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As many artists have experienced, the past two years hit the entire music and culture industry hard. But MY SLEEPING KARMA – they have truly faced the abyss. Formed almost 20 years ago as a strong bond of best friends with a steady line-up ever since, the band has amassed an incredibly successful back catalogue of five highly acclaimed records and a live album in 2017, as well as extensive touring performances at sold-out venues and prestigious festivals that have marked them as one of the most well-respected instrumental post- and hypnotic rock bands within the heavy music community. Closing a seven-year gap since their latest studio album, Moksha, MY SLEEPING KARMA will release their most emotional, deepest, darkest record to date, inspired by tragic events, on July 29, 2022. The new album, Atma – the logical successor to Moksha – describes the (absolute) self, the indestructible, eternal essence of the spirit, and is often translated as the "soul". Sickness, death, and existential fear had brought the band to a point in music and life at which they were close to parting ways. But their will to survive has been recorded on Atma, a record the band wasn’t even sure would see the light of day when they started working on it back in 2017, and if it did, would’ve never been for industry sales, fame or success.

»1976 Kaleidoscope of Rainbows« in unmistakably a trait d’union between the british (orchestral) jazz-rock heritage and a more confident way of writing. Heading clearly to different directions, the album showcase the talent of the main composer with the singular talent of trumpet player Ian Carr (Nucleus), cello player Paul Buckmaster (otherwise known for his collaboration with David Bowie and Miles Davis) and clarinet player Tony Coe.

This is the final part of an Ardley trilogy, preceded by »Greek Variations« (1969) and »A Symphony of Amaranths« (1971). Here, Ardley uses Balinese scales – the pelog, a Gamelan scale comprising seven notes, and the slendro, an older, more commonly used Gamelan scale. They are used in a variety of note patterns, each unique combination the basis of a series of »Rainbow« compositions, from »Rainbow 1« to »Rainbow 7«. This brand new concept is fitting, showing different strategies and a more exotic feel with a certain minimalist counterpoint. A new beginning to a certain degree, with the spacey 1979 masterpiece »Harmony Of The Spheres« soon to come

Jazzrausch Bigband stands for a truly unique concept: jazz meets techno meets big band.

After the powerful, song-like album ‘techné’ from 2021, which featured a cast of prominent musical guests, new release ‘Emergenz’ focuses on the core line-up of the band. And a more subtle, yet broader approach, which incorporates elements of minimal music, drum & bass, literature and stronger jazz influences without giving up the
trademark of the band; pulsating grooves and powerful horn arrangements.

When comparing ‘Emergenz’ with earlier albums, what is most striking is how the band’s expressive palette has become even more differentiated and refined. The moments when the energy levels are
at their highest are still dominated by techno jazz, which is only to be expected, but, in between, the regular four-on-the-floor pulse of the bass drum is increasingly suspended, so there are sections
where the forward momentum comes from intricate interlocked horn parts, or just voices.

The LP ‘All Welcome on Planet Ree-Vo’ due for release on 29th July could only really have been made in one city steeped as it is in Bristol’s decades of less conventional hip hop and bass music. Tweaked and fine tuned during the summer of 2020 the record punches with a mix of red eyed paranoia to a playful future funk.
The album was all recorded, produced and mixed by Andy at Christchurch Studios, Bristol (home of Mezzanine era Massive Attack) with all vocals written and performed by T. Relly.
During 2021 the first two singles from the LP were released. The first was the juggernaut that is ‘Groove With It’. T. Relly growling out polemic against the relentless cacophony spun by Andy Spaceland, The brutality of the bass and horns is temporarily smoothed with Relly’s soulful, swaggering placation of ‘Turn your speakers on/ Till ya speakers blown baby/ If you’re feeling strong baby/ We can keep it going baby’.
This was followed in April by the 12” release of Combat featuring a thumping remix by Surgeon (Tresor Records) and an extended electro remix by Ree-Vo themselves.
2022 began with the limited red 7” release of remixes by NØISE and Batbirds with stunning original artwork by Shepard Fairey who came to the project via mutual friend Joe Cassidy (Butterfly Child). The release was announced on OBEY’s website
‘Spacebox’ which will be the last single to be released in time with the album is their hookiest, a party throwing chorus spinning tipsy visitors around the intergalactic control booth of mission control.
“Lift off, blast off, shirt off, dance off! Naked in the dancehall SPACE BOX!” is the beamed mantra, Relly transmitting to all occupants of the galaxy.
“We wanted to make a hedonistic and colourful dancehall track, a bold response to the suppressive circumstances of the last two years”.
About Ree-Vo:
T. Relly​ is pure Bristol hip-hop royalty – known in the community variously for his links to all of the city’s major club nights, his passion and support for the most disadvantaged (through his work with the youth and prison leavers), through to compering stages at St Paul’s Carnival and his seminal 2018 LP with DJ Rogue ‘Let Them Know’. He collaborates with many crews including Innalife and Killer Crab Men.
Andy Spaceland​ (AKA Andy Jenks) got involved in Bristol bass music as soon as he moved to the city with Static Sound System​ and a collaborative 12” with Rudy Tambala (​AR Kane​) as Sugarboat Vs Sufi, before his band ​Alpha​ were signed to ​Massive Attack​’s label Melankolic, whilst he also became one of their tour DJ’s. His CV of collaborations range from ​Smith and Mighty​ to Madonna. He has released music on Dj Die’s label, Gutterfunk as White Bully and he is also currently releasing music with US producer ​Butch Vig​ in the band ​5 Billion in Diamonds​, whilst working on new tracks with ​Mark Stewart (The Pop Group) including remixes by Adrian Sherwood. His signature sound can also be heard on this remix for ​Elizabeth Fraser​ -

The LP ‘All Welcome on Planet Ree-Vo’ due for release on 29th July could only really have been made in one city steeped as it is in Bristol’s decades of less conventional hip hop and bass music. Tweaked and fine tuned during the summer of 2020 the record punches with a mix of red eyed paranoia to a playful future funk.
The album was all recorded, produced and mixed by Andy at Christchurch Studios, Bristol (home of Mezzanine era Massive Attack) with all vocals written and performed by T. Relly.
During 2021 the first two singles from the LP were released. The first was the juggernaut that is ‘Groove With It’. T. Relly growling out polemic against the relentless cacophony spun by Andy Spaceland, The brutality of the bass and horns is temporarily smoothed with Relly’s soulful, swaggering placation of ‘Turn your speakers on/ Till ya speakers blown baby/ If you’re feeling strong baby/ We can keep it going baby’.
This was followed in April by the 12” release of Combat featuring a thumping remix by Surgeon (Tresor Records) and an extended electro remix by Ree-Vo themselves.
2022 began with the limited red 7” release of remixes by NØISE and Batbirds with stunning original artwork by Shepard Fairey who came to the project via mutual friend Joe Cassidy (Butterfly Child). The release was announced on OBEY’s website
‘Spacebox’ which will be the last single to be released in time with the album is their hookiest, a party throwing chorus spinning tipsy visitors around the intergalactic control booth of mission control.
“Lift off, blast off, shirt off, dance off! Naked in the dancehall SPACE BOX!” is the beamed mantra, Relly transmitting to all occupants of the galaxy.
“We wanted to make a hedonistic and colourful dancehall track, a bold response to the suppressive circumstances of the last two years”.
About Ree-Vo:
T. Relly​ is pure Bristol hip-hop royalty – known in the community variously for his links to all of the city’s major club nights, his passion and support for the most disadvantaged (through his work with the youth and prison leavers), through to compering stages at St Paul’s Carnival and his seminal 2018 LP with DJ Rogue ‘Let Them Know’. He collaborates with many crews including Innalife and Killer Crab Men.
Andy Spaceland​ (AKA Andy Jenks) got involved in Bristol bass music as soon as he moved to the city with Static Sound System​ and a collaborative 12” with Rudy Tambala (​AR Kane​) as Sugarboat Vs Sufi, before his band ​Alpha​ were signed to ​Massive Attack​’s label Melankolic, whilst he also became one of their tour DJ’s. His CV of collaborations range from ​Smith and Mighty​ to Madonna. He has released music on Dj Die’s label, Gutterfunk as White Bully and he is also currently releasing music with US producer ​Butch Vig​ in the band ​5 Billion in Diamonds​, whilst working on new tracks with ​Mark Stewart (The Pop Group) including remixes by Adrian Sherwood. His signature sound can also be heard on this remix for ​Elizabeth Fraser​ -

Brown vinyl LP. For the first time ever released on vinyl, this brilliant 2012 LP features an all-star cast of musicians and actors lead by Tim Robbins, Dr. John, Bill Frisell, Ralph Steadman, Annie Ross, John Joyce III and Will Forte.

Hunter S. Thompson's classic Gonzo reportage on the 1970 Kentucky Derby is summoned brilliantly to life through spoken word and musical composition. Conceived by executive producer Michael Minzer for his Paris Records label, the project was produced by Hal Willner, who brought Bill Frisell in as composer/arranger/conductor. Bill then assembled a stellar group of musicians including Curtis Fowlkes (trombone), Ron Miles (trumpet), Eyvind Kang (viola), Doug Weiselman (woodwinds), Jenny Scheinman (violin), Hank Roberts (cello) and Kenny Wolleson (drums, percussion).

Ralph Steadman does double duty portraying himself in the narration and contributing original artwork for the project. In 2021, Kramer re-Mastered the original audio for this historic re-release on limited-edition 'Horse-Shit Brown' vinyl for his Shimmy-Disc label.

Finnish Death Doom spearhead Kuolemanlaakso, starring vocalist Mikko Kotamäki, are about to release their first album in eight years. The new album Kuusumu was produced by V. Santura, who also took responsibility for producing the band’s previous records. In addition to his studio works, Santura is known as the guitarist of Triptykon and Dark Fortress. Kuusumu is the band’s fourth full-length album, and it will be out in 2022 via Svart Records. “The recording pause got unnecessarily long, but there’s no rush in doom. It was great to get back to work with the folks and catch up with some good friends as well. Kuusumu’s keyboards were played by Aleksi Munter (Swallow the Sun, Insomnium, Ghost Brigade) and Lotta Ruutiainen (Luna Kills) performed female vocals on the album. In my opinion we took many steps forward on Kuusumu”, guitarist-songwriter Laakso says. Kuusumu's texts are loosely based on the sudden global cooling that began in 535, leading to a 10-year winter, loss of crops, mass deaths of cattle and other animals, and famine. Climate change was most likely caused by massive volcanic eruptions, the fog of which darkened the sun for one and a half years, causing intolerable cold. Moreover, the plague pandemic that began in the Byzantine Empire in 541 swept across Europe, killing tens of millions of people during the climate crisis. “Our previous releases are autumn albums, so this time we decided to make a winter album. I came across the literature about those catastrophic events by chance, and got thoroughly inspired - especially by contemporary stories. It wasn’t long until the album material was there already. It’s spine-chilling to think that deadly climate change and a pandemic also raged 1,500 years ago when medicine, information flow and living conditions were in their infancy. There was no knowledge about electricity, for example. People imagined that the gods are angry and the darkness is eternal. One way or another, the power of nature should still not be underestimated,” says the band's artistic director Laakso. On Kuusumu, Kuolemanlaakso stretch their artistic boundaries even further. The album contains the familiar slow heaviness, but also more epic, faster and more polished material. The first single Katkeruuden malja, featuring Lotta Ruutiainen, represents the catchier and lighter side of the album. “Katkeruuden malja draws its inspiration from grief and misery. Musically it trips almost in the landscapes of Tribulation, but with longing, Kalevala-infused and, in my opinion, very Finnish melodies. Regarding singing, Kotamäki introduces new winds, and Lotta's parts really top it all off. The music video is like a visual extension of the cover art and the album’s lyrical themes, ” Laakso comments. The previous Kuolemanlaakso record Tulijoutsen (2014), reached the 10th place on Finland's official album list and was selected as one of the best records of the year on Soundi, Rumba, Kaaoszine and Imperiumi, among others.

For Fan Of: Journey, Rainbow, Kansas, Fates Warning, Armored Saint, Van Halen, Scorpions, Arch/Matheos, Warlord, Jethro Tull When Mark Zonder, famed former Fates Warning and Warlord drummer, started working on material in early 2020 he had a very clear vision for the band he wanted to put together. “I wanted to have a very accessible band that would appeal to the masses and would lead to the ability to tour larger venues. I knew from myself and the others that I would recruit, it would have some sophisticated music parts but the big hook was the main priority.” The result was A-Z, reuniting him with Fates Warning vocalist Ray Alder, Warlord/Steve Vai/Ring of Fire bassist Philip Bynoe, guitarist Joop Wolters and keyboardist Vivien Lalu, the combination of these players stirring up a very specific kind of magic that could not be replicated. The goal was always the same: shorter songs and getting right to the chorus, no twelve-minute songs, and everyone found it easy working to this remit. With everything else coming together nicely, finding the right singer was the hardest aspect of the whole process.

Lo-fi Beats is a fine and elegant new collection made for a cosy trip in music. Relax with a jazzy sound.

Sounds like supergroup. Rarely have outstanding figures of such a variety of musical styles collaborated on one album to pay homage to a nearly forgotten artist, one of the few black Beatnik poets, Bob Kaufman.

"All Those Streets I Must Find Cities For" by The Plastik Beatniks is an attempt to acoustically reanimate Bob Kaufman, to return the Beat to him in a transatlantic collaboration. It is a shimmering psychedelic, at times jazzy concept album, sometimes reminiscent of Krautrock or hip hop, about a Beat-era poet who was as great as he was forgotten. It takes spoken word to a new level, as a transatlantic showcase of musical avant-gardes and a joyful "sound archaeology" of modernity, in which the tracks of the "Plastik Beatniks" meet the best voices of America.

The 12 wildly different songs and audi collages, on the transatlantically-produced album, "All the Streets I Must Find Cities For," is based on lyrics by Beat author Bob Kaufman. They were originally part of the radio play "Thank God for Beatniks," for which author Andreas Ammer ("Ammer & Einheit"), Notwist‘s Markus Acher and Micha Acher and loop maker Leo Hopfinger ("LeRoy") formed "The Plastik Beatniks." On the eastern side of the Atlantic they composed music and crafted soundscapes. On the west side of the ocean, they asked three of the most renowned singers, activists and producers in the U.S. to recite or sing Bob Kaufman's poetry.

Punk-pop icon Patti Smith immediately signed on to read Kaufman's poem "Ginsberg (For Allen)". Free jazz vocalist Moor Mother passionately performed Bob Kaufman's "War Memoir". American jazz clarinetist, composer, singer and “International Anthem” labelmate Angel Bat Dawid, a legitimate successor to Sun Ra, polyphonically read and sang such poems as "The Sun is a Negroe" and "West Coast Sound 1956" and included some clarinet solos on top. Also on the album, Bob Kaufman himself recites his previously unknown poems "Hollywood Beat", "Would You Wear My Eyes", and the "Jail Poem" "All Those Streets I Must Find Cities For". Beat chronicler Raymond Foye, who still lives at the Chelsea Hotel in New York, contributed an interview he conducted with late beatnik Allen Ginsberg about Bob Kaufman. Completing the circle was hip-hop artist Adam "DoseOne" ("13&God"), who once gave Markus Acher a well-thumbed volume of Bob Kaufman, whom he admired. He contributed some raps. Thus 12 tracks emerged, as diverse as the artists, poets and musicians who contributed to it. More than an album. An epitaph. A work for the eternity of Beat.

Regarding Bob Kaufman - of course the FBI kept a file on him – first as a sailor, then a communist, and finally a Beat poet. As one of the mainstays of the movement, he edited the literary magazine "Beatitude" in San Francisco and defined "Beatnik" to Allen Ginsberg: half rhythm, half sputnik. Bob recited his poetry loudly on the streets (when he wasn't sunk into years of silence in protest of the Vietnam War) and in the bars and bagel shops of North Beach. Once, he almost landed a pop hit ("Green Green Rocky Road"), which then made Dylan's companion Dave van Ronk famous. That Kaufman is today less known than his friend Allen Ginsberg may be because he was a black Beat poet, and also a Jew. This was not compatible with fame in the US of the 1950s. Though Kaufman had the same publisher, City Lights, as Ginsberg, he was frequently arrested and jailed, and was treated with electric shocks until he developed serious mental heath issues. There he wrote his "Jail Poems". The seventh of these lent this album its name:

"Someone whom I am is no one / Something I have done is nothing Someplace I have been is nowhere / I am not me What of the answers / I must find questions for? All these strange streets I must find cities for, Thank god for beatniks."

Renowned German artist Jonathan Kaspar will make an eagerly-awaited return to Kompakt next month via his Umfang EP, with the four-track offering acting as his first full-length solo release on the label since March 2021. “My third Kompakt EP feels particularly special as it is the first time I’m releasing on my home label with dancefloors being open again. The result is four different tracks producing four different vibes, each of which transport my pandemic desires into today’s world.” - Jonathan Kaspar.

The title track leads the way, taking the form of a retro-leaning cut that features whirring synth stabs throughout. Kupfer comes next, a track packed full of emotive chords and a delicate underlying bassline, before Am Raster leads us to the dancefloor and beyond courtesy of minimal-laced kick patterns. Gemach, Gemach Herr Rabe ends proceedings on an incandescent note, as symphonic keys combine with intermittent crow samples to form a slice of wholesome, nature-inspired musical bliss.

Hailing from Bonn, Germany, Jonathan Kaspar is an integral part of the scene in Cologne. He is a resident at the city’s renowned Gewölbe club and also one of the current main figures at the legendary Kompakt label. His discography boasts releases on some of contemporary dance music’s most esteemed labels, including Innervisions, Cocoon Recordings and Crosstown Rebels to name a few, whilst performances at Watergate (Berlin), NDSM (Amsterdam) and Extrema Festival (Hasselt) have brought his sound to global audiences. The Umfang EP proves exactly why he has become one of Germany’s most exciting prospects in recent times and with a highlight year ahead, the future certainly shines bright for Jonathan.

Jonathan Kaspar ist mit einer neuen EP zurück auf KOMPAKT. Die vier Tracks unter dem Titel “Umfang EP” sind seine erste Solo-Veröffentlichung auf dem Label seit März 2021.

"Meine dritte KOMPAKT EP fühlt sich als etwas ganz Besonderes an, weil es das erste Mal ist, dass ich etwas auf meinem Heimatlabel veröffentliche und die Clubs wieder geöffnet sind. Dabei herausgekommen sind vier verschiedene Tracks mit vier unterschiedlichen Stimmungen, die meine pandemischen Sehnsüchte in die Jetztzeit transportieren", so Jonathan Kaspar.

Den Anfang macht der Titeltrack, retro-orientiert und mit flirrenden Synth-Stabs. Es folgt “Kupfer”, ein Track voller gefühlvoller Akkorde und einer zarten Bassline, bevor “Am Raster” uns mit minimalistischen Patterns auf die Tanzfläche und darüber hinaus führt. Mit “Gemach, Gemach Herr Rabe” schließt sich der Kreis, ein Stück glühender musikalischer Glückseligkeit, in dem sich symphonische Keys mit hier und da eingestreuten Samples von Krähen verbinden.

Der aus Bonn stammende Jonathan Kaspar ist fester Bestandteil der Kölner Elektro-Szene. Er ist Resident im renommierten Gewölbe Club und einer der aktuellen Protagonisten des KOMPAKT Labels. Seine Diskographie umfasst Veröffentlichungen auf einigen der angesehensten Labels der zeitgenössischen elektronischen Tanzmusik, darunter Innervisions, Cocoon Recordings und Crosstown Rebels, um nur einige zu nennen. Als DJ ist Jonathan international in den wichtigsten Clubs und auf den renommiertesten Festivals unterwegs, um seinen Sound einem weltweiten Publikum nahezubringen. Die “Umfang EP” ist ein neuerlicher Beweis, warum Kaspar in letzter Zeit zu einem der aufregendsten Produzenten aus Deutschland geworden ist. Dass ihm als Künstler weiterhin Großes bevorsteht, dem sollte nichts entgegenstehen.

Alien Transistor present Alien Parade Japan, a joyous double-album compilation of groups from Japan’s indie-pop and avant-garde undergrounds, all of which feature brass or woodwind instruments as part of their line-up. Compiled by Markus Acher (Alien Transistor, The Notwist, Hochzeitskapelle) with plenty of support and help from his Spirit Fest bandmate, Saya (also of Tenniscoats), it features some familiar names – Tenniscoats, naturally, but also Zayaendo, Tori Kudo’s Maher Shalal Hash Baz – alongside lesser-known groups like Biobiopatata, Mitamurakandadan?, Kourakuen, sekifu, and Noah Lewis Mahlon’ Taits, amongst many others.

The collection of songs here rests upon a simple question, and an interesting parallel: Why do so many groups from Japan include brass and woodwind, and how closely does this echo the scene that Acher is involved with in Munich? The idea was formulated in Acher’s mind after one of his groups, Hochzeitskapelle, had been invited by Saya to Japan in 2019, to take part in the Alien Parade Japan tour. “Saya and her friends recommended a lot of music to me that I didn’t know of,” Acher recalls, “and I was surprised and excited to find so many Japanese bands who use brass and woodwind instruments.”

This approach was something Acher had been familiar with for a while, thanks to his experiences in Munich: “Until then I thought of the Munich scene, where Hochzeitskapelle come from, as being quite unique in having ex-punk and still-indie musicians form loud acoustic bands with many brass instruments and play a wild mixture of styles.” And indeed, that variety is reflected in the twenty-two songs on Alien Parade Japan, which flits from the pastoral melody of Maher Shalal Hash Baz’s “Crossin The Tama River”, through the tenderness of various sighhorns’s “people have called them flowers”, to the folksy lament of Gratin Carnival’s “Just Watching”.

Alien Parade Japan reaches further afield, too, drawing in some groups, like HOSE, Fuigo, and popo, that feature musicians like Toshihiro Koike, Masafumi Ezaki and Taku Unami, who may be better known for their experimental and improvised releases on labels like ftarri and Erstwhile. It also looks back to material recorded in the 1990s - the swinging slide guitars and sax/tuba duet of Strada’s “Swamp”, from 1998, and Compostela’s energetic, rousing “ghhgh”, from 1990. Both pieces were written by, and feature, saxophonist Kanji Nakao; Compostela’s membership also included late saxophonist Masami Shinoda, who was also part of such storied Japanese groups as Pungo, A-Musik, Orquestra Del Viento, Ché-SHIZU, and the fiery free jazz outfit, Seikatsu Kōjyō Iinkai.

Groups like Compostela help to draw some through-lines to the aesthetics of chindon’ya, a type of Japanese marching band made up of costumed street performers who advertise businesses; the music made by these bands is brash, spirited, and full of energy. Alien Parade Japan weaves all of this together – chindon’ya; jazz; indie-pop; psych-folk; big band – into one beautiful, big tapestry of gorgeous melody, sweetness, and melancholy, with plenty of creative fraying at its edges. “The collection is a very personal view of Japanese bands using brass and woodwind instruments,” Acher concludes: “it’s not a representative anthology, it’s mainly held together by my personal taste, experiences, and friendships.” But it’s also a wonderfully coherent collection of some of the most playful and elated music you’re likely to hear this year. As musician and writer David Grubbs says:

„Now it is confirmed: my favorite genre of music is Alien Parade Japan. Hopefully now people will know what I’m talking about when I gush about the unassailable brilliance of longtime favorites like Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Popo, Mitamurakandadan?, Hose, and Tenniscoats, presented here alongside others whose music I have only begun to search out. Please share in my gratitude and enjoyment of this lovingly assembled collection, one that I welcome into my home as I would a long-anticipated guest.“

Bloodywood from India are the hottest new band in the Metal-genre. Millions of followers online and a growing fanbase! The self-released debut “Rakshak” finally released as a proper vinyl edition!

Formed in 2016 as a fun band, Bloodywood from New Delhi, India are the hottest metal band right now! They bring everything you need in 2022: aggression, global ideas, visionary views, politically correct behavior and standing up for minorities from all walks of life. The band around the three heads Jayant Bhadula, Karan Katijar and Raoul Kerr managed to break into the international charts on their own and gathered an incomparable fan following. What started out six years ago with Bollywood and Linkin Park-covers has grown to a size that's expanding by the day. Bloodywood fans can now be found all over the world, millions of people have heard their songs and watched their videos, the wave can no longer be stopped. Now the debut “Rakshak”, which the band self-released in early 2022, is finally out on vinyl! In the summer of 2022 they will storm the European festivals, make their point in the USA in September and return to play their long-awaited clubtour through Europe, which was postponed due to the pandemic, at the beginning of 2023. Tickets are already running low. In a year at the latest everyone will know who Bloodywood is. Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine) already knows it and has drawn his fans' attention to the Indian metallers with a tweet: "Rocking!" he calls the Indian sensation. Among other things, the musicians are involved in animal welfare and social projects and use traditional Indian instruments such as the tabla, dhol or bamboo flute. They mix it with rough thrash metal, urban rap vocals (English/Hindi/Punjabi) and rock-hard grooves. That creates a lot of uproar, at times sounds like open street fighting and, despite the regional references, has an absolutely international level. Especially since moderate sounds also find their place on “Rakshak” (Hindi for “protector”), as can be heard from the tracks 'Zanjeero Se' and 'Jee Veerey'. Bloodywood definitely deliver Linkin Park-standards here and even open themselves up to target groups that are less metal-savvy. The majority of this album rages like an unleashed tropical storm ('Dana-Dan', 'Chakh Le') is decked out with an impressively rabid force and hardly allows the listener any breaks. This mix is what makes it so successful: the album entered the Billboard charts, making them the first Indian metal band to do so.“Rakshak“ was also successful on Bandcamp, where it topped the platform's album sales upon release and was ranked as the 22nd best-selling new release of all time (as of March 2022) and the 3rd best-selling metal release. Rock for a rebellion that will be unstoppable!

Bloodywood from India are the hottest new band in the Metal-genre. Millions of followers online and a growing fanbase! The self-released debut “Rakshak” finally released as a proper vinyl edition!

Formed in 2016 as a fun band, Bloodywood from New Delhi, India are the hottest metal band right now! They bring everything you need in 2022: aggression, global ideas, visionary views, politically correct behavior and standing up for minorities from all walks of life. The band around the three heads Jayant Bhadula, Karan Katijar and Raoul Kerr managed to break into the international charts on their own and gathered an incomparable fan following. What started out six years ago with Bollywood and Linkin Park-covers has grown to a size that's expanding by the day. Bloodywood fans can now be found all over the world, millions of people have heard their songs and watched their videos, the wave can no longer be stopped. Now the debut “Rakshak”, which the band self-released in early 2022, is finally out on vinyl! In the summer of 2022 they will storm the European festivals, make their point in the USA in September and return to play their long-awaited clubtour through Europe, which was postponed due to the pandemic, at the beginning of 2023. Tickets are already running low. In a year at the latest everyone will know who Bloodywood is. Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine) already knows it and has drawn his fans' attention to the Indian metallers with a tweet: "Rocking!" he calls the Indian sensation. Among other things, the musicians are involved in animal welfare and social projects and use traditional Indian instruments such as the tabla, dhol or bamboo flute. They mix it with rough thrash metal, urban rap vocals (English/Hindi/Punjabi) and rock-hard grooves. That creates a lot of uproar, at times sounds like open street fighting and, despite the regional references, has an absolutely international level. Especially since moderate sounds also find their place on “Rakshak” (Hindi for “protector”), as can be heard from the tracks 'Zanjeero Se' and 'Jee Veerey'. Bloodywood definitely deliver Linkin Park-standards here and even open themselves up to target groups that are less metal-savvy. The majority of this album rages like an unleashed tropical storm ('Dana-Dan', 'Chakh Le') is decked out with an impressively rabid force and hardly allows the listener any breaks. This mix is what makes it so successful: the album entered the Billboard charts, making them the first Indian metal band to do so.“Rakshak“ was also successful on Bandcamp, where it topped the platform's album sales upon release and was ranked as the 22nd best-selling new release of all time (as of March 2022) and the 3rd best-selling metal release. Rock for a rebellion that will be unstoppable!

*Gatefold sleeve - black vinyl**

In many ways Kumoyo Island represents the culmination of a journey for Kikagaku Moyo. While their decade-long career can be summarized as a series of kaleidoscopic explorations through lands and dimensions far and near, there’s a strong intention in each of their works to take the listener to a particular place, however real or abstract they may be. In that sense, the title and cover art for the band’s fifth and final album draws you into a magical mass of land surrounded by water—but the couch suggests that Kumoyo Island may not be a fleeting stop, but rather a place of respite, where one could pause and take it all in.

Reconvening at Tsubame Studios in Asakusabashi, Tokyo, where their earliest material had been recorded, the five members of Kikagaku Moyo found new inspiration in a familiar and comfortable environment. With their adopted homebase of Amsterdam under lockdown and their touring activities halted due to the pandemic, the band felt a renewed sense of freedom being back in shitamachi, or the old downtown area of their hometown. With unrestricted time in the studio, they began to build upon the demos and song fragments they’d amassed since their last tour. In the 1.5 months spent in Tokyo, everything started to come together.

“Monaka”, its name taken from a type of Japanese wafer sweets, takes melodic inspiration from traditional minyo folk styles, while “Yayoi Iyayoi” is a rare instance of the band singing in their native tongue, its evocative lyrics utilizing archaic words taken from old poetry and nature books found in one of the many secondhand bookstores of Tokyo. For “Meu Mar”, an Erasmos Carlos cover, the original Portuguese lyrics were translated into English, then to Japanese. Strangely enough, the words seem to conjure an image of the protagonist floating among the clouds, looking down upon Tokyo Bay.

In fact, it may be possible to draw a parallel between the topography of the band’s home country—an island nation, surrounded by bodies of water—and the mysterious isle of Kumoyo. Are they one and the same? Has the band finally made it back home? It’s up to the listener to decide.

Pye Corner Audio releases a new album, Let’s Emerge!, for Sonic Cathedral. It’s his first studio outing for the label following the acclaimed live recording Social Dissonance, which came out earlier this year, and it features Ride guitarist Andy Bell playing on five of its ten tracks. From the first glimpse of the artwork to the first note of the music it’s a marked deviation from Pye Corner Audio’s more traditional shadowy sounds. Whereas his last outing for Ghost Box (2021’s Entangled Routes) was inspired by the underground fungal pathways through which plants communicate, this one is very much above ground, bathed in sunlight and acid-bright psychedelia.

“This is a departure to sunnier climes, but a departure nonetheless,” says Pye Corner Audio, aka Martin Jenkins. “It’s something that I’d been thinking about for a while. I try to tailor my work slightly differently for the various labels that I work with, and this seems to fit nicely with Sonic Cathedral’s ethos.” Designer Marc Jones’ bold and ultra vivid artwork consciously references the likes of LFO, Spacemen 3 and the early output of Stereolab. “I think it mixes together many of my earliest influences,” explains Martin. “I’ve been a long-time fan of Spacemen 3 and Stereolab.

Their moments of repetition and drone have always seeped into what I’ve tried to create.

“I was living in a small apartment and I’d stripped down my studio set-up when I was recording this album. This enabled me to focus on a few key pieces of equipment and explore them fully.” The recordings were fleshed out by Andy Bell, who Martin first met at the Sonic Cathedral 15th birthday party at The Social in London back in 2019 – the same show that became the live album Social Dissonance.

“New alliances were formed and friendships made in that basement in Little Portland Street,” recalls Martin. “When I met Andy, we agreed that we needed to work together in some way. After I’d remixed a few tracks from his album The View From Halfway Down, he kindly repaid the favour.” The end results – mastered in New York by acclaimed engineer Heba Kadry – are incredible, from the first stirrings of opener ‘De-Hibernate’, via the glorious ‘Haze Loops’ and ‘Saturation Point’, the album slowly but surely awakens, blinking and feeling its way into the light. It all culminates in the epic closing track ‘Warmth Of The Sun’ which, with its vocal harmonies and acid breakdown, is seven and a half minutes of pure release.

“That one’s about life’s simple pleasures,” concludes Martin. “The Beach Boys, tremolo guitars, infinite drones, Spacemen 3. Let’s emerge from this darkened era and feel the ‘Warmth Of The Sun’. “The last few years have seen huge changes, both personally and in a wider perspective. The album title is a reaction to this, a collective (tentative) sigh of relief. Here’s to new beginnings and a sense of hope.”

Joining the dots between Brazilian musical culture and the sonic melting pot that is New York City, Saidera are a trio on the rise. They’ve already released a pair of critically acclaimed, carnival-ready singles on Brooklyn’s Let’s Play House label and are now ready to make their debut on Leng Records.

The band’s roots can be traced back to a trip that Lemonade band member Alex Pasternak made to Brazil in 2014. While DJing at a house party in the bohemian Rio de Janeiro neighbourhood of Sta Teresa, Pasternak was left gobsmacked when a mysterious local singer/sambista Vadinho Freire, grabbed the mic and started freestyling lyrics and melodies over his set. Realising their instinctive musical connection, Pasternak and Freire decided to work together on some music, with New Yorker Le Chev joining them to complete the Saidera trio.

Now based in Rio and California, the group’s sun-soaked sound – which they describe as “samba disco-Afro melody” – is a cross-cultural stew in which infectious Brazilian percussion, colourful synth sounds, glistening guitars and celebratory vocals combine to create magical, life-affirming musical moments.

‘Luzes Da Cidade’, their first outing on Leng, encapsulates all that’s good about the Saidera sound and the trio’s approach to music. The song is about identity and connection and in its original form is languid, loved-up and joyous, with acoustic and electric guitars, Portuguese vocals and Korey Riker’s gently breezy flute solos rising above a squelchy synth bassline and energetic, sweat-soaked samba drums.

The song’s main mix comes accompanied by a wonderful instrumental pass featuring more extensive solos by Riker, and Saidera’s own remix of ‘Luzes Da Cidade’ – an extra-percussive, breakbeat-tinged fusion of hazy deep house, energetic samba and sunset-ready synth-disco that will delight DJs and dancers alike.

To round off the EP, Saidera has delivered a brand new “Uprockin Dub” of debut single ‘Deixa Tudo Fluir’, this time with female vocals from Irina Bertolucci taking the lead. Brilliantly kaleidoscopic sonically, with dub delay-laden vocals, guitars and flutes, it’s a superb, life-affirming Balearic reggae interpretation of a now familiar favourite. If you’re not singing along with the chorus after your first listen, we’d be very surprised.

High Focus Records are proud to present the latest collaboration from Verb T & Illinformed. ‘Stranded in Foggy Times’ both continues and completes the trilogy that began back in 2015, with ‘The Man with the Foggy Eyes’, before broadening the horizons with last year’s release ‘The Land of the Foggy Skies’. This final chapter returns to the same conceptual landscape as its predecessors, but also sees Verb T & Illinformed returning to a more classic approach to album making. In spite of its concept, the Foggy Trilogy is something of a personal outpouring for Verb T, with the original aim being to vicariously discuss the trials and tribulations that play a part in his life, including his struggles with chronic illness and the feeling of alienation from leaving his hometown, while also reflecting on the state of the world as a whole. Their approach to making the album meant taking it back to the most natural form, where the idea for the track would be outlined, Illinformed would make the beat, Verb T would write to it and then they would tweak and adjust accordingly. The result is 19 of the most finely crafted tracks to emerge from the UK shores this year. As with the previous albums, ‘Stranded in Foggy Times’ finds Illinformed moving away from the more rugged sound that has shrouded the British scene over the last few months, thanks to his collaborations with the likes of Datkid and Wish Master, instead providing Verb T with an arguably more mellow backdrop. From the string and piano driven introduction on ‘Legacy’, to the blissful head-nod vibes of the closing track, ‘Blind Faith’, the union between beats and rhymes sits at the perfect level. The album also boasts one of the most impressive guestlists of the year, one that is very much a product of both players’ worlds. Thanks to Illinformed’s Bristol connection, there are features from the likes of Res One, Datkid, Leaf Dog, Smellington Piff and Chillman, as well as some locally sourced cuts from DJ Rogue. While on Verb T’s side of the fence, we have features from Rye Shabby and Moreone, along with a collaboration that reignites the same creative spark he found in his early days, as King Kashmere steps into the booth on Feeling Strange. All in all, ‘Stranded in Foggy Times’ does exactly what it sets out to do, by drawing the trilogy to a close while also providing insights into Verb T’s personal world and the world at large. The fact that it also happens to be one of the strongest rap albums of the year is the icing on the cake

High Focus Records are proud to present the latest collaboration from Verb T & Illinformed. ‘Stranded in Foggy Times’ both continues and completes the trilogy that began back in 2015, with ‘The Man with the Foggy Eyes’, before broadening the horizons with last year’s release ‘The Land of the Foggy Skies’. This final chapter returns to the same conceptual landscape as its predecessors, but also sees Verb T & Illinformed returning to a more classic approach to album making. In spite of its concept, the Foggy Trilogy is something of a personal outpouring for Verb T, with the original aim being to vicariously discuss the trials and tribulations that play a part in his life, including his struggles with chronic illness and the feeling of alienation from leaving his hometown, while also reflecting on the state of the world as a whole. Their approach to making the album meant taking it back to the most natural form, where the idea for the track would be outlined, Illinformed would make the beat, Verb T would write to it and then they would tweak and adjust accordingly. The result is 19 of the most finely crafted tracks to emerge from the UK shores this year. As with the previous albums, ‘Stranded in Foggy Times’ finds Illinformed moving away from the more rugged sound that has shrouded the British scene over the last few months, thanks to his collaborations with the likes of Datkid and Wish Master, instead providing Verb T with an arguably more mellow backdrop. From the string and piano driven introduction on ‘Legacy’, to the blissful head-nod vibes of the closing track, ‘Blind Faith’, the union between beats and rhymes sits at the perfect level. The album also boasts one of the most impressive guestlists of the year, one that is very much a product of both players’ worlds. Thanks to Illinformed’s Bristol connection, there are features from the likes of Res One, Datkid, Leaf Dog, Smellington Piff and Chillman, as well as some locally sourced cuts from DJ Rogue. While on Verb T’s side of the fence, we have features from Rye Shabby and Moreone, along with a collaboration that reignites the same creative spark he found in his early days, as King Kashmere steps into the booth on Feeling Strange. All in all, ‘Stranded in Foggy Times’ does exactly what it sets out to do, by drawing the trilogy to a close while also providing insights into Verb T’s personal world and the world at large. The fact that it also happens to be one of the strongest rap albums of the year is the icing on the cake