Tara Cunningham’s guitar glitch miniatures draw patterns in negative space on new mini-album Warm Ground. Operating predominantly within improvisational and experimental music, guitarist Tara Cunningham has developed a discrete sonic language that reveals the full textural and timbral range of her instrument.
Marking a new chapter for Cunningham that builds on her solo debut, Almost – Not Exactly, released on Non Classical in 2025, Warm Ground unfolds across seven compelling instrumental dialogues - each a conversation of rhythms and found sounds, syncopated and juxtaposed, open to encounter.
Implied by the title of first single ‘Following a Thought’, Cunningham weaves an exploratory melody into the spaces between field recordings. At once introspective and highly relational, each track ushers the listener into a world of different scales, seeking beauty and meaning in the everyday, from the discrete mechanisms of ‘Fridgelight’ to the delicately unhinged organism of ‘Flying Ant Day’.
Cunningham finds a natural home on Odda’s roster of artists sensitive to the details of their materials and surroundings, finding kinship alongside the intimate songcraft of Kirk Barley and Fohn in the gaps between composition and improvisation.
In 2026 she released a self-titled LP as The Sleeves with Jack Cooper, performing at Cafe Oto ahead of a US tour in the autumn. She continues to pursue a range of projects as collaborator and side person with Modern Nature, Sebastian Rochford, Red Snapper, Liam Noble, Laura Jurd and Caius Williams.
**BenArt Ensemble ft. Baptiste Herbin** unveil a distinctive debut album at the crossroads of jazz, world music and groove. Led by bassist and producer Ben Artuphel, this eight-piece ensemble brings together musicians from diverse backgrounds and with a wide range of influences: Baptiste Herbin (saxophones), Amina Mezaache (flute), Céline Bonacina (baritone saxophone), Ben Artuphel (bass), Antoine Banville (drums), Alexis Bajot-Nercessian (keyboards), Laurent Avenard-Kohler (guitar) and Nils Wekstein (percussion).
Born from a musical encounter in 2023, the band has developed a unique sound in which intricate bop-inspired writing meets 1970s funk, Afro and Creole rhythms, and the vibrant energy of samba. The album features 13 original compositions, the result of a deeply collaborative process and an exceptional musical chemistry between the eight musicians.
At the heart of the project, saxophonist **Baptiste Herbin** brings his virtuosic playing and extensive international experience. Nominated for the Victoires du Jazz in 2013 for his debut album *Brother Stoon*, he went on to receive the Django Reinhardt Prize and was named Musician of the Year by the Académie du Jazz in 2019. He has released four albums under his own name and has appeared on around fifty recordings alongside some of the leading figures in jazz.
With its finely crafted arrangements, rich melodies and irresistibly groove-driven rhythm section, **BenArt Ensemble ft. Baptiste Herbin** delivers a vibrant and generous take on jazz, where each musician's individual voice shines through while serving the collective. Balancing heritage and modernity, this album is an invitation to dance, dream and travel.
Black Sheep is the influential hip‑hop duo from Queens, New York, formed by Andres “Dres” Vargas Titus and William “Mista Lawnge” McLean. Although both members hail from New York, they met as teenagers in Sanford, North Carolina, where their families had relocated. The duo became part of the celebrated Native Tongues Collective, alongside Jungle Brothers, A Tribe Called Quest, and De La Soul, a movement known for its creativity, positivity, and forward‑thinking approach to hip‑hop. After joining forces in 1989, Black Sheep made an immediate impact with their 1991 acclaimed debut album A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing. The record earned widespread recognition for its inventive rhythms and sharp, witty, often humorous lyricism.
Their second album Non‑Fiction arrived in 1994, continuing their signature blend of jazzy hip-hop and clever, tongue‑in‑cheek storytelling. The album featured two singles “Without a Doubt” and “North South East West”.
Following its release, the group remained largely inactive throughout the decade, with the exception of Dres, who recorded a solo project under the moniker Dres The Black Sheep. Black Sheep eventually returned in 2006 with their long‑awaited third album 8WM / Novakane. Shortly thereafter, Mista Lawnge departed, while Dres has continued to release music under the Black Sheep name.
RADYO BOMBERO - ABOUT THE LABEL
Radyo Bombero is the record label founded by acclaimed filmmaker, author, DJ and record collector Fatih Akin. Born out of his personal passion for vinyl and film music, the label will initially focus on soundtracks from his films: previously unavailable works will be released on vinyl for the first time, while out-of-print titles will return as carefully produced reissues. Its inaugural release is the soundtrack to Akin's new film Geister, scheduled for release in November 2026. Further projects are already in development.
ABOUT THE RELEASE
MALAKOFF KOWALSKI - GEISTER
ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK
Composed by Malakoff Kowalski, the soundtrack to Fatih Akin's Geister is the inaugural release on Radyo Bombero.
Born in the United States, raised in Hamburg and now based in Berlin, Kowalski is a composer, pianist and multi-instrumentalist whose work moves between film music, contemporary classical composition, theatre and pop. He composed the music for eleven films by Klaus Lemke, as well as for productions including Schweigend steht der Wald and Stasikomödie. His solo work has been released by MPS and Sony Classical, and he has collaborated with artists including 2raumwohnung, Igor Levit, Chilly Gonzales and Nils Frahm. His sound combines elegiac melodies with a warm, cinematic atmosphere and a subtle sense of unrest beneath the surface.
For Geister, this distinctive musical language meets Fatih Akin's vision of a deliberately anachronistic and romantic score: a tribute to Ennio Morricone's great love themes that plays a defining role in the film's tragic love story and atmosphere.
LP 1 contains Kowalski's complete original film score.
LP by JUGGLERZ opens up a second musical world, bringing together four productions by the internationally successful Jugglerz on a four-track 12-inch disc at 45 RPM: the film's title song Ya Mami, performed by Aya Samra; Mood by Cloudee, Milaa and Jugglerz; Tip by Jugglerz, Limitlezz, Maureen and Demarco; and Beirut Nights Riddim. The four tracks bring Arabic tarab and contemporary Levantine pop together with hip-hop, urban beats and dancehall rhythms.
FATIH AKIN ON RADYO BOMBERO
"Radyo Bombero is on the air. Don't miss a tune!
"
Music is - alongside cinema and literature - a fundamental source of inspiration for me. Having grown up in the 1980s, the way I listen to music has hardly changed: I buy records, listen to them carefully and then copy them onto a portable device. It used to be a Walkman, then an iPod - today it is my smartphone with my playlists.
I do not use Spotify or any other streaming services. Why that is, I do not know. In most other areas, I try to keep up with technological developments. Not with music. I like unpacking a record, cleaning it before listening, holding the sleeve in my hands and reading who worked in the studio, who wrote the music and where the record was made. These things interest me. And they lower my cortisol levels.
Music plays a major role in my films. It is not that, as a director, I want to impose my favourite music on the audience. The music must always serve the story. In Head-On, for example, it tells us something about the characters and their biographies. Crossing the Bridge - The Sound of Istanbul is the musical portrait of a city. Its music tells us about the people who live there: where they come from, the cultures they brought with them and how those cultures have merged with local traditions. The Cut was conceived as a Western, and the music had to help reinforce that idea.
Geister tells a tragic love story. The music was meant to be gloriously anachronistic. And romantic. Just like the light and colours, it had to shape the atmosphere of the film. My films are often about cinema itself, and Geister is no exception. Its music is a tribute to Ennio Morricone's great love themes.
In Malakoff Kowalski, I found the perfect creative partner. He immediately understood my idea and realised it brilliantly. That made it all the more painful when I was told by the music industry that there could be no soundtrack release for Geister because soundtracks were too expensive to produce and would simply sit on the shelves.
It is not as though I am a spoiled child who absolutely has to have a lollipop. But this music is simply too good to withhold from the audience. The idea that there would be no soundtrack release felt like a great injustice.
Then several friends and collaborators advised me to release the record myself. No sooner said than done. But Radyo Bombero is not a one-off project. Geister is only the beginning.
Finally, I have the opportunity to gradually release all the soundtracks from my films that have remained unavailable. Soundtracks that were previously released but have since gone out of print will also return as reissues.
Hainbach's soundtrack to Amrum is already in development, as is a double album featuring the unforgettable German pop songs from The Golden Glove. And, finally, a vinyl soundtrack to Head-On.
Fatih Akin
For our second vinyl release, the idea was to bring together two artists from the same scene with strong and distinctive identities, and create a project where their individual worlds can coexist. Beyond featuring a solo track from each artist, we wanted them to collaborate and explore a shared territory that draws from their respective influences while pushing towards something new.
What makes a life well lived? Career, home, savings, family: these are the milestones that make adulthood legible as success. Friendship, meanwhile, is often treated as something that either endures or doesn’t, more a matter of luck than a relationship requiring its own devotion, maintenance, and care. When really, as the world becomes more isolated and artificial by the day, friendships may be the most important thing a person ever builds.
“A lot of times in life I feel like a late bloomer, like I'm still trying to get my shit together in a way that other people have already figured out,” says Chastity Belt drummer/vocalist Gretchen Grimm. “But then I reflect on my adulthood, and my top priority has largely been my friends, which I do not regret at all.” That priority feels like the guiding principle on the band’s sixth album, All My Friends. Not that they set out to make an album about friendship—during mixing the band's longtime collaborator and engineer, Samur Khouja, pointed out that a lot of the songs referenced the subject. Which makes a lot of sense.
Julia Shapiro (guitar/vocals), Lydia Lund (guitar/vocals), Hunter Truscott (bass/vocals), and Grimm have been making music together for 15 years. Friendship has sustained the Chastity Belt project as its members have grown alongside one another, both as people and as musicians. Across a resonant catalog, they’ve moved from the raucous wit of their early records toward the lush, introspective moods they’ve refined on each album since via trademark intertwining guitars, meticulous rhythms, and double exposure of melancholy and optimism.
All My Friends comprises songs recorded across multiple years, time zones, and studios, including Seahorse Sound in LA, Way Out in Woodinville, and a centuries-old house on the Greek island of Hydra. The oldest track dates back to around 2018; the newest were finished within the past year. These days, the band spans three cities (Los Angeles, Seattle, and Chicago); less writing/rehearsal time means songs are often worked out in the studio, relying on the spontaneity and instinct that comes from knowing one another so well. The result is rawer and less polished than their last couple of records, closer in spirit to the band’s roots.
Metabolising 20-plus years gorging on the hardcore continuum, Luke J Murray returns to Sneaker Social Club with the first album under his Liquid DnB-Like Ambient Grime 2 alias. As the first self-titled EP in 2024 demonstrated, with this project Murray applies a hauntological supplement to his life-long diet of rave's codes and signals. These 11 tracks could be embraced as dank bangers in their own right, but the ghostly shroud that lingers is no accident. It's an evocative expression of the hinterland places that frame the pursuit of the dance as much as the energy spikes in front of the bass bins — a diaristic reflection on trudging puddle-peppered streets to find little black doors or staggering home, ears ringing, as dawn comes to chase down the street lights.
Haunted House, Garage & Grime walks the line between atmospheric scene building and straight-up beatdowns with a relaxed swagger. 'The Ginnel In SK4' paints a vivid picture of urban malaise with its bleak synth warps and punk-dub splashes, not a drum sequence in earshot. It's flanked by the Caustic Window-meets-Mark One 'The Flats On Belmont Way' on one side, and low-slung electro-creeper 'Hollywood Park' on the other. As the titles hint, this is music tangibly attached to very specific places locked in Murray's memory — unmistakably UK locations that reflect back the half-hollowed out echoes of late night soundtracks, glancing off red brick and pebble dash concrete at odd angles.
There is space on the album for full-chested amen tear-outs like 'Pete's Gone Mad With The Axe' , but for the most part the mood remains downcast and pensive. The sparse approach affords you space to tangibly hear the (not-so-silent) name-checked rain pattering in the background of 'The Crown Under The Viaduct, While Rainfalls Silently Into The River Mersey' , or imagine the crunch of litter and dead leaves underfoot that snakes its way through minimalist stepper 'Bowerfield Lane, After Dark'.
Murray's vision is sharply realised, and his stated inspirations slot logically into his shelves of ordered ideas drawn from disorderly memories. From Mark Leckey's O' Magic Power Of Bleakness to the Ghost Box records alumni, Hatcha's seminal Dubstep Allstars Vol. 1 and Laura Grace Ford's Savage Messiah book, Haunted House, Garage & Grime is the logical product of a deep thinker making tracks with decades of rave in his bones and the sense that it all means something, even if it's not always clear what.
This November, Brownswood Recordings will release Mek Do & Mend, the debut album from self-taught producer, multi-instrumentalist, composer and artist Wonky Logic. Although his name may not yet be familiar to everyone, Wonky Logic (AKA Dwayne Kilvington) has spent the past two decades quietly becoming one of the UK's most respected musical collaborators. His career has moved comfortably between London's jazz, electronic and contemporary music scenes, performing and recording with artists including Nala Sinephro, Yussef Dayes, Nightmares On Wax, Shabaka Hutchings and Emma-Jean Thackray. Alongside his work as a producer and composer, he's been musical director for projects with Eddie Chacon, John Carroll Kirby and I.G Culture's LCSM, scored the feature documentary Zandra With A Zed, contributed music to A24's The Smashing Machine, and continues to lead music workshops with young people, refugees and people experiencing incarceration.
Far more than a collection of compositions, Mek Do & Mend is a deeply personal reflection on the people, places and experiences that have shaped Kilvington throughout his life. It's the story of growing up on a Leeds council estate, where music became both a creative outlet and a way of understanding the world. Making music often meant working with whatever was available: a second-hand keyboard, a makeshift studio desk or ageing equipment that simply had to last a little longer. The title itself came from a conversation with his mother, capturing the resourcefulness that defined his upbringing and continued into the making of the album itself, which was written and produced to a tight deadline around touring, family life and Kilvington's work as a musician and educator.
Built from material spanning more than fifteen years, Mek Do & Mend brings together some of Wonky Logic's earliest compositions alongside brand new pieces written during the making of the record itself. Childhood ideas sit alongside music conceived only months before recording, creating an album that draws together a lifetime of writing rather than documenting a single moment. Running throughout are voice notes from family members, teachers, friends, mentors and collaborators—not simply as interludes, but as a reminder that no creative life is ever self-made. Rather than telling his own story outright, Kilvington invites listeners to discover him through the people who've shaped him: an aunt remembering him playing in church as a child, lifelong friends recalling early experiments making beats together, fellow musicians from different stages of his career and his mother describing him in her own words. Together they reveal the invisible network of relationships, philosophies, communities and experiences behind the music. "The album exists somewhere between being a biography and an autobiography," says Dwayne. "The biography is in the voice notes and how other people see me. The autobiography is in the music."
That same philosophy extends to the musicians who appear on the record. Every contributor has played a meaningful role in Wonky Logic's life beyond the studio. Long-time collaborator Luke Wynter, Steam Down drummer Benji Appiah, partner Vanessa Rani, Jonathan Enser, Joe Bristow, Brother Portrait and Nubiya Imani all feature not simply because of their musicianship, but because they form part of the album's story.
Across its fourteen tracks, Mek Do & Mend moves effortlessly between dynamic jazz arrangements, pulsating broken rhythms, delicate, twinkling piano passages, interstellar synth textures and elegant brass lines. Album opener and first single 'Strange Attractor' begins with a shimmering introduction before unfolding into an exhilarating surge of rhythm and momentum. Named after the mathematical concept of the same name, it serves as the conceptual point of origin for the album. Written when Kilvington was just seventeen, the composition reflects the idea that even the most unpredictable lives are guided by hidden patterns that often only become visible with time. Second single 'A Thousand Hands' features the unmistakable vocal tones of Brother Portrait, whose cerebral lyricism drifts over a low-slung, constantly shifting groove as woozy synth lines ebb and flow overhead. At its heart, the track celebrates the family, friends, mentors and collaborators whose often unseen influence shapes who we become, echoing the album's belief that every achievement is, in some way, a collective one. LP focus track 'BAME (Beyond All Marginalised Expectations)' is a lush, spiralling composition, brimming with both emotion and resolve. Reclaiming an acronym long imposed on racialised communities in the UK, the piece transforms it into a statement of possibility rather than limitation: a defiant rejection of stereotypes and a refusal to let identity be defined by other people's expectations.
The album itself only exists because other people believed in it. Isabel Gracefield made the RAK sessions possible, Rick David brought the record together with his characteristically thoughtful mix, and Gilles Peterson committed to releasing it on Brownswood before hearing any of the music. Away from the stage, Kilvington works with the charity Finding Rhythms, writing and producing original records with people experiencing incarceration, while also leading workshops with Arts Train and Dovetail Orchestra.
Recorded live in a single day in Studio One at RAK, Mek Do & Mend was mixed by Rick David through an analogue Cadac console before being mastered by Stuart Hawkes at Metropolis. The aim wasn't nostalgia or audiophile perfection, but to create a record people could return to throughout their lives, discovering something new with each listen.
As Dwayne puts it: "I don't want this body of work to be reduced to a jazz record. It's more like a novel about life told through music."
Land of Talk is still here. That wasn’t always a guarantee. Over the multi-faceted twenty year history of their project, Lizzie Powell has drifted from and back to music, always interrogating their role as an artist. In the time since 2023’s Performances, they found themselves utterly worn down by the vicissitudes of the music industry and wracked with worry around their aging parents. Yet the music didn’t stop: Powell heard songs in traffic and in birds chirping, in their downstairs neighbor’s daily prayers and in the babble of children on the street. Melodies slowly cohered over time. “Life can become so unbearable, and music is where I go to metabolize it,” they explain. “I know the music was the only thing that was going to help me.” Soon Powell reemerged with the sixth Land of Talk album, LASTS.
LASTS is full of double meanings — both resilience and finality, acting as a noun and a verb. Though LASTS is haunted by crises including climate collapse, political upheaval, and genocide, the mangitude of global turmoil led Powell towards smaller, humane depictions of suffering and grief. As both their parents became ill, Powell reflected on the last time a person might walk, might talk to a loved one. Yet watching their parents near the other side of life’s arc also made Powell consider all they had survived across their own decades on this earth, their new songs channeling both gratitude and rage. LASTS became a phrase, honoring Land of Talk’s circuitous route and all Powell’s reckoned with through the years. “I think of this record as a love letter to life,” they say.
The end result is an album both lean and winding, allowing Powell’s words and melodies to take centerstage, uncrowded in visceral, shot-no-chaser arrangements. LASTS jumps right in with “Broken Tongue,” a wiry track built on thrumming electric guitar and ghostly synths as Powell rails against the lack of justice for victims of abuse. The trio’s interplay is readily evident in “Saffron” and “4:44,” two earworm songs that also allow themselves to unspool into extended instrumental codas. Early in the record, there are seething tracks like “Dogs” — “Just your basic instinct / Even dogs know better,” Powell growls in the chorus, before the song quiets into a plaintive plea of “Leave us alone now” — and later there are more vulnerable, wandering moments. In “Projections” and “Cedars,” Powell ventures deep into their head, inviting their co-conspirators and listeners alike to follow the songs wherever they meander.
When Index moves, it’s in lockstep, as a single, indivisible unit. Alan Creedon and Alex Lichtenauer (both ex-Control Top) started the project in the summer of 2025, and it quickly became clear that its sound would be an outgrowth of their close friendship. Eschewing the densely orchestrated compositions of their previous band, Index would instead focus on sweaty, visceral physicality, with Creedon’s guitar intuitively latched to Lichtenauer’s drum kit, navigating corridors of tricky rhythm as one. Creedon and Lichtenauer recorded Vis Inertiae in NYC with acclaimed producer Arthur Rizk (Power Trip, Show Me The Body). Despite a litany of freak injuries that befell Lichtenauer before and during the band’s studio time, they say it was the best experience they ever had in a recording session, and Creedon concurs. Rizk was brought into the process early on, when the band played him some bare-bones demos that impressed him, and he was critical in helping ferry the songs to their final forms.
Tony Reed is undoubtedly one of those artists whom fans of “heavy music” have, at least unknowingly, encountered on stage or on their turntables at some point. Bands like Pentagram, Mos Generator, Hot Spring Water, and the so-called supergroup Big Scenic Nowhere are just a small part of his discography, which he continues to expand as a producer and mixer.
CONSTANCE TOMB was Tony Reed’s first band, which he founded at age 19 and which was heavily influenced by the gothic movement of the early ’80s. There are recordings online from when they made “boombox recordings” or, later, when he recorded everything “hi-fi” on his own in the garage with just a microphone, preserving it all for posterity on cassettes. You can also find several solo cover versions released under the band’s name. It was a labor of love that Tony Reed never let go of, but there was never a real band that toured or released an album—until now!
Now Tony has breathed new life into his childhood love, CONSTANCE TOMB, and fused his fondness for dark ’80s bands with his heavy metal past. Bands like Southern Cult, Bauhaus, The Cure, Bowie, as well as Black Sabbath and Thin Lizzy have shaped his musical tastes. Now, a mix of old and new songs is being infused with fresh energy, reviving a solo project that had taken on a slightly artificial feel.
With Bo McConaghie on bass and Christian Roney on drums, the band has already played its first concerts in the northwestern United States to find their sound as a group. Joint rehe
The upcoming debut solo album, Lee Richards And Friends, marks an ambitious milestone for American musician, songwriter, and producer Lee Richards. Best known as an original guitarist for Godsmack and a core songwriter for Dropbox and Another Animal, Richards wrote, performed, and produced the entire record himself.
Joining him on this project is a powerhouse lineup of seasoned rock veterans: late drummer Justin Pacy (Digital Summer), legendary guitarist Billy Loosigian (The Boom Boom Band, The Joneses), and bassist/vocalist Sean Corcoran (RA, Fight or Flight).
Combining decades of high-caliber hard rock heritage and exceptional craftsmanship, Lee Richards And Friends delivers a captivating fusion of hard-hitting riffs, rich melodies, and pristine production. Reflecting Richards' extensive musical journey—from touring with international legends to writing alongside rock icons—the album stands as a compelling testament to his enduring artistic vision.
Shaken & Stirred by Earl & the Agitators, the blues-rock project featuring Roger Earl, Bryan Bassett, Scott Holt, and Rodney O'Quinn (the current Foghat line-up). Originally released in 2018, explores the band's shared passion for blues, roots rock, and classic American music.
Nearly a decade after the acclaimed 2017 release of Hometown, Victor, the mind behind Module One is back with his highly anticipated follow-up album, dropping early November.
Now settled in Berlin, Victor's sound deeply reflects his integration into the city's vibrant cultural cosmos. Moving beyond earlier blueprints, his music has matured into a nuanced, fully developed aesthetic based on the personal reflections, artistic environment of the city, and live performances played and heard. Adding an intimate, personal dimension to the project, Soela and D'Loive lend their delicate vocal touch, weaving seamless melodic textures into Victor's refined production.
The upcoming Album HOMETOWN II stands as both a personal milestone and a captivating new chapter for Module One. Vinyl Tastes Better…
KR3.022 DEATH/REBIRTH ONE - marks the launch of a new KR3 series built around split EPs, featuring original productions alongside reinterpretations or collaborative works by the selected artists. The first ACT reunites JK FLESH & ORPHX, reviving a collaboration rooted in a long-standing artistic connection. Having shared stages on several occasions, the project draws particular inspiration from their six-handed live performance at Berlin Atonal in 2016. Justin K. Broadrick, under his JK Flesh moniker, and Rich Oddie / Christina Sealey of Orphx, each contribute one exclusive original track, alongside a remix of the other's composition, exploring a very dark form of electronics; a collision of slo-mo, raw industrial power and crushing techno, standing in deliberate opposition to the relentless pace and overstimulation of the modern era, both sonically and culturally. The series will feature a unified visual identity, with each release sharing the same layout while being distinguished by different background colours and volcanic imagery created by longtime KR3 collaborator Federico Gagraglione.
COUNTRY GREAZE is the 2nd independent album released by multi-Platinum-selling artists, Sigma - their 5th studio album overall. COUNTRY GREAZE is a bold, high-concept body of work that visually and sonically collides the raw, underground energy of Drum & Bass with the refined grandeur of a country manor backdrop. Sigma’s idea of blending high-octane basslines, heavyweight lyricism and tongue-in-cheek cultural contrasts flips expectations — pairing gritty rave culture with aristocratic imagery to create a striking, rebellious aesthetic. Its muddy boots on marble floors, signet rings next to gold chains. Sigma say, “The COUNTRY GREAZE concept was to create an exaggerated version of our lives in the countryside and then pull our guest vocalists into to it to see what happened. Obviously, we don’t live in grand manors, but for this we do! Its great having the creative freedom to bring an idea like this to life and we’ve had a lot of fun making it.”
The 12 tracks incorporate a variety of influences including the reggae-infused WATCHIN’ U, the hip-hop inspired NEED U NOW and BACK 2 LIFE featuring legends of UK Sound System culture, Soul II Soul. These influences, together with garage, jungle and grime, can be heard throughout the album. One of Sigma’s aims for this album was to celebrate the scenes and artists that have shaped their journey whilst pushing their sound firmly forward. COUNTRY GREAZE has certainly delivered on this with the project showcasing fresh sounds whilst bringing together a heavyweight cast of UK talent including Danny Byrd, Professor Green, Kurupt FM, Basslayerz, Dutch & Graft and many more. In addition to the 6 singles that Sigma have released in 2026, COUNTRY GREAZE unleashes another 6 bangers which have only been heard in their DJ sets this Summer and whose release has been highly anticipated by many fans of Drum and Bass. In addition to the 6 singles that Sigma have released in 2026, COUNTRY GREAZE unleashes another 6 bangers whose release has been highly anticipated by DnB fans since Sigma started playing them at their 45 gigs this Summer.
The first of these is the album’s focus track, THE DAYZ, featuring the spoken words of Jude Moore who hits the proverbial nail on the head with his nostalgic look back at life growing up in the UK around the turn of the millennium. It’s no surprise that he has a massive 670k TikTok followers as his words speak profoundly to an entire generation. With talk of house parties and care-free fun layered over space-disco synths, THE DAYZ exudes a nostalgic vibe before skilfully blending it with punchy drums and a chunky bassline bringing it straight to the here and now. This uplifting track is guaranteed to inspire any listener to think about the best nights of their lives and say, “Ah geez, those were the days!” Similarly, FABRIC, named after the club that helped shape the Sigma sound back in the 2000s, has the same ethos – classic sounds with cutting edge production. Its euphoric multi-layered synths and deep sub bass fully encapsulate the many late nights spent by Cam and Joe in Room 2.
Sigma also unleash the mighty ALLIGATOR. This much-hyped track has been killing dancefloors one snap at a time since the start of the Summer. The old movie samples and ominous synths in the intro give warning of the impending doom before attacking the listener with its enormous bassline and ferocious drums. Its 36ft long and weighs over 2000lb and its coming to a dancefloor near you.
G&D friends, back with their 8th release of edit series. The tracks included in this new G&D 8 Edit project are also special for dancefloors and rare for collectors. Vinyl only. Essential !! Supported around the world by the best Disco Djs.
Four years on from the much-loved Shelter EP, Orphic return with the Mambe EP, a long-awaited follow-up that sees the duo push further into their signature world of deep, dubwise techno and hypnotic club music. The record opens with the title track, a slow-burning piece of stripped-back techno that unfolds through submerged chords, rolling percussion and finely detailed sound design. Sitting alongside it are two solo productions from each half
of the Orphic project.
Kieran Jandu’s Back To Mine veers into deep, bass-heavy electro, all cavernous sub pressure, fractured drum programming and smoked-out atmosphere, landing somewhere between the weight of Digital Mystikz and the hypnotic, off-centre psychedelia of a Craig Richards set.
DJ Space Taxi takes a different route with Dream Cycle, an introspective, dreamlike cut where shimmering textures, drifting melodies and restrained rhythm combine to quietly draw
you in.
Flipping the record over, two of the underground’s most distinctive voices reinterpret the title track. Polygonia brings her unmistakable fluid, organic touch, stretching the original into a beautifully detailed, living groove, while Konduku strips things back into a
deeply hypnotic, psychedelic excursion that feels tailor-made for the outer edges of the dancefloor.
A beautifully restrained return from Orphic that more than justifies the four-year wait. Four artists, four distinct perspectives, held together by a shared appreciation for depth, space and subtle movement.
DJ Support: Louie Vega, Joe Claussell, Danny Krivit, DJ Spen, Ron Trent, Don Carlos, Sandy Rivera, Emmaculate, Souldynamic and more…
Paolo Fedreghini is a key figure in the Italian nu-jazz and jazz-funk scene, also known, lately, for his FAM Disco project.
Paolo's latest offering, Jazz House Rituals, is more than just an EP; it’s a masterclass in organic production. A 4-track project that bridges the gap between sophisticated jazz arrangements and the infectious energy of the dancefloor. Recorded with a rich palette of live instrumentation—including saxophones, flutes, trumpets and organic drums—the project is a testament to Fedreghini’s ability to blend analog warmth with contemporary club rhythms. From the latin sun-drenched "Happy Feeling" to the nocturnal Deep vibes of "Smoking Area," this EP is an essential choice for lovers of Jazzy-house music.
Psyché is an eclectic project rooted in the Neapolitan music scene. Conceived in 2018, the project includes Marcello Giannini (Nu Genea Live Band, Guru, Bassolino, La Famiglia), Andrea De Fazio (Nu Genea Live Band, Parbleu, The Funkin Machine), and Paolo Petrella (Nu Genea Live Band, Fratelli Malibu). They were recently joined by Roberto Porzio (Parbleu, Fitness Forever, 24 Grana, The Funkin Machine).
"Hurriya (We Must Resist)" is a sonic bridge crossing the Mare Nostrum, connecting the shores of Naples and Tunisia.
At the heart of this fusion is the voice and soul of Tunisian musician Ziad Trabelsi, whose Arab roots intertwine with the psychedelic, Mediterranean sound of Psyché.
In this track, Afrobeat and Arabic sonorities meet to create a hypnotic journey, one where Ziad's oud weaves an evocative groove that gallops like horses in the desert.
The song carries the echo of the ancient dominations and cultural exchanges that have shaped Naples—a millennia-old crossroads of civilization—where traces of Arab and North African influences continue to resonate in its streets and, most notably, in its music.
"Hurriya"—the Arabic word for freedom—is an anthem of resistance and resilience, a dialogue between East and West that dissolves the rigid boundaries of geography and politics. It is a collective song for the freedom of all peoples, against oppression, abuse, and injustice everywhere in the world. As Psyché emphasize: "Even if life tests us severely, and we often feel like giving up in the face of injustice, we must resist. We must refuse to disappear."
The single is available digitally and physically, on January 23rd, as a 7" vinyl. The B-side of the physical release includes an exclusive, extended version of "Hurriya (We Must Resist)", available only in this format.
Children of Zeus return with their third studio album ‘As The World Burns…’
Five years on from their highly-acclaimed sophomore album ‘Balance’, Manchester’s kings of hip hop soul, Tyler Daley and Konny Kon, bring us a brand new 16-track opus.
Sonically the duo continue their story where they left off; crafting an amalgamation of street soul, alternative r&b and boom bap hip hop, with a sprinkle of flavours taken from their original multi-genre pirate radio influences, and a dash of forward-thinking new sounds, ensuring all tracks are destined to become future classics.
The features are sparing but powerful, enlisting the talents of revered UK rapper Knucks (‘Before We Drown’), Colorado-native Young Old Soul (‘Dopamine’), MCR family K S R (‘Do You Want To Get High’, & Australian/Mauritian up & comer Anieszka (‘Water & Vibes’).
As with previous projects, this album is largely produced by the duo themselves, though there are guest productions from previous collaborators too, including Grammy Award-winner Beat Butcha, Grammy-nominated Teo, and broken beat pioneer K15, along with an assortment of new players making moves in the underground neo-soul & beats circuit.
Conceptually, this project continues on with the story to date. An eternal search for sunsets and soulfood, as a respite to the anxieties of the modern world; personally, professionally and globally. Assertive swagger is matched with brutal but sincere candidity. As ever, it encapsulates the rough with the smooth, with reflections on where they’ve been, where they’re at and where they’re headed. There’s no preaching to be found here; just an acceptance of things as they are, an embrace of the environment and people they were nurtured by, and a celebration of some of the finer things in life; slow jams, weed & rum, water & vibes. Raps for listeners, blunt heads, fly ladies and prisoners. All packaged together as another perfect sonic love letter to sound system culture. 50 minutes of big people music.
Since the release of their anthemic debut single ‘Still Standing’ a decade ago, to the subsequent EP ‘The Story So Far’, and their critically-lauded debut album ‘Travel Light’, the duo have received numerous accolades, including nominations for AIM Awards & Worldwide Awards both, along with tons of ‘Album of the Year’ nods care of Clash Magazine, Bandcamp, Complex, Wordplay and many more. This along with huge swathes of support from DJs, radio stations, press outlets, tastemakers, luminaries & fellow artists across the globe.
Children of Zeus have performed sessions for COLORS, Soulection (Apple Music), DJ AG, Boiler Room, BBC 6 Music and at the infamous Maida Vale studios for BBC 1Xtra as well as touring across Europe, Australia and South Africa. This is in addition to collaborating & touring with Mercury Award Winner’s Ezra Collective, including a Wembley Arena show. Other collaborations over the years have included Shy FX, Juls, Goldie, Black Milk, Kofi Stone and the late great Lenzman.
From the Broke ’n’ English / Hoodman-era, to the present day, Children of Zeus have been omnipresent in the fabric of British black music. Proud ambassadors of Manchester music, and of UK soul, it really is “Zeus to the world”.
Children of Zeus have been adorned with plenty of flowers over their career. The unbridled quality and poignance of the music and the message on display throughout this project will see the algorithmic needle move some more. It’s undoubtedly set to be a Zeus Summer. As the world burns…
Available on all digital platforms and physical formats, Friday September 4th 2026.
t 07: Do You Want To Get High? (feat. K S R ) - Children of Zeus03:26
t 07: Do You Want To Get High? (feat. K S R ) - Children of Zeus03:26
[t] 07: Do You Want To Get High? (feat. [ K S R ]) - Children of Zeus03:26
[t] 07: Do You Want To Get High? (feat. [ K S R ]) - Children of Zeus03:26
[g] B3 | Do You Want To Get High? (feat [ K S R ]) - Children of Zeus03:26
Asake’s fourth studio album, M$NEY, marks a major evolution in his career, trading the frantic energy of his early hits for a more polished, cinematic sound. The project explores the intersection of material wealth and divine favor, framing his global success as a spiritual journey. Rather than just celebrating the "soft life," Asake uses this record to reflect on the discipline and faith required to maintain his position at the top of the music world.
Sonically, the album expands his signature Fuji-fusion and Amapiano roots with help from long-time collaborator Magicsticks and international producers like DJ Snake. Tracks like "Worship" bring high-octane electronic energy, while "Badman Gangsta" featuring Tiakola offers a sleek, R&B-influenced collaboration. Throughout the project, Asake balances these high-energy moments with orchestral strings and jazz elements, creating a rich, textured listening experience that feels both global and deeply rooted in Lagos street culture.
At its heart, M$NEY is a balance of celebration and introspection. In tracks like "Forgiveness" and "Gratitude," Asake addresses the pressures of fame and the personal growth he has undergone since his debut. He remains grounded in his Yoruba heritage, blending boastful lyrics with sincere thanks for his trajectory. Ultimately, M$NEY proves that Asake is more than a hit-maker; he is a visionary artist documenting his life and legacy with newfound maturity and style.
'Within the current Finnish jazz scene’s colourful embrace of ear pleasing and spiritual-leaning ensembles, Fågelbörs have felt a bit like an anomaly. They’re a lean quartet adhered to a virtuosic puritanism and a stern belief that every gesture serves the whole.
'A combo composed entirely of underground veterans, they belong to what could be described as the third wave of Finnish improvised music; several of whom helped shape that movement in the early 2000s. Elsewhere their collective lineage wends a bendy path through recent years of Finnish free jazz, experimental music, and dub. They’ve been alternately affiliated with projects such as Rauhan Orkersteri, Jooklo Quartet, Mohel, Kemialliset Ystävät, Odd Funk Records, Muumiot, Pascal & Baya Rays, and more.
'As Fågelbörs they’re configured like the four cardinal directions, a dynamic and cosmos-scaled unit capable of summoning elemental blasts of chaos and ecstatic, life-affirming joy. On Bagelfårs, they expand the unique vision of entropy and melody they introduced with their brilliant debut Marjassa (Ultraääni, 2022). Together, Matti Luokkanen (sax), Jaakko Tolvi (percussion), Tuure Tammi (trumpet), and Tero Kemppainen (bass) lock as an Aylerian helix, where effervescent free improv is always counterbalanced with key moments of gleeful, marching band-like reverie and mournful dissolves into passages of narcotic blues.'
This vinyl edition of Repairing the Clock delivers five hard-edged cuts: four remixes by Thomas P. Heckmann, Umwelt, Legowelt, and Crystal Geometry, plus a raw original. Driven by analog grit and human tension, each track pushes the project into darker, heavier territory.
Already backed by Dave Clarke, Marcel Dettmann, Ben Sims, Terence Fixmer and more..
HVS is truly pleased to welcome Cash Kru and Tweeleaf to the label. Two of the hardest working kids in Jungle/Hardcore IMO. With a ton of quality releases under their belts, they just had to get pressed up, because these tunes are absolutely phat!
Cash Kru runs the Asionyta label out of Belgium along with Expo, F.T.C Project & Tweeleaf. Super wicked label putting out digital releases as well as lathe cuts, disks and cassettes. She has loads of top tunes on there, and not strictly Jungle either! She also runs the Devil Dubs label putting out very very quality Jungle. I highly recommend checking both out if you want some gritty, ruthless Drum & Bass.
Tweeleaf out of Pennsylvania (funny enough the same small town the rest of my family is from) also has releases out on both labels as well as his own, Interim Records, focusing on digi singles from him, all currently being sold at “Name Your Own Price” which is insane considering every release is excellent.
These tracks were made with a combo of DAW and emulated Amiga (more info on the center label) and all four are just Heavy as hell. I've been playing them out live a ton and every track crushes the dance floor. Someone always demands the rewind on “Militant Jazz” which is funny because the buildup is so long, but by the time it drops everyone loses it!
A1. starts off the EP on a more mellow tip with a vibey Soul Pride, Think & Amen mashup from CK. The switch up into the 2nd half phased out Amen is so seamless, it's a great way to get the EP going.
A2. goes straight into the ruffness with a relentless amen tune mixed up with some mysterious/jazzy chords/vox all summed together in PT2.
B1. is a remix of a tune of mine that never came out, but CK asked for the stems and did an amazing job with it. I love her choppage on this! Super tight and snappy and hits all the right notes for a destructive tune.
B2. ends the EP with one of the nastiest tunes to come out anywhere this year if I may say so. That Lemon D amen is just crazy, and that S950 time stretch stutter is chef's kiss. But you be the judge!!
Planet Trip Records presents Sydney underground heroes Hugh B & Setwun’s first album, 2020’s Yeah Definitely, and its long-awaited follow-up, 2026’s Nah Maybe, as a deluxe vinyl LP package. Underpinned by the low-end heft of dub and soundsystem culture, their albums draw deeply from an expansive array of sensibilities: tones, textures and patterns shaped by post-punk and ambient music dovetail with abstract, sampledelic hip-hop drum loops. Meanwhile, Setwun’s mysterious neo-soul/modern R&B vocals glide on the beat. Punctuated by dialogue snippets, these songs feel like exploring the multiverse with an interdimensional boombox.
Yeah Definitely began as a batch of instrumentals. Having previously worked with an MPC, drum machines, instruments and Logic Audio, Hugh used a borrowed PC and Renoise, a tracker DAW associated with 21st-century jungle/drum & bass production. Afterwards, he sent them over to Setwun, who sketched vocals on top with ease.
If Yeah Definitely came together quickly, Nah Maybe was a longer process. Still inspired, Hugh B knocked out a second folder of beats with neon-lit city-pop references, slow-jam grooves, and elegant guitar figures. This time, however, something wasn’t clicking for Setwun. The only cure here would be the passage of time.
Over the next six years, Hugh and Setwun continued to collaborate while pursuing solo projects. Hugh released jungle, ambient house, dub and post-punk records through Planet Trip Records, Not Not Fun, and his OTIS Records label, while performing live, DJ, and leading the Modern Pop Ensemble. Similarly, Setwun, also a multi-instrumentalist, producer, and DJ, released a series of records that explore jazz, soul, house, and broken-beat electronica, forming a loose constellation for Mandarin Dreams and Extra Soul Perception. Alongside these efforts, he played shows and began performing with his backing band, The Soulstranauts.
Early in 2026, something clicked, and Setwun drafted vocals for the second batch of beats over an evening. Not long after, he invited Hugh to mix Nah Maybe, every bit as special as Yeah Definitely. By waiting for the right moment and putting themselves outside of their comfort zone, Hugh B and Setwun have bottled lightning twice. We’re very pleased to be able to share Yeah Definitely and Nah Maybe with you.
With a new alias, TM404, Andreas Tilliander has created enjoyable ambient dub simmering with life and details. The songs have all been recorded live, in real time in the studio. A unique way of operating within today's electronic music. - Everything is recorded in one take. Nothing is post arranged, says Andreas Tilliander, and adds that this might be his most ambitious album ever. The project's name is also a tribute to Roland, although of the more intricate kind. - When they made these machines in the eighties, they avoided the 404, since the sound for four, 'chi', is the same as the sound for death in Japanese. At that time it was therefore taboo and the 404 was never launched. Not until now, due to my album!
Bassist, composer and arranger Bill Lee (who is the father of celebrated Director Spike Lee) helmed numerous Strata-East projects, but this is the one that most stands apart. The Descendants of Mike and Phoebe is a one-off 1974 album uniting Lee with his siblings Cliff Lee, Grace Lee Mims and Consuela Lee Moorhead under a name that pays honour to their enslaved ancestors. Elements of jazz, gospel, soul and blues are threaded into a work of complexity but spirituality, with nimble, dancing grooves next to more pensive explorations. It's a sought-after rarity from the label's catalogue that has been freshly remastered for this reissue. Essential Strata-East history.
Finally, almost three years after the well-received Orange Wine EP, and three international tours, Okvsho is back with their fourth project “A place between us”. Georg and Christoph Kiss, the two brothers behind Okvsho, are showcasing a project that is more intimate and bolder than ever, offering an insight into their thoughts, feelings, and experiences during the last two years. The unique style Okvsho has become known for in recent years has once again evolved, combining organic and electronic elements with beautiful harmonies and expressive rhythms.
Okvsho’s second LP will also be the first full-length project to be released on the newly founded Zurich-based label Current Moves, with which the Okvsho-brothers aim to shape the young European jazz scene they are inspired by and also an established part of.
“A place between us is the frst step into a new era for us – We’re very grateful for the love and support we received during the past six years and we’ll continue to strive for the better. Thanks for becoming part of our journey.”
Following the success of the rework releases of Trip To Your Mind by Delfonic, LTJ Xperience, and DJ Friction, the time has finally come to reissue the original mixes of this essential and still highly sought-after Disco Funk classic.
Both the original Hithouse Mix and the re-mix by Chris Hill & Robbie Vincent were released in 1979. However, newly uncovered evidence has revealed that the track was actually recorded much earlier. After extensive research, including the rediscovery of Reginald Hudson's original flight ticket dated September 7, 1976, from Los Angeles to London, proof has emerged that the recording sessions took place in late 1976.
Due to unfortunate circumstances, the track remained shelved for several years and did not see release until 1979. By that time, the original backing band, Body Heat-a group of U.S. Army musicians stationed in Germany-had already disbanded. As a result, the record was released under the project name Hudson People.
Reg Hudson has since shared additional photographs and previously unknown information, which will be revealed in the coming months. To further celebrate the record's legacy, an official music video is currently in production and is scheduled for release this summer, marking the track's 50th anniversary.
As the original master tapes have unfortunately been lost, the audio has been transferred and restored using highest end equipment from the best available sources. In particular, the original Hithouse Mix now sounds better than ever before.
The 12-inch release will be presented in a faithful reproduction of its rare original "Disco 45" sleeve, believed to have been included only with the earliest pressings.
The Story Behind the Record
For decades, Trip To Your Mind was celebrated as a Brit Funk classic, although its true origins remained largely unknown. While the track was recorded at London's Advision Studios, Hudson People were neither a British group nor a London-based project-a fact first brought to light through the official 2022 reissue on Backatcha Records.
In interviews with label owner DJ Scientist, songwriter and producer Reg Hudson revealed that the musicians behind the recording were actually members of Body Heat, a GI band based in Germany. Like Hudson himself, most of the musicians originally came from the Chicago area.
"The band included Tony Palmer on guitar, Herva Middleton on drums and lead vocals, Charles Walker on saxophone, Harvey Perry on trumpet and trombone, and Rickey on bass-a five-man lineup," Hudson recalls.
Recorded in late 1976, the track remained unreleased for several years. By the time it finally appeared in 1979, Body Heat was already on the verge of breaking up, prompting the decision to release it under the Hudson People name.
Since the late 1990s, Trip To Your Mind has been heavily bootlegged, widely compiled, and continuously championed by DJs and collectors worldwide, cementing its reputation as one of the most enduring and in-demand Disco Funk records of its era.
50 year anniversary edition! Recorded in 1976, first released in 1979.
Coming in hot on Berlin's Toy Tonics label: a new EP by the talented duo ALMA NEGRA!
Founded in 2013, Alma Negra is a Swiss collective centered around the brother duo Dersu and Diego Figueira, whose diverse roots in Switzerland and Cape Verde inform their sound. The project was launched with the ambitious vision to explore the world's diverse rhythms and drive musical innovation by mixing different styles. Their work is anchored in a process of digging and sampling, skillfully blending traditional sounds-from Fela Kuti-influenced Nigerian afrobeat and Angolan Lamento to Caribbean Zouk and the Maloya sound of Réunion-into a contemporary dance music context.
The Figueira brothers' eclectic DJ sets embody this ethos, peppering disco and house with salsa, samba, jazz, and Afro-Caribbean carnival rhythms, all under their guiding motto: "As long as it's Funky."
Since 2014, Alma Negra has made an important contribution to intercultural exchange in their hometown of Basel. Their international presence began in 2015 with their first shows abroad in countries like France, the Netherlands, and Portugal. From 2016 to 2019, their reach expanded significantly, with performances in major hubs like London, Paris, and Berlin, as well as Istanbul, Tel Aviv, and Tunisia. Highlights from this period include sets at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Dimensions Croatia, and Fuse Club in Brussels. Their standing is further cemented by releases on respected labels like Heist Recordings, Sofrito, and Basic Fingers, alongside remixes from an elite group of peers, including Soulphiction, Kuniyuki, and Yuksek.
Parallel to their studio and DJ work, the project expanded into the Alma Negra Live Band, formed with jazz musicians from Basel. While the band is currently on hiatus, this collaboration made live instrumentation increasingly central to their productions, creating a dynamic they feel is essential for any dancefloor. The live band has performed in cities like London and Hamburg and has led to collaborations with artists such as French singer Pat Kalla and jazz trumpeter Bodo Maier.
Follow-up to 2025's “i was put on this earth” (“a triumph of gentle reverie and quiet upheaval” - Pitchfork). DJ Python’s music has always occupied the interesting space in between - reggaeton's low pulse, ambient's patience, deep house's forward motion, the abstracted sounds of trip-hop, shoegaze, and pop - and this new EP finds him stretching that even further. A companion to “i was put on this earth”, the new EP shares that project's creative DNA while pulling in its own direction.
DJ Python (aka Brian Piñeyro) steps more fully into the role of singer and songwriter, sharing the mic across a set of collaborators including Ari, Tony Bontana, and Eden, while still carving out room for hypnotic solo songs.
Across five tracks, the project moves fluidly while retaining the captivating melodies, atmospheric textures, and rhythmic innovation that defined Python's earlier recordings - Mas Amable, Angel, and Club Sentimientos Vol 2 - expanding those sounds into something looser, warmer, and harder to categorise.
Balaise was the original title of Vers le Nord’s debut album. In French slang, balaise means something in between badass and flamboyant. The word keeps popping up throughout the record, like a teenager’s graffiti scrawled on a bus shelter after a few drinks. Balaise robots. Balaise ghosts lurking in the shadows. Balaise is the barfly who fantasies about becoming a street vigilante. In many ways, Matthieu Pellerin's new solo project is entirely contained within that word: a gigantic piece one man against the world cobbled together, a monument shaped by hand using layers of synthesizers sounding like cathedral organs cast in concrete.
Stitching this type of freak together took time. Five years, or what sounds like forever in an age obsessed with career trajectories and content strategies. But for Matthieu Pellerin, it was never about career plans or taking the easy road. Or he would have dug up the rotting corpse of Oi Boys, his now-defunct band, whose brief existence and explosive popularity once united sullen skinheads, gothic street punks, and old school punks alike. Or he would have fully embraced the Metz scene, now that the Great International Triple Alliance of the East (Noir Boy George, The Dreams, The Feeling Of Love...) and rising solo acts like Tune Zitoune, Josy Bazar, Fantôme Josepha, and Tony Gerrano have somehow transformed this sprawling open-air heroin camp into an unlikely capital of cool. But Vers le Nord doesn't point East, and it is as a lone rider that Matthieu Pellerin can fully reveal his songwriting scope.
With Le Seul Élément, his first solo project, the Lorraine native had already shown a rare gift for crafting worlds. Picture vast sonic masses stretching like industrial zones, noise-filled fog pierced by pale neon lights and landscapes caught somewhere between the gnarliest dive bar and a doomsday bunker. And slipping through the soul-crushing slowness and fractured blackened atmospheres, one could perceive a throwback to his years plotting in black metal-tinged Loth and Bishop.
Vers le Nord populates those landscapes that once were rough sketches. Damaged characters reign supreme, with a plethora of exquisite mutts brought to life, rather than outcasts committed to the cause. Where Nuits Blanches —his new supergroup featuring members of Rixe, Lion's Law, Headbussa and La Femme— pulls no punches with raw confessions, Pellerin switches gear for tales of robot apocalypses, vagrants and fam-seeking school shooters, delivered with William Sheller-esque rhymes and striking images. Yet even within fiction, he manages to create something deeply intimate, almost defining, showing very little effort: he is a natural. All in all, à l’aise (at ease). Songs resonate deeply with the listener, perhaps because of Pellerin’s odd way or always addressing someone without ever really naming them, a floating, obsessive and inescapable “you” calling us out.
Despite all of the darkness, Vers le Nord stirs deep emotions. There is something of Type O Negative or Anna von Hausswolff in its constant collision of the ludicrous and the epic gothic, its bleak romanticism that never tells a sordid tale. While the vocals remain rooted in a distinctly French punk lineage—think No Class, La Souris Déglinguée and OG Bérurier Noir—the reactor core is hidden somewhere else. Oneohtrix Point Never feels like a closer relative with his ultra-emotional music made of cold synths and disembodied anthems, swallowing and regurgitating forty years of icy, contemplative new wave across ten songs. It comes as no surprise that Lila Ehjä and Aimable, two rising specialists in lowering the temperature below seasonal norms, appear on “Enterrez-moi bordel” (“Bury Me, for fuck's sake”), a grandiose, spectral and magnificently arrogant finale. And in the end, Vers le Nord starts where the original idea was hiding all along: somewhere amid the ruins, definitely balaise and yet somehow, completely à l'aise.
St. Panther is the recording project of Dani Bojorges-Giraldo (they/them), a Mexican/Colombian artist, producer, singer, rapper, and multi-instrumentalist living in East Los Angeles. On their full-length debut, East Side Love Story, they dedicate an effervescent, soulful set of love songs to the place they call home.
The project has developed over the past six years within the walls of their East Los Angeles apartment. Friends, lovers, sounds, and songs, the essence of the East Side pours through the windows as an endless stream of distinctly Latino taste. Chicano soul, Motown classics, G-funk anthems, and other feel-good oldies fill the air with warmth and romance. Everything imbues the timeless East Side Love Story, arriving in 2026 on the art-forward label drink sum wtr.
Volume 1 - Growth
Resurrection is a long-term musical work that has accompanied Christine Benz for almost twenty years. The first track was created in 2007 (track id - Born after Code), with another piece added nearly every year thereafter.
Throughout this time, she continued to produce other music while steadily developing her artistic language.
Musically, the album moves between minimal techno, ambient and experimental electronic music. Across different phases of her life, Resurrection gradually grew into an archive of her personal and musical evolution.
The complete work unfolds as a trilogy across Volumes 1-3.
At its core lies her fascination with sound as material. Rather than thinking in terms of conventional melodies, she works with textures, vibrations, and spatial relationships. A small number of elements give rise to complex sonic spaces, where minimal changes can have a profound effect. Mistakes, chance occurrences, and unexpected responses from the systems she uses also become part of the music. Even from chaos, remarkable structures
emerge. Whenever unplanned beauty reveals itself, she preserves it as a small “miracle” in which control and chance intertwine.
The complete work unfolds across three chapters: Growth, Structure and Resonance, exploring repetition, frequency, perception, consciousness and technological development in the relationship between humans and
machines. It moves from origin through the formation of an internal order towards connection and interaction.
Volume 1: Growth, draws upon the Fibonacci sequence and the spiral as symbols of natural development, with the music growing through repetition and minimal change into increasingly complex forms. Throughout the
project, technology appears as a tool, a partner and a mirror of our perception, raising the question of whether consciousness, responsibility and empathy can evolve alongside technological progress.
During the project’s long evolution, Donato Dozzy developed an interest in Christine’s distinctive sound design.
In 2021, this led him to propose his own interpretation of Our Determination for Volume 1, subtly reworking the track through his own musical perspective.
The artwork developed by Christine also went through a creative process of its own. The original photographs were taken in a basement around 2019, with a wet curtain draped over her. In 2026, she decided to transform
this visual world into a moving-image artwork. For the production, a film crew reconstructed the entire setting.
The video shoot demanded a great deal from Christine: after several hours beneath the wet curtain, the cold was no longer merely part of the staging. This elaborate creative process gives the artwork its distinctive character
and makes it an essential part of Resurrection.
The first chapter will be released in November 2026 as a double-vinyl edition housed in a distinctive gatefold sleeve with an inside-out finish, matte varnish, and partial raised spot UV varnish. Two further double-vinyl
releases, Structure and Resonance, will complete the trilogy. All three volumes will be released on Pirat Records.Records.
Four guitarists who left their mark on Japanese jazz history: Kiyoshi Sugimoto, Ryo Kawasaki, Yoshiaki Masuo, and Masayuki Takayanagi. Bringing together musicians from different generations and musical backgrounds, the classic album "Guitar Workshop" showcases each guitarist’s distinctive personality and outstanding technique. The long-awaited reissue is finally set for release in the 11th installment of "Spin This Now!
The tracks on the upcoming Boysonic release are a snapshot of a period largely absent from the discussion around Romanian electronic dance music: the first half of the 1990s.
Boysonic’s music was made in the face of considerable adversity, in a Romania still reeling from the aftermath of the 1989 revolution, spiralling inflation of over 200%, and the violence of the early-1990s Mineriads. In the gatefold photos, one of the band’s members can be seen performing live wearing a miner’s safety helmet, a piece of stagewear, but also a charged symbol of the period.
The original music on Madhouse was made in Bra?ov during 1993–1994. Situated away from Bucharest’s political and cultural centre, Bra?ov gave the project its own slightly detached rhythm. Classically trained in piano and active in local radio, Mihai Barb developed Boysonic as a largely one-man act, often joined live by a changing cast of dancers and vocalists. In the absence of a developed club circuit, early performances took place in pre-1989 concert halls, seaside resorts and local entertainment circuits organised around regional radio stations.
Agnostic in genre and unusually fluid in approach, Madhouse moves through downtempo pop burners, KLF-type UK house, boomy breakbeat, new beat and acid-leaning experiments. The material reflects a short-lived moment before the Romanian mainstream/underground divide had fully taken shape, when electronic music lacked infrastructure but not imagination.
Sampling was used generously, with drum loops, vocal fragments and preset banks repurposed through software such as ProTracker and further processed outboard.
The release comes as a 2xLP gatefold.
Remixes are from Benedikt Frey, Boysonic, Cosmin TRG, Flore of Khidja, Romansoff, and Tankwart.
Frozen Flashes is the new album by Okvsho, the Zurich-based project of brothers Christoph and Georg Kiss.
Recorded through sessions in Zurich and London, the album begins with musicians playing together in the room. Improvisations, rhythms, textures and small spontaneous moments are captured, then sampled, cut and rearranged into nine carefully shaped tracks.
Featuring collaborations with Azekel, Melodiesinfonie, FloFilz, Tenderlonious and Hadel, Frozen Flashes is built around the moments that are impossible to plan — brief flashes that appear in a session, disappear again, and sometimes become the starting point for an entire song.
Catch Okvsho +experience live across Europe this autumn — bringing Frozen Flashes on the road.
Smallville presents a very special album project – 'Tumbling Cycles' by Billus is here to stay! Ethereal deep-dubby house music from Australia, that feels like finding the hidden-treasure you were not even looking for.
„When I am most enjoying making music, I have this sense that I'm just watching cycles of sound happen and match up in front me on their own and I'm not really just doing anything and it's really nice. Most of these tracks stem from a small collection of
iteratively distorted percussive jazz and breaks that I kept coming back to and watching them cycle around each other.“
This is Billus' approach while he is out in the studio zone. As a result, we all get the chance to scuba-dive into his soundscapes like a warm blanket, interwoven rhythms and cosmic textures, that seem to have the ability to heal. The fresh feels was real,
every time the album went by.
Billus is praised for his impeccable mixtapes for a lot of very special occasions of doing not a lot- make sure to check these out. And Billus produces sprawling music- he released on Naarm labels Animalia, Vessel and Pollinate and he makes music to shyaway in the woods, picking up lil mushrooms if you feel like- or leave these untouched for the same effects.
So while listening to the Tumbling Cycles LP, make yourself comfy and try to work out your own personal scenario, in which Billus' music and his leftfield approach would flourish best. These tracks come with approval by the sweetest dancefloors
around the world and we can't wait to release these to the world. The 2x12“ comes with a stunning full-cover artwork from Stefan Marx.
Fourteen years have passed since Woollen Kits released two albums in a single year (Woollen Kits and Four Girls, both 2012), but Melbourne/Naarm’s beloved Kits are back to remind us what we’ve been missing all this time.
Weather the Storm still draws from the same deck of cards, but opens the door to some more classically renowned influences like The Velvet Underground, Television Personalities, Beat Happening ,Marine Girls, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, et al.
Across ten tracks it’s clear just how well they can write a hook, a verse, a chorus, a song; bringing together themes of everyday life, love and sincerity with aphorisms, stories and the classic sound we know and love.
Woollen Kits’ approach is almost as minimal and primitive as it was back in 2007, when singer/guitarist Tom Hardisty first sent a few channels into the red on an old Tascam tape machine. Simple chords, strong melodies, witty lyrics and a clear message. It’s a hell of a combination when it’s done well, and one they would only refine from there.
Tom (Hardisty) recruited a second Tom (Ridgewell, drums) and a Leon (Applebee, guitar) to help guide his new Cramps/Half Japanese- worship bedroom project into a real-life band, playing their first gig on NYE ’08 before launching into 2009 to record their first canon release, the Teenage Love 7”.
Yes, much time has passed since the band’s last record, Four Girls, came out in late 2012, but in the interim members have released plenty of other music across numerous projects, including Constant Mongrel, Nun, Canine Apathy, The UV Race, TB Ridge as The Director, Calamari Girls & more.
