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There is a particular kind of strangeness that arrives on long drives across Europe. Flat light, service stations and fields stretching endlessly past the window. It might look mundane at first glance, but becomes faintly surreal when the tiredness of touring blurs the edges of everything.

That feeling became the quiet engine behind Driving Through Belgium, the debut solo album from Anton Pearson, best known as one of the guitarists in respected post-punk outfit Squid. The title grew from a track that felt like the record’s centrepiece, which itself came from the recurring image of extensive periods on the road across the continent. It is a record shaped in the margins of touring, and finessed in the in-between hours.

Across six pieces, Pearson leans into atmosphere, texture and space. It is ambient in spirit, adjacent to contemporary classical in feeling, but composed less with notes in mind than with sound itself. The compositions rarely began with harmony or melody, with Pearson instead responding to his environment and sounds in real time, placing trust in his instinct.

Although initial inspiration came from the road, the album was recorded in a studio he shares in Brighton, and marks his first fully solo project made in that setting. It gave him access to not only new tools and techniques, but a hitherto un-experienced freedom. Much of the process began experimentally, feeding instruments into unfamiliar chains, pitching loops into unexpected registers and playing with previously unused synthesizers simply to see what they might reveal. Many of the sounds were created out of pure curiosity, wanting to understand a piece of equipment or technology, and then following wherever it led.

The album was built with this experimentation at its core, as Pearson would layer then extract, processing stacks of sound until things blur and confuse. Guitars dissolve into drones, a Pianet Clavinet dances against muddier textures whilst a Korg PS-1000 occasionally cuts through with its glittering top end. On ‘Driving Past the Muscular Cows in Belgium’, a flat, still drone is pushed through valve amps until it growls and tightens with tension, before receding again. Even the trumpet, which Pearson freely admits he is not technically proficient at, is embraced in its naivety, its squeaks left intact rather than corrected. The twin ‘Tintinnabulation’ pieces frame the record with looping, pitched bell like tones, accidental discoveries that became structural anchors. Meanwhile, ‘Teeth to Cut the Grass’ deliberately introduces abrasion, some of the harshest textures on the record, a refusal to become passive background music.


That embrace of imperfection is central. In contrast to the hyper-analytical precision of his band, Pearson was keen to honour first takes. If something felt good, it would stay. The end result is an album that favours looseness, instinct and the energy of creation itself. If Squid thrives on propulsion and tension, Anton Pearson finds his energy in suspension on Driving Through Belgium. It is curious rather than declarative, creating a space where experimentation feels playful again.

"Carol Maia & Jeremy Gustin’s haunting collaborative album is the result of a long distance partnership during which tracks were traded back and forth across thousands of miles, Jeremy working from his home studio in Brooklyn and Carol from hers in Rio De Janeiro. Later they enlisted support from a number of key players in the Rio scene, Frederico Heliodoro, Paulo Emmery, Ricardo Dias Gomes, and from Brooklyn’s musical community, Will Graefe and Ryan Dugre, to shape this understated masterpiece of sophisticated global pop and quiet experimentalism.
"It's hard to describe what Carol, Jeremy and their guests have achieved on 'it's nice to see a lake in your eyes', a kind of pop music that stands outside of time and is neither Brazilian, American or of any other recognisable place. Maybe it's risen out of the lake they imagined into being? Maybe it's formed like rain in the thousands of miles of air between Rio and New York? Whatever happened was certainly alchemical as you will hear.
"Carol told me her writing on this record was greatly influenced by her reading of Marcelo Ariel's poetry book A água veio do sol, disse o breu so maybe the best thing to do to describe this music is to let you read one of his poems:

A luz do ser é como a água
também veio do Sol
onde todos os planetas querem entrar

Dentro do Sol
O ser é imóvel
como a gratuidade de um êxtase
parecido com a respiração

Fora do Sol
o ser é móvel
Tempo eternidade
e tempo cronológico

The light of being is like water
it also came from the Sun
where all the planets want to enter

Within the Sun
Being is immobile
like the gratuitousness of an ecstasy
similar to breathing

Outside the Sun
Being is mobile
Time eternal
and chronological time

"Jeremy Gustin is an unorthodox drummer, percussionist and songwriter who has toured and recorded with Joan as Policewoman, Iggy Pop, David Byrne, Marc Ribot, Delicate Steve, and Norah Jones. If you follow Hive Mind then you probably know him best from his amazing work on Ricardo Dias Gomes' Muito Sol. Jeremy is also in the experimental pop bands Star Rover and Blurry the Explorer.
"Carol Maia is one of Rio's new generation of singers and musicians currently lighting up the city's vibrant music scene. She also featured heavily on Wolfgang Pérez's album Só Ouço, which was released on Hive Mind in 2025."

Greg Mendez war schon immer ein sparsamer Songwriter - er nutzt Zurückhaltung und Einfachheit als Werkzeuge, um den Kern seiner Songs zu schärfen. Auf Beauty Land, seinem neuen Album und Debüt-LP für Dead Oceans, werden wir von einem ironischen, aber nachsichtigen Erzähler begleitet, einem Underdog, der gelernt hat, Zynismus und Glauben in Einklang zu bringen. Diese Songs sind zurückhaltend, ohne selbstmitleidig zu sein, sorgfältig konstruierte Altäre der Unvollkommenheit, vermittelt durch Pop-Melodien, schimmernde, aber eindringliche Gitarren und eine Stimme, die nach der Unschuld eines Chorknaben strebt. Der Großteil von ,Beauty Land" wurde direkt auf Band aufgenommen, fast ganz allein in Mendez' provisorischem Heimstudio in Philadelphia - einem kleinen Raum ohne Tageslicht. Es ist sein erstes Album in voller Länge seit seinem unerwarteten Durchbruch mit dem selbstbetitelten Album im Jahr 2023, das nach 15 Jahren des Schreibens und Aufnehmens von Musik in relativer Unbekanntheit zwischen Philly und New York ein langsamer Erfolg wurde. ,Beauty Land" knüpft dort an, wo wir vor drei Jahren aufgehört haben - es lotet die Tiefen von Trauer, Liebe und Sucht aus -, aber seine intensive, ruhige Klarheit zeigt Mendez von seiner besten Seite als Songwriter. Teile von ,Beauty Land" fühlen sich wie ein luzider Traum an, in dem angeschlagene Charaktere sich ihren Weg durch eine karikaturhafte und verzerrte Welt bahnen - der gebrochene Uhrentakt von ,I Wanna Feel Pretty", das klingende Spielzeugklavier in ,Gentle Love". ,Mary / Dreaming" beginnt als spärliche, fingergezupfte Klage, bevor es abrupt zu einer enttäuschten, Beach-Boys-artigen, aber verkorksten Auflösung übergeht, die sowohl Melancholie als auch Freude hervorruft; ein Gefühl, dass alle Dinge gleichzeitig wahr sein können. Keiner der 14 Tracks ist länger als drei Minuten, aber sie erzählen Geschichten, die ein ganzes Leben umfassen. Der Tod schwebt durch das Album, sei es als Erinnerung oder als Bedrohung. Alles fühlt sich prekär an. Die Art und Weise, wie diese Songs aufgebaut sind, hat etwas Zerbrechliches: die Art und Weise, wie die Begräbnisorgel neben dem Morphium in ,Looking Out Your Window" erklingt, die verheerende Einfachheit von ,Frog" mit seinem verlangsamten Keyboard und dem nackten Refrain: ,Bitte vergib mir meine Fehler." Beauty Land fühlt sich manchmal unmöglich einsam an. Umso mehr zählt es, wenn das nicht der Fall ist - wie zum Beispiel, wenn Mendez gegen Ende von ,So Mean" im Duett mit seiner Frau und Bandkollegin Veronica singt und es sich wie ein lang ersehntes Wiedersehen anfühlt, wie ein flüchtiger Moment der Erlösung, wie eine vorübergehende Teilung der Meere.

Greg Mendez war schon immer ein sparsamer Songwriter - er nutzt Zurückhaltung und Einfachheit als Werkzeuge, um den Kern seiner Songs zu schärfen. Auf Beauty Land, seinem neuen Album und Debüt-LP für Dead Oceans, werden wir von einem ironischen, aber nachsichtigen Erzähler begleitet, einem Underdog, der gelernt hat, Zynismus und Glauben in Einklang zu bringen. Diese Songs sind zurückhaltend, ohne selbstmitleidig zu sein, sorgfältig konstruierte Altäre der Unvollkommenheit, vermittelt durch Pop-Melodien, schimmernde, aber eindringliche Gitarren und eine Stimme, die nach der Unschuld eines Chorknaben strebt. Der Großteil von ,Beauty Land" wurde direkt auf Band aufgenommen, fast ganz allein in Mendez' provisorischem Heimstudio in Philadelphia - einem kleinen Raum ohne Tageslicht. Es ist sein erstes Album in voller Länge seit seinem unerwarteten Durchbruch mit dem selbstbetitelten Album im Jahr 2023, das nach 15 Jahren des Schreibens und Aufnehmens von Musik in relativer Unbekanntheit zwischen Philly und New York ein langsamer Erfolg wurde. ,Beauty Land" knüpft dort an, wo wir vor drei Jahren aufgehört haben - es lotet die Tiefen von Trauer, Liebe und Sucht aus -, aber seine intensive, ruhige Klarheit zeigt Mendez von seiner besten Seite als Songwriter. Teile von ,Beauty Land" fühlen sich wie ein luzider Traum an, in dem angeschlagene Charaktere sich ihren Weg durch eine karikaturhafte und verzerrte Welt bahnen - der gebrochene Uhrentakt von ,I Wanna Feel Pretty", das klingende Spielzeugklavier in ,Gentle Love". ,Mary / Dreaming" beginnt als spärliche, fingergezupfte Klage, bevor es abrupt zu einer enttäuschten, Beach-Boys-artigen, aber verkorksten Auflösung übergeht, die sowohl Melancholie als auch Freude hervorruft; ein Gefühl, dass alle Dinge gleichzeitig wahr sein können. Keiner der 14 Tracks ist länger als drei Minuten, aber sie erzählen Geschichten, die ein ganzes Leben umfassen. Der Tod schwebt durch das Album, sei es als Erinnerung oder als Bedrohung. Alles fühlt sich prekär an. Die Art und Weise, wie diese Songs aufgebaut sind, hat etwas Zerbrechliches: die Art und Weise, wie die Begräbnisorgel neben dem Morphium in ,Looking Out Your Window" erklingt, die verheerende Einfachheit von ,Frog" mit seinem verlangsamten Keyboard und dem nackten Refrain: ,Bitte vergib mir meine Fehler." Beauty Land fühlt sich manchmal unmöglich einsam an. Umso mehr zählt es, wenn das nicht der Fall ist - wie zum Beispiel, wenn Mendez gegen Ende von ,So Mean" im Duett mit seiner Frau und Bandkollegin Veronica singt und es sich wie ein lang ersehntes Wiedersehen anfühlt, wie ein flüchtiger Moment der Erlösung, wie eine vorübergehende Teilung der Meere.

Greg Mendez war schon immer ein sparsamer Songwriter - er nutzt Zurückhaltung und Einfachheit als Werkzeuge, um den Kern seiner Songs zu schärfen. Auf Beauty Land, seinem neuen Album und Debüt-LP für Dead Oceans, werden wir von einem ironischen, aber nachsichtigen Erzähler begleitet, einem Underdog, der gelernt hat, Zynismus und Glauben in Einklang zu bringen. Diese Songs sind zurückhaltend, ohne selbstmitleidig zu sein, sorgfältig konstruierte Altäre der Unvollkommenheit, vermittelt durch Pop-Melodien, schimmernde, aber eindringliche Gitarren und eine Stimme, die nach der Unschuld eines Chorknaben strebt. Der Großteil von ,Beauty Land" wurde direkt auf Band aufgenommen, fast ganz allein in Mendez' provisorischem Heimstudio in Philadelphia - einem kleinen Raum ohne Tageslicht. Es ist sein erstes Album in voller Länge seit seinem unerwarteten Durchbruch mit dem selbstbetitelten Album im Jahr 2023, das nach 15 Jahren des Schreibens und Aufnehmens von Musik in relativer Unbekanntheit zwischen Philly und New York ein langsamer Erfolg wurde. ,Beauty Land" knüpft dort an, wo wir vor drei Jahren aufgehört haben - es lotet die Tiefen von Trauer, Liebe und Sucht aus -, aber seine intensive, ruhige Klarheit zeigt Mendez von seiner besten Seite als Songwriter. Teile von ,Beauty Land" fühlen sich wie ein luzider Traum an, in dem angeschlagene Charaktere sich ihren Weg durch eine karikaturhafte und verzerrte Welt bahnen - der gebrochene Uhrentakt von ,I Wanna Feel Pretty", das klingende Spielzeugklavier in ,Gentle Love". ,Mary / Dreaming" beginnt als spärliche, fingergezupfte Klage, bevor es abrupt zu einer enttäuschten, Beach-Boys-artigen, aber verkorksten Auflösung übergeht, die sowohl Melancholie als auch Freude hervorruft; ein Gefühl, dass alle Dinge gleichzeitig wahr sein können. Keiner der 14 Tracks ist länger als drei Minuten, aber sie erzählen Geschichten, die ein ganzes Leben umfassen. Der Tod schwebt durch das Album, sei es als Erinnerung oder als Bedrohung. Alles fühlt sich prekär an. Die Art und Weise, wie diese Songs aufgebaut sind, hat etwas Zerbrechliches: die Art und Weise, wie die Begräbnisorgel neben dem Morphium in ,Looking Out Your Window" erklingt, die verheerende Einfachheit von ,Frog" mit seinem verlangsamten Keyboard und dem nackten Refrain: ,Bitte vergib mir meine Fehler." Beauty Land fühlt sich manchmal unmöglich einsam an. Umso mehr zählt es, wenn das nicht der Fall ist - wie zum Beispiel, wenn Mendez gegen Ende von ,So Mean" im Duett mit seiner Frau und Bandkollegin Veronica singt und es sich wie ein lang ersehntes Wiedersehen anfühlt, wie ein flüchtiger Moment der Erlösung, wie eine vorübergehende Teilung der Meere.

A unique collaboration between Industrial Breakbeat pioneers Meat Beat Manifesto (Jack Dangers) and the undisputed king of Japanese noise, Merzbow (Masami Akita). "We may not speak the same language, but in the vortex of sound, there's a raw, primal understanding that transcends words. Noise can be art, a visual representation could maybe be Jackson Pollock's No 5, a plexus of chaos redefining what music can and could be. Pushing boundaries with Masami wasn't just a musical adventure, it was a masterclass in sonic anarchy"
(Jack Dangers, January 2024). 'Extinct' sees the duo take listeners on a transcendental journey, focusing on the dismantling of beat and structure and recycling the result through layers of beautifully crafted noise and feedback loops, giving birth to new rhythms buried deep in the dirt. The 20 minute opener 'FLAKKA' takes constantly evolving breakbeats which are gradually broken down over time, driven through a filter of harsh noise, destroying the old to give birth to the new. Raw and unforgiving, the track is a behemoth that blends mutant forms of broken beats and hints of dub, creating rhythmic noise of the highest calibre in the process. 'Burner' takes the record to its ultimate conclusion, the initial drum beat broken down so that it is barely recognisable. Pulsating distortion and high end audio fragments bleed into each other as the track lumbers forth and destroys everything in its path before slowly unravelling, degrading and falling apart. A harrowing yet somewhat cathartic trip through walls of harsh industrial noise and audio degradation, 'Extinct' is a masterful pairing of artists who have delivered something truly unique yet totally relevant. Don't sleep on this one! (Todd Robinson / Subunit) Composed, recorded and produced November 2023 - January 2024 by Jack Dangers and Masami Akita.

2026 Repress
A notoriously jaw-dropping folk-funk classic, long treasured by the Balearic fraternity, the self-titled LP from the brothers Batteau nevertheless remains a criminally underheard gem. Appealing to fans stuck on Ned Doheny's scorching blue-eyed soul as well as Gene Clark's rich country-rock, it's an honour to present the first officially licensed vinyl reissue of this undoubted masterpiece of proto-Yacht-Rock.

Like a forgotten piece of baroque folk caught in 1973, Batteaux's eponymous album somehow sounds magically timeless. A full 45 years after the fact, it remains a mystery as to why they weren't better known. The lush production and virtuoso playing conforms with the ruling aesthetic of the time - well-crafted, melodic songs performed with precision and balance - whilst the shimmering AOR atmosphere and sun-dappled vocal washes align neatly with the best Crosby, Stills & Nash records.

Throughout, the beautifully penned tracks hold traces of Jimmie Spheeris, America and Seals & Crofts. The immaculately orchestrated percussion and additional instrumentation (electric piano and fiddle to name a few) are performed by perennially celebrated West-Coast cats including Tom Scott, John Guerin and Andy Newmark.

It's no surprise that the heavenly "High Tide" is such a Balearic touchstone. A free soul aqua-space groover, its sophisticated rhythms predict the swing of CSN's canonical "Dark Star" by a full four years. An alternative measure of its enduring magnificence can be gauged by MF Doom sampling Paul Horn's wonderful version, subsequently used by Ghostface Killah.

The highlights are many and memorable. Gorgeous opener "Tell Her She's Lovely" is the perfect example of the addictive, melody-driven songwriting which really should have earned them stardom. Moody ballad "Living's Worth Loving" is nothing short of heartbreaking whilst the chugging elegance of "Wake Me In The Morning" showcases their bewitching harmonies. The hypnotic yearning of "Lady Of The Lake" is an exquisitely string-drenched, piano-laced favourite that achieves a peculiar strutting-funk. It's that good.

This lovingly curated reissue enables a long overdue reappraisal of the hitherto buried genius of Batteaux. The serene aqua artwork which adorned the original jacket - their father worked on a dolphin-human communication project in Hawaii, hence the infamous design - and sumptuous inner sleeve have been faithfully restored. Whilst, with access to the original tapes, Simon Francis' sensitive mastering elevates the sound throughout and, as ever, it has been pressed at a reassuringly weighty 180g.

London-based musician, composer, and NTS resident Kit Grill presents his extraordinary new album 'Andøya', inspired by a solo residency on the eponymous Norwegian island, a profoundly dramatic territory situated in the Vesterålen archipelago, inside the Arctic circle.

With evocative, sonorous ambient, drone, minimalism, experimentalism, and modern classical music, Grill captures the environmental essence of a remarkable region; an isolated Nordic landscape of small coastline villages, raw peatlands and sublime mountain ranges, surrounded by wide, open views of the Arctic ocean.

Drawn from his experience on solitary excursions around the island - hiking, exploring, and encountering the locals - 'Andøya' is a beautifully stark, stirring exploration of acoustic phenomena, seclusion in nature, and the expressive power of unique landscapes. For Grill, the trip entailed a surreal day-night cycle, and his experience has had far-reaching, existential implications, both for his practice and his perspective:

"On the 8th January 2025 I travelled to the Norwegian island of Andøya, in the Arctic Circle for a three week solo residency. Surrounded by sea, snow, and mountains, I lived in isolation and travelled around the island each day documenting the landscape. At 10am, the background light of the sun beneath the horizon would light the day and in the 4 hour window of light, I would hike into the mountains and explore the wilderness. It was a profound experience that changed the way I thought about sound, solitude, and what it means to be alone in nature."

"Since returning, I created a body of music informed by that time to try and capture the vastness and unpredictability of the Arctic landscape. The album moves through the sensory extremes: ice cracking, storms forming and fading, the rumble of tectonic plates, waves crashing, harsh winds, trudging through snow, and the sharpness of freezing air. The album aims to reflect both the landscape itself and the shifting emotions that came with living in isolation and the Arctic environment. The music and photography serve as a recorded diary of my time there, documenting the experience."

Ein neues dynamisches Kapitel in der Diskografie von villagerrr: Carousel, das fünfte Album von Mark Scott als villagerrr, bewegt sich von Slowcore zu Shoegaze, von Log-Cabin-Folk zur beschleunigten Glückseligkeit des Rocks, der wie geschaffen ist für eine leere Autobahn. ,Carousel" ist das bisher kühnste und feinfühligste Album des Songwriters aus Ohio und eine umfassende Erkundung dessen, was es bedeutet, in einem überbelichteten und einengenden Zeitalter aufrichtige Kunst zu schaffen, in dem Scotts große Songs aus dem Mittleren Westen von dem Wunsch geprägt sind, in einer von Kommerzialisierung geprägten Ära nach bleibender Bedeutung zu suchen. Scott stellte die Musik im Laufe von zwei Jahren zusammen und ließ den kollaborativen Geist seines vorherigen Albums aufblühen. 2024s ,Tear Your Heart Out" führte zu Tourneen mit Real Estate, Greg Freeman und Momma, einem neuen Plattenvertrag mit Winspear und einer kürzlichen Deluxe-Neuauflage, wodurch sich der Kreis der Zuhörer und Mitwirkenden vergrößerte. ,Carousel" enthält eine Mischung aus Scotts aufstrebenden Folk- und Indie-Rock-Kollegen wie Boone Patrello von Teethe, h. pruz und Carolina Chau e von Hemlock und wurde von Scott selbst gemischt, nachdem er sich die Aufnahmen angehört hatte. ,Carousel" bietet eine Mischung aus Scotts aufstrebenden Folk- und Indie-Rock-Kollegen wie Boone Patrello von Teethe, h. pruz und Carolina Chau e von Hemlock und wurde von Scott gemischt, nachdem er sich die Rohfassungen auf langen Autofahrten oder beim Laufen angehört hatte. Mit Scotts feinem Gehör für Details und weitläufige Landschaften fühlt sich das Hören von villagerrr an, als würde man in das Gras der Prärie spähen, um zu sehen, was dort krabbelt, und dann plötzlich aufstehen, um die Pracht eines herannahenden Sturms zu beobachten. Carousel hegt eine gesunde Skepsis gegenüber der Welt, in der wir leben, aber es liefert auch den Beweis, dass man, wenn man seine Schutzmauer fallen lässt und auf andere Menschen zugeht, kreative und bereichernde Beziehungen aufbauen kann - und damit die Grundlage für ein tiefes, sinnvolles Leben schafft. Das Album wurde von Scott gemischt, nachdem er sich die Rohfassungen auf langen Autofahrten oder beim Joggen angehört hatte. Mit Scotts ausgeprägtem Gespür für Details und weitläufige Klanglandschaften fühlt man sich beim Hören von villagerrr wie beim Beobachten von Insekten im Präriegras, um dann plötzlich aufzustehen und die Pracht eines herannahenden Sturms zu erleben. Carousel hegt eine gesunde Skepsis gegenüber der Welt, in der wir leben, aber es liefert auch den Beweis, dass man, wenn man seine Schutzmauer fallen lässt und auf andere Menschen zugeht, kreative und bereichernde Beziehungen aufbauen kann - und damit die Grundlage für ein tiefes, sinnvolles Leben schafft.

Ein neues dynamisches Kapitel in der Diskografie von villagerrr: Carousel, das fünfte Album von Mark Scott als villagerrr, bewegt sich von Slowcore zu Shoegaze, von Log-Cabin-Folk zur beschleunigten Glückseligkeit des Rocks, der wie geschaffen ist für eine leere Autobahn. ,Carousel" ist das bisher kühnste und feinfühligste Album des Songwriters aus Ohio und eine umfassende Erkundung dessen, was es bedeutet, in einem überbelichteten und einengenden Zeitalter aufrichtige Kunst zu schaffen, in dem Scotts große Songs aus dem Mittleren Westen von dem Wunsch geprägt sind, in einer von Kommerzialisierung geprägten Ära nach bleibender Bedeutung zu suchen. Scott stellte die Musik im Laufe von zwei Jahren zusammen und ließ den kollaborativen Geist seines vorherigen Albums aufblühen. 2024s ,Tear Your Heart Out" führte zu Tourneen mit Real Estate, Greg Freeman und Momma, einem neuen Plattenvertrag mit Winspear und einer kürzlichen Deluxe-Neuauflage, wodurch sich der Kreis der Zuhörer und Mitwirkenden vergrößerte. ,Carousel" enthält eine Mischung aus Scotts aufstrebenden Folk- und Indie-Rock-Kollegen wie Boone Patrello von Teethe, h. pruz und Carolina Chau e von Hemlock und wurde von Scott selbst gemischt, nachdem er sich die Aufnahmen angehört hatte. ,Carousel" bietet eine Mischung aus Scotts aufstrebenden Folk- und Indie-Rock-Kollegen wie Boone Patrello von Teethe, h. pruz und Carolina Chau e von Hemlock und wurde von Scott gemischt, nachdem er sich die Rohfassungen auf langen Autofahrten oder beim Laufen angehört hatte. Mit Scotts feinem Gehör für Details und weitläufige Landschaften fühlt sich das Hören von villagerrr an, als würde man in das Gras der Prärie spähen, um zu sehen, was dort krabbelt, und dann plötzlich aufstehen, um die Pracht eines herannahenden Sturms zu beobachten. Carousel hegt eine gesunde Skepsis gegenüber der Welt, in der wir leben, aber es liefert auch den Beweis, dass man, wenn man seine Schutzmauer fallen lässt und auf andere Menschen zugeht, kreative und bereichernde Beziehungen aufbauen kann - und damit die Grundlage für ein tiefes, sinnvolles Leben schafft. Das Album wurde von Scott gemischt, nachdem er sich die Rohfassungen auf langen Autofahrten oder beim Joggen angehört hatte. Mit Scotts ausgeprägtem Gespür für Details und weitläufige Klanglandschaften fühlt man sich beim Hören von villagerrr wie beim Beobachten von Insekten im Präriegras, um dann plötzlich aufzustehen und die Pracht eines herannahenden Sturms zu erleben. Carousel hegt eine gesunde Skepsis gegenüber der Welt, in der wir leben, aber es liefert auch den Beweis, dass man, wenn man seine Schutzmauer fallen lässt und auf andere Menschen zugeht, kreative und bereichernde Beziehungen aufbauen kann - und damit die Grundlage für ein tiefes, sinnvolles Leben schafft.

Ein neues dynamisches Kapitel in der Diskografie von villagerrr: Carousel, das fünfte Album von Mark Scott als villagerrr, bewegt sich von Slowcore zu Shoegaze, von Log-Cabin-Folk zur beschleunigten Glückseligkeit des Rocks, der wie geschaffen ist für eine leere Autobahn. ,Carousel" ist das bisher kühnste und feinfühligste Album des Songwriters aus Ohio und eine umfassende Erkundung dessen, was es bedeutet, in einem überbelichteten und einengenden Zeitalter aufrichtige Kunst zu schaffen, in dem Scotts große Songs aus dem Mittleren Westen von dem Wunsch geprägt sind, in einer von Kommerzialisierung geprägten Ära nach bleibender Bedeutung zu suchen. Scott stellte die Musik im Laufe von zwei Jahren zusammen und ließ den kollaborativen Geist seines vorherigen Albums aufblühen. 2024s ,Tear Your Heart Out" führte zu Tourneen mit Real Estate, Greg Freeman und Momma, einem neuen Plattenvertrag mit Winspear und einer kürzlichen Deluxe-Neuauflage, wodurch sich der Kreis der Zuhörer und Mitwirkenden vergrößerte. ,Carousel" enthält eine Mischung aus Scotts aufstrebenden Folk- und Indie-Rock-Kollegen wie Boone Patrello von Teethe, h. pruz und Carolina Chau e von Hemlock und wurde von Scott selbst gemischt, nachdem er sich die Aufnahmen angehört hatte. ,Carousel" bietet eine Mischung aus Scotts aufstrebenden Folk- und Indie-Rock-Kollegen wie Boone Patrello von Teethe, h. pruz und Carolina Chau e von Hemlock und wurde von Scott gemischt, nachdem er sich die Rohfassungen auf langen Autofahrten oder beim Laufen angehört hatte. Mit Scotts feinem Gehör für Details und weitläufige Landschaften fühlt sich das Hören von villagerrr an, als würde man in das Gras der Prärie spähen, um zu sehen, was dort krabbelt, und dann plötzlich aufstehen, um die Pracht eines herannahenden Sturms zu beobachten. Carousel hegt eine gesunde Skepsis gegenüber der Welt, in der wir leben, aber es liefert auch den Beweis, dass man, wenn man seine Schutzmauer fallen lässt und auf andere Menschen zugeht, kreative und bereichernde Beziehungen aufbauen kann - und damit die Grundlage für ein tiefes, sinnvolles Leben schafft. Das Album wurde von Scott gemischt, nachdem er sich die Rohfassungen auf langen Autofahrten oder beim Joggen angehört hatte. Mit Scotts ausgeprägtem Gespür für Details und weitläufige Klanglandschaften fühlt man sich beim Hören von villagerrr wie beim Beobachten von Insekten im Präriegras, um dann plötzlich aufzustehen und die Pracht eines herannahenden Sturms zu erleben. Carousel hegt eine gesunde Skepsis gegenüber der Welt, in der wir leben, aber es liefert auch den Beweis, dass man, wenn man seine Schutzmauer fallen lässt und auf andere Menschen zugeht, kreative und bereichernde Beziehungen aufbauen kann - und damit die Grundlage für ein tiefes, sinnvolles Leben schafft.

Das Indie-Pop-Quartett Veps aus Oslo ist zurück mit seinem dritten Album ,ChurchyardStreet 8B", dem ersten beim schwedischen Indie-Label PNKSLM Recordings (ShitKid, Clutter, Vegas Water Taxi etc.). Die Band hat sich als eine der interessantesten Indie-Bands Nordeuropas etabliert. Helena, Laura, June und Maja kennen sich schon seit der Grundschule und gründeten die Band im Alter von 14 Jahren. Ihre brillante Debüt-EP ,Open The Door" (veröffentlicht 2021 bei Kanine Records) ebnete den Weg für ihr ebenso großartiges Debütalbum ,Oslo Park" und den Nachfolger ,Dedicated To". Mit gerade einmal 22 Jahren auf diesem Planeten stehen Veps erst am Anfang ihrer Karriere, haben aber schon eine Fülle von Erfahrungen gesammelt, während sie weitermachen, mit ihrem neuen Album "ChurchyardStreet 8B", ihrem bisher besten Werk.

Fust ist ein Songwriting-Projekt von Aaron Dowdy, das er zusammen mit seinen Freunden Frank Meadows, Avery Sullivan und John Wallace macht. Es fing 2017 als Heimaufnahme-Experiment von Aaron an, der sieben EPs mit jeweils vier Songs auf Bandcamp selbst veröffentlichte, bevor es zu einer Live-Band wurde. Die vier hatten über ein Jahrzehnt lang in verschiedenen Bands in Virginia und North Carolina zusammen gespielt. Diese Konstellation entstand 2018 in Brooklyn, wo sie alle zu dieser Zeit lebten, und sie trafen sich in Gowanus, um die einsamen, etwas hoffnungslosen Songs so leise wie möglich zu spielen - oder, wie die Band es bösartig nennen würde, da es eine Verletzung zu sein scheint, Songs über Fehlverhalten und Verzweiflung sanft zu spielen. Aber Fust interessiert sich auch für diese Themen und Stimmungen als Tropen und greift das Melodram der Country-Musik auf, vor allem die Idee, dass das Leben nicht viel bringt oder dass die eigene Güte nicht genutzt wird. Fust - das Wort für den muffigen Geruch, der an unbenutzten Dingen haftet - hat jetzt seinen Sitz in Durham, North Carolina, und Evil Joy ist sowohl ihr Plattenlabel-Debüt als auch die ersten gemeinsamen Aufnahmen der Band.

Maybe it was inevitable that Vilhelm Bromander and Fredrik Rasten would find each other. A symbiotic musical alliance of suggestive combinatory magic that stretches back to the interstitial two day space that separates their dates of birth and manifests here as the movement between ‘perfect’ or ‘just’ intonation and the ragged, psychoactive energy of the slippages from and towards that togetherness that render otherwise simple patterns or generally understood repetitions as wildly other and alive.

Astral Twins shares ‘twin’ works by each composer. The patiently unfolding real time retuning of Fredrik Rasten’s guitars on the a-side’s Sojourns and Vilhelm Bromander’s quickened steps and spry looping melodies on the flip’s Partially Dancing.

Both artists have history of going deep into the aesthetic and acoustic impact of intonation (how you think about what is ‘in tune’). Where their first LP (...for some reason that escapes us, 2019, Differ Records) shared a gorgeous set of sustained tone colour fields, this time they lean more explicitly into the folk music traditions of Scandinavia and further afield, whilst echoing the zoned minimalist atmosphere of Arthur Russell’s classic Instrumentals.

Recorded up close and in real time at Fylkingen’s soon-to-be-abandoned temporary location in Stockholm’s southern suburb of Bredäng, Astral Twins sings with the possibility that one plus one can equal more than two.

Fredrik Rasten:
 Sojourns explores the live retuning of guitar and double bass in a sequence of just intonation harmonies. A guitar ostinato runs throughout the piece where the retuning becomes an integral part of the composition. The slow pace reveals every detail in the transition from one harmonic arpeggio to another — how interfering waves emerge and disappear as the tonal interactions settle in electric clarity. The double bass shadows the guitar's process and comments with occasional pizzicato tones and register jumps, at times providing a low foundation for the sound and sometimes soaring together with the guitar. This is music that is deeply listening; experimental and at the same time humbly inviting many kinds of being with sound.

Vilhelm Bromander: 
As the title suggests, this song has a partially dancing character. The title also has a double meaning with reference to the partials and harmonics that dance together. The basic idea was to write music in just intonation that instead of being drone-based is reminiscent of a lightly dancing folk music, where the joyous feeling of just being in the music — “musicking" — is allowed to lead the way.

The double bass plays repeated overtone double stops in an open harmonic progression with subtle modulations that is inspired in equal parts by Steve Lacy's persistent repetition of phrases as east-asian khaen music. The guitars and mandolin have a freer role, with plucked retuned strings that enhance the bass's modulations and provide forward movement. The music invites to both melodic and spectral listening, suddenly halting so that other focal points can reveal themselves. For example, a chord sequence suddenly transitions to a more spectral part where Fredrik is playing a bowed guitar with a chain, several plucking guitars, voices, and pitch pipes. I wanted to make something ‘orchestral’ with just two people and no overdubs: a dance of overtones and open resonant strings, where we seamlessly take turns standing in the foreground.

With their debut album "Invictus," Stairway To Violet open the door to a world where cinematic rock meets emotional storytelling, atmospheric sounds, and uncompromising honesty. The album is a cinematic experience—a soundtrack for life's darkest and brightest moments. In 13 intense songs (plus two exclusive piano versions), "Invictus" tells of inner struggles, abysses, ecstasies, and the courage to rise again even from the most fragile moments. The band combines epic soundscapes with modern rock-to-metal dynamics, powerful vocals, and an aesthetic depth that immediately resonates and gets under your skin. "Invictus" leads through drug-induced euphoria and psychedelic distortion ("Love Death & Pixiedust," "Come Spirit Come"), through destructive passion ("Paranoia," "My Heart's Cut Open"), and through the wild, raw primal force of humanity ("Animal," "It Thrills It Kills"). The song "Unholy War" bears its title because there is nothing sacred about war. "Parade Of Stars" leads deep into the universe amidst the sounds of the planets, to a humble search for the source. "Invictus" means "unconquered." The term represents the motivation to forge a new place in life and not be defined by past trauma.

Recycled purple cassette tape The monster-collecting open-world RPG "Cassette Beasts" is delivering a furious 80's synth rock meets British indie soundtrack composed by Joel Baylis and featuring shooting star Shelby Harvey on vocals. This soundtrack is taking you on a journey across the mysterious island of New Wirral - from lo-fi acoustic ballads to all-out headbangers! By the way, welcome to New Wirral, a remote island inhabited by strange creatures you've only dreamed of, nightmares you hopefully haven't, and a cast of brave folks who use cassette tapes to transform for battle. To find a way home you'll need to explore every inch of the island, and record monsters to your trusty cassette tapes to gain their abilities!

In the world of Smote, going further out means going inward. Less a metaphysical journey into inner space, more a physical journey into the ground itself, converging with its roots and vibrations. What's more, a journey right to the heart of its principal architect's daily experience. Smote's fifth release for Rocket Recordings, and their deepest, most fully realised to date. Forged from repetition and mantric intensity and possessed of formidable psychic fortitude, this album prove that the only retro-chic Smote indulge in is liable to go back several centuries. The megalithic monomania of last year's A Grand Stream set a formidable precedent, and Smote's live shows in its wake have gradually built a reputation as visionary seers building audial monuments by cranked amplification and atmospheric intensity alike. Yet these five gnostic serenades offer portals and paradigms anew. Continuing Smote's exploratory mission into heaviness in all its forms. Songs From The Free House sees Foggin exploring a variety of new avenues. Therefore, whilst listeners might align the pantheistic forays into drone-based abandon with previous travellers like Earth and Om, the influence of folk songs and legends, as well as electronic music make their presence felt. "I've been listening to heavy electronic stuff like Puce Mary and The Body" adds Daniel, "Stereotypically guitars are often seen as the instrument for "heavy" music, but the sheer force that's available from electronics is something that will crumble most guitar centred music." Elsewhere a more melodic vocal based structure is writ large amidst these rites and revelations, particularly on The Linton Wyrm, which proceeds from devotional chant to a potent conclusion, also inspired by Foggin's everyday surroundings. Wrought from the earth, transposed to the ether, and now shared with the world at large, this album marks a transcendental journey where Smote render ancient and modern indivisible. Just as traditional music is passed down through generations, Songs from the Free House is where the primal collides with the eternal.

Obsidian rock is igneous, frequently dark, yet opaque. Hard edged and brittle, it’s often been used both for weaponry and alchemical pursuits. Therefore when Lorena Quintanilla – the Mexican-based artist from the group ‘Lorelle Meets The Obsolete’ and also known as J. Zunz – was searching for psychic inspiration for her next musical venture, she need have looked no further. “Once I chose the title, everything I read, saw, listened to, and thought about began to interconnect” she relates. “Obsidian became like a magnetic field.”
“In Mesoamerican cultures, it was used in many different ways – obsidian mirrors, for example, were tools for divination and spiritual vision". Thereafter, Lorena set about creating an album entirely on her own terms. Driven by both the ghost and the heart of the machine, ‘Obsidiana’ open up a portal whereby forbidding drone, ethereal ambience and insistent repetition intertwine elegantly to form a seamless whole.
A study in balance, its emotional charge remains strong and intact whether on the eerie, almost Radiophonic ambience of ‘Imago’ or the dancefloor-adjacent, Chris & Cosey-esque ‘Osiris’. Lyrically meanwhile, ‘Obsidiana’ intersects deep personal explorations with the conflicts and contradictions of life in the unforgiving realm of 2026 – as Lorena says; “he process behind ‘Obsidiana’ was very abstract, yet I wanted the lyrics to stay grounded in the present and in reality".
Ultimately however, ‘Obsidiana’, in all its sharp yet amorphous glory, is catharsis manifest. “Each song carries a clear and deliberate intention” Lorena emphasises. “To conjure, to exorcise, to strip away fear, to rediscover myself, to heal inherited sadness, and to reclaim the night that was taken from us.”

Get Over it, Underdog is an 11 song collection about the duality of the American underdog. The characters within these tunes are exotic dancers, cringe white guys, historic world explorers, ultra wealthy people playing God, baby Jesus, eccentric women who have done life their own way, and dreamers. The album is a rich tapestry that weaves together all of these tales into one enchanting piece. Through the lyrics in these songs we learn how the underdog character can embody any of the best and/or worst characteristics of humanity. The underdog may be a noble hero or an evil villain either of whom is able to pull off surprising or unexpected victories which good or bad in nature can often times lead to an underdog's ultimate downfall. Each song takes an honest look at what it means to be some kind of underdog all coming from a songwriter who has been called an underdog by others and who has at times identified himself in this way only to realize that in the end, every human being contains multitudes beyond the limited capacity we have to observe and truly know ourselves and each other.

Wheelchair Sports Camp is certainly not your average hip-hop act. Hailing from Denver, CO, fronted by Kalyn Rose Heffernan—a wheelchair using, profanely queer and tiny rapper, with a very distinctly high-pitched sense of humor. Backed by her gimp Greggy on drums, the band combines fantastic beats with an absolutely face shredding live show. Playing shows everywhere they could, the band has expanded into performance art, museum takeovers, politics, prison tours, permanent installations, theater, film, and now the release of their newest album, “Oh Imperfecta!” on Alternative Tentacles Records. They bring together contributions from Jello Biafra (twice), Radio Pete (who happened to come up with the name Dead Kennedys when Biafra was a teen in Boulder, CO, and this is their first time ever collaborating musically), Kimya Dawson (Moldy Peaches), Oliva Jean, Junia-T, Amy Goodman, and some honorary WSC members: Qknox, Michelle Rocqet, Wes Watkins, RAREBYRD$, and many more; to create 11 absolute bangers.

Repress on red vinyl. One of Rio de Janeiro's most exciting singer-songwriters of the last fifteen years is now living in Los Angeles, where he stands on the verge of an overdue American breakthrough. Rogê - born Roger José Cury - gained an avid following for his swinging samba-funk, tinged with Brazilian Soul. His acclaim rose when he cowrote the theme song for the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. Seu Zé is the first new music from the Brazilian artist since the release of his debut American-made album, Curyman, in March of 2023. Lavishly produced by the Budos Band's Thomas Brenneck, a top session guitarist and collaborator with the stars (Lady Gaga, Beyoncé & Jay-Z, Amy Winehouse), Seu Zé is meant to capture the spirit of the people on the streets. It's a "Partido Alto" kind of samba that has its origins in the religious parties in rural communities where jongo (a style of music deeply rooted in Africa) was played. Brazilian energy has a universal ability to inspire and Rogê continues to accomplish this through his music and performance masterfully.

Following their 2024 debut „La Grande Accumulation“ Anadol (Gözen Atila) and Marie Klock return with „Manivelles“.

Hailed by The Quietus as a duo that pushes each other to "greater heights of oddness" the pair produces an undefinable mix of folk, kraut, and pop nested inside expansive organ-based arrangements. The album‘s nine tracks emerged from intensive improvisations in Paris and Istanbul, brought to life with an odd mix of tools: from Prophet-5 and Jupiter-6 synths to mechanical Pianet clatter and even a salad spinner repurposed as a drone.

Klock‘s French lyrics navigate the miniature and the cosmic, exploring the small tragedies of everyday life - botched holiday gatherings, lingering heartbreak or the absence of a loved one.

Born from a moment of catharsis during an Istanbul earthquake that ended a period of writer‘s block, the record draws its material from lived experience and a lasting friendship.

Its title „Manivelles“ - meaning "cranks" - hints at the musical partners creative penchant for generating songs through friction and playful contradictions. From the shouted pastiche of "Symposium" to the sparse synth pulses of "Une Grande Tragédie Polonaise", it‘s an album with a wonderfully wonky heart that sounds like faint signals from a beautifully failing transmitter.

One of electronic music’s most sought-after names, producer and DJ KETTAMA today announces the release of his long-awaited debut album, Archangel, out 3rd of October. The announcement arrives in tandem with new single “Sort It Out” featuring Clouds, and a landmark moment in his career: his biggest ever London headline show, taking over Brixton Academy on Saturday, October 4th, followed by an expansive tour across Europe, North America, and Australia.



A decade in the making, Archangel is the definitive statement from KETTAMA (Evan Cambell), the Galway-born, London-based artist. The 15-track project is a powerful blend of hard-house energy, trance-inflected euphoria, hip-hop sample-based attitude, and unmistakable emotional depth—sonic signatures that have placed KETTAMA at the cutting edge of contemporary dance music.



The album showcases a curated roster of collaborators who reflect KETTAMA’s reach and relevance across today’s underground and mainstream scenes, including Interplanetary Criminal, Fred again.., Clouds, Prospa, DJ HEARTSTRING, Shady Nasty, SØLV and seantommy. Their contributions amplify the project's scope, offering a multi-sided view into KETTAMA’s musical universe.



Among its early singles, the Interplanetary Criminal collaboration “Yosemite” is a high-velocity anthem marrying speed-garage grit with ecstatic rave melodies, while his track “Air Maxes” with Fred again.. And Shady Nasty blends introspective vocal sampling with wide-eyed club emotion. On “If U Want My Heart” with DJ HEARTSTRING featuring KLP, the ensemble channels high-energy trance, breakbeats, and vocal euphoria into a soaring anthem that fuses emotional intensity with peak-time club energy. Meanwhile, his collaboration with Clouds, released today, “Sort It Out” dives headfirst into industrial-techno territory, conjuring a dark, cathartic energy destined for warehouse euphoria. And reigning as one of the undeniable anthems of the summer so far, “It Get’s Better (Forever Mix)” delivers euphoric waves of uplifting synths and relentless rhythm, bringing an irresistible surge of energy that’s become synonymous with this summer’s club moments.



Archangel has already found a home on the world’s biggest stages and radio airwaves, with early support from key tastemakers including Jack Saunders, Danny Howard, Sarah Story, and Tim Sweeney. Simultaneously, a grassroots groundswell continues to bloom across social platforms—where viral snippets and show footage capture the visceral reaction of a fast-growing, global fanbase.



This year, KETTAMA has elevated his status to a full-blown festival phenomenon, performing at major stages including Coachella, Glastonbury, Creamfields, Portola, Seismic, and ARC Festival, to name a few. In June, he played to 20,000 people in Belfast for a b2b with Chris Stussy—one of the UK’s largest DJ events in recent memory—and is currently mid-way through a 16-week Ibiza residency at Amnesia, playing every Monday night throughout summer. Full list of upcoming live dates can be found below.



Perhaps the clearest signal of his surging popularity is the jaw-dropping response to his upcoming Boiler Room live set, with over 15,000 fans signing up to attend— the set’s release is now highly anticipated as a time capsule moment in a breakout year for the artist.



KETTAMA’s rise to prominence has been anything but conventional. Eschewing the traditional gatekeepers of the industry, KETTAMA cultivated an underground following through the likes of SoundCloud and TikTok, where raw uploads, bootlegs, and viral edits generated a tidal wave of grassroots momentum. Over the years, these platforms became launching pads for a fiercely loyal global community, drawn to his unfiltered energy and boundary-pushing sound. This subversive path to recognition has made him not just a fixture of the scene but a symbol of how new-generation artists can forge success on their own terms.



From his humble roots in the Irish underground to the world stage KETTAMA is now pushing the limits of what a next-gen DJ-producer can achieve. With Archangel, he fuses the sound of his native ‘G-Town’ with a futuristic vision that’s unapologetically global—marking a creative milestone that cements his place among electronic music’s most compelling voices.

Two Piers proudly announces the upcoming release of Bridges Towards Open Spaces: Circadian Rhythms 1967–2025.

This new collection brings together a wide range of artists and styles, weaving immersive sonic landscapes that explore a connection between natural cycles and the rhythms within.

Featuring artists such as Brian Eno, Moebius, Roedelius, Meat Beat Manifesto, Fun Boy Three, Daniel Avery, and Spectrum, the compilation moves fluidly between shimmering ambient textures and raw, straight-ahead garage rock.

Bridges Towards Open Spaces: Circadian Rhythms 1967–2025 follows in the footsteps of Two Piers acclaimed previous releases, Night Train: Transcontinental Landscapes 1968–2019 and Music for the Stars: Celestial Music 1960–1979, continuing the label’s exploration of expansive, time-spanning musical journeys.

“I wanted once again to shape a compilation around a time period, this collection is a nod to my days behind the counter of a record shop, the people I met and the styles of music that was played and I was introduced to. Some are from that time, some are of the style/feeling, that I can associate & with the friends I met there; from the early shift to the late shifts as the tempo rose throughout the day and the neons of London started to buzz”

The album will be available on Limited Vinyl and CD in May, arriving just in time for the longer, warmer days and the shifting light of the Seasons Sun.

Time To Get On Board A New Black Universal Express.

With each new recording Anthony Joseph presents an imaginative, personal vision of contemporary black culture, and The Ark is yet another compelling album by the award-winning Trinidadian poet and musician. This second part of a sequence of two albums launched with last year’s Rowing Up River To Get Our Names Back, finds Joseph giving full vent to his desire to explore many thought-provoking themes. However, there is a specific thread running through the glorious offering of sounds.

”I was especially interested in the idea of using Afrofuturism as a means of using the future in order to correct the wrongs of the past,” explains Joseph. “And so a lot of lyrics reimage or imagine an alternate black history. At the same time there are elements of autobiography.” The aforesaid cultural phenomenon, a view of the black experience through the prism of science fiction and ancient Egypt and Africa, as mapped out by visionaries from music and literature such as Sun Ra, Parliament-Funkadelic and Octavia E. Butler, has previously inspired Joseph. His 2006 novel The African Origins Of UFOs was a multi-hued work, and the new music shows how Joseph

has, much like all significant artists, gone on to broaden his conceptual palette, creating beguiling new stories and images set to startling rhythms and tones. Tracks such as ‘James’, with its taut, crisp bass and dubbed-up brass, and ‘Transposition Of Space (Glissant)’, a potent evocation of the influential Martiniquan theorist set in a haze of jazz guitar and ambient synthesizers, are marvels of text-sound painting.

As for ‘Baron Samedi’, shaped by a languid, almost wounded guitar line and slow rise of horns that frame Joseph’s journey to the ‘mountain of fire, almost touching the sky’ it is an epic blend of commanding vocal delivery and dramatic sonic tapestry.

Joseph led the Spasm band in the early 2000s and recorded well-received albums such as Bird Head Son and Time, in which songs were largely based on spirituals or chants enhanced by improvisation. But his musical curiosity has naturally led to collaborations, and the new work is produced by Dave Okumu, the prodigiously talented guitarist-vocalist-composer known as the leader of Mercury Music Prize-nominated The Invisible, and who was also a member of the seminal band Jade Fox.

Having first performed together at a show curated by influential saxophonist-flautist Shabaka Hutchings at the storied Total Refreshment Centre In London during lockdown, Joseph and Okumu struck up a rapport that further developed when the former guested on he latter’s album. With the connection made Joseph knew Okumu was the ideal producer for this latest project, which has a freewheeling, almost black psychedelic thing. After sifting through demos and loops the guitarist made on pro-tools the poet started to live with the music. Many months later words began to take shape. Joseph then went into the studio with Okumu’s band and set about creating a magnum opus. Boasting a stellar cast such as vocalist Eska Mtungwazi, trumpeter Byron Wallen and keyboardist Nick Ramm, The Ark is a highly intricate musical mosaic framed by simmering funk grooves, wily jazz improvisation and haunting dub effects. Through the use of many genres the music has simply become its own genre.

The Ark can be perceived as a vessel or means of transport to new worlds, along the lines of Sun Ra’s Ark or Funkadelic’s Mothership, and the material it contains is a unique blend of who Anthony Joseph is and how he sees the world and society in these stimulating, challenging times. “It balances the personal with the universal in a much more vulnerable, accessible way than on previous albums,” Joseph explains.

“It has become less about a personal experience and more about a collective, communal experience in which the artist is conduit, messenger, urban griot.”

Tajemnica is a transgression—too gentle for dancing, too euphoric for standing still. Sparse, scarce, and subtle, the new album by Polish performance artist, musician, and poet Wojciech Kosma, aka spalarnia, eagerly explores modern dance genres, experimental production, and nostalgic electronics to surrender to what is truest—essential song forms, melodies, harmonic and rhythmic basics, the most resonant feelings.

Sung in spalarnia’s trademark soft, low, almost tactile voice, the eight hypnotic songs tell stories of closeness and love, and their favored companions—pain and heartbreak. In “Bliżej” he sings “I love not loving you / I want to be a part of you.” And in “Jedyna”—the album's single—he states: “You are the only one / there is no other me / only the one for whom you are the only one.”

Contrary to the meaning of its Polish title (Tajemnica translates to “secret”), the album that moves between ghostly ambient pop, languid R’n’B, and Eastern European folk doesn’t reveal anything outright—the music only points to where the secrets might lie. One can choose whether to hear them or not.

London experimental spoken word and electronics duo BAG land on Phantom Limb with mesmerising new album This House is a Body, marrying visceral poetry with exploratory production to achieve beguiling, occasionally screwy and occasionally dreamy sonics.

“This album functions as a floor plan, a house in itself, collecting and containing the ecosystems of multiple rooms,” write BAG - Canadian artist and poet Jody DeSchutter and London producer Daniel Allison. “The roles we play can be defined by the room we are in; and it can be near impossible to tell what room we are in without looking from outside. This album maps out a number of rooms which hold such relations, memories, or experiences and builds them all into a single house, a single body.” Formed from Allison’s headspinning, depth-mining production for synthesis, field recording, and acoustic instrumentation, and DeSchutter’s lysergic and prophetic spoken word, the palette of This House is a Body can turn on a dime from claustrophobia and dread to hyperreal dream sequence, illuminated in sunstreamed glory in places and dripping with basement effluvia in others. Throughout, words, meaning, and imagery all dissolve into an architecture of alternately familiar and unknowable sound.

Aggressive Measures by Dutch death metal veterans Sinister is a relentless assault of brutal riffs, blast beats, and guttural vocals. Released in the late 1990s, the album showcases the band’s uncompromising style, combining technical precision with raw aggression. Dark atmospheres and crushing songwriting make it a standout in classic European death metal. Now reissued as Ltd. Edition Vinyl. Pressed on Black Red orange Splatter Vinyl in a sleeve.

Art Blakey was the new hero on the Paris jazz scene, thanks to his Olympia concert on November 22nd 1958, and his subsequent appearances at the Club St. Germain. People swore by his 'Blues March' and 'Moanin', so why not get him to do the soundtrack for the film Molinaro just finished? The only problem, albeit a major one, was that time was short, so an original score was out of the question: the Jazz Messengers would have to preach the good word by other means. Fortunately, the band's tenor and arranger, Benny Golson, had become an expeet in the art of making somrthing new out of somrthing old, and he did it with equal talent and intelligence.Except for three originals, the musical sequences of the film are actually fragments from the Messengers' book, but in adapted versions; 'Whisper Not', for example, can be discerned underneath 'Ne Chuchote Pas'. It was an extremely hazardous process...but the result turned out to be remarkable!!!

DYING VICTIMS PRODUCTIONS in conspiracy with DE PANKRAKER RECORDS is proud to present SHEWOLFF’s highly anticipated debut mini-album, We’re All Gonna Fukking Die, on CD and 12” vinyl formats. Hailing from Belgium, SHEWOLFF emerged from the underground as a solo-project of K. Von Shewolff, which eventually formed into the solid three-piece band it is today. They find their origins in raw, punk-driven blackness galore, faithfully returning to the old-school spirit of making music by modest and primitive means. A five-song digital-only demo was released in 2023 - songs which contain absolute fury towards the known and long-overdue established order, existential live-or-die sentiment, and a small tribute paid to the old-school believers who came before them. Now, SHEWOLFF blend all that together on the debut mini-album We’re All Gonna Fukking Die.

With six new tracks pushing towards a final and inevitable end, this bleakly titled record is actually invigorating and inspiring: railing against the dying of the light with a paradoxically dark metalpunk sound, familiar in its stomping swagger but exuding cantankerous charisma that’s all their own. The aesthetic signposts are planted firmly in the ground – think Hellhammer, pre-Viking Bathory, Darkthrone’s record-nerd era, early Midnight, the almighty Venom, or even labelmates like KARLOFF, HELLCRASH, and Germany’s LUCIFUGE – but SHEWOLFF manage to stir some diabolical little twists into the bubbling brew, with K. Von Shewolff’s vocals in particular imparting a femininity that’s fierce, frightening, and fucking going for the throat.

Stern Records is proud to announce the first-time reissue of the self-perpetuating plunderphonic classic, Right Into The Sun by Pol Maló.

Originally released on CD-R in 1999 by Cha-Bashira Records Tokyo under the alias "Orange Head," this new 2xLP edition features fully remastered audio and new cover art by Pol. The release also includes a special riso print edition of the original artwork.

Recorded using 3-6 portable record players, plus one MD player on tracks 2 and 4. All records used were melted, warped or broken by briefly placing them on a gas heater. The records were randomly altered this way to allow the styluses to find and stay in their own loops themselves on the wavy record surfaces. No samplers or editing - live aleatoric playback recordings only.

Raw, cacophonous kinetic sound!

Pol's thoughts on the making of the album:

"Difficult to say what it was that made me interested in making music or actually audio art. In comparison, making visual art had always been there for me. But meeting several now generally known musicians as a student certainly left a very deep impact on me. While doing a DIY label and later kind of music store too, I became fascinated in accidental music, experimental sounds and all kinds of improvisations and bricolages. I think I wanted to try to make sound pieces from scratch, with the bare minimum and resulting in a way in found music. Rhythm and repetition seemed to go well with random audio coming from broken things. This way, I thought, I could create new meaning out of something existing by letting it come apart and back together again anew almost by itself. The album "Right into the Sun", I feel, can be listened to and read on various levels and I hope playback of it in all kinds of environments now will add to the original "spark" of it."

Building momentum around his moody, alchemical breakthroughs in the techno-bass laboratory, Buckley lands on Sneaker Social Club with a punchy quadruplex that marks him out as an innovative talent in the next generation of low end producers.

Manchester-based Elias Buckley first came to light with a lathe-cut drop on ec2a, followed up over the past two years with outings on Well Street, Dimeshift and S.P.E.C. That sets the tone for exploratory zone Buckley is operating in, and he maintains a forward-thinking slant to his physical, dynamic club weapons on this latest EP.

'City Dweller' rests on a creeping mid tempo 4/4 pulse, all the better to carry slithering layers of sound design that slide off the undulating sub bass throb. Minimalism is the order of the day here, but his approach is shot through with gully zaps and rude swagger that makes this a positively UK- centric affair. 'Carl's Floorboard' makes a sizeable swerve towards brutalist grime mutation, letting the space in the mix swallow you whole around the dislocated bass womps and whipcrack snares.

On the B side, 'Gawy' hits the mark squarely between techno propulsion and soundsystem swagger, plying slippery sound design to the bass blasts and working an offbeat groove designed for maximum lock-in. Making sure there are no doubts about his range, Buckley saves one of the deadliest joints on the record for the closer, whipping up a wide-as-you-like UKG bounce on 'M.O.B.S.O.T.' while maintaining the lean and mean sound that binds the EPs any angles together.

Step back to the original 2013 release of Imprint of Pleasure by Tube & Berger, which held Beatport #1 longer than any other track that year and peaked as a Beatport Top 10 all-time seller. A record that defined a moment, it captured dance floors worldwide with its hypnotic vocal, rolling bassline and perfectly measured build. Balancing deep emotion with understated power, Imprint of Pleasure stands as a defining benchmark of modern house: timeless in its groove and effortless in its execution.

XDCVR_ unveils 'I HATE THAT SHIT, I HATE ALL THAT SHIT' a blistering sonic manifesto on the 'performativity of decay'.

In a world saturated with digital perfection, the album emerges as a vital, hand-made act of electronic rebellion.

Framed as a "soundtrack for the end stretch" the record explores the notion that societal decay is not a passive process, but an active performance—a machine chugging along long after its wheels have fallen off.

This is cyborg music for a bifurcated reality: carbon-fiber toughness shielding a core of systemic rot. The sound palette is intentionally raw and imperfect, a direct challenge to the sterile, automated order of what the artist calls the "techno-fascist oligarchy."

Tracks eschew conventional temporality, mirroring the feeling of existing in two concurrent timelines—one hyper-aware of the collapse, the other numbly consuming it.

Drawing a line from the Cold War anxieties of the past to the data-farming dystopia of the present, 'I HATE THAT SHIT…' posits art as the last authentic incubator for societal change. It is, in the artist's words, "a deliberate 'fuck you' to the oppressive order of the status quo. This is not easy listening; it is a contested space, a lit fuse, and a necessary noise for our complicated times."

Darwin Chamber is a veteran of the prog game, and now that sound is very much back en vogue, it's no wonder new generations are falling for the American's sounds. Back in March, he dropped this EP which was inspired by a San Fran acid trip, and it became an instant classic that meant the initial translucent yellow vinyl edition, limited to 303 copies, soon sold out. Now it reappears on black wax and obviously it still bangs. 'The Acid Test (DJ Spun mix)' is a heavy, raw jam with plenty of trippy details, warped pads and vocals that come and go so subtly you can't really be sure they're there. 'Never Coming Down' is a deep and dark workout with cold analogue hits and paranoid vocals, then '25th Century Acid Cat' is a little brighter with its synths but no less of a mind-fuck. 'Get Down' is gurgling, coruscated, sleazy and mid-tempo acid techno for the freaks. Brilliant.

Sorry We Play Vinyl are once again not at all sorry to play vinyl and good, frankly, because what they serve up on wax is always going to be well received. 'EDIT7' kicks off this latest with a tightly worked 90s sample woven into a loopy groove that is going to get crowds into a funky lather. 'EDIT8' follows with retro-slanted raver era breakbeats and opulent synth oozing, the odd bleep and a bubbling bass thrown in for good measure. 'EDIT9' completes a varied EP with some smooth and succulent deep house with a US warmth to it. The soulful vocals are smeared through soft drums and it's a perfect late-night tool.

Label Boss TSVI is back with a brand new release on Nervous Horizon: Dance Tripping EP! Inspired by his early years in London, where he spent countless nights at minimal and tech house raves, the EP draws elements from these styles through stripped back productions and groove driven basslines. Moving away from TSVI’s signature percussion focused sound, the record prioritises a more sound design approach, exploring texture, movement and club functionality.
The EP opens with Music is Moving, a high energy festival weapon built around a groovy bassline and a UK garage leaning swing. A sharp, restless lead drives the track forward before exploding into a euphoric climax of phased and distorted sawtooth waves. Next comes The Wasp Track, combining pitched down leads with a rolling tech house groove, built for peak time tension and release. The title track Dance Tripping sees TSVI at his most stripped back, featuring loopy analog textures and hypnotic rhythmic elements that focus on repetition. The last two tracks Kataklisma and Turbo Motion create a literal sonic apocalypse by pounding the club with heavy reeses and mean beats.

TSVI Dance Tripping EP is the ultimate club weapon for 2026!

In a Secret Room is a retrospective that reopens the sonic and visual archive of KKD, bringing back to light a trajectory that long remained underground within the history of Italian new wave. The tracks, recorded between 1979 and 1986, reflect a constantly evolving process shaped by experimentation, improvisation, and a drive toward new languages. The project takes shape inside a former hotel in Italy’s Po Valley, transformed into a studio, rehearsal space, and visual lab.

Here, among analog synthesizers, homemade electronics, and multitrack recorders, Kriminal Killer Division experimented with and pushed their available technology to its limits, developing a hybrid language: sounds captured from radio and the street, synthetic voices, guitars, and electronic sequences intertwine in compositions that move between art rock, minimal wave, and more industrial directions. This collection aims precisely to reactivate that imaginary. The vinyl is accompanied by a risograph fanzine that restores the project’s visual dimension: collages, photographs, and graphic materials reflecting the same experimental attitude found in the recordings. Sound and image move together, as parts of a single expressive device. In a Secret Room offers access to a hidden space where interference, noise, and intuition take form without mediation. Not a nostalgic operation, but a re-emergence: a living archive that continues to generate meaning in the present.