Zero Netcost returns with “Ten Years Later”: an elegant downtempo cut driven by delicate piano and a spellbinding vocal. To beef up the maxi, the legendary duo Bent reunites once again with Zero Netcost, delivering two remixes packed with warm, finely textured detail. And there’s more heavy company: Funki Porcini drops an instrumental version with an oblique, late-night twist. A vinyl made to glide from warm-up to after-hours without losing the thread.
The Spoiled is an Italian post-punk project led by Giovanni Santolla, blending electronic beats, distorted synths, and reverb-soaked guitars into a dark, romantic, and nostalgic sound.
In 2024, the project self-released the debut EP Time distributed by Manic Depression, followed in 2025 by the full-length Living Ghosts via Swiss Dark Nights—an album that firmly established The Spoiled within the contemporary post-punk scene. Following the album’s release, Giovanni collaborated with international acts including This Eternal Decay, Darkways, Corlyx, Chaos International, and Hinfort, while maintaining a dense touring schedule across Europe and sharing the stage with artists such as Traitrs, Hinfort, Darkways, and Ductape.
The new album When It Rains, set for release on Avant! Records on April 17, 2026, expands The Spoiled’s artistic vision with a focus on intense, romantic soundscapes that delve deeply into human intimacy and interpersonal relationships. Embracing a warmer and more personal sonic direction, the record blends elements of indie rock and electrogaze music that enrich and revitalize the dark, melancholic palette that has defined the project’s earlier works.
Still playing homage to the forefathers of the genre such as Clan of Xymox, The Sound and Pink Turns Blue, When It Rains opens the path of The Spoiled to new soundscapes, exploring broader emotional territories while preserving the atmospheric depth and introspective tone that have become its signature.
FFO: Twin Tribes, Clan of Xymox, She Past Away, Mareux, The Soft Moon, Pink Turns Blue.
In the Summer of 2023, Dans Dans were nearing the end of a two-and-a-half-year-long period of intense creativity, during which they had released two celebrated albums, Zink and 6, and had toured extensively in Belgium and abroad. Feeling it was time for a well-deserved break in activity, they decided to play three final, intimate concerts before going into hiding: two consecutive nights at Trix in Antwerp (hometown of drummer Steven Cassiers and guitarist Bert Dockx) and one at Botanique in Brussels (hometown of bassist Frederic Jacques). 'LIVE!', Dans Dans' first ever full length live record, features highlights from these memorable nights, offering excitingversions of several of the group's most beloved compositions from across their back catalogue. While the band is, at the time of writing, getting ready to start working on new material, these recordings from 2023 are a good reminder of the magic Dans Dans are able to conjur when they get together and play. Here is one of the most original instrumental trios of the last two decades in their natural habitat, on stage, performing for a live audience, speaking through their intensely personal music. Here is Dans Dans at full flight, effortlessly blending different musical genres and painting fascinating sonic landscapes full of energy, mystery and contrast.
Karates trotziges und letztes Studioalbum rundet eine 12-jährige Diskografie ab, die von harDCore-artiger Katharsis bis hin zu feedbackgesättigten Improvisationen reicht. Dieser Klassiker aus dem Jahr 2004 verzichtete auf die Friendster-Migration zugunsten eines zurück zum Wesentlichen gerichteten Songwritings, das von Jazzphrasierungen und beatinspirierter Lyrik durchdrungen ist. Mit Chris Brokaw, dem Gitarristen von Codeine/Come, wurde ,Pockets" von den originalen Analogbändern neu gemastert und kommt in einer Deluxe-Hülle mit reproduzierten Songtexten.
Santamaria Brothers are the latest incarnation of a lifelong musical journey rooted in rhythm, rebellion, and reinvention. The children of Peruvian and Ecuadorian immigrants to Australia, brothers Pat and Andrew Santamaria grew up steeped in the sounds and culture of Latin America - a deep inheritance that coloured everything they did, even as they moved through scenes and styles far from home.
In their youth, the brothers sharpened their first musical swords playing in globally touring indie bands. As the rhythm section of cult outfit Lost Valentinos, they had the opportunity to see the world and learn from the best; touring with, working alongside, and releasing music through the likes of Soulwax, Ewan Pearson, and Kitsuné. Taking those experiences home, they dove deep into the rave underground, co-founding of the crucial Sydney-centric techno label, warehouse party collective, and long-running radio show Motorik! In that guise,they helped shape the city’s electronic music scene over the past decade from the booth, the studio, the airwaves, and the street.
Now, after years behind the decks and on both sides of the mixing board, Santamaria Brothers return to their roots - releasing music under the family name for the first time. With We Got Latin Soul, they bring it all together on a 4-track EP of club-ready edits (via Sosilly Records). Reworking four towering figures of Latin soul; Mongo Santamaria, Ray Barretto, Pucho & The Latin Soul Brothers, and Joe Bataan — the brothers inject each cut with tasteful touches of Balearic haze and chugging acid house pressure, honouring the originals while making them sing on today’s dancefloors.
This is Latin soul filtered through a unique blend of antipodean rave culture, crate-digging, and relentless reinvention. It’s joyful, percussive, and made for the club - a full-circle moment from two lifers forever finding new ways to move bodies.
To commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the passing of James Darroch, singer/songwriter/guitarist for Sydney's incredible The Eastern Dark, Grown Up Wrong! is thrilled to announce a long-awaited reissue of the band's classic single "Julie Is A Junkie/Johnny and Dee Dee".
Heavily influenced by the Ramones - the band opened their first live show with 'Blitzkrieg Bop' and from then on opened with a new Ramones song every time they played, working through the band's complete catalogue in chronological order - as all manner of hyper-melodic and high energy rock. The Eastern Dark were a classic trio powered by former Celibate Rifles bassplayer James Darroch's blazing guitar and anchored by former Lime Spiders backing vocalist Bill Gibson's hard driving and melodic bass playing (and supreme backing vocals) and Geoff Milne's untouchable beat keeping. They set Sydney's Radio Birdman influenced scene alight in 1984 and quickly built an international following on the back of their classic single. Sadly, just hours after completing what would become their next release - the mini-LP "Long Live the New Flesh" - the band's life, and that of 26-year old James Darroch, was brutally ended in a road accident whilst the band was on its way to Melbourne.
On the back of the tragedy, the band's music lived on and it's global impact was reflected in the influence it bore on numerous bands, from Boston's the Lemoneads to Tokyo's Teengenenete, and obviously a succession of Australian bands from the Hard-Ons through to God and the Meanies and beyond.
After years of searching, surviving members Bill Gibson and Geoff Milne recently found the single's original multi-track tapes, and for the new release, the original recordings have been both remixed and remastered for maximum impact under their supervision.
Bright morning. To noon and into afternoon. To dusk and the inky night.
A major new exhibition of Mammo’s music spread across a triple disc, twelve track album. Call it a compendium or summary, a network of sparking neurons and painted landscapes in techno.
It folds in all the aspects of his other identities (self-)released over the last few years into an ultimate package ~ Heaven Smile, A∞x, CoA-A, E35, Puddlerunner; really any other project Fabiano has assumed an identity under. It all finds its way into the code and format of Lateral in some way or another.
Here the ground is given for the listener to hear just how much range and individual language there is in the music he’s been making. Fully immersive, inventive and detailed while also elegant and light of touch. It’s quite a package from one of the most talented techno producers right now, gesturing towards different genres and novel ideas in beautiful and intuitive fashion.
Break the pack down for your preferred disc of the day if you like. It’s designed with that modularity in mind. Disc one sparkles with vitality and a buoyancy. The middle disc has more drive and harder bites that you may want to amplify and split out to slot in a DJ bag. Sides five and six move into deeper, dreamier and more emotional techno in twilight. Each one is a little distinct and has its own orbit.
But give it your full attention on the turntable platter too. A listen from beginning to end. There’s lovely dynamics and interplays in the narrative, and its a remarkable new body of work to let your time dilate to.
Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker.
Art by Mammo.Works.
This isn’t a compilation—it’s a vinyl conversation between cities, generations, and musical bloodlines. This inaugural release embodies the spirit of collaboration, community, and cross-generational artistry that defines each artist’s deep musical legacy.
A statement on wax bringing together Glenn Underground, Coflo, Jon Dixon, Kevin Reynolds and sillygirlcarmen, this four-song project documents the shared language of five Artists through deep house, jazz roots, and forward-looking soul. Though these artists have shared DJ booths and dance floors around the world, this release marks a rare moment where their creative voices intertwine on wax. Each track stands on its own, but together they form a continuum—past, present, and future etched into wax. Pressed with intention and made for real systems, this release exists for the heads, the selectors, and anyone who still believes vinyl is where the story lives. Meant to be played—not archived. The kind of tracks that feel alive in the room and grow every time you hear them.
‘Ease’ EP tracks:
Glenn Underground ‘Dive (Into The Deep)’; the Chicago legend & Strictly Jaz Unit co-founder combines deep house, freeform jazz & soul, here in a jazz-infused, laid-back, hypnotic melange of house beat, synth chord riff, rippling arps, with a whisper of disco in the bassline and 80’s electro in the high, singing strings.
Coflo x sillygirlcarmen ‘Never Forget (That Feelin’)’; East Bay CA-based Coflo combines Hawaiian & Portugese roots with a global reach. A collaborative skipping house beat, pattering percussion & melodic jazz synth piano embrace sillygirlcarmen’s soulful voice and heartfelt lyrics. This collaboration marks a merging of emotional storytelling and percussive sophistication.
Jon Dixon ‘Saturday At Northland’; Detroit’s modern jazz & techno fusionist, rooted in long study and prestigious performance of classical & jazz piano both in orchestral and electronic contexts, employs his keyboard virtuosity in a thrilling wave of melodic piano improvisation & complex lively percussion, combining sheer craft with spiritual heft.
Kevin Reynolds ‘I Got Music’; from an Irish/US Detroit family, producer/live artist Reynolds blends techno, jazz, soul, from influences as diverse as 90s underground techno, Kraftwerk & John Coltrane, and roles/performances in multiple prestigious venues & positions. Here, a stealthy beat & Kraftwerk-evoking robotic electro synth theme are joined by a dual vocal used as a riff, while clusters of piano chords flower into jazz motifs.
“One foot out the door, another in the otherworld…”
So begins Hannah Lew’s debut, self-titled solo record, soaked in imperious, wide-eyed pop songwriting and a girl-group/post punk aesthetic that belies the artist’s history in the U.S. underground. A towering, hook-laden album, it’s infused with an optimism and surrealism that conversely deals with the times we find ourselves in.
Recorded at home in Richmond, CA and in The Best House studio with Maryam Qudus in Oakland CA, with the assistance of a crack team of West Coast musicians, this album sees Hannah Lew stepping out from behind the legacy of her two groups Grass Widow and Cold Beat. While musically bearing similarities with her previous work, “Hannah Lew” is a bold leap into direct pop territory, making ample use of a vocal style that teases out the inherent melancholy in her melodies. Mastered by Sarah Register, each song is a perfectly honed nugget that frequently pulls the heart in two directions at once.
Themes of change, breaking up, shattering old ways of being are shot through the record. For the front cover, a photograph of the artist’s face was printed, ripped up and re-assembled, resembling the creative process embarked upon by Lew for her first “solo” material. The album feels instinctual, almost dream-like in its assemblage of sweeping synths and pulsating, propulsive drum machine beat patterns with Lew’s vocal performances sensitive and caressing over the top. Increasingly relying on the subconscious and dreams to guide her creative process, Hannah Lew frequently abandons literal interpretations or linear narratives, the songs seeming to exist in a swooning, effortless flow-state while remaining emotionally hard hitting.
On an album where every song could be a single, there are kaleidoscopic shades and varying emotional tones in abundance. First single Another Twilight is carried along a pumping, Italo-disco-style 4/4 beat and mono-synth bass line, the low end pulling at the heart and body. Lew’s vocal melody teases the track before swan-diving into a gorgeous chorus as she sings “it’s all over baby and I don’t mind… in decline, I take my time…” The album is suffused with moments like this. On slow builder Damaged Melody, an arpeggiated synth elongates the verse before a cascading synth showers down melodic glitter. The stunning Replica uses dual swirling synth patterns before a driving, synthpop chorus for the ages carries Hannah Lew’s vocal into the stereo field, sailing in on a high register singed with the embers of a break up.
In a departure from previous groups, her solo songs are guided by dreams and free association inspired by Dada and the Surrealist movement and sculpted afterwards. As such, the songs reveal themselves on repeated listens, revealing traces of heartbreak inspired by both personal and global elements - Hannah Lew regards the album “a wartime album.” On Move In Silence, Lew intones “there’s a war outside, just out of view,” revealing the dichotomy at play throughout. With the songs evolving naturally and in a flow state, the pressures and sadnesses of the modern age bleed through, mixed in with Lew’s inherent love, sensitivity and fractured-but-intact optimism. On the swooning, sublime Sunday layers of Numanoid synths open up for the commanding vocal performance pontificating on grief, love, pain as she “feels the ache on Sunday…” As the chorus builds and Lew’s call-and-response vocal adds to the emotional tension, it almost feels like too much to take.
Elsewhere, there are echoes of Hannah Lew’s previous work. On Time Wasted a bass guitar comes in with a heavy, punk attack before the synths and vocal harmonies reminiscent of later Cold Beat elevate everything. The glassy, sweetly resigned closer The Clock sounds like so classic it could be cover, a sweetened Jesus & Mary Chain tune perhaps, before it erupts into volcanic chorus that could only come from Hannah Lew in 2026.
¡NO PASARAN! is the extension to Extrawelt's DYSTORTION, from brooding tension to playful relief, the album took listeners on a six-year-crafted exploration. Their next EP picks up where this epic chapter left off and is clearly related. It's a hypnotic dive into shadow and dream, darkness and melancholy with subtle flashes of light.
The title track of the EP, already known from the album (D1 - Extrawelt - ¡No Pasaran!) carries a commanding presence, pulses with a rolling, insistent bassline that anchors shifting rhythmic currents and evolving sonic layers. Between tension and release, shadows and melody, it's a track that moves like a living entity.
Arctic Dead Run hits like a surge of raw energy. Acid lines roll relentlessly, building tension that feels alive. Then a melody sneaks in - soft, almost fragile - cutting through the intensity, until hi-hats erupt and the groove snaps into full focus. Maximal yet controlled, every element finds its place.
Clipping Me Softly dissolves the pressure with a dark, playful groove. Precise rhythms meet spacious pads, opening into a dreamlike state where night slowly gives way to warmth and light.
A focused and uncompromising continuation of Extrawelt's sonic language: Dense grooves, acid pressure, and dreamlike relief collide in a release built for deep listening and late-night floors.
Our latest Holy Grail reissue is this private press spiritual jazz gem out of California from Rickey Kelly and his vibes & marimba. Features Diane Reeves (vocals) & Adele Sebastian (flute)!
Heavyweight 180g LP with tip-on sleeve, individually numbered 1-1000, card enclosed for liner notes & audio download
"Rickey, I know these are your friends, the guys you went to school with, but if you wanna record an album, you record with musicians who have been playing their whole life; whatever you write, they'll put their whole life into it. You play with your friends; they may not even play in tune."
These are the words of Slave guitarist Kevin Johnson, and they were to change the course of young Rickey Kelly's life.
It was 1978, and music student Kelly had approached Johnson with a tape of rough demos of some songs he'd written. A San Francisco native, Kelly had recently moved the short distance south to study music at LA City College in East Hollywood. He was a member of E.W. Wainwright Jr.'s African Roots of Jazz, and was spending up to 10 hours a day in practice on both vibes and marimba. He also played with Horace Tapscott, and had his own band made up of fellow students, but it was his ambition to make an album that led to the conversation with Johnson. It was a turning point in his education, and a decision was looming.
The next thing Johnson said was "You call the best jazz musicians. How'd you like to play with Billy Higgins?", a line that would seal it for anyone; for a youngster like Rickey just starting out in the business, you just don't turn down the opportunity to play with the likes of highly accomplished musicians, especially those of the calibre of legendary jazz drummer Billy Higgins.
Some calls were made and the date was set to record at Studio Masters on Beverly Blvd, a studio set up just a few years previous in 1973, owned and operated by Dot Records founder Randy Wood with his son John. Some of the other music professionals set to record with Kelley that day were flautist Adele Sebastian, bass player Tony Dumas, saxophonist Charles Owens and vocalist Diane Reeves, none of whom had previously played with Kelly before.
Kelly was impressed with the studio, with the gold records displayed on the walls and the famous musicians hanging out. 'It took a lot of humility for me to record with them, I mean I was nobody, nothing, and for not a lot of money either' remembers Rickey in a later interview with Calvin Lincoln, 'It taught me a lot, to practice hard, and study for the rest of your life, to give your all, and there's a lot of all to give'.
As the recording session took place, John Wood was listening in. He was impressed. Kelly didn't have the funds to manufacture and release the album himself, so Wood suggested it was pressed up on his in-house studio label, Los Angeles Phonograph Records, and thus the LP 'My Kind of Music' was released early in 1979. The album also saw a subsequent pressing soon afterwards on Dennis Sullivan's New Note label.
Kelly remains humble and proud of his debut album to this day. 'I was still a beginner' he says, 'These masters walked in, smiling, and gave me something worth gold'.
A guitar stands alone in Wedding, that metropolitan biotope in the western center of Berlin, caught in constant transformation between idyll and abyss. It lets its gaze wander, unsettled, almost shy, until it encounters a trumpet, with which it begins a cautious, then ever more intimate pas de deux.
Welcome to the second studio album by the Berlin-based band Conic Rose.
The album title Wedding is no coincidence. The story of Conic Rose is closely intertwined with the Berlin neighborhood that gives the record its name. The band's studio is located here, and both studio albums were created in the immediate vicinity of the small river Panke. This place settles over the music like a warming patina. The album feels as though the musicians and the neighborhood have invited one another to get to know each other. Not least because Wedding also means marriage. These marriages between a band and an urban landscape, a fading past and an emerging future, fear and hope - unfold in every single song on Wedding.
For their second album, Conic Rose repositioned themselves completely. Not in terms of personnel, but in the question of how to move forward. Conic Rose still sound like Conic Rose; their distinctive blend of cinematic jazz, ambient textures and guitar-led contemporary music remains untouched. And yet Wedding is, in many ways, the conceptual counterpart to their debut album Heller Tag. Where the debut documented movement within an urban setting, Wedding describes a state of being. Behind every piece seems to hover a large question mark.The group opens up its palette, allowing more influences, becoming at once more subtle, more profound, more filigree. It is less about definition than about the spaces in between. The most immediately striking difference from the previous album is the strong presence of the guitar. In Bertram Burkert's playing, many voices seem to converge. His yearning openness forms an equal counterpoint to Döben's trumpet and flugelhorn. Blurred and layered sounds occasionally make the ground seem to slip away beneath one's feet, while Döben's gliding lines create both closeness and distance. Together, the band express in a deeply subtle way a sense of life that corresponds precisely to our time. Something lurks in the background, omnipresent yet still unnameable. Conic Rose need no words to convey this feeling of uncertainty with remarkable eloquence. Perhaps this has something to do with Wedding being a place of confrontational introspection, but Conic Rose confront the escape from escape itself. With the recording and release of Wedding, this process is far from complete. The seed only begins to grow in the listener's ear. With every listen and the echo it leaves behind in memory, the studio bud continues to bloom. The album is merely the point of departure. What ultimately matters is what it sets in motion within those who encounter it.
Mit Buddha-Bar XXVIII öffnet sich erneut das Tor zu einer Welt voller Eleganz, Sinnlichkeit und globaler Klangfarben. Die legendäre Compilation-Reihe, die längst zu einem internationalen Lifestyle-Phänomen geworden ist, präsentiert mit diesem Kapitel erneut einen Mix, der die Balance zwischen elektronischer Finesse, weltumspannenden Melodien und tiefen Chill- und House-Vibes meisterhaft hält. DJ Ravin, seit Jahren prägende Sound-Signatur des Buddha-Bar-Universums, führt Hörer:innen mit sicherer Hand durch eine Reise voller Atmosphäre und subtiler Spannung. Jeder Track reiht sich wie ein Mosaikstein in ein großes Ganzes ein - perfekt geeignet für entspannte Abende, stilvolle Lounges oder Momente der Entschleunigung. "Buddha-Bar XXVIII" steht exemplarisch für die besondere Kunst dieser Serie: Musik als Erlebnis, als Raum, als Stimmung. Eine Einladung, abzuschalten, einzutauchen und die Welt für einen Augenblick in warmen Farben zu hören.
G.A.M.O. (Gods Against Man's Oppression) recounts events leading to Napoleon Da Legend transformation after being bestowed a metal helmet, which is a weapon against our modern dystopia. The album features a blend of soulful and dystopic grit featuring the likes of Vinnie Paz, Goretex, General Steele, Skyzoo, Passport Rav, Nejma Nefertiti, Innocent?, SKAM2?, Eloh Kush, CF, Dontique and more. It has production from Dub Sonata, Maitre D, Homage Beats, Passport Rav Proffeny and Napoleon Da Legend. The result is 23 tracks that blend retro-sci fi "Noir Wave" and modern Boom Bap. It features an exclusive 2 page comic illustrated by UK's Dan Lish. Limited to 300 copies only.
DJ Support: Kerri Chandler, Folamour, Louie Vega, Jazzy Jeff, Dimitri From Paris, David Morales, Dave Lee, The Shapeshifters, Brian Tappert, Quentin Harris, Michael Gray, Terry Hunter, Hector Romero, Tedd Patterson, Dr. Packer, Marcel Vogel, Dj Pippi and many others
Groove Culture main men Micky More and Andy Tee are once again at the controls as the label presents its' Third collection of “Groove Is In The Heart”. As with the popular imprint's various EPs, the focus is on joining the dots between organic house, revivalist disco, uplifting dancefloor soul and colourful jazz-funk. There's much to admire from start to finish, a very strong bunch including MM & AT,Gianni Bini and Angela Johnson celebratory cover of EWF swirling disco-funk ‘In The Stone', a wonderfully rolling and funky-House joint titled ‘Let The Rhythm’ from Ralph Session & Djfudge, Memi P. And Gisele Jackson tasty Feel Good Classic-house Tune “Make It On My Own” and the soulful-house warmth of Audiowhores ‘Touch The Ground' Feat. Angela Johnson.
Black Salt is the second album from Kiiōtō (Mercury Music Prize nominated singer/songwriter Lou Rhodes, former lead vocalist and co-founder of Lamb and award-winning songwriter and pianist Rohan Heath). Their debut album, As Dust We Rise, was released in 2024 to critical acclaim.
Stylistically Black Salt leans further into Jazz, broken beat and soul textures than the debut,with references as diverse as Carole King, Khruangbin and Alice Coltrane. The resulting album is impossible to define by genre, but is fused by the unique interplay of Heath's melodic sensibilities and Rhodes inimitable voice.
Written primarily in Kiiōtō's home studio in North London, Black Salt features guest appearances from a melting pot of musicians, notably guitarist Hawi Gondwe (Amy Winehouse), double-bassist Andy Hamill (4 Hero, Carleen Anderson), drummer Mykey Wilson (Corrine Bailey Rae), and even some impromptu guitar by the one and only David Arnold.
BLACK SALT is out April 2026.
Nickodemus is a globally respected DJ and producer who has been touring nonstop since the mid-1990s, consistently drawing capacity crowds at clubs and festivals worldwide. As a producer, he has released five acclaimed albums (Soul & Science, A Long Engagement, Endangered Species, Sun People and Moon People) and curated eleven volumes of the influential Turntables on the Hudson compilation series. His work bridges hip-hop, house, jazz, and global sounds, highlighted by collaborations and cultural milestones including the Jungle Brothers' genre-defining legacy and the enduring house-rap classic "I'll House You" with Todd Terry. Nickodemus' hit "Mi Swing Es Tropical" (with Quantic & the Candela All-Stars) has surpassed 50 million streams and featured prominently in the film Chef. He has received extensive international press (Billboard, Rolling Stone, The FADER, Paste) and widespread radio support from tastemakers such as Gilles Peterson, BBC 6 Music, KCRW, and KEXP.
b B1: Monk-One Remix [feat. Monk-One]
[b] B1: Monk-One Remix [feat. Monk-One]
KITCHEN. LABEL is proud to present AGATE, the latest album by Japanese artist MEITEI, marking a deepening of the world he first shaped through his Kofū trilogy released between 2020 - 2023.
Named after the mineral agate, a stone formed through slow accumulation, pressure, and time, the album reflects MEITEI’s patient approach to sound. AGATE brings together extended and newly rearranged works from across the Kofū cycle alongside new compositions and passages, refining material developed through years of performance and sustained practice.
The album presents seven tracks:
HAŌ (Previously unreleased track)
SHIN-OIRAN (Remodeled from Oiran I, Kofū 2020)
SHIN-SADAYAKKO (Remodeled from Sadayakko, Kofū 2020)
SHIN-WAROSOKU (Remodeled from Wa-rōsoku, Kofū III 2023)
KYŪGEKI (Remodeled from Shinobi and Akira Kurosawa, Kofū II 2021)
SHIN-OIRAN II (Remodeled from Oiran II, Kofū 2020)
SHIN-EDOGAWARANPO (Remodeled from Edogawa Ranpo, Kofū III 2023)
Across these works, MEITEI expands the musical vocabulary first introduced in Kofū, a sound he once described as “lost Japanese mood.” While Kofū drew from fragments of folklore, theatre, ghost stories, and forgotten urban memory, it was never an act of historical reconstruction. Rather, it reflected a sensibility of the past observed from the present. With AGATE, this worldview is clarified as Shinpu, a process of discovery in which historical awareness becomes a foundation for contemporary creation rather than a constraint.
During five years of Kofū tours across Japan, Europe, and Asia, MEITEI performed this material in a wide range of spaces, from underground live houses and listening rooms to culturally significant sites. These environments influenced pacing, dynamics, and structure, shaping how the material evolved over time. AGATE is therefore not only a studio album, but the result of material refined through repeated performance.
If the Kofū albums were windows into forgotten eras, AGATE explores what lies beneath, sediment and strata formed through time and pressure. MEITEI’s approach to sound mirrors the nature of agate itself. Grains become texture. Texture becomes narrative. Voices drift through decaying layers of sound, while ancient instruments are used in non-traditional ways, forming distinctive percussive rhythms and melodies that appear and vanish without fixed resolution.
The album’s visual materials were developed under MEITEI’s direction through physical art-making processes. The cover artwork originates from a letterpress print created by Kamisoe, a Karakami atelier in Nishijin, Kyoto, using Kyo-karakami paper. The original artwork, produced through traditional woodblock techniques on handmade washi, was subsequently reproduced on print for the album edition. Kamisoe continues to reinterpret this historical Kyoto craft with a contemporary sensibility.
The title calligraphy was created by Bio Xie, whom MEITEI personally invited to participate in the project. During his performances abroad, MEITEI encountered in Taiwan a lingering atmosphere reminiscent of “Shitsunihon” — a sense of old Japanese memory that quietly endures beyond time. He was deeply drawn to Bio Xie’s distinctive use of Chinese characters, which resonated with this experience, and asked him to contribute to the visual expression of AGATE.
In parallel, MEITEI continues to reinterpret Japanese sensibility through his concept of “Shitsunihon,” presenting it as a contemporary musical language. The refined Kyoto motifs envisioned by Kamisoe and the distinctive calligraphic expression by Bio Xie intersect with MEITEI’s singular artistic direction, weaving together a newly articulated worldview.
The accompanying visual imagery, including the liner photographs, was created by photographer Hiroshi Okamoto, who was also responsible for the visual direction of MEITEI’s previous work, “Sen'nyū.” It draws from MEITEI’s lived experiences of winter seas, solitary cliffs, and breaking waves. These scenes symbolize the inner conflicts of the ten years he spent living in Hiroshima, and his confrontation with solitude and the sounds he creates.
AGATE will be released on 17 April 2025 via KITCHEN. LABEL on 180g vinyl, CD, and digital formats. The album is mastered by Kelly Hibbert, known for his work with Flying Lotus, Madlib, and J Dilla.
With AGATE, MEITEI returns to the material of Kofū with greater focus and discipline, continuing an ongoing process of working forward with inherited material.
Belgian minimalist, Dutch-language new wave/synth pop, since 1981! The historic album ‘Jonge Helden’ (1981) brought them instant eternal fame, the single ‘Lekker Westers’ (1983) a Belpop classic & the line-up changed wildly with icons such as Luc Van Acker (Revolting Cocks), Dani Klein (Vaya Con Dios), Willy Willy (The Scabs) or Andrew Chi Claes (Stuff) ...
However, MARCEL VANTHILT (lyrics & music) continues to rock the anarcho-Dadaist-electro-super-tronica scene to this day. Side note: Vanthilt often strayed into TV land (BRT, VPRO, MTV-EUROPE, BBC) and is now a DJ at Radio WILLY with the alternative ‘De M-Show’.
AA! is once again performing frequently in the best clubs (Depot, Casino, Macca) and on major stages (Pukkelpop, Villa Pace, Paulus Oostende). This will also be the case in 2026! This is due to the fresh and spicy new album ‘AA!PKPP’ in collaboration with PARKAPARAPLU.
PARKAPARAPLU: New dark wave duo from Antwerp. With ...
> EMMA ROTSAERT, singer and actress. She plays the lead role in the Ensor-nominated TV drama series ‘How To Kill Your Sister’ (2025). And comes from the same absurd planet as Vanthilt.
> GEERT VANBEVER, veteran of Wizards Of Ooze, Rudy Trouvé Septet, Dead Man Ray, Tuff Guac, among others... worked with Hugh Cornwell (The Stranglers) and Budgie (The Banshees), among others. Together, Emma & Geert also have a Sisters Of Mercy tribute band: Body Electric.
