Cerca:mesmé

Two years after making their bow via a fine contribution to the Claremont Editions 3 compilation, Nuremberg’s Neumayer Station are ready to drop their debut full-length excursion, the mesmerising and immersive Crossings.

The brainchild of drummer-turned-producer Michael Kargel, a musician with a bulging CV that includes stints in various German indie-pop and rockabilly bands, Crossings was co-produced and mixed by Frank Mollena (best known to Claremont 56 fans as the man behind the Fürsattl and Bambi Davidson projects), with additional contributions by Alexander Sticht and an impressive roll call of guest musicians plucked from Nuremberg’s vibrant musical underground.

Recorded at different points over the last three years, the eight tracks showcased on Neumayer Station’s inspired debut album draw influence from the hypnotism of classic German ‘kosmische’ recordings, the freewheeling and stoned headiness of CAN, and the gently unfurling beauty of sun soaked Balearica. Kargel, Mollena and their collaborators set the tone with opener ‘Unterführung’, where Sticht’s layered and sonically hazy vocalisations rise above space-rock guitar motifs, droning analogue synth sounds, languid bass and slow-motion drum breaks. With effects aplenty and all manner of melodic electronic flourishes, it’s a deeply psychedelic and mind-expanding affair.

‘Nalut’ follows, with Kargel’s own atmospheric howls and whistles cannily combining with sun-bright tropical guitars, echoing chords and delay-laden saxophone solos riding the dub-flecked, low-slung groove. The collective’s Balearic influences are explored in more sonic detail on ‘A Gentle Flow’, a shuffling and soft-focus affair marked out by emotive piano & jazz guitar, brushed percussion, sunrise-ready synths and pleasingly stretched-out electronic textures. Neumayer Station return to this drifting, morning-fresh and eyes-closed sound later in the LP, via the wonderous ‘Von der Morgenröte’.

The heady influence of spaced-out dub production techniques comes to the fore on ‘Bassrutscher’, an Alexander Sticht co-production rich in Americana-influenced guitar textures, metronomic dub bass, rim-shot heavy drums, mazy organ and orange-hued sundown sounds. It ushers in the more up-tempo shuffle of ‘Zielgerade’, an inner space, out-of-mind affair whose driving but loose-limbed groove provides a platform for exotic, droning and otherworldly guitar, sax and synth sounds. As with all great albums, Crossings gently builds towards a triumphant and memorable conclusion. The spacey Balearic/kosmische crossover of ‘Feeling Forst’, where darting intergalactic synth sounds rub shoulders with gentle acoustic guitars in a hallucinatory soundscape, tees up closing cut ‘Crossings’, the krautrock-rooted, sax-sporting slab of enveloping late-night beauty that first introduced listeners to Neumayer Station back in 2023. It’s a fitting conclusion to a staggeringly good debut album.

Blazing with raw energy and searing guitar riffs, the second album from Blues Creation—the legendary rock band led by guitarist Kazuo Takeda—is a cornerstone of Japan’s hard rock legacy. Drawing heavy inspiration from the likes of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, this record delivers a powerful, riff-driven sound that helped shape the dawn of Japanese hard rock. What sets it apart is its hypnotic blend of British-style heavy rock with vocals sung in English tinged with a distinctly Japanese flavor—creating a one-of-a-kind psychedelic atmosphere that continues to mesmerize rock enthusiasts across the globe.

Impérieux (aka Alper Durmush) is a beatmaker extraordinaire hailing from Kircaali / Kardjali: since antiquity a hub of mythical music, located at the crossroads of Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece.
After conquering the hearts and feet of the scene with his stunning debut album Rezil and the follow-up Fena EP, Impérieux caps off his stellar year with a seven track mini album on Macro. Its effortlessly mesmerizing tracks consolidate the outlines of
forward-leaning club music.
Experimentation is a well-established facet of Impérieux’ approach to the adventurous techno (left)field, but the In and Out EP brings to the table his most condensed dance floor material so far. Holistically captivating hooks, bass lines and rolling rhythms: The next step after several years of exploration and refinement.
Unpredictability, bound together by a consistent, modernist glint. From the raw jacking of Gips to the warm euphoria of Baka, from the darbuka frenzy of Duman to the cutting friction of Trese – a triumph.

An intimate, mesmerising record about loss and change, ‘sorry i thought you were someone else’ is K-LONE’s most personal album to date and his debut release on Incienso.

Made after his father’s passing, the album became a place of escape and reflection. It’s a warm, hypnotic space to drift within.

Letters Home is the debut full-length on ambient powerhouse Pas tInside The Present from Tennessee-based Slow Blink aka Amanda Haswell. And a fine one it is too with mesmerising routes through hazy soundscapes she calls "tape loop weather patterns." Across two half-hour pieces, bowed guitar, piano, bells, and toy synths dissolve into dreamy loops and create symphonies of colour and memory. Side one, 'The Heart's Docent', feels like a love-struck dance unraveling in slow motion, while 'Laughter at Cascade Park' evokes bittersweet nostalgia for long-lost joys. Handmade, analogue and alive with imperfections, Letters Home is an intimate meditation on memory, nature and impermanence.

Based in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, Dark Circles Recordings has

rediscovered and is reissuing an album originally recorded and released in 2008 by

Dog Soup, a then London-based quartet that played a handful of gigs and recorded

just one exemplary album before, seemingly, disappearing. Fragments, that album, is

a crucial chapter in the British jazz story that can now be told again.

The brainchild of trumpeter and composer Robbie Robson, Dog Soup was briefly part

of the Loop Collective, a group of musicians founded in London in 2005. Dog Soup

cut one mesmerising album of rhythmic shapes and melodic colours that still

sounds fresh, exciting and dynamic 17 years later. An intoxicating mix of composed

and freely improvised playing, Fragments keeps the listener guessing just where the

music is coming from.

Released in 2008, Fragments just preceded the revitalised British jazz scene and slipped

under the radar of even the most ardent aficionados, becoming a lost classic—until Dark

Circles Recordings recognised its brilliance 17 years later and persuaded Robson to reissue

it.


'...prefigures the post-rock into jazz trajectory which Chicago's International Anthem label would later inscribe so joyfully'
* * * * Mojo

'...original, free and dramatic...'

The Guardian

Hikmah is an astonishing solo piano work from virtuosic and far-ranging
sound scientist; deep and compassionate thinker and musical treasure: Pat
Thomas
Pat Thomas was Born in Oxford, UK to Antiguan parents on July 27, 1960.
Interestingly, just over 4 months separate his birth to that of fellow modern piano
master Matthew Shipp (Dec 7, 1960) - whose The Piano Equation was TAO Forms
inaugural release. Thomas is most certainly among the Black Mystery School Pianists
of which Shipp elucidates in the title essay of his recently published first book.
Eight thoroughly focused improvised and otherwise compositions recorded at Fish
Factory studio in London. The album's title, Hikmah, means "wisdom" in Arabic. The
title is also presented in two different forms of Arabic calligraphic script on the cover
artwork. This album brings the information. The vibrantly living jazz tradition and new
modes of expression in abundance are brought forth from a lifetime of work and a
decades long devotion to Sufism, understanding that the practice and performance of
this music is an elemental form of spiritual practice. As William Parker writes in the
liner notes, "the music becomes the prophet and the prayer all in one gesture." And,
"If you haven't yet heard the music of Pat Thomas, get hip to it quickly."
Attuned American audiences are most likely to have become familiar with Pat
Thomas through his work with the quartet [Ahmed] , whom over recent years have
amazed with their mesmeric, long-form explorations on the compositions of Ahmed
Abdul-Malik, and more recently, Thelonious Monk. Their debut US performance took
place in March 2025, and TAO Forms were lucky members of the rapt audience at
Roulette in Brooklyn that night; the group flew to Knoxville the next day to perform to
an equally rapt audience at Big Ears.
Available on 6- panel digipak CD printed on heavyweight board, with liner notes by
William Parker and LP with insert featuring liner notes by William Parker & Pat
Thomas Discography + download card. Ltd edition of 500.

Barac and Alex Font deliver a mesmerizing 2x12" – four deep, transcendent tracks that blur the lines between rhythm and ritual. This is music carved from emotion and space, where minimalism meets soul, and every detail breathes intention. The sonic quality is exceptional – raw yet refined, warm yet weightless. A meditative pulse runs through it all, inviting the listener inward.
Each cut is a journey, crafted with precision and soul, rich in atmosphere and unmistakable in identity. This collaboration isn't just a meeting of minds – it’s a shared vision, etched into wax. A record that doesn’t shout, but resonates. Timeless and essential. Almost 30 min Playtime, 180g 2x12inch, Fullcover print.

An electrified meeting of minds, Candy Girl is a lost 1975 session by jazz pianist Mal Waldron, recorded in Paris with core members of the mighty Lafayette Afro Rock Band, the American funk unit who had made France their home and whose deep grooves would later be mined by generations of hip-hop producers.

By 1975, Waldron was a decade into his self-imposed exile from the United States—a transformed musician who had reassembled his sound in Europe and Japan after a devastating breakdown in the early '60s. His post-1969 output had stripped jazz down to its core elements: modal intensity, locked grooves, and hypnotic repetition. Candy Girl doesn’t interrupt this trajectory—it extends it, wrapping Waldron’s minimalist mantras around the funked-up chassis of the Lafayette rhythm section.

Originally released in microscopic quantities on the Calumet label and long shrouded in obscurity, Candy Girl was recorded spontaneously in the studio of French producer Pierre Jaubert, whose Paris HQ had become the workshop for both avant-garde jazz (Archie Shepp, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Steve Lacy) and psychedelic funk (Lafayette Afro Rock Band AKA Ice). This session finds Waldron jamming freely with bassist Lafayette Hudson, drummer Donny Donable, and keyboardist Frank Abel on clavinet, Moog and more—laying down raw, unfiltered instrumental funk with an experimental edge.

Highlights include the low-slung vamp of “Home Again”, the crisp, break-laden groove of “Red Match Box”, and the mesmeric swirl of the title track “Candy Girl” —a minor-key electric piano waltz with hints of cosmic soul. There's even a deep cut for the crate diggers: the somber yet meditative “Dedication to Brahms”, where Waldron deconstructs the Romantic composer’s third symphony into a sparse jazz reverie.

Unlike his polished sessions for Japanese labels or the avant-garde swing of his earlier Prestige work, Candy Girl feels more spontaneous, even accidental — and that’s part of its power. It’s a document of Waldron as bandleader, collaborator, and explorer, captured in the midst of a vibrant, cross-cultural scene in mid-70s Paris. Never officially issued with a cover and barely released at all, Candy Girl is a rare convergence of two underground traditions: Waldron’s Euro-exile electric jazz and the raw, sampled-future funk of the Lafayette Afro Rock Band. Now finally resurfaced, it deserves its rightful place in both stories.

Friend Of A Phantom is the third studio album by the Danish progressive metal band Vola, released under Mascot Label Group. This highly anticipated album showcases Vola's signature blend of intricate rhythms, soaring melodies, and thought-provoking lyrics.

With tracks like "Straight Lines" and "These Black Claws," Friend Of A Phantom takes listeners on a musical journey that seamlessly combines heavy riffs with electronic elements, creating a dynamic sound that is both captivating and innovative.

Vola's musicianship shines through in every song, from the complex drum patterns to the mesmerizing guitar solos. The band's ability to craft intricate arrangements while maintaining a strong sense of melody sets them apart in the progressive metal scene.

The production quality of Friend Of A Phantom is top-notch, allowing each instrument to shine through while still blending together to create a cohesive and immersive listening experience. The album's rich textures and layers reveal new details with each listen, making it a rewarding choice for fans of progressive music.

Overall, Friend Of A Phantom is a must-have for any music lover looking for an album that pushes boundaries and challenges traditional genre conventions. Vola's unique sound and innovative approach make this album a standout release in their discography.

‘A Tremendous debut. Skilfully blending folk, country and other styles, Woof’s eponymous debut album features thoughtful songwriting, adroit musicianship and her remarkable, crystalline vocals’ - 4/5 RECORD COLLECTOR

‘Enchanting. Whether playing almost solo or with a full band arrangement, Wooff is never less than mesmerising’ - 4/5 SHINDIG!

‘Her spectral voice and acoustic guitar lead abstract stories of loss, yearning and self-exploration, nimbly embellished with pedal steel, organ and strings. ‘The Waltz Of Winter Hey’ and ‘Lefty’s Motel Room’, with its allusive nod to Townes Van Zandt, are outstanding’ - 8/10 UNCUT

‘Launching herself fully onto the scene, she beguiles with tales of love, loss, hope and womanhood, wrapped up in a beautifully strange gothic romanticism’ - FOR FOLK’S SAKE

‘The beauty in the record is not merely based on Toria’s melancholic melodicism and rich delivery. It can be enjoyed in the juxtaposition between the singer’s darker, more eerily gothic instincts and the soothing, reassuring presence of instruments like pedal steel and cellos.’ - KLOF

Cornel Wilczek (Talk To Me, Bring Her Back) crafts an incredible score for this body horror future classic from director Michael Shanks, blending the organic and synthetic, merging them to create something new, mesmerising, calm, eerie yet beautiful and oddly melodic. Disembodied voices flow in and out of soundscapes made up of traditional acoustic instruments, strings, and synthesisers. At first listen, the score seems very minimalist, but with repeated listening, it reveals these amazing earworms that stick in your mind. It’s a truly lovely, otherworldly listen, ideal for late nights and headphones.

We're thrilled to announce the release of "The Mackenzie - Classics EP 2", the long-awaited follow-up to the popular EP 1 everyone was excited about. This limited edition pressing comes on stunning smoked black-colored vinyl, with only 500 copies available worldwide. Housed in a deluxe threefold sleeve, this release is a true collector's item.

The Mackenzie name is legendary in the Belgian trance scene, and this EP brings together some of their most sought-after classics and overlooked masterpieces. Each track has been carefully remastered for 2025, breathing new life into these timeless anthems. This EP 2 is spanning over more than 2 decades of hit releases, amongst of them are "Falling In Love", "Walk Away", "All I Need" and "You Got To Get Up".

Expect rich melodies, mesmerizing builds, enchanting vocals, and that unmistakable 90s spirit that made "The Mackenzie" iconic in trance. This is not just the successor of EP 1 – it's the final chapter in a tribute to the golden era of Belgian quality trance music.

Amsterdam label Spectral Bounce recruits French club stalwart Chris Carrier for SPEC06 — Perfect Encounter. Active since 1994, the Parisian artist has released a wellspring of records on Robsoul, Slapfunk and his own Sound Carrier recordings, parallel to his longtime career as a DJ. Characterised by swirling delays and progressive arrangements, Perfect Encounter shows the producer exploring the mesmeric corners of tech house, ideally fitted to the Spectral Bounce aesthetic.

Opener “XLR8” starts with rolling toms that make way for fluid, modulated tones; each bar ebbs and flows to the sweeping synths set in motion by Carrier. Processed with a multitude of delays, rhythmic FX boldly swish above the drums, making for an immersive soundstage. Second track “Light Side” retains the billowing echoes but moves more nimbly, cutting things back to make for a spacious and breezy number. Its croaking synths hop around the stereo field, accompanied by tight percussion and a walking bassline.

The hallucinogenic “Third Moon” sees Carrier step further into trance-inducing territory. The track’s pulsing, syncopated bass note thrums underneath an arpeggio that evolves into a heady prismatic drone. While the chugging beat is ever-present, melodic refrains rise up and evaporate like wisps of vapour, alongside a vocal that fades away as quickly as it appears. The EP’s eponymous “Perfect Encounter” dials up the tension and closes the record with a mysterious touch. Speedy 16th note patterns propel the beat, creating shifty rhythms that rattle and hiss. A rasping, gelatinous synth and squeaky detuned tones resemble extraterrestrial signals — alien morse code for an enraptured dancefloor.

Credits:

"Hasabe" is a thoughtfully curated collection of Ethio-groove recordings from one of the overlooked pioneers of 1970s Addis Ababa's vibrant music scene-Ayalew Mesfin and his Black Lion Band. Expect trap drum kits, jazz big-band styled horn sections, funky guitars played through wah wah and fuzz pedals- all seasoned with a unique Ethiopian touch_ For many, the music created in 1970s Ethiopia will sound both familiar and alien: while the trappings of '70s Ethiopian music carry some aspects that those in the West will easily identify with-trap drum kits, jazz big-band styled horn sections, guitars played through wah wah and fuzz pedals-the Ethiopian style of singing, and the modes in which the musicians move, may confound. Perhaps some who have delved into the instrumental Ethio-Jazz of Mulatu Astatke-a well-known Ethiopian musical export, relatively unknown in his homeland-will have a context in which to engage this great compilation of '70s Ethiopian music by Ayalew Mesfin. The music Mesfin created with his Black Lion Band is amongst the funkiest to arise from Addis Ababa; his recording career, captured in nearly two dozen 7" singles and numerous reel-to-reel tapes, shows the strata of the most fertile decade in Ethiopia's 20th century recording industry, when records were pressed constantly by both independent upstarts and corporate behemoths, even if they were only distributed within the confines of the unconquerable East African nation. Ayalew was forced underground by the Derg regime that took control of the country in 1974. Until recently, only four of Ayalew Mesfin's tracks had been reissued, appearing in the well-known "Éthiopiques" series. "Hasabe", a carefully curated collection of his singles, marks the first comprehensive release of this powerful and long-overlooked body of work by an artist whose originality and resistance defined a genre: Ethio-groove. More than four decades later, this album offers the rare opportunity to rediscover a vital and beautiful chapter in global music history. We are now reissuing "Hasabe" once again thanks to a collaboration with Now Again. Pressed on 180g vinyl.

Le Motel and Bruce Wijn met at school, during a school art trip to Munich. They went separate ways for a long time.

Hailing from Brussels, Le Motel's world is a vortex of sight and sound that takes in the many and varied corners of the planet. As a music producer and film composer his versatility has taken him to festivals and clubs in every direction as naturally as he has ventured out to the less accessible areas of the globe as a field recordist. It's somewhere in between these spaces that Le Motel operates, gathering unique experiences and sounds to channel through his studio.

Bruce Wijn is a Brussels-based guitarist who played in several postrock kind projects such as Sound Film, 52 Commercial Road, or more shoegaze Lazy Sin. These collaborations gave him the opportunity to perform in various locations in Belgium, France, England, and the USA. As a musician, his focus has always been attracted by progressively built rhythmic melodies, which would eventually turn into long reverberated or distorted swells, or the otherway round.

All these experiences brought them both to the idea of scoring movies with different yet similar approaches.

That's how their first collaboration happened as Le Motel was working on the soundtrack of the movie Binti, and invited Bruce Wijn for the track Exode, in 2018. Since then, they've been working on other scoring projects, such as the feature film 'Aller Retour' more recently.

Alongside the movie scoring activities another audiovisual live project was born, in collaboration with Antoine de Schuyter and his mesmerizing images.

This one is more focusing on tape textures, field recordings and glitchy effects in order to build atmospheric tracks that they decided to bring together in a first E.P. 'MAAR'.

'MAAR' is elaborated as a soundtrack for an imaginary journey between cold seas and volcanoes explorations.

From the first echoing sounds of playing kids on the shoreside in the opening track 'La Perche' Le Motel & Bruce Wijn let you slide in a technicolor dreamworld, reverbing slowly innocent childhood memories into a chilled, out of range, future.

'MAAR' dives deep into a kaleidoscopic microcosmos watching Nautilus playing hide and seek with 'Captain Ahab' floating on sonic breaking waves, while seagulls gently spread their wings flying through the breezy and misty clouds of Blankenberge.

Lava vulcanica slowly melts in the sad euphorica of the cold North Sea, crystallizing sounds only Le Motel and Bruce Wijn can deliver.

Drawing from over three decades in electronic music, DJ Rame (one third of the acclaimed Italian Pastaboys team) showcases his House Music expertise with this genre-blending original EP on Memento Records, going right back to the roots of club culture.

Title track Life 3 starts off with a dreamy pad intro and New York-house inspired piano chords, setting the mood for the dance floor and suddenly exploding into a bouncy, tension-and-release energetic swing, trippy percussions and rubberized synth rhythms.

Toyholic’s infectious bassline and syncopated beats match retro-futuristic synths and acid melodies, while Niwa’s faster pace and robotic vocal samples are drenched in 80s Electro Disco moods.

Stone Garden rounds off the release with a breakbeat groove, vintage analog sounds and mesmerizing stop-and-gos.

A visceral ode to the free spirit of the early warehouse parties that came to define an era of revolutionary music, these 4 tracks are one part raw emotion, one part contemporary sonic innovation.

Joanna Duda Trio’s new album, 'Delighted' weaves a hypnotic tapestry of sound that immediately captivates the listener. From the very first note, the track invites you into a world where inventive rhythms and melodies dance with a mesmerizing intensity. The crispness of the percussion and the looming intensity of the double bass create a vivid sonic landscape that feels both fresh and accessible, while undeniably complex.

Duda’s composition is one of her strengths, having been sought out to compose the music for the first Polish film for Netflix Originals (Erotica 2022), and she again demonstrates her uncanny ability to blend subtle complexity with melodic piano hooks that ooze playfulness. Beneath the surface a darker, more menacing undertone that keeps the listener on edge.

"This delightful composition was worth the wait" (Twisted Soul Music) "Effortlessly interchanging some mind boggling time signatures, I love their precision" (Soweto Kinch, BBC Radio 3) "To say that Joanna Duda is a jazz pianist is an understatement. The artist transcends musical boundaries, often using jazz as a starting point for broader sonic explorations" (Polskie Radio)

The Trio has an extensive European tour planned to support her album release.

With X-ÆON, Giöbia push their signature blend of mesmerizing neo-psychedelia and space rock into uncharted territory. Echoes of the '70s meet a bold, forward-looking vision, shaping an album that feels timeless. Each track offers a glimpse into a parallel reality, a plunge into a new era brimming with tension and mystery. As the band puts it: "This album is everything we've lived and learned, captured in the moment we're in now."

Aque Blue vinyl, limited to 350 copies. With X-ÆON, Giöbia push their signature blend of mesmerizing neo-psychedelia and space rock into uncharted territory. Echoes of the '70s meet a bold, forward-looking vision, shaping an album that feels timeless. Each track offers a glimpse into a parallel reality, a plunge into a new era brimming with tension and mystery. As the band puts it: "This album is everything we've lived and learned, captured in the moment we're in now."