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Verve und seine Schwesterlabels Impulse, Mercury und Emarcy bieten Vinylfans mit der ACOUSTIC SOUNDS-Serie eine audiophile LP-Serie für gehobene Ansprüche. Hierfür arbeitet Verve mit dem bekannten amerikanischen Vinyl-Label Acoustic Sounds zusammen:

- Fertigung mit 100% ANALOGEN PRODUKTIONSSCHRITTEN
- Mastering vom ERSTE-GENERATION-MASTERBAND
- 180G-PRESSUNG bei Quality Record Pressings
- laminierte TIP-ON-GATEFOLD-SLEEVES & WATTIERTE INNENHÜLLEN

From mimicking drum sounds with their mouths and then processing the result to create a world of intricate, intimate sound; to recording a short EP’s worth of work at the snail’s pace of a minimum 12 months, the Sydney based duo Thomas Gray & Liam Ebbs approach their work with a fascinating blend of impulse and consideration. Sounds can be carefully sulptured, massaged, edited and reworked, only to be thrown out the window and replaced with a whole new set of material at a moment’s notice. The pair pay acute attention to mood, space and atmosphere; they are not afraid to take their time. Listening to their compositions is like travelling through the countryside on a train, downriver on a boat, or rising into clouds through the windows of a commercial airliner. Gray and Ebbs’ music, it feels, is an accompaniment to thought and feeling, a personal soundtrack to carry in one’s head. As Eno said when famously coining the term ‘ambient’ - “Ambient music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting.” In 2022, the pair will return with a new EP, ‘Blue’, their first for the Bedroom Suck Records label. The five tracks on Blue continue to explore the world that lies somewhere between organic and electronic, between natural sound and manufactured signal. Acoustic instruments make a notable appearance, as does a strong lead vocal in ‘It’s Alright’. The music is evocative, nostalgic and inspirational; It leaves one feeling hopeful.

Milanese producer Nelson of the East sets out on a deeper exploration of percussive house/techno on Sub Erotic, the first release on Tartelet Record’s new dance floor-focused sub-label DANCEMPORIUM – out May 6th.

Following his 2021 album release of Kybele, Nelson of the East (Nicolas Meyer) is embarking on a new area of sonic exploration rooted in club music motifs. His forthcoming EP, Sub Erotic, builds on his accomplished artistic imprint, balancing the urgent pulse of dance music with the rhythmic sensibilities of non-Western cultures. “After the release of Kybele, it took me a while to figure out what would be a good sequel, and I found myself deconstructing tracks from the album,” says Nelson. “I came to the conclusion that the most important thing on the new EP would be the relationship between the different elements, while trying to use fewer layers.” While the lilt and sway of organic musicality remains at the heart of his sound, the Berlin-based producer applies these qualities in a variety of ways. On “Ellipsis”, for example, live percussive patterns were recorded and recreated using synthesis, which Nelson found to be more effective than the acoustic originals. The result is three tracks that pivot around danceable structures while moving well outside the established norms of house and techno. From the pinging textures and staggered beat impulses of “Ellipsis” to the Go Go-flavored funk of “Sub Erotic” and the trance-inducing acid incantation of “Memoria”; Nelson’s distinctive inspirations spill out of his music in intriguing formations.

Danish mainstay Kasper Marott rounds out the EP, applying a seductive pulse to push “Ellipsis” towards a psychoactive peak. The perfect brooding partner to the original, while reinforcing Nelson’s vision of an electronically minded album. Sub Erotic marks the first release on DANCEMPORIUM, Tartelet Records’ new home for dance floor-oriented music. Having grown to become a broad church of musical modes and expressions, the label is now breaking out into more focused sonic spheres. With his use of rich timbres and adventurous spirit, Nelson of the East is the perfect inaugural candidate.

The long-awaited reissue of this rare Eastern and psychedelic Jazz LP by the famous Hungarian guitarist, originally
released in 1968. For the first time and as extended Edition with four bonus tracks: radio version from 1968/69 7”
singles 7”. Deluxe 6-sided Digipak CD with 20 page booklet and Gatefold Vinyl comes with long, exclusively written
inner notes by the famous researcher and biographer Douglas Payne.
“The performances on this LP have a restrained, introspective quality. Szabo’s work is lyrical, rather economical, and
somewhat angular, and his tone is warm and glowing.” – Harvey Pekar, DownBeat
“Gabor Szabo is at the musical zenith of his career. This album could rank as his best to date.” - Billboard
“But for sheer lyrical beauty, few players are in Szabo’s class. His startling use of dissonance is a delight, too, and
time and again he will alter a final phrase just slightly, totally reorienting a familiar tune.” – Alan Heineman, DownBeat
“This is definitely one of my ‘go to’ Gabor albums.” Mike Stax, Ugly Things
"Gabor Szabo’s Bacchanal documents one of the earliest and finest examples of what was then known as “jazz rock.”
Years before this new jazz style evolved – or devolved, according to some – into “fusion,” jazz rock was mostly
fashioned by younger jazz players whose ears were open to the emerging sounds coming out of rock and roll,
especially those of the Beatles and, later, Jimi Hendrix. " - Douglas Payne
After recording four albums for Impulse in 1967, the distinctive guitarist Gabor Szabo cut three strongest records for
the Skye label in 1968-1969: "1969", "Dreams" and "Bacchanal" all of them became a legendary classic. This time
EBALUNGA!!! are rediscovers "Bacchanal". Szabo's regular group of the era is heard on record for the last time:
guitarist Jimmy Stewart, bassist Louis Kabok, drummer Jim Keltner and percussionist Hal Gordon. With the exception
of two Szabo originals, the material is comprised of current pop tunes including two songs by Donovan, "Love Is Blue,"
"The Look of Love" and "Theme from the Valley of the Dolls."
Gabor Szabo was one of the most original guitarists to emerge in the 1960s, mixing his Hungarian folk music heritage
with a deep love of jazz and creating a distinctive, largely self-taught sound.
Born in Budapest, on March 8, 1936, Szabo was inspired by a Roy Rogers cowboy movie to begin playing guitar when
he was 14 and often played in dinner clubs and covert jam sessions while still living in his hometown. He escaped
from his country at age 20 on the eve of the Communist uprising and eventually made his way to America, settling
with his family in California.
He attended Berklee College (1958-1960) and in 1961 joined Chico Hamilton's innovative quintet featuring Charles
Lloyd. Urged by Hamilton, Szabo crafted a most distinctive sound; as agile on intricate, nearly-free runs as he was
able to sound inspired during melodic passages. Szabo left the Hamilton group in 1965 to leave his mark on the popjazz of the Gary McFarland quintet and the energy music of Charles Lloyd's fiery and underrated quartet featuring Ron
Carter and Tony Williams.Szabo initiated a solo career in 1966, recording the exceptional album, Spellbinder, which yielded many inspired
moments and "Gypsy Queen," the song Santana turned into a huge hit in 1970. Szabo formed an innovative quintet
(1967-1969) featuring the brilliant, classically trained guitarist Jimmy Stewart and recorded many notable albums
during the late '60s. The emergence of rock music (especially George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix) found
Szabo experimenting with feedback and more commercially oriented forms of jazz.
During the '70s, Szabo regularly performed along the West Coast, hypnotizing audiences with his enchanting,
spellbinding style. From 1970, he locked into a commercial groove, even though records like Mizrab occasionally
revealed his seamless jazz, pop, Gypsy, Indian, and Asian fusions. Szabo had revisited his homeland several times
during the '70s, finding opportunities to perform brilliantly with native talents. He was hospitalized during his final visit
and died in 1982, just short of his 46th birthday.

Clear Vinyl

Written and conceived by Stephan Crasneanscki, ‘LOVOTIC’ is a concept album by Soundwalk Collective, composed in collaboration with lauded actress and singer/songwriter Charlotte Gainsbourg. Featuring veteran techno stalwart AtomTM, rising singer/composer/performance artist Lyra Pramuk, celebrated actor Willem Dafoe, and writer/philosopher Paul B. Preciado, the album is released by the new Berlin-based Analogue Foundation.

Inspired by a relatively new field of research that seeks to explore and develop the possibilities of sexual and emotional relationships – and even love – between humans and robots, ‘LOVOTIC’ interrogates the impulses, ideas, and needs underlying this phenomenon. The project ventures into a future where sex, intimacy and desire are reformulated through the connection of humans, robotics, and artificial intelligence.

In an age of such hybrid entanglement with the machine, human identity requires the construction of new forms of intimacy, gender, and sexuality. At present, however, such technologies are primarily used to produce programs of limited sexual iterations that do not question the preformatted categories of gender and sexual orientation. In contrast, on ‘LOVOTIC’, Soundwalk Collective ask whether the future of sex and sexuality could instead be an exponentially expanding kaleidoscope. Where does the impulse of preference come from? What sets of words from our vocabulary can be communicated to the AI mind to generate a new identity for desire? Could the machine be another technology that brings us closer together?

Sonically ‘LOVOTIC’ is unidentifiable, artificial, and genuinely futuristic, occupying an amorphous androgynous netherworld at the borderlands between biotic and android. Traditional musical signposts are virtually non-existent, instead offering a mercurial, formless sound which mirrors the flourishing of gender fluidity it suggests could be on the horizon.

The production tangibly evokes the odd, rubbery textures of faux flesh, the slick virtual glide or glitchy mishaps of software, and the sleek shine of hardware. Gleaming sound design creates shard-like surfaces redolent of Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto’s ‘Glass’, the slippery stretched sonics Gabor Lazar, and the unsettling dark ambience of TOWERS and Hallmark ‘87.

At turns intimate and inviting, with whispering-in-your-ears ASMR vocals evoking blissful, heightened sexual states, within ‘LOVOTIC’ there’s optimism, but also unease; As well as the positive, it implies the negative ramifications of technology. At points a synthetic siren’s call appears to lure the listener to a darker place, with audio malfunctions suggesting dystopian science. Voices morph from gentle to distorted – a glitch in the system causing the mask to slip, like virtual lizards – ‘They Live’ or ‘V’ (?), for the metaverse age.

Here, Charlotte Gainsbourg invokes a being of unknown identity – an artificial eve, the oracle and the portal – speaking from an unspecified time in the future. The voices of AtomTM, Lyra Pramuk and Willem Dafoe weave in and out of Charlotte’s, often overlapping, merging into one another, expressing the entity of a being that’s ephemeral and in constant flux, oscillating between the natural and artificial. The record’s other bonafide singer, Lyra Pramuk’s delivery alternates between spoken word, operatics and partially- unintelligible language.

A multi-media project, ‘LOVOTIC’ also features the work of writer, philosopher and curator Paul B. Preciado – a leading thinker in the study of gender and body politics. Paul contributes a post-apocalyptic, quasi scientific and fictional text, which adds further fantasy, artistic and intellectual depth, augmenting the listener’s experience. Like all the best Sci Fi, his words seem prescient, describing what could become a likely reality in the future. Paul performs his written texts on the opening and closing tracks of the album; ‘The Age Of Mutation’ (in Spanish) and ‘Primate Love’ (in English).

Soundwalk Collective is an experimental sound collective helmed by Stephan Crasneanscki in collaboration with Simone Merli, which operates in a continuously rotating constellation of sound artists and musicians. The Collective’s approach to composition combines anthropology, ethnography, non-linear narrative, psycho- geography, the observation of nature, and explorations in recording and synthesis.

"Glodetrådar", the commissioned work for Vossajazz 2016, is a sort of "back to the roots" for Nils Okland. The area of Voss has been an important part of his musical development, in the 80's as a student and later as the musical leader at Ole Bull Akademiet (1989-95). His time at the academy gave him important impulses that inspired his characteristic, personal style: the mix between jazz, free improvisation, contemporary music and folk music. In this work Okland holds true to his unique style with simple melodies and a sincere tone that go straight to the heart. At one moment it's calm and meditative, the next we find ourselves in a rock universe with the distortion turned to max.

The idiosyncratic musical style and production practices by Sheldon, Sidney Thompson (aka Sid Le Rock) are shaped by the DIY electronic-music movement that has encouraged his creativity to develop and thrive since the late ’90s. This is a contributing factor to his impressive discography that currently stands at twelve albums under his various aliases, including Sid’s collaborations with artists from various fields and musical genres such as Depeche Mode, DJ Koze, Placebo, and persistent impressions of the journeys he has made throughout the world as a result of his live music performances.

These invaluable experiences are the supplements for his next important leap forward as follows: As a tribal member of the Algonquin First Nations, Sid seeks to explore his ancestral heritage to uncover the traditional, ceremonial soundscapes of the Native American indigenous peoples as an integral component for his new solo album project – Invisible Nation. It is his respectful endeavour to bind this seamlessly together through his knowledge of music theory and his own distinctive production sound. Sid Le Rock’s current album concept is a fusion of traditional music and organic elements utilised by the Aboriginal peoples of Canada, combined with the modernisation of electronic-based music. Mixing of both sound styles achieve balance with a shared importance to rhythm as a source of impulse and functionality. It is his equitable attempt to produce and deliver a complementary synthesis of sonic peculiarities, modern electronic methods and the repurposed use of ceremonial music, to showcase a profound pride and pay homage to his forebears.

The Algonquin First Nations otherwise referred to as Anishinaabe, are a group of indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada. They consider music and dance to be sacred and an integral part of their lives. It is a culture in which it heavily relies on rich oral traditions to pass on its stories, teachings, history, and cultivates their verbal language. Membranophone, idiophone, aerophone, and chanting are traditionally essential components to our sacred sound, "Drumming is the heartbeat of Mother Earth, chanting is the heart”. This musical connection produces a narrative depth that can transport an effective atmosphere to dance-floors, bridged by the unconventional virtues, to which electronic music permits limitless possibilities. Sid Le Rock’s latest release, marks his eighth studio album – Invisible Nation, is an exploration into his cultural roots, combining myth and musical expression to bring forth a prideful nation.

Vinyl Edition of 300 copies

Aesthetical in collaboration with Sync presents "Detect" by Marco Monfardini.

Originally developed as an audio/video live performance, Marco Monfardini based his research for Detect on the decoding of inaudible sounds, sound generated by electromagnetic emissions left from electronic devices and inaudible to the human ear. By using various electro-smog detectors Marco Monfardini creates a sort of detection mapping where electromagnetic emissions are the starting point for the sonorous development of each single composition.

A path that creates a parallel with our lives by questioning how much these emissions affect unconsciously our choices, tastes and perceptions, seeking a relationship between the massive use of technology in everyday life and our emotional state.
The album Detect is developed in 15 tracks in continuous play, an imperfect, faulty mosaic inhabited by invisible beings manifesting themselves in the form of sound streams, mutable entities that find a definitive form in the pattern of the compositional structure.

The album opens with “aR1 detection", sounds of pure detection place themselves in the sound space giving the initial coordinates for the exploration of unconscious parallel areas. The boundaries transform and gradually expand until they flow into the structure of "kernel variations", a growing rhythmic pattern decodes the impulses projecting a perspective that dissolves in the unstable and fluctuating electromagnetic emissions of the subsequent "[a]3020t detection", "binary defect "and "core[2] ". “[A.box]emission” confronts the use of sound downloaded random from internet sample banks and the emissions generated during the download itself, micro sound fragments arrange themselves in an organized and regular pattern, shaping a rhythmic structure. The first part ends with the short “[sa]6030” and “[det]x1a”, absence and presence provide an alternation of movements, inaudible and elusive signals all trying to establish a contact with our perception. “det : scan” opens the second part of Detect, a sort of scanning, leaving EMF (electromagnetic field) textures, a static multilayer that progressively expands until it dissolves into the rhythmic emissions of a common smartphone “[4s]detection”.The track “[rs]zone” " is pushing itself deeper, two minutes of sound speleology that reveal the existence of sound artifacts that seem to vanish getting in contact with the light accented by the bass drum of "[det] 0100+" a constant, rhythmic pumping, a luminous pulsation that reveals an apparent void, which seems to subside entering in the winding and waving atmosphere of "conductive [area]" and "[s3] microfunktion". Detect comes to the end with “[emf]terminal” a mirror of the unarrestable technological acceleration intercepting the flow of data that feeds the system of communication , digital micro waste suffocates the living space by centering up the invisible in an unconscious map.

[a] A1

[c] A3

[e] A5 core[2]
[f] A6 [A.box]emission (2)
[g] A7

[i] B2 [4s]detection
[j] B3
[k] B4 [det]0100+
[l] B5 conductive[area]
[m] B6 [s3]microfunktion
[n] B7 [emf]terminal

After turning heads with the densely orchestrated Riddles, produced by Dan Deacon, the Baltimore-based duo Ed Schrader’s Music Beat have given us another giant leap forward with their fourth record Nightclub Daydreaming. The whiplash-inducing stylistic shifts between aggressive noise rock and operatic gloom pop that have become the band’s trademark have given way to a single aesthetic that fuses both impulses. On Nightclub Daydreaming, menace teems just below the surface as propulsive, stark arrangements leave space that Schrader fills with strident, reverb-soaked narration.

LIMITED GOLD VINYL w/ Download Card

When Ed Schrader and Devlin Rice began writing the record in 2019, the idea was to make a fun, danceable album, but an underlying moodiness proved unshakeable. As Schrader puts it, “The cave followed us into the discotheque.”

The duo road-tested the songs “This Thirst,” “Echo Base” and “Black Pearl” with drummer Kevin O’Meara on tour with Dan Deacon in February 2020. COVID restrictions cut the tour short, squashed plans to go immediately into the studio and sent the touring party on a sprint from LA to Baltimore. “We broke down outside Roswell,” Schrader recalls. “And these cops laughed at our dumb asses as we used all our pent-up stress and fear to propel our half-submerged bus out of the muck, yelling epithets to the sky.”

It was one of the last experiences they had with O’Meara, whose death in October 2020 weighed heavily on Rice and Schrader’s minds as they worked on the record. It was also a cathartic moment that presaged the aesthetic that would permeate the songs on Nightclub Daydreaming: “mad euphoria in the face of doom,” as Schrader puts it.

“This Thirst” is an alienation-fueled barn burner barely restraining itself through musically sparse, lyrically dense verses to culminate in a howling, synth-saturated chorus that beats horror punk at its own game. “Came from the north with a twisted planetarium, rock salt, nervous tic and novocaine,” Schrader sings, assuming the guise of a vagrant whose irresistible urges lead him through a fever dream of chemicals, back-alley bartering and existential threats.

The hyperactive “Echo Base” exudes agitated-cool, with breakneck drum fills and a relentless bass line. The narrator is stranded in a frozen landscape and running out of options. “She is just a night train away,” we are assured, and yet we sense that may not be an altogether good thing.

The band recorded and mixed Nightclub Daydreaming over a two-week period with Craig Bowen at Tempo House in Baltimore with David Jacober on drums, turning demos with artificial sounds and placeholder melodies into fully realized songs playable by a live band. The end result is not the album of “sunny disco bangers” that Rice says the band set out for, but something deeper, darker and more rewarding.

RIYL: Japanese Breakfast, Clairo, Perfume Genius, Sufjan Stevens. Follow up to 2019’s breakout debut ‘Happy To Be Here’, which ranked #21 on Billboard Heatseekers Chart upon release. Early singles “Frankie” and “Dig” praised by Stereogum, The Line Of Best Fit, Billboard, Consequence, and Under The Radar. Radio support from SiriusXMU, KCRW, KEXP, BBC 1, BBC 6 & Triple J. Headline dates in NYC, London, Paris and Los Angeles. Tour dates supporting Sunflower Bean down to Texas, where Barrie will be showcasing as an official artist at SXSW 2022. Release week instore performances at record shops across the UK. On Barbara, the sophomore album from Brooklyn-based songwriter and producer Barrie, she battles the loss of a parent, the start of a new relationship, and the impulse to separate herself from her music. This result is a beautifully peculiar, and quietly ambitious collection of synth-pop, art-pop, indie rock and folk songs that reflect a new willing- ness to let listeners into her world. Two events redefined Barrie Lindsay’s life and shaped the direction of Barbara. In the summer of 2019, she met her now-wife, the musician Gabby Smith. Simultaneously, Lindsay’s father learned that his lung cancer had worsened. In January of 2020, she moved home to Ipswich to spend time with family and begin work on her album. Three months became nine, thanks to the pandemic. Lindsay wrote Barbara while quarantining with Smith in Maine, while her father was dying, and while she was falling in love. Lindsay finds catharsis from the ambivalent desperation of losing a parent on the album’s centerpiece, “Dig.” You can hear her newfound boldness as she wails the song’s central refrain, giving herself over to emotion: “I can’t get enough of you / Where did you come from?” Despite the grief, personal and collective on Lindsay’s mind while making Barbara, she often pauses to embrace joy. “Jenny,” is a simple, acoustic guitar ode to meeting Smith. Similarly, her fantasy of a roman- tic but bloodied afternoon, “Quarry,” sounds eerie and aque- ous, before erupting into a euphoric geyser of synth and drums. “Barbara isn’t an album specifically about grief or love. It’s just an album where I let myself actually feel my emotions,” Lind- say says. “That was something I’d never done before in music.” UK Dates – 24th March Portsmouth, UK @ Pie & Vinyl, 25th Brighton, UK @ Resident, 26th London, UK @ Banquet, 28th Nottingham, UK @ Rough Trade Nottingham, 29th Bristol, UK @ Rough Trade Bristol, 30th Leeds, UK @ Jumbo Records, 31st London, UK @ Rough Trade East. Track listing: A side 01. Jersey 02. Frankie 03. Jenny 04. Concrete 05. Dig 06. Bully B side 07. Harp 2 Interlude 08. Harp 2 09. Quarry 10. Basketball 11. Bloodline

REDSHARK was founded in 2012 in Barcelona - Spain, by Philip Graves (guitar) with the aim of delivering Classic Pounding Heavy Speed Metal. Their traditional 80s metal influences may plunder the nostalgia circuit but REDSHARK are ruthlessly carrying the torch with great attitude, and powerful melodic songwriting. The band had their full line up fixed in 2013 with Javier Bono on 2nd guitar, Mark Striker on drums, Chris Carrest on bass, and Pau Correas on vocals. Their debut official release "Evil Realm" ep came out in 2019 and showed the band pushing the velocity further. Those intense five songs drew a roaring response and helped to spread REDSHARK name nationwide and abroad. REDSHARK have since honed their gloriously raw yet precisely incisive, dark, catchy and addictive speed heavy metal crunch staying faithful to their original influences taken from undisputed metal legends like Judas Priest, Savatage, Exciter and Metal Church. The band's albums front cover concepts look entertaining with their comic book type of artworks depicting a mad red human shark on a killing spree. It also represents the band's out for blood impulse in churning out those hard hitting riffs and also refers to their energetic live performances. That redshark is obviously the band's mascot. In 2021, they composed and recorded their full length debut album 'Digital Race’. It was produced by Jaume Perna (Jack Dark) and mixed & mastered by Gonzalo Vivero in In The Red Audio. As always, the cover art was by Jose Antonio Vives. LG Valeta , guitar player from the much acclaimed ‘77 guests on the track 'Pallid Hands' with a stunning Flamenco guitar solo. REDSHARK is pursuing their heavy speed galore with 'Digital Race', sticking to their traditional and catchy melodic sound that has been associated with the band 80s tinged Metal since their early days.

Ruth B is releasing her sophomore album "Moments In Between" via Downtown Records. With the breakout success of her debut single “Lost Boy,” Ruth B. emerged as an immediately captivating artist who drifts between moody realism and a dreamworld of her own making. An occasional poet who created her own storybooks as a child, the Canadian- Ethiopian singer/songwriter/pianist infuses all her songs with a raw emotional honesty, even as she lets her imagination wander into fantastically charmed terrain. On her sophomore album Moments In Between, Ruth pushes that dynamic to a new level of boldness and sophistication, embracing her most beautifully strange impulses while delivering her most impactful work to date. As the daughter of immigrants from Ethiopia, Ruth grew up on music from her parents’ native country and later discovered the artists who would become formative influences on her songwriting, such as Stevie Wonder and Lauryn Hill. After taking up piano at the age of eight and singing her entire life, Ruth began writing songs in her late teens and soon came up with “Lost Boy.” Initially posted on Vine in 2015, the Peter Pan-inspired piano ballad quickly went viral, with listeners undeniably drawn to Ruth’s heart-on-sleeve storytelling. By the end of 2015, she’d released her gold-certified debut EP The Intro, which led to such triumphs as winning Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the 2017 Juno Awards. Made with producers like Joel Little (Lorde, Taylor Swift) and Mike Elizondo (Fiona Apple, Regina Spektor), her gold-certified full-length debut Safe Haven arrived in 2017 and earned her three Juno nominations, including Album of the Year and Artist of the Year. Executive-produced by Patrick Wimberly (Solange, Blood Orange, Ellie Goulding), Moments In Between finds Ruth also working with producers like Ido Zmishlany (Demi Lovato, Shawn Mendes), Justin Raisen (Angel Olsen, Santigold), Doug Schadt (Maggie Rogers, Ashe), and D’Mile (a five-time Grammy Award-winner known for his work with Khalid and Ty Dolla $ign). In a departure from the minimalist alt-pop of Safe Haven, the album unfolds in a more elaborate and kaleidoscopic sound, yet never overshadows the understated power of Ruth’s vocals or the pure vulnerability of her songwriting. “For me writing songs has always been therapeutic, and I hope that hearing my songs helps other people in the same way,” she says. “Whether they’re feeling lonely or heartbroken or happy, I want them to know that someone else understands what they’re going through.”

When we first heard from recent Kompakt signing Emma Kollmorgen, with 2021’s “You Are The”, she was hymning the complexity of romance: “Love is scary as fuck!”, she said. On her debut EP, “1243”, she’s built on that intensity and offered up a five-track suite of night-vision electronic pop, bristling with a stealthy sensuality. It’s a cinematic collection, building from the brooding “Escape”, through the drifting, tactile pulses of “Taciturn”, the gritty, bustling noises that run underneath the smoke-signal torch-song of “All The Wild Animals”, and the closing, tear-stained melancholy of “Home”. “You Are The” reappears here as well, settling in perfectly amongst new friends.

It’s a completely assured first EP from an artist who’s been slowly and steadily building her own sonic world. From her early days, when she busied herself by learning guitar and joining bands, Kollmorgen always had a vision of doing something “more independent”, to allow her to find her own sound and write her own songs. A brief creative alliance with the Berlin DJ duo Dole & Kom led to some recordings and live performances. All the while, Kollmorgen was carefully shaping her production and sound designing skills with Ableton Live, and exploring distinctive musical terrain in collaboration with co-producer and multi-instrumentalist Paul Seidel (The Ocean Collective, Fern, Nightmarer). She joined the Kompakt family after a recommendation by Patrice Baumel, who also remixed her debut single with typical flair.

On “1243”, though, Kollmorgen fully inhabits her songs, gifting each of them with a sweet, subtle sway, her vocal and lyrical openheartedness balancing the bluer hues of her production. Each song is confident and poised, Kollmorgen relying on cross-thatched patterns of texture as a web to support her melodies: “I like patterns,” she says, “they give me something to hold onto, something stable in an unstable world.” The songs feel as though they’re grappling with moments of revelation and experience in Kollmorgen’s world, which makes sense, given her approach to music: “I never had a diary,” she reflects, “so writing songs is my way of expressing and dealing with life.” On 1243, you’ll catch some glimpses of life lived, made sonorous through songs beautifully sung.

Als wir das erste Mal von Emma Kollmorgen hörten, nachdem sie sich KOMPAKT angeschlossen hatte, besang sie mit "You Are The" (2021) die Komplexität von Romantik: "Liebe ist verdammt beängstigend!". Auf ihrer Debüt-EP "1243" baut sie auf dieser Intensität auf und präsentiert uns eine fünf Tracks umfassende Suite von elektronischem Pop mit ausgeprägtem Nachtsicht-Faktor, die vor verborgener Sinnlichkeit nur so strotzt. Ein geradezu cineastischer Spannungsbogen, der sich vom grüblerischen "Escape" über die treibenden, taktilen Impulse von "Taciturn", die düsteren, umtriebigen Geräusche, die den Rauchzeichen sendenden torch song "All The Wild Animals" untermalen, und die abschließende, tränenreiche Melancholie von "Home" aufbaut. Auch "You Are The" taucht hier wieder auf und fügt sich perfekt in die neue Gesellschaft ein.

Eine überzeugende erste EP von einer Künstlerin, die sich langsam und stetig ihre eigene Klangwelt aufgebaut hat. Seit ihren Anfängen, als sie Gitarre lernte und in Bands spielte, hatte Kollmorgen immer die Vision, etwas "Unabhängiges" zu machen, um ihren eigenen Sound zu finden und ihre eigenen Songs zu schreiben. Eine kurze kreative Allianz mit dem Berliner DJ-Duo Dole & Kom führte zu einigen Aufnahmen und Live-Auftritten. Währenddessen feilte Kollmorgen an ihren Produktions- und Sounddesign-Skills und erkundete gemeinsam mit dem Co-Produzenten und Multi-Instrumentalisten Paul Seidel (The Ocean Collective, Fern, Nightmarer) ihr eigenes musikalisches Terrain. Zur KOMPAKT Label-Familie kam sie auf Empfehlung von Patrice Baumel, der auch ihre Debütsingle remixte.

Auf "1243" lebt Kollmorgen ihre Songs voll und ganz aus und verleiht jedem von ihnen einen süßen, subtilen Twist, der ihre stimmliche und textliche Offenheit mit den melancholischen Tönen der Musik in Balance hält. Voller Selbstbewusstsein und Ausgeglichenheit verlässt sie sich auf durcheinander laufende Texturen und Pattern, die ihre Melodik unterstützen: "Ich mag Pattern", sagt sie, "sie geben mir etwas, woran ich mich festhalten kann, etwas Stabiles in einer instabilen Welt."

Die Songs fühlen sich an, als würden sie sich mit realen Momenten der Offenbarung und mit Erfahrungen aus Kollmorgens Lebenswelt auseinandersetzen, was angesichts ihrer Herangehensweise an Musik durchaus Sinn ergibt: "Ich hatte nie ein Tagebuch", erzählt sie, "also ist das Schreiben von Songs meine Art, mich auszudrücken und mit dem Leben umzugehen." Auf "1243" gibt sie uns einige Einblicke in dieses gelebte Leben, das durch wunderschön gesungene Lieder zum Klingen gebracht wird.

The US-born, Norwegian-Mexican musician and producer Carmen Villain, real name Carmen Hillestad, has spent the last nine years and four albums gently unraveling song into the sound of emotional impulse. From the tilt and croon of her first two albums to the expansive warmth that flows and pulses beyond ambient in her more recent output, Hillestad's journey is artful musical deconstruction but also somehow spiritual growth.Hence new album Only Love From Now On, her fourth full-length and the culmination of a build-up that really began with the turn in sound evident from third album Both Lines Will Be Blue (2019, Smalltown Supersound) and the subsequent releases Affection In A Time Of Crisis (2020, Longform Editions) and Sketch For Winter IX: Perlita (2021, Geographic North). While the seed of her aesthetic was planted earlier, it has blossomed into something unexpected, benevolent in its composure and altogether luxuriant in its sensuality. If her themes, especially now, are wide, philosophical, and occasionally abstract, the emotional tenor of Hillestad's music is clear and purposeful. Makes sense that her key musical touchstones are dub, ambient, and cosmic jazz - flexible vehicles for tranquil wonder. While it may not contain voice or lyrics, as her two earliest records do, she describes it as, "wishing to maintain a sense of careful optimism for the future, while on the cusp of something unknown." Listening to Only Love From Now On is simultaneously comforting and alluringly strange. Partly it's the contributions of guests Arve Henriksen (trumpet, electronics) and Johanna Scheie Orellana (flutes). Partly it's the fluidity between instruments - such as clarinets - field recordings, the studio, jam, and careful composition. She calls the process a conversation with sound that occurs in her deliberate attempts to experiment with new methods, like granular synthesis, for her music-making. But mostly that strange comfort is in the peace and grateful contentment she has found via the stark recognition of her own privilege - laid bare by the pandemic. Only Love From Now On is fueled by the sense of scale in feeling small in the face of things so large, the contemplation of how the biggest impact we can have is in the people close to us, the attempt to make sure that impact is a positive one, and the choice to try to focus on love instead of fear.

"Europe's greatest clarinetist and free spirit" (Jazzthetik) plays ballads and
legendary love songs on his new MPS album. In so doing, he delivers new
meaning and a fresh sound to the pieces. A sentimental look back is simply not
his thing. Together with his new quartet of pianist Frank Chastenier, bassist Lisa
Wulff, and percussionist Tupac Mantilla, Kühn contrasts his sensitive side with
his unbridled desire to experiment. "I've chosen some of my favourite ballads for
this album. These pieces have nothing to do with any sort of trend. For me, they
are poignant and beautiful; they are simply timeless," says Kühn. "I found it
especially appealing to combine these particular choices with my latest
compositions. The album opens with "Both Sides Now", a classic by Joni
Mitchell. Kühn liked the poetic text, and says that, "Somehow, in life there are
always two sides, but it's best when they enrich each other and can smoothly
merge in order to create something new."
One of five new compositions, the title song "Yellow + Blue" encapsulates the two
perspectives: the flamboyant, the impulsively vibrant yellow next to the soft,
sensitive, warm bluesy-blue tonal colour. In turn, a new musical color is created
out of the contrast.

How can one explain the lasting popularity of the bass clarinet in musical circles from Vienna to Brussels? Perhaps because its frequency range articulates an alternative to conventions of popular music, where "bass" is reserved primarily for rhythmic impulses and the very foundation of the music. Viennese bass clarinetist Susanna Gartmayer's playing can by no means be reduced to just this, rather, it scutinizes the entire sound universe: she can do rhythm and drone, not to mention melody and noise, often all at once. Who would be a more fitting collaborator than Stefan Schneider, with his minimalist rhythms and subtle cosmic exploration?

Together, Schneider and Gartmayer form the project So Sner, which owes its existence to a concert in 2015 at the Approximation Festival in Düsseldorf. Gartmayer's bass clarinet polyphonies so impressed Schneider that he quickly suggested a collaboration. That same year, they began recording the album "Reime" in Kraftwerk's former Kling Klang studio, which in 2015 became workspace and concert venue simply called Elektro Müller. The second part was recorded in the summer of 2020 in Düsseldorf-Kaiserswerth at Stammhaus church, whose interior wood paneling facilitated organic acoustics.

Susanna Gartmayer has been active as a musician and composer in various realms between experimental rock music, improvisation and multimedia sound performance since the early 2000s, releasing the album "Smaller Sad" with Christof Kurzmann and "Black Burst Sound Generator" with Brigitta Bödenauer in 2020. In addition to his solo project Mapstation, Düsseldorf-based musician and producer Stefan Schneider has been pursuing new avenues of experimental music in the here and now for over 20 years, in numerous collaborations with Sofia Jernberg, Krautrock pioneer Hans-Joachim Roedelius, or visual artist Katharina Grosse among others.

So Sner's sound is equally oriented towards experiment and tradition, whose roots can be traced back to the UK of the early 80s: an era in which soul and synth, jazz and industrial, avant-garde and polyrhythm were blended with the help of intellectualism and punk attitude in such a way that manifold sketches of possible music emerged which are only being colorized today. Like So Sner - from the very first stomp to the very last drop.

Olaf Karnik, Cologne, October 2021

This is the first record issued by new label A.MA Edizioni from Bari, a mini lp with four tracks written, produced and arranged by DJ and producer Gerardo Frisina. Production is exclusively on vinyl but the music is not limited to the dance floor. Each track has its own well-defined identity: Burak is characterized by ethnic rhythms evoking an intense atmosphere of oriental flavors. Zagara is the track that is closest to Gerardo Frisina's past productions,the brasilian sound is enhanced by the vocals of Francesca Sortino and interplay between the flute and piano. On the AA side, Michael's Vision displays striking jazz influence. The atmosphere generated by strong rhythmic impulse is reinforced by the tenor sax improvisations of Germano Zenga and refined by the piano work of Giovanni Guerretti. In the Burak Jazz Version the track is embellished in a jazz style with soprano sax, electric piano and vibraphone, maintaining the original concept but creating a perfect listening experience.

Personnel:
Germano Zenga Tenor Sax/Soprano Sax
Giovanni Guerretti piano/electric piano
Francesca Sortino Vocals on Zagara
Alexandra Savage Flute on Zagara
Joseph S. Wilson Bass
Paul Herrera Drums

“For me music is not a calculation, when I play I follow my intuition.
The creative impulse always comes from within me. Me and my
piano, they’re at the centre of my musical world.” - Joel Lyssarides
 For Joel Lyssarides, jazz is above all a language, a tool for
uniquely personal expression. He composed the pieces for ‘Stay
Now’ in a remote house in the forest, a good half-hour outside
Stockholm. And by preference at night, in silence, darkness and
deep concentration.
 The atmosphere of this place is audibly reflected in the music,
which is strongly influenced by space, sound and mood -
reinforced by the highly concentrated, differentiated, subtle
interplay of pianist Lyssarides with bassist Niklas Fernqvist and
drummer Rasmus Blixt.
 What these three young musicians have in common is their
capacity for great sensitivity and expressiveness. Their music is
based on a vocabulary that draws equally from European classical
music, jazz from both sides of the Atlantic and great songwriting,
with all its depth and accessibility.
 And yet this has nothing to do with crossover. Everything flows
and swings, nothing seems deliberate or contrived, one can hear a
natural understanding for the infinite possibilities of every note.
 This trio has the self-confidence to put the entirety of their efforts
into enhancing the expressiveness of the music. And it is in the
most intimate, quiet, focused and concentrated moments that the
most spectacular things happen.
 The album title ‘Stay Now’, therefore, is above all an
acknowledgement of quite how precious the here and now is.
These are the moments when we start to understand the true
value of present and past encounters. As we listen, we can let the
moment linger… and allow ourselves to sink blissfully and
unforgettably into it.

Solid olive green vinyl in a regular sleeve with an etched B-side
On their EP entitled perfect, MANNEQUIN PUSSY's new songs burst forth from
the sprawling months of social isolation & internet-fueled anxiety. The band rages
about the practice of condensing your daily life into a manicured stream of
images for social media. What happens to the social impulse when everyone you
love or even like is leveled into a set of pixels. "It was a really weird psychological
experience, being bombarded by images of other people constantly when you are
not around a lot of other people," vocalist Missy Dabice says.
After spending most of the year 2020 apart from each other and everyone else,
the members of MANNEQUIN PUSSY decided to book studio time and work
together in person again. What came out of that compressed session time were
some of MANNEQUIN PUSSY's most furious, incandescent songs yet. The
Philadelphia based band teams up yet again with producer Will Yip to satiate fans
with perfect, the EP follow-up to their critically acclaimed 2019 Epitaph debut
Patience (Pitchfork Best New Music, sold out US tour, and "one of the best rock
releases of 2019" according to Paste Magazine). "We just fgured if we forced
ourselves into this situation where someone could hit 'record,' something might
come out," Dabice says. "We'd never written that way before."