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Jazz funk and gritty rare grooves ensemble from down under - Kerbside Collection - return with their third record "Smoke Signals"! Continuing in a down home, instrumental approach, but this time crafting newer ideas and flavours into their spectrum of warm, analogue, dusty grooves from much more Fender Rhodes electric jazz elements, to New Orleans sprinklings alongside their 60's inspired West Coast style.

"Smoke Signals" continues the wilder tones, textures and 'library' sounds of extra instrumentation found on their last output "Trash or Treasure", whilst introducing hints of fusion and cinematic analogue electric colours into the mix bringing things into early 70s territory. Opening with the lush, analogue synth and keys palate of "Waiting Game", reminiscent of some classic Air "Moon Safari" grooves, before the album properly begins with a fresh rendition of the Rhodes heavy Cedar Walton 70's jazz funk classic "Jacob's Ladder".

Then straight into the street-styled jazz bongo breaks and funky flute of "Traffic", a skankin' New Orleans reggae homage to one of its finest Creole dishes, featuring funky Hammond organ courtesy of guest Jake Mason (Cookin' on 3 Burners) and tasty piano work from multi instrumentalist Andrew Fincher who handles both guitar and keys on the whole record.

The middle of the record comes with a steaming afro funk workout, and a low slung N'awlins styled blues 'n' soul groove, both featuring the fruity, low-end brass action of Papa Jo on the big baritone sax, before taking a gentle emotional breather with a delightful, soft, soulful, Rhodes ballad, and a 'waltz-jazz-wig-out' attributed to their label's A&R Mr Mellow (reminiscent of some humorous UK acid jazz à la Corduroy and James Taylor Quartet) featuring some beautiful jazzy Flugelhorn, and acoustic double bass.

The album wraps up with another cover - a grittier reinterpretation and arrangement of a Bob James 80s jazz funk classic "Westchester Lady" complete with funky flute and soaring guitar solo, before finishing with the explosive rock funk workout and title track "Smoke Signals", rounding out a record with a full spectrum of handmade jazz funk, reggae, soul, library and gritty rare grooves all recorded to tape machine.

2x12"

It’s taken Yotam Avni a little while to get to his debut album; almost a decade, really, since his debut 12”, “That’s What The World Needs”, on California’s Seasons Limited imprint. During that time, the Tel-Aviv based producer has refined his productions, tightening the groove and paring everything back to bare essentials; the power in an Avni cut is its combination of piston-pulse propulsion and a deep, but gently applied, musicality. This combination gives his techno productions added heft on the dance floor, but also a lyrical sensibility that places him squarely in a tradition of techno legends who somehow manage to make the four-to-the-floor a space of poetic intensity, of rigorous joy.

Avni’s been on Kompakt’s radar for a while, first appearing on the label last year, with his Speicher contribution, “Mañana Mañana”. (“Track For Agoria”, from that EP, also appeared on Total 19.) The connection immediately made sense – dance music that managed to feel both lush and streamlined across the same great gasp of late-night energy. But with Yotam Avni Was Here, he’s taken a huge leap. After a brief intro, Avni sets his stall with “Beyond The Dance”, which features slow-moving vocal melisma over sculptural, melting tonalities, a tintinnabulating, harpsichord-like two-note phrase pacing out the track. Then “It Was What It Was” comes into view, its strip-light textures suddenly placed into sharp relief by a muted trumpet figure that hangs in the air, melancholy and pensive.

It’s no surprise, at this point, to discover that Avni’s inspirations for Was Here took in the histories of both techno and jazz. “I wanted to try something more around Detroit Techno meets ECM,” he reflects, when explaining the motivating forces behind the album. “Carl Craig’s Just Another Day EP and Kenny Larkin’s Keys, Strings, Tambourines came out during my high school years and had huge impact on me.” Avni’s also appeared on Transmat compilations, and remixed artists like the Midwest’s Titonton Duvanté, and Orlando Voorn – the latter particularly important for the way he connected the Detroit and Amsterdam techno scenes – his career path is marked by ongoing connections, direct and indirect, to Detroit’s storied history.

“I always wanted to go back to those hi-tek soul roots on a full album,” he continues, and he’s definitely exploring that terrain here, with the sky-strafing brass on “Free Darius Now”, morse-code keys on “Vortex” and glitchy, microhouse tickles of “Know Hope” all contributing to an oblique narrative that seems to arc across Was Here – one fleshed out by guest musicians, who include dop and Gerog Levin on vocals, and trumpets by Greg Paulus (of Beirut and No Regular Play). The cover art makes the jazz connection explicit, riffing on the text-based, minimal design of The Modern Jazz Quartet’s 1955 album for Prestige, Concorde. But the way Avni has gathered around him both inspiring musicians and intriguing reference points makes me think of his broader career as well, the collectivism behind his AVADON nights in Tel-Aviv, his many and wide-ranging releases on labels like Innervisions, Hotflush and Stroboscopic Artefacts, and the openness of his productions, which seem to be all about the multiple, the possibilities of cross-pollination, of fusing this with that, of adding and subtracting, all under the pulsating thumbprint of techno.

Good things, after all, are worth waiting for.

Premisession’ pays homage to the pivotal but now defunct Minneapolis warehouse venue “Premises,” of which Craig Lambert aka Midnight Music Club founded, and where Kajunga hosted their rst ever all night party. The EP showcases MMC’s hardware uency with a lavish cruise through mesmerizing grooves and pronounced warmth.

Calling Card creates a welcome invitation to the record with sensual synth lines, paired with the drive of undulating tom rhythms. A New Day evokes the feeling of an acid soirée. Rich emotion and improvisational elegance resonate throughout the track.

Five A.M. starts the B-side off with spring-time air; blooming into a Sunday morning daydream. Private Guy seals the deal by providing a more moody take on A New Day, with melodies weaving through playful percussion.

Midnight Music Club has been collecting records for over 40 years, sharing them passionately for nearly 30 and studying music production for 20. This live artist’s timeless yet distinctly old school sound is reminiscent of early Chicago and Detroit pioneers, with a blend of deep house and techno that is uniquely his own.

He has released on Chicago’s Descendants of the Deep label, as well as Headphoniq and his own self titled outlet. His ‘Premisession’ EP is an ode to the pivotal but now defunct Minneapolis warehouse venue Premises, which he himself founded and which hosted Kajunga’s rst- ever all-night party.

dJ FeedbACK:

“Overall cool 12", Calling Card being my fav on here, the remix is nice as well!” - Kai Alce

“Dope!!!” - Fred P

“This record from Focus is off the chain! Analog funky grooves with real rhythms. Minneapolis coming with it on Kajunga.” - Ricardo Miranda

“Dope EP, A New Day does it for me.” - Roman Rauch

KAJUNGA is a record label, party series and monthly mix series formed in 2015; the result of four Minneapolis artists’ shared love for thoughtful music and unadulterated dance floor experience.

Presented by Mitsuko & Svetlana Records, distributed by WRWTFWW Records.

A golden era gem from the master himself.

Archival reissue of long lost treasure from genius pianist and composer Masahiko Satoh whose resume includes hundreds of legendary albums and collaborations with Midori Takada (Lunar Cruise and Ton•Klami) among many others.

Very rare soundtrack of a 9-episode suspense drama that aired on TV in 1969 and 1970. Filled with exquisite jazz, soul-jazz, folk-jazz, and mystery-jazz, plus groovy affairs, classical moods, and 70s flair.

Highly recommended to Japanese jazz collectors, soundtrack collectors, Masahiko Sato collectors, lovers of rare gems and wearers of vintage trench coats.

All compositions and arrangements by Masahiko Sato
Masahiko Sato: piano, keyboard
Yoshiko Goto: vocal
Kiyoshi Sugimoto: guitar
Kunimitsu Inaba: bass
Yasuo Arakawa: bass
Akira Ishikawa: drums

Originally released in November 1970 as an LP on Toho Records (BL-1001)

"The two Portuguese-speaking African islands of Sao Tomé & Principe, located in the Gulf of Guinea, created an unique music called Puxa : a refined mixture of various musical components from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. A blend of Semba, Merengue, Kompas, Soukouss, Coladeira patterns, often pushing forward with a voodoo-like energy, solid bass lines, delicate melodies and backing harmonies of the rich Sao Tomean melodic traditions. Very first compilation focusing on the golden age of these island’s sounds, the 16 tracks selected will surely set fire on all dance floors !

Léve-Léve is the first ever compilation devoted to music from São Tome and Principe, two small islands situated off the coast of Gabon in central Africa. The album unravels a story of liberation where the music of Africa, Europe and the Americas unify with a carefree spirit personified by a phrase the islanders use all the time: “léve, léve” (“take it easy”). With echoes of Angolan semba and merengue, of Brazilian afoxê, of coladeira from Cape Verde and dance music from the Caribbean, it is a sound fiercely proud of its island heritage, sung in local dialects and using distinctive local rhythms.

On this record you can hear the cultural and social history of São Tome and Principe, and how live music represented its beating heart. Once known as the “Chocolate Islands” (remarkably, these two tiny islands were the largest cocoa producers in the world, though now this title acts as a reminder of its colonial past), through the years leading up to independence from Portugal, music would be a fundamental voice of liberation and conviviality. Os Úntués were one of the first groups to make an impression, releasing a couple of 7 inches in Angola – the litmus test of success for any of the islands’ groups. They united unique rhythms and dances like socopé, puita and dança-congo – borne from the islands’ largely slave-descendant population – with the sound of pop music beamed in on the radio from Europe, even adding in a little bit of soukous and Brazilian instrumentation. Their main rivals were Conjunto Mindelo, who fused São Toméan rhythms with rebita, an Angolan style, to create high energy puxa, a truly original island rhythm.

From the mid-1970s, coinciding with independence from Portugal in 1975, the islands’ groups featured an even stronger African influence and nowhere was that more apparent than with Africa Negra. They would listen to the latest records from Gabon, Zaire and Cameroon, taking inspiration and trying out phrasing from the greats of Central African guitar playing, developing a devoted fan base off the islands, as well as on. A score of other bands would follow a similar musical path, with a few getting their dues overseas in Angola, Cape Verde, Portugal and across Africa.

Os Leonenses (led by the iconic Pedro Lima), Conjunto Sangazuza, Sum Alvarinho and Conjunto Ecuador were just some of the other bands that formed a lively home-grown music scene that lit up the islands’ bars and open-air shows from the 1950s through to the mid-90s. Regardless of class or age, they were responsible for keeping the population entertained come the weekend, with Sunday matinee shows the highlight of the week, the music not stopping from midday until midnight.

As a Portuguese island colony that was for many years populated with slaves brought from Africa, São Tome and Principe has much in common with other Lusophone countries and boasts a richly complex and idiosyncratic musical DNA. Whilst the musical tapestries of Angola and Cape Verde are well known, São Tome and Principe’s secrets were assigned to the islanders themselves. Until now."

When Air’s Nicolas Godin released his debut solo album, Contrepoint (2015), he channelled the influence of Bach into a rich, resonant and hugely rewarding spread of musical explorations. One soundtrack (A Very Secret Service) later, Godin builds on equally fertile conceptual foundations for the follow-up. Released through Because Music on 24th January, Concrete and Glass is an exquisitely crafted set of variations on architectural reference points: mounted with minimalist precision and delivered with an abundance of pop warmth, it finds Godin in his element, working seductive wonders with poise and style to spare.

For Godin, the album circles back to his formative work as half of ground-breaking French electronic group Air. Revered modern architect Le Corbusier was an influence on the young architecture graduate’s music, notably on his 1997 debut “Modular Mix”. Twenty-plus years later, Le Corbusier featured on a list of modernist architects Godin was invited to compose tributes for, tributes intended to be heard as the soundtrack to site-specific installations around the world.

In its soft ambient pulse and melting minimalism, lead track “The Border” is a perfect entry-point to Godin’s hymns to buildings, arranged and co-produced with Pierre Rousseau. Its levitating synths, vocoder vocals and scudding bass hove into view with understated elegance, all the better to accommodate the discreet slow-build of delicate details within. As with Air, Godin makes gorgeously light work of every angle: this is music that seems entirely unperturbed by gravity, occupying an elevated atmosphere of its own.

Elsewhere, the title-track’s clean synth lines, crisply apportioned arrangements and tender timpani offer another inviting entry-point, sculpted with architectural clarity. While Godin’s vocoder vocals also hark back to Air’s early work, the album accommodates a diverse spread of guest vocalists elsewhere. Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor guests on the falsetto-soul dream-pop of “Catch Yourself Falling”, one of Godin’s sweetest melodies yet. Oxnard singer/activist Cola Boyy brings soul to the righteously engaged “The Foundation”; the squelchy synths and buoyant grooves burn slow, allowing the stealthy arrangements and message room to resonate. Psychedelic soul singer Kadhja Bonet sings with measured serenity over tremulous synths on “We Forgot Love”, while Russian experi-pop artist Kate NV brings a gracefully aching romanticism to the blissful swoon-pop of “Back to Your Heart”.

Additionally, Australian conceptual provocateur Kirin J Callinan contributes a vocal of restrained drama to “Time on My Hands”, a midnight-drift soft-pop ballad with a silky allure. One of the quickest tracks to record for the album, it emerged in collaborations between Los Angeles (”During some lively sessions in Mac DeMarco’s studio,” notes Godin) and Paris. After he missed his flight home, Callinan stayed in France for a day as the guitar solos were recorded, complementing the song's air of sleek luxuriousness.

Between its title-track and the sultry, smoky jazz stylings of closer “Cité Radieuse”, Concrete and Glass is an album that truly travels, in tune with its global pitch. For Godin, it marks another milestone in a musical journey that began when Air’s 1998 debut album, Moon Safari, became the sublimely weightless soundtrack of its time. For Concrete and Glass, Godin builds on his storied past with tremendous finesse, charm and fluency, opening fresh windows of perspective at every lovingly executed turn.

From the cosmic creative musical mind of Swiss/Catalan studio whizz, Zeleste Nightclub engineer, video nasty film composer, occasional Jaume Sisa (Muìsica Dispersa) collaborator and future electronic music therapy pioneer J. M. Pagaìn comes the synth-ridden, vocoder-loaded 1984 sci-funk soundtrack to Barcelona’s daytime TV response to the universal E.T. phenomena. Get ready to meet your new alieniìgena amic and the unidentified flying object of thousands of Catalonian kids’ affections through the 1980's as Finders Keepers present Pagaìn’s lost lunar modular synth score to ‘Kiu I Els Seus Amics’ (Kiu And Friends aka Kiu Is Your Friend).

From the same intergalactic phenomenon that brought such delights as Turkey’s exploito cash-in ‘Badi’ or South Africa’s lo-rent homage ‘Nukie’ to our unregulated small screens and the same craze which filled international airwaves with the likes of Extra T’S electro smash single ‘E.T. Boogie’ or the million selling Columbian ‘Cumbia De E.T. El Extraterrestre’ smash hit... not to mention a wide range of unofficial theme-tune cover versions from Holland, Austria, France and Germany (lest we forget an inspired late period Lee Scratch Perry Album).

In 1982 the diaspora from Steven Spielberg’s small fictional mid-American neighbourhood that played host to everyone’s favourite torch fingered, three toed, Skittle-scoffing space goblin touched virtually every family home in every major city resulting in one of the biggest cinematic merchandise phenomenas of the 21 st Century, resulting in an unexpected high-demand / short-supply play-off in which bootleggers, copyists and counterfeiters rose to the challenge like never before.

When Spielberg regrettably told interviewers that he had no intention of making a sequel to ‘E.T. The Extra Terrestria’ it instantly became open-season for the imitators... but way before somebody squeezed-out ‘Mac & Me’, ‘ALF’ and ‘The Purple People Eater’, a team of kid’s TV executives in Catalunya were ready to fill the widening gap in the market without haste. Created in 1983 by Luna Films and Televisioì de Catalunya (TV3) and screened exclusively in Catalunya, ‘Kiu I Els Seus Amics’ was one of the first E.T. ‘tributes’ to make it out of the gate and with a crew of five individual directors and writers to ensure that the five episode, one-off series hit the wave of phone-home-fever, Kiu has since remained a short but sweet micro- memory in the hearts of an entire generation of Catalonian cosmonauts.

This special Finders Keepers edition comes complete with all of Pagaìn’s cosmic synthesiser soundscapes fully intact (barring striking comparisons with the likes of Tangerine Dream, John Carpenter, Vangelis and the soundtrack music of Suzanne Ciani), as well as some rare, unreleased, incidental TV edits. The bulk of this LP is made up of tracks taken from the rare full-length album, which was released after the TV programme had already been aired and coincided with sales of jigsaws and rubberised play figures in an attempt to catch-up with the unexpected mega-success of the show, needless to say, with a short promotional window, the LP (and cassette edition) did not benefit a re-press and with most copies sold to children, few vinyl pressings have escaped repeat needle scratches and decorated sleeves.

Jay Clarke's masterful BLACKAXON imprint returns with a shapeshifting EP from Davide Piras.

What began as a sonic sketchbook for Clarke to express his expansive view of electronic music, is evolving. The label is opening up to artists who hold a shared passion for creating dynamic and interesting techno compositions, with a few surprises here and there. Following last October's superb contribution from rising talent Yant, experimental techno artist David Piras drops a quadruplet of cuts to join the BLACKAXON fold.

His BLACKAXON debut, "Beyond Our Reach", is a true all-rounder. It leads with the dusty slow bass monster "Radiation Belt", before the gritty electro noodlings of "Multipolar" enter the fore. The analogue-infused rave cut "System Cartesian" takes the EP into otherworldly realms, before atmosphere-heavy "Pangaea Heritage" closes out the work, evoking a hazy afterhours vibe.

"Davide's productions hold an air of Convextion about them, he's one of my favourite artists. I locked into that right away and knew I wanted to release his music. When I listen to Davide's tracks I feel as though I'm in the middle of a sci-fi movie, they're funky and futuristic tales from the deep. Amazing!" - Jay Clarke

repress

2LP 140G VINYL + 12 PAGE BOOKLET.

"Space Echo - The mystery behind the "Cosmic Sound" of Cabo Verde finally revealed!" is the 20th release by the fabulous Analog Africa Label.

In the spring of 1968 a cargo ship was preparing to leave the port of Baltimore with an important shipment of musical instruments. Its final destination was Rio De Janeiro, where the EMSE Exhibition (Exposição Mundial Do Son Eletrônico) was going to be held.

It was the first expo of its kind to take place in the Southern Hemisphere and many of the leading companies in were all eager to present their newest synthesisers and other gadgets to a growing and promising South American market, spearheaded by Brazil and Colombia.

The ship with the goods set sail on the 20th of March on a calm morning and mysteriously disappeared from the radar on the very same day.

One can only imagine the surprise of the villagers of Cachaço, on the Sao Nicolau island of Cabo Verde, when a few months later they woke up and found a ship stranded in their fields, in the middle of nowhere, 8 km from any coastline.

After consulting with the village elders, the locals had decided to open the containers to see what was inside - however gossip as scintillating as this travels fast and colonial police had already arrived and secured the area.

Portuguese scientists and physicians were ordered to the scene and after weeks of thorough studies and research, it was concluded that the ship had fallen from the sky. One of the less plausible theories was that it might have fallen from a Russian military air carrier. The locals joked that again the government had wasted their tax money on a useless exercise, as a simple look at the crater generated by the impact could explain the phenomena. "No need for Portuguese rocket scientists to explain this!" they laughed.

What the villagers didn't know, was that traces of cosmic particles were discovered on the boat. The bow of the ship showed traces of extreme heat, very similar to traces found on meteors, suggesting that the ship had penetrated the hemisphere at high speed. That theory also didn't make sense as such an impact would have reduced the ship to dust. Mystery permeated the event.

Finally, a team of welders arrived to open the containers and the whole village waited impatiently.

The atmosphere, which had been filled with joy and excitement, quickly gave way to astonishment. Hundreds of boxes conjured, all containing keyboards and other instruments which they had never seen before: and all useless in an area devoid of electricity. Disappointment was palpable. The goods were temporarily stored in the local church and the women of the village had insisted a solution be found before Sunday mass.

It is said that charismatic anti-colonial leader Amílcar Cabral had ordered for the instruments to be distributed equally in places that had access to electricity, which placed them mainly in schools.

This distribution was best thing that could have happened - keyboards found fertile grounds in the hands of curious children, born with an innate sense of rhythm who picked up the ready-to-use instruments. This in turn facilitated the modernisation of local rhythms such as Mornas, Coladeras and the highly danceable music style called Funaná, which had been banned by the Portuguese colonial rulers until 1975 due to its sensuality!

The observation was made that the children who came into contact with the instruments found on the ship inherited prodigious capabilities to understand music and learn instruments. One of them was the musical genius Paulino Vieira, who by the end of the 70s would become the country´s most important music arranger. 8 out of the 15 songs presented in this compilation had been recorded with the backing of the band Voz de Cabo Verde, lead by Paulino Vieira, the mastermind behind the creation and promulgation of what is known today as "The Cosmic Sound of Cabo Verde".

The field of electronic music were involved. Rhodes, Moog, Farfisa, Hammond and Korg, just to name a few.

The vitality you hear on Antique Blacks is a testament to the unique energy of the community around The Foxhole Cafe in Philadelphia, as Ra honed his unique brand of Afro-Futurism through the late 60';s and 70's. Cosmic theatre, spiritual chants, and experimental electronics make this record an essential document that was ahead of its time. Ancient to future! BIG TIP !

The 1970s saw change in Sun Ra's recorded output, and as far as we can tell, the content of his live performances. By the middle of the decade, Sun Ra's music no longer seemed comprehensible as part of the jazz New Thing – quirkier, more idiosyncratic elements were more to the fore.

At this time, 1974, every Sun Ra record still surprised, and seemed radically different from everything else he had released up to then. The musical universe proposed by free jazz had never circumscribed Sun Ra. He had been part of the movement, but was able to use the possibilities it suggested without being limited by its conventions.

The Antique Blacks illustrates this well. Recorded as a radio broadcast in Philadelphia, according to Dale Williams, it has a well defined but oddball structure. Sun Ra was a master architect, very concerned to use the unfolding of an album, a broadcast or a live performance to create a satisfying structure.

Song No 1 starts on an upbeat note, it's a lively, tonal introduction, featuring John Gilmre on tenor saxophone, Sun Ra on roksichord, Dale Williams, then aged 15, on guitar, and Akh Tal Ebah on trumpet.

Sun Ra's poetry is featured on There Is Change In The Air, a track which has on occasion been used for the album title: in its original incarnation as a Saturn LP, there was no dedicated sleeve artwork, and this record appeared under many names. Ra's poetry is allusive, elusive and paradoxical, and this was its first major appearance on a record. During instrumental passages, Dale Williams' guitar is heard, along with the saxophones of Marshall Allen and Danny Davis.

The Antique Blacks is a similar setting for a Sun Ra poem, which encompasses "spiritual men", and Lucifer as a dark angel. The Arkestra is heard in conducted improvisational ensembles, in between the sections of the poem.

This Song Is Dedicated To Nature's God has Arkestral vocals, with John Gilmore's voice in th foreground. Williams' guitar is once again prominent in the instrumental passages.

Sun Ra's poetic declamations provide the structire for The Ridiculous I and The Cosmos Me, which also has a fine unaccompanied tenor solo by John Gilmore, keyboard improvisations by Sun Ra, and closes with bass clarient from Eloe Omoe.

Sun Ra's keyboards are heard with minimal Arkestra support on Would I For All That Were – a fine synthesiser improvisation, with electric piano left hand accompaniment.

Tension is resolved by Space Is The Place, which rounds the album out in an upbeat mood, with Akh Tal Ebah, James Jacson and Sun Ra prominent among the vocalists. The closing section includes the chant Sun Ra And His Band From Outer Space, often used at the close of live performances. This isn't strictly live, though: in one line the vocal is played backwards on tape!

Vinyl Only. Produced by Ollie Marland of De-Lite and Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart fame Label logo by manga legend Shintaro Kago. Archival reissue of rare 1984 jazz-funk fusion diamond in the rough by German-Australian-British madcap ensemble Bells of Kyoto, produced by Ollie Marland of De-Lite and Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart fame. Fusions grooves with Orient-funk detours and looking out the window of a Swissair aircraft moments of cool mid 1980s contemplation.

Highly recommended to porthole dreamers, seasoned mind travelers, inventive dancefloor adventurers, and dogs who like to stick their head out the car window.

Drums - Alex Friedrich
Electric Bass - Peter Drefahl
Mastered By - Rico Sonderegger
Piano, Bells - Peter Waters
Producer - Bells Of Kyoto, Laurie Carls, Ollie Marland
Recorded By - Laurie Carls, Ollie Marland
Synthesizer, Guitar, Percussion - Ollie Marland

Airplay on Tom Ravenscroft (BBC Radio 6 Music), Re:lax w/ Re:ni, Laksa & Biggabush (NTS), Gage (NTS), From The Depths with Drakeford (NTS)

Premieres of Four Feet and Blasphemy on Trax Mag and Ransom Note

Review on 2 Hungry Ghosts

DJ support from Midland, Bruce, Re:ni, Troy Gunner, Maya Jane Coles, Minor Science, Via Maris, Mosca, Blackdown/Martin Clark, Horse Meat Disco, Tony Thorpe, Daire Carolan (All City Records), Deft, Phototherapy, Shadow Child / Polymod, Lukas Wigflex, Soulphiction/ Jackmate

WRWTFWW Records is insanely happy to announce the first ever vinyl reissue for both volumes of Yoshio Ojima's superb environmental music project Une Collection des Chaînons I and II: Music For Spiral, originally released in 1988 on CD only. Each volume is sourced from original masters and comes as a double vinyl LP with liner notes in English and Japanese . This marks the inaugural release from the ESPLANADE SERIES by WRWTFWW Records which focuses on the works of Yoshio Ojima and friends.

Une Collection des Chaînons II (along with its complementary predecessor Une Collection des Chaînons I) gathers selected music pieces conceptualized and produced for sound-designing the Wacoal Art Center in Aoyama (Tokyo) also known as Spiral, a hub for a wide range of sophisticated cultural proposals spanning visual arts, theatre, music, design, fashion, and lifestyle.

Named after its superb curled-shaped structures laid in a vast atrium, Spiral is a monumental work of architecture by Fumihiko Maki, designed according to the principles of Metabolism, a movement advocating the fusion of the notions of megastructures and organic biological growth - in essence, evolving designs and constructions, adapting to human needs naturally.

Evolving, organic, adapting, these are notions that perfectly describe Yoshio Ojima's divinely designed brand of environmental music. Continuing, embellishing and bringing the Collection des Chaînons (which translates as collection of links) full circle, this second volume approaches sound design in relation to various contexts, sizes, and shapes. The nanoscopic neoclassical lullaby "Les Trois Grâces" brings attention to the importance of small details, "Pulse at Soothe" starts with the minimalism of a Satoshi Ashikawa piece and slowly drifts into mystical landscapes and cavernous echoes, "Entomology" and its melancholic artificial forest feels like a Twin Peaks mirage, and "Atrium" literally feels like a floating visit of a gigantic open space structure. With each timbre selected with extreme precision, each element placed in space with the utmost care, and textures worked to allow a wide canvas of emotion for the listeners, Yoshio Ojima's music is the constantly transforming connecting point between humanity and architecture.

Sitting alongside Midori Takada's Through The Looking Glass, Satoshi Ashikawa's Still Way, Hiroshi Yoshimura's Green, or Yutaka Hirose's NOVA, Une Collection des Chaînons is a pivotal work of Japanese environnmental/ambient/minimalist music.

A note from Yoshio Ojima: "Please listen to this album at around the same volume as daily life sounds such as air conditioners and refrigerators."

South east London songwriter and visual artist Jerkcurb has today announced his hotly-anticipated debut album Air Con Eden - set for release on Friday 13 September via Handsome Dad Records. The culmination of several years of intense creative focus, Air Con Eden reflects on Jerkcurb instigator Jacob Read’s recent real life events, losses and tragedies as well as more cryptic, fictitious perspectives and surreal adopted personalities. The record’s euphoric lead single ‘Timelapse Tulip’ arrives alongside today’s news - accompanied by a stunning, intricate 3D animated video courtesy of a collaboration between Read, director Gilbert Bannerman and production designer Theo Boswell. Read will tour the U.K. in October to celebrate the album's release with a hometown headline at Chat's Palace included on the run.

Having fully emerged in 2016 with the flourishing ‘Night On Earth’ - a streaming hit with 2,700,000 spins to date - and subsequent tracks ‘Voodoo Saloon’ and ‘Little Boring Thing’, there’s been a growing sense of an artist climbing into maturity with each succeeding release, video and gig laying the foundations for Jerkcurb’s burgeoning cult status. Radio and press took to Jerkcurb instantly with BBC Radio 6 Music inviting him in for a live session on Tom Ravenscroft’s show, also making an appearance as a guest on Steve Lamacq’s Thursday Round Table, while esteemed publications like Dazed, Vice, Noisey and Wonderland have all thrown their weight behind his music and art. Indeed, Read has been heavily immersed in his art and animation all the while, exhibiting at the Tate Britain and also being commissioned by them to create a promo for their installation Aftermath: Art in the Wake of World War One and drawing praise from It’s Nice That along the way.


There’s a near impossible richness to Read’s songwriting form on Air Con Eden, with its as-yet-unheard title track offering perhaps the clearest distillation of the record’s predominant theme: time at its malleable and fraught. Inspired by Victor Gruen - the pioneering designer of shopping malls in the United States - Read unpacks the idea of being trapped in an eternity that feels like an endless present tense, the passing of the seasons reduced to a standstill in a pristine shopping mall; a symbol of both stasis and comfort; an Eden without the possibility of an ending.

Should you find yourself taking a Thames-side stroll in the shadow of the City of London, keep an eye out for the headphone-clad figure of Ilan Pdahtzur. While be-suited bankers and frustrated office workers scurry home to their families, Ilan can frequently be found casting admiring glances towards the blinking lights of towering skyscrapers while filling his ears with the synthesizer-driven sounds of lesser-known 1980s dance music.

Ilan, an avid but little-known record collector best known for sharing the artwork of obscure and under-appreciated early-to-mid ’80s club cuts on his popular Instagram feed, has been digging for vibrant, kaleidoscopic records since his teens. Now, thanks to Spacetalk, he’s been given a chance to offer a glimpse into his neon-lit nocturnal musical world.

The result is Night City Life, a killer collection of 1980s synthesizer songs inspired by Ilan’s admiration for the glow of London’s late night skyline. Over the course of 13 essential tunes, Ilan escorts us on a vibrant sprint through rare Italo-disco, steamy South African synth-boogie, fizzing American freestyle, oddball Austrian electrofunk and so much more.

There are naturally a fair few sought-after cuts present, but also a fine selection of under-appreciated gems that for one reason or other have been all but ignored since they were released three and a half decades ago. In fact, some selections are so obscure that barely any information exists about them online.

Check for example Preludio’s “Mysterious Nights”, an evocative fusion of slow electronic grooves, dreamy chords and twinkling piano motifs previously buried on a lesser-known album of unremarkable German synth-pop, or the dollar-bin brilliance of Fragile’s sweet synth-pop gem “We’ve Got Tonight, Boy”, a cut that Ilan says is capable of “wrapping itself like tendrils around your soul”. He’s not wrong.

At the other end of the scale you’ll find the ultra-rare Italo-disco breeziness of Friend of Mine’s incredible “Just Your Pride” and Mac & Monica’s soulful 1986 South African synth-boogie cut “You’re So Good To Me”, copies of which regularly change hands for hundreds of pounds online. Ilan originally reached out to the men behind the record last year to tell them how one of their other forgotten gems had been played on a Boiler Room session; naturally, they were thrilled.

There’s plenty to admire elsewhere on the compilation, too, from the waves of analogue synths, bubbly melodies and bobbing beats of the instrumental dub version of Brian Tatcher’s “Hot Love” – a cold-war era cut inspired by the idea of love blossoming in the midst of a nuclear meltdown – to the Bobby Orlando-esque freestyle bustle of Janelle’s “Don’t Be Shy (Dub)” and the sparkling post-boogie brilliance of Jarmaz’s “Night City Life (Disco Remix)”, a track Ilan has listened to countless times while admiring the midnight skyline of his home city.

A welcome return from former 'Gentleman Of Leisure' Jadell who delivers a sublime slice of French house-inspired disco cut 'n' paste guaranteed to ignite dance floors. B Side "Your Love Is What I Need" is a mid tempo, deep disco monster set to get those hands in the air.

"A floor-filling disco mutant" - DJ Magazine
"This sounds FUNKY" - DJ Snuff

350gsm Sleeve with selected UV High Gloss Varnish, Liner Notes by Midori Takada and Gareth Quinn Redmond, Sticker

"Conceptually derived from the work of Japanese minimalist composer Satoshi Ashikawa, I have composed an album which hopes to engage, enrich and reflect the listener's surroundings, an Environmental Music." - Gareth Quinn Redmond

Working with Still Way as a base for inspiration, Gareth Quinn Redmond takes Ashikawa's meditative sound designs to more dramatic and lyrical landscapes, gracefully instilling his personal touch into the master's melodic patterns and presenting six pieces which blend and reflect the modern listener's ever changing environment. As Midori Takada explains in the liner notes, "Even though Gareth is deeply influenced by Still Way, he looks above, toward the air and the sky. He pays respect to Ashikawa's approach, but adds bold elements from another dimension…Satoshi Ashikawa aspired to crystallize the sound structure of nature that exists in the environment. Gareth tries to capture what flourishes out of it."

Laistigh den Ghleo is released in conjunction with Satoshi Ashikawa's Still Way (Wave Notation 2) reissue on WRWTFWW Records.

DJ Haram is a producer & DJ who distinctively ties her New Jersey musical history with more recent involvement in the Philadelphia DIY noise scene, whilst paying homage to her Middle Eastern roots. A close affiliate of New York's Discwoman collective, she is also one half of 700 Bliss with rapper & poet Moor Mother, who features on this EP. Haram’s non-traditional understanding of Islam, paired with a nuanced perspective on folk tradition and mythology, underpins the EP, bringing fantasy and colour to this in-between place. On opener ‘No Idol’, a darbuka rhythm pairs with offbeat claps around a dark synth and a contrasting airy flute melody, illustrating the theme of duality running through the music. The melodies of ‘No Idol’ are revisited in the final track remix, sped up with a classic Baltimore club beat and energetic bedsprings samples.‘Interlude’ is a combination of the sounds and patterns from each song. ‘Gemini Rising's synth is reminiscent of John Carpenter, paired with a darbuka rhythm and war drums that transmit a religious sci -fi horror aesthetic. ‘Body Count’ is propelled by Jersey Club kicks with a distorted drum crunch and ticking rim shot in triplets, and an ethereal melody. ‘Grace (K.O.D.)’ has menacing cinematic stabs that feel like acid raining on the scattered percussion. On the 700 Bliss track ‘Candle Light’, Moor Mother's distorted and doubled up vocal chorus evokes a frantic yet solemn energy as she speaks on themes of life and death.‘Grace’ is an EP constructed through deep feeling, transmitting vital dancefloor energy. It’s music is versatile, imbued with a strong will, personality, and colour.

Stepping out of the dojo with sublime focus - DJ Youngsta's subsequent addition to the Sentry discography unveils its sound system technique in abundant grandeur. Supported by the likes of UKF and Disciple Recordings, the achievements and long-standing dedication to the bass music scene of the London-based artist speak for itself. Now taking charge of the controls, The Others materializes two irreproachable cuts of undiluted Dubstep for the imprint's tenth single outing, bringing forth an exceptional display of the artist's creative ingenuity as well as technical ability, that perfectly falls in line with the label's vision and acclaimed discography.

Anticipation permeates the air. Haunting flute melodies intermingle with tribal drums in 'Shaolin' - introducing itself, saturated in tension. Surges of electric power progressively increase the strain as the sound of the final chimes strikes its apocalyptic verdict. Heading into full-frontal warfare and the midst of a sword fight, a murderous array of distorted overtones leads the way through the trenches, dug by its huge drums and minimal instrumentation. Densely loaded with ingenious sampling and off-kilter groove, the resulting soundscape will wreak havoc on any proper sound system and skanking audience.

Turning the echo up to eleven, the B-Side 'Feedback' boasts an equally effective inferno, culminating in otherworldly levels of pressure and energy. Contemplative synth melodies merge into the melancholic soundscape, feigning brief silence before promptly being reconstructed into a super-charged form. The ensuing shutdown swings to the merciless groove onslaught of its highly fissionable basslines, roaming the dance floor with rhythmic intricacy and a universe of switch-ups and creative breaks - The Other's signature style taken to its fullest extent.

Zru Vogue is a two man post punk avant-pop group from Palo Alto, California, combining the talents of Andrew Finkle and Rick Cuevas.

The band began in 1980 as a four member group: Rick, Andy, Tom Sanders and Nancy Miller. Tom and Nancy left the group shortly after the first single, "Nakweda Dream", was released by independent San Francisco label Adolescent Records in February 1981. Inspired by rave reviews and heavy airplay on alternative radio stations, Andy and Rick went back into the studio, now as a duo, to record some new ZRU tracks.

The self-tilted LP was released on the band’s Zero Risk Records in 1982. It contains eight compositions blending African tribal and Middle Eastern rhythms, avant-garde rock, minimal electronics, and funk-rock guitars.

The duo’s sound is inspired by the art and anti-art movements of Dada and Surrealism. All songs have been remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. Each copy is housed in a replica of the original jacket, which features artwork by the group members, and includes the original 2-sided lyric sheet.

The Jazz Diaries is proud to announce NYC’s favorite underground papi Toribio will be releasing his sophomore EP June 14th 2019. Hot of-the-heels of his Gator Boots 12” for Soul Clap, which received hands in the air support from Seth Troxler, Adam Port, and Soul Clap, Toribio makes you feel at home in the club with his expressive new EP - Capicua!

Growing up playing Dominican percussion instruments from an early age, and being a staple DJ in the NYC circuit for the last 7+ years playing with a who’s who of DJs (Danny Krivit, Rick Wilhite, Louie Vega etc), Toribio expands the palette of what dance music is, fusing his Dominican roots, afro-cuban latin riddims and 90s hip-hop to create a cultural melting pot that signals a change in the guard for NYC House Music.

As Toribio rightly puts…
“Capicua!” is an expression Dominicans yell as they slam the last domino of a certain hand with belligerent righteousness. It means you win on both sides of the table no matter which way you look at it. Top to bottom. This my musical way of saying in a Dominican style... I won on both sides with this record.

This is certainly true of EP opener ‘Get Up’, which hits you on the upside with a nasty dose of p-funk over a bed of live and programmed house riddims. The record showcases Toribio’s penchant for the funky, yet rhythmically inquisitive. It is this trademark sound that permeates the record and continues its way through the acid tinged ‘Make Your Mark’, where long time friend and collaborator Byron the Aquarius steps in on remix duties - providing a lush reprise from the frenetic afro-cuban percussion found in the original mix.

Last but not least, Toribio rounds of the EP with a sensual, take your girl home cover of ‘Household’ by Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. The tune showcases the broad depth of Toribio’s musical portrait, prominently featuring his voice and guitar, further giving credence to the musicality and diasporic nature of the new Nu York, and further cementing Toribio’s place in it for years to come.

'Buntús Rince' translates from Irish as 'basic rhythms', and this new compilation explores how Irish musicians were influenced by strands of different genres of music from around the world, merging them to create their own unique sounds. The compilation features some of the most innovative and talented figures in the history of Irish music and includes rare Irish jazz, fusion and folk outliers from the 1970s and early 1980s from musicians relatively unknown outside of Ireland.

Often regarded as a musical backwater, the 1970s finally saw Ireland begin to make its mark on international music. The nature of this feat is all the more commendable, considering how isolated and conservative the country still was in the middle of the last century. The emergence of acts like Skid Row, Thin Lizzy and Van Morrison instilled in budding young Irish musicians the belief to dream big.

Unlike many other European countries, Ireland had not benefited from the cultural impact of immigration. Pioneering Irish musicians did not have access to the type of vibrant music scenes ubiquitous to most European cities at that time. With no talented players or even in some cases recordings of the music, they had to cultivate and invent their own small scenes.

A jazz scene had begun to blossom in Dublin in the late 1950s. Self-taught players like Noel Kelehan and Louis Stewart emerged as the Irish standard-bearers. Their level of musicianship saw them play with some of the world's most renowned artists. The 1960s would see the emergence of the 'beat' scene in Ireland, with groups like Granny's Intentions, Taste and Eire Apparent finally challenging the hegemony of Irish Showbands. Change was in the air.
The late 1960s also saw many Irish emigrants returning home, bringing with them inspiration from the new styles and sounds of London and further afield. The arrival in the late 1960s of pirate radio stations like Radio Caroline, new music magazines and the availability of music on vinyl meant that different genres were now becoming more accessible. The musical landscape of the country began to transform and evolve, influencing a new generation of musicians in the process.
The 1970s saw advancements in studio technology. 8-track studios began appearing in Dublin, offering more opportunities for groups to record singles and albums. Synthesizers and other instruments were also becoming easier to acquire as the younger generation turned to electric jazz and fusion music.
While the level of musicianship was high, the levels of opportunities in Ireland were still very limited. Many groups and solo musicians had to emigrate to try and succeed.
Thankfully for those who remained, this new emerging scene didn't go totally unnoticed and local labels began to take a chance on more obscure Irish groups. Labels like Mulligan and also producers like John D'Ardis and Terri Hooley championed and documented music from the Irish underground of the 1970s.

Their valuable work is a common thread which connects many of the tracks on this compilation. From the soaring flute playing of Brian Dunning, to the swinging piano of Noel Kelehan and the sonic force of Jolyon Jackson's synthesizers; 'Buntús Rince' lifts the lid on a vastly underappreciated period of Irish music history.
One for the collectors.

Debut, 4 track 7" on KingUnderground by Flughand & Smuv. Flughand and and Smuv, 37 and 27 year old producers from Germany, collaborate on their debut EP "Fluo". They are both giants in the streaming game and known for their laid back, dreamy, lofi hip hop beats. They are two of the most well-known artists in the genre of lofi, with streams counting more than 100 million clicks. BeatPete, a fellow German and widely respected DJ, is the link here for the release on KingUnderground.


They each have their own distinctive style of cover art for all their solo projects and this time they worked with an Italian artist, "Heey Studio Design" for the "Fluo" EP illustration. It conveys the two of them, a cat (Smuv) sitting on a little island, chilling with a cocktail in the middle of an ocean and a dog (Flughand), flying an airplane up in the sky.

Lurking in the shadows of the underground since 2013, subtly shifting trends and creating new bass cultures with a firmly understated frame of mind, Itinerant Dubs resurface with three new dance experiments that cross the boundaries and join the dots with brutal simplicity of thought. No tricks, cheap thrills or passing tastes; this is pure UK heat coming straight from the machines to your needle. The opener, "Dub This", lashes out heavy 808 percussion amid a blur of sparse, jagged licks of acid, while "Human Emulation" uses electro science as its platform for dancehall annihilation, leaving "Three Four" to linger more placidly in a hazy, mid-air smoke that we've come to recognise as the apex Itinerant Dubs sound. Murderous and iconic. The shadows resurface.

Second Lp From French Electronic Talent Thylacine
Regardless Of Whether Or Not The Thylacine, A Species Of Marsupial With A Tiger-striped Back, Still Lives
In Tasmania Or Not, It Is In Argentina That This Young Star Of The French Electro Scene Decided To
Record His Second Album. To Create A Follow Up To Transsiberian, His Brilliant First Album That He
Recorded In 2015 Aboard The Train That Links Moscow To Vladivostok, William Rezé, Aka Thylacine,
Bought A 1972 Trailer, One Of The Famous All-aluminum Airstreams.
After Painstakingly Transforming The Trailer Into A Recording Studio, He Put His Beautiful American On
A Freighter Across The Atlantic And Got It Back A Month Later In Buenos Aires.
He Was Drawn To South America By The Pull Of The Unknown, The Absolute Absence Of Reference. He
Wanted To Immerse Himself In Desert And Lunar Landscapes, Explore Multicolored Canyons, Sand
Dunes, Giant Cacti Forests, Snow-capped Peaks... And Write, Alone, In The Intimacy Of His Nomadic
Studio.
After Making Stops In The Middle Of Nowhere, He Returned With Ten Tracks That Marvelously Combine
Moderat's Aerial Melodies, The Solar Touch Of Nicola Cruz, And The Techno Power Of Paul Kalkbrenner.
His Electronica Is Often Laden With Saxophonehis Instrument Of Choice, Which He Started Playing At
The Age Of 6 At A Conservatoryand Features Vocals From Julia Minkin (of Kid Francescoli), Clara
Trucco (a Member Of The Trio Femina), And Juana Molina, "considered The Argentinian Björk," Says
Thylacine.
Mission Accomplished: The Young Angevin's Vaporous Layers Are Tinged With Charango, A Local
Instrument, And Melodies Inspired By Traditional Argentinian Songs. "i Wanted To Go Back To A Music
With A More Acoustic Sound."
And The Tracks Follow One Another, Telling The Story Of His Extraordinary Odyssey: The Hypnotizing the
Road Expresses The Miles Of Road Traveled; The Captivating Tale Of santa Barbara Evokes The Close
Ties Between Inhabitants Of A Tiny Village In The Andes; And The Rhythm Of 4500 M, Cut By The Flow Of
The American Rapper J. Medeiros, Recalls The High Desert Where Thylacine Once Had To Sleep, Forced To
Stop For The Night By Storms Of A Rare Intensity.
Three Months And Ten Thousand Kilometers Later, This "concept Album" Is Ready; It's Called Roads Vol.
1, And Its The First Installment Of A Collection That The 26-year-old Thylacine Expects To Add To As He
Continues His Travels. His Itinerant Studio, Ingeniously Equipped With Solar Panels, Will Take Him,
Hopefully, Very Far.

FLOAT proudly welcomes their second artist into the fold. UK electronic artistand Szun Waves band member Luke Abbott, presents a special 10-track album tocelebrate Piano Day 2019 - an international event series initiated by NilsFrahm which acts as a platform for piano-related projects. 'Music From The Edge Of An Island' sees Abbott divert from his typicallyexperimental electronic style to explore a more compositional approach centredaround VST instruments. Rather than the usual themes of synthesis andimprovisation, the album is lead by piano motifs, structured around emotivemelodies and sparkling arrangements. The record began as a part of asoundtrack commission by producer / actor Jessica Hynes for her film 'TheFight' and ultimately became a fully-realised album. The film script had acoastal setting that created the record's thematic idea: "I had this ideaabout being on the edge of England, almost ready to fall off a cliff into thesea but keeping your balance on the edge." The idea of writing for the piano had been ruminating for some months asAbbott found himself spending an increasing amount of time playing on theinstrument. Without a piano of his own though, he found a strangely enchantingway to fulfil his creative impulse. "I used to have an upright piano, but I'dgiven it away when I last moved house, so I ended up using a piano VST in thecomputer, which I actually really enjoyed. Writing the music became a bit of aweird fantasy process, I was in an odd headspace for a few days." The writing process was remarkably quick, resulting in simple yet inspiredpieces that subtly blur the lines between MIDI computer music and liveperformance. 'Music From The Edge Of An Island' can be seen as a collection ofgentle reveries that sway between the twilight hours, marked by moments ofsoft, contemplative ballads and more active and expansive motions. Openingtrack 'Sea' begins with a mysterious piano waltz before unnerving synth dronestake over. 'Island continues with piano triplet figures plus addedorchestration of cello strokes and airy glass pads, before heading into themelancholic 'Tree', bringing in more strings and added pathos heard in therestless piano motif. Quieter passages are contrasted with the Gamelan-esque'Moments' and the uplifting 'On Rope', whilst more lyrical moments on thealbum can be found in tracks such as 'Adjustment' and closing track 'ADifferent Tree'.

Tradition and experimentation are two familiar
territories that C'mon Tigre, a duo who find
their identity by working with musicians from
all over the world, can balance between very
well. As they did for their debut album (2014),
they have put together a multicolored collective
for their second record 'Racines', out on
February 15, 2019 for BDC/K7.
The title is a French word that means "roots",
referring to the musical roots in which C'mon
Tigre's feet, head and heart are immersed, and
from which their contaminated tracks sprout to
create unusual and original sound environments. In their new album the sounds of the
Mediterranean - the sea of their land -
intersect, intertwine and overlap with a
kaleidoscope of other sounds and a new
approach based - they explain - "on the type of
work we had done when we rearranged the first
album for live shows, by emphasizing the
synthetic part of our tracks". This time around
they did it from the very beginning: "The
composition of the pieces immediately included
the use of machines and synthesizers as a
basis for acoustic instruments. The goal was to
reprocess the terrain of Mediterranean
influences that was undoubtedly our starting
point".
Imagine a work in progress where bass and
guitars interact with woodwind, synths, percussions, vibraphones, dipping the listener into a
sensual and hypnotic musical journey. Sailing
from the Mediterranean basin and being guided
by the fascination for Africa and the Middle
East, C'mon Tigre give rise to a personal
language, made up of mixtures with jazz,
afrojazz, the rhythmics of hip hop, funk, 70s
disco. All without ever confining their songs to
one style, but pushing the exploration as much
as possible, into a dimension that every journey
worthy of this name should encompass. "With
the musicians we work with the exchange and
experimentation continue till the end, the
songs can take different directions at any time'.
The result is a mixed, cosmopolitan record,
which escapes from any label for the affirmation of a free attitude. The attitude that led
C'mon Tigre to seek a connection with dancefloor culture, even if considered only as an
evocation to revisit in an absolutely personal
way

Left Ear are issuing two previously unreleased Full-Length versions of Space Farm's mid 90's Egyptian inspired tracks. Both, 'The Dawn of Birds' and 'Camels in Desert Air' were initially cut short to allow for additional remixes on the original release. For their 2019 issue, Left Ear have decided to focus only on these downtempo original songs allowing the heavy percussion and synth workouts to shine through on a loud 45RPM press.

Space Farm is the story of three friends Darrin, Bill and Waleed their love for 80's NY culture, Egyptian music and a cross continental business plan that never materialised. Darrin and Bill grew up in North New Jersey only a few miles from NY city and met while studying in '90. Bill spent his formative years listening to the emerging sounds of 80's left-leaning New York radio stations, while Darrin immersed himself in the DJ and B-Boy culture. Fast-forward to '94 and the two found themselves living in Boulder, Colorado. By this time the tag-team had started producing music and would look to their NJ roots for a group name, deciding on the title 'Space Farm' after a kooky local petting farm they often cracked jokes about. Armed with an open mind and a bunch of old studio gear the duo began producing music inspired by 80's NY, however after a budding friendship began with Egyptian native Waleed they were inspired to start experimenting with Egyptian and Arabic sounds. After hearing their output Waleed pushed for the release of an Egyptian inspired record saying 'it would sell like crazy in Egypt', that 'he would bring it back to Egypt on his next visit and get it to all the right people that need to hear it'. The record got done but, due to circumstances beyond their control it never made it over to Egypt. The duo performed live a few times in Boulder before finally returning to NJ. Darrin recalls playing their final party in Boulder in which the Space Farm record was played from start to finish, 'Some joker ran up to us while we were playing and kept signalling to up the tempo we were like F Off! raver boy'.

Jac Berrocal, David Fenech and Vincent Epplay return with Ice Exposure, their second album for Blackest Ever Black. A sequel and companion piece of sorts to 2015's Antigravity, its title couldn't be more apt: sonically it is both colder, and more exposed - in the sense of rawer, more volatile, more vulnerable - than its predecessor, capturing the combustible energy and barely suppressed violence of the trio's celebrated live performances with aspects of noir jazz, musique concrète, no wave art-rock, sound poetry and spectral electronics all interpenetrating in unpredictable and exhilarating ways. While there are moments of great sensitivity and even a cautious romanticism, the prevailing mood is one of anxiety, paranoia, and mounting psychodrama: close your eyes and Ice Exposure feels like a dissociative Hörspiel broadcasting from the seedy backstreets of your own troubled mind. Before he picks up an instrument or opens his mouth, Berrocal's unique and compelling presence can be felt: a combination of studied, glacial cool and anarchic, in-the-moment intensity that has served him well over a long and storied career. It was honed during his time as a theatre and film actor, and in the 70s Paris improv scene, it powered his influential Catalogue group in the 1970s, numerous seminal, sui generis solo sides, and far-sighted collaborations with the likes of Nurse With Wound, Lol Coxhill, Pascal Comelade and James Chance which have seen him come to be valorised by two generations of avant-garde agitators and eccentrics. Now in his eighth decade, it comes with an added gravitas, perhaps, but no less energy or vitality. On Ice Exposure, his lyrical, instantly recognisable trumpet playing is a key feature - see especially the ghostly, dubwise take on Ornette's 'Lonely Woman', the dissolute exotica of 'Salta Girls', and the sublime echo-chamber soliloquy 'Opportunity'. But more often it's his voice that commands centre-stage, whether casually discharging surreal poetic monologues or moaning in animal despair - a vocal tour de force that transcends language and culminates in the Dionysian frenzy of 'Why', Berrocal's half-spoken, half-howled exclamations jostling with David Fenech's slashes of dissonant guitar, over Badalamenti-ish, panther-stalk drums. Fenech's origins are in the mail-art scene of the early '90s, when he led the Peu Importe collective in Grenoble, and since then, in addition to his own recordings he has worked as a software developer at IRCAM and played with Jad Fair, Rhys Chatham and many others. Together with Vincent Epplay he is responsible for Ice Exposure's inspired arrangements and vivid, vertiginous sound design. Epplay is a visual artist and composer with particular interest in aleatory composition, concrete, and the reappropriation of vintage sound and film material. He and Fenech fashion a remarkable mise-en-scene for Berrocal to inhabit, one that embraces cutting-edge electronics while also paying homage to the best traditions of outlaw jazz and libidinous rock'n'roll ('Soundcheck' invokes the brutish spirit of Berrocal's hero Vince 'Rock N Roll Station' Taylor). On 'Blanche de Blanc', Berrocal's voice is framed by a groaning, ghoulish orchestra of industrial drones, while 'Equivoque' evokes the most humid and hostile Fourth World landscapes and 'Panic In Surabaya' lives up to its name, a hectic, pulse-quickening concrète collage that leaves you gasping for air. This is a searching and singular trio operating at the absolute peak of their powers, with an interplay that transcends studio and stage and occurs at an almost telepathic level. Ice Exposure is a triumph of that group mind, an underworld dérive as life-affirming as it is unnerving and psychologically precarious.













Panic In Surabaya

A doctor by day and a musician by night, Leon x Leon has been producing songs in his
Parisian home studio since 2013, where house, italo-disco and boogie are mixing. When he
was younger, he was immersed in music by taking jazz drum lessons at the conservatory,
and especially by seeing his father, a sound engineer, who had been building his own
synthesizers since the 1970s. As a tribute, he used one of these unique synthesizers on a
title of the disc.
After a remarkable remix of Cerrone's "Funk Makossa" and several tracks on various from
'Red Laser Disco', he released his project My Solar Brass on the same English label in
2017. Organizer of many Parisian parties, he also participated in the founding of the
publishing label 'Good Plus". With the release of Rokanbo on Cracki Records, Leon x
Leon signs a mature EP with the influence of different styles.
The first eponymous title is a manifesto mixing Acid, House and Zouk. As soon as we
launch the track, the pop & acid 80's sounds takes us to another world... A UFO from the
Islands! The other parts of the EP don't leave us in the lurch! 'Formant Sweep' delivers a
soft and groovy bass that responds to an endless, spatial synthetic takeoff. On 'Red
Footpath', the harder kick cleverly blends with an atmospheric blanket and a bright, lively
flute solo straight from an abandoned piece of bamboo on a deserted beach. After that,
'Jungle Juice' lets a crazy keyboard solo resonate in the middle of tropical fauna and flora,
and finally on 'Horizon', the EP ends in beauty with an airy atmosphere. This last piece
sounds like a beautiful sunset at the end of a long summer day.
Through all these tracks, Rokanbo EP offers us a clever contrast between synthetic notes
and the warmth of tropical groove, and places our gaze towards the horizon, seeking the
groove to disturb its line on the infinite sea.

Gonzo MDF is back on Counterweight with his 3rd Release and he does what he is known for and of course he does it pretty well and reckless. Tested on the crowd of their monthly Counterweight events you can be sure that this EP is a real dancefloor weapon. On the A side Fast Fast a hammering and driving track shows what this artist stands for. The Train is Leaving brings in some break beat drums that will drive any crowd pretty mad.

Cerdos on the B side with some really heavy synth lines does it's job incredibly well while Out of the Box is an ideal track to breathe some fresh air into the middle of any set.

Dramas - Im Jahr 2016 Gegründet, Präsentierte Das Artpop-duo Dramas Mit Ihrer Im Frühsommer 2018 Erschienenen "libra"-ep Ein Großes, Emotionales Debüt Und Sorgte Auch International Für Aufsehen. Unter Anderem Wurde Die Erste Single "mess" Mehrmals Zur Nummer Eins Der Hörercharts Auf Einem Großen Berliner Radiosender Gewählt.
Nun Legen Dramas Nach Und Werden Bereits Als Eines Der Nächsten Großen Bands Aus Österreich Gehandelt. Die Neueste Single "midnight Sun" Ist Zugleich Auch Der Vorbote Auf Das Im Oktober Erscheinende Debütalbum "nothing Is Permanent". Getrieben Von Der Faszination An Unbewussten Gegensätzen Und Widersprüchen Verpacken Viktoria Winter Und Mario Wienerroither Darauf Inhaltlich Schweres Und Bedrückendes In Reduzierte Und Tief Bewegende Musik.

Kalita Records are proud and honoured to announce the first
ever and official reissue of Kallaloo's sought-after 1982
disco single 'Star Child', accompanied by interview-based
liner notes. Originally released on Jeffrey Turpin's
Trinidadian record label IDA, 'Star Child' has since become
highly sought-after by both DJs and collectors alike as an
invisible, yet astonishing piece of Caribbean disco. Unable
at the time to gain the traction and success that it deserved,
we hope that this re-release provides an opportunity to bring
such a great record to a much wider audience.
Kallaloo consisted of various Trinidadian musicians including
Keith Alexander and Peter Wayne Barkley. Keith had been
well-respected as a member of the Trinidadian group Impact, and
was later to become an in-demand producer and composer under
the name of Keith Diamond, responsible for various hits by Billy
Ocean, Donna Summer, Starpoint and Melba Moore. In contrast,
Peter was a well-known recording session drummer, but after
'Star Child's' release he moved to North Carolina to pursue other
interests and 'was never heard from again'.
'Star Child' was recorded at Right Track Recording, in mid-town
Manhattan, New York. As Jeffrey recalls, the atmosphere in the
studio was 'great', with 'everyone upbeat, the cream of the crop
just looking for that break... everyone was talented and just
wanted the chance to express their own ideas'. Five hundred
copies of the record were released on IDA with a white label
design, and they were sold both in Brooklyn, New York and Port
of Spain, Trinidad. It was also released on a red label, however
this was not to Jeffrey's knowledge at the time.
Jeffrey explains that the reason why the record didn't fare well at
the time was because of the difficulty in getting the song played
on the radio. As he recalls, radio stations were much more likely
to play 'radio versions' of songs which lasted for a couple of
minutes, rather than five or seven minute 'extended' versions
such as 'Star Child', which were more suitable to a club
environment. In addition, as Jeffrey explains, radio airplay is a
'political business', and also within a short while band members
such as Keith got their own breaks, and the Kallaloo era was over
as quickly as it had started.

For its next release, No.19 Music welcomes one of dance music's most celebrated contemporary artists in Ryan Crosson for a new single coming on vinyl and digital.

Crosson is a true techno tastemaker who hails from Detroit. He's released on long established labels like Minus, as well as going on to form Visionquest with Seth Troxler, Shaun Reeves and Lee Curtis, and the label of the same name where he also put out key EPs and LPs with Merveille. From headline sets at festivals round the world via club gigs at the most tasteful venues in the scene, he is a real giant of underground dance music with studio skills to match, as this standout three tracker proves.

Superb opener 'Comet Pills' is a deep and thoughtful track that encourages your mind to wander off into the cosmos. Slick drums and melancholic chords set the tone, while the bass fleshes things out and sci-fi details bring out a cinematic quality.

The brilliantly mysterious 'Roscoe' is expertly stripped back and reduced house music that takes you on a trip. It's quick and smooth, with watery sound design, soft hits and muffled vocals adding intrigue to a track that is both cerebral yet designed to make you move.

Last of all, 'Snake Oil' is another fully realised offering which journeys to the edges of the galaxy, with long lingering ambient pads suspending you in mid-air as squelchy synths and shuffling drums keep one foot on the dance floor.
These are three terrific cuts of seriously atmospheric house and techno.

Re-mastering by: Ray Staff at Air Mastering, Lyndhurst Hall, London

Four-and-a-half decades after the event, saxophonist Charles Lloyd's Love-In, recorded live at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium in 1967, the counterculture's West Coast music hub, endures as much as an archaeological artifact as a musical document. From sleeve designer Stanislaw Zagorski's treatment of Rolling Stone photographer Jim Marshall's cover shot, through the album title and some of the track titles ("Tribal Dance," "Temple Bells"), and the inclusion of John Lennon and Paul McCartney's "Here There and Everywhere," Love-In's semiology reeks of the acid-drenched zeitgeist of the mid 1960s, a time when creative music flourished, and rock fans were prepared to embrace jazz, provided the musicians did not come on like their parents: juicers dressed in sharp suits exuding cynicism.




It is likely that more joints were rolled on Love-In's cover than that of any other jazz LP of the era, with the possible exception of saxophonists John Coltrane's A Love Supreme (Impulse!, 1965) and Pharoah Sanders's Tauhid (Impulse!, 1967). Chet Helms, a key mover and shaker in the West Coast counterculture, spoke for many when he hailed the Lloyd quartet as "the first psychedelic jazz group."




It is to Lloyd's credit that, at least in the early stages of his adoption by the counterculture, he resisted dumbing down his music. The adoption stemmed from Lloyd's espoused attitude to society, his media savvy, his sartorial style and his sheer nerve in playing jazz in the temples of rock culture. He took the quartet into the Fillmore West three years before trumpeter Miles Davis took his into the Fillmore East—as documented on Live at the Fillmore East, March 6 1970: It's About That Time (Columbia)—by which time his pianist, Keith Jarrett, and drummer, Jack DeJohnette, were members of Davis' band (although Jarrett didn't appear at the 1970 gig).

A year after his debut outing on the label, Max Essa makes a welcome return to Hell Yeah with the Han zon Roc EP, which is another of his impossibly laidback offerings.Essa is of course the long time UK talent who has become a part of the Balearic mafia thanks to releases on labels like Aficionado, Music for Dreams, and his own Jansen Jardin. This is the second coming together of artist and label and is another timeless excursion far out to sea.
Opener 'Han zon Roc (Midori Coup)' is an epic 12 minute adventure that slowly awakens your spirit with new age guitar plucks and heavenly ambience before organic drums slowly being to drift into earshot. They grow ever larger as synths start to spray about the mix, hand drums pitter patter and big chords bring the soul-shine. It's like the soundtrack to an afternoon boat party all condensed into one brilliant cut. 'How You Showed Me Everything' then gets super chill with lazy drum tumbles, bendy guitar lines and scattered hits. Withering cosmic chords colour the airwaves and its a track that will slow your heartbeat to nothing. Last of all, 'Rain Bird's Alfalfa Jam' is a analogue drum work out with early 90s hip hop influences and diving basslines. It's light and airy, nimble and playful and of course filled with the sort of tropical rays that make all of Essa works so brilliantly escapist.

Matt Edwards' reissue label R-Time Records presents 'After Dark' this September with three tracks from Mark The 909 King.

Following reissues of excellent music by Sir Lord Commix, FBK and Sanasol (Thor & Yagya), Rekids offshoot R-Time Records now presents definitive cuts from Mark The 909 King. Debuting with the timeless 'Can You Dig It!' on Sex Trax in '94, the producer went on to release via a number of New York house legend DJ Duke's labels throughout the mid-nineties. A huge fan of DJ Duke since the 90s, Matt Edwards even held a Sex Mania night at Berghain in 2009 featuring a rare DJ performance from the Duke himself.

Alongside tracks by Roy Davis JR and Trackman (Jon Cutler), 'After Dark' featured as part of a VA release on the label DJ Exclusive, whilst 'Into Space' landed on Rated X Records, and 'The Loft' appeared on the 'Can You Dig It' album via Power Music Records.

'After Dark' set the tone of the package with a piercing drum groove, airy arpeggios and a funky bassline, before cosmic synths and crunchy snares work alongside scintillating chords in 'Into Space.' Concluding the package, 'The Loft' begins with a hooky bass sequence and filtered effects before soothing melodies come into play.

My Favorite Robot's next release is a very special remix by DJ Tennis. It initially comes as a 10' white vinyl and will then be available digitally in autumn.

MFR's 'Barricade' was first released on DJ Tennis's Life And Death label back in 2012. It was a huge house track that resonates to this day, so it makes sense the taste- making Italian steps up to remix it. He is someone with a cultured take on brooding house and techno, as evidenced by the music he A&Rs for his label as well as things like his own standout DJ-kicks mix from last year.

His new remix is a masterfully melancholic one that starts with a delicate ambient synth line hanging in mid air. Breathy vocals eventually arrive to send shivers down the spine and finally, deep, rolling, mid tempo kicks bring a groove that carries you away into a reverie. It's made all the more mournful and poignant thanks to some broad synth chords and swirling pads later on and is sure to provide a real centre point of any seriously emotional set.

This is a stunning and absorbing single and another high point for My Favorite Robot Records.

Mirror Box is the solo analog synth project of Dallas musician Sean Kirkpatrick. With an extensive resume that includes keyboard duties for Kill Rock Stars' 00s noise rock band The Paper Chase as well as his concurrent projects, dark post-punk-synth-rockers Nervous Curtains and darkwave duo Little Beards, Mirror Box is Kirkpatrick's first foray into the purely electronic realm. Blending together elements of Giallo moodiness, dub texture, techno propulsion, a passing nod to your favorite wave music, and a flare for the kosmiche, Mirror Box' debut release, Minimal Compliance EP, is a tour de force of the veteran musician's exploration of a wide range of influences and experience.

Released by Dallas-based Gavin Guthrie (TX Connect)'s TRU (Texas Recordings Underground), the 5-track EP kicks off with the immediately-gripping title track. A huge mid-tempo 808 beat drives the menacing Moog bass while cosmic synths explore the skies over gritty, urban terrain. 'The Body,' grounded by its stuttering and singular bass line, is an expansive reworking of a track from Little Beards' debut album which features Nan Kirkpatrick on the release's only vocal appearance. Side A closes with 'Destabilized Agent,' a retro-futurist dream that effortlessly voyages from Sagan's Cosmos to a melodic minimal wave refrain.

While the first side's lush synthesizers and sophisticated syncopation are somewhat of a departure for TRU, a label that has so far defined itself by bringing the electronic sounds of Texas' underground warehouse scene to dance floors across the sea, the flip side of the record is where the four hits the floor. 'Grifter React' opens with a hard kick and electro zaps, letting the rhythm take the lead until a distorted bass finally enters to provide the hook. Minimal Compliance EP finale, 'Critical Blitz,' weaves together all of Mirror Box' finer elements into a concise mission statement. Pulsing, hypnotic mono-synth, vintage mellotrons, classic hats and claps, sweeping production (courtesy of Alex Bhore at Dallas' Elmwood studios) and sparse synth melodies converge in dark analog pleasure that will guide you along like on a cool air-conditioned drive through a devilishly hot Texas night.: