quête:j long

glass beach's debut album the first glass beach album is the first album from glass beach. That's a good place to start, but the album's plain & descriptive title does little to explain exactly what goes on in the hour-long adventure contained therein. the first glass beach album was initially self-released by the band in Spring 2019, but it's roots date back to as early as 2015 - songwriter & band leader j mclendon started demoing songs for the album when they first moved to Los Angeles & spent three years polishing those first demos into these songs with bassist Jonas Newhouse & drummer William White. On their Bandcamp page, the band describes their sound as the accumulation of jazz, new wave, synth music, and emo distorted through the lens of punk. The songs that make up the first glass beach album are ambitious, theatrical and chaotic. Abandoning genre limitations makes glass beach's talent for songwriting all the more apparent - mathy guitar leads, catchy drum grooves and the constant interplay of horns, synths, and even the intermittent theremin set the perfect scene for j's stunning vocal performance, which can shift from a charming falsetto to the lead of a sing-a-long in an instant.

For more than thirty years, Hayden has built a body of work from moments in life that can easily pass unnoticed. His talent is to build grandeur around small events, not just within songs but as an accumulation across his whole career. Taken together, his ten studio albums amount to an ongoing conversation about family, memory, love, loss, absurdity, and the strange beauty hidden inside ordinary days. The realization that today’s routine may someday become the part of your life you miss most. Despite its title, Hayden's new album "The Recent Past" isn’t nostalgic so much as observant. It reflects on the strange feeling of longing for a time that wasn’t all that long ago, but it’s also about trying to stay rooted in the present while everything around us speeds up. It is a rich addition to Hayden’s continuing search for unsung moments. There’s heartache on this album, some frank declarations, a lot of comfort and danceable surprises. After years of mixing his own records, Hayden gave the final mixes to Grammy-winning engineer Tom Schick, whose work with Jeff Tweedy, Wilco, Mavis Staples and Willie Nelson had long been an inspiration. Adding subtle colours on the album are drummer Adam Hindle, pedal steel player Matt Kelly, fiddler Miranda Mulholland and upright bassist Ben Whiteley. "The Recent Past" is the perfect record to play when things are coming at you, when you want to take a breath, reflect, escape. Whatever memories or struggles play out you can hum to heartbreak, have lunch with your kid, know that trouble is out there for everyone but somehow this is still a beautiful day.

This is both a blueprint and a definitive masterpiece. Effortlessly transcending eras and genres, Terumasa Hino continues to captivate audiences around the world.



His sound and presence are truly top of the tops. Long before Japanese jazz was labeled as “Wa-Jazz”, and even before the rare groove movement emerged, Hip Seagull has been shaking dance floors, stimulating listeners, and fascinating collectors alike. Since his debut album Alone, Alone and Alone, Terumasa Hino has remained at the forefront of the scene, consistently delivering works that can be called masterpieces in every era. Among them, this 1978 recording stands out as one of his signature achievements.



From the epic title track “Hip Seagull”, which unfolds from a mystical intro into a jazz-funk journey, to the mellow and cosmic “This Planet Is Ours,” the album is filled with tracks imbued with a truly unique atmosphere.



This is both a blueprint and a completed form. Hip Seagull continues to enchant the past, present, and future alike.

Experience the emotion of The Last of Us like never before with this stunning Blue & Grey Marble double LP.

Performed by London Music Works, Music From The Last of Us brings together the most iconic themes from the acclaimed video games and TV series, featuring the unforgettable music of Gustavo Santaolalla, along with a piece composed by Max Richter. A must-have release for fans of the franchise and soundtrack collectors alike, presented on a beautifully crafted vinyl edition that is as striking as it is immersive.




[d] a4 The Last of Us (Goodnight) [from "The Last of Us Part I"]
[e] a5 All Gone (No Escape) [from "The Last of Us Part I"]
[f] a6 The Path (A New Beginning) [from "The Last of Us Part I"]







[n] c3 It Can't Last (Sunset) [from "The Last of Us: Season 1"]

[p] c5 All Gone (Flashbacks) [from "The Last of Us: Season 1"]
[q] c6 The Last of Us (Vengeance) [from "The Last of Us: Season 1"]
[r] c7 All Gone (Ephemeral) [from "The Last of Us: Season 1"]

[t] d2 Left Behind (The Journey) [from "The Last of Us: Season 2"]

For ten years Spike Fuck has existed more as a messy myth than an art- ist; sporadic works forever poised on the precipice of triumph, rumours of death or insanity and so on. Spike’s mission is to distill the sacred and profane, balancing the melancholy and humour of life; “to be alive is to be traumatised.” Luckily, the devotion to his music persevered, some- what bolstered by his inconsistency and inaccessibility. This inexplicable goodwill towards his artistry is perhaps partly due to Spike’s timeless, pained and confessional lyricism, though more pointedly, the fragility of a life mired in addiction. His being or works does not question the virtue of life, but simply addresses the numb, pragmatic and far more immediate matter of surviving another day, an almost ineffable senti- ment only justified by his distinct, poetic audaciousness. Free from his arresting thoughts, evidence, the long anticipated debut album, is a bra- zen proof of life statement. Convicted by the outlandish idea of evidenc- ing a ‘you had to be there’ mentality, the record honours the presence in body, a record to be felt, never to be rationalized.

The material on evidence touches on elements of new wave, glam, soul and doo-wop, citing Pere Ubu, New York Dolls, The Temptations and Bettye Swan as key influences. Melodically it emits the energy of a down- and-out CBGBs band who cashes in by recording a lucrative Christmas album.

Spike frequently uses sonic and lyrical juxtapositions to perform comic twists of sincerity, a reflection of society's obsession with ‘getting a rise’. On “Bored to Death,” a scuzzy, laidback and soulful tune, paired with morbid ragebait lyrics that payoff as a stand up joke “when I look up at the sun it makes me so happy cause I know one day it’s gonna kill me, and it’ll kill you too!” Lead single “All By Myself” carries on in this fashion; with feelgood, family-friendly punk doo-wop production, Spike is misleading on if his joy comes from the pride in solitude, or from lone- liness and a ‘give me everything’ mentality in the act of shooting heroin. The vocal performances oscillate between being blasé, vulnerable and manic; “Sweet Release” meets power-ballad criteria solely due to Spike’s deteriorating cries into the void, the jittery delivery on “Getting Sober” embodies religious fanaticism while sounding like a pop song written by Suicide for a David Lynch film.

evidence is an album that lives outside the limits of discourse; its purpose is eponymous and self-evident. It is what it is, and is subject to interpretation. There is no point in interrogating attachments, virtue or value. The only rightful way to live is to be.

a 01. CAN'T GET IT UP 4:38
b 02. HAD YOUR WAY 4:04
[c] 03. SWEET RELEASE [3:27]
[d] 04. BORED TO DEATH [3:31]
[e] 05. ALL BY MYSELF [2:38]
[f] 06. GETTING SOBER [3:33]
[g] 07. BLUELIGHT[4:35]
[h] 08. HATE ME [7:44]

[a] 01. CAN'T GET IT UP [4:38]
[b] 02. HAD YOUR WAY [4:04]
[c] 03. SWEET RELEASE [3:27]
[d] 04. BORED TO DEATH [3:31]
[e] 05. ALL BY MYSELF [2:38]
[f] 06. GETTING SOBER [3:33]
[g] 07. BLUELIGHT[4:35]
[h] 08. HATE ME [7:44]

[a] 01. CAN'T GET IT UP [4:38]
[b] 02. HAD YOUR WAY [4:04]
[c] 03. SWEET RELEASE [3:27]
[d] 04. BORED TO DEATH [3:31]
[e] 05. ALL BY MYSELF [2:38]
[f] 06. GETTING SOBER [3:33]
[g] 07. BLUELIGHT[4:35]
[h] 08. HATE ME [7:44]

[a] 01. CAN'T GET IT UP [4:38]
[b] 02. HAD YOUR WAY [4:04]
[c] 03. SWEET RELEASE [3:27]
[d] 04. BORED TO DEATH [3:31]
[e] 05. ALL BY MYSELF [2:38]
[f] 06. GETTING SOBER [3:33]
[g] 07. BLUELIGHT[4:35]
[h] 08. HATE ME [7:44]

[a] 01. CAN'T GET IT UP [4:38]
[b] 02. HAD YOUR WAY [4:04]
[c] 03. SWEET RELEASE [3:27]
[d] 04. BORED TO DEATH [3:31]
[e] 05. ALL BY MYSELF [2:38]
[f] 06. GETTING SOBER [3:33]
[g] 07. BLUELIGHT[4:35]
[h] 08. HATE ME [7:44]

As well as being a supercluster of galaxies and the Hawaiian word for 'infinite sky', Laniakea is now also a brand-new supergroup. The stars in the firmament: Jeroen Van Herzeele, Jozef Dumoulin, and Nicolas Chkifi. These three gentlemen have long formed the vanguard of the Belgian avant-garde scene and have since toured the world in various lineups.

Jazz, electronica and musical alchemy explode in a big bang of unbridled improvisational joy.

Put out on the vinyl circuit today on the occasion of Sascha Müller's 50th birthday is the "50 Years, Still Banging It Hard EP" by named long standing purveyor of quality electronic music, providing a set of three original tracks by Mr. Müller himself as well as three additional remixes on highly limited heavyweight splatter vinyl. With the opening cut named "The Real Acid Protector" Sascha Müller caters a straightforward and well peaktime oriented take on UK-infused Acid Techno backed by heavy claps and spiralling modulations followed by the floating hypnotic late night x early morning Acid(Trance) meditations and twisted machine choirs of "Acid Is Our Religion" whereas the subsequent "Defunction 303" brings forth enchanted Acid Breaks for experienced late night crowds. On the flip we see Citric Acid provide a remix version of "The Real Acid Protector" which speeds things up heavily for strobe-lit underground basement parties whereas the "Acid Is Our Religion *eVADE Remix" offers a playful and trippy little Acid journey for the deep late night jackers and the Flensburg-based DJ Nightnoise morphs "Defunction 303" into a stripped down, swinging and enchanted IDM x Minimal Techno affair whilst at the controls for his so-called 'Mental Atmosphere Remix'. Great stuff and a worthwhile birthday celebration indeed. Go check!

Review by baze.djunkiii / nitestylez.de / 2024.08.26

Limited pressing on splatter vinyl.

Valley of the Sun's sixth studio LP, "The Blacklight Sessions", is a deep dive into the sonic roots of the band who continues to defy genre norms. With tracks ranging from blues jam to psychedelic desert trip to driving stoner riffage, the band continues to demonstrate that their music knows no bounds, nor should it.

Hot Pink Vinyl. Valley of the Sun's sixth studio LP, "The Blacklight Sessions", is a deep dive into the sonic roots of the band who continues to defy genre norms. With tracks ranging from blues jam to psychedelic desert trip to driving stoner riffage, the band continues to demonstrate that their music knows no bounds, nor should it.

Hailing from Athens, Georgia, Now It’s Overhead is the acclaimed indie rock band fronted by Andy LeMaster. Emerging in the early 2000s alongside the era-defining Saddle Creek scene, LeMaster collaborated with artists including Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), Michael Stipe (R.E.M.), Orenda Fink (Azure Ray), and Maria Taylor (Azure Ray).

During this period, Now It’s Overhead released three acclaimed full-length albums: Now It’s Overhead (2001), Fall Back Open (2004), and Dark Light Daybreak (2006). Available on vinyl for the first time, these long-awaited editions are essential for listeners and collectors exploring the indie rock landscape of the early 2000s. All three albums have been newly remastered by Andy LeMaster—musician, songwriter, engineer, producer, and visual artist.

The Associated Press described Now It’s Overhead as “a unique brand of organic and synthetic dark pop—made possible by LeMaster’s studio prowess—that remains distinctive even when Conor Oberst and Michael Stipe briefly stop by.”

Accompanying these reissues, Now It’s Overhead is also releasing new music for the first time in nearly twenty years. The five-song EP, in the beginning, arrives digitally on September 18, 2026.

Hailing from Athens, Georgia, Now It’s Overhead is the acclaimed indie rock band fronted by Andy LeMaster. Emerging in the early 2000s alongside the era-defining Saddle Creek scene, LeMaster collaborated with artists including Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), Michael Stipe (R.E.M.), Orenda Fink (Azure Ray), and Maria Taylor (Azure Ray).

During this period, Now It’s Overhead released three acclaimed full-length albums: Now It’s Overhead (2001), Fall Back Open (2004), and Dark Light Daybreak (2006). Available on vinyl for the first time, these long-awaited editions are essential for listeners and collectors exploring the indie rock landscape of the early 2000s. All three albums have been newly remastered by Andy LeMaster—musician, songwriter, engineer, producer, and visual artist.

The Associated Press described Now It’s Overhead as “a unique brand of organic and synthetic dark pop—made possible by LeMaster’s studio prowess—that remains distinctive even when Conor Oberst and Michael Stipe briefly stop by.”

Accompanying these reissues, Now It’s Overhead is also releasing new music for the first time in nearly twenty years. The five-song EP, in the beginning, arrives digitally on September 18, 2026.

Lily Juniper's debut album, 'Bloom Gloom' is set for release via Friends of Friends. Co-written and produced by long term collaborator and partner yours.truly, the record holds a mirror up to ourselves and the world around us. Inspired by sounds of the early 2010's post dubstep and indie scenes and written with feelings at the forefront, the album explores themes of self discovery, nostalgia and the endless battle between light and dark, with each track telling a story of what it means to be human:

2026 Re-Release

After smooth detours into Soul covers, French Neo-Disco, modern Sunset Disco and Brazilian AOR, in 2022 DJ Supermarkt's Too Slow to Disco series makes a joyous return to its original Westcoast AOR/Yacht roots. Celebrating the 10th TSTD compilation. Who would have thought….
The Berlin curator releases a killer 4th edition of the original compilation art form, "Too Slow to Disco", featuring forgotten and overseen gems from the mid 70s to the early 80s from a global world of smooth, brilliant lost and overproduced tracks from Finland via London and L.A. to Trinidad and beyond.
The great 'un-vanisher' of lost lazy classics, DJ Supermarkt once again unearthed some incredible music that labels, publishers (in many cases also those, who actually own the rights to those tracks…) and streaming services have often long overlooked. You're welcome, world!

LP ltd colored vinyl, 140 gram, gatefold, mp3 Download PostCard

After smooth detours into Soul covers, French Neo-Disco, modern Sunset Disco and Brazilian AOR, in 2022 DJ Supermarkt's Too Slow to Disco series makes a joyous return to its original Westcoast AOR/Yacht roots. Celebrating the 10th TSTD compilation. Who would have thought….
The Berlin curator releases a killer 4th edition of the original compilation art form, "Too Slow to Disco", featuring forgotten and overseen gems from the mid 70s to the early 80s from a global world of smooth, brilliant lost and overproduced tracks from Finland via London and L.A. to Trinidad and beyond.
The great 'un-vanisher' of lost lazy classics, DJ Supermarkt once again unearthed some incredible music that labels, publishers (in many cases also those, who actually own the rights to those tracks…) and streaming services have often long overlooked. You're welcome, world!

2026 Repress

'Quiet Pieces' initiates Abul Mogard’s personal imprint Soft Echoes with a definitive self-portrait of calm, contemplative, and discreet inner landscapes made audible. It is the first solo album on vinyl in four years. RIYL Alessandro Cortini, William Basinski, The Caretaker.

While sifting through archived material left idle from earlier projects, a chance encounter with a late uncle’s trove of beloved 78rpm classical and opera records prompted the reworking and completion of what would eventually become the album. Spinning dusty records at 33 and 45rpm, Abul Mogard recombined their enduring spectres with unfinished sketches from his archive. The resulting soundscape blurs distinctions between his memories and those of another, exquisitely short-circuiting the senses with its waking, dream-like lucidity.

This was a process I hadn’t explored in my earlier works. I began sampling brief moments from these records, altering them with studio effects and playing them at slower speeds. In many cases, I wasn’t entirely sure how the original music sounded. These fragments, once further processed, became a source of inspiration for my new compositions. Over time, I realised that the old pieces from the archive and the new material derived from the samples naturally complemented each other.”

The resulting pieces hover over a threshold, a liminal space that harmonises the old and older material. Voluminous waves of quiet and loud undulate between consonance and dissonance, conjuring imagery of a decaying grandeur that humanity’s decadence has surrendered to the elements. Abul Mogard’s seemingly abandoned yet vast landscapes are nevertheless intimate with timbral frissons of red-lined distortion. Elusive, yet as tangible as sea spray or smog, they affect the olfactory senses with a rarified, synesthetic quality that modestly engages one’s emotional register – a hypnotic, distinguishing feature long hailed as one of the hallmarks of his work. A fidelity to memory and dream recall is sensitively probed in the journey from the stately symphonic stasis of 'Following a dream' to the almost industrial, untethered brutality evoked by a looming silhouette that’s never fully visible in 'Constantly slipping away', culminating in the foreboding coda of 'Like a bird'. Those pieces appear to shield the album’s sentimental core, where the tempestuous play of light and shadow of 'In a studded procession' escalates to breathtaking, panoramic climax, while 'Through whispers' evokes an out-of-body-like experience encountered with visceral poignancy.

Looking back, Mogard notes an unexpected influence: “I realise being inspired by Phill Niblock, whose work I had barely known at the time but explored after his passing in 2024. His album 'Boston Tenor Index' changed the way I approached dissonance. It encouraged me to push my sound further, to the edge of a space where I began to feel uncomfortable.”

The album artwork, created by longtime collaborator Marja de Sanctis, features a photograph taken at the Temple of Jupiter Anxur, an archaeological site overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Captured with an iPhone, the image traces the residual presence of construction techniques and architectural forms of the Romans, where material history is transcribed through contemporary tools. The convergence of ancient and modern technology aims to reverberate the site’s lasting spiritual presence – an echo persisting in what is now perceived as a quiet, emptied space. The spiral gestures towards infinity and light. Past and present dissolve into one another, reflecting 'Quiet Pieces' meditation on sound, memory, and time.

RIYL Alessandro Cortini, William Basinski, The Caretaker

The final installment of the GIANT SKY trilogy, Giant Sky III, will be released on October 2nd, 2026, preceded by the single "Fleeting Glimpse", which offers the first taste of the new album. A companion postlude album, The Further We Go The Deeper It Gets, will follow on October 16th, 2026. Together, the two records complete an ambitious body of work that has seen Viken explore a broader and more introspective musical landscape than ever before. "Fleeting Glimpse" provides an evocative introduction to the final chapter of the GIANT SKY trilogy. While Viken"s band Soup has become renowned for its emotionally charged, crescendo-driven soundscapes, GIANT SKY allows him to embrace an even wider palette of influences. Drawing from alternative art rock, post-rock, electronica, ambient music, indie, folk, and progressive rock, the project balances immersive atmospheres with memorable melodies. In an era increasingly dominated by algorithms, artificial intelligence and digital perfection, Viken has consciously taken the opposite path. GIANT SKY is built around the human element of music-making, embracing imperfections and authenticity as artistic strengths. "This album has been with me for a long time. Some of the ideas on Giant Sky III go back many years, and in a way it feels like a cross section of the last 25 years of my life as a composer. We live in a time where music is increasingly shaped by algorithms, AI and endless digital possibilities. I suppose this record is my way of walking upstream a little bit - taking the slower route, trusting the human imperfections, and letting the music find its own shape. It wasn"t a quick album to make, but I"m proud of what it became: ambitious where it needed to be, modest where it should be, and above all, honest." - Erlend Viken

GRAMMY® Award-winning reggae icon Buju Banton returns to familiar ground with renewed purpose, setting the tone for a bold new era. Officially reunited with longtime partner VP Records, this full-circle moment reconnects one of Jamaica’s most influential voices with the label that helped define a pivotal chapter of his career. “Butterflies” serves as the first offering from his upcoming al bum, arriving Summer 2026. Produced by internationally acclaimed hitmaker Supa Dups (Rihanna, Drake, Bruno Mars), the track delivers a vibrant, feel-good sound anchored on a re-lick of the ‘Answer rhythm.’ Buju’s unmistakable cadence glides effortlessly across the track, blending classic dancehall energy with a modern sonic edge. The single exemplifies a confident return, one that bridges legacy with evolution while reintroducing the essence of dancehall to a new generation!

The final installment of the GIANT SKY trilogy, Giant Sky III, will be released on October 2nd, 2026, preceded by the single "Fleeting Glimpse", which offers the first taste of the new album. A companion postlude album, The Further We Go The Deeper It Gets, will follow on October 16th, 2026. Together, the two records complete an ambitious body of work that has seen Viken explore a broader and more introspective musical landscape than ever before. "Fleeting Glimpse" provides an evocative introduction to the final chapter of the GIANT SKY trilogy. While Viken"s band Soup has become renowned for its emotionally charged, crescendo-driven soundscapes, GIANT SKY allows him to embrace an even wider palette of influences. Drawing from alternative art rock, post-rock, electronica, ambient music, indie, folk, and progressive rock, the project balances immersive atmospheres with memorable melodies. In an era increasingly dominated by algorithms, artificial intelligence and digital perfection, Viken has consciously taken the opposite path. GIANT SKY is built around the human element of music-making, embracing imperfections and authenticity as artistic strengths. "This album has been with me for a long time. Some of the ideas on Giant Sky III go back many years, and in a way it feels like a cross section of the last 25 years of my life as a composer. We live in a time where music is increasingly shaped by algorithms, AI and endless digital possibilities. I suppose this record is my way of walking upstream a little bit - taking the slower route, trusting the human imperfections, and letting the music find its own shape. It wasn"t a quick album to make, but I"m proud of what it became: ambitious where it needed to be, modest where it should be, and above all, honest." - Erlend Viken

Madelyn Byrd returns to Glasgow’s Somewhere Press with a hazed set of weightless soundscapes. »Night Rider« opens in widescreen with the chirp of cicadas dancing across a desert landscape, before Shiroishi’s saxophone eventually cuts through the dark like neon. The story Byrd tells is close to their heart: they spent their teenage years in the Sonoran Desert, the vast subtropical expanse spanning parts of Arizona, California, and Mexico. Its seemingly alien landscape — pocked with giant, tree-like cacti and looming rocky outcrops — is lodged in the cultural memory, a quality Byrd draws on as they slowly reveal their poetic narrative.

The album plays like a road movie of sorts, moving through Byrd’s memories and setting them to very different rhythms. Clattering drums emerge on »Of Nature, Of Bodies, Of Dreams«, while Byrd’s soft tones, processed to sound almost otherworldly, glide gently across the metallic clangs. Each track highlights a form of movement: there is the microscopic, insectoid crunch of »Imprint«, where guitar prangs meet Shiroishi’s spirited runs, while »Into Sonoran Pool« creates motion from the atmosphere itself, recreating the thick desert air with shimmering electrical currents and psychedelic processes.

At this point, the album begins to echo Robert Ashley’s late-period theatrical work: compositions that broke with familiar formats, juxtaposing dialogue with knowingly experimental orchestral flourishes. Byrd strikes a similar note through a fusion of poetry, sound design, choral music, and chiming, listless ambient elements that also recall Harold Budd. Budd grew up in the Mojave Desert, which borders the Sonoran, creating an eerie parallel with the moods he conjured throughout his long career.

Byrd finds a similarly aesthetic link to the West Coast landscape, referencing the history of experimental music while establishing their own voice. As the album rides into the sunset with a roar of engines, they offer a distinct vision of pop: »What Is, What Was« integrates a chugging break and ketamised vocal hook, while the finale, »In Perfume, Remember«, lands as a James K-like heartmelter.

Led by Samantha Martin's unmistakable powerhouse voice, Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar deliver an explosive blend of soul, blues, gospel and rock 'n' roll Backed by an 11-piece band featuring a three-piece horn section and soaring vocal harmonies, Martin commands the stage with equal parts grit, grace and emotional force. Two-time JUNO Award nominees and internationally recognized as one of Canada's most compelling live acts, the band has built its reputation through electrifying performances and a catalogue that carries the classic soul DNA of Mavis Staples, Sharon Jones and Otis Redding, delivered with the urgency, volume and energy of a modern rock 'n' roll revue. Released in May 2026, A Beautiful Buzz captures Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar at full flight during the Love Is All Around tour. The album generated immediate international attention, topping the Euro Americana, Big Blues and UK Independent Blues Broadcasters Association and Roots Music Report charts. Rolling Stone France Editor in Chief selected A Beautiful Buzz as one of its "10 Albums to Listen to, "With blazing horns, gospel- charged harmonies and Martin's commanding voice at the centre, A Beautiful Buzz recalls the joyful abandon of Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs & Englishmen while remaining unmistakably their own. Blue Matters described it as "the front row experience, bottled with warmth, fire and unmistakable soul," while Blues in Britain placed Martin "up there with the best of contemporary female vocalists." Building on the album's international momentum, Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar will bring their show to Europe and the UK in May 2027, followed by a second run in November.

Initially forming under the moniker of Black Death back in 1986, the star of Darkthrone has ascended with reverence & a degree of infamy over the course of four decades, to become one of the most notable metal bands to have emerged from Norway. Highly inspirational to a whole generation of bands, & also uncompromisingly steadfast throughout their now extensive catalogue, the long-standing duo of Fenriz & Nocturno Culto have remained dedicated to the art of the riff & forging their own path, relentlessly steering the band against the tide of trend. From the death/ doom technicality of 1991's debut masterpiece 'Soulside Journey', through the spearheading of the notorious "second wave of black metal" period of the earlier 1990s, & the integration of punk & heavy doom elements along with way, the Nordic titans have undoubtedly carved an exquisite & eclectic legacy. After a sequence of albums under the Moonfog label throughout the mid-latter 90's & into the new millennium, Darkthrone made the leap back to their original home at Peaceville, for a spectacular return in the shape of 'The Cult Is Alive', released in 2006. With the band's own newly-established Necrohell 2 studio in operation, this allowed the duo to make everything purely on their own terms & in their own time. Creative boundaries were also further removed in order to embrace some of the punk influences which had to date been more subdued, & in the process, created the beginnings of a new era for the band, first revealed in the form of lead track 'Too Old, Too Cold'.

Three years following the critically acclaimed "A Journey told through Fire" (2023), the new album navigates a sprawling conceptual narrative, tracing the cyclical nature of the cosmos from its initial spark in the void to its inevitable dissolution. Lyrically, the album explores the terrifying scale of cosmic darkness and the fragility of existence within a primordial emptiness. Sworn investigates the philosophy of becoming and unmaking, where reality and time emerge from nothingness only to eventually collapse back into the same unfathomable origin. Musically, "Null Crowned the Infinite" pushes the boundaries of the band's established sound, balancing their signature melodic tension with newfound levels of aggression and atmospheric depth. The record features "The Starless Origin", a twelve-minute epic that stands as their longest composition to date, alongside " Fracture of Aeons ", which the band identifies as their most aggressive track ever recorded. Sworn collaborated with renowned producer Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios , who handled the mixing and mastering. Bogren's legendary portfolio, featuring giants such as Opeth, Arch Enemy and Behemoth, brings a polished yet devastating edge to the performances of Max Wilson, Christoffer Kjorsvik, Goran Hope and Tom Ian Klungland. The album artwork is equally striking, created by Par Olofsson, known for his iconic work with Aborted and Kreator.

Three years following the critically acclaimed "A Journey told through Fire" (2023), the new album navigates a sprawling conceptual narrative, tracing the cyclical nature of the cosmos from its initial spark in the void to its inevitable dissolution. Lyrically, the album explores the terrifying scale of cosmic darkness and the fragility of existence within a primordial emptiness. Sworn investigates the philosophy of becoming and unmaking, where reality and time emerge from nothingness only to eventually collapse back into the same unfathomable origin. Musically, "Null Crowned the Infinite" pushes the boundaries of the band's established sound, balancing their signature melodic tension with newfound levels of aggression and atmospheric depth. The record features "The Starless Origin", a twelve-minute epic that stands as their longest composition to date, alongside " Fracture of Aeons ", which the band identifies as their most aggressive track ever recorded. Sworn collaborated with renowned producer Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios , who handled the mixing and mastering. Bogren's legendary portfolio, featuring giants such as Opeth, Arch Enemy and Behemoth, brings a polished yet devastating edge to the performances of Max Wilson, Christoffer Kjorsvik, Goran Hope and Tom Ian Klungland. The album artwork is equally striking, created by Par Olofsson, known for his iconic work with Aborted and Kreator.

Featuring a collection of 10-new tracks produced by Boney, the album marks a high point in the chart- topping, smooth jazz icon's remarkable three- decade career, one that includes a long list of accolades; four GRAMMY nominations, three NAACP Image Award nominations, a Soul Train Award for Best Jazz Album and four RIAA Gold Record certifications, to name just a few. A Simple Man also features guest contributions from guitarist Larry Carlton, trumpeter Marquis Hill and vocalist Ledisi.

If Izzy Hagerup’s new album, ‘System’, feels immediately uncompromising it’s because it was never really designed for public consumption. Released under her Prewn moniker, Hagerup describes the album as a “private journal made public”. Told across nine arresting new songs, the album chronicles a deeply personal journey through the darkness of depression, but one that’s always undercut by moments of humor, selfishness and self-reflection, a push-and-pull that feels wholly distinctive. Following on 2023’s ‘Through The Window’ LP - a collection of songs that Pitchfork hailed as a “striking example of Hagerup’s ability to sit with ugliness” - ‘System’ finds Hagerup crawling even deeper into the dense folds of the night. Written and recorded solely by Hagerup, mostly in long stretches of bedroom sessions that found her working through the small hours until she began to hear birdsong, the album reckons with a lot of the thoughts that tend to needle in at that time of night; guilt, shame, and self-absorption, as well as the societal pressures that sit at the root of such things. From a bedroom floor in the middle of the night, through a tangle of cables and complex emotions, System grew into a document of disassociation, but it comes undercut with a sense of lightness when compared to what’s come before. It doesn’t surrender to the darkness, it dives into it with a keen and exploring eye and through the gloom it finds constant realizations of the wonder and appreciation of life. That journey holds a special kind of power. There’s bravery in it, a struggle that never asks you to look away but instead to follow it down the rabbit hole. That it leads to a place of fascination is testament to the sheer force these songs hold; songs of hurt and heart, fear and fun.

And Their Power Is Alive is a collaborative record between the Vashon Island based artist Faith Coloccia and Ashville based guitarist Tashi Dorji out September on Whited Sepulchre Records. Coloccia and Dorji’s longstanding collaborative relationship and friendship bolsters this massive conceptual weight –– the music is as stirring as it is gorgeous, as exploratory as it is surefooted. And Their Power Was Alive manifests and rises up as a profound iteration of the interrelatedness of the personal and the political, poetically. Coloccia’s plaintive voice, as always, is clear and stirring, intimate, close, and notably here recorded without reverb. She is steady and her lyrics echo dream phrases which visited her during major life shifts: a drive through the arid desert, explaining the concept of private property to the next generation, intergenerational knowledge and caregiving. All of this establishes a melancholia of reflections on land, history, scale. The first words sung on this record are: “Cosmic Horror! I am nothing, I am no-one” and even here, Coloccia is steady. Dorji’s glacial layers of distorted howling guitar create a rise and crest and fall –– symphonies of noise, roaring but distant like fire in the hills, interwoven with piano, organ, and tubular bells.

Following one of 2025’s standout EPs, the CEO of the National Centre for Mark Fell Studies fires from the hip in brilliant, club-troubling motion. In step with 30 years of prism-pushing work — and particularly the »Nite Closures« EP, which signalled a concerted return to the dancefloor — Fell pulls aspects of hypermodern dance and electronic music from Chicago, Tanzania, and Japan into his own peculiar agenda.

The hugely distinctive results pull the body into thrillingly unusual, typically ascetic arrangements, activating every pointillist drum hit with attack and decay in a soberly ludic play of rhythmelodic tension and release, executed to delirious ends; 40 minutes of computer music.

As an artist who witnessed first-hand the explosion of electronic music in early ’80s Sheffield, and its interplay with house and rave as it refracted into wild new styles during the ’90s, Mark Fell is uniquely positioned to pursue his passion for the dynamics of electronic dance music to the nth degree. »Servitude In Context« continues to develop ideas around music for movement in the mid-2020s, placing decades of keen observation — from the macro and historical to the niche and hypermodern — at the service of flexing bodies in new directions.

Long-held notions of multistability manifest in what feels like two machines playing chess on the dancefloor, attempting to adapt to each other’s playing styles and patterns in real time, anticipating and zigzagging around the next move. The result is a plethora of options for limber dancers and those who only bust a move inside their heads.

The slow-fast play of accelerating and decelerating strikes, alongside monotonic chatter in »Actuations #1 (Extended)«, acclimatises the body to a uniquely sensual physics. This develops into the rudely screwed, asymmetric angularity of »Time-Slur« and the shatterproof elasticity of »Taut Manifold«, which feels like an LLM trained on Autechre.

»Low Energy Mantra« offers the EP’s closest resemblance to melodic structure, like gamelan and footwork refracted through lab-grown diamonds. Then »Anode« flashes its teeth with a rudeness recalling the latter stages of Fell’s Pat Thomas jams, before »3 Lost Contours (Pts 1–5)« tilts into 12 minutes of proper quicksilver madness, balancing the sexiness of his Sensate Focus work with an updated, clean-hoofed step and parry.

Jazzing The Morning is a compilation built around a simple idea: bringing together slow-tempo tracks that quietly lived beyond the spotlight, and giving them a space of their own.

Inspired by Dubbyman's Jazzing The Morning sessions, the compilation explores the deeper, slower side of electronic music through six carefully selected tracks by Hanna, Martian Tin Can, Paka Project, Detroit's Filthiest, Seafoam, and Inland Knights & To-Ka Project.

Rather than focusing on genre, Jazzing The Morning follows a shared pace — warm grooves, long blends and music made to be mixed, not rushed.

Pressed on vinyl only.
For those who still listen from start to finish.

2026 repress :)

The long-awaited repress of "Baby EP" - Ricardo Villalobos's first solo single on raum...musik under the Villalobos moniker - is finally here. Featuring two tonally and energetically distinct cuts of dancefloor minimalism that are undoubtedly Ricardo. "Baby EP" sounds as cutting-edge as when it was initially released 12 years ago.

From the slightly euphoric and light-hearted atmosphere of 'hansup' (A) to the emotionally charged groove of 'Baby' (B), "Baby EP" travels through a world of intricately layered micro/macro percussions, eloquently programmed synths, and Ricardo's own vocals spread across the frequency spectrum - an added human touch to his usual machine funk. And while rhythm seems to be at centre stage here, in usual Villalobos fashion, both tracks resolve into pure jazzy melancholy. After dragging the listener into a world of (very) human feelings so uncommon in electronic dance music, "Baby EP" makes it very clear you are listening to Villalobos.

Love is not soft.
It was never meant to be. It sweats, it pulses, it burns through skin.
It lives in the space between bodies. In friction, in tension, in heat that doesn’t ask for permission. LOVE AS A PHYSICAL FORCE is not about romance as an idea, but as an experience.
Something you feel at 5AM, when the night has already taken everything from you, and still asks for more. Across four tracks, DJ Hermano moves between intimacy and impact.
From the longing of Vem pro meu amor to the rupture of No encontrarte nunca mas, love reveals itself as contradiction:

tender and aggressive, distant and consuming. The collaboration with Cuerpos brings a raw edge. Where visceral collides with desire.
Voices don’t just sing; they confront, they provoke, they touch. On the B-side, the body takes over.

Friction Lovers and Desire and Heatwave at 5AM dissolve the emotional into the physical.

Where connection happens through movement, sweat, repetition. This is not love you write about.
This is love you survive. A record for the late-night moments, between the club and sleep.
For the moments where the line between pleasure and exhaustion disappears.
For when desire becomes the only language left. Love, here, is not a promise.
It’s a force.

CEPX003 continues the X-Series on CEP Records with a four track release by Elyas. As a long standing figure in the international techno scene, he has built a strong name through many years of dedication. Known for releases on labels such as Soma Records and Player, Elyas stands for raw and uncompromising techno with influences from ghetto and acid. Alongside vinyl and digital releases, he also runs two own labels and continues to shape the scene with a clear and functional sound. A1 'Cabale' and A2 'Bop Gun' move in a similar direction. Bouncy kicks meet acid lines and atmospheric pads that give both tracks a deep and driving feeling. Straight forward 4 to the floor techno for sweaty warehouse mornings. Small twists, rough transitions and unexpected moments keep the tracks moving from start to finish. On the B side, 'Gimme The Loot' and 'Ghetto Sneak Assault' bring a strong ghetto influence. Playful arrangements, raw vocals and sharp one shots create a loose but powerful groove. The tracks feel direct and slightly chaotic in the best way, while still keeping full control.

Ecstatic’s dreamiest cadets bliss out on a new album of acoustic and electric guitar, harmonium and synth tapestries, notably nestling a Romance cameo within a genteel toggle of atmospheric pressure.

Back on (side) road after releasing quietly acclaimed kosmische gem ‘I Had too Much to Dream Last Night’ back in 2021 and the lysergic lushness of ‘Listen to the Sky’ a couple of years later, Celestial suggest a more sublime return to earth with the shine-eyed wonders of ‘I Can Hear the Grass Grow’, an album that soothes to the supine in eight shimmering parts of pearlescent melodic motifs marbling harmonious backdrops intended to tenderly comb nerves straight.

The duo take their role as seductive sandmen with a curious melodic wit that leaves something to the imagination whilst nudging it along the album’s narrative thread. A courtly flamenco lick flickers in opener ‘The Endless Stair’, one of the most restrained recordings we've heard from the childhood friends; blessed with just a little reverb and echo, as if a mic's been lowered into some dimly lit basement while Celestial puzzle out mystifying, interlocking harmonies. It hits a mid-point between John Fahey's raga-inspired Americana and Vini Reilly's rain-soaked Northern blues - the emotion throbs from every note.

Celestial's music is never too polished, giving it the fuzzy, uninhibited flair of a long-lost mail order private press and instilling it with a level of humanity that's rare to discover in the new-new age. Even when mysterious labelmate Romance turns up to ornament 'Mermaid Boulevard' with backmasked electronics, it's their low-slung Ry Cooder-esque guitar/bass that provides the narrative anchor, while the title track and spongiform analog textures of ‘Song For The rainy Season’ dial it right down to a Harmonia-via-BoC pastoral sublime. Vini Reilly and Eno’s influence is most surely felt on the swaying elegance of ‘Sweet Sleep, Angel Mild’, with a central motif that lingers on the mind long after it’s stopped playing, whilst their closing couplet perfectly resolves the cycle with a melancholic kiss-off for the ages.

Long time label collaborator and dub maestro Havantepe is back on Berg Audio with yet another journey into the deeper, more atmospheric shades of techno, unfolding across four timeless tracks. This release marks the highly awaited come back of the imprint’s “Monument” series, featuring a full cover designed by Juli Jah.

The story of each re-release begins with the original. In the late 90s, Uwe Zahn (Arovane), along with Robert Henke (Monolake) and Stefan Betke (Pole), began releasing music on Torsten Pröfrock’s (Dynamo) newly launched DIN label. This was a very inconspicuous undertaking, but fans of the flourishing IDM, glitch, and constantly evolving abstract techno genres quickly picked up on the quality of sound coming out of Germany. After a few successful EPs, Zahn began working on his debut full-length, Atol Scrap. The release was a success, at least in the underground circles, where followers of the melodic harmonies, stuttering off-beat rhythms, and, most importantly, advanced sound design feverishly consumed the imprint’s output. There was only one thing missing – the album was never pressed on vinyl, and for decades remained in the digital domain. The fans, of course, inquired. There were multiple offers on the table, but Zahn retained control until he was assured that it was properly attained. “I thought of taking everything into my own hands and releasing the record myself,” says Zahn, “but at the end of last year, Matthias from Keplar asked me to re-release Atol Scrap on vinyl.” The label and its owner revolve in the Morr Music universe, and so it made sense for Zahn to trust the platform to treat the record right.

Listening to Atol Scrap over twenty years later it is inane not to admit how well it has held up. Where other genres clearly aged, becoming stale, bland, and dull, the music on eleven tasty tracks still keeps the neurons tickled with each note. More than an echo of the past, the bottled sound truly has matured. Many of the newly evolving techniques are recognizable on the album. “I created the digital artifacts with a digital multi-track recorder, the Fostex D80,” recalls Zahn. “The thing had a scrub wheel with which I could achieve wonderful glitch effects by winding through the audio data. I have sampled and further processed these artifacts.” And this approach is still embedded in Zahn’s sound design. “I still use my 24-track analog desk from Tascam to mix my audio. I love to use hardware synths and samplers. I’ve definitely built upon my studio experience in the 90s.” From this debut to the most recent output, Arovane’s sound has evolved to become more intricate, detailed, and pronounced. “My music has become much quieter and much slower. But that’s probably also due to the noise in the world.” And just as Atol Scrap reminds Zahn of the past, retaining charm preserved in a container traveling through time, it also jitters memories of long ago, when we were twenty years younger, less experienced, and bold. For me, among the many records of the time, this album held a special place in life, my heart, and many CD boxes moved across the world. And now I’m only happy to restock the vinyl space, where Atol Scrap belongs among the beloved records. Welcome home. - Mike Lazarev

Remastered and cut to vinyl by Kassian Troyer @ D&M. Cover art by Jim Kühnel based on a photograph by Uwe Zahn.

Since the release of DAMAGED in 2024, Michael Fiedler aka GHOST DUBS has been surfing intensifying waves of adulation, earning praise from such diverse underground legends as Justin Broadrick (Godflesh/Jesu), Regis, Stefan Betke (Pole) and Steve Von Till (Neurosis). With second album Oblique, his mastery of sculpting sound waves results in a spellbinding set of alien soundscapes: larger in scale, richer in tone and considerably more cinematic than its predecessor. Lower, deeper and moodier, its cloudy abstractions, shadowy pulsations and submerged rhythms find Fiedler reaching further into his own sonic void, crafting blurred melodies and addictive narco loops into something simultaneously heavyweight and hypnotic. Album opener "Low Times" sets the atmospheric pressure to maximum, resembling a dream date between prime dirt-house era Andy Stott and Berlin dub-tech pioneers Basic Channel. From there, Oblique descends into a series of enchanting mood scenes: the furtive, balletic gyrations of "After All", the haunting ambience and buried heartbeat throb of "Soft Collapse", and the noirish atmospherics of "Blackout Dust", which worms its way into the mind like some forgotten David Lynch scene. The spirit of reggae is more distanced here than on DAMAGED, but the ghost of Jamaican dub still permeates these foggy soundscapes, particularly on "Bombed Suburbs", where Augustus Pablo-style melodicism is chopped, screwed and slowed into a magnetic lock groove. Superficially minimal but maximal in its minute detail, Oblique is a record of contorted reflections, mesmeric echoes and tantalising audio mirages. By the vaporous mist of closing track "Almost a Structure", obvious rhythm has been craftily filtered away, leaving a blurred and blunted residue full of mystery and implied narrative. Dense in the best possible sense and crushing when played loud yet equally potent played quiet, Oblique imagines dub techno burning its own rigid rulebook: sensual, funky and concussive rather than dry or alienating. "Second album from electronic producer Michael Fiedler's GHOST DUBS project. "Follows up from the highly-acclaimed 'Implosion' album with The Bug from 2025. "Debut album 'Damaged' sold out its three initial pressings and has just been repressed "Michael Fiedler recently scored 'Sound of Falling' which won a Cannes award in 2025 and made the shortlist for an Oscar, too.

Hazy, unhurried ambient escape Hidden Hour feels less like an album and more like a collection of small, deliberate pauses from Los Angeles-based Cynthia Bernard. The 18 tracks add up to an album exactly an hour long, and each one is tied to a specific place, be that a bridge, a mountaintop in Los Padres, a friend's tea hut in Mendocino, and you can hear that groundedness in every choice, from glockenspiel to piccolo guitar to lap steel. Collaborations with Liom and Dimming blend in seamlessly to Marine Eyes' first solo release on her own label, Cloud Collecting, and it carries the mark of someone able to soundtrack stillness with real beauty.

The long-awaited vinyl re-issue of ‘Hawk’ from Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan.
Isobel Campbell (ex-Belle & Sebastian) and Mark Lanegan (ex-Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age) third album Hawk, will be reissued on November 6th on LP and CD.

Hawk builds on the critical acclaim of 2006’s Mercury Prize-nominated Ballad of the Broken Seas and 2008’s Sunday at Devil Dirt, solidifying the duo's signature dynamic—Campbell’s ethereal, whispery arrangements juxtaposed against Lanegan’s deep, gravelly baritone. Written, arranged, and produced entirely by Campbell, Hawk was recorded across studios in Scotland, England, and the United States. The 13-track record expands their sonic palette far beyond classic country-folk, venturing into dusty Southern soul, garage-rock stomps, and soaring gospel arrangements. "With this record, I wanted to stretch the canvas further," says Isobel Campbell. "Mark and I have built a true shorthand together over the years, which gave us the freedom to push into heavier grooves, raw blues, and sweeping orchestral textures while keeping the core intimacy intact. Album Highlights & Key Collaborations "You Won't Let Me Down Again" — The album’s lead single, driven by a hypnotic rhythm and featuring a searing guitar solo from former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha. "Come Undone" — A moody, slow-burning Southern soul ballad showcasing Lanegan at his most vulnerable. Townes Van Zandt Covers — Faithfully rendered versions of "Snake Song" and "No Place To Fall," the latter featuring guest vocals from American singer-songwriter Willy Mason. "Lately" — A cinematic album closer that swaps the pair's vocal interplay for a rousing, brass-tinged gospel choir.