quête:lo hype

Keine 400 Songs später und nach etlichen Konzerten geht das Solo Projekt des 19 jährigen Ennio De Caro namens AIN'T UR ENN den nächsten Schritt.Das Album LANGUISH erscheint am 30. Mai 2025 auf Tomatenplatten. Aufgenommen wurde im heimischen Schlafzimmer in Luzern. Das Tonstudio heisst Garage Band. Die erste Trennung wird in Musik gegossen. Ennio De Caro schreibt die Songs, spielt alle Instrumente und singt. Die Drums sind programmiert. Die Emotion ist direkt. Krankhaft traurig, desillusioniert und überbordend energetische klingen die Lieder, die im Frühsommer erscheinen. Das Album heisst LANGUISH. Die Musik ist nicht einzuordnen - Herzzerreißender Bedroom-Pop trifft auf Japanese influenced Hyper-Indie-Pop-Rock. Y2K - Cybercore-Ästhetik trifft auf Emo. Rock and Roll trifft auf Autotune a la Julian Casablanca. Ist das dann Nintendo-Rock? Oder Alex G. auf Crack?

A limited double-LP collection of artists who've been on either Fourth Dimension Records or Lumberton Trading Company (or both). The title, based on the name of a childhood '50s sci-fi film favourite, also not only reflects the bringing together of these two labels but also the fact that most of the artists they are concerned with tend to navigate a wide range of ideas and approaches in their sound. The 2LP also began as a reflection of the two labels coming together on 18 May 2024 at London's Cafe OTO for an event featuring Alternative TV, Splintered, Edward Ka-Spel and Bass Communion.The 2LP, beautifully packaged in a Puppy38 designed sleeve.

This edition explores identity, presence and the fragmentation of self.
It features a standout work by iconic Los Angeles photographer Parker Day, whose hyper-saturated portraits dissect the construction of persona and the tension between surface and essence.
Design is handled by legendary New York illustrator Braulio Amado, injecting the project with bold typographic energy and haunting visual language.

The zine includes poetry by Cristiano Grim, alongside original music by:
Foie Gras – drone and reimagined Americana from San Francisco / Los Angeles
Machino – Mexican electronic producer out of LA, blending distorted guitars, psychedelic riffs, and cinematic pulse into a sound that feels like driving through a neon fever dream
Valley Latini – dark Latin pop performer from New York
David Oliver Rose – post-punk rude boy from New York
Nick Hadad – dark ambient producer based in New York

FAKE4-MASK VS PERSONA presents a 25-page, 11x11” offset-printed, paired with a 12” 180g vinyl record featuring all contributing artists.
Audio mastering by Spaventi Studio.
It operates as both an aesthetic object and a critical inquiry, merging the disciplines of literature, music, photography, and design into a single act of publication as performance.

Continuing the Hyperspace instrumental ambient series tradition are two ensembles: Mindstreams, and the duet Squash and Biscuit. This LP features a full side for each artist and is pressed in lavender vinyl. Mindstreams is a vocalized ambient bed of sound by JP Berreondo and Stefanie Naifeh. From opera to avant-garde, neo-cabaret to singing world music in 15 languages, Naifeh journeys through a colorful mosaic of music. She began her classical training at the age of 8, performed with the San Francisco Opera in the children's choir in Carmen, and majored in opera at UCLA. She later formed the avant-garde, neo-cabaret band, The Underthings in 1987. Squash and Biscuit is a Los Angeles based husband/wife team featuring composers Shuwen Zhao and Brian Griffith. Recorded live from 2020-2021, each piece serves as a short investigation into the world between sound and music using found sounds, musical samples, instrument recordings, and voice manipulation. Limited to 300 copies

AAA Gripper have seemingly dropped out of nowhere but the story goes back. The idea was conjured in the summer of 2023 at the first Wrong Speed Records festival in the town of Glastonbury. Inspired by a weekend of radical sounds and fine company a decision was made - 'let's try something'.
Recording hours and hours of bass and drums in deep Somerset then editing it down to a sharp and concise 32 minutes. From Can's Lost Tapes boxset to No Means No's 0+2=1 via a thousand song structure decisions. Wild guitar strafe and precise hyper vocal added. Nine tight tunes magically appeared. The band raised a glass of tea. The band was born. The 'something' had worked.
We Invented Work For The Common Good is a deep dive into the world of the working person. How we end up. Why we climb onto the conveyer belt and never get off. The front cover is one of many of the same photo taken every day, on the walk to work, the dark mills looming - KEEP THEM BUSY, THEY WON'T RISE UP.
Music is therapy. They think it's part of the bread and circuses. We know it's armour. We know it's weaponry.
Gigs being planned.

Once again the mighty Dusty Donuts take a trip to Queensbridge, where they bump
into a Lost Girl that once appeared on an infamous mixtape of one of QBs finest.
This bouncy and choppy rework is guaranteed to get the party going.
On the flipside we move from QB to Staten Island to rock you with the special
technique.
The heavy soul classic comes in a true shaolin fashion and makes all true hip hop
heads turn!
In stores early April 2025

DJ Support: Peggy Gou, Prospa, Special Request, Annie Mac, DJ Seinfeld, Kolsch.

Pink Vinyl Limited Pressing

One of the biggest, breakbeat channelling stompers out there, courtesy of the in-demand duo Borai and Denham Audio, finally gets an official release with three fiery remixes via Room Two Records. A track that’s ripped through airwaves and club dancefloors alike, ‘Make Me’ has all the hallmarks of a future classic. Doused in Amen breaks, rattling subs, rave stabs and an instantly recognizable mid ‘80s Donna Allen sample. Together the track feels like a long forgotten rave anthem from the ‘90s with its mix of high intensity breaks and soulful vocals.

With the original sample cleared, three producers step up to remix this undeniable anthem. First Sheffield’s Big Ang with her Rave To The Grave remix, playing homage to her hometown with a bassline and bleep flavoured rework. Mani Festo then hits hyperspace with his glitched out, jungle warper, before Paul Sirrell closes out proceedings serving up a huge slice of piano house heat

Since 2020, and from coast to coast, indie-rockers Fib have been rewiring brains with their singular, jangly sound and furiously tight live performances. Fib's members connected in Portland through their love of punk, friendship, and their shared exceptional musical abilities. After releasing their debut self-titled tape in 2021 and touring the US, the band picked up and moved across the country after falling in love with Philadelphia. The city quickly warmed to Fib's controlled mania- the band putting on the tightest show imaginable, and then, at the end of the set, destroying their instruments in total chaos mode. They matched Philadelphia's freak- fitting like a fingerless glove. Now, connecting with Philly label Julia's War, the group is releasing their debut full-length record Heavy Lifting- a musical odyssey exploring arty pop, punk and progressive rock- while simultaneously breaking free from genre and giving the listener a vividly surreal auditory experience. With Heavy Lifting, Fib shed their early, scrappy, lofi limitations, and embraced a new, expansive and warm recording capture. This bigger sound allows the group to put their technical skill, harmonious vocals, and hyper-infectious songwriting on full display. Songs like 'Mutuals' and 'Say' are frenetic and bouncy- shifting through virtuosic arrangements held together with intermittent, powerful hooks. With tunes like 'Dotted Line' and 'PS,' the band settles deeper into the grooves and songwriting allowing the listener to zone in and bob their head a bit more. While the nine tracks that comprise Heavy Lifting are equally unique and invigorating showcasing the members' intricate guitar tangles and polyrhythms, the album is holistically composed- a greater sum than its parts. The release would easily sit well for fans of new bands like Palm, TAGABOW, and Water From Your Eyes, but would just as easily be a welcome addition for record heads who love bands like This Heat, Television, and Psychic TV. While this might all be hard to believe, and their name is Fib- it's no lie. Fib's Heavy Lifting is a vibrant, moving and endless sonic rainbow. Pick it up and step into their wild and ecstatic void.

Solo artist debut album for Vidar Landa, mostly known as guitarist and co-founder of the Norwegian rock/metal group Kvelertak and the powerpop outfit Beachheads. For his solo work he record and performs under the name King Hüsky.

A self-annointed ‘over thinker’, nudged into sociability with dark humour and most comfortable in the silent company of books, Landa’s sidewards step into the realms of subtle, honeysweet songcraft peaks with the release of the first, self-titled King Hüsky album Nine tracks are set to offer listeners the same loosely-assembled, yet graciously insistent sonic experience inherent to not only the single Lately I’ve Been Thinking Of Your Mother, but also King Hüsky’s skip-a-long, late-2024 teaser Running

"A powder keg of bangers primed to shake the rat race to its core" - The Guardian Australia (Best of 2023) "Simultaneously chaotic and precise, no matter whether the palette is fierce rap, punk energy or slinking beats." - Rolling Stone Australia (Best of 2023) London/Melbourne rap duo Teether & Kuya Neil release their long-awaited debut album YEARN IV. YEARN IV captures the brooding and vivid world of two musical outsiders. Raised by the internet, the pair find their voice amid a sea of clashing cultural experiences and sonic histories, finding solace in the isolation of contemporary urban Australia. Recorded in Melbourne and completed in London, the album captures the duo's hyper local yet globally influenced rap sound at its core. Kuya Neil's drum heavy production collides with Teether's surreal and immersive storytelling, blending thrash metal and club music aesthetics with the echoes of the early internet. Lead single `ZOO' plays with the silent throes of cultural diversity over a paranoid trap instrumental, 'BLUSH' is a blissed out digital love letter wuth shimmering autotuned hooks and rave inspired breaks. `CHANEL' (featuring Indigenous Australian songwriter Alice Skye) is a guitar driven lament for Australia's myopic cultural landscape, fading out with "I'll never reach my full potential here". Teether & Kuya Neil released their first mixtape GLYPH via Chapter in 2021, receiving airplay from NTS, Dublab and Australian radio, plus writeups via Brooklyn Vegan and NME. Four tracks from `GLYPH' were featured in the iconic Australian Netflix series 'Heartbreak High' the following year. 2023 mixtape STRESSOR charted in the Australian Independent Top 10 and made it into end of year best of lists for The Guardian, Rolling Stone and NME Australia. The mixtape was nominated for Best Hip Hop Album at the 2024 Australian Independent Music Awards and named Album of the Week by 3RRR and fBI Radio. Teether & Kuya Neil have performed around Australia and New Zealand. They have played alongside international peers MC Yallah & Debmaster and They Hate Change as well as supported veteran alt-rap outfit Shabazz Palaces and Chicago Footwork pioneer RP Boo. As a solo artist, Teether has collaborated with New York rapper Billy Woods and toured with his outfit Armand Hammer in Australia in 2022. In 2024, he opened for the legendary Kim Gordon. Kuya Neil is an active producer in underground dance music, releasing tracks on UK labels Chinabot and Moveltraxx and has toured South East Asia as a DJ and promoter.

Following the hyperactive “Blood Karaoke” (2022, Reading Group), “Performing Belief” builds rhythmic thickets from gathered sounds interwoven with synths, drum machines and other samples. Having built these rhythmic nests, Krivchenia then called on two contemporary mages of the low end: electric bassist and fellow Angeleno Sam Wilkes (Wilkes/Gendel) and double bassist/multi-instrumentalist from Krivchenia’s native Chicago, Joshua Abrams (Natural Information Society). Wilkes and Abrams bring the presence of a grounding human witness to the rhythmic undergrowth, providing a centering and even at times melodic voice to the gathering. This alchemy carries a profoundly fresh sense of time, blurring the edges of the quantized grid and the generic boundaries of electronic music.

The core of the album is a lush, opulent matrix of percussion ranging from the familiar—hand claps and drum machines—to the mysteriously verdant, sampled largely from Krivchenia’s own performed field recorded collection. For years, he would record any and all of his musical encounters with natural objects: performing on a particularly resonant log on a hike, throwing rocks into a pristine pond, tap dancing in the mud. This archive of “natural” sounds became the fertile soil out of which the tracks on “Performing Belief” grew. What is gained in the process is not just a novel set of sounds, but a new rhythmic language. The particular give, the anticipatory rustle, the extra breath of a hollow log when functioning as a kickdrum provides a greenness that overtakes the rhythmic grid, giving this music a peculiar kind of stickiness. This rhythmic language, set in Krivchenia’s long-fermenting electronic musical palate, feels like a revelation, even while it calls back not only to his wonderfully elastic timekeeping behind the kit with his beloved band Big Thief, but also to his prior work in computer music as well as his deep study and love of the vast human archive of drumming. “Performing Belief” is in good company in the rank and file of the legendary Planet Mu label. From the foundational early releases of the likes of Jega and Venetian Snares, to the contemporary envelope-warping work of Jlin and hundreds of brilliant releases in between, Planet Mu has been a beacon of forward-thinking rhythmic music for decades, informing Krivchenia’s own sense of the weird metaphysics of musical time since he was a kid. Krivchenia’s contribution to this history calls to mind the principle of organic danceability that subtends Mu’s whole catalogue, while bending our sense of rhythm in new and gracious dimensions. Krivchenia brings out the loamy complexity of natural rhythms, a clearing as generous as it is inviting. Let the drummer give you some.

Linkwood returns to AOTN in 2022 with Stereo, the follow up and part two, to his killer and hyper focussed LP Mono, which turned heads in 2021.

All recorded live at the AOTN studio, he's kept the essence of the first LP which worked so well, but moved it on in a much deeper direction.

Fusing many of his influences, Boogie, Detroit and early 80's synth joints to name a few, stereo has its own identity and showcases Linkwoods ability to write and produce on the fly but maintain that warm, fuzzy and intricate sound we all love him for.

“Mesmerizing Work”

Dam Swindle — Dam Swindle

“Everything with the name Linkwood on absolutely blows me away!”

Jimpster — Jimpster

Legendary New Zealand-born experimental composer and sound art pioneer Annea Lockwood returns to Black Truffle with On Fractured Ground / Skin Resonance, her third release for the label. Having recently celebrated her 85th birthday, Lockwood shows no sign of slowing down in her exploration of new sound sources and collaborations with an ever-growing intergenerational pool of performers – here with Vanessa Tomlinson. Her creative vibrancy is alive as ever on the two recent works presented here, which demonstrate both her engagement with the social dimensions of sound and the deeply reflective, meditative aspect of her art.

On Fractured Ground derives from material recorded with Pedro Rebelo and Georgios Varoutsos for the soundtrack of Maria Fusco and Margaret Salmon’s opera-film, History of the Present (2023). Working together in Belfast, Lockwood, Rebelo and Varoutsos made extensive recordings of the city’s ‘peace lines’, the dozens of walls erected since the beginning of the Troubles in the late 1960s to separate Catholic and Protestant areas of the city. Struck by the immensity of these barriers, ‘the brutal way they sever neighbourhoods’, Lockwood and her collaborators focused not on the sound environment of the city, but on the walls themselves, playing them as gigantic resonant instruments, using their hands and objects such as stones and leaves. Continuing to work in her studio with the material collected for the soundtrack after its completion, Lockwood composed the work presented here, occupying a space somewhere between her own extended-technique percussion music and the Cagean tradition of hyper-amplified small sounds. From deep, gong-like metallic tolling to dry scrapes and uneasy groans, the piece’s sustained attention to single sounds derived from unorthodox sources draws a line all the way back to Lockwood’s classic Glass World (1967-1970). Its spaciousness and delicacy are at odds with the dark historical background of the Troubles, creating a moving listening experience somehow haunted by the shadow of violence and conflict.

Skin Resonance is a collaboration with Australian composer and percussionist Vanessa Tomlinson. Developed through conversations in which the two discussed the idea of ‘sonic attraction’, the piece focuses on Tomlinson’s relationship to the bass drum, reflecting on the complex web of connections embodied in this seemingly simply instrument, which is at once ‘animal, wood, and metal’. Approaching the instrument in a suitably elemental fashion, Tomlinson’s performance strips away conventional technique to explore the resonance and timbral properties of skin, drum, and metal hardware, producing overlapping waves of texture that at times seem closer to wind swishing through leaves or the ocean than anything usually associated with a drum. Emphasising the symbiotic relationship between performer and instrument, Tomlinson’s voice is heard at times, exploring the field of associations and connections the bass drum suggests to her: ‘Maybe the bass drum skin is an ear as well?’

Accompanied by insightful liner notes on both pieces and photographs documenting the recording of On Fractured Ground and a performance of Skin Resonance, this LP is a moving testament to the engagement, generosity, and openness that sustain Annea Lockwood’s work, still finding new directions after more than fifty years of activity.

Melancholische Gitarrenakkorde, ein introspektiver Gesang, und immer wieder bedrohliche und energische Ausbrüche mit Percussions und Stakkato. Zwischen intimem Songwriting und Soundtrack-inspiriertem Pathos bewegt sich Jerome Reuter, der nun, 2025, das zweite Jahrzehnt seiner Band ROME feiert.

Zwei Dekaden begleitet das Luxemburgische Bandprojekt ROME nun also die Europäische Tragödie. Und während sich die Alben der ersten zehn Jahre noch vor allem historischen Themen widmeten, treten in der nicht mindert produktiven Ära zwischen 2016 und 2025, die auf dieser neuen "Anthologie" dokumentiert wird, auch aktuelle und grundsätzliche philosophische Fragestellungen ins Zentrum. ROME orientierte sich immer am großen Bild. Im Songwriting deutlich inspiriert vom französischen Chanson, dem späten Johnny Cash und Nick Cave, wurden von Beginn an auch literarische Quellen verarbeitet, und werden sie nicht namentlich genannt (wie bei "The Secret Germany" Paul Celan), so schwingen sie doch zwischen den Zeilen mit, die Denker - nicht nur - des 20. Jahrhunderts. Philosophische und gar okkulte Aspekte werden auf den Alben reflektiert ("The Hyperion Machine", "Hall of Thatch", "The Lone Furrow", "Le Ceneri di Heliodoro"), doch immer wieder wird es konkret, sei es mit Blick auf die russische Invasion in der Ukraine ("Gates of Europe", "World in Flames") und grundlegende Konflikte, die mythisch gelesen werden ("Coriolan", "Hegemonikon"). Wiederkehrend ist das mythische Motiv der Sonne, so auch auf dem jüngsten Werk "Civitas Solis".

Mal als volles Band-Line-Up, mal als Singer-Songwriter, und immer wieder im Austausch mit anderen Musikern (etwa Nergal von Behemoth oder der schwedischen Punklegende Thåström), Jerome Reuter erfindet sich beständig neu, und arbeitet kontinuierlich an einer singulären Stimme in der gegenwärtigen Popkultur. Wie ein Januskopf zurückgewandt in die Zukunft blickend.

"No sign of Rotten Leaves" is Selma French's second album and draws inspiration from life's paradoxes.

Selma French is a songwriter and musician renowned and revered within the Norwegian folk scene. She grew up with traditional music and has played and created music all her life. Her musical inspirations include Linda Perhacs, Nick Drake, Judee Sill, Frøkedal, Sundfør and Sandy Denny.

Her debut album Changes Like the Weather in the Mountain was released in 2022 to critical acclaim and was ranked among the top Norwegian albums of 2022 by notable Norwegian newspapers such as Dagsavisen and Aftenposten. In the fall of 2024, she did a lot of touring in the UK together with Euros Childs (Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci / Teenage Fanclub).

Selma has also toured extensively throughout Scandinavia and is a member of the bands such as Masåva, Frøkedal & Familien - (with whom she toured in the UK as special guests of Teenage Fanclub), Sondre Lerche and Norwegian Grammy award winners Morgonrode. Her music is widely recognized in her native country and has recently featured as the theme song in the hit Viaplay T.V series Furia.

Her music reflects an admiration for Norwegian and English folk music and is infused with an airy, enigmatic energy. Her rich landscape of guitars, wurlitzer, fiddles and high pitched choir voices manages to convey a roar of frustration, obscure portraits of the present and a gathering force of hope.

For a project which made its debut in 2024 with next to no fanfare nor hype, rush2theUnknown managed to capture the attention and the imagination of a number of notable DJs across genres, tempos and timezones in their debut year. From legendary chillers Kruder & Dorfmeister picking up on the more Japanese VGM influenced side of their music, techno DJs like Courtesy, Anastassia Kristensen and Nastia drawn towards their more celestial-tinged breakbeat offerings and key support coming in from many trailblazers past and present of the genres that shaped the duo thirty years back. Support from artists and DJs around the world saw rush2theUnknown's music aired across Kool FM, Rinse FM, NTS, BBC Radio One, and thanks to impassioned support from punky-reggae icon Don Letts, multiple spins on the Rebel Dreads legendary BBC Radio 6 show.

With the foundation laid rush2theUnknown return to Diskotopia with the "Yugawara" EP.

Early support for the Yugawara EP has already seen responses from and tracks from the EP played by DJs like Machinedrum, DJ Flight, Addison Groove, dBridge, Gyrofield, Joakim, I:Cube, Courtesy, Cici, Sakura Tsuruta and more in clubs and on radio like NTS, Kool FM, Rinse FM and BBC Radio One, and BBC 6 Music.

Born from a journey out of Tokyo to the seaside town of Yugawara in the northeastern end of Izu Peninsula, the EP channels the energy, spirit and mathematically impossible coincidences that seem to come with each adventure the duo has in that part of Japan. Each morning the duo would leave their makeshift studio and wander across the hills of Yugawara. Be it a random encounter, a conversation or mental picture sparked by the visual scenery before them, new tracks came to life each day. As with their Diskotopia debut, each EP is a mix of the myriad influences the duo have accumulated since their teenage years living on outer ends of the Pacific Ocean.

From the technicolour aqua-jungle of "View From Fuua" which bursts with Logical Progression era Good Looking Records exo-planet optimism, through to the EPs closer, "Zuio-ji" a track that owes as much of a debt to the ancient Japanese court music of gagaku, as it does the 1960s soundtrack work of composer Toru Takemitsu and the jidaigeki infused breakbeat experiments of a mid 90s Rupert Parkes. Shades, tones and hues plucked from CD-ROM era "Visual Scenes" 80s CM Music and the techno-animism of synth-heavy anime soundtracks can be found on the EPs more VGM-leaning excursions "光のトンネル" and "夜明けの真鶴岬" whereas tracks like "Physical Reality" continue the question posed on their debut:What would a breakbeat tradition look and sound like, had it been forged a billion light years away?

Konsudd finds the hyperkinetic Konduku teaming up with close pal Aa Sudd as they match subtlety with intensity. Their high-definition production leads on these spacious works of art, with dynamic layers of atmospherics punctured by dense kick drums. They take care to address soundsystem physicality, loading their kicks with irresistible subs down low and finely chiselling the double-time rhythms up top for an extra boost of energy.