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Since 2006, listeners have been curious about the origin of the label name Italians Do It Better. Some say it's an homage to Italo Disco, others guess it's related to ancestry, but in fact it's a nod to the iconic T-shirt Madonna wears in the "Papa Don't Preach" video circa 1986.
Fast forward to a world pandemic... To encourage creativity & lift spirits, Italians Do It Better President, Megan Louise asked every artist “If you could cover your favourite Madonna song…What would it be?”

As a tribute to their label muse & the impact Madonna’s music has had on the world around us, Italians Do It Better are sharing a compilation of covers simply titled “Italians Do It Better”. One of the tracks (“Lucky Star” by Club Intl) is even produced by Max Kamins, the son of Mark Kamins, the New York DJ who helped break Madonna in the early 1980's. From the experience he says “Dance music was the soundtrack of my early childhood. Working on "Lucky Star" reconnected me not only to my father, but also reminded me that a good song is timeless".

Executive produced by Johnny Jewel, the compilation is a passport to 20 covers from the bedrooms of 19 artists across 10 different countries.

Pink Opaque Vinyl

Nachdem er das Kapitel seiner »Mathematics«-Reihe abgeschlossen hat, meldet sich Ed Sheeran endlich zurück und betritt 2025 selbstbewusst eine neue Phase. Indem er die gemeinsamen Nenner von Umfang, Rhythmus und Melodie erkundet, die musikalische Traditionen im Laufe der Geschichte verbinden, hat Sheeran eine Sammlung von Songs geschaffen, die diese Einflüsse nahtlos in einen kühnen, Pop-getriebenen Sound einfließen lassen.

White & Pink Marbled Vinyl

Nachdem er das Kapitel seiner »Mathematics«-Reihe abgeschlossen hat, meldet sich Ed Sheeran endlich zurück und betritt 2025 selbstbewusst eine neue Phase. Indem er die gemeinsamen Nenner von Umfang, Rhythmus und Melodie erkundet, die musikalische Traditionen im Laufe der Geschichte verbinden, hat Sheeran eine Sammlung von Songs geschaffen, die diese Einflüsse nahtlos in einen kühnen, Pop-getriebenen Sound einfließen lassen.

Limited first pressing on silver vinyl. Flying Horseman returns with their first new album in five years. Experience their renewed but signature sound with a fresh line-up.



Flying Horseman is back! After a five year hiatus and with a new line-up, the band is ready to once again captivate headphone junkies and live audiences alike with Anaesthesia, their seventh album. It's an urgent and passionate work of intelligent rock'n roll, hazy psychedelia and cosmic folk. Anaesthesia is brooding, angry and dark but at the same time full of life, wonder and sophistication. It's an invigorating, fascinating, electric brew.



Flying Horseman is still centered around the intensely personal song writing, singing and guitar playing of Bert Dockx. The band's line-up has changed,with Louis Evrard (Pruillip, Ottla, Grid Ravage) and Maximilian Dobbertin (Calicos, Frankie Fame) replacing drummer Alfredo Bravo and bassist Mattias Cré. Bravo and Cré were long-standing members, beloved by fans and fellow musicians alike, and they have played an important part in establishing Flying Horseman's musical identity. Today Evrard and Dobbertin are adding a fresh and personal twist to the idiosyncratic sound of Flying Horseman: their groove, their intuition and sensibility, their soul.



Then there's Loesje and Martha Maieu, who have been part of the group for almost as long as its frontman has, and who offer essential ingredients to bring about Flying Horseman's signature flavour, their haunting vocals and atmospheric electronics contrasting beautifully with Dockx' more earthy vocal delivery and his restless, fiery plucking of the guitar strings.



The whole record is fiery, alternately smouldering and violently burning. These are musical sounds capable of setting the listener's heart and mind ablaze. Anaesthesia is very consciously, a political record born out of Dockx and his friends' bafflement at the state of the world, the new rise of fascism, the onslaught of injustice, barbarism and stupidity which we, inhabitants of planet earth, are witnessing day in day out.



How to guard one's sanity in such a crazy world? How to maintain one's dignity? How to feel useful and joyful when surrounded by confusion and hate? These are the questions Flying Horseman is struggling with, as are so many of us today. But there is joy and purpose in the asking; in the struggling; in staying critical of dominant systems of oppression; in thinking or saying: "I don't agree, this is not how it's supposed to be"; in coming together and connecting, sharing, mourning and dreaming. Joy and purpose; questions and confusion; burning hearts and tarnished dreams: it's allhere, in the transportive sound world of Flying Horseman.



Anaesthesia was recorded in Antwerp by Joris Caluwaerts (keyboardist of the inimitable avant-jazz group .STUFF) and mixed by Yves De Mey (one of Belgium's most prominent & avant-garde electronic wizards), two experienced collaborators who know a thing or two about capturing sound and transforming it into a rewarding listening experience. With their help, Flying Horseman has crafted a tight collection of eight art-rock tunes with a clear identity, a rich sound, an original vision and a joyful purpose in the face of encroaching sinister forces.

When NYC-based experimental dance punks Guerilla Toss, active since 2011, were in Vermont recording their new full-length album You're Weird Now, frontwoman Kassie Carlson would prepare what she called 'punk lunch': a communal meal made by raiding the studio fridge for whatever was left and assembling a sandwich from the most random ingredients imaginable. Regularly joining punk lunch were two legends from their own corners of the weird music world: Stephen Malkmus (Pavement, The Jicks) and Trey Anastasio, Phish guitarist and owner of The Barn; the recording studio where Guerilla Toss were making You're Weird Now, with Malkmus in the producer's seat. Engineer Bryce Goggin, who has worked with Malkmus since Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, and Ben Collette, Phish's longtime engineer at The Barn, were also part of the crew. While the idea of the guy from Phish and the guy from Pavement sitting around with Guerilla Toss, congenially assembling sandwiches from random foodstuffs dug up from the depths of a studio fridge, might seem absurd, it also makes total sense. Because really, if there's any band that serves as the natural bridge between slacker punks who saw Pavement way before you did, wild-eyed wooks who've seen Phish more times than you ever will, and even the eccentrics in '90s drip following former GT tourmates Primus-it's Guerilla Toss. A band so imaginative and unapologetically themselves, they're basically the real-life manifestation of a utopian, post-snob world where all musical ideas are worthy of expression and everyone is welcome. You're Weird Now powers this message. Guerilla Toss' fifth album and second for Sub Pop is a hugely creative and joyful statement about the joy of creativity. With You're Weird Now Guerilla Toss reclaim the word "weird" for everyone brave enough to let their freak flag fly and stay true to their artistic vision no matter what-a way riskier act than it's ever given credit for, and one that requires a certain amount of serene self-confidence that it takes time and effort to cultivate and sustain. And they do so with the enthusiastic support of their musical predecessors: a standout moment arrives with "Red Flag to Angry Bull," which builds to a campfire sing-along-worthy outro featuring Malkmus and Carlson duetting over a chatty, classically Phish-y (there's really no better word for it) solo from Anastasio. The band hopes the message of You're Weird Now will resonate not only with music heads but anyone who struggles with feeling weird in a world where it will always be hard to be different. At the end of the day, it's all about the spirit of punk lunch: there's room for everyone because music is for everyone. "Everyone loves and appreciates music," says Carlson. "If you don't like music, you're kind of an asshole." That's not weird-that's just true.

pen·ti·men·to - eine sichtbare Spur früherer Malerei unter einer oder mehreren Farbschichten auf einer Leinwand - frühes 20. Jahrhundert: aus dem Italienischen, wörtlich "Reue". Auf ihrem ersten Album seit "Still Life" (2022) bewegt sich Carson McHone an der Grenze ihrer musikalischen Vorstellungskraft und kanalisiert so unterschiedliche und überraschende Einflüsse wie Gitarrenrock, pastoralen Folk, Poesie, Feldaufnahmen, visuelle Kunst, Erinnerung, Familie und Landschaft zu ihrem bisher tiefgründigsten Werk. "Pentimento" ist ein kühnes und lohnendes Album. Es ist auch eine Abrechnung: Wie können Liebe und Schönheit in der Gegenwart von Brutalität existieren? Beunruhigend. Dissonant. Gegen ihren Schatten und mit ihre Spuren. Das ist es, was McHone und ihre Mitstreiter (zu denen Daniel Romano, Steve Lambke von den Constantines und andere gehören) auf "Pentimento" mit der Subtilität von Aquarellmalerei und dem Reichtum von Versen einfangen, mit Geisterstimmen und Kinderstimmen gleichermaßen. Jede Schicht ist ein Universum für sich und offenbart den Puls, der Carson McHones kreativen Antrieb belebt. Hier arrangiert und als Ganzes ausgedrückt, ist es ein Meisterwerk. "Alle Lieder von Pentimento entstanden als Gedichte vor dem Hintergrund globaler Krisen, nationaler Grenzen, ziviler Unruhen, Geburt, Tod, schlechter Liebe, neuer Liebe, wahrer Liebe. Sie wurden im Frühling und Sommer in der Wüste geschrieben. Dort werden Geschichte und Zeit in der Dramatik großer Felsbrocken sichtbar, in Schichten auf einer Felswand - das Potential und die vergangene Energie des alten Meeresbodens. Einige dieser Texte wurden auf Postkarten und in Briefen geschrieben. Andere entstanden als Verzierungen auf Aquarellbildern oder als Bildunterschriften für ein Foto in einem Tagebuch, oder sie wurden als Antworten am Rande eines Tagebuchs an ein neugeborenes Kind aus einer vergangenen Generation geschrieben. Diese "Artefakte" des Schreibens/Lebens gaben Aufschluss darüber, was schließlich zum Material für diese Aufnahmen wurde. Später, am Meer und während des ersten Schnees der Saison, kam eine besondere Gruppe von Musikern zusammen, um das Album zum Leben zu erwecken. Während die Hälfte der Songs nach einem strengen "Plan" aufgebaut wurde, kam die andere Hälfte bei dieser Gelegenheit zum ersten Mal zusammen und wurde an Ort und Stelle geprobt und live eingespielt. Über sechs Tage hinweg wurde alles auf einem 8-Spur-Bandgerät aufgenommen, einschließlich zufälliger Rückkopplungen, Bassdröhnen und spontanem Gelächter." - Carson McHone

On the cover of 8 Tips for Full Catastrophe Living, the new album by Asher White, The Statue of Liberty is in pieces but not destroyed - in progress, being built, not yet complete. Her torch is on the ground, her head somewhere out of frame. Before she was a symbol, she was metal, and living, sweating people riveted her together. The spirit of de/construction characterizes 8 Tips, White's 16th LP overall and first since signing to Joyful Noise. Like White's previous albums, 8 Tips for Full Catastrophe Living darts boldly among varied musical styles. Doom metal splits open into bossa nova; psychedelic rock and power pop flip into industrial techno. Each song emerges from its composite parts in the studio: White doesn't draft or demo before recording, but builds out her pieces sculpturally, sound by sound. "It's forever collage, forever assemblage," she says of her music. "To me, it has more to do with J Dilla, L.A. beat, and musique concrète than pop songwriting." The record's quick turns and vivid contrasts reflect White's cultural voraciousness. A writer, painter, and sculptor as well as a musician, she gathers materials constantly, always digging for new ideas in every possible form. The films of Claire Denis, the novels of Clarice Lispector, and the memoirs of Eve Babitz all funnel into White's reflection of 21st century disaster capitalism. 8 Tips is also White's first album to have been mixed outside her Providence studio; after recording it herself, she brought tracks to Seth Manchester (Lightning Bolt, Battles, The Body) who gave the album its brawny, unruly charge. "I was interested in making something that serves dually as a self-help book and a chronicle of self-destruction," says White. Overlaying autobiography onto character vignettes, 8 Tips for Full Catastrophe Living wrenches open the idea of apocalypse - an abrupt disaster rained down on uncomplicated innocents - and peers inside at its bursting, devastated particulars. Apocalypse is slow and uneven. Nations falter as do individual people, clinging fast to their old, dilapidated self-preservation strategies. What saved you in the past might destroy you in the future. Flip it around, shake yourself loose, ruin the person you've known yourself to be, and you might get the chance to become something else. "There have been so many end times, many other apocalypses." White says. "People were writing self-help tips, and people were partying." We have survived catastrophe before. Out of the ruins, people made work - art, books, culture. "I was interested in making something that sounds like a self-help book, but it's actually about self-destruction," says White. "In full catastrophe living, you just have to do a bunch of whippets. This album is mostly about doing whippets. I'm not even kidding."

*Long overdue reissue of the first album by The Hanging Stars to coincide with their tour support slot with Edwyn Collins – initial 300 copies come with 12 x 12 print*

“In late-Sixties California, the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers combined traditional country music with hippy rock to great success. The influence lingered and whatever cultural relevance it has this is a delightful, transporting listen” – The Times 4/5

London-based psych-folk outfit The Hanging Stars re-release their much-loved debut album Over the Silvery Lake on Crimson Crow. Blending folk pastoralism with swampy 60s Americana, they sound like the missing link between the California desert sun and the grey skies of London Town. The album was recorded between LA, Nashville and Walthamstow, with each of these vastly different places leaving an indelible mark on the songs.

Now signed to the Loose Records label and fronted by London-based songwriter, singer and guitarist Richard Olson (The See See, Eighteenth Day of May), The Hanging Stars are essentially a loose collective of people who weave together a blissed-out psychedelic tapestry. The rest of the core band is made up of Sam Ferman on bass and Paulie Cobra on drums, Horse on pedal steel and Patrick Ralla on banjo, guitar. They jam rather than write and hang out rather than rehearse, harnessing a kind of tipsy euphoria resplendent with luscious arrangements and glorious vocal harmonies.

During 2015, prior to this album’s original release the band released two critically acclaimed singles via The Great Pop Supplement (both of which also appear on the album). “Golden Vanity” was premiered by The Line of Best Fit who said; “you'd be forgiven for thinking you'd just unearthed a rare deep cut from the late 60s/early 70s boom of psychedelia infused Americana” and “The House on The Hill” was described by The Guardian as; "a hazy, desert-dream of a song, nicely sharpened with steely-eyed guitars, Mersey-laced harmonies and just a whiff of the Gun Club”.

There are a number of allusions to nature and the weather on the album, borne in part out of the contrasting surroundings in which it was produced. The band’s fascination with Americana led them to record some of the material Stateside, laying down some of the parts at Battle Tapes Studios in Nashville (Lambchop, Paperhead), as well as at Vision Quest Studios in Los Angeles with Rob Campanella. His work with The Quarter After, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Beachwood Sparks The Tyde, and GospelbeacH was a perfect match to capture their sound and they even had San Franciscan legend Chrystof Certik step in on lead guitar for a couple of tracks.

Following the LA recordings, a trip to the Californian desert provided the core notion of what they wanted to produce - a shard of light that they clung on to whilst recording the rest of the album in the significantly more rain-soaked atmosphere of Walthamstow, London, under the watchful eye of Brian O'Shaughnessy at Bark Studios (The Clientele, Comet Gain). As the band explained at the time: “Ultimately we hope you can hear both the sand and the rain in this record.”

The Hanging Stars place themselves firmly as part of a long folk tradition encompassing European and North American influences – as a continuation rather than a pastiche of these styles. This is the sound of a band really coming in to their own, fully formed and in no doubt of their vision. With Over the Silvery Lake they succeeded in producing a record, which has the country, blues and folk traditions at its heart.

"Songs For Other People's Weddings" ist ein Begleitalbum zum gleichnamigen Buch von Jens Lekman und dem preisgekrönten Bestsellerautor David Levithan, das am 5. August 2025 über ABRAMS erscheint. Das Projekt wurde von der überraschenden Nebenkarriere des beliebten schwedischen Künstlers als Hochzeitssänger inspiriert, die zufällig zustande kam, nachdem Fans seinen Song "If You Ever Need A Stranger (To Sing At Your Wedding)" aus dem Jahr 2004 wörtlich nahmen und ihn einluden, auf ihren Hochzeiten aufzutreten. "Songs For Other People's Weddings" ist ein fiktives Werk über J, einen unglücklich verliebten Musiker, der nebenbei als Hochzeitssänger arbeitet. J trifft sich mit Paaren vor ihrem großen Tag, um mehr über die intimen, seltsamen Dinge zu erfahren, die sie zusammengebracht haben, um einen originellen Song zu schreiben, den er ihnen auf ihrer Hochzeit vorträgt. Aber trotz Js Vorliebe, die perfekten Worte für andere zu finden, scheint er nicht in der Lage zu sein, dasselbe für seine eigene Liebe zu seiner Freundin V. zu tun. Lekman bemerkt: "Die Idee, ein erzählerisches Konzeptalbum (eine Rockoper?) zu machen, fühlte sich verboten an. Was für mich normalerweise ein Zeichen dafür ist, dass ich auf dem richtigen Weg bin. Als ich mich mit dem Genre der narrativen Konzeptalben beschäftigte, wurde mir klar, dass eines meiner Lieblingsalben, Frank Sinatras "Watertown", genau das war - eine Platte, die eine chronologische Geschichte über die Länge einer LP erzählte. Da ich nie ein Fan von Musicals oder Rockopern war, diente mir dieses Album als Inspiration. Ich schrieb das Album, während das Buch noch in Arbeit war, und an einigen Stellen begann ich mir vorzustellen, was zwischen den Kapiteln des Buches geschah. Das Buch und das Album waren schließlich miteinander verflochten, gingen aber auch ihre eigenen Wege. Das Buch gab die Struktur der Geschichte vor, aber das Album schlich sich manchmal hinter die Kulissen. Geschichten aus den Liedern fanden ihren Weg in das Buch und umgekehrt." "Songs For Other People's Weddings" folgt der Beziehung von J und V und verändert sich musikalisch, während das Paar durch die Höhen und Tiefen der Liebe navigiert - wobei jede neue Hochzeit ihren eigenen klanglichen Hintergrund bietet. Das Album ist eine orchestrale, romantische Sammlung, die sich zwischen pastoralen Streichern, verträumtem Pop, sanftem Jazz-Saxophon und traurigen House-Beats bewegt. "Die Figur des J kann seine eigenen Emotionen nicht aus seinen Liedern heraushalten, und Jens unterstreicht dies auf eine Weise, die den Hörer immer wieder überrascht", sagt Levithan. "Oft wird er von Matilda Sargren begleitet, die Vs Gefühlen und Gedanken eine Stimme gibt. Ursprünglich sollte sie nur auf den Demos singen, aber als sie anfing, V zu singen, war es keine Frage, dass sie auf dem endgültigen Album zu hören sein würde. Wenn Jens und ich unsere Arbeit getan haben, erzählen der Roman und das Album beide Seiten von Js und Vs Geschichte - und die Spannung entsteht dadurch, wie diese Seiten zusammenpassen." Lekman fügt hinzu: "Auch wenn es in dieser Geschichte um eine Beziehung geht und darum, wie sie sich in den Beziehungen und Hochzeiten anderer widerspiegelt, denke ich, dass es vor allem eine Liebesgeschichte über Musik und ihren Wert in einer Zeit ist, in der sie von Tech-Unternehmen abgewertet und in Inhalte verwandelt wird. Ihre Fähigkeit, zu beruhigen und zu verbinden und ihre Rolle in den Übergangsmomenten unseres Lebens, wie zum Beispiel bei Hochzeiten. Es ist ein Liebeslied an Liebeslieder."

Im Februar 2024 kamen Tav Falco und seine unvergleichliche Band Panther Burns ins Sam Phillips Recording Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, um ihr 14. Studioalbum "Desire On Ice" aufzunehmen. Das Ergebnis ist eine Sammlung von Falcos Originalkompositionen, die seine gesamte Karriere umspannt und mit ausgewählten Songs verschiedene Phasen der 45-jährigen Karriere von Panther Burns neu beleuchten. Neben der aktuellen Besetzung der Band, darunter Gitarrist/Produzent Mario Monterosso, sind auf dem Album auch ehemalige Mitglieder von Panther Burns und Zeitgenossen wie Jon Spencer, Reverend Horton Heat, Kid Congo Powers, Bobby Gillespie und andere zu hören. Inspiriert von Künstlern, deren Vision und Musikalität gereift sind, gräbt dieses Werk die Unterströmungen einer Psyche aus, die für die Dekonstruktion mythischer Themen wie unerwiderte Liebe, Bruder gegen Bruder, verlorene Fälle und brennende Villen bekannt ist. "Desire On Ice" ist ein momentaner Ausschnitt aus unmittelbaren, schrägen Balladen, die bereits in die Zukunft geschleudert wurden.

"Room for the Moon Live" dokumentiert einen ekstatischen Abend, den die facettenreiche Produzentin und Performerin Kate NV ins Leben gerufen hat. Das Album wurde während einer einmaligen Show aufgenommen, die einige Jahre nach der Veröffentlichung von "Room for the Moon" (2020) stattfand. NV malt innerhalb und außerhalb der expressionistischen Linien ihrer Solo-Persönlichkeit und steht an der Spitze einer eklektischen achtköpfigen Band, die Material aus ihrem skurrilen und endlos faszinierenden zweiten Album aufgreift und weiterentwickelt. Für NV ist "Room for the Moon Live" mehr als nur ein Meilenstein, der die fünf Jahre seit der Veröffentlichung ihres zweiten Albums markiert. Die Aufnahme dokumentiert einen wichtigen und seitdem einmaligen Abend, an dem der Sound und die Seele des Albums und ihrer musikalischen Vertrauten einen Raum der Zuflucht in einer besonders schweren und isolierenden Zeit schufen. ,Das wichtigste Thema des Konzerts war, ein Team zu sein - zusammen", sagt NV. ,Musik zu spielen und zu versuchen, in dunklen Zeiten Freude zu verbreiten. Das war für mich sehr wichtig." Die Band wurde von NV aus einer eng verbundenen Gruppe von Musikerfreunden und häufigen Kollaborateuren zusammengestellt, wobei der Kern aus Mitgliedern von Glintshake besteht, der Post-Punk-Band, die sie 2012 mitbegründet hat. Unter NVs leichtfüßiger Leitung begann das Ensemble, die Richtung der Performance zu skizzieren und sich vorzustellen, wie sie einige der synthlastigeren Stücke von Room mit neuen Ideen und akustischen Texturen neu gestalten könnten, unterstützt durch ihre Offenheit für Improvisation, ,Jam"-Ästhetik und vor allem durch ihren freigeistigen Spaß an der Sache. ,Der Ansatz war in etwa: ,Leute, wir spielen Songs, aber hier können wir richtig wild werden`", erinnert sie sich. ,Ich hatte einige ,Musts`, die wir so originalgetreu wie möglich nachbilden mussten, weil sie für die Songs entscheidend waren, aber es war nie eine Priorität, alle in einen Käfig der Originale zu stecken. Die Tracks haben dadurch nur gewonnen und klingen kraftvoller als die Originalversionen." NV hebt ,Marafon 15" und ,Telefon" als besonders eindrucksvolle Beispiele für die tief groovenden, groovigen Art-Rock-Kräfte hervor, die die Originale auf der Bühne belebten. Aber auch über diese beiden Tracks hinaus sind alle Songs weiter ausgelegt und fließen freier, oft eine Minute oder mehrere Minuten länger als die Originale, da die Band einige der eher poporientierten Arrangements von Room aufbricht. NV verweist auch auf die ausgedehnten Solo-Passagen in ,Ça commence par" und die euphorische Coda von ,Lu Na", die während einer Probe der Band entstanden sind und dann für immer Teil des Songs geblieben sind, als einige der verspieltesten Momente des Albums. Live-Alben folgen, sei es aus Notwendigkeit oder aus Gewohnheit, meist einem altbewährten Muster: Sie dokumentieren eine Reihe von Abenden auf Tournee, an denen Künstler vor einem aufgeschlossenen, aber oft verschwommenen Publikum in fremden Städten spielen, die in einem impressionistischen Nebel aus Orten, Räumen, Bildern und Geschmäckern vorbeiziehen. Die Performance auf "Room for the Moon Live" ist etwas ganz anderes. Es ist Musik, die von Freunden für Freunde gemacht wurde, um zu heilen und zu fühlen, voller Freude und grenzenloser Großzügigkeit. Kate NVs "Room for the Moon Live" erscheint fast genau fünf Jahre nach der Veröffentlichung des Originalalbums, als limitierte Doppel-LP und in unbegrenzter digitaler Auflage.

pen·ti·men·to - eine sichtbare Spur früherer Malerei unter einer oder mehreren Farbschichten auf einer Leinwand - frühes 20. Jahrhundert: aus dem Italienischen, wörtlich "Reue". Auf ihrem ersten Album seit "Still Life" (2022) bewegt sich Carson McHone an der Grenze ihrer musikalischen Vorstellungskraft und kanalisiert so unterschiedliche und überraschende Einflüsse wie Gitarrenrock, pastoralen Folk, Poesie, Feldaufnahmen, visuelle Kunst, Erinnerung, Familie und Landschaft zu ihrem bisher tiefgründigsten Werk. "Pentimento" ist ein kühnes und lohnendes Album. Es ist auch eine Abrechnung: Wie können Liebe und Schönheit in der Gegenwart von Brutalität existieren? Beunruhigend. Dissonant. Gegen ihren Schatten und mit ihre Spuren. Das ist es, was McHone und ihre Mitstreiter (zu denen Daniel Romano, Steve Lambke von den Constantines und andere gehören) auf "Pentimento" mit der Subtilität von Aquarellmalerei und dem Reichtum von Versen einfangen, mit Geisterstimmen und Kinderstimmen gleichermaßen. Jede Schicht ist ein Universum für sich und offenbart den Puls, der Carson McHones kreativen Antrieb belebt. Hier arrangiert und als Ganzes ausgedrückt, ist es ein Meisterwerk. "Alle Lieder von Pentimento entstanden als Gedichte vor dem Hintergrund globaler Krisen, nationaler Grenzen, ziviler Unruhen, Geburt, Tod, schlechter Liebe, neuer Liebe, wahrer Liebe. Sie wurden im Frühling und Sommer in der Wüste geschrieben. Dort werden Geschichte und Zeit in der Dramatik großer Felsbrocken sichtbar, in Schichten auf einer Felswand - das Potential und die vergangene Energie des alten Meeresbodens. Einige dieser Texte wurden auf Postkarten und in Briefen geschrieben. Andere entstanden als Verzierungen auf Aquarellbildern oder als Bildunterschriften für ein Foto in einem Tagebuch, oder sie wurden als Antworten am Rande eines Tagebuchs an ein neugeborenes Kind aus einer vergangenen Generation geschrieben. Diese "Artefakte" des Schreibens/Lebens gaben Aufschluss darüber, was schließlich zum Material für diese Aufnahmen wurde. Später, am Meer und während des ersten Schnees der Saison, kam eine besondere Gruppe von Musikern zusammen, um das Album zum Leben zu erwecken. Während die Hälfte der Songs nach einem strengen "Plan" aufgebaut wurde, kam die andere Hälfte bei dieser Gelegenheit zum ersten Mal zusammen und wurde an Ort und Stelle geprobt und live eingespielt. Über sechs Tage hinweg wurde alles auf einem 8-Spur-Bandgerät aufgenommen, einschließlich zufälliger Rückkopplungen, Bassdröhnen und spontanem Gelächter." - Carson McHone

Die Psych-Rocker aus Cincinnati kehren mit ihrem vierten Album zurück und drehen die texturierten Synthesizer und spacigen Melodien voll auf, um ihr bisher shoegaze-lastigstes Album zu schaffen. Das zentrale Nervensystem von In The Pines befindet sich in The Lodge - einem alten Freimaurertempel, der als Mehrzweckraum gegenüber von Cincinnati in Dayton, Kentucky, umfunktioniert wurde. Die Band bewohnt eine Ecke des Kellers in diesem weitläufigen Labyrinth, wo sie Foleytronics betreibt - einen kleinen Laden für Vintage-Profi-Audio-Reparaturen und einer der wenigen Läden weltweit, der Vintage-Digitaleffekte reparieren kann. Ein natürliches Nebenprodukt dieses Ladens ist das Studio in Bandmitglied Peter Foleys Keller, ein Raum voller verschiedener Vintage-Effekte, Bandmaschinen und Synthesizer, in dem sie Sunbeam Dream vollständig aufgenommen und produziert haben. Alle Aufnahmegeräte, die für ,Sunbeam Dream" verwendet wurden, wurden vor dem sicheren Tod gerettet, repariert und von der Band selbst wieder funktionsfähig gemacht, die sich der Grenzen dieser Geräte bewusst war (und diese gerne ausnutzen wollte). Ähnlich wie beim Konzept von Oulipo in der Poesie und Mathematik entstehen Kreativität und Problemlösungsfähigkeiten aus einem klaren Verständnis und ständiger Überprüfung der Grenzen. Der Aufnahmeprozess ermöglichte es In the Pines zum ersten Mal, sich mit den kleinsten Details zu beschäftigen - ganze Tage wurden damit verbracht, den richtigen Akustikgitarrensound zu finden, nur um schließlich auf ein Stück Klebeband zu kommen, das über die Saiten geklebt wurde; Stunden, die in anderen Studios als Luxus gelten würden, wurden damit verbracht, verschiedene Beckenkombinationen für einen Refrain oder eine Bridge auszuprobieren. Genau wie bei ihrer Reparaturwerkstatt schuf die Band einen Aufnahmeraum, in dem Hyperfokus und Liebe zum Detail nicht nur erlaubt, sondern ausdrücklich erwünscht sind. Das Ergebnis dieser obsessiven Kontrolle ist das bislang ausgereifteste Werk von In The Pines. Sunbeam Dream hebt den Shoegaze-beeinflussten Psych-Rock der Band auf ein neues Niveau. Mit einer stärkeren Betonung der Synthesizer, die sich von einem strukturellen Element zu einem Hauptcharakter im Sound der Band entwickeln (dank eines wiederbelebten Mellotrons von 1971), reiht sich die Band in die Tradition großartiger und kraftvoller Alben wie ,A Northern Soul" von The Verve oder dem selbstbetitelten Album von The Charlatans (UK), bei denen die Produktion der beiden Bands ihrer kreativen Vision zu entsprechen schien. Mit ,Sunbeam Dream" fühlt sich alles heller und klarer an, während es gleichzeitig auf wunderbare Weise in einem Zwielichtschleier schwebt, der jedes Element umgibt.

Crosstown Rebels reignites Amtrac’s ‘Just’ with fresh remix package, featuring Patrice Bäumel.
Landing 29th August 2025, the emotive 2019 track is reimagined with a powerful take from Bäumel plus a Club Mix from Amtrac himself.

Damian Lazarus welcomes Kentucky-born, Los Angeles-based artist Amtrac to Crosstown Rebels for a special revisit of his much-loved track ‘Just’, originally released in 2019 on his label OPENERS. The 2025 remix package brings fresh interpretations crafted for the dancefloor courtesy of acclaimed German-born, Lisbon-based producer Patrice Bäumel, alongside Amtrac’s own extended Club Mix.
Known for his fearless musical evolution, Amtrac, real name Caleb Cornett, has carved a reputation for bridging genres with emotion-led dance music that resonates both on and off the dancefloor. Revisiting ‘Just’ with Crosstown Rebels marks a new chapter in the track’s journey, opening it up to a new wave of club-ready reinterpretations.

As the original’s shimmering melodies meet fresh layers of rhythm and energy, the result is a record that resonates with both nostalgia and forward motion.
Leading the charge, Patrice Bäumel steps up with a stunning remix that transforms the original into a hypnotic, high-impact dancefloor weapon. Drawing on his storied history of creating euphoric moments on the world’s biggest stages with material on labels such as Kompakt and Cocoon, Patrice infuses his unmistakable, tension-building style, layering driving grooves with cinematic textures. Speaking on the remix,

Rounding out the package, Amtrac himself delivers his own Club Mix, reimagining ‘Just’ with extended energy and a refi ned arrangement built for peak-time sets, highlighting his ever-evolving approach to production and delivering his own vision for the record when transformed for dancefloors.

Ed Sheeran veröffentlicht sein neues Album "Play" - nachdem er das Kapitel seiner Mathematics-Reihe abgeschlossen hat, ist Ed Sheeran endlich zurück und wagt einen mutigen Schritt in eine neue Phase für 2025. Als Künstler, der für seine ständige Weiterentwicklung bekannt ist, erkundet er auf seinem neuesten Album erneut neues musikalisches Terrain. Dies geschieht durch die Zusammenarbeit mit Produzenten und Musikern aus der ganzen Welt. Gleichzeitig taucht er tiefer in die zeitlosen Klänge und Themen ein, die ihn zu einem der weltweit beliebtesten Popkünstler gemacht haben. Es ist ein lebendiger Beweis seiner Kunst, der sich aufregend und transformativ anfühlt, und verspricht, eines der prägendsten Alben des Jahres zu werden.

Tender / Wading zeigt Matthew Sage, alias M. Sage, in den Ausläufern und Weiden Colorados, wo er schreibt, aufnimmt und zu einem Stück seiner Heimat und Identität zurückkehrt, wobei ein Akt der Fürsorge den nächsten nach sich zieht. Das Album, das hauptsächlich auf Klavier und Klarinette aufgebaut ist und dann mit Gitarre, modularem Synthesizer, Percussion und Feldaufnahmen aus der Umgebung seines Zuhauses verziert wurde, ist eine weitreichende, ruhige Vision von Vitalität, radikaler Sanftheit und dem beruhigenden Gefühl, nach Hause zu kommen, auch wenn sich das Zuhause verändert hat. Seit den frühen 2010er Jahren hat Sage ein eigenwilliges Musikrepertoire zusammengestellt, das sich in verschiedene Klangrichtungen erstreckt, sich in Veröffentlichungen auf Geographic North, Orange Milk und Moon Glyph manifestiert und sowohl kritische Aufmerksamkeit als auch eine treue Zuhörerschaft für jede neue Wendung erlangt hat. 2023 debütierte Sage bei RVNG Intl. mit Paradise Crick, das zeitgleich mit seiner laufenden Arbeit im improvisierten Ambient-Jazz-Quartett Fuubutsushi erschien. Nun präsentiert er sein nächstes Soloalbum und seine neue Richtung. Tender / Wading folgt auf Sages Rückkehr nach Colorado nach fast einem Jahrzehnt in Chicago, wo er nun mit seiner jungen Familie dreißig Meilen außerhalb seiner Heimatstadt ein paar Hektar verwildertes Land bewirtschaftet. In einem ganzheitlichen Kontrast zu Cricks synthetischer Klangwelt schafft Sage Kunst aus dem Akt des Pflegens neuen Wachstums, hinterfragt Konstrukte des häuslichen Lebens und versteht die Spuren seines früheren Selbst durch die schmutzverschmierte, schweißvernebelte Linse der Gegenwart. Das Ergebnis ist sein bisher autobiografischstes Material, geprägt von Zeit und Veränderungen in der Wahrnehmung sowie bedeutungsvollen Details aus Sages psychischer Suche. Sage vergleicht das Gefühl, verschiedene Versionen von sich selbst zu sehen, mit der berühmten Hase-Ente-Theorie des Philosophen Ludwig Wittgenstein. ,Es ist dieselbe Zeichnung, aber je nachdem, wer man ist, wo man ist und wann man ist, sehen manche Menschen einen Hasen und manche eine Ente oder beides", erklärt Sage. Hier sind das Subjekt und der Betrachter, zurück in vertrauten Landschaften, als Partner und Elternteil, der Gestrüpp zurückschneidet, gedemütigt von invasiven Pflanzen, Schädlingsbefall und verdichtetem Lehmboden, seine Prioritäten haben sich grundlegend geändert. Und doch ist auch dieses andere Ich da: ein gewiefter Akademiker, der oft in Memes denkt und das Ziehen seines Handys in der Hosentasche spürt. ,In diesem Album geht es darum, diese Wahrnehmungsverschiebungen zu ergründen und ihnen Raum zu geben, beides zu tun: hüpfen und quaken." Es ist ein inneres Kind, das Sages intermediale Praxis in seinem Atelier leitet, einer Scheune, die nach dem großen Umzug im Jahr 2022 im Rahmen einer hausweiten DIY-Renovierung umgebaut wurde. Im Inneren werden Gedichte zu Zeichnungen, zu Skulpturen im Hinterhof und darüber hinaus, und alberne Ausflüge in den Vogelgesang oder die Freude an der Herausforderung, Klarinette zu lernen, weichen ernsthafter Musik. ,Ich glaube, ich habe entdeckt, dass es diese Linien gibt, die alles miteinander verbinden", sagt er. ,Und dieses Album ist voller hartnäckigem Optimismus und Hoffnung, aber auch der Bewusstheit, dass wir uns in einer späten Phase befinden, und dem Versuch, mit der Rhetorik dieser Phase umzugehen." Für Tender / Wading setzt Sage einen unverwechselbaren Sound ein: eine pastorale Art von Folk Kosmiche, kontemplativer elektroakustischer Barn Jazz für die Front Range, voller blasser Puddle Blues und rostigen Oil Drum Reds. Die meisten Songs entstanden auf einem 1910er Hamilton-Klavier, das kurioserweise in Chicago gebaut, von den Vorbesitzern zurückgelassen und von Mäusen bewohnt worden war. Die zufällige Begegnung mit dem Instrument fühlte sich kosmisch an, nicht nur wegen seiner Verbindung zur Windy City, sondern auch wegen Sages sich weiterentwickelnder Herangehensweise an das Songwriting nach Fuubutsushi. Er fühlt sich hinter den Tasten wohler und kehrt zurück zum Schlagzeug (seiner Jugendliebe). In einem passenden Raum für Holzblasinstrumente umarmt er das Elementare und Absichtliche und verleiht der Musik von Anfang an mehr strukturelles Gewicht und Wärme. Tender's M. Sage verbindet die Studioexperimente und Improvisationen seiner Vergangenheit mit einem geschärften Ohr für melodische Phrasierungen und Akkordwechsel und hat seine übliche Fülle an Demos auf neun finale Stücke reduziert. Seine charakteristischen Weltbilder bleiben erhalten, von Holzhauskröten, die in statischer Elektrizität schwimmen, über raschelndes Gras und Regen, der in die Dachrinnen plätschert, bis hin zu walzenden Sternbildern im Mondlicht. Während Cricks Universum aus magischem Realismus und digitaler Fantasie entstanden ist, greift Tender / Wading direkter auf menschliche Erfahrungen zurück. Er weist schnell Vorwürfe zurück, es handele sich um ein hochkonzeptionelles Album: ,Ich mache einfach die Musik, die ich selbst gerne in meinen Kopfhörern hören würde, während ich Unkraut jäte oder so." Es könnte beides sein, wie der Hase und die Ente behaupten würden: zutiefst persönlich und abstrakt, eine faszinierende und natürliche Wendung eines experimentellen Künstlers des 21. Jahrhunderts, dessen Vermächtnis sich in Echtzeit weiterentwickelt und wächst.

Requiescat Record is the new EP by New Brutalism, a minimal rock quartet formed in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1998. The band comprises vocalist Shane Elliott, guitarist/vocalist Matt Hall, bassist/vocalist David Basford, and drummer Carey Balch. The three-track release - "088," "087" and "089," in keeping with their strict numerical naming convention - was recorded in 2021 by the late, great Steve Albini at Electrical Audio, and mastered by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service in 2025. For the band, "less is more" became a guiding principle - channeled through an unwaveringly raw, direct, and honest approach to sound. Out of partly sound, partly aesthetic, mainly a thirst to build, New Brutalism performs on aluminum instruments built by the band members. They chose the material because itE¼s lighter than steel, more consistent than wood, and easy to machine. Above all, itE¼s precise - and thereby, can produce precise music. In 2021, New Brutalism entered Electrical Audio to record Requiescat Record. Named after a Latin term meaning a prayer for the repose of a dead person, Requiescat Record retroactively became a dedication to AlbiniE¼s memory. The band acknowledges that so much of the aesthetic, interests and sounds they admired are a product of his influence and the circle of artists around him. His death instigated a state of urgency. A desire to act became more pressing, to strike more often, and usher in a new era of productivity. Shattered and kinetic, forgedby time and tragedy, with god-given sonicquality, Requiescat Record may acknowledge the dead, but this music feels ever so alive.

Requiescat Record is the new EP by New Brutalism, a minimal rock quartet formed in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1998. The band comprises vocalist Shane Elliott, guitarist/vocalist Matt Hall, bassist/vocalist David Basford, and drummer Carey Balch. The three-track release - "088," "087" and "089," in keeping with their strict numerical naming convention - was recorded in 2021 by the late, great Steve Albini at Electrical Audio, and mastered by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service in 2025. For the band, "less is more" became a guiding principle - channeled through an unwaveringly raw, direct, and honest approach to sound. Out of partly sound, partly aesthetic, mainly a thirst to build, New Brutalism performs on aluminum instruments built by the band members. They chose the material because itE¼s lighter than steel, more consistent than wood, and easy to machine. Above all, itE¼s precise - and thereby, can produce precise music. In 2021, New Brutalism entered Electrical Audio to record Requiescat Record. Named after a Latin term meaning a prayer for the repose of a dead person, Requiescat Record retroactively became a dedication to AlbiniE¼s memory. The band acknowledges that so much of the aesthetic, interests and sounds they admired are a product of his influence and the circle of artists around him. His death instigated a state of urgency. A desire to act became more pressing, to strike more often, and usher in a new era of productivity. Shattered and kinetic, forgedby time and tragedy, with god-given sonicquality, Requiescat Record may acknowledge the dead, but this music feels ever so alive.

Stripping away excess layers, Dispossessed lives up to its title. The band went into Causa Sui's Jonas Munk's studio on the last day of February 2025. In an a priori session, the first note played together since 2023's Dens - the conclusion of a trilogy and a live album all in less than a year. Has something shifted during the silence? Added aggression? Faster tempo? Darker ambiance? The feeling of losing time? Or is it simply the listener who's world has tilted? In a fast paced world, Edena Gardens shows us how to resist and tune to our own inner chord. Edena Gardens deals in subtle shifts that can only be summoned from something played for the first time. From the sludgy blasts of opener Hiraeth to the droning ambience of 10-minute ender Aftenstjerne. As always, the band travels far yet stays in the same internal realm. The band's own Jakob Skott has made minor edits to cut a record from hours of free improvisation, and every dubbed ambience has been culled directly from the material recorded that day, bringing into play the band's gestalt in a way that shows their both outer and inner workings: Dispossessed. Edena Gardens is: Jakob Skott: Drums (Causa Sui) Nicklas Sorensen: Guitar (Papir) Martin Rude: Baritone guitar & Bass (London Odense Ensemble)

"Entweder du machst, was alle machen, besser als alle anderen oder du machst, ganz was anderes..." Was Sergio Leone für den Western war, ist Johnny Indigo für die Rock Musik. Anders, rauher, echt und kompromisslos. Johnny Indigo ist das Soloprojekt von dem Wahlwiener Mathias Kollos, der bereits für viele Künstler hinter den Kulissen und auf verschiedensten Bühnen tätig ist und war. Jetzt hat er den Schritt nach vorne getan und tritt mit seiner Band "The El Dorado Wildfire" mit eigens für Live arrangierten Versionen von seinem Debut Album "American Daydreams" gemeinsam auf. Wie klingt das verschmitzte Grinsen von Terence Hill? Was hört man, wenn Clint Eastwood seine unvergleichliche Miene verzieht? Den eigenständigen Mix aus Alternative Rock, Southern Rock, Country und Blues von Johnny Indigo. Das Album vermischt Roots und Country Elemente mit modernem Rock und Blues. Ästhetisch geprägt von dem Image der Spaghetti Western, ohne in unnötige Cliches zu verfallen. Vergangene Acts wie Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix oder die Rolling Stones werden ebenso nicht vernachlässigt wie moderne Formationen wie Queens Of The Stone Age, The Black Keys oder Rival Sons.

1973/74 wagte Herbert von Karajan einen innovativen Schritt und nahm mit den Berliner Philharmonikern
Orchesterwerke von Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern und Alban Berg auf. Das Ergebnis waren bahnbrechende Aufnahmen der Zweiten Wiener Schule, präsentiert in einer aufwändig gestalteten 4-LP-Box vom
renommierten Grafikdesigner Holger Matthies.
Erstmals wurden diese Aufnahmen von den originalen Vier- und Acht-Spur-Bändern neu abgemischt und
geschnitten und erscheinen nun im Rahmen der Original Source Serie als 4-LP-Gatefold-Edition mit OriginalArtwork in einem hochwertigen Schuber.
Die audiophile Vinyl-Serie The Original Source präsentiert herausragende Aufnahmen der 1970er Jahre
in ganz neuer Klangqualität. Dafür haben die renommierten Emil Berliner Studios die originalen Vier- und
Achtspur-Bänder mit eigens für die Produktion der Serie entwickelten Technologien in 100% analoger Qualität (AAA) neu gemastert und geschnitten. Die klanglichen Unterschiede zu den Originalveröffentlichungen sind beträchtlich: Größere Klarheit, mehr Feinheiten und Verbesserungen im Frequenzgang, zugleich
weniger Nebengeräusche, Verzerrungen und Komprimierungen ermöglichen ein audiophiles Hörerlebnis wie
nie zuvor.
Auf 180g Vinylplatten und in einer Deluxe-Gatefold Edition mit Originalcovers und -texten werden die Exemplare dieser Serie limitiert und nummeriert veröffentlicht, begleitet von zusätzlichen Fotos und Faksimiles
der Aufnahmeprotokolle und Bandkartons.

Born in Antwerp in 1939, Ferre became a true icon in the sixties, adored by youngsters and hippies and hated by the establishment. His successful debut album in 1966, which featured the hits “Ring Ring, I’ve Got to Sing,” “Crucified Jesus,” and “Drunken Sailor,” brought him an international breakthrough with concerts in Paris, London, and Hamburg, and led to a contract with the famous French Barclay label. The next three albums did not match the initial commercial success — a pressure the music business was happy to put on his shoulders. Still, these three albums, reissued in their original packaging and artwork on vinyl for the very first time, are loaded with hidden gems, combining folk, blues, and psychedelics in Ferre’s original songs.

The Belgian leading punk band The Kids, founded by Ludo Mariman, made their debut in 1978 with their landmark titleless album, surely deserving to be part of the global top list of great seventies punk albums. After another four studio albums, the band called it a day... only to resurface a good ten years later, at the end of the 1990s. Since then, The Kids have become an international cult punk band, much in demand in Belgium and abroad (USA, Germany, France, Italy, Japan…), mainly focusing on their initial seventies punk repertoire, with many classic songs that have effortlessly survived the ravages of time.

The Kids are still the most angry Belgian band, which says a lot about the eagerness and sharpness of Ludo Mariman and his mates. The Kids, for sure, still are an absolute top band!

"Flabbergasted" was recorded early 2001 at the AB Club in Brussels and released the following year on CD, which sold out quickly. Starman Records issued the album in 2015, making it available on vinyl for the very first time, with restored audio and entirely new artwork. Sold out long ago, it was followed by a second print run in 2023 on limited colored vinyl. An album you can’t miss—sharp as a razor blade and containing many of The Kids' classics, along with a couple of contemporary punk covers. The band still tours actively and will celebrate, in 2026, their 50th anniversary.

Matt Watts (1987–2024) was born in Philadelphia, in the USA. He recorded his first songs along the banks of the Missouri River in Montana when he was 15, touring the north-western states extensively as a young troubadour. He arrived in Belgium at the tender age of 19 and grew into a full-fledged singer-songwriter that combines a profound respect for the folk tradition with contemporary influences.

His solo album, Songs from a Window, was released in 2014 by Starman Records and received glowing praise in the press.

Matt Watts played dozens upon dozens of shows in the Benelux, often together with Stef Kamil Carlens and Nicolas Rombouts. While his predecessor Songs from a Window was a true solo album, How Different It Was When You Were There includes personal stories by Watts that have been subtly seasoned with wonderful musicians such as Nathalie Delcroix, Bjorn Eriksson, Geert Hellings (Stanton, Guido Belcanto), Maarten Moesen (Guido Belcanto), and bassist and this album’s producer, Nicolas Rombouts (formerly with Dez Mona, Stef Kamil Carlens, The Colorist, Guido Belcanto, and many others).

One of the highlights of this album, which truly showcases Matt Watts’ awakening, is “Many a Friend Too Kind”: a fabulous duet with Stef Kamil Carlens. Watts also performed in Zita Swoon Group’s production, The Ballad of Erol Klof. Sadly, Matt Watts passed away in June 2024.

MORE QUOTES

“Watts, who washed up in Belgium, sings his personal, poetic lyrics in a high, whispering voice that immediately brings Nick Drake to mind.” 4/5 **** (De Standaard)

‘This is an album full of sincere sentiment and stimulating, evocative stories in fine songs that have been beautifully coloured by Watts and his band, and on which he brings the narrative aspect to the fore more than ever.’ (daMusic)

‘Sensitive songwriter, exceptional storyteller... Introverted, dark, more country, less Nick Drake.’ (OOR)

‘This is real, raw, authentic. Well done, Matt, very well done.’ (Keys And Chords)

‘And no matter how young Matt Watts may be, the singer/musician writes timeless songs reminiscent of those by David Blue and John Martyn...’ (Rootstime)

‘Matt knows how to strike that chord in the same way as Cohen, which immediately moves you. From the beginning to the end of this record.’ (Gigview)

‘A singer-songwriter who believes in simplicity (not a note too many), but grabs you by the scruff of the neck from the start and confronts you with the painful beauty of romance.’ (Luminous Dash)

‘Let's be honest here: Belgium has simply become too small for an album like “How Different It Was When You Were There”. Song material of this calibre deserves a much, much wider audience!’ 4.5***** (ctrl.alt.country)

Starman Records, the Belgian label also specialized in re-releases of Belgian rock from the 60s, 70s, and 80s, has so far released five volumes in the highly anticipated and widely acclaimed Belgian Vaults Series by the press and fans.

These unique albums focus entirely on the sixties and early seventies, compiling many very hard-to-find tracks, mainly originally released as singles on small, long-forgotten labels. Pop, beat, rock ’n’ roll, psych... gems worth rediscovering. The Belgian Vaults are not just collector’s material; the albums offer restored and remastered sound quality and are specifically curated to appeal to all sixties rock fans.

The Shakes was a legendary Belgian psychedelic blues rock band founded by multi-instrumentalist Alain Verdier and active between 1967 and 1969. They played approximately 100 gigs in Belgium, Holland, France, and Germany, and once supported The Who. The young virtuoso guitarist in the group was none other than the late Dany Lademacher, who later gained fame as a sideman for Herman Brood and co-author of some of his biggest hits. Lademacher, also known for his own band Innersleeve and his work with Kleptomania, Vitesse, and The Radio’s, contributed to Shoot Me Baby with a wealth of previously unreleased material from personal archives.

Ilija Rudman makes us thrilled to welcome him to Sosilly Records with this spellbinding new EP, Abracadabra. A visionary Croatian DJ producer based in Zagreb, Ilija has carved his legacy over more than two decades as a driving force in underground disco and house. Founder of Red Music Records and co owner of Imogen Recordings, he’s released over 100 vinyl EPs and 8 studio albums globally, collaborating with legends like Robert Owens, Greg Wilson, Faze Action and Ron Trent—all while maintaining his trademark analogue only, deeply soulful sound.

Drawing on influences from 1970s boogie, Prelude and Salsoul-era disco, Ilija’s music vibrates with warmth and authenticity—a perfect match for Sosilly’s ethos. This EP offers three cuts of pure groove magic:

RNT introduces MOTEL PHANTASMA, a new project from two seasoned producers, with their incendiary Claptrap EP. A tasty double A-side 7inch, this pair of tracks establishes the MP sound as both club-tough and musically weighty.

The title track is a peaktime weapon of epic proportions, oozing slippery electronic percussion, razory synth work, and in-your-face vocal incantations delivered in Portuguese.

The flip side is a bouncey Afro-boogie number, a bit more organic in approach, and with a relentlessly catchy hook by featured singer Kaleta. With a gorgeous full color jacket to match the music’s punch, this one is an absolute late-summer essential.

If any album could conjure up the revolutionary spirit of Jamaica in the mid 1970’s, Tapper Zukie’s invincible M.P.L.A. set would surely be a fighting contender. The coming together of great rhythms and meaningful lyrics in a time of unrest in the country seemed to have made the album all the more urgent and relevant. As time would tell it would also prove to be a lasting success, not only with the hard core reggae fans but also their punk counterparts. Who embraced its militant themes and crossed the album over to a whole new audience. Tapper Zukie (b. David Sinclair, Kingston, Jamaica.) had already returned from a trip to London England by the mid 70’s .Initially sent with help from his parents, brother Blackbeard and producer Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee to remove the youth from his troublesome ways on the streets of Kingston, Jamaica. He had performed some live shows in London and made some recordings for Larry Lawrence, that produced his debut ‘Jump and Twist’. Alongside other recordings that would emerge as his ‘Man A Warrior’ set. But feeling homesick he had returned to Jamaica in 1974 to work with Bunny Lee. His work would consist of arranging sessions and collecting payments to bodyguard, the now very successful producer. His frustration of Bunny Lee’s reluctance to record him led him cutting ‘Judge I Oh Lord’ for producer Lloydie Slim. Bunny Lee’s then recording of Tapper’s ’Natty Dread Don’t Cry’ and its subsequent release aboard, led to an altercation between Tapper and producer. The police had to be called and an offer to provide the singer with a set of rhythms put this matter to rest. The eight rhythms and a further two from Jo Jo Hookim and Ossie Hibbert alongside some free studio time at King Tubby’s Studio would result in the M.P.L.A album.

The rhythm provided by Jo Jo Hookim was a Channel One studio cut by The Revolutionaires based on Little Richards ‘Freedom Blues’ and provided the backdrop to M.P.L.A. The Ossie Hibbert rhythm again cut at Channel One based on The Royals ‘Pick Up The Rockers’ would provide the backdrop to Tapper’s ‘Pick Up The Rockers’. These and the remaining Bunny Lee rhythms, were all cut in a one hour session, at King Tubby’s Studio. ’Don’t Get Crazy’ cut on a rhythm based on the Joe Frazier rhythm to Tony Brevett’s ‘Don’t Get Weary’. ‘Go De Natty’ cut on Cornell Campbell’s ‘Please Be True’, originally a cut to Alexander Henry’s ‘Please Be True’. ‘Stop The Gun Shooting’ runs over Horace Andy’s ‘Skylarking’.’Ital Pot’ cut on Johnny Clarke’s version of Burning Spear’s ‘Creation Rebel. ‘Marcus’ see’s Tapper professing over Johnny Clarke’s ‘Poor Marcus’ .’Chalice To Chalice’ pulls on Johnny Clarke’s ‘Give Me a Love’,’ Don’t Deal With Babylon’ answers Junior Ross and The Spears ‘Babylon Fall’ and ‘Freedom’ rides on the great rhythm of Junior Ross and The Spears ‘Liberty’. An outstanding album cut by one of Jamaica’s finest DJ’s and producers the mighty Tapper Zukie. We hope you enjoy this now timeless set.

Spandau Ballet, one of the most influential bands in British music, announce the release of their definitive early years collection, "Everything Is Now – Vol 1: 1978-1982" - a comprehensive 9-disc box set featuring their groundbreaking first two albums alongside a wealth of previously unavailable material. It includes a beautiful 44 page book with original photos from fellow Blitz Kid Graham Smith and new commentary from the whole band.

Released September 12th on Parlophone, this meticulously curated collection captures the band's origins and meteoric rise from Blitz Club favourites to chart-topping innovators. The set includes their seminal albums "Journeys To Glory" (1981) and "Diamond" (1982) on vinyl, plus six CDs of singles, remixes, BBC sessions, demos, and a Blu-ray of Dolby Atmos mixes, videos and rare live footage.

This collection showcases the band's evolution through their formative and revolutionary period, from the electronic-infused new wave of early singles like "To Cut A Long Story Short" and "The Freeze" to the funk-influenced sophistication of "Chant No. 1" and "Instinction." They were simply the most cutting edge, futuristic band in the world, at the centre of a creative scene that defined the 1980s.

This box set features all the band's early classics including "To Cut A Long Story Short," "Chant No. 1," "Muscle Bound," "Paint Me Down," “Instinction” and "She Loved Like Diamond," and presents multiple versions of tracks that trace their development from initial demos to extended 12" club mixes.

The Blu-ray component includes Dolby Atmos and stereo remixes by acclaimed producer Steven Wilson, alongside original music videos, BBC TV appearances and the complete 56-minute concert from New York's Underground Club in 1981.

"Everything Is Now – Vol 1: 1978-1982" stands as the definitive document of Spandau Ballet's revolutionary early period, when they helped define the sound and style of a generation.

CD1: Journeys To Glory Era Singles, Remixes & Versions
CD2: Diamond Era Singles, Remixes & Versions
CD3: Diamond – 12” Singles Box Set
CD4: BBC Session 1981 / BBC In Concert Bournemouth 1982
CD5: BBC In Concert Paris Theatre 1982
CD6: Demos
Blu-Ray (Disc 7): Dolby Atmos, Promos & Extras
LP1 (Disc 8): Journeys To Glory
LP2 (Disc 9): Diamond

We are excited to announce the return of the iconic Totally Wired series with a brand new collection on LP and CD. The first 50 orders will include a special art print of the artwork. We are also doing a limited edition T-shirt to celebrate this milestone!

In 1988 Acid Jazz released its first compilation album ‘Totally Wired: A Collection From Acid Jazz Records’. Compiled by Eddie Piller and Gilles Peterson it collated 11 tracks that summed up the early days of our scene, mixing new label signings, cool new records being played in our clubs and a couple of oldies. It sold well to the then small scene and set the template for a series, that in the wake of the international success of The Brand New Heavies, Jamiroquai, The James Taylor Quartet and others exploded. By the time that Volume 5 appeared, we were selling tens of thousands of copies, with major label artists vying for inclusion.

By that point ‘Totally Wired’ was a phenomenon, that sign-posted changes in both the directions of new music, but of the oldies that were played on the scene. It gave DJs new tunes to play and soundtracked 1000s of Cafés and bars the world over in the age of the CD. It was largely retired at the end of the 90s and as times changed.

Over the years we have been asked to return to the scene of the crime, but it has never quite felt right, until now. With vinyl back, and the need for easy to digest compilations becoming neccessary in the chaos of streaming’s ‘I can listen to anything I want, but can’t think what that might be’ is evident, but also we are feeling excited about where Acid Jazz is right now. New artists on the label are making great records, Matt Berry has a Top thirty album, and The Brand New Heavies are headlining the Royal Albert Hall. It’s easy to make an exciting album when that is happening.

So we are releasing “Totally Wired: A New Collection From Acid Jazz” and treating it like the important milestone that it is. From the Acid Jazz sid we have new and exclusive recordings by Matt Berry, Chris Bangs and new signings Earth-o-Naut and Quiet Fire, there is also a recent white label only 45 cut by the Soul Revivers – released ahead of their new album due this Autumn and featuring Kokoroko’s Shiela Maurice-Grey and Anoushka Nanguy. For the oldies we have dug deep into our own archives to bring you the Acid Jazz Orchestra’s version of Corduroy’s ‘Something In My Eye’ and The Brand New Heavies astounding funk take of Aretha Franklin’s ‘Rock Steady’. These are all joined by recent scene records by Carmy Love – one of the greatest voices in the UK – The Romero Brothers, and BDQ, carrying the series onwards at last.

Australia's powerhouse Hammond Organ trio Cookin' On 3 Burners serve up a heavy double-sider, offering DJs and collectors a taste of what's to come from their first studio LP in six years, due October 2025. With a 27-year legacy in the global funk and soul scene, CO3B have earned praise from the likes of Dusty Groove, Wax Poetics, and Rolling Stone Australia, and boast over 2 billion streams worldwide — thanks in part to their breakout hit "This Girl" (Kungs remix).

Side A – Cookin' The Books
A gritty, upbeat Hammond-led instrumental cooked low and slow in the heart of Melbourne's funk scene. It's all business up front — deep pocket drums, greasy organ licks, and guitar work that snaps and struts. No vocals, no fat — just a raw funk workout that's ready for the crates.

Side B – Give a Little Bit More (feat. Stella Angelico)

A classic-feeling, mid-tempo soul joint with a message that cuts deep. Longtime collaborator Stella Angelico delivers a powerful vocal performance about generosity, empathy, and turning things around when it matters. With uplifting lyrics, smooth horns, and a groove that nods to vintage 45s, this one lands straight in the heart — timeless, spiritual, and soul-drenched.

Captured live to tape at Soul Messin' Studios using vintage gear, the record oozes warmth and authenticity. Supported with airplay from Craig Charles (BBC6) and limited to just 500 copies on black vinyl in a Soul Messin' Records disco sleeve, this 45 is a must-stock item for funk, soul, and groove-focused retailers.

FFO: The Meters, El Michels Affair, Menahan Street Band, Quantic, Daptone Records

Mutant, in partnership with Warner Records, are proud to present Z Berg’s beautiful and haunting original soundtrack to JT Mollner’s secret masterpiece Strange Darling. The less you know about Strange Darling before you see it, the better (forgive us for tip-toeing around context). But you can safely listen to Z Berg’s exceptional soundtrack safely without spoilers. Director JT Mollner and Z initially bonded over vintage single artist soundtracks as a days-gone tradition of filmmaking. But what they have produced together is evocative of New Hollywood, 70's-exploitation, right down to the soundtrack you want to have in your collection.

In Guadeloupe, many people think that jazz and ka music are like a ring and a finger. To some extent, the same could be said about so called Latin music and the music played in the French West Indies.

Both aesthetics were born in the Caribbean and bear so many connections that they can easily be considered cousins. In constant dialogue, there are lots of examples of their fruitful alliance and have been for a while. The English country dance that used to be practiced in European lounges came to be called kadrille in Martinique and contradanza in Cuba. They both featured additional percussion instruments inherited from the transatlantic deportation. Drawing from shared feelings about the same traumatized identity – later to be creolized – it would be hard not to assume that they were meant to inspire each other. The golden age of the orchestras that graced the Pigalle nights during the interwar period further proves the point. As soon as the 1930s, Havana-born Don Barreto naturally mixed danzón and biguine music in a combo based at Melody's Bar. In the following decade, Félix Valvert, a conductor who was born and raised in Basse-Terre in Guadelupe, also worked wonders in Montparnasse with La Coupole, which was an orchestra made up of eclectic musicians. Afro- Caribbean performers of various origins were often hired on rhythm and brass sections in jazz bands, which used to enliven the typical French balls of the capital. In the 1930s and onwards, Rico’s Creole Band was one of them.



Martinican violinist-clarinettist Ernest Léardée, who would become the king of biguine music as well as the main figure of French Uncle Ben's TV commercials (a dark stigma of post-colonial stereotypes), had musicians from the whole Caribbean sphere play at his Bal Blomet – and they all enchanted "ces Zazous-là" (according the words of Léardée's biguine-calypso piece). In les Antilles (French for French West Indies), music history started to speed up in the 1950s, when trade expanded and radio stations grew bigger. The Guadelupean and Martiniquais youth tuned in their old galena radio sets to South American and Caribbean music. As for the women traders, les pacotilleuses, they bought and sold goods across different islands (the "passing of items through various hands" was thought to be most pleasurable) and brought back countless sounds in their luggage. Such was the case of Madame Balthazar, who once returned from Puerto Rico with the first 45rpm and 33rpm to ever enter Martinique.

Out of this adventure was created the famous Martinican label La Maison des Merengues, a music business she opened and undertook with her husband and which proved to be a major landmark. At the end of the 1950s, in Puerto Rico, Marius Cultier competed in the Piano International Contest playing a version of Monk's Round 'Midnight. He won the first prize and this distinction foreshadowed everything that was to come. Cultier, the heretic Monk of jazz, was quickly praised for writing superb melodies, always tinged with a twist that conferred a unique sound to his music. It didn't take long for the gifted self-taught musician to get to play with Los Cubanos, making a name for himself thanks to his impressive maestria on merengues.

The rest is history. Besides, in the late 1950s, Frantz Charles-Denis, born into the upper middle class in Saint-Pierre and better known by his first name Francisco, went back home after working at La Cabane Cubaine – a club located rue Fontaine where he had caught the Latin fever. Francisco's music was therefore heavily marked by his Cuban cousins' influence, which gave the combos he led a specific style and also led to renewal. Things were swinging hard in La Savane, located in the main square in Fort-de-France. He set up the Shango club close by and tested out the biguine lélé there, a new music formula spiced up with Latin rhythms. Soon afterwards, fate had him fly to Puerto Rico and Venezuela.

As for percussionist Henri Guédon (percussions were only a part of his many talents), he was born in Fort-de-France in May 22nd 1944, the day marking the celebration of the abolition of slavery. As an old man, he could remember that in " his father's Teppaz, a lot of hectic 6/8 music was constantly playing...". In the opening lines of his Lettre à Dizzy, a small illustrated collection of writings published by Del Arco, he highlighted the huge impact that cubop had on him as a teenage boy, around 1960. He eventually turned out to be the lider maximo in La Contesta, a big band steeped in Latin jazz. He was also the one who originated the word zouk to describe music which brought the sound of the New York barrio to Paris. It was the culmination of a journey that started in Sainte-Marie: "a mythical place for bélé, the equivalent of Cuban guaguancó". In the early 1960s, the tertiary economy developed to the detriment of agriculture. Yet rural life was where roots music emerged in Martinique and in Guadeloupe.

Record companies played a major part in the process of Latin versions sweeping across the islands – before reaching everywhere else. Producer Célini, boss of the great Aux Ondes label, and Marcel Mavounzy, both the head of Émeraude records - a firm which was founded in 1953 - as well as the brother of famous saxophonist Robert Mavounzy, were big names to bear in mind. Although there were many of them - all of whom are featured on this record - Henri Debs was definitely the major figure in the recording adventure. He proved to be so influential that he even got compared to Berry Gordy. In the mid 1950s, when he acquired his first Teppaz, he worked on his first compositions: a bolero and a chachacha. Then, he became the one man who made people discover Caribbean music, from calypso to merengue. He was among the first ones to rush out to San Juan, Puerto Rico, to buy records and distribute them through a store run by one of his brothers in Fort-de-France. He had members of the Fania All Star come and perform there, which he was madly proud about. He was also the first one to pay attention to Haitian music, such as compas direct and various other rhythms which would soon flood the market. As a result, many of the combos hitting his legendary studio would end up boosted by widespread "Afro-Latin" rhythms. However, he never denied his identity: gwo ka drums were given a major role, although they were instruments which had long been banned from the "official" music spheres. The present selection bears witness to such a creative swarming. Here are fourteen tracks of untimely yet unprecedented cross-fertilization: all types of music rooted in the Creole archipelago have found their way, whatsoever, to the tracklisting. Whether originating from the city or being more rural, they all go back to what Edouard Glissant, in an interview about the place of West Indian music in the Afro-American scope, called "the trace of singing, the one which got erased by slavery." "It is so in jazz, but also in reggae, calypso, biguine, salsa... This trace also manifests through the drums, whether Guadelupean, Dominican, Jamaican or Cuban... None of them being quite the same. They all point to the idea of a trace, seeking it out and connecting to each other through it. This is the hallmark of the African diaspora: its ability to create something new, in relation to itself, out of a trace. It may be the memory of a rhythm, the crafting of a drum, a means of expression which doesn't resort to an old language but to the modalities of it." The opening track features one of the emblematic orchestras of this aesthetic identity, criscrossing many music types from the archipelago. The 1974 Ray Barretto guajira – Ray Barretto was a major New York drummer influenced by Charlie Parker and Chano Pozzo – is magnificently performed by Malavoi, a legendary Fayolais group (i.e from Fort-de-France). Additionally, the compilation ends on a piece by Los Martiniqueños de Francisco. It symbolically closes the circle as it is a genuine potomitan of Martinique culture which also functions as a tireless campaigner for Afro-Caribbean music. Practicing the danmyé rounds (a kind of capoeiria) to the rhythm of the bèlè drum, it delivers a terrific Caterete, a kind of champeta of Afro- Colombian obedience which was originally composed by Colombian Fabián Ramón Veloz Fernández for the group Wgenda Kenya. The icing on the cake is Brazilian Marku Ribas, who found refuge in Martinique in the early 1970s, bringing his singing to the last trance-inducing track. These two "versions" convey the whole tone of a selection composed of rarities and classics of the tropicalized genre, swarming with tonic accents and convoluted rhythms. It is the sort of cocktail that the West Indians never failed to spice up with their own ingredients. For instance, the Los Caraïbes cover of Dónde, a famous Cuban theme composed by producer Ernesto Duarte Brito, has a typical violin and features renowned Martinique singer Joby Valente and his piquant voice.



The track used to be – or so we think – their only existing 45rpm. The meaningful Amor en chachachá by L'Ensemble Tropicana, a band which included Haitian musicians among whom was composer and leader Michel Desgrotte, also recalls how Latin music was pervasive in the tropics in the mid-1960s. They were the ones keeping people dancing at Le Cocoteraie in Guadelupe and La Bananeraie in Martinique. Around the same time, another "foreign" band, Congolese Freddy Mars N'Kounkou's Ryco Jazz, achieved some success on both islands by covering Latin jazz classics – such as their adaptation of Wachi Wara, a "soul sauce" by Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo whose interweaving of strings and percussions can have anyone hit the dancefloor. How can you resist Dap Pinian indeed, a powerful guaguancó by Eugene Balthazar, performed by the Tropicana Orchestra and published by the Martinique-founded La Maison des Merengues? It also acts as a symbol of the maelstrom at work. Going by the name Paco et L'orchestre Cachunga, Roger Jaffory used to play guaguancó too: his Fania-inspired Oye mi consejo is one example of his style. Baila!!!!! Dancing was also one of the Kings' focus points. Oriza is a Puerto Rican bomba and a "classic" originally composed by Nuevayorquino trumpeter Ernie Agosto, which reserves major space for brasses, giving it a special sheen.

Emerging from the New York barrios crucible was also La Perfecta, a Martinique group originating from Trinidad, whose name directly references the totemic Eddie Palmieri figure as well as his own band, also called La Perfecta. Here they borrow Toumbadora from Colombian producer and composer Efraín Lancheros and interpret it by emphasizing percussions, which set fire to the track even more than the wind instruments. The same goes for Martinique's Super Jaguars, who use Tatalibaba – a composition by Cuban guitarist Florencio "Picolo" Santana which was made famous by Celia Cruz & La Sonora Matencera – as a pretext for sending their cadences into a frenzy. In a more typically salsa vein, the Super Combo, a famous Guadelupean orchestra from Pointe-Noire that was formed around the Desplan family and had Roger Plonquitte and Elie Bianay on board, adapt Serana, a theme by Roberto Angleró Pepín, a Puerto Rican composer, singer and musician also known for his song Soy Boricua. Here again, their vision comes close to surpassing the original. In the 1970s, L'Ensemble Abricot provided a handful of tracks of different syles, hence reaching the pinnacle of the art of achieving variety and giving pleasure. They played boleros, biguines, compas direct, guaguancó and even a good old boogaloo - the type they wanted to keep close to their hearts for ever, "pour toujours", as they sang along together in one of their songs. Léon Bertide's Martinican ensemble excelled at the boogaloo which had been composed by Puerto Rican saxophonist Hector Santos for the legendary El Gran Combo.



Three years later, in 1972, Henri Guédon, with the help of Paul Rosine on the vibraphone, tackled the Bilongo made famous by Eddie Palmieri. Such a classic!!!!! And so were the Aiglons, the band from Guadelupe: choosing to execute Pensando en tí, a composition by Dominican Aniceto Batista, on a cooler tempo than the original, they noticeably used a wonderfully (un)tuned keyboard in place of the accordion. On the high-value collectible single – the first one released by Les Aiglons under the Duli Disc label – there is a sticker classifying the track under the generic name "Afro". Now that is what we call a symbol. Jacques Denis

Seeking overlooked beauty and prizing reflection in a distracted world, Hammock creates cinematic music for the road less traveled. In stirring works of shimmering post-rock ambience that swell with hope and melancholic nostalgia, the Nashville-based duo of Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson immerse listeners in living visions of moments long past, animating life's fond remembrances and scarring losses with gentle lens-flare harmonics, heart-surging neoclassical drama, and pensive silence. A direct challenge to the passive existence of modern life, where everything can be experienced but precious little is felt, Hammock demands, and richly rewards, patience and contemplation. One of Hammock's career defining works, the Mysterium, Universalis, and Silencia trilogy came to a close in 2019. The first chapter, Mysterium, was written following the death of Byrd's 20-year-old nephew and dealt with incomprehensible, shattering loss. Difficult understanding came on Universalis, and an altered reality understood through quiet reflection took hold on Silencia. Emerging from the silence, a period that brought with it the global pandemic of Covid-19 that has kept loved ones apart, conscripted months upon months of isolation, and roused directionless longing for escape, Hammock presents Elsewhere. Recorded by Byrd and Thompson at their homes, apart and with minimal equipment, Elsewhere serves as a gateway to another place, materializes feelings of separation and loss without closure, and calls listeners back to live their lives - not spend them longing to be something or somewhere else. - Wyatt Marshal