quête:mad mark

What if fate had followed a different path? Alex Marker and Ben Reed were childhood friends who made music together before pursuing different careers, with Ben becoming a professional musician while Alex followed a career in stage design.

Originally a drummer, Alex set himself a challenge of writing a song for his wife for their wedding day. One song led to another and collaborating for the first time since they were very young Alex and Ben soon found they had a whole album's worth. Influenced by Alex's career in drama each track on Impostor Syndrome aims to tell a tale or paint a portrait encapsulating a moment of change or release. Ben brings a wider palette of musical styles and arrangements to augment a series of songs which draw from a wide range of musical influences including: singer/ songwriter, British prog, folk and rock. Ben Reed is a multi instrumentalist whose playing credits include bass duties on Frank Ocean's albums Endless and Blond as well as work with David Byrne, Sampha, Mustafa, Frank Dukes, Nilufer Yanya, Hayden Thorpe, FKA Twigs and many others.

He has previously released four full length albums of his own; Tall Story, Who Dreams of Hyssop, Station Masters, Loft, Bandaged and most recently You Do You. Alex Marker is a critically acclaimed theatre set and costume designer who has designed over 150 productions for a wide variety of venues including The West End, tours, regional theatres and the fringe. Further back he used to play drums in pit bands for productions and has occasionally been seen on stage too. The album features guests including: organist Ross Stanley (Steve Howe Trio), flautist R achel Hayter ( Alvorada ), bassoonist Philip Dale ( Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment) and Matt Weeks who plays brass alongside mixing duties.

'In collaboration with the children of Nico Kasanda, better known as Docteur Nico, Planet Ilunga proudly presents an anthology dedicated to African Fiesta Sukisa, available as a 3LP set and a digital release with bonus songs. This release is the result of many years of preparations and was realized in close partnership with Liliane Kasanda, Nico’s eldest daughter. Marking forty years since his passing, we felt that the year 2025 was the right time to honor Docteur Nico’s legacy with this original collection.
'Almost all of the African Fiesta Sukisa songs were released on Nico’s Sukisa label which translates in Lingala for “the final accomplishment”. The music on Sukisa, crafted by Nico and legendary vocalists such as Chantal, Sangana, Apôtre, Mizele, Lessa Lassan and Josky, embodies the essence of that powerful phrase with genius, class and depth. The label ran between 1966 and 1975 and released approximately 280 songs. Ngoma also issued the group between 1967 and 1971 and, in addition, reissued material from the Sukisa label. Many of these songs have become part of the collective memory of Congolese society and are still heard, discussed, and analyzed daily across digital platforms worldwide, as well as on numerous Congolese radio and TV stations.
'The album we put together features some of Nico’s signature songs alongside never before reissued tracks from the Sukisa catalog. It furthermore contains a large booklet with song commentary, testimonial interviews from well-known musicians, journalists, fans and Nico’s entourage, besides never before published photography about his personal and musical life.
'Alastair Johnston, author of the book ‘A Discography of Docteur Nico’ and longstanding Planet Ilunga collaborator, designed a stylish booklet and cover using all our collected material. Audifax Bemba, longtime admirer, compiler and connoisseur of Nico’s music, and the author of most of the song commentary in our accompanying booklet, offers his portrait of Docteur Nico:
“After displaying technical virtuosity with African Jazz, expert and accomplished guitar with African Fiesta, which musicologist Sylvain Bemba described as a dream guitar, Nico Kasanda was consecrated ‘dieu de la guitare’ by the public in the late sixties. With his band African Fiesta Sukisa, Docteur Nico displays his wide palette of unusual sounds. While exploring the Hawaiian guitar with its clear, airy, plangent, psychedelic effluvia, he continues to replicate the piano comping technique, and adds two missing strings to his bow: a simulation of the sanza (likembé or thumb piano), whose sounds he reproduces right down to the noisemakers of the tiny tin rings, on the one hand, and the sounds of the Luba balafon on the other. The right note, in the right place, at the right time, is the triptych on which Nico Kasanda’s playing is based, a note dressed in the perfect sound. A guitar of pure emotion. With African Fiesta Sukisa, his playing takes a ‘Chopin-esque’ turn, sending out more notes in a sublime adagio. The true artist is the one who simplifies everything. Docteur Nico is a genius of our time, whose style makes him the supreme exponent of the most important guitar school in Congolese music. He is recognized by his peers as the greatest African solo guitarist of all time. Sculpting sound in a tireless quest for beauty, Nico Kasanda has sublimated the guitar throughout his career.”






























[xd] Kamulangu [Outro] (Dr. Kasanda – Sukisa 135) Folklore Baluba

Dharmacide is a Spanish band known for their eclectic fusion of genres, blending elements of shoegaze and dreampop music. Their sound is marked by intricate guitar riffs, powerful drumming, and deep, emotive vocals that create a unique atmosphere. The band, with members of Alcalá Norte and Depresión Sonora, has made a huge impact on various stages, performing at renowned venues and festivals, including iconic spots in their home country as well as internationally, earning praise for their high-energy performances and thoughtful compositions. Their latest singles have been produced, mixed and mastered by Mark Gardener from Ride. "Tougher Than the Rest" is their awaited second album. They take a step forward with a darker sound with gloomy riffs and ethereal voices in which they describe perfectly how the sound of a night full of random events -that surely, we all have experienced- would be like. Their sound is influenced by today's bands like Diiv, Warpaint or Beach House but also by classic artists like Cocteau Twins, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds or Tom Waits. 'The Cigs, The Light, The Coffee and Crying' is the first single in which we find a powerful reverb-laden riff with a solo vocal melody in the middle of the chaos until breaking into a powerful chorus. Their debut LP "Cult Band Member" (2021) is sold out and the growing interest in the band anticipates that copies of this new album will not last long.

‘Workaround’ is the lucidly playful and ambitious solo debut album by rhythm-obsessive musician and DJ, Beatrice Dillon for PAN. It combines her love of UK club music’s syncopated suss and Afro-Caribbean influences with a gamely experimental approach to modern composition and stylistic fusion, using inventive sampling and luminous mixing techniques adapted from modern pop to express fresh ideas about groove-driven music and perpetuate its form with timeless, future-proofed clarity. Recorded over 2017-19 between studios in London, Berlin and New York, ‘Workaround’ renders a hypnotic series of polymetric permutations at a fixed 150bpm tempo.

Mixing meticulous FM synthesis and harmonics with crisply edited acoustic samples from a wide range of guests including UK Bhangra pioneer Kuljit Bhamra (tabla); Pharoah Sanders Band’s Jonny Lam (pedal steel guitar); techno innovators Laurel Halo (synth/vocal) and Batu (samples); Senegalese Griot Kadialy Kouyaté (Kora), Hemlock’s Untold and new music specialist Lucy Railton (cello); amongst others, Dillon deftly absorbs their distinct instrumental colours and melody into 14 bright and spacious computerised frameworks that suggest immersive, nuanced options for dancers, DJs and domestic play. ‘Workaround’ evolves Dillon’s notions in a coolly unfolding manner that speaks directly to the album’s literary and visual inspirations, ranging from James P. Carse’s book ‘Finite And Infinite Games’ to the abstract drawings of Tomma Abts or Jorinde Voigt as well as painter Bridget Riley’s essays on grids and colour. Operating inside this rooted but mutable theoretical wireframe, Dillon’s ideas come to life as interrelated, efficient patterns in a self-sufficient system.

With a naturally fractal-not-fractional logic, Dillon’s rhythms unfold between unresolved 5/4 tresillo patterns, complex tabla strokes and spark-jumping tics in a fluid, tactile dance of dynamic contrasts between strong/light, sudden/restrained, and bound/free made in reference to the notational instructions of choreographer Rudolf Laban. Working in and around the beat and philosophy, the album’s freehand physics contract and expand between the lissom rolls of Bhamra’s tabla in the first, to a harmonious balance of hard drum angles and swooping FM synth cadence featuring additional synth and vocal from Laurel Halo in ‘Workaround Two’, while the extruded strings of Lucy Railton create a sublime tension at the album’s palatecleansing denouement, triggering a scintillating run of technoid pieces that riff on the kind of swung physics found in Artwork’s seminal ‘Basic G’, or Rian Treanor’s disruptive flux with a singularly tight yet loose motion and infectious joy. Crucially, the album sees Dillon focus on dub music’s pliable emptiness, rather than the moody dematerialisation of reverb and echo. The substance of her music is rematerialised in supple, concise emotional curves
and soberly freed to enact its ideas in balletic plies, rugged parries and sweeping, capoeira-like floor action. Applying deeply canny insight drawn from her years of practice as sound designer, musician and hugely knowledgable/intuitive DJ, ‘Workaround’ can be heard as Dillon’s ingenious solution or key to unlocking to perceptions of stiffness, darkness or grid-locked rigidity in electronic music. And as such it speaks to an ideal of rhythm-based and experimental music ranging from the hypnotic senegalese mbalax of Mark Ernestus’ Ndagga Rhythm Force, through SND and, more currently, the hard drum torque of DJ Plead; to adroitly exert the sensation of weightlessness and freedom in the dance and personal headspace.

Coach Party return with their explosive second studio album, ‘Caramel’ via Chess Club Records.



Coach Party are poised to make their mark on 2025 and beyond with their new album ‘Caramel’, it is a melody packed, infectious record born from the shared experiences and unity of the bands four members: Jess Eastwood, Steph Norris, Guy Page and Joe Perry. Produced by the band’s own Guy Page, it channels the introspection and bite of bands like Hole, Sprints, Turnstile, and Amyl and the Sniffers. Clocking in at 33 minutes, it’s a sharp, melody-driven record that expands on the themes of their 2023 debut ‘Killjoy’ — heartbreak, identity, and finding your voice.



The band have built a reputation for intense, sweat-soaked live shows, touring with the likes of Queens of the Stone Age, Wet Leg and Royal Blood, and making festival appearances at Glastonbury and Rock en Seine. With ‘Caramel’, they push their sound further than ever, hook-heavy, emotionally honest, and made for the big stage.

Red vinyl, limited to 1200 copies worldwide. In late November 2024 Brutus performed three sold-out shows at the legendary Ancienne Belgique venue is Brussels. A year later sees the band celebrate these shows with the release of a complete live concert movie and album from the third of these shows; sixteen songs, ninety-two minutes, this is Brutus 'Live in Brussels'. That run of three shows in Brussels marked the end of the band's touring cycle for latest studio album, 2022's Unison Life: "'Live in Brussels' is what we want to leave behind after three years of touring 'Unison Life' across more than 20 countries and almost 200 shows. We made it together with our close live crew, the same people who were with us on every step of the tour. For us those three nights in Brussels were intense but beautiful. We're proud we managed to capture it like this; a live document where picture and sound work together to put you inside that night".

A collection of stunning Persian-tuned piano pieces cut from Iranian national radio broadcasts made for the Golha programmes between 1956 & 1965...

Morteza Mahjubi (1900-1965) was a Iranian pianist & composer who developed a unique tuning system for the piano which enabled the instrument to be played in all the different modes and dastgahs of traditional Persian art music. Known as Piano-ye Sonnati, this technique allowed Mahjubi to express the unique ornamental and monophonic nature of Persian classical music on this western instrument - mimicking the tar, setar & santur and extracting sounds from the piano which are still unprecedented to this day.

An active performer and composer from a young age, Mahjubi made his most notable mark as key contributor and soloist for the Golha (Flowers of Persian Song and Poetry) radio programmes. These seminal broadcasts platformed an encyclopaedic wealth of traditional Persian classical music and poetry on Iranian national radio between 1956 until the revolution in 1979.

Presented here is a collection of Morteza Mahjoubi's stunningly virtuosic improvised pieces broadcast on Golha between the programme's inception until Mahjoubi's death in 1965 - mostly solo, though at times peppered with tombak, violin & some segments of poetry.

The vast collection of Golha radio programmes was put together thanks to the incredible work of Jane Lewisohn & the Golha Project as part of the British Library's Endangered Archives programme, comprising 1,578 radio programs consisting of approximately 847 hours of broadcasts.

GATEFOLD DOUBLE VINYL WITH SPOT UV FRONT COVER

Following the skewed-unself-help-brilliance of ‘Sus Dog’ (which marked his first full foray into songs, abetted by Thom Yorke), and its companion piece ‘Cave Dog’, Chris Clark returns to the dancefloor’s simple, but no less affecting pleasures, with ‘Steep Stims’.
“I found it hard to pull away from listening to this record, hard to stop making it, I had to remove myself from the Stims and stop enjoying it at some point. The album feels like nature to me. I love it when electronic music feels more naturalistic than acoustic music, more potent, that’s the devil’s trick, the promise of electronic music.” comments Chris.
“I used an old synth - the Virus on all of the tracks. I used it at Mess in Melbourne - run by my friend Robin Fox - I loved it so much I had to buy one when I got back to the UK, it took a while to find. They’re a bit clunky to program but make some of my most favourite sounds.”
‘Steep Stims’ marks a back-to-basics approach, invoking the early years of gung-ho creativity enforced by limitations in technology at the time. “Most of the tracks on this album capture the spirit of making music on old samplers, which don’t have much memory time”, explains Clark. “It reminds me of making ‘Clarence Park’, my first album, where I would have to finish tunes in the session, as they would be saved on floppy disks and I couldn’t easily go between tracks. This new record is just a few synths and a few choice sounds; the writing is the important thing.”
Made quickly, ‘Steep Stims’ reflects the immediate rave energy of his live show, but that’s not to say it’s basic floor fodder, as it’s rife with personality, synth magic, and knack for melody. Although swift and impressionistically captured rather than laboured over, it’s still formidably deft, with plenty of oddball weirdness lurking beneath the dancefloor.
Soft, orange, scorched, brutal, the opening track ‘Gift and Wound’ captures the classic dance music dread / awe / euphoria combo perfectly, before ‘Infinite Roller’ merges sparkly-minimalism with snarling bass and soft sines, which turn more dense and metallic as it progresses.
The melancholic smoke belch of ‘No Pills U’ gives strong classic vibrations, which is belied by its creation, made in just 20 minutes. “I love working quickly sometimes”, comments Clark. “Inspiration hits, rough and ready. It’s off the cuff but also screams ‘don’t gild the lily with nonsense, keep it simple keep it clean’”. Segueing into its elder brother, the piece becomes bigger and beatier on ‘Janus Modal’, where it permutates for over 7 minutes of fluttering, beatific club majesty.
At ‘18EDO Bailiff’ you inexplicably find yourself at a clearing, things have suddenly got much quieter. You enter a decrepit and eerie old house, and as you move through its unsettling interior, you arrive at ‘Globecore Flats’. A real piano tuned to 18 notes per octave gives the pair of tracks a haunted, olde worlde feel, which promptly gets eaten by a huge tech step tearout monster, birthing a strange but exotic beast.
The white hot ‘Blowtorch Thimble’ is all hooktasm-rave-hyper-amen-energy, whilst acidic flute leaps around like Ian Anderson on pingers throughout the catchily simple jump-up lurch of ‘Civilians’.
“‘In Patient’s Day Out’ is like some sort of Morricone-does-kraut-rock-with-drum-machines, but that’s probably just in my head” says Clark. “I made several versions of this then went with the early mix but cranked through some choice outboard because it just had something.”
Drumless, yet still full of exhilarating-big-trance-drama, ‘Who Booed The Goose’ flashes by in stroboscopic fast forward, then ‘5 Millionth Cave Painting’ gives a palate cleanser, letting “the virus with its delicious broken, luxurious reverb have a moment”, before ‘Negation Loop’ swoops down in all its glory, with Clark’s tweaked vocals leading deconstructed trance breakdowns, tape edits and brutal noisebursts.
An antidote to the bombast of its predecessor is ‘Micro Lyf’, which closes the set on a poignant note, of sorts. Muted staccato gives way to field recordings “that gradually put it in this outside space; alien in a meadow somewhere nameless. It feels like a sinkhole. The record kinda swallows itself up and then is gone”, ends Chris.

In March 2025, "On the Love Beach" held a highly successful solo concert in Shanghai and Beijing with Toushi Naoki.
2025 marks the 30th anniversary of their memorable debut album, "On the Love Beach," and the band's three first albums will be reissued on CD and vinyl!

All three albums are made using the original master tapes, and each has been thoroughly remastered under the supervision of Shinji Shibayama for high-quality
sound!

Shinji Shibayama, who played drums for IDIOT O'CLOCK, a stalwart band in the Kyoto underground scene in the early '80s, founded Orgu Records in 1986
and released "Eat Meat, Take a Vow" under the name "Hallelujahs," formed "On the Love Beach" in 1992. This 1995 debut album by "On the Love Beach"
deserves to be passed down to future generations.
"On the Love Beach," which took approximately three years to complete due to its 24-channel multi-track recording, truly marks the origin of "On the Beach"

It was during the production of this album that Shibayama met his partner, Masako Takeda. Starting with the classic song "Nagisa no Watashi," born from that inspiration,

this masterpiece, with its kaleidoscope-like polyhedral structure, is the result of a meticulous reconstruction of the musical essence of Shibayama's

personal history, including GS, Showa-era pop, progressive rock, contemporary music, and psychedelic influences. The album also features a superb cast of

guest appearances, including Naoki Toshi, Kenichi Takayama "IDIOT," Chie Mukai, and Fuyuri Kudo.

While the 1995 album LP was a low-sounding cut due to its 54-minute running time, this analog reissue features a 2LP cut for superior sound quality.
The D-side includes the obscure classic "Woman," which was only available on CD at the time, and the album has been reborn as a timeless, complete version
worthy of the 30th anniversary of its release! Of course, the CD released at the same time is also a high-quality version with the same remastering!

A collection of stunning Persian-tuned piano pieces cut from Iranian national radio broadcasts made for the Golha programmes between 1956 & 1965...

Morteza Mahjubi (1900-1965) was a Iranian pianist & composer who developed a unique tuning system for the piano which enabled the instrument to be played in all the different modes and dastgahs of traditional Persian art music. Known as Piano-ye Sonnati, this technique allowed Mahjubi to express the unique ornamental and monophonic nature of Persian classical music on this western instrument - mimicking the tar, setar & santur and extracting sounds from the piano which are still unprecedented to this day.

An active performer and composer from a young age, Mahjubi made his most notable mark as key contributor and soloist for the Golha (Flowers of Persian Song and Poetry) radio programmes. These seminal broadcasts platformed an encyclopaedic wealth of traditional Persian classical music and poetry on Iranian national radio between 1956 until the revolution in 1979.

Presented here is a collection of Morteza Mahjoubi's stunningly virtuosic improvised pieces broadcast on Golha between the programme's inception until Mahjoubi's death in 1965 - mostly solo, though at times peppered with tombak, violin & some segments of poetry.

The vast collection of Golha radio programmes was put together thanks to the incredible work of Jane Lewisohn & the Golha Project as part of the British Library's Endangered Archives programme, comprising 1,578 radio programs consisting of approximately 847 hours of broadcasts.

»La Traversée« (»The Crossing«) is Matthias Puech’s second album for Hallow Ground and follows up on 2023’s »Mt. Hadamard National Park.« Profoundly inspired by re-reading »The Odyssey,« the French composer, instrument designer, and scholar used a Eurorack modular synthesizer to create four pieces that are by far the most intuitive and emotionally charged in his ever-expanding catalogue. Puech’s masterful command of sound comes to the forefront with even more urgency on this record. A wandering meditation on the human condition, »La Traversée« is an album that is constantly in motion—complex electronic music at its most gripping and evocative.

The foundation for »La Traversée« was laid when Puech prepared a live set for a tour organised in collaboration with Hallow Ground in support of »Mt. Hadamard National Park.« Before writing the first three pieces—»Ennosigaios,« »Polyphármakos,« »Nekuia«—the 18½-minute-long »Ithâké« was composed in near-total isolation in the South of France at the end of 2023. Puech performed the material live several times before taking a step black from it for a while. He revisited the pieces when preparingthem for a release. »I was struck by how the technical process and the intention behind the music had completely vanished from my memory,« he says.

What remained intact, however, was Puech’s association of the material with one of the most influential texts of Western literature. Reading a graphic novel adaptation of »The Odyssey« with his two four-year-olds, he noticed the effect that it had on them and himself. »Its themes of longing, fear of and attraction to the unknown, unresolved quests, and the struggle for control felt topical,« he says. »I was completely taken. Every story ever told seemed contained in this ancient tale; every story I have ever tried to tell as a composer seemed inscribed in this framework.« This also extended to formal motifs such as the repetition of incidents, narrative developments, or dramatic effects that also mark »La Traversée.«

Puech says that he perceived Homer’s writing as musical, »like an old Delta blues or a Renaissance counterpoint,« which inspired his writing process. »With a couple of knobs on my Eurorack system, I could control the unfolding of a story,« he notes. »This made me pass through different emotional statesand led to moments in which everything made sudden sense—when you as an artist get a glimpse atsomething essential, can touch upon something universal.« This shines through »La Traversée,« a wildly imaginative album that is deeply personal while also telling a story far more wide-reaching than that of its creator.

Within the world of theatrical archives, there are the known, the unknown, the forgotten, and the lost. Demetrio Stratos' stage compositions for Teatro dell'Elfo's groundbreaking 1979 production Satyricon - directed by future Oscar winner Gabriele Salvatores - represents one such lost artifact now wondrously returned to life. This radical sonic work, integrating extended vocal techniques, Balinese instruments, and pioneering whale song recordings, stands as the final masterpiece of Italy's most visionary vocal experimenter, lost for over four decades until Die Schachtel's extraordinary recovery. As Stratos himself explained: "The musical operation performed on Satyricon is particular: the composer-musician here does not compose, but borrows ready-made music, vivisects it, melts it, intervenes and recomposes it on magnetic tape. The structure of the signifier, from a morphological point of view, presents itself as a conceptual collage." The music is obtained by utilizing compositions and musical elements from David Behrman, Joan La Barbara, Balinese Ketyak, Turkish Nay flute, Yugoslavian bagpipe, Pan flute, and whale song, with synthesizer interventions by Paolo Tofani. It began as part of something known - a wild, immersive theatrical event that inaugurated Teatro dell'Elfo's historic venue in 1979, was almost entirely forgotten, becoming lost and then unknown. The original production marked a radical departure for the company: no longer popular street theatre, but a dark, immersive, sophisticated spectacle that transformed their space into a rough wooden arena with a sand floor. Demetrio Stratos, working with Paolo Tofani (fellow Area member), created an entire sonic universe that subverted every conventional function of stage music. Their composition wasn't accompaniment, but autonomous sonic dramaturgy that integrated extended vocal techniques, archaic electronic elements, Nay flutes, Balinese instruments, and pioneering whale song recordings. The result was a three-dimensional soundscape that enveloped audiences, creating an otherworldly acoustic dimension. Stratos' score even intervened in the actors' vocal delivery, with the recordings capturing both the performance and his coaching sessions with the cast. The production featured young actors destined for fame - Elio De Capitani, Ferdinando Bruni, Cristina Crippa, Corinna Agustoni, Ida Marinelli - guided by Gabriele Salvatores in this adaptation of Petronius' ancient novel. Shortly after the Satyricon performances, Stratos was hospitalized for the condition that would lead to his death at just 33 years old. This work represents his final composition - a haunting farewell from one of Italy's most innovative sound artists. Die Schachtel presents this recovered work in collaboration with Teatro dell'Elfo, pulled from the original magnetic tape and carefully restored. Satyricon '79 is one of the great artifacts of 1970s Italian avant-garde - a wild, grinding sonic expose which sucks the ear into its depths, made in the spirit of collaboration and creative risk-taking. The edition includes critical apparatus with essays, testimonies from protagonists, and period photographic documentation, documenting an unrepeatable moment where theatre, vocal research and sonic experimentation converged. This release marks a poignant moment in experimental music history - Stratos' final work, now rescued from the archives and restored to its rightful place in the canon of Italian avant-garde masterpieces. A true wonder of towering historical importance. As essential as it gets for any fan of experimental music, or the history of the Italian avant-garde. Fully restored and newly mastered from the original analog tapes. Absolutely essential.

With Dominik Eulberg and Arne Schaffhausen (of EXTRAWELT) we welcome back two longtime Cocoon heroes to the label. The two were featured in a VICE Magazine special last year for a 'field recording' documentary. you-need-to-hear-this/dominik-eulberg-westerwald-extrawelt-zurich-lost-and-found) which marked the beginning of a new collaboration. Dominik and Arne checked their fresh recorded sounds in the studio and found out that there have a common base and musical understanding. They started to work on new tracks and it looks like this joint venture will continue for a longer time. The first results of their mutual work is 'A Little Further' which will be released in three different versions on Cocoon Recordings in the next weeks (COR12117). So let's start with 'Not On A Map' version: This one seems to be tailor made for the next afterhour and the rising sun. Dominik and Arne create the perfect mood for those special moments on the floor with a nice mix of energetic beats, interesting sounds and an emotional bass- and synth-programming. So many layers and different levels however the overall picture never gets overcharged or too demanding. Coming up next is the '37 Routes' version which quite stands out with the used breakbeats and no standard 4/4 kick drum. The synths are more scratchy and louder and the bassline seems to jump out of the speakers, this is a massive wall of sound production. The direction here is clear. However the two incorporated some cool and magic breaks that seem to refer to the deeper Eulberg sound which forms a great mix of two different techno-visions. Last but not least there's the 'Imaginery Escort' version which appears a bit like the dub edit of 'A Little Further".

Pablo Sánchez´s new solo album “Archipiélago” is out now. The new long player, a follow-up to his “Nocturnal” album as Basic Need will be released on Sisternoise Records and is a 42 minute voyage sailing through uncharted waters.

Every archipelago is a constellation of islands, distinct yet bound by invisible tides. Archipiélago, the latest work from Pablo Sánchez, follows this same geography of sound and memory. Its islands are not of sand and rock, but of places which inspired the artist throughout his life; Buenos Aires, Caracas, Puerto Rico, New York, Madrid, Berlin, and Barcelona. Each city has left a trace, a shoreline carved into Sánchez’s musical journey and left a distinctive musical mark.

The ten songs gathered here are like sovereign entities, each with its own character, its own rhythm, its own language. Together they form a single territory, a map drawn by musical experience, longing, and imagination. They are ports of call, but also fragments of a larger voyage, where tradition and experimentation, nostalgia and discovery, coexist to create a common territory. Along the way guest magicians Animal Feelings and Salomeya add their vocal sparks to the voyage.

Archipiélago is not a destination but a map of crossings, a territory of sound where the journey itself becomes home.

Do you believe in spring? Simon Wangen (cello) and Philipp Sutter (piano) pose this question as the title for their new project. Whereas Bill Evans made a demand in 1981, the two Cologne-based musicians believe that in times of uncertainty, crisis, and environmental destruction, it is ok to set a questin mark here. But politics and world events aside: Do you believe in spring? Of course! It's never too late to start something new, get creative, and test your own limits. Simon Wangen is a classically trained cellist, Philipp Sutter a trained jazz pianist. Their different musical roots merge on this instrumental album into a lively mix of neoclassical, new jazz, and Cinéma Nordique. Ten pieces come across as sometimes dark, sometimes wild, sometimes delicate, always focusing on the dialogue between the two instruments that harmonize so well. The subtle use of electronic effects constantly opens up new perspectives and builds a bridge to contemporary sound aesthetics. Cello and piano—this combination has been established for centuries, but can still add new facets today. Do you believe in spring? begins stormily and turbulently, oscillating between romantic, sad, and beautiful moments, and leads from a rather dark beginning to the final and eponymous piece in C major, which leaves the listener with a glimmer of hope. Do you believe in spring? From October 24, 2025!


Do you believe in spring? Simon Wangen (Cello) und Philipp Sutter (Klavier) werfen den Titel für ihr neues Projekt als Frage in den Raum. Wo Bill Evans 1981 eine Forderung formulierte, sind die beiden Kölner Musiker der Ansicht, in Zeiten der Unsicherheit, der Krisen und Umweltzerstörung durchaus ein Fragezeichen setzen zu können. Aber abgesehen von Politik und Weltgeschehen: Do you believe in spring? Natürlich! Es ist nie zu spät, etwas Neues zu beginnen, kreativ zu werden und die eigenen Grenzen zu testen. Simon Wangen ist klassisch ausgebildeter Cellist, Philipp Sutter studierter Jazzpianist. Die unterschiedlichen musikalischen Wurzeln verschmelzen auf diesem Instrumentalalbum zu einer lebendigen Mischung aus Neoklassik, New Jazz und Cinéma Nordique. Zehn Stücke kommen mal düster, mal wild, mal zart daher, stets die Zwiesprache der beiden so gut harmonierenden Instrumente im Fokus. Der dezente Einsatz elektronischer Effekte öffnet immer wieder neue Perspektiven und schlägt eine Brücke zur zeitgenössischen Klangästhetik. Cello und Klavier - diese Besetzung ist seit Jahrhunderten etabliert, aber kann auch aktuell immer wieder neue Facetten hinzubekommen. Do you believe in spring? beginnt stürmisch und aufgewühlt, changiert zwischen romantisch - traurig - schönen Momenten und führt von einem eher düsteren Beginn hin zum letzten und namensgebenden Stück in C-Dur, das die Zuhörenden mit einem Hoffnungsschimmer entlässt. Do you believe in spring? Ab 24.10.2025!

Three part journey into an imaginary Amazon from three artists working on the fringes of field recording.

Stories del Tibur​ó​n Llor​​​​​​​ó​​​​​​​n del Amazonas picks up where the previous, Stories of the Indian Dotted Whale trilogy left us. This time, the same three artists, Giovanni Lami, Hannibal Chew II aka Gonçalo F Cardoso and Bardo Todol aka Pablo Picco return to riff on an imaginary crying shark, known to swim in the amazon river. The sad and melancholic shark has never been seen but its weep and sob can be heard all over the region. Here are three works of sympathetic howls for a lonely and misunderstood creature.

First part from Giovanni Lami is made of ghost recordings made during 2020 in Iquitos, Perú, in the amazon forest during the film shoot of “Tras el Barco de Fitzcarraldo”. Second part from Hannibal Chew II is a collection of re-assembled recordings and jams gathered from a trip through the Amazon in late 2017 to early 2018. Later assembled during various improvised recording sessions during the long hot summer of 2023 in Tenerife, Canary Islands. The third and final part comes from Bardo Todol and features abrasive tape and digital field recordings manipulation made by Picco in Iquitos in 2020 during the shooting of “Tras el barco de Fitzcaraldo”.

All three feature sounds of: people talking, static radios, saturday night churches, river people, shawi people, dolphin people, shark people, market people, vibrating insects, zombie insects, giant insects, giant motors and of course various weeps of a crying shark.

Mit Gala veröffentlichten Lush 1990 ihr erstes Kompilationsalbum - eine Zusammenstellung der frühen EPs Scar (1989), Mad Love (1990) und Sweetness and Light (1990), ergänzt durch zwei exklusive Stücke: eine Coverversion von ABBAs "Hey Hey Helen" sowie den erweiterten Robin Guthrie-Mix von "Scarlet". Die Veröffentlichung markierte damals den Einstieg der Band in die US-amerikanischen und japanischen Märkte. Zum 35. Jubiläum erscheint Gala nun am 14. November 2025 in einer aufwendig neu aufgelegten Edition: als Standard-LP/CD sowie als Deluxe-Coloured-Vinyl-Boxset (3x12" + 7"). Beide Formate wurden von Kevin Vanbergen 2025 neu gemastert. Die Deluxe-Edition überzeugt zudem mit einem von Chris Bigg gestalteten Artwork, basierend auf Originalgrafiken von v23 (Vaughan Oliver und Chris Bigg), sowie einer neu verfassten Bandbiografie der norwegischen Autorin und Musikerin Jenny Hval. Erstmals seit 1990 ist Gala damit wieder offiziell erhältlich. Die Gala 35th Anniversary Edition folgt auf die 2023 veröffentlichten Remasterings der Studioalben Spooky, Split und Lovelife. Bereits im vergangenen Jahr präsentierte die Band zudem in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Criterion Channel den Kurzfilm A Far From Home Movie von Bassist Phil King - ein Werk zu Ehren des 1996 verstorbenen Schlagzeugers Chris Acland, das intime Super8-Aufnahmen von Lush-Tourneen zwischen 1992 und 1996 zeigt

Sascha Ring aka Apparat’s work as a producer, artist, musician, live act and DJ has always been in a constant state of metamorphosis, while simultaneoulsy always managing to stay true to his trademark musical sound.

There is a unique spirit that lives within his projects and productions or rather they all have this special vision of music which becomes more distinctive with every release and spans his ‘Multifunktionsebene’ and ‘Walls’ albums on Shitkatapult, his ‘Moderat’ album made together with the boys from Modeselektor on Bpitch Control and his DJ-Kicks mix for !K7.

Following on from Kode9 and his friend James Holden, Apparat offers a wonderful mix and insight into the tracks that have influenced and roused his passion for club productions over the years as well as his current favourites in his box.

The mix includes an exclusive track ‘Sayulita’. Together with this mix, it also symbolises a nice reference point in an important chapter in Apparat’s own history – club music. This is a chapter that is by no means finished, for the more he succeeds in re-writing the narrow parameters of techno music, the more important it remains as the driving force in his life.

On November 7, 2025, the Belgian label Sdban Records will release a reissue of the mythical Open Sky Unit (1974) by the eponymous jazz fusion group featuring Micheline and Jacques Pelzer, Steve Houben, Ron Wilson, Janot Buchem and Michel Graillier. The album returns on vinyl, highlighting a pivotal moment in Belgian jazz history, where soul, funk, and free improvisation came together in a vibrant and family-driven project.

Formed in the early 1970s as a homage to Dave Liebman's group Open Sky, Open Sky Unit grew out of informal jam sessions in Liège, Belgium, into a unique collective. One of the central figures was Jacques Pelzer, father of drummer and vocalist Micheline Pelzer, alongside his second cousin, saxophonist/flutist Steve Houben, bass player Janot Buchem, percussionist Michel Graillier and American pianist/composer Ron Wilson.

Their 1974 debut album was released on the Duchesne classical music label, run by Pelzer's brother-in-law. The group's sound carefully balanced jazz and soul and was largely directed by Wilson, a Californian pianist and singer who settled in Liège and nearby Maastricht after his army service. Wilson composed the entire repertoire. Open Sky Unit was recorded live at Jazzland club in Liège, and the band made several short tours in Belgium and abroad (including Tunisia) until around 1975-1976, when Houben left for Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music.

Although the original live recording from 1974 was not technically perfect, the group succeeded in capturing their heartfelt live energy. Tracks such as Open Sky, Sunshine Star, and Passion and Compassion are striking examples of this. Years later, the album version of Sunshine Star found its way onto Funky Chicken (2014), the compilation that not only brought the track back into the spotlight but also marked the beginning of Sdban Records.

In addition to the standard reissue, a limited edition of 200 copies will be released for collectors, featuring a 7" single of Ron Wilson's Sunshine Star as a special bonus. This single was originally released in 1973 with the acoustic version of Sunshine Star (piano and vocals) on the B-side, recorded a few months before the longer jazz-funk version later featured on the LP Open Sky Unit. The A-side, Peace Is The Answer, was only released on that single at the time and is now being reissued for the very first time. The 7" is thus a faithful and long-awaited reissue of a rare piece of Belgian jazz history, it's intimate, soulful, and an ideal complement to theexisting and well-known LP.

Although the band never achieved a major international breakthrough, they were highly valued in progressive European jazz circles and later secured a place in anthologies such as Utopic Cities: Progressive Jazz in Belgium 1968-1979. The reissue of Open Sky Unit brings their music back into the spotlight and reaffirms their role as key figures in the Belgian jazz scene of the seventies.

Ulver geben heute bekannt, dass ihr klassisches Promo-Tape aus dem Jahr 1993 auf Peaceville Records neu aufgelegt wird. 2023 markiert dreißig Jahre seit der Aufnahme und die Platte zeigt Ulvers Black-Metal-Wurzeln, bevor die Band begann, sich außerhalb der Grenzen des Genres zu entwickeln.

Weithin bekannt für hochkarätige Klanglandschaften und exquisite experimentelle und elektronische Kunst als Teil ihrer kontinuierlichen und sich ständig verändernden Entwicklung, verschmolzen Ulver's Anfänge ätherischen Black Metal mit zarten Folk-inspirierten Passagen. Trotz der rauen Kanten sticht das Material der Band mit seinen höchst unkonventionellen Kompositionen im Vergleich zu den primitiveren und roheren Angeboten anderer schnell aufstrebender Acts in der norwegischen Szene jener Zeit hervor.

Vargnatt war Ulvers erster Ausflug in die Wildnis und ein außergewöhnliches Debüt-Demo, das das verwendete, was zu einem Grundelement ihrer legendären Trilogie (Bergtatt, Kveldssanger und Nattens Madrigal) werden sollte, nämlich akustische Gitarren inmitten melodischer und oft komplexer und verworrener Arrangements, die mit einem bereits fortgeschrittenen Grad an Musikalität gezaubert und vorgetragen wurden, mit dem unheimlichen Gesang des langjährigen Frontmanns Kristoffer Garm" Rygg. Zu dieser frühen Inkarnation von Ulver gehörten auch Carl-Michael Eide von Aura Noir / Ved Buens Ende am Schlagzeug sowie Robin "Mean" Malmberg (von den norwegischen Pionieren Mysticum) am Bass.

Das auf dieser Platte enthaltene Audiomaterial besteht aus Originalmaterial, das vom Original-DAT stammt. Die Veröffentlichung enthält außerdem den Bonustrack "Vargnatt", der 1993 live bei Bootleg TV in Oslo aufgenommen wurde und aus der Nationalbibliothek Norwegens stammt.

Kristoffer "Garm" Rygg äußerte sich wie folgt zu der Wiederveröffentlichung:
Das ist das erste, was wir als Ulver aufgenommen haben. Wikipedia sagt, es sei unser zweites Demo, aber es ist unser erstes und einziges. Stovner, Oslo, 1993, zwei-drei Tage, wham, bam, thank you mam, mit sehr wenig oder gar keiner Erfahrung. Wir waren Kinder, 17-19 Jahre alt, und haben das Wasser getestet. Abgesehen vom Gesang und einigen merkwürdigen musikalischen Entscheidungen muss ich sagen, dass ich mich heute weit weniger dafür schäme, als ich es wahrscheinlich in den Neunzigern tat, und ich muss darüber lächeln, dass diese Aufnahme 30 Jahre später immer noch aktuell ist. Es erfüllt mich mit Freude (und etwas Traurigkeit), die verrückten Launen und Dinge, die wir erlebt haben, in relativ unberührter Form wiederzuhören. Peaceville, der Hauptlieferant vieler unserer Lieblingsplatten von damals, leistet hervorragende Arbeit bei der Wiederveröffentlichung einiger dieser alten Underground-Tapes. Also, nach ein paar limitierten Auflagen, "warum zum Teufel nicht", oder? (Kristoffer Rygg, Ulver)
Tracklisting