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A cool film needs a cool soundtrack, right And none come cooler than ATOMIC BLONDE. A double LP filled to the brim with needledrops of some of the '80s best known cuts, as well as some under the radar gems, and a smattering of brand new tracks recorded especially for the movie.

David Bowie, George Michael, The Clash, Nena, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and A Flock Of Seagulls of course need no introduction, and they all contribute absolutely killer songs here. Rubbing shoulders with these A-listers are lesser known acts such as Re-Flex, whose track 'The Politics of Dancing' was a minor hit in the UK and is a pure '80s synth-pop banger from start to finish. After The Fire went from playing uninspired prog rock to recording the should-have-been classic 'Der Kommissar,' full of funky guitar licks and a chorus so hook-laden it should be illegal. 'Voices Carry' by American new wave band 'Til Tuesday features Aimee Mann on vocals and is an all-timer everyone needs on vinyl.

Nach ihrem letzten Album GERMAN ENGINEERING ZWEI – auf dem Future, Mariah the Scientist,
Hunxho, Fridayy, Anycia und viele mehr zu hören waren – erobern sie mit ihrem neuesten Projekt LONDON’S CALLING, zusammen mit Dré Six, britischen Boden. Mit Kollaborationen mit 163Margs, Unknown
T und Morrisson festigt das Projekt ihre Verbindung zur britischen Szene.
Wenn man sich ”London’s Calling” anhört, das Album in voller Länge dieser Künstler ausBerlin und London,
ist es ein wirklich offensichtliches Team-up, wenn man darüber nachdenkt. Sie mögen beide Schwarz-Weiß,
sie stehen beide auf Minimalismus und sie sind beide verdammt einzigartig. Das 11-Track-Album klingt,
als wäre es so gedacht. Wunderschöne Melodien treffen auf Trap-Geschichten auf einigen der bisher progressivsten Produktionen von KitschKrieg. Die Leereder Musik lässt viel Raum für den ruhigen und intimen
Gesang einer der originellsten Stimmen Großbritanniens.
Dré Six singt über das Leben, das er kennt und hinter sich lassen will, ohne Filter, ohne Fake News. Eine
Welt der Zombies, die immer wieder das Produkt kaufen, das sie in Zombies verwandelt hat. Eine Welt, in
der man beim Schlafen weder Trainingsanzug noch Schuhe auszieht. Eine Welt, die süchtig macht, nicht
nur für die Nutzer.

Maria is the debut album from renowned Brazilian electric bassist and composer Moyses Dos Santos. A homecoming for the London-based artist, Moyses’ debut reconnects him with his North-Eastern roots while assembling an international cast of collaborators including legendary Brazilian arranger Arthur Verocai, US trumpet sensation Theo Croker and London-based vocal star Lynda Dawn.

After relocating from Brazil to London in the early 2000s, Moyses dos Santos quickly became one of the capitals’ most in-demand players, sharing stages, studios, and writing credits with best-selling artists including Nile Rodgers, Janelle Monáe, Emile Sandé, Gregory Porter and Omar.

In 2022, Moyses toured with Brazilian jazz-funk legends Azymuth, completing the rhythm section alongside Brazilian drumming master Ivan "Mamão" Conti. "It felt like he was my wise Brazilian grandfather figure." Moyses recalls. "When you spend so many years working internationally, you unconsciously start to leave certain parts of yourself behind. Mamão encouraged me to reconnect with Brazilian music, and that's where this record really began."

Brazil’s North-east, where African, indigenous and European traditions collided and fused most intensely, produced a musical heritage unlike anything else on earth, Moyses dos Santos is a product of this syncretism. On Maria, named after his mother, Moyses brings the musical vocabularies of his youth to the fore. From the soul of the church band where he began to learn his trade as a musician, to the rolling batucadas – maractus, baiaos, sambas and frevos – which he played throughout his teenage years.

Drawing on the lineage of North American electric bass giants like George Duke, Jaco Pastorius, and Stanley Clarke, Moyses runs Brazilian musical traditions through jazz, funk, soul and disco: his sound charged with the cosmopolitan energy of London's contemporary jazz scene.

Lead single and album opener “Boa Viagem’ is joyous, carnivalesque dancefloor jazz: a timeless groove for the nightclub and street party alike. Calling directly to a higher power “Brazilian Spirit” is an astral-jazz phenomenon, featuring the transcendent trumpet playing of Grammy nominated Theo Croker. On “Saudade” Moyses calls upon iconic Brazilian maestro Arthur Verocai, whose signature string arrangements cascade around the divine vocals of ascendant London artist Lynda Dawn.

With impeccable style, charisma, warmth and virtuosity, Moyses steps forward with his stunning debut Maria: out on vinyl, LP, CD and digitally on the 12th June 2026.

In Gianfranco Rosi’s portrait of Naples, Sotto le Nuvole, the ground shakes periodically. Between Mount Vesuvius and the Tyrrhenian Sea, the fumaroles of the Phlegraean Fields hiss volcanic gas and steam. Below the sleeping volcano, modern day Naples emerges in black and white and fills with voices, with lives. From the traces of history and the concerns of the present, Rosi documents a city immersed in its continuous past, with Daniel Blumberg’s minimal soundscape hovering in a sonic space between liquid and air.
Tasked with creating a soundscape that would suspend space within Rosi’s film, Blumberg called upon the extended technique of saxophonists Seymour Wright and John Butcher to create a gossamer fabric of traces and sounds abstracted from their instruments. Having transitioned from theoretical physics to the saxophone, John Butcher has always deeply considered space in the context of his playing. His concerns are with flow, density and how the saxophone is situated in the living world. Zeroing in on the core sonic properties of the mechanical and acoustic components of the saxophone, Seymour Wright has integrated its every breath, reed vibration, keypad clatter and hissed microtone of his alto into his own, unique improvisational language. In his work with these two seminal players, Blumberg makes his most concentrated soundtrack to date - reinforcing the film's sense of overlapping time and space, and pushing at the limits of experimentation.

Initially recorded in Daniel’s flat in London, Butcher and Wright centre themselves around long, consistent tones, so soft that it seems breath is being gently pulled from the saxophone's bell by an invisible hand. Blumberg himself adds haunting bass harmonica, and recordings of Wright’s launeddas - a traditional and ancient triple pipe polyphonic reed instrument from Sardinia, Italy. Blumberg then travelled to the volcanic region of Baia, next to Pompeii. Once a flourishing classical Roman city loved by Nero, Baia slowly sank under hydrothermal pressure, leaving the city in a kind of geological purgatory. Using specialised geophones and hydrophones, Blumberg took those initial recordings and amplified them underwater, sending them calling out across the ruins of Baia’s mosaics, Nymphaeum statues and villas.

“It was important to me that the music was whispered in the same landscape that Gianfranco has worked for the past three years, so that you can hear the volcanic air gulping, the lapping of the waves, the steam and bubbles popping against John and Seymour’s saxophone breaths – an echo from a suspended time.”
What emerges is deeply melancholic, tender, subtle and right at the edges of audio technology. Submerged in an aquarian mausoleum, the mysterious vibrations of the saxophone and its bell become an echo of an echo, wading from the future into the past. ‘Sotto le Nuvole’ is less a soundtrack than a process of aeration - a sonic puncture in the material of the film which allows its central message to breathe, and a remarkable experiment at the limits of the saxophone’s possibility.

May 2026 marks the arrival of TYGAPAW (aka Dion McKenzie)’s first full-length album on Tresor Records, entitled Together You Gather All Power Applied Worldwide. An acronym of its creator’s name, TYGAPAW’s third studio album is a deeply personal collection of music building worlds where Black queer and trans siblings can thrive, while unifying dancefloors worldwide. A proposition that collective wisdom liberates us from the matrix of domination we live within. The album unfolds as the latest chapter in TYGAPAW’s ongoing techno opera opus, continuing to center the voices of Black women, which surface as layered incantations rather than lyrics - powerful, haunting, sensual, activating.
With the process of creating the album starting in 2023, as TYGAPAW (Dion McKenzie) was in the first year of their transition, the music reflects the intensity of that period, where they were experiencing deplatforming as a response to the shift in their physical appearance: Tracks like ‘M32 Riddim’ and ‘Helicopter hovers over my Crown Heights Apartment’ feature high-paced rhythms intersecting with intense siren-like synths to form demanding compositions echoing a heightened sense of alert. Yet throughout the album, relief comes in the form of TYGAPAW’s vocal features, co-conspirators, and chosen family, whose voices are treated with reverb and echo, a sonic fingerprint that leads back to the pioneers in the legendary studios of TYGAPAW’s native land, Jamaica, an important reminder that the past will always inform the future. It is an album for dancers first and foremost, where joy, defiance, and integration with the natural body coexist, and every drop feels less like a climax than a transformation. Expect a bass that permeates your soul and melodic synthesized sequenced phrases echoing the dancehall eras of TYGAPAW’s youth, reshaped into hypnotic melodies that glow over industrial kicks designed to command attention, reasserting Jamaica's pioneering yet often overlooked contribution to electronic music.
In the opening track, ‘Can I Live’, Precious Okoyomon’s words feel like the beginning of a ritual; setting the intentions for the rest of the proceedings. As McKenzie puts it, their “work is about regeneration, resetting, getting integrated into nature, and about rebirth. That’s the tone I wanted to set at the outset of the album.” Ms Carrie Stacks continues this thread of support in ‘Don’t Panic’ with heavily processed vocals on top of a beat that takes inspiration from another important ingredient in the antidote to the oppression of isolation: Ballroom culture. “ I feel like I found my queerness in Ballroom, that’s why this track is very important to me.”
Echoes of NYC Black queer nightlife scene also permeate in the energetic drums of ‘Exorcise the Language of Domination’, in which Julianna Huxtable’s spoken performance complements the various movements and tones of the music. “My producer brain thought this was the one that Juliana’s vocals would be best suited for. I hinted: ‘what do you think of this one?’ She just went into her notes and picked some passages to go with the first section of the track. From there, it was a year-long process of development. It required time and space for this thing to evolve, but I think it’s one of the most powerful tracks on the album.” London’s SUUTOO contributes the album’s only musical collaboration on ‘B2B’, a track that emerged from sessions in McKenzie’s New York studio where the real objective was to connect and have fun; a time out from the demands of life outside.
The album closes out with a double hit of emotion in the form of ‘Effects of Resistance and Black Trans Masculine Experience’. The former features South African scholar Khanyisile Mbongwa drawing connections that exist between Africa and the Black diaspora, whilst looking to the future and calling for a shared sense of community.
The latter piece, an instrumental version of the piece which featured on the IMMIGRANT E.P. of 2025 is a gentle and deeply affecting end to the record, a place of peace and acceptance. This end-of-cycle tone is mirrored in the sleeve photography, which also ties back to IMMIGRANT by finally revealing what was hidden: a portrait of the artist fully self-actualized; a step towards true inner liberation. TYGAPAW is sonically defiant across this album; bass frequencies feel tactile — less heard than inhabited — infectious lead synth melodies remain with you long after the track ends. An overall sound that leaves asserting an urgent need for connection. From Detroit to New York to Berlin to Jamaica, despite geographic distance, this album reminds us that we remain in solidarity, recognising that meaningful world-building requires collective input and action, both personal and communal, if we are to move toward liberation.

First Word Records proudly present the second single from Above The Clouds (aka kidkanevil & Magic Manfred), taking on another underground hip hop classic, 'Change'.

'Change' was originally performed by Shadez of Brooklyn, produced by Da Beatminerz and most notably appeared on DJ Premier's legendary 'New York Reality Check 101' mix compilation back in 1997.

This 7" vinyl release follows on from last Summer's MF DOOM cover 'Arrow Root', which received strong support from the likes of Japan's DJ Koco and Philadelphia's DJ Jazzy Jeff.

This new instrumental reinterpretation also features cuts by Leicester-based turntablist, Jon1st - a DMC World Online Champion, as well as being a producer & musician in his own right, collaborating on music with a number of hip hop, D&B and electronic artists.

One of the original First Word roster, UK Producer/DJ and all-round laptop music geek kidkanevil has developed a distinctive and progressive sound over the years, gleefully exploring the beats and bleeps of the electronic music universe to international recognition. Leeds born, sound system bred and raised on a (un)healthy diet of video games and anime, his solo work inhabits the curious space between bass frequencies and otaku culture. But as a devoted teenage backpack rap nerd, somewhere in the back of kid's mind was a lingering desire to reconnect with his first love, hip hop.

Not long after moving to Berlin he joined a studio space in graffiti plastered Kreuzberg, where he met multi instrumentalist wizard Magic Manfred; a disciple of all things boogie, disco, funk and soul. Born and raised in Berlin, and currently a touring musician for many an act, Manfred's musical map joins the dots from piano lessons at four, to starting a band with his teenage friends, leading him to his true calling - the bass - via the club vibrations of his hometown, which introduced him to the world of DJing and production, and a stint studying in the explosive London jazz scene to finalise his Jedi training.

Bonding over their mutual love of '90s hip hop, a friendship and musical kinship developed, coupled with a desire to honour past eras but push things forward, Above The Clouds was born; named after their joint favourite DJ Premier beat, with a touch of irony regarding their basement based studio of a windowless variety.

kidkanevil explains further "We started the project with a few covers, just as a way to get warmed up and in a certain creative headspace, of which 'Change' by Shadez Of Brooklyn was one. We both loved DJ Premier's 'New York Reality Check 101' mix when we were teenagers and this track was a favourite. The elements really lent themselves to live interpretation, and as an instrumental there was space to bring some nice movement with the bass and stuff. Hopefully we found the balance between paying tribute and finding our own pocket. For the final seasoning we hit up the homie and turntable wizard Jon1st to recreate the cuts, of which he did an immaculate job of course.

The b-side 'Urgh' is one of our favourite beats we've made so far; the title is just how it makes us feel! We actually recorded the piano with two iphones as left and right and it sounded kinda cool so we went with it..."

'Change / Urgh' is released on limited 7" vinyl & digital platforms, April 24th 2026.

‘veneration for the sacred action’ is the first compilation release by london-based independent record label ‘lifeis beautiful records’ released in celebration of the three-year anniversary of the label (& the gesamtkunstwerk that it exists within), the compilation brings together members of the life is beautiful septet collective, as well as various collaborators and special guests from previous life is beautiful events of the past three years. it highlights a range of the various solo, group projects, and alias’ of the septet, as well as various artists from the wider orbit of the life is beautiful constellations. the project was executively produced and curated as an album by label founder aloisius, as a selected works of the life is beautiful constellations. it stands as a comprehensive yet intentionally incomplete representation of the past three years of life is beautiful

"Quit to Play Chess" is the final studio album of Cola Boyy, who tragically passed away in March 2024 after winning the hearts of neo-disco and funk enthusiasts, from Los Angeles to Paris, from Coachella to London.


After a critically acclaimed EP (Black Boogie Neon, 2018), a debut album (Prosthetic Boombox, 2021), and collaborations with the likes of MGMT, Benny Sings and The Avalanches, the self-proclaimed Disabled Disco Innovator was able to finish his new album, groovier than ever.


Without boundaries of styles, tinted with hiphop, R'n'B and drum & bass, and faithful to his very unique flow, Cola Boyy offers one last record in his image: 12 generous, inventive, psychedelic and passionate tracks. An album painting a nuanced yet lyrical portrait of its era, drawing on the diversity of the contemporary world to offer anthems for those who are in lack of them.


The album is a work of goldsmith on the production side, with music craftsmen like Andrew VanWyngarden (MGMT), Jared Solomon (producer of SZA, Lola Young, Remi Wolf, Fousheé...), Nate Fox (Chance The Rapper, Lil Wayne) and Lewis OfMan, who build "Quit to Play Chess" as the most current and genuine project of its author...

The Rhythm Section – raves first super group - consisting of Ellis Dee, Rennie Pilgrim, Newton and Ritchie T. The group disbanded in 1993 after the rise of jungle as the guys didn’t want to go in that direction and felt their job was done in building the rave scene to what it was. But then in 1995 they had a request to reform and tour America as the rave culture was growing out there. So, they did reform, minus Ritchie T, and embark on a rather rave induced tour of the US with all the antics that you would expect from those guys!

They also wanted to make some new music for the tour and The Sequel album was born. Though written in 1995, they guys purposely kept the sound retro, calling upon their knowledge of the late 80s and early 90’s London warehouse scene.

Released originally as a limited edition double album which commands a high price on Discogs, this is the second part of the album – part one being the 180g blue vinyl release on Vinyl Fanatiks last year.

After over 50 events of Bristol's beloved Club Blanco, the city's anointed high priest of night, Chez de Milo, is crystallising his party's dimension-hopping hedonism into a label, calling on an extended family of esteemed producers and musicians to make it happen.

First up is Johnny Aux, aka Quinn Whalley (Paranoid London, Sworn Virgins, Decius), delivering two offerings accompanied by remixes from Jamie Paton and Chez de Milo himself.

Supersonic blends a hyperspace bassline with euphoric 90s synth elevation that delivers us to a blissful dance floor crescendo, where you've been dancing for hours—maybe days— when the sun appears over the horizon and pierces through the club's blacked-out windows. Chez de Milo's re-rub wraps you up vines of a living, breathing forest, where all your favourite flora and fauna summon you to the dappled light of a clearing, front left of the booth.

On The Train locks you into a rolling groove, and electro slaps and smacks. It feels covered in equal parts space dust and the dust of an old crate of records, where this forgotten banger has been buried deep for 25 years, waiting for the right hands to pull it out. Jamie Paton veers off down a stranger track, conducting a driving Italo beat with eerie soundscapes dissected by lasers and a brooding bassline.

Synth-pop duo Marina Zispin return with their highly anticipated album Now You See Me (Now You Don’t), set for release on March 7 via Scenic Route.

Now You See Me, Now You Don't is the continuing journey through the ever evolving sound of Marina Zispin AKA Bianca Scout and Martyn Reid. As with their previous EP - the recurring themes of Life and Death loom heavily over the 10 album tracks. With support from 6 Music, Resident Advisor, Pitchfork, METAL, Dummy, The Line of Best Fit, Boomkat, and more for their recent singles. With Now You See Me (Now You Don’t), Marina Zispin further reinforces their reputation for crafting lush, melancholic soundscapes paired with surreal storytelling and ice-cold synth pop.

Since their formation in 2018, bridging Newcastle and London, Marina Zispin have quickly captivated audiences with their ethereal blend of dreamlike melodies and avant-garde textures. Their 2023 debut 12” on Night School paved the way for a successful UK tour, a BBC 6 Music session, and a memorable performance at Bucharest’s Collisions festival.

Bianca Scout, acclaimed for her solo album Pattern Damage (with praise from The Quietus, DJ Mag, Resident Advisor, Pitchfork, Stereogum, Bandcamp, The Wire, and more) continues to push sonic boundaries with her unique fusion of sound collage, post-punk, and poetic lyricism. Recent shows across Europe, including at Poland’s Unsound Festival, underscore the duo’s expanding influence.

With Now You See Me (Now You Don’t), Marina Zispin invite listeners on a captivating journey through a signature blend of fantasy and reality. The album is now available for vinyl pre-order.

'Science, Art And Ritual' is a story of ‘process'. Growing up in Harrow (a then quiet suburb of London) in the 70’s and 80’s from the age of about 10, Kingsuk Biswas aka Bedouin Ascent's ears opened up to sound as he scanned the airwaves. The undeniable righteousness of 80’s dub via David Rodigan’s Roots Rockers shows was the first prominent influence he received, and with punk roots —and his burgeoning record collection— became exposed to the breathless post punk experimentation that followed in the early 80’s sweeping up free jazz, noise, dub and much more. Throughout though, he maintained his fascination with Indian Classical music which was a mainstay in his parent’s house and spoke with the same infinite space as Joy Division's 'Unknown Pleasures', and King Tubby’s Studio dispatches. Through those teens he assembled and de-assembled, knocking about with fellow travellers —punk bands, garage, space rock, noise. Something was happening. On-U Sound, ECM, Factory Records kept him plugged in and sane.

At that time Kingsuk's core studio setup revolved around his vintage Gretsch, Fender Jazz, Moog, TR-606 and rudimentary FX. He added congas, folk instruments, pipes, hand percussion, gongs, and jammed out shards of funk, noise, jazz fusion, electro and ambience into his hungry Tascam Portastudio. By 1987 these had morphed into what we’d now refer to broadly as techno, but the genre didn't exist beyond the reverberating walls of his bedsit, and he hadn’t yet plugged into the global conversation.

'Science, Art And Ritual' was released in 1994 by Rising High Records and was presented as Bedouin Ascent's debut album, although 'Music for Particles' (released in 1995, again on Rising High) was recorded even before —'SAR' sessions span from 1992-1993, whereas 'Music for Particles' were earlier from 1989-1992, with some older 4-track references from about 1986 too.

Weaved in throughout the album are subconscious references to music that Kingsuk heard in the past that still remained within sight as companions. The opening track "Ancient Ocean III", referencing the extinct ocean Tethis, unapologetically channels Tackhead, Colourbox, Mantronix and Lee Perry. The style was also deliberately juxtaposed to the prevailing sound in techno at the time, which had locked onto a rigid form of symmetrical kicks and light snare drums. Elsewhere 80’s soul and funk are frozen and captured in fragile glass lattices. Electric pianos resound throughout, such as in "He Is She", probably a half-memory of 70’s MOR radio from childhood sleepy night drives. A duel between kick drums from three generations of Roland drum machines —TR-808, TR-707 and R-8— is a central theme in "Transition-R", all in conversation, calling and responding. These were not just machines to Bedouin Ascent, but part of an extended family, with heart and soul.

Three decades after seeing the light, Lapsus is proud to present a special 30th anniversary reissue of this
left-field techno gem in a repackaged and redesigned edition. All pressed on a deluxe 3LP marbled vinyl and including a limited lithographic insert print of the original album cover. All tracks have been restored and remastered directly from the original DAT tapes, and the album also features previously unreleased tracks such as "In the Clouds" and "Thru Water" —regularly performed live at that time and produced in the same period as the album sessions in 1993.

'Science, Art And Ritual’ may refer to esoteric traditions in Indian philosophy, but equally embodies the collision of the science, the art and the ritual that is at the core of being immersed in a deep musical journey.

Seoul duo Salamanda arrive on Wisdom Teeth with their latest and most focused LP yet: 'In Parallel' - a vividly textural and immersive record that brings a new level of clarity to their typically psychedelic, expansive approach. Since arriving in 2019, the pair - comprised of friends Uman Therma (aka Sala) and Yetsuby (aka Manda) - have been fast at work mapping out their elaborate, dream-state sonic world - prolifically honing their sound across four albums and over a dozen singles to date. Across their already-extensive discography the pair have established a few key calling cards. Mallet instruments and tuned drums play out playful music-box melodies. Thick washes of gaseous ambience invoke otherworldly or ancient soundscapes. And buried fragments of found sound and manipulated vocal give their otherwise synthetic compositions a warm sense of first-person narrative. Ambient and Reich-school minimalism are the music’s most obvious sonic touchstones - yet the pulse of contemporary club and pop music have never been totally out of earshot. All of these themes come in to play here - but 'In Parallel' signals a step well beyond Salamanda’s work to date. Since 2022’s 'ashbalkum' (released on Wisdom Teeth alumni Tristan Arp’s label, Human Pitch), the duo have toured extensively: at classical institutions like London’s Kings Place as well as DIY club dens like Manchester’s White Hotel, all via a series of globally renowned festivals like Mutek, Nachti and Dekmantel. Their creative set-up has grown steadily alongside to incorporate a whole suite of new machines, processes and perspectives, taking their music in bold new directions in the process. The clearest development here is in the duo’s use of vocals - a shift that has been slowly taking place over their last few records, but that comes to a head on In Parallel. The album’s lead single 'Homemade Jam' is the closest the duo have come to writing an all-out pop track: its buoyant beat and autotuned vocals sounding like something SOPHIE and Charli XCX could have written after a particularly potent batch of mushroom tea. It’s a razor-sharp slice of alt-pop that offers a mouthwatering first look at what happens when Salamanda’s sprawling, unbridled creative energy is distilled right down into something concentrated and polished. At other points their sonic explorations lead them to embrace a more upfront approach to rhythm, skirting closer than ever before to the dancefloor in the process. The meandering drums and vocal chops on 'Paper Labyrinth' are underpinned by a firm 4x4 pulse, while the dembow groove of 'Tonal, Fluid' would feel right at home in a Nick León or DJ Plead set. 'In Parallel' is a record about connection, and the warmth and nostalgic simplicity of friendship is felt vividly throughout. Its title refers to the harmony the duo have found between them as friends and collaborators - and sonic parallels are traced throughout the record as testament to this. Motifs come and go before reappearing at later points: take, for example, the melody underpinning ‘Sun Tickles’, which returns in a different key and tempo on album closer ‘Mysterious Wedding’. Parallel lines are traced between each artist and through their music, linking back to their past and pointing ahead to the future. Only Salamanda know where these will take us next.

Much like the duo’s music, the story of Rural France is both mundane and magical. Tom Brown (also of transatlantic janglepunks Teenage Tom Petties) and Rob Fawkes moved to London in their mid-twenties. Despite living under the same roof, they never picked up a guitar – except for one drunken, failed attempt at writing a Spoon song (“Big Chops” …don’t ask). It was only after both separately relocating to Wiltshire and starting families that they began assembling songs as a way of meeting up. Tom had amassed a pile of sprightly slacker jams that were calling out for Fawkes’ messily melodic guitar lines. Rural France was born.

After a debut album on their hero, ex-Lemonhead Nic Dalton’s Half-a-Cow Records, they retreated to a garage to record their next two albums: RF (2021) and Exacamondo! (2024), both released on much-respected jangle label Meritorio Records. Despite being lo-fi in the truest GbV sense, both records were warmly received by the DIY indie blogosphere, with their short, scrappy, but supremely melodic songs landing on numerous AOTY lists. RF even won Album of the Year at Janglepop Hub.

Raven Sings The Blues probably summed up the sound best: “With drunken visions of Beach Boys harmonies playing in the back of their heads and hooks that consume Teenage Fanclub cheeriness with the same beautiful brevity that drives Tony Molina, the pair have knocked out eleven rumpled classics.” Album four, SLOTHS, arrives via Meritorio Records and Safe Suburban Home Records on 08/05, and is a slightly different beast. For one, it’s been mixed by a professional – Rob Slater (Westside Cowboy, Yard Act, Thank) – giving the guitars and drums room to breathe. It’s easily their most high-fidelity record to date. It’s also their jangliest, most baroque and thoughtful album yet. But alongside added organ, horns and mellotron – and drums from Tom’s Teenage Tom Petties bandmate Jeff Hamm – it still retains the buzzes, hums and little freak-outs that stick to the duo’s original “Pavement playing Teenage Fanclub” mission statement. “Rob and I both wanted to do something a little slower and a little more melancholy,” says Tom. “We resisted our usual urge to hit the distortion pedal and made something that fitted where we are now and celebrates how we still listen to Meatloaf when we get drunk.”

SLOTHS is also the most thematically consistent Rural France record to date. While it wouldn’t be right to call it grown-up, it definitely has homeowners’ insurance. From the Silver Jews-esque Americana of “Slab” and mid-life rallying cry of “Thirty Seven Forever”, to the horn-embossed loser anthem “Lonely Heart Pyramid Scheme,” the songs celebrate (and rail against) the absurdities of getting older, forming a band in your thirties, and the strange phenomenon of time passing. Because no matter how slow you move, everything else goes fast. SLOTHS.

We’re thrilled to be working with Isaac Carter’s much-lauded Ochi imprint and delighted to kick things off with the debut vinyl release on the London-based label.

This 4-track EP from Isaac Carter & Biyi has been a long time coming. You will no doubt have heard the likes of Ben UFO, Seth Troxler, Floating Points & Moxie to name few, playing these over the past 18 months. By popular demand they are now available for the first time ever, on wax.