Destination Unknown is an EP by Unpronounceable born from an archive of sounds collected between 2019 and 2024—sonic fragments that took shape without a predetermined direction guided only by an open idea in constant transformation. The original track conceived as a “destination unknown” composition developed its own independent identity. However precisely because of its fluid and cross-genre nature Unpronounceable chose not to place it within a traditional EP context instead opening it up to a multiplicity of perspectives by inviting five artists to reinterpret it freely without genre constraints.
The result is an EP that unfolds like an alternative map of the same sonic territory where each remix explores a distinct direction transforming Destination Unknown into a multifaceted and ever-evolving experience.
In Carl Finlow’s remix Destination Unknown takes on a strong cinematic and narrative dimension. Inspired by the title Finlow imagines a mysterious journey toward a futuristic dystopian city turning the track into a kind of electro soundtrack—dark yet ironic rich in character and capable of evoking vivid images and motion.
MANASYt pushes the track toward more physical and ritualistic territories focusing on the dark pads and the more oneiric vocal elements of the original. The result is a hypnotic pulsating tribal-industrial reinterpretation where rhythm and sonic material become central intensifying the track’s most visceral qualities.
With Gay Horror the focus shifts to an emotional and narrative dimension. The vocals are deliberately made elusive and undefined while the structure develops through a slow controlled crescendo that recalls the atmospheres of ’90s trip-hop. This version also reflects a long-standing human and artistic relationship conceived as a story that travels through time and reaches the present day.
Kevin Follet adopts a more conceptual approach overturning the perspective of the original track. Rather than working with its main elements he brings the underlying structures to the foreground transforming what usually remains hidden into the core of his reinterpretation. His remix is elegant and deep balancing sound exploration with a strong attention to songwriting.
Closing the EP is GP The Synth Roller with a radical and highly experimental reinterpretation. The track behaves like an unstable system: parameters shift without warning surfaces lose coherence sudden accelerations collide with moments of arrest. There is no resolution only a sonic condition in constant tension eventually condensing into a dark compact mass.
Taken as a whole Destination Unknown is far more than a simple remix collection: it is a collective exploration of the potential of a single composition. Unpronounceable’s original track and the reinterpretations by Carl Finlow MANASYt Gay Horror Kevin Follet and GP The Synth Roller move across electro techno industrial and experimental territories offering six different perspectives from the same starting point. An open journey with no fixed destination where every detour becomes an integral part of the path.
Cloudy Pink / Cloudy Green 2XLP. Before being called “the coolest man in music” (The Line of Best Fit), Paul Castelluzzo was a teenager surfing the beaches of San Diego and playing bars with local jazz greats like Curtis Taylor, until Rodney Jerkins brought him to Los Angeles to perform on tracks for Britney Spears and Justin Bieber. In between driving for Lyft and serving as the music director for a Russian Pentecostal church to make ends meet, he was enlisted for Romeo Santos’ album, Golden, but soon returned home to begin his next chapter as Hether.
Since then, his self-taught guitar style, songwriting talents and profound production palette have led to him working with everyone from Clairo, Dominic Fike, Remi Wolf and The Marías to Paul McCartney, Anderson .Paak, Benny Blanco, Kali Uchis, Kenny Beats, Mac Miller, Rick Ross, Vince Staples and more who continue to discover Hether. Having already amassed millions of streams and hundreds of thousands of fans, landing music in HBO shows and scoring films, Holy Water marks both the culmination of everything Castelluzzo has experienced and accomplished, and an expansive new evolution of a project that has shaped the present and predicted the future, but remains entirely his own.
We are pleased to announce the first FEX live album, Don't Look Back. The release features selected recordings from two concerts in Paderborn and Uelzen, both captured in 1985. All tracks on the album are previously unissued, including entirely unheard songs such as It's a Hard Life, Just Get Back, Legend, and Waiting Song, alongside a previously unreleased version of Subways of Your Mind, widely known as "The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet."
One of the most striking aspects of the album is the remarkable sound quality of the live recordings, as well as the strength of the performances themselves - particularly given that FEX were still considered a newcomer band at the time. The four-piece lineup consisted of singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter Ture Rückwardt, Michael Hädrich on keyboards and occasional second guitar, Norbert Ziermann on bass, and Hans-Reimer Sievers on drums. In 1985, the band was preparing for broader exposure through a nationwide tour organized by the small promotion company HBM-Musikbüro.
The album opens with the psychedelic Skyscraper, a track Rückwardt reportedly regarded as a personal favorite to perform. Hädrich contributes dynamic synthesizer layers, while Ziermann underpins the track with a distinctive slap bass groove. This is followed by the energetic rock number It's a Hard Life, which once again demonstrates that the band possessed multiple songs capable of matching the impact of their best known track Subways of Your Mind.
After this energetic opening, the album shifts into a more restrained mood with the synth-pop ballad I Got My Eyes On You. It is followed by Strange Feeling, presented here in a particularly compelling live version that arguably surpasses the previously released studio demo featured on the Skyscraper LP, with Rückwardt delivering one of his most expressive vocal performances. On Goldrush, another fan favorite, it is Hädrich's DX7 synthesizer work that stands out.
Don't Look Back continues to flow seamlessly, moving between styles such as new wave, synth pop, and a blues-influenced form of classic rock. On It's Good To Know, a song addressing the theme of stardom, the band returns to a heavier rock sound. In contrast, the synth-driven Just Get Back reflects on the conflict in Northern Ireland, then ongoing at the time. Lines such as "It's the money, it's the money why they come along" are directed at mercenary soldiers, while "even Sunday's a killing time" directly references Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2.
Previously known songs such as Dirty Slapstick and Heart in Danger lead into We Don't Want It No More, perhaps the band's most striking pop ballad. It is easy to imagine that the track had the potential to achieve radio success in the 1980s. The following piece, the epic Legend, explores themes of loneliness and love simultaneously. With poetic and abstract lines such as "some isolate in the falling rain" and "that's why I count all the reasons they call out for living, sadness is falling inside," it builds an almost eerie atmosphere.
One of the final highlights of the album is Subways of Your Mind, recorded in Uelzen. In this version, Rückwardt's vocal performance is even more on point than on the previously issued recording from Paderborn. Another notable moment is the driving, 1970s-inspired rock 'n' roll track Waiting Song. Both the composition and its live performance carry an energy that could easily stand alongside the repertoire of bands such as AC/DC. It was usually the track that FEX ended their concerts with, calling out each band member at the end of the song.
This leads to a broader reflection: it is striking that FEX did not achieve a wider breakthrough at the time. The performances captured here suggest a band capable of delivering consistently, song by song, note by note. It is not difficult to imagine FEX performing in large venues and engaging sizeable audiences. In reality, however, most performances in 1985 took place in front of relatively small crowds. The recordings featured on this album originate from the Roxy club in Paderborn and a small, unknown venue in Uelzen, likely in front of fewer than fifty attendees.
An essential figure behind these recordings is the engineer known only under his nickname Hase (German for "rabbit"), who was responsible for capturing not only these concerts but many other surviving FEX recordings. Bringing his own mixing desk to performances, he developed a deep familiarity with the band's material and was able to shape the live sound with precision, including the timely use of vocal effects. The original recordings existed only on cassette and required careful and extensive restoration work. Zoey Cairs was finally responsible for bringing them to their present quality.
This album marks the beginning of the Live Waves series, following the rediscovery of additional recordings that have gained international attention since November 2024, when they surfaced through what has been described as the largest "lost wave" music search to date. The title of this first live LP Don't Look Back carries a certain paradox. While the album invites listeners to revisit recordings from forty years ago, FEX themselves were always oriented toward the future. In that spirit, further releases of brand new material are already planned.
The cover artwork is once again based on an image by Magnussen from the Kiel archive, depicting the Prinz-Heinrich-Brücke. The bridge, once located in the northern part of the city, no longer exists. As a symbol, however, it remains fitting: a bridge stands for movement and connection - qualities that FEX sought to embody on tour, bringing their music to different places and audiences.
COS 009 - Unreleased Architecture A fusion of ambient, techno and IDM, often described as a form of “mental abstraction.” Created by Mark Cheney in a bedroom in Clapham, this release captures a moment defined by raw imagination and open-ended experimentation. It sits alongside artists of that era such as B12 and The Black Dog.
It stands as a perfect reflection of that era – raw, inventive and deeply evocative – leaving a lasting sense of nostalgia for those who experienced it. For the first time, this release has been remastered and cut by Mike Grinser at Manmade Mastering. Pressed on 180g vinyl, it sounds exceptional - rich, detailed and full of depth. Originally intended for home listening, it’s been cut loud so it can be played in a club setting.
'We Fell In Turn' is the solo debut from Brooklyn-based trombonist, composer, and quartet leader Kalia Vandever. Vandever, who plays with Harry Styles and Japanese Breakfast, “sculpts her trombone’s golden tones into dazzling compositions” (Pitchfork), writing music that tends to “dip you into a feeling or a pattern or a breathing speed, and keep you there” (The New York Times). In 2022, Vandever released Regrowth, an album that “features the ecstatic, brilliant melodies that have become Vandever’s signature sound” (Bandcamp). This spring, Vandever brings contemplative reflection to We Fell in Turn, a brave and understated work from an ascending voice in American jazz.
Recorded over three days in upstate New York, 'We Fell In Turn' is improvisational — a stark palate of solo trombone, voice, effects, and little more. “My solo process has always been heavily rooted in improvisation,” says Vandever. “I wanted the process to feel similar to the way I perform. Lee Meadvin, who engineered and produced the album, had a heavy hand in the creative process as well. He would dictate prompts before I started improvising and those pieces ended up shaping a lot of the imagery that comes up throughout the record.”
Connecting the dots between Jeff Parker’s 'Forfolks', and early releases from Grouper, 'We Fell In Turn' is a study of space and patience, embracing vulnerability in its sparse adornment. At times, the album is reminiscent of Patrick Shiroishi’s 'Hidemi', both in its familial inspiration and solo instrument study, while sharing the ineffable feel of William Basinski’s 'The Disintegration Loops' — the traces of her trombone folding in on themselves in an organic loop. Emotionally generous throughout, Vandever acts as a torchbearer for jazz’s historical yearning for connection.
On 'We Fell in Turn' Vandever draws inspiration from childhood memories — events that shaped her approach to love, community, and partnership, and her maternal homeland of Hawaii. “We were exploring childhood memories, earliest experiences with disappointment and pain, and my Hawaiian roots,” says Vandever. “We Fell In Turn came after I titled the track "We Wept In Turn". Both come from the intangible feeling of waking up from vivid dreams, particularly the experience of falling right before waking up or waking up in tears.”
Through this exploration into her heritage, Vandever also found guidance. “In Hawaiian mythology, ‘aumākua are known as ancestral spiritual guides that manifest in different forms, whether physical or intangible,” says Vandever. “My ‘aumākua visits me in my dreams, usually with a reassuring hug or a reminder of my past. Memories and early experiences seem to escape me, but find their way back in dreams.” And now they’ve found their way into 'We Fell in Turn', Kalia Vandever’s stunning solo debut.
In 2023, when Stately Records was playing in Berlin, we connected with Philipp Priebe, the man behind one of the most unique sounds in the world of everything that’s deep & dub. After a long and inspiring night at Golden Gate, the Stately Crew spent the after-hours listening to tracks Philipp had prepared, ultimately selecting four. Two of these tracks were previously released on the digital 'Oh, Why EP', and the remaining two are now coming to life on this very special 10” record.
These beautiful cuts are intrinsically linked to that memorable Berlin weekend and are now permanently etched onto two very special 10” editions in our STLR10 series. The A-side features our signature Stately Records logo stamp. The flipside is stamped with an image of a chair, a subtle nod to Philipp’s label, Stólar, which holds a special place in our hearts.
This black DJ version is vinyl only and limited to a 100 copies and.
DJ Support: Paul Woolford, Machinedrum, Kettama, LDLDN, Sinistarr, A.Fruit, Machine Woman, Octo Octa, Paco Osuna, Bradley Zero, Tzusing, Lefto, Synkro, John Tejada, 12x12 and many more
BBC6Music - Gilles Peterson
NTS - LDLDN
BBC6Music - SHERELLE - DJ Mix and Interview
NTS - Ross Allen
Enter the kaleidoscopic world of Lone - returning to Greco-Roman for his first album in five years, ‘Hyperphantasia’
An artist who has been soundtracking dancefloors since the early 2000s, Lonemade his production debut in 2008 with “Lemurian”, a hip-hop inspired release before moving into the vibrant future-facing soundscapes we have come to know. His back catalogue ranges through house, rave, ambient and electronica, and on ‘Hyperphantasia’, Cutler sets himself the challenge to bring all of those influences together for one body of work that he describes ‘like an album in my mind’. Referring back to the album title, the definition of hyperphantasia is a condition characterized by exceptionally vivid and detailed mental imagery and for this album he tested himself to see how close he could get the music to sound exactly like what he was hearing in his imagination.
On Hyperphantasia, Lone deepens his relationship with vocals. Having previously relied on vocal samples or more abstract live vocal treatments, this latest album marks a shift toward richer, more pop-leaning sensibilities. Cutler makes a clear lyrical statement, enlisting a diverse and carefully chosen cast of collaborators: London-based artists and fellow Greco-Roman affiliates Ell Murphy and Lou Hayter, Barcelona’s breakthrough singer Bikôkô, cult Nottingham rapper Juga-Naut, and Hong Kong-born, London-based musician Merry Lamb Lamb. Together, they contribute to what stands as a career-defining project.
The end result is a cinematic experience exploding full of colour. You are introduced to the album with an old school rave anthem ‘Life Spark’ and an interlude welcoming you into this musical world. Like chapters in a novel, the album ebbs and flows beautifully between stripped-back melodies ‘Opening A Portal’, ‘Photographs That Don’t Exist’, ‘Sickly, Sweetly, Summer Movie’ and ‘Fruit Rots, Water Floats Downstream’, bubbling feel-good house ‘Affinity (Cloud Four Four Mix)’, ‘Triton’ and ‘ Wemove’, the rap-influenced ‘Throw The Ember’ and epic future-pop tracks ‘Miracle Mile’, ‘Big World’, ‘Scattergun’ and ‘Home’. The album ends with a full circle moment, back to the early hardcore and jungle rave scene, on ‘Ascenscion.png’.
DISPLACES represents Fabris' most personal musical journey to date, inspired by the concept of hyperobjects and cartographic practices. The album sculpts a high-dimensional phased time-space composed of concrete materials and digital archetypes in a state of constant displacement. It delves into the symbolic and philosophical realms of mapping as one of the greatest sense-making mechanisms for life, in dialogue with object-oriented environments, superimposition and non-locality applied to cosmic, temporal, and emotional memory.
The sonic ecosystem expands on the image of navigating a path through a set of places, from the microcosm of quanta to the macro force of dark matter, from underwater depths to overland terrains, encapsulating the cyclical flow between birth and death, both in ecological and anthropological sense. The intersection of these shifting states is explored through the extensive processing of the langspil, Iceland's only traditional instrument, intertwined with manipulated field recordings of biophonies and geophonies captured across Icelandic and Venetian territories. These recordings form the backdrop for a meditative process that relocate familiar objects into unfamiliar realms, reflecting on the transformative power of self-reflection while encapsulating the fragmentation and entanglement found in nature and the human state. The record plunges the listener into a disconcerting and physical soundscape, as a “ghostly spectrality that comes in and out of phase with normalized human spacetime,” evoking sensations of suffocation and release as each layer continuously unfolds the palimpsest of the enclosed labyrinth.
“Extraction of the I” embodies a subatomic reaction—erupting as a molecular force that rises, only to re-submerge with a solitary exhale underwater. In this mutated dark space, beluga whales breathe into "Xanadu Phasing," creating a pulsating tension that releases only to unveil a frozen landscape.
In “Barricading the Ice Sheets” the glacial material morphs into a liquid tunnel of digital artifacts, building a wall of noise that shatters into scattered fragments of ice, resembling bird calls from another world.
A moment of stasis is offered with the appearance of an asymmetrical loop in Monolith I, evoking a primitive rite before an unknown force emerges.
The physical intensity of subsonic material in "A Quake in Being" interrupts the hieratic tone, detuning into polluted sonic matter sourced from relics of the First World War in the Venetian Prealps. The geography of this place reconciles with the original homeland in "The Map is the Territory," blending negative space with anthropogenic elements and exploited sounds of the langspil.
The burning density of "Wolf-Rayet" projects into the void, echoing the residual sounds of a local church as relics of fossilized religions. Wolf tones are the remains in Monolith II, introducing the final track, "Topography of Extinction," where evolving psilocin textures invite the listener to uncover deeper layers of meaning and dislocation.
Based in Rennes and founder of the Vives label in 2020, Weever has been exploring the interplay of light and shadow for over 10 years, crafting abstract soundscapes and textured sonic tunnels of unparalleled musical breadth. He elegantly blends industrial and baroque sounds to construct sonic cathedrals. His music is both utterly raw and meticulously crafted.
L’âge de la Galère :
started this EP in 2020. At the time, I had just finished my studies, it was a pretty difficult period and I had made a track, or rather a melody, that I thought was amazing. I held onto it all these years without ever releasing it. 2020 was a tough year overall. The big question was: What am I going to do with my life? Hence the title L’âge de la Galère
The title really started to make sense when I began putting tracks together for Micheal. Around that time, I was reading Those of 1914 by Maurice Genevoix. For those who don’t know it: it’s written as a journal and tells the story of the author and his fellow soldiers in the trenches during World War I.
I’ve always been passionate about the two World Wars, I watch every film, old and new, I listen to the soundtracks, and so on. Same with period films, especially medieval ones. I love drawing inspiration from them.
So naturally, I imagine and create around that. It comes easily because it’s always been my universe. And when I make music, those kinds of images inevitably come out, even subconsciously.
So I created and told an audio story through my 6 tracks.
“It’s 1914. The story of many men who, upon hearing the sound of the bells, are met with the announcement of a war like no other. Most of them are young, some very young, and they are drafted into the French and German armies. They have no military experience, and the first battles are so violent that many won’t make it back. Very few will earn the glory they deserve.
The conditions are appalling, everything is in short supply, and the men are exhausted. Still, they must hold on.
Leaving carelessly from beneath their mothers’ skirts, too few returned. Many were left traumatized, and an entire generation was forever changed.”
SOPHIE’s ‘OOH’ and ‘GET HIGHER’ are now available as a double A-side 12" vinyl. This release follows the single-series packaging format used for the other singles from PRODUCT: one track and slide image per side, black vinyl in a black inner sleeve, screen-printed with a white SOPHIE logo housed in a clear archive bag.
Earlier in 2025, Numbers marked 10 years since SOPHIE’s game-changing singles collection PRODUCT, with a special edition featuring 11 songs across Deluxe Vinyl and Compact Disc.
SOPHIE classics ‘BIPP’, ‘LEMONADE’ and ‘VYZEE’ were joined by two immaculate PRODUCT-era songs ‘OOH’ and ‘GET HIGHER’ recorded and produced at the time, each with colourful single artwork completing the set.
‘OOH’ is one of SOPHIE's earliest productions that has been through several revisions since 2011. It was one of three original tracks that Numbers had signed when SOPHIE uploaded the song alongside 'BIPP' and 'ELLE' to her Soundcloud, and while it had been through several iterations and speed changes, this finalised version was completed by SOPHIE in 2019.
SOPHIE once described ‘OOH’ as “hi tech club dance pop”. Musically speaking, the earworm hook is carved out by her signature portamento-infused synths and candy-coated lyrics, a firm cult classic approved by AG Cook and Charli XCX. Initially titled 'MAKE RESPECT', the track was first performed live by SOPHIE in 2011 to a handful of lucky people at a beach afterparty surrounding Sonar Festival, Barcelona and later that year at Manhattan's New Museum. The vocal was recorded as the first track in the same one-day recording session as SOPHIE's debut single 'NOTHING MORE TO SAY', released on the Huntley & Palmers label, where Sophie's songwriting was performed by the London vocalist Jaide Green.
The genesis of the ‘OOH’ and ‘NOTHING MORE TO SAY’ recording session is lore-worthy in its own right: after watching Jaide Green perform live with Olly Murs during the sixth series of The X Factor in 2009, SOPHIE reached out and invited Jaide to record in her home bedroom studio.
‘GET HIGHER’ was born during joyous sessions in 2013, when SOPHIE’s beat was introduced to the vocalists Cassie Davis and Sean Mullins. The track feels like a visionary precursor to ‘Vroom Vroom’, and doesn't sound out of place next to the sub-clang intensity of SOPHIE’s ‘HARD’ and ‘MSMSMSM’. Striking a playful balance between blissed-out hyperpop and club-ready Atlanta trap, it showcases SOPHIE’s signature, laser sharp sound design. Originally released as a bonus track on the Japanese CD edition of PRODUCT, ‘GET HIGHER’ has remained a hidden gem.
The electronic producer Franz Kirmann returns to Bytes for his eighth solo album. The “Almadies” are long wooden boats used by Senegalese fishermen. It is also the name of the neighborhood where Kirmann grew up, in the suburbs of Dakar, Senegal, near the Atlantic Ocean. "These new compositions are the result of sound experiments conducted over the past few months and reflections on the concept of mind-constructed geographies," Kirmann explains. "The way memories and souvenirs shape an image of a place or country that is part reality, part fantasy, part cliché, yet also deeply personal. This experience is influenced by education, social background, history, and other socio-economic factors. " The ten tracks are crafted from collages of electronic sounds blended with field recordings from various places Kirmann has visited — from Dakar to the Caribbean, as well as London and Paris. His aim is to blur the line between electronically generated sounds and real soundscapes, creating music where it becomes difficult to distinguish the real from the constructed. All the sounds on the album were produced using synthesizers and field recordings. No drum machines, percussion or traditional acoustic instruments were used. Influences include Brian Eno and John Hassell’s Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics (1980), described by Hassell as "a unified primitive/futuristic sound combining features of world ethnic styles with advanced electronic techniques" , which also works in the context of Almadies. Another big influence was Ariel Kalma’s Le Temps Des Moissons (1975) as well as artists including O Yuki Conjugate and Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe to Susumu Yokota and Michael Banabila.
Reintroducing Soar - the alias of Christian Aebi, serial DIY taper and one-man orchestra from Langenthal, a fog-shrouded town in the Swiss provinces. Krautophobia, ambient lo-fi agriculture, analogue soul balm and slowspeed psych gelati-blitz cardboard pop only gesture towards the sound world he coaxed from his broken Tascam four-track recorder, in attics, churches, junkyards and at the kitchen table.
The spark for Soar was likely time and space, somewhere in the autumn of 1994. Armed with a cable salad of Sixties guitar/bass, fairground drums, mould-speckled organs and toy instruments, Aebi coaxed five albums, an unverified run of 25 cassettes, and a handful of gigs. Mostly issued through Zurich label Corazoo, the records arrived in hand-pasted sleeves, rough-cut reproductions of his teddy bear-fixated artwork that carried the same imperfect immediacy as the music. With Rudi Steiner, performances in galleries, clubs and halls bent into live sound-image happenings - part installation, part film, part flea-market-instrument theatre - invariably leaving the house engineers bewildered.
At the time of his untimely death in 2021, Aebi remained a village secret, his music passed quietly between friends and local ears. Now, Swiss graphic designer and Ghost Riders compiler Ivan Liechti has pieced together a portrait from the afterglow, gathering tangled audio formats, paintings, illustrations, photographs and notebooks with his family, former label and peers. What emerges is a first glimpse of Soar's intimate cosmos - brushing against Füxa, Spectrum, Dump, Stereolab and King Crimson, but orbiting a dimension entirely his own.
East Kilbride’s Scott Fraser finally comes good on a 25 year promise to his younger self with his debut solo album on his own label DX Recordings out of London. This record represents the closing of this chapter and the opening of a new one.
A truly international and collaborative project pulling together the help and talent of friends around the world with mastering by Radioactive man Keith Tenniswood, cut by Frank Merritt at The Carvery and world class US visual art and design legends, Tim Saccenti and Nick Martin on photography, artwork and design.
Limited to 300 solid red heavyweight vinyl copies, brown kraft sleeves; individually hand stencilled and numbered by the artist, printed inserts feature a collection of moments and images from the last 25 years - the studio, the equipment, the people and the places that came together to make this release. Japanese rice paper inner sleeves.
Limited edition hand printed screen print by Niall Greaves at Newbridge Print Studios in Newcastle on the first 30 copies exclusively available via the DX Recordings Bandcamp page.
Musically diverse, crossing styles, flavours and moods, threaded meticulously with razor sharp Roland TR606 programming and glued together with a Space Echo, Expanded opens with the sub aquatic funk of ‘Eden And After’. Side one takes you through banging electro on ‘Energy In Constitution’, the dark dub techno of ‘To The Letter Of My Oath’, leaves you disappearing through a black hole on ‘The Path Of Helium Rain’ and the sound of aliens talking through FM synthesis on ‘Collected Stills’. On side two: a slice of dark, heavy instrumental hip hop gets things started with ‘Where Is That Perception? ‘. Next we get into some straight 4/4 club techno with cut up drums and bumping baseline in ‘Mi Dominante’ before moving through some blissed out Detroit vibes on ‘Earth Looking Inwards’, a rough as you like TR606 driven experimental electro groover ‘Object of Life’ and finally closing out with the Ectomorph inspired stark electro of ‘Steel (NB_BLOOD cut)’.
Mastered by: Keith Tenniswood at Curve Pusher, Hastings
Cut By: Frank Merritt at The Carvery, London
Distributed by: Rubadub, Glasgow
Artwork by: Timothy Saccenti, Nicholas Martin, Scott Fraser
Photography by: Kate Green, Javier Gonzalez, Scott Fraser, Timothy Saccenti
Solid red vinyl (300 copies), 30 coming with a limited edition screen print designed by Timothy Saccenti, Nicholas Martin and Scott Fraser, hand screen printed by Niall Greaves at Newbridge Print studios in Newcastle.
"Waxwork Records is proud to announce the next entry into their collection of FRIDAY THE 13th soundtrack releases on vinyl, FRIDAY THE 13th PART 3. Waxwork and composer Harry Manfredini re-visited the original analog tapes in an effort to faithfully master the complete soundtrack for vinyl. FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 3 includes every musical cue featured in the film and encompasses two 180 gram LP's clocking in at nearly one hour of chilling audio which serve as a dark musical backdrop to one of the most beloved franchises for horror fans. Originally released in 1982 and in 3-D, FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 3 is the first film to feature the legendary slasher, Jason Voorhees, wearing his signature hockey mask. This image of a machete wielding, hockey masked killer became the trademark for the franchise, as well as an iconic image in American cinema and horror films in general. To keep in tune with the original 3-D theatrical release of the film, Waxwork created a deluxe quality 3-D lenticular mounted album cover for the heavyweight old-style tip-on gatefold jacket which houses two LP's featuring the complete score.
Waxwork Records incorporated the lost, deleted final scene of the film into the inner gatefold illustration. This deleted scene from the film depicted an unmasked Jason Voorhees violently beheading the “final girl"". Deemed too graphic by the film studio, the scene was cut from the movie altogether. Here's your chance to see it up close and personal through the artistic vision of Gary Pullin.
And yes, this soundtrack release includes the now famous “Disco Theme"" from FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 3's opening credits!
Soul Jazz Records’ new Soul Jamaica brings together a wicked selection of
reggae funk and soul tracks from the legendary Studio One stable, featuring
a stellar line-up of artists including Jackie Mittoo, The Heptones, The
Gladiators, Sim Smith, Peter Tosh and The Wailers, Cedric ‘Im’ Brooks and
many more.
For a short period of time at the end of the 1960s and early 1970s, nestled
between the end of rocksteady and the arrival of roots reggae, Studio One
released a small stream of superb soul and funk reggae tunes – covering
everyone from Sly and The Family Stone, Diana Ross and The Supremes,
Nina Simone, Gene Chandler, Tyrone Davis and more.
Most of the tracks featured on Soul Jamaica were only ever released on
Studio One’s UK-subsidiary label Bamboo in small-run pressings and are
now consequently extremely hard to find.
The cover photograph features images of Air Jamaica, the new airline
created by the Jamaican government at the end of the 1960s, showing how
in the years following independence the
country assumed its place on the world
stage, with reggae music playing a key
role in creating the island’s new
cultural identity.
Steve Moore reprises his beloved Lovelock guise by presenting his unique riff on the library breaks genre. Business And Pleasure contains grimy groove and sleazy, funk-laden lounge music.
This vinyl release is hyper-limited, with just 500 pressed for the world.
The LP is ushered in by the spacey synth-funk of the sleazy, woozy title track. This is that serious slo-mo cosmic-balearic head-nod shit. Laidback bass, heavy funk with dreamy synth and electric guitars. An outstanding opener. Up next, the dynamic, swaggering "Last Call" is a sophisticated, elegant stroll - sweeping, mellow strings, a smooth bassline and gorgeous percussion with urgent keys and swelling synths.
"Slinky Strut" is another spaced-out, sleazy funk groove with jazz rock by way of a heavy, heavy guitar riff, mellotron and bass breakdowns which build to brass crescendos. Gigantic. "First Class" closes out the side, and, like classic Hawkshaw / Bennett noir, it's got that mysterious and murky stretched out sleuth / detective soul with a great bassline and percussive elements, with swelling strings, ace synths and smooth Rhodes piano melodies entering the mix halfway through. Dramatic guitars and groovy percussion add extra intrigue. It's 7 minutes of funk!
Side B opens with the stretched-out psychedelic funk and jazz groove of "Stank 49". It takes its sweet time to unfurl, creating enormous - almost sensual - anticipation for the ensuing beauty but, as it does, we're left beguiled and straight-up hypnotised. Heaven-sent synth flourishes and a laidback bassline over smooth drums cement its simple, vivacious grace. "Dangerous Man" is that creeping crime funk we all love; heavy bass and fuzzy guitar riffs, mellow strings and sumptuous piano/synths. It's irresistible, it's ominous and it's pretty gargantuan. It's basically like an El-P hip-hop instrumental. We need to get some rappers over this stuff, stat!
"Stinkbug" is a dazzling and funky groove-fuelled jazz-rock workout with fizzing synth riffs joined by full percussion and drum breaks, building with strings to a strong swagger. Vigour! To close out this remarkable set, the breezy "Win Or Lose" is laidback soul-inflected funk, utilising urgent, skipping drums and galloping basslines. Just stunning.
This collection was written and recorded in Spring and Summer of ’24. Everything was tracked at Steve's home studio in Albany, NY except the drums and percussion, which were recorded by Jeff Gretz at his space in NYC. The whole collection is basically a rhythm section feature, so Steve's Rickenbacker 4003 and Fender Jazz Bass play very prominently. The bass guitar serves as lead instrument in a lot of these tracks. Also, lots of Rhodes and stringers (Solina, Logan etc) and guitar (Strat and Les Paul). He even dusted off my sax for this one, which he doesn’t do as often as he’d like!
This type of groove-oriented library music has been a steady part of Steve's diet since the late 90’s. In heavy rotation while writing this collection were the following classics: “Time Signals” by Klaus Weiss, “Tilsley Orchestral No. 10” by Reg Tilsley, and “Heavy Truckin’” by Simon Haseley. “Voyage” by Brian Bennett was also a big one.
Lovelock started as a dedicated Italo-disco project, but over the years Steve expanded it to include anything directly informed by the commercial/pop side of the music of his childhood (70s/80s). Writing and recording this album was, like a lot of Steve's music these days, basically a test to see whether or not he could do it.
The song titles, like the music, are meant to be evocative yet vague. But there is a bit of a travel theme. Steve imagined this record being the soundtrack to a sleazy salesman’s business trip. The kind of guy who, when asked if he’s traveling for business or pleasure, responds “both.” Beyond the traveling salesman comparison, the title directly relates to the creation of this album. This was something he wanted to do just for his own enjoyment. Yet, like our sleazy salesman, he still found a way to get paid.
The album’s cover was designed by Chris Stevenson, with no little direction from Steve. He knew that he wanted to go with something photography-based for this cover so, in true DIY/cheapskate spirit, Steve started by looking through his own photos. He found the cover image on his phone, taken through an almost empty bottle of beer, and it clicked. The whole album has a very boozy vibe (especially with titles like “Last Call”) so this shot seemed appropriate. We, hic, agree.
Mastering for this vinyl edition was overseen by Be With regular Simon Francis, and it was cut by the esteemed Cicely Balston at Abbey Road Studios to be pressed in the Netherlands by Record Industry.
Retrospective of British mod / fReakBeat / pop-aRt heroes the eYes including all their cult classic 45s (“When the night falls”, “i’m RoWed out”, “MY degeneRation”...) plus cool rare tRacks souRced fRoM demos and acetates.
foRmed in london in 1964, the eYes took the earlY feedback experiments and pop aRt iMage of bands like the Who one step further. the band wore dyed parkas in various pastel colouRs and bRightly colouRed rugBY shiRts with huge eye symBols on the chest.
theiR raw, eneRgetic sound and distinctive stYle comBined aggRessive, fuzz-dRiven guitaR riffs with catchy melodies and a Youthful defiance that captuRed the eneRgy of the london mod scene. theiR music bRidged rawness fReakBeat with the eMeRging psYchedelic sound that would dominate the latteR half of the decade.
tracks like the feedback-laden “When the night falls” oR the fuzzed-out “you’re too Much” sounded YeaRs ahead of its time and they would influence the mod, garage revival and indie / shoegaze scene of the folloWing decades.
the eYes only released a handful of singles betWeen 1965 and 1966. theY disBanded in 1967 and unfortunatelY they never released a full album during their shoRt lifespan. heRe it is!
*ReMastered sound / *eight-page color insert with liner notes by paul “smiler” andeRson and rare photos / memorabilia / *doWnload card
Brooklyn duo Fundido team up with Philadelphia's Universal Cave to press their first physical release titled ‘Paradise Tempo’, a love letter to dance floor music that sits in the cross section of the tougher sounds of the city and the softer sounds of the balearic and the backwoods.The A side kicks off with a flawless downtempo mix from California based Dirty Dave and Alex Pasternak, who find a rare cover of the Cathy Denis classic and refurbish it to perfection. Next up is ‘Emotional Jungle’, a jazzy midtempo weapon led by a massive saxophone hook and edited to optimum club efficiency by NY based Nick Stropko. LA via Serbia’s Masha Mar unearths extremely rare gem ‘Take Me to Mecca’ and reworks it into a dreamy midtempo journey that carries both a children’s choir vocal and a middle eastern synth melody effortlessly across a foggy dance floor. And closing out the A-side is the wonderful ‘Charlie’s Vision’ from Universal Cave, a spooky AOR tinged cosmic trip that is only available on this vinyl pressing.The B Side leads with balearic beach party stomper ‘Amor’ from Fundido themselves; complete with Spanish vocals, lofty piano jamming and a contagious growling bassline. Next up is ‘Sex-O’ from Seoul man Tucan Discos, who reworks a tribal classic into a hypnotic and seductive club mix; followed by ‘Freak Estilo’ from Spain’s Ritmal Astral boss Orion Agassi who offers a bumping freestyle breaks mix with an addictive r&b vocal hook. Last but not least, the ‘Be Careful Operator’ edit from Miles Felix aka Sisserou closes down the function with a block party jam swimming with jazz, swing and soul.When asked what visual imagery they had in mind for Paradise Tempo, the prompt given to artwork maestro Ray Fernandez was ‘salt of the earth utopia’ and ‘working man’s paradise’ … and Ray delivered exactly that. Enjoy Paradise Tempo !
Four Flies is thrilled to present the very first release of Gianfranco Reverberi's hidden masterpiece: a mind-blowing soundtrack, possibly his wildest and most daring. This Italian score is sort of a Holy Grail for fans of the spaghetti sound, especially thanks to the legendary track "Psicolimite".
In 1973, a mysterious 45 rpm single surfaced under the name 'Sharon Chatam e la sua Orchestra.' The single seemed to be a harmless cover of the theme from Last Tango in Paris, complete with a typical image from the film. But behind the innocent facade, a secret was hidden: the B-side track, "Psicolimite," was actually the main theme from Rivelazioni. When someone in the United States figured this out and realized the 'Sharon Chatam' moniker was a pseudonym for Reverberi and his team, the price of the record skyrocketed, making it a coveted collectible.
This makes the discovery of the full soundtrack even more exciting, considering that the music Reverberi composed for the infamous film by Renato Polselli - one of the most outrageous and uncompromising Italian genre cinema directors - was thought to be lost forever, perhaps vanished into the depths of some film processing lab. But thanks to the sleuths at Four Flies, this enigmatic masterpiece has been resurrected and presented in all its glory. It's available now as a luxurious gatefold double LP with original artwork by the brilliant Eric Adrian Lee.
While the film, despite some critics praising it as "psychotronic," is a bizarre mishmash of rambling pseudo-psychoanalytic theories and sexual deviance voyeurism, the music stands out as a foremost, vital element, able to exist on its own.
Reverberi's reputation as a serious, refined producer (for artists like Lucio Dalla, Gino Paoli, Luigi Tenco, and many more), however, led him to keep his distance from exploitation films like Rivelazioni. To maintain his image, he had his friend and former schoolmate Umberto Cannone take credit for the score – a tactic he also used for Polselli's next film, Mania (1974).
But this anonymity might have unexpectedly increased his creative freedom, for the score he put together and recorded is experimental, at times raw, and driven by a relentless rhythm section where bass and drums lay down the groove. The use of electronic instruments is impressive for the time, with drum machines and spacey synths creating a dark and dreamlike atmosphere. Psychedelic flutes, piano phrases, crazed percussion, filters, compressors, and jazzy improvisations on sax and vibraphone complete the mix.
The full soundtrack was recovered following the discovery of the original 1-inch, 16-track tapes, which were transferred, mixed, and mastered for optimal listening on both vinyl and digitally, with the digital version featuring 8 bonus tracks.
Fennesz's first album in over five years is a moquettish mosaic of heart-tugging synth string movements and tinctured textures, described by its releasers P-Vine as bearing "terrifyingly detailed sound image". If inhalatory gasps in the face of the Byronic sublime were merged with the atmospheric-communicative chatter of radio and telecoms, this would be the sonic result. Described as Christian Fennesz' most introspective album to date, the record follows a newfound process for the artist, which came after the construction of a new studio and the sticking to a strict regimen. The likes of 'Personare' and 'Goniorizon' reflect this commitment, with new molten plastic ventures in sound yielded as a result; clock the tender, hand-pulled, doughy sound design on the latter track in particular.
I turned the page and will never forget what I then saw.
The fountain pen scratched against the paper, whistling like fur on an abandoned tire in the
middle of the night at the centre of the universe in the core of whatever it is I’m trying to believe.
I am a patient human and I live and breathe. I know this for sure.
I read about a whispering stillness of the Stadsnacht as my blood levels gradually even out again. Beneath the ink, the words take shape. This is a secret correspondence with the Book of Change – a dialogue not meant for eyes or ears, but for the soul. Are you still with me?
The Snake Rope tightens, its Coils Dive into the deep well of patience, where waiting is an art, a
dance with the unseen. The Scientists Say we should measure, predict, contain—but here, in
the shadow of the deepest of nights, the only truth is the Celebration of Ignorance. Love is the
force that binds as it untangles the invisible thread that refuses to sever. The next page quotes the mystical figure Daim: “Never Dissever Us.”
There, in the dawning light, the Dageraad reveals the Icequeen in her frigid throne, the Topiary Man standing guard in his sculpted silence. In this quiet landscape, I wait. I continue to wait, for I have good fortune on my very hands.
If You Won’t, I Will.
Can we exhibit the power to possess conformity? Can we redeem the benefits of crossing the water? Yes. The choice, the act of breaking through the barrier of convenience, is both a burden and a liberation.The words swirl, abstract and concrete, like action and inaction. The Book of Change is a paradox to puzzle over.
The evening cool rests its shoulders on my fluffy neck. I inhale as my pen lifts itself from the
paper once more, shedding ink as though it were tears of joy. I know that I have touched the
edge of something vast, something that moves beyond the grasp of reason into the heart of the
I Ching, the ever-turning wheel of change. This is the correct orientation. This is the vivid
imagery of clouds falling from the heavens and into our laps. This was never meant for your
ears. This was meant for you to feast on as the seasons bestow upon us
Fashion Flesh tears the fabric of space and time. This is his first offering for the ESP Institute. With side A’s 'Atoms Revolt', ESP cordially introduces Fashion Flesh, AKA John Talaga, to the deepest corners of your mind. Using largely homemade electronics, circuit-bent gadgets, and tape manipulation, John manages to tap into the innate character of these otherwise introverted machines, eavesdropping and documenting their buried inner dialogue. His command of distortion is multi-tiered. On a micro level, he induces happy accidents and shepherds stray elements. Zooming out a bit, we begin to understand the sonic meat grinder that equalizes his bag of disparate ingredients. And from a macro vantage point, we fully recognize the greater tool that sculpts all of the above into form. Side B’s 'New Freedom' conjures a specific dystopian image—the byproduct of an artist involuntarily conditioned by the commute between up-river Bay County, Michigan and the Detroit metropolitan area. Like cutting away at flesh and muscle, breaking through the bone to suck the marrow, John depicts both the contrast and parallels between two post-industrial urban landscapes, the banal trek across The Thumb between them, and the gradual disintegration of agriculture as one nears the Techno city. Voice fragments begin to stutter in syncopation like radio frequencies interfering with our psyche, Geiger counters wail and moan, untamed oscillations mimic caged primates rioting at the zoo, and a steady-firing piston of drums struggles to break through a dense harmonic soot. The depth of personality John extracts through his manipulation process is remarkable— a point-of-view that foreshadows humanity’s looming technological singularity while hinting that it may have always been here, hiding in plain sight, waiting to be given a voice. These two songs will trip your circuit breakers.
INDEPENDENT RECORD SHOP AND LABEL KLANG TONE RECORDS RE-ISSUE DEBUT ALBUM BY 8 PIECE INSTRUMENTAL EHTIOPIAN JAZZ/AFRO-BEAT/PROG COLLECTIVE;
TEZETA
“Absolutley gorgeous from start to finish…”
- Deb Grant, BBC 6 Music
“An instant obsession. Impeccable rhythms and hypnotic melodies—Tezeta crafts a spellbinding fusion of Addis and Avon that takes you on a journey."
- Don Leisure
“Gorgeous mood music with more than a nod to Addis. Lovely tapestries and textures”
- Matt Temple, Matsuli Music
'Formed in Bristol back in2014 Tezeta were an experimental 8 piece instrumental group effortlessly combining Ethiopian jazz, Afrobeat, prog and improvisation. The band spawned out of the much loved Bloom Collective - a collective of musicians and friends from an experimental corner of the city’s buzzing music scene.
Led by composer, pianist and bandleader Daniel Inzani (Spindle Ensemble, Cosmo Sheldrake) the band also featured tenor saxophonists Andrew Neil Hayes (Run Logan Run) and Lorenzo Prati (Count Bobo, the Evil Usses, Itchigo Evil), Harriet Riley (Spindle Ensemble, Paraorchestra) on Marimba, vibraphone and percussion, Pete Gibbs (Count Bobo) on bass, Conrad Singh (Alabaster dePlume, the Evil Usses) on electric guitar and finally two(!) drummers Matthew Jones (The Brackish, Slate Trio) and Daniel Truen (Yama Warashi, The Evil Usses, Rozi Plain, Count Bobo).
They initially got together to play music from ‘The Ethiopiques Volumes’, in particular, the work of Mulatu Astatke, hence the name Tezeta (Ethiopian for nostalgia) but quickly evolved into their own style with all original material, incorporating many other influences along the way. Their much loved, debut album 'Seventh Place' was released in Sept 2016.
“We at Klang Tone have been admirers of Daniel Inzani’s work with Spindle Ensemble and I was fortunate to catch Tezeta perform before they disbanded. I bought one of the last available copies of their home released cdr at their gig at local Stroud venue The Prince Albert. It became a firm favourite - a recording I keep playing and never got tired of. It’s such a beguiling mix of styles - always evolving and resolving in different ways to what you might expect - some thrilling ensemble playing rhythmically propelled by two drummers and a percussionist with Daniel’s evocative melodies at the centre. I was convinced this was a recording that deserved a bigger audience and felt it needed to be heard on vinyl so I started a conversation with Daniel about releasing it on Klang Tone as it perfectly encapsulated the raison d'être of the shop and label. We didn’t want this recording to languish online barely listened to - I felt it was in danger of becoming a lost classic. I hope that this vinyl release is a worthy testament to this great band and helps draw attention to the creative genius of composer Daniel Inzani and the talented ensemble of players featured on the recording.” - Sean Roe, Klang Tone Records
Tezeta had a cult following among other musicians and were known for their wild group solo wig outs, virtuoso musicianship and creative use of unusual rhythm, harmony and melody. They toured across the UK at various venues and festivals including Glastonbury, Shambala and Green Man, and subsequently released an EP named ‘Curious Bubble’ in 2020.
In 2023 Tezeta performed a sold out final show at Strange Brew, Bristol as Inzani decided to pursue solo releases, notably his critically acclaimed triple vinyl album ‘Selected Worlds’ released on Hidden Notes Records which landed in the Guardian Top 10 Contemporary Albums of the Year in 20204. The third disc ‘Play’ was a clear continuation and development of the music Inzani had developed with Tezeta and featured many of the same musicians.'
The cover image is from ‘Project Rewind’, a double exposure photography collaboration between Karen Dews and Paul Blakemore.
Graphic design by Adam Hinks.
Over the decades, the image of Kompakt as a pirate ship has taken root in our minds, braving the dangers of the seven seas of the music market. Sometimes it glides with a tailwind through calm waters, sometimes it has to survive violent storms. When we set sail in 1993, we never would have dreamt that our journey would still be going on after more than three decades and with 500 releases to date.
In our fast-paced business, the 500 mark is rarely reached, so we want to celebrate it with a lavish 5LP box set. In a democratic process, we have selected 50 pearls from the thousands of tracks released over the last 33 1/3 years and pressed them onto 5 brightly coloured vinyls. Alongside many Kompakt evergreens, there are also some real rarities from the early ‘Kompakt Sound of Cologne’, which have been lovingly remastered here to shine in new splendour.
The box also contains a 144-page book that tells the story of Kompakt from 1993 to today with detailed texts and images. In addition to the manifold musical and graphic achievements of Kompakt, the multidisciplinary links to the visual arts are also highlighted here.
The Bonus Picture Disc opens with the symbolic tolling of 500 bass drums, followed by 50 locked grooves from the 5 Kompakt founders, looping into infinity at 133 1/3 BPM, and the ‘33 1/3 Years Loop Opera’ – in which the loops are combined into one track that, in its reduced essence, is more than the sum of its individual parts. The magic of groovy loop minimalism and the ‘art of omission’ are once again brought to the proverbial point.
On 23 May 2025, the big KOMPAKT 500 art exhibition will open at the venerable Kölnischer Kunstverein to coincide with the release. The entire visual cosmos of Kompakt will be shown here in an unprecedented way on three floors, with the participation of many renowned artists. Of course, there will also be dancing and partying at the vernissage party, with DJ sets and live shows by the Kompakt Allstars.
The last one turns off the bass drum.
Im Laufe der Jahrzehnte hat sich in unseren Köpfen das Bild von Kompakt als Piratenschiff festgesetzt, das den Gefahren der sieben Weltmeere des Musikmarktes trotzt. Mal gleitet es mit Rückenwind durch ruhige Gewässer, mal muss es heftige Stürme überstehen. Als wir 1993 die Segel setzten, hätten wir uns nicht träumen lassen, dass unsere Reise nach über drei Jahrzehnten und mittlerweile 500 Veröffentlichungen immer noch andauert.
Die 500 ist in unserem schnelllebigen Geschäft eine selten erreichte Katalognummer und soll daher mit einer üppigen 5LP-Box gebührend gefeiert werden. In einem demokratischen Prozess haben wir aus den tausenden Tracks der letzten 33 1/3 Jahre 50 Perlen ausgewählt und auf 5 knallbunte Vinyls gepresst. Neben vielen Kompakt-Evergreens finden sich auch einige echte Raritäten des frühen “Kompakt Sound of Cologne”, die hier liebevoll remastered in neuem Glanz erstrahlen.
Die Box enthält außerdem ein 144-seitiges Buch, das mit ausführlichen Texten und Bildern die Kompakt-Geschichte von 1993 bis heute erzählt. Neben den mannigfaltigen musikalischen und grafischen Errungenschaften von Kompakt werden hier auch die multidisziplinären Vernetzungen zur bildenden Kunst beleuchtet.
Die Bonus Picture Disc wird mit einem symbolischen Glockenschlag von 500 Bassdrums eröffnet, gefolgt von 50 Endlosrillen der 5 Kompakt-Gründer, die sich bei 133 1/3 BPM in die Unendlichkeit schleifen sowie der “33 1/3 Years Loop Opera”, in der die Loops zu einem Track zusammengefügt werden, der in seiner reduzierten Essenz mehr ist als die Summe seiner Einzelteile. Die Magie des groovenden Loop-Minimalismus und die “Kunst des Weglassens” werden einmal mehr auf den sprichwörtlichen Punkt gebracht.
Am 23. Mai 2025 eröffnet parallel zum Release die große KOMPAKT 500 Kunstausstellung im ehrwürdigen Kölnischen Kunstverein. Der gesamte visuelle Kosmos von Kompakt wird hier unter Beteiligung vieler namhafter Künstler*Innen in nie gesehener Form auf drei Etagen gezeigt. Selbstverständlich darf zur Vernissagenparty auch getanzt und gefeiert werden zu DJ Sets und Liveshows der Kompakt Allstars.
It was less than a year ago that Italy-born but Denmark-based musical artist Alex Puddu released his latest album Deliria, an enticing blend of erotic disco, soulful grooves and electronica inspired by Italian pop music of the late 70s / early 80s, which went on to enjoy extended radio play across the globe including on BBC 6, NTS, KCRW, and national Spanish station Radio 3, to name a few.
But it wasn’t long thereafter that indefatigable groove purveyor Puddu travelled back to Rome for a new musical adventure, heading straight to The Sound Work Shop, the recording studio of legendary Italian composer Piero Umiliani, where he recorded the 10 new tracks that are included in his latest musical opus, Professione Reporter, another funky and soulful adult-oriented disco-pop album entirely sung by himself in Italian.
Professione Reporter tells the story of a photo reporter who travels the world following and stalking rich recently-widowed women whose husbands died in mysterious circumstances. Attracted by their charm and wealth, our protagonist transforms himself into a gigolo, becoming a dedicated lover-boy to these rich sugar mamas and a slave to the sweet life, going so far as to become an accomplice in their criminal plans to ensure the inheritance of their dead husbands.
Once again Alex Puddu has hit the mark with a collection of polished and ear-friendly grooves that tell the alluring story of a private eye embroiled in a web of love affairs, wealth and deceit, evoking images of satin sheets, champagne and dim lights set against the backdrop of one of the most hedonistic decades so far.
Wilson Tanner return to dry land with Legends, a wine-soaked agricultural fantasy, made among the grapevines at Manon Farm in South Australia. Where their earlier works settled into the sun-struck torpor of a suburban Perth backyard (69) or drifted off-course on a riverboat on Port Phillip Bay (ii), Legends trades salt air for vineyard sweat, the scrape of boots on dry earth and workers’ radios humming with the summer test cricket season.
Through this agricultural haze an image of a working vineyard emerges - ducks, dogs and plovers intrude; tractors and quads fly-by; stainless steel gleams at the edges. Recorded without mains power, the Manon demos overflow with farmyard ingenuity. Wind, brass, balalaika, balloon, pipe and synth are trained onto the staff with wire, tape and string.
A caricature of Australian viticulture, Legends is packed to the horns with the mythology and manure of natural wine. Swigging and belching in camaraderie, Wilson Tanner press their surroundings into something raw and unfiltered, letting bum notes, leftovers and sediment linger in the bottle. A cornucopia of biodynamic sounds.
Brussels-based artist Adja Fassa releases her debut album, two years after her well-received EP IRONEYE - and it is promising to be quite a ride.
This contemporary body of work showcases 11 stories, each telling their story of the impact our capitalistic society has on our most intimate moments: from dystopian neo-soul tales of Deliveroo-drivers being stalked by telemarketers (both of them selling/delivering literal 'hope and dreams'), to re-imagined jazz standards and classical songs about conditional friendships, based on time and money. We even get her take on the 'stick-it-to-the-man-sing-along-rock-song', which she called 'Sucking on my Emphatitties'. And then we have the title song 'Golden Retrieve Her' which is as much an accumulation of feelings as of musical curiosities
" 'Golden Retrieve Her' is a wordplay on wanting to retrieve my kindness in a violent social system. Simultaneously, it is criticizing the fact that we, the masses, are often asked to either be naive or pretend we are. All of this accumulated in a visual image of what our social system considers 'the perfect, obedient nuclear family': a kind couple with 2.4 children, a house in the suburbs and... a Golden Retriever." ~ Adja
Serious and concrete topics, wrapped up in a symbolic package, as Adja values both straightforwardness, critical thinking and, paradoxically, a bit of mysticism. For her visual artwork, she created four, self-made tarot cards, that represent the four themes on the album:
'The Wheel Of Fortune', embodies the desire to get the upper hand in a system that doesn't align with your values. 'The Mirror', represents projection and likeness within lost connections (whether with strangers or with friends), 'The Dark Wheel' embodies the turning point of the wheel of fortune, where one is completely surrendered to their own moral demise and 'The Cave' stands for the - sometimes painful, sometimes blissful - return to one's own mind and heart.
Musically, this album contains as much variety as song titles, as Adja continues to explore her own depths as an artist and musician, together with her partner-in-crime, guitarist, composer and jazz-arranger Alexis Nootens. She collaborated with music producer Adam Scrimshire, who was featured in the Guardian as UK's one of three most significant soul music producers alongside Swindle and Inflo, and renowned Belgianproducer, mixer and musician Koen Gisen, who both mentored her into deepening her own productional skills. Last but not least, she gathered 13 musicians to deliver the sound she brings to her album, among them her 5 steady band members and 8 studio musicians from all over Europe. As we said: it promises to be quite a ride.
LIVE:
09/05 : Ancienne Belgique, Brussels
11/05 : Jazz à Liège
Vibes Addikt is proud to unveil its latest EP, brought to you by N.O.B.A, an artist whose tracks have consistently made their way into Beatport's Top 100, with support from major figures like Amelie Lens, Mark Sherry, Nusha, Klaudia Gawlas, Charlotte De Witte, Mha Iri, and many more. N.O.B.A continues to captivate the scene with powerful, emotional productions, and this new release on his label is no exception.
This EP, with its powerhouse tracks, is a true collection of sonic bombs. "Shadows From The Darkness" is a masterpiece of intensity and emotion, featuring a remix by INIGMA, the Orlando-based artist now residing in Spain, who brings a hypnotic tech-trance touch to the track.
The track "The Unit" is a techno-trance gem, built on a bed of acid basslines, with an irresistible groove and punchy sounds that sweep the listener into a whirlwind of energy. Meanwhile, "Sunset" takes us back to the golden days of the 90s, with a pure trance vibe and uplifting melodies that evoke the nostalgia of the scene’s finest moments.
An unmissable EP, available in an exclusive purple vinyl edition, reflecting N.O.B.A's artistic vision. A release that will delight fans of techno, trance, and everything in between.
Early support from Mha Iri (Drumcode, Filth On Acid), Charlotte De Witte (KNTXT), M.I.K.E. Push (Bonzai), DJ Fire (Bonzai), Dave Davis (Laark, Cherry Moon), CP Cedric Piret (Bedrock), Tom Leclercq (Versuz)…
Français
Vibes Addikt est fier de dévoiler son dernier EP, porté par N.O.B.A, un artiste dont les tracks ont régulièrement figuré dans le Top 100 de Beatport, avec le soutien de figures majeures comme Amelie Lens, Mark Sherry, Nusha, Klaudia Gawlas, Charlotte De Witte, Mha Iri, et bien d’autres. N.O.B.A continue de captiver la scène avec des productions puissantes et émotionnelles, et cette nouvelle sortie sur son label ne fait pas exception.
Cet EP, avec ses morceaux explosifs, est une véritable collection de bombes sonores. "Shadows From The Darkness" est un chef-d'œuvre d’intensité et d’émotion, sublimé par un remix de INIGMA, l'artiste originaire d'Orlando, maintenant basé en Espagne, qui apporte une touche hypnotique et tech-trance à la composition.
Le titre "The Unit" est une perle techno-trance, construite sur un lit de basses acides, avec un groove irrésistible et des sonorités percutantes qui emportent l’auditeur dans un tourbillon d’énergie. Quant à "Sunset", il nous plonge dans les années dorées des 90s, avec une vibe trance pure et des mélodies exaltantes qui ravivent la nostalgie des plus belles heures de la scène.
Un EP incontournable, disponible en édition exclusive sur vinyle pourpre, à l’image de la vision artistique de N.O.B.A. Une sortie qui ravira les fans de techno, trance et tout ce qui se trouve entre les deux.
Support de Mha Iri (Drumcode, Filth On Acid), Charlotte De Witte (KNTXT), M.I.K.E. Push (Bonzai), DJ Fire (Bonzai), Dave Davis (Laark, Cherry Moon), CP Cedric Piret (Bedrock), Tom Leclercq (Versuz)…
Proudly presenting, ‘Калі ты запытаеш (If You Ask)’, a brand new, blissed-out pop production with a ‘70s AOR touch, by the ever-on-point SOYUZ (СОЮЗ). Coming at a period between albums, the single features guest appearances from the sensational musicians, Biel Basile (O Terno, Sessa) and Anthony Ferraro (Toro Y Moi, Astronauts, Etc.). Friends of the band, they add their signature touch on the drums and synth respectively. To complete the package, SOYUZ back the title track with a short but sweet, Wurlitzer-laden, MPB-tinged number, ‘Tenório’.
‘Калі ты запытаеш (If You Ask)’ tells the story of lost dreams. A track that can be interpreted either as a bittersweet longing for childhood times, or for a native place you can’t return to. For the writer Alex Chumak he suggests, "In my case, as in the case of many Belarusians, it’s both".
For this song, Alex chose to sing in his native Belarusian tongue. As he explains this language "to me feels underrepresented in pop music, also it’s a beautiful legacy and sonority that I wanted to share with the listeners of our project around the world". One of the key inspirations was a Belarusian band “Песняры” (“Pesniary”), who produced a host of great progressive folk, jazz fusion and AOR, from the ‘70s to the ‘90s, predominantly sung in Belarusian.
Another key influence was the music coming out of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais in the ‘70s, drawing inspiration from the sentimental and harmonious music of Beto Guedes, Lô Borges, Fernando Oly and Wagner Tiso.
Having parted ways with their drummer Anton, SOYUZ needed to find a new way to produce songs. The answer was to go remotely. Alex contacted the brilliant Biel Basile, who had recorded Sessa's contemporary classic ‘Estrela Acesa’, in which Alex also participated. Utilising Biel and Sessa’s newly built studio in São Paulo, SOYUZ had Biel record the drums directly to tape to get the rich sound they were after. Adding the final magic into the mix, California’s Anthony Ferraro provided a beautiful Solina String Ensemble synth arrangement, with drummer/recording engineer Albert Karch expertly assisting with the production.
To capture the essence of the single visually, Alex and the Brazilian one-man-industry visual artist Gabriel Rolim, spent a blazing sunny May day in Berlin shooting film and stills – one of which became the perfect cover image. We hope you enjoy this little nugget of SOYUZ mastery, a sweet taster to savour while the new album is recorded.
We’re teaming up with ELUCID and Fat Possum for a limited edition of 300 copies of a Rush Hour black ice coloured edition.
E L U C I D, one half of the illustrious duo Armand Hammer, is here with the full-length follow-up to 'I Told Bessie'. Further experiments in the sonic, expanding on the 'live' side of music paired with the embracing of chaos. Something you haven't heard, or not so for a very long time. E L U C I D is here to reveal the bleakness of reality.
''There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment; the time is always now.''
James Baldwin
A raw, crackling urgency runs through rapper-producer ELUCID’s new album REVELATOR like an underground power line. There is no space here for sepia-toned reminiscences or indulgent self-mythologizing. Intellectual rabbit holes have been filled in with concrete and rebar ; there is nowhere to hide and no off ramp from the audio Autobahn that ELUCID has fashioned—a renegade Robert Moses with gold fronts, bulldozing the homes of the powerful and the complicit. REVELATOR brims with the energy of now, with a refusal to look away. Carpe diem in a murder one mask.
Born in Jamaica, Queens, ELUCID has been on the cutting edge of New York’s underground scene since the mid-2000s. From the beginning, he has defied both convention and expectation. He ran with Okayplayer darlings Tanya Morgan, but his own music eschewed their throwback charm for glitchy noise experiments and bass-swamped culture jamming. His 2016 debut studio project Save Yourself (re-released in a deluxe edition last year) announced him in earnest. But in recent years, his Armand Hammer releases with partner-in-crime billy woods have received significant attention and acclaim. Serving as a followup to his last solo album—2022’s comparatively balmy I Told Bessie—ELUCID hoped to “re-distinguish” himself with REVELATOR, setting himself apart amidst the increasing attention around the music he and his friends are making together.
For ELUCID, this meant setting bold new challenges for himself. One of these was diving further into live instrumentation than ever before—”getting my Quincy Jones on,” as he puts it. The testing ground for this approach was Armand Hammer’s most recent project, 2023’s We Buy Diabetic Test Strips’ Möbius strip soundscapes, warmed with instrumental flourishes and skin-shedding beat progressions. With REVELATOR, though, ELUCID strove to create an atmosphere of chaos, embracing experimental electronics and atonal sample bursts. He worked on much of the album with co-producer Jon Nellen, who comes from a background in avant-garde and Indian classical music. “I wanted to get as freaky as I could at this moment. I wanted people to hear things, maybe for the first time, or in a way they haven’t for a long while,” the rapper explains.
ELUCID arrived at the studio with a collection of noise sources: non-referential samples, glitches and noises. Together he, Nellen, and others created forms out of them and, as ELUCID recalls, “just started playing drums with it.” Their fried, distorted sound was directly inspired by Miles Davis at his most uncompromising—specifically, the tone-clustering funk track “Rated X” from his 1974 double LP Get Up With It. At times, the pairing of rap with avant-fusion sounds also brings Emergency! from The Tony Williams Lifetime to mind, perhaps in an alternate timeline where the late drummer was listening to Ice Cube’s AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted.
“The World is Dog,” REVELATOR’s lead single, functions as the album’s aesthetic thesis statement. Like the Davis track, the textures are punishing, the tonality is in free-fall, and the driving breakbeat of a groove cuts in and out unceremoniously. Avant-jazz bassist Luke Stewart, who appears throughout the record, holds the whole thing together just long enough for ELUCID to tightwalk over the beat. This tension is exactly where REVELATOR sets itself apart; in a time of drumless loops, and safe soul samples, this is a high-wire act with no safety net. Similarly, the song announces the themes of the album within just a few phrases, evoking the way societies accept and adjust to new levels of debasement and brutality while suffocating under the weight of history: “Can’t clock the kill, all a mystery/Forced past will eating everyone eventually/The world is dog.”
Many of the songs on REVELATOR grapple obliquely with dissolution and disenfranchisement in America and across the world—the grim realities of our domestic sociopolitical climate and our involvement in foreign conflicts. “Much of my artistic and political sensibility comes from the Black arts movement here in New York,” ELUCID explains. “Recognizing the interconnected global struggles against oppression, artists and thinkers created works and actions in solidarity with freedom movements in South Africa and Palestine.” ELUCID cites intellectuals like Amiri Baraka, Kwame Nkrumah, Audre Lorde, Sonia Sanchez, and Nikki Giovanni among his heroes. (One track on the album is specifically inspired by Lorde’s work, “SKP,” citing the scholar’s paper “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic As Power.”) Songs like REVELATOR’s insistent closer “ZIGZAGZIG,” find ELUCID applying up-to-the-minute messaging, making explicit reference to the conflict in Gaza: “Feed a war machine…from river to sea, in lieu of peace.”
Despite ELUCID’s preference for cacophonous system overload here, the rapper also provides moments of respite. Recorded at The Alchemist’s Los Angeles studio, the laid-back, wheezing “INSTANT TRANSFER” is a collaboration with billy woods, which crystallizes their shared sense of creative determination. “With much momentum behind us and even more on the horizon, I knew a purpose, and that every step was ordered to that purpose,” ELUCID said of the experience. Meanwhile, the jittery “HUSHPUPPIES” is a playful anomaly on the track list, providing a snapshot of ELUCID watching his grandparents in the kitchen while preparing for Friday night fish fry dinners.
“Love still rules over on this side,” ELUCID says. ”I’m raising a family. We are making meaning and finding joy in the midst of all the fucked up-ness of everything around us because the alternative is cowardice and slow death. We remain rooted. We celebrate our people and our wins. Struggle is necessary.”
“IKEBANA” is one of ELUCID’s strongest statements of purpose on the record, blending the record’s heaviest themes with its most hopeful sentiments. supported by a shoutalong refrain and an urgent prog-funk groove. Breaking away from images of dissolution and crumbling societal systems that populate REVELATOR, ELUCID notes that the only way to navigate life’s bleakest landscapes is to cling to love and believe in those around you—to look forward toward something better that may or may not be possible. For the rapper, one of the album’s most trenchant lines comes during a centerpiece of a beat drop: “Being alive/I must look up.”
“The lyric ‘being alive I must look up’ is important especially in the context of this album. Much of the album imagery is harsh and reflects the actual doom some of us experience. But still I/we exist,” ELUCID explains.
Every artist is, in one way or another, the product of their time, bound by life’s leaden gravity to operate within the space of that which is already known. But there are some who are able to shake free of these ties, to shape the culture as it unfolds, to make the present their own.
Revelation, as a concept, points to the scales falling from people’s eyes—something that has been hiding in plain sight becoming clear. “The revelator relates to things that have been talked about, things that have been forecasted,” ELUCID adds. “And now they’re really here, and everyone sees it. And there’s no escaping.” REVELATOR plays out with the unmitigated power of those storms, laying waste to any genre conventions in pursuit of a certain physicality. Here, ELUCID develops a wholly distinctive musical language to explore our fractured modernity.
REVELATOR's packaging was designed by longtime Armand Hammer / Backwoodz art director, Alexander Richter.
Subject To Restrictions Discs presents “Abisso” by Tagliabue. Inspired by the immeasurable depths of the abyss, the Milanese DJ and producer creates a dense and intense soundscape that evokes images of a submerged world of cosmic frequencies.
Prepare to dive into “Abisso”, the latest sonic creation by the talented Joseph Tagliabue. An EP that defies the ordinary and captures attention from the very first moment, “Abisso” is a musical journey through four unreleased and completely different tracks. A1 explodes with the power of a mid-tempo bomb, Joseph’s trademark, while B1 amazes with a thrilling break that transforms into a progressive shaker perfect for the dancefloor. B2 restarts with another eruption of broken techno energy, and the EP closes with a post-peak-time electronic mantra that hypnotizes the listener in a suspended dimension. “Abisso” is a work that leaves no one indifferent, a sonic experience to be lived and carried away by.
2025 Repress
Chontane delivers six dynamic techno cuts via his 'Sycamore' EP on Mutual Rytm.
A firm fixture of the VOLTAGE roster and a rising name originating from Ukraine making an impact, Berlin-based DJ and producer Chontane is quickly finding his feet following a string of EPs via ARTS, Lobster Theremin and Rekids Special Projects. Already playing key clubs at the age of just 18, blurring the lines between techno, breaks and electro with his growing trademark sound, his performances across Berlin and beyond have captured the attention of many as he showcases his up-front and powerful sound. Next, he heads to SHDW & Obscure Shape's Mutual Rytm imprint for the first time as he reveals his six-track 'Sycamore' EP.
Lead cut 'Preserved' is a rugged yet soulful opener, settling into a rolling groove guided by crisp hats and sharp stabs, while 'Arakis' propels into more eerie and menacing spheres as waling vocals emerge and disappear into the track's relentless dynamic. Opening the B-side, 'Sitka' fuses jacking drums with playful flute interludes for a production set to get dancefloors moving, while 'Laboe' keeps things fiery as a peppy track which launches into fiesta mode. Closing the flip side, B3 'After Images' reveals the most emotive production on the package,
balancing the hard-hitting kicks with soulful vocals and hazy melodies for a classy slice of techno.
Once again, digital purchasers are treated to an exclusive bonus with 'In Roots' raising the temperature and jumping right back into the action to serve up another energising anthem from a label and artist on the rise.
From that indescribable connection between Science and Electronic Music, France’s Mascarpone oriented this EP towards all the imagery that these themes can generate in our minds. Themes that already catched the attention of techno and electro founders many years ago, showing that this link has been present since the beginning.
Electronic music is based on science and the scientific method is utilized in its creation. Theories and hypotheses are put forth and if they are practical and plausible they will be tested to verify them. Some theories work and some don’t,
but no theory is considered too abstract. All is considered. The more radical the better.
Debut album from UK jazz saxophonist and composer Miles Spilsbury, featuring Carlos Niño. Produced by Slugabed.
Light Manoeuvres is about warmth, generosity and openness. The music which would become Light Manoeuvres was sketched in fragments, but began to take shape in earnest during a period of living under the Marseille haze in the South of France.
The specific character and opacity of the light in Marseille inspired the album title which imagines the movement of light passing over different subjects and spaces in intricate motion. Sand blows over from the Sahara on the Sirocco wind and is whipped up by the Mistral, the Marseille sky becomes golden and vapoured, then intermittently pastel blue. That image stuck while shaping this body of work, and became integral to the function of the compositions - which act as jumping off points for the players and myself, vehicles for improvisation and gateways to something else entirely.
Miles Spilsbury is a saxophonist, composer and multi-instrumentalist. Light Manoeuvres may be Spilsbury’s first full-length as bandleader, but the Brighton-based artist brings more than a decade of experience to bear on this record. In addition to a list of collaborators which includes Carlos Niño, Iglooghost, Nate Mercereau, Surya Botofasina and Yasei Collective, Spilsbury has been a permanent member of celebrated avant-rock experimentalists The Physics House Band since 2018. He has performed at prestigious UK venues such as the Southbank Centre and the London Jazz Festival, and has toured extensively throughout North America, Europe and Japan.
In time between other musical projects, Spilsbury spent several years sketching fragments of solo material. The music which would become Light Manoeuvres began to take shape in earnest during a period of living in Marseille. The specific character and opacity of the light there inspired the album title, which imagines the movement of light passing over different subjects and spaces in intricate motion.
Borka's new 7" is a double single which features two tracks, taken from his new Places EP.
The A side features Todra, a track that builds up slowly, but before one knows it, it becomes a full-on neck breaker. The samples transport us to rocky Moroccan gorges, but do so with a killer hip-hop mood that bring to mind early Dimlite stuff.
On the B side we have Svetac, a track that swirls around a distinctively engaging folk sample, which immediately drops us on an island in the middle of the Adriatic sea. But Borka and his collaborator nikson manage to build a space portal around it that constantly flips between images of careless summer evenings and interstellar voyages.
"Memories in the corner of my mind
Flashbacks, I was laughin' all the time"
The package includes a download code for the full 8-track Places EP.
Long Beach legend Scotty Coats links the West Coast eclecticism of Stones Throw to the NYC cool of DFA and Rong to the Balearic gods of DJ Harvey et al. He personally introduced Be With to Ned Doheny 10 years ago and he was immortalised on Smith & Mudd's last LP. And he's the main man behind the mysteriously titled duo Todd Russell & The Dangerous Coats, alongside Erick "Todd" Coomes (Lettuce founder/bassist).
In very real danger of being lost forever, we unearthed two of their private recordings and present them as a double A-Side 12", adorned with S-T-U-N-N-I-N-G artwork, courtesy of Arizona artist Frank Gonzales.
"Playa Larga" is a melodic, mellow masterpiece and is quintessentially Balearic. It's stretched out, low slung, guitar-soaked drum-machine soul music. It's multi-layered and contains multitudes: it builds and builds and builds and mesmerises as it does so. On the flip, "1900 Ocean Avenue" is a super slo-mo, sunbaked drug-chug which is already blowing minds thanks to early leaks of this cosmic, psychedelic detonation.
On first listen back, Erick said to Scotty: “So wait, nothing really happens, I mean nothing bad happens but nothing really happens”. Apparently these tracks were a bit foreign for Erick, musically, because of the lack of structure in the songs.
One morning, years later, Erick called Scotty and excitedly declared: “dude, I get it now!”. He was listening to random music with a lady friend while watching the sunrise in his 1900 Ocean Ave apartment and "Playa Larga" came on randomly. He'd forgotten all about it and said he had to get up and see what song it was because "it was the perfect soundtrack for a psychedelic sunrise over the ocean."
And that's exactly how we came across it, circa 2018, randomly popping up on a playlist while we were busy doing other things. It stopped us in our tracks but, when trying to find any info on iTunes, we were out of luck. It was only years later that we worked out Scotty had sent it to us. Ever since, we've been working on getting this out to you all. It's finally time.
We've only 500 pressed for the world, with many of them spoken for by those lucky enough to be already ITK, so these are gonna fly: be warned!
Scotty is a world class raconteur so we'll hand over to him to explain how these songs came about and why they mean so much to him in the context of his wider raison d'être:
"These were made 13 years ago when I was a new dad and left my job at Ubiquity Records to provide security for my newborn son, Nolan Liam Chai Coats. I became miserable working a job outside of music for the first time in my life and I was laid off 4 months into it. I was left wondering how the fuck am I going to provide for my family?
I lived in Long Beach and Erick lived a few blocks away. I would walk to his house when Jen finally got Nolan to sleep so I could escape my panic, drink some beers (is it beerlearic?) and make some music. He lived overlooking the ocean with the Queen Mary on the horizon, so I guess mellow Long Beach nights unintentionally inspired the music. These songs were the first two songs we ever made and they embody the desperation and hope I really needed at that time. 12 years later, when Rob at Be With expressed an interest in releasing it, we had Erick's brother Tyler Tycoon Coomes play drums on it at Jazzcats Studio in LBC, with Jonny Bell.
Shortly after I was laid off, I discovered The Stepkids. I was blown away by "Shadows On Behalf" and sent it on to Gilles Peterson. He played it on Worldwide the next day. The Stepkids pulled me back into music and made me realize I wasn't prepared to do anything but be involved with music. After I heard their unreleased album, I knew there was something there so I sent it to my good friend Jamie Strong who was at Stones Throw at the time. Jamie passed it along to Peanut Butter Wolf and the band asked me to be their manager. I didn't think I was the right guy for the job but wanted to see them do well so I told them I would help shop their album. Jamie suggested I take his place at Stones Throw, just as he did when he left Ubiquity Records. I always joke that Jamie can call me Scotty Coat Tails because I had been riding his for years.
Wolf told him that "Scotty is a nice guy but has horrible taste in music", which was ironic because he was literally trying to sign the band that I brought him. The Stepkids signed with Stones Throw and found a real manager. 6 or so months later Jamie sent me a note saying "Stones Throw is hiring and you should apply lol". I told him I was going to send my resume and the subject of the email was to read I HAVE GREAT FUCKING TASTE IN MUSIC. I did just that and got a call the next day from their new GM asking me to come in for an interview. When I walked in I was in Wolf's office where I had been 6 months before, signing The Stepkids
deal. Wolf and Jason McGuire were asking me some questions and wanted to introduce me to Jeff Jank. Jank walked in and said "Isn't this the guy that Jamie wanted to bring on 6 months ago?" They confirmed and he threw his hands up and walked out saying "I've seen enough". I got the job. I worked there for 2 or 3 years until I left to join forces with Jamie Strong at his label and stayed there for almost 7 years."
Scotty wanted to use a painting by his good friend, Frank Gonzales, for the front cover image. Frank was incredibly generous in letting us use this one, and Scotty was completely honoured. We think you'll agree, it's pretty striking. Simon Francis carefully mastered the original audio for both tracks and Cicely Balston's precise cut for Alchemy at AIR Studios ensures this double A-side 12" sounds appropriately outstanding. The immaculate Record Industry pressing will ensure these previously unheard, recently discovered recordings finally get a chance to shine.
Unhuman & Petra Flurr is the collaborative synthpunk-technoid project of BITE label stalwart, Berlin-based Greek artist Unhuman and legendary queer wave figure Petra Flurr. 'Mala Vida' is their debut album on BITE that further evolves their sound beyond genre borders. The duo deliver an 8-track LP consisting of punk body music exhibiting the team's mastery on production, their androgynous vision and diverse influences. Petra Flurr's staggered, often effected, vocals cruise over pounding beats, bold iconic hooks and psychedelic atmospheres. His lyrics reference the seedy underbelly of Berlin's sex underground. Meanwhile, Unhuman's productions broadly range from the post-punk references of 'Labyrinth' to the new beat grooves of 'Short Life' featuring Ukrainian duo Garden Krist to the melodic orchestrations of 'Rush'. All this is reinterpreted by techno duo New Frames on a digital remix of 'Unzivilisiert'. 'Mala Vida' is a direct inspiration from their debut performance at Berghain for last year's BITE label night. After which, they swiftly retreated to the studio to compose, still in their platform heels. The two paint a coat of neon red over their preexisting batcave of sound. While the artwork by Liam Noonan compliments the gender fluidness of the album, distorting and digitally manipulating images of the creators themselves. Using heavy rhythmics, wavy mandates, an androgynous stare and unavoidable sexuality, Unhuman & Petra Flurr introduce us to their culled brand of queer death techno. Always with a wink.
Sound artist and researcher Amit Dinesh Patel aka Dushume began working in the field of music technology in 2000. In 2021, he began a research project addressing the distinctive lack of visibility for Black and Brown artists within the field of experimental music and sound: "Exploring Cultural Diversity in Experimental Sound", hosted at the Sound/Image Research Centre, University of Greenwich.
Disruptive Frequencies is one output of this research. Patel, together with five other Black and South Asian experimental and electronic artists recorded new music to release as part of this compilation:
Crossing noise, high-energy electronic music, deep bass, ambient and experimental soundscapes, this compilation is a statement challenging institutional Whiteness, racist biases, lack of visibility and access to experimental practices. Each contribution pushes the boundaries of sound manipulation, turntablism, field recording, audio fragmentations and sound collage techniques.
This latest instalment of ARTHUR BAKER Presents DANCE MASTERS finds the production/ song-writing/ remixing maestro taking the spotlight for a long overdue snapshot of his own classic 12” mixes during a crucial evolution of dance music, club
and pop culture.
“I’ve always felt like I was on a mission to make music from the time I heard Motown, Philly and Sly and the Family Stone. My mission started as a hobby and still feels like one now. You’ve got to keep on pushing and hustling. It can be a drag sometimes but
if you really love what you’re doing, it’s worth the work. I still really love what I do.”
Arthur Baker helped codify the remixer as artist. His genre-fluid approach to projects
has resulted in a joyous myriad of classics that spans many decades. This ’80’s focused DANCE MASTERS collection offers a welcome glimpse at Baker’s illustrious career and many long out-of-print 12” versions and previously unavailable mixes.
This 35-track, six LP expanded edition includes a wide array of selections from the likes of Robbie Nevil’s “C’est La Vie,” Fleetwood Mac’s “Big Love,” Neneh Cherry’s “Buffalo Stance”, Jeffrey Osborne “Soweto”, Freeez “I.O.U”, Rockers Revenge “Walking On Sunshine” and of course the juggernaut “Planet Rock” with Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force.
Complete with in-depth liner notes by Bill Coleman, track by track notes written by Arthur Baker himself, previously unseen session photos from Arthur’s personal archives and a signed insert.
All tracks remastered by Nick Robbins at Sound Mastering
Eternally Frozen consists of a series of canon based compositions for brass ensemble, percussion and synthesizer by Andrea Belfi. The canon is an ancient compositional technique in which an initial melody is imitated at a specified time interval by one or more parts, creating illusionary never-ending musical journeys.
The work is inspired by the evocative image of the Deprong Mori, a mythological bat with the alleged ability to fly through solid matter by bending atoms by its natural skill of audio echolocation. The myth suggests that one of these bats had been “eternally frozen” in a wall of solid lead in 1952 by the researcher of the Rockefeller University, Donald R. Griffith. This story is exhibited in a display at the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles, an institution renowned for both speculative, fantastical reinforcement of mythology and playful and beguiling distortions of mysterious could-be truths.
Both the canon and the “frozen” Deprong Mori are man-made illusory simulations of eternity. Their attempt is to create mirages, where the insinuation of facts is more meaningful than the reality.
After many years of sonic explorations with percussion, drums, and electronics, Belfi is here projecting himself as a composer through the direction of an astonishing brass ensemble in the realization of these canonic works. There are evident echoes of the works of Arthur Russell, Miles Davis, Moondog, William Basinski, and the Italian soundtrack tradition of Ennio Morricone and Egisto Macchi.
