Ralf Hildenbeutel is an award-winning producer and film composer. His style is shaped by his eclectic background as of his classical education in piano and composition and his obsession for electronic music since the late '80s.
In the 1990s he collaborated with Sven Väth on Väth's major albums, released a countless number of club classics and founded his electronic live-project Earth Nation. He has been touring across Europe and playing at the Montreux Jazz Festival, London's Brixton Academy, Tribal Gathering Universe and others.
In that time he also produced various remixes for artists such as Anne Clark, Robert Palmer, Enigma and Yello and was awarded with the "Viva Comet" as Best Producer from Germany's music TV channel VIVA. His film music for the movie "Hommage á Noir" received the golden medal at the New York Festivals in 1996.
At the end of the '90s and first years of the 2000s it was the time for new directions and Hildenbeutel started focusing on artist-related productions and songwriting. He founded the production company Schallbau with Stevie B-Zet and A.C. Boutsen. They produced and co-wrote for artists such as Laith Al-Deen, Andreas Bourani, Yvonne Catterfeld, and Simon Collins (son of Phil Collins). That time they archived several top-ten entries and gold or platinum records.
In 2010 Hildenbeutel moved away from pop productions and focused on film music. He worked on feature movies such as "Vincent will meer" ("Deutscher Filmpreis", 2012 – German Film Academy Award) and international productions such as the Italian mini-series "Maltese".
His film music for the short movie "Momentum" (by Boris Seewald) received various awards such as "Cinedans" and a nomination for best music at the Newport International Filmfestival in the UK in 2014. In 2017 he won the "Goldene Reiter" at the esteemed Filmfest Dresden for his score for the movie "Eine Villa mit Pinien".
Hildenbeutel currently works on several international and German productions. He also collaborated with Chris Liebing on Liebing's latest solo album "Burn Slow", which has been released worldwide on Mute Records.
The intriguingly named Pigeon Steve joins Especial for an EP of trippy, psychedelic electronic dance music that goes far beyond its origin – a thirst for all forms of movement – a struggle filled with all possibility.
Since its inception, the label has sought to take inspiration from a wide range of music genres – new wave and new beat to disco-not-disco, post punk and proto-house – never looking for a trend. This belief system expressed is human; intimate and authentic, dissolving and uniting around shared truths and universal values.
Music as ecstasy, the flux of rhythm and sound, to find and be yourself; no guilt, no competition, no games. It is phenomenon – magick – that short circuits through human (emotional) response.
Relocated to South-East London, Glaswegian DJ and producer, Pigeon Steve aka Adam Low, showcases his talent. A dubby, trippy approach to DJing mirrored in his productions; the recent, well-received EPs on the esteemed Offen Music and Weirdos Inc lead here – an EP of sample heavy cuts, wrapped in echo-laden grooves, the beats dripping in psychedelic, new beat and steppers electronica.
Dialect locates us, through its cadences, inflections and intonations we journey through life. Language allows us to escape the lion in a cage. The moment we forget ourselves, we can reach joy and clarity. To live is to exist, the struggle against controls, fighting for an individual destiny.
We know there are copious amounts of PFAS in the water supply of Rotterdam, but there must be more! What else could explain the amount of talent this city provides? Foobar is yet another prime example of this phenomenon. coming of age in Burgundian Brabant and cultivated in the grimy streets of our beautiful harbour city, Foobar just has a way of looking beyond its imperfections and translating the warmer hidden sides of the city whilst still tapping into its more rugged edges in this 4 track EP, for his debut release "Shifting Phases" on WAXRDM. The title track Shifting Phases just eases you into the whole, getting you ready to face another day on the grind, that's Rotterdam baby! We work hard and we play hard, and when we play, these are the sounds we wanna play too. Proper House Music. Some serious anger management issues on Parallel Motion, hitting hard from the get go, starting off with some intimidating drums, in your face bass lines, enticing melodies & alluring vocals. All of a sudden you're 3 minutes in, and you can't even remember what got you so upset in the first place. Who said you needed to be loud to be powerful? Not us, that's for sure, and definitely not Foobar. Quiet Strength proves that point yet again, laced with the sultry vocals by ES-V, this jam just takes you even further into your own headspace, drums that keep you in motion, melodies that keep you grounded but bass lines that let you float off into the atmosphere. It's Monday again, another day at the office, cleaning apartments, trading cryptocurrencies or whatever the hell you do to make ends meet. Ahh damn, and now you remember what irritated you. Colleagues, employers, pay or the lack of it. It is a good thing you have Back on the grind to make it all sound relative, helping you forget and looking ahead at the weekend. The perfect come down track that moves forward.
Wow! Chapter 16 of this successful and influential series. This time compiled by Michael Rütten (Soulpatrol) and Michael Reinboth. After 30 years of sharing the love for music and a friendship it‘s about time for these two to get together for a musical trip around the world. Voted one of the best electronic music compilations by music magazines such as Groove, Mixmag, FAZE and DJ mag. With the launch of the series in 1995, it’s fair to say that Michael Reinboth or Compost essentially pioneered and established the future jazz genre. Further info about the artists upon request.
Originally released in Japan in the early 1990s, "Make Me Know It" offers a glimpse into a moment when reggae and lovers rock were taking root in unexpected places. The record pairs Chieko Beauty's understated vocal style with Miyazaki Izumi aka Dub Master X's production, resulting in a sound that feels equally informed by Jamaican traditions and Tokyo's rapidly expanding musical landscape. Built around a subtle interpolation of Manuel Göttsching's E2-E4 – already immortalised by Sueño Latino – the record brings together musical traditions that, on paper at least, have little reason to meet. Chieko Beauty would go on to become one of the defining voices of Japanese reggae, collaborating with artists including Mad Professor, Yann Tomita and Emerson Kitamura. This 7" revisits an early chapter in that story
In recent years, Teaspoon Ndelu’s work has found a new audience through reissues from labels such as Mr Bongo and Sofrito Super Singles. Mr Bongo’s 2021 reissue of Teaspoon & The Waves brought his 1977 jazz-funk classic back into circulation, while Sofrito’s Soweto Disco featured two tracks from the album, Oh Yeh Soweto and a re-edit of Friday Night, introducing Ndelu’s music to a new generation of listeners and selectors.
Originally released in 1981, Ke Kopa Madulo is a beautiful slice of South African funk from the late Teaspoon Ndelu, sitting somewhere between township soul, funk and gospel. At its heart is Ndelu’s unmistakable voice and this hypnotic electric piano, carried by a deeply infectious groove.
Long sought-after by collectors, the original has become increasingly difficult to find. We’re very happy to bring Ke Kopa Madulo back to vinyl for the first time in nearly five decades with this officially licensed reissue, giving this remarkable piece of South African musical history a new life.
For the dancers, the selectors and the listeners — Ke Kopa Madulo is back.
Mastered by Simbad
Executive producer : Fred “Spider” Jacquier
Graphic Design by Graeme Arendse
Notes : Marc Linge
Rich Oddie of Orphx and Alex Pi of Pi Electronics introduce Anaxia, a new project arriving on Veyl with the 7-track LP “Maska”.
Built from raw electronics, stripped-down drum machines and a stark post-punk pulse, the record sits somewhere between industrial pressure and the ghostly minimalism of Suicide. It is direct but shadowed, physical but restrained, with vocals from Oddie and Pi cutting through the machinery rather than sitting on
top of it. Oddie’s background in Canada’s industrial underground and Pi’s long-running connection to the Greek electronic scene meet in a sound that feels tense, reduced and fully intentional. KAOSMOS and Florian Engerling add additional vocals, while remixes from In Trance 95 and Veyl regulars Years of Denial extend
the material into darker, more hypnotic territory. With “Maska”, Anaxia deliver a debut that feels fully formed: nocturnal, focused and stripped to its essentials. A natural fit for Veyl, the record draws a line between post-punk, industrial electronics and body music without overexplaining itself.
Grammy Award Nominated 'Solace' LP pressed on 180gram vinyl with a gatefold jacket.
It is through this seamless transcendence of styles that their own sonic realm has unfolded; a landscape painted with the club culture of yesteryear and a poignant yet infectious ability to be ever in the moment.
The Age newspaper called Solace "a triumphant record", writing that "Electronic music is often thought of as harsh and unlistenable, but Solace is delicate and incredibly sophisticated in its production. The lyrics hinge on one central theme of yearning, whether that be for change, company or space."
In August 2022, Australia-based, French born fourth-world music legend Ariel Kalma was invited to participate in BBC Radio 3"s Late Junction series of special collaborations. The program pairs artists that have not previously collaborated to create new music together. Kalma was quick to suggest working together with two musicians whom he has never met - the International Anthem recording artists Jeremiah Chiu & Marta Sofia Honer, whose critically-acclaimed duo debut Recordings from the Âland Islands had been released just a few months earlier. Kalma sent an invitation to Chiu and Honer, which was received with great enthusiasm. Chiu had been a fan of Kalma"s work for a long time, even citing him as a major influence on his approach to electronic music composition. After meeting their goal of 20 minutes worth of music for the program (which was four pieces total), the three musicians were satisfied in what they would present, and sent along their work to the producers of Late Junction; but simultaneously they felt like there was much more to be said, more work to be done. There were several pieces that they had nearly completed that weren"t sent for inclusion in the radio program, and there were many ideas for refining those that had. The three musicians collectively agreed that they would continue work together and try to push the music further. The Closest Thing to Silence is the result of their efforts to take the collaboration further.
Over 10 years ago, Leon Michels released his first full length record, Sounding Out The City. It was Michels' first full length record under the moniker El Michels Affair. At the time, the budding retro soul scene consisted of mostly organ quartets a la The Meters and of course, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings were in the early days of their ascent to world domination. Leon Michels, who was 18 when recording Sounding Out The City began, had just released Thunder Chicken, the first record by his high school band The Mighty Imperials. At the time of SOTC, Michels was just discovering early rocksteady, afrobeat, and 60's garage rock, which inevitably crept its way into the songwriting. He purchased a Tascam 388, an 80's 1/4" reel to reel 8 track intended for home recordings, and began recording music in a 10x10 box with no windows that also doubled as his childhood bedroom. Along with fellow Mighty Imperials Nick Movshon, Homer Steinweiss, and Sean Solomon, and Michael Leonhart, Thomas Brenneck, and some of the musicians from The Dap Kings, Michels recorded the LP over a two year period. Upon it's release, it received some rave reviews and the small deep funk community ate it up, but due to the lack luster promotion and distribution the rest of the world was slow to catch on to the instrumental gems featured on SOTC, which Michels appropriately labelled as "cinematic soul". However, in 2005 it found it's way into the hands of the people who were organizing a series of concerts for Scion that paired bands with MC's. El Michels Affair was contacted about playing one show with Raekwon The Chef of Wu Tang Clan fame. The show was such a success it led to a tour, and then to another set of concerts that featured multiple members of the Wu-Tang Clan. This eventually led to the release of El Michels Affair's second record, "Enter the 37th Chamber" which introduced them to a much larger audience and has been their most successful release to date. Michels has since gone on to produce and co-produce numerous records for powerhouse soul artists like Lee Fields. He shares songwriting credits with Adele, Jay-Z, Ghostface Killah, Aloe Blacc, and has played on records by Ray LaMontagne, Lana Del Rey, The Black Keys and Dr. John.
Matthias Reim ist zweifellos ein großfühlender Mensch. Ein beneidenswert produktiver Zeitgenosse ist er sowieso. Vor bald 35 Jahren hinterließ der Vollblutmusiker und Songwriter einen Aphorismus von bleibendem Wert: "Verdammt, ich lieb' dich". Liedzeilen, die aus einer Laune heraus entstanden, formte der damals 32 Jahre junge Mann zu einem Mammut-Refrain, der zu einem Millionenseller gelangte. Er hat rund zwei Dutzend Studioeinspielungen veröffentlicht, etliche davon brachen in Gold- und Platin gegossen Verkaufsrekorde. Auf dem neuen Longplayer "Zeppelin" präsentiert Reim seine 16 neuen Songs so frühlingsfrisch und auf den Punkt gebracht wie ein tatendrängender Newcomer. Einer, der sich gleichzeitig eines enormen Musikmacher- und Lebenserfahrungsschatzes ermächtigen kann. Anders lässt sich die gesteigerte Wahrhaftigkeit in "Zeppelin" nicht erklären. Reims Rock klingt heute handgemacht-rockiger als je zuvor, die Refrains sind größer geworden und die Balladen balladesker. "Zeppelin" ist kurzum der beste Reim aller Zeiten.
RADYO BOMBERO - ABOUT THE LABEL
Radyo Bombero is the record label founded by acclaimed filmmaker, author, DJ and record collector Fatih Akin. Born out of his personal passion for vinyl and film music, the label will initially focus on soundtracks from his films: previously unavailable works will be released on vinyl for the first time, while out-of-print titles will return as carefully produced reissues. Its inaugural release is the soundtrack to Akin's new film Geister, scheduled for release in November 2026. Further projects are already in development.
ABOUT THE RELEASE
MALAKOFF KOWALSKI - GEISTER
ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK
Composed by Malakoff Kowalski, the soundtrack to Fatih Akin's Geister is the inaugural release on Radyo Bombero.
Born in the United States, raised in Hamburg and now based in Berlin, Kowalski is a composer, pianist and multi-instrumentalist whose work moves between film music, contemporary classical composition, theatre and pop. He composed the music for eleven films by Klaus Lemke, as well as for productions including Schweigend steht der Wald and Stasikomödie. His solo work has been released by MPS and Sony Classical, and he has collaborated with artists including 2raumwohnung, Igor Levit, Chilly Gonzales and Nils Frahm. His sound combines elegiac melodies with a warm, cinematic atmosphere and a subtle sense of unrest beneath the surface.
For Geister, this distinctive musical language meets Fatih Akin's vision of a deliberately anachronistic and romantic score: a tribute to Ennio Morricone's great love themes that plays a defining role in the film's tragic love story and atmosphere.
LP 1 contains Kowalski's complete original film score.
LP by JUGGLERZ opens up a second musical world, bringing together four productions by the internationally successful Jugglerz on a four-track 12-inch disc at 45 RPM: the film's title song Ya Mami, performed by Aya Samra; Mood by Cloudee, Milaa and Jugglerz; Tip by Jugglerz, Limitlezz, Maureen and Demarco; and Beirut Nights Riddim. The four tracks bring Arabic tarab and contemporary Levantine pop together with hip-hop, urban beats and dancehall rhythms.
FATIH AKIN ON RADYO BOMBERO
"Radyo Bombero is on the air. Don't miss a tune!
"
Music is - alongside cinema and literature - a fundamental source of inspiration for me. Having grown up in the 1980s, the way I listen to music has hardly changed: I buy records, listen to them carefully and then copy them onto a portable device. It used to be a Walkman, then an iPod - today it is my smartphone with my playlists.
I do not use Spotify or any other streaming services. Why that is, I do not know. In most other areas, I try to keep up with technological developments. Not with music. I like unpacking a record, cleaning it before listening, holding the sleeve in my hands and reading who worked in the studio, who wrote the music and where the record was made. These things interest me. And they lower my cortisol levels.
Music plays a major role in my films. It is not that, as a director, I want to impose my favourite music on the audience. The music must always serve the story. In Head-On, for example, it tells us something about the characters and their biographies. Crossing the Bridge - The Sound of Istanbul is the musical portrait of a city. Its music tells us about the people who live there: where they come from, the cultures they brought with them and how those cultures have merged with local traditions. The Cut was conceived as a Western, and the music had to help reinforce that idea.
Geister tells a tragic love story. The music was meant to be gloriously anachronistic. And romantic. Just like the light and colours, it had to shape the atmosphere of the film. My films are often about cinema itself, and Geister is no exception. Its music is a tribute to Ennio Morricone's great love themes.
In Malakoff Kowalski, I found the perfect creative partner. He immediately understood my idea and realised it brilliantly. That made it all the more painful when I was told by the music industry that there could be no soundtrack release for Geister because soundtracks were too expensive to produce and would simply sit on the shelves.
It is not as though I am a spoiled child who absolutely has to have a lollipop. But this music is simply too good to withhold from the audience. The idea that there would be no soundtrack release felt like a great injustice.
Then several friends and collaborators advised me to release the record myself. No sooner said than done. But Radyo Bombero is not a one-off project. Geister is only the beginning.
Finally, I have the opportunity to gradually release all the soundtracks from my films that have remained unavailable. Soundtracks that were previously released but have since gone out of print will also return as reissues.
Hainbach's soundtrack to Amrum is already in development, as is a double album featuring the unforgettable German pop songs from The Golden Glove. And, finally, a vinyl soundtrack to Head-On.
Fatih Akin
Dutch-born and Singapore-based, Mike Risk has spent more than three decades immersed in house music. As a DJ, producer, promoter and agent, he has experienced the culture from multiple angles, building relationships and sharing dancefloors across Amsterdam, London, Ibiza, New York, Chicago, Singapore and beyond.
Now Is Forever is a full-circle moment. A statement. A celebration of a lifelong relationship with house music.
Mike first made his mark in the Dutch underground through Club Risk and later RiskSoundSystem, two platforms that helped shape nightlife culture in the Netherlands throughout the 1990s and 2000s. After decades spent championing the music of others, Now Is Forever is Mike adding his own chapter to the culture that shaped his life.
Created with longtime collaborator Greg van Bueren (Hardsoul) between Amsterdam and Singapore, the album is a deeply personal tribute to the music, people and places that shaped him. From the clubs of Amsterdam and London to the sounds of Chicago, New York and Detroit, it distils decades of dancefloors, record stores, studios and late-night conversations into one body of work.
From deep and soulful grooves to raw house cuts and acid-tinged late-night moments, Now Is Forever explores house music in its full spectrum. It reflects the way Mike has always approached a dancefloor as a DJ: not as a collection of tracks, but as a journey through the many moods and moments that make a greatnight unforgettable.
Featuring Mike Dunn, Bluey Robinson, Marc Evans and John Agesilas, the album brings together years of experience, inspiration and dedication. Crafted not out of commercial pressure but out of creative necessity, it is the product of pure love-for the culture, for the craft, for the music.
Now Is Forever is a past-forward record: rooted in the music, dancefloors and relationships that shaped Mike, while carrying their spirit firmly into the present. At its heart, it is about honouring the kid who first fell in love with house music-and never let go.
Because when you are truly lost in music, there is no past and no future. There is only now.
There's Something Going On is the second studio album by Babybird, originally released in 1998.
The album is almost unrelentingly dark and mysterious, in much the same manner as his earlier lo-fi productions. Indeed, two of the tracks here, "You Will Always Love Me" and "There's Something Going On," were recorded straight to four-track. Jones' voice echoes out of lyrical valleys. "Take Me Back" is a horrific tale of an obsessive relationship, with lyrics about eyeballs scratched with rusty nails and a creepy chant of "dead, dead, dead" ad infinitum. It's a conceit that starts with the very first track, "Bad Old Man," where Jones sings of wife-beaters and a drowning in a duck pond. Musically, the album is more of a lean toward the baroque than Ugly Beautiful. One might describe it as stark, disturbed chamber pop. Beautiful melodies appear quite majestically out of Jones' psychological studies. "It's Not Funny Anymore" is bittersweet and touching, with Jones reaching for the album's emotional core over weeping, organic keyboards.
"There's Something Going On" is the tender conclusion, suggesting that Jones knows there's a better way of life than obsession and self-torture. There's Something Going On is definitely Baby Bird's most subtle album, and it's a fascinating listen from start to finish.
There's Something Going On is available as a limited numbered edition of 750 copies on turquoise vinyl and contains an insert.
The 2013 action-adventure game The Last Of Us was originally published in 2013 by Sony Computer Entertainment and was developed by Naughty Dog. The game is played in a third-person perspective and the player controls Joel, a smuggler who is escorting the teenager Ellie across a post-apocalyptic America. The game received critical acclaim, with praise for its narrative, gameplay, visuals, sound design, characterization, depiction of female characters. The Last Of Us became one of the best-selling video games, selling over 1.3 million units in its first week. The game won multiple Game of the Year awards and has been cited as one of the greatest video games ever made.
The Last Of Us also received acclaim for its score, which was made by composer Gustavo Santaolalla. Santaolalla is also known for his work on Brokeback Mountain and Babel, for which he both won the Academy Award for Best Original Score. The Argentinian composer also created the music for the series Jane The Virgin and Netflix’ Making A Murderer. His soundtrack to The Last Of Us was his first in the video game industry. In 2020, he also returned to compose the music to the sequel, The Last Of Us Part II.
The soundtrack of The Last Of Us: Season 1 is available as a limited edition of 4000 individually numbered copies on yellow marble vinyl. This 2LP is packaged in a deluxe gatefold sleeve with linen laminate finish. It includes printed innersleeves and an 8-page booklet with liner notes by writer and creative director Neil Druckmann.
Spring Back, Ball Forward is the Soda Gong debut from Jung dj, nom de plume of shapeshifting multi-instrumentalist Randy Riback. Following a series of uniformly great self-releases and cassettes on the dearly missed Lillerne Tapes, this collection observes the spacious and angular dynamics of 1990s Midwestern post-rock through the lens of the bedroom electronic music producer.
Perhaps surprisingly, amp worship lies at the center of the album: a fascination with the grain, pressure, and emotional charge of amplification and gain, refracted through the strange remove of digital amp modeling. Tubes, speakers, sag, and in-the-red textures are a critical part of the album’s expressive vocabulary, imparting density and colorful saturation while lending even its most weightless passages a vital sense of physical presence. Over the course of twelve tracks, wistful ambience gives way to blunt heaviness and roiling catharsis, underpinned by a palpable sense of loss and grief.
The album’s auspicious cast of collaborators further complicates its emotional terrain. Spoken contributions from Natalia Panzer and Angelina Nonaj occupy strikingly different registers: Panzer’s diffuse and oblique, drifting in and out of the music’s contours; Nonaj’s a vivid travelogue, grounding the record in place and lived experience. Elsewhere, Soda Gong veteran Mister Water Wet joins a small constellation of guests whose playing folds naturally into Riback’s arrangements, blurring the boundaries between computer and ensemble music.
For all of its attention to texture, process, and the material qualities of sound, Spring Back, Ball Forward is first and foremost an emotionally potent work, possessed of a directness that can feel rare within experimental electronic music. Riback draws from a rich and idiosyncratic musical vernacular, arriving at something deeply felt and difficult to place: a singular statement whose pathos exceeds the sum of its references.
The Tango N'Vectif: Sessions 2LP contains tracks from the original CD version, the 2001 2CD reissue, remixes and alternate versions of album tracks, music from the Phi*1700 u/v EP on R&S and other exclusives, selected by Mike, completely remastered from DATs by Beau Thomas. µ-Ziq's Tango N'Vectif was released in 1993, a classic year for auteurist electronic music that didn't always fit on the dancefloor. Written by Mike Paradinas in his late teens with some help from Frank Naughton, it still stands up really well today and its influence on electronic music in the decades since is obvious. Across an expanse of ideas, taking influences from early Aphex, Detroit Techno and UK Hardcore, Mike created this spirited, funky, jerry-rigged, lo-fi version of rave; with crunchy drums and a knack for melody that fell somewhere between John Barry and classic TV themes. Without owning a computer, Mike had been writing techno, house and industrial tracks on and off since 1990, playing live keys alongside drum machine rhythms on his 4-track recorder. µ-Ziq started when Mike linked up with Frank who was also writing dance-influenced music, and importantly owned an Atari 1040ST computer with Cubeat software. They pooled their equipment and Mike would travel up to Frank's house a couple of miles away in Wimbledon to record together. By 1992, and after a false start when a proposed EP for Mark Pritchard and Tom Middleton's Evolution label got shelved, Mike had started at Kingston University where he deejayed and met like-minded people including a couple of guys who knew Aphex Twin who was also a student at Kingston too, and they passed Aphex a demo of Mike's material. A few days later Mike got a message from his mum to 'call Aphex Twin' and he gave Mike some advice, and seemed interested in releasing something. So when Frank and his family went on holiday that summer Mike borrowed his Atari and synths and wrote the majority of the Tango N'Vectif album during that 2 weeks. By the end of 1992 a release with Aphex Twin and Grant Wilson Claridge's Rephlex label had been agreed - Aphex had moved to the house in Clissold Crescent where he recorded a lot of his early classic albums and Mike went over to collect his advance, in the form of his very own Atari computer.
Land of Talk is still here. That wasn’t always a guarantee. Over the multi-faceted twenty year history of their project, Lizzie Powell has drifted from and back to music, always interrogating their role as an artist. In the time since 2023’s Performances, they found themselves utterly worn down by the vicissitudes of the music industry and wracked with worry around their aging parents. Yet the music didn’t stop: Powell heard songs in traffic and in birds chirping, in their downstairs neighbor’s daily prayers and in the babble of children on the street. Melodies slowly cohered over time. “Life can become so unbearable, and music is where I go to metabolize it,” they explain. “I know the music was the only thing that was going to help me.” Soon Powell reemerged with the sixth Land of Talk album, LASTS.
LASTS is full of double meanings — both resilience and finality, acting as a noun and a verb. Though LASTS is haunted by crises including climate collapse, political upheaval, and genocide, the mangitude of global turmoil led Powell towards smaller, humane depictions of suffering and grief. As both their parents became ill, Powell reflected on the last time a person might walk, might talk to a loved one. Yet watching their parents near the other side of life’s arc also made Powell consider all they had survived across their own decades on this earth, their new songs channeling both gratitude and rage. LASTS became a phrase, honoring Land of Talk’s circuitous route and all Powell’s reckoned with through the years. “I think of this record as a love letter to life,” they say.
The end result is an album both lean and winding, allowing Powell’s words and melodies to take centerstage, uncrowded in visceral, shot-no-chaser arrangements. LASTS jumps right in with “Broken Tongue,” a wiry track built on thrumming electric guitar and ghostly synths as Powell rails against the lack of justice for victims of abuse. The trio’s interplay is readily evident in “Saffron” and “4:44,” two earworm songs that also allow themselves to unspool into extended instrumental codas. Early in the record, there are seething tracks like “Dogs” — “Just your basic instinct / Even dogs know better,” Powell growls in the chorus, before the song quiets into a plaintive plea of “Leave us alone now” — and later there are more vulnerable, wandering moments. In “Projections” and “Cedars,” Powell ventures deep into their head, inviting their co-conspirators and listeners alike to follow the songs wherever they meander.
The debut Peacefrog album from Kenny Dixon Jr. aka Moodymann originally released in 1998 is an album of truly epic proportions, a must have for any and all collectors and lovers of house music. Utilising soul, funk, gospel, and even hip hop production techniques and alternating from mellowed-out disco dubs like "Mahogany Brown" and "Stoneodenjoe” to more raw and dirty tech-house tracks like "Me and My People's Eyes.”. Mahogany Brown delivers a slice of Black American music that affirms Kenny's reputation as a major influence on house music today.
Across To Remind Myself I Have Lived, aquatic sounds drift through hazy electronics and lush bedroom textures, before giving way to harsher, more industrial British landscapes. Voices appear and disappear. Loops seem to circle memories rather than rhythms. Guitar fragments become dream sequences. Domestic spaces open onto something colder and more distant.
The new album by London-based Michele Tellarini under the Catholic Block moniker gathers works made across five years, moving between composition, improvisation and a more instinctive form of sound collage. Known for his work with concrete punks Qlowski (Feel It Records/Maple Death) and goth-punks Secrecy (La Vida Es Un Mus), Tellarini approaches this material without the conventions of a traditional song cycle, allowing disparate pieces to find their own connections.
There is something strangely timeless in these works: a quality shared with music that seems to exist slightly outside its own moment, from the intimate, confidential organic realm of Mount Eerie to Bruce Gilbert's more abstract electronic and ambient experiments or the haunting digital world of Holly Herndon. To Remind Myself I Have Lived belongs to that same uncertain space, music that feels both deeply tied to the circumstances of its making and somehow detached from them, music for the lonely that shines with crepuscular clarity.
This album features most of The Searchers’ early hits, along with a selection of album cuts and B-sides—which really come to life in these live recordings. The standout tracks are the ones they never recorded in the studio. What’d I Say was previously released from their 1963 Hamburg Star-Club recordings, but this live version captures even more energy. The album also features radio performances that were never studio recordings, including Memphis, Tennessee, Red Sails In The Sunset, and Let The Four Winds Blow. So, put this record on, sit back and relive the heyday of one of the UK’s finest and most enduring bands: Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you The Searchers!
Sleeve notes by Peter Checksfield
Metabolising 20-plus years gorging on the hardcore continuum, Luke J Murray returns to Sneaker Social Club with the first album under his Liquid DnB-Like Ambient Grime 2 alias. As the first self-titled EP in 2024 demonstrated, with this project Murray applies a hauntological supplement to his life-long diet of rave's codes and signals. These 11 tracks could be embraced as dank bangers in their own right, but the ghostly shroud that lingers is no accident. It's an evocative expression of the hinterland places that frame the pursuit of the dance as much as the energy spikes in front of the bass bins — a diaristic reflection on trudging puddle-peppered streets to find little black doors or staggering home, ears ringing, as dawn comes to chase down the street lights.
Haunted House, Garage & Grime walks the line between atmospheric scene building and straight-up beatdowns with a relaxed swagger. 'The Ginnel In SK4' paints a vivid picture of urban malaise with its bleak synth warps and punk-dub splashes, not a drum sequence in earshot. It's flanked by the Caustic Window-meets-Mark One 'The Flats On Belmont Way' on one side, and low-slung electro-creeper 'Hollywood Park' on the other. As the titles hint, this is music tangibly attached to very specific places locked in Murray's memory — unmistakably UK locations that reflect back the half-hollowed out echoes of late night soundtracks, glancing off red brick and pebble dash concrete at odd angles.
There is space on the album for full-chested amen tear-outs like 'Pete's Gone Mad With The Axe' , but for the most part the mood remains downcast and pensive. The sparse approach affords you space to tangibly hear the (not-so-silent) name-checked rain pattering in the background of 'The Crown Under The Viaduct, While Rainfalls Silently Into The River Mersey' , or imagine the crunch of litter and dead leaves underfoot that snakes its way through minimalist stepper 'Bowerfield Lane, After Dark'.
Murray's vision is sharply realised, and his stated inspirations slot logically into his shelves of ordered ideas drawn from disorderly memories. From Mark Leckey's O' Magic Power Of Bleakness to the Ghost Box records alumni, Hatcha's seminal Dubstep Allstars Vol. 1 and Laura Grace Ford's Savage Messiah book, Haunted House, Garage & Grime is the logical product of a deep thinker making tracks with decades of rave in his bones and the sense that it all means something, even if it's not always clear what.
Next year the iconic anthem Cafe Del Mar will celebrate its 30th anniversary, a landmark that will be celebrated with a series of brand new remixes alongside the finest existing remixes in specially remastered versions.
Launching the series of vinyl releases in September is a remastered vinyl-only release of the original mix, as well as the best-known version of this classic track, the iconic Three ‘N One Remix.
Nearly 30 years ago, Paul M aka DJ Kid Paul recording as Energy 52 unleashed a record onto an unsuspecting public that would go on to define club culture for an entire generation of dance music enthusiasts. Named as an homage to the legendary Ibiza sunset spot, Café Del Mar broke down boundaries between the underground and
the mainstream, charting in the UK singles charts on three separate occasions and named as the “best tune ever” by Mixmag at the start of the new millennium. In terms of cultural and emotional impact in dance music, it’s hard to find a record that comes close.
Café Del Mar has come to represent the most euphoric and hedonistic pleasures of dancefloors - in Ibiza and all around the world - and has been remixed by some of the biggest names in the industry. Now, 30 years after its original release, Superstition Records will be putting out a new series of releases, with brand new remixes as well as remastered versions of some of the many remixes from across the last three decades. The vinyl-only remastered version of the original and Three ‘N One mixes will launch the series, with further details about the rest of the series announced in the coming weeks.
In 2021 Paul Van Dyk’s Café Del Mar remixes launched a series of vinyl and digital re-issues on the Superstition Records imprint after an almost 20 years hiatus. From 1993 until 2003 Superstition Records was a groundbreaking Techno, Tech-House and Trance Label and released some of the biggest and most revered records of the early German electronic scene.
Here is the debut, self-titled album from a.s.o., singer/songwriter Alia Seror-O'Neill, and producer Lewie Day. 'a.s.o.' is a thematic consolidation of the previous three singles and an impressive artistic progression. Day and Seror-O'Neill show they've mastered the format of the radio-friendly pop song and found how to subvert it completely. Across eleven songs, they have built a rich and compelling body of work.
We know where we are now, emotionally complex, trip-hop torch songs for club freaks. But the palette has broadened to encompass ethereal dream pop à la Cocteau Twins, slow- burning AOR-soul, and dubwise stylings. As a result, 'a.s.o.' is a satisfyingly coherent listen but never a musical monoculture. Variously there are nods toward Julee Cruise, Fleetwood Mac, and the uneasy listening of Portishead. It's an album that wears its influences lightly, is never weighed down by them, and always sure of its own identity.
It's anchored by Alia's unique voice. Her words speak of restraint and release, taking us from the elegiac to the euphoric. This elegantly crafted, perfect pop music sounds like it has had enough of your shit. And Day's music is the perfect foil; deep, slightly menacing, restrained, and powerful. The album has a cinematic texture, as with David Lynch; the seemingly familiar becomes uncanny and strange the closer we look. a.s.o. take our emotions for a joyride before leaving us floating in space.
'a.s.o.' is a journey; by its end, we all are changed
Mohammad Syfkhan is back with his second album for Nyahh Records. This collection of new recordings marks a hug milestone in Mohammad’s career as it’s the first album that features all original compositions. And with a full band! We had the great help of Syrian Cellist and composer Naseem Alatrash to help with the string arrangements. The resulting record is a beautiful journey into a timeless Middle Eastern and North African sound akin to the likes of Fairuz or Umm Kulthum with a fast Kurdish Dabke tempo.
I Love You Ireland is an incredibly personal album for Mohammad. The title alone, much like his debut ‘I Am Kurdish’ is as personal as it it’s political. To express such love for a place in music is saying, thank you for making me and family feel safe. Thank you for taking us in. A stand out track titled ‘Ah Yu Donia’ is Mohammad’s first real public moment of grieving for the loss of his son at the murderous hands of Isis. In this song he asks God why he was taken. Trying to figure the sense in the actions of fundamentalists. The strings sections are sad, but not morbid. Acting like a release or companion to the horrific reality of losing a child.
‘Al Huriya’ is Mohammad’s first attempt at using an Irish rhythm known as a Reel, as appose to his usual Middle Eastern rhythms. Again, this is a beautiful way for Mohammad to give thanks to all the musicians and supportive people his has met in Ireland since 2011.
WHO IS MOHAMMAD SYFKHAN
Mohammad Syfkhan is a Kurdish/Syrian Singer and Bouzouki player. He began
playing music in 1980 while he was in college studying nursing. When he got
his degree in 1983, Mohammad moved to the city of Raqqa, Syria where he
began working as a professional singer and started his own band, The Al-Rabie
Band which played concerts, parties, weddings and festivals all over Syria. The
Al-Rabie Band were a much sought-after group. Their live sets included Kurdish, Arabic, Turkish and some Western songs as well as Mohammad’s own original material.
Mohammad continued to play with his band while also working as a surgical
nurse until the war broke out in 2011. This unfortunately brought tragedy to
Mohammad’s family when one of his sons was killed by Isis thus threatening
the lives of the rest of his family. His family had no choice but to leave their
home and seek safety in Europe. Three of Mohammad’s sons were resettled in
Germany while Mohammad, his young daughter and wife were taken in by
Ireland. Mohammad has spoken at length of his confusion and despair with
fundamentalists and how their message is a far cry from the teachings of love
and understanding that he considers the true message of Islam.
Black Sheep is the influential hip‑hop duo from Queens, New York, formed by Andres “Dres” Vargas Titus and William “Mista Lawnge” McLean. Although both members hail from New York, they met as teenagers in Sanford, North Carolina, where their families had relocated. The duo became part of the celebrated Native Tongues Collective, alongside Jungle Brothers, A Tribe Called Quest, and De La Soul, a movement known for its creativity, positivity, and forward‑thinking approach to hip‑hop. After joining forces in 1989, Black Sheep made an immediate impact with their 1991 acclaimed debut album A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing. The record earned widespread recognition for its inventive rhythms and sharp, witty, often humorous lyricism.
Their second album Non‑Fiction arrived in 1994, continuing their signature blend of jazzy hip-hop and clever, tongue‑in‑cheek storytelling. The album featured two singles “Without a Doubt” and “North South East West”.
Following its release, the group remained largely inactive throughout the decade, with the exception of Dres, who recorded a solo project under the moniker Dres The Black Sheep. Black Sheep eventually returned in 2006 with their long‑awaited third album 8WM / Novakane. Shortly thereafter, Mista Lawnge departed, while Dres has continued to release music under the Black Sheep name.
Tony Price returns with NAME?, a new LP on his Maximum Exposure label delivering 10 tracks of red-hot house music realness.
Following two releases in 2025, the brutalist cybernetic jazz reveries of Requiem for the Ontario Science Centre and the ferocious machine funk of Street Theatre, NAME? keeps its crosshairs aimed straight at the dancefloor.
NAME? showcases Tony’s undying affinity for the sound of New York City and New Jersey house: Tony Humphries’ cybernetic gospel dubs, the crude, Todd Terry-style 12-bit hip-hop explosives, the cracking garage swing of early Strictly Rhythm, Mood II Swing and Masters At Work, the psychotic bleep-funk bombast of the Bomb Squad, and the deep, ecstatic machine soul pioneered by the likes of Blaze and the Burrell Brothers.
Produced in his Greektown studio in Toronto using an array of drum machines and samplers, these recordings are pure Tony: rude, crude and elemental. House music stripped down to its core principles and defining primordial textures. No nonsense, no junk, no varnish, no nothing. Just the funk.
Veronica Everheart has just announced that her new project Lighter in the Morning (3/2) will be out on November 13th via Pack. Records. The news arrives alongside her link-up with Mumbai-raised electronic artist the sound chalk makes for their new collaborative single, “2222222222222222 + Climbing”. A colorful, club-ready take on “22 & Climbing” from Everheart’s Lighter in the Morning (2/2) EP, the track is also accompanied by an animated music video for the original song, which was made with Source Filmmaker software from the gaming developer Valve using models from their game series Half-Life.
Hailing from Phoenix, Arizona, Veronica Everheart writes and produces all of her own music alongside her creative partner, Justin "Juni" Neugeboren, and has built a cult following for a distinct sound that pulls from indie rock, electronic, and folk. Released in May, Lighter in the Morning (2/2) was led by singles "NO LOLITA SHIT", "Unknowable Distance", and "12/21” and serves as the sister tape to Everheart’s 2024 EP, Lighter in the Morning (1/2). Now, she’s gearing up to release Lighter in the Morning (3/2) (Deluxe Edition), curating a slate of leftfield producers that includes ideasforconversations, nikki nair, atlgrandma, E_DEATH, and Oskie (alongside the sound chalk makes) to craft remixes for the project.
In January of 2004 recording commenced on Loretta Lynn's 42nd solo album. This particular album was poised from the start to be a unique and standalone installment in a long well established, unbelievable, legendary, career already spanning five decades due to the role of producer going to none other than a 28 year old Jack White. White, a long time admirer of Lynn's work, leapt at the chance to conduct this musical experimentation of blended styles and see what fruits the two very separate but cosmically intertwined approaches to writing, playing, and producing music could yield.
The album would go on to win the 2005 Grammy Award for "Country Album Of The Year", with the albums second single "Portland, Oregon" winning "Best Country Collaboration With Vocals". A litany of other accolades were to follow and the record firmly cemented itself in the annals of Country music history as the most successful crossover album of Lorettas historic career. Twenty-two years later, we're still celebrating it.
Third Man Records is proud to announce Van Lear Rose reissued and expanded. Now including the additional track "Just to Have You Back", previously only available to members of The Vault vinyl subscription series, rounding out the already impeccable tracklist. This LP is available in both a standard black and limited edition orange (while supplies last) colorways as well as CD.
In January of 2004 recording commenced on Loretta Lynn's 42nd solo album. This particular album was poised from the start to be a unique and standalone installment in a long well established, unbelievable, legendary, career already spanning five decades due to the role of producer going to none other than a 28 year old Jack White. White, a long time admirer of Lynn's work, leapt at the chance to conduct this musical experimentation of blended styles and see what fruits the two very separate but cosmically intertwined approaches to writing, playing, and producing music could yield.
The album would go on to win the 2005 Grammy Award for "Country Album Of The Year", with the albums second single "Portland, Oregon" winning "Best Country Collaboration With Vocals". A litany of other accolades were to follow and the record firmly cemented itself in the annals of Country music history as the most successful crossover album of Lorettas historic career. Twenty-two years later, we're still celebrating it.
Third Man Records is proud to announce Van Lear Rose reissued and expanded. Now including the additional track "Just to Have You Back", previously only available to members of The Vault vinyl subscription series, rounding out the already impeccable tracklist. This LP is available in both a standard black and limited edition orange (while supplies last) colorways as well as CD.
What does it mean to actually experience another City, one of such historical and cultural'd'asignificance as Detroit, A city that truly expands the capacity of Human love and resilience. Just to be there…?'d'aWhat sound do the birds make?…? What colour are the buses ? …?. What sounds do we hear in the streets'd'a?…? It's like one step beyond just experiencing a place but truly absorbing it as if it becomes a little piece of'd'aus. That's the only way you really get to understand the groove, the little everyday things that make the'd'apeople tick, their daily grievances and small moments of collective joy culminating over lifetimes. That is'd'awhere you get to the essence, the secret sauce and Lord knows this City is oozing with it.'d'aIn July 2025 Ziggy undertook a 6 week residency in the motor city with no concrete plan other than getting to'd'athe roots of a deeply layered and rich musical culture. One that has been a guiding light for many of us..'d'aWhether you are coming from the generation of Motown through the 1st generation of techno to hip hop'd'arevolutionaries, the city has left an undeniable mark on the history of American Music.'d'aAfter meeting at a weeknight vinyl session at a downtown bar, Ziggy and Malik realised they already knew'd'aeach other's work and immediately made plans to hook up in the studio. Malik being a Lifelong Detroiter with'd'aa background as a Gospel keyboardist and Singer turned House dancer, producer and DJ it was no wonder'd'ahe was a perfect addition to the Label Roster. To accommodate the sessions local turntablist and producer'd'aDJ Moppy kindly offered up his home studio and we shared many great records and vegan hot dogs in his'd'aleafy backyard.The music is primarily inspired by the enduring and charismatic folks we encountered in the city, their stories'd'aand personalities live on through the continued Musical Legacy of the city.'d'aSpecial thanks to Mike Banks, Cornelius, Crystal, John '?Jammin'? Collins (R.I.P) Rick Wilhite, Wajeed and all'd'aof the Underground Resistance family who hosted us. DJ Moppy, Meftah, Badriyyah, Raj Mahal all in the'd'abuilding!'d'aGospel and jazzy infused electro-funk and deep-house, a collaboration between one of Detroit'?s'd'aunderground dons Malik Alston and Ziggy Zeitgeist of EXREC. The result of a six week pilgrimage to Detroit'd'ain 2025, Zeitgeist set up shop in DJ Moppy'?s living room and the results are deep, dark and funky'd'a'd'a.
In the realm of Swedish melodic rock from Skövde, few bands command the attention and admiration quite like NIVA. With their signature blend of soaring melodies, powerhouse vocals, and infectious hooks, the band has established themselves as a force to be reckoned. Now, with the release of their highly anticipated 7th full-length album ""Stratospheric,"" NIVA once again proves why they are considered among the elite in the genre.
From the opening chords of the title track, it's clear that ""Stratospheric"" is an album that aims for the stars and reaches new heights of sonic excellence. Led by the Swedish powerhouse vocals of frontman Tony Niva, the album is a tour de force of melodic rock anthems that resonate with passion, energy, and raw emotion.
Throughout ""Stratospheric"" NIVA demonstrates their mastery of the melodic rock genre, effortlessly blending elements of classic rock, melodic rock, and AOR to create a Nordic sound that is uniquely their own. With its larger-than-life production and infectious energy, the album is a testament to the band's evolution and growth as artists, while also paying homage to the rich legacy of melodic rock and AOR that has inspired them along the way.
For fans of NIVA and lovers of melodic rock alike, ""Stratospheric"" is a must-listen experience that promises to transport listeners to new heights of musical ecstasy. With its unforgettable hooks, powerhouse vocals, and electrifying performances, the album is a fitting tribute to the band's enduring legacy and a testament to their status as one of Sweden's most beloved rock acts. So, strap in, turn up the volume, and get ready to embark on a journey to the stars with NIVA's new upcoming release ""Stratospheric"".
- Seventh studio album by the Swedish Melodic Rock group
- Feat. members of Master Massive, Lion’s Share, Wolf, Starchaser
- Produced by Tony Niva & Jan Strandh; mixed & mastered by Thomas Plec Johansson.
For fans of: Niva, Lion’s Share, Treat, Imperium, Eclipse
Hier ist das definitive Beat Konducta-Box-Set: 7 LPs, die alle sechs Teile von Madlibs legendärer Instrumental-Serie vereint - erstmals gemeinsam erhältlich in einem hochwertigen, schweren Deluxe-Schuber. Zusätzlich enthalten ist Vol. 0, eine zuvor offiziell unveröffentlichte Promo-LP mit weiteren Tracks. Das 7-LP-Box-Set umfasst alle sieben Teile von Madlibs "Beat Konducta"-Reihe aus den Jahren 1994 bis 2008. Die Volumes 1-2, 3-4 und 5-6, die lange vergriffen waren, erscheinen hier erstmals als Doppel-LPs im klassischen schwarzen Vinyl und im aufklappbaren Gatefold-Cover. Exklusiv in diesem Set enthalten ist zudem Vol. 0: Earth Sounds, gepresst auf grünem "Northern Lights"-Vinyl. Die Tracks auf Vol. 0 entstanden im Zeitraum von 1994 bis 1996 und wurden dann ursprünglich 2001 als streng limitierte Promo-LP veröffentlicht. Die musikalischen Einflüsse reichen von Library-Musik aus TV und Film der 70er Jahre bis hin zu Bollywood-Soundtracks und weiteren Produktionen aus Indien (aus den 60er bis 80er Jahren) und gipfeln in einer Hommage an seinen verstorbenen, großartigen Freund und musikalischen Weggefährten J Dilla. Essentiell, keine Frage.
Neuauflage der essentiellen "Beat Konducta"-Reihe, hier Vol. 5-6: "Dil Cosby & Dil Withers Suite" (Steady Metals Edition) - Madlib zollt J Dilla Tribut! Auf "Beat Konducta Vol. 5-6: Dil Cosby & Dil Withers Suite" (ursprünglich 2008 als zwei separate LPs veröffentlicht) würdigt Madlib seinen verstorbenen Freund und musikalischen Weggefährten J Dilla - unterstützt durch Features von J. Rocc. 42 soulige, atmosphärische Instrumentals bilden den Abschiedsgruß an Jay Dee. Nachdem sie lange vergriffen waren, erscheinen beide Teile von Madlibs legendärer Instrumental-Reihe nun erstmals gemeinsam als farbige Doppel-LP auf metallisch schimmerndem silbernen und goldenen Vinyl, verpackt in einem aufklappbaren Gatefold-Cover.
Mercury Prize-shortlisted, MOBO Award-winning drummer, composer and producer Moses Boyd returns with his first album in six years. Since the release of his critically acclaimed album, Dark Matter, Boyd has continued to push at the boundaries of contemporary jazz. Songs For Sinners is a deeply personal body of work that explores the push and pull of faith as something profoundly human – a force capable of comforting, dividing, unsettling and restoring in equal measure. Across an ambitious, vocal-led collection that fuses gospel, jazz, soundsystem culture, Caribbean rhythms, 808s and soaring choir harmonies, Boyd expands the language of contemporary jazz into something entirely his own. It’s a record that draws from the church he grew up in, the London soundsystem culture that shaped him, and the freedom of improvisation, asking what sacred music can sound like when it’s no longer confined by convention.
Mercury Prize-shortlisted, MOBO Award-winning drummer, composer and producer Moses Boyd returns with his first album in six years. Since the release of his critically acclaimed album, Dark Matter, Boyd has continued to push at the boundaries of contemporary jazz. Songs For Sinners is a deeply personal body of work that explores the push and pull of faith as something profoundly human – a force capable of comforting, dividing, unsettling and restoring in equal measure. Across an ambitious, vocal-led collection that fuses gospel, jazz, soundsystem culture, Caribbean rhythms, 808s and soaring choir harmonies, Boyd expands the language of contemporary jazz into something entirely his own. It’s a record that draws from the church he grew up in, the London soundsystem culture that shaped him, and the freedom of improvisation, asking what sacred music can sound like when it’s no longer confined by convention.
Comfort with ambiguity, dynamic experimentation and melancholy are rife throughout Brody Price’s newest record, Leaf Miner’s Daughter. Classic alt-country at its core, this collection meticulously weaves together Americana into sluggish, heavy grooves; overdriven guitars, hook-laden acoustic dissonance - all bolstered by a songwriter full of heart and intention.
An integral member of the Dallas / Texas scene and national DIY touring community, Price has been quietly building a dedicated community of fans across the US since 2017, entirely independent and reliant on each other to build and shape the tours by word of mouth. Following a cassette recorded collection of country songs, ‘What’s The Point In Trying’ (2017), and the gorgeous and chaotic ‘Win A Trip To Palm Springs’ (2022), Price is tracing a sonic and narrative arc that feels specific, earnest and whimsical - not without its dark corners and deep questions.
The innate ability to find beauty among the rubble is rife throughout his newest, revealing an authentically tender desire to dig deeper to find relief and understanding. He invites us to empathize and sit alongside his turmoil in an effort to make ours more bearable. At home in his musicality and the discomfort of living, Price revels in the act of putting the pieces back together, giving us all permission to do the same.
Amazing! RCA returns with a special three-track release from Funk D’Void & Friends, bringing together three different sides of the house spectrum across one beautifully connected journey. From the warm, rolling groove of the opener through a deeper, more hypnotic middle cut and into the tougher, more driving territory of the closer, each track has its own character while working perfectly as part of the whole. Funk D’Void & Friends doing what they do best. Deep, soulful and groove-led house music with just the right amount of edge. Three tracks, one journey, no filler.
Tony Reed is undoubtedly one of those artists whom fans of “heavy music” have, at least unknowingly, encountered on stage or on their turntables at some point. Bands like Pentagram, Mos Generator, Hot Spring Water, and the so-called supergroup Big Scenic Nowhere are just a small part of his discography, which he continues to expand as a producer and mixer.
CONSTANCE TOMB was Tony Reed’s first band, which he founded at age 19 and which was heavily influenced by the gothic movement of the early ’80s. There are recordings online from when they made “boombox recordings” or, later, when he recorded everything “hi-fi” on his own in the garage with just a microphone, preserving it all for posterity on cassettes. You can also find several solo cover versions released under the band’s name. It was a labor of love that Tony Reed never let go of, but there was never a real band that toured or released an album—until now!
Now Tony has breathed new life into his childhood love, CONSTANCE TOMB, and fused his fondness for dark ’80s bands with his heavy metal past. Bands like Southern Cult, Bauhaus, The Cure, Bowie, as well as Black Sabbath and Thin Lizzy have shaped his musical tastes. Now, a mix of old and new songs is being infused with fresh energy, reviving a solo project that had taken on a slightly artificial feel.
With Bo McConaghie on bass and Christian Roney on drums, the band has already played its first concerts in the northwestern United States to find their sound as a group. Joint rehe
