Julia Cumming’s solo debut Julia opens with an unadorned declaration of independence: her voice and a piano uniting for a liberating proclamation of self that rejects doubt, misogyny, and the notion of being “too much.” Julia unlocks a creative door years in the making for the New York–born multi-instrumentalist and Sunflower Bean bassist, culminating after nearly two decades of bands, releases, labels, and relentless touring. As Sunflower Bean’s Headful of Sugar era ended in 2023, Cumming decamped to Los Angeles, where a two-year, deeply healing collaboration with producer Brian Robert Jones — her “second artistic puberty” — took shape. Drawing freely from formative influences: Burt Bacharach, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, and Brian Wilson. Julia emerges as a joyful, anti-cool coming-out: a celebration of the dorks, the misfits, and the enduring truth of being enough.
Cerca:k si
In discotheques and dark rooms across Europe, Boys’ Shorts have earned the trust of the queer and wider clubbing communities as generous stewards of a timeless sound that, like themselves, never stops moving forward. The duo of Vangelis and Tareq initially met at an underground club in their native Greece. Sensing a rare sonic connection, the pair became friends, forming Boys’ Shorts to meet again and again, travelling from their adopted cities of Thessaloniki and London to appear as far afield as Berlin’s Panorama Bar and New York’s Le Bain, as well as supporting Goldfrapp and Hot Chip on tour. Their motivation? In their own words, “we make people dance!”
Following years of gradual, thoughtful studio sessions, and EP releases on tastemaking electronic labels including Phantasy Sound and Live At Robert Johnson, Boys’ Shorts establish their own imprint, ALL SORTS, in order to deliver a fantastically ambitious debut album, ‘What Does It Take To Make These Men Happy?’
The LP opens with the grandiose, cosmic vista of ‘The Space Between Us’, a classic passage of strings and synthesis, before the shared Boys’ Shorts vision falls back to earthier territory with deep groove of ‘Let’s Fall In Love’, mixing universal sentiment with a patient vision of human potential and the voice of Greek electronic pioneer, K.BHTA. ‘Come’ aligns with NYC’s Michael Cignarale, offering an excitable invitation to the mind and body sculpted by the way of a throbbing, warehouse-sized statement of nineties house sensuality. Channeling heroes Lowe and Tennant at their most introspective, ‘Short Life’ maintains the dance, yet dares to ask, “what if the parties aren’t enough anymore… Can you ask for something more?”
Out of the pet shop and straight into the strobe lights, ‘Disco Romantica’ makes true on the promise of its title, a lovelorn monologue giving way and slipping into rave stabs and whirring synthesis that looks forward to a memorable, emotionally-charged night ahead. Underpinning this feeling of anticipation, ‘Going Out Hoping To See You’ introduces the voice of Justin Strauss to Boys’ Shorts' musical world. A certified icon of club culture, spinning from The Mudd Club to modern day DJ booths, Strauss’s generation spanning experience of nightlife leans into the fundamentals of human connection and the pleasure of musical discovery, wrapped in irresistible chug.
Another transformative figure in club music, Fischerspooner’s own Casey Spooner dips into French for the Motorik cyber sleaze of ‘MECANIMAUX’, their own vocals pitching up and down with playful EBM abandon. ‘Montage’ offers a different kind of composition, conjuring an ecstatic club banger that finds inspiration in nineties indie rock motifs alongside the rave scene, while ‘Run’ promises to blow out sound systems before its weighty electro bassline succumbs to waves of glistening synths.
Such bombast into beauty perfectly sets up the record’s blissful conclusion; ‘The Stars Are Out For You’ is electro-pop so delicate as to heal aching feet (and mend broken hearts), while offering the final tender moments of the album as a form of tribute on ‘Untitled (For Mitsi)’. It’s a thoughtful ending to a thrilling trip through a shared passion for electronic and pop music in all its glorious potential. What does it take to make these men happy? It’s a pleasure to find out.
- A1: Intro 6.1
- A2: Phase 2
- A3: Trns
- B1: Blurred
- B2: Aquarius
- B3: Durability
- C1: Rain 1
- C2: Syndrome
- D1: Fractal
- D2: Defect
Following two 12-inch singles released via the self-run label Plastic & Sounds, which launched unexpectedly this past July, the culmination of their work to date—the album Silent Way, comprising ten tracks—will be released on 27th March as a coloured vinyl 2LP (gatefold sleeve/33RPM/limited press) and digitally.
Mastering and record cutting by Rashad Becker in Berlin. The artwork centres on photographer Yusuke Yamatani's work, with Satoshi Suzuki—who handles all P&S releases—constructing the overall aesthetic.
Last October, they appeared on Resident Advisor's popular series “RA Podcast”, with audio from their world premiere live performance in April 2023 released. They held the “Plastic & Sounds” label launch party at Shibuya. In January 2026, they performed a live set of their acclaimed album “Haet” at the venue's New Year's party.
This release comes amidst growing international acclaim, with their previous album ‘Discipline’ featured in Pitchfork's ‘The 30 Best Electronic Albums of 2025’, and one of their signature tracks, ‘Butterfly Effect’, selected for RA (Resident Advisor)'s ‘The Best Electronic Tracks of 2000-25’.
Especial welcomes the return of Akio Nagase, Osaka's own 303 specialist, with a second EP of acid infused world music. After the success of his Asia orientated EP, here his ethno-inspired dance comes to and from Africa, the mother.
With a history of making reggae influenced electronics under the Makedub alias, his development to acid master continues to showcase a skill at fusing samples, effects and found sound in a dub-desk mix that is body moving and catchy at the same time.
With a mission to bring the music of the world closer, Acid Maasai Collecthiv sets the scene with TB 303 weaving around dub heavy bass, crossing the Athi river, seeking spirits to bind. Countries and continents are tribes and with a reopening world, the dance can encompass all; open minds to bring unity.
This is exemplified on the ethereal Morisyen Acid. Sound design, Mauritian samples and creole vibrate perfectly with Akio's acid work and simple but effective "predominately" repetitive beats to uplift like the Tamarind sunrise.
Acid mantra as mind-gateway continues with Serengeti Summer. An heir to Whoktish, this is Not Reggae, the 808 and 303 in harmony; a jam of man, machine and samples to bring today's ethno-blue storytelling through consciousness.
Closing is Jua, interweaving the fabric of life, passing down from generations the primal with the psychedelic beat to communal gathering, Akio presents the music with love and respect.
- A1: Assra & Part 1
- A2: Assra Hulet
- A3: Secret Sunset
- A4: Morning Shift
- A5: Assra Sost
- A6: Assra Arat
- A7: Trip To Cairo
- A8: Assra Amist
- B1: Broken Hearts
- B2: High Hopes
- B3: The Silence That Lasts
- B4: Shattered Dreams
- B5: Never Gonna Leave
- B6: I Fell For Fall
- B7: Moving Air
- 1: Gravity
- 2: What Was I Made For?
- 3: One Bright Star
- 4: That Pleasure
- 5: From The Floorboards Up
- 6: Woo Sé Mama
- 1: Pieces Of A Dream
- 2: Time Of The Season
- 3: That Dangerous Age
- 4: Start!
- 5: Shout To The Top
- 6: Going My Way
- 1: Rise Up Singing
- 2: No Tears To Cry
- 3: Flying Fish
- 4: Wake Up The Nation
- 5: Village
- 6: The Cranes Are Back
- 1: Fat Pop
- 2: Dragonfly
- 3: Around The Lake
- 4: Foot Of The Mountain
- 5: Have You Made Up Your Mind
- 6: The Attic
- 3: Sea Spray
- 4: Days
- 5: Say You Don’t Mind
- 1: I Woke Up
- 2: Burn Out
- 3: Long Time
- 4: These City Streets
- 5: Wild Wood
- 1: Rip The Pages Up
- 2: Cosmic Fringes
Paul Weller releases Weller At The BBC (Vol.2) on Friday 24th April.
This second BBC outing gathers live session and live in concert performances, including intimate stripped back acoustic versions and re-workings of tracks across The Jam, The Style Council and Paul’s extensive solo career.
From timeless classics such as Start!, Shout To The Top and Wild Wood, to deep cuts and covers, like The Zombies’ Time Of The Season and Billie Eilish’s What Was I Made For?
The album also features some beautifully orchestrated tracks with the London Metropolitan Orchestra, arranged and conducted by Hannah Peel, including Aspects, Boy About Town and Have You Ever Had It Blue.
Fast-rising pianist and producer Yoni Mayraz presents his debut LP ‘Dybbuk Tse!’ revealing the story of a malicious possession that is taking over one’s body and soul.
Dybbuk, known from Jewish folklore, is a malevolent wandering spirit that enters and possesses the body of a living person. It’s a cursed soul of a dead one that wanders tirelessly for sins committed during their life. The most vulnerable victims are the young and the sinful. Possession can be taken literally or as an analogy to the burden that young people carry generations back, which they have no influence on, and which they have to accept. Dybbuk can only be removed by exorcism. The titular ‘Dybbuk Tse!’ is a command to remove the spirit from the possessed body. The album is a story about possession but also about exorcism through music.
Recorded live with his band over the course of a spring week last year, ‘Dybbuk Tse!’ is indeed experimenting with the ‘darker side of things’, but yet with a somewhat lighthearted approach which is so typical of Yoni’s work. He easily combines jazz with the sound of 90’s New York hip hop and raw old school breakbeat. The album interweaves unique Middle Eastern melodies, sophisticated structures and sounds, and beautifully crafted solos played by some of the promising talents on the scene.
London based Israeli born pianist and producer Yoni Mayraz has set foot in the instrumental music scene with his EP ‘Rough Cuts’ released in 2020. Since then, Yoni and his band have been playing major venues and festivals around the world including the legendary Ronnie Scott’s and The Jazz Cafe, to name a few, bringing raw energy to stage with live versions of the studio materials, and stretching the melodies and structures into a Dancefloor-focused take on jazz.
KIZZY is the breakthrough EP from rising East London artist Bel Cobain, one of the most distinctive new voices emerging from the UK alternative R&B and soul landscape. Written across 18 months of late-night ideas, scattered sessions, and quiet breakthroughs, the project captures an artist in motion. Following a string of singles that introduced her raw lyricism, KIZZY marks a confident step forward with intimate, sharp, and melodically rich songs that sit in the space between endings and new beginnings.
Across these six tracks, Bel moves with striking emotional honesty through a rich palette that encompasses rock’s bite, jazz’s looseness, R&B warmth, hip hop rhythm, folk intimacy, and fractured breaks. She blends conversational storytelling with her distinct smoky vocals, reflecting on change, learning to let go, and finding light in the aftermath. The EP invites the listener to listen closely to the cracks, the softness, and the pulse of the beauty that still rises when a chapter turns.
Bel Cobain is fast becoming known for her ability to connect deeply with audiences, pairing classic songwriting instincts with a contemporary sonic edge. Early support has come from tastemaker radio and press, with momentum building across streaming platforms as listeners discover her unique perspective on vulnerability and self-awareness. Released as Brownswood Recordings celebrates its 20th year, KIZZY continues the label’s tradition of championing the most singular artists.
Marking a significant milestone in her career, this release is Bel Cobain's first-ever record. It is presented as a Collector's Edition Limited Edition 1xLP gatefold vinyl, pressed on Terracotta colored wax. With short-form video campaigns, targeted digital marketing, radio support, and a growing live presence, this release positions Bel Cobain as one of the UK’s most compelling new artists for 2026.
- 1: Empty Shell
- 2: Pet Cemetery
- 3: Spirit Of The Unknown
- 4: The Cure
- 5: Mirror Mirror
- 6: Cosmic Ride
- 7: The Universe Was Our Mother
- 8: With A Love So Kind
- 9: Pictures On My Wall
- 10: Goodbye Baby Blue
Angelo De Augustine kehrt mit ,Angel in Plainclothes" zurück, seinem fünften Album und bisher inspiriertesten Werk - eine tief empfundene Darstellung seiner mehrjährigen Reise der Heilung und Erneuerung. Das Album präsentiert De Augustines kraftvolle Melodien und ergreifende Texte in Titeln wie der eindringlichen Elegie ,Empty Shell", dem hoffnungsvollen ,Spirit of the Unknown" und dem herausragenden psychedelischen Country-Stück ,Mirror Mirror". Die Themen befassen sich mit der Zerbrechlichkeit des Lebens, zweiten Chancen und dem Wiederaufbauen seines Lebens, nachdem eine nicht diagnostizierte Krankheit ihn zwang, grundlegende Fähigkeiten neu zu erlernen: ,Ich versuche herauszufinden, wer ich jetzt bin", sagt De Augustine. ,Ich habe das Gefühl, dass mir eine zweite Chance im Leben gegeben wurde, und ich möchte sie leben." Das Album wurde vom Künstler in seinem Aufnahmestudio ,A Secret Place" in Südkalifornien geschrieben, aufgenommen, arrangiert, produziert und gemischt. Es ist das erste Mal seit Jahren, dass er wieder mit anderen Künstlern zusammengearbeitet hat, darunter der Streicharrangeur Oliver Hill (Kevin Morby, Helado Negro), den Harfenisten Leng Bian, die Backgroundsängerin/Percussionistin Wendy Fraser, den Produzenten Thomas Bartlett (der De Augustines ,Tomb" sowie St. Vincent und Bebel Gilberto produziert hat) und den Co-Produzenten Jonathan Wilson (Angel Oisen, Father John Misty) bei ,The Cure". Das Ergebnis ist ein kraftvolles Statement der Hoffnung: ,Eine der größten Hilfen, die mich am Leben gehalten haben, waren die Menschen in meinem Leben, die mir gesagt haben, dass letztendlich alles gut werden würde. Ich hoffe, dass diese Songs die gleiche Wirkung auf die Menschen da draußen haben und ihnen helfen zu erkennen, dass Wunder möglich sind."
- A1: Prince Fatty Rockers Remix
- B1: Prince Fatty Rockers Dub
Wah Wah 45s are very excited to announce a brand new remixes from dub donPrince Fattyfor beloved Afro-reggae outfitSoothsayers.
Love Is Still The Answeris a beautifully uplifting song, written and sung by long time Soothsayers member and collaboratorJulia Bielabout the eternal power of love and its ability to overcome hate. It appears in its original incarnation on the band's recent, critically acclaimed album,Fly Higher.
Mike Pelaconi, AKA Prince Fatty has been part of the Wah Wah 45s and Soothsayers extended family for many years, and here he delivers a typically crowd pleasing mix, in both vocal and dub form, from the world of Rockers Reggae, calling legendary reggae drummerHorsemaninto the studio, and crafting a lush rocksteady remix with a new horn arrangement and stripped back instrumentation.
"In a world that feels more divided and chaotic than ever,Love Is Still the Answer is a reminder that real change can still come from within. We may feel powerless in the face of global turmoil, but when we choose love - actively, consistently, even in tough situations - we reclaim strength for ourselves. This song calls us back to our shared humanity, to the energy that connects us all. It's an invitation to tune into what really matters, and to rediscover beauty where we may have forgotten to seek it." Robin Hopcraft (Soothsayers)
a A1: Prince Fatty Rockers Remix [feat. Julia B.]
[a] A1: Prince Fatty Rockers Remix [feat. Julia B.]
- A1: Water Of Life (Spiritual Mix) - Maajo & Maajo Soundsystem07:18
- A2: Kulikaalak (Exhaling Mountain Mix) - Maajo & Maajo Soundsystem06:33
- B1: Arp Compagnement - Maajo & Maajo Soundsystem07:22
- B2: Better Days (Sunday Dub) - Maajo & Maajo Soundsystem06:05
This 12" introduces Maajo Soundsystem, the electronic, dancefloor-focused sub-project of Maajo, presenting stripped-down, club-ready versions of their 2022 album 'Water of Life' that go beyond standard remixes through newly recorded balafons, percussion, and vocals from Senegalese artist Ismaila Sané and Mauritian vocalist/drummer Gilbert K. Sané began his career in the 1970s as a percussionist and African ballet dancer before relocating to Finland in 1999, later becoming the first emigrant to receive the country's Citizen of the Year award. While Maajo tours as a six-piece live band, Maajo Soundsystem offers a flexible electronic configuration that retains live vocals and percussion. The group has released multiple LPs and EPs on Queen Nanny and Permanent Vacation, scored the silent film Lost World, received remixes from Luke Vibert and Call Super, and toured internationally, with strong radio and press support from BBC Radio 6, Worldwide FM, KEXP, Resident Advisor, WFMU, and more.
Walter G & Jay Caruso deliver a warm, groove-led Soulful Disco version of “From East To West”, built for DJ’s who appreciate real disco dynamics. Rolling basslines, bright piano chords and lush strings wrap around an emotive vocal, creating a timeless club-ready moment that bridges classic 70s soul-disco with modern dancefloor aesthetics. Ben Liebrand delivers a classic 12-inch reconstruction rather than a modern nu-disco vibe. It leans into Ben Liebrand’s signature extended format philosophy, letting the groove breathe. His is a rhythm-first reconstruction with crisp percussion, dynamic low-end and long instrumental sections. The vocal sits naturally within the groove, while the arrangement allows DJs space to build, ride and transition with ease. Less modern sheen, more heritage authority, a purist disco tool with timeless floor appeal.
On 27 March, fabric Originals presents Shō, a five track EP of introspective, transcendent electronics from Japanese techno icon DJ Nobu. Inspired by the Buddhist Brahmavihāras - joy, compassion, loving-kindness and equanimity - Shō unfolds as a meditative, emotional journey rooted in Nobu’s experiences of Tokyo, mindfulness and inner clarity. From kinetic renewal to serene minimalism, the EP channels presence, acceptance and the simple truth that breathing itself is living.
Each track on ‘Shō’ marks a step in an emotional and spiritual journey, channelling the foundational virtues of the Brahmavihāras, which are the four ‘Sublime States’ of Buddhist practice: ‘Muditā’ (joy), ‘Karuṇā’ (compassion), ‘Mettā’ (loving-kindness), and ‘Upekkhā’ (equanimity). Together these principles form a path towards an open, boundless heart, which is mirrored in the EP’s unfolding sonic narrative.
“In recent years I became overly sensitive to my surroundings and society, finding myself strongly affected by every daily occurrence. It was during this time that I discovered meditation. And beyond that lay Buddhism. Through this, my sensibilities became able to express themselves more naturally. I decided to portray my feelings, and the scenery in Tokyo, conveying what I was experiencing in real-time, as music.
The EP title ‘Shō’ denotes views, thoughts, and actions aligned with Buddhist truth, and encapsulates my striving for presence, clarity, and acceptance. It also represents the conscious, mindful understanding that simply breathing is living.” DJ Nobu
- 1: Heartbeat (Lucky Marlo Allen) / Barrelhouse (Pauline Allen)
- 2: Blood Sucking Maniacs
- 3: Bloodlines
- 4: Peaches And Sap
- 5: A Pogo Is A Logo
- 6: Dirt Road
- 7: Down To The River
- 8: Kru Jam
- 9: Just Pray
- 10: Let It All In
- 11: Little Baby Boy
- 12: Mahalabalapurem-Poppa-Oo-Maumau
- 1: Blues (Pauline Allen)
- 2: No Rush To Fly
- 3: Red Leg Boy
- 4: Santa Fe
- 5: Arroyo Nights
- 6: These Four Rocks / Shuck Some Corn (Jo Harvey Allen)
- 7: When Things Go Wrong
- 8: Kru Jam 2
- 9: Where We Belong
- 10: Family Tree / Heartbeat (Lucky Marlo Allen)
Blood Sucking Maniacs, die Band der Familie Allen, geleitet von Patriarch und Matriarchin Terry Allen und Jo Harvey Allen, umfasst fünf Generationen und 121 Jahre, darunter (unter anderem) ihre Söhne Bukka und Bale Allen, ihre Enkel Kru, Sled und Calder Allen, die Hauptakteure der Panhandle Mystery Band, Charlie Sexton, Lloyd Maines und Richard Bowden, sowie den häufigen Mitwirkenden Will Sexton. Die wilden und vielfältigen Songs auf ihrem gleichnamigen Album sind bunt und vielschichtig und umfassen herzzerreißende Balladen und ironische Insider-Witze, die von erhaben bis unverhohlen sentimental reichen. Das verbindende Prinzip ist hier weniger die Harmonie des Blutes als vielmehr die Entropie des Blutes. Lass dich mitreißen.
WRWTFWW Records releases THE GENTLE PEOPLE - The Peel Sessions, available on vinyl for the first time ever, in conjunction with the worldwide expanded reissue of the group's Soundtracks for Living. Lounge/Chill Out music reborn !
This is an exclusive 4-song EP recorded in 1997 on BBC's Peel Sessions, as The Gentle People were doing the rounds for the release of their legendary debut album. These live versions have never seen the light of day before - a must have for all the gentle fans !
When The Gentle People first glided into the mid-90s on clouds of strings, sugar and sine waves, they sounded like visitors from another, more glamorous planet. Signed to Richard D. James and Grant Wilson-Claridge's cult label Rephlex, this multinational "E-Z-Core" lounge unit took the aesthetics of 50s/60s easy listening and exotica and gently smuggled them into 1990s club culture.
Imagine KLF's Chill Out or Space growing up on French 60/70s pop, bossa nova, soundtracks, vocal harmony groups, library music and easy listening then slipping out for a late-night date with dub, ambient techno and bubble-bath pop. That's The Gentle People : music that can score cocktail hour, 4am taxi rides, and daydreams in headphones with the same effortless grace.
The Gentle People weren't just a curiosity on a weird label; they became unlikely icons of a whole loungecore moment, gracing TV, compilations and magazine spreads, and proving that tenderness could be as futuristic as any drum machine.
- 01: Devotional Fade
- 02: Clown Car
- 03: Morocco
- 04: Cool Whip
- 05: Soft Hold
- 06: Seven On The Floor
- 07: Arpeggio
- 08: End Of The Horn
Matt Gold and Dustin Laurenzi present Devotional Fade, a collaborative record of electroacoustic rhythmic improvisations – equal parts meditation and dance, released on We Jazz Records, 24th April. Laurenzi and Gold, key collaborators in the Chicago creative scene and with genre spanning artists such as Bill Callahan and Makaya McCraven, step forward here with a major artistic statement, a product of extended improv sessions capturing the duo's hypnotic interplay. This is the sound of two of Chicago's most vibrant instrumental voices listening deeply, communing in sound.
Recorded in Laurenzi's attic studio, Devotional Fade emerged from a series of weekly sessions over the course of a single month. The duo kept the tape rolling continuously each day and selected a number of immersive sonic worlds to present, oscillating between patient, sacred minimalism and wild, dancefloor-worthy combustion.
The pair set two parameters to heighten the sessions' stakes: editing would be kept to a minimum, and a rule of "no pitched overdubs" was put in place – ensuring that all melodic and harmonic gestures would have to be committed in real time. Laurenzi and Gold held true, only sparingly adding a stray shaker or brush to these already largely complete improvisations. Devotional Fade is imbued with quiet propulsion and ecstatic repetition.
Matt Gold is a guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer based in Chicago, IL. His work pulls from diverse traditions of electric and acoustic music. Matt has performed across six continents and contributed to over fifty recordings as a collaborator and instrumentalist, garnering critical praise from Pitchfork for playing "one of the most exhilarating guitar solos of recent memory, in any genre." Gold has several long-running collaborative bands spanning jazz, folk, experimental, and chamber music including Sun Speak, Storm Jameson, and Tin. He performs and records with an array of creative artists including Makaya McCraven, Marquis Hill, Jamila Woods, Natalie Merchant, and Greg Ward. Gold co-curates the record label and concert series Flood Music.
Chicago saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist Dustin Laurenzi has developed a personal approach to improvisation and composition that has garnered the attention of the city's creative music community. Laurenzi's music is inspired and informed by jazz, folk, and improvised music. His inventive improvisational sensibilities have made him a sought-after musician in many circles of Chicago's vibrant music scene and beyond. Laurenzi has toured extensively with songwriter Bill Callahan and is featured on Callahan's 2024 release Resuscitate! He has toured with Grammy award-winning artist Bon Iver and appears on the band's critically lauded 2016 release 22, A Million. Laurenzi has also performed with Jeff Parker & The New Breed, Marquis Hill, Makaya McCraven, Matt Ulery, Japanese Breakfast, and This Is The Kit.
- A1: Intro
- A2: The Soundtrack Of Life
- A3: Journey
- A4: World Of Love
- A5: Laurie's Theme
- B1: Emotion Heater
- B2: Dream
- B3: Tiki Mix
- C1: Travel Bug
- C2: Le Tunnel De L'amour
- C3: Stay
- D1: A Close Encounter
- D2: Relaxation Central
- D3: Journey (Reprise)
- D4: Outro
- E1: Space Bubble
- E2: Star
- E3: Sunny Day (Demo)
- F1: Journey (Aphex Twin Care Mix)
- F2: Journey (Gentle Instrumental
WRWTFWW Records is proud to present THE GENTLE PEOPLE - Soundtracks for Living (Expanded Edition), ?the ultimate Lounge/Chill Out classic from 1997, reborn! Available as a limited edition white vinyl 3LP in heavyweight 3-panel gatefold sleeve.
When The Gentle People first glided into the mid-90s on clouds of strings, sugar and sine waves, they sounded like visitors from another, more glamorous planet. Signed to Richard D. James and Grant Wilson-Claridge's cult label Rephlex, this multinational "E-Z-Core" lounge unit took the aesthetics of 50s/60s easy listening and exotica and gently smuggled them into 1990s club culture.
Soundtracks for Living was their defining statement: an album that "takes the lounge scene and runs away with it entirely… blissful and heavenly," as one contemporary review put it. Imagine KLF's Chill Out or Space growing up on French 60/70s pop, bossa nova, soundtracks, vocal harmony groups, library music and easy listening then slipping out for a late-night date with dub, ambient techno and bubble-bath pop. That's Soundtracks for Living: a record that can score cocktail hour, 4am taxi rides, and daydreams in headphones with the same effortless grace.
The Gentle People - Dougee Dimensional, Laurie LeMans, Valentine Carnelian and Honeymink - began in early-90s Brixton, throwing dress-up theme parties before taking their audio-visual universe into the studio. For them, music was "a way of life": soothing to the ear, rich in pop hooks, and pitched somewhere between the playfully idiotic and the hyper-intelligent. Their debut on Rephlex was the single "Journey", later blessed with a shimmering Aphex Twin remix that pushed their sugar-coated sound even further into outer space.
This Expanded Edition of Soundtracks for Living finally gives this glambient lounge-pop milestone the treatment it has always deserved. Spread lovingly across 3LP, it features new mastering from the original sources, allowing every harp glissando, string swell and analog squiggle to float in high-fidelity widescreen. The core album is complemented by a bonus 12" of unreleased and rare material, offering a deeper dive into the Gentle world: alternate takes, lost interludes, and secret soundtrack cues for lives not yet lived.
Crucially, "Journey" appears here in its original version, Gentle Instrumental and the cult Aphex Twin remix, reuniting band and labelmate in one place and underlining the quietly radical nature of the project: this was lounge music that could sit next to braindance, acid and IDM and still steal the scene.
Pressed on limited edition white vinyl, Soundtrack for Living (Expanded Edition) invites long-time fans and new listeners alike to step back into The Gentle People's universe - a place of fondue parties, bubble chairs, star-lit elevators and endlessly rewinding sunsets, where "the pathway to the stars" is never quite out of reach.
In an era that often reduces the 90s to big-room bangers and grunge guitars, Soundtracks for Living remains a quietly subversive reminder that the decade was also about imagination, camp, softness and utopian possibility. As later writers have noted, The Gentle People weren't just a curiosity on a weird label; they became unlikely icons of a whole loungecore moment, gracing TV, compilations and magazine spreads, and proving that tenderness could be as futuristic as any drum machine.
In conjunction with this release, WRWTFWW has also unearthed The Gentle People's Peel Sessions, a 4-track EP from their 1997 BBC on-air performance, available on vinyl for the first time ever !
Saxophonist, producer and composer Brian Allen Simon explores darker hues, transposing waking and altered states under his studio veil Anenon. On the deeply evocative new album 'Dream Temperature', he shifts electronic processing to the foreground, introducing digitized wind instruments and unworldly atmospherics, not heard since his innovating mid-late 2010s output.
A longtime Los Angeles resident, born and raised, Brian Allen Simon has expressively operated under the moniker Anenon, releasing the highly revered 'Petrol' (2016), 'Tongue' (2018) and the viscerally beautiful 'Moons Melt Milk Light' (2023), in a line of unwavering musical dialogues. While the penultimate album was a deliberate, reductive, entirely acoustic detour that was born out of a want to unplug, 'Dream Temperature' sees Brian primed with a newly discovered wind synthesizer as his central compositional tool, alongside acoustic piano and tenor saxophone. The entirety of the album's electronics are triggered by Brian's lungs, generating otherworldly synths modulated by expressive breath control, channelled through the laptop as the core processing chamber for added textural components and field recordings.
A free floating and heavy emotional resonance marks 'Dream Temperature' from beginning to end, invoking the feeling of waking up, still heavy from a night of half-remembered dreams, and continuing one's day in this state. Simon maps out the album's spatial voice early on the statement title track, a deep, yet compact cut, generated from digital saxophone rasps that whistle by in close proximity, along with haze filled textures and sub bass. There is a sonic oscillation of urban grit and pastoral drift throughout as tracks pass by like introspective thoughts, fueling both a tense and ethereal quality that underpins the album. Interluding solo and part-solo piano improvisations 'Last Sun 1' and '2' are positioned adjacent to the buffering digital soundscapes. Their softer, still processed timbres pierce the melancholic exterior, offering a contrasting tenderness that could echo the grace of Ry?ichi Sakamoto, the spiritualist rigor of ECM's Keith Jarrett and a touch akin to Aphex Twin's piano miniatures. 'Nulle Part 1+2' signals the first appearance of an acoustic wind instrument, as tenor saxophone flourishes are juxtaposed against noisy drones, all shouting at the void, with notes resurfacing like lost digital data.
The album was recorded at home during either sunset or nocturnal hours between September of 2024 and October of 2025, a period in which Brian found himself craving more lengthy and intimate studio time as he searched for more pronounced textural qualities amidst his new sonic ambitions. 'When The Light Appears, Boy' shows further evidence of this deeper universe, revealing a grittier edge as the album's essential blueprint is sonically inked. A sprawling expanse of wind synths rhythmically encircle the listener before a dreamy, ghostly ambience blankets 'Toyama'. The sound is evocative of the productions of post dubstep era luminaries such as Burial or the productions of HTRK's Nigel Yang. More isolating and enveloping than the previous all acoustic record, this is music both disorienting and yet warmly inviting all at once. A sonic diarist at heart, personal field recordings were also taken from Sardinia, Japan, Big Sur and LA which intersect at unexpected moments throughout the album's 31-minute play time.
'Dream Temperature' is a vital coalescence of both Simon's electronic and acoustic practices with repositioned electronics akin to earlier works, both haunting and elegant, yet still profoundly personal. Simon continuously resonates as an experimental outlier treading an enthralling, non-linear musical path. This music resolutely glows with an unknowing aura, like an untapped energy source waiting to be discharged.
Nitai Hershkovits and Daniel Dor return with Found & Found, their second collaborative album and a natural continuation of the musical dialogue initiated with The Garden Suite.
Born out of pure curiosity - "there was more to say, more to explore," explains Dor - the album expands the duo's sonic language beyond the synth-only framework of their previous work. While the Moog remains central, Found & Found introduces clarinet and acoustic guitar, gently dissolving the boundaries between electronic and acoustic sound.
Each composition unfolds through interlocking, mantra-like patterns. Repetition becomes a space for transformation: melodies circle, textures shift, and subtle harmonic movements invite the listener inward. The music is structured with care, yet it feels open and fluid. intimate, spacious and quietly immersive. If their previous record explored orchestral depth through synthesizers, this new chapter embraces air and clarity. Acoustic gestures emerge within electronic landscapes, creating a sound world that is both grounded and weightless.
Nitai Hershkovits brings with his fellow partner Daniel Dor a refined harmonic sensitivity shaped by both jazz and classical traditions. Together they continue to refine a shared language that moves between structure and freedom, precision and emotion.




















