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Liquid Stella, an up-and-coming instrumental band with an average age of 24, formed in 2019.
Their jazz-rooted sound and catchy, mellow melodies have been generating buzz, especially through digital releases. A rising star, they're garnering attention
as a rising star on digital music charts, and now they're releasing a 7-inch single with a "sea" theme!

Side A's "twilight" is inspired by the image of a sunset over a beach at dusk. The track evokes the crimson sky and horizon, a pleasant evening breeze, a
groovy medium beat, nostalgic electric piano, and mellow guitar reminiscent of 70s city pop, creating a groovy and mellow sound.

Side B's "Fleeting" is an incredibly refreshing and soothing piece, perfect for a morning beach day. The electric guitar's cutting and lead sounds, groovy 16-beat
rhythm, and the electric piano's mellow melody are the perfect complement to a drive by the sea.

A single cut from the surf music compilation "SALT... meets ISLAND CAFE -Sea of ​​Love-", supervised by the magazine "SALT...", which proposes new values ​​
for beach lifestyle and surf culture.

The now-classic duet of ‘Peace On Earth / Little Drummer Boy’ with David Bowie from Bing Crosby's 1977 television special, ‘Merrie Olde Christmas’ is back on a brand new, collector's edition, picture disc 12” vinyl.
The picture disc features the iconic image of David Bowie and Bing Crosby at the piano. "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy" is a Christmas song performed by David Bowie and Bing Crosby. Recorded on September 11, 1977 at ATV Elstree Studios near London for Crosby's television special Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas, the song features Crosby singing the 1941 standard "The Little Drummer Boy" while Bowie sings the counterpoint tune "Peace on Earth", written by the special's musical supervisors Ian Fraser and Larry Grossman, and scriptwriter Buz Kohan, specifically for the collaboration.
The duet was one of Crosby's final recordings before his death in October 1977. Following the special's broadcast during the 1977 holiday season, ‘Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy’ went unavailable for many years. It was eventually released as a single by RCA Records in November 1982 and was a commercial success, peaking at number three on the UK Singles Chart. It was Crosby's final popular hit. It became one of the best-selling singles of Bowie's career, with total estimated sales over 400,000 in the UK alone.
The song has since become a Christmas classic in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom and has been referred to by The Washington Post as "one of the most successful duets in Christmas music history“.

Le Motel and Bruce Wijn met at school, during a school art trip to Munich. They went separate ways for a long time.

Hailing from Brussels, Le Motel's world is a vortex of sight and sound that takes in the many and varied corners of the planet. As a music producer and film composer his versatility has taken him to festivals and clubs in every direction as naturally as he has ventured out to the less accessible areas of the globe as a field recordist. It's somewhere in between these spaces that Le Motel operates, gathering unique experiences and sounds to channel through his studio.

Bruce Wijn is a Brussels-based guitarist who played in several postrock kind projects such as Sound Film, 52 Commercial Road, or more shoegaze Lazy Sin. These collaborations gave him the opportunity to perform in various locations in Belgium, France, England, and the USA. As a musician, his focus has always been attracted by progressively built rhythmic melodies, which would eventually turn into long reverberated or distorted swells, or the otherway round.

All these experiences brought them both to the idea of scoring movies with different yet similar approaches.

That's how their first collaboration happened as Le Motel was working on the soundtrack of the movie Binti, and invited Bruce Wijn for the track Exode, in 2018. Since then, they've been working on other scoring projects, such as the feature film 'Aller Retour' more recently.

Alongside the movie scoring activities another audiovisual live project was born, in collaboration with Antoine de Schuyter and his mesmerizing images.

This one is more focusing on tape textures, field recordings and glitchy effects in order to build atmospheric tracks that they decided to bring together in a first E.P. 'MAAR'.

'MAAR' is elaborated as a soundtrack for an imaginary journey between cold seas and volcanoes explorations.

From the first echoing sounds of playing kids on the shoreside in the opening track 'La Perche' Le Motel & Bruce Wijn let you slide in a technicolor dreamworld, reverbing slowly innocent childhood memories into a chilled, out of range, future.

'MAAR' dives deep into a kaleidoscopic microcosmos watching Nautilus playing hide and seek with 'Captain Ahab' floating on sonic breaking waves, while seagulls gently spread their wings flying through the breezy and misty clouds of Blankenberge.

Lava vulcanica slowly melts in the sad euphorica of the cold North Sea, crystallizing sounds only Le Motel and Bruce Wijn can deliver.

Congratulations! 55th anniversary of debut

The third album "Single Man", released on April 21, 1976, was an album with many controversies from the production stage.
It was discontinued less than a year after its release, and then a movement to re-release "Single Man" arose, and it finally re-released in 1980, so it has
a twisted story.

The album features a variety of performances due to the transition period from the folk period to the electric arrangement period, and above all, many
masterpieces that can be said to be representative of the entire RC period, such as "Slow Ballad". The driving force just before the rapid climb to
"KING OF ROCK" after 1980 is already boiling in this album.

In addition to the latest remastered sound source from the original master tape of the album, this deluxe edition includes single songs from that time,
versions not included on the album, and a studio live sound source from tvk's "Young Impulse" at the time of the album's release.
It is a deluxe edition packed with the overflowing talent of RC Succession at that time.

The booklet includes for the first time all 17 images from the original jacket illustration, "Pictures for the Test of Painting Apperception of Infants and Children."

・Remastered by zAk
・Disc 1: Half-speed cutting / Disc 2: Normal cutting by Miles Showell at ABBEY ROAD
・180g heavyweight clear vinyl
・Booklet (17 images of "Pictures for the Test of Painting Apperception of Infants and Children" (illustrations by Minamioji Hajime), commentary, lyrics)
・Liner notes: Imai Tomoko, Sakai Hiroki

STANDFIRST Titanic, the project spearheaded by Mabe Fratti and Hector Tosta (aka I. la Católica), return with a sumptuous and life-affirming new album.



In her sensational 1929 biography Tiger Woman, dancer and socialite Betty May claimed her ‘coster’s eye’ meant she liked to wear as many colours as possible. “Colours to me are like children to a loving mother. Each is my favourite, yet I can never bring myself to deny the others by preferring one.” May’s bold and inclusive strategy is one that manages to transfer itself, almost a century later, to Hagen, the new record by Titanic.


Many will know Titanic as the Mexico City-based brainchild of cellist and singer Mabe Fratti and multiinstrumentalist Hector Tosta who is now operating under the pseudonym, I. la Católica, (taken, rather unusually, from the name of the street the pair live on). With Hagen, and their previous release, Vidrio, (2023), the pair are creating a distinctive signature sound in modern alternative pop music. Nobody else sounds quite like them. Both records have an open hearted nature and simple, winning melodies that play off against a taste for drama, spectacular orchestration and a feeling of otherworldly mystery. Hagen is the more ambitious, sometimes more mystical effort. From the opening handclaps of ‘Lágrima del Sol’, (a wonderfully uptempo playground chant translating as a tear from the sun but, surely, not referencing the brand of pineapple wine?), the record dances its way through various mid-to-late-eighties inspirations, lush and widescreen passages of melancholy and vertiginous contrasts.


Mystery is often found in the simple but slightly odd song titles. English translations of various track titles give, ‘you swallowed the gum’, ‘leak’, ‘a tear from the sun’, ‘raising the trophy’ ‘digging dimensions’, ‘the owner’, ‘the decapitated hen’ and ‘the trap is exposed’. All denote striking images, metaphysical hints and emotional cues or simple, even childlike actions. Though Fratti and Tosta don’t reveal its provenance, the album’s title could even be a crafty play on words: the listener would be forgiven in thinking the moments of brash contrast and eyebrow raising theatricalism in the music constitute a musical nod to German punk chanteuse, Nina Hagen.


On Hagen, singer and cellist Mabe Fratti once again displays her brilliant knack of speaking to us directly. There is never the suspicion of her playing to the gallery, and the directness of many of the lyrics don’t allow it. Parallel to this, Fratti has an almost magical ability to give Hector Tosta’s melodies, and her and Tosta’s lyrics ones imbued with an insight and meaning that feels otherworldly. Tosta admitted it was “pretty wild to hear Mabe take the interpretations to a different place” and the listener can pick up on the delight Fratti takes in (literally) adding a voice to the many narratives.


Two examples can be shown here: ‘Gotera’ (Leak) uses harsh slashes of cello and tough, gunfire-like guitars and drums and multiple vocal lines that could be acting as a Greek chorus. They play off brilliantly against Fratti’s soft, slightly baleful vocal take that delivers lyrics such as: ‘nobody knows where the leak is / but I know where it is / they fight in front of the door and / nobody can go in’. With ‘La Gallina Degollada’ the somewhat blithe melody melody line, sung with what could be sarcastic brio by Fratti, plays against an itchting rhythm and rasping guitar part. The punch comes when you see that the song is about a chicken that has been decapitated and read lyrics such as: ‘I already saw it, it moved, the decapitated chicken’ / ‘could it be that I'm broken’ and ‘Two people hurt each other by thinking that they no longer agree’/ ‘Hours pass and the chicken represents what scares me’.


There may be death and fights to deal with, but there is also a quality of chirpy self-reliance about Hagen that is a key part of its nature. Like Betty May and her colourful outfits, Hagen’s sound often revels in its own sense of richness. Throughout, the record delivers vaulting string sections or glutinous guitar squeals that could, like the powerful, driving ‘Escarbo Dimensiones’ (Digging Dimensions) have come directly from a glossy 1980s TV series. Fratti sees this “glam sound” developed by Tosta on the aforementioned track and ‘Te Tragaste el Chicle’ (You Swallowed The Gum), as moments that were truly “revealing” for the album as a whole during its making.


What else? The thud and thump of ‘La Trampa Sale’ (The Trap is Exposed), and its sudden change of tempo and mood betrays a monstrously ambitious piece of music, the players almost greedily creating the sounds. Other moments are heart wrenching: ‘Libra’ ends on a poppy chord switch that cleverly ramps up the emotion inherent in the music’s notation. You could almost imagine a teenager in a bedroom forty years ago, rewinding the track over and over on a small, cheap cassette player, unable to get enough of that sugarsweet switch. Elsewhere, Oneohtrix Point Never adds stardust and an unearthly sense of space on the changeable, slightly moody meditation, ‘Pájaro de Fuego’ (Firebird). The record ends with ‘Alzando el Trofeo’ (Lifting the Trophy), a track that could soundtrack a state wedding, what with its beautiful cascading piano parts, a sugary vocal and short triumphal guitar riffs that add a rich patina to the overall sound. Fratti: “When I doubled those vocals on ‘Alzando el Trofeo’ I felt there was an epiphany happening, right at that moment.”


Making a good record is a team game. Tosta and Fratti recall seeing Randall from Circular Ruin Studios in NYC “tweak the drums in ‘Libra’ to make that amazing effect of the gated reverb”, or the shaping of ‘Gotera’, “when (recording engineer) Nate Salon added some synths to the track.” Drummer Eli Keszler, “an amazing and versatile player” had the songs down pat in a couple of days” and, according to Tosta, Oneohtrix Point Never “just came to one of the sessions and we hung out, and after all the recordings he and Nate were together in some studio and out of nowhere they sent us some beautiful tracks for ‘Pájaro de Fuego’! Fratti concurs. “He decided that he wanted to record because he was listening to the record (Nate works closely with him) and he really liked it! It was a total honour, indeed!”


Bedazzled by the playing, the skyscraping ambition in the arrangements and the giddy moments of contrast thrown up by Hagen, we could allow ourselves a brief moment of flippancy and state that Titanic’s new record is Yacht Rock meets Aeschylus, full-on. It’s also worth speculating that, in this hyper-sensitive, intemperate age, Titanic’s music has the power, however fleetingly, to heal hurts. Hagen is a brilliant showcase for a fresh and enriching form of pop music: displaying a magpie eye for what glints and plundering what has gone before.


Like Vidrio, Hagen was partially and additionally recorded at Fratti and Tosta’s house, aka Tinho Studios in Mexico City, as well as Golden Girl Studios & Circular Ruin Studios in New York City. Mixing was done by Santiago Parra in Pedro y el Lobo Studios, Mexico City and mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri at Black Knoll Studios, New York City. The recording engineer was Nate Salon.


Hagen featured Mabe Fratti on cello, vocals & backing vocals, I. la Católica on guitar, keyboards, prepared piano, bass & backing vocals, drums by Eli Keszler and synths in ‘Pájaro de Fuego’ from Daniel Lopatin and Nate Salon.


All compositions on Hagen are written by I. la Católica, except ‘Escarbo Dimensiones’ & ‘Pájaro de Fuego’, which were composed by I. la Católica and Mabe Fratti. The record was produced by I. la Católica and co-produced by Nate Salon & Mabe Fratti. And all lyrics are by I. la Católica except ‘Escarbo Dimensiones’, ‘Gotera’, ‘Gallina degollada’ & ‘Pájaro de Fuego’, which were written by I. la Católica & Mabe Fratti.

STANDFIRST Titanic, the project spearheaded by Mabe Fratti and Hector Tosta (aka I. la Católica), return with a sumptuous and life-affirming new album.



In her sensational 1929 biography Tiger Woman, dancer and socialite Betty May claimed her ‘coster’s eye’ meant she liked to wear as many colours as possible. “Colours to me are like children to a loving mother. Each is my favourite, yet I can never bring myself to deny the others by preferring one.” May’s bold and inclusive strategy is one that manages to transfer itself, almost a century later, to Hagen, the new record by Titanic.


Many will know Titanic as the Mexico City-based brainchild of cellist and singer Mabe Fratti and multiinstrumentalist Hector Tosta who is now operating under the pseudonym, I. la Católica, (taken, rather unusually, from the name of the street the pair live on). With Hagen, and their previous release, Vidrio, (2023), the pair are creating a distinctive signature sound in modern alternative pop music. Nobody else sounds quite like them. Both records have an open hearted nature and simple, winning melodies that play off against a taste for drama, spectacular orchestration and a feeling of otherworldly mystery. Hagen is the more ambitious, sometimes more mystical effort. From the opening handclaps of ‘Lágrima del Sol’, (a wonderfully uptempo playground chant translating as a tear from the sun but, surely, not referencing the brand of pineapple wine?), the record dances its way through various mid-to-late-eighties inspirations, lush and widescreen passages of melancholy and vertiginous contrasts.


Mystery is often found in the simple but slightly odd song titles. English translations of various track titles give, ‘you swallowed the gum’, ‘leak’, ‘a tear from the sun’, ‘raising the trophy’ ‘digging dimensions’, ‘the owner’, ‘the decapitated hen’ and ‘the trap is exposed’. All denote striking images, metaphysical hints and emotional cues or simple, even childlike actions. Though Fratti and Tosta don’t reveal its provenance, the album’s title could even be a crafty play on words: the listener would be forgiven in thinking the moments of brash contrast and eyebrow raising theatricalism in the music constitute a musical nod to German punk chanteuse, Nina Hagen.


On Hagen, singer and cellist Mabe Fratti once again displays her brilliant knack of speaking to us directly. There is never the suspicion of her playing to the gallery, and the directness of many of the lyrics don’t allow it. Parallel to this, Fratti has an almost magical ability to give Hector Tosta’s melodies, and her and Tosta’s lyrics ones imbued with an insight and meaning that feels otherworldly. Tosta admitted it was “pretty wild to hear Mabe take the interpretations to a different place” and the listener can pick up on the delight Fratti takes in (literally) adding a voice to the many narratives.


Two examples can be shown here: ‘Gotera’ (Leak) uses harsh slashes of cello and tough, gunfire-like guitars and drums and multiple vocal lines that could be acting as a Greek chorus. They play off brilliantly against Fratti’s soft, slightly baleful vocal take that delivers lyrics such as: ‘nobody knows where the leak is / but I know where it is / they fight in front of the door and / nobody can go in’. With ‘La Gallina Degollada’ the somewhat blithe melody melody line, sung with what could be sarcastic brio by Fratti, plays against an itchting rhythm and rasping guitar part. The punch comes when you see that the song is about a chicken that has been decapitated and read lyrics such as: ‘I already saw it, it moved, the decapitated chicken’ / ‘could it be that I'm broken’ and ‘Two people hurt each other by thinking that they no longer agree’/ ‘Hours pass and the chicken represents what scares me’.


There may be death and fights to deal with, but there is also a quality of chirpy self-reliance about Hagen that is a key part of its nature. Like Betty May and her colourful outfits, Hagen’s sound often revels in its own sense of richness. Throughout, the record delivers vaulting string sections or glutinous guitar squeals that could, like the powerful, driving ‘Escarbo Dimensiones’ (Digging Dimensions) have come directly from a glossy 1980s TV series. Fratti sees this “glam sound” developed by Tosta on the aforementioned track and ‘Te Tragaste el Chicle’ (You Swallowed The Gum), as moments that were truly “revealing” for the album as a whole during its making.


What else? The thud and thump of ‘La Trampa Sale’ (The Trap is Exposed), and its sudden change of tempo and mood betrays a monstrously ambitious piece of music, the players almost greedily creating the sounds. Other moments are heart wrenching: ‘Libra’ ends on a poppy chord switch that cleverly ramps up the emotion inherent in the music’s notation. You could almost imagine a teenager in a bedroom forty years ago, rewinding the track over and over on a small, cheap cassette player, unable to get enough of that sugarsweet switch. Elsewhere, Oneohtrix Point Never adds stardust and an unearthly sense of space on the changeable, slightly moody meditation, ‘Pájaro de Fuego’ (Firebird). The record ends with ‘Alzando el Trofeo’ (Lifting the Trophy), a track that could soundtrack a state wedding, what with its beautiful cascading piano parts, a sugary vocal and short triumphal guitar riffs that add a rich patina to the overall sound. Fratti: “When I doubled those vocals on ‘Alzando el Trofeo’ I felt there was an epiphany happening, right at that moment.”


Making a good record is a team game. Tosta and Fratti recall seeing Randall from Circular Ruin Studios in NYC “tweak the drums in ‘Libra’ to make that amazing effect of the gated reverb”, or the shaping of ‘Gotera’, “when (recording engineer) Nate Salon added some synths to the track.” Drummer Eli Keszler, “an amazing and versatile player” had the songs down pat in a couple of days” and, according to Tosta, Oneohtrix Point Never “just came to one of the sessions and we hung out, and after all the recordings he and Nate were together in some studio and out of nowhere they sent us some beautiful tracks for ‘Pájaro de Fuego’! Fratti concurs. “He decided that he wanted to record because he was listening to the record (Nate works closely with him) and he really liked it! It was a total honour, indeed!”


Bedazzled by the playing, the skyscraping ambition in the arrangements and the giddy moments of contrast thrown up by Hagen, we could allow ourselves a brief moment of flippancy and state that Titanic’s new record is Yacht Rock meets Aeschylus, full-on. It’s also worth speculating that, in this hyper-sensitive, intemperate age, Titanic’s music has the power, however fleetingly, to heal hurts. Hagen is a brilliant showcase for a fresh and enriching form of pop music: displaying a magpie eye for what glints and plundering what has gone before.


Like Vidrio, Hagen was partially and additionally recorded at Fratti and Tosta’s house, aka Tinho Studios in Mexico City, as well as Golden Girl Studios & Circular Ruin Studios in New York City. Mixing was done by Santiago Parra in Pedro y el Lobo Studios, Mexico City and mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri at Black Knoll Studios, New York City. The recording engineer was Nate Salon.


Hagen featured Mabe Fratti on cello, vocals & backing vocals, I. la Católica on guitar, keyboards, prepared piano, bass & backing vocals, drums by Eli Keszler and synths in ‘Pájaro de Fuego’ from Daniel Lopatin and Nate Salon.


All compositions on Hagen are written by I. la Católica, except ‘Escarbo Dimensiones’ & ‘Pájaro de Fuego’, which were composed by I. la Católica and Mabe Fratti. The record was produced by I. la Católica and co-produced by Nate Salon & Mabe Fratti. And all lyrics are by I. la Católica except ‘Escarbo Dimensiones’, ‘Gotera’, ‘Gallina degollada’ & ‘Pájaro de Fuego’, which were written by I. la Católica & Mabe Fratti.

"Kiso", "Asama", "Hakuba" and "Hida". He recalls the landscapes of his past and carefully weaves his feelings and emotions into the music. This work is one of the pinnacles that Akira Miyazawa has reached.

This work was released in 1970 as one of Victor's "Japanese Jazz" series. "We are Japanese, so I think we have to create something that only Japanese people can do." These are the words of Akira Miyazawa from this period. When Miyazawa tried to create a work that only Japanese people could do, it was inevitable that he would choose his own origins, the hometown where he was born and raised, as a motif. For Miyazawa, who was born in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture and loved fishing, "Kiso", "Asama", "Hakuba" and "Hida" are truly landscapes of his past. Takeo Moriyama's raging drums, Yasuo Arakawa's rich bass, Masahiko Sato's overflowing piano, and Miyazawa's saxophone, which is like a mass of emotion. Nostalgia and admiration for the land where he was born and raised, as well as admiration and reverence for Mother Nature. Miyazawa looks to his roots and weaves his thoughts and images into his music with sincerity and care. This album, "Kiso" is the pinnacle that Miyazawa has reached.

Text by Yusuke Ogawa (UNIVERSOUNDS / DEEP JAZZ REALITY)

Returning to Die Schachtel with his fourth full-length with the label, the Genoa born, Bologna based, guitarist and electroacoustic composer, Stefano Pilia, delivers “Lacinia”, a new, immersive cycle of compositions, delving deeper into the realm of metaphysical, spiritual, and divine meaning, weaving astounding arrangements of sonority from a palette of synths, strings, brass, organ, various electroacoustic instruments, and percussion. Resting at a refined intersection of the acoustic and electroacoustic, drone, and chamber music - overwhelmingly beautiful, delicate, and bold, - “Lacinia” stands as a high-water mark in Pilia’s already remarkable and forward-looking career.

Since its founding in Milan during the early years of the new millennium, Die Schachtel has occupied a singular place in the landscape of experimental music, issuing a carefully curated body of reissues and archival releases by historically significant figures and projects like Christina Kubisch, Luciano Cilio, Marino Zuccheri, Prima Materia, Claudio Rocchi, Lino Capra Vaccina, Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, Roland Kayn, and numerous others, balanced against bristling contemporary counterparts by the likes of Jim O'Rourke, Giovanni Di Domenico, Nicola Ratti, Luigi ArchettI, Valerio Tricoli, etc. Running like a spine through the label’s output is a deep dedication to the work of the Italian guitarist and electroacoustic composer Stefano Pilia. Now Die Schachtel returns with “Lacinia”, Pilia’s forth full-length with the label and their first release of 2024. Building on the ground of deeply personal engagement with metaphysical, spiritual, and divine meaning, explored within his previous LP with Die Schachtel, 2022’s “Spiralis Aurea”, “Lacinia” encounters the composer working in close calibration with various ensembles, including the Bologna based Ensemble Concordanze and Comunale di Bologna String Orchestra, weaving synths, strings, brass, organ, various electroacoustic instruments, and percussion into an astounding reconfiguration of immersive, contemporary minimalism that stands among Pilia’s most noteworthy releases to date. Issued by Die Schachtel in two special double vinyl editions and a CD edition, “Lacinia” features artwork by Bruno Stucchi/Dinamomilano, and is an absolute marvel that draws you in and doesn’t let go.

First emerging during the early 2000s, over the past two decades – via solo releases and numerous collations with artists like Oren Ambarchi, Valerio Tricoli, Alessandra Novaga, Z'EV, Andrea Belfi, David Grubbs, and numerous others - the Genoa born, Bologna based, guitarist and electroacoustic composer, Stefano Pilia has presented a singular voice within Italian experimental music, harnessing visceral energy and hands-on immediacy within delicately woven tapestries of sonority, each investigating the sculptural properties of sound and illuminating its relationship to space, memory, and the suspension of time. “Lacinia”, Pilia’s forth solo venture with Die Schachtel, encounters the composer reentering his longstanding practice of collaboration with various ensemble forms, including the Bologna based Ensemble Concordanze, for the albums central piece, “Lacinia Off Axis”, spinning stunning string confirmations by Pietro David Carami and Elena Maury on violin, Alessandro Savio on viola, and Mattia Cipolli on cello.

A new, important cycle of compositions by Pilia, “Lacinia” (meaning "lace" in Latin) builds upon the exploration of the metaphysical, spiritual, and divine dimensions through numbers, geometry, and the creation of tonal forms explored by 2022’s “Spiralis Aurea”, mirroring archetypal, immutable forms at the juncture of the abstract realm of mathematics and architectural structures in the physical world, expands the poetics and compositional ideas featured in its predecessor. Regraded by Pilia as both a series of individual compositions and a single work, “Lacinia” was conceived to “define a circular path (a sort of "rhizomatic lace") where the beginning and end touch, suggesting the concept of time not only as linear but also cyclical and ritualistic—an eternal return, a process of transformation where matter changes, its state changes, but without altering the invisible internal principle of mutation”, embarking upon a a series of “steps, degrees, and energetic quanta in a progression of archetypal whole numbers and transcendent creation.”

The resulting 16 tracks unfold as a series of complex sonic meditations. While deeply resonant with the minimalism of composers like Arvo Pärt, LaMonte Young, Pauline Oliveros, and Eliane Radigue, Pilia digs deep and moves far beyond the predictable tonal relationships and structures of that idiom, echoing the ancient liturgical and devotional music of composers like Gesualdo da Venosa, Monteverdi, and John Dowland, at a refined intersection of the acoustic and electroacoustic, drone, and chamber music.

Fascinatingly structured as a whole to include a number of motif returns, across which we encounter works like “Lacinia Off Axis” appearing in slightly different rendering, states, or evolutions three times, and compositions like “Eve” appearing twice in subtly different forms and arrangements - first for four oscillators, guitar and voice and then for string orchestra - as well “Maris Stella”, which similarly makes two appearances, first for horn trio, organ and percussion, and then for string orchestra, with “Lacinia” Pilia delves further into the world of chamber music than ever before, creating a deeply inward, mediative body of work the totality of which, guided by its rich string arrangements of arching, sorrowful tone, feels almost like a mass for some unproclaimed loss; simultaneously locked in the nuances of a moment, while managing to suspend time.

Perhaps most remarkable is Pilia's ability to create a remarkable sense of sonic cohesion while using such a varied number of ensembles and instrumentation. From the sprawling string arrangements delivered by Comunale di Bologna String Orchestra, under the direction of Paolo Mancini, and Ensemble Concordanze, and a flute trio (Cadux / Plectere) brilliantly played by Manuel Zurria, to pieces for sax, organ and percussion, violin duo and percussion, organ and percussion, Pilia manages to create a sense of singular, encompassing world that flows forward like a shifting stream.

Overwhelmingly beautiful, delicate, and bold, “Lacinia” is unquestionably a high-water mark in Stefano Pilia’s already remarkable, forward-looking career. Nothing short of a marvel of contemporary Minimalism that, through its shifting arrangements of harmonics, tonality, and texture draws flickering images of ancient forms of music into the present day, “Lacinia” is Issued by Die Schachtel in two special editions on double vinyl and a CD edition, featuring artwork by Bruno Stucchi/Dinamomilano. This is an immersive all-consuming listen that can’t be missed.

Italian producer, musician, DJ, and groove architect Sam Ruffillo drops his long-awaited debut album Tipo Così on Toy Tonics – a sun-drenched, genre-blurring statement that blends classic house with Mediterranean flair, romantic funk, and tongue-in-cheek Italo vibes. Over 11 expertly crafted tracks, Ruffillo delivers a dancefloor-ready, emotionally rich LP that connects deep musicality with irresistible rhythm and light-hearted elegance.

After three acclaimed EPs and collaborations with revered artists such as Barbara Boeing, Kapote, and Fimiani, Ruffillo has firmly cemented himself as a core artist on the Berlin-based label. Known for his unmistakable signature sound — a warm mix of vintage disco, 90s house, and Italian vocals — Sam’s music has garnered widespread DJ support from tastemakers like Gerd Janson, Palms Trax, Seth Troxler, and DJ Tennis, while becoming a staple on Italian airwaves. His infectious summer anthems like Danza Organica and Perfetta Così have soundtracked countless club nights and festivals, creating a loyal following that eagerly awaited this full-length debut.

Tipo Così is the natural culmination of a musical journey that’s both playful and profound — a travel diary written in grooves, synth stabs, and melodies that feel like postcards from a parallel Mediterranean universe. The album expands and deepens Ruffillo’s world into a fully immersive experience: lush emotional chords meet tight syncopated grooves, vintage synth textures collide with irresistibly catchy pop refrains, and the boundary between sincerity and playful irony is exquisitely blurred.

Entirely written, produced, and recorded in Italy, in his beloved hometown of Bologna, the album finds Ruffillo at the helm on keys, drum machines, and production, supported by a talented cast of musicians contributing live bass, guitar, and other organic elements — further enriching his trademark fusion of electronic grooves and natural instrumentation. There’s a tactile warmth in these tracks, a hands-on feel that adds soul and depth to every beat.

This album also marks Ruffillo’s heartfelt return to singing in Italian, with standout tracks like House Tipo Così, Mi Fa Volare, Ancora, and Dentro Di Me, where romantic naïveté meets pulsing club energy in a way that feels both timeless and refreshingly new. The vocal performances add an intimate, human touch to the music, reinforcing the personal stories woven into each song. There’s poetry in the casual, a bittersweet elegance in the way the lyrics float over groove-heavy production.

Having toured extensively across Europe, Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Mexico — with sets at iconic venues like Panorama Bar and festivals such as Sónar Barcelona — Ruffillo has fine-tuned much of this album in front of live audiences. The real-world testing ground infused the record with a dynamic energy and immediacy that only comes from genuine crowd interaction. These songs weren’t just made in the studio — they were lived on dancefloors around the world.

Tipo Così is not just a collection of tracks. It’s a philosophy — playful, stylish and unmistakably personal. A modern club album bursting with heartfelt emotion and sophistication. Music for dancers with taste; for lovers of beauty, rhythm, and the little imperfections that make things feel real.

But what exactly is Tipo Così? More than just a phrase, it’s a way of being. It’s about embracing elegance without effort, mixing irony with sincerity, and letting nostalgia slip into the room without taking over the party. It’s Sam Ruffillo’s signature language: relaxed, confident, meticulous yet never rigid — where a chord progression can say as much as a lyric, and every beat carries intention.

The album’s visual identity complements this vision perfectly. The artwork and promotional materials lovingly reference Italian design from the ’80s and ’90s, combining bold graphic elements with playful pop culture nods. This aesthetic mirrors Ruffillo’s music — a fusion of vintage warmth and contemporary freshness, delivered with authenticity and charm.

Sam Ruffillo belongs to a new generation of European artists who are reshaping electronic music by blending past and present, analog and digital, groove and emotion — without nostalgia or pose. His artistic universe is coherent, vibrant, and alive; a rich tapestry of sound, images, and stories that coexist with lightness, precision, and a distinctive voice.

Reflecting on his artistic journey, Sam describes music as a vital, deeply human impulse — a tribal connection to rhythm and body that has driven him since he was a teenager. His creative process balances meticulous planning with room for spontaneity, usually sparked by clear melodic ideas that evolve naturally. Collaborations with close friends, especially vocalists like Ninfa, add warmth and authenticity, exemplified in tracks like “House Tipo Così.” For Sam, music is honest self-expression — crafted for listeners who crave memorable melodies and rhythms imbued with genuine feeling.

While technical perfection is tempting, Sam prioritizes emotion, knowing that what truly resonates is the soul behind the sounds. His long-standing partnership with Toy Tonics has been key in nurturing his vision, offering a blend of creative freedom and professional support. Looking ahead, Sam Ruffillo is excited to broaden his live performances, and release new projects that continue to blend electronic grooves with organic, heartfelt sounds — maintaining the delicate balance between playful irony and sincere emotion that defines Tipo Così.




Kurzversion:
Italian DJ, producer and musician Sam Ruffillo drops his debut album Tipo Così on Toy Tonics - a sunny blend of house, funk, Italo and pop, full of groove and emotion. Written and recorded in Bologna with live instruments and Italian vocals, it’s a playful, elegant journey shaped on dancefloors worldwide. A stylish, sincere club album where nostalgia, irony and rhythm meet in perfect harmony.

- Mi Fa Volare
Road-tested across continents and now finally released, “Mi Fa Volare” channels 90s uplifting euphoria with big breakbeats, lush chords, and Italian vocals built to stick. Somewhere between balearic bliss and piano house nostalgia, it’s a feel-good club weapon made for peak-time moments - already sung back by crowds after just one listen.


- Ancora
“Ancora” is a vibrant hi-NRG track inspired by 80s Italo disco, sung entirely in Italian. It blends driving rhythms with dreamy melodies, capturing the radiant spirit of the decade. This fresh yet nostalgic song delivers euphoric vibes and timeless energy, making it a perfect fit for both dancefloors and reflective listening moments worldwide.


- Dentro Di Me
“Dentro Di Me” channels ‘90s sensuality through a fast-paced, UK house-inspired lens. Entirely in Italian, it’s a bold and contemporary dance track where hypnotic vocals meet high-energy grooves. Blending nostalgic textures with forward-thinking production, the result is a seductive and euphoric trip - equal parts emotional and club-ready.


- Amigo
“Amigo” blends Latin groove, acoustic guitar-driven rhythm, and Mediterranean flair into a warm, magnetic, cross-cultural dance anthem. Sung in Spanish and Italian, it celebrates connection, inclusivity, and the joy of moving together - whether stranger or friend. With its unstoppable rhythm and vibrant energy, it’s a feel-good track with a unifying spirit.


- Ma Sei Fuori
“Ma Sei Fuori” is a tongue-in-cheek dancefloor bomb blending raw house energy with catchy vocal phrases and a nod to classic French touch. Driven by hypnotic vocal lines and a playful attitude, it doesn’t take itself too seriously - while still proving serious club impact. Built for late-night moments, it’s bold, bouncy, and impossible to ignore.

For Mal-One’s second dub album he pulled the dub versions of these tracks, as they seemed to work together as an album. New York City Punk (New York Dub), 45 Random Punk Memories (45 Random Dub), Machine Bubble Disco (Machine Bubble Dub), I Used To Play Bass In A Punk Rock Band (I used to play Dub), Never Seen A Bad Picture of Debbie Harry ( Never seen a Bad Dub), Punk Rock Fanzines (Punk Rock Fanzine Dub). JJ’s Alright (JJ is Dub) The Buzz-cocks Are Coming (The Buzz-cocks are Dub), Damned
Disciple (Damned Dub), The Satellite Kid (Satellite Dub), Punk Rock is Back! (Punk Rock is Dub) and The Revolution Is Coming ( Revolution Dub).

The cover of the album is a collage of various mementos culled together over a target painted canvas. The style and objects seemed to suit the cut up style of the tracks. To add another dub layer to the project he also took the lyrics to these tracks and cut and reworked them into a Punk Art Poem for the back side of the record sleeve. A dub reworking of words, music and image.

Hope you enjoy the indulgence.

With his first EP on Token, Phara conjures up four tracks detailing dancefloor impact with robust personality. In 'Second Skin', the Belgian artist is eager for resolution, keeping tension high with the bold analog sound he's known for. Coming eye to eye with the label's sound, Phara pays homage to Token while fiercely defending years of artistic direction - layering the label's astral ambiance with his unstoppable movement.

'Second Skin' sets Phara's intentions clear. The titletrack rolls forward like heavy machinery with what seems like shifting vocals breathing life into the stereo image. This first cut is a gold standard of peaktime production, creating a sense of purpose at the core of urgency. Claps and rides boom and whip around the track that lumbers on with chord stabs to add soul to flare. 'The Ring', however, takes the listener into another direction. Heavily centered on the drum sequence with a sharp slap-back delay, Phara plays with resonance, sparking psychosis amongst movement. Playful in the short term, 'The Ring' proves to be an ultra-hypnotic track reserved for a set's high intensity stretches on an already surrendered dancefloor. Taking this energy and pulling it in, 'Neon' comes to establish a bit more intimacy at first. Here, the producer diffuses his elements into themselves and, in turn, creates a thick ambiance that drives the record forward in space and dissonance. 'Neon' is inquisitive and almost spiritual in its effect, playing with the line between a unified dancefloor and an introspective journey. The conclusion to the EP is 'Blood', a return to dryer production - at least in the beginning. Ambient, almost psychedelic synth work sucks in the listener over unwavering energy to create a closing track worthy of its name. Rolling through to the end, 'Blood' delivers the final blow to an insatiable record on Token by Phara.

World of Echo unites with the confounding genius of TRii for a highly limited first time vinyl run of 2020's Music For Desert Reboot tape, first released as TRj on the TRjj Musik label and then again as a second cassette by Mascarpone earlier this year.

As with all the sounds produced within the TRjj/TRii /TRj/TRi universe, strange illusion is part of the process, and this is certainly music that befits such smoke and mirror nomenclature, a kind of gamelan Werkbund re-programmed via the isolationist sounds of DIY home electronics conceived for a film that might or might not actually exist. Consider this time-dilation rug-pulling that's well in touch with its own mythology, so much so that it's hard to think of any obvious contemporaries, but if you've ever enjoyed the minimalist murk of Civlistijavel, the private quarters confessionals of Thomas Bush's first LP or any one of Guy Gormley's projects, you'll not got too far wrong here. Is further clarification required? That perhaps misses the point, though there is a track that features around two-thirds in entitled 'First Time Realizing the Clock Was Absent' that might function as a form of instruction to the listener. Namely, where does the time go? Music For Desert Reboot might not provide the answer, but it certainly knows how to ask the question.

"I stood on top of the mountain and looked out over the landscape. It was so beautiful that my chest hurt. The light vibrated, time stood still, and the contours dissolved for a moment. Everything had changed; I felt it then. I took their little hands so as not to lose contact with the ground. Then we ran down the mountain, scraping our knees. Still, we didn't make it. You had already put away all the nautical charts, loosened the moorings and steered out among the skerries. Mum stood waving from the jetty. You were alone, you wanted it that way. It was to be just you in the boat this time. I called out to you. I think you heard me and felt less lonely. We couldn't carry each other anymore, no matter how hard we tried. We washed our wounds on the shore and scattered tears and rose petals in the bay. The children laughed and searched for treasures under water. We called to them that it was time to come up. They were cold, and we hugged them to warmth. One ran ahead, the other up on our shoulders. Up the mountain, our mountain."

In 2020 Anna Högberg put her widely celebrated band Anna Högberg Attack on hold, retraining as a nurse whilst continuing a solo practice and playing in other groups. With Ensamseglaren she makes a spectacular return with her own ensemble — this time a double sextet — performing an album length suite of new music written in dedication to her late father — the titular ‘ensamseglaren’ pictured on the LP cover as a young boy.

 (ensam in Swedish can mean both alone and lonely, seglaren = the sailor).

Shot through with renewed energy and a brutally affective emotional punch, Högberg’s formal experimentation opens up vibrant possibilities for the assembled musicians to let loose with some of their wildest and most ecstatic playing on record.

Högberg’s contention with grief leans into collective joy as method of mourning — the big band as extended family; where bonds are made through a shared experience of being together. Where everyone gets to be themselves without expectations of who they should be or what they can do. It’s a radical commitment to care — of her self and others — that animates and unifies this suite of music’s radical dynamics and variations in colour: from whisper-quiet textural intensity to harrowing distortion and double drum chaos; raucous and solemn song.

"Throughout history, humans have had different images of the transition between life and death. Imagine standing on the seashore on a summer evening and seeing a beautiful vessel being prepared for departure. The sails are hoisted. The evening breeze comes, the sails fill and the boat glides out onto the open sea. You follow it with your eyes as it heads towards the sunset. It gets smaller and smaller, until it finally disappears as a tiny dot on the horizon. Then you hear someone next to you say, ‘Now they have left us.’ Left us for what? The fact that they got smaller and smaller and finally disappeared is only how we see it. In reality, they are just as big and beautiful as when they were here, lying on the beach by our side. Just as you hear that voice say ‘Now they have left us’, there may be someone on another beach who sees them appear on the horizon, someone waiting to welcome them when they reaches their new port."

Ostinato as resistance: Rafael Anton Irisarri’s landmark work reimagined. Marking the tenth anniversary of the American composer’s critically acclaimed album 'A Fragile Geography', this new edition arrives renewed, both sonically and visually.

First released in 2015 (Room40) during a period of personal upheaval and creative reinvention, it endures as a testament to resilience, transformation, and the connection we hold with the places that shape us.

Written in the aftermath of a devastating theft, A Fragile Geography was born out of loss. Just days before a cross-country move to New York, Irisarri’s entire Seattle-based studio was wiped out. Instruments. Recordings. Archives. Gone without a trace. He arrived on the East Coast to an empty room and the daunting task of starting over.

“This album wasn’t just a record; it was a lifeline,” Irisarri reflects. “It became a way to process the emotional chaos that followed: uprooting, instability, and ultimately, the slow, intuitive rebuilding of a life.”

Composed and recorded in the rural woods of the Hudson Valley, the album took shape in seclusion, surrounded by nature, and through a process guided by improvisation. Embracing limitations, Irisarri wove textural layers of field recordings with half-remembered melodies from his Seattle years, piecing them together like fragments of memory. Tracks like “Displacement,” “Hiatus,” and “Persistence” juxtaposed haunting stillness with restless momentum, mapping an inner terrain of grief, catharsis, and rebirth.

Among its defining sounds is “Empire Systems,” a monumental centerpiece built around a simple four-chord progression, organ textures, and guitar drones. Gradually, the track expands into layers of immersive loops and thick, enveloping distortion that wash over the listener like a rolling wave. Often cited as the album’s most majestic passage, it captures Irisarri at his most sonically ambitious. With a harmonically saturated structure crafted from restraint and repetition, it remains one of his most recognizable compositions: an exercise in the art of maximal minimalism.

From the outset, “Reprisal” received praise from BBC’s Mary Anne Hobbs, who championed the track on her radio show. Her support played a key role in introducing Irisarri’s work to wider audiences and solidifying his place within the lineage of electronic, drone, and experimental sound artists. A slow-burning elegy, the piece emerges from a haze of distortion and sub-bass, with dense, unrelenting drones carrying a sense of mounting tension. Just as it seems to collapse under its own weight, flickers of guitar emerge like distant light through fog. It’s a meditation on dissonance, resolve, and the elusive possibility of release.

The closing track, “Secretly Wishing for Rain,” is steeped in saudade: a longing for Seattle’s dour grey skies, lush green landscapes, and desaturated sunsets. Through it, Irisarri mourns a vanished chapter of life bound to the city, a time documented in scattered mementos and cherished collections, now permanently gone. A reflection on what could never be recovered: an era lost to time. Julia Kent’s looped cello motifs added a melancholic warmth to the track, marking the first collaboration between the two artists and sparking a musical dialogue that would keep growing in the years that followed.

More than a career highlight, A Fragile Geography has laid the foundation for Black Knoll studio, which Irisarri rebuilt from the ground up. The studio has since grown into a creative hub for countless projects, with Irisarri engineering records for iconic music figures like Terry Riley, Ryuichi Sakamoto, William Basinski, MONO, Devendra Banhart, Grouper, Emeralds, Steve Hauschildt, Julianna Barwick, and many others. Carried by its lasting influence, the album has quietly captured the ear of a younger generation, its sound and emotional arc finding new listeners in unexpected corners.

The album’s new visual language was reimagined in collaboration with Mexico City–based designer Daniel Castrejón. Irisarri captured ghostly images at Gaztelugatxeko Doniene, a historic coastal site in Bermeo, Euskal Herria. Castrejón then treated the photographs with distressed textures and spectral overlays. The final artwork channels the rugged, elemental forces that shaped both the music and Irisarri’s aesthetic, renewing his ties to ancestral ground inspired by the Basque homeland of his bloodline.

Mastered by Stephan Mathieu with exceptional attention to detail, this anniversary edition uncovers every nuance in the sound design, enhancing clarity and presence. With each listen, new elements emerge, inviting discovery and reconnection.

“I don’t experience this album as a document of grief anymore,” says Irisarri. “I hear adaptation and I'm reminded that when everything falls apart, something meaningful, maybe even beautiful, can emerge.”

Ostinato as resistance: Rafael Anton Irisarri’s landmark work reimagined. Marking the tenth anniversary of the American composer’s critically acclaimed album 'A Fragile Geography', this new edition arrives renewed, both sonically and visually.

First released in 2015 (Room40) during a period of personal upheaval and creative reinvention, it endures as a testament to resilience, transformation, and the connection we hold with the places that shape us.

Written in the aftermath of a devastating theft, A Fragile Geography was born out of loss. Just days before a cross-country move to New York, Irisarri’s entire Seattle-based studio was wiped out. Instruments. Recordings. Archives. Gone without a trace. He arrived on the East Coast to an empty room and the daunting task of starting over.

“This album wasn’t just a record; it was a lifeline,” Irisarri reflects. “It became a way to process the emotional chaos that followed: uprooting, instability, and ultimately, the slow, intuitive rebuilding of a life.”

Composed and recorded in the rural woods of the Hudson Valley, the album took shape in seclusion, surrounded by nature, and through a process guided by improvisation. Embracing limitations, Irisarri wove textural layers of field recordings with half-remembered melodies from his Seattle years, piecing them together like fragments of memory. Tracks like “Displacement,” “Hiatus,” and “Persistence” juxtaposed haunting stillness with restless momentum, mapping an inner terrain of grief, catharsis, and rebirth.

Among its defining sounds is “Empire Systems,” a monumental centerpiece built around a simple four-chord progression, organ textures, and guitar drones. Gradually, the track expands into layers of immersive loops and thick, enveloping distortion that wash over the listener like a rolling wave. Often cited as the album’s most majestic passage, it captures Irisarri at his most sonically ambitious. With a harmonically saturated structure crafted from restraint and repetition, it remains one of his most recognizable compositions: an exercise in the art of maximal minimalism.

From the outset, “Reprisal” received praise from BBC’s Mary Anne Hobbs, who championed the track on her radio show. Her support played a key role in introducing Irisarri’s work to wider audiences and solidifying his place within the lineage of electronic, drone, and experimental sound artists. A slow-burning elegy, the piece emerges from a haze of distortion and sub-bass, with dense, unrelenting drones carrying a sense of mounting tension. Just as it seems to collapse under its own weight, flickers of guitar emerge like distant light through fog. It’s a meditation on dissonance, resolve, and the elusive possibility of release.

The closing track, “Secretly Wishing for Rain,” is steeped in saudade: a longing for Seattle’s dour grey skies, lush green landscapes, and desaturated sunsets. Through it, Irisarri mourns a vanished chapter of life bound to the city, a time documented in scattered mementos and cherished collections, now permanently gone. A reflection on what could never be recovered: an era lost to time. Julia Kent’s looped cello motifs added a melancholic warmth to the track, marking the first collaboration between the two artists and sparking a musical dialogue that would keep growing in the years that followed.

More than a career highlight, A Fragile Geography has laid the foundation for Black Knoll studio, which Irisarri rebuilt from the ground up. The studio has since grown into a creative hub for countless projects, with Irisarri engineering records for iconic music figures like Terry Riley, Ryuichi Sakamoto, William Basinski, MONO, Devendra Banhart, Grouper, Emeralds, Steve Hauschildt, Julianna Barwick, and many others. Carried by its lasting influence, the album has quietly captured the ear of a younger generation, its sound and emotional arc finding new listeners in unexpected corners.

The album’s new visual language was reimagined in collaboration with Mexico City–based designer Daniel Castrejón. Irisarri captured ghostly images at Gaztelugatxeko Doniene, a historic coastal site in Bermeo, Euskal Herria. Castrejón then treated the photographs with distressed textures and spectral overlays. The final artwork channels the rugged, elemental forces that shaped both the music and Irisarri’s aesthetic, renewing his ties to ancestral ground inspired by the Basque homeland of his bloodline.

Mastered by Stephan Mathieu with exceptional attention to detail, this anniversary edition uncovers every nuance in the sound design, enhancing clarity and presence. With each listen, new elements emerge, inviting discovery and reconnection.

“I don’t experience this album as a document of grief anymore,” says Irisarri. “I hear adaptation and I'm reminded that when everything falls apart, something meaningful, maybe even beautiful, can emerge.”

Off The Record (faitiche 39), the new album by French collagist Roméo Poirier, is an amusing romp through the discarded history of recording studios. It contains fourteen miniatures based on accidental recordings of studio talk, revealing things that were never meant for the public: we hear instructions from studio staff, scraps of talk between musicians, or just microphones being adjusted, as well as false notes, false starts: everyone stops. Start again: 1, 2, 3, 4!

Poirier’s approach recalls Accumulation, an artform practiced by Arman, Jean Tinguely and Daniel Spoerri that involved piling up everyday items into assemblages. The objects themselves often remained unaltered, the artistic gesture consisting in the careful curating of a distinctive selection. Poirier’s audio collages explore similar terrain. The fourteen pieces on Off the Record combine more than a thousand found sounds from studio archives into complex miniatures. The audio content of these outtakes is twisted, stretched, cut, reassembled, slowed down and accelerated. Voices cut into a microgroove, from a very old recording, intertwine with digital voices gleaned from YouTube. All of them in dialogue, engaging the listener with the impression of being part of a new music group.

Poirier uses the mundane routine of setting up before the actual recording gets underway to tell a universal story about working in a recording studio. And he manages something few achieve, transforming specialist knowledge into a narrative whose beauty goes far beyond its immediate subject. It speaks to everyone, because the story is told in a musical language that is open and accessible, evoking magical images reminiscent of Oz – a world consisting less of events than of camp hallucinations, captured in grainy black-and-white photographs. En passant, Poirier shows us how the notion of material accumulation can produce great art.

Written and produced by Roméo Poirier, mastered by Stephan Mathieu, photos by Roméo Poirier, graphic design by Tim Tetzner.

A photo in Rodney Stepp’s scrapbook sums this period in his life in music. It’s 1974, The Spinners were headliners at the “Zaire 74” music festival, a sideshow to Muhammad Ali’s fabled “Rumble in the Jungle” fight with George Foreman. Among the faded snapshots, there’s a picture of Stepp backstage posing arm in arm with Ali; another image shows The Greatest seated at Stepp’s Fender Rhodes alongside vocalist Etta James. It was all a dream for this Naptown wunderkind, who had previously recorded for Herb Miller’s LAMP Records as the Diplomatics and had issued the sweet soul killer “Young Girl” as Jazzie Cazzie and the Eight Sounds on a rare Knaptown 45. (These recordings have been documented on the Now-Again LAMP anthology and our Loving On The Flipside compilation.) But as exciting as his rise out of those local status was, as exciting as it was to headline festivals and arenas and appear on late night talk shows, Stepp grew restless with the mechanical routine of being a sideman. He grew tired of playing the same charts night after night. He was hungry for a creative outlet that mimicked his earliest days in recorded music. So, in 1978, Stepp left The Spinners and returned to Indianapolis, where he established an all-stargroup of musicians–including members of Jazzie Cazzie and the fabled Amnesty–and he named the band Rapture. They inspired countless others. They recorded an album’s worth of material. Now-Again’s Egon first got tapes from Stepp in 2002 and dutifully transferred them, but the time was not right for a foray into this wealth of material. Come 2025, and this is the first time it Rapture’s music is seeing the light of day, a triumphant, late career moment for Stepp and a cause for celebration of those intrigued by deep, sweet soul and disco funk

Can a self-portrait be a collage? Can empathy be autobiographical? What's the point of living if we're not trying to understand all the horror and humor that surrounds everything? These are a few of the questions lurking under the bleachers of Wednesday's new album Bleeds, an intoxicating collection of narrative-heavy Southern rock that_like many of the most arresting passages from the North Carolina band's highlight reel so far_thoughtfully explores the vivid link between curiosity and confession. Bleeds is not only the best Wednesday record_it's also the most Wednesday record, a patchwork-style triumph of literary allusions and outlaw grit, of place-based poetry and hair-raising noise. Karly Hartzman_founder, frontwoman, and primary lyricist_credits Wednesday's tightened grasp on their own identity to time spent collaborating on previous albums, plus a tour schedule that's been both rewarding and relentless. "Bleeds is the spiritual successor to Rat Saw God, and I think the quintessential `Wednesday Creek Rock' album," Hartzman said, articulating satisfaction with the ways her band has sharpened its trademark sound, how they've refined the formula that makes them one of the most interesting rock bands of their generation. "This is what Wednesday songs are supposed to sound like," she said. "We've devoted a lot of our lives to figuring this out_and I feel like we did." Just like Rat Saw God, one of the defining rock & roll records of the 2020s so far, Bleeds came together at Drop of Sun in Asheville and was produced by Alex Farrar, who's been recording the band since Twin Plagues. Hartzman again brought demos to the studio, where she and her bandmates _X andy Chelmis (lap steel, pedal steel), Alan Miller (drums), Ethan Baechtold (bass, piano), and Jake "M.J." Lenderman (guitar) _ worked as a team to bulk-up the compositions with the exact right amounts of country truth-telling, indie-pop hooks, and noisy sludge. More than ever, the precise proportions were steered by the lyricism_not only its tone or subject matter, but also the actual sound of the words, as well as Hartzman's masterfully subjective approach to detail selection. Every image or scene is filtered through Hartzman's agile, writerly brain. The particulars deemed essential all contain revelations about Hartzman's specific obsessions and vulnerabilities, about the fragmented way she processes the world. Maybe sometimes the best way to locate truth or pain or dignity within your own life story, Bleeds suggests, is by crawling into someone else's.

Can a self-portrait be a collage? Can empathy be autobiographical? What's the point of living if we're not trying to understand all the horror and humor that surrounds everything? These are a few of the questions lurking under the bleachers of Wednesday's new album Bleeds, an intoxicating collection of narrative-heavy Southern rock that_like many of the most arresting passages from the North Carolina band's highlight reel so far_thoughtfully explores the vivid link between curiosity and confession. Bleeds is not only the best Wednesday record_it's also the most Wednesday record, a patchwork-style triumph of literary allusions and outlaw grit, of place-based poetry and hair-raising noise. Karly Hartzman_founder, frontwoman, and primary lyricist_credits Wednesday's tightened grasp on their own identity to time spent collaborating on previous albums, plus a tour schedule that's been both rewarding and relentless. "Bleeds is the spiritual successor to Rat Saw God, and I think the quintessential `Wednesday Creek Rock' album," Hartzman said, articulating satisfaction with the ways her band has sharpened its trademark sound, how they've refined the formula that makes them one of the most interesting rock bands of their generation. "This is what Wednesday songs are supposed to sound like," she said. "We've devoted a lot of our lives to figuring this out_and I feel like we did." Just like Rat Saw God, one of the defining rock & roll records of the 2020s so far, Bleeds came together at Drop of Sun in Asheville and was produced by Alex Farrar, who's been recording the band since Twin Plagues. Hartzman again brought demos to the studio, where she and her bandmates _X andy Chelmis (lap steel, pedal steel), Alan Miller (drums), Ethan Baechtold (bass, piano), and Jake "M.J." Lenderman (guitar) _ worked as a team to bulk-up the compositions with the exact right amounts of country truth-telling, indie-pop hooks, and noisy sludge. More than ever, the precise proportions were steered by the lyricism_not only its tone or subject matter, but also the actual sound of the words, as well as Hartzman's masterfully subjective approach to detail selection. Every image or scene is filtered through Hartzman's agile, writerly brain. The particulars deemed essential all contain revelations about Hartzman's specific obsessions and vulnerabilities, about the fragmented way she processes the world. Maybe sometimes the best way to locate truth or pain or dignity within your own life story, Bleeds suggests, is by crawling into someone else's.

Der Co-Founder, Gitarrist, Sänger und Songwriter Jake Kiszka gründete 2023 gemeinsam mit dem britischen Sänger und Gitarristen Chris Turpin, einem Mitglied des Folk-Duos „Idea Mea“, ein neues Bandprojekt
unter dem Namen MIRADOR.
Gemeinsam erkunden sie die Grenzen des Rock’N’Roll und zeichnen sich durch ihren gitarrenlastigen Sound
aus.
Dieser unverwechselbare Stil verleiht MIRADOR ihr charakteristisches Rockband-Image.
Das gleichnamige Album „MIRADOR“ umfasst 12 Tracks und ist sowohl als CD als auch auf Vinyl erhältlich.

First released on August 18, 2023, "Outline of Nature" started as an experiment in building a modular synthesizer system and ended up as a voltage controlled outpouring of love for the natural world. Sylvan-born and pastoral-powered, sap-blooded and lightning-charged, this album grew out of the damp florescent corners of the woods, each note and sound, a fractal extension of their seedling sounds. It was nurtured into being at The Twilight Research Centre, a studio facility situated on the border of Somerset and Dorset. During Covid lockdown 1.0, I spent the outdoor hours we were permitted, wandering through the centre's surroundings, in the green lanes, woodlands and corridors of the wilds with their wary and flickering inhabitants, beneath the distant eyes of the soaring buzzards and the hulking red kites. I didn't expect it, but it was in the quiet, ferociously vibrant dens of nature, that I found a deeply profound connection with the natural world. It once again made sense to feel as much a part of the woods as the trees were; I felt like a natural entity in its habitat again, not something I'd properly felt since running wild through the gullies, dells and fells of the Midlands as a child. And I became afflicted with a powerful urge to build strange electronic sound systems that were organic, chaotic, fractal and in some way reflective of the awesome natural systems that surround us and surround the centre. I plugged in the modular, and went searching for signs of life. Adding to this, just before the lockdowns, I stumbled across a three volume nature encyclopedia in a local charity shop, called "Outline of Nature in the British Isles" by Sir John Hammerton. The sub-heading reads "A Comprehensive Photo-Survey of the Varied Life of Field and Hedgerow, Moor and Mountain, River, Pond and Sea", and it's a stunning collection of grainy photographs, beautiful illustrations and wondrously poetic writing, some of which inspired track titles and of course, the album title. I also rekindled my love of Ladybird nature books such as the "What to Look for in Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter" series, "Birds and How They Live" and "Butterflies, Moths and Other Insects", rebuilding a small collection I had as a child and discovering numerous volumes new to me. Between the two literary sources, I had a rich well of imagery, writing and pastoral nostalgia to draw from; and coupled with the extended sessions of blissing out in my own heavily ecstatic awe descended on me in the sheer grandness of the wilderness, I set about enticing out of the woods an album of phosphorescent electrical music, abundant with comparatively microscopic, but persistent and wild life-forces.

Maggid Tewfik – Mazzika Nicab Parts 1 & 2:

Released in 1973, Mazzika Nicab by Egyptian film director and iconic figure Maggid Tewfik is a trippy instrumental journey into the experimental realms of baladi music. Known for his prolific career as a director and DOP in over 30 Coptic films, Tewfik’s composition, split in two parts, presents a moody yet undeniably cheeky tune that is unlike anything found in Egyptian music over the ages.

The track is a hypnotic blend of Eastern rhythms and Latin grooves, featuring an early drum machine that guides the track through its jubilant and stormy atmosphere. This mechanical beat is paired with funky garage sounds, creating a psychedelic fusion that evokes images of an epic cinematic score, where belly dance meets the raw energy of late-60s experimental rock. Belly-dance sci-fi perhaps..?

Muhammad Al-Najjar
London, April 2025

credits
Audio restoration and vinyl mastering: Colin Young
Lacquer cut: Timmion cutting lab
Sleeve and label artwork: Grotezk Studio
Under License of Sono Cairo

It's dedicated to the 1988 Experimental / Electronic masterpiece by the Italian contemporary guitarist Riccardo Giagni, originally released on Stile Libero (Italy) + a special Balearic Remix by SIMON PETER.
Archeo Recordings is a reissue record label that regenerates old, lost, obscure and forgotten rare gems of mostly Italian music but also all over the world of the 70s, 80s and 90s.
All outputs are licensed by the artists and the vintage labels; audio tracks are remastered in their original form; the sleeves and center labels are graphically recreated for today but all based on the original images.
Archeo would like to make the music available to a wider audience of collectors, DJs, music lovers of a forgotten time.
All releases are hand-numbered limited edition vinyl. The first copies of each release are pressed in coloured vinyls.

Teresa Rotschopf, a musician and composer from Vienna, presents her second solo album, »Currents and Orders« – a radical, delicate, yet grandiose sonic journey between experimental pop, new music, and improvised composition. The album will be presented live on August 27 as part of the »Pop-Kultur« festival (silent green, Berlin) and at the »ORF RadioKulturhaus« (Vienna) on 12 September.

»Currents and Orders« was recorded in an unusual location: a stalactite cave in Styria, Austria. Together with a small group of musicians (Maria Gstättner: bassoon, contraforte; Alex Kranabetter: tuba, trumpet, French horn; Patrick Dunst: saxophone, duduk; Florian Klinger: marimba, vibraphone, glockenspiel, cymbals, gong, stalactite; Patrick Pulsinger: gong, stalactite; Ulrich Schleicher: gong) and in co-production with Patrick Pulsinger, Rotschopf recorded the album in June 2023 – deep underground, far from daylight, but all the closer to archaic sounds and resonances.

The cave becomes not only an acoustic stage, but also a symbolic space of memory, retreat, and transformation. The album comprises four pieces – including two large-scale tracks:
- the opening, mantra-like title track »Currents and Orders« (over 10 minutes)
- the final, free-jazz, expressive »I Open My Gates (for You)« (over 20 minutes)

With a minimalist structure, choral voices, vibraphone, percussion, and wind instruments, fragile yet powerful soundscapes emerge, whose spatial depth is also palpable through the cave reverberation.

Rotschopf first developed the desire to record in a cave in the summer of 2022. What began as a visual and sonic image became a concrete project – supported by the Austrian Cave Association. In June 2023, Rotschopf and her musicians spent three days in a cave in the Styrian forest. Almost a kilometer of cable was laid, and equipment and instruments were carried deep underground. Rotschopf describes the recording situation as a kind of return to herself: »I descended into this cave, as if I could descend into myself, into my own womb ... What we did in the cave could just as easily be called ›recording music,‹ but it could also be called ›remembering‹ – remembering the earth, the cave, and humanity.«

»Currents and Orders« is an album like a ritual: haunting, atmospheric, bold in its form, and deeply rooted in both physical and emotional space. Music that takes its time, uses space, and pushes boundaries.

The pre-release single »O Please My Soul (Rest On My Back)« (release: July 17, 2025) is accompanied by a striking music video shot by Antoinette Zwirchmayr on 16mm film: Teresa Rotschopf holds a real owl in her hand – an image that is as magical as it is enigmatic.

Label owner Martin Hossbach read a review of Rotschopf's first solo album, »Messiah,« in 2018 and contacted the artist. Joint releases followed, including a drone album on the sub-label Martin Hossbach Score and a Pet Shop Boys cover version on Martin Hossbach Cover.

Teresa Rotschopf, Musikerin und Komponistin aus Wien, präsentiert mit »Currents and Orders« ihr zweites Soloalbum – eine radikale, zarte und zugleich groß angelegte Klangreise zwischen experimentellem Pop, Neuer Musik und improvisierter Komposition. Das Album wird am 27.8. im Rahmen des Festivals »Pop-Kultur« (silent green, Berlin) und am 12.9. im »ORF RadioKulturhaus« (Wien) live vorgestellt.

»Currents and Orders« entstand an einem ungewöhnlichen Ort: in einer Tropfsteinhöhle in der Steiermark, Österreich. Gemeinsam mit einer kleinen Gruppe von Musiker:innen (Maria Gstättner: Fagott, Kontraforte; Alex Kranabetter: Tuba, Trompete, Waldhorn; Patrick Dunst: Saxophon, Duduk; Florian Klinger: Marimbaphon, Vibraphon, Glockenspiel, Becken, Gong, Stalakmit; Patrick Pulsinger: Gong, Stalakmit; Ulrich Schleicher: Gong) und in Ko-Produktion mit Patrick Pulsinger nahm Rotschopf das Album im Juni 2023 auf – tief unter der Erde, fern von Tageslicht, dafür umso näher an archaischen Klängen und Resonanzen.

Die Höhle wird nicht nur zur akustischen Bühne, sondern auch zum symbolischen Raum der Erinnerung, des Rückzugs, der Transformation. So umfasst das Album vier Stücke – darunter zwei großformatige Tracks: - das eröffnende mantraartige Titelstück »Currents and Orders« (über 10 Minuten) - das finale, free-jazzig-expressive »I Open My Gates (For You)« (über 20 Minuten)

Mit minimalistischer Struktur, Chorstimmen, Vibraphon, Schlag- und Blasinstrumenten entstehen fragile und zugleich mächtige Klangwelten, deren räumliche Tiefe auch durch den Höhlenhall spürbar wird.

Der Wunsch, in einer Höhle aufzunehmen, kam Rotschopf im Sommer 2022. Was als visuelles und klangliches Bild begann, wurde zu einem konkreten Vorhaben – unterstützt vom Österreichischen Höhlenverein. Im Juni 2023 begab sich Rotschopf mit ihren Musiker:innen drei Tage lang in eine Höhle im steirischen Wald. Fast ein Kilometer Kabel wurde verlegt, Equipment und Instrumente tief unter die Erde getragen. Rotschopf beschreibt die Aufnahmesituation als eine Art Rückkehr in sich selbst: »Ich stieg in diese Höhle hinab, so als ob ich in mich selbst hinabsteigen könnte, in meinen eigenen Schoß [...] Was wir in der Höhle taten, könnte man ›Musik aufnehmen‹ nennen, genauso gut aber auch ›Erinnern‹ – Erinnern von Erde, Höhle und Menschsein.«

Currents and Orders ist ein Album wie ein Ritual: eindringlich, atmosphärisch, mutig in der Form und tief verwurzelt im physischen wie emotionalen Raum. Musik, die sich Zeit nimmt, Raum nutzt und Grenzen sprengt.

Die Vorab-Single »O Please My Soul (Rest On My Back)« (VÖ: 17.7.205) wird begleitet von einem eindrücklichen Musikvideo, das Antoinette Zwirchmayr auf 16mm-Film drehte: Teresa Rotschopf hält darin eine echte Eule auf ihrer Hand – ein Bild, das genauso magisch wie rätselhaft wirkt.

Labelbetreiber Martin Hossbach las im Jahr 2018 eine Rezension des ersten Rotschopf-Soloalbums »Messiah« und nahm Kontakt zu der Künstlerin auf. Es folgten gemeinsame Veröffentlichungen – etwa ein Drone-Album auf dem Sub-Label Martin Hossbach Score und eine Pet-Shop-Boys-Coverversion auf Martin Hossbach Cover.

Witchfinder General formed in 1979 and were part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) movement during the early 1980s. They are strongly influenced by Black Sabbath, and are widely recognised today as one of the pioneers of the doom metal style. Their 1983 classic "Friends Of Hell" has been re-issued for the first time with this new track listing featuring a rare live track on heavy weight 180gsm vinyl contained within a protective polypropylene bag.

Many have followed in her stiletto-heeled footsteps, yet there is, was and only ever will be one Marilyn Monroe. Amazing as it now seems, Hollywood’s greatest ever sex symbol enjoyed less than a decade at the peak of the acting profession. The movies she made and the iconic images they contained, such as the billowing skirt from The Seven Year Itch, remain staples of popular culture. Andy Warhol turned her image into pop art, but Marilyn’s ‘15 minutes of fame’ made an unprecedented impact. Music was another gift she left the world, and this collection of songs reminds us she could do much more than merely look good

"Entweder du machst, was alle machen, besser als alle anderen oder du machst, ganz was anderes..." Was Sergio Leone für den Western war, ist Johnny Indigo für die Rock Musik. Anders, rauher, echt und kompromisslos. Johnny Indigo ist das Soloprojekt von dem Wahlwiener Mathias Kollos, der bereits für viele Künstler hinter den Kulissen und auf verschiedensten Bühnen tätig ist und war. Jetzt hat er den Schritt nach vorne getan und tritt mit seiner Band "The El Dorado Wildfire" mit eigens für Live arrangierten Versionen von seinem Debut Album "American Daydreams" gemeinsam auf. Wie klingt das verschmitzte Grinsen von Terence Hill? Was hört man, wenn Clint Eastwood seine unvergleichliche Miene verzieht? Den eigenständigen Mix aus Alternative Rock, Southern Rock, Country und Blues von Johnny Indigo. Das Album vermischt Roots und Country Elemente mit modernem Rock und Blues. Ästhetisch geprägt von dem Image der Spaghetti Western, ohne in unnötige Cliches zu verfallen. Vergangene Acts wie Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix oder die Rolling Stones werden ebenso nicht vernachlässigt wie moderne Formationen wie Queens Of The Stone Age, The Black Keys oder Rival Sons.

Emil Friis’ neues Album Moving Images, seine erste Soloveröffentlichung für das Klassik-Imprint 130701 des Labels FatCat, ist ein Zeugnis der menschlichen Verfassung und der Dinge, die uns als Spezies zusammenbringen. Es ist inspiriert von den Bewegungen des menschlichen Geistes und den Geschichten, die wir durch Musik, Worte, Kunst und Film teilen.

Das Album umfasst ein breites Spektrum an Instrumenten und Emotionen: düstere Kammermusikstücke wie „For Goodbyes“, bedrohliche, aber hoffnungsvoll hypnotische Ambient-Stücke wie „Zero“, sanfte Solo-Piano-Stücke wie „Dancing“, poetische und verspielte Flöten- und Synthesizer-Stücke wie „Through Air“ und spannungsgeladene, filmische Streicher-, Synthesizer- und Klavierstücke wie „An Upward Motion“.

„Moving Images“ ist auch ein gemeinsames Projekt zwischen Friis und ausgewählten Filmemachern. Jeder der 15 Albumtracks wird von einer Videoarbeit begleitet. Die Filmemacher Kevin Brooks, Shaun Hart, Morgan Jon Fox und Jonathan Meyers hatten kreative Freiheit, die Stücke zu interpretieren, die ihnen am meisten zusagten.

Das aus nur wenigen Elementen bestehende Arrangement sorgt für ein enges Zusammenspiel aus Instrumenten und Emotionen sowie der Tiefe der Texturen. Die Originalkompositionen werden auf Synthesizern, Streichern, Holzbläsern und Klavier dargeboten. Mit Beiträgen von Künstlern wie dem renommierten Streicher Davide Rossi werden sie in cineastische, moderne klassische Werke verwandelt. Die Stücke sind so voller Helligkeit, Sensibilität, Spannung und düsterer Schönheit, dass es oft den Anschein hat, als würden die Instrumente miteinander sprechen. Die Phrasen wirken manchmal einsam. An anderer Stelle schweben und fliegen sie. Trotz ihrer Kürze sind die Resultate von Wärme und Inbrunst erfüllt.

Ready for take off?

With his new album 'Cruise Control', Satin Jackets presents a perfect musical soundtrack for relaxed moments that take us away from the stresses of everyday life. The title of the album is meaningful: 'Cruise Control' stands for the feeling of switching on the autopilot, leaning back and enjoying the journey to the fullest - an atmosphere that the album unfolds.

The album is a collection of singles that have been released over the last few years and are all interwoven at their core. Because no matter where you listen to the songs, they work, images arise in your head and your feet rarely stay still. Satin Jackets remains true to himself with his album sound, as he repeatedly receives feedback from listeners who appreciate the positive mood in his songs and which always puts them in a good mood.

The songs are first created in the producer's head and then develop together with the features, who add their own touch. For Satin Jackets, 'the most important thing is this immediate feeling that it fits musically and atmospherically'. This can also come out of nowhere, as was the case with David Bay and Small Black, who got in touch with the producer and it was an instant fit.

'There are always those magical moments when a song comes out of nowhere. Once I had an idea for a chord sequence that I couldn't get out of my head, but somehow that certain something was still missing. I then spontaneously asked a bassist friend of mine if he would like to play something to it - ten minutes later we had a hook that carried the whole piece. It's these unexpected, spontaneous inspirations that make the process so exciting.'

'Cruise Control' is more than just another album from Satin Jackets. It is an invitation to enjoy the moment and surrender to the music - a soundtrack that creates a good mood and takes us on a relaxing journey. So just switch on the autopilot again, put on your headphones and let yourself go.

Ready for take off?

Satin Jackets präsentiert mit seinem neuen Album "Cruise Control" einen perfekten musikalischen Begleiter für entspannte Momente, die uns vom Alltagsstress befreien. Der Titel des Albums ist vielsagend: "Cruise Control" steht für das Gefühl, den Autopiloten einzuschalten, sich zurückzulehnen und die Reise in vollen Zügen zu genießen - eine Atmosphäre, die das Album entfaltet.

Das Album ist eine Sammlung der Singles, die über die letzten Jahre erschienen und im Kern alle miteinander verwoben sind. Denn egal, wo man die Songs hört, sie funktionieren, es entstehen Bilder im Kopf und die Füße bleiben selten still. Mit dem Albumsound bleibt Satin Jackets sich treu, denn immer wieder bekommt er die Rückmeldung von Hörer:innen, die die positive Stimmung in seinen Songs schätzen und die immer wieder für gute Laune sorgt.

So entstehen die Songs zuerst im Kopf des Produzenten und entwickeln sich im Anschluss gemeinsam mit den Features, die ihre eigene Note mit einbringen. Für Satin Jackets ist es "das Wichtigste dieses unmittelbare Gefühl, dass es musikalisch und atmosphärisch passt". Das kann auch aus dem Nichts kommen, so wie bei David Bay und Small Black, die sich bei dem Produzenten meldeten und es sofort passte.

"Es gibt immer wieder diese magischen Momente, in denen ein Song quasi aus dem Nichts entsteht. Einmal hatte ich eine Idee für eine Akkordfolge, die mir nicht aus dem Kopf ging, aber irgendwie fehlte noch das gewisse Etwas. Ich habe dann spontan einen befreundeten Bassisten gefragt, ob er etwas dazu spielen möchte - zehn Minuten später hatten wir einen Hook, der das ganze Stück getragen hat. Es sind diese unerwarteten, spontanen Eingebungen, die den Prozess so spannend machen."

"Cruise Control" ist mehr als nur ein weiteres Album von Satin Jackets. Es ist eine Einladung, den Moment zu genießen und sich der Musik hinzugeben - ein Soundtrack, der für gute Stimmung sorgt und uns auf eine entspannte Reise mitnimmt. Von daher einfach mal wieder den Autopiloten einschalten, , Kopfhörer aufsetzen und fallen lassen.

Comet Dust Red Vinyl. Jason Molina war ein Künstler, der nicht gerne zurückblickte. Während seines gesamten Lebens und seiner Karriere als Singer-Songwriter trieb ihn ein rastloser und sich ständig weiterentwickelnder kreativer Impuls voran, der seinen Fokus auf das Wesentliche richtete. Seine unermüdliche Kreativität und Arbeitsmoral trugen Früchte. In seinem kurzen Leben erreichte Molina das, wonach die meisten Musiker streben: einen Sound, der sofort wiedererkennbar ist, sich aber selten wiederholt. Von den Ufern des Eriesees in seiner Heimatstadt Lorain, Ohio, bis hin zu internationalen Bühnen mit seinen Bands Songs: Ohia und Magnolia Electric Co. spielte Molina sein umfangreiches Repertoire an geheimnisvollen, romantischen, stürmischen und monumentalen Songs, die gleichzeitig innovativ und in der amerikanischen Tradition verwurzelt waren. Er tüftelte ständig an seinem Sound, seinem Image, seiner Band und seinem Zuhause, um seine Muse zu befriedigen. Ein Tenor-Gitarre spielender Außenseiter. Ein liebeskranker Lo-Fi-Indie-Rocker. Ein trauriger Slowcore-Barde. Ein Pionier des Roots-Rock des 21. Jahrhunderts. Ein kanonischer Songwriter des Mittleren Westens. Jason Molina hat seine kreative Flagge in all diesen Bereichen gehisst - um seinen Anspruch zu markieren, um zu zeigen, wie weit er gekommen war, und um eine Spur wertvoller Talismane zu hinterlassen. Mit ,I Will Swim to You: A Tribute to Jason Molina" - benannt nach einer Zeile aus Molinas Song ,Lioness" - würdigen Run For Cover Records und eine Gruppe befreundeter Künstler den bleibenden Einfluss des Songwriters. Die Compilation mit Molina-Covers wurde von einigen der visionärsten Singer-Songwritern der Gegenwart eingespielt, darunter MJ Lenderman, Hand Habits, Horse Jumper of Love, Sun June und viele mehr, und enthält einzigartige Interpretationen von Molina-Fan-Favoriten und weniger bekannten Stücken aus seinen Soloalben und weniger bekannten EPs. Das Ergebnis ist eine unverwechselbare Liebeserklärung, eine oft atemberaubende Gesamtdarbietung generationenübergreifender Talente, die einem der begabtesten, aber unterschätzten amerikanischen Songwriter Tribut zollen.

Established in 2022, Warm Exit is a post-punk quartet hailing from Brussels, Belgium. Their violently frontal music is an explosive blend of sonic intensity that sets them apart as one of the country's most electrifying and raucous acts. Drawing inspiration from Krautrock, Punk, and Noise, their relentless rhythmic prowess is a testament to their diverse influences. Channeling the spirit of iconic 1970s bands like Wire, The Fall, and Public Image Limited, Warm Exit ventures into the shadowy realm of post-punk with their latest EP. Here, they seamlessly oscillate between fast and slow tempos, high and low energy levels, and vocals that span from tense whispers to unbridled screams. This journey takes the listener through a landscape of discordant riffs, haunting groans, evocative spoken word passages, and industrial undertones. Over the past three years, Warm Exit has cultivated a devoted following both locally and internationally, thanks to their electrifying live performances that leave audiences in awe. Carrying the reputation of a striking live band, they are eager to storm the stage at any and every given opportunity.

Ken Jacobs, an essential figure of avant-garde cinema, developed the »Nervous Magic Lantern« in the 1960s — a self-made apparatus containing a spinning shutter, a light source, and lenses set in a wooden frame. Hand-painted circular slides, gently moved by hand, produce flickering imagery: geometric patterns, Rorschach-like inkblots, and three-dimensional forms that seem to float beyond the screen. These hallucinatory visions challenge perception and suggest what Jacobs once called »a whole new play of appearances«.

Unlike Jacobs’ politically charged works, the »Nervous Magic Lantern« is patently abstract, examining how the brain regulates perception. For these performances, Jacobs requested »sounds of daily life« — environmental recordings that anchor the phantasmagoria in reality. Field tapes of Chinatown streets, conversations, and other uncategorisable sounds became the material for Aki Onda’s sonic compositions, adding narrative resonance to the abstract visuals and creating an almost documentary dimension.

This album documents a performance of »Nervous Magic Lantern« at Spiral Hall, organised by Sound Live Tokyo on November 3, 2015. Jacobs’ selection and sequencing of slides offered improvisatory space, mirrored by Onda’s flexible arrangement of cassette recordings. The result is a work where life and art dissolve into one another — a soundtrack for life in the depth of illusion.

Music by Aki Onda Cassette field recordings by Ken Jacobs

Russell Haswell and Florian Hecker have both a long history with Mego/Editions Mego. Individual releases have peppered the Mego catalogue since Haswell’s Live Salvage 1997->2000 cd release (MEGO 012) in 2001 and the debut Hecker release IT ISO161975 (MEGO 014) in 1998.

The individual exploration of sonic phenomena by these two practitioners has resulted in both being highly regarded for their uncompromising approach to sound as matter. Russell Haswell and Florian Hecker came together as a collaborative duo with the now-legendary record Blackest Ever Black, somewhat inexplicably, on the classical imprint of Warner Brothers.

In 2025, Hecker and Haswell return with a new album featuring the two-channel edit produced initially for their UPIC DIFFUSION SESSION #23, performed as a live diffusion across 8-channels at the X100 Festival, Berlin, 2023, celebrating the 100th anniversary of Xenakis' birth.

This record furthers the duo's exploration of Xenakis's UPIC system as the sole instrument. The UPIC is a computer music system that generates sound from visual input. The original intention of the system developed by Xenakis was to make a utopian tool for producing new sounds accessible to all, independent of formal training. One can locate footage of Xenakis and a group of children making drawings for the system in the 70's.

The duo set off experimenting with a diverse array of hand-drawn images to feed the UPIC system including news photographs of disasters and atrocities, "food porn" through to depictions of the natural world and microscopic images of molecular structures (including 'the blackest ever black'). The resulting eccentric audio from these images is claimed by the artists to heighten synaesthesia and is as mysterious as it is baffling.

Throughout UPIC DIFFUSION SESSION #23 frequency clusters move and morph in the most unusual manner, shifting and stretching into shapes that hint at some kind of magical process. What starts out deceptively simple soon unravels into a large array of sonic mayhem. Symbolic jet planes are shredded by a swarm of insects, a metal bowl howls into the void, a tiny tin toy crawls into a thicket with the resolute aura of a black hole. A burning geyser of laser forms liquid shrapnel. This is sound as an alchemical process, a constant chimerical flow into the netherworld and is the net result of the decades long radical investigations by the two artists involved. UPIC DIFFUSION SESSION #23 is a direct, rich and rewarding listen for those willing to invest time into the outer limits.

Wishbone Ash reigned supreme through the 1970s — centered on inspired musicianship, joyful spirit and inventive songs. Their concerts were uplifting and their recorded work sublime. Argus remains a stunning high point in the band's startling repertoire. Argus was a 1972 tour de force, a hard-rocking masterpiece that has gone on to have a huge impact on rock bands moving forward. If you've never heard Argus, you've surely heard music that it inspired.

The British quartet's trademark harmony guitars became a touchstone for many: Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, Opeth, and Lynyrd Skynyrd have all acknowledged an Ash influence, and tracks such as Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back in Town," Maiden's "The Trooper," and even Steely Dan's "Reeling in the Years" all have twin-guitar moments that hark back to Argus. But Wishbone Ash were different from the start. They were never strictly a hard rock band; their soaring vocal harmonies and musical grandeur placed them close to progressive rock.

But they weren't strictly prog either: They had no keyboards, no real classical influence and weren't into side-long suites. Their roots were in the blues, and their calling card was twin lead guitars in harmony (played in the original lineup by Ted Turner and Andy Powell). Even the hardest Ash rockers — like "Blowin' Free," the most famous track from Argus — had an ethereal touch. They could rock the big stages, but they did it with subtlety and grace. This is reflected perfectly in the classic album sleeve by prog-associated designers Hipgnosis: The front cover shows a Greek sentry — the "argus" of the title — staring off into the distance. It's a mythic, old-world kind of image until you look closely at the back cover, and see that he's heralding the arrival (or perhaps watching the departure) of a spaceship.

Two worlds colliding. Exactly what the band and album were all about. By the time of Argus, Wishbone Ash were stars in England and cult heroes among Anglophiles in the US. What made Argus a step forward was its flow of moods. The songs don't run together, but there's an emotional connecting thread from the album's somber beginning to its heroic end. The band insisted at the time that lyrics were something of an afterthought: Shortly after its release, main lyricist Martin Turner told NME that he wrote them mainly to fit the mood of the music: "The music that was coming out was very English, very medieval, and the lyrics had to reflect that." Added Powell at the time, "The expression comes out in the guitars. We wouldn't play it if it didn't express something." Now, Analogue Productions has applied all of its vaunted craft and technical expertise to make this epic album shine! Two 45 RPM LPs pressed on virtually silent 180-gram vinyl at Quality Record Pressings make the remastered audio sparkle. Quieter lyrical sentiments and softer musical passages are rendered precisely, while majestic riffs and fist-waving anthems fully reveal the energy of the music! Argus isn't just another rock record — it's a journey through a sonic landscape rich with depth, emotion and technical prowess. It's the album that solidified Wishbone Ash as masters of twin guitar harmony. Discerning audiophiles will find Argus an essential addition to their record collection. It's a masterclass in sound engineering that fully captures the intricate interplay of dual guitars with pristine clarity and a warmth that only analog recordings can provide.

LA-based composer/arranger E. Lundquist (aka Eric Borders) returns with ‘Art Between Minds’. Having cut his teeth in the LA hip-hop and beats scene and explored realms of cosmic-funk under previous monikers, E. Lundquist’s music displays a rich tapestry of influences including the cinematic & experimental jazz-infused library music that influenced his previous LP ‘Multiple Images’. Now he is back with another ample helping of his hallucinogenic sonics, utilizing a bevy of vintage gear to replicate that warm glow of ’70s jazz-funk. From the Fender Rhodes MKI to the ARP Odyssey, to the Mellotron, the keys and synths he employs on these tracks display a genuine appreciation for the groove-driven music of The ‘Me” Decade.

The album plays like the score to a cult classic B-movie. The sun-drenched haze of “Soliloquy” could easily be what you hear during the calm before the storm in a Blaxploitation flick and the laidback crawl of “Euphoria” seems ripped right out of a fuzzy ‘70s blue movie. But there is a certain sophistication here, like the way the horn section, slinky guitar, and trippy synths combine on “Escape” to sound like liquid one moment and like a summer breeze the next.

While E. Lundquist’s artistry will eventually take him to new plateaus of sound, where he is right now is undoubtedly a high watermark in his career. He has become a torchbearer for jazz-funk in a new jazz revolution, updating the sub-genre with his delicate balance of digital and analog elements that will easily appeal to fans of Kamaal Williams, Surprise Chef, BADBADNOTGOOD, Khurangbin, Robohands and similar.

Soul Media, led by Jiro Inagaki, played a part in the development of jazz rock in Japan. This work, "Memory Lane" recorded in 1980, was the final work under the same name. Inagaki said about this work, "We tried to create this work while predicting the fate of fusion music" and it is true that the sound is completely different from ordinary fusion. The mellow and emotional "Memory Lane" the stormy and refreshing "I Will Give You Samba" and the groovy and edgy "Take My Hand". The sound that was created with his ally Norio Maeda, which looks , is of an extraordinary level of perfection in the songs, arrangements, and performances. It is a masterpiece that is still vivid and fresh when listened to today.

text by Yusuke Ogawa (UNIVERSOUNDS/DEEP JAZZ REALITY)

Mutant, in partnership with Howe Records, is proud to present Howard Shore's incredible score and 17th collaboration with legendary filmmaker David Cronenberg: THE SHROUDS. Over the course of four decades, Howard Shore and David Cronenberg have collaborated on countless masterpieces (Crash, Videodrome, Dead Ringers, History of Violence... the list goes on and on). The Shrouds continues in the mold of Crimes of the Future, with a delicate but deceptive score. In a film about burial, decay, and the search for meaning—marred by conspiracy theories and an overreliance on technology—the film and score find a space that balances the ethereal and the dreadful. The sacred and profane. It's a profoundly beautiful work of art from a maestro who has made some of the best film music of our lifetimes. "Howard Shore’s score, a mix of hymns and organs, beautifully layers the film’s imagery.”

'it’s his loosest, dreamiest dispatch yet, an enveloping and atmospheric collection that constantly comes together and breaks apart.'

Maxo releases his new album Mars Is Electric. Earlier this week, Maxo released a third haunting video, directed by Vincent Haycock, from the visual world of ‘Mars’ for the title track. Maxo previewed the album with the release of singles “Human?” and “Donahoo’s Chicken” this spring, which arrived with equally raw, inventive, and unnerving music videos.

Mars Is Electric is Maxo’s first official release since he dropped two critically acclaimed albums in 2023 with Even God Has A Sense of Humor and Debbie’s Son. His fifth full-length album finds the Southern Californian artist self-aware and mature. Having lived the last decade of his musical life intentionally creating specific bodies of work rooted in imagery, observation, and capturing moments, Maxo spent this previous year freely creating without a specific plan, relieved from all obligations and restrictions.

“This is the first time that I really didn’t care, I didn’t approach things so seriously,” the artist shrugs off, meaning that without expectations or specific goals, his creativity flourished. This opening finds the artist having conversations he’s been avoiding, having lived silently in the pain of those topics for the past few years. Exploring uncomfortable themes about personal life, relationships, and family fractures, life before and after the loss of innocence, and an abundance of existential spirals.

The exploration was not only thematic but also musical in nature. During the creation process, Maxo was immersed in a wide array of music from past to present - France Joli, $amaad, Steve Spacek, Cherelle, DJ Quik, Lisha G - influences that seeped their way into these songs. The album opens in a loose, dreamlike state—experimental and searching, mirroring the emotional fog of someone looking for something real to hold onto. But as it progresses, so does Maxo’s energy as he fiercely rides and weaves on songs with a contagious confidence, producing some of his most kinetic and lyrically impressive music to date.

As the work and vision coalesced into a body of work, Maxo found that he was unlocking a creative language with his collaborators that felt wholly new - a new understanding of why and how he was making art for this world. What emerged from this year-long process was a new musical journey and a future where Maxo refuses to be another bad example of what could be, refusing to mind the blueprint set down. Maxo is the sole voice on the album featuring production by lastnamedavid, Quelle Chris, Baird, Groove, and more.

Listen to Mars Is Electric above, see full album details below, and stay tuned for more from Maxo very soon.

"Astral Americana hymns hovering somewhere between the dirt and the stars" Pitchfork

"Mood music for moments of solitude, best experienced without distraction" The Times

"Overwhelmingly effective and ravishingly beautiful" The Wire

American Dust is an ode to the beauty of the American Southwest, where vast desert landscapes hold stories both stark and tender. Eve Adams’ characteristic folk noir weaves a vivid tapestry of love, sacrifice and quiet revelation, conjuring images of dust storms, stray dogs and far off trains.

The high desert of California is a vast and confounding place. Equally inspiring as it is punishing, it’s a landscape that carries magic in its deep dark nights, holding stories both tender and stark in the coarse layer of dust that settles upon everything. It’s long been a source of inspiration for musicians, writers, and painters, each of them adding to the same current, carried forward over time, through hope and hardship and the passing years.

Somewhere out there in that broad and boundless landscape, Eve Adams has been living her own desert life, quietly writing the follow-up to 2021’s Metal Bird LP. Where that album sang of liminal space, the dream-like turbulence of Hollywood’s golden age, American Dust is far more rooted in traditional storytelling; a eulogy for the American Dream channeled through that sweeping part of the country that holds such power and mystery. Slipping into different and varied costumes throughout its ten songs, it finds Eve not just observing the people around her but stepping into their shoes and peeling back the layers of their quiet lives.

Adams writes from within. A few years ago she moved out there, to “the middle of nowhere”, finding a slowness that didn’t exist in the city, and she knows only too well about the mystical nature of the land and those who live within it. Weaving together themes of grit and romance, American Dust holds its focus on the bittersweet poetry of lives lived in solitude, most notably the women who sustain life at the center of it all. “There’s something very radical about domestic life,” Adams says of this thread. “So many women live their entire lives behind closed doors, completely in the shadows. Within those lives is such sacrifice, devotion, and love. I wanted to honor that: the poetry in the mundane, the longing in the repetition. The way love survives boredom and dust and time.”

Eve is joined on American Dust by Canadian musician Bryce Cloghesy, aka Military Genius of Crack Cloud, who plays throughout and also helped produce the album. Musically bold and vivid, it’s an ambitious and detailed stride forward from what’s come before, the scope of the LP’s narrative reflected in the radiant sweep of the playing. On top of gentle piano and guitar, gorgeous strings drift through the album, lending the songs a woozy sense of romanticism; a collaboration with Gamaliel Traynor (Cello) and Caroline’s Oliver Hamilton (Violin).

For all the drama that’s coiled around these songs, it’s the recurring notion of love and hope fighting against everything that holds true throughout American Dust. Musically it’s lush and vibrant, intimate and cinematic side by side, and always bursting with warmth. But it’s what it holds in its weary bones that elevates it to something truly special, something more than just a collection of songs penned in the heart of the desert. The characters it speaks of, and from, feel shadowed but wholly real, like they’re bursting to share their stories that have remained hidden for years and years and they allow Eve Adams to grow as a songwriter right in front of our eyes.

“The same swirling dust that clung to the covered wagons of my ancestors as they crossed the Great American Desert is the same dust my great-great-grandmother swept off her porch during the Dust Bowl of 1936 in Oklahoma, is the same dust that blows in through the cracks in my windows here in the desert, carrying stories from a time long gone,” Eve says, reflecting on the personal narrative that runs through her new album.

“It’s not just dust—it’s American Dust, the kind that settles into the bones of a family and never leaves. I think about that dust as a symbol of the passage of time. I hope this album will be part of that same current, carrying forward for the next generations of my family to find. I’ve been lucky enough to have journals and poetry from my ancestors that documents their lives during times of pure hope and pure hardship. I’d like to think of this album as a contribution to that family history.”

Blaney describes A Room With A Door That Closes as “a love letter to her blue,” an emotional state that she defines as “a kinetic, intense, and dark energy that needs to be expressed as soon as it is felt.” The eleven songs on the album span radioactive kiss offs, sorrowful meditations on yearning, and gossamer reveries about self image.

The music has a fittingly tumultuous, intricate sound: 1960s soul samples melt into warm drum n bass percussion, blips of glitch ping pong against grating synth, and Blaney’s vocals range from searing punk exclamations to gentle, exploratory croons. It’s the sound of a singer peering deeply within herself and presenting the world with everything she finds, unadulterated, in real time. Blaney produced the new project along with a tight team of three producers: Emerson Fossett, Harlan Steed (Show Me The Body), and Alex Farrar (MJ Lenderman, Wednesday, Squirrel Flower, Snail Mail).

Blaney had just started playing guitar and producing around the time she began writing the songs that would become the album. Being new to both producing and guitar playing opened up a sense of exploration and freedom for her. She felt emboldened to employ more adventurous riffs and unconventional song arrangements when she was writing. A Room With A Door That Closes is a collection of songs that rigorously pursue honesty, that present feelings as they arise without rushing to categorise them or explain them away. In the process of understanding her rage or discomfort, Blaney often lands on a sense of pride and assurance, but that’s never the ultimate goal. She eschews the easy comfort of neat resolution for the excitement of ongoing discovery. The album is an exercise in unfiltered self-expression, and a celebration of life at its messiest.

Limited Edition ( 300 )

Heavy 180g Vinyl & Download Token Inside & Hype Sticker.

Full Colour Inners & Contextual Images
Curated & Sleevenotes By John Kertland Of CTR (English & French)

France-the 1980s. A local radio and studio system almost unsurpassed in Europe - add brilliantly inventive labels and producers with a sense of fun & adventure & the result ?

A golden age of Synth-Pop – Post-Disco..inventing the future ..celebrating the chanson of the past. Updating that for a new generation & a new dancefloor.

Virtually neglected until now - only the heads knowing...

Presented in the classic 45 (Quarante Cinq) 7" format - the way that these great records were produced for the radio and were meant to be heard at that moment..

Now, the "savoir" is yours also.

Hard to find 7"s by elusive artistes...

Glorious vocals ,soaring synths and irresistible basslines it’s all here ..

Bon écoute !

First-ever double vinyl release of TARIKAT, featuring 16 tracks recorded between 1986 and 1989, originally released on the now out-of-print 1997 double CD (Daft Records) and innitial 1991 cassette. This release features 16 tracks, remastered for this edition, showcasing E.G.'s unique sound from the eighties, reminiscent of other albums like Arispejal Astisaró, Nador, and Sheikh Aljama. This is a period especially appreciated by E.G. fans, where they developed their original and unique style that influenced many later groups and artists of industrial music and even certain forms of techno. Rough, primitive and minimalist, the tracks are constructed on distorted and noise rhythms, sometimes industrial, sometimes with tribal and African influences using synthesizers and analog electronic instruments. Gabriel Riaza, founding member of E.G. until 1991, worked in Melilla (North Africa) during those years, and this influenced the conception of many of Tarikat's tracks. The images used in this release are by Andrés Noarbe, who was responsible for Esplendor Geométrico's graphic design during the eighties and also served as the band's manager. The overall design is by Alonso Urbanos. Recorded by Arturo Lanz and Gabriel Riaza in Madrid and Melilla (North Africa) between 1986 and 1989. Tarikat is available as a limited edition double LP, a key release for fans of E.G., capturing their innovative and influential style that shaped industrial music and techno.

2xLP+Book. Black & White Splatter vinyl. Between 1975-77, Chicago's southside nightclubs were experiencing dark times. The after-hours routine may have been on the up, but the sound of urban blues was on its way down, getting funkier, heavier, picking up a Zeppelin echo from the British rock scene that had raided its larder. Thankfully, lightening came by way of a lanky white guy skulking from club to club with a camera and strobe light. Chicago photographer Michael Abramson hit Perv's House, Pepper's Hideout, The High Chaparral, The Patio Lounge, and The Showcase Lounge nightly, not to capture the artists on stage but instead popping off a half-dozen rolls every night exclusively on the seldom photographed crowd. Light: On The South Side gathers more than 100 beautiful black and white Abramson images, as Numero shines its own light on yet another dark corner of the musical past. The 132-page hardback book features not just these photos, but an extended and wildly colorful ephemera section, plus an essay by British novelist and Numero fan Nick Hornby. Housed in a gorgeous slipcase with the 12X12 monograph is the 2LP set Pepper's Jukebox, a 17-track compilation of Chicago blues in transition, as heard from both the stage and the Wurlitzer.

The follow up the successful ‘Gary Crowley’s Lost 80s’ released in 2019
“I count myself incredibly lucky when I think back to my 1980’s. A lot of those bands and artists that
resonated with me during that time are featured on this, our sequel to our first Lost 80s collection, which we
have inspiringly titled “GC Lost 80s Two”!
I must be honest and say as soon as I delivered the track listing for the first compilation, I already had a
selection in mind for a sequel (if ever I was asked by those cool folks at Demon). Thankfully, they asked...and
this is it.” Gary Crowley
21 tracks compiled and themed by Gary Crowley side-by-side. Many of these tracks are rare and hard to find,
the better-known artists appearing represented by some of their lesser-known (‘lost’) tracks.
Presented on 2 x 180g Clear Heavyweight vinyl, includes an introduction and track-by-track notes by Gary
Crowley, plus memories of the era from Mick Talbot (The Style Council) and more.
“Expect a selection of not only the bigger names with some of their ‘lost’ gems, but also a raft of lesserknown artists. Many of the latter came nowhere near the mainstream but most certainly (IMHO) deserve
another chance to shine under the spotlight. It was such a diverse and eclectic time for music, hopefully this
box set mirrors that.” Gary Crowley


b a2. Working Week – Venceremos (We Will Win) 7” version





h b2. Working Week – Venceremos (We Will Win) 7” version









r c6. World’s Famous Supreme Team – Hey! DJ 7” version
[s] d1. General Public - Tenderness [Special Dance Mix]
[t] d2. Colourbox featuring Lorita Grahame– Baby I Love You So [12” Version]
[12” Remix]

Five sisters Jacqueline, Lyn, Pat, Rae and Gennie Jackson were from Compton, California. “I Believe In Miracles” was written and originally recorded by Mark Capanni. The musical tracks were the work of the late Gene Page (string arranger for Barry White). The vocals were produced by Pete Moore of the famous Smokey Robinson & The Miracles along with Bobby Taylor, who also had a group called Bobby Taylor & The Vancouvers. “When I Believe In Miracles was first released in 1973 the sisters were nominated for best new vocal group for the Black Image Awards and best new female artist by Record World Magazine in 1974-1975 which was announced on Soul Train an aired Feb. 22, 1975. However the song did not take off until the UK ‘rare groove’ scene of the 80s, after which an extended version was created which appears for the first here time on 7”

Salamanda is the collaborative alias of South Korean producer/DJ duo, and close friends, Uman Therma (Sala) and Yetsuby (Manda). Together they create avant-garde electronic music inspired by minimalist concepts, harmonious rhythms and the work of American composer Steve Reich.

Across the eight tracks of Sphere, their debut for Small Méasures, the pair conjure spherical worlds inspired by bubbles, refracting light and planet earth. Soundscapes laden with percussive elements ebb and flow as arpeggiated stanzas cede to misty synths and shimmering plates, conjuring images of solitary temples sat in vast open plateaus.

“For Sphere, we came up with an abstract concept and image to explore more diversity and encourage imagination. Each track is related to different kinds of sphere we found or imagined. From the big round planet embracing every creature to dancing little bubbles underwater, fragments of ideas floating around, exploding tomatoes, and movement of lights flashing and tickling the eyes…

Or the tracks can be about completely different types of spheres in other people's perspective. We hope Sphere can unleash the imagination and take you on a delightful journey of music.’’

Five Dollar Bill was originally released in 2003, and is now going to be widely available on vinyl for the first time. This record includes songs that are staples in Corb Lund’s live set, such as “(Gonna) Shine Up My Boots” and “Time to Switch to Whiskey.” In addition to these lively jams, Five Dollar Bill features everything from romantic imagery of Corb’s homeland, “Short Native Grasses (Prairies of Alberta),” to songs that give the listener a glimpse into the life of working class folks, such as “Roughest Neck Around” which is an ode to oil riggers and the grit that is required with that lifestyle. “‘Five Dollar Bill’ was a big milestone for me for lots of reasons. It was my first record after my metal band, The Smalls, broke up and it’s when I got really serious about western music. I really dove into my family’s cowboy ancestry and my very rural upbringing in this batch of songs. It was also our first record of many produced by Harry Stinson who is now a very close friend, and our first brush with Nashville, Tennessee, as we recorded half the record down there. It was our last record with Ryan Vikedal on the drums before he flew off into fame and fortune with Nickelback. It was also our last record as a trio. It was my first gold album,” says Lund, “And we are still playing lots of these songs at our shows. It really defined my path forward as a western songwriter and helped lay the foundation for my whole career."

This limited edition release is part of the Corb Lund - Dark Horses Club. New West Records will be releasing unreleased records and material from Corb Lund throughout 2025 and 2026.

An adversarial network of ideas, electronic post-punk trio The Wants welcome the possibility that embracing friction can give rise to something cathartic and unexpected. Formed by Madison Velding- VanDam and Jason Gates in 2017, and with the addition of Yasmeen Night in 2021, The Wants' sound is defined by the push and pull of its members' processes: floating rhythms upheaving grounded songwriting, pulsing synths overwhelming live instrumentation. Their new record, Bastard, is an evolution of many of the seeds planted in their debut record, Container (2020), with a refined sense of acerbic emotional urgency and sonic experimentation. Drawing from a deep well of influences across decades and genres, The Wants forge an unlikely alliance of sounds that feels both radical and inevitable. Velding- VanDam channels both the raw power and snark of Public Image Ltd. and The Smiths' romance, while Gates draws intensity from bands like Bauhaus and Throbbing Gristle, and inspiration from experimental techno. Night's sound bridges inspiration from '90s alternative rock like Smashing Pumpkins and Garbage between the nocturnal trip-hop atmosphere of Massive Attack. The result sits in its own category—too raw to be pure electronic music, too mechanised to be straight rock— drawing favorable comparisons to early PIL and contemporaries like Model/Actriz while remaining distinctly their own beast.

Nutria Sounds, new sublabel of NDATL Muzik, a home for organic, soul-nourishing dance music rooted in deep grooves and essential vibes. Launching this journey is the “Mi Espiritu EP” by rising Toronto-based producer Marcelo Cruz, a three-track statement of spiritual depth and dancefloor energy.

The title track “Mi Espiritu” features the ethereal vocals of the incomparable Jaidene Veda, weaving her unmistakable tone through Cruz’s emotive percussion and lush atmospheres—an invocation of movement and spirit.

On “Ceremonia,” Cruz invites pianist Carlito Brigante to the ritual, whose delicate yet expressive keys glide over a hypnotic rhythm, conjuring images of sacred spaces and late-night communion.

Closing out the EP is “Deeper Dreams,” a raw, underground journey of stripped-down drums, pulsing basslines, and deep textures—a track that nods to classic heads-down moments while pushing forward in vibe.

With the "Mi Espiritu EP", Nutria Sounds signals its continued commitment to essential music for the soul and the feet.

Mobile Fidelity's UltraDisc One-Step 180g 45RPM 2LP Set Plays with Authoritative Tonality, Airiness, and Clarity:
Pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl and Strictly Limited to
3,000 Numbered Copies
1/4” / 15 IPS Dolby A analogue master to DSD 256 to analogue console to lathe

Joni Mitchell is the only artist who could’ve made Hejira. The legendary singer-songwriter said as much when discussing the album decades after its release. Yet that fact seemed obvious from the moment the gold-certified effort streeted in fall 1976. An adventurous travelogue, probing narrative, and offbeat homage to freedom, Hejira remains an inimitable entry in the catalog of recorded music — a spare, gorgeous, meditative series of sonic vignettes comprised of floating harmonic pop, cool jazz, soft rock, and sensitive vocal elements that beckon feelings of motion, discovery, and self-examination.

Sourced from the original analog master tapes, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing on MoFi SuperVinyl, and strictly limited to 3,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity's UltraDisc One-Step 180g 45RPM 2LP set presents the record ranked the 133rd Greatest of All Time by Rolling Stone with definitive detail, richness, accuracy, and directness. Marking the first time the revered LP has received audiophile treatment, it's one of six iconic 1970s Mitchell records Mobile Fidelity is reissuing on vinyl and SACD.

Playing with a virtually nonexistent noise floor, dead-quiet surfaces, and superior groove definition, this collectible reissue reproduces in enveloping fashion the tones, textures, and craftsmanship that help Hejira function as the equivalent of a liberating trip down an open road with nothing but blue sky, natural landscape, and fresh air in the immediate vicinity. Passages bloom, carry, decay as they do amid an acoustically optimized environment. Soundstages extend far, wide, and deep, with black backgrounds and pinpoint images adding to the realism.

The reference-grade immediacy, airiness, and presence put in transparent perspective Mitchell’s dense strings of words, stream-of-conscious-like phrasing, and unhurried albeit forward momentum. Likewise, the instrumental contributions of her A-list support musicians — a cast that includes L.A. Express members John Guerin, Max Bennett and Tom Scott, plus Neil Young, Victor Feldman, and Abe Most — emerges with breathtaking clarity and dimensionality.

While Mitchell, whose intimate vocals and abstract guitar parts center everything, Mobile Fidelity's restoration of Hejira further reveals the visionary breadth of guitarist Larry Carlton and bassist Jaco Pastorius. Though heard on only four tracks, Pastorius' fretless bass epitomizes the fluid, subtle, flexible, roomy, and shape-shifting characteristics of songs that often appear to transpire out of nowhere akin to the formation of a puffy cumulus cloud overhead. In sync with Mitchell’s voice, Pastorius’ fusion hovers and floats, suspended in a fog you want to deeply inhale. The "grace notes" Mitchell desired on Hejira can now be heard in full. Ditto the luxurious tapestries of alinear lines, fills, and supplements unreeled on Carlton’s six-string.

Visually, the packaging of this UD1S set complements its identity as the copy to own. Housed in a deluxe slipcase, the LPs come in foil-stamped jackets with faithful-to-the-original graphics. This version is for listeners who desire to become immersed in everything about Hejira, including the unforgettable album cover — a pastiche of 14 different photos Mitchell used a Camera Lucida to assemble into one image that’s anchored by a portrait of her in a stoic pose — and the interior shots of Mitchell skating on a frozen Wisconsin lake wearing a pair of black skates, black shirt, and fur cape.

The notion of skating, feeling an awakening wind whipping against your face, and losing yourself to the surroundings are extremely apt for Hejira, which Mitchell wrote after a sequence of trips and relationships prompted her to reflect on the complicated conflicts between independence and marriage, success and satisfaction, duty and desire — and, more specifically, “the cost of being a woman.” The Canadian native delved into such themes before. But never as she does on Hejira, whose liberating, running-away aura doubles as another of Mitchell’s rejections of tradition as well as a suggestion of a better alternative.

At once observational and personal, expansive and insular, cheerful and poignant, Hejira spans a sea of human conditions, emotions, and circumstances. It addresses drifting, isolation, pleasure, place, time, and surroundings with strikingly poetic discourse matched with music that, save for the crooned ballad “Blue Motel Room,” forgoes conventional structures and choruses.

The jazz-based arrangements, marked by scaled-down percussion and all manner of bent, rounded, and unsettled notes, hint that Mitchell has no exact destination in mind. Excursions such as the moody “Furry Sings the Blues,” funky “Coyote” and edgy “Black Crow” throw open previously locked doors to possibility and journey. They signal it’s time for a welcome departure from norms and the past, one that leads to a heightened sense of clarity and perspective. Or, as Mitchell said upon choosing the album title, it’s time for “leaving the dream, no blame.”

Berlin-based Colombian DJ, producer, and curator Edna Martinez presents a sonic journey into the electrifying world of Picó—the vibrant and dynamic sound system culture that has defined the streets of Cartagena and Barranquilla for decades. More than just a musical movement, Picó is a way of life, a bold expression of identity, community, and resistance. From its roots in the working-class neighbourhoods of Colombia’s Caribbean coast to its deep connections with Africa and the Caribbean, this compilation captures the pulse of a culture where music is played at full volume, rhythms travel across oceans, and dance is both a form of celebration and storytelling. For those unfamiliar, Picós are hand-painted sound systems, often adorned with dazzling colours and striking imagery, each with its own name and sonic identity. These mobile discos became the heart of neighbourhood bailes, where the sounds of champeta, highlife, soukous, mbaqanga, zouk, soca, and cumbia would turn every street corner, market, and terrace into a dancefloor. Initially built by local craftsmen using modified speaker components, Picós became legendary for their powerful bass and exclusivity, with DJs sourcing rare vinyl from African and Caribbean ports and rebranding them with unique piconemas—new names adapted to local slang, making the tracks instantly recognisable within the community.

This compilation brings together a carefully curated selection of these rare and sought-after tracks, tracing the deep-rooted musical exchanges between Colombia, West and Central Africa, and the Caribbean. Featuring artists like Los Corraleros De Majagual, Peacocks International Highlife Band, Pedro Lima, Zaïko Langa Langa, and more, the album also includes edits by Edna Martinez, reimagining these timeless rhythms for contemporary audiences while staying true to their original spirit.

Strut presents ‘Picó! Sound System Culture From The Colombian Carribbean’ across 2LP Vinyl, 1CD & Digital focusing on a celebration of the raw, undiluted energy of Picó culture. Through Edna Martinez’s curation, and extensive liner notes, this compilation offers a powerful and authentic glimpse into one of the most vibrant musical traditions of the Colombian Caribbean

Analogue Productions' UHQR, the pinnacle of high-quality vinyl! 45 RPM Ultra High Quality Record release limited to 5,000 copies Mastered from the original tapes by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound Pressed at Quality Record Pressings using Clarity Vinyl® Purest possible pressing and most visually stunning presentation and packaging!

By the time Bob Marley died, he was one of the world's first global superstars, famous and lauded from Europe through Africa and the Americas. Some even saw him as not just a reggae singer but as a folk hero, a sort of freedom fighter, and to this day his enduring image feels greater than the music he made, writes Pitchfork. In the 21st century, Bob Marley is a global cultural icon and the first Jamaican inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. 1977's Exodus — recorded in London exile after a failed attempt on his life — turned out to be Marley's biggest-selling studio album.

Time magazine named it the greatest LP of the 20th century. Other Marley discs had bigger hits and still others had better album tracks, but the balance Marley strikes between politics, religion, and romance on Exodus — compare and contrast the urgent title track and the laid-back "Jamming" — shows a pop star at the peak of his powers.

Now, Analogue Productions presents perfection — Exodus in UHQR 45 RPM format on Clarity Vinyl. This Ultra High Quality Record release will be limited to 4,500 copies, with gold foil individually numbered jackets. After the success of 1974's Natty Dread and 1976's Rastaman Vibration, Bob Marley was not only the most successful reggae musician in the world, he was one of the most powerful men in Jamaica. Powerful enough, in fact, that he was shot by gunmen who broke into his home in December 1976, days before he was to play a massive free concert intended to ease tensions days before a contentious election for Jamaican Prime Minister.

In the wake of the assassination attempt, Marley and his band left Jamaica and settled in London for two years, where he recorded Exodus. Exodus represented a subtle but significant shift for Marley; while he continued to speak out against political corruption and for freedom and equality for Third World people, his skill as a songwriter was as strong as ever, and Exodus boasted more than a few classics, "including the title song, 'Three Little Birds,' 'Waiting in Vain,' and 'Turn Your Lights Down Low,' tunes that defined Marley's gift for sounding laid-back and incisive at once," writes AllMusic. This UHQR is remastered at 45 RPM by Sterling Sound's Ryan K. Smith from the original analog master tapes. Each UHQR will be pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Acoustic Sounds' industry-leading pressing plant Quality Record Pressings (QRP) using hand-selected Clarity Vinyl® with attention paid to every single detail. These records will feature the same flat profile that helped to make the original UHQR so desirable. From the lead-in groove to the run-out groove, there is no pitch to the profile, allowing the customer's stylus to play truly perpendicular to the grooves from edge to center. Clarity Vinyl allows for the purest possible pressing and the most visually stunning presentation. Every UHQR will be hand inspected upon pressing completion, and only the truly flawless will be allowed to go to market. Each UHQR will be packaged in a custom clamshell box and will include a booklet detailing the entire process of making a UHQR along with a hand-signed certificate of inspection. This will be a truly deluxe, collectible product.

Bob Marley & The Wailers' Rastaman Vibration Analogue Productions' UHQR, the pinnacle of high-quality vinyl! 45 RPM 2LP Ultra High Quality Record release limited to 4,500 copies Mastered from the original tapes by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound Pressed on 180-gram at Quality Record Pressings using Clarity Vinyl® Includes "12 x 12" 8-page booklet featuring new liner notes by musician and Marley biographer Leroy Jodie Pierson (APO Records Direct-To-Disc AAPO 005), plus exclusive photos by Kim-Gottlieb Walker Purest possible pressing and most visually stunning presentation and packaging!

When Rastaman Vibration was first released in America in 1976 it did what some in the music industry considered nearly impossible at the time. It took Bob Marley into the Top Ten alongside disco records and corporate rock, points out Rolling Stone, which rates the album 4 stars. Despite the good cheer of the title track and the upbeat "Roots, Rock, Reggae," Rastaman Vibration contains some of Marley's most intense images of oppression, paranoia and despair. Tracks such as "Who the Cap Fit," "Crazy Baldhead" and "War" are offered by the Wailers with dire urgency as Marley's brutal visions are echoed by his own church choir, the I-Threes.

More than four decades later, neither Marley's music nor his message has lost its sting. Now, Analogue Productions presents perfection — Rastaman Vibration cut at 45 RPM in UHQR format on 180-gram 2LP Clarity Vinyl. This Ultra High Quality Record release will be limited to 4,500 copies, with gold foil individually numbered jackets. For Bob Marley, 1975 was a triumphant year. The singer's Natty Dread album featured one of his strongest batches of original material (the first compiled after the departure of Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer) and delivered Top 40 hit "No Woman No Cry." The follow-up Live set, a document of Marley's appearance at London's Lyceum, found the singer conquering England as well. Upon completing the tour, Marley and his band returned to Jamaica, laying down the tracks for Rastaman Vibration (1976) at legendary studios run by Harry Johnson and Joe Gibbs.

At the mixing board for the sessions were Sylvan Morris and Errol Thompson, Jamaican engineers of the highest caliber. Of the material on Rastaman Vibration, "War," for one, remains one of the most stunning statements of the singer's career. Though it is essentially a straight reading of one of Haile Selassie's speeches, Marley phrases the text exquisitely to fit a musical setting, a quiet intensity lying just below the surface. Equally strong are the likes of "Rat Race,""'Crazy Baldhead," and "Want More."

These songs are tempered by buoyant, lighthearted material like "Cry to Me," "Night Shift," and "Positive Vibration." Not quite as strong as some of the love songs Marley would score hits with on subsequent albums, "Cry to Me" seems like an obvious choice for a single and remains underrated. This UHQR is remastered at 45 RPM by Sterling Sound's Ryan K. Smith from the original analog master tapes. Each UHQR will be pressed at Acoustic Sounds' industry-leading pressing plant Quality Record Pressings (QRP) using hand-selected Clarity Vinyl® with attention paid to every single detail. These records will feature the same flat profile that helped to make the original UHQR so desirable. From the lead-in groove to the run-out groove, there is no pitch to the profile, allowing the customer's stylus to play truly perpendicular to the grooves from edge to center.

Clarity Vinyl allows for the purest possible pressing and the most visually stunning presentation. Every UHQR will be hand inspected upon pressing completion, and only the truly flawless will be allowed to go to market. Each UHQR will be packaged in a custom clamshell box and will include a booklet detailing the entire process of making a UHQR along with a hand-signed certificate of inspection. This will be a truly deluxe, collectible product. In addition to the UHQR booklet the package will contain a 8-page 12" x 12" booklet containing new liner notes by musican and Marley biographer Leroy Jodie Pierson as well as exclusive photos by Kim-Gottlieb Walker. Pierson is a past performer for Blues Masters at the Crossroads, the two-night historic blues festival at Blue Heaven Studios in Salina, Kansas. He's also recorded a Direct-To-Disc blues album for APO Records. (AAPO 005) Rastaman Vibration — now a landmark production on 180-gram 45 RPM Analogue Productions UHQR Clarity Vinyl!

This USB key bring the Dysbiosis Album as Wave & MP3. A 1 hour long hard break/drum crazyness collection of tunes chained as alive-set.
Then comes 2 folders with the tunes as WAVE and MP3 one-by-one.
One folder countains the Trailer Video.
One folder brings a collection of 80 Flyers images.
One folder with Radio Bomb cultissims' logos declinaisons.

NOTICE it's also possible to ask RADIO BOMB in person to get 2 tunes as dubplate for 30 euros Shipment included !!!



a 1. Better in Hell [Dysbiosis]
[b] 2. World Control [Dysbiosis]
[c] 3. War Against the Machines [Dysbiosis]
[d] 4. Cut Me Up - 2020 mix [Dysbiosis]
[e] 5. Sold my Soul to the Devil [Dysbiosis]
[f] 6. New Tek 2020 [Dysbiosis]
[g] 7. Maybe he Sold himself to the Devil [Dysbiosis]
[h] 8. Lazy-arse Soundboy - Tormented Souls mix [Dysbiosis]
[i] 9. Back in the Day [Dysbiosis]
[j] 10. 195 Hardcore Beats [Dysbiosis]
[k] 11. Crossbreed 2020 [Dysbiosis]
[l] 12. Metal Connection 1 - InFlames Remix [Dysbiosis]
[m] 13. Metal Connection 2 - Slipknot Remix [Dysbiosis]

[a] 1. Better in Hell [Dysbiosis]
[b] 2. World Control [Dysbiosis]
[c] 3. War Against the Machines [Dysbiosis]
[d] 4. Cut Me Up - 2020 mix [Dysbiosis]
[e] 5. Sold my Soul to the Devil [Dysbiosis]
[f] 6. New Tek 2020 [Dysbiosis]
[g] 7. Maybe he Sold himself to the Devil [Dysbiosis]
[h] 8. Lazy-arse Soundboy - Tormented Souls mix [Dysbiosis]
[i] 9. Back in the Day [Dysbiosis]
[j] 10. 195 Hardcore Beats [Dysbiosis]
[k] 11. Crossbreed 2020 [Dysbiosis]
[l] 12. Metal Connection 1 - InFlames Remix [Dysbiosis]
[m] 13. Metal Connection 2 - Slipknot Remix [Dysbiosis]

Compiled by Philip King
“And then came the rise of synth pop : blokes with dodgy haircuts hunched over keyboard-operated
machines stuffed with wires and do-it-yourself tone oscillators making sounds like a brood of geese
passing gas in a wind tunnel. Whoopee! This is the way the ‘70s ended : not with a blood-curdling bang
bang but with a cheap, synthesized, emasculating whimper.”
NICK KENT, NME.

All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985 is a new compilation that charts the
underbelly of the epoch-defining sound of the synthesiser in 80s popular music. Compiled by Philip
King (previously seen compiling All The Young Droogs, Glitterbest and Boobs - The Junkshop
Glam Discotheque), the music here connects the dots between DIY synth enthusiasts grappling with
new, cheap synthesisers at the tail-end of punk and wannabe, jobbing songwriters enthral to the new
music pioneered by Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller’s Mute Records. Featuring rare
tracks of auto-didactic progressive pop music, proto-techno punk, shoot-for-the-stars-land-in-the-gutter
chart flops and heralded, underground synth classics, School Daze paints a picture of beautiful failure.
Complete with extensive sleeve notes written by King and never before seen imagery, all 24 tracks
were remastered by RPM in-house engineer Simon Murphy, many from vinyl copies due to lost master
tapes. The story told on All The Young Droids is one of the dawning opportunity presented by both the
emergence to the market of cheaper analog synthesisers and the distribution networks plus indie labels
that exploded with the advent of punk music in 1976. While the music that sprouted out all over the
globe in the wake of these factors was decried as fake, plastic, a refutation of punk’s guitar-led
revolution, it’s telling that much of the music on All The Young Droids.. was created in bedrooms,
ramshackle studios and home-made set ups with often borrowed equipment. In the era of record labels
jumping to capitalise on the success of The Sex Pistols, The Clash (both on major labels, of course)
these artists struggled to stand out from a new gold-rush with next to no budget or PR team. With radio
and labels desperate for the new Yazoo, what resulted was a testament to necessity being the mother
of invention.

At the time, the synthesiser was the music of the future, a shiny new machine that could paint like an
orchestra with a single finger and a 4-track. In the hands of Manchester avant-pranksters Gerry & The
Holograms it’s a pulsing, sardonic weapon.. the only instrument on the Messthetics classic lampooning
of New Wave fashion. In Hamburg, a 16 year old Andreas Dorau used it to write and record (with his
female classmates on vocals) a global smash in Fred Vom Jupiter (later licensed to Mute Records).
The hard-to-find English version (Fred From Jupiter, natch) is included here. Many artists with alreadystoried careers caught the bug and recorded synthesiser-fuelled peons to space, computers, the future
and, of course, love-interests. Harry Kakoulli, late of Squeeze, recorded a solo album in 1979 that
included the incredible power-synth-pop smash-that-never-smashed I’m On A Rocket. Similarly, Ian
North of Neo and American Power Pop stalwarts Milk ’n’ Cookies bought a Korg MS20 and used a
tape machine to record We’re Not Lonely, an absolute lost-classic of minimal synth pop. We’re Not
Lonely also features on the Junkshop Synth Pop sampler 7” twinned with John Howard unreleased
track You Will See, released April 12th 2025.

There are plenty of compilation debuts in evidence. Sole Sister were a mysterious trio who were
featured on the Scaling Triangles compilation of female-fronted, queer-adjacent post-punk /
underground music that also featured The Petticoats. Selwin Image were from San Francisco and
featured members of the recently defunct power pop/punk group The Pushups. Their stupidly catchy
The Unknown fizzes with New Wave energy - think XTC to Sparks but remains unreleased until now.
Dream Unit’s A Drop In The Ocean is an early synth wave cut, positively teaming with Joy Division
instrumentation, previously only released on a long-forgotten and super rare, self-released EP.
Incandescent Luminaire’s Famous Names belies an archetypal struggle of a small-town trying to
make it in a cruel industry but is a thrilling New Romantic-Synth Wave cross over with a OMD
gloominess that’s a joy to hear. Feminist Minimal Wave track I Am A Time Bomb by performance artist
Peta Lilly and Michael Chance is a revelation destined for new found cult status. It was released on 7”
and lost until now.

The flipside to the subterranean, never-made-it synth pop mentioned above are the ambitious, even
fruity attempts at success that have a perennial elegance to their confidence. New Jersey-ite Billy
London (real name Ed Barth) tried to cash in on the synth boom with Woman, released by a major
label, a lurching new wave track built on the Louie Louie rhythm and a wonderfully camp Lou Reedstyle sleazy vocal before exploding in the synthesised chorus. The song bombed but with a chorus like
this, you have to wonder why? Ex-Glitter Band member John Springate’s My Life is truly epic, with
doomed chord progressions and massive sounding drums turning into at least 3 different songs in the
course of the track. Before you wonder what’s going on the song resolves with a glorious return to the
main refrain.

The dry-ice-dressed dance floor is well catered for too. Design’s Premonition and Vision’s Lucifer’s
Friend are stone-cold minimal synth bangers, well loved but given a new lease of life here. The
Warlord’s The Ultimate Warlord was released in 1978, a homespun proto Hi NRG banger that was
later re-recorded by The Immortals in Canada who had a club hit with it. One-man- band Disco
Volante’s No Motion was re-issued by Synth wave label Medical in 2012 but makes its first vinyl
compilation appearance here. Close your eyes and you can imagine what Lawrence of Felt would have
sounded like with some cheap Korgs a little earlier in his career. Gibraltar-based trio The Microbes
imagined a computer programming people to dance - how prescient - and ended up with a propulsive,
robo-funk track with splendid rubbery bass playing over a tectonic drum machine. Previously picked up
by Belgian label Stroom TV, Dee Jay Bert & Eagle’s heavily Euro-accented I Am Your Master
demands the listener to “come to paradise!” In a frankly terrifying manner.
All The Young Droids is the first compilation to peel away from the narrative that dour, Minimal Synth
and Cold Wave were the only musical children of the first rush of synth pop. Philip King and School
Daze Records describe a much more complicated world: along with the austere, Brutalist children of
Daniel Miller (who produced Alan Burnham’s Bowie-Low-influenced Science Fiction here) was a
plethora of desperate cash-ins, accidental mainstream hits, ambitious pop dramas and major label
punts that went nowhere. Crucially, the compilation blurs the line between junk and treasure. What if the
two things are interchangeable. What if it’s all science fiction?

Compiled by Philip King
“And then came the rise of synth pop : blokes with dodgy haircuts hunched over keyboard-operated
machines stuffed with wires and do-it-yourself tone oscillators making sounds like a brood of geese
passing gas in a wind tunnel. Whoopee! This is the way the ‘70s ended : not with a blood-curdling bang
bang but with a cheap, synthesized, emasculating whimper.”
NICK KENT, NME.

All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985 is a new compilation that charts the
underbelly of the epoch-defining sound of the synthesiser in 80s popular music. Compiled by Philip
King (previously seen compiling All The Young Droogs, Glitterbest and Boobs - The Junkshop
Glam Discotheque), the music here connects the dots between DIY synth enthusiasts grappling with
new, cheap synthesisers at the tail-end of punk and wannabe, jobbing songwriters enthral to the new
music pioneered by Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller’s Mute Records. Featuring rare
tracks of auto-didactic progressive pop music, proto-techno punk, shoot-for-the-stars-land-in-the-gutter
chart flops and heralded, underground synth classics, School Daze paints a picture of beautiful failure.
Complete with extensive sleeve notes written by King and never before seen imagery, all 24 tracks
were remastered by RPM in-house engineer Simon Murphy, many from vinyl copies due to lost master
tapes. The story told on All The Young Droids is one of the dawning opportunity presented by both the
emergence to the market of cheaper analog synthesisers and the distribution networks plus indie labels
that exploded with the advent of punk music in 1976. While the music that sprouted out all over the
globe in the wake of these factors was decried as fake, plastic, a refutation of punk’s guitar-led
revolution, it’s telling that much of the music on All The Young Droids.. was created in bedrooms,
ramshackle studios and home-made set ups with often borrowed equipment. In the era of record labels
jumping to capitalise on the success of The Sex Pistols, The Clash (both on major labels, of course)
these artists struggled to stand out from a new gold-rush with next to no budget or PR team. With radio
and labels desperate for the new Yazoo, what resulted was a testament to necessity being the mother
of invention.

At the time, the synthesiser was the music of the future, a shiny new machine that could paint like an
orchestra with a single finger and a 4-track. In the hands of Manchester avant-pranksters Gerry & The
Holograms it’s a pulsing, sardonic weapon.. the only instrument on the Messthetics classic lampooning
of New Wave fashion. In Hamburg, a 16 year old Andreas Dorau used it to write and record (with his
female classmates on vocals) a global smash in Fred Vom Jupiter (later licensed to Mute Records).
The hard-to-find English version (Fred From Jupiter, natch) is included here. Many artists with alreadystoried careers caught the bug and recorded synthesiser-fuelled peons to space, computers, the future
and, of course, love-interests. Harry Kakoulli, late of Squeeze, recorded a solo album in 1979 that
included the incredible power-synth-pop smash-that-never-smashed I’m On A Rocket. Similarly, Ian
North of Neo and American Power Pop stalwarts Milk ’n’ Cookies bought a Korg MS20 and used a
tape machine to record We’re Not Lonely, an absolute lost-classic of minimal synth pop. We’re Not
Lonely also features on the Junkshop Synth Pop sampler 7” twinned with John Howard unreleased
track You Will See, released April 12th 2025.

There are plenty of compilation debuts in evidence. Sole Sister were a mysterious trio who were
featured on the Scaling Triangles compilation of female-fronted, queer-adjacent post-punk /
underground music that also featured The Petticoats. Selwin Image were from San Francisco and
featured members of the recently defunct power pop/punk group The Pushups. Their stupidly catchy
The Unknown fizzes with New Wave energy - think XTC to Sparks but remains unreleased until now.
Dream Unit’s A Drop In The Ocean is an early synth wave cut, positively teaming with Joy Division
instrumentation, previously only released on a long-forgotten and super rare, self-released EP.
Incandescent Luminaire’s Famous Names belies an archetypal struggle of a small-town trying to
make it in a cruel industry but is a thrilling New Romantic-Synth Wave cross over with a OMD
gloominess that’s a joy to hear. Feminist Minimal Wave track I Am A Time Bomb by performance artist
Peta Lilly and Michael Chance is a revelation destined for new found cult status. It was released on 7”
and lost until now.

The flipside to the subterranean, never-made-it synth pop mentioned above are the ambitious, even
fruity attempts at success that have a perennial elegance to their confidence. New Jersey-ite Billy
London (real name Ed Barth) tried to cash in on the synth boom with Woman, released by a major
label, a lurching new wave track built on the Louie Louie rhythm and a wonderfully camp Lou Reedstyle sleazy vocal before exploding in the synthesised chorus. The song bombed but with a chorus like
this, you have to wonder why? Ex-Glitter Band member John Springate’s My Life is truly epic, with
doomed chord progressions and massive sounding drums turning into at least 3 different songs in the
course of the track. Before you wonder what’s going on the song resolves with a glorious return to the
main refrain.

The dry-ice-dressed dance floor is well catered for too. Design’s Premonition and Vision’s Lucifer’s
Friend are stone-cold minimal synth bangers, well loved but given a new lease of life here. The
Warlord’s The Ultimate Warlord was released in 1978, a homespun proto Hi NRG banger that was
later re-recorded by The Immortals in Canada who had a club hit with it. One-man- band Disco
Volante’s No Motion was re-issued by Synth wave label Medical in 2012 but makes its first vinyl
compilation appearance here. Close your eyes and you can imagine what Lawrence of Felt would have
sounded like with some cheap Korgs a little earlier in his career. Gibraltar-based trio The Microbes
imagined a computer programming people to dance - how prescient - and ended up with a propulsive,
robo-funk track with splendid rubbery bass playing over a tectonic drum machine. Previously picked up
by Belgian label Stroom TV, Dee Jay Bert & Eagle’s heavily Euro-accented I Am Your Master
demands the listener to “come to paradise!” In a frankly terrifying manner.
All The Young Droids is the first compilation to peel away from the narrative that dour, Minimal Synth
and Cold Wave were the only musical children of the first rush of synth pop. Philip King and School
Daze Records describe a much more complicated world: along with the austere, Brutalist children of
Daniel Miller (who produced Alan Burnham’s Bowie-Low-influenced Science Fiction here) was a
plethora of desperate cash-ins, accidental mainstream hits, ambitious pop dramas and major label
punts that went nowhere. Crucially, the compilation blurs the line between junk and treasure. What if the
two things are interchangeable. What if it’s all science fiction?

Award-winning producer and composer Giorgi Koberidze offers up a head-spinning debut of Georgian modern classical music shot through with 360° electroacoustic textures.

Giorgi Koberidze is an electronic and classical music composer from Georgia. He currently serves as a professor of music at Tbilisi State Conservatoire, as well as at Ilia State University, and the private music school "303 Herz". Giorgi's work is rooted in the Georgian musical tradition, cross-pollinating indigenous instrumentation with electronic and western classical timbres. He recently won first prize in the Tbilisi Conservatoire Composers Awards, and received Georgia's most prestigious cultural gong, the Tsinandali Award.
The Album was premiered in Georgia at the Kutaisi Film Festival, and later showcased at the Tbilisi Film Festival. Working from graphic scores, Giorgi's ensemble includes strings, woodwind and traditional instruments from the Caucasus (doli, chuniri). Fleeting voices, field recordings and skittering percussion converge to paint a storied map of Tbilisi, and its surrounding terrain of forested polyphony and microtonal peaks and crags.

Each listen of the album is projectively rich, like a dizzying series of sonic inkblot images. The piece is designed to be absorbed in the surround sound of darkened movie theatres, conjuring a multiverse of narratives in the half-light of sensory acuity. At home, Giorgi invites listeners to set aside time to experience the record in a dark, comfortable space absent of external stimuli.

This album was made with the support of the Tbilisi State Conservatoire. The recordings were funded by Nicolas Jaar. Thank you. We are beyond proud to present this incredible project.

Recommended for fans of Pierre Bastien, Roméo Poirier, Jan Jelinek.

The album is most famous due to the lead single "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)". The band's over the top image gave the group their unique identity. Another huge single hit is the disco influenced "Lover Come Back to Me", in which the singer is pining over a love interest. Glam rock and goth music are mixed together both in their music as their image. Youthquake is an interesting and energetic example of how you're going to start the party. Dead or Alive found success in the mid-1980s and sold over 50 million records worldwide. Founder and vocalist Pete Burns passed away in 2016 and since the band discontinued.

Foals ‘Total Life Forever’ is now available on recycled blue vinyl.

Originally released in May 2015 each record is a unique blue colour. Final product delivered may differ in colour from the image shown here.

A band formed out of necessity for incessant speed and the desire to keep pure unadulterated riffage alive into death metal, Recorruptor has succeeded in providing the Midwest U.S. with captivating live concerts played to the soundtrack of honest, yet unapologetic extremity. Since the first lineup formed in 2016, Recorruptor has put out two full length records in "Bloodmoon" (2017) and "The Funeral Corridor" (2020). These two records have given Recorruptor the opportunity to travel across the region and support many of the world's favorite extreme artists - notably Cannibal Corpse, The Black Dahlia Murder, Suffocation, Morbid Angel, Cattle Decapitation, and much more. This record sees the band trimming the fat, focusing solely on a concise and calculated assault of sonic riffng. Recorruptor displays a multitude of extreme sounds that sounds as much of an homage to their many influences as they can fit, while sprinkling in just enough unique flair to make their own brand stand out.

A band formed out of necessity for incessant speed and the desire to keep pure unadulterated riffage alive into death metal, Recorruptor has succeeded in providing the Midwest U.S. with captivating live concerts played to the soundtrack of honest, yet unapologetic extremity. Since the first lineup formed in 2016, Recorruptor has put out two full length records in "Bloodmoon" (2017) and "The Funeral Corridor" (2020). These two records have given Recorruptor the opportunity to travel across the region and support many of the world's favorite extreme artists - notably Cannibal Corpse, The Black Dahlia Murder, Suffocation, Morbid Angel, Cattle Decapitation, and much more. This record sees the band trimming the fat, focusing solely on a concise and calculated assault of sonic riffng. Recorruptor displays a multitude of extreme sounds that sounds as much of an homage to their many influences as they can fit, while sprinkling in just enough unique flair to make their own brand stand out.

Turning heads with their unique blend of garage, psych, punk rock Bad Bangs played across notable festivals and club shows throughout a 23 show run in 2024. Making waves at Left of The Dial (NL), Leffingeleuren (BE), Truenorayo (ES) and Gliding Barnacles Festival (PT) Bad Bangs make a charging return to the 2025 European Summer festival circuit. Their 2024 sophomore release Out Of Character was the first offering since their debut album Character Building. Somewhere between punk and country, folk and psych, Bad Bangs find themselves Out Of Character. The Melbourne based outfit's sophomore album bends across genres to form a unique soundscape of their own. Live tracking with the masterful Paul Maybury (Cash Savage & The Last Drinks, The Murlocs) captured the bands enigmatic live energy, whilst mastering by Jim Diamond (Ghetto Recorders, The White Stripes, The Dirtbombs, The Gore Gore Girls) secured the signature gritty sound of Bad Bangs. The album arrives with the punchy, punk-laced opening track Contest, which questions the fabric of an industry hell bent on image and conformity, and concludes with the psych infused Wild Mess which laments the shifting state of the natural world. Themes of social and environmental unrest swirl in the undercurrent of an album reflecting on immediate frustrations and personal reflection. With a staple cult following in their hometown of Melbourne, Bad Bangs have supported a high caliber of contemporaries over the years such as Shannon and The Clams, The Murlocs, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever and Chastity Belt. Bad Bangs Out Of Character is set for re-release through Beast records (FR) and locally released via Blossom Rot Records (AU&NZ) (Snowy Band, Cassie Ramone and more) Bad Bangs are part of Ya Ya Yeah's booking roster throughout EU. Bad Bangs members are Shelby De Fazio, Tim Ryles, Sophia Lubczenko and Gab Portocarrero.

Transitioning from the successful 2 Years EP (O Sótão Records, 2023), Tiago Fonseca became an up and coming Producer and DJ based between Lisbon and Porto. On the back of gigs at some of the best clubs in the country, he also transitions from Tiago A.F. to TGZ (sounding Tigz) as his moniker for what’s to come ahead. Long Shape, his latest project, is O Sótão’s first vinyl release, and the first to be delivered with higher standards of professionalism. Learning the trade, the processes, the timeframes, the costs, and having just completed 10 years of existence. A good time to go a bit deeper.

In the summer, Tiago sent me a golden playlist of unfinished projects for a second opinion. The idea for a new record started there, and from the bunch we handpicked a selection that ended up making really a lot of sense for us. We were looking for wet deepness and eternal warm ups, pulling up the fader slowly. An invitation to leave our mental capsules and divert attention towards a seductive bassline cliff-hanging a dream. Progressiveness and jazz. Long shapes and melodies in the last frontier between nostalgia and hope.

To help, we invited Miguel Tenreiro (a.k.a. Gazpa) to master the tracks, with him adding a smooth-extra-delicious pump on the beautiful original elements. Miguel also picked up the title-track for a remix treatment, breaking up the tempo with a hip-hop-electronica finale, sprinkled by a guitar solo from Zé Nuno - another great musician stemming from Mr. Bean’s bar, where we held a residency for the past year.

Long Shape will drop on March 21st. Vinyls might be only available a bit later. It will be a landmark moment for us, being Tiago’s most complete work to date, and a better representation of his rich musical influences, expanding it, as we speak, to another level. It’s also been 10 years for O Sótão, so there’s that too. To sum up, I’m just very glad that Long Shape sounds exactly where we would like to be after all this time, with a quick image of a nite-lit skyscraper cutting into a couple of rocks being dropped in the coolest whiskey glass, and the people warming up to a dream.

Edition of 100 Vinyl 12’’, Cover 3mm spine

*People Like Us, the project of artist Vicki Bennet returns to Discrepant with a special vinyl release of "COPIA". This album marks the first new musical material since "The Mirror" in 2018, delving into the profound realms of existential collage and sampling, celebrating these forms as expressions of timeless connectivity.
* The title "COPIA," meaning 'abundance' and 'copy,' reflects the essence of collage and sampling - art created not in isolation, but as a connective thread through time and space, linking ideas across generations in a seamless tapestry.
* By reconfiguring preexisting sounds and images, Bennet highlights the non-dual nature of creation — where distinctions between past, present, and future possibilities blur, revealing a shared foundation beneath. The album marks a return to not just solo works but collaborations with notable artists.
* Drawing from the new People Like Us live AV performance, "The Library of Babel," sampling and edited sound collage, electronic music, combined with Ergo Phizmiz's lyrics and melodies, "COPIA" weaves and recombines a timeless blend of diverse elements that transcends traditional musical boundaries. This creative process unfolded through the exchange of multitracks across both water and ether. Collaborating with the voices, instruments and editing timelines of Matmos, Hearty White, Gwilly Edmondez, Lotte Bowater, Buttress O’Kneel, Douglas Benford, Irene Moon, Jon Leidecker, and Matt Warwick, the work evolved exquisite corpse-style.

“Bennett has proven herself an alchemist of popular music, able to push her source material into fresh and engaging places. Where some artists hack existing instruments and technologies to create their new sounds, Bennet has circuit-bent the songs themselves.” - Spenser Tomson, The Wire Magazine

Recorded with BRIT Award-winning producer Ethan Johns (Paul McCartney, Kings of Leon, Laura Marling, Ray Lamontagne) Ann's debut album Clever Rabbits explores the limits of prescribed identity in a timeless, brave and sensitive challenge of the zeitgeist - Inspired by the Chinese idiom "Clever rabbits need three burrows", and the imagery of three rabbits found in Devon's churches and China's caves, Ann Liu Cannon weaves Anglo-Celtic folklore, sacred texts, the sonic binaries of modern digital synthesis and her classic singer-songwriter roots, with integrity and precision - Clever Rabbits is a story told in her distinctive land of elegant, wonky folk

Emerging from their subterranean recording studio The House of Vibes, The Grip Weeds have delivered a tour-de-force with Soul Bender, their ninth full-length studio album and their first newly-recorded original tracks since 2019's Trip Around The Sun. This astonishing record finds the band pushing their recording, arranging and songwriting skills into new and evocative territory. On Soul Bender, The Grip Weeds continue to expand: Musical and sonic experimentation abounds, resulting in a record that is bigger and more dramatic than ever; melodically inventive, yet accessible with lyrical imagery and hooks firing at you from all directions. Most impressive of all is that The Grip Weeds are entirely self-contained: From production, engineering, mixing and artwork, Soul Bender represents a complete and total vision of intent. If you like the fearless bold intensity of rock from the classic era yet reimagined for the 21st Century, Soul Bender is for you. Heard on Sirius XM's The Underground Garage, The Beatles Channel and indie/commercial radio worldwide.

Black Hole Superette, the latest album from Aesop Rock, delves into the invisible forces that shape our lives and psyches. It's about the small, often overlooked moments_the everyday experiences that blur the lines between the real and the unreal, waking and sleeping. Aesop's signature gift for transforming the mundane into something dreamlike gives the album a surreal quality, leaving listeners questioning what's truly real as they navigate its vivid, half-remembered imagery. Entirely self-produced, Black Hole Superette is one of Aesop Rock's most technically accomplished works to date. The album's intricate beats and complex structures provide the perfect backdrop for his expansive lyricism, balancing cerebral exploration with emotional depth. From the reflective 'Movie Night' and the eccentric 'Send Help' to the wistful 'Black Plums,' Aesop channels the spirit of a mad scientist, experimenting with sound and concept in ways that defy the ordinary. With a stellar lineup of collaborators that includes Lupe Fiasco, Armand Hammer, Hanni El Khatib, Open Mike Eagle and Homeboy Sandman, Black Hole Superette is dense and kinetic, an album that deftly navigates between complexity and instinct. It's clear this project stands as one of Aesop Rock's most multifaceted and ambitious works yet.

Way back when, Upgrade & Afterlife was the umpteenth release from the individual and collective forces of David Grubbs (known then for Bastro, The Red Krayola, Codeine, Squirrel Bait) and Jim O"Rourke (known for O"Rourke), whose further history has since numbered at least another umpteen or so essential listens. What is it though, wrapped up in delectable sonic amber here, that defines this Upgrade? To be sure, we hear these young men dashing through the joys of youth-their actual young youth-as well as a version captured in memory and relived with a performative touch. Time remembered as tones, with gravity gained via perceptions. The stuff of memory and sentiment as selective and potentially deceptive in their nature. Who needed "em? As part of its time-traveling function, Upgrade & Afterlife is a return to roots, but not always necessarily Gastr"s. They were more than happy to stand on branches up above other folks in order to see any next thing worth leaping for. In addition to the elder-statesman Conrad, Gastr del Sol drew upon a memorable spectrum of players for the sounds of Upgrade & Afterlife, including Anthony Burr, Steve Braack, Gene Coleman, Mats Gustafsson, Terri Kapsalis, John McEntire, Günter Müller, Jerry Ruthrauff, Ralf Wehowsky and Sue Wolf. When issued, this combination of players, parts and play - packaged in an impressively broad tip-on Stoughton gatefold sleeve emblazoned with Roman Signer"s instantly iconic "Wasserstiefel" image - became the fastest-moving Gastr del Sol record to date. A delightful result, to our way of thinking, of the band"s ability to push at the far boundaries of their music while consolidating upon pleasure points within sounds and songs. Gastr used these polarities to compulsively draw the listener intimately close with sudden injections of g-force and an uncanny interpolation of space.

Dimple Discs is pleased to announce its first release from the legend that is Jah Wobble. It is a completely solo work with Wobble writing playing and arranging. Lee Perry and King Tubby are deep influences with astounding top layer sonics. Jah Wobble, is an English bass guitarist and singer. He became known to a wider audience as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd (PiL) in the late 1970s and early 1980s; he left the band after two albums. Following his departure from PiL, he developed a solo career. In 2012, he reunited with fellow PiL guitarist Keith Levene for Metal Box in Dub and the album Yin & Yang. He continues to tour with a two hour show often presenting "Metal Box In Dub" with former Siouxsie and the Banshees guitar player Jon Klein who Wobble calls the greatest post punk guitarist.

INSTOCK VERY LIMITED COPIES This is the single LP vinyl edition of Spacious Minds: Volume I. The animal half of the full presentation. Artwork by Jake Blanchard. Please note that the images are mockups. Are you sure you shouldn't get both volumes?

Emerging from the fertile chaos of Düsseldorf’s Salon des Amateurs scene, Sequence of Events, the collaborative project of Deniz Saridas and Joshua Gottmanns, presents The Art of Memory, an album that feels both intimate and ungraspable, like recalling a dream that fades upon waking.

Rooted in the post-industrial landscapes of West Germany, The Art of Memory channels the bleak resilience of these environments into its sound. It’s a collage of kraut-infused electronics, shoegaze textures, and industrial pulses, filtered through a lens of introspective psychedelia. “We don’t consciously break down or combine genres,” they explain. “Everything is interwoven, like chemistry. Some reactions happen immediately, others take years under pressure.”

From the opening track TAR, with its stoic vocals and drum-heavy propulsion, to the robotic Meagre Gardens, where autotuned chants coil around unconventional drum programming, the album moves like a fever dream through fragmented memories. Soul Divider unfolds like a cinematic journey through yearning and desire, its repetitive pulses echoing the ache of unfulfilled longing, while Nature Hates Life distills pop music through the eyes of a killjoy: “Kurt Cobain on an AKAI MPC2000,” as the band describes it. Even moments of tenderness, like the drifting Becomings, shimmer with absolute sensuality: a seductive exploration of presence defined by absence. We lift each other up and hold each other down.

The creative process behind The Art of Memory is as fluid as the music itself. Saridas and Gottmanns, both self-taught musicians with backgrounds in fine art, worked intuitively, drawing from a shared pool of samples, text fragments, and images. Operating somewhere in the space between fin de siècle aesthetics and occultism, it’s a dream wedding with a continuous stream of meaningless (moving) images generated by human and non-human entities.

Ultimately, The Art of Memory is not an escape but an immersion. A meditation on the sensory overload of the present and the ghosts it leaves in its wake. In a world where music is often reduced to background noise for consumption, Sequence of Events offers something more elusive: a record that lingers, unsettles, and demands to be remembered.

REPRESS

New Delhi-based Peter Cat Recording Co. will release their debut album, ‘Bismillah’ on June 14, 2019 via French independent label Panache Records. Debut UK live shows are soon also to be announced by the band.


Peter Cat Recording Co. could almost have a question mark on the end of its name. Not least as founder & frontman Suryakant Sawhney refuses to explain where that name really comes from or what it means (perhaps a reference to the Tokyo jazz club owned by Haruki Murakami), but also since the very existence of the band itself raises a raft of questions. When was the last time we fell for an indie rock band for the right reasons? Not because the band in question nostalgically imitate a perceived ‘golden age’ but because they innately embody the fundamentals of such music: fantasy, sincerity and the freedom to make music without rules or career aspi- rations. And when was the last time this kind of band sounded like Sinatra, Barry White, the sweetest doo-wop, humid fanfares and a psychedelic wedding band, all at once? And all of this coming from India?
In truth, the story of Peter Cat Recording Co. was written within the triangle of San Francisco, Delhi and Paris.
In the first of these cities, Sawhney (a native of Delhi) pitched up to study film-making. More distracted by the city’s peaking live scene of the early noughties, this is where he started to make music and to sketch out an idea for the band.“
The people I lived with supported my idea of writing music, they introduced me to great mu-
sic. There used to be a great garage scene in San Francisco, like The Oh Sees also Ty Seagall, Mikal Conin, all those bands. This is a world I had never seen in my entire life. A big inspiration from San Francisco was that you could record yourself. You don’t need to be in a studio and spend a lot of money to make an album. You can do it”.


At the end of the 2000s, Suryakant returned home to New Delhi, and started his band for real, more or less the same band that plays today. “I wasn’t so concerned about will we be performing, will we be the greatest band, will we be trendy. I just wanted to make something that was consequential and important for us, I think. Something which would last, something people could listen to and be like « this is life changing ». It was for the sake of beauty”.


For the first few years and in India alone, this is exactly what Peter Cat Recording Co. did, in total indifference to the rest of the world. This was until young Parisian label Panache stumbled across the band online via Vice’s THUMP subsidiary, stupefied by the band’s cosmic video for seven-minutes-and-counting track, ‘Love De- mons’. And so in spring of 2018, ‘Portrait Of A Time: 2010-2016’ was released on Panache - making the first international release from Peter Cat Recording Co., bizarrely enough, an anthology of re-mastered, hidden gems from the band’s ramshackle back catalogue, previously recorded in Suryakant’s own living room. With Peter Cat’s off-kilter charm hitherto unheard of beyond the fringes of India, the release provided a gateway op-
Whilst the title track found its way onto Tracks Of The Year lists at the Guardian & NME, it was tricky for new PCRC enthusiasts to get a firm grip on the startling push/pull between the immediate, uncanny music this release gathered, and the cultural backdrop of New Delhi at which it was so startlingly at odds.


Opportunity for a wider fanbase to fall in love with their cloud-like, drunken songs for the first time.
If discovering your favourite new band via a ‘Best Of’ feels a curious premise, then ‘Bismillah’ does more than hint towards the promise of Peter Cat Recording Co’s future. Blending gypsy jazz, psychedelic cabaret, space disco, bossa supernova, Bollywood and uneasy listening with kaleidoscopic ease, in many senses, the band’s knack hasn’t altered. Always different, paradoxical, unpredictable yet somehow familiar. The new album opens to the strains of bird chatter, the whisper of a city’s soundscape and the first few notes from an instrument which seem to be calling us to the departure lounge, a fore-shadow of the flight ‘Bismillah’ launches its listener
on. Suryakant sings with the detached, rueful elegance of Sinatra marooned on a desert island, whilst his band create small space-time capsules which navigate their way through genres and eras – including the future – and between nostalgia and eccentricity.


Peter Cat recently trailed ‘Bismillah’ with the release of ‘Floated By’, an appositely titled musing on failure & missed opportunities, punctuated by the fulsome brass section which weaves through so much of the album.


The languid, blue quality to the track is offset by the attendant music video, created with footage shot, implau- sibly enough, at Suryakant’s own marriage ceremony (needless to say, the wedding band hired for the day was of course, Peter Cat Recording Co.) Sawhney dryly notes; “Hopefully it’s not a many-a-times-in-a-lifetime event. You can’t fake that set, those people actually having a good time, being really emotional and intense.” ‘Bismillah’’s colour-drenched album cover also captures Suryakant’s father-in-law making his wedding toast on that same day - a nod back towards the cover of ‘Portrait Of A Time’, itself a black & white image taken at the wedding ceremony of Suryakant’s own father.


A stumbling but gracious collection of songs rooted in a kind of drunken soul music, the melancholy nature of some of the songs on ‘Bismillah’ renders them almost liquid, before they develop into more dance-like shapes. Suryakant’s rangy voice swoops from the falsetto glide of ‘I’m This’ to the beat-up baritone blown along by the warm breeze of ‘Soulless Friends’. The elliptical structure of album opener ‘Where The Money Flows’ also al-
lows for the use of brief bursts of autotune effect on his vocal without feeling incongruous, whilst the desultory lyrics of ‘Heera’ (a Hindi word for diamond) - sharing something with the Morricone school of grand storytelling - have an emotional weight that would impress even coming from a native English speaker. Perhaps the most gleefully unpredictable moment on ‘Bismillah’ comes with the illusory, vocal loops on the intro to ‘Memory Box’, errupting into 8 exhilarating minutes worth of unbridled, string-backed disco joy. A cat might have nine lives, but on ‘Bismillah’ and beyond, Peter Cat Recording Co. are hinting towards an un- knowable multitude of dimensions. Throw them all together, and it equates less to a listening experience and more to an out-of-body experience.


Peter Cat Recording Co. are: Suryakant Sawhney (vocals/guitar/organ), Dhruv Bhola (bass), Kartik S Pillai (organ/guitar/electronics), Rohit Gupta (horns), Karan Singh (drums)