Buscar:li ve su

The start of the new "Live At Fabrik Hamburg" series on Jazzline in
cooperation with the legendary venue and NDR Kultur - is this previously
unreleased concert from jazz greats Freddie Hubbard and McCoy Tyner
from 1986
It will be released as a double CD in a three-part digipak and as a triple LP in a
triple gatefold cover that includes detailed Liner notes by Michael Laages. In the
Altonaer Fabrik in 1986, the master trumpeter Freddie Hubbard was a guest in the
trio of one of the most important pianists of contemporary jazz: McCoy Tyner,
whose extremely powerful attack always added percussive power of the most
energetic kind to his virtuoso playing.
McCoy Tyner died in March 2020, the recording from 1986 (he was 58 years old
at the time) show him at the height of the unmistakable jazz expression that
defined him. His piano and the enormous radiance of the Hubbard trumpet (born
in the same year as Tyner in 1938, but died in 2008) are the outstanding
protagonists. But the recording also features bassist Avery Sharpe, born in 1954
and with excellent acoustic and electrical credentials, as well as Louis Hayes, still
today the most indestructible of all modern drummers at well over 80 years of
age. Together they refine the nine titles of this two- hour concert on this truly
remarkable evening of music!

Second release of the new "Live At Fabrik Hamburg" series on Jazzline in
cooperation with the legendary venue and NDR Kultur - is this previously
unreleased concert from jazz great Gil Evans with a 16-strong all-star
cast from 1986
It will be released as a double CD in a three-piece digipak and as a triple LP in a
triple gatefold cover that includes detailed liner notes by Michael Laages. By the
1980s, the Gil Evans Orchestra's repertoire had developed into a distinctive blend
of Jimi Hendrix melodies, the band members' own compositions and occasional
references to Gil's older recordings. This concert in Hamburg contained four
songs by Hendrix, with only one ("Up From The Skies") being part of an original
studio album. The regular performances in Europe meant that the audience of the
band was getting younger and was also well acquainted with rock music.
A year and a half after this performance, Gil Evans passed away. He will rightly be
remembered forever for the brilliant albums he recorded with Miles Davis and
under his own name. In reality, however, he lived three quite contrasting musical
lives. As was the case with his Monday evening concerts in New York's Sweet
Basil, this Hamburg performance is a reminder of the lively late phase of Gil
Evans. Here a great all- star ensemble played an outstanding concert of eight
pieces in over two hours.

Kadi Yombo, published in 1989, is the most successful album in the quest for a fusion between tradition and modernity in Bwiti harp music of the Tsogho people of Gabon. Combining beating rattles with a layer of synthesizers, Papé Nziengui blends in a contrapuntal dialogue characteristic of harp playing: male song in appeal and female choir in response, male voice of the musical arc and rhythms of female worship. But above all it’s Tsogho ritual music and modern studio orchestration. The result is an initiatory itinerary of 10 musical pieces which are all milestones likely to be simultaneously listened to, danced, meditated on, and soon acclaimed. In the years since, Nziengui has traveled he world from Lagos to Paris, from Tokyo to Cordoba, from Brussels to Mexico City to become a true icon, the emblem of Gabonese music.

Like Bob Dylan, "electrifying" folk and Bob Marley mixing rock with reggae, some purists have criticized Nziengui for having distorted the music of harp by imposing a cross with modern instruments. They even went so far as to claim that Nziengui was just an average harpist covering his shortcomings with stunts that were only good for impressing neophytes; like playing a harp placed upside down behind his back or playing two or three harps simultaneously. Sincere convictions or venomous defamations, in any case, Nziengui never gave in to such attacks, imposing himself on the contrary to pay homage to the elders (Yves Mouenga, Jean Honoré Miabé, Vickoss Ekondo) while instructing the maximum of young people. He is thus the promoter of many young talents, the most prominent of which is certainly his nephew Jean Pierre Mingongué. In a conservative society where the sacred is confused with secrecy, exposing the mysteries of Bwiti in broad daylight can be punished by exclusion or even execution.

Papé Nziengui has always claimed that he faces such risks because he never felt enslaved to a community that governs his life, that regulates his conduct, that has a right of censorship over his activities. Like Ravi Shankar, the famous sitarist, Papé Nziengui is a man of rupture but also of openness, a transmitter of culture. As proof, he has established himself in Libreville, Gabo’s capital, as the main harpist for sessions and concerts, accompanying the greatest national artists (Akendengué, Rompavè, Annie-Flore Batchiellilys, Les Champs sur la Lowé, etc.) as well as foreign artists (Papa Wemba, Manu Dibango, Kassav', Toups Bebey, etc.). In 1988, he was the first harpist to release an album in the form of a cassette produced by the French Cultural Center (Papé Nziengui, Chants et Musiques Tsogho). At the same time, he created his own group (Bovenga), combining traditional music instruments (musical bow, drums, various percussion instruments, etc.) in the framework of a true national orchestra, which gave the first concert and the first tours of a traditional music that was both modern and dynamic, thus "democratizing" the harp, to the dismay of certain purists.

On the other hand, in modern music, dominated by the logic of profit or even commercialism, artistic creation must often be adjusted for a specific audience based on reason rather than heart. But instead of allowing himself to be distorted, Papé Nziengui has always tried to produce music that is not a caricature, worthy in its expression as in its content, of the sacredness and transcendence of the music of the Origins. This is what makes Nziengui not only the musician, but the man someone whose age hasn’t altered any of his freshness or authenticity

Sounds move across the limits of space and time to leave imprinted in the mind an album of memories full of colors and emotions, a travel journal that from the farthest corners of the world burns every kind of distance and returns through warm and strongly evocative sounds the colors, scents, rhythms, the atmospheres of distant lands. The result is a rich and evocative soundscape, where images become sounds and sounds images, where the elements of nature echo voices of different places and cultures, distant in space but deeply similar and intimately connected.

Imaginária Records has commissioned the refined experience of Giovanni Santucci and LucaEffeSunset a journey through the sounds of the world, which from the enveloping wave motion of the warm Iberian beaches carry us to the crystalline dripping of waters and voices of the Mexican jungle, crossing Balearic rhythms and Brazilian brilliance, letting ourselves be captured by the persuasive voices and the chasing rhythm of the magical formulas of the masciare, ancient mysterious witches of southern Italy. In this journey, which represents the first stage of a wide-ranging project (a trilogy that will take the shape of new musical experiences gathered around the themes of the places first and then of the return), an exciting centrifugal movement that attracts towards a single center: the beating heart of a single Mother Earth; voices, suggestions, rhythms, emotions from the far/near, in order to confirm, together with Raymond Murray Schafer, that in the end "the whole world is sound".

"We’ve reached book IV in Rupert Clervaux’s series of “Zibaldone” audio diaries, at which point we find him telling a different kind of story.

“The first three all had very specific themes, while this one feels a little bit looser and doesn’t have just one thematic thrust,” he tells me, which maybe explains why listening feels a bit like annotating. I’m underlining, emphasizing, drawing arrows from here to there, highlighting symbols and noting motifs, realising, questioning, eureka-ing. An impressionistic meaning’s been encoded in and we’re lucky to be given the space to play that most poetic and boundless of all mental games: narrativization.

There are no wrong answers, but Rupert offers some clues either way. If there’s any cipher here it’s “something like a meditation on the concept of ‘depth’––in all its connotative forms.” Think below the surface, (the) underground, yawning oceans, being ‘down in the dirt’, soil, roots, rootlessness, pulling at the dregs, collapse, profundity, stable and unstable horizons, distance, perspective, intuition, not to mention relative opposites: to be shallow, to be above, to be beyond.

It’s got me thinking of Bresson’s “Bring things together that have as yet never been brought together and did not seem predisposed to be so.” His: “Dig deep where you are. Don't slip off elsewhere.” Rupert has realized these—two favourite goals of mine!—here.

This is music that catches you at your own periphery, gives pause, has you offering a little “huh” to, asking “I wonder why” to. Again, it’s got me musing on another mindworm, this time from New York publisher and multi-sensory reading room Dispersed Holdings: “Feeling-making-knowing feedback loop; cartography of feeling; water as text, read to know the land beneath and around it, and body as reader.”

Is it ok to offer up these other contexts out of context? I think so, because Zibaldone IV articulates a similarly swirly tone. Like, we’ve got Rebecca Solnit talking through Kropotkin’s “Mutual Aid” and later calling out to Michael Ruppert a ways away, and “Easy Rider” is playing in the wings. We’ve got Susan Sontag magically contextualizing Mariah Carey with poet Thylias Moss triangulating in order to sketch out (Rupert again) “something a little more interesting than wilful eclecticism or that laboured and patronising kind of pop-savvy.”

Are we following? Whether yes or no Vanessa Bedoret follows on with a performance of a performance of Moss’s 'Water Road’: to be once or twice removed, via strange transitions, purposeful confusions, and, suddenly, seagulls. We’re on a boat with Ingeborg Bachmann—and how I wish I could actually be! But maybe thanks to this music I can as literature, films, friends, lethargy, coincidences, little mental links, eternal wormholes, lingering notions come together to imagine something better."

Text by Natalia Panzer

Tephra is the latest mesmerizing, propulsive EP by Philadelphia-based rave conjurer Furtive. With captivating woozy arpeggios, high-pressure textural progression, and sharp scintillating sound design, Furtive’s release is a fresh and powerful entry on Mild Fantasy - the brainchild of NYC-based DJ/producer Elle Dee.

Furtive is a full-gonzo rave rat, intractably committed to the dancefloor as a producer, DJ, and DIY event organizer. Tephra showcases a canny approach to creative techno dynamics most familiar to die-hard dancefloor supplicants who’ve both been in the booth and worshiping in front of the speaker stacks.

The EP kicks off with its namesake track: Tephra is a pressure-building whirlwind of dense, textural progression and explosive tension-and-release dynamics. Mounting from a muscular low-end pattern up to a dramatic break, Tephra is a proper warp-drive weapon.

With Strobe Bubble Romance, Furtive dives into pedal-to-the-metal rave acceleration with jagged arpeggio interplay and sharper sound design. In gentler, more romantic contrast, Iris Blur brings back a dizzying melodic progression to even out the blistering pulse of the former.

Question Accelerator (No Answers) is a trippy twist in the EP, comprising a high-torque psychedelic drum and bass journey. As a digital-only bonus, Furtive closes the release with Lullaby, a haunting ambient exploration.

A ferociously productive producer with over a decade of experience bending sounds, Furtive cut their teeth as a DJ and promoter in Washington, DC’s warehouses, where they also played a turnkey role in putting on some of the District’s zaniest techno parties. They’ve supported internationally celebrated non-nonsense acts and held court in dingy watering holes with eclectic selections and a steadfast focus on pacing, dynamics, and surprises. Beyond the fog and strobe lights, Furtive creates art in various mediums, including linocuts, render art, inky drawings, and tattooing.

‘Hive Mind Records are here to help you through the winter months with this generous helping of Wet Tuna with their signature deeply fried rural psychedelia.

Matt Valentine (MV) and Pat Gubler (PG Six) have been jamming together since the mid '90s, floating around in the US psych-folk scene, playing together in Tower Recordings and separately with influential underground crews Woods, The Golden Road, Garcia Peoples and The Weeping Bong Band. Both MV and PG Six have been prolific with their solo work and over the years they've recorded for labels such as Ecstatic Peace, Drag City, Woodsist, 3 Lobed, and Crash Symbols and we are very happy to be joining such esteemed company.

On these recordings, made during the first months of the COVID lockdowns in the forests of the Vermont wilderness, MV and PG Six handle the guitars and synths but they're joined by fellow forest freaks S. Freyer Esq, Jim Bliss, Coot Moon and Carson 'Smokehound' Arnold on bass and drums. Brought to you in their patented mind-expanding SPECTRASOUND, Eau'd To A Fake Bookie Volumes 1 & 2 delivers an irresistible gumbo of deep, cosmic psychedelia, primitive drum-machine grooves and woozy country-funk jams. These 6 songs are cover versions of artists as diverse as The Blackbyrds, Michael Hurley and Jimmy Cliff, but stretched out over 4 sides, the album is entirely Wet Tuna - loose, free-flowing and lots of fun!’

To a degree, all musicians are a product of their environment, the places they record and the venues they play. For proof, check out the alumni of the n-wave era CBGBs venue in New York, Cabaret Voltaire’s Western Works studio in Sheffield or more recently London’s Total Refreshment Centre.

We can now add to that list the Constellations Workshop in Colwick, Nottingham, a project that provides employment through making studio furniture, for out-of-work musicians. It was here, after-hours, that the music on Brown Fang’s impressive and ear-catching debut album took shape.

Both members of Brown Fang, bassist John Thompson and guitarist Henry Scott AKA Henry Claude, have a long association with the Constellations Workshop. Though their musical projects are manifold – Thompson having toured with the likes of The Nectarine No9 and The Selecter, with Scott being both a mainstay of Nottingham jazz circuit and recording ambient music as Fang Jr – the work provided by the community-minded project has kept their heads above water and allowed them a space to record in when the shutters go down and the bandsaws get switched off.

Yet the music showcased on Sherwood Pines is more morning-fresh and sun-kissed than industrial and sawdust-sprinkled. Combining the pair’s brilliant musicianship – think languid bass guitars and Pat Martino-esque jazz guitar licks – with saucer-eyed electronics, occasional downtempo drum machine rhythms and plenty of glistening special effects, the set’s eight tracks are as blissful and becalmed as an early morning saunter through Sherwood Forest on a misty autumn morning.

For proof, check epic opener ‘Tracing Paper’, a slow-build ambient soundscape in which bubbly electronic lead lines and colourful chords sashay around Scott’s sparkling, laidback guitars, and the beguiling ‘That’s All You Can Think’, a subtle tribute to Steve Reich masterpiece ‘Electric Counterpoint’ in which slow-burn, stretched out synthesizer sounds wave in and out of a gradually evolving cycle of delay-laden electric guitar motifs.

The band’s love of classic American minimalism – as well as a shared love of the Duratti Column and Robert Fripp – comes to the fore on ‘HDMI I Love You’, which boasts a deliciously dubby bassline, Tangerine Dream style synths and the deepest of ambient chords, while ‘I Nearly Married a Human’ and ‘Fridgewords’ balance bespoke electronics – languid, dewy eyed and comforting – with Scott’s gorgeously laidback, slow-release guitars.

Every great album needs a triumphant conclusion, and Sherwood Pines is no different. You can hear everything that makes Brown Fang great on ‘Goodbye Donkey Jacket’, from the pin sharp, effects laden jazziness of Scott’s guitars and the fluid dexterity of Thompson’s bass, to the pleasingly spacey pulse of the synths and the gentle rhythms of the soft-focus machine drums. It’s a confident, ear-catching conclusion to a debut album that’s been years in the making.

New album by pioneering German beatmaker FloFilz. On Close Distance, the lofiturned-hifi producer blends hip-hop inspired beats with contemporary jazz, alt r&b and a little rap. Featuring Alfa Mist, Blue Lab Beats, Jerome Thomas,

KeepVibesNear, Summers Sons & C.Tappin, Dal & Hunter Rose. Close Distance is his fourth album for Melting Pot Music. Since 2013, the self-taught bedroom producer and classically trained violinist has sold more than 10k LPs and gained 200 million streams.

Close Distance literally means “near in space or time” (or “nah dran”, as we say in German). The 16 songs on Close Distance came to life over the past two years. Many sketches were birthed at FloFilz's old home studio in Aachen. Some songs were made from scratch in London, where Flo did sessions with UK jazz supremos Alfa Mist and Blue Lab Beats at their studios. One was recorded in a kitchen in Streatham, where rap duo Summers Sons and pianist C.Tappin reside.
More sessions were already in planning when lockdown kicked in and travelling was no longer an option. Around the same time, Flo was about to move from Aachen to Berlin which he eventually did in November 2020. Once installed, he started sharing beats and files out of his makeshift studio in Moabit. Beat folders were sent to
London where two of our favourite new alt R&B vocalists – Jerome Thomas and KeepVibesNear – live. Another one went to Dartmoor where the jazz/hip-hop trio Dal added their magic touch while Hunter Rose processed her sultry vocals in Cape Town - 12 flying hours away from Berlin.

The album artwork has been created by Indonesian illustrator Fatchurofi, who caught FloFilz's attention through his work for everybody’s favourite band Khruangbin. Taking influences from Japanese Ukiyo-e art, Fatchurofi is adding a zen-like clarity (and tranquility) that resonates very well with the album.

It is no exaggeration to say that FloFilz has not only created another inspiring album with Close Distance but one that demonstrates how music can close the distance which we all have experienced (and still do) in a beautiful way.

Joe Tatton, keyboard player with UK/US funk/soul jazz kings The New Mastersounds, releases this new 7 inch single in March 2022 and this time there is a lovely double A-side 7" physical vinyl option. Two tracks that showcase Joe's skills as a pianist and vocalist and confirm his talent for writing quality original compositions.

"Timeline" is Joe's spotlight on today's social media obsessed society delivered in the style of his musical hero Mose Allison. The latter was the legendary Mississippi born/New York based jazz/blues musician and singer whose wry and intelligent lyrics married to amazing original music shone a light on society and the world from the mid-1950s until his death in 2015. Mose was a huge influence on musicians like Georgie Fame, Van Morrison and Ben Sidran and was and still is one of Joe Tatton's favourite musicians of all time. This song is the title track for Joe's debut solo album due for release later this year on Rodina Music.

"Stomp" is a slow bluesy instrumental funk burner that has a New Orleans swagger about it and features Joe's grand piano solo followed by JTQ band member Gareth Lockrane cutting loose on the flute. If you like music by Allen Toussaint, Ramsay Lewis and Herbie Mann, you'll be feeling this one.

Joe Tatton has been a member of The New Mastersounds now for 16 years now and has recorded over a dozen albums and many singles with them playing organ, piano and keyboard. Annually, he tours 8-9 months a year with the band, mainly in the USA but also across Europe and Japan too. Prior to joining The New Mastersounds, Joe held down the keyboard role with UK jazz-funk kings The Haggis Horns appearing on their first two albums "Hot Damn!" and "Keep On Movin". He's also featured on piano/keyboards on the worldwide hit single "Put Your Records On" by Corinne Bailey Rae.

Over the years he has played live sets with Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley as well as Art Neville, George Porter Jr and Zigaboo Modeliste of The Meters. He's always maintained his own trio under his own name as a side project, releasing singles and EPs via ATA Records (UK) and Color Red Music (USA).
A few years ago, he needed to find the time and place to record them. So in 2020, between New Mastersounds gigs, he managed to book a few days at a studio near Nashville USA, "The Rockhouse", run by Grammy winning engineer Kevin Mckendree. He hooked up with a couple of Nashville session musicians, Steve Mackie (double bass - longtime Dolly Parton bassist) and Kenneth Blevins (drums), and put down all his original songs and also a cover of Mose Allison's "Ever since the world ended", the first single released last year

Now comes the second double A-side single and a further taste of what's in store from Joe and the band later this year when the "Timeline" album drops later in the year. However this time, there's a lovely little black vinyl offering for all the record lovers out there. Just a small first pressing which will no doubt sell out very quickly so people need to jump on it super fast. Once they're gone, they're gone.
"Time line / Stomp" double A-Side single by the Joe Tatton Trio. Released worldwide on Rodina Music - March 31st March 31st 2022.

Music Heads by Radio Trip is and remains one of the most far out releases we have ever had on Jalapeno Records.

In the Noughties, the label was approached with some incredible music by the super talented Mixmonster and Schoolmaster, founding members of the Israeli jazz funk band 'The Apples'. Produced under their 'Radio Trip' moniker, the album was a glorious cut & paste journey into sound, with overtones of musique concrete, brought to life by their fascination with vinyl culture, turntablism and sampling.

Their source material knows no bounds and draws from a diverse palette. Traditional middle eastern meets blues, jazz meets rock, hip hop meets psychedelic, and more all come together into one blossoming, cheerful trip, where the cultures of the world collide.

At the time, music piracy was in its heyday and the vinyl market was supposedly in a death spiral, so it was only released on CD and digital.

Now released for the first time on a very limited vinyl LP run, this gem of an album may be one of those moments you discover a touch of genius in a world where formulaic music is churned out with no soul in it's bones.

Repress

Bump 'n Grind Wax's newest relief channels a collective sigh of relief, one that promises to remind the world that joy and love can triumph through togetherness.

Bristol's sonic luminary, Rob Smith (aka RSD), has offered his support in this dynamic cover of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together." With a hint of lover's rock and a dash of neo-soul, RSD invites Denise Morgan to voice this timeless tune. On the A-side, prominent piano runs, synth stabs, and RSD's iconic drum section frame Morgan's deliciously-soulful approach to this classic. RSD brings the magic for the B-side version, "Let's Dub Together." With a blown-out bassline, Denise's tricked out vocal samples, and a thoughtful caressing of the track's timing, reverb, and echo, RSD adds his undeniable signature to the latest BnG Wax tribute.

A formidable architect behind the now-beloved "Bristol Sound," Rob has been an irreplaceable thread in the development of bass-heavy dance music since the 1980s. From raves to basements, lounges to sound system dances, Rob has pushed the limits of music technology to forge a vital link between the past and future. He is a pioneer who has explored the intersections of nearly every genre through dubbed-out breaks, drops, and quintessential remixes. BnG Wax is honored to have his fingerprints on one of our releases.

At its essence BAIT is a band that has become a long distance relationship. For 18 months it’s lived in the cloud, with a rope around its neck. We’ve all had enough restrictions but restrictions force you to work with what you’ve got. Restrictions are precisely what BAIT needed to breathe out, sink to the bottom and propel itself back into the light of day clutching a new record.

‘Sea Change’ is the debut full-length album from BAIT. It’s a digital post-punk lockdown docu-record which watches the clock, gets the jitters, and lashes out just like the rest of us. It’s an internal monologue that accounts the anxiety, the struggles, the pressures experienced living by the sea during a global pandemic.

“This record is true to the environment it was created in, everything was developed remotely and we were forced to collaborate through isolation. I had to sing lower to avoid fucking off the neighbours…At one point I drove out to the middle of nowhere to demo some screaming parts in the driver’s seat of my car, I’m lucky I wasn’t arrested.” - Michael Webster

After the incredible success of Polygondwanaland in 2017, we want to give everyone a chance to get their lucky hands on these King Gizzard albums, so let’s make it real together one more time! MAKE IT VINYL!

Clear Vinyl

The Psychedelic Romance experience is birthed, combining future-facing electronic music, art and healing. The venture is a collaboration between former Trouw & De School resident JP Enfant, energy practitioner & artist Cuevawolf and artist & label manager Maren Monika Brombeiss. It will offer an immersive sensory experience to its audience via an event series and label, with music produced at 432hz, a frequency known to uplift emotional wellbeing.

The trio linked in Amsterdam last year. JP had been previously running Psychedelic Romance events at the legendary Trouw, an opportunity he used to explore the musical terrain linking techno, UK bass and ambient. Over the years, the cream of the underground scene was invited to play, from Pearson Sound to boundary-pushing dubstep/bass producer 2562. He met Cuevawolf by chance mid-way through 2020, after fate would have the Mexican artist “stuck” in the Dutch capital during the pandemic. The click was instantaneous. Seasoned music industry professional and yoga practitioner Maren Monika completed the triangle. Together they seek to combine their passion for cutting-edge electronic music with consciousness-raising events and healing.
The label strand of Psychedelic Romance comes to life via JP Enfant’s ‘Somewhere Else EP’, a veritable musical Rubik’s Cube encompassing techno, ambient and bass. The five-track work includes a remix of lead track ‘Muzieklokaal’ from Bristol’s acclaimed experimental producer LCY, who reworks the playful original into a dynamic pastiche of industrial breaks and techno.

Dubbed a “local legend” of the Amsterdam scene by RA, JP Enfant has built up a credible reputation with gigs across Europe including Berghain, Melt Festival and fabric. His nuanced approach to techno has seen releases on Planet X, a.r.t.less and DGTL Records.

The conscious ethos of the project runs through every thread of Psychedelic Romance. Alongside the music being produced at 432hz, a frequency believed to support a calm body and mind, at upcoming Psychedelic Romance events, Cuevawolf will play the crystal singing bowls, which will transition the night from an uplifting sound healing session into an immersive electronic rave experience, led by JP. “Our goal is to create purposeful healing frequencies through music and art that ultimately raises and harmonizes our audience’s vibration,” Cuevawolf explains. “The idea is to marry electronic music and spirituality providing a safe space for transcendental and self-healing experiences that evolve onto a dancefloor.”

Psychedelic Romance hosted an intimate family and friends gathering during ADE week at Amsterdam’s Pamela, with music led by JP and emerging Amsterdam selector DJ Corridor. On the label front, other artists slated for appearances on Psychedelic Romance include Dutch techno artist Mary Lake and ascendant Austrian talent Arthur Robert.

The progressive metal band Queensrÿche broke into the mainstream with their acclaimed 1988 album Operation: Mindcrime. The album featured the first charting hits of the band, “Eyes of a Stranger” and “I Don’t Believe in Love”. Operation: Mindcrime was certified Platinum by the RIAA not long after its release. The album follows the story of Nikki, a drug addict who becomes disillusioned with the corrupt society of his time and reluctantly becomes involved with a revolutionary group as an assassin of political leaders.

Its sequel, Operation: Mindcrime II was released in 2006 and contained the singles “I’m American” and “The Hands”. It picked up the story where the original left off, with Nikki out of prison and seeking revenge for the killing of his beloved former prostitute turned nun, Sister Mary.
In support of the album, the band went on tour and performed the two albums in their entirety for three consecutive nights in October 2006 at The Moore Theatre in Seattle.

For the very first time, the live album Mindcrime At The Moore is now available on vinyl. The 4LP set is available as a limited edition of 3500 individually numbered copies on translucent red, solid white & black marbled vinyl and contains an insert.

180g LP + 10" im Gatefold mit Thermographie, bedruckten Innenhüllen und Download Coupon. GY!BE kehrt mit einem weiteren Soundtrack für unsere Zeit zurück, wie ihn nur dieses unnachahmliche und ehrwürdige Ensemble schmieden kann. Das neue Album besteht aus zwei fesselnden, 20-minütigen, LP-Seiten füllenden Epen aus lärmgetränktem Breitwand-Post-Rock, während die beiden begleitenden 6-minütigen Stücke der 10" die Band aus Kanada in ihrer verheerendsten, eindringlichsten und elegischsten Form zeigen. Unerbittliches Tuckern blüht auf, während einige der hochfliegenden, brennenden Melodien der Band inmitten von Geigen- und Basskontrapunkt abprallen und zusammenlaufen. Field Recordings und aufgewühlte, halb-improvisierte Passagen umrahmen diese inbrünstigen Epen. Ergreifende Atmosphären, geräuschhafte Orchestrierung, Drone, hypnotische Swingtime-Crescendos, unaufhaltsam geschichtete Türme aus verzerrtem Klargesang: STATE'S END verkörpert jede geliebte Facette der Band. Fünfundzwanzig Jahre später ist dieses neue Album so vital, mitreißend, zeitgemäß und unerbittlich wie jedes andere in der geschichtsträchtigen Diskographie von Godspeed You! Black Emperor. So wie STATE'S END die ganze Bandbreite der klanglichen Trademarks von Godspeed vereint, so umspannt auch das Album-Artwork die gesamte visuelle Geschichte der Band: die körnige, monochromatische Fotografie der letzten Veröffentlichungen findet ihren Weg auf die Innenhüllen, während das Klappcover auf die ikonischen Grafiken früherer Klassiker wie Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada und Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven zurückgreift. STATE'S END ist mit Illustrationen von William Schmiechen versehen, wobei die Taijitu-Blumen auf der Vorderseite und die Tränengaskanister auf der Rückseite des Covers in erhabener, thermografischer, schwarzer Tinte auf dem Doppelvinyl-Albumcover abgebildet sind. Das leuchtende Kreuz von Godspeeds Debütalbum F#A#INFINITY taucht auch auf der Innenseite des Klappdeckels wieder auf, als wiederkehrende Hommage an das elektrifizierte Hügelkreuz in der Heimatstadt der Band in Montreal. STATE'S END wurde im Oktober 2020 in Montreal im Homebase-Studio der Gruppe, Thee Mighty Hotel2Tango, von Jace Lasek aufgenommen und abgemischt, dem altgedienten und preisgekrönten Indie-Produzenten (und Mitbegründer von The Besnard Lakes), der mit Godspeed bei dieser Aufnahme zum ersten Mal zusammenarbeitet. Danke fürs Zuhören. UNSERE SEITE MUSS GEWINNEN. (R.I.P. D.H.) ENG audiophile 180gLP + 10" in gatefold jacket with thermography, colour flood interior, artworked inners, DL card. GYBE returns with another soundtrack for our times, like only this inimitable and venerable ensemble can forge. As the heretical impudence of the anarcho-punk title implies, Godspeed harnesses some particularly raw power, spittle and grit across two riveting 20-minute side-length trajectories of noise-drenched widescreen post-rock: inexorable chug blossoms into blown-out twang, as some of the band's most soaring, searing melodies ricochet and converge amidst violin and bassline counterpoint. Field recordings and roiling semi-improvised passages frame these fervent epics, and two shorter self-contained 6-minute pieces find the band at its most devastatingly beautiful, haunting and elegiac. Poignant atmospherics, noisedrenched orchestration, drone, hypnotic swingtime crescendos, inexorably-layered towers of distorted clarion sound: STATE'S END encapsulates every beloved facet of the band. Twenty-five years on, this new album is as vital, stirring, timely and implacable as any in Godspeed You! Black Emperor's storied discography. Just as STATE'S END summons the gamut of Godspeed's constituent sonic trademarks, so the album artwork spans the entirety of the band's visual history: the grainy monochromatic photography of recent releases finds its way onto the inner sleeves, while the gatefold cover art harkens back to the iconic graphics of earlier classic records like Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada and Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven. STATE'S END features illustrations by William Schmiechen, with the front cover taijitu flowers and back cover tear gas canisters rendered in raised thermographic black ink on the double-vinyl album jacket. The illuminated cross from Godspeed's debut F#A#8 also makes a reappearance on the inside gatefold drawing, in recurrent homage to the electrified hilltop landmark crucifix of the band's Montreal hometown. STATE'S END was recorded and mixed in Montreal in October 2020 at the group's homebase studio Thee Mighty Hotel2Tango by Jace Lasek, the veteran awardwinning indie producer (and co-founder of The Besnard Lakes) who works with Godspeed for the first time on this recording. Thanks for listening. OUR SIDE HAS TO WIN. (R.I.P. D.H.)

Chris Imler likes to play drums standing up. He‘s the dandy with the killer offbeat, or, as one major German newspaper once put it, the "Grand Seigneur of the Berlin Underground". He has been making his mark on countless Berlin musical affairs since long before the fall of the Wall, with The Golden Showers, Peaches, Oum Shatt, Driver &Driver, Die Türen, Jens Friebe, to name but a few. He has also been perfoming across Europe as a solo artist for the past decade.

In "Operation Schönheit" (German for "Operation Beauty"), he has recorded his most, well, beautiful album to date. But Benedikt Frey's warm production subverts its own beauty with a multitude of clanking and ingling synth sounds, making the work very much about the cosmetic surgery it performs on itself. It's all in the tradition of the more experimental and electronic side of post-punk in which Imler and his unique groove are rooted. It doesn't take insider knowledge of Berlin's post-punk underground to realise that that Imler groove consists of rhythm that sings, vocals that dance and a look that fits, as illustrated by "Disappoint Me", his latest video: https://youtu.be/YeVJ75ljjB8

Elsewhere - such as in "Movies" - the rhythm sings, less electronically reduced, into the acoustics of an old, high-ceilinged Berlin apartment; metal clatters, a zither trembles and Imler plays with the metronome. Sometimes he moves ahead of time, sometimes trails behind it. He always manages to be in his very own groove, which carries everything along. And this is precisely the essence of the Imler rhythm, which lends itself to being applied to the very rhythm of life: Stretch and compress your time and loop it according to your own groove! Optimise nothing but feel everything! And dance to it! Even when contemplating everyday information overload, as Imler's high-speed mumbling suggests in the hectic yet smooth opening track "Temperature".

But being the ultimate night owl he is, Imler manages to make even the odd bout of paranoia seem like a good thing: like some kind of krauty, groovy B-horror-soundtrack-inflected high-pressure environment, "Whip Me" is a cross between Conrad Schnitzler and Bauhaus. In the title track, whose lyrics were written together with Jens Friebe, he intones: "You want to be something greater / You break your leg / When it heals again / You break it again" and sounds like the most gleeful fatalist you can imagine. Because in his city, one can still lose oneself better than anywhere else - a night easily becomes a whole universe that can be traversed, marvelled at and played with, and one might find one's old self again only when hearing "church bells" and "small birds singing". At least that's how Imler illustrates it in "Emptiness full of stars", and it seems likely that those "stars" are the human companions of the Berlin night in question.

And so once again Imler becomes Berlin's most important cultural ambassador: that scene of the eternally, and somehow successfully, failing creatures of the night, once the envy of the international postmodern bohème, has, despite many claims to the contrary, not been completely "optimised away", and its attitude to life is perfectly summed up in Imler's groove. And, of course, his look. "Schau Hin" (German for "Look!"), he sings in the track of the same name, masterfully dubbed out with the help of Melbourne's Leo James.

Quite right! Look - and listen.

Yours, Johannes von Weizsäcker (The Chap)

'Superluna' is a conceptual lockdown studio album released by Italian duo Sothiac, Pat Moonchy - vocals and Lucky Liguori - guitar / synth,
alongside UK clarinettist Paul Jolly

They met for the first time at a Mopomoso event at the iconic Vortex Jazz Club in London, curated by John Russell and played the last gig at the club before the first lockdown with Thurston Moore in the audience. Track "Phase #2" is the soundtrack of the visual 'Superluna" directed by the late visionary artist Lino Budano which was selected for the Biennale Venice '21 from the Biennale Austria
and beamed at the Spazio San Vidal in Venice.

"The soundtrack of the much celebrated smash hit movie of 2018 - MAMMA MIA! Here We Go Again - is to be released on vinyl for the first time as a double picture disc set, emblazoned with the movie's cover image of the whole cast on disc one and a second disc with a scene from the movie.
To be released on 1st April through UMC/Polydor, this double-LP picture disc set features all sixteen songs from the film's original soundtrack, including ‘When I Kissed The Teacher’, ‘One Of Us’, ‘I've Been Waiting For You’, ‘Fernando’ as well as two extra tracks not featured in the movie - ‘I Wonder (Departure)’ sung by Lily James Jessica Keenan Wynn and Alexa Davies and ‘The Day Before You Came’ sung by Meryl Streep."

The legendary Disk Union Japan and 180g present the best of today's Brazilian music!

A completely unique and beautiful album from contemporary Brazil blending soft pop, indie folk, sixties psychedelia, lo-fi and flavors of the brazilian Clube da Esquina!

- First ever vinyl release of this top album out of contemporary Brazil
- Essential solo effort from former member of Brazilian underground leaders Diesel, Udora and Transmissor
- Analog recording process
- 180g heavy vinyl, comes with download card

---

Leonardo Marques makes a kind of music that creates bucolic and romantic scenarios whose sound goes among indie folk, sixties psychedelia, lo-fi and the brazilian Clube da Esquina.

As Chicago's Dusty Groove tell us about the album:
"A really beautiful album from contemporary Brazil – but one that resonates with some of the best soft pop elements of the late 60s and early 70s! Vocals are in English and Portuguese, and the instrumentation is this fantastic blend of light elements given a really airy spin – almost as if Nick DeCaro and Sean O'Hagan got together in the studio to work on a set that has slight bossa inspirations – but is something completely unique! This is the first we've ever heard of Leonardo Marques, but we'll sure be watching out for him in the future – as he's got this way of embracing so many elements of things we love, yet never stays slavishly in their own territory – wending his way beautifully through songs that include "Ainda E Cedo", "All The Hearts", "Nao Te Escuto", "The Girl From Bainema", "Um Sopro", "In Your Arms", and "So Que Me Enfeita"."

Repress

To emerge from a global pandemic with a renewed sense of situational awareness, hard won insight, and a new album is the kind of move we've come to expect from THRICE over the last twenty years. With Horizons/East, Dustin Kensrue and his bandmates address, with candor and courage, the fragile and awkward arrangements that pass for civilization, while inviting us to dwell more knowingly within our own lives. Without surrendering any of the energy and hard edge of their previous albums, they've given us a profoundly meditative work which serves as a musical summons to everyday attentiveness. Since forming THRICE with guitarist Teppei Teranishi, bassist Eddie Breckenridge, and drummer Riley Breckenridge in 1998, Kensrue has never been one to back down from a mental fight. This mood is set by the opening synth-driven number "Color of the Sky," which sounds well-suited to accompany the closing credits of the Stranger Things season finale. Think Flying Lotus giving way to Elbow and setting the listener down in a new dimension. A self-recorded effort, Horizons/East conveys a palpable sense of danger, determination, and possibility.

HOROJO Trio is the soul-rocking rhythm and blues trio that won Best
Band at the 2020 International Blues Challenge in Memphis Drummer Jamie Holmes, singer/keyboardist Jeff Rogers and guitarist/singer JWJones (who also won Best Guitarist at International Blues Challenge 2020) have individually helped to create music that reached the Top 10 Billboard Blues Charts, was nominated for JUNO Awards, and have performed in live music venues internationally. Set The Record is their debut album.

The trio came together in a chance jam session that was so inspired, it left both the audience and the trio wanting more. Even before their first gig, the blues music media called them a "blues super- group". The band have performed at several top blues festivals and venues including a high profile spot on the stage of the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise in January 2022.

Eyedress' fourth album 'Mulholland Drive' is the latest evolution of the
Filipino musician's unique sound
Following his 2020 breakthrough 'Let's Skip To The Wedding', which introduced
global hits 'Jealous' and 'Romantic Lover', the new record features collaborations
with some of his favourite artists - King Krule, Dam-FunK, Triathalon, Vex Ruffin
and more, while staying true to his vision."This album is about loving yourself and
your life" Eyedress.
Album art by Brain Dead.
Recent Eyedress highlights:
'Jealous' hit 240M streams across platforms.
'Romantic Lover' hit 60M streams across platforms.
#14 Rolling Stone's 'Trending 25' for 'Romantic Lover'.
#19 Rolling Stone's 'Breakthrough 25', featuring "the fastest-rising artists of the
month".
Radio support from from Phil Taggart on BBC R1, Jamz Supernova on 1Xtra,
Steve Lamacq Tom Ravenscroft & Gilles Peterson on 6Music, and BBC Asian
Network.
Press support from Pitchfork, Hypebeast, DIY, Dummy, FADER, Alternative Press,
Pigeons and Planes, and Crack.

To emerge from a global pandemic with a renewed sense of situational awareness, hard won insight, and a new album is the kind of move we've come to expect from THRICE over the last twenty years

With Horizons/East, Dustin Kensrue and his bandmates address, with candor and courage, the fragile and awkward arrangements that pass for civilization, while inviting us to dwell more knowingly within our own lives. Without surrendering any of the energy and hard edge of their previous albums, they've given us a profoundly meditative work which serves as a musical summons to everyday attentiveness.Since forming THRICE with guitarist Teppei Teranishi, bassist Eddie Breckenridge, and drummer Riley Breckenridge in 1998, Kensrue has never been one to back down from a mental fight. This mood is set by the opening synthdriven number "Color of the Sky," which sounds well- suited to accompany the closing credits of the Stranger Things season finale. Think Flying Lotus giving way to Elbow and setting the listener down in a new dimension. A self-recorded effort, Horizons/ East conveys a palpable sense of danger, determination, and possibility.

24 Songs. A new project from The Wedding Present. A new 7” single every month throughout 2022. 24 Songs sees David Gedge writing with legendary Sleeper guitarist Jon Stewart for the first time, and a more perfect union could not have been predicted. The notion of a monthly 7” single is not new to The Wedding Present, but 24 Songs shows us that even classic concepts can be reinvented. The series also continues the band’s association with photographer Jessica McMillan, who has created stunning images and films as a visual accompaniment to the recordings.Explaining 24 Songs, David Gedge said: “In 1991, The Wedding Present were rehearsing in a studio in Yorkshire when we hit upon an idea that immediately thrilled us all. Our bass player Keith Gregory had been a member of the ‘Sub Pop Singles Club’ - a service that allowed subscribers to receive 7”s released by that Seattle label on a monthly basis. Keith wondered if we, as a band, could attempt a similar thing. In that instant, The Wedding Present’s Hit Parade series was born and, during 1992, we managed to release a brand new 7” single each and every month. “The Hit Parade went on to become something of a significant milestone in the history of the band and it’s a project about which I’m often asked. As its thirtieth anniversary approached, I began to wonder if we should celebrate it in some way. A ‘Hit Parade Part 2’ didn’t feel quite right, though. Then, someone said to me: “Other bands have released music in similar ways but there has been nothing like the Hit Parade.” And they were right! A 7” single a month seems, somehow, very ‘Wedding Present’. So, inspired by that little idea from three decades ago, we’ve embarked on this new project, 24 Songs. “Even though The Wedding Present have never been known for taking the easy route, the idea of recording 24 tracks and releasing them in this way could seem daunting to any band. However, I’ve been inspired by the music that has been written since Jon and Melanie joined the group. The thought of celebrating this exciting new line-up with an exciting new series has motivated us all… and I suppose we also didn’t want any of these songs to be hidden away in the middle of an album!”

ltd edition box set, 4xlp + poster & dl card. rewriting the history of music, pere ubu continue to confound convention and shift personnel. the next box set in fire records’ reissue series, ‘nuke the whales’ houses 4 lps originally released between 2006 and 2014 – ‘why i luv women’, ‘carnival of souls’, ‘lady of shanghai’ and ‘long live pere ubu!’. ‘nuke the whales,’ is a nod of respect to a couple in cleveland who would daub such messages over the big news stations’ advertising boards. “very few bands display such dedication to constant self-reinvention as pere ubu” the quietus // all four albums have been remixed and remastered by original pere ubu member david thomas. ‘why i luv women’, originally released on glitterhouse in 2006, gains its first vinyl release. "spews 11 tunes of arcane lyrics and dense music” shrieked the cleveland gazaette. it’s joined by ‘long live pere ubu’ a soundtrack to a musical adaptation of the play. “skronking, squalling rhythms and melodic snippets undulating round a pulsating soundscape." record collector // and ‘lady from shanghai’, their fire debut for fire in 2013. originally released on the 35th anniversary of the group's debut, ‘the modern dance’, a latter day re-evaluation of the unprompted dance genre. and its follow up ‘carnival of souls’, a haunting “underscore’ to a tale of alienation, it “combines metallic percussion, spare guitars and david thomas' muttered vocals into something rustic and rickety, yet threatening at a moment's notice.”

It begins with a rustle of noise, equally reminiscent of distorted factory noise and a cassette recording of cathedral bells unspooling, before a near-robotic beat and stuttering bassline enter the fray. Initially, you could be forgiven for thinking you’ve stumbled across the lost tapes of Joy Division’s early Warsaw incarnation, but the atonal blast of strafing guitars fading in and out soon make you realise this is a very different proposition. This is The Drin, and ‘Engines Sing for the Pale Moon’ is their debut album. It’s also one of the best things you’ll hear all year. Helmed by Dylan McCartney, drummer of the rock band Vacation, The Drin originally released this album as a hyper-limited cassette via Future Shock. It’s as much of a departure from McCartney’s usual output as it is for Drunken Sailor Records; songs don’t so much explode out of the gate as drift towards you like a creeping fog that turns your skin inside-out and leaves you sloshing organs all across the carpet. Second track ‘Guillotine Blade’ shows the pieces all coming together, a dubbed-out riot of claustrophobic noise that feels like Pere Ubu trapped in a cupboard one minute, and ‘Warm Jets’-era Eno trying on Bauhaus’ trenchcoats the next. Meanwhile, ‘Down Her Cheek A Party Tear’ unfolds across jittering, skittering rustles of drums and an undulating bassline, making you wonder why post-millennial post-punk so often settles for dickheads shouting non-sequiturs over landfill indie, when it could be entering these dark, unsettling territories instead. The Drin like to get weird. The Drin like to get wild. The Drin rarely cut loose, but that’s because the trip is already intense and haunting enough without things getting raucous in here as well. Hey kids, turn off those shite band name redacted records and get into this; you deserve so much better, and better’s right here. Fall into it, immerse yourself and step forward into a brave new world. I love this record

Following the trio of projects they released in 2020 - The OutRunners, The Director’s Cut and the Bonus Footage EP, in the fall of 2021 Harry Fraud and Curren$y (aka Spitta Andretti) dropped Regatta, yet another classic project from this dynamic duo. Clearly they wanted their fans to start 2022 off the right way, as Regatta is now available on a limited vinyl format. Entirely produced by Harry Fraud, with features from 2 Chainz, Larry June, Styles P and Jay Worthy, limited edition vinyl record is a must have for collectors and hip hop fans alike.

Der Dream-Pop Künstler Papercuts veröffentlicht sein neues Album 'Past Life Regression'. Losgelöst von Trends und musikalischer Fremdbestimmung, ist sein nunmehr siebtes Studioalbum eine Reise in die verträumteren Gefilde des psychedelischen Folk-Pop, geprägt durch Einflüsse von Künstlern wie The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, Spiritualized, Echo & The Bunnymen, Leonard Cohen und dem Pop der späten 60er Jahre.

Der Dream-Pop Künstler Papercuts veröffentlicht sein neues Album 'Past Life Regression'. Losgelöst von Trends und musikalischer Fremdbestimmung, ist sein nunmehr siebtes Studioalbum eine Reise in die verträumteren Gefilde des psychedelischen Folk-Pop, geprägt durch Einflüsse von Künstlern wie The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, Spiritualized, Echo & The Bunnymen, Leonard Cohen und dem Pop der späten 60er Jahre.

Very limited double black vinyl, Download Card Included. No returns. This is for Indies Only. Seminal post–hardcore band Girls Against Boys are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the 1996 release of their critically acclaimed album House of GVSB with a double vinyl reissue of the album. Packaged in a full-color gatefold jacket, side A and B are the original album remastered by Bob Weston (Shellac). Side C and D feature odds and ends from the band’s 90s era work including sought-after b-sides, singles, compilation tracks, and one previously unreleased recording. Beginning February 4, 2022, GvsB will embark on their first tour since 2013. The band will be playing songs from across their entire catalog with stops in Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and Seattle, among other cities. European dates to be announced soon. “the great ’90s post-hardcore thud-masters” Stereogum // “A pathbreaking hard-rock opus that plays like one long money shot” SPIN #5 Top Album of the Year

Very limited new repress coming, note new price. It’s unusual for an act to hit its peak after four decades. Yet here it is. The band’s climb to become Britain’s most dazzling live band - shows are played at full energy without the breaks lesser combos need to breathe, drink or chatter – was unexpected, and public awakening to their humour, skill and brilliance demands revision of post-punk history. The Nightingales emerge as the industrious ant to their peers’ workshy grasshopper personae, appearing victoriously at the finish line to puzzled realisations that they’d ever even been in the race. The Nightingales have notoriously had a new label for each new album, a fact which might reasonably call for consumer caution, but they don’t fit in with anything like a scene, they speak their own musical language, and while they bust out slogans about being “slightly superior to others of their ilk” . . . the truth is, they have no ilk. Faust’s Hans-Joachim Irmler adds keyboards and The Lovely Eggs’ Holly Blackwell’s languid voice features on one song, but the album’s real shock is that the band has now gelled to an unspoken, nearly psychic interplay. Captain Beefheart, one of Robert Lloyd’s musical heroes, is best known for the difficult-but-classic Trout Mask Replica, and like that album, this one contains nary a ‘hit’, yet here every song sticks in the brain and grooves . . . outclassing Beefheart’s masterpiece with its effortless charm. John Peel noted, “Their performances will serve to confirm their excellence when we are far enough distanced from the 1980s to look at the period rationally and other, infinitely better known, bands stand revealed as charlatans". It’s doubtful he would have bothered with such a pre-emptive defence if he’d been able to witness the explosive growth of the band during their second incarnation. Perish The Thought will be promoted by a far-flung tour, from Scotland to Serbia, with some dates already sold out. Guest supports include Stewart Lee, The Wolfhounds and Near Jazz Experience. Several videos for songs from the album were made.

Back in stock !

There is geological time and deep-space time. The natural world's time, and quantum time. Humans started measuring time with the stars and seasons. Then came hourglasses and sundials. The first mechanical clocks weren't in Europe until the late 13th century. Then came industrial time, a wristwatch for all and then everything had a time. A time for everything. All feeding into our recently digitised time and its marching nanoseconds. Let us not forget however another way to measure time: That would be K&D time.
Yes, you can rush, but isn't it so much nicer to amble? This onception of time may well have its roots in those smoke mists, softly blowing through the pre-history of 1995, and if that was time - then we need space. In particular, one Viennese front room that has turned its bass bins out to the cosmos. That sweet smoke, shrouding the desk and sampler. A few old keyboards (as a friend skins up at the back) unnoticed on the couch - just passing through...
Those days of K&D time had been thought to have gone. But one of times tricks is to hide itself in music. Not long ago (after a box of DATs had been found, and a DAT player prised back into service) back through the music wormhole our heroes fell into that smoke laden room of 1995. The remix time hadn't arrived nor the intense touring schedule. It was before the K&D sessions release and all that came with it, before the solo projects of the Peace Orchestra and Tosca. This was a time before all of that. A time for literally living in the studio and experiencing the joy of creating tune after tune. Just the sound and the smoke and no boundaries.
It was before people started asking about when the album was coming out. Which developed its own time specific answers. The 90s answer was soon, 00s answer was not sure and then: never! from 2010 onwards. The truth was, an album had been finished by the spring of '95 and all recorded onto DAT and placed in a box. K&D pressed up 10 copies and gave 4 away to some suitably eccentric individuals. Then the room's doors opened and in a tremendously big cloud of smoke time rushed in, K&D rushed out, and the years went rolling by. The days got filled with remixes, touring and life.
Then in early 2020 that chance moving of a box at the back of a room exposed the DATs and their time transporting properties. As K&D went through them they ended up comfortable and back in the room and that wonderful haze of 1995. The music was transferred from the DATs and K&D painstakingly rebuilt every molecule that made up the original 10 copies. From the very first takes of the mixes printed onto tape, to the solid slab of black virgin vinyl, to the abused by many plays, white cover. Even down to the labels that says "'Unverkäufliche Musterplatte" (Testpressing - Not For Sale) in rather rude German.
It now looks, feels and sounds pretty much exactly the same as those original 10 copies did in 1995. The only thing that couldn't be don is the original clouds of smoke those 10 copies were bathed in. That will be left to the listener to wrap it in the fresh harvest of 2020. In one way it's a musical time warp space travel. In another, if the music becomes classic and timeless, then it's of its time, whatever the time. So as the rooms bass bins are once again turned out towards the cosmos, K&D are happy and proud to release what they thought were lost moments. Drop through the worm hole, take your place on the couch. The friend who is skinning up, always just passing through, listening to an album for the future called 1995. It all makes sense if you measure in K&D time.

Cassandra Jenkins' An Overview on Phenomenal Nature emerged from the blue earlier this year. With pandemic unknowns and political upheaval leaving most at frayed ends, the New York-born musician’s assuring voice and expansive fresh take on songwriting created a much needed reflective space for listeners worldwide. As 2021 comes to a close, Jenkins revisits those flowing textures and refrains with (An Overview On) An Overview On Phenomenal Nature, a collection of previously unreleased sonic sketches, initial run-throughs, demos, and sound recordings from the cutting room floor that provided the scaffolding for what became one of this year’s most critically acclaimed albums.

When Jenkins visited Josh Kaufman’s studio this summer, they opened up their original sessions to uncover the ideas that were shed in the creative process. The new collection, (An Overview On) An Overview On Phenomenal Nature, isn’t merely a retrospective; it acts as a clear-eyed addendum as well as a compelling origin story, coming to life as a subconscious companion to the original album.

First takes of “New Bikini” and “Hailey” are born from opposite starting points; while “New Bikini” began as an airy alto meander, “Hailey”’s origins lie in an upbeat dance track. On “Crosshairs (Interlude),” Jenkins’ pitched vocal delivers a straight monotone, recasting the format as poetry with music highlighting her words, and “Ambiguous Norway (Instrumental)” lifts the ambient nature of the mournful song into glimmering waves. The demo version of “Michelangelo” contains alternate lyrics “I’m Michelangelo, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle,” a lost contrast to the later verse where Jenkins’ likens herself to the sculptor. On “Hard Drive (Security Guard),” we join Jenkins as she listens to a passionate museum guard whose promised “overview” of the exhibit on view builds into a monologue of observations on art, politics, feminism and the human condition. This candid interaction evolved into the cornerstone and title of Jenkins’ album.

Before they decided to make an album together, Jenkins brought Kaufman a song called “American Spirits.”The dusky ballad takes us to the Texas plains via a voicemail from the payphone of a county jail (“Miss Cassandra”). Cassandra sings, “Time here burns through the sunsets / Like you and a pack of American Spirits” over warm instrumentation with a vocal delivery that reinforces Jenkins’ unwavering tenderness towards her subjects.

(An Overview On) An Overview On Phenomenal Nature bookends Cassandra Jenkins' musical output this year with nuance, coloring in the corners, and giving us another window into her ever-expanding world of chance encounters, experiences, and sonic textures. They glimmer like the sun’s changing patterns on the wall as a new day gets going.

Secret Night Gang are poised for greatness, beaming out of Manchester with a dazzlingly sunny jazz funk sound which is right at home on Brownswood. Fronted by Kemani Anderson, this supremely talented band have all the chops you could wish for, melting buttery Rhodes, honey-coated sax, slinky bass and liquid guitar lines into the pot and laying it on smooth. From upbeat party pieces to cosy, baby-making fodder, this debut album rightly places them in the cut and thrust of the contemporary jazz scene, and they brim with more than enough talent to take themselves very far indeed.

Deluxe Moon Phase version includes a gatefold sleeve, poster and an extra track on a flexidisc.
Unlearning, the breathtaking debut from Glasgow’s Walt Disco, is steeped in metamorphoses, a stage show in two acts. It covers flings and romances, identities and bodies and change, profound familial love, and - of course - Hollywood glamour. The album plays out like a musical, with an emotional arc and even an instrumental interlude, winkingly titled ‘The Costume Change’.


While the themes of the album are universally relatable, Walt Disco’s gift is in the unique experience of discovery and heartbreak between queer people - something that frontperson James explores in depth on songs such as ‘Weightless’, ‘Be An Actor’ and ‘Hold Yourself As High As Her’. In Walt Disco’s eyes, it’s never too late to become what you might have been and there are plenty of possibilities to explore on Unlearning.

Please welcome to the Time Is Now family one of the scene's most exciting talents. London-based drum specialist, Bluetoof, brings the heat with a multigenre 4-track EP, featuring a weighty refix from the likes of Manchester badman, and close compadre, Interplanetary Criminal. A multi-faceted EP to keep its listener on their toes. The title track gets things off to a steady start with a minimal bassline and complex percussion, inspired rhythmically by breaks but textured by layers of hollow drums which lend it a more organic sound. Next up, "Perilous" takes things on a darker, more bottom-heavy turn with a traditional two-step beat and a womping bassline, suited to the club's early hours. As to be expected, "That Got Dark" continues in the same vein. The focus remains on percussion with a skipping, half-broken rhythm which is interrupted momentarily by breaks overtaken by a stomping 4/4 beat. Finally, enter Time Is Now family member, Interplanetary Criminal, who extends the 4/4 propulsion to create a pacey speed garage banger.

dutch sound artist albert van abbe now joins the raster family, with an unexpected collaboration with founder olaf bender aka byetone titled DUAL. having spent time working side by side in ’s-hertogenbosch at the willem twee studio, the result of their collaboration is both smooth and haptic, rounding out as an expressive camaraderie between the two veteran producers. jovial and innocent, DUAL alludes to the experimental research process of finding common ground. fully embracing the haphazard richness of live recordings, the result is a remarkable fusion of contrasting outputs; intricate collaborative efforts and byproducts woven together with an eager indifference towards expectation. the artists embrace a skewed navigation through pronounced highlights, intricate lulls and moments of temporal stasis, intermittently punctuated as a means of intentionally avoiding notions of rigid perfection. with ‘real-time’ approach directing DUAL’s creation, the pair effectively shies away from any meticulous planning, and the music runs free and negates any rigid parameters one might have expected. quirky titles exude the collaged form of the release, and underline its innocent charm. as a whole, DUAL focuses on the creative process and fully engages listeners with its own dialogue, though it is very outspoken, at times even abrasive.

Deadletter release their new 7” single, ‘Pop
Culture Connoisseur’. Hailing from Yorkshire, the
now South London rooted band channel the droll
fury of The Fall and the lopsided rhythms of Talking
Heads into a strain of danceable post-punk,
exploring the darker side of existence through a
ens of narrative-driven levity.



Previously supporting the likes of Squid, Viagra
Boys and Pip Blom, Deadletter have emerged as a
genuinely thrilling live prospect. Experts in the field
of intensity, the band seamlessly switch from
conversational verses into a mix of unadulterated
post-punk fury and irresistible rhythm, addressing
hemes such as bureaucracy, loss of personal
dentity and modern-day consumerism.

New single, ‘Pop Culture Connoisseur’, produced
by Theo Verney (TRAAMS, Lazarus Kane, FEET),
finds singer and frontman Zac Lawrence switching
from the overt politicism of previous releases into a
more tongue-in-cheek narrative centred around the
case of PC Read, a police officer fired for stealing
doughnuts through a self-service checkout. In
addition to providing a case study into the fashion
hose in positions of authority often consider
hemselves above the law, the track also aims to
comment at the manner modern morality so often
relates to PR optics, as the cultural trope of law
enforcement eating doughnuts is played out in real
ime.

‘This Here Feels Good’ is the sound of an artist using music as
their second language. With all music self-produced / written,
Kay Young is defining an original generation of Black British
Music.

Moving between tightly rapped verses and glorious vocal
performances, often within the space of one track as well as
across the whole EP.

The release is a stunning collection of songs which expands
upon the sonic blueprint Kay has already laid out, that caught
the attention of Jay Electronica and Jay-Z, who later signed her
to Roc Nation.

She delves deeper into dance and soul while continuing to
explore themes of familial legacy and cultural relation, keeping a
perfect balance between lyrical vulnerability and musical uplift.

Live TV performance for Other Voices (Dec 2021), TV
performance for BT Sport (May 2021), Clash New Gen Artist
(autumn 2021), plus performances last year at Boiler Room
Festival, South Facing Festival, BBC Intro Live Summer By The
River, Live at Leeds Festival and more.

Supporting Jay Electronica for UK tour.

“uplifting groove” - The Fader

“pertinent, powerful lyrics” - Cool Hunting

“Young will undoubtedly keep shining” - Line of Best Fit

“Pure and bright promise.” - Beats Per Minute

“Kay Young finds a balance between smooth vocals and hardhitting lyrics” - Gigwise

“one of the UK’s most promising up and coming talents.” - Alfitude

“...an extremely exciting future ahead.” - CLASH Radio - 6 Music, BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio London, BBC 1Xtra, Amazing Radio A-List.

Album - 3 singles - vinyl “Make all the uncertainty and adventure of growing up sound like the best days of your life” - UPSET “A ripper that channels sounds from all throughout punk history” - Brooklyn Vegan "On a take-no-prisoners assault" - Tom Robinson, BBC 6music “California compacted into three rowdy minutes” - The Rodeo “Scorching slacker pop” - CLASH Reminders approach punk rock from where they know it best: a forgotten seaside town. Formed on the Isle of Wight in 2017, the band cut their teeth writing songs about teenage lust and suburban boredom, gaining attention after they independently released Water Sports and Major Cities. Fresh-faced and excited, the then-teenagers coined their sound 'beach punk'; a tongue-in-cheek ode to their hometown that they stand by today. 
 Firmly solidifying their identity as breakneck but bubblegum, a pop-tinged punk band, Reminders work to introduce themselves to anybody willing to listen. After an unexpected hiatus during COVID which delayed the release of their album, the band are now raring and ready to go with their new label home at Venn and forthcoming tour dates. 
 Already championed at radio by BBC Radio 1, BBC 6Music and BBC Introducing, as well as landing placements on esteemed Spotify and Apple Music editorial playlists alike, they were labelled 'scorching slacker pop' by the influential CLASH Magazine, dubbed 'About to Break' by UPSET Magazine, and have already shared stages with rock legends and pop stars Liam Gallagher, The Killers, and Camila Cabello. Debut album Best Of Beach Punk released 1st April 2022

If now the time for voodoo amulets and protective talismans, sharpened swords and unbreakable shields, it’s also a moment for music to assume its highest form as a healing art, a source of benevolent spells, and a refuge from the chaos. After all, the best creators are always those that tap into the telluric current that exists below the surface. Those who delve into the collective unconscious so that timeliness is a happy accident; timelessness was always the intent. If Quelle Chris and Chris Keys’ Innocent Country 2 sounds like an antidote for a moment of surreal anxiety, the same could be said of it a decade from now. It’s an album best understand in a dialogue with the first volume of the series. Released in 2016, the initial Innocent Country focused on isolation, pessimism, and the notion of finding peace within pain. At a time when those feelings convey the mood of the moment, Quelle and Keys have responded with a soundtrack that offers soothing light in a bleak timeline. A hopeful record in a hopeless moment, precisely when it’s needed most.

For fans of - The Meters, War, New Mastersounds, Jungle Fire. Mestizo Beat's first 45 release with All-Town Sound. An upbeat and eclectic blend of early 70s funk and soul. We are very excited to welcome Mestizo Beat to the All-Town family! MB incorporates a diverse mix of sub-genres within the Funk and Soul spectrum. They have released a string of 45s with labels like Colemine, F-Spot, Common Good, and now ATS! We couldn't decide which tunes should be assigned the A and B sides, so we left them unmarked, for you to decide. "Poppin Off" catches your attention right from the start with some Metersesque organ and guitar interplay. It settles into the groove and this is a feel good Southern Funk influenced burner. A 4 piece horn section comprised of members of Sure Fire Soul Ensemble mixed with Jungle Fire's Steve Haney on percussion, round out this recording. On the flip side is "City Of The Body Bag" which would have you believe you were hanging out somewhere in South East Los Angeles in 1973. This tune takes heavy influence from the band "War" and is destined to be another Latin Funk struttin' classic.

For fans of - The Meters, War, New Mastersounds, Jungle Fire. Mestizo Beat's first 45 release with All-Town Sound. An upbeat and eclectic blend of early 70s funk and soul. We are very excited to welcome Mestizo Beat to the All-Town family! MB incorporates a diverse mix of sub-genres within the Funk and Soul spectrum. They have released a string of 45s with labels like Colemine, F-Spot, Common Good, and now ATS! We couldn't decide which tunes should be assigned the A and B sides, so we left them unmarked, for you to decide. "Poppin Off" catches your attention right from the start with some Metersesque organ and guitar interplay. It settles into the groove and this is a feel good Southern Funk influenced burner. A 4 piece horn section comprised of members of Sure Fire Soul Ensemble mixed with Jungle Fire's Steve Haney on percussion, round out this recording. On the flip side is "City Of The Body Bag" which would have you believe you were hanging out somewhere in South East Los Angeles in 1973. This tune takes heavy influence from the band "War" and is destined to be another Latin Funk struttin' classic.

"Ten years after signing his first record deal with Big Machine Label Group’s The Valory Music Co., arena-packing superstar Thomas Rhett — dubbed “the most reliable maker of No. 1 singles in country music” (Variety) — has five studio albums, 18 MULTI-PLATINUM and GOLD-certified No. 1 hits, 12 BILLION streams and the longest current active streak of consecutive No. 1s in the format (Mediabase/Country Aircheck Chart). He has been honoured with eight ACM Awards including Entertainer of the Year, two CMA Awards, five GRAMMY® Awards nominations, plus trophies from the CMT Music Awards, Billboard Awards and iHeartRadio Awards, in addition to being recognized with two CMA Triple Play awards for penning three No. 1 songs within a 12-month period. Thomas Rhett is delivering his sixth studio album WHERE WE STARTED on April 1. Inspired by his return to the road, the set marks a similar return to his in-the-moment mix of tempo, transcendent romance and tip-of-the-spearsonic trailblazing, as Country’s resident good-life philosopher.
RADIO: BBC Radio 2, Absolute Radio Country, CountryLine Radio, Downtown Country, Smooth Country
PRESS: MTV UK, The Express feature, Why Now, 1883, Atwood, Darkus, Maverick, country specialist outlets, UK bio written by Lisa Verrico (The Times)
SOCIALS: TW: 2.4M, FB: 2.4M, IG: 4.4M, TikTok: 802.5K
Available as a 2 LP black vinyl."

The 25th anniversary edition of the Chicago noise-rock band's undisputed masterpiece recorded by Steve Albini

Remastered edition including a 12- page booklet and a bonus LP of demos, outtakes and unreleased tracks. 'Discipline Through Sound' was the second LP by Big'n, who formed in 1990 and at the time, the band consisted of vocalist William Akins, guitarist Todd Johnson, bassist Mike Chartrand, and drummer Brian Wnukowski. This expanded reissue was intended to come out in 2021 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of 'Discipline Through Sound', Big'n's indisputable masterpiece originally released on Gasoline Boost in 1996, but was delayed due to a PVC shortage and the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

'DTS 25' is a massive album. It contains two pieces of superb-quality vinyl with a reissue and remaster of 'Discipline Through Sound' on the first disc. Side C contains unreleased demos from the album. Side D, contains three previously CDonly tracks from a split with OXES - plus two unreleased outtakes.

The records are packaged in a 6mm spine gatefold cover with matte finish, accompanied by a 12-page booklet featuring photos of the band, a foreword by Steve Albini, and writings from Big'n's associates. The entire package is housed in a sleek, tactile, Type-2 aluminium packaging newly developed and designed by the Computer Students label.

Don't miss your chance to own a brilliant, undersung artifact of '90s noise-rock in Chicago - refreshed, expanded, and more venomous than ever before.

Very limited new repress coming, note new price. An air of the unsettled is a staple of Robert Lloyd’s career, from The Prefects’s dank dexterity and jittery paranoia of the first Nightingales’ release, Idiot Strength, onward through four decades of top-notch recordings. If the unique persona of Lloyd and crew always came across on their ten albums and countless line-ups, it was largely as an acquired taste of the musical cognoscenti. Labels good and bad seemed to feel, at one point or another, a public duty and a point of pride to release a Nightingales album before returning to the business of business. Four Against Fate is remarkable. It’s the work of what’s now the band’s longest-serving line-up. The instrumental precision of any version of Nightingales has been one of the band’s defining hallmarks, but the psychic interplay of a group can take a few albums to kick in with full majesty - here’s proof of that. The rhythm section of Fliss and Andi functions now on a purely intuitive level. Jim’s work now ranks with that of any guitarist in modern ‘rock’ music, not just in originality, but also across an egalitarian mass of inspiration. Each member sings. Although Robert’s voice functions as the band’s superego, Fliss takes lead in several songs. Few bands today sound as much like a single unit as do Nightingales, but this group has the bonus of a distinct and credible musical language, exemplified by The Desperate Quartet, which comes across as both a medieval war march and the anthem of looming apocalypse. When at the song’s halfway point, American classical musician Clara Kebabian’s violin and Mark Bedford’s (of Madness) double bass overtake the Robert, Fliss, Jim and Andi, it’s a jawdropper of such intense perversity that it alone defies the listener to not play the album again from the start. Not that this album lacks ‘hits’ - The Top Shelf, Everything Everywhere All Of The Time, Devil’s Due and The Other Side are stunners. Robert claims Four Against Fate is the first of his album on which he skips no tracks on playback! Finally, the world has awakened to one of British music’s last treasures. After forty years of new labels, this is the first time Nightingales have released an album on the same label as their last full-length.

7" Black Vinyl limited to 1000 copies.

Teenagehood, brotherhood and a genuine love for alternative music has united THE GOA EXPRESS from the off. Hailing from the industrial town of Burnley and adopted by the Manchester culture carriers, their teenage years can be viewed as something of a hedonistic pilgrimage into the underbelly of suburban rock and roll- their first gig having been 3 songs blasted out their mates garage, the next on top of a local vintage shop where the floor nearly caved in: “when there’s fuck all, you make do with what you got”. The intensity of this friendship has resulted in the occasional bust up along the way, yet it only adds to the burning chemistry that the band offer on record and on stage. Together, brothers James Douglas Clarke (Guitar + Vocals) and Joe Clarke (Keys), along with Joey Stein (Lead Guitar), Naham Muzaffar (Bass) and Sam Launder (Drums) all contribute to a fuzzy wall of diverse sound, becoming harder to pin down with their constantly evolving, psych-umbrella’d, rock and roll. What sets THE GOA EXPRESS apart from other musicians who sit comfortably within scenes is that their identity as a band has been growing organically long before the 5 of them decided to pick up instruments and teach themselves art of killing time. Their genuine joy in the everyday; their attitude and antics seem to hark back to the glory days of the NME- if they talk about a night out, you want to be there because these lads ooze charm and wreak havoc. This purist, old school approach to creating music through unified experiences and stimulated good times is married with the plain fact that they are very much young people of this generation, and while they see its flaws its hyperreality, its sheep-like tendencies, they still understand the importance in the immediacy of pop music: of a banging riff, or a glorious chorus and how effective this can truly be, and they want everyone along for the ride. With influences ranging from Spacemen 3 and The Brian Jonestown Massacre to French existentialism, from Beat Literature to long hours working at the Bookies to the journey into the sunrise on the night bus home, it is their ability to be all these things at once which makes THE GOA EXPRESS a guitar band for the 21st Century. Nothing is ever a compromise because they are so unapologetically themselves in everything they do- proud Northerners with a DIY foundation that aren’t afraid to look into the often dim future and see themselves shining brightly in it, unforgiving and unpretentious. So far, the band have released 3 singles with great success. The first: ‘Be My Friend’, produced by Ross Orton right next Sheffield’s famous ‘City Sauna’ brothel, presents itself to us as a cheeky, snarling pop song, holding undertones of raw cynicism laden with psychedelic sunshine. Ross Orton’s studio was also right next door to where the band recorded their last single ‘The Day’ with Nathan Saoudi of Fat White Family at ‘Champ Zone.’ Both these producers have been able to give these instant pop classics a grittier feel, capturing the essence of the unfettered lifestyle the band were living at the time that they were able to capture themselves in the music video for ‘Be My Friend’. After signing with Ra-Ra Rok, (WU-LU/Bingo Fury) the band released anthemic summer hit ‘Second Time’, that went straight to the 6 music B-List before quickly heading up to the A-List 2 for 2 weeks. This was followed by the release of its B-Side ‘Overpass’ that almost immediately caught the eyes and ears of BBC Radio 1’s Jack Saunders, who had the band on his ‘Next Wave’ Segment. Closing the year that saw them play to 1000 strong crowds at festivals like Latitude & End of the Road, the band headlined their biggest headline show to date at Manchester’s Gorilla. Its fair to say that this really is only the beginning.

Back in May 2019, Vancouver trio Corner Boys released their sole album… and promptly split a few months later. In retrospect, they couldn’t have known that the album’s title (‘Waiting For 2020’) would soon seem grimly ironic - and we all know why, right? No reason to go over all that shit again. But while the past two years have at least seen drummer/songwriter Patrick McEachnie staying active across two essential records with hardcore heroes Chain Whip, lockdown saw him switching roles. Basically, he bought a guitar and made an excellent record all on his lonesome, and as followers of his other projects will have come to expect, it’s fucking excellent. ‘Glad To Be Forgotten’ is the debut album by Pack Rat - in some ways you can see some level of crossover with Corner Boys in its manic energy and dedication to hooks (cuts like ‘Next Time Hit Me’ and ‘My Own Reality’ are so damn catchy, you could be forgiven for thinking you’ve already been listening to ‘em on repeat for the past 20 years). Familiar reference points show up (the melodies of the Pointed Sticks; the garage-slanted rifferama of Rudi or The Undertones) while a tinny budget synth keeps things ticking along nicely, just to remind you that this is a homespun DIY project. But honestly, this has the feel of a fully fleshed-out project and leaves you desperate for another fix of its sweet’n’sour tang. For anyone who loves the collision point between ‘New Rose’, powerpop sunshine and sheer rock’n’roll exuberance, this is essential. For everyone else, this is surely the gateway to all of that good stuff. You want to hear the tunes that’ll star on future generations’ equivalents to the Killed By Death comps? That’ll set your pulse soaring and your pogo muscles into overdrive? That’ll remind you of why this punk rock business still feels worth dedicating your life to, even after all this time? Hey, Pack Rat’s got ‘em. Now do your part

Straight from the melting pot of Berlin, Luca Musto serves up a solid and fresh house dish in his first album on Moodfamily.

The songs stretch the imagination and touch the borders of hip hop and electronic beats. He intertwines his own musical journey with the sounds of his hometown. It is also the attempt at a new genre by blending hip hop elements with electronic music to create something unique.

This funky fusion expresses itself in three original tracks. “What We Witness” introduces us into the rhythmic exploration of the record. It adds some spicy P-Funk vibes and blurs your senses with drowsy horns, served on a velvet platter. "Toledo" - the first single of the EP - gives a thrilling continuation to the EP. This one is sure to cause a ruckus on the dance floor. Finally, “Keep Rollin” further defines the genre-blending character of this project, and gives a slight nod to the West coast of the US.


Xinobi (Lisbon, Portugal / Discotexas) and Mosley Jr. (Gent, Belgium / Moodfamily) deliver some exciting remixes to the EP, both with their unique signature spin.

- “This shit’s gonna break the rules.



Early support from Support Super Flu, Audiofly, Acid Pauli, Florian Rietze, Maxim Lany, Be Svendsen, Maga, Iorie, Stavroz, Paco Osuna, …

LA FAMILIA AUFLAGE!!!

GOLD, the follow-up to Alabaster DePlume's widely-acclaimed, 2020-
released cinematic instrumental LP To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals Vol. 1,
introduces the world to the artist’s truest self.

That is... though DePlume’s now known across the globe as the saxophonist who created that collection of wonderful, wordless music, he’s most known to fervent fans in his home zone of London, UK, as an outspoken poet and orator, beloved for his inspiring words of encouragement and sing-a-long-able songs about vulnerability, humanity, and courage. GOLD is a sprawling double album that finds DePlume expressing both sides of his artistic character beautifully: (1) an articulate singer and songwriter who invokes the melodious crooning of Donovan as much as Devendra Banhart or Syd Barrett, whose tunes are almost like mini-sermons, full of existential comedy and spiritual enlightenment; and (2) a brilliant composer of simple, soothing, and viscerally nourishing instrumental melodies, with a gift for expanding them into intrepid collective improvisations, led by a delicate and distinguished saxophone tone that conjures the fluttery sweetness of the great Ethiopique Getatchew Mekurya.

Packaging specs: Black & 'Eye of the Sun' coloured Vinyl 2xLP in Heavyweight Gatefold Jacket with Gold-Foil Stamp over Reverse-Board print, with Insert Sheet, IA OBI Strip and Dome-Pattern Inner Sleeves

Three fun, disco sample lead tracks from ex Southsea resident Sopp and a slammin’ remix by Inverness producer Mark Mackenzie

Sopp has been building his way into the scene since 2015. His sets blend a mix of highly energetic, bass heavy rhythms with disco inflections and odes to classic 90’s and 00’s rave scene. So far having released on Chequered Wax, QRUK, Moodygurl and TheBasement Discos. Each of his productions showing a different aspect of his behind the decks personality.

Radio play from the likes of Jamie Jones, Sarah Story, Shadow Child & Jaguar.

Selected DJ Feedback:

Jamie Jones - Digging it.

PEZNT - Whole EP is dope but I think Take Me will work for every true underground head. Great job!

Piem - Dope!!!!

Hifi Sean - This E.P is hotness !

Nathalie Capello - groooooveeeeeyy. Nice!

The Magician - I like "Living" a lot as well
Robert Owens - Cool tracks

Inland Knights - great versions....

Chrissy - nice one!

Raphael Hofman - just awesome!

Ramon Tapia - Dope pack right hurrrr!!

Ammo Avenue - wicked cuts! Take me is my fav

Mirko Paoloni - super bomb!

Round Table knights – Coolio

Oliver Dollar - nice one!

"Chance" is the second album of Société Étrange, composed of 6 love
songs without words, with equivocal rhythms, glaucous turquoise
bass and melodies affectionately tinged with melancholy.
The album was recorded in July 2020 in Vaulx-en-Velin from a collection of materials and collective drift. Composed in studio, it is by the live that is shaped their pieces, several years to test them together so that these three musicians let us glimpse a possible civilization. Not fantasies that cannot beapprehended, but a future that we can hope to desire. Their hypnotic compositions, drunk with dub, iron harmonics and polymetric measures, play a music that is a bit shady, one of those that provoke the space for the dance to happen, without anesthesia. Société Étrange was formed in 2012 by Antoine Bellini (Electronics) and Romain Hervault (Bass), joined in 2015 by Jonathan Grandcollot (Percussions) after the release of their first album "Au revoir"

Rudolf Abramov hit all Optimo Music's buttons at once. Drums, energy, songs, instrumentals, super production, Post Punk echoing, dance floor destroying, home listening friendly, and completely unique.

Who are they and what are they about? Read on...

Rudolf Abramov is a duo based in Berlin. They seem to open a door to unexpected musical encounters. It's an almost impossible task to sum up their sound in a comprehensible way, but in their own words their music is 'a response to a seemingly endless conflict about disgust, acceptance and love.' Since the duo likes to invite other musicians and fellow humans to add to their pieces, this often creates another layer to their unexpected musical encounters.

"Losing Perspective" is the result of a journey that began with a week-long recording session outside the city. Back in Berlin the skeletons of the track gradually grew in flesh, experience and emotion, describing this time in a vibrant and ever-changing city; a city where the faded colours sometimes seem more appealing than the unifying glow of the new.

In order to preserve for ourselves the conflicting colours in their fantastic disharmony, we have therefore watched the pieces change rather than moving them in a particular direction. The result is a number of tracks with different facets that derive from different moods and voices, indulging in diversity.

At the end of this process, we look back at this colourful collage and connect our own very personal history with it and both resolve in harmony. When asking the cat from our studio’s courtyard for example, she said that "Losing Perspective" was about stray tomcats who have lost their old home port to a newfangled establishment wandering randomly through the days in search of songbirds, distraction and rest. And we feel like she kinda has a point there.

The Brkn Record is a new project led and produced by Jake Ferguson, the co-founder and bass player for the UK's foundational deep jazz outfit the Heliocentrics. With fellow Heliocentrics co-founder and legendary drummer Malcolm Catto, Ferguson has been a regular collaborator with globally recognised artists including Archie Shepp, Mulatu Astatke, Melvin Van Peebles, Orlando Julius and many others. The Architecture of Oppression Part 1 represents Ferguson's debut as a bandleader and orchestrator, and manifests as a committed and soulful response to ongoing and systemic anti-black racism, social oppression and state violence both at home in London and across the globe. Combining poetry, testimony and song with rich and cinematic backdrops, Ferguson has produced a sui generis sound that conjures flavours of Arthur Verocai, Ennio Morricone, classic library productions, Madlib-style deep-jazz beat science, and psychedelic soul. With bandmate Malcolm Catto on drums, Ferguson draws on their long years of collaborative experience in the Heliocentrics to build an album of striking texture and depth.

The Brkn Record is a new project led and produced by Jake Ferguson, the co-founder and bass player for the UK's foundational deep jazz outfit the Heliocentrics. With fellow Heliocentrics co-founder and legendary drummer Malcolm Catto, Ferguson has been a regular collaborator with globally recognised artists including Archie Shepp, Mulatu Astatke, Melvin Van Peebles, Orlando Julius and many others. The Architecture of Oppression Part 1 represents Ferguson's debut as a bandleader and orchestrator, and manifests as a committed and soulful response to ongoing and systemic anti-black racism, social oppression and state violence both at home in London and across the globe. Combining poetry, testimony and song with rich and cinematic backdrops, Ferguson has produced a sui generis sound that conjures flavours of Arthur Verocai, Ennio Morricone, classic library productions, Madlib-style deep-jazz beat science, and psychedelic soul. With bandmate Malcolm Catto on drums, Ferguson draws on their long years of collaborative experience in the Heliocentrics to build an album of striking texture and depth.

First Word Records is very proud to welcome back Don Leisure, with a brand new 25-track album 'Shaboo Strikes Back'.

Five years have passed since the first 'Shaboo' album was released. A collection of beats and pieces that documented the road trip of Don's youth - hip hop music interspersed with Asian radio station jingles of old, dedicated to Bollywood actor, Nasser 'Shaboo' Bharwani - Don Leisure's late uncle.

This album was heralded as "the best album of its kind since J Dilla's 'Donuts'" and deemed "unmissable" by the folks at Piccadilly Records. It also had strong support from BBC 6 Music's Tom Ravenscroft ("very, very good this indeed"), Huey Morgan ("my beat of the week"), Worldwide FM's Lefto ("defo down with this"), Rob Da Bank ("this is wicked") and the likes of Mathieu Schreyer (KCRW, LA), Alex Ruder (KEXP, Seattle), Kid Fonque (5FM, South Africa), Om Unit, Jon1st, Mr Thing, Rob Luis (Tru Thoughts), Dom Servini (Wah Wah 45s), Tim Parker (NTS) and tons more from across the globe.

Don Leisure is a DJ and producer based in Cardiff, Wales, sometimes known as one half of Darkhouse Family, along with Earl Jeffers. He's been a prolific beat-maker for many years, releasing under a variety of monikers for labels such as Metalheadz, International Anthem, Fat City, Izwid, Earnest Endeavours and Group BraCil. His most recent release was a remix for Gruff Rhys, which was released on Rough Trade.

In 2020 he was nominated for the Welsh Music Prize for his 'Steel Zakusi' project, and has dropped several releases for First Word, including the acclaimed 2019 'Halal Cool J' album and various Darkhouse Family projects, including collabs with artists as diverse as Charlotte Church, Om'Mas Keith and Children of Zeus's Tyler Daley, additionally to remixes from DJ Spinna and label-mate, Kaidi Tatham. As a DJ he has provided mixes for BBC 6 Music, NTS, Rinse FM, Solid Steel and Boxout FM in India, as well as performing at The Jazz Cafe, Fabric and on Boiler Room.

'Shaboo Strikes Back' is a much-awaited sequel to the 2017 smash, and again features a modest 25 tracks. Psychedelic fuzzy samples and phat beats aplenty, Don Leisure once again takes us on a far-out trip across soundscapes. A real tapestry of flavours, from jazz to reggae, and from the soulful to the spiritual, this time round he's invited a few special guests to join him on his travels - most notably Welsh legend Gruff Rhys provides the vocals on 'Neon Drizzle (Hotel Shaboo)', whilst acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Angel Bat Dawid and Jazzman-signed harpist Amanda Whiting lend their talents to 'All Praises Due'. There is even a special cameo appearance from his young daughter, (aka Shaboo's great-niece!), Naima, on 'Naima's Dream'.

Once again, this is a journey into sound.

'Shaboo Strikes Back' is released on vinyl & digital by First Word Records, March 2022.

Dedicated to Nasser 'Shaboo' Bharwan
























x 24: Neon Drizzle (Hotel Shaboo) feat. Gruff Rhys

* Strictly limited-edition 2x12” vinyl in full colour sleeve. Includes card to download full album in WAV format.
* ‘Strange Days’ the debut album from one of the standout Drum & Bass acts of recent years, due for release on the legendary V Recordings on 3rd December 2021.
* Features collaborations with Serum, Makoto, MC Fats, Lorna King, 2shy MC, Cleveland Watkiss, Blak, Riya, A Little Sound, Elipsa & T.R.A.C.
* With support already secured from the likes of Shy FX, Bryan Gee, Fabio & Grooverider, Rene LaVice, Hybrid Minds, Serum, Randall and with a growing international fanbase at their back, Paul T & Edward Oberon's new album 'Strange Days' is set to be one of 2021's defining drum & bass releases.
* Their recent run of singles, including two Beatport number ones and collaborations with vocal talents like Cleveland Watkiss, MC Fats, A Little Sound & Lorna Kings have given us a flavour of this monumental project. An eclectic array of influences from jazz to jump up have been filtered through the unique musical perspective of this duo to bring us something that we've never quite heard before.
* Drum & bass has the capacity to deliver, on the one hand, soulfully emotive musicality and, on the other, sheer rave-inflaming filth. Paul T & Edward Oberon, however, have consistently performed the alchemical magic of bringing together both the music and the mayhem without compromising either.
* But of course they have. Paul and Edward have years of experience creating music for some of the most prestigious labels in the scene and drawing from a myriad of influences. Individually, they have credits stretching back decades, and, as a combo, they've been dusting dances around the world since 2011.
* Having won an army of new-gen fans with anthems like 'Stomp', 'Look for the Light' and the absolutely huge scene smashing Serum-collab 'Moon in Your Eyes', these veteran artists have wasted no time in stepping things up to even greater heights as they gear up to drop their album.
* Balancing vibes and viciousness, 'Strange Days' lays out the definitive manifesto for Paul T & Edward Oberon's dirty soul sound. Operating as both a self-contained audio journey and a collection of rave-ready deejay weapons, this LP is a piece of work that demands your attention!

A harrowing classic, Billie Holiday's personal favorite among her '50s albums captures the singer 17 months before her death, her once honeyed voice, scarred and weakened from punishing life, its ravages highlighted by the 1958 session's crisp sonics and the contrasting "satin" of Ray Ellis' sleek string arrangements. Yet it is that very contrast that explains the power of these performances: In revisiting its torchy standards, Holiday reduces them to their core of pain and longing, transforming "I'm a Fool to Want You," "You Don't Know What Love Is," and "You've Changed" into naked declarations as mesmerizing and unsettling as a horrific accident. Any postrocker that presumes pop standards and string sections automatically translate to "easy listening" hasn't listened to this. This 1997 version adds unreleased takes and a beautiful 20-bit digital transfer to extract every shivering pang of Holiday's music. --Sam Sutherland

Recorded in 1991 by the quintet of vocalist Billie Ray Martin and Birmingham-based electronic musicians Brian Nordhoff, Joe Stevens, Les Fleming and Roberto Cimarosti, Electribal Soul was conceived as the sequel to the band’s 1990 debut album, Electribal Memories.
Electribal Memories had yielded the hits ‘Talking With Myself’ and ‘Tell Me When The Fever Ended’ and pushed Electribe 101 to the forefront of a crossover electronic scene that fused dance music with pop savvy. They were snapped up by Phonogram, managed by Tom Watkins and hailed as “the next band to meet the Queen” by i-D. The band took the coveted support slot for Depeche Mode on their epochal World Violation tour and supported Erasure at Milton Keynes Bowl. Seen as the next big thing, everything pointed toward enduring critical success for Electribe 101, and the band settled into putting their second album together.
“There was a degree of confidence among us when we came to write the second album,” recalls Billie Ray Martin. “To me, the songs we put down sound like some of our finest moments.” More immediately lush and warm than the dancefloor-friendly structures of Electribal Memories, the clue to the sound of Electribal Soul lies in the second word in its title: soul. Songs like the aching sensuality of opening track ‘Insatiable Love’ or the emboldened defiance of ‘Moving Downtown’ showcase Billie Ray Martin’s distinctive vocal range as it moves from haunting quiet to dramatic, euphoric rapture. Lyrics from ‘Moving Downtown’ had found their way into ‘Pimps, Pushers, Prostitutes’ by S’Express, and the song would appear as ‘Running Around Town’ on Martin’s 1996 solo album. The strikingproduction on the version of the song presented on Electribal Soul suggests classic late sixties soul influences, such as those of legendary Motown producer Norman Whitfield, with the long shadow cast by Kraftwerk never being far away.
‘Deadline For My Memories’, the song that provided the title for Martin’s first solo album, was originally intended for the second Electribe 101 album. Its lyrics document a sense of freedom and liberation from the darkness of a bad relationship, accompanied by jazzy piano and organ sounds over a quiet rhythm and discrete electronics. In contrast, ‘A Sigh Won’t Do’ finds Martin in soothing vocal mode, despite its devastating message about the final ending of a strained relationship, her lyrics framed by restrained and subtle beats and sounds.
To spend time with Martin’s voice on Electribal Soul is to find yourself moved deep into the ordinarily impenetrable emotional corners of your own psyche. “I was into big ballads at the time and listening to all kinds of US and UK singers, and I was also young enough to want to prove myself as a belter of ballads,” explains Martin of the classic soul edge the album showcased.
Electribal Soul heads into darker territory with ‘Hands Up And Amen’. Originally written by Martin in Berlin in the period before moving to London and forming Electribe 101, the song was then perfected and enhanced by the band’s production nous. ‘Hands Up And Amen’ savagely documents the mugging of a woman in Queens, NY at gunpoint, only to resolve itself with a middle section that nods reverently toward gospel tradition. The song coalesces around a regimented break and burbling synths, finally ending with layers of urgent synth sounds.
Meanwhile, a cover of Throbbing Gristle’s ‘Persuasion’ takes us into a seedy world of sexual coercion and creepy infatuation, predating Martin’s chilling version of the track with progressive house unit Spooky two years later. Supported by a minimal, nagging rhythm and barely-fluctuating sounds, Electribe 101’s take on ‘Persuasion’ makes for uneasy listening, even though Martin manages to inject a sort of twisted sympathy for the protagonist as the song progresses.
That Electribe 101 were as comfortable offering complicated, nuanced tracks like ‘Persuasion’ alongside pop house bangers like ‘Space Oasis’ – written by Billie Ray Martin with Martin King before Electribe 101 was formed – is testament to the way the band wove their way effortlessly through electronic music reference points. Framed by light, jazzy piano melodies and string sounds, the energy of ‘Space Oasis’ soars so high that it could easily reach the moon, while highlighting how well-suited Martin’s voice has always been to club music. We hear the same reminder of her dance music credentials on ‘True Memories Of My World’, finding her describing a Hollywood actress who reflects on being used by directors to sell her ‘tears’.
Hooking up with the Birmingham-based Nordhoff, Stevens, Fleming and Cimarosti after placing a Melody Maker ad in 1988 (“Soul rebel seeks musicians – genius only”), it was clear that Martin had found a group that recognised the unique power and importance of her voice. Having worked with genres as diverse as reggae, rock and R&B, the four producers proved to be perfect collaborators, presenting carefully-sculpted backdrops that emphasised the towering emotional dexterity of her voice.
“Listening back to these tracks now, I was reminded of what a bunch of great musicians they were,” says Martin. “They had a rule that if a part still sounded good after a day or two then it could stay. If it bothered the vocals, it would go.” Even more so than on Electribal Memories, Electribal Soul places Martin at the captivating centre of these pieces, surrounding her voice with everything from dubby rhythms to chunky R&B beats to nascent trip hop breaks; wiry, acid-hued synths uncoil gently without ever dominating, while horn samples and lush, disco-inflected strings provide a rich, naturalistic accompaniment for Martin’s emotional outpourings.
The band finished mixing the album at London’s Olympic Studios in 1991. They were assisted by Apollo 440’s Howard Gray on production duties for ‘Deadline For My Memories’, ‘Insatiable Love’ and ‘Space Oasis’, with Gray supported by talented engineer Al Stone. Pre-release promo tapes were issued and an enthusiastic energy started to build around the band’s anticipated second album.
It was not meant to be. Against a backdrop of a worsening relationship with Tom Watkins, and a disinterested Phonogram, instead of receiving a positive reaction to the new tracks, Electribe 101 were swiftly dropped by their label. Electribal Soul languished, unreleased, and the band yielded to pressures that had been building and split up. After collaborating with Spooky and The Grid, Billie Ray Martin went on to release her seminal debut solo album in 1996, with it securing the era-defining hit ‘Your Loving Arms’, while the other group members continued to work together as The Groove Corporation.
Thirty years after the songs were recorded, we’re now finally able to hear what the second and final chapter of Electribe 101’s story sounded like. Electribal Soul shows that the band had really only just got started when they dropped their first album in 1990. Heard only by a select and privileged few, what followed elevated the band’s music to a completely new level, making Electribal Soul musical buried treasure of the most precious and rare variety.
Electribal Soul will be released on LP, CD and digital formats on 18th February 2022 through Electribal Records. The physical formats include extensive liner notes from Billie Ray Martin, and the album sleeve features unseen archive photographs by Lewis Mulatero from the original 1990 sessions with the band that were never used in the sleeve designs for Electribal Memories.

WELCOME to the third volume in our Wigan Casino mini-series exploring the diverse playlist of the world's No.1 Northern Soul venue. The 23rd September 2018 marks the 45th Anniversary of the super club and we have selected 18 tracks that we hope capture the unique atmosphere of the huge ballroom and the mesmerizing dance moves that held us spellbound all those years ago.
WIGAN CASINO finally closed its doors in December 1981 after eight long years of weekly All-Nighters, during which time it came to define Northern Soul. The term had, of course, been coined years earlier, but it was the Casino Soul Club that established the style of music and the scene to the wider public.
The Casino transformed the Northern Soul scene into a mass youth movement with its own sound track, uniform, cultural icons and a 100,000 strong membership. In reality, the stereotype of moustachioed young men in baggy trousers and vest tops, festooned with sew-on patches, was actually quite short lived. Northern Soul was ever evolving and as the Seventies progressed so did the music and the fashion, embracing soulful-disco and jazz-funk. Today, 45 years on, it is still evolving and attracts followers from all over the globe to its international Weekenders and Festivals. Right On!

A globetrotter in the most pure and respectful sense, away from the trappings of neo-colonialist ventures and predatory tourism, Discrepant head honcho Gonçalo F. Cardoso returns to his Island impression series to offers us another glimpse of his deep, abstract impressions of (an)other island.

After passionately collecting the sounds and lives inhabiting the main Island of Zanzibar, Unguja, released through Edições CN back in 2018, Cardoso now dwells into the Malaysian heartbeat of the Borneo forest through Island recordings made during a trip in 2016. Assembled in situ with meticulous craft from portable recorders, samplers and battery powered synths, these nice recollections conjure the spirits that lurk behind the inhabitable and the communal that are as much part of a personal memoir as an impressionistic portrait open to new meanings. Focused compositions that flow organically, bending the environment in & out of shape into a new dreamlike exotica with plenty of breathing room for every detail, silence and movement to surface.

A particular moment suspended in time, haunted perpetually by its bygone existence. Something no postcard or photograph could ever, ever come even close to.

'Doroth follow on from a 2019 self-released digi EP with this fresh 7" for Research. The duo of Loretta Wilde and Maria Moles from Melbourne have established a song writing craft that's equal parts This Heat and Throwing Muses; all disjointed rhythms and dry vocal delivery that seems to come with an intentional feeling of malaise. Where their self-titled EP allowed for the sprawling Still House Plants-esque sound of 'On The Lamb', both 'Take It Easier' and 'Picture' condense the live sound into two sub 4 minute slices of indie pop / art rock goodness. We've got no clue what photograph Wilde is singing about but the combination of bass and drums bouncing off one another underneath her prolonged strainings will be sure to stick in your brain.'

Poets of the Fall are back and announce their greatly anticipated 9th studio album "Ghostlight", out worldwide April 29th. Poets of the Fall is a Finnish rock band from Helsinki founded in 2003. With their previous eight studio albums, they've gained several #1 spots on the charts, performed worldwide to an enthusiastically loyal fanbase and have become one of the most internationally successful bands from Finland. Their music videos have been viewed hundreds of millions of times on YouTube, and their songs are streamed over two million plays per month on Spotify alone. The first Single Requiem for My Harlequin can be described as a massive power-drama that hurls you into a dizzying carnival ride, a thick Metallic Power-ballad full of of crunchy guitars, big symphonic arrangements and the silky-smooth golden vocals the band is famous for.

Tolouse Low Trax, Sacha Mambo, General Purpose and newcomer Berkay Mate get on the remix of Ex Ponto’s ‚ Neka Neka' LP. Neka Neka is a nod to ex-Yugoslavian experimentalists of the 80s (Rex Ilusivii, Kozmetika, Miha Kralj etc) and the thriving, late-night hedonism of Belgrade's Club 20/44

Tolouse Low Trax provides a remix to Middle Path that is experimental, deep and pulsating. The track is obscure, but has a pulse that you can feel in your chest and ears listening to be beautiful spoken words which will leave you in a trance.

Sacha Mambo reworks 20-40 into a vivid melodic trip that goes into the explorations of the cosmos. The movement of this track is groovy and uplifting, it will keep you on the move. The eclecticism and craziness of Sacha Mambo are definitely heard in this remix.

General Purpose remix Ex Ponto into psychedelic drug chug. This mid-tempo acid banger will keep your body moving, melt your mind and the break down will set you off. Close your eyes and immerse yourself in the vivid journey.

Berkay Mete serves up a remix of intoxicating Eastern sounds. This track is ideal for a sun soaked dancefloor or in the darkness of the nightclubs. Wherever it is played it will, the rhythm will grab you and keep you.

A masterful mix of timeless American soul with vintage 1970s African samples in a most rewarding way – musical traveler Eamon teams with production duo Likeminds for No Matter The Season, his second album for Now-Again. “I’ve been singing since I was a tike, promoters used to call me ‘the boy wonder’, but with this record it felt new, almost like I was singing every note as if my life depended on it,” says Eamon from his home in Southern California, a far cry from his native Staten Island, New York City. But you wouldn’t know his birthplace from the way he sings, especially on No Matter The Season, where Eamon put a new spin on vintage samples from the Now-Again catalog, crafting beats from various African rhythms such as Amanaz’s Zamrock, the Hygrades Nigerian funk, and Ayalew Mesfin’s Ethiopian tezetas. Shortly after the release of his last Now-Again project, Captive Thoughts, he began working with the production duo on two original compositions that appear on No Matter The Season. But as time went on, he came upon the idea of completing the album by sending the duo samples from the Now-Again catalog to work with. Which were expanded upon with a multitude of live instruments. “There was something special about combing through the African records at Now-Again,” Eamon reflects. “I had never heard the variety of funk and soul that existed in places like Lagos and Addis Ababa, it was like a history lesson in Rhythm & Blues. I was hearing the godfathers of the movement here in the US. I wanted to pay my respect to that lineage. Since singing in my father’s doo-wop group as a kid, I’ve always used music from the past to create and express something new in the present. But to be able to do that across continents and get back to the roots…that was really impactful for me.” Likeminds, helmed by Chris Soper and Jesse Singer, two East Coast transplants to LA who are as comfortable chopping up samples on an MPC as they are playing classic instruments, using vintage microphones, or recording to tape, offer up what could be described as a West Coast spin on the revivalist soul sound championed by Daptone Records. “For sure, the album is soaked in an old school feel, but to still tap into the depths of my soul today is always the end goal,” Eamon states. All but two tracks are based on Now-Again samples, using the classic rhythms as accompaniment to showcase Eamon’s emotional singing style that is still as honest and raw as when he was a 16, singing about heartbreak. The end result, No Matter the Season, is a celebration of the musical relationship between Africa and America and the thrilling soul music that relationship has spawned since the 60s and 70s. “My hope is people know that I’m not leaving anything on the table in this chapter of my career,” Eamon reflects. “Only thing I can do is pour my heart out on every single line. Even though I’m writing and screaming to the heavens about my joy, my pain, my love…these are songs for everyone, everywhere, anytime. You’re gonna walk away feeling something. This is why I titled the album No Matter The Season.”

1971 and Black America was luxuriating in the soft soul
of the O’Jays, the Temptations had just left behind their
flirtation with psychedelia, James Brown was
explaining Soul Power, Sly & the Family Stone were
having a Family Affair, and Marvin Gaye was asking
‘What’s Going On’.

• In their own inimitable way, Funkadelic were laying
down their own statement about the ecology of the
planet in the opening of lead and title track ‘Maggot
Brain’, turning it into an elegy for the Earth in the
ensuing heart-wrenching extended Eddie Hazel guitar
solo – one of the most radical records of the period.

• The album also spawned two Top 50 singles with the
usual Funkadelic wry observational humour of ‘You
And Your Folks, Me And My Folks’ and ‘Can You Get To
That’. And just in case you think things have
normalised, the set closes with nine minutes of the
chaotic sound collage ‘Wars Of Armageddon’.

• This 50th anniversary edition includes a second 12”
with two versions of the title track. Side A features the
live version from Meadowbrook from the same year that
the studio album came out. Jump forward 46 years to
the “Reworked by Detroiters” release and side B has
the BMG Dub, showing the enduring quality of one of
the great guitar records of all time.

• This issue is mastered from fresh transfers of the tape.

• Facsimile gatefold sleeve

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)

Thomas Köner is one of the most influential modernist minimal composers. His music is often defined as dark ambient or drone, because of the use of low frequencies, material from gongs,shadowy resonances and boreal ambience, but at the same time its sound with constant fluctuation and vulnerability of sonic events, what makes it organic, human and almost comforting.

Köners soundscapes are no longer simply dark, the question now is that of a profound blackness. Such is the generic darkness of the abyss, the void and vacuum, the darkness of more than silence, of catastrophe and cataclysm, but also the soundscapes have utopian moments. It is a cosmological blackness, the black of nonbeing.

The more subtractive, the blacker the sound synthesis, Köner writes. Such blackness is non-music. Music will never be music until it ceases to represent and begins to sound like non-music or monochrome.

"Whoever hears the distortion of all sounds, will soon become Ultrablack. Whoever listens to this world, but has no affection for any of its sites, even to the place of Black Noise, may soon reach Ultrablack. Whoever understands the spirit of impartiality through ten thousand million partial tones, hears Ultrablack and can no longer be measured. No measures, no enclosures, no properties are the sign of ultrablack scores." Thomas Köner

Aubrite was first released 1995 on the label Barooni. Roland Speckle helped with production of the album. Aubrite is the name of a group of meteorites named for Aubres, a small achondrite meteorite that fell near Nyons in 1836.

Sublime funky jazz album by Harold Vick under the Sir Edward name - first time reissue from the 1973 edition on Funky Drummer Bernard Purdies short lived Encounter Label !

One of the great unsung saxophone hero's: Harold Vick worked as a sideman with Hammond Legends Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff, Big John Patton, and Larry Young. He played on and off with Walter Bishop, Jr. and also worked with Philly Joe Jones, Howard McGhee, Donald Byrd and Ray Charles and appeared with Dizzy Gillespie, King Curtis, and from 1970 to 1974 with Aretha Franklin. He played in Jack DeJohnette's jazz-rock band Compost from 1971 to 1973,recording with them in 1972 which is about the same time as this recording and that is probably the reason it is under the pseudonym of "Sir Edward". Add to that an absolutely top notch band, including bassist Wilbur "Bad" Bascomb, Jumma Santos on percussion and the mellow vibes of Omar Clay and this is a must have soulful jazz outing.

The music is a funky mix of some of the big Soul tunes of the day, with versions of Donny Hathaway and The Stylistics and a nod to the CTI stylings of the day with a get down version of "People Make The World Go Round".

Some sonic communities grow even in isolation, in the lonely obsessive moments in the studio as time melts away. Deep inside the Detroit Underground nests a Berlin underground, chasing those resonant shared sounds. DU Berlin draws together some of that love felt through music in the German capital. It’s not the wild city of reunification or *Berlin Calling* or tourist-style movies or the easyJet set. This is the side of the city that endlessly romances machines for the sheer joy of it, as The Allegorist titles her track, “until dawn.” And with some big names and emerging, ranging from mainstays to veteran agitators, the Berlin DU crew have telegraphed each other through productions and mutual inspiration. The results vibrate and rumble with sympathetic frequencies, but never limited to grayscale or dithered palettes.

DESIGN: Neubau Berlin.

Limited edition of 300 with stamped vinyl and risograph printed insert.

The first release of Séance Centre's "Speculative Ethnography” series is an EP of Burroughsinspired analog rhythm-scapes, conjured from the nocturnal Parisian imagination of Shelter (Alan Briand). 　

Recorded directly to cassette 4-track late at night in Briand’s apartment in Paris with a gathering of temperamental vintage gear, Le Sommeil Vertical captures a somnambulant journey into vibrant analog nether-regions. The hazy sonics harken back to ‘80s DIY cassette culture, but refracted through a prism of fourth world melodics and early IDM rhythm experiments.

The tracks are titled after Burroughs’ Cities of the Red Night, and the book acts as a talisman for the album, setting sci-fi surrealism within expansive arid psychic landscapes. The trance-inducing terrain, mapped out in warm
1/4” tape, moves through phased backstreets, AFX-arrondissements, and dub municipalities. This ismusic on the nod, an elixir for the sleepwalking flaneur. Alan Briand has been with Séance Centre from the start, as designer and European emissary — a
wunderkind of many talents, we’ve always trusted his ears as well as his eyes. We’re pleased to release this mesmerizing EP as a limited edition pressing with risograph printed insert and designed for future archives