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CNPY007 marks a strong return to Canopy for Sam Redmore, on the second edition in the Alafia series where he impresses with two powerful and inspired re-imaginings of these tropical synth future-classics.

Tough afro-centric broken beats meet dirty fuzz basslines. Chic-esque guitars and icy synths swirl among horn crescendos and steel drums. Sam assembled a troupe of tight players who deliver slick performances which sincerely compliment the original arrangements, while he turns the electronic tropical funk factor to full - Inspired music reinvented for inspired dancefloors!

Black Truffle is pleased to announce its first release from celebrated London-based Canadian composer Cassandra Miller. Though her body of mature work stretches back almost twenty years, many listeners were introduced to Miller through the success of her astonishing 2015 Duet for Cello and Orchestra, which sets an imperturbable two-note cello part against a series of increasingly dense orchestrations of an Italian folk melody; in 2019, it was selected by The Guardian as one of the ‘best classical music works of the 21st century’. Traveller Song / Thanksong, the first release of her music on vinyl, presents a pair of compositions for voice and ensemble that exemplify Miller’s gently absurd, strikingly beautiful, and utterly unique work.

Like many of Miller’s compositions, these pieces originate in existing music. Traveller Song (2016/2018) begins from a 1950s song of an anonymous Sicilian cart driver recorded by Alan Lomax and Diego Carpitella, which Miller recorded herself singing along to, going on to then record herself singing to her own layered voices. Miller’s untutored voice is an unsteady, wavering wail that has, in her words, ‘more in common with a quasi-shamanistic keening than anything Sicilian’. Heard sometimes alone, sometimes layered, her pre-recorded voice is accompanied by a chamber sextet drawn from London’s Plus-Minus Ensemble. In the first section, Miller’s exposed warble is set to a spare piano accompaniment, somehow both faintly preposterous and magisterial. Following the voice note for note, the piano part often makes use of almost mechanical sequences of parallel chords, reminiscent both of Satie’s Rosicrucian period and the abrupt harmonic movements of a chord organ. The orchestration then opens up to guitar, clarinet, and sliding strings, a delicate environment for Miller’s voice, which, especially when it begins to be layered, generates a powerful sense of intimacy. In its concluding minutes, the folk roots of the original melody return in the form of a glorious full ensemble setting dominated by accordion, clarinet, and strummed guitar. Thanksong begins from recordings of Miller singing along to the third movement of Beethoven’s late quartet in A minor (Op. 132), the ‘holy song of thanks’ the composer wrote to express his gratitude for (temporarily) recovering from illness. Recording herself singing along repeatedly to each of the individual parts of the quartet, Miller created an aural score where each member of the string quartet listens to their own part on headphones, playing by ear. Performed on this recording by Montreal's Quatuor Bozzini, with whom Miller has a decades-long relationship, they are joined by the British soprano Juliet Fraser, who sings material from the Beethoven quartet ‘as slowly and quietly as possible’. The atmosphere of the opening of Beethoven’s Dankgesang, of hushed reawakening and thoughtful reflection, is sustained throughout the fourteen minutes of Miller’s piece, building at points almost to sentimentality before the five individual parts again fall back into a gentle burble of unsynchronised melodic gestures. Like Traveller Song, here the use of the voice is a long way from the mannered performance of much contemporary music, reaching for a human and bodily presence more connected to the reality of the everyday, albeit suffused with wonder. Presented in a stylish sleeve adorned with photography by Lasse Marhaug and liner notes by Cassandra Miller, this is a key release from a major contemporary composer whose work challenges and dazzles in equal measure. .

Serious rare disco boogie from Chicago's D&E RECORDINGS main man DAVE MAZE. Vol 2 of the series containing more sought after exclusive remixes, finally getting a proper release via limited edition

Limited edition 7-inch red vinyl of Netflix' hit series Outer Banks Season 3's most iconic tracks including the now classic “Pogues Theme” composed by Fil Eisler. Available for pre-order now!

- Each record includes a download code for the release + 2 digital bonus tracks -

BlueBox is the first of its kind! The new colored series on Front Left by Elad Magdasi.

Elad is going back to his roots while trying something new. Keeping a balance between his serious and playful side, the release includes 4 DJ tools that are different yet embody Elad's sound in every way.

All the tracks are named by their position on the record, similar to the oldskool way, focusing on the music alone.

All BlueBox tracks were produced at the same time, on the same wave of inspiration, they compliment each other though being completely different.

Front Left Love.

"If you can imagine a love child between MAC DEMARCO and SPAR-KLEHORSE, then this would be what you're left with." - SO YOUNG MAGA-ZINE
Raised in North Queensland, Australia, Jarrod Mahon is not one to shy away from bold new endeavors. Once parting ways with his previous record label in 2019, Mahon chose to go fully independent, relocating to Berlin in 2019 (where he still resides), despite having no contacts at all in the country. What’s more, having recorded/performed under the pseudonym Emerson Snowe for over a decade - during which time he home-recorded five albums and 13 EP’s, toured with the likes of King Krule or Ariel Pink, played showcases SXSW and the Great Escape, the works - Mahon took that brave, most uncommercial decision to release under his own name and start almost totally anew.
“There was never really a concept to that name Emerson Snowe other than having some kind of separation from who I was as a person,” Mahon explains, “using a moniker gave me that confidence to push myself further mentally and to give myself some kind of a freedom”. And through the process of creating what would become his debut album, Mahon saw that he had outgrown the need for this protective persona. ‘Everything Has A Life’ was meant to be the debut Snowe album”, he admits, “but after I finished mixing it with Syd Kemp, co-producer I realized that I had actually grown a lot and was much more comfort-able with who I am and what my personal beliefs are.”
The choice of ‘Everything Has A Life’ as the album title, pulled from beauteous opening track ‘All I Know’, neatly summarizes this new outlook: moving on from ‘self-pity’ of the past-self by becoming present for the loved ones around you, improving understanding of one’s own self, via the wider world at large.
That track marks the first written during a lockdown stint in LA where Mahon wrote and recorded every day for 2 months, produced nigh on 250 demos and birthed the bulk of the record. It also brought Mahon back to his all-time favorite, Sufjan Stevens’ Ilinois and its blend of widescreen orchestral landscapes and more candid, naked acoustic-leaning variations - an important influence for the album's stylistic contrasts. Another key inspiration for the record too brought Mahon back to his roots - those full-bloom strains of his Mum’s Beloved Neil Diamond, an annual Christmas irritant to Mahon as a child, yet an artist he’s come to respect in adulthood. “Whatever the reason, with age I came to love the big show band sounds,” he says, “the idea of a performer on stage with a mas-sive orchestra with strings was amazing to me.”
With the help of producer Syd Kemp (Ulrika Spacek, Vanishing Twin), such grand designs could be met. - “When we first met, he asked me if I would like real strings on it. I said of course.” Enter Magda Mclean on violin (Caroline/the Umlauts), and Gamaliel Rendle Traynor on Cello (Sweat, Fat White Family), whose strings helped lift the record to romantic new heights.
He continues: “I said to Syd that the only thing I wanted to achieve with this rec-ord was that I wanted it to make me cry at one point. And we got there eventual-ly.” The final culmination of all these strands, ’Everything Has A Life’ is indeed a treasure trove of emotive riches. Locking into that bittersweet, quintessentially ‘pop’ combination of triumphant rhythms and confessional, stream-of-consciousness lyrics plucked straight from the heart, Mahon faces up to years of substance abuse with a series of gorgeous, blushing melodies: “I was using, I was drinking, I was lying to my friends, I was messing up again, I was hiding from myself”, he joyously chants on ‘The Growing’.
A banquet fit for an indie king, Everything Has A Life is loaded with psych-pop lusciousness (‘All I Know’) and anthemic glam fuzz (‘Death Of The Ladies Man’, ‘Deadstar’, or ‘Sonny is my Best Friend’); recalling that foundational Sufjan Ste-vens influence too with shambling flecks of country (‘Charly (Romantic Heart)’). There’s also those lo-fi crepitations of ‘My Man’ and ‘I can’t’ harking back home-recorded demos that lie at the core of Mahon’s creative process.

Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the first international reissue of Ayako Shinozaki's hard to find LP "Music Now For Harp" released in 1974 by Nippon Columbia. The LP was released on the label's cult "Master Sonic" series and features Shinozaki's harp soundscape on works by renowned composer Toru Takemitsu and Katsuhiro Tsubono. The highlight of the album is the spaced-out, ethereal 25-min ambient epic 'Heterodyne' featuring cult musician Takehisa Kosugi (Taj Mahal Travellers, Group Ongaku) on electric violin and sound waves. The album has been newly remastered by Nippon Columbia and is reissued here with its original artwork designed by legendary Japanese graphic designer Kohei Sugiura. It includes a 2 page insert with new liner notes by Alan Cummings.

Sophomore album from Delmer Darion featuring both the most accessible and ambitious music they’ve created yet. There are some compelling features from Kiran Leonard, Bingo Fury, Anna B Savage, Mabe Fratti and the second half of the album features spoken word from Morfydd Clark who was the lead actress in the new Lord of the Rings series on Amazon.

Released as part of the Acoustic Sounds Series celebrating 70 years of Contemporary Records, Shelly Manne & Friends “My Fair Lady” is the first album to ever consist of jazz versions of songs from just a single Broadway musical. First released in 1956 and recorded by legendary engineer Roy DuNann this new edition features ALL-ANALOGUE mastering from the original analog tapes by Bernie Grundman. The record is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at QRP and is presented in a tip-on jacket.

'Drummer Roy Haynes swings as the leader of this 1962 Impulse! session, featuring A-list jazzmen Roland Kirk (multiple instruments including stritch and nose flute!), Tommy Flanagan (piano) and Henry Grimes (bass). Verve’s Acoustic Sounds Series features transfers from analog tapes and remastered 180-gram vinyl in deluxe gatefold packaging.

Ladies & gentlemen,

We hereby bring forth a series of purified strains and upgraded weapons from a pulparallel world.

It all started with a circular piece of bronze 10” vinyl which, 3 years later, deserved to be recornditioned. Therefore, we’ve revisited said piece with the intention to bring levels of euphoria to yet another level. Cut and pressed on 12” vinyl for longer grooves and optimal DJ performability.

In other words, when PULPCORN001 is a star, PURECORN001 is a black hole.

Own at your own risk.

Fortunea Records continues its release schedule of 2023 with the 4th edition of their VA-series ‚Fortunea Cookies‘ to highlight the status quo in Austrian house music.

A band that is generating buzz in this country right now is Spitting Ibex. Their music is a mixture of funk and heavy rock, in the style of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Prince and Rage Against The Machine. Currently they are touring with their brand-new album ‚E.G.O.‘ through Europe and Peletronic had the honor to remix the title-track of their
previous record ‚Love Hate Fear Fate‘. In this ‚Disko Miks’ he transforms the song into a driving house weapon.

In 2021 Nick Hanzo released his ‚Candy Places‘ EP. And on this record was a memorable abstract lo-fi house track called ‚Saturn Nate’ that gets on FC4 a treatment by Klaus Benedek. In this new version he accelerates the speed and focuses even more on the aspect of space travel with the addition of sound fx, pads, pianos and a Italo disco-inspired baseline.

Of course this release has not only remixes of previous tracks, but also 2 originals!

The B-side features Dzc. again with her ‚Expressions‘ of night culture. Caution! This will catapult the crowd up to new heights. An energetic peak-time tune that delves deep into 90s house and trance sonic images.

And finally Markus Quittner returns from Linz and brought his ‚Game‘ to the table. A board full of bouncing dices, strong drum patterns and funky orchestrations. A pleasure for the ears.
Fortunea Cookies Vol. 4 will come out this summer on white limited vinyl. Don’t sleep on this!

Wildly creative East Anglian musician Carl Brown is welcomed to the Love Love fold with great excitement. Carl has been consistently doing his own thing in music for quite a while and it’s high time some more people heard his sound. So many great ideas and lush feels are packed within. And while the sound palette is often electronic the tracks are positively human in nature, incorporating a wide variety of styles - playful, clever and eccentric, full of melodic shenanigans and top notch musicianship.

Upfront we get two rip-roaring braindance epics in the forms of title track ‘Koto アシッド’ and 2nd track ‘747 الرياض কলকাতা’, before ’S.E.T Ad '87’ changes the pace completely, cleansing the auditory palate ahead of the 2nd half of the EP with a spacey 80s dream. The pace settles out on the flip-side after the frazzling breakneck openers, slippery tones pirouetting atop a gracefully chugging bass line in ‘FWP’. Following this proceeds an unorthodox sequence of musical notes that somehow induces a series of highly concentrated fist-clenching emotions. ‘747 Red Eye Return’ slows its parent track down to a near still pace, its meditative tones bearing down like oppressive heat, before the final track provides a slice of brilliant musical escapism.

Surprising to the last second and brain-tingling throughout, this EP captures a colourful morsel of Carl’s work and should leave a lasting taste of what is yet to come from this sonic tinkerer.

Toronto-based producer and DJ Ciel is renowned for a style of dancefloor material that’s as heady as it is visceral. The Xi’an-born artist’s ascendant profile has seen her cutting- edge and club-ready EPs released on UK labels Peach Discs and Coastal Haze, as well as Stateside imprints Spectral Sound and Mister Saturday Night.

As a member of the renowned collective Discwoman and the creator of femme-forward party Work in Progress Ciel’s thoughtful narratives are clear, running in parallel to the perception-altering sounds that are consistently woven deeply into her wide-ranging sets, beloved mixes and inventive collaborations. Now the Parallel Minds label co- founder is crystallising her imaginative and omnivorous sound with her !K7 Records debut, ORLANDO.

Written during her emergence from an uncharacteristic bout of writers’ block, the three original tracks of Orlando chart a return to the musical self, spurred along by a cinephile’s embrace of film, a love of classic literature, and a curiosity for the oddest corners of popular culture. “SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE” might share a name with the episodic series, but is rather a nuanced critique of the modern rite of union, moving through structured chapters, and mirroring the un-static nature of longtime love.Inspired by Virginia Woolf’s radical novel, and its superphysical protagonist, “ORLANDO” considers the cult literary figure who lived from the renaissance to the modern age, and embodies both sides of the sex binary.

The thrown sounds and aural illusions of “EL CALIFA” create the effect of a beckoning, beguiling psychedelic experience. To complete the EP, Ali Berger, Ciel’s recent collaborator on the Jacktone Records’ release Damn Skippy! repurposes the mind-bending flourishes of “El Califa” into a noodly and spacious deep house production, replete with pillowy, gauzy pads.

The Madlib Invazion Music Library Series Entry #3: Drummer and Producer J-Zone offers his take on The Ultimate Beats, Breaks and Funk. This is the next up in a series of music library releases, with future volumes produced by DJ Muggs, Karriem Riggins and more. The Madlib Invazion Music Library Series was created by Madlib and Egon to give their creative friends a chance to stretch out and indulge in whatever type of music they wanted. This music was created for easy, one-stop clearance in film and television synchronization usage and for sampling. You can also enjoy these albums in the way that many do with the best of the best vintage library catalogs – listen, ponder, repeat.

EXPANSION continues its series of 10' CLASSICS back to back with the coolest CONTEMPORARY takes of one awesome track. First off is the 70s masterpiece by master of the keyboards EDDIE RUSS, and a definitive jazz funk classic, never before released as a single, and originally from the rare 1976 LP 'See The Light', issued on CD by Soul Brother in 2008.

The newer version is by the UK's jazz funk and soul icons INCOGNITO. It's an especially recorded version that does not feature on any of their albums and has been extremely rare until this release on vinyl. Incognito have just celebrated 35 years in the business and are masters of the jazz funk vibe and this version keeps faithful to the original while being also the fresh and vibrant sound we love from the group.

Watch out for more releases in the 'back to back' 10' series which so far has featured classics are makes by Johnny Hammond and Norman Connors

ATA Records are proud to announce this new double A-side from The Sorcerers featuring, on the flip, the first release by The Outer Worlds Jazz Ensemble.

Exit Athens marks the start of a new era for The Sorcerers. Continuing their investigations of Ethio-Jazz and 60s and 70s European library music, the group is now formed around Joost Hendrickx (Kefaya, Shatner's Bassoon, Abstract Orchestra), Richard Ormrod (saxes, flute & keys) and ATA label head, bassist Neil Innes. Exit Athens features a driving funk engine room with exotic percussion, vintage keyboards, and the classic Addis Ababa combination of vibes, flute and horns. The aim is to double-down on previous album successes The Sorcerers and In Search of The Lost City of The Monkey God, expanding their tonal palette whilst tightening their focus, with the intention of producing multiple albums of solid analog cuts, every one of which will appeal equally to DJs and audiophiles alike.

On the AA side, Beg, Borrow, Play marks the debut of The Outer Worlds Jazz Ensemble. The first in an ongoing series of 45s and LP issues, each Outer Worlds release will feature the immaculate grooves of the hard-working, unsung sidemen of the Leeds Funk, Latin and Ethio/Afrobeat scenes. The Outer Worlds series was conceived to feature visiting soloists who have made a beeline to ATA in search of a specific setting for their material, and represents ATA's ambition to encompass the very best in contemporary jazz/club/rare groove/exotica sounds.

Beg, Borrow, Play kicks this off with ATA veteran Chip Wickham on baritone sax, and a slice of jazz exotica that owes as much to New Orleans Street Beat as to the Eastern moods of artists like Yusef Lateef and Ahmed Abdul-Malik. The result is loose and limber, with horns reminiscent of classic Art Ensemble of Chicago, and will appeal to fans of contemporary Afro-Futurist fusions

This is extremely special. Expansion have taken a 80s soul classic and released it for the first time as a single together with a brand new version. Its part of an exciting series of 10 singles combining two versions of an established soul and jazz tune.
The Tom Browne version was recorded in 1983, produced by Dave Grusin & Larry Rosen for GRP/Arista Records and features a sensational vocal by Carol Woods.
The never before issued brand new version by Diplomats Of Soul takes the song back to how it may have sounded if first recorded in the 70s with live bass and full rhythm section with horns. Incognito feature as musicians with a special guest vocal performance by the brilliant Imaani

AWEH is back to present Shukuma, the highly anticipated collaboration between label head Esa and South African Kwaito legend Kamazu from Soweto. This record, created between 2020 and 2022, is a testament to the power of musical synergy and South African cultural aweh-ness.

As part of Shukuma, the title track and the EP also lies the future Kwaito classic, Muntu. This dance floor banger not only showcases the creative prowess of Esa and Kamazu but also features a collaboration with Dirty Bungalow, adding a unique touch to the overall EP. Muntu has already been featured in the esteemed podcast series, The Invisible Hand.

To further enhance the experience, Esa has collaborated with talented artists Floating B_strd and Sanoy to create an exquisite art piece that perfectly captures the essence of Shukuma. The final artwork will be revealed on the official release day, adding an element of surprise and anticipation. This is a Kwaai Collab you don't want to miss.

You can't get Deeper if you're standing still. That's intentional, says the Chicago quartet's Nic Gohl. "Does it feel good when you're listening to this song? Does your body want to move with it?" These are the questions he asked himself as he and bandmates Shiraz Bhatti, Drew McBride, and Kevin Fairbairn were writing and recording Careful!, their third record and Sub Pop debut. "I wanted these to be interesting songs, but in a way where a two-year-old would vibe out to it," Gohl adds.

"It's pop music, basically." That "basically" qualifier is working pretty hard, as fans of 2020's Auto-Pain might suppose. On Careful!, they're not reimagining their sound so much as testing its limits. If you want to, you can hear echoes of David Bowie's Low in the snapping rhythm and gray-sky synths of "Tele," but you can also hear a bit of Auto-Pain in the nailed-in, stippling lines being spit out by Bhatti's drum programming and McBride's synthesizer.

"Fame" seems to stumble together and nearly fall apart, the dialed-up noise making the beat feel maniacal and a little invincible, the whole thing a series of short, snipped, autonomous gestures that are by now Deeper's trademark. "Build a Bridge" pushes in the opposite direction, using a prickly guitar line to launch into big, smeary art-pop, its emotional palette clear, well-defined, and easy to latch onto.

On "Sub," Gohl sings above and below the melody like Ian McCulloch, bellowing and wondering and ruminating and rounding into swaggering confidence that the band rises to meet. It's festival headliner music that still feels like it was written in a garage. That fraternal interdependence is near the center of Deeper's music. The musical and lyrical devotion to mutuality makes this restlessly curious, stylistically broad album feels like the most coherent portrait of who Deeper is. Or, as McBride ultimately frames it, "Careful! is about looking out for one another."

You can't get Deeper if you're standing still. That's intentional, says the Chicago quartet's Nic Gohl. "Does it feel good when you're listening to this song? Does your body want to move with it?" These are the questions he asked himself as he and bandmates Shiraz Bhatti, Drew McBride, and Kevin Fairbairn were writing and recording Careful!, their third record and Sub Pop debut. "I wanted these to be interesting songs, but in a way where a two-year-old would vibe out to it," Gohl adds.

"It's pop music, basically." That "basically" qualifier is working pretty hard, as fans of 2020's Auto-Pain might suppose. On Careful!, they're not reimagining their sound so much as testing its limits. If you want to, you can hear echoes of David Bowie's Low in the snapping rhythm and gray-sky synths of "Tele," but you can also hear a bit of Auto-Pain in the nailed-in, stippling lines being spit out by Bhatti's drum programming and McBride's synthesizer.

"Fame" seems to stumble together and nearly fall apart, the dialed-up noise making the beat feel maniacal and a little invincible, the whole thing a series of short, snipped, autonomous gestures that are by now Deeper's trademark. "Build a Bridge" pushes in the opposite direction, using a prickly guitar line to launch into big, smeary art-pop, its emotional palette clear, well-defined, and easy to latch onto.

On "Sub," Gohl sings above and below the melody like Ian McCulloch, bellowing and wondering and ruminating and rounding into swaggering confidence that the band rises to meet. It's festival headliner music that still feels like it was written in a garage. That fraternal interdependence is near the center of Deeper's music. The musical and lyrical devotion to mutuality makes this restlessly curious, stylistically broad album feels like the most coherent portrait of who Deeper is. Or, as McBride ultimately frames it, "Careful! is about looking out for one another."

To celebrate its fifteenth anniversary, Gondwana Records proudly announces a highly limited edition series of exclusive coloured vinyl pressings by label peers Matthew Halsall, Portico Quartet and Hania Rani plus newcomers Jasmine Myra and Svaneborg Kardyb and catalogue favourites from GoGo Penguin and Caoilfhionn Rose.

In the early seventies, Joey Gilmore embarked on his musical journey, captivating audiences with a series of unforgettable singles that showcased his raw talent and unique style. It wasn't until 1977 that the culmination of his musical endeavors arrived—the release of his highly anticipated debut record.

This debut album marked a pivotal moment in Joey Gilmore's career, solidifying his reputation as a self-taught guitar virtuoso and soulful singer. The record resonated with listeners, capturing the essence of his artistry and leaving an indelible impact.

Now, after a 45-year wait, the time has finally come for a vinyl reissue of Joey Gilmore's debut album. This reissue is a celebration of his timeless music, meticulously crafted to preserve the authenticity and integrity of the original recording. Every note, every lyric and the original design of the sleeve has been lovingly restored to transport you back to the magic of that era.

Get ready to immerse yourself in the unadulterated funk and soul of Joey Gilmore's music, as this remarkable reissue brings his debut album back to life. Allow the melodies and rhythms to envelop you, taking you on a captivating musical adventure that transcends time. Revisit the magic, rediscover the artistry, and let the music of Joey Gilmore captivate your soul once again.

Tbilisi based label Domain Records launch new, only vinyl series! Cobert, label’s dear friend and one of the best in game returns on Domain Records with his solo EP. Finally, we are happy to share 5 tracks that are perfect definition of “Mind and dancefloor music”. Dedicated to the childhood idol...

It's time to release the toys from the darkness and dive into the sound playground. "Midnight in a Toyshop" is a new Lo-Fi House project from an old hand in the electronic music business. He is launching an EP series called "Play". This will be available on vinyl and digital. All tracks are characterized by punchy, driving beats and a deep, warm, positive atmosphere. The use of 8 and 12 bit tools and tape recordings creates a nostalgic aesthetic that takes you back to a time when moments of lightheartedness and playful creativity flourished. Press play and enjoy the journey.

The first vinyl release from American artist Sydney Spann, Sending Up A Spiral Of well encapsulates Spann’s body of work thus far. On their music, which reacts to themes of family systems and care work, Sydney writes, “people who have done care work —nannies, sex workers, therapists, nurses— may possess their own musical knowledge, developed over time through particular modes of voicing practiced to achieve a desired outcome in their labor. Attending intimately to these ways of voicing and listening and bringing them into a sound practice could be a way to legitimize a less recognized kind of musical knowledge.”

Sending Up A Spiral Of explores this unarticulated expression through sound and song. The titular piece traces Spann within some quixotic woodland, as if beginning inside of some urban fairy-story. Self-soothing singing quivers under dragging branches, peeling cement and other tactile grit. The work drops into a new proximity half-way through as electronic contours overtake the environment. Sine-tones smolder in a pulsating choreography, perhaps reminiscent of Richard Maxfield’s “Night Music” played at half-speed.

The second section of the record depicts a series of five smaller portraits, expressed (or disguised) as lullabies. An oceanic humming permeates them. “Possession” and “Purposeful Evening” are the most song-like lullabies, with their verse-chorus repetition and melodic simplicity. Innocuous words “baby” and “honey” are encoded with deeper, often painful connotations. Sydney’s voice and vision for this album is ambitious, cloaked in the strains and contradictions of what love means in the nuclear family.

A 16-page artist pamphlet of rubbings, photographs and sheet music accompanies the LP, along with a digital PDF of Spann’s thesis “Sending Up A Spiral Of: A Musical Epistemology Made Through Care Work.”

She has made a fresh name for herself that extends beyond her band's legacy, establishing herself as a singular force in her own right. Nowhere is this more readily apparent than on Realms, Wilson's spirited sophomore studio album and her most ambitious effort to date. Once again working with Suny Lyons (with Sterling Campbell contributing drums and Maria Kindt on strings), Wilson invites her audience on an immersive, enchanting ten-track journey that peels back the layers of our common humanity. Realms demands our undivided attention as Wilson takes us on a kaleidoscopic journey through our own minds and souls.

Through a series of colorful, dramatic outpourings and dynamic, finessed upheavals, it's a carefully crafted record proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that Cindy Wilson continues to have her fingers on the pulse of modern music. Pop in style and indie at heart, Realms is the next new wave of Wilson's already storied legacy.

Kristin Hersh’s new album is a cinematic road trip; a series of personal vignettes from a fiercely independent auteur, sitting plush with layers of all-consuming strings and mellotron. It’s a watershed moment in a career overflowing with creative firsts and inspirational thinking; an elegant piece of personal reportage, a home movie caught in time. Previously, the juxtaposition of light and dark has been essential to the drama of Throwing Muses and 50FOOTWAVE, but this solo set is something of a departure; more inward looking, quieter but outspoken, underpinned by background noise for ambience and awkwardness. “Passion sounds less angry, more grateful, I think,” Kristin muses, “sweeter, sadder. And somehow, no less alive… over car engines and rain in New England and whistling ducks and wind chimes in New Orleans, it all sounds wistful to me.” ‘Clear Pond Road’ is a life-affirming statement, a further part of the jigsaw, a very personal memoir, from street signs to snapshots; a late blossoming and coming-of-age from a true icon of independence. The record is both intimate yet expansive, written largely within the confines of Hersh’s home, making the proceedings ever more personal. // “Few artists understand the intensity of living one’s art like Hersh” The Guardian // “A fearless rock innovator” New York Times

After 25 years of living his dream as one of hip hop’s most respected producers, Hi-Tek is digging back into his roots with a brand new trio of instrumental vinyl LPs in 2023. “Beatbox Studios (1995 MPC 60II)” is the first of the series, each featuring a selection of restored and remastered beats, carefully chosen from an archive of DAT tapes. These LPs manage to both provide a window into Tek’s development and to shine light on the work of an already enormously-talented musician whose beats would’ve sounded right at home on classic releases from the mid-1990s.

Having learned to make beats off of borrowed equipment as a teenager, the aspiring DJ/producer born as Tony Cottrell achieved a break of sorts when he was hired in 1995 to manage one of the rooms at Beatbox Studios, a sprawling complex in the Clifton neighborhood in Cincinnati. It became the go-to-spot in town for emerging talent, giving him a chance to learn about the intricacies of recording and to sharpen his communication skills with artists to maximize their performance The gig also gave Tek plenty of down time to practice on and to master the studio’s Akai MPC 60II while making his own music. It was around this time he began to collaborate with the top rap talent in Cincinnati, and he started regularly visiting New York City to plant seeds for new relationships in the industry.

Though his work eventually evolved far beyond the styles present on “Beatbox Studios,” here you’ll find many signature elements of that era’s contemporary New York sound: some snappy drums reminiscent of A Tribe Called Quest or Easy Mo Bee, plenty of horn stabs a la Pete Rock or Lord Finesse, and the kind of dark pianos and filtered bass lines that producers like the Beatminerz were steadily employing. These were his biggest influences at the time, and that was the sound of 1995. As it turns out, that classic sound remains in demand today, and while Hi-Tek was not a well-known name in hip hop circles at that time, the calibre of beats on “Beatbox Studios” prove that he was a talent to be reckoned with, even then.

Eight years after its original release in 2015, and sold out upon release, Umor Rex finally presents a vinyl repress of Sirens, by Kara-Lis Coverdale and LXV. This new edition is limited to 500 copies and comes with revised artwork.

Inspired by the link between seduction and violence, Sirens comprises a series of timbrally vast anamorphic pieces that poise the voice as a newly imagined tool of multiplicity. Processes of sample manipulation, signal processing, routing, and source design inform instrumental writing and performance in feedback until intertwined, flickering between states of conflict and consonance. Apparitions of the schizophrenic voice are at one moment fractured and cold and at the next full of warmth and vivaciousness, embodying velvet rituals of romanticism in the digital age.

Ultimately, Sirens is music for ambitious dreamers: surreal sound portraits sound like the warmth of the world laid over an ice cold virtual altar. LXV’s vocal truncations and fleshy sound palettes depict the archivation of the breath and aural fantasies of the flesh which Coverdale sets amongst a vast and unconfined landscape of deeper and unknown force. Harmonically active and dynamic orchestrations underpin post-sacred tonalities while brooding pipe organs, sphinx flutes, and hailstorms of metallic percussion characterize uniquely disjointed discussions between disparate compositional ontologies. At times violent and at others serenely peaceful and seductive, these pieces, at their most powerful moments illuminate a felt space between cybernetic energy and the body.

Composed and recorded by Kara-Lis Coverdale and David Sutton. Mastered by John Tejada. Cover photograph by Cody Cobb. Layout by Daniel Castrejón.

Minor Science—aka UK-born, Berlin-based musician Angus Finlayson—makes his Balmat debut with Absent Friends Vol. III, the third installment in a shape-shifting series across a variety of formats and platforms. And with it, he pushes forward his vision of ambient music as neither static vista or merely mood-setting atmosphere, but rather a dynamic matrix of textures, sensations, and even rhythms.

The first two Absent Friends—a 2014 set for Blowing Up the Workshop, and a 2017 cassette and web player for Whities (now AD93)—were hybrid affairs, part DJ mix and part collage, mostly featuring music made by other people. Then, in 2020-21, Finlayson developed the project into a live show of his own material. Armed with hundreds of bespoke stems created in his studio—idiosyncratic FX chains, feedback loops through cheap rack gear, heavily post-processed field recordings, found voices, etc.—he would improvise on four CDJs, mixer, FX, and live synths, extending techniques he learned as a club DJ into a live context, accompanied by visuals by Stockholm-based artist Paul Witherden.

Absent Friends Vol. III is an album of studio versions of the music developed for the live show. But in Minor Science’s world, even a category as simple as “studio versions” is slightly opaque. “Most of these tracks weren’t ‘composed’ in the studio,” Finlayson explains: “The sounds started out as stems and source material for the live show, and might not have been intended to go together—but then through performance, they settled into shapes that worked. I then recreated those performances in the studio.” That organic process of ideation and realization might help explain the unusual coherence of the album, in which sounds and textures flow seamlessly from one to the next, sometimes seeming to stand still, and sometimes looping back. There are virtually no melodies, few recognizable motifs or riffs, yet the eight-track album nevertheless moves with a distinctive logic and a determined sense of purpose, from the frozen-in-time shimmer of the opening “Introduction” through the early cuts’ studies of space and light; from the seemingly autobiographical “Summer Diary” through the rushing trance (yes, trance) arpeggios of “Contingency” and on to the dulcet denouement of the closing “Gather Your Party (Dispersed Mix).”

Here comes Emotional Rescue and Konduko's last in their series of Noel Williams/King Sporty reissues, this time looking at later electro productions and the hip-hop/boogie influenced 'Sun Country'. Vocals and co-production come from Williams' long-time partner Betty Wright and as well as a vocal and instrumental mix there's a longform remix by Bay Area disco dub stalwarts, 40 Thieves.

By this point in his career, the godfather of Miami Bass had travelled a long way from his Jamaican roots in reggae and soul, paying homage to the warm climbs of the Sunshine State and laying down a much copied template using the TR-808 drum machine create the electronic emulations of the breakbeat, claps accenting the backbeat and trademark low frequencies shaking the floorboards. The instrumental stretches the arrangement, emphasising the interplay between electronics, bass, vocal samples, scratching and fx, the voice transformed into a percussive element in its own right. The flip sees 40 Thieves flexing their understated understanding of electro funk, making for a rounded, generation-jumping package.

Fledgling but already well-formed French label Endangered Musique mints a new series here, Easy Trax Part 1, with four 90s-tinged house cuts. The Sexy Mix of Higher Level's 'Sax Maniac' opens up with loopy sax lines and throwback drums in a tune that is easy to love. There is a more sweaty, New Jersey style to Native Groove's pumping and dubby 'I Need A Man' before Side Kick's 'I Got The Hots' comes in two forms. The Hot dub loops a recognisable melodic pattern over chunky but deep drums and the Hot mix layers up bright, neon-hued chord stabs over an unresolved groove.

Warehouse find!


Rrose and Silent Servant team up to select for this ongoing leftfield compilation series.

Featuring unreleased tracks from underground talent including Anthony Child (Surgeon), Ron Morelli, Laurel Halo, Octo Octa, Phase Fatale, Function, as well as Rrose and Silent Servant and legends Laetitia Sonami and Charlemagne Palestine.

This release heralds the launch of a new 7” series from Mr Bongo. In partnership with London-based DJ and digger, Miche, the series will feature his latest discoveries, as well as choice cuts, taken from his 'With Love' compilations. For the inaugural offering, we take a trip to hazy San Francisco, California, in 1977. Smoke, Inc. were an emerging band in the Greater San Francisco Bay area and a regular fixture in the buzzing live music scene. They had a strong following and were in rotation in most of the Bay area clubs, as well as opening for numerous prestigious acts such as Sly & The Family Stone, Taj Mahal, The Pointer Sisters and Toots and The Maytals. Members of the group worked with Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder, Frank Zappa, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, and many others considered the cream of the crop of the music world.

Smoke, Inc. featured Roy Schmall on keyboards and vocals, Stan Terry on lead vocals and harmonica, Michael 'Ollie' Schotka, on bass and vocals, Keith Stafford on drums and vocals, and Archie Williams Jr on guitar. They went on to release one 12" EP and two 7" singles. One of those 7’s included 'Waitin' For Love’. It was first released in 1977 and came out on the band's own self-titled imprint. It has gone on to become their rarest and most sought-after recording, now fetching up to an astonishing £2,500 on Discogs. It is a breezy, feel-good, modern/crossover soul beauty, with an infectious sing-along chorus, floaty flute solo, and packed with pure, uplifting dancefloor energy. The B-side features a cover version of the Holland Dozier & Holland-penned classic 'It's the Same Old Song’, made famous by the Four Tops.

Miche enthuses, “I included this gem on my first ‘With Love’ compilation and knew that it deserved its own dedicated reissue complete with original artwork. I’m delighted to get the chance to make that happen for this incredible, soulful AOR glide from a band that is well due another round of appreciation. It’s very rare, and consequently very expensive, so here it is for you all to spin and add to your record collections.”

46 years since its original release, it is our privilege to help Roy and the gang’s light shine once again and let a whole new audience relish the beautiful sounds of 'Waitin' For Love'.

Paul Hillery's third compilation in this series of rare and hard to find grooves is as much a geographical journey as it is a musical one. With acts, artists and tracks linked to London, Florida, Atlanta, the Netherlands, Switzerland, California, India and Germany and more this compilation is very much proof of the global language that is music. With many of the recordings only previously existing on sold out and obscure private pressings and small runs on indie labels this collection of tracks really is a must have. Complementing the previous two albums curated by Paul Hillery we really do get to see and hear the history of studio recordings from a plethora of touring and travelling troubadours, jobbing composers and song-writers, session musicians, producers and engineers. Again, as with the previous two volumes in the 'Children of the Sun' series, this is an eclectic gathering of styles and genres that have been curated into an accessible fusion of Jazz, Rock, AOR and Folk tinged grooves that all have soul. With many tracks getting a first time digital release this 3 LP album sits nicely alongside the previous albums in the series and rates as an essential compilation for any serious lover and collector of music. In Paul Hillery's words: "Let us gather one more time on another journey through the rhythmic sands of time, traversing continents and genres one track at a time. Taking in joyful places and wide-open spaces while dropping out to the musical pulse that unites us all An album to remind us that we are all made of stardust with more to connect than drive us apart, for . . . We Are The Children of the Setting Sun"

Der Soundtrack zu Star Trek: Picard Staffel 3 in limtierter Auflage als Doppel-LP auf Sky Blue w. White Burst Vinyl mit Gatefold-Hülle und Inserts

Die Vertonung des Spiels durch den preisgekrönten britischen Komponisten Stephen Barton (Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Titanfall, 12 Monkeys, Apex: Legends) und dem deutschen Emmy-Gewinner Frederik Wiedmann (All Hail King Julien, Green Lantern: The Animated Series, Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, Son of Batman, Justice League: Thron von Atlantis und Justice League: Gods and Monsters) Barton verfügt über einen umfangreichen Erfahrungsschatz als Produzent, Dirigent, Musikarrangeur und Programmierer bei der Komposition von Musik für verschiedene Videospiele. Er gilt auch als Experte für das aufstrebende Gebiet der räumlichen und immersiven Audiotechnik. Wiedmann war ein wichtiger Bestandteil des DC-Filmuniversums, beginnend mit seiner Arbeit an Green Lantern - The Animated Series, der seine Arbeit an Green Lantern folgte (für die er zwei aufeinanderfolgende Annie-Nominierungen erhielt). Dies führte zu großartigen DC-Projekten wie Justice League - The Flashpoint Paradox, Son of Batman, Justice League - Throne of Atlantis, Justice League - Gods and Monsters.

Perc Trax's Forever series returns with another forward facing selection of Perc Trax regulars and artists that are new to the label. Now in its fourth edition this time Tham, Perc, Tassid and Dahryl serve up a varied mix of tracks from across the techno
spectrum.

Opening up the release is Tassid, who returns to the label after his recent festival wrecking remix of Perc's own 'Resistor' and his continued work for Stay Up Forever and his own Skuxx imprint. Here he gives us 'Quantum Entanglement', taking dance floors on a twisting psychedelic journey built on a classic rock solid Tassid warehouse foundation.

Closing the A-side is label boss man Perc, returning to the Forever series after this Dirt release for Perc Trax and his Wave Cannon EP for Scalameriya's new Void+1 label. 'Fireball XTC' hits you with a swarm of jabbing vocal shouts pushed forward by rolling percussion rhythms for a typically epic Perc work out. Flip over the vinyl and Synoid cofounder and Driller label head Tham makes his Perc Trax debut with 'Put The Screws On' showcasing a fusion of modern Berlin techno and classic electro synth sounds.

Last up is Elements & Green Fetish producer Dahryl closes the vinyl with 'Just Do It' a grinding slab of main room techno featuring the biggest drop of the release which has been in Perc's sets for months now.

Cursed to ride forever on this mortal plane after partaking in a satanic drug ritual, the Death Wheelers pledge allegiance to the god of hell and fire. However, in order to prove themselves to their newly anointed leader and for the spell to take effect, the club Will need to engage in a series of lewd acts of sex and violence across the country.Immortality comes at a price and you’re about to pay for it… The beating heart of The Death Wheelers is a rumbling engine. Since their self-titled debut in 2015 and in 2020’s cinematic-storytelling breakout, Divine Filth, the Canadian outfit have tapped into wind-through-hair freedom and careened down open roads of groove, not a cop in sight. Their third record, Chaos and the Art of Motorcycle Madness, more than lives up to its name on all fronts. With songs like “Morbid Bails” and “Lucifer’s Bend,” the in-the-know references abound, and The Death Wheelers draw from classic underground metal, scummer heavy rock and cast themselves into a cauldron of cultish biker devil worship, reveling in any and all post-apocalyptic dystopias with genuine glee at having just seen the world eat itself. You might hear some surf guitar. Crazy things can happen. A sample in “Triple D (Dead, Drunk and Depraved)” underscores the message: “We want to be free to ride our machines without being hassled by the man. And we want to get loaded.” That line, from Roger Corman’s 1966 film The Wild Angels, serves as a mission statement, and as “Lucifer’s Bend” starts by laughing about how you can’t get away from Satan, they might as well carve it into their forearms to be ready when the blast of distortion hits, as much Entombed as Motörhead, galloping and sinister, coated in road dust and blood. The band tells the story like this: “Cursed to ride forever on this mortal plane after partaking in a satanic drug ritual, the Death Wheelers pledge allegiance to the god of hell and fire. However, in order to prove themselves to their newly anointed leader and for the spell to take effect, the club will need to engage in a series of lewd acts of sex and violence across the country. Immortality comes at a price and you’re about to pay for it…” While forging songs adherent more to ideology than style, The Death Wheelers cast their biker cult in their own image, and on Chaos and the Art of Motorcycle Madness, they challenge death head-on as only those with no fear of it could hope to do.

In 2020, electronic musician Nina Pixel was offered a track on a compilation album of songs from the Liptov region. What started as a rearrangement of a single folk song eventually grew in scope and size, eventually becoming a series of releases. Titled Ancestral Archaeology, the series counts two self-released EPs, an audiovisual show in co-operation with Adrián Kriška, and now, after two years, a double LP published by Weltschmerzen. In this definitive form of an album, Ancestral Archaeology reveals itself as a musical reimagination of traditional historical Slovak culture at large.

Nina Pixel averts the perils of lapsing into inauthentic fakelore by building her music with, rather than on, the ethnographic riches of Slovakia. With the eagerness of a genuine archeological prospector, Ancestral Archaeology invokes the always present but seldom perceived linchpins of folklore culture: the desperate clinging to the memory of pre-Christian paganism and witchcraft, songs with narratives of beautiful innate wyrdness that is utterly unfit for mass culture, and superstition as the most serious longing for the balance between sense and irrationality.

If we acknowledge the truism of folklore as the shared way of expression in rural society, the techno music on Ancestral Archeology proposes that, in the urban society of ours, this role is served by raves. The argument isn't as much declared as it's implied // in music and in the spoken-word lyrics that are rife with historical and contemporary sources. An 18th-century recipe by the writer and priest Juraj Fándly proposes snorting the grounded flowers of the medicinal weed Valerian as a way of curing bad vision. "It is a proven remedy!" we are repeatedly assured, and it's not hard imagining Fándly and his parishioners, strung out on Valerian, moving almost involuntarily to the rhythms of their era just as we can move to Ancestral Archeology.

Nina Pixel is a Slovak music artist based in Berlin. Lyrics are inspired by Slovak folklore traditions, songs and shared beliefs.



Manifestation tools: cello, overtone flute koncovka, fujara, gong, metal bowls, sheep bell, field recordings of Slovak forests, Andreas's tom and various drum machines.