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Chalybeate documents a month long stay by Tokyo based producer aus in Ikaho, one of Japan's most established Onsen (hot spring) towns, during autumn 2024.

Working from field-recordings captured inside multiple ryokan baths, aus synthesized the subterranean movement of the onsen's with local details: the bubbling of source water, the hoozuki lantern plants and wind chimes placed at each inn, and the surrounding insects and birds. Rather than portraying Ikaho as a landscape, the recordings trace the town's respiration.

The material was first presented on site as an installation unfolding across eight different baths, where visitors listened while soaking in roten-buro (open air hot baths). The project drew wide attention for proposing listening as a bodily act, inseparable from heat, moisture, and duration.

Chalybeate re constructs that installation as an album. The recordings were left to sit for a year within Ikaho's air and humidity, allowing the sound itself to slowly change. The title refers to Ikaho's iron rich mineral water, known as "Golden Water," which oxidizes upon contact with air and leaves rust colored traces in its baths. Following this process, the album's sound was repeatedly re submerged and re worked, gradually absorbing a corroded texture.

Tape hiss, gentle distortion, and subtle fluctuations rise quietly, like steam.
What remains is not documentation but residue.

Mixing was handed over to Manchester based producer The Humble Bee by Craig Tattersall, known for his work with The Boats and The Remote Viewer, after aus exhausted himself traversing Ikaho's steep stone steps. The exchange mirrors the work itself: from bathtub to hot spring, from sound to something that surrounds the body.

Woodwind like tape noise and the movement of water dissolve into one another.
The music does not arrive all at once. It settles slowly, as if lowering into warm water.

PAF stands for Pogo Amongst Flokati, Paranoia After Friday, Performative Awkward Feelings, Pop Against Formality, Pleasure And Fear, Post-Authentic Fantasy, People Acting Feral, Punk Agains Faschism, or whatever else you like.

PAF are a trio who overgrow punk, office disco, tiredness, fear, lethargy, tears, Baltic Sea beaches, mix-ups, crossroads, house-sitting, and Prosecco into electronic thickets that sometimes grow into danceable tracks, sometimes into intricate structures of electric bass, vocals, and synthesizers.

PAF are from Hamburg and consist of Anna G. on vocals and electronic percussion, Pia A. on the MS-20 synthesizer, and Felix R. on bass and vocals. Punk by other means—where the means break the form itself. Here now is the debut LP, following the legendary tape released on Happy Tapes from Leipzig. The cover was drawn by Raoul Dóre and printed in color. A printed inner sleeve offers the chance to read along with the lyrics. The whole thing will be available in spring 2026 on 200 well-pressed vinyl records.

Repress on black vinyl. A longtime dream has been to capture YAWNING MAN performing in the very environment that so inspired their music. The opportunity arose in 2020 from the challenges artists and musicians faced during the Covid 19 Pandemic, social distancing forcing artists to creatively adapt to alternatives to express themselves musically and visually. Yawning Man 's answer to this calling is "Live at Giant Rock". This cinematic concert experience is intimately and beautifully captured by videographer Sam Grant in the environment that inspires Yawning Man's spacious, expansive and cinematic music. Filmed live in the early morning hours of May 18th, 2020 in the visually stunning and mysterious landscape of Giant Rock. In the spirit of Pink Floyd's "Live at Pompeii" the performance is shot on location with no audience, just the band performing their instrumental meditations in the rugged beauty of the Mojave Desert. Giant Rock in Landers California has attracted Native American Nomads, Scientists, UFO Researchers, and travelers from all over the world, drawn by its magnetic spiritual energy

Repress on blue jay vinyl, limited to 200 copies. A longtime dream has been to capture YAWNING MAN performing in the very environment that so inspired their music. The opportunity arose in 2020 from the challenges artists and musicians faced during the Covid 19 Pandemic, social distancing forcing artists to creatively adapt to alternatives to express themselves musically and visually. Yawning Man 's answer to this calling is "Live at Giant Rock". This cinematic concert experience is intimately and beautifully captured by videographer Sam Grant in the environment that inspires Yawning Man's spacious, expansive and cinematic music. Filmed live in the early morning hours of May 18th, 2020 in the visually stunning and mysterious landscape of Giant Rock. In the spirit of Pink Floyd's "Live at Pompeii" the performance is shot on location with no audience, just the band performing their instrumental meditations in the rugged beauty of the Mojave Desert. Giant Rock in Landers California has attracted Native American Nomads, Scientists, UFO Researchers, and travelers from all over the world, drawn by its magnetic spiritual energy

7SINS SERIES is a collection of seven EPs, each associated with one of the seven deadly sins. Curated by Pau Pérez, the series is released on the SpecialK Records label, driven by Carlos Caballer, and brings together seven producers, each responsible for shaping a distinct release.

LUTTONY is the first EP in the 7SINS SERIES. This release is driven by a clear mission: constant, no-compromise groove. Each track is built around catchy basslines that set the pulse from the very first bar, wrapping the listener in a hypnotic sound that never lets up. Inspired by part of the current Valencia sound, the project focuses on energy, rhythm, and club-oriented atmospheres. No detours, no filler—music made straight for the dance floor.

Der mehrfach preisgekrönte Londoner Jazz-Saxofonist startet mit seinerm neuen Soloalbum sein eigenes Label.

Multiinstrumentalist, Produzent und Künstler Shabaka (Hutchings) veröffentlicht mit "Of The Earth" sein drittes Soloalbum, das gleichzeitig das erste ist, das über sein eigenes Label Shabaka Records erscheint und komplett von ihm selbst geschrieben und produziert wurde. Auf "Of The Earth" kehrt Shabaka zu seinem charakteristischen Saxophonklang zurück, ergänzt durch ausgefeilte Elektronik und Produktion sowie traditionelle Holzblasinstrumente und Perkussion aus aller Welt. Diese Kombination unterstreicht sein vielseitiges Talent und prägt den Gesamtklang des Albums. Hutchings genießt hohes Ansehen für seine Arbeit mit The Comet Is Coming, Sons Of Kemet, Shabaka And The Ancestors sowie für die beiden jüngsten Soloprojekte "Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace" (2024) und "Afrikan Culture" (2023). Als Musiker arbeitete er bereits mit einer Vielzahl namhafter Künstler zusammen, darunter Andre 3000, Floating Points, Mulatu Astatke, The Sun Ra Arkestra, Lianne La Havas, Saul Williams und viele mehr. "Of The Earth" erscheint als schwarze Vinyl-LP, als limitierte kornblumenblaue Vinyl-Edition und als CD. Beide Vinyl-Formate enthalten ein Booklet mit Hutchings' eigenem Artwork.

"The Thinking of the World Began Pounding in Our Ears the Moment We Hit Shore is a studio-constructed album developed as a project rather than a band.

Created by Florian TM Zeisig between 2022 and 2025, the record draws on sessions and material contributed by a small group of collaborators. Recordings were gathered across different contexts and brought together through an extended studio process, with writing, production, arrangement, and assembly treated as a continuous activity.

The album took shape gradually through selection, editing, and re-placement of material over time. Individual pieces were revisited, reshaped, and recontextualized until they formed a unified body of work.

Contributions to the project include work by Mari Rubio (More Eaze), Róisín Berkeley, Don Lyons, Cal Fish, K, Seán Being, and JQ. All tracks were produced, written, arranged, and mixed by Florian TM Zeisig, with co-songwriting contributions noted per track."

Turma da Bênção – A Semba Gathering Across Generations

Conjunto Angola 70 & Paulo Flores

The Turma da Bênção project brings together Conjunto Angola 70, a collective dedicated to recreating and preserving the golden-era sound of Angolan music from the 1970s, and Paulo Flores, one of the most important ambassadors of semba worldwide and one of the creators of kizomba. Throughout his career, Flores has built bridges between tradition and modernity, helping shape the global understanding of contemporary Angolan music.

Recorded in Lisbon in 2018 in an intimate “roda de semba” setting, informal jam sessions rooted in collective rhythm and storytelling, Turma da Bênção gathers legendary musicians such as Botto Trindade (guitar), Joãozinho Morgado (congas) and Teddy N’Singui (guitar); mid-generation artists including Galiano Neto (percussion), Paulo Flores (vocals and artistic direction) and Pirika Duia (viola); and younger creators such as Mayo Bass (bass), Jéssica Pina (trumpet) and Armando Gobliss (keys).

The result is a powerful dialogue between eras. Classic Angolan repertoire meets new compositions, all deeply rooted in semba — the rhythmic and poetic foundation from which kizomba later emerged.

The album revisits emblematic songs such as Runfo da Liberdade, Memórias de Gui and Lamento de Duia, while introducing new works including Morgadinho, Catuta 45, Boas Festas Conterrâ and Réveillon, the latter awarded Semba of the Year at the Angola Music Awards in 2020.

Before this LP, Keep On Pushin Records released the singles Turma da Bênção presents: Joãozinho Morgado and Turma da Bênção presents: Botto Trindade, building anticipation for what now becomes the label’s first full-length vinyl release.

Issued on vinyl in the year Angola celebrates 50 years of Independence, Turma da Bênção stands as a symbolic statement, honoring the elders, empowering the present generation, and ensuring that the pulse of semba continues to resonate across borders.

Turma da Bênção is more than an album. It is a rare intergenerational encounter and a living celebration of Angola’s musical heritage.

Von der Disco in den Jazz Club - Flore Benguigui ist zurück!
2024 platzte in der Welt des französischen Pop eine Bombe, als Flore Benguigui ihren Ausstieg aus der
erfolgreichen Elektropop-Band L’Impératrice bekanntgab. Mit ihrem ersten Solo-Album ist sie jetzt in
Bestform zurück und verbindet swingende Jazz-Songs mit Pop- und Elektro-Elementen.
Die ausgebildete Sängerin und Pianistin hegte schon immer eine tiefe Liebe zu Evergreens und zu Unrecht vergessenen Klassikern von Nina Simone bis Chanson-Legende Barbara. Ihr erstes Album unter
eigenem Namen greift diese Musik jetzt auf und transportiert sie ins Hier und Jetzt. Ihre unverwechselbare
Stimme, flirrend und mädchenhaft, aber punktgenau und selbstbewusst, ist die Basis der Jazz-Ohrwürmer
mit einer Dosis Indie-Pop, die sie mit ihrer Band The Sensible Notes erarbeitet hat. Für Pop- wie für
Jazz-Fans ist ihr ein sehr hörenswertes Werk gelungen.

Collecting Orders For 2025 Repress

Ruff n’ ready torque collides with the nocturnal as Argentinian donny JUAAN enters the fray.

A properly intoxicating melange of boisterous, straight-for-the-jugular biz and late-night seduction. Four distinct, durable traxxx tailor-made for the witching hour. Icily moody with a bit of menace and dread about it. It’s also very slick, optimised and fine-tuned for maximum dancefloor impact.

Critics often highlight his ‘90s-indebted approach, and while those influences remain ever-present, this one has more in common with dancefloor styles prevalent a decade prior. Shades of darkwave, Detroit In Effect and the nascent years of Chi-Town house depending on the track, but never do we run the risk of falling into pastiche.

Pure forward momentum with a decidedly mean streak coursing throughout. Plenty of sci-fi flourish, funked-out where it counts. Flush with dystopian romance and a decent dose of weirdo flex.

Quintessentially Kalahari.

If you could go back in time ten years, what would you want to tell yourself? This was a question Khruangbin posed to themselves when approaching the ten-year anniversary of their debut album, the once cult classic, now genre-defining work The Universe Smiles Upon You. “If we could go back and tell ourselves how much was going to happen to us after that record, what would we want to
celebrate?” asked Laura Lee, bassist, vocalist, and founding member of the band. Instead, they thought: “Let’s do it again.”
The Universe Smiles Upon You ii was recorded on January 4-6, 2025, in the same family barn of guitarist Mark Speer, across the
same dates where TUSUY was first conceived ten years earlier. Though the conditions were the same–dirt floor, brutally cold,
minimal sound isolation, all takes live–the songs aren’t. They’re re-approached, some changed more than others, harnessing the lightning-in-a-bottle energy of TUSUY while discovering what would be unique this time around, in this stage of the band’s life.
The result moves like ripples on the water across ten hypnotizing tracks, the barn creating a sense of spaciousness, serenity and creative freedom, nearby wildlife (listen out for the birds on “August Twelve ii”), rattles and creaks of the barn and all. It’s a tapestry of small movements in nuanced arrangements, slowly revealing the new life, stories and character of someone you’ve met again for the first time in ten years.

Reissue of the highly-regarded 2003 live album by Canadian technical death metal masters Cryptopsy. Capturing a crushing 2002 Montreal performance featuring their then-new vocalist Martin Lacroix and a career-spanning setlist including tracks from None So Vile, Blasphemy Made Flesh, and Whisper Supremacy, showcasing incredible energy, technicality, and a notable drum solo by Flo Mounier. It's considered by many fans to be a definitive live death metal album, representing their best material from previous albums in one powerful recording.

With »News from Planet Zombie«, The Notwist return to view after years of exploration and experiment with an album rich in both melancholy and positivity, sketched across a suite of thrilling, fiercely committed pop songs. It’s an album reflecting a chaotic world, but responding with warmth and generosity, to achieve creative and spiritual consolidation. Recorded in their home base of Munich, it reconnects with the security of the local to explore the troubles of the global: a guiding impulse writ large across this album’s eleven songs. It’s also the first studio album since 1995’s »12« that the entire band recorded together in the studio in its expanded live formation.

A new album by The Notwist is always a curious endeavour; their musical language is as consistent and resilient as the contexts for creativity are unpredictable and ever shifting. For »News from Planet Zombie«, the core trio of Markus and Micha Acher and Cico Beck embraced the plural possibilities of writing together, bringing songs to the collective and then arranging, rehearsing and recording that material live, in the studio.

The result is an album that’s energised, fully in ›the now‹, with spectacular moments where you can hear the magic bubbling up in the dynamic between the Achers, Beck, and fellow members Theresa Loibl, Max Punktezahl, Karl Ivar Refseth, and Andi Haberl. If »Teeth« begins »News from Planet Zombie« quietly and reflectively, by »X-Ray« everyone’s supercharged, blasting out future anthems with the collective energy cranked up high. The chiming keys of »Propeller« skim the instrumental’s surface like stones across burbling water; »The Turning« clangs its way into one of the album’s most heartwarming melodies.

»News from Planet Zombie« was recorded over one week at Import Export, a non-profit space for arts and music. You can tell, too; there are some pleasingly rough edges here, as though The Notwist’s striving for hazy perfection means they’re also confident enough to let the songs breathe and mutate between our ears. That openness to chance also takes in guest turns from friends both local and international, reflective of a cosmopolitan Munich: Enid Valu joins in on vocals, while Haruka Yoshizawa guests on taishōgoto and harmonium, Tianping Christoph Xiao on clarinet, and Mathias Götz on trombone.

The Notwist aren’t best known for cover versions, but »News from Planet Zombie« features two: a gorgeous version of Neil Young’s »Red Sun« (from 2000’s »Silver & Gold«), which the group originally developed for a theatre play directed by Jette Steckel, and a take on Athens, Georgia folk-pop gang Lovers’ »How the Story Ends«. They slot into the album’s narrative perfectly, nestling in like old friends, revealing The Notwist as poetic interpreters. Played well, the cover version is both acknowledgement of fellow travellers and act of generosity, and The Notwist nail both aspects here.

And that narrative, the way the album plays out? »News from Planet Zombie« acknowledges the distress of our current geopolitical impasse, while reminding us there are collective ways forward. Fed through the figure of the zombie, Markus Acher explores our anxieties: »In the title and some lyrics I reference B- and horror-movies, which is a reference to the crazy world at the moment, which seems to be like a really bad and unrealistic B-movie.« But there’s a reminder here not to lose the thread entirely, that these things, too, will pass.

»The river here in Munich I often go to has been there forever and will be there long after us,« Acher reflects, pinpointing an important source of succour for him, »always the same but always changing. Very calming, but also always reminding me that like this river time only flows into one direction and you can’t go back. Every moment is very precious.«

Artwork by Marie Vermont

The Notwist:
Markus Acher: vocals, guitar
Micha Acher: bass, sousaphone, euphonium, trumpet
Cico Beck: electronics, keyboards, guitar, recorder, percussion
Theresa Loibl: bassclarinet, clarinet, piano, harmonium, organ
Max Punktezahl: guitar
Karl Ivar Refseth: marimbaphone, vibraphone, glockenspiel, congas, percussion
Andi Haberl: drums, dulcimer
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Enid Valu: vocals on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11
Haruka Yoshizawa: taishōgoto on 6, harmonium on 9, 10, 11
Tianping Christoph Xiao: clarinet on 4, 10, 11
Mathias Götz: trombone on 4, 10, 11

Following the album "Mori", which focused mainly on slow-tempo pieces, this album "Yama" centers on up-tempo tracks. Moriyama’s sharp yet deeply embracing drumming is powerfully dynamic, like climbing a steep mountain at full speed. On both "Mori" and "Yama", the addition of saxophonist George Garzone allows listeners to be immersed in a refreshing flood of sound.

Eine Stadt voller Flimmern. Ein Herz voller Sehnsucht. Und ein Sound, der sich weigert zu verschwinden. Nachdem Andreas Kraemer mit seinen Synthpop-Versionen von Nightshift und See My Dream sowie dem gefeierten Remix zu PLEXIPHONES – In The Unreal die Radiostationen im Sturm erobert hat, meldet sich sein Synthwave-Projekt AuraWave zurück – und erhebt sich mit RISE auf ein neues, strahlendes Level!

Dies ist kein Album - Dies ist ein Aufbruch! Zehn Tracks, pulsierend wie Neonadern, schimmernd wie die Nächte einer Stadt, die niemals schläft. Zwischen Melancholie, futuristischem Glanz und der unendlichen Suche nach Licht im Dunkel. Vom aufsteigenden Titeltrack Rise, über das treibende Run Into the Dark,die verregnete Großstadtromantik von Whispers in the Rain,bis hin zur hypnotischen Tiefe von Ghosts Never Sleep und der verführerischen Dunkelheit von Poison Lips – jeder Song erzählt einen eigenen Moment eines Films, der sich direkt in dein Gedächtnis einbrennt. Synths schweben, Drums pulsieren, und irgendwo zwischen Erinnerung und Zukunft öffnet sich ein neonfarbenes Tor in eine andere Welt

Wenn der Toifel (Berliner Weisse) mal alleine!!! Mit VÖ Nummer 50 beschert uns Smith & Miller Records den Toifel solo! "Für immer euer Feind" - eine Platte, wie sie ehrlicher nicht sein könnte. Hart, kompromisslos und ähnliche Floskeln stehen bei den meisten Auskopplungen in der Beschreibung, doch wenn man dann reinhört ist alles mehr Schein als sein. Toifel's Solo Debüt allerdings könnte ehrlicher und direkter nicht sein. Ein aggressiver Faustschlag gegen geheuchelte Freundschaften, Respektlosigkeit und Arroganz der Gesellschaft. Klare, deutliche Worte ohne Maulkorb direkt vom Herz auf die Zunge, wird diese Platte das Genre Streetpunk auf ein ganz neues Level heben. Lieder die im ersten Moment frustrieren aber im Nachgang Hoffnung machen und dem Hörer die Hand reichen,die dunkelsten Zeiten durchzustehen. 12 mitsingtaugliche Hymnen wie sie von Vielen lange ersehnt wurden. Fans von Berliner Weiße, OXO 86, Biertoifel, Loikaemie, 4 Promille, Gumbles, Stomper 98... werden sich froien! Zwölf Songs auf 180gr neon green/ black marbled Vinyl, limitiert, handnummerierte 1.000 Stück mit Insert oder als Digipac-CD mit Booklet.

Fast-rising Los Angeles band The Silvertone make a splash on the modern soul scene with Mistakes—their most soulful statement yet. Retro-laced and dripping with smoky vocals, dusty grooves, and late-night cool, this souldie record blends vintage R&B, classic soul, and a touch of psych—Sam Cooke meets Durand Jones under neon lights.

Cambridge-based improv collective Concrete Gazebo present their latest collection of open-hearted, quantum splice-downs, via Goldsmiths University label NX Records.

"Acid Heath" documents the ebb and flow of a collective in flux; online and in-the-flesh improv sessions form the raw material to be welded into new and fantastic forms by the group's hive-mind. Instruments falling into the pot this time around include a heavily effected Harmonic Art Handpan, the Yamaha PortaSound PSS-50, live-triggered field recordings, and mobile phone recordings of the jams themselves.

The result is a murky, atmospheric stew, at different times suggesting a sort of Fenland psychedelia, lof-fi krautock, or a deconstructed Broadcast.

When not making music, the band have organised free, open-to-all improvisation nights, "Under The Concrete Gazebo", since 2018.