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Kadi Yombo, published in 1989, is the most successful album in the quest for a fusion between tradition and modernity in Bwiti harp music of the Tsogho people of Gabon. Combining beating rattles with a layer of synthesizers, Papé Nziengui blends in a contrapuntal dialogue characteristic of harp playing: male song in appeal and female choir in response, male voice of the musical arc and rhythms of female worship. But above all it’s Tsogho ritual music and modern studio orchestration. The result is an initiatory itinerary of 10 musical pieces which are all milestones likely to be simultaneously listened to, danced, meditated on, and soon acclaimed. In the years since, Nziengui has traveled he world from Lagos to Paris, from Tokyo to Cordoba, from Brussels to Mexico City to become a true icon, the emblem of Gabonese music.

Like Bob Dylan, "electrifying" folk and Bob Marley mixing rock with reggae, some purists have criticized Nziengui for having distorted the music of harp by imposing a cross with modern instruments. They even went so far as to claim that Nziengui was just an average harpist covering his shortcomings with stunts that were only good for impressing neophytes; like playing a harp placed upside down behind his back or playing two or three harps simultaneously. Sincere convictions or venomous defamations, in any case, Nziengui never gave in to such attacks, imposing himself on the contrary to pay homage to the elders (Yves Mouenga, Jean Honoré Miabé, Vickoss Ekondo) while instructing the maximum of young people. He is thus the promoter of many young talents, the most prominent of which is certainly his nephew Jean Pierre Mingongué. In a conservative society where the sacred is confused with secrecy, exposing the mysteries of Bwiti in broad daylight can be punished by exclusion or even execution.

Papé Nziengui has always claimed that he faces such risks because he never felt enslaved to a community that governs his life, that regulates his conduct, that has a right of censorship over his activities. Like Ravi Shankar, the famous sitarist, Papé Nziengui is a man of rupture but also of openness, a transmitter of culture. As proof, he has established himself in Libreville, Gabo’s capital, as the main harpist for sessions and concerts, accompanying the greatest national artists (Akendengué, Rompavè, Annie-Flore Batchiellilys, Les Champs sur la Lowé, etc.) as well as foreign artists (Papa Wemba, Manu Dibango, Kassav', Toups Bebey, etc.). In 1988, he was the first harpist to release an album in the form of a cassette produced by the French Cultural Center (Papé Nziengui, Chants et Musiques Tsogho). At the same time, he created his own group (Bovenga), combining traditional music instruments (musical bow, drums, various percussion instruments, etc.) in the framework of a true national orchestra, which gave the first concert and the first tours of a traditional music that was both modern and dynamic, thus "democratizing" the harp, to the dismay of certain purists.

On the other hand, in modern music, dominated by the logic of profit or even commercialism, artistic creation must often be adjusted for a specific audience based on reason rather than heart. But instead of allowing himself to be distorted, Papé Nziengui has always tried to produce music that is not a caricature, worthy in its expression as in its content, of the sacredness and transcendence of the music of the Origins. This is what makes Nziengui not only the musician, but the man someone whose age hasn’t altered any of his freshness or authenticity

Kadi Yombo, published in 1989, is the most successful album in the quest for a fusion between tradition and modernity in Bwiti harp music of the Tsogho people of Gabon. Combining beating rattles with a layer of synthesizers, Papé Nziengui blends in a contrapuntal dialogue characteristic of harp playing: male song in appeal and female choir in response, male voice of the musical arc and rhythms of female worship. But above all it’s Tsogho ritual music and modern studio orchestration. The result is an initiatory itinerary of 10 musical pieces which are all milestones likely to be simultaneously listened to, danced, meditated on, and soon acclaimed. In the years since, Nziengui has traveled he world from Lagos to Paris, from Tokyo to Cordoba, from Brussels to Mexico City to become a true icon, the emblem of Gabonese music.

Like Bob Dylan, "electrifying" folk and Bob Marley mixing rock with reggae, some purists have criticized Nziengui for having distorted the music of harp by imposing a cross with modern instruments. They even went so far as to claim that Nziengui was just an average harpist covering his shortcomings with stunts that were only good for impressing neophytes; like playing a harp placed upside down behind his back or playing two or three harps simultaneously. Sincere convictions or venomous defamations, in any case, Nziengui never gave in to such attacks, imposing himself on the contrary to pay homage to the elders (Yves Mouenga, Jean Honoré Miabé, Vickoss Ekondo) while instructing the maximum of young people. He is thus the promoter of many young talents, the most prominent of which is certainly his nephew Jean Pierre Mingongué. In a conservative society where the sacred is confused with secrecy, exposing the mysteries of Bwiti in broad daylight can be punished by exclusion or even execution.

Papé Nziengui has always claimed that he faces such risks because he never felt enslaved to a community that governs his life, that regulates his conduct, that has a right of censorship over his activities. Like Ravi Shankar, the famous sitarist, Papé Nziengui is a man of rupture but also of openness, a transmitter of culture. As proof, he has established himself in Libreville, Gabo’s capital, as the main harpist for sessions and concerts, accompanying the greatest national artists (Akendengué, Rompavè, Annie-Flore Batchiellilys, Les Champs sur la Lowé, etc.) as well as foreign artists (Papa Wemba, Manu Dibango, Kassav', Toups Bebey, etc.). In 1988, he was the first harpist to release an album in the form of a cassette produced by the French Cultural Center (Papé Nziengui, Chants et Musiques Tsogho). At the same time, he created his own group (Bovenga), combining traditional music instruments (musical bow, drums, various percussion instruments, etc.) in the framework of a true national orchestra, which gave the first concert and the first tours of a traditional music that was both modern and dynamic, thus "democratizing" the harp, to the dismay of certain purists.

On the other hand, in modern music, dominated by the logic of profit or even commercialism, artistic creation must often be adjusted for a specific audience based on reason rather than heart. But instead of allowing himself to be distorted, Papé Nziengui has always tried to produce music that is not a caricature, worthy in its expression as in its content, of the sacredness and transcendence of the music of the Origins. This is what makes Nziengui not only the musician, but the man someone whose age hasn’t altered any of his freshness or authenticity

Kadi Yombo, published in 1989, is the most successful album in the quest for a fusion between tradition and modernity in Bwiti harp music of the Tsogho people of Gabon. Combining beating rattles with a layer of synthesizers, Papé Nziengui blends in a contrapuntal dialogue characteristic of harp playing: male song in appeal and female choir in response, male voice of the musical arc and rhythms of female worship. But above all it’s Tsogho ritual music and modern studio orchestration. The result is an initiatory itinerary of 10 musical pieces which are all milestones likely to be simultaneously listened to, danced, meditated on, and soon acclaimed. In the years since, Nziengui has traveled he world from Lagos to Paris, from Tokyo to Cordoba, from Brussels to Mexico City to become a true icon, the emblem of Gabonese music.

Like Bob Dylan, "electrifying" folk and Bob Marley mixing rock with reggae, some purists have criticized Nziengui for having distorted the music of harp by imposing a cross with modern instruments. They even went so far as to claim that Nziengui was just an average harpist covering his shortcomings with stunts that were only good for impressing neophytes; like playing a harp placed upside down behind his back or playing two or three harps simultaneously. Sincere convictions or venomous defamations, in any case, Nziengui never gave in to such attacks, imposing himself on the contrary to pay homage to the elders (Yves Mouenga, Jean Honoré Miabé, Vickoss Ekondo) while instructing the maximum of young people. He is thus the promoter of many young talents, the most prominent of which is certainly his nephew Jean Pierre Mingongué. In a conservative society where the sacred is confused with secrecy, exposing the mysteries of Bwiti in broad daylight can be punished by exclusion or even execution.

Papé Nziengui has always claimed that he faces such risks because he never felt enslaved to a community that governs his life, that regulates his conduct, that has a right of censorship over his activities. Like Ravi Shankar, the famous sitarist, Papé Nziengui is a man of rupture but also of openness, a transmitter of culture. As proof, he has established himself in Libreville, Gabo’s capital, as the main harpist for sessions and concerts, accompanying the greatest national artists (Akendengué, Rompavè, Annie-Flore Batchiellilys, Les Champs sur la Lowé, etc.) as well as foreign artists (Papa Wemba, Manu Dibango, Kassav', Toups Bebey, etc.). In 1988, he was the first harpist to release an album in the form of a cassette produced by the French Cultural Center (Papé Nziengui, Chants et Musiques Tsogho). At the same time, he created his own group (Bovenga), combining traditional music instruments (musical bow, drums, various percussion instruments, etc.) in the framework of a true national orchestra, which gave the first concert and the first tours of a traditional music that was both modern and dynamic, thus "democratizing" the harp, to the dismay of certain purists.

On the other hand, in modern music, dominated by the logic of profit or even commercialism, artistic creation must often be adjusted for a specific audience based on reason rather than heart. But instead of allowing himself to be distorted, Papé Nziengui has always tried to produce music that is not a caricature, worthy in its expression as in its content, of the sacredness and transcendence of the music of the Origins. This is what makes Nziengui not only the musician, but the man someone whose age hasn’t altered any of his freshness or authenticity

Back in 1968, a pair of Germanic behind-the-scenes sound
librarians called Horst Ackermann and Heribert Thusek left a
tiny but indelible pinprick on the history of German Pop in the
misshaped form of a sexy horror cash-in concept album called
‘Dracula’s Music Cabinet’. Shelved at a micro-cosmic axis
where Krautrock meets lesbian vampire Horrortica and easy
listening meets psychedelia, the delayed reaction of this mutant
concoction eventually exploded in the mid-1990s in the hands of
a generation of ‘record diggers’ sending currency-crushing
tremors through the wallets of mods, rockers, hip hoppers and
psych nuts around the plastic-pillaging planet. The vinyl junkies
had resurrected a monster but, like addicts do, they ravenously
sucked it dry and moved on looking for the next fix to feed their
habit.

Luckily for some, Ackermann and Thusek were also creatures
of habit. And it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out that they
were holding the next dose, but by the turn of the millennium
the mad scientists had been given a thirty-five-year head start
on the pop archaeologists and their mythical sequel was literally
light-years ahead of their previous draconian instalment.
Encouragingly, the unclosed cabinet left a shiny white clue in
the form of its closing track ‘Frankenstein Meets Alpha 7’.

The Ackermann and Thusek duo were far from dynamic. They
were undercover agents hiding behind user-friendly mock-rock
monikers and, like most B-Musicians, the only way to sniff them
out would be to read the small print. But when an unidentified
record on an unknown label with a title like ‘Science Fiction
Dance Party’ crops up in the Eins Deutschmark crates it’s not
exactly rocket science - although the track titles might suggest
otherwise. ‘The End Of A Robot’, ‘Monster On Saturn 1’,
‘Galactic Adventures Of The Outer Space Fleet’, ‘The Whistling
Astronauts’, ‘Death Rays Out Of The Universe’… The tell-tale
signs are all there and if that doesn’t clench the deal then what
will?

Even rarer than its horror counterpart, this ultra-rare record
regularly reaches sums in excess of €400 plus online.

Spain’s fastest-rising band, Belako are announcing a very specialedition of their 2020 album ‘Plastic Drama’. The new, deluxe double LP will be released on 8th April via BMG and includes exclusive remixes by the likes of Wolf Alice, The Vaccines, Hinds and Crystal Fighters.

Hailing from the small town of Mungia near Bilbao, Belako have been playing non-stop in Spain and beyond these past few years, building a dedicated fanbase in their native country, which has quickly been spilling out into other parts of Europe and the US.
2020’s ‘Plastic Drama’ was the band’s fourth record, but the first since signing a major international record deal, and certainly their most ambitious to date. Self-produced by the band, ‘Plastic Drama' searches for “the real meaning of things in a world that translates everything into assembly lines, manufacturing and the exploitation of living beings,” say the band. “It’s about the harsh reality our generation is facing and the only good use of new technology, which is the ability to spread the word and call for action. The title of the album has another message, as it also reminds us the first world issues we’ve come so keen to complain about. We can only hope for a more responsible human legacy”.

They were named best new band by Rolling Stone Magazine (ES) and ‘Plastic Drama’ picked up top UK support from the likes of 6 Music, Clash, DIY, Dork, The Line Of Best and NME who hailed the record as ‘a bold next step from a band who have never been afraid of the weird or the wonderful. Belako step up and earn their place among the major players of the scene’.

Relentless in their craft and a ferocious live act at their core, Belako were the first band to tour Europe in the summer of 2020, breathing new life into old forgotten Spanish cinema drive-ins across the country for their live shows. The ‘Belako Pandemic Tour’ documentary was premiered at the San Sebastian International Film Festival and will soon arrive on digital platforms.

Having supported the likes of DMA’s, QOTSA and Liam Gallagher at Finsbury Park, and played major international festivals such as Primavera, SXSW, Rock En Seine & Benicassim, Belako’s explosive live performances have excited crowds from small dive bars in their early days to huge international festivals. Their anything-can-happen stage attitude showcases the power, electricity and punk ethos of this exciting young band, which also lead to them being the first ever Spanish act to be booked for the main stage at Reading & Leeds Festival.

Fast forward to 2022, Belako reinvigorate ‘Plastic Drama’ with a 50-date world tour to be announced shortly, kickstarted with the release of their new deluxe edition album in April, featuring remixes by some of alternative music’s biggest names. The band will also celebrate the release with an album launch party on the rooftop of Madrid’s prestigious Riu Plaza on April 6th. Details for all UK dates this summer will be revealed in the coming weeks.

2023 Repress

"banging piece of sound art" - The Observer

"...a fascinating piece of Brutalist techno that pivots between crisp machine-like minimalism and granulated noise." - Clash

"A piece of immediately engaging techno it reveals more of itself with each listen." - CMU Daily

Nik Colk Void is well established with her work as one half of Factory Floor, one third of Carter Tutti Void (alongside Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti) and with the late Peter Rehberg as NPVR, but perhaps surprisingly, "Bucked up Space" is her first solo album release.

Void explains, "When Peter Rehberg initially asked me to produce a record for Editions Mego, I didn't feel quite ready and asked if we could make a record together instead. Collaboration is so ingrained into what I do, I only felt ready to make this album after working through ideas live, using the audience in place of the collaborator."

Bucked Up Space combines Void's love of improvisation with the driving force of beat-driven music absorbed from performing in galleries, residencies and clubs across the UK and Europe. She goes on to say, "You find out more about yourself when you explain your ideas to others, and that's how I felt the live performance worked for me."

The process steadily teased out a language and Void employed a variety of tactics in the recording process including a methodical approach of collecting data at her home studio in a manner not dissimilar to keeping a diary. Her microscopic focus on raw instrumental noise, layered and reformulated, resulted in a sound catalogue that Void divided into groups for their tone, density and texture.

These initial pieces were taken to a studio in Margate to put them into a more cohesive compositional context. Something that pragmatically started as cold and detached was given warmth, unity and emotion in the studio. Via improvised repetition co-existing alongside organised production, Void conjures new sonic muscle with tracks such as 'Interruption Is Good' and 'FlatTime'. Initial recordings are rendered into sequences initiating the organic rhythms, triggering awkward jerks of high hats and percussion, or used to activate the margins of post effects detectable in the tracks like 'Demna', 'Big Breather' and 'Oversized'.

Void explains: "It was important to me that the simplicity in the work disguised a lot of complexity, I want this work to be absorbed instinctively."

The sleeve image, a still from We Are City by Brazilian artist Maria de Lima, was chosen to illustrate Bucked Up Space, which Void describes as "a distorted reality, the space that lives at start of an idea, then floats in public view, before returning to inform my understanding of the idea. Once the idea is out in the world, it moves and morphs into something else entirely."

Written, performed and produced by Nik Colk Void, the album was engineered by James Greenwood, mastered by Rashad Becker and tracks 1, 4, 5, 7 and 9 were mixed by Marta Salogni.

Bucked up Space is the result of the ideas and resulting sounds of free exploration morphing into a personal structured album that fearlessly moulds patience, listening and restraint. It's a sharp focussed work embracing collective action through the lens of the self. All this, and also one of the best abstract dance records you will hear in some time!

Three decades on, Nick Lowe has evolved from British pub-rock pioneer
(with Brinsley Schwarz) to new wave godfather (producing Elvis Costello,
among others) to postrock crooner.
It’s a surprising but convincing transformation, begun with the country-inflected minimalism of 1994’s superb The Impossible Bird and pared to an even
leaner chamber pop on this subdued charmer. Bird found Lowe damping his
jokester’s instincts to dig deeply and soberly into romantic despair and a gnawing, midlife confrontation of self.
While the tracks on Dig My Mood suggest that some of the wounds have
healed, there’s still an elegiac air to songs like “Faithless Lover,” “What Lack of
Love Has Done,” and “Failed Christian” that qualifies these as songs of experience. Lowe’s baritone has deepened and acquired a deft finesse with redeeming glimmers of wit and no loss of intelligence.
The 2021 reissue of Dig My Mood is remastered from the original tapes.

Historically informed violin player, prize-winning street musician, new age experimentalist, chamber ensemble performer and conservatoire deviant. The career of Valentina Goncharova (b. Kyiv 1953) shares parallels with those associated with the broader new music movement of the 20th century and the dissemination of home recording technologies.

Valentina’s was a youth spent immersed in the world of classical music study under soviet rule, first in Kyiv- later in Leningrad & now St. Petersburg, from the age of 16. With the supervision of professors M. Vayman and B. Gutnikov she learned concert violin and developed alternate playing styles alongside skilled pianists. A student of the Leningrad conservatoire during the years 1969 - 1983, her repertoire included music for violin and later expanded to contemporary music composition.

The improvisatory nature of free jazz and then-budding experimental rock circles also intrigued Valentina during this period in Leningrad. Departing from the rules of the conservatoire, she briefly performed in underground rock clubs alongside future members of the industrial group Pop- Mechanika (Popular Mechanics). This perpetual state of flux is central to the variety found within ‘Recordings Vol. 1’, though as opposed to any degree of uncertainty Valentina’s practice is one
in flux by way of earnest curiosity.

Pushing further into an exploration of solo electro-acoustic sounds, she took to home taping on a modified Olimp reel to reel recorder. Intrigued by the manipulability of dubbing and the fresh sounds of DIY effects chains, Goncharova developed pickups alongside her husband Igor Zubkov. Her infatuation with the music of Stockhausen, Xenakis, Ganelin Trio and Pierre Boulez channels through considerations of space and erratic sound design, the 3 movements of ‘Metamorphoses’ embodying this textural approach to musique concrete.

The compositional skills developed in Leningrad unfold in the romantic gestures of ‘Higher Frequencies’, whilst manipulated cello combines with synthesise keys across ‘Passageway To Eternity’.
The slow, pulsating drone soundscapes recall the likes of Robert Rutman’s US Steel Cello Ensemble or even deep listening pioneer Pauline Oliveros.

The juxtaposition of written notation and improvisatory flare is central to Goncharova’s sound world. This period of home recording documents a confluence of minimalism, free form and flirtations
with new age tropes (inc. bell chimes and cavernous vocal mantras).

Experimenting with unusual performance techniques, such as shouting into amplified cello strings, Valentina’s home studio functioned as a place to foster full artistic and creative freedom
away from any academic strictures.

Relocating to Estonia in 1984, and in parallel to the deeply personal music of ‘Recordings Vol. 1’, Valentina performed at jazz festivals and gave classical concerts across Eastern Europe. In a sense, the recordings on these discs offer only a glimpse into her lifelong body of work. Over the past few decades she has taught at Tallinn Music College, expanded and updated post- Soviet popular music repertoire, collaborated with the Russian Philharmonic Society of Estonia and given concerts and charity events alongside the Catholic Church.

Hers is a life dedicated to the exploration of sound, a career forged through careful study and ceaseless intrigue. In a time where technological interconnectedness has allowed for music of the pas
to be continually mined and evaluated through new lenses, Shukai present an artist whose tendency for private home-taping had allowed recordings to go unheard for thirty years.

With vivid flows that radiate effortless complexity, Detroit rapper Elzhi is among the most masterful lyricists on the planet. The gifted emcee rose to fame as the youngest member of legendary group Slum Village, but has since graduated from prodigy to sensei, with a thriving solo career bolstered by several acclaimed projects, plus memorable collaborations with artists like Westside Gunn, Royce Da 5’9”, Ghostface Killah, Conway, Danny Brown, Little Brother, and many more.

Georgia Anne Muldrow is a supremely talented musician, producer, and vocalist whose eclectic work blends elements of jazz, hip-hop, funk, soul, rock, and beyond. The prolific artist has released more than 20 albums, earned a Grammy nomination without a major label, and worked with the likes of Erykah Badu, Mos Def, Madlib, Bilal, Kool G Rap, Robert Glasper, and more.

Now, Elzhi and Georgia Anne Muldrow are joining forces for the collaborative album "Zhigeist". A carefully crafted mix of psychedelic instrumentation and whirlwind lyricism, the project is entirely produced by Georgia, who also contributes vocals on several tracks. An inspired fusion of styles and textures, Zhigeist is an aesthetic triumph infused with an undeniable message.

Prima Materia was a vocal improvisation ensemble, founded by Roberto Laneri in 1973. Composed entirely of vocalists with no academic training, the group developed various techniques – revolving mostly around the use of overtones – that would embody their unique sound. No instruments nor electronic manipulations were ever employed within the group's physiognomy, which was realized purely through the human voice.

La Coda Della Tigre, the group's sole album, was recorded in 1977 by Alvin Curran and released on Ananda, an artist-run label founded by Laneri, Curran and Giacinto Scelsi.

As the original liner notes state, "The music of Prima Materia may sound radically new, yet at the same time it is likely to ring some distant bell and evoke ancient emotions. This is not due to chance: indeed, the very name of the group points to a specific path, namely, the unfolding of the potential implicit in the alchemical symbol as embodying a process of transmutation of consciousness."

Prima Materia's four members (Laneri, Claudio Ricciardi, Gianni Nebbiosi and Susanne Hendricks) combine voices to create a singular, beautiful drone that is (as the group's name suggests) both impossible to define and fundamentally simple.

This first-time standalone reissue is recommended for fans of La Monte Young, Terry Riley and Disques Ocora.

ENVY OF NONE IS THE NEW BAND & DEBUT ALBUM FROM ALEX
LIFESON (RUSH), ANDY CURRAN (CONEY HATCH), ALFIO ANNIBALINI &
SINGER MAIAH WYNNE
The ambient, cinematic darkness that the collective creates evokes a
powerful atmosphere that will excite superfans & new audiences alike
Lifeson & Curran's long-time friendship was the catalyst for the band's inception -
but Envy Of None is not defined by its members resumes - they aren't Rush or
Coney Hatch & far more than the sum of its collective parts.
Above the beautiful cacophony of guitars, synths, bass & drums sits the fragile
melodies of 24- year old vocalist Maiah Wynne - the newest name in Envy Of
None's impressive personnel. Hearing Mariah's voice intertwined with the music
will bring back memories of when you heard Shirley Manson of Garbage or Amy
Lee of Evanescence for the first time. Wynne brings charm & beauty to these
recordings in spades - with floating hooks & emotive lyrics transcending the
oftentimes textural aesthetic.
The Storm Thorgerson- esque visuals that grace the cover may remind fans of
Lifeson's earlier work - Andy Curran explains: "the Hypnosis style artwork of
albums like Pink Floyd & Led Zeppelin & others were so eye catching, surreal &
attention grabbing & we wanted to scratch that itch. We were instantly drawn to
Lebanese photographer Eli Rezkallah at Plastik's photography & design work. We
fell in love with a bunch of his work - we had a hard time choosing something
because he had so many great images". However, the 70s prog/ Rush
comparisons may end with the artwork - the music that this ensemble creates
treads new ground with each track throughout their 42- minute debut, from
industrial/electronic influences to post-progressive soundscapes. Envy Of None
create a sound that will haunt, comfort & ignite.
"If you can picture maybe Massive Attack with a little bit of some electronic stuff
with Nine Inch Nails influences, with this beautiful, fragile, sweet voice & some
very, very dark heavy sounds" - Andy Curran (Envy Of None)

The next release on Cultivated Electronics Ltd shines a light on some of the fresh talent emerging from within the Electro scene across this double-vinyl 12" which will be pressed on balck and colour vinyl editions. IMOGEN has enjoyed a whirlwind rise, and her reputation as one of the most talented newcomers is well recognised. Her discography includes releases on Earwiggle, Shared Meanings and fabric where she is also a resident DJ, and presents a monthly radio show on NTS. She opens the compilation with the tough beats and twisted melodies of 'Anatta'. ARMEC (Robbie Mecrow) is an Electro and Acid producer from Manchester who has already impressed with releases on Nebulae, Echocentric, Further Electronix and most notably 20/20 Vision. His beat-led track 'Acute' delivers a serious punch with plenty of sub-bass. Russia's SERGEY TIMOSHOV is the promoter and resident DJ at Warehouse, held weekly at the Propaganda club in Moscow. Here he utilises that experience in fine style for his club-ready 'Electro Beats 1'. UK artists OBSERV and CYPHON collaborated on their debut EP for Gunfinger Food last year, but here they deliver 1 track apiece. Obzerv brings pure destruction on his tumultuous track 'Octro'. While Cyphon, known for his live hardware sets, supporting artists like Assembler Code, Radioactive Man and Afrodeutsche, plus releases on International Chrome and Blind Allies brings dark phunk to 'Nightmare'. KHALILIAN is probably best known as one half of US duo Joonam (with Elon Admony) who have been self-releasing on their Balagan label for the last few years. 'Valda' pitches things down with Detroit-esque chords and a deep, subterranean atmosphere. TOM FAZAK is a 21 year old DJ/Producer from Cardiff now based in Bristol. Better known as a DJ, he's spent the past 9 year collecting records and garnering inspiration from all aspects of dance music. For the last 3 years he's focused on production and draws on cosmic influences for his contribution, 'Weightless'. LINDSAY GREEN is one half of Co-Accused, long-standing residents of Glasgow's prolific underground club scene via their club nights in Paisley's Club 69 and the launch of their Co-Accused Records label in 2021. Going solo for the closing track, 'Creepin' bridges to gaps between Electro, Techno and Acid.

Gondwana Records sign LA bassist and composer Seth Ford-Young's Phi-Psonics project and announce a remastered deluxe-edition of The Cradle featuring bonus material

Phi-Psonics is a meditative, immersive instrumental group from Los Angeles, led by bassist Seth Ford-Young and featuring Sylvain Carton on woodwinds, Mitchell Yoshida on electric piano, and Josh Collazo on drums. Their deeply soulfulmusic draws on jazz and classical influences together with Ford-Young's own musical experiences, relationships, and his introduction to spirituality, yoga and philosophy at a young age, to create something uniquely its own. Phi-Psonics' name and ultimate aim is to find 'Phi' – the golden mean – in art, nature and self. Ford-Young explains:

"It's a bit of a cliché, but music saved my life many times and instilled in me a belief in the great power of healing through art. It is my hope and intention that this music provides healing to someone somewhere."

Originally from Washington DC area, Ford-Young moved to California in the early 90s and fell in love with the deep sounds of the upright bass and the music of Charles Mingus, John and Alice Coltrane, and Duke Ellington along with Bach, Chopin, Pärt, and Satie. He immersed himself deeply in music and keen to learn combinedintense personal study with collaborations, tours, and recordings with artists such as Tom Waits, Beats Antique, and John Vanderslice. In 2010 he moved from the San-Francisco Bay area to the Los Angeles hills and continued his explorations. But great music is rarely just about music and Ford-Young's meditative, soulful music draws on more than just the twin wellsprings of jazz and classical music:

"My mother was a yoga teacher from the early 70's until recently and taught me yoga and meditation at an early age, my stepfather is an Aikido instructor and student of the teachings of Gurdjieff. Those were all early areas of study that I came back to many times throughout my life. Phi-Psonics has been a project that unapologetically synthesizes some of these ideas into our music".

It's this mixture of influences, musical and extramusical, that gives the music of Phi-Psonics it's immersive quality and quiet power. Revealingly the music that would becomeThe Cradle, wasn't written specifically for an album, originally Ford-Young was just writing down what was coming through. As time went by and the album began to take shape, the world situation seemed to be getting darker and his compositions aim to offer hope as a response to the negative influences that abound today. Remarkably for such a beautiful sounding record, it was recorded at the composer's home, rather than in a studio, but the relaxed nature of this process gives the music an airy lightness that propels the music to some magical spaces.

Originally self-released on vinyl in a limited run just as the world went into lockdown, The Cradle reached Matthew Halsall (founder of Gondwana Records) when he aws looking for music for his Worldwide FM show and he was blown away, hearing a kindred spirit at work. Halsall explains:

"Phi-Psonics make beautiful, humble and honest music, it's not showy, but it has a deep vibe that will elevate your mind and soul if you let it. When we heard The Cradle we reached out and are really super delighted to welcome Seth and his band to our label". Whereas for Ford Young: "Connecting with Matthew and the Gondwana records family has been a light in the darkness of the last years - to have my music make connections even as we are more isolated."

Ford-Young is currently putting the finishing touches to the second Phi-Psonics record, but aware that only a select few had heard The Cradle, let alone had the chance to buy a copy, and entranced by its deceptive simplicity and elevating energy, Halsall suggested that Gondwana present the album as a remastered 'deluxe edition' with an extended running time featuring extra tracks and new artwork from Daniel Halsall.

The Cradle starts with First Step, perfectly setting the tone for the whole album, it is a beautiful, soulful slice of musical calm gently propelled by Ford-Young's resonant bass and elevated by sublime flute and Wurlitzer electric piano solos. The seductive title track The Cradle was written way back in 2011 during a time of great personal change that led the composer to a feeling of newness and nurture. The magical, winsome Desert Ride is inspired by many rides through the grandly cinematic Mojave Desert. You can experience how incredibly full of life it's harsh landscape is if you slow down to its tempo. The gentle, sublime Mama is a tribute to mothers of all kinds, beautiful and heroic. Drum Talk was largely improvised, Ford-Young and the band agreed on a topic and recorded their conversation. Choosing their notes based on how Josh's drums were tuned. Like Glass is named for the special properties of Glass. Like some music, glass is delicate, yet has structure. The first of the two bonus tracks Still Dancing was written during the early days of 2020 in response to the challenges we all were facing then. It's a reminder that the figurative dance continues and that real dancing is essential. And the second, The Searcher, also written as a response to 2020, is a gently hypnotic song about the introspection and growth that can spring from a difficult situation.

This then is The Cradle, a quiet self-contained masterpiece, life-affirming and elevating in equal measure and the first offering from a wonderful new voice in spiritual jazz and the latest members of the global Gondwana Records family.

Joe Tatton, keyboard player with UK/US funk/soul jazz kings The New Mastersounds, releases this new 7 inch single in March 2022 and this time there is a lovely double A-side 7" physical vinyl option. Two tracks that showcase Joe's skills as a pianist and vocalist and confirm his talent for writing quality original compositions.

"Timeline" is Joe's spotlight on today's social media obsessed society delivered in the style of his musical hero Mose Allison. The latter was the legendary Mississippi born/New York based jazz/blues musician and singer whose wry and intelligent lyrics married to amazing original music shone a light on society and the world from the mid-1950s until his death in 2015. Mose was a huge influence on musicians like Georgie Fame, Van Morrison and Ben Sidran and was and still is one of Joe Tatton's favourite musicians of all time. This song is the title track for Joe's debut solo album due for release later this year on Rodina Music.

"Stomp" is a slow bluesy instrumental funk burner that has a New Orleans swagger about it and features Joe's grand piano solo followed by JTQ band member Gareth Lockrane cutting loose on the flute. If you like music by Allen Toussaint, Ramsay Lewis and Herbie Mann, you'll be feeling this one.

Joe Tatton has been a member of The New Mastersounds now for 16 years now and has recorded over a dozen albums and many singles with them playing organ, piano and keyboard. Annually, he tours 8-9 months a year with the band, mainly in the USA but also across Europe and Japan too. Prior to joining The New Mastersounds, Joe held down the keyboard role with UK jazz-funk kings The Haggis Horns appearing on their first two albums "Hot Damn!" and "Keep On Movin". He's also featured on piano/keyboards on the worldwide hit single "Put Your Records On" by Corinne Bailey Rae.

Over the years he has played live sets with Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley as well as Art Neville, George Porter Jr and Zigaboo Modeliste of The Meters. He's always maintained his own trio under his own name as a side project, releasing singles and EPs via ATA Records (UK) and Color Red Music (USA).
A few years ago, he needed to find the time and place to record them. So in 2020, between New Mastersounds gigs, he managed to book a few days at a studio near Nashville USA, "The Rockhouse", run by Grammy winning engineer Kevin Mckendree. He hooked up with a couple of Nashville session musicians, Steve Mackie (double bass - longtime Dolly Parton bassist) and Kenneth Blevins (drums), and put down all his original songs and also a cover of Mose Allison's "Ever since the world ended", the first single released last year

Now comes the second double A-side single and a further taste of what's in store from Joe and the band later this year when the "Timeline" album drops later in the year. However this time, there's a lovely little black vinyl offering for all the record lovers out there. Just a small first pressing which will no doubt sell out very quickly so people need to jump on it super fast. Once they're gone, they're gone.
"Time line / Stomp" double A-Side single by the Joe Tatton Trio. Released worldwide on Rodina Music - March 31st March 31st 2022.

To a degree, all musicians are a product of their environment, the places they record and the venues they play. For proof, check out the alumni of the n-wave era CBGBs venue in New York, Cabaret Voltaire’s Western Works studio in Sheffield or more recently London’s Total Refreshment Centre.

We can now add to that list the Constellations Workshop in Colwick, Nottingham, a project that provides employment through making studio furniture, for out-of-work musicians. It was here, after-hours, that the music on Brown Fang’s impressive and ear-catching debut album took shape.

Both members of Brown Fang, bassist John Thompson and guitarist Henry Scott AKA Henry Claude, have a long association with the Constellations Workshop. Though their musical projects are manifold – Thompson having toured with the likes of The Nectarine No9 and The Selecter, with Scott being both a mainstay of Nottingham jazz circuit and recording ambient music as Fang Jr – the work provided by the community-minded project has kept their heads above water and allowed them a space to record in when the shutters go down and the bandsaws get switched off.

Yet the music showcased on Sherwood Pines is more morning-fresh and sun-kissed than industrial and sawdust-sprinkled. Combining the pair’s brilliant musicianship – think languid bass guitars and Pat Martino-esque jazz guitar licks – with saucer-eyed electronics, occasional downtempo drum machine rhythms and plenty of glistening special effects, the set’s eight tracks are as blissful and becalmed as an early morning saunter through Sherwood Forest on a misty autumn morning.

For proof, check epic opener ‘Tracing Paper’, a slow-build ambient soundscape in which bubbly electronic lead lines and colourful chords sashay around Scott’s sparkling, laidback guitars, and the beguiling ‘That’s All You Can Think’, a subtle tribute to Steve Reich masterpiece ‘Electric Counterpoint’ in which slow-burn, stretched out synthesizer sounds wave in and out of a gradually evolving cycle of delay-laden electric guitar motifs.

The band’s love of classic American minimalism – as well as a shared love of the Duratti Column and Robert Fripp – comes to the fore on ‘HDMI I Love You’, which boasts a deliciously dubby bassline, Tangerine Dream style synths and the deepest of ambient chords, while ‘I Nearly Married a Human’ and ‘Fridgewords’ balance bespoke electronics – languid, dewy eyed and comforting – with Scott’s gorgeously laidback, slow-release guitars.

Every great album needs a triumphant conclusion, and Sherwood Pines is no different. You can hear everything that makes Brown Fang great on ‘Goodbye Donkey Jacket’, from the pin sharp, effects laden jazziness of Scott’s guitars and the fluid dexterity of Thompson’s bass, to the pleasingly spacey pulse of the synths and the gentle rhythms of the soft-focus machine drums. It’s a confident, ear-catching conclusion to a debut album that’s been years in the making.

New album by pioneering German beatmaker FloFilz. On Close Distance, the lofiturned-hifi producer blends hip-hop inspired beats with contemporary jazz, alt r&b and a little rap. Featuring Alfa Mist, Blue Lab Beats, Jerome Thomas,

KeepVibesNear, Summers Sons & C.Tappin, Dal & Hunter Rose. Close Distance is his fourth album for Melting Pot Music. Since 2013, the self-taught bedroom producer and classically trained violinist has sold more than 10k LPs and gained 200 million streams.

Close Distance literally means “near in space or time” (or “nah dran”, as we say in German). The 16 songs on Close Distance came to life over the past two years. Many sketches were birthed at FloFilz's old home studio in Aachen. Some songs were made from scratch in London, where Flo did sessions with UK jazz supremos Alfa Mist and Blue Lab Beats at their studios. One was recorded in a kitchen in Streatham, where rap duo Summers Sons and pianist C.Tappin reside.
More sessions were already in planning when lockdown kicked in and travelling was no longer an option. Around the same time, Flo was about to move from Aachen to Berlin which he eventually did in November 2020. Once installed, he started sharing beats and files out of his makeshift studio in Moabit. Beat folders were sent to
London where two of our favourite new alt R&B vocalists – Jerome Thomas and KeepVibesNear – live. Another one went to Dartmoor where the jazz/hip-hop trio Dal added their magic touch while Hunter Rose processed her sultry vocals in Cape Town - 12 flying hours away from Berlin.

The album artwork has been created by Indonesian illustrator Fatchurofi, who caught FloFilz's attention through his work for everybody’s favourite band Khruangbin. Taking influences from Japanese Ukiyo-e art, Fatchurofi is adding a zen-like clarity (and tranquility) that resonates very well with the album.

It is no exaggeration to say that FloFilz has not only created another inspiring album with Close Distance but one that demonstrates how music can close the distance which we all have experienced (and still do) in a beautiful way.

Swarm Intelligence continues to push techno into unchartered territories with a bold new self-titled EP and label. The debut EP explores emergent technology and dystopian themes. Autonomous weaponry is hinted at in the title of the first two tracks before the resultant human resilience of ‘The Glory Is You,’ and finally AI’s awakening and gaining of sentience on ‘Edge of Chaos’. Opener ‘Lethality’ is an intense and arresting weapon. Slamming kicks and frosty synths create a wall of impenetrable techno sound that will strike fear into any dance floor. ‘Slaughterbot’ is just as punishing and dark. Mangled vocals are locked in a prison of caustic synths and tortured drums as a post-apocalyptic meltdown plays out all around. There is subtle drum funk to ‘The Glory Is You’ that lifts you above the drama. Lithe kicks bring a sense of energy as haunting sequences, bright stabs and fizzing synths weave their way in and out of the mix. The brain-frying ‘Edge of Chaos’ closes down with monstrous effects, laser-like synths firing across the track and seriously weighty and distorted drums powering things along. Swarm Intelligence is the sound of an unknown techno future made brilliantly real.

Meaning all things magick and supernatural, the root of the word occult is that which is hidden, concealed, beyond the limits of our minds. If this is occult, then the Occult Architecture of Moon Duo’s fourth album - a psychedelic opus in two separate volumes released in 2017 - is an intricately woven hymn to the invisible structures found in the cycle of seasons and the journey of day into night, dark into light.

Offering a cosmic glimpse into the hidden patterning embedded in everything, Occult Architecture reflects the harmonious duality of these light and dark ener¬gies through the Chinese theory of Yin and Yang.

In Chinese, Yin means “the shady side of the hill” and is associated with the feminine, darkness, night, earth. Following this logic, Vol. 1 embraces and embod¬ies Moon Duo’s darker qualities — released appropriately on February 3, in the heart of winter in the Northern Hemisphere.

According to guitarist Ripley Johnson, “the concept of the dark/light, two-part album came as we were recording and mixing the songs, beginning in the dead of winter and continuing into the rebirth and blossoming of the spring. There’s something really powerful about the changing of the seasons in the Northwest, the physical and psychic impact it has on you, especially after we spent so many years in the seasonal void of California. I became interested in gnostic and her¬metic literature around that time, especially the relationship between music and occult qualities and that fed into the whole vibe.”

Adds keyboardist Sanae Yamada, “the two parts are also intended to represent inverted components of a singular entity, like two faces on the same head which stare always in opposite directions but are inextricably driven by the same brain.”

This album is a tribute to Pastor Wylie Champion, who died while we were in the process of releasing this, his first record, and his wife, Mother Champion, who died a few months earlier. We met Pastor Champion a few years ago while we were putting together another release, The Time for Peace Is Now: Gospel Music About Us. We found him in a collection of YouTube videos from the 37th Street Baptist Church in Oakland, California, put together by the pastor there, Bishop Dr. W.C. McClinton. There was quite a lot of talent in those videos, and among them was Pastor Champion whom we liked so much that we decided to make a record with him. Pastor Champion wasn’t like any other pastor you’ve ever met. As an itinerant preacher, a carpenter, and a father of five, he made a name for himself traveling up and down the California coast with his electric guitar. He traveled alone and he played alone, well into his seventies. The easiest way to describe him would be as an outsider gospel artist. Other than these bare facts, we never learned much about him—except that he was also the brother of the well-known soul singer Bettye Swann. In fact, most of what we knew about him we got from his sister’s Wikipedia page. We decided that because we met Champion through the 37th Street Baptist Church, we would record him there too. We recorded him live on a two-track Nagra reel to reel, as we wanted the album to be analog in the style of traditional gospel recordings. Over the course of two evenings (when the workday was done), Champion taught his band—musicians who had never played together before—a handful of songs, a small selection of the nearly 2,000 fragments of songs and sermons that he regularly performed. We listened in as they all got more familiar with the material and each other over time. At some point, we mentioned to Champion that he would have to be interviewed by someone to write notes for the album. He wasn’t too pleased with this idea, saying he’d had a hard life and he didn’t want to talk about it. Over the next few months, we kept asking Champion to talk to someone about his life. He told us that he didn’t want to talk about growing up in Louisiana, his mother being accosted by the Klan, or that his father was a gambler. He didn’t want to talk about being jailed for 90 days for using a whites only bathroom, being in gangs or having a street name. We told him that was fine—he could talk about what he wanted to talk about. And he told us that he didn’t want to talk about anything. You know, there are times when you make a record where it’s already made in your mind before you start. But then in the end, the record you thought you were making is not the record you made. We spent years puzzling over this one, trying to figure out what it was saying, who it was for, and how to get people to pay attention to it. But Champion knew that this record wasn’t going to be for everyone. He didn’t really care. The important part for him was just getting the message out there in the same way that he always had, travelling alone with his electric guitar. “I want to say what I mean,” he said, “be practical, precise, to the point, and, at the same time, diplomatic.” In other words, he just wanted to be a good man. God bless Pastor Champion and Mother Champion, peace be with them and their family. Love to all.

Chris Imler likes to play drums standing up. He‘s the dandy with the killer offbeat, or, as one major German newspaper once put it, the "Grand Seigneur of the Berlin Underground". He has been making his mark on countless Berlin musical affairs since long before the fall of the Wall, with The Golden Showers, Peaches, Oum Shatt, Driver &Driver, Die Türen, Jens Friebe, to name but a few. He has also been perfoming across Europe as a solo artist for the past decade.

In "Operation Schönheit" (German for "Operation Beauty"), he has recorded his most, well, beautiful album to date. But Benedikt Frey's warm production subverts its own beauty with a multitude of clanking and ingling synth sounds, making the work very much about the cosmetic surgery it performs on itself. It's all in the tradition of the more experimental and electronic side of post-punk in which Imler and his unique groove are rooted. It doesn't take insider knowledge of Berlin's post-punk underground to realise that that Imler groove consists of rhythm that sings, vocals that dance and a look that fits, as illustrated by "Disappoint Me", his latest video: https://youtu.be/YeVJ75ljjB8

Elsewhere - such as in "Movies" - the rhythm sings, less electronically reduced, into the acoustics of an old, high-ceilinged Berlin apartment; metal clatters, a zither trembles and Imler plays with the metronome. Sometimes he moves ahead of time, sometimes trails behind it. He always manages to be in his very own groove, which carries everything along. And this is precisely the essence of the Imler rhythm, which lends itself to being applied to the very rhythm of life: Stretch and compress your time and loop it according to your own groove! Optimise nothing but feel everything! And dance to it! Even when contemplating everyday information overload, as Imler's high-speed mumbling suggests in the hectic yet smooth opening track "Temperature".

But being the ultimate night owl he is, Imler manages to make even the odd bout of paranoia seem like a good thing: like some kind of krauty, groovy B-horror-soundtrack-inflected high-pressure environment, "Whip Me" is a cross between Conrad Schnitzler and Bauhaus. In the title track, whose lyrics were written together with Jens Friebe, he intones: "You want to be something greater / You break your leg / When it heals again / You break it again" and sounds like the most gleeful fatalist you can imagine. Because in his city, one can still lose oneself better than anywhere else - a night easily becomes a whole universe that can be traversed, marvelled at and played with, and one might find one's old self again only when hearing "church bells" and "small birds singing". At least that's how Imler illustrates it in "Emptiness full of stars", and it seems likely that those "stars" are the human companions of the Berlin night in question.

And so once again Imler becomes Berlin's most important cultural ambassador: that scene of the eternally, and somehow successfully, failing creatures of the night, once the envy of the international postmodern bohème, has, despite many claims to the contrary, not been completely "optimised away", and its attitude to life is perfectly summed up in Imler's groove. And, of course, his look. "Schau Hin" (German for "Look!"), he sings in the track of the same name, masterfully dubbed out with the help of Melbourne's Leo James.

Quite right! Look - and listen.

Yours, Johannes von Weizsäcker (The Chap)

The Accra-born pianist and frontman only released a few albums in small quantities, yet two of them are among the most sought-after records from 70's Africa. This was the first.

So what do we know After learning his craft in Benin and playing with the likes of Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou, ROB returned to Accra to write his own material and find a sound.

Hooked on the driving funk and raw soul of stars such as James Brown and Otis Redding, he would often imitate his heroes on his father's piano during school holidays.

The title track sets the pace with a JBs-like rhythm, ROB almost shamanic with his sparse yet commanding vocal. The organ and wah-wah guitar spin us out before those imperious horns bring us back in.

And what better way to close this set than with 'More', swept up in a call and response between Rob and his backing singers as a 'Blow Your Head' synth flares and the brass blasts. Good times guaranteed.

As the man himself says, 'Funky music is in my blood. What you hear is the coming out of my mind.' No one sounds like Rob, because there is no one like Rob.

This album is a tribute to Pastor Wylie Champion, who died while Luaka Bop were in the process of releasing this, his first record, and his wife, Mother Champion, who died a few months earlier. The Label met Pastor Champion a few years ago while they were putting together another release, The Time for Peace Is Now: Gospel Music About Us. They found him in a collection of YouTube videos from the 37th Street Baptist Church in Oakland, California, put together by the pastor there, Bishop Dr. W.C. McClinton. There was quite a lot of talent in those videos, and among them was Pastor Champion whom they liked so much that they decided to make a record with him. God bless Pastor Champion and Mother Champion, peace be with them and their family. Love to all.

Belgian Metal frontrunners EVIL INVADERS are ready to unleash their third album, Shattering Reflection, on April 1, 2022 via Napalm Records! It took the band almost five years to craft a new record and it has been undoubtably worth the wait. EVIL INVADERS have found the perfect balance between fast, mid and slow tempo songs focusing on strong choruses, touching lyrics and even some progressive touches that will grab every Heavy Metal fan by the throat and screaming for more! EVIL INVADERS’s Shattering Reflection is promising to be a game-changer for the Belgian 4-piece as the band seems to have found their own formula to turn Heavy Metal into another extreme direction. Shattering Reflection takes off with a fast Heavy Metal banger “Hissing in Crescendo”, followed by the epic anthem “Die For Me”, already destined to become an EVIL INVADERS’s all-time classic. A calmer side is explored on tracks like mid-tempo opus ”Forgotten Memories“, creating a dense, heavy wall of sound with piercing vocals and ditto lyrics underlined by guitar solo virtuosity. That thrilling epos stands in line with “In Deepest Black”, which showcases even more how the band has managed to craft a pure classic Heavy Metal anthem with melodic guitar lines and catchy choruses, creeping relentlessly into the listener’s head. It also proves how Joe has matured as his vocals have entered a whole new dimension, both in the high and the low ranges. On the contrary, ”Sledgehammer Justice“ is a furious outburst of classic Thrash/Speed Metal in which the Belgian quartet goes full throttle with hammering rhythms and guitar solo madness! Another album highlight is the dark opus ”The Circle“, creating a horrifying atmosphere with stomping drums and excellent guitar lines. Fans of King Diamond will definitely dig this one! Throughout the album the band manages to keep the balance between fast Extreme Heavy Metal with sharp shredding and mosh-worthy tracks, as well as very melodic, more intense and chorus-oriented midtempo anthems. Shattering Reflection has turned out to be a monster of an album that will prove that in a new generation of Metal bands, EVIL INVADERS have been able to develop and mature record after record, just like the great classics did in the good old days. You will want to hear this record and also find out how EVIL INVADERS will deliver this masterpiece live on stage! credits

Wretched, bleak, hopeless and incredibly dark. Canadian dark hardcore crust bruisers Dark Circles and American black sludge destroyers Abstracter bring forth waves upon waves of utter misery and horror on this crushing 12" split. Dark Circles' stark, rabid and virulently embittered dark hardcore is a firestorm of crust punk, grindcore and black metal that marvelously brings together the best and most confrontational elements of bands like Catharsis, Gehenna, Cursed, The Secret, etc. On the other hand Abstracter's bleak and hallucinatory side fuses doom, crust, drone and black metal to incarnate a staggering twenty minutes of total and horrific devastation, yielding a similar sonic hell as seen in dark and miserable slower bands like Triptykon, Primitive Man, Coffinworm, Indian, etc

180g Coloured Vinyl Series Contains New Specially Prepared Liner Notes By Penguin Guide To Jazz Writer Brian Morton And By Paris’
Prestigious Jazz Magazine. Quincy Jones Big Band Bossa Nova + 2 Bonus Tracks (Yellow Vinyl) “Almost every track here is a small classic that you’re bound to have heard somewhere, without realising what it was. “Manha de Carnaval”, Luiz Bonf‘s peerless melody, is another that surfaces constantly in movies and behind commercials. Likewise, Jobim’s “One Note Samba”, which varies the metre and changes the pace most effectively. Jones recognised that he had something that could change the metre and flavour of almost any piece. “On the Street Where You Live” loses its slightly plonking sentimentality and turns into a celebration of community. “A Taste of Honey” acquires a new and exotic quality.” Penguin Guide to Jazz “There are few albums more enchanting than this one, which finds the perfect balance, among other things, to make everything swing, and to make us dance better. And you’ll be amazed to hear the voices of Roland Kirk, Paul Gonsalves, Jim Hall and Clark Terry. Yes, all of them are here.” Jazz Magazine Personnel: featuring Clark Terry (trumpet) Phil Woods (alto sax), Paul Gonsalves (tenor sax), Rahsaan Roland Kirk (Stritch, alto sax), Lalo Schifrin (piano), Jim Hall (guitar), Chris White (bass), Rudy Collins (drums), Jos Paula, Carlos “Bala” G
mez, Jack Del R o (percussion), Quincy Jones (conductor). Recorded in New York, August 13 & September 4-12, 1962. *BONUS TRACKS: Quincy Jones and His Orchestra. Similar personnel as Big Band Bossa Nova, also including Rahsaan Roland Kirk (flute, tenor sax, Stritch). New York, June 15, 1962. Original session produced by Quincy Jones. Originally issued in 1962 on the Mercury single 72012


b a2 | Boogie Bossa Nova Aka Boogie Stop Shuffle

Back in May 2019, Vancouver trio Corner Boys released their sole album… and promptly split a few months later. In retrospect, they couldn’t have known that the album’s title (‘Waiting For 2020’) would soon seem grimly ironic - and we all know why, right? No reason to go over all that shit again. But while the past two years have at least seen drummer/songwriter Patrick McEachnie staying active across two essential records with hardcore heroes Chain Whip, lockdown saw him switching roles. Basically, he bought a guitar and made an excellent record all on his lonesome, and as followers of his other projects will have come to expect, it’s fucking excellent. ‘Glad To Be Forgotten’ is the debut album by Pack Rat - in some ways you can see some level of crossover with Corner Boys in its manic energy and dedication to hooks (cuts like ‘Next Time Hit Me’ and ‘My Own Reality’ are so damn catchy, you could be forgiven for thinking you’ve already been listening to ‘em on repeat for the past 20 years). Familiar reference points show up (the melodies of the Pointed Sticks; the garage-slanted rifferama of Rudi or The Undertones) while a tinny budget synth keeps things ticking along nicely, just to remind you that this is a homespun DIY project. But honestly, this has the feel of a fully fleshed-out project and leaves you desperate for another fix of its sweet’n’sour tang. For anyone who loves the collision point between ‘New Rose’, powerpop sunshine and sheer rock’n’roll exuberance, this is essential. For everyone else, this is surely the gateway to all of that good stuff. You want to hear the tunes that’ll star on future generations’ equivalents to the Killed By Death comps? That’ll set your pulse soaring and your pogo muscles into overdrive? That’ll remind you of why this punk rock business still feels worth dedicating your life to, even after all this time? Hey, Pack Rat’s got ‘em. Now do your part

Hip Hop Collected will take you on a musical journey through the history of hip hop. This 2LP covers the first 20 years of the genre, showcasing 25 early pioneers who participated in the rise of hip hop. This compilation features music from the new labels that started to rise from the underground scene, like Sugar Hill Records, Profile and of course Def Jam. Including artists that defined a genre, a lifestyle and most of all, artists that inspired millions of young kids with both socially critical lyrics as well as classic party anthems.

This hip hop compilation album is part of the new Collected compilation series, which is a collaboration between Universal Music and Music On Vinyl. The compilations bring together the biggest and best names of its genre, combined with forgotten hits and less discovered gems, giving the listener an experience of both nostalgia and uncovering new musical grounds at the same time.

The 2LP features Kurtis Blow “The Breaks”, Grand Master Flash & The Furious Five “The Message”, Beastie Boys “She’s On It”, Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock “Get On The Dancefloor”, and Eric B. & Rakim “Paid In Full” amongst many others.

Hip Hop Collected is available as a limited edition of 5000 individually numbered copies on red (LP1) and white (LP2) coloured vinyl. The album includes an insert with liner notes, photos and credits.

Welchem 60s-Fan klingen die Songs nicht in den Ohren: 'Painter Man', 'Making Time', 'Cool Jerk', 'Tom Tom', 'Biff Bang Pow', ihre ultra-coolen Versionen von 'Like A Rolling Stone' oder 'Hey Joe'und einige mehr. Speziell in Deutschland hatte die 1966 formierte Beat-Band um Gitarrist Eddie Phillips eine treue Fan-Gemeinde.

Please welcome to the Time Is Now family one of the scene's most exciting talents. London-based drum specialist, Bluetoof, brings the heat with a multigenre 4-track EP, featuring a weighty refix from the likes of Manchester badman, and close compadre, Interplanetary Criminal. A multi-faceted EP to keep its listener on their toes. The title track gets things off to a steady start with a minimal bassline and complex percussion, inspired rhythmically by breaks but textured by layers of hollow drums which lend it a more organic sound. Next up, "Perilous" takes things on a darker, more bottom-heavy turn with a traditional two-step beat and a womping bassline, suited to the club's early hours. As to be expected, "That Got Dark" continues in the same vein. The focus remains on percussion with a skipping, half-broken rhythm which is interrupted momentarily by breaks overtaken by a stomping 4/4 beat. Finally, enter Time Is Now family member, Interplanetary Criminal, who extends the 4/4 propulsion to create a pacey speed garage banger.

Merit Hemmingson is an 81-year-old matriarch, composer, organist and singer from Jämtland

She has devoted her life to exploring and constructing her own musical landscape, which bends and challenges genres in ways that have often created swells. Since the 1960s, her personal expression has created a unique space in Swedish music history where jazz, groove rock and folk music meet. Throughout her career Merit has moved forward with a strong sense of self and sensitivity to music and she has collaborated with both The Ark and Beppe Wolgers, played on major jazz stages in New York and over the years toured around Sweden and also in Norway. Her long experience invites you to a rare artistic depth, which winds down through narrow caves and out into magnificent saltwater cathedrals.

Featuring musicians like Loney Dear, Martin Hederos and Mattias Bjäred (Soundtrack of our lives), Sara Parkman and many more.

Possessing one of the most distinctive and recognizable voices on the planet, former Men at Work frontman Colin Hay faces down struggle, loss and the existential questions about mortality on 'Now And Evermore', his first collection of new material since the 2016 release of Fierce Mercy

Written and recorded in Hay's adopted hometown of Los Angeles and at Compass Sound Studio in Nashville, the collection is a defiantly joyful celebration of life and love, one that insists on finding silver linings and reasons to smile through the challenges of recent times. That's not to say the record deludes itself about the realities of our modern world, but rather that it consistently chooses to respond to pain with beauty and doubt with wonder. The music on the new album
brims with fanciful melodies and lush orchestration. Hay's performances are likewise animated and full of life, drawing on vintage pop charm, pub rock muscle, and folk sincerity to forge a sound that's at once playful and profound, clever and compassionate, whimsical and earnest.

24 Songs. A new project from The Wedding Present. A new 7” single every month throughout 2022. 24 Songs sees David Gedge writing with legendary Sleeper guitarist Jon Stewart for the first time, and a more perfect union could not have been predicted. The notion of a monthly 7” single is not new to The Wedding Present, but 24 Songs shows us that even classic concepts can be reinvented. The series also continues the band’s association with photographer Jessica McMillan, who has created stunning images and films as a visual accompaniment to the recordings.Explaining 24 Songs, David Gedge said: “In 1991, The Wedding Present were rehearsing in a studio in Yorkshire when we hit upon an idea that immediately thrilled us all. Our bass player Keith Gregory had been a member of the ‘Sub Pop Singles Club’ - a service that allowed subscribers to receive 7”s released by that Seattle label on a monthly basis. Keith wondered if we, as a band, could attempt a similar thing. In that instant, The Wedding Present’s Hit Parade series was born and, during 1992, we managed to release a brand new 7” single each and every month. “The Hit Parade went on to become something of a significant milestone in the history of the band and it’s a project about which I’m often asked. As its thirtieth anniversary approached, I began to wonder if we should celebrate it in some way. A ‘Hit Parade Part 2’ didn’t feel quite right, though. Then, someone said to me: “Other bands have released music in similar ways but there has been nothing like the Hit Parade.” And they were right! A 7” single a month seems, somehow, very ‘Wedding Present’. So, inspired by that little idea from three decades ago, we’ve embarked on this new project, 24 Songs. “Even though The Wedding Present have never been known for taking the easy route, the idea of recording 24 tracks and releasing them in this way could seem daunting to any band. However, I’ve been inspired by the music that has been written since Jon and Melanie joined the group. The thought of celebrating this exciting new line-up with an exciting new series has motivated us all… and I suppose we also didn’t want any of these songs to be hidden away in the middle of an album!”

Catalina Matorral is a duo; Marion Cousin and Borja Flames make up its double head and four hands. At the beginning of the 2010s, they were called June et Jim -- they released some disturbing EPs before joining the label Le Saule (a small, chivalrous table whose holy grail is everything unheard, where folk- singing is avant-garde and avant-garde is synonymous with enchantment). Their first LP, Les Forts (2012), evoked the songwriting of indie-hobos inspired by Latin America, contributing to the rejuvenation of French music. Noche Primera (2013) went even further by vibrating in various reveries, from African songs to Spanish medieval music, from Purcell to Bach. It blew hot and cold under a psychedelic candlelight. The record in question has been maturing for seven years in eccentric barrels, marinating in the shadow of Marion and Borja's respective evolutions, nourished by their individual obsessions. Marion fixated on songs and dances from the Iberian Peninsula. This gave birth to a minimalistic, organic record featuring the cellist Gaspar Claus, where humming trembles among frowning pizzicatos, thin drones and throbbing arpeggios. She went on to release another album with the electronic duo Kaumwald, an oeuvre at the crossroads of vernacular narratives and experimental music, simmering everyday songs in an insolently modern production. Meanwhile, Borja leaned towards an intellectual, synthetic and furious pop; made two albums to awaken the dead, somewhere between Moondog and Battiato. They are two conceptual, electrifying and dance-inducing recordings for the phosphorescent masses. ...chimeric narration, heady verses, pop fragments, horizontal synths, distorted technologies. One would think they're listening to an opera composed by Robert Ashley or Laurie Anderson, based on an improbable libretto written by anthropologist Jeanne Favret-Saada, and performed by holograms of Brigitte Fontaine and Areski -- who unexpectedly regurgitate bits of blunt folk, binary jazz, baroque songs and ghostly madrigals. Micro-events, great enchantments. This record was written and recorded by two people, tinkering feverishly for seven years. It was blessed with the furtive appearances of faithful friends: Gaspar Claus played the cello; Igor Estrabol the clarinet, trumpet and flugelhorn; Renaud Cousin the drums; Ernest Bergez played the violin and whimsically mixed the tracks like a bonesetter-scientist. At the crossroads of worlds, eras and moods, Catalina Matorral invents a curiously rural science fiction that confounds poetry with white magic and puts French music in a permanent tension between the cosmos and manure...

"Absence of the loved one is a theme running through both films, but during the creative process we never discuss with the Havels the themes, symptoms or attributes of the characters. We do not specify any meanings. Our collaboration is intuitive, based on interconnectedness. We neither explain things to each other nor analyse. From the outset we have a common goal: to quieten the viewers’ perception, to attune them to certain vibrations by visual, musical and acoustic repetitions, thus enabling them to focus on every tiny detail, every subtle aesthetic quality, so that by the end of the film they have a sense of reconciliation. In fact it is a state similar to meditation or prayer. The aim is being shown Mercy. Each time, the linking of the filmed images with Irena and Vojtech’s music has uncovered a new quality that we have named: a commentary on eternity. Characters cease to be determined by their senses, psychological motivations, or the times they live in. They find liberation in the stream of eternal time." /Václav Kadrnka

"We would like to thank all our friends, sound engineers and musicians. The main thanks go to director Václav Kadrnka, his family and all his collaborators for the precious opportunity to assist them in creating both films. We have worked on our music for the film Saving One Who Was Dead for three years. We met with Václav, discussed the screenplay while it was being born and many other things. We have gradually prepared several working versions that included compositions for piano, Indonesian gamelan, gongs, Tibetan bowls, bells and mini-bells. Yet, step by step, we made it simpler and simpler and eventually only kept violas da gamba, organ and chanting. Everything else was redundant. We made most of the recordings of the compositions for viola da gamba in a church in Prague. The composition for organ was recorded in Milan where we performed a concert shortly before the pandemic arrived in December 2019. We tried to record it in various churches in Bohemia but it was not until the church in Milan that we found the best sounding organ.

As for Little Crusader, we recorded the music for the film after it was completed. We had several versions and used the piano version for this album. Together with Václav, we searched for instruments that would work the best for this Medieval story. Eventually, we opted for harmonium with simple chanting which accompanies the character little boy Jenik. Violas da gamba intertwine, move close and then apart from each other the same way as paths of little boy Jenik and his father who is searching for him. Simple chanting and Tibetan bowl accompany scenes with little boy Jenik’s mother who awaits them at home. Trombone and saxophone are like metal swords and the knights’ armor. Violoncello and viola da gamba walk in the rhythm of horse’s hooves, in the rhythm of heartbeat of both the horse and his rider – a father searching for his lost son."
/ Irena and Vojtěch Havlovi

The Ninth Wave's upcoming second album Heavy Like A Headache arrives off the back of a sold-out UK tour toward the end of 2021 and Scottish Album Of The Year nominations for their Faris Badwan (The Horrors)-produced EP 'Happy Days!' and their critically acclaimed 2019 debut full-length Infancy. Produced by the band themselves and mixed by Max Heyes (Massive Attack, Doves, Primal Scream), Heavy Like A Headache explores feelings of grief, anxiety, anger and loneliness, and represents the 4-piece's most triumphant and diverse body of work to date. Celebrating honesty and real life, The Ninth Wave want their listeners to find comfort in their music. They want their fans to feel safe; to be confident in who they are, and to know they're not alone.

The band will play three album celebration shows in Manchester, London and Glasgow around album release. Recent singles have received multiple spins from Radio 1's Jack Saunders, 6 Music and an addition in NME's A-list, coverage in key publications such as Wonderland, The Line of Best Fit, DIY and more. 'What Makes You a Man' will be featured in the upcoming series of Netflix's Umbrella Academy. Their releases have seen countless editorial support from Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and Amazon Music, including Spotify's New Music Friday, The Indie List, The Other List, All New Rock, Melomania and Scotify playlist additions.

The Ninth Wave's upcoming second album Heavy Like A Headache arrives off the back of a sold-out UK tour toward the end of 2021 and Scottish Album Of The Year nominations for their Faris Badwan (The Horrors)-produced EP 'Happy Days!' and their critically acclaimed 2019 debut full-length Infancy. Produced by the band themselves and mixed by Max Heyes (Massive Attack, Doves, Primal Scream), Heavy Like A Headache explores feelings of grief, anxiety, anger and loneliness, and represents the 4-piece's most triumphant and diverse body of work to date. Celebrating honesty and real life, The Ninth Wave want their listeners to find comfort in their music. They want their fans to feel safe; to be confident in who they are, and to know they're not alone.

The band will play three album celebration shows in Manchester, London and Glasgow around album release. Recent singles have received multiple spins from Radio 1's Jack Saunders, 6 Music and an addition in NME's A-list, coverage in key publications such as Wonderland, The Line of Best Fit, DIY and more. 'What Makes You a Man' will be featured in the upcoming series of Netflix's Umbrella Academy. Their releases have seen countless editorial support from Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and Amazon Music, including Spotify's New Music Friday, The Indie List, The Other List, All New Rock, Melomania and Scotify playlist additions.

Recorded in 1991 by the quintet of vocalist Billie Ray Martin and Birmingham-based electronic musicians Brian Nordhoff, Joe Stevens, Les Fleming and Roberto Cimarosti, Electribal Soul was conceived as the sequel to the band’s 1990 debut album, Electribal Memories.
Electribal Memories had yielded the hits ‘Talking With Myself’ and ‘Tell Me When The Fever Ended’ and pushed Electribe 101 to the forefront of a crossover electronic scene that fused dance music with pop savvy. They were snapped up by Phonogram, managed by Tom Watkins and hailed as “the next band to meet the Queen” by i-D. The band took the coveted support slot for Depeche Mode on their epochal World Violation tour and supported Erasure at Milton Keynes Bowl. Seen as the next big thing, everything pointed toward enduring critical success for Electribe 101, and the band settled into putting their second album together.
“There was a degree of confidence among us when we came to write the second album,” recalls Billie Ray Martin. “To me, the songs we put down sound like some of our finest moments.” More immediately lush and warm than the dancefloor-friendly structures of Electribal Memories, the clue to the sound of Electribal Soul lies in the second word in its title: soul. Songs like the aching sensuality of opening track ‘Insatiable Love’ or the emboldened defiance of ‘Moving Downtown’ showcase Billie Ray Martin’s distinctive vocal range as it moves from haunting quiet to dramatic, euphoric rapture. Lyrics from ‘Moving Downtown’ had found their way into ‘Pimps, Pushers, Prostitutes’ by S’Express, and the song would appear as ‘Running Around Town’ on Martin’s 1996 solo album. The strikingproduction on the version of the song presented on Electribal Soul suggests classic late sixties soul influences, such as those of legendary Motown producer Norman Whitfield, with the long shadow cast by Kraftwerk never being far away.
‘Deadline For My Memories’, the song that provided the title for Martin’s first solo album, was originally intended for the second Electribe 101 album. Its lyrics document a sense of freedom and liberation from the darkness of a bad relationship, accompanied by jazzy piano and organ sounds over a quiet rhythm and discrete electronics. In contrast, ‘A Sigh Won’t Do’ finds Martin in soothing vocal mode, despite its devastating message about the final ending of a strained relationship, her lyrics framed by restrained and subtle beats and sounds.
To spend time with Martin’s voice on Electribal Soul is to find yourself moved deep into the ordinarily impenetrable emotional corners of your own psyche. “I was into big ballads at the time and listening to all kinds of US and UK singers, and I was also young enough to want to prove myself as a belter of ballads,” explains Martin of the classic soul edge the album showcased.
Electribal Soul heads into darker territory with ‘Hands Up And Amen’. Originally written by Martin in Berlin in the period before moving to London and forming Electribe 101, the song was then perfected and enhanced by the band’s production nous. ‘Hands Up And Amen’ savagely documents the mugging of a woman in Queens, NY at gunpoint, only to resolve itself with a middle section that nods reverently toward gospel tradition. The song coalesces around a regimented break and burbling synths, finally ending with layers of urgent synth sounds.
Meanwhile, a cover of Throbbing Gristle’s ‘Persuasion’ takes us into a seedy world of sexual coercion and creepy infatuation, predating Martin’s chilling version of the track with progressive house unit Spooky two years later. Supported by a minimal, nagging rhythm and barely-fluctuating sounds, Electribe 101’s take on ‘Persuasion’ makes for uneasy listening, even though Martin manages to inject a sort of twisted sympathy for the protagonist as the song progresses.
That Electribe 101 were as comfortable offering complicated, nuanced tracks like ‘Persuasion’ alongside pop house bangers like ‘Space Oasis’ – written by Billie Ray Martin with Martin King before Electribe 101 was formed – is testament to the way the band wove their way effortlessly through electronic music reference points. Framed by light, jazzy piano melodies and string sounds, the energy of ‘Space Oasis’ soars so high that it could easily reach the moon, while highlighting how well-suited Martin’s voice has always been to club music. We hear the same reminder of her dance music credentials on ‘True Memories Of My World’, finding her describing a Hollywood actress who reflects on being used by directors to sell her ‘tears’.
Hooking up with the Birmingham-based Nordhoff, Stevens, Fleming and Cimarosti after placing a Melody Maker ad in 1988 (“Soul rebel seeks musicians – genius only”), it was clear that Martin had found a group that recognised the unique power and importance of her voice. Having worked with genres as diverse as reggae, rock and R&B, the four producers proved to be perfect collaborators, presenting carefully-sculpted backdrops that emphasised the towering emotional dexterity of her voice.
“Listening back to these tracks now, I was reminded of what a bunch of great musicians they were,” says Martin. “They had a rule that if a part still sounded good after a day or two then it could stay. If it bothered the vocals, it would go.” Even more so than on Electribal Memories, Electribal Soul places Martin at the captivating centre of these pieces, surrounding her voice with everything from dubby rhythms to chunky R&B beats to nascent trip hop breaks; wiry, acid-hued synths uncoil gently without ever dominating, while horn samples and lush, disco-inflected strings provide a rich, naturalistic accompaniment for Martin’s emotional outpourings.
The band finished mixing the album at London’s Olympic Studios in 1991. They were assisted by Apollo 440’s Howard Gray on production duties for ‘Deadline For My Memories’, ‘Insatiable Love’ and ‘Space Oasis’, with Gray supported by talented engineer Al Stone. Pre-release promo tapes were issued and an enthusiastic energy started to build around the band’s anticipated second album.
It was not meant to be. Against a backdrop of a worsening relationship with Tom Watkins, and a disinterested Phonogram, instead of receiving a positive reaction to the new tracks, Electribe 101 were swiftly dropped by their label. Electribal Soul languished, unreleased, and the band yielded to pressures that had been building and split up. After collaborating with Spooky and The Grid, Billie Ray Martin went on to release her seminal debut solo album in 1996, with it securing the era-defining hit ‘Your Loving Arms’, while the other group members continued to work together as The Groove Corporation.
Thirty years after the songs were recorded, we’re now finally able to hear what the second and final chapter of Electribe 101’s story sounded like. Electribal Soul shows that the band had really only just got started when they dropped their first album in 1990. Heard only by a select and privileged few, what followed elevated the band’s music to a completely new level, making Electribal Soul musical buried treasure of the most precious and rare variety.
Electribal Soul will be released on LP, CD and digital formats on 18th February 2022 through Electribal Records. The physical formats include extensive liner notes from Billie Ray Martin, and the album sleeve features unseen archive photographs by Lewis Mulatero from the original 1990 sessions with the band that were never used in the sleeve designs for Electribal Memories.

* Strictly limited-edition 2x12” vinyl in full colour sleeve. Includes card to download full album in WAV format.
* ‘Strange Days’ the debut album from one of the standout Drum & Bass acts of recent years, due for release on the legendary V Recordings on 3rd December 2021.
* Features collaborations with Serum, Makoto, MC Fats, Lorna King, 2shy MC, Cleveland Watkiss, Blak, Riya, A Little Sound, Elipsa & T.R.A.C.
* With support already secured from the likes of Shy FX, Bryan Gee, Fabio & Grooverider, Rene LaVice, Hybrid Minds, Serum, Randall and with a growing international fanbase at their back, Paul T & Edward Oberon's new album 'Strange Days' is set to be one of 2021's defining drum & bass releases.
* Their recent run of singles, including two Beatport number ones and collaborations with vocal talents like Cleveland Watkiss, MC Fats, A Little Sound & Lorna Kings have given us a flavour of this monumental project. An eclectic array of influences from jazz to jump up have been filtered through the unique musical perspective of this duo to bring us something that we've never quite heard before.
* Drum & bass has the capacity to deliver, on the one hand, soulfully emotive musicality and, on the other, sheer rave-inflaming filth. Paul T & Edward Oberon, however, have consistently performed the alchemical magic of bringing together both the music and the mayhem without compromising either.
* But of course they have. Paul and Edward have years of experience creating music for some of the most prestigious labels in the scene and drawing from a myriad of influences. Individually, they have credits stretching back decades, and, as a combo, they've been dusting dances around the world since 2011.
* Having won an army of new-gen fans with anthems like 'Stomp', 'Look for the Light' and the absolutely huge scene smashing Serum-collab 'Moon in Your Eyes', these veteran artists have wasted no time in stepping things up to even greater heights as they gear up to drop their album.
* Balancing vibes and viciousness, 'Strange Days' lays out the definitive manifesto for Paul T & Edward Oberon's dirty soul sound. Operating as both a self-contained audio journey and a collection of rave-ready deejay weapons, this LP is a piece of work that demands your attention!

First Word Records is very proud to welcome back Don Leisure, with a brand new 25-track album 'Shaboo Strikes Back'.

Five years have passed since the first 'Shaboo' album was released. A collection of beats and pieces that documented the road trip of Don's youth - hip hop music interspersed with Asian radio station jingles of old, dedicated to Bollywood actor, Nasser 'Shaboo' Bharwani - Don Leisure's late uncle.

This album was heralded as "the best album of its kind since J Dilla's 'Donuts'" and deemed "unmissable" by the folks at Piccadilly Records. It also had strong support from BBC 6 Music's Tom Ravenscroft ("very, very good this indeed"), Huey Morgan ("my beat of the week"), Worldwide FM's Lefto ("defo down with this"), Rob Da Bank ("this is wicked") and the likes of Mathieu Schreyer (KCRW, LA), Alex Ruder (KEXP, Seattle), Kid Fonque (5FM, South Africa), Om Unit, Jon1st, Mr Thing, Rob Luis (Tru Thoughts), Dom Servini (Wah Wah 45s), Tim Parker (NTS) and tons more from across the globe.

Don Leisure is a DJ and producer based in Cardiff, Wales, sometimes known as one half of Darkhouse Family, along with Earl Jeffers. He's been a prolific beat-maker for many years, releasing under a variety of monikers for labels such as Metalheadz, International Anthem, Fat City, Izwid, Earnest Endeavours and Group BraCil. His most recent release was a remix for Gruff Rhys, which was released on Rough Trade.

In 2020 he was nominated for the Welsh Music Prize for his 'Steel Zakusi' project, and has dropped several releases for First Word, including the acclaimed 2019 'Halal Cool J' album and various Darkhouse Family projects, including collabs with artists as diverse as Charlotte Church, Om'Mas Keith and Children of Zeus's Tyler Daley, additionally to remixes from DJ Spinna and label-mate, Kaidi Tatham. As a DJ he has provided mixes for BBC 6 Music, NTS, Rinse FM, Solid Steel and Boxout FM in India, as well as performing at The Jazz Cafe, Fabric and on Boiler Room.

'Shaboo Strikes Back' is a much-awaited sequel to the 2017 smash, and again features a modest 25 tracks. Psychedelic fuzzy samples and phat beats aplenty, Don Leisure once again takes us on a far-out trip across soundscapes. A real tapestry of flavours, from jazz to reggae, and from the soulful to the spiritual, this time round he's invited a few special guests to join him on his travels - most notably Welsh legend Gruff Rhys provides the vocals on 'Neon Drizzle (Hotel Shaboo)', whilst acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Angel Bat Dawid and Jazzman-signed harpist Amanda Whiting lend their talents to 'All Praises Due'. There is even a special cameo appearance from his young daughter, (aka Shaboo's great-niece!), Naima, on 'Naima's Dream'.

Once again, this is a journey into sound.

'Shaboo Strikes Back' is released on vinyl & digital by First Word Records, March 2022.

Dedicated to Nasser 'Shaboo' Bharwan
























x 24: Neon Drizzle (Hotel Shaboo) feat. Gruff Rhys

Gondwana Records sign LA bassist and composer Seth Ford-Young's Phi-Psonics project and announce a remastered deluxe-edition of The Cradle featuring bonus material

Phi-Psonics is a meditative, immersive instrumental group from Los Angeles, led by bassist Seth Ford-Young and featuring Sylvain Carton on woodwinds, Mitchell Yoshida on electric piano, and Josh Collazo on drums. Their deeply soulfulmusic draws on jazz and classical influences together with Ford-Young's own musical experiences, relationships, and his introduction to spirituality, yoga and philosophy at a young age, to create something uniquely its own. Phi-Psonics' name and ultimate aim is to find 'Phi' – the golden mean – in art, nature and self. Ford-Young explains:

"It's a bit of a cliché, but music saved my life many times and instilled in me a belief in the great power of healing through art. It is my hope and intention that this music provides healing to someone somewhere."

Originally from Washington DC area, Ford-Young moved to California in the early 90s and fell in love with the deep sounds of the upright bass and the music of Charles Mingus, John and Alice Coltrane, and Duke Ellington along with Bach, Chopin, Pärt, and Satie. He immersed himself deeply in music and keen to learn combinedintense personal study with collaborations, tours, and recordings with artists such as Tom Waits, Beats Antique, and John Vanderslice. In 2010 he moved from the San-Francisco Bay area to the Los Angeles hills and continued his explorations. But great music is rarely just about music and Ford-Young's meditative, soulful music draws on more than just the twin wellsprings of jazz and classical music:

"My mother was a yoga teacher from the early 70's until recently and taught me yoga and meditation at an early age, my stepfather is an Aikido instructor and student of the teachings of Gurdjieff. Those were all early areas of study that I came back to many times throughout my life. Phi-Psonics has been a project that unapologetically synthesizes some of these ideas into our music".

It's this mixture of influences, musical and extramusical, that gives the music of Phi-Psonics it's immersive quality and quiet power. Revealingly the music that would becomeThe Cradle, wasn't written specifically for an album, originally Ford-Young was just writing down what was coming through. As time went by and the album began to take shape, the world situation seemed to be getting darker and his compositions aim to offer hope as a response to the negative influences that abound today. Remarkably for such a beautiful sounding record, it was recorded at the composer's home, rather than in a studio, but the relaxed nature of this process gives the music an airy lightness that propels the music to some magical spaces.

Originally self-released on vinyl in a limited run just as the world went into lockdown, The Cradle reached Matthew Halsall (founder of Gondwana Records) when he aws looking for music for his Worldwide FM show and he was blown away, hearing a kindred spirit at work. Halsall explains:

"Phi-Psonics make beautiful, humble and honest music, it's not showy, but it has a deep vibe that will elevate your mind and soul if you let it. When we heard The Cradle we reached out and are really super delighted to welcome Seth and his band to our label". Whereas for Ford Young: "Connecting with Matthew and the Gondwana records family has been a light in the darkness of the last years - to have my music make connections even as we are more isolated."

Ford-Young is currently putting the finishing touches to the second Phi-Psonics record, but aware that only a select few had heard The Cradle, let alone had the chance to buy a copy, and entranced by its deceptive simplicity and elevating energy, Halsall suggested that Gondwana present the album as a remastered 'deluxe edition' with an extended running time featuring extra tracks and new artwork from Daniel Halsall.

The Cradle starts with First Step, perfectly setting the tone for the whole album, it is a beautiful, soulful slice of musical calm gently propelled by Ford-Young's resonant bass and elevated by sublime flute and Wurlitzer electric piano solos. The seductive title track The Cradle was written way back in 2011 during a time of great personal change that led the composer to a feeling of newness and nurture. The magical, winsome Desert Ride is inspired by many rides through the grandly cinematic Mojave Desert. You can experience how incredibly full of life it's harsh landscape is if you slow down to its tempo. The gentle, sublime Mama is a tribute to mothers of all kinds, beautiful and heroic. Drum Talk was largely improvised, Ford-Young and the band agreed on a topic and recorded their conversation. Choosing their notes based on how Josh's drums were tuned. Like Glass is named for the special properties of Glass. Like some music, glass is delicate, yet has structure. The first of the two bonus tracks Still Dancing was written during the early days of 2020 in response to the challenges we all were facing then. It's a reminder that the figurative dance continues and that real dancing is essential. And the second, The Searcher, also written as a response to 2020, is a gently hypnotic song about the introspection and growth that can spring from a difficult situation.

This then is The Cradle, a quiet self-contained masterpiece, life-affirming and elevating in equal measure and the first offering from a wonderful new voice in spiritual jazz and the latest members of the global Gondwana Records family.