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HARDT ANTOINE is a London based DJ producer of French and West Indian descent, who continuously combines his hugely colourful and eclectic taste in music. He has also made a name for himself with his Reculture label and club nights.

His KOMPAKT debut clearly shows why he’s one to watch in the years to come. “Nobody’s Watching” is a dark grooving beast with bending synth lines and a haunting vocal; counterbalanced with uplifting Eastern analog pads. It’s from this rare breed of tracks that shine in a frantic peak time set and sexy late night moments alike.

“All We See” follows a similar path. Its mandatory bassline and dark melody evolve into something uplifting, as if to say – ‘We always see light at the end of our tunnel’.

Radial takes a more cinematic approach and largely neglects the dancefloor in a classic KOMPAKT 3-track EP fashion, following a lovely tradition that began with Dettinger’s KOM 2 and later on spawned the Pop Ambient movement.

Hardt Antoine proves himself a jack of all trades… Keep an eye on him!

HARDT ANTOINE ist ein in London ansässiger DJ-Produzent französischer und westindischer Abstammung, der seinen äußerst farbenfrohen und vielseitigen Musikgeschmack kontinuierlich durcheinender wirbelt. Auch mit seinem Label Reculture und Clubnächten hat er sich über London hinaus einen Namen gemacht.

Sein KOMPAKT-Debüt zeigt deutlich, warum man ihn in den kommenden Jahren im Auge behalten sollte. „Nobody’s Watching“ ist ein düsteres, groovendes Biest mit verzerrten Synthielinien und einer eindringlichen Stimme; mit erhebenden östlichen Analog Pads ausbalanciert. Es ist diese seltene Art von Tracks, die in einem hektischen Peak-Time-Set und sexy Late-Night-Momenten gleichermaßen glänzen.

„All We See“ geht einen ähnlichen Weg. Die zwingende Bassline und die dunkle Melodie entwickeln sich zu etwas Erhebendem, als ob sie sagen wollten: „Wir sehen immer Licht am Ende unseres Tunnels“.

Radial verfolgt einen filmischeren Ansatz und vernachlässigt die Tanzfläche weitgehend – in klassischer KOMPAKT-3-Track-EP-Manier, einer schönen Tradition folgend, die mit Dettingers KOM 2 begann und später die Pop-Ambient-Bewegung hervorbrachte.

Hardt Antoine erweist sich als Alleskönner … Behaltet ihn im Auge!

+ mp3

Das Amsterdamer Duo Weval kündigt sein lang erwartetes neues Album, „Remember“, an, das am 3. März 2023 beim Ninja Tune-Sublabel Technicolour erscheint. Das Amsterdamer Duo Weval (bestehend aus Harm Coolen & Merijn Scholte Albers) veröffentlicht sein neues Album ‘Remember’. Es ist ein energiegeladener Trip voller nostalgischer Erinnerungen und euphorischer Emotionen, auf der das Elektronik-Duo in Erinnerungen an seine eigene musikalische Reise schwelgt und gleichzeitig über die wichtigsten Einflüsse und Inspirationen der letzten Jahre reflektiert. Dieses zentrale Thema wird in klanglichen Kontrasten erforscht, da Weval stark verzerrte Beats verwenden, die das Potenzial haben, Lautsprecher zu zerstören, nur um dann von melodisch hoffnungsvollen Akkorden vor dem Zusammenbruch gerettet zu werden. Ihr neuer bombastischer Sound ist das Ergebnis neuer Songwriting-Methoden, bei denen Weval scheinbar disparate Ideen, die völlig unterschiedliche Leben und Energien in sich tragen, miteinander vermischen. Elemente aus Pop, Dance und allen dazwischen liegenden Genres werden eingeworfen und zu ihrem bisher intensivsten, spontansten und gehaltvollsten Werk zusammengefügt.

"Hello, my friends. It's a big honor for me to release this EP on YUKU because I sincerely love lots of releases of this label and follow them practically since the day they started. I've created 5 tracks specially for this release.

They turned out to be very diverse, quite different, but at the same time cohesive.
5 tracks - like 5 variations and 5 stairs of my life. The cover by my friend, Kyiv-based artist Bohdan Burenko, perfectly outlines the mood of this EP. It shows 5 faces, 5 characters, and 5 stories.

I should mention that some demos for these tracks I wrote back in 2018, when I lived in California. And the basis for 'The Wall' I wrote in the suburbs of Los Angeles in a small town Walnut. This explains the song title. Back then, I listened to a lot of old-school Metalheadz tracks, and I guess this music had a big impact on the atmosphere of this track. Same story with 'Runnin' Out' - I made the demo in US, then finished it when I was preparing the release for YUKU. 'Offset Range1' is my personal favorite. I wrote it in Kyiv, when I had Covid and was tweaking knobs on my sampler and automation on my synth. 99' is my nostalgia for good ol' breakbeat and 'Vezhlivy Otkaz' has the most unusual drop I have ever written. Of course, it's an honor for me to have a remix by Tim Reaper on board, because I'm his fan.

I'm writing this text now in Kyiv. Because of Russian invasion, I'm not sure what my future will be like, but I don't see any reason to postpone this release. All the profit from this EP I'd like to send for the charity & restoration of the infrastructure of Ukraine.

Big thanks to YUKU team for understanding, professionalism and support."
Igor (Hidden Element)

American singer-songwriter, poet, and photographer Thomas Meluch, known musically as Benoît Pioulard, returns with his most structured and vocal release to date. Titled »Eidetic,« a word denoting the ability to recall mental images with extraordinarily rich precision, the album presents unprecedented clarity and vitality for Benoît Pioulard. To access its thematic ground, Meluch looked inward with an affinity towards the people he loves during a period marked by his move from Seattle to Brooklyn in 2019. The resulting work engages with the universe's unflinching mortality and, as he says, »the ways it has modified and improved my relationships, especially with family.« Embodied by the creek, leaves, and ferns of the cover photography — taken in Michigan’s Burchfield Park, where he and his dad used to hike and »muse on existence« — the music glistens and unfurls with the flow of life he’s come to know. »Eidetic« is the culmination of Meluch's craft both as a producer and writer. An evocative sonic vocabulary meets deft lyrical introspection, articulated with the nuance, vulnerability, and confidence of a longtime artist hitting a stride.

Meluch has continually refined, redefined, and adjusted the focus of his gentle pop project over the last 20 years. Recorded primarily with guitar, tapes, and voice — and spanning labels with albums for Kranky, Morr Music, Beacon Sound, and Past Inside the Present — his catalog flows seamlessly between ambient improvisation and pop composition. Much like the analog photos that often accompany his releases, songs can feel dreamily softened and distant, and others beautifully vivid and detailed. 2021 full-length »Bloodless« found Meluch deep in droning decay, expressive yet wordless. With »Eidetic,« he swings back to sharpened forms. Lush banks of treated guitar and synth brush against hushed percussion; there is mist in the distance, but everything up close is intricately constructed and radiant. Meluch's voice is notably forward in the mix — a warm and calming tenor, a harmonic coo more than a whisper — ever-observant and actively processing.

To record much of the album, Meluch filled a cabin in rural Maine with his usual setup of simple percussion, a couple of Fender electrics, and a parlor guitar made by his friend who does bespoke luthier work. The modest utility is what he knows best, and here he pushes the output to its most pristine potential.

»Eidetic« opens in a swirl of familiar haze; »Margaret Murie« eases listeners in, as lush and verdant as the landscapes conserved by its famed namesake. With the setting established, Meluch, the narrator, enters the foreground with »Crux,« a tender piece written about finding new motivations in a new city. »We covet this rare green hue / Here at the farthest point from home,« he sings above a reassuring pattern of strums and percussion. Meluch's prose shines on the swiftly-moving »Nameless,« inspired by the neurological effects that came with the antiquated practice of manufacturing mercury mirrors; »folks would slowly go insane while looking into their own reflections every day,« he adds. The idea informs a series of surreal abstractions before everything drops out in the final minute, and we are left free-floating in eerie nothingness.

Across the album, labyrinthine lyrical ponderings scatter with dazzling imagery, artfully blurring scenes from world history with Meluch's more personal, present-day. The propulsive and earnest »Thursday Night« catches his mind overly active and too stoned, riffing on black holes and songwriting itself. »Halve« references the splitting of the atom, what he considers »the beginning of man's downfall,« and the unrealized initiative proposed by the US government that would have created 'nuclear refuges' in its national parks. Meluch's loved ones weave throughout; »Tet« holds his father's experience in Vietnam and its lasting effects. »Lillian Isola« touches on his maternal grandmother's spinal curvature, and »Pastel Dust« navigates the wake of his cat, who died on New Year's Eve 2020.

At first blush, Meluch's atmospheric and melodic sensibilities resonate purely in their own right. Upon closer meditation, his ability to render stories — many of which surround human tragedy, misfortune, and understanding — through the prism of his poetry makes »Eidetic« even more rewarding.

Dark Green Vinyl

American singer-songwriter, poet, and photographer Thomas Meluch, known musically as Benoît Pioulard, returns with his most structured and vocal release to date. Titled »Eidetic,« a word denoting the ability to recall mental images with extraordinarily rich precision, the album presents unprecedented clarity and vitality for Benoît Pioulard. To access its thematic ground, Meluch looked inward with an affinity towards the people he loves during a period marked by his move from Seattle to Brooklyn in 2019. The resulting work engages with the universe's unflinching mortality and, as he says, »the ways it has modified and improved my relationships, especially with family.« Embodied by the creek, leaves, and ferns of the cover photography — taken in Michigan’s Burchfield Park, where he and his dad used to hike and »muse on existence« — the music glistens and unfurls with the flow of life he’s come to know. »Eidetic« is the culmination of Meluch's craft both as a producer and writer. An evocative sonic vocabulary meets deft lyrical introspection, articulated with the nuance, vulnerability, and confidence of a longtime artist hitting a stride.

Meluch has continually refined, redefined, and adjusted the focus of his gentle pop project over the last 20 years. Recorded primarily with guitar, tapes, and voice — and spanning labels with albums for Kranky, Morr Music, Beacon Sound, and Past Inside the Present — his catalog flows seamlessly between ambient improvisation and pop composition. Much like the analog photos that often accompany his releases, songs can feel dreamily softened and distant, and others beautifully vivid and detailed. 2021 full-length »Bloodless« found Meluch deep in droning decay, expressive yet wordless. With »Eidetic,« he swings back to sharpened forms. Lush banks of treated guitar and synth brush against hushed percussion; there is mist in the distance, but everything up close is intricately constructed and radiant. Meluch's voice is notably forward in the mix — a warm and calming tenor, a harmonic coo more than a whisper — ever-observant and actively processing.

To record much of the album, Meluch filled a cabin in rural Maine with his usual setup of simple percussion, a couple of Fender electrics, and a parlor guitar made by his friend who does bespoke luthier work. The modest utility is what he knows best, and here he pushes the output to its most pristine potential.

»Eidetic« opens in a swirl of familiar haze; »Margaret Murie« eases listeners in, as lush and verdant as the landscapes conserved by its famed namesake. With the setting established, Meluch, the narrator, enters the foreground with »Crux,« a tender piece written about finding new motivations in a new city. »We covet this rare green hue / Here at the farthest point from home,« he sings above a reassuring pattern of strums and percussion. Meluch's prose shines on the swiftly-moving »Nameless,« inspired by the neurological effects that came with the antiquated practice of manufacturing mercury mirrors; »folks would slowly go insane while looking into their own reflections every day,« he adds. The idea informs a series of surreal abstractions before everything drops out in the final minute, and we are left free-floating in eerie nothingness.

Across the album, labyrinthine lyrical ponderings scatter with dazzling imagery, artfully blurring scenes from world history with Meluch's more personal, present-day. The propulsive and earnest »Thursday Night« catches his mind overly active and too stoned, riffing on black holes and songwriting itself. »Halve« references the splitting of the atom, what he considers »the beginning of man's downfall,« and the unrealized initiative proposed by the US government that would have created 'nuclear refuges' in its national parks. Meluch's loved ones weave throughout; »Tet« holds his father's experience in Vietnam and its lasting effects. »Lillian Isola« touches on his maternal grandmother's spinal curvature, and »Pastel Dust« navigates the wake of his cat, who died on New Year's Eve 2020.

At first blush, Meluch's atmospheric and melodic sensibilities resonate purely in their own right. Upon closer meditation, his ability to render stories — many of which surround human tragedy, misfortune, and understanding — through the prism of his poetry makes »Eidetic« even more rewarding.

UGLY is slowthai pulling himself apart and exposing his anxieties of the last couple of years, an acronym for U Gotta Love Yourself. Musically, this new album may show a side of him that people haven’t heard before but he sees it as the fullest picture yet - and attentive listeners will have noticed this musical tendency before. UGLY is about reconnecting with first principles. Plunging into rock music with as much singing as rapping, it is both a striking departure for slowthai and a return to the roots of Tyron Frampton. Recorded in producer Dan Carey’s home studio alongside frequent collaborator Kwes Darko, UGLY is a fluid combination of musicians including Ethan P. Flynn, Jockstrap’s Taylor Skye, Beabadoobee guitarist Jacob Bugden, drummer Liam Toon, and on the dark and woozy title track, his friends Fontaines D.C.

Following a run with Cherry Red Records that featured a potential major label jump, guitarist Maurice Deebank quitting and rejoining multiple times, several pop stardom carrots just out of reach, mixing battles with Robin Guthrie, and a shocking entry into the record charts, Lawrence (just “Lawrence”, like “Cher” or “Madonna” thank you very much) knew he would be making a change with his band Felt. He would be seeing out his plan of ten albums and ten singles in ten years alongside a new partner in Creation Records. This compilation beautifully captures those years.

Creation was beginning a rapid ascent at the time, with Alan McGee serving as its hyperactive mouthpiece and focal point. McGee was all in on the band. “Lawrence achieved pop perfection, a breathless rush of sensitivity and intelligence. It was too understated to be commercial, too art to go pop, too pop to go art—in other words it was a perfect combination of all the music I loved at the time.” McGee was thrilled to have what he considered a real star on the label, and Lawrence was equally thrilled to have such an enthusiastic cheerleader. He funneled that enthusiasm into some of the most focused songwriting of his career, as well as some of his wildest experiments, all of which are on display here.

Bladder Flask’s debut (in fact only) LP, originally issued by Orgel Fesper Music in 1981, is one of the most eclectic albums of the post-Industrial era. It is both challenging and perplexing… So, put down your puny instruments of normality and breathe in the frenzied fungal spores of Bladder Flask.

The fact that Steven Stapleton of Nurse With Wound is a big fan of this album is testament to its greatness: »I love Bladder Flask’s »One Day I Was So Sad That The Corners Of My Mouth Met & Everybody Thought I Was Whistling« and what a great title, perhaps my favourite ever. I must have listened to the album so much in the ’80s. I listened to it again recently and it was like welcoming an old friend.«

Personnel: Richard Rupenus, Philip Rupenus + Sean Breadin, John Mylotte, Nigel Jacklin Recorded at Wrongrong Studio and Spectro Arts Workshop 1980-1981 Audio Restoration & Mastering: Colin Potter @ IC Studio

Crystal Clear Vinyl
Unverwechselbar: dEUS sind nach zehn Jahren zurück!

Die legendäre belgische Rockband dEUS meldet sich mit 'How To Replace It', ihrem achten Studioalbum und dem ersten seit zehn Jahren zurück: Unverwechselbar und einfallsreich, melodisch und doch trotzig schräg. Einzigartig. Und vor allem unverkennbar dEUS. Lyrisch gibt sich 'How To Replace It' mysteriös und kreist um Themen wie Romantik, Altern und die Moderne, liefert Fragen und Antworten zugleich und lädt die Zuhörenden zur eigenen Interpretation ein.

Die belgische Band hatte noch nie wirklich eine Philosophie. Und wollte vielleicht auch nie eine haben. Dennoch sind sie bestimmten Grundsätzen treu geblieben: "You don't want to repeat yourself, but you have your style", erzählt Tom Barman, Frontmann der Band, der auf dem Album seine bisher persönlichsten und rauesten Texte präsentiert. "You want to try new stuff and just react to whatever feels fresh at the time."

Auch 28 Jahre nach ihrem Debütalbum bleiben dEUS weiterhin Alternative-Rock-Vordenker, die immer nach vorne drängen, endlos neugierig und kreativ rastlos sind.

140-Gram, “Limeade” colour vinyl variant, direct to board Jacket. Features the original album track list using the (2020) 50th Anniversary remastered audio.



In 1970, the Grateful Dead pulled off a feat that that few bands ever achieve, and incredibly, they did it twice. After June 1970's release of Workingman's Dead, the Dead had arrived. An album that would remain in the upper echelon of Rolling Stone’s "best albums of all-time" lists for the next 50 years, the world now knew about the Dead. And remarkably, the Dead not only did it again less than six months later, by many accounts they outdid themselves with the follow-up release in November 1970 of American Beauty.



The album's 10 tracks include many of the Dead's best-known, most-loved, and most popular songs both on record and in concert for the next 25 years. An album that includes Box Of Rain, Friend Of The Devil, Sugar Magnolia, Candyman, Ripple, Brokedown Palace, Attics Of My Life, and Truckin' looks more like a greatest-hits compilation than a second album of 1970, and yet American Beauty demonstrates a band unable to slow down in terms of the quality of its writing, recording, and performing.

Vive La Musique brings us yet another magical release, compiling four stunning tracks from South African bass player - Sipho Gumede. Taken from two rare albums originally released in the 80s, the music blends South African roots with Boogie influences and is the follow-up to the hugely successful "Jika Jika" reissue.
The release was born through label founder Aroop Roy's relentless search for a copy of the 1983 Peace album, which led to him tracking down the original producer - Greg Cutler - a key figure in South African music from that period and regular collaborator with Sipho. Aroop was blown away by "Uthinina" and "Bayabizana" - two unique tracks, featuring haunting Zulu vocals, African jazz flavours, and epic changes over hypnotic grooves.
"Something to Say" and "City of Gold" were recorded a few years later in the world-renowned Battery Mobile Studio. Sipho had been working there with Caiphus Semenya and Letta Mbulu and their influences can be heard, with drum machines and American Boogie instrumentation laying the foundation for powerful vocal lines sung in English, with soul and gospel sensibility.
The 12" comes with extensive liner notes from Greg Cutler, talking about his time in South Africa. He recalls his experience as a White producer, working with Black musicians under the challenges of apartheid and describes his musical journey with Sipho Gumede, with intriguing details on how the music and production evolved.


Feedback

"The music of Sipho is so good - wow! Uthininia def worth the 3 year search, but even more wonderful to then stumble over a tune like "Something To Say"!"
Hunee

"Chunky, soulful and deep. Thanks for unearthing these beauties!"
Mr Scruff

"Brilliant tracks! Thank you so much"
Gilles Peterson

"This is fucking amazing!!!!"
Eli Soul Clap

"Sipho's Music is great!"
Antal

"Amazing music that is perfect for today's music environment, a lovely blend of South African and boogie flavours."
Patrick Forge

Mit dem ersten Album in voller Länge seit Sleepyhead
aus dem Jahr 2020, liefert Cavetown sein bisher
aufwändigstes Werk zum Thema "worm food" ab und
formt sein eigenwilliges Geschichtenerzählen zu Songs,
die letztendlich unseren eigenen intimsten Emotionen eine
Stimme verleihen. Wie alle seine Werke produzierte
Skinner das Album selbst in seinem Heimstudio,
verschanzte sich in seiner Garage und verlieh seinem
dezenten Alt-Pop eine kraftvolle neue Vitalität.
Neben dem Album hat Skinner kürzlich die Gründung
des This Is Home Projektes angekündigt. Das Ziel der
Stiftung ist es, an verschiedene Organisationen zu
spenden, um LGBTQ+-Jugendliche zu stärken und zu
unterstützen.
Er schließt derzeit eine Headliner-Tour in Europa und
Großbritannien ab und hat seine bisher größte
Headliner-Show in London im Eventim Apollo am 5.
November mit über 5.000 Fans ausverkauft

Since releasing Bury Me at Makeout Creek in November 2014, Mitski has received international acclaim for her distinct, arresting sound and profoundly reflective lyrics.

Raucous, fuzzy new cut, ‘Falling Apart’, “takes you
on a journey through a hopeless chaos of love,”
explain the band. “It goes beyond a relationship’s
horizon, the point of no return - where everyone
nvolved is getting sucked in and spat out.”

The final taster from the band’s ‘After Taste’ EP,
ecorded with Dave McCracken (Sports Team, Pip
Blom, The Snuts) and Caesar Edmund (St Vincent,
Queens Of The Stone Age, Interpol).

Earlier singles, such as ‘Spit Me Out’ and
Landslide’, solidified the trio as one of the UK’s
most exciting new indie bands on the circuit, with
op support coming from the likes of NME, Dork,
The Line of Best Fit, 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq and
Radio 1’s Jack Saunders.

In the last five years ElCamino has gone from up-n-coming Griselda affiliate to fan-favorite B$F member. He released two volumes of his self-titled album series in that time and left heads eagerly awaiting the third instalment. Then, last summer he served up ElCamino 3 and showed what he was really capable of. The acclaimed album features production by Harry Fraud, Camouflage Monk, CeeGee, and guest spots from 38 Spesh, Jay Worthy, A$AP Ant, and more.

TRAGEDY veröffentlichen 2023 ihr brandneues Album I Am Woman!

Auf I Am Woman, schreiben TRAGEDY das Drehbuch des Sleaze Rocks neu, und zollen ihr Tribut an die Weiblichkeit in allen Formen: Auf dem Album erwarten den Hörer 14 neue, vor Kraft- strotzende Hymnen und, eine gehörige Portion Spass!

Nachdem sie bereits mehrfach in den USA, Großbritannien, Deutschland, Frankreich, der Schweiz und darüber hinaus tourten, mehrere Alben mit metallischen Disco-, Soft-Rock- und Pop-Covern
veröffentlichten bevor sie überhaupt ihren ersten viralen Hit feierten, haben TRAGEDY schon früh bewiesen, dass sie nie nur die typische, satirische Coverband sein werden. Dieses verrückte Sextett verkörpert die Seele des Originals und erfindet sie von Grund auf neu, indem sie die Songs mit einer unbestreitbar ansteckenden Energie erfüllt, sowohl auf der Bühne als auch auf Platte.

Mit I Am Woman verkörpern TRAGEDY den Geist von Heavy Metal und bieten gleichzeitig eine frische Interpretation einiger der weltweit zeitlosesten Klassiker über Unabhängigkeit und Selbstliebe – wichtige
Botschaften, die heute mehr denn je nachhallen!

In den letzten Jahren verbreitete sich ein neues Musikgenre vor allem durch Streaming-Playlisten: »Lo-Fi Beats« sind ruhige instrumentale Hip-Hop-Stücke, die dank ihrer verrauschten, leiernden Ästhetik klingen, als kämen sie direkt von einer mehrfach überspielten Kassette.
L.Dre aus Los Angeles ist einer der Meister dieses Stils, doch auf seinem Album LoFi Symphony für Deutsche Grammophon hat er sich einer vollkommen neuen Herausforderung gestellt: Lo-Fi Beats mit hochqualitativen Aufnahmen klassischer Orchestermusiker:innen zu verbinden.

Der Produktionsprozess von LoFi Symphony gestaltete sich deutlich aufwendiger als bei einem üblichen Projekt in diesem Genre. In einem ersten Arbeitsschritt sampelte L.Dre die bekannten Stücke für eine
Rohversion eines Beats, dann wurde die »neue« Komposition transkribiert und einem Orchester aus ausgewählten Musiker:innen zur Neueinspielung vorgelegt.

Gerade die Spannung, die sich aus der Kombination von Lo-Fi-Ästhetik und Hi-Fi-Aufnahmen ergibt, macht LoFi Symphony so lebendig, interessant und innovativ. Streicheraufnahmen treffen auf Vintage-Sounds eines originalen Steinway-Flügels aus den
1920er-Jahren, auf das genretypische Vinylknistern und die charakteristisch gedämpften Drumsounds.

»Dies ist definitiv anders als alles, was ich je zuvor gemacht habe«, bringt er die Besonderheit dieses Albums auf den Punkt. »Ich glaube nicht, dass so etwas überhaupt schon mal gemacht wurde.«

Rare Groove Collection Explore the fusion of world music with soul, funk and disco through the Rare Groove Collection. With this new volume, discover unique groove tracks straight from Jamaica! Fully remastered original versions Jamaican Rare Groove From the beginning of the 60s to the end of the 80s, Jamaica had a worldwide influence with ska, rocksteady, dub and reggae, but the small Caribbean island did not escape the global trends of funk, soul and disco. This mix of influences has given birth to unique groove songs, highlighted by this Jamaican Rare Groove. Double vinyl Jamaican Rare Groove From the beginning of the 60s to the end of the 80s, Jamaica had a worldwide influence with ska, rocksteady, dub and reggae, but the small Caribbean island did not escape the global trends of funk, soul and disco. This mix of influences has given birth to unique groove songs, highlighted by this Jamaican Rare Groove.

Rare Groove Collection Explore the fusion of world music with soul, funk and disco through the Rare Groove Collection. With this new volume, discover unique groove tracks straight from Jamaica! Fully remastered original versions Oriental RARE GROOVE A trip to the oriental peninsula following the steps of the Lebanese disco of Elias Rahbani, cradled by the Morrocan Soul of Ouiness or trained by the Lybian melodies of Ahmed Fakroun...

Die Single ”Calm Down” war auf Platz 1 der Schweizer Single Hitparade und sogar für über 100 Tage auf Platz 1 bei Shazam. Die Single hat in der Schweiz Multiplatin Status. Ausserdem hat der Song ”Soundgasm”, ebenfalls aus diesem Album, Doppel Platin Status.
Das musikalische Wunderkind Rema veröffentlicht sein mit Spannung erwartetes Debütalbum ”Rave & Roses”.

Drei Jahre nachdem Rema von Mavin Records-Gründer Don Jazzy der Welt vorgestellt wurde, hat der aus Benin City stammende Musiker mehr erreicht, als man sich je hätte träumen lassen.
Als der wohl größte und international bekannteste Vertreter aufstrebender Afrobeat-Stars, tritt Rema mit seinem kommenden Album ”Rave & Roses” in eine neue Phase seines Lebens ein.

Dabei ist der als Divine Ikubor in Nigeria geborene Sänger bereits ein Popstar, der mit seinem Debütalbum beweisen will, warum der Hype um ihn von ganzem Herzen verdient ist. ”

Manchen mag Remas Erfolg erscheinen, als sei er über Nacht gekommen. Doch zwischen seinen Anfängen im Chor bis zu dem Moment, als Barack Obama ihn seiner ”Summer 2019”-Playlist hinzufügte und Drake ihn begeistert ins Studio einlud, lag viel Arbeit, die auch über die Musik hinausgeht.

The original 1975 version on Roulette is a much loved classic. Ron Foster’s 1985 instrumental version is a completely different interpretation with a full 21+ orchestra and now it takes on a new identity with the original lead singer of Whirlwind, Sandi Everett, who recently recorded a new vocal - This composition’s 48 year journey is now fulfilled!

On the flip we are proud to present LEE McDONALD’s LET’S PLAY LUCK, a hidden gem from his iconic LP ‘Sweet Magic’; released on a 7” for the very first time and as an extended mix!

Der Grammy-nominierte Shawn Mendes veröffentlicht sein viertes Studioalbum ”Wonder”. Über sein neues Projekt verrät er: ”I wrote an album. It’s called ’Wonder’. it really feels like a piece of me has been written down on paper and recorded into song. I tried to be as real and as honest as I’ve ever been. It’s a world and a journey and a dream and an album I’ve been wanting to make for a really long time. I absolutely love it. Thank you for being by my side for so many years. I love you all so much. I hope you can listen front to back. I’ve missed you all so much! I know it’s been a really scary year for everyone so I’m sending buckets of love to all of you x” Shawn Mendes hat weltweit über 20 Millionen Alben und 175 Millionen Singles verkauft. Er hat zwei ausverkaufte Welttourneen mit über einer Million verkaufter Tickets absolviert und legendäre Stadien und Arenen wie den Madison Square Garden in New York und die O2 Arena in London innerhalb von Minuten ausverkauft. In den Jahren 2017 und 2018 stand er an der Spitze von Billboards ”21 Under 21” und wurde in Forbes ”30 Under 30”, Spotifys ”25 Under 25” und im Time Magazine ”Time 100 Most Influential” aufgeführt. Das neue Album ”Wonder” enthält insgesamt 14 Tracks.

Following her 2021 debut, ‘Save My Day’, remixed by DJ Python, PYTKO returns to Phantasy with ‘Silent’, experimental and introspective electronic songwriting this time radically reworked by beloved pop-experimentalist, Bullion.

On ‘Silent’, PYTKO invites listeners to lean in closer than before. Seemingly untangling the frustrations of a faltering love affair, it’s vulnerable lyrics arrive buried beneath a sophisticated arrangement that, with bit-crushed electronics and rumbling bass notes, seems to decay with haunting effect. In contrast, the austere ‘Orchids & Limes’ mines an equally original sound, a striking sort of cyber-balearica sculpted around PYTKO’s intricate guitar work, conjuring an even darker sense of romance.

In radical contrast, Bullion proves a perfect fold to PYTKO’s vision with his positively high-spirited flip of ‘Silent’. The man behind DEEK Recordings and cult hits such as Blue Pedro keeps PYTKO’s perspective front-and-centre, while performing an alchemy of magic and melancholy that results in one the most memorable remixes in Phantasy’s fifteen-year history.

The 1990s were a time when hip-hop infused with R&B became pop music, and at the forefront of this movement was En Vogue. Their most commercially and critically successful album, Funky Divas, stands as one of the best pop/R&B albums to emerge from that time, incorporating soul, hip-hop, pop, dance, and rock to create one of the era’s most diverse, dazzling, and exciting pieces of work. The album scored no less than five hit singles, three of which became Top 10 pop hits. It includes the unstoppable “My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It)”, which was one of the biggest hits of 1992 and additionally the remake of “Giving Him Something He Can Feel,” “Give It Up Turn It Loose,” and “Free Your Mind”.

Funky Divas is available as a limited edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on purple coloured vinyl and includes an insert.

Jessica Winter is the queen of sad-bangers, a purveyor of dark glittery synth-pop and a truly unique artist, as well as an acclaimed producer and writer (The Big Moon, Jazmin Bean, Phoebe Green, Walt Disco & more). Growing up on a diet of Nine Inch Nails and Siouxsie and the Banshees, her music is just as likely to channel Madonna, trap, pop, and indie disco. Much of her childhood was spent gazing out of the window from her hospital bed due to hip dysplasia, which led to a very vivid imagination to grow.

Across Jessica Winter’s debut EP ‘Limerence’ for new label Lucky Number, Winter shows her versatility as an artist, from the cinematic-pop aesthetics present in ‘Choreograph’, to a more raucous, dance-heavy approach with ‘Funk This Up’. Grounded within her unique, unmistakable style, Winter delves into everything from synth-pop, punk, and 80’s glam and cements her glimmering pop vision.

“Limerence was written during a time when I was trying to understand my relationship to love and my behaviours around it.” says Jessica; “Love confuses me so much and I think this EP demonstrates that.”

A recreational offshoot of the band Pleasure, Portland's Lights Out were led by their trumpeter Tonmy Collins as a way of staying musically exercised, pushing the envelope and getting a few local bookings on the side when Pleasure weren't on the road. Their sound started out as jazz fusion but they soon developed into a monstrously funky synth/-led funk rollercoaster. as vocalist Andy Stokes and guitarist Greg "Gee Mack" Dalton fronted the band.
The four tracks here were recorded as a demo for Solar Records in 1982 at Wave Sound Studios - a facility more used to housing punk acts such as The Wipers and The Rats - but the label 'fumbled' it and the band fellow apart soon after. Some 40 years on, the likes of 'Surrender Your Love' and 'Tonight' still sound fresh as the proverbial daisy, and likely to lure feet onto the dancefloor.

It may have snowed yesterday in New York, but summer is on the horizon. Yung Bae, whose real name is Dallas Cotton, wants to kick off the summer a little early with his new studio album: Bae 2.

Get ready for an explosion of disco, funk, hip-hop and soul with this album!

A session of electrifying and groovy hits. From track to track, it's a celebration of rhythm and dance. Tasteful samples that are blended into something new, and unique from their origin in this album.

180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
PVC PROTECTIVE SLEEVE
GATEFOLD SLEEVE WITH VELVET SPOT VARNISH ON THE OUTSIDE AND IMAGES OF ICONIC MOVIE POSTERS ON THE INSIDE
4-PAGE INSERT
A SELECTION OF DEFINING MORRICONE SONGS, FEATURED IN CLASSIC MOVIES AND SERIES “VERUSCHKA”, “SLALOM”, “ALIBI”, “VIOLENT CITY”, “MACHINE GUN MCCAIN”, AND MANY MORE
LINER NOTES BY CLAUDIO FUIANO
PART OF THE MORRICONE THEMES COLLECTION
THE SPINES OF THE FIVE TITLES FORM ONE IMAGE TOGETHER
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE SERIES ON MORRICONEONVINYL
BLACK VINYL

Lounge is the third in a series of five double vinyl releases that bring together some of Ennio Morricone’s greatest soundtrack music. Each collection centres on a different movie genre, together they allow the listener to rediscover the unmatched genius of the greatest movie composer of all time. The Maestro. This collection was announced before Ennio Morricone passed away on July 6, 2020. We’ll continue to release the series to honour this great composer.

The term Lounge Music is not one that Ennio Morricone would have heard at the time he was composing these pieces for the movies that they enhanced, but it is one has been retrospectively applied to a certain type of music, and it is a style that Morricone has contributed a great deal towards.

Lounge refers to a type of easy listening music that began to be popular in the 1950s and developed right through the 1960s and into the 1970s. This was sophisticated music for an adult audience. Lounge music combined its American influences with music that was popular outside the USA such as Latin, Hawaiian, Polynesian, French , and many others. This was an era that was inspired by new inventions. Lounge mimicked the space-age sound effects of the time and the advent of stereophonic technology allowed spatial audio techniques to be used to full effect.

This collection is not about a specific genre of music for film, it is a celebration of Lounge style pieces by Morricone that are capable of evoking in the listener thoughts of easy living, sophistication, romantic moods, and the excitement of a 1950s cocktail lounge or a 1960s nightclub.

Starting 70 years ago as an arranger for the piece Mamma Bianca, Ennio Morricone is the emperor of scores and soundtracks. Morricone has always been a huge influence for the likes of Hans Zimmer, Danger Mouse, Muse, Metallica and many more musicians. He was one of the most successful composers of all-time, selling over 70 million records and winning dozens of awards.

Lounge on black vinyl includes a 4-page insert with liner notes written by Claudio Fuiano. The gatefold sleeve contains a velvet spot varnish on the outside and images of iconic movie posters on the inside.

Four new tracks from Eb Flow mark the latest release from the ever prolific Constant Sound label, as ever providing solid and dependable dancefloor gear that boasts a myriad of different flavours. 'Sunshine' wastes no time setting up a strutting, Van Helden-esque groove and lets it roll, adding a few vaguely nostalgic samples on top. 'Running' has more of a breaks feel, harking back to the days of rave's roots when breaks and acid could sit together naturally rather than in different genre pigeonholes. 'Before' is the most minimal of the four, peppered with frisky garage snares and a subtle but ultimately devastating filter breakdown, while a feelgood gospel-style vocal gives the closer, 'Searching', a lovely optimistic tint. Constant Sound continue to deliver.

Neapolitan producer Partenope certainly wears a big Underground Resistance influence on his sleeve in the case of 'Odysseia' - it's even mentioned in the press release, and we're not going to argue either. But it's no bad thing, especially as it's a general love of the soulful, uplifting, musical end of the techno scale rather than a creative plunder of any UR track in particular. The label has pulled out the big guns with a Gerd Janson remix to accompany it too, and Janson certainly warm acid trance

Like a US house producers' version of the fabled grime MC battle competition 'Lord of the Mics', Brawther and Chez Damier came up with the idea of a producer contest to bring together the members of the Interweaved community, with the winners of the first round of submissions sharing their stems with the rest of the community, inviting remixes.
French born Roy Vision received the most votes in the online poll for his track '4 One Another' - a house bomb full of sub-bass pressure, craftily employed vocals and deft drum programming. The original is featured here, alongside mixes from Australian underground hero Marley Sherman, who took the trophy for his uplifting remix. London Based DJ Rouge, meanwhile hails from Ireland but loves original Italian deep house of yesteryear, and his offering was the second most voted work and is included here, slower and more wistful but still chunky in the beats department, with Dunique's spoken word part adding a quietly philosophical dimension to both the original and chirpy, cheery sounding mix from Montreal wonderkid South Shore Garage.

UK producer Dennis Huddleston goes by the artist name of 36. He is a much-loved producer with a fine back catalogue which is investigated here with The Box, a new collection of his earliest and perhaps most admired works. They were all written between 2005 and 2012 and are drawn from albums such as 2009's Hypersona, 2010's Hollow and 2012's Lithea. The bumper six vinyl collection also features a bonus album, Orphans, of all new and previously unreleased tracks. There is a real depth of range and emotion to these tracks so it is no wonder the artist says they are some of the most personally cherished works he has written.

If you find the time, please come and stay a while in abracadabra’s beautiful neighbourhood; a magically wonky wonderland where strangers leave as friends to a block party soundtrack as eclectic as it is infectious. The California duo’s album shapes & colors is a dazzling collage of psych-fuelled synthscapes and contemporary Baroque-pop of anti-capitalist movements and escapism, precisely pieced around their own working lives in a blue-collar town.
In the heart of Oakland’s industrial Jingletown above a former auto-repair shop in what was once a mechanics’ break room where poker rounds ensued, Hannah Skelton (Vocals, Synthesizers) and Chris Niles, (Bass, Synthesizers) constructed the angular 80s-tinged anthems (think John Hughes montages to Talking Heads) of their new album, to positively offset the pandemic’s amplification of dysfunctional society. “It reflects our current reality: a huge mess that is systematically broken but isn’t entirely lost,” Hannah tells. “We’re inviting listeners to conjure up every drop of hope and willpower left inside them, pour that into the giant vat of anger and frustration bubbling inside us all, and with this potion collectively enact the necessary change to bring love and light into this dark space.”
When Covid forced Hannah from her salon in San Francisco to become a backyard mobile hairdresser, what she saw inspired them both and the lyrical foundations for their new record. “I’d drive to mansions and people would complain about how hard the pandemic had been next to their swimming pool and tennis courts.” First meeting after the album’s co-producer Jason Kick (Mild High Club, Sonny and the Sunsets) recruited the pair for a Halloween band covering Eurythmics’ art-rock debut ‘In The Garden,’ the pair hit it off and shapes & colors is a product of the years that followed. It combines Chris’ own rhythmic demos following years on the road touring and opening for Amon Tobin, Matthew Dear and Generationals in Maus Haus with Hannah’s lyrical musings honed from project Cassiopeia, so even when topics are as heavy as the beats, they’re met with luminously positive arrangements of hope and warmth.
The by-product of a psychedelic New Year’s Eve escaping a monotonous 2020 reality, the title track itself captures fireworks over East Oakland as viewed from the pair’s couch whilst listening to Mort Garson’s Plantasia for 6 hours straight. The daydream collage of ‘inyo county’ is “a little souvenir taking me back into the bottled-up essence of a slow lazy morning, waking up in bed far from home,” Hannah tells recalling those enforced stay-at-home days. “It fell out of me because I was craving that blissful flavour.” Meanwhile ‘dawn of the age of aquarius’s new parallel reality evolved from a happy accident when their demos had reset to a drone which Jason reworked into a Laurie Anderson-esque breathy vocoder effect. Even bloops and beeps from a forgotten recording session at the Vintage Synthesizer Museum in Emeryville can be heard, where the pair used Mini Moog, Fairlight EMI and ARP 2600 to arrange their sound into shapes whilst distortion and dirt from mixing on 1979 Neve 5313 Console added to the recordings’ color.
Casting a brighter rainbow still, in all its pastel-hued glory, Hannah, also illustrated a self-portrait of the band for the album artwork. “It reflects our makeshift recording studio to encapsulate all aspects of that time and space,” she shares of their abode where, over an intense two-week period and fuelled by the aroma of fermenting vino from the winery below, their single chord, bass and drum-heavy, groove-first momentum took them on an unexpected journey whilst the next-door couple would fire pizzas in their yard and a grandfather across the road would sweep the street clean. “We’d drink coffee and start the day, consistently working, without interruption,” Chris tells of finding their flow. “The loft is a cool space with skylights, tall ceilings and no shared walls so we could be as loud as we wanted to be.”
Just as well. Diving into decades of electronica and crunchy sound effects, field recordings and animal sounds, blended with an infectious Latin influence, shapes & colors is bolstered by live percussionists Greg Poneris (drums), K. Dylan Edrich (Vocals, Percussion: congas, bongos, chimes, cow bells and wood blocks, tone drum and tri-tone whistle) and Tom Smith (Guitar, Synthesizers, Vocals).
NIMBY crews grab those earplugs now. abracadabra is your new noisy neighbour, and there’s no turning this party down.

Crackled radio-like transmissions from Norway's rural hinterland. Juni Habel's fragile finger-picked lullabies warm themselves by the open fire with her rich intimate voice atop twinkling arrangements and strange percussive instrumentation. Like glowing embers in the dark, these songs are odes to life and death, the beauty of belonging and human kinship with nature.
Push open the door of the old school house in the remote flatlands of Southern Norway that Juni Habel shares with her close-knit family and climb the stairs; you’ll find yourself in a former classroom – the home of her new album Carvings. A songbook of life’s lessons offering an expansive perspective as it navigates personal shadows between darkness and light.
“I knew I wanted to write from a larger perspective. I wanted to write about the course of nature, and the people in it - life and death, beauty and tragedy.” Juni says, “loss - the search for the dead - grasping to find the words, and liberation of giving that up. I also wanted to explore my own kinship with nature - a sense of belonging, and notice what is around with gratitude and zest for life.”
This unyielding spirit of family and nature is etched into Carvings’ unschooled approach. With beauty in mock-simplicity and radiating humanity like the music of Tia Blake, Julie Byrne or Myriam Gendron, Juni’s songwriting unfolds on her own terms, and is the sound of facing whatever mother nature decides will find its way to the top of the list.
Recorded between the classroom (‘big hall’), the hallway on the 2nd floor, and her bedroom with simple gear and vocals laid down in a single take. Co-producer, musician and singer Stian Skaaden, became her melodic confidant and experimental co-conspirator halving the burden by building the album’s layers through blowing a pipe, playing bow on the banjo, bottles or glockenspiel. “With this album I wanted to lean deeper into the process. The title Carvings illustrates thoroughness. It was a vulnerable project, to strive for creating something truly beautiful, to pour my soul into it,” she says.
Uninhibited by the possibility of ‘mistakes’ and jamming until she struck gold, Juni confidently discovered the truest expression of herself. “It takes courage to do things ‘wrong’ with uncertainty, record lyrics which are strange but feel right, on crappy mics, it can be good to fumble a bit,” Juni says before tellingly, “the joy of playing is quite fragile. I have to protect it. You can't use your head, you have to be inside the song.”

Released for the very first time in the format it was recorded for. • The Holy grail of Bolan’s unreleased soul recordings as producer • Includes completely unheard version of Do Your Thing taken from newly acquired original reels. • Features completely reworked version of classic T. Rex Tracks ‘Jitterbug Love’, ‘Get it On’, ‘Sunken Rags’, and the never released in Marc’s lifetime ‘Sailors of the highway’. • Besides some self-released gospel recordings Pat Hall never released anything again. This album remains the sole released recordings of this extraordinary singer.

David Walters's new album Soul Tropical on French label Heavenly Sweetness is perfectly titled. It is a lush collection of soul so tropical you feel as if you're dancing deep in a steamy jungle as the music uplifts and truly nourishes. It draws on his family heritage in the West Indies and finds David once again singing about this famous string of sun-kissed islands across 13 joyful cuts. These are tracks with rich arrangements and plenty of world instruments making a fusion of disco, zouk, Caribbean, Afrobeat and funk that make a lasting impression. An essential album as summer approaches.

Ten years after our initial survey of Afro-Latin accented rhythm & blues from the mid-century, Jazzman proudly presents a fourth installment, packed with as many musical surprises as the first. With music plucked from an era spanning the late 1940s into the early 60s, Jukebox Mambo IV highlights yet again the unparalleled musical creativity of the post war era, and shows how the infusion of afro-latin rhythms was key to these revolutions.

Lovingly and painstakingly researched and curated, the album boasts 23 tracks, many previously uncompiled, touching on jazz, blues, doo wop, calypso, rock & roll, gospel and more. Featuring individual track notes for every song along with some never seen before photographs of the artists, Jukebox Mambo Vol IV maintains the same high production values of each previous volume, and indeed the wider Jazzman catalogue.

Light in the Attic’s Pacific Breeze series has supplied the world’s growing legions of Japanese music fans with an expertly curated selection of the most sought-after City Pop recordings—the mesmerizing and nebulous genre of Japanese bubble-era music of the ‘70s-’80s that encompasses AOR, R&B, jazz fusion, funk, boogie and disco. These familiar sounds are spun through the unique lens of optimistic, cosmopolitan fantasy colored by Japan’s affluence at the time. Much of the music has previously been nearly impossible to acquire outside of Japan and continues to captivate listeners with its unique blend of groove-laden escapism, even birthing wholly new genres such as Vaporwave.

Pacific Breeze 3: Japanese City Pop, AOR & Boogie 1975-1987 marks the latest chapter in the famed series and features holy grails plus under-the-radar rarities. The collection bursts at the seams to reveal some of the greatest Japanese tracks ever laid to tape, pushing towards the edge of City Pop to reveal glimmers of the next waves of styles to spring forth from the country’s creative minds. The appearance of Pizzicato Five hint at the emergence of Shibuya-kei while the influence of hip hop and electro as an emerging global trend are also evident here through the prevalence of heavier programmed drum beats on tracks such as “Heartbeat” by Miho Fujiwara.

This volume of Pacific Breeze, like its predecessors, is a female-forward offering with many tracks being voiced by women who would become household names in Japan as actresses and pop idols. Their songs here subvert the norm and brim with an innovative spirit that shatters gender roles in favor of sonic transcendence. Techno-pop classics from Susan, Miharu Koshi and Chiemi Manabe sit alongside sublime funk from Atsuko Nina and Naomi Akimoto while Teresa Noda slides into the mix with a sultry reggae jam. The genre span is stretched wider with hypnotic jazz fusion by Parachute and Hiroyuki Namba, a synthesizer fantasy from Osamu Shoji, and magnetic pop by Makoto Matsushita and Chu Kosaka.

Although not front and center, the visionary members of Yellow Magic Orchestra are still very present on Pacific Breeze 3, with Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Yukihiro Takahashi taking up producer and musician roles on many of these tracks. Pacific Breeze 3 serves up a captivating musical journey that adds an essential chapter to the iconic compilation series.

Tracklist:

Naomi Akimoto - Bewitched (Are You Leaving Soon), Atsuko Nina - Tonkachi, Miho Fujiwara - Heartbeat, Miharu Koshi - Scandal Night, Chu Kosaka - Shirakechimauze, Teresa Noda - Tropical Love, Makoto Matsushita - Business Man Pt. 1, Susan - Ah! Soka, Yukako Hayase - Suiyoubi Madeni Shinitaino, Parachute - Kowloon Daily, Hiroyuki Namba - Tropical Exposition (Who Done It? Version), Pizzicato Five - Boy Meets Girl, Mari Iijima - Love Sick, 1986 Omega Tribe - Cosmic Love, Osamu Shoji - Pub Casablanca, Chiemi Manabe - Untotooku

Tape

The next issue in the on-going Mastermix series features a centerpiece of Frankfurt’s club history: Wild Pitch Club.

A predecessor to the esteemed Robert Johnson and a stepping stone for Panorama Bar’s very own nd_baumecker.

Founded by Playhouse masterminds Ata and the late Heiko M/S/O it was a Thursday club night that heavily featured house music as a prescription to the ongoing techno fever. Enamored with the US-American roots of it and all things deep, it not only presented the right records, but also their creators and protagonists. With a string of guest DJs from Robert Hood and Claude Young to Kerri Chandler and Theo Parrish as well as talent from the UK and Europe, it was one of the culture’s hubs at the time.

Here you have its testimony. Selected and mixed by Ata and nd_baumecker, it’s an authentic snapshot of the club’s vibe and spirit, spread over a collectable tape (download included) and a pleasant streaming version, it’s the full dosage. Like Roach Motel confessed: Wild Pitch, I love you.

Started as a reggae band, Chequers were formed by the Matthias Brothers, John & Richard, in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire in 1973. Inititally releasing in the early part of the 1970s (with their first single Rudi's In Love charting in the UK) their sound then developed to also incorporate Philly soul influences in the mid-70s, then releasing a rare but solid LP 'Check Us Out', in 1976. The group eventually evolved into a seven piece funk outfit in the late 70s, playing shows to larger and larger audiences and touring throughout the UK & Europe.

1980 saw the birth of the Matthias brothers' own small independent outlet for the group, Matthias Records. The press release of the new label's first single declared that their "roots in the reggae and soul music of the last mod era" were being brought up to date, now embracing "the music of today and tomorrow...". That 45 (the cheeky pop-punk meets ska cover version of Midnight Hour, backed with the uptempo instrumental funk of Move Up) didn't necessarily come good on that promise. 3 years would then pass until this 45 showcased the throughly-updated & stellar electro-boogie sound of Hard Times and it's equally strong b-side If You Want My Love.

Following this neither Matthias Records nor Chequers as a group ever released anything further - the record's scarcity (and hideously inflated prices on today's secondhand market) hint at low sales and potential distribution problems upon it's original release, perhaps leading to the label and the group calling it a day. Conjecture aside, there's really no denying this record slaps, and with discogs prices reaching beyond ridiculous levels there is only one option - get it before it's gone!

Anne's 7th Opus in 13 Years, Containing 6 Fantastic Covers and 6 of Her Own Songs, Recorded in One of the Most Prestigious Studios in Montreal with Her Original Blue Mind Team

Fresh from the success of her single "Killing Me Softly" from her previous album Keys to My Heart, Anne Bisson, singer-songwriter and jazz pianist, decided to perform and record more standards from the American jazz songbook, as well as new arrangements of classic songs that were so much a part of her teenage years.

Be My Lover, Anne's seventh album is, therefore, a savoury feast of original compositions and classic songs in her own bold new arrangements for acoustic trio. While still in the 'Smooth Jazz' genre, the presence of a Fender Rhodes, the legendary '70s keyboard, along with an electric bass, impart the album with quite a unique tone.

After over 18 months of musical experimentation and other creative endeavours, Anne once again brought together master drummer Paul Brochu (Gino Vanelli, Michel Legrand, UZEB) and proficient bassist Jean-Bertrand Carbou from France, for a series of informal sessions to explore the songs that were being considered for this seventh release.

These two musicians have been valuable collaborators for several years now. Paul has been featured on many of Anne's albums, notably Blue Mind, which made a huge splash when it appeared, with over 35,000 hard copies sold, while Jean-Bertrand's playing has also graced several of her albums.

Since 2009, the three have performed at several important venues, including Le Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, as well as other festivals in the United States and Mexico.

What holds them together is an evident complicity which is present from the very first notes. Their musical contributions are precise and deeply heart-felt. Their virtuoso playing greatly enhances these songs without turning them into mere technical exercises.

With precision playing, subtlety and attention to detail, as well as being recorded in impeccable High Definition, these songs will definitely please Anne's audiophile fans, while also appealing to a wider audience.



All About Ultimate High Quality CD (UHQCD)
Many years have passed since the birth of the Audio Compact Disc (CD) back in 1982. By use of High-Quality materials and a totally different manufacturing method, the definitive version of audiophile audio CD was born. Playable on any CD player, the Ultimate High Quality CD greatly surpasses all previous CDs before it!

The Ultimate High Quality CD (UHQCD):
UHQCD is a radical change to the CD manufacturing process itself. The conventional wisdom about CD manufacturing, which had remained largely unchanged across the world for over 30 years, has been exhaustively questioned. Through this effort, the ultimate in quality was attained - a level of quality that is certainly impossible to achieve with existing CD discs.

The Ultimate High Quality CD was developed through an effort to improve audio quality by simply upgrading the materials used in ordinary CDs to higher quality materials. For the substrate a high-transparency and high-fluidity polycarbonate (a type of plastic) of the type used for LCD panels was used, while for the reflective layer, low-cost, common aluminium was replaced with a unique and expensive alloy of high-reflectivity.

Differences in manufacturing methods:
Conventional CDs are produced using the technique of injection moulding to form "pits" of data on polycarbonate material. Metal plate on which "pits" representing audio source data are formed is used as a die. This is called the "stamper." Polycarbonate is melted at high temperature and poured into the die to duplicate the pit patterns on the stamper.

This method is efficient because it enables high-speed production, but it does not enable totally accurate or complete duplication of the pits on the stamper. As a melted plastic, polycarbonate is inevitably viscous, so it cannot penetrate completely into every land and groove of the tiny pits of the stamper.

The Ultimate High Quality CD photopolymer is used instead of polycarbonate to replicate the pits of the stamper. In their normal state, photopolymers are liquids, but one of their characteristic properties is that they harden when exposed to light of certain wavelengths. The advantage of this property, perfect replication of very finely detailed pits was achieved. Photopolymers in the liquid state are able to penetrate into the tiniest corners of pits on the stamper so that the pattern of the pits is reproduced to an extremely high level of accuracy. The Ultimate High Quality CD reproduces audio with greater precision and at a level that is impossible to achieve using conventional CD production technology!

WRWTFWW Records is very excited to present a new full-length collaborative project by Japanese ambient/environmental legend Takashi Kokubo (Ion Series) and Italian/Swiss trombonist Andrea Esperti (Esperti Project): Music for a Cosmic Garden.

Recorded during the heights of the pandemic and completed in February 2021, the majestic 8-track ethereal/botanical soundscape created by Kokubo and Esperti is available as a limited edition double LP, a digipack CD, as well as in digital format.

Takashi KOKUBO, environmental music figure, celebrated sound designer, and founder of Studio Ion, has released over 20 albums, including the genre-defining and highly sought-after Ion Series. He's also played a major role in the sonic identity of Japan, creating the country’s mobile phone earthquake alert sound, credit card payment validation jingles, and much more. In 2020, Takashi Kokubo received a Grammy nomination for his track "A Dream Sails Out to Sea, Scene 3" off Light in the Attic’s Kankyo Ongaku compilation. He is known for recording “sound scenes from nature” around the world using a binaural CyberPhonic microphone of his own invention and for his very unique brand of healing music.

Andrea ESPERTI is a Swiss trombonist and composer originally from Puglia (Italy). He plays in multiple genres (classical, pop, world, electro, jazz) with a globe-trotting approach: encounters with peers, rhythmic exchanges, and unplanned music projects; this is where lies the foundation of his work.

Music for a Cosmic Garden is an ode to celestial botanics, a contemporary and hallucinogenic take on the soothing ambient genre immortalized by artists such as Midori Takada and Satoshi Ashikawa, a beautiful pairing of synthesizers and the mighty trombone, taking you to a meditative galaxy far, far away, where other-worldly is just another word for cozy.

Recommended track for maximum pleasure: "Gaia’s Love Theme".

Lifted From Hubbard's Lauded 1979 Lp 'the Love Connection', This Sublime Piece Of Melodic, Deep, Soul/Jazz Will Have Ears And Minds Open With It's Instantly Recognisable Opening String Sequence.

Used To Devastating Effect On Pepe Bradock's All-time 1999 Deep-house Classic 'deep Burnt', Those Sweeping Strings Capture Us And Lead Us Into A Epic Journey With The Wondrous Vocal Stylings Of The Legendary Singer Al Jarreau.

This Is Prime Early Morning Music, Pushing All The Right Buttons & Spreading Light Wherever It Is Played, A Beautiful Beautiful Record Indeed! What Is Essentially An Extended And Rearranged Version Of Hubbard's 1967 Original, The '79 Version Of 'little Sunflower' Boasts A Sumptuous Arrangement & Production From The Mighty Claus Ogerman (Ben E King, Mel Torme, Bill Evans, Antonio Carlos Jobim & More).

A Truly Wondrous Piece Of Music, Reissued On A Single Side In It's Full 12" Length Of 9+ Minutes From The Source Archive Audio. Fully Legit, Licensed And Reissued With Love By Above Board Distribution And Columbia Records/Sony Bmg For Record Store Day, 2019.

Nirvana's third LP is a masterpiece of late UK sixties popsike turning into symphonic pop, but not having received proper promotion despite being equally good as, if not better than their previous releases, it also marked the end of the collaborations between Patrick Campbel-Lyons and Alex Spyropoulos back in 1969.



Nirvana presented it to Island boss Chris Blackwell under the title of Black Flower. Blackwell, however, decided to turn it down for release, but gave the masters to Campbell-Lyons and Spyropoulos so they could find a new label to release the album. That was to happen in the USA through Metromedia Records in 1969. At that time, the label's owner went through a scandal due to the payola days, which left Nirvana's third offering without any promotion - as a result of that, very few copies were pressed. There was also a UK release on PYE and it was even released by Metromedia in Japan. However, for years it remained as "the lost" Nirvana release, with the added fact that none of the released editions launched the album under its original title of Black Flower but under the rather cryptic Dedicated To Markos II (read why in the liner notes!).



Musically, this is Nirvana at their best. The tune that should have been the title track, Black Flower, is an incredible piece of symphonic psychedelia and probably the best produced Nirvana track ever. Campbell-Lyons and Spyropoulos were backed for the occasion by Spooky Tooth, who played on many tracks of the album, and big orchestral arrangements mesmerize the listener in one of the duo's darkest offerings. This song aside, the rest of the album was deemed as sounding too much like a French soundtrack by Island, which may do at some points –without that being a bad thing,– but there is a lot more to it, since Nirvana have not lost that popsike edge that characterised their sound in their two previous outings.



This is also a record that was widely acclaimed in the hip hop scene. And samplers of it have been used by several artists, most notably DJ Shadow used Love Suite in his 1996 debut album Endtroducing.



The Wah Wah edition has been remastered from the original tapes by Roger Prades @ Prades Mastering and comes with a bonus 7" EP and a four page colour insert with liner notes by Malcom Dome, plus a sheet with the lyrics of the songs. First ever official vinyl reissue since 1970 in a limited edition of 500 copies only!

'In Session' is the debut album from UK dub producer Mali-I released on None More Records. Mali-I is Mali Baden-Powell (Z Lovecraft / Rhythm Section / Monzanto Sound).
Huey Morgan, Don Letts and Jamz Supernova have played singles 'Heaven Sent' and 'This Place' on BBC 6music and 1extra, with regular airplay across NTS, WWFM and KCRW stations.
The album draws on Mali-I's deep love of UK dub and the likes of sound system innovators such as The Bug, Wackies and Channel One, but brings in contemporary London sounds via his long time affiliation with London party and label Rhythm Section. Mali-I is joined by a host of killer guest vocalists across the record, including the inimitable Natty Wylah, the heavenly vocals of Ms. Ray, J Caesar's soulful voice and Lincoln Barrett's deep and moody snarl across two tracks.

Repress!

Spanish DJ and producer Indira Paganotto has unveiled her new EP ‘Lions Of God’ out on vinyl early 2023.

A four-track release, ‘Lions Of God’ kicks off with ‘Legend’, a pulsating, high-energy club cut that taps into Indira’s trademark ‘psytechno’ sound. Setting the tone for the rest of the record, it is followed by the slamming techno meets spiritual vocals of ‘Diabla’, hypnotic, highly emotive vibes of ‘Angels Never Die’, and finally the title track ‘Lions Of God’, a pumping techno cut laced with poignant breakdowns. She returns to KNTXT following last year’s ‘Himalaya’ EP.

“Indira is baaaaack!” says KNTXT label head Charlotte de Witte. “I’ve been playing these tracks for a while now and they’ve been slaying every single dance floor. In my opinion, this is her best work so far and I’m very excited to have her on board for another psytrance influenced EP on KNTXT. She’s been killing it worldwide the past couple of months and it’s been an honor to follow her journey from up close. Big things are coming!”

“‘Lions Of God’ EP is the perfect summary of these twelve years of experimentation with my own psytechno sound,” Indira adds. “You will enter the depths of my mind with these tracks, and you will experience four different stories but with the same beginning and end, the search for truth, hope and love. Low riding as if a horse were taking you running without stopping, you feel melancholic and hopeful, hidden messages that if you know me you will know why they are there! I hope you have a good trip with this EP! Thanks to my sister Charlotte and the whole KNTXT family for your support and sharing my music and my being!

One of Spain’s hottest young dance talents, Indira Paganotto’s sets are full of elegance and effusive danceability, with a quality selection that spans 90s disco to the most current underground techno music.

‘Lions Of God’ sees Indira Paganotto illustrate why she is one of the hottest names on the scene right now.

New TTJ with special reworks. ESSENTIAL ITEM. NO REPRESS

Ten of Tee Fujii’s favourite Three Blind Mice tracks, including “Misty” have been freshly remastered and finally available for the first time on Impex Records’ deluxe 180-gram LP. Tsuyoshi Yamamoto, Isao Suzuki, Ayako Hosokawa, Shoji Yokouchi, and other popular TBM musicians showcase their artistry and passion for jazz under the guidance of Fujii-san and engineer Yoshihiko Kannari. Impex’s 2-LP set is placed in a special gatefold jacket and features heavy board backing, new art and special finishes for a truly bespoke audiophile package.

Limited to 3,000 individually numbered pressings, the famous sound of Tee Fujii won’t be the same when they’re gone.

Russell Small and DNO P jump on remix duties delivering an upbeat house music interpretation that will put your feet firmly on the dance floor and a smile across your face.

Russell Small has had a string of chart topping tunes with Phatts and Small and the Freemasons so this remix has a pedigree that is second to none.

LazerGirl is a Brighton based European Electronic Dance Music singer and songwriter. She is bright and full of sass, just like her music. Her pulse racing dance music with a euro twist allows her to stand out from the crowd as her style is fresh and catchy and each song is packed full of energy.

Brighton producer and DJ Steve Mac delivers a full on acid house excursion with his stylish remix of LazerGirl's "Tocarme".

Steve Mac has a prestigious bio and discography that most producers can only dream about and this remix exudes all the class you would expect from an artist of this calibre.

With its feet planted firmly in 2020, the remix effortlessly transports you back to the second summer of love combining the old school with the new decade.

Pure Class!

Paul Kelly, who died in South Carolina in 2012, only ever had one genuine 'hit', ”Stealing In The Name Of The Lord” in 1970, despite a recording career that lasted the best part of three decades. He also had the misfortune in later years to be confused with an Australian singer of the same name.

He was, however, a singer and writer of unusual and undeniable talent, and in the first half of the seventies -a time when his songs were in considerable demand- cut two of the greatest of all soul LPs down in Nashville, “Don't Burn Me” and “Hooked, Hogtied & Collared” with long-time mentor and producer Buddy Killen, on which the two self-penned tracks on this single initially appeared.

It is the first time either of them have been featured on a 45. “Tremble” is a lovely relaxed dance side, bathed in shimmering strings, while “Come With Me” flows effortlessly underneath Paul's sublime aching singing. Enjoy!

First release from Ten Lovers Music in 2023 is from Stefano De Santis with a superb 7″ featuring two tracks Barra Nova and Partido#2, Barra Nova is an up-tempo Brazilian Broken Beat Fusion piece carrying on from where his last tack on Ten Lovers Music “Song For George D.” TLM030 left off. The AA side drops a few gears for some slow Broken Beat action with the track Partido#2 but still retaining his unmistakable sound, keeping it jazzy. Stefano is a multi instrumentalist, playing the Rhodes Piano, Moog, Prophet 5, Solina Strings Ensemble, Juno 6, Upright Piano and Percussion on both tracks. This 7″ is release 40 number on Ten Lovers Music, so this a very proud time for us to be able to put out such amazing music.

Across 2LPs comes a unique collection of authentic 70s nostalgia.
Blissful and relaxing, compiled together onto vinyl is the warm sound of 32 of the decade’s finest works of easy listening pop.
Find classic lounge tracks from The Manhattan Transfer, Neil Diamond and Demis Roussos alongside Dionne Warwick, Commodores, Billy Joel and many more.

Re-Discover mythical 60"s Hits sung by Soul, Funk, Rock & Folk Icons in the unique double Vinyle!

• The Bob Andy catalogue is one of the most celebrated in the history of Jamaican music. His touchstone LP from
Studio One is a best-selling singles compilation simply entitled Song Book, a cornerstone of the Studio One
catalogue.
• Nine of 12 tracks recorded for this project appeared on Song Book.
• Bob Andy's works have been covered dozens of times, Tarrus Riley "Desperate Lover"; Bitty McLean "Let Them
Say"; Beres Hammond "I've Got To Go Back Home," Olaf Blackwood "You Don't Know"
• Focus tracks: Tarrus Riley "Desperate Lover”; Bitty McLean "Let Them Say"; Beres Hammond "I've Got To Go
Back Home," Olaf Blackwood "You Don't Know"
• Liner notes written by Herbie Miller

The studio at 122 West Loveland Avenue was not an unfamiliar space for Steve Okonski, the leader of his eponymous trio Okonski. Ever since the Colemine label set up shop in Loveland, Ohio it has been a host to a number of groups passing through town, including Durand Jones and the Indications who all of this trio's members have connections to. After setting aside some time in winter of 2020, Okonski, trained initially as a classical pianist, invited Michael Isvara "Ish" Montgomery and Aaron Frazer to work on an album that was initially planned to be beat driven and fully composed trio instrumentals. After finishing this first session with some improvisations, a second week was booked in the summer of 2021 to try and capture some more of that spontaneous energy. During this session, the tracks were all improvised and recorded live to a Tascam 388 during several late nights at the Colemine HQ. They were structured to allow the group's collective intuition to fully shape the melodies and arcs of the music. The album opens with Runner Up, where a triumphant yet melancholic melody in the piano leads to a more reserved B-section driven by the drums and bass of Frazer and Montgomery. As you journey through the remainder of the album you are met with a plethora of evoked and explored emotions. The calmness one has walking down a moonlit street after midnight, the connection one has for a person who comes into their world for just a moment or a lifetime, and the nerves and catharsis one feels when starting upon a new, unknown journey. Magnolia closes with Sunday, a track that was recorded late into the night at the close of their first recording session. Without the spontaneity of Sunday, the remainder of Magnolia would likely have never come to fruition. Magnolia was composed from the heart and from the spirit of those in the studio those late nights in Loveland. It is the culmination of an emotional and artistic release that was not afforded or recognized before the band sat at their instruments, and because of that it is introspective, meditative, spiritual, and new.

Limited edition colored pressing is for Indies Only. Vinyl housed in a tip-on jacket. For Fans Of... John Carol Kirby, Pharoah Sanders, Bill Evans, Durand Jones & The Indications, Misha Panfilov. Debut LP from Okonski. Features current and former members of Durand Jones & the Indications (Steve Okonski, Aaron Frazer, and Michael Montgomery). Follows the debut single 'By The Lake', a collaboration with Germanbased artist and new Karma Chief signee Pale Jay (500k Monthly listeners). The studio at 122 West Loveland Avenue was not an unfamiliar space for Steve Okonski, the leader of his eponymous trio Okonski. Ever since the Colemine label set up shop in Loveland, Ohio it has been a host to a number of groups passing through town, including Durand Jones and the Indications who all of this trio’s members have connections to. After setting aside some time in winter of 2020, Okonski, trained initially as a classical pianist, invited Michael Isvara “Ish” Montgomery and Aaron Frazer to work on an album that was initially planned to be beat driven and fully composed trio instrumentals. After finishing this first session with some improvisations, a second week was booked in the summer of 2021 to try and capture some more of that spontaneous energy. During this session, the tracks were all improvised and recorded live to a Tascam 388 during several late nights at the Colemine HQ. They were structured to allow the group’s collective intuition to fully shape the melodies and arcs of the music. The album opens with Runner Up, where a triumphant yet melancholic melody in the piano leads to a more reserved B-section driven by the drums and bass of Frazer and Montgomery. As you journey through the remainder of the album you are met with a plethora of evoked and explored emotions. The calmness one has walking down a moonlit street after midnight, the connection one has for a person who comes into their world for just a moment or a lifetime, and the nerves and catharsis one feels when starting upon a new, unknown journey. Magnolia closes with Sunday, a track that was recorded late into the night at the close of their first recording session. Without the spontaneity of Sunday, the remainder of Magnolia would likely have never come to fruition. Magnolia was composed from the heart and from the spirit of those in the studio those late nights in Loveland. It is the culmination of an emotional and artistic release that was not afforded or recognized before the band sat at their instruments, and because of that it is introspective, meditative, spiritual, and new.

Sunshine pop at its finest! Dotti Holmberg's dreamy vocals superbly
combine with her innocent demeanor and saccharine lyrics to give
listeners a spell-binding mixture of sticky sweet bubblegum pop

Cosmic Romance is the first LP from Los Angles producer MoodHay that beams down to planet Earth in a swirl of lush synthesisers, hypnotic melodies and warm grooves. It’s a journey of emotions, contemporary and classic all the same. The album orbits around earthly elements of R&B, funk and house, seamlessly blurring in a unique way that MoodHay pulls off with an endearing ease here in the early 21st century. It’s a sonically beautiful love note with a lot of attitude that pilots right to the center of your soul, while keeping your body rocking out real smooth.

MoodHay’s hilltop studio is like a hidden oasis out in the desert, mystical and soothing, where he brings gems (like the ones you’ll hear on this album) to life. He sings and plays all the instruments on this record (minus the hot sax on ‘Melodies’) and is truly blooming as a songwriter.
MoodHay has such a fresh energy around him that is certainly felt throughout Cosmic Romance and these songs were methodically crafted to maximise the vibe out on the dance floor on this planet and others out there.

Ben E. Kings (1938-2015) kommerziell erfolgreichster Song ist das weltberühmte Stück "Stand By Me" von 1961. Insofern passt es sehr gut, nach diesem eine Hitkompilation zu benennen. Die Karriere des US-amerikanischen R&B- und Soulsängers startete 1955, als er zur Vokalgruppe Five Crowns stieß und dort James Clark ersetzte. Die Band setzte sich neben King, der als Leadsänger fungierte, aus Charlie Thomas (Tenor), Doc Green (Bariton) und Elsbeary Hobbs (Bass) zusammen. Ab 1958 trat die Formation unter dem Namen The Drifters auf. Von da an stellten sich größere Erfolge ein. So feierten die Drifters zum Beispiel mit dem von Leiber/Stoller produzierten "There Goes My Baby" einen ersten Rang in den R&B-Charts und einem zweiten Platz in der Pophitparade. Nach weniger als einem Jahr verließ King die Drifters und trieb seine Solokarriere voran. Dennoch nahm er noch einige Titel mit der Gruppe auf, darunter die Millionseller "Save The Last Dance For Me" und "Nobody But Me", die jeweils den ersten Platz der Charts erreichten. Nach seinen Soloaufnahmen "Spanish Harlem" (1960) und "Stand By Me" hatte er bis zum Ende der 1960er noch etliche Hits. 1975 gelang ihm mit "Supernatural Thing" ein stattliches Comeback, danach war Kings große Zeit vorbei.

Grant Green’s musical style evolved to embrace jazz-funk as the decade turned to 1970. The guitarist’s vibrant album Green Is Beautiful is a highlight of the era with his distinctive tone shining on a set that included covers of James Brown (“Ain’t It Funky Now”), The Beatles (“A Day In The Life”) & Burt Bacharach (“I’ll Never Fall In Love Again”).

This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

• Co-writer Charles Spurling sang and wrote at King in the late 60s, providing songs for James Brown, Hank Ballard, Junior McCants and Peggy & Artie among others. ‘Ball Of Fire’ is an exceptional song, first recorded by Connie Austin as a smouldering mid-tempo number on which she pours her heart out. It would be updated a year later by Marva Whitney who took it at a faster funkier pace. Charles Spurling remembers Connie as a good-looking, fast-living girl who was murdered in Los Angeles soon after.

• Spurling was a good singer himself and had five King releases between 1967 and 1969. The excellent ‘You’ve Got Love On Top Of Love’ failed to make it to wax until now. Kent found the tape in the King vaults and issued it on CD in 2001; now it is on a righteous single.

Rediscover the most sampled original titles in the history of music! After the success of the first 5 volumes Soul, Funk, Groove,Jazz and Reggae, the Sampled collection is back with a new volume: Sampled Disco Funk! Find original titles sampled by: The Prodigy - Beastie Boys - Tyler The Creator - George Michael - 2Pac...

Record Kicks presents "Yours Truly", the new album by Bordeaux's "Soulboy", Mr. Alexis Evans.

Like fine Red Wine, "Soulboy" Alexis Evans gets better with Age. The best evidence of this is his brand new album "Yours Truly", set for release on February 3rd, 2023 on LP, CD and digital via Milan-based label Record Kicks. Produced and mixed by Louis-Marin Renaud (Lou Doillon, Theo Lawrence, Desmond Myers), "Yours Truly" is the third studio album by Bordeaux-based singer-songwriter Alexis Evans and sees the light 4 years after his previous LP "I've Come A Long Way", defined "Soul album of The Year" by Rolling Stone France. "Yours Truly" consists of 12 brilliantly soulful cuts that take direct inspiration from 60's & 70's classic soul music adding a sound that is firmly rooted in the new millennium.

Anticipated by the first single "Mr Right On Time", the album was recorded between Bordeaux and Nantes during 2021 and beginning of 2022. The idea behind the new album was to find a unique sound, mixing classic 60's & 70's soul music with more contemporary influences such as hip hop beats, jazz, reggae, and Caribbean sounds. To do that, Alexis paired up with producer Louis-Marin Renaud, known for his work with French-English singer, actress and model Lou Doillon and country-soul rising star Theo Lawrence, who took part in the arrangements and mixed the album.

"All instruments were recorded live, some titles were completely live and others got modified, cut, sampled, depending on the tunes in a kind of beatmaking way. It was a very fun and fulfilling project that will sound awesome on stage for sure," explains Alexis.

Lyrically, the album could be described as soulful everyday rhymes. "Love may be the number one subject in soul music and clearly has its place of honor in a few songs ("Close to me", "What is this feeling"), while other songs tend to deal with it in a more cynical but poetic way, for instance on "Mister right on time", in which beauty remains in simplicity," states Mr. Evans. He continues: "Another topic of the album is abandonment ("It matters to me", "The only apple", "Close to the water"). Whether it is the fear of being left behind or the sadness after a loss, this album still bears some traces of lockdown and I was aiming at giving another perspective on different matters, looking at them in a dreamlike way." The themes of the album are reflected in the cover artwork, made by Adrià F Marquès.

Alexis Evans, songwriter with a timeless style based in Bordeaux, France, found the love of music and learnt to play guitar thanks to his father, an English musician. His inspirations range from Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke to David Bowie. At the age of 17 he debuted with his first project "Jumping to the Westside", with which he was awarded the "Cognac Blues Passion" prize and flew to the "International Blues Challenge" in Memphis, Tennessee, where he impressed the American audience even though he was still a teenager. Mr. Evanshas built a household name in the scene as the "enfant prodige of soul" starting with his first album, released in 2015, and consolidated his reputation with his second long play "I've Come a Long Way", released in 2019 on Record Kicks. Rolling Stone France described it as "The Soul album of the year", while Blues & Soul Magazine and BBC 6 defined him as "One of the most exciting additions to the international Soul Scene". Following the release of the album, Alexis toured in France and Europe extensively, stopped only in 2020 by the Pandemic. Thanks to the forced break, Alexis started to lay down the new album, and he's now ready to present the fruit of his hard work: "Yours Truly".

The two full-length records that Jeff Mangum made as Neutral Milk Hotel sound both in and out of time. Like translations of a shared subconscious, 1996's On Avery Island and 1998's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea give voice to the perennial spirit of youthful epiphany, of beginning to see the world clearly, to process and express it-no matter when you encounter them. With lo-fi indie rock, accordion, singing saw, tape collages, the so-called "zanzithophone" and beyond, Neutral Milk Hotel created an eternal entry into their Elephant 6 scene and an enduring feeling of possibility. Mangum was born in the small city of Ruston, Louisiana, in 1970, coming of age within the '80s and '90s indie and punk undergrounds, a movement of teenagers recording in their bedrooms, sharing zines and trading tapes, listening to hardcore and experimental music on college radio. For all the mythology Mangum's elusive persona has accrued-particularly during the 15 years immediately following Aeroplane, when he abruptly left the band behind-it's the beguiling songs themselves that have resonated so deeply for generations. In 2011, Mangum collected nearly all of the band's recorded output in a limited-edition box set (self-released under Neutral Milk Hotel Records, a small operation helmed by Mangum and his mother) which is now re-pressed by Merge. // CONTENTS: Black matte box is a 2-piece telescoping casewrapped package. Outer shrink-wrap includes a front sticker with "Neutral Milk Hotel," and a back sticker listing box contents. The box set includes 2 folded posters, each printed one side and each 24 x 24 inches when flat, and 1 postcard, printed front and back with box set information and sized 3.75 x 5 inches. Vinyl records: 1. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea: LP is 11 tracks pressed 33RPM to black vinyl in a gatefold jacket + printed insert for full album download. --- 2. On Avery Island: 2-LP is 12 tracks pressed to double black vinyl in a gatefold jacket + 11 x 11 printed insert + printed insert for full album download. Sides A, B and C pressed 45RPM. Side D pressed 33RPM. --- 3. Live at Jittery Joe's: 12-inch picture disc is 11 tracks pressed 33RPM to a full color picture disc in a heavyweight poly jacket + printed insert for full album download. --- 4. Ferris Wheel on Fire: 10-inch is 8 tracks pressed 45RPM to black vinyl in a printed jacket + postcard insert + printed insert for full album download. --- 5. Everything Is: 10-inch is 7 tracks pressed 45RPM to black vinyl in a printed jacket + postcard insert + printed insert for full album download --- 6. "Little Birds": 7-inch is 2 tracks pressed 45RPM to black vinyl in a printed jacket + printed insert for full album download 7-inch housed in a heavy-weight poly jacket. --- 7. "You've Passed": 7-inch is 2 tracks pressed 45RPM to black vinyl in a printed jacket + printed insert for full album download. 7-inch housed in a heavy-weight poly jacket. --- 8. "Holland, 1945": 7-inch is 2 tracks pressed 45RPM to black vinyl in a printed jacket + printed insert for full album download. 7-inch housed in a heavyweight poly jacket.

The Origins of Power Pop.
Remastered and pressed on Gold Vinyl. Includes printed inner sleeve.
In these songs you’ll find the DNA of The Direct Hits. Although very Elvis Costello like in both style and vocal delivery, these early recordings, dating from 1979 show a remarkable pop sensibility that had come on leaps and bounds since the release of the band’s first single, the now highly sought after ‘Fashion Plague’ b/w ‘Cheam’ released a year prior to these being recorded. Songs like ‘We broke up today’ have all the hallmarks of classic merseybeat, while out and out power pop like ‘Holiday Shots’ and ‘Fool to fall in love’ encapsulate perfectly the sheer exuberance of the genre.
More than a few steps ahead of several of their contemporaries, the band’s built in tunesmiths Buckmaster and Swan were writing catchy songs that carried a powerful punch performed with the energy and excitement of the period. The Exits left behind a wonderful set of recordings that are worthy of a comprehensive vinyl retrospective release,
These recordings first saw the light of day on a CD only release back in 2007 when Cherry Red released the CD ‘The Legendary Lost Exits album’ through its Rev-Ola offshoot. Reportedly the band members were disappointed with the overall mix on the finished release for being a little Lo-Fi . There are no such issues with this specially remastered version for vinyl. The tracks sound fresh, punchy and full of annoyingly great hooks! We are delighted to bring you yet another great addition to our catalogue of long since undisturbed sleeping giants, the Exits, and their Legendary Lost album!