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A Late Lunch’ is the soundtrack to Akiko Iimura’s eponymous movie realized in 1978. It is based on acoustic instruments and field recordings, brilliantly reconfigured and mixed by Bekaert to create a surreal, immersive soundscape. The technique used includes superposition and speed change of recordings, radical sound effects and juxtapositions of sounds. The players were prominent musicians of the 1970’s, including Maggi Payne, George Lewis, David Rosenboom and Blue Gene Tyranny.

‘A Summer Day at Stony Point’ was composed in 1969, with participation of David Behrman, Shigeko Kubota and Charlotte Warren. The piece was commissioned by English composer Hugh Davies who presented it at the Harrogate festival the same year. Stony Point is a small village in New York State where John Cage co-owned a small pseudo-commune art resort where like-minded artists gathered. ‘A Summer Day at Stony Point’ is nothing more than a page of a journal, a fragment of a notebook that utilizes a series of sound sources recorded at Stony Point on one beautiful day in the summer of 1968. Other electronic sound sources were recorded at the Brandeis University where Alvin Lucier was professor. The final realization of the piece was done at Henri Pousseur’s APELAC Studio in Brussels, 1969.

The soundtrack for Akiko Iimura’s ‘Mon Petit Album’ was composed on the basis of a simple description of the technique of the film and its time span. It includes David Behrman on alto, from an outdoor recording at Stony Point, plus excerpts from a Transition concert in London, the band Bekaert formed in 1971 with Michel Herr, Takehisa Kosugi and Ryo Koike, both members of the Taj Mahal Travelers. The atmosphere is quiet and pastoral throughout with a very dreamlike flavour.

Jacques Bekaert (1940-2020) was a man of many gifts: author, journalist, composer, photographer, visual artist, wine connoisseur, radio talk show host, diplomat and expert in Southeast Asian affairs. His whole life Bekaert has been actively involved in music but not much of his work got recorded or published. In the early 60’s Bekaert studied with Pousseur and through his frequent visits to the US he became friends with artists like John Cage, David Tudor, Charlotte Moorman and most of all David Behrman with whom he had a close friendship ever since. Bekaert helped organize the first European tour of The Sonic Arts Union (David Behrman, Robert Ashley, Gordon Mumma, Alvin Lucier) and in the early 70’s he formed the group Transition (with Belgian jazz pianist Michel Herr, Takehisa Kosugi and Ryo Koike, both members of the Taj Mahal Travelers). His meeting with Japanese experimental film-maker Akiko Iimura resulted in two film soundtracks featured on this one of a kind discreet avant garde album.

When asked in a 1979 interview about his double life as a musician and a journalist, Bekaert replied, “I suppose they’re both unsafe, unstable, questioning jobs—composing and reporting. Journalism takes me to places, shows me the world as it is. My music is my wish for the kind of world I’d want to live in. The little peaceful state I dream for everyone, where you can be yourself, and happy, and as collective as possible without giving up total privacy.”

Originally released in 1981 on the Belgian Igloo label this reissue comes with the same sleeve as originally designed by Alain Géronnez.

Steve Gunn has always had one foot in indie rock and the other in an expansive improvisational scene. His songwriter albums alternate with freewheeling jams, most notably in his Gunn-Truscinski Duo, but are not confined to that. So when Gunn decided to revisit Other You, it made sense that he brought in some guests from the far side of the commercial/experimental spectrum to reimagine his songs. Nakama presents five tracks from that last album, reshaped by artists that Gunn admires. The process loosens the songs up considerably.

To start, he calls in Mdou Moctar’s backing band (the American bassist Mikey Coltun and the other guitarist Ahmoudou Madassane) for “Protection.” The song already had a bit of blues-y swagger to it, with sharper-edged guitar rhythms also heard on the ultra-smooth Other You, but here the heat has an otherworldly desert sheen. Its caravan-traveling rhythm sways from side to side, digging in to to the upbeats in a way that is both kinetic and also hypnotically still. There’s some crowd noise in the background, the knot of people that regularly forms when Mdou and his compatriots plug in from Agadez, and a few mournful afro-blues licks arcing off the vamp. But mostly it’s a cut that reminds you how much African guitar music Gunn has absorbed (listen to “Tommy’s Congo” from Way Out Weather for proof), and how well it fits with what he does.

Gunn also brings in Circuit Des Yeux’s Haley Fohr to reconfigure “Ever Feel That Way,” and she sets the song’s drifting melancholy amid pensive minor-key piano chords. She strips back the ambient whoosh that surrounds the original, slows down the pace and presents the song in startling, unadorned clarity. Her version removes some of the sticky, over-prettiness that I found so distracting in Other You. The melody is better, purer and more focused without the frills. There is also an electronic remake of “Reflection” from David Moore’s ambient ensemble Bing and Ruth, which traps Gunn’s fragile vocals in a shivering palace of synthetic tones. It’s enjoyable in its way, but the two sensibilities never quite meld together.

The best part comes when Gunn joins forces with Joshua Abrams’ Natural Information Society in remakes of “Good Wind” and “On the Way.” The former is a matter of subtle differences: the gentle pitch and roll under Gunn’s voice, the intermittent liquid runs of bass between widely spaced phrases. Abrams and his crew open up the jazz-leaning, reiterative possibilities under Gunn’s song, but they don’t change it fundamentally. “On the Way” is even stronger, a glowing drone and a pattern of hand drums enveloping the melody. It makes the music seem more spiritual, more resonant, more deep and full of mysteries. It was striking enough that I had to go back to Other You to hear again an album that had left me cold. This new version of “On the Way” didn’t change that chill, but it gave me an idea of how strong the songs might have sounded in another setting. (by Jennifer Kelly)

Inspired by three movies of avantgarde cinematographer Maya Deren (At Land, Ritual in Transfigured Time and A study in Choreography for Camera), Francesca Bono (vocalist, performer, founder of Ofeliadorme and member of the Donnacirco collective) and Vittoria Burattini (percussionist, multi-faceted drummer and member of influential Italian avant-rock band Massimo Volume) created a dense hypnotic transfixing collection of songs based upon the sole use of the Juno 60 synthesizer and the organic linear pulsating sound of a drum kit.

These apparent limitations set the scene for an incredibly rich and rewarding voyage that immediately establishes a strong identity that oscillates between circular dream soundscapes and psychedelic rhythmic architectures. Bono / Burattini excels in threading magical images where objects transform without warning (Your House Is A Ghost) and collapse into kosmische grooves (La Trama Del Desiderio) or when humming electronics mold into temporal dimensions (Sogno Nel Vigneto). Burattini’s astonishing use of the drum kit and her mallet driven timbre produce space and tension (Dinner Illusion) perfectly complementing Bono’s synthesized realm made of nuance and reflection (Dancing Demons). One of the album’s key elements is the sparse use of Bono’s singing, an intricate mix of measured phrasing, breathing, spiral structures and extrasensorial-like choirs that seem to reference the rich Italian tradition of cosmic jazz, library music and the unmatched work of the RAI engineers in the 70s working with Gruppo Di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, Morricone, Daniela Casa. The driving Can-like pulse of Le Ossa shows force and flow while Stella’s haunting piano recreates a futuristic horror-movie OST.

Suono In Un Tempo Trasfigurato is beautifully recorded and mixed by Italian composer Stefano Pilia, a perfect match for Bono / Burattini’s sonic explorations and for a record that intersects experimental wave, alien grooves, contemporary electronics and futuristic sci-fi. Their blend of analog electronics and organic pulses place them in a time out of joint where dancing remains the one constant ritual.

High Roller Records, black vinyl, ltd 250, 4 page insert, A5 photo card, All audio restored and mastered from vinyl and tape sources by Patrick W. Engel at TEMPLE OF DISHARMONY in October 2021. In den frühen achtziger Jahren war das Londoner East End eine der wichtigsten Keimzellen der glorreichen New Wave Of British Heavy Metal – man denke nur an Acts wie Iron Maiden oder Angel Witch. Das Ruskin Arms spielte für die Evolution der Bewegung eine nicht unwesentliche Rolle, waren es doch die legendären Probeauftritte jeden Donnerstagabend, die den hoffnungsvollsten Bands eine regelmäßige Anstellung im Ruskin sichern konnten. Teil dieser Szene waren auch Dragonfly, eine Gruppe von jungen Musikern, ohne Geld und ohne selbst auferlegte Grenzen, dafür aber mit unbändigem Enthusiasmus. Es dauerte nicht lange, bis die Band anfing, eigene Stücke zu schreiben und sich weit übers Ruskin hinaus einen Namen zu erspielen. Die Frage nach einem eigenen Vinyl wurde in der Folge immer dringlicher. Dieses wurde dann in Form der »Dragonfly E.P.« umgesetzt, eine Auswahl eigener Kompositionen, aufgenommen im Keller einer Zoohandlung ganz in der Nähe des Ruskin Arms. Die in Eigenregie gefertigte EP wurde in einer Auflage von 500 Stück gepresst, die Cover eigenhändig gefaltet sowie zusammengeklebt, und erschien im Jahre 1980. Die Qualität des Materials und das spielerische Können der Musiker machte die »Dragonfly E.P.« zu einer der substanzielleren Veröffentlichungen der NWOBHM, später wiederzuerkennen bei Bands wie Sapphire, Trilogy oder Terraplane. Das wieder erwachte Interesse an der NWOBHM trieb den Preis einer originalen Ausgabe der »Dragonfly E.P.« fortan in schwindelerregende Regionen und fachte zugleich das Interesse nach unveröffentlichtem Material des ausnahmslos in Originalbesetzung agierenden Quartetts an. Das vorliegende Album präsentiert alternative (ältere) Aufnahmen des Songmaterials der »Dragonfly E.P.« und sorgt dafür, dass Dragonfly endlich das breitere Publikum bekommen, das sie von Anfang an verdient gehabt hätten. Cleveres Songwriting, melodische Vocals und messerscharfe Gitarren sind die Schlüsselelemente ihres Sounds.

High Roller Records, black vinyl, ltd 250, 4 page insert, A5 photo card, All audio restored and mastered from vinyl and tape sources by Patrick W. Engel at TEMPLE OF DISHARMONY in October 2021. In den frühen achtziger Jahren war das Londoner East End eine der wichtigsten Keimzellen der glorreichen New Wave Of British Heavy Metal – man denke nur an Acts wie Iron Maiden oder Angel Witch. Das Ruskin Arms spielte für die Evolution der Bewegung eine nicht unwesentliche Rolle, waren es doch die legendären Probeauftritte jeden Donnerstagabend, die den hoffnungsvollsten Bands eine regelmäßige Anstellung im Ruskin sichern konnten. Teil dieser Szene waren auch Dragonfly, eine Gruppe von jungen Musikern, ohne Geld und ohne selbst auferlegte Grenzen, dafür aber mit unbändigem Enthusiasmus. Es dauerte nicht lange, bis die Band anfing, eigene Stücke zu schreiben und sich weit übers Ruskin hinaus einen Namen zu erspielen. Die Frage nach einem eigenen Vinyl wurde in der Folge immer dringlicher. Dieses wurde dann in Form der »Dragonfly E.P.« umgesetzt, eine Auswahl eigener Kompositionen, aufgenommen im Keller einer Zoohandlung ganz in der Nähe des Ruskin Arms. Die in Eigenregie gefertigte EP wurde in einer Auflage von 500 Stück gepresst, die Cover eigenhändig gefaltet sowie zusammengeklebt, und erschien im Jahre 1980. Die Qualität des Materials und das spielerische Können der Musiker machte die »Dragonfly E.P.« zu einer der substanzielleren Veröffentlichungen der NWOBHM, später wiederzuerkennen bei Bands wie Sapphire, Trilogy oder Terraplane. Das wieder erwachte Interesse an der NWOBHM trieb den Preis einer originalen Ausgabe der »Dragonfly E.P.« fortan in schwindelerregende Regionen und fachte zugleich das Interesse nach unveröffentlichtem Material des ausnahmslos in Originalbesetzung agierenden Quartetts an. Das vorliegende Album präsentiert alternative (ältere) Aufnahmen des Songmaterials der »Dragonfly E.P.« und sorgt dafür, dass Dragonfly endlich das breitere Publikum bekommen, das sie von Anfang an verdient gehabt hätten. Cleveres Songwriting, melodische Vocals und messerscharfe Gitarren sind die Schlüsselelemente ihres Sounds.

It's often a good sign when one of your favorite musicians steps out from beyond the studio walls and past the stage lights to fulfill their own inspired and creative intent. And Caíto Sánchez is not just a favorite musician, but as his lengthy resume as a sideman shows, he's also one of your favorite musicians' favorite musicians, constantly working without fanfare as an essential ingredient in a larger music feast. Sánchez earned his stripes in the 2000s and beyond as a key session player and an integral touring band member, a quiet standout even among many oversized personalities. A dedicated drummer born in Panama and living in New York, Sánchez is quite capable of keeping time for legends like Charles Bradley, Lee Fields, and Brian Jackson, as well as supporting eclectic outfits like the live groups of Quantic, Chico Mann and Midnight Magic. For all the players who have shared a stage or studio with him it comes as no real surprise, and frankly as a long overdue development, that such a unique artistic force is finally stepping into the spotlight.

With this debut single we get a glimpse into Sánchez's creative and artistic personal space, more precisely a multi-instrumental discipline of not only drums, but also bass, guitar and lead voice. It's an intensely intimate recording debut, a fantastic studio concoction born from the heart of its creator, and later fostered and mixed down by the talented hands of NYCT and Daptone veteran Victor Axelrod. The defining result on this initial 7-inch offering are two heavy psychedelic and moody nuggets of rock enespañol, a decidedly new wave of sounds and style that are quite capable of shining on their own.

Thomas Eriksen und Mork kehren zwei Jahre nach ‘Katedralen‘ mit ihrem sechsten Werk zurück. Mit ‘Dypet‘, einem neuen Höhepunkt sorgfältig komponierter, atmosphärischer und düsterer, aber dennoch hymnischer Dunkelheit, schafft Mork eine düstere Spannung inmitten alptraumhafter Klanglandschaften.
Das Album zeigt die natürliche Evolution von Eriksens Ideen und seine kontinuierliche Entwicklung als Songwriter, während die Kernessenz aus eiskaltem, hypnotischem Black Metal erhalten bleibt.

— Als Digipak CD oder schwarzes Vinyl im Gatefold Sleeve
erhältlich

— Das brandneue, sechste Studioalbum der norwegischen
Blackmetaller um Thomas Eriksen

— Mit Gastauftritt von Hjelvik (ex-Kvelertak)

— Print- & Online-Promo von Marco Linke/cmm

Der besondere Charakter jedes von Prokofieffs Violinkonzerten scheint in seiner Entstehungszeit begründet zu sein:
Das erste, nervös und ikonoklastisch, fiel mit der Russischen Revolution zusammen; das zweite, nüchterner und lyrischer, stammt aus dem Jahr 1935, als Prokofieff eine endgültige Rückkehr in sein Heimatland vorbereitete.
Die beiden Konzerte wurden im Abstand von neunzehn Jahren geschrieben - ein Zeitraum, der fast vollständig mit den Jahren übereinstimmt, die Prokofieff im "Exil" verbrachte, zunächst in den USA und dann in Frankreich.

Nr. 1 komponierte er kurz vor seiner Abreise aus Russland, Nr. 2 nur wenige Monate vor seiner Rückkehr in die Sowjetunion. Es ist daher kaum verwunderlich, dass sich die beiden Werke so stark voneinander unterscheiden. Perlman entschied sich für die Einspielung dieser beiden Konzerte mit Gennady Rozhdestvensky, dessen Erfahrung mit diesem Repertoire er zweifellos für unübertroffen hielt.

Nun erscheinen diese Einspielungen auf LP.

First time vinyl reissue of this awesome 1978 Latin jazz-funk gem by Venezuelan guitarist Alex Rodríguez, featuring top musicians like Jorge Dalto, Nené Quintero and George Benson’s band members Dennis Davis and Stanley Banks, among many others. Originally self-released and distributed in tiny quantities, “Búsqueda” has reached grail status among collectors worldwide. The album contains quite a few heaters for the dance floor, like ‘El Mercado’, and tight, keys and guitar punctuated fusion jams! (just check the groovy opener ‘Cumana’.) Rodríguez is a classical and jazz trained guitarist who in the early days of his career joined some of the best orchestras in Venezuela, including Aldemaro Romero’s Onda Nueva. He put together a brief project, La Retreta Mayor, in 1976 which only released one album and would later move to New York where he had the opportunity to record his own songs with renowned musicians of the city at
that time, like Víctor Paz, Charlie Camalliari, Sam Burtis, Mario Bauza, Guillermo Edgil, Bernard Purdie, Jorge Dalto, among others. It took him a little more than a year writing the songs and preparing the material for “Busqueda” but in 1978 Alex Rodríguez would return to New York City. Jorge Dalto had spoken with Dennis Davis (drums), Stanley Banks (bass) who played together with George Benson, and Víctor Paz contacted Alex with Ronnie Cuber (saxes), an excellent saxophonist, who later recorded ‘Cumana’ on his own album “The Eleventh Day Of Aquarius”. Before going to the recording studio they did a rehearsal to review the music, and the next day Dalto, Banks, Davis, Cuber and Alex Rodríguez were recording in the CBS studio on 52nd street in Manhattan. The production and mixing of the album were finished in Caracas, at Sono 2000 studios, with the participation of excellent Venezuelan musicians such as Nené Quintero, Lucio Caminiti, Edgar Saume, Carlos Acosta, Alberto Naranjo, Rolando Briceño, Leo and Frank Quintero, among others. The resulting album contains quite a few heaters for the dance floor, like ‘El Mercado’, and tight, keys and guitar punctuated fusion jams!“Búsqueda” was then self-released and distributed in tiny quantities, becoming over the years a very sought-after collectors item, probably one of the most obscure albums from Venezuela. It now gets reissued on vinyl for the first time, including notes by Alex Rodríguez. 180g vinyl.

Cosmic synth. Polyphonic analog synthesizers and drum machines interpret ancient Saharan folk ballads in an imagined science fiction future. A proposed relaxation guide, sonically lying somewhere between ambient library music and minimal wave. Recorded in Niger and France in the late 1980s. All Recordings by Mamman Sani Abdoulaye. Recorded 1985 - 1988 at Studio Samira in Niamey, Niger and Studio Kham Mai in Paris, France. Instruments include Crumar Bit 99, RCA Victor 70, Yamaha RX5, and Roland TR-505. Painting by Maria Joan Dixon. Layout and design by Christopher Kirkley.

Le Motel and Bruce Wijn met at school, during a school art trip to Munich. They went separate ways for a long time.

Hailing from Brussels, Le Motel's world is a vortex of sight and sound that takes in the many and varied corners of the planet. As a music producer and film composer his versatility has taken him to festivals and clubs in every direction as naturally as he has ventured out to the less accessible areas of the globe as a field recordist. It's somewhere in between these spaces that Le Motel operates, gathering unique experiences and sounds to channel through his studio.

Bruce Wijn is a Brussels-based guitarist who played in several postrock kind projects such as Sound Film, 52 Commercial Road, or more shoegaze Lazy Sin. These collaborations gave him the opportunity to perform in various locations in Belgium, France, England, and the USA. As a musician, his focus has always been attracted by progressively built rhythmic melodies, which would eventually turn into long reverberated or distorted swells, or the otherway round.

All these experiences brought them both to the idea of scoring movies with different yet similar approaches.

That's how their first collaboration happened as Le Motel was working on the soundtrack of the movie Binti, and invited Bruce Wijn for the track Exode, in 2018. Since then, they've been working on other scoring projects, such as the feature film 'Aller Retour' more recently.

Alongside the movie scoring activities another audiovisual live project was born, in collaboration with Antoine de Schuyter and his mesmerizing images.

This one is more focusing on tape textures, field recordings and glitchy effects in order to build atmospheric tracks that they decided to bring together in a first E.P. 'MAAR'.

'MAAR' is elaborated as a soundtrack for an imaginary journey between cold seas and volcanoes explorations.

From the first echoing sounds of playing kids on the shoreside in the opening track 'La Perche' Le Motel & Bruce Wijn let you slide in a technicolor dreamworld, reverbing slowly innocent childhood memories into a chilled, out of range, future.

'MAAR' dives deep into a kaleidoscopic microcosmos watching Nautilus playing hide and seek with 'Captain Ahab' floating on sonic breaking waves, while seagulls gently spread their wings flying through the breezy and misty clouds of Blankenberge.

Lava vulcanica slowly melts in the sad euphorica of the cold North Sea, crystallizing sounds only Le Motel and Bruce Wijn can deliver.

'Unconscious Collective' is the first album by PS5 - the new ensemble led by Pietro Santangelo (Nu Guinea, Slivovitz, Fitness Forever) - and it will be out for Hyperjazz Records on 21th May 2021.

It's a musical experiment where layered memories and hidden feelings resonate as if they arise directly from the most recondite part of the unconscious and produce a suspension of the stream of consciousness. With the aim to create a state of trance and override the human reason, this is an imaginary round trip across the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, ideally connecting Naples with North Africa and Latin America.

The arrangements wrote by Santangelo are based on great freedom of improvisation: while the melodic textures of the two saxophones didn't give any clear references, the other musicians followed the rhythmic pulse and its unpredictable ways. The music moves naturally along an imaginary line highlighting the ancestral connection between Jamaica and Ethiopia or between Nigeria and Cuba. In the background, Naples is a synthesis of all the sonic ingredients, mixed and cooked in its own mystical and spicy belly.

Besides Santangelo himself on the tenor and soprano saxophones, the collective is made up of: Paolo Bianconcini, a brilliant Neapolitan percussionist with a very deep Afro-Cuban background; Giuseppe Giroffi, young and talented alto and baritone saxophonist; the bassist Vincenzo Lamagna and the drummer Salvatore Rainone, both loyal members of the former Santangelo's trio.

Recorded live at the Auditorium Novecento in Naples, the legendary studio of Phonotype Records, 'Unconscious Collective' is mixed in analog format by Fabrizio Piccolo, and mastered by Davide Barbarulo at his 20Hz20KHz Studio.

Pietro Santangelo

Pietro was born, lives and plays in Naples. As a saxophonist and composer, he has released five albums with Slivovitz and one with his PS3 trio (Clinamen, Emme records 2017). Graduated in Digital Sound Processing at the Faculty of Physics of Federico II University, he is involved and engaged in the Italian scene of radical improvisation (Franco Ferguson, Elio Martusciello and Officina Arti Soniche, Collettivo NISE).

Multi-instrumentalist since forever, he has collaborated with Nu Guinea, Enzo Avitabile, Fitness Forever, Marzouk Mejri, Dennis Bovell and many others.

He's also author of soundtracks and electronic musician. He appreciates analog photography, loves walking outdoors. He hates biographical notes.

On October 21, 2022, Merge Records will release Pigments, the debut collaboration between New Orleans electro-revival dynamo Dawn Richard and multi-instrumentalist, producer, and composer Spencer Zahn. Pigments is a project about the power of self-expression through living art, through motion. It's also a love letter to New Orleans, Louisiana. Not strictly classical, jazz or ambient electronica but rather a body of "movements," Pigments is an expressive soundscape that is an immersive passage through the city as seen through the eyes of a young Black girl with dreams to paint her future with the pigments given to her. Richard explains: "Spencer wanted to create one long piece of music that would ebb and flow around my lyrics and emotions, which tell a story of growing to love my own skin. I wanted my voice to be moss surrounding the roots of Spencer's compo - sitions, never forcing the moment to fill every space but rather reveling in the openness of thought and breath." Zahn agrees, saying, "I wanted to work with all these different textures, tones, and colors to have a new sound to frame Dawn's voice and lyrics. To hear a lone clarinet as the breath fades and a cello continues its melody to cue Dawn's vocal entrance is unlike any other record she has made. These are things that excite me as a composer but more as a listener. I hope that other listeners feel the same." Coming on the heels of Dawn Richard's critically acclaimed Merge debut Line, Pigments will introduce listeners to a different facet of Richard's outrageous talent and bring Zahn's thoughtful creativity to a new audience.

This second collection of edits from Italy's matter-of-fact Edits Collection label offers another quarter of superbly feel-good disco sounds. 'Slow Luv' has lush strings and plenty of Philly vibes, while 'Stranger Beat' layers up the jumbled percussion, sliding hi-hats and funky bass. Flip it over for 'Xpress Yourself' which is sure to weave its way into your soul with its hip-shaking groove and more funky bass frets than you know what to do with. 'Xpress Yourbeats' is a more raw and drum focused sound for amping up those energy levels on the floor.

A new collaboration of Philoxenia Records founders Luigi Di Venere and Neu Verboten, Affekt Unit is informed by an aim to "spark new feelings on the dancefloor". The three track Discorgy EP celebrates their musical obsessions - Italo house, Frankfurt EBM-house and trance - with the result proving an electrifying crossover of these classic genres together with surprising new sounds. 'Oct-Opus' boasts a serious electro component, fused with progressive trance, UK bass, techno, transcendental rave and even a climactic outbreak of rave-era breaks. The title track 'Discorgy' draws from Euro dance and EBM, experimenting with a polyrhythmic bass line and bringing the kind of 'stadium house' that The KLF were always aiming for. Closing track 'Dreams Of Wrestlers' is cosmic house at its sweetest and beefiest, spruced here and there with Italo stabs and pianos, drum machine fills and some lovely subtle filtering. Not so much a case of something for everyone than everything from everyone, you might even say.

The spectrum-spanning archive of Hudd Traxx grows at pace, and having rolled out jams from legends of the game on Hudd Influences Vol. 1, Eddie Leader’s acclaimed Manchester based imprint now hands a full debut to rising star… DFRA.

From label fan to label artist, Buenos Aires-based Colombian, Diego Ruiz, first featured on 2019’s ‘Out Of Order : Volume 3’ with ‘I Am House’. His new ‘Blue Horizon’ EP confirms that statement, as we’re presented with a trio of beautifully tailored tracks, highlighting a producer who is comfortable in his craft.

The shimmer and bump of the title track, evokes scenes of sun, sea and bodies moving in rhythm. A theme that runs throughout, as the perspiring vibes of ‘Hold Me’ roll us into the club with its warm bass, pulsing keys and vocal, while final cut ‘Fallin’’ with its hypnotic swing and thumping kick takes us deeper into the night.

Adding a final peak to the package is Real Tone boss, Franck Roger. Vocal flourishes, echoing keys and that renowned golden touch from the Frenchman round out this superb debut from DFRA.

Right Diagonal' kicks off with the title track which presents a potent wall of sound that undulates across a pensive current. Distant vocals, frazzled signals and stuttering drum patterns work together to build a fantastically unheimlich vibe. The Crosser version then projects sound into a spacious, chilly warehouse as reverberated flashes of sound depict futuristic machines at work.

'Conjugated In Boring Crimes' then follows up with a dense, shuddering recording. Growls and whispers swell beneath more dystopian sonics before 'Safe Resist' rolls out as a jagged Techno experiment. A steady kick propels a rich, metallic sound palette before 'One Man Clearing' renders another scene of murky futurism.

'Farewell Seesaw' then follows up with a subtle Electro track peppered with hypnotic vocals and a distant, snappy snare. The 'Clubmix' version then delivers what it promises as urgent drums whip up a menacing, heady dance floor vibe.

'Night Voodoo' then brings things to a close as cinematic sweeps suffuse a sawtooth sequence and thick, bubbling bass tones. Frazzled hats bleed through in giving the track a certain live feeling which brings the record to a close.

New London based quartet Qwalia, led by drummer Yusuf Ahmed, offer a plethora of influences whilst remaining resolutely itself. Assembled from musicians who play with David Byrne, Joy Crookes, Nubiyan Twist, Frank Ocean, Jordan Rakei, Sampha, Cat Stevens and more; Yusuf is joined by Tal Janes on guitars and vocals, Ben Reed on bass and keyboardist Joseph Costi. Qwalia’s debut album ‘Sound And Reason’ is set for release by Alberts Favourites on 24th March 2023.
The name Qwalia stems from the same sounding word Qualia, a philosophy of mind with the property of being an ineffable experience. Qwalia’s music is an instinctive aural expression of how things seemed in the moment of creation.
In April ‘21, Qwalia spent two days recording completely improvised music at the Fish Factory in North West London. There was no plan or preconceived idea of what the music should sound like or what was going to happen.
“We set up altogether in one room, dimmed the lights, pressed record and just played,” says Yusuf. “We came away with over 13 hours of music, which was consolidated into three albums worth of material. The final record is mainly a result of pulling faders up or down to create space and structure out of what was already there from the live recording. The production process felt akin to a sculptor chipping away excess stone to reveal a statue that was already there, and occasionally putting some makeup on it!”
The band members are Pakistani, Italian, Venezuelan, Jewish and English. A reflection of the fact that cultural categories are infinite; Qwalia’s music unconsciously explores identity, exposing what this can mean. Or perhaps that it doesn’t mean anything at all.
Early support from Mary Anne Hobbs and Gilles Peterson, support to come from Huey Morgan, Cerys Matthews.

“Pour les gens supercool.” This slick tagline caused a commotion among Belgian electronic music fans in 1985 as a jingle in Liaisons Dangereuses, the infamous radio show on local station S.I.S. Antwerpen. Hosted by Paul Ward and DJ Sven Van Hees and playing an exhilarating mix of EBM, house, new beat, acid house, Detroit techno, synthpop and more, the transmit was without a doubt trendsetting, presenting music on the radio that before was only to be witnessed in dark clubs or underground record stores. Listeners needed to make an effort though, since the S.I.S. waves only reached about 10km out of the city center. But a network of copied tape recordings and a fast growing bunch of fans - some of which even driving their cars to parking lots inside the broadcast area to hear the show - created a buzz that would easily exceed the limits of the transmission signal.

In 1989 Ward and Van Hees formed their own band named after the radio show, but to avoid confusion with the eponymous German new wave band, they signed their records with Liaison D or Liaisons D. Assisted by Jan Van Den Bergh (Mappa Mundi, Kumulus, Buzz), Marcos Salon (Outlander), Frank De Wulf (B-Sides, World Party II) and J.P. Ruelle, Liaisons D released a solid string of EP’s and the album “Submerged In Sound” on USA Import Records between 1989 and 1992. We are extremely proud to present four tracks from the album here as a brand new EP, a must-have for fans of their unapologetically rough and ravy sound, testimony of a unique era in Belgium’s electronic music history.

Orange Vinyl

The garage -psychedelic French duo The Liminanas straddles since 2009 the boundary between psychedelic ,shoegaze,garage & French yé-yé up to cool vocals . Quintessentially French but first known at the start in the US before hitting homeland France. 7 studio albums so far, 2 rare tracks compilations, many Eps,some OST, collabs such as L’Epée with Anton Newcombe & Emmanuelle Seigner : time for a first time Best of, and actually more than a Best of : Double Cd , Ltd Triple Vinyl& Digital editions offer 12 exclusive bonus tracks -new songs + rare songs when they called themselves les Bellas, before The Liminanas-.
“Electrified” also includes 23 classics songs , with featurings such as Peter Hook, Anton Newcombe and French pionners Laurent Garnier, Etienne Daho & Pascal Comelade.
Features liner notes written by Iggy Pop, Peter Hook & Keith Streng (Fleshtones) : because it’s only rock’n’roll.

Death Is Not The End's 333 sub-label follows the reissue of Devon Russell's Darker Than Blue LP late last year with a first-time reissue of a veritable reggae-dancehall holy grail - Robert Ffrench's 1985 LP 'Wondering'.

Pioneering artist and producer (and cousin of the late, great Pat Kelly) Robert Ffrench was born in central Kingston in 1962, recording his first records in 1979 at the age of 17. Coming out off the back of a slew of roots & early dancehall-style 45s cut with a wide range of producers thoughout the early '80s, the Wondering LP followed closely after two acclaimed LP sets ('Showcase' produced with Lord Koos & 'The Favourite' for Ossie Thomas' Black Solidarity label - plus a split showcase LP with Anthony "Gunshot" Johnson for Jah Thomas' Midnight Rock label).

Ffrench would write and produce the Wondering LP himself in it's entirity, laying down the tracks at Herman Chin-Loy's Aquarius & Michael Carroll's Creative Sounds studios with the help of engineer Christopher Daley. Representing the sound of an artist first confidently sriking out on his own, the album elegantly mixes a classic rub-a-dub & lovers rock-inspired sound with nascent digi-esque flourishes. It boasts an enviable list of contributors too, incl. Sly & Robbie, Dwight Pinkney, Robbie Lyn, Nelson Miller (Burning Spear) and Ronald "Nambo" Robinson among others, with Beres Hammond also providing backing vocals in places.

Following the release of Wondering, Ffrench would continue to write and produce, soon after releasing two further self-produced LPs for Edgar White's Parish label - and founded his own 'France' label in the late 80s, through which his productions would start to hit big, most notably alongside Courtney Melody on 'Modern Girl', and with US rapper Heavy D on the track 'More Love'. Robert's productions released through later label 'Ffrench' would go on to boast the cream of the crop of dancehall artists throughout the 90s and early 2000s, and he is often credited with discovering Buju Banton (producing his first single "Ruler" on the Stamina riddim). Ffrench is still actively producing music of his own to this day, having released singles 'Everyday of My Life' and 'Black Is a Colour' in late 2022 and Feb 2023 respectively, available through all digital platforms now.

333, under exclusive license from Robert Ffrench.

Die mächtigen Sortilège seit ihrer Gründung 1980 wahre Pioniere des französischen Heavy Metal und ebneten den Weg für eine ganze Generation von französischen Bands und Labels. "Apocalypso", ihr erstes Album mit neuem Material seit über 30 Jahren, hält laut und stolz die Flagge des Heavy Metal hoch!
Für Fans von IRON MAIDEN, BLASPHEME, ADX, JUDAS PRIEST

Die mächtigen Sortilège seit ihrer Gründung 1980 wahre Pioniere des französischen Heavy Metal und ebneten den Weg für eine ganze Generation von französischen Bands und Labels. "Apocalypso", ihr erstes Album mit neuem Material seit über 30 Jahren, hält laut und stolz die Flagge des Heavy Metal hoch!
Für Fans von IRON MAIDEN, BLASPHEME, ADX, JUDAS PRIEST

Kaizers Orchestra bringen ihre Alben auf 180g Gatefold-Vinyl neu heraus. Remastered von den Originalproduzenten, explodiert ihr facettenreicher Balkan-Punk-Sound, klingt offener & lauter, hat mehr Punch & Dynamik und atmet Live-Energie & Schwung ihrer Kultkonzerte. Ihr Debüt 'Ompa Til Du Dor' (2001) gilt als Klassiker des norwegischen Rock, mischte die Musikszene mächtig auf, erreichte - wie alle K.O. Alben - die norwegische #1 und ist bis heute das meistverkaufte Rockdebüt in norwegischer Sprache.

"Wir wollten ein Album schreiben, das unseren Sound widerspiegelt - aber wir wollten ihn noch weiter ausbauen und vertiefen", sagt MALEVOLENCE-Frontmann Alex Taylor. Mit ihrem dritten Album, Malicious Intent, haben die aus Sheffield stammenden MALEVOLENCE genau das getan. Fragen Sie jeden, der sie gesehen hat, wie sie kleine Hardcore-Gigs im Druckkessel in Brand setzten und auf großen Metal-Festivals riesige Pits entfachten. Jeder, der ihren Auftritt bei Bloodstock 2021 gesehen hat, weiß, dass dies ihre große Stunde ist. MALEVOLENCE ist wirklich angekommen. Gegründet im Norden Englands, hat MALEVOLENCE einen eigenen Sound perfektioniert, der wie eine Band aus New-Fucking-Orleans daherkommt und gleichzeitig die Kraft des Riffs und die Brutalität des Breakdowns verinnerlicht hat.

The Well & The Gentle, two of the major works of Pauline Oliveros, are presented here in a first time reissue on double vinyl in a gatefold sleeve with extensive liner notes.

If Oliveros had followed a more conventional path she may have, all social obstacles aside, been considered among the major composers of her time. However, Oliveros approached composition in a more egalitarian manner. She wrote music for musicians to interact with or, in the composers words, she wished to create "an inclusive and interdependent and unfolding world of relationships."

Oliveros' propensity towards inclusion is part of what makes this work so remarkably distinctive. The Well & The Gentle is carefully crafted, allowing performers to participate in the creation of the work. Players are asked to collaborate, focus, react and make imaginative choices. Only then can the performers "pass through stages of awakening to the possibilities inherent in making music, working together, leading to the essence of what can shape musical impulses and individual freedom simultaneously."

Unlike most major composers of the era, Oliveros' work focuses on collaboration and improvisation. For Oliveros, the processes involved in making music are as fundamental as the music itself. Oliveros creates, as Arthur Sabatini put it so eloquently in the liner notes, "A world in which sound and the practices entailed in making music merge; become, at once, source and atmosphere, energy and essence, presence and dynamic."

Pauline Oliveros was an electronic music pioneer, accordionist, composer and educator who resided in Kingston, New York. Her instrument was tuned in Just Intonation and she often included it in her meditative improvisational music. Her music is not meditative in the sense that it is intended for listening to while meditating, rather each piece is a form of meditation, such as her aptly titled Sonic Meditations.

A central figure in post-war electronic art music, Oliveros is one of the original members of the San Francisco Tape Music Center (along with Morton Subotnick, Ramon Sender, Terry Riley, Steve Reich and Anthony Martin), which was the resource on the U.S. West coast for electronic music during the 1960s. The Center later moved to Mills College, where she was its first director, and is now called the Center for Contemporary Music. Oliveros often improvised with the Expanded Instrument System, an electronic signal processing system she designed, in her performances and recordings.

There’s something almost magical about a great
collaboration. When two artists are able to
synchronize on an infinitesimal level, where each
note and breath and strum aligns to create a
perfect whole. The Colorist Orchestra know how to
do this - in fact, they’ve made it their speciality. Since 2013, the Belgian duo (comprised of multiinstrumentalists and long-time friends Aarich Jespers and Kobe Proesmans) have made a
career out of reimagining the discographies of a wide array of artists, using their background in
pop, electronic, and world music to transform the songs. Recently, they have reconnected with acclaimed
Icelandic singer-songwriter Emilíana Torrini, with whom they first collaborated in 2018, on the album, ‘The Colorist Orchestra & Emilíana Torrini’. This time, however, the project exceeded even
their own expectations. In 2023, The Colorist Orchestra and Emilíana
release ‘Racing The Storm’, a joint record tha takes both artists to towering new heights. An album of all original material, it melds The Colorist Orchestra’s classical chamber pop roots with the
power and fragility of Emilíana’s understated
songwriting. LP pressed on 140g white vinyl in 350gsm spined
sleeve on silver foil board with 200gsm reverse
board inner sleeve

The new album of Swiss artist Martina Lussi joins what no longer is conjoined. Conceived and realized over a period marked by major changes in both the private sphere and the world at large, Balance brings together the before and after. The album is held together by a common feature: Lussi’s voice, with which every composition began. Her singing, modified by effects, is supplemented by other sounds, which are light at times, bittersweet at others, and sometimes replace her voice altogether, like on the album’s fulcrum “Fragments of Attention.” On the first half of Balance, Lussi’s singing plunges “Meditation on the Multitab” into a cosmic soundscape; occasionally a rhythm irrupts into it. On “Time Laps,” a track from the album’s second half, the artist’s singsong articulates rhythmical elements and propels them towards a reluctant euphoria.
Balance appears open and fragile, at times even vulnerable, but Lussi’s relentless openness derives from the immense strength needed to weather changes both small and large.

CVC (oder Church Village Collective in vollem Wortlaut) stammt aus einem verschlafenen Dorf 10 Meilen nördlich von Cardiff, das auf einem Hügel in den walisischen Tälern liegt. CVC besteht aus Sänger Francesco Orsi, Bassist Ben Thorne, Schlagzeuger Tom Fry, Keyboarder Daniel `Nanial' Jones und den singenden Gitarristen David Bassey und Elliott Bradfield. Es ist erwähnenswert, dass die beiden Letztgenannten, obwohl sie sich nie begegnet sind, mit der walisischen Ikone Dame Shirley Bassey und James Dean Bradfield (Manic Street Preachers) verwandt sind. Vielleicht liegt es an den Genen, wenn Bassey sagt: "I don't think I'd be able to not do this, I don't actively choose to, I'm just drawn to it". Ihre üppigen dreistimmigen Harmonien spiegeln die Musik wider, mit der sie aufgewachsen sind - die Bausteine des zeitgenössischen Pop: die Beatles, Neil Young und die Beach Boys - reiche, melodische und unverfälschte Musik, die in der Rockgeschichte verwurzelt ist. Get Real, das 11-Track-Debütalbum von CVC, bringt einen Hauch von Laurel Canyon in die Täler. In vier sonnenverwöhnten Wochen (als die Zeit abgelaufen war, mischte Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys) das fertige Produkt) haben sie es in Bradfields Wohnzimmer aufgenommen!

Yellow Vinyl
CVC (oder Church Village Collective in vollem Wortlaut) stammt aus einem verschlafenen Dorf 10 Meilen nördlich von Cardiff, das auf einem Hügel in den walisischen Tälern liegt. CVC besteht aus Sänger Francesco Orsi, Bassist Ben Thorne, Schlagzeuger Tom Fry, Keyboarder Daniel `Nanial' Jones und den singenden Gitarristen David Bassey und Elliott Bradfield. Es ist erwähnenswert, dass die beiden Letztgenannten, obwohl sie sich nie begegnet sind, mit der walisischen Ikone Dame Shirley Bassey und James Dean Bradfield (Manic Street Preachers) verwandt sind. Vielleicht liegt es an den Genen, wenn Bassey sagt: "I don't think I'd be able to not do this, I don't actively choose to, I'm just drawn to it". Ihre üppigen dreistimmigen Harmonien spiegeln die Musik wider, mit der sie aufgewachsen sind - die Bausteine des zeitgenössischen Pop: die Beatles, Neil Young und die Beach Boys - reiche, melodische und unverfälschte Musik, die in der Rockgeschichte verwurzelt ist. Get Real, das 11-Track-Debütalbum von CVC, bringt einen Hauch von Laurel Canyon in die Täler. In vier sonnenverwöhnten Wochen (als die Zeit abgelaufen war, mischte Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys) das fertige Produkt) haben sie es in Bradfields Wohnzimmer aufgenommen!

Ware began as an experimental electronic duo back in the 1980s, when you had to know what you were doing. Comprising Sacha Galvagna, who went on to play with acts as diverse as Rosa Mota, Horsepower, Charles Atlas, Crown Estate, The Last King of England and Carta, and Andrew Wilson a producers’ producer, noise machine maker and DJ, who found underground acclaim for his Crossed Wires output, the band reconnected earlier this decade when they found themselves with some unexpected time on their hands. From across continents the pair took advantage of 21st century technology to resurrect a sketchpad of aural experimentation that would become the foundation of Star Catalogue, Ware’s long overdue long player set for release through Absent Music.

Setting out with the spectral cha-cha of title track Star Catalogue, Ware chart their passage through diaphanous arrangements that veer off mid-song into unexpected new spaces, melting into liminal vibrations that render large parts of the album as continuous pieces inherently connected by overtones and sentiment. Threading its gossamer sounds into a surprisingly unyielding whole, the album takes in the phantasmal glam of Nerve Agency, Sable Bay’s prismatic ache, the infinitesimal disquiet of Eigen State, and the nylon strung desire of New Model. As the pair impart the unhurried entreaties of The Splintered Woods, which gives way to the cabin fever of My Life as a Ghost and its switch up into ebullient arousal, the unexpected focus-pull of Frame, the shadowy elegy of Nepenthe, and the apparitional house of The Apprentice Pillar, Ware artfully draw the listener into a heady intimacy that is a striking contrast to the cookie cutter soul-bearing histrionics of modern pop music.

In an era in which the thrill of anticipation has been extinguished by the attention-free instant gratification of streaming’s ‘what you want when you want it’ model, Ware have delivered a piece of work that is greater than the sum of its exemplary parts. Painted in exquisitely fragile figures that lead inexorably onward through its 11 tracks, Star Catalogue won’t be so vulgar as to demand your attention, but it unquestionably deserves it.

CVC (or Church Village Collective in full) hail from a sleepy village 10 miles north of Cardiff, nestling atop a hill in the Welsh valleys.

 CVC is comprised of singer Francesco Orsi, bassist Ben Thorne, drummer Tom Fry, keyboardist Daniel ‘Naniel’ Jones and singing guitarists David Bassey and Elliott Bradfield. (It’s worth noting that the latter two, despite never having met them, are related to Welsh royalty Dame Shirley Bassey and Manic Street Preachers’ James Dean Bradfield.)

 Maybe owing to genetics, Bassey states “I don’t think I’d be able to not do this, I don’t actively choose to, I’m just drawn to it.”

 Their lush three-part harmonies echo the music they grew up on - contemporary pop’s building blocks: the Beatles, Neil Young and the Beach Boys - rich, melodic and pristine music that’s steeped in rock’s history.

 ‘Get Real’, CVC’s 11-track debut album, brings a touch of Laurel Canyon to the valleys. Made over four sun-baked weeks (once their time was up, Ross Orton Arctic Monkeys mixed the finished product), they kept it local by recording it in Bradfields’ living room.

With French Connection, discover rare tracks of Funk, Soul and Jazz made in France. 23 avant-garde nuggets from the 60"s and 70"s gathered in a nice double vinyl! With: Cortex, Janko Nilovic, Godchild, Francis Lai, Bernard Estardy, Philippe Sarde, Edition Spéciale, Bruno Leys, Jean-Claude Petit, Serge Gainsbourg...

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

By the time Lalo Schifrin composed the soundtrack for Frank Perry's psychological thriller in 1974, starring Cliff Robertson and Joel Gray (who'd just won an Oscar for his role in Bob Fosse's Cabaret) he was Hollywood royalty having worked on such iconic films as Bullitt and Dirty Harry. Perry on his side, had caused a stir with The Swimmer in 1968 starring Burt Lancaster (although he would dismiss the film after being fired from the production) and followed up with a string of great cult movies including ‘Last Summer’ (1969), Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970) starring Carrie Snodgress - whom Neil Young famously fell in love with upon seeing the film and "Play It as It lays" in 1972, adapted from Joan Didion's eponymous novel.

Breaking from the social dramas from of his previous films, Perry decided to shoot a thriller based on journalist William Arthur Clark's book "The Girl on The Volkswagen Floor." The film follows a police officer investigating a murder with the help of a strange ambiguous clairvoyant played by Gray. For the score Perry went to Lalo Schifrin who'd just come out of a bad experience on The Exorcist working with William Friedkin who'd rejected his music in favour of Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield! The score was recorded in LA with the Wrecking Crew and, although the full line up is not known, it included Emil Richards, Howard Roberts, Bud Shank and of course Schifrin on piano.

'Man on a Swing' is pure undiluted Schifrin from the early 70s. The score plays like a long suite alternating Bossa Nova ("Juke Box Source"), Lounge Jazz ("Trip to LA") and groove ("FM Groove") with superb "suspense” soundscapes like "Rosehaven Hotel". The label has gone back to the Paramount 3-track tape transfers and come up with an updated tracklist (a CD version briefly appeared in the 2010s) - re-sequenced and augmented with a handful of bonus tracks and alternate takes. A highlight is certainly "Radio Source Rhythm" which, losing the guitar and organ, reveal a jaw dropping funk breakbeat that is in the league of Dirty Harry and Enter the Dragon. This and the whole soundtrack, will ravish all the funk diggers and Lalo Schifrin fans around the world.

The roots of JuJu started in San Francisco after Plunky had met his musical mentor, Zulu musician Ndikho Xaba, helping to form his band Ndikho and The Natives. Three members of The Natives (Plunky, bassist Ken Shabala and vibes / flute player Lon Moshe) then joined Marvin X’s theatrical production The Resurrection Of The Dead, joining local musicians Al-Hammel Rasul (keyboards), Babatunde Lea (percussion) and Jalango Ngoma (timbales).

When the production ended, the six musicians formed Juju. “We had high-energy rehearsals that lasted for hours and, as a band, we became powerful and began gigging around the Bay Area,” remembers Plunky. Although orientated towards Black Nationalism, the

band fed off the Bay Area’s culturally diverse communities as Plunky shaped an inclusive worldview based on collective political, social and artistic activities. During this time, the Soledad Brothers case and Angela Davis were prominent and the band supported Professor Davis and the cause. Juju’s music matched the fire of their activism. “As a band, we blew, pounded and stroked our instruments like there was no tomorrow, like our life’s work was wrapped up in each session. We approached our performances like religious rites and the music mesmerised, informed and awakened people.” The band’s first album, a Message from Mozambique, was intentionally political. While the anti-war movement focused on Vietnam, Juju looked towards wars being waged in South Africa, Angola and Mozambique over issues of white supremacy and control of natural resources. A second album, ‘Chapter Two: Nia’ would follow before the birth of Oneness Of Juju during the mid-‘70s. This definitive reissue is fully remastered by The Carvery from the original tapes and features original artwork and a new interview with Juju bandleader James “Plunky” Branch.

Ground Groove, the third full-length release from the LA-based, Iranian-American producer and DJ, Maral, begins with an invocation: the sprawling, achingly heavy Feedback Jam opens the floodgates of history. Conventional (linear) spacetime collapses, crushed beneath the track’s lumbering 4/4 heartbeat and successive waves of distortion. As each wave recedes, samples trickle forward in the mix — seeking, perhaps, to fill the void. Voices and instruments rise and fall in uncanny reverse. Overlapping, implied melodies flicker into focus, then flit away. Feedback Jam is at once an initiation ritual, and a thesis statement for the record that follows.

Drawing upon a vast personal archive of Iranian folk, classical, and pop recordings (some sourced from mixtapes made by her parents in the eighties/nineties), Maral presents, on Ground Groove, a further refinement of the signature “folk club” sound she developed as a live DJ— a sound she would later codify on Mahur Club (2019) and Push (2020). By collecting, dissecting, and re/presenting sonic fragments from Iran, Maral practices a kind of dance-floor ethnomusicology. The subject of her inquiry: Iranian


culture and contexts, throughout history and in the present. But, crucially, this inquiry is instantiated within and throughout the body of the listener, whether this listener is dancing in the club, or riding the train, nodding along with headphones on.

Maral speaks of being in collaboration with her samples, treating each as a distinct bandmate, often consulting with an artist’s catalog (or even a single recording) as one would a trusted creative partner. In so-doing, Maral claims to seek to transcend the self. In this regard, her output neatly triangulates contemporary dance and heavy music with much of the traditional religious music that she samples. Broadly speaking, each of these idioms addresses a desire —shared by audience and performer alike—to transcend the self through volume, repetition, and movement.

Having, in her youth, studied the Setar under Nader Majd (the founder of Virginia’s Center for Persian Classical Music), Maral cycled through various genres (ex: punk, emo, dub) in her adolescence and early twenties, all the while expanding her knowledge of, and appreciation for, Iran’s diverse musical traditions during regular summer trips to Tehran. In college, Maral taught herself to make beats with a ripped copy of Ableton (which remains her DAW of choice), eventually transitioning to playing and hosting various club nights. Forever abiding by an autodidactic, DIY impulse to create art and foster community, Maral relocated to Los Angeles in 2013, where she quickly immersed herself in the city’s numerous overlapping music scenes.

Collaboration (beyond sampling) has proven an important component of her process, with notable spoken word contributions from the likes of Lee Scratch Perry and Penny Rimbaud, as well as a 2021 Panda Bear collab track (On Your Way), which the Animal Collective founder co-produced. Maral is equally attentive to the visual components of her records (album art, music videos, etc.), drawing upon the work of peers and friends for inspiration.

Indeed, the genesis of Ground Groove can be traced back to an audio-visual collaboration between Maral and the artist Brenna Murphy, originally commissioned for the 2021 Rewire Festival — a project that would eventually serve as the album’s foundation. Tracks eight through eleven on Ground Groove comprise Maral’s half of this installation, with tracks one through seven composed afterwards, inspired by the fruits of Maral and Murphy’s collaboration. Murphy’s visuals will be released alongside Ground Groove as a visual accompaniment. Additionally, Murphy designed the album’s art, directed the video for the lead single (the aforementioned Feedback Jam), and is featured on track six, Shy Night.

Composed largely on Ableton, Ground Groove features more frequent and more prominent live recordings from Maral (guitar, bass, and vocals) than either Push or Mahar Club. The cult favorite Roland MC-909 groovebox rears its head on Mari’s Groove. Mixed by Trayer Tryon (Hundred Waters) and mastered by Daddy Kev, the attention to sonic quality on Ground Groove constitutes another significant step in Maral’s development as a studio artist.

Ground Groove’s eleven tracks are “grooves” in the obvious sense, in that they are each driven by a persistent, propulsive rhythm, but the album’s title may just as well suggest the glacial passage of time—the scope of human history, in which individual voices, like streams, carve paths (impossibly) through earth and stone, winding their way to the vast sea of the present.

Strawberries ripen in the spring. Or so they used to, in a more reliable world, one that seems to be rapidly receding in our collective rearview mirror. Presently, “spring” is a troubled concept — fraught with anxiety. Our seasons, if they are seasons at all, are paradoxical. Crops fail, or they ripen prematurely, all at once, and into a burst of rot. Impossibly, somehow, the supermarket shelves stay stocked (mostly, for now at least), and there are buckets of strawberries on every corner. But, of course, their nature is suspect. And they don’t taste like they used to. Or maybe that’s just ruinous nostalgia. But somewhere along the way we certainly lost something. Everybody knows.

Strawberry Season (Leaving Records, November 9 2022) responds tenderly to this sorry state of affairs, not with false comfort — nor escapism. Rather, the album conveys, often wordlessly, that there remains an abundance of sweetness amidst our increasing unease. While much of twentieth century American popular and folk music may have dwelt on the beauty and plenitude of the prairie, More Eaze applies a similar Romantic focus to the small bursts of fecundity that now hide in plain sight. Blending found sound, generative music, a knack for elegant, classically-informed melodic arrangement, and a sort of Liz-Fraser-by-way-of-hyperpop approach to vocals, Strawberry Season offers unique solace — providing an occasion for the kind of deep listening that our overstimulated and undernourished spirits require if there is to be any hope at all (and of course there must be hope).

More Eaze (serving as composer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and sound artist) guides us incrementally to this locus of attentiveness. Strawberry Season begins with the softly sweeping gentle pets. Early intimations of Velvet Underground give way, indeed, to a string arrangement that John Cale might have saved for Paris 1919. The second track, Suped, features a kaleidoscopic swirl of grocery checkout scanners that eventually coalesce and release with the subtle strumming of a harp. On known, in the midst of a nearly elegiac outflow of feeling, a shower starts to run. Someone steps inside, pulling the curtain back, sending the plastic rings clattering. Moments later, the unmistakable sound of the showerer blowing their nose — an inclusion that is at once light-hearted and jarringly, movingly intimate.

Strawberry Season’s second to last song, low resolution at santikos, serves as a sustained meditation on all that has come before it. Building slowly throughout its nine minutes, teetering, at times, on the edge of danceability, it dissipates suddenly, and Strawberry Season concludes with the rustling of clothes, snippets of distant conversation, creaking floorboards, an exhale and a sniff. There is a feeling of having arrived, of temporary reprieve in the face of uncertainty. A hint of a season yet to come, or one that is perhaps only now accessible in dreams.

Death Is Not The End's 333 sub-label follows the reissue of Devon Russell's Darker Than Blue LP late last year with a first-time reissue of a veritable reggae-dancehall holy grail - Robert Ffrench's 1985 LP 'Wondering'.

Pioneering artist and producer (and cousin of the late, great Pat Kelly) Robert Ffrench was born in central Kingston in 1962, recording his first records in 1979 at the age of 17. Coming out off the back of a slew of roots & early dancehall-style 45s cut with a wide range of producers thoughout the early '80s, the Wondering LP followed closely after two acclaimed LP sets ('Showcase' produced with Lord Koos & 'The Favourite' for Ossie Thomas' Black Solidarity label - plus a split showcase LP with Anthony "Gunshot" Johnson for Jah Thomas' Midnight Rock label).

Ffrench would write and produce the Wondering LP himself in it's entirity, laying down the tracks at Herman Chin-Loy's Aquarius & Michael Carroll's Creative Sounds studios with the help of engineer Christopher Daley. Representing the sound of an artist first confidently sriking out on his own, the album elegantly mixes a classic rub-a-dub & lovers rock-inspired sound with nascent digi-esque flourishes. It boasts an enviable list of contributors too, incl. Sly & Robbie, Dwight Pinkney, Robbie Lyn, Nelson Miller (Burning Spear) and Ronald "Nambo" Robinson among others, with Beres Hammond also providing backing vocals in places.

Following the release of Wondering, Ffrench would continue to write and produce, soon after releasing two further self-produced LPs for Edgar White's Parish label - and founded his own 'France' label in the late 80s, through which his productions would start to hit big, most notably alongside Courtney Melody on 'Modern Girl', and with US rapper Heavy D on the track 'More Love'. Robert's productions released through later label 'Ffrench' would go on to boast the cream of the crop of dancehall artists throughout the 90s and early 2000s, and he is often credited with discovering Buju Banton (producing his first single "Ruler" on the Stamina riddim). Ffrench is still actively producing music of his own to this day, having released singles 'Everyday of My Life' and 'Black Is a Colour' in late 2022 and Feb 2023 respectively, available through all digital platforms now.

333, under exclusive license from Robert Ffrench.

Auf dem neuen Longplayer Crime Scene lenkt die bayuwarische Artrock-Institution ihre Aufmerksamkeit auf das Morbide, das Perverse, das Böse im Guten, die Abgründe des menschlichen Verhaltensspektrums in all seiner unvorhersehbaren Vielfalt, die dann manchmal auch so bizarr verstörend schlüssig daher kommt, wenn man denn ansetzt sie ergründen zu wollen.
In sechs dicht-atmosphärischen Tracks haben sich RPWL wieder einmal auf intensive Reisen durch die eigene Bandvita, als auch die jeweils eigenen Plattensammlungen begeben. Das Bemühen von Vergleichen ist immer so eine Sache, denn immerhin ist dies die 19te Veröffentlichung dieser international erfolgreichen Band. Die teils morbid-düsteren Themen werden mit old-school Fuzz konterkariert, das knapp 13-minütige "King of the World" mit seinem knurrenden Big Muff und seinen flächigen Vibes, oder "Life beyond Control", das mit seinem Offbeat-Einsatz sicher zu den härtesten Stücken in der RPWL Diskographie gehören dürfte, legen ihr Geständnis auf der Crime Scene ab. "Live in a Cage" bringt das das Kalkül des wie immer akribischen Sounddesigns dieses neuen RPWL-Albums auf den Punkt, nahtlos schließt sich "Red Rose" daran an. Pflaster auf Schusswunde als Prinzip. Aber der Wahn der normalisierten Gewalt wabert in so vielen Haushalten unter der vermeintlichen Harmonie, die die vier Musiker hier den Hörer glauben lassen. Wie fühlt es sich an, überhaupt kein Konzept von Freiheit zu haben, die Angst die bürgerliche Sicherheit zu verlassen aber größer ist? Allein im Lockdown-Jahr Jahr 2020 erfasste die Polizei über 119.000 Fälle von partnerschaftlicher Gewalt, 139 davon mit tödlichem Ausgang, die sich in über 80% der Fälle gegen den weiblichen Part in der Beziehung richteten.

Yogi Lang kommentiert aus künstlerischer Perspektive er sei schon immer von gesellschaftlichen und persönlichen Schattenseiten fasziniert gewesen. Kalle Wallner stellt die Gretchenfrage, wie man es denn mit dem Bösen an sich halte: "Wer macht uns zu dem wer wir sind? Ist es eine Frage der Genetik oder sind es doch die sozialen Umstände, unsere Kindheit, Schicksalsschläge, Druck oder Kränkungen?"

Das ‚Böse' bildet eines der Kernthemen auf Crime Scene, welches über das Band-eigene Label Gentle Art of Music erscheint. Als wertig aufgemachtes Digipak, drei unterschiedlichen Vinyl-Versionen (180Gr. Schwarz, 180Gr. Lim. Rot, 180Gr. Lim. Blau) und natürlich Digital.

eclipsed - Album des Monats:
"RPWL ist damit ein geradezu kriminell spannendes Werk gelungen. ....Auf "Crime Scene" spielen RPWL alle ihre Stärken aus. Tatorte gesichert. Fälle geklärt. Mission erfüllt. ... Wuchtige, cineastisch anmutende Arrangements, wunderschöne Melodiebögen, bewegende, leise, behutsame Momente und ein ausgesprochen spannendes Konzept hinterlassen einen starken Eindruck..."

SLAM (Highlight März/April)
Wieder einmal haben die bayrischen Artrocker RPWL ein Konzeptalbum am Start und wieder einmal kommt nach dem ersten Durchlauf der übliche Gedanke: Das ist absolut großartig, aber man hat keine Ahnung warum genau. Was haben die in Freising in ihrem Wasser, das ihnen erlaubt zu scheinbar egal welchem Thema eine Klangwelt zu bauen, die es so kein zweites Mal gibt? (...) Man kann gar nicht hoch genug einschätzen, wie wertvoll die Existenz so einer Band ist, es bleibt am Ende ein einfaches "Danke".