quête:ind ex

Soul Jazz Records’ ‘Calypso – Musical Poetry in the Caribbean’ was first issued in 2014 and has been out of print for nearly 10 years. On its release ‘Calypso’ was voted one of the year’s best 50 reissues in Rolling Stone magazine and received glowing reviews in Pitchfork, The Guardian, Songlines and many more. This new edition has been fully remastered and comes as a one-off limited-edition double vinyl pressing on translucent green vinyl, complete with bespoke inners featuring extensive sleevenotes, notes on all the artists and songs featured, and original artwork and photography. The album is also available in a new card-edition CD package, also with complete notes and text.

Featuring Lord Kitchener, The Mighty Viper, Count Zebra, Lord Flea, Lord Hummingbird, King Fighter, Lord Growler, Lord Byron, Lord Ivanhoe and other members of Calypso’s aristocracy and aristocrats, the album features the music of Calypso in its many styles. Calypso is one of the most exciting and enduring forms of musical expression that first emerged at the beginning of the 20th century – swinging, persuasive rhythms, brilliantly expressive melodies, and lyrics of great humour, wisdom and wit. Here you will find music from Trinidad, birthplace of Calypso, other Caribbean islands including Jamaica and the Bahamas, as well as sounds from the style’s subsequent onwards journey including Britain, Panama and the United States. Calypsonian songs play out a role in society similar to the storytelling Griots of West Africa (and the corresponding music of Kaiso); with their own tales about popular and incredible news items, modern life, local politics all mixed up with sexual innuendo, one-upmanship, comedy and more. At its source, Calypso is intricately and inextricably bound to the social history of Trinidad and its myriad of traditions, beliefs, folklore and fables. As the music spread around the world, both from the diaspora of many of its performers as well as its commercial success, the subjects of songs similarly took on local topics.The most notable singer of Calypso in England was the Trinidadian Lord Kitchener, who came to Britain in 1948 on HMS Empire Windrush, along with fellow Calypsonians Lord Beginner and Lord Woodbine.

With their fourth full-length album Signal Fire, GENGHIS TRON awaken us from the post-apocalyptic daydreams of their previous work with a violent—and most welcome—shove. This time, the distant-future reveries we first heard on Board Up The House give way to an unsettling awareness of the present we’re actually living, as our circumstances grow too pressing to try and escape. “Signal Fire envisions a Kojima-esque dystopia of endless proxy warfare,” says vocalist and lyricist Tony Wolski (The Armed), “where the deluge of available information has outmoded the human ability to parse it. A world where those amoral, shameless and cunning enough can literally reshape reality at their whim through sheer insistence." Having roared onto the scene in 2004 with a uniquely demented blend of extreme metal, synthesizer textures, and drum-machine madness, GENGHIS TRON are no strangers to making a forceful impression. But Signal Fire marks the first time bandleaders Michael Sochynsky and Hamilton Jordan –joined again by Wolski and Nick Yacyshyn (SUMAC) on drums, plus newcomer Kenny Szymanski (The Armed) on bass–has captured this level of urgency with such visceral precision. “This album is very much rooted in the now,” confirms Jordan. Album opener “I Am All” sets the table with a chest-throbbing synth pulse as Wolski declares “I’m on a tear, I’m on a tear,” over swirling industrial rhythms and creeping synthlines. “Nothing Blooms in the Hollow” grafts desert-rock swagger onto interlocking layers of dizzying riffs and chants before Wolski steers the band into full-on sonic burnout, like a spaceship careening into the sun. “Born Prey” navigates deftly through Genghis Tron’s classic sonic touchpoints: furious blastbeats, electronic breaks, haunting vocal earworms, and a towering synth-pop crescendo. Meditative interludes like “Like Fotocrom” and “Without Form” deliver shimmering, ominous beauty. And “New Gods” invokes Rabies-era Skinny Puppy to bring the album to a bludgeoning, anthemic finale, as Wolski screams on repeat: “New gods to bleed me out / No new peace / Bleed me out / I love it.” Twenty years into their career, having proven their ability to forge common ground between Ministry and Aphex Twin, between Brutal Truth and Boards Of Canada, between Cluster and Converge, ugly-beautiful new genre hybrids from GENGHIS TRON no longer come as a surprise. What’s remarkable, however, is how Sochynsky and Jordan have taken a project that started in 2004 as a dorm-room genre-pastiche experiment —”a chaotic, wild amalgamation of all our favorite stuff, literally slammed together,” says Jordan—and refined their songwriting craft to deliver a sound that is unmistakably their own.

Newly remastered and repackaged, Soul Jazz Records’ Gipsy Rhumba was first released to much-critical acclaim around the world in 2012, the album is a stunning mix of Latin, Funk, Flamenco and Rhumba rhythms. The album is being released on deluxe double vinyl, complete with large text and lush photography across two inner sleeves. Also new limited-edition new-card sleeved CD, out of print for more than ten years. The album is like no other and remains the first album ever outside of Spain to seriously focus on the history of Gipsy Rhumba, one of the most interesting musical culture clashes ever that first took place in the early 1960s.

In the Catalan region of Spain, Gypsies primarily known as the creators of Flamenco, came up with a fascinating hybrid style – Gipsy Rhumba – which blended together Latin and Rhumba music of Cuba and the Caribbean together with their own Flamenco as well as the emerging Rock and Roll from America. The album tells this unique story of how this Latin-tinged music came about in the heart of Spain's gypsy community. The album comes with extensive sleevenotes, exclusive and stunning photography from the celebrated French photographer Jacques Leonard. The album is put together by two of Spain's most important Gipsy Rhumba specialists - compiler David El Indio and sleevenotes by Jose Manuel Gómez (Gufi).

In the seclusion of a house in the Bavarian Forest, something unfolded that felt less like a conventional album production and more like an internal process of condensation. This house wasn’t a studio - it was a retreat. Its 1960s-inspired interiors, creaking wooden stairs, and crackling fireplace shaped the sound of Carl Gari as much as the instruments themselves. Though the house no longer exists, its atmosphere remains present in the recordings.


The music of Carl Gari - Jonas Yamer, Till Funke, and Jonas Friedlich - resists easy categorization, a trait that continues on this monumental new album. From the friction between electronic music and guitar textures, the trio forges a distinctive, idiosyncratic sound. Distorted electric guitars and pulsating basslines intertwine with analog drum machines, tape delays, and intricate effect chains, creating music that is raw, organic, and psychedelic. A new element on the album is the trio’s first use of vocals: Jonas Yamer, usually on bass, raises his voice in a punk-tinged, invented language that hints rather than narrates, unsettling more than it explains.


The guest artists do not merely decorate the sound - they alter its very structure at critical points. Polygonia contributes layered vocals that mesh seamlessly with the album’s technoid architecture. Will Brooks of Dälek delivers a dark rap feature on ‘Poison Shyness (Anti-Social)’, his words carving the sonic space with precision. Coby Sey adds introspective vocals that hover between experimentation and restraint on ‘Inner Link’. New York rap pioneer Sensational introduces a deliberately rough, individual counterpoint on ‘Disco Lights’, while the German percussionist Simon Popp drives the album forward with an uncompromising drum performance that insists rather than accompanies on ‘Zeitesser’.


The cover photographs, taken by Jonas Yamer, project images of corridors onto paintings located in the now demolished house where the album was recorded. Visually, this reflects a key motif of the album: spaces exist only as overlays and echoes - not mystical ghosts, but traces of a place that has physically vanished.

Recorded between 2016-2024 in Neunburg vorm Wald and Munich. With kind support by Kulturreferat der Landeshauptstadt München.
Mixed by Johannes Wagner aka J.Manuel at Apollo Studio, Berlin (A1, D1 w/ Fadi Mohem). Mastered & cut by Stefan Betke at Scape Mastering.
Photography by Jonas Yamer. Packaging design by Sepehr Mokhtarzadeh.

When I first heard YELKA play I thought to myself: “I’d like to play in that band.”

In the meantime I have realised that it would not be as easy as I imagined. The fluffy easy sound that gets created is so particular that it would not be so easy to execute those exact sounds of the band. This is mostly due to the unconventional harmonies of the guitar. Daniel himself said he is content with the guitar and added an extra one on almost all of the songs. Which I, as a fan of Daniels anarchic approach to playing, love.

Also Yelka’s groovy smooth bass playing is in the forefront of the album once again. Her sound bounces through the guitar riffs as if it's the most common thing on earth. Once Yelka adds her vocals to the songs, that’s when they almost become pop and reminiscent of Velvet Underground.

Christians drums hold these two together through the track list, with a fun Krautrock and jazz influenced style. Everything was recorded live and it sounds fantastic!

The 6th track of the YELKA album "Jeans" is a highlight with the piano support from Federico Corazzini, who adds lush open jazz chords to the incredible intricate harmonies of the band. Arne Bergner (Studio Popschutz) who is once more responsible for the production of the album, also added a beautiful choir arrangement. The finishing touches completing YELKA´S wonderful sound as always added by Norman Nitzsches Mastering (Mokik Studio).

From top to bottom an amazing album: "King of the World" (Steely Dan cover), a pop song with a fantastic keyboard solo from `the one and only Dan Ra´ alias Daniel Nentwig (The Whitest Boy Alive), "Moon for Now", an atmospheric jazz-ish tune, to "Walking Whispering", a strong 9-minute guitar heavy number... I think there are more than two guitars in this one.

American indie rock/pop/jazz whatever - school (after all, it's the third album in the band's America trilogy) and yet above all Berlin, in its most likeable and perhaps even coolest form.

Masha Qrella

Starting in 2021 the critically acclaimed Next Wave Acid Punx series has seen Luca Venezia, aka Curses, celebrate the music that has shaped both his life and career. Across the first two compilations Luca took usfrom the industrial and post-punk sounds of the late 70s, through the emergence of EBM, new beat and freestyle in the 1980s and onto the music he both makes and plays himself in clubs today. Bringing the series to a close Next Wave Acid Punx TROIS sees the Berlin-based musician and DJ return full circle, this time exploring the sounds that first initiated him into Brooklyn's rave scene and the music that, in some way, continues to embody its eclectic spirit today.

Spread across three 2LPs and 3CDs Next Wave Acid Punx TROIS captures a moment whose influence can still be heard reverberating around clubland today. With the nascent rave scene obliterating boundaries, this was a moment where the darker, harder industrial electronic sounds of the mid 1980s were crashing headfirst into the ecstatic wave that was washing over clubland creating thrilling juxtapositions. Whether in the clubs and warehouses of New York, London, Frankfurt, Valencia and beyond, electronic music would never be the same again as countless new genres we take for granted today were born from the chaos and energy that had been unleashed.

Featuring 46 hard-to-find, new and exclusive tracks, Next Wave Acid Punx TROIS both documents that fertile period and shows how, despite rumours to the contrary, that early anarchic spirit can still be found today. From the Detroit Techno of Model 500 to Nitzer Ebb's EBM and the proto-Trance of Age of Love and onto brand new tracks from some of today's best producers such as Zaatar, Italo Deviance and Leona Jacewska, this compilation closes out a series that has to date revelled in exploring the darker corners of clubland in uplifting style.

This is Chapter 1.

Starting in 2021 the critically acclaimed Next Wave Acid Punx series has seen Luca Venezia, aka Curses, celebrate the music that has shaped both his life and career. Across the first two compilations Luca took us from the industrial and post-punk sounds of the late 70s,through the emergence of EBM, new beat and freestyle in the 1980s and onto the music he both makes and plays himself in clubs today. Bringing the series to a close Next Wave Acid Punx TROIS sees the Berlin-based musician and DJ return full circle, this time exploring the sounds that first initiated him into Brooklyn's rave scene and the music that, in some way, continues to embody its eclectic spirit today.

Spread across three 2LPs and 3CDs Next Wave Acid Punx TROIS captures a moment whose influence can still be heard reverberating around clubland today. With the nascent rave scene obliterating boundaries, this was a moment where the darker, harder industrial electronic sounds of the mid 1980s were crashing headfirst into the ecstatic wave that was washing over clubland creating thrilling juxtapositions. Whether in the clubs and warehouses of New York, London, Frankfurt, Valencia and beyond, electronic music would never be the same again as countless new genres we take for granted today were born from the chaos and energy that had been unleashed.

Featuring 46 hard-to-find, new and exclusive tracks, Next Wave Acid Punx TROIS both documents that fertile period and shows how, despite rumours to the contrary, that early anarchic spirit can still be found today. From the Detroit Techno of Model 500 to Nitzer Ebb's EBM and the proto-Trance of Age of Love and onto brand new tracks from some of today's best producers such as Zaatar, Italo Deviance and Leona Jacewska, this compilation closes out a series that has to date revelled in exploring the darker corners of clubland in uplifting style.

This is Chapter 3.







f B2. Javi Redondo - HALT [Process]

Fast-rising pianist and producer Yoni Mayraz presents his debut LP ‘Dybbuk Tse!’ revealing the story of a malicious possession that is taking over one’s body and soul.

Dybbuk, known from Jewish folklore, is a malevolent wandering spirit that enters and possesses the body of a living person. It’s a cursed soul of a dead one that wanders tirelessly for sins committed during their life. The most vulnerable victims are the young and the sinful. Possession can be taken literally or as an analogy to the burden that young people carry generations back, which they have no influence on, and which they have to accept. Dybbuk can only be removed by exorcism. The titular ‘Dybbuk Tse!’ is a command to remove the spirit from the possessed body. The album is a story about possession but also about exorcism through music.

Recorded live with his band over the course of a spring week last year, ‘Dybbuk Tse!’ is indeed experimenting with the ‘darker side of things’, but yet with a somewhat lighthearted approach which is so typical of Yoni’s work. He easily combines jazz with the sound of 90’s New York hip hop and raw old school breakbeat. The album interweaves unique Middle Eastern melodies, sophisticated structures and sounds, and beautifully crafted solos played by some of the promising talents on the scene.

London based Israeli born pianist and producer Yoni Mayraz has set foot in the instrumental music scene with his EP ‘Rough Cuts’ released in 2020. Since then, Yoni and his band have been playing major venues and festivals around the world including the legendary Ronnie Scott’s and The Jazz Cafe, to name a few, bringing raw energy to stage with live versions of the studio materials, and stretching the melodies and structures into a Dancefloor-focused take on jazz.

Italian cinematic funk heroes Calibro 35 announce a limited edition 45 rpm vinyl featuring two previously unreleased singles. The record is pressed on clear orange vinyl, limited to 600 copies, making it a must-have collector’s item.

On the A side, Calibro 35 reimagine Grover Washington Jr.’s jazz-funk classic “Mister Magic” with an ultra-groovy cinematic funk stormer, perfect for DJs and collectors alike. On the B side, the Milan-based combo revitalizes Can’s krautrock anthem “Vitamin C” with a fresh jazz-punk energy, a track recently brought back into the spotlight through Kanye West’s sampling. Both tracks are taken from the Deluxe Edition of their latest studio album Exploration, set for digital worldwide release on February 6th via Record Kicks.

Praised by Rolling Stone as “the most fascinating, retro-maniac and genuine thing that has happened to Italy in the past few years,” Calibro 35 have built an international reputation as one of the coolest independent bands around. Their music has been sampled by Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, and The Child of Lov (featuring Damon Albarn), and they’ve collaborated with icons such as PJ Harvey, Mike Patton, and Stewart Copeland, continuing to push their cinematic funk universe further.

To celebrate the release, Calibro 35 will hit the road starting mid-October, with two special U.S. shows in Miami and Los Angeles, followed by a European tour including Barcelona, Berlin, Paris, and London.

Fiat Lux return with Desire & Belief, their third album of new material this millennium, following their acclaimed comeback LPs Saved Symmetry and Twisted Culture. The trio—Steve Wright, Will Howard, and David P Crickmore—combine modern production with vintage synths and instruments rooted in their Polydor-era beginnings to craft ten tracks that span cinematic atmospheres, synth-pop anthems, and moody electronica. Tracks like "Clear Sky " and "Turn Me Around" offer hook-laden synth-pop, while "Summer Solstice " and "Am I Dreaming " delve into ambient and darker tones. Desire & Belief is a natural progression for Fiat Lux—retaining the spirit of their 1980s Northern roots in synth, goth, and indie, yet confidently stepping into new sonic territory for long-time fans and new listeners alike. RIYL: Blancmange, OMD, Scary Thieves, Tears For Fears

Crypt of the Wizard is proud to make available two legendary underground albums by Slutet on vinyl and digital formats.
Slutet originated in Uppsala well over a decade ago, first emerging as a loose idea around 2010. The original cluster of strangely like minded individuals - Dingir, Ryttersson, J.P., Sviatopolk, were equally set on starting a cult as they were a band, the former emerging as a loose collective known as The End Commune, while the latter eventually began rehearsing together as Slutet on September 1, 2013.
From this constellation three notorious demo tapes sprung which were self-released in very limited numbers, and only available by trading bodily fluids, blood, and/or hair for the cassettes. “A very loose guess but we made probably around 20-30 hand-drawn/custom demo tapes of the first three releases. We got blood and hair from many places, actually the very first offering was from INDONESIA. Slovakia, Germany, USA, Argentina, Norway, Canada, Finland followed.... if my memory serves..... hazy years indeed”
J.P. left early 2015. Later that year, after trying the band as a bass-drum-vocals outfit for a while, Fjalar joined on guitar. This is the classic constellation. Dingir, Ryttersson, Fjalar, Sviatopolk. The same troupe playing to this very day.
Following on from the compilation Slutet began work on their next offering entitled Jihad. While the departure of J.P. left them temporarily without a guitarist, a chance meeting with Fjalar at a rave ushered in a new era for the band. “I met the drummer and the bass player at a psytrance rave in the forest. I didn’t have any band and I wanted to play music and I saw this fucking weirdo with long dreads and a Hellhammer shirt and I just went up to talk to him”.
After Fjalar joined the rather chaotic fray, songwriting duties were spread out more broadly and Jihad was rehearsed and recorded in a haze. First released as a cassette by Manifest Of Hate Creations, and later on vinyl in an edition of 100 by Goatowarex the release quickly sold out and became as legendary, and as incredibly difficult to obtain as the previous releases. “It has got some psychedelic improvs, some very unorthodox and quite genius vocal work, some electronic undertones, some noisy ambience, a message of existentialism; all this wrapped up in some sloppy but very authentic and intense black metal-ish music.”
“After the vinyl compilation was out (early 2015) we felt probably a bit directionless, and, having parted ways with a befriended and talented guitar player, we felt maybe a bit morally weakened to continue. First, for a year almost, we toiled on without the 6-strings and rehearsed quite lengthy material for a proposed upcoming LP. However, that material never surfaced. Then we got a new guitar player (Fjalar) and created and recorded this mess”.
It is with great pride that we make these albums available to a general audience and in a wider pressing without need for bloodshed.

Alina Valentina ignores rule books. When it comes to making music, she bends genres to her own sound and vision. Acid, electro, synth wave, vocoders. All are melted to produce a bracing style that is floor focussed and strikingly individual. It is this distinctive perspective that The Hague based artist brings to Schrödinger’s Box for NPC Dream, eight tracks that map a journey that disregards genre limitations. The intent and mood are immediately set with the fierce “Air Slasher” plunging through the fog as kicks roll and beads of acid bulge. Raw electro is further coarsened by scything keys and vicious vocoder words in the title piece before the technoid mutations and pain-streaked “Echo of Ecco.” The ground is never stable, the direction and ideas darting and shifting to new sonic territory. Punishing and pure, “Mine Cart Madness” is EBM-encrusted cruelty. Tempos shift on the flip, the slow and cinematic atmosphere of “Pixel Swamp” feeding into the sinister and snarling snares of “Wishing Engine.” Paranoia and tension collide in the stabbing chiptune chords and spiking percussion of “Come Get Some”, acid barbs ballooning into a blistering barrage in this warped wrecking ball. “Light Warrior” is cut from the same raucous cloth. Knobs splinter against machined lyrics, sirens blare as kicks thump in this basement lurking beast.

NPC Dream is a relentless record. From the needle drop, Alina Valentina enforces her sound as she teases and taunts styles. Fiery and brimming with energy, this 12” encapsulates the sound of an exciting talent who carves their music with a truly unique ear.

Brutkho strikes back on Goldmin Music with his very first vinyl release. A first physical release is always something special and exciting, So of course, it had to be a very personal and deeply touching package of music. Horvath Tamas alias Brutkho is actually one of the artists we feel since the first listen of his music. This hungarian producer has the power to play with the unexpected, to build captivating structures without losing sight of the essential simplicity this music needs."Now & then", his first ep on Goldmin Music and "Magic 32" on the compilation were already authentic demonstrations of this guy's assertive personality and aspirations but he definitely pushed the process further on this record.
Gabriella and Coleman are two massive deep-techno stompers focused on the atmosphere, the texture, the immersion which will play with your senses from the beginning to the end and fool your previous certainties without any doubt.Tel-Aviv based producers Deep'a & Biri who recently joined Derrick May's Transmat agency and who deliver some of the finest dub techno cuts of today catched the original track delicious pianos and dropped them into their sumptuous cinetic industrial groove.French producer Jan Hendez drives it into a pure rhythmic and organic piece of music unbound by usual genre limits. Menacing, very cold yet still deep and sexy remix that reminds both his first releases and his newer strictly atmospheric and mental approach.That's exactly the point with this record. It's a meeting of spontaneous artists who never stop their musical research, who don't mind about fleeting trends and who push boundaries further on every single track they do.

Thirteen years have passed since their debut album, but now Oppenheimer MKII is ready to release their long-awaited second album "Embrace The Dark”.

Oppenheimer MKII is Andy Oppenheimer, singer, songwriter and formerly one-half of 1980s synth-pop duo Oppenheimer Analysis, one of the leading bands of the ‘minimal synth’ scene, and inspiration behind the New York-based Minimal Wave label and Mahk Rumbae, electronic musician and producer known for his work with Codex Empire, Mitra Mitra, and long-running UK industrial/experimental band Konstruktivists.

“Embrace The Dark” does exactly as its title suggests: it embraces dark, apocalyptic themes for our current turbulent times. In nine mind-blowing tracks, Mahk’s thunderous dance rhythms and addictive synth-pop melodies combine with Andy’s latest dystopian – and sometimes utopian – visions of our past, present and future.

From the atmospheric title track, greatly influenced by Andy’s lifelong obsession with space – ‘When you embrace the dark, you gaze back in time...’ to delusional tech-bro world domination in “I Went Too Far” – ‘The sky is not the limit; my wealth is infinite’ and the pounding paranoid lead track “Oh! My Mind is a Storm” – ‘When I go dark, I'm into demon mode’, the new Oppenheimer MkII album “Embrace the Dark” ventures deep into futuristic dreams and nightmares and is guaranteed to fill the dancefloor.

Starting in 2021 the critically acclaimed Next Wave Acid Punx series has seen Luca Venezia, aka Curses, celebrate the music that has shaped both his life and career. Across the first two compilations Luca took us from theindustrial and post-punk sounds of the late 70s, through the emergence of EBM, new beat and freestyle in the 1980s and onto the music he both makes and plays himself in clubs today. Bringing the series to a close Next Wave Acid Punx TROIS sees the Berlin-based musician and DJ return full circle, this time exploring the sounds that first initiated him into Brooklyn's rave scene and the music that, in some way, continues to embody its eclectic spirit today.

Spread across three 2LPs and 3CDs Next Wave Acid Punx TROIS captures a moment whose influence can still be heard reverberating around clubland today. With the nascent rave scene obliterating boundaries, this was a moment where the darker, harder industrial electronic sounds of the mid 1980s were crashing headfirst into the ecstatic wave that was washing over clubland creating thrilling juxtapositions. Whether in the clubs and warehouses of New York, London, Frankfurt, Valencia and beyond, electronic music would never be the same again as countless new genres we take for granted today were born from the chaos and energy that had been unleashed.

Featuring 46 hard-to-find, new and exclusive tracks, Next Wave Acid Punx TROIS both documents that fertile period and shows how, despite rumours to the contrary, that early anarchic spirit can still be found today. From the Detroit Techno of Model 500 to Nitzer Ebb's EBM and the proto-Trance of Age of Love and onto brand new tracks from some of today's best producers such as Zaatar, Italo Deviance and Leona Jacewska, this compilation closes out a series that has to date revelled in exploring the darker corners of clubland in uplifting style.

This is Chapter 2.

Following their 2023 LP Presents, Nathan Nelson's American Cream Band bring the Twin City heat back to Quindi with an album rooted in duality. From the yin and yang party-starting A side and meditative B side to the dual-attack boy-girl vocals, the nature of opposites and equals steer the expansive, artful strain of rock n' roll that spill out of this wholly unique Minnesotan export. For the ever intriguing Quindi, it's a strident step into Spring after the frosty introspection of Roudi Vagou & Läuten der Seele's Taghelle Nacht. While the world burns and injustice prevails, Twin is a celebration of unity and radical expression-all the more urgent against the backdrop of authoritarian overreach and righteous protest that has whipped through Minneapolis in recent times.
Twin continues Nelson's drive at the helm of American Cream Band to draw in a colourful cast of players to feed into his orgiastic sound, meshing the trance-induction of krautrock with the irrepressible funk of the post-punk-new-wave explosion. But principal among the cast of characters and forming a central tenet to the identity of this album is Liz Buhmann, lead vocalist and a formidable, playful foil to Nelson's own Midwestern twang. Around the electric spark between Buhmann and Nelson, a heavy duty ensemble wrangle guitar, bass, sax, a cornucopia of synths and a battery of percussion into all manner of sonic forms.
The double-sided concept manifests throughout Twin. On 'Call Me' Buhmann sings in French to contrast Nelson's English, while the strident strut of the NYC disco groove is offset by an inherent dreaminess that turns the track into a more cosmic kind of dancefloor workout. 'Ethical Vampire' is a spiky cut with a garage rock patina that spirals into a psychedelic, synth-soaked get-down. 'Don't Burn The House Down' is a loose and limber roller that captures Can at their funkiest along with the hypnotic vibe of other such esteemed long format jammers, but American Cream Band boils that energy into a hook-laden art pop sensibility before a gentle, drawn out landing.
Even the more pensive moments on Twin find space for friction. For all its tender, smoky temperament, 'Leda and the Swan' lets the electric piano and guitar fray at the edges and bleed into the red while Mat Heinrich's tumbling drums lurch with pent-up intensity on the one. 'No Funeral Necessary' skirts around the mellow pools of new age but prefers to let liberally doused Tape Echo tweak out Alex Meffert's honeyed sax inflections and Buhmann and Nelson's disparate sermons.
Nelson describes Twin as "an oppositorum coincidentia" - a reference to the mystical Latin concept of the coincidence of opposites that suggests contradictory ideas 'fall together' in a higher reality. Beyond the sound of the album, this idea also manifests in the cover photography by Sho Nikado and the swans on the LP labels by Autumn Garrington. As freewheeling and wide-open as American Cream Band feels, nothing appears by accident. The end result feels like a nourishing whole - rich with substance and nuance, deep enough to be explored and absorbed yet also so brazen and immediate you can't help but feel its surface charms from the first thrusts of 'The Hive Is Pissed' to the last ripples of 'We're Not So Sinister'.

Ghetto Records was Latin music legend Joe Bataan’s way to get over on The Man and out of the ’hood, a bold move by an artist looking for independence and creative control in an industry that had exploited his talents and treated him like chattel.



As Bataan puts it today, “Ghetto Records was part of my journey, a stepping stone to everything else that I’ve done. I learned enough that it enabled me to get out of the box with my thinking, it showed me how to deal with adversity.” Like many dreams and schemes born of the street, this one was audacious, perhaps even reckless to a fault.

Hatched from desperation yet full of hope Ghetto Records came crashing down shortly after its inception. The seven albums in its discography languished out of print - until now.

Portugal's Dextro returns for second EP of stylish deep techno on Mutual Rytm with ‘Planets And Stars’. Dextro’s tunes have long been a staple of Mutual Rytm label head SHDW's sets, with the esteemed veteran previously landing on the label with his ‘Covil Dos Abutres’ EP last year. His return with ‘Planets And Stars’ features a selection of his most requested IDs from recent times, with the Portuguese DJ/producers featuring as a longstanding favourite within the European underground since the 90s through his stripped-back, economical sound that is rooted in masterful design and intuitive grooves. He is a true studio craftsman, whether going deep or more destructive, and that range is on show here as he makes a splash for his sophomore outing. SHDW notes, “‘Planets And Stars’ feels like his most refined and focused work to date. It also further strengthens our relationship, rooted in a shared vision and values around music and how it should be presented.” The EP kicks off with the heavyweight ‘1000 Places’, a track that will rattle walls as eerie synth whispers and sonar blips snake through the mix. ‘Industria Acéfala’ is just as hypnotic with a deep blend of rolling bass and rooted kicks, while unsettling tension comes in the one-note synth loops and scratchy texture. ‘Planets and Stars’ provides an intergalactic trip with cosmic dust, conscious spoken words and an infinite horizon that has you gazing off into the distance. The all-consuming ‘Perpendicular’ is shadowy with impish motifs darting about the mix as watery droplets fall into cavernous kicks. ‘Winter Letter’ is the final 12”cut and is perfectly deep, linear techno with gorgeous ambient details that turn your thoughts inwards. Three digital bonuses expand the trip: ‘Torresmos com Pão’ is unsettling and sparse, ‘Historia da Vida’ ramps up the tension with oversized hi-hats and rising synth turbulence and finally ‘Ghost Particles’ has shimmering bell sounds evoking a spooky moon-lit church in the dead of night.

Aquasonic Vol.1 marks a new chapter for Afalinas, presenting a carefully selected vinyl compilation featuring Ukrainian producer iO (Mulen), Berlin based Tro, Afalinas founder Olekhar, and Chilean artist Existencia Pasajera. Each track reflects a distinct geographical and emotional perspective, united by a shared focus on depth, groove and immersive sound design. From refined deep and juicy tech house and subtle techno structures to psychedelic textures and spacious rhythms, Aquasonic Vol.1 unfolds as a cohesive listening experience shaped by four individual voices.