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Following the reissue of their acclaimed debut album in July - Rocket Girl Records is proud to announce the second transmission in the triptych of releases from Welsh sonic alchemists, White Noise Sound (WNS): an exultant, transmutational remix album celebrating the band’s admired self-titled inaugural LP featuring Pete Kember/Sonic Boom, Cian Ciaran (Super Furry Animals), Phil Kieran (techno producer/DJ), Sean Johnson (Hardway Bros) and Timothy J Fairplay (Andrew Weatherall’s Scrutton Street Circle).

WNS’s cult 2010 self-titled debut saw the band channelling their own chimeric wall-of-sound - an incantation in layers of feedback, kosmische rhythms and celestial distortion.  Now, that spell is rewritten.

Fold In Time - WNS1 Remixed sees an extraordinary line-up of artists from across the psychedelic and electronic spectrums dive deep into the band’s original recordings, dynamically reimagining the sonic architecture - unearthing new forms, hidden frequencies and arcane resonances.

Furthering the mythology of an album revered in underground circles - by peers and critics alike - these remixes push the band’s hypnotic, feedback-soaked sound into entirely new dimensions.  Expect deep psych, repetitive beats, acid purity, expansive dubbed-out landscapes and spectral ambient drones.  Tracks collapse and re-emerge, shimmering with new light.

“We wanted to honour the spirit of the original album while inviting some of our favourite artists to completely destroy it,” says White Noise Sound’s Adam Tovey.

dxrvo, hailing from Hannover, Germany, has made a name for himself in the electronic music scene by creating hypnotic, minimalist, and atmospheric techno sets. His music takes the dance floor on a captivating journey, characterized by driving beats, rhythmic basslines and repetitive sounds. With performances at renowned venues such as Tresor Berlin, PAL Hamburg, Doka Amsterdam, Watergate Berlin, and Terminal Lyon, he showcases his presence in theinternational techno landscape. As a founder of the Kollektiv Synergie, dxrvo is committed to inclusive events and the promotion of diverse artists. His production skills are evidenced by successful releases on labels like SYXT, Room Trax, Modern Minimal, and NYXII. More than just a DJ, dxrvo is an architect of sonic experiences, continuously redefining the boundaries of electronic music.


Linear Phase
With a two-decade career in music production, Carlos, better known as Linear Phase, has become an established artist in the global techno scene. His eclectic sound proposal, ranging from ambient / drone, through minimal / deep / hypnotic, to raw techno, has earned him the recognition of both critics and the public. His prolific career is reflected in the more than 50 releases under his belt in the last 5 years on several internationally renowned labels such as Molecular, Planet Rhythm, Newrhytmic, Drumcode LTD or Edit Select, to name a few, thus consolidating his presence in the global scene. His 5 years of experience in the world of modular eurorack has allowed him to develop a unique and personal sound, characterized by its depth, textures and enveloping atmospheres. In addition to his role as a producer, Linear Phase is co-creator of the Barcelona Modular Society, a space dedicated to the exploration and dissemination of experimental electronic music. Linear Phase is currently developing the creation of both its own label and its new studio, which will become a creative hub oriented to host all kinds of activities related to techno production. This space will feature the participation of renowned national and international producers, consolidating his commitment to the scene and his vision for the future.

Innmenal
Innmenal is a DJ and producer from Pinamar, Argentina. Resident from FAS Producciones he focuses into hypnotic sounds and chaotic rhythms. He has been playing across the Argentinian coastline spreading his sounds characteristics. With continous work and dedication Innmenal's tracks can be found in labels such as Concepto Hipnotico, Apical Records and Diffuse Reality. His first album called Metatron's Cube was released this year on the Diffuse Reality's Label. Another album is planned over this year along other releases on other labels. His last track Winds Of change was released on the label Modern Minimal with some support coming from Rødhad, Svreca, Developer, Richie Hawtin, Slam, Justine Perry, Arnaud Le Texier, Distant Echoes, Dax J, Hugo Rolan and more. He has shared the decks with Mariano DC doing warm up during last year. With more than 10 years behind the decks he's still digging into the deep hypnotic sounds with some agressive percussions to give the listener a journey through his cosmic sounds. So far Innmenal has been active in various labels like Diffuse Reality, Modern Minimal, KPLR, Space Travel, Rowan Underground and Habitat Musical.

Qaypz
Qaypz is a DJ and producer hailing from Arlon, Belgium. As a child of the 90s dance music era, his journey into electronic music began in 2000, ignited by his first I Love Techno Festival experience in Belgium and the underground rave scene that was thriving in his hometown Liège, where Jungle and D'n'B from UK were dominating. This era made Qaypz start mixing on turntables and embracing vinyl culture in 2003. Today, he's versatile, seamlessly transitioning between turntables, CDJs and DAW-based setups, incorporating hardware and controllers for a hybrid mix performance style. In his early years, he organized local rave parties and later moved to Eupen, the capital of East Belgium, where he founded the collective Krank'm'Haus. Qaypz's passion for underground sounds is evident in his productions. He crafts dark, industrial tracks characterized by powerful kicks, somber melodies and a driving rhythm. His performances have graced notable locations such as The Ground Club in Luxembourg, The Liquid Club in Malta and The Kulturzentrum Alterschlachthof in Eupen as well as underground events like La Nature, Eupen Musik Marathon Festivals in East Belgium and the Rummelstilzchen’s illegal rave party in Berlin-Rummelsburg just before the building demolition the day after. Qaypz is currently focusing on his label development and continue producing and mainly releasing his music on Krank'm'Haus Records.

Im Sommer 1968 traf sich der 18-jährige Genesis P-Orridge (damals Neil Andrew Megson) mit Freunden in einem bescheidenen Dachgeschoss, um mit Klängen zu experimentieren. Das Ergebnis war "Early Worm", eine Sammlung von Aufnahmen, die die aufkeimende Kreativität eines Künstlers einfing, der später eine Schlüsselfigur der Avantgarde-Musik werden sollte. Diese Sessions, die 1969 auf ein einziges Acetat gepresst wurden, zeigen eine furchtlose Erforschung von Geräuschen, Improvisationen und Tonbandexperimenten, die Einflüsse von Psychedelia, Fluxus, John Cage und Beatnik Bohemia widerspiegeln. "Early Worm" ist ein Zeugnis für P-Orridges frühes Engagement, musikalische Grenzen zu überschreiten. Die rohen und ungefilterten Klanglandschaften des Albums bieten dem Hörer einen seltenen Einblick in die Gründungsmomente, die schließlich zur Gründung von COUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle und Psychic TV führen sollten. Remastered und in einer limitierten Vinyl-Pressung, mit Linernotes geschrieben von Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, die den Zeitgeist des UK Undergrounds der späten 60er Jahre in Erinnerung rufen. "If nothing else, (Early Worm) revealed that P-Orridge's approach to music was defiantly left-field from the start: noise, improvisations and tape experiments that sounded a little like a more chaotic version psychedelic folkies the Incredible String Band." . The Guardian

"“Their best album in years – probably decades.” – Record Collector
Pressed on Limited Edition colour-in-colour effect vinyl: LP1 red & black, LP2 purple & black in a Gatefold Sleeve.

Originally released in 2012, Choice of Weapon was hailed as The Cult’s most vital work since their ’80s heyday – a powerful, mature record that proved Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy still had fire to burn. Recorded in the California desert with Chris Goss at the helm and finished by long-time collaborator Bob Rock, the album channels the lush guitar layers, earworm melodies, and gothic swagger fans love, while venturing into fresh territory – from the blues of A Pale Horse to the stomping drama of Honey From a Knife.

Driven by the lead single For the Animals, Choice of Weapon earned iTunes’ Rock Album of the Year in 2012 and debuted at #1 on the UK Rock Chart. Out of print since the original pressing, it has become one of The Cult’s most sought-after modern releases."

After their first joint recording experience in 2022, in which they dedicated a monograph to the Beatles, revisiting their great classics,
Sarah Jane Morris, a British jazz, rock, and R&B singer and songwriter, and the Solis String Quartet, a Neapolitan string quartet with
extensive concert and recording experience, are embarking on a new album. This time, it's not a monograph, but a tribute to a series
of artists who have left an indelible mark on the universal music world with their art and unique lifestyle. The project is titled "The 27
Club," a reference to those artists who, despite not choosing to belong to any elite circle, were united by the fate of having left this
world too soon, at just 27 years old. Among them are great names such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Amy
Winehouse, and Otis Redding. Despite their differences, these artists share a charisma and a passion for music that has made them
immortal. Their musical legacy continues to celebrate their memory and inspire new generations. The album is a tribute to these timeless
artists, whose songs remain timeless and continue to move. Forever Young.
"After our first recording collaboration with Sarah Jane Morris in 2022, in which we dedicated a monograph to the Beatles, revisiting
their great classics, we decided to take on a new challenge, no longer a monograph but a work dedicated to a series of artists who have
unmistakably marked the universal musical world with their art and their very particular lifestyle! We called it "Forever Young" and it
tells the story of the "Club of 27" in music; an imaginary, dark and very elitist circle in which artists of the caliber of Jimi Hendrix, Janis
Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, Otis Redding found themselves enrolled, certainly unwillingly and without their
knowledge, after death snatched them from success on the threshold of twenty-seven, only to restore them, almost as compensation,
to immortal glory, just a stone's throw from legend. Musically speaking, thanks to the overflowing evocative power of Sarah Jane Morris's
voice, it was both fascinating and stimulating for us to try to restore It integrates the idea and mood that permeated and still live on in
these compositions, the rhythm, the melody, and the lyricism, in an original reinterpretation that accompanies the listener in the rediscovery of these masterpieces! Solis String Quartet
"Greatly talented creative people often die young, like Keats, Mozart, Schubert, Raphael, and the Brontë sisters. We tend to think of
them in two ways: we wonder what they might have accomplished had they lived longer. However, more positively, we can appreciate
their youthful talents as impervious to the passage of time, their brilliance preserved in their eternal youth. They will remain forever
young." Sarah Jane Morris

Effortlessly picking up from their excellent demonstration cassette, it sees the band refining their sound even further. An audio amalgamation combining the profoundness of early Ulver, with the gloom of old Katatonia and exalted boldness of Fields of the Nephilim, thus adding unique elements of nostalgia and atmosphere to their own melodic interplay of guitars and excellent musical framework.

The album contains strong signs of a band that knew at a young age how to draw their canvas. Very Scandinavian in nature, and influenced by the American landscape of the Pacific Northwest, it firmly put Agalloch on the map and raised eyebrows about what a band from North America would be capable of. As a person that grew up checking out records based on their cover-artwork alone, this album is particularly notable for such an experience, considering the wooden cover with a gold emblazoned logo engraved. This is music that glorifies the night sky, envisions campfire magic, heralds nature over humans, arcane arts & poetry, and worships the beauty of a crackling fireplace. It could be the soundtrack for a lone wanderer striving through a wintry storm, only to end up knocking on a faded
wooden door to find shelter in a desolate cabin. In many ways the sound of forlorn times.

If you are looking to fill your heart with woodsmoke and the fire of
the mountain's spirit, look no further.

"Pale Folklore was a watershed moment in American heavy music, when a few young musicians with a shared love of underground death metal - and broad personal tastes beyond - turned their already virtuosic talents toward a fresh hybrid of metal and neofolk through a gothic lens." - Daniel Lake / author of USBM: A Revolution of Identity in American Black Metal

Chicago-based indie punks Sincere Engineer started as a solo acoustic punk act playing dive bars and open mics. Singer/guitarist/songwriter, Deanna Belos, decided to forego dental school for punk music, trading in teeth for corn dogs (as referenced in her fan favorite song "Corn Dog Sonnet No. 7"), and touring the world with bands like Hot Mulligan, Alkaline Trio, The Menzingers, and Joyce Manor. In 2020, she released Bless My Psyche, her first sophomore album on independent powerhouse Hopeless Records. Featuring the Sirius XM Faction hit "Trust Me," the album explored themes of insecurity, failure, and coming of age and was built for gut wrenching sing-a-longs. With the upcoming Cheap Grills, Sincere Engineer now takes a massive leap forward with catchy melodies, witty and sharp lyrics, and the sincerity of a person that wants to do the right thing in a world that doesn't always reward that. Working with producer Mike Sapone (Taking Back Sunday, Brand New), Sincere Engineer/Deanna Belos has crafted an album that sees her emerge as a face of the new generation of melodic punk. For Fans Of: The Menzingers, Alkaline Trio, Hot Mulligan, Jeff Rosenstock

Young Gun Silver Fox are the captains of AM Waves, setting sail towards an isle where melodies soak the shoreline and grooves sway like palm trees. Their route traces a natural progression fromWest End Coast, an album that cast Andy Platts (Young Gun) and Shawn Lee (Silver Fox) as musical virtuosos of SoCal-infused pop. AM Waves does more than duplicate the perfection of West End Coast. It improves it.

Recorded at The Shop in London and Roffey Hall in the English countryside, AM Waves burnishes the blend between the duo's modern aesthetic and their sumptuously crafted homage to '70s-styled pop, rock, and soul. "This music hits a certain spot for me personally that nothing else quite does," says Shawn, who produced the album amidst his projects for Saint Etienne, Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra, and several other acts. "It's real high-caliber music. It's easy and breezy to listen to but it's really hard to make. Every aspect is A game."

The A game behind AM Waves fuels 43 minutes of Young Gun Silver Fox in peak form. "AM Waves is much more instinctive," says Andy, whose penchant for writing irresistible hooks and melodies also shapes his role as lead singer and lyricist/composer for the band Mamas Gun. "It's more vivid. You can see the clarity to the colors of AM Waves whereas West End Coast is slightly more impressionist, as it were."

Originally issued as a single in September 2017, "Midnight in Richmond" is the anchor of AM Waves. "I hit one chord, which I'd never played before, and the song sort of wrote itself," notes Shawn. "It was intuitive. In many ways, the primary function of what I'm doing is trying to find that chord that opens a door and takes you someplace else. Those chords have magic." Andy embellishes the song's appeal by nimbly juxtaposing wistful emotions with a sun-kissed melody, his voice evoking richly drawn memories. The qualities that make "Midnight in Richmond" an instant classic abound throughout the album.

"Lenny" and "Take It or Leave It" spotlight Andy's versatility as a songwriter. The former was inspired by a dream he had where Lenny Kravitz owned a bar. "It was surreal," he says. "He was polishing the glasses and just serving me hit after hit." Like swimming through moonshine, Andy languorously savors every syllable in the song. "Take It or Leave It" is pure pop bliss. "That was one of those songs that fell out in half an hour," he says. "I had everything and it was done." Shawn adds, "It's such a perfect song in itself. When I listen to it, it's like you've created a record that already existed."

Young Gun Silver Fox introduce a five-piece horn section on "Underdog" that literally trumpets the song's protagonist. Shawn affectionately dubbed them the "Seaweed Horns" in honor of the Seawind Horns, an LA-based unit that recorded with powerhouses like Michael Jackson,Rufus & Chaka Khan,and Earth, Wind & Fire during the late-'70s. Andy explains, "The horns grab another hue of the west coast sound, which is the starting point, but it's also maybe the point where we're injecting a little bit more of ourselves and some outside colors into the familiar west coast palette."

A bounty of treasures course through AM Waves' ebb and flow. "Mojo Rising," which the duo penned with Rob Johnson, is a veritable retreat to paradise. "Sky-bound, heaven sent / Way above the clouds watching shootingstars descend," Andy sings, mirroring the music's celestial undertones. Sensuality contours the notes on "Just a Man," a song that basks in the allure of a woman who leaves "footprints on the water" while "Love Guarantee" is festooned with the Seaweed Horns. "I wanted to bring more of that R&B slickness into the mix," Shawn notes about the latter track. "We hadn't done a tune with that sort of groove." Similar to his work on "Underdog," Nichol Thomson's intricate horn arrangement on "LoveGuarantee"exemplifies another distinction between AM Waves and its predecessor.

"Caroline" occupies a special place on AM Waves, beyond spawning the album title. It tells the story of Radio Caroline, a pirate radio station that broadcast from an offshore vessel during the '60s and '70s. "They played the music that kids wanted to hear, whether it was the old stuff or cutting edge stuff," says Andy. "'Caroline' is about Radio Caroline's eventual capture." Complementing Andy Platts' deft wordplay, which draws parallels between radio airwaves and the station's literal home on the ocean, Shawn Lee layers nearly a dozen different parts on "Caroline," showcasing the vastness of his musicality. "I loved that track as soon as I heard it," Andy continues. "It's a beautiful fusion of me and Shawn."

The Seaweed Horns joinYoung Gun Silver Foxas they detour to the dance floor on "Kingston Boogie." Shawn explains the track's genesis, "I was thinking, what have we not done yet We definitely should get an AOR disco thing happening. I quite like disco. The beat is so metronomic that it allows you to be really sophisticated on top. 'Kingston Boogie' just laid itself out. I call it 'midnight disco.'" With a nod to "Lenny," Andy Platts sets "Kingston Boogie" back at Lenny's Bar, this time revealing a detail or two about its mysterious proprietor as he pours sweet wine and moonshine.

In a sense, AM Waves ends with the beginning. Even before there was Young Gun Silver Fox, there was "Lolita," the first song Andy Platts and Shawn Lee wrote together and a crowd-pleasing staple of the duo's live sets. The tale of a femme fatale who harbors a secret was recorded for West End Coast but instead furnished the B-side to "Long Way Back" as well as a bonus track on the North American edition of the album. Despite the song's checkered trajectory, its infectious chorus sparked the brighter, more buoyant orientation of AM Waves.

Like the moon pulling the tide, Young Gun Silver Fox are a magnet for good songs. "We're both so obsessed and constantly interested in music-making," says Andy. "We're both thinking about it all the time. When you know you have an accomplice with you that's the same as you, it's very liberating. Suddenly, worlds of color start to appear." Indeed, AM Waves is elemental in its power to induce pleasure. Dive right in.

Christian John Wikane

(New York City / February 2018)

STANDFIRST Titanic, the project spearheaded by Mabe Fratti and Hector Tosta (aka I. la Católica), return with a sumptuous and life-affirming new album.



In her sensational 1929 biography Tiger Woman, dancer and socialite Betty May claimed her ‘coster’s eye’ meant she liked to wear as many colours as possible. “Colours to me are like children to a loving mother. Each is my favourite, yet I can never bring myself to deny the others by preferring one.” May’s bold and inclusive strategy is one that manages to transfer itself, almost a century later, to Hagen, the new record by Titanic.


Many will know Titanic as the Mexico City-based brainchild of cellist and singer Mabe Fratti and multiinstrumentalist Hector Tosta who is now operating under the pseudonym, I. la Católica, (taken, rather unusually, from the name of the street the pair live on). With Hagen, and their previous release, Vidrio, (2023), the pair are creating a distinctive signature sound in modern alternative pop music. Nobody else sounds quite like them. Both records have an open hearted nature and simple, winning melodies that play off against a taste for drama, spectacular orchestration and a feeling of otherworldly mystery. Hagen is the more ambitious, sometimes more mystical effort. From the opening handclaps of ‘Lágrima del Sol’, (a wonderfully uptempo playground chant translating as a tear from the sun but, surely, not referencing the brand of pineapple wine?), the record dances its way through various mid-to-late-eighties inspirations, lush and widescreen passages of melancholy and vertiginous contrasts.


Mystery is often found in the simple but slightly odd song titles. English translations of various track titles give, ‘you swallowed the gum’, ‘leak’, ‘a tear from the sun’, ‘raising the trophy’ ‘digging dimensions’, ‘the owner’, ‘the decapitated hen’ and ‘the trap is exposed’. All denote striking images, metaphysical hints and emotional cues or simple, even childlike actions. Though Fratti and Tosta don’t reveal its provenance, the album’s title could even be a crafty play on words: the listener would be forgiven in thinking the moments of brash contrast and eyebrow raising theatricalism in the music constitute a musical nod to German punk chanteuse, Nina Hagen.


On Hagen, singer and cellist Mabe Fratti once again displays her brilliant knack of speaking to us directly. There is never the suspicion of her playing to the gallery, and the directness of many of the lyrics don’t allow it. Parallel to this, Fratti has an almost magical ability to give Hector Tosta’s melodies, and her and Tosta’s lyrics ones imbued with an insight and meaning that feels otherworldly. Tosta admitted it was “pretty wild to hear Mabe take the interpretations to a different place” and the listener can pick up on the delight Fratti takes in (literally) adding a voice to the many narratives.


Two examples can be shown here: ‘Gotera’ (Leak) uses harsh slashes of cello and tough, gunfire-like guitars and drums and multiple vocal lines that could be acting as a Greek chorus. They play off brilliantly against Fratti’s soft, slightly baleful vocal take that delivers lyrics such as: ‘nobody knows where the leak is / but I know where it is / they fight in front of the door and / nobody can go in’. With ‘La Gallina Degollada’ the somewhat blithe melody melody line, sung with what could be sarcastic brio by Fratti, plays against an itchting rhythm and rasping guitar part. The punch comes when you see that the song is about a chicken that has been decapitated and read lyrics such as: ‘I already saw it, it moved, the decapitated chicken’ / ‘could it be that I'm broken’ and ‘Two people hurt each other by thinking that they no longer agree’/ ‘Hours pass and the chicken represents what scares me’.


There may be death and fights to deal with, but there is also a quality of chirpy self-reliance about Hagen that is a key part of its nature. Like Betty May and her colourful outfits, Hagen’s sound often revels in its own sense of richness. Throughout, the record delivers vaulting string sections or glutinous guitar squeals that could, like the powerful, driving ‘Escarbo Dimensiones’ (Digging Dimensions) have come directly from a glossy 1980s TV series. Fratti sees this “glam sound” developed by Tosta on the aforementioned track and ‘Te Tragaste el Chicle’ (You Swallowed The Gum), as moments that were truly “revealing” for the album as a whole during its making.


What else? The thud and thump of ‘La Trampa Sale’ (The Trap is Exposed), and its sudden change of tempo and mood betrays a monstrously ambitious piece of music, the players almost greedily creating the sounds. Other moments are heart wrenching: ‘Libra’ ends on a poppy chord switch that cleverly ramps up the emotion inherent in the music’s notation. You could almost imagine a teenager in a bedroom forty years ago, rewinding the track over and over on a small, cheap cassette player, unable to get enough of that sugarsweet switch. Elsewhere, Oneohtrix Point Never adds stardust and an unearthly sense of space on the changeable, slightly moody meditation, ‘Pájaro de Fuego’ (Firebird). The record ends with ‘Alzando el Trofeo’ (Lifting the Trophy), a track that could soundtrack a state wedding, what with its beautiful cascading piano parts, a sugary vocal and short triumphal guitar riffs that add a rich patina to the overall sound. Fratti: “When I doubled those vocals on ‘Alzando el Trofeo’ I felt there was an epiphany happening, right at that moment.”


Making a good record is a team game. Tosta and Fratti recall seeing Randall from Circular Ruin Studios in NYC “tweak the drums in ‘Libra’ to make that amazing effect of the gated reverb”, or the shaping of ‘Gotera’, “when (recording engineer) Nate Salon added some synths to the track.” Drummer Eli Keszler, “an amazing and versatile player” had the songs down pat in a couple of days” and, according to Tosta, Oneohtrix Point Never “just came to one of the sessions and we hung out, and after all the recordings he and Nate were together in some studio and out of nowhere they sent us some beautiful tracks for ‘Pájaro de Fuego’! Fratti concurs. “He decided that he wanted to record because he was listening to the record (Nate works closely with him) and he really liked it! It was a total honour, indeed!”


Bedazzled by the playing, the skyscraping ambition in the arrangements and the giddy moments of contrast thrown up by Hagen, we could allow ourselves a brief moment of flippancy and state that Titanic’s new record is Yacht Rock meets Aeschylus, full-on. It’s also worth speculating that, in this hyper-sensitive, intemperate age, Titanic’s music has the power, however fleetingly, to heal hurts. Hagen is a brilliant showcase for a fresh and enriching form of pop music: displaying a magpie eye for what glints and plundering what has gone before.


Like Vidrio, Hagen was partially and additionally recorded at Fratti and Tosta’s house, aka Tinho Studios in Mexico City, as well as Golden Girl Studios & Circular Ruin Studios in New York City. Mixing was done by Santiago Parra in Pedro y el Lobo Studios, Mexico City and mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri at Black Knoll Studios, New York City. The recording engineer was Nate Salon.


Hagen featured Mabe Fratti on cello, vocals & backing vocals, I. la Católica on guitar, keyboards, prepared piano, bass & backing vocals, drums by Eli Keszler and synths in ‘Pájaro de Fuego’ from Daniel Lopatin and Nate Salon.


All compositions on Hagen are written by I. la Católica, except ‘Escarbo Dimensiones’ & ‘Pájaro de Fuego’, which were composed by I. la Católica and Mabe Fratti. The record was produced by I. la Católica and co-produced by Nate Salon & Mabe Fratti. And all lyrics are by I. la Católica except ‘Escarbo Dimensiones’, ‘Gotera’, ‘Gallina degollada’ & ‘Pájaro de Fuego’, which were written by I. la Católica & Mabe Fratti.

STANDFIRST Titanic, the project spearheaded by Mabe Fratti and Hector Tosta (aka I. la Católica), return with a sumptuous and life-affirming new album.



In her sensational 1929 biography Tiger Woman, dancer and socialite Betty May claimed her ‘coster’s eye’ meant she liked to wear as many colours as possible. “Colours to me are like children to a loving mother. Each is my favourite, yet I can never bring myself to deny the others by preferring one.” May’s bold and inclusive strategy is one that manages to transfer itself, almost a century later, to Hagen, the new record by Titanic.


Many will know Titanic as the Mexico City-based brainchild of cellist and singer Mabe Fratti and multiinstrumentalist Hector Tosta who is now operating under the pseudonym, I. la Católica, (taken, rather unusually, from the name of the street the pair live on). With Hagen, and their previous release, Vidrio, (2023), the pair are creating a distinctive signature sound in modern alternative pop music. Nobody else sounds quite like them. Both records have an open hearted nature and simple, winning melodies that play off against a taste for drama, spectacular orchestration and a feeling of otherworldly mystery. Hagen is the more ambitious, sometimes more mystical effort. From the opening handclaps of ‘Lágrima del Sol’, (a wonderfully uptempo playground chant translating as a tear from the sun but, surely, not referencing the brand of pineapple wine?), the record dances its way through various mid-to-late-eighties inspirations, lush and widescreen passages of melancholy and vertiginous contrasts.


Mystery is often found in the simple but slightly odd song titles. English translations of various track titles give, ‘you swallowed the gum’, ‘leak’, ‘a tear from the sun’, ‘raising the trophy’ ‘digging dimensions’, ‘the owner’, ‘the decapitated hen’ and ‘the trap is exposed’. All denote striking images, metaphysical hints and emotional cues or simple, even childlike actions. Though Fratti and Tosta don’t reveal its provenance, the album’s title could even be a crafty play on words: the listener would be forgiven in thinking the moments of brash contrast and eyebrow raising theatricalism in the music constitute a musical nod to German punk chanteuse, Nina Hagen.


On Hagen, singer and cellist Mabe Fratti once again displays her brilliant knack of speaking to us directly. There is never the suspicion of her playing to the gallery, and the directness of many of the lyrics don’t allow it. Parallel to this, Fratti has an almost magical ability to give Hector Tosta’s melodies, and her and Tosta’s lyrics ones imbued with an insight and meaning that feels otherworldly. Tosta admitted it was “pretty wild to hear Mabe take the interpretations to a different place” and the listener can pick up on the delight Fratti takes in (literally) adding a voice to the many narratives.


Two examples can be shown here: ‘Gotera’ (Leak) uses harsh slashes of cello and tough, gunfire-like guitars and drums and multiple vocal lines that could be acting as a Greek chorus. They play off brilliantly against Fratti’s soft, slightly baleful vocal take that delivers lyrics such as: ‘nobody knows where the leak is / but I know where it is / they fight in front of the door and / nobody can go in’. With ‘La Gallina Degollada’ the somewhat blithe melody melody line, sung with what could be sarcastic brio by Fratti, plays against an itchting rhythm and rasping guitar part. The punch comes when you see that the song is about a chicken that has been decapitated and read lyrics such as: ‘I already saw it, it moved, the decapitated chicken’ / ‘could it be that I'm broken’ and ‘Two people hurt each other by thinking that they no longer agree’/ ‘Hours pass and the chicken represents what scares me’.


There may be death and fights to deal with, but there is also a quality of chirpy self-reliance about Hagen that is a key part of its nature. Like Betty May and her colourful outfits, Hagen’s sound often revels in its own sense of richness. Throughout, the record delivers vaulting string sections or glutinous guitar squeals that could, like the powerful, driving ‘Escarbo Dimensiones’ (Digging Dimensions) have come directly from a glossy 1980s TV series. Fratti sees this “glam sound” developed by Tosta on the aforementioned track and ‘Te Tragaste el Chicle’ (You Swallowed The Gum), as moments that were truly “revealing” for the album as a whole during its making.


What else? The thud and thump of ‘La Trampa Sale’ (The Trap is Exposed), and its sudden change of tempo and mood betrays a monstrously ambitious piece of music, the players almost greedily creating the sounds. Other moments are heart wrenching: ‘Libra’ ends on a poppy chord switch that cleverly ramps up the emotion inherent in the music’s notation. You could almost imagine a teenager in a bedroom forty years ago, rewinding the track over and over on a small, cheap cassette player, unable to get enough of that sugarsweet switch. Elsewhere, Oneohtrix Point Never adds stardust and an unearthly sense of space on the changeable, slightly moody meditation, ‘Pájaro de Fuego’ (Firebird). The record ends with ‘Alzando el Trofeo’ (Lifting the Trophy), a track that could soundtrack a state wedding, what with its beautiful cascading piano parts, a sugary vocal and short triumphal guitar riffs that add a rich patina to the overall sound. Fratti: “When I doubled those vocals on ‘Alzando el Trofeo’ I felt there was an epiphany happening, right at that moment.”


Making a good record is a team game. Tosta and Fratti recall seeing Randall from Circular Ruin Studios in NYC “tweak the drums in ‘Libra’ to make that amazing effect of the gated reverb”, or the shaping of ‘Gotera’, “when (recording engineer) Nate Salon added some synths to the track.” Drummer Eli Keszler, “an amazing and versatile player” had the songs down pat in a couple of days” and, according to Tosta, Oneohtrix Point Never “just came to one of the sessions and we hung out, and after all the recordings he and Nate were together in some studio and out of nowhere they sent us some beautiful tracks for ‘Pájaro de Fuego’! Fratti concurs. “He decided that he wanted to record because he was listening to the record (Nate works closely with him) and he really liked it! It was a total honour, indeed!”


Bedazzled by the playing, the skyscraping ambition in the arrangements and the giddy moments of contrast thrown up by Hagen, we could allow ourselves a brief moment of flippancy and state that Titanic’s new record is Yacht Rock meets Aeschylus, full-on. It’s also worth speculating that, in this hyper-sensitive, intemperate age, Titanic’s music has the power, however fleetingly, to heal hurts. Hagen is a brilliant showcase for a fresh and enriching form of pop music: displaying a magpie eye for what glints and plundering what has gone before.


Like Vidrio, Hagen was partially and additionally recorded at Fratti and Tosta’s house, aka Tinho Studios in Mexico City, as well as Golden Girl Studios & Circular Ruin Studios in New York City. Mixing was done by Santiago Parra in Pedro y el Lobo Studios, Mexico City and mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri at Black Knoll Studios, New York City. The recording engineer was Nate Salon.


Hagen featured Mabe Fratti on cello, vocals & backing vocals, I. la Católica on guitar, keyboards, prepared piano, bass & backing vocals, drums by Eli Keszler and synths in ‘Pájaro de Fuego’ from Daniel Lopatin and Nate Salon.


All compositions on Hagen are written by I. la Católica, except ‘Escarbo Dimensiones’ & ‘Pájaro de Fuego’, which were composed by I. la Católica and Mabe Fratti. The record was produced by I. la Católica and co-produced by Nate Salon & Mabe Fratti. And all lyrics are by I. la Católica except ‘Escarbo Dimensiones’, ‘Gotera’, ‘Gallina degollada’ & ‘Pájaro de Fuego’, which were written by I. la Católica & Mabe Fratti.

DINTE issues another cassette-only mixtape taking in Soviet punk selections, 1985 to 1992, issued in partnership with Philadelphia's World Gone Mad.

Absolute fire this, a mixtape survey of punk, no wave and all sorts of angular post-punk fantasies from the USSR, 1985-1992.

You can go whistle for a tracklist for this one, but trust that it’s all top grade, shot from the hip, frazzled, growling and assymetric as fuck, from stomping jangle to more light-footed, motorilk post-punk to some lost-in-translation Casio dub bubblers and into more bleak gothic realms - and not a dud in sight.

Issued in partnership with Philadelphia's World Gone Mad.

From the crypts of Parisian funk obscurity comes the long-lost Halloween holy grail, Disco Frankenstein from Ice AKA Lafayette Afro Rock Band. A teasing album of horror-disco oddities originally released as a compilation—a misnomer cloaked in mystery, as the tracks themselves hail from the group’s playful experiments in the mid-to-late ’70s.
This album unearths a twisted treasure trove of grooves, originally scattered across obscure side-projects and international pressings, brought back to life by Strut on blood-soaked vinyl exclusively for Halloween 2025.
Originally released as a 1976 Japan-only compilation featuring the Lafayette Afro Rock Band under a plethora of pseudonyms—Sweet Exorcist, Captain Dax, Hot Blood, Krispie and Co., and more, the release was masterminded by producer Pierre Jaubert and led by bandleader Frank Abel with the funk-virtuosity of the Lafayette Afro-Rock Band group, the minds behind the much sampled ‘Soul Makossa’ and ‘Malik’ albums.
Disco Frankenstein represents the band at their most creative—layering wah-wah guitars, thunderous Afrobeat rhythms, and creepy-crawly synths into a funky stew of horror-disco gold. Tracks like “Dr. Beezar (Soul Frankenstein),” “Disco Vampire,” “Zeke the Zombie,” and “Igor’s Reggae” blur the line between Halloween novelty and dancefloor fire, conjured with full seriousness by studio wizards who knew how to raise the funk.
Resurrected by Strut Records and remastered by The Carvery, this compilation finally gets the deluxe treatment it deserves: pressed on limited blood-stained vinyl just in time for Halloween 2025.

Guedra Guedra ist das elektronische Musikprojekt des marokkanischen Produzenten Abdellah M. Hassak. Der Sound von Guedra Guedra ist eine schillernde Mischung aus visionärer elektronischer Musik und musikalischen Traditionen des gesamten afrikanischen Kontinents! Tipp!

MUTANT ist das zweite Album von Guedra Guedra und das erste auf Smugglers Way. Auf MUTANT mischt Abdellah M. Hassak analoge Synthesizer und Drumcomputer mit Field Recordings aus Marokko, Tansania, Guinea und anderen Ländern, die er auf seinen Reisen durch den Kontinent gesammelt hat. MUTANT erforscht Themen wie Identität, Panafrikanismus, Afrofuturismus und Dekolonisierung und verbindet das musikalische Erbe des Kontinents mit Elementen von Techno, Bassmusik und Dub. "Ich wollte einen kulturellen Sound schaffen, der Innovation mit afrikanischer und diasporischer Musik sowie den Vibes von Rhythmus und Bass erforscht", sagt Abdellah. Die Musik von Guedra Guedra ist durchdrungen von Abdellahs Vision der kulturellen und technologischen Dekolonisierung. Eine Vision, die den Panafrikanismus feiert und die Art und Weise hinterfragt, wie Mainstream-Produktionswerkzeuge nicht in der Lage sind, nicht-westliche musikalische Ausdrucksformen zu erfassen. "In afrikanischen Traditionen ist der Rhythmus, insbesondere in seiner polyrhythmischen Form, nicht nur ein Puls oder ein Takt, sondern eine Kartographie des Lebens. Er drückt soziale Komplexität, vielschichtige mündlicher Überlieferungen, Gemeinschaftsdynamik und die spirituelle Dimension der Existenz aus", sagt Abdellah. "Die Weitergabe dieses Reichtums von Generation zu Generation durch Üben und Zuhören ist auch ein Akt des Widerstands, ein Weg, Wissen und Sensibilitäten zu bewahren, die die herrschenden Erzählungen lange Zeit zu marginalisieren oder zu vereinfachen versucht haben.

- 140G schwarzes Biovinyl inkl. vierseitigem Booklet und Downloadkarte

Gone to Earth ist das dritte Soloalbum von David Sylvian, ursprünglich erschienen am 1. September 1986. Das Doppelalbum folgte auf Brilliant Trees und erreichte Platz 24 der UK Album Charts.

Die zwei LPs bieten einen besonderen Kontrast: Eine Seite mit experimentellen Rock-Songs und Gesang, die andere rein instrumental und ambient. Gastmusiker sind u. a. Robert Fripp (Co-Autor von drei Songs) und Bill Nelson (Co-Autor von einem Song).

Diese Neuauflage erscheint als Corona White, Brown Opaque Black Vinyl und basiert auf dem neuesten Remaster.

"Bandleader Lina Langendorf has been known in Sweden for a long time as one of the most skilled and forward thinking saxophone players. She has been staying in both Mali and Ethopia for longer periods and has performed in concerts with legendary artists like Alemayehu Eshete, Vieux Farka Touré and...Mulatu Astatke who, at his club African Jazz Village (in Addis Ababa/Ethiopia), introduced Lina to people in the audience with the words: 'Amazing saxophone player, big respect! We should play together some day'. Some minutes later they go on stage together. Joined by the legendary piano player Dawit Yifru and the bass player from Roha Band, Giovanni Rico Bonsignori. 'Fantastic. You're so strong. Everybody loves you, they say you are ethio-jazz' was Mulatu's words after the jam session.
Lina has also been invited to the live club Le Hogon in Bamako numerous times for jam sessions and concerts with Toumani Diabaté and his band. And for Lina, these jam sessions in Addis and Bamako has been a crucial part of shaping (and sharpening) her musical vision. Last year she was also touring the UK as part of James Yorkston, Nina Persson and the second hand orchestra.
But it wasn't until feb 2023 we got to hear her own music. The debut album with her newly formed band Langendorf United was co-released between Italian label Black Sweat records and Swedish label Sing A Song Fighter and it immediately resonated with music lovers around the world (Radiohead drummer Philip Selway called it 'as if Tinariwen and Fela Kuti had a Blue Note session').
But the band is not just the composer/Saxophone star and band leader Lina Langendorf. Oh, no. The other four musicians are all highly praised musicians in various jazz bands in Sweden and Norway and together they form this sacred thythmic unity with the pulsating bass at the centre.
Langendorf United's music is vibrant and spiritual and on fire!"

Lina Langendorf - saxophone
Daniel Bingert (son of legendary South American musician Hector Bingert) - keys, guitars
Martin Hederos (The Soundtrack Of Our Lives, Tonbruket) - keys, viola
Ole Morten Vågan (Trondheim Jazz Orchestra) - upright bass
Andreas Werliin (Fire!, Wildbirds & Peacedrums) - drums

The Something Rain was recorded in bursts over approximately a year, from May 2010 to August 2011 and mixed in September- October 2011. It was a time of experimentation, of searching and honing down a shape and sound. Of the twenty or so ideas they set out with, nine songs became the final album.

“Oh damn I got fired suddenly, replaced by a hydraulic pump with life long guarantee”.

The undefinable Kaboom Karavan returns to the dusty Belgian roads with a total Fiasko! - or a full blown disaster if you will (seen from a minimalist perspective), although one that might be the antidote to the sterilised and scattered world that increasingly surrounds us. Fiasko! represents a musical chaos that feels both ecstatic, fun, as well as deeply melancholic. Like an overwhelming moment where the world seems to touch you on all senses. This is music for a new underground of black tie workers raising up to the dullness of societal norms by connecting to their inner child. It’s protest music towards the new normal, where the rules are thrown out of the window and unpredictable sense of joy prevails. Shortly said, Fiasko! Is contemporary exotica made by a madman with too much time on his hands.

As usual, Kaboom Karavan releases contains a conglomerate of strange, mostly home made instrumentation, which will be too long to list here. To shorten it down… Bram Bosteels himself, the captain of the ship, plays all kinds of acoustic instruments, guitars, electronics and uses his voice. Additionally we have Bart Maris on trumpet, tuba and trombone. Stefaan Smagghe plays violin and sarangi. Lastly we have Raphael de Cock on such typical instruments as igir, jadagan and uillean pipes. All that remains to be said is: Bring your neighbour, let yourself loose and have some fun. Listen to Fiasko!

Following the lush listening LP outing by KAMM, the EG team is back in fine floorrocking form, this time with both label operatives on the dials as Rodney joins Dave Aju for his debut co-production. And what a debut it is: Highly-potent, raw, swinging house music of the highest order, complete with knocking 909 kicks, thick slapping snares, and a hypnotic melodic call-and-response tonal section that keeps things properly lifted and moving throughout. The vox evoke label boss Aju’s earlier catalog work, and he’s in particularly pointed mode here, spitting fire spoken word lines calling out various questionable corners of the dance music scene and humanity on the whole. A bold light-shining display during notably dark times, defending the once-sacred underground dance space against runaway trends of ego-driven capitalism, online image over actual skill sets, and the beyond low-ball barrier of entry into the arena. But by the time the soulful chorus lines hit and rise us up and onward toward the blissful musical finish, it is clear that this is in fact a unifying floor anthem and that indeed despite our differences amidst disheartening global chaos, at least “We Still Dancin". As always with the seasoned DJ-focussed three-piece Elbow Grease EP offerings, here we have the full A-side OG Vocal Mix cut at a crispy and tight 45rpm, a deliciously stripped and leveled-up EG Dub Mix on the B1, and finally the uplifting B2 Vibe Mix which doubles-down as half ambient instrumental builder and essential acapellacapella

Fetter’s Body of Noise erupts at the threshold between ravey hypnosis and avant-pop experiment, slithering through the hinterlands of unconscious desire. Nine shape-shifting tracks conjure haunted landscapes where beauty refuses clarity and dancefloor logic warps underfoot. Vocals swoon, drift, and demand—stacking into fragments that multiply and weave through saturated pulses and shimmering, snarling synths.

Opening track "Like a Rose" traces a dreamer’s transition into the unstable physics of a perplexing but familiar dream world, where they gradually become lucid. “Beast” follows up humming with shadowed urgency, threading a path through self-sabotage and metamorphosis. “Spathiphyllums” drifts a while in a lush lostness, aching for something new before fracturing into wild, cathartic collapse. Side B’s “Do I Exist? (D.I.E)” and “The Longing” spiral into existential wonder, searching for a human origin story—both personal and collective—against a backdrop of uncertainty, while “Headache” thrusts forward as an absurd and insistent manifesto to stay the course and harness one’s own power within the madness.

Body of Noise is crafted not only for sweating bodies in motion, but for distorting time and opening psychic portals, where surrender becomes strategy and uncertainty transforms into ecstatic navigation. Rooted in all-hardware improvised production and shaped by Fetter’s years of boundary-blurring visual and performance art, their debut LP feels alive and in flux. Reminiscent of a spectral pop chorus trapped in a loop of broken machinery, or a lost broadcast from a dancefloor in a parallel realm, Body of Noise is a journey into chaos, transformation, and a bold refusal to be contained.

About Fetter:
Fetter makes clubby self-destructing noise pop to dance and weep to. Oscillating between ethereal and pounding, their all-hardware, largely improvised live sets take listeners through a foggy wilderness of saturated rhythms and menacing synth lines, a golden voice guiding the way through. Fetter is the stage moniker of multimedia artist Jess Tucker. Their performances take place in clubs as well as galleries, often incorporating video, installation, and interactive performance art elements to create other-worldly surrounds of mesmerizingly unhinged bodies and faces.

Rediscover some of the best Reggae tracks ever made in a double vinyl package.

Featuring : The Wailers – Errol Dunkley – Max Romeo – Horace Andy – Sly & Robbie – Tenor Saw – Chaka Demus & Pliers - Sean Paul – Sister Nancy – Yellowman – The Mighty Diamonds – Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Upsetters

An extremely rare Northern Soul 45 RPM single originally released in 1965 on the Holly label, Billy Arnell And The Sparkles "Tough Girl" was the product of two childhood friends that lived less than a block apart in suburban Fairlawn, New Jersey in the early 1960s - Billy Smith and Lou Hemsey.

Billy played guitar and sang; Lou played guitar and wrote songs, so they decided to form a band. They added friends Eddie Hoffman on organ and Jack Gullone on drums and began playing lots of gigs locally as Little Willie & The Sparkles. They were young, ambitious, and imagined themselves as the next Beatles. By a stroke of fate, they met Joe Martin of Apex-Martin Distributors in Newark, NJ, who caught the band's live show and was duly impressed. That meeting led to the recording session for the "Tough Girl" single. When they recorded the first version of the song, the producer wasn't happy, nor was Joe Martin - so he fired that producer and brought in the young, up and coming producer, George Kerr. Kerr didn't care much for the band, so they redid the entire thing without Hoffman and Guilone - with just Billy singing and Lou playing guitar.

The pair of old friends were buoyed by session aces Eric Gale on guitar, Bernard Purdie on drums, Bobbie Banks on organ, as well as a bass player whose name has been lost to time. In addition to those changes, they used the studio horn section that Hemsey arranged for, plus two trumpets, two saxes and two vibes players. The resulting single was an infectious amalgamation of rock and soul. Billy changed his surname to Arnell for the 45 release (because he thought it sounded more "show-biz") and the rest is pop history. Arnell later started a record company (Fire Sign Records) and purchased a recording studio (112 Greene Street Recording) in the trendy SoHo section of Manhattan with Steve Loeb.

As for the rest of The Sparkles, Hoffman became a teacher somewhere on Long Island, Guilone graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Massachusetts and ended up living in Northern New Jersey. Hemsey became a well-known recording engineer, composer (Lou was the one who wrote "Tough Girl"), guitarist, arranger, orchestrator, editor, film director and producer for records and commercials.

Während er sich auf die größte Stadiontour des Jahres als Special Guest von Oasis vorbereitet, kündigt Richard Ashcroft heute den 3. Oktober als Veröffentlichungstermin für sein brandneues Album "Lovin' You" an. "Lovin' You" ist sein siebtes Solo-Album und sein erstes komplett neues seit "Natural Rebel" von 2018 und folgt auf "Acoustic Hymns, Vol. 1" von 2021.

Der zweifache Gewinner des Ivor Novello Award (Songwriter des Jahres und Outstanding Contribution To British Music) hat sich im Laufe seiner drei Jahrzehnte umfassenden Karriere zu einem der versiertesten und einflussreichsten Songwriter entwickelt. Sein erstes Kapitel mit The Verve erreichte einen bemerkenswerten Höhepunkt mit "Urban Hymns", einem hitreichen Album ("Bitter Sweet Symphony", "The Drugs Don't Work", "Lucky Man", "Sonnet"), das mit 11 Platinauszeichnungen zu den meistverkauften Alben in der Geschichte Großbritanniens zählt. Die Band erreichte mit ‚Forth' ein zweites Nummer-1-Album und gewann drei BRIT Awards.
Seine Solokarriere setzte diesen Erfolg mit seinem Debütalbum "Alone With Everybody" fort, das auf Platz 1 landete. Alle fünf folgenden Studioalben landeten zwischen #2 und #5. Mit The Verve und seiner Solokarriere hat er drei britische Nummer-1-Alben und fünf weitere Top-10-Platten aufgenommen, außerdem eine Nummer-1-Single und fünf Top-10-Hits.

Während er sich auf die größte Stadiontour des Jahres als Special Guest von Oasis vorbereitet, kündigt Richard Ashcroft heute den 3. Oktober als Veröffentlichungstermin für sein brandneues Album "Lovin' You" an. "Lovin' You" ist sein siebtes Solo-Album und sein erstes komplett neues seit "Natural Rebel" von 2018 und folgt auf "Acoustic Hymns, Vol. 1" von 2021.

Der zweifache Gewinner des Ivor Novello Award (Songwriter des Jahres und Outstanding Contribution To British Music) hat sich im Laufe seiner drei Jahrzehnte umfassenden Karriere zu einem der versiertesten und einflussreichsten Songwriter entwickelt. Sein erstes Kapitel mit The Verve erreichte einen bemerkenswerten Höhepunkt mit "Urban Hymns", einem hitreichen Album ("Bitter Sweet Symphony", "The Drugs Don't Work", "Lucky Man", "Sonnet"), das mit 11 Platinauszeichnungen zu den meistverkauften Alben in der Geschichte Großbritanniens zählt. Die Band erreichte mit ‚Forth' ein zweites Nummer-1-Album und gewann drei BRIT Awards.
Seine Solokarriere setzte diesen Erfolg mit seinem Debütalbum "Alone With Everybody" fort, das auf Platz 1 landete. Alle fünf folgenden Studioalben landeten zwischen #2 und #5. Mit The Verve und seiner Solokarriere hat er drei britische Nummer-1-Alben und fünf weitere Top-10-Platten aufgenommen, außerdem eine Nummer-1-Single und fünf Top-10-Hits.

Jackie Mittoo’s ‘Reggae Magic’ is a new collection from the great Jackie Mittoo. The album features a mixture of classic tunes and rarities from the period 1967-74, when Mittoo was at the height of his musical powers. Mittoo’s solo career began after the end of The Skatalites in 1965. He began pushing new musical boundaries, creating a uniquely identifiable organ-led funky reggae sound that owed as much to Booker T and The MGs, Jimmy Smith, Stax and Motown as to the post-ska and emergent rocksteady island rhythms of Kingston, Jamaica. His solo work at the legendary Studio One spanned seven albums and hundreds of singles.

Aside from producer and founder Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd, it’s hard to think of anyone more central to the sound and success of Studio One than Mittoo; keyboard player extraordinaire, songwriter, arranger, musician, truly the Keyboard King at Studio One. Jackie Mittoo had been the youngest founding member of The Skatalites (at age 16), probably the most important group in Jamaican music. After they split, he became leader of the three pivotal groups at Studio One – The Soul Brothers, The Soul Vendors and Sound Dimension. He also became musical director for Studio One, helping create countless hits for singers Ken Boothe, Bob Andy, The Wailers, John Holt, Delroy Wilson and more – unforgettable tunes like Alton Ellis’ ‘I’m Still in Love with You’, Marcia Griffiths’ ‘Feel Like Jumping’, The Heptones’ ‘Baby Why’ and others. Between 1965 and 1968, many of the tunes created at Studio One can be attributed to Mittoo – timeless instrumental tracks, recorded either under his own name or those of The Soul Brothers, Soul Vendors and Sound Dimension, that have become the basis for literally 1000s and 1000s of Jamaican songs over many decades, giving the music an unsurpassed longevity.

The endurance of his music was as a direct result of significant developments in Jamaican music in the 1970s, namely the creation of three important new styles: Dub, Deejay and Dancehall. In the early 1970s Mittoo’s instrumental tracks were used as the musical source for a series of classic Studio One dub albums. At the same time Deejays at Studio One, including Dillinger, Prince Jazzbo and Dennis Alcapone, began toasting over these same popular rhythms to create their own new songs. In the mid-70s, a new generation of Studio One singers and deejays, including Sugar Minott, Freddie McGregor, Johnny Osbourne, Michigan & Smiley and others, began once again creating new melodies over these original instrumentals, signalling the birth of a new Jamaican style that became known as ‘dancehall’.

As dancehall swept across the island, rival producers copied these now classic rhythms. These original Jackie Mittoo-driven tunes spread like a virus throughout Jamaican music; be they the instrumental cuts to tunes such as Alton Ellis’ ‘Mad Mad’ , ‘I’m Just A Guy’, Larry Marshall’s ‘Mean Girl’, Slim Smith’s ‘Rougher Yet’, and instrumentals such as Mittoo’s classic ‘Hot Milk’ or ‘One Step Beyond’, The Sound Dimension’s ‘Real Rock’, ‘Heavy Rock’, ‘Full Up’, ‘Drum Song’, ‘Rockfort Rock’ … and the list goes on. These tracks became a constant soundtrack to the island, emitting from the ever-present sound of speaker boxes strung up around dancehalls. This recycling travelled even farther afield; The Sound Dimension’s instrumental ‘Real Rock’, updated by Willie Williams on his classic ‘Armageddon Time’ was in turn covered by The Clash. Lily Allen sampled Mittoo’s debut solo single ‘Free Soul’ for number one hit ‘Smile’; Dawn Penn’s ‘You Don’t Love Me (No, No, No)’, accompanied by The Soul Vendors, was revived by Penn and producers Steely & Cleevie in 1994, since covered by Rihanna, Ghostface Killah, Stephen Marley, Damian Marley and Beyonce. And so it goes; an endless time-leaping, continent-hopping diasporic musical map of the world with all roads essentially leading back to one man – Jackie Mittoo.

Limited orange vinyl. A bombastic closure fi lled with energetic thrills delivered by the mighty Ring Van Möbius! Oh, wait..! Didn't they just vanish from the face of the earth? You're absolutely right, Prog Head! However; they had one last full-length album up their sleeves - a sparkling fresh and vital conclusion, filled with three lengthy compositions to wrap up their legacy. "Being able to now close this chapter with such a huge sparkling concept album feels terrific and quite satisfying. We really do feel that the inspiring playfulness during these spontaneous recording sessions shines through. Obviously, it's important to us to end this journey while sounding on top of our game, while still having fun!" the band says in a most humble comment, "A tremendous finale, directly from the analog Spectral Tape Studio".

Didjits verbanden ihre Liebe zu Hard Rock (AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Cheap Trick), Punk (Sex Pistols und vor allem die metallische Kunstshow von The Plasmatics) und Rock'n`Roll der 50er Jahre (insbesondere Jerry Lee Lewis und Little Richard) zu einer Marke, die, wie Dexter Holland von The Offspring treffend beschreibt, ,ein wackeliger Zug war, der kurz vor der Entgleisung stand". Bei chaotischen Live-Shows brachte Gitarrist und Sänger Rick Sims das Publikum gekonnt gegen sich auf und trug so zur Raserei des rasanten Rocks bei, den sie langsam perfektionierten. Jello Biafra, ein früher Unterstützer der Didjits, bewunderte ihre Fähigkeit, das Punk-Publikum zu vergraulen und es dennoch mit offenem Mund und Hörverlust zurückzulassen. Ab 1988 veröffentlichten die Didjits fünf Alben in voller Länge bei Touch and Go Records (darunter eine Neuauflage ihres 1986 selbst veröffentlichten Debütalbums Fizzjob) sowie zwei Singles und eine EP. Es folgten MTV-Videos, ausverkaufte Clubs, Tourneen durch Europa und Nordamerika - bis 1994 (ironischerweise das selbe Jahr, in dem The Offspring ihr Platin-Album "Smash" veröffentlichten, das ein Cover von ,Killboy Powerhead" aus Didjits 1990er Veröffentlichung "Hornet Pinata" enthielt). Diese LP, gepresst auf 180 Gramm schwerem, opakem lila Vinyl, ist ein Archivdokument der Band von ihren Anfängen im ländlichen Illinois bis zu ihrer Auflösung über ein Jahrzehnt später. Die ausgewählten Tracks vereinen 17 Fan-Favoriten aus Didjits' Touch and Go-Diskografie auf einer einzigen LP.

Orange & Red Splatter Vinyl. John Carpenters Soundtracks für die jüngste Halloween-Trilogie, die er zusammen mit seinen langjährigen Mitarbeitern Cody Carpenter und Daniel Davies komponierte, markierten die Rückkehr des legendären Regisseurs und Komponisten zur Filmmusik nach fast zwei Jahrzehnten Pause. Halloween (2018), Halloween Kills (2021) und Halloween Ends (2022) wurden alle von David Gordon Green inszeniert, der Carpenter bereits früh in die Vorproduktion einbezog und ihn schließlich als ausführenden Produzenten und Soundtrack-Komponisten für die Trilogie engagierte. Nun erscheint erstmals eine Deluxe-Edition des Soundtracks zu ,Halloween Ends" als 2xLP-Erweiterung bei Carpenters langjährigem Label Sacred Bones Records. ,Halloween" aus dem Jahr 2018 war ein Erfolg, der die kühnsten Träume aller Beteiligten übertraf. Der Film startete mit den höchsten Einspielzahlen in der Geschichte von Blumhouse und war der erfolgreichste Film der ,Halloween"-Reihe. Es war unvermeidlich, dass bald zwei Fortsetzungen, Halloween Kills und Halloween Ends, grünes Licht erhielten. Green unterschrieb für die Regie beider Filme, aber er wollte nicht davon ausgehen, dass John, Cody und Daniel für die Filmmusik zurückkehren würden. ,Ich nehme nichts als selbstverständlich hin", sagt er. ,Man hofft also, dass sie eine gute Erfahrung gemacht haben. Ich weiß, dass wir Spaß an dem Projekt hatten, aber man weiß nie, wie es um die Zeit und die finanziellen Interessen der Leute steht und all diese Dinge. Die Realitäten des Geschäfts und des Filmemachens laufen nicht immer so reibungslos ab. Aber es gab keine Probleme. Wir sahen uns an und sagten: ,Wie können wir das hinbekommen? Lassen Sie es uns noch einmal versuchen.` Zweimal."Die erweiterte Version von Halloween Ends enthält 10 bisher unveröffentlichte Stücke und wird mit brandneuen Artworks von Chris Bilheimer und einem exklusiven 24 x 36"-Poster von Creepy Duck geliefert. Erweiterte Versionen der Soundtracks zu Halloween und Halloween Kills sowie eine Box mit allen drei erweiterten Editionen werden ebenfalls am selben Tag bei Sacred Bones erhältlich sein.

Orange & Green Splatter Vinyl! John Carpenters Soundtracks für die jüngste Halloween-Trilogie, die er zusammen mit seinen langjährigen Mitarbeitern Cody Carpenter und Daniel Davies komponierte, markierten die Rückkehr des legendären Regisseurs und Komponisten zur Filmmusik nach fast zwei Jahrzehnten Pause. Halloween (2018), Halloween Kills (2021) und Halloween Ends (2022) wurden alle von David Gordon Green inszeniert, der Carpenter bereits früh in die Vorproduktion einbezog und ihn schließlich als ausführenden Produzenten und Soundtrack-Komponisten für die Trilogie engagierte. Nun erscheint zum ersten Mal eine Deluxe-Edition des Soundtracks zu ,Halloween Kills" als 2xLP-Erweiterung bei Carpenters langjährigem Label Sacred Bones Records. ,Halloween" aus dem Jahr 2018 war ein Erfolg, der alle Erwartungen der Beteiligten übertraf. Der Film startete mit den höchsten Einspielzahlen in der Geschichte von Blumhouse und war der erfolgreichste Film der ,Halloween"-Reihe. Es war unvermeidlich, dass bald zwei Fortsetzungen, Halloween Kills und Halloween Ends, grünes Licht erhielten. Green unterschrieb für die Regie beider Filme, wollte aber nicht davon ausgehen, dass John, Cody und Daniel wieder für die Filmmusik verantwortlich sein würden. ,Ich nehme nichts als selbstverständlich hin", sagt er. ,Man hofft also, dass sie eine gute Erfahrung gemacht haben. Ich weiß, dass wir Spaß an dem Projekt hatten, aber man weiß nie, wie es um die Zeit und die finanziellen Interessen der Leute steht und all diese Dinge. Die Realitäten des Geschäftslebens und des Filmemachens laufen nicht immer reibungslos ab. Aber es gab keine Probleme. Wir sahen uns an und sagten: ,Wie können wir das hinbekommen? Lassen Sie es uns noch einmal versuchen.` Zweimal." Die erweiterte Version von ,Halloween Kills" enthält 25 bisher unveröffentlichte Stücke und wird mit brandneuen Artworks von Chris Bilheimer und einem exklusiven 24x36-Zoll-Poster von Creepy Duck geliefert. Erweiterte Versionen der Soundtracks zu ,Halloween" und ,Halloween Ends" sowie eine Box mit allen drei erweiterten Editionen werden ebenfalls am selben Tag bei Sacred Bones erhältlich sein.

DEADLETTER frontman Zac Lawrence’s latest solo venture hones in on the songwriter’s love of the contemporary folk scene of the 60s. Though not necessarily a conventional “Folk” sound, the acoustic guitar led songs intertwine the singer’s passion for lyricism and literacy with heart-string tugging melodies and arrangements. With the first single from this project expected in the summer of 2025, he brings a new band together made up of Misty Miller on vocal duties, Blossom Caldarone (English Teacher) on Cello, and Nathan Pigott (also of DEADLETTER) on clarinet. Antithetical to what we know from him as the frontman of the aforementioned, expect laid back, fingerpicked numbers that take you anywhere from Hamburg’s most gruesome hotel, to him imagining himself as a fifty something looking back on a life that he didn’t live in the way that was intended.

Void King from Indianapolis return with a newchapter in their heavy journey. ‘The HiddenHymnal’ is their most powerful and emotionalrelease to date, offering a deep and immersiveexperience meant to be heard from beginning toend.
Blending stoner rock, doom metal and alternativerock influences, the band deliver massive riffs,haunting melodies and a strong sense ofatmosphere.
After more than a decade in the undergroundscene, Void King continue to evolve their soundwith confidence and depth.
Each track on this album is part of a larger story,with moods that shift from crushing intensity toreflective calm.
This is a record made for those who enjoy musicthat feels heavy in both sound and emotion.
A must for anyone into slow, atmosphericheaviness and concept albums with real emotionalweight.
For fans of YOB, Crowbar, Alice In Chains, Gozu,Boris, Electric Wizard, Goatsnake, High On Fire,Lord Dying, Sleep, The Obsessed, Pallbearer,Monolord.
Now available on gold coloured vinyl.

Fabio Nobile is a drummer and multi-instrumentalist who has been active on the music scene for over 25 years. Today, his musical
exploration draws from the deep roots of Afro traditions and the expressive freedom of jazz—two musical cultures that are an integral
part of his identity.
Sankofa Soul is a musical project born from the encounter between jazz, African traditions, and the search for a profound connection
between past and present. The term “Sankofa” comes from the Akan language (spoken in Ghana) and means “to go back and fetch what
is good” —an invitation to look to the past to better understand the future.
In an era where music is evolving at a rapid pace, Sankofa Soul looks to a rich and multifaceted cultural heritage, while also embracing a
modern voice—a universal call to reconnect with our European origins through the lens of African legacy.
Each track on Sankofa Soul reflects Fabio Nobile’s experiences, studies, and roots, forming a dialogue between past and present, the
sacred and the profane, individuality and community.
Sankofa Soul is a heartfelt tribute to West Africa, with a special focus on Nigeria.
Zuma Rock leads us into the rich and ever-changing soundscape of West Africa—a space where tradition meets innovation, and rhythm
tells stories older than words. Here, the legacy of Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat pulses through every beat, anchoring the music in political fire and
deep ancestral roots. At the same time, the unmistakable horn section weaves a vibrant fusion of Afro-Funk and Jazz. In Zuma Rock, we
enter a dialogue between past and present—a musical return to the source.
And then appears Kalakuta Republic, a heartfelt homage to the self-declared commune that was home to the legendary Fela Kuti—a
reminder not to forget the rebellious spirit of the Kalakuta Republic. This track gives voice to the very essence of Afro-jazz, wrapped in a
hypnotic 12/8 rhythm that echoes ancient African traditions. Its immersive pulse blends seamlessly with jazz’s boundless expressive
freedom, creating a vibrant, compelling dialogue suspended between ancestral roots and modernity.
Landed in Lagos and I Read the Stars naturally embrace the distinctive sound of Manu Dibango, while Say Your Prayer Now reminds us
how the evolution of Jamaican reggae—and its cultural and musical foundations—remains deeply linked to Mother Africa.
This is Sankofa: the soul’s journey back to the past to move forward.

Nobody 2 is the sequel to the 2021 action-packed blockbuster film starring Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, Christopher Lloyd and Colin Hanks. amongst others The soundtrack for the film was composed by Emmy-nominated filmcomposer Dominic Lewis (Bullet Train, The King's Man, Karate Kid: Legends) and features two cover songs. The first one is a cover by José James of the classic 1962 song "The Good Life". The song was originally sung in French by Sacha Distel, but became more popular when released in English by Tony Bennett. The other cover is performed by American rock musician Des Rocs of "Ring of Fire", written by June Carter and Merle Kilgore and popularized by Johnny Cash. Nobody 2 is available as a limited edition on turquoise coloured vinyl and includes an insert.