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Suicide AFTR 7 is a musical partnership forged across two continents. This cross-Atlantic collaboration was founded in Barcelona by New York’s Neud Photo and London’s Antic.Distributed by Runas, a new label also based in Barcelona. New beat and Proto-Wave influences permeate the 12”.

Lean, mean, and evocative, "Soft Geometry" sets the stage with its blend of classic analogue textures and a sound palette that evokes the darker, more hypnotic side of electronic music. Throaty samples whisper through a synthesizer smoke, sodden bass lines throb against scaling crystalline chords.

The standout track, "Interplay", is an instant classic. Lyrics are distant, words ring, “Distant shadows," as snapping snares and warming pulses pull the listener closer drawing you deeper into its hypnotic world. Across the four offerings, a brooding dance floor looms; a
shadowy square of bodies shrouded in fog, pierced by strobe. This track will stick with you long after the music fades, a perfect blend of light and shade. It's the undeniable dancefloor moment on the EP, forever playful, forever bumpin.

"Last Word" pulses with a cold, hypnotic groove, driven by a deep 808 groove that'll get you moving. Think hypnotic rhythms, driving basslines, and a touch of electro grit. Slow, ethereal strings and shimmering synth stabs create an atmosphere of tension, punctuated
by film noir samples.

A sinister seam runs through the entire EP, coming to the surface for “Blind Spot.” Terse percussive patterns and eclipsed synthlines are stalked by vocals stripped of emotion, the mantra of “We are your enemy” encircling to a close.

'Floating' by Monika Linges should be repressed due to its enduring popularity and influence in the jazz fusion genre. Original copies are rare and highly sought after by collectors, with the only repress coming in 1992 and now selling between £30 and £60. The repress aims to make this classic album accessible to new audiences and satisfy the demand from djs who have had this in their wants list for a long time. Repackaging the album in a limited lilac vinyl, with liner notes written by German DJ and tastemaker Rainer Trueby

Preceded by some of Bolan’s most fondly-remembered singles, “Children Of The Revolution”, “Solid Gold Easy Action” and the classic “20th Century Boy”, 1973’s Tanx was the first T. Rex album to make full use of the ever-expanding range of studio gadgets. And while the album represented a new musical departure, several tracks maintained a direct link to the old sound.

The album reached number 4 in the UK album charts and has gone on to influence numerous musicians from Suede to Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore. This edition includes the complete album remastered by producer Tony Visconti and Ted Jensen.

“Mata leao” means “lion killer” in Portuguese, an appropriate title for this beast of an album, Biohazard’s first as a trio. In this case less is more; with a sound blending so many ingredients (hardcore, rap, metal), the increased focus brought on by the streamlined line-up just hardens the tip of the jackhammer.

Produced by Dave Jerden of Jane’s Addiction and Alice in Chains fame, this 1996 release sees its first US issue on vinyl, complete with printed inner sleeve.

For more than five decades Carlos Santana has been the visionary force behind artistry that transcends musical genres and generational, cultural, and geographical boundaries. To date, Santana has won ten GRAMMY Awards and three Latin GRAMMY Awards, received the Billboard Century Award, is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, received the Billboard Latin Music Awards’ Lifetime Achievement honor, is the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors Award, and has been cited by Rolling Stone as #11 on their list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.” Teaming up with producers Lino Nicolosi, Nicolosi Team, and Narada Michael Walden (Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey), Santana presents three distinct versions of his composition “Let The Guitar Play” - The Radio Version, The Soul Radio Version, and The 70's Version. The first two feature Run DMC's Darryl McDaniels who delivers a poetic rap over an EDM-style drum beat, serving as a dynamic catalyst for Santana to intricately weave his signature guitar magic. This limited edition three song 12” is pressed on tie-dye vinyl. This is a 2024 Black Friday Record Store Day release.

WRWTFWW Records is delighted to announce the first official worldwide reissue of Satsuki Shibano’s Wave Notation 3: Erik Satie 1984, the final album from the sound-defining Wave Notation environmental music series curated by Satoshi Ashikawa. Originally released in 1984 on the Sound Process label, Wave Notation 3 followed Ashikawa’s own Still Way (1982) and Hiroshi Yoshimura's Music For Nine Postcards (1982).

The highly sought-after album, sourced from the original master tape, is available as a double LP (housed in a luxurious heavyweight sleeve) for the first time ever. Digipack CD and digital formats are also available. This exclusive reissue, including English and Japanese liner notes by the artist, was supervised by Japanese ambient legend Yoshio Ojima.

Wave Notation 3 is a splendid tribute to seminal French composer and pianist Erik Satie, himself one of the main influences behind kankyo ongaku / environmental music (alongside Brian Eno, John Cage to name a few). The alphabetically-sequenced album features 26 pieces showcasing Shibano's unique piano interpretation of Satie’s works.

The artist explains: « For this album, I sequenced the compositions in alphabetical order of each title, irrespective of the period of each composition or style. By doing this, I attempted to effectively create ‘Music as an environment’ and at the same time, allow the listener to genuinely experience Satie’s music. »

Satsuko Shibano’s minimalistic approach to ambient classical is simply perfect and offers a beautiful and tranquil listening experience, furniture music with extra comfort and soothing simplicity, relaxing to the mind and to the soul. This Wave Notation deserves a spot among the pillars of Japanese environmental music, next to Midori Takada’s Through The Looking Glass, Hiroshi Yoshimura’s Green, and Satoshi Ashikawa’s Still Way.

Homer Steinweiss has an incredibly storied career in music that started when he was just a teenager. He's drummed for nearly every "retro soul" group that mattered and his distinctive stickwork helped blend the raw-but-receptive soul sound back into the mainstream via the likes of Amy Winehouse & Sharon Jones. He's now one of the most in demand drummers in the world, playing with Jonas Brothers, Clairo, Solange, Adele, and Bruno Mars to name a few.

With his debut solo release Ensatina, Homer is stepping to the forefront as both musician and producer. His new record is a re­ection of who he is now and a testament to how struggle often brings about a needed change. In 2020 Homer had to reckon with considerable emotional turbulence; at the same time that his band Holy Hive broke up, a personal relationship of 20+ years fell apart putting Homer in an uncertain place mentally. The fallout was signi‑cant enough for him to seek professional help. "I was going through these super manic highs and then very depressive lows," Homer describes. "And being in all that, it's just so tough to imagine that the other side is there, that it'll be ok." But, with time, professional help, and support from friends and family, Homer made it through and has been forever changed. This album is a product of that period of his life. The ‑rst song from these sessions, "Now That It's Over" perfectly sums up Homer's triumph through those tough times. It's a song of changing perspective and contemplation with haunting vocals from Hether and Flikka. "Paul (Castelluzzo_ aka, Hether), as a friend, saw me through these highs and lows," Homer points out. "I only had the one line, 'Now that it's over, I'm alright,' but he felt that lyric so much that he wrote all these sections and lyrics and basically completed the song. It was like he was writing to me." Hether also features on album standouts "Deep Sea", a modern love song, "Start Select", a juxtaposition of inspiration and melancholy, and "Forever and Ever and Ever and Ever" which is an incredible contemporary take on the B side soul ballad. Homer uses his innate gift for bringing seemingly opposing energies together on "Racecar Driver", pairing the vocals of Hether & long time friend and collaborator KIRBY to make a genre challenging banger. KIRBY also graces the album opener "Rollin'", an airy, warm-weather invoking song that her raspy voice perfectly compliments. He puts his drumming front and center on "So Get Up!", a bottom heavy infectious track that MINOVA's vocals turn into an instant hit that is sure to smash speakers. On "Wishing Well" & "Hide It Behind the Light I'm Shining Through" Homer is joined by girl named GOLDEN, who's unique voice effortlessly ‑nds the pocket in each tune. The man on trumpet, and fellow Big Crown label mate Dave Guy, puts his incomparable playing on the album closer "Goldie" which Homer says is the part of the movie where the credits roll.

Making this album was a refuge for Homer and it put him back on track. Ensatina is a glimpse into the different energies and in­uences that make Homer tick. To say he was always much more than a drummer would be an understatement, and this ‑rst solo offering is just the beginning of his next chapter.

Fragments of matter oscillate on the earth's axis.
The encounter of desolate scenarios
does not feel any contact between incorporeal vibrations.
Peace explodes,
unexpected advent,
blinding lightning:
handfuls of men raise their gaze above.
The line of time
runs towards the inexorable destiny of the refined senses.

Musik ist im Grunde eine Waffe, um die Mauern, die wir um uns herum aufgebaut haben, zu zerstören - und die finnischen Metal-Melancholiker INSOMNIUM gehören zu den stärksten Waffenbesitzern. Ihr letztes Studioalbum "Anno 1696" (veröffentlicht An-fang 2023) eroberte die internationalen Albumcharts, darunter Platz 1 in Finnland und Platz 5 in Deutschland. Darauf folgte die addendumartige EP "Songs of the Dusk", die den Hörer auf eine weitere Reise in eine dunkle und neblige Vergangenheit mit-nahm.Aus dem Land der tausend Seen, das mit tausend Melodien aufwartet und tausend Emotionen hervorbringt, kam 2014 "Shadows of the Dying Sun", das sechste Studioalbum von INSOMNIUM. Ein Album, geboren aus der Melancholie, der Trauer und der Tristesse langer Winternächte, so unerbittlich und überwältigend wie ein Herbststurm und doch so erfrischend wie die ersten Sonnenstrahlen eines Frühlingsmorgens und so friedlich wie ein lauer Sommerabend. Century Media Records veröffentlicht diesen Klassiker, der Fan-Favoriten wie "While We Sleep", "Ephemeral" und "The Primeval Dark" enthält, erneut auf limitiertem, farbigem Vinyl und mit Liner Notes von Gitarrist Ville Friman für die anstehende "Beyond the Shadows of the Dying Sun"-10th Anniversary European Tour mit ihren (Label-)Kollegen OMNIUM GATHERUM.

"The Best of Warrant is the first greatest hits compilation album by the American rock band Warrant, released in 1996 on CD. This is the first time the album is available on vinyl. It features the band's greatest hits from their first three studio albums, Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich, Cherry Pie and Dog Eat Dog. It also includes the track ""We Will Rock You"", which is a cover of the Queen song that was released on the soundtrack to the 1992 film Gladiator starring Cuba Gooding Jr. The Warrant version of ""We Will Rock You"" charted at number 83 on The Billboard Hot 100 and the version of ""I Saw Red"" is the acoustic version previously released as a B-side from the single of the same song. The Best Of Warrant is available as a limited edition of 2000 individually numbered copies on red coloured vinyl and includes a renewed insert with lyrics and liner notes.

In 2019, Resistencia Sonora was launched as a collaborative project where urban resistances and ethnic-peasant rural resistances converge in the greater area of Montes de Maria, situated in Colombia's western Caribbean region. This initiative originates in one of the musical epicenters of ancestral sounds that have fostered a now global recognition for styles such as gaita, cumbia, bullerengue, son palenque and son de negro, as well as Sabanero accordion music like porros and pajaritos.

The aim of this extensive project has been to serve as a rare living archive of festive gatherings, conversations, knowledge exchange, and co-creative processes that have spawned specifically from the municipality of Ovejas, which sits in the Sucre Department of Montes de Maria. Resistencia Sonora's documentation in Ovejas is more than just a musical recording, rather an all-encompassing snapshot of a very real folkloric life within neighborhoods such as El Bolsillo, El Corea and La Ciudadela. The initial inspiration of the project can be credited to a specific call to arms from composer Andrés Narváez, who expressed the dream to record his own original compositions set amongst this region's local history. Andrés, like many leaders from the old sabanas beyond Montes de Maria, is a social leader and land-rights activist. He proposed not only to record his songs but also to invite other musicians and composers to take part in this documentation, an extended hand to uphold the legacies, knowledge, and traditions of the region's elders.

All songs recorded between 2022-23 on location in Ovejas and Bogotá, Colombia. Mixed in Brooklyn by Names You Can Trust and mastered by Frank Meritt at The Carvery, London. Limited Edition 250 vinyl press with included 12-page booklet and liner notes in English and Spanish.

This Is DJs Choice Vol. 4 brings you a great selection of Funk, Soul, Latin and Hip Hop.

Five years after the last installment of the series, Volume 4 is compiled by Gu, a long-time friend and DJ partner of Unique label founder Henry Storch, and the tracks represent the two decades they have known each other and played records together, as well as the music they enjoyed.

All choices are originally 7 Inch records from Gu's crates put together like a DJ-Set for you to enjoy: The Soul of The Sweet Vandals and Carlton Jumel Smith, the Deep Funk of Naomi Davis & The Knights Of Forty First Street, The Supersonics and Sharon Jackson & The Soul Destroyers, the Latin sounds of Diesler and Eli Goulart E Banda Do Mato and the Hip Hop grooves of Jay Are (aka J.Rawls and John Robinson), The Bamboos featuring Ohmega Watts and Daddy-O of Stetsasonic.

This compilation is a celebration of music from beginning to end.

About This Is DJs Choice:

The series started as a friendship project by Henry Storch, who wanted to immortalise friends and allies from the DJ scene, who picked vinyl as their format of choice. The genre didn't matter, as long as the vibe was right. In 2008 Vol. 1 featured a selection of organic Club Sounds and Break Beats put together by Soulinus & Pun, followed by Keb Darge & Lucinda Slim and their favorite Rhythm & Blues, Rockabilly and 60s Soul tunes on Vol. 2 in 2009. In 2019 Les Intouchables aka Marc Hype and DJ Suspect presented a variety of funky and soulful music with an addition of the occasional Boogie, Reggae and Hip Hop track.

About Gu:

Gu is a DJ, musician, label owner, producer, writer and producer from Northern Germany. His dedication to music started in his pre-teens in the late eighties and he is playing vinyl ever since. Over the years he has worked with a number of his favorite DJs and artists like Keb Darge, Andy Smith, Snowboy, The New Mastersounds, Osaka Monaurail, The Sweet Vandals, The Allergies, Andy Cooper of Ugly Duckling, Daddy-O of Stetsasonic and Chuck D of Public Enemy to name a few. His DJ career took him all over Europe again and again.

In 2005 he started Our Label Records with his brother Tom to release new Funk music on 7 Inch vinyl and added the Hip Hop 45 imprint Origu in 2015. Since 2009 and he is on air every week with his radioshow Home Diggin', which was also picked up by Chuck D's Rapstation in 2019. Additionally he is lead singer/rapper for the Songcore duo Sorry We're Closed and the Hip Hop outfit Alder Ego. He also does readings of his book of one-liners and competing on Slam Poetry stages.

Das legendäre Debütalbum 'Kingston Journey' (2019) eines der besten Soundsystems der Schweiz und Europas, Little Lion Sound, ist eine Odyssee, die den Hörer auf eine faszinierende Reise durch das Herz und die Seele der jamaikanischen Musik mitnimmt. Jeder Titel ist eine Hommage an das reiche Erbe von Reggae und Dancehall und zeigt die beispiellose Fähigkeit dieser Formation, diese Genres mit Finesse zu vermischen und zu kuratieren. Feat. Capleton, Junior Dread, Brother Culture, Micah Shemaiah, u.a.

Die Doppel-LP im Klappcover ist in limitierter Auflage für kurze Zeit wieder erhältlich!

"Music Is The Rod" kommt mit den 24 besten Tracks des Sängers, mit Fotos und ausführlichen Liner Notes von Bridgett Anderson, der ehemaligen Managerin von Garnett Silk, und Anthony Rochester (seinem Partner für das Songwriting), sowie Zitaten der verschiedenen Produzenten: Bobby "Digital" Dixon (Digital B), Donovan Germain (Penthouse), Chris Chin (VP), Courtney Cole (Roof International), Richard "Bello" Bell (Star Trail), Sly Dunbar (Taxi), Danny Browne (Main Street), Richie Stevens (Pot Of Gold) und Phillip Smart (Tanyah).

Ein weiterer außergewöhnlicher Release in der hochgelobten WaJazz-Reihe ist dem Leben und der Musik eines der berühmtesten japanischen Jazzmusiker der letzten 60+ Jahre gewidmet, dem legendären Saxophonisten Jiro Inagaki mit seiner Soul Media-Band und ihrer goldenen Ära 1968-1980. Diese ultimative Kollektion erscheint auf goldfarbigem 180g Doppelvinyl im Gatefold mit detaillierten Linernotes von Yusuke Ogawa (Universounds), Kommentaren von Jiro und exklusiven Fotos. 16 mal pures Gold aus Jazz, Jazz-Funk und Jazz-Rock, darunter eine unveröffentlichte Version des Tracks 'Express' – erstmals auf Vinyl!

Aventura is an American bachata group that broke into the mainstream with their 2002 hit "Obsesión (featuring Judy Santos)". With a line-up comprising Romeo Santos, Lenny Santos, Henry Santos and Max Agende Santos, they are regarded as one of the most influential Latin groups of all time. They have sold out many arenas including the world-famous Madison Square Garden. Aventura has been nominated for awards such as American Music Awards, the Latin Grammy Awards, Billboard Latin Music Awards, and Premio Lo Nuestro.

NOW is going back to the 1970s to proudly present the next instalment in our ongoing ‘Yearbook’ series.

Released on 49 tracks across 3LPs pressed in beautiful blue vinyl, celebrating a magnificently diverse year of Pop singles… NOW – Yearbook 1977.

The much-anticipated fifth studio album from Rufus Du Sol, known for blending organic and electronic sounds, sees the Grammy-winning trio once again delving into familiar themes like love, heartbreak and euphoria across 15 tracks. This new record, featuring previously released singles 'Lately' and 'Music Is Better', marks the band's first new material in three years. Their latest single, 'Break My Love', shows the band's signature style, where smooth vocals from Tyrone Lindqvist weave into a hypnotic electronic backdrop. The track evokes hope and emotional depth while maintaining the group's dreamy, electronic soundscape. The accompanying retro-inspired music video, directed by longtime collaborator Katzki, adds a playful twist with a heist-themed storyline, reflecting the band's creative evolution. Inhale / Exhale represents a new creative phase for the trio, who describe this era as focusing on the joy of creation in the present moment. Fans can expect a mature sonic journey that carries forward the emotional highs and lows that have made RUFUS DU SOL a beloved force in the global electronic scene.

The Acidboychair music project started in the early noughties as a commentary on what journalist Simon Reynolds would summarise a few years later as Retromania. Initially conceived by Thomas Baldischwyler and Andreas Diefenbach as a performative revival travesty with large-format drum computers and synthesizers reconstructed from cardboard, everything took a surprising turn when DJ Mooner (the man behind the now defunct Munich music label Erkrankung Durch Musique) took an interest in the adventurous audio material produced by Baldischwyler. In 2005, the LP 1987 (EDM1016), produced almost exclusively with long-forgotten software (SoundEdit 16, RB-338, etc.), was released on Mooner's label. As a result of the growing number of bookings, Baldischwyler had to think about improving the performability of his intentionally amateurish productions. Fortunately, the Ableton Live programme became a DAW with a MIDI sequencer and support for VST plug-ins as early as 2004 - and this made it easier for him to execute his intuitive, error-friendly version of acid house. This can be heard on the first two sample-heavy tracks on the A-side of Come Down Easy, which were recorded in 2005 and 2006 respectively at Acidboychair gigs at Hamburg's Golden Pudel Club and Munich's Registratur. The first two tracks on the B-side (produced sometime between 2006 and 2008) were actually supposed to be part of a solo release on the Acido label run by Dynamo Dreesen, but this never materialised. However, the final tracks and the 133.3 BPM lock grooves that follow are the title and central to this catalogue number TBG123: Through ethno-musicologist Arthur Boto Conley, who had already released a one-sided 12 on his label with material from one of Baldischwyler's audio installations, he met Florian Meyer (Don't DJ) and Marc Matter (Spoken Matter), who introduced him to their collaborative project Institut F?r Feinmotorik (IFFM). Baldischwyler's attempt to approach the sound aesthetics of IFFM led to the tape 60 Minutes Of Barely Modified Lock Grooves (TCCC06), recorded in Rome in 2018. A buyer of this tape introduced him to the Detroit collective Pure Rave, which he immediately contacted and introduced to the work of the IFFM. It was important for Baldischwyler to have an analogue update made and so both the Detroiters and IFFM, who now live in Berlin, were given 8 copies of EDM1016's backstock to remix the material in their own way. At their jam in Detroit, Pure Rave opted for the almost identical material that IFFM had also used for a live performance in the Hamburg project space Beek. The dominant jumps in both arrangements come from the track Eightyseven, produced in the early 2000s for the LP 1987, an awkward remix of the Spacemen 3 track Come Down Easy, which is also referred to in the liner notes on the inner sleeve of TBG123. The almost two-decade-old revival idea thus turns into false memory syndrome and runs into a - in keeping with our times - clean-cut (endless) groove. Kassem Mosse (The KM of MM/KM) on Come Down Easy after a first listening session: I think it all works very well as a mix, no matter where you start it carries you further forward back in the loop. if I understand the liner notes correctly, it's about the music's turn from tradition preservation (doing everything right) to ecstatic delusion (not doing everything right when intoxicated). Now that I'm reading again instead of listening, the titles give me a different understanding of the connections; how the skipping belongs together, which playtime is connected. Now I can name my favourites. Thank you for the journey!

2024 Repress ON BLACK VINYL

The album and single news follows closely on the heels of Daudi’s recent tracks “oMo” and “Fool Me As Many Times As You Like” which have received high praise from the likes of Gilles Peterson on Worldwide FM and BBC 6 Music as well as Lauren Laverne, and have been featured in several Spotify editorial playlists including The Most Beautiful Songs in the World, The Other list, The Listening Post, and Fresh Finds. Having released just two independent EPs – “A Brief Introduction to Failure” and “The Lingering Effects of Disconnection” – to date, Daudi has toured with GoGo Penguin, Keaton Henson, and Portico Quartet, whilst also being a participant of the Red Bull Music Academy in Montreal 2016. He also received a standing ovation at this years The Great Escape Festival, and plays as a member of Do Nothing’s live band, who he is currently on tour with. Through his unique brand of modern albeit reverent folk, Daudi continues to offer his listeners a space for understanding and introspection. Deft, melancholic picking reminiscent of Nick Drake is tempered by contemporary percussion and instrumentation. Matsiko’s vocals derive their strength from their seeming fragility. With every song, his confessional lyrics cut to the marrow.

Moody cacophonies, sonic dispatches from Japan, crystalline breakbeats that are more environment than rhythm: Jake Muir’s enmixed, described by Muir as a “(re)mixtape,” is a mind-bending deep dive into the enmossed archive. Besides reflecting the history of the label, Muir’s mix is a production in its own right. A Los Angeles native based in Berlin, Muir is a DJ and field recordist who “sees mixes as a vehicle to explore narratives outside of the album format.”

In Bathhouse Blues (2023), where Muir sampled various sources to explore gay cruising culture and sensuality, his more expansive, conceptual approach to the form is illuminated. Mixes are not just a linear succession of tracks with transitions—they’re excavations that also result in the creation of new audio artifacts. Inspired by the psychedelic impulses of illbient, Muir uses DJ and sound engineering techniques to melt down genre distinctions and create alien atmospheres.

From the enmossed community, Muir pulls from artists like bad lsd trips, Angelo Harmsworth, Nick Klein, Tetsuya Nakayama, and Patrick Gallagher to coalesce a super-compendium of the global sonic underground, all viewed through his own unique lens. Muir takes major liberties with processing and effects automation to carve new worlds from the soil of these preexisting works. Some of the tracks and material on enmixed are heavily edited, emphasizing specific harmonics or bass frequencies, and some portions contain three or four layers, putting artists in direct conversation with each other.

This heady approach—using the tools of both mixtape and remix—results in a super textual and dense palimpsest of the enmossed catalog. “Because mixes are more open- source,” Muir says, “it’s easier to express some ideas since there is more material to pull from.”

- Rob Goyanes

Silver foil printed j-cards on heavyweight iridescent ('Lapis Lazuli') recycled paper Duplicated at a carbon-neutral facility

“My introduction to “noise” came from a record shop in Lake Worth, Florida ran by a musician named Kenny 5. Kenny had left Detroit sometime in the mid nineties and had begun selling used records and CD’s from the downtown strip of this tiny southern Florida city in a humble shop sandwiched between a deli and a dog grooming business. Kenny previously was on labels like Amphetamine Reptile and timeSTEREO, and the records and videotapes that would be on repeat at his shop were a vast sonic expanse that spoke to the eclecticism of his experience as a touring musician participating and adjacent to American noise culture through the early to late 90’s. In 1998, I was eleven years old and I would order a pizza with him and watch VHS tapes of Japanese noise and deathmatch bootlegs, as well as any other sonic and subcultural rarities that far outstripped my age to comprehend (notably the RRR “Journey Into Pain” compilation and various Vanilla Tapes videos). This widecast net of information formed an introduction to a reality that did not fall deaf on me, but it took many years later for me to reorient the specific freedoms of what this dense and cathartic sound culture had imparted on my life and would continue onward to.

What does this have to do with this selection of choice recordings from the Secret Boyfriend catalog for the enmossed label? For the uninitiated, Secret Boyfriend is the long running moniker of Ryan Martin, North Carolina musician and label proprietor of the Hot Releases imprint. For over a decade from this writing I have watched Secret Boyfriend, and Hot Releases by extension as a curatorial and archival effort, embodying the multiplanal capacity that noise loosely functions from as an umbrella ideology and formalist avenue for sound creation. For anecdotal purposes, from (before) 2006 until roughly 2023 the East Coast of the United States showcased a vibrant network of eclectic regional festivals that saw wide swaths of artists addressing and negotiating the notion of what qualified “noise” from a conceptual and ideological perspective. Some festivals honed in on particularities in aesthetics and tropes, and others had a kind of “catch-all” implementation that allowed for a salvation of the sort of alienated and singular artistry that was amassing throughout these territories. While clear guidelines had been set from regional predecessors as to how noise with a capital “N” should maneuver, Secret Boyfriend is emblematic in the spirit of fluidity that was either implicitly coupled to the notion of the genre, or grew to evolve towards or devolve from.

Within Secret Boyfriend performances, I have seen and admired a mirroring from a ravenous appreciator of this culture at large back towards itself. Typical of a Secret Boyfriend set is an interchangeable narrative arc wherein blistering feedback laden scrap metal improvisations are forayed into naive ambient or “pop” songs, or skipping CDs, or mixer feedback play, or delayed Roland 707 drum workouts all at once and in a unique hegemony. Secret Boyfriend's stylistic mastery of each endeavor is at once an homage to a history of loving listening and enacting, while a brave step into the realm of actualizing the unique fluidity of his own practice. In performance and the action of network engagement, Secret Boyfriend operates a survey of that which he sought to hear and that which he cultivates around his work. His operations are mirrors, and the project (alongside his other peers) is a reflection on the ethos of his time.

Conversely his recording practice narrows in on these moments and allows for a different kind of intimacy or alienation for the non live listener. This record of selected “pop songs” (let's call them that) is particularly poignant at a time when the culture Martin mirrors is at a strange crossroads with itself. The aforementioned festival networks necessarily change and shift. The onlookers become the artists, the artists find new horizons, and the spaces for these cycles fade into locales of a distant memory. It seems, from my perspective, that audiences currently yearn for a more bottlenecked experience, searching for some ontologically vetted manifestation of an idea, of a sound and less for an experience that functions in opposition to our collective banalities. This makes sense in the face of general global catastrophism that plagues us. We need certainty of what something is somewhere, don’t we? Noise as an idea has expanded and contracted to so many iterations of itself it is hard to tell what it even is, and it is particularly difficult to identify in the absence of solid network activations a moment to reflect on its own complexities and nuances. In the face of so much change, I argue that the language of noise culture at large has on one hand become increasingly didactic and predictable, and laughably inclusive and non linear on the other. Probably has always been this way, but now we are in the midst of a moment of extreme access and indexicality, which somehow cauterizes expansion and naivety and chance.

This record highlights the Secret Boyfriend that obscures didacticism by highlighting output that opens up for more challenging catharsis and emotive signal processing. It provides an entry to the materialism of a cultural field full of ecstatic complexity and beautiful inconsistency. In these muted moments Secret Boyfriend has given us over his career we have an argument for evolving languages that further challenge our notions of what is supposed to happen and how it is supposed to be presented. In his more song oriented expansiveness, we can punctuate the ability to think in new modalities. Listening to these recordings reminds me of the polarity of sitting in the record store as a kid and understanding that His Name Is Alive is on 4AD and (gasp!) timeSTEREO. This trite early impression that nothing is really as different as our imaginations might want them to be, and that we can do whatever we want mostly within the creative realms we work through is an important filter to look through Secret Boyfriend as a project and a vessel. If we can achieve abandon and vulnerability through our artistic endeavors, then we have a sound model for, maybe, new potentialities. If that’s too much projection, or just complete liberal bullshit, I am fine with that. Secret Boyfriend's oeuvre at best offers us moments of reprieve to ponder these complexities, or at least a moment to zone out on a drive through North Carolina Highway 54.

You have one pocket of life that you must do whatever you want to inside of. Secret Boyfriend does it affectionately, in a variety of forms, and always with deep sentimentality. These recordings are a wonderful set of songs to begin further investigation from. Thank you Ryan for allowing as many avenues as possible to continue a broad cultural exchange and conversation that intersect and refract while being the kind of artist that is brave enough to not phone in the effort.”

- Nick Klein , May 2024

The Ghentian skyline has low peaks and hides its horrors in full view ~ walk streamside and you’ll quickly be confronted with façades that leer with their tales and secrets, the angels and demons that built this city holding up its mortar and stone in an inextricable embrace. It is within this incongruous backdrop that Benoît Monsieurs has fostered the Venediktos Tempelboom persona. Using the 12-string guitar as his main instrument, the self-taught musician creates passages that take fingerpicking Americana and Eastern transcendence into the Flanders fields, with winding compositions that distill the essence of giants like John Fahey, Robbie Basho and Jack Rose and folds them into the dark drone melancholia of Funeral Folk/KRAAK stalwarts like Silvester Anfang, Helvete and Ignatz. The results are ringing meditations of awe and terror, flamboyant and grotesque yet utterly mesmerizing in their unrooted sonic imagery.

In his debut LP, Syne Vuyle Hoeck, the Tempelboom amalgamates his influences - East, West and deep Flanders alike - into a flurry of acid-drenched tracks that spread out into a distinctive musical iconography. Each composition carries a facet, highlighting angel and demon in equal measure: the solemn opener “De woelige rit op een roze wolkje” is a threading of melodies that carry pensive heft and hopeful asides, as hints of ragtime buoyancy lead into sullen ruminations in a fully lucid change of course; “Ocharme Ochgod” is a sober penitence, slowly and almost imperceptibly building up into a tangle of lines that inexorably coil back into their brooding backbone; the echoing tape loop of “In Flock” reverberates and torments, steel sharpness and frayed magnetic disintegration finding improbable common ground; “El Contrario” swerves unforgivingly in an Eastern-infused openness reminiscent of Six Organs’ rawer days and unnervingly giving way to a forceful - dare we say upbeat - conclusion. And so one treks into the depths of the Tempelboomian universe, a place of high drama and low morals inhabited by a prankster creator who deploys euphoria and distress in equal measure. Just as the strings of his guitar are left to echo like sparkles in the dark, so his music lingers in the soil of our humanity, redolent of the kind of peace one can only make with the demons of the self.

BACK IN PRINT ON BLACK VINYL

“To understand the significance of the word ‘featuring’ on Featuring Pharoah Sanders And Black Harold, consider how infrequently Sun Ra used it and the exact way it had been used.
“The October Revolution in Jazz, organized by Bill Dixon in the West Village in 1964, presented a vivid cross section of approaches to the new music, including a sextet led by Ra. For the October Revolution’s continuation, titled Four Days in December, held at nearby Judson Hall on the last days of 1964, the Arkestra performance presented Pharoah Sanders as well as a flautist (who was and remained obscure thereafter) named Harold Murray, nicknamed Black Harold.
“It wasn’t until long after Sanders had achieved worldwide acclaim with John Coltrane that Ra and manager Alton Abraham decided to issue the music they’d recorded at Judson Hall. After its first release in plain or hand-decorated covers in 1976, Featuring Pharoah Sanders And Black Harold remained an exceptionally rare item in the El Saturn discography, known to a few lucky collectors.
“We’re lucky to have this glimpse of what Sanders sounded like in such a different context, galvanizing the large group and in turn being inspired to make his first significant contribution on record.”
—John Corbett (excerpt from the liner notes)

After a kickass track on the newArray0 V/A, along with Nineties Entities, Binary Digit, MAURER and bell hooks, Silent Manifesto now returns with full length power, still advocating the power of the rave, the acid and the electro to cleanse the soul and start anew.

Yet, the journey is dark and difficult: meadows of technological ruins, rivers of benzodiazepine, mountains of self-contrition and guilt, these are but a few of the obstacles on this record, but do not fear, dear listener, as the fattest of the fattest kicks and the most sinuous bass lines will be your best allies.

Whether you want to dance, to reflect upon the past, the present, the future, to get fucked up in your apartment, this record is perfect for you.
Whether you are an electrohead, an urban pessismist, an optimist pastoral raver, a nostalgic of a future past, this record is also perfect for you.

Traders, cops, bankers, neo-liberalism enthusiasts, start-uppers, neophiles, technological believers, soldiers of power, authority, domination and progress, you can go fuck yourselves.

"We are delighted to be able to bring you these gorgeous field recordings from the Sumedang Province of West Java which, over their 50 minutes, present two distinct sides of Sundanese musical and devotional culture.

Although West Java is a Muslim country, these recordings highlight currents of pre-Islamic animist beliefs and practices that continue to flourish in the small towns and villages of the highlands of West Java. The recordings showcase two forms of trance music that are essential to the spiritual life of the Sundanese people in the highland regions.

Tarawangsa trance music is a traditional ceremonial genre known for its deep spiritual and hypnotic qualities. This music is made using only two instruments, the tarawangsa, a two-stringed fiddle, accompanied by the jentreng, a seven-stringed zither, creating a unique blend of resonant, droning sounds. Historically, tarawangsa music has been performed as part of sacred rituals and agricultural celebrations to honor local deities and ancestors, particularly associated with the Sunda culture. The minimalist, repetitive melodies gradually build, guiding participants and listeners into a meditative, trance-like state, during which dancers can be possessed by the spirits of ancestors or deities from the spirit realm, the music serving as a link between the two worlds.

In stark contrast to the calm, medititive sound of tarawangsa, we also present here two long pieces from Panca Buana Reak Group. Sundanese Reak trance music is like the punk rock of Sunda folk music, combining powerful and driving rhythms played on a number of hand drums and percussion instruments with the buzzing sound of the tarompet, a double reed wind instrument often amplified through whatever mobile speaker system might be at hand. Sometimes the group will play gamelan gongs, as heard on the first piece on the album, although this remains a music that is popular mainly with the working class youth of the rural villages, many of whom will also be fans of Indonesia's burgeoning metal and punk scenes. Reak performances are often wild, anarchic events that feature masked dancers, costumes, public trancing and spirit possession.

These recordings were made by Xenia At during her travels through West Java earlier this year. The tarawangsa recordings were made in a home in the village of Rancakalong on the evening of 17th January 2024, while Panca Buana Reak Group were recorded during rehersals in the village of Cinunuk on 19th and 20th January 2024."

Limited edition of 100 copies.

The musicians:
Overture (played by Panca Buana Reak Group, musicians: Rian Hidayat, Daffa, Rendi, Haswa, Doni, Aconk, Bayu, Zidan, Iwan Uwak, ⁠Mahadewa Sehu, ⁠Bebet, Adi, Bebet).
Reundeu - Master Yayat (kacapi), Tedi Kurniadi (tarawangsa).
Degung - Master Yayat (kacapi), Teguh Permana (tarawangsa).
Pamapag__Gelar Mataram__Panimang__Limbangan - Akbar Nendi (kacapi) & Tedi Kurniadi (tarawangsa).
Reak Lugay Pusaka Pajajaran (played by Panca Buana Reak Group, musicians: Aconk (tong), Rendi (brung), Hendrik (tarompet), Ade (kecrek), Riki (bedug), Doni (talingtit), Adi (badublag).

Xenia would like to extend gratitude to:
Master Yayat, Tedi Kurniadi, Akbar Nendi, and Teguh Permana for their incredible talent that turned this recording into a magical experience.
Ibrahim Adi Surya for technical support.
The Juarta Putra and Panca Buana Reak groups for explaining the cultural significance of local traditions.
Anggun Tresnasari for sharing her deep knowledge of regional music traditions.
Igor Moskalenko, Kate Snap, Stasya Frolova, Roman Gold, Misha Maltsev, Ilona Popychko, Galih Muhammad, Wildan Wiliansyah, Rizalu Ramadhan, Rahi Rahmat, Fahmi Solihin and Muhammad Ismael whose unwavering belief made this project possible.

Hive Mind would like to thank Luigi Monteanni (Artetetra) and Palmer Keen (Aural Archipelago) for their invaluable work and research in this region.

Jack Adkins, the creative force behind the moniker Jamin’ Jack, has a multifaceted musical journey that began in the mid-'60s in Cincinnati. Initially cutting his musical teeth in garage bands like the Coachmen, Adkins would later embark on a decade-long journey as Jamin’ Jack, the One Man Band, from 1983 to 1993. A pivotal moment unfolded in the early '80s when, at the age of 36, Adkins walked into London Music studio in Tampa to record his debut LP, 'American Sunset.' This album, distinguished by its evocative portrayal of the West's decline, emerged as a defining piece in Adkins's musical repertoire. Its sonic landscape, characterized by guitars and drum machines, resonates with a familiar and poignant atmosphere. The subsequent decade witnessed Adkins assuming the persona of Jamin’ Jack, the One Man Band, embarking on an extensive ten-year tour. Adapting to a corporate presentation style, he not only refined his musical craft but also mastered the art of bantering and entertaining, overcoming his initial shyness. During this nomadic period, Adkins carried the master tapes of 'American Sunset' with him on the road. In a poetic expression of his transient lifestyle, he pressed LPs and tapes in Houston, selling them directly at various venues. The album, at its zenith, serves as a sonic backdrop to the lonesome and transient life on the road, encapsulating the essence of a nation seemingly heading into the sunset. 'American Sunset' stands as a must-listen for enthusiasts of Trans-era Neil Young and the dystopian vibes reminiscent of Repo Man, offering a captivating musical narrative that echoes the spirit of its time. Neofolk electronica? we're not sure, but its just amazing! Only 500 units of this 'sunset' coloured vinyl will ever exist. You waited 40 years for this anniversary meeting, so don't blow it, buy it!

For ALT014, Altered Circuits presents its first Various Artists release. In addition to the label's co-founder, three friends of the label appear on this heterogeneous, club-oriented 12''. Portal, with its breakbeat layered drum section and spartan bass hook, sounds like classic Innershades from the start. When the angular leads and slowly phased, ominous chords hit, we are reminded of the artist's fondness for the new beat genre and his ability to translate its tropes and conventions to the present. On Show You Love, Mr. Ho combines skippy two-step drums with an MS20 type of flat bass. After introducing a one-bar mid-bass arpeggiator, gently swelling pads, leisurely spread side riffs and reverb-drenched musings join, calibrating the vibe to lush and groovy. On the other side, Oshana treats groove as the focal point with her Hey Kiss Kiss contribution. Over its 6-minute course, the snappy 909 kick rarely relents while a bunch of often short, many a time looped sequences emerge and disappear, unfolding a hypnotic tapestry of textures. Rising talent Salomee closes the VA with Late Night Summer, a track capable of setting the floor in motion at any moment. It revolves around a portamento-heavy, neon-tinged lead that lingers long after the track ends and a sturdy, efficient one-note bass pulse.

Detroit's stalwart Kyle Hall is back on Apnea Records with "Crimson Clouds," his second release for the label following the acclaimed "Cosmic Touch." This acid-infused record is a tribute to Detroit's electronic legacy, drawing inspiration from the 90s sound of labels like Matrix and Underground Resistance, all while injecting Hall's unmistakable modern flair. Tracks like "Acid Tea" showcase Hall's acid-driven approach, delivering a dancefloor twister that's pure bliss. Meanwhile, "Nimbus" stands out with its syncopated rhythms and soulful synth lines, and "Told Them Before" brings raw, head-spinning techno energy to the forefront. With "Crimson Clouds," Kyle Hall delivers another essential record that bridges classic Detroit sounds with his unique modern twist. A must.

Reclaim Your Cities next frequency-jammer comes in the form of a heavyweight split 4-tracker, courtesy of two true techno pioneering figures: Mike Parker and Steve Bicknell.

The continued influence of these two artists on both our early raving days and now as a team working on providing you the most exciting, boundary-pushing tech wares is second to none. As you'll experience from the four jams constitutive of this unparalleled mindtrip of an EP, 'In The Years Ahead' is the living evidence the steadfastness of Parker and Bicknell's vision remains absolutely untouched. Zeroed in on taking ravers on an entrancing ride across pulsating corridors of whirring machine funk, sizzling acid and shape-shifting waves of sound, both sides of this EP share the best lot of both producers' uniquely innovative approach to rhythm and production.

Parker's opening cut, 'Solar Limb' is a textbook example of his complex, and heavily layered sound-design. An unflinching swing keeping time, brutal kicks punching holes in your head like giant steel hammers, the track may evolve slowly, repeating its post-industrial mantra over and over again, its flame doesn't flicker one iota. Switching onto red-level dance floor menace, 'Badlands' pulls out the heavy artillery: an overkill bombardment of puncturing 909 drums, vortical winds blowing in the back like some solar storm of sorts, and this ebb-and-flow of FX-drenched synth ripples branded on your cortex like odd signs of cult belonging. Bicknell's takeover starts with the rugged and wild 'Chaotic World', whose title is definitely not usurped. Enter a blazing maelstrom of frantic synth assault knocked askew, intense bass tectonic movements and smashing arpeggios on the path of war. The track develops a massive momentum, swelling from primordial raw matter into weirdly arranged modular constructions, like that of Kubrick's monolith emerging with ominous presence. 'In The Years Ahead' serves up a much distinctively elegant, glossy type of textural experience, synths playing pong in a hall of mirrors, interlacing and distorting as the percussive line unfolds its linear train-like groove. It dashes across landscapes of hypermodern glass and concrete with unrelenting horsepower, from techno's early sanctuary right up onto tomorrow's temple of unmapped potentialities.

This much special release, so dear to our heart, comes clad in a beautiful piece of design, and will be pressed to 180g audiophile quality vinyl for an enhanced listening experience.

Back In Stock!

The Linkin Park & Jay Z collaborative EP “Collision Course” is now back in stock at Atton. This will be available in next Friday, September 27th. There is no pre-order for this release, so feel free to place orders.

From a club-friendly chrysalid onto deploying his wings as a full fledged pop artist in recent years, Saint Petersburgs Kito Jempere has enjoyed a journey unlike any other and his newest album, Part Time Chaos Part Time Calmness live-documents the chameleonic changes / game-changing paradox experienced this year between his life both as a musician and as a family man.

Better known for his work as a house producer which has earned him accolades from prominent dance music outlets throughout well over a decade of intense work both into and outwith the limelights, Kito has for all that never been focussed on writing solely discoid material, throwing as much effort over the years into multi-faceted parallel ventures, far and apart from strictly dance floor-oriented functionality. Yet, from this partition between various projects and mindsets, this is through a radical shift towards downtempo pop and out of the 4x4 loop that Kito got to fully assert himself as a musician, embracing the rejoicing variety of tone and mood of his tender loves, secret and not. The movie Ive never made but have the soundtrack for, Part Time Chaos Part Time Calmness is the fruit of change as much as change itself. A return to the simple means of his young self, his old trusty guitar from his late teens serving as the backbone to Killer Line and Love Myself But I Cant Make It Love, and the natural development to last years Green Monster, which
initiated these deep tectonic movements in Kitos approach to his art, PTCPTC is an intimate trip down the kaleidoscope of his present life. Joined up by an impressive cast of artists, including Jimi Tenor, Adam Evald and Hard Ton, Kito didnt just bin his old persona, he took it back to where it belongs. From the low-slung emotional folk of the opener, Killer Line, to the eerie flamenco-jazz hybrid Before Music Dies. via the broken soulfulness of Put Love Into Your Heart and anthemic 80s balearic breaks meets coastal synthwave vibe of Sounds of Love, the album pulsates with a refreshingly genre-unbound vision. To the naive, laid-back sonic bokeh of Footsteps,
succeeds the left-of-centre cinematic narrative of In The Countryside, which includes some fun nods to fictional brands taken from Tarantinos imaginarium (Red Apple cigarettes) or other movies like High Fidelity, after Nick Hornbys eponymous novel.

Freed from gridlocked programming and impersonal tropes, PTCPTC showcases a wide array of songs, beats, grooves old and new, some dating back to 2018 and improvised sessions with his 9-people Kito Jempere Band, all of which were finished within the same timeframe and with this all-inclusive momentum in mind. Through the epic synths of Absent Ascent. in revamping the universal classic Over The Rainbow with Celebrine, on the appeasing ballad Shorespotting feat. Evald or in the waves-ready closing cut Lovers, Jempere tells a tale of hard-earned emancipation and life-affirming freedom.

From a club-friendly chrysalid onto deploying his wings as a full fledged pop artist in recent years, Saint Petersburgs Kito Jempere has enjoyed a journey unlike any other and his newest album, Part Time Chaos Part Time Calmness live-documents the chameleonic changes / game-changing paradox experienced this year between his life both as a musician and as a family man.

Better known for his work as a house producer which has earned him accolades from prominent dance music outlets throughout well over a decade of intense work both into and outwith the limelights, Kito has for all that never been focussed on writing solely discoid material, throwing as much effort over the years into multi-faceted parallel ventures, far and apart from strictly dance floor-oriented functionality. Yet, from this partition between various projects and mindsets, this is through a radical shift towards downtempo pop and out of the 4x4 loop that Kito got to fully assert himself as a musician, embracing the rejoicing variety of tone and mood of his tender loves, secret and not. The movie Ive never made but have the soundtrack for, Part Time Chaos Part Time Calmness is the fruit of change as much as change itself. A return to the simple means of his young self, his old trusty guitar from his late teens serving as the backbone to Killer Line and Love Myself But I Cant Make It Love, and the natural development to last years Green Monster, which
initiated these deep tectonic movements in Kitos approach to his art, PTCPTC is an intimate trip down the kaleidoscope of his present life. Joined up by an impressive cast of artists, including Jimi Tenor, Adam Evald and Hard Ton, Kito didnt just bin his old persona, he took it back to where it belongs. From the low-slung emotional folk of the opener, Killer Line, to the eerie flamenco-jazz hybrid Before Music Dies. via the broken soulfulness of Put Love Into Your Heart and anthemic 80s balearic breaks meets coastal synthwave vibe of Sounds of Love, the album pulsates with a refreshingly genre-unbound vision. To the naive, laid-back sonic bokeh of Footsteps,
succeeds the left-of-centre cinematic narrative of In The Countryside, which includes some fun nods to fictional brands taken from Tarantinos imaginarium (Red Apple cigarettes) or other movies like High Fidelity, after Nick Hornbys eponymous novel.

Freed from gridlocked programming and impersonal tropes, PTCPTC showcases a wide array of songs, beats, grooves old and new, some dating back to 2018 and improvised sessions with his 9-people Kito Jempere Band, all of which were finished within the same timeframe and with this all-inclusive momentum in mind. Through the epic synths of Absent Ascent. in revamping the universal classic Over The Rainbow with Celebrine, on the appeasing ballad Shorespotting feat. Evald or in the waves-ready closing cut Lovers, Jempere tells a tale of hard-earned emancipation and life-affirming freedom.

Village Of The Sun return today with the announcement of their highly anticipated debut LP “First Light”. Due out 4th November on heavyweight vinyl via London analogue specialists Gearbox Records, the record follows their widely acclaimed double A-side single “Village Of The Sun / “Ted”. Village Of The Sun is an enigmatic collaboration between UK jazz virtuosos Binker Golding & Moses Boyd and electronic music legend Simon Ratcliffe of Basement Jaxx fame. Born out of a shared passion for improvised instrumental music, the new project sees all three of the artists steps into relatively new territory, combining their respective sensibilities to create something all at once atmospheric and danceable. Evocative of some of Simon’s inspirations such as Alice Coltrane, Airto Moreira and Masters at Work, Village Of The Sun embodies a hybrid of electronic beats, heady jazz improvisation, and sheer, raw energy, breaking ground between pseudo-Samba rhythms, dreamy ambient textures, and explosive sax and percussion. The new single “The Spanish Master” is a total embodiment of what Village Of The Sun is at it’s heart. Combining atmospheric synth lines with percussive electronics, which gently ebb around Boyd’s intricate drumming and Golding’s expressive sax. With tension building around every element the track careens into a movement of frenetic drumming, electronic idiosyncrasies, and fervent sax breakouts, which find the trio performing at their energetic, adrenaline-fuelled best. The album is truly a project of passion and exploration, and one that refuses to follow just one path. Tracks such as “Cesca” and “Tigris” emphasise Ratcliffe’s ability to weave shapeshifting keys and electronics around Golding and Boyd’s interplay, changing the mood and direction of the track at a moment’s notice. Whereas the title track “First Light” channels the sound of the current UK jazz scene with Ratcliffe imbuing a sense of dramatic tension and release with electronic atmospherics and keys that ferment alongside the almost shamanic, semi-free sax lines and uncomprimising drums. As part of one of British dance music’s biggest ever acts, Basement Jaxx, Ratcliffe and collaborator Felix Buxton led the progressive house sound in the 90s/00s with ground-breaking albums Remedy and Rooty, and by releasing a string of Top 10 singles including Red Alert, Rendez-Vu, Romeo, and Where’s Your Head At?. Ratcliffe’s own solo work includes the 1995 EP City Dreams and the 2011 EP Dorus Rijkers - both releases prove his musical versatility and virtuosity. Speaking about the Village of the Sun collaboration, Simon says, “I’ve always liked improvised instrumental music. It has this intensity and eccentricity that takes me places.