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Wehbba collaborates with ghetto tech legend DJ Deeon, to deliver another superlative EP on Drumcode.

Since his debut on Drumcode in 2017, Brazil's Wehbba has become one of the most dependable and impressive artists on the roster. Last year saw two standout EP's 'Eclipse' and 'Catarse' drop on the imprint, alongside 'Just', his strong contribution to A-Sides Vol.7. He also made his mark playing Drumcode events at OFF Week, Resistance Ibiza and the much talked about double header in Manchester and Bristol when DC took over Warehouse Project and Motion respectively.

A true master craftsman in the studio, his first contribution for 2019 is typically impressive. A huge inspiration to Wehbba since his nascent raver days, ghetto tech icon DJ Deeon contributes a fierce vocal to 'We Have Bass', after a serendipitous hook up in São Paulo. A peak career moment collaborating with one of his original heroes and the artist responsible for the classic 'Freak Like Me', the resulting percussive-heavy cut kicks like a rodeo bull. 'Third Wave' is coffee geek Wehbba's homage to his favourite brew, constructing the production to mirror the experience of a caffeine fix, as a loopy trance-inducing groove leads to powerful synth stabs that are heavy on impact. 'Steamroller' is a stripped back slice of techno driven by the Brazilian's Korg MS-20 and found form after it initially begun as a studio jam inspired by Richie Hawtin's 'Minus Orange'.

A Jean-Michel Jarre fan stretching back to his childhood, 'Another Mistake' was conceived after Wehbba saw the French legend in concert last year and was subsequently able to meet him backstage through a mutual friend. While creating the track, the producer imagined Jarre playing the main layers of the hook on his famous Laser-harp, eliciting an almost celestial quality with the melody. This is a stirring slice of techno fit for stadiums. The EP ends with 'Purge', the artist's stream-of-consciousness expression recorded in one-take and a beautiful beat-less way to conclude the work.

With the help of the Orchestre Regional de la Réunion, Labelle opens a new chapter in the merging of classical and electronic music, and the heritage of Europe and the Indian Ocean. This third LP, composed especially for the Orchestre univers, was recorded live over the course of four concerts, performed at the four corners of the Réunion, in the island's most beautiful concert halls. A sequence of breathless trancelike moments, Post-maloya and technological experiments, the album floats between tradition and modernity, like a sonic odyssey that is only the beginning of an ongoing saga...

Connaisseur posthumously releases Daso's self-titled long player to create a final memento for his musical legacy.

We first came in touch with Daso when we saw him performing live at the
Dachkantine in Zurich around 2006. He really had this stage talent which
fascinated us straight from the beginning. At this party we agreed on the first release on Connaisseur, the "Adventure EP" including the strong "Sam n Max", which was a great presentiment of the many releases to come.
Daso was a unique character with a lovely sense of humour, and surprising quirks which could be like marvels to us. One moment, we would be worried just seeing him crossing a busy street and in the next, he would be rocking the stage with major self-confdence and the attitude of a real rock star.
In our history of Connaisseur, he defnitely was one of our most important
artists, and some of his best music was released with us. He played many label nights, and together we enjoyed uncountable laughs, discovered cities and countries while touring and collected invaluable memories.
It is the way of the world that we as a label eventually focussed on new artists, and Daso, too, embarked in new directions. We still stayed in touch, even though the gaps between our contacts became bigger with time. The frst time we realized that Daso was ill was in the frst quarter of 2016. We had invited him to our 10th anniversary party in Berlin, but he didn't feel well enough to be able to come. Shortly after this, he went to the doctor and was diagnosed with cancer. We were shocked. Daso was always such a positive person, it simply didn't add up for us that someone like him could get sick.
Obviously an irrational and unjust thought, but it just felt so unfair.
When he started chemo therapy I spoke to him on the phone, and my label partner Martin, who lives in Berlin, gave him a frst hospital visit early in summer of that year. A bit later we visited him together, and yes, he was optimistic, still full of humour and also motivated to pick up his career again as soon as possible. This impression was of course only from a distance, but I was delighted to see how confdently he presented himself on socials after all his treatments, and how after recovery he started playing gigs again.
At some point I realized Daso hadn't been active on his socials for a while, which concerned me. This was in the frst quarter of 2018. His last post on Facebook had been made on November 30th and I knew this couldn't bode well. After contacting some common friends I was told his prospects were not good. I was about to go on an Easter holiday but planned to visit him on my next monthly trip to Berlin. I didn't have the chance. On Easter Monday, April the 2nd, 2018 Daso passed away.
At Daso's funeral, which was on a wonderfully sunny day in late spring, his father came up to me and asked if I might be interested in releasing this album, which Daso had been able to fnalise in the last months and weeks of his life. We didn't decide on doing so lightly, knowing that the release of a post-mortem album can bring up certain issues. However, in the end, we agreed to do it, as we sincerely strive to create a fnal memento for Daso's musical legacy.

The self-titled album Daso will be released on April 5th, three days after the first anniversary of Daso's obit.

Krewcial Is Back On Wph After Some Seriously Funky Adventures On Marcel Vogel's Fine Lumberjacks In Hell Label. We Wanted To Finish Our 10' Series In Style And It's Safe To Say That Krewcial Provided The Goods. On The A-side 'plaster' Brings Us Raw Vocal Piano House Of The Highest Order And A Sure-fire Hands In The Air Moment On Any Discerning Dance Floor.

On The Flip 'proto' Is What Proto Says: Raw House Business For More Theo Parrish Or Ron Hardy Styled Slam Dancing Damage. Since His House Debut On Wph Krewcial Has Been Going From Strength To Strength And With This E.p. He Shows No Signs Of Slowing Down.

We Are Mattimatti. Two Mattis Living In Different Countries - Sweden (malmö) And Germany (berlin). We Travel Around The World Playing Music While Asking Ourselves, 'who Are We'. The Answer Seems To Change Just As Our Surroundings Do. But The Music Stays With Us And So Does The Friendship. It Is Cliché That It's Hard To Put A Label On Music. And To Say It Has Almost Become A Cliche Itself. But Whole Meaning Of Music Is To Listen To It And Create Your Own World By It. To Create One's Own World One Needs Space. Space That Is Not Interrupted By Either Style Or Defining Categories. Mattimatti Is An Attempt To Step Into That Space Creating Music That Is Solely Built On Improvisation. Our Music Is An Invitation To Places Not Yet Known, Where Rhythmic, Suggestive And Meditative Soundscapes Meet The Present Moment. Music Represents Many Things For Us. First Of All, It Is In-sync With Our Friendship, When The Relationship Is Stuck So Is Our Music. Our Music Is Therapy. We Need To Be Authentic With The Music In Order To Have A Real Friendship And The Other Way Around. As Friends And Musicians We Welcome The Unexpected. This Has Lead Us To Places Where We Never Would Have Ended Up In If It Weren't For The Music. In That Way, Music And Life Walk Hand In Hand. If We Dare To Be Real About It. We Are Living In A World Full Of Confusion When It Comes To Identity. It's Easy To Loose Yourself. All Of A Sudden You Are Standing There Playing Music But Missing The Music At The Same Time, Or Hanging Out With Your Best Friend While Missing The Friendship. We Are Trying To Stay Connected. It Is A Constant Task. We Lose It But Then We Find It Again, Just Like Everybody Else. Sometimes It Ends Up In Music For The Moment. Sometimes It Ends Up In The Shape Of A Record. We Met On The Streets Of Berlin In Spring 2013 While One Of Us Was Playing On The Streets. After We Played The First Time Together, There Was No Question That We Would Travel A Musical Journey Together From That Day. Mattimatti Was Initiated. On Our Quest We Began Playing Improvised Tunes On Sitar And Hang On The Street While Travelling Through Sweden And Germany. This Lead Us To Be Invited To Numerous Festivals All Over Europe While Constantly Developing Our Music And Sound. Since Then Our Set Has Added New Instruments Such As A Drum Kit With Hang, African Harps, Sitar, Guitar, Harmonica, Clarinet, Hank Drum And Vocals On Top Of It Extending The Sound With A Space Echo. The Long, Intimate Tunes That We Are Creating Have An Original Structure And Sound. There Is A Certain Present Resting In The Music Which Is Hard To Describe But Easy To Experience If You Listen To It. Our Live Concerts Have Been Dubbed Mythical, Hypnotic, Magic And Epic. Traveling Is Our Biggest Influence On Music. Mattimatti Are Now Both Based In Berlin & Malmoe And Work Together With The Contemporary Circus, Dance And Music Group - kollektiv Knaster .

FLOAT proudly welcomes their second artist into the fold. UK electronic artistand Szun Waves band member Luke Abbott, presents a special 10-track album tocelebrate Piano Day 2019 - an international event series initiated by NilsFrahm which acts as a platform for piano-related projects. 'Music From The Edge Of An Island' sees Abbott divert from his typicallyexperimental electronic style to explore a more compositional approach centredaround VST instruments. Rather than the usual themes of synthesis andimprovisation, the album is lead by piano motifs, structured around emotivemelodies and sparkling arrangements. The record began as a part of asoundtrack commission by producer / actor Jessica Hynes for her film 'TheFight' and ultimately became a fully-realised album. The film script had acoastal setting that created the record's thematic idea: "I had this ideaabout being on the edge of England, almost ready to fall off a cliff into thesea but keeping your balance on the edge." The idea of writing for the piano had been ruminating for some months asAbbott found himself spending an increasing amount of time playing on theinstrument. Without a piano of his own though, he found a strangely enchantingway to fulfil his creative impulse. "I used to have an upright piano, but I'dgiven it away when I last moved house, so I ended up using a piano VST in thecomputer, which I actually really enjoyed. Writing the music became a bit of aweird fantasy process, I was in an odd headspace for a few days." The writing process was remarkably quick, resulting in simple yet inspiredpieces that subtly blur the lines between MIDI computer music and liveperformance. 'Music From The Edge Of An Island' can be seen as a collection ofgentle reveries that sway between the twilight hours, marked by moments ofsoft, contemplative ballads and more active and expansive motions. Openingtrack 'Sea' begins with a mysterious piano waltz before unnerving synth dronestake over. 'Island continues with piano triplet figures plus addedorchestration of cello strokes and airy glass pads, before heading into themelancholic 'Tree', bringing in more strings and added pathos heard in therestless piano motif. Quieter passages are contrasted with the Gamelan-esque'Moments' and the uplifting 'On Rope', whilst more lyrical moments on thealbum can be found in tracks such as 'Adjustment' and closing track 'ADifferent Tree'.

Emotional Rescue and Mountains In The Sea are thrilled to team up to revive a lost rarity of American ambient music: Chris Spheeris and Paul Voudouris' 1982 album 'Passage'.

Living and recording in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Chris and Paul composed and released several albums of folk-rock and album-oriented synthpop before their attentions turned towards sound healing music in the early 1980s. The duo was approached by a company doing biofeedback therapy and asked to create an aural component for patients looking to regain control of nervous disorders. After extensive preparations and just one day of studio time, 'Passage' was the result, recorded live with no additional overdubs.

The LP consists of 3 long tracks which flow together as a single piece. Opener 'Prism' contains the album's most frenetic moments, glittering guitar and synth tones designed to draw the listener out of their distressed state. Next comes the soaring 'Mosaic', a renewing sunrise of warm chords that beckons slowly towards the album's summit, the over-20 minute title track which contains a sonic ecosystem of it's own. The album concludes in a state of pure serenity, in which the passage of time has seemed to slow to a halt, and the outside stresses of the world eradicated.

Over 3 decades since its initial conception, 'Passage' still retains all of its inestimable healing power, but remains incredibly difficult to find. It's an album that belongs in discussions of landmark early American ambient works, alongside names like Michael Stearns, Constance Demby, Kerry Leimer and Pauline Anna Strom. ER and MITS have worked with original cover artist Vinayak to render the album artwork as originally intended, in even greater detail than on its first release. We're overjoyed to be able to share this

Here is the debut release from this emerging London collective "Momenta", comprising of UK Garage pioneer DJ Fen (Love Bug), musician/ producer Tom Funk and former vocalist for Cinematic Orchestra, Niara Scarlett,
"Momenta" are certainly a musical force set to make waves with this soulful slice of London. The original RnB mix on Side A grooves with an old school vibe but yet with Neo- Soul elements and vocal textures reminiscent of the likes of Erikah Badu and Mary J Blige, delivered with precision and 21st century soul attitude. Broken Beat DJ and producer R. Frandinho features on the flip side with a broken beat mix phat enough kick up any dance floor in the "Bruk Step" scene.

A very limited press of 300 7 inch copies will go on sale in March, pre-order your copy to avoid any missing this one.

Ever since hearing Pete Tong announce 'Chica Wappa' as his Essential New Tune back in 2004, we've been following the bold Alex Smoke on his musical journey.

Coming from Glasgow, we've shared a lot of common influences - both from within and outside of the city and we have Alex to thank for introducing and strengthening our love for the likes of Villalobos, Rhythm & Sound, Carl Craig and Actress, amongst others. Although he was a familiar face on the 'minimal' scene, he always operated on his own terms and that's a throughline we've admired throughout his career. Not only is he comfortable releasing techno on Soma and R&S, he's produced for ballet, films and even the NHS.

Over the years, Alex has played at a few seminal parties for us; alongside the likes of Oni Ayhun, James Holden, Helena Hauff and Veronica Vasicka. So we were delighted to be approached by him to work on a record together and it's been really exciting to hear it evolve over time. It would be arrogant to compare it to Thom Yorke's - The Eraser, but it certainly occupies a similar world in our mind. To still be producing innovative and inspiring albums 15 years into a career is no mean feat in this age and it's a great honour to welcome such a musical hero on to the label.

As with the last Auntie Flo album, we're also lining up a very special remix package with a swarm of our favourite producers of the moment and we can't wait to share them with you too over the course of the year.

Lakker Return To R&s With Their Stunning New Album, Época. Following 2016's Conceptual 8 Track Maxi-ep struggle And Emerge' (using Field Recordings Of Tv And Radio Broadcasts From The Dutch National Av Archive) Época Is A Bracing Return To Form, Combining Caustic Electronics With Fresh Inspiration From The Prepared Piano Of John Cage, Plaintive Folk Melodies, The Explorative Label Sublime Frequencies And The Raw Rhythms Of Kampala's Nyege Nyege Tapes. 

Following A Restorative Creative Break To Pursue Their Own Solo Projects (as Arad And Eomac Respectively) The Duo Finally Returned To The Studio, Finding Themselves Working More Closely Than Ever Before. "we Wrote This Record Together, In The Studio As A Duo." Ian Explains "previous Records Involved A Lot Of Time Working On Tracks Individually, But Época Was Written Almost Entirely Together In The Studio - It Felt Much More Fun, More Organic And Democratic." We Allowed It To Happen Rather Than Push Or Pressure It" Dara Adds.

The Natural Evolution Of The Tracks And Their Rougher, Looser Production Sound Parallels The Duo's Interest In Two Separate Ideas: Ambient And Natural Sound, Especially The Background Noise - A Sense Of Time And Place - That Is Inherent In Old Recordings Of Folk And Classical Music, And An Interest In Herd Dynamics And Flock Patterns / Murmurations, Both In The Natural World And In Human Society. The Movements Which Affect The World At Large Through Cultural And Political Shifts. "like The First Starling That Causes A Wave In A Murmuration," Ian Explains "we Are Really Interested In How This Is Also Reflected In Human Society - A New Idea Appears And Then Reaches Critical Mass And Resonates Through Society As A Whole, And Change Happens (positive Or Negative)."

The Rich And Deep Work Of Época Finds The Duo Reinvigorated From Their Hiatus, Using Their Own Voices Extensively For The First Time, Alongsides Regular Vocal Collaborator Eileen Carpio. As Dara Explains "we Had Been Experimenting With Our Own Voices In Our Solo Music, So It Felt Like This Was The Moment To Step Out From Behind The Curtain And Put Our Own Vocals Front And Centre In A More Natural Way". This Leads To An At Times More Melodic And Poppier Feeling, Balanced Out By The Off Kilter Rhythms And Blasts Of Feedback And Weathered Reverbs That Intertwine Throughout The Record. 

Once Again The Duo Look To The Outside World For Sonic Inspiration. Alongside The Use Of Physical Modelling Synths The Album Contains Recordings And Samples Of Violin, Guitar And Bodhrán, The Stringboard Of A Piano At Ems Stockholm, Phone Recordings Of Family Gatherings In Dublin And 1970's Dance Music From Jaipur. 
  
'época' Is A Rich, Challenging Album Of Diverse And Intense Soundscapes That Expands On The Scope Of Lakker's Already Multifaceted Music That Finds Them At The Peak Of Their Artistic Powers.

'we Are Living Through Volatile Times, And As Musicians It Is Impossible To Avoid That Being Reflected In Our Work. Época Is A Our Personal Response To The Atmosphere Of These Times And The External Political And Cultural Events That Are Shaping Our World. Some Positive And Hopeful, Some Despondent And Angry, And Some Reflective And Introspective.' 

'Sometimes you wake up and you've just lost the plot. Is life great or is it not Should I eat more fruit Is buying diamonds rude' Ca$hminus are asking all the wrong questions. After their debut on Bordello A Parigi last year and a recent appearance on Credit 00's Rat Life imprint, the Belgo-Australiana duo unleash a collection of their wildest works to date. The package opens with 'Atlandwehr', a jaunting affair that could have risen from the filthy Berlin Landwehr canal, only to dissolve again after six frenzied minutes, leaving nothing but a trace of bubbles on the skanky surface. The gritty 'La Foire', a grimy take on Belgian new beat, fuses raw, stepping drums with a playfully gnarly synth line. Luckily 'De Vlasmarkt' is lurking around the corner: this is the awkwardly joyous soundtrack to an annual phenomenon in Ghent, where young and old folks gather on the 'Vlasmarkt' square after a heavy night of boozing, to collectively gaze at at the sun coming up whilst drinking Irish coffees until they drop. G-funk meets electro on the flipside, where Cora from Chengdu showcases her vocal swag on '' to a backdrop of supreme subbass and rattling beats. Man of the moment Cornelius Doctor of HARD FIST fame (the adventurous imprint he runs with Tushen Rai) delivers a beast of a rework that both hypnotizes and elevates. The acapella leaves you in charge of your own destiny.

The Conspiracy Hailed From Mount Pleasant, A College Town In The Center Of Michigan. Originally Formed As The Allusions, They Became Nino & The Nomads Before Changing Their Name To The Conspiracy In 1966. For The Next Few Years The Group Stayed Busy On The Live Circuit. "we Were Booked All Over The State," Remembers Singer Aquilino Soriano. "every Weekend We'd Be Somewhere. We Were About Two And A Half Hours From Detroit, So We'd Go Down South, We'd Go Up North, We'd Go Everywhere. There Was This Network Of Teen Clubs Where Kids Didn't Have To Be 21 And Everybody Could Go. It Was Fantastic." In 1967 The Group Had What Aquilino Describes As "probably Our Apex Moment". Kustom Amplifiers Sponsored A Statewide Battle Of The Bands Tournament, And The Conspiracy Battled Through Several Rounds Of Competition To Make It All The Way To The Finals In Saginaw. "it Was A Statewide Thing That Culminated There," Remembers Aquilino. "question Mark & The Mysterians And A Couple Of Others That Were Notables Were Also In It - And We Won It! We Got Our Award From Bob Seger." The Prize Was Thousands Of Dollars Worth Of Gigs And A Tuck And Roll Kustom Pa System, Which The Band Put To Use As They Moved Forward Into 1968, Brimming With Confidence. A Roving Capitol A&r Man Caught Their Show In Cadillac, Michigan, And Encouraged Them To Write Some Original Songs And Go Into The Studio. So In 1968 That's What They Did. `dream World' And `with You' Were Recorded At A Studio In Grand Rapids And The Session Turned Out Exceptionally Well. "it Just Floored Me That We Didn't Sit Down And Write Some More Songs," Says Aquilino, "because I Thought We Did A Pretty Good Job." `dream World' Is Particularly Great With A Soulful Lead Vocal, An Insistent Fuzz Guitar Line, Waves Of Hammond Organ, A Catchy, Harmonized Chorus And An Insistent Dance Groove. Shades Of The Doors, The Young Rascals, The Blues Magoos And Src. A Mixdown Of The Tape Was Forwarded To Their Contact At Capitol Records, But Ultimately No Deal Was Signed. "we Were Just Starting To Separate From High School," Remembers Aquilino. "it Was The Start Of That Transition. I Was Class Of '67, They Were Class Of `68. There Was The War In Vietnam. You Could Go To College To Avoid The Draft. It Was A Lot Of Decisions And I Guess What Happened Is Nothing Really Happened From Us Recording. I Mean They Liked It, They Made Us An Offer, But I Think That The Parents Weren't Really Happy With That. I Think That There Was Some Dissent In The Band Too." The Conspiracy Broke Up In Early 1969 And The Tape Of The Only Original Songs They Ever Played Remained Unreleased And Unheard Until 2018, When Soriano Brought The Original 1" 8-track Session Tape Into Earthling Studios In El Cajon, California, Where It Was Mixed And Mastered By Mike Kamoo For This Release. "getting This Out On Vinyl - It's What We Dreamed Of!" Aquilino Grins. "even If It Took Fifty Years To Happen!" Mike Stax

As humans living on the planet today, we have become so removed from our original, natural habitat—the forest—that we forget our wild roots, our primal, animal origins. Music is one of the things that can bring us back to that place, that can put us in contact with a felt world of instinct, immediacy, and presence: a world where language and the problem-solving mind are not needed, where the music keeps your mind and body in the present moment, and the point of dancing becomes the dance of our inner wildness and animality itself. Hans Berg's Sounds of the Forest Forgotten affirms that music can bring us to a state of mind and body that can help us feel what we've forgotten from the forest. The overlaying project of the album is to conjure musical and conceptual resonances between mysticism and nature, summoning the incredible depth and force of nature that we usually miss, especially living in contemporary urban cities. Sounds of the Forest Forgotten channels the creativity, playfulness, and freedom of a life both before and beyond ours through the sounds of analog and digital synthesizers, a modular system, drum machines, and computers. Recorded between Hans's studios in Berlin and on the Swedish countryside, the album similarly shuttles between contemplative and ecstatic, between delicate and powerful, mixing sublime psychedelic techno compositions like 'Emerald Sea' with acidic dance-floor bangers like 'Storm' and 'Milk Thistle,' all nestled between contemplative and textural ambient compositions like 'Butterfly' and 'Glow Worm.' Berg is known for his enthralling productions and energetic livesets that capture dance floors with his particular brand of hypnotic techno, replete with angular lines, affecting melodies, pulsating basslines, and big drums. He also produces atmospheric scores and ambient soundscapes to accompany the video art and installations of long-term collaborator and celebrated artist Nathalie Djurberg. Berg's live sets have found a home in nightclubs around the world, with recent gigs in Berlin, Stockholm, New York, Tokyo, and Melbourne, to name a few. In addition to 2MR, he has released his solo work on record labels including Ian Pooley's imprint Montage, Klasse Recordings, and The Vinyl Factory. His ongoing collaboration with fellow Swede Johanna Knutsson - as Knutsson/Berg - has led them to start the label UFO Station Recordings, on which they release their own material. The duo also has released on labels such as Idle Hands, Default Position, Kann, and Random Island.

Brand new 7' EP from Glasgow's Vital Idles, following on from the band's well-received debut LP and a rigorous Marc Riley BBC 6 Music session from last year. Vital Idles are touring Europe in support of the EP, finishing up in the UK playing a series of UTR showcase parties in celebration of the label's 15 year history.


If there isn't yet a tradition of following a magnificent debut album with a, shoelaces-tightened, excellent mission statement of an EP (one would be forgiven to think that the debut long player was the mission statement already, breaking in on the scene/ry with such unmissable and rarely seen sensory delight, but then upon hearing the subsequently released EP one is tempted to think: "Wow! That debut was truly astonishing but now they are REALLY on a mission!"), well, if this tradition doesn't already exist - and thinking about Young Marble Giants' scene-defining "Final Day" 7", Pylon's absolutely essential "!!" 10" and Carla Dal Forno's recent-yet-already-classic "The Garden" 12" one might argue that this tradition is undoubtedly fully existent (more so: alive and well) — then this self-titled extended play from much beloved Glasgow quartet Vital Idles would surely be a striking argument for the genesis of such a tradition.

On the other hand, when taking sides with the many seasoned critics arguing that this tradition has indeed long been established, one might confidently list this effort as a bona fide example of such practice, sharing with the aforementioned not only an astute and accomplished artistic ability but also a sense of minimalist psychedelia that transcends restrictions set by redundant referencialism and grateless genre parameters such as "Post Punk" or "Minimal Pop" (on which the same critics, of course, often disagree).
That being said, ping-ponging from gritty post punk smashes to minimal pop moments and vice versa, Vital Idles' sphere of stripped-down efficiency and sharp personal observation also brings to mind crucially overseen half-chord-wonders Glorious Din as well as antipodean contemporaries like Constant Mongrel (who also had their latest release mastered by the fantastic M. Young), Primo! (who also had their latest release mastered by the fantastic M. Young) and Terry (who also had their latest release mastered by the fantastic M. Young).

The EP reveals itself as a steady, hypotenusal rise of intensity and momentum, starting with the hallucinogenic restrain of opener "Break A", building tension throughout the gothic-noise flourishes of "Seconds" and "Rustle Rustle" and culminating in "Careful Extracts", a 2 minute burst of carefree introspection that might as well be the unintentional answer to early career highlight "My Sentiments": "just me and my/ tired ire/ a a a a a a a a a a"

In conclusion: Vital Idles' debut was truly astonishing but - wow! - now they are truly on a mission.

Alt. folker Will Oldham - better known as Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - is set to drop a joint record with gently psychedelic crew Trembling Bells

Just four years after their debut album Carbeth, Trembling Bells are amassing a formidable body of work at a startling velocity. Just twelve months after the release of their critically acclaimed third album The Constant Pageant, the Glasgow quartet return to share the billing with a similarly restless creative spirit. A few thousand miles separate Will Oldham and Trembling Bells' drummer and principal songwriter Alex Neilson, but their stories intersect as far back as 2005, when the young Leeds-raised Neilson found himself playing drums on Alasdair Roberts' No Earthly Man, with Oldham producing. In time, a friendship between mentor and student became one between two kindred musicians. Neilson augmented his work with free-psych-drone practitioners Directing Hand by playing with the Bonnie 'Prince' Billy band. The drummer's eagerness to experience new epiphanies yielded unforgettable memories. In Big Sur, he recalls, 'we took mushrooms at midnight, then visited a natural hot spring built into the dramatic cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The stars were as vivid as frozen fireworks.' All of which is worth dwelling on, because without that background of mutual openness and empathy, it's hard to imagine The Marble Downs existing.

Neilson recalls a conversation about a 'collaboration' in the summer of 2010, though stresses that it 'was nothing too formal at first'. By the end of that year, a limited-edition seven-inch New Year's Eve Is The Loneliest Night of the Year showed what an inspired match the vocals of Trembling Bells singer Lavinia Blackwall and Will Oldham made. The cut-glass precision of the classically-trained student of medieval music and the worldly, careworn tones of Oldham created an unlikely chemistry. It must have seemed that way to Neilson too. He set about assembling a cache of songs with the purpose of further harnessing that chemistry. The result is an album that has, once again, redrafted the boundaries of what Trembling Bells can achieve together. Indeed, genre-lines aren't terribly helpful this time around. Yes, Trembling Bells' love affair with traditional music remains a constant — most emphatically so on the unaccompanied Blackwall/Oldham two-hander, My Husband's Got No Courage In Him. Then there is Blackwall's musical setting of Dorothy Parker's poem Excursion Into Assonance — and the thorough-going new-found classicism of Neilson's increasingly assured songwriting. Albeit delivered with Trembling Bells' rain-lashed sense of abandon, Love Is A Velvet Noose sounds like a standard of sorts — a warped consequence of Neilson's increasing fascination with the songbooks of Cole Porter and Hoagy Carmichael. 'I'm not saying I stand any chance of emulating them,' he adds, 'but the appreciation is definitely there.'

The knowledge that Oldham and Blackwall would be sharing centre-stage on The Marble Downs gave Neilson extra impetus to flex his songwriting muscles. I Can Tell You're Leaving finds both vocalists on irresistible form, dissecting their dying relationship with no heed to the other's feelings. 'You treat me like a child,' sings Oldham. 'I need a man,' she responds, barely catching breath. 'Now like Merle Haggard, you'll see the fighting side of me,' he later promises. 'I guess that's one of the lighter moments on the album,' ponders Neilson, 'I was trying to get a Planet Waves-era Bob Dylan feel there, with the piano and walking bassline.'

Here and elsewhere, the band — Blackwall, Neilson, bassist Simon Shaw and guitarist Mike Hastings — has never sounded more psychically attuned to one-other. On the slow-reveal sonic establishing shot of I Made A Date (With An Open Vein), two minutes of manic modal chaos elapses before Oldham takes the narrative reins of a majestic call-and-response folk-rock epic. The electrifying free-folk portent of Riding — a revival of the Palace Brothers classic — is no less compelling, calling to mind the words of broadcaster Stuart Maconie when he praised Trembling Bells for their ability to invoke simultaneously 'the charm of folk music and the power of rock.' Ditto Ain't Nothing Wrong With A Little Longing, in which Neilson slams down a four-to-the-floor beat over a synergy of demonic krautrock keys and a dialogue between Oldham and Blackwall that scales Nancy & Lee levels of romantic intrigue.

With nine songs gone and one remaining, the album's sonic undulations find an arresting denouement in the form of an inspired cover. Adapted from Robin Gibb's 1970 solo masterpiece Robin's Reign, Lord Bless All sees Trembling Bells tease out the hymnal qualities of Gibb's original with a slow volcanic upswell which — on four minutes — explodes into heavy psychedelic technicolour. What pleases Alex Neilson when he listens back is 'a sense of a common vocabulary and identity being forged.' If, by that, he means that there isn't another band on the planet that quite sounds like Trembling Bells, it would be hard to disagree. The evidence is right here.

'I didn't know anything about Trembling Bells. I just heard them and was knocked out. I instantly became a fan.' Paul Weller

'Trembling Bells are my kind of band.' Joe Boyd

"Jesus fucking shit! These jamz claw so hard at the tatties below methinks the Lord misnamed them, having intended to say Trembling BALLS." Will Oldham

'A poetic incantation of British identity far brighter than Michael Gove's GCSE syllabus.' Stewart Lee

'This time, I'm attempting to reclaim the art of songwriting from the charity shop bargain bin.' Alex Neilson

Virtuoso compositions, subtle synthetic atmospheres, voices oscillating between pure intentions and dreamlike fantasy, a confusion of feelings and desires, time and space...Garden of Love, the 3rd album by electro duo Scratch Massive makes an impression from the first moments that you hear its enigmatic beauty. Like a ghost train moving along a tightrope - between shadow and light, failure and redemption, violence and melancholy - this fourth studio album reaffirms the Parisian DJ/Producer duo style/vibe with their hybrid sounds and sensory experiences. For 15 years, Maud Geffray and Sebastien Chenut have maintained artistic and aesthetic control as they participated in the 'revolution of the dancefloors'. In the early 2000s, 'Made in France' electro became known for its hedonism and as the savior of an entire techno generation ready to fight (or at least on the dancefloor!) for a future that was increasingly frustrating and hypothetical.


On first glance, Garden of Love, appears to be an invitation to love and peace, however, nothing is ever that simple, as the album cover evokes a multitude of interpretations. The lyrics speak to the depths of the soul, covering a range of emotion from love, emotions, and fears ... Garden of Love is for our hearts and bodies to become receptive again: the disenchanted poetry of the Last Dance, the sumptuous opening track set against a backdrop of electro-pop murmured in the light and shadows as painful caress; the psychedelic scent of Sunken (a duet recorded with the complicit and poisonous voice of Léonie Pernet); and the dark-tech shores of "Fantome X" with the evanescent and hypnotic pop clarity of Feel The Void (both magnified by the vocals of Romain Thominot of the Reims pop band Grindi Manberg). Scratch Massive draws the outline of an electronic music in search of redemption - reinventing their icy grooves and confronting it with a naive elegance and a disillusioned romanticism that embodies our time.

Both Stephen Vitiello and Taylor Deupree are seasoned collaborators. Each new collaboration is a new context, a new conversation and a unique opportunity to learn. Vitiello has worked with musicians such as Scanner, Steve Roden, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Machinefabriek. As an artist often
represented in galleries and large scale sound installations he has also had the frequent opportunity to work with visual artists from the likes of Tony Oursler to Julie Mehretu and Joan Jonas. Deupree has a long history of collaboration including early works with Christopher Willits and Richard Chartier as well as Marcus Fischer, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Bon Iver's S. Carey. Fridman Variations is Vitiello and Deupree's third release
together and continues their tradition of exploring their unique form of experimental improvisation.
Stemming from a live performance at NYC's Fridman Gallery, Fridman Variations was co-produced by the gallery and will remain as part of the gallery's publications. Fridman Gallery is a visual exhibition space that also boasts a unique dedication to experimental music through their annual New Ear Festival, at which Vitiello and Deupree performed and recorded the main piece for this album.
Side A of Fridman Variations is the live recording, edited for vinyl while side B contains two pieces made with some of the same source material as the live performance and intended to be related, but entirely new, works. Guitar, modular synthesizer and a small tape synthesizer are at the heart of these songs. The improved layers draw on buried melodies and hint of feld recordings and found textures. Not overly melodic, not
overly noisy, Vitiello and Deupree like to fnd the edge between the pretty and the obscure, often suggesting more than laying their intentions bare. This type of sound is one that the duo often explores as an opportunity for Deupree to adventure beyond his melodic comfort zone and for Vitiello to work and experiment with new instruments and how they interact with his signature guitar.
One of the biggest inspirations to the artists for this work was the hushed and dreamy state of the audience during the performance. The late-night ambience added to the immersive quality of the surround speakers and helped to channel creativity and a sense of sharing
Both artists feel that recording live performances is an opportunity to capture a unique moment that simply won't happen again. Despite a performance's faws or imperfections the energy and interaction is a special moment in time for the performers and audience. The opportunity to not only document it for the listeners who were present but also to be able to share the moment with those who weren't there is a positive one.
To further be able to expand on the ideas in the controlled studio environment serves to enrich the experience and further the communication.

One year on from the passing of label co-founder and artist Alex Smith, Flash as a Rat returns with its 6th instalment.


Digby, co-founder and brother to Alex, continues the siblings' form for emotionally intelligent and sound focussed minimal.


'Briefmacken' bumps through waves of kicks and glitches to arrive at moments of peaceful clarity, whilst 'Constantly' swings with off kilter hisses and pops around a metallic organ sequence, making it's claustrophobic way towards a beautifully layered string section at the crescendo.


The typically pared back artwork this time inverts the colour scheme from the brothers' first ever release on their own label, marking the record simultaneously the ending of one chapter and the beginning of the next.

'Best electronic live set i've seen in two years!' CHRIS CUSACK (BOOKER, BLOC GLASGOW)

Fresh and heady slice of cerebral techno and out-there electro flavours.

EXTERIOR is the artist moniker of Edinburgh producer Doug MacDonald. Exterior represents his transition to electronic music and an embrace of the dancefloor. Doug played hardcore and noise-rock for a long time before eventually abandoning collaboration, nostalgia and formulaic rebellion in favour of synthesis. What he gained on the way was an understanding of the power of live drumming and years of finely honed performance-skills, something of an aberration in dance music.

Exterior thus represents a convergence of disparate personal and musical pleasures. Accordingly Exterior draws on rhythmic mavericks as divergent as Fugazi//Battles//Swans as well as DJ Spoko//Clark//Hieroglyphic Being. In addition, there is a deep undercurrent of melody and texture, drawing on the likes of Burial//Miles Davis//Bjork. Eschewing the modern home computer in favour of an exclusively hardware based approach, Exterior espouses a physical relationship to what is at heart an abstract practice, composing electronic dance music.

Perhaps it's unsurprising, then, that one of the things which really sets Exterior apart is his intoxicating live show. He gets the crowd going every single time he performs, so infectious is his energy, as he throws shapes and struts his stuff behind the gear, clearly 100% in the moment and his element.

His debut EP 'Public Transport' was released on London/Barcelona-based Land Recordings earlier in 2018. Having made his international headlining debut in Berlin in September, more continental sorties are currently being arranged (see below).

This record represents a significant move forward in sophistication and club-readiness.

On remix duties, anonymous analogue techno lover DALI returns on the back of four slices of extended club gear released via two Hobbes Music 12"s (2017-18), boasting colour-themed, screen-printed sleeves and an uber-simple design for that evergreen minimal aesthetic with a hint of mystique. These gained excited support/plays from the likes of Ben UFO, Nina Kraviz, Daniel Avery, DJ Deep, Laurent Garnier, Avalon Emerson, Twitch, XDB, Bill Brewster, Bawrut, Tom Findlay (Groove Armada) and many more... Clocking in (again) at just over 9 minutes, her 'Collapsing Star' remix is another marathon-length effort and does exactly what it says on the tin. Setting the beats to classic electro, everything's pushed hard until it all seems ready to fall rapidly apart (and it very nearly does), before dissolving in a fiery sizzle: a more visceral, dance floor accompaniment to Exterior's heady affair.

96 Back, aka Evan Majumdar-Swift, returns to CPU with his debut album 'Excitable, Girl'. Bringing his thoroughbred Sheffield electronic heritage back into the spotlight, this album raises the bar in terms of quality and diversity. DJs and discerning home listeners will find plenty of favourites on this long player with dance floor igniters jostling alongside ambitious ambient moments. Lush Plaid-like melodies throughout will keep you hooked.

Evan firmly established himself in 2018 and is one of the hardest working artists on the scene, this album will only strengthen his presence on the electro grid.

CAVE are kind of beyond time. You might feel like it's been
awhile since you've seen or heard them but when you see
or hear them again, that moment will feel like 'Allways'.
During the making of the last album, 'Threace', CAVE was
in the process of becoming a quintet. They toured the
world afterwards, playing on four continents and eighteen
countries - as close to everywhere as they could get. Then
they took a minute. They recorded it over time, in Chile
and then Chicago. You can hear all of this, the energy of
liveness, the reps, and consolidating expanded possibilities
within their new alignment, the time away, the distance
and the freshness of returning to recorded sounds,
everywhere on 'Allways'.
In the past, much has been made of CAVE's use of
particular compelling tropes but their inspiration comes
from everywhere - Miles, psych, beats, exotica, library
music, rock, punk, the Germans, the New York guys too,
minimalists, the Dead, music from India, everywhere. This
is a bunch of guys playing rock-based music in a way that
pushes them forward from everything they've experienced.
When you listen to the new CAVE you hear guitars - lots of
them - bubbling under, scratching, fanning, locking in and
taking off, soaring on acid-washed wings, with keys that
pump, burr and whoosh in and out of the rhythms.
Half-speed mastering of 'Allways' at Abbey Road has
allowed the activity at all frequencies to present with a
liquid fullness and ripe detail. 'Allways' is a blueprint for
your ears to read and a map for CAVE to follow through
the world.

Long time unsung UK techno artist Aubrey is to release Gravitational Lensing, a first artist album since 2001 and his third in all. It lands in early 2019 on Out-ER and across 12 tracks it finds him getting more personal and instinctive than ever before with jazz, techno, broken beat and house all colouring this most coherent of musical adventures.
Aubrey s discography dates back to the early nineties, when he was a key part of the UK scene on labels like Solid Groove, Textures and Mosaic. Up there with the greats from Chicago and Detroit, he has turned out a steady stream of music that marries perfect dance floor functionality with real musical invention. Always inspired by anything deep with a good groove, everything from synth band Japan to funk king George Clinton, electro break beats to Jean Michel Jarre all inform his work.

As a DJ, he cut his teeth playing the biggest raves in the UK with names like Carl Cox and Eddie C having been swept up by the acid house records that hit English stores when he was just 15. Add in a love of jazz, ambient and US house, and you have all the eclectic influences that this criminally under-the-radar artist has drawn on for his latest album.

It is one that finds him really put his personal stamp on his sound. It s a chance to be more who you are and what you feel without pressure to conform to a particular sound, it s a chance to be free, says the artist of the album process. It was partially produced at Out-ER s studio in Nard , Lecce over the course of a year s worth of studio jam sessions, and is his finest and most cinematic work to date.

Things kick off with the ambient synth modulations of Aerglo Visible before exquisitely loose jazz drums and sci-fi pads suspend you in the cosmos on Floating to Rigel. There is an experimental feel to the off grid drums, rippling chords and drunken keys of Doctor Portia that keeps you brilliantly off balance, and the first deep techno trip is Journey To the Blue Planet , which has gorgeous ambience swirling over rolling, dubby kicks and soulful Detroit synth work. Carrying on through more lush, musical synth work and inventive drums, there are moments of heads down dance floor power and hi-tech soul, serene techno landscaping and chord-laced deep house that is superbly cerebral throughout the album.

In all, it makes for a complete and storytelling record that draws on a rich variety of genres and reworks them into something deep, multi-layered and hugely emotional that works as well in headphones, at home, as it will in the club.

On Pedro Vian's second album, the now Amsterdam-based artist opens up a new sonic chapter of his life, running through depths of emotions and feelings, traversing moments of euphoria, fury, serenity, hope and love. Recorded between 2014 and 2018, the self titled LP opens with a melodic flourish, drops down through mournful vocal driven pieces and lands on fast moving synths across a set of 12 deeply personal tracks.

A follow up to Vian's 2016 acclaimed debut album 'Beautiful Things You Left Us For Memories' - supported by Pitchfork, RA, XLR8R, Ransom Note, The Quietus, NTS - this sophomore LP shows the breadth and maturity of Vian's sound, falling in between the cracks of downtempo electronica, ambient and post rock. Pedro discloses: 'I have tried to be sincere, transparent and pure. During the recording process I have avoided artificiality. I do not like the overproduction of music. I like to feel the naturalness and the essence of the beat of the instruments. I like to look inside until I find something real with which to communicate'.

'Pedro Vian' arrives on Vian's own Modern Obscure Music imprint, home to like-minded artists such as Jamal Moss, Gavin Russom, Tevo Howard, Ivy Barkakati, Eterna and Sau Poler. Vian initially cut his teeth in the Barcelona scene, first as part of the duo Aster with JMII on Hivern Discs and Jamal Moss' Mathematics then as a solo producer on his own Modern Obscure Music, MM Discos and Spring Theory.

European music culture has never been closed, on the contrary - it has always integrated influences from all other parts of the world. Two Tribes makes an effort to give insight in how musicians living in Europe today incorporate and transfer musical traditions particularly from the African continent into their own oeuvre.

Featured on Two Tribes are a broad range of constellations, ranging from musicians with roots in African countries who reside in Europe to collaborations between European and African artists. Musically our compilation tries to capture at least a part of the enormous diversity that contemporary music from Europe of this kind has to offer. The spectrum ranges from classical - songs' using traditional instruments from both continents to electronic productions that combine musical heritage with current club culture. Our selection can only be a musical snapshot since there is so much movement in this genre at the moment.

As you can hopefully see and hear, the leitmotif while compiling Two Tribes was to keep an eye on the ease of handling different cultural influences amongst the featured artists. It was important to us that the included music doesn´t just copy African music styles one to one but has an own handwriting and builds a bridge between the musical legacy of both continents. With all the track included, we have found a number of great examples and decided to showcase twelve of them on this first volume. The music included refers to the musical traditions of Senegal, Kenya, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Morocco, Zimbabwe and South Africa amongst others. The involved musicians are spread all over Europe, from Finland to Great Britain, Italy, England, France and Portugal to Germany.

Be it organic or electronic music, we think that all of the tracks really deserve your ear! Tobi Kirsch & Ubbo Gronewold, June 2018

For the first release of 2019, the ever-consistent Play It Say It turns to an established producer who is launching an anonymous new alias. The music speaks of someone with a love of raw, analogue sounding house and techno with machine made soul.

First out of the blocks is the brilliant and adventuring 'Don't Believe The Hype'. Built around expertly programmed drums that remain restless throughout, it has dynamic synths and acid twitches, moments of serenity and chord-based optimism all stitched in along the way. It's the sort of expansive, cinematic track that envelops the whole club and oozes class and production know how.

On the flip, 'One Night Forever' is a totally different but equally unique proposition: it has fizzing synth lines bringing a dystopian feel to dark bass and razor sharp hi hats. Broken drums amp up the energy levels, and the warped synths pump the party. This is a busy, urgent cut of fantastically realised future music that brings plenty of freshness to the dance floor.

Whoever this artist is, they have a genuinely unique perspective and more than enough skills to realise their bold and brave new ideas.

As a first listen it was 2 am, 46° in a village Portugal, in a Convent, after a good night out. That moment stroke me from being magic, the energy was perfect, we were laughing and relaxing amongst friends. That listen was pushing the magic further because of the surprises it has all along the journey. A first groaning A simple rhythm Soft realms Noisy Round sounds Type machine sounds, of a sampled hi hat that never reveals, cut cut cut cut. Just because it's fun to not reveal it. And put that fist cut part of the upcoming timber that is not 'yet' one. It's like if the drum pack was used the wrong way, which is a great way. Flipping. (=to flip something) Belp has this ability to bring the most horrible samples in front, and turn over your mind to enjoy what first sounds like 'horrible'. Facade. 'Crocodile' is flipping it over. Rhythmically vibrating, ears are wide open, full attention. I'm into the non-repetition. Track 'Crocodile's call reminds me of the call in 'Klabb' by Deena Abdelwahed as well as within its playful change of tempo, of notes. Who cares The album is like a randomly composed pack. It is not random. It's flipping something, and I like that disturbance, it's what I want to hear. It is alive, through composition, arrangements, falsely randomised, non-arranged, it is a trick; it is the drunk clown playing 'endless preparations for a ceremony' and 'catch'. Not bothering about anything reveals a deep understanding of music and of arts, a crafted album in details. It is years of listening, it is years of challenging ones ears, and putting it all together in this piece.

'For The Colleagues Of Ubu & Their Authorities' is the brainchild of Vienna based vinyl enthusiast, DJ & producer The Reboot Joy Confession. What once started as a series of mixes has been expanded into this compilation, on which he brings together diverse genres of music like electronica, modern minimalism, folk, post-rock, avant-garde or modular music, which also reflect his own versatile musical taste. 'As I stopped thinking in genres, my attempt was to merge my musical taste in the most fluent way possible onto one record. There are mesmerizing songs from some of my favourite contemporary artists - I feel a timelessness in their music, I can ´t get tired of. With the compilation I wanted to create a contemplative, fictitious, surreal world, merging those different styles together. Giving it that title, I wanted the listener to be able to imagine a tale that is building up with each song. I am really happy about the outcome of this compilation and hope that many other listeners can feel the magic.' The compilation includes the surreal work of Swiss producer Dim Grimm (also known as Dimlite), as well as a collaboration between Merz & Julian Sartorius Drum Ensemble who radically altered the original version of 'The Hunting Owl' into a monstrous percussive live version. Taken off the debut album from one of Poland ´s most interesting musicians at the moment, Waclaw Zimpel & Kuba Ziolek, 'Wrens' is a fusion of folk, jazz and modern minimal music. Experimental pop musician & filmmaker Tujiko Noriko appears with an emotional piece that challenges the paths between pop and avant-garde. Gerhard Zander, whose musical work started on the outskirts of experimental pop music in the early seventies in Germany, delivers a modular synth masterpiece with unique sounds, textures and a far-out synth choir. Rock and ambient influenced musician Helen Money (also known as Alison Chesley) is a Los Angeles based cellist and composer who appears with a massively dark post-rock song called 'MF', which was recorded at Steve Albini's Electrical Audio studio in Chicago in 2009. Often compared to Frank Zappa and known for their richness of ideas, Liverpool's a.P.A.t.T. contribute the hypnotic 'Young Free & Parasite', with references to British glam, post-punk or synth rock, but in a fresh and obscure sounding outfit. SSELLF, the moniker of New Zealand ´s Christoph El Truento, inspired by post-punk and noise. 'Visitors' is simple and simply in your face, with lo-fi drums, distorted synths and raw vocals by Christoph himself. After a few seclusive years, The Reboot Joy Confession returns with a new, crispy and soulful track. Cinematic strings written by Martin Riedler, arranged by Flip Phillip, and recorded at the established Vienna Konzerthaus, based on a properly arranged drum outfit and played by a villain named Gurlimu. Both strings and drums are guiding through the whole song and culminate in Glockenspiel and Rhodes melodies. Oceaneer aka Japanese pianist Oneechan Nanashi completes the compilation with her beautiful and profound composition 'The Sea, Forever'. She describes her music as 'improvised instrumental underwater music from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, played with broken instruments, directed by the spirit of drowned people who are talking through the hands of the pianist. It's lonely and bleak music for the dead.'

It gives me the greatest honour to finally be able to announce the release of this amazing triple vinyl masterpiece by log(m) and Laraaji on Invisible, Inc.

It's been over a decade since Laraaji first joined forces with log(m) in their Canadian studio in early 2007. In those ten years the trio recorded many hours of music. Over time these recordings, beginning essentially as live jams, were polished, dissected, processed, re-arranged and then finely and painstakingly distilled down to the 105 minutes of music that now form this album, which finally reached completion just earlier this year. The wait has been more than worth it.

The Onrush Of Eternity is a melding of minds like no other. Ever the pioneer of experimental ambience, Laraaji's signature hammered dulcimer, zither, mbira, auto harp, sruthi drone box and of course his exceedingly positive vibes are here combined with log(m)'s unique vision of gronky hi-tech psychedelic space dub. The resultant voyage into deeply meditative ambience and trance-inducing dub is as unexpected an outcome as it is a bona fide "Eureka" moment. It sounds neither like log(m) OR Laraaji....but of course like both. It is one of those rare collaborations that is, without a doubt, even greater than the sum of its already great parts.

Log(m) started making waves in the early '90s as Legion Of Green Men with their visually striking 12"s, complete with eternal opuscules (locked grooves) and mathematically inspired titles, all lovingly issued on their own Post Contemporary imprint. These deservedly got the attention of Richie Hawtin who promptly asked the duo for an album on his own classic Plus 8 Records. 20+ years later and the music (much like their name) has morphed into something more sophisticated: even more complex, atmospheric and deeper than ever.

Laraaji's reputation of course precedes him: he first came to wider attention when Brian Eno released his "Day Of Radiance" as part 3 of his Ambient Series in 1980. Since then, Laraaji has released over 40 albums, yet his stellar path seems still to be on the ascendant - a recent landmark being the 2017 "Sun" series of albums for the wonderful All Saints' Records.

This unique triple LP in tri-fold sleeve is limited to 200 copies on coloured vinyl and 300 copies on black vinyl featuring ten of log(m)'s signature eternal opuscules and cryptic engravings on all three discs.

Sinking Into A Miracle is the debut album by Glasgow's AMOR, a quartet of musical travellers exploring the sonic open-ended-ness of dance music. Following two critically acclaimed 12-inches, this is a fully developed treatise on ecstasy and transcendence. Here, Richard Youngs, Michael Francis Duch, Paul Thomson and Luke Fowler are more honed, razor sharp in focus and timing, testing their instrumental prowess on condensed song structures and new, enlightened feelings of expansive hope and bliss. From the outset, it's an ambitious yet ultimately inclusive journey. Recorded to 24-track tape at Chem 19 and mixed by Paul Savage and Richard McMaster (Golden Teacher), this full length retains the elastic grooves of Paradise and Higher Moment, the group's previous singles, but relinquishes the classic Philadelphia International-tinged sound in favor of looser rhythmic patterns. There are new depths to the compositions: a more free-flowing approach to percussion and deft experiments in hybridity make for a full and rounded, emotionally tinged record. Indeed, there are times when AMOR sound like the lost house band from David Mancuso's Loft parties: Richard Youngs' uplifting, gospel-tinged lyrics talk about moving beyond, universal truths, sailing through the horizon. It's a wideeyed optimism Mancuso would perhaps have approved of and which is embroidered with spectral details that begs to be auditioned on large, tweaked out sound-systems.
Fantastic cover art by Robert Beatty.

Working with artists like David August and Daniel Brandt, Frieder Nagel is known for managing projects in venues ranging from theatres to clubs, for concerts to audiovisual experiments. He finally signs his first solo work Distract Robots to be released on January 18 on InFiné and invites his listeners to get lost in an universe that spans from euphoric to devastating excitement. - mastered by Zino Mikorey, the magician behind Nils Frahms latest album.

Frieder Nagel invites his listeners to get lost in a universe that spans from euphoric to devastating excitement. He is known for managing projects in venues ranging from theatres to clubs, for concerts to audio-visual experiments - working with artists like David August, La Boum Fatale and Daniel Brandt (Brandt Brauer Frick). The first time he appeared on stage, in 2016 at Berlin's infamous Radialsystem V, armed with several synthesizers, effects, drum machines, one grand piano; and backed by the German Symphony Orchestra (DSO). This critically acclaimed debut was streamed by Boiler Room later and led to further collaborations with Philharmonie Essen or his ensemble show at Reeperbahn Festival.

Now finally Nagel Žs first solo work Distract Robots will be released by French label InFineŽ. This 12" has become an album in miniature with a final polish by mastering guru Zino Mikorey known for his work for Nils Frahm Žs All Melody. This EP offers up a mystical world, full of warm synths and detailed sound clusters morphing into each other to form utterly dark and dystopian ballads. Nagel gets lost in obsessively endless sessions with his instruments. He isolates himself and spends night after night drifting away from reality. The result is that his tracks carry moments of utterly deep relief and deliverance, as well as despairing sadness and stoical escapism.

Hungarian producer Giash has been on Metroline Limited radar for quite some time. It took a while to get him on board but the wait is finally over: the misteriously titled Sen_d_Ingo Ep is here and it is super-tasty!

An expert crafter of minimal beats and hypnothic grooves, Giash career has spanned over 10 years with his productions being released on wax through seminal labels such as Archipel, Plaisir, Why So Series and many more.

The opening track, Brunc_hc-_h, give us the first shot of underscores and a high dosage of machine funk minimalism. It's a full on/slow-mo industrial churning groover with sci-fi licks and lush pads work!

The second cut on the A side it's the beatiful Imagin__ary and it's deep minimalism at the highest level. It's a great mixture of new and old as far as reduced jacking grooves are concerned.
It could have easily fitted in the late 90's Perlon/Playhouse era but it surely sounds as current, fresh and forward thinking now.

Side B is solely occupied by the tripped out grooves of Sen_d_ingo. Close your eyes, imagine yuorself in an East London basement at the darkest of after-parties, this track is the perfect fit for that particular moment.
Over 13 minutes of dark and hypnotic beauty, the track is crunchy and punchy with a wigglesome broken rhythm, some subtle synth variations and plenty of dark and deep atmoshperics!

South London's TROY TOWN once again draws from the local talent pool to follow the Wbeeza EP. This release opens up the detailed percussive and wide-eyed, rave-influenced productions of Copper Green Sedan.
The multi-instrumentalist was living a nomadic life through northern Europe formulating the key ideas of the EP from the back of a campervan before rounding them off back in the studio. The resulting three track EP that was delivered to us conveys a hectic melancholy.
'Pedestrian' is a driving, breaksy opener. It's sympathetic to the groovers on the dance floor and the thick chords balance the snappy percussion. 'Rolling in the Long Grass' is a glitchy trip through a meadow. Finally, 'Gene' is a dusty, hands-in-the-air banger destined to reignite a jaded dance floor as the sun comes up. Man of the moment Desert Sound Colony (Holding Hands/Touch From a Distance) lays down a beautifully bionic 'Pedestrian' edit to round off the EP.

Following on from one of the most sought after reissues of recent years 'MUSICA PARA EL FIN DE LOS CANTOS' on Berlin's Cocktail D'amore, Iury Lechs debut LP 'Otra Rumorosa Superficie' is made available for the very first time on vinyl launching the reissue division of London based Utopia Records set up in 2015 by Alexander Bradley.
This cassette only release from 1989 is a minimal masterpiece practically unheard until now. Arguably a more complete album than '...De Los Cantos', originally composed for two short films 'Final Sin Pausas' and 'Bocetos Para Un Sueno' as a full score, the arrangement is a beautiful listening experience spanning through ambient, meditational and cinematic minimalism of real depth, romanticism and sincerity.

Iury Lech is a Ukrainian born multidisciplinary artist, whose main focus now is as the curator of 'Madatac' a festival based in Madrid focused on new media art, video art and audio visual technologies which has featured the work of Brian Eno amongst many others.
During the late 1970s and 80s he rose as a pioneer within a moment focused on electronically generated audio and visual media. Drawing on the ground gained by Minimalist pioneers like Steve Reich, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass - built from repetitive rhythm and sheets of rippling resonance, drone, and ambience, Lech's work of the period is so striking and beautiful, that it seems shockingly unjust that it was overlooked until now.

The album comes in 180 gram vinyl edit form in deluxe sleeve.
Utopia Originals sets out to promote and reinvigorate music and artists in the most authentic way possible.
'OTRA RUMOROSA SUPERFICIE' has been remastered from original master tapes at Central Dubs, Bern Switzerland and the original artwork licensed through Argentine visual artist Pablo Siquier.

Domestic Exile are proud to present the devastatingly deplorable and malevolent recordings (that are sure to corrode yet electrify your ears) by Glasgow's very own KLEFT.

KLEFT aka Vickie McDonald is rooted in and has actively propagated the underground DIY radical queer punk and feminist movement here in Glasgow. Their projects have included the skull crushing sludge doom of Cartilage, the unflinching and infamous multi- membered hard core stars that were DIVORCE and the sacrificial, druid drone glitch of MOURN. Alongside these projects they have uncompromisingly disrupted, motivated and facilitated collective endeavors to take down the capital power structure of the dominant system of patriarchal club venues and abhorrent fuckers in this town.

For this record 'H+ Sexualis', KLEFT explores the neo-modern space where flesh is left behind. Negotiating, analyzing and tearing to shreds the relationship and balance between flesh and technology. KLEFT's expansive and palpable sonic offerings delve into themes of transhumanism and body hacking and seep into our collective skin begging the question; can flesh ever be created digitally. Does a lack of physicality alienate human experience in a post transhumanism society Are we all destined to be skinless yet digitally connected Will the body become superfluous Toward "the utopian dream of the hope for a monstrous world without gender," as stated on Donna Haraway's essay ''A Cyborg Manifesto.'

From the opening track 'Ossein' the listener grasps a foreboding lethargic build up, lurking out of the spatial ritualistic shadows into a sea of suffocating nothingness. A void where there is no gravity. Skeletal and brittle shattering rhythms which echo DMZ / Skull Disco dubstep alongside the more frozen, glacial ominous explorations of grime are often felt proving KLEFT is an artist whose inspirations run deep and wide and generally exist in the darkest recesses of our subconscious. These fearful, disjointed rhythms are set against weightless atmospheric oscillated synths, as if roaming through bleakly opaque, claustrophobic narrow corridors on a first person survival horror video game such as Resident Evil.

Moving through to 'CMBR', KLEFT's dissonant, degrading soundscape ferociously ascends. The resilient kick drum is propulsive and pulverizing akin to 'ardcore tekno - or intense gabba if you have the guts to adjust the tempo up to +8 - aesthetics that overwhelm and agitate finally revealing it's grotesque biological / amorphous bio structure. Elevating the repetitive 4/4 kick to a destructive, distorted banger of a track as layers of converging atonal noise and sound design simultaneously further enhances the sense of imminent radioactive contamination.

Next is 'Writhe, Squirm, Broken' continuing the convulsive, nauseating permutations of the prior track but reconfigured like a mangled, gruesome Cronenberg-esque parasite that has infiltrated an open wound, excruciatingly feeding off of the inner anatomy of it's hosts body from within. Repulsively reformulating the shape and dimension. The intro is akin to a panic stricken bouncy ball contracting and expanding, the spring reverb building momentum and traveling further away in distance and speed.

'Hackfleisch Deluxe' is a muuurrderous stomper and is one of the more grime / bass orientated tracks that deconstructs and disrupts the tempo familiar to sub-low producers on Black Ops / Jon E Cash / DJ Dread D. The crawling, plummeting frequency of the synth is a nauseating rush of coagulating blood to the heed; a deep throbbing sensory depravation in sharp, paradoxical contrast with the driving harmony layered on top which proves to be infectiously addictive. Furthermore are splintering programmed vocal samples that gives a sense of artificial disorientation, mind over matter, a possible hint at our evolving sentient cognition within a nightmarish simulated, augmented reality

Second to last we have 'Keratin' which is filled with the near fatal dissolving thud of Djax-Up acid that gives the impression that you're a biologist peering through a microscope into a petrie dish and witnessing the rapid and furious genetic cellular replication of bacterial and viral organisms.

Culminating in 'Bruised and Bleeding Hands' where the squashed density of a deflated and depressurized helium filled balloon and elastic umbilical cords, barbed wire and copper wires grind n' coil around the lens of a zooming camera. Taking no prisoners, this is a punishing grime weapon. A phat, surgical kick drum bulldozes its way thru causing carnage, syncopated punching snares after every rave stab and dizzying third beat. It won't be long until ye hear this on Silver Drizzle's youtube channel in the near future.

This record transports us to the hyperkinetic mutation scene on the cult cyberpunk film Tetsuo The Iron Man where the organic flesh / mechanical rust of the Iron Man metamorphoses with the Metal Fetishist during the rebirth sequence and we say 'LONG LIVE THE NEW FLESH!''.

Jac Berrocal, David Fenech and Vincent Epplay return with Ice Exposure, their second album for Blackest Ever Black. A sequel and companion piece of sorts to 2015's Antigravity, its title couldn't be more apt: sonically it is both colder, and more exposed - in the sense of rawer, more volatile, more vulnerable - than its predecessor, capturing the combustible energy and barely suppressed violence of the trio's celebrated live performances with aspects of noir jazz, musique concrète, no wave art-rock, sound poetry and spectral electronics all interpenetrating in unpredictable and exhilarating ways. While there are moments of great sensitivity and even a cautious romanticism, the prevailing mood is one of anxiety, paranoia, and mounting psychodrama: close your eyes and Ice Exposure feels like a dissociative Hörspiel broadcasting from the seedy backstreets of your own troubled mind. Before he picks up an instrument or opens his mouth, Berrocal's unique and compelling presence can be felt: a combination of studied, glacial cool and anarchic, in-the-moment intensity that has served him well over a long and storied career. It was honed during his time as a theatre and film actor, and in the 70s Paris improv scene, it powered his influential Catalogue group in the 1970s, numerous seminal, sui generis solo sides, and far-sighted collaborations with the likes of Nurse With Wound, Lol Coxhill, Pascal Comelade and James Chance which have seen him come to be valorised by two generations of avant-garde agitators and eccentrics. Now in his eighth decade, it comes with an added gravitas, perhaps, but no less energy or vitality. On Ice Exposure, his lyrical, instantly recognisable trumpet playing is a key feature - see especially the ghostly, dubwise take on Ornette's 'Lonely Woman', the dissolute exotica of 'Salta Girls', and the sublime echo-chamber soliloquy 'Opportunity'. But more often it's his voice that commands centre-stage, whether casually discharging surreal poetic monologues or moaning in animal despair - a vocal tour de force that transcends language and culminates in the Dionysian frenzy of 'Why', Berrocal's half-spoken, half-howled exclamations jostling with David Fenech's slashes of dissonant guitar, over Badalamenti-ish, panther-stalk drums. Fenech's origins are in the mail-art scene of the early '90s, when he led the Peu Importe collective in Grenoble, and since then, in addition to his own recordings he has worked as a software developer at IRCAM and played with Jad Fair, Rhys Chatham and many others. Together with Vincent Epplay he is responsible for Ice Exposure's inspired arrangements and vivid, vertiginous sound design. Epplay is a visual artist and composer with particular interest in aleatory composition, concrete, and the reappropriation of vintage sound and film material. He and Fenech fashion a remarkable mise-en-scene for Berrocal to inhabit, one that embraces cutting-edge electronics while also paying homage to the best traditions of outlaw jazz and libidinous rock'n'roll ('Soundcheck' invokes the brutish spirit of Berrocal's hero Vince 'Rock N Roll Station' Taylor). On 'Blanche de Blanc', Berrocal's voice is framed by a groaning, ghoulish orchestra of industrial drones, while 'Equivoque' evokes the most humid and hostile Fourth World landscapes and 'Panic In Surabaya' lives up to its name, a hectic, pulse-quickening concrète collage that leaves you gasping for air. This is a searching and singular trio operating at the absolute peak of their powers, with an interplay that transcends studio and stage and occurs at an almost telepathic level. Ice Exposure is a triumph of that group mind, an underworld dérive as life-affirming as it is unnerving and psychologically precarious.













Panic In Surabaya

Zodiak Commune Records presents the first TRIP release. This is a new series pressed on 10 inch containing long, deep and storytelling acid tracks one on each side.

On the A-side u can find the young common player Vikkei. His alternative downtempo style got our attention immediately. The B-side is dedicated to Yakh, known from his debut release ZC013 "The Earwig EP from the Insectum serie.

Vikkei - 808 In The Sand
It is in this moment when you are desperate in need of water in the desert. Frustration is building up, the sun is getting hotter and hotter, crawling with your 808 in the sand.

Yakh - Expression Army
Completely lost in a world that doesn't exist anymore. Once you are aware of that, the only thing you can do is adapt.

Zodiak Commune Records presents the first TRIP release. This is a new series pressed on 10 inch containing long, deep and storytelling acid tracks one on each side.

On the A-side u can find the young common player Vikkei. His alternative downtempo style got our attention immediately. The B-side is dedicated to Yakh, known from his debut release ZC013 "The Earwig EP from the Insectum serie.

Vikkei - 808 In The Sand
It is in this moment when you are desperate in need of water in the desert. Frustration is building up, the sun is getting hotter and hotter, crawling with your 808 in the sand.

Yakh - Expression Army
Completely lost in a world that doesn't exist anymore. Once you are aware of that, the only thing you can do is adapt.

When Dunham Records/Daptone producer and musician Thomas Brenneck first heard the close family harmonies of the Sha La Das he had a revelation; he knew he had to get it on tape.



Direct from Staten Island, the four Schaldas, father Bill and sons Will aka Swivs, who also toured the world playing keyboard for Charles Bradley and his Extraordinaires, Paul of Paul and the Tall Trees and Charles Bradley and his Extraordinaires, and Carmine had come into the studio in Brooklyn to record background vocals on Charles Bradley's Victim of Love. It was a passion that drove Brenneck from the very beginning.



'Hearing them sing together in the studio was incredible', says Brenneck. He collaborated with Bill Schalda writing songs and applying harmonic sensibilities rooted in doo wop, blues and soul. It wasn't a stretch for Bill, after all he'd been second tenor when still a teen in Brooklyn vocal group, The Montereys in the 1960s (their 45, Face In The Crowd/Step Right Up on Blast records sells for $500 these days) who would play venues from neighborhood bars to the 1964 World's Fair in Queens.



'Bill is the genuine article, just like Charles Bradley and Sharon Jones, he came directly from the source,' says Brenneck. Indeed, Bill Schalda was right there amongst doo wop and r&b groups of the era, singing Moonglows and Flamingos tunes.

'You'd go out on the street and constantly hear a bunch of guys singing on the corner, they'd finish playing handball in the schoolyard during the day and then they'd start singing at night,' says Bill. 'We were all just guys in the neighborhood in Brooklyn, who gradually found each other.'



After their children were born, Bill and wife Linda moved the family across the Verrazano-Narrows bridge to Staten Island. Growing up, sons Will, Paul and Carmine remember summer nights singing group harmonies on the stoop of their home with their father Bill guiding them. 'He would bring us out on the stoop on Staten Island and he would teach us each parts of say, the sesame street song - we were his backing group very early on - that was fun,' says eldest son, Will.



On this, their debut, the talent is harnessed in 11 songs, each tender-voiced delight delivered with absolute conviction combined with musicians that have help define the Daptone/Dunham Records sound including Brenneck, Homer Steinweiss, Dave Guy, Leon Michels, Nick Movshon and Victor Axelrod. 'I wanted to take the Sha La Das outside of the doo wop genre,' says Brenneck. 'To take the whole vocabulary of doo wop harmony and reapply it to soul - so you get super soulful harmonies along the lines of The Manhattans & The Moments.'



From the opening atmospheric guitar strum of Open My Eyes via a walk along the Coney Island boardwalk catching the last glimpse of sunlight at dusk of Carnival to the sublime crescendo of harmonies of the winsome Love in the Wind, each song evokes a deeply personal yet universal yearning that none of us can escape. Quite simply every song yields magic.

There's something special when a family can meld voices in close harmony. The Everly Brothers had it, The Beach Boys had it, the Schalda's have it.

Universal Beings is jazz drummer / producer Makaya McCraven's new album - his most ambitous, elegant and refned work yet.
Recorded at 2 intmate live sessions and 2 pop-up 'studio' sessions across the 'new' jazz hotbed cites of New York, Chicago, London, and Los Angeles, Makaya collaborated with an all-star cast of improvisers (15 musicians in total,
including Shabaka Hutchings, Nubya Garcia, Je Parker, Miguel AtwoodFerguson,Tomeka Reid, Brandee Younger and Carlos Nino) to create source material for the signature style of 'organic beat music' producton he debuted on the groundbreaking 2015 release In The Moment.
The result is this epic, 2xLP/CD set that represents another breakthrough in Makaya's career as a recording artst, as well as a defnitve new work of the excitng global groundswell of next-generaton, Black musicians re-vivifying and
re-artculatng 'jazz' in 2018.