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Anthony Shakir, Kech Harrington, Martin Bonds, and Brian Bonds recorded the Fairmount Squad EP as a side project. It was released in 1998 and played on Detroit radio station mix shows and in local gentlemen's clubs, selling out quickly and never repressed until now.



Swinging street rhythms and spacey, funky basslines define this classic release.

[n] B7. Alain Goraguer – Les Hommes [La Grande Co-Existence]

“U Wasn’t There” the long-fabled collaborative project between superstar DJ/producer/Fool’s Gold founder A-Trak and New York trendsetter/lyricist/cultural icon Cam’ron—drops via Empire. Arriving nearly a decade after the elite duo dropped their first singles “Humphrey” and “Dipshits”, the album features masterful production by A-Trak, Just Blaze, DJ Khalil, !llmind, Thelonious Martin and more, as well as uniquely introspective verses from one of the most elusive rappers in hip-hop. “U Wasn’t There” recalls 2000’s-era Dipset sounds and sets the stage for Killa Cam to deliver his hard-hitting, sharply-penned wordplay exemplified on standout "What You Do" featuring Damon Dash. “All I Really Wanted”—a soulful Harlem anthem in which Cam effortlessly recounts his teenage years as a basketball player, growing up with fallen heroes Big L and Bloodshed, and hustling his way to legendary status—perked ears at Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Complex, Vibe, Stereogum, and more. The cold-hearted “Ghetto Prophets” featuring Conway The Machine followed suit, earning nods from XXL, HipHopDX, Revolt, and Brooklyn Vegan. 1xLP + 24”x24” poster.

Repress!

Funkiwala Records presents the third in the series of "Lokkhi Terra meets"albums, with the London fusionistas creating another unique sound-clash, this time with ex-Fela Kuti keyboardist and legendary UK Afro-beat ambassador Dele Sosimi, and members of his critically acclaimed Afro-beat Orchestra.

This particular collaboration has been bubbling away for a few years now, teasing audience expectations with a handful of sold out shows each year in between both bands busy schedules.
Featuring the two pianos of Kishon Khan and Dele Sosimi – Cuban percussionists/vocalists Geraldo De Armas (Yoruba Andabo), Oreste Noda (Ariwo), Javier Camilo (Ibrahim Ferrer) - a horn section led by Justin Thurgur (Bellowhead) featuring Yelfris Valdes (Sierra Maestra) and Graeme Flowers (Kyle Eastwood) to name a few – this is an All-star cast.

Kishon Khan's Lokkhi Terra have over a number of years now been quietly establishing themselves as one of London's more unusual heavyweight outfits, described as "Stunning Headliners… A majestic multi-cultural blend of sounds… effortlessly builds bridges between rolling Indian raga rhythms, Afro-Cuban grooves, Acid Jazz/funk and free flowing improvisation" (Timeout London). Included amongst the band members are London's top Cuban musicians, adding their infectious rich musical history to the city's melting pot.
When the band wanted to explore Cuban links with another of their favourite traditions, Afrobeat, who better to bring in then one of the Afrobeat originators – maestro Dele Sosimi – "Sosimi creates some of the most bewitching grooves in modern African music" E Jazz News.
Bringing together two Yoruba speaking musics - with different accents, from different sides of the Atlantic - Havana meets Lagos in London – A Cuban-Afrobeat-Experience. CUBAFROBEAT.

All About Jazz 4star review

A younger version of London's Grand Union Orchestra, founded by world-jazz pioneer Tony Haynes in 1982, Lokkhi Terra was put together by keyboard player Kishon Khan in 2005. Both ensembles have made a specialism of jazz / South Asian fusion, with Lokkhi Terra also giving as much attention to music from Cuba, where Bangladeshi-born, London-based Khan lived for a while in the early 2000s.

Cubafrobeat, as the title foretells, is a blend of Cuban dance music and Nigerian / Yoruban Afrobeat—a fusion rendered seamless by the synergies existing between Afro-Cuban and Yoruban music, language and mythology. The album is Lokkhi Terra's third and partners the band with the keyboard player and vocalist Dele Sosimi .

A young-going-on-child-prodigy member of Fela Kuti's Egypt 80, Sosimi went on to become musical director of Femi Kuti's Positive Force, before relocating to London and setting up Dele Sosimi's Afrobeat Orchestra, the finest Afrobeat band outside Nigeria, bar none, now with a string of consistently engaging albums under its belt. Cubafrobeat features Sosimi as lead vocalist on all four tracks, and on Fender Rhodes on two of them. His singing plays a prominent role in the Afrobeat Orchestra, but, such is the whirlwind impact of the band in full instrumental flight, that Sosimi is often thought of first and foremost for his keyboard and arranging talents. That may change by the time 2018 is over. Cubafrobeat is the third album in as many months to feature Sosimi as guest vocalist, spotlighting the gravitas, air of mystery, intimacy and ferocity his voice can bring to an occasion.

The first of these albums was the genre-bending spiritual-jazz band Emanative's Earth (Jazzman). One of the stand-out tracks, "Ìyáàmi," features Sosimi making obeisance to the titular Mother Goddesses of the Yoruba spirit worlds. His raw and intense invocations carry the track for nine mesmerising minutes. Otherwordly is not the half of it. Next up was dub / reggae / jazz band Soothsayers' Tradition (Wah Wah 45s), which featured Sosimi as lead vocalist on the compelling "Sleepwalking (Black Man's Cry)." Earth and Tradition are both outstanding albums and have previously been reviewed here.

Cubafrobeat is a total stonking blinder, too. It is an effectively nuanced affair, opening with the fiery "Afro Sambroso" and closing with the relatively reflective "Rumbafro." Sosimi's vocals light up the music, as do the several solos from trumpeters Graeme Flowers and Yelfris Valdes Espinosa and trombonist Justin Thurgur (a member of both Lokkhi Terra and the Afrobeat Orchestra). Sosimi and Kishon Khan's intertwining Fender Rhodes solos on "Cubafro" are also a delight, as is the drum and percussion section throughout.

The sound of summer, for sure, Cubafrobeat has enough depth and variety to make it something for all seasons.

Songlines 4star review

Lokkhi Terra are one of London's most authentic groups. They are a Latin-flavoured collective whose keyboard player and bandleader Kishon Khan segues from percussive montunos to complex Bengali rhythms and back, with jazz chops sparking funky and outward-looking fusions. Their collaboration with Dele Sosimi, Britain's foremost Afrobeat ambassador, has been bubbling for a while; here four tracks at ten minutes see musical conversations that never lose their sense of flow. An extensive line-up of stellar players, including trumpeter Yelfris Valdés, conguero Oreste Noda and trombonist Justin Thurgur, highlights the genre-crossing potential of world traditions. Opener 'Afro Sambroso' showcases batá drums from Gerardo de Armas Sarria before the track links Cuban grooves with Afrobeat. 'Timbafro' crackles and sways via Khan's organ, Sosimi's vocals and Oscar Martinez's timbales. 'Cubafro' features dazzling interplay between Khan, Sosimi and Javier Camillo's Spanish-language vocals. 'Rumbafro' is all rumba choruses, Yoruba vocals and Afrobeat horns. Rooted in their sources, but with musical threads intertwining, separating and reconfiguring – with grooves at a premium – this is a fusion lover's dream

Jamie Jones and Lee Foss’ Hot Creations welcomes a loaded new EP as Andre Salmon, Michael Joseph and Lexlay collaborate across four tracks for their ‘Momii’ EP.

Home to stand-out collaborations such as Todd Terry and Riva Starr’s recent ‘This Is The Sound’ through to classics such as Jamie Jones and The Martinez Brothers’ ‘Bappi’, Hot Creations has always been a platform and label pairing unique and exciting artist combinations with impressive results.

Closing July, the label now invites a stacked selection of artists for a big collaborative release as label signee Andre Salmon returns for his second release on the imprint and combines with Orlando’s Michael Joseph and Barcelona’s Lexlay, also featuring Figio, Francis Davila and Cami Jones.

The three main featured artists take the helm on the title track ‘Momii’ for a skippy and slick lead effort, while Salmon and Joseph link with Milan’s Figio’s for the snaking, percussion-driven ‘Aquarium’. Next, the three lead names unite once more and combine rumbling low-ends and lively hats on the bubbling ‘Left Hand’, before Salmon and Joseph once again link with fresh talent as Francis Davila joins the party, working warping synths and rolling drums around the alluring vocals of Cami Jones.

GRAMMY NOMINATED AFRO-FUSION SINGER, SONGWRITER, AND PERFORMING ARTISTE The Nigerian singer-songwriter, Burna Boy, was born Damini Ogulu on the 2nd of July, 1991 in Port Harcourt city, Nigeria to Bosede and Samuel Ogulu and he is the only son and eldest of three children.

He started producing music when he was ten years old. After graduating from college, Burna relocated to London to attend university. After two years, he dropped out and moved back to Nigeria to pursue his passion. Coming from a family where music was loved but where a greater premium was placed on education, he spent most of his summer holidays in the UK and in language immersion summer camps in France, Togo and Cote d'Ivoire, before finally moving to the UK where he picked up the Brixton Patois accents which have become a signature in his music.

Young Damini attended Montessori International primary school in Port Harcourt (1993-2002) and Corona Secondary School, Lagos (2002-2008). It has always been music for Burna Boy as observed by his mum when he was still a teenager. She recounts that he was always hanging around his Grandfather, listening to classical music; little wonder his role model later became the man his grandfather managed, Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

His quest for knowledge took him outside the shores of Nigeria to the United Kingdom to study Media Technology at the University of Sussex (2008–2009) and Oxford Brookes University (2009–2010) to study Media Communications and Culture.

Thereafter, he did a one-year internship with Rhythm 93.7 FM Port Harcourt before officially launching his professional music career when he was signed on to Aristocrat records - prompting a permanent relocation to Lagos.

Burna Boy has released a series of EPs, singles, mixtapes, and albums including 2018’s extraordinary “Outside”. The award-winning collection led to Burna’s U.S breakthrough, debuting at #3 on Billboard’s “Reggae Albums” chart, which was partly fueled by the blockbuster single/video, “Ye”. His most recent album, “African Giant”, released in July 2019 has garnered praise from both Nigerian and international media.

Furthermore, the “African Giant” album got nominated for the 62nd Annual Grammy Award in the Best World Album category. Burna is among the contemporary African music’s brightest stars and also the pioneer of an enigmatic genre he simply dubs “Afro-fusion”. The gifted singer-songwriter got featured on American songstress Beyonce's curated Lion King soundtrack, “The Gift”. He also recently took home the 2019 BET Best International Act Award and 2019 MTV Europe Music Award for “Best African Act”.

Spaceman, otherwise known as Stephen Munson or Stephan James, is the former lead singer of English cult glam punk band Living In Texas, one of the very first bands to play an MTV Europe session when MTV was in its infancy, one of the last bands to play at the legendary Elixir Festival in France, once #3 in the Italian charts (1985.),...

At the end of Living In Texas, Munson continued to form other projects without such conviction and to write songs, until meeting Christelle Canot aka Confused, a moment which he describes as his epiphany. He entrusted her with the production of his first (double) solo album.

This follows during the pandemic by the production of a double album featuring 9 songs already recorded in 2000 and the composition of 16 others with musicians from all over the world, carried by the same punk and DIY spirit that has always lived with him.

Poet, director, an artist touching everything and a great lyricist, his songs are personal and universal, love letters to his children, to nature, to our addictions, confessions of weakness, regrets, his life passes through these 25 songs that range from the folk lo-fi masterpiece "frEND" to pure postpunk sound straight out of the 80s "Everybody's Hooked On Something", to folk-rock ballads like Martin's Garden, eternal songs with "Loving Ways" or ballads of Lynchian love... As many universes as eras crossed with the greatest sincerity through the eyes of an eternal child.

he debut album from Marcus Mumford, frontman of Multi-Platinum, Grammy, and Brit Award winning band Mumford & Sons. Collaborations with Clairo, Phoebe Bridgers, Brandi Carlile, and Monica Martin. Exclusive Limited Edition Version, includes Unique Artwork & 12-inch Clear Transparent

Ein exzellentes Album, das jedem Black, Death oder Symphonic Metal Fan gefallen sollte! Zum ersten Mal auf Vinyl! Hollenthon ist eine Symphonic Death Metal-Band, die von Martin Schirenc von Pungent Stench gegründet wurde. Hollenthon debütierten 1999 mit "Domus Mundi" und erlangten mit ihrem zweiten Album "With Vilest of Worms" Kultstatus.mit ihrem zweiten Album "With Vilest of Worms to Dwell" im Jahr 2001. Nach diesem Album wurde es ruhig an der Hollenthon-Front, da Schirenc sich darauf konzentrierte, Pungent Stench wieder zusammenzubringen. Nach zwei Pungent Stench-Alben kehrte Schirenc jedoch zu Hollenthon zurück und "Opus Magnum" war das Ergebnis."Opus Magnum" zeigt eine neue Entwicklung des Bandsounds, da die symphonisch-orchestralen Elemente nahtlos mit dem gebotenen Death Metal verschmelzen. Das Album zeichnet sich durch großzügige Chöre, Synthesizer, Streicherarrangements und weiblichen Soprangesang aus, die sich perfekt mit Schirencs
klassischen und ethnischen europäischen Folk-Elementen verbinden. Das Gitarrenspiel hat ein neues Niveau erreicht, mit unglaublichen Soli auf dem gesamten Album. Das Album ist ein perfektes Ganzes, bei dem jeder Song anders ist, aber dennoch einwandfrei zusammenarbeitet. Hollenthon experimentiert auf diesem Album furchtlos mit verschiedenen Sounds, und das funktioniert unglaublich gut. Das Album ist ein durchgehendes, hochenergetisches Erlebnis, und jeder Song ist einzigartig und doch zusammenhängend. Fans von Therion und Symphonic Extreme Metal werden "Opus Magnum" lieben, das unserer Meinung nach sogar besser ist als alles, was Therion seit langem veröffentlicht hat. Insgesamt,"Opus Magnum"
ist eines der besten Extreme-Metal-Alben des Jahres 2008! Sehr empfehlenswert!

Who did Aretha Franklin not want to miss out on when she recorded
her most inspiring albums in the early Seventies? Who gave Steely
Dan the beat? Who did Isaac Hayes, Donny Hathaway, BB King,
‘Sweet’ Lou Donaldson and Joe Cocker give the chair behind the
drums? No drummer has seen the inside of a studio as often as
Bernard ‘Pretty’ Purdie.
 Not for nothing do colleagues attribute the ‘funkiest soul beat on the
scene’ to the drummer, and consequently, Purdie has never relied on
the genre of jazz alone, but rather curiously looked beyond the
borders. Sessions with The Rolling Stones, James Brown, Jimi
Hendrix or Tom Jones are no problem for him, whose precise and
sensitive playing is synonymous with drive and groove. This is
probably one of the reasons why his rhythms are still sampled by
many DJs today.
 Released on CD back in 1996 and 1997 (and now out of print), the
two ‘Soul to Jazz’ recordings have a cult factor today and sound as
fresh as they did back then. Now both albums are released together
for the first time as a 3LP set.
 These recordings are peppered with lots of prominent star guests
from jazz and soul, from Eddie Harris, Michael Brecker and Nils
Landgren to Hank Crawford, Stanley Turrentine and Cornell Dupree.
 Purdie’s ‘Soul to Jazz’ project takes two different approaches: The
first part focuses on the renowned WDR Big Band led by Gil
Goldstein. Soul classics such as Stevie Wonder’s ‘Superstition’,
‘When a Man Loves a Woman’, Eddie Harris’s ‘Freedom Jazz Dance’
and Lee Morgan’s famous groove tune, ‘Sidewinder’, are interpreted
in large scale sound. One discovery of these recordings amidst all the
renowned guest soloists is the New York-born singer, Martin Moss.
 The great success of this first album, released under ‘Soul to Jazz’,
led to ‘Soul to Jazz II’, a more intimate record, but one that picks up
where the first recording left off, by exploring similar themes. Again,
Purdie has called together a notable band of kindred spirits, including
saxophonists Hank Crawford (BB King, Ike and Tina Turner, Ray
Charles), Stanley Turrentine (Jimmy Smith, Shirley Scott) and Vincent
Herring, as well as guitarist Cornell Dupree (King Curtis) to pianists
Benny Green and Junior Mance.
 Bernard Purdie’s ‘Soul to Jazz’ is a timeless classic and a blueprint of
the soul jazz genre in all its facets. Above all, it is a portrait of one of
the most influential and best drummers in the world, who made jazz
groove with his inimitable funky soul beat

Martinou lands on Nous'klaer Audio with his debut album RIFT. Emerging from a waking forest entranced by sun-rays reflected in the morning dew and the sound of rustling leaves in the rising wind. RIFT is a captivating road through the riddles of an imaginary landscape, full of noisy and organic textures bound by hypnotic and soothing melodies. From the calm opener of Absorption (Citywide) to the breathtaking Cirrus Apparition, and from the piercing tones of Velvet back to the closing act ...in all it's splendor. An album consisting of twelve tracks for every moment, a triple vinyl suited for warming up and tearing down a dancefloor, but best listened to from start to finish. Artwork by Romee van Oers. Including download code.

Das Tingvall Trio feiert 2023 sein zwanzigjähriges Bandjubiläum. Besonders bemerkenswert ist, dass das Trio seit der Gründung bis zum vorliegenden neunten Album, BIRDS, immer in der gleichen Besetzung agiert. Neben dem Pianisten und Namensgeber Martin Tingvall am Piano sind dies Omar Rodriguez Calvo am Kontrabass und Jürgen Spiegel, der für Drums und Percussion verantwortlich zeichnet. Und die Drei in Hamburg ansässigen Musiker haben es geschafft, in diesen vielen Jahren eine Erfolgsgeschichte zu schreiben, die ihresgleichen sucht: mehrere ECHO JAZZ Preise als Ensemble und Live-Act des Jahres, insgesamt sechs JAZZ Awards in Gold, zwei Impala Awards für internationale Verkäufe, eine ganze Serie von No.1 Jazz Chart Alben und viermalige hohe Platzierungen in den Deutschen Top 100 Album Charts - im deutschen Jazz durchaus als herausragend zu bezeichnen. Mit BIRDS erreicht diese Entwicklung nun ihren vorläufigen Höhepunkt.
Wie immer ist Martin Tingvall für alle Kompositionen verantwortlich, die Stücke wurden aber vom Trio gemeinsam in Proben und Konzerten zur Aufnahmereife in Arrangement und Spiel erarbeitet. Und natürlich findet man auf dem Album wieder Titel mit Ohrwurmcharakter, wie etwa 'Woodpecker', 'Hummingbird' oder 'Air Guitar'. Wunderbare Balladen wie 'The Day After' mit einem gestrichenen Kontrabass von Omar Rodriguez Calvo, wechseln sich ab mit Stücken wie 'Africa', das sich in seiner Leichtigkeit sofort in die Gehörgänge schraubt. 'SOS', der Hilferuf, unserer Erde endlich eine Überlebensperspektive zu geben, bietet virtuosen Tingvall Trio Sound und eine berührende Komposition. Mit seinem Solo - Stück 'Call For Peace' steuert Martin Tingvall abschließend einen besonders introvertierten Moment bei.

Ein einzigartiges Album, das 1999 seiner Zeit weit voraus war und ein absoluter Klassiker ist! Dieses Album ist eine Mischung aus Folk, Death Metal und Pagan Metal. Zum ersten Mal auf Vinyl!Ich lernte Hollenthon 1999 kennen, als "Domus Mundi" veröffentlicht wurde. "Domus Mundi" ist seitdem ein Lieblingsalbum, das ich mir immer wieder gerne anhöre, weil es einen unendlichen Wiederspielwert hat und eineneinzigartigen Stils, den keine andere Metal-Band nachahmen kann. Umso erstaunlicher, dass alles von einem Mann geschaffen und arrangiert wurde, nämlich von Martin Schirenc, der vor allem durch seine Arbeit bei Pungent Stench bekannt ist.Dieses Album lässt sich am besten als orchestraler Extrem-Metal beschreiben, aber auch episch, volkstümlich und mittelalterlich sind angemessene Adjektive für dieses Werk. Schirenc beweist, dass er nicht nur ein
großartigerSchirenc beweist, dass er nicht nur ein großartiger Gitarrist ist, sondern auch ein brillanter Arrangeur, der gregorianische Gesänge, Spoken Word, ethnische Musik aus dem Nahen Osten, neuseeländische Kriegsgesänge und jede Menge klassische Musik in seine Musik integriert.

Die Samples reichen von Rimsky-Korsakoffs "Sheherezade" bis zu einem Dudelsackfilm aus dem Film Braveheart, zu gesprochenen Samples aus Ridley Scotts Legend und vielem mehr. Diese Samples verleihen dem Album eine einzigartige Note und machen es extrem abwechslungsreich, etwas, das man so noch nie gehört hat. Schirenc verwendet einfache Songstrukturen und setzt Hooks in seiner Gitarrenarbeit ein, um lange Songs und sich wiederholende Strukturen interessant zu halten.

From Mar del Plata, Argentina, we proudly present a new promising incoming house oriented label. Carefully crafted tunes in a pink/white splatter vinyl with a striking cover artwork designed by Martín Varbaro.

A wild and funky collection of Afro grooves that was ahead of its time in 1977 and has become a collector’s item in recent years, especially due to the growing international interest in Colombian picó sound system culture. Fruko and his studio bands Wganda Kenya and Kammpala Grupo treat us to a diverse set of African and Caribbean styles, laced with crazy synths, psychedelic guitar and infectious pan-African polyrhythms. By the time Discos Fuentes released the album “Wganda Kenya Kammpala Grupo” in 1977, Wganda Kenya’s discography was expanding with many 45 singles and appearances in various artists collections. The group’s 1975 debut record “África 5.000” was a full length LP in the U.S. and a various artists compilation in Colombia, which was followed by the self-titled long player the following year. However, Kammpala Grupo, which shared the album’s title and was credited to three songs on the record, had never appeared before, yet was basically the same studio group as Wganda Kenya. Most likely the creation of this short-lived studio band was just a ploy by the label to make it seem like there were more groups playing the type of exotic afro tracks favored by the picotero DJs of Colombia’s Caribbean coast (especially in Barranquilla and Cartagena). 1974 Discos Fuentes’ management had sent musician, band leader and producer Julio Ernesto “Fruko” Estrada to the coast on an A&R mission to discover what people were dancing to in the verbenas (communal open air neighborhood parties) run by the owners of picó sound systems (decorated mobile DJ rigs). Always game for an adventure, Fruko was tasked with bringing some popular examples of these esoteric, hard-to-find African, French and Dutch Antillean records back to Medellín to serve as inspiration (or to outright copy) so that the label could enter into the growing regional market and spread its popularity to the interior of Colombia and other Latin American countries via its own studio creation, Wganda Kenya. Fuentes was always returning to exploit the rich African-rooted culture of the coast as it had with the cumbia and other regional genres before, so in a way it was not surprising that they were attuned to this particular niche phenomenon from a marginalized sector of the population. The most popular genres with the champeta dancers in the 70’s and 80’s were styles like Congolese rumba, highlife, afrobeat, juju, mbaqanga and soukous as well as the music of Haiti, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Curaçao and Dominica, all of which were fiercely guarded by the DJs who had managed to acquire them often through extreme means of travel, barter and intense digging. The record kicks off with the joyful ‘El Gallo Africano’ which features exquisite interplay between Sepúlveda’s highlife style guitar and an authentic-sounding African style saxophone, perhaps played by Carlos Piña. In reality it was ‘Go Call Police Chief’ by prolific Nigerian highlife guitarist Chief Oliver Sunday Akanite, aka Oliver De Coque. Next up is Kammpala Grupo’s ‘La Yuca Rayá’ (‘Grated Yuca’), written by Isaac Villanueva in a style he termed son haitiano which sounds much more like Zimbabwe Shona mbira music. Wganda Kenya’s ‘Caimito’ (star apple, a type of tropical fruit), on the other hand, is actually a cover of a relatively well-known Haitian merengue song. Kammpala Grupo then takes us from the French Antilles to the multi-cultural discotheques of Paris, where a cover version of Black Soul’s Afro-boogie anthem ‘Black Soul Music’ is retooled and renamed ‘King Kong’, perhaps in a nod to the 1976 remake of the monster flick of the same name. Side two introduces us to the infectious merengue rebita of Angola via ‘La riphyta’ with “Paparí”, aka Mariano Sepúlveda, doing the vocals and faithfully replicating the Angolan guitar style. ‘La Trompeta Loca’ (‘The Crazy Trumpet’), probably the nuttiest track on the album, is an ingenious cover of ‘Ye Gbawa Oo Baba (Tribute To Nigeria)’ by Joe Mensah of Ghana. As with all their covers of African tunes, this rendition tightens up the original with some pop sheen, more consistent drumming and higher production values, remaking it into a powerful slow-burning dance floor filler. This is followed by one of the most powerfully original songs to come out of the entire Wganda Kenya project, Mike Char’s reggae anthem ‘El Nativo’ with Joe Arroyo on vocals. The record ends on a more authentically Caribbean sounding note with the instrumental ‘El testamento’, a cheerful islands banger with bright brass, syncopated calypso beats and chunky cuatro guitar (or ukulele). The original was in the mento genre and titled ‘Sweet meat’, written and recorded by Jamaican trumpeter Bobby Ellis. First time reissue. 180g vinyl.

Richie Culver had been waiting his whole life to record I was born by the sea. His debut album immediately and messily inscribed the artist into the canon of outsider music and experimental electronics, serving both as an arresting statement of intent and a painful reckoning with the difficult path that lead up to it, stealing one last glance back at a place he always knew he had to escape. Between grim lamentations, faded memories and anxiety attacks, all told with searing honesty and disarming openness, I was born by the sea excavates a space for hope, finding Culver digging through Humberside silt to find a world weary optimism, the raw material from which his visual and sound art is shaped. For this collection of expansions and inversions, Culver invites a collection of kindred spirits, contemporary inspirations and old heroes to wade into the salt water of his formative years spent living for impromptu raves and afterparties, connecting vivid memories of his birth place of Withernsea to artists hailing from as nearby as Preston and Bridlington, further afield, from Manchester and London, Berlin and Paris, before returning back to Hull, to where it all began.

For some, responding to I was born by the sea means diving even deeper into the record’s furthest reaches. Space Afrika clear away the pummelling loops of noise from ‘It’s hard to get to know you,’ revealing a cool and cavernous expanse in its wake. Distant chatter, previously heard as though through thin, plasterboard walls, now echoes from outside the maddening claustrophobia of the original’s Sisyphean sonics, illuminated as a dense storm cloud suspended amidst a more open scene, washed clean by a lighter rain, allowing the tender heart of the track to beat clear. London producer MOBBS stretches out ‘Pigeon Flesh’ into an epic, 10-minute, cold-sweat spiral, strung-out tension wrung from disconnected phone tones twisted in unexpected directions, snatches of Culver’s voice turned inside-out and deep fried bass threatening to tip the track over into oblivion, the build-and-release of a nervous breakdown experienced in real time. In an act of subversive self-reflection, Morgane Polanski switches one kind of ennui for another in her adaption of ‘I was born by the sea,’ swapping the sea for the city, English seaside towns in January for summer evenings in Paris and flashing lighthouses and sparkling oil rigs for the Eiffel Tower and the traffic around L’Arc de Triomphe. Even Culver finds time to revisit ‘Dream About Yourself,’ a track taken from his EP Post Traumatic Fantasy, breathing new words into its glacial drift, the half-remembered testimony of a shut-in: Woke up in the evening / Pray for me / Don’t trust anyone / Pray for algorithm. Reframed in a more melancholy light, the track’s reverberant keys even more clearly evoke a mournful nostalgia, fresh pain felt in old wounds.

Others find a parallel universe in Culver’s visceral world building. Rainy Miller flips the script with a scorched, avant-drill rework of ‘Daytime TV’, threading puncturing hi-hats and queasy low-end surge through the track’s steady ambient cascade, invoking the irresistible Preston beat magic of Miller’s own essential debut album, Desquamation. Aho Ssan melts away the crystalline textures of ‘Love Like an Abscess’ with the ominous crackle of a nascent fire, building through swathes of organic Max/MSP squelch and brittle, nails-down-chalkboard scrape, swelling and metastasising the original to spill over Culver’s desperate hymn to corporeal desire, at once flesh and not. Teresa Winter transports us an hour up the coast from Withernsea to her native Bridlington, replacing the sea wall of synthesis on ‘Nervous Energy’ with muffled ASMR murk and fever dream whispers, transforming Culver’s unflinching observations into a haunting call-and-response, filling in the blanks with her own eerie utterances, a fleeting conversation with a ghost. In a touching victory lap, Fila Brazillia, eccentric stalwarts of beloved ‘90s trip hop imprint Pork Recordings, whose performances at Hull institution The Lamp convinced a young Culver of the necessity to make his mark on club culture, resurface for their first remix in 20 years. Steve Cobby and David McSherry lead a low-slung, heartfelt stroll back through a suite of tracks from I was born by the sea, tracing a full circle saunter from Culver’s origins to his current musical practice, the sounds of his present repurposed by the sound of his youth. In a gesture that reflects the emotional complexity of the project, Fila Brazillia find joy at the end of Culver’s troubled reflection, picking out an undeniable groove in the stasis of feeling trapped in your hometown. Underlining Hull’s vital musical legacy, from Baby Mammoth to Throbbing Gristle, Cobby and McSherry demonstrate that, though there are certainly storms, by the sea there is also sun and through the fog, if you listen, you can hear a singular sound, a sound now carried by Richie Culver.

Participant is a record label and creative studio run by William Markarian-Martin and Richie Culver

Greg Paulus joins forces with fellow Brooklynite Taylor Bense for a new Freerange EP showcasing their left field, raw house sounds across three original tracks plus a bonus Martinez Brothers edit.

With previous releases appearing on labels as diverse as Soul Clap, Let’s Play House, Ghostly International and Kompakt, the producer, DJ and trumpeter is perhaps best known for being one half of No Regular Play who have recorded LP’s and EP’s for Wolf & Lamb, Crew Love, and Let’s Play House. Never one to be confined to one genre, Greg takes influence from Jazz, Funk, Hip Hop and underground house to form a unique sound primed for discerning dance floors. Taylor Bense is an in-house composer and producer at the highly regarded Hyperballad Studios in Brooklyn, where he works and records a wide spectrum of music for everything from high end commercial work to EP’s for Wolf + Lamb and Soul Clap Records. The entire EP was recorded and produced at Hyperballad Studios over the past few years.

Title track Heat Make Sense wears its Prince inspiration on its sleeve with a hooky whistled tune, crunchy live bass fills and punchy, raw beats. Next up we have Switch which features Brooklyn MC’s Stimulus and Malik Work on vocal duties and Greg’s own trumpet adding top lines to the deep pads and rolling groove.

Marino takes us back to golden era jacking Chicago house of the 00’s but with Greg’s trumpet flourishes bringing a live, jazzy energy to the track. Fellow NYC mainstay Big $exy provides his trademark deep baritone vocal to give a little hip house flavour. Closing out the EP we have NYC’s Martinez Brothers providing an uptempo minimal edit of Do You Love Me, a track from Greg’s previous Freerange EP. The MB’s keep things rolling and stripped back for maximum club impact creating a useful DJ tool whilst allowing Greg’s musical and vocal parts to shine.

Skepta and fellow BBK member Jammer launch house label Más Tiempo, with the pair collaborating for the debut EP ‘Mas Murder’

The release sees the Mercury Prize-winning MC, songwriter, and producer showcase his house sounds ahead of the label launch party at London’s KOKO on 30th April 2023.

Skepta, the influential Mercury Prize-winning MC, producer, designer, director, and founding member of seminal British grime collective Boy Better Know, unveils his new label Más Tiempo on 28th April alongside instrumental LOTM founder and BBK mainstay Jammer, as the pair launch the house-centric project with their ‘Mas Murder’ EP.

Featuring London talents J Kolo and Ossie (Club Bad/Madhouse), the debut EP showcases a first glimpse of the musical direction of the label, with the imprint set to provide a platform for producers to ‘expand their current portfolio range’ - with Skepta building on his iconic DC10 debut for Circoloco last summer, plus forthcoming appearances in Milan, Ibiza and more.

“‘This generation rules the nation, with version’... that really resonated with us for the Más Tiempo journey. Musical Youth sampled on ‘Mas Murder’ was perfect to showcase the way we feel about giving people our spin on house production with instrumentals while paying homage to the ones that came before us.” - Jammer.

Collaborating on the lead cut, Skepta and Jammer’s ‘Mas Murder’ is a low-slung, heady house cut shaped for bustling terraces and built for clubs, fusing crisp percussion, a snaking bassline and eerie melodies for a heads-down effort. Handing over to Jammer, who links up with J Kolo and Ossie, ‘Touch Me’ draws from UK house influences for a skippy, slinking production.

Alongside the EP, Más Tiempo will also take over legendary London venue KOKO on 30th April, with the event being the first standalone show for the collective, having collaborated with The Martinez Brothers and Cuttin Headz at The Beams in December. Featuring performances from Benji B and DJ Maximum alongside sets from both label heads, the show will see Skepta return to the venue for the first time since 2016 following the release of his critically acclaimed LP ‘Konnichiwa’.

Jason Mraz is living full spiral. It’s not full circle, exactly, because he’s changed and his experiences have changed, but on his eighth album, Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride, the musician has found himself returning to a familiar junction in space. The new songs, which are unabashedly pop, see Mraz reuniting with numerous collaborators, including Los Angeles band Raining Jane and producer Martin Terefe, who helmed 2008’s We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. In fact, as Mraz looked at the number eight, he instead saw an infinity sign.

Grammy-nominated, global superstar Kelly Clarkson is back with her tenth studio album chemistry, set to arrive June 23rd, 2023. The Texas-born singer-songwriter first came to fame in 2002 as the winter of the inaugural season of “American Idol.”

Her debut single “A Moment Like This” followed and quickly went to #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100, ultimately ranking as the year’s best selling single in the U.S.

Further, Clarkson is one of pop’s top singles artists, with 17 singles boasting multi-platinum, platinum and gold certifications around the world, including such global favorites as “Miss Independent” and “Because of You.”

Her multi-Emmy Award-winning daytime talk show “The Kelly Clarkson” show is currently filming its 4thseason and has already been picked up for its 5th and 6th seasons.

Additionally, she was the winning coach on seasons 14, 15, 17 and 21 of “The Voice” and is currently a coach for Season 23.
Kelly is one of the most popular artists of this era with a total worldwide sales of more than 25 million albums and 40 million singles.

When I first heard Natalie Rose LeBrecht's time-suspending, air-ionizing music, more than twenty years ago, I thought "this kid is on to something." She's been proving that thought right ever since. Her recordings, from the teenage 4-track tapes she made as Greenpot Bluepot to the recent albums under her own name, have been fascinating dispatches from her progressively deeper dives into her gorgeous, weird, wildly idiomatic aesthetic. Holy Prana Open Game is a jewel of intensely personal cosmic music, created through a remarkable process of openness, craftiness, addition and subtraction. It belongs to a tradition of albums that document a rich, meditative sound as it rises up to join the world outside its creators' minds: Alice Coltrane's Universal Consciousness, Harmonia's Musik von Harmonia, Philip Glass's North Star, Talk Talk's Laughing Stock.

"Meditative" is specifically the idea here: Holy Prana Open Game had its origins in the fourteen days LeBrecht spent silently meditating in her home's small music room in the summer of 2019. "I came out of that bursting with the will to create new music," she says, and she created it sound-first. LeBrecht taught herself to program an analog synthesizer's timbres from scratch, and built a new set of glacial, heady compositions out of them, eventually singing to accompany the keyboard parts she was playing.

Then she closed her eyes at her computer, "let my mind be clear and open, imagined light pouring down through me, and began auto-writing to my memory of the music playing through my mind. Most of the lyrics emerged this way, and then I used my conscious mind to refine them a bit at the end." One other song came along with LeBrecht's new pieces, a cover that seems wildly unlikely from the outside and makes total sense in its context: it's a version of Atoms for Peace's "Amok" (which had been created by improvisation and editing, too), mutated into her own idiolect.

In early March of 2020, LeBrecht recorded Holy Prana Open Game's analog synth parts with Martin Bisi at his studio in Brooklyn--and then the world shut down. As you may have gathered, LeBrecht is very much a spiritual, head-in-the-stars type. She is also extremely hardcore, and if making the art she wants to make means doing things the hard way, she cracks her knuckles and gets down to it. Within weeks, she had taught herself how to record, mix and edit with a digital audio workstation. She recorded her vocal parts (sometimes multi-tracked into a radiant choir) at home, assembled a rough mix of the album, and sent it off to her collaborators.

LeBrecht spent some years studying with and assisting La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela at their legendary sound-and-light installation, the Dream House. As with their work, her singular, precisely focused vision is shored up by its openness to artistic voices beyond her own. For Holy Prana Open Game, she worked with the Australian guitarist Mick Turner and drummer Jim White (both of Dirty Three, the Tren Brothers and innumerable other projects), as well as woodwind player David Lackner, a longtime presence on her recordings.

Turner and White have been playing together in one context or another since 1985; in the summer of 2020, they were only blocks from each other in Melbourne, Australia, whose strict lockdown meant they couldn't meet up to record together. So both of them, as well as Lackner, recorded their improvisational additions to LeBrecht's rough mixes individually, often without hearing each other's contributions. "I had asked them to play as much as they could on each track," she says, "and told them that I would edit it all down in post, so I had a lot of source material of theirs to work with."

LeBrecht arranged and edited the recordings from all four of their homes to flow together like breath across the duration of her suite. Prana, one of the album's central conceits, is in fact the Sanskrit word for breath, with the connotation of the breath of life. Like LeBrecht's music, prana flows at its own pace, and demands stillness to take in fully--but it's also subtly playful and surprising, a force that can be as light as air or as immersive as the atmosphere itself.

Grammy-nominated, global superstar Kelly Clarkson is back with her tenth studio album chemistry, set to arrive June 23rd, 2023. The Texas-born singer-songwriter first came to fame in 2002 as the winter of the inaugural season of “American Idol.”

Her debut single “A Moment Like This” followed and quickly went to #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100, ultimately ranking as the year’s best selling single in the U.S.

Further, Clarkson is one of pop’s top singles artists, with 17 singles boasting multi-platinum, platinum and gold certifications around the world, including such global favorites as “Miss Independent” and “Because of You.”

Her multi-Emmy Award-winning daytime talk show “The Kelly Clarkson” show is currently filming its 4thseason and has already been picked up for its 5th and 6th seasons.

Additionally, she was the winning coach on seasons 14, 15, 17 and 21 of “The Voice” and is currently a coach for Season 23.
Kelly is one of the most popular artists of this era with a total worldwide sales of more than 25 million albums and 40 million singles.

AVKRVST wurde von Martin Utby und Simon Bergseth gegründet - zwei Musikern und Freunden, die zusammen aufwuchsen und einen Pakt schlossen, dass sie eine Band gründen würden, wenn sie älter sind. Jetzt, 22 Jahre später, ist ein Album fertig: 49 Minuten Musik, inspiriert von allem, was sie in ihrer Kindheit gehört haben - von Mew, Anekdoten und Porcupine Tree bis hin zu Opeth, Neal Morse und King Crimson. "The Approbation" ist ein Konzeptalbum über eine düstere Seele, die nur mit ihren Gedanken allein gelassen wird, isoliert in einer Hütte tief in den dunklen Wäldern, weit weg von der Zivilisation. Das Album führt den Hörer durch die Gedanken eines Mannes, der mit der Akzeptanz des Todes kämpft und in den Abgrund gezogen wird. Klanglich ist "The Approbation" ein wuchtig klingendes Stück Musik: Es bietet alles von üppigen, melancholischen Stimmungen bis hin zu schweren, aggressiven Atmosphären. Es versucht, das Gefühl eines kalten, düsteren Herbstes einzufangen - ein dunkler Himmel, gefüllt mit Sternen, die über dem Nebel schweben. Das gesamte Album wurde in einer Hütte in Alvdal (Norwegen) während eines regnerischen, kalten Herbstes und Winters geschrieben und aufgenommen. Während des gesamten Albums kann man Regengeräusche und das Hupen eines Zuges aus der Ferne hören, die tatsächlich nachts unter dem Sternenhimmel in der Hütte aufgenommen wurden. Das Artwork von "The Approbation" ist ein Werk von Mastermind Eliran Kantor, der Folgendes über das Cover zu sagen hat: "Ich wollte das Element der vergehenden Zeit während einer Zeit der Abgeschiedenheit und Selbstreflexion in einer Waldhütte finden und dachte an die Sterne über mir. Alles auf dem Boden schläft und schlummert, während direkt über uns das Universum auf niemanden wartet. Das passte gut zu vielen Texten, da in ihnen die Elemente des Himmels immer die Rolle spielen, die unaufhaltsam ist und ständig auf den Menschen da unten einwirkt, der nach oben starrt und sich von der Schwerkraft seiner Umgebung mitreißen lässt und wie sie ihn zum Nachdenken anregt."

Delve into the Dutch jazz scene of the 1950s and 1960s with a selection of classic and rare hard bop and cool jazz tracks from artists like Herman Schoonderwalt, the Diamond Five, Wessel Ilcken and Tony Vos. Holland never sounded this hip before!

"Jazz is garbage and a caricature of the modern orchestra; it is garbage arranged by half-grown musicians for the benefit of common entertainment." In spite of the Dutch cultural establishment's attempts to preclude jazz - as illustrated by this citation from the October 1926 issue of music magazine De Muziek - The Netherlands was one of the earliest adopters of the new music style as it came over to the Old Continent at the end of World War I.

Delve into the Dutch jazz scene of the 1950s and 1960s with a selection of classic and rare hard bop and cool jazz tracks from artists like Herman Schoonderwalt, the Diamond Five, Wessel Ilcken and Tony Vos. Holland never sounded this hip before!

"Jazz is garbage and a caricature of the modern orchestra; it is garbage arranged by half-grown musicians for the benefit of common entertainment." In spite of the Dutch cultural establishment's attempts to preclude jazz - as illustrated by this citation from the October 1926 issue of music magazine De Muziek - The Netherlands was one of the earliest adopters of the new music style as it came over to the Old Continent at the end of World War I.

Moto Music of Zürich presents the "Martina EP" from the mind of Mallorca's talented artist Barcé.

4 classy selections spanning flavors of Bossa House to Deep House and colorful Techno to ethereal Electro, await in the bliss of this vinyl experience suited for dynamic occasions; includes an edit from Dan Piu and mastering by Marco Pellegrino at Analogcut. Pressed on 180 gram vinyl for premium listening quality.

The Martina EP is dedicated the Barcé's niece and Goddaughter.

Humanoid continues the journey on De:tuned and returns with a new 4 track EP of classic acid jams. Brian Dougans harks back to the fundamentals of late 80s and early 90s productions, resulting in a masterclass of 303 action from a pioneer. 'Sweet Acid Sound' delivers guaranteed peak-time party material, while elsewhere tracks like 'Roached' and 'Si-rak' see Brian fusing acid and techno to hypnotic and addictive effect. Eternal love and respect tot he originators Graham Massey, Gerald Simpson and Martin Price.

Kevin Foakes (Openmind, DJ Food, Ninja Tune) created all the graphic work. Mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis and pressed on 180 gr vinyl. A separate digital release will also be available at the usual digital shops. Stay tuned!

Humanoid continues the journey on De:tuned and returns with a new 4 track EP of classic acid jams. Brian Dougans harks back to the fundamentals of late 80s and early 90s productions, resulting in a masterclass of 303 action from a pioneer. 'Sweet Acid Sound' delivers guaranteed peak-time party material, while elsewhere tracks like 'Roached' and 'Si-rak' see Brian fusing acid and techno to hypnotic and addictive effect. Eternal love and respect tot he originators Graham Massey, Gerald Simpson and Martin Price.

Kevin Foakes (Openmind, DJ Food, Ninja Tune) created all the graphic work. Mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis and pressed on 180 gr vinyl. A separate digital release will also be available at the usual digital shops. Stay tuned!

Berlin-based Estonian producer Muudu is releasing his first LP called "Who Let The Bear In The Studio".

Mixing Nordic indie-prog-rock influences with low-fi dance music, this one right here is for the people who love the sounds of Juno60 & Monopoly.

The LP features house-music legend Freestyle Man and many favorite Estonian artists, producers, and composers, such as jonas.f.k, Sander Mölder and Erki Pärnoja.
The album is mixed by Martin "Muudu" Kuut and mastered by Klas "Sasse" Lindblad.

Degrees of Freedom is a Canadian musical group founded in 1984 in Montreal by Janet Cadman (vocals and percussion), Martin Chartrand (bass, guitar, rhythm programming and vocals) and David Curtis (keyboards, vocals, and percussion). Established as a 5-piece New Wave cover band, Degrees of Freedom evolved into its classic quartet configuration following the departure of the original guitarist and drummer, and the subsequent enlistment of Santino Mastrocola on drums. With this lineup change came a new musical mission: the writing, recording and live presentation of original material only. Since Santino's withdrawal from the band in 1988, Degrees of Freedom has carried on as a trio in the studio while augmenting concert performances with additional musicians. In February 1985, Degrees of Freedom performed at the newly formed S.O.S. (Save Our Songwriters) Club in Montreal. Like other participants in the S.O.S. project, Degrees of Freedom was rewarded with studio time to record some of its own songs. One of these, "August is an Angel" was selected to close out the locally produced 1985 band anthology album "Listen - A Faze Compilation of Montreal Music." The next year, a new track "In This Room," was included in the follow-up release "Listen 2." Both songs, with four newly recorded works, were issued in 1988 as Degrees of Freedom's eponymous sole vinyl release, informally known as the “China” album. In 2015, the music of Degrees of Freedom experienced a renaissance thanks to a new generation of club DJs, traditional and internet-based radio hosts, vinyl disc collectors, and other aficionados of synth-based music. Local and international recognition has come in the form of record sales to fans in Canada as well as in the USA, Germany, Scotland, England, Ireland, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Spain, Lithuania, Sweden, Bulgaria, Australia, Vietnam, and Japan. Responding to the resurgence of interest, Degrees of Freedom has twice re-issued the disc (2017 and 2019). Today, with eyes on the future and the past, Janet, Martin and David continue to collaborate on new material including the songs, "Metal Flesh" and "Be This Way" both accessible on the band's YouTube channel.

Pinky Perzelle, aka Sonny Rooney's debut 'No Games' featuring Eda Eren, is a true labour of love and an ode to his total passion and dedication to multi instrumental record creation without compromise. Almost every instrument was recorded and played by Perzelle at his home studio. Featuring the utterly unique, impassioned and reassuring vocals of British-Turkish artist, Eda Eren, and additional drums from world renowned Malcolm Catto (The Heliocentrics). The lead track is a timeless, heartfelt, funk-ladened portal into a world reminiscent of a cinematic movie scene or an undiscovered gem from another era all-together. The hypnotic 'Remix' from Velvet Season & The Hearts Of Gold aka Gerry Rooney & Joel Martin, introduces subtle electronica and dubbed out instrumentation. A true lesson in after hours, left-field Balearica. Pinky's own 'Electronic Mix' references early house music and broken-beat electronic drums. Showing yet another side of Perzelle's approach to music making.

DJ Feedback

Gilles Peterson:
"Great stuff! Loving the Turkish twist on No Games. Whoooop!"

Dj Harvey:
"Definitely a jam I’ll play in Ibiza for my summer season!"

Francios K:
"I have the Original Mix and love it!"

Tim Sweeney (Beats in space):
"Great job with this. Definitely supporting! Added to BIS playlist."

Colleen Cosmo Murphy (WWFM):
"Now here’s a great new song. A debut song from Pinky Perzelle aka Sonny Rooney. Also a great remix from Velvet Season & The Hearts Of Gold!"

Charlie Bones (Do You):
"Dangerously sexy."

Apiento (Test Pressing):
"A killer song put together with an overall vision from someone that knows where they want to be. An artist to watch. Respect."

Nancy Noise:
"I haven’t stopped listening to it! I mean it! Well done!"

Laurent Garnier:
"Playlisting Original Mix on PBB Radio. Thanks a lot!"

Luke Howard (Horse Meat Disco):
"Bravo, great job. Keep up the good work. Always happy to hear real music with new melodies and ideas!"

Leo Mas:
"Pinky’s Electronic Mix’ is great! Great job, bravo!"

Ashley Beedle:
"I’ll be putting this in August’s show. Sounds wicked."

Jonny Rock:
"This is great! Intense emotion dancefloor bomb! Big up the Perzelle."

Mehmet Aslan:
"Nice ones, I like! Added to Spotify ‘Track ID’s’ playlist."

CC Disco:
"Sick release! Was not what I was expecting. Even better!"

Patrizio Cavaliere (Mixmag Asia):
"A sublime statement of intent."

Anlässlich des 35-jährigen Jubiläums kündigen Mute/BMG eine Sonderedition von A WAY OF LIFE an, dem dritten Studioalbum des einflussreichen Elektronik-Punk-Duos SUICIDE. Obwohl die Band
während ihrer Karriere kaum Anerkennung erhielt, gelten Suicide als eine der inspirierendsten Bands der 1970er Jahre.
Sie beeinflussten Bands wie Soft Cell, Depeche Mode und The Jesus And Mary Chain, während sie Fans in Nick Cave, Jim Thirlwell, M.I.A., Spiritualized, Lydia Lunch, Bobby Gillespie und Savages fanden, um nur einige zu nennen.
Ursprünglich 1988 veröffentlicht, mehr als ein Jahrzehnt nach ihrem kultigen, selbstbetitelten Album, taten sich Alan Vega & Martin Rev erneut mit dem Frontmann von The Cars, Ric Ocasek, zusammen,
um "neun schaurig-schöne Industrial-Popsongs" (Pitchfork) zu produzieren.
Diese Jubiläumsausgabe ist als Limited Edition Transparent Blue Vinyl und CD erhältlich und wurde von Denis Blackham (Skye Mastering) komplett neu gemastert.
Auf jedem Format sind die Bonustracks 'Heat Beat' und eine neu entdeckte Live-Coverversion von Bruce Springsteens 'Born in the USA' enthalten. Drei weitere, bisher unveröffentlichte Aufnahmen sind exklusiv auf der CD-Version zu hören.

Manchester's Avant-Jazzy-Funk outfit Swamp Children were enviably eclectic and Taste What's Rhythm is their mini masterpiece. Flitting gracefully through a feast of genres with consummate ease, the band were almost indefinable and, accordingly, nigh-on impossible to market. So whilst this cult EP, originally out in 1982 on Factory Benelux, remains in demand for those in the know, it has also glided under the radar of many otherwise clued-up heads for over 40 years. If you don't know, get to know...

The Taste Whats Rhythm EP was originally released in 1982 on Factory Benelux (an informal partnership between the legendary Manchester-based Factory Records and Belgium-based Les Disques du Crépuscule). With it's kaleidoscopic brightness, silky panache and superb execution, it remains one of the most startling documents of a remarkable time and place.

The EP opens with the oh-so-Balearic title track. "Taste Whats Rhythm" gently unfolds with a Spanish guitar, hazy, drifting vocals and sun-bleached Latin percussion. After this most sumptuous of intros, the tempo is raised, the rhythms grow in complexity as horns jostle amidst the restrained chaos quite wonderfully. And then it winds down again. Proper fluctuating rhythms and tempos throughout. I guess that was the point - taste the variety!

“You’ve Got Me Beat” is a *perfect* piece of post-punk pop-jazz. A mysterious, after dark jazz-dancer, the aching vocals serve as a touching, tender resignation to love. A guitar hook which seems to elegantly reference The Blackbyrds' "Rock Creek Park" and a flowing pulse from New York's No Wave scene. It still sounds so fresh all the years later.

Closing out this most perfect of EPs, the twisted synths and nimble rhythms of bass-heavy roller "Softly Saying Goodbye" combine to create a super-slinky gem; Brit-Funk of the highest order.

Swamp Children formed in Manchester in 1980, around core members Ann Quigley (vocals), Tony Quigley (bass, metalaphone, percussion), John Kirkham (electric & acoustic guitars, metalaphone, percussion), Ceri Evans (keyboards, bass, percussion, background vocals), Cliff Saffer (saxaphone, clarine) and Martin Moscrop (drums, percussion, trumpet). They initially practised at a rehearsal space shared with fellow post-punk funkers A Certain Ratio and Joy Division/New Order. Young and relatively inexperienced upon getting together, the ages of Swamp Children's members ranged from just 16 to 19. Talk about the brilliance of youth.

From the outset, Swamp Children shared DNA with A Certain Ratio. Martin Moscrop was a founder member of Ratio, while Ann provided artwork for them. Although the close association with ACR led some to assume that Swamp Children were simply a splinter group, the new band pursued a more overt latin and jazz tinged direction, at the same time adopting a post-punk attitude towards making music, influenced by the records they were listening to at the time: Miles Davis, Brazilian jazz fusion and heavy funk dancefloor sides.

The band made their live debut at Manchester's infamous Beach Club in May 1980. Thanks to a double-booking blunder another support band turned up and were turned away, having travelled all the way from Dublin for a string of British dates. The name of the unlucky band was U2...

With arrangements that emphasised Tony Quigley’s darkly-coloured basslines (and Ann Quigley’s impressionistic vocals as another instrument in the mix) Swamp Children possessed an easygoing grace and a bubbling energy which indicated that the band's true strength was as an ensemble. The band’s musical sophistication (a fusion of funk, jazz, and bossa nova) would prove to be a strong influence on later UK acts like Sade. Indeed, Swamp Children themselves later mutated into the more known and acclaimed latin jazz outfit Kalima.

Working directly with James Nice, custodian of Factory Benelux, means that the audio for this re-issue of the classic EP comes from the original tapes. Cut at 45 RPM and released in the house Be With disco sleeve, we’ve made sure this record is well up to the job of having a permanent place in every DJ’s bag. As far as we’re concerned, this is essential stuff.

Elderbrook kündigt die Veröffentlichung seines neuen Albums "Little Love" an Grammy-Gewinner Elderbrook hat Details zu seinem
kommenden Album Little Love bekannt gegeben und zeitgleich die Veröffentlichung seiner neuen Single "Beautiful Morning" am 28. Oktober angekündigt.

Durch die Kombination von flimmernden Synthesizern, ergreifenden Breakdowns und kraftvollen Lyrics, die das Gefühl der Liebe in ihrer reinsten Form einfangen, beschwört "Beautiful Morning" die Art von Ehrfurcht einflößenden Sonnenaufgängen hervor, auf die der Titel
des Tracks anspielt.
Elderbrooks zweites Studioalbum Little Love wird am 24. Februar erscheinen.
Elderbrook, ein Live-Phänomen, autodidaktischer Multiinstrumentalist, Produzent und Singer-Songwriter, ist bekannt für seine Zusammenarbeit mit einigen der größten Namen der Dance-Musik-Szene, darunter Diplo, Camelphat, Black Coffee, Bob Moses, The Martinez Brothers und Carnage.

Die Veröffentlichung von "Beautiful Morning" und die Ankündigung von Little Love markiert den Beginn eines aufregenden neuen Kapitels in der Geschichte eines Elektronik-Künstlers, der weiter wächst.

Today sees Belgian-Caribbean provocateur Charlotte Adigéry and her long-term musical partner, Bolis Pupul announce their debut album Topical Dancer, due for release on March 4 2022 via Soulwax’s iconic label DEEWEE.
Cultural appropriation. Misogyny and racism. Social media vanity. Post-colonialism and political correctness. These are not talking points that you’d ordinarily hear on the dancefloor but Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul are ripping up the rulebook with their debut album Topical Dancer. The Ghent-based duo, who broke out with their 2019 Zandoli EP, are rare storytellers in electronic music: they take the temperature of the time and funnel them into their playful synth concoctions – never didactic and always with a knowing wink.

Their debut studio record – which cements them as a duo under both their names for the first time and is co-written and co-produced by Soulwax – is both a triumph of kaleidoscopic electro-pop and “a snapshot of how we think about pop culture in the 2020s.” It captures Charlotte and Bolis’s essence as musical collaborators and the conversations they’ve had over the past two years on tour, as well as their perspectives as Belgians with an immigrant background, Charlotte with Guadeloupean and French-Martinique ancestry and Bolis being of Chinese descent.

Beyond the album’s thematic heft, Topical Dancer reflects Charlotte and Bolis’s idiosyncratic sound: it’s thoughtful but it bangs. Their take on familiar genres is always off-kilter; songs sound undone or a little wonky; but these are nocturnal heaters to make the club throb. “We like to fuck things up a bit,” laughs Bolis. “We cringe when we feel like we're making something that already exists, so we're always looking for things to combine to make it sound not like a pop song, not like an R&B song, not a techno song. We’re always putting different worlds together. Charlotte and I get bored when things get too predictable.”

Topical Dancer is fizzing with ideas – there’s certainly no filler among its 13 tracks. But above all, perhaps, it has a restlessness, a desire not to be boxed in and to escape others’ narrow perceptions of who they are. It’s summarised by the refrain of their new single, ‘Blenda’: “Don’t sound like what I look like / Don’t look like what I sound like.” “One thing that always comes up,” says Bolis, “is that people perceive me as the producer, and Charlotte as just a singer. Or that being a Black artist means you should be making ‘urban’ music. Those kinds of boxes don’t feel good to us.”

‘Blenda’ in particular references how “I am a product of colonialism,” says Charlotte, “and I feel guilty for taking up space in a white country.” The song was inspired in part by Reni Eddo-Lodge’s book Why I’m Not Longer Talking To White People About Race. “It talks about the colonial past and post-colonial present in the UK,” Charlotte continues, “but that isn’t merely a British or American problem, Belgium is part of that as well.” She says that her home country is likewise “oblivious to a big part of its history” which “results in general ignorance and a lack of understanding and empathy towards Belgian inhabitants of immigrant descent.”

On Topical Dancer, it’s less about finger pointing or being dogmatic about all the things they speak about. It’s about emancipation through humour. “I don’t want to feel this heaviness on me,” says Charlotte. “These aren’t my crosses to bear. Topical Dancer is my way of freeing myself of these issues. And of having fun.”

Dutch Eurodance group 2 Brothers On The 4th Floor was founded in 1990, when the two brothers Bobby and Martin Boer started experimenting with music in a small bedroom in their parental apartment on the 4th floor.

In 1995 and 1996, 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor further widened their success with the singles “Fly (Through the Starry Night)”, “Come Take My Hand” and “Fairytales”, changing their style to happy hardcore. These singles topped the charts in various European countries. At the end of 1996, the band released the single “There’s a Key” and their second studio album 2.

2 is available on vinyl for the first time as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on crystal clear vinyl. It includes remixes by Ferry Corsten and Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo.

Mark Hawkins readies ‘Venn Diagram’ album for Aus Music this May.
Mark Hawkins’ early releases on labels such as Djax Up Beats and Ugly Funk lit flares in the world of
underground techno, with a sense of humour and tougher-than-thou sonic palette enforced via his jacking live
sets. Across the following decades, Mark has delivered razor sharp cuts that encompass pretty much
anything that has an electronic heart - leaving his own unique trail for others to follow via his work for labels
as diverse as Dixon Avenue Basement Jams, Sonic Mind, Mistress Recordings, Houndstooth and Aus.

With his latest album, it feels like Mark has pushed ahead with a change of direction he started with 2021’s
‘The New Normal’. ‘Venn Diagram’ carries on this journey into uncharted lands; molten, distorted drum
assaults weave around glistening melodies, kitchen sink soul glides below fractured sound pools. Opener
‘Verblex Oscillos’ immediately demands your attention grabbing, with a so-happy-it’s-sad melody spiralling
around a cascade of tough-as-fuck dance floor destroying beats, along with ‘Isolated’s urgent combination of
strings, acid and chicago-tough electro beats.

Other cuts on the album share a similar approach, ‘Maladayfun Friction’s restless energy derives from a fusion
of skittering drums and deranged synths and ‘Still Have Time’s dreamy super saw pads and plaintive vocal
espouse a kind of wasted elegance, roaming the city nightlife in a Gucci dress and Doc Martin boots.
‘Nlasckhdsjk’ and ‘Frederikalstublieft’ propel forward with such a sleek and effervescent aesthetic, recalling
fast drives along picturesque European highways or heady take-offs to unknown urban territories. The
aesthetic becomes more elegant on the album’s centrepoint tracks ‘Rebula Conundrum’ and ‘Nlasckhdsjk’,
where optimistic bleeps, bass and 707 drums underpin jazzy chords and soaring leads.

Other tracks show the arc of Mark’s direction of travel, with soulful vocals that share a well of deep-rooted
optimism that was so evident on his breakthrough 2016 Social Housing album. ‘L.O.V.E.’ breaks into
post-Sophie territory with a catchy modulated vocal joyfully two-stepping across to the nightclub bar and
‘How Do I Know’ providing a heart rending torch song for 6am kicking-out-time refugees to help them find
their way back home.

Ghost Producer aka Badawi (aka Raz Mesinai aka Bilal ibn Yakub al-Badawi) is a prolific producer and artist who has been on the forefront of underground experimental jazz and electronic music scenes around the world for over thirty years, with a catalog of albums on labels as ROIR, Asphodel and Tzadik under various monikers dating back to the late 1980s.

Ghost Producer released his first albums starting in the late 80’s under the monikers Psy Co. and Ruff Riddim Productions, selling his cassette tapes in NYC. He produced, on average, at least one album per week since 1988 until today. One of the twenty or so monikers was Badawi, later being signed to ROIR Records and releasing the seminal experimental dub, punk albums »Bedouin Sound Clash« and later »The Heretic of Ether« on Asphodel. Spending time as a child between Occupied Jerusalem, the West Bank (Balata) and New York City (Rock Steady Park) during the height of the B-Boy era in the 70s and 80s informed Ghost Producer’s singular sound of heavy driving Sufi rhythms, sonic experiments, percussion, piano playing and sound design which has connected him to a wide variety of artists ranging from Maryanne Amacher to John Zorn, to added elements of darkness to music by such artists as Hanz Zimmer (Black Hawk Down) and rappers Danny Brown (Pneumonia) and Skepta and Double D (Don) among many others.

At age 14, Ghost Producer was discovered by visionary jazz and rock musician, Juma Sultan (Jimi Hendrix) whom later trusted Ghost Producer with producing the archive of over 2000 hours from recordings from »Studio We« and the Free Jazz Loft Movement in NYC in the 60s and 70s. As a composer, he has worked with Kronos Quartet and has had premiers at Carnegie Hall (Cross Fader, The Echo of Decay) and Lincoln Center (String Quartet For Four Turntables). In addition, Ghost Producer has released several albums on John Zorn’s Tzadik label, where he explored producing to the books of Franz Kafka (Before The Law, Resurrections for Goat Skin, Cyborg Acoustics)

As a composer for film, he coined the term »score design» to describe his work in conceiving and producing scores for films with particularly demanding needs, working on such films as A Late Quartet (director Yaron Zilberman composer: Angelo Badalamenti), The Fountain, Black Swan and The Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky/Clint Mansel), Black Hawk Down (Ridley Scott/Hans Zimmer) and many more. In 2014, he was awarded as a fellow in the Sundance Composers Lab.

In 2015, Ghost Producer formed the Underground Producers Alliance, a unique program for developing producers, performers and composers, with co-founders Scotty Hard (Wu Tang Clan, Medeski Martin and Wood, De La Soul), HPrizm aka High Priest (Anti Pop Consortium), Honeychild Coleman (the 1865, The Slits) and Prince Paul (Jungle Brothers, De La Soul), where Ghost Producer produces entire albums with student participation in his master course.

This album, »The Book of Jinn«, is one of many productions done within the course, featuring players/mentors Juma Sultan (percussion), Chandenie (voice) and Shahzad Ismaily (electric bass), with additional student participation from Adam Culbert and Jonah Sollins (aka Goodnight 1500) on synths and percussion as well, then all remixed and rearranged by Badawi into what you hear here, The Book of Jinn.