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The new recording of The Book of Sounds is an intimate exploration of the piano by pianist Carlos Cipa - a way of looking into the sound, of listening into the moment when Cipa's fingers press down on the piano keys. The Book of Sounds, composed between 1979 and 1982 by composer and pianist Hans Otte, is a musical pendulum movement of one hour in twelve 'pieces', as the composer himself describes them. Chords and melodies repeat themselves, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly; they follow each other in harmonic cadences and yet never dissolve - a timeless back and forth.
The Book of Sounds is the European-German answer to the concert music of American minimalism. But it is also the essence of many questions about society and the human condition at that time. Inspired by Zen Buddhism, Otte was convinced that a return to simplicity, to the unagitated - a piano, harmonic cadences, a middle register - frees the listener to focus on what is really important in art: the human being. Introspection begins with listening. Seldom have simple chords and melodies been so selectively staged. It is a process of endless reduction - no wild sound dramaturgies, no climaxes, hardly any beginning or end. The interpreting pianist simply prepares a tableaux of perception for the listener. Cipa naturally sets accents; he recorded the 12 pieces on three different pianos - a Steinway grand piano, a Yamaha piano, and a Yamaha CP-70, an early electric piano - to help shape the tonal characteristics.
Carlos Cipa hits the nerve of the times with this new recording. What music can be as art is still up for debate today. The Book of Sounds is not 'art-proof' and in this it is still a provocation today; absolutely unspectacular and practising relaxation. It is a wonderful invitation to feel, experience, and perhaps even find oneself in the confrontation with the work - and for a moment not to fuel the discourse. Cipa, who otherwise appears as a composer himself, here carries out Otte's intended gesture of withdrawal in a double sense and steps into the background as creator but also interpreter, in order to bequeath The Book of Sounds to the loudspeakers and headphones at home in one step forward.

The new label engorn celebrates its second catalog release, once again featuring gustav krach and taschendrachen. The A side kicks off with two dreamy deep house tracks by taschendrachen. The first track, the meaning, blends lush congas and bongos with smooth pads. dont forget us stands out with its warped bassline, while both tracks feature lovely, haunting vocals. The side is rounded off by a sweeping ambient
breakbeat track from gustav krach, closing it with atmospheric depth.

On the B side, taschendrachen showcases his passion for
chords, creating a drive infused cut with tell me do and crafting a dub influenced soundscape with tides, where the chords form a vast sonic backdrop. The release closes with gustav krachs atmospheric ambient track, offering a fitting, introspective conclusion to the journey.

Our debut single with Senpolya was born out of desire to create some modern Russian pop infused with references to the 80s dance music. While making 80s-inspired tunes is popular nowadays, this decade means different things to different people: be it A-ha and Modern Talking or African boogie and Chicago house. But we ended up making neither one nor the other.

The crowd who contributed to this release is absolutely legendary. Each time I listen to it and think of them, a new dimension opens up in my mind, adding up some deeper layers of context Ive immersed myself in over the past few years.

An italian producer and bass player Marco Boccamazzo created the first remix. By adding bass guitar and strings, he took the track back by another ten years.

DJ Popinjay, an alter ego of a tropical disco master who wishes to remain anonymous, provided the second rework.

The third remix or more like an essentially an entirely new track, comes from Sonestrose, a duo consisting of Andrey Algorithmic, an art director of Moscow Powerhouse, and Alexander Basian, the studio's sound engineer.

Ignat Akimov, also known as DJ Pecan and an art director of Esthetic Joys Embassy, crafted the fourth hallucinogenic remix, which spans from acid house with Indian drums to cool jazz sound.

Lipelis and Scruscru help me in making some key decisions about the tracks structure, arrangement, and mixing.

Ilya Varankin made a photo of us (on film!) and Nikita Demin designed the cover picture inspired by Daptone Records.

At last, I want to thank my wife, Masha Dostoewskaya, without whose love and patience I wouldn't have been able to see this project to an end.

UK producer Smev lands on X2SEE with a scintillating five track EP - a cosmic journey characterised by
contrasting feelings and emotions, bridging the void into an alternative reality…

Michael Bublé's 2007 album will be available on limited edition Cobalt Blue colour vinyl. With its finger-snapping big band arrangements, the album has its share of homage to Frank and Dino while being decidedly contemporary. Includes stylistically adventurous versions of songs by Eric Clapton, Leonard Cohen, and Willie Nelson as well as an original song by Bublé called "Everything.”

On "Not Around But Through", Portland-based experimental musician and tape wizard Amulets
 navigates the process of acceptance and the tumultuous journey of looking within. Over the course of 8 tracks he explores the emotional path of moving through rather than circumventing, in the process soundtracking a purposeful desire to face trauma and vulnerability.

Infusing his trademark ambient soundscapes with ambitious blends of post-hardcore, emo, and metal, "Not Around But Through" connects the dots between personal and social dislocation, leaving us with a taste of the fragmented and fallen future we are all steeling ourselves for. Traversing a landscape that varies from gentle and meandering to explosive and cathartic, Amulets uses cinematic tension and relentless attention to detail to construct his sonic apparitions. On "Lifelike" he collaborates with Midwife, incorporating Madeline Johnston's voice into a song that pulsates with post-shoegaze transcendent energy.

Amulets is the solo project of Portland-based audio + visual artist Randall Taylor. Amulets employs handmade cassette tape loops and live processed guitar loops to create live, lush soundscapes and immersive drones. Through the recontextualisation of cassettes, sampling, field recording, and looping, these long-form compositions blur the genres of ambient, drone, noise, and electronic music.

Malte Huck presents ‘has-been’ under the name BEACHPEOPLE, his first album as a solo artist. A ‘has-been’ is someone who used to be once famous. The use of a past tense implies that this is no longer the case. To adopt such a label, you not only need a certain self-deprecating sense of humour, but also a temporal and emotional distance from what once was. Four years have passed since he left AnnenMayKantereit as bassist. Four years is not a lot of time when measured in terms of a human life, but enough to make a fresh start.

Malte Huck presents ‘has-been’ under the name BEACHPEOPLE, his first album as a solo artist. A ‘has-been’ is someone who used to be once famous. The use of a past tense implies that this is no longer the case. To adopt such a label, you not only need a certain self-deprecating sense of humour, but also a temporal and emotional distance from what once was. Four years have passed since he left AnnenMayKantereit as bassist. Four years is not a lot of time when measured in terms of a human life, but enough to make a fresh start.

"This album is a superb collection of Frank and friends from a part of Frank’s career that’s long been underrated. Here, Sinatra scales the jazz summit with Louis Armstrong on “Birth Of The Blues” and does three electrifying collaborations with one of his favorites, Ella Fitzgerald. Ella’s voice is at her best in each. Rival Elvis Presley gets the Chairman’s respect on a wonderfully playful meeting-of-the-icons medley of “Witchcraft”/”Love Me Tender.” The tunes are bright and lively and many benefit from Nelson Riddle’s arranging genius. Frank and Dean are great, improvising and playing off one another as always. But wait until you hear “Together” in which Bing joins Dino and Frank for a happy, hilarious threesome.

The record you have in your hands is the sound of dreams fulfilled, dashed, then fulfilled again.

Candy McKenzie, a young singer from North West London, had endured a hard life before she flew to Jamaica in pursuit of a dream that she didn’t fully understand.

Candy McKenzie was a young talent in need of an experienced producer. Who better than Lee Perry, who had created international hits for another raw female talent, Susan Cadogan, not to

mention his brilliant work with Max Romeo, Junior Murvin and the Heptones? All the magic of Perry’s classics are here. Candy sadly passed away in 2003,

and it might appear she was an unfulfilled talent, but she and Lee Perry left us this beautiful hidden gem of an album.

The album is available as a limited numbered edition of 750 copies on orange coloured vinyl and includes an insert.

Maud the moth, the solo project of Spanish-born and Scotland-based pianist, singer and songwriter Amaya Lopez-Carromero announces her new album, The Distaff, to be released via The Larvarium (digital +CD) and La Rubia Producciones (vinyl) Amaya has long used the mantle of Maud the moth as an alter-ego, a séance-like conduit to explore themes of rootlessness, identity and trauma. The Distaff in particular refers to the stick or spindle onto which wool or flax is wound for spinning, and an object which has historically been used across multiple cultures as a symbol wielded by the “virtuous woman”, an authoritarian ideal around which much of the trauma surrounding the feminine coalesces. The album takes the form of a sort of self reflective and surreal autobiography. It was in part inspired by the poem of the same name written by the Greek poet Erinna, as she mourns her friend's loss of individuality and agency in exchange for marriage - and therefore safety and acceptance in the eyes of society. The album exists in an ethereal but violent world of aesthetic overlaps where time stands still and fictional and reimagined folk sits at the table with Maud the moth’s usual sonic menagerie. It is the result of a lifetime of obsession with sound and music, where glimpses of musical genre offer insight into Amaya’s artistic interests and her participation in the underground European scene for many years, in bands such as healthyliving. Heavier, darker, and more exposed than any of her previous works it features some highly accomplished artists, such as Seb Rochford (Patti Smith, Polar Bear, Sons of Kemet, Pulled by magnets, etc.) on drums, Alison Chesley (Helen Money) on cello, Fay Guiffo on violin and Scott McLean (Ashenspire, healthyliving, Falloch) on guitar, saxophone and synthesiser. Maud the moth shares the video for "Siphonophores". About the track, Maud the moth says; I wrote "Siphonophores" on guitar, during the first lockdown, a period where I was kind of trapped between an almost empty flat in Edinburgh and Dresden. It was an incredibly harrowing time, but also one of hope and where important new things were being birthed. I felt incredibly sensitive to everything, almost like life was happening in slow motion. I´m not a confident guitarist since I am completely self-taught, but, probably because of this, I feel that this instrument allows me to focus on aspects of the songwriting that I normally overlook when writing on piano, and I think it was a necessary step for this song to exist. Something else which I've been really exploiting lately and features strongly in the album is the percussive capabilities of the piano, and in particular, of the sustain pedal when mic'd up. This can be heard very clearly at the beginning of "Siphonophores". Written and arranged by Amaya, with some contributions in the later role from the aforementioned collaborators, the album presents nine tracks originally written entirely on acoustic piano as accompanied voice pieces, in pure singer-songwriter fashion. The album was co-produced and recorded by Scott and Amaya in different studios across the UK between January and July of 2024, in a process that started shortly after the 2020 pandemic and finished alongside the album recordings in a detailed, organic and at times obsessive process aimed primarily at capturing the natural dynamics and expression of free performance. The Distaff was mixed in its entirety by Scott and mastered at Abbey Road by Alex Wharton (Radiohead, My Bloody Valentine, Aurora, Kathryn Joseph etc.) Despite being born of a very personal point of view, the album lacks a specific narrator and was conceived almost as a sonic trousseau, where the needle point, silks and other family heirlooms have been swapped for out-of-the-corner-of-the-eye memories of rural Spain by the vineyards, family disputes, old tales of wartime pains, generational breaches and finally the conflict of migration and estrangement. The songs paint dystopian pastoral scenes which evolve throughout the span of one fictional day outside of time and coherent locations and where imagination (often the only account surviving from traumatic events and gaslighting) has become indistinguishable from fact. The Distaff attempts to acknowledge past trauma, comprehend and process some of the more difficult aspects which have contributed to our darker self and offer closure and solace through creative catharsis.

Maud the moth, the solo project of Spanish-born and Scotland-based pianist, singer and songwriter Amaya Lopez-Carromero announces her new album, The Distaff, to be released via The Larvarium (digital +CD) and La Rubia Producciones (vinyl) Amaya has long used the mantle of Maud the moth as an alter-ego, a séance-like conduit to explore themes of rootlessness, identity and trauma. The Distaff in particular refers to the stick or spindle onto which wool or flax is wound for spinning, and an object which has historically been used across multiple cultures as a symbol wielded by the “virtuous woman”, an authoritarian ideal around which much of the trauma surrounding the feminine coalesces. The album takes the form of a sort of self reflective and surreal autobiography. It was in part inspired by the poem of the same name written by the Greek poet Erinna, as she mourns her friend's loss of individuality and agency in exchange for marriage - and therefore safety and acceptance in the eyes of society. The album exists in an ethereal but violent world of aesthetic overlaps where time stands still and fictional and reimagined folk sits at the table with Maud the moth’s usual sonic menagerie. It is the result of a lifetime of obsession with sound and music, where glimpses of musical genre offer insight into Amaya’s artistic interests and her participation in the underground European scene for many years, in bands such as healthyliving. Heavier, darker, and more exposed than any of her previous works it features some highly accomplished artists, such as Seb Rochford (Patti Smith, Polar Bear, Sons of Kemet, Pulled by magnets, etc.) on drums, Alison Chesley (Helen Money) on cello, Fay Guiffo on violin and Scott McLean (Ashenspire, healthyliving, Falloch) on guitar, saxophone and synthesiser. Maud the moth shares the video for "Siphonophores". About the track, Maud the moth says; I wrote "Siphonophores" on guitar, during the first lockdown, a period where I was kind of trapped between an almost empty flat in Edinburgh and Dresden. It was an incredibly harrowing time, but also one of hope and where important new things were being birthed. I felt incredibly sensitive to everything, almost like life was happening in slow motion. I´m not a confident guitarist since I am completely self-taught, but, probably because of this, I feel that this instrument allows me to focus on aspects of the songwriting that I normally overlook when writing on piano, and I think it was a necessary step for this song to exist. Something else which I've been really exploiting lately and features strongly in the album is the percussive capabilities of the piano, and in particular, of the sustain pedal when mic'd up. This can be heard very clearly at the beginning of "Siphonophores". Written and arranged by Amaya, with some contributions in the later role from the aforementioned collaborators, the album presents nine tracks originally written entirely on acoustic piano as accompanied voice pieces, in pure singer-songwriter fashion. The album was co-produced and recorded by Scott and Amaya in different studios across the UK between January and July of 2024, in a process that started shortly after the 2020 pandemic and finished alongside the album recordings in a detailed, organic and at times obsessive process aimed primarily at capturing the natural dynamics and expression of free performance. The Distaff was mixed in its entirety by Scott and mastered at Abbey Road by Alex Wharton (Radiohead, My Bloody Valentine, Aurora, Kathryn Joseph etc.) Despite being born of a very personal point of view, the album lacks a specific narrator and was conceived almost as a sonic trousseau, where the needle point, silks and other family heirlooms have been swapped for out-of-the-corner-of-the-eye memories of rural Spain by the vineyards, family disputes, old tales of wartime pains, generational breaches and finally the conflict of migration and estrangement. The songs paint dystopian pastoral scenes which evolve throughout the span of one fictional day outside of time and coherent locations and where imagination (often the only account surviving from traumatic events and gaslighting) has become indistinguishable from fact. The Distaff attempts to acknowledge past trauma, comprehend and process some of the more difficult aspects which have contributed to our darker self and offer closure and solace through creative catharsis.

Finnish-born producer and pianist Idealism (800K Spotify Monthly Listeners) and French transplant Lucid Green (175k SML) are no strangers to each other’s subtle, yet potent productions. Having worked together on „Untold“ their Sophomore, fully collaborative LP “Unsaid” is a natural journey into the beautiful ambient, downtempo, lo-fi worlds they’ve each created. Through visits to Lucid’s flat in Paris and ideas being exchanged remotely, the duo experimented with different sounds, instruments and aural environments, in the process crafting a natural partnership that sits in a comfortable, melancholic pocket.

With lulling guitar and poignant piano progressions that provide a pillow to rest your ears, and downtempo percussions that keeps you ebbing and flowing along on a subtle current, unsure where one wave ends and the next begins, only the albums progressions dictate the head-nod. The album soars, reminiscent of life’s simple, yet wholly memorable moments.

As with all 823 releases, the project is a visual one as much as it is a musical project. The first singles visualizers are a fusion of Hopes & Dreams Club & 823’s design aesthetics with personal super8 footage captured by Idealism & Lucid Green, beautifully expressed from Hopes & Dreams Club membersi. Each visualizer and single art will easily stand on its own, transporting you to worlds familiar, yet undeniably groovy and sonically comfortable.

823 is a multifaceted Perth-based record label, fashion brand, and artistic community, founded by Australian producer and all-around creative, Ta-ku (630 SML). With an astute attention to detail and an ethos that appreciates the everyday things in life, 823 doesn’t stick to any particular genre. Past 823 releases include “So Far To Go” EP via Cabu (500k SML), Ta-ku and matt mcwaters’s duo project “Black and White,” featuring Masego collaboration “Flight 99” (38mil streams on Spotify), the “All Things Considered” compilations, a curated, collaborative series featuring both budding and well-established artists around the world and have included Idealism, Wun Two, pastels, L.Dre, Flobama, SwuM, Jinsang, Tenderlonious, among a host of others, as well as multiple sold out clothing capsules.

Up In Her Room are delighted to announce their first release of 2025, and a return to the label from Oli Heffernan, aka Ivan the Tolerable!

10 new chunks of lo-fi instrumental library-hop - recorded in 2 days in Summer 2024, ‘Nocturnes’ is the first ITT album of 2025, and the first one made solo by Heffernan since ‘Wild Nature’ in 2019.

Known for his genre-defying and boundary-pushing approach to music, Heffernan – who has spent years experimenting with various styles, instruments and production techniques has crafted a collection of tracks that defy categorization. The new album is a sonic tapestry of atmospheric library music, dusty hip-hop beats, and the organic, unfiltered essence of field recordings, all neatly packaged up into a format that allows each element space to breathe.

‘Nocturnes’ weaves intricate layers of samples, loops, and live instrumentation, combining elements of hip-hop, dub, jazz, and electronic music, all while maintaining a sense of urban cinematic flair.

The album is released by Up In Her Room on limited edition black heavyweight vinyl

Johnny and Edgar Winter - Together: Live (1976) is the first ever album featuring both brothers, Johnny Winter (guitar, vocals) and Edgar Winter (saxophone, vocals). Released just three months after Johnny Winter’s Captured Live!, it is composed entirely of rock and roll and soul standards. This album is a chance to hear The Edgar Winter Group (Edgar on saxophone, Rick Derringer on guitar, Dan Hartman on piano and Chuck Ruff on drums) playing with Johnny Winter’s band (Johnny and Floyd Radford on guitar, Randy Jo Hobbs on bass and Richard Hughes on drums) together on a same stage. The album was live recorded at San Diego Sports Arena and Swing Auditorium.

This MOV release comes as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on white marbled coloured vinyl.

Music is storytelling, and some of the best stories have been told through centuries-old traditional folk songs. On their new album ‘Northern Sky’, The Wellermen have given this rich traditional musical history a new sound, hoping to continue to captivate millions of fans around the world. It helps that The Wellermen’s four members all bring their respective experience and perspectives to the table. The fact that they’re from different corners of the world really adds something to the music - there’s something romantic about the way the members have to go on a voyage to see each other.

The Wellermen’s history is well-known: having been the originators of the sea shanty trend on Tiktok, they’ve since gone from strength to strength, gaining a huge following across social media with new trends linked to their music. Their versions of ‘Misty Mountains’ and Ed Sheeran’s ‘Nancy Mulligan’, along with their spine-tingling rendition of ‘Hoist The Colours’ have racked up billions of views across Tiktok and youtube and over 110m streams of their debut album, and led them to appearances on shows like Ant and Dec, LAst Week Tonight with Jon Oliver, The Colbert Show and more.

The group have now returned with their new album ‘Northern Sky’, where they have gone above and beyond to show they are indeed masters of their craft. Recorded in a cottage in the picturesque hills of Surrey, they poured their considerable knowledge and prowess into the album’s 12 tracks, all of which fit their love of storytelling. On the Scottish folk song ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’, for example, the group’s harmonies and rich vocals capture the nostalgic, wistful nature of the song, which speaks of love and nature’s beauty. The group’s tribute to Johnny Cash on the song ‘Hurt’ is set to be a fan favourite - melding the raw and uninhibited torment of the original with the dignified but heart-rending grief of Cash’s version.

Elsewhere on the record the original song and title track ‘Northern Sky’ is a perfect demonstration of the Wellermen’s gift for creating a real dynamic, steering it gently from the darker, more ominous numbers into something truly uplifting. ‘Tall Tales’, another original, is a wonderful portrayal of humorous one-upmanship - a call-and-response that is likely to get crowds’ feet stomping and hands clapping. Say the Wellermen: “It’s all about connection and storytelling, and we hope the listeners are able to find something meaningful.” One thing is absolutely certain: these talented young men are in it for the long haul.

"‘man oh man !’ is the sophomore 11 track album from indie singer-songwriter Martin Luke Brown.

Marking a significant new era in both his personal and musical life, Martin tackles a myriad of themes; self-awareness and personal growth, treasured friendships, swept-off-your-feet romance and gut wrenching heartbreak - all with a laidback, indie singer-songwriter sound that naturally shapes the album into three linear phases: the end of a relationship, new beginnings and the consequential feeling of accepting change.

Described by Martin as a ‘time capsule’, each track on the album was written and recorded in one day, making for a raw and honest snapshot of Martin’s life experiences at the time. Instrumentation is simple and recorded with producer and friend Matt Zara using almost exclusively analog technology – tape machines and vintage mics, a messiness that the duo embraced from the get go.

Martin has released over 100 songs as either a co-writer or a producer, with BTS, Dylan, Jacob Banks, Gavin James, Sam Tompkins,James Smith, Sody andJack Kane. He has also seen a wealth of success as part of pop supergroup FIZZ alongside Orla Gartland, dodie, and Greta Isaac, earning widespread praise from the likes of Rolling Stone UK, Dork, DIY, Clash & more."

Die Schweizer Rockband The Young Gods kündigt die Wiederveröffentlichung ihres hochgelobten akustischen Studioalbums 'Knock on Wood' auf Vinyl an. Das ursprünglich 2008 erschienene Album stellt eine fesselnde Abkehr vom typischen elektronischen Sound der Band dar. Die Wiederveröffentlichung, remastered von den originalen 96kHz/24-bit Files, wird am 21. Februar 2025 über Two Gentlemen auf Vinyl erhältlich sein.
Mit 'Knock on Wood - The Acoustic Sessions' bietet die Band neben atemberaubenden Neuinterpretationen von Klassikern anderer Künstler auch akustische Wiedergaben einiger ihrer beliebtesten Stücke, darunter 'Gasoline Man' und 'Skinflowers'.
Dieses einzigartige Projekt wurde mit akustischen Gitarren und Percussions aufgenommen, was der Musik eine rohe und intime Energie verleiht.
Dank der neu gemasterten Audioaufnahmen können die Fans diese Auftritte jetzt in unvergleichlicher Klarheit erleben. Die satte Klangqualität, kombiniert mit der eindringlichen Wärme des Vinyls, macht diese Wiederveröffentlichung zu einem Muss für Sammler und Neueinsteiger gleichermaßen.

High Roller Records, silver vinyl, ltd 250, 425gsm heavy cardboard cover, insert, download code

Alle, die die Gelegenheit hatten, das neue AIRFORCE-Album "Acts of Madness" exklusiv zu hören, sind sich in einem Punkt einig. Dies ist ein
Comeback, das dem Aushängeschild des gesamten Genres würdig ist und ein Album, das in der Metal-Gemeinde weltweit großen Anklang fi nden
wird. Obwohl sie durch die harten Zeiten des Lockdowns und den Tod des Produzenten gebremst wurden, haben AIRFORCE nicht nur ihren unverkennbaren Sound beibehalten, sondern auch die Entwicklung der Band auf ein neues Niveau gebracht.