Search:kid lib

From Harmony: I've wanted to do a collab EP with Kenny (Kid Lib) for sometime, as he's a great producer and friend. Kenny and I wrote "Dressback" together a few years ago, but never finished anymore colabs. Recently, I found it while going through my hard drive, and we both decided it still needed to be released. So each of us wrote an additional track to finish off the EP, giving you a bit of our separate styles alongside our collab.

Another record, another appearance from Kid Lib (& his many aliases) on Future Retro London... ????

As I said before on FR015, the Dub & Wheel stuff he makes is almost always making it into my selection for DJ sets, I honestly can't get enough of it. He had done this tune (originally titled Shaka Sound) in 2017 (I think?) but it was never fully finished on its own & I don't think there were any plans to finish it or release it. That didn't stop me from playing it in my sets of course haha

Eventually, I reached a point where I felt like I'd played it so much that I couldn't allow it to not come out, so I offered to finish the tune and then it could come out on Future Retro London & thankfully he allowed me to work on it and get it done.

In dub, they'll record many different versions/mixes of a tune with various differences in arrangement and sounds used & I felt it'd be cool to do that with this tune, with Mix One sounding more true to his original idea & Mix Two having a bit more variation in the bassline & drum patterns.

Anyway, big up to Kid Lib for letting me work on The Firmament & for letting me release it, hopefully there'll be more Dub & Wheel material from him in the future, I'm patiently waiting...

Genieße jetzt die Musik aus der Emmy-nominierten PBS-Kids-Serie ,Carl The Collector"! ,Sound Spectrum: A Collection of Themes From Carl The Collector" präsentiert die einzigartige Musik von Eraserhood Sound aus Philadelphia. Auf 34 Titeln, darunter der unvergessliche Titelsong der Serie, bekommst du einen Vorgeschmack auf Funk, Soul, Rare Groove, Jazz, Samba, R&B, New Wave und mehr - alles im typischen Synth-&-Soul-Stil von Eraserhood Sound. Die bahnbrechende Serie, die Carl, einen autistischen Waschbären, und seine Freunde begleitet, ist eine der ersten großen Serien, in denen Figuren mit Autismus vorkommen. Serienschöpfer Zachariah OHora wusste, dass er eine einzigartige Musikkomposition brauchte, um das Potenzial der Serie voll auszuschöpfen. Er wandte sich an Eraserhood Sound aufgrund ihres italienischen Library-Music-Albums ,Ribelle Di Mare" und bat um einen ähnlichen Synth-&-Soul-Ansatz. OHora sagt: ,Ich wollte keine typische Kindermusik. Ich wollte nuancierte, emotional reichhaltige Musik, die von und für Plattenliebhaber gemacht wurde." Die Musik, die vollständig von Vincent John und Maxwell Perla komponiert, produziert und eingespielt wurde, fängt die raffinierte Soulfulness von Vince Guaraldis klassischen Peanuts-Soundtracks ein und klingt dabei dennoch absolut frisch und modern. Jeder Song auf dem Album stammt direkt aus Episoden der unvergesslichen ersten Staffel von Carl The Collector. Von funkigen Fuzz-Freakouts bis hin zu düsteren, introspektiven Balladen - genieße einige von Vincents und Maxwells liebsten musikalischen Momenten aus der Serie.

MIO: Memories in Orbit is one of 2026 best games so far. With a synthwave-induced melody, blissful choir voices echoing the main theme of the game, buzzing electronic noises and a hint of groovy patterns, this track captures the very essence of the game. Reminiscent of other iconic OST like Power Glove’s Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon and Ben Prunty’s FTL: Faster Than Light.

The Éthiopiques series returns! Essential archive recordings from an extremely fruitful period in Ethiopian music.

Before “Swinging Addis” took over the world, there was Moussié Nerses Nalbandian — the Armenian-born composer who shaped modern Ethiopian music. Mentor, arranger, and pioneer, he laid the foundations of Ethio-jazz.

This Éthiopiques volume revives his forgotten legacy, recorded live by Either/ Orchestra First issue ever with new exclusive photos and in depth liner 8-page insert.

“Ethiopian jazzmen are the best musicians that we have seen so far in Africa.
They really are promising handlers of jazz instruments.”

Wilbur De Paris
(1959, after a concert in Addis Ababa)

አዲስ፡ዘመን። *Addis zèmèn* **A new era.**
The time is the mid-1950s and early 1960s, just before "Swinging Addis" bloomed – or rather boomed – onto the scene. Brass instruments are still dominant, but the advent of the electric guitar, and the very first electronic organs, are just around the corner. Rock’n'Roll, R’n’B, Soul and the Twist have not yet barged their way in. Addis Ababa is steeped in the big band atmosphere of the post-war era, with Glenn Miller's *In the* *Mood* as its world-wide theme song, neck and neck with the Latin craze that was in vogue at the same period. Life has become enjoyable once again, with the return of peace after the terrible Italian Fascist invasion of Ethiopia (1935-1941). The redeployment of modern music is part and parcel of the postwar reconstruction. *Addis zèmèn* – a new era – is the watchword of the postwar period, just as it was all across war-torn Europe.
The generation who were the young parents of baby boomers** were the first to enjoy this musical renaissance, before the baby boomers themselves took over and forever super-charged the soundtrack of the final days of imperial reign. Music is Ethiopia's most popular art form, and very often serves as the best barometer for the upsurge of energy that is critical for reconstruction. Whether it be jazz in Saint-Germain-des-Prés or the *zazous* who revolutionised both jazz and French *chanson* after the *Libération*, be it Madrid's post-Franco Movida, or Dada, the Surrealists and *les années folles* that followed World War I, the periods just after mourning and hardship always give rise to brighter and more tuneful tomorrows. Addis Ababa, as the country's capital, and the epicentre of change, was no exception to this vital rule.

**Two generations of Nalbandian musicians**
Nersès Nalbandian belonged to a family of Armenian exiles, who had moved to Ethiopia in the mid-1920s. The uncle Kevork arrived along with the fabled "*Arba Lidjotch*", the** "*40 Kids*", young Armenian orphans and musicians that the Ras Tafari had recruited when he visited Jerusalem in 1924, intending to turn their brass band into the official imperial band. If Kevork Nalbandian was the one who first opened the way of modernism, pushing innovation so far as to invent musical theatre, it was his nephew Nersès who would go on to become, from the 1940s and until his death in 1977, a pivotal figure of modern Ethiopian music and of the heights it. Going all the way back to the 1950s. Nothing less. And it is Nersès who is largely to thank for the brassy colours that so greatly contributed to the international renown of Ethiopian groove. While the younger generations today venture timidly into the genealogy of their country's modern music, often losing their way amidst a distinctly xenophobic historiographical complacency, many survivors of the imperial period are still around to bear witness and pay tribute to the essential role that "Moussié Nersès" played in the rise of Abyssinia's musical modernity.
Given the year of his birth (15 March 1915), no one knows for sure if Nersès Nalbandian was born in Aintab, today Gaziantep (Turkiye/former Ottoman Empire) or on the other side of the border in Alep, Syria... What is certain is that his family, like the entire Armenian community, was amongst the victims of the genocide perpetrated by the Turks. Alep, the place of safety – today in ruins.
Before Nersès then, there was uncle Kevork (1887-1963). For a quarter of a century, he was a whirlwind of activity in music teaching and theatrical innovation. *Guèbrè Mariam le Gondaré* (የጎንደሬ ገብረ ማርያም አጥቶ ማግኘት, 1926 EC=1934) is his most famous creation. This play included "ten Ethiopian songs" — a totally innovative approach. According to his autobiographical notes, preserved by the Nalbandian family, Kevork indicates that he composed some 50 such pieces over the course of his career. This shows just how much he understood, very early on, the critical importance of song as Ethiopia's crowning artistic form. Indeed, for Ethiopian listeners, the most important thing is the lyrics, with all their multifarious mischief, far more than a strong melody, sophisticated arrangements or even an exceptional voice. (This is also why Ethiopians by and large, and beginning with the artists and producers themselves, believed for a long time — and wrongly — that their music could not possibly be exported, and could never win over audiences abroad, who did not speak the country's languages).

Last but not least, one of Kevork's major contributions remains composing Ethiopia's first national anthem – with lyrics by Yoftahé Negussié.
Nersès Nalbandian moved to Ethiopia at the end of the 1930s, at the behest of his ground-breaking uncle. Proficient in many instruments (pretty much everything but the drums), conductor, choir director, composer, arranger, adapter, creator, piano tuner, purveyor of rented pianos,... he was above all an energetic and influential teacher. From 1946 onwards, thanks to Kevork's connexion, Nersès was appointed musical director of the Addis Ababa Municipality Band. In just a few years, Nersès transformed it into the first truly modern ensemble, thanks to the quality of his teaching, his choice of repertoire, and the sophistication of his arrangements. It was this group that would go on to become the orchestra of the Haile Selassie Theatre shortly after its inauguration in 1955, which was a major celebration of the Emperor's jubilee, marking the 25th anniversary of his on-again-off-again reign.

At some point or other in his long career, Nersès Nalbandian had a hand in the creation of just about every institutional band (Municipality Band, Police Orchestra, Imperial Bodyguard Band, Army Band, Yared Music School…), but it was with the Haile Selassie Theatre – today the National Theatre – that his abilities were most on display, up until his death in 1977. To this must be added the development of choral singing in Ethiopia, hitherto unknown, and a sort of secret garden dedicated to the memory of Armenian sacred music, and brought together in two thick, unpublished volumes. Shortly before his death (November 13, 1977), he was appointed to lead the impressive Ethiopian delegation at Festac in Lagos, Nigeria (January-February 1977).

His status as a stateless foreigner regularly excluded him from the most senior positions, in spite of the respect he commanded (and commands to this day) from the musicians of his era. Naturally gifted and largely self-taught, Nerses was tirelessly curious about new musical developments, drawing inspiration from the very first imported records, and especially from listening intensely to the musical programmes broadcast over short-wave radio – BBC *First*. A prolific composer and arranger, he was constantly mindful of formalising and integrating Ethiopian parameters (specific “musical modes”, pentatonic scale, and the dominance of ternary rhythms) into his “modernisation” of the musical culture, rather than trying to over-westernise it. It even seems very probable that *Moussié* Nerses made a decisive contribution to the development of tighter music-teaching methods, in order to revitalise musical education during this period of prodigious cultural ferment. Flying in the face of all the historiographical and musicological evidence, it is taken as sacrosanct dogma that the four musical modes or chords officially recognised today, the *qǝñǝt* or *qiñit* (ቅኝት), are every bit as millennial as Ethiopia itself. It would appear however that some streamlining of these chords actually took place in around 1960. It was only from this time onward that music teaching was structured around these four fundamental musical modes and chords: *Ambassel*, *Bati*, *Tezeta* and *Antchi Hoyé*. A historical and musical “details” that is, apparently, difficult to swallow, especially if that should honour a *foreigner*. Modern Ethiopian music has Nersès to thank for many of its standards and, to this day, it is not unusual for the National Radio to broadcast thunderous oldies that bear unmistakable traces of his outrageously groovy touch.

A bit of backstory behind this release, I first met Hilton (Jack Horner) at an event in 2012 that took place in a venue called Crucifix Lane (also known as Jack's, now defunct due to expansion of London Bridge station). He's good friends with Krome & Time who were performing that night and I remember chatting with him about jungle (I was still a very eager young lad that was in his first year of raving and very keen to talk about jungle/hardcore/d&b to anyone that would be willing to endure it!) and he mentioned that he used to make jungle in the 90s. I asked who he was and when he told me he was Jack Horner, I went mental because I was a big fan of the 2nd release on Spectrum Records (The Hoover & I Got This Feeling) and to actually meet the person behind those tunes was a really special situation for me to be in.

Unfortunately, I was too shy to get any contact details for him and I never saw him again or knew anyone that had a way of getting in touch with him. That was until very recently, when he had started attending Distant Planet events in London & I got the chance to meet him again, only to be shocked by him telling me that he had been following me & my music and was a fan of me & my label! This time, I made sure that I was able to get contact details for him, I was not going to make the same mistake as last time!

Last December, he messaged me asking if I would be up for doing a remix of The Hoover & I was quite unsure about doing it because of how much I really enjoy the original and feel like it does pretty much everything it needs to do with the sounds used. But, I thought it would be worth a try so I gave it a go and Hilton really liked the outcome (which was a huge relief ????), even though I was a bit too scared to change too much of it haha.

He then asked if I would be interested in releasing it on Future Retro London, which I'd never considered doing because I thought he would have had his own plans for it but I was willing to try & see if we could make a release out of this. I messaged Dwarde & Kid Lib to ask if they'd be up for doing remixes of the same tune (at the time, we only had access to the samples from The Hoover) and they both were and they did great work taking the original track in different directions, each in their own way.

Around the time of making The Hoover, Hilton made another tune with similar samples called After The Pain, which was never released, but he still had the tune. The problem is that he only had it in the form of a cassette recording, which wasn't very good quality and probably would not be easily cleaned up for release. So, I decided to remake the tune from scratch, using the samples I had from The Hoover, as well as sourcing & recreating other sounds used. I was able to remake the whole tune arrangement & then Kid Lib mixed it down to make it sound more sonically similar to how it would have sounded when it was originally made back in 94/95.

Anyway, story time over, big thanks to Hilton for his co-operation & assistance on making this release happen, to Dwarde & Kid Lib for their remix work & a special shout going out to Hughesee for going through Hilton's collection of floppy disks to find & record the samples for The Hoover.

Finally, I was able to devote some time to actually getting some collaborations completed for a new release of the Meeting Of The Minds series, with some brand new names arriving to Future Retro London!

Nebula is one of my favourite artists making new jungle atm, his versatility in music on the darker & lighter sides of the spectrum, the richness of his atmospherics and melodies & the way his drum edits flow throughout his tracks, I consider him a big inspiration in what I make. It was an absolute pleasure to be able to work with him on "Without Fear".

I've been enjoying some of what Stekker's been doing in his music, representing the ruffer lo-fi side of production and he's been putting out some great stuff on his own label Ruff 'n' Tuff as well as on a release he did for Coco Bryce's label Myor. I reached out to him about a collaboration and he had started something, which I was really into and that led to "The Quest".

I owe a lot to DJ Trace, as he was one of the first big names in jungle/d&b to really show me support for what I was doing. He gave me my debut vinyl release when he asked me to remix an old classic of his called "Final Chapta", which he released in 2011 on his label DSCI4. I also had music released on a label he started a few years after that called 117 (which I also helped design artwork for), so we go way back. He's been making more music than ever before recently and I was lucky enough to be able to get a collaboration in with him and "Patterns Of Thought" is the end result of that.

I've known Ark X & Duburban for a number of years, I would see them at a lot of events up north, as well as at events in London that they'd travel down for. They also were good friends with Kid Lib and would drive down with him whenever he was visiting/DJing in London & I was becoming familiar with their music through him, through Ark X's labels Supercharger & Hypercharger (where some of Ark X's music was being released under his previous alias of Black Orchid) & through Duburban's collaborations with Jahganaut. Big up to both of them for collaborating with me on "Come A Dance"

Strictly Ragga is a track that me & Mr Sensi finished together in 2014, but at the time, there was no label interest in it and besides some DJ support from Bailey, Equinox, Double O & a few others at the time, we sort of forgot that it had existed. Recently though, whilst organising my projects folder, I rediscovered the tune and thought it was worth releasing myself now that I'm able to do that on Future Retro London.

FM Dial, I sort of can't really remember the exact process behind it being made. If I remember right, Kid Lib sent me the parts of a tune called Unauthorized around 2013 (I think?), it was quite fully formed but it had no bassline on it. I never made time to work on it, so I think he sent it to Mr Sensi, who did some work on it but also didn't finish it. Then last year, I found a folder that Mr Sensi had sent me years back, which had the parts for a tune that he never finished, which I then finished. I sent the tune to Kid Lib when it was done, having forgotten about Unauthorized and it turned out that I finished a version that Mr Sensi had worked on of Kid Lib's track, without knowing anything about Mr Sensi's involvement in Unauthorized. All a bit confusing I know, but anyway, all that matters was that the tune was finished.

Nice one to Mr Sensi & Kid Lib for their involvement in this release and to Bailey, Equinox, Double O and everyone else that gave Strictly Ragga some support in its initial existenc

At long last, hi-tek whizz-kid Metrist returns to Timedance with the third addition to the ‘Pollen’ series and brings his epic trilogy started in 2019 to a breath-catching end.

Elevating an already unique approach of sonic craftsmanship to whole new levels, the London based producer delivers some of his wildest and most dramatic compositions to date while pushing further his signature blend of 22nd century dancefloor pyrotechnics.

From the angelic vocal cascades of opener « Leven Lever Liver Love » to the heart-wrenching heights of « Bullet Time », a playful and intricate display of cross-pollinated emotions shines through this collection of boundary pushing tracks, giving them a life of their own while bringing a stormy cycle of auditory experiments into human nature to completion

As thunderstorms form, pollen grains often ascend into clouds, soaking up humidity to a point they inevitably burst out, liberating innumerable particles that tumultuous winds send back to ground-levels.

With a false sense of distance and safety, we sit back and watch the lightning strike in complete awe, unaware of pollen slowly descending from the skies, making its way through our lungs and deep into our bodies ; the storm may be over, but Pollen has now fully become a part of us.

UILTY RAZORS, BONA FIDE PUNKS.



Writings on the topic that go off in all directions, mind-numbing lectures given by academics, and testimonies, most of them heavily doctored, from those who “lived through that era”: so many people today fantasize about the early days of punk in our country… This blessed moment when no one had yet thought of flaunting a ridiculous green mohawk, taking Sid Vicious as a hero, or – even worse – making the so-called alternative scene both festive and boorish. There was no such thing in 1976 or 1977, when it wasn’t easy to get hold of the first 45s by the Pistols or the Clash. Few people were aware of what was happening on the fringes of the fringes at the time. Malcolm McLaren was virtually unknown, and having short hair made you seem strange. Who knew then that rock music, which had taken a very bad turn since the early 1970s, would once again become an essential element of liberation? That, thanks to short and fast songs, it would once again rediscover that primitive, social side that was so hated by older generations? Who knew that, besides a few loners who read the music press (it was even better if they read it in English) and frequented the right record stores? Many of these formed bands, because it was impossible to do otherwise. We quickly went from listening to the Velvet Underground to trying to play the Stooges’ intros. It’s a somewhat collective story, even though there weren’t many people to start it.
The Guilty Razors were among those who took part in this initial upheaval in Paris. They were far from being the worst. They had something special and even released a single that was well above the national average. They also had enough songs to fill an album, the one you’re holding. In everyone’s opinion, they were definitely not among the punk impostors that followed in their wake. They were, at least, genuine and credible.

Guilty Razors, Parisian punk band (1975-1978). To understand something about their somewhat linear but very energetic sound, we might need to talk about the context in which it was born and, more broadly, recall the boredom (a theme that would become capital in punk songs) coupled with the desire to blow everything off, which were the basis for the formation of bands playing a rejuvenated rock music ; about the passion for a few records by the Kinks or the early Who, by the Stooges, by the Velvet mostly, which set you apart from the crowd.
And of course, we should remember this new wave, which was promoted by a few articles in the specialized press and some cutting-edge record stores, coming from New York or London, whose small but powerful influence could be felt in Paris and in a handful of isolated places in the provinces, lulled to sleep by so many appalling things, from Tangerine Dream to President Giscard d’Estaing...
In 1975-76, French music was, as almost always, in a sorry state ; it was still dominated by Johnny Hallyday and Sylvie Vartan. Local rock music was also rather bleak, apart from Bijou and Little Bob who tried to revive this small scene with poorly sound-engineered gigs played to almost no one.
In the working class suburbs at the time, it was mainly hard rock music played to 11 that helped people forget about their gruelling shifts at the factory. Here and there, on the outskirts of major cities, you still could find a few rockers with sideburns wearing black armbands since the death of Gene Vincent, but it wasn’t a proper mass movement, just a source of real danger to anyone they came across who wasn't like them. In August 1976, a festival unlike any other took place in Mont-de-Marsan – the First European Punk Festival as the poster said – with almost as many people on stage as in the audience. Yet, on that day, a quasi historical event happened, when, under the blazing afternoon sun, a band of unknowns called The Damned made an unprecedented noise in the arena, reminiscent of the chaotic Stooges in their early adolescence. They were the first genuine punk band to perform in our country: from then on, anything was possible, almost anything seemed permissible.

It makes sense that the four+1 members of Guilty Razors, who initially amplified acoustic guitars with crappy tape recorder microphones, would adopt punk music (pronounced paink in French) naturally and instinctively, since it combines liberating noise with speed of execution and – crucially – a very healthy sense of rebellion (the protesters of May 1968 proclaimed, and it was even a slogan, that they weren’t against old people, but against what had made them grow old. In the mid-1970s, it seemed normal and obvious that old people should now ALSO be targeted!!!).
At the time, the desire to fight back, and break down authority and apathy, was either red or black, often taking the form of leafleting, tumultuous general assemblies in the schoolyard, and massive or shabby demonstrations, most of the time overflowing with an exciting vitality that sometimes turned into fights with the riot police. Indeed, soon after the end of the Vietnam War and following Pinochet’s coup in Chile, all over France, Trotskyist and anarcho-libertarian fervour was firmly entrenched among parts of the educated youth population, who were equally rebellious and troublemakers whenever they had the chance. It should also be noted that when the single "Anarchy in the UK" was first heard, even though not many of us had access to it, both the title and its explosive sound immediately resonated with some of those troublemakers crying out for ANARCHY!!! Meanwhile, the left-wing majority still equated punks with reckless young neo-Nazis. Of course, the widely circulated photos in the mainstream press of Siouxsie Sioux with her swastikas didn’t necessarily help to win over the theorists of the Great Revolution. It took Joe Strummer to introduce The Clash as an anti-racist, anti-fascist and anti-ignorance band for the rejection of old-school revolutionaries to fade a little.

The Lycée Jean-Baptiste Say at Porte d’Auteuil, despite being located in the very posh and very exclusive 16th arrondissement of Paris, didn’t escape these "committed" upheavals, which doubled as the perfect outlet for the less timid members of this generation.
“Back then, politics were fun,” says Tristam Nada, who studied there and went on to become Guilty Razors’ frontman. “Jean-Baptiste was the leftist high-school in the neighbourhood. When the far right guys from the GUD came down there, the Communist League guys from elsewhere helped us fight them off.”
Anything that could challenge authority was fair game and of course, strikes for just about any reason would lead to increasingly frequent truancy (with a definitive farewell to education that would soon follow). Tristam Nada spent his 10th and 11th unfinished grades with José Perez, who had come from Spain, where his father, a janitor, had been sentenced to death by Franco. “José steered my tastes towards solid acts such as The Who. Like most teenagers, I had previously absorbed just about everything that came my way, from Yes to Led Zeppelin to Genesis. I was exploring… And then one day, he told me that he and his brother Carlos wanted to start a rock band.” The Perez brothers already played guitar. “Of course, they were Spanish!”, jokes their singer. “Then, somewhat reluctantly, José took up the bass and we were soon joined by Jano – who called himself Jano Homicid – who took up the rhythm guitar.” Several drummers would later join this core of not easily intimidated young guys who didn’t let adversity get the better of them.

The first rehearsals of the newly named Guilty Razors took place in the bedroom of a Perez aunt. There, the three rookies tried to cover a few standards, songs that often were an integral part of their lives. During a first, short gig, in front of a bewildered audience of tough old-school rockers, they launched into a clunky version of the Velvet Underground's “Heroin”. Challenge or recklessness? A bit of both, probably… And then, step by step, their limited repertoire expanded as they decided to write their own songs, sung in a not always very accurate or academic English, but who cared about proper grammar or the right vocabulary, since what truly mattered was to make the words sound as good as possible while playing very, very fast music? And spitting out those words in a language that left no doubt as to what it conveyed mattered as well.
Trying their hand a the kind of rock music disliked by most of the neighbourhood, making noise, being fiercely provocative: they still belonged to a tiny clique who, at this very moment, had chosen to impose this difference. And there were very few places in France or elsewhere, where one could witness the first stirrings of something that wasn’t a trend yet, let alone a movement.

In the provinces, in late 1976 or early 1977, there couldn’t be more than thirty record stores that were a bit more discerning than average, where you could hear this new kind of short-haired rock music called “punk”. The old clientele, who previously had no problem coming in to buy the latest McCartney or Aerosmith LP, now felt a little less comfortable there…
In Paris, these enlightened places were quite rare and often located nex to what would become the Forum des Halles, a big shopping mall. Between three aging sex workers, a couple of second-hand clothes shops, sellers of hippie paraphernalia and small fashion designers, the good word was loudly spread in two pioneering places – propagators of what was still only a new underground movement. Historically, the first one was the Open Market, a kind of poorly, but tastefully stocked cave. Speakers blasted out the sound of sixties garage bands from the Nuggets compilation (a crucial reference for José Perez) or the badly dressed English kids of Eddie and the Hot Rods. This black-painted den was opened a few years earlier by Marc Zermati, a character who wasn’t always in a sunny disposition, but always quite radical in his (good) choices and his opinions. He founded the independent label Skydog and was one of the promoters of the Mont-de-Marsan punk festivals. Not far from there was Harry Cover, another store more in tune with the new New York scene, which was amply covered in the house fanzine, Rock News (even though it was in it that the photos of the Sex Pistols were first published in France).
It was a favorite hang-out of the Perez brothers and Tristam Nada, as the latter explained. “It’s at Harry Cover’s that we first heard the Pistols and Clash’s 45s, and after that, we decided to start writing our first songs. If they could do it, so could we!”
The sonic shocks that were “Anarchy in the UK”, “White Riot” or the Buzzcocks’s EP, “Spiral Scratch” – which Guilty Razors' sound is reminiscent of – were soon to be amplified by an unparalleled visual shock. In April 1977, right after the release of their first LP, The Clash performed at the Palais des Glaces in Paris, during a punk night organised by Marc Zermati. For many who were there, it was the gig of a lifetime…
Of course, Guilty Razors and Tristam were in the audience: “That concert was fabulous… We Parisian punks were almost all dressed in black and white, with white shirts, skinny leather ties, bikers jackets or light jackets, etc. The Clash, on the other hand, wore colourful clothes. Well, the next day, at the Gibus, you’d spot everyone who had been at this concert, but they weren’t wearing anything black, they were all wearing colours.”

It makes sense to mention the Gibus club, as Guilty Razors often played there (sometimes in front of a hostile audience). It was also the only place in Paris that regularly scheduled new Parisian or Anglo-Saxon acts, such as Generation X, Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Slits, and Johnny Thunders who would become a kind of messed-up mascot for the venue. A little later, in 1978, the Rose Bonbon – formerly the Nashville – also attracted nightly owls in search of electric thrills… In 1977, the iconic but not necessarily excellent Asphalt Jungle often played at the Gibus, sometimes sharing the bill with Metal Urbain, the only band whose aura would later transcend the French borders (“I saw them as the French Sex Pistols,” said Geoff Travis, head of their British label Rough Trade). Already established in this small scene, Metal Urbain helped the young and restless Guilty Razors who had just arrived. Guitarist for Metal Urbain Hermann Schwartz remembers it: “They were younger than us, we were a bit like their mentors even if it’s too strong a word… At least they were credible. We thought they were good, and they had good songs which reminded of the Buzzcocks that I liked a lot. But at some point, they started hanging out with the Hells Angels. That’s when we stopped following them.”

The break-up was mutual, since, Guilty Razors, for their part, were shocked when they saw a fringe element of the audience at Metal Urbain concerts who repeatedly shouted “Sieg Heil” and gave Nazi salutes. These provocations, even still minor (the bulk of the skinhead crowd would later make their presence felt during concerts), weren’t really to the liking of the Perez brothers, whose anti-fascist convictions were firmly rooted. Some things are non-negotiable.
A few months earlier (in July 1978), Guilty Razors had nevertheless opened very successfully for Metal Urbain at the Bus Palladium, a more traditonally old-school rock night-club. But, as was sometimes the case back then, the night turned into a mass brawl when suburban rockers came to “beat up punks”.

Back then, Parisian nights weren’t always sweet and serene.

So, after opening as best as they could for The Jam (their sound having been ruined by the PA system), our local heroes were – once again – met outside by a horde of greasers out to get them. “Thankfully,” says Tristam, “we were with our roadies, motorless bikers who acted as a protective barrier. We were chased in the neighbouring streets and the whole thing ended in front of a bar, with the owner coming out with a rifle…”
Although Tristam and the Perez brothers narrowly escaped various, potentially bloody, incidents, they weren’t completely innocent of wrongdoing either. They still find amusing their mugging of two strangers in the street for example (“We were broke and we simply wanted to buy tickets for the Heartbreakers concert that night,” says Tristam). It so happened that their victims were two key figures in the rock business at the time: radio presenter Alain Manneval and music publisher Philippe Constantin. They filed a complaint and sought monetary compensation, but somehow the band’s manager, the skilful but very controversial Alexis, managed to get the complaint withdrawn and Guilty Razors ended up signing with Constantin with a substantial advance.

They also signed with Polydor and the label released in 1978 their only three-track 45, featuring “I Don't Wanna be A Rich”, “Hurts and Noises” and “Provocate” (songs that exuded perpetual rebellion and an unquenchable desire for “class” confrontation). It was a very good record, but due to a lack of promotion (radio stations didn’t play French artists singing in English), it didn’t sell very well. Only 800 copies were allegedly sold and the rest of the stock was pulped… Initially, the three tracks were to be included on a LP that never came to be, since they were dropped by Polydor (“Let’s say we sometimes caused a ruckus in their offices!” laughs Tristam.) In order to perfect the long-awaited LP, the band recorded demos of other tracks. There was a cover of Pink Floyd's “Lucifer Sam” from the Syd Barrett era – proof of an enduring love for the sixties’ greats –, “Wake Up” a hangover tale and “Bad Heart” about the Baader-Meinhof gang, whose actions had a profound impact on the era and on a generation seeking extreme dissent... On the album you’re now discovering, you can also hear five previously unreleased tracks recorded a bit later during an extended and freezing stay in Madrid, in a makeshift studio with the invaluable help of a drummer also acting as sound engineer. He was both an enthusiastic old hippie and a proper whizz at sound engineering. Here too, certain influences from the fifties and sixties (Link Wray, the Troggs) are more than obvious in the band’s music.

Shortly after a final stormy and rather barbaric (on the audience’s side) “Punk night” at the Olympia in June 1978, Tristam left the band ; his bandmates continued without him for a short while.

But like most pioneering punk bands of the era, Guilty Razors eventually split up for good after three years (besides once in Spain, they’d only played in Paris). The reason for ceasing business activities were more or less the same for everyone: there were no venues outside one’s small circuit to play this kind of rock music, which was still frightening, unknown, or of little interest to most people. The chances of recording an LP were virtually null, since major labels were only signing unoriginal but reassuring sub-Téléphone clones, and the smaller ones were only interested in progressive rock or French chanson for youth clubs. And what about self-production? No one in our small safety-pinned world had thought about it yet. There wasn’t enough money to embark on that sort of venture anyway.

So yes, the early days of punk in France were truly No Future!

Comprising of sisters Eva and Grace Tedeschi, The Cords are the brightest new indiepop band from Scotland and this is theri debut. They started playing drums when they were little kids and later found that they liked 80s and 90s indie music more than their peers did, and so formed a band, just the two of them, with Grace on drums and Eva on guitar - and the songs started to flow. With only a cassette and a flexi single released so far (both of which sold out in a matter of hours), Eva and Grace honed their skills by playing a whole series of gigs with some of the biggest names in Scottish pop. Their first show was with The Vaselines, and since then they have played with Camera Obscura, Belle and Sebastian, BMX Bandits and others, while also sharing stages with the new generation of indiepop stars: the Umbrellas, Chime School, Lightheaded. Like all great pop bands, The Cords have taken familiar ingredients and created something utterly fresh. Older indie fans will hear echoes of The Shop Assistants, The Primitives, Tiger Trap and Talulah Gosh, but they will hear something else too: a yearning, dreamy melodic power that takes the songs into darker, stranger places. Younger pop fans won't care about these old reference points: what they will hear is the sound of two young women doing something utterly exciting: playing loud guitar and loud drums, taking analogue instruments and hitting them hard in the service of immediate and infectious pop tunes, and not giving a second thought about the digital world that wants to own everything we do. The Cords sound free: they remind us that pop music, played right, is expressive, liberating, joyful and deeply personal. First single `Fabulist' is a sweet and catchy pop song that races along, so headlong and hooky that, on first listen, you could miss the fact that it's a wholehearted take-down of people who lie for a living. And the album is a fun rollercoaster ride from that point onwards, with the real stars of this record being Eva's sinuous guitar and silky vocals, and Grace's clattering, expressive sing-song drums. It's the sound of two sisters having an intense musical conversation with each other, pushing each other on to greater heights, exhilarated by the set of perfect pop songs they have magicked up. DIGIPAK CD, LP on BABY BLUE VINYL.

I first remember meeting Eminence in 2019, at one of her Upraw events she was doing at the time in Leeds (now taking place in Bristol). She had booked me & Coco Bryce to play & since then, we kept in contact and she would send me her music that she was working on.

Last year, I heard that she had collaborations on the go with both Dwarde & Kid Lib, which made me curious about how those tunes would sound & when she sent me early previews of them, I was very keen on getting them for the label. It took quite a while for both of these collabs to get finished but eventually, after many back & forth between Eminence & both artists, we reached a point where everyone was happy (I think!) with the end results.

I was asked by Priori (a producer based in Montreal) who runs a label called NAFF about doing a remix of this tune called "First Step To Peace" by Sabola. I did the remix that month & both him & Sabola were pleased with how it sounded and it got the go ahead for release (should be out at some point soon!)

In February, I had a gig in Montreal where I was able to meet both of them beforehand to hang out and chat about music and such & getting to know Sabola in person, I realised that he had more interest in & knowledge about jungle than I had initially assumed. Also, he was occasionally producing jungle tunes, but none of them had been released before.

I asked him to send me some of what he had been working on & when he sent me "Close Your Eyes", I knew straight away that I needed to get him on the label in some form. I signed that track instantly and then waited for him to work on some more music for a Future Retro London release, which then resulted in "Give You Some Space" & that was all I needed.

In the end, I decided that rather than doing 2 separate 10" releases for the collabs Eminence had done with Dwarde & Kid Lib and the tracks that Sabola had made, it would be more practical to combine them into a split 12" EP release & here we are.

Big up to Eminence for her collabs (as well as her putting up with my constant chasing up of progress for the release), to Dwarde & Kid Lib for their work on the collaborations, to Sabola for his excellent work on his two tracks & to Priori for introducing me to his music.

Young Gun Silver Fox are the captains of AM Waves, setting sail towards an isle where melodies soak the shoreline and grooves sway like palm trees. Their route traces a natural progression fromWest End Coast, an album that cast Andy Platts (Young Gun) and Shawn Lee (Silver Fox) as musical virtuosos of SoCal-infused pop. AM Waves does more than duplicate the perfection of West End Coast. It improves it.

Recorded at The Shop in London and Roffey Hall in the English countryside, AM Waves burnishes the blend between the duo's modern aesthetic and their sumptuously crafted homage to '70s-styled pop, rock, and soul. "This music hits a certain spot for me personally that nothing else quite does," says Shawn, who produced the album amidst his projects for Saint Etienne, Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra, and several other acts. "It's real high-caliber music. It's easy and breezy to listen to but it's really hard to make. Every aspect is A game."

The A game behind AM Waves fuels 43 minutes of Young Gun Silver Fox in peak form. "AM Waves is much more instinctive," says Andy, whose penchant for writing irresistible hooks and melodies also shapes his role as lead singer and lyricist/composer for the band Mamas Gun. "It's more vivid. You can see the clarity to the colors of AM Waves whereas West End Coast is slightly more impressionist, as it were."

Originally issued as a single in September 2017, "Midnight in Richmond" is the anchor of AM Waves. "I hit one chord, which I'd never played before, and the song sort of wrote itself," notes Shawn. "It was intuitive. In many ways, the primary function of what I'm doing is trying to find that chord that opens a door and takes you someplace else. Those chords have magic." Andy embellishes the song's appeal by nimbly juxtaposing wistful emotions with a sun-kissed melody, his voice evoking richly drawn memories. The qualities that make "Midnight in Richmond" an instant classic abound throughout the album.

"Lenny" and "Take It or Leave It" spotlight Andy's versatility as a songwriter. The former was inspired by a dream he had where Lenny Kravitz owned a bar. "It was surreal," he says. "He was polishing the glasses and just serving me hit after hit." Like swimming through moonshine, Andy languorously savors every syllable in the song. "Take It or Leave It" is pure pop bliss. "That was one of those songs that fell out in half an hour," he says. "I had everything and it was done." Shawn adds, "It's such a perfect song in itself. When I listen to it, it's like you've created a record that already existed."

Young Gun Silver Fox introduce a five-piece horn section on "Underdog" that literally trumpets the song's protagonist. Shawn affectionately dubbed them the "Seaweed Horns" in honor of the Seawind Horns, an LA-based unit that recorded with powerhouses like Michael Jackson,Rufus & Chaka Khan,and Earth, Wind & Fire during the late-'70s. Andy explains, "The horns grab another hue of the west coast sound, which is the starting point, but it's also maybe the point where we're injecting a little bit more of ourselves and some outside colors into the familiar west coast palette."

A bounty of treasures course through AM Waves' ebb and flow. "Mojo Rising," which the duo penned with Rob Johnson, is a veritable retreat to paradise. "Sky-bound, heaven sent / Way above the clouds watching shootingstars descend," Andy sings, mirroring the music's celestial undertones. Sensuality contours the notes on "Just a Man," a song that basks in the allure of a woman who leaves "footprints on the water" while "Love Guarantee" is festooned with the Seaweed Horns. "I wanted to bring more of that R&B slickness into the mix," Shawn notes about the latter track. "We hadn't done a tune with that sort of groove." Similar to his work on "Underdog," Nichol Thomson's intricate horn arrangement on "LoveGuarantee"exemplifies another distinction between AM Waves and its predecessor.

"Caroline" occupies a special place on AM Waves, beyond spawning the album title. It tells the story of Radio Caroline, a pirate radio station that broadcast from an offshore vessel during the '60s and '70s. "They played the music that kids wanted to hear, whether it was the old stuff or cutting edge stuff," says Andy. "'Caroline' is about Radio Caroline's eventual capture." Complementing Andy Platts' deft wordplay, which draws parallels between radio airwaves and the station's literal home on the ocean, Shawn Lee layers nearly a dozen different parts on "Caroline," showcasing the vastness of his musicality. "I loved that track as soon as I heard it," Andy continues. "It's a beautiful fusion of me and Shawn."

The Seaweed Horns joinYoung Gun Silver Foxas they detour to the dance floor on "Kingston Boogie." Shawn explains the track's genesis, "I was thinking, what have we not done yet We definitely should get an AOR disco thing happening. I quite like disco. The beat is so metronomic that it allows you to be really sophisticated on top. 'Kingston Boogie' just laid itself out. I call it 'midnight disco.'" With a nod to "Lenny," Andy Platts sets "Kingston Boogie" back at Lenny's Bar, this time revealing a detail or two about its mysterious proprietor as he pours sweet wine and moonshine.

In a sense, AM Waves ends with the beginning. Even before there was Young Gun Silver Fox, there was "Lolita," the first song Andy Platts and Shawn Lee wrote together and a crowd-pleasing staple of the duo's live sets. The tale of a femme fatale who harbors a secret was recorded for West End Coast but instead furnished the B-side to "Long Way Back" as well as a bonus track on the North American edition of the album. Despite the song's checkered trajectory, its infectious chorus sparked the brighter, more buoyant orientation of AM Waves.

Like the moon pulling the tide, Young Gun Silver Fox are a magnet for good songs. "We're both so obsessed and constantly interested in music-making," says Andy. "We're both thinking about it all the time. When you know you have an accomplice with you that's the same as you, it's very liberating. Suddenly, worlds of color start to appear." Indeed, AM Waves is elemental in its power to induce pleasure. Dive right in.

Christian John Wikane

(New York City / February 2018)

Percussive P (who has previously released on the label with FR037 & our remix on THCFR001) is a top quality producer who I wish had more music/releases out there. I used to play a tune of his called "Gunsmith" a lot in sets, as well as a lot of his collabs with Kid Lib which I was a big fan of. I'd previously collaborated with him on a tune for Dublinquents a few years ago and I was quite keen on doing a new collaboration with him for Meeting Of The Minds, so he sent me some tracks he had started, I picked my favourite to work on and that led to "Impatience".

Fluid Haunts is a solid producer who I was familiar with, but it wasn't until his music was drilled into my head by Dwarde who was playing a few select tunes from him in every single b2b set we had together, that I started to really appreciate his skills. Dwarde would play "Not Your Ordinary Love Song" without fail, in any given moment and time, and it would always get a great reaction from the crowd, so I had to get in touch to see if he'd be up for working with me & thankfully he was! We ended up making "Pineapple Soup" together & I can't remember why it's called that, I think he named the tune ????

Hobzee is one half of Silent Dust (him & Zyon Base) & I used to chat regularly with him and trade music with him on AOL Instant Messenger (showing my age here!) a long while back. He got back in touch with me about wanting to work on music together and he had an early version of "Sunspots" done. It was very promising sounding so I was quite keen to get involved with him on it and I'm grateful that I was able to get him on Future Retro London after many many years of IM chats!

Usually, I limit my collaborations on Meeting Of The Minds to producers that are fairly established and already somewhat known to other people, but for those who don't know who Eff is, she is a potentially familiar face to anyone who has attended a Future Retro London event, as she has been on the door for every single one. One day after a Distant Planet event in Bristol, she mentioned to me that she had an idea for a track inspired by a PFM tune and she already had the title in mind for it, which is "Wavebreak". I was curious about how this would sound in reality, so we met up to work on the tune & she said it was pretty much like how she had envisioned it & I liked how it sounded, so I thought it would be worth putting out on a future Meeting Of The Minds release, which ended up being this one.

Big up to all the artists involved on this edition of Meeting Of The Minds, it's quite a long and arduous task putting together each one, which is why there was such a gap between Vol. 9 & 10 and Vol. 11 & 12. I plan on getting the series back into something more regularly occurring, so hopefully I can actually stick to that plan!

On the cover of 8 Tips for Full Catastrophe Living, the new album by Asher White, The Statue of Liberty is in pieces but not destroyed - in progress, being built, not yet complete. Her torch is on the ground, her head somewhere out of frame. Before she was a symbol, she was metal, and living, sweating people riveted her together. The spirit of de/construction characterizes 8 Tips, White's 16th LP overall and first since signing to Joyful Noise. Like White's previous albums, 8 Tips for Full Catastrophe Living darts boldly among varied musical styles. Doom metal splits open into bossa nova; psychedelic rock and power pop flip into industrial techno. Each song emerges from its composite parts in the studio: White doesn't draft or demo before recording, but builds out her pieces sculpturally, sound by sound. "It's forever collage, forever assemblage," she says of her music. "To me, it has more to do with J Dilla, L.A. beat, and musique concrète than pop songwriting." The record's quick turns and vivid contrasts reflect White's cultural voraciousness. A writer, painter, and sculptor as well as a musician, she gathers materials constantly, always digging for new ideas in every possible form. The films of Claire Denis, the novels of Clarice Lispector, and the memoirs of Eve Babitz all funnel into White's reflection of 21st century disaster capitalism. 8 Tips is also White's first album to have been mixed outside her Providence studio; after recording it herself, she brought tracks to Seth Manchester (Lightning Bolt, Battles, The Body) who gave the album its brawny, unruly charge. "I was interested in making something that serves dually as a self-help book and a chronicle of self-destruction," says White. Overlaying autobiography onto character vignettes, 8 Tips for Full Catastrophe Living wrenches open the idea of apocalypse - an abrupt disaster rained down on uncomplicated innocents - and peers inside at its bursting, devastated particulars. Apocalypse is slow and uneven. Nations falter as do individual people, clinging fast to their old, dilapidated self-preservation strategies. What saved you in the past might destroy you in the future. Flip it around, shake yourself loose, ruin the person you've known yourself to be, and you might get the chance to become something else. "There have been so many end times, many other apocalypses." White says. "People were writing self-help tips, and people were partying." We have survived catastrophe before. Out of the ruins, people made work - art, books, culture. "I was interested in making something that sounds like a self-help book, but it's actually about self-destruction," says White. "In full catastrophe living, you just have to do a bunch of whippets. This album is mostly about doing whippets. I'm not even kidding."

"Enter The Dragon" is a tune I've been playing for a few years that people have been messaging me about non-stop, asking for track IDs, release information & up until now, there was no real likelihood of it coming out since it had been forthcoming on a release scheduled for Lucky Muffin Records (a Green Bay Wax sublabel), which had been on the cards for a long time, but there was no sign of any imminent plan for release.

That was until Percussive P sent me a new tune he'd done recently called "Vibrating Harmony", which I really liked & wanted to put out on the label. This reminded me of "Enter The Dragon" which was still not out by that point, so I approached Kid Lib to ask if he'd be up for letting me release "Enter The Dragon" with "Vibrating Harmony" on Future Retro London. Reluctantly, he did & here we are...

Big thanks to Percussive P on his excellent work on both tunes, to Kid Lib for allowing me to put out "Enter The Dragon" on Future Retro London and to all the people over the years who were curious what this tune was when they heard it on my Mixmag live set, my Resident Advisor podcast & wherever else me or other DJs that had the tune were playing it at.

Bulbous Monocle focuses its lens further into the legacy and archives of the Thinking Fellers Union Local 282. These Things Remain Unassigned—a phrase coined by Brian Hageman, one of the band’s musical snake appendages emanating from its Medusa crown—is presented as a double LP (gatefold jacket with a twelve page libretto). It gathers together the band’s singles, compilation tracks, outtakes and never before released gems encompassing the arc of TFUL’s musical corpus. Every track has been surgically remastered by Mark Gergis (Porest / Sublime Frequencies / Mono Pause) with his signature craftsman approach. This collection is an auditory and visual feast. The extensive booklet included features band ephemera, concert flyers, photographs, and commentary about each track from Mark Davies. Beyond the rare singles and unreleased tracks from the TFUL archives, are cover versions from such disparate artists and composers as Ennio Morricone, Krzysztof Komeda, The Residents, The Shaggs, Caroliner Rainbow and Pérez Prado. “…In addition to these compilation one-offs, there were also a few studio recordings that were never quite completed or released. Throw in an alternate mix or two and the handful of singles that came out on various labels over the years, and you end up with what I feel works well as its own body of work, a bunch of adopted oddballs that somehow fit together as a family. I hope youʼll agree with me that these things are now no longer unassigned, but part of a somewhat cohesive whole, stitched together into something mysterious and glistening.” —Mark Davies (2023)

In 2022, Osàre! Editions founder Elena Colombi approached artists and musicians with a prompt: Every body, everyone needs love to flourish. In her book The Will to Change, the eminent author and social activist, Bell Hooks, invites men to excavate their innermost selves, challenging the way that patriarchal society limits their capacity for intimacy, tenderness, care and emotion. As hooks lays out, feminist thought and work requires the collective participation of all genders in order to realise a liberated world. How can we imagine cross-gender solidarity through music and art? And how can we tell sonic stories that facilitate our full potential as desiring beings? These are the questions that The Male Body Will Be Next starts out from.

The title of the record draws connections between hooks' writing, a film by Rebecca Salvadori and Peter de Potter's stunning photo series of the same name. In de Potter and Salvadori's depictions, men's bodies appear as vulnerable, naked and exposed.

Divided into two parts, the first instalment of The Male Body Will Be Next hinges on colliding energies – the melding of club dance floors and haunting ambient textures, agile techno and noisy experimentation.

'The sun on my skin… it’s so warm and gentle,’ speak-sings Olivia Salvadori on ‘Su Di Te M’Infrango’, visualising utopias. Laurel Halo crafts a dreamscape spun from golden threads of synth and strings. Pensive and reflective, Ben Bertrand’s bass clarinet roams searchingly, its piercing tonality full of longing. Yet, in between these lucid, cinematic passages and spoken word, The Male Body Will Be Next finds space to dance together. Moving in fervent, rhythmic patterns, Sepehr’s ‘Divooneh’ pivots between tension and release. Filmmaker unleashes a wave of energy and The Spy delivers a potent take on vintage electro, the track title hinting at the double-bind of gendered expectations. Propelled between these eclectic styles, the record encapsulates the full spectrum of sonic expression.

dreamcastmoe is the recording project of singer, songwriter, producer, and DJ Davon Bryant, a lifelong resident of Washington, DC. His music moves freely between moods and modes, hypnotic, romantic, traversing electronic, R&B, funk, soul, and hip-hop... Resident Advisor dubs it "soulful, cross-genre dance music." This ability to adapt and finesse, to twist in different directions while staying true and coherent in vision, can be traced to his home city and its complex cultural history. "Most Black kids in DC don't ever get to this point," he says. "This is what I am making this music for, in the DC tradition of soul and empathy and love that is rooted in this city. My music is for real people dealing with shit every day." A versatile, modern artist and collaborator, dreamcastmoe has thrived in the underground since his first uploads to Soundcloud and Bandcamp in 2017 and subsequent releases with labels like People's Potential Unlimited, Trading Places, and In Real Life Music. Bryant's laid-back personality, emotional honesty, and infectious energy shine through his work and how he talks about it, as Crack Magazine notes in their 2021 Rising feature: "a steady combination of confidence, creativity, and calmness." He grew up playing drums in church; he's worked dead-end jobs, had ups and downs, even sold off all his gear one time, but never stopped reinvesting in himself. He is quick to praise his co-producers, rattle off influences _ the visual feel of NBA 2K, the comedic timing of Bernie Mac, the savvy legacy of Duke Ellington, for starters _ and credit resourceful DC breakouts like Ankhlejohn that showed him the roadmap. His voice, a steady instrument, seemingly connects it all, capable of slow falsetto flow, swaggering talk-rap, and outright croon. His storytelling style is choppy yet fluid, like a mixtape, which is how Bryant sees Sound Is Like Water, his debut on Ghostly's International's freeform label, Spectral Sound. The two-part project culminates as a full-length LP release in November 2022. The first side, released as Part I, opens on the blurred beats of "El Dorado," which dreamcastmoe dedicates to his journey. It's a head-nodder, an off-kilter earworm co-produced by Max D (Future Times, RVNG Intl, etc.), with Bryant harmonizing hooks with synth jabs and a pitched-down presence. "Complicated" is the slow jam, delivered smoothly from a Saturday night crossroads. dreamcastmoe is contemplative and committed... gliding and locking ad-libs into skittering rhythms courtesy of co-producer Zackary Dawson _ but also willing to let something go, "acknowledging that everything in life IS NOT easy." "RU Ready" takes off from the jump as a tribute, challenge, and promise to his partner and his city ("The times you sat with me when I needed you the most / Told me the things that I needed to see / Young black man, really trying to be what I can be / And I'm really from DC). In its potent two-plus minutes, the sonics (co-produced by ZDBT) press the message, all cymbal crashes, breakbeats, and serrated synth lines. "Cloudy Weather, Wear Boots" is a blitzing dance-punk track made in collaboration with Jordan GCZ on Bryant's first trip to Amsterdam. The album's flipside opens on "Much More," the first of two synth-and-beat ballads co-produced by ZDBT. Later on "Long Songz," he claims, "I'm not writing love songs no more," prioritizing the vibe with "all my day ones." He calls it "a cry for more normal moments. Everything doesn't have to be a fantasy love story, more time spent getting to the money, growing, and making a way." He saves two of his most propulsive cuts for the finale, co-produced by Sami, co-founder of DC dance label 1432 R. As their titles suggest, "Take A Moment" and "Make Ya Mind" operate as anthems for movement, with Bryant free-flowing commands above wildly-styled percussion. Per Bryant, the latter is both "wake & bake jam" and a "dance floor bomb." His parting line: "Action / You got to show me action / Reaction." The world of dreamcastmoe straddles virtual reality and the realness of DC, images both imagined and lived-in. Bryant has a knack for unexpected melodies but what makes his music so exciting is his capacity to defy the expectations of genre and image. A fluid ingenuity and vulnerability bottled by Sound Is Like Water, and this is just the beginning.

I wrote The Shit Punx Hate for Realicide in 2005. This version was made for Decide Today around a decade later, maybe 2015? It was about the pathetic narrow-minded dogmas that were common in Cincinnati punk, being discriminated against when our approach defied dominant aesthetic criteria, chronically misunderstood and rejected without consideration.

This experience in my formative years led to a long path of thought as I entered adulthood. Those feelings of being "other"ed, treated poorly based on who I was, started to seem less significant compared to the prejudices I saw friends faced with. Targets of bigotry due not to a subcultural choice, but aspects of themselves they were born into. Of course I mean things like race, gender, class, abilities. If being dissed by punk rockers sucked for me, imagine what it must feel like being the only black kid in a social circle that can't even recognize its own racism, the only woman in places misogyny is the celebrated standard, having a non-white family at risk of deportation, growing up "male" or "female" when you've always known they are wrong about you, etc. This was my mental gateway into prioritizing these struggles, wanting to become an ally, then even more so an accomplice.

Revolutionary Reason was written in 2018 during my time working with Mass Action for Black Liberation, and revised abruptly this year while recording for this record, as it was inconceivable not to address the epitome of merciless colonial atrocity orchestrated by the state of Israel. While I write this, the IOF is massacring families in the West Bank. The death toll in Palestine is currently estimated at around 41,000 and it hasn't even been a year since this modern Nakba began. I hope these songs help make apparent that whatever you said you "would do" during Jim Crow America, Nazi Germany, Apartheid South Africa, any archetypal history now synonymous with wrongness, yes I can confirm NOW IS THAT TIME to do it ...if you were for real about it that is.

Big respect to my Arab friends who are so patient while I learn the stuff my school conveniently omitted, to my Jewish friends tirelessly combating the violence of their ethnicity being shackled to a cult of Zionism, to native resistance across Turtle Island that articulates so well that this fight is also still/always very domestic, to contemporary hiphop telling today's stories while rock music often merely offers retro fashion, and of course to Kieren and Borg my homies in OZ.

All my love to intifada direct action everywhere dismantling the imposed global suicide pact that is white supremacist capitalism.

~ Robert Inhuman 28 August 2024

The Complete Film Music Composed by Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe - 2xLP 180 Gram Colored Vinyl - Old-Style Tip-On Gatefold Jackets with Satin Coating and a Built-In Booklet Page - Composer Liner Notes - 12 Page Art Gallery Exhibit Catalogue // In partnership with Universal Pictures, Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) and Monkeypaw Productions, Waxwork Records is thrilled to present CANDYMAN Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe. Directed by Nia DaCosta (next year's The Marvels) from a screenplay by Oscarr winner Jordan Peele, Win Rosenfeld and DaCosta, Candyman, currently in theaters nationwide, is a fresh take on the blood-chilling urban legend and a contemporary incarnation of the 1992 cult horror classic. About Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe: Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe (b.1975) is an artist, curator and composer who works primarily with, but not limited to, voice and modular synthesizer for sound in the realm of spontaneous music. Along with analog video synthesis works, he has brought forth an A/V proposal that has been a focus of live performance and installation / exhibition. The marriage of synthesis and the voice has allowed for a heightened physicality in the way of ecstatic music, both in a live setting and recorded. The sensitivity of analogue modular synthesis echoes the organic nature of vocal expression, which in this case is meant to put forth a trancelike state. Lowe's works on paper tend towards human relations to the natural/magical world and the repetition of motifs. The deluxe 2xLP vinyl release features 180-gram colored vinyl, old-style tip-on gatefold jackets with satin coating and a built-in booklet page, liner notes by composer Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, a 12-page art gallery exhibition catalogue, artwork by Sherwin Ovid and Julian Williams and puppetry art by Manual Cinema.

Denison Witmer returns with a new collection of ten vibrant and pensive folk-pop songs recorded and produced by Sufjan Stevens, his long-time friend and collaborator. Anything At All finds Denison in a suitably reflective mood, mining sublime revelation from an ordinary, domesticated life. Topics like bird watching, carpentry, houseplants, and hiking offer insights into bigger, existential questions about life, death, meaning, and purpose. What are we doing with the precious time we have left on this earth? Whether it's spent making clocks, gathering berries, planting trees, or putting the kids to bed at night, these songs suggest that a life lived with thoughtfulness and care can lead to deeper joy and fulfillment. Recorded sporadically over a period of two years, Anything At All was primarily created at Sufjan's Catskills studio during the pandemic, with additional sessions recorded by Andy Park, in Seattle, WA. Contributors include Stevens and Park as well as Sam Evian, Hannah Cohen, Sean Lane, and Keenan O'Meara, amongst others. The album's musical aesthetic marries Denison's folksy, Mennonite vibe with Sufjan's signature bells and whistles: lush strings and woodwinds, women's choir, and an occasional jazzy saxophone weave their way around Denison's matter-of-fact vocals and acoustic guitar. These are simple folk songs with bursts of awe and wonder.

DJ Support: Carlita, Dar Disku, Disco Arabesquo & Moving Still

Melbourne-based producer Rami Imam unveils Safara, the latest release on his own label, Ponda Records, which he founded in 2020 as a platform for his cross-cultural sound explorations. Drawing from the rich traditions of the Middle East, North Africa, and the Mediterranean, Safara is a six-track odyssey of energetic and euphoric house and disco house, deeply rooted in both nostalgia and innovation. Safara is the culmination of Imam's immersion into the golden eras of global music, channelling the soulful rhythms and melodies of Afro-Funk, West African Highlife, Arab Disco, Bollywood, Afro-Cuban Jazz, Libyan Reggae, and Algerian Rai. By blending these timeless influences with a modern, dancefloor-oriented focus, Imam creates a sound that is both steeped in history and refreshingly new.

With a sonic palette that includes iconic synths such as the Juno 106, Super 6, SH 101, Moog Model D, and the 303, Imam weaves the analog warmth of these instruments into lush, modern productions. Piano and strings—his favourite classical instruments—add an organic layer of emotional depth, connecting the pulse of the dancefloor with the timeless elegance of traditional composition.

Safara is more than a collection of tracks; it is a journey across continents and eras, where the pulse of the past meets the driving force of the present. Recorded in Melbourne but influenced by sounds from around the world, Safara invites listeners to traverse vast musical landscapes—from the hypnotic grooves of North African rhythms to the sun-drenched melodies of Mediterranean shores—culminating in a transportive experience that lingers long after the final beat fades.

By balancing the ancient with the futuristic, Imam has crafted a record that feels both comfortingly familiar and daringly innovative. Safara is a testament to the endless possibilities of blending cultures, genres, and eras into something that is not just heard but felt—music for the soul as much as for the dancefloor.

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

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

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

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

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

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

- Nick Klein , May 2024

After navigating the labyrinthine musical chambers of their 2023 modern exotica album 'Palace Of A Thousand Sounds', Reno. Nevada’s Whatitdo Archive Group has returned with their first-ever holiday offering—venturing into the darker side of Christmas folklore with their new ice-cold 45, 'Wild Man'. Drawing inspiration from a global archetypical myth of the same name, Whatitdo Archive Group examines the ancient story of the Wild Man—the hairy, half-human, half-beast that stalks the shadows of humanity’s shared primeval past. The myth of the Wild Man is a folktale that goes by many names: The Yeti of the Himalayas, the Bigfoot of North America, and, of course, Krampus of Eastern Europe—a yuletide beast with a reputation as a child-devouring "Anti-Claus" who now finds himself the subject of Whatitdo’s latest musical exploration.

‘Wild Man’ gives us a glimpse into the band’s newest sonic direction. With a heavy rhythm section carried by Alexander Korostinsky’s driving bass line, the sticky wah-guitar of Mark Sexton’s L-5, and the acrobatic lines of the Wurlitzer electric piano, “Wild Man” revels in the spiritual jazz flavors of Pharoah Sanders and grooves hard like the classic soul-jazz stylings of Ramsey Lewis. Much like the Krampus myth itself, 'Wild Man' is meant to weave an ominous spell over any Christmas cocktail party long after the kids have gone to bed. Hear the warning for yourself in the song’s haunting chant: "You better watch out for your life, when the Wild Man comes in the night".

But mythology isn’t abandoned on the B-side. The band takes the traditional English folk melody 'Greensleeves' and reimagines it through the musical lens of Ethio-jazz. Recorded live at the Archive Group Studios, the track exudes a dark, roomy atmosphere, drenched in unease and mystery courtesy of the wandering electric piano dancing above the hypnotic rhythm section and mesmeric groove of the distant Batá drums. This fresh reimagining taps into the ancient, cross-cultural lineage of the "Green Man" myth, a pagan symbol of rebirth and the power of the natural world, further blurring the lines between holiday cheer and the primal, elemental forces enshrined in our collective cultural memory.

After the band’s 'Palace Of A Thousand Sounds' was named 2023’s "Best Library Record" by PopMatters Magazine, their new 'Wild Man' 7” capitalizes on the same creative process that shaped their last record, while now exploring new conceptual territory. By drawing inspiration from archaic global folklore and again utilizing their peculiar recording techniques, W.A.G. has crafted a truly unique holiday offering that unearths the darker, more primal undercurrents of the Christmas tradition. The 'Wild Man' 7" is released as part of the Snowflakes Christmas Singles Club, pressed on snow-white bio-vinyl and limited to 300 copies.

Disrupt Records makes its return to the Jungle world with the first of several releases planned for 2023. Kicking off the new year is a killer 4 track EP from Lithuania's hardware don: IJO!

IJO AKA 300 degrees is a veteran producer who's musical output has spanned broadly across the electronic spectrum over the last 30 years. In recent times he has concentrated on the sounds that he says changed his life in the mid 90's: Hardcore Jungle - made the old school way using analogue hardware equipment!

With releases on Amenology and Straight Up Breakbeat he has already began to make waves in the scene. This EP is created using his trusty Akai S1000 sampler and cements his status as one of the producers to watch in 2023, bringing you two tracks of lo fi modern Jungle filled with chopped up breakbeats, effects manipulation, haunting melodies and atmospheric vocal samples.

This release is in true Disrupt style backed with remixes from two certified OG's and absolute legends of the modern Jungle movement.

First up is one of Jungle's pioneers - Equinox! His label Scientific Wax has become the benchmark for hard edge drum work and beat manipulation. Equinox brings us a remix that might surprise a few in its subtlety, starting of on a mellow tip it grows into a monster, full of the intricate drum edits and breakbeat destruction we expect, a beautiful melody and hard hitting beats.

On the flipside we have the Lo Fi don and Green Bay Wax head honcho - Kid Lib! Bringing the fire with an absolute banger featuring dancefloor destroying amens juxtaposed with lush pads, perfectly crafted breakdowns and killer drops.

"OneDa's story is so clearly mirrored in her music: a sprightly flow preaching a message of empowerment, enveloped in a dark, raucous soundscape…interlacing vibrant, punchy lyrics with that classic drum & bass sound has given OneDa a new lease of life." – DJ MAG

“OneDa is solidifying her position as one of the UK’s most thrilling hip-hop artists. With poignant lyrics and charisma that is off the charts, she dives deep into the complexities of life, love, and liberation.” – DIVA

Manchester rapper and poet OneDa is set to soar with the release of her debut album, 'Formula OneDa', on October 4th via Heavenly Recordings. Featuring the singles 'Major Pay' and 'Set It Off.'

On the ethos behind the album, OneDa says:

“In early 2023, while listening to my mixtape demos, the line ‘had to step away, get the levels up fast, Formula OneDa never come last' from my song ‘Off My Light’ stood out. We decided to name my album 'Formula Oneda'. Coincidentally, I discovered that the F1 Academy had just started, aligning perfectly with my album’s vision. For the first time in over 30 years, Formula 1 has created a platform to inspire and support young girls and women. Previously indifferent to Formula 1, I am now excited by the progress these women are making in the male-dominated racing circuit. While becoming a racing driver was never my goal, the F1 Academy metaphor fits my journey from a backmarker to a leader. This year, I plan to support these inspiring women as they drive with Pussy Power to take pole position in motorsports.”

Having supported Kneecap and Baxter Dury, and with standout performances at The Great Escape, OneDa is establishing herself as one of the UK’s most dynamic hip-hop artists. Her music transcends genres, blending hip-hop, drum and bass, afro-trap, and afrobeats, reflecting her Nigerian heritage and Manchester roots. Known for her dexterous wordplay and poetic verses, OneDa's voice is a unique force in the evolving drum and bass scene. Her boundless linguistic talent and poetic verses set her apart. Named by The Face as a key MC in the drum ‘n’ bass renaissance, OneDa is dedicated to empowering others.
Her live performance credits include headlining with Angélique Kidjo at Aviva Studios' launch in Manchester and leading performances at Manchester Pride 2023. She continues to gain acclaim from BBC Radio 6, DJ Mag, The Face, NTS, Wonderland, UKF, and The Line of Best Fit.

Beyond her music, OneDa is dedicated to community initiatives, leading hip-hop therapy for Manchester youth and championing projects like Herchester, which amplifies marginalized voices in music. Her vision extends beyond chart success; she aims to establish a hip-hop therapy school for all ages, showcasing music's potential for positive change. Her drive and authenticity inspire others to embrace their true selves.

Citing 'empowerment' as her greatest inspiration, OneDa channels her struggle with acceptance of her queerness into her music, promoting a message of self-love and freedom: “When you truly love yourself, that overpowers anyone else’s opinion.” Although she only began producing music two years ago, OneDa’s debut LP showcases her mastery across multiple genres. Collaborations with artists like Sam Binga, Songer, Devilman, and Mr. Scruff highlight her versatility. Her standout verse on Vibe Chemistry’s 'Ballin’', with over 35 million streams, further cemented her reputation. Her first fully produced track, 'Rude Girl Flex', earned her a spot on the BBC 6 Music playlist and an appearance at the BBC 6 Music Festival.

After releasing their debut album in 2022 that showcased their signature mix of psychedelic and funk, Neighbourly is returning with two EPs that explore new sonic territory. The first, “Outside 311” draws inspiration from bands like Wet Leg and Parquet Courts with more post-punk and garage rock styles. The second “Alla Discoteca” takes a sharp turn and draws inspiration from bands like Altin Gun, Nu Genea, Masayoshi Takanaka and Khruangbin, with more dancey, disco styles and all Italian lyrics. Both EPs offer the listener a sonic adventure, full of twists and turns but with the classic Neighbourly psychedelic, funky charm.

Bandai Namco Europe S.A.S. und Laced Records haben sich zusammengetan, um die Musik des brandneuen Teils des legendären 'TEKKEN 8'-Franchise auf Vinyl zu bringen.

Diese komplette OST-Box enthält 42 Tracks, die speziell für Vinyl gemastert wurden. Sie werden in einem Schuber aus festem Karton geliefert und sind in Spined Sleeves untergebracht. Das atemberaubende Cover-Artwork stammt von Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc. und Illustrator Samuel Donato und zeigt Jin und Jun Kazama, Kazuya Mishima sowie die Neuzugänge Azucena, Victor Chevalier und Reina.

Das 'TEKKEN 8'-Musikteam hat für den Soundtrack einen Knaller nach dem anderen abgefeuert und dabei den für die Serie typischen Sound aus knallharter Dance-Musik und Electronica beibehalten. Viele der Komponisten sind langjährige Mitarbeiter der Serie, das gesamte Team besteht aus mifumei, Hiroshi Okubo, AJURIKA, Yoshihito Yano, Go Shiina, sanodg, Rio Hamamoto, Sho Okada, Yuu Miyake, Shogo Nomura, Ayako Saso, Mitsuhiro Kitadani, Shinji Hosoe, Yoshinori Hirai und Qing Yan.

Dank des soliden und einzigartigen Gameplays und der epischen Geschichte verkaufte sich die TEKKEN-Reihe über 57 Millionen Mal und ist damit die meistverkaufte 3D-Kampfspielserie aller Zeiten.

When Man Man released its last album, "Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In Between," frontman Honus Honus (née Ryan Kattner) was in a state of unrest, oscillating between hope and cynicism. Perhaps fittingly, the album dropped during the pandemic, a time at which we could all relate. But, much like that bizarre turn of events, the ennui now seems so distant to Man Man. A revived sense of purpose washes through Man Man's new album, Carrot on Strings, radiating a mix of calm and confidence. Kattner always embodied a wild-man pied-piper vibe: his melodic, unhinged art-rock was at once intriguing and angsty. He was so alluringly creative that you went along with it, even if you were never sure where Man Man would take you. Carrot on Strings is no less inventive, but its ethos is radical in context of the band's two-decade career. "When I was younger, I would feed off of chaos. I would, you know, be upset and get drunk and smash chairs," Kattner explains. "Now those chairs are in my head: It's less of an outward projection, more of an interior monologue." The name "Carrot on Strings" came to Kattner while experimenting with the sound of someone munching on the vegetable, which you can hear in the cacophonous, similarly named song. It alludes to how success always seemed to dangle uncertainly before him, often just out of reach. But listen intently and you'll hear a more content Kattner finding an uneasy peace: "Life, as far as I've known it, has always been side hustles. Would it be great if I could go into a studio and record for a year without figuring out how to finance it? Yeah, it would be," he says. "But ultimately, I need to keep making music because art is an extension of my psyche. It's how I have learned to translate the palpitations of my heart. Simply put, I'd go insane without it." Growing up as a multiracial Hapa kid (half Filipino, half white) with a father in the U.S. Air Force, Kattner lived an itinerant childhood that included a few pivotal years in Germany, where he honed in on an appreciation for out there German cinema and art. His film obsessions and screenwriting background were crucial to Carrot on Strings. The album nods to the films of Werner Herzog and Rainer Werner Fassbinder as much as Italo-disco, Randy Newman, goth rock, and avant pop. (Kattner continues to work in the film industry with an acting role in the upcoming horror-comedy movie Destroy All Neighbors, for which he also served as composer; music supervising season 1 & 2 of the Interview With The Vampire AMC TV series; and shopping around, with director Matthew Goodhue, a script he wrote that he describes as a Wim Wenders road movie on acid.) In a bid to not overthink anything - his last album took seven years to make - he recorded the bulk of Carrot On Strings in five days in Mant Sounds studio in Glassell Park, Los Angeles with "very chill" producer Matt Schuessler, who had worked on Man Man's cover of Neu!'s "Super" for the seminal Krautrock band's box set. The resulting album represents a newfound sense of self for Kattner, who finds himself inspired and at peace both personally and artistically in ways that eluded him for most of his first 15 years playing music. When, on Carrot On Strings, you hear Kattner croon humbly, or sing of the tension between his outsize stage persona and the thoughtful, soulful guy he actually is, you're hearing Kattner liberate himself. "I first got into music to escape from myself," he says. "And now, it sounds so corny, but I have zero doubt that music ended up saving my life."

Randy Edelman’s score soundtrack to the 1989 film classic. The music had not been previously released (the CD release in August was the first time on any format). This is a 140g vinyl in a luxury spotglossed cover also featuring a booklet pressing on white and pink splatter vinyl. The album includes original tracks as well as 3 newly re recorded tracks and a track originally recorded for Ghostbusters II but not featured in the film. Marketing activity.

MISSILES fire off their debut album "Weaponize Tomorrow" on Svart Records Malmö’s MISSILES are set to release their inaugural album, "Weaponize Tomorrow", on May 10, 2024, under the banner of Svart Records. The members of MISSILES are no new kids on the block. Coming from punk, rock, and metal, as well as surf and rather diverse backgrounds, they all answered to the call of their good friend Gabriel Forslund - sincerely interested in doing something new and exciting together. The band's trajectory began with a 7" single released by the Swedish label Fetish in 2016. Initially viewed as a project, MISSILES have organically evolved into a fully dedicated band with a laser-guided focus, causing shock waves in the underground with their jet-fuel genre-clash. Combining abandoned sounds with new inventions on “Weaponize Tomorrow”, MISSILES promises to both pat you on the head and stab you in the back, delivering a unique blend of post-punk with a touch of goth rock. The band’s lineup consists of: Gabriel Forslund (vocals and guitar) Jens Rasmussen (drums) Tobias Augustsson (synthesizers) Sebastian Gadd (guitar) Linus Larsson (bass) MISSILES claim their debut is a one-of-a-kind album, truly a loved bastard. ”Weaponize Tomorrow” will appeal to those who enjoyed the certain “je ne sais quoi” found in the New Wave movement, a line of thought that is liberating to hear today when artists go to the bank with a genre description. MISSILES couldn’t be bothered; it’s rock, it’s pop, its punk, it’s je ne sais quoi. Hard to pin down, but undeniable to freak out to, "Weaponize Tomorrow" is a high yield blast wave that will leave MISSILES hot on the tongues of those looking for a sudden and dramatic, incendiary kick. A gut smashing future shock that will resonate across diverse musical landscapes, “Weaponize Tomorrow” will be the perfect atomic cocktail for fans of Wipers, Dead Moon, The Birthday Party, The Gun Club and even modern iconoclasts Molchat Doma and Beastmilk. Keep your finger on the button for MISSILES‘ explosive debut out on May 10, 2024.

Boy bands and girl groups were a huge factor in 90’s and 00’s pop culture. From the Backstreet Boys and Take That to the Spice Girls, Sugababes and many more great pop-bands, they sparked mass hysteria among their young fanbase. Being one of the first bands in the late 80’s, New Kids On The Block kicked off the hype, although in the 60’s bands like Jackson 5 and The Supremes had been around for quite some time.

The pop genre sparked a whole new breed of both boys and girl bands, with #1 hits all around, fueled by the sing-a-long lyrics, catchy videos on MTV, magazines and tours targeting a young audience around the world. Girlz ‘n Boyz Collected represents the legendary 90’s and 00’s girl- and boy bands including Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, Sugababes, Take That, Atomic Kitten, New Kids On The Block and many more acts.

The 2LP Girlz ‘n Boyz Collected is available as a limited edition on blue
(LP1) and pink (LP2) coloured vinyl and includes an insert.

*LTD BLUE VINYL* Having cut her teeth as part of dream pop band Snakadaktal then as half of Two People, Melbourne’s Phoebe Go solo break out has seen her discover her own voice and potential, a process that has been both daunting and liberating for her. Her self-released debut, the Player EP, opened the world to Phoebe’s vulnerable, sincere and gut-wrenchingly honest songwriting; posing questions about her career, relationships and existence, yet still emerging with heartfelt hope for the future. A word-of-mouth success when released late last year, the likes of NME, Notion, Wonderland, triple j Unearthed, Double J and Under The Radar have already sung her praises. Having just wowed audiences at The Great Escape, her Player EP is finally getting the vinyl release outside Australia it deserves, being released by tastemaker label Dalliance Recordings (Gia Margaret, HighSchool, Francis of Delirium, lilo). Formats Available: Limited edition (300) 12” Blue Vinyl with a lyric sheet and an exclusive track ('To Love Me Now’).

Going, Going, Going, Gone: The Rare Recordings of
Connie Cunningham and the Creeps Vol. 1
When Nick Kinsey moved into his farmhouse in New York's Hudson
Valley, he dreamed that he would stumble upon a trove of unreleased
music from some eccentric artist who'd previously lived there - If anyone
would be inclined to expect that kind of treasure, it would be the prolific
Kinsey, who in addition to his own music has produced and played on
Waxhatchee's St Cloud, toured with Kevin Morby, and drummed for AC
Newman, Hand Habits, and Cold War Kids, among many others
And with all those various styles and ideas swirling around his head, that
imaginary stash of songs appealed more and more. "I needed to create a fictional
character to get into the headspace necessary to finish this group of songs,"
Kinsey says. "I was able to escape my usual writing blocks and get away from any
need to sound 'cool' by pretending I was this fictional weirdo and failed session
musician." And after rounding out his compositions with some key collaborators,
the first volume of Connie Cunningham and the Creeps fulfilled Kinsey's dream in
the form of six brilliant, retro oddball pop planets circling one oddball songwriting
star.

Longtime friend of the Sweet Sensi Crew, Rumbleton brings his distinct style of Amenism, dubwise, bass RUMBLE junglism. For side A we get the future classic Codex Indica; a deep meditation on dub and junglism. On the side B, Rumbleton meets DJ Clear for Sweet Sensi Records first foray into true Drum Funk. Here we have a taste of what it would be like if soundclash met drum funk junglism.

DJ Support
Mantra, DJ Trax, Double O, Coco Bryce
Yorobi, Ben LQ (Australia), Tim Reaper, Kid Lib +More

Imagine if Eric Carle had been signed to Ghost Box, or if the Look Around You team had ended up taking over the Radiophonic Workshop. If you can picture that kind of sound, we’re ready to welcome you to the Cosmic Neighbourhood.

Cosmic Neighbourhood’s Gatherings is an album made for wild imaginations and deep daydreams. Its fourteen tracks provide the kind of trip you can take if you close your eyes tight enough and let your mind wander. It’s the music of small things, groovy sounds from way underground that’s inspired as much by Martin Rev and Moondog as it is by walking trees, pine cones catching the bus, nocturnal farmyard symphonies and the movements of butterflies reimagined through restless drum machines. Sounds good? Come join the gathering. There’s room for everyone.

Cosmic Neighbourhood is the musical alias of York-based illustrator and musician Adam Higton. Adam’s work encompasses comic strips, collage and sound art and documents the daily goings-on of the forest folk within the realm of the Cosmic Neighbourhood. His two albums on Kit (|Collages I and II) see each song acting as a response to a series of paper-and-scissors compositions. Sonically, these records straddle new and old, taking modular electronics, flutes, bells and softly pattering drum machines, before colouring them all with the amber glow of some forgotten, psychedelic kids' TV programme. Higton's benign toots and echoing jingles bring to mind Daphne Oram's early delay experiments or the meandering playfulness of Tom Cameron. Radiophonic and time-worn, it still somehow sounds like the future.

Gatherings follows previous Cosmic Neighbourhood albums Library Vol 1 and Collages I and II. Previous Rivertones releases include spoken word and found sound collages by Robert Macfarlane & Chris Watson, poetry and elemental music by Will Burns & Hannah Peel and the soundtrack to Wolfgang Buttress’ Hive structure at Kew Gardens by Be.

In addition to his day job transforming pop music with his own records, as well as those of Gastr del Sol, Loose Fur and Sonic Youth over the past few decades, Jim O"Rourke has been contracted for several dozen film scores over the years as well. It makes sense - his abilities as an improviser, composer and producer allow him to interpret cinematic moments with a unique understanding for their construction and how they work. It doesn"t hurt that Jim"s a well-versed cineaste, a complete and total fan of watching films, which has given him a preternatural understanding of the role of music in movies. What doesn"t make sense is how Hands That Bind is the first film soundtrack of Jim"s to ever receive worldwide release! He"s worked with filmmakers of international repute, like Olivier Assayas, Allison Anders, Werner Herzog and Kôji Wakamatsu! He served as music consultant on Richard Linklater"s 2003 laff-fest, School of Rock! He"s played in ensembles of award-winning documentaries and films alike! Throw the guy an internationally-promoted soundtrack LP every more often, why doncha? It was left to the "suits" of Drag City Records to innovate, once again, by taking a leap on an O"Rourke work. Made for an indie film that"s been seen by festival audiences and not enough others, the soundtrack for Hands That Bind is a moody, atmospheric delight. Jim"s roots in composition via tape-editing have evolved into a sophisticated assembly of found-and-processed sounds that achieve highly musical, near-orchestral majesty as they hang in the very air of the drama that unfolds in Kyle Armstrong"s Hands That Bind. Described as a "slow-burn prairie gothic drama" set in the farmland of Canada"s Alberta province, and starring Paul Sparks, Susan Kent, Landon Liboiron, Nicholas Campbell, Will Oldham, and Bruce Dern, Hands That Bind is a spellbinding trip to the existential bone of rural working life in North America. As conflict rises over the hard-worked patches of land that provide a mere and mean existence, a desperate air settles in, as a series of mysterious, often supernatural occurrences rock the small community. O"Rourke"s vaporous, serpentine musical backdrops and atmospheres reflect the obsessions and distractions of the film"s principles; moods of all sorts seen or otherwise implied. Additionally, the music highlights cinematographer Mike McLaughlin"s closely observed accounting of the farmers" environment, as well as the striking widescreen images of the big sky country with unnerving flair. For fans of Jim"s ongoing steamroom series as well as collectors of soundtracks, Hands That Bind will provide hours of engrossing listening. And if you get a chance, see the movie projected in a movie house, please - farmers aren"t the only ones struggling these days!

Sylvie Vartan's most wonderful songs beautifully remastered by Mr. Nick Robbins at Sound Mastering... Super cute, lovely, yet Rock n Roll artwork by Mr. Allan NoMan

Detailed liner notes by M.Jean-Emmanuel Deluxe, author of the acclaimed, beautiful, and definitive book "Ye-Ye Girls of '60s French Pop"

Imagine..if you will...a world in which your dearest chic girl pop singer guests a couple of humour records, goes on to have hit after hit, is all over TV and media, with the coolest radio shows and magazines for youngsters being almost fanzines for her. Then she gets her own TV shows and um, marries Elvis, and does a multi-night stand at the Paris Olympia where The Beatles are supporting HER! That world existed, it was early 1960s France, a marvellous, self contained world of music, film and art, where Vince Taylor was not a weird guy in leather pants who never really clicked with the kids,but the major star he was in his own head! And..Well, obviously, it wasn't really Elvis, but the French-World analogue Johnny Hallyday (handsome, good hair, and a great dancer!), so..in France it WAS!... But the hits? The TV shows? And the magazines and radio? Yes! Those really happened....and The Beatles did support her (and it was a big and lucky night in their career!)...Now, don't you wish we were there, in that world? A bizarro technicolor mix of....I don't know, Viva Las Vegas/HELP!/Les Demoiselles de Rochefort? I certainly do...or maybe pop this record on and let's pretend? Oh, I think so, yes...

Unreleased but perfectly formed "hidden" album, recorded in 1989-90 by Nuno Rebelo on the wake of his "Sagração Do Mês De Maio" double LP (composed in 1988 as soundtrack to the third Manobras de Maio fashion event in Lisbon). The tracks convey a sense of investigative curiosity regarding computer composition and they sound wonderfully artificial. Titles as "Moon OK", "Tiny Space Ships" or "Dança Das Creaturas Elásticas" ("Elastic Creatures Dance") embody this idea of otherworldness, a kind of music actually coming from another place, composed and played by elastic creatures. It displays the functional qualities of Library Music, illustrating playful as much as moody and dense moments. In this way the album comes across as a soundtrack for moving images, sure, but with unusual framing and sharp angles. A unique object in the Portuguese avantgarde, keeping its distance from Academia but also from contemporary independent releases ("Plux Quba" by Nuno Canavarro comes to mind). António Duarte's 2019 mastering enhances this collection of music liberated from the archives of one of the most brilliant, active and challenging musicians of his generation.

Nuno Rebelo was born in 1960, graduated in Architecture, founded Street Kids and Mler Ife Dada, played in the "transitional" line up of GNR in 1982. His creativity expanded into improvised music. Performances and recordings with other musicians multiplied. He composed music for theatre, dance, jingles and, on an almost contradictory scale to his underground credentials, soundtracks for the Expo 98 and Porto 2001 mega events.

“Improvisações Cristalizadas” by Nuno Rebelo:
Short electronic pieces composed in 1989-90 using the Atari 1040ST computer with Steinberg Pro24 Software, Two Yamaha Sound Modules (TX81ZX and TG55) and Ensoniq Mirage Sampler with keyboard. The composition method for each piece evolved from a short improvisation on the Mirage keyboard, recorded in MIDI to the computer. Counterpoint permutations (inversion, reversion, inverted reversion, transpositions) were then applied through the software, distributing the variations of the initial improvisation by other timbres. No other musical material was used.

Repress!

European version of the long overdue LOS CRUDOS Discography collection. LOS CRUDOS, formed in Chicago's Pilsen neighbourhood in the early 90's, are a Latino punk band with a strong socio-political message and an extremely militant DIY attitude. During their first incarnation, spanning the years 1991 to 1998 the band self-released their own records, printed their own merch, booked their own shows and toured relentlessly around the world. From South America to Japan including a 3 month European tour in the winter of 1996. They spoke to the freaks the outsiders and the minorities and were not afraid of confronting the white middle class punk who reigned supreme during the terrible 90's. A time which will not be remembered for their hardcore output except for a few exceptions, in which CRUDOS are surely included. Their sound, far from being a copycat of whatever flavour of the month was reigning at the time was heavy rooted in the golden years of European and Latino American ferocious hardcore punk. With bands as IMPACT, WRETCHED, OLHO SECO, TERVEET KADET or MASACRE 68 as obvious influences in a time when the simple mention of any of those bands (or any non English speaking bands really) was usually met with a laugh or a joke. They sang in Spanish, with aggression and conviction and that made their message spread out widely, reaching thousands of Spanish speaking punks both in Latino America and Spain as well as inside USA where third generation Latino kids surely were missing a voice within the punk scene. The band split up in 1998 after a really intense year of touring and reformed in 2008. The band will be undertaking their first ever Scandinavian tour in July/ Agust 2016. This collection, originally released as a benefit for MRR magazine last year, includes all the LOS CRUDOS output plus compilation tracks as well as a couple demo tracks and an unreleased song. The European version comes in a gatefold sleeve and brings a 40 page booklet with flyers and the lyrics of all songs.

Track list: 1. Tiempos De La Miseria 2. Me Robaron 3. Crudo Soy 4. La Madres Lloran 5. Eliminación 6. Desde Afuera 7. Asesinos 8. Se Ve En Tu Cara 9. Cipayos, Traidores y Vendidos 10. Sin Caras 11. No Estoy Convencido 12. Curiosidad 13. ¿Por Qué? 14. Tú Lo Enseñaste 15. Lucha Para Que Te Escuchen 16. Corrido Jodido 17. Escaleras 18. Llegan Empujando 19. Nada Cambia 20. Achicados 21. En Mi Opinión 22. No Te Debo Nada 23. Levántate 24. La Caída De Latinoamérica 25. Nos Quieren Como Siempre 26. No Me Vengan A Salvar 27. Déjanos En Paz 28. Tierra De Libertad 29. Victorias y Ganancias 30. Unidad Prohibida 31. That's Right We're That Spic Band 32. Poco a Poco 33. Suéltalo 34. Migra Violencia 35. Viejos Patéticos 36. Del Pasado Al Presente 37. Esto No Trae Precio 38. A Los Inseguros 39. Tomando Los Golpes 40. No Existen Palomas Blancas En Mi Barrio 41. No Va A Haber Revolución 42. ¿Quién Es El Pendejo Más Grande? 43. ¿Qué Pasó Con La Paz? 44. Metiendo Sal En La Llaga 45. ¿Vas A Regresar? 46. Hardcoregoismo 47. Naciste Con Voz 48. Ilegal, ¿Y Qué? 50. Identidad Perdida 51. Vendedores De Dolor 52. 500 Anos 53. ¿Ahora Quién Se Queja? 54. Lengua Armada 55. ¿Qué Paso Con La Paz? (Alt. Version) 56. Peleamos 57. Escupiendo En Tu Propia Cara 58. Que Te Conviene 59. Me Lo Paso Por El Culo 60. Cobardes 61. Desde El Barrio 62. Sin Título 63. Somos Peligrosos 64. No Se Acabó 65. Lo Que Queremos 66. ¿Qué Me Importa? 67. Mediocre

Stay Up Forever unleash D.A.V.E.The Drummer and Chris Liberator (aka Dynamo City) on a collab with new acid techno whizz-kid Rats On Acid, bringing forth 2 killer acid techno juggernauts that reflect all the paranoia/distrust/misinformation/loss/trauma of the virus and it's impact on society in the past 18 months... throwing it back at us in a glorious frenzy of driving acid rhythms that is going to devastate dark warehouses and sweaty clubs ready to finally embrace a return to 'AVIN IT!!!

Exclusive to INDIE STORES: Hiss and Shake Records to release ‘Logically Yours’ – a limited edition, 5 x LP boxset of 50 essential recordings from seminal post-punk icon Lora Logic including 2 classic Essential Logic albums, early single releases, EPs, B-sides, rarities, vinyl exclusives + first new Essential Logic studio album in 43 years! Includes the classic Rough Trade Records releases ‘Beat Rhythm News (Waddle Ya Play?) + ‘Pedigree Charm’ + 2 retrospective compilations of early single releases, EPs, B-sides, rarities + vinyl exclusives ‘Aerosol Burns & Other Misdemeanours’ + ‘No More Fiction’ + new studio album ‘Land of Kali’ (first in 43 years) + 20 page booklet with introduction from Celeste Bell + Lora Logic Q+A. Susan Whitby, aka Lora Logic was one of the most distinctive talents from the post-punk era known for her intoxicating, rough-around-the-edges, yet exhilarating sax playing and haywire vocal style. Her offbeat, occasionally arresting lyrics tackled alienation, sexism, poverty and urban isolation, and with a complete disregard for convention, she carved her own path not only in her short-lived music career but also personal life. She was still in her teens when she answered an ad in Melody Maker “Looking for young punks,” and in 1976, with her friend Marion Elliot (aka Poly Styrene), she formed the punk band X-Ray Spex and acquired the pseudonym, Lora Logic. The duo soon achieved notoriety with the irresistible feminist protest single, ‘Oh Bondage Up Yours’ (1977) – Logic arguably stealing the show with her thrilling punk sax. “X-Ray Spex was my first band, I happened to be accepted, It happened to work, I happened to get famous overnight. I’d been playing sax in a cupboard in my room; I thought I better do something.” However, just prior to recording 'Germ Free Adolescents' (1978), X-Ray Spex's debut album, she found herself unexpectedly ousted from the band. With abundant enthusiasm and encouragement from Geoff Travis, founding director of Rough Trade Records, she went on to form Essential Logic, creating some of the most liberating and exciting music of the early post-punk era, not only as Essential Logic, but also as a solo artist. Hiss and Shake Records are pleased to present a limited edition boxset of 50 essential recordings from the irresistibly engaging Lora Logic archive, allowing for a new generation to become aware of her incredible creative output. Across 5 LPs, ‘Logically Yours’ includes in their entirety, the classic Rough Trade Records releases ‘Beat Rhythm News (Waddle Ya Play?) (1979) – Essential Logic’s sole studio album, and Lora’s solo album, ‘Pedigree Charm’ (1982) – her last studio album before turning her back on the music business, sad and disillusioned and fighting drug addiction, which saw her turn to a Hare Krishna lifestyle, alongside Poly Styrene, embracing a fresh new chapter. This totally absorbing and definitive collection also includes two retrospective compilations; ‘Essential Logic – ‘Aerosol Burns & Other Misdemeanours’, which comprises early single releases, B-sides and oddities including the gloriously chaotic ‘Aerosol Burns’, the essential punk/disco ‘Music Is A Better Noise’, and ‘Fanfare In the Garden’, showcasing Lora at her most pop. In addition, ‘Essential Logic – ‘No More Fiction’; contains 10 vinyl exclusives, including ‘Do You Believe in Christmas?’, recorded with the Krishna Kids Choir in 1985, alongside tracks recorded circa 1997, with Martin Muscatt, Dave Farren (Bad Manners) and Gary Valentine (Blondie), forming the basis of what would have been Essential Logic’s third studio album, ‘No More Fiction’. Having recently returned to the studio refreshed and rejuvenated, ‘Logically Yours’ also includes ‘The Land of Kali’ (co-produced by Youth), the first new Essential Logic studio album in 43 years, and features the forthcoming new single ‘Prayer for Peace’, a re-imagining of the X-Ray Spex track from the tragically overlooked album, ‘Conscious Consumer’ (1995) on which Lora also played sax. “Poly Styrene and I were living in a Krishna community in Worcestershire in the early 80s. We came together for the first time musically after X-Ray Spex to record the original version of this song. In 2019, I decided to record my own take as a tribute to the special times we shared. I hope Poly likes this new version too.” Further tracks penned for release from the album include the dystopian, lockdown-inspired ‘Alien Boys’ and ‘Sky Rocket’, written with daughter Malini, about the fairground of life. Despite her short-lived career in the music business, Lora still managed to perform and appear on releases with many artists including US experimental rock band Red Crayola between 1978 and 1981, and also appeared on recordings by The Stranglers, The Raincoats, Kollaa Kestää, Dennis Bovell, Swell Maps and later, Boy George. Undoubtedly an iconic figure of the UK post-punk scene, Lora Logic’s boldness, adventurousness and sense of fun can be seen as an influence on numerous female artists today including Karen O from Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Peaches and St. Vincent among others. Tracklisting: Essential Logic ‘Beat Rhythm News (Waddle Ya Play?)’ (1979). A1 ‘Quality Crayon Wax OK’ A2 ‘The Order Form’ A3 ‘Shabby Abbott’ A4 ‘World Friction’ B1 ‘Wake Up’ B2 ‘Albert’ B3 ‘Alkaline Loaf in the Area’ B4 ‘Collecting Dust’ B5 ‘Pop Corn Boy (Waddle Ya Do?)’…… Lora Logic – ‘Pedigree Charm’ (1982). A1 ‘Brute Fury’ A2 ‘Horrible Party’ A3 ‘Stop Halt’ A4 ‘Wonderful Offer’ A5 ‘Martian Man’ B1 ‘Hiss and Shake’ B2 ‘Pedigree Charm’B3 ‘Rat Allé’ B4 ‘Crystal Gazing’…..Essential Logic – ‘Aerosol Burns & Other Misdemeanours’. A1 ‘Aerosol Burns’ (1978) – Debut single A2 ‘World Friction’ (1978) – ‘Aerosol Burns’ B-side A3 ‘Eugene’ (1981) – Single A4 ‘Tame the Neighbours’ (1981) – ‘Eugene’ B-side A5 ‘Music Is A Better Noise’ (1981) – Single A6 ‘Moontown’ (1981) – ‘Music Is A Better Noise’ B-side B1 ‘Fanfare In the Garden’ (1981) – Single B2 ‘Stereo’ (1982) – ‘Wonderful Offer’ single B-side B3 ‘Rather Than Repeat’ (1981) – ‘Wonderful Offer’ single B-side B4 ‘The Captain’ (1979) – ‘Fanfare In The Garden’ B-side B5 ‘Soul’ (1983) – Previously unreleased on vinyl B6 ‘Stay High’ – Previously unreleased on vinyl….. Essential Logic – ‘No More Fiction’. A1 ‘Essential Logic’ (1991) – Vinyl exclusive A2 ‘On The Internet’ (1998) – Vinyl exclusive A3 ‘Under The Great City’ (1997) – Vinyl exclusive A4 ‘No More Fiction’ (1998) – Vinyl exclusive A5 ‘Love Eternal’ (1997) – Vinyl exclusive B1 ‘Barbie Be Happy’ (1998) – Vinyl exclusive B2 ‘Not Me’ (1998) – Vinyl exclusive B3 ‘The Beautiful and the Damned’ (1997) – Vinyl exclusive B4 ‘Marika’ (1997) – Vinyl exclusive B5 ‘Do You Believe in Christmas?’ (1985) with the Krishna Kids Choir – Vinyl exclusive……Essential Logic – ‘Land of Kali’ (2022). A1 ‘Prayer For Peace’ A2 ‘Alien Boys’ A3 ‘Mother Earth’ A4 ‘Never Know’ A5 ‘Charming Every Cupid’ B1 ‘Sky Rocket’ B2 ‘Serious’ B3 ‘Fallible Soldiers’ B4 ‘Land of Kali’ B5 ‘Beyond’

dreamcastmoe is the recording project of singer, songwriter, producer, and DJ Davon Bryant, a lifelong resident of Washington, DC. His music moves freely between moods and modes, hypnotic, romantic, traversing electronic, R&B, funk, soul, and hip-hop... Resident Advisor dubs it "soulful, cross-genre dance music." This ability to adapt and finesse, to twist in different directions while staying true and coherent in vision, can be traced to his home city and its complex cultural history. "Most Black kids in DC don't ever get to this point," he says. "This is what I am making this music for, in the DC tradition of soul and empathy and love that is rooted in this city. My music is for real people dealing with shit every day." A versatile, modern artist and collaborator, dreamcastmoe has thrived in the underground since his first uploads to Soundcloud and Bandcamp in 2017 and subsequent releases with labels like People's Potential Unlimited, Trading Places, and In Real Life Music. Bryant's laid-back personality, emotional honesty, and infectious energy shine through his work and how he talks about it, as Crack Magazine notes in their 2021 Rising feature: "a steady combination of confidence, creativity, and calmness." He grew up playing drums in church; he's worked dead-end jobs, had ups and downs, even sold off all his gear one time, but never stopped reinvesting in himself. He is quick to praise his co-producers, rattle off influences _ the visual feel of NBA 2K, the comedic timing of Bernie Mac, the savvy legacy of Duke Ellington, for starters _ and credit resourceful DC breakouts like Ankhlejohn that showed him the roadmap. His voice, a steady instrument, seemingly connects it all, capable of slow falsetto flow, swaggering talk-rap, and outright croon. His storytelling style is choppy yet fluid, like a mixtape, which is how Bryant sees Sound Is Like Water, his debut on Ghostly's International's freeform label, Spectral Sound. The two-part project culminates as a full-length LP release in November 2022. The first side, released as Part I, opens on the blurred beats of "El Dorado," which dreamcastmoe dedicates to his journey. It's a head-nodder, an off-kilter earworm co-produced by Max D (Future Times, RVNG Intl, etc.), with Bryant harmonizing hooks with synth jabs and a pitched-down presence. "Complicated" is the slow jam, delivered smoothly from a Saturday night crossroads. dreamcastmoe is contemplative and committed... gliding and locking ad-libs into skittering rhythms courtesy of co-producer Zackary Dawson _ but also willing to let something go, "acknowledging that everything in life IS NOT easy." "RU Ready" takes off from the jump as a tribute, challenge, and promise to his partner and his city ("The times you sat with me when I needed you the most / Told me the things that I needed to see / Young black man, really trying to be what I can be / And I'm really from DC). In its potent two-plus minutes, the sonics (co-produced by ZDBT) press the message, all cymbal crashes, breakbeats, and serrated synth lines. "Cloudy Weather, Wear Boots" is a blitzing dance-punk track made in collaboration with Jordan GCZ on Bryant's first trip to Amsterdam. The album's flipside opens on "Much More," the first of two synth-and-beat ballads co-produced by ZDBT. Later on "Long Songz," he claims, "I'm not writing love songs no more," prioritizing the vibe with "all my day ones." He calls it "a cry for more normal moments. Everything doesn't have to be a fantasy love story, more time spent getting to the money, growing, and making a way." He saves two of his most propulsive cuts for the finale, co-produced by Sami, co-founder of DC dance label 1432 R. As their titles suggest, "Take A Moment" and "Make Ya Mind" operate as anthems for movement, with Bryant free-flowing commands above wildly-styled percussion. Per Bryant, the latter is both "wake & bake jam" and a "dance floor bomb." His parting line: "Action / You got to show me action / Reaction." The world of dreamcastmoe straddles virtual reality and the realness of DC, images both imagined and lived-in. Bryant has a knack for unexpected melodies but what makes his music so exciting is his capacity to defy the expectations of genre and image. A fluid ingenuity and vulnerability bottled by Sound Is Like Water, and this is just the beginning.

Following his triumphant performances at the 2022 Coachella Music and Arts Festival, Danny Elfman delivers Bigger.Messier., an ambitious double -album collection of remixed and reimagined tracks from his highly acclaimed Big Mess album. This sprawling, 23 track collection (available on 2 LP or 2 CD) features tracks reworked by some of the most groundbreaking and subversive artists around today. Bigger.Messier. views the Grammy and Emmy Award-winning composers songs through the lens of luminaries from diverse sides of the music business, including Trent Reznor, Iggy Pop, Squarepusher and Ghostemane. Elfman once again has achieved a kind of artistic liberation on the record that had been eluding him for decades, and connecting him to brand new audience. Born and raised in southern California, Elfman began his career as part of a surrealist, avant-garde musical theater troupe known as The Mystic Knights of Oingo Boingo. The group would eventually morph into the critically acclaimed rock band Oingo Boingo, whose high-energy performances and genre-bending sound garnered them a fanatically devoted cult following in the 1980s and '90s. Among the group's early fans was fledgling director Tim Burton and Paul Reubens (aka Pee-wee Herman), who enlisted Elfman to score their first feature film, Pee-wee's Big Adventure. The collaboration would prove to be the start of a long and fruitful partnership for Elfman and Burton, with Elfman going on to score a string of iconic Burton features like Batman, Beetlejuice, Big Fish, Edward Scissorhands, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. To date, Elfman has scored more than 100 films

Produced by Heidecker, Drew Erickson, Eric D. Johnson and Mac DeMarco, High School sees Heidecker emerging as an increasingly playful and poignant story teller, infusing childhood tales with new gravity. In conjunction, he announces Tim Heidecker Live! Featuring Tim Heidecker and The Very Good Band, his first two-act tour of comedy and music. Since 2016, Tim Heidecker has chronicled the annals of adulthood on a series of supreme singer-songwriter albums. The crushing devastation of divorce and the existential malaise of middle-age, the minutiae of home ownership and the ritual of family vacation, child rearing and global warming: Heidecker has handled it all with humor and heart. But, there’s one pivotal lodestar of human development he has yet to mine that’s right, High School. First single “Buddy” is a composite of a few woebegone friends, which finds Heidecker reminiscing on the familiar tragedy of the adolescent stoner, manifesting the destiny of undiagnosed depression and parents who didn’t care much. The song itself is a jangly delight, but it’s hard not to mourn for “Buddy,” then re-count whatever blessings you may have. After initial and fruitful sessions with Jonathan Rado, Heidecker started recording tunes with DeMarco and Erickson, who had also worked on 2020’s collaboration with Weyes Blood, Fear of Death. At DeMarco’s studio, they added drum machines and synths and sidewinding solos to Heidecker’s big strummed chords. Johnson (Bonny Light Horseman, Fruit Bats) helped Heidecker finesse the tunes even more, making the music as rich as the feelings. Kurt Vile contributed to one song, as well. Through all those sessions, it slowly became clear: Heidecker was writing not only about the adventures and misadventures of life as a Pennsylvania teen in the early ’90s, but also how it felt to lose a juvenile sense of mystery and possibility as an adult. He was writing about high school and, really, the way it helped shape everything else. Back at Pennsylvania’s Allentown Central Catholic High School, Heidecker dreamed of making it with one of his many rock bands — Time and Other Things, Shaggy’s Beltbuckle, and (incredibly) The Pulsating Libidos. Two years shy of his graduating class’ 30th anniversary, Heidecker admits he had little of substance to say when he was 17, like all but the rarest of precocious minds. In college, though, he found the friends with whom he built his comedy career, largely apart from music and without much thought for his time back at Central Catholic. He was focused on his future. It is fitting, then, that as Heidecker has become such a delightful singer-songwriter and collaborator, he returns to the first scene of his time as a musician. Maybe he’s right — he didn’t have anything to say or sing about life back then. But across the earnest and amusing High School, he finds plenty to say about those weird and wonderful and ordinary times.

A product of generations of underground music in L.A. and beyond, The Linda Lindas' debut, Growing Up, channels classic punk, post punk, power pop, new wave, and other surprises into timelessly catchy and cool songs sung by all four members-each with her own style and energy. A handful of cuts have already been previewed at shows and enthusiastically approved by diehard followers in the pit at L.A.'s DIY punk institution The Smell and Head in the Cloud festival goers at The Rose Bowl alike. The Linda Lindas are stoked to unleash Growing Up. The Linda Lindas first played together as members of a pickup new wave cover band of kids assembled by Kristin Kontrol (Dum Dum Girls) for Girlschool LA in 2018 and then formed their own garage punk group just for fun. Sisters Mila de la Garza (drummer, now 11) and Lucia de la Garza (guitar, 14), cousin Eloise Wong (bass, 13), and family friend Bela Salazar (guitar, 17) developed their chops as regulars at all-ages matinees in Chinatown, where they played with original L.A. punks like The Dils, Phranc, and Alley Cats; went on to open for riot grrrl legends Bikini Kill and architect Alice Bag as well as DIY heavyweights Best Coast and Bleached; and were eventually featured in Amy Poehler's movie Moxie. When the pandemic put a pause on shows, The Linda Lindas went on to self-release a four-song EP, make their own videos and grow a following beyond Los Angeles. But they never expected or could have even dreamed that their performance of "Racist, Sexist Boy" for the Los Angeles Public Library in May 2021 would take them from punk shows to TV shows. A month later, when the school year ended and summer began, The Linda Lindas got to work on their first full-length LP. Having written a mountain of new material individually while sheltering in place and attending class virtually, the band was more than ready to enter the studio where Mila and Lucia's dad (and Eloise's uncle and Bela's "uncle") Carlos de la Garza oversaw recording and production. The Grammy-winning producer's work includes Paramore, Bad Religion, Best Coast, and Bleached.

1900 to 1930: The Dawn of Dementia; The Oldest Novelty Records of All
Time from Dr Demento.The world famous Dr
Demento's influence on pop culture is undeniable and to commemorate his 50th
anniversary, we celebrate the earliest days of novelty and comedy records.
He is a world- renowned record collector and music historian, whose lifelong
passion for music of all kinds (from Frank Zappa to punk rock and everything in
between) is reflected in his radio show and most importantly, in this unique
collection of rare songs from the early days of records.

A cold wind blows while a disembodied drum marches in distance, diving slowly into an orchestra warm-up that ends with a bang: Marmo Music welcomes back Massimo Pegoraro, aka Modus, this time with a special tape release that carries genuinely shaped musical fantasies by the enigmatic electronic music composer and DJ from Genova. Each tune brings a new shade of his polychrome musical universe. He wrote a library music leaning ode to Moondog, recalls forgotten WW1 battles with longing choirs’ chanting along a minimal droning dream house Cello tone, and drops a melancholic fairytale that pits footage of kids laughing at a street market against Fellini-Score spinet melodies. Three of 14 mesmerizing, profoundly written pieces of music, that tell multi-layered contes with Synth reverberations, jazz ambiances, experimental Brit pop sonics, and a sundry range of field recordings. Together they build an enthralling story arc, that displays the open-minded spheres of the broad musical cosmos of Modus. To open the doors to his universe extensive, he additionally wrote some author’s notes for each single composition, that evoke vibrant images on his inspirations and their sounding outcome. Check the spell below while listening to intensely produced explorer music, that brings you obscure ideas from afar who express all the many subtle spirits of Modus.

Good things come to those who wait. The album 'The Children of Scorpio' by Project Gemini aka Paul Osborne is a result of his steeped 30-year musical journey that’s seen him dig deep, study his record collection and re-emerge to fine-tune his craft.

A cinematic musical journey that plays out like a long-lost soundtrack (think cult B-movies of the 60s and 70s); 'The Children of Scorpio’ was formed from Paul's love of a myriad of genres; from European library music, acid folk, psych-funk, vintage soundtracks and the contemporary breaks scene. The album draws on iconic classics such as the masterful cinematic funk of Lalo Schifrin's 'Dirty Harry', Ennio Morricone's 'Vergogna Schifosi’ and Luis Bacalov’s 'The Summertime Killer’, to name but a few. You can also hear the folk sounds of Mark Fry's iconic 'Dreaming With Alice', the Britsh folk-jazz of The Pentangle and the David Axelrod-produced 'Release Of An Oath' by The Electric Prunes, woven into the cultural tapestry of this gem. The influence of these vintage productions of the 60s and 70s is evident; however, it could be argued that there’s also echoes of the funkier psychedelic moments of bands such as The Stones Roses and The Charlatans, alongside contemporaries such as The Heliocentrics and Little Barrie, thus giving the album a broader crossover potential beyond the world of crate digging and vintage soundtracks.

A bass player and musician since the age of 16, the arrival of his first child in 2010 saw Paul move away from live performance and retreat to his home studio, recording a wealth of music that was destined to never be heard. One of the first tunes to be made was a demo entitled ‘The Children Of Scorpio’, inspired by his long-time obsession with Lalo Schifrin’s soundtrack to violent Clint Eastwood cop classic 'Dirty Harry'. Recorded for fun, the track was fated to sit in the archives untouched. However, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, connections to a wealth of inspirational musicians and labels would re-ignite Paul's musical fire and give him the impetus to develop his slept-on ideas into something more concrete. Firstly resulting in releasing two limited 7'' records on Delights Records and now the long-player for Mr Bongo.

Assisting in the recording of the record were several close friends that have helped spark Paul's musical creativity along the way, including well-renowned guitarist and Little Barrie frontman Barrie Cadogan (who contributes killer six-string guitar to four tracks), Delights Records head-honcho Markey Funk (who adds spooked out keyboards to ‘Path Through The Forest’), Kid Victrola, the chief songwriter and guitarist with French psych girl group Gloria who added wild 12-string to ‘Scorpio’s Garden’, Haifa-based multi-instrumentalist and producer Shuzin who brings the heat behind the drum kit, and Paul Isherwood, co-founder of Nottingham’s The Soundcarriers, who mixed the album on his wealth of vintage gear.

We are delighted to be releasing this slowly-brewed timeless classic that manages to achieve that rare feat of keeping one foot firmly in the past whilst still sounding totally contemporary.

The Effect Of Heavy Music: Rock Music And Revolution In 70s Zimbabwe. Eye Q’s music has never been collated and issued outside of its country of origin. Now, as part of the Now-Again Reserve series, their rare singles and even rarer album are presented in full. Just as the hippie era came to an end in America, a second 60s was beginning: in what is now Zimbabwe, young people created a rock and roll counterculture that drew inspiration from hippie ideals and the sounds of Hendrix and Deep Purple. The kids in the scene called their music “heavy,” because they could feel its impact, and it resonated from Zambia to Nigeria. At its peak in the mid-70s, the heavy rock scene united tens of thousands of young progressives of all racial and social backgrounds. The country was called Rhodesia then, one of the last bastions of White rule in Africa, and heavy rockers defied segregation laws and secret police to make a stand for democratic change. Eye Q is one of the greatest bands of the scene: their rock stands on par with the early Zamrock of WITCH and Ngozi Family. Please The Nation encapsulated Eye Q’s desire to forge forth, in a new, free country, and this set collates their 7” singles, ultra-rare album and songs from master tape and presents their music for the first time outside of Zimbabwe. In the accompanying oversized booklet, a trio of authors collaborate to tell the Eye Q story, and to investigate the genesis of the heavy rock scene under Ian Smith’s racist, oppressive government, and its dissipation after Zimbabwe’s liberation. The set also includes a download card for WAV files for all vinyl tracks, as well as bonus tracks.

Repress

Growing Bin burst into 2018 with a bang, crash and symbol splash, uniting a premier pair of per-cussion obsessives for a supernatural mission into the heart of the rhythm.
Dressed in the pitch black of Du¨sseldorf stands Wolf Mu¨ller, master of the tropical drums and seven time Salon Des Amateur breakdance champion. Repping Cologne and Berlin is Niklas Wandt, Germany's funkiest drummer and a mixed musical artist as adept in experimental jazz as demen- ted Euro dance. Standing toe to toe in a no holds barred, no drum unstruck groove contest, these two titans will make you swing your pants like a Crash Bandicoot victory dance...so stretch out and step in to ‚Instrumentalmusik von der Mitte der World'.

Taking to their task with the joyful abandon of two big kids getting creative with the Kindergar- ten music tray, Mu¨ller & Wandt marry dripping electronics, Froesean pads and rubber-limbed basslines with tribal polyrhythms, C2 claps and Indonesian shakers - and that's only on the A1. Comprising of three trance-inducing epics, a handful of medium-sized movers and a couple of freeform interludes, this dynamic double pack could almost pass as a lost Library masterpiece, but our mind guides go Furthur, fusing esoteric funk and free-jazz freak-out a truly transportive experience. Prepare to enter a world of techno totems and neon skulls, shades of Yello and excel- lent birds. Within these grooves lies a transdimensional pathway between the Temple of Doom, the Twilight Zone and De Palma's Paradise, brought to life in a shamanic rite.

Forget the healing frequencies of Growing Bin's ambient outings, this time we're dancing for mental health.

(words by Patrick Ryder)

Wes Andersons neuester Film ”The French Dispatch” erweckt eine Sammlung von Geschichten aus der
letzten Ausgabe einer amerikanischen Zeitschrift zum Leben, die in einer fiktiven französischen Stadt des
20. Jahrhunderts erschien.
In den Hauptrollen spielen Benicio del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Léa Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, Lyna Khoudri, Jeffrey Wright, Mathieu Amalric, Stephen Park, Bill Murray
und Owen Wilson. Der Film feierte im Juli bei den Filmfestspielen von Cannes 2021 in Frankreich Premiere
und wird am 21./22. Oktober weltweit in die Kinos kommen.
Der ”The French Dispatch” OST wird zeitgleich mit dem Kinostart des Films veröffentlicht. Auf dem
eklektischen Soundtrack sind Jarvis Cocker, Grace Jones, Ennio Morricone, Charles Aznavour und viele
andere zu hören.
ab 11.02.2022 auch als 2LP erhältlich

Lean’s debut EP on Libertine Industries. All the tracks have been written during the first lockdown, inspired by late 80’s - early 90’s cartoons. The EP showcases the young Italian's style, a blend between EBM, Industrial, Acid and Italo Disco.

There is nothing quite like an evening under the rhythmic spell of the legendary David Morales. Stepping on the dancefloor while he's behind the decks requires full trust and surrender. You agree to hand the reins of your mind, body, and spirit to his intuition and ability to guide you to where you need to be at all times. It will occasionally be cathartic and intense. It will often make the hairs on your body stand on end, and make you sweat more than you ever have before. The endorphin release will be powerful. You will feel like you can touch joy and euphoria it in the air around you. As he gently brings you back down to reality, you will feel renewed and ready for anything life brings your way. This is more than a night of dancing. This is an experience at the hands of a magical maestro of music. How is this possible from a night on the dancefloor? Well, it begins with the brilliant mind of an artist at the peak of his creative power, imbued with the empathy necessary to connect with what has become a global legion of fans. "If there is any secret, it's really simple: I love what I do with all of my heart," Morales says. "I'm a DJ first. I thrive on human interaction. I am always adjusting my sets based on what the people in the room need. Each night, we form an emotional connection that inspires the music as it comes."

For Morales, "working in the studio is important, but it exists as a way of supporting the DJing experience. It's all to inform how it will work on the dancefloor."

To that end, you're reading these words as you dive into a new collection of Morales classics. Ever the collaborator, he has enlisted the input of a wide range of voices and talent. There is the diva power of fellow legend Ultra Nate, who brings her signature sass to "I Can Dream," while Michele Perera's explosive chemistry with David is all over the inspiring "Life is a Song" and "Never Give Up", as well as the impassioned "Addicted."

Morales reminds the listener of his ever-evolving musical scope in collaborations with blondewearingblack ("What Can I Do"), Lea Lorien ("Never Looking Back"), and Blakkat ("Can't Get Enough"). There's the clubland supergroup of David with Mr. V, Scotty P. and DJ Rae on "The Feels." Rounding out the set is a reunion with longtime muses Elle Cato ("I Feel Love") and British soul icon Joe Roberts ("Easy"). Just be sure to listen closely, because there's bound to be a surprise tucked between these grooves to tickle your ears and move your body.

The beauty of this sparkling new foray into electronic music is the heightened intimacy between Morales and the music. What you are hearing here is almost exclusively from the man's own fingertips. "The technology has evolved in the most extraordinary and liberating ways," he says, adding that he is now able to be far more directly hands-on during the building of each track. "Back in the '90s, I had to have more people involved, With the changes and growth in technology, I can now do it, myself. I don't even have to be in the studio anymore. It's smart, financially, but it's also way more fun and creative."

David adds, "I don't have to wait to manifest an idea anymore. I can just build my ideas as they come to me." In fact, he reveals that many of these new tracks were born in unique places, like planes, cars, his bedroom, and a host of other settings. "Music is always spinning around my mind. I no longer worry about losing an idea."

Surviving the highs and lows of an ever-changing world has also brought Morales back to the basic essentials of life and music. "The pandemic has brought things full circle for me," he says. "I love what I do and I still have the passion of a kid who is just getting started"

Yet, we know that Morales has been in the game for longer than a minute. He's a Grammy award-winning producer, remixer, and songwriter. He has lent his skill to countless of records by icons that include Mariah Carey, Madonna, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Donna Summer, Seal, and Jamiroquai. As a turntable artist originally from New York City, he earned his bones of credibility back in the '80s and '90s in clubs like the Paradise Garage, Red Zone, Tunnel, and Club USA. He initiated the concept of DJs touring beyond their hometowns with countless, wildly successful treks that have taken him the farthest-reaching corners of the world. As electronic music thrives on pop radium, David tops the list of every young artist and DJ as a primary influence.

Even with such a staggering legacy, Morales never looks over his shoulder.

"That is how you stumble and fall," he says. "If you get all caught up in the past, you're going to lose sight of what is right in front of you. You lose the excitement of discovery. That is what gets me off; taking what I know and combining it with what I don't know as I learn it. There is nothing better than experiencing how it all comes together. It's different every time."

And that is the ultimate secret to that extraordinary spell that David Morales casts over us all every single time.

Hessle audio-inspired club weapons. burial-esque floorfillers. gully electro-dubstep grime from the future. enter the mind of tom place, the UK bass prodigy taking the golden era of UK club back 2 the forefront of modern dance music."

Support: featured on BBC introducing radio 1 dance & mixmag.
Early support from: LCY, cressida, plastician, nicola cruz, aloka, mad miran, martyn bootyspoon, DJ spit, jossy mitsu, parrish smith, harrison bdp, yazzus, ciel +more

Electronic musician Xopher Davidson will release ‘Lux Perpetua’ this year via Daydream Library Series. A noted protége of Maryanne Amacher, Xopher recorded these two tracks in 2020 utilizing vintage synths within the beloved music studios of Mills College in Oakland, California. Xopher builds his experiments in electronic sound from a basis in painting, photography, and film, and through an interest in electronic circuits going back to building radios and homemade circuits as a kid. He has built and explored the sound world of a homebrew modular synthesizer comprised of surplus laboratory equipment: various oscillators, pulse generators, filters and an 'analog computer. He has released 4 albums as ANTIMATTER : ‘Transfixion’, ‘Antimatter Vs. Antimatter’, ‘Our Lady of the Skies’, and ‘Reset’. As an audio engineer, Davidson has worked on projects composed / performed by: the League of Automatic Composers, John Cage, Marcel Duchamp, Subtropic, Diamanda Galas, Kid 606, DJ Rupture, Darwin's Bitch, Once 11, Mix MasterMike, Hans Grusel, Phoenecia, Jonah Sharp, We, Zbigniew Karkowski, and Iannis Xenakis

Cult jazz soundtrack to supernatural Soho
strangler epic ‘Der Wurger Vom Tower’ by Swiss
electronic pioneer Bruno Spoerri that has been
locked away since 1966.
 Translated as ‘The Strangler In The Tower’, this
lesser-known thriller possibly stretched the
imaginations of cinematic crime buffs beyond the
genre’s parameters before disappearing into
obscurity.
 Liberated from Bruno Spoerri’s meticulous master
tape vault this, his first-ever feature-length
soundtrack commission, can finally take its place
alongside other recently resuscitated oblique jazz
scores by the likes of Basil Kirchin, Krzysztof
Komeda (Cul-De-Sac), Roger Webb and Jonny
Scott.
 The real sacred jewel in Bruno Spoerri’s crown as
the leader and pioneer of Switzerland’s electronic
underground (not to mention sample source
amongst rap royalty) and a mysterious monarchial
figure in European jazz and music technology

Latin-infused Hip-Hop project by The Breed and Richard Holzmann feat. FLKS, Cy Leo, Kid Taro, Phlocalyst and Franz. Cover photo by the legendary Estevan Oriol (Netflix / LA Originals)

It all started in 2020 when producer The Breed and guitarist Richard Holzmann decided to start their own project called PAPI CHURRO. The two german musicians came up with a unique combination of latin-folk and HipHop Sounds. Almost like a Lo-Fi Beat version of guys like João Gilberto or Carlos Jobim. But also the typical Mexican sounds of Druglord Movies like „Narcos“ are part of their soundcollage. In very short time PAPI CHURRO gained a fanbase and millions of streams on the net. Since all the instruments are played live the songs are not your average Samplebeat but come with some more complex arrangements. But still producer The Breed clearly references those „Chops and Breaks Roots“ on the songs.

Now it’s time for their first full-length LP. El Clásico features all of their recently released tunes but also comes with a bunch of new material. It features a lot of talented guest musicians. Blue-note artists Phlocalyst on some trumpet parts, Harmonica world champion Cy Leo from Hongkong. Lo-Fi producer Kid Taro and Bassplayer and producer FLKS appear throughout the record.

There’s liberation on the dance floor in the songs of Matthew Urango – glimpses of revolution that glimmer beneath the disco ball. “I want my music to bring people together,” says the Californian pop innovator, best known as Cola Boyy. “Because standing together is our best chance at fighting this shit show.” The shit show in question is a broken, brutal system the acclaimed multi-instrumentalist has witnessed up-close. Urango was born with spina bifida and scoliosis in Oxnard, California: a town in which almost 30,000 are estimated to live in poverty. Prosthetic Boombox, his eagerly awaited debut album, might at first glance seem a joyous confetti-burst of pop eclecticism, engineered to sound like “scanning between stations on a car radio, landing on all these different sounds and styles” as Urango puts it. Dig deeper, though, and you’ll discover a simmering sense of rebellion. “The working class are injured, struggling to pay rent and struggling to put food on the table,” he says. “I want to represent that.” Prosthetic Boombox
achieves that goal in a thrilling flurry of inventive indie, funk and soul: take Urango’s car radio analogy, place it in a time-travelling Delorean with Prince in the passenger seat, and you’re half-way there.

Look no closer than Prosthetic Boombox’s euphoric opener, the Avalanches-assisted ‘Don’t Forget Your Neighbourhood.’ The track – which Urango says mixes “the Beach Boys, French disco, house keys and ragtime piano, kinda like the Cheers soundtrack!” – ends with lyrics urging listeners to “fight for your town with your fist closed, strike it and make it more than just a memory.” It’s a reminder that the working classes need to “turn our fists against our oppressors instead of each other,” he explains. After that emphatic introduction comes a horn-laced funk wig-out titled ‘Mailbox’ – a song that gives Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia a run for its Studio 54-themed money, featuring rising Londoner JGrrey. Elsewhere, ‘Song for the Mister’ ventures into smooth R&B territory, before ‘Roses’ – a collaboration with Myd of Ed Banger fame – offers a bouquet of bustling disco guitars and infinite bisous of Connan Mockasin’s band drops in on the immaculate ‘Go the Mile’. Urango saves his most introspective moment for the album’s starry closer. ‘Kid Born in Space’, a cosmic collaboration with MGMT frontman Andrew VanWyngarden, sees the artist reflect on what he once had to overcome as a disabled person of colour. “I see them looking down on my dreams of being,” he sings tenderly. “I hear them making fun of my voice, but I keep on moving forward, I refuse to live in anyone else’s shadow.” Prosthetic Boombox, on this subject, is more than an album title – it’s a statement of intent.

“The message of my music is that our class is exploited, oppressed and murdered on the daily. That’s not right, and the system that enables that deserves to be wiped off the face of the earth,” he says. “The only way that happens is if we’re united. That’s the point of my music – to relate to people and unite them.” And what unites more than raucous, irresistibly danceable pop? Prosthetic Boombox is a riot of joyous grooves and catchy hooks for good reason. “I want to reach and spread my message to as many people as possible. You can’t do that if you’re some obscure motherfucker, you know?” he laughs. Don’t bet on him being an “obscure motherfucker” for long.

Transmeridian is the first album from Departure Lounge (ex-Bella Union) in 19 years. It features all four original members plus a guest appearance from legendary REM guitarist, Peter Buck, one of many long-standing admirers of a band that embodied a lost age of reflective, experimental pop music coming to the fore at the turn of the Millennium alongside The Beta Band, Tunng, Boards Of Canada and Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci.

The surprise new album, named after the defunct ‘golden age of aviation’ cargo airline for which singer/guitarist Tim Keegan’s dad was chief pilot, is released on Violette Records (formed by Michael Head (Shack, The Pale Fountains) and Matt Lockett ) on digital and vinyl formats on Fri 26 March 2021.
Originally scooped up by Simon Raymonde’s Bella Union label (labelmates with John Grant’s Czars) following the self-funded release of their debut album Out Of Here (1999), Departure Lounge’s sophomore outing, Too Late To Die Young (2002) was equally acclaimed and was honoured as the first ever Album Of The Week on the emergent BBC 6 Music. The band toured extensively in the UK, Europe and the US, including outings with The Go-Betweens, Morcheeba, Paul Heaton and Robyn Hitchcock, peers whose stylistic contrasts reflect the eclectic nature of Departure Lounge themselves.

Calling a halt in late 2002, citing family and geographical reasons (drummer Lindsay lives in Nashville, where their second album Jetlag Dreams (2001) was recorded), the four members remained firm friends and occasional collaborators, before reuniting in late 2019 for shows at The Green Door Store, Brighton and The Lexington, London, ostensibly to support the digital reissues of their first three cult-classic albums. With no plans other than to make some new music, the next day they set off for Middle Farm Studios, Devon.
Tim Keegan (vocals/guitar), Chris Anderson (lead guitars/keyboards/bass), Lindsay Jamieson(drums/keyboards) and Jake Kyle (bass/guitar/drums) channelled their evident joy at being back together into a complete 13-track album, largely conceived and recorded in just one 24-hour session in the company of studio owner and co-producer, Peter Miles. Ranging from soulful Americana to piano and mellotron-fuelled melancholia via pastoral musings on the nature of post-youth and eerie Spaghetti Western-tinged instrumentals, the next leg on the Departure Lounge journey is a multi-mood expression of pure artistic freedom.
The ‘leak’ of instrumental track Al Aire Libre (remixed by Parisian groovemeister Kid Loco) in October 2020 gave little away as to what fans could expect from a new Departure Lounge record, the track going gracefully everywhere and nowhere on a whistled Latino breeze. First single proper, Mercury In Retrograde, covered in the twinkling lights of a music box Casio CZ101 melody, turned the clock back - this was an old live favourite that never got past the studio door. Unfinished business brought to a happy conclusion, the single returned Keegan’s honest and distinctive lyrical voice back to British music at just the time listeners needed it.
It was an emotional thread, rather than one musical style, which gave the first three Departure Lounge albums their coherence. The songs told the story of the band. Transmeridian has the same sense of deeply connected musical energy. The purring, campfire acoustica of Timber and So Long bear no obvious resemblance to the ethereal, end-of-the-evening, piano-led interlude Paging Marco Polo, whilst the quasi-glam stomp of Mr Friendly would normally have no business sharing space with the strange, spacey Gurnard Pines (named after an abandoned holiday camp on the Isle Of Wight). Yet the journey’s ebb and flow, accelerations and pauses make for compelling, grown-up listening. Australia, showcasing the chiming Rickenbacker 12-string of Athens, GA’s finest guitar slinger, leaves no doubt that Departure Lounge’s pop sensibilities also remain solidly intact.
These four friends from different musical backgrounds came together originally with the stated aim of ‘creating music to soothe the troubled soul’. Citing their love of (and placing on record their debt to) influences including Robert Wyatt, Nick Drake, Talk Talk, Lou Reed, Arvo Pärt and Cocteau Twins, the band’s diversity of taste is reflected in the music they create.
Transmeridian is only the second full-length LP released by Violette Records, formed by Michael Head (Shack, The Pale Fountains) and Matt Lockett as a platform for Head’s work and developing into a respected independent label as well as multi-disciplinary event organiser, drawing in outsiders working in music, literature, art and design. The label continues to host live events whenever possible and recently initiated an ELP (halfway between and EP and an LP) vinyl series, putting out acclaimed releases by The Pistachio Kid and Studio Electrophonique.

Exclusively on vinyl - 14 defining tracks from the most glamorous indie rock & roll legends.

Kicking off with The Killers ‘Mr Brightside’ and Franz Ferdinand’s ’Take Me Out’ - both huge anthems from the post-punk revival of the early 2000’s - a genre that took inspiration from the distorted rock scene of the late ’60s alongside the guitar & synth driven new wave of the early ’80s and produced some of the most creative and bruised tracks of the past twenty years. Some acts found mainstream appeal and delivered huge radio and chart friendly pop - The Bravery, Razorlight and Kasabian (represented here with ‘Club Foot’ which sounds as fresh today as it did when it was released).



The scene gave rise to bands whose growing fanbases could easily identify with them, not only for the music, but also the look and attitude. From New York, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Rapture are included here and from the West Coast, Dandy Warhols hit big with ‘Bohemian Like You’ and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club who scored a Top 5 album with their debut release. With particular emphasis on captivating live shows and an alignment to grittier rock aesthetics, The Vines, The Hives, The Libertines and The Fratellis all represented different elements of Indie Glam, while MGMT delivered one of the greatest debut albums of the period by melding Indie Pop with synth-driven psychedelia which included the incredible cut ‘Kids’, also featured here.



14 Essential Tracks on one vinyl album - ‘Glamorous Indie Rock And Roll’