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Mr Bongo presents a reissue of one of the rarest releases on the illustrious and now ultra-rare tax scam label TSG Records. A label with a checkered past, operated by Lloyd Price and with alleged ties to boxing promoter Don King. The album in question, Disco Party by Reality, is a stunning journey through ‘70s dancefloor-focussed funk into early proto-disco grooves. Back in mid-‘70s Manhattan, Dr. Otto Gomez and a group of fellow New York musicians including Tony Dixon, Norman Drayton, Tony Dupree, Al Jones and Fred Nanton were brought in for a recording session by songwriter and producer, Billy Nichols. Laying down one of Nichols' songs and a selection of the group's own, they were paid as session musicians and thought little of it. The tapes came to the attention of Lloyd Price who struck a deal with Nichols unbeknownst to Gomez and the rest of the band. Price then pressed the album and put it out in 1976 on a newly formed subsidiary label, TSG Records, that would later be documented as one of the US tax scam labels of the ‘70s. Such labels were created to exploit a loophole in the US tax system, running up inflated production costs / losses that investors or the parent label could write off against their tax bills. Releases on these labels were never intended to have commercial success. They would usually be produced in incredibly limited pressing numbers and have little to no promotion or distribution. As such many of these records instantly fell into obscurity, becoming mythical amongst DJs and record collectors. Sadly, this meant that artists like Dr. Otto Gomez and friends never had the chance for their record and their talents to shine at the time. In fact, it was only when Jazzman reached out for their 2022 reissue that Dr. Otto Gomez became aware that the album had ever been released and heard the story behind it. Disco Party is a time capsule where ‘70s instrumental funk edges and intertwines into an early disco sound. The sessions are for the dancefloor, minimalist and groove-based. The bass and drums are at the forefront, providing the pulse of the album. Driving funky guitar licks, and a brilliant horn section weave their way in and out of the productions. Highlights include the uplifting feel-good ‘Let's Party People’, the early disco swagger of ‘Reality’, and ‘Disco Party (Let's Have A)’ with its wah-wah groove and percussion break, which could easily have found its home on a Blaxploitation film soundtrack of the period. It’s not just rarity that makes this record so sought after, but rather the fact that it is a superb example of dancefloor-focussed mid ‘70s funk and disco.

With “Louder Than Fate”, Jared James Nichols delivers his fourth studio album and easily his most powerful and fully realized statement to date. Raw, unapologetic, and deeply rooted in the lineage of blues-driven hard rock, the album captures an artist at the peak of his creative confidence, channeling grit, groove, and soul with relentless intensity. Produced and mixed by Jay Ruston (Anthrax, Stone Sour, Amon Amarth, Uriah Heep, Steel Panther etc.), “Louder Than Fate” balances muscle and melody, combining thunderous riffs, searing solos, and emotionally charged vocals with a modern, punchy production. The songs move effortlessly between hard-hitting rock anthems and more reflective, dynamic moments, showcasing Nichols’ ability to fuse classic influences with a contemporary edge. Tracks like “Bending or Breaking” and “Killing Time” expand the sonic palette with subtle keyboards and cinematic string arrangements, adding depth without ever sacrificing power. Since his breakout debut, Jared James Nichols has built a reputation as one of the most electrifying guitarists and performers of his generation. Known for his unmistakable tone, fearless playing style, and commanding stage presence, he has toured extensively across the US and Europe, sharing stages with some of the biggest names in rock and earning praise from fans and critics alike. Louder Than Fate is not just an album — it’s a declaration. A record that speaks to resilience, conviction, and the unstoppable force of an artist who plays every note as if it truly matters. Loud, honest, and deeply human, this is Jared James Nichols at his absolute best.

* From the Hydroponics’ Growing Room studio comes a dub remix of Yabby You / King Tubby’s `Beware’ / `God is Watching You’.

* While keeping faithful to the original, these cuts come with some dangerous sub-bass.

* Produced by Dougie Wardrop and originally released circa 1996, this reissue is backed with a previously unreleased dub mix.

#andifyouknowyourhistory#detroit#raresoul

We are talking Holy Grail territory…

Edwin Starr and JJ Barnes were two of the main stars at Ric-Tic, the legendary 1960s Detroit Soul label that ended up being purchased by Motown to take out the competition.

JJ Barnes REAL HUMDINGER Ric-Tic 45 is a standout gem from the Motor City’s Soul heyday years and an all time Northern Soul classic. Edwin’s Ric-Tic 45s and subsequent gems for Motown made him such a Northern Soul icon that he moved to live in England.

What Anglophile Edwin never revealed is that he actually recorded the first version of REAL HUMDINGER for Ric-Tic. It never got released and its’ very existence was unknown. After painstaking detective work WEST GRAND found about the recording and have now managed to licence it from Universal Music / Motown for its debut worldwide release News of the discovery has created huge interest amongst Soul fans globally, As a bonus the flip side is another “wow find” that had been stuck, also unknown and unloved, in the tape vaults for nearly 60 years. It is a preciously unused alternative take on SCOTT’S ON SWINGERS.

The track is in effect an extended jingle for Detroit back in the day star radio DJ Scott Regan based on Edwin’s smash S.O.S (Stop Her On Sight). The released take came out on a limited edition RIC-Tic giveaway single that now commands a £400 price tag.

Following his previous appearances on Figure, French producer Arkan returns with Mad Race, a four-track EP that further sharpens his distinct vision of mental techno. Balancing hypnotic restraint with driving intensity, the release finds the artist navigating deeper into textured, immersive territory while maintaining a strong sense of propulsion throughout.

The title track Mad Race opens the record in forceful fashion, locking into a tightly wound groove as restless synth movements and looming atmospheres continuously build pressure around the rhythm section. Revival follows with a more spacious approach, letting emotive chords and swelling layers unfold gradually over a firm, rolling foundation, capturing a feeling of momentum suspended somewhere between tension and release.

On the flipside, Sawlim pushes further into trippy terrain. Dense percussion and spiralling effects interact with pulsing low-end pressure to create a heads-down club tool filled with subtle movement and detail. Closing track Interlude shifts the focus once more, exploring a more restrained and introspective mood through cavernous textures and hypnotic repetition while still holding onto the EP's underlying drive.

Digital bonus track Make You Horny rounds out the package with a rawer and more playful energy, bringing punchy drums and jagged synth work together into a functional late-night workout.

With Mad Race, Arkan continues refining his own blend of deep, atmospheric and cerebral techno, further cementing his place within the evolving sound of Figure.

If – in some parallel universe (or perhaps a not-so-distant-future version of the one we’re already sentenced to living in) – the evil overloads of artificial intelligence were actually successful in their attempts to create convincingly enjoyable “original music,” more specifically tasked with wholly encapsulating my own personal tastes by data-chugging some cocktail of – oh, I don’t know – the posters on my wall, the records in my “most listened to” pile, the mixtapes I made for others, intensive physical scans of my auditory cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, heart strings, whatever else they have splayed out on their autopsy table with the intention of generating one all-encompassing “perfect band” based on the fruitful sum of their findings – that band, for me, would be (or would at least sound exactly like) the Tara Clerkin Trio. It is, quite simply, without exception, the music I wish to hear.

Formed in Bristol UK (where none of them are from yet all of whom are deeply engrained) in 2020, the Tara Clerkin Trio – as it somewhat democratically exists today, despite the singular authority implied by its name – consists of the titular Tara Clerkin, her partner Sunny Joe Paradisos, and Sunny’s brother, Patrick Benjamin. I’ll confess, I don’t know what their respective roles are within the operation and there’s only a very small part of me that cares to learn, as one of my favorite qualities in an objective listening experience is the mystery of who is playing what, which sounds are “authentic” versus synthesized, which chunks are performed “live” in a room together versus meticulously Frankenstein’ed from measure to measure, or how exactly the overall sound is so (seemingly) effortlessly achieved. Though, I suspect, if and when I do witness a live performance by this band at any point, my enjoyment of the music will not be lost in my better understanding of it.

With two extraordinary mini-albums – In Spring (2021) and On The Turning Ground (2023) – making a splash on London’s formidable World of Echo label in wake of their self-titled 2020 debut, this upcoming Somewhere Good LP is, in many ways, the band’s most realised work. In running their usual gauntlet of idiosyncratic (*an overused adjective for which here there is regrettably no sufficient alternative) approaches, Clerkin & co. colour in and outside of compositional lines over the course of 40+ celebratory minutes - never wallowing, despite inherently somber subject matters of self-defeat, disease, displacement, restlessness, gentrification - allowing their arrangements and improvisations ample space and time to situate, stretch out, breathe, cross-pollinate, and ultimately take deeper hold on the listener’s imagination – all while somehow sounding more like themselves than ever before.

Of course, there are traceable influences herein, if one felt that such comparisons were necessary to properly examine and enjoy this music (they aren’t)… Being the big dumb American from the small boring town that I am, cornfed on ‘90s alternative radio with the enchantingly exotic sounds of Maxinquaye and Mezzanine emanating from my chunky tube television, I can’t help but to make a blatantly obvious reference to a “Bristol sound”, ie the whole trip-hop trip, the pastoral crooning over the suggestive urban grime of cracked electro/piano treatments, the digitally-yet-primitively reconstructed James Bond soundtrack string-beats, etc.. But the Tara Clerkin Trio is so infinitely much more than that. There are elements of avant-pop, modern classical, kraut-folk, audio verité, dare I say indie rock (and not of the beer guzzling, masturbatory fuzz-flex variety but perhaps more like a Trish Keenan-fronted Faust, Adrian Sherwood at the mixing desk of If You’re Feeling Sinister, or – in expanding on our alternate reality – a world in which High Llamas cut a full-length for Warp Records with Andrew Weatherall on coffee duty).

The hazy, unmappable skyline-mirage of droning harmonium, upright bass, peculiarly accentuated wind instruments, acoustic guitar, hushed yet literally mighty keys combine to hypnotizing effect. The band may make underlying nods to jazz, sure, but it’s not appropriation, it’s that they have the actual chops to build it out. Beneath the janky samples and oddball percussive embellishment lies actually great drumming. Beyond the manipulated vocal witchery and woefully reflective plain-spoke moments are Tara’s subtly inspired melodies, sung with what might honestly be the glue to the whole crazy equation. A calming consistency throughout the otherwise unpredictably dynamic, boldly intuitive, uniquely British exploration of this (their own) universe in song. – Ryan Davis (Chicago, February 2026)

In 1979, the Soviet label Melodiya released a record that immediately stood apart from most Soviet jazz of its time and perhaps for that very reason never became widely known. Oriental Suite by Oleg Gotskosik Quintet is a rare example of jazz, Eastern musical tradition, and compositional thinking coming together not as an exotic stylization but as a fully formed artistic statement.

This is not “Oriental colour” used as decoration, nor folklore treated as an ornament. Oriental Suite grows from within another musical tradition, with its monody, modal logic, slow unfolding of form, and focus on inner states rather than outward effect. The music is calm and concentrated. It does not try to impress, but gradually draws the listener into its own space.
Oleg Gotskozik was born in Tashkent in 1951, a city where Eastern music was part of everyday life rather than something distant or exotic. That may explain why his engagement with traditional material sounds so natural. He does not quote or stylize; he thinks in the same musical categories. By temperament, he was closer to a composer than to a jazz musician in the conventional sense. For him, jazz was not a style but a way of working with form and improvisation.There is no standard “theme and solos” logic in Oriental Suite. Improvisation is woven into the fabric of the music itself and unfolds in the same way as in oral traditions, gradually, with rising tension and a clear sense of arrival. Individual sections refer to traditional Uzbek genres such as lullabies, lyrical songs, and funeral laments, but these are not genre sketches. They are states of being. The music unfolds slowly, avoiding familiar harmonic drama and relying instead on modal scales and subtle internal movement.

A special role is played by trumpeter Yuri Parfyonov. His approach, with delayed vibrato, micro-glissandi, and melismatic phrasing, sounded unexpected at the end of the 1970s and still feels remarkably fresh today. This is not expressive jazz virtuosity but a focused, almost meditative voice, where improvisation becomes a form of inner speech.
It is also important to note that the original recording was not without technical flaws. Like many Soviet jazz releases of the time, Oriental Suite was captured under far from ideal conditions, and the master contained audible imperfections that were never part of the music itself. For this edition, the restoration was approached with great care and respect, working through the recording moment by moment to remove unwanted artifacts while preserving the character and atmosphere of the original. The aim was simple: to make sure nothing stands in the way of fully experiencing the music.

In the early 1980s, Oleg Gotskozik left the Soviet Union, and after that his name virtually disappeared from Soviet music journalism and literature. There were no official bans or public statements. He was simply no longer mentioned. Oriental Suite continued to exist on its own, without an author and without context. The record never entered the canon, received no continuation, and was never officially reissued. It seemed to fall out of time.
The original vinyl pressing was released in a run of around 32,000 copies, but most of them remained within the republic and never reached wide circulation. Today, original copies are hard to find and have long become objects of interest for collectors. There have been no official reissues, only attempts that never went beyond test pressings.
Today, Oriental Suite sounds surprisingly contemporary. It is music that can be described as deep ethno-jazz and even, in a certain sense, spiritual jazz. There is no exoticism here, no decorative borrowing, only a complete immersion in another musical way of thinking. It does not require explanations and does not need to be justified by its time.
This is not a forgotten curiosity revived for collectors’ sake. It is music that simply waited for the moment when it could be heard without ideological filters or genre expectations. Now it is returning quietly, without noise or hype, but with the clear sense that this is not an artifact of an era, but a living and genuinely rare artistic statement.

ISKRA is the debut album by Polish multi-instrumentalist and composer Olga Anna Markowska. Starting at “Dawn” and ending at “Dusk”, it is a journey of melancholic depth and true beauty filled with warm memories from what was & what could be.

Using zither, cello, electronics and occasional wordless voice, Olga weaves together something so affecting and under the skin beautiful that it is hard to shake, bringing to mind classics from artists like Jacaszek and William Basinski, or the films of Kieslowski. However, there’s a personal touch in her playing and compositions that stands out. Olga explains: “the cello pieces, in particular, were born from a desire to reconnect with the instrument I’ve known intimately since childhood. However, I had to step away from it for two years to gain perspective and find a fresh approach when I returned.” She continues : “ISKRA is an album about "ignition" — a gradual shift in how I think about music and a search for new values. It also marks the closing of a chapter, blending archival recordings with the dawn of new ideas.”

The album feels deeply personal from the first note, and bridges the difficult point between classical and ambient music in a truly natural way, leaving any typical tropes far off, instead demanding your full attention. Olga uses plenty of loops throughout, which together with the cello and zither builds a transcendent atmosphere. Standouts contain amongst others the stunning “Train Ride Home” - a 7 minute piece with zither as main focal point; “Fever Dream” - a plunge into warm static noise and deep plucks, as well as the beautiful “Helix”, which sounds like a washed out dream with its minimal tape loops and ambient vocal washes. Overall the album connects very well with Olga’s subjects of identity, memory of the places and human relations with nature. There is a deep humanity burrowed within these 40 minutes of music which feels immensely appropriate in these contemporary times.

ISKRA was recorded in different times and places from 2017 to 2022 and lands with perfection on Miasmah - connecting the dots from the early years while reaching into the stars.

Aus der fruchtbaren skandinavischen Post-Rock-Landschaft hervorgegangen, haben sich Oh Hiroshima einen Ruf dafür erarbeitet, Introspektion in einen weiten, cineastischen Klang zu verwandeln. Mit ,And the Dead Tree Gives No Shelter" setzen Oh Hiroshima ihr Streben fort, das Gleichgewicht zwischen Verletzlichkeit und Kraft zu verfeinern. Im Kern des Sounds von Oh Hiroshima liegt ein filigranes Wechselspiel zwischen Zurückhaltung und Entladung. Ihre Kompositionen bauen behutsam Spannung auf und lassen jede Ebene organisch entfalten: Klingende Gitarren, ferne Nachklänge und minimale rhythmische Impulse - die scheinbar schwerelos in der Luft schweben - bilden einen Kontrast zu jener wuchtigen Kraft, die sie entfesseln können. Klare, schimmernde Gitarrentöne breiten sich wellenartig durch dichten Hall und subtile Delays aus, während sich einzelne Linien oft in sanftem Kontrapunkt miteinander verflechten. Während sich diese Ebenen schichten, intensivieren sie sich allmählich und steuern auf jene Momente zu, in denen Verzerrung und Lautstärke die einst fragile Atmosphäre in etwas Immenses und Kathartisches verwandeln.Wenn die Musik ihre emotionalen Höhepunkte erreicht, tritt die Perkussion zwar bestimmender hervor, bleibt dabei jedoch behutsam in die Gesamtatmosphäre eingebettet. Oh Hiroshima beweisen beständig ein wachsendes Selbstvertrauen darin, die Grenzen ihres Sounds auszuloten. Durch die Verschmelzung von Harmonien, einer immersiven Produktion und einem tief intuitiven Gespür für das richtige Tempo haben Oh Hiroshima ein Album geschaffen, das von Intimität durchwoben ist und sich zugleich weit und raumgreifend anfühlt. Für Freunde von Alcest, Mogwai, God Is an Astronaut. CD, klassisch schwarzes und farbiges (limitiertes) Vinyl erhältlich.

Aus der fruchtbaren skandinavischen Post-Rock-Landschaft hervorgegangen, haben sich Oh Hiroshima einen Ruf dafür erarbeitet, Introspektion in einen weiten, cineastischen Klang zu verwandeln. Mit ,And the Dead Tree Gives No Shelter" setzen Oh Hiroshima ihr Streben fort, das Gleichgewicht zwischen Verletzlichkeit und Kraft zu verfeinern. Im Kern des Sounds von Oh Hiroshima liegt ein filigranes Wechselspiel zwischen Zurückhaltung und Entladung. Ihre Kompositionen bauen behutsam Spannung auf und lassen jede Ebene organisch entfalten: Klingende Gitarren, ferne Nachklänge und minimale rhythmische Impulse - die scheinbar schwerelos in der Luft schweben - bilden einen Kontrast zu jener wuchtigen Kraft, die sie entfesseln können. Klare, schimmernde Gitarrentöne breiten sich wellenartig durch dichten Hall und subtile Delays aus, während sich einzelne Linien oft in sanftem Kontrapunkt miteinander verflechten. Während sich diese Ebenen schichten, intensivieren sie sich allmählich und steuern auf jene Momente zu, in denen Verzerrung und Lautstärke die einst fragile Atmosphäre in etwas Immenses und Kathartisches verwandeln.Wenn die Musik ihre emotionalen Höhepunkte erreicht, tritt die Perkussion zwar bestimmender hervor, bleibt dabei jedoch behutsam in die Gesamtatmosphäre eingebettet. Oh Hiroshima beweisen beständig ein wachsendes Selbstvertrauen darin, die Grenzen ihres Sounds auszuloten. Durch die Verschmelzung von Harmonien, einer immersiven Produktion und einem tief intuitiven Gespür für das richtige Tempo haben Oh Hiroshima ein Album geschaffen, das von Intimität durchwoben ist und sich zugleich weit und raumgreifend anfühlt. Für Freunde von Alcest, Mogwai, God Is an Astronaut. CD, klassisch schwarzes und farbiges (limitiertes) Vinyl erhältlich.

A founding member and keyboardist of acclaimed jazz
groupBADBADNOTGOOD,Tavares has gone from being an in-demand
producer with some of the biggest names in music to a songwriter and
artist in his own right, having touched corners of the globe and cemented
twoGRAMMY Awardsand five nominations
Between collaborations with Kendrick Lamar , Ghostface Killah , MF DOOM , Tyler
the Creator , Kali Uchis , Tavares has also played with Frank Ocean ,
soundtracked Virgil Alboh 's landmark S/ S 2019 runway show for Louis Vuitton,
and penned songs for Post Malone , Rosalia , Travis Scott , Kodak Black , Justin
Beiber,Camilla Cabello,Jack Harlow amongst others.
With a sound that fuses his nostalgia for the golden era of blogs with the
eclecticism of the late 2000s, the combination of the internet crossed with an
isolated suburban upbringing has laid the groundwork for Matty's genre-bending
artistry. Embracing a raw creative output with an aversion to following the norms
of the industry reverberates across his discography,Matty has found success in
previous releases including 'Clear' and 'I'll Gladly Place Myself Below', which push
the boundaries of sonic creativity and knowledge.
Now with his upcoming album POPS , Matty relinquishes his lowkey and
understated style for something larger than life, while maintaining a level of
honesty and openness that has defined his past work to make for a dynamic
release that constellates around music's greatest subject - love.

The Suicide Handbook is Ryan Adams’ most elusive and mythic recordings. The album is a raw and intimate collection of songs that captures the songwriter at his most unguarded. Recorded at the beginning of his solo career and long circulating only through bootlegs, the album has earned a legendary status among die-hard fans and fans of the americana genre alike for its stark stripped-back beauty.
Acoustic arrangements and hushed, late-night vocals, these songs feel like private confessions set to tape. Adams leans into themes of heartbreak, isolation, and emotional vulnerability, delivering recordings that are as fragile as they are compelling. There’s an immediacy here that sets The Suicide Handbook apart from his studio releases. These are the original recordings in their rawest and un-touched form.
Released officially for the first time, experience the record as a cohesive piece, bringing warmth and depth to its lo-fi origins. The analogue format enhances every subtle nuance, from the quiet creak of strings to the tremble in Adams’ voice.
For longtime fans and collectors alike, The Suicide Handbook stands as a haunting, deeply personal snapshot of an artist laying everything bare—an essential addition to the Ryan Adams collection.

Hot on the heals of their spectacular self-titled debut album, The Handover is back with their second long form composition, New Old Medicine. Aly Eissa (oud), Ayman Asfour (violin), and Jonas Cambien (vintage organ/synth) have been cutting their teeth on the international touring circuit for the past two years, landing from town to town in their seductive spaceship to blow people's minds and then dematerialize into the void. An outline for a new piece began to emerge along the route and late last year during a stop in Berlin, this metamorphosis of the trio's sound was recorded in pristine form by Rabih Beaini at Morphine Studios.
Attempting to define the music is not as important as allowing it to define itself - from person to person, village to village. All we can do is suggest what may resonate to lure you into the arena; psychedelic, folkloric, Egyptian, etc., as these excerpts from the liner notes suggest: "Though one long piece, New Old Medicine moves through several unofficial chapters. It originates in the psychic depths with a pensive melody. Gradually solidifying, the organ’s first solo ushers the piece into a swaying, reverent dance. This dance nears its end with a vigorously percussive section on oud, handing it off to the violin for a climactic solo. A momentary pause, then the rhythm thickens, and the musicians ride untethered through the midnight. This frenzy is followed by a calm repose on placid water. But this calm is merely a deep inhale before the final charged ascent into cosmic rapture."
Don't sleep on this one!

zzzahara is the solo moniker of Eyedress/Simps/guitarist Zahara Jaime. Zzzahara’s work ethic changed in the making of this album.
“I’m not one of those musicians who can slack off and then make a perfect record in, like, a week,” they say. “I need to be consistently playing, consistently trying to learn new techniques.” To make Tender, they locked themselves in their studio and subsisted on cold brew. This monastic experience gave Zzzahara a sense of total control over the output. “I think that’s what made the record what it is.” While Liminal Spaces was recorded at Stone’s Throw and Zzzahara had access to a range of instruments to make it, Tender thrives on the intimacy created in a home studio

A transcendental journey through the shadows of consciousness - remastered and expanded for the deepest listening experience yet With Metamorphyses , Swedish dark ambient pioneer Peter Andersson (RAISON D'ETRE) invites us into a labyrinth of sound and soul, where drone, ritualism, and neoclassical minimalism converge into something vast, immersive, and transformative. Originally released in the mid-2000s, this defining work now returns in a gloriously expanded edition - and for the first time ever, pressed onto double vinyl.

This 2025 edition, meticulously remastered to K14- level standards by Andersson himself, features not only the core studio album (Disc I, recorded winter 2005-2006), but also two full discs of evocative live performances from across Europe, including Gent, Sofia, Salzburg, Alkmaar, Budapest, and a stunning set recorded in the Sophienkirche of Wuppertal during the Phobos II Dark Ambient Festival (2010) - a performance that plays like a liturgy for forgotten gods. The sound is monumental yet subtle: subterranean drones coil beneath spectral chants, decaying harmonics ripple through ancient cathedrals of reverb, and slowshifting textures create a space where the listener floats between the sacred and the surreal. There are echoes here of Lustmord's somber gravity, Thomas Koner 's icy isolationism, and the ritualistic depth of Inade or Desiderii Marginis, but it's RAISON D'ETRE's singular spiritual voice that rises from the abyss. The artwork by Kati Astraeir perfectly captures the album's meditative darkness - fluid forms, organic decay, and transcendent abstraction - while the layout, also designed by Andersson, reinforces the ritualistic purity of the listening experience.

A transcendental journey through the shadows of consciousness - remastered and expanded for the deepest listening experience yet With Metamorphyses , Swedish dark ambient pioneer Peter Andersson (RAISON D'ETRE) invites us into a labyrinth of sound and soul, where drone, ritualism, and neoclassical minimalism converge into something vast, immersive, and transformative. Originally released in the mid-2000s, this defining work now returns in a gloriously expanded edition - and for the first time ever, pressed onto double vinyl.

This 2025 edition, meticulously remastered to K14- level standards by Andersson himself, features not only the core studio album (Disc I, recorded winter 2005-2006), but also two full discs of evocative live performances from across Europe, including Gent, Sofia, Salzburg, Alkmaar, Budapest, and a stunning set recorded in the Sophienkirche of Wuppertal during the Phobos II Dark Ambient Festival (2010) - a performance that plays like a liturgy for forgotten gods. The sound is monumental yet subtle: subterranean drones coil beneath spectral chants, decaying harmonics ripple through ancient cathedrals of reverb, and slowshifting textures create a space where the listener floats between the sacred and the surreal. There are echoes here of Lustmord's somber gravity, Thomas Koner 's icy isolationism, and the ritualistic depth of Inade or Desiderii Marginis, but it's RAISON D'ETRE's singular spiritual voice that rises from the abyss. The artwork by Kati Astraeir perfectly captures the album's meditative darkness - fluid forms, organic decay, and transcendent abstraction - while the layout, also designed by Andersson, reinforces the ritualistic purity of the listening experience.

Pianist and bandleader Linus Rebmann, together with Gabriel Widmaier on double bass and Johnny Walker on drums, shapes a transparent and powerful sound characterized by great joy in playing and a palpable sense of familiarity. The album's ten original compositions tell of observations, inner movements, and moments whose depth is better expressed through music than words. The three young musicians met in the Baden- Wurttemberg Landesjugendjazzorchester, and after winning the "Jugend jazzt south- west" competition in 2024, the trio was awarded the prestigious Deutschlandfunk Studiopreis at the national meeting. This made it possible to produce the album in the legendary Kammermusiksaal of Deutschlandfunk in Cologne - a space that has been among the country's finest recording venues for decades. The band members deliberately chose an intimate setting for the recordings. Everything was played through a single main microphone, without subsequent corrections to individual instruments. A working method that demands absolute presence and mutual trust. It is precisely this immediacy that shapes the sound of "Listen To The River": the album is transparent, organic, flowing, almost breathing.

Thirteen years later, building on everything they had learned about capturing the purest sound, Guttenberg returned to produce The Ultimate Demonstration Disc Volume 2. Designed to bridge the gap between technical terminology and the listening experience, this collection serves as a practical guide to the audiophile lexicon. On each track, Guttenberg "spells out" exactly what to listen for, providing clear musical examples of concepts like "transparency" and "soundstage depth." By using a custombuilt recording chain and avoiding dynamic range compressors, equalizers, or overdubbing, the album captures a "live" session exactly as the microphones heard it - resulting in a sound so neutral and natural that it can be used to reveal the subtle differences between high-end speakers, electronics, and cables.

The complete LP + 2 bonus tracks - limited edition pressing on 180g vinyl

Miles Davis' quintet formed in 1955 is widely regarded as one of the greatest combos in jazz history. Miles was recording for the independent jazz label Prestige at the time, but after the quintet's success at the 1955 Newport Jazz Festival, Miles received a substantial offer from the recording giant Columbia. 'Round About Midnight was his first album for Columbia.

"First, let me say that you should buy this LP immediately. Perhaps even two copies, since you may wear out one playing it and you will want another. This is the kind of album to which one returns time and time again because it is, in its way, a perfect thing, a slice of modern jazz conceived and executed in the very best style." - ***** Ralph J. Gleason, DownBeat




d 'Round Midnight [Prestige Version]




[d] 'Round Midnight [Prestige Version]