Cerca:magica

Writing music for film and theatre has always been a big part of Hania Rani's musical world. It is also a part of the creative process that can be tantalisingly out of reach for listeners, either the project doesn't come to fruition or the music simply isn't available away from the film or play. From early collaborations with friends, to last year's two scores for full length films (xAbo: Father Boniecki directed by Aleksandra Potoczek and I Never Cry directed by Piotr Domalewski') Rani has been involved in many such projects, each representing an important step in her artistic development and life as a composer and artist:

"Composing for motion picture or theatre is for me a very different kind of work than writing for my own projects. Firstly, I need to collaborate with somebody else who sees the world through the lense of their own art and craft. That's why these kinds of encounters can be so exciting - they are a promise of creating something very new, as a result of creative work of so many people from all walks of life. Secondly, I feel that music in film is an invisible character, a missing emotion that creates a special atmosphere and sensation. It doesn't illustrate, it completes the work of art. I think it is an extremely sensitive matter that rejects banal associations and easy solutions. I feel like composing for film works like an exercise for my imagination."

It is the nature of these collaborations though, that sometimes the composers own preferred compositions don't make the final cut. This is where Music for Film and Theatre comes in as it allows Rani to present a selection of her own personal favourite pieces composed for film and plays. Pieces that made it to the final cut and pieces that were rejected by the director or the producer. Bringing the music together as an album offers a chance for Rani to share her music with her listeners on her own terms and a chance for her fans to hear a different side of her art.

"I put them in one place, as a collection of precious objects that were kept for years in a drawer. Some of them were composed a couple years ago, some are the result of recent research. I am very happy to finally be able to present them as a separate project."

Rani is of course grateful to all of the directors who have entrusted her to create music for their projects, but she professes especially warm feelings for the pieces composed for her first 'real' theatre play, Pradziady, directed by Michał Zdunik. The title comes from 'Dziady' a term in Slavic folklore for the spirits of the ancestors and a collection of pre-Christian rites, rituals and customs that were dedicated to them. The essence of these rituals was the 'communion of the living with the dead', namely, the establishment of relationships with the souls of the ancestors. "I felt this story needed extremely dark and fragile music, and at the same time a sound that could express the mixture of the two worlds - the living and the dead. I decided to compose part of the soundtrack with a string quartet but including two cellos, viola and only one violin. We recorded in a little house, completely built from wood, mostly from Finnish pine. I always felt this space has a very special, warm and natural acoustics - especially when it is combined with string instruments. The track composed for this theatre play is called Ghosts but actually didn't finally make it to the performance, although I like it so much that I thought it would perfectly fit



this compilation". Other highlights include the enchanting Soleil Pâle written for a collaboration with director Neels Castillon, and improvising dancers Alt Take, the beautiful melancholy of In Between (from the film score for xAbo: Father Boniecki) and the magical bliss of The Beach (from I Never Cry) and together they create a beautiful offering from an artist whose every note is worth hearing, but for whom the journey is just beginning:

"I am very happy to see that many artists consider my music as the right soundtrack for their works, because film music was always a huge inspiration for any of my compositions. I find there a lot of life and real emotions, but also a feeling of freedom. Freedom from my own thinking patterns and prejudices. I also believe strongly in collaboration between people, I always feel this is the way to create something really new, based on a mixture of different ways of thinking, feeling, expressing."

This then is Hania Rani, Music for Film and Theatre – enjoy!

Originally a digital-only project back in 2022, Whispers Of An Ancient World now makes the magical leap to vinyl as Mystic & Quantum press it up in hugely limited quantities for those lucky enough to cop it quickly. This is a green version with artwork by Kilian Eng. Musically it is a delightful escape. Ambient soundworlds and suggestive ancient rituals sit next to ambles through humid jungles, soothing acoustic string lullabies and more turbulent dub sounds that speak of a dystopian future looming on the horizon with artists like Diagonal, Mason Bee, State Azure and more all adding to its charms.

There are albums that tap into the very heartbeats of rhythm, melody and intricate sound design, pulsating with every musical note. This is the case of 'Séptimo Sentido', the new album by Buenos Aires-based producer Seph.

Sebastián Galante aka Seph is no stranger to these realms; with almost two decades of experience under his belt, he has established himself as one of the leading talents in the Argentina techno scene and as one of the most intriguing minds in alternative Latin American electronic music. His productions have found a home in cutting edge labels such as Insurgentes –a platform led by the DJ and producer from Medellín (Colombia) Verraco, and sister label of TraTraTrax, which has reduced gaps between the Latin electronic scene and the rest of the globe– or his own label Aula Magna Records. He has also fostered collaborations, among which stands out his project Oscean alongside Andrés Zacco, a project that was recently released on the legendary Berlin label Tresor.

In his new album 'Séptimo Sentido', Seph exhibits superlative production skills and masterfully showcases the widest palette of the braindance sound, that intersection where countless genres and sub-styles can coexist. Here we hear echoes from the mid-90s that revive undeniable references of early IDM; but with a renewed form, under a fiercely contemporary new skin.

At the core of this intriguing album, we find an artist whose devotion to experimentation takes his rhythmic and melodic obsessions through vibrant magical-techno-urban landscapes, where radiant colors and mutating forms collide in a bold and imaginative sonic journey.

'Séptimo Sentido' hails from the prism of perception, beyond the five senses and a step further than instinct, hunting for mysterious resonances with the cosmos; like a space portal inviting us to float a handspan above the ground.

Les Disques Bongo Joe are proud to be home of the new volume of DJ soFa's well known curation work Elsewhere series with Elsewhere CC! This ninth exploration of our beloved Bruxelles based cratedigger and producer (Mameen 3, Nyati Mayi & The astral Synth Transmitters, ...) is an ode to summer and groove!

The ninth edition in the Elsewhere series is a real digger’s paradise of tropical gems, from Trinidad to Brazil, Poland, Dominica, and beyond. The compilation is an eclecticmix of outernational, tropical-wave, Calypso, multi-rhythmic percussive beats, lo-fi disco jams, and other such styles that lie somewhere in that magical in-between zone. Compiled by Brussels-based DJ, tastemaker and producer soFa, Elsewhere Vol.9 CC is a perfect collection of Balearic, good-vibe, sunshine rarities, to soundtrack a cocktail session on a reclusive, tropical beach, featuring rare tunes and some of the artist’s own unique productions and collaborations.

Modern day selector, 7” detective, international cratedigger, and self-styled musical activist DJ soFa, aka. soFa Elsewhere, is renowned for his borderless approach to curation. Adapting his unconventional and radical approach to DJing to his acclaimed compilation series, soFa’s goal has always been to expand horizons, highlight scenes, and tell stories. And herein lies the beauty behind the latest edition in the Elsewhere series. Behind every great record, is an even bigger story, and Elsewhere CC, has plenty of them...

2024 Repress

'The Magical World of The Strands' is one of the most accomplished albums of British songwriting of all time. Why every household doesn't have a copy, I don't know. Seriously, I think it's a masterpiece' - Richard Hawley

'Mick Head is a genius' - Noel Gallagher

Michael Head has announced details of the release of his first album of new material in over 11 years.

Recorded under the name of Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band, 'Adiós Señor Pussycat' is released on Violette Records on Friday 20th October 2017.

Beautiful and evocative and recorded in his home-town of Liverpool between March 2016 and June 2017, the album is the culmination of four years of hard work. Equal to his finest moments, Adiós Señor Pussycat will undoubtedly only further cement his reputation as one of this generations greatest songwriters.

Innovative multi-instrumentalist and electronic luminary Mathew Jonson returns to Crosstown Rebels with ‘Tako Tako’.

The Canadian synth wizard returns to Damian Lazarus' renowned imprint with two magical and absorbing new productions, with the most excellent two-tracker.

Mathew Jonson has developed one of the most distinctive voices in electronic dance music. His take on house and techno is rich in synth craft and high on captivating emotions, all shaped by his notoriously extensive collection of analogue and hardware gear that he can play, manipulate and use like few others. An electronic mastermind renowned for releasing countless seminal tracks and albums, both solo and as a member of Cobblestone Jazz, he returns to a label that has been a constant throughout his career. With his ‘Tako Tako’ EP, he offers two more superb journeys on Crosstown Rebels.

The fantastic ‘Tako Tako’ kicks off with Jonson’s signature mix of elegant and refined synth craft, with dancing melodies bringing futuristic energy and neon colour to crunchy beats. They are smeared and smudged in a painterly fashion and help make this production a pulsating dancefloor thrill. Equally standout is ‘Just a Little Bit’, powered by a jostling broken beat with a warm bassline and wordless vocals sampled throughout. It’s funky, kinetic, always on the move, and rounds out another one of Jonson’s fantastically inventive yet effective EPs.

Released in 1970 on the british cult label The Village Thing (owned by
singer/songwriter Ian A. Anderson), the sole album by couple Anne
and Graham Hemingway is a superb acid folk manifesto. Coming all
the way from Cardiff, the duo has been described as a mystical,
magical hippie small family. Alongside classic guitars, they played
dulcimer, glockenspiel, vibes, bells, kazoo and small percussion,
joined throughout by label-mate John Turner (bowed and fingerpicked string bass) and Andy Leggett.

J Axel and Eva Essa find magical harmony on this new collaboration on the Do It Now Recordings Vinylized label. 'Turned Your Back' is a perfectly heart-melting, life-affirming bit of soul-drenched and intimate deep house with gorgeous vocals and super smooth drums all healing you to your core as the gentle rhythms wash over you time and time again. It's a faultless original but one that is also ripe for remixing and who better than Atjazz who slightly ups the tempo but keeps the deep, wavy rhythmic vibes and adds a little cosmic magic in the synths. A sublime package indeed.

‘’The duo’s music has traces of 1980s dream pop and 1990s slowcore, particularly Low, another married-couple band. There’s more to the comparison than ink on a certificate. Marriage’s suffering and devotion breed a particular kind of intimacy. Windy & Carl often resemble an ambient version of Yo La Tengo, another group that centers on a long-wed duo and conveys a secret, profound sense of life beyond the music.’’ PITCHFORK 7.2
For the first time in almost twenty years, Windy & Carl’s second album for kranky, Consciousness, will be available on the vinyl format once again. The fourth album from Michigan’s premier space duo, again delivers their shimmering trademark wall of sound, beautiful vocalization, and delicate songcraft. Six sweet and easy new tracks recorded in their home studio in Dearborn, that drift and dream with layered guitars, keyboards, bass and a love-arsenal of delicious effects and distortion.
“There is an airy shaft of light that extends straight through these six extended pieces, offsetting the density of sound with a breezy loveliness that’s almost impossible to articulate, towering on a floating sea of mesmerising, sub-level sounds.” —Boomkat
“Genre descriptions such as ‘ambient guitar soundscape’, ‘wall of sound’ and ‘drone’ fail miserably to capture the astonishing, magical emotional beauty of their pieces.” —Cyclic Defrost

Besides being a leading session musician in Milan's jazz scene between the 60s and 90s, Italian pianist Oscar Rocchi created a number of exquisite library albums in the pop-jazz genre. These include among others "Erbe Selvatiche", "Pop-Paraphrenia" and "Woman's Colours" (the latter co-written with his friend Giancarlo Barigozzi) as well as "Alchemy in Jazz", which is now available in digital format for the first time ever.

Originally released on Ring, an imprint of Edizioni Minstrel, the album was recorded by a quintet featuring Rocchi on piano plus long-time collaborators Hugo Heredia (sax and flute), Sergio Fanni (trumpet), Gianni Cazzola (drums) and Furio Di Castri (double bass), and has since become a cult record in countries from the US to Japan, where it was released for the first time on CD in 2013.

With a palette ranging from frenzied post-bop echoes("Gold-Fast", "Nigredo") to sentimental nocturnal ballads ("Solution", "Rubedo") to cheerful modern-jazz vibes ("Mercury", "Silver-Bop", "Sulphur"), here Rocchi paints an elegantly syncopated musical fresco that, like the magical, alchemical process referred to in the title, transmutes the harsher aspects of jazz syntax into a graceful and more euphonic style that is approachable for jazz neophytes and yet enjoyable for seasoned jazz lovers.

Discover the timeless magic of the musical „The Wizard of Oz“ with the original soundtrack on vinyl.

Victor Fleming‘s masterpiece takes you to the magical land of Oz, where adventure, friendship and self-discovery come together in a unique way.

This vinyl edition of „The Wizard Of Oz“ soundtrack offers not only exceptional sound quality, but also an authentic experience that perfectly captures the nostalgia and charm of the musical. One of the highlights of this vinyl is the song „Somewhere Over The Rainbow“, which is certainly one of the best-know hits in the history of film and musical theatre.

Diggers Society is an underground electronic music label based in Barcelona. This debut release encapsulates the label's musical philosophy, featuring two tracks produced by legends Francesco Farfa and Miki (in collaboration with Niki IL B and Andrea Melly), and two tracks produced by talented artists from the new generation such as Luca Piermattei and Lucio. The result is a complete EP, featuring 4 different dancefloor-oriented productions, each one for a different moment of the night.
Artwork by @designattitude_graphic

Celebrating 30 years of legendary Henry Street Music with this special double vinyl released for the Record Store Day 2024. A piece of 90s House history, influenced by the magical classy vibes of those unique retro-house alchemy moments. Deep hip-hop, electro and funky influences into the unstoppable timeless flavor of these magical bangers.

There has been some waiting for new music by Giuseppe Leonardi since his highly-praised releases for Second Circle and, well… now the waiting is over, here it is: Seven amazing tracks form the aptly titled mini-album 7, out now on (still quite) new label Unsure. 7 starts with the in every way unexpected Suzi Wong, a highly addictive (and unusual) kind of reggae- and dub-influenced mutant disco adventure with amazing vocals and unbelievably tripping grooves. Anti Narcotics Police follows this road of raw and playful coolness, but Giuseppe of course has way more to offer: Both and Rrrrrrr are uplifting House Music with a quirky touch of Pop, the compelling rhythms and basslines of Wonder Girls and Wondering remind a little of Stefan Schwanders new thing While My Sequencer Gently Bleeps and the funkiness and sweetness of Deadline and its magical melodies brighten the gloomiest day. A unique pleasure!

Grandeza, the debut album by Sao Paulo’s Sessa, points to new, subtle directions for modern Brazilian music – a deep, minimalist, almost insinuated use of the rich textures that define the songwriting history of Brazil, one which Sessa now joins among its most promising new voices. His songs are sung in Portuguese, with visceral, sensual lyrics in the vein of Caetano Veloso, and the melodic flourishes of Tom Jobim and Arthur Verocai.

However, the music gets a deliberate minimalist treatment rarely found in contemporary Brazilian music, more reminiscent of the bareness of Leonard Cohen, with touches of tropicalia, psychedelia, and the mystic jazz of Moondog and Pharoah Sanders. Recorded in various locations between São Paulo and New York City.

Harry Potter And The Cursed Child is a play based on the latest magical Harry Potter story, written by Jack Thorne from an original story written by J.K. Rowling, Thorne and John Tiffany. It’s the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official to be presented on stage. The critically acclaimed production is the most awarded new play in theatre history with a record-breaking eleven nominations and won another record-breaking nine awards, including Best New Play at the 2017 Laurence Olivier Awards. The music is written, composed, performed, and recorded by Grammy and Ivor Novello Award-winner Imogen Heap. It is presented as four contemporary musical suites, each showcasing one of the play’s theatrical acts. This unique new album format from Imogen Heap chronologically features the music heard in the stage production, further reworked to transport listeners on a sonic journey through the world of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Harry Potter And The Cursed Child is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on translucent yellow coloured vinyl. This 2LP is housed in a gatefold sleeve and includes an 8-page booklet.

“The place where I’m taking my inspiration from is a place of pure harmony and light. I’m just like everyone else – I’m very anxious, I have my issues and demons, but there is a place inside me which is much more in peace and harmony, so I took inspiration from this part of myself, rather than the dark part.”

As the world we live in grows darker and more bewildering with every passing day, the transformative power of music has never been more vital. Formed in the small French town of Bagnols-sur-Cèze at the dawn of the century, underground icons Alcest have always been clear about their desire to transport listeners to somewhere different, somewhere better. Led by founder and multi-instrumentalist Neige, the French artists have been one of the most consistently radical voices in all of heavy music, with a sound that eschews metal’s often myopic devotion to casting shadows, in favour of a sublime blend of darkness and blinding bright light.

The release of Alcest’s debut album Souvenirs d’un Autre Monde in 2007 blazed a unique trail through the underground metal world, eliciting high praise and feverish condemnation in equal amounts. Ostensibly a black metal project, Neige’s crew gifted an entirely new perspective to the black metal scene: wherein beauty, fragility, melody and positive vibrations co-exist with the fast, furious aesthetic of true extreme metal. Almost instantaneously influential, Alcest were able to steadily establish themselves as a unique force, both with a series of acclaimed albums and a sturdy reputation as a transcendent live act.

From the enlightened primitivism of 2010’s Écailles de Lune, and the definitive, holistic squall of Les Voyages De L’Âme (2012), to the magical, post-rock splendour of Shelter (2014) and the dark, dynamic Kodama (2016), Neige’s vision has been presented in the most vibrant and revelatory colours. Meanwhile, the legions of like-minded “blackgaze” bands that have followed in Alcest’s wake speak volumes about the Frenchmen’s profound and enduring influence.

Released in October 2019, Alcest’s sixth studio album marked another grand milestone in their story. Their first record for Nuclear Blast Records, Spiritual Instinct deftly sustained the conceptual and musical preoccupations of past achievements, while taking Neige and long-time drummer Winterhalter into new sonic realms, both grittier and more nuanced than ever before. Inevitably, plans to tour their new music were eventually scuppered by the global pandemic that broke out early in 2020. But Alcest’s creative journey continued regardless, and the results can be heard on the band’s latest album, Les Chants de L’Aurore.


Having redirected his artistic energies, Neige began work on the follow-up to Spiritual Instinct, newly inspired by the experiential essence that first led him to his band’s ground-breaking musical life. As with Souvenirs d’un Autre Mode, Les Chants de L’Aurore draws inspiration from the spiritual childhood experiences that have shaped Neige, both as a musician and a human being. A liberated nosedive into the very notion of consciousness and the layered mists of reality, the seventh Alcest album amounts to a euphoric homecoming.

“The place where I’m taking my inspiration from is a place of pure harmony and light. I’m just like everyone else – I’m very anxious, I have my issues and demons, but there is a place inside me which is much more in peace and harmony, so I took inspiration from this part of myself, rather than the dark part.”

As the world we live in grows darker and more bewildering with every passing day, the transformative power of music has never been more vital. Formed in the small French town of Bagnols-sur-Cèze at the dawn of the century, underground icons Alcest have always been clear about their desire to transport listeners to somewhere different, somewhere better. Led by founder and multi-instrumentalist Neige, the French artists have been one of the most consistently radical voices in all of heavy music, with a sound that eschews metal’s often myopic devotion to casting shadows, in favour of a sublime blend of darkness and blinding bright light.

The release of Alcest’s debut album Souvenirs d’un Autre Monde in 2007 blazed a unique trail through the underground metal world, eliciting high praise and feverish condemnation in equal amounts. Ostensibly a black metal project, Neige’s crew gifted an entirely new perspective to the black metal scene: wherein beauty, fragility, melody and positive vibrations co-exist with the fast, furious aesthetic of true extreme metal. Almost instantaneously influential, Alcest were able to steadily establish themselves as a unique force, both with a series of acclaimed albums and a sturdy reputation as a transcendent live act.

From the enlightened primitivism of 2010’s Écailles de Lune, and the definitive, holistic squall of Les Voyages De L’Âme (2012), to the magical, post-rock splendour of Shelter (2014) and the dark, dynamic Kodama (2016), Neige’s vision has been presented in the most vibrant and revelatory colours. Meanwhile, the legions of like-minded “blackgaze” bands that have followed in Alcest’s wake speak volumes about the Frenchmen’s profound and enduring influence.

Released in October 2019, Alcest’s sixth studio album marked another grand milestone in their story. Their first record for Nuclear Blast Records, Spiritual Instinct deftly sustained the conceptual and musical preoccupations of past achievements, while taking Neige and long-time drummer Winterhalter into new sonic realms, both grittier and more nuanced than ever before. Inevitably, plans to tour their new music were eventually scuppered by the global pandemic that broke out early in 2020. But Alcest’s creative journey continued regardless, and the results can be heard on the band’s latest album, Les Chants de L’Aurore.


Having redirected his artistic energies, Neige began work on the follow-up to Spiritual Instinct, newly inspired by the experiential essence that first led him to his band’s ground-breaking musical life. As with Souvenirs d’un Autre Mode, Les Chants de L’Aurore draws inspiration from the spiritual childhood experiences that have shaped Neige, both as a musician and a human being. A liberated nosedive into the very notion of consciousness and the layered mists of reality, the seventh Alcest album amounts to a euphoric homecoming.

"The Red Room Crystal-Ruby Splatter Vinyl". Netherworld marks a considerable step onwards from the territory that Louise Patricia Crane explored on her debut long player Deep Blue, crafting audial landscapes that go further into both inner and outer space; hallucinatory and surrealistic yet also grittier and more direct. For all that this stemmed in part from early Genesis and The Beatles, Netherworld also sits in alignment with the luxurious but oddly intimate realm of modern classics, by the likes of Tears For Fears, Tori Amos and Joni Mitchell, with passionate intensity set in a bold, cinematic vista. In realising these romantic and expansive visions, Crane not only wrote or co-wrote the entire album, but arranged, co-produced and played a wide variety of instruments on it. Yet as a supporting cast, she has surrounded herself with a formidable selection of mercurial contributors. Once again, Jakko M. Jakszyk (King Crimson) brings his fiery and mellifluous solo guitar work, as well as contributing backing vocals, keyboards and co-production. Elsewhere, the flute soliloquies of Tiny Bard are the work of Jethro Tull's Ian Andersonwhile saxophone duties are handled by Mel Collins, whose work with King Crimson marks only one chapter in an incredibly storied life in music. Providing violin and viola across the stylistic expanse of the album, Shir-Ran Yinon (New Model Army / Eluveitie) returns as a collaborator. The rhythm section for the lion's share of the record consists of the dream team of Tony Levin (King Crimson / Peter Gabriel) and Gary Husband (John McLaughlin / Billy Cobham / Allan Holdsworth) with Nick Beggs stepping in on bass for Dance With The Devil and upright bass on Long Kiss Goodnight. Crucially however, even amidst this kind of company, Louise's voice and vision is never remotely overshadowed-with the talents on offer only serving to make the backdrop to her songs still more vivid, sharp and intense. In as much as Netherworld is a work that exists on a lineage of progressive music and the visionary artists who've expanded their boundaries of exploration to form sound-worlds as big as their imagination, it's also a work of magical realism in the tradition of Pan's Labyrinth, The Company Of Wolves or the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Haruki Murakami-in which the supernatural and otherworldly, lead to a shortcut to the essence of being human. In this World, Louise Patricia Crane is our Storyteller.

Above & Beyond release yoga and mindfulness-inspired ambient LP: “Flow State” Above & Beyond today announced ‘Flow State’, a49-minute panoramic journey of ambient compositions and warm, neo-classicalsoundscapes that offer moments of meditative calm in these busy and often overwhelming times. A break from the anthemic dance sound that swept Above &Beyond’s ‘Common Ground’ LP to #3 in the Billboard Album Charts in 2018, ‘Flow State’ is the culmination of a journey which began at Burning Man in 2014. A chance encounter on the Playa led to a spontaneous sunset yoga set on the infamous Robot Heart stage, guided by renowned yogi Elena Brower. A magical and spiritual experience for those present, it inspired Above & Beyond to begin opening their biggest global gigs with yoga sets, creating transformative experiences for 25,000 strong crowds at The Gorge Amphitheatre in Washington and Huntington Beach, California. The original Burning Man yoga set has subsequently gone on to amass over 2 million streams on Soundcloud. As the band began writing more original music for these yoga sessions, the seed for “Flow State” was sown. “Our music has always been about getting in touch with, and understanding and accepting our emotions. After those amazing yoga sets, we realised thatthere is a bigger place for this more reflective music within our little universe,” explains Above &Beyond’sPaavoSiljamaki. “With the Flow State project, we want to help bring people's attention and focus towards helping themselves find better mental fitness and overall happiness in life,” adds Siljamaki. “Through raised awareness, being more present, one can reach a state of flow: a creative and free state of mind where time, fear and stress dissipate.” To long-time fans of Above & Beyond, this new album will come as no surprise; quieter moments have always been essential components of their chart-topping electronic albums.