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Montreal-based Common Holly (Brigitte Naggar) appeared a few years back with the surprisingly accomplished debut album, Playing House. Holding fast to the honesty of her debut, her impending follow-up is a look outward, a submergence into the dark and the dissonant with consolation found in harmony and humour. Like a ticking internal monologue, the nine labyrinthian yet catchy tracks observe the complexities of mental health, the precarity of life and the challenges of finding strength in the face of grave misunderstanding.

"Portico Quartet stake claims to territory occupied by Radiohead, Cinematic Orchestra and Efterklang". The Guardian *****

Portico Quartet return with Memory Streams, their fifth studio album and one that continues the journey that first started with 2008's Mercury nominated debut Knee Deep in the North Sea. It's a creative path that has seen the band embrace new technology and explore ambient and electronic influences alongside minimalism, jazz and beyond. It is a process that has encouraged change. Each album has seen the band expand its palate or explore new trajectories. From the gentle charm of their breakthrough's inimitable mix of jazz, world and minimalist influences, to the tight-knit brilliance of Isla, the electronic infused eponymous Portico Quartet to 2016's return Art in the Age of Automation (the band's most electronic statement to date) they have never been a band to look backwards. Each record has been its own world, its own statement and offered its own meaning. It's the mark of a band that has always both stood apart from any scene and been prepared to challenge its self and find new things to say and to push the limits of what they could do.

It is an approach that has encouraged the band to plough their own furrow. Drummer Duncan Bellamy notes that "For better or worse I think we have always been quite an isolated band. Perhaps that comes from never feeling like we really belonged to or fit in to a scene when we first started making music" While for saxophonist Jack Wyllie " I feel more connected to other musicians these days and those relationships influence the sound we have in some way. But I wouldn't say we feel a part of scene, it still feels quite out on its own, which is cool, because it helps the music feel unique".


Chief Udoh Essiet believes in rhythm. He serves it Hot-and-Spicy on his new album Afrobeat Highlife Crossing, from the depths of his soul to the beat that emanates from his hand-made
antelope-skin congas and talking drums from his native Nigeria.
Chief Udoh is a veteran artist, singer, songwriter and virtuoso percussionist. His musical journey took him from the traditional rhythms of his village to Swinging Lagos in the 70s, where
Udoh apprenticed with Dr. Victor Olaiya’s Highlife Band while still too young to reach the tops of the congas onstage. (They stood him on a Coca Cola crate!) He has personally worked
alongside the biggest artists from Nigeria in the 70s and 80s, including the legendary Fela Anikulapo Kuti, creator of Afrobeat, at the height of his fame. Afrobeat Highlife Crossing has all the elements of these Old School styles, effortlessly blending the essence of Afrobeat and Highlife grooves, resulting in a sound that’s purely original. The percussion is out of this world, the bass is melodic, the horn arrangements are next level, the BVs are perfect and the ‘Pidgin’ language Chief Udoh sings tops it off with some Nigerian seasoning, like a dash of Hot Pepper on Stew!
His lyrics speak the cold-blooded truth, telling us to look inside ourselves and fight against corrupt governments that keep getting us into corporate-sponsored wars, leaving innocent civilians to live with the consequences. His label Uwem Music’s motto is “Right now is the best time to play the record” and we agree!

It seems KPM have long been fans of Smith and Mudd and, after being introduced to each other by mutual friend Andy Allday, the peerless Balearic maestros were invited to contribute to the library label’s digital-only “Album Shorts” project. The results are predictably wonderful.

With past projects under our belt working with everyone involved so far it made perfect sense for Be With to take on the vinyl release of this instant library classic. But why is it called “Tea With Holger”?

“Holger” is of course Holger Czukay and the whole LP is dedicated to Smith and Mudd’s time spent with him and Ursa Major at Can’s famous Inner Space Studio in Weilerswist, near Cologne.

When not recording it seems they spent a great deal of time sat around being entertained by Holger’s stories and drinking many cups of different sorts of tea from all over the world. These moments provide some their fondest memories of their visits:

“Looking back, it was pretty incredible that we spent part of our lives with Holger in one of the most magical places we’ve ever known, Inner Space Studio. We have our memories and, of course, the Bison album we made with him. But to honour the time we spent with him, we wanted to dedicate an album to him called ‘Tea With Holger’. The names of the tracks are about that time.”

The album was recorded over several years in London, Margate and Gorthleck, a small hamlet in the Scottish Highlands. Mike Piggott, who played with Bert Jansch, handled the strings and played violin whilst Sam Creer lent his virtuoso cello work to the proceedings. The sessions employed a key recording technique from their time with Holger: hit record and play. They wanted to capture magical improvisational moments live and not do the work later on in editing.

In their own words (and in classic library record sleeve style) these tracks are collectively described as “Balearic themes including breezy soul, sun-dappled melodies, warm pianos and sweeping strings”. You want to hear this, right?

The album is vintage Smith and Mudd. The gentle piano ushering in opening track “The Gardener” is soon joined by low, bubbling drums. When the time is just right, lush guitars glisten above a Welsh language vocal that floats like silk. Easy as a sea breeze. “Innerspace” is of course a nod to Can’s aforementioned studio. Dark, heavy piano meets rolling drums before warm chords and luscious strings take over, gliding over moody grooves to drive you home. Closing out side A, “Weilerswist” delivers more beautifully rolling piano and guitars over thumping cellos and building drums.

Side B opens with the full, string-enhanced version of “Away From Me”. This is Smith and Mudd’s prefered version and it’s only available here on this vinyl issue. For us it’s the standout on this all-highlight album. Tribal tones, piano and cello set a melodic staccato for violin to soar over while rolling piano lines and gospel organ chords descend into a drum drop that leads to a glorious vocal lead finale.

Distant synths introduce sun-drenched guitars and uplifting strings in “Kölner Street”, before a spacey Moog solo leads to a spellbinding, sci-fi drop. The sunshine returns before the track ends. The album closes with “Tea With Holger”. Airy vocal swells are punctuated by plucked cellos and picked guitars, all wonderfully warmed by a soulful piano.

Cut by Pete Norman and pressed in the Netherlands by Record Industry, “Tea With Holger” comes in a classic KPM green sleeve complete with track descriptions from Smith and Mudd themselves. The finishing visual touches come courtesy of Richard Robinson. We’ve given this record the same care and attention as we give to each our KPM re-issues, and it’s just as essential.

2019 marks the 20th anniversary of ‘Low Birth Weight,’ the second album by Piano Magic, then a loose collective of musicians centred around founder songwriter, Glen Johnson. Though a year later, the collective would take shape as a bona fide internationally touring group, in 1999, Johnson had one foot in his native Nottingham and the other in his new home of London where, finding himself label manager at Rough Trade Records, also became highly prolific, releasing his own records across a myriad of micro-labels (Che, Wurtlitzer Jukebox, Darla, Rocket Girl, etc).

By his own admission, ‘Low Birth Weight,’ owes much to the East London experimental group, Disco Inferno who, embracing sampling technology, attempted to turn pop music inside out. By 1995, the Inferno had burnt out but Johnson remained inspired by their playful, subversive manifesto and thus, the album here, partly produced by “Nottingham’s own Martin Hannett,” Martin Cooper, is difficult to pigeonhole either at the end of the millennium or even now. Drum kit signals are fed through a tiny amp literally inside a cardboard box; breathing is employed for rhythms; kick drums are replaced with broken glass; there’s a ragbag of tablas, huge slap back delay and phase, theremin, shortwave radio, and more.

Aside from the DI benchmarks, ‘Low Birth Weight’ bears the marks of an infatuation with the dreampop of the time – the guitar saturated in delay and overdrive – inspired by the likes of AR Kane and Kitchens Of Distinction and not the more languid “shoegaze,” which has oft been levelled at LBW.
There’s a revolving door of guests on the album, including Pete Astor (The Loft/The Weather Prophets) on a cover of Disco Inferno’s ‘Waking Up’; Simon Rivers of The Bitter Springs supplies lyrics and voice to ‘Crown Estate’ and ‘Dark Secrets Look For Light’; Jen Adam, then an American art student on a year’s placement in London, writes and sings ‘The Fun Of The Century,’ a personal account of being pushed off a roof at a party by someone she thought a close friend.

‘Low Birth Weight’ is undoubtedly of its time, though undoubtedly more playful and literary than much of the music made during the late 90’s and a fascinating bridge between dream pop and experimental electronic music.

Philippe Cam is the Thomas Pynchon of the electronic music world. Little is known about him and only a couple of pictures have been put online since he emerged on this planet to write his first and only album18 years ago. We know he worked as a sailor and that’s it. If you dig deeper you might find out that he worked as a DJ in the beginning of the 90ies in Brussels and began to study electronic music there and also began to write music for theaters and ballets.

The American distributor Forced Exposure once wrote that about him: „Philipe Cam is a star in his own field. He is among the few people who have succeeded to write hypnotic dance music without a conventional beat still conveying a thrilling, dramatic feel. Cam has developed an accurate, intense and complex formula of modulation-techno. Starting with music similar to Pan Sonic in 1996, his music turned towards a more elegant form of minimal music. Abstract soundtracks lead to an organic form of music, which was equally influenced by modern techno as Wolfgang Voigt's Studio 1/Gas or Basic Channel/Maurizio. Cam's music corresponds heavily to the Cologne scene, where his music is appreciated and played throughout the clubs by the likes of Michael Mayer, Tobias Thomas and various other DJs as well as experimental djs from the A-musik corner.“

So what’s new with his music? Basically the art of filtering is still his passion. Maybe he can be less associated with techno and the themes of his new tracks emerge in a more distinctive pattern? Well that’s hard to say, we would comment the energy of his early techno days in Brussels have returned here in a fierce way with some oft he tracks. The rhythmic movements are classy and stick with you. Whereas other tracks look for a distinctive relaxation of some kind.

We are releasing the album as a double clear vinyl with cover art by Yvette Klein who also designed the cover for his Philippe Cam’s album 18 years ago. Graphics for "Rotterdam" come from Cologne designer Daniela Thiel. We also would like to thank the cultural department of Cologne for supporting us to finance the album and to see the artistic value in this piece of minimalism.

The album kicks off with the mellow and soothing "Cocoa Beach". A Gentle beat that moves like bodies swaying in the hot summer sun. The clock moves a step forward and then a step backward as evolution takes a rest.

"Manga" feels like an acceleration to the moon, the contemplative moments come in spurts and hide in the intervals of the chords which are on the loose. Philippe Cam is the most energetic person in the world when it comes to core activity, this is head banging stuff for the ambient lounge.

"Short Summer" is a heavy and violent recognition. As intensive as it is it knows when to stop and disappear. In the ear and brain of the listeners it leaves an indisputable echo which lingers on for minutes. We suggest not to make a pause but jump directly into "Vermillions Sands".

What can be said about into "Vermillions Sands"? Be prepared some Terry Riley might lure around the corner to offer you some oranges on a silver plate, but don’t eat them. This is luring and beautiful at the same time. Maybe the best ambient track ever written and yet who can ever venture to say that without making a fool of himself. "Vermillions Sands" comes in waves and they could be longer we think.

"Rotterdam" the home of Philippe Cam for a long time but not anymore. He moved away. So that changes the perspective. But when was the track written? "Rotterdam" seems mechanical and rusty and spooky and divided. This arrangement is very different to all the other tracks so far and is almost dub in style but way more fractured. A steady stop and go emerges. But the longer it runs the better it gets. At minute 6 the brain resets itself and tries to grasp what has happened so far, reconstruction as a result of its own phantasmic imagination and hardly true at all, wonderful. Applause included!

Here comes "Bis", a short episode of a track and before we can comment on it, it is already over.

"The Game" is a mule of a track. It has a quiet stubborn sequence that bites and kicks you in the back without any change in near sight. We can hear a voice whispering, which sounds like a miniature vocoder featuring the voice of a child calling out - never stopping. This is treadmill to some extend but starts to breathe towards the middle of the track and slowly changes perspective. In fact there are some changes taking place here which go beyond a sound design that works heavily on the stereo image. Stick with it and the experience will be a great one.

"Ultimate Fly For Halloway" somehow orchestrates how you might feel after you climbed a 8000 meter high mountain and reached the top. A rejoicing off a special kind. Lava for the ears. No cheerleader murder plot sorry.

"Last Track" is a perfect example of a true minimalistic pice of music that manages to make contact with other genres and does this with elegance, determination and a lot of soul.

key selling points: The key selling point is the fact that Philippe Cam once was referred to as one of the main protagonists of the minimal music scene along with Wolfgang Voigt's Studio 1/Gas and Basic Channel/Maurizio. A true artist with a vision which is very rare.

Philippe Cam has picked up the sound he was famous for but has developed it further without selling out to any genre and expectation that rules our daily business.

Exactly this is the strength of the album to create a vivid world of impressions by using instruments in a whole different way than all software developers would suggest.

"Rotterdam" is a piece of art that can set off a firework when you listen to it and it owes nothing to anyone.

Esa's compilation Amandla: Music To The People holds diverse dancefloor tracks from over the world. The first compilation in 2019 for Soundway and a comprehensive picture that connects the dots of Esa’s musical journey.

Growing up in Cape Town, South Africa, during the last days of Apartheid, Esa recalls the immense power that music had in resisting oppression and division. “Amandla, Awethu”, which literally means “the power is ours”, was an ubiquitous chant echoing throughout the politically charged atmosphere of the time – a call to unite, and a call from which this release derives not only its title, but its intention as well.

“Music was a crucial way of bringing people and communities together”, reflects Esa, “and it’s what I hope to achieve with this compilation, too”. For Esa Williams is not only a musical polymath but also passionate about connecting people through music – be it as a skilled DJ, an educator in production, a band leader reigniting the legendary Ata Kak band from Ghana, or a collaborator with the likes of Tanzanian artist Mim Suleiman. A firm favourite on the DJ circuit, he held a monthly residency at Phonox London for over 6 months - bringing guests such as Nu Guinea to Brixton audiences - as well as delivering memorable sets at Dekmantel, Atlas Festival, Boiler Room and more.

The last few years have seen a recent surge in interest in South African music from the 80s and 90s, including bubblegum, which was recently showcased on Soundway’s critically acclaimed 2018 compilation Gumba Fire: Bubblegum Soul & Synth Boogie in 1980s South Africa, put together by DJ Okapi. It was only natural that the label looked to delve deeper into the country’s rich musical legacy and tap another of its esteemed ambassadors for the role of compiler.

The result is a rainbow of complementary electronic styles hailing from not only South Africa but further afield, including zouk from Brazil and the French Antilles, as well as Afro-futurism. Together, they form a comprehensive picture that connects the dots of Esa’s musical journey – from growing up in South Africa, to artists he has encountered in his worldwide travels who have helped develop his identity as a musician.

It wasn’t really a movement, barely even a moment, but the Daisy Age was an ethos that permeated pop, R&B and hip hop at the turn of the 90s. Playfulness and good humour were central to De La Soul’s 1989 debut album, “3 Feet High And Rising”, which would go on to cast a long, multi-coloured shadow over rap.

In Britain, the timing for “3 Feet High And Rising” couldn’t have been better. The acid house explosion of 1988 would lead to a radical breaking down of musical barriers in 1989, and its associated look – loose clothing, dayglo colours, smiley faces – chimed with the positivity of De La Soul and rising New York rap acts the Jungle Brothers and A Tribe Called Quest, all at the heart of a growing collective called Native Tongues.

The Native Tongues’ charismatic, summery aura quickly spread west to the Bay Area’s similarly-minded Hieroglyphics crew (Del Tha Funky Homosapien’s ‘Mistadobalina’); Canada’s Dream Warriors (‘My Definition Of A Boombastic Jazz Style’) used “3 Feet High”’s colour palette and borrowed Count Basie and Quincy Jones riffs; Naughty By Nature (OPP) were mentored by Native Tongues heroine Queen Latifah, while Londoner Monie Love was also adopted by the collective, resulting in her Grammy-nominated ‘It’s A Shame (My Sister)’.

It wasn’t built to last, but the Daisy Age reintroduced Multiplication Rock, bubble writing and the gently psychedelic into the charts. It was a brief, but extraordinarily warm and optimistic moment. The songs on this collection promised that the 90s would be a lot more easy-going than the 80s.

Available on CD and double LP.

What is the Inner Dance? A musically assisted trip through thought-movement. It is not a show, it is a party. The participation of a room full of individuals having their own personal experience. Like looking closer at the ground to see there is movement within, focus acutely and see the life within life.


Gene Tellem launches her own label Bienvenue Records, welcoming you to a world of sounds for all the extroverted introverts out there. With headquarters at La Rama in Montreal, we plan on assisting your journey through local & international sounds.


For this first EP Gene lays down the foundation for what is to come. Journey agent tracks for all looking to experience the music, an extended groove, more than just a drop & repeat. ‘Groove PM’ sets the scene, we play in the sun during the day and at night we smooth out the rigid edges of the hustle. ’N’ You’ is here to get you in touch with your natural swing, ride on the simplicity of moderate changes and witness just how much we have. ‘Tender As A Rhodes’ is an ode to that thing that changed it all, the universal jazz sound, dub it out, stretch it out, and watch the whole room come together. As the morning comes we get ‘Chipped’, dance ’til the next day comes and hit the streets with a little pep in your step. Crossing paths with your neighbours on the way home, they might not know but all who witnessed do, we who dance the night are the warriors that keep the light on in the darkness.


Thanks for joining us and please do stay tuned for more.

-La Rama

In 1985, I started working as a sound engineer in the famed Far Studios of German hit producer legend Frank Farian in Rosbach near Frankfurt, and there had an array of gear at my disposal that not many producers could afford, and know how to use in consequence. In the center a high-end Neve studio desk, but also the finest machines created by mythic brands like Linn, Kurzweil, Publison, or Quantec. Confronted with this considerable amount of opportunities on a daily basis, I soon decided to use what I was surrounded with for my own musical ideas, and started experimenting with it in my spare time. My perception of sounds quickly surpassed what I had known before. The equipment offered me many possibilities to position sounds within a song and I learnt how to compose by filling up all the places in between the speakers. There was not only left and right but near and far as well, and even up and down. My preferred perspective grew to be that of standing in front of the speakers, "looking down" on a song from a slightly higher position. The material was recorded on analogue reel-to-reel audiotape, which I subsequently edited and deconstructed manually with a razor blade, an edit block and a roll of audio splicing tape.

Around the year, the sturdy red brick walls of an old Cable Factory stand there like a mountain, facing weathers of all kinds rising from the Gulf of Finland. It might be freezing winter winds whipping the whole shore line into submission, fog heavy as concrete, or the relentless sun of the summer months, softening the asphalt to a boiling point. Whatever the weather may be, the narrow courtyard of the old factory embraces those musicians, who are looking to get down. They gather from all directions, making their way towards a pair of doors that lead towards a flight of stairs, again through a few doors all the way to the last portal, where an open padlock and a loosely hangin crossbar signal that Cold Diamond & Mink are inside, locked in a groove.

Who could it be with them this time, perhaps the jazz prophet Jimi Tenor beaming out of his space ship, maybe it's the golden voiced knight of soul Tuomo "Pratt" Prättälä, the number one trumpet wielding dandy Jukka Eskola or the saxman Pope Puolitaival, who loses nothing in coolness compared to the former? The reel to reel is always there in the monitoring room, catching each analog layer of sound, even the silences and banter between takes. Seppo lays down the guitar and tries to catch the riff on organ instead, Jukka throws a rare tune on the turntable, hoping to guide their unit through that wobbly chorus, Sami waits there bass in hand, maybe already thinking about the next production.

After a whole lot of playing instruments, arranging and taking care of business, after the moon has travelled around the old industrial building for some rotations, Carlton Jumel Smith comes waltzing through those same doors. There's a handful of unnamed tracks waiting for him. He sits there listening and then starts writing, maybe echoes of soul classics from his own record collection in New York projecting inside his mind. Then the tape is rolling again. Starting with a short intro rap Carlton lets it out, singing on the edge of shouting "Woman you made me...". After the vocals are in the can, Carlton ascends out of the basement and heads out to entertain an audience somewhere. Some months later, after the mix is said and done, there's the question of the instrumentals. It seems they're pretty good as they are. And here they are.




d 4 Help Me (Save Me From Myself) [Instrumental]

Artwork by Hiroshi Yoshimura, 350gsm Sleeve with selected UV High Gloss Varnish, Liner Notes by Midori Takada, Satoshi Ashikawa, and Gareth Quinn Redmond, Sticker

Initially released in 1982 as part of the Wave Notation series*, Still Way is, without a doubt, a seminal Japanese environmental/ambient/minimalism album, often mentioned alongside Midori Takada's Through Looking Glass and Hiroshi Yoshimura's Green as one of the genre's most important pieces.

"Like the moment of stillness, after the wind passes through the garden, when the rain stops for a brief second…" Notably inspired by Erik Satie's Furniture Music and Brian Eno's ambient work, Satoshi Ashikawa aimed to compose music "intended to be listened to in a casual manner, as a musical landscape or a sound object…not something that would stimulate listeners but music that should drift like smoke and become part of the environment."
The result is simply phenomenal, subtle minimalism and emotional elegance exquisitely orchestrated by Satoshi Ishikawa and his team consisting of his wife Masami Ashikawa (on flute), Midori Takada (on vibraphone), Yuko Utsumi (on harp), Tomoko Sono (on piano), and Junko Arase (on vibraphone).
In conjunction with Still Way, WRWTFWW is releasing Laistigh den Ghleo, a companion album by Irish ambient/minimalist composer Gareth Quinn Redmond, inspired by Ashikawa's approach.
*The Wave Notation series also includes Hiroshi Yoshimura's Music For Nine Postcards album.

Hammered Hulls are a brand new band from Washington D.C. made up of some very old connections.
Mary Timony (bass) and Alec MacKaye (vocals) grew up in the same Washington neighborhood and have spent the better part of their lives in each other’s somewhat distant orbit. Always aware of each other, but never able to play together.
Mark Cisneros (Guitar) has been in D.C. for more than a decade. He cut his teeth in Los Angeles listening to both Mary and Alec’s bands, but also a healthy dose of free jazz and garage. He is the man who plays every- thing with everyone, but this is his band.
Hammered Hulls are rounded out by Chris Wilson (drums), a monstrous drummer with no shortage of love for all three of his bandmates. Every person in this band is a fan of every other person in this band. Mutual respect drives this train. But to say they are an odd collection of influences is to understate the point. If you tried you couldn’t imagine what this band might sound like.
This single was recorded and mixed in a single day at Inner Ear studios, appropriate home to everyone in the DC scene.
mark Cisneros - guitar Alec macKaye - vocals mary Timony - bass Chris Wilson - drums

‘One of our favourites’ iD Magazine

‘Mesmerizing’ The Guardian

‘Keep an eye on this guy!’ - Gilles Peterson


Catching Flies’ music draws from a wide-ranging palette of influences including jazz, soul, hip-hop, house and electronica and has previously seen him handpicked by Bonobo to provide support on his World Tour. Over the past few years, his music has gathered the support of Gilles Peterson, Annie Mac, Lauren Laverne, Julie Adenuga & Huw Stephens, critical acclaim from the likes of iD Magazine, The Guardian, Dazed & Confused, and Nowness, and a growing fanbase which has seen him perform both Live and DJ sets across the UK, Europe, the USA and Asia. This has culminated in over 60,000,000 streams to date.

Catching Flies is set to release debut album ‘Silver Linings’ on 5th July 2019. Containing shades of house and jazz, to hip-hop and electronica, ‘Silver Linings’ is a melodic mesh of bright electronics and intricate rhythms. It’s a beautiful, moving record, with sounds that unmistakably come straight from the heart.

Producer, multi-instrumentalist and DJ George King began Catching Flies in late 2012, when he recorded and self released his first two EPs. With huge radio and press support around the world - including multiple #1’s on Hype Machine, BBC Radio support from Gilles Peterson, Mary Anne Hobbs, Lauren Laverne, Tom Ravenscroft, Nemone, Annie Mac, Huw Stephens; praise from i-D, Dazed, The Guardian, Complex, Notion, The Line Of Best Fit, Clash, Dummy and more - he’s since attracted millions of listeners.

Against his instincts he signed with a big management agency and got talking to a label: it almost derailed his career. He explains “What I'd found so inspiring originally was the total freedom to make a tune on my own terms and just decide to put it out the next week. There was a hunger that came with that, and a sense of achievement from being the driving force, but as soon as I tampered with that ecosystem, it wasn't as exciting anymore”.

Touring with electronic music giant Bonobo - who also included him on his BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix - allowed him to watch up close someone who had taken a slow and steady path from tiny clubs in Brighton to arenas worldwide, and see it was possible to do without any compromise. After being teased through a succession of warmly received singles this past year, and seven years on from that first EP recorded and released from his bedroom, his debut album ‘Silver Linings’ is now ready to be revealed.

“It's taken me a while because I didn't want to speak until I had something to say. I wanted to make something positive, hopeful and colourful...The world isn't in the best place at the moment, and the last thing it needs is another dark and moody electronic record. I wanted ‘Silver Linings’ to be a scrapbook of the last three years. It’s definitely eclectic, and it’s supposed to be. Over three years a lot changes, your perspectives change, your tastes change; and I wanted to celebrate that by picking tracks that meant the most to me. One of my favourite things about making music is that it takes me right back to where I made it - the keyboard I used, the chair I was sitting on, the room I was in. It kind of teleports you back to a certain point in your life. A bit like a diary entry.”

Recalling those moments brings back a range of memories: ‘Satisfied’ began by being tapped out on a £15 keyboard bought from Kentish Town Cash Converters, ‘Yǔ’ was made in the mountains of China during a few days off from touring, while an evening on Hampstead Heath inspired ‘Kite Hill Theme’. Also featuring on the album is ‘New Gods,’ a collaboration with London’s bright stars Jay Prince and Oscar Jerome and the beautiful and meditative ‘Opals,’ inspired by the likes of Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto.

Catching Flies is already looking to the future, closing the first chapter in an exciting and inspiring story, ‘Silver Linings’ is only the beginning.

“A few weeks after I finished the album, I moved out of my house I made all the music in, so it feels like the closing of one chapter and the beginning of another. I can’t wait to make the next one now.”

In an era of boundless self promotion, anonymity is a rare and precious thing. Listening to Trevor Jackson's NTS show one night we heard a glorious piece of music by something called Elite Beat. A quick search found 10 years worth of recorded material but not a single photo or youtube clip. They had made a record with Niger born guitarist Mdou Moctar but were based in Portland, Oregon. More questions than answers but we knew we had just heard one helluva cosmic link up!

We still don't know what they look like but we can tell you Elite Beat is a 6 piece ensemble now in their 12th year as a musical collective. Their sound is non prescribed rhythm music with an emphasis on live playing, free form expression and dubbing techniques. Players who have absorbed the plethora of global grooves from dub, Ethiopoques and Tuareg guitar music (probably the odd Dead bootleg too). They aren't retromaniacs or here to revive a genre. Just some cats from Oregon talking that universal language, fueled by laugher and a vision of the eternal.

"By The Light Of The Pyramids" and "Postcards From Gortupal" are their latest and greatest offerings, birthed out of live sessions.

*The vinyl versions are shorter edits of the original / digital to preserve sound quality.

Having broken a decade's silence with 2016's 'System', LA-based electronic musician Joseph Fraioli, a.k.a. Datach’i, returns this summer with his eighth album 'Bones'.
Released on Venetian Snares' Timesig imprint, 'Bones' features 12 tracks of mind expanding electronica, once again recorded on his custom-built Eurorack modular system. Much like its predecessor, 'Bones' manages to make the most of the possibilities modular systems offer, whilst avoiding their many pitfalls that can often turn such music into little more than a dry academic exercise. Indeed 'Bones' is a remarkably intimate album, written and recorded in the time following his father's death, and reflects this intense period of personal change in Joseph's life.

"Creating this music was a therapy of sorts," Joseph recalls. "It was almost like a close friend being there for me, and it's something that I hope others can perhaps utilize in the same way."

The connection to his father is something that is reflected not just in the emotional intensity of 'Bones', but in the actual production itself. "My father and I were very close," he explains. "Whilst he was sick with cancer I bought him a guitar as he wanted to learn how to play, just to have something to do while he was getting treated. After he passed away my mother gave me the guitar to have as a sort of memory of him. I had the idea to record some sounds and music on the guitar and load it onto granular sample players on the modular synth so I could make new music from those sounds as a sort of tribute to my dad. You can hear some of those sounds on a few of the tracks here like 'Arrivals', 'Motion in the Living Room' and 'Undimension'."

The resulting album grapples with the intensity of these emotions. But for all their weight, tracks like 'Saugerties Road', ‘Rockledge 3A’ and ‘Antumalal’ transform that heaviness into something warm and comforting whilst the aforementioned 'Arrivals' or ‘Wand’ ultimately achieve some kind of escape velocity and soar. Even though 'Bones' is about endings and finding closure, it also looks forward to new beginnings.

"It was something very much on my mind throughout recording this album," he relates, "ends being beginnings and beginnings being the end. Cycles of time and how time works, it's all reflected throughout the album right down to how the tracks are ordered."

Ranging from blissful ambience and guileless, starry eyed melodies, to intricate claustrophobic rhythms that forever sound close to collapsing in on themselves before expanding into bold new patterns, 'Bones' is the work of a producer who, twenty years on from his debut, continues to push the boundaries of electronic music.

“In October 2018 we took several recordings in and around Eddie Prévost’s home village of Matching Tye in Essex, where he has been living for the past fifty years. The majority of the pieces that made it to this LP took place in All Saints Church, High Laver, the burial site of John Locke. This fact was notable in the choice of title for this set of recordings, and it seemed necessary to put forward Eddie’s own take on Locke that he offered in our correspondences:

“Scholars of Locke’s philosophy will be familiar with the idea of mixing labour with materials as a fore-running notion of possessive individualism and basis for private property. Such ‘mixing’ is a persuasive description of a creative act. But the theory is more worthy of a social dimension.” As for the individual titles for each of the studies on the LP, each takes ideas and elements from music past. For example, MaxPlus makes a nod towards bebop pioneering drummer Max Roach who offered an earlier hit-hat study. Eddie utilises such examples, offering further creative insights which can then be woven back into the common wealth of sound. The final track, returning to the bowed cymbal method of the first, was recorded outdoors on a breezy green, and is pictured on the back cover of the sleeve. It was an attempt to capture the playing in its ‘metamusical’ relationship with the untempered sounds of the external environment.

Eddie has written about Metamusic in his book The First Concert (Copula, 2011): invoking childlike ‘protomusical’ behaviour, or the sense of music that a person might possess before the inevitable influences come to play any role in their productive, and appreciative, musical development.

Ross Lambert provided a few words along side his cover drawing entitled ‘The Metamusician’: “The eyes would symbolise for me things like searching, examining, closeness or friendship I think; engagement with the world. Decisions in making the image were completely intuitive, this is just me looking for the meaning, post-analysing, post rationalising.””

- Daniel Kordik & Edward Lucas, March 2019

Ophir Kutiel AKA Kutiman is a multi-instrumentalist from Tel Aviv, a “psychedelic space funk architect” to quote Straight No Chaser. When we were approached by his label Siyal about recruiting ZamZam/Khaliphonic artists for a remix project, we loved the idea right away - dub without borders or boundaries is our passion, and getting our hands on Kutiman’s freeform analog explorations felt like an amazing opportunity to push that passion further. All four remixes revel in the freedom of the original tunes, and each, while anchored in dubwise techniques, are totally unhindered by tempo or other genre constraints.

Alter Echo & E3 open with a remix of “Unknown,” the set’s only 140 tune, full up with a bubbling cauldron of bassline and flutes, esoteric vinyl archaeology, spring reverb shocks, and swung percussion.

J:Kenzo, known for 140 and 160 bpm sound system bangers, here takes the chance to stay deep - but in a chill mode - unfurling a beautiful journey of syncopated drum work and slapping percussion framing the lush, meandering melodies of the original “Behind The Noise."

Gulls’ rework of “Mineral” rocks with an offbeat feel, technically in four, but swaying like it’s in three. Plucked guitar figures recall the African roots of contemporary bass music, and tape hiss buffets the listener back and forth through a sonic hall of portals and passages.

Perhaps the most surprising of all four four versions is Headland’s closing “Lucid Dream” remix, which sets course for dub techno country and never looks back. Combining the best of the producer’s masterful sound design and sense of build-and-drop dynamics with the idiom’s 4/4 pulse and focus on immersive space, Headland closes a set as inspired as the album it was based on.

Seven Swiss artists & collectives sharing the same passion for music came together for a unique collaboration. The result is a sequence that evolves through rhythm and each contributor‘s colour of sound. Artists involved: Melodiesinfonie, Jack Pattern, Lexx, Look Like, Alma Negra, Manuel Fischer, Les Points.

If you draw a map of electronic music today, you will come to realise that Switzerland still represents a blind spot for many people. Even if you see from the inside the many talented artists romping about in such a small space, you have to admit that interest from the outside is virtually non-existent. Therefore there is only one way: Teamwork! The MEGAMIX is a statement for it.

WRWTFWW Records is blissful to announce the expanded reissue of one of the most fascinating Japanese ambient/environmental albums ever made, NOVA + 4 by Yutaka Hirose. The double LP includes the album known as Soundscape 2: Nova, sourced from its original masters, as well as 50 minutes of never-released-before recordings. It comes in a beautiful gatefold sleeve, packed with liner notes from the artist in English and Japanese. NOVA + 4 is also available on double digipack CD.

Initially released in 1986 as part of the Soundscape series* commissioned by Misawa Home Corporation for use in their prefabricated houses, Yutaka Hirose's NOVA has grown to become a mythical piece of the Japanese minimalist/ambient/environmental scene of the eighties. Initiated around the enchanting landscapes of the two first tracks recorded for the project, "Nova" and "Epilogue", Yutaka Hirose's magnum opus serenely blends vintage synth with nature sounds, exploring soothing palettes and organic backdrops. For "Slow Sky", Hirose explains he "went for a pointillism-like sound, and tried to express a scenery of awakening, where the portal of a heart is opening up", while on "Humming The Sea", he "tried to compose a kind of music that expresses the daily, lazy life of child-like innocence in a summer vacation in some small town."

The bonus LP gathers four long unreleased pieces created around the same period of time for installations, described by Yutaka Hirose as "not music per se but rather sound sculptures", and including the haunting "Shadow Of A Water Droplet" which was recorded for an Ikebana exhibition.

All in all, NOVA + 4 is a transcendent experience of nature in the urban context, an oeuvre which, much like Midori Takada's Through The Looking Glass or Satoshi Ashikawa's Still Way, holds the power to appease the soul in turbulent times. As one inspired YouTube commenter once said when describing Yutaka Hirose's masterstroke: "I can't tell if the birds are singing inside or outside! Thank you!"

*The Soundscape series also includes Hiroshi Yoshimura's Surround album.

The Soulpop Continuum – by Arno Raffeiner
Six songs, one sound signature, one vision. Supreme Beats Series by Drei Farben House is an album
that firmly stands in the tradition of the big records of the disco era: a vinyl disc full of kicks and licks,
just as much as two sides in amazing sound quality can hold.
The album is the latest work of Michael Siegle, the Berlin-based producer and owner of Tenderpark
Records. 13 years after Drei Farben House's first full-length on the acclaimed Force Tracks label, it
features contributions by singer and songwriter Mavin and none other than Robert Owens who's voice
shaped house music forever. The trademark sonic elegance of Drei Farben House blends perfectly
with the timbre of the man behind Fingers Inc.'s Mysteries Of Love. Siegle's work as a producer is not
so much about turning this rich heritage upside down, but about refining it and creating a space within
that realm that's very much his own.
The title of the opening song with Owens states it: I’m Remaining Here. And Supreme Beats Series
invites you to come over and stay there, too, in a refuge of class and funkiness. The record offers
dense layers of rhythm, vintage keyboard sounds, chucking guitar, and vocal samples that indulge in a
many-voiced conversation. Not to forget the prominent, singing rather than walking bass lines
performed by the hands of Michael Siegle himself with his bass guitar.

New Release Information
You could think of Supreme Beats Series as a cross-section in time and space. It allows you to take a
closer look at the here and now of a much bigger picture, both aesthetically and socially. Siegle uses
the vocabulary of house music in a way that transcends its conception as merely a genre and speaks
of the historic evolution and the profound roots of this music as a movement. His record takes
inspiration from 60s Motown hits as well as the blue eyed soul of the 80s, you can discover influences
ranging from Philly's pre-disco craze to new jack swing and on to the heyday when house-pop divas
stormed the charts. By drawing these lines, Siegle deliberately opens up the space of a visionary
Soulpop Continuum.
In the 1950s, the American issue of Vogue magazine had their say about Coco Chanel's work and its
ever-lasting impression on fashion and design. They claimed it was all about “infinite variety within
narrow limits,“ and meant that as a compliment, of course. Michael Siegle likes to think about Drei
Farben House in a similar way. And you should, too.
Info about the artwork:
As far as the cover artwork of 'Supreme Beats Series‘ is concerned, the release of Drei Farben
House’s new album shows the second part of an image series which has been started with TDPR
release # 021 and which revolves around architectural photos taken by Achim Valbracht. Tenderpark
art director Till Sperrle and photographer Achim Valbracht like these pictures of various commercial
buildings erected in Berlin in the 1990s to be seen as a critique of investor-driven architecture which
has been dominating Berlin for several decades now.
The fascination of these pictures lies in their ambivalence of staging a normalised and globally
standardised kind of beauty, but at the same time revealing a strong sense of isolation - noticeable not
only but also in the absence of human beings. This new series of images is to some extent a
continuation of art director Till Sperrle's and label manager Michael Siegle’s interest in architectural
photography. However, at the same time the photo series also embodies a new angle on the subject
since all previous picture series on Tenderpark had been an affirmation of socially progressive
architecture which expressed a longing for socio-cultural utopia.

“The year is 1982. Rita Mitsouko has not yet recorded its eponymous debut album. The pile of ashes that once was Disco is still smoking on the field of Comiskey Park. New Wave is a phrase, Post-Punk Rock a thing. In France, young musicians dream of New York City – some with more devotion than others. Lapassenkoff are to early 1980’s downtown New-York what seminal New Wave act Marie Et Les Garçons (who met John Cale on their way to CBGB) are to the city’s musical scene in the late 1970’s: an unexpected cousin from Lyon.

Indeed, going through Shing ‘n’ Tsé! sometimes feel like an impromptu meeting between John Lurie and Tom Tom Club in the basement of some French record store. If we press pause for a minute, a question comes to mind: how on earth such a unique blend of funk, post-punk, jazz fusion & hip hop (!) – more easily associated with, say, The Mudd Club, than with Les pentes de la Croix-Rousse – made its way to the brains of three French musicians?

The answer probably lies in a Swiss chalet, some 40 kilometers away from Zurich. Sent there by the wise people from Mosquito (the label which also gave Ramuntcho Matta and Carte de Séjour the opportunity to record their first album), the band experiences Alpine ennui and mysterious neighbours (a certain Carlos Peron, for instance). That is probably during this stay in Swiss meadows that they opened a Pandora’s box called experimental music, leading them into recording the mind-blowing sample-based – and accidentally proto-everything – M Le Maudit,, that would later grace Belgian airwaves via the famous Liaisons Dangereuses radio show.

But if we’re looking for a bigger picture, M Le Maudit is just an example of how inventive their approach to music was. This compilation is a testimony of a decade-long feverish flirt between the Lyon trio and dance music. From the infectious electric boogie cuts Shing A Ling and Roadie to the somehow euro-house-fuelled Ma Poubelle Angelina, via many unclassifiable yet iconic songs like Bossi Le Bosseman or Fièvres, Frissons, the compilation demonstrates one thing: Lapassenkoff took the road less traveled by and contributed to a different history of French Pop music.”

Pierre-Arthur Michau.

Soul Jazz Records are releasing this stunning new collection, The World of Keith Haring, featuring
music influential to the artist Keith Haring.
The art of Keith Haring is today one of the most recognisable of any visual artists of his generation,
defining 1980s New York during an intense period when downtown artists and musicians collaborated
like never before. Haring’s musical inspiration took in the punk/dance downtown sounds of clubs like
The Mudd Club, underground disco at Larry Levan’s Paradise Garage, as well the early days of hip-hop
and electro.
The album is released to coincide with the opening of the first major exhibition in the UK of Keith
Haring’s work at Tate Liverpool and which runs for the next six months.
Haring’s many friends included Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Madonna, Fab Five Freddy,
William Burroughs, Jenny Holzer, Yoko Ono, Grace Jones, Larry Levan, Futura 2000.
If you were looking for a person to guide you through the wide variety of nightclub scenes of
downtown New York in the 1980s, then Keith Haring would have been your man.
This album comes in deluxe artwork and three formats – Double CD + 48-page book, a deluxe 3xLP +
bonus 7” + download code vinyl version, and a standard 3xLP + download standard vinyl version. All
formats of the album feature stunning photography, extensive sleevenotes and interviews.
The music here includes the work of a number of Haring’s close friends, including Jean-Michel
Basquiat, Yoko Ono, Larry Levan, John Sex and George Condo (The Girls), as well as healthy dose of
rare disco, early electro and New York punk/dance tracks.

New LP from French beat-makers La Fine Equipe featuring Illa J, T3, 20Syl, Mr J Medeiros, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Fakear ...

Let's be clear: La Fine Equipe is a band. The numerous hats wore by its four members are so various that it could mislead one's. Indeed, surrounding Blanka, oOgo, Chomsky and Mr. Gib, there are recording studios, collaborations, lives, side-projects... There is also and especially a whole universe built during the past ten years around their passion for beatmaking, embodied by the release of « 5th Season », new album.
So yes, La Fine Equipe is a band, but it's also much more than that.

Since their creation in 2006 and their first album « La Boulangerie » two years later, the four producers became inevitable when you think about a new scene breaking the barriers between musical genders. Hip Hop is at the heart of their craft, corner stone of their musical background and inspirations where the paths of J Dilla, Madlib, Flying Lotus, Kaytranada and the turntablists A-Trak, C2C and Birdy Nam Nam are crossing ways. Two things gather La Fine Equipe and those big names, the constant need of collaboration with other artists, and this thirst of discovery, main feature of the digger.

From 2008 to 2014, La Fine Equipe mastered its craft with the « Boulangerie », compilation gathering 34 beatmakers on 113 tracks. They also work on the creation of the label Nowadays Records (Fakear, Skence, Unno, Clément Bazin, Leska, Douchka...) and released more than 75 EPs and LPs in five years.
With an outrageous number of shows across the world, tour in Asia, South America, collaborations with several international artists... Their success changed the game: Whereas many producers coming from this environment where isolated, La Fine Equipe federated a growing scene and became its reference.
After years spent paving the way for other artists and creating a structure that could support the growth of a musical scene, they decided to go further and launch a new era with « 5th Season ».

Because the band works with eight hands and four brains, there's nothing surprising in the fact that the album sounds like a condensed of each and everyone inspirations and experiences, from hip hop and sampling, to electronica, jazz and Latinas inspirations. If homogeneity is the new trend, La Fine Equipe isn't ready to sacrifice its wishes to fit the mould.

« 5th Season » is also a glance at the world looking over our planet's current state, the cosmos, the vegetal and these things that are greater and stronger than us, and the things and behaviour that could led to our loss.
It's an almost apocalyptic vision of our future, but full of optimism at the same time. There is something solar and cinematographic in this album, a format that goes beyond the one chosen before, closer to playlist and compilations such as the three Boulangerie opuses remind us.

Loyal to their status of ambassadors, the four beatmakers keep on inviting other artists to complete their universe. Illa J and T3, respectively brother and partner (Slum Village) of the late J. Dilla, make the connection between a glorious past and the future embodied by La Fine Equipe on the track « The Source ». With « Aurora », it's the solemn and mystical voice of Madjo that take this electro-pop track to another level. The American rapper Mr. J. Medeiros on the boom bap anthem « What Eva », the Montrealer ZeFire on « Typical », each and every artists brings its stone to the edifice of « 5th Season », giving to the album a limitless and freed musical richness.

But to release an album isn't enough. In parallel, each member of La Fine Equipe continues to fulfil its multiples tasks and work on a new concept live show bringing a scenic and visual show in addition to their music. It is what the artists looking toward the future do, and La Fine Equipe is looking straight ahead.

_________________________________________________________________________

TRACK BY TRACK

AURORA (Ft. Madjo)
Already remixed by the quatuor on the beautiful track « Choose The Heart », it's Madjo's turn to be invited by La Fine Equipe for a collaboration. Her mystical voice, which fragility paradoxically seems to strengthen its power, turns the track into an epic pop anthem.

NOBU (Ft. Grems & 20syl)
The association of these three names seems obvious, like a family reunion. Grems did the visual of the anniversary box of La Boulangerie, 20syl (C2C, Hocus Pocus) was one of the beatmakers who took part in the project.
This time, the two big brothers are side by side behind the mic, for the first French speaking collaboration of La Fine Equipe.
On this trapy/footwork beat, the two rappers ring the alarm before it's too late to save our house, the earth.

THE SOURCE (Ft. T3 & Illa J)
In the family of Hip Hop jewels of 5th Season, here is one coming from the USA. Fans of J Dilla and Slum Village since the first hour, La Fine Equipe pays its respects to its influences by inviting T3 and Illa J. Respectively member of Slum Village and brother of the legendary Detroit producer, these two MCs build a bridge between the eras and let their sharpened flows confuse our perception of time.

5TH SEASON (Ft. Fakear)
A second collaboration with their little brother from the Nowadays Family, Fakear. Eponymous title, it represents the universe of both entities, true road trip through Fakearians melodies and La Fine Equipe's funk declined in five seasons.

TYPICAL BOY (Ft. ZeFire)
With « Typical Boy », La Fine Equipe express its love for House music with chopped rhythms and a heavy but swaying bass line. The freed track oscillate between power and lightness. A beat that quickly becomes ZeFire's playground. The Montreal singer, already heard on Her's tracks, brings a missing r'n'b touch to create the perfect chemistry.

German producers Shuko and The Breed announce joint Westcoast Album "Dippin'"

The collaboration between producers Shuko and The Breed was love at first sight. Thanks to their preference for classic Westcoast sound, they immediately found a common denominator and harmonized excellently during the production. The result is the album "Dippin'", based on the song with the same name by Westcoast legend King Tee, who besides MC Eiht and Benny Sings is also the only rap feature on the instrumental hiphop album. After the song "Life in Los Angeles" with the Westcoast legends, the tune "Cali Sunshine" has officially announced the joint record of the producers, which is available on black gold in addition to the digital release at June 5.

The Breed and Shuko can already look back on a number of prominent productions in Germany and the world. The Breed was mainly responsible for the style-defining sound of Alles or Nix Records and is now mainly the house producer of Plusmacher, but has also built beats for famous German rappers like Olexesh, Haftbefehl or Marteria. Shuko is known in Germany as a producer for Casper, Cro, Farid Bang or Kollegah. Internationally he could already place beats on releases of Cypress Hill, Evidence, The Clipse, Lil Wayne or Nipsey Hussle. But besides their productions for rappers and singers they have always concentrated on their solo careers. Both are very successful in the field of instrumental HipHop and can boast impressive figures in the millions on Spotify. But what unites the two is their love for the Westcoast sound of the 90s. Therefore, they have now joined forces for a project on which they pay homage to classical G-funk, but also create a new modern version of this genre. This album is a tribute to the city of angels and its style-defining sound. The instrumental bangers fit perfectly into the summer and are the perfect soundtrack for sun, beer and BBQ.

In her varied career that would combine art gallery installations, major film soundtrackings and commissions for Atari, Suzanne Ciani’s earliest experiments remain some of her most challenging, beguiling and timeless... Flowers Of Evil ticks all the above boxes and flicks switches that would power-up a new uncharted universe of her own musical modernité. Finders Keepers present the first-ever release of these vital archive recordings.

As a genuine vanguard of electronic music composition at the forefront of the modular synthesiser revolution in the late 1960s, Suzanne Ciani’s forward-thinking approach to new music would rarely look to the past for inspiration, which makes this unheard composition from 1969 a rare exception to the collective futurist vision of Ciani and synthesiser designer Don Buchla. In choosing to adapt the controversial prose of French poet Charles Baudelaire, Suzanne would join the ranks of ongoing generations of pioneering musicians like Olivier Messiaen, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Serge Gainsbourg, Etron Fou Leloublan, Celtic Frost and Marc Almond (not forgetting Star Trek’s William Shatner!), all equally inspired by the 19th century writer’s works of “modernité” (modernity), a self-coined term dedicated to capturing the fleeting, ephemeral experience of life in an urban metropolis, best exemplified in his symbolic, erotic and macabre ode to Parisian industrialisation, Les Fleurs du mal (Flowers Of Evil).

In her varied career that would combine art gallery installations, major film soundtrackings and commissions for Atari, Suzanne Ciani’s earliest experiments remain some of her most challenging, beguiling and timeless... Flowers Of Evil ticks all the above boxes and flicks switches that would power-up a new uncharted universe of her own musical modernité. For the many enthusiasts that have already drawn the parallels between Baudelaire’s writings and experimental/electronic music (a relationship rivalled only by the likes of J. G. Ballard and Aldous
Huxley) some might instantly recognise an unconscious sistership between this recording and another 1969 electronic adaptation of Flowers Of Evil by celebrated female electronic composer Ruth White. An interesting distinction of White’s excellent version of Flowers Of Evil (released via Limelight records, home to the likes of Fifty Foot Hose and Paul Bley) is that its dark tone generation and vocal manipulation was created with a Moog synthesiser, the commercially triumphant
rival to Suzanne and Don’s Buchla Systems (Buchla and Moog’s historic, simultaneous, neck-and-neck synth developments are well documented.) The fact that Ciani’s version was never intended for commercial release (not unlike her 1975 Buchla concerts, which could easily have taken Morton Subotnick’s Bull by the horns!) is also poetically reflective of the nature of Ciani and Buchla’s alternative perspective. The choice to present this extract from Flowers Of Evil in its intended French language further distances Ciani’s faithful reaction from some of its better-known variations. Having attempted to voice the poem herself, the multilingual Italian-American composer’s French accent did not meet her own standards, resulting in the request for a fellow unnamed French student who lived on campus at Mills College in Oakland to accurately verbalise the section of Baudelaire’s collection entitled Élévation.

The Sokratis Votskos Quartet was formed in Greece in 2017 with a mindset firmly rooted in the sound and aesthetics of European jazz. Add to the mix a strong influence of US legend Wayne Shorter and of course their own personalities and inherent Greek cultural background - here we have the sound of jazz like no other. Look out for a long player later in 2019

Endlessly sampled across the board, for those dreamy guitar licks, killer Rhodes keys and luscious strings, Goody Goody ‘It Looks Like Love / Super Jock’ is a 1978 masterpiece of disco gold. Original copies of the Atlantic Promo 12” sell for upwards of £65 so it’s about time a remastered, officially reissue landed.

Produced by Vince Montana of MFSB and The Salsoul Orchestra fame, ‘It Looks Like Love’ was a Larry Levan / Paradise Garage classic and still commands dancefloors the world over. Flowing flutes, sultry vocals and xylophone twinkles open up proceedings, as those iconic, funk-flavoured staccato guitars and rising strings step up to the plate. Combined they produce a glistening groove that captures the feel-good factor of NYC’s disco apogee.

Delectable disco, fuelled by an undeniable funk that continues to be harnessed, chopped and sampled by some of house music’s biggest players from Nick Holder and Armando, to Tom Trago and Glenn Underground.

On the B side, soul-searching cosmic fluctuations via ‘Super Jock’, with interplanetary vocal refrains stretching out above a full-bodied bass, tight drumming and spacey Rhodes. Montana’s world class arrangement sees bongo-led percussive interludes and dancing keys solos take listeners to a mesmerising galaxy, far far away.

A double dose of that good stuff!

The new album by Juno Award and Polaris Music Prize-nominated Canadian soul star Tanika Charles.

Produced by a stable of some of Canada's finest musical minds including among the others Chin Injeti (DJ Khalil, Eminem, Drake, Aloe Blacc..), Record Kicks proudly presents "The Gumption" the awaited new album by Canadian soul star Tanika Charles that will hit the streets worldwide on May 10.

"What gave you the gumption?" Tanika Charles rhetorically asks during the introductory notes of her sophomore album appropriately titled The Gumption. While the apprehensive lover at the receiving end of that inquisition should feel slighted by the remark, it also alludes to the assuredness Tanika has gained since the release of her Juno Award and Polaris Music Prize-nominated debut Soul Run. The Gumption picks up where Soul Run left off, continuing her tradition of marrying classic soul with modern production styles. Across a dozen songs spanning 38 minutes, Tanika addresses moments of vulnerability, vindication, uncertain love, forbidden fruit and the state of the world today. "It's a little more mature. It's not feeling guilty about being up front, not being afraid to address situations that aren't comfortable for me. I'm comfortable in my skin now in a way I never was before. The overall theme is growth. I feel the music reflects that, and my words reflects that. Even the album cover tries to convey the feeling too. I'm not putting up with unnecessary nonsense anymore."

Predominately guitar-driven mid-tempo soul, with a handful of dance floor friendly tunes and some psychedelic leanings, The Gumption was indirectly influenced by the likes of Alabama Shakes, The Supremes, Khruangbin, D'Angelo, and Moses Sumney. It is sonically moody at times, but with consistent silver-lining arcs. "I've grown up and learned to deal with situations significantly better. We have a tendency to hold back our innermost feelings for fear of hurting others. Even when we're happy we worry about over-sharing, as if joy is a competition you don't want to gloat about."

The success of Soul Run propelled Tanika in front of new audiences far and wide, with extensive touring in North America and Europe. "I've been touring, experiencing new places and meeting new people. And in that time also worked on completing this album". While criss-crossing Canada with festival appearances on both the east and west coasts, Tanika also embarked upon four overseas tours for a combined 45 European shows within a one year period. This included performances at the prestigious Trans Musicales Festival in France, the Lärz, Germany Fusion Festival, Mostly Funk & Soul and Jazz Festival in UK, the Holy Groove Festival in Switzerland, and the Canarias Jazz Festival in Spain.

Is another EP from D.K. about to land on Antinote while the first one has been announced only a month ago
Well, this looks very much like a series and - spoiler alert - Riding For A Fall EP is the second installment in a
trilogy.

With a BPM crossing the 120 line on 2 out of 3 tracks, there's little doubt that this second 12' is also meant to be
played in a club environment. The 9:37 min long Voices sprawls over the whole A-side. Like many productions
stamped 'D.K.', the structure is linear only in appearance: it winds up and down between fantasized exotic
landscapes, digital plug-ins mimicking 'far east' instruments that are barely recognizable. It gets even snakier with
the Samurai Showdown-inspired Shoubuari (Battle): pixel swords brushing past our ears, martial drumming and
menacing synths (D.K., were you the kind of kid who owned a Neo Geo) - it's pretty obvious that we're in the
world of SNK's legendary fighting game.
Things calm down with Riding For A Fall: less button-mashing, more concentration as we're witnessing the sacred
martial art known as Street Fighter's quarter circles... But enough with these video game metaphors! No need to
be a pro-gamer to enjoy this piece of music. It's sad & slow house music with a cinematographic quality - and,
perhaps, the most moving moment in this series of 12'.
To be continued...

Kalim Shabazz looks to find common ground between the old and the new. Electronic music with a soul. Organic electronic music that moves the dancefloor in a new, but not unfamiliar, direction…

This 3 track EP with keyboardist Jerrell Battle signify the true organic deep house vibe with "Bassic" a deep melodic journey with guitar riffs that moves you. On the flipside "Dana Byrd" beautifully demonstrates the power of the voice as "She" is dedicated to the most important women in our lives. Delivering that true NY Soulful vibe you would hear at the Shelter. Lastly "Sound Module" finishes the record with straight deepness.
Shabazz a true Brooklyn native, made his mark in New York in 1993 with his legendary Afterlife party with Kim Lightfoot. Since the early 90's Kalim has been working with partner Nick Jones; recording history together with their first release, “Wake Up People”, on Bobby Konders’ Massive B Records which featured Satoshi Tomiie & Cassio Ware. Shabazz and Jones continued this partnership under various studio monikers including ‘Moments of Soul’ and ‘Soul Movement’ with releases on labels like Wave Music, King Street Records and Shelter Records. The rest is history!

Sometimes, - despite today's high-octane, fast-track and hyper-hysteric music business - you come across things that seem so pure, perfect and poetic that it almost hurts. "Socialo Blanco" is one of these objects.

It appears understated at a first listen, startling at the second and totally enamouring by the third run. To lay it all out on the table: it sounds like a Music from Memory re-issue, looks like a Growing Bins Records discovery and feels like a flea-market-hippie-uncle-record-collection find.

Based on the language (coincidences and misbehaviour included) and direction of the classic EMS Synthi AKS and recorded by hand and directly to tape (no midi, no sync, no computer), it is at once out of time and out of touch with current sound aesthetics, but that only makes it even more contemporary (vintage) - like a great piece of furniture.

Unsurprising, if you know that Feater is helmed by Daniel Meuzard. Hailing from Vienna and having made a name for himself as a trustworthy and skilled studio equipment dealer and working closely with producer and studio engineer Sam Irl, the man has a knack for turning yesterday into today.

Already is his project's second album, "Socialo Blanco" is the result of all of this and some magical and effortless sessions. The voice of Vilja Larjosto from Finland and Ghana's Eric Owusu (Pat Thomas, Ebo Taylor) on percussion, spontaneously invited to the recording sessions by fellow Viennese Giuseppe Leonardi, are the icing on the cake. All of that and especially the non-conformist pop song "Time Million" symbolizes the heart and soul of an album that deserves to be billed as such. And that is no mean feat.

Since 2019 the collective of Parisian partygoers, Pardonnez-Nous, have decided to launch their own label. Just like their parties, their goal is to shine a light on dancing music.

Constantly looking for new tracks to enlighten the dancefloors, their outings are in line with the vision of deejaying defended by its founders. Finding forgotten pieces that are the geneses of dance music and mixing them with more contemporary sounds. Re-editions, edits, remixes or original productions the label doesn’t just stick to one style but aspires to represent all the music of partying!

Mexico, Peru, Surinam, and of course Sweden: in 1986, musicians from around the world responded to the Swedish composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist Torbjörn Langborn’s invitation. His idea was to bring together the two groups he played with: a jazz quintet, and his salsa ensemble.

The cocktail was explosive: after several days recording at the Humlan studio in Stockholm, Torbjörn Langborn & the Feel Life Orchestra produced an eponymous album, combining, in Langborn’s words, “disco and funk with congas and Batá percussions.” The B side was a three-part gem nearly seven minutes long titled “Feel Life”, where he gives free rein to his talent as a jazz pianist. Thirty years later, we asked the famous remixer Dimitri from Paris to express is talent to produce a new version of this classic music track. "Pardonnez-nous", here it is.

The KBCS are:

Lucas Kochbeck - Drums

Nicolas Börger - Keyboards

Lars Coelln - Guitars

Daniel Stritzke - Bass

The KBCS were born in the northern hemisphere under the zodiac sign of snowman. They sound like Föhr and nicely topped pizza, tight as thinly folded pizza boxes and with drums dry as flour that would nearly make you cough. But hotter. Laughing is part of their ritual to get into the zone. Even though some of them prefer Ph without coriander, they still won't order it online because of plastic waste.

The moon shone happily while they recorded their spiced up cinematic, funky & atmospheric lowdown grooves album.And since the polar star was missing, they headed for Venus instead. Luckily, they didn't keep it four-dimensional but had old friend and funk head Mr Flo Mega himself on keys and good vibes - things got really wicked from there. Few people were present and those who were are not entirely sure how it all happened or where it began. Some people say it was Roy, others blame it on the sauna. Fact is that the session took its own course and most people were smiling during the recordings.

Nobody knew then about the flamingo on the cover or why the bird at least looks like one. Hailing from Hamburg, Germany the KBCS not only love to record but also play around Europe. Be sure to welcome them with a Ph in your city and they will surely return the favor by taking you on a ride utilizing a special horse: the (space) funk lama.

It's easy to fall for a nostalgic approach to dance music, to cuddle oneself in the warm analogue sounds of late 1980's dance productions - especially with the heavy ongoing reissue trend going on. However, we have to stay focus: look out for contemporary sounds and means of production. Parisian producer Nathan Melja makes his debut on Antinote with an idiosyncratic three-tracker and our guess is that it sounds contemporary.

On the A-side: one tune: Deadrums. Both the name and the music speak for themselves. It's hard, it's efficient and at the same time, there's quite a lot going on, tiny bumps on the straightforward road to techno ecstasy. Nevertheless, Deadrums is a precise piece of machinery, an atmospheric banger, yes, but with deadly jaws made out of tempered steel to tear a dancefloor apart, piece-by-piece. On the B-side, Angels stands out as a perfect example of a song that has many dancefloor qualities but, like some of DJ Sprinkles' seminal recordings, turns out to be more of a late-night tale of urban wanderings on wet pavements (think Taxi Driver and its soundtrack by Bernard Hermann). Contemplative, melancholic and - let's say it - sad, its nagging melody can bring a little tear to the eyes of the most sensitive ones. Rounding up the 12' is Candy, a tune under the influence of bad boys like DJ Overdose, or Ghettotech legend DJ Assault - so that you can dry your tears.

It's Nathan Melja's first release on Antinote, but he's definitely not a newcomer. He's been around since Antinote exists, and we're glad to finally collaborate with him.

'Producer and multi-instrumentalist FRNT BZNZZ returns with the second installment in a six-part series of 45s from the Aloha State.

Just like the rst 45, the A-side 'Separation Anxiety' takes to the same raw electro boogie feel, this time with more layers. The 4-minute ride into the artist's complex, often haunting production is up before you know it.

The B-side opens new doors in the series with vocals - angsty, yearning, a little somber. 'Always Wanted' is a slow burner for those looking to alleviate heavy doses of straight-laced modern funk. Something about Aiea High School prom circa 1990s, and a feeling of being left out.'

I cannot exactly remember when the idea of this album was born in my mind. What I am sure of is that I always wanted to complete such a project, which was to realize the dream of a vibraphone and marimba tribute to the music of my favorite musician composer, Frank Zappa. I met Marco Pacassoni about six years ago. I called him because we were looking for a vibraphonist for a tour with the artist Bungaro. We immediately developed a real friendship and when I told him about my idea and my fascination with Ruth Underwood, explaining that for me the best Zappa albums were the ones on which she played, he admitted that he knew only a part of that music, but that he would love to learn more. So I began to feed him tunes to listen to, sharing with him an imaginary track list. When Marco decided to really go for it (about two years ago), his first statement was that it was impossible not to include Peaches en Regalia and The Black Page on the album. That made me very happy because those are two of my favorites, and there was no better way to acknowledge the technical challenges behind this adventure. Marco studied Ionisation by Edgard Varese when he was in Conservatorio Rossini of Pesaro, even before he graduated in percussion at Berklee. It was strange for me that he could know more about Varese than about Zappa! I liked his idea of playing The Black Page alone at the marimba, just adding the beat, as if hearing the footsteps of an imaginary listener turning around. Who could it be My very first wish was to include Pink Napkins with Zappa's guitar solo played at the vibraphone.

Emotional Rescue and Mountains In The Sea are thrilled to team up to revive a lost rarity of American ambient music: Chris Spheeris and Paul Voudouris' 1982 album 'Passage'.

Living and recording in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Chris and Paul composed and released several albums of folk-rock and album-oriented synthpop before their attentions turned towards sound healing music in the early 1980s. The duo was approached by a company doing biofeedback therapy and asked to create an aural component for patients looking to regain control of nervous disorders. After extensive preparations and just one day of studio time, 'Passage' was the result, recorded live with no additional overdubs.

The LP consists of 3 long tracks which flow together as a single piece. Opener 'Prism' contains the album's most frenetic moments, glittering guitar and synth tones designed to draw the listener out of their distressed state. Next comes the soaring 'Mosaic', a renewing sunrise of warm chords that beckons slowly towards the album's summit, the over-20 minute title track which contains a sonic ecosystem of it's own. The album concludes in a state of pure serenity, in which the passage of time has seemed to slow to a halt, and the outside stresses of the world eradicated.

Over 3 decades since its initial conception, 'Passage' still retains all of its inestimable healing power, but remains incredibly difficult to find. It's an album that belongs in discussions of landmark early American ambient works, alongside names like Michael Stearns, Constance Demby, Kerry Leimer and Pauline Anna Strom. ER and MITS have worked with original cover artist Vinayak to render the album artwork as originally intended, in even greater detail than on its first release. We're overjoyed to be able to share this