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Georgette Sayegh & Melhem Barakat – Belghi Kull Mawaidi & Instrumental:

Finally, hopping across from Egypt to Lebanon for this infectious number, Georgette Sayegh delivers what some consider her magnum opus in a captivating duet together with Melhem Barakat, and on the flipside a stripped-down instrumental version that’s equally catchy.

Georgette Sayegh is a legendary Lebanese singer and actress known for her tender and dulcet voice that echoed the grace and beauty of the inimitable Fairuz yet carried its own unique warmth. Her passion for collecting vinyl at an early age formed her eclectic musical palette, and she eventually caught the eyes of the Rahbani brothers and played the lead role in a monthly play written by Fairuz’s son, Ziad. Georgette’s household classic "Yay Yay Ya Nassini” shot her to stardom across the Arab world in the 1970’s, and till this day carries the exact same nostalgia of a Lebanese summertime anthem – flirtatious, jolly, and unfettered. In Belghi Kull Mawaidi (I cancel all my appointments), Sayegh’s voice entwines with compatriot and fellow household staple, Melhem Barakat in an emotional display of longing and depth - her voice delicate yet powerful, effortlessly blending with Barakat's commanding baritone.

The instrumental version on the flipside (surprisingly a stereo mix) reveals a highly catchy arrangement that is lush and emotive, driven by strings that glide smoothly through the melody, while brass instruments add a touch of drama. The rhythm section, punctuated by a steady percussion, anchors the track, allowing the interplay of instruments to build a sense of urgency and longing, accurately reflecting the struggles and emotional resilience that defined Sayegh’s own life.

This reissue, remastered with painstaking care, brings both versions of Belghi Kull Mawaidi back to life, making it an essential addition to any avid listener, DJ or collector’s shelf. It captures the timeless beauty of two of Lebanon's most cherished musical icons, their voices and instruments merging to create a track that resonates through the ages.

Muhammad Al-Najjar
London, April 2025

credits
Audio restoration and vinyl mastering: Colin Young
Lacquer cut: Timmion cutting lab
Sleeve and label artwork: Grotezk Studio
Under License of Voix de L'Orient

One of the most expansive instrumental Hip Hop series to date, MF DOOM’s lauded Special Herbs collection assembles a mountainous collection of his beats, ranging from series exclusives to slightly reworked favorites he produced for himself and others. Released under the alias Metal Fingers, Special Herbs succeeds at capturing DOOM’s highly influential sound which continually breaks and reinterprets the rules of the game in favor of The Super-Villain. The world is a treasure trove of sounds, and the Metal-Fingered DOOM accepts no limits; ’70s Soul/Funk classic, ’80s R&B hits, rap nostalgia, and even soundbites from children’s records & TV all find their place in the ingredients needed to perfect his recipes.

Finally, I was able to devote some time to actually getting some collaborations completed for a new release of the Meeting Of The Minds series, with some brand new names arriving to Future Retro London!

Nebula is one of my favourite artists making new jungle atm, his versatility in music on the darker & lighter sides of the spectrum, the richness of his atmospherics and melodies & the way his drum edits flow throughout his tracks, I consider him a big inspiration in what I make. It was an absolute pleasure to be able to work with him on "Without Fear".

I've been enjoying some of what Stekker's been doing in his music, representing the ruffer lo-fi side of production and he's been putting out some great stuff on his own label Ruff 'n' Tuff as well as on a release he did for Coco Bryce's label Myor. I reached out to him about a collaboration and he had started something, which I was really into and that led to "The Quest".

I owe a lot to DJ Trace, as he was one of the first big names in jungle/d&b to really show me support for what I was doing. He gave me my debut vinyl release when he asked me to remix an old classic of his called "Final Chapta", which he released in 2011 on his label DSCI4. I also had music released on a label he started a few years after that called 117 (which I also helped design artwork for), so we go way back. He's been making more music than ever before recently and I was lucky enough to be able to get a collaboration in with him and "Patterns Of Thought" is the end result of that.

I've known Ark X & Duburban for a number of years, I would see them at a lot of events up north, as well as at events in London that they'd travel down for. They also were good friends with Kid Lib and would drive down with him whenever he was visiting/DJing in London & I was becoming familiar with their music through him, through Ark X's labels Supercharger & Hypercharger (where some of Ark X's music was being released under his previous alias of Black Orchid) & through Duburban's collaborations with Jahganaut. Big up to both of them for collaborating with me on "Come A Dance"

Percussive P (who has previously released on the label with FR037 & our remix on THCFR001) is a top quality producer who I wish had more music/releases out there. I used to play a tune of his called "Gunsmith" a lot in sets, as well as a lot of his collabs with Kid Lib which I was a big fan of. I'd previously collaborated with him on a tune for Dublinquents a few years ago and I was quite keen on doing a new collaboration with him for Meeting Of The Minds, so he sent me some tracks he had started, I picked my favourite to work on and that led to "Impatience".

Fluid Haunts is a solid producer who I was familiar with, but it wasn't until his music was drilled into my head by Dwarde who was playing a few select tunes from him in every single b2b set we had together, that I started to really appreciate his skills. Dwarde would play "Not Your Ordinary Love Song" without fail, in any given moment and time, and it would always get a great reaction from the crowd, so I had to get in touch to see if he'd be up for working with me & thankfully he was! We ended up making "Pineapple Soup" together & I can't remember why it's called that, I think he named the tune ????

Hobzee is one half of Silent Dust (him & Zyon Base) & I used to chat regularly with him and trade music with him on AOL Instant Messenger (showing my age here!) a long while back. He got back in touch with me about wanting to work on music together and he had an early version of "Sunspots" done. It was very promising sounding so I was quite keen to get involved with him on it and I'm grateful that I was able to get him on Future Retro London after many many years of IM chats!

Usually, I limit my collaborations on Meeting Of The Minds to producers that are fairly established and already somewhat known to other people, but for those who don't know who Eff is, she is a potentially familiar face to anyone who has attended a Future Retro London event, as she has been on the door for every single one. One day after a Distant Planet event in Bristol, she mentioned to me that she had an idea for a track inspired by a PFM tune and she already had the title in mind for it, which is "Wavebreak". I was curious about how this would sound in reality, so we met up to work on the tune & she said it was pretty much like how she had envisioned it & I liked how it sounded, so I thought it would be worth putting out on a future Meeting Of The Minds release, which ended up being this one.

Big up to all the artists involved on this edition of Meeting Of The Minds, it's quite a long and arduous task putting together each one, which is why there was such a gap between Vol. 9 & 10 and Vol. 11 & 12. I plan on getting the series back into something more regularly occurring, so hopefully I can actually stick to that plan!

Indie exclusive Peak Edition on Orange & Black Swirl Vinyl, in a gatefold cover + poster.



It's spring of 2023 in the North Carolina Piedmont, and songwriter and singer M.C. Taylor - leader of the band Hiss Golden Messenger - is feeling alive. Joyful. Eternal, he might say. For the Grammy-nominated musician, whose albums have traced an internal path through adulthood, fatherhood, spirituality, and depression for well over a decade, this is something new. "The tunes on Jump for Joy were composed in free moments throughout 2022, a year during which Hiss was on the road more or less constantly," explains Taylor. "And perhaps because the post-pandemic energy out in the world felt so chaotic and uncertain, I found myself thinking a lot about the role that music has played in my life and how exactly I ended up in the rarefied position of leading a band and crew all over the globe through dingy graffiti-scrawled green rooms, venerated music halls, dust-blown roadside motels.

Sometimes playing in front of 5,000; sometimes 200. Sleeping sitting up. Laughing until my stomach hurts. Not being able to fall asleep at 3 a.m. in some anonymous bed because my mind is spinning with anxiety or depression or adrenaline, or because my ears are still ringing. Robbing Peter to pay Paul, then robbing Paul to pay Peter back. Over and over again. It's an outlaw life but one, I'm coming to realize, that makes me happy." The songs that make up Jump for Joy - the sharpest and most autobiographical that Taylor has written under the Hiss name - read as a sort of epistolary, postcards between the present-day songwriter and his alias Michael Crow, a teenaged dreamer very much like Taylor himself, who trips his way through the 14 tunes that make up the record. In this way, Jump for Joy is a meditation on a life lived with art, and the ways that our hopes and dreams and decisions bump up against_ and, with a little bit of luck, occasionally merge with real life. "Creating this character became the way that I could explore these vulnerable, tender moments that were so decisive in my life, even if I didn't know it at the time," explains Taylor.

Produced by Taylor and engineered by longtime Hiss compatriot Scott Hirsch over two weeks in the late fall of 2022 at the fabled Sonic Ranch studio in Tornillo, TX, just a short walk from the Mexican border, Jump for Joy dances with joyful, spontaneous energy that feels like a fresh chapter in the Hiss Golden Messenger oeuvre. Taylor is accompanied throughout the album by his crack live band: guitarist Chris Boerner, bassist Alex Bingham, keyboardist Sam Fribush, and drummer Nick Falk, a collection of musicians that have helped make Hiss Golden Messenger's live performances legendary affairs

Welshman Earl Jeffers, who you may know as Cheesus, has lined up a couple of gems for the Melange label in the early part of this year. This addition to the archives is disco-inspired trip aimed squarely at the floor. 'Jump' kicks off with hulking great kicks, raw chords and twanging guitars that are full of life and soul. 'Intergalactic Jam' is another no-nonsense cut, this time with more low-slung drums, wet hand claps and withering sci-fi synths all providing a foundation for big chord vamps and even bigger vocals.

Mexico-born and based The Funk District has been adding a contemporary spin to funk, soul, disco and Afro for a decade now. His latest takes him to Saint Wax and kicks off with 'Alligator Groove', which is a leggy, strident disco pumper with neat and funky guitar riffs. 'The Reverend' has even fatter drums pumping down and guttural gospel vocals adding emotional intensity. Gledd remixes with a more light-fingered and jazzy touch and flipside cut 'Gimme Something' offers deep disco and then acid tinged house anthem 'A Little More' rounds out the package.

In 2024, Kyoto Jazz Massive released their third album as a digital-only project, 30 years after their debut. It now receives the honor of a special vinyl edition, featuring brand-new exclusive mixes by Young Pulse—elevating these already great tracks to even greater heights, for both your ears and your feet.
This marks the first and exclusive collaboration between KJM and Echoes Of A New Dawn Orchestra (aka Jéroboam), the unique Parisian band that has been performing live with KJM across Europe for the past three years. On this occasion, KJM recorded four new tracks with EOANDO, including three original songs ("Power", "Love Wars", and "Impulsive Procession") and a new rendition of “Stand Up”, a previously released composition. To complete the album, you'll also find a stunning cover of KJM’s iconic track "Substream" by EOANDO, as well as their signature piece, “EOANDO's Theme”.
"Power" and "Stand Up" were recorded with Vanessa Freeman, while "Love Wars" features Bembe Segue. This London-based duo has been singing live with KJM since 2004.
"Power" is a crossover anthem, blending jazz-funk and French disco with a gospel touch. Vanessa Freeman’s uplifting lyrics call for collective awareness and energize audiences. "Love Wars" is a live-band interpretation of broken beat with a boogie spirit, enhanced by Bembe Segue’s sharp and spiritual vocals. “EOANDO’s Theme” was specially composed by Echoes Of A New Dawn Orchestra for KJM, capturing the Okino Brothers' love for boogie-funk jams with Brazilian and Balearic influences reminiscent of Azymuth.
“Impulsive Procession” fuses Afro, funk, jazz, fusion, soul, rock, house, and techno—drawing inspiration from several of KJM’s most respected musical heroes. A brand-new version of “Stand Up”, originally released in 2008, was re-recorded live in the studio with EOANDO and fresh vocals by Vanessa Freeman.
The album closes with a reimagined version of “Substream”, one of KJM’s most beloved tracks, covered by EOANDO for the official Tokyo Crossover/Jazz Festival 2023 compilation. This new version was recorded as an organic disco interpretation at Danilo Plessow’s studio in Paris.

BARRO #12 – Nebula Circuit (with remixes by Orlok 101 & Abraxas)

Limited to 200 units. Exclusive distribution: Melting Pot Records

The label BARRO returns with its twelfth release, reaffirming its commitment to vinyl culture and uncompromising club music.

This time, the spotlight is on Nebula Circuit, delivering a series of tracks that navigate between EBM, techno, and electroclash, all sharply designed for the dancefloor.

BARRO #12 vinyl release features four tracks:

• Three original productions by Nebula Circuit, where electronic darkness merges with tense rhythms and incisive basslines.

• A remix by Orlok 101, pushing the material into an even more abrasive, machine-driven territory that strengthens the label’s underground identity.

A Statement of Intent:
With this release, BARRO consolidates its place within the darker, more combative spectrum of electronic music. BARRO #12 is crafted for DJs, collectors, and all underground devotees — a punk-spirited record with a clear mission: the dancefloor.

BARRO #12 – available soon on vinyl and digital.

The above references have already been supported by artists such as Dave Clarke, Phase Fatale, The Hacker, Lokier, NX1, Unhuman, Alienata, Reka, and many more.

Star Feminine Band, hardest working women in Beninese show business, are releasing their third album on Born Bad, who went all out for their first. Some get malaria at the sight of that sticky world label : rest assured, the world is all they deserve after nine years of hard work. These eight young women, from a village that even Beninese can't quite place, started out in hard mode.

They had to convince themselves that it was worth a shot, but also their family, their village and an entire continent.

André Balaguemon, composer, manager and lyricist, does a lot, while remaining in the background. He put the group together, included his three daughters, houses everyone with his wife Edwige who also manages dances and costumes. He gave them a musical training, and created the framework for them to continue school while rehearsing hard. From local heroes to UNICEF ambassadors, the group has made it. The very existence of this new album is a testament to the perseverance of Grâce, Anne, Urrice, Bénie, Angélique, Sandrine, Julienne and Ashley. The personnel of this family affair has changed a bit : two new women have joined the group, which conquered bigger stages (Glastonbury in the summer, the X-mas BBC special).



This new album brings simple joys : watching them grow from Benin's first girl band to a band in its own right. And never forgetting why they took to the stage in the first place. Star Feminine Band makes straightforward music, taking no detours to express what's missing in the country. When Grâce advocates for kids getting a chance to get to school it's because there's nothing else more important to say that day. Teachers, don’t leave the kids alone, after all.



As they said on their first album, « music is our job », let them be that : musicians having a lot of fun on this album. It wanders through the vast territory of the countless West African styles. They even make a quick foray into reggae to talk about marriage (with a little rap thrown in), and interweave their voices in multiple languages (Waama, Ditamari, Bariba, Fon, Yoruba). And boy do they have hits. To each is own, but “L'enfant c'est un don de Dieu » (Child is god’s gift) is a mighty steamroller, methodically smoothing out the ground for dancing together to its final chorus, singing « debout-les-en-fants / get up, kids ! » along.



Smoother than the first two albums, supported by fine arrangements, ambitious keyboard parts and more complex vocal harmonies without losing any of their spontaneity, this third opus quietly adds to Benin's musical heritage. As they make clear in « Jusqu'au bout du monde », clever little number that we can already hear swelling up on stage: « oui, c’est Star Feminine Band qui a gagné - o / Star Feminine Band won».

On an evening in November 2020, Belgian artist Nicolas Rombouts (Dez Mona, Stef Kamil Carlens…) and American-then-Brussels-based artist Matt Watts (+2024) met at Studio Caporal in Antwerp, behind Central Station. Just a week after the suicide of friend and artist Loloman (aka Ward Zwart), and in the wake of the end of a marriage marred by pain, addiction, and depression. The two had spoken by phone and agreed to a recording session.

That evening, they shared their loss in conversation, on muted piano, contrabass, and electronics. Compositions were shared and improvised, and by the next day, their album Muted Songs For Piano was complete.

It is meant to be listened to in one full trip from beginning to end. You’ve traveled across the galaxy and are looking back through a telescope at this world and its lonesome mausoleum of memory. Sounds you can almost hear, and movements you can almost feel, though you know it has passed in the time its light has taken to reach you.

Muted Songs For Piano is an impressive and extremely intense listening experience, an album that engages in a heroic battle with the personal nocturnal demons of the two composers.

Press Quotes:

Rock Hard 8.5/10: "...noch ausgereifter und dürften sich endgültig als eine feste Größe im britischen Prog Metal etablieren. Das Nebeneinander von modernen und traditionellen Elementen funktioniert ganz wunderbar... Eine der positivsten Überraschungen des Prog-Jahres 2025!"
"...even more mature and should finally establish themselves as a permanent fixture in British prog metal. The juxtaposition of modern and traditional elements works wonderfully... One of the most positive surprises of the prog year 2025!"

Metal Hammer 4.5/7: "Insofern gehört auch LEGACY zu den tiefschürfenden Statements einer modernen Band, die voll im Zeitgeist ist."
"In this respect, LEGACY is also one of the profound statements of a modern band that is fully in tune with the zeitgeist."

Legacy 13/15: "Diese Band ist manifestierte Kreativität, die dazu dient, den Geist mit Glück zu erfüllen. So viel Schönheit ist schon bemerkenswert. Dieses Werk ist wahrlich ein Vermächtnis, welches den Prog in ein neues Zeitalter führt und in der Musikwelt seine Spuren hinterlassen wird."
"This band is manifest creativity that serves to fill the spirit with happiness. Such beauty is truly remarkable. This work is truly a legacy that will lead prog metal into a new era and leave its mark on the music world."

eclipsed 8/10 (#2 in eclipsed Radar Top 20): "Die erzeugten Stimmungen - die mit den eine dystopische Zukunft beschreibenden Texten korrelieren - machen „Legacy" vielmehr zu einem Bauch-Album, das mit Atmosphäre punktet und einem bei jedem Durchlauf besser gefällt. ...Durchweg tolle Melodien, starker Gesang und abwechslungsreiche Gestaltung der Songs. ...Es ist ein moderner Kopfhörer-Traum, den Ihlo hier abgeliefert haben."
"The moods created—which correlate with the lyrics describing a dystopian future—make "Legacy" more of a gut-pumping album, one that scores with atmosphere and grows more likable with each listen. ...Consistently great melodies, strong vocals, and varied songwriting. ...It's a modern headphone dream that Ihlo have delivered here."

saitenkult.de 9/10: "Mit ´Legacy´ legen IHLO den Grundstein zu ihrem eigenen Vermächtnis. Ein Werk, das in die Zukunft strahlt und zugleich im Hier und Jetzt überwältigt."
"With 'Legacy,' IHLO lay the foundation for their own legacy. A work that radiates into the future and simultaneously overwhelms the here and now."

theprogspace 10/10: "Ihlo’s growth since their beginnings has been nothing short of spectacular, and to witness how far they’ve come is inspiring. After listening nonstop to ‘Legacy’, it is really hard for me to realize that it is just their second album (!). It is so well produced with its raw energy and depth. It is truly cementing their career, carving out a big bold name within the best of the best in the prog metal universe."

metal-heads.de: "Ein interessantes Prog-Werk haben IHLO da erschaffen."
"IHLO have created an interesting prog work."

moshpitpassion.de: "Manchmal hört man einen Song und weiß sofort: Das hier wird etwas Besonderes. Genau so wirkt „Replica“, die neue Single von IHLO. …macht deutlich, wie weit sich die Band seit ihrem Debüt entwickelt hat. Die Atmosphäre ist dicht, die Dynamikwechsel kommen plötzlich und hart, und der Breakdown bringt eine rohe Härte mit, wie man sie von IHLO in dieser Form noch nicht kannte. Und trotzdem bleibt alles stimmig, melodisch und emotional aufgeladen."
"Sometimes you hear a song and know immediately: This is going to be something special. That's exactly how "Replica," the new single from IHLO, feels. ...makes it clear how far the band has evolved since their debut. The atmosphere is dense, the dynamic shifts are sudden and harsh, and the breakdown brings a raw heaviness never before seen from IHLO. And yet everything remains coherent, melodic, and emotionally charged."


Press Quotes:

Rock Hard 8.5/10: "...noch ausgereifter und dürften sich endgültig als eine feste Größe im britischen Prog Metal etablieren. Das Nebeneinander von modernen und traditionellen Elementen funktioniert ganz wunderbar... Eine der positivsten Überraschungen des Prog-Jahres 2025!"
"...even more mature and should finally establish themselves as a permanent fixture in British prog metal. The juxtaposition of modern and traditional elements works wonderfully... One of the most positive surprises of the prog year 2025!"

Metal Hammer 4.5/7: "Insofern gehört auch LEGACY zu den tiefschürfenden Statements einer modernen Band, die voll im Zeitgeist ist."
"In this respect, LEGACY is also one of the profound statements of a modern band that is fully in tune with the zeitgeist."

Legacy 13/15: "Diese Band ist manifestierte Kreativität, die dazu dient, den Geist mit Glück zu erfüllen. So viel Schönheit ist schon bemerkenswert. Dieses Werk ist wahrlich ein Vermächtnis, welches den Prog in ein neues Zeitalter führt und in der Musikwelt seine Spuren hinterlassen wird."
"This band is manifest creativity that serves to fill the spirit with happiness. Such beauty is truly remarkable. This work is truly a legacy that will lead prog metal into a new era and leave its mark on the music world."

eclipsed 8/10 (#2 in eclipsed Radar Top 20): "Die erzeugten Stimmungen - die mit den eine dystopische Zukunft beschreibenden Texten korrelieren - machen „Legacy" vielmehr zu einem Bauch-Album, das mit Atmosphäre punktet und einem bei jedem Durchlauf besser gefällt. ...Durchweg tolle Melodien, starker Gesang und abwechslungsreiche Gestaltung der Songs. ...Es ist ein moderner Kopfhörer-Traum, den Ihlo hier abgeliefert haben."
"The moods created—which correlate with the lyrics describing a dystopian future—make "Legacy" more of a gut-pumping album, one that scores with atmosphere and grows more likable with each listen. ...Consistently great melodies, strong vocals, and varied songwriting. ...It's a modern headphone dream that Ihlo have delivered here."

saitenkult.de 9/10: "Mit ´Legacy´ legen IHLO den Grundstein zu ihrem eigenen Vermächtnis. Ein Werk, das in die Zukunft strahlt und zugleich im Hier und Jetzt überwältigt."
"With 'Legacy,' IHLO lay the foundation for their own legacy. A work that radiates into the future and simultaneously overwhelms the here and now."

theprogspace 10/10: "Ihlo’s growth since their beginnings has been nothing short of spectacular, and to witness how far they’ve come is inspiring. After listening nonstop to ‘Legacy’, it is really hard for me to realize that it is just their second album (!). It is so well produced with its raw energy and depth. It is truly cementing their career, carving out a big bold name within the best of the best in the prog metal universe."

metal-heads.de: "Ein interessantes Prog-Werk haben IHLO da erschaffen."
"IHLO have created an interesting prog work."

moshpitpassion.de: "Manchmal hört man einen Song und weiß sofort: Das hier wird etwas Besonderes. Genau so wirkt „Replica“, die neue Single von IHLO. …macht deutlich, wie weit sich die Band seit ihrem Debüt entwickelt hat. Die Atmosphäre ist dicht, die Dynamikwechsel kommen plötzlich und hart, und der Breakdown bringt eine rohe Härte mit, wie man sie von IHLO in dieser Form noch nicht kannte. Und trotzdem bleibt alles stimmig, melodisch und emotional aufgeladen."
"Sometimes you hear a song and know immediately: This is going to be something special. That's exactly how "Replica," the new single from IHLO, feels. ...makes it clear how far the band has evolved since their debut. The atmosphere is dense, the dynamic shifts are sudden and harsh, and the breakdown brings a raw heaviness never before seen from IHLO. And yet everything remains coherent, melodic, and emotionally charged.

Press Quotes:

Rock Hard 8.5/10: "...noch ausgereifter und dürften sich endgültig als eine feste Größe im britischen Prog Metal etablieren. Das Nebeneinander von modernen und traditionellen Elementen funktioniert ganz wunderbar... Eine der positivsten Überraschungen des Prog-Jahres 2025!"
"...even more mature and should finally establish themselves as a permanent fixture in British prog metal. The juxtaposition of modern and traditional elements works wonderfully... One of the most positive surprises of the prog year 2025!"

Metal Hammer 4.5/7: "Insofern gehört auch LEGACY zu den tiefschürfenden Statements einer modernen Band, die voll im Zeitgeist ist."
"In this respect, LEGACY is also one of the profound statements of a modern band that is fully in tune with the zeitgeist."

Legacy 13/15: "Diese Band ist manifestierte Kreativität, die dazu dient, den Geist mit Glück zu erfüllen. So viel Schönheit ist schon bemerkenswert. Dieses Werk ist wahrlich ein Vermächtnis, welches den Prog in ein neues Zeitalter führt und in der Musikwelt seine Spuren hinterlassen wird."
"This band is manifest creativity that serves to fill the spirit with happiness. Such beauty is truly remarkable. This work is truly a legacy that will lead prog metal into a new era and leave its mark on the music world."

eclipsed 8/10 (#2 in eclipsed Radar Top 20): "Die erzeugten Stimmungen - die mit den eine dystopische Zukunft beschreibenden Texten korrelieren - machen „Legacy" vielmehr zu einem Bauch-Album, das mit Atmosphäre punktet und einem bei jedem Durchlauf besser gefällt. ...Durchweg tolle Melodien, starker Gesang und abwechslungsreiche Gestaltung der Songs. ...Es ist ein moderner Kopfhörer-Traum, den Ihlo hier abgeliefert haben."
"The moods created—which correlate with the lyrics describing a dystopian future—make "Legacy" more of a gut-pumping album, one that scores with atmosphere and grows more likable with each listen. ...Consistently great melodies, strong vocals, and varied songwriting. ...It's a modern headphone dream that Ihlo have delivered here."

saitenkult.de 9/10: "Mit ´Legacy´ legen IHLO den Grundstein zu ihrem eigenen Vermächtnis. Ein Werk, das in die Zukunft strahlt und zugleich im Hier und Jetzt überwältigt."
"With 'Legacy,' IHLO lay the foundation for their own legacy. A work that radiates into the future and simultaneously overwhelms the here and now."

theprogspace 10/10: "Ihlo’s growth since their beginnings has been nothing short of spectacular, and to witness how far they’ve come is inspiring. After listening nonstop to ‘Legacy’, it is really hard for me to realize that it is just their second album (!). It is so well produced with its raw energy and depth. It is truly cementing their career, carving out a big bold name within the best of the best in the prog metal universe."

metal-heads.de: "Ein interessantes Prog-Werk haben IHLO da erschaffen."
"IHLO have created an interesting prog work."

moshpitpassion.de: "Manchmal hört man einen Song und weiß sofort: Das hier wird etwas Besonderes. Genau so wirkt „Replica“, die neue Single von IHLO. …macht deutlich, wie weit sich die Band seit ihrem Debüt entwickelt hat. Die Atmosphäre ist dicht, die Dynamikwechsel kommen plötzlich und hart, und der Breakdown bringt eine rohe Härte mit, wie man sie von IHLO in dieser Form noch nicht kannte. Und trotzdem bleibt alles stimmig, melodisch und emotional aufgeladen."
"Sometimes you hear a song and know immediately: This is going to be something special. That's exactly how "Replica," the new single from IHLO, feels. ...makes it clear how far the band has evolved since their debut. The atmosphere is dense, the dynamic shifts are sudden and harsh, and the breakdown brings a raw heaviness never before seen from IHLO. And yet everything remains coherent, melodic, and emotionally charged."


Press Quotes:

Rock Hard 8.5/10: "...noch ausgereifter und dürften sich endgültig als eine feste Größe im britischen Prog Metal etablieren. Das Nebeneinander von modernen und traditionellen Elementen funktioniert ganz wunderbar... Eine der positivsten Überraschungen des Prog-Jahres 2025!"
"...even more mature and should finally establish themselves as a permanent fixture in British prog metal. The juxtaposition of modern and traditional elements works wonderfully... One of the most positive surprises of the prog year 2025!"

Metal Hammer 4.5/7: "Insofern gehört auch LEGACY zu den tiefschürfenden Statements einer modernen Band, die voll im Zeitgeist ist."
"In this respect, LEGACY is also one of the profound statements of a modern band that is fully in tune with the zeitgeist."

Legacy 13/15: "Diese Band ist manifestierte Kreativität, die dazu dient, den Geist mit Glück zu erfüllen. So viel Schönheit ist schon bemerkenswert. Dieses Werk ist wahrlich ein Vermächtnis, welches den Prog in ein neues Zeitalter führt und in der Musikwelt seine Spuren hinterlassen wird."
"This band is manifest creativity that serves to fill the spirit with happiness. Such beauty is truly remarkable. This work is truly a legacy that will lead prog metal into a new era and leave its mark on the music world."

eclipsed 8/10 (#2 in eclipsed Radar Top 20): "Die erzeugten Stimmungen - die mit den eine dystopische Zukunft beschreibenden Texten korrelieren - machen „Legacy" vielmehr zu einem Bauch-Album, das mit Atmosphäre punktet und einem bei jedem Durchlauf besser gefällt. ...Durchweg tolle Melodien, starker Gesang und abwechslungsreiche Gestaltung der Songs. ...Es ist ein moderner Kopfhörer-Traum, den Ihlo hier abgeliefert haben."
"The moods created—which correlate with the lyrics describing a dystopian future—make "Legacy" more of a gut-pumping album, one that scores with atmosphere and grows more likable with each listen. ...Consistently great melodies, strong vocals, and varied songwriting. ...It's a modern headphone dream that Ihlo have delivered here."

saitenkult.de 9/10: "Mit ´Legacy´ legen IHLO den Grundstein zu ihrem eigenen Vermächtnis. Ein Werk, das in die Zukunft strahlt und zugleich im Hier und Jetzt überwältigt."
"With 'Legacy,' IHLO lay the foundation for their own legacy. A work that radiates into the future and simultaneously overwhelms the here and now."

theprogspace 10/10: "Ihlo’s growth since their beginnings has been nothing short of spectacular, and to witness how far they’ve come is inspiring. After listening nonstop to ‘Legacy’, it is really hard for me to realize that it is just their second album (!). It is so well produced with its raw energy and depth. It is truly cementing their career, carving out a big bold name within the best of the best in the prog metal universe."

metal-heads.de: "Ein interessantes Prog-Werk haben IHLO da erschaffen."
"IHLO have created an interesting prog work."

moshpitpassion.de: "Manchmal hört man einen Song und weiß sofort: Das hier wird etwas Besonderes. Genau so wirkt „Replica“, die neue Single von IHLO. …macht deutlich, wie weit sich die Band seit ihrem Debüt entwickelt hat. Die Atmosphäre ist dicht, die Dynamikwechsel kommen plötzlich und hart, und der Breakdown bringt eine rohe Härte mit, wie man sie von IHLO in dieser Form noch nicht kannte. Und trotzdem bleibt alles stimmig, melodisch und emotional aufgeladen."
"Sometimes you hear a song and know immediately: This is going to be something special. That's exactly how "Replica," the new single from IHLO, feels. ...makes it clear how far the band has evolved since their debut. The atmosphere is dense, the dynamic shifts are sudden and harsh, and the breakdown brings a raw heaviness never before seen from IHLO. And yet everything remains coherent, melodic, and emotionally charged.

Since 2006, listeners have been curious about the origin of the label name Italians Do It Better. Some say it's an homage to Italo Disco, others guess it's related to ancestry, but in fact it's a nod to the iconic T-shirt Madonna wears in the "Papa Don't Preach" video circa 1986.
Fast forward to a world pandemic... To encourage creativity & lift spirits, Italians Do It Better President, Megan Louise asked every artist “If you could cover your favourite Madonna song…What would it be?”

As a tribute to their label muse & the impact Madonna’s music has had on the world around us, Italians Do It Better are sharing a compilation of covers simply titled “Italians Do It Better”. One of the tracks (“Lucky Star” by Club Intl) is even produced by Max Kamins, the son of Mark Kamins, the New York DJ who helped break Madonna in the early 1980's. From the experience he says “Dance music was the soundtrack of my early childhood. Working on "Lucky Star" reconnected me not only to my father, but also reminded me that a good song is timeless".

Executive produced by Johnny Jewel, the compilation is a passport to 20 covers from the bedrooms of 19 artists across 10 different countries.

When NYC-based experimental dance punks Guerilla Toss, active since 2011, were in Vermont recording their new full-length album You're Weird Now, frontwoman Kassie Carlson would prepare what she called 'punk lunch': a communal meal made by raiding the studio fridge for whatever was left and assembling a sandwich from the most random ingredients imaginable. Regularly joining punk lunch were two legends from their own corners of the weird music world: Stephen Malkmus (Pavement, The Jicks) and Trey Anastasio, Phish guitarist and owner of The Barn; the recording studio where Guerilla Toss were making You're Weird Now, with Malkmus in the producer's seat. Engineer Bryce Goggin, who has worked with Malkmus since Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, and Ben Collette, Phish's longtime engineer at The Barn, were also part of the crew. While the idea of the guy from Phish and the guy from Pavement sitting around with Guerilla Toss, congenially assembling sandwiches from random foodstuffs dug up from the depths of a studio fridge, might seem absurd, it also makes total sense. Because really, if there's any band that serves as the natural bridge between slacker punks who saw Pavement way before you did, wild-eyed wooks who've seen Phish more times than you ever will, and even the eccentrics in '90s drip following former GT tourmates Primus-it's Guerilla Toss. A band so imaginative and unapologetically themselves, they're basically the real-life manifestation of a utopian, post-snob world where all musical ideas are worthy of expression and everyone is welcome. You're Weird Now powers this message. Guerilla Toss' fifth album and second for Sub Pop is a hugely creative and joyful statement about the joy of creativity. With You're Weird Now Guerilla Toss reclaim the word "weird" for everyone brave enough to let their freak flag fly and stay true to their artistic vision no matter what-a way riskier act than it's ever given credit for, and one that requires a certain amount of serene self-confidence that it takes time and effort to cultivate and sustain. And they do so with the enthusiastic support of their musical predecessors: a standout moment arrives with "Red Flag to Angry Bull," which builds to a campfire sing-along-worthy outro featuring Malkmus and Carlson duetting over a chatty, classically Phish-y (there's really no better word for it) solo from Anastasio. The band hopes the message of You're Weird Now will resonate not only with music heads but anyone who struggles with feeling weird in a world where it will always be hard to be different. At the end of the day, it's all about the spirit of punk lunch: there's room for everyone because music is for everyone. "Everyone loves and appreciates music," says Carlson. "If you don't like music, you're kind of an asshole." That's not weird-that's just true.

On the cover of 8 Tips for Full Catastrophe Living, the new album by Asher White, The Statue of Liberty is in pieces but not destroyed - in progress, being built, not yet complete. Her torch is on the ground, her head somewhere out of frame. Before she was a symbol, she was metal, and living, sweating people riveted her together. The spirit of de/construction characterizes 8 Tips, White's 16th LP overall and first since signing to Joyful Noise. Like White's previous albums, 8 Tips for Full Catastrophe Living darts boldly among varied musical styles. Doom metal splits open into bossa nova; psychedelic rock and power pop flip into industrial techno. Each song emerges from its composite parts in the studio: White doesn't draft or demo before recording, but builds out her pieces sculpturally, sound by sound. "It's forever collage, forever assemblage," she says of her music. "To me, it has more to do with J Dilla, L.A. beat, and musique concrète than pop songwriting." The record's quick turns and vivid contrasts reflect White's cultural voraciousness. A writer, painter, and sculptor as well as a musician, she gathers materials constantly, always digging for new ideas in every possible form. The films of Claire Denis, the novels of Clarice Lispector, and the memoirs of Eve Babitz all funnel into White's reflection of 21st century disaster capitalism. 8 Tips is also White's first album to have been mixed outside her Providence studio; after recording it herself, she brought tracks to Seth Manchester (Lightning Bolt, Battles, The Body) who gave the album its brawny, unruly charge. "I was interested in making something that serves dually as a self-help book and a chronicle of self-destruction," says White. Overlaying autobiography onto character vignettes, 8 Tips for Full Catastrophe Living wrenches open the idea of apocalypse - an abrupt disaster rained down on uncomplicated innocents - and peers inside at its bursting, devastated particulars. Apocalypse is slow and uneven. Nations falter as do individual people, clinging fast to their old, dilapidated self-preservation strategies. What saved you in the past might destroy you in the future. Flip it around, shake yourself loose, ruin the person you've known yourself to be, and you might get the chance to become something else. "There have been so many end times, many other apocalypses." White says. "People were writing self-help tips, and people were partying." We have survived catastrophe before. Out of the ruins, people made work - art, books, culture. "I was interested in making something that sounds like a self-help book, but it's actually about self-destruction," says White. "In full catastrophe living, you just have to do a bunch of whippets. This album is mostly about doing whippets. I'm not even kidding."

*Long overdue reissue of the first album by The Hanging Stars to coincide with their tour support slot with Edwyn Collins – initial 300 copies come with 12 x 12 print*

“In late-Sixties California, the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers combined traditional country music with hippy rock to great success. The influence lingered and whatever cultural relevance it has this is a delightful, transporting listen” – The Times 4/5

London-based psych-folk outfit The Hanging Stars re-release their much-loved debut album Over the Silvery Lake on Crimson Crow. Blending folk pastoralism with swampy 60s Americana, they sound like the missing link between the California desert sun and the grey skies of London Town. The album was recorded between LA, Nashville and Walthamstow, with each of these vastly different places leaving an indelible mark on the songs.

Now signed to the Loose Records label and fronted by London-based songwriter, singer and guitarist Richard Olson (The See See, Eighteenth Day of May), The Hanging Stars are essentially a loose collective of people who weave together a blissed-out psychedelic tapestry. The rest of the core band is made up of Sam Ferman on bass and Paulie Cobra on drums, Horse on pedal steel and Patrick Ralla on banjo, guitar. They jam rather than write and hang out rather than rehearse, harnessing a kind of tipsy euphoria resplendent with luscious arrangements and glorious vocal harmonies.

During 2015, prior to this album’s original release the band released two critically acclaimed singles via The Great Pop Supplement (both of which also appear on the album). “Golden Vanity” was premiered by The Line of Best Fit who said; “you'd be forgiven for thinking you'd just unearthed a rare deep cut from the late 60s/early 70s boom of psychedelia infused Americana” and “The House on The Hill” was described by The Guardian as; "a hazy, desert-dream of a song, nicely sharpened with steely-eyed guitars, Mersey-laced harmonies and just a whiff of the Gun Club”.

There are a number of allusions to nature and the weather on the album, borne in part out of the contrasting surroundings in which it was produced. The band’s fascination with Americana led them to record some of the material Stateside, laying down some of the parts at Battle Tapes Studios in Nashville (Lambchop, Paperhead), as well as at Vision Quest Studios in Los Angeles with Rob Campanella. His work with The Quarter After, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Beachwood Sparks The Tyde, and GospelbeacH was a perfect match to capture their sound and they even had San Franciscan legend Chrystof Certik step in on lead guitar for a couple of tracks.

Following the LA recordings, a trip to the Californian desert provided the core notion of what they wanted to produce - a shard of light that they clung on to whilst recording the rest of the album in the significantly more rain-soaked atmosphere of Walthamstow, London, under the watchful eye of Brian O'Shaughnessy at Bark Studios (The Clientele, Comet Gain). As the band explained at the time: “Ultimately we hope you can hear both the sand and the rain in this record.”

The Hanging Stars place themselves firmly as part of a long folk tradition encompassing European and North American influences – as a continuation rather than a pastiche of these styles. This is the sound of a band really coming in to their own, fully formed and in no doubt of their vision. With Over the Silvery Lake they succeeded in producing a record, which has the country, blues and folk traditions at its heart.

Gothenburg/Malmö-based post rock power trio Barrens return with Corpse Lights, the band's second full-length release following their critically-acclaimed 2020 debut Penumbra. Five years in the making, Corpse Lights sees Barrens strike a breathtaking balance between light and dark, beauty and brutality. Corpse Lights, Barrens' sophomore album, is somehow deeper, richer and headier; imbued with an alluring compositional patience that serves as unspoken testament to the combined creativity of the trio in their element, as something so much greater than the sum of its parts. Recorded and produced by Kristofer Jönson, who also helmed Penumbra, and mixed and mastered once again by Cult of Luna's Magnus Lindberg, shimmering synthesizers and sprawling guitars lead the charge propelled by exhilarating drums and percussion but Corpse Lights also finds Barrens using space, silence and atmosphere as another instrument if not as another band member entirely. `Corpse Lights' is the name given to the folk belief that small coloured lights often appear near the home of someone about to die, leading them along the path to their eventual resting place. Often considered to be evidence of the soul leaving the body, the concept of corpse lights embodies Barrens' approach to creating music as a cathartic release; not just writing music because they want to but because they have to. Their writing process is one of joy, light and release as much as it is dark, heavy and tense. The result is Corpse Lights, a collection of nine pieces that guide us through five tumultuous years of highs and lows, of loves and losses and victories and defeats without ever needing to say a word. FOR FANS OF Mono, PG.LOST, Caspian, Mogwai, This Will Destroy You, Russian Circles, Pelican, Scraps Of Tape, God Is An Astronaut. Vinyl is a gatefold, the sleeve comes with metalic ink

Gothenburg/Malmö-based post rock power trio Barrens return with Corpse Lights, the band's second full-length release following their critically-acclaimed 2020 debut Penumbra. Five years in the making, Corpse Lights sees Barrens strike a breathtaking balance between light and dark, beauty and brutality. Corpse Lights, Barrens' sophomore album, is somehow deeper, richer and headier; imbued with an alluring compositional patience that serves as unspoken testament to the combined creativity of the trio in their element, as something so much greater than the sum of its parts. Recorded and produced by Kristofer Jönson, who also helmed Penumbra, and mixed and mastered once again by Cult of Luna's Magnus Lindberg, shimmering synthesizers and sprawling guitars lead the charge propelled by exhilarating drums and percussion but Corpse Lights also finds Barrens using space, silence and atmosphere as another instrument if not as another band member entirely. `Corpse Lights' is the name given to the folk belief that small coloured lights often appear near the home of someone about to die, leading them along the path to their eventual resting place. Often considered to be evidence of the soul leaving the body, the concept of corpse lights embodies Barrens' approach to creating music as a cathartic release; not just writing music because they want to but because they have to. Their writing process is one of joy, light and release as much as it is dark, heavy and tense. The result is Corpse Lights, a collection of nine pieces that guide us through five tumultuous years of highs and lows, of loves and losses and victories and defeats without ever needing to say a word. FOR FANS OF Mono, PG.LOST, Caspian, Mogwai, This Will Destroy You, Russian Circles, Pelican, Scraps Of Tape, God Is An Astronaut. Vinyl is a gatefold, the sleeve comes with metalic ink, the Periastron edition is transparent "white" Vinyl

Black Truffle is thrilled to present the first ever solo Donso n’goni recording from octogenarian Swedish multi-instrumentalist Christer Bothén. Active in the Swedish jazz and improvisation scene since the 1970s, often heard on bass clarinet, Bothén travelled to Mali in 1971, eventually making his way to the Wassoulou region in the country’s south where he encountered the Donso n’goni, the sacred harp of the hunter caste of Wassoulou society. Though playing the instrument has traditionally been restricted to those who belong to the hunters’ brotherhood, Bothén found an enthusiastic teacher in Brouema Dobia, who, after many months of intensive one-on-one lessons, gave Bothén his blessing to play the instrument both traditionally and in his own style. Returning to Sweden, he would go on to pass on what he had learned to Don Cherry and play the Donso n’goni in a wide variety of inventive settings, including the driving Afro-jazz-fusion of his Trancedance (reissued as BT118).

The seven pieces of Christer Bothén Donso n’goni offer up a stunning showcase of Bothén’s work on this remarkable instrument, heard entirely unaccompanied, except for the final piece where he is joined on a second Donso n’goni by his student and collaborator, the virtuoso bassist Kansan/Torbjorn Zetterberg, and Marianne N’Lemvo Linden on the metal Karanjang scraper. Recorded in three sessions in Stockholm between 2019 and 2023 in richly detailed high fidelity, the instrument’s buzzing, sonorous bass strings make an immediate, overwhelming sonic impression. Hyper-focused on hypnotically repeating pentatonic patterns, the seven pieces are at once relentlessly single-minded and endlessly rich in subtle variations. The concentrated listening environment turns small details, such as the deployment of the instrument’s segesege rattle on two of the pieces, into major events. Six of the seven pieces are traditional, with Bothén contributing the remaining ‘La Baraka’, but the line between tradition and the individual talent is imaginary here: as Bothén explained in a recent interview with The Wire’s Clive Bell, ‘I play traditional and untraditional, and I play the music forward and backward’. While the traditional Wassoulou pieces provide the rhythmic and harmonic elements, Bothén’s individuality as a performer is alive in every moment, felt acutely in boundless variations of attack, improvisational flourishes, and unexpected accelerations and decelerations. Captured entirely live and bristling with spontaneity, this music is undeniably the product of almost half a decade of Bothén’s devotion to the Donso n’goni and its traditional music.

Accompanied by detailed new liner notes by Bothén and stunning colour photos from his time in Mali, Christer Bothén Donso n’goni is a stunning document of a remarkable instrument, played with an almost spiritual intensity by one of contemporary music’s great explorers.

Legendary and pioneering Träd, Gräs och Stenar is considered Sweden's oldest rock band to introduce psychedelic underground music. The group originally formed in 1967 as International Harvester, later became Harvester, and eventually evolved into Träd, Gräs och Stenar. Their unique blend of psychedelic rock and traditional Swedish folk music was groundbreaking at the time-and still resonates with new generations of listeners today. This long-awaited "Green Album" from 1970 marks their very first release under the name Träd, Gräs och Stenar. Now, for the first time since its original release, it's being reissued on vinyl-complete with rare photos, an in-depth story, and a 30x60 cm poster. Decades later, the band continues to perform under the name TRÄDEN, now with only one original member. He is joined by a new generation of acclaimed musicians, who are keeping the spirit alive and carrying the sounds and legacy of Träd, Gräs och Stenar into the future.

Valencia-based band Wau y Los Arrrghs!!! is made up of five punk rock hooligans as raw and real as chaos itself _ led by one of the wildest frontmen around, Juanito Wau. Yes, there's garage rock here, no doubt _ but you'll also find blasts of punk, rock 'n' roll, pop, and even a splash of surf. This joint release with Slovenly Records brings back two anthemic tracks from Spain's undisputed kings of garage punk! Originally produced by Jorge Explosion over a decade ago, "Copa, raya, paliza" and "Es un buen día" are guaranteed party-starters no garage DJ should be without. Pressed on neon pink vinyl.

FJAAK return with a powerful remix package, delivering fresh takes on a selection of tracks from their unforgettable 2024 album 'FJAAK THE SYSTEM'. Welcoming three standout remixes from some of techno's most respected names, 'REMIX02' sees offerings from Robert Hood, Shed and West Code, as well as some surprise Bandcamp digital only remixes selected from the participants of FJAAK's latest remix competition. Kicking off the main remix package release, Detroit legend Robert Hood brings his unmistakable raw, relentless and pioneering sound to the table as he reimagines FJAAK's 'Breathe Underwater'. The genre-defining godfather serves up an undeniably signature cut flooded with euphoric energy, thumping grooves, rippling musicality and spaced-out vocal injections, carving out an authentic Floorplan-esque peak-time jam. Berlin-based artist Shed (one of the many monikers of established electronic stalwart Ren? Pawlowitz) is next to feature, delivering another impressive spin on FJAAK's work, this time exploring his vision on 'Micro Expressions'. An impressive blend of hypnotism and electricity, this bold remix echoes FJAAK's preference for cultivating huge dancefloor heaters that thrive on live instrumentalism and limitless energy. It's racy, groovy and raw, building around rolling rhythms, warping layers of analogue sound and intricate breaks throughout. Argentinian talent West Code was the winner of the 'Redemption' remix competition and rounds off the main package with a huge interpretation of FJAAK's original mix. Almost bordering into tribal techno in places, its emphasis on groove and subtle South American influences create a unique remix, overflowing with boomy low-end drive, piercing percussive drive and mind-bending melodics - a real gem for the height of the party and irresistibly sinister from start to finish. The remix competition of 'Redemption' drew an overwhelming response from producers worldwide, which made it very difficult to choose a winner. Even though West Code's interpretation was the chosen remix, four other interpretations were so good that FJAAK decided to showcase the talent of Helsmoortel, Genex, Ay Din and Your friend daao by including their reworks on an exclusive Bandcamp-only EP, highlighting the duo's ongoing commitment to to the underground.

Composed, Arranged, and Conducted by: Norio Maeda

Has there ever been a soundtrack so thrilling and beautiful? This is the pinnacle of cine-jazz, crafted by the master Norio Maeda.

Released in 1971, Shadow Of The Highway is a suspense-action film produced and starring Jiro Tamiya, and directed by Jun Fukuda.
True to its tagline—“A sports car tearing vertically through Japan, from Kagoshima to Hokkaido”—the film features a Mitsubishi Galant GTO racing
across the country. Often compared to the American New Cinema classic Vanishing Point, it stands as a Japanese road movie gem.

The music was composed by the legendary Norio Maeda. His piano corners with elegance, the vibraphone dashes forward with flair, the bass charges
ahead with power, and the drums shift gears with precision. Motion and stillness, obsession and desire, joy and sorrow—thrilling performances and
beautiful melodies elevate the film to new heights.

As a soundtrack, it is exceptional. But even more, it represents an extraordinary level of quality for Japanese jazz in 1971. The performances are so
remarkable that it’s unfortunate the exact personnel remain unidentified. However, it has long been rumored that the musicians may have been associated
with Takeshi Inomata’s Sound Limited—or possibly The Third.

Text by Yusuke Ogawa (UNIVERSOUNDS / DEEP JAZZ REALITY)

An unrelenting storm of Minyo, Latin, and Jazz—fierce, thrilling, and utterly original. A groundbreaking work of classical artistry, created by two
masters: Naotero Misuna and Norio Maeda.

Naotero Misuna, known as “Maestro Misuna,” led the Tokyo Cuban Boys, a legendary big band formed in 1949—before Latin music had even taken
root in Japan. With over 300 recordings to their name, they are one of Japan’s most iconic ensembles. Throughout their long career, the band remained
rooted in Latin music while boldly incorporating other genres and contemporary styles. Among their most internationally acclaimed works are those that
focus on traditional Japanese music, such as folk songs and ancient melodies.

This album, Japanese Classical Arts, arranged by the great Norio Maeda, is a masterpiece that transforms Minyo + Latin + Jazz into a thrilling sonic
experience. Leading the charge is a powerful rendition of “Sakura Sakura,” which moves seamlessly between Afro-Cuban jazz and jazz-rock, captivating l
isteners around the world. The album also features meticulously crafted arrangements of “Kariboshikiri Uta,” “Yagibushi,” “Genroku Hanami Odori,” and
“Awa Odori.” The inclusion of Kohachiro Miyata on shakuhachi and Tadao Sawai on koto is nothing short of brilliant.

This is exhilarating Wa-Jazz at its finest—music that makes you want to shout, “This is it!

Text by Yusuke Ogawa (UNIVERSOUNDS / DEEP JAZZ REALITY)

In Guadeloupe, many people think that jazz and ka music are like a ring and a finger. To some extent, the same could be said about so called Latin music and the music played in the French West Indies.

Both aesthetics were born in the Caribbean and bear so many connections that they can easily be considered cousins. In constant dialogue, there are lots of examples of their fruitful alliance and have been for a while. The English country dance that used to be practiced in European lounges came to be called kadrille in Martinique and contradanza in Cuba. They both featured additional percussion instruments inherited from the transatlantic deportation. Drawing from shared feelings about the same traumatized identity – later to be creolized – it would be hard not to assume that they were meant to inspire each other. The golden age of the orchestras that graced the Pigalle nights during the interwar period further proves the point. As soon as the 1930s, Havana-born Don Barreto naturally mixed danzón and biguine music in a combo based at Melody's Bar. In the following decade, Félix Valvert, a conductor who was born and raised in Basse-Terre in Guadelupe, also worked wonders in Montparnasse with La Coupole, which was an orchestra made up of eclectic musicians. Afro- Caribbean performers of various origins were often hired on rhythm and brass sections in jazz bands, which used to enliven the typical French balls of the capital. In the 1930s and onwards, Rico’s Creole Band was one of them.



Martinican violinist-clarinettist Ernest Léardée, who would become the king of biguine music as well as the main figure of French Uncle Ben's TV commercials (a dark stigma of post-colonial stereotypes), had musicians from the whole Caribbean sphere play at his Bal Blomet – and they all enchanted "ces Zazous-là" (according the words of Léardée's biguine-calypso piece). In les Antilles (French for French West Indies), music history started to speed up in the 1950s, when trade expanded and radio stations grew bigger. The Guadelupean and Martiniquais youth tuned in their old galena radio sets to South American and Caribbean music. As for the women traders, les pacotilleuses, they bought and sold goods across different islands (the "passing of items through various hands" was thought to be most pleasurable) and brought back countless sounds in their luggage. Such was the case of Madame Balthazar, who once returned from Puerto Rico with the first 45rpm and 33rpm to ever enter Martinique.

Out of this adventure was created the famous Martinican label La Maison des Merengues, a music business she opened and undertook with her husband and which proved to be a major landmark. At the end of the 1950s, in Puerto Rico, Marius Cultier competed in the Piano International Contest playing a version of Monk's Round 'Midnight. He won the first prize and this distinction foreshadowed everything that was to come. Cultier, the heretic Monk of jazz, was quickly praised for writing superb melodies, always tinged with a twist that conferred a unique sound to his music. It didn't take long for the gifted self-taught musician to get to play with Los Cubanos, making a name for himself thanks to his impressive maestria on merengues.

The rest is history. Besides, in the late 1950s, Frantz Charles-Denis, born into the upper middle class in Saint-Pierre and better known by his first name Francisco, went back home after working at La Cabane Cubaine – a club located rue Fontaine where he had caught the Latin fever. Francisco's music was therefore heavily marked by his Cuban cousins' influence, which gave the combos he led a specific style and also led to renewal. Things were swinging hard in La Savane, located in the main square in Fort-de-France. He set up the Shango club close by and tested out the biguine lélé there, a new music formula spiced up with Latin rhythms. Soon afterwards, fate had him fly to Puerto Rico and Venezuela.

As for percussionist Henri Guédon (percussions were only a part of his many talents), he was born in Fort-de-France in May 22nd 1944, the day marking the celebration of the abolition of slavery. As an old man, he could remember that in " his father's Teppaz, a lot of hectic 6/8 music was constantly playing...". In the opening lines of his Lettre à Dizzy, a small illustrated collection of writings published by Del Arco, he highlighted the huge impact that cubop had on him as a teenage boy, around 1960. He eventually turned out to be the lider maximo in La Contesta, a big band steeped in Latin jazz. He was also the one who originated the word zouk to describe music which brought the sound of the New York barrio to Paris. It was the culmination of a journey that started in Sainte-Marie: "a mythical place for bélé, the equivalent of Cuban guaguancó". In the early 1960s, the tertiary economy developed to the detriment of agriculture. Yet rural life was where roots music emerged in Martinique and in Guadeloupe.

Record companies played a major part in the process of Latin versions sweeping across the islands – before reaching everywhere else. Producer Célini, boss of the great Aux Ondes label, and Marcel Mavounzy, both the head of Émeraude records - a firm which was founded in 1953 - as well as the brother of famous saxophonist Robert Mavounzy, were big names to bear in mind. Although there were many of them - all of whom are featured on this record - Henri Debs was definitely the major figure in the recording adventure. He proved to be so influential that he even got compared to Berry Gordy. In the mid 1950s, when he acquired his first Teppaz, he worked on his first compositions: a bolero and a chachacha. Then, he became the one man who made people discover Caribbean music, from calypso to merengue. He was among the first ones to rush out to San Juan, Puerto Rico, to buy records and distribute them through a store run by one of his brothers in Fort-de-France. He had members of the Fania All Star come and perform there, which he was madly proud about. He was also the first one to pay attention to Haitian music, such as compas direct and various other rhythms which would soon flood the market. As a result, many of the combos hitting his legendary studio would end up boosted by widespread "Afro-Latin" rhythms. However, he never denied his identity: gwo ka drums were given a major role, although they were instruments which had long been banned from the "official" music spheres. The present selection bears witness to such a creative swarming. Here are fourteen tracks of untimely yet unprecedented cross-fertilization: all types of music rooted in the Creole archipelago have found their way, whatsoever, to the tracklisting. Whether originating from the city or being more rural, they all go back to what Edouard Glissant, in an interview about the place of West Indian music in the Afro-American scope, called "the trace of singing, the one which got erased by slavery." "It is so in jazz, but also in reggae, calypso, biguine, salsa... This trace also manifests through the drums, whether Guadelupean, Dominican, Jamaican or Cuban... None of them being quite the same. They all point to the idea of a trace, seeking it out and connecting to each other through it. This is the hallmark of the African diaspora: its ability to create something new, in relation to itself, out of a trace. It may be the memory of a rhythm, the crafting of a drum, a means of expression which doesn't resort to an old language but to the modalities of it." The opening track features one of the emblematic orchestras of this aesthetic identity, criscrossing many music types from the archipelago. The 1974 Ray Barretto guajira – Ray Barretto was a major New York drummer influenced by Charlie Parker and Chano Pozzo – is magnificently performed by Malavoi, a legendary Fayolais group (i.e from Fort-de-France). Additionally, the compilation ends on a piece by Los Martiniqueños de Francisco. It symbolically closes the circle as it is a genuine potomitan of Martinique culture which also functions as a tireless campaigner for Afro-Caribbean music. Practicing the danmyé rounds (a kind of capoeiria) to the rhythm of the bèlè drum, it delivers a terrific Caterete, a kind of champeta of Afro- Colombian obedience which was originally composed by Colombian Fabián Ramón Veloz Fernández for the group Wgenda Kenya. The icing on the cake is Brazilian Marku Ribas, who found refuge in Martinique in the early 1970s, bringing his singing to the last trance-inducing track. These two "versions" convey the whole tone of a selection composed of rarities and classics of the tropicalized genre, swarming with tonic accents and convoluted rhythms. It is the sort of cocktail that the West Indians never failed to spice up with their own ingredients. For instance, the Los Caraïbes cover of Dónde, a famous Cuban theme composed by producer Ernesto Duarte Brito, has a typical violin and features renowned Martinique singer Joby Valente and his piquant voice.



The track used to be – or so we think – their only existing 45rpm. The meaningful Amor en chachachá by L'Ensemble Tropicana, a band which included Haitian musicians among whom was composer and leader Michel Desgrotte, also recalls how Latin music was pervasive in the tropics in the mid-1960s. They were the ones keeping people dancing at Le Cocoteraie in Guadelupe and La Bananeraie in Martinique. Around the same time, another "foreign" band, Congolese Freddy Mars N'Kounkou's Ryco Jazz, achieved some success on both islands by covering Latin jazz classics – such as their adaptation of Wachi Wara, a "soul sauce" by Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo whose interweaving of strings and percussions can have anyone hit the dancefloor. How can you resist Dap Pinian indeed, a powerful guaguancó by Eugene Balthazar, performed by the Tropicana Orchestra and published by the Martinique-founded La Maison des Merengues? It also acts as a symbol of the maelstrom at work. Going by the name Paco et L'orchestre Cachunga, Roger Jaffory used to play guaguancó too: his Fania-inspired Oye mi consejo is one example of his style. Baila!!!!! Dancing was also one of the Kings' focus points. Oriza is a Puerto Rican bomba and a "classic" originally composed by Nuevayorquino trumpeter Ernie Agosto, which reserves major space for brasses, giving it a special sheen.

Emerging from the New York barrios crucible was also La Perfecta, a Martinique group originating from Trinidad, whose name directly references the totemic Eddie Palmieri figure as well as his own band, also called La Perfecta. Here they borrow Toumbadora from Colombian producer and composer Efraín Lancheros and interpret it by emphasizing percussions, which set fire to the track even more than the wind instruments. The same goes for Martinique's Super Jaguars, who use Tatalibaba – a composition by Cuban guitarist Florencio "Picolo" Santana which was made famous by Celia Cruz & La Sonora Matencera – as a pretext for sending their cadences into a frenzy. In a more typically salsa vein, the Super Combo, a famous Guadelupean orchestra from Pointe-Noire that was formed around the Desplan family and had Roger Plonquitte and Elie Bianay on board, adapt Serana, a theme by Roberto Angleró Pepín, a Puerto Rican composer, singer and musician also known for his song Soy Boricua. Here again, their vision comes close to surpassing the original. In the 1970s, L'Ensemble Abricot provided a handful of tracks of different syles, hence reaching the pinnacle of the art of achieving variety and giving pleasure. They played boleros, biguines, compas direct, guaguancó and even a good old boogaloo - the type they wanted to keep close to their hearts for ever, "pour toujours", as they sang along together in one of their songs. Léon Bertide's Martinican ensemble excelled at the boogaloo which had been composed by Puerto Rican saxophonist Hector Santos for the legendary El Gran Combo.



Three years later, in 1972, Henri Guédon, with the help of Paul Rosine on the vibraphone, tackled the Bilongo made famous by Eddie Palmieri. Such a classic!!!!! And so were the Aiglons, the band from Guadelupe: choosing to execute Pensando en tí, a composition by Dominican Aniceto Batista, on a cooler tempo than the original, they noticeably used a wonderfully (un)tuned keyboard in place of the accordion. On the high-value collectible single – the first one released by Les Aiglons under the Duli Disc label – there is a sticker classifying the track under the generic name "Afro". Now that is what we call a symbol. Jacques Denis

Occasionally, one experiences serendipitous events in life. On the 13th of July this year, I received a message from Tim Trapnell, who had discovered an unknown 60’s track on YouTube and expressed his admiration for its exceptional quality. Intrigued by the message, I clicked on the link and was immediately captivated by the musical composition. Within minutes, I embarked on a quest to uncover more information about the band and the particular track. On the 16th of July, only three days after, I’ve received a message from Jim Bojorquez (aka JC), the lead vocalist of the Baron of Soul, “Hello Yann, I was delighted to hear that you have discovered and enjoyed my original composition, ‘Time or vs Tide.’ It was written by myself and Clark Baldwin. that the recording was performed live and this song was never released in any format back in the day. I have reached out to Jim Bojorquez the next day and we spent a considerable amount of time conversing via video chat about his illustrious 60-year music career as an artist in San Jose, California.

I proposed to Jim that I could release two songs from The Barons of Soul through Epsilon Record Co. I re-mastered both songs and made a deal with Jimmie that same day. So today, I am so pleased to present these two previously unissued tracks. "Time or Tide" is a powerful uptempo piece featuring an exceptional brass section and a Hammond B3. The vocals are exceptionally punchy and catchy, ensuring an unforgettable listening experience. "I Loved and I Lost” is a remarkable take of the Impressions classic written by Curtis Mayfield’s If you are an enthusiast of 60s uptempo music like Tim and myself, then this new and exceptional 45 is an absolute must-listen and must have!

I was aware of Submerse from a long time ago, mainly for when he was making hip-hop & footwork tunes but I had noticed that a few years ago, on his SoundCloud page, he was uploading jungle tunes that he had started making, which got me interested in keeping tabs on what he was doing.

But it wasn't until I met him in Tokyo where he's based, when I played after him at an event at Circus (venue in Osaka & Tokyo) and then met up with him again later on that week that I realised how much he had been making.

He sent me some of the stuff he'd been doing that wasn't available publicly yet and I was really impressed by how strong the melodies were and how much influence from video game soundtracks he had in his tunes, I knew I had to get him on Future Retro London for a release.

Big up to Submerse for allowing me to put out this EP of his on Future Retro London, look out for more music from him to come on Future Retro London and other labels!

Back from the undead in the fresh (because we believe in upgrades & afterlifes!) is this new pressing of the first of all Gastr del Sol records, The Serpentine Similar. It is one of several distinct initiators of a definitive musical drift in the 1990s, and a drift all of its own, to boot! At the time, this album was largely heard within an underground whose boundaries were clearly defined - but if today"s sound-pool of "commercial" music is deeper and wider than it was back then, it is without a doubt due to the cracking open of certain doors of perception by Gastr del Sol, alongside their esteemed others. The year was 1992. After a bruising run of tour dates the year before, the final lineup of Bastro, a power-trio of David Grubbs, Ken (Bundy) Brown and John McEntire, retired, exhausted. Shortly thereafter, they were rebirthed, sans drums, via a new set of ideas composed in the cut-down configuration of Grubbs on guitars, keyboards and vocals and Brown on bass. Playing in duo format opened up sound and intention, leaving the need for speed (and the stock in rock) out, while letting in an expanse of brooding, droning acoustic space that highlighted the songs" serpentine shapes. This was something so radically different as to require a new calling card: henceforth, Gastr del Sol. Signing to Teen Beat, Gastr del Sol completed The Serpentine Similar in late 1992 for release the following year (the DC reissue came in "97). In the final rendering, Serpentine"s roof-rent, white-sky execution was attenuated with several percussion appearances from the prodigal John McEntire. Over the next five years, his cameo presence was a constant in Gastr del Sol"s steadily-evolving tradition of significant breaks from tradition at every turn. There would be an even more significant tradition-breaker onboard for all this; following the release of The Serpentine Similar, Jim O"Rourke joined Grubbs in Gastr as Brown exited (to focus on Tortoise, with McEntire et al). For the new Gastr duo, a world of new directions in music awaited, the future became the past, and the music of Gastr del Sol emerged from the thin air, then returned there. Now, The Serpentine Similar has been returned to vinyl from the temporal streams of contemporary music listening, a glorious rematerializing of all its spatial details on LP for the first time in 20 years.

Los Angeles trio Faetooth sophomore album Labyrinthine is a deeply felt exploration of emotional weight: grief, memory, uncertainty, and the quiet work of growing around your own wounds. Following the band's 2022 debut Remnants of the Vessel, which introduced the band’s signature blend of heaviness and mysticism, Labyrinthine pushes further inward. True to its name, the album winds through a maze of feeling and form, where meaning is never handed over easily. It’s rooted in self-discovery through disorientation, the idea that understanding comes not from escape, but from getting lost. Ari May (guitars and vocals), Jenna Garcia (bass and vocals), and Rah Kanan (drums) manage to stay grounded in the immediate in parallel with fantasy themes of the band's namesake. Labyrinthine holds space for this contradiction; tenderness and intensity, restraint and release. The band's self-branded “fairy doom” sound fits between shoegaze, doom, and grunge. It isn’t just texture; it’s a framework for navigating the unsaid. Like the myth that inspired its title, Labyrinthine doesn’t end in victory, but in confrontation—not with escape, but with the Minotaur. Only here, the Minotaur isn’t a monster. It’s something quiet and more familiar: unresolved feelings, old memories, and sadness that refuse to stay buried. The album winds like a maze, sometimes heavy, sometimes hushed, always intentional. Faetooth isn’t chasing catharsis. They’re creating space to reflect, to feel, and maybe to get a little lost along the way.
Artist quote: "White Noise" emerged from a diary entry, and is a relentless and intense reflection on inner turmoil. We’re often drawn to the familiar, even when we don’t realize we’re reaching out for it. It is an emotional upheaval, carrying harsh truths that weigh heavily on the heart. Guitarist, Ari May mentions, “Performing the song always takes me back to a specific place, even if just for a moment.”
“Riffs and melodies brimming with loneliness and longing… this band’s incantations affect my mood the whole day after listening.” — The Sleeping Shaman
“Bringing otherworldly hazy doom goodness… dreamy clean vocals, echoing harsh vocals, entrancing riffs, meditative shoegaze melodies.” — Nine Circles
“Slow, lumbering behemoths of great weight… couched in a melancholy atmosphere and explosions of crushing heaviness.” - Where Strides The Behemoth

Los Angeles trio Faetooth sophomore album Labyrinthine is a deeply felt exploration of emotional weight: grief, memory, uncertainty, and the quiet work of growing around your own wounds. Following the band's 2022 debut Remnants of the Vessel, which introduced the band’s signature blend of heaviness and mysticism, Labyrinthine pushes further inward. True to its name, the album winds through a maze of feeling and form, where meaning is never handed over easily. It’s rooted in self-discovery through disorientation, the idea that understanding comes not from escape, but from getting lost. Ari May (guitars and vocals), Jenna Garcia (bass and vocals), and Rah Kanan (drums) manage to stay grounded in the immediate in parallel with fantasy themes of the band's namesake. Labyrinthine holds space for this contradiction; tenderness and intensity, restraint and release. The band's self-branded “fairy doom” sound fits between shoegaze, doom, and grunge. It isn’t just texture; it’s a framework for navigating the unsaid. Like the myth that inspired its title, Labyrinthine doesn’t end in victory, but in confrontation—not with escape, but with the Minotaur. Only here, the Minotaur isn’t a monster. It’s something quiet and more familiar: unresolved feelings, old memories, and sadness that refuse to stay buried. The album winds like a maze, sometimes heavy, sometimes hushed, always intentional. Faetooth isn’t chasing catharsis. They’re creating space to reflect, to feel, and maybe to get a little lost along the way.
Artist quote: "White Noise" emerged from a diary entry, and is a relentless and intense reflection on inner turmoil. We’re often drawn to the familiar, even when we don’t realize we’re reaching out for it. It is an emotional upheaval, carrying harsh truths that weigh heavily on the heart. Guitarist, Ari May mentions, “Performing the song always takes me back to a specific place, even if just for a moment.”
“Riffs and melodies brimming with loneliness and longing… this band’s incantations affect my mood the whole day after listening.” — The Sleeping Shaman
“Bringing otherworldly hazy doom goodness… dreamy clean vocals, echoing harsh vocals, entrancing riffs, meditative shoegaze melodies.” — Nine Circles
“Slow, lumbering behemoths of great weight… couched in a melancholy atmosphere and explosions of crushing heaviness.” - Where Strides The Behemoth

Los Angeles trio Faetooth sophomore album Labyrinthine is a deeply felt exploration of emotional weight: grief, memory, uncertainty, and the quiet work of growing around your own wounds. Following the band's 2022 debut Remnants of the Vessel, which introduced the band’s signature blend of heaviness and mysticism, Labyrinthine pushes further inward. True to its name, the album winds through a maze of feeling and form, where meaning is never handed over easily. It’s rooted in self-discovery through disorientation, the idea that understanding comes not from escape, but from getting lost. Ari May (guitars and vocals), Jenna Garcia (bass and vocals), and Rah Kanan (drums) manage to stay grounded in the immediate in parallel with fantasy themes of the band's namesake. Labyrinthine holds space for this contradiction; tenderness and intensity, restraint and release. The band's self-branded “fairy doom” sound fits between shoegaze, doom, and grunge. It isn’t just texture; it’s a framework for navigating the unsaid. Like the myth that inspired its title, Labyrinthine doesn’t end in victory, but in confrontation—not with escape, but with the Minotaur. Only here, the Minotaur isn’t a monster. It’s something quiet and more familiar: unresolved feelings, old memories, and sadness that refuse to stay buried. The album winds like a maze, sometimes heavy, sometimes hushed, always intentional. Faetooth isn’t chasing catharsis. They’re creating space to reflect, to feel, and maybe to get a little lost along the way.
Artist quote: "White Noise" emerged from a diary entry, and is a relentless and intense reflection on inner turmoil. We’re often drawn to the familiar, even when we don’t realize we’re reaching out for it. It is an emotional upheaval, carrying harsh truths that weigh heavily on the heart. Guitarist, Ari May mentions, “Performing the song always takes me back to a specific place, even if just for a moment.”
“Riffs and melodies brimming with loneliness and longing… this band’s incantations affect my mood the whole day after listening.” — The Sleeping Shaman
“Bringing otherworldly hazy doom goodness… dreamy clean vocals, echoing harsh vocals, entrancing riffs, meditative shoegaze melodies.” — Nine Circles
“Slow, lumbering behemoths of great weight… couched in a melancholy atmosphere and explosions of crushing heaviness.” - Where Strides The Behemoth

Friday Night in San Francisco is a live album by Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, and Paco de Lucía.

It was recorded live at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco,

on December 5 in 1980. The album is considered an iconic recording and was described by jazz author Walter Kolosky as
"a musical event that could be compared to the Benny Goodman Band's performance at Carnegie Hall in 1938...
it may be considered the most influential of all live acoustic guitar albums."

Al Di Meola is an acclaimed Italian American jazz fusion and Latin jazz guitarist, composer, and record producer.
He experienced a celebrated career that has spanned four decades and earned him critical accolades,
three gold albums and more than six million record sales worldwide.
Di Meola has amassed over 20 albums as a leader while collaborating on a dozen or so others.


John McLaughlin, also known as Mahavishnu, is an English guitarist, bandleader, and composer.
He is a pioneer of jazz fusion, combining elements of jazz with rock, world music,
Indian classical music, Western classical music, flamenco, and blues. He received multiple "Guitarist of the Year"
and "Best Jazz Guitarist" Awards from magazines such as Downbeat and Guitar Player and was ranked 49th in Rolling Stone
magazine's list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Jeff Beck called him "the best guitarist alive".

Paco de Lucía was a Spanish virtuoso flamenco guitarist, composer, and record producer.
He was one of the first flamenco guitarists to branch into classical and jazz. De Lucía was noted for his fast and fluent fingerstyle runs
and gained popularity outside Spain after collaborating with McLaughlin and Di Meola. Richard Chapman and
Eric Clapton described de Lucía as a "titanic figure in the world of flamenco guitar."


Friday Night in San Francisco is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on purple coloured vinyl and includes an insert.

It"s been six years since LA DISPUTE released their last album, Panorama. Since then, the Michigan post-hardcore band-made up of Jordan Dreyer on vocals, Brad Vander Lugt on drums, Chad Morgan-Sterenberg and Corey Stroffolino on guitar, and Adam Vass on bass-dealt with the stagnance of the pandemic, celebrated the ten-year anniversaries of Wildlife and Rooms Of The House, and began working on NO ONE WAS DRIVING THE CAR. The fifth studio LP is the first entirely produced by the group, and it came together in Grand Rapids and Detroit, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Philippines: "I think the change in environment was really helpful to breathing new life into the process each time we came back to it," Dreyer says. Partly inspired by the 2017 psychological thriller First Reformed, NO ONE WAS DRIVING THE CAR reckons with malaise in the shadow of the looming apocalypse, which has noticeably been worsened by the advancement of tech. The title comes from a quote from a police officer Dreyer read in a news article about a lethal self-driving Tesla crash, an absurd event which raises questions about the amount of control we have in our own lives. In fourteen dynamic tracks, the band grapples with the existential topic and the human need to find comfort and a sense of security in an existence where we"re often thrust into chaos without permission.

JayWood - the nom de plume of Jeremy Haywood-Smith - is embracing new pastures having moved his music-making from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Montreal, and his new album Leo Negro chimes with a different tone as it looks to reconnect the self and grapple with one's identity. Marking a moment of meaningful change where controlled chaos takes the lead, it philosophises on what it truly means to be an experimentalist building a multi-faceted world where genre is infinite through sounds braver, more playful, and truthful than he's dared deliver before. Despite its astute sampling with layers of twists and turns, Leo Negro doesn't showboat but roars in the presence of vulnerability as it considers one's absolutes as a way of navigating the identity crisis. "Always looking for attention, I admit it, I can't help it, I'm a Leo," he reasons between vintage hip-hop scrubs on `Pistachios,' recalling a childhood need to be the centre of attention then stepping out of the spotlight as a grown-up. "Leos are confident and sure about themselves, but this record isn't that; so really, when translated, the title inspires `black confidence.' It's an uncomfortable, weird, and surreal term which bends the truth and embodies everything within." Experimenting in both life and music, Leo Negro and its first cut, `Big Tings' (feat. California, art-pop duo Tune-Yards) couldn't be further from 2023's Grow On EP and the previous year's slick LP Slingshot. Moving with flow akin to D'Angelo with Toro Y Moi textures, its twinkling intro of whirling synth and playful approach circles back to Jeremy's adolescence when he'd reverse, slow down, and speed up his favourite songs through the media player on his computer. Encouraged by his musical squad Will Grierson, Arthur Antony, Brett Ticzon, and enlisting his stylist and thrifter friends to capture the Leo Negro aesthetic, JayWood's big `in' for 2025 is collaboration, with the tight-knit crew of likeminded musical colleagues captured in session photo grins beaming from his Instagram grid. Nominated for Canada's coveted Polaris Music Prize, it'd be easy to be the cowardly lion; to rinse and repeat what's worked up to this point. But for JayWood, leaning into his natural `what if?' curiosity to make up his own rules as he goes along ("I never really knew what they were to begin with") and venture into honesty's unsafe space to seek comfort, confidence and make even greater connections, really is the only option. After all, he can't help it; he's a Leo.

Emerging from the shadows of a small apartment in Chicago’s South Side Pilsen neighborhood in 1999, Winterlight was produced and mixed by Daniel Thompson over the course of three years, from 1999 to 2002. It’s an intimate and evocative album that captures a pivotal chapter in Thompson’s life and echoes the spirit of a formative era in the underground music scene.
Thompson’s journey began in the heat of Houston, Texas, where his love for sound quickly became an obsession. By the late ’90s, he was among the first DJs in Houston to champion the sound of Chicago house, often driving long distances from Texas to Chicago in search of records, inspiration, and connection. These trips—equal parts pilgrimage and education—eventually led him to relocate to Chicago, where his artistic vision would fully take shape. Winterlight is the direct result of that move. Crafted over several years, the album embodies a raw, hands-on approach to production, built from analog synths, outboard gear, and hours of meticulous layering. Thompson leaned on tools like the Kurzweil K2000, SE-1, Juno-106, and classic processors such as the DP4 and TC Electronic units, shaping each track with
care and intention.
Blending atmospheric textures with hypnotic rhythm and subtle experimental flourishes, Winterlight captures the sound of an artist deeply engaged with his tools and surroundings. His extensive vinyl collection—over 3,000 records—served as both palette and inspiration, with carefully chosen samples lending further depth and narrative to the music. Now set for release across all digital platforms and as a limited double 12" vinyl edition through Berlin’s Word & Sound, Winterlight invites listeners into a soundscape that is both immersive and personal. More than just an album, it is a sonic document of a moment in time—rich in tone, memory, and intent. For those willing to listen deeply, Winterlight offers a rare window into the underground spirit of the early 2000s and the inner world of a producer finding his voice.

12-song PINOT NOIR RED VINYL LP, limited to 500 Copies! Not many people realise that The Damned have produced a fine array of songs with melodic, harmonic and rhythmic sophistication; with a depth of imagination and atmosphere. They spearheaded British punk, and yet diverse musical influences went into the crucible: UK and US psychedelia, Canterbury prog rock, and even classical and filmic musical influences abound. Now, with the return of drummer Rat Scabies the line-up is the same as that which produced many of these songs - with Monty on keys. Monty Oxymoron has played keyboards with The Damned since 1996, has written songs for the band, and played with Captain Sensible and Dr Space Toad before that. He is a retired psychiatric nurse and trained in art psychotherapy. Monty is keen on "free improvisation" and plays in and around Brighton where he lives. Monty has an almost impossibly eclectic collation of his music on Bandcamp, his YouTube channel, and shares ideas on various subjects on his Substack page (under his "real" name: Laurence Burrow.)

Within the nine carefully composed tracks of Young Bones, Mel D’s characteristic voice stands out in all its facets, varying from fragile to powerful, haunting to playful, but most of all soulful. With a voice that’s both extraordinarily clear and melancholic, Mel D is something surprisingly rare: a singer whose artistic expression goes beyond the mere use of her voice. On Young Bones, Mel D uses contemporary figures, rephrasing them into timeless formulas. Her unique musical language embodies references to genres like Indie or Alternative. In other moments, her sound leans baroque, then jazzy, soulful, and contemplative. Each song represents an ode to being connected: to the world, other people, and most of all to the beauty of music. Mel D draws her inspiration from struggles felt in the current world climate: “I have felt overwhelmed by the world we live in and its countless challenges,” said Mel D. “As if we’re all a bit directionless in our own lives.” Nevertheless, Mel D uses her musicality as a tool for resistance - using it to transform sadness and anger into creativity, and to give world-weariness a voice that seduces, comforts, and inspires. On Young Bones, Mel D sings us to a place where we might find hope - with songs rooted in concern, solidarity, humanness, and empowerment, inviting the listener to lean into those feelings. Bring the Witches Back, a hymn to witchcraft, is a quiet song that summons the return of witches with feminist urgency, for more love and magic to open ourselves towards each other and the world. Soft, a soulful song with a tender melody, gently lulls the listener into an in-between dimension, full of opportunities. Meanwhile, in the coming-of-age ballad, Slowly Growing, she raises questions about belonging and identity, pointing directly at our emotional core. Where Do You Look When It Hurts? speaks to the sensation of exhaustion and emptiness, offering musical warmth and a sense of community in moments of lethargy. Finally, listening to the album, one always feels in good company. Playfully working in folk and electro-pop elements, Mel D takes us on a ride toward love and a sense of belonging, particularly on the track We win. Young Bones was recorded in Zurich and Paris with two outstanding producers of our times: Renaud Letang, who has previously collaborated with Feist, Chilly Gonzales or Lianne La Havas, and Dino Brandão. The latter recognized Mel D’s artistic uniqueness during their first meeting, inviting her to a recording session in his studio and bringing her into the band of Swiss superstar, Faber. Mel D’s solo project was more a product of coincidence than planning, as she says, even though an undisputed talent and passion for music had always been apparent throughout her youth. During her studies in fine arts in Zurich, she founded the electronica-duo mischgewebe, and composed soundtracks for theater and movie productions, as well as for exhibitions. Long before forming her current artistic identity, she went by the nickname Mel D, in a humorous reference to the Spice Girls. Although her personality and musical language suggest thoughtfulness and a melancholy touch, Mel D acknowledges that an honest laugh is never out of place, making her sympathetic and approachable.

“'Lyceum' is a fountainhead of unqualified greatness. It’s a strange, sad sound harking back to old school tunesmanship – Aztec Camera, ‘Rattlesnakes’, prime-time Felt – but the whole affair is permeated with a resonant, almost tearful quality. ‘Lyceum’ is reminiscent of Galaxie 500’s ‘Today’ in that it sounds like it cost less than a round of drinks to produce. But the lo fi sound merely enhances the misty glazed-pop sound and raises the hallelujah choruses to the forefront. Rather than drowning them in production mush. Don’t pass it by”.
– Bob Stanley, Melody Maker 1989
Hailing from the suburbs of Glasgow, this five-piece are best known for their three starry-eyed albums on the renowned Sarah Records - this being an expanded version of their first (an eight-track 10” at the time).
By the tail end of the 1980s the independent music scene in the UK was turning its back on the polish and over-indulgence of the mid-80s with its gated drums and wallpaper production. And those who weren’t stretching the boundaries of sonic innovation had tuned back to the post-punk ethos of ramshackle charm and zealous melody, even dousing the spirit with some political fervour once more. Influences were more likely to be Television and the Television Personalities than MTV.
The Orchids and The Sea Urchins were the first two bands to release 7” singles on the Sarah label having previously begun their recording existence on a shared flexi disc in 1987 (The Sea Urchins went on to become Delta, whose classic album ‘Slippin' Out’ from 2000 will be the second release on Circuitry). The Scottish five-piece released ‘I’ve Got a Habit’ and ‘Underneath the Window, Underneath the Sink’ as EPs before really finding their feet with ‘Lyceum’; the tracks, remastered from the original Toad Hall tapes are included on this reissue as are the three songs from the ‘What Will We Do Next?’ 7” (this collection closes with the frazzled stretch that is ‘Yawn’). 'Lyceum' was originally released in August 1989.
The album opens with ‘It’s Only Obvious’ and its gloriously youthful chorus of “who needs tomorrow when all I need, all I needed was you”. James Hackett somehow appears both forthright and rejected, something that one of their musical heroes The Go-Betweens also had down to a fine art. It barely takes a breath until midway through side two where ‘Hold On’ (sounding suspiciously like an unlikely objective) descends into the intro of ‘Blue Light’, the counted-in ‘1, 2, 3, 4’ whispered like the most hopelessly dejected rally. If that sounds depressing it isn’t. This record by The Orchids was a spirited source of comfort for an 18 year old at the time and still shudders with the best type of melancholy, one that’s spirited not indulgent. If you’re not familiar with the band’s charm, this is where you should begin.
'Lyceum' is released on double black vinyl by new label Circuitry.