Mariachiara Troianiello, the force behind Katatonic Silentio, continues her exploration of spatial and sound design, slicing various forms of dub while following her instincts and storytelling through each work.
Troianiello's music and live sets are known to be meditative, with each transition subliminally serving a purpose. As 'Axis Of Light' delves into five pieces for this EP, one can experience the drops and transitions connecting, gradually uncovering hidden meanings.
Written and produced by Mariachiara Troianiello
Artwork by Apolo Cacho
Layout by Takashi Makabe
Digital Master by Paul Mac
Mastered and cut by Simon at The Exchange
Поиск:mac
Все
Hassan Abou Alam is next to step up to the unconventional Nerve Collect label with six tracks of futuristic club-ready chaos. The finely crafted EP arrives in August and comes on 12" vinyl and via all digital platforms.
Hassan Abou Alam has established himself as one of Egypt's most innovative underground musicians over the last 10+ years. His music is a meeting of disparate worlds - organic and synthetic designs, digital and analogue tools, the traditional and the futuristic, and it has come on the likes of YUKU, Rhythm Section, Banoffee Pies and Casa Voyager. His versatile sound pulls apart existing genres and reconstructs them as something entirely new.
Opener '3asabi' is a stylish sonic assault with thumping rhythms and trippy oscillations that will get any dance floor bouncing. It's fun yet functional, serious yet seductive and 'Basha' Ft. ZIAD ZAZA, Ismail Nosrat & Aly B is another kinetic fusion of hand claps and complex drum funk, Egyptian vocal gymnastics and punchy bass. 'Ghalat' has lurching drums and plunging bass driving on beneath mangled synths, odd vocalisations and percussive splatters drawn from a unique sound palette. The drilling low ends of 'Khalsana' Ft ZIAD ZAZA are offset by fluttering percussive details up top while spare but booming kicks shake every bone in your body and the bassline devastates.
There is no let up on 'Mesh Mafhoom' which is a ritualistic workout with moments of melancholic synth soul shining through the jumble of tin-pot percussion and crashing hits. Closer 'Zein' is more body-popping brilliance that channels ancient spirits into warped synths and rhythms so complex they melt the mind.
Hassan Abou Alam's blurring of the lines between the real and the imagined is second to none on this EP. It's a sub-heavy mix of the human voice, machine-made sounds and inventive rhythms that make for something new, weird and wonderful.
Shlomi Aber & Kashpitzky join forces once again to make their Blueprint Records debut with four formidable techno tracks on the "Sonic Underworld EP".
Barcelona-based Shlomi Aber brings over two decades of production and DJing experience to his music, drawing inspiration from Jazz, Funk, Acid and the old-school Detroit Techno scene. With releases on Cocoon, Ovum, R&S, Figure, CLR, Drumcode, BPitch, Renaissance and his own Be as One Imprint, along with his dynamic mixing technique, has gained him global success while headlining clubs, festivals and venues worldwide.
Growing up, Kashpitzky began his musical path playing guitar in a metal-core band, before trading amps for drum machines. After relocating to Berlin, he graduated from the SAE Institute. A DJ who's hard to pigeonhole, he has a track for every occasion. His definition of techno is best exemplified by his energetic, yet deep and groovy productions, often combining broken beats with organic textures via releases on the likes of MindTrip, Monnom Black and of course, Shlomi's Be As One.
- A1: Los Agentes Secretos - Loco Poco A Poco
- A2: Interface - Terregator
- A3: Casino Shanghai - Cuerpos Huecos
- A4: Duda Mata - Se, Soy
- A5: Ford Proco - Central De Datos
- B1: Voces Múltiples - Que No Se Pare El Tiempo
- B2: Neo Danza - La Reina Blanca
- B3: María Bonita - Rezo El Rosario
- B4: El Escuadrón Del Ritmo - Hielo Congelado
- B5: Las Flores Del Mal - El Ojo Del Gato
Dark Entries returns to Mexico with Back Up Dos: Mexican Tecno Pop 1982-1989. Following 2021’s Back Up compilation, Back Up Dos delivers 10 more tracks of synth-pop and New Beat, 7 of which have never before appeared on vinyl. From mutant drum machine beats to irresistible synthesizer hooks, fans of the fringes of the 80s will find songs to stir their cold, dark hearts. But Back Up Dos does more than mine retro kitsch; it documents the development of a rich DIY music scene that is still underexplored. As affordable samplers and digital synths spread throughout the decade, post-punk and new wave gave way to more aggressive EBM and cyberpunk sounds. The scene also developed in opposition to the political climate of the times: the rise of the drug cartels and a reactionary turn in national politics. Using home recording techniques, these bands took cues from the electronic wizardry of the Human League and Wax Trax Records while reflecting the vibrant and chaotic Mexican cultural landscape of the era. On Back Up Dos, impeccable pop anthems from Casino Shanghai and Los Agentes Secretos sit alongside gnarled obscurities from Ford Proco and María Bonita, showcasing a decade of sly deviance and enthusiastic experimentation. This album comes housed in an 80s-inflected neon sleeve designed by Gwenael Rattke and includes a 12-page booklet with photographs, lyrics, and notes. Back Up Dos compiles synthetic music produced in Mexico at the crossroads from Tecno Pop to Post-Industrial, nourished by culture shock and stories of dystopian worlds.
ERIN Collective is an ensemble of musicians from the Bologna scene born in March 2022 from an idea/project by Gionata Lazzari
shared over time by Valentino Pirino, Filippo Cassani, Andrea Lazzari, Marcello Pala, Federico Magazzeni, Giuseppe Sardina and
Francesco Antico. Their repertoire, inspired by the Afrobeat of the 70s, is composed of original songs written by Pirino/Lazzari and
arranged together with the other members of the group. The style looks to Afrobeat and some of its artists such as Fela Kuti, and
Ebo Taylor, but also focuses on contemporaneity and other artists such as Antibalas, Budos Band, Tony Allen and other sounds from
other areas of Africa. “Alternative Positive”, anticipated by the singles “Kalam Layl” and “Alafia” is their first LP, which follows the
release of the Ep “Same Blood” in 2023 and which marks the meeting between the band and the label Irma Records. The album,
strongly influenced by Afrobeat sounds with funk nuances, contains 8 original songs written by Pirino / Lazzari and arranged together with the other members of the group, three of which are instrumental, 4 sung by the Nigerian artist Devon Miles and one by the
Moroccan artist Reda Zine. The songs on “Alternative Positive” all have a social value: for ERIN Collective, music takes a stand
against inequalities and tries to break down borders and barriers, calling on everyone to commit themselves to rights for peace for
resistance to racism and inequalities of all kinds. All this requires commitment and a choice. Music makes you dance, makes you
smile, raises your spirits, creates bonds. ÈRÍN means smile, laughter in Yoruba language and it is through this attitude that one can
meet the other and that one can defeat fears, borders, cultural differences, hatred and wars. The titles and the meaning of the lyrics
of this debut album recall this horizon.
After Prince Istari finished the Dub Encounter with Erik Satie, he
immediately set to work on expelling the evil curse of artificial intelligence. While the encounter with Satie was guided by the original
compositions, this album delves deeper into dub science.
The opening track is "Curse Of Machine Learning," a grinding cumbia dub track that sucks you into the curse of machine learning. It's followed by "Artificial Neural Network," arguably the album's most nerve-wracking track, with wild snare rolls colliding with offbeat echoed riddim sections. "Large Language Models" offers a more relaxed, arabesque one-drop riddim with speech synthesis vocals. "Fake Image" closes the first side with a full trombone solo contributed by Eugene Rosebud.
Side B starts with the one-drop killer tune "Haunted By Delusion,"
featuring an organ solo by Prince Istari. Drum and bass in your face.
"Evil Forces," on the other hand, is a fusion of jazz and dub; after the
brass section breakdown, it rolls into a crazy synth solo. Then next „I
Want Your Data" pulls your data into the AI's guts with a vibraphone.
This is maybe the ambitious tune on the record speaking of chord
progressions. The final track sees Eugene Rosebud return with a double trombone solo in "Transhuman Feedback Rock" assisted by a saz cooling the blues pattern with a hookline. Here we have beautifull springreverb and harmonizer dub effects on the snare twirrling around the trombone solos.
All tunes composed, arranged, conducted and engineered by Prince Istari and played by his house band The Virtualistics. Trombone Solos by Eugene Rosebud. Packaged in a nice cover drawn by Markus Schäfer and frequency shift and cut by LXC.
Riding a wave of critical praise and positive feedback for his most recent Emperor Machine album, the fabulous Island Boogie, Andrew Meecham returns with a typically wild and dancefloor-focused set of dubs, ‘versions’ and remixes.
According to Meecham, Island Boogie is his most personal set to date – a full-length excursion that not only delivers perfectly formed expressions of his dub-tinged, off-kilter synth-boogie sound, but also tracks that draw deeply on his earliest influences and long-held musical expressions.
It’s fitting, then, that this remix EP begins with his own sparse, stripped-back ‘version’ rework of ‘S-S-S-Single Bed’, a fine cover of the mid-80s Fox single featuring the vocals of Michelle Bee. Meecham’s dub-wise revision is a skeletal and driving affair, with snippets of echoing guitar, colourful synths and Bee’s distinctive vocalisations rising above a weighty dub disco bassline and rock-solid percussion.
It's followed by two revisions of album favourite ‘Wanna Pop With You’ from A Love From Outer Space main man Sean Johnston under his now familiar Hardway Brothers alias. Combining his own love of raw, analogue-sounding electronics and trippy dancefloor psychedelia with select elements of Meecham’s original – percussion, synth sounds, crisp guitar licks and elements of Severine Mouletin’s lead vocals, Johnston’s main ‘remix’ is a weighty, mid-tempo treat. Arguably even better is his accompanying dub, which is more groove-and-effects focused and makes more of Beecham’s superb original bassline. It’s heavy, spaced-out and undeniably intoxicating.
To round off the package, long-time friend of the label (and sometime contributor) Rose Robinson dons her Tigerbalm pseudonym and gets to work on ‘La Cassette’. Brilliantly cutting up Severine Mouletin’s vocals, she delivers a driving slab of spaced-out, synth-heavy dub disco that adds more weight and energy to Meecham’s original. It’s a fittingly on-point way to close out a superb selection of club-ready revisions.
A highly talented artist who has grown to make a notable impression amongst the scene’s most revered tastemakers, DJ/producer and label owner Jhobei is an individual who continues to blossom. His deep, expansive sound has already welcomed material on Up The Stuss, Limousine Dream, Mindhelmet and Picnic Records, amongst others, while featuring as a co-founder of London-based collective and label Bizarre Trax. In addition, his work as one-third of dynamic trio Felon5, coupled with his unique sound, has taken him from Albania’s ION Festival to Los Angeles, alongside making a handful of appearances for FUSE and its sister brands on home turf at fabric, The Cause and Village Underground - plus 2024’s Open Air event at Barking Park earlier this year. Building on that relationship, late September brings fresh music as Enzo Siragusa invites the exciting selector to make his label debut with an array of impressive productions across his ‘Age Of Virality’ EP. A-side opener ‘Swarming’ is all action and kicks things off with authority as a snaking bassline guides a garage-influenced trip through bumping low-ends and hooky vocal samples, while ‘Machine Language’ delivers a mix of playful tones amongst sweeping melodies while delivering a heavy dose of robot funk. On the flip, ‘Defusion Solution’ is a heady late-night excursion through skippy percussion and cosmic tones, with ‘Rising Sun’ stripping things back to deliver a classy, hazy journey as organic percussion grooves unravel effortlessly. Digital buyers are treated to a bonus cut in the form of ‘Kontrol Urload’, a sci-fi leaning cut merging glistening neon synth motifs with punchy kicks and zipping effects for maximum impact.
They say you should never meet your heroes, but for Mike, meeting the legendary Adrian Sherwood has been a transformative experience, leading to creative collaborations that have benefited both of them.
Nearly 30 years after first being mesmerized by OnU Sound’s releases, a cheeky bit of radio ripping serendipitously led to Mike helping Pats Dokter, the label’s official archivist, with his work restoring master tapes, and eventually to him creating visual content for Adrian’s live shows.
A while after this collaboration began, Adrian offered to remix some of Mike’s music, either by his solo project @misledconvoy or our tunes, and it’s four cuts by us that grace this heavyweight platter.
From the dreamy dub of Transient Transmission to the rolling rhythms of A Doubtful Sound, our originals have been re-arranged and dubbed to $%># in Adrian’s signature style, with fluid melodies, pounding basslines and vocal samples awash in a wall of effects.
Trumpets by David “Ital Horns” Fullwood bookend the release, haunting in the first track and celebratory in the last, while Doug Wimbish (Tackhead) added an extra bassline to the heaving version of 1000 Mile Drift, which also features the voice of the iconic Lee “Scratch” Perry.
Reflecting on the collaboration, Mike says, “the whole experience has been slightly unreal, from working on Adrian’s videos to being in the OnU studio and watching him dub-mixing the tracks I’ve made, something I could never have imagined happening!”
Mike isn’t the only OnU fan, as a pivotal moment for Paddy was “watching Adrian mixing Tack>head at the Powerstation in 1995 and seeing the cause-and-effect of what he was doing and hearing the unbelievable sounds coming out of the speakers. It was the first time I’d ever seen somebody dub mix like that.”
The cover of Echoes of the Night is based upon an original artwork by Hamish Macaulay, while the vinyl has been pressed using a 100% recycled compound known as eco-mix, making each record totally unique as the colours subtly change across the pressing run.
Mexican supergroup Secret Echoes releases debut single ‘Bring My Beat Back’ on Crosstown Rebels. The project combining a trio of revered talents from the Mexican electronic landscape sees Estefani Brolo, Diego Cevallos, and Marco Anaya unite to reveal a first glimpse into their forthcoming debut album, with the single remixed by Zombies In Miami focus on the song's hypnotic vocals and raw emotive energy.
Secret Echoes is a dynamic collaboration of three acclaimed artists from Mexico’s electronic music scene: Estefani Brolo (of BROLORZIO & I.M YONI), Diego Cevallos (AKA Métrika), and Marco Balcazar (AKA Balcazar of Balcazar & Sordo). With each member bringing a distinct musical background to the group, creating a unique fusion of sound set to resonate with electronic music enthusiasts worldwide, Secret Echoes creates music that blends house foundations with melodic innovation.
The origins of the project trace back to the height of the pandemic, when Cevallos and Balcazar began collaborating on an album they had always envisioned. Renting a unique studio in Jiutepec, Mexico, equipped with analogue tape machines and high-end studio gear, and inviting their talented friends to contribute, Brolo soon joined the project - adding her melodic and lyrical expertise. The result was the recording of 11 tracks that were put on hold until the time was right. After revisiting the tracks and performing them live, ‘Bring My Beat Back’ caught the attention of Crosstown Rebels founder Damian Lazarus during 2024’s Day Zero performance. Inspired by its energy and potential, Lazarus signed the entire album, and this first single provides a first glimpse of what is to come from the enigmatic trio on an imprint known for continually pushing boundaries within house music.
‘Bring My Beat Back’ showcases the group’s distinctive blend of house music foundations, guided by Brolo’s captivating vocals above shimmering synths and refined percussion grooves to deliver a silky-smooth production balancing classic nuances with contemporary touches for the dance floor. Creatures Of The Night founders and Permanent Vacation regulars Zombies In Miami provide an extra layer to the package, with the renowned duo’s remix drawing for neon-lit synths and hazy tones for a deep dive into the late-night hours.
Right for the 30th anniversary of his Electro project Electro Nation, Thomas P. Heckmann returns with a brand new album on his mates label Activities Records from Brussels with a stunning album artwork by Elzo Durt ! Slave To The Machine is a full story throughout the album about an ordinary life that is down to all things being controlled by machines, internet and digits, just to escape and meet the machine at he end... And the end is obviously open."
- A1: R-C4D – At-St
- A2: Knarzy – Planet Hedonism
- A3: Envmod – 2Mchr
- A4: Machinefunk – Timelapse
- A5: Krystian Shek – 303 Reasons
- A6: Devoran – Acid Prowler
- B1: Machinefunk – You Know Watkins
- B2: Minor Sine Project – Nomad Groove
- B3: Luus – System Boot
- B4: Aztronouth – Last Man On The Ark
- B5: Machinefunk – Bleeding Xenomorph
- B6: The Parallel - Archaeol
"In a trajectory full of about-faces, Music for Four Guitars splices the formal innovations of Bill Orcutt's software-based music into the lobe-frying, blown-out Fender hyperdrive of his most frenetic workouts with Corsano or Hoyos. And while the guitar tone here is resolutely treble-kicked—or, as Orcutt puts it, 'a bridge pickup rather than a neck pickup record'—it still wades the same melodic streams as his previous LPs (yet, as Heraclitus taught us, that stream is utterly different the second time around). Although it's a true left-field listen, Music for Four Guitars is bizarrely meditative, a Bill Orcutt Buddha Machine, a glimpse of the world of icy beauty haunting the latitudes high above the Delta (down where the climate suits your clothes)..."—Tom Carter
Classic 1981 Roots Radics dub album, reissued after 35 years - a must for all King Tubby's fans. Produced By Joseph Jackson aka Ranking Joe, recorded at Channel One by Solgie, and mixed at King Tubby's.
Mit ihrem neuen Album "Feeding The Machine" wollen MORDKAUL die Band mit 10 druckvollen Death Metal Tracks auf eine neue Ebene emporheben!
Um das Beste aus den einzelnen Songs herauszuholen und sie bestmöglich zu präsentieren, wurde "Feeding The Machine" in zwei Phasen aufgenommen. Die erste Hälfte des Albums wurde im Sommer 2022 im Project Zero Studio aufgenommen, die zweite Hälfte im Sommer 2023 in den legendären Galaxy Studios, während das Mixing und Mastering von Dan Swanö durchgeführt wurde.
Während "Dress Code: Blood" stark von den kultigen schwedischen Death-Metal-Bands der 90er Jahre inspiriert war, geht "Feeding The Machine" noch einen Schritt weiter. Mit breiteren Einflüssen von kultigen 90er-Death-Metal-Bands wie Morbid Angel und Death schlägt "Feeding The Machine" noch härter zu und zielt darauf ab, die Band auf ein neues Level zu katapultieren!
- 1: The Three ‘O’ Clock - Jet Fighter
- 2: The Rain Parade - Don’t Feel Bad
- 3: True West - Lucifer Sam
- 4: Bangles - Going Down To Liverpool
- 5: Thin White Rope - Down In The Desert
- 6: Game Theory - 24
- 7: The Dream Syndicate - Definitely Clean
- 8: The Long Ryders - Too Close To The Light
- 9: Green On Red - Illustrated Crawling
- 10: 28Th Day - Pages Turn
- 11: The Dream Syndicate - That’s What You Always Say
- 12: The Pandoras - In And Out Of My Life (In A Day)
- 13: The Long Ryders - Ivory Tower
- 14: The Three ‘O’ Clock - With A Cantaloupe Girlfriend
- 15: Bangles - All About You
- 16: The Rain Parade - Talking In My Sleep
- 17: The Three ‘O’ Clock - Her Heads Revolving
- 18: True West - Shot You Down
- 19: Wednesday Week - If Only
- 20: Thin White Rope - Exploring The Axis
- 21: The Rain Parade - Mystic Green
- 22: Green On Red - Lost World
Futurismo proudly present a celebration of the Paisley Underground scene with TWISTED DREAM MACHINE The Paisley Underground / California’s Psychedelic Renaissance: 1982-1986, the next volume in their Altered Vision compilation series.
This collection draws from the neo psychedelic movement that took hold in California during the early to mid 80’s, one that melded the psychedelia, country, garage rock, avant-garde and pop of the 60’s with the DIY ethos of the then burgeoning punk scene, a hypnotic amalgamation of sound that came in staunch contrast to the blown out sonic excesses of the time.
Twisted Dream Machine takes you on a trip from the city to the desert, as the kaleidoscope of noise drifts from the The Dream Syndicate’s Velvet Underground inspired take on Crazy Horse and The Three O’Clock’s chiming baroque powerpop, to Rain Parade’s dreamy Beatlesesque melodies and the Bangles hook-laden Love inspired pop. Also featured are the wondrous sounds of Green On Red, The Long Ryder’s, Game Theory, True West, Thin White Rope and others highly worth your attention. If you are not familiar with some of the bands here, you will surely question how that is possible. The Paisley Underground, if anything, encapsulated a certain musical mindset, an outlook where the past and the future would collide in the moment. This thread would bond the bands, yet each honed it’s own sound in a twisted incarnation of the seeds planted two decades earlier. Whilst the ‘scene’ did remain contained, its influence did in fact spread throughout mainstream culture as the Bangles stuck a chord into the heart of MTV, whilst Prince took inspiration from the movement in his own songwriting and the naming of Paisley Park, as well as signing The Three O’Clock to his label and writing one of the Bangles biggest hits.
As you listen to the tracks on Twisted Dream Machine you will be reminded that there is still music left to discover and inspire, this compilation is aimed to hopefully delight longtime fans, as well as ignite a passion for those new to the bands. The Paisley Underground was the sound of neo psychedelic rock, it was subterranean pop...in
the classic sense, it was alternative rock before the term existed, a distillation of the fundamentals present at the dawn of rock ‘n’ roll, with a twist. The bands of the Paisley Underground may have been writing out of their own time, but as you listen to them in today’s context these songs should be heard as landmarks, rather than throwbacks. After all, nothing this good should stay underground. This 2xLP comes on limited edition coloured vinyl, it is housed in a gloss laminated outer sleeve with colour inner sleeves and contains a large fold-out poster with unseen photos and liner notes by Lisa Fancher of Frontier. Also available on CD with Gloss laminated Sleeve and Fold Out Poster.
Die meist übersehenen Urväter des schwedischen Death Metal! Aufgenommen in den frühen 90er Jahren in den legendären Sunlight Studios!
God Macabre gründeten sich Ende der 80er Jahre unter dem Namen Macabre End. 1991 änderten sie ihren Namen in God Macabre und
veröffentlichten einen Song für die Pantalgia-Compilation und ein Album über das kleine deutsche Label Mangled Beyond Recognition Records, bevor
sie sich auflösten. Ursprünglich in 1993 veröffentlicht, wurde "The Winterlong" 1991 in den legendären Sunlight Studios in Stockholm aufgenommen
und von Tomas Skogsberg (Amorphis, At The Gates, Entombed) produziert. Die Wiederveröffentlichung von "The Winterlong", die nun vollständig
remastered und wieder erhältlich ist, enthält außerdem vier Bonus-Tracks, darunter das ursprüngliche 7"-Demo der Band aus dem Jahr 1990 sowie
den bisher unveröffentlichten Track "Life's Verge", die erste neue GodMacabre-Aufnahme seit über 20 Jahren.
"Allegra Krieger’s ""Art of the Unseen Infinity Machine"", her second full-length album with Double Double Whammy, is a collection of 12 songs that pick at the fragile membrane between life and death.
Krieger’s previous album, ""I Keep My Feet on the Fragile Plane"", hewed more closely to the domestic spaces of city and mind. Rolling Stone regarded the album as “ten songs of heady philosophical meanderings packed with emotional dynamite,” and likened her “finely phrased lyrics” to those of “Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, and David Berman.” Krieger’s existential meditations remain on ""Art of the Unseen Infinity Machine"", however her meandering melodies have taken on a stronger sense of direction. She narrates candidly and assertively; the full-band arrangements never overpower, only offer a robust platform on which Krieger’s voice reaches new heights.
The full band brings a heightened sense of drama to the album’s arrangements, which contrasts the quieter approach of Krieger’s previous LP. There are noisy interludes, jazz-inflected discursions, impactful stops and starts, and occasional spaces for Krieger to stretch out her impressive vocal range (most prominently at the dazzling climax of album stand out “Came”). In ""Art of the Unseen Infinity Machine"", Krieger invites us to a place where transfiguration is not only possible but actively happening. From this place, the beautiful and the banal and the terrible are all laid out before us. And Krieger asks us not to look away. Instead, she invites us to stare down the beautiful and terrible in the world, and to realize that sometimes the only way out is through."
- A1: Welcome (Feat. Brittney Carte)
- A2: All Live (Feat. Abstract Orchestra)
- A3: All Live Pt. 2 (Feat. Sango, Phat Kat, & Daru Jones)
- A4: To The Disco (Feat. Abstract Orchestra)
- A5: Yeah Yeah (Feat. Karriem Riggins)
- A6: Just Like You (Feat. Larry June & The Dramatics)
- A7: F.u.n
- B1: Request (Feat. Abstract Orchestra & Earlly Mac)
- B2: So Superb (Feat. Cordae & Earlly Mac)
- B3: Keep Dreaming (Feat. Karriem Riggins & Fat Ray)
- B4: Factor (Feat. Elijah Fox & Eric Roberson)
- B5: Since 92 (Feat. Robert Glasper)
The latest full length album from Detroit mainstays Slum Village, F.U.N., has now made its way to vinyl. The 12-track project is their first album in nearly ten years and includes fresh collaborations with Larry June, Cordae, Eric Roberson, Robert Glasper , Karriem Riggins, Abstract Orchestra, Sango, Phat Kat, Daru Jones, Earlly Mac, The Dramatics and more. 2015's critically acclaimed Yes! further cemented T3 and Young RJ's ability to effectively carry on the legacy of the seminal rap group, retaining its essence while evolving its sound with fresh new energy. However, with last year's sold out tour in Europe, and the release of the Larry June and The Dramatics-assisted "Just Like You", it was revealed that the duo was back in the lab together working on a new Slum Village album. F.U.N. finds Slum Village expanding on their signature certain sound, but still staying close to their hometown roots: Young RJ explains- “We wanted to just try something new, so we focused on making Disco-inspired music,” and T3 notes that the recording process all “began with collecting old Disco records.” For fans who wonder why the sonic shift, and why the long hiatus between proper albums, T3 says “Slum is still here. We’re still relevant and we’re still trying to push the envelope. Sometimes people put too many rules on music, and without sounding cliche, we wanted to just have fun with this album.” F.U.N., indeed.
Black Vinyl[24,33 €]
Als sich RAM 1999 in Göteborg gründeten, führten sie bald die neue skandinavische Metal-Szenean (zusammen mit Bands wie Portrait und In Solitude). Oscar Carlquist (Gesang), Daniel Johannson (Gitarren), Harry Granroth (Gitarren), Leif Larsson (Bass) und Morgan Petterson (Schlagzeug) wurden oft mit einer jüngeren, kraftvolleren Version von Judas Priest verglichen und debütierten 2003 mit ihrem Sechs-Track-Mini-Album "Sudden Impact", das ursprünglich auf CD über Black Path Metal veröffentlicht wurde. High Roller Records ist stolz darauf, eine Vinyl-Wiederveröffentlichung von "Sudden Impact" anzukündigen, die den Titeltrack, "Judgement And Punishment", "Machine Invaders", "Blessed To Be Cursed", "Infuriator" und "Black Path" enthält. Obwohl es nicht so raffiniert ist wie spätere Alben wie "Forced Entry" (2005), "Lightbringer" (2008), "Death" (2012) oder ihr neuestes Werk "The Throne Within", das 2019 über Metal Blade Records veröffentlicht wurde, sorgte "Sudden Impact" definitiv für Aufsehen, als es 2003 erschien, zu einer Zeit, als der traditionelle Heavy Metal noch von der alten Garde des Genres dominiert wurde. Die unbändige Energie und der jugendliche Überschwang der Darbietung machten RAM fast sofort zu einer Kraft, mit der man rechnen musste, und zeigten, worum es im Heavy Metal schon immer ging: Stolz, Leidenschaft und Kraft.
RAM wurden in der Vergangenheit oft als "prototypischer schwedischer Metal" bezeichnet, und Sänger Oscar Carlquist widerspricht dem nicht: "Ich würde sagen, dass es bis zu einem gewissen Grad einen einzigartigen skandinavischen Metal-Stil gibt, und schwedische Musiker sind oft sehr talentiert. Sie hatten auch, zumindest in den Achtzigern, einige neoklassische Einflüsse (wahrscheinlich von Yngwie Malmsteen). Schwedische Sängerinnen und Sänger haben auch oft sehr klare Stimmen. Ich kann den schwedischen Sound erkennen, wenn ich den Gesang höre. "Sudden Impact" ist schon seit einiger Zeit nicht mehr erhältlich (2013 gab es eine limitierte Vinyl-Wiederveröffentlichung zum zehnjährigen Jubiläum), so dass die aktuelle Wiederveröffentlichung einer breiteren Öffentlichkeit eine neue Chance bietet, die Wurzeln einer der wichtigsten traditionellen Heavy-Metal-Bands der letzten 20 Jahre zu studieren.




















