswechsel zu verzeichnen. Diesmal nicht, wie der Bassist nicht ohne Stolz erklärt: „Wir haben dieselbe feste Besetzung wie auf »Heathen Cross«, das kann ich mit Freude sagen. Am Gesang der einzig wahre Harry Conklin und an den Gitarren Luke Hatton sowie Chris Coss. Dazu Ash Baker am Schlagzeug. Luke, Chris und Ash sind nun seit über zehn Jahren bei Cloven Hoof; sie kennen ihre Rollen in- und auswendig. Ich selbst bin seit 1979 in der Band, also sollte ich inzwischen eine Vorstellung davon haben, was ich mache (lacht).“
„»Never A Prophet In Your Own Land« ist keine direkte Fortsetzung von »Heathen Cross«“, fährt Payne fort. „»Heathen Cross« hatte seine eigene schwere und düstere Atmosphäre. »Never A Prophet In Your Own Land« ähnelt eher »A Sultan‘s Ransom«, doch diese Ähnlichkeit war weder konstruiert noch geplant. Es ist einfach so gekommen.“

Satoshi Tomiie & Dopeus drop ‘Gaien 2am' – late-night frequencies for deep heads. Vibes roll heavy from 2am to Sunrise, pure Tokyo-Paris connect. Strictly limited wax. Don't sleep.

Following the success of Naturalisten’s release “Forms”, E2-E8 is back with the latest offering from Milan-based artist Joseph Tagliabue. “Espansione” presents a meticulously crafted sonic exploration that transcends conventional genre boundaries. It is a double LP consisting of four distinct parts: an ambient concept presented in Part 1 & 2, and four techno tracks in Part 3 & 4. This structure makes for a multifaceted listening experience, seamlessly blending organic textures with synthetic manipulations.

Part 3 & 4 pivot towards the dancefloor, presenting four tracks of driving, progressive techno. This transition from meditative ambient to hypnotic rave is executed with precision, showcasing Tagliabue’s versatility. These cuts are designed for late-night immersion, while maintaining the album’s overall sense of depth and trance and channeling a deep, immersive rave experience.

The album as a whole is a sophisticated sound collage, highlighting Tagliabue’s mastery of sonic manipulation. The dense sonic flow, characterised by echoes of distant temples and molten synthetic modulations, creates a compelling auditory and potentially visual experience. The interplay between organic and synthetic, combined with the album’s thematic depth, makes Espansione a noteworthy evolution in Joseph’s artistic expression. A work designed to be both deeply listened to, and physically experienced.

Early support comes from Vladimir Ivkovic, Marco Shuttle, Konduku, among others.

X-Ray Spex was a British punk rock band that emerged in the late 1970s, known for their distinctive sound, socially conscious lyrics, and the dynamic frontwoman Poly Styrene. The band was active during the first wave of punk rock and played a significant role in the punk movement.
Lead vocalist and songwriter Poly Styrene was known for her unique vocal style and often cited as an influential figure in the punk scene.
Other band members on ‘Germfree Adolescents are Jak Airport: Guitarist / Paul Dean: Bassist / Rudi Thompson: Sax / B P Hurding: Drummer.
X-Ray Spex released their debut album, "Germfree Adolescents," in 1978, featuring the title track, "Germfree Adolescents." The album is considered a classic of the punk era.

Poly Styrene's lyrics often addressed social and consumerist issues, and her unconventional fashion sense and energetic stage presence added to the band's overall identity.

Als Dublins Gurriers 2024 ihr Debütalbum Come And See veröffentlichten, bewiesen sie eindrucksvoll, dass sie eine der drängendsten und unüberhörbaren neuen Stimmen der boomenden irischen Punk-Szene sind. Seitdem haben sie sich mit knochenerschütternden, moshpit-tauglichen Live-Shows einen stetig wachsenden Ruf erarbeitet. Come And See stellte dabei auch ihre lyrische Stärke und ihren neugierigen, gesellschaftskritischen Blick in den Vordergrund – mit Songs über digitale Verlorenheit und die ganz realen Schrecken der modernen Welt.
Das grandiose zweite Album des Quintetts heißt Nobody's Coming To Save You – könnte aber ebenso gut den Untertitel „härter, besser, schneller, stärker" tragen. Es wird am 25. September auf Play It Again Sam veröffentlicht.

Aufgenommen in Donegals Attica Studios und den Holy Mountain Studios in London, produziert von Mark Bowen (Idles) und Loren Humphrey (Geese, Cameron Winter), engineered von Chris Fullard (Idles, Sunn O)))) und gemixt vom weltbekannten John Congleton (St. Vincent, Modest Mouse, Swans) – allein das Team, das sich für LP2 zusammengefunden hat, spricht Bände. Gurriers nehmen alles, was sie von Anfang an großartig gemacht hat – die musikalische Chemie, den klugen, analytischen Blick auf die Welt – und schrauben es konsequent auf das nächste Level.

Von der vibrierenden Spannung der ersten Takte des Titeltracks, die sich in einem kakophonischen, kathartischen Finale entlädt, bis zum Ende: Nobody's Coming To Save You überführt den Geist des schwitzenden Kellerclubs in Stadiondimensionen. Das Album ist nicht nur laut – es ist dynamisch. „Shades" schickt industrielle, kantige Gitarrensplitter in einen brachial-rohen Hardcore-Chorus; „Drones" ist ein druckvolles, langsames Aufbäumen mit einem Drop, der jeden Moshpit zum Kollabieren bringt. „Pins" zeigt eine lässigere, melodischere Seite – irgendwo zwischen Grunge und Trip-Hop –, während „Party Lines" pure, unersättliche Dance-Punk-Ekstase ist. Wer sich fragt, ob die Band ihr Ziel erreicht hat, das Album „wie eine Ohrfeige" wirken zu lassen: Ja, die sitzt.

Mit Nobody's Coming To Save You haben Gurriers ihre Ambitionen in neue Höhen getrieben – und liefern dabei auf ganzer Linie.

Als Dublins Gurriers 2024 ihr Debütalbum Come And See veröffentlichten, bewiesen sie eindrucksvoll, dass sie eine der drängendsten und unüberhörbaren neuen Stimmen der boomenden irischen Punk-Szene sind. Seitdem haben sie sich mit knochenerschütternden, moshpit-tauglichen Live-Shows einen stetig wachsenden Ruf erarbeitet. Come And See stellte dabei auch ihre lyrische Stärke und ihren neugierigen, gesellschaftskritischen Blick in den Vordergrund – mit Songs über digitale Verlorenheit und die ganz realen Schrecken der modernen Welt.
Das grandiose zweite Album des Quintetts heißt Nobody's Coming To Save You – könnte aber ebenso gut den Untertitel „härter, besser, schneller, stärker" tragen. Es wird am 25. September auf Play It Again Sam veröffentlicht.

Aufgenommen in Donegals Attica Studios und den Holy Mountain Studios in London, produziert von Mark Bowen (Idles) und Loren Humphrey (Geese, Cameron Winter), engineered von Chris Fullard (Idles, Sunn O)))) und gemixt vom weltbekannten John Congleton (St. Vincent, Modest Mouse, Swans) – allein das Team, das sich für LP2 zusammengefunden hat, spricht Bände. Gurriers nehmen alles, was sie von Anfang an großartig gemacht hat – die musikalische Chemie, den klugen, analytischen Blick auf die Welt – und schrauben es konsequent auf das nächste Level.

Von der vibrierenden Spannung der ersten Takte des Titeltracks, die sich in einem kakophonischen, kathartischen Finale entlädt, bis zum Ende: Nobody's Coming To Save You überführt den Geist des schwitzenden Kellerclubs in Stadiondimensionen. Das Album ist nicht nur laut – es ist dynamisch. „Shades" schickt industrielle, kantige Gitarrensplitter in einen brachial-rohen Hardcore-Chorus; „Drones" ist ein druckvolles, langsames Aufbäumen mit einem Drop, der jeden Moshpit zum Kollabieren bringt. „Pins" zeigt eine lässigere, melodischere Seite – irgendwo zwischen Grunge und Trip-Hop –, während „Party Lines" pure, unersättliche Dance-Punk-Ekstase ist. Wer sich fragt, ob die Band ihr Ziel erreicht hat, das Album „wie eine Ohrfeige" wirken zu lassen: Ja, die sitzt.

Mit Nobody's Coming To Save You haben Gurriers ihre Ambitionen in neue Höhen getrieben – und liefern dabei auf ganzer Linie.

Two-time BRIT Award winner Becky Hill will release her eagerly anticipated third album ‘REBECCA’ on September 25th.

‘REBECCA’ was written during a period of intense personal and artistic reflection and sees Becky exploring ambition, identity, visibility and the contradictions of her life from a place of greater openness and creative freedom. Across the record, she examines the tension between desire and self-preservation with clarity, humour and brutal honesty, resulting in her boldest, emotionally charged body of work to date.

Described by Becky as “curated chaos”, ‘REBECCA’ also marks a significant evolution in her sound. It sees her reconnecting with the wider influences that shaped her early musical identity, pulling inspiration from guitar music alongside the dance and drum & bass foundations that have defined her career. ‘REBECCA’ blends that collision of worlds with heavy electro production, alternative influences and euphoric electronics into an album that feels both expansive and unpredictable.

Two-time BRIT Award winner Becky Hill will release her eagerly anticipated third album ‘REBECCA’ on September 25th.

‘REBECCA’ was written during a period of intense personal and artistic reflection and sees Becky exploring ambition, identity, visibility and the contradictions of her life from a place of greater openness and creative freedom. Across the record, she examines the tension between desire and self-preservation with clarity, humour and brutal honesty, resulting in her boldest, emotionally charged body of work to date.

Described by Becky as “curated chaos”, ‘REBECCA’ also marks a significant evolution in her sound. It sees her reconnecting with the wider influences that shaped her early musical identity, pulling inspiration from guitar music alongside the dance and drum & bass foundations that have defined her career. ‘REBECCA’ blends that collision of worlds with heavy electro production, alternative influences and euphoric electronics into an album that feels both expansive and unpredictable.

There are some first times you never forget. The first time one hears Syd Matters’ captivating voice is one of them.


From “End & Start Again”, his first single in 2003, Jonathan Morali’s warm, soulful vocals and timeless melodies revealed an artist in a league of his own. Success in France and abroad was immediate and has never waned.
Four albums followed between 2004 and 2011, along with a host of unforgettable songs: “Black & White Eyes”, “Obstacles”, “To All Of You” or “I Might Float” left their mark on an entire generation, racking up nearly 200 million streams and 100,000 physical sales. Drawing equally from the songwriting of the 60s, the creativity of the 70s and the modern synthetic era, Syd Matters has developed a unique musical universe, building a loyal and ever-growing audience over the years.


On stage, accompanied by his band, audiences recall intense concerts where the artist and his musicians deliver performances that were at once epic and intimate. Lush and spectacular on stage, their music never lost its center of gravity, gaining even in depth. Syd Matters toured France and Europe (England, Germany, Scandinavia...) for nearly ten years, as well as in the United States and Latin America. In 2011, the tour for his album Brother Ocean culminated in Paris at the mythical venue l’Olympia.
Jonathan Morali then took a step back from the spotlight but remained just as prolific, writing for film, theater, radio, and television and collaborating over the years with directors such Éric Rochant, Rémi Chayé, Thomas Litli, Patrick Mille, and Mélanie Laurent to name but a few. When scoring for films, the musician gives free rein to his desires and intuitions. He works with the very fabric of sounds and their underlying emotions, as if freed from the constraints imposed by the song format.


Between 2015 and 2019, he also composed the soundtracks for the remarkable video games Life Is Strange and Life Is Strange 2, which were massive global hits. Several Syd Matters tracks appeared in the game, and the success was such that it revived the band’s career, introducing their music to a new audience.


After an extended hiatus, Syd Matters will make a major comeback with a new album - their fifth - set for release in September 2026 on Créature - also home to Flora Fishbach and Chassol. They will then tour France and Europe, returning to the legendary stage of the Olympia on November 17, 2026, where they will perform their new songs. And others that we know by heart and haven’t forgotten.